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Chapter Text

    “Zane?” Kai questioned as he saw the Ice Emperor standing before him. “Is it really you?” 

    The others stood back slightly, watching Kai cautiously while also keeping an eye on the Ice Emperor standing at his throne.

    The Ice Emperor narrowed his eyes towards the red ninja, not saying anything. He slowly turned his head to General Vex who gave a quiet nod to the emperor.

    The Ice Emperor thought back to a conversation he once had with his trusted advisor.

    “I’ve been keeping an eye on those ninja.” Vex had said. “I’ve been making sure to watch them closely when they fought off your army.”

    “And?” The Ice Emperor prompted.

    “I’ve noticed something strange with them.” Vex explained. “They seem to have the ability to fuse with each other. I believe we might be able to use this against them. Perhaps, if we can get our hands on the red one, we can use his powers against the other ninja.”

    The Ice Emperor said nothing, so General Vex continued.

    “My Emperor, the red one is our biggest threat. He has the ability to create fire, fire that could destroy your ice. Although he seems weakened, his power could increase if we don’t do anything.” Vex paused for a moment. “He could take your throne away from you.”

    “What exactly are you suggesting?”

    “It’s quite simple, my Emperor.” Vex replied. “When the ninja show up, if you can manage to trick the red one into fusing with you, you’ll be able to use his powers for yourself.”

    The Ice Emperor went quiet again as he pondered the idea.

    Now here he was in the present, the ninja had arrived and the red one seemed all too eager to see him. It was as if everything was falling into place. But something about this ninja still perplexed him. Zane. That name. The green one had called him that before, and now this red one called him the same name. Why? Why did they insist he was this ‘Zane’ person? The Ice Emperor shook his head. 

    Kai started to take a few steps towards the Ice Emperor.

    “Kai, be careful.” Nya urged.

    “Nya, this is Zane we’re talking about!” Kai argued. “Let me try and help him.” He turned back towards the Ice Emperor, walking up the stairs to him.

    The Ice Emperor started taking slow steps to meet Kai halfway. The two of them reached each other and stared silently.

    “Kai…” the Ice Emperor whispered.

    Kai’s eyes lit up as he heard him say his name. “Yes, yes Zane, it’s me!” he cheered, “You remember me!”

    Kai abruptly wrapped the Ice Emperor in a hug, holding him tight. The Ice Emperor froze up a bit, not expecting the red one to act this way. Whoever he thought he was, he must have been very close with him.

    “I knew you were still in there,” Kai continued. “I missed you so much, Zane.”

    “I… missed you too,” The Ice Emperor replied with a slightly awkward tone. 

    He slowly wrapped his arms around Kai, returning the hug. The two of them slowly started to glow, their bodies gradually getting brighter and brighter.

    “What’s going on?” Jay asked.

    “It looks like…” Cole replied, freezing up after realizing what was going on. “We need to leave!”

    After the three of them realized what was happening, they tried turning around to make a run for the exit. Nya hesitated for a moment before joining the others. As they reached the exit, they were blocked off by a wall of ice.

    “Leaving so soon?” an ominous but familiar voice asked.

    The ninja all turned around to see the ball of light forming into a humanoid shape. The staff of forbidden spinjitzu was still clenched in his fist as he finished forming his body. He opened his eyes which were a glowing pink color.

    “Good job, my Emperor,” Vex said as he stared at the fusion, a satisfied look on his face.

    The new Emperor didn’t even acknowledge Vex and just glared down at the ninja. He tightened his grasp of the staff as some of the ice melted off, an eternal flame forming around the ice spike at the end of the staff.

    “Swift!” Cole yelled, “Don’t do this! You need to snap out of it!”

    The Emperor glared at the black ninja before pointing his staff towards him. He shot out a massive blast of flames at the ninja, but they all managed to jump out of the way. The blast hit the wall of ice that had previously trapped the ninja, melting it instantly. They looked at the opening before turning back to the Emperor.

    The Emperor let out a little chuckle. “I’ll let you leave for now.” he said. “It’ll make this more fun for me.”

    “Swift!” Nya yelled, trying to reach out for the fusion, but was held back by Cole.

    “Nya, we have to leave!” Cole urged.

    “We can’t just leave him!” Nya argued.

    “If we stay he’ll kill us!” Cole yelled back. “We’ll think of something later, but we have to leave!”

    Nya stared at Cole before turning back to the Emperor. He turned his head towards the water ninja as he walked back up to his throne. He sat down, resting his head in his hand.

    “I’d listen to him,” he advised, “before I change my mind.”

    Nya continued staring at him with saddened eyes as Cole dragged her out. The Emperor watched with narrow eyes as the ninja escaped. 

    “Excuse me for asking, my Emperor,” Vex interrupted, “but why would you let them escape? What if they come back and we can’t fight them off?”

    The Emperor snapped his head towards Vex. “I am your Emperor,” he reminded, “do NOT question me.” He sat back in his throne, moving his leg to rest it on his other knee. He let out another laugh. “Emperor… I like that.”

    “I… beg your pardon?” Vex asked, “My Emperor, you’re confusing me. Why do talk like being an emperor is new?”

    The Emperor seemed to completely ignore Vex’s question, instead just staring at the ceiling. “Emperor…” he repeated quietly. He paused for a moment as if he were lost in thought. 

    “Yes…” Vex replied, confused by how his Emperor was acting, “You’re still the Ice Emperor.”

    The Emperor’s eyes widened as he seemed to realize something. He sat up in his throne, giving a confused look. “Swift…” he whispered.

    “What?” Vex asked, “Isn’t that what those ninja were calling you? Please pay no mind to them, they’re just-”

    “Swift…” The Emperor repeated, interrupting Vex, “That’s my name.”

    “What?”

    “My name is Swift.” he repeated, his voice more stern, “Emperor Swift.”

    Vex was taken aback a bit. He stepped back slightly as he stared at his Emperor. After standing quietly for a while, he bowed slightly. “Yes, my Emperor,” he replied. “Emperor Swift.”

Chapter Text

    “What do we do!?” Jay panicked. The three remaining ninja regrouped back at the land bounty. They weren’t able to drive it anymore, but it remained as a shelter for them. However, they knew it wasn't the safest place to go. Not with Swift around.

    “My brother…” Nya mumbled, “he.. he…”

    “We’ll get him back,” Cole assured, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Zane too.”

    Krag let out a sad grumble. Cole had ordered him to stay inside of the bounty while they dealt with the Ice Emperor. It was clear that Krag was worried when Kai didn’t come back with them.

    “We need a plan,” Jay said. “We can’t just sit around here and do nothing! Zane probably has Kai trapped in the fusion right now, and we don’t even know where Lloyd is!”

    “Maybe Lloyd was already captured,” Nya suggested. “He could be in the castle somewhere.”

    “But how are we even going to find him?” Jay asked. “That castle is huge! He could be anywhere, and now that Swift is there with that staff, we’re no match for him!”

    “Not as we are, no,” Nya agreed, “but maybe you guys could stand a chance.”

    Cole and Jay looked at each other before turning back to Nya.

    “What do you mean?” Cole asked.

    “I know it’s a bit of a stretch, but maybe Ridge could stop him.”

    “Are you crazy!?” Jay yelled. “In case you forgot, SWIFT HAS THE SCROLL OF FORBIDDEN SPNJITZU! He’s way too powerful, even for Ridge!”

    “Do we really have any other choice?” Cole asked. “When it was just Zane we were dealing with, maybe we would be able to beat him with all of us, but now that it’s Swift…” Cole paused for a moment. “Our only hope of beating a fusion is with another fusion.”

    Jay looked at Cole. He let out a sigh before turning back to Nya. “What about you? What are you gonna do?”

    “I’m gonna sneak in there and find Lloyd,” Nya explained.

    Krag let out a confused grunt, pointing to himself. Cole let out a sigh.

    “Sorry, buddy, but it’s too dangerous,” he said. “Fusions are too strong and I don’t want you getting hurt.”

    Krag let out a disappointed grunt and started whining.

    “Krag, I’m serious,” Cole replied. “We’ll handle this.”

    “So it’s a plan,” Nya said. “I’ll sneak in and find Lloyd while you guys find a safe place to hide.”

    “Wait, I thought we were gonna fight Swift,” Jay replied.

    “Well hopefully if I can find Lloyd safely, we can get the full team to fight him,” Nya explained. “But right now, you guys need to find a safe place. It won’t be long until Swift comes after the land bounty to find us.”

    “Got it,” Cole said. 

    The four of them exitted the land bounty. They already felt the air grow warmer. However, despite the warm air, cold snow still blanketed the ground, and the massive ice crystals were still everywhere.

    “I’d better get in there,” Nya said.

    “And we’d better get going,” Cole said. “Good luck, Nya.”

    “You too.”

    Nya started running back towards the castle while Cole, Jay and Krag headed in the other direction.

______________________________________________

    Kai felt groggy as he lay on the ground, unconscious. He slowly opened his eyes as he began to wake up. He instantly shot awake as he saw his surroundings. He sat up as he looked around at the strange, pink realm he was in. He had recognized this place. Swift… he thought to himself. He attempted to stand up, but felt himself get pulled down by his arms. He looked down to see his hands chained to the ground by dark, icy shackles.

    “What the?” he questioned.

    “You’re awake.”

    Kai looked up as he heard the low voice speak to him. He saw the Ice Emperor, no, Zane, standing with his back to Kai. His body was still covered with the icy armor Kai saw him in when he first entered the castle’s throne room. Any doubt that this was truly Zane was instantly shattered by the fact that Kai was in this pink realm with him.

    “Zane!” Kai called out. The Emperor didn’t move. “Zane!” Kai shouted again, louder this time. The Emperor continued standing still. “ZANE!”

    “Who are you talking to?” the Ice Emperor questioned angrily, turning his head back towards the red ninja.

    “I’m talking to you, Zane!” Kai answered. “You’re the only other person here, who else would I be talking to?”

    “I don’t know who this ‘Zane’ is you are talking about,” the Ice Emperor replied, slowly turning his entire body towards Kai, “but I am not Zane.”

    Kai rolled his eyes. “I know it’s you, Zane! We fused into Swift, and the only way I can fuse into Swift is by fusing with Zane, so therefore, you are Zane.”

    The Ice Emperor glared down at Kai, but said nothing.

    “Zane, please.”

    Their conversation was interrupted as they heard another voice sounding from seemingly nowhere.

    “My Emperor, what if those ninja come back?”

    “The others…” Kai whispered to himself. Kai stared up at the Ice Emperor and tried to lunge towards him, but the shackles kept him in place. “What did you do to them!?”

    “I let them go,” the Ice Emperor explained. “Even though you were unconscious, your will was too powerful for me to take full control of our actions.”

    Kai stared at the Emperor before looking down at his ice covered hands. He slammed them onto the ground, but the ice was undamaged. He glared back up at the Emperor.

    “I swear, if you lay a hand on ANY of them, I’ll-”
    “Would you quit your babbling?” the Ice Emperor asked. “They escaped, remember? But, if they are foolish enough to return, they won’t be as lucky.”

    “I won’t let you,” Kai growled. “It’s like you said, my will is too strong.”

    “Perhaps,” the Emperor replied, “but we’ll see how long your will can overpower.”

    Kai looked around as the entire realm began to crackle. A strange pattern began to slowly spread, almost like broken glass, making a loud crackling noise as it spread. The entire place looked like it was beginning to crack.

    “What’s going on?” Kai asked.

    “That’s the power of my scepter,” The Emperor explained. “You can feel its power too, can’t you?”

    Kai gave the Emperor a confused look before looking down at his shackles. The corruption spread onto the shackles, glowing a bright pink. Kai could feel a surge of power spread through his body. He let out a painful shriek as the corruption spread. The Ice Emperor narrowed his gaze as he watched his partner scream. Eventually, the power calmed down and Kai stopped screaming. He leaned over, attempting to catch his breath.

    “What… was that?” Kai asked.

    “Power,” the Emperor explained. “The same power I feel from my scepter. The scepter I have used for decades to rule over this realm.”

    “Decades!?”

    “You should really stop all your whining and yelling,” the Emperor advised. He started to take slow steps closer towards Kai. This was the first time Kai realized the Ice Emperor’s hands were completely empty. The staff was nowhere to be seen within the fusion realm, but it’s power and corruption was still present.

    The Ice Emperor lifted up Kai’s head. Kai stared into the Emperor’s icy blue eyes. This really was Zane. Kai pulled away from him.

    “Zane, you need to stop this!” 

    “Stop what? Ruling over my kingdom? Punishing all those who oppose me?”

    “Yes!” Kai yelled. “This isn’t you! You’re a ninja, you’re supposed to protect people!”

    “Protect people?” the Emperor questioned. “I am protecting people. No one will be hurt if they stop resisting. That’s all I’m doing, I only hurt those who resist. Those who listen, are safe.”

    “No they aren’t!” Kai argued. “You’re hurting people!”

    The Emperor let out a soft chuckle, something Kai wasn’t expecting. “Foolish ninja. You could never truly understand the harm I have prevented.”

    Kai shook his head. “I don’t think you understand. You’ve saved so many people! How do you not remember?”

    Suddenly, the entire realm filled up with images of the past, memories of the ninja fighting off villains and protecting the citizens of Ninjago. Kai realized these were his memories as he noticed they were all from his perspective. The Emperor looked around confused before glaring at Kai.

    “What is this?” he asked.

    “Memories,” Kai explained, “from the past. See, it’s you, and Cole, and Jay, and everyone. Don’t you remember?”

    Ice began to form around the Emperor’s feet before the entire realm became frozen over in an instant. The ice faded and the memories were gone.

    “Stop trying to fool me with mirages.”

    “They aren’t mirages, they’re real!” Kai argued.

    The Ice Emperor scoffed. “You will learn to stop resisting. Sooner or later.”

Chapter Text

    “My Emperor?”

    Swift was sitting on his throne, rubbing his forehead with one hand and clutching onto the staff in the other.

    “My Emperor, please answer my question!” Vex continued to pester.

    “Quiet!” Swift demanded abruptly. “I have a headache and your nagging isn’t helping!”

    Vex blinked in surprise. This new emperor was acting differently from the previous Ice Emperor. Too different for Vex’s liking. Vex shook his head.

    “My Emperor, perhaps you are simply too worried about those ninja,” Vex suggested. “Might I suggest sending out some soldiers to hunt them and bring you at ease.”

    “It’s always ‘send out the soldiers’ with you, isn’t it?” Swift replied. “Why do you put so much trust into them after their failures?”

    “That was only recently,” Vex defended. “Your army has been extremely successful.”

    Swift let out a soft chuckle. “Not when we fought them.”

    “What?”
    “When they fought them,” Swift corrected himself. He sat forward, letting out a long sigh. “I’m bored.”

    “Bored?”

    “I’m tired and I want something to do,” Swift clarified with an edge to his tone.

    “Emperors don’t get bored,” Vex replied. “Perhaps you should visit the prisoners? Maybe they can bring you some entertainment.”

    “Wow you are dull,” Swift retorted. He sat up and stretched before walking down the stairs that led up to his throne. 

    Vex watched the Emperor in surprise. “Where are you going, my Emperor?” he asked.

    “I’m going for a short walk around the castle,” Swift explained as he continued walking away. “I feel like looking around my new home.”

    Vex just watched as Swift left the throne room. “This isn’t going as I planned…” he grumbled to himself.

______________________________________________

    Cole, Jay and Krag were all walking through the snow in silence. None of them seemed to want to talk, or had anything to say. After minutes and minutes of complete silence, Jay decided to say something.

    “How far do we have to go?” he asked.

    “Far enough where Swift won’t find us,” Cole replied.

    “But what about Nya?” Jay continued. “And Lloyd? How are they gonna find us?”

    “They’ll find us.”

    “But we didn’t even tell Nya where we were going. And she’s going into that castle all by herself! Why didn’t we go with her!? We don’t even know if Lloyd is there or if he even made it all the way to the castle. What if Lloyd’s somewhere else and he needs help? What if Zane-”

    “Jay! It’ll be fine!” Cole interrupted. “Nya knows what she’s doing. She’ll find Lloyd and they’ll be ok.”

    Jay went quiet for a moment. He looked up at Cole as he continued following him. “So uh… when are we gonna fuse?”

    Cole let out a sigh. He stopped and turned to Jay, Krag copying. “Jay, you know I love you, right?” he asked.

    “Yeah.”

    “And you know I love being Ridge with you, right?”

    “Yes, I know.”

    “Well right now, as much as I would love to fuse with you, I…” Cole trailed off.

    “You’re scared?” Jay asked.

    Cole nodded quietly. “We might just be the only hope this realm has,” he said, “and I just don’t know if I’m ready to handle that yet. I don’t want to drag the fusion down because I’m scared.”

    “Well, I’m scared, too,” Jay said. “I know Nya said we might stand a chance against Swift, but I don’t know if we can actually do it. Swift’s kicked Ridge’s butt how many times? And the fact that he has that scroll…”

    “We just need to focus on the positives right now,” Cole advised.

    “I don’t know what positives there are,” Jay responded. “We’re trapped in a realm far from Ninjago and the village of people we tried to protect have all been frozen! And now two of our closest friends are an evil corrupted fusion who’s probably gonna try to kill us.”

    “Well, I can think of one positive,” Cole said.

    “Really?” Jay asked. “What?”

    “I still have you,” Cole replied.

    Jay’s face turned slightly red before he started laughing. “Thanks, Cole.”

    Cole chuckled with Jay. “I mean it though. I love you.”

    “I love you, too.”

    The two ninja hugged each other while Krag let out a happy grunt, smiling at the two ninja. Cole and Jay hugged for a long time before they finally released each other. 

    “I guess we should form Ridge, huh?” Jay said.

    “Yeah,” Cole agreed, “we should.”

    Cole grabbed Jay’s hand. The two of them looked up at each other, smiling to hide their worry. As their powers grew, they slowly turned into light before hugging once again to finish fusing. Krag stepped back in fear as the ball of light continued to morph. The light faded and Ridge appeared. Krag let out a loud roar, causing Ridge to jump back.

“Woah, buddy, it’s ok!” Ridge reassured. “Cole and Jay are both safe, I’m a friend.”

Krag seemed to calm down. Ridge slowly reached out a hand, placing it on Krag’s arm. He gave a gentle smile as Krag continued to calm down. 

The two of them were interrupted as Krag saw something in the distance. He pointed, making distressed grunts. Ridge turned around and saw a massive flame rise in the distance, near the ice castle.

“It’s Swift…” Ridge said. His eyes went wide. “Nya!” he yelled. “Jay was right, we shouldn’t have left her! C’mon, Krag, we need to head back!”

Ridge started running back towards the castle, Krag following close behind.

Chapter Text

    Nya had managed to sneak back into the ice castle. She found an opening where there were no guards and managed to sneak through one of the windows. When she entered, she noticed small flames in the hallways, but the ice was still standing, unharmed. 

    “I have to be careful…” Nya whispered to herself. She got ready to sneak around, but was stopped by one of the guards. Nya stepped back in surprise. She recognized the soldier from the village. She noticed the large, icy axe in his hand.

    “What are you doing here?” he asked.

    “I’m here to break my friend out!” Nya replied, getting ready to fight. “I know he’s here!”

    “You mean the green one?” the guard asked. “I was about to go visit him.”

    “I won’t let you!” Nya yelled.

    “No, it’s not like it seems,” the soldier clarified. “My name is Grimfax. I only wish to speak with him. He seems to know the Emperor, and I only want to know if he tells the truth.”

    Nya lowered her stance. “You do?”

    Grimfax nodded. “You could also be helpful. Your friend fused with the Emperor. You all must know him, I assume?”

    “Yes…” Nya replied. “Kai, the one who fused with the Emperor, he’s my brother.” Nya’s voice became saddened.

    “What's wrong?” Grimfax asked.

    “Kai is gone. When people fuse, they’re gone until the fusion falls apart. And I’m just scared for him. I know we only saw Swift for a short moment, but what I saw scared me.”

    “I see,” Grimfax nodded. He looked to the side as he heard footsteps. “We must hurry.”

    Grimfax started running down the hall, Nya following close behind. It didn’t take long until they arrived at the prison. Grimfax opened the door and Nya walked in. She looked around at all of the cells until she heard a voice.

    “Nya?”

    Nya turned to see Lloyd sitting in one of the cells.

    “Lloyd!” Nya cheered, running over.

    “Nya, how did you find me?” Lloyd asked.

    “I had some help,” Nya explained. 

    Grimfax walked up and unlocked the cell before walking over to unlock the cell next to Lloyd’s

    “Who is this?” a voice Nya didn’t recognize asked.

    “Kataru, this is Nya,” Lloyd explained as he left his cell. “She’s one of my friends.”

    Nya looked over as Kataru left his own cell. He blinked before smiling. “It is nice to meet you, Nya.”

    “Hold on, I’m confused,” Lloyd said, turning to Grimfax. “Why are you freeing us?”

    “If what you said about the Ice Emperor is true,” Grimfax explained, “then I want to help you.”

    Lloyd let out a gasp before turning to Nya. “Nya, I almost forgot! The Ice Emperor, he’s-”

    “I know, Lloyd,” Nya replied, cutting him off. “But… we kinda have a bigger problem on our hands.”

    “What?” Lloyd asked.

    “I’ll explain on the way. But first, we need to go meet up with the others.”

______________________________________________

    Akita had finally arrived at the Ice Emperor’s castle. After disarming the guards and sneaking in, she was ready to complete her mission. She entered the throne room and slowly approached, pulling out her knife. She stopped as she looked up at the throne and saw it was empty. 

    “What?” she questioned. “Where did the Ice Emperor go?”

    “He’s gone at the moment.”

    Akita blinked before turning around. She saw a mysterious person she had never seen before. He wore armor similar to the Ice Emperor, but his clothing underneath was pink. His eyes were also pink and glowing. Akita instantly recognized the staff in his hand.

    “Who are you!?” Akita demanded.

    “My name is Swift,” he replied. “Emperor Swift.”

    “ Emperor Swift?” Akita questioned. She shook her head. “You’re not the one who attacked my village.”

    “No, I’m not,” Swift said. He glared at the formling. “I’m something much worse.”

    Swift raised his staff in the air. Hundreds of ice shards raised in the air around him, levitating off of the ground, all pointed towards Akita. He shot all of the icy daggers towards Akita at high speeds. Akita froze, flinching as she waited for the impact. But the daggers didn’t hit. Akita opened her eyes to see the shards of ice sitting suspended in the air in front of her, shaking slightly.

    “What the?” Swift questioned.

    “Swift! Stop!”

    The two of them looked over to see Nya and Lloyd. Nya had her arms held out, trying her best to control the ice. Eventually the ice shards fell to the ground, shattering into tiny pieces.

    “Lloyd?” Akita questioned. “You’re alive?”

    “Akita, stay out of the way,” Lloyd urged, moving in front of her. “That’s not the Ice Emperor anymore.”

    Swift glared at the two ninja. He turned his attention to Nya. “You’re foolish to have come back here,” he said.

    “We’re here to stop you, Swift,” Nya responded. “This isn’t you, and this isn’t Zane!”

    “Zane?” Akita questioned, turning to Lloyd.

    “The Ice Emperor is Zane,” Lloyd explained. “Vex must have tricked him or something.”

    “But now he’s fused with Kai,” Nya continued.

    “I… I am confused,” Akita admitted.

    “Don’t worry, you won’t be around long enough for it to matter,” Swift retorted.

    He shot a fiery blast towards his three foes, but Lloyd managed to shoot an energy blast at it to stop it. 

    “Swift, stop this!” Lloyd yelled. “You’re not an emperor, you’re a ninja!”

    “Why must everyone insist on me not being an emperor?” Swift asked. “You need to try a lot harder than that to try and take my throne.”

    “We’re not trying to take your throne!” Nya argued. “We just want to bring you home! Please listen to us!”

    “Hmph,” Swift replied. He held out his staff, shooting another blast of fire. They all managed to dodge it, but Swift instantly started chasing them with icy spikes that shot from the ground. Akita turned into her wolf form to gain greater speed before turning around, running towards Swift. Swift looked over as Akita jumped towards him. He smacked her away with the staff. Akita yelped in pain as the fire of the staff burnt part of her fur.

    “Akita!” Lloyd yelled, running over towards her.

    Swift was about to aim a blast at Lloyd until Nya ran up behind him and attempted to take the staff away from him.

    “Let go of my staff!” Swift demanded, trying to push Nya away.

    “No!” Nya refused. 

    Swift kicked Nya away as hard as he could, finally making her let go of the staff.

    “Ack!” Nya yelled as she slid away.

    Swift aimed his staff towards Nya who looked up at him in fear. Before he could shoot at Nya, he was hit in the arm by a blast of green energy. He turned towards Lloyd with narrow eyes.

    “This has to stop!” Lloyd shouted, standing next to Akita who had turned back to her human form, a small rip in her sleeve.

    “You think you can stop me?” Swift asked, walking closer towards the green ninja. “You couldn’t even fight the Ice Emperor.”

    “HI-YAH!” Nya shouted as she tried to attack Swift, but he simply moved out of the way, causing Nya to crash into Lloyd.

    “Pathetic,” Swift commented.

    The three of them all stood up.

    “We won’t give up,” Lloyd stated.

    “I know,” Swift replied. “Because a ninja never quits.” 

    Lloyd blinked at Swift in shock, but was unable to do anything as Swift quickly froze the three of them where they stood. 

            "Swift, no!" Lloyd pleaded, but Swift kept freezing his body. Finally, all three of them became completely encased in ice, just like the villagers that the ninja had sworn to protect.

    Swift lowered his staff, staring at his defeated enemies. He looked at the scared and sad expressions on Lloyd and Nya’s faces, now stuck like that as they were frozen in the corrupted ice. He just stared at the two of them, completely silent.

    The silence of the room was broken as Vex entered.

    “My Emperor,” he greeted, “I wish to inform you that the traitorous Grimfax and the formling prisoner were taken care of.”

    Swift didn’t seem to acknowledge Vex. He just stared at the corrupted ice. Vex walked up to the emperor before looking at the three icy crystals he had created.

    “Ah, I see you have taken care of these three,” Vex said. “Why don’t we display them as trophies.”

    “I don’t want to look at them,” Swift replied with a harsh tone.

    “What?” Vex questioned. “But my Emperor, why wouldn’t you want to remember their defeat, I-”

    “I DON’T WANT TO LOOK AT THEM!” Swift snapped, the fire on his staff erupting into a massive flame. He started to walk away, the flame calming down as he left. “I don’t care how you move them, just move them so I don’t have to look at them,” he ordered. “And make sure they don’t get out…”

    Vex’s face turned to a glare as Swift left the room. He turned back to the ice spikes. He walked up to Lloyd before giving a smirk.

    “It looks like you have failed.”

Chapter Text

    Ridge and Krag both arrived back at the frozen wasteland where the ice castle stood, although it was not as frozen as when they left. The dark ice crystals were now surrounded by massive flames. Small fires dappled the area, although it did not seem like the ice or snow was affected. Even the castle had a bit of a fiery make-over. The entire structure looked like it was frozen over, but on fire at the same time.

    Part of Ridge questioned how the fire had no effect on the ice, but the other part of him knew that Swift was capable of things like this. The entire area reminded him of Swift’s true potential form. 

    Ridge stood still, staring silently at the castle that he knew he had to go into. All the thoughts of what would go wrong ran rampant in his head, but he was quickly interrupted from his thoughts as he felt a nudge. He turned back towards Krag who looked frightened.

    “I know, buddy,” Ridge sighed, “I’m scared too…”

    Krag looked at the castle and let out a growl. He started beating on his chest, ready to go inside.

    “No, Krag,” Ridge said. “You need to stay here where it’s safe.”

    Krag let out a whine in response.

    “Krag, I need to go in there and find Lloyd and Nya and sneak out before anyone finds us,” Ridge explained. “And no offense, but you aren’t really the best at sneaking.”

    Krag grumbled loudly.

    “No arguing with me, Krag!” Ridge replied. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

    Krag crossed his arms and turned away slightly, but he seemed to understand Ridge’s wishes. He turned back to Ridge, holding his arms out.

    “Ok, ok,” Ridge said, walking to Krag. He gave the yeti a gentle hug before Krag wrapped his arms around the fusion, crushing him as he lifted him off of the ground.

    “Ack!” Ridge yelped. “Ok, buddy, you can let go now!” he said, completely out of breath.

    Krag put Ridge back down while the fusion tried to catch his breath. Ridge turned back to Krag.

    “Go hide somewhere safe,” he ordered. “I’ll be back with the others.”

    Krag nodded and watched as Ridge started running towards the castle. 

Ridge looked around at his surroundings as he got closer to the castle. He noticed more and more fire as he neared the castle. Ridge stopped as he noticed two guards at the entrance. He hid behind one of the ice spikes, careful not to touch the parts of it that were on fire. 

    “I need to distract them somehow…” Ridge whispered to himself. He moved behind the ice spike to hide himself completely. He held out his hand, creating a small rock. He turned back to look at the guards. They didn’t seem to notice him, which was good. Ridge took aim before throwing the rock as hard as he could. It hit one of the guards’ helmets, causing both of them to jump slightly. They both looked around cautiously.

    “Who’s there?” one of them demanded.

    “HI-YAH!” Ridge yelled, swinging his flail at the both of them. The guards had no time to react as Ridge wrapped them up with his flail. 

    “What the? Who are you?” one of the guards asked.

    “That’s not important,” Ridge replied. He held out a hand with electricity generating from it. He touched both of the guards, electrocuting them until they passed out. Ridge made his flail disappear, causing both of the guards to fall over. “That takes care of that,” Ridge said.

    Ridge walked into the castle, making sure to be very cautious as he snuck around. He didn’t know exactly where he was going, but he kept making his way through the castle. He noticed the inside was just as fiery and icy as the outside. He had to be careful not to touch any of the fire throughout the castle. Eventually, Ridge found the throne room. He was scared to enter, but he forced himself inside anyway.

    “I was gonna have to face him sooner or later…” Ridge said to himself. He looked up at the throne, but was shocked to see that it was empty. “What?” he questioned. “Where did he…” Ridge’s gaze shifted over to three spikes of ice in the middle of the room. He froze. “No…” he whispered. “No no NO!” Ridge ran up to the crystals, putting his hands on them. “Lloyd! Nya!” he cried. “I was too late!”

    “I thought I heard something in here.”

    Ridge turned around to see the Emperor’s second in command walking up to him.

    “I figured it wouldn’t be too long until the rest of the ninja showed up again,” Vex said, “but I’m a little surprised to see just one of you. I thought there were two left, not one.”

    “What do you want?” Ridge questioned.

    “Oh, I just came to investigate,” Vex responded. “I heard there was an intruder, and I don’t want the Emperor to strain himself even more than he already has.”

    “His name is Swift.”

    “Oh, I know,” Vex said. “He keeps saying that. But I was more talking about the Ice Emperor.”

    “That’s not how it works.”

    “What?”

    “You can’t be talking about Zane, because he doesn’t exist anymore,” Ridge explained. “He’s fused with Kai. Swift and Zane aren’t the same person.”

    “Oh please, I know the Ice Emperor is still in control of this ‘fusion’,” Vex stated. “Otherwise, how would he have defeated his so-called friends?”

    Ridge glanced back at Lloyd and Nya before looking back at Vex. “You’re wrong,” Ridge denied. “I know he’s still there. The Swift I know is still there! He has to be…”

    “Vex, you didn’t tell me there was a visitor.”

    Ridge froze as he heard that voice. Ridge and Vex looked to see Swift entering the throne room. Swift looked over at his prisoners before glaring at Vex.

    “I thought I told you to get rid of them,” he said.

    “I know, my Emperor,” Vex replied, “I was just working on it until I was rudely interrupted by this ninja.”

    Swift looked over at Ridge. “I see.”

    “Swift,” Ridge said, stepping forward, “Swift, it’s me-”

    “I know who you are, Ridge,” Swift growled.

    Ridge blinked in surprise. “You… you do?”

    “How could I forget you?” Swift responded. “You’re the person who always bragged about how amazing you were.”

    “What?”

    “Always saying how you were better because you were the first,” Swift growled. “Always saying how I was being overly confident. Always shutting me down!”

    Swift abruptly shot a fire blast towards Ridge. Ridge managed to jump out of the way, causing the blast to hit the wall instead.

    “Swift, you’ve got it all wrong!” Ridge tried reasoning with him. “You’re my best friend, don’t you remember?”

    “I remember enough,” Swift replied. He shot another blast towards Ridge. Ridge managed to roll out of the way, continuing to dodge as Swift continued firing at him. 

    I can’t just keep dodging, Ridge thought as he ran, I need to fight back.

    Ridge shot a lightning blast towards Swift, but he blocked it with his staff. Ridge then summoned his flail and started swinging it towards Swift. Swift managed to jump out of the way multiple times, but Ridge finally managed to hit him. Swift fell over, temporarily dropping his staff onto the ground. The flame of the staff faded as it left Swift’s hand.

    “Emperor!” Vex yelled.

    “Quiet!” Swift snapped. Swift reached out to grab his staff, but stopped as he saw Ridge approaching him. Ridge had a lightning blast charged and aimed for Swift. He unleashed the blast, but Swift quickly rolled towards his staff. He grabbed it and shot a powerful ice spike at Ridge.

    “Ack!” Ridge yelled as his body hit the wall. He sat on the ground against the wall. He looked up to see Swift jumping towards him, aiming his staff directly towards his chest. In a panic, Ridge shot a rocky spike from the ground, knocking Swift back. Swift hit the icy ground, laying weakly on the icy floor. Ridge stood up and stared at him, starting to breathe heavily. Swift opened his eyes, glaring at Ridge. His cold eyes were green again, as he had dropped his staff again. Swift was fully expecting Ridge to take the final shot, but to his surprise, the other fusion just stood still, staring at him. After a while, Ridge turned and ran away.

    “Where is he going?” Vex asked.

    Swift watched in silence and Ridge sprinted out of the throne room. He slowly sat up, staring off in confusion. He looked to his side as Vex held out the staff.

    “Your scepter, my Emperor,” Vex said.

    Swift glared at his general before snatching the staff from him. The flame ignited once again on the staff, growing bigger than normal. Swift stood up.

    He started stomping back to his throne, small flames appearing in each footprint he left.

    “My Emperor?” Vex said.

    “Shut up!” Swift shouted. He reached his throne and sat down, glaring at Vex. “Why did he leave!? Why didn’t he finish me off!?”

    “He was a fool,” Vex replied, walking closer to the throne. “He is just like the rest of the ninja. He thinks he is your friend, but he attacked you. But it seems that his emotions got the better of him.”

    “He’ll continue to fail if he does that,” Swift replied.

    Vex nodded.

    “Emotions like that will be our downfall…” Swift said, his voice quiet.

    “What was that?” Vex asked, but Swift didn’t seem to notice.

    “Emotions are a good thing,” Swift continued to ramble, “You can’t ignore your emotions, you need to, erk! Quiet! I’m the Emperor here, not you!”

    “My Emperor?”

    “What!?” Swift snapped again.

    “Who are you talking to?” Vex asked.

    “The whispers…” Swift mumbled.

    “The… what?”

    “The WHISPERS!” Swift yelled. “The voices who keep ARGUING all the time!” Swift angrily shot a fire blast at the wall. “They keep saying conflicting things and I just want them to SHUT UP!”

    “My Emperor-”

    “My name is SWIFT!” Swift shouted. The entire room erupted in flames as Swift’s anger grew. “I’ve told you before, my name is Swift! SWIFT! Stop calling me ‘your Emperor’, it’s really annoying!”

    “But, I thought you were the Emperor,” Vex replied.

    “I am the Emperor,” Swift grumbled.

    The flames in the room began to die down. Swift let out a sigh before sitting back in his throne. “I just need some quiet time,” Swift said, placing his hand on his forehead. He looked down at Vex. “And weren’t you supposed to move the prisoners elsewhere?”

    “How am I supposed to do that?” Vex questioned.

    “I don’t know, figure it out,” Swift growled. “Just move them so I don’t have to see them.”

    Vex looked back at the frozen prisoners before bowing towards the Emperor. “Yes, Emperor Swift.”

Chapter Text

    Kai couldn’t quite understand where all this anger was coming from. He had felt anger after Zane captured him and used him, but now he could feel a burning fury within him and he didn't know why. He sat quietly as Zane stood silently with his back to Kai. A surge of power began to make its way to Kai. He flinched as he prepared for it. It was still painful, but as Kai started getting more used to it, he started to like it. And he hated it.

    “You’ve been very quiet lately,” the Ice Emperor spoke.

    “You’ve been quiet, too,” Kai retorted.

    The Ice Emperor turned to him. “Watch your tone,” he warned.

    “Or what?” Kai challenged. “I know you won’t let me go, and there’s not much else you can do to me here other than keep me trapped, which you’re already doing.”

    The Ice Emperor glared at Kai but said nothing. He turned away again. 

    Kai had been trying to study his partner, trying to figure out what was wrong with him. For some reason, he didn’t remember who he was. Did the staff mess with his memories? Kai wondered. He shook his head. No, that can’t be it…

    The Ice Emperor turned his head slightly towards Kai. “You have immense power,” he commented. “You used it well against that ninja, using your rage against him.”

    “Don’t remind me…” Kai mumbled. He wasn’t proud of himself. For a moment, maybe even longer, he let the power of forbidden  spinjitzu take over his judgement. He could’ve tried to stop him, he could’ve done something, but he did nothing. Kai shook his head, trying to clear his head, but it didn’t work. The guilt was setting in and Kai couldn’t get the images out of his head. The fear in everyone’s eyes as they saw Swift, as they saw him. He hated himself so much right now. He hated this power and he hated how much he loved feeling powerful. 

    Images started flying by through the mind realm. The Ice Emperor watched in confusion as Kai looked up in horror, realizing what memory he was witnessing.

    “You always had all the power!” Kai’s past self yelled. “Well now it’s MY turn!”

    The Ice Emperor blinked in surprise as he witnessed Kai holding a strange staff, readying an attack towards Lloyd. The memory ended abruptly before Kai could launch the blast. He turned towards Kai.

    “What was that?” he questioned.

    Kai was quiet. He looked away, ashamed of his past actions.

    The Ice Emperor narrowed his gaze. “You like this power, don’t you?”

    Kai continued being silent.

    “I figured you would come around eventually,” The Ice Emperor continued, “but I never knew the seeds were already in place.” He took a couple of steps closer towards Kai. Kai made no attempt to move away from him. He looked up at the Emperor, glaring. “Together, we can be powerful,” The Ice Emperor said. “We are powerful.”

    Kai looked away. “I know…”

______________________________________________

    Swift was bored as he sat on his throne. He kept blasting the ceiling with his staff while his soldiers struggled to move the frozen prisoners. He kept glancing down at them, but said nothing. Vex looked up at Swift, noticing his posture.

    “Are you pleased, Emperor Swift?” he asked.

    Swift glared down at Vex, but continued saying nothing. He went back to shooting at the ceiling. Vex was trying his best not to make his annoyance with Swift apparent. 

    “Emperor Swift?”

    “What?” Swift finally replied.

    “I suggest we plan an attack. That ninja is still out there and he poses a threat to your kingdom.”

    Swift lowered his staff. He looked at the soldiers before looking back at Vex. 

    “Heh,” Swift chuckled. “You care so much about this stupid kingdom, don’t you?”

    “Well, yes, I-”

    “Here’s the thing, Vex,” Swift interrupted. “I’m starting to go a little stir crazy, you know, staying in this castle all day.”

    “What are you suggesting?” Vex asked.

    Swift stood up. “I’m done sitting around, Vex,” he said. “I want to FIGHT!”

    “You wish to deal with the threat yourself,” Vex replied. “I see.”

    Swift let out a laugh. “‘Deal with the threat’?” he said. “He’s no threat to me. He’s no threat to this kingdom. I don’t care about this kingdom or what happens to it.” Swift looked down at the staff in his hands. “I have so much power,” he continued. “Why not unleash it onto this pitiful realm?”

    “What?” Vex asked, stepping back.

    Swift started walking down the steps, heading towards the exit of the throne room.

    “Emperor Swift, where are you going?” Vex asked.

    Swift let out another soft laugh, not even bothering to look at Vex. “You’re smart. Put two and two together.” 

    Vex attempted to follow the Emperor, but Swift blocked his path with an ice wall. The Emperor left the castle without saying another word.

Chapter Text

    Ridge kept running into the snowy wasteland. He didn’t stop until he got too exhausted to keep going. He stopped by a large rock, leaning against it to catch his breath. He heard a soft grumble and looked behind the rock to see Krag hiding behind it. The yeti looked frightened until he noticed Ridge. His face instantly lit up and he stood up, moving out from behind the rock. Krag’s smile slowly diminished as he saw the distraught look on Ridge’s face. He tilted his head slightly in confusion.

    Ridge looked down at the ground before closing his eyes. “I was too late…” he mumbled. “Lloyd and Nya were frozen. I couldn’t do anything! And then I had the chance to take out Swift and I…” Ridge looked back up at Krag. He let out a sigh. “I froze up… I couldn’t do it…”

    Ridge covered his face with his hands. He looked up as Krag put his hand on Ridge’s head. Ridge gently grabbed Krag’s hand off of his head before turning around.

    “We’re not safe here,” Ridge said. “We need to find somewhere else.”

    He started walking, Krag following close behind. Finding somewhere safe was difficult since Ridge was still very foreign to this realm and Krag had never traveled away from his home in the mountains before. The two of them eventually made their way back to the land bounty. It was getting late and the two of them would need some rest. 

    Krag had fallen asleep quickly while Ridge had some trouble falling asleep. He was sitting in the driver’s seat, staring out the window. 

    “We need to get some sleep,” he said to himself. “I can’t. I’m too stressed out! You’re always stressed out. Well this time I have a good reason to be stressed out!” Ridge let out a sigh. “I know…” Ridge took one last look at the night sky before walking into the main area of the land bounty. He grabbed one of the spare blankets they had brought with them before curling up on the hard floor, attempting to fall asleep. 

    ______________________________________________

    Ridge was woken up suddenly as he heard a loud BOOM coming from outside. He instantly jumped up and ran over towards the window. Krag was already awake and staring outside.

    “What’s going on?” Ridge asked. As he looked out the window, he saw Swift in the distance. He was blasting fire everywhere, destroying the land around him. Ridge began to panic but tried his best to stay calm. Krag watched Swift angrily, letting out a growl. “Krag, no,” Ridge said. “We need to stay in here. We can’t go out there right now.” Ridge nudged Krag back into the main area of the bounty. After Krag was gone, he turned back to the window.

    “Now, where did he go?” Swift asked himself. He continued looking around, blasting as much fire around as he could. Eventually, he noticed something strange in the distance. He squinted at it. “Is that… the… the bounty?” he questioned. “How did that get here? Wait, no, I remember now.” He let out a quick chuckle. “I bet he’s hiding there right now.”

    Ridge was scrambling to grab as many supplies as he could. “Ok, maybe we can break a hole through the back and sneak out there!” he tried to plan. “And then he won’t see us and- AGH!” The entire land bounty shook.

    “Ridge!”

    Ridge looked out the window to see Swift standing outside, his staff pointing at the bounty.

    “I know you’re in there!” he shouted. “Come out and face me!”

    “Oh no, what do I do? What do I do?” Ridge panicked.

    A ball of fire flew at the bounty, burning through the wall. It hit one of the seats, leaving a dark burn mark.

    “Stop being such a coward!” Swift yelled. “You won’t be able to hide forever!”

    “He’s right…” Ridge said softly. “I can’t just hide. I can’t run again…” Ridge got up and walked over to the door, opening it and stepping outside. Krag followed hesitantly.

    Swift looked over at Ridge as he left the land bounty. He lowered his staff.

    “What do you want, Swift?” Ridge demanded.

    Swift laughed. “Vex was talking to me, and for once, he said something useful,” he explained. “You’re a threat. A threat that needs to be taken out.”

    “You’ve already taken out Lloyd and Nya, what more do you want!?” Ridge asked.

    Swift seemed to flinch slightly at the mention of those two. Ridge took notice, blinking in surprise.

    “Swift…” he said. “Swift, are you ok?”

    Swift glared at Ridge. “Don’t give me any PITY!” he shouted, launching a blast towards Ridge. Ridge managed to dodge, the fireball hitting a nearby rock instead.

    “Swift, please! Snap out of it!” Ridge pleaded. “I know you’re still in there SOMEWHERE!”

    “Why should you care!?” Swift hissed.

    “Because you’re my best friend!” Ridge answered. “I don’t want to fight you Swift, please.”

    Swift rested his stance slightly. “You don’t want to fight me?” he asked.

    “Why would I want to?” Ridge replied. “After everything we’ve been through, fighting Morro together, defeating Corria, dealing with Vena.” Ridge started walking closer to Swift. As Ridge got closer, Swift seemed to relax his stance more and more. “And then, remember when Vena separated us from the ninja and we almost died?” Ridge asked. “You were sitting on that bench. Do you remember the bench?” Ridge let out a little chuckle.

    “The… bench?” Swift asked, confused.

    “Yes!” Ridge laughed. “You were obsessed with that stupid bench!”

    Swift just gave Ridge a blank stare. Ridge’s smile quickly faded.

    “You… you don’t remember?” he asked.

    Swift was quiet for a moment. “So,” he replied after a while, “you won’t fight me?”

    Ridge stared at Swift with a sad expression. He didn’t say anything in response.

    “Hmph. Fine,” Swift said, walking past Ridge.

    “What?” Ridge questioned, turning towards Swift as he walked away.

    “If you won’t fight me, I guess I won’t fight you,” Swift explained. “Where’s the honor in fighting someone who refuses to fight back?”

    Ridge was taken aback by this. “R-really” he questioned. “You’re not trying to trick me?”

    “Why would I want to trick my best friend?” Swift asked, turning around to face Ridge. “I wouldn’t want to hurt a friend.”

    Ridge stared at Swift, completely dumbfounded by what he was saying.

    Swift turned back. “No, I can’t hurt a friend,” he repeated. He raised his staff, an icy glow beginning to shine from it. He pointed it towards Krag. “So I’ll just have to hurt someone else.”

    “NO!” Ridge shouted. Ridge instantly started to sprint towards Krag. Krag froze from fear as Swift launched an icy blast towards him. He curled up into a ball to try and protect himself, beginning to whimper. Unable to get to Krag fast enough, Ridge quickly summoned a wall of earth to block the blast. The wall was destroyed as the blast hit it, but the blast dissipated afterwards. Ridge ran over to Krag who was still curled up. 

    “You ok?” Ridge asked.

    Krag nodded gently.

    Ridge looked over at Swift who was lowering his staff and glaring back. 

    “Krag, run,” Ridge said in a low voice.

    Krag let out a tiny whimper.

    “RUN KRAG!” Ridge shouted. "NOW!”

    Krag quickly got up and ran away towards the forest. He looked back at Ridge for a moment before running further into the woods. Ridge glared at Swift, clenching his fist in anger.

    “Wow, Ridge, I didn’t take you to be so protective of something like that,” Swift commented. He closed his eyes, letting out a quiet chuckle. “I guess I didn’t know you were so-”

    Ridge quickly punched Swift in the face, interrupting him mid-sentence. Swift didn’t even notice the other fusion approaching him.

    “OW!” Swift yelled, placing his hand on his cheek. “Why would you-”

    Ridge quickly grabbed Swift by the wrist, swinging him and throwing him as hard as he could at a nearby rock. Swift tried to stand up, but froze as two rocky spikes shot from the ground, just barely missing him. He looked over at Ridge whose face was full of pure anger. Swift stared at the other fusion, his face a mixture of shock and slight fear.

    “I thought you said you wouldn’t fight me,” Swift said.

    Ridge glared at him. “I said I wouldn’t fight my friend.”

Chapter Text

    “So, tell me more about this memory,” The Ice Emperor said.

    Kai glanced up at the Emperor. “I thought you said these were nothing but mirages.”

    “Hmph,” The Ice Emperor responded, “you’re too affected by this for it to be a simple mirage.” The Ice Emperor stared down at Kai, waiting for a response that never came. “You wanted to attack the green one, Lloyd was his name? I thought you swore to protect him.”

    “I did,” Kai replied. “I want to protect him at all costs. It’s just…” Kai went quiet for a while. Small flames began to form around his wrists. He abruptly stood up. “I worked so hard!” Kai yelled. “I wanted it so bad! I wanted that power so badly! But he was chosen when he didn’t do ANYTHING!”

    The Ice Emperor stepped back slightly, surprised by Kai’s glowing, orange eyes. Kai glared at him, before shaking his head. His eyes returned to his normal brown color. He let out a sigh before turning around.

    “I… I can’t help it…” he rambled. “I keep trying to tell myself that I’m over it, but I’m still not.”

    “You… wanted his power?” The Ice Emperor asked. “I don’t understand. Your power is already immense from what I’ve seen. Why do you wish to have his power?”

    “It’s not just the power,” Kai explained. “It’s his destiny. He was destined to be the hero, the savior of Ninjago. And we were destined to train him and stay on the sidelines while he saved the day.” He let out another sigh. “But now… I just wish I could take away the burden from him. He’s just a kid! He’s a kid who constantly holds the world on his shoulders. He doesn’t deserve this… Everytime we save the day, he breaks a little more, and I hate seeing him like that!” A fire began to grow around Kai once more, growing bigger and bigger. “I can’t hurt him again!” Kai attempted to pull on his chains, struggling to pull them out of the ground.

    “There’s nothing you can-”

    The Ice Emperor was interrupted as Kai managed to break the chains, his fire blasting through them. The cuffs around his hands melted before turning into steam. He turned back towards the Emperor, his eyes glowing orange once again. Without hesitation, he walked over and punched him with a fiery fist. The force managed to knock the helmet off of the Ice Emperor. His mask cracked slightly.

    “Ugh,” the Emperor groaned. He took the mask off before turning back towards Kai.

    Kai blinked in surprise, seeing Zane’s full face for the first time. “I- I’m sorry,” he apologized, stepping back. He looked down at his hands as the fire faded. “I-”

    “Heh,” The Ice Emperor interrupted him. “Admirable. You truly are strong. I like that.”

    Kai looked back at him. He wanted to say something, but he didn’t know what to say. “Zane-”

    “I’m intrigued about you,” The Ice Emperor continued. “Tell me, where did you get your power from?”

    “My power?”

    “Your fire.”

    Kai paused for a moment. “I… I guess I was born with it…” he replied. “My father had the ability to control fire before me, but he passed his powers onto me.”

    “Interesting…” the Emperor turned around.

    “Do you know where your powers came from?” Kai asked.

    The Ice Emperor went quiet for a moment. He turned his head back towards Kai. “There is much I do not remember about my past.”

    “What do you mean?”

    The walls of the mind realm abruptly turned black, causing Kai to jump slightly. He stared at them as an image began to flicker on. He saw Zane standing in front of a strange man he didn't recognize.

    “Who… who are you?” Zane asked.

    “Why, you don’t remember?” Kai recognized the voice. “I am Vex, your trusted advisor.”

    “My… advisor?” Zane questioned. He looked around the dark cave the two of them were standing in. “Who am I?”

    “You are the Emperor of this land,” Vex explained. “But your throne was recently taken from you. They threw us into this cave, leaving us to die. But unfortunately for them, they left you with your scepter.” Vex handed the nindroid a staff that had the scroll of forbidden spinjitzu on it. Zane took it and his eyes started to glow, an icy fire forming from his head. “We cannot allow those traitors to keep your throne from you. We must take it back!”

    Zane looked down at his staff before looking back at Vex. He nodded. “Very well.” 

    The walls went black again as the memory faded. The realm slowly turned back to it’s natural, bright pink color. Kai stared at the blank walls in silence before turning back to the Ice Emperor.

    “He tricked you…” he said.

    “Vex did not trick me,” The Ice Emperor defended. “He is my advisor, my most trusted ally, my ONLY ally! The only person I can trust.”

    “If he’s the only person you can trust, then why did you fuse with me?” Kai asked.

    “It was one of Vex’s plans,” The Ice Emperor explained. “He suggested that I fused with the ninja who posed the greatest threat to me, keeping them trapped while I continued expanding my empire.”

    “Well that plan failed,” Kai replied.

    “I guess it has,” The Ice Emperor agreed. He looked at Kai, the blue glow in his eyes seeming to fade slightly. “You’re free to go.”

    “What?” Kai questioned.

    “You broke free from my chains,” The Ice Emperor said. “You can leave now.”

    Kai stared at the Ice Emperor, staring at his icy blue eyes. He took a couple of steps closer to the Emperor. He stood still for a moment before wrapping his arms around the nindroid. The Ice Emperor blinked in surprise.

    “What are you-”

    “I love you, Zane,” Kai said. “I don’t want to lose you again.”

    The mind realm began to glow again, power surging through both Kai and the Emperor, however neither of them acknowledged it. 

    “I’m not losing you again…” Kai whispered.

______________________________________________

    Swift blasted Ridge back with an icy attack. Ridge took the blast, but somehow wasn’t harmed very much. He shook bits of ice out of his hair and looked back towards Swift.

    “That didn’t take you long to turn on me,” Swift said. “You’re just like everyone else. Claiming to be my friend and then attacking me.”

    “Shut up!” Ridge shouted. “I was willing to give you a chance. I was willing to accept that you were the same Swift I knew. But the Swift I knew wouldn’t attack someone innocent like Krag.”

    Swift looked at Ridge with narrow eyes. “The Swift you know isn’t real,” he said. “You’re just making up stories to get me on your side.”

    Ridge shook his head. “The Swift I know is real,” he stated. “He’s just not the Swift I’m looking at.” 

    Ridge charged a lightning blast and shot it towards Swift. He wasn’t expecting the attack and was knocked back slightly. Swift tightened his grip on his staff. 

    “You will NOT stand in my way!” Swift shouted. He raised his staff up and a barrage of ice crystals made their way towards Ridge. Ridge began shooting out a barrage of rocks at the ice. The two of them stood still, trying to overpower the other. Eventually, the speed of the ice crystals proved too much for Ridge, blasting past the rocks and flying directly towards Ridge. He was knocked back, landing in the half-melted snow behind him. He looked over at Swift who started to approach him.

    “Why don’t you just freeze me like everyone else?” he asked with a harsh tone.

    “You’re actually putting up a good fight,” Swift explained. “I’m having fun right now and I want to make this last.” He shot a blast of fire at Ridge, knocking him back even more. 

    Ridge finally managed to get back up on his feet and was able to jump out of the way of Swift’s next fire blast. Ridge quickly summoned his flail and swung it towards Swift. He was taken aback at first and was hit in the side. Ridge swung the flail again, this time wrapping Swift up in it before swinging the fusion towards a nearby ice crystal. As soon as Swift hit the crystal, Ridge got rid of his flail and shot lightning at him.

    “ACK!” Swift yelled as he got electrocuted. 

    Ridge continued shocking him until Swift surrounded himself in a crystal of ice to stop the lightning. Ridge lowered his arm and looked at him confused. Instantly, the ice around Swift started to melt, a massive blast of fire shooting from his staff as soon as he freed himself. Ridge just barely dodged it.

    Swift took a couple of deep breaths, showing some exhaustion. “You’re ruthless.”

    “I’m not holding back anymore,” Ridge replied.

    Swift chuckled. “Neither am I.”

    Swift summoned a barrage of icy crystals into the sky before shooting them all at Ridge at extreme speeds. Ridge tried to summon a wall of rock to block the attack, but he wasn’t fast enough. The shards of ice pelted his body, some of them cutting into his gi and leaving tiny scratches on his skin. Ridge flinched at every shard of ice hitting his body. He eventually managed to make a wall to stop the attack before launching the earthy wall towards Swift. Swift jumped out of the way. 

    Both fusions were beginning to get tired already, but neither of them looked ready to give up. 

    “You’re not gonna make this easy, are you?” Swift asked.

    Ridge shot another small rock at Swift, hitting him in the arm.

    “Didn’t think so,” Swift said. He shot another blast, but as he was starting to get used to, Ridge dodged it. He knew he was going to have to try something different. But before he could think of a new strategy, Ridge was already running towards him. Swift attempted to jump out of the way, but Ridge grabbed him with his flail, making sure he didn’t escape. As Swift jumped into the air, Ridge instantly pulled him down to the ground. Swift sat on the ground as Ridge approached him. Ridge readied a punch, but Swift rolled out of the way, causing Ridge to punch the snow instead. Swift scrambled onto his feet and shot an icy blast at Ridge’s foot. The ice started to slowly creep up his leg, but Ridge quickly smashed it with a rock. Swift blinked in surprise.

    “You know, I’ll admit,” Swift said, “you’re a lot stronger than you look.”

    “And you’re a lot weaker than I thought you’d be,” Ridge retorted.

    Swift blinked before glaring at Ridge. The flame on his staff grew bigger and bigger.

    “SHUT UP!” he shouted, unleashing a massive fiery blast. Ridge was blasted back, hitting a large rock. Small cracks appeared as his back crashed into the rock. He looked at Swift who was glaring at him. His eyes seemed to glow even brighter than before.

    “You wanna see what I’m really capable of?” Swift asked. “Do you wanna see how weak you truly are?”

Chapter Text

    “AGH!” Ridge yelled as Swift blasted him against the boulder. He struggled to get up before Swift launched a shard of ice at him, knocking him down once more. 

    “Pitiful,” Swift commented as he slowly walked closer towards Ridge, launching more piercing shards of ice towards him. 

    Within Swift’s mind realm, Kai and the Ice Emperor were no longer at each other’s throats. Kai had proven himself, and the corruption had finally started getting to him mentally. All of Kai’s frustration from feeling weaker than everyone else did nothing but fuel the fire for the corruption to spread. 

    The Ice Emperor stared at Kai in silence. A large fire was sitting at Kai’s feet. He stood quietly as the fire blazed around him. 

    Something about this made the Ice Emperor feel… off. He couldn’t help but feel that something was wrong. He shook his head to try and clear his thoughts, turning his attention back to Kai.

    “This other fusion is worthless to us,” he said. “Let us rest and not use up all of our energy on him.”

    “No,” Kai growled.

    “What?” The Ice Emperor questioned.

    “I’m not done with him,” Kai continued. He looked over at the Ice Emperor with narrowed eyes. Kai’s eyes were a blazing orange, even brighter than the fire he had created. The Ice Emperor took a step back.

    “Your eyes,” he said.

    “What about them?” Kai asked.

    The Ice Emperor didn’t respond at first. He looked around at the realm. The area that was once so cold had now become an inferno. A strange heat filled the air. The Ice Emperor found it… comforting. He shook his head. “This power has changed you,” he said.

    “Is that a bad thing?” Kai objected. He took a couple of steps closer towards the Ice Emperor. “You’ve had this power for so long. You changed and you didn’t even realize it.”

    Kai was inches away from the Ice Emperor’s face at this point. The Ice Emperor narrowed his gaze.

    “I haven’t changed,” he argued.

    Kai’s memories started playing throughout the realm, but neither of them looked at them. Their gazes were fixed on each other.

    The Ice Emperor refused to watch Kai’s memories, but he could hear them. He heard his own voice speaking from them. 

    Why does he keep trying to trick me with these memories? The Ice Emperor thought. Why? What purpose does this-

    “ZANE!” 

    The Ice Emperor was interrupted from his thoughts as he heard the frightened scream. He finally turned to watch the memory that was playing. Kai looked over as well, his eyes fading back to brown and his face turning to distress.

    Kai was standing with the other ninja. They were in the city, but one of them, the white one, wasn’t with them. He was facing a giant, shadowy creature that wore massive golden armor. 

    “Let go of him, Zane!” the past Kai yelled. “What is he doing?”

    “What… what is this memory?” The Ice Emperor asked.

    “One I don’t like remembering…” Kai responded.

    The two of them watched as the ninja retreated into the sewers. The Ice Emperor couldn’t stop watching. Kai had already turned away, not wanting to relive the moment, but the Ice Emperor kept watching. Eventually, the memory faded as Kai forced it to stop playing. The entire realm was quiet.

    The Ice Emperor slowly turned towards Kai.

    “What happened?” he asked. “What happened to the white ninja?”

    “You sacrificed yourself to save us,” Kai explained, not finding the strength to look back at the Ice Emperor. “You couldn’t handle the power of the golden armor, and you… you…” Kai went quiet for a moment. He glanced back at the Ice Emperor. “You’re the one who’s changed,” he said, his eyes starting to glow once more.

    Kai went silent. Tiny flames started to appear at his feet once more, growing larger and larger. 

    “Let’s just finish this…” Kai grumbled.

    The Ice Emperor stared at Kai in complete silence as the realm grew warmer once more.

______________________________________________

    “You’re weak,” Swift taunted as he continued throwing Ridge around the battlefield with fiery blasts as if he were a rag doll. “I thought you would be a challenge, but now you’ve just become an embarrassment.”

    Ridge attempted to stand back up, his entire body shaking. “I’m not… gonna let you… win…”

    “Oh really?” Swift asked. “And how do you plan on doing that?”

    “I can… I can still…” Ridge struggled to speak.

    “You can’t do anything,” Swift interrupted. “There’s nothing else you can do to beat me. I’ve already won.”

    Ridge finally managed to stand up. He stood proud, despite the pain his body was in. “I’m not done yet,” he said. “I’m not giving up.” Ridge’s body began to glow slightly.

    “Oh, are you planning some final blast to try and defeat me?” Swift teased. “I’m terrified.”

    Ridge shook his head. “I’m not giving up!”

    Swift let out a soft growl. “Now you’re just starting to annoy me.” He pointed his staff towards Ridge, launching another fiery blast towards him. Ridge created a rock wall to block the blast. He used almost all of his strength to keep the wall up as Swift continued shooting fire.

    “You can’t beat me!” Swift yelled. “Just give up! You’ve already used up all of your little tricks!”

    “Not all of them,” Ridge corrected, his body glowing even brighter.

    Swift paused for a moment. “What are you-”

    Swift was interrupted as the rock wall exploded as a burst of light blasted from behind. A chunk of the rock flew towards Swift, hitting him in the face and knocking him onto the ground. His mask fell off and landed in the snow, next to his staff which he dropped as well. Swift let out a cough before looking back at Ridge. The anger in his face quickly turned to shock as he saw Ridge standing in front of him. His skin had turned grey and his hair and arm were now crystals. Ridge glared at Swift with blank eyes.

    “Ridge…” Swift whispered.

    “We can end this quickly, Swift,” Ridge said. “Just unfuse and we can stop fighting.”

    “Do you really think that you're scaring me?” Swift asked, reaching for his staff. “I am Emperor Swift! I don’t care who or what stands in my way,” Swift stood back up. “I will not rest until I destroy EVERYTHING in this realm!”

    “Fine,” Ridge replied, “have it your way. Just know I’m not gonna go easy on you.”

Chapter Text

    Swift swung his staff back and forth, launching fire at the large crystals shooting towards him. He hated to admit it, but he was getting a little overwhelmed.

    Ridge just stood in one spot, shooting a barrage of crystals at Swift. He was already low on energy, and using his true potential form didn’t help, but he knew he didn’t have any other options. If he didn’t stop Swift, nobody would.

    “Please, just stop!” Ridge yelled.

    “SHUT UP!” Swift retaliated. He refused to give up. He slammed his staff on the ground, creating a swarm of large ice crystals from the ground. He created a giant wall to block Ridge’s attacks. Swift leaned against the icy crystal, taking in deep breaths. He rubbed the side of his face as it was still sore from being punched and then having a rock launched at it. He looked around for his mask but was unable to find it. Suddenly, a large crystal shot through the wall, creating a large hole. Swift jumped as the crystal flew past, hitting a tree in the distance. 

    Swift carefully looked through the hole. Ridge was still standing still, shooting crystals at the icy wall. Swift moved back to hide again, taking even more deep breaths. 

    “What do we do?” he asked himself. “What happened to him? He’s using his true potential form. What? Just shut up and let me handle it.” Swift grabbed onto his staff with both of his hands, holding it tight. “Maybe… maybe we should just give in. What? We can’t beat him now, the logical step would be- WE WON’T LOSE TO HIM!” The fire on the staff grew bigger. “I won’t lose again!”

______________________________________________

    “He’s too strong!” The Ice Emperor yelled.

    “Shut up!” Kai shouted. “I finally feel powerful and I’m NOT gonna let him take that away!”

    The Ice Emperor paused for a moment. "Kai."

    “What!?” Kai snapped. He glared at the Ice Emperor. The Ice Emperor stepped back slightly. 

    “This… this is…” The Ice Emperor mumbled.

    “Spit it out!” Kai yelled.

    “This is wrong!” 

    Kai blinked in surprise. “Why should you care?” he asked. “You don’t care about them anymore. You don’t care about anyone anymore.” Kai turned away.

    “I…” The Ice Emperor went quiet. He decided not to argue any further. At the beginning of all of this chaos, he didn’t feel anything for the people he hurt as this fusion. Kai’s friends, Vex, Ridge, they meant nothing to him. Besides, he had all of the power. He was in control. But now, Kai was the one in control of the power. And there was nothing he could do about it.

    ______________________________________________

    Ridge’s body glitched slightly as the strain started getting to him. He took some deep breaths before sending another barrage of crystals towards Swift. 

    “We’re so close,” Ridge mumbled to himself. “We can end this, we just need to…” Ridge stumbled slightly before regaining his footing. He shook his head. “Swift!” he yelled. “Come out and fight me! Stop being a coward!”

    Ridge stood still for a moment, waiting for Swift to make a move. Slowly, Swift walked back out into the open. Swift clutched onto his staff with both hands, not taking his eyes off of Ridge.

    The two fusions stood silently as they stared at each other. The only noise they made were the soft sounds of their breathing. Swift raised his staff towards Ridge, his arm shaky.

    “Let’s just end this,” he said. He launched another fiery blast towards Ridge who easily blocked it with a crystal wall. After Swift’s attack was done, he lowered the wall. 

    “Urk-” Ridge fell onto his knees as he finished lowering the wall. His body glitched again before fading to light as he turned back to normal. He knelt on the ground, breathing heavily as he struggled to keep himself together.

    “Heh,” Swift chuckled. “I knew you were weak.” He started walking up to Ridge. “You would never be able to beat me. You were just stalling this whole time, weren’t you?”

    Ridge looked up at Swift, unable to respond to him.

    “It really is pathetic,” Swift continued. He pointed his staff at the defenseless fusion. “I’ll make this quick.”

    As Swift readied his shot, Ridge punched his fist into the ground. The ground shook slightly before a rock shot up, knocking Swift onto the ground.

    Swift dropped his staff as he fell over. Ridge quickly got up and grabbed the staff before Swift could take it back. He suddenly felt all of his energy come back to him and the power surged through his body. His eyes began to glow an ominous blue-grey color. He turned towards Swift who was still on the ground, attempting to get up. Ridge quickly stopped him by pointing the staff at him, jolts of electricity sparking off of it. Swift stared at the staff in fear before looking up at Ridge. Ridge glared down at him, pure malice in his eyes.

    Swift was silent. Ridge stared at him, noticing the fear in his eyes and the slight shakiness of his body. He began to charge a blast, but shook his head, stopping himself. He looked down at the staff in fear before glaring again.

    “This ends now!” Ridge shouted before grabbing both ends of the staff and snapping it in two.

    “NO!” Swift shouted, trying to reach out to grab his staff, but he was too late. 

Ridge threw the broken pieces of the staff to the side. He turned back to Swift, but before he could react, Swift shot a blast of fire from his hand. Ridge was knocked back. He struggled to get back up as the strain started to return. 

“Swift-” Ridge tried to reason.

“YOU DESTROYED MY STAFF!” Swift shouted, shooting more fire at Ridge. “MY POWER IS GONE BECAUSE OF YOU!” 

Ridge was bombarded with fireballs, eventually falling backwards onto his back. Swift stopped shooting the fire at him and started walking over to him. Ridge attempted to get back up, but his body wouldn’t let him. Ridge lifted his head up, just barely managing to get it off of the ground.

“Swift… please…” Ridge said before letting his head fall back onto the ground. He closed his eyes, completely blacking out.

Swift held out an arm towards Ridge, a flame forming around it. He glared at Ridge, ready to blast him to finish him once in for all, but he hesitated.

______________________________________________

“Kai, stop!” The Ice Emperor pleaded.

Kai turned back towards him. The staff was destroyed, but the corruption still lingered.

“You can’t stop me!” Kai argued. “Once he’s gone, no one can stand in my way. In our way!”

“I won’t let you!” The Ice Emperor yelled. “I… I’ll protect him from you!”

“Protect?” Kai questioned. “You can’t protect anyone!”

“N-no, I… I'll...” The Ice Emperor froze. “I… I…” The walls of the mind realm turned to static. Faint images blinked in and out. Kai looked around in confusion. He looked back at the Emperor. He was holding the sides of his head and started breathing heavily. “I…”

“Zane?” Kai asked, concern on his face.

The walls went blank and Zane looked up at Kai. "What have I done?”

“Zane!” Kai yelled. He ran over to him as Zane fell to his knees. 

“I… I…” Zane struggled to speak.

“Zane,” Kai said, wrapping his arms around him, “it’s ok, I’m here for you.” he assured. “I’m here.”

Zane wrapped his arms around Kai. “I’m sorry…” he said as tears started forming. “I’m sorry…”

______________________________________________

Swift fell to his knees, staring at Ridge’s limp body in complete horror. “What have I done?” he asked himself. “I’m sorry!” Swift hugged himself as he began to cry. He leaned over himself as he held his chest. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I’m sorry!”

Swift sat in the snow, sobbing to himself as he processed all of his horrible actions. He just kept mumbling, I’m sorry over and over until his mumbles became incoherent.

Swift looked up as he saw the sky beginning to get darker. He looked back at Ridge before standing up. “It’s getting late,” he said. He looked down at Ridge. “Let’s go find somewhere to rest.”

Chapter Text

    Ridge grumbled slightly. He slowly opened his eyes as he became conscious, expecting to find himself in the snow, but was surprised to find that wasn’t the case. 

    “Urk-” Ridge mumbled as he sat up. His body was still in a lot of pain. He looked down, confused to see that there was a blanket on his lap. He took at his surroundings and noticed he was in a familiar place. It was dark, but he was able to easily tell that he was in the land bounty. He glanced over at the wall. There was a large chunk of ice blocking off the hole Swift had created when he tried to lure Ridge out. Ridge was confused, but continued looking around from where he sat. He saw something sitting in one of the chairs. It was hard to make out, so Ridge got up and walked over to it. It looked like a piece of pink cloth, but it also looked like something was underneath it. Ridge lifted up the piece of cloth and gasped as he saw the scroll of forbidden spinjitzu. It wasn’t attached to the staff anymore, but Ridge still knew how dangerous it was.

    “How did this get here?” Ridge questioned. “How did I even get here?”

    Ridge heard a quiet mumble and turned around. He saw someone else sleeping on the other side of the bounty. He couldn’t make out who it was due to the dark, so he slowly walked over to them. He clenched his fist just in case he needed to fight. As he approached, the mysterious figure rolled over, beginning to face Ridge.

    “Swift?” Ridge questioned, stepping back. He somehow managed not to wake up the other fusion, only disturb him enough to let out another mumble and scrunch his face up.

    Ridge stood still in complete silence, glancing back at the scroll before looking back at Swift. He noticed that Swift didn’t have a blanket and that part of his sleeve was ripped off. Ridge continued staring at Swift in confusion until the other fusion moved again.

    Swift slowly opened his eyes as he started to wake up before jumping back slightly as he saw Ridge.

    “R-Ridge!” Swift said. “You’re awake.”

    Ridge had a skeptical look on his face. “What are you doing here, Swift?” he asked. “Why did you bring me here?”

    “Sorry, would you have prefered I left you in the snow?” Swift retorted. “Where else was I supposed to bring you?”

    Ridge glanced back at the scroll before looking at Swift again. “What’s with the scroll?”

    Swift blinked before looking over at the scroll. He looked unconfortable which made Ridge calm his stance slightly. Swift rubbed his arm nervously while looking at the ground.

    “I didn’t want to just leave it there,” he replied. “It’s too dangerous. Master Wu will know what to do with it…”

    Ridge stared at Swift, not knowing how to react. 

    Swift looked back up at Ridge. “How… how are you feeling?” he asked.

    “Good,” Ridge replied. “My body is in a lot of pain, but at least I’m not dead.” Swift turned away from Ridge in shame. “Hey, is something wrong?”

    “I tried to kill you…” Swift whispered. “I just wanted to hurt you so bad… I wanted to make you suffer… I…”

    “Hey, it’s ok,” Ridge assured, kneeling down next to Swift. “You weren’t yourself. You were corrupted by the scroll, it wasn’t your fault.”

    “I couldn’t stop it…” Swift continued. “I knew the power was bad, but I didn’t try to fight it… I let it control me, I-” Swift went quiet. He closed his eyes and hugged himself, his body starting to shiver.

    “Swift,” Ridge said, putting his hand on Swift’s shoulder. “It’s gonna be ok.”

    Swift looked over at Ridge. He shook his head. “Why aren’t you giving up on me?” he asked. “After everything I did… after all of the people I hurt…”

    Ridge gave Swift a hug. “You’re my best friend, Swift,” he said. “I will never give up on you.”

    Swift pushed Ridge off of him. “What about that fight?” he asked, his voice more stern. “You gave up on me then, why can’t you just give up on me now!?”

    “I…” Ridge replied. “I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t know what to do! You tried to attack Krag and…” Ridge sighed. “I didn’t know if you’d come back or not.”

    Swift blinked. He looked down again. “Neither did I…”

    Both of the fusions sat in silence until they heard a strange noise coming from outside.

    “What was that?” Swift asked.

    “I don’t know,” Ridge replied. He stood up and looked out the window, Swift following close behind. He saw something standing out in the snowy wasteland outside and let out a gasp. “Krag!” Ridge cheered. He quickly ran towards the door and ran outside. Swift walked over to the door and watched nervously as Ridge ran towards the yeti.

    Krag looked over at Ridge and smiled before running to meet him halfway. He grabbed the fusion and hugged him.

    “ACK!” Ridge yelled as Krag hugged his aching body. 

    Krag put Ridge back down, letting him catch his breath. 

    After taking some breaths, Ridge looked back up at Krag. “I missed you, buddy.”

    Krag smiled before he looked over at the land bounty. He saw Swift standing in the doorway and started growling and yelling.

    “Woah woah woah,” Ridge calmed him down, “it’s ok, Swift is a friend. Friend.”

    Krag calmed down, but still seemed on edge. Ridge grabbed Krag’s hand and led him towards the land bounty. Swift tense up as they got closer before walking back into the land bounty. Ridge and Krag both walked into the land bounty.

    “Uh… hi,” Swift greeted the yeti awkwardly.

    Krag sniffed Swift before smiling and trapping him in a hug.

    “AGH!” Swift yelled.

    Ridge let out a soft chuckle. “He’s a hugger.”

    “I can see that!” Swift replied. Krag put Swift back down and the fusion leaned against the wall as he caught his breath.

    Ridge smiled at the two of them before he heard another noise. “Oh geez, what is it this time?” he asked, annoyed.

    The three of them walked back towards the window and were surprised to see a group of blizzard samurai.

    “B-blizzard samurai!?” Swift questioned. “How?”

    “I figured they would’ve stopped being frozen when the staff was destroyed,” Ridge said.

    “Me too,” Swift agreed.

    Krag let out a growl as he watched the samurai heading towards the forest.

    “We need to figure out what they’re doing,” Ridge said. “Krag, stay here. Swift and I will go investigate.”

    Ridge looked at Swift and the two of them nodded before leaving the land bounty. It was hard to sneak when they were put in the open like this, but they managed to stay hidden from the samurai. They eventually got ahead of the group and hid behind a rock as they waited for the samurai to pass by.

    “Let’s stop here for now,” they overheard one of them.

    “But won’t Vex get mad if he knows we stopped?”

    “Probably, but it’s not like it matters. He doesn’t have the Emperor anymore, remember?”

    “Yeah, but he was always stricter than the Emperor was,” they continued. “Vex won’t hesitate to lock us up. Or even worse.”

    “Whatever he does to us, I doubt it’ll be as bad as what he’s been doing to those ninja.”

    “The others!?” Ridge whispered in panic.

    “Shh!” Swift hushed.

    “Alright guys, let’s get going.”

    “What’ll happen if we run into Emperor Swift?”

    “It’s like what Vex said,” the samurai replied, “Emperor Swift is probably long gone by now. There’s no reason he’d stick around here for long.”

    Ridge and Swift waited for the samurai to leave before talking.

    “This is all my fault!” Swift said.

    “Calm down, Swift,” Ridge assured.

    “Lloyd and Nya are in danger because of me!” Swift yelled. “It’s my fault!”

    “It’s not your fault, Swift!” Ridge argued. “Look, we were gonna have to go back to the castle anyway to find them. Now we just have more information about what we’re gonna have to deal with when we go back.”

    Swift looked off in the distance nervously. Ridge realized he was staring off towards the ice castle. 

    “Don’t worry, Swift,” Ridge reassured. “It’s gonna be ok.”

    Swift let out a sigh. “Ok,” he replied. “We’d better get going.”

Chapter Text

    Ridge, Swift and Krag made their way back to the ice castle. It seemed that all the fire was gone now, and the castle looked like how it did before Swift took over. 

    “Alright, here’s the plan,” Ridge said. “We sneak in, try to find Lloyd and Nya, and then,” Ridge paused. He turned around to see Swift standing a decent length away from them, just staring at the castle. “Swift?” Ridge asked. “Are you ok?”

    Swift didn’t respond. He just stared at the castle.

    “Swift!” Ridge yelled.

    “Wh-what?” Swift replied as he snapped out of it. 

    “Are you ok?” Ridge asked gently.

    “I… yeah… I’ll be fine,” Swift assured.

    Ridge was still unsure, but chose to trust Swift. He turned back. “Ok, is everyone ready?”

    Krag nodded. Swift hesitated for a moment before nodding as well. 

    The three of them had no trouble getting rid of the guards at the front of the castle, after all, there were three of them and only two guards. As the three of them continued walking down the hall, Swift stopped them.

    “This way leads to the throne room,” Swift said. “Vex is probably there already and we need to find the others first.”

    “But last time I was here, they were in the throne room,” Ridge replied.

    Swift looked at Ridge. “They might still be there, but…” Swift shook his head. “You guys can go check the throne room and I’ll go look in the dungeon.”

    “Are you sure?” Ridge asked.

    “We’ll find them quicker this way,” Swift explained. “We can meet back up here, ok?”

    Before Ridge could respond, Swift was already leaving towards the dungeon. Ridge looked at Krag before letting out a sigh. “Let’s go.”

    The two of them entered the throne room. They tried their best to sneak around, but the room was so open that it was hard. The two of them managed to hide behind a large crystal of ice. Ridge gestured for Krag to stay down while he looked around. He looked up at the throne to see Vex sitting on it. 

    “General Vex, what happens if the Emperor comes back?” A soldier asked.

    “The Emperor is a coward,” Vex replied. “He ran away and if he comes back, we’ll fight him.” Vex paused for a moment. “That red ninja ruined my plans! The Ice Emperor never would have done any of this.”

    “General Vex, I apologize for asking, but how do you plan on beating the Emperor if he comes back?” The soldier asked. “He’s too powerful, he’d destroy us easily.”

    “Please. We have an entire army,” Vex replied. “And besides, we could make the prisoners fight for us if we need to.”

    “The prisoners?” Ridge whispered. He looked around the room and realized that the others were gone. The ice crystals they were trapped in were gone, only small pieces of ice where they used to be.

    “You are dismissed,” Vex said.

    The soldier nodded before walking away. Ridge quickly hid so the soldier wouldn’t see him. The room went quiet until Vex broke the silence.

    “You can come out now,” he said.

    Ridge froze up slightly. Krag looked like he was about to make a noise, but Ridge quickly hushed him.

    “I know you’re hiding, ninja,” Vex continued. “I’m surprised the Emperor didn’t kill you.”

    Ridge stood up. “He’s not an Emperor!” he argued. He walked out from behind the ice, Krag following behind him. “You can’t use him for your plans anymore.”

    “I don’t need him anymore,” Vex replied. He got up and started walking down the stairs of the throne. “I used the Ice Emperor to start taking over this realm, but now that he’s helped me make a mark, I don’t need him anymore.”

    “We’re gonna stop you,” Ridge replied.

    Vex laughed. “How do you plan on stopping me? You’re just one ninja and a yeti.”

    “Swift is here.”

    Vex’s eyes widened. “Wh-what?” 

    “Swift came with us. He’s here to stop you,” Ridge explained.

    Vex thought for a moment before smirking. “Fine. You can try, but I doubt you’ll get very far.”

    Ridge continued scowling at Vex, but said nothing.

    “Anyway, I assume you came here looking for your other ninja friends?” Vex asked. “I moved them elsewhere. The corrupted ice they were trapped in seemed to weaken out of nowhere, so it was much easier to get them out.”

    “Where are they!?” Ridge demanded.

    “I won’t tell you,” Vex replied, “but I will give you time to look for them. That’ll make this more interesting.”

    Ridge looked at Krag.

    “I would hurry if I were you,” Vex continued. “They may not be in the best condition when you find them.”

    “WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM!?” 

    Vex laughed. “Find them and you’ll see.”

    Ridge hesitated before leaving the throne room, Krag following. Krag made sure to growl at Vex before they left.

______________________________________________

    “It’s going to be ok,” Swift whispered to himself as he continued walking through the castle. “We’ll get through this, together. I… I can’t, I-” Swift’s body glitched slightly. “Just keep it together,” he told himself. Swift’s body glitched again. “I CAN’T!” Swift yelled before bursting into light.

    Kai and Zane both fell onto the ground. Kai quickly sat up. “Zane!” he said.

    “I’m sorry,” Zane apologized. “I thought I would be fine, but being here again…”

    “It’s ok,” Kai assured. “It’s going to be ok.”

    Zane looked at Kai, but found it hard to smile. Kai stood up and helped Zane off of the ground. 

    “For now, let’s just focus on finding the others,” Kai said.

    Zane looked away. “Will they even want to see me?” he asked.

    “Of course,” Kai replied. “We came here to save you. Our mission hasn’t changed, just the circumstances.”

    Zane still struggled to look at Kai. Kai grabbed Zane’s hand.

    “I forgave you,” Kai said gently. “I’m sure the others will too.”

    Zane finally looked at Kai. Kai gave him a warm smile. He always had the most beautiful smile. Zane felt tears forming in his eyes. He hugged Kai, causing the red ninja to stumble back slightly at the force of the hug. Kai returned the hug, resting his face in the nindroid’s shoulder. Zane finally let go, smiling back at Kai.

    “C’mon,” Kai said, “let’s find the others.”

    Zane nodded and the two of them continued sneaking down the hallways, making sure to avoid any guards. The two of them both noticed there were less guards than usual, which made it easier for them. 

    “We’re close to the dungeon,” Zane informed. “It should be just around this corner.” 

    The two of them looked around the corner to see if the coast was clear, which luckily it was. They both ran towards the door that led to the dungeon. Zane opened the door, waiting for Kai to walk through to close it. They walked down the hallway, looking for Lloyd and Nya. Kai looked into one of the cells and saw his sister sitting with her back to the cell door.

    “Nya!” Kai cheered.

    Nya jumped slightly before turning around. “Kai?” he questioned. She stood up and ran towards the cell bars. “Kai! It’s you, you’re back!” 

    “Not just me,” Kai said.

    Zane nervously walked over to the cell, smiling at Nya.

    “Zane!” Nya cheered. “Is that really you?”

    “Yes, it’s me,” Zane assured. 

    “We’re gonna get you out of here, Nya,” Kai said.

    “How?” Nya asked. “Only the guards have the keys to the cells.”

    “Hmmm,” Kai thought for a moment. “Here, let me try something. Stand back.”

    Kai put his hands on the metal bars. He started to heat them up, using up a lot of energy to make the metal hot enough to bend them. 

    “Ugh! I can’t do it!” Kai complained. “I’m not strong enough.”

    “Kai? Zane?”

    Kai and Zane both blinked before turning around to see Ridge and Krag entering the dungeon.

    “Ridge! Krag! You guys are here too?” Nya asked.

    “We don’t know how to get Nya out,” Kai explained as Ridge walked up to the cell. “I wasn’t strong enough to move the bars.”

    “Kai, you can’t just move the bars,” Ridge said. He grabbed onto the bars before easily pulling them apart, making enough room for Nya to climb out. “But I can.”

    Nya instantly ran up to Kai and hugged him.

    “I missed you so much!” she said.

    “I missed you too,” Kai replied.

    Nya let go of Kai before slapping him across the face.

    “OW! What was that for!?” Kai asked.

    “That’s for being an idiot and fusing with Zane when he was under the influence of the scroll!” Nya yelled. "You should've known something bad would happen!"

    “To be fair,” Zane stepped in, “if it wasn’t for Kai fusing with me, I don’t know if I would have gotten my memories back…” His voice drifted off.

    “Zane…” Nya said.

    Zane shook his head. “No sense in dwelling on the past,” he said. “Let’s go find Lloyd.”

    All of them continued walking through the dungeon until they came across Lloyd’s cell. The green ninja was laying on the ground.

    “Lloyd!” Kai said, but Lloyd didn’t respond. “Lloyd? Are you ok?”

    Ridge quickly opened up the cell. Kai and Nya both rushed in. Nya picked up Lloyd. He was unconscious and he had small scratches on his face, along with some cuts on his arms, rips in his gi where he was cut.

    “He’s cold,” Nya informed.

    “Lloyd!” Kai shouted, taking his body from Nya. He could see Lloyd’s chest rising and falling, but it was very weak. Kai quickly lifted his hand up, holding a flame near Lloyd’s body. Lloyd’s eyes slowly started to open. He blinked a couple of times as his eyes adjusted to the light.

    “Kai?” he asked weakly.

    “Lloyd,” Kai replied. “Lloyd, what happened?

    Lloyd sat up. “Vex… he moved us to the dungeon and…” Lloyd went quiet, falling over as he passed out again. Nya caught him before he fell onto the cold floor.

    “Let’s get him out of here,” Nya said.

    Kai nodded. The two of them left the cell, Nya carrying Lloyd. Zane looked at Lloyd, horror in his eyes.

    “What happened to him?” Ridge asked.

    “Vex did something,” Nya explained. “But Lloyd passed out again before he could explain.”

    Zane stepped back slightly, completely zoning out the rest of the conversation. Zane’s face slowly turned from shock and fear to anger. He turned away and started leaving the dungeon.

    “Zane? Where are you going?” Kai asked.

    Zane turned back towards the others. “You guys free the rest of the prisoners,” he ordered. “I’m going to take care of Vex.”

Chapter Text

    “Zane, wait!” Kai tried to go after him, but the others stopped him.

    “Kai, we need to get everyone else out,” Nya said.

    Kai looked back at the others. He opened his mouth as if he was going to argue with them, but said nothing.

    “He’ll be ok,” Ridge assured. “Urk-” Ridge’s body glitched out a little bit.

    “You gonna be ok?” Nya asked.

    “Y-yeah,” Ridge replied. “Let’s just hurry up and free everyone else.”

______________________________________________

    Zane walked through the castle, not even caring about sneaking around. He didn’t care if any guards saw him. All he cared about was finding Vex and making him pay. Zane figured Vex would be in the throne room. He was always in the throne room, rarely leaving and only leaving to mock the prisoners or check on the soldiers when he saw them doing things they weren’t supposed to be doing on his fragment of corrupted ice.

    Why is the ice still corrupted? Zane wondered. The scroll is gone. I don’t have it anymore… Why…

    Zane stopped his thoughts as he neared the throne room. Without hesitation, the nindroid stormed into the room. He stopped as he saw his former general standing in the middle.

    “Aw, if it isn’t the Ice Emperor,” Vex greeted, holding up his corrupted ice. “I’ve been expecting you.”

    “What did you do!?” Zane demanded. “What did you do to Lloyd!?”

    “You mean the green one?” Vex questioned. “I punished him of course. Not with my own hands, that would be outrageous. You see, after you left, the blizzard samurai had no one else to turn to, so I did what I had to do and I took control.”

    “What are you planning?” Zane asked. “You don’t have my ice powers anymore, what more damage can you do?”

    Vex laughed. “Please, with all of the damage you left behind, all I need to do is make the samurai conquer the rest of this land.”

    “You won’t get away with it!” Zane yelled. He began charging an icy blast, but hesitated as Vex started laughing again.

    “Looks like someone’s already falling back into old habits,” Vex taunted.

    Zane lowered his hand. “What?”

    Vex walked up to the nindroid. “I can imagine how hard it is for you,” he said. “Years and years of hurting so many innocent people. It must be hard to fight those violent urges.”

    Zane stepped back. “What are you talking about?” he asked. “I’m not violent, I-”

    “You’re first instinct was to use violence against me,” Vex continued. “I saw that anger in your eyes. The same anger I saw for all of those years.”

    “N-no, you’re wrong,” Zane argued.

    “Am I?” Vex asked. “After everything we’ve been through, I should know you better than anyone else, shouldn’t I?”

    “No!” Zane yelled. “My friends, they-”

    “Your friends?” Vex retorted. “Do you really think your ‘friends’ will stick with you after everything? After all of the people you’ve hurt, after all of the innocent lives you’ve taken?”

    Zane continued backing away from Vex until he reached a wall. Zane’s breathing got heavier and heavier as Vex continued speaking.

    “And you know you can’t argue with me,” Vex said. “You can’t deny what I’m saying. I was right there. I was right next to you as you ordered those attacks, as you ordered your samurai to kill. ”

    Zane tried to block out Vex’s words, but no matter what he did, the words wouldn’t go away.

    “Do they even know? Did you even tell them that you’ve killed? That you have blood on your hands? Or are you scared because you know what will happen when they find out?” Vex paused for a moment taking a couple of steps back. “You have nowhere to go now,” he said. “Nobody wants a monster like you.”

    Zane couldn’t speak. He wanted to force words out, ANY words, but nothing. He was speechless as he sat against the wall in a full panic. He felt his body freeze up, ice beginning to slowly crawl up his legs.

    “I…” Zane managed to speak, “I’m… I’m a monster…”

    Vex turned Zane’s face to his. “I may be willing to give you a second chance,” he offered. “Besides, who else would be able to accept you for what you’ve become?”

    Zane pushed Vex’s hand away. “I will NEVER help you!”

    “I see,” Vex replied. He snapped his fingers and two blizzard samurai entered the room.

    “What?” Zane questioned.

    The two guards walked over and grabbed Zane. They pulled him back towards the center of the throne room and pushed him onto the ground. Vex walked over with them, staring down at the nindroid with a grin on his face.

______________________________________________

    “Slow down,” Jay whined. He and Cole had finally unfused, too exhausted to keep going.

    “We’re not slowing down!” Kai yelled. “We need to find Zane!”

    “I’m sure Zane is ok, Kai,” Cole assured.

    Kai stopped abruptly as he heard guards approaching. He pressed himself against the wall, along with the others. 

    “Hurry!” one of the guards yelled. “Vex said he was going to take out the Ice Emperor and I don’t want to miss it!”

    “I’m coming, calm down.”

    Kai froze.

    “Kai?” Cole asked, placing his hand on his shoulder.

    Kai turned to Cole, pure anger on his face. “Cole, let’s mess them up.”

______________________________________________

    More and more soldiers entered the throne room. One of the original two guards had his foot placed against Zane’s back, preventing him from getting up. Another soldier handed an axe to Vex.

    “We had some fun times,” Vex said as he held the axe in his hands. “But, all things must come to an end.” Vex raised the axe into the air, Zane looking up in horror. Before Vex could strike, the axe was knocked out of his hands. “What the?” Vex questioned, watching as his axe flew out of his hands, another, far different looking axe looking to be the culprit.

    “YOU GET AWAY FROM HIM!”

    Vex and Zane both looked over to a figure standing in an inferno, a melted hole in the wall behind him.

    “Who are you!?” Vex demanded.

    “Vulcan?” Zane questioned.

    Without hesitation, Vulcan ran in, punching the guard standing on Zane, knocking him into a wall.

    “Get him!” Vex ordered, backing away.

    All of the blizzard samurai began to swarm the fusion, but he quickly started knocking each of them out, one by one.

    “Zane!”

    Zane looked up as Jay ran over to him. He helped the nindroid up off of the ground.

    “Jay?” Zane questioned. “Where are the others?”

    “We told them to get to safety,” Jay explained. “Are you ok?”

    “Y-yes,” Zane replied, “I am unharmed.”

    “Good.”

    “RAGH!”

    The two of them looked over at Vulcan as they heard him yelling. He was in a complete frenzy of rage. His entire body was on fire and he knocked out each soldier with extreme ease. Jay and Zane were both surprised he hadn’t entered his true potential form to mop the floor with the army even quicker. Eventually, every soldier was knocked onto the ground, unable to keep fighting. Vulcan took deep breaths as he calmed down, the fire around his body beginning to die down. He eventually turned into a ball of light, splitting back into Kai and Cole.

    “Yeah! You guys did it!” Jay cheered.

    The two of them walked over to Kai and Cole who were both on the ground, trying to get back up.

    “Kai, are you ok?” Zane asked.

    “Zane?” Kai questioned.

    “Yes, I’m- Ack!” Zane was cut off as Kai abruptly jumped up, hugging the nindroid as tight as he could.

    “Wow, you guys went crazy for a moment there,” Jay commented as he helped Cole up.

    “Actually, Kai did most of the work,” Cole responded. 

    Cole and Jay looked over as Kai and Zane continued to hug each other while laughing together. They smiled.

    “Impossible!” The ninja were interrupted from their happy moment as they heard Vex’s voice. “How could you just take out my entire army!?”

    The ninja all walked over to Vex, beginning to corner him. Kai’s fist became ignited in a flame. “I’m going to make sure you suffer for what you did you little-”

    “Kai,” Zane stopped him. “There’s no need for violence. I have a better idea for his punishment.”

    “Wh-what are you going to do to me?” Vex asked.

    “I think it’s only fair if someone like you spends the rest of your life rotting as a prisoner,” Zane replied.

    “Hold on,” Jay interrupted. “How are we going to fix all of this? The castle is still completely frozen!”

    Zane thought for a moment. “I was the one who caused this,” he said. “I believe I might be able to fix this.”

    “How?” Cole asked.

    Zane knelt down onto the ground, placing his hands on the icy floor. He closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath. He concentrated all of his power, focussing on the ice all around him. Slowly, the ice began to fade, the castle turning back to its former appearance. The ninja looked around in awe as the ice fluttered away, flying away as tiny snowflakes that disappeared in the wind. As Zane continued using his power, the spread got faster and faster, reaching throughout the entire realm. Every piece of corrupted ice faded away and every person once trapped in the ice became free once more.

    As the realm became free of the corrupted ice, Zane opened his eyes, breathing heavily and almost falling over as he tried to stand up. The others caught him and helped him off of the ground. The samurai all slowly sat up, now appearing as regular soldiers instead of blizzard samurai. 

    “Did… did I do it?” Zane asked.

    “You did it Zane,” Kai replied. “You did it.”

Chapter Text

    It took the people of the Never Realm some time to readjust after the eternal winter finally ended. The previous emperor took his throne back and Vex was thrown into the prison, just like the ninja had suggested.

    The ninja were unable to fix the land bounty, but they made sure to get all of the supplies left in there before leaving. They also spent some time in the village as they recovered before getting ready to head back. 

    Zane nervously looked at all of the villagers. Although most of them had forgiven him after learning about the true reason he had become the Ice Emperor, there were still some people who were not too fond of his presence. 

    “Are you sure you don’t want to fuse with me or Jay?” Cole asked. “They won’t give dirty looks to Chip or Techtonic.”

    “It’s fine, Cole,” Zane assured. 

    Zane just wanted to get back to Ninjago. He had been gone from his home for so long, and staying in the Never Realm just made him sick to his stomach, but he refused to tell the others about this. They all seemed so happy and he didn’t want to ruin that for them.

    Sorla had tended to Lloyd’s wounds so he wouldn’t have to worry about them when returning to Ninjago. Akita and her brother Kataru stayed in the village until Lloyd was better. The other ninja didn’t know the two of them very well, but they were Lloyd’s friends so they were ok with them.

    Eventually, the ninja were finally ready to return home. Using the tea and the berries Cole and Krag had gotten from the traveler’s tree, Sorla was able to brew it up and open a portal to Ninjago.

    “Thank you ninja, for everything,” Sorla said.

    “Hey, it’s just what we do,” Kai replied. “Thank you for all of the help.”

    Sorla nodded before turning towards the portal. “Your home is waiting for you.”

    The ninja waited for a moment before heading towards the portal. Kai, Jay and Nya all walked through the portal, instantly greeted by Master Wu and Pixal.

    “Kai! Jay! Nya!” Wu greeted, relief in his voice.

    Pixal ran up and gave Nya a big hug. “You’re safe!” she said.

    “Yep, we’re safe,” Nya replied.

    Zane nervously walked through the portal, looking around as he entered Ninjago.

    “Zane!” Pixal cheered, releasing Nya and running over to hug Zane.

    “Pixal, it’s been too long!” Zane greeted, hugging Pixal back.

    Pixal backed away as Master Wu walked up. Wu’s eyes got watery.

    “Zane,” he said.

    “I’m back, Master Wu,” Zane assured, giving his master a big hug.

    “Wait, where’s Lloyd and Cole?” Jay asked.

    Everyone looked over at the portal, waiting for the others to come through. Back in the Never Realm, Cole and Lloyd were saying goodbye to their friends.

    “I have to go, Krag,” Cole said.

    Krag let out a whimper, holding his arms out.

    “Of course, buddy,” Cole replied.

    Krag squeezed Cole as tight as he could. He shook the ninja a couple of times before finally letting him go.

    “I’m gonna miss you,” Cole said. He looked over at Lloyd who was talking to Akita.

    “You’re gonna be fine here, right?” Lloyd asked.

    “Of course,” Akita replied. “I know how to handle myself. I’ve lived in this realm my entire life.”

    “And if she needs help, she has her super strong brother to protect her!” Kataru added, scruffing up his sister's hair.

    “Knock it off, Kataru,” Akita laughed.

    Lloyd smiled. “I need to go back to Ninjago now,” he said. He began walking to the portal, along with Cole, both of them waving goodbye before leaving. 

    The portal closed behind Cole and Lloyd as they entered Ninjago. Everyone looked up at the beautiful sky, taking in the warmth of the air.

    “I feel like we deserve a bit of a break after all of that,” Jay said in somewhat of a joking matter.

    Wu sighed. “I suppose you do,” he admitted. “I apologize for acting so harsh before.”

    The ninja all looked over at Wu with surprised expressions.

    “But Master Wu, you were right,” Lloyd replied, “we were out of shape. We needed to start training again, we-”

    “I know,” Master Wu replied. “You were all becoming lazy, but I was wrong to force you all to continue training without rest.”

    “Wait, does this mean?” Cole asked.

    “No, you don’t get to stop training,” Wu replied. “However, I think you all deserve time to rest.”

    The ninja all cheered. Wu let out a laugh before heading back inside.

    “Alright, come inside everyone,” Wu directed. “It’s almost time to start dinner.”

    The ninja all started following Wu inside, but Zane stood still. Kai paused, looking back at him.

    “Zane? Are you coming?” he asked.

    “I…” Zane was quiet.

    Kai walked over, placing a hand on the nindroid’s shoulder. “Hey, it’s ok,” he assured. “Everything is back to normal now.”

    Zane smiled. “I’ll be inside in a little bit,” he replied.

    “Ok,” Kai responded. He turned around, heading inside and leaving Zane alone outside. 

    Zane’s smile faded as Kai left. He let out a sigh and looked down at his hands. He felt his body get shaky, but shook it off. He looked up and started walking inside to meet with the others.

    “Everything is back to normal now…” Zane whispered to himself.