"Lar, where's Jade?" Ash's grey-smoke dragon came to an even pace with the turquoise blue water dragon, "Lar?"

"She's better off with them than she is with us," he said without looking at Ash.

"Y-," Ash took a large pause to recalibrate his senses, "You gave her to the Ninja?! Lar, you'll get killed!"

"As long as I know she's safe," he finally found the courage to look at his friend, and given his current state he'd rather have not: his round yet chiseled face was a tomato-red, from holding back tears and anger, and his dark green eyes were severely glossy, threatening to free the contained tears that had not yet escaped, "Then my life is the price I'll pay for hurting her."

"I knew I shouldn't have left you alone!" Ash wanted to jump over and slap Lar, "What's wrong with you?!"

"I'll explain when we get back, alright? Neuro, if he hasn't weaseled it out of Griffin already, will want to know where she is," Lar 's weight shifted and he almost fell from his ride, "And besides, you should have realized by now that everything is wrong with me."

"Joking won't cover up your internal pain, Matthews," Ash chided lazily, "I can see it in your eyes and hear it in your voice, don't try to deny it," he cut off Lar's objection, "Just answer me this: How can you be so attached to a girl you've known for a day?"

His mouth opened and closed silently, like a fish. After a moment Lar found his voice, "Jade is different than others. She was raised a Serpentine-"

"So you've got a snake fetish?!" Ash's voice jumped an octave in surprise, "The hell, Lar!?"

"No! Shut up, Ash!" Lar snapped, shooting a stream of water at him, only to have Ash change into smoke and evade it, "Anyway, something about her background intrigues me. Then there's her long soft hair, the way her eyes squeeze shut when her smile is genuine and she's laughing too hard.... Her laugh, too," Ash sensed he was dozing off into his La-La-Land again, so Ash veered his dragon over to hit Lar's. The movement jostled him back to reality, "As I was saying, she's always in my head and I want to learn more about her and just be with her and- Yeah..."

"Whatever. All I know is that you are acting completely different than normal and it's scaring me," Ash hovered his dragon over the Training Yard, and it disappeared, dropping him to the ground. When Lar didn't follow, he turned his stone grey stare on Lar, who was still drifting about in the sky, "Come on, Romeo, it's almost dinner time."

"I could use some food," Lar stated, his dragon disappearing, but his fall was less fluid than Ash's and Lar landed on his stomach (And more or less, his face), "Ooooowwww......"

"Wow, you two are a sight for sore eyes," Griffin walked out to meet the two, Neuro not far behind.

Ash, who'd been busy attempting to pull Lar fro the small indent he'd made in the grass, dropped him back onto the ground and stood up, wiping his hands together, "What?"

"You two can't go anywhere without screwing something up, can you?" Neuro shook his head, crossing his arms.

Lar, who'd finally got himself to his feet, wavered and balanced himself with Ash's shoulder, "We screwed nothing up, Neuro."

"If you screwed nothing up where's Jade?" he challenged.

"I don't know."

"Yes you do!" Griffin burst, "I know when you're lyin', kid, and you are. Plus I was there."

"Stop calling me kid!" Lar barked, lurching forward a small fraction, as if he was restraining from jumping on Griffin, "And fine, Neuro," his voice calmed a considerable amount, "She's with the Ninja."

"Why?!" his violet eyes narrowed and his voice jumped, "You know how dangerous that is for you?"

"Yes, I know very well that I may die but at least I'd be the only casualty!" Lar snarked, "Would you rather her stay here in the hands of him, and not have the fifth Blade with the Ninja, who're trying to get rid of him?! He's trying to take over NinjaGo! If he gets that Blade, he won't be stopped and we'll all die!"

"No," Ash took a step forward, standing between the two, "It's probably for the best if you two do not fight with each other, but Lar, he's got a point, you shouldn't have let her leave."

"Why not?"

"Because," Griffin walked over by Lar, staring at him, "All five of the Blades are together now, and if the droids attack the Ninja and succeed he'll have all five Blades."

"So you're saying I just put Jade in more danger?!" Lar fell to his knees again, and had to use all his strength not to burst into tears right then and there, "What do I do?!"

"There's nothing you can do," Ash pulled him up once again, "Now man up. If someone asks, she drop-kicked your ass off a cliff and escaped.""That way you won't get turned into an evil cyborg like I heard Cyrus Borg did," Griffin turned and began walking towards the chow-house, "Now let's go eat, I'm starving."

*.*

"How can you not be hungry?"

"Ash, I'm just not hungry, okay?" Lar's face was in his hands, so he was barely understandable.

"Starving yourself won't fix what you 'effed up," Ash shoved a plate of bacon towards him, "Eat. Besides, you said before that you could use some food."

"My stomach changed it's mind," Lar muttered, looking around the almost empty room. Dirty plates were scattered about several unoccupied tables, and the only others in the room were Skylor and Camille.

"Idiot," Ash dropped the subject of food, "What exactly happened after I left?"

"Not here," Lar dropped his hands and leaned forward, hushing his voice to below a whisper, "They're listening."

As he said this, the two girls got up from their seats, slowly striding over to where Ash and Lar sat. The two boys stood as well, going to meet them halfway. The hairs on the backs of their necks prickled, sending an uneasy feeling up Lar's spine, heightening his senses. Judging by Ash's tense pose, he suspected the same thing happened to the grey-haired teen as well.

"Gossipping?" Skylor placed her left hand on her hip when the four of them stopped about ten feet apart.

"That's none of your concern," Ash's nostrils flared, "Even if it was we wouldn't tell you anyway, you'd just go tattle to your daddy."

"What were you talking about?" Skylor tried again.

"You know very well what they were talking about," Camille grinned.

Realization dawned on Lar and he shifted in his spot, "You used Neuro's power!"

"So what if I did?" Skylor smirked, but it was gone instantly, "The girl is with the Ninja?"

"False trailed, idgit," Ash slapped a hand over Lar's mouth when he went to protest, "We said that on purpose to lead anyone off."

"No, it's true," Camille'd turned into Neuro and narrowed her eyes at the two, more so Lar, "You should really stop thinking about your meeting with Cole, blondie. Reminiscing on the past can get you into some rough spots."

"Camille, go tell him where she is," Skylor stiffened, "I'll hold them back."

"You little two-timing double crossing-" Ash released Lar and jumped on Camille, preventing her from leaving the room. His hands, however, could not gt around her neck fast enough, for she'd faded into him and changed to smoke.

Fighting myself now. Wonderful. She may have my powers but she still fights like Camille, Ash grinned at himself at his thought as the two of them circles each other, "C'mon Smokey," Camille taunted, "Scared that you're too evenly matched? Should I uneven the playing field?" Ash watched in horror as she glowed green for a moment and melted into Karlof, metal fists and everything, "Is this better?" she hit the two gauntlets together right before charging at him.

Ash hit the metal-man head on, but when they collided Camille went through him, and as soon as she was fully outside the cloud of smoke, Ash returned to his usual form and kicked Camille, successfully knocking her off her feet.

Lar, however, was having more of an issue. Skylor had gone with hand to hand, ad had started out so suddenly he'd been caught off guard. But, to his advantage, Skylor depended on others' powers for so long she was not very skilled in the area of strength.

It was, however, very hard to fist fight someone who had flaming hands. He had to constantly duck and maneuver around her, not being able to properly hit himself with all the defending. He even had to use his own power to put out a flaming pant leg or nearby table.

Idea! wit a swift kck to her gut, Skylor tumbled backwards over herself. Taking the opportunity, Lar completely doused her in water, putting a temporary end to the fire-fists. She vaulted herself upright once more, spluttering and coughing, and still recovering from the kick. Without a word she stepped forward and took a punch at Lar's prominent jaw line. She only realized too late the punch was sluggish and slow.

Lar noticed this as well, and easily ducked under her arm, only to jump back up and right hook her. Nose bleeding and cheek bruising, she stumbled back, "I-I can't believe you'd hit a girl!"

"I can," he jumped back at her, not falling for the innocent little girl trick she frequently played. His cluttered mind was too full of tricks and threats and possibilities that he forgot to anticipate his opponent's next move. Especially since her fist was the gleaming silver metal of Karlof. Frightened, he attempted to block the throw but to no avail: she successfully hit him square in the chest.

Lar doubled over with a groan, almost fully positive she'd broken a few ribs with the powerful hit. As he lay on the floor, helpless and injured and coughing up blood, Skylor advanced, no metal hands but both glowing blue with the lightning of Jay Walker, "You should have just left well enough alone and give the girl to him, Lar. You wouldn't be on the verge of death right now if you have. But no, you had to fall in love with the little snake."

She raised her hands and prepared to strike. When she did, however, she instead fried the floorboards. When she realized this a string of profanities left her mouth, "Where'd he go?!"

Since when did she become such a murderous little ass? Ash asked himself from behind the serving counter. When he'd dove back there to hide from Camille (Who is, at the moment, tied up in the corner, unconscious) he'd found one of Chen's old trap-door remotes. He'd pressed the button and hoped that a year of not being used wouldn't affect how it works. Thankfully, the door beneath Lar had opened and closed without difficulty or noise.

After a moment of searching the room, Skylor huffed, "Whatever," without even stopping to see where her purple-haired friend was, or if she was okay, Skyor left the room to go find a droid messenger or someone to relay Jade's whereabouts to the one in charge.

Ash waited until her footsteps could no longer be heard before bolting from his hiding place to rush to the small holding cell where Lar was currently laying, seemingly unconscious, "Lar?!? Lar, speak to me!" quickly, he flung open the door and knelt next to his best friend.

Slowly, the dark green eyes opened and Lar groaned, "What just happened?"

"Who knew those damn trap-doors would come in handy, eh?" Ash cracked a small grin, "Skylor got away, though."

Too rapidly, Lar sat up, and cried out in pain, but nonetheless still tried to stand up, "We have to get going!"

"Lar don't make me slap you," Ash stood and gently pulled Lar to his feet, "Hurting yourself further and possibly killing yourself won't help anyone. You go to Bolobo and get your injuries checked out and I'll take Karlof, Neuro and Griffin to head off anyone who tried to get Jade."

A/N: Sorry for the confusing-ass update. The new Wattpad-publisher was being a boob this morning. I think I got the hang of it, tho.

Hope you enjoyed the suckish chapter. :)