Disclaimer: I don't own Ninjago, just the story and my OC's.

"Justin, are you sure about this?" Juliet asked her cousin.  The remainder of the ninja team was in the Samurai X Cave, working on sending out a message.  "What if it doesn't work?"

"It will," Justin reassured her.

"But what if it doesn't?"

"It has to."

"Juliet is right," Mason said.  "There's no way to know when or if he receives our message."

"He loves Alex," Justin stated.  "If he hears it, he'll come."

"Like I said, there's no guarantee that he will hear it.  We don't even know where he is!"

"Knowing Max, he may have turned off his tracker, but he will still have his comms on our emergency frequency."  Justin looked towards his girlfriend.  "Rosie, is everything ready?"

"Almost," Rosie said.  "You will only get one shot at this.  We are already draining a lot of power from the Samurai X Cave to be able to reach the outer parts of Ninjago.  We will not have enough power to do this again."

"One shot is all I need."

Outer parts of Ninjago

Max was working at the ticket counter for an arcade in a small town on the outer parts of Ninjago.  Nobody recognized who he was because the people in the area didn't pay much attention to what was going on in Ninjago City.  It was the perfect place for him to hide.  There were no villains and it was very peaceful.  He found out that a lot of people who lived there were looking for a fresh start which is why they didn't care about what was going on in Ninjago City.  He knew that his parents and team were probably very worried about him, but he couldn't go back.

When he had first left, he made sure to turn off his tracker so they couldn't track him.  However, he did leave his emergency communicator on.  There were a few times that he wanted to turn that off too, but he couldn't bring himself to do it and he wasn't sure why.

He had to get a job once he got to his location in order to make money so that he could live on his own.  He managed to find an apartment to rent that was extremely cheap.  Yes, the apartment has a lot of problems with it, but it's all he could afford.  He also changed his name a bit.  The name Garmadon by itself attracts way too much attention.  He decided to go by Maxwell Ly.  He used his mother's maiden name because that name attracts no attention and he used Maxwell because that is his actual full first name, but everyone has always just called him Max.  The only time anyone has ever called him Maxwell was when he was in trouble and it would be his parents to use that name.

When his shift ended, he walked to the back room, grabbed his stuff, and left.  As he walked back to his apartment, he noticed all the people who lived there.  He saw how no one really had a family.  Something happened to everyone where they wanted to start over.  Some of them lost their family.  Some had abusive families.  Some felt that their family didn't want them.  Some felt like they had messed up so bad they couldn't go back, just like him.  Everyone there had their own story.  He felt sorry for them and couldn't believe that them or even the previous ninja team didn't know about the small town.

Once he got to his apartment, he put his stuff down and put a couple of slices of pizza that he saved from the other day into the microwave for dinner.  He was slowly buying furniture and appliances for himself.  So far, he got a microwave, a chair, a bed, and a TV.  Luckily, the apartment came with a fridge.  Once his pizza was done, he sat down in his chair and turned on the TV.  He hadn't watched the news at all since he got there.  He also stayed away from watching anything about ninjas.  He didn't want to think about his old life.  He was starting a new life and didn't want to go back, but then...

He heard a beeping sound coming from his bag.  He walked over and saw that his emergency communicator was what was beeping.  He really didn't want to listen to whatever message was on it, but something compelled him to.  He picked up the emergency communicator and played the message and immediately heard Justin's voice.

"Max, I know that you may not want to hear me right now after what happened, but this is important.  What happened with Emma wasn't your fault.  A lot has happened since you ran away.  We found out that Emma is working for someone and has powers.  She can manipulate emotions and that's what she did to you...but you're not the only one she used her powers on.  With Alex being as emotional as she was after what happened, she became an easy target.  Emma manipulated Alex's emotions and got her to turn against us.  We didn't have any luck to break Emma's manipulation over her when we faced her.  I know that she loves you and you love her.  I've seen the way you two have always looked at each other for years.  I believe that you can snap her out of it.  I don't know if you will receive this and I don't know if you will actually listen to it if you do receive it, but I hope you will.  Please Max.  We need you."

The message ended and Max was left in shock.  His friends were in danger because Emma had used her powers on him to break Alex's heart and now Alex had turned against the team.  He couldn't believe he let Emma manipulate him like that.  He was supposed to be the new green ninja and the leader, but instead, he was manipulated by the enemy and abandoned his team.

He had to go back.  He had to help his friends and save Alex.

A/N: I'm so sorry this took so long.  Between COVID-19 and the riot at the US Capitol, I haven't been as motivated to write.  Plus, I was having some issues at first with writing this chapter, but I finally figured it out.  I hope you enjoyed and I hope it was worth the wait!