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Chapter Text

Even with the Vengestone cuffs, Ivana could still hear her own heartbeat.

The saying had always been that no one leaves Imperium . That had been true until the Merge of course, though few would ever admit it. The first to run had been a girl, quite a bit younger than Vana. The guards had chased after her for a few months before the search stopped, and apparently her parents and classmates had barely noticed she was gone. There had been two others since then, during the year that had elapsed since the Merge, and far more attempts, hoping to cross over into the realm that had found itself adjacent to Imperium– Ninjago.

She had managed to swipe the key to her cuffs off a guard, though she had decided to keep it clutched in her fist until she had the time to finally stop running. In her other hand was a bronze-coloured metal sphere, a piece of Imperium tech– a prototype, really. 

Vana had always believed that time travel was the sort of thing that simply wasn’t possible. In fairness, Imperium technology had recently been proving its potency ever since the Merge, with access to so many new dragons, but time travel? It seemed like quite a bit of a stretch, even for a prototype that she had swiped from a shelf in the Advanced Systems Lab. 

That trip to the Lab had been one of the only times Vana had seen anything but the walls of her observation chamber– which was just a fancy word for cell– and didn’t hesitate to snatch anything that might help her finally escape.

After a lot of running, she had finally reached Ninjago’s domain over the Merged Realms, a place that seemed to be a market of some sorts. Elaborate stalls, adorned with symbols and designs from various dimensions, displayed an eclectic array of artifacts and goods. Tents and pavilions, shaped by the hands of skilled artisans from different realms, were a source of shade from the sun. 

She made her way over to a stall as discreetly as she could, finding it hard to blend in, even with the massive size of the crowd enveloping her. She stole a jacket off the back of a mannequin and put it on, finding that it hid her Imperium uniform well enough, and her cuffs even better. 

Ducking into an alley, she took the key and quickly removed the cuffs, discarding them beneath a dumpster. The familiar thrum of surrounding heartbeats returned as she rubbed her sore wrists. She casually walked out of the alleyway and back into the fray, where she tapped the first person she got close enough to on the shoulder.

“Hello?” the man asked, confused. He was human like she was, though almost definitely from Ninjago, judging by the lack of markings on his face.

“Hi,” Vana said. “What’s your name?”

He raised a perplexed eyebrow. “Sebastian. Why?”

That didn’t help at all. “And your last name?”

“...Lovell,” he finally answered, growing suspicious. “What’s this about, anyway?” 

Vana was gone before he could finish his question. She got what she came for, a last name. If she really was going to attempt to stay in Ninjago– and in the past to boot, she needed a surname that didn’t sound so strongly Imperian– Verdigris certainly wasn’t going to cut it.

She tried out the new name on her tongue. Ivana Lovell, Vana Lovell … It seemed fine enough. Next order of business. 

She took the spherical contraption in her hand, contemplating whether or not to use it near so many people. She eventually reasoned not to, finding herself in another alley around a block away from the last one. She needed to move quickly.

Pausing to catch her breath, propped against the alley’s wall, she eyed the peculiar device. It was rather small and unassuming for a veritable time machine, making her wonder if she had taken the wrong thing by mistake. 

No turning back now, she thought as she pressed the only button on its surface, leading the sphere to crack open. Vana barely had time to blink before she was greeted by a blinding flash of light, followed by an equally harsh blow to the head. Upon righting herself, she realized that the impact had come from her head hitting the ground.

“Ow…” she muttered as she tried to stand up, followed by a string of curses.

The time machine was in pieces, scattered across the ground, far beyond repair. She was stuck in Ninjago for good, at least until the Merge. Good.

Upon stepping out into the street again, it was clear that the machine had done something . Unlike before, the only people walking around were clearly human, and the open-air market was gone, now only a typical bustling street. The whole world seemed bigger somehow too.

What now? Was her first question, upon looking down, though, it became clear that she looked completely out of place in her unkempt Imperium uniform and stolen jacket that now seemed a few sizes too big. She needed a hairbrush too, her long hair was…

No. It couldn’t be.

Pushing her way through the crowd to the closest thing that would show her reflection, which happened to be a storefront window, Vana’s eyes widened in panic upon seeing what confirmed her suspicions to be true. Her hair hadn’t been that long since at least four years before the Merge, when she was…

Twelve.

Her familiar face stared back at her, just like it used to, blue eyes wide with disbelief. Even though she looked far younger, her eyes still had that haunted quality about them that hadn’t begun to show up in mirrors until far later. Her cheeks were free of her Imperium markings, which she had gotten at fourteen. She couldn’t help but wonder if they would appear at all if she wasn’t in Imperium.

Vana was interrupted by a sudden pang of hunger, remembering that she hadn’t eaten since the day before, and hadn’t eaten any real food in over a year. Her current situation could wait. The good news was that there seemed to be no shortage of restaurants, tea shops, or food trucks on the block. She went for the busiest one, a noodle place. It would be easier to sneak in and out, seeing as how she didn’t have anything to pay with.

The mechanical animatronic sign seemed welcoming enough, a built-in speaker chiming prerecorded advertisements for the restaurant. 

“There’s only one Master Chen’s!” and then, “Ninjago’s number one noodle house!”

The door opened with the jingle of a bell, startling her. Fortunately, the place was packed, and taking food would be easy thanks to the odd conveyor belt that shuttled dishes across the restaurant. It reminded her of the walkways back home. 

There was a line to get a table, so Vana quietly snuck past, over to the conveyor belt, nearly running into a couple being led by a waitress to a table.

She had been hoping for noodles, but it looked like you had to actually order to get any, so she stuck to the belt, which she could now see was carrying sushi. She stealthily leaned over to grab one, popping it in her mouth– 

“HEY!”

Vana’s head whirled around in panic. A man who clearly worked at the restaurant was marching up to her. She turned to try and run.

“Don’t even try that,” the man sneered, grabbing onto her arm. “You have to p–” 

His gaze seemed to soften slightly upon getting a good look at her. Maybe it was her matted blonde hair, rumpled oversized outfit, or even the look of hunger in her eyes.

He sighed with a roll of his eyes, “Just get out of here, kid.”

She didn’t have to be told twice.

* * *

Vana sat crouched in the alley behind Chen’s, hugging her knees. Her stomach growled, a reminder of the hunger that had led her to the noodle house in the first place. She sighed, realizing that theft wasn't a sustainable solution for survival. Vana needed a plan, and more importantly, she needed information about this new world. 

She was twelve again, were there any orphanages? She didn’t know how she felt about being completely at the mercy of another, though. Not again.

She spent the next three days sleeping in the alley. The man from the restaurant who had kicked her out came by occasionally to give her scraps from the kitchen after seeing her. She hid when he came out, but he left a plate out, and the food was always gone when he returned.

“Now what do we have here?”

Vana bolted upright. The moon was high in the sky, she had been asleep in the alley. Four looming silhouettes blocked the little light that shone from the streetlamps, cornering her.

A brutish man stepped into the light, spiked, dyed hair gelled away from his disfigured face, a thin scar jutting down the middle of his single blind eye. A purple tattoo of some kind of snake adorned his cruel visage. 

He carried what looked like a switchblade, glinting in the moonlight. His three friends were dressed in similar getups, all with matching tattoos.

Vana pushed herself up onto her feet. “Get lost,” she spat with every ounce of venom she could muster, but the gang was hardly intimidated by the twelve year old girl trying her best to seem big. Intimidation just worked better when you were older.

Scarface only inched closer, a twisted grin on his tattooed face. “Looks like we’ve got a live one, fellas.” His friends cackled in response.

“I said get lost! ” Vana said, even louder. Blood rushed in her ears, coursing through her fingertips. It felt powerful without those cuffs.

She waited until she heard the click! of his switchblade before attacking.

Scarface’s heartbeat was quick, full of excitement. Vana shut her eyes and concentrated, clenching her fist as she compelled it to slow, slow, slow…

He froze in place before grabbing at his head, beginning to sway back and forth out of dizziness– and in three, two one– Scarface fainted, knocked out cold.

“Eyezor!” one of the others yelled. They all looked down at Eyezor, then at Vana, first in alarm, then in agreement. 

Two of the thugs ran at her from both sides, and she pointed her hands at each of them, one hand for each as she slowed their hearts. They didn’t go down as quick as Eyezor had, likely because she was concentrating on both at once. They both began to sway, becoming drowsy, but before they could collapse altogether, Vana remembered in alarm– there were three of them, weren't there?

A strike to the back of the head was the last thing Vana felt before she instead was knocked out cold.

Chapter Text

Drip, drip, drip.

Vana blinked awake, eyes adjusting to the dark. She instinctively curled in on herself, the room she was trapped in cold and damp. She peered around at her surroundings; the walls were worn stone, and the room was overall very small.

It reminded her of her cell back in Imperium.

Her heart began to race, and she quickly went to slow it, to calm herself down, before she realized that she was wearing Vengestone ankle bands of some kind. Her heart only grew faster, and she felt herself beginning to hyperventilate. 

“Just calm down, calm down…” she tried to assure herself. Talking to herself was a habit she had picked up thanks to what could be up to days of solitary confinement, “Find a way out.”

The way out was a thick metal door, with what looked like a sliding opening for food, and a tiny barred window that was too high for her to see out of. She groaned in frustration, knowing full well that she could have reached it if she had retained her former height. Regardless, there would have been no way for her to break down the door or force it open.

Vana’s eyes went to the ceiling, which was dripping damp above her head. Ew. Then, she noticed the other grate. 

It was a barred window into what had to be another cell, and the bars looked rusty enough to break. The only problem was that it was even higher than the window on the door, placed all the way up, touching the ceiling. She looked at the wall again, to see if there was any way to scale it. 

The mortar between the bricks was quite eroded, leaving perfect grips for climbing, but the wall was wet and slippery. 

“Great,” she muttered under her breath. 

Click, whirr. “Is someone there?”

Vana nearly leapt out of her skin. “Who are you?” she asked defensively.

“I am not quite certain yet.” His voice had a scratchy, robotic quality to it.

“What do you mean?”

“I have been piecing fragments together, with the help of my…friend.” He sounded like he was in the cell beside her own, the one that the high-up window looked into. 

“Your friend?”

“Her name is PIXAL. She is located in the cell to my right.”

“And your name?”

“Zane.”

“Hi, Zane. I’m Ivana, but you can just call me Vana. Do you think you can see a way–”

Footsteps echoed in the hallway, stopping right in front of her cell door. Vana heard the jangling of keys before the door opened, and two men walked in, both tattooed with that same purple snake. She stood up in defense at first, though it became clear that they didn’t mean to hurt her, at least not yet. They flanked her, each taking one arm, and led her out of her cell.

The hallway was stone, likely underground. Torches were mounted along the walls, providing some dim light.

“Where are you taking me?” Vana tried, but neither guard answered.

After a few minutes of navigating the musty tunnels, they finally arrived in some sort of ceremonial hall. The ground was embellished with a carving of a snake, the ceiling was far grander and higher, and the room was far brighter, with full open flames lighting the chamber.

An older man with dark hair stood on a higher part of the floor. His hair was tied back, making his dark, sunken eyes and sharp features more apparent. He was dressed in what looked like some kind of ceremonial robe.

“Excellent,” he began in a low, nasally voice, “just put her right there.”

The guards nodded and walked over to the entrance, ensuring nobody got in or out. 

“Who are you?” Vana glared at the man.

“I think the better question is,” he drawled, “who are you? ”

“Ivana Verdigris.” She didn’t see the point in giving a cover name.

“Hmm. What I meant was, what magic did you use to bring down three of Master Chen’s finest Anacondrai fighters?” Chen? As in the noodle house?

“I’m an elemental master.”

“Of?” He tapped his foot impatiently.

“The Heart. I can control things like people’s heart rates, blood flow…”

“The Heart is not an element !” he exclaimed, so dramatically he seemed outraged, “It doesn’t exist.”

“Now, Clouse,” A man’s high, raspy voice came from the entrance, “you of all people should know that elemental power is very unpredictable, hm?”

This man was shorter than Clouse, though looked slightly older, and wore an elaborate headpiece made of what looked like the tail of a very large purple snake.

“You said the staff failed in taking her power, right?”

“Well…yes,” Clouse stammered, “I already knew it incapable of taking Wojira’s elements, of Wind and Water, but the Heart doesn’t even– it isn’t a power, Master.”

The snake man blinked, “The Mind is a power.”

“Yes,” Clouse rolled his eyes, “but–”

“If the staff won’t take her power, throw her into the Tournament.”

Clouse’s eyes widened briefly, before he looked irritated again. “I beg your pardon, Master, but–”

“Just do it, it would be so entertaining!”

Entertaining? A tournament? Vana looked back and forth between both her captors before finally speaking, “What tournament?”

“My Tournament of Elements!” The snake man cheered gleefully, in such a childish way that it was off-putting.

“You do realize that if she is to compete,” Clouse grumbled, “we will need to remove the Vengestone.” He gestured to the cuffs on her ankles.

“So be it! If she escaped, where would she go? There is no way off this island without my knowledge.”

“And if she rallies the other fighters?” Clouse hissed in a hushed tone.

“Do you really think they would believe her? She’s nothing but a child! Don’t argue with me, Clouse.”

Vana’s heart sank. She really would be stuck forever.

“Very well,” Clouse sighed. He beckoned the guards back, and they unlocked the cuffs around her ankles. The sounds of heartbeats returned, the tingling in her fingertips too. Vana contemplated running, but she could hear another heart, somewhere nearby.

A very big one.

“This way,” Clouse said, leading Vana through the maze of tunnels. They slowly transitioned into secret servants’ passages, similar to the ones in Beatrix’s palace. Women in white kabuki makeup and elaborate, lavish kimonos passed by, carrying various items from towels to trays of biscuits.

They finally arrived in some sort of laundry room or closet, with all kinds of colourful fabrics hanging on wire as more servants tended to them. Clouse shared a few words with one before leaving, giving Vana a threatening look as he continued down the hall.

Vana looked up at the woman who Clouse had spoken to, “Hello.”

The woman ignored her, instead beckoning a younger girl, dressed in a yellow kimono, “Ayako, get this girl’s measurements for her gi.”

The girl, Ayako, nodded and whisked Vana away as she pulled out a measuring tape.

“Can you tell me what this place is?” Vana asked as Ayako measured her waist.

She didn’t reply, only continuing to measure. She looked to be around Vana’s own age, or well, past age. Time travel was confusing.

“Done,” Ayako said finally, jotting down the final numbers on a roll of parchment, passing it to another girl. “Your gi will be ready in a few hours. Come.”

Vana followed her to a wall of shelves, stuffed full of clean clothes. They were all various shades of yellow and orange, ranging from casual to training outfits, seeming to come in all sizes, from a toddler’s yellow sundress to a young adult’s stealth suit.

Ayako picked out an outfit in Vana’s size, a white blouse and a pale orange pinafore dress. It looked positively juvenile, though she supposed it was something she had to get used to. She just hoped she wasn’t stuck at twelve forever.

“Thank you,” Vana said upon getting dressed.

Ayako nodded and led Vana through a secret passageway– which turned out to be a portrait from the other side. Vana stared back at the portrait as it shifted again to hide the hole in the wall.

They were now in a grand, oriental-styled manor, unlike anything Vana had ever seen before. Grand light fixtures hung from the high ceiling, and the whole interior had a red theme that reminded her of blood. A staircase spiraled upwards.

“You will be sharing a suite with Skylor, the Master of Amber.”

They both climbed up the stairs, passing doors labelled with names and their corresponding elements as they continued– Chamille, form, Jay, lightning, Neuro, mind…

Skylor, amber.

Ayako opened the door for Vana, and told her to clean up before meeting the other fighters before leaving quietly the way she came in.

Skylor’s room matched the dress Vana wore, with all its orange coloured decor. A futon bed had been set up for her, its red and blue sheets being the only thing that deviated from the colour scheme. 

Vana eventually found the bathroom, one of the most luxurious bathrooms she had ever seen. A large mirror was positioned over the sink, an orange crystal lamp decorating the marble counter. The bathtub was round and surprisingly very deep, with an assortment of expensive looking soaps arranged on the shelf within arms’ reach.

She ended up opting for the shower, unsure how Skylor would feel about her using all of those nice products. She dried her hair and went to get dressed again, only to find a sleeveless navy blue gi with red accents on her bed. Her name, Ivana , was spelled down the front in Imperian…or was it Ninjargon? The same alphabet had appeared to be used across all the Merged Realms. Regardless, she put it on, and found that it felt very comfortable, custom-made to fit her perfectly. The blue looked nice with her light hair and eyes.

As Vana made her way down the stairs, she could hear the chatter of various people on the ground floor.

They were all gathered around an ornate gold scoreboard, placards of competitors’ faces arranged to show who would be fighting who. Clouse stood off to the side, a slight smirk on his face. Did none of them know about his true intentions?

“They’ve added a new competitor,” an ashen man with dark hair observed.

“What?” a purple haired woman exclaimed, “How’s that fair?”

A green haired woman, who seemed to be good friends with the purple haired girl added, “She looks like a total wimp. I could take her.”

Vana glowered at them from behind. Stupid time travel.

“Isn’t that her?” Purple whispered, a bit too loudly.

Vana stood awkwardly as the other competitors turned their heads to stare at her…or down at her. They were all definitely adults, ranging from around twenty to near fifty.

“Hold up, they want us to fight another kid?” The man who spoke looked around thirty, with swept-back chestnut hair, and red shades over his eyes. Cool was the only word Vana could think of to describe him.

“Bright side, Turner–” Green grinned, “easier to get that prize.”

“Sure thing, Tox, sure thing.” if his eyes were visible through the reflective glasses, Vana knew they would have been rolling. He walked up to Vana, bending down to shake her hand. 

“Hey kid, the name’s Griffin Turner.” he seemed to wait for her to recognize him.  “...Master of Speed?” Was he famous or something?

“Vana Lovell.” she shook his hand. If Clouse noticed her sudden change in last name, he didn’t seem to care.

Tox and the purple-haired girl scoffed and strutted away.

“Listen,” Griffin said, “I think it’s real cool that you’re, uh, brave enough to compete in something like this, but you seem awful young to be here. You know?”

“I know. I’m not here by–” Vana’s eyes met Clouse’s, “–mistake. I know I can win.”

Griffin grinned at that. “Don’t let anyone get you down, ‘kay?”

Vana nodded. Griffin returned to the big group of fighters, and the chatter resumed.

“What’s all the commotion?” a high-pitched voice asked.

Chapter Text

The man, or rather boy– he was clearly a teenager– speaking wore a blue sleeveless gi, just like Vana’s, except his name, Jay , was printed down the front instead in gold lettering. Jay, lightning, she remembered. He had ginger hair and a confused look on his freckled face.

He wasn’t the only one who had entered the room. There were two other boys around his age, one in a red gi and the other in black, and a boy in green who was clearly younger. Vana suspected he was the ‘other kid’ in the Tournament that Griffin had mentioned. These three were too far away for her to make out the names printed on their outfits. An old man walked close behind them, their coach, maybe?

Jay and his friends pushed through the crowd  to get a good look at the board, much to the displeasure of the other fighters. They then all gasped in horror at the board, and Vana found herself pushing past as well, trying to see what they were so upset about.

“No. He can’t do this!” the one in black gasped. His gi she could now see, it read Cole .

“He already did,” the younger one said solemnly. 

“We’ve gotta fight each other .”

The board, Vana could now see clearly, had pitted Jay and Cole against each other. Part of her wondered what they expected, they did come to a fighting tournament, but it was very obvious that the latecomers were all very close friends.

She glanced back at them, wondering how they would react.

“Ugh,” Jay groaned, “but why does it say I have to fight Cole? It didn’t say that before! I’m not ready to fight! It was supposed to be my day off…”

“I tried to warn you, but you never listen!” Cole retorted, “ Talk ? Yes. Listen ? Not so much.”

The other competitors had left by now, but, overwhelmed with curiosity, Vana stayed, hiding behind the board. She heard Clouse’s irritating voice.

“Is there a problem, Ninja?” he asked in a silky, proud voice.

“You cheated!” Cole exclaimed, “you changed the brackets!”

“Oops,” Clouse replied with what sounded like a shrug. He left with one of the tattooed thugs, laughing.

After a moment of silence, Vana thought it was safe to return to her room, but the younger one started speaking in a worried tone.

“...What do we do? They can’t fight each other. We came here to be whole , not fall further apart.” Again, strange sentiments from a group who had come to an island to fight the other competitors. Maybe, like Vana, they had come for some other reason.

A wise voice replied, clearly the old man, “You can’t undo what’s been done. My only advice is to be at peace with it.” It sounded like decent advice, but Jay was quick to yell,

“ Peace ?! One of us has to lose ! …By the First, it’s totally gonna be me! He’s got super strength, and what do I have?! Quick, tell me! WHAT DO I HAVE?” Cole’s comment about Jay’s chatter was starting to make sense.

“Don’t listen to my dad,” the younger one sighed. So the old man was there to supervise him? What kind of father lets his teenage son into an underground fight club? “We find Zane, then none of us have to battle.”

Zane?

“Your fight isn’t until tonight,” he continued, “so we still have time to figure out what Chen’s up to and stop this.”

Vana burst out from behind the board, startling all of them, “I know where Zane is.”

“What the–” Cole began, but Jay stopped him, “–fudge?”

The younger one looked at Vana suspiciously with green eyes, “How do you know about Zane? And were you spying on us?” She could finally read his gi, printed with the name Lloyd .

“No, no, I wasn’t…” that was exactly what she was doing, “not like that, anyway. But I know where he is. He’s trapped in the–”

“Are you even a fighter?” Red, or Kai according to his gi, asked doubtfully, speaking for the first time. “You look twelve.”

Spot on, unfortunately.

“I was tak…” Vana surveyed the room, sure that someone could be listening in. She brought her voice to a whisper, “Is there somewhere private we can talk?”

Kai glanced at the others and they all nodded reluctantly, “We can use my suite.”

The old man furrowed his brow, “Are you certain this is wise?”

“It’ll be fine, Dad,” Lloyd assured him, “just keep an eye on Clouse for now.”

The man nodded and left.

“Here, this way,” Kai led the way up the stairs. Vana didn’t know how she didn’t catch that his room was right beside Skylor’s, scarlet door labelled Kai, fire.

Kai’s suite was themed with red, fire-themed decor on the walls, floors, everywhere. Even though she couldn’t see the bathroom, Vana could smell the distinct smell of what had to be an ungodly amount of hairspray and cologne. 

“Alright, spill,” Kai said, flopping onto his bed. Cole sat down as well, mumbling something about how terrible his own suite was.

“I was taken here as a prisoner,” Vana started, “and locked up. Someone named Zane was in the cell next to me, and he mentioned having a friend named…PIXAL, if you know her. Somewhere inside the island.”

They all stared at each other in disbelief.

“She’s really found him,” Cole muttered.

“Something doesn’t add up, though,” Lloyd said, “why are you fighting in the Tournament?”

“Clouse and another man tried to take my powers when I was unconscious, Clouse said something about the staff being unable to take some. And,” Vana sighed, “my power doesn’t exist. Yet.”

Kai blinked, “what do you mean, yet?”

Oh, boy. “Okay, I know this might sound hard to believe, but I’m not actually twelve.”

“ Really ?” Lloyd cocked a disbelieving eyebrow.

“I’m seventeen.”

Jay exploded into laughter.

“Yeah, okay. We’re ,” Cole said, gesturing to himself, Kai, and Jay, “seventeen. Actually, I’m almost eighteen . You mean to tell us you’re the same age as us?” 

“I’m from the future.”

Jay burst out cackling again.

“I’m serious! I’m from five years in the future, after this crazy merging of all the Realms happened, and it’s a pretty long story, but after all the Realms came together, I found out I had elemental powers.”

“Yeah, right–” Kai began, but Lloyd cut him off.

“You mean…every single Realm fused together?”

Vana nodded, “People were displaced, many still can’t find their families. I’m not even from Ninjago, so–”

“WHAT?” they all exclaimed in unison.

“Isn’t finding your friend more important?” Vana asked with narrowed eyes.

“She’s right,” Kai agreed. “We can ask her about all this later, but for now, you said he was inside the island?”

“Yeah. There’s tons of secret passageways around the island, I can–”

“Oh, we know ,” Cole sighed. “Show her, Kai.”

Vana watched as they all clambered onto the red bed, holding on for dear life. 

“What are you waiting for?” Kai asked, “hurry!” 

She climbed on as well, and watched as Kai pushed his pillow forward slightly, and screamed, shutting her eyes when the bed began to spin. When she opened them again, it was dark, and the bed was now on the ceiling, and she was only holding on, dangling above the ground by the red duvet.

“Okay,” she breathed shakily, “that’s one way to get in.”

Chapter Text

“So when we found this place,” Jay said, walking in stride with Vana, “we were like, what if Zane isn’t on the island, but in it ?”

“Do you still remember where you were held?” Cole asked.

“I might be able to find my way from the ceremony room, but this place is like a maze.”

“Annnd there’s that snake to look out for!” Jay quipped. 

Vana flinched. “Snake?!” So that must have been the giant heartbeat she sensed earlier.

Jay nodded. “Oh yeah. It was actually really funny now that I think about it, Cole was like ‘that’s got to be the second biggest snake I’ve ever seen’, and we barely escaped with our lives!”

“ Second biggest?” Vana asked in alarm.

“It was not ‘ really funny’ , Jay,” Cole grumbled.

The passage was clearly a different part of the island’s secret area. The dungeon’s walls were stone, while these walls were half-timbered, and, though dusty, far cleaner. They may have led down to the dungeons, but they reminded Vana more of servants’ passages.

A large, faint heartbeat loomed in the distance.

“I can sense the snake,” Vana whispered.

“Yeah, uh, what’s your element again?” Kai hissed back, looking around in panic.

“It’s close, but it shouldn’t be able to hear us.”

“THAT’S NOT VERY REASSURING!” Jay squawked.

A low, rumbling hiss. Then the sound of scales against stone.

Cole rolled his eyes in the dark, “Nice work, bolthead. Now it can definitely hear us!”

“Let’s get back to the room,” Lloyd decided, beginning to run, “we make a new plan from there.”

“Normally I’d ask why you’re in charge,” Cole said, “but you’re right. RUN!”

Vana had trouble keeping up with them, thanks to her new height and her suspicions that they were all properly trained in this sort of thing. Cole ended up taking her arm and pulling her along with him, and they made it to what looked like a dead end, but their certainty assured Vana to some degree– and sure enough, after pushing at the wall, a trap door opened from beneath their feet, sending them all collapsing back onto the bed in Kai’s suite.

“I did not like that any better than the first time,” Kai groaned.

“This is why I said 'no more sneaking around’ yesterday, remember ?” Jay groaned.

“I have an idea, if anyone wants to hear it,” Vana said.

“What is it?”

“You’re not going to like it.”

A brief exchange of glances between the group.

“Okay,” Cole said hesitantly.

“One of you has to lose.”

Just like that, all four of them burst into shocked exclamations of disagreement.

“No way ! You do know that losing means you lose your powers too, right?”

She didn’t. “Yeah, but if someone loses on purpose, you get taken exactly to the dungeon, without needing to worry about the snake or getting lost.” 

“She might be onto something,” Lloyd sighed. “Chen’s already got you two rigged to fight. One of you is going to lose anyway–”

“And it’s going to be Cole!”

“And it’s going to be Jay!”

“Can you two just stop fighting and think about Zane?” Lloyd said, exasperated, “one of you is going to lose, and whoever it is will get to the dungeon and figure a way out.”

Cole and Jay stopped glaring at each other and nodded.

“I don’t think we’ve introduced ourselves,” Lloyd turned to Vana, “I’m–”

“Our names are printed on our outfits, Lloyd.”

“I know, but–”

“Ivana, Lloyd. Lloyd, Ivana,” Kai said gesturing back and forth between the two.

“You can just call me Vana,” Vana offered.

“Told you so,” Lloyd told Kai. “so, are we all on board with the plan?”

Everyone nodded.

Lloyd looked to Vana, “we’ll see you at tonight’s fight.”

* * *

A crowd was gathered for the fight between Jay and Cole that evening, made of both elemental fighters, kabuki performers, and Chen’s thugs. A dramatic fanfare sounded as cheers erupted from the stands.

Vana found Kai, Lloyd, and his father and sat with them, earning a sideways glance from the old man. 

“You tried your best, the rest is up to them,” the old man said.

“I hope they can see that too,” Lloyd replied, glancing down at the arena.

Cole and Jay were currently in their prep rooms, waiting for their gates to open so the fight could begin. Every now and then, Vana caught a glimpse of a blue or black gi, but it was hard to see through the bars from so high up.

The snake man finally had a name to his face as he dramatically stood from his throne.

“Let the tournament continue!” Chen announced. “Jay, Master of Lightning, versus Cole, Master of Earth.”

Spotlights fell on each end of the arena, one on Jay, the other on Cole. The gates separating them from each other opened, and they met in the middle of the arena.

“FIGHT!” Chen finished, and both of them leapt into battle.

The fight certainly looked real, one Jade Blade placed on top of a pillar in the middle of the arena. Jay began by shooting a massive amount of electricity at Cole, which Cole dodged, then attacking him with a punch to the ground as rocks erupted from beneath the stone.

“I thought they weren’t going to fight each other,” Vana whispered.

“No, they aren’t. They’re both way better than this, they’re just putting on a show to throw off suspicion. Cole might have choreographed their moves in advance or something, but I wouldn’t know.”

“If you’re sure…”

Jay threw another bolt of lightning at Cole, but he dodged it again, this time before the shot even happened. The fight definitely looked rehearsed, now that she knew what to look for. The same continued for a while, which was impressive. It was clear that they had agreed upon the loser beforehand, but didn’t want to deliver the winning blow and potentially lose a friend forever.

After visible resignation, Jay struck Cole with lightning, and he crumpled to the ground, letting Jay clamber up the pole and hold up the Jade Blade as Chen crowed, “Master of Lightning moves on.”

A trapdoor opened beneath Cole as he plummeted down to the dungeons.

“How unexpected,” Chen cheered, “very entertaining!”

“Cole may be gone, but he did not lose,” Lloyd’s father insisted. “Let what they both did here today be a lesson to us all.”

“What’s the lesson?” Lloyd asked glumly, clearly disappointed the only way to save one friend was to sacrifice another.

“Know thine enemy, but more importantly– know thy friend.”

* * *

Vana returned to the Amber suite to find Skylor already there, sitting on her bed in her pyjamas, reading some sort of magazine. She gave her a welcoming smile.

“So, you’re my new roommate, huh?”

“I’m sorry we have to share now.”

“No! Don’t be sorry. You seem cool. It’s great to have another girl here, the only other two are, well…”

Vana remembered Tox and her purple-haired friend. “Oh, I know . I’ve met them already.”

Skylor burst out laughing, “Alright, great. So…” she read the name on Vana’s gi, “Ivana?”

“Just Vana’s fine.”

“What did you think of tonight’s fight? I saw you sitting with Kai and the green one.”

She didn’t mention the rigged fight, “I talked to them today, they seem nice enough.”

“I hear they’re pretty exclusive,” Skylor laughed dryly, “they aren’t here to make any new friends, that’s for sure.”

“So who should I try to make friends with?” Skylor seemed nice, and like she knew the ins and outs of the competition, so Vana trusted her opinion.

“Griffin Turner’s a pretty chill guy, he’s friendly with everyone. Paleman tends to hang around him the most–”

“Paleman?”

“Everyone’s nickname for him. His last name is Pale, and well…if you see him, or rather don’t , you would get it. Neuro’s nice enough too, he’s a bit old for all this petty crap.”

“What if you have to fight a friend?”

“You saw Earth and Lightning. You just have to suck it up and do what it takes to win,” Skylor shrugged, “my fight’s with Jacob Pevsner tomorrow night. He’s a nice guy, actually.”

“So why are you not worried about fighting him?”

“Because being nice won’t help you win.”

Chapter Text

“Can I sit with you guys?”

“Uh…” Jay and Lloyd exchanged glances, looking at Lloyd's father. Kai seemed to be late, and Skylor’s fight was due to start any minute.

“We kind of need to stick together,” Lloyd resigned, “as a team.”

“Okay,” Vana nodded, moving to take a seat, “that’s–”

“You’re not part of our team,” Lloyd pointed out, “we just don’t know who we can trust.”

Seriously? She had given them crucial information that their friend was alive, strategized a plan for getting him free, and they wouldn’t even let her sit with them?

“Yeah, sure,” she mumbled, walking down the aisle of seats.

“There’s a seat next to me, kid,” Griffin waved. Vana sat down between him and Neuro. 

“Thanks,” Vana smiled, despondent.

“No prob. Those guys are their own team, they don’t let anyone in, and they don’t talk to any of us.”

“Yeah, I get that. It’s just that I talked to them yesterday.”

Griffin shrugged, about to say something, but Chen had already stood from his throne to begin the match.

That day’s arena was designed like a dojo, with shoji-styled walls and a tatami mat floor. Various ornate vases were placed around the perimeter of the room, for decoration, presumably, though it didn’t seem very wise to decorate a fighting arena with such valuable things.

“Today’s challenge!” Chen began, “a single Jade Blade is hidden in one of these vases. Every other vase contains weapons, which you may use to aid you in your fight.”

Skylor stood at one end of the room, golden spear in hand, while another man, who she had referred to as Jacob, stood at the other, holding nothing but a blue and orange sitar. It hardly seemed very fair.

“Skylor, Master of Amber, versus Master of Sound!”

Jacob began strumming a few chords from the sitar. The air around it seemed to waver slightly.

“Fight, fight!” Chen squawked.

Skylor eyed each of the vases and then launched her spear straight into a vase on the far side of the room, which shattered as it revealed a bow and some arrows. Jacob continued to play his sitar. Skylor noticed this and ducked behind another vase, watching him closely before shooting an arrow in his direction, which he avoided just in time as it stuck itself in a wood beam.

Two more arrows, each in their own beams. Jacob leapt onto one, then the other, which made Vana question if he was actually blind. He strummed a very loud, aggressive chord, and Skylor moved out of the way, just as a surge of sonic waves shattered the vase behind her. 

Jacob continued strumming, attempting to find Skylor, who was ducking and hiding behind another one of the vases. She crept behind him and tapped him on the shoulder before hiding again, to be able to use his power, leaving him turning around in confusion. He retrieved a pair of shurikens from the vase he had blown up earlier, and didn’t hesitate before launching all three in Skylor’s direction, which she dodged with an aerial cartwheel. Two landed into the supporting beams, one into another vase. 

“Excuse me, excuse me,” Kai had finally arrived, usually perfectly gelled hair mussed from the rain outside as he pushed past the other fighters, trying to make his way over to Jay and Lloyd, “don’t mean to block your view.”

He said, blocking her view.

“Just passing through,” he continued. He finally sat down between Shade and Jay, “sorry, all these temples look the same. Did I miss anything?”

“By the looks of it, you didn’t miss much,” Jay said, gesturing to all of the agitated elemental fighters Kai had bumped into, Vana herself included.

Jay sighed, “Maybe we shouldn’t be sitting together. The more they think we’re a team…” Their conversation was drowned out, and Vana continued to focus on the fight.

That proved to be difficult, however, when Kai stood from his seat and loudly exclaimed, “Skylor’s fighting?”

Skylor launched a ball of fire at Jacob, setting his sitar on fire. He frantically waved the instrument in the air as it continued to burn. Vana had been wary not to let Skylor get close enough to touch her, after overhearing the other fighters describe her power. She couldn’t risk it, not if she was possibly going to wind up pitted against her roommate.

Vana didn’t catch what led to Kai’s overjoyed outburst of, “You’re telling me we’re not related ?” but she didn’t exactly want to know. It looked like Kai had a bit of a thing for Skylor.

An exploding vase caught her attention, and Vana turned to see that Skylor had used Jacob’s power to break it, revealing a toxic blowpipe. Though she broke the vase, it was Jacob who got to it first, seizing the weapon and shooting a few darts at Skylor, who now had her back to the paper shoji wall. It only took two darts for her to smirk from under her hood, cartwheeling along the wall to draw Jacob’s fire. His darts landed along the wall, tearing through the paper and letting the whistling wind from the rainstorm come in. Vana didn’t know what Skylor was trying to do, but whatever just happened had left Jacob whirling around in a confused state, cupping his ear to try and listen for Skylor’s footsteps to no avail.

She reached the final vase and kicked it, shattering it. A Jade Blade was contained within, and she held it up triumphantly. 

“YES! GO, SKYLOR!” Kai yelled from the balcony, nearly falling over the edge.

“Winner!” Chen declared, pointing at Skylor, “and, loser .” 

A trapdoor opened beneath Jacob’s feet, and down he went to the dungeons.

* * *

Despite the Ninja excluding her from their team, Vana still felt obligated to help Zane at least, and to get everyone off the island. To do that, she first needed answers. 

Neuro’s room was two floors below Skylor’s, and so she crept down the stairs to knock on his door. Skylor had said that he was nice, and he seemed that way while she was seated beside him for the fight.

If anyone was going to get answers from him, it had to be Vana. It wasn’t like he would willingly help any of the Ninja at this point.

She tentatively knocked on the grey door labelled Neuro, mind . It slowly swung open.

“Oh, it’s you,” Neuro said, looking down at her. “A little late in the night, don’t you think?”

“I need your help,” Vana whispered, “can I come in?”

Neuro glanced around at the hallway behind her and nodded, shutting the door behind them.

“You think Chen is up to something, and you want to prove to the Ninja that you are worth being on their team by finding their friend for them.”

“What? No . Just the first part.”

“The mind never lies,” Neuro sighed. 

Neuro’s suite was painted in shades of grey, with a meditation carpet and pot of tea in his living room. A wide, circular window stared out at the island’s garden, in the place where Skylor and Kai’s suites had a television.

He offered her a cup of tea, which she accepted.

“You want me to get close to Chen so I can read his mind, correct?”

Vana nodded, “I do.”

“Wouldn’t it be wiser to get closer to Clouse? Chen is very heavily guarded.”

It would. “I guess so.”

“Your mind is far wiser beyond your years,” Neuro remarked, “it’s very strange.”

“If I told you why, you wouldn’t believe me. Look deeper into my mind if you want to know.”

Having her mind read didn’t feel like anything at all, and it took only five seconds for Neuro’s eyes to widen, “The Realms all…”

“They did. And if I need to be able to stop it, I have to get everyone off this island.”

“Seventeen?”

“Yeah, tell me about it.”

“I’ll do what I can. You have my word.”

“Thanks, Neuro.”

Vana turned to leave the suite, but just before she opened the double doors, Neuro spoke quietly,

“I’m very sorry that happened to you.”

She sighed, giving him a sad smile and left, back to her own suite.

* * *

Vana rose with the sun the next morning, yawning. She took a quick shower and got changed into her blue and red Tournament gi, and tied her long hair up into a ponytail. Skylor was still asleep, the door to her room in the suite was closed. Vana always kept the door to her room– one of the suite’s three massive walk-in closets– locked at night, to make sure that Skylor couldn’t take her power. Skylor did seem nice, but after her speech about doing anything to win, Vana slept with one eye open.

She walked down to the chow house for breakfast. It usually got busy around 8:00, the only fighters there were herself, Shade– the Master of Shadow, and Neuro. After getting her tray and food– three steamed buns and a creamy biscuit, she sat down at Neuro’s table.

“Did you find anything?” Vana whispered.

“I did.”

“What did you see?”

Neuro took a sip of his coffee, “I’ve written it down. Just in case they’re listening.” He slipped her a piece of paper before standing up to return his tray, “Good luck.”

She waited until Neuro had fully left the chow house’s building before discreetly unfolding the paper and reading it under the table, in her lap.

The powers Chen is collecting are for a spell, located in Clouse’s spell book on page 149. I am unfamiliar with magical related articles, but the start of the spell reads “Trayeaux, keelie, neptide.” 

I’m sorry I could not be of any more help to you.

So Chen was trying to cast some sort of spell. Vana herself didn’t know any magic, as Imperium dealt solely in science. Hopefully one of the other fighters knew something.

The trumpeting announcement fanfare sounded over the loudspeakers.

“Attention, fighters,” Clouse’s slick voice said, “the next fight is due to begin shortly. All fighters are required to attend, even if not competing. Please proceed to the lobby of the dormitory building. There will be only one fight today, between the Green Ninja and the Master of Form.”

Chapter Text

“Roller skates?” Kai asked in alarm.

Clouse and a handful of Chen’s thugs had met all the fighters in the dormitory lobby, carrying roller skates, one pair for every fighter. The skates were colour-coded and already perfectly sized for everyone. Vana got a navy pair with iridescent red wheels. She had one problem, and that was she couldn’t skate. Was it similar to a hoverboard? She had ridden those as a kid in Imperium.

Jay seemed pretty happy to be on skates, doing tons of tricks and showing off, saying something about coming first in a skating competition as a kid. 

“Master Chen wants everyone in the Royal Arena in one hour,” Clouse said, “I wouldn’t be late if I were you.”

“If most of us have already fought,” Skylor said, skating up to Clouse, “why are we all in skates?”

“Only two of you will be fighting,” he confirmed, looking at Lloyd disdainfully, “but the rest of you will have a chance to…affect the outcome.”

With that, Clouse and the thugs left, leaving the fighters to put on their skates and get some practice in before the fight.

“Who’s the Master of Form?” Vana overheard Lloyd asking, worried.

“You haven’t heard?” Kai gasped, “I hear she can look like anyone. She’d be right under your nose, and by the time you figure it out, she’s already discovered all of your weaknesses! …But you’re the Green Ninja. What weaknesses could you have?”

Did Lloyd not have an element? Why was he only ever referred to as the Green Ninja?

“I dunno,” Lloyd said. “I’m just kind of tired.”

“Whatever,” Kai said, skating away. Vana found it weird, then gasped when she saw a second Kai, clumsily making his way over to Lloyd on wobbling skates.

“Skates,” he stumbled, “why did it have to be skates?”

“Kai?!”

“Watch your back, Green Ninja ,” Not-Kai smirked, revealing himself to be the mean purple-haired girl from the first day.

“Great,” Lloyd mumbled.

Vana did her best to skate over to them, though it was more like walking on wheels.

“I know what Chen is planning,” she said.

“Look Vana,” Lloyd said, “we can’t–”

“Well, he’s using our powers for a spell. On page 149 in Clouse’s book. Thought you would want to know.” Vana rolled her eyes before she skated away to the best of her ability.

“Hey, wait!” he tried, but she had already left.

Vana saw Skylor and Griffin talking to Paleman by the staircase, and turned in their direction, hoping for some help with her skating. Vana finally arrived, grabbing onto the banister to prevent herself from falling over.

“Hey kid,” Griffin greeted her.

“Hi,” Vana said, waving awkwardly. “Do either of you know how to skate? I’ve never roller skated before.”

“I do,” Skylor said, “but Turner’s probably a better teacher. He’s the Master of Speed for a reason, you know.”

Griffin grinned, nodding, and led Vana to the middle of the room. It made her nervous, because there was nothing around that she could hold onto.

“Alright, kid, we have less than an hour, so we better make this quick– feet shoulder width apart, bend your knees. Yeah, yeah, like that. Push off with one foot and glide with the other, then switch your gliding foot.”

* * *

The Royal Arena was a speed skating track, with a red wooden board track. It was designed in the same oriental style as the majority of the island. A massive scoreboard depicting the faces of Lloyd and the purple girl was affixed to the roof, with one of Chen’s thugs perched on it to switch out the massive number cards to showcase the current score. A screen separated their faces and scores, a timer frozen at 14:00 depicted in red. 

This was the first timed fight. A rack of helmets was available, either in green, or orange and purple.

Vana had learned the basics of skating, but she wasn’t very fast or good at it. At least she had the confidence she wouldn’t fall over, thanks to Griffin.

“Welcome to my favourite event,” Chen approached them on skates of his own, “Thunderblade!”

“Hey, I know this game!” Griffin grinned, “It’s just like–”

“No, it’s not like that!” Chen fumed, “It’s my game, I made it up! Fully original!” 

Vana doubted that.

“A Jade blade for you, Lloyd, Master of Power,” Chen handed a Jade Blade and green helmet to Lloyd. Master of Power? Just how powerful do you have to be for your Element to be literally called Power?

“And another for Chamille, Master of Form. Where– where are you…” One of Chen’s thugs revealed himself to be Chamille, receiving her own Jade Blade and orange helmet. “Oh, there you are.”

“Rules are simple,” Chen continued, “each lap you complete with your blade in possession, a point! Most points before time expires, you win.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Griffin said, gesturing to the other fighters, “what about us? Are we supposed to just stand here?”

“You get to help anyone you wish, or, hurt , for that matter. Feel free to choose sides! I’m not a dictator.” 

Griffin was one of the first to push past Lloyd and take an orange helmet. Paleman followed suit, and every elemental fighter who wasn’t a Ninja had taken one of Chamille’s helmets. Vana took one too. If they didn’t want her on their team, she wouldn’t be on their team. Plus, both Skylor and Griffin were on Chamille’s side anyway, but a choice between Chamille and Lloyd wasn’t much of a choice.

But she needed to make sure Lloyd won. Not because she and the Ninja were particularly chummy, but because they were some of the only competitors who knew about Chen. It was time to play both sides.

“Lloyd, Master of Power, versus Chamille, Master of Form!” Chen had returned to his throne. “Most laps with their Jade Blade when time runs out wins, loser is out. Thunderbladers on your mark, get set…Good luck to everyone! But mostly Chamille, because we all want the Green Ninja out. NOW GO!”

Lloyd and Chamille got a head start at the sound of the horn, and the rest of the fighters were released at the second horn, ten seconds later.

Vana stayed close to Griffin, while Skylor waited back to share some words with Kai before joining the rest of their pack. Vana wasn’t particularly fast, which left her feeling discouraged, until she remembered the reason she was admitted to the Tournament in the first place. She sped up her own heart rate, triggering a surge of adrenaline, and skated faster.

“Where did that come from?” Skylor asked, raising an eyebrow. Vana shrugged and kept skating.

Kai, Lloyd, and Jay were coming up close behind their pack, and Jay zapped Neuro with a bolt of electricity, giving Lloyd space to push through.

“Thanks,” Lloyd said.

“Sorry!” Kai exclaimed, crashing into Lloyd and knocking them both over.

Vana kept skating in time with Skylor and Griffin, but she knew that at this rate, Lloyd would be out of the Tournament, and nobody would be able to go home.

Another point for Chamille. She was at two now, Lloyd at one.

* * *

Seven minutes into the game, Chamille was still leading by one, with four points to Lloyd’s three. Vana would have gotten tired way before then without her power. To help the Ninja, she needed to discreetly take any big threats to their victory out of the game, but she could only do that one at a time.

Chamille was still in the lead, with Vana and the pack close behind. Lloyd was even further behind, trying to push through.

Just when Lloyd had finally got through, a jump ramp suddenly erupted from the ground, Chen’s attempt to make him fall over– but Lloyd landed on his feet and continued in pursuit of Chamille.

Five minutes left, Chamille with six points, Lloyd with five.

The pack had finally caught up with Jay and Lloyd (Kai was still stumbling around somewhere), and Paleman had grabbed Jay’s arm to get him out of the race, with Shade taking Lloyd’s.

Sorry , Vana thought as she slowed their hearts slightly, causing them to stumble, releasing Lloyd and Jay.

Lloyd and Jay were about to pass Tox, who likely had a poison cloud waiting for them. Vana did the same to her, and the Ninja passed her with ease.

“Are you okay?” Vana asked Tox, feigning surprise.

“Move, bitch. I’m fine,” Tox spat. Yeesh.

“RELEASE THE BUGGY!” Chen yelled, loud enough for all the fighters to hear, as a very impressive, heavy duty looking race car emerged from a trap door underneath the track.

Chamille went for the buggy, but Vana was ready, making the purple-haired girl stumble and fully collapse to the ground, quite nearly unconscious as she dropped her blade. Jay swiftly grabbed it, skating as quick as he could, because Chamille’s pack, and Vana too, she supposed, was after him.

Lloyd took the buggy instead, avoiding all the obstacles that had conveniently only appeared once he had the advantage.

Griffin was obviously faster than the buggy even, though, and he knocked Lloyd off. Lloyd landed roughly on the track, where Neuro, Shade, and Paleman were waiting. They all grabbed onto him, stopping him from skating anywhere. Jay tried to help, but Neuro moved off Lloyd to grab him instead, joined by Griffin.

“Check this out!” Griffin said.

“Gotcha,” Neuro said, reading his mind. 

No, no, no… 

Griffin used his power and sped Jay a full round around the track, in an attempt to knock him into Lloyd from behind. Vana was ready, and she pretended to push Lloyd to grab his blade, but was really shoving him out of the way as Jay slammed into her from behind, knocking her over. Jay dropped Chamille’s blade and Skylor took it, speeding away to deliver it back to her.

Vana cursed, as the world seemed to spin around her, struggling to stand up. Her face hurt more than anything, and she tried to wipe her bloody nose on her arm. 

“Kid, are you okay?” Griffin asked, rushing over to her, “I’m really sorry.”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Vana said, pushing herself up to her feet. Jay had already caught up to Lloyd. Good.

Four minutes. Chamille still at six points, due to Jay having her blade up until that point, Lloyd at seven.

Vana eventually caught up to Skylor. She didn’t have Chamille’s blade in her hand, which, combined with the ding! of another point scored, meant that she had already returned it. She was talking to Kai.

“ We need to stick together. I’m a ninja,” Kai was saying.

“That’s right,” Skylor glared, “and the rest of us aren’t. I should have known better.”

Skylor continued skating, followed by Vana, and then by the rest of the pack. Kai used his fire to propel himself forward, to Vana, surprisingly. 

“Hey. Is it true what you said? About that spell?"

“Yeah,” Vana muttered.

“Thanks,” Kai said genuinely. He turned to Skylor, “You’re right. We aren’t all ninja. But Chen’s the real enemy. He doesn’t care about who wins, he only wants to steal our powers so that he can perform some sort of spell.”

Three minutes. Chamille: nine points, thanks to getting the buggy at some point, Lloyd: seven.

“A spell? What kind of spell?” Paleman leaned in, curious.

“I don’t know,” Kai continued, holding on to Skylor, trying not to fall over, “but we have to stay in the Tournament to find out.”

Jay skated up to them, “This isn’t about Lloyd winning! It’s about all of us stopping Chen!” 

And the Merge, Vana sighed. Neuro probably heard that.

“And why are you telling me this now?” Griffin asked.

Lloyd, Jade Blade in hand, finished, “Because it’s never too late to do the right thing.”

Tox, who didn’t seem to share their sentiments, was shoved aside by Neuro, who said, “They’re telling the truth. I found the spell for Vana last night.”

“Then why have you now decided to help?!” Jay exclaimed. 

“I’d rather be on the winning team.”

The pack had sped forward, teaming together to knock Chamille out of her buggy. Lloyd clambered in, racing forward to get as many points as possible, while dodging obstacles that, again, hadn’t been a problem when the buggy was in Chamille’s possession. 

Two minutes. Eleven points to nine. Lloyd had a lot of ground to cover.

“Cut the green guy some slack,” Griffin said, speeding forward as an escort for the buggy. He shoved Tox aside with ease.

One minute forty seconds. Eleven points to Lloyd’s ten.

No matter how many obstacles Chen conjured up, they still weren’t enough. Lloyd dodged every single one from behind the wheel, passing Chamille over and over again.

One minute twenty seconds. Tied at twelve. 

“We don’t have to keep fighting each other,” Lloyd said from the buggy, reaching a hand out to Chamille, “we can all win!”

“All of us?”

“United.”

Chamille took his hand, but only to yank him from the buggy, “Only one can remain.”

She didn’t take the buggy, only continuing to skate forward. Lloyd quickly caught up, and a sword fight ensued, the Jade Blades being used as weapons.

Fifty four seconds. Still tied at twelve.

Vana, Skylor, and Kai were skating together just as they noticed one of Chen’s thugs attempting to rig the match. 

“He’s rigging the match!” Kai exclaimed, “I’ll stop him–”

“Let me,” Skylor smirked, using an unknown power to lift the man into the air. Likely a contestant that had been eliminated before Vana’s arrival.

Thirty five seconds.

Lloyd and Chamille’s fight continued, both of them falling as Chamille dropped her blade and kept going.

Five seconds.

Chamille crossed the finish line first.

Chapter Text

The timer read 00:00, both Chamille and Lloyd tied at twelve points each. But there was no denying that Chamille had won, and Vana’s heart sank.

That was, until Lloyd raised his Jade Blade in triumph.

“She doesn’t have her blade!” Jay exclaimed. 

Chamille looked around frantically for her blade, only to realize she had dropped it mere feet from the finish line.

“Lloyd won!” Kai cheered.

“Oops, I almost forgot–” Skylor said, dropping the thug, along with the cards he was holding. Comically, Lloyd’s score now read 106 points.

“No, no, NO!” Chen shrieked, “He cheated! Lloyd loses!”

“No way, Lloyd won fair and square!” Griffin protested, “you were the one who cheated.”

“My tournament, my rules.” Chen pouted.

“And just what rules are those?” Paleman asked, “if Lloyd’s out, then so am I.”

“Me too,” Kai said. 

“And me three!” Jay said.

“If you kick us all out,” Skylor glared, “what kind of tournament will you have then?”

Chen looked to Clouse, who nodded. 

“Fine! Have it your way,” Chen grumbled. “Form loses.”

Chamille screamed and fell down to the dungeons, while Tox watched in horror.  While the rest of the fighters, save Tox, celebrated, Vana overheard Skylor warning Kai. 

“If what you’re saying is true, you are playing a dangerous game. Chen will find other ways to get you out of the Tournament.”

“Which is why we need all the friends we can get. There’s always hope.” Kai noticed Vana watching and called her over.

“Hey,” she said.

“Thanks for helping us anyway, even after we acted like total jerks. That saved us.”

“It was no problem,” Vana said, “I know you guys are everyone’s best hope of getting out of here.”

* * *

The next day, Vana went down to the board to scope out that day’s matches in the Tournament. She was surprised to find that another round had been added to compensate for her joining. The next fight, between Tox and Shade, would result in the winner fighting her .

“ Great, ” she muttered. 

“What is it?” A voice came from behind her. It was Lloyd’s.

“Nothing. I just…my first fight is against the winner of another.”

His eyes widened, “they can’t do that!”

Vana shrugged. It didn’t really matter.

“Um…” he began, “I just wanted to say sorry. And to thank you for what you did.”

“It wasn’t a big deal. Really, I just want to make sure everyone gets off the island safe.”

“Everyone?” Lloyd asked, “you aren’t just worried about yourself?”

“No!” Vana gasped, “I have to get out of here so I can prevent the Merge. And…I don’t know, I just feel responsible for saving everyone here. It’s just–”

“–The right thing to do?”

They stared at each other in understanding. 

“...Yeah.”

“That thing you said the other day, that you’re actually seventeen…I believe you.”

Vana looked at him, surprised. “You do?”

“Because something similar happened to me, just the other way around. I’m not really fourteen, I’m closer to eleven.”

“Really?” Vana exclaimed.

“Really,” Lloyd sighed, “I’m supposed to have all this power , be able to do all these things, but most of the time, I feel like I haven’t done anything. I didn’t choose to be the Green Ninja. It chose me .”

“I didn’t know.”

“I didn’t tell you,” he held out a hand, “friends?”

“Friends,” she smiled, shaking it.

* * *

The fight between Tox and Shade took place in an arena that looked like a toxic bog. The abundance of poisons was Tox’s advantage, and the sheer amount of darkness and shadow was Shade’s.

Vana sat between Lloyd and Skylor, with the newly-created Alliance, made up of fighters who had helped Lloyd win in the Thunderblade fight.

“Tox, Master of Poison, versus Shade, Master of Shadow!” 

Both fighters braced themselves, readying their powers.

“FIGHT!”

Tox wasted no time, conjuring toxic clouds that billowed around her like a protective cloak. Shade melted into the shadows, becoming one with the darkness. The initial clashes were fast and intense, each fighter trying to exploit the environment to their advantage.

“Wait,” Vana gasped, “something’s missing.”

“What do you mean?” Lloyd asks, “there’s plenty of–”

“There isn’t a Jade Blade. Anywhere.”

“So?”

“So, this is a real fight . One of them’s going to have to be knocked out…or worse.”

“By the First,” Skylor tensed, “you’re right.”

Tox conjured an onslaught of venomous projectiles, but Shade skillfully danced through the shadows, evading the obstacles. The toxic mist proved to be an effective barrier, concealing Tox's movements and making it challenging for Shade to land a decisive blow.

Shade retaliated with tendrils of inky darkness, snaking towards Tox. She used her agility to dodge and weave, narrowly avoiding Shade's attacks. The fight raged on, with neither opponent gaining a clear upper hand.

As the fight continued, both Tox and Shade demonstrated their mastery over their respective elements. Tox manipulated the toxins in the bog, creating corrosive pools that sizzled and bubbled. Shade deepened the shadows, creating areas of complete darkness where even Tox struggled to see.

Time passed, and the arena bore the scars of their elemental clash. Toxic clouds hung low, and the shadows danced with the remnants of their intense battle. Vana could see they were both very tired, yet neither was willing to yield.

In a final, desperate maneuver, Shade merged with the darkest shadows, becoming a nearly invisible wraith. Tox frantically searched for her opponent, but Shade struck from his unseen realm, landing a powerful blow.

Tox stumbled backward, weakened by the unexpected assault. Shade, seizing the opportunity, reappeared and delivered a series of swift and precise strikes as she swore in pain. The toxic mist and shadows intertwined as Shade's attacks intensified.

In the end, after a prolonged struggle, Shade emerged victorious. Tox, weakened by the relentless assault, collapsed to the toxic bog's tainted ground.

“Winner!” Chen said, as Shade stood, “ loser .”

Like every other fallen opponent, a trapdoor opened beneath Tox, and her unconscious form fell through.

“Master of Shadow moves on!”

The rest of the fighters were silent after the fight. Some of them, like Shade, were willing to do anything to win. It didn’t help that Shade was exactly who Vana was up against next.

* * *

“Eat up,” Skylor said, passing a bowl of noodles to Vana, “you’ll need all the strength you can get before tonight.”

The Alliance was sitting together in the chow house for dinner. Vana sat on the inside of the booth, beside the wall, with Griffin on her right. Skylor and Kai were sitting across from her, with Lloyd on Kai’s other side. Paleman sat on Griffin’s right, and Jay was still up getting food with Neuro.

“Thanks,” Vana said, taking the noodles. She had already shared a ton of dim sum with the Alliance, but Skylor insisted on her having enough strength to face Shade in the arena.

“You sure you’ll be okay?” Kai asked, dipping a dumpling in chili sauce, “he’s going to do anything to win and be part of the Final Eight. It’s the last fight of the first round.”

“I’ll be fine, you guys,” she assured the table. 

After dinner, just as Vana was coming back to the table after returning her tray, she overheard the Alliance talking. She hid behind a wall and listened in.

“Realistically, she isn’t going to make it– and who knows what Shade’ll do to her? The guy is messed up,” Griffin sighed.

“Does anyone know what her power is?” Lloyd asked, “Skylor, you’re her roommate.”

“I don’t know anything. But if Chen wasn’t able to take it, who knows what it is.”

“I’m worried for her.”

“Me too.”

“Neuro, think you can find a way to stop the fight?”

“I couldn’t. It’s the Final Eight , not Final Nine, and Vana hasn’t fought yet. It may be horrible, but there is nothing we can do.”

“There’s always something we can do,” Lloyd insisted.

“Not this time,” Kai sighed.

* * *

“Shade, Master of Shadow, versus Ivana, Master of the Heart!”

The gladiator-style arena was reused from Jay and Cole’s fight because of the last-minute nature of Vana’s arrival. It was nighttime, so Shade had an infinite supply of hiding spots. But nothing could hide the confident beating of his heart.

Once again, no Jade Blade. It was until a knockout, and Vana knew that Shade had no reservations about beating up a kid.

“Where’s your little Alliance now?” Shade sneered.

“I don’t need them to win,” Vana said, eyes blazing. Shade laughed.

They both looked up at Chen, awaiting the word.

“FIGHT!”

In an instant, Shade had blended into the shadows. Vana slowed her own heart to calm herself down and concentrated… there. 

A heart, somewhere in the darkness, beating rapidly with adrenaline. 

The fight was over before it even began.

Vana stopped Shade’s heart completely and abruptly. Shocked, he stopped using his power, becoming visible once again. He clutched at his chest, black eyes wide with terror as a single drop of blood escaped his lips.

“ I– ” he choked before passing out, crumpling to the arena ground. Vana restarted his heart.

“Winner!” One of the arena’s spotlights fell on Vana.

“Loser,” Chen said as Shade’s unconscious body fell through a trapdoor, the Alliance staring in horror.

Chapter Text

The Alliance seemed wary of Vana after the fight, which had been the shortest of the entire Tournament so far. Though she most certainly wasn’t the most powerful fighter– Lloyd held that title, surely– she was the one who even her friends were more careful around now. Little Vana didn’t seem so little anymore.

The Final Eight sat in Chen’s throne room, around a table that snaked around the room, in a semicircle around Chen’s throne, leaving a space for kabuki theatre. Most of the food seemed good, but a few of Chen’s favourites– horned wasp eggs, among other things– had made it onto the menu.

Depending on how you looked at it, the Final Eight being completely made up of Alliance members was both good and bad. There were still more rounds to go with the start of the second round, and fighting a friend was unthinkable. But on the good side, every single fighter was now in on the plan to stop Chen, once and for all.

“Try the horned wasp eggs,” Chen said, noticing Lloyd’s squeamishness, “they’re delicious.”

“Uh…I think I’ll pass,” Lloyd said.

“Oh, lighten up, Green Ninja. This isn’t a trick! This is a feast to celebrate the eight of you making it to the second round.”

As if on cue, Chen’s kabuki performers applauded, cheering.

“And I must congratulate the Master of the Heart’s defeat over Master of Shadow. That was a short one, am I right?”

More applause.

“You can relax, Lloyd,” Kai said, “even if there was a fight, now that we told the others about Chen’s dirty plot to steal our powers, we’re safe in our secret alliance.”

“If we want to stop him,” Lloyd’s father said, “we need to act soon. Each fighter that loses gives him strength. Soon, he’ll be too powerful for even all of you combined to overcome.”

The same kabuki woman Vana had met on her first day entered the room with a tray of fortune cookies.

Chen stood from his throne to make an announcement. “It has come to my attention that there are rumours floating about that I am stealing everyone’s power. I am.”

The Alliance reacted in shock. Vana furrowed her brow in confusion– did he know that they already knew?

“But it’s all for this staff.”

A double-doored display case opened, revealing a snake-shaped staff with an opalescent gem in its jaws. The thing looked absolutely lavish.

“The Staff of Elements!” Chen held it up in victory, “it holds the power of your fallen foes, and soon, it’ll hold all but one – for the last standing in my tournament will win this prize, and be the greatest fighter ever, in the history of Ninjago!”

“You lie !” Lloyd stood, “what about the spell?”

“ Spell ? What spell?” Clouse asked, smugly.

“Don’t believe him, it’s just another trick. Vana got Neuro to read Clouse’s mind, and he saw it. Tell them what you saw, Neuro!” Lloyd waited for Neuro to say something.

“I– I don’t remember. Truthfully, I’m–” His eyes went wide, “Vana, I know what you’re thinking–”

“Maybe this will jog your memory,” Vana herself stood this time, and withdrew Neuro’s note from her pocket, “this is your handwriting, isn’t it?”

“Nice going, Neuro,” Griffin said, “if you wanna lie, do it well!”

“I was attempting to throw Clouse off our trail,” Neuro whispered fervently.

Skylor took a fortune cookie from the tray and looked shocked upon reading the fortune inside. Maybe it was really bad.

“So much for the Alliance,” Lloyd’s father grumbled.

“If we’re going to get out of here with Zane,” Jay said, “we’re going to need–ugh– proof– argh!” A dark-haired kabuki girl Vana didn’t recognize was looming over by the table, hitting Jay with her fan as she fluttered it by her face. “WOULD YOU CUT IT OUT?!”

“Jay, it’s me!” the girl replied in an overjoyed whisper.

“Nya?” the Ninja gasped. Thankfully, Chen was still having some nefarious discussion with Clouse.

From her side of the table, Vana couldn’t make out what she was saying, but after she finished talking the Ninja all exclaimed,

“A SPY?”

Clouse turned his head, and the kabuki girl, Nya, put her fan back over her face and left the room. Skylor left her seat beside Vana to talk to Kai. From Vana’s point of view, it seemed like she had a thing for him too. She handed him her fortune that she had been so shocked by earlier.

Skylor returned to sit beside Vana and said quietly, “The Alliance is having a meeting tonight in Kai’s suite. 8:00, don’t be late. Tell Griffin.”

Vana leaned over and told him too.

* * *

That night, on her way to the Fire suite, Vana couldn’t stop thinking about her fight against Shade. She felt like a monster, like the monster that Imperium had made her into. The fight felt exactly the same, more like a slaughter than a real duel. The way that his face had contorted into terror, how he had grasped for his heart…

Familiar crackling, shadowy figures had surrounded her, eyes staring right through her. Their jumbled, distorted voices screamed into her head as the walls closed around her. They returned often now, finding her when she was most alone.

All hail the Good Empress, 

our mighty light of Imperium, the guiding– 

“YOU’RE NOT REAL!” Vana screamed out at the empty hallway.

The doors to Kai’s fire suite opened, a sliver of light falling onto Vana’s face in the dark hallway. Lloyd stood in the doorway, a confused and worried expression on his face.

“Um. There you are, we’re all waiting. Come in.”

Vana turned, brushing herself off, “Sorry, I was just running a little late. Hope I didn’t keep anyone waiting.”

“Are you okay? Who were you yelling at?”

“What? Oh. Nobody, just a…I don’t know. It doesn’t matter.”

If Lloyd had the impression that it did matter, he didn’t say anything. They both entered Kai’s living room, where the rest of the Alliance was seated, shifting nervously.

“Okay, everyone’s here,” Lloyd said.

“What’s going on, anyway?” Vana asked.

“We have a spy in our midst,” Lloyd said grimly, “and we’re all here to figure out who it is. No one leaves this room until we find out who’s passing information to Chen.”

The group exploded into surprised reactions, talking over one another very loudly. Vana thought she heard one of them start singing the Imperian anthem.

SHUT UP!

Just a figment of her imagination, she assured herself. She was back in Kai’s suite, and Neuro was speaking.

“Perhaps I can help,” Neuro offered, as he used his power, “I don’t know who, but someone here isn’t who they say they are.”

Vana spoke, “I don’t think any of us could be the spy. Everyone’s so…”

“I don’t like it either,” Kai agreed, “but we need to make sure. Like Lloyd said– no one leaves until we find out who’s been passing information to Chen.”

“And just how do we do that?” Griffin asked.

“I don’t know if there’s even a right place to start,” Lloyd said.

“There is,” Lloyd’s father said, commanding the room’s attention, “Everyone who's ever worked for Chen has the Anacondrai tattoo on their back. Find the tattoo, find the spy.”

“Anyone object?” Lloyd asked.

Neuro was the first to stand, revealing his back. No tattoo. 

“Can I go now?” he asked.

“Not until we check everyone. Who’s next?”

Griffin stood next, showing his own back, “Let’s get it on!”

* * *

After a while, everyone but Vana and Skylor had shown their backs. 

“Well,” Lloyd said, “only two left.”

Vana knew she didn’t have anything to worry about, so she showed the Alliance her back without any problem. No tattoo, obviously.

“I hate to do this,” Kai said, turning to Skylor, “but it’s your turn. Can I see your back, please?”

Skylor sighed sadly, “How could you not trust me? I came to you with the fortune cookie–”

“I’m sorry, but we have to know.”

Skylor showed the Alliance her back, no purple snake in sight.

“Uh,” Jay began, “So if nobody has the tattoo, then–”

“Perhaps I was mistaken,” Lloyd’s father reflected cautiously, “we can regroup here before the next event. We’ll need the Alliance united if we are to escape.”

Chapter Text

Vana sat on the steps outside Chen’s throne room, hugging her knees. She couldn’t fathom any of her friends being a spy. Paleman was her biggest suspect, but even her biggest suspect wasn’t much of a lead. She really only suspected him because he was the only fighter she didn’t know too well.

A kabuki girl left the throne room, winding up in the hall Vana was occupying. Vana looked up, and recognized her as Nya, the girl from earlier that the Ninja knew. It seemed some spies were good for the Alliance’s cause.

Nya walked over to her, feet unsteady in a pair of wooden geta shoes. She was clearly very out of her element.

“What’s the number of his secrets?” Nya whispered.

“The…huh?”

“I’m very sorry to have bothered you,” she stood and was about to leave.

It was a code. To see if Vana was a member of the Alliance. Number of his secrets …Chen’s? Clouse’s? Did they have a number? They seemed almost infinite.

The spell’s page number.

“One hundred and forty nine,” Vana yelled after her. Nya returned, and withdrew a rolled up piece of paper from her kimono. 

“Take this to the Ninja. It’s the spell from Clouse’s spellbook. Hurry!” She went back into the throne room with a fake smile on her face, leaving Vana in the hall.

Vana didn’t waste any time sprinting up the winding staircase in the dormitory building, up to the Fire suite. Kai’s rooms had become a sort of home base for the Alliance, and as there were no events currently active in the Tournament, she spent most of her time there. On her way up, she passed Skylor and contemplated handing her the spell, but the only fighters Vana could be certain weren’t spies were the Ninja– and Nya had instructed her to deliver the scroll to them specifically.

“Hey, Vana,” Kai said as she burst through the doors. Jay and Lloyd were sitting on a couch, the former sipping a fancy soda with a little paper umbrella.

“Hi,” she managed breathlessly, “I got this from Nya. It’s for you guys.”

That caught the attention of Jay and Lloyd, and his father as well, and soon enough, Lloyd’s father had grabbed and unrolled the scroll containing the spell with a deeply troubled expression on his face.

“No,” he stared, “it can’t be. A transformation spell.”

“What is it?” Lloyd asked, peeking over his shoulder, “transform into what?”

“Ninja, you are all familiar with the Serpentine tribes.”

They all nodded. Vana just tilted her head in confusion. Serpentine? Like snakes? She had noticed a few snake people walking about in post-Merge Ninjago. Did they originate from this Realm?

“Lloyd, you of all people would be familiar with Pythor. The last member of the Anacondrai tribe.”

“How could I forget,” Lloyd said bitterly.

“This spell… aims to use your Elemental powers to transform Chen and his followers into an army of Anacondrai.”

Jay spat out his drink. “HE’S TRYING TO WHAT?”

Lloyd’s father nodded grimly, “The Tournament may be coming to a close, but the next Serpentine War may have just begun.”

* * *

A bunch of Chen’s thugs ran past Vana on her way to the chow house that night, yelling about some kabuki girl. The Alliance sat at their usual table, now the only one occupied. Griffin was talking to Paleman, and waved at Vana when she approached the table.

“Kid! Did ‘ya hear about the next event?”

She sat down between him and Kai, “No, I didn’t. Who’s the fight against?”

“I don’t think it is a fight,” Paleman said, “all we know is that we’re being dropped off in the jungle somewhere.”

“We thought we could escape then, seeing as how we’re gonna be off the island,” Griffin added.

It did seem like a plan. There was one problem, though.

“But…what about everyone in the dungeon? We can’t just leave them.”

“Vana’s right,” Kai agreed. “We may have come here to save only Zane, but it’s our responsibility to save everyone .”

“According to that fortune cookie, Cole and Zane have already broken out and are currently working to free everyone else,” Skylor began. Did nobody tell Vana anything anymore? “Let’s focus on our part of the plan, and they can work on theirs. Once we’re ready, we can group together and break out.”

As the group discussed their plan, Vana couldn't shake off the feeling of unease gnawing at her. The revelation about Chen's intentions weighed heavily on her mind. The prospect of him turning his followers into an army of Anacondrai was terrifying, and it only underscored the urgency of the mission.

“We can't afford to waste any time,” Vana said, determined. “If Chen succeeds in his plan, it'll be… We have to stop him before it's too late.”

Kai nodded in agreement, his expression mirroring her resolve. “You're right. We need to be prepared for whatever lies ahead. And that means sticking together and looking out for each other.”

Griffin leaned forward, “I'm with you all the way.”

The rest of the group voiced their agreement. They knew the road ahead would be fraught with danger, but they were prepared to face it head-on, united as allies against a common enemy. As they finished their discussion, Vana couldn't help but feel a surge of hope amidst the uncertainty. They may have been outnumbered and outmatched, but they had something Chen and his followers lacked–  the strength of their bonds and the power of their convictions.

“Vana?” Lloyd asked her after dinner, “who were you yelling at earlier? In the hallway. You never told me.”

“Nobody, I told you.”

“It sounded like someone.”

“It was just…like a nightmare, but about things that have actually already happened. I get them sometimes, it’s not a big deal.”

“Well, if you ever decide that it is a big deal…we’re friends, right?”

“I guess so.” They had only met a few days ago, hadn’t they? Though, Vana supposed she didn’t exactly know how friends were made. It was nice to have a first friend, somewhere to start. 

“Yeah, we’re friends. I’ll see you later, 'kay?”

* * *

Vana returned to the Amber suite alone. Skylor had left dinner early to do something else, apparently. As Vana stepped into the Amber suite, the familiar surroundings enveloped her like a warm embrace. The soft glow of the amber-coloured lamps cast gentle shadows across the room, lending it an air of tranquility. She took a moment to appreciate the peaceful atmosphere, letting the events of the day wash over her.

With a sigh, she sank into the plush orange couch, allowing herself a moment of solitude to reflect on everything that had transpired. She couldn't shake the feeling of unease that lingered within her, a constant reminder of the danger that loomed on the horizon. Lost in her thoughts, Vana didn't notice the passage of time until a soft knock sounded at the door. Startled, she glanced up to see Skylor standing in the doorway, a smile on her face.

“Hey, sorry I'm late,” Skylor said apologetically as she entered the room. “I got caught up in something and lost track of time.”

Vana smiled warmly, shaking her head. “No worries. I wasn’t doing much.”

Skylor nodded, settling onto the couch beside her. “It's been quite a day, hasn't it?”

“Yeah, it has,” Vana agreed, her gaze drifting to the amber lamps. “I’m just nervous about when we finally escape this place. What if Cole and Zane–”

“They’ll be fine. They know what they’re doing.”

“I sure hope so.”

Chapter Text

The blimp drifted high in the air, propellers humming, over the clouds and over Chen’s island, which grew smaller and smaller the further they drifted up. The Alliance had been under the impression that they would be leaving the island by blimp for the event to take place somewhere else, but whoever was in charge of flying the airship seemed to be only stalling directly over the island instead. Neuro looked nauseous. 

“I’ve had enough of this,” Neuro stood and walked on unsteady feet toward the cockpit, “I can’t stand heights. Where’s Chen?”

He flung open the door to the cockpit, only for Vana and the rest of the Alliance to gasp– the blimp was on autopilot. There was nobody steering at all.

Chen’s face appeared on a screen on the dashboard, broadcasting a message to the fighters live.

“How do I know if this thing’s on..?” Chen began, staring past the camera, “oh, I see. The light. I’m on? Right now?”

The Alliance stared, dumbfounded. 

Chen cleared his throat, “Hello, Final Eight. I see you are all eager for the Tournament to commence, so one of you can win my Staff of Elements.”

The Alliance stared once more, this time at each other. As far as they all knew, nobody had any interest in Chen’s staff. Vana felt relieved to some extent– it meant that Chen didn’t know as much as she had originally thought. 

“Instead of fighting for a Jade Blade,” he continued, “today you will be fighting for something different.”

A recording of a kabuki girl came up on-screen, and once the camera zoomed in, it became clear that the girl was none other than Nya, running from the camera in an attempt to escape into the jungle. Had she been sold out by Chen’s spy? Vana didn’t know, but it was clear she was in danger.

“Nya,” Kai said in alarm.

“You know her?” Skylor asked, furrowing her brow at the screen.

“She’s my sister.” 

Nya was Kai’s sister? That answered Vana’s initial question about how exactly the Ninja were all familiar with her. 

“We have an uninvited guest on the island,” Chen’s voice said over the speakers, “find her and you will automatically move on to the final round! ”

“He wants us all to hunt her down?” Jay gasped, “she won’t stand a chance!”

“But he doesn’t know we’re all on the same team,” Vana assured him, “with all of us looking, at least it won’t be one of Chen’s thugs who finds her first.”

“Or the spy,” Lloyd said grimly.

“In ten seconds, the bottom will drop,” Chen said, making everyone gasp in alarm, “but, to show you I’m not a bad man, I’ve given you eight parachutes.”

On cue, eight parachutes dropped down, suspended from the cabin’s ceiling. Vana’s eyes counted over everyone in the airship. One, two, three, four… That couldn’t be right, there were– 

The airship’s floor was a trapdoor too, just like everything on the island, only this one opened ever so slowly, allowing the Alliance to take their parachutes. Five, six, seven, eight… 

“Sensei Garmadon is there?” Chen continued to be heard over the speakers, “shoot, that makes nine.”

Lloyd’s father didn’t have a parachute. And it seemed wrong that Vana only learned his name, Garmadon, mere seconds before he could potentially die. Lloyd himself looked at Garmadon in alarm, parachute in hand– 

The floor had fully opened, and the fighters all plummeted back down to the island’s lush canopy. Vana had thankfully had enough time to fully fasten her parachute, and kept one hand ready to pull it open once she got low enough to the treeline.

She slowed her heart to calm herself, even as the wind stung her face, and the only sensation she could register was the swift fall down to the island. Looking around, nearly everyone had a parachute, except for Lloyd and Garmadon. 

The ground was getting closer now, and Vana pulled her parachute, feeling a quick tug upwards before a slow, calm drifting downwards, to the trees. It was as peaceful a descent as one could expect, considering that she had no prior experience with anything like it.

Vana’s parachute eventually got caught in the branches of a tall tree, leaving her suspended a few feet above the ground. She carefully unclipped the pack and slid her arms through, falling down in a heap onto the jungle floor. 

The island was already hot, but within the jungle area it was only more humid. The fighters weren’t permitted to bring anything with them to the event, but Vana had smuggled a dagger and a water canteen,  just in case. She was thankful she had, as she was already sweating when she took a swig from her canteen. 

There was a flash of green light somewhere in the distance, and Vana thought she could make out an emerald green dragon flying out from the treetops. 

And Vana was alone. 

She began walking deeper into the jungle, and tied her hair up to keep from overheating. The fighters had all been scattered throughout the island, so Vana closed her eyes and listened for any nearby heartbeats. Nothing except a colourful bird that sat perched in the tree above her.

Chen’s voice and the Tournament fanfare made her jump. Thankfully, it was only a recording, coming from a speaker that had been affixed to a nearby tree. They were likely hidden all around the jungle.

“Hail, combatants! I have left a few treats to help you in the hunt. I hope you use them wisely…”

Like she would ever use a treat from Chen. Vana scoffed and continued trekking through, stopping to listen for hearts as she went. 

She eventually found one, half an hour later, a frantic, determined beating coming from her left. Vana turned and caught a glimpse of blue behind the trees. Upon cautiously approaching the mysterious individual, she heard him mutter,

“Nya…where could you– AHH !”

“It’s just me, Jay,” Vana said, stepping out from behind the tree.

“Did nobody ever tell you,” his heart raced, “to NOT SNEAK UP ON PEOPLE LIKE THAT?”

“Shh!” she said, “What if one of Chen’s guys hears us? Come on, do you have any leads on where Nya might be?”

“No,” Jay admitted, deflated, “I’m wishing I took that mech now. It would have been way easier to find her in that.”

“It’s a good thing you didn’t take it,” Vana said, “I wouldn’t trust it.”

“Eh, good point. Have you found anyone else?”

“Nope. Just you. But…” she closed her eyes and listened again. Nothing. “Nope. We’re the only ones in this part of the jungle.”

“Yeah, I’m still a bit freaked out by how you took down Shadow last round.”

“You and me both.”

* * *

An hour passed, and Vana still heard no sign of any other fighters. Jay would glance at her, weirded out whenever she would press her fingers to her temples to focus and use her power. And Jay? Jay talked a lot. Which was fine , of course, Vana was more of a listener anyway, but still. It was bordering on excessive.

“So your power’s like Neuro’s, right?”

“Uh. Not really, I guess they both relate to the human body to some extent, but–”

“So why do you push at the sides of your head when you’re thinking? That’s like the Mind, isn’t it?”

“To help me focus. Which is…” Vana heard the first heartbeat in over an hour, “there’s someone else this way!”

As Jay and Vana ran towards the source, one heartbeat became two …three…four?

“Wait,” Vana muttered as they both hid behind a tree.

“What’s–”

“Shh!”

Clouse stood facing Jay and Vana, but they had both ducked behind the tree before he could notice them. Two of Chen’s thugs flanked Paleman, who struggled to free himself to no avail. How had they found him?

A silver Anacondrai-hilt sword was lying in the grass beside him. One of Chen’s gifts, no doubt.

“Your time in the Tournament has expired,” Clouse was saying, as Paleman was dragged away. “Only one can remain…and it will be Chen .”

“Don’t count on it,” Paleman spat, “we all know about your plan. You and Chen don’t stand a chance!”

The thugs disappeared with Paleman into the treeline, leaving Vana and Jay to stare at Clouse in horror.

“Don’t think that you’re safe either,” Clouse said suddenly. 

“Jay, run!”

“What?”

“We need to get out of here! RUN!”

Clouse conjured up misty purple tendrils of dark magic, ensnaring both Jay and Vana, holding them each at arms length and choking them. It would only be moments before Vana passed out, so she had to act fast. She targeted Clouse’s heart and instead of slowing it, she attempted to stop it entirely, just enough for him to let her and Jay go.

He did, and he cursed at her as the purple wisps vanished and she and Jay were both free. But Vana’s victory was short-lived as Clouse recovered and sent a blast of dark magic flying at her head. It struck her, and Vana was lying on the forest floor, head pounding, unable to focus to use her power. She tried to wipe away the sweat on her forehead with a trembling hand, only for it to come back scarlet with blood.

Jay was already on his feet, ready to aim a burst of lightning at Clouse.

“JAY, GO!” Vana yelled, as loudly as she could, wincing from the pain, “warn the others!”

He seemed to falter for a moment, torn between helping her, but they both knew that if he stayed, then the rest of the fighters wouldn’t stand a chance, and they would have all been hunted down, just like Paleman.

“It’s Chen’s gifts! Tell them not to take them!”

“Silence, girl!” Clouse hissed.

Jay ran into the jungle, leaving Vana to fend off Clouse.

Chapter Text

Clouse towered over Vana, a scowl twisting his face as Jay sprinted away, blue gi fading with the green hues of the island’s scenery.

“What have you done ?!”

Before Vana had any time to respond, or even react, Clouse had begun muttering a variety of spells and enchantments under his breath. Whatever he was doing, Vana suddenly found herself unable to breathe, grabbing at her throat in panic. Clouse watched on, continuing his spell as he wiped the blood from a cut on his face with disdain.

Focus. Focus.

It wasn’t only the sounds of Clouse’s heartbeat in front of her that were dulling. Every sound around her was– the warm breeze above the treetops, the sound of rustling foliage– even Vana’s own heartbeat was fading. She needed to act fast, before she never heard anything ever again.

Vana clenched her jaw in concentration and focused all her power on her attacker.

The breath returned to her lungs as Clouse yelled, stumbling back as he braced his ribcage, heart rate returning to normal. She didn’t like thinking about the fact that she could have killed him if she wanted to. She didn’t like thinking herself capable of killing.

“Letting you partake in the Tournament was my Master’s gravest mistake ,” Clouse said spitefully, readying another spell.

“I agree,” Vana declared, readying her own powers.

Clouse grabbed the Anacondrai hilt sword from the grass and began swinging at Vana. He had the advantage– not only because he held the blade, but also because he must have been trained in swordplay. Vana was too busy dodging the blade’s onslaught to concentrate on anything but her own heartbeat, which was skipping beats whenever the sword came too close for comfort. 

He eventually had her backed up against a tree, but just as he brought the sword up and across for a killing blow, Vana ducked, the blade becoming stuck in the trunk as Clouse tried to no avail to remove it.

The lack of a physical weapon only stopped him slightly, and soon enough, he was back murmuring every spell in his book under his breath. Vana knew that if this kept up, she would have been back to gasping for air like she had been moments before. Her attention turned to the tree, the one the sword had landed in, and she began climbing it like her life depended on it– because it quite literally did.

Once she had climbed high enough to be obscured by the tree’s leaves– around ten feet or so, she could see Clouse squinting up at the dense foliage to try and spot his target. Vana had no trouble seeing him, of course, and she closed her eyes, focusing once more.

It didn’t take long for Clouse to pass out, falling to the ground. Vana leapt to the ground even quicker, not bothering to loot anything from his person. She needed to find the rest of the Alliance, hopefully Jay had succeeded in warning everyone.

* * *

Another hour of running had passed, and Vana’s canteen was nearly empty. She had been making her way through the jungle, looking for any Alliance member around. Nobody. Frustrated tears began welling up in her eyes, but she blinked them away. Her stomach growled in hunger. Vana sped her heart in response. Just one more push. A bit more adrenaline.

Her knees shook and buckled, coursing with adrenaline. Bad idea.

“Is anyone there?” she yelled, finally breaking her silence. Overusing her powers had dulled them before. Maybe there was someone around she couldn’t hear, “anyone?”

The rustling of leaves behind her. Vana tried to focus her power, in case it was one of Chen’s men…or worse , the spy– but a familiar blond head peeked out from the bushes.

“Vana?”

“Lloyd! Is there anyone else with you?”

Garmadon emerged from the bushes as well, taking his time. “We haven’t seen anyone else all day.”

“Not even Jay?”

They both shook their heads.

“Chen’s gifts are traps. They somehow led his thugs to Paleman, and who knows who else. I told Jay to tell everyone but…”

“Well, we haven’t seen anybody since we landed in the jungle. Maybe they’re just on the other side of the island somewhere,” Lloyd offered.

“...Maybe. No sign of Nya?”

“Nothing,” Garmadon sighed.

The sun had started to set, and the three of them had decided to continue through the jungle, attempting to find members of the Alliance without veering too close to Chen’s palace and the other buildings. By the time night had fallen, it had gotten very cold in comparison to the afternoon’s sweltering heat. 

A rapid heartbeat caught Vana’s attention, “I hear someone!”

“Where?” Lloyd asked, trying to see into the dark shadows cast by the trees.

“Whoever it is, they’re running over here really fast.”

“Do we hide?”

“There would be more hearts around if it was someone working for Chen…and by how quick it’s beating, whoever it is sounds terrified.”

“It could be a trap,” Garmadon said, narrowing his eyes, “stand your guard, both of you.”

A girl with dark hair ran from the dense foliage, nearly running into Lloyd as she gasped, realizing she had found who she had been looking for. Once the girl looked up, and her face was illuminated in the moonlight, she turned out to be Nya, who was gasping for breath after running for so long, eyes wide in fear.

“Nya!” Lloyd exclaimed.

“They took Jay!” Nya cried, “they took everyone!”

“Slow down, Nya,” Garmadon tried to calm her down.

“How could they have taken Jay?” Vana asked, “And everyone else? Did he not get to warn them?”

“Skylor’s the spy,” Nya said. 

Skylor? The Master of Amber had been near the bottom of Vana’s suspicion list, but it all suddenly made sense. Her mysterious absences did, at least.

Nya continued, “I watched them all from the bushes. Jay got everyone together, but then she said something about knowing a secret way back they could all take…she led them right to Chen’s helpers, to the mobile base. I didn’t see any of you there, so I thought…maybe…”

“Thank you, Nya,” Garmadon said genuinely. 

“We’re the only ones who can stop the spell,” she said, “they’re not patrolling the jungle anymore, I’ve checked, but there’s so many guards posted at the palace.”

“We’ll find a way in,” Lloyd stated. 

“We should sleep first,” Garmadon said, “we’ll be of no use if we’re unrested. Tomorrow morning, we begin walking back to the palace.”

* * *

Vana slept lightly that night, waking up several times. When she awoke once more and found that the sun was finally visible as a sliver of gold above the grass, she took it as her sign to stay up, wincing at the soreness in her back. She picked any remaining twigs and leaves out of her hair before standing and brushing the dirt from her gi.

Garmadon was already awake, meditating under the tree. She didn’t want to disturb him, so she took her empty canteen to a stream they had all found the night before, the water source being the reason for their camping location. She filled it to the brim and walked back, sleep still in her eyes. By the time Vana returned, Lloyd and Nya were awake too.

“Ready to go?” Lloyd asked.

“Yeah,” Vana sighed nervously, “I just hope our plan works.”

Thankfully, Nya remembered the way back from the stream, so Vana, Garmadon, and Lloyd followed her for the majority of the trek to the palace. 

When the mossy stone pagodas of the Tournament grounds came into view, Vana couldn’t help but feel… afraid . Skylor had been the spy right under her nose, and now the Alliance was in danger too, just like the fighters currently held in the dungeons. The four of them scaled one of the gate walls which doubled as a bridge between two pagoda towers, overlooking the courtyard, where dozens of guards were patrolling. Vana could see the round window of Neuro’s room.

“He knows I’m coming,” Lloyd said, “but I can’t just hide here and do nothing.”

“We have to wait until nightfall,” Nya insisted, gesturing at the guards, “there’s too many!”

“And then what? Every minute we’re out here, he grows more powerful–”

“Son,” Garmadon interrupted, “Chen grows strong by taking from others. But real power does the opposite. It empowers those around you, like the way you’ve empowered me.”

“I know , but– Vana, can’t you just take out all of those guards?” Lloyd asked.

“Not all at once…and they’d spot us once they all started dropping like flies. Nya’s right, we’d stand a better chance when it’s dark.”

Garmadon nodded. “Patience, Lloyd. We will get you to Chen, and you will destroy his staff.”

Chapter Text

The full moon was high in the sky that night, bathing the palace and surrounding temples in silver light. Vana could hear the soft rustle of leaves, the distant calls of nocturnal creatures, and the murmurs of the night breeze as she, Nya, Garmadon, and Lloyd crouched behind a worn stone wall.

It was a very far jump to the next building’s rooftop, one that none of them could have made without assistance. Nya pulled out a grappling hook, shooting a line to bridge the distance, securing it with a tug before she, Lloyd, and Garmadon grabbed on and zipped across with ease, to the other side. The three of them waited for Vana on the other side, expectant looks in their eyes.

Vana wiped her sweating palms on her gi before untying her belt and looping it over the cable to hopefully zipline across. There was no way she was getting over there with her bare hands like the Ninja had. Not without dying, anyway. She closed her eyes and leapt off the edge and slid across the chasm, gripping her belt for dear life as she tried not to scream. The lives of her friends outweighed the magnitude of her own fears.

Once she had safely arrived at the other side, the four of them all began their sprint across the tiled roofs, Vana quietly knocking out any guards they encountered, everyone else using force if necessary. Upon finding the right side and floor of the palace, Nya popped open the window, and they all crept in, finding themselves in one of the main palace’s hallways. 

They skulked in the dark single-file, Lloyd leading the way followed by Nya, Garmadon, and then Vana. She could hear dozens of heartbeats, just beyond a pair of doors… 

“We’re not alone,” Vana whispered, just as Lloyd stepped on a tripwire.

The lights in the hallway came on, an alarm sounding as a flood of Chen’s thugs came running at the intruders from the other end of the hall. Garmadon, Nya, and Lloyd took down a few at first, but as even more began running in from the behind, Lloyd’s eyes looked frantic from under his hood,

“There’s too many of them!”

“I’ll hold them,” Nya said, determined, “you three, find Chen.”

Vana, Lloyd, and Garmadon nodded, running down the hall. Vana didn’t have any time to look behind her, the last she saw of Nya was the girl kicking a guard square in the face.

As soon as they turned the corner, Garmadon yelled out a warning,

“Look out!”

Clouse was blocking the way, glare burning right into Vana. He had a bandage over the cut on his face from their fight in the jungle, but that hardly mattered as he blasted a burst of violet flames her way.

They all fell to the floor in an attempt to dodge the blast, the red carpet burning at Vana’s knees and elbows as she went down. Lloyd and his father recovered quickly from the fall, while she took an extra second.

“Go, both of you,” Garmadon said once Vana had staggered to her feet, “leave Clouse to me.”

“Good luck,” Lloyd said, gesturing for Vana to follow.

Before they could leave, Clouse interjected, “Your father doesn’t believe in luck.”

“I know,” Lloyd smirked, “I wasn’t talking to him.”

They both left Clouse to take in his words as they continued down the hall. Vana could hear the clashing of swords as they left.

The hallway seemed like a museum of sorts, both walls decorated with glass display cases filled with all kinds of artifects from Ninjago. Chen’s collection, no doubt.

Lloyd had been leading the way, and as he continued running, one of Chen’s signature trap doors opened from beneath his feet, and the Green Ninja yelled as he fell through.

“Lloyd!” Vana cried. She ran over to the hole in the floor, trying to see to the bottom. It was now or never, she decided, and she jumped in after him.

Vana fell through a round cobblestone tunnel that was sloped more like a slide than a straight fall, leaving her sore once she landed at the bottom on only more stone. In fact, the entire tunnel she found herself in was stone, with a low ceiling that prevented her from standing all the way up. A bombinating, pulsing sound echoed through the tunnel.

Lloyd too seemed unharmed enough, muttering, “Chen and his trap doors.”

Nothing could have prepared Vana for realizing the thundering sound was, it turned out, another heart.

“Lloyd,” she gasped, “we need to move. RUN!”

The head of a massive, violet-scaled snake loomed into the dim light of the tunnel, jaw unhinging with a malicious hiss. Its tiny, beady scarlet eyes glowed brightly in the dark as it slithered forward, taking its time, toying with its prey.

Lloyd and Vana scrambled to their feet, ducking and running through the dank tunnels, not even stopping to look behind them. 

“There’s no outrunning it,” Lloyd gasped.

“Run in front of me,” Vana said, “I can try something!”

Vana’s heart had already been sped up upon entering the palace, so she focused on Lloyd’s and attempted to give him a rush of adrenaline. It appeared to work, as he seemed to have caught his second wind. But nothing could slow the serpent, which showed no signs of halting.

A bright light flickered at a crossing of the tunnels, and once Vana and Lloyd got closer, they could see that the light was emanating from a torch, held in Kai’s hand. Kai?

“Lloyd, Vana! This way, come on!” he yelled, waving the torch.

They continued running towards him, and once the snake got close enough to the intersectional tunnel, Kai pulled them both in, buying some time and forcing the snake to find another way in. 

The tunnel in question had led to a series of passages like the ones behind the dormitory building– half timbered servants passages. The ceiling was way higher now, stretching up past rows of rafters, and Vana found herself able to fully stand up again. She calmed down Lloyd’s heart and then her own.

Vana and Lloyd walked in step together, following Kai. He seemed to know where he was going– had he broken the others out too? Were they all waiting?

“Kai, you escaped. What happened?” Lloyd asked.

“I managed to slip free, but Chen took all our powers. Jay tried to warn everyone back in the jungle, but…”

“Skylor,” Vana sighed, “I’m sorry.”

Kai ignored her, “If we can find them–”

Lloyd cut him off, “There’s no time. I have to stop Chen, alone if I have to.”

Kai’s heartbeat fluctuated as he stopped walking to face Lloyd and Vana. She couldn’t read the expression on his face, and Lloyd caught on quickly too,

“What?” Lloyd frowned, “what is it?"

“Is something wrong?” Vana asked.

“I’m sorry guys,” Kai finally said, blowing out the torch and leaving them in darkness, “this will all make sense when it’s over.”

“Kai?” Vana yelled into the dark, “what are you–”

Someone grabbed her from behind, forcing a fabric of some kind over her nose and mouth. It smelled sweet almost, but Vana soon realized she was having trouble staying conscious. She kicked at her attacker, tried speeding her heart, clawing at the hand over her mouth, but nothing seemed to work as the floor swayed beneath her feet, and she was plunged into an even darker blackness.

* * *

Vana awoke with a pounding headache, still disorientated from whatever had attacked her. She furrowed her brow and squinted as she looked around, fear setting in.

The chamber she was in was filled to the brim with bones . Human remains, from the looks of it. And it stank , a foul rotting smell coming from all around her. She gasped and tried to run, only finding that her wrists were chained and shackled to a wooden pole, and the same appeared to be true for Nya and Garmadon, who were also being held prisoner. Nya was to Vana’s left, and Garmadon to Nya’s left. 

Nya was still unconscious, bound to her post, black hair falling over her eyes, but Garmadon turned as far as he could to Vana and asked with a concerned tone,

“Ivana. Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m not hurt or anything,” she groaned, “but I feel like I’m about to throw up.”

“That’s just whatever they used to drug you. It should wear off eventually, just try not to focus on it. Can you see a way out of these chains from your side?”

The walls were solid stone brick, with the only exits being three round entrances to the snake tunnels on each wall, with the remaining wall, the one the prisoners were facing, having a simple wooden door. It was well within Garmadon’s view, so Vana assumed it wasn’t a viable way out.

“I think they’re Vengestone, mine at least,” Vana observed, “I can’t use my powers. And there’s nothing on my side I could use…”

“Hmm,” he mumbled, lost in thought. 

Nya stirred from next to Vana, lashes fluttering as her brown eyes darted around the room, assessing the situation before they widened in sheer terror.

“Nya,” Garmadon said, “are you alright?"

“Yes. What– what happened?”

“We have to get out of here,” Garmadon said, “we’ve looked for something to help break these chains, but…nothing.”

Nya struggled against the chains, pulling away from the pole as hard as she could, to no avail.

“It won’t work,” Garmadon sighed.

“But Ninja never quit, remember?” Nya persisted, “that’s what the guys say all the time.”

“We’re not quitting,” Vana assured her. 

“It feels like quitting to me.”

The door swung open, and Clouse walked in, flanked by Chen, carrying his staff, and Skylor. The traitor.

“My pet loves the smell of fear,” Clouse gloated. 

His pet? He didn’t mean– 

“Where is my son?!” Garmadon demanded, “what have you done with–”

“I have your son,” Chen interrupted, “but his power will become mine at the ceremony tonight. I’m sorry you didn’t get an invite…I’m still a bit hurt by my pupil deciding to betray me so long ago!”

His pupil? Garmadon once worked for Chen? Vana really hated being left in the dark, but it did make sense. The only way Garmadon could have known about the Anacondrai tattoo is if he had one himself.

And if Chen had Lloyd, then he had everything he needed for that spell.

“But…how did you defeat him?” Nya gasped.

“Oh, I had a little help.” Chen pointed to the door with his staff, where a guilty looking Kai emerged from the shadows, head hung. Nya gasped in horror. So Kai really was responsible. Vana simply didn’t want to believe it.

“You pitted the Ninja against themselves , just like you did the Elemental Masters all those years ago,” Garmadon snarled.

“Why, Kai?!” Nya yelled, “how could you do this?!”

“Chen holds all the power,” Kai said, “Lloyd alone never stood a chance. I had to think about what was best for us. He’ll let you go if you–”

“I’d rather be snake food!” Nya spat.

While everyone was distracted by Nya’s outburst, Garmadon ran forward in his chains and grabbed Skylor, holding her neck under his arm, choking her. Her eyes went to Chen in panic.

“Untie us!” Garmadon commanded. Clouse and Chen only laughed, to Skylor’s horror.

“Or what?” Chen cackled, “you’ve changed , remember? You’re Sensei Garmadon! You’re a good guy . Threats don’t frighten me.”

Garmadon shoved Skylor away in defeat, leaving her gasping for air as she returned to stand by Kai, Chen, and Clouse, who took advantage of the silence to speak,

“My pet may be napping, but she’s always hungry when she wakes up.”

“You had a good run, Garmadon!” Chen cheered, “but all good things must come to an end.”

Chen led them out of the chamber, followed by Clouse, then Skylor, and finally…Kai. Vana still couldn’t believe it.

“Kai,” she muttered, looking at him. 

“Don’t do this!” Nya implored her brother, still fighting against her chains as her wrists burned raw red.

“Sorry, Nya. This is the way it has to be,” Kai said solemnly, before…

Before he winked playfully, smirking as he followed the others out. Nya, Vana, and Garmadon all stared at each other, pure relief and joy on their faces. He hadn’t betrayed them after all.

Chapter Text

“Some help you are, Kai,” Nya grumbled.

The three of them had been chained to the poles for what to have been at least an hour, if not more. Kai still hadn’t shown up to save the day, and Vana was starting to get nervous. Just how long would that snake stay asleep for?

“I’m sure he’s coming soon,” Vana said, “maybe he can’t slip away just yet.”

Vana hated Vengestone. More than anything in all of the Merged Realms, except maybe time travel. It made her feel like she had lost one of her senses. She felt completely detached from everything, unable to tell if someone, or something, was creeping up behind her. The lack of audible heartbeats vexed her, and so did her inability to defend herself without an elemental power.

It also made sure she didn’t hear Clouse’s snake approaching the chamber, where its head was now visible as two glowing eyes in the blackness.

Nya saw it too, trying to back herself as close to her pole as possible.

“Vana!” she whispered, “do something!”

“I can’t ,” Vana hissed, “Vengestone, remember? And even if it wasn’t Vengestone, I can’t do snakes !”

“What do you mean, you can’t do snakes?! It’s a heart!” Vana didn’t need her power to know Nya’s own heart was racing.

“I don’t know, I JUST CAN’T! It has to be a person or whatever–” 

The snake had now fully entered the room, head rising from its coiled body as it observed its prey, looking from Garmadon, to Nya, and then to Vana, as if it was trying to decide who to eat first. 

With an ear-splitting hiss, it turned on Nya, who turned her face away and awaited the worst, which didn’t come. The serpent changed its mind, instead deciding on Garmadon. It coiled around his pole, purple scales glimmering in the dim light as it stared at him with one big red eye. Vana couldn’t seem to make any sound, not a scream, not anything.

The snake, ever an indecisive creature, then left Garmadon alone, leaving him panting in fear. It finally chose Nya, rising higher and higher on its tail, ready to sink its teeth into– 

A jarring explosion came from behind them, leaving Vana’s ears ringing as her wooden pole splintered, breaking, and she fell onto the cold stone floor. She didn’t waste any time, standing up and finding that she was now free, easily discarding her cuffs. The same seemed to be true for Nya and Garmadon, who were trying to assess what had just happened.

Before they could, some kind of vehicle emerged from the hole in the wall, firing bullets at the snake at an impressive speed. What kind of vehicle Vana didn’t know due to the sheer amount of dust and debris in the air, but whoever was driving was clearly on their side. Kai?

A final bullet struck the ceiling, which came crumbling down on the snake’s head, burying it once and for all. Its tail fell limp, and it was dead.

Vana turned her attention to the vehicle, which was unlike anything she had seen in Imperium. It looked like a jet of some kind, though it was far less sophisticated than the things that the Claws would fly over the city. A bunch of people dressed in prison uniforms erupted in cheers as they exited, and she could recognize some of their faces. Cole, Neuro, Shade, Chamille …all the Elemental Masters!

“WE DID IT!” Cole cheered, running up to Garmadon.

“Well hello, Master of Earth,” Garmadon smiled as Cole helped him up.

“Uh-uh,” Jay added, running up to them both, “don’t forget Master of Lightning!”

Nya ran past them both to hug someone Vana didn’t recognize. He was an android of some sort, built from shining titanium. Even Dr. LaRow, back in Imperium, hadn't figured out how to make a perfect android. Vana couldn’t help but watch in awe. His blue eyes stared at Nya as she hugged him,

“Zane! You’re back!”

“What? What is on my back?”

That was Zane? Vana walked up to him to introduce herself once he and Nya had finished,

“So you’re Zane, then?”

“My audio memory indicates that you are the prisoner I spoke with ten days ago. Cole tells me you played a very big part in helping him locate me.”

“I…I guess I did.”

“You do not sound very certain.”

“Well, Cole and the rest of the Ninja did most of that. I’m sure he would have found you anyway.”

“Still,” Zane said, “thank you. You have my gratitude.”

A loud voice interrupted, and Zane left to talk to Garmadon, “KID!”

It was Griffin, running up to Vana. It was odd to see him running at an ordinary speed, without his powers.

“You made it!” he cheered, grabbing her hands and spinning her around.

Once she was back on her feet, she grinned, “So did you!"

“I knew you could do it kid,” he said, before announcing to the rest of the Alliance, which was amazingly no longer only eight people, “We’re headed to where all the action’s at!”

“What do you mean?” Nya asked.

“We’ve got a ceremony to crash,” Cole grinned.

* * *

The Alliance had deemed Vana too short to help push the vehicle, which she had learned was called a Roto Jet, so Vana got to ride in the backseat with Cole in the front as he bombed his way into the ceremony room.

Kai, Lloyd, and Skylor were already there, engaged in battle with Chen's cultist thugs– except Kai wasn’t doing much at all, splayed on the floor, clearly disoriented from the explosion as he rubbed at his eyes.

The rest of the Alliance stormed in through the opening Cole had made, joining in the fight and taking down an incredible number of Chen’s men. Zane spun them into each other with ease, and stopped fighting for a brief moment to reconnect with Lloyd. Vana couldn’t make out what they were saying from up in the jet, unfortunately, but she could still help in the fight. It was a good thing her powers were long-range.

She knocked out a few thugs who were after Griffin, who seemed to be fighting less effectively without his elemental power. He waved at her from the ground, mouthing the word “Thanks” .

Kai had finally sat up, looking around at the battle in confusion before setting his gaze on Chen’s staff, which was lying close by. Break the staff and everyone’s powers returned, Vana remembered.

Unfortunately, that was also the moment Vana finally spotted Chen, who was running as fast as he could, trying to beat Kai to the staff. But Kai was quicker, seizing the staff in his hands and raising it over his head, smashing it on the hard stone ground.

A web of different coloured bright lights erupted from the shattered gemstone, each headed directly toward a specific Elemental Master. The Alliance began taking their advantage right away, continuing their fight and not sparing a moment. 

The Ninja– minus Cole– all banded together and… Vana couldn’t even begin to describe it, one moment they were spinning, and the next, some kind of glowing, colour-coded, tornado-shaped aura had enveloped them as they fought their opponents, barrelling into a wave of thugs and taking every single one down.

“That’s Spinjitzu,” Cole laughed lightheartedly from behind the wheel.

“Uh-huh…” she stared down from the side of the jet, amazed.

With that, Chen and his men seemed defeated. Cole landed the jet, and Vana reunited with the rest of the Alliance. Garmadon was the only one who wasn’t celebrating their victory, a concerned look on his face.

* * *

With the sun finally shining out, marking the arrival of morning, the Alliance led the newly tied up thugs out. Griffin and Gravis– the Master of Gravity– led the way, carrying spears that once belonged to the guards. Karlof– the Master of Metal– and Paleman were close behind.

Vana stood in the courtyard with the Ninja and Garmadon, who were in the process of reuniting with Zane.

“No sign of Chen,” Garmadon frowned before putting a comforting arm around Kai, “and no sign of Skylor, either.”

“If it weren’t for her help,” Nya admitted, “we wouldn’t have control of the island. We’ll find her, Kai.”

“It’s funny,” Kai said, “I came here to find an old friend. I just never thought we’d make new ones.”

Kai and the rest of the Ninja smiled at Vana, but Kai seemed distracted. He was obviously talking about Skylor, too, clearly even more than he was about Vana.

Garmadon caught on, speaking to him quietly, “We’ll find her, Kai. And we’ll find Chen.”

The rest of the team didn’t seem to hear them.

“And you all said adding someone new to the team was a bad idea,” Lloyd said, “what do you say, Vana?”

“I don’t… shouldn’t you ask everyone else first?”

“He already did,” Cole said, “and we said yes.”

They all wanted her on their team? To leave the island with them, fight with them…

The Ninja seemed like a real family, something she had never truly had, but at the same time something they already had with each other . They all seemed to be counting on her to say yes, but…

“I appreciate it, really, but I don’t think I can,” Vana muttered, “I’m sorry.”

Their confused murmurs overlapped as they watched Vana return into the palace, a conflicted look on her face as she tried to slow her racing heart.

Chapter Text

Lloyd had followed her back to the palace, calling after her.

“Vana! Come back!” he said, “did we do something wrong?”

They were in the entrance’s hallway, the grand red carpet and pillars making the room feel hot and uncomfortable. Vana wanted to be left alone, but she realized that declining such an important offer only invited questions that the Ninja deserved answers to.

“No,” she said as she stopped walking, “no, you didn’t. I just… I can’t be on your team.”

“Why not? You said you weren’t from Ninjago, so you don’t have anywhere to stay, and you are an Elemental Master…”

Vana’s mind returned to the three days she spent rotting away in the alley behind Chen’s Noodle House, living on scraps until she was inevitably taken down by the lowlife of the city. That was her future if she did nothing.

“You don’t have to feel sorry for me,” she said.

“It…it’s more than that,” Lloyd admitted, “look, we’re friends, remember?”

“Yeah.”

“The main reason you belong on the team isn’t because you don’t have anywhere else to go, or because you were able to take down Shade in less than a minute, or even because you’re from the future , and have seen… the literal destruction … of everything we know.”

“But that’s all I am. Without my power, I’m nothing. I’m just an ordinary girl in a horrible city in another Realm, doing whatever our horrible Empress tells us to. I was completely and totally average , and I would do anything to go back in time and be normal again. When we had to break into the palace last night, and had to go by grappling hook? I couldn’t do it, not the way you all can. I couldn’t even break myself out of my own cell, couldn’t…” Vana paused, composing herself. 

She continued, “I saw you all in the ceremony room, doing your Spinjitzu thing. It was just another thing I couldn’t do. All I could do was watch from the plane, because I couldn’t even help push the stupid thing.”

Vana sank onto her knees, sitting down. Lloyd did the same.

“I still haven’t told you why you do belong, Vana,” he said, “it’s because you have a heart . And that isn’t because of your power, no matter how much you think it is. Anyone could be the Master of the Heart. But not everyone can be Vana Lovell. Not as well as you can. You wouldn’t lose your heart even if you lost your ability to manipulate it. Do you remember what you said to me the other day?”

Vana shook her head, tearing up slightly, “No.”

“You told me that you weren’t going to save yourself, even though it would have been so easy . You said that you weren’t leaving this island until everyone was free, because it was the right thing to do. That’s why you belong on the team, Vana. You don’t have to come with us, but I thought you needed to know that everyone wanted you there for a reason.”

Once Lloyd finished speaking, she hugged him, mostly in an attempt to hide the few tears that were rolling down her cheeks. She wiped them away on her sleeve before she pulled away.

“You know,” Vana said, “I’ve never had a friend before I came to the island.”

“Well, now you have plenty.”

“I’ll… I’ll think about it, okay?” she smiled, “it’s just kind of a big choice, you know?” Vana was nearly certain she would accept, but it only seemed wise to weigh her options.

“I know. We’ll see you out on the courtyard when you’re ready.”

* * *

Vana returned to the courtyard just in time to see the Alliance deflate Chen’s blimp, and the Master of Nature sink the island’s ferry as everyone cheered.

“No one’s getting off this island!” Jay declared triumphantly.

“Vana!” Lloyd called her over to where he, Zane, and Kai were waiting.

“Sorry for being so…dramatic earlier,” she apologized, “why are we sinking everything?”

“Garmadon’s orders,” Kai said, “Chen, Clouse, Skylor, and a couple cultists are still unaccounted for. We’re just making sure they can’t leave.”

“Nobody’s found them yet?”

“No,” Kai sighed.

Cole and Jay approached the group together.

“The palace and sleeping quarters are all clear,” Cole said, “still no sign of Chen and Clouse.”

“What about Skylor?” Kai asked.

“She wasn’t able to pick her family,” Lloyd said, patting Kai on the back, “but she was able to pick her friends. And since you’re her friend, that means so are we. We’ll find her.”

“He’s right,” Cole agreed, “with no way off the island, it’ll only be a matter of time.”

“I’m proud of you all,” a kind voice said.

It was Garmadon, walking up to the Ninja, a smile on his face.

“You’ve done what the original Elemental Masters never could– stick together. But you must not rest on your laurels, for your guard is down when you sleep.”

“Way to kill the mood, Sensei G,” Jay said lightheartedly, “but Chen and his guys don’t stand a chance!”

“Jay’s right,” Cole said, “we’ll find them eventually.”

“Good to see you two getting along,” Lloyd observed.

Vana had noticed that Cole and Jay hadn’t been arguing nearly as much since their fight, over a week prior. They had clearly had a falling out over something, but it seemed as though they had made up since.

“We talked everything over when we planned that fight,” Cole admitted.

“Don’t be so sappy,” Jay groaned.

* * *

Nya had apparently been making adjustments to the mobile base she had built, in another part of the grounds outside. Vana had no idea that she was such a formidable engineer, and was impressed when she and the rest of the Ninja had gone to check on her progress.

“You built this whole thing?” Vana asked, amazed.

“With my own two hands,” Nya grinned, “maybe you could help me out now that you’re on the team, I could show you the ropes.”

Nya noticed the team’s expressions and asked, “Is she not…”

“She just needs some more time to decide,” Lloyd explained.

“Fair enough,” Nya said, “well–”

Griffin, with his power of Speed returned, zipped up to them all with a worried expression obscured by scarlet lenses.

“Chen just figured out Skylor’s powers can finish the spell! She’s in danger!”

Garmadon’s expression darkened, “He’s replaced his Elemental staff with the elements in his daughter.”

Daughter? It all made sense now. The abundance of children’s clothes in yellow and orange– the pinafore dress Vana had worn on her first day… it had been Skylor’s at one point . And that was why they had roomed them together. One more thing to catch up on, then.

“Where?!” Kai asked, pushing forward.

“Other side of the island,” Griffin said.

“I’m going after her,” Kai decided.

“We all are,” Garmadon added, “Jay, Zane, you take the mech and buggy. Cole and I will take the Roto Jet. Lloyd, you’ve got your dragon. Nya, how fast will she go?”

“Fast enough!” Nya said, climbing into the base.

“Everyone else, stay here and guard the camp. Let’s get moving on."

“Vana, come with me,” Lloyd said.

“On a…on a dragon ? Shouldn’t I–”

“Just trust me!”

Garmadon warned him, “Just be careful, son. If you lose focus for even one moment, you’d be putting her in danger.”

“I trust him!” Vana cheered, following Lloyd into the jungle.

“Hold on,” he said, summoning a glowing ball of emerald green Energy. It didn’t take long for Vana to realize she was leaving the ground behind, riding on a glowing, viridescent dragon. The clear, blue sky only seemed to get closer and closer the higher they flew. She felt free, and wished her own power let her feel this way all the time. 

“WE’RE FLYING!” Vana exclaimed, the wind blowing her hair away from her face.

“Isn’t it amazing?”

“YES!”

Chapter Text

Lloyd eventually had to steer his dragon downwards again, so that they were now flying right over the treetops, next to Cole and Garmadon, who were in the Roto Jet. The buggy, mech, and mobile base sped along on the jungle floor, their wheels kicking dirt and dust into the humid air.

Lloyd had just received a transmission from some kind of earpiece he wore, and yelled over the wind to pass it along to Vana, 

“Nya says to watch out for booby traps. Chen’s got the whole island rigged!”

The team continued racing through the jungle, but Vana found herself getting worried about Zane, who was going even faster than the others. The buggy he drove, specifically the long pointed bumper, had appeared to get caught under something, and the vehicle did an impressive flip in the air, flinging the android from the driver’s seat as it landed, tires over the sunroof.

Zane seemed unharmed, landing on his side by a ditch. That was, of course, until he stumbled down into the ditch, which led into a dark cave of sorts. Jay peered over the edge from his mech.

“Is he okay?” Vana asked.

Lloyd paused to listen in on communications, “They say he’ll be fine, and to keep going. We have to stay with Skylor!”

Vana nodded, and they kept moving. It was a bit cold in the air, especially without sleeves on her gi. She shivered and distracted herself by keeping her eye on the Roto Jet. Another aircraft sped past, getting her attention.

“My dad says Clouse and Chen are in there,” Lloyd said, “apparently he and Cole have it under control. We can keep tagging along with–"

“Two against two sounds like anybody’s game,” Vana interjected, “why don’t we even the odds?”

Lloyd steered his dragon in the Roto Jet’s direction without another word, the wind in Vana’s hair returning with the increase of speed. Lloyd returned to his communicator,

“Change of plans, dad. We’re coming with you.”

The Elemental dragon raced after the Roto Jet and Chen’s blade-copter, through thin wisps of clouds that dotted the blue sky. Vana held on tighter as the chase continued, gripping onto emerald green scales. Cole began firing at the helicopter, which attempted to clumsily dodge the onslaught of bullets to no avail. The dragon flew higher, so that it was directly over Chen's aircraft. 

Clouse had noticed the Roto Jet, and leapt directly out of the blade-copter onto one of the jet’s wings, beginning to try and tear the machinery apart.

“You’re going to have to jump!” Lloyd yelled, still flying over the blade-copter.

“JUMP?”

“You can do it! Take out Chen and we’re home free!”

Vana stood up on the dragon’s back, legs unsteady as she stared down at the blade-copter’s roof. It was now or never, she remembered. Now or never. If any of the other Ninja could do it, there was no reason she couldn’t either. With a rush of adrenaline, she jumped.

Time almost seemed to stop as she fell through the air, but the feeling returned to her body as she landed– albeit clumsily– safe and sound. 

“I did it!” she gasped, “I DID IT!”

“Now get Chen!”

The blade-copter was moving at a very high speed, so Vana held on as tightly as she could when the turns started to get more intense. When everything seemed to slow down slightly, she dragged herself on her stomach across the roof, eventually reaching the edge where an open doorway to the cockpit would be waiting. In one swift motion, Vana flung herself off the roof, using her hands to hold on as she dangled right in front of the cockpit entrance, where Chen was staring, aghast.

Vana used her signature move to knock Chen out cold. It almost seemed too easy– he didn’t seem like much of a threat when he didn’t have anyone around like Clouse to protect him. But once Chen was slumped over the controls, Vana was confronted with another problem.

She had no idea how to fly a plane.

“Shit,” she muttered, “no, no, no–”

She pushed Chen’s unconscious body out of the pilot’s seat, sitting down in front of the control pad, blue eyes darting from function to function. Her eyes finally landed on the copter’s yoke, and she pulled it up as hard as she could. That seemed to work, it stopped her fall at least, but she had no idea how to land or steer– 

Nope, she could steer just fine. Pulling the yoke left and right seemed to accomplish that. She tried to buy herself some time by just steering the plane around, going in circles. Lloyd eventually caught on, and his green dragon flew beside the blade-copter as he extended a hand.

“Grab on!”

Vana’s gaze went to Chen, “We can’t just leave him, can we?”

Lloyd looked at Chen too, who was still lying on the cockpit floor. He sighed and his dragon dematerialized as he leapt into the blade-copter. 

“You’re right,” Lloyd said finally, “send a message to Neuro, tell him we need Griffin here as fast as he can run to guard Chen. I’ll be back as soon as I can, just…don’t crash."

“Easier said than done!”

Lloyd struggled to grab Chen, as the man was significantly older and heavier than he was. He seemed to manage it eventually, leaping out from the blade-copter and landing on his dragon once more.

“Neuro!” Vana thought as loudly as she could, “Tell Griffin we need him right now, by the air fight. We have Chen, we just need him to make sure he doesn’t go anywhere. And…alert the rest of the Ninja too, if Lloyd hasn’t already.”

Neuro’s voice echoed in her mind, coming from all around her, “Affirmative. He should be there in…I’d estimate twelve seconds. Good luck.”

Now, Vana only had one job. Not to crash the blade-copter. For someone who had never flown any kind of aircraft before except a hoverboard, she thought she was managing it very well. She had to pull up on the yoke occasionally, whenever she got too close to the treetops, but other than that, waiting for Lloyd to return didn’t seem like too much trouble.

Lloyd eventually returned, Elemental Dragon coasting right below the cockpit exit. After her jump onto the blade-copter’s roof, what was another leap? Vana jumped down, landing safely on rough scales.

“Did it work?” Vana asked.

“It did,” Lloyd grinned, “Griffin’s taking him back to the palace now.”

Clouse was still on the Roto Jet, doing whatever damage he could– except now, Garmadon had joined him on the wing, engaged in battle.

“Your dad’s going after Clouse!” Vana gasped, pointing at the Roto Jet.

“He…he can handle himself,” Lloyd assured, though it seemed like he was trying to comfort himself more than anyone.

Thanks to the damage inflicted by Clouse, the Roto Jet was beginning to plummet down to the ground, Cole trying his best to stabilize it. Both Clouse and Garmadon held on for dear life, temporarily stopping their fight. To Vana’s surprise, Clouse tried his best to continue standing up, and Garmadon did the same, their battle continuing.

“He’s going to get himself killed,” Lloyd gasped.

“A bit of a breeze up here,” Clouse was saying, “I wonder… which of us will stay on our feet longer?”

“How about neither?” Garmadon said suddenly, running forward and knocking himself and Clouse off the jet. 

“DAD!” Lloyd yelled, diving sharply on his dragon to catch Garmadon. The sudden jolt nearly knocked Vana right off.

Despite chasing after them, Lloyd wasn’t fast enough, and both Clouse and Garmadon fell down somewhere in the middle of the jungle. Lloyd persisted, landing in roughly the same area, disembarking from the dragon as it vanished. Vana felt like she was going to be sick.

“Dad?” Lloyd called, “DAD!”

Vana could hear Clouse’s enraged voice in the distance.

“One of these days ,” he was saying, “your son will have to stand on his own, without his dear father.”

“Vana, this way!” Lloyd ran in the direction of Clouse’s voice.

The good news about hearing Clouse meant that both he and Garmadon had miraculously survived the fall. Lloyd and Vana pushed through the dense foliage, finally finding Clouse and Garmadon in the middle of a clearing, already resuming their fight.

Both of them landed blows, kicks and punches– like they both knew how the other fought. Garmadon had likely trained alongside Clouse. Lloyd and Vana stood off to the side, unsure of what to do. Vana looked at Lloyd, who nodded, and began to slow Clouse’s heart.

Clouse noticed this immediately, blinking away the drowsiness and stopping his fight with Garmadon to conjure up some kind of spell, blasting it at Vana, knocking her backwards into a tree.

The back of her head throbbed in pain as she winced, slumping down. Vana braced one arm against the trunk to help herself stand, the jungle spinning around her. With her vision blurred, the only thing she could discern regarding the fight was the sound of blows and taunting remarks.

“Vana!” Lloyd’s voice echoed around her. She thought she could see his face to her left.

“Go help your father,” she told him.

Clouse had definitely learned a lot from fighting Vana at this point. If she couldn’t even focus on the battle, she couldn’t hope to concentrate on anything else, let alone a heartbeat. Clouse was smart , unfortunately.

“I have other things up my sleeve,” Clouse muttered. Vana could make out a faint purple glow.

The entire jungle grew dark, a searing blue light making her head split. An intense wind followed, followed by Garmadon’s horrified cry of,

“You’ve opened the Cursed Realm!” he gasped, “are you mad?! ”

Clouse only chanted some kind of spell in response.

Vana’s vision had started to return, and she stood on unsteady legs as she squinted to see what was going on. Clouse had opened a portal to a black, gaping void. Every Realm, even prior to the Merge, knew that the Cursed Realm had been destroyed…so how had Clouse opened a–

Time travel.

Garmadon struggled against the magnetic force of the portal, drawing him closer. Lloyd watched with a face that could only be described as some sick, twisted combination of horror and helplessness.

“You banished the Anacondrai generals there,” Clouse declared, “it’s time you answer to them! ”

Garmadon gripped the branch of a tree tightly, knuckles going white. Vana’s vision had begun to blur again, and she felt a wave of nausea wash over her. Garmadon’s branch began to break, dangling him precariously over the portal as Vana could only watch.

The branch finally snapped, hurtling him to the jungle floor, slowly being dragged closer to the void that inevitably led to the Cursed Realm. Garmadon spotted a stray vine and grabbed onto it, remaining stable for a few precious seconds,

“You coward ! Letting dead generals do your dirty work!”

“You grow wiser in your years, Garmadon!”

The vine suddenly, and inevitably began to stretch to its breaking point, leaving Garmadon half submerged in the dark portal, hanging on by a literal thread as he cried out. 

“DAD!” Lloyd screamed.

“There’s nothing to save you,” Clouse grinned, “take in your last moments, Lord Garmadon, and know that it was I who defeated you, and I who will–”

In one shove, Lloyd pushed Clouse into the vortex– almost. The sorcerer had grabbed onto Garmadon’s feet, the vine now struggling to support both of them. Garmadon looked up at Lloyd, eyes shining as his shaking grip on the vine loosened,

“I yearned to make the world in my image,” he managed, “I never realized I already had– in you.”

“Dad, what are you– what are you saying?”

The vine finally snapped, and both Clouse and Garmadon plummeted down into the Cursed Realm. An eerie green wisp of light left from the vortex before a blinding flash of light signified the closing of the portal. The last thing Vana saw before passing out was Lloyd fall to his knees and scream.

Chapter Text

A steady beeping noise made Vana aware of her surroundings as she opened her eyes, squinting at the bright light. Her headache hadn’t gone yet, it seemed. The beeping coincided with her own heartbeat, and, after turning her head with great effort, she found that it was a heart rate monitor, standing off to the side of the bed where she was lying.

Vana was in a makeshift hospital room of some kind. She was lying on a wire-framed bed, a breathing tube affixed to her face. The walls and floors of the small room were hardly clinical– they were old, made from wood. A single door was positioned on the wall facing the end of the bed. She tried to sit up, only groaning in pain as her chest stung sharply. Her head was bandaged from her impact with… something. She knew she had been flung backwards, and then… 

Thinking too much, trying to concentrate on anything only made the pain worse.

She tried to go over everything she could remember before the mysterious accident. The Tournament of Elements she could remember, the Ninja…stopping Chen…flying on something. A dragon.

The door opened, distracting her from her thoughts. In walked an android– no, Zane, she remembered– who seemed just as surprised to see her.

“It’s good to see you are finally awake,” he said, walking over to her bedside, “how are you feeling?”

“Not great. Do you…do you know what happened to me?”

“You’ve suffered a traumatic brain injury and a broken rib. Lloyd…” Zane’s expression changed into one of sorrow, before correcting himself, “he brought you back to the palace from the jungle.”

“This doesn’t look like the palace.”

“You are on board the Destiny’s Bounty, our ship. I understand you never explicitly agreed to joining the team, but it has been two days and three hours since you were last conscious, and the fighters were all leaving the island. You did also require medical attention,” Zane explained, gesturing to the breathing tube.

“Do I still need to wear this?”

“No, it was only to prevent potential asphyxiation while you remained comatose. I would recommend resting, and I will assist with a check in later. …If you do not wish to join the team, we can have you delivered to a hospital once we reach Ninjago City–”

“No, I’ve made my choice. I’d love to be on your team, if you would all have me.”

Zane gave Vana a small smile, “I will inform the others.”

Just as he reached the door, Vana asked, “Does Lloyd know what happened?”

“Lloyd… hasn’t spoken to any of us since we departed the island and had Chen and his army arrested. I know he will recover eventually, but we all worry for him.”

* * *

The next few days passed in a similar fashion. The walls aboard the Bounty were pretty thick, at least where Vana was being treated, but she could still overhear Jay’s overzealous plans to celebrate Vana’s addition to the team. 

She spent most of her time sleeping, attempting to recover quickly. When Vana wasn’t asleep, the Ninja– except Lloyd– would visit her and keep her company, bringing her meals and striking up conversation. Zane’s cooking made her stay in bed far more bearable.

Her memories had begun to return, she could now distinctly remember riding a bright green dragon as it plummeted down into the jungle. Was that how she had hit her head?

There were two voices on board the ship that Vana didn’t recognize. She didn’t have names to their faces, but they both sounded on the older side, one a man, the other a woman. The woman, though Vana could rarely make out what she was saying, sounded worried nearly every time she spoke, on the verge of tears at points.

On another note, Zane’s medical scans of Vana’s head had revealed some interesting information regarding her whole time travel problem.

“It’s odd,” Zane had said, “your hippocampus, the region dealing in memory, resembles one of a late adolescent– my estimate being seventeen to nineteen, while your prefrontal cortex, responsible for regulating thoughts, resembles one of an eleven to twelve year old. Your current physical age, I would assume.”

“I don’t know how far I’ve travelled back,” Vana said, “but I remember the scientists back in my old Realm mention the ‘limits’ of time travel. Something about how you can’t travel to a time you didn’t exist.”

“Are you recovering your memories, then?”

“No, I…I never forgot that one. The only thing I can’t remember is what happened in the jungle.”

“I see. Regarding your observations about time travel’s limits, I would hypothesize that seeing as how you went from seventeen to, by your estimations, twelve, you have travelled between five and six years to the past.”

Which meant that she had five years at the most to prevent the Merge, seeing as how she had escaped Imperium an entire year after it fused the Sixteen Realms. It was a good thing that she had a team now, so she didn’t have to do it alone.

* * *

She must have fallen asleep at some point after Zane left, because when she awoke, an old man she didn’t recognize was sitting in the chair by her bedside, drinking tea. He had a kind face with a long, white beard, and wore a conical hat woven from bamboo.

“Hello?” Vana asked.

“Hello, Ivana,” he greeted her.

“Just Vana’s fine…can I help you?”

“That all depends on if we can help you ,” the man said, too vaguely for her liking, “your training will begin once you have fully recovered from the fight. I trust that you are looking forward to it.”

The fight? Fight with who? Had she been injured in a battle, then? By Clouse?

“Training?” Vana asked, deciding on a simpler question, “training for what?"

“To save the world,” he concluded simply, taking another sip from his tea before smiling and leaving Vana alone in the medical room.

“Wait, come back!” Vana called after him, but the door had already closed.

Eventually, upon realizing he wasn’t coming back, she decided to go back to sleep. Her rib was still sore, but she had noticed the pain dulling slightly. Her head was another story, and every time it throbbed, Vana felt lightheaded all over again. Rest was welcome, and she fell asleep like she had never had the conversation with the old man to begin with.

* * *

Another week passed, only more of the same. Her head had begun to feel significantly better, and Zane let the rest of the Ninja spend more time with her, once he determined her headaches had improved enough. Jay and Nya were sitting with her that afternoon, updating her on what had been going on.

“We’ve set up your room and everything for when you finally get out of bed,” Nya smiled down at her, “you’re sharing with me, at least when we’re on the Bounty. The guys all have their own room.”

“I don’t think I could sit still for that long,” Jay remarked, “it’s been two weeks, and you haven’t even seen the rest of the ship!”

“I guess I should work on getting better faster, then,” Vana grinned.

“We’ve brought lunch, by the way,” Nya handed her a takeout bag, “I picked something up right after I left the Sam X cave.”

“Thanks,” Vana said, opening the bag and finding steaming hot dim sum, making her mouth water, “I don’t know what I’d do without you all.”

“Mind sharing?” Jay asked, receiving an elbow from Nya.

“She has to recover , Jay!”

“Yeah, we can share! If there are extra chopsticks, you can–”

Someone knocked on the door, and Nya stood up to answer it. She had only opened the door a crack before calling Jay over with a silent gaze.

“We’ll talk to you later, actually,” Nya said, “I think someone wants to see you.”

With that, Jay and Nya left the medical room just as Lloyd walked in, a sad smile on his face.

“Hi, Vana,” he said, closing the door behind him.

“Where have you been?” she asked, “everyone’s been worried about you. What happened?”

“You don’t remember?”

Vana shook her head.

Lloyd began to explain, “During our fight with Clouse, he…opened a portal to the Cursed Realm–”

The Cursed Realm. Her memories came flooding back then, and she remembered how Garmadon had fallen down the portal with Clouse, and how Lloyd had screamed, and…

“Your father,” she realized softly, “Lloyd, I’m so sorry…”

“It’s okay, really,” he said, “it was wrong of me not to talk to anyone, to shut them out, especially my mom. She’s been worried sick, and I was too scared to talk to her. I thought it was my fault, my fault what happened, but Kai and I talked the other day.”

“If you ever want to talk, you can talk to me,” Vana offered.

“Thanks, it means a lot. But I’m not here to make you feel bad for me or anything. I just wanted to apologize to everyone for not talking to them in two whole weeks, so I figured I’d start with you, because you were… there . And you’ve been stuck here the whole time.”

“You don’t have to be sorry, you know.”

There was a brief silence before he changed the subject, “Kai told me you’ve agreed to join the team. That’s exciting.”

“Oh yeah…an old man visited me earlier, do you know who he–”

“That,” Lloyd said, “would be my Uncle Wu. He’s pretty much the team leader, and in charge of training everyone. If he talked to you about training, you’re in good hands.”

“I can’t wait to start,” Vana said, “I should be out of bed in another week. My rib’s nearly healed.”

“That’s good news.”

An awkward silence overcame them both. Vana knew Lloyd was understandably still upset by Garmadon’s passing, but he was hiding it well. 

Vana reached into the takeout bag, “You hungry?”

“Starving,” he smiled back.

Chapter Text

“Vana, what’s taking you so long?” Kai’s voice yelled from the deck.

“I’m coming, just hold on!”

Vana was in Nya’s room– or her room too now, she supposed– in the middle of getting dressed into a navy skirt and cropped oversized jacket. She had opted for tights too, as it was pretty cold and windy on the deck during mornings. The entire outfit had belonged to Skylor at one point, and she was lucky that the Master of Amber had agreed to give her old clothes to the Ninja, seeing as how Vana had nothing to wear but her ratty old Tournament gi. 

Vana didn’t know what clothes were very popular in Ninjago, but Nya had mentioned that Skylor had a good sense of style, so she didn’t worry about the outfit she had put together. It was just nice to pick something out to wear, better than the same black Imperium uniform every day.

The bedroom was one of the bigger rooms on board the Bounty, but it was decorated simply. Two tatami beds in the center, one for Nya, the other for Vana– were placed on a pale pink rug that added some colour to the old wooden floor. There was a big window on the outer side, that looked out to the blue sky during the day, and to the stars at night. They both shared a simple wood armoire closet, and a floral shoji divider provided some privacy for changing. 

Nya had an old vanity on her side of the room, with a few cosmetic products placed on top of its desk– no perfume though, she was allergic. Vana didn’t typically see Nya wear any makeup, but occasionally caught a glimpse of some red eyeshadow every now and then when she was going out.

Vana left the room and began to make her way to the Bounty’s deck. Her first visit there had been a month earlier, and she had been shocked when she looked over the edge and realized that the old ship wasn’t sailing over the sea, but the sky. Now, she was less nervous as she crossed the deck to meet Kai and the rest of the Ninja, and Nya. 

The wind whipping at her hair nearly felt the same as it had when she rode on Lloyd’s elemental dragon, so whenever she wasn’t training– which was rare, she spent most of her time overlooking the sights that Ninjago had to offer.

She wanted nothing more than to create her own dragon. At first, she and the rest of the team had thought it impossible for anyone other than Lloyd, but Zane had apparently found his in the jungle, same with Kai when he returned with Skylor, and upon returning to the Destiny’s Bounty, the rest of the Ninja managed to unlock theirs over the course of a few days. It was a shame that Vana had been unable to witness it.

“There you are,” Kai said jokingly, “you’re late.”

“I was just getting ready,” Vana explained, “so…what are we doing up here?"

Everyone exchanged excited glances.

“Show her!” Jay exclaimed.

“This is for you,” Nya said, handing Vana a thin grey box.

The box was rather unassuming, made from high-quality card. It was emblazoned with a gold-leaf symbol of an anatomic heart. Vana opened it carefully, and gasped when she saw the contents.

“For me? You mean it?” she asked incredulously.

Inside the box was her very own gi, which matched with the ones that the other ninja had recently received. It was mainly black, though it had dark blue accents with thin red stripes running down their middle. Gold fasteners held the accessories together, and the main focus of the gi was, surprisingly, the letter V in Ninjargon. 

“You didn’t use the letter I,” she smiled at them.

“Well,” Cole said, “if you want us to call you Vana, then we’re calling you Vana.”

“Thanks,” she said gratefully, hugging the box to her chest, “this means so much…”

“You’re one of us now, whether you like it or not,” Kai elbowed her playfully. 

* * *

Though Vana’s training had been going on for a month already, it had become clear that the Bounty was an unsuitable place to train any ninja, like it had apparently been for Lloyd when he was younger. Misako– Lloyd’s mother, who Vana had met only recently, had mentioned that she and Wu were in the middle of purchasing a property in the countryside, not too far out from Ninjago City. It had something to do with Wu’s retirement, though he and Misako had both assured Vana that didn’t mean he would be unable to train her properly.

So far, out of everything that Wu had already taught her, Vana had only properly learned how to throw a decent punch, strongly kick a target without missing or breaking her foot, and to scale a rope that Wu would dangle off the side of the ship in under thirty seconds.  It had seemed like a lot of progress for her, but every now and then Vana would catch glimpses of the others doing their own training, and it would feel like she had started from point zero all over again.

“I’m not even close to getting Spinjitzu,” she lamented to Lloyd that day after an uneventful training session.

“Don’t worry,” he said, “it takes a lot of time for everyone. And even once you learn it, it takes a while to actually get good with it.”

Vana sighed and flopped onto her bed.

“I can’t wait until he teaches me to unlock my elemental dragon.”

“Well, he can’t exactly teach you. Zane told everyone that it was his own fear that was holding him back, and to create a dragon you need to be able to look inside yourself, and…where are you going?”

Vana was already half out the door, “To the deck! I want to try and unlock my dragon.”

Lloyd frowned, “I don’t know. I wouldn’t try before you unlock your True Potential…”

“True Potential?”

Blood gushes from the man’s face as he cries out. She is dragged away in chains, back to her cell as they lock and barricade the door.

She claws at the Vengestone door. They are afraid of what she has become. The Empress is not afraid. She wishes to see more, but she will not give any more. Never again, not even if– 

“I guess it’s really similar to how you unlock your dragon. My uncle once said that ‘in each and every one of us, there are obstacles that hold us back.’ When you conquer them, you’ll unlock it, and… Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she lied, “I’m just really tired is all.”

“Oh, okay. I should be going anyway, you should rest up for training tomorrow.”

“See you,” she managed a fake yawn. Once she heard his footsteps fade away down the hall, Vana began frantically slowing her heart.

They can’t get you, she assured herself, they’re five years away in another Realm. They can’t get you.

* * *

“Rise and shine!” Cole’s voice cheered, knocking on Vana’s door. 

The bedroom was flooded with sunlight when Vana slowly woke up, meaning it was at least 8:00. Nya’s bed had already been made, and she was nowhere to be found, meaning that she had already been up for some time, and that Vana was late. She quickly dressed in her new gi, tying her belt the way Wu had showed her. 

Cole was waiting for her in the hallway, “Sleep in, did we?”

“Maybe,” she yawned before she froze in alarm, “I’m not late for training am I?”

“No,” he assured her, laughing, “you’d know if you were. Wu and Misako are out looking at that property for his retirement project. I think it’s going to be a tea shop, but I’m usually the last to know these things.”

She walked with Cole to the Bounty’s kitchen and dining room, where Nya, Kai, and Lloyd were sitting around the table eating breakfast as they laughed at Kai’s joke.

“Cole, Vana!” Nya waved, “we’ve just gotten a call from Misako. They’ve bought the property, and she’s going to get the business permit in a couple of days.”

“Are they still setting up a tea shop?” Vana asked.

“Yes! It’s going to be tough business competing with every tea house in the city, and they’ll both need our help running it, at least until some new threat to Ninjago pops up and we inevitably have to… Save the day again, you know?”

“I think I have an idea.”

“How’s your training going?” Kai asked, taking a bite of his waffle.

“It’s… going ,” Vana said, “I don’t think I’ve made too much progress.”

“I know the feeling. You seem like a natural though, I’m sure you’ll get it soon.”

“Thanks,” she said, taking a bit of waffle for herself. It wasn’t burnt, which meant that Zane had likely been in charge of breakfast that day.

As they finished breakfast, Vana felt a sense of belonging setting in. It was a feeling she hadn't experienced in a long time, if ever. These people had welcomed her with open arms, despite her troubled past and the memories that sometimes threatened to consume her. They saw something in her worth believing in, and she didn't want to let them down.

After breakfast, they all gathered on the deck for their morning training session. The sun was shining brightly, casting a warm glow over the red wooden planks of the Bounty. 

Wu and Misako arrived back from their trip to the countryside just as the training session was about to begin. They were greeted with smiles and congratulations on their new venture. Misako beamed with pride as she talked about their plans for the tea shop, and Wu chuckled as he recounted some of the challenges they had faced during their search for the perfect location.

Once everyone had settled into their training positions, Wu began the session with a series of warm-up exercises designed to loosen their muscles and focus their minds. Vana followed along eagerly, determined to make the most of every moment.

As the morning wore on, they moved on to more advanced techniques and drills. Vana struggled at times, her movements clumsy and uncoordinated, but she refused to give up. With each failure came a renewed determination to succeed.

By the time the session came to an end, Vana was exhausted but exhilarated. She had pushed herself to her limits and beyond, and she knew that she was one step closer to unlocking her True Potential.

As they gathered on the deck to catch their breath and bask in the satisfaction of a job well done, she knew that she still had a long way to go, but with the support of her team, she was confident that she could overcome any obstacle that stood in her way.

As the sun began to sink below the horizon, casting a golden glow over the Bounty, Vana made a silent vow to herself. She would continue to train tirelessly, honing her skills and mastering her abilities, until she was ready to face whatever challenges lay ahead. And when that day came, she would stand tall and proud, a true ninja in every sense of the word.

For now, though, she would simply savour the moment, grateful for the opportunity to be part of something greater than herself. With her friends by her side and her heart filled with determination, she knew that anything was possible.

And so, as the stars began to twinkle in the night sky, Vana looked to the future with hope and excitement, eager to see where her journey would take her next.