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Ships are launching from my chest
Some have names but most do not
If you find one, please let me know what piece I've lost
Heal the scars from off my back
I don't need them anymore
You can throw them out or keep them in your mason jars
I've come home (ho-o-ome, ho-o-ome, ho-o-ome...)
"Come on, you're almost there!"
Cole and Jay were in the middle of an intense Lava Zombies competition, and by the first look, it was clear Jay was winning.
Lloyd was perched on the arm of the couch, next to Cole. Kai sat on the opposite arm. Nya was curled up between Jay and Kai, half asleep as she was roped into viewing the video game match. Zane was busy in the kitchen, cooking up snacks for the others.
Lloyd was probably more excited about the snacks than the actual competition but nonetheless continued rooting for Cole. Lloyd had previously given Cole a few secret tips he had discovered last he played the game.
Kai was making random unwanted comments throughout the game, mostly him bragging about how he could've done that special move much quicker, and that no one compared to his skill. This was common, but Kai was actually terrible at the game. He even lost to his dad. An old guy who had zero video gaming experience. Lloyd figured he had heard it all, until he found out Kai hadn't won a single game against Nya. Kai was definitely in denial.
Jay and Cole were intensely focused on the game, and the button smashing got louder. Jay leaned in slightly, his hands moving at the speed of lightning (pun intended).
"Woohoo! Yeah!" Cole suddenly shouted, raising his hands over his head. A high-pitched ding sounded from the TV.
"What?!" Jay yelled, staring at the screen in shock with his jaw dropped.
Zane peeked his head out of the kitchen for a moment, but no one noticed. He smiled warmly and went back to prepping the snacks. Meanwhile, Nya stirred a bit, coming back to reality as her friends were yelling and arguing next to her. She could very much care less.
"That's not fair! You cheated!" Jay shouted, trying to defend his case.
"I won fair and square. There goes your winning streak." Cole grinned mischievously.
"I had 56 games in a row until you just had to ruin it!" Jay yelled back.
Lloyd grinned slyly, and Kai took notice of this immediately.
"So, gave him a few pointers, huh?" Kai walked over to Lloyd, returning the grin, "He needed them."
"I've been practicing. And it's pretty boring watching Jay win every time." Lloyd said, shrugging his shoulders.
"That's true. Hey, uh, could I maybe have a few of those pointers?" Kai said, wincing at how absolutely embarrassing that was.
"Hmm... Maybe." Lloyd taunted, stifling a giggle at Kai's face. Kai just scoffed and walked into the kitchen.
"You just can't admit your ultimate defeat!" Cole argued with Jay.
"That's because I always win! You must've cheated!" Jay argued back.
"Guys, guys, why don't you settle this a different way?" Lloyd suggested calmly, as Nya quietly left the room, leaving the boys to continue whatever it was that was making them yell so much.
"How? Rock paper scissors?" Jay piped up.
"No! You guys have a one-on-one battle with me!" Lloyd said proudly.
"You? Don't you suck at this game?" Jay questioned. Meanwhile, Cole grinned knowingly, then his face dropped as he realized he'd have to go against Lloyd too.
"Then it should be easy." Lloyd grins slyly again, making menacing eye contact with Jay.
"What!? How?!" Are the only sounds that come out of Jay's mouth as he brutally loses against Lloyd. Cole was sitting on the other side of the couch, moping in defeat.
"Looks like I'm the ultimate winner!" Lloyd said happily. Jay groaned, annoyed, and Cole patted his back mockingly.
All of the sudden, a loud alarm blared through the room, and Kai peeked his head out of the kitchen to see what was going on.
The alarm quieted down, and Pixal's voice sounded from the intercom.
"I need everyone to the control center now. There's something you may want to see."
Zane, Nya, and Kai ran out of the kitchen, Zane pulling shurikens seemingly out of thin air. He threw them accurately at a dartboard on the wall. The dartboard moved to the side, revealing a large red button. The last shuriken hit the button perfectly and opened the secret elevator.
The Ninja quickly pile into the elevator, sharing confused looks as they went down.
"Pix, you called?" Lloyd rushed up to the giant console, where Pixal was observing blinking red dots on the massive monitor screens and quickly, almost frantically pressing buttons. The rest of the Ninja followed behind Lloyd.
"Yeah, what's going on?" Jay added, popping out from behind the others with a curious expression.
"The sensors are picking up multiple foreign matters, all originating from Ninjago City. I can't get a visual. Based on the number of warnings you're seeing on the screen, I assume you want to, 'check it out'?" Pixal stated, swiveling around in her chair to face the other Ninja, who were busy gazing up at the screens.
"Y-yeah, that would be great," Lloyd said quietly, taken aback by the flashing red and alarms going off. He had seen absolute disasters on these sensors, but with the recent visit he had had with a special someone, he only wished this could have happened later than sooner. He had his suspicions about what might go down soon. But who knows, it could just be a bunch of fugitives spread out over the city wreaking havoc. That was something Lloyd could handle easily, even by himself. He internally braced himself anyway.
"To the Bounty!"
The Ninja had taken their posts, fueling up the flying ship and steering it out into the air. Lloyd sat at one of the smaller consoles, reviewing the warnings and flashes on the mini version of the massive monitors back at the monastery. More and more were popping up by the second, but most seemed to originate from Borg Tower. Of all the places to have a crisis, it had to be Borg Tower. Lloyd could already feel the deja vu creeping over him.
Nya was at the helm, and Pixal was at the main controls, while everyone sat patiently. There was tension in the air, but also excitement. The Ninja hadn't been on a mission in a long while, and this was just the refresher they all needed, Lloyd figured. But there was still the nagging feeling that something might go wrong, as it had done many times before. But Lloyd brushed it off, keeping a positive attitude. He stuck his hand inside the leather pack slung across his shoulder to grip the crystal, however. Its touch was comforting, but the burden it carried kept reminding itself of its presence to Lloyd. All he could do now was hope.
The sky was of a greyish tint, as if it had just rained and the storm clouds were moving off in the distance. The sun was nowhere to be seen. Ninjago City had never looked gloomier. The usual hustle and bustle of the city had been replaced by almost pure silence. There were not many people outside, and if they were still outside, they were quickly making their way inside the nearest building. A stray newspaper flew across the street, and Lloyd immediately thought of a tumbleweed in those old western movies. He smiled faintly at this, then his expression dropped at the sight of Borg Tower in the distance.
Black smoke tumbled down to the ground from the top of the tower, reminding Lloyd of the more unhappy memories of his past. Purple hues glinted inside the black cloud at the very top, in a way that collectively made all the Ninja shiver at the sight.
"Is that what I think it is..?" Nya spoke softly.
"Yeah..." Lloyd said quietly, dread showing in his voice. There was absolutely no way. His suspicions had to be wrong. There was no way...
A loud, ear-piercing roar sounded from inside the dark cloud, startling the others. Cole and Kai got up from their seats to get a better look, Jay and Zane following suit. Lloyd sat behind, staring at the floor and gripping the crystal he had somehow grown so protective of.
The cloud slowly cleared away, revealing a figure made completely out of what looked to be some kind of dark mist, scattering at the edges. The figure was none other than that of a dragon, and a large one at that. It turned to face the Bounty, eyes glowing bright purple as it spotted the passengers in the flying ship.
Lloyd decided to get up and look, and immediately wished he didn't. The dragon almost resembled his Golden Dragon, almost transparent to the point where Lloyd had had a tinge of anxiety riding it. But instead of gold, it was the color of pure evil. And Lloyd could feel that evil from far away. His ears started ringing.
"So... Are we just gonna sit here?" Kai asked, half in disbelief, the other in impatience.
"Well, do you have a plan?" Nya asked, looking over at her brother.
"Nope."
"Of course." Nya rolled her eyes.
"Can you guys still use your elemental dragons?" Lloyd asked, turning to his friends.
"I mean, I'm a bit rusty but... yeah." Jay said, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. He does that quite a bit, Lloyd realized.
"Do you have a plan?" Kai asks Lloyd.
"I know what to do. All you guys need to do is get me to the tower."
"What're you going to do?" Nya asked, worried.
"Just leave it to me. Keep him distracted. I promise, it'll be fine." Lloyd assured. And with that, Kai jumped down the steps, raised his hands up for a moment and focused hard. His dragon appeared seamlessly in front of him, and he made sure to send a smirk in Nya's way before hopping on his dragon. She rolled her eyes once again before hopping down and conjuring her dragon as well.
The others followed suit, and with a shaky breath, Lloyd stepped down onto the deck of the Bounty as Jay and Cole, being the last ones, took off on their dragons.
Lloyd raised his hands and closed his eyes in focus, green energy dancing along his fingers. The dragon appeared in front of him, humming a low purr as if happy to see Lloyd again. Lloyd always wondered if the dragons were actually aware, and felt emotion contradictory to his. Wu always told him that his elemental dragon was an extension of his own mind and power, in a different form, but Lloyd had seen plenty of evidence of the dragons being self-aware. At least he could add another person to his list of "people who would save me no matter what" because his dragon had gotten him out of many situations he would rather not be in.
He climbed up onto the back of the dragon, and ushered it to take off. He checked the crystal's safety one last time. He knew what he had to do.
"Watch out!"
Lloyd could see the Overlord-dragon charging up some kind of power, it's line of sight straight at Jay and his dragon. Jay made a dodge to the side as soon as he saw what was going on, followed by a quick recovery.
"Jay get out of there!" Kai shouted through the comms.
"I'm trying, but I'm kinda being shot at here!" Jay shouts back.
Turning his head to yell at Kai through the comms deemed not the best idea, Jay quickly realized as his dragon was shot straight in the leg and he winced at the sight hard. He felt he dragon dissipating beneath him, sparks of electricity scattering and dissolving as gravity took ahold of him.
"Jay!"
"No!"
Jay, to his surprise, had his free-fall cut short when he landed on the roof of one of the taller buildings.
"Ow... " Jay mumbled, sitting up to observe the pain in his leg.
Nya dived down on her dragon, much to Kai's dismay, to see if Jay was injured. This was not the greatest idea, however, and Nya's dragon was struck in the neck, causing it to disappear as well. Nya grimaced at this, then landed safely on the same building.
"Nya, Jay, you guys ok?" Lloyd asked the comms.
"Yeah we're fine, but Jay seems pretty hurt and I can't focus on my dragon, just go on without us!" Nya answered back.
"Are you sure?"
"YES, now go!"
The others turned around to see the Overlord had charged up another attack. Purple specks zoomed around the dragon's mouth, forming another ball of evil power aiming straight for the Ninja.
"Kai, stay where you are! Cole, Zane, fly off to that side!" Lloyd pointed out to the right. "Don't get hit! Distract the Overlord long enough for me to get close!"
"Got it Lloyd!" Kai answered.
"Affirmative," Zane added.
Lloyd dipped down below on his dragon, swerving in between the tall buildings as Zane and Cole made their way off the other side.
The Dragon-Lord turned his attention to Zane and Cole, backing into a stance signalling to the black and white ninja that they would need to brace for action.
"Good luck Nindroid buddy," Cole said to Zane.
"You too, friend," Zane nodded his head.
A shot was fired, narrowly missing Cole as he reeled out of the way last-minute. He could feel his grip slipping, but was able to make a recovery. All they had to do was distract the Over-Dragon long enough for Lloyd to accomplish... whatever he was doing.
Another shot was fired, before either of them could realize, striking both of their dragons at the same time. The dragons slowly disappeared beneath them, and they both went into the same free-fall.
"Zane! Cole!"
On instinct, Kai pulled on his dragon's reins and swerved towards Cole and Zane. He shot forward, and felt the strain in his powers with the speed. At the last second, his dragon disappeared and he slammed straight into Cole and Zane, half-catching them as the force sideways caused them to barely land safely on a rooftop.
During this, Lloyd was slowly and quietly making his way closer and closer to Borg Tower, staying low near the streets. He could see from above the Overlord-Dragon letting out another blast of power.
'If only Master Wu was here,' Lloyd thought, 'Why did we rush straight into battle without backup first? This is my fault, and now Jay's hurt. What does this crystal even do? How am I sure this'll work? Why does this always happen to me?' Thoughts like these swirled around in Lloyd's head, though he knew they were irrational. The FSM wouldn't give him something that didn't work. And if he can just make it to Borg Tower, he won't need backup, it'll be fine. How did the Overlord even come back? Is this even the Overlord? What if it's something worse?
Lloyd almost lost control of his dragon, he could see the particles making up it's structure flicker under him. He took a deep breath, but forgot to exhale when he heard Kai shouting over the intercom. In a moment of panic, he pulled up in his reins and flew up over the buildings to see what had happened, but immediately realized he had made the stupidest mistake possible when he turned and saw the evil shot straight for him.
And for the millionth time, though he never kept track anymore, everything went black.