Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The fluorescent sign for Chen's noodle shop flickers briefly, casting neon light into the well lit street of Ninjago City. It is late, on a weekday, with few passerbys. A sign in the window reads “Now open late!”. Inside two staff are working, but the entire restaurant only has one couple eating noodles in the corner booth. The worker at the register has a name badge that reads “Chuck” and lets out a big yawn before looking at the clock on the wall and saying "finally, time to go home."

As Chuck gets ready to leave, there is a shadowy movement outside suggesting he is being watched. Chuck waves goodbye to his colleague then zips up his jacket and heads off turning the corner at the end of the street. He passes a shady looking kid who grins mischievously as they grow and shapeshift into the worker. The doppelganger enters the store and talks to the other worker.

"Back so soon?" She asks.

"Yeah, I just forgot something in the back."

After a minute “Chuck” comes back and says "Whooweee. Someone left a real mess in the bathroom. I can watch the front for a minute if you want to take care of it?"

"Gee thanks." The other worker says sarcastically before going to gather a mop.

Once the staff member is out of sight the doppelganger opens the till and starts shovelling cash into their bag.

"Gotcha" says Skylor while clutching her earpiece as she looks through binoculars from across the square. She turns invisible and footsteps can be seen heading towards the restaurant.

Once done with the till, the doppelganger slips out the front door and starts running. They turn down a side street and transform back into a kid before tripping and landing face first on the sidewalk.

"Whoops, I didn't see you there" says the nasally voice of Mr. Pale. "Or rather you didn't see me." His hat, glasses and clothes appear two steps behind the kid, one leg stuck out which caused the trip.

The kid stands back up and looks around the street checking if Mr. Pale is alone.

"What do you want?" They stammer.

"You can drop the act Chamille, we saw you transform." Says Mr. Pale

"We?" Asks the kid.

"Boo." Says Skylor as she appears directly behind the kid and places an arm on their shoulder. Some purple energy can be seen flowing into Skylor.

The kid whips out a kunai and slashes at Skylor who easily jumps out of the way.

"Get away from me!" Yells the kid who now stands weapon in hand between the two elemental masters.

Skylor looks at her hand as a small purple flame flashes for a split second. Her eyes briefly glow purple and she doubles over in pain. 

"Skylor, are you ok?" Asks Mr. Pale. 

Seeing an opportunity the kid pushes past Skylor and sprints down the alley.

Skylor starts to stand, eyes back to normal and says "that's not Chamille, go! We can't lose that Oni!"

"Right." Says Mr. Pale who goes invisible again and there is the sound of footsteps running off.

While Skylor leans against the wall, recovering from the dark magic she touches her earpiece and says "call Griffin."

There is a split screen showing the master of speed reclining on a couch watching a movie. He answers after the first ring. "You know it's meant to be my night off." He says.

"I know, but we could use a little backup. We found the shapeshifter, but it is not Chamille."

"What? But that means.." Griffin starts zipping around his apartment getting changed, and then racing out the door.

"Yup, I could use a boost, I'm still by the noodle shop. Mr. Pale is in pursuit. The target is currently in the form of a child wearing a grey hoodie and carrying a black backpack, they also have a kunai tucked in their belt."

Griffin Turner appears next to Skylor in a streak of speed. He clutches Skylors hand as a bit of white energy transfers. "Understood." He says giving her a wink before dashing after Mr. Pale.

Skylor shakes out her arm one last time before using her newly borrowed speed to catch up.

The kid is still running from Mr. Pale. They weave through some traffic, scale a small fence and are running down another alley when a white blur goes past and they trip over landing head first on the pavement once more. They cry out in surprise before saying "really, that again? Is that your only move?" They clutch around their belt.

"Looking for this?" Says Griffin holding up their kunai.

The kid stands up giving a disgruntled growl. They start to run away from Griffen when Skylor appears in a white blur blocking their path.

“Fine, just take it!” says the kid throwing the back pack on the ground before shrinking down to the form of a rat.

“Catch that rat!” says Skylor as she and Griffen dart around blocking the rat’s path.

The rat starts to levitate, legs running on air when Mr. Pale appears holding onto its tail. He is panting from running all the way there without any super speed.

“Nice of you to join us.” says Griffen.

“Nice of you to wait for me.” pants Mr. Pale.

Skylor walks over to them to inspect the rat.

The rat then grows into a black skinned oni child who yells loudly and emits a dark purple energy shockwave knocking the three to the ground.

“Just leave me alone!!” it screams before running onto the street.

Skylor props herself up onto one hand dizzily looking in the direction of the running child then uses her other hand to shoot a bit of ice trapping their feet.

“You think this will stop me!?!” says the oni who starts bashing at the ice with bare hands.

Four police cars pull up into the street and a police helicopter shines a spotlight on the oni.

“About time.” says Skylor as she helps the others to their feet. "No, but they might!" She yells to the kid.

~~~

Back at the station the police chief and Skylor are in an interrogation room with the kid who once again appears human. Now that her hood is down, a blonde ponytail can be seen.

The police chief clears his throat. “What’s your name?” He asks.

The kid says nothing and doesn’t even make eye contact.

"How long have you been in Ninjago city?" Asks Skylor sternly.

Still nothing from the kid.

"How old are you?" Asks the commissioner gently.

"How many other Oni are there in the city?" Demands Skylor.

"Do you have a parent we can contact?" Asks the chief.

"What are you planning!" Says Skylor while leaning over and slamming her hands on the table.

This at least gets the kid to look at her.

The commissioner puts a hand on Skylor's shoulder. "Skylor, we're grateful that you have been helping us out these past few months, but why don't you leave the questions to me? It's just a kid."

"That kid is an Oni!" She says.

"Isn't Lloyd part Oni? They can't be all bad."

The kid sighs. "Can I go now?" She says.

"What?" Says Skylor, "you've committed some pretty serious crimes."

"You would put a kid in kryptarium?" Asks the kid while looking at the commissioner.

"Um, no, you would need to be at least 14." He says.

"I'm 13, so can I go now?" Asks the kid.

"You're an Oni!" Says Skylor, "you could be shapeshifting to look younger."

"I wasn't asking you." Says the kid.

The chief clears his throat again. "Hmm, if you are 13 we would only release you into the custody of a parent or guardian. Is there anyone we can contact?"

"My mother was killed when the sons of Garmadon were in control of the city. I never knew my father, so I live on my own."

"You need to be at least 16 to live on your own." Says the chief.

The child visibly grows before saying "ok, I'm 16. So can I go now?"

"16 is old enough to go to kryptarium." Says Skylor smugly.

The child visibly shrinks. "Fine! I'm 13, but I don't have no one, so you should just let me go!".

"You don't have any living relatives? Cousins? Uncles? grandparents?" Asks the chief.

The kid pauses, "Well, I suppose Lloyd is my brother."

The commissioner and Skylor exchange a stunned look.

Skylor is chilling in the police station when Lloyd and Kai come in.

"Lloyd, Kai, thanks for coming!" She says walking to meet them.

"Of course." Says Lloyd "An Oni is an interesting find."

"Need a boost?" Asks Kai eagerly "I bet you used up all your fire while chasing the Oni doing like a pow pow!" He gestures, pretending to throw fireballs across the station.

"Not exactly," says Skylor, "but when you see Zane, maybe you could ask him to stop by?"

"Ice again?" Says Kai with disappointment

"Ice is better for catching people without hurting them, and without damaging any nearby buildings." Says Skylor. 

"I suppose." Mumbles Kai.

"So it's a good thing you're cute." Says Skylor just before she lands a kiss on Kai's cheek.

Kai's mood visibly improves.

"I don't mean to interrupt." Says Lloyd, "but where is she?"

"Interrogation room 2. Just let the chief know before you go in."

Lloyd enters the room.

"You actually came." Says the kid in disbelief.

"Of course, it’s not every day you find an Oni in Ninjago." Says Lloyd, she frowns after hearing the comment. "What's your name kid?"

"Ella." She says softly.

"Ok Ella, Skylor says you think we are related?"

"You don't?" She asks.

"If I had a sister, I would know about it. My parents would have told me."

"Are you sure? There aren't other secrets that they kept from you?"

Lloyd frowns.

"Isn't this proof enough?" She transforms into her black skinned Oni form. Two small horns stick out of her head and deep purple eyes glare at Lloyd.

"There were hundreds of Oni, not all of them are related to me." Says Lloyd. "How long have you lived in Ninjago?"

"My whole life because Garmadon is my father, which makes you my brother, or at least my half brother."

"How old are you?" Asks Lloyd, a slight frown of concern growing on his face.

"Almost as old as you are, or would be, if you didn't use tomorrow's tea."

"How do you know about that?" Asks Lloyd with mild surprise. She smirks in response. "That's not important now…" adds Lloyd trying not to get distracted. "But my parents were married years before they had me."

The kid scoffs, "Garmadon is lord of darkness and evil, you really think it is so surprising that he didn't stay loyal to his wife?"

"And your mother, who was she?"

Ella looks down. "It doesn't matter, she isn't here anymore."

"I'll have a much better chance figuring out if we are related if you let me know who she is."

Ella's eyes start to glow purple as she yells "I said it's not important!"

A wave of purple power pulses through the room knocking back Lloyd and his chair.

Outside the room Skylar clutches her stomach and bends over in pain.

"Skylor! What's wrong?" Says Kai.

Back inside the room Lloyd is back on his feet and faces Ella with a defensive stance. 

"Get back" she yells, while still sitting in her chair.

Lloyd looks at her, trying to assess what exactly is going on. Was she trying to escape? Did she just lose control? What is she thinking… for a moment he feels a connection to a scared, panicked little girl. "Take a deep breath." He says, while taking half a step closer and holding his hands out in a calming manner.

Ella starts breathing more heavily, eyes still glowing.

"Yes, just like that, in and out, you can control it."

Her breathing becomes calmer, her eyes stop glowing, and she even manages to transform back into human form.

"There, see? That's better isn't it."

She nods. "I wasn't trying to hurt you." She says softly.

"I know." Says Lloyd giving her a half smile. "I have to go now, make a few calls."

"Don't leave me here." She begs, fear in her voice.

"I'll be back."

"You better."

In the hallway Skylor is sitting up, Kai is holding onto her looking worried. "What happened in there?" He asks.

"What happened out here?" Asks Lloyd back. "Skylor, are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine." Says Skylor, pushing Kai's hand away.

"You didn't look fine." Kai said.

"I absorbed some of her Oni powers, back when I thought she was Chamille." Says Skylor.

"Absorbing my father's powers almost killed you." Says Lloyd looking concerned.

"That is because I tried to use them." Says Skylor. "I only flared hers for a second. I'm hoping if I let them fade naturally, I'll be fine."

"How long does that take?" Asks Lloyd.

"A couple weeks at most." Says Skylor.

"Hmm, until then it is probably best if you keep your distance from her. She doesn't seem to have much control over her powers. She got angry and flared them, but wasn't trying to hurt me."

"So, did you learn anything?" Asks Kai. "Are you related?"

Lloyd frowns. "All I know for sure is that she is Oni, and I need to talk to my father. Which room is he in?"

"He was released on bail weeks ago." Says Skylor.

"What?" Says Lloyd, "why didn't he tell me?"

The commissioner walks up and hands a couple of bags to Lloyd. "If you are going to see your father, get him to suck on one of those."

"What?" Says Lloyd confused.

"DNA test, there is one for you as well. Once Borg industries analyses it, you will know for sure if she is related."

"What about the oni?" Asks Kai

"I'd be willing to grant you temporary guardianship until the tests come back." Says the commissioner.

Lloyd frowns, thinking.

"You aren't seriously buying her act are you Lloyd?" Asks Skylor. "She's dangerous."

"I know that." Says Lloyd, "which is why I am considering it. I am one of the only people in Ninjago who has a chance at teaching her to control those powers. And if she is playing us, well, we have a whole temple full of ninja ready to take her on."

Lloyd and the commissioner go into the room with Ella. "Ive agreed to become your temporary guardian." Says Lloyd.

"What, really?" Ella asks.

"Under three conditions. 1. You tell us why you were robbing the noodle shop, 2. You take this DNA test. 3. You wear this tracking bracelet."

"I was hungry." She says while reaching for the DNA test.

"You were hungry?" Says Lloyd with scepticism. “You weren't stealing noodles.”

"Like I said, I don't have nobody, and I didn't know who would be willing to help an Oni, so I decided to help myself. Money is easier to transport than food. What do I do with this?"

Lloyd demonstrates with his kit and then they get labelled and handed to the commissioner. 

"You really want a shape shifter to wear a tracking bracelet?" She asks as the commissioner fits it to her wrist.

"It monitors your heartbeat. If you remove it we will be notified immediately." Says the commissioner.

"Right. So can I go now?" Asks Ella for one final time.

Chapter Text

Back at the monastery Lloyd has called an emergency meeting.

"How could you bring an Oni back here without even asking us?" Says jay.

“She's family.” Says Lloyd, "I couldn't just leave her there.”

“Might be family.” Corrects Kai. He is sitting with his arms crossed. “For once I agree with Jay, you should have left her to the police.”

“The police are ill equipped to handle an Oni.” States Zane.

“They handled Garmadon alright?” Adds Cole.

“Lord Garmadon was initially held in a maximum security facility which is unsuitable for a child.” Says Zane. “And more recently he has been, well, more compliant to directions.”

“He means less difficult.” Says Nya before pausing and giving a big sigh. “We do have experience with Oni, how hard could it be to watch Lloyd's little sister for a couple days?”

“We don't know that!” Starts Kai, but Jay interrupts.

“Are you not remembering the last time we had Oni at the monastery? We had to resort to performing a tornado of creation just to survive, Lloyd almost died! We are not a maximum security facility!”

“And she is not on a rampage!” Says Lloyd, starting to raise his voice.

“That's enough!” Says Cole holding out hands towards both Lloyd and Jay. “She's here now, sleeping just over there,” he gestures towards one of the walls, “so I suggest we don't all start yelling at each other, and instead calmly discuss what measures will be put in place.” He gestures towards Lloyd who clears his throat.

“Thanks, it's just for a few days until the genetic test results are back. She has a tracking bracelet from the police which will alert us if removed, but I would still like to schedule some night patrols in case she tries to run off.”

Jay groans, but Nya elbows him so he thinks better of complaining.

“No access to the lair, or leaving the monastery, but otherwise I want her treated like our guest, not our prisoner. Even if she isn't my sister she is a lost, frightened child.”

“Unless that's an act too.” Grumbles Kai.

“But what if it isn't?” Says Nya.

“Fine, guest it is.” Groans Kai. “Who's taking the first shift?”

The next day Lloyd goes to check on Ella. It is still early, so he hesitates before knocking gently on the door and sliding it open. He sees her sitting up on the bed in her human form.

“How are you settling in?” He asks.

Ella looks around the plain room. “I'm a prisoner.” She says glumly.

“No, you're more like a house guest.” Lloyd offers.

“So I can leave?”

“Well, no, you can't leave the monastery, but you can leave this room. There's video games, a TV, um, I think I still have some of my old comics…”

“I thought you said you were going to train me.” Ella interrupts.

“Right, your powers. I want to help you with that, but it will have to be a bit later. I need to go out this morning, but the other ninja will be here if you need anything.”

Ella huffs. “I don't need a babysitter.” Her stomach gives a small growl.

“How about some breakfast?” Offers Lloyd, “I'll show you to the kitchen.”

Lloyd then heads off to see Garmadon. Traffic in the city is light at this hour, so the journey is quick.

He knocks on Garmadon's door who opens it dressed in pyjamas and holding a cup of coffee. He also has a tracking bracelet on his wrist.

"Hmm" he says before taking a sip.

"We're really doing this again?" Says Lloyd

"Well, did you bring a Pizza this time?" Asks Garmadon.

"No, what? Why would I bring a Pizza?" Says Lloyd getting flustered, "I don't even think they open this early."

"Pity." Says Garmadon. "Well I guess you want to come in." He goes back inside the apartment while leaving the door open for Lloyd. Lloyd enters with a sigh and pulls the door shut behind him.

"What are you doing here?" Asks Lloyd with a hint of annoyance.

"Renting." Says Garmadon before taking another sip.

"I thought you would come to the monastery once you were out." Says Lloyd.

Garmadon scoffs, then looks at Lloyd and says "oh, you were being serious? While I am starting to understand this 'good' thing, there are still some things I want to figure out on my own." 

"Oh, is that all." Says Lloyd with understanding.

"Also your ninja friends are super loud and annoying." Says Garmadon.

Lloyd sighs and takes a deep breath. "Well, you could have at least told me you were released." He says.

"Why, so you could come round for these fascinating talks? If you wanted to see me, I would have had more visitors in Jail."

Lloyd cringes a bit at the statement. 

"So what do you need help with this time?" Asks Garmadon. "Or do you expect me to believe this is a social call?"

Lloyd sighs. "We found an Oni child who claims to be your daughter." Says Lloyd.

"Well that's impossible." Says Garmadon, "you are my only child." He frowns, then asks "how old is she?"

"She is young enough that you would have been married to Misako for years by the time of her birth."

"I may be evil, a liar, and even a murderer, but I am no adulterer Lloyd, you have my word."

"I brought a DNA test from the police chief, if you don't mind, I would appreciate a little evidence to back up your statement."

"I have nothing to hide." Says Garmadon calmly as he starts to take the test. "And you're sure she's Oni?"

"Yup, transformed right in front of us. She's staying at the temple for the time being."

"Why?" Says Garmadon slightly garbled as he sucks on the test.

"Because I am acting with a little something called compassion. Maybe you could look into it." Snaps Lloyd.

"I'll ask Vinny." Says Garmadon dryly.

Lloyd takes the test and heads to the door, before pausing. "I'm sorry for being snappy, it's good to see you're doing ok."

"You didn't even ask me about my new job." Grumbles Garmadon.

"You have a job?"

"I think it's called community service." He says proudly, "I pick up trash in the park, and am learning how to tend to all the plants."

"That's great!" Says Lloyd with enthusiasm, "not exactly a job, but close enough. Are you enjoying it?"

"Hmm. Ever since Christofern, I have taken a liking to plants."

Lloyd notices there are three different plants in Garmadon's new apartment.

"This is Philleafa, this is Berrymie, and this one is Fluffy." Says Garmadon pointing to two leafy plants and then a cactus. "I dunno what it is about plants, but they just speak to me."

"They speak to you…" this reminds Lloyd of something else he had been meaning to ask. "When the sons of Garmadon were in charge, you sensed me when I broke into the broadcast tower. How?"

"Hmm. The same way I sensed Wu when he was hiding as a toddler. You are both part Oni."

"It wasn't because we were related?"

"There are not many Oni in Ninjago city, so I haven't had many experiences. I could sense the Oni were coming before they invaded the city, but it was just a vague feeling. It is easier to sense you and Wu. I know what you feel like."

"Hmm." Says Lloyd, "Good to know."

Lloyd gets back to the monastery and finds Jay and Cole cleaning up some broken and charred training equipment. "What happened here?" He says

"Um, Ella saw us training and asked to join in." Says jay.

"It's the fight that fuels her!" Says Lloyd frustratedly.

"Yeah, we remember that now." Says Cole.

"Where is she?" Asks Lloyd.

The next day Lloyd is trying to lead Ella in meditation. They sit cross-legged across from each other with some incense burning between them.

After a few seconds Ella starts to fidget, moving bits of her body, sniffling, scratching her back, then trying to settle. She quickly gives up and says. "This is boring, can I go now? Do some real training?"

Lloyd sighs. "Master Wu teaches that a clear mind helps to control and focus one's powers."

"Where is master Wu?" She asks.

"He'll be back in a few days along with my mother. They were doing some research at the library." Says Lloyd, "so until then you will have to put up with my teachings. Just focus on your breathing, and the smell of the incense." Lloyd sits peacefully and demonstrates.

Ella tries once more to mimic him, but starts fidgeting almost straight away before declaring "this is boring."

Lloyd sighs. "You're right." He admits.

"What?" Says Ella, surprised at his response.

"Truthfully, I have never been particularly good at meditation." He admits.

"Then why are you wasting my time with it." Says Ella, "you said you would help me to control my powers, you are meant to be making me stronger!"

"Stronger?" Says Lloyd, "you are just a kid, I'm not training you to fight."

"Well you should be! I want to fight! I want to be stronger! Isn't that what all you Ninja do? You are barely older than me." Ella kicks over the incense, "why am I even here if you won't train me!" Ella yells before she storms out of the room.

Lloyd sighs deeply as he hears angry yelling echoing through the halls with an occasional thud. "This could be a mistake." He says to himself as he cleans up the incense.

Later Ella is playing video games with some of the Ninja, but when she loses she takes Oni form and launches the controller with purple power so hard it lodges itself in the TV screen breaking both with an explosion of sparks.

"Aw, come on!" Says Jay.

"Do you have to destroy everything?" Asks Kai

"It's just a stupid game!" Says Ella as she storms out of the room. As she slams the sliding door it cracks and comes off its runners, falling to the ground.

Lloyd goes and finds Ella sulking in her room. She is curled up in the bed, holding onto the pillow. Lloyd sits down at one end.

"Why did you come here?" He asks.

"It's not like I had much of a choice."

"You didn't have to tell the chief we were related."

Ella is quiet.

"Look, I can't help you if I don't know what you want."

"I want my mother. She would know what to do." A tear falls down her check.

"Well, if you told me who she was, I might be able to help with that?" Lloyd offers gently.

"No." She snaps sternly.

Lloyd sighs. "Have your outbursts been getting worse, since you lost your mother?"

Ella nods.

"What I do know about Oni powers is that they are fueled by hatred and conflict, and weakened by hope. Losing your mother, I can understand how that would make controlling your powers more difficult."

"I want to be stronger." Ella mutters.

"Sometimes true strength is choosing not to fight, choosing to forgive and let go of your anger."

"That doesn't make any sense." Says Ella

"Not yet, but if you stay here, one day it might. Even Oni can change, my father taught me that."

Lloyd notices Ella stiffen slightly at the mention of Garmadon.

"Go away." She says, still facing the wall.

Lloyd sighs, and leaves the room.

Chapter Text

There is a knock at the monastery front gate. Lloyd opens it up to see his father.

"What are you doing here?" He says in confusion.

"Hello Lloyd, nice to see you too." Says Garmadon. 

Lloyd sighs. "Hello, welcome!" He says sarcastically while opening the door and gesturing for Garmadon to enter. "Wait, is that a pizza?"

Garmadon is holding a pizza. "I thought I should bring something with me," says Garmadon. "I wasn't sure what would be appropriate, so I just thought about what I would want if I had an unexpected visitor." Garmadon hands Lloyd the pizza.

"Thanks." Says Lloyd without enthusiasm. "So what brings you here?" He tries again for an answer.

"You were right Lloyd, I should have come to visit sooner after I got out of jail."

Zane and Cole come out of the monastery. "Is that Garmadon?" Asks Cole.

"Oh hello Ninja whose names I can totally remember!" Says Garmadon joyously across the courtyard. He then whispers to Lloyd, "you might want to hide that Pizza before they notice, I didn't bring enough for all of your annoying friends."

Lloyd sighs. "You came to see the Oni, didn't you?" He says flatly.

"Pssht, no, of course not, I came to visit you, my son!" Garmadon enthusiastically grabs Lloyds shoulders. "But if I happen to meet the Oni child while I am here, what would be the harm in that?"

Ella slams open the door to the courtyard. She is in Oni form and crouched ready to attack, purple power oozing from her.

"Speak of the devil." Says Garmadon more seriously as he turns to look at her.

"Garmadon!" She yells, "I'm going to kill you!"

"I'd like to see you try!" Says Garmadon with a big grin on his face.

She roars and summons two purple glowing daggers into her hands. Garmadon has a brief glow of purple on one hand but it fizzles out. "hmm." He says unconcerned.

She charges at him, slashing wildly, but even unarmed Garmadon is able to dodge and deflect her blows. He trips her up after dodging an attack and she falls to the ground. She loses concentration and the daggers disappear.

Lloyd runs up to her. "Ella stop, what are you doing?" He says

"My name isn't Ella," she spits, "it's Error! And he killed my mother!" She sends out a shockwave of purple power as she jumps up, knocking Lloyd away. Again she summons her two daggers and charges at Garmadon who has used the time to find a sword near the other training equipment while Lloyd had her distracted. Now with a weapon Garmadon does more than just blocking and dodging her attacks. He advances upon her, pushing her backwards with each swing of his weapon. Her foot bumps into a wall and he smiles, lifting one hand off the sword hilt, now able to make a glowing purple fist. "Much better." He says.

Cole and Jay help up Lloyd.

"We have to stop them!" Says Lloyd, "it's the fight that fuels them!"

"But how?" Says Jay as Ella emits another purple shockwave. The sliding doors of the monastery rattle on their runners.

"No! not like that!" Says Garmadon, who was only pushed back a short way. "If you let your power out unguided it is weak! You need to focus your energy in one direction." He grows taller, spouting an extra two arms and his face now shows an Oni mask. "Like this!" He blasts a beam of purple energy towards her and she slams into the wall. Chunks of paint and render fall down with her, and a few roof tiles clatter to the ground. She stands back up, eyes glowing, determination on her face as it also becomes covered in an Oni mask. "I don't need your help!" She screams before blasting a much more focused purple energy ball towards Garmadon.

He jumps out of the way letting it blast into the wooden balcony and shutters behind, catching some alight. "Much better!" He says with pride.

"Dad!" Says Lloyd, "what are you doing?? This is our home!" He begs. The other Ninja have heard the commotion and come out of the monastery to see what is going on.

Garmadon looks around at the damage. "Hmm. Right, we did just finish repairing this." He mutters to himself.

Ella powers up another energy blast towards Garmadon who takes the hit in order to protect the monastery, sliding backwards, but stopping short of the wall. "Better form, but still weak." He says flatly.

"I'm! Not! Weak!!" Ella screams, throwing an energy blast on each word.

Garmadon summons his own purple daggers and uses them to deflect the blasts upwards into the night sky while also moving closer to Ella. Ella is running out of steam, panting heavily as Garmadon stops, just a few steps away from her. "It's a shame you're not my daughter." He says calmly. "I think I would have enjoyed training you."

Ella only has the energy to summon one dagger as she charges him once more. Garmadon easily steps aside and knocks her on the back of her head with an energised fist. She collapses onto the ground. The other Ninja look on in shock.

"You, water girl, ice boy, that fire is still burning." Says Garmadon matter of factly while transforming back into his regular 2 armed self.

"Right." Says Nya as she and Zane go and see to the fire.

"What have you done to her?" Yells Lloyd, a slight tinge of purple in his eyes.

"She is Oni." Says Garmadon, "and that will cause no permanent damage. Or would you rather I let her continue to rampage and burn down your home?" 

Lloyd and Cole come over to inspect her, rolling her onto her back they see the mask is gone, and she is breathing evenly.

"I should probably go before she wakes up." Continues Garmadon, "she really seemed to dislike me for some reason."

"Gee I wonder why?" Says Lloyd with thinly veiled rage.

"It's a mystery." Says Garmadon, completely missing the sarcasm.

"You don't recognise her?" Asks Cole.

"Never seen her before in my life." Says Garmadon as he reaches the front gate.

"Goodbye Lloyd, enjoy your pizza."

"Just go." Snarls Lloyd as he kneels by Ella's unmoving side.

The ninja put out the fire and move Ella to her room.

Kai is on his turn for night time patrol when he hears sniffling coming from the courtyard. He cautiously goes out to find Lloyd sitting on the deck, phone in hand. He sits down next to Lloyd and says "are you alright?"

Lloyd wipes his sleeve over his sticky face while trying to suppress his sobs. "No." He responds.

"Right, stupid question." Says Kai. He is not quite sure what to do, but knows better than to leave Lloyd alone. It has been a while since he has seen Lloyd cry like this. Since becoming the leader, Lloyd has worked harder to conceal any signs of weakness from the team, not that they wanted him to. Kai looks up at the burnt sections of the building, is that what he is upset about? "We're getting pretty good at rebuilding the monastery." He says, "a lick of paint and she'll be good as new."

Lloyd continues to sniffle. "yeah, I know." He says. He takes a couple of deep breaths.

Kai grins. "See, it's going to be ok." He says calmly while reaching over to rub Lloyd's back.

"I'm not out here because of the monastery," says Lloyd. "What's it like? Having a sister?"

Kai pulls his hand back as he pauses to think through his answer. "It's tough." He says. "But also great. When you have someone else to look after, someone you're responsible for, sometimes you have to put their needs first." He remembered the days when they were younger, and he struggled to raise Nya while still being a child himself. "But when they succeed, when you see them happy, well, it's a pretty great feeling. Having a sister is a bit like having a best friend."

Lloyd wipes his face one more time. "Why does my family have to be so messed up?"

"They're not all bad.." offers Kai half heartedly.

"My dad, Lord Garmadon, is the lord of evil and destruction. He has fought me without holding back on numerous occasions. My mum, abandons me as a child in a boarding school for bad boys, and now a sister who is full of hatred and rage, and who I have no idea how to help." Says Lloyd.

"Hold up Lloyd, we don't even know for sure if you’re related." Says Kai.

Lloyd shows him his phone where there is a txt from Cyrus Borg.

DNA test results are a match. Please call in the morning to discuss further.

"Oh." Says Kai as Lloyd puts his face in is his hands.

"Why couldn't I have a normal sister, one who doesn't set fire to things during a tantrum?" Says Lloyd. 

"You mean like one who can make the pipes burst?" Asks Kai with a cheeky grin.

"You know what I mean." Says Lloyd.

"When I was raising Nya, it was hard, because I was on my own." Says Kai more seriously. "But you won't have to do this alone Lloyd. We are all going to be here to help, Master Wu gets back tomorrow."

"Master Wu.." says Lloyd. "The one part of my family that isn't messed up."

They hear a clink of a roof tile. Kai frowns, "Probably just a chicken, but I should get back to guard duty. Get some rest Lloyd, we'll figure this out." Kai gives Lloyd one final pat on the shoulder before jumping up onto the roof.

Lloyd watches him go, listening to the patter of feet on roof tiles. There is no cry of alarm, so Lloyd assumes the sound from earlier must have been a chicken after all. He sighs, reading the text one last time before wiping his eyes and heading to bed. "Yeah, we can figure this out tomorrow."

Ella wakes in her room with a splitting headache. She lies there for a while wallowing in the shame of her defeat. Not only had she lost, but Garmadon didn't get so much as a scratch on him! She knew she wasn't ready, but he was right there, so she had to try, but she didn't expect their gap in skill to be so vast.

Eventually she goes to use the restroom and fetch some water. On the way back to her room she overhears voices in the courtyard. She isn't close enough to hear all of it, but “why couldn't I have a normal sister?” Seemed to sum it up nicely. She tries desperately to suppress tears as she makes her way back to the room. She wasn't wanted here, and the ninja seemed completely uninterested in giving her any real training. She wasn't going to gain anything from staying, so it was time to move on. Sneaking away should be easy, if she got the timing right, but where would she go? If she wasn't welcome here, who else would possibly want to help an Oni? Especially one who wanted revenge?

Chapter Text

Wu and Misako are greeted by Lloyd at the gate. "Welcome back." Says Lloyd nervously while rubbing the back of his head.

"What happened here?" Asks Wu as he looks around at the damage.

"Garmadon came to visit." Says Lloyd.

"My brother did this?" Asks Wu.

"Not exactly… Ella attacked him, says he killed her mother."

"Take me to her."

Lloyd guides them to her room. He knocks "Ella, we're coming in." He opens the sliding door to see a lump under the blankets with the slow rise and fall of breathing. "Time to wake up, there is someone I want you to meet." 

There is no response. "Something isn't right…" mutters Wu.

"She must be tired from the fight yesterday." Says Lloyd. "Come on, time to wake up." He removes the blanket to reveal a small pig lying on the bed and wearing the tracking bracelet.

"Is that a pig?" Asks Misako.

Lloyd frowns, "um, this is new, I guess she is shapeshifting?" He picks up the pig who is still snoring. "Come on, wake up, time to change back." He jostles the pig gently who starts to stir and then freaks out, squealing and wriggling about so much that Lloyd drops it. It runs around the room bumping into things before hiding under the desk.

"What the…" says Lloyd in shock.

"That is a pig." Says Wu.

"It can't be!" Says Lloyd, "see that bracelet? It alerts us immediately if it is removed. Heart rate monitor."

Wu reaches out a hand to touch the pig. "I sense no Oni." Says Wu. "That is a pig."

"Then where is Ella?" Asks Misako.

Lloyd calls an emergency meeting, all available ninja gather at the breakfast table because most of the ninja had been having breakfast anyway. Jay is yawning as he had done the early morning patrol. "This better be important to keep me from my bed." He snaps.

"Ella is gone." Says Lloyd.

"What?" Say the other Ninja in unison.

"What about the tracking bracelet?" Asks Nya.

Misako holds up the pig who is still wearing the bracelet. They have found a leash and collar for it.

"Is that a pig?" Asks Cole.

"It seems Ella was able to move the bracelet to this pig quickly enough to trick the heart rate sensor." Says Misako before putting the pig down.

"So we can't track her?" Asks Nya.

"Where did she get a pig?" Asks Cole.

"No, and we don't know." Says Lloyd. "Pixal and Zane are reviewing the security footage to try and figure out what happened, however some of the cameras were damaged in yesterday's, um, events."

"Of course they were.." says Jay as he rests his head on the table.

"Did anyone from night patrol notice anything?" Asks Lloyd.

"Oh yes," says Jay, lifting up his head, "I watched her waltz right on out the front door and thought I would keep this information all to myself! Of course we didn't see anything!"

"I don't think cranky pants here is going to be much use before he gets a nap." Says Cole. Jay shoots him a dirty look and is about to make a retort when Kai interrupts.

"I thought I heard someone on the roof, shortly after we spoke, but when I went up to check, I couldn't find anything unusual."

"So she could have been gone for a while." Says Lloyd, ignoring Jay's outburst.

"Hold up," says Jay, "You're telling me, that I wasted all that sleep guarding nothing ?"

"Not nothing," says Cole, "Bacon here is much more important than nothing."

"We are NOT calling it Bacon." Says Nya sternly.

"Focus!" Says Lloyd, and the ninja settle down a bit looking to him.

"So, what's the plan?" Asks Nya.

Lloyd pauses, turning to Wu, "what do you think?" Asks Lloyd. Wu had been strangely quiet throughout the exchange.

"Without knowing an enemy, it is impossible to predict how they will behave, or where they might go." He says.

Lloyd frowns, taking a moment to soak in his words. "Kai, can you call the chief, let him know the situation and ask if he has any leads or information about where she might go?" Kai nods. "Jay, go and take a nap."

"With pleasure." Says Jay.

"Myself, Wu and Misako need to call Borg." Says Lloyd, "he has the DNA results which might help us learn more about who she is."

"And the rest of us?" Asks Nya.

"You are on standby for now." Says Lloyd.

"Also known as pig duty." Says Misako who holds out the leash.

Cole eagerly takes it from her. "Yes! Come on Bacon, time to fatten you up."

"We are not calling it Bacon!" Reiterates Nya.

Lloyd Wu and Misako go down to the lair. Zane and Pixal are tapping away at one of the secondary terminals.

"Any progress?" Asks Lloyd

"Nothing yet." Says Zane.

The three make their way to the main terminal where Lloyd takes the chair and dials up Borg on the big screen.

"Ah, Lloyd! Lovely to see you!" Says Borg.

"Likewise." Says Lloyd with a grin, "You wanted to discuss the DNA results?"

"Ah, yes! Your family lineage is most interesting." Says Borg, "Wu, I would be very keen in getting a DNA sample from yourself at some point, if you are willing."

"I'll consider it." Says Wu.

"Ok, so in order to understand Lloyd and Ella's DNA samples, we need to recreate the family tree. We know that the first spinjitsu master was half Oni and half dragon."

The screen switches to a presentation, the first slide shows the outline of a person, and underneath is a bar that is half gold and half black representing the dragon and oni parts.

"Now based on the percentage of human DNA in Lloyd's sample, I am assuming Wu and Garmadon's mother was human?" Asks Borg.

"That is correct." Says Wu.

"Phew, I thought I might need to redo all these slides!" Says Borg. "Ok, so because their mother was human, both Wu and Garmadon are half human. The other half is made of a mix of Oni and dragon DNA from their father. On average they would be a quarter of each, but as it is randomly selected my assumption is Wu might have got more dragon, and Garmadon got more Oni."

Photos of Wu and Garmadon are added to a row underneath the first spinjitsu master. Their bars are half grey, indicating the human part of them. Garmadon is approximately ⅓ Oni with the remainder showing as dragon, while Wu is reversed.

"Now Lloyd's mother is also human, further diluting his DNA."

Misako is added next to Garmadon with a full bar of grey.

"Half of Lloyds DNA is human from his mother, the rest is a random selection from Garmadon's dragon, Oni and human DNA. On average, Lloyd would only be 1/8th Oni, but due to randomness, it is closer to 1/6th in this case. You are 18% Oni, 10% dragon, and the rest human."

Lloyd's photo appears underneath Garmadon and Misako with its own DNA bar coloured accordingly.

"Now Ella on the other hand is just over ⅔ Oni."

"She's what?" Says Lloyd in surprise.

"That means her mother must also be Oni." Says Misako.

"Exactly right." Says Borg who reveals a picture of Ella next to Lloyd with 66% of the bar filled in as black, and a ? Box next to Garmadon with a fully black bar.

"But if she gets her Oni side from her mother, doesn't that mean her claiming relation to Garmadon could be a lie?" Asks Lloyd.

"No, the fact that she is less than 50% human means one of her parents must have been of mixed descent. The fact that there are traces of dragon in her DNA makes a link to your family highly probable. I also ran a comparison to Lloyd's DNA to look for exact matches, rather than just broad DNA families. For half siblings we would expect on average a 25% match, but due to randomness, this can vary. Ella and Lloyd have a 27% match."

"Right " says Lloyd, slightly deflated. "I guess that explains why her Oni powers are so strong, especially compared to my own."

Wu is frowning. "Did you compare her DNA to my brother's?" He asks.

"Ah, well, Garmadon's DNA was, well, interesting to say the least. The graph so far shows my best guess at his genetic makeup before he was resurrected by Harumi."

Lloyd feels a shiver down his spine, "what do you mean by that?" He asks, not sure if he really wants to know the answer.

"That ceremony was an Oni ceremony, designed to bring back only the bad parts, only the Oni parts. Small amounts of human and dragon DNA is there, but those portions are damaged, and most of what remains is Oni. It is difficult to get an accurate match, but I could find matches to most of Lloyd's Oni DNA and also a good portion of Ella's."

"I knew the ceremony changed him," says Misako, "but I never thought he would have been altered down to his DNA."

Wu places a hand on her shoulder for comfort.

Lloyd feels sick thinking back to the ceremony, being dunked underwater multiple times, feeling the pulsing energy of Oni powers all around him. He feels Wu's comforting hand on his shoulder takes a deep breath and decides to try and focus on something else. His eyes are drawn to the ? Next to Garmadon. "Her mother is Oni…" he mutters to himself. Suddenly all the pieces click together in his head. "I know who she is."

"Who?" Asks Misako.

"It was something Ella said in the fight yesterday, 'my name's not Ella, it's Error'. I thought I must have misheard, because what kind of person would name their kid error?" 

"The kind of person who would name themselves after a mistake." Says Wu, understanding the connection.

"Mystake?" Says Misako as the boys nod.

"She's the only full Oni I know who was living in Ninjago city." Says Lloyd. "And she was killed by Garmadon." He adds glumly.

"Um, well.." says Borg awkwardly, not really wanting to get involved with discussing family murder.

"Thanks Borg, this has been most informative." Says Lloyd.

"My pleasure." Says Borg before hanging up.

"You were right uncle Wu, learning more about her has given us a lead. I think we need to go and investigate Mystake's old tea shop."

Chapter Text

"Wow, this shop has seen better days." Says Jay.

Jay, Zane, Nya and Lloyd stand together in front of the shop. The windows were smashed, front door broken. 

A woman from a neighbouring shop is out the front sweeping. "Are you here to see Elaine?" She asks.

"Who?" Asks Lloyd gently as he walks over to her.

"The woman who has been running the shop since Mystake left a couple years ago. I think they were sisters. I haven't seen her since the break in, I hope she's doing alright."

"Oh, Elaine! I thought you said Dianne. How long ago was the break in exactly?" Asks Lloyd.

"Must be almost a month now." She says.

Lloyd raises an eyebrow in surprise. That would make it from well before she was staying at the monastery. "Thank you, this information will help in our investigation, we came to investigate the break in, look for clues." He turns back to the other Ninja who nod enthusiastically.

"Yeah!" Says Jay, "Detective style." He holds his hands up like a magnifying glass until Nya elbows him in the side.

Lloyd looks back to the woman. "We are also looking for Elaine, want to make sure she is ok, so if you do see her, please give the police a call ok?" 

"Oh of course!" She says and goes back to sweeping.

The Ninja head inside. Tea and broken furniture lay strewn across the room.

"You think she did this?" Asks Nya.

"I don't think she would destroy her own home." Says Lloyd.

"Why not?" Asks Jay, "shes perfectly fine with destroying ours."

"There was a fight here." Says Zane. "There are multiple gouges on the walls made from blades."

"Who was she fighting?" Asks Lloyd. "Maybe the neighbour was right about a break in."

"What's this?" Says Nya. She moves aside some damaged furniture to reveal a broken floorboard with something tucked behind it. 

"It's a book." Says Zane, retrieving it from the hidey hole. "Book of Mistakes" reads Zane from the handwritten cover. He opens it and starts reading the first page.

"I have come to realise that I am particularly prone to making mistakes, so much so that I may as well be called Mystake. I am writing them down in this book in an attempt to learn from them and make sure they are not repeated.

1. I followed the first spinjitsu master to this realm in order to spy on him, however there is no way for me to return to the first realm. I am stranded and alone."

"We don't have time to read the whole thing." Says Nya grabbing the book from Zane. "Let's skip to the end.

2371. I fear I have made a mistake in revealing my powers to the ninja. With Wu away, I thought I would be able to take on the role of mentor, providing guidance and wisdom while staying far from the front lines, however they have already asked me once to use my powers to confuse the enemy. While we were successful tonight, they are already planning an even bigger ruse, and I fear next time we might not be so lucky. I am getting old, and am not as strong as I used to be. If I fall, Error will be left on her own, and that is a mistake I am not yet ready to make." Nya grows quieter as she reads from the book. The words end on the page, there are more pages, but they are all blank. Nya and Lloyd had helped devise the plan that ultimately led to her death while the other Ninja were still trapped in the first realm.

"We did this to her." She says to Lloyd, shoulders sagging.

Lloyd’s heart also sinks at hearing the entry, but there was sadly no fixing that now. "We had to do something." Says Lloyd gently. "We didn't know she was having doubts, we didn't know she had a kid, she didn't tell us, and we didn't plan for it to end up this way."

Nya wipes a tear from her eye. "Right." She says.

Lloyd takes the book from her. "Hmm. These entries are dated. We are looking for something from around 13 years ago." He flicks through the pages. "I made the most disgusting curry, no that's not it. I burped loudly in public, no, not that either. Aha! Here it is.

2169: This is possibly my biggest mistake yet. I thought to do poor Wu a favour by shape shifting into Misako and driving a wedge between her and Garmadon, but I guess I got a bit too carried away, had a bit too much fun, and now I am pregnant. I can feel this error as it grows inside me, and can only pray that it won't have to pay the price of my mistake." Lloyd breathes a small sigh of relief. "He was telling the truth. He really didn't know."

His thoughts are interrupted as he sees Skylar's number calling on his phone.

~~~

Cole and Kai walk the streets of Ninjago.

"Skylor's apartment is just around this corner." Declares Kai.

Cole's tummy rumbles as he catches sight of a vending machine in an alleyway across the street. "Do you mind if I go grab a snack?" He asks.

Kai sighs. "Go for it, I'll wait here."

Cole darts over to the machine, inserts a coin and selects a chocolate bar. As the spiral starts to turn the whole machine loses power. "What?" Yelps Cole. "You did not just do that!" He gently rattles the machine, then attempts to press the buttons, getting frustrated when he notices the screen is dead so he can't even buy a second one to try and fix it. "Where is Jay when you need him!" He bemoans before seeing if his arm will fit up the slot, it doesn't. "Don't make me get rough with you!" Says Cole while activating his lava arm. Just a tap, that could loosen it without breaking the machine, right?

"Whoa dude, looks like you need some chill." Cole's thoughts are interrupted by the stranger and he deactivates his lava arm. He wouldn't dare risk using it with someone else so close.

"Ah, sorry about that!" Says Cole, "guess I just get a bit cranky when I'm hungry."

"I feel you my guy, I got these special gummy snacks that will mellow you right on out!" He wraps one arm around Cole and uses the other to gesture off into the distance. Cole's tummy growls again. He wouldn't normally buy candy from strangers, but his stomach was being particularly insistent. "Here, is that enough?" Cole pulls out a coin and hands it to the guy.

The guy raises an eyebrow, "I said these are special gummies, real special, can't find these in stores." He winks at Cole.

Cole looks over his shoulder and sees Kai standing at the end of the alleyway, foot impatiently tapping. "Fine." He sighs as he adds a couple notes to the coin. "But these better be the best damn gummies I ever had."

The guy smiles, "of course my man! Mellow you right on out, just be sure not to eat more than 1 an hour." He hands over a bag of gummies with another wink.

"Sure thing." Says Cole, trying to end the conversation with this weirdo. Maybe he had been drinking? But he didn't seem dangerous. "You stay safe man." Says Cole as he heads back over to Kai.

Cole opens the packet and pops one of the bright green gummies in his mouth. "Mmm, tangy." He mumbles as he and Kai continue on their way.

"Can I try one?" Asks Kai.

Cole passes one over. "Only one." He clarifies. "You wouldn't believe how much these cost." He pops a second one in his mouth. "One per hour, what a joke." He mutters to himself.

Kai rolls his eyes but doesn't argue, Cole can get protective of food sometimes.

Cole downs another gummy as Skylor opens the door to her apartment.

"Hello hotshot." She says warmly to Kai.

"I'm here too!" Says Cole indignantly.

"Don't mind boulder brain, can we come in?" Asks Kai.

"Hey!" Says Cole. "I'm right here!"

"Of course," says Skylor, "nice to see you Cole." She adds while placing a hand on his shoulder. An orange glow runs up her arm.

They enter the apartment and Cole starts admiring the decor. There is a dark red sofa, shelves with knick knacks including a few weapons and ornamental knives. The wall has a large cork board with photos and string. A large window overlooks the city. "Nice place you got here." Says Cole as he eats another gummy while leaning over to take a closer look at one of the knives.

"Can I offer you a drink?" Asks Skylor.

"Yes please!" Says Cole. "Do you have any milk?"

"I'll check." Says Skylor who moves into the kitchen.

Kai, who has been there before, is less interested in the apartment and follows Skylor into the kitchen.

"How are you?" He asks, "any more issues with the Oni powers?"

"I'm fine." Says Skylor, "I think Ella needs to be close for it to cause any problems. I can even do this." She places the milk down on the bench and lights a brief flash of dark purple on her fist. She gasps and seems weaker for a moment, but then takes a deep breath and goes back to pouring the milk.

"Is that wise?" Says Kai looking worried.

"It will use it up faster." Says Skylor, "and I need to be out there helping, not stuck in here recovering."

"Right.. so the chief told you we lost her?"

Skylor sighs. "You had her for what, 3 days? That operation took weeks to set up, and now we are back to square one. How'd she even get away with the bracelet?"

"She tricked us with a pig." Says Kai.

"A pig? Where did she get a pig?"

Kai opens his mouth to respond, then pauses. "I actually don't know." He finally says.

There is the sound of a small thump back from the lounge room followed by an "ow"

Kai and Skylor stick their heads back in to take a look.

"Sorry!" Says Cole, "I just bumped into your table."

Kai sighs, "be careful rock head!"

"It's fine." Says Skylor, "I'll get the milk."

They go back into the kitchen.

"We were hoping you would know where she might go?" Says Kai. "You caught her once already."

"She was following a pattern, targeting stores open late with low staff numbers, but this was before she knew we were onto her. Her behaviour will be completely different now." Skylor picks up the milk and heads back to the lounge.

Kai sighs and follows her.

Cole is looking a bit unsteady on his feet, swaying a little, and has a green tinge on his eyes. "Are we playing dress ups?" He asks.

Kai and Skylor give each other a confused look.

"You alright Cole?" Asks Kai.

"Those costumes look sick." Says Cole with slightly slurred speech. "Do you have more back there?" He starts heading towards them and trips over the coffee table.

Skylor puts down the milk and the two of them help get Cole up onto the couch where he lies back on some pillows. "Easy there Cole, you just stay put for now." Says Skylor.

"Where did all these birds come from?" Asks Cole as he grabs at blank space above his head.

Kai draws a Kunai and starts looking around the apartment, behind curtains, in the bathroom.

"What are you doing?" Asks Skylor.

"He's acting like he got hit by venemari spit." Says Kai. "And we didn't meet any serpentine on our way here."

Skylor starts rummaging through Cole's pockets "hey, that tickles" chuckles Cole. She pulls out the half eaten pack of gummies.

"Cole, where did you get this?" Asks Skylor sternly.

Cole reaches out his hand to the gummies as if asking for more.

Kai holds a hand in front of his face and sees it is a little wonky. He rubs his hands over his eyes and tries again. "Oh no, they must have gotten to me too!" He says before sinking down to his knees, cowering in the corner of the room.

Skylor sighs and walks over to Kai. "How many did you have?" She asks while holding up the gummy bag.

"Why are you asking about gummies?" Says Kai confused.

"How many?" Repeats Skylor.

"Just the one." Says Kai.

Skylor gives a sigh of relief. "You'll be just fine, now come on." She takes Kai's hand and pulls him back to his feet, then leads him over to the couch and sits him down next to Cole.

"Kai, you never told me pixies live here!" Cole whispered loudly.

"How many has he had?" Skylor asks Kai.

"Um, I dunno, at least 5?" Says Kai. "What's wrong with him? Is he going to be ok?"

"He's going to be fine." Says Skylor. "But he's in for a rough ride."

"How do you know?" Asks Kai. The room continues to spin, he is starting to panic, so he puts his head in his hands and starts rubbing his temple.

He feels a gentle touch on his back as Skylor draws some slow reassuring circles.

"I have been helping the commissioner with a few different cases. A few months ago a special candy entered the market. One that contains venemari spit, or at least a compound that is very similar."

"I knew this felt familiar." Grumbles Kai.

"So far we haven't been able to track the source, keep running into dead ends. So please, do you know where Cole got this?" She asks gently.

Kai tries to think, "Um, he was hungry, wanted a snack. Saw a vending machine in the alleyway two blocks east of here."

"He got it from a vending machine?" Skylor asks while frowning.

"I don't know." Says Kai, "I didn't go with him. He did say they were expensive, which is why he only gave me one."

Skylor pulls out her phone and dials a number. "Turner, can I get you to check out an alleyway 2 blocks east of my place? Yeah, Cole picked up some special gummies less than an hour ago. No, I need to stay here and look after Cole, call the chief if you need backup. Thanks."

"You should go." Says Kai sitting up once more.

"I'm not leaving you and cuckoo here alone." Says Skylor.

Cole is mumbling incoherently.

"You sure he's going to be ok?" Asks Kai while looking worriedly at Cole.

"Yeah, there have been a few overdoses presenting at the hospital, but all recovered fully without medical intervention. One guy did injure himself with a power tool while affected."

Kai gives a relieved sigh and closes his eyes.

"How are you feeling?" Asks Skylor.

Kai opens his eye again and holds his hand out in front of his face.

"Not too bad." He admits. "A bit drowsy. Things are a bit, um, more fluid than normal? But at least you haven't turned into an elf. Kind of feels like when I was coming down off the spit from last time."

"Give it a few hours, and I'm sure you'll be back to normal, Cole might need a bit longer."

"Cake can fly.." Cole mumbles with half closed eyes.

"I think I'll get Lloyd to come pick you both up." Says Skylor as she pulls her phone back out.

~~~

Ella wakes up in a strange room. Her head is pounding, her arm is sore, and she overall feels terrible. She looks around trying to make sense of where she is, it isn't the monastery… she clutches at her wrist but the bracelet is gone. She had been trying to figure out how to escape, but it seems she was now trapped somewhere even worse. The small room was stone, not stone bricks, but rather looked like it had been carved directly. There was a thick sturdy looking metal door which appeared to be the only way out. There was a small metal bed, with a thin fraying blanket, and in the corner was a basin and toilet, also metal. There were two small vents at opposite sides of the room, but they were barely big enough to fit a hand into, and were unlikely to offer a means of escape. She didn't know why she had been brought here, or who had kidnapped her from the ninja, but she had a hunch it was related to her being Oni. There was a reason her mother had worked so hard at getting her to keep that secret. Whatever they wanted couldn't be good.

She felt trapped. She felt scared. She felt angry. She had been living with this rage for far too long, and finally there was no one around to tell her to calm down. Nothing she cared about that could be damaged. She let it boil to the surface, felt the Oni mask form on her face and yelled a guttural war cry as she launched blast after blast of purple energy at the door. It left scorch marks and dents, but showed no sign of giving way. She formed two purple energy daggers and slashed at the door, leaving more marks, but not getting any closer to breaking through. There were no hinges visible on this side to focus her efforts, not even a keyhole, but there was a slit about eye height that had a cover that she was eventually able to pry open. She needed to stand on tippy toes to see through. It was an airlock, similar in size to the room she was in, with another equally sturdy looking door at the end of the passage.

She turned her rage towards one of the ventilation tubes and the surrounding wall. She managed to blast off the grill, finding a few thin copper pipes behind. She was able to dislodge a few chunks of rock, but there was always more rock behind. She threw a few blasts up towards the ceiling, hoping that there could be a room not too far above. All this achieved was covering the room in a layer of dust and debris.

Throughout her attacks she screamed and yelled, punching, slashing, destroying , but eventually she tired and was left pounding on the cracked dusty floor with unenegised fists as her Oni mask faded away, tears of frustration flowing down her face.

"What do you want with me?" She asked no one "why am I here!!" She yelled towards the door.

There was a metallic scuttling sound as a small mechanical spider crawled through the slot in the door. Ella energised one of her fists getting ready to blast it when a hologram of an old man lying in a bed appeared above it. "You can destroy it if you wish," said the old husky voice, "but then I wouldn't be able to answer your questions."

"If I destroy it, you will just have to come down here yourself." She threatened.

"If you destroy it, I will wait one day before trying again. I'm happy to wait as long as it takes.”

Ella hesitated, “Who are you?” she snapped.

“Just an old man, in need of a little of your blood.”

“My blood?” Ella grabbed at her arm, that is why it was sore, it was hard to make out on the black skin, but there was a needle prick there. “Why?”

“As you can see, I’m getting old. Oni don’t get old do they? At least not nearly as quickly as humans do. Without your help, I don’t have much time left.”

“I. Don’t. Care!” yelled Ella before blasting the small robot.

She kicks the largest remaining chunk of the now inactive robot slamming it against the far side of the wall.

Her rage courses through her body coming out in thick ragged breaths, but rage alone wasn't going to get her out of here, or she would be out already. She tries to calm herself, pacing the room and forcing herself to take deep even breaths. At least now she knows why she is here. If they want her blood, at least they were going to keep her alive. She pauses for a moment looking at what was left of the small robot, then up towards the slot in the door. It almost looked big enough for a rat. She walked over to the door and reached up grabbing onto the edge of the slot then started to transform. It was difficult to hold onto something while transforming, but climbing up a smooth door as a rat would be more difficult. The slot seemed to grow as she shrunk down. She hung there on the edge of the slot and was starting to pull herself up when pain shot through her body. She saw a brief flash of electricity as her small rat body fell the now terrifying height to the floor. More pain as she hit, but thankfully rats are quite sturdy. She transformed back as quickly as she could, gasping for breath, body still tingling with pain. The door could be energised, but wasn't on all the time. "How are they watching me?" She wondered looking at the rubble. Maybe she would have to do some more thorough blasting later.

Chapter Text

Wu and Misako sit in the dining room at the monastery. Misako is feeding some food scraps to the pig. She lets out a deep sigh.

“Are you ok?” asks Wu, “It can’t be easy, learning about Ella.”

“No.” she says solemnly. “I knew what I was getting into, marrying a man like Garmadon. But it’s still hard. I know he has been different since Harumi brought him back, but to think he was altered down to his DNA?” She shudders.

“He hasn’t had a straightforward life.” says Wu, “But he is trying, and even as he is now, there is capacity to change.”

Misako shakes her head. “If he did something like this now, I wouldn’t even be surprised. It's not like we are even living with each other anymore… but her age, she is Lloyd’s age. I always thought he at least loved me back then.”

Wu puts a hand on her shoulder. “He did.” he says with confidence. “He never spoke to me of anyone else, I am just as surprised by this as you are.”

“I think, I need to go see him.” says Misako looking up at Wu, “Will you come with me?”

“Of course.”

~~~

The ninja park a large vehicle outside Skylor’s apartment. Lloyd knocks on her door and Skylor opens it. “Thanks for coming.” she says seeing Nya, Jay and Zane clustered behind.

As they enter the apartment Cole sits up wobbly, “You throw the best parties.” he mumbles before lying back down. 

Jay goes over to him. “You don’t look so good..” He says.

“I look amazing!” Cole disagrees, slurring his speech.

“What happened to them?” Asks Lloyd.

“Venemari gummies.” says Skylor holding up the half eaten packet. “Do you think Pixal could run an analysis on this?” she asks.

Zane takes them from her and has a quick look with his robotic vision. “She does have more accurate scanners back at the monastery.” he says.

“Great,” says Skylor. “I’ll come too.”

“Aren’t you meant to be resting?” asks Kai.

“I thought you said they were both affected?” asks Nya.

“I’m fine.” snaps Kai. 

“Kai only had one.” says Skylor, “Ella isn’t at the monastery any more, so I will be just as capable of resting there as I am here.”

“Ok.” says Lloyd. “Let's get these two home.”

“Party’s over.” says Jay to Cole as he and Zane help support him to his feet.

When they get back to the lair they find Pixal still working at a console.

“Find anything?” asks Zane.

“Yes.” she says solemnly, “And this makes things much worse.”

“How could things possibly get worse?” says Nya who is trying to lead Kai who pushes her away.

"Why would you say that??" Says Jay as he lowers Cole into a chair. “If you ask how things could be worse, they always manage to get worse!”

“I am now almost certain that Ella did not run away.” says Pixal. “She was captured.”

“What?” say a few of the ninja.

“Here.” Pixal pulls up the security footage of the corridor outside of Ella’s room. “i was eventually able to restore the corrupted footage from the damaged camera. Between midnight and when Lloyd found her missing, the room door was opened twice.” She shows the footage of the door sliding open, and then shut. Both times no-one is seen to pass through.

“So, they must have looped the footage?” asks Jay.

“I don’t think so.” says Pixal. “A thorough analysis showed enough minor differences to make a straight loop improbable.”

“Even if it is looped, Ella does not have the technical knowledge to do such a thing.” says Zane, “so it would indicate she had outside help.”

“Anacondrai can become invisible for brief periods.” continues Pixal. “In order to prevent Pythor from sneaking in here, the cameras are also fitted with infrared detectors.” She makes the display a split screen with normal lighting on one side and heat vision on the other. “These timestamps are synced.” she says as the footage is played. Two figures, one holding a sack approach the room stealthily, open the door and enter. Then after a while the door opens again, one of the figures closes it quietly then they both leave quickly. The figures are clearly humanoid, and fully grown.

“How are they doing that?” says Jay. “Not even Borg can turn people invisible.”

“So the sack has the pig, and then they swap it out for Ella.” says Zane.

“This still doesn’t prove she was captured.” says Nya. “They could have been working together to sneak her out.”

“The shop was attacked.” says Lloyd. “Someone was after her… I was meant to protect her… This is my fault.” He is starting to get worked up.

“We didn’t know she was being targeted.” says Zane. “Your approach to treat her as a guest with minimal security was the right one for trying to win her trust.”

“I got her mother killed, and I let her be captured right out from under my nose!” Lloyd’s eyes start to glow purple. “She’s my sister! I’m just as bad as my father.”

“We’ll find her.” says Jay. “Together.” He reaches out a hand to try and calm Lloyd.

Lloyd shrugs him off roughly. “They better not have hurt her.” he says with a threatening tone.

“Where is Wu and Misako?” says Nya, “They should be hearing this too.”

“They went to visit Garmadon.” says Pixal.

“They what?” says Lloyd, finally shaking off his purple eyes. He holds up the journal. “They don’t know yet, I have to go tell them.” Lloyd sprints off and jumps on his motorcycle.

“Should we be letting him go alone?” asks Jay. "I'm not the only one who saw those eyes right??" He looks around the group, but no one looks super keen to chase after Lloyd.

"I'll go." Says Kai with a slight wobble.

"Oh, no you won't." Says Nya sternly. "Lloyd will be fine, I don't think he wants us butting into his family issues, and if he does go Oni, Wu and Garmadon are more likely to be able to help than us."

"We also have more pressing issues." Says Zane while looking at Cole who tried to stand up and promptly fell off the chair.

"Right." Says Jay. "Come on boulder brain, let's get you upstairs."

Zane helps Jay with Cole, and Nya tries to help Kai again, but he stubbornly pushes her away, so she gives up with a huff and joins Skylor and Pixal.

Skylor approaches Pixal, "I was hoping you might be able to help analyse this?" She says while holding out the half eaten pack of gummies.

Pixal holds up one of the gummies to a light, "Hmm, a full chemical analysis would require a different sort of laboratory, this is more of a workshop." She calls up Borg on the computer, "Hello Cyrus, do you have a laboratory where we can analyse this? We believe it is a gummy manufactured with venemari spit."

Cyrus pauses to think. "Biology was never my strong suit, I wonder if Normatech would help?"

"Normatech?" Asks Nya.

"Bill N. Ayre, head of Normatech was my mentor back in the day. Helped coach me in the ways of research and development. His company used to be more technology based, but has since focused on biological advances. They are the primary manufacturer of blasting jelly used for mining, as well as a few medicines that were discovered from plants, but are now made completely artificiality."

"I'm surprised I haven't heard of them." Says Nya.

"Yes, well, not everyone can be as flashy as Borg Industries." Chuckles Borg.

~~~

Lloyd weaves the streets on his motorcycle, breaking a few road rules in his haste. Eventually he makes it to Garmadon's building and runs up the stairs pounding urgently on Garmadon's door.

Garmadon answers with a stern look on his face. "This is exactly why I didn't tell you I was out of prison." He says with a hint of frustration. "I may never know peace again."

Lloyd pants trying to catch his breath from all the stairs. "Is my mother here?" He asks.

Garmadon sighs. "I suppose you want some tea too?" He asks gesturing for Lloyd to enter the apartment. As he does, Lloyd sees Wu and Misako sitting on the sofa each with a steaming cup of tea.

"You're not fighting?" Lloyd asks, confused about how calm everyone is. He had been catastrophizing on the way here imagining yelling matches and his mother in tears.

"We just got here." Says Wu. "My brother is being most hospitable." He takes a long sip of his tea, letting out a satisfying sigh.

"I made it in time then." Says Lloyd, "we found something at the tea shop, look." He opens the diary to the relevant entry and passes it to Misako.

Misako's eyes go wide as she reads it. "Well that explains a few things." She says before passing it to Wu.

"Explains what?" Says Garmadon who returns from the kitchen and passes a cup of tea to Lloyd.

"How it is that Ella is your daughter." Says Misako.

"This again?" Says Garmadon, "as I already told Lloyd, that is impossible."

"The DNA results were a match." Says Lloyd before taking a sip of his own tea.

"No!" Says Garmadon frowning.

"Yes." Says Wu who passes the diary to Garmadon.

Garmadon continues to frown as he reads the passage, then turns the diary over looking at the covers. "Who wrote this?"

"Mystake." Says Lloyd.

"That Oni woman? Hmm, that does explain a few things." Says Garmadon. "There were a few days where I thought you were acting a little strange."

Misako scoffs. "You want me to believe you didn't realise she was Oni? I've seen you two sense each other from halfway across Ninjago city." She gestures to Garmadon and Wu.

"That was different." Says Garmadon.

"How so?" She asks.

"He's my brother." Says Garmadon matter of factly. Misako crosses her arms, not satisfied with the answer so Garmadon continues. "And, at the time he was in the body of a toddler who was not particularly skilled at masking."

"Masking?" Asks Lloyd, suddenly interested.

"Masking. Where you suppress your Oni abilities and aura." Says Garmadon before turning to Lloyd. "You are actually pretty good at it."

"I am?" Says Lloyd with surprise. "Is that why you had trouble finding me at the TV building?"

Garmadon shrugs, "More like why it was so hard for you to learn Oni form, you mask reflexively. Sensing is not always so precise, in the TV station I knew you were close, but only once you were in the building. I could sense Wu from much further away."

Wu took a sip of his tea. "I have never really had a need to learn how to mask my Oni aura. There are not many in Ninjago who are even capable of sensing it."

Misako uncrossed her arms, "You are saying Mystake was a master at masking?"

"It makes sense." Says Lloyd, flicking to the front of the diary. "She originally came to Ninjago to spy on the first spinjitsu master. She wouldn't be very good at that if she could be found so easily."

"Did you know she was Oni?" Asks Misako to Wu.

"I had my suspicions," answers Wu, "but never sensed anything when I saw her in the tea shop."

"Ok, so I'm innocent," says Garmadon, "mystery solved, everyone can go home now." He starts walking to the door.

"One mystery solved," says Lloyd, "but we still need to find Ella. Pixal thinks two people broke in and kidnapped her, using some sort of invisibility cloak. The tea shop showed signs of a struggle, she could be in danger."

Garmadon sighs. "You already lost her? And I suppose you want my help?"

"Well she is your daughter." Says Lloyd. 

"Fine." Says Garmadon, "what do you want me to do?"

"Her powers have been out of control lately, I doubt she is doing a good job at masking them. When she lost her cool at the police station, I felt something, like a connection to her… Please, teach me to sense her, and help us search the city."

"You're assuming she is still in the city." Says Misako solemnly.

"It's a good start." Says Wu. "We will head back, start mapping out search areas with the team. Join us as soon as you can."

~~~

Back at the monastery Jay and Zane get Cole and Kai up the elevator and help Cole to the couch in the game room. Kai makes his way to the door unassisted, but keeping a hand close to the wall to steady himself if needed.

"I'm going to go sleep it off." He grumbles before heading off to his room.

"Should we leave him unattended?" Asks Jay to Zane.

"He is only mildly impacted." Says Zane, "and doesn't seem to be a danger to himself, unlike Cole." They both look down to Cole.

"Shhh!" Says Cole, "this is my favourite movie." He goes back to staring at the broken TV screen, still damaged from when Ella threw a controller at it.

"So, what do we do with him?" Asks Jay.

"I'm sure you'll figure something out." Says Zane as he walks to the door.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" Asks Jay.

"I have an idea, someone else who might know how to find Ella, or why she was taken."

Jay sighs, "Fine, I guess I can watch over him for a while."

"Thank you Jay." Says Zane, "you are a good friend."

"The best." Mutters Cole, still staring at the TV.

The first few hours go by easily, Cole is mostly off in his own world needing only minimal supervision. Jay fetches him some snacks and a glass of milk in a cup with a straw top that is harder to spill. He passes the time by playing a hand held video game, as the TV is still broken. Sometimes Cole stands up and tries to go somewhere, but Jay is able to calmly redirect him back to the couch. When it happens for the third time in 10 min, Jay has a thought. "Are you trying to go to the toilet?" He asks Cole who is trying to stand again.

"A quest for waterfalls.." says Cole.

Jay assists Cole to the bathroom, and decides that helping Cole with this would be less embarrassing than helping him change out of pee soaked clothes.

Once they are back in the lounge it becomes clear that Cole is starting to come down from the drugs. His babbling is much reduced.

"How are you feeling Cole?" Asks Jay, "do you want to go have a nap like Kai?"

"I don't like this movie." Says Cole, still staring at the broken screen. "Dad, can you turn it off?" He turns towards Jay.

"Um, sure thing." Says Jay while picking up the remote from the coffee table. He points it at the off TV. "Beep, movie stopped!" playing along with Cole's hallucinations had been working well for him so far.

"It was her movie…" sobs Cole, tears forming in his eyes.

"Her?" Asks Jay, while shifting closer to Cole and starting to rub his back. "It's ok, I got you, and the movie is stopped."

"I just miss her so much!" Cole turns and rests his face in Jay's shirt as his crying gets more intense.

"Oh, right, you mean Lilly." Says Jay while doing his best to comfort his friend, pulling Cole closer, and holding Cole while tears soak into his shirt.

"I don't like this part." Sobs Cole, words a little muffled. "Make it stop."

Jay wasn't sure how to help, it sounded like Cole's 'movies' was him reliving different memories, and he was trapped in one somewhere near the death of his mother. "Skylor said you were in for a rough time…" he mused. "No matter what happens, I'm here for you, I won't leave you to go through this alone."

"Dad…" Cole holds on tighter as he continues to sob while Jay realises the double meaning of his words.

They stay like this for a while, Jay speaking words of comfort, rubbing Cole's back and holding him tight. Cole letting out years of suppressed grief through tears, wails and incoherent mumbling. Eventually the wails turn to whimpers, Cole's breathing becomes more even. "There, see?" Says Jay. "You will get through this."

Cole shifts his weight to be lying down, resting his head on Jay's lap. "I love you dad." He says.

Jay hesitates for a second before saying "I love you too." It's what Lou would say, for sure. And he did love his friend, but saying it so bluntly… people could get the wrong idea. He sighs and starts playing with Cole's hair. After a couple of minutes he realises Cole has fallen asleep. Probably the best thing for him right now, but unfortunately that meant Jay was stuck playing pillow.

Chapter Text

Lloyd is sitting in Garmadon's apartment with a tea towel wrapped around his head as a blindfold. It has a leaf print decorating it. Garmadon sits across the room from him. "Can you sense my presence?" Asks Garmadon.

"How?" Asks Lloyd.

"Tap into your Oni powers, feel the essence of life around you, and stop masking." Says Garmadon.

"How can I stop masking, when I don't even know how I am doing it?" Asks Lloyd.

"Hmm." Garmadon pauses. "It's almost like you weren't even listening to me when we tried this last time. You reject your Oni side, even when it would aid you in battle. Why?"

Lloyd remembers when they had been fighting the crystal king together. Garmadon pretended to be more hurt than he was, the rage at losing him had allowed Lloyd to transform into his Oni form, but only for a moment. When he saw his reflection he freaked out and changed back.

"I didn't want to be like you." Admits Lloyd with a sigh, while removing the blindfold.

"See, I don't get this. You are literally asking me to train you, to be more like me." Garmadon sounds more confused than upset. "Is being like me really so bad?"

Lloyd sighs. "No, well, not exactly. You have done lots of bad things, hurt lots of people. I was worried that if I used my Oni powers it would change me, I would lose control and hurt those I care about. I wanted to prove that I didn't need those powers, I wanted to prove that I didn't need you." He clutches the tea towel tightly.

Garmadon sips his tea. "You needed me then, and you need me now." He says. "Don't you?"

"I guess so." Says Lloyd. "You do help people too, sometimes."

"Your Oni side is already a part of you. Use it, don't use it, you will still be you."

"I know." Says Lloyd, "which is why I was trying to learn Oni form with you before, but it's hard facing your greatest fear. When I looked into the mirror of dread, I saw myself as an Oni."

"When did you look into the mirror of dread?" Asks Garmadon.

"At the explorers club, but that's not important right now." Lloyd takes a deep sigh, "please tell me again, how do I tap into my Oni powers?"

"You are not like me." Says Garmadon matter of factly.

"Ok, but how does that help?" Asks Lloyd.

"What I mean is last time we tried this I was teaching you how I channel my Oni powers, but what allows me to use my powers might not work the same way for you." Says Garmadon. "You did transform once before. Do you remember what it felt like?"

Lloyd thinks back to that time, "I thought you were dead, I was angry, desperate. I let go of my normal control, and just let all my anger out."

Garmadon starts gesturing at Lloyd. "That there, that 'normal control', that's masking." Says Garmadon. "I want you to stop doing that, and tell me what makes you angry." He stood up with a big toothy grin on his face.

"Um, ok, what makes me angry?" Lloyd stands up too scratching his head. "I guess I can get frustrated if I'm doing bad in a video game?"

"Ptf." Garmadon scoffs. "Too small! There has to be someone who really gets you mad?"

"I'm generally a pretty calm person." Says Lloyd stubbornly.

"Someone who when you look at them you just want to punch them in the face!" Continues Garmadon.

"You feel this way about people?" Asks Lloyd with concern.

"Oh yes, quite a few." Says Garmadon confidently.

Lloyd shakes his head. "Fine, the overlord. I could be mad at him."

"No good. He's gone. Your anger would be weak."

"Kalmar?" 

"What did I just say? Pick someone who is alive!"

"Fine. You! Ok? I pick you."

Garmadon raises an eyebrow. "Hmm. Ok. Build up your Oni anger and come and punch me in the face." Garmadon turns to face Lloyd and stands with his hands clasped behind his back.

Lloyd takes a deep breath and tries to build up anger towards his father. You abandoned me, you sought out evil, you hurt so many people, and you care about these plants more than you care about your own son! He manages to build up a small amount of purple power in his fist and swings it towards Garmadon, but stops just before making contact. Garmadon doesn't move or flinch.

"Just like I thought, this won't work either. For some strange reason you care about me." Says Garmadon.

Lloyd crumples up the tea towel in a ball and throws it in at the wall. "So what? I'm just too much of a caring person to use these powers?"

Garmadon stares at him for a moment, scratching his chin. "Hmm, maybe we can use that. I might have had this backwards." Lloyd looks at him with confusion. "When you transformed last time, it wasn't because you were angry at the overlord, you were angry that I was hurt. All you need to do is imagine the worst possible thing that could have happened to Ella."

Lloyd blinks. "That could work." He says with mild surprise before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He imagines her small body laying beaten and bloodied on the floor of a basement, he feels anger for whoever did this bubbling up into his guts and lets the feeling flow through the rest of his body. Both of his fists start to glow with purple energy.

"Good." Says Garmadon with pride, "now can you sense me?"

Lloyd takes a deep breath and focuses on sensing his surroundings while keeping his eyes pressed shut. He can hear the tick of a clock, the hum of traffic, the rustling of a nearby breeze, but there is something else. Almost like the hum of a refrigerator, or the roar of a fire, a buzzing on the inside of his brain that was coming from his father, a connection, a tiny flash of pride. "I can!" He says with excitement, but this breaks his concentration and the feeling vanishes along with his purple power.

"Good." Says Garmadon. "Now we begin the search."

~~~

Zane is talking to the warden at kryptarian prison. “I’m here to see Harumi.”

“Oh your turn is it?” says the warden cheerfully.

“Turn?” says Zane.

“Yeah, she doesn’t get many visitors, but Lloyd came to see her last month.”

Zane frowns, “He didn’t mention it.” he says calmly as they arrive at the visitor section. Harumi is sitting behind the glass waiting.

“Oh, is it just you?” she asks.

“Yes, I have some questions for you.” says Zane as he sits down.

Harumi sighs, “Of course, what information do you need this time?”

“What information did Lloyd ask of you last time?“ Asks Zane.

Harumi smiles, “What? Are you keeping secrets from each other now or something?”

“Lloyd has not been to visit you.” says Zane.

Harumi’s smile increases slightly, “You’re saying he snuck out of that monastery to see little old me?”

Zane had a hunch, but there was a possibility that Lloyd had gone to see her on his own. He decided to call her bluff. “If that were the case, why did he come only once, and if I am right I doubt his questions were of a social nature. So I ask again, what did you discuss?” If she didn’t cooperate he could of course ask for the tapes, but he was enjoying playing detective again. 

Harumi sighs, “if you must know, he asked me questions about Mystake, and how she died.” says Harumi glumly.

Zane sighs. “That wasn’t Lloyd, it was an Oni named Ella, daughter of Mystake.”

“Oni? I thought they were all gone?”

“There is no sign of more coming to Ninjago, but one has been left behind. You are some sort of an expert on Oni, you tracked down the three Oni masks, discovered the location of the lost Oni temple, and even completed an Oni resurrection ritual. Do you know how to find an Oni hiding in the city?”

Harumi puts a hand to her chin, thinking. “I never needed to find a living Oni… I did read something about them being able to sense one another over significant distances.” She shrugs. "Surely Wu and Garmadon would know more about this than me?"

"You are probably right." Says Zane. The information was not as useful as he had been hoping, but that did explain why Ella had attempted to murder Garmadon in their courtyard.

"Why would someone want to capture a live Oni?" Asks Zane, "what would they have to gain?"

Harumi shrugs, "Like I said, I never needed to capture a live one. Unless you count Lloyd, his Oni DNA allowed us to retrieve the mask of vengeance. There could be other Oni relics out there with similar safeguards, but I am not aware of any from my research."

"If they were after Oni relics, she could easily have been moved from the city by now." Zane says, thinking out loud.

"Of course, I would say it is much more likely that someone just doesn't like Oni, and wants to do their part in the eradication." Harumi searches Zane's face for a reaction. "If you ask the warden, I might be able to give some help?" She asks hopefully.

"Not this time." Says Zane. "But we do appreciate your cooperation."

~~~

Nya and Skylor go to a laboratory run by Normatech. It is in an industrial area of the city, adjacent some warehouses. The lab itself is a clean looking building, a little dated with signs that are fading, and posters that could have been from the 80s.

The reception is unattended, but there is a bell which Skylor rings.

A woman in a lab coat runs out to greet them. "Welcome to Normatech, I'm Jaki, how can I help?"

"We were told you could help us to analyse this?" Says Skylor while holding up the bag of gummies.

"Eating these made our friend very ill." Adds Nya. "We suspect venemari spit might be mixed in."

"Oh, like the samples from the police." Says Jaki.

"You process samples from the police?" Asks Skylor with surprise. "I thought Borg industries did them?"

"We are a subcontractor of Borg industries, we do all the labs for the Ninjago police department."

"Come on Nya, this is a waste of time. The samples we sent all came back inconclusive."

"The initial tests were inconclusive, there are other tests that take more time which we are still running. If you leave a sample, I could at least tell you if it matches the others?"

"Fine." Says Skylor, and they leave one of the gummies before leaving.

Back in the street Skylor is frustrated and kicks a small rock which bounces harmlessly off a barricade tracing the edge of the parking lot.

"We could go back to Borg?" Suggests Nya, "surely his equipment could tell us something."

"He already said he couldn't help." Says Skylor.

"What about the serpentine? If it has venemari spit, surely they will know something?"

"I already tried that, they didn't want to talk to me, didn't want anything to do with the police."

"hmmm." Says Nya, "maybe I could help, I know Skales, if I introduce you, they might be more willing to help."

Nya and Skylor walk a few blocks before finding a manhole and entering the sewers.

"Do you know where you're going?" Asks Skylor as they reach a crossroads.

"Yeah, just give me a minute." Says Nya, "it is easy to get turned around down here."

Skylor is bored so she decides to flicker the Oni power to try and use it up, there is very little left at this point. As she ignites it she feels a strong pain shoot through her body, like it did back at the police station. She cries out as she falls to her knees.

"Skylor!" Nya says while drawing her weapon and looking for the source of the attack. She sees a black shadow moving in one of the tunnels heading their way. She raises her arms summoning sewer water to knock the intruder off balance then pins them to the ground with her trident. Garmadon looks up at her "what was that for?" He asks.

"Garmadon? What are you doing here?" Says Nya, taking a step back.

"I could ask you the same thing water girl." He says while picking himself up off the ground. "Eyuk." He says while grimacing and shaking some of the sewer water from his arm. 

"Sorry." Nya says as she uses her power to extract as much of the sewer water as she can from Garmadon and place it back in the sewer.

Skylor takes deep breaths as the pain has now passed, and goes to join the others. "Nya, it's ok, I wasn't attacked, I felt Oni powers."

"How could you sense Oni powers?" Asks Garmadon while frowning.

"I borrowed some of Ella's power, back when I thought she was Chamille." Skylor flexes her hand. "I think I finally used it all up."

"I thought I had finally caught a whiff of her presence, but I guess I must have just been trailing you." Garmadon says with frustration while gesturing at Skylor.

"When I used the last of it, it reacted with something, the last time it did that Ella was nearby." Says Skylor.

"Maybe it was reacting to Garmadon?" Says Nya. 

Garmadon huffs, "it's possible. Are there any more Oni wielding Ninja I should know about who are likely to get me off track?" 

"No, just me." Says Skylor.

Garmadon clutches at his earpiece. "Robot girl, did you get that? This was a false lead. Tell me where to search next." He walks off as he talks into the earpiece. 

"Sorry." Says Skylor to Nya, "guess I messed it up."

"He'll get over it." Says Nya.

"So should we get going?" Asks Skylor.

"Hmm," Nya hesitates, "maybe we should head back. It is getting kind of late."

"Nya, I'm fine." Says Skylor.

"I know." Says Nya with a smile, "but if we want to make a good impression on the serpentine we probably shouldn't be dropping in on them after dinner. I didn't realise how late it was."

~~~

Back in the monastery Kai wakes up from his nap and heads to the game room. He opens the door to find Jay sitting on the couch with Cole's sleeping head resting in his lap. Jay turns to him making a 'shhh' gesture with his finger. Kai nods, closing the door as quietly as he can and walking over to sit next to Jay.

"How is he?" Whispers Kai.

"Better now." Whispers Jay, "He was pretty rough before."

They sit in silence for a moment watching the gentle rise and fall of Cole's chest.

"How are you feeling?" Asks Jay, still whispering.

"Better." Says Kai, "but I took the recommended dose."

Jay nods, glad to see Kai has improved.

"I could watch him for a bit if you want a break?" Offers Kai.

"Thanks, but I don't want to wake him." Says Jay.

"Guess I'll cook some dinner then, the others should be coming back soon." Kai was used to looking after people, if he couldn't be out there helping, he could at least do that.

Chapter Text

Lloyd stops his motorbike in the middle of a deserted intersection, engine idling in the otherwise calm night. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath trying to remember his training from earlier.

After a minute he hears Pixal in his ear, she is back at the base monitoring him, Wu and Garmadon, helping them cover more ground. Misako had been helping her earlier to plot out the best search routes. "Is everything ok?" She asks. "Have you decided to come back to rest?" She had been trying to get him to return for hours, but if he went back he probably wouldn't be able to sleep anyway. Better to keep searching.

"I thought I felt something." His attempts at focusing aren't helping, but he did feel something for a moment there, a bitter burst of anger, or fatigue? Maybe Pixal was right after all. "I'm going to try tapping into my Oni powers, see if that will help." He tells Pixal.

"Standing by." She says over his earpiece, acknowledging he would need to focus.

Lloyd tries to tap into his own hatred, his own anger, desires for vengeance. Only once had he managed to fully transform into Oni form, and that was when he believed Garmadon was dead. Well he could very well lose Ella if he didn't find her soon. He focuses on how he would feel if he found her dead, what he would want to do to her captor. Power courses through him as two extra arms sprout by his sides and a golden mask grows over his face. His earpiece falls to the ground, fried by the strange power, but he doesn't have time to pay it much mind as he could suddenly sense Ella.

He revs the engine and speeds the short distance needed to get to where the feeling was strongest. Coming to a screeching halt his bike bumps into the barricade around the parking lot of an industrial building. "You're in there" he mutters to himself as he looks at the glum grey warehouse. The smart thing to do would be to tell the others, gather a team and storm the building together, but Lloyd was still imagining Ella dead or injured, and in Oni form he felt unstoppable. Leaving the bike he jumps the fence, runs directly to a side door and kicks it open. Closing his eyes he could feel her anger, and fear. He needed to go down, there must be a basement somewhere. He opens his eyes once more and was immediately greeted by a spinning kick to the face.

"Halt intruder!" Says a strangely familiar voice. Lloyd staggers backwards at the force of the kick then looks up to see the leader of the neon Ninja. However instead of wearing their usual Gi, they have on a high tech helmet with tinted visor and a security uniform with neon trim.

"What are you doing here?" Lloyd says in surprise, noticing that his voice sounds weird in Oni form.

"Wherever there are criminals…" he starts but gets cut off by Lloyd.

"I'm not a criminal, I'm the green ninja!" He says.

The neon ninja scratches his head. "I've met Lloyd, and you look nothing like him. Also you are currently trespassing on private property."

"Don't forget breaking and entering." Two more neon Ninja enter the room through the door Lloyd busted open.

Lloyd is at a disadvantage, if three are here, the other two could also be nearby. "I don't want to fight you." He says feeling his Oni form fade, keeping his emotions focused was hard, he was impressed he had lasted that long. "a child is being held here. Help me free her from the real criminals!"

"Exactly the kind of lies a criminal would say." Says one of them as they draw an energised stun stick and swing it towards Lloyd. He jumps out of the way, noticing the third newcomer had shut the external door.

"Please, you must recognise me now! It's me Lloyd!" He pleads.

"Like I said buddy, I ain't never seen you before." They swing at him again.

Lloyd reaches for his sword then realises it is back on his bike, he tries to use his green powers, but it fizzles out. I have made a terrible mistake. The tiny room doesn't make it easy to continue dodging, and he has nothing to fight back with. In an act of desperation he backflips over one of them to land near the door, but finds it locked in place with a pipe jammed through the handle. His heart sinks as he feels a stun stick finally find its mark on his back. He slumps to the floor and is already trying to get back up when he feels a prick in the side of his neck. He manages to make a lopsided swing towards one of the blurry figures before everything fades away.

~~~

Jay had eventually managed to fall asleep sitting up on the couch while half leaning over a giant pile of cushions Kai had brought him, Cole's head still resting on his lap. A cool hand gently shakes his shoulder rousing him from his rest.

"Jay, wake up. Lloyd's tracker stopped working." Says Zane's smooth, slightly robotic voice.

The words wash over Jay as his consciousness struggles to extract himself from sleep. "What? Zane?" He says while rubbing his eyes. "When did you get back?" He glances to the window and the pitch black sky. "What time is it?"

"3am." Says Zane patiently.

"Why are you waking me at 3am?" Says Jay.

"You and I are currently the most well rested ninja available. Lloyd might be in trouble, Pixal wants us to go check it out."

"Right." Says Jay as he finally starts to wake up, as much as he enjoys sleep, if Lloyd is in trouble… He carefully tries to swap his lap for a pillow without waking Cole. "Do you think it's safe to leave him?" He whispers to Zane.

Before Zane can respond Cole starts to stir, "where am I?" He asks while pushing himself into a seated position.

"The monastery game room." Says Zane.

"How are you feeling?" Asks Jay with concern.

"Confused?" Says Cole slowly while holding his head. "And dizzy."

"Jay, we need to go now." Says Zane.

"Right." Says Jay grabbing Cole's hand. "Come down to the lair with us, Pixal can catch you up while we head out."

While they are in the elevator Cole is staring at Jay's face with a slight frown, like he is trying to remember something. "I had the strangest dream." He says.

Jay chuckles nervously, "ha! Well, some of it might not have been a dream." He looks down to see they are still holding hands and starts to blush slightly.

The elevator doors open and the three ninja run out, Jay dragging Cole behind him. They stop in front of Pixal where Jay says "Pixal will look after you, we can talk more when I get back ok?"

Zane is already warming up his jet, and Jay quickly jumps into the passenger cockpit before they take off.

Cole is starting to feel a bit unsteady without the support of Jay's hand and collapses into the seat offered by Pixal. "Good to see you awake." She says.

"What happened to me?" Asks Cole.

"You overdosed on some gummies that we believe contain venemari spit." She says matter of factly.

Cole blinks in surprise "um, well that explains a few things, like why my head feels like gravel."

"You took ill at Skylor's apartment, and we brought you back here to recover. Kai was also mildly affected, but he had a lot less than you."

Cole groans in embarrassment as he starts remembering snippets of the past day. He rests his head on the table, covering it with his arms. The last clear thing he remembered clearly was looking at the broken vending machine wishing Jay was there, and then he woke up sleeping on his lap? There was some crying, he thought his dad was there, but that must have been one of his friends.

"Are you ok?" Asks Pixal with concern

"Yeah." Says Cole while trying to sit back up. "Mostly." His eyes are drawn to the paper on the table. Map sections of the city with certain areas circled and crossed out. "What about everyone else?" He asks. "Did we find Ella yet?"

"Unfortunately not." Says Pixal. "In fact we now believe she was kidnapped. And we have just lost contact with Lloyd. Hopefully it is just a comms failure."

"This is my fault!" Says Cole, "I wasted too much time, I should be out there helping!" He rises to his feet, but regrets it as his head starts to spin.

Pixal gently pushes him back into the chair. "Not yet. You still need a bit more rest."

"I messed it all up." Says Cole deflated.

"You didn't know." Says Pixal, "and those gummies are helping Skylor on a different case. Some good may come of it. Now let's get you to your own bed before those two reach the city."

~~~

Garmadon had gotten sick of listening to the chatter on his earpiece much earlier in the day, ripping it out of his ear and shoving it deep into a pocket. He had been more at ease following his gut, than the directions from that robot girl, but unfortunately still had nothing to show for his efforts. He had thought about going back to his apartment to rest, but didn't want to the others to think he was lazy, so instead chose to take a brief nap on top of a pile of quite comfortable garbage bags in a back alley. Sometimes he had such vivid dreams about Lloyd. He didn't know what they meant, and wasn't sure if he wanted to, but was trying to convince himself that sleeping was an excellent plan to help find Ella. After dozing for a while he is roused by an Oni presence speeding towards him. “Oh brother…” he mutters while extracting himself from the garbage.

Wu's vehicle comes to a screeching halt at the end of the alleyway, Wu jumps out and runs towards Garmadon.

“Oh thank goodness I found you!” Says Wu as he sees his brother. “Pixal, he's alright.” He says while clutching one ear.

“Of course I am alright.” Says Garmadon while crossing his arms. “What's the big deal, interrupting my break?”

Wu looks at Garmadon, who has some garbage stains, and leftover splotches from the sewer water. He scans the pile of garbage. “Are you sure you're alright?” Asks Wu.

“I'm fine.” Says Garmadon. “Was just taking a quick nap.”

“Here?” Wu looks concerned.

“Well if I went back to my apartment, I'm sure lots of different visitors would come to interrupt me.” Garmadon starts walking past Wu, trying to escape the conversation, and getting ready to resume the search.

“Wait,” says Wu, grabbing onto his sleeve. “We have been trying to reach you on the comm, where is your earpiece?”

“Oh that..” Garmadon pulls it out of his pocket, “I really can't concentrate with all that chatter..”

“Lloyd is missing.” Interrupts Wu.

“What?”

“He vanished with his bike on the south side of town,” says Wu, “and then your tracker stopped moving, and no one could contact you…”

Garmadon looks more closely at his brother, his wrinkles have layers of worry, and his eyes are clouded with despair. He clutches Wu's shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze. “We'll find him.” He says with confidence. “That kid is strong, you trained him well, and I have a lot of practice hunting Lloyd.”

~~~

Zane and Jay make it to the city in record time. Zane manages to find an empty lot only a couple blocks over where they land the jet before running the rest of the way to the intersection. "This is the place?" Asks Zane into the comms.

"Affirmative." Says Pixal.

There is a couple of streetlights, but they aren't brightly illuminating the whole area. Zane turns his vision to night mode, and Jay gets out a torch.

"No sign of Lloyd so far." Says Zane for Pixal's benefit "or his bike."

"Aha!" Says Jay as he bends over to pick something small up off the ground. "Found his communicator. This thing is fried."

Zane analyses the different tyre marks on the road. There are a few skid marks from trucks or other vehicles as it is an industrial area, however he finds a small section which looks fresh and is from a 2 wheeled vehicle.

"Hmm, from these tracks it is possible Lloyd sped off in that direction." Says Zane while looking down one of the streets. "But we can only see the rubber where he was taking off, they don't continue." 

Jay comes over to examine the marks with his torch. "You sure these are taking off quickly marks, and not stopping suddenly marks?" He asks. "Lloyd could have come from that direction."

"Lloyd approached this location from the East." Says Pixal in his ear.

"Ok, fine, they are taking off quickly marks." Concedes Jay.

"I'll do a fly over in the jet, I should be able to cover a lot of ground that way." Says Zane.

Jay nods. "I'll go on foot, check the nooks and crannies you won't be able to see from above."

They search for hours with Wu and Garmadon joining in once they arrive. They start with a three block radius, then expand it to 5 and later 10. There is no sign of Lloyd or his bike. Jay's legs ache from the constant running, but he keeps at it, eager to find his friend. When the sun starts to rise they decide to head back to figure out a different plan.

Chapter Text

Lloyd wakes up lying on a hard floor, head pounding with pain, likely an after effect of whatever they had given him. He opens his eyes and groans at the effort of trying to move his head to look around the room. He is not bound, in fact there is a raggedy blanket draped over him. He is in a small round room and a dark skinned figure sits on a cot to the side of the room.

"Ella?" He croaks while squinting, the room is taking its sweet time to get into focus.

Ella transforms into her human looking form. "Don't worry." She says, "the vertigo fades pretty quick, but the headache will take a bit longer."

Lloyd lays back down and closes his eyes, which is able to help him feel a bit less awful. "I did it, I found you." He says with a sense of relief.

"And was getting captured part of your brilliant plan?" Ella says with frustration.

"Not exactly." Admits Lloyd.

She scoffs, but doesn't immediately ask any more questions, instead letting Lloyd rest. After a couple minutes the vertigo and nausea were starting to fade, so Lloyd attempts once more to sit up, his mouth is incredibly dry. "Water?" He asks.

"Over there." Says Ella, pointing to the side of the room with the toilet and sink. "There is no cup."

Lloyd wasn't sure if he was ready to stand just yet so he decides to take a minute to survey the room in more detail. It was a dusty mess, it almost looked like a half finished construction site. Chunks of rocks were scattered around the small circular room that looked like it had been carved from stone. A sturdy looking metal door seemed to be the only way out. Had Ella caused all this damage herself? He looked at her more closely, she was huddled on the bed, arms wrapped around her legs, purple eyes glaring at him.

"What?" She snaps.

"Are you ok?" Asks Lloyd, "did they hurt you?"

"I'm fine." She growls.

Lloyd drops his eye contact and decides to try standing up. He manages to make it to the sink with only a slight wobble. He clumsily scoops water into his mouth with his hands, spilling some on himself in the process, but after a drink he is starting to feel more like himself. He sits back down on the toilet, still fully clothed, as there is not much furniture in the room.

"What are you doing here?" Asks Ella in her usual bitter tone.

"I came to rescue you of course." Says Lloyd.

"Why?" She asks while frowning, glaring directly at him. 

The question throws Lloyd off guard, he pauses unsure of how to respond. "Um, well, I'm the green ninja, and you're my sister."

"Oh." She sounds defeated, and lowers her gaze. "It's just your sense of duty. Worried what others would think if you didn't."

"What are you talking about?" Says Lloyd, beginning to get upset. "Finding you is the only thing I have been able to think about for the past few days, I've been so worried..."

Ella cuts him off, "but you don't even LIKE me!" She snaps.

Lloyd is stunned once more. "Whatever made you think that?" He asks.

"I heard you. In the courtyard with Kai." She admits.

"Oh. You heard that?" He scratches the back of his head, embarrassed.

"You don't want to be related to me." She says, pulling her legs back into an embrace.

"That's not quite right." Says Lloyd cautiously.

"Then why were you crying?" Asks Ella

Lloyd sighs, "let me try to explain. I was upset, there's no denying that, but, oh where to start…" Lloyd was getting flustered. He took a deep breath trying to think through his jumbled thoughts. "When I was younger, I always wanted a sibling. Someone to spend time with when my parents weren't around. A part of me was upset that you were hidden from me for so long, that I missed out on so much time with you. When you were at the monastery I tried to get to know you, get close to you, but being with you just seemed to make you angry. I don't have the best relationship with my parents… it's getting better, but the thought of having another family member that didn't want to be around me? Another family member who would reject me… That is why I was crying in the courtyard."

Ella doesn't say anything straight away, she frowns as she processes Lloyd's words. "You're not what I was expecting."

"No, I guess not." Says Lloyd, letting out a big sigh. "We found your mum's diary." Ella freezes, staring at Lloyd. "She warned you to stay away from us, thought we would train you to fight and put you in danger. You agreed to come, because you wanted us to train you, right?"

Ella nods. "I had to get stronger." 

"And when all we wanted to do was meditate and play video games… no wonder you were frustrated." Lloyd looks around the room once more. "You have been trying to escape?" He asks, "or was the room always like this?" He feels like he is recovering enough to try standing again, so he gets up to have a closer look at the damage.

"Solid rock walls and ceiling." Says Ella, "The floor is a layer of concrete, and under that is vengestone."

"Vengestone?" Says Lloyd while going over to the crack in the floor where he could indeed see some of the distinctive yellow lined alloy. "If they were after you, why line the cell with vengestone? I'm starting to think this room was made for me…" Lloyd takes a step towards the door.

"Stop!" Yells Ella. Lloyd freezes. "They can electrify the door. It isn't always on. The hinges are on the other side, and even if we get through this door, it is an airlock with a second one. There are a couple of grates for air, but behind them is only a very small tube, too small for a rat. I thought about flushing myself as a rat, but if they have a grate, I thought that drowning in shit would be a terrible way to die."

"Impressive." Says Lloyd, "You've tried almost everything."

"Almost? Tell me, what have I missed?" Asks Ella with frustration.

"Calling for help." Says Lloyd. "Oni can sense other Oni, that is how I found you, I felt your presence. Wu and Garmadon are still searching the city." Ella flinched slightly at the sound of Garmadon's name. "They know where I was when I first sensed you. If we can call out to them somehow, they will come for us."

"You want me to sit here and wait to be saved by Garmadon ?" She snarls out his name.

"Or Wu." Offers Lloyd gently.

"I have a better idea." Says Ella who transforms into her Oni form, gets out of bed and walks over to Lloyd. When she is close purple power glows on her hand and she punches him in the gut.

Lloyd falls to the ground, "what was that for?" He gasps while using the wall to stand back up.

"That thing you said at the monastery, my captors said it too. 'it's the fight that fuels her', so fight me, give me the fuel I need to tear this place to the ground!"

Lloyd knows what to expect now, so manages to dodge her second attack. "We are going to have a much better chance of getting out of here if we work together!" He pleads reason, but Ella is too fired up.

Ella continues to punch, and lunge at Lloyd, he continues to dodge with relative ease. "Aren't you meant to be ninjago's greatest hero? Why is it you never want to fight?" She taunts him.

"I am fighting." Says Lloyd. "This is called the silent fist. It was taught to me by my father, back before Harumi's ceremony messed him up."

After a short while, Ella begins to tire. More and more of her attacks show no purple energy. She is panting, letting out small screams of frustration. When she looks like she is about to fall over from exhaustion Lloyd stops dodging and lets her fist make contact, it barely makes a sound.

"You were meant to make me stronger…" she whimpers.

"Now is not the time to fight." Says Lloyd. "Now is the time to endure."

"Did Garmadon teach you that too?" She snarls.

"No." Says Lloyd, "it was your mother."

Something breaks inside Ella and tears start forming on her face. Lloyd wraps her up in his arms as her crying gets louder, muffled by his shirt.

"I wish she was here." Comes a muffled sob.

"Me too." Says Lloyd.

They stay in that embrace for a while as Ella lets out her long bundled up emotions in giant sobs and ugly gasps for air. Lloyd eventually guides her to the bed where they both sit on the edge. Ella is still sniffling as Lloyd rubs her back. When she lifts an arm to rub her face he sees dried blood on her forearm, hard to make out on the black skin. He takes her arm gently for a closer look.

"You're hurt." He says, seeing the long scrape.

She pulls the arm back defensively. "I'm fine." She says while transforming back into human form, covering up the blood with a healthy looking arm.

"No, you're not." Says Lloyd. He scans the room once more, but not seeing anything he could use he rips off one of his sleeves and goes to wet it at the sink. He comes back over to her and asks "please, let me see."

She lets out a sigh of exhaustion as she transforms back into Oni form, then timidly holds out her arm. Lloyd takes it and starts gently dabbing at it with his now wet rag. "Thank you, let's get this cleaned up. Does this hurt?"

"No." She says stubbornly.

"Did they do this to you?"

"No, when I was trying to escape."

"Do you know what they want?" 

"They took some of my blood." Lloyd traces his hand up to her elbow where he sees a small prick hole. He looks down at his now bare arm and sees the same. "Huh, guess they wanted some of mine as well. I wonder what for?"

"Because we're Oni." Ella says with frustration "the old guy thinks Oni blood will let him live longer."

"Hmm, well now we know why there is vengestone in the floor." Lloyd continues dabbing at her arm. The gash is significant, but thankfully wasn't reopened by the cleaning. He starts ripping his other sleeve in a nice spiral to make a long strip, which he uses to bandage up her arm. "There, that should be good enough for now. Are you hurt anywhere else?"

"No." She says meekly, looking at the bright green on her dark arm.

"Oh good." Says Lloyd. "Otherwise I might start running out of clothes." He chuckles half heartedly, trying to lighten the mood.

"How do you do it?" Asks Ella, "how do you maintain that form for so long?"

Lloyd frowns in confusion, "oh, you think… you see, unlike you my mother is human. Such a small part of me is Oni, and I don't have a lot of practice at using my Oni powers. In fact, before today I had only ever managed to transform once. This is my natural form." Ella looks at him with stunned disbelief. "It's how I found you actually, when I was transformed, it made it easier to sense your presence. We can use the same method to help Wu and Garmadon find us."

Ella turned away at the sound of Garmadon's name.

"I used to think I didn't need my Oni side, that using those powers would make me like my father, make me evil, but now I'm starting to think I should have taken the time to get to know the full me."

"You hate him too?" Ella asks.

"I used to." Says Lloyd, "it's complicated… but your mother, Mystake, she was a full Oni. Your Oni powers are much stronger than mine. I was starting to wonder if that was your true form." He looks over at her Oni form.

Ella shifts back into her human form, embarrassed.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of!" Stammers Lloyd, "you don't need to transform for my sake."

Ella switches back, panting slightly. "I'm just so tired." She says, eyes half closed.

"Of course you are. You've been drugged, had blood taken, your body needs time to recover from that, then you over-exert yourself trying to break out, pick a fight with the green ninja, and when was the last time you slept?"

"The light doesn't go out." Her voice is almost a whisper.

Lloyd's rage at their captors grows, he takes a deep breath, storing that hatred for later. "Here." He passes her his ninja hood. "You can put it on backwards to block out the light." Ella glances uneasily towards the door. "I'll keep a lookout. You need to rest, endure until they find us." He goes and picks up the dusty blanket, shaking it out before laying it over her. She has pulled on the green hood. "Thanks." She mutters softly before lying down.

Lloyd goes to sit in the middle of the room where he can see both the door and Ella. That is the first time she has thanked me , he thought. Suddenly hopeful about their future relationship. Now if only he can reach out to Garmadon.

Chapter Text

After sleeping all afternoon the day before Kai woke up early and made porridge for breakfast. Skylor, Nya, Cole and Misako trickle into the kitchen each taking a bowl. The mood is subdued, worry lingering in every corner of the room.

There is the sound of the elevator then Wu, Pixal, Jay and Zane enter, joining the others at the table. They look exhausted and concerned. Kai quickly scoops out 4 more bowls and passes them over. 

"Don't tell me Lloyd is still out there searching?" Asks Nya.

Jay plants his head on the table with a decent thud.

"Lloyd is now officially missing." Says Zane.

"Missing?" Says Nya and Kai in unison with Kai almost dropping the bowl he is passing.

Cole looks down guiltily.

"He sensed something at 3am, tried to activate his Oni powers, and then the comms dropped out." Says Pixal. "Jay and Zane went to investigate, but could find no sign of him."

"You should have woken me!" Says Nya, "I could have helped."

"We needed some people to stay rested so they could continue the search today." Says Pixal.

"But.." starts Nya.

"Pixal is right." Says Wu. "Sending everyone would have been a mistake."

"He's not on the streets." Says Jay finally lifting his head. "If he was, we would have found him. And if he was able, he would have found a phone and contacted us by now."

"So he's captured, not missing?" Asks Kai.

"That is the most probable outcome." Says Zane.

"The good news is my brother has much more practice searching for Lloyd than he does Ella." Says Wu. "It might make things easier for him."

"Where is he anyway?" Asks Kai.

"Still searching." Says Wu. "I will take some restorative tea and a power nap, then go and relieve him. I hope by then the rest of you will have come up with a plan B." Wu gets up from the table and stomps out of the room. Lloyd being missing has him on edge.

"I will go help with the tea, and make sure he eats this." Says Misako, picking up the untouched bowl of porridge and following him out of the room.

"You should eat too." Says Nya gently to Jay, rubbing his shoulder as he starts to pick at his food.

With Lloyd and Wu gone, the ninja awkwardly shoot each other glances trying to figure out who is going to step up as leader. Kai opens his mouth to speak when Skylor interrupts.

"We should be able to figure this out!" Says Skylor. "I agree with Jay, searching the streets randomly is unlikely to get us any new leads. Pixal do you have those maps?"

Pixal starts spreading out the maps on the dining table. Cole quickly clears off finished bowls and those still eating move them into laps.

"These lines indicate the areas searched by Wu, Lloyd and Garmadon." Says Pixal pointing to three coloured lines. The green and gold lines follow a methodical pattern in different areas of the city, but the black line is a bit more haphazard, jumping around the place, occasionally overlapping with the others. "This is where Lloyd disappeared." She points to the end of the green line.

"We believe he headed west on his bike." Adds Zane, "but he could have circled back after that."

Skylor gets out her phone taking a pic of the area. "I could use my police access to search for suspicious locations in the area." She says while scanning the area.

"Suspicious how?" Asks Jay.

"Vacant lots, abandoned buildings, belonging to shell companies that don't seem to do any actual business."

"Hey, isn't that the building we were at yesterday?" Says Nya, pointing to a lot 4 blocks southwest of the disappearance.

"Yeah." Confirms Skylor. "That's a Normatech lab." She frowns, "Pixal, where exactly did we run into Garmadon? Those sewers always turn me around."

Pixal marks the point on the map, which the black line snakes through, two blocks south east of the lab.

"Interesting." Mulls Skylor, "the last of my Oni powers reacted to something at this location, I thought it was Garmadon, but what if it wasn't? What if we both sensed Ella?"

"Surely you're not suggesting Normatech is involved?" Asks Kai. "Isn't he best buddies with Borg or something?"

"It would explain why they weren't being helpful with the gummy samples." Says Nya, "they would definitely have the tech needed to manufacture them."

"I don't buy it." Says Kai, "maybe a rogue technician is running interference, but a company that large can't be evil."

"Kai's right." Says Skylor, "coincidence and proximity is definitely not enough to implicate them, but we should keep an eye on them just in case. Pixal, are you able to chat with Borg and get his opinion on Normatech? And ask if it has changed recently?"

"Of course." Says Pixal.

"I'll head over to the police department to run some background checks on these other buildings."

"I'll go and talk to the serpentine." Says Nya. "I can't shake the feeling that these gummies are connected somehow."

Cole had been quietly thinking throughout the conversation, but a question had been nagging him. "If you can make recreational gummies from venemari spit, what could you make from an Oni?"

The table pauses with everyone turning to look at him.

"I just mean, we haven't even figured out why they were taken in the first place. Who knows, maybe Ella was just the bait so they could get to Lloyd?"

"It is a good question." Says Zane. "There is still much we do not know about our enemy. Lloyd disappeared while he was alone. Maybe for now we should operate in pairs."

"I'm with Skylor!" Says Kai too quickly. Noticing how childish it sounded, he back pedals by clearing his throat and adding "if that's ok with you?"

Skylor raises an eyebrow. "You really want to sit in an office running background checks?"

"No," says Kai, "but I do want to be your bodyguard while you sit in an office and run background checks." He winks and Skylor rolls her eyes.

"Jay and Zane should be on stand down, since they had night duty." Says Nya. "Which means Cole, you're with me."

Cole glances at Jay, remembering his promise to talk when he got back. Jay looks so defeated, and tired still picking at the porridge. There would be time for talking later, once the important things were taken care of. "Sure." He says to Nya while getting up from the table. "Ready when you are."

~~~

Skylor is going through paperwork and cross checking it against records on the computer. Kai is leaning back on a chair trying to balance it without tipping the chair over. He is also fiddling with a pen, balancing it on different parts of his body. Turner comes in carrying a stack of newspaper clippings. "Here are those clippings you asked for." He says. "I really think my powers could be put to better use than quick file extraction."

"Well, you're in luck." Says Skylor, "I just finished compiling a list of the empty or abandoned lots near Lloyd's disappearance. Want to do some reconnaissance?" She hands him a sheet of paper with a list of addresses.

Griffin scans the list then does a few stretches while saying "this is more like it!" Then in a blur he disappears.

"Should we let him go alone?" Asks Kai.

"No one can catch Griffin. He'll run straight back here if anything gets hairy." Skylor says confidently. "And can you stop that?"

Kai almost over balances the tilting chair, waving his arms before recovering and returning the seat to a normal position. "Sorry, I'm not very good at sitting still." He says apologetically "what are these?" He picks up the top of the newspaper clippings which shows Lloyd cutting a ribbon at the opening of a new pet store.

"It was something Cole said." Says Skylor, "what if Lloyd was the real target? These are all the recent newspaper articles he has been in. Maybe one of these grabbed the kidnapper's attention?"

Kai flicks through a few more. "These are all pretty dull, there hasn't been much villainy lately. Mostly just a list of public appearances for events and what not." He pauses as he gets to a clipping showing four of them sitting in big comfy chairs while they were donating blood. Kai frowns remembering something else Cole said. "What can you make out of an Oni?" He mutters.

Skylor takes the clipping from Kai. "I remember this," she says. "You almost fainted."

"Did not!" Says Kai defensively "I was momentarily light headed."

"That's not what Jay said." She teased.

"We're getting off topic." Says Kai, "I remember the nurse saying to Lloyd after the donation they wouldn't be able to use his blood at the hospital. They tested it, but something wasn't right."

"Because he is Oni?" Asks Skylor.

"I don't know, probably? I think they made him sign something to say they could use it for research?"

"Normatech?"

"I, I don't remember, it was around then that I, um, felt light headed." Kai scratches his head. "They gave me a banana smoothie, if that helps?" He adds tentatively.

"You know it doesn't." Says Skylor with a smile before kissing him on the forehead. "But this might turn into a lead. I'm going to call the hospital, they should know what happened to his blood."

~~~

Cole and Nya head down into the sewers. Nya leading and Cole trailing behind. Cole is acting a bit subdued.

"Are you alright?" Asks Nya after hearing what sounded like a sigh.

"I'm fine." Lies Cole as he straightens himself up trying to look more alert and gripping onto his weapon.

"We're just visiting Skales." Says Nya, "I doubt you will need that."

Cole sighs again and stores the weapon on his back.

"And seriously, what's up?" pushes Nya "you aren't acting like yourself."

"It's just, what if this is totally unrelated?" Says Cole. "I got drugged, I got Kai drugged! I wasted Jay's time looking after me, and now our time looking into it, we should be looking for Lloyd, not wasting resources on my poor snack choice."

"And Ella." Adds Nya.

"Yeah." Says Cole, embarrassed at forgetting her.

"Do you have any ideas of where they might be?" Asks Nya. There is silence so she continues. "Everyone knows what the priority is here, but I'd rather be doing something than just sitting back at the temple waiting. Even if it's a long shot, until someone gets a better lead, it's worth checking out."

"Yeah, I know." Says Cole, "but I still feel bad about it." It wasn't the only thing he felt bad about. Some of his memories from the past day had started to fill in, and it was embarrassing .

"If my gut is right on this," says Nya, "you finding those gummies might save Lloyd's life."

"And Ella's." Adds Cole with a smile for the first time in a while.

"Yeah." Agrees Nya as they reach the door to the serpentine village. They go in and make their way to Skales' office.

The meeting was less productive than they had hoped. Skales pointed out that the last venemari to assist with research had been arrested, so no one else was particularly willing to help. He suggested the police had been using the 'drug problem' to frame the serpentine and to sow mistrust between them and humans. "I am absolutely certain my citizens are not behind this!" Bellowed Skales before sending the ninja away.

"Why didn't Skylor mention venemari had been arrested?" Grumbles Cole as they make their way back into the sewers.

"I don't know." Says Nya, a frown had been resting on her face since the meeting. "Maybe she didn't know?"

"But she works for the police?" Adds Cole. "I feel like we are missing something." He pauses, scratching his head as he looks around, and then catches sight of a serpentine child peeking at them from behind some boxes. "Oh, hey there little one." He says with a friendly smile.

The kid comes out from behind the crates and asks "are you police?"

"No." Says Nya, coming over to join Cole. "We're ninja, have you heard of the ninja?"

The kid nods. "Ninja help people, right?"

"That's right." Says Cole. "Do you need help?"

The serpentine kid looks nervous. Fiddling with his hands and glancing between the ninja and the ground. "We're not meant to talk to the cops, but you sure you're not police?"

"Very sure." Says Cole as Nya nods in agreement.

"Police took my brother, said something about drugs, but he would never… can you get him back?"

Nya and Cole exchange a worried look.

"Is your brother a venemari?" Asks Nya.

The kid nods. "Same as me." 

"Ok, please tell us everything you can about your brother." Says Cole.

~~~

Pixal is alone in the lair, monitoring the various glowing dots showing where the Ninja are all around the city. She listens in to the various conversations, a pleasant humm of busyness in her mind. While she doesn't miss being inside the computer, there were some nice parts to having so many eyes and ears. Nothing needs her immediate attention, so she presses one of her speed dial buttons and is greeted by a large image of Cyrus Borg on the main screen. "Hello Cyrus" says Pixal warmly.

"My dear Pixal!" Says Cyrus, "How goes the search? Is there any way I could assist further?"

"Actually, yes, could you tell me about Norm?"

"Norm? Oh you must mean Bill!" Says Cyrus with enthusiasm. "Bill N. Ayre, the N stands for Norm and is where the name Normatech came from. Bill and I go way back, wait, you don't think he has something to do with Ella going missing?"

"We are currently exploring a few different leads, and wanted to get your opinion on Bill and Normatech to see if we might rule them out."

"Hmm, well Bill was my mentor, such a bright inventor, I was an intern at Normatech back when it was more focused on tech. Norm invented the telephone, the old one with wires and a big ol' dial. The ease of communication really helped to bring Ninjago city into modern times. As time went on we had a few minor disagreements. I would come to him with an idea for a new product or improvement, but he would shoot it down for not being cost effective, or not having a large enough market. He had the reputation of his company to think about, and wasn't willing to take the risk. In the end I decided to leave, and start up my own company where I had full creative control. We left on good terms, but I suspect Bill was expecting my company to fail, he made comments like 'you'll see how hard it is when you are the one calling the shots.' My first product, the first ever wireless phone, took a while to get to market due to some manufacturing issues, however when it hit the shelves it was a huge success! After a few more products Borg industries quickly surpassed Normatech as the leading tech company in Ninjago. It was around this time that Normatech shifted into more medical focused research. It is less flashy, but allowed him to keep his company afloat. I subcontract all of our medical related projects out to Bill, and we work with Normatech to manufacture and develop new medical equipment, scanners and the like."

"So a good working relationship? Normatech hasn't done anything recently you would consider shady?"

Borg shrugs. "They pay their bills on time, but I don't see much of Bill these days. He is getting on in years, and should really think about naming a successor."

The conversation is interrupted by Garmadon speaking on the comm. "Robot girl, I have something."

Chapter Text

Lloyd sighs in frustration. His attempts at activating his Oni powers to call out to Garmadon and Wu have been fruitless. Last time he had managed it out of desperation, imagining Ella beaten half to death, but seeing her right there in front of him resting peacefully made summoning that same rage difficult. He hears a small clank of someone opening the outer door and gets up to peer through the slit to confirm someone is coming before going over to wake Ella. She wouldn't forgive him if he let her sleep through something like this, as much as she needed the rest.

"Someone's coming." He says softly while gently squeezing her shoulder.

She sits up and removes the green hood, shoving it down between the bed and the wall. Three sets of footsteps come along the airlock and stop near the door.

"Who's there?" Says Lloyd, peering out the slot where he can see two masked guards and an old man.

"You don't recognise me?" Asks the old man.

"It's the same guy as before." Whispers Ella while igniting one fist with purple fire.

"Wait." Says Lloyd to her, placing a hand back on her shoulder. "It doesn't hurt to listen, hear what he has to say. We can always blast him later if we need to."

Ella puts out her fist with a frown.

The old man chuckles, "this is why I'm so glad you came Lloyd!" He says cheerfully. "You have such a calming influence on her."

Ella growls and trys to move closer to the door, but Lloyd puts out a hand to stop her and shakes his head slightly, mouthing 'not yet'. She sits back down crossing her arms.

The old man continues, "My name's Bill N. Ayre, but you can call me Bill. I really don't like keeping her down here, but our staff safety is of the utmost importance, if she could only behave herself, the accommodations could be improved significantly."

"She can be quite the handful." Says Lloyd, "so why don't you let us out of here, I'll take her home with me, and your staff won't have to deal with her behaviour."

The man laughs. "Oh if only it were that simple, but I still need her for a while longer."

"Why is that exactly?" Says Lloyd.

"We are on the verge of the single most important discovery since electricity! Your Oni blood could be the key to unlocking the fountain of youth! Just think, no more old age, we could double, or even triple the average human lifespan. Just imagine all the lives we could save."

"I don't think one child has enough blood for all that." Says Lloyd.

"Oh of course not." Says the man. "That's why we are trying to create an artificial copy. That is how most medicines are made, beginning from an organic component, before we come up with a way to chemically engineer the compound from scratch. The Oni components are proving difficult to recreate, but I am sure with time we will manage."

"How much time?"

"Months, a year tops. We have actually already made some significant progress thanks to you."

"Thanks to me?" Asks Lloyd.

"You remember a few months back you and the ninja participated in a blood drive to encourage more people to donate. 'Now it's your turn to be a hero!' Very inspiring stuff. Unfortunately your blood was unable to be used at the hospital, you signed a waiver allowing us to use it for research."

Lloyd frowns. "If your project is really for the benefit of humanity, why all the kidnapping and stealing of blood? You could have just asked for our help."

"And would you have helped me?" Bill asks sweetly.

"No." Snaps Ella.

"So you can see, I made the right call." Says Bill.

Lloyd sighs, "I might have, but not now, after what you have done."

"Your blood did help get us started, but the Oni portion is small and difficult to work with. The child's blood is much more pure, the results have been nothing short of amazing! As you can see I am much improved."

"He was bedridden before." Mutters Ella, "or at least pretending to be."

Bill puts on a big grin, "All this talk about could have, should have, shmould have! You are here now. I really am hoping that we can cooperate, when this is all over you can get a royalty on all the profits, set you up for life! No more stealing money from noodle shops. I can get you a TV, some comic books, what are kids into these days?"

"No." Says Ella forcefully. "I will never help someone like you."

Bill sighs. "Lloyd help me out here, talk some sense into her will you?"

"Her blood, her choice." Says Lloyd.

Bill sighs again. "That's a shame, a real shame. I don't like being the bad guy, I really would rather we could work together. Do you at least know of any ways to contain her Oni powers? If her destructive tendencies were easier to control we could at least get her out of this miserable basement."

"Can I blast him yet?" Snarls Ella.

"Hmm." Lloyd pauses, "getting pretty close."

"Fine." Says Bill with exasperation, "we'll do this the hard way." He pulls out a gas mask and puts it on.

"What's that for?" Says Lloyd while frowning. Ella is too short to see through the slot. 

"We have to move you. Some of your friends are getting too close. You might want to lie down."

There is a hiss as white smog starts coming out of the air vents. Lloyd and Ella look around in a panic. Ella lets out a cry as she sends a couple of blasts towards the door. Only one makes it through the slit, but due to the angle it flies right over their visitors' heads.

Lloyd takes a deep breath and tries to clog up one of the vents with damp toilet paper, it is not working as well as he hoped, sticking more to his hands. He hears a thud and looks over to see Ella collapsed on the floor, it is too late, there is already too much gas in the room. He focuses on Ella's collapsed figure while desperately calling out with his mind DAD, HELP ME! but he is probably not angry enough to be getting through. His lungs are burning from the lack of oxygen so he finally takes a breath which quickly makes the world get blurry before he joins Ella on the floor.

~~~

After Wu and the others left at dawn to return to the monastery, Garmadon had ignored Pixal's search plan and wandered around aimlessly for a while. He had chased what turned out to be a pretty athletic cat for a couple of blocks, in case it had been Ella transformed. Eventually he returned to the area in which Lloyd vanished. They had searched this area in great detail already, but his guts were telling him that they had missed something. After brooding on the rooftops for a while he decided to go down into the sewers where he had run into that copy cat ninja. Surely whoever took Lloyd would have known the team would scout the surrounds, and move him to a more secure location, so why couldn't he shake this feeling? Anger flared in the back of his mind, the feeling was faint, but it was definitely an Oni. A smirk grew across Garmadon's face. "Robot girl, I have something." He says into his earpiece.

~~~

Skylor hung up the desk phone with a triumphant grin. She had just finished speaking to people at the hospital who confirmed Lloyd's blood had been turned over to Normatech. Kai grabs her arm, he holds his other hand to his ear, listening on his earpiece.

“Garmadon senses Oni,” he says, “where you bumped into him yesterday.”

“So we did sense Ella… “ she mutters, “I'm going to the chief, this has got to be enough for a warrant.”

~~~

Nya and Cole were making their way to the police station to enquire about the arrested venemari, when they heard Kai announce over the comms "We have a warrant! Meet at the intersection where Lloyd disappeared in 10min."

“We were just there!” Grumbles Cole as they turn around and head back the way they came.

~~~

Garmadon hadn't been paying much attention to the comms, so wasn't sure where the warrant was for. He thought about asking, but didn't want to sound ignorant. As he was already in the area, he was the first to make it to the rendezvous point. He quickly got bored of waiting and climbed a nearby building to try and catch sight of the others. Instead he catches sight of a couple white vans leaving an industrial building with a faded Normatech sign. He follows them for a few blocks, before their paths diverge, but he couldn't sense any Oni presence coming from either of them so he decides to stop. There is plenty of other traffic in the area, and had been all morning, “just chasing another cat.” He mumbles before heading back.

At the intersection Kai, Skylor, Nya and Cole arrive at roughly the same time.

“Where is Garmadon?” Asks Kai

“Right here.” Says Garmadon as he jumps down the last section of a fire escape and lands beside them.

“Good, we’re all here.” Says Skylor, “we have a search warrant for the Normatech building.” She waves a bit of paper in front of her face.

“Normatech?” Says Garmadon with surprise. “I was just trailing a couple of vans that just left from there.”

“Why didn't you say something!” Says Nya, “they could be moving them!”

“We'll, why didn't you say the warrant was for Normatech?” Snaps Garmadon.

Cole moves between them, holding a hand towards Nya who was about to keep arguing, “did you sense anything?” He asks Garmadon.

“From the vans? No.”

“Would you be able to sense something if they were unconscious, like if they were drugged?” Cole asks.

Garmadon pauses, the ninja look at him impatiently. “I don't know! Ok? It's not like I have practised drugging Lloyd to see if I can still feel him.”

“Errgh.” Kai drags his fists down his face. “Just when I felt like we were getting the upper hand! Where did the vans go?”

“They headed north for two blocks, then split up, one going west, the other east.” says Garmadon. “Plain white, no logos.”

“Myself and Cole will try and catch up,” says Kai while grabbing Cole and heading towards the vehicles. “you need to search that building before they hide any more evidence.”

Skylor, Nya and Garmadon make their way down towards the Normatech warehouse. There is a barricade between the road and parking lot which is dented.

“Lloyd came on his bike.” Says Nya, pointing to the damage.

Skylor gets out a magnifying glass. “Green paint.” She says before taking a photo. She then gets out tongs, putting the sliver of paint in an evidence bag.

The group makes their way into the lobby.

Jaki greets them. “Oh, you again! The gummy detective from yesterday. Unfortunately we don't have any updates on those tests just yet..” she trails off slightly, pausing when she sees Garmadon standing behind them.

“He's with us.” Says Nya.

“We're not here about the gummies.” Says Skylor, we have come for a thorough tour of your facilities.” She holds out the warrant.

Jaki takes it from her and reads it over. “This is absurd, we are one of the most trusted corporations in Ninjago, what could you possibly hope to find?”

“We believe this building may be involved in a missing person case.” Says Skylor.

Jaki raises an eyebrow, “and who exactly is missing?”

“Why don't you just let us in?” Says Skylor.

Jaki grumbles and fetches a set of keys, “Where to first?”

They go through the ground floor first, which includes a large loading dock, then make their way up inspecting every lab, halfway, toilet and storage room. Jaki opens every door as requested, but every computer they walk by has been switched off, or at least had the screen blanked.

“Look at this!” Says Nya in one of the labs. “That vial!” She points to a vial of blood in a mini fridge with a glass door. It has Lloyd written on the side.

Skylor takes a look and raises an eyebrow. “Where did you get this?”

“Oh, that?” Jaki examines a code on the side, pulls out her phone and taps away. “Unusable donation from the hospital.”

“And what are you doing with it?” Asks Nya.

Jaki frowns. “You have a search warrant, not an information request. Our research is highly confidential, and I don't think any missing persons are hiding in that vial…” she paused, “you surely aren't suggesting that the green ninja is missing?”

Skylor rummages through the other vials in the fridge, but none are labelled Ella, or similar.

“We could take them all and get them tested?” Whispers Nya.

“And where do you think Borg got the DNA tests done last time?” Says Skylor. “We already knew they had some of Lloyd’s blood. Let's keep going.” she takes a couple of photos before moving on.

On the top floor they search Norm’s office, although he is absent. Skylor pays particular attention to any papers on the desk, but nothing jumps out as being related to Lloyd or Ella or Oni in general.

Once the top floor is complete they check the roof before going back into the elevator.

“What is that button for?” Asks Garmadon who points towards an unlabelled button in the lower corner of the control panel.

“Oh right, the basement.” Says Jaki. “I often forget about it, as it hasn't been used for a while.” She inserts a key, and presses the mystery button.

Skylor watches her closely, she seems just a little nervous. The elevator ride takes longer than expected, the basement could be a fair way below ground.

The elevator doors finally open revealing a small lobby and a sturdy metal door which has been propped open.

There is a short airlock before a second metal door, which opens onto a small domed room, which looks eerily like a prison cell. Skylor feels goosebumps running up her body. “Anything?” She whispers to Garmadon who shakes his head. “When I felt them, I was underground.”

“Why do you have a prison in your basement?” Says Nya, disgust leaking into her words.

“Oh, this isn't a prison.” Says Jaki. “It is a research facility for nuclear medicine. We needed somewhere shielded, somewhere for test subjects to recover, but clinical trials haven't been done here for years, they are mostly done at the hospital these days, safer that way.”

They enter the room, the second door is dented, with blast marks on the inside. Skylor points to the marks. “Care to explain this?”

“There was a small explosion, problems with a test, it was a long time ago.”

There is a pile of rubble to one side, cracks can be seen on the ceiling and floor in some places. The room smells strongly of bleach. Some patches on the floor are still damp.

“If this room isn't in use, why has it been cleaned?”

“Our cleaners do the whole building each week.”

Nya sees vengestone in the floor. “Why is the room lined with vengestone?”

“It has good insulating properties, for the radiation.”

Skylor thinks to herself. The vans just left less than 20 min prior, the floor is still damp from rushed cleaning, they must have missed something… She methodically goes over every part of the room, taking lots of photos. She pauses when she gets to the bed. It is bare, sheets stripped, taken away for cleaning, but when she pushes it away from the wall a couple of bright green threads greet her, having snagged on the frame. “Bingo.” She mutters, getting out her tweezers and adding them to an evidence bag.

Chapter Text

Lloyd wakes up lying on the floor once more. This time there is no blanket over him. He groans as he tries to take in his new surroundings. Head pounding from the drugs just like before. On one side he sees a bed, and corners, the room is square this time. The other has open bars, veins of yellow indicate it is made of vengestone. A cool cuff clutches his ankle. Also likely to be vengestone. He lifts his head slightly to see a sink before realising what is missing.

"Ella?" He calls out weakly. He starts to panic, heart pounding as there is silence.

"Ella?" He says louder this time while trying to push himself up.

"Over here." Comes her response from behind him.

His body instantly relaxes. "For a moment there I thought they had separated us."

Since he had already pushed himself up to be half sitting he turns to face the last side of the room, freezing as he sees a blank wall with no Ella. He quickly rescans the rest of the room.

"Where are you?"

"Next cell over I guess." She says.

"I'm impressed you you haven't broken out already" teases Lloyd while sliding over to lean on the wall.

"Well, I thought you might have wanted to join in." Says Ella, leaning on the other side of the wall. But something isn't quite right. Her usual fire is gone, she sounds so defeated.

"You alright?" Asks Lloyd, "how long ago did you come to?"

"I dunno, 10 minutes or so?" She sighs. "The only guard I saw so far was wearing a full face mask. Even if we get out of these cells, they are just going to gas us again."

Lloyd looks out through the bars, they seem to be in a row of cells with a corridor on one side. Multiple security cameras and sensors scatter the ceiling. "Hmm." He says. "It's not going to be easy, but we need to find a way out of here."

"What happened to waiting to be rescued?" Says Ella.

"The situation has changed." Says Lloyd, "they moved us, which means my friends are much less likely to find us. And there is another reason. You probably couldn't see from where you were, but when Bill got angry with us, his eyes glowed."

"His eyes glowed?" Asks Ella.

"Yeah, purple, like an Oni. Like mine do when I use Oni powers. The treatments aren't working, or aren't working as expected. He was very sick without them right? So he will do everything possible to make it work, with no regard to our safety. I have to get you out of here." Lloyd pushes himself up, pausing as his head starts to spin. There was no time for that, he needed to find a way out.

A strangely British voice echoes down the hall. "Isss that Lloyd Garmadon I hear? Found your way back into prisson have you?"

Lloyd freezes, trying to figure out why the voice was so familiar. "Pythor?" He asks tentatively.

"Who?" Asks Ella.

"Oh and you've brought a new friend! Or iss it a new enemy? That lasst girl didn't work out so well for you now did it?"

"This is different." Snaps Lloyd. "She's my sister."

"There are many wayss to play a man's heart." Says Pythor cheerfully. "Oh but it really iss you! I thought I must have taken one too many gummy."

"So they are related?" Mutters Lloyd, then more loudly, "Pythor, what are you doing here? I thought you were in kryptarian?"

"Oh I wasss, and what a misserable place that was. Ssuch whiny roommates, no entertainment. Sso I put in for a transfer."

"A transfer?" Asks Lloyd.

"Yess, a transfer. All it cost were a few sscales and I get this roomy cell with my own TV, any book I requesst, and the mosst delightful snacks. But enough about me, what did you do to get thrown in here?"

"We were kidnapped." Snarls Ella.

"Ha!" Says Pythor, "a likely sstory. If you were kidnapped, why would they bring you to a real prisson?"

"You think this is a real prison?" Says Lloyd, "Why would they give you luxuries in exchange for scales?"

"Well, I do have the most delightful skin," brags Pythor, "I shed it every month or so, such a shame to see it go to waste. They probably make designer bags out of it or something."

"Or invisibility cloaks." Says Lloyd, "Anacondrai can turn invisible right? I bet they found a way to activate that ability with technology."

"Don't be proposterous!" Says Pythor, "you can't activate my abilities with old skin."

"This week two invisible humanoids broke into the monestary, kidnapped Ella and eventually brought us here." Says Lloyd. "That's not a coincidence."

All this talking has given Lloyd enough time to recover from the worst of the vertigo. He starts inspecting his cell, the bars, walls, shackle and ball on his ankle, sensors in the hall. "So Pythor, you want in on our escape?"

Pythor chuckles. "And risk losing all this? If we do escape you'll just put me back in kryptarian, hard pass."

~~~

The police chief hangs up the phone as Skylor barges into his room, with Nya trailing closely behind.

“This proves it!” Skylor says boldly while slapping down her evidence bags.

“Yes, by all means, barge right in, I don't mind!” Says the chief sarcastically.

“Sorry, but that warrant? We found something!”

“And this proves what exactly?” Asks the chief with scepticism.

“Normatech kidnapped Lloyd.” Says Skylor.

“And Ella.” Adds Nya.

The chief picks up the bags looking at the spec of paint and two green threads. “How exactly?” 

“They had an underground prison.” Says Skylor while pulling out her phone to show the chief photos of what they found.

“Super creepy, had just been cleaned.” Says Nya.

“And this green thread was stuck between the bed and the wall, I'll bet anything it matches Lloyd's gi.” Says Skylor excitedly.

The chief takes the magnifying glass normally used for painting his model boat and turns it towards the bag. “You want me to shut down one of the largest businesses in Ninjago city because you found a green thread in their basement?” He asks dryly.

“Yes!” Says Nya.

“Not just because of that,” says Skylor, realising she needs more to convince him. “Garmadon could only sense them when he was underground, that basement was deep, built specifically to contain an Oni.”

“Yet it didn't contain one.” Says the chief.

“They have a dozen other facilities,” says Skylor, “we just need to check the rest, and I'm sure we'll find them.”

“I can't allow it.” Says the chief.

“What?” Says Nya and Skylor in unison.

The chief gestures to his phone. “I just got off the phone with the mayor. The CEO of Normatech just called him complaining of unjustified police warrants and the use of criminals to conduct police business.”

Skylor face palms while muttering “Garmadon…”

The chief continues. “You are explicitly forbidden from setting a foot in any other Normatech facility without my express permission.”

“But, he was there!” Pleads Nya. “You're not going to let their influence and money cover this up?”

The chief crosses his arms. “I want to get Lloyd back as much as you two, but I need a bit more to work with than 1 green thread.” The chief sighs. “Continue investigating, just no more raids until you can bring me better proof.”

~~~

There is the sound of a door opening at the end of the hallway. Lloyd watches a guard wearing a full helmet come through. He pushes a cart on top of which is a coche covered plate. He stops in front of Lloyd's cell, taking out a tray from lower down and sliding it through the bars. “Dinner.” He says before moving on. The guard continues, passing a similar tray to Ella. He then escapes Lloyd's view, but he hears the clank of a door being opened and pythor’s excitement “oooh, sssteak today is it?”

Lloyd peels the cover off his tray, but keeps listening, trying to determine if there is a door at the other end as well. Knowing the layout and routine will help with any potential escape. There is the sound of the cart rolling further along the hall, then a pause.

“Abssolutely divine!” Exclaims pythor. “My compliments to the chef!”

After a bit more eating noises, the guard speaks again. “Come on Rush, you know the drill. Gotta pay for your dinner.”

“I'm not hungry.” Says a new voice.

Lloyd raises an eyebrow, so there are more people in here with them?

The guard sighs. “Come on man, you don't want to upset the boss now do you?”

“I think he hass more important thingss to worry about right now.” Says Rush.

“You ain't missing out on much.” Says Ella. “This food is gross.”

“Eat it anyway.” Says Lloyd, "we gotta keep our strength up.”

“Fine.” Says the guard. “Have it your way.”

Lloyd listens as the cart is rolled back down the passageway, and sees a single tray still sitting on the bottom as it rolls on by. The guard swipes at the door, and they are alone once more.

Lloyd picks at his food agreeing with Ella that it isn't very good. “So, Rush was it?” He projects his voice so it can be heard down the other end. “You been here long?”

“Long enough.” Comes a gruff reply.

Lloyd swallows another mouthful as he decides what to ask next. 

“You really the green ninja?” Asks Rush.

“Sure am.” Says Lloyd, “I would prove it with an energy blast, except this vengestone has me pretty much useless right now.”

“And the girl?”

“My sister.” says Lloyd.

“Half sister.” Clarifies Ella.

There is a pause before Pythor chimes in “He is Lloyd alright, I would know that whiney voice anywhere!”

Lloyd rolls his eyes before asking, “Blood from an Oni, scales from an Anacondrai, how exactly do you pay for your dinners Rush?”

“Sspit.” Comes the terse reply.

“You’re Venemari…” states Lloyd. While thinking through the implications.

“Thought I might need it later.” Says Rush, “if there’s sstill room for one more in your esscape plan.”

Chapter Text

The ninja reconvene at the monastery for dinner. It is a glum affair, Misako ladles out hearty portions of soup, which is unenthusiastically picked at. The table is more crowded than normal with Skylor, Wu, Garmadon, Pixal, Misako and 5 ninja gathered around.

“I never realised Ninjago city had so many white vans…” ponders Cole.

“Well if Garmadon took notice of the number plate…” grumbles Jay.

Garmadon huffs. “My powers have found Lloyd once, which is more than can be said of the rest of you!”

“ENOUGH!” Says Wu sternly, while slamming a fist on the table.

“We will find them, but only by working together. If we want to learn from our mistakes today, in order to do better tomorrow, by all means continue this discussion. However,” he pauses, looking between Jay and Garmadon, “now is not the time to lay blame and fight amongst ourselves.”

Garmadon huffs again, but stays silent. Jay picks at his food, staring intently into the bowl.

Wu takes a deep breath and relaxes slightly. “Skylor, what options remain?”

“I have a list of Normatech facilities, but we are not allowed to step foot in them.” She hands a list around the table.

“We have broken the law before, when we needed to.” Says Kai, while looking at Nya.

Wu nods. “We'll keep that in reserve. We won't be able to help Lloyd and Ella from a prison cell.”

“This list is long.” Says Zane. 

“That is just buildings where they are on the deed. There could be more with subleases.” Says Skylor.

“It's a start.” Says Wu. “My brother and I will do a drive by, see if we can narrow it down.”

Garmadon groans. “I'm starting to like the sound of going back to prison.” He grumbles, but does take the list.

“And the rest of us?” Asks Kai.

“One of you should go and water my plants.” Says Garmadon as he places a key on the table. The ninja stare at him with disbelief. “What? I haven't been home in over 2 days. Phileafa is a delicate soul.”

“Fine, whatever.” Says Nya before turning to Skylor, “We talked to Skales, Venemari have been arrested, their friends and family are convinced the charges are false.”

Skylor frowns. “That can't be… I won't be able to look into it until tomorrow. The staff with access to those records would have gone home already.”

“So we're back to doing nothing!” grumbles Jay.

“Not nothing.” Says Wu. “You rest. Prepare your mind and body for the day to come. Tomorrow we rise and we bring them home.” With that he slurps the rest of his soup. “Come brother.” He says before leaving the room with a swish of his tattered cape. Garmadon follows with a stretch and a yawn.

There is a moment of silence before Garmadon sticks his head back in the doorway, “Seriously, someone needs to water my plants.”

“Yeah yeah, we heard you the first time.” Says Kai, then as soon as Garmadon is gone, “Not it!”

“Kai, really?” Says Nya.

“Also not it.” Says Jay, getting a disapproving glare from Nya.

Zane reaches for the key. “I will handle it.” He says calmly. I am one of the more well rested ones, so I am the logical choice.”

Jay storms out of the dining room shortly after Zane claims responsibility over the keys. He is tired, and grumpy, but after being up all night and sleeping all morning, he knows attempting to sleep now would be a pointless endeavour, so instead of heading to his room, he goes out to the courtyard to try and clear his head. There was a calm cool evening breeze gently rustling the nearby trees. A crescent moon shines brightly with only a couple small wispy clouds to keep it company. Everything felt so normal, yet their world was falling apart.

“I knew we should have never let that Oni girl come here…” he mutters. How did things manage to get so bad so quickly? 

“It's not her fault.” Says Cole.

Jay jumps slightly as he turns to see his friend a few steps behind him.

“Don't sneak up on me like that!” he bemoans, before going back to leaning on one of the support poles.

Cole comes closer and sits on the adjacent railing. “Sorry.” He says earnestly, then adds, “I am a ninja you know.” There is a pause before they both let out a hearty chuckle.

It fades, and they sit in companionable silence.

“I know/about…” they both start talking at the same time, then stop. “You go.” Says Jay.

“No, it's fine, you go.” Says Cole.

Jay sighs, “I know it's not her fault.” he says solemnly. “It's just, well, we're working with Garmadon! My usual scapegoat is immune.” He kicks a small pebble across the yard. “And she's Lloyd's sister? Another long lost relative just showing up out of the blue!” He gestures wildly, “Kai's parents came back, Zane found his father, what about me? Where is my family Cole?!” tears start to leak out of Jay's face. 

“Your family is safe in the junkyard.” Says Cole.

“That's not what I meant…” says Jay. Cole knows he was adopted, and both of his birth parents are now deceased. “And what if he stops needing us? Once his real family is put back together, what if he doesn't want us around anymore?” Jay slides his back down the pole he had been leaning on until he is sitting on the ground. He continues to sniffle.

Cole drops from the railing and sits next to Jay on the ground. He places a reassuring arm around his shoulders and pulls him close. “Lloyd really needs us now.” He says. “And I'll always want to have you around.” He feels Jay relax just slightly.

“I know, I'm being ridiculous.” Says Jay.

“Just a little.” Admits Cole, “Families normally don't cut people out when they get bigger. But things will be different.” Jay's sniffles start to slow. “I know what it's like, having a mum who's not coming back.” Jay grabs Cole's hand and gives it a reassuring squeeze. “Your birth dad left you at a junkyard. You don't need him.”

“But what if he had more kids?” Asks Jay. “What if I also have secret half-siblings out there somewhere?” 

“Doubtful,” says Cole, “But if it's important to you, I'll help you look.”

Jay leans in closer, “thanks Cole. You always know what to say.”

They sit together for a while longer, watching the moon, feeling the breeze.

“You were going to say something?” Asks Jay, remembering before.

“Yeah…” says Cole, unsure of where to start. “Um, thanks for looking after me earlier. And sorry about, um, all of it.” He could feel his cheeks starting to burn up.

Jay glances up at Cole’s face, then turns back towards the sky, leaning further into his embrace. “You would have done the same for me. I'll always be there when you need me. No apology required.”

He feels Cole relax. 

They sit together for a while longer, Jay is feeling a lot more settled than when he first stormed out. He lets out a deep breath while listening to the slow rhythmic beating of his friend's heart. As long as they still drew breath, they would keep searching. For Lloyd and his bratty sister. He would learn to like her, if he must… “I just can't believe she broke the TV…” blurts out Jay before realising he wasn't meant to say that bit out loud.

Cole fails to suppress a snort which turns into full on laughter. “Sorry!” He stammers between chuckles. “I think we have bigger problems than the TV!”

“Ok fine! Moment’s ruined!” Says Jay while getting up from the ground and his friend’s embrace, “guess it is time to try and get some sleep.”

~~~

Garmadon finished his half of the list some time ago. He was doubling back and revisiting a couple of sites, but still couldn't sense any Oni, that is except for his brother's presence beaming down on him from above. What was he up to?

Garmadon decides to go and find out. He easily traces his brother, and scales the Ninjago TV tower to find Wu sitting on top, legs crossed, hands out in a meditation pose.

Not wanting to interrupt, Garmadon sits on the side of the building for like 3 seconds before deciding to get up and take a look at the various TV equipment.

Wu sighs, opening his eyes and looking at Garmadon. “You remind me of your son.” He states.

“Hmm.” Says Garmadon as he gives one of the larger dishes a strong flick, listening to how it resonates. “Is Lloyd also interested in telecommunications infrastructure?”

Wu sighs with frustration, “No, but he also has a habit of interrupting my meditations.”

“Hmm.” Says Garmadon again while moving over to look at some mechanical plant.

Wu watches Garmadon for a moment before snapping “What do you want?” 

“Now who's the impatient one?” Sneers Garmadon before turning to face Wu. “I want to find my children.” He crosses his arms, suddenly serious. “I take it you also had no luck with your list?”

“No.” Says Wu. “It is like they just vanished.”

“Or they're asleep.” Says Garmadon. Wu looks at him blankly. “You've been around Lloyd when he's asleep, probably more than me.” Garmadon starts pacing, “He is unnervingly good at masking… are all Oni like that when they sleep? Maybe I should take a nap so you can find out.”

Wu watches him, “You're worried about them.”  he states with mild surprise.

“I'm worried that they haven't escaped yet. Two Oni, my children, should have been able to bust out by now!”

“Your children…” mutters Wu bitterly.

“Yes my children!” Says Garmadon. There is an uncomfortable pause as they glare at each other. “Why does that make you angry?” Asks Garmadon.

“I am not angry with you.” says Wu.

“You're a terrible liar.” Says Garmadon, who sits down, next to Wu, but with a decent distance between them. “Your Oni aura flares when you are angry.”

Wu takes a deep breath, and lets out a sigh. “I always wanted a family.” He says softly. “Children, of my own. To pass down our father's teachings. How is it someone like you gets two children, while I am left with none.”

Garmadon scoffs, “someone like me… you mean someone who is a terrible father?”

“That's not what I meant.” Says Wu.

“Yes it is.” Says Garmadon calmly. “And you're right. I've been a downright shitty father to Lloyd. I've abandoned him, fought him, tried to kill him. And now? Well, any time we spend together is always so… awkward. I don't understand what he wants from me. And this Oni girl, I killed her mother, so she rightfully hates me, and that may never be repaired.”

There is a pause before Wu speaks, “When Lloyd was in trouble with the serpentine, you put your evil plans on hold so you could come and help him. When the ninja went to Chen's island, you went with them to try and keep them safe. When the Oni came to this realm, you helped us to defend it. You have had quite the journey, Lloyd understands that.”

“Still,” says Garmadon, “You have been more of a father to him than I ever was. You took him in when I wasn't around. Read him bedtime stories, taught him right from wrong, taught him how to fight. You have imparted our father's wisdom to the next generation. He would be proud of you.”

“He would be proud of us.” Amends Wu. “You have managed to change, so can she. Very few things can't be repaired. I am hopeful that this family isn't one of them.”

“We just need to find them first.” Says Garmadon as he looks out over the glowing lights of the dark city.

“We will.” Says Wu with confidence.

~~~

Not too long after the lights are dimmed and Pythor makes an over dramatic yawning sound. Lloyd sits on the floor with his back up against Ella's cell thinking over their options. He tries to summon some green power, but the vengestone cuff around his ankle prevents even the smallest spark. He might be able to use Oni form, but he was still not able to summon it at will. Ella could, was there a way to use that? If they just tried to bust out, there would be a large number of guards gathered beyond the door by the time they made it that far, with gas canisters or darts. If they could get escorted to somewhere else they might have more of a chance. Even one person could return with help, or cause enough of a distraction. Bill might talk to him, but he was the one who was powerless…

“How's that plan coming?” Asks Ella.

Lloyd sighs. “It might be going better if I could talk to someone about it.” He glances up at the cameras in the hallway, undoubtedly recording sound as well.

There is a light scurrying sound as a rat crawls into his cell, and then transforms back into Ella.

The lights come back on and a siren blares while 4 guards rush into the room. Two point dart guns at their cell, the others carry clubs and stun sticks. “Halt!” Yells the leader.

Lloyd and Ella raise their hands. “She wasn't trying to escape.” Says Lloyd calmly, “see, she is right here, inside a cell.”

“I was scared.” Sniffles Ella. “I was lonely… it was dark.” 

“The prisoners are to be kept in separate cells!” Says the lead guard.

“Bill wants me to tame her, build trust, I can't do that if we are kept apart.” Says Lloyd, “She is just a child, she wasn't trying to escape.” He reiterates.

The guards look unsure, “You were just speaking of escape!”

“Of how we don't have a plan, you have us well contained, we know we can't get out, she just wanted to be with me.” Says Lloyd. “Please, she is just a child.”

Ella shape shifts into her human form, a little smaller than normal, continuing to whimper, trying to garner more sympathy.

Some guards start lowering their weapons. The lead guard holds a hand up to his ear, listening to someone speaking through the helmet. “Fine, but so much as one foot outside this cell, and there will be trouble.” The guards leave.

“That was risky.” Says Lloyd.

Ella shrugs. “Even if they put me back, we would have had a better idea of what we are up against.” She transforms back into her Oni form, “and now we can whisper about plans.” she adds softly.

Chapter Text

The next morning Lloyd and Ella huddle under the single blanket pretending to sleep. Ella had used her strength to stretch his vengestone cuff and move it to her leg. She had transformed into Lloyd before getting out of the bed banging on the bars.

"Hello! Guards? I want to speak to Bill." She yelled. "I'm ready to negotiate, please!"

Do I really sound like that? Thought Lloyd. He hated sending her instead of going himself, but she had convinced him this would give them the element of surprise.

She paced the cell for a bit, before trying again. "Helloooo? Can you hear me out there?"

Eventually he heard the door open, and a guard approached the cell. "I am here to take you to Bill." She says.

Ella sighs as the cell is unlocked. "Finally." She lifts her head high and tries to focus on acting like Lloyd would. "Be back soon kiddo." She says to the figure under the blanket.

Kiddo? Bill is going to see right through her … Lloyd grinds his teeth as his confidence in this plan dwindles.

Ella is also feeling less than confident. Her heart races as the guards lead her through a maze of corridors and eventually into an elevator. She tries to keep track in order to make an escape later, but still isn't sure which is the way out. Once out of the elevator she sees her first window, but it is very high up. At least we are still in the city . 

They lead her into an office where Bill is sitting behind a very large desk. "I hear you want to negotiate?" He asks with an unnerving smile. "I did hope you would come around."

Lloyd told her to play along, stall, even try a real negotiation, wait for the perfect time to strike. Ella wasn't feeling patient. "You heard wrong." She says while shrinking her foot slightly and slipping it out of the cuff. She jumps over the desk while changing into her Oni form, then holds a glowing purple dagger to Bill's neck. The stunned guards don't know what to do and freeze, looking to Bill for instructions "Your guards will fetch Lloyd then we will leave this place." Snaps Ella, "in exchange I will leave you with your life."

Bill starts to laugh, it starts soft then grows slowly louder. "If I let you go before perfecting the treatments I'll die, so it's not much of a deal is it?"

"You could die right now if you would prefer." She pulls the blade closer to his neck.

"That's the other thing, you think you have me at a disadvantage? A little weak child like you could barely rob a noodle store. You couldn't hurt me if you tried." A blackness spreads down one of Bill's arms and he uses the now black hand to grab the pointy end of the blade and push it away from his neck. Ella could see in the reflections on the guard's helmets that his eyes were glowing purple.

"I'm not weak!" Screams Ella while trying to pull the blade back towards his neck.

"Guards, attack mode." Says Bill. The visors on the helmets go suddenly opaque, Ella can no longer see any trace of the faces underneath. Bill reaches behind to grab Ella and slams her into the table. Her dagger dissipates as she loses focus. The two guards are almost on top of her so she uses a blast of purple power to push everyone back. Paper and knick knacks fly off the desk.

Bill is still laughing as Ella gets on her feet and charges at him once more. They spar with him deflecting and dodging a couple blows. Ella focuses purple power into her fist and aims it at Bill's head with a scream, only to have him catch it with his blackened hand. "Are you done?" He asks with an air of boredom before punching her in the gut. She feels the hand of one of the guards grab onto her and slam her into the floor. Her head is ringing at the impact.

In this moment she realises she isn't going to win. Her energy levels are low, due to all the drugging, lack of proper food, and using most of it to destroy their previous cell. She underestimated Bill, the treatments were affecting him more than they had thought. If it was just him, she might have a chance, but all three? Maybe she really was weak… she tried once more to blast the guards off her with a purple shockwave, but knew it was weaker than normal, it felt like they were sitting on her, and it had little effect.

There was the sound of someone new entering the room. Ella turned her head and could barely see the bottom of a white lab coat. And two more guards.

"I saw the attack order." Says a feminine voice. "Is everything alright in here?"

Bill staggers and clutches the edge of the desk. "Treatment…" he says while gasping. Maybe the fight had taken a toll after all. The lab coat lady attends to him, injecting something while saying "Already? We will soon run dangerously low if you continue to use them at this rate."

Bill sighs as the treatment takes effect. "That is why you will take more blood from the Oni. Now." He gestures to Ella.

"But sir…" she starts to object.

"If she is strong enough to attack me, she is strong enough for another donation."

Ella starts to panic. Struggling against the guards, but her attempts at wriggling just result in more hands holding her down. Lloyd was right they were going to bleed her dry. What would he do if he was here instead of her? The original plan, he would call for help. For the first time in days she was up in a tall tower instead of trapped underground, could she really reach out to Garmadon? Her mother had taught her how to project, in case she was ever in trouble, she took a deep breath and called loudly in her mind ' help me !’ She felt something respond nearby, possibly Lloyd, and pushed out further ' HELP ME! ' this time she felt a presence a lot further away, which could only be her father. She focuses her energy in that direction, ' PLEASE, HELP US! '

"What are you doing?" Says Bill angrily, breaking her concentration. The closer presence must have been him. "Sedate her now!" He yells.

"Right, I'll just get the vial…" says the panicked lady.

"Not quick enough!" Says Bill and his eyes glow purple as his foot comes quickly towards her face.

Ella wakes in the middle of a green field. Large floating rocks scatter the clear blue sky. There is a dragon lying off in the distance, and an old man in a straw hat sitting beside her. When she sees him she startles, getting up, taking a step back and taking a fighting stance. "Who are you? Where am I?" As she rises she notices she is in human form, but she is not currently trying to transform.

"You are safe." Says the old man, he looks a lot like Wu, sounds kind of like Lloyd. "I just wanted to talk to you."

Ella frowns, looking around once more, then back to the man. "You're the first spinjitzu master?" She asks.

"Yes, and that makes you my granddaughter." Ella's stance relaxes slightly. "I heard you calling out for help."

"Yeah," says Ella, "but I was hoping to reach someone more, um, alive?" She looks around the plateau once more. "Wait, does this mean I'm dead?"

"No." Says the first spinjitzu master as he stands to face her, "but you are close. You wanted Garmadon to hear your message, and save you?"

Ella turns away and crosses her arms. "No. I wanted to help myself! But I wasn't strong enough. He was right, I'm weak." She sits back down on the grass.

The first spinjitzu master crouches down putting an arm on her shoulders. "I've been watching you, and you are anything but weak. A great power burns inside you, which you are only just starting to master. You have endured trials that would easily have broken others."

"But I failed… I lost."

"You haven't lost. As long as you still draw breath, there is hope."

"Hope weakens me." She says glumly.

"Hope weakens Oni, but you are more than just an Oni. Life is a matter of balance, what you gain from hope, will far outweigh anything you lose from hoping. You are starting to see this, otherwise you wouldn't have called for help."

He sits down beside her and they watch the dragon give a big yawn.

Ella pulls her knees to her chest, buries her face in her arms and gives a frustrated growl. "Ughnh, why does it have to be Garmadon? Of all the people in the world, why does it have to be him?!" She raises her head. "He killed my mother, I vowed to…" she pauses realising who she is talking to.

"Get revenge?" He finishes for her.

"Yeah." She blushes slightly. "You're going to tell me not to."

"No." He says calmly. "That is a decision only you can make."

"But, isn't that why you brought me here? So you can impart some godly wisdom and fix my poor broken soul, putting me on the true path of righteousness?" She says sarcastically.

"When you leave this place, it will feel like a dream, and eventually you won't remember a thing."

"Then why am I here!?" She yells. "What's the point of this if I won't remember it?"

"Because in this moment you needed comfort, and I very much wanted to meet you." He smiles warmly, laying a hand on her shoulder once more. "No matter what happens, I'm glad you are a part of this family."

"How can you say that? I just said I want to kill your son, why are you being so nice to me? I don't deserve it, I haven't done anything worthy of your praise." Ella sniffles as tears start to form in her eyes.

"Why would I judge you on actions you are yet to commit? Your story is only just beginning, inside you is the potential for great good, and great darkness, only you have the power to choose how it will end."

"You sound like Lloyd." Says Ella, wiping a tear from her eye, but she pauses as she starts to hear whispers of Lloyd calling her name.

"It's time for you to go." Says the first spinjitzu master. "Remember this Ella. Help is on the way."

Chapter Text

The sun creeps over the horizon, painting colours in the dark sky, and bathing the city in a soft warm glow.

Garmadon had an excellent view of this everyday miracle from the top of the TV tower. He had recently woken, swapping with Wu for lookout duty. They weren't sure they would be able to sense anything from up here anyway, but it felt right to have someone watching, waiting, ready.

Garmadon shifts into a meditation stance just like Wu had been doing before. He breathes slowly, trying to feel the world as it is just a little more clearly. He doesn't know exactly why he feels like copying Wu right now, just that it feels right. All he has to do is breathe. In and out. He loses touch with time, lost in the rhythm of breathing and feeling, it could have been 5 minutes since the sun had risen, or three hours. In and out.

Something buzzes in his mind. Help me… Garmadon's eyes instantly fly open as he stands and turns to face the direction the feeling was coming from.

“Wu!” He says, trying to wake his brother.

PLEASE HELP US! The second time was much clearer, he corrects the direction slightly and focuses in on the area with the correct range.

“Wu!” Garmadon yells again, only to be interrupted by a hand gripping his shoulder. “I felt it.” Wu confirms before lifting a hand to his earpiece. “Pixal, we have a confirmed location.”

Wu grabs his staff and heads towards the ladder, “I better get back down to my vehicle.”

“Too slow.” Says Garmadon, “it's time to fly.” He forms a full Oni mask and sprouts wings. He stares at Wu waiting for him to do the same. “Let me guess, you can't grow Oni wings?” He asks Wu.

“Um,” Wu scratches the back of his head, “I was never very good at shape shifting.”

Garmadon rolls his eyes. “You are just as bad as Lloyd!” He says grumpily before grabbing Wu in a bear hug and taking to the sky.

~~~

Lloyd watches on in horror as two guards drag a limp Ella into her cell.

"Ella? ELLA?" he calls out with no response, the guards ignore him and quickly leave.

He starts to panic, they wouldn't bring her back here if she is dead would they? "Ella! Please, can you hear me?" He should have been the one to confront Bill, but he had done it again, sent the wrong person into battle, and he was not losing her the same way he lost her mother. He needed to feel angry, angry at Bill, angry at himself for letting her go, angry that she was hurt. He felt his eyes glowing as he took a swing at the wall between their cells. His fist met the brickwork with a solid thud and a trickle of blood. Not angry enough. 

"Lloyd, what iss it you are doing over there?" Says Pythor.

Lloyd focuses purple power to his hands and directs a blast towards the wall where a crack starts to form. Screaming he punches the crack with glowing fists, seeing the brickwork crack and rattle.

"You're going to get uss in trouble." Bemoans Pythor.

One final charge with his shoulder brings down enough of the wall for Lloyd to scramble into Ella's cell. He rushes over to her pulling her up into his lap. "Ella, Ella! Please be ok." His eyes fade as tears start to trickle down his face. It is hard to tell if she is bruised in her Oni form. There is a concerning looking gash on her head, bumps, and other scrapes with smudges of dried blood. As a tear falls on her face she opens her eyes slowly.

"Where am I?" She croaks, squinting at Lloyd. "Where'd he go?" She tries to look around but stops when a bout of dizzyness overcomes her.

"Oh thank goodness." Says Lloyd with relief. "I thought I'd lost you. They brought you back to your cell. What happened?" 

Ella felt dazed, like there was something very important just slipping away. "There was a dragon…" 

"A dragon here?" Asks Lloyd, "did you hit your head?" Her responses are slow, eyes barely half open and he definitely noticed when she failed to get up.

"Help…" starts Ella, then forgets what she was trying to say, what was she trying to remember, why was it so hard? "Help is coming." She closes her eyes for a moment trying to remember but whatever she was dreaming about before was gone.

"You called for help?" Asked Lloyd. That hadn't been part of the plan. Hadn't been something he expected her to try. "They heard you?"

Ella opens her eyes once more. "I think so. But so did Bill. You were right, the treatments aren't working. He is gaining Oni powers, but it doesn't last very long."

"They took more blood?" Asks Lloyd tracing his fingers over her elbows.

"Yeah. And he'll come for more as soon as it runs out."

"It's only been days!" Grumbles Lloyd, "you are meant to wait weeks between donations."

"Well that would explain why I feel like shit." Ella turns her head and notices the large hole in the wall. "Oh hey, You redecorated?"

"Yeah." Says Lloyd. "Thought it was my turn to strength test these cells."

"You know when you break things, the aim is to break out right?" Says Ella.

"Pythor was worried we would get in trouble." Sighs Lloyd, "but I need to get you out of here. And quick.”

~~~

“How can I still be this tired after coffee?” yawns Cole while fidgeting with his empty mug. Most of the ninja had come to the city early so they would be close by should they be required. Zane and Pixal were still at the monastery, the rest of them are currently spread between two booths at a central cafe. Skylor glances at her watch for the hundredth time. “The chief will be in soon. Maybe we can convince him to let us do more raids.”

“Or at least get some info on the Venemari arrests.” Adds Nya.

Suddenly they all hear a cracking in their earpieces. “We found them.” Says Wu before specifying the address.

They had already been going over maps, Nya pulls out the correct one and circles a building. “The hospital?” Asks Jay with surprise.

“He said the location might not be exact.” Clarifies Nya.

“It's close enough.” Says Kai, standing ready to go.

“Wait,” says Skylor pointing to the building adjacent the hospital. “This is a small prison, for prisoners with high medical needs…”

“And?” Says Kai.

“I just have a bad feeling about this.” Says Skylor.

“Kai's right.” Says Jay. “We can figure it out when we get there. We can't let them get moved again.”

~~~

It is a relatively short flight from the TV tower to the hospital. As they get closer Garmadon easily identifies the penthouse office where the call had come from. “Hold your staff out like a spear.” 

“What are you planning?” Says Wu with an ayre of concern, but compiles, holding his staff out like a spear in front of them.

“You'll see.” Sneers Garmadon, “And get ready for some spinjitzu.'' He gains height before going into an angled dive towards the full height window. In the last moment Garmadon adds some spin, a gold and purple spinjitzu spiral forms around the staff as they collide with the window.

The glass shatters as both brothers tumble into the room, their Ninja abilities evident as they manage to somersault into a fighting stance. They quickly take in the room. Bill sits behind a sturdy office desk. One guard stands in front of the desk to his right, stunned by their entrance. Another lies on the floor to the left of Bill, knocked down by Garmadon's entrance. He starts reaching for a weapon so Garmadon steps on his hand until he hears a crack. The guard yelps in pain, but stops moving.

“They're not here.” Says Wu looking around the room.

Bill watches with excitement as a drop of dark blood falls to the floor. Garmadon pulls a shard of glass out of his face as he finishes examining the room. Wu removes one from his hand, they both have some scratches, but nothing serious. Here he was worrying about his Oni blood supply and two more Oni fly into his room! If only he could capture them both, that could solve his current predicament. With his latest treatment still being fresh, he felt unstoppable, but could he take on two ninja masters at once? The guards would help a bit, but one was already down. The other stood a trembling mess, clutching his electric baton in a weak pose.

There is a tremble in the building and the tingling of another Oni presence.

“Below.” Say the brothers in unison before heading for the door.

“Guards, capture mode.” Says Bill as their visors turn pitch black, the standing guard stops shaking, and the injured one stops whimpering. Wu spins around to see what is happening, barely dodging a dart as it whistles past his head.

Garmadon pauses at the doorway.

“Go. Find your family.” Says Wu. “I've got this.”

Garmadon nods before heading out the door. 

Perfect, thinks Bill, let them split up, divide and conquer. I take down Wu and let Garmadon corner himself in the basement. The building trembles once more. Whatever was happening downstairs would have to wait. Bill lets the guards go first, the injured one manages to stand, loading up another shot in the dart gun while Wu fends off the stun club with his staff. It is unfortunately quite obvious that even their hypnotised warriors are no match for a true master. When the guard is knocked aside the injured one takes another shot, this time Wu blocks it with his staff, then sweeps the shooter off his feet, taking the weapon from a surprised grip and breaking it over his knee.

“What have you done to them?” Asks Wu, with thinly veiled rage.

“What have I done to them?” Says Bill as black scales creep up his arms, and his hands stretch into long pointy claws. “You are the one hurting them!” His eyes glow purple as he puts his hands under the heavy desk, flipping it and throwing the whole thing at Wu. Wu is unable to dodge something so big, and braces for the impact. He is pushed back across the room, thrown into an unbroken section of window, which cracks, but doesn't break. Not liking being cornered between a heavy upturned desk and a cracked window, Wu leaps over the desk only to be slugged in the face by Bill.

“You should be more concerned with what I have done to myself!” Says Bill who is smiling maniacally.

The punches keep coming, Wu is barely able to get his balance between blows. Bill is fast, and strong, but Wu has fought stronger.

Wu starts to parry the blows, pushing Bill back slightly towards the open window.

Wu swings his staff towards Bill who grabs it in both hands, laughing as they pause, wrestling for the staff. “You think a splinter like this is enough to stop me?”

Wu suddenly releases his grip on the staff, ducking down low while Bill loses his balance. Bill feels a prick in his thigh, then looks down to see one of the darts from earlier sticking through his pants.

“What? How?” He stammers.

“Your guard shot at me, twice.” Says Wu as Bill starts to stagger. “If that isn't enough we can try adding a second?” He reveals the second dart in his hand.

Bill flails for the intercom before going down, staff clattering to the ground.

~~~

The Ninja arrive in front of the hospital in a matter of minutes. The prison building adjacent has an attached tower that is around 10 stories tall and has a big Normatech sign near the top.

“Well, I think we're at the right place.” Says Kai.

“Why wasn't it on my list?” Mutters Skylor.

“I guess they don't own the building?” Says Nya.

“Well if it isn't owned by Normatech, that means we can raid it, right?” Says Jay eagerly while pulling out a weapon.

“Why don't we try asking first.” Says Cole. “Skylor is with the police, they might just let her in. Say we are here to visit a prisoner.”

“Fine.” Jay puts away his weapon.

Cole and Skylor go into the lobby and start talking with the security guard. Kai is examining the building from the outside, looking for other possible entries, or security features. 

Jay looks off into the surroundings, scanning streets for suspicious white vans until something draws his gaze upwards. “Um, what is that?” He says pointing at what could be mistaken as a black bat, except bats usually weren't seen flying at this time of day, and it was quickly getting bigger. 

Kai and Nya join him in squinting at the mystery object. “Is that… Garmadon?” Asks Nya.

The winged creature gains some height then turns into a spinjitzu funnel and smashes into the top floor of the building.

“Watch out!” Says Kai as he pushes the other two under the eaves. Broken glass smashes on the ground where they had been standing.

Inside, at the sound of the impact the security guard decides to lock down the building. A heavy shutter starts rolling down over the turnstiles, “Ok, so asking didn't work.” Says Cole as he manages to wedge his hammer under the shutter and everyone takes turns squeezing through.

Despite being through the first obstacle a significant number of guards start to gather in the main lobby. They all wear full face helmets and carry a mix of electric batons, and dart guns. The 5 in the front have a neon stripe incorporated into their uniforms and have more unique weapons which the team instantly recognise.

“Not these guys again!” Whines Jay.

“I don't know what you’re talking about!” Says the leader. “I've never seen you lot before.” He waves a sword towards the group.

“Um, we are the ninja?” Says Jay sarcastically “protectors of the city, elemental masters, somewhat famous around these parts, you might have heard of us.”

“Not to mention the fact we've all met before.” Adds Cole.

“That's a pretty good Jay impression,” says the leader, “but you look nothing like him.” He turns to face Cole, “your Cole voice needs a bit of work, also why would the ninja be trying to break into a prison?”

“None of you recognise us?” Asks Kai in disbelief.

“Looks like common thugs to me.” Says one of the other neon striped guards. The rest nod and mutter affirmatives.

“Well, I'll prove it!” Says Kai who tries to make a big fire ball, but is only able to briefly make a small flame. “What was that?”

“Watch out, he has a lighter!” Declares the leader.

“Most prison buildings have started to incorporate vengestone into the building structure.” Says Skylor.

Kai groans, then cracks his shoulders and pulls out his sword. “Guess we are doing this the old fashioned way.”

The other ninja all pull out weapons. “But why can't they recognise us?” Mutters Nya. “Could it be the visors?”

Jay raises an eyebrow at the thought. “Hmm, let's find out.” 

The team starts to advance, and a brawl starts with each neon guard pairing off with a ninja. The other regular guards stand back near the lifts, unsure how to support the situation. Jay is wrestling with the yellow striped guard. She grabs onto his weapon and a regular guard decides it would be a good opportunity to take a shot with the dart gun. Jay yanks his weapon at just the right time making the dart hit his yellow striped opponent. “Thanks!” He calls out as the yellow stripe slumps to the floor. “Now let's see about this helmet.” He yanks off the helmet and examines it briefly before putting it on. He looks over at the other fighters. “Whoa!” He exclaims. “Augmented reality, you guys really look like some common thugs.”

Chapter Text

Garmadon races out of Bill’s office, turning left but quickly reaching a dead end. A man dressed in a lab coat gives a small scream and drops what he is holding when he sees Garmadon.

“Where are the elevators?” Asks Garmadon calmly. The man points in the other direction while trembling.

“Hmm” says Garmadon, deciding the man is not a threat before racing off down the way he was pointing. He quickly finds the elevators, but both cars are near the bottom of the building.

“Too slow.” He mutters before forcing one of the doors open. He jumps onto the cable and slides down the 8 or so stories before he reaches the passenger car. He opens the roof hatch, looking inside to see another startled lab assistant is the lone occupant of the lift.

She starts to scream, so Garmadon flips into the car and pushes her against the wall covering her mouth. He sighs, “I don't want to hurt you, but now is not the time to be carrying on like that.” She nods, so Garmadon loosens his grip, then steps away. “Do you know where they are keeping my son?” He asks hopefully.

“Basement.” She says nervously.

Garmadon turns to the button panel, but there are multiple basement levels. “Hmm” he says while scratching his chin. She leans over, swipes her access pass and presses B2. G is already illuminated. “Thanks.” Says Garmadon and they wait awkwardly for the doors to open.

The elevator dings and the doors open revealing a lobby in the middle of an all out brawl. It is chaos of guards, ninja, weapons and yelling. “Is this your floor?” Asks Garmadon flatly as a guard is seen flying through the air.

“Um, I think I'd rather come with you.” She says feebly.

Garmadon shrugs and presses the close door button.

They faintly hear Nya yell “is that Garmadon in the elevator?” As the doors slide shut.

The doors open again revealing a less chaotic, and smaller lobby. Garmadon steps out of the elevator first, pausing to look down both directions of the hallway.

“That way.” Says the woman pointing to the right. “Third door on your right then second on your left. And you'll need this.” She hands him her access pass. Garmadon looks at the pass which reads Jaki.

“Why are you helping me Jaki?” He asks. 

“I believed in the science, but Bill took it too far. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I might go lock myself in a bathroom for a few hours while this blows over.”

Garmadon follows her directions, feeling Oni presence growing stronger with every step. As he turns a corner he sees a guard peering through a small window on the door he was planning to go through. A banging noise can be heard on the other side. The guard’s right hand flutters between his radio and the door handle, unsure how to deal with the situation. He clutches a dart gun in his left. He has left his back completely exposed. 

Garmadon pauses wondering what to do, the logical thing would be to take him out, a quick blow to the head would do the trick, but was that the compassionate option? Head injuries were a risky business, and he didn't know the extent of this individual’s involvement with the imprisonment of his children.

Garmadon walks quietly up behind the guard then says “excuse me!” in a loud confident tone.

The guard just about jumps out of his skin dropping the dart gun and bumping into the wall as he tries to turn around.

Garmadon picks up the weapon. “You dropped this.” He says while checking to see if it is loaded, then shoots the guard in the leg.

The guard stares at Garmadon in horror, unable to form words as he quickly loses consciousness.

This style of dart gun needs to be reloaded after each shot, so Garmadon drops the now useless weapon, and uses Jaki’s pass to swipe the panel beside the door which chirps cheerfully before swinging open. The banging becomes louder now that the door is open. The first cell is empty, but there is a hole in the wall leading to the second cell where he sees Lloyd banging the bars with a half broken brick. His eyes are purple and tiny little horns protrude from his head, he is covered in sweat and dust and flecks of blood, strength obviously waning.

“What are you doing?” Says Garmadon.

Lloyd stops banging, looks towards Garmadon and drops the brick. “Dad! You came!” He says with relief, his horns recede and eyes go back to their normal green. He slides down the dented bars, dropping to his knees.

“Of course I came.” Says Garmadon. “Although it was a bit difficult figuring out where to go.”

“I'm trying to get us out.” Babbles Lloyd, “I have to get her out.” Garmadon looks over to where Ella is lying on the ground of the cell. “Please, help me break these bars.”

Instead Garmadon taps the access pass on the wall panel and the door swings open. Lloyd laughs sarcastically at how easily it opened. “That works.” He says before going and picking up Ella.

“What's wrong with her?” Asks Garmadon.

He sees her open her eyes briefly at being moved.

“She's lost a lot of blood.” Says Lloyd. “And her head is injured.”

“Maybe I should take her.” Suggests Garmadon, as Lloyd seems a little unsteady on his feet. 

“No.” Says Lloyd. “I’m too weak to fight right now, which means you need to protect us. I can do this.”

“What about me! You sssaid I could help, I'll protect you!” yells a voice down the end of the hallway.

“Oh, right.” Says Lloyd, “the Venemari down the end wants to help with the escape. Can you let him out?”

Garmadon walks past Pythor to let out the Venemari, who once freed runs over to assist Lloyd.

“What about me?” Bemoans Pythor. “You're not just going to leave me here all alone?” 

Garmadon pauses, looking to Lloyd. “What about him?”

“He didn't want to help.” Says Lloyd with exhaustion, “we need to go.” Lloyd and Rush start making their way out past the collapsed guard.

Garmadon pauses, considering Pythor. It wasn't so long ago that he was behind bars just waiting for a second chance to show he could do something good. “When I ssaid I didn't want to help,” says Pythor, “I didn't mean that I wanted to be left here all alone, trapped and helplesss, have some compassion!”

Garmadon raises an eyebrow and taps the card again, opening the cell.

“I can't believe that worked.” Remarks Pythor while slithering out of the cell. 

Garmadon grabs him by the neck and leans in so their eyes are locked. “If you ever cause trouble for my family ever again, I will personally hunt you down and make you wish you had stayed in this cell.”

Pythor gulps and nods meekly. “Of, of course.” He squeaks.

Garmadon loosens his grip, turns and races after his children. I'm getting so good at this compassion thing , he thinks to himself with a slight grin as he passes the collapsed guard once more.

~~~

“Let's see what they see shall we?” says Jay while slipping on the stolen helmet. “Whoa! You guys look like criminals! Striped outfits and all, these must have some sort of augmented reality processing.”

“Ok, so we break the helmets?” Says Nya while continuing to spar with her combatant. 

“They're pretty good at protecting their heads!” Says Kai as yet another slash of his blade is blocked.

“There's something else…” says Jay, voice slowing, “a voice? No… eyes?”

“Jay?” Calls out Cole, but Jay is frozen, staring blankly into space. Cole is closest and strains to look past his opponent to assess the situation.

“I think you need to get that helmet off him!” Yells Skylor.

The hammer guard uses Cole's distraction as an opportunity to take another swing. Cole barely dodges, slipping slightly. He anticipates a follow up attack and braces to block the blow with his own hammer, but no strike comes. Instead he looks up to see his opponent heading towards Jay, hammer high above his head. Cole's heart drops, Jay is not moving at all. “Jay! Look out!” He yells, voice cracking while he sprints towards his friend knowing he will be too late. The hammer collides with Jays left leg making a crunching sound and sweeping him off his feet. Jay's helmeted head collides with the ground, a large crack running up the visor. The guard raises his hammer for another blow, but Cole arrives in time to block this one, placing himself between the two and supporting his own hammer in two hands above his head as the weapon strikes it, the metallic clang reverberating around the room.

Behind him Jay cries out in pain before ripping the damaged helmet from his head.

“Jay! Are you ok??” Asks Cole.

“Ow! What the fuck? Why does it feel like my leg is broken?” Replies Jay intermingled with suppressed sounds of pain.

“Can you move?” Asks Cole, concerned about how close hammer guy is to his injured friend.

“I just said my leg is broken!” Says Jay who manages to push himself up into a seated position, but that movement is enough to trigger another loud cry of pain. “Yup, moving is a very bad idea..” he pants.

Hammer guy takes another swing, and Cole blocks him again. “This would be so much easier if we weren't surrounded by vengestone!” Declares Cole. He is not enjoying facing off against someone with more physical strength than himself, which is not something he has much practice with.

The clang of weapons colliding pulls Jay's focus back away from his leg to the rest of the room. The hammer guy is definitely too close for comfort. The rest of the ninja are wrapped up in their own conflicts, unable to pull away and help. He can't move, but there has got to be something he can do to help. His eyes scan the room and then stick to the discarded helmet. The screen is busted, and the back is sparking. Jay picks it up once more.

“The helmets, they play some sort of hypnobrai recording!” Yells Jay to the group.

“We are already targeting the helmets!” Complains Kai.

Jay pulls open the back panel where his helmet is sparking. Even surrounded by vengestone he is still the master of lighting. The tingling of the sparks is a nice distraction from the pain in his leg. He manages to pull out the busted battery pack, and amplifies the fault slightly with his dampened powers.

“Cole, can you bring him closer?” Jay asks.

“Closer? You sure about that?” Cole grunts as he blocks yet another heavy blow.

“Trust me.” Says Jay.

Hammer guy takes another swing at Cole expecting him to block. Cole instead hooks his own hammer onto the shaft of his enemy, redirecting the momentum, getting him off balance and spinning him towards Jay. Jay takes the opportunity of momentary disorientation to lob the faulty battery directly into his head, the sparking amplifies as soon as it makes contact. Hammer guy drops his weapon and falls to one knee as he pulls off the sparking helmet, throwing it to one side. Cole repositions himself to be back between Jay and the hammer guy once more. Hammer guy blinks a few times while looking around the room. “When did the ninja get here?” He asks.

“We've been here the whole time!” Snarls Nya from across the room.

“Your boss has been using these helmets to brainwash you, alter your reality.” Says Jay before clenching his teeth as another jolt of pain shoots up his leg.

“Would you mind helping us to knock some sense into your buddies?” Asks Cole hopefully. “We are just here to rescue Lloyd who was kidnapped by your crooked boss.”

Hammer guy stands up leaving his hammer on the floor and pulls out a stun stick from his belt. “I have more questions, but they can wait.” he says while striking Kai's opponent directly in the face.

The tide of the battle shifts, and it is a matter of minutes before all the helmets have been deactivated or removed.

Cole finds a broken chair leg which he uses to splint Jay's leg. There are a few loud expletives from Jay as it is attached.

“Stop! Please, no more!” Begs Jay.

“All done.” Says Cole. “No more moving until we find a doctor.” Jay starts trying to sit up. “What did I just say?” Says Cole while pushing him back down. 

“But we have to keep going,” says Jay, “We have to find Lloyd..”

“ You don't have to do anything.” Says Cole. “The others will keep going. They will find him.”

“Fine. Well what are you waiting for? I'm fine, get going!” Orders Jay.

“I'm not going anywhere.” Declares Cole. “Can't leave you alone in your state.” He frowns as he notices Jay is looking a little pale and clammy. He takes off his shirt, lying it on top of Jay like a blanket.

“And what is that for?” Asks Jay. “Now isn’t the time for showing off your muscles.” His speech is uneven, coming between bursts of pain.

“Treatment for shock.” Says Cole. “Just in case.”

“I'm the master of lighting!” Says Jay weakly, “a little shock can't hurt me!”

Cole smiles. “Not that kind of shock.”

At that moment, one of the elevators ding. Everyone still standing goes on high alert, pointing their weapon towards the elevator. The doors slide open revealing master Wu. Everyone relaxes.

“Ah good, you are all here.” Says Wu as he steps out of the elevator. “I require medical assistance for Bill, can you get those shutters open?” 

“Working on it!” Says Skylor who is currently in the security station with one of the neon ninja.

The adjacent elevator dings, everyone snaps back onto high alert. The doors open revealing Garmadon and a Venemari. The Venemari skittishly raises his hands. The ninja lower their weapons and Kai assures the guards “it's ok, he's with us.”

Garmadon and the Venemari step out of the elevator revealing Lloyd standing behind them holding Ella.

“Lloyd?” Stammers Kai, running towards him.

Lloyd takes two steps out of the elevator, squinting as he tries to focus on the shapes which sound like his friends.

Garmadon senses his unsteadiness and quickly grabs Ella in one arm and the collar of Lloyd's shirt in his other just in time for Lloyd to faint. “A little help?” He says. Kai arrives and helps lower Lloyd slowly to the ground, not wanting to add more blunt trauma to his list of injuries. “What's wrong with them?” He asks.

“Hmm. They've lost a lot of blood.” Says Garmadon. “A doctor should be called.”

Once lying down Lloyd comes to. “Kai? Is that you?” He starts trying to sit up.

“Whoa there.” Says Kai. “You just fainted, take it easy.”

“Ella?” Lloyd asks, panicked.

“Don't worry, I caught her.” Says Garmadon.

The shutters open to reveal Zane and the police chief coordinating a large quantity of emergency vehicles. Fire trucks, police cars and ambulances are scattered out front with lights flashing.

“Finally, it's over.” Says Lloyd as he allows his body to relax. His friends and family came for them, just like he knew they would. They were safe.

Chapter Text

Kai was helping Skylor and other police officers process all the guards and other workers at the building. Some medics had set up a first aid area to treat minor injuries, most of the significant injuries had already been transported to the hospital, which included Lloyd, Ella and Jay. Statements were being taken, evidence collected. One thing was becoming clear to Skylor; there had to be a mole in the police. Someone who shared more information with Normatech than strictly required. How else would they have known about Ella and where she was staying? How else would they have covered up the unjust imprisonment of Rush, or arranged for Pythor’s transfer? Pythor had also conveniently disappeared, but that was a problem for another day.

~~~

Once Rush had been processed, Nya personally escorted him back to the serpentine. After a big long hug with his elder brother, the Venemari child hugged and thanked Nya.

“No, thank you,” she says in response, crouching down to be at his level, “Thank you for trusting me, your information helped us find him and our friends.”

~~~

Bill wakes up slowly, his eyelids are heavy, head fuzzy, he tries to lift a hand to wipe his face, and realises it is bound to the bed with leather straps. Blue glowing eyes glisten in the corner of the room.

“What have you done to me?” Asks Bill. “Where am I?”

“You are in a hospital room.” Says a smooth robotic voice. “You are recovering from an interesting type of tranquilliser that is apparently derived from spider widow venom.”

“Strong enough to stop even an Oni.” Says Bill.

“Yet this version is no longer deadly to humans.” Zane steps closer to the bed, into the light where he can be more easily recognised.

Bill examines his situation more closely. He is hooked up to some medical machines, there is an oxygen tube in his nose, he has restraints on his arms and feet. The black Oni skin is yet to recede from his right arm, which is a worrying sign, it wasn't meant to be permanent... The rest of him appears human and feels like crap.

“What time is it?” He asks.

“You were unconscious for close to 12 hours.” Says Zane.

No wonder he feels like crap, he was due for another treatment. “Where's Jaki? I need my medicine.” He commands.

“I think you are misunderstanding my purpose here.” Says Zane. “I am here to ensure you do not leave this room. You will not be receiving any more Oni blood. The doctors will make you comfortable, and do what they can to treat you with regular medicine. If you survive, you will face trial for what you have done.”

Bill scoffs. “What I have done? I have brought medicine into the modern age! If I survive… oh I understand your purpose here perfectly! You are here because you want a front row seat to my demise.”

Zane goes back to his position by the door. “Think what you wish.” He says flatly.

“You're killing me! You realise this? Without that blood I will die! There are 6 more treatments already prepared, useless to anybody else, so bring them here.” Bill yells, spit flying out of his mouth.

Zane doesn't respond.

He continues to yell obscenities until he tires.

Zane looks on from his corner. He wondered if Ella would gain pleasure from seeing Bill like this? He wasn't enjoying the show. It reminded him of his father, he had come to die in this hospital, old, hooked up to various machines. But he had Zane to hold his hand, to comfort him in those final moments. People shouldn't die alone, even people like Bill.

Some time later there is a knock at the door. Zane opens it revealing Cyrus Borg and Pixal pushing his chair from behind. Once inside the room Pixal goes to stand with Zane, and Cyrus wheels himself closer to Bill.

“How is he?” Asks Pixal to Zane.

“Like you care.” Snaps Bill.

“He is struggling to come to terms with his situation.” Says Zane calmly. “We suspect the treatments have disrupted emotional regulation.”

“Ah.” Says Pixel with understanding.

Borg examines Bill with concern.

“Are you also here to bear witness to my downfall?” Snaps Bill.

Borg's eyes are full of sadness as he responds. “I'm just here to visit an old friend who isn't doing so well.”

Borg reaches out and places a hand on Bill's more human looking hand.

Bill flinches, but doesn't pull away. He searches Borg’s face for any traces of insincerity, but fails to find any. After a while he speaks. “I didn't mean to hurt anyone…” gasps Bill, tears starting to form on his face.

“I know.” Says Borg.

“I just wanted more time.”

“I know.”

“I was jealous of you, I wanted to outshine you one last time.”

“You are my mentor.” Says Borg. “Everything I do, is a testimony to your skills. The stage is big enough for us both.”

“I think my performance is coming to an end.”

“It was one hell of a show.” Says Borg, gripping his hand tight.

“It is getting harder to breathe.” says Bill, so Pixal goes to fetch a nurse.

~~~

Cole has been sitting with Jay since they brought him back from surgery, waiting for him to wake up. Jay is normally bouncing around the place, talking, fidgeting, it doesn't feel right seeing him lying so still, and so vulnerable. A knot of guilt twists around in Cole's stomach, if only I had gotten to him sooner . Cole reaches out and squeezes one of Jay's hands, and is surprised when it squeezes back.

Jay starts to stir, eyelids fluttering. “Hey there.” Says Cole warmly, giving another squeeze. He then looks around the ward waving to one of the nurses, “he's waking up.” 

“Hey..” says Jay, a little hoarse and groggy, he looks around the room, smiling when he sees Cole. The nurse comes over to do a neural check, asking his name, where he is, and gets him to follow a light with his eyes. Part way through the light tracing Jay pauses, distracted by the sight of his legs, “um, I might be seeing double, or are both of my legs in casts?”

“Your eyesight is fine.” Says the nurse with a smile, “I'll go get the doctor to explain the surgical outcomes.”

“It's ok, she briefed me earlier.” Says Cole. The nurse nods and ducks away to the next patient.

“How bad is it?” Asks Jay, lines of worry starting to show on his face.

“Don't worry, you'll be back on your feet in no time, or well, more like 8 weeks.” Jay groans, already loathing sitting still for that long. “Turns out Bruno hit your left leg with such force that it slammed into your right leg and caused a hairline fracture in that one as well. They didn't do any surgery on your right, the cast is just to stop you using it before it has a chance to heal.” 

Jay stares at his legs, they do at least hurt less than before. “And the left?” He asks.

Cole sighs, “It wasn't good. Multiple complex fractures, the surgery took hours, they needed to put in a couple of pins, to help put the bones back together.”

Jay raises an eyebrow, “Pins? Like made of metal?”

“Yeah, I think so?” Says Cole, scratching his head as he tries to remember exactly what the doctor said.

Jay starts laughing, it starts soft but keeps growing. “What's so funny?” Asks Cole with confusion.

“I'm the lightning ninja!” Exclaims Jay with a big grin on his face, “and they just put a lightning rod IN MY LEG! I can't wait to see how it feels to channel lightning with this.” He lifts his left leg slightly, and immediately regrets it, wincing as pain shoots up his body.

“Yeah, definitely too early to be moving it.” Says Cole while handing Jay a button on a lead. “For the pain.” He explains, “if it gets too much, press this and you get more pain meds. The good kind.” Cole winks.

Jay takes the button, but doesn't press it, not yet, he only just woke up and doesn't want to get all groggy again so soon.

“Thanks Cole,” says Jay while looking at the button, “for staying with me, I, well, I'd probably be freaking out right now if I was here alone.” he smiles as he turns to face Cole then pauses as he sees Cole's face barely holding back tears.

“It's all my fault!” Blubbers Cole, “I didn't get to you in time, I couldn't protect you.. I.. I misread my opponent, I thought he was taking another swing at me, so I protected myself, and by the time I realised he was going for you.. I couldn't get to you in time.. I'm so sorry!” Cole hangs his head as his shoulders start to shake with suppressed sobs.

“Hey, you didn't do this.” Says Jay calmly. “I'm the one who chose to put unknown tech on my head, in the middle of a fight.” Cole looks up, and Jay holds out a hand towards him. As Jay is unable to move, Cole shifts his chair a bit closer and tentatively reaches out for Jay's hand. Jay snatches Cole’s hand as soon as it gets close, squeezing it tight. “You might not have stopped the first blow, but I saw you block the dozen that followed. And then you took care of me, splinting my leg, keeping me calm, staying by my side, even giving me your shirt.” Jay snickers slightly remembering Cole trying to act all serious with no shirt. “This isn't your fault, ok?”

The knot in Cole's stomach starts to unravel. “Ok.” He says, squeezing Jay's hand.

“And we did it, we found them.” adds Jay. “How are Lloyd, and Ella doing?”

“Better than you.” teases Cole with a grin. “Their recovery should be quick, they both have a few scrapes, and Ella needed a blood transfusion, but they’ll pull through.”

Jay relaxes back into the bed, “Good, that’s good.” he says, loosening his grip on Cole’s hand. As they had been speaking the pain from his left leg had grown from a dull ache, to a loud throbbing that was hard to ignore. “I think I need to press this button now.” He says tiredly.

Cole nods, “I'll be here when you wake up.”

~~~

Ella wakes up slowly, she is lying in a soft bed, too soft to be the bed in her cell. Opening her eyes she sees ceiling tiles with large panel lights and an air vent. 

"Ella? Are you awake?" She hears Lloyd over to her left and looks over to see him grab her hand. Both of his hands are bandaged, one stops at the wrist the other continues up his arm.

"Where am I?" She croaks. She still feels like crap, head pounding from where Bill had kicked her.

"The hospital." Says Lloyd, "it is actually right next door to where we were being held."

Ella starts to take in the rest of her surroundings, seeing a cannula protruding from her right arm. Her wounds had been redressed, wrapped in white bandages matching Lloyd’s. Tracing the tube with her eyes reveals Garmadon slouching in a chair to her right, reading a newspaper and with a similar cannula in his arm.

"What is he doing here?" She snarls, while attempting to sit up.

"Whoa, easy." Says Lloyd, who starts raising the head of the bed with the controls while encouraging her to lean back. "He's giving you some blood, the doctor said you were going into shock, and a direct transfusion would be best."

"You're welcome." Says Garmadon without looking up from his paper.

Ella wanted to rip out her cannula, but the dizzyness from simply sitting up made her reconsider. "Why does it have to be him?" She pleads to Lloyd.

"I'm still a bit short on blood myself, and Wu wasn't a match to your blood type." Explains Lloyd. "They considered using human blood, but they weren't sure how well you would respond."

Ella slumps back into the now raised bed staring ahead at the plain looking wall. She hated being so weak and vulnerable, especially in front of Garmadon. "And Bill?" She asks.

"He's here too." Says Lloyd, "He's under guard. Without any more treatments, well, the end could be soon. Borg is with him." Lloyd was frowning, staring at a spot on the wall in the general direction of Bill. Feeling conflicted about effectively sentencing a man to death, regardless of how rotten he was.

Ella sighs and turns towards Garmadon. 

"I didn't think you would come." She says.

"Then why did you call me?" Asks Garmadon flatly while continuing to look at the paper.

Ella shrugs. "It was Lloyd's idea."

"Hmmm." Says Garmadon, "I could say the same about finding you."

Lloyd looks on in amazement. They are talking to each other. Actually talking. Not stabbing, or screaming, or insulting… his thoughts are interrupted by Ella.

"This doesn't change anything, I still want to kill you."

Lloyd snaps his attention back to Ella, tensing at her words. He had been hoping that Garmadon coming to save them would have softened her resolve, but no. Would Garmadon try and talk her out of it? Should he try and talk her out of it? Would a fight break out in the hospital room? This was why he hadn't left them alone together, for even a second.

Garmadon finally takes his eyes off the newspaper and looks over at Ella with a bored expression on his face. He locks eyes with her for a moment, seeing the fiery spark of determination. "I'd like to see you try." He says blandly before turning back to the paper.

Ella turns back to the wall and Lloyd gives a small sigh of relief after realising he had been holding his breath. Maybe they were the type of family who made casual death threats over dinner. At least it didn't look like he would need to break up a fight.

Ella speaks again. "Back at the monastery, you said something. You said if I were your daughter, you would have enjoyed training me. Did you mean it?"

"Train you?" Stammers Lloyd, "you just threatened to kill him, why would he train you?"

Garmadon holds up a hand to Lloyd who stops speaking. He folds up the newspaper and turns to Ella once more. "Hmmm." He says thinking it over. After a few seconds he continues, "Sure, I'll train you. But only on Fridays. I have a job you know." He goes back to reading the newspaper.

After a decent pause Ella says "Thank you." It is quiet, almost a whisper, but everyone in the room heard it clearly. 

Lloyd shakes his head in disbelief, at least this meant her assassination plan was on hold for now. Hopefully by the time her training was complete she would have built some sort of relationship with him, enough to reconsider. He could only hope.

"Can I get in on that training?" He asks. Partly because he wanted to keep an eye on them, and partly because he still had a long way to go with reliably calling on his Oni abilities. He was starting to see the value in this side of his ancestry.

Garmadon shrugs, "Whatever, just don't bring any of your whiny friends."