Everything seemed to be going well so far. Things were finally resuming as they should have.

The heroes were unaware that Garmadon had already made his entrance into the Underworld. And unlike the ninjas, he had no problem making his presence fully known to his past self.

The two were now one step ahead of them with their plan. None of them would know until it was too late.

The only thing Scarlett was able to tell was that something was very wrong. Just as before, her body glitched again. When she was previously next to Kai up on one of the high branches, her body disappeared and reappeared on the bark a little too close to the sleeping ninjas.

"Shit," Jay muttered as he snatched her up by the arm. "Stop doing that. You're gonna get us caught."

"Oh, right, like I'm doing it on fucking purpose." She just allowed herself to be pulled up like a rag doll, as she was now used to the effect of time. "Something's clearly not going the way it should."

"Well, what exactly happens next, then?" Wu asked the team.

Kai stared down at the past ninjas, now clad in their respective colored suits. "Our former selves have most of the Golden Weapons. Shadow Garmadon should now have my sister, and in about one minute, I get woken up and tricked into taking the Sword of Fire that will eventually unleash the greatest nemesis onto Ninjago."

The situation happened exactly as he explained it. By the end of it, an imposter taking the form of Nya had woken Kai up from his slumber, and the two were running out of the forest.

"Nya," the former ninja in red had called out, "wait up!"

The present five and Wu followed their steps. It didn't take very long for them to arrive at the Fire Temple. They hurried across the long bridge and into the cave.

They made it just in time to witness everything. Past Kai stood at the entrance, seeing his poor sister chained up and hanging from the rock ceiling right above a perfect circle of molten lava.

The others hid behind some of the rocks on the farther side to evade being seen. In the center of the temple stood the bright Sword of Fire, stabbed into the earth.

Kai continued to tell the story of the passing events. "This is when I steal the Fire Sword to cut my sister down. Then I get attacked by my own shadow."

The chain holding her up lowered a bit. Nya screamed in terror, incapable of doing anything else.

"Nya!" past Kai shouted her name as he took a few steps forward.

Shadow Garmadon mocked him from afar. "Tick tock... tick tock."

He knew exactly what to do. Jumping on those last few stones, the past ninja flipped forward and retrieved the legendary weapon. Once landing on his feet, he spun into his fiery tornado.

"Ninja, go!"

He flew across the lava and cut his sister down. The two landed on the other side, completely unharmed.

Lord Garmadon laughed as Kai helped her up by the arm. The two gently walked close together, attempting to leave while they could.

"Stay close," he warned her.

"Trust me," she fearfully answered, holding her hands in front of her chest, "I'm not going anywhere!"

Sort of fortunately, just as before, the large shadow appeared in front of them.

Kai pointed his sword at him. "You can't hurt us. You're only a shadow!"

"This time... I'm actually much more!"

The others had no idea that was not what was once said by the dark lord. The only ones who knew so were Kai and Scarlett, who only figured because her body once again glitched.

She ended up on her knees at Zane's side now. Every time this happened, it felt like she had gone through a thousand different lifetimes. It left her exhausted.

"Kai," the teen ninja breathed out, holding her chest. "I told you something's not right..."

"No... because he never said that before..." Kai muttered.

And that's when the problem emerged. The present Garmadon, full body and all, stepped up holding the Mega Weapon with a wild grin.

Kai flinched as Nya held his shoulders. "G... Garmadon! You're supposed to be trapped in the Underworld!"

"Oh, there's so much more you don't know!" He leaned forward, preparing to fight. Of course, Kai did the same, though he knew he would be at a high disadvantage.

"Go, future me," the shadow lord gloated from the side. "Destroy him!"

Garmadon maniacally laughed as he charged toward Kai. Having no other choice, the latter did the same. Their weapons clashed, yet it was clear who had the upper hand.

"Oh, we have to do something!" Kai announced in worry. "I don't stand a chance against Garmadon's four arms!"

Four arms. A lightbulb then went off in his brain. "Wait, that's it!"

Garmadon was, unfortunately, kicking past Kai's ass. It took about two swift strikes for him to knock the Sword of Fire out of his hands. The blade flipped in the air until it penetrated into the hard stone right in front of the present ninja.

Scarlett weakly stood up. The way things were currently going, it was not looking good for her. But she tried, and she held one of her hands out.

"If I can just... if I can control the lava, I can stop him!"

Jay smacked her arm out of the way. "No. Remember last time you and that sword were in the same place together? It didn't turn out well for you at all... and the way things are going, we can't risk messing up any more."

He turned toward their teacher. "Sensei, come with me. I know how we can take the advantage."

And somehow, Wu knew exactly what he had in mind. "I agree. We'll go!"

The ninja in blue stared down at the girl with a scolding glare. "Don't you dare use your powers. We'll be back."

Scarlett didn't even get a chance to ask them before they were off. "Wait, what are you doing!? Fuck..."

She, Zane, and Cole glanced up to find that Kai was no longer with them either. They looked forward and discovered that he had jumped in front of his former self and Nya, confidently wielding the golden blade.

The shadow lord somehow didn't expect that. "Two Kais?"

And was the past one really going to complain? He widely grinned, rather excited at the current circumstance; if Garmadon's future self could meddle in, why couldn't his?

"Yeah!" he happily boasted.

Present Kai tightly grasped the hilt of the blade. "I guess I have four arms too!" And the appearance was made as the past one lifted his arms in the air above his counterpart's shoulders.

Garmadon came in swinging, already angry about the outcome. He swiped downward left and right, but got swerved both times. The third was straight across, and the former crouched. Past Kai jumped over his new comrade's back, ending up in the same position.

The two sent a nod to each other. He grabbed the arm of his future self and boosted him up. Present Kai ran against the rock wall, leaping off and landing a hit with his sword against the Mega Weapon. The current lord slid back a few feet, nearly knocking into his shadow form.

Zane then jumped in, ready to fight. Both Garmadons flinched, and the present one took a few steps back; it was not looking good for him right now.

It didn't help that he bumped right into Cole, who tightly grabbed his forearms. "Now I've got you."

His grip then moved to the weapon, and both fought for it. However, Garmadon won by flipping him back into his friends, who were then all sent on a slowly departing rock.

"Fuck... I think it's safe to say the past has drastically changed!" Cole announced to everyone in the temple.

The two Garmadons did a victory dance, high-fiving each other like they had already won.

Scarlett looked down at her hands. They were starting to disappear.

Her eyes widened in utter horror. Her entire body began to tremble. She didn't know what to do except call for the most important ninja at the moment. And, well, to her.

"Kai!"

Both of them turned around. The present ninja stood up at the sight, nearly walking right into the lava wanting to get to her. "Scarlett!"

Cole could only blink in shock before sitting up. "The past isn't going on like it's supposed to... we're gonna lose her!"

But thankfully they had Zane on their side, who got to his feet in a more calm manner. He had an idea. "I was thinking about that. It could be possible to erase the events that have transpired so far by destroying the Mega Weapon that brought us here in the first place."

"You mean if we destroy that weapon everything goes back to normal?" Kai asked.

"Uh... theoretically."

"Well by all fucking means take your time! I'm kind of scared here!" the teen shouted from her spot. This and Jay's warning were the only things on her mind at the moment.

Past Kai couldn't take his eyes off her. Things were getting too weird. "Who is that?"

"But nothing can destroy the Mega Weapon!" Cole disagreed with the nindroid. "Only a weapon of equal power has any chance of stopping it!"

That's when their saviors returned from the outside. With their sensei behind him, Jay held the remaining three weapons made of gold in his arms.

His tone was cocky, knowing he came just in time. "Ah-ah, like maybe the weapons forged to create it in the first place?"

Hearing those finishing words, Garmadon immediately turned away from his past counterpart and faced the ninjas in absolute dread. "No!"

Cole finally got to his feet like the rest of his friends, elated at the sight. "The Golden Weapons!"

"Yeah," Jay smugly replied, tossing two to the ones that needed them. "I thought these might come in handy!"

Kai picked up the sword from the rock once again, prepared to finally end this ordeal. "Okay, no time to find out how you got these! We have to destroy the Mega Weapon once and for all!"

He flipped to the corner of the rock to allow all four of them room and began the sequence. "Fire!" Flames released from the sword.

"Lightning!"

"Earth!"

"Ice!"

Like the first weapon, each gold piece released the spoken elemental powers into its future self. Garmadon attempted to move, but his feet were planted to the ground. Even if he did run, the power would follow their source. He couldn't escape this.

"No!" was all he could scream. "What are you doing!?"

Wu lifted his staff in the air. "Ninja, go!"

As if on cue, the Mega Weapon forced its way out of Garmadon's hands and into the air. The same thing happened to the four ninjas; their gold slowly flew up, ready to combine with its merged version.

Everyone in that cave watched as the legendary weapons rapidly swirled around the fifth in the middle. After a few seconds, a quick light flashed and only the Mega Weapon remained.

It trembled in the air for a moment before rocketing upward. It broke the temple rock and continued into the night sky until it exploded in what could only be space. A large firework burst, creating such a beautiful image.

However, the inside of the temple did not look like such. It quaked, rocks falling into the lava and making it unstable.

Past Kai noticed his sister slowly disappearing. His eyes widened as he reached out for her. "Nya...! What's happening!?"

But she was gone.

Wu had also disappeared quickly. Shadow Garmadon was right after, and Kai would be the last in that timeline.

Scarlett lost her balance and fell on her knees due to the temple's instability. She grasped onto the nearest boulder to hold herself up.

Her body continued to disappear. It didn't even look like she was holding on to anything. When she looked out at her friends, they were just fine.

Was this it? Was the past altered so bad, that she wouldn't be able to return to the future with her friends?

The four ninjas turned to face her. It worried them that she was slowly fading away and they were all still there. "Scarlett!"

But time was moving forward, and there was nothing they could do to help her.

¤ ¤

It all felt so strange. In just a few seconds, the main four were back in one of the training rooms, holding silver weapons instead of the golden ones they recently had.

"Did we just, uh..." Jay had trouble finding his words.

"Return to the future?" Kai finished, though just as lost.

Cole felt a mass of worry well up within him. "This feels familiar, but weren't we training Lloyd? And Scarlett was standing there on the side..."

Zane jumped to the first and worst possible conclusion. "The future was altered and there's no Green Ninja!"

Kai's head dropped. "Or... or a Scarlet one at that..."

There was about three seconds of silence. The door then burst open, two sets of voices getting louder the closer they got.

"Sorry we're late! She refused to get out of bed."

"This is your training session, not mine! I'm not joining."

Both Lloyd and Scarlett casually walked into the room, the latter seemingly against her will. But the four inside were beyond happy to see them safe and sound.

"Ha! You guys are still here!" Kai was the first to head toward them, though immediately wrapped his arms around the girl's waist.

She was a bit surprised at the sudden gesture, but warmly accepted it and hooked her arms around his neck. She smiled. "Sure. Why wouldn't we be?"

"Okay, wow. Rude," Lloyd muttered upon seeing no affection for him.

The other three chuckled as they stepped over, huddling them both.

"So when we went back in time and destroyed Garmadon's Mega Weapon, that didn't change anything?" Jay asked.

That seemed to be the first time Lloyd had ever heard the name. "My father has a Mega Weapon?"

Scarlett was stuck on the first part. "Wait, you guys went back in time?"

"You... you don't remember?" Zane questioned, looking her way.

"Um... I would've known if I had gone back in time. That sounds like some fucked up shit."

Kai picked up the same watermelon from earlier. It had still gone untouched. "But you were with us. And have you never heard of your father's weapon?"

He tossed the fruit in the air, chopping it up into five slices. Each ninja save for himself caught one.

"I, I think I would've remembered that! Why, what is it?" the poor blonde inquired. "Should I be concerned?"

And they laughed at the confused boy.

"Hey... what are you guys laughing at? What's so funny?"

Lloyd took the sword from Kai's hand and tossed his own slice up in the air. After cutting multiple times, it returned into the palm of his hand in the form of a dragon.

"That's cool and all... but I'm lost. What the hell do you mean I was with you?" Scarlett pressed the boys.

The four started to laugh again. They would update them both on everything tomorrow.

Kai placed a hand on each of their shoulders, pushing them both forward so they stood in the middle of the team. "I think some things are best left in the past. Come on... let's just prepare for the future."

Again, they laughed among themselves like the entire world knew the joke behind that. Lloyd and Scarlett simply stared at each other, never having been more confused in their lives.

"I don't get it," he mumbled.

"I hate being left out of things," she whispered. "I hate them."

Outside on deck, Nya walked up the stairs. She discovered Red leaning on the edge, staring out at the sky.

A small grin crossed her face as she continued toward him. "You feeling okay?"

He glanced down at her for a moment. "I suppose so... a little strange at most, but nothing is out of the ordinary."

She knew what the fuck was up. A short giggle left her lips as she copied him, leaning against the rail as well. "Yeah... sure. Nothing at all."

Red blinked, not understanding the reason for such a joking tone. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing that you," the samurai answered as she poked his arm, "should be concerned with."

He just stared at her. "What?"

Wu sat on top of the Bridge area, sitting alone with his legs hanging off the edge. He stared up at the beautiful navy blue above him, knowing well that the ninjas succeeded once again in their mission.

In the distance resided a bright, glowing star. That would be the truest signal that Garmadon's reign with his Mega Weapon was no more.