Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

-Press “Start”-

Lloyd sighed as his mother continued scrolling on her phone, not even paying the least bit of attention to him.

“Mom. I don’t want to go to camp.” She continued ignoring him, until he just gave up and looked outside the window, his hands in his deep forest green hoodie.

His mom, Misako Garmadon, was a famous archaeologist. She had found many of the ambers or bones that scientists like Doctor Borg had used to bring back dragons. And because of her work, which had required her traveling a lot, and she had no time to take care of her son. She mostly just dumped him at camps until she was forced to pick him up. The first time she left him in a boarding school, Darkley’s school for bad boys, when he was three, it was also the last time she did. He caused a lot of trouble, or actually he just wasn’t “evil” enough, and they had to kick him out.

Lloyd had been trying to make his mom proud or spend time with him for all his life. His dad… well his dad was apparently the head of a criminal empire. Because when he was younger, his mom and him fell really ill. His dad was working as hard as he could to pay off their medical bills, but with his merger paying job as a martial arts sensei with his brother, and the bills increasing with every night in the hospital, they were in serious dept. So he had no choice but to borrow money from a loan shark named Chen. He hasn’t seen his dad for a long time. But, Lloyd knows his dad loves him very much. His mom did too, but nowadays, she was just too busy to show it. And he couldn’t help but resent her for it.

“Here we are, Master Lloyd.” The pilot announced, as Lloyd shot her a quick nod and thanked her.

“Bye Mom.” He called out, not bordering to wait for her reply. He grabbed his black bag with green stripes, yes that was his favourite colour, sue him, and jumped out the helicopter.

There were already several other kids waiting there, along with his uncle and his friend, Mistake, an old lady who was rather agile for her age, and assistant Pixel Borg, daughter of Cyrus Borg. A silver-haired girl with a light purple dress and dark blue jacket.

He walked past the gawking kids as he mumbled a soft “Hi Uncle Wu.” , before standing awkwardly beside another blonde boy with a white t-shirt and light blue jeans. Lloyd wasn’t a stranger to kids taking advantage or hating him for his wealth. His strategy was to A, act like a total snobby quiet, cold, rich kid until they left him alone, or B, ignore them. He was pretty partial on plan B.

“Hey, Smokers! Kai here, and I’m on my way to Camp Ninja!” Kai grinned his fire designed phone showing the natural surroundings of the First Realm theme park. He then glanced back at the other campers, turning his screen towards them as he continued his video. “And here are the other lucky campers that made it here as well!”

“Nya, my athlete sister has gotten an award, and was invited too!! I’m so proud of my baby sis!!” He smirked, ruffling her hair, despite her cries of “Hey! Stop it!!” Until she grabbed his arm and twisted it in an unnatural angle. “Ow! Okay okay!”

Nya rolled her eyes as she huffed annoyed at her spikey headed big brother’s antiques. Kai, as usual, was dressed in a red hoodie not zipped up, with an white shirt underneath, and ripped black jeans. What a dork. At least her fashion choice was better. She had on a striped light blue and white t-shirt, with black gloves and dark blue sports shoes, along with navy blue track pants. Okay.. maybe not that better.

Nya glanced to where Kai was continuing, undeterred, interviewing a nervous brown fluffy haired kid with an orange scarf around his neck, a navy blue sweater and black pants.

“Hi, what’s your name, and how did you get an invitation this exclusive camp?”

“Uhh Hi… I-I’m Jay..” He mumbled nervously before continuing. “I-…m-.. Umm…I-…”

Taking pity on the poor stuttering guy, Kai turned his attention to the next dude. “Hi! Name and why you came?”

The black haired guy, a quiet looking boy with headphones on, and a brown bandanna tied around his forehead, wearing a white slinglet with ripped black jeans, huffed at Kai, gruffly. “Cole. And I rather not be on camera.”

Kai sighed, before moving on to his next victim.

“Hi, I’m Zane! And my father, invented most of the cool security and cages they have here!” Zane grinned happily, as Kai let out a sigh of relief and fist bumped him. “I’m a big fan.”

“And last but not least you!” Kai said, smiling at a quiet blonde haired kid in a green hoodie. “I saw you get out of a helicopter! And you know Wu! So spill the beans!”

Lloyd glared at him silently, but unfortunately, Kai was too thick-headed to take the hint. So he went for being rude. “It’s none of your business. Leave me alone.”

“Oi! Don’t talk to my brother like that!” Nya growled, as Kai glared at him as well. “He was just asking.”

“Whatever.”

“Why you-“

Suddenly, the truck stopped, as Wu and Mistake stepped out, tasers at the ready. The rest of them fell silent.

“It’s nothing, sometimes, dragons get out of their pens. We’ll take care of this.” Wu assured them, putting a straw hat on top of his blond hair.

The campers and Pixel watched silently, as the counsellors stalked further into the jungle. Jay gulped, hearing a noise in the bushes. Turning around slowly, he saw the bushes were rustling more intensely. Whatever it was, it was getting closer. “U-umm… g-guys?”

But his voice was too soft, so no one turned around, as he glanced worriedly at the bushes. “U-umm g-guys- ah!” He yelped as a small dragon leaped out and tackled him, startling the rest of them who had thought the dragon was going to come from the direction Wu and Mistake walked off in.

A small green dragon stood on Jay’s chest, sniffing his curiously with bright blue eyes. Jay whimpered softly, trying to get it off him with angering the dragon. It cocked it’s head curiously at the sound, and just as it opened its mouth to either breath fire or make a sound, it was swept up into a bag by Pixel. They cheered, congratulating the sliver haired girl, who blushed at all the attention.

Not soon after, Wu and Mistake came back empty handed, and was happy to see Pixel’s catch. Apparently, according to Zane, the dragon was called a Chompy, and were always finding ways to escape from their pens. But they were generally harmless. Soon, they arrived at their camp, a beautiful treehouse area.

“I call top bunk!” Kai yelled, beginning a race between the kids, as they all dashed towards the dorms, trying to claim the best bed before anyone else could.

“Why aren’t you joining them, Nephew?” His uncle asked, placing a hand on his shoulder, as he stared down at a puddle.

“I…I don’t know.” Lloyd whispered softly, arms around himself.

“You don’t know? Never heard of it! The real reason, young Garmadon.” Mistake barked out, ruffling his hair.

“I-I… can I go see dragons?” He asked, looking so small that Wu saw another small reddish brown headed child in his position, as he begged his parents.

“Pfft there’s the rest of the two weeks for that!” Mistake told him, smiling, before continuing in a more serious tone. “Why don’t you have fun, get to know the other youngsters better? They’re good people.”

“…”

“Lloyd, just because others like her hurt you in the past, it doesn’t mean you should keep a distance and not let anyone close.” Wu said softly, before giving him a big hug.

“I-I’ll try. Thanks Uncle Wu, Mistake.”

“Where do you think you’re going?” Kai asked, raising an eyebrow at the blonde kid sneaking out. “It’s past curfew.”

“I.. apologise. I just wanted to see the dragons, and the cages. Me and my father worked on them together, but I’ve never seen dragons in them before.” Zane replied, sheepishly.

“Well, Zane, you’re in luck! Let’s go see them together! I need new content anyways-“ Kai started, placing a hand on Zane’s shoulder, before they froze as a familiar silver haired girl appeared in the lift in front of them. “Why are you two out so late? It’s past curfew.”

“We’re-“ Zane opened his mouth, truth on the tip of his tongue, before Kai cut in. “Getting a drink! Right Zane?”

Unfortunately Zane wasn’t good at lying. “But we’re not? We were going to go check out a nearby paddock.”

Kai face-palmed.

“It’s against the rules.” Pixel told them, brow furrowing. “And you have the next two weeks to see them.”

“Yeah but we can’t wait! Please Pixel?” Kai begged, both of them giving her puppy dog eyes.

“… Fine. I believe the nearest pen is the Chompy paddock. They’re rather harmless, so it should be okay.”

“YES! Thanks Pix!”

“It’s too dark to see anything.” Kai pouted, as they stood at the railings of a nearby enclosure. “I’m going to try and see if I can get anything.”

Despite the protests of the other two, Kai climbed down, and stood on a pipe, but all he saw was darkness. He tried to climb back up, but he dropped his phone. And Kai being Kai, jumped into the enclosure to retrieve it.

“Well Smokers, I hope you’ll love a close up view of dragons.”

Zane scanned the darkness, on edge. Something wasn’t right. Then, he saw a shadow speed past. A shadow that was definitely not a Chompy. And judging from the height, the speed and the size, it was a lightning raptor. Kai was in serious danger.

“Kai! Kai! This isn’t the Chompy pen! It’s the lightning raptor’s! You have to get out of there!” He whispered-shouted, as not to attract attention fro the dragon.

“WHAT DID YOU SAY?” Too late. Zane sighed, before jumping down to help his friend, Pixar watching terrified from the top.

The raptor growled, it’s blue eyes glowing, narrowing into slits as it stared down its prey. Lightning seemed to buzz in the air as it stalked closer and closer to the two boys. Suddenly, a bright light, courtesy of Pixel shined directly in its face, as it hissed, turning and running away.

“HELL YEAH!”

“THANKS PIX- FSM!”

The raptor hissed, its pack behind him. Before they ran at light speed towards the boys, ramming the gate that blocked them from their prey.

“FSM. We’re both going to die.”

“Don’t be stupid, help me find a raptor skull!”

“AND HOW THE HECK IS THAT GOING TO HELP US!?”

Luckily, the gate opened as Wu rushed in, dragging the boys out in the nick of time, as Mystake lowered huge chunks of meat down to distract them.

“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!? You could have gotten yourselves killed!” Wu raged, hitting them both on the head with his bamboo staff.

The boys looked down, dejectedly. Pixel had gotten a scolding and a warning, but their punishment was being handed to Wu, and there was no way he was going to let them off easy.

Chapter Text

-You’ve been my muse for a long time-

“Have fun!” Nya smirked as she tossed two shovels at the boys. Kai growled as Zane merely looked extremely dejected. He had never broken rules before. And now he couldn’t get a chance to look at the famed Doctor Borg’s lab. And worse, he had dragged Kai into this mess. He had to make it up to him.

“Kai… I am sorry for getting you into trouble.” Zane said meekly, shovelling a pile of poop. “Don’t sweat it dude. It was kinda my fault anyways.” He shrugged, wiping the sweat of his forehead. In fact, despite it being Kai who jumped in the pen and caused all the commotion, he was merely sitting under a tree as he scrolled through his channel, fanning himself with a leaf. Poor Zane was doing all the hard work.

“How about I make it up to you?”

“I think you’re doing a pretty good job at that buddy.” Kai told him, raising an eyebrow.

“While working on the pens, I saw some blueprints of a tunnel walkway used for behind-the-scenes tour. Would you like to take a look? I think your viewers would appreciate it too. “

“Whoa, really?! Hell yeah buddy!” He slung an arm over the other boy, grinning in excitement.

“You sure we should be in here? I don’t want to be kicked out of camp.” Kai told Zane, flashing his phone’s flashlight as they walked through the dark tunnels. “I am eighty percent sure we should be fine. These tunnels were made for the rich sponsors to view the park, it should be safe.”

“‘Eighty percent’ and ‘should’ don’t necessarily boost my confidence, but sure, I guess I’ll follow your lead.”

“Whoa there girl, are you okay?” Jay cooed gently as he caught a baby dragon hatchling almost falling off the table. It had just hatched out of its egg. It was adorable, despite Dr Borg’s comment about its horns being asymmetrical. She was a beautiful blue that nuzzled into his hand, yawning up at him. 

“I’ll name you….Wisp.”

He really really wanted to keep her. He begged Dr Borg and Mr Wu, but they told him that Wisp was park property. Seeing his pleading face, Dr Borg and Wu relented, telling him that he could only keep Wisp for the remainder of the camp. And he had to take care of her properly. Even one slip up or even one wound on the dragon and they would take her away.

Jay beamed. His parents had never let him have a pet before! He was going to be the best caretaker ever! 

“I-I’ll be super responsible and everything! Sir! I will take care of Wisp properly!” The others shoot him jealous looks, but he was too excited to care. Wisp nuzzled his hand in joy.

“Where are we?” Kai questioned looking around the unfamiliar scenery. They had ended up in a green pasture, with trees and bushes everywhere.

“By the looks of it, I think we are near the Wind dragon’s pasture.” Zane told him, walking further in front.

“It’s.. harmless, right?”

“Wind dragons are typically peaceful creatures, and they will not attack unless provoked.”

“That’s a relief.” He sighed, as Zane continued walking forward. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks as he stared at a grey fence. “Umm Zane? Why does the fence look so weird?”

Zane stopped, and quickly rushed over to take a look. He gasped in horror. “I believe… that is because we are on the wrong side of the paddock.”

“Umm what’s that supposed to mean?” He gulped, glancing at the other boy nervously.

A growl from behind answered his question, as they slowly turned around to see a brown dragon with black eyes, and holes in its wings stare down at them.

Lloyd glanced at the sporty girl- what’s her name? Mia? She was filming in place of her brother, on her phone as she interviewed Doctor Borg. He was about to turn away when something caught his eye. It was the emo muscular guy- he was sneaking into Borg’s lab. He raised an eyebrow, but made no move to stop him. It wasn’t any of his business anyways. But, just in case. He waited until the others were distracted, with frog eyes or something, and followed him in.

Shifting through Borg’s documents to see if he took anything, but by the looks of it, he didn’t. There was something interesting, Borg was working on a new dragon. Lloyd was about to leave, but he decided otherwise. What if he messed with something on Borg’s computer?

“What’s going on!? L-Lloyd?! What are you doing here?” Ah shoot. Of course he would rig it.

“YOU SAID THE TUNNELS WERE SAFE!” Kai screamed, dodging a molten lavaball that barely missed his arm.

“I DIDN’T KNOW THAT THEY WOULD LEAD US INTO A PADDOCK!” Zane yelled back, desperately looking for a way out. “LOOK! Over there!”

They raced towards a small opening where the feeders would put food into, and quickly crawled out. Or at least, Kai did.

“Help! I’m stuck!” Zane yelled, banging the bars, trying to escape. The dragon looked over him dangerously as Kai glanced between him and the dragon, before quickly bolting off. “K-kai? KAI PLEASE! HELP ME!”

Zane stared back at the dragon, frozen. This was it. He was going to die . All because he broke a rule and couldn’t even stay safe with the campers. And Kai… Kai left him. He left him to die. I thought he was my friend… For the whole of Zane Julien’s life, he had always been an outcast. No one wanted to talk to the weird robotic like kid. And when he finally thought he made a friend, he left .

Before the dragon could eat him, a branch opened up the doors and he fell through. “C’mon! Let’s go!” Kai barked at him as he knelt there, frozen. “Y-you came back..?”

“Of course I did, dummy. You’re my friend.” Kai told him, looking as if that was the stupidest thing he had heard. “Now c’mon! Let’s get back before the others noticed we were gone.”

“I’m disappointed in you, nephew.” Wu told him, shaking his head, as they stood in the common room, the others had already gone to bed. “You usually don’t do things like that.”

“I just…” He was about to tell his uncle the truth, but he caught the hedgehog hair and emo boy standing by the corner. It wouldn’t do him any good to tell on him. He didn’t have any proof, and turning the campers on him on the second day had no benefits. So he decided to lie. “Sorry I… I was curious, my mom said that they were working on a new dragon and I wanted to see what it was.”

“I was like you at your age once, but that doesn’t mean you can snoop through other people’s things. I’m letting you off with a warning.” His uncle warned him, before smacking him on his head with his bamboo staff, then ruffling him on his head.

Walking by the campers, he ignored their whispers and judging glares.

“What? He got off scot free?!”

“Tch. Must be nice being filthy rich.”

“Please Wu is so playing favourites.”

“I admit this is rather strange.”

“G-guys! What if he h-hears us?”

“Who cares?”

It was the same wherever he went. Labels defined him. Everyone used others to get what they wanted. She taught him that.

“Oh Lloyd. Don’t you know? People are just ladder rugs for others to climb. I never loved you. I only needed you for your money.”

He climbed the stairs, not looking back despite the slander. He wasn’t a villain. He was just protecting himself. He tried being nice, being kind. Being himself. But the world shunned him.

Are we too young for this?

Chapter Text

-You get me through every dark night-

“Hi.” Jay looked up in surprise, as Cole sat next to him. Strange… people didn’t really take the effort to sit next to him often. Oh no. Was he taking too much of the sofa? Or was -

He took a deep breath to calm himself down before he went spiralling into another panic attack. “O-oh.. h-hello.”

Wisp nuzzled the newcomer, before slinking away to Jay’s lap. She had been growing at a remarkable rate. After all, he had followed Dr Borg’s instructions to a T, and the dragon was healthy than ever. She used to be as big as his palm, now she was the size of a small plush.

Awkward silence reigned between them, as Jay sketched nervously, eyes darting to the other every now and then. Soon after, he just lost himself an his art. He even forgot Cole was there until the boy commented on his drawings.

“Cool sketches. Are you an artist?”

“O-oh! N-no, of course not! They’re not that good anyways, just something I like to do as a hobby.” Jay told him, smiling sheepishly. “Could I see?”

“S-sure!” He passed his notebook to Cole, as he flipped through page by page, marvelling at the detailed drawings of plants, dragons, scenery. But a few pages at the back caught his attention. “So… Nya huh?”

Jay turned extremely red as he snatched the sketchbook away, eyes darting around for the said girl before he protested nervously. “N-no! I-I mean… she’s really pretty…”

Cole shot him a sly look, before nudging him. “C’mon dude! Tell her! Or make friends with her, so that she’ll slowly fall in love with you!”

Jay shook his head frantically. “N-no! I can’t!” There was no way he was telling Nya he liked her. No way.

“Oooh! Does Jay have a crush on someone?” Kai asked, popping out from behind the sofa, startling Jay so bad he fell off the sofa. “N-NO! I don’t!”

He quickly snatched the notebook and ran away, feeling tears form at his eyes. He quickly wiped them away. Mentally berating himself. Why did I run away like that?! I could’ve become closer with them, made more friends! I’m such a loser…

Wisp was quick to chase after him from her perch, screeching at the others before nuzzling his legs. Trying to give him as much comfort as she could.

From the first moment Nya saw Lloyd Garmadon, she hated him. All of them had been gathered at the meeting point, and the boat had been ready to sail off. If it wasn’t for him. Just because he was rich he thought he could do whatever he wanted. Tch. She’ll prove him wrong. Unfortunately she jinxed herself.

“What?! No way! I’m not going with him!” Kai groaned, glancing at Jay in the cockpit. They were riding gyro-spheres today, along with a herbivore herd of dragons. Kai really wanted to be the driver. But unfortunately because of the time he and Nya spent bickering on who should be the driver, all the spheres as already been taken. The only two left was one with Jay, as the driver, and Lloyd as a passenger.

The one with Lloyd was out, which only left him with Jay. Nya, who rather be the driver, despite her distaste for Lloyd, had already made a beeline for it, and by the wicked grin on her face, the boy was going to suffer. But unfortunately… so was he.

Jay nervously pushed the control stick forward a little, and smashed his face into the glass. Proving Kai’s point. Damm it. He cursed before Mystake hit him on the head with Wu’s stick. “Language, young smith!”

Nya glanced at the boy beside her, he had headphones on, clearly looking forward to avoiding conversation. That’s fine. Actions speak louder then words. Let’s see the speed limit of the famous gyro sphere. He startled a little when she suddenly pulled the stick and the whole sphere rushed forward at max speed.

She weaved her way through the herd, smirking, he was definitely scared now. Boys, mainly Kai, couldn’t handle her speed. But her face fell when Lloyd merely smiled, his calm expression only added more fuel to her flame. His mistake. But darn it! This blasted sphere was useless. It’s max speed barely surpassed those stupidly slow walking dragons. Argh.

Suddenly, the sphere increased its speed out of nowhere, and she grinned. Guess the old bucket had some good tricks after all. She continued, totally forgetting about her beef with the boy next to her.

Out of nowhere, a dragon broke loose from the back of the herd, while everyone else was at the front. Zane quickly raced to catch it, and the other campers were quick to follow. “We should block his path.”

“U-umm guys? I don’t think that’s a good- “  Jay added, before Kai groaned and took the wheel. “C’mon! You’re so slow!”

“Safety first!”

“Live a little Jay!”

Unfortunately, their little argument caused the gyro sphere to spin out of control, knocking into Nya and Lloyd, as well as the purple dragon, which roared in anger and used it’s tail to bash Zane and Cole into the woods.

Wu immediately turned the jeep around at the screams, before a dragon knocked into them and sent them crashing into nearby rocks. The screams had startled the dragons and the whole herd and gone into utter chaos. Dragons were stampeding everywhere and all the staff ducked for cover. It was total madness. Wu glanced worriedly at the woods. Hopefully, his nephew and the others were alright.

Lloyd blearily blinked opened his eyes, waiting for his head to stop spinning. His thoughts felt like fuzz as he glanced at the girl beside him. What was her name again? Why was our gyrosphere upside down?

He pushed the control stick forward as memories came flooding back to him. Oh right. That dragon had been startled by the idiotic hedgehog and Jay. He winced as the turn caused the girl beside him to hit her head on the seat. Hard . But by the looks of it, she should be awake soon. He hoped she didn’t have a concussion. That wouldn’t help their situation at all.

He glanced around at the familiar surroundings. He made many fond memories with his cousin here. While Mum and Uncle Wu were busy, he and Morro would sneak off towards the trees, and have the time of their lives playing, while avoiding the security cameras and search parties for as long as they could. They even had an ongoing bet that lasted for several years on it.

“Whoever can stay hidden for the longest time while beating the other to Borg’s lab wins!” Morro smirked, holding out his hand as Lloyd shakes it.

“Half your candy stash?”

“Half of yours!” He cackled, taking off.

“OI CHEATER!” He yelled, chasing after the boy, pouting as his short legs gave him a big disadvantage.

He stopped to rest after a few minutes, out of breath from chasing his stupid long legged cousin. Dammit it! It was so unfair that he was born eight years earlier. When he grew up, he was going to grow taller than that giraffe. He had already started drinking milk everyday. Soon, he’ll have his revenge and look down on his cousin.

A nearby rustling sound caused him to turn around. “Morro? I’m not falling for your bush trick again!”

His cousin had pranked him by doing the same thing a day ago, recording it on his phone as blackmail and revenge for his slime prank. He made a rustling sound the the bushes, and while Lloyd was investigating it, he jumped out from behind and scared him so hard, he fell into the bushes. He was still plotting to delete it. And for double revenge.

But a white dragon tackled him, causing him to tumble down a small hill, giggling as he smiled fondly at it. “Ultra!”

The four headed ivory white dragon mewled at him, bounding excitedly around him. The dragon was beautiful. The was a gem on each head, that had an otherworldly sparkle when the light hit it. Each head could also breathe a different kind of element, and she was his.

The mother had borne seven, and Ultra, the youngest, had been really sick when she was young. The scientists had tried everything, but she couldn’t be cured. They were considering putting her out of her misery. He stepped in, and offered to help. And they relented. After all, it was going to die soon. What harm would there be in giving it away to a kid?

Due to his attentive care and Morro’s guidance, they managed to heal the dragon. Ultra had become as good and as healthy as her siblings. However, her increased growth rate had malfunctioned due to her sickness, and she could no longer grow as fast. But he and Morro still loved her all the same.

Said dragon was still licking him, before he pushed her away, laughing. “C’mon girl! We can’t let Morro have my candy stash! Let’s go!”

However, Ultra had grown to the size that was big enough for a six year old to ride, and they took off the the sky easily.

Needless to say, a disgruntled Morro gave him his half of his candy stash as bargained, grumbling about baning Ultra from future bets.

Lloyd moved the control stick carefully, making his way through the forest to the camp as slowly as possible. He didn’t want the sporty girl to barf as soon as she woke up. Because he was a nice person.

“GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME!” The girl screeched, suddenly jerking up into a sitting position all of a sudden as she woke up. He startled, jerking the control stick forward on instinct and the girl hit her head on the seat, and glared at him angrily. “Seriously dude?!”

He frowned at her, before she caught sight of something more interesting behind him. “Look! It’s that dragon from before! I bet we can still catch it!”

She said, her hand reaching for the control stick he refused to let go. “We already did that once before, and look where that got us!”

“Aww is the little wittle momma boy scared of a little wittle dragon?” She mocked, as his fingers curled into a fist. But he didn’t reply, and that seemed to fuel her ego.

“C’mon! Don’t be a chicken! Let’s go!” She sneered, trying her best to wrangle the control back from him.

Unluckily for her, he had plenty of experience with Morro, and his hand stayed firmly on the gear. “It’s called being cautious, idiot! And if you guys had just listened to Jay, we wouldn’t be in this mess!”

“Listen to Jay? You didn’t say anything back there, and now you’re blaming me?!”

“I’m not blaming anyone! I’m just stating facts!”

“And how’s facts going to help us now, wise guy?”

“It’ll help us from making the same mistake twice! So listen to me and let’s get out of here! The park staff can handle this!”

“YOU’RE SO SELFISH! You don’t care about that dragon at all! You don’t care about your Uncle, us, you don’t care about anyone other than yourself!”

He glared at her, the familiar feeling of anger flowing through his veins.

“In fact, I bet that Wu’s ashamed to even be related to you!”

“ Shut. Up.”

“Listen to you? What a hypocrite! You didn’t listen to anyone! Not Zane when he politely asked you to get out of his way, not Kai when he asked if you would want to be in his video, that millions watch!” She listed, not stopping despite his whispered hiss. “You think that just because you’re rich you can get away with anything! Some of us had to work our way up here! Unlike you who just got everything because you were born into a rich family!”

“ YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT MY FAMILY!” He screamed, just as they were knocked back, the glass cracking.

Apparently the dragon nearby had heard their little argument. And was not happy about it. It headbutted their sphere into a muddy puddle nearby. And of course just his luck. It was quick sand.

Kai sighed, glaring at the boy beside him. It was all his fault they were in this situation. Now they were stranded in the middle of a forest with no way back.

Jay glanced at him, before they both huffed at each other and looked away.

“Nyyyaaa!” He called, glancing around the woods. “Zaaannne? Cooolllee?”

“Hush! Not so loud! The dragons might hear you!” Jay whispered, trying to walk as quietly as he could, making him much slower than Kai. Who turned around irritated.

“Which dragon, Jay? The one you startled because you wouldn’t let me drive!”

“…” Jay looked down at the ground. It wasn’t his fault. They didn’t know how to handle spooked animals. He did.

“Jay darlin’! Happy birthday!” His parents cheered, as he tore open the wrapping paper to find a book on animals that he had desperately wanted.

His parents didn’t have much money. In fact, they lived in a junkyard, making money off the scraps. Despite the bullying and insults, Jay liked living there. There were lots of cool scraps and parts that he and his family used to invent new things together. But one thing he really loved other than inventing was; animals.

In fact, whenever he saw a stray cat, or injured rabbit, he would bring them back to his house and slowly nurse them back to health.

“Here, kitty, kitty. Don’t be scared, your good friend Jay will-!” Jay said, walking slowly towards the kitten, trying not to show it that he meant no harm. However, the cat didn’t take that the same way, but instead went for his legs, and escaped. “Wait! You shouldn’t be running yet!”

True enough, the cat stopped after a while, letting out a painful hiss and a mournful mewl as it’s ankle prevented it from traveling any further.

“Kitty, I’m not going to hurt you, I promise.” He told her, before kneeling down a distance away from the kitten, snacks in his hand.

The cat looked doubtful of him, before slowing taking its time to limp over to him. She took a bite of the threats, then immediately started scarfing the rest down. He smiled, before tenaciously patting the cat softly. Once the cat had deemed that he wasn’t a threat, he took her back to his house and until her leg was as good as new.

Jay took a deep breath, before making a feeble attempt to stand up for himself. He didn’t come to this camp just to get bullied. “I was the driver. And I’ve taken care of stray animals before. They always get spooked when you corner them. I’m not just a pushover, Kai. But maybe, you should start considering others before you just jump head first into fire. Or people might get burned.”

And with that, he walked away, leaving Kai there, stunned as he took in his words.

Cole groaned, as Zane mumbled more methods of getting out of the tree barrier that they were stuck behind. They were probably worse off then the others.

He glanced around his surroundings, honestly considering ditching the sphere and just climbing over the tree at this point. But suddenly, their comms crackled to life.

“H-help… can- can… s-si….nk.. hole! W…e’re…”

He quickly glanced at Zane, who wore a similar expression of horror. He tapped his earpiece desperately, hoping it wasn’t too late for Nya and Lloyd. “Guys? Guys! We read you, come in!”

Unfortunately, all that followed was static. Zane had immediately sprung into action, trying his best to fix his earpiece, in hopes of helping. While Cole had glanced around frantically, seriously considering ditching their sphere now. Suddenly, he spotted some branches scattered around, and quickly scrambled out of the vehicle. He had an idea.

“Yeah! Good job!” They cheered, fist bumping. The branch ramp had worked, and they were saved. Time for a rescue mission.

They screamed, as out of nowhere, Jay and Kai were walking out on the path, and they almost crashed into them. Welp. The sphere has reached mass capacity now…

Lloyd glanced back at the clearheaded girl beside him. Despite their obviously deadly situation, she remained calm, trying all sorts of ideas to get them out. Unfortunately, the dragon had knocked a hole into the top of their sphere, and they were running out of time. He considered using his powers… airjitsu or maybe summoning his dragon would work, but… he hadn’t wanted anyone to see. Maybe Uncle Wu had some sort of tea to erase memories?

He sighed, before deciding to be the bigger person. Using his powers just wasn’t worth it. Besides, mortals always found a way to get out of sticky situations at the last moment. Worse come to worse he would airjitsu them out of here.

“Hey… I’m sorry. For being rude and all. I just… preferred to be alone.” Lloyd told her, not looking at said girl, but at the mud that was slowly covering their whole sphere.

“I’m….s…s..sorry too. You were…. Right. I don’t know anything about your family.” She admitted begrudgingly, as she held her hand out for a handshake. “Truce?”

“Truce.”

Suddenly, a rope made out of vines was thrown through the hole of their sphere, a familiar voice yelling at them to grab it. “C’mon it’s no Rapunzel’s hair, but I’ll be your prince!”

“SHUT UP KAI!” Nya called back, laughing as they were slowly pulled out of the sinkhole. At last, they were saved. And maybe.. just maybe.. Lloyd Garmadon wasn’t so bad after all.

Lloyd smiled softly to himself, scrolling through some photos on his phone. He rather enjoyed photography, and secretly snapping photos of their rescue was cool. They laughed and joked about it a lot after that. Suddenly, in one of the photos, something caught his eye, and he zoomed in. Behind Nya and the hedgehog hair wrestling, was… the muscular Emo guy. And he was plucking something out of the dragon into a vial.

His eyes narrowed, not noticing there was someone behind him. First sneaking into Dr Borg’s lab, now this? The Emo was acting very suspiciously. He was going to get to the bottom of this.

Chapter Text

-I’m always gone, out on the go-

Lloyd frantically searched his room. Dammit! dammit! Where was it?! His phone was gone. His evidence was gone. The Emo guy must’ve took it.

Without proof, no one who believe him. He was on a truce with Nya, who barely acknowledged his existence, but at least she didn’t go out of her way to ignore him or roll her eyes and scoff at him like last time. He didn’t even know the names of the others, while Emo was in everyone else’s good books. There was no way he could accuse him without proof. He would be hated.

But if he was going to hurt the dragons… then he was going to have to speak up. No one would hurt those innocent creatures on his watch. Besides…being hated by teens? Nothing new.

“Hi Pix! Where’s Wu and Misako?” Nya questioned, as they all sat around the couch. Nya was reading a book, Kai snapping photos, Jay was drawing and Cole sitting by his side listening to music. Zane was talking with Pixal.

“I believe that they went to headquarters, and will be back soon.”

Kai brightened up excitedly. “So… does this mean we can do whatever we want?”

“As long as it’s within camp premises. Most preferably indoors.” She replied, as the lift doors opened.

Time for the truth.

“Has anyone seen my phone?” Lloyd asked, as all eyes turned to him. Blue stopped sketching and Emo took his headphones down.

“No.” Nya said, as she continued reading her book. Not even bothering to look up.

“When I went to get my phone from the charger, it wasn’t there. Someone took it.” He insisted, glaring at the culprit, who turned away nervously.

“We all have our own phones. Why would we take yours?” Mr Know-it-all asked, brow furrowing in confusion.

“Maybe someone wanted to hide some evidence on it.” He said suggestively, his eyes never leaving the Emo.

“Cole didn’t steal your phone.” Blue piped up, glaring back at him.

“Why don’t we search your bag and find out, Brookstone?” He spat, despite the Emo’s blatant lies.

“I didn’t take it.”

“Then you should have nothing to hide.”

“STOP!” Hedgehog protested, standing in front of him. “I don’t care how rich you are, you can’t just go through someone’s belongings like that!”

“Yeah, do you even have any proof he stole it?” Nya asked, as he glared at them.

Suddenly, a roar in the distance distracted all of them as they rushed to the nearest window.

“What is that?” Nya questioned curiously.

“I think it might be a new dragon.” Pixal replied. “I don’t recognise that roar.”

“C’mon! Let’s go to the observatory! I bet we could see it from there!” Hedgehog smirked, dashing towards the lift, his sister close behind.

“Umm guys..? Mr Wu and Mistake told us to stay here…” Blue trailed off nervously, before Hedgehog dragged him along.

“Dude, it’s going to be fine! We’re going to be in and out! They won’t even notice we’re gone!”

“If you say so…” He couldn’t help the feeling of doom clouding over him as the lift doors closed. Something bad was going to happen, he just knew it.

Just as the lift door closed, a faint crackle was heard over the walkie talkie left abandoned in the living room on a nearby pool table.

“As…asset…o…out…of containment! Th…do anyone….read me?!?….I repeat… asset out of-“

“Argh! It’s locked.” Hedgehog groaned as banging on the gates.

“Great! So that means we have to go back, right?” Blue smiled nervously as the rest of the groaned.

“Where is everyone? There are usually several workers here.” Know-It-All stated, as the rest of them looked around as well.

“I found that quite odd as well.” Pixal added.

Lloyd rolled his eyes before stepping forward and pulling a pin out of his hair. Then, he picked the lock with ease, opening the gate, and quickly rushed away, smirking at the look on their faces. “Last one there’s a rotten egg!”

Nya immediately dashed forward, Hedgehog close behind, as they made their way to the top of the tower.

“This was a bad idea.” Hedgehog whined, as he lay sprawled on the floor. All of them, except Nya were panting heavily. Lloyd, due to his head start, had managed to tie with Nya, while Pixal and Emo made second and third, Blue and Brains (yes, he changed his nickname for the kid, don’t judge), fourth and fifth, and last but not least, Hedgehog.

A loud thump scared them as they all turned their heads towards the sound. Lloyd narrowed his eyes at the herbivore dragon that flew on the tree. Something was wrong. Herbivores didn’t come this far. The vegetable here was a natural repellent. Which was why this was a perfect place to build lodgings. Despite the others’ sighs of relief he knew that they shouldn’t be celebrating just yet.

Faint shouts from below made them glance down to see two workers yelling at them, which just solidified the ominous feeling building up inside him.

“SPEAK UP!” Hedgehog yelled. “WE CANT HEAR YOU!”

The rest of them glared at him for practically bursting their eardrums without warning. But he was right. They couldn’t hear them.

A screech sounded, as they all looked up at the source. The purple dragon was yanked out of its tree adruptedly. It’s body lay dead in the clearing.

No one moved a muscle as a pale greyish white hideous dragon came out. While it’s pasty skin and black spikes were noticeable, it’s wings were what stood out the most. The were small.

While that was perhaps not particularly alarming to the rest of them, but Lloyd knew what it meant. This was a secret kept to perhaps only the top brass of the park, it was well known that Dr Borg categorised the dragon by threat level according to their wings.

Large, dangerous, mostly herbivores. Larger wings so that they could fly freely, but they were trusted not to fly off the island, as Dr Borg also tailored their food to make it so that only this island had the vegetarian they liked.

Medium wings, the omnivores, that ate mostly fish or pig meat, never human. They were the ones that put up a show, the crowd favourites.

And last but not least, small wings. The smallest he had ever seen was Firstborne. The first dragon that was created. Her wings were clipped once they determined how big a threat she was. She could practically destroy islands and countries if she’d pleased.

It had taken his grandfather’s life, to stop her rampage. They were friends, actually. Inseparable, soulmates. Or familiars. But something had gone wrong. And she had been corrupted. It was the only word to explain the sudden change that came over his grandfather’s dear friend. Something, after research upon research, many sleepless nights, for Dr Borg to figure out what went wrong.

In each dragon, there was something that lay dormant in them, it was named, the Oni gene. Something that despite Dr Borg’s desperate attempts to remove it from the dragons, could not be. It was part of their very being. Some, like carnivores choose or actually by nature, unleashes half of that gene. Causing them to kill whatever that so much moves or breathes.

And when Firstborne released her Oni gene completely, well… it was a masacre. Of course he had only heard of the stories, and seen Firstborne’s skeleton.

When he had seen that dragon, he knew immediately what it was. A carnivore, and Dr Borg’s latest hybrid. The Indominous. It’s wings, despite its body size, were slightly smaller than the fire dragons. Which meant, despite being smaller than the fire dragons, one of the most dangerous species in the park, it was smarter.

And equally dangerous.

Lloyd winced as the staff below faced a gruesome death. Dammit… they’ll come back and put tombstones there later. He glanced around quickly, trying to find a solution to get out of this mess, as the rest of them panicked and prayed that the Indominous could not see them from up here. Blue even started hyperventilating.

“Over there-!” He yelled, pointing to the zip line  just as the Indominous decide to shake the tower. All of them held on tight, while making their way towards the zip line at the same time.

Blue reached there first, hesitantly, sliding slowly, before Hedgehog pushed him faster. Then, the Emo, then Pixal and Zane. Nya had wanted to go first, but Lloyd needed her for a more important task. And there it was, the Indominous had shaken the tower so much it was going to topple at any time, and the zip line was jammed. They were all stuck near the dragon.

Pushing Nya off, he ran backwards to give himself a head start and crashed into her. But the dragon was smart. He knew what they were trying to do, and it bit the line narrowly where they were. They were going to die. Or at least, crash into the clearing from a third storey building.

Lloyd sighed before deciding to just get it over with. His hands lit up with a small green flame as he enlarged it, propelling them towards the trees. Hopefully, Nya didn’t see.

Lloyd woke up with a throbbing head. He blinked the remaining black spots in his vision away as he slowly got up. Where…where am I?

Suddenly, it all came back to him. The dragon. The zip line. Crashing. He glanced upwards, as he breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn’t been out that long, the sky was still blue, and the trees had indeed blocked their fall, and had hidden them from the Indominous at the same time.

A groan made him glance to his side, guess the others were starting to wake up as well. They looked fine, perhaps some bruises, but it was better than the alternative. He started walking to the camp, but as he pushed aside the bushes blocking his sight, he wished he hadn’t.

The camp was in ruins. What used to be a magnificent treehouse with at least four storeys and a lodge below, was now nothing but broken wood planks.

A horrible thought hit him. What if Uncle Wu and Misako had returned and were trapped in the rubble? He shook his head. No way, Uncle Wu would have freed them in no time. He had to make sure his Uncle was safe. Morro would never forgive him otherwise. And neither would he.

Stalking up to the Emo he pleaded, he was ready to beg. If the Emo even had a heart in the first place. He had to make sure Uncle Wu was safe.

“Please, give me my phone back! I need to make sure my uncle is alright. Please, I’ll delete the evidence-“ not after saving it to the cloud though. “-so please, I need it back! I could call for help too.”

The others had left their phones in the lodge or in their bedrooms. None of them had brought their phones, not even the Emo. His phone was the last resort to seek help. There was no way he could take that thing down by himself.

“I-I don’t have it!” The Emo glared at him as he was about to slap that piece of dirt into space, when Blue and Nya pulled them apart. 

“Stop it! We need a plan, we don’t have time to bicker!” Nya frowned at him, her eyes glancing at him like they were analysing his very soul.

“Y-yeah! That t-thing could come back anytime!” Blue piped in as the rest nodded in agreement. “T-the park guide s-said that in case of e-emergencies, we s-should go to the docks for evacuation!”

They stared at him apprehensive. “You actually read that guide?”

“Of course! I’m not a manic!” He squeaked, offended.

Lloyd sighed. The docks were on the other side of the island. There was no way they’ll make it there in time, and avoid that thing on the way. He just hoped that Uncle Wu and Misako were faring better than they were.

Chapter Text

-I’m on the run, and you’re home alone-

“Kai! Kai!” Nya hissed softly, pulling her brother closer to her as she walked away from the group. “Did you see that?!”

“See what?” Kai questioned, raising an eyebrow at his sister’s strange behaviour.

Their safe house had been destroyed, Cole and Lloyd were practically at each other’s throats, and they had no way of contacting anyone. Oh and also they were all covered in dirt and bruises.

Luckily, both his hair and Wisp were spared.

“Lloyd! He used fire!” Kai stared at his sister, shocked. “What?! But I thought I was the only one!”

“No. No way. You must’ve been seeing things.” He shook his head, as his sister glared at him. “I know what I saw, Kai!”

“He was using a green flame to propel us into the forest!” She told him firmly. “Anyways, don’t you think it’s weird how we suddenly shot forward?”

“I mean… I thought it was the momentum.” He shrugged. Honestly, it had taken every inch of his willpower not to launch himself into a battle with that monster.

“He can use fire! That means, he must… I mean… we, must be related.” She trailed off grudgingly. Clearly still sore from the way Lloyd  had turned on Cole.

Kai snapped back, horrified. Him? Be related to that demon spawn? “NO WAY!”

Everyone turned to look at them as Nya whacked him on the head. “Everything‘s fine, don’t worry!”

Kai practically glared daggers into the blonde’s  head. So much that Zane and Jay had to pull him aside. Lloyd was still oblivious, too busy having a glaring contest with Cole.

“What’s your problem dude?! He’s our guide!” Zane hissed, the usually calm one frazzled. “We need him to get off this island! It’s bad enough he and Cole are fighting, we don’t need you to pick a fight too!”

Jay nodded in agreement, before handing him Wisp. “Umm s-some people say.. animals have a calming effect..?”

Kai glared at both of them, as he struggled to hold the fidgeting dragon in his arms.

“Argh! We’ve been walking for hours! Do you even know where you’re going, mr ‘expert’?!” He yelled, tossing Wisp to Jay and Zane who tripped over each other trying to catch her. He felt bad about that, but it just fuelled his anger towards the blonde.

“Of course I do! But the island is huge, and we can only go so fast without a vehicle!” Lloyd retorted, crossing his arms. “And if someone hadn’t stolen my phone, we probably have one!”

“Hey! Cole didn’t steal your phone! No one stole your phone! Could we please stop talking about the phone?!” Zane yelled, snapping as everyone turned to look at him, surprised.

“Guys! Guys! Shhh! Please keep it down!” Jay hissed nervously, as a growl was heard from the trees. Wisp whimpered and leaped out of his arms, and into some bushes. “Wisp!”

“Leave her Jay!” Zane said, grabbing his arm and stopping him from rushing after the dragon. “She belongs in the wild! And she’ll only slow us down!”

“Slow us down?!” Jay cried, offended as he yanked his arm away.

“Yeah..she’s getting too big for you to carry, and you can’t run fast with her.” Nya pointed her, as Jay looked at her, betrayed.

“Guys, guys, chill! What we need here, is someone who can make the hard call, on what to do next. And since I’m obviously leadership material-“ Kai smirked, running a grimy hand through his spiky hair, ignoring the looks from the others, and that he was the one who started this argument in the first place. “I’ll do this!”

“You?” Nya scoffed as Kai elbowed her. “You can barely lead a cat to eat!”

“Hey! We don’t talk about that!” The brunette hissed. But the joke had done it’s job. Everyone was less on edge now.

Cole groaned as Lloyd stormed past him, knocking into him as he shot him a mean look. He glared back, as Jay put a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, don’t mind him. He’s just.. Lloyd being Lloyd. We all know you didn’t steal his phone.”

Cole forced a small smile, but then placed his hand back into his pocket. “Umm Jay? I need to tell you something-“

“Guys… look!” Everyone turned to Pixal, who stood there, frozen. A small orange dragon lay there, dead. Beside a broken gyro ball. “The Indominous was here.”

Lloyd raced towards the dragon, placing a hand on its pulse. Dead. Suddenly a rustle was heard from the bushes ahead, as the group tensed up.

Hiding behind the gyro sphere, Kai raised his fists, ready for a fight.

“Wisp!” Jay cried, joyfully as the small dragon burst out of the bushes and into his arms. Zane shook his head and placed an arm on his shoulder. “Leave her, Jay.”

“I won’t!” He retorted, as Wisp squirmed in his arms, proving their point. Pixal walked up to him and took the dragon from him. “She’s a baby, Jay.”

“We can carry her in that.” Lloyd spoke up softly, pointing to the black van nearby. Jay shot him a grateful look.

The tired teens immediately raced towards the vehicle.

“A tablet!” Pixal exclaimed, diving for the device! Finally, she could use this to contact Doctor Borg!

Meanwhile, Nya picked up a walkie talkie as she tried to radio Wu and Mistake. The rest quickly sat in the van.

The question of why the van abandoned was left unspoken.

“Argh! The communication is disabled!” The silver haired girl yelled, banging her fists on the seats in frustration, a few loose hairs escaping from her tight ponytail as everyone stared.

Lloyd glared at Cole, knowing that this was all his fault. If he had his phone he could-

“Stop it! There are more important things going on then your stupid phone, Lloyd!” Pixal yelled at him.

Oh shit.. did I say that out loud? By the looks on everyone’s face, yes he did. He turned away, putting on an unreadable expression. It hurt. Pixal and him weren’t that close, but he had considered her a friend. But now he was sure she hated him too.

Maybe it was time to stop dwelling on the past. If Cole was an enemy, he’ll deal with him later. No point in making the mood worse now.

Even though his phone had… well among all, evidence, and… that .

A dragon roared, breaking the silence as everyone buckled, and Kai pulled the car doors shut.

“Wait-! We need a driver!” Cole yelled, as the dragon roared again . Zane immediately jumped into the front, and turned the keys, right as the Indominous came into view. “GO!”

“Do you even know how to drive?!” Lloyd yelled, as the Indominous stalked closer.

“I do! Just… not a stick shift.”

“ZANE!”

“TURN!! TURN!”

“WHAT- ARE YOU SERIOUSLY PUTTING YOUR BLINKER ON?!”

“DON’T HASSLE ME WHILE I’M DRIVING!” Zane yelled back, as Nya shook her head. “That’s it. Move over, roadkill.”

Cole wanted to puke. Never again. He would never again get into a vehicle when Nya was driving. Never again. Everyone else also looked sickly as she served and drove like a maniac.

“There! Doctor Borg’s lab!” Lloyd shouted, amongst all the chaos, luckily, Nya had managed to lose the Indominous, but it was safer to find shelter, and maybe some of the staff would be there too.

Everyone immediately rushed out of the vehicle, Jay practically hugging the soil in relief.

“What a bunch of babies.” Nya rolled her eyes as she made her way inside the lab. Only Lloyd and Pixal were fine, the rest looked green and shaky.

“Hello..? Is anyone still here? Doctor Borg?” Pixal called, making her way through the unusually messy and quiet lab. “…D-dad..?”

Pixal held back a sob as she glanced around the empty lab. It used to be quiet but full of life. And what if Doctor Borg-

She glanced to her right, Lloyd had patted her shoulder, before walking away, like he knew what she was thinking and told her to snap out of it. She smiled softly back at him.

Doctor Borg had adopted her when she was really little. She had become great friends with Morro and Lloyd, who were the only kids there her age. Lloyd’s mother made him move around a lot, so he was rarely there, but she enjoyed his presence nonetheless.

Until… something made him change. He became more quiet, and more… angry somehow. And Doctor Borg had given her more responsibilities so they had drifted apart.

But perhaps… they should try again.

A scream pierced the air as the group tensed. A dragon? But it was a man. A grown man… holding a birthday cake, with his name. ‘Dareth’.

“We- I’m so happy we found you!” Pixal told him, raising an eyebrow at the man’s strange behaviour. He was checking all the glass doors , to make sure no dragons got in. Though, now that she thought about it, it was probably better to be cautious, even though her father built it to withstand any attacks.

“Did you happen to see where my father- I mean Doctor Borg went?”

“Are you sure you closed the doors behind you?” He questioned in return, as Kai replied. “Yeah duh! Umm I think…?”

The spiky hair brunette totally deserved the withering glare Dareth shot him in response.

A loud burp disrupted them as they turned to the culprit, who had somehow managed to finish the whole plate of cake. Cole smilies sheepishly. “Umm did you want it back?”

“There’s no dial tone!” Lloyd huffed, frustration clear in his voice as he banged the phone down. Interrupting Dareth as he was clearly about to explode from anger at Cole. “The land lines are down. There’s no cell service either.”

Dareth replied, looking visibly annoyed as Pixal looked down, deep in thought. She knew her father had been working on something big, and judging by the time, it had only been free for a few hours, yet it was able to deal a massive blow to the park by cutting off communication. It was obviously much smarter then she gave it credit for.

“S-so what’s the plan? The p-park must’ve a plan f-for this, right?” Jay stuttered anxiously, as Dareth burst into laughter. “You’re asking me? You’re-!”

The others exchanged looks as Kai couldn’t help but comment on it. “Umm is that a good freaky laugh or…?”

“You don’t get it, do you?!” The elder screeched, the lighting making him look a tad bit insane. “No one’s coming to help!”

“It’s all Borg’s fault!  He got greedy, and instead of making dragons he made monsters!”

“Hey!” Pixal snapped. “Don’t you dare talk about my father that way! He’s a great man than you’ll ever be!”

Dareth plowed on like she was invisible. “Misako,-“ Lloyd’s eye twitched when he heard her name. “-Wu, they’re all clueless on what’s really going on here! The First Realm is a power keg and it’s detonating all around us!”

“But you must know what to do! We drove all the way here because-“ Zane pleaded, the stress getting to him. Dareth perked up and grabbed his shoulders shaking him. “You have a vehicle?!”

Without waiting for a response he dropped Zane and rushed off, leaving a wake of silence.

Until Kai broke the tension with more tension. “Umm guys? I left the keys in the van.”

Lloyd glared at the man, annoyed. Seriously?! What the hell?! Of course, the rest of the group immediately started chattering and getting involved in a conversation with the clearly unhinged elvis looking dude. Like who in their right mind would hold a birthday party when a dangerous carnivore dragon was on the loose?

Dareth was on a clear descent to madness. Although… he felt kinda of bad this whole mess happened on the dude’s birthday. Of course, he was used to it, but Dareth wasn’t.

Until the Elvis dude stole. Their. Car. He was so going to get this man fired.

The group immediately dashed outside, not too far behind Dareth.

“What are you doing man?!” Cole yelled, startling him, as Dareth looked back, a glimmer of guilt in his eyes. “Getting out of here, that’s what!”

Nya speed up, almost reaching the car, before she tripped over Wisp. She groaned, irritated. “Wisp!”

Dareth drove off, Nya close on his heels, when all of a sudden, the Indominous rammed into the car from the side out of nowhere. The athlete fell back, shocked.

But luckily for her and unfortunately for Dareth, the dragon had bigger prey in mind. Roaring, the dragon knocked into the van once more.

The man yelped as he struggled to open the car door, but just as he managed to, The Indominous was waiting for him, biting the air as it missed its target.

Dareth yelped as he crawled under the van, waiting for his doom. The Indominous pushed the vehicle aside roughly and was about to enjoy his meal.

“HEY UGLY!” A fireball hit the Indominous just as a dome of ice encased Dareth, shielding him from the maws of death. The dragon roared, clearly upset. The it was however, unharmed by the flames.

Zane stared at Kai in shock, who’s expression mirrored his own. Kai was an elemental master too?! He acted on pure instinct when the dragon was about to eat Dareth. Of course he was a jerk, and was about to leave them to die, but even he didn’t deserve to be eaten by a dragon. It seemed like Kai thought the same too.

After all, his father always told him that his power was given to him for the sole purpose of protecting.

“You are stronger than you know Zane, which is why you must protect others who can’t protect themselves.”

Unfortunately, both of them had no time to contemplate their actions, as the dragon retaliated with a strong plume of blue flame, they dodged and quickly found refuge in a dump filled with many crates.

“I could’ve made the van if Wisp hadn’t gotten in the way!” Nya huffed at Jay, who was still frozen in shock. She would lecture her idiot brother later, after they survive this.

“Then you would’ve been eaten! Wisp saved your life!” Jay defended, hugging the small dragon to his chest, as she pouted at her.

“Guys, enough!” Cole said, firmly. Holding a small rock in his hand. “Zane, can you melt the ice Dareth is in?”

“Umm I’m not sure I can, I’ve never tried.” The blonde replied, brows furrowed in determination.

“Okay then, we’ll spilt up and distract the Indominous while Zane unfreezes the ice-“ He started, before he was interrupted by Kai. “Whoa wait, why can’t I melt the ice?”

“We need Zane to melt a small hole big enough for Dareth to squeeze through, it’ll be after and more efficient. If you melt the ice, the whole thing might end up cracking and alert the Indominous.” Nya told him, interrupting Cole.

“So as I was saying, Nya, you get in the van and prepare to drive, Zane you try and melt the ice, if not Kai will. Pixal, you go with Lloyd and I’ll go with Jay. And the four of us will distract you dragon together.” Cole explained, as the rest of them nodded in agreement. “Ready? Okay, go!”

He threw the rock at another cargo box, as the dragon growled and headed towards that direction, the smith siblings and Zane made their way quietly towards the vehicle.

Lloyd sighed, he bet all of them, except Pixal were also elemental masters. It would be just like his uncle. After all, Uncle Wu probably also inherited his grandfather’s sadistic side, the stupid master of secrets.

Guess there was no need to hide anymore. Letting the green energy flow through him, he he focused his strength into his hands and made a wall of flame. Between them and the dragon.

Mr Freeze in fact, could not melt the ice, but the Hedgehog had indeed cracked it. And unfortunately, the Indominous was no longer fooled by their rocks and fake noises. It ran straight towards the van, as Hedgehog raised his fist for a fight while

The girls and Hedgehog looked unfazed, so Nya did see his display the first time. And… she told her brother too. Guess that’s why he was glaring at him. He didn’t want him to steal his spotlight.

He jumped into the van as the dragon roared, annoyed. But the teens were laughing as the drove off into the forest.

“Why.. why did you kids save me?” Dareth asked softly, eyes filled with tears. “I-I left you!”

“Even you didn’t deserve to be eaten. Don’t sweat it dude.” Kai told him, cringing in digust as Dareth cling to him, wailing and smearing snot and tears all over his jacket. Great.

“I pay you back! I swear!” The man cried, as Kai gently shoved him away from him, Nya giggled as Jay handed him a tissue from thin air.

Cole held his hand out for a high five, as Kai smacked his hand joyfully. Zane tilted his head in confusion as Pixal demonstrated again with Jay. Then he smiled and did one with Cole.

The mood was high and happy. They evaded death, they survived another hour and with a new friend in tow.

Suddenly, the car went over a few bumps as everyone was jostled rather roughly out of their seats. A thud sound was heard as a phone with a deep green casing fell out of a pocket.

Cole turned pale as everyone turned to look at him, eyes filled with shock and betrayal. Even Nya turned to stare at him, horrified.

“C-Cole..?”

Chapter Text

-I’m too consumed with my own life-

Cole groaned as his head throbbed violently. Blinking the sleep away from his eyes, he slowly got up into a standing position as the rest of the occupants in the van did the same.

The same van that was currently unusable.

He winced as the memories came flooding back. Everything was going so well! They had just escaped and rescued a crazy dude from an abandoned lab. It was just like him to muck it all up.

Cole glanced at the rest of the group. Kai’s was filled with anger, while Nya’s was filled with distrust. Zane and Pixal were both shocked, while Jay… he couldn’t bear to look at the boy with the blue sweater.

Lloyd’s face was just plain unreadable and Dareth was just.. well confused. And justifiable so. Whatever the situation, a broken phone fell out of his pocket and the whole group immediately acted as if Cole had just murdered their dog.

Which was also what distracted Nya and made them crash into a rock.

“Guys, it’s not what you think, I-“ He blurted out, trying- no willing to do anything to make them stop looking at him like- like that… “I mean, okay it is, but I have a good reason-“

“A good reason?!” Kai snapped, rounding on him angrily. “This whole time we could’ve called for help and- and you just broke our only chance of ever being rescued!”

“I didn’t mean to break the phone! It broke when we crashed out of that zip line and I swear I was trying to tell you but-“ Cole defended, as Nya scoffed. “What were you even doing with Lloyd’s phone in the first place?”

Everyone turned to Lloyd, who looked away at all the attention. “Probably trying to hide the fact that I caught him sneaking into Doctor Borg’s lab and taking something from that dragon.”

“Wait- is that why you went into Doctor Borg’s lab, you were following him?” Pixal questioned, as Lloyd nodded.

“WILL SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT’S GOING ON?!” Dareth yelled, breaking the tense silence as everyone snapped at him. “SHUT UP DARETH!!”

“This is all your fault! Now we’re stuck here, with a killer dragon and a broken van!” Kai hissed, glaring daggers into the other boy. “And I don’t care if I have to beat it out of you, but you better have a good reason for dooming all of our lives like this-“

“I-I’m a spy okay!?” Cole blurted out, glancing away guiltily. He couldn’t beat looking any of them in the eyes. “I-I had no choice! My father’s dance business wasn’t bringing in a enough money for my mother’s surgery….“

Cole’s voice cracked at the last word, eyes glassy as the memories came flooding back. He shook his head and continued. “So we borrowed some money from these people and they said we could pay them back by spying on the First Realm and-“

“Whoa, wait- what people?!” Zane questioned, as Cole shook his head. “Some guy named Master Chen. But it doesn’t matter I-“

“Master Chen?” Nya asked, confused. “As in, ‘Master Chen’s noodles’ that Master Chen?”

“Yes but-“

“Why would someone who sells noodles be interested in dragons?” Cole gritted his teeth as he was interrupted yet again. Pixal and Dareth also piped in. “Oh I know that guy! I love his puffy potstickers!”

“So.. was all of it a lie?” The group fell silent as Jay spoke quietly. His eyes filled with anger. “You just wanted to be my friend so you would have someone to cover up for all of your- your spying?”

Cole was too stunned to speak, even though he already saw this coming. The hatred in Jay’s eyes bore into him as he reached his hand out. At first that was the reason, but not anymore. Through the past three days he had actually came to like this group of people,but now that was all ruined.

“Don’t touch me, spy .” Jay hissed as he smacked Cole’s hand away. Taking his silence as an answer. Before he could open his mouth to defend him, or salvage whatever was left of this friendship, Wisp whimpered as she nudged Jay.

Jay glanced at her irritably, but still leaning down and struggling to scoop the dragon into his arms. Apparently she had grown a little bigger since the last few minutes. But the Wisp didn’t stop mewling and squirming.

Her warning came too late. Dareth let a loud girly scream as the rest of them yelped in shock.

The Indominous crashed through the trees, as it headed straight for them.

“You want another piece of me?!” Kai mocked, holding up his fists ready for a fight and Nya stood next to him. Dareth had immediately made for the van, while the rest of them moved out of the way.

Strangely, the dragon just barrelled past them, paying no mind to the prey in front of it as it stalked on.

The answer became fairly clear as a blue helicopter flew past, hot on the trail of the runway dragon, firing shot after shot at it from high up in the air.

Kai cheered as the rest of them held their breath in anticipation. Could this be it? Was the Indominous finally going to be taken down? Were they safe at last?

There was a shriek of pain, and the tinkering of glass, as everything went to hell.

The Indominous wasn’t going to let itself die so easily. It was clear what it’s intention had been when several angry omnivore dragons came flying out as they tore the helicopter apart. The glass shattering as it crashed into the dragon’s enclosure.

They were the most aggressive of the omnivores, despite their wingspan. Which was precisely why they were kept in a glass dome, stripped of their freedom for the safety of the visitors. They were generally peaceful, until disturbed. Which was precisely why the Indominous had done so in the first place.

And now, the huge helicopter shaped hole was an exit ticket for the ticked off dragons, as they headed to kill the first moving thing that caught their eye.

To be more specific, the group of teenage children and a tall grown man with the mind of a child, especially the latter, who was screeching at them.

“DARETH SHUT UP!” Kai yelled, and it was quickly becoming his favourite and most annoying thing to do, as they raced tawau from the angry crow like dragons.

“Over there! There’s an underwater attraction that leads to the main park!” Pixal called out, as they all took a sharp turn, racing for the cave, ignoring the angry caws of the swarm chasing them.

Jay let out a small yelp of surprise as he tripped over his own feet, collapsing to the ground as Wisp spilled out of his arms. The others looked back at him, and at the nearing swarm of dragons.

Nya swore under her breath as she went to help the boy, her brother walked her on the head as he sent a puff of fire towards the dragons, hoping to slow them down.

Unfortunately it only made them more angry as they now began spitting out fire balls at them.

Nya looked away as she tried to shield Jay and Wisp from getting burned, wincing. If only there was water nearby, then she could- she glanced up in surprise, as a tall dirt wall stood between them and the fire. Cole was standing there, visibly pained. “Go! I can’t hold this for long!”

Zane helped him by covering the wall with another made of ice as they raced into the cave.

All of them breathed out a sigh of relief as Zane and Cole shut the big iron door behind them, effectively preventing any of the aggressive dragons from barging in, just as the dirt wall crumbled and the ice cracked.

“I call Pixal for the C.K.K!” Kai smirked as he wrapped his arm around the sliver haired girl, who raised an eyebrow at him in response. “C.K.K..?”

“Cool Kids’ Kayak.” He winked, as Nya and the girl visibly shudder in mock digust. After just escaping a swarm of anger crow dragons, they found themselves in a dark cave. Their only way out was forward, and surrounding by water. Luckily, there were at least four kayaks. One for two people.

“Any kayak you touch should be known as the D.F.D kayak instead.” Nya noted as Pixal giggled and Kai stared at her, betrayed. “The Destined For Doom kayak.”

Kai stared hopefully at Zane who merely patted him on the shoulder and walked past with Jay, who purposely knocked into Cole as they made their way into a kayak. “Or the Designed For Dummies kayak.”

Kai groaned as he stared at Lloyd, who raised an eyebrow at him. The brunette visibly deflated as the blonde pulled a surprised Cole behind him and made his way into a kayak. “Oh c’mon! Not you too! Then who am I going to partner with?”

Kai paled drastically as he stared at Dareth in horror. The man who was currently trying to punch the boat to check it’s sturdiness.

The rest of them couldn’t help but laugh at the boy’s misery as he grudgingly sat behind the man.

“Whoa…” The group gasped at the glittering cave in awe. As they went in further, they could actually see that the cave was lit up with glowing crystals.

The once dark cave was filled with light purple crystals, next to a small indoor waterfall. It was beautiful. And to top it off, there were small families of nature dragons, that also glowed, like mini Christmas lights.

Cole glanced at the back of the boy in front of him. Why did Lloyd want to pair up with him instead of Kai? To gloat or rub it in his face? Or maybe he just wanted to mess with the spiky haired brunette?

He squirmed uncomfortably in the small boat as their kayak was well behind the others. The silence was getting to him.

“Go on then. Shout, scream, say something!” Lloyd glanced back at him, looking at him with red eyes that looked like they were boring into his very soul. “You’re not going to say ‘I told you’ or yell at me or anything?! After I stole your phone?”

“…Mistake...” Cole stared at him, shocked. “Huh?”

Lloyd looked visibly uncomfortable as he tried to decide if he should face the front or continue looking at the dark haired boy. “Mistake is a healer…She could… try to heal your mother. If.. you want…”

“And uh… my mother would be more than happy to help… you and your father… a little bit… to pay off your loans. Uncle Wu.. and Doctor Borg probably won’t mind if your father comes to perform.. if the First Realm is still left standing..” Lloyd finished, lamely. Then he glanced back at the black haired boy. Who was now crying. “Shoot- I mean sorry, did I upset you?! I mean if you want to? I’m not forcing you!!-“

“No no it’s not that- it’s just… why are you being so nice to me?” Cole barked out a tearful laugh, swiping away his tears furiously. “You hate me.”

“No- I just.. You remind me of him .” Lloyd whispered, as blonde locks falling over his eyes as he stared at the bottom of their kayak.

At Cole’s questioning look, he added. “My father.”

“He left too. When my mother was pregnant she.. was really sick too.” Silence reined as the blonde fiddled with his hands. “And I never hated you. It’s just because… there’s something important in there and the thought of losing it was- and also I wanted to make sure Uncle Wu was okay.”

“He’s a good uncle, and if something happened to him- I’d… I’d don’t know what I’ll do without him.”

“I’m so sorry.” Cole told him, wincing because it didn’t feel like enough. He had practically turned the whole camp against the blonde even though he was right all along, and had even destroyed something precious of his. But Lloyd was still offering to help him.

“It’s okay. I understand why you did it.” Lloyd replied, and then he mumbled something under his breath, that Cole had to strain his ears to catch that. “Maybe it was time to let go of it anyways…”

“OU SLOWPOKES! HURRY THE HELL UP!” Kai yelled, his loud voice echoing through the walls of the cavern as both boys snapped back into awareness and realised that they’ve fallen way behind the rest of the group.

Cole laughed at Lloyd’s disgruntled expression as they tried their best to catch up with the others. He had a warm feeling in his chest that told him although he still had a long way to go in earning back all the trust of the others, everything was going to be okay.

Everything was not going to be okay. Lloyd visibly paled as he and Pixal shared a look. They were going to die.

“Guys we have to go, paddle as fast as you can!” Lloyd hissed as quietly as he could. Pixal scanned the surroundings quickly. “There! A ladder near the stands!”

Before anyone could open their mouths to ask, a huge shadow swam below them. The rest of them quickly realised the situation they were in, and paled drastically. There was a reason that cave was under construction. The current had indeed lead them into the main park. The heart of the First Realm.

But also the most dangerous part of that park. A place where the visitors come to watch the shark eat its prey. A deep pool that contained the First Realm’s most dangerous dragon. A sea dragon. It was as beautiful as it was deadly.

“Why hasn’t it tried to eat us?!” Cole shrieked, as the group paddled as fast as they could towards land, while the dangerous dragon swam beneath them.

“I think it’s testing us, we’re intruders in its domain.” Zane explained with a shaky voice as Pixal added. “Like a shark, it’s investigating us until it becomes confident and-“

“LESS TALKING MORE PADDLING!!” Dareth screamed as a fin could be seen coming out of the water, as the rest obeyed.

Nya and Pixal’s boat was the first to reach the land as they hurriedly scrambled out of the canoe. They stared worriedly at the others, Lloyd and Cole a close second whil Kai’s and Dareth were far behind.

Nya gritted her teeth anxiety creeping up on her. She’d forgotten her brother was afraid of water. He had been trying his best to hide it. He probably didn’t want the other campers thinking he was weak. But she could see the pure fear in his eyes as he paddled as fast as he could, hands shaking.

Dareth was scared shitless and he was useless. Nya sighed as she joined the others in cheering them on. Lloyd and Cole having made it to them while she was distracted with all of her thoughts.

But the sea serpent was done playing. She could see it as it burst out of the water, narrowly missing the boat by an inch. Nya’s hands shook as tan to the back and forward, ready to jump into the water after a head start. There was no way she was losing her hotheaded big brother to some fish with wings!

“NYA NO!” Kai screamed as she dived into the water, eyes lit up with a fiery determination. The brunette’s hands sparked with flares as Zane yelled from the stands. “No Kai! You can’t! It’ll only make things worse!”

Nya clenched her fists as she pulled the water around her, making herself move faster. Swimming through the water like a fish at sea, the master of water beat the dragon to the kayak, trying her best to push it towards the shore.

Nya cried out in pain as a razor sharp fin narrowly grazed her ankle. Kai peered over the boat immediately, face full of concern. “Nya! Are you okay?”

“Nya! Get out of the water!” Jay called as Nya looked at him strangely, but she decided to trust him as she quickly scrambled onto the kayak. She couldn’t push the boat all the way back to the stands by herself, especially with her ankle, without the dragon catching up to them, even with her mastery over water.

The serpent roared, its jaw narrowly snapping as it just missed her, the rocking movement pushing the boat forward. As soon as it was underwater, Jay’s whose hands were in the water the moment Nya was on the kayak, sent a current of lightning surging through the water. Dazing the dragon long enough for Nya to push the boat to the stands.

“What the hell we’re you thinking?!” Kai grumbled as he hugged his sister tightly. “You could’ve gotten yourself killed!”

“But I didn’t, thanks to Jay.” She replied, smirking as she held her hand out for a high five and the boy returned it, cheeks tinted pink.

“How’s your ankle?” Zane questioned as Kai helped her down into a sitting position. Nya gave a hiss of pain as the blonde gingerly touched it. “Looks worse than it feels.”

Jay quickly took off the thin scarf he had been wearing and passed it to Zane, who wrapped it around Nya’s ankle as she gave him a smile.

“Maybe we should take a small break before setting off again.” Pixal suggested, but before anyone could reply, the speakers overhead crackled to life. “Everyone, please report to the south docks for evacuation immediately in an orderly and safe manner.”

“Yeah I don’t think anyone can be safe with a killer dragon on the loose.” Kai scoffed as the rest shushed him. “The last ferry leaves in two hours.”

“So much for a break.” Dareth sighed as Lloyd and Pixal shot each other a look. Cole huffed as he stood up. “C’mon let’s go! If we run we could still make it!”

Kai and Zane glared pointedly at him. Nya sighed. “Isn’t there any way we could get to the docks faster?”

“Over there.” Lloyd spoke up, pointing to the conveniently arriving monorail, as the rest of them heaved a sigh of relief. “Ah! Thank you at last universe!”

Unfortunately the universe took offence to that statement. Waiting for them below the monorail and in front of the stairway leading to their hurriedly approaching ride was an earth dragon. A familiar earth dragon.

“Kai is that-“

“I think it is.” Zane paled while Kai groaned in despair. Nya raised an eyebrow as she glanced at them irritated. “That earth dragon you two trapped?”

“Wait how did you-“ Zane asked, confused. He and Kai had been along when they faced off with that dragon.

Who clearly looked like it wanted revenge. It had a huge scar across its face, which Zane winced at, and one of its horns were chipped.

“Kai blabbed about it the minute we got back.” Cole told him, as Zane glared at the boy, who shrugged sheepishly.

“Any chance you could take it?” Nya questioned, as Cole laughed nervously. “Umm to be honest… I’m actually… scared of dragons. All of them.”

“What-“ Cole smiled sheepishly at their mix of shocked and annoyed expressions. “I only came here because I had no choice.”

To be honest, Nya thought it was kind of sweet. But also at the same time, completely and utterly annoying.

“W-what if we j-just s-sneak past it?” Jay piped up, as the rest of them stared at him deadpan. “Dude. It’s right there. There’s no way to sneak past it! It’s awake, and standing still.”

“I’ll do it.” Lloyd sighed, effectively cutting them all off, as they gasped at him.

“And how are you going to do that?” Dareth hissed, as the boy stared at him expression deadpan.

“Uncle Wu taught me a few tricks since I was last here.” Lloyd shrugged, as the others glanced at each other, and were about to open their mouths, no doubt to ask him more questions, before he continued. “Just get ready to run while I distract him. I can’t hold this for long.”

Before anyone could stop him, the blonde walked out of their hiding spot as he whistled loudly, attracting the dragon’s attention. “Oi dirt face!”

The dragon roared as Lloyd smirked. Pulling the energy from all parts of his body to his fingertips, he closed his eyes and concentrated, as a loud pitchy humming noise emerged from the ball of energy he was now holding.

The campers gasped as the dragon growled in irritation. It was clearly not a fan of that noise. They took this as their cue and raced for the stairs. The dragon snapped at the campers, but before it could continue to chase after them, a loud roar behind it stopped it.

It turned around, only to see Lloyd riding a glowing green translucent dragon.

“WHAT THE HELL?!” Dareth shouted in surprise as the rest of the campers gasped as well. Kai huffed, jealousy creeping up on him. No way. If Lloyd was related to him, how come he got all the cool powers. And how the he’ll did he just summon a dragon?

“Is that a dragon?” Cole asked, as Nya rolled her eyes. “Obviously!”

“B-but it’s.. different..” Jay pointed out, as Pixal nodded. “It’s more like smoke. A physical manifestation of his elemental powers.”

But even though it wasn’t real, it had done the job. The earth dragon was distracted, snapping at the green dragon, as it flew just out of its reach, giving the rest enough time even with Nya’s hurt foot and Jay to carry Wisp all the way up to the train.

“Lloyd c’mon!” Kai yelled as Cole held open the doors, visibly struggling. The blonde turned, but that split second distraction was enough for the earth dragon to stomp its feet as the vibration shook the earth. So much so that Lloyd dropped from the sky, dragon fading into thin air.

“LLOYD!!” Pixal screamed as he fell. The blonde gritted his teeth as he quickly summoned his dragon again, and practically crashed into the train’s open doors, banging into Cole.

“Hey, are you alright?” Zane asked as the shorter nodded, panting. Pixal quickly ran to him, as Cole scanned him for injuries. “ just.. *huff*… tired.”

Then Lloyd practically collapsed onto the floor as the rest them couldn’t hold back their laughter. They did it. Finally, they were going home.

“Cole, thank you. You’re a lifesaver.” Nya grinned as she took a huge bite of the stew. Sure, Cole had betrayed them, but she felt kinda bad for the poor guy, seeing as how he, even though he was scared of dragons, still came just for his family.

Besides, they needed each other to survive, and it wouldn’t do them any good to keep arguing with each other. Kai reluctantly agreed, while the rest had already let begones be begones. Except Jay. He was still pretty hostile, and that was understandable.

The group mumbled agreements as they dug into the stew that Cole said he had made all by himself, and had been carrying it along with him in his pocket. They were starving, and the reddish goop didn’t look too bad.

“I take it back. This is disgusting.” Nya deadpanned as the rest of them spat out their soup. Cole deflated as Kai teased him. “What is this? Dirt?”

“Hey! It’s my famous culinary achievement, violet berry soup!” Cole told them, proudly.

“It’s a culinary achievement alright. No normal soup can make someone puke just from the smell.” Pixal added, as Cole spluttered. “B-but Dareth likes it!”

They turned to look at the man, who was indeed devouring the soup vigorously. He turned to look at them and shrugged. “What? Even a day old potstickers are still eatable.”

They shivered, disturbed. Kai sighed wistfully. “I can’t wait to get home and eat proper food.”

“I just want a bath.” Jay stated, hugging Wisp to his chest and looking really done with everything. “The amount of germs I’ve picked from this park is crazy.”

“So umm Jay, why did you come here in the first place?” Pixal asked, curious. Zane nodded in agreement. “You seem to dislike the outdoors… and well the dragons.”

“That’s because my parents wanted me to try to overcome my fears.” He huffed, irritated. “Yeah. I’ll overcome my fears, make a few laughs and ultimately get eaten.”

“Yeah, me too. Parents right? My mum dumped me here while she’s off gallivanting off to who knows where.” Lloyd added, doing jazz hands as if to say, ‘Yay good for her!’.

“Your mother is Misako Garmadon right? The famous archeologist?” Zane questioned, as Cole joined in. “The one that found most of the dragon’s bones.”

“Yep. That’s her. Good old mum.” Lloyd shrugged. Nya glanced at Kai, who took the hint and quickly changed the subject. “So that dragon earlier. How did you do that?”

“Umm well it’s kind of hard to explain.” He said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “It’s just comes naturally I guess. Even Morro still hasn’t figured out how to do it yet.”

“Morro?” Nya asked, but before Lloyd could reply, a loud screeching noise was heard near them, as they stared at the outside nervously.

A loud boom stared them, as the train shook from the impact. With all the running away and the almost getting eaten stuff, the whole island was dark as nighttime fell. Which made it hard to see what was happening outside.

They all held their breaths as the quiet continued. A loud thump interrupted them as a familiar dragon shack right into the glass, screeching.

“Not them again!” Kai groaned as the crow dragon growled back at them, angrily. Zane glanced around before his gaze landed on top of them. “Guys! We have to cut the lights!”

“The dragons are attracted to shiny moving objects, and with all the lights on…” Pixal added, quickly grabbing the emergency hammer, breaking the light above as the others used their powers.

“Stupid! Annoying! Crows!” Nya huffed as she beat out the light with each word. She then stared at the remaining areas of the train. “It’s no use! We can’t take them all out in time!”

“Fear not children! I’ll save you!” Dareth announced as the rest of them stared at him, deadpan. The man ran to the control panel in the front as he tried to figure out a way to switch off the lights all at once, which Pixal had to admit, was pretty smart, even for him.

“There’s too many!” Cole yelled as the dragons begin banging into the glass, shrieking as it began to crack and give way.

Jay glanced nervously at the rest of them, who were hacking the lights with everything they got, and some were wrestling with the dragons that had gotten through. While he just stood there, frozen in fear.

His breaths quickened as he clutched Wisp tighter. No! No! No! He couldn’t be having a panic attack now!

He took a deep breath in as he closed his eyes and tried to do as his parents always told him. To go to his happy place, and calm down.

But it didn’t work, all he saw was the blood, the fighting, the screams the-

Wisp nibbled on his hair, pulling him out of it as he stared at her. She stared back at him with big soulful eyes, and glanced back at the others, as if to say, ‘help them!’

Jay scanned the room, until he saw a small door on the roof that could lead them to the outside. If he could climb out… maybe he could try and zap all the crows before the could make it on the train.

But it was so high…and what if he fell or- his thoughts stopped as Lloyd locked eyes with him, and the blonde nodded, as if he read his mind.

Lloyd made a dash for the door, scrambling up onto a chair to try and jump through, but another loud boom sounded as the whole monorail shook, and- and the train’s front part was detached, sending them on a different track.

“Dareth!” Cole yelled as they fell to the floor, from the impact. The man was still in the first compartment, and for a second there, they all held their breaths, but Dareth had gotten off unscathed, his small tiny mini train making his way on the tracks. And the lights had finally flickered off.

But it was in vain. All the crow dragons were not deterred, and they continued attacking their part of the train with a vengeance.

“Jay!” Nya cried out, as she watch the small boy scramble his way up into the top of the train. Jay glanced back at her, smiling nervously. “It’s okay Nya. I got this.”

The rest watched in awe as Jay summoned a lightning storm, the bright light striking the dragons out of the sky, one by one. Until they were all gone and Jay came back down.

“Whoo! Good job!”

“Jay! Jay! Jay!” They cheered, as Jay flushed bright red, grinning. As Nya tackled him with a hug.

But their happiness did not last long. With the tinkling of glass, and the screech of a crow, the dragons burst through the glass and snatched Jay from the train.

“Jay! Hang on!” Nya screamed as she held tightly onto the boy’s hand, as he dangled dangerous out of the train.

The others were busy fighting more of the dragons, as the grip on her hand loosened. Jay looked up at her with teary eyes. “Please don’t let go!”

But even with all her strength, she couldn’t help it, and neither could Jay, as he plunged into the darkness of the trees below, as she snatched the thin air.

“JAY!!”

Chapter Text

Nya’s gaze never strayed from the forest below. Jay was… Sweet, kind Jay was… gone.

And it was all her fault.

After a while, Kai pulled her away from the edge, and pulled her into a big hug. Then she let the tears flow.

Lloyd glanced around at the group of solemn, melancholy teens. Jay’s… fall had taken its toll on all of them. Nya most of all. The girl blamed herself wholeheartedly for his… death.

Kai’s sole attention was on his sister, whispering encouragements to her and helping her walk with her limp. It was kind of sweet to be honest.

Cole was staying far away from the rest of the group, shaken. After all, Jay hadn’t forgiven him yet, and would never get a chance to. Perhaps he was also blaming himself.

Zane had a blank expression on his face, like he didn’t want to could, feel anything. Numb from the shock.

And even though Pixal was quiet, her grief written all over her face.

Although Lloyd and Jay didn’t know each other very well, he still felt Jay’s loss. After all, he had sacrificed himself for the group despite his fears. And even though everyone and probably Jay himself felt that he was a timid, scared thing, Lloyd thought he was very brave.

And he admired him for that.

But…

“Attention all parkgoers, please make your way to the docks, the last boat leaves in an hour.”

But he knew that despite everything, they couldn’t even give him a proper funeral. If it was just him, he would. But the living always held priority over the dead.

After all, they were at least, fifty kilometres away from the docks, further away then they were before. When the train served, it took them back the way they came. They only successfully jumped off when they were above a big cliff. Leaving only bruises from the small jump.

There was no time to waste. If they ran, they might just narrowly make in onto the boat.

“We have to go.” He told them softly, as they stared back at him. Nya snapped her head back up angrily. “The hell we are! Jay could be out here, bleeding to death! We have to find him!”

“Nya, I hate to agree with him-“ Lloyd rolled his eyes at this. “-but Lloyd’s right. No one could could’ve survived that high of a jump.”

Nya stared at the rest of them, betrayed. Kai placed a hand on her shoulder, shaking his head. “I’m sorry sis. But Jay wouldn’t have wanted his sacrifice to be for nothing.”

At this, the teens slowly but surely got up from the ground and started to run. They’ve got this far. And they have no choice but to keep on running. Because no matter what, they had to survive.

For Dareth.

For their parents and loved ones.

For Jay.

The Campers were going to make it home. No matter what.

“We’re not going to make it.” Cole whispered softly, and as much as the others didn’t want to, they had no choice but to agree with him.

The docks were still really really far away. And at the rate they were going, with Nya’s sprained ankle, there was no way they could make it in forty minutes.

“Zane! The underground vents!” Kai suggested, as Zane nodded in agreement. Lloyd and Pixal exchanged looks, grinning.

“This way!” Pixal called as they ran through the dark tunnels. Zane and Kai glancing at her in shock. “How the hell do you know your way around so well?”

“Because we spent a lot of time hiding down here, while Zane’s only seen maps.” Lloyd smirked, as Zane stared at Pixal, red tinting his cheeks in awe.

Lloyd smirked, but as he glanced behind him, his smile fell. Despite the help of her brother, Nya was still moving at a slow pace.

The girl was trying her best, hobbling as fast as she could. But with the timer ticking over their heads, Lloyd knew it wasn’t enough. There was only thirty minutes left. They would just have to pray that the boat would wait.

Pixel bit her lip anxiously as she rounded a corner. She mentally groaned as she saw the bars barring the usually open corridor.

They were counting on her. She couldn’t let them down. She had to make it home to her father. Her dad was counting on her.

“This way!” The sliver haired girl called as she turned around and led the teens through another corridor, her thoughts racing, trying to find them a way out in time.

The announcer echoed her thoughts, with a loud “The last ferry will leave in thirty minutes.”

They were wasting precious time. Pixal cursed and banged the metals bars as they once again went into a dead end. “This shitty lockdown!”

“Hey, it’s okay.” Lloyd said softly, as he placed a hand on her shoulder. Pixal shrugged it off angrily, turning around to glare at him. “Shut up! Coming down here was your idea in the first place, I’m trying to fix your mistake.”

Pixal blanched when she saw him school his expression into a blank one. But before she could apologise, Zane pulled them both apart. “Fighting won’t solve anything.”

“So what? We’re stuck in this stupid place, with no way out and no way to get to the stupid docks!” Kai said, equally frustrated, as he slammed his fist on a locker. Which then opened at his force and a taser staff fell out, as the floor became slightly charred.

“A walking stick.” Cole picked it up, and handed it to Nya, who grimaced. She had been clinging, reluctantly, to her brother the whole journey. But she didn’t really want to use some sort of walking stick like an invalid. “I’m not a cripple! I don’t need this!”

“Stop!” Pixal hissed, as the rest of them dug their heels into the ground. Kai glared at her. “What is it now?”

A loud thud sounded nearby, answering Kai’s frustrated question. The whole group froze, as a loud growl echoed through the corridors.

“ Back away, back away! ” Kai hissed, as a familiar dragon rounded the corner, it’s jagged spikes on its body puncturing the pipe a pipe on a roof, making steam surround it as its eyes glowed menacingly in the dark.

“ Rocky .” Cole breathed out as the others turned to him, annoyance and bewilderment filling their faces. “What?”

A roar from the earth dragon startled them, and they raced towards the exits.

“You named the dragon; Rocky?!” Kai shouted, as Cole yelled. “It’s my coping mechanism to name dangerous things with a cutesy name! It makes it less intimidating!”

“Does it though?” Zane questioned, as Nya yelled at them from behind, managing to stay barely behind even with her injured leg. “Less talking more running!”

Rocky agreed with her, roaring even louder as it picked up the speed, eager to get its claws on its enemies.

“I’m sick of this! Imma beat that stupid dragon to the ground!” Kai turned around, palms lit up with a flame. But before he could launch it at the dragon, Lloyd grabbed his wrists and pulled him away. “Don’t hurt it!”

“It’s trying to kill us!” The brunette shouted back angrily, retching his arm out of the other’s grip. “You expect us to just stand there and die?”

Lloyd opened his mouth to retort, but was interrupted by Pixal yanking both of them into a corridor.

“ Will you two shut up ?!” She hissed, as the both remained silent, but glared daggers at each other. “We’re almost at the docks, but there’s a big dragon-proof door blocking the way.”

“I don’t see any way to open it manually.” Zane added, as Lloyd scanned the area.

It was a spacious room, big enough to fit at least a few dragons. There was a train track, which was probably what they used to push supplies down here. It was also full of boxes of different sizes. But the most worrying thing was that at the end of the room, where the tracks stopped, was a huge metal door.

“They must’ve sealed this place up after construction.” Lloyd said, as the others sighed.

“Argh! Can anyone in this damm park build something useful?!” Nya raged, before glancing at Lloyd and Pixal. “No offence.”

The two shrugged, before a roar interrupted them, and they frantically began to search the boxes, hoping to find something useful.

Zane stared at the hydraulic pumps in the box. He beckoned the others over. “Over here!”

“Oh! We had these lying around the house when my mum was sick.” Cole said as Zane jumped in. “They explode under heat and pressure.”

“We can use them to destroy the door!” Kai exclaimed, as he smirked, holding out a fist full of fire. “It just needs a little… spark.”

Nya rolled her eyes fondly, but deep down she was elated. They were finally going home.

“Alright Kai, light it up!” Cole called out as they had finished placing all the pumps they found into the box, and was just waiting for the brunette to launch the first sparks to light it up, like a block of dynamite on wheels.

But just as the brunette was about to bring his fist down on the rope, a loud roar sounded as Kai was knocked into a bunch of boxes by a blast of molten lava ball. He groaned weakly before passing out.

Rocky had found them.

“Kai!” Nya shouted, before she turned towards the dragon, her fists clenched as she pulled water from a bottle in a box angrily. No one hurts her big brother and gets away with it.

Zane rushed towards the teen, checking him for wounds. Out of all of them, he was pretty sure that he had the most medical experience, Cole being next in line. He heaved a sigh of relief when he found that Kai had no serious head injuries.

Unfortunately, the dragon’s attack had knocked him out, cold. Without Kai’s fire, they had no means of escape.

“He’s okay! Just slightly bruised and unconscious from the impact, with a broken rib!” Zane called back, as Nya relaxed a little. At least her bonehead brother wasn’t that badly injured. Though he shouldn’t be injured at all! With that, she launched herself at the dragon.

Well, tried to at least. She was restrained by Cole, who was just as strong as he looked. “You can’t go rushing into battle like that! You’re still hurt!”

“So?” Nya challenged, as Cole stared back at her, meeting her gaze unflinchingly. “It’ll be hard to drag not just one, but two unconscious people to the boat, with the time limit.”

Nya huffed. He had a point. But that doesn’t mean she would listen! She could fight too, and pull her own weight! She won’t- she isn’t a burden!

“We can handle it.” He said firmly, and she sighed, before turning to where the battle was taking place. Zane and Lloyd were fighting the dragon, although both looked like they were trying to imprison it, instead of seriously wounding the beast. Pixal was standing in front of Kai with a determined expression on her face, a taser in her hands, as she was ready to protect their injured friend.

“Fine!” Nya huffed, ignoring the way she softened slightly at Cole’s beaming smile. “Go kick it’s butt!”

Lloyd grimaced as the dragon roared in pain. He couldn’t- he wouldn’t hurt it. Rocky (Cole’s name just stuck) had broken horn, which must’ve been really painful, because it wouldn’t grow back.

The dragon was just filled with vengeance and was probably really hungry, being a carnivore. Since the park was in chaos he didn’t get his daily meal of two full cows.

“Zane! Form an ice wall to block from its attacks so we can break open the door without it attacking us!” Lloyd called, as Zane nodded back at him, ice leaving his hands as Rocky roared in protest.

“What do we do now?” Pixal asked, as they all stared anxiously at the dragon, who was currently trying to headbutt its way through the wall, which was slightly crumbling with each hit.

It took several moments for Lloyd to realise that she was talking to him.

Lloyd glanced at all of the teens. Zane had used up a lot of strength making that ice wall, and was probably done for the day, Kai was still unconscious, and Cole could carry him, while Pixal could support Zane, while Nya.. well she wasn’t well enough for battle, but by the looks of it, other then him and Cole, no one else was, so battling the dragon was out. And it had always been out in the first place because he hated hurting dragons.

Lloyd scanned the boxes quietly, the pressure, the weight of the stares of the others as he hesitated weighing on him.

Ohgodwhatifimessthisupthey’llhatemethey’llhate me

“You wanna know why this happened to you Lloyd?”

“Because you’re weak.”

“And that’s all you’ll ever be.”

Lloyd shook his head, as he covered his ears as if he could block out all the voices. He closed his eyes, as tears threatened to leak out of the corners of his eyes.

Stupid! Stupid stupid! They were all counting on you!

You can’t even find a simple solution!

All you can do is fail

Useless crybaby!

No wonder she didn’t want you-

“Lloyd.” He glanced up, as Nya took his hands in hers, a gentle, pitying smile on her face. “It’s okay. We’ll handle it.”

Lloyd shrunk back, as he stared at anything but her ocean blue eyes, but that was when he spotted it. An idea.

The box of pumps need a fire to spark it, fire that he had. But they were all trapped near the door, and if that explosion went off it would break the ice wall separating them and Rocky.

But… what if he..

“Zane! Do you think you can use the ice wall to push the dragon back?” He yelled, as the tired blonde lifted his head. “I will try.”

Zane closed his eyes, as he used all of his remaining strength to push ice wall backwards, forcing the dragon to move back.

Pixal barely caught the elemental master of ice as he collapsed.

Lloyd smiled, before snapping his fingers as he willed a flame to come forth. Time to leave these stupid tunnels.

The teens cheered as they finally made it to the docks. After almost getting eaten by dragons multiple times, and running everywhere, traveling from one end of the island to another, it was finally over.

They could finally go home.

But life had other plans.

“No…” Pixals’s breath was caught as she stared in horror at the empty docks. It was sunrise. There was not even a sign of the boat on the horizon.

They were too late, and now they were never going back home.

“They’ll come back for us… right?” Nya asked, meekly, as the whole group stared at the breathtaking sight of the sun rise, but neither of them could even bother to be amazed, the realisation that they were never going home devastating.

“We’re just going to have to survive until they do.” Lloyd declared firmly, as he locked eyes with them and they all nodded in agreement.

Chapter Text

Lloyd’s body shook as deep breaths were torn out of him. His feet ached and burned with bruises and blisters, but he had to keep running.

The ground shook slightly as the dragon behind him roared loudly, hell bent on catching its prey. A fallen tree caught his attention from the corner of his eye, and an idea sprang to his head.

“There!” He screamed- yelled, as the group beside him obeyed. “Behind the log!”

He slid under it easily, as he heard Kai’s shout of “what the hell?!”, Pixal followed suit, while Cole jumped over the log, Zane and Kai helping Nya over.

The grass dragon screeched at them, as it was about to follow, but before it could, a fire dragon rammed into it.

Lloyd cringed as squeals and squelch noises were heard as the carnivores fire dragon dove into its latest meal. A shame. They had accidentally startled the vibrant dragon omnivore after trying to deal with the fact that the boat had already left without them, and they’re wounded, and it had began an island wide chase.

“Argh! Why are there so many stupid dragons around?!” Kai groaned, as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

The whole group had practically collapsed behind the tree, tired after what seemed like a day of running.

“It’s either your boyish charm, or the fact that all the fences on the island are down.” Nya said sarcastically, as Zane nodded. “It’s the second option.”

“I literally don’t care! I just want some cake.” Cole whined, as Pixal agreed. “We haven’t eaten anything since we had Cole’s awful soup at the train with-“

She stopped, glancing at the downcast expression on Nya’s face, who had curled in on herself. Kai loved slightly closer to his sister, while the rest of them looked away.

Jay’s death had taken its toll on all of them.

Lloyd sighed, as he glanced up at the bright blue sky. Almost getting eaten several times, endless running, the hunger pangs, and… getting left behind wasn’t helping. At all.

A roar sounded close by, and the whole group groaned in unison. But Lloyd perked up, as something in the distance caught his eye. “Look! Main Street!”

“I bet we can get food there!” Cole pointed out excitedly, as they all cheered. “Or even a phone!”

“What the…” Pixal winced as she saw the bloody remains of the Indominus inside the pool.

“At least we don’t have to worry about it anymore.” Lloyd shrugged, looking a bit queasy, while Nya blanched. “Or the sea serpent being hungry anytime soon.”

“Guys, guys!” Cole called, as he pulled them all towards a shop. “You have got to see this!”

The ‘this’ being a cardboard version of Kai,

with his hair slicked up, and wearing same attire as him and real life, along with sunglasses on the top of his head. One of his hand was on his hip, and the other was holding a phone charger, clearly advertising the product.

Lloyd couldn’t help it. He burst into laughter.

Kai shot him an annoyed glare, but the blonde was soon joined by his sister and the other teens in the group. “I forgot I agreed to that okay?! Stop laughing!”

“Do- do you only- own one outfit?” Lloyd asked, in between spurts of giggles. The tip of the brunette’s ears turned red as he hissed back. “Of course not! This is just my signature look!”

“Oh King of the smokers, please sign my phone charger- hahahaha!” Cole snatched one from the store, and knelt in front of Kai, before bursting into more laughter and rolling on the ground.

Their laughter was so contagious, that even Zane, who didn’t get the joke at first, joined in. Kai shot him a betrayed look.

It just made them laugh harder.

Kai stared at the cut out, at his smug, clean face wistfully. What he wouldn’t give for a hot bath… He was snapped out of his thoughts by Cole’s voice, and entered the shop.

“Okay, we should look for a phone, or something that we can use to communicate with the outside world.” Cole told them, as they all spread out and began looking.

“Lost and found!” Lloyd grinned as he began shifting through the items. “A hat. Sunglasses. More sunglasses… and… damm it! More useless sunglasses!”

“Wow Lloyd, you kiss your mother with that mouth?” Nya teased as the blonde glared at her. Pixal groaned as she placed the phone back down on the desk. “The phones that are here aren’t working.”

“And I can’t believe no one lost their cell phone.” Lloyd grumbled as Cole coughed. Pixal perked up excitedly. “You found a phone?”

“Umm nope. Just these bad boys.” Cole said, half proud half sheepish as he held out two purple dragon walkie-talkies he had found. Pixal sighed, staring at him with a deadpan expression as he and Kai began to make robot noises into the devices. They had a robot voice mode.

“Look!” Zane said happily, as he pulled out a giant book. “An insider’s guide to the First Realm! It has a ton of useful stuff about the park!”

Lloyd smiled fondly as he glanced at the big yellow book. Uncle Wu had forced him and Morro to read that as many times as he had forced them to read his book on ninjanuity.

Pixal stared deadpan at Zane, who continued reading the book. At least the blonde had found something useful. Sort of. If one more person was going to say something and it wasn’t a phone, she was going to-

“Look at this!” Kai announced, as Pixal turned towards him quickly. “You found a phone?”

“Even better!” Kai boasted as he slicked back his hair, and stared at his find smugly. “A old but working camera! Now I can document all the cool stuff we’ll see, and get my follower count up higher!”

“And how is that going to help us?!” Pixal glared, as Kai shrugged. “It’ll make you famous when we get back?”

Zane subtly waved to the camera, as Cole grinned and videobombed by dancing in front of the lens wearing one of the sunglasses Lloyd had found from the lost and found box.

“Guys! I found something!” Zane said, as Pixal sighed wearily. “Phone?”

“Even better. An EDB!” Zane said excitedly, while the rest merely stared at him, confused. “And Emergency Distress Beacon! It sends signals from all directions, for about 100 km away!”

“That’s awesome Zane!” Pixal smirked happily. Finally, something useful. “And it’s somewhere on Main Street.”

“Does it say where specifically?” Nya questioned, as Zane shook his head. “No. And umm the next few pages are ones of Doctor Borg wearing turtlenecks.”

“Oh gods not those pictures.” Pixal sighed, facepalming as Kai grabbed the book out of Zane’s hands. “Oh wow… he really does love his turtlenecks don’t he? There’s like at least seven different shots of him wearing different turtlenecks each time.”

“He’s a big collector.” The sliver haired girl  groaned. Kai’s eyes brightened, as he burst out laughing. “There’s even a shot of you too!”

“What?! Give that back!” Pixal growled, trying to snatch the book away from the spiky haired menace, who merely darted out of her each. Curse his extra long legs. Zane blushed as he caught sight of the photo of Pixal in a tight purple turtleneck. “You look good.”

“Om gosh! There’s even one of Wu and Mystake!” Nya cackled as Kai tossed her the book, the group playing a little game of keep-away from Pixal. “And- is that his son?”

“Wait- Wu has a son?” Cole gasped, snatching the book from her. The picture was one of the Mystake wearing a grey turtleneck, and Wu wearing a yellow one, his arm around a teenager with a green streak in his hair, wearing a black turtleneck. He looked rather unfriendly, as if he hated existing in that very moment.

Lloyd scoffed. “Of course he does! That’s Morro, my cousin.”

“He looks so.. emo.” Kai blurted out, as the blonde laughed. “I know right? He’s never grown out of his emo phase.”

“Hey! There’s even a picture of your mother.” Cole pointed out, as Lloyd wrinkled his nose at the sight of his mom being all geeky in a beige turtleneck.

“But umm… where’s your picture?”

“I must’ve been at boarding school or something.” Lloyd shrugged, as he walked out of the store. “Now come on, we should find that beacon thingy.”

Kai glanced offhandedly at the book. How strange. There were at least two pictures of Pixal, and even one solo picture of Morro.

The date they were taken was in June.

Wouldn’t Lloyd have been home by then?

“Hey smokers! You wanted exclusive footage?” Kai grinned as he hopped in front of the camera lens, showing off a huge building behind him. “Here you go! And there’s no one better than me to show it to you!”

“Ever notice that ‘smokers’ sound weird?” Cole said deadpan, as he lowered the camera. Kai glared at him. “I was ten when I came up with it so- argh! Just cut! Cut!”

“What do I have to do?” Zane asked excitedly, practically bouncing as he held the book tightly, stars in his eyes. “Should I have a catchphrase too?”

Kai stared at him, from behind the camera, groaning. “No! Zane! We covered this. Just… talk about the stuff!”

“Okay umm, so everything human in the First Realm is disguised, to keep up the natural illusion.” Zane explained, as he walked towards a building, where there was some rocks and mossy vines covering the structure. “This rock, is really a trash bin. And these vines are really electrical cords.”

“Hope you enjoyed, smokers!” Zane waved to the camera, before raising an eyebrow at Kai. “You do know that smokers have another meaning right? Like those who smoke cigarettes-“

“Argh! Okay okay, cut!” Kai groaned, as he facepalmed. Cole cackled behind them.

“Hey smokers- damm it Cole!” Kai pouted as he glared at Cole, who was still bursting into laughter behind the camera. “Now it sounds weird to me too! You jinxed it you-“

The black haired teen smirked as he ran, a furious brunette behind him.

“WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GET THAT SCOOTER FROM?!”

Pixal laughed softly as Cole somehow pulled a scooter out of thin air, and was now using it to evade Kai, who was running after him.

“Ow! I tripped on a rock.” She laughed even harder when Cole got caught, not because Kai was fast enough to catch up with the scooter, but because he was clumsy.

“You okay?” Zane asked her, concerned as he walked beside her. She glanced at him, and smiled softly. “Of course.”

“You seemed particularly upset when he couldn’t find a phone earlier.” The blonde pressed, as she sighed. “I don’t know, it’s just… all my life, I’ve been looking after my dad, you know, since my mother…”

Zane looked at her inquisitively, as if to prompt her to continue. “And umm you know, he’s an inventor, so sometimes he forgets to eat, or sleep, he doesn’t even notice days have passed while works on a project.”

“So if I’m not around, who’s going to pull him out of his head? Or what if he thinks I’m dead and-“ Zane took her hands in his, before she could spiral any further, smiling gently at her.

“He’ll be glad that you’re okay.”

Pixal smiled back at him, before hesitantly asking a question of her own. “What about you? Worried about anyone at home?”

“My dad has my little brother Echo.” Zane sighed, as he stared up at the blue sky. “Besides, I just hope that I can make it back in time for his birthday. I promised him I’d be there.”

“And you will.” Pixal assured him, as he smiled back at her. “So will you.”

“Serious Cole?” Zane stared at the teen deadpan, as he held up a small toy dragon, and was now using it to play eat his hair, while holding the camera. “Your hair looks like broccoli! Hahaha!”

Nya sighed as she rolled her eyes, continuing to search for the beacon. “Boys.”

Pixal stood beside her, arms folded on her chest. “I know right.”

“Hey guys! Look! Your saviour is here!” Kai boasted, smirking as he came in riding Cole’s stolen scooter, carrying boxes and boxes of frozen pizza.

“Whoa! Omg, finally! I’m starving!” Cole smiled, mirroring the expression of the others, as they all dug in.

Well they tried too at least.

The frozen pizza was well. Frozen.

“Nothing a little fire won’t fix.” Kai grinned as his hand lit up with a flame. Zane shot him a look, looking concerned as Kai took a pizza box. “What if the smoke attracts dragons?”

“Nah it’ll be fine.” Kai shrugged off the blonde’s worries.

The whole group stared at him deadpan as he burned at least half of the pizza boxes.

“Umm oops?” Kai grinned sheepishly.

Lloyd facepalmed, as he walked off to gather firewood for a campfire.

“I think Lloyd should light the fire this time.” Cole frowned, as Kai glared at him. “C’mon it was one time!”

“Not the only time!” Nya called back, as Kai’s expression only turned more sour. “Thanks ya traitor!”

“You’re welcome moron.” She smirked, as Pixal smiled. Siblings.

“Besides!” Kai turned as he pointed at Lloyd dramatically, making the blonde roll his eyes. “His fire is green! It might be poisonous!”

“I do not think that is possible Kai.” Zane added, as the brunette turned towards him, betrayed. “You too, Zane?”

“I hate you guys.” Kai huffed, crossing his arms around his stomach. Lloyd giggled, before bursting into laughter.

Everyone else followed suit, but Lloyd glanced at Nya, who was silent.

Nya sat up adruptedly, sweat dripping down her forehead as she glanced at her surroundings. The others were all sleeping soundly, in a store.

Pixal had somehow went and found them sleeping bags, that were sold for those who wanted to sleep under the stars, in the First Realm.

Nya got up softly, and went out of the store, closing the door carefully. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a familiar blue, dirt streaked sweater.

“Jay..?” The name came out of her mouth, as she began chasing after the figure.

“Jay!” Nya called out, relief in her voice as she finally caught up to the boy. Her hand didn’t go through like in a dream.

Nya pulled him into a tight hug, tears dripping down her cheeks. “I’m sorry, I’m so so sorry, I never meant to-“

“-to let me go?” Jay interrupted her, as he pulled away, and stared at her, a hard look in his eyes.

“What?” The word slipped out of her mouth, as she stared at the kind red head boy.

“You let me go, Nya!” Jay glared at her with hatred, and just like that, they were at the train again. And she was gripping onto Jay with a death grip, but he was slipping.

“Why did you let me go..?”

Nya shot up, panting. It was just a dream. A horrible horrible nightmare.

“You okay?” Nya glanced beside her, where a blonde stared at her worriedly, holding out a bottle of water. She smiled gratefully, and took a sip. “Thanks Lloyd.”

“I took the first watch, so you can relax.” Lloyd shrugged, offhandedly, as he sat down beside her. “But that’s not what kept you up, is it?”

“No.” Nya sighed, as she brought her knees closer to her chest. “It’s… Jay.”

“It’s not your fault Nya.” He replied without hesitation, as she looked down. “Why not? It was my fault! If I had just held on tighter or… just done something! Jay would still be here right now.”

“Blaming yourself won’t bring him back.” Lloyd cut in, sighing. “It will only make you suffer.”

“You don’t understand.” Nya muttered darkly under her breath, and unknown to her, Lloyd caught it.

“Why don’t you do something that helps you relax, so you can go back to sleep?” Lloyd suggested. Nya smirked, as she teased him. “Why, eager to get rid of me?”

“Maybe.” He smirked back at her, and they both burst into quiet laughter. Nya then got up and shifted herself into a push up position. Lloyd stared at her, quizzically. “Umm what are you doing?”

“Push ups?” Nya raised an eyebrow at the blonde, who shook his head. “Why?”

“You said to do what makes me relax so…” Nya shrugged, as Lloyd muffled his laughter. “Nah that’s not relaxing.”

“What do you do for relaxing then?” Nya glared at him, as the blonde shrugged. “I dunno, walking or exploring?”

“Nerd.” She shot back, as Lloyd smiled. “You’re the bigger geek.”

“Why are you still awake Nya?” A soft voice asked, as the two of them jumped. Zane appeared behind them, as he held up a rolled up sleeping bag to Lloyd. “It’s my turn for night watch.”

“Can’t sleep.” Nya replied, before turning back to the blonde in a green hoodie. “Why don’t we go for a walk then, Lloyd?”

“I dunno. I’ve already seen everything there is to see in the First Realm, and I don’t think they’ve updated anything since a year?” Lloyd shrugged, taking the sleeping bag from Zane and placing it on the floor, slightly away, but still near Nya’s. “Why not try to go back to sleep? We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.

“The First Realm updated a lot of things!” Zane gushed, as he sat down beside the both of them. “There are now new hidden information plates carved into trees! And ten new dragon themed smoothies!”

“Wait- what did you just say?” Lloyd questioned, an idea forming in his head. Zane tilted his head, confused. “There are ten new dragon themed smoothies?”

“No before that.”

“Ummm there are new hidden information plates carved into trees?”

“Thats it!” Lloyd announced loudly, grinning as he gave Zane a hug. “You’re a genius!”

“I am?” Zane asked as he glanced at the blonde, confused.

“Shut up!” Kai hissed, as he flung a pillow at Lloyd, who grinned sheepishly as everyone turned to face him, still half asleep.

“I know how to find the beacon.”

“So everything in the First Realm is disguised right?” Lloyd explained, as he walked around the centre of Main Street. “So what if we could never find the beacon because it-“

“-was camouflaged!” Cole finished, as Kai ruffled Lloyd’s hair. “Great job! Shortie!”

The blonde shot the brunette a glare, pushing his hand off of his blonde locks, which made his hair fuzzy, and more messy than it already was. “I’m not short!”

The rest of them stared at him deadpan, and then they all stood in front of him, measuring their heights.

And they were all taller than him.

“Damm it!” Lloyd cursed, before storming off. “Argh, whatever! Let’s just find that stupid beacon.”

“Hey! This tree is hollow!” Cole called, as the rest of them came crowding towards the tree, it was empty, but there was a hatch that could open up a small section if the tree. “It looks like it could fit a beacon.”

“What does the beacon even look like in the first place?” Kai asked, as the rest of them stared at him, their expressions deadpan. “You don’t know what it looks like?! Then were you even looking for it?!”

“Of course I was! I’d just thought it’ll look like a hidden flare or something.” Kai admitted, sheepishly as the rest of them groaned.

“It’s is like a flare, but it has the words emergency distress beacon on it.” Lloyd growled, as Zane showed him the book, with a picture of the beacon in it. “Everyone, fan out and find it!”

But before they could, a loud thump sounded nearby, as they all froze.

“Over there!” Nya hissed, as she pointed to the nearest building, and they all ducked inside, taking cover.

The large, loud footsteps sounded like they were coming even closer, as they all tried to be as quiet as possible, so that the large and possibly dangerous dragon wouldn’t kill them.

“A fire dragon.” Kai breathed as he stared at the awesome dragon before him. It was vermillion red, and it’s looked bigger than any other dragon they’ve seen, except maybe the sea serpent. It had small wings, but really really big teeth.

But Lloyd was more concerned about the tree in its jaw. It was one of those hollow trees, which meant the beacon could be in there.

He heard Pixal’s sharp gasp, and saw at the same time she did. The hatch, or the door hiding the hidden compartment had been torn off, and… it revealed that the tree the fire dragon was currently holding in its mouth, contained the very thing that they were looking for.

The beacon.

“Whoa! This is fascinating!” Zane remarked as they were spying on the fire dragon from the roof of a nearby building. The dragon had chosen to build a nest in its old cage. “It’s new behaviour! This is great!”

He laughed sheepishly as everyone glared at him. “I mean… it’s not great.”

“What do we do now?” Kai questioned, as Lloyd sighed. “We’re going to need a lot of those walkie-talkies.”

“The red bird is leaving the nest, I repeat, the red bird is leaving the nest! Over.” Kai told them, as Nya glared at him. “Do you really have to say that?”

“Yes. It’s essential.” Kai scoffed, as his sister rolled her eyes. A few moments later, Cole replied back in a robot voice from a few miles away. “The red bird has reached the destination, I repeat, the red bird has reached the destination, over.”

“Please take this seriously.” Pixal sighed, as Kai winked at her. “I’m always serious, darling.”

Pixal moved away, as Nya gagged in disgust. Lloyd sighed, before roughly tugging on Kai’s arm. “C’mon, let’s go get the beacon.”

Lloyd glanced around the nest. He saw Kai hands shake slightly. He know he should feel some sort of overwhelming dread, but there was nothing.

He felt safe and at home in a dragon’s nest. Which was weird, but then again, what wasn’t?

Of course there was some form of uncomfortable feeling, at being in a strange nest, but he put that aside in hopes of finding the beacon.

Something shined at the corner of his eyes. “There!”

Kai crawled towards him, as they both stared at the grey beacon, and grinned. The brunette then reached into the tree trunk, trying to pry the beacon out, but it was not working.

“The beacon is stuck in the nest. I repeat, the beacon is stuck in the nest. Over.” Kai relayed into his walkie-talkie, as Lloyd sighed.

“I think you should just activate it.” Zane said, flipping through the manual. After a moment of silence, Kai replied angrily. “You should say ‘over’ after you’ve finished, or I won’t respond.”

Zane sighed, and rolled his eyes. “Okay…. Over.”

“Yeah Zane!”

“You go dude!”

The blonde sighed painstakingly.

Cole gulped as he stared at the fire dragon, who was staring right back at him in the tree. He felt horribly exposed.

He closed his eyes. He hated heights. He had no idea why he volunteered for this mission in the first place.

Cole was supposed to wait here, and notify the others if the dragon came or left. But he didn’t think that he would have to hide in a tree the whole time.

Cole winced as he heard a snap. He slowly opened his eyes, to see the dragon walking away, a big branch in its jaw. The branch below him. He let out soft sigh of relief as soon as the dragon began heading back. Guess the beast didn’t see him after all.

Then he let out a gasp as he realised what this meant, he pulled out his walkie-talkie. “Guys! The red bird is returning to the nest! Over!”

Nya gasped, and quickly yelled into the walkie-talkie, as soon as she heard the message. “Guys! C’mon, you gotta go!”

“Guys?!” She stared at where Lloyd and Kai were crowding the beacon, both looked like they hadn’t heard her at all. Nya gritted her teeth. She won’t do it. She won’t- Argh. “Lloyd, Kai, come in!….Over.”

They still continued standing there.

“Argh Damm it! My stupid brother wore out the batteries.” Nya cursed, as Pixal and Zane stared at her worriedly. “Now what do we do? It’s going to eat them!”

“Someone has to go and warn them.” Zane stated, as the other two agreed. Suddenly, Nya had an idea. “Pixal, help me up.”

“Zane, you should go warn them, but be ready to fight in case our plan doesn’t work.” She told the blonde, who nodded and jumped over the wall, forming an ice slide below.  Pixal glanced at her. “What are we doing?”

Nya smirked, her smile full of teeth. “Payback.”

The fire dragon stalked into Main Street, a low growl leaving its throat, warning any prey nearby, that a predator has arrived.

It perked up, as it heard some noise coming from the opposite direction of its nest. It slowly stalked towards the sound, its large footsteps shaking the ground with each step. Finally, it heard it.

“Hey smokers! So today-“ The noise was coming from a weird non moving object, but it didn’t smell human. It stalked closer to the moving-thing-that-can-produce-sound-but-was-not-alive, and sniffed it more throughly, squashing a metal object.

It fell down, and it roared. A trick!

“Did you send the signal out?” Pixal questioned as Lloyd nodded. Meanwhile, Kai was staring at his sister, betrayed. “How could you? You destroyed my camera! I was going to use that to make all of you guys famous.”

“I’m already famous stupid.” Nya rolled her eyes as she placed a hand on her hip. Besides, I wouldn’t have had to destroy it if you didn’t wear out the battery. So if anything, it’s your fault.”

“I’ll get even, you’ll see.” The whole group laughed as Kai mourned the loss of his precious recording device, but all in all, it was a pretty good day.

Help was coming.

Chapter Text

Hi! Unfortunately this is not an update, and I sincerely apologise to everyone who is reading this or has been hoping for an update. 

Sadly, I will not be continuing this fanfic, and will be abandoning writing. Maybe I will come back someday, but probably not. I am really really sorry, I know how it feels like to get hooked on a fic only for it to be discontinued, and I’m so sorry to do this to all my readers. 

But thank all of you so much for commenting, giving my work kudos, and for reading my fanfics. You guys are the best! I’m so sorry to let you guys down. 

Thank you for everything.

🥰☺️💕💞