[I've realized I haven't had a lot of character development for Kylie... I'm hoping to really get into that this chapter. Enjoy :)]

Me and my older sister Kiara fought like all siblings - over toys, food, friends, you name it. That was 'normal'. But it got worse.

Once Kiara hit 5th grade, she hit a bad point. She became a real bully. She let all jealousy, bitterness, and anger control her.

She was three years older than me, so a lot bigger and stronger. She would hit and kick me hard enough to bruise, and threaten me so I wouldn't tell my mom. Soon she started to really beat me up.

At school she would shove me onto concrete pavement and my hands and knees would get scraped up. If she ever saw me she would trip me, especially at lunch.

She always messed with my stuff. If it weren't for my mom, I would probably have gotten beatings from my dad, who she took after. My dad knew what my sister was doing and what was happening to me. However he preferred to drink with his friends and couldn't be bothered to deal with such a disturbed child who was such a nightmare to deal with; it was easier to target me. If it wasn't for my mom, though, I would have had a horrible childhood. When I was 15 she divorced our dad, took me and left, and homeschooled me.

Of course she hated leaving Kiara. But that was the age we were able to choose what parent to be with, and of course she chose our dad.

Do I consider them family?

I don't know. My mom did. Everyone was family to her. It's just a surprise that they rejected her; she was such a wonderful person.

It's been a long time.

Kiara's . . . about 20 now. I wonder what she's doing with her life.

Well it doesn't matter. I'm fine. I have a new family now.

✨✨✨

Kylie was in a daze as they walked through the palace for a while. Well, they all were stunned. They just found out she had . . . the elemental power of healing?? So cool. Weird. Whatever.

Now they were looking for all the others, hoping Chen didn't steal their powers, hoping they got the staff... Cole said everyone was probably in underground tunnels and showed them the way. To Kylie it felt like they'd been walking for ages.

Suddenly, out of nowhere this glowingness seemed to come to Cole. He stood straighter, stronger. "Haha, yes!" he punched the air with his fist in triumph with a devilishly cute smile on his face, then ran over to the wall and punched it and it crumbled to the ground.

"What was that?" Kylie asked, but she knew.

"My power's back!" he exclaimed.

"Yayyyy!" Kylie squealed as she clapped like a little kid. Gosh I wanna kiss him, she thought. Wait, what??

They looked through the hole in the wall in surprise- there were all the elemental masters fighting Chen and his guards! They rushed in and Cole immediately joined them. Nya and Kylie stood back and watched as the enemy was quickly defeated.

Wait-

Is that-

Naw...

The two girls went down to greet everyone, of course, and there was a lot of introductions to all the elemental masters. One stood out, however, and Kylie kept nervously glancing at her, until-

"What are you doing here?" a familiar voice asks, and Kylie turns around to see...

"Kiara?" she gasps. "What are you doing here?"

"It's Tox. Boy, you've grown up since I last saw you, dwarf."

"It's Kylie. And what do you mean 'Tox'?"

"Meet the Master of Poison," she said, and blew her a kiss, but the air was green and smelled weird and made Kylie dizzy.

"You really had to change your hair to that?" Kylie mumbled as she felt herself falling backwards to be caught and supported by one of her friends behind her. She looked up through a haze at her sister. Much older, much different. Much much wobbly... wait...

"Sure. You never change anything."

"Master of Poison?" Kylie laughed, getting sleepier by the second.

"Yup. Goodnight."

✨✨✨

"Hey, girlie."

Kylie blinked and rubbed her eyes and saw Nya looking own at her. They were... somewhere. Somewhere new. "Hi kitty," she said.

"Whoa, okay, you just rest there for a bit."

"Does Kiara know mommy died?"

"Uhh, I don't know. How do you feel?"

Kylie chuckled. "Good, silly. You're really pretty."

"Oh, thank you," Nya sighed, then turned to... was it Sensei? They said something. She turned back to Kylie. "Hey, remember your healing powers?"

"My whaaaat?"

"You have healing powers. I think. Can you like combat your sister's poison?"

"Why would I do that?" Kylie laughed. "She would just do it again."

"Oh," Nya frowned. "Well, rest up."

✨✨✨

Kylie woke up and immediately sat up, leaned over the bed she was on, and vomited into a trash can Nya gave her just in time. When she was done she looked up to Nya's concerned (and disgusted) face as she handed her a glass of water.

"You feeling better?" she asked as Kylie finished.

She nodded, then shook her head. "Kinda."

"I mean, you're not like woozy anymore...?"

"No. Just kinda sick."

"Uh-huh. You know what, Kai was really ticked off about Tox, he almost hurt her. Of course we were all mad. But you know."

"Hmm. What all happened when I was out?"

"Well, we made sure all the guards were tied up, but then Chen and his daughter Skylor (Master of Amber which means she can absorb powers), her and some other people got away, and apparently he can use the powers Skylor has to complete the spell so our whole team went to look for them and we're still waiting to hear from them."

"Ok."

Nya's watch buzzed. "Oh, it's a message." After a moment of listening to something Kylie couldn't hear, she said, "Everyone's back except Kai and Zane. Kai found Skylor and they're on their way, and Zane got offset and should be coming. You up for going outside?"

"Mm-hmm," Kylie nodded and stood up to follow her. They walked into the palace (which was very beautiful) and down a set of stairs and out the door where the others were outside.

Cole ran to her. "Kylie! You okay?"

"Yup."

"Good. So... that was your sister?"

"Uh, yeah," she smiled nervously, shuffling her feet. "Surprise."

"Yeah, I was definitely not expecting that."

"Neither was I," she said quietly.

"You good?"

"Yeah, uh, yeah. Good. I'm good."

"Ok..." his voice trailed off but was interrupted by Jay. "Hi Cole!" he said as he gave his best friend a hug. "Hi Kylie, hi Nya."

"Hi Jay," both girls said simultaneously. For once it was a normal interaction between Jay and Nya, and it was refreshing.

"Ey, are you okay?" he asked Kylie. "That was your sister, right?"

Great, she thought, everyone's gonna ask about it. "Yes, that was my sister."

The blue ninja was about to say something else when Lloyd walked up. "Hi guys," he said, smiling. "Hey, Kylie, was that-" But before he could answer, guess who walked up.

The lady in question herself (along with her friends).

"Hi, Marshmallow."

Kylie would have tensed but was emboldened by curiosity. "Kiara?"

"It's Tox!" she growled, then began pacing in front of her as if hunting prey. "So. Everyone knows you saved your friend here," she motioned to Cole. "Maybe you are special after all?"

"Saved?" Jay asked, but Nya quieted him by putting her finger to her lips.

Kylie ignored her. "You do know mom died, right?"

Tox appeared to be taken aback for a moment before regaining her normal countenance. "Is that so? Oh, no, I am so sorry. My deepest condolences."

"Kylie?" Nya said softly, but was ignored.

"So you really don't care?" Kylie pleaded with her eyes.

"What do you think?"

Kylie didn't say anything, but just looked frightened.

"Well anyway, I'm glad I can see you again. I've been looking forward to this."

"For what?"

"A fight."

"A... fight?"

"What?" some of her friends wondered aloud.

"Oh, I'll be easy on you. You can show me your 'powers'. Or- are you too scared?"

"Powers?" Lloyd and Jay echoed.

"Sure, but why?"

"I said, are you scared." She raised her voice but it instead lowered in pitch.

"No," Kylie lied, but looked back uncertainly at her friends. The Master of Poison noticed.

"You can tell them," she said in mock sweetness. "Tell them you don't need them. Tell them to stay back."

"Stay back," she told them, almost a faint echo.

"No, Kylie-" one of her teammates began.

She turned and glared at all of them. "I'm fine! She's not actually gonna hurt me."

"Kylie, she just did. Do you not remember?" Nya asked.

"It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt her." Everyone except Kylie noticed Tox's crooked grin.

"Nope. This is a hard no. Nobody's fighting anyone," Cole put a hand on Kylie's arm.

"Says who? This is between me and my sister," Tox said.

Kylie only looked at Cole anxiously, and he noticed her expression. "Just get away from her!" he warned, stepping in front of Kylie.

"But I want to be with my sister," she said with a mock pouty face, then gasped: "You aren't gonna have to have your boyfriend save you, are you?"

Fortunately Cole dragged Kylie away before anything else could be said. The others followed. Once they were around a corner and out of view of the others, he grabbed her shoulders. "I'm not gonna let her get to you get bossed around by her, ok? You know she's up to no good for you."

"I- I can take care of myself," Kylie said stubbornly, looking at the ground to avoid his, or anyone else's, anxious eyes.

"Maybe, but even so, you have no reason to trust her."

She let out a huff and turned away, pulling away from his grasp.

"Kylie!" he groaned. "What is it?"

"She's my sister, okay?" Kylie rarely raised her voice, but she did now. "She's the only family I have left."

"We're your family! She's not!" Nya exclaimed.

"I know!" she yelled and turned back to them, and there were tears in her eyes. "You are my only family! But- but you would know how I feel if you'd lost your whole family! She immediately regretted it, recalling that most of them had in fact lost family. "I'm so sorry-" she gasped, "I'm so sorry." She darted.

"Kylie-" Nya called. "I'm going after her." She ran before catching her by the arm. "Kylie-"

"I just need a minute. I'm sorry," she panted, and leaned against a wall and closed her eyes.

"Ok," Nya replied softly.

When she opened them they glistened with tears. "I'm really sorry for that."

"It's ok."

"Really. And what I meant was- I just want- I just want my family to be my actual blood family, you know?"

"I know."

Kylie looked down in shame. "I'm sorry I vented that out on you guys. Are they mad?"

"No, it's fine, and they're not mad. It's completely understandable. You had a lot of stuff to process."

Kylie smiled. "Exactly. And... thanks."

"No problem," Nya smiled back. "Ready?" she offered her arm.

"Sure." Kylie took it and they walked back to where the others were gathered.

"Ok, what is this about you having powers?" Jay asked.

"Um, oh yeah, that..." Kylie blushed, then made eye contact with Cole who was begging her with his eyes not to let it slip. "So yeah, uh, I think I have the healing elemental power and that's about it, and look there's Garmadon!" she pointed, and there indeed was Garmadon.

"Dad!" Lloyd cried as he ran to him.

"Hello, son," he said, embracing him. Then he looked around at the others. "I don't see Zane, Skylor, or Kai," he observed.

"They are on their way," Nya said. Suddenly the sensei groaned and doubled over in pain.

"Dad! What's wrong?" Lloyd asked, immediately at his side.

"I don't know... ahh-" his Anacondrai tattoo on his back was shining through his shirt. "Something inside of me- something is happening..."

By instinct, all the others ran to him too, but they were all helpless to listen to Garmadon's cries and watch as Lloyd tried to comfort his father.

Finally his spasms stopped and Kylie let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding so tensely. Tense. That's what she felt. It was strange. She could feel him, almost, feel his pain. But in a contorted and very disconnected sort of way.

"Dad?" the 15-year-old cradled his father's head in his arms.

"The spell..." Garmadon gasped, "The spell, it's completed. If everyone with the mark of the Anacondrai is affected, that means..." he stood up and looked around, and so did the others.

This was bad news.

All the guards that had previously been tied up were... Anacondrai.

"Don't worry," the sensei assured them, "I'm always on your side."

"Let's get 'em, guys!" Cole shouted, and they charged.

Kylie simply ran to keep up with the others as they ran into the fight. She tried spinjitzu again, and did it, but it wasn't very helpful against the purple serpentine as they tripped her with their tails. Then grabbed her, and she screamed, and one of their tails was coiling up and around her, tighter and tighter, and she couldn't move. She was also paralyzed with fear as his razor-sharp blade came a bit too close for comfort-

"Hey! Get off of her!" It was Jay. He hit the serpentine with something and it released her, and she jumped away from that snake like it was going to explode.

"There's too many," she heard Garmadon shout. "Retreat! Get everyone to the palace!" Kylie darted once she heard. Was she a coward? Maybe. But she was even more inexperienced.

"Everyone, to the palace!" Lloyd's shrill voice carried through the air and everyone heard, immediately falling back, rushing through the doors. Once everyone was in, the doors were slammed shut, but the Anacondrai were right behind, and pounded on the door. Probably would until it would break.

"Could use a little help," Cole called, straining against the doors which were threatening to burst open. Everyone rushed over to help keep the doors closed. Kylie accidentally made eye contact with Kiara but quickly looked away. Everyone put their whole weight against the doors; this went on for a while; Kylie thought it could have been ten minutes, but she wasn't sure.

Suddenly the purple serpentine swords were thrust through the door, almost all simultaneously, and there was silence.

"Where did they go?" Kylie asked. Cole slowly opened the door to peek out.

"Wait, don't!" Jay warned, and Cole paused to look at him. "It could be a trick."

"Oh, right." Cole closed the door and a few people climbed up a ladder to a window, but let out gasps of despair.

"What is it?" everyone asked all at once.

"They're taking all the vehicles!" Jay whined.

"Take care of the island, it's yours," Chen's obnoxious voice wafted in from outside. "We'll be taking Ninjago now!"

"This- this is just priceless," Jay said. "He took the Roto Jet and all of the Blade-Copters!"

"What have we done?" Nya groaned.

"We all have families in Ninjago," some guy with sunglasses said.

"Ugh! And we had to destroy any other way off the island!" Jay yelled as everyone filtered out of the palace. "Who's idea was that?"

"Your father was right, Lloyd," Cole told him. "We thought we had the upper hand. Our guard was down, and look what happened."

"Nobody listens to me!" Jay was still yapping. "You all say I overreact, but no!"

"I'll go alone," Lloyd volunteered solemnly.

"And take on his whole army?" Cole asked.

"I'm the only one with an Elemental Dragon," he explained.

Then everyone looked up and saw the glorious form of a shining sparkling metal dragon. "Not anymore!" It was Zane. He gracefully landed on the palace wall.

"Oh, Zane, none of us could do that before," Jay said. "You gotta tell us how you did that!"

"I faced my fear," he said, loud enough for all the Elemental Masters to hear. "When I realized it wasn't something in front of me that held me back, but something inside me, I found a deeper power. A dragon power."

Many of the Elemental Masters present cheered. Kylie even saw some hug. Then she spotted her sister. Ahh.

Just then Kai arrived on his elemental dragon, with Skylor sitting behind him. "Zane's right," he said. "We all have this power inside of us. But you have to see that it's not the Anacondrai we're afraid of, it's our doubt. Divided, we failed. But together, we will succeed."

There were sounds of agreement through the crowd, before, one by one, they jumped onto dragons of their own.

"Energy!"

"Lightning!"

"Earth!"

"Metal!"

"Speed!"

"Gravity!"

"Shadow!"

"Light!"

"Poison!"

"Nature!"

A select few dragons dropped down to give others who lacked one a ride. Jay picked up Nya and Lloyd picked up Garmadon. Kylie was looking around for one of her friends who could give her a ride, when Cole swooped down. "Care for a ride?" he held out his hand.

"Yes!" Kylie squealed happily as she grabbed his hand and he helped her onto his dragon's literally rocky back. It was hard, yet stable and suited for riding, as if designed by an expert. Cole placed her arms around his waist.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Yup." Shivers ran up and down her spine as they ascended and started into a steady wing beat with the other dragons. Her grip around him tightened more and she even pressed her face against his back. Maybe she was a little afraid of heights. Just a little.

"Everyone ready?" Lloyd called.

All the dragons let out a roar that was amazing to behold. The air shook with their energy, filling everyone with new courage and determination.

"The battle of our past has returned," Garmadon said, "but we will rise to meet that challenge."

"Chen brought us here so that only one would remain," Kai raised his voice. "Well, we are one!" And they were off.

[For fun, here's some AI art! :D

Here's Nya:]

[Skylor Chen:]

[And even though (spoiler alert) she will never show up in this book, here's some of Harumi:]

[While we're at it how about some actual fanart- NOT MINE-]

[Here is some Toxikita AI art. She varies in age-]

[And the last one there is... if Tox and Morro had a child. Or maybe just Morro as a girl, however you see it. Ok bye]