Ch 23: Rise
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Lloyd POV
I woke up to the feeling of someone moving around next to me in my bed. I crack my heavy eyelids open and turn my head to look behind me at a sleeping figure with the blanket half on him, and his limbs sprawled out in all different directions. I turn off my side and onto my back to get a better look and then I see who it is. Kai? I slowly sit up in my bed and look at the sleeping hothead. He lets out a snore. What is he doing here? I look around to see I'm back in my room.
I then remember everything that happened yesterday and my eyes fall to the floor, tears in my eyes once again. A cold and empty feeling spreads throughout my body like a plague and I grip the blanket tightly. Then I remember Gar- I mean, my father being taken over by that monster. I also heard he made a portal to Ninjago and had probably taken over part of the country by now. I flip onto my stomach and bury my face into my pillow in frustration, forgetting my bed is not just being occupied by me. I want to scream. I want to curse at myself and the First Spinjitzu Master for allowing this to happen. For so many innocent people to have gotten hurt or killed because of me and my failed mission.
"Lloyd...?" I hear a voice horsily say from besides me. I loudly groan into my pillow out of great frustration. I hear him sigh and place a hand on my back. "Hey, it's okay." He soothes.
I jump up onto my knees and look at Kai angrily. "No it's not! I allowed my long lost father to be possessed by that monster and now the whole realm is paying the price. We're wasting time just by talking right now! And Splenda-" I stop mid sentence. I look to the floor and a deep chuckle rises in my chest. Suddenly I can't stop myself from laughing. Kai looks at me conceringly as I laugh away. When my laughing dies down, my head hanging low as I'm haunched over the spot where I once laid, I quietly mumble something from deep within my voice.
"What?" Kai asks me softly.
Without moving, I raise my voice just above a whisper. "I'm going to kill that bastard." I say coldly.
Kai looks at me in concern. "Lloyd-"
"He killed my mother figure, Kai!" I snap at him. I feel bad for snapping at him, but I'm feeling so disoriented... I mean, the Overlord is now in Ninjago and probably already building his empire on the rubble of the city... Whatever a city is. Kai sees my twisted emotions showing in my face. He scoops me into his arms and wraps them around me in a protective hug. I hate crying. I feel like it makes me look weak. I've already cried so much in front of the others, and I'm embarrassed because of it. But Kai is so warm and gentle, that I can't stop the tears from slipping.
I cry.
I return the hug by wrapping my arms around him, burying my face into his shoulder as I do. The tears come faster and heavier than I thought and in a couple seconds I'm a sobbing mess. Letting quiet and coked sobs slip from inside my throat to be muffled by my boyfriend's shoulder blade. He softly rubs my back in slow circular motions and leans his head on mine. Occasionally giving my head a long and warm kiss.
"We're going to get him back." Kai tells me. "We won't stop until the realm is rid of that monster." My only reaction to his comforting are my sobs.
After what feels like forever, I finally pull away from Kai's soaking wet shirt, a red, puffy, and sniffly mess. I let my long hair fall out from my ear to dangle, hiding my messy face from the hothead. He doesn't by it though, and he moves my hair out of my face and back behind my ear. I move my head away from his hand. "I'm sorry." I say guiltily.
He cocks his head to the side. His un-gelled hair falling out of place. "For what?"
"For wasting your time like this." Kai looks at me with pity. "I just- I don't know what to do." I tell him defeatedly.
Kai straightens his back and looks down on me. "I think I do." He says. I tiredly look at him, curious. "We need a new plan."
I sigh. "Kai, my last plan failed miserably." I tell him, frustrated at the memories of Splenda and Garmadon.
"Yeah, it did." He glares at me. I look at him in shock, not expecting him to say that. "Things went wrong, and it sucks. But are you going to sit here and do nothing about it? Sit here and watch my home, your home, our home be taken over?" I continue to look at him, speechless. I take my eyes away from him and stare at the bed sheets, lost in thought.
"No..." I quietly say. I look back up at him. His glare has turned into a look of determination. My expression changes to determination as well. "No I will not." I say.
He smirks and slides off the bed. "Well then, we should get the others. We have a lot of work to do if we're going to get to Ninjago in time." I get off the bed and we quickly walk out of the room. I make my way over to Katie's room and I open the door, not bothering to knock. The sudden noise makes her jump out of her sleep. She turns to me, confused. She has dark rings under her eyes like me.
"Get up. We're going to Ninjago." I tell her sternly.
"W-what?" She says, completely lost.
"Get ready and meet us at the bounty in 20 minutes." Before she can ask anymore questions I leave the room and race over to and up the stairs where Kai is waiting for me. "Come on, we're going to Haru's." I tell him. We run through the village over to Haru's house. I waste no time and I use one if my retracted nails to open the locked door. Kai is ready to question my actions but I don't give him time to ask as I rush I to the house, still being silent on my feet, and I open Haru's bedroom door to find him and Ash asleep. I walk over and shake them awake. "Hey, get up!" I whisper-shout in order to not wake up Haru's foster father. They slowly wake up, confused at first, but then they see me.
"Lloyd?" Ashley asks me tiredly. "What are you-"
"No time." I say. "Get ready and meet us at the bounty in 20 minutes." I say sternly. They look at each other as I walk out of the room. I exit the house to see Kai still waiting for me.
"To the bounty?" He asks me. I nod. "Okay, let's get a move on." He says as he starts to walk in the direction of the ship he calls home. But, walking would take a little longer then I would like, so I summon my dragonkin form and grab Kai. To his surprise, I swing him into my back so I'm carrying him, and then I take off into the air. He screams and holds me for dear life as I soar high I to the air.
I start flying towards the cave and I look back to see Kai's face buried into the back of my neck. I giggle. And for a moment, looking at the rising sun, the fluffy clouds surrounding us, feeling Kai holding onto me, I forget this mess ever happened. "Scared of heights hothead?" I tease him.
"When I'm clinging onto your back with no safety belts or anything at all, yes." He says in my neck. I giggle again.
"Kai," I say. "Look up." He hesitates at first, but then he slowly lifts his head up from my neck and takes in the sights. He loosens his grip on me and straightens his back a little, lifting himself up to he's sitting on my back.
"Wow..." he says in awe. "It's like a whole other world up here. I mean, I've seen these kinds of sights before on the bounty, but I've never seen it while riding on someone's back." He says informingly.
"Yeah," I say. "Katelyn and I love coming up here to go for morning flights. Sometimes we take Haru with us so he can practice flying in his bird form."
Kai leans down and kisses me on the cheek. I smile. "Lloyd?" He asks me.
"Yes?"
"When all this is over, I want to show you all around Ninjago. There are things there that you never knew existed. And I want you to be there to see them. You showed me your world, will you allow me to show you mine?" He asks me. I flap my wings to stay steady in the air.
"Yes, I would love that." I say back to him. I can feel him rubbing my shoulderwith his thumb. I got so caught up in the moment I almost miss the large cave with a waterfall right below me. "Oh, we're here! Hang on!" I tell Kai. He wraps his arms around my chest and I dive down. I soar right through the entrance, avoiding the water, and I gracefully land on the deck of the bounty. Kai slides off of my back and places his feet on the ground. I put away my dragonkin form and we walk below deck to wake the ninja.
Kai leads the way through the hall and into the boys' room. He opens the door and inside the room are two bunk beds with three sleeping people in them. Kai walks over to Jay and gets close to his face. "WAKE UP ZAP TRAP!" Kai yells causing Jay to scream and shoot up in his bed, terrified. Cole wakes up to Jay's scream while Zane stays fast asleep, not bothered at all.
"WHAT THE HELL KAI?!?" Jay asks him angrily. I cover my mouth with my fist, trying not to let a laugh out. Jay looks over in his rage and sees me. His face instantly softens at the sight of me. "Wait, Lloyd?"
Cole looks at me. "What are you doing here? Are you okay?" He asks me, obviously worried about how I am after last night.
"I'm fine Cole. For the most part." I add, aware of my baggy eyes, unbrushed hair, and tired look after hours of crying. Cole gets out of his bed and shakes Zane awake. He wakes up and turns to Kai and I.
"Lloyd? What are you doing here?" He asks.
"He was just about to explain that." Jay says. I then remember why we were there.
"Right," I say, getting down to business. "Get dressed and meet us in the dining room." I say as I motion for Kai to follow me out of the room. The three look after us with confusion and amusement. After all, I was a complete mess yesterday. What had changed in the short time they had been sleeping?
~~~time skip~~~
I realized I had never gotten out of my pajamas, so Kai offered me a pair of his clothes. I was hesitant at first and denied the offer many times until Kai forced them into my hands and I begrudgingly accepted. After all, this is just temporary until I go back home to pack for the journey. He gave me a pair of blue jeans that I had to cuff several times in order for it to fit me and a light gray T-shirt. I also had to do some modifications to it in order for it to fit me. I let my pendant hand outside my shirt and I slide my shoes back on.
I exit the bathroom and head over to the dining room. I enter through the door frame to see everyone in the room, even Misa- I mean, my mom and uncle, and Nya, who Kai got up while I was changing. Everyone turns to me, waiting to hear my reasoning for getting them up so early. "Okay," I start. "I bet you're all wondering why I woke you up and dragged you all here."
"Yeah. We are." Katie says with attitude, obviously not in the mood.
"I'll just get straight to the point. Things aren't looking too good, and we're running out of time. Ninjago is in the midst of being taken over and we don't know where the Overlord is." I grimly state. The rooms falls silent. "But, that doesn't mean we're out of time. If we can get to Ninjago tonight we may still have a fighting chance. Now, I know we just battled the Overlord yesterday, but we have to do this. For the good of all the sixteen realms."
"Even if we were able to make it to Ninjago in time, what is our game plan? No offense but the last one went horribly wrong!" Jay says. No one says anything to correct him. Everyone knows he's right.
"Your right." I say to other's surprise. "It couldn't have gone any worse, and that's completely on me. But this time, I'm not going with a plan. Something's telling me that no plan will get us out of this mess."
Protests rise around the room. "No plan? Are you out of your mind!" Ash says.
"You really expect us to go out there and fight with no backup in case everything becomes ten times worse?" Cole says.
"Lloyd, we already lost two of our team members I'm not loosing another." Katie tells me.
"I agree. That does not sound like the wisest choice." Zane says.
"Enough!" Kai yells above our voices. "Do you have any other ideas? Because if you do, I'd love to hear them!" The room falls silent again. Master Wu watches with interest. "Look, he's trying his best, okay? He just lost his Sensei and father all in one day! And look! He's standing here in front of you trying to fix the world's problems! Other people would be in bed for weeks, maybe even months after what just happened to him, but he's right here after one night." Everyone looks to the floor in guilt. "He doesn't need your resentment, right now he needs your full support." He turns to me and places a hand on my shoulder. "Lloyd, I support you." He says. I show a grateful look to him and smile.
I look around the room and wait for anyone to say something. "I support you, Lloyd." I look into the corner of the room to see that Master Wu had said it.
"As do I." Misako follows.
"Let's go kick some Overload butt." Cole says as he pounds his fists together, making his hands and arms light up along with an invisible scar on his forehead. Everyone around the room slowly starts to say that they support me. The last person to say anything, is Katie. Everyone looks to her for her approval. She crosses her arms across her chest as she makes eye contact with me.
"If you want to get yourself and everyone else on this team killed, then go ahead. But I'm not going to sit there and watch it happen." She breaks her stare from mine and leaves the room. My heart breaks at the sight of her leaving and the words of her resentment echo through my head. We've always been so close; We learned how to walk together, talk, fly, fight, we played with each other, pranked each other, and she was always my very best friend. The cold and empty feeling I had felt just an hour before now returns, and I now stand staring at the doorway, feeling like I'm surrounded by darkness once again. But, two warm hands worm their way through the darkness and places themselves onto my shoulders. I turn to see Kai and Nya looking at me with warmth, and all my friends and family showing that they support me.
I turn my head and take one last look at the doorway, then I turn back to the people in the room. I'll see Katelyn after the fight. We can settle our dispute when we return home all in one piece.
We spend the next hour or so packing everything up and grabbing a few belongings for ourselves. The ninja start up the bounty for the first time in months. It takes some motivation, but eventually she rises into the air and Nya and I part the water from the fall so it has a clear path out into the open. After that's done, it rises up into the air and takes off faster then I could ever dream to fly.
Tonight I'm going to fix things. But, I won't be doing it alone. I have the ninja and the Silent Soarers behind my back. Nothing is stopping us from saving the realm now. Not even my father, who is desperately trying to fight off the evil that has been inflicted onto him.
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Wow, I actually posted for once? Since when was that a thing? Anyway, this story is nearing it's end. Even if it takes me another two months (sry abt that btw), stay tuned!!
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