The morning after Princsss Harumi's outside excursion was brilliant and sunny, which prompted Lloyd to organise a training session.

"Why do we have to train?" Jay groaned as they stepped out onto the courtyard. The early morning sun blinded him right in the eyes and he looked ready to drop asleep. "Aren't we meant to be patrolling?"
"It's less likely that the palace would be broken into during broad daylight," Lloyd answered as he swept his katana expertly in front of him, testing the weight. "And I need you all to be in top shape for when when face the SOG. They're good fighters and already have one mask, we can't let them get away with another."
"SOG," Nya tiredly chuckled. "That's a funny word. SOG. SOG."
Jay giggled. "It sounds weird."
Lloyd sent his team a defeated expression. While he understood that sleeping in shifts left them sluggish in the morning, he still expected a little more urgency than this. It's not as if an incredibly powerful artefact of dark magic was at risk of falling into the wrong hands, or anything.
Kai yawned. Despite Lloyd's urgency, feet were still being dragged and eyes rubbed.
"Hopefully they don't attack now," he muttered. They wouldn't be able to put up a fight against a leaf at the state they were in.

After Lloyd directed a quick warm-up session, the team split off to spar.
"Can we talk about the name of the gang?" Jay piped up as he swung his nunchucks towards Kai, who was now desperate to evade it after a mighty thwack to his hip. "'Sons of Garmadon.' Are they trying to put out a message or something?"
"I don't know," Lloyd grunted as he versed Cole, eyeing the earth master warily. He was the only one who could rival the green ninja's brute strength, and that made him dangerous to be on the opposite side of.
"Are they talking about old Garmadon or new Garm?" Kai asked. "'Cause you'd think followers of new Garmadon would be like, monks or something."
"Kind of weird to follow someone who was defeated," Nya murmured. "How does it feel to have a bunch of self-proclaimed adopted siblings, Lloyd? They don't seem to be in the business of following in the family's footsteps, though."
"Imagine their faces if they found out that the actual son of Garmadon was the green ninja," Cole snickered.
Lloyd rolled his eyes with a small smile. It quickly dropped when he recalled the night before, and his stomach did an uneasy twist upon remembering Hutchin's last look back at Lloyd before leading the princess back to the palace.

"I should tell you guys about what happened last night," Lloyd said. Jay shot up.
"Oh, yeah!" the lightning master buzzed. "Hutchins returned with the princess really late last night. The entire palace was in uproar, it was crazy! What happened?"
Lloyd shook his head in exasperation, because only the Jade Palace would have this much drama so early on in their mission, and recounted word-for-word what entailed during the princess' escape.

"... and the weirdest thing," Lloyd puffed as he dodged Cole's hammer. "Was that he thought we were on a date or something."
"I dunno, man," Cole said as he slung the hammer over his shoulder when Lloyd leapt back. The sound of metal striking metal filled the palace's courtyard. "Moonlit walks on the canal, sharing food? I may not like the guy, but I get where he's coming from."
"What do you mean?"
"He's saying that it sounds a lot like a date!" Kai called across the yard. The accusation made Lloyd pull himself up sharply and send a frustrated expression. All of this was really starting to piss him off.
"It was not a date!" he insisted. If he cared less for his dignity as leader, he would've gone as far as to stomp his foot in defiance.
"A date; a social or romantic engagement, often involving a meal or an intimate setting," Zane piped up from where he was sparring against Nya.
"You can't argue with a nindroid!" Jay laughed.
"Except I can," Lloyd interjected with an irritated scowl. "There was nothing romantic about it! We were just talking."
"Dates can be just talking," Cole piped up as he swung his hammer toward Lloyd who deflected it with his blade. "Sometimes my dates with Nomes are just talking."

Lloyd groaned and ran a hand through his blond hair, scratching his scalp in agitation. Cole halted, setting his weapon onto the ground and leaning on the handle. He watched the young leader with an amused, pitiful smile.
"Why can't a guy and girl hang out without other people immediately thinking that they're on a date?" Lloyd sighed into his hands. "This is ridiculous!"
"We're just pulling your leg," Cole chuckled as Lloyd hauled his sword from the ground and resumed their sparring. "We know that a princess isn't your taste."
"Please," Kai snorted. "His taste is Y/n and Y/n alone. But does the princess know that?"
"I made it pretty clear last night that I'm 'not on the market,'" Lloyd said sarcastically. "Now, can we get back on track to what I was talking about?"
"Yes, yes, Hutchins was acting weird," Jay dramatically sighed. "What else is new?"
"I want to have someone on him constantly," Lloyd ordered quietly, as if there were hidden ears that could catch wind of their plan. "He's up to something. I can feel it."

There's no way that he's being this careful and watching us closely without reason. There was something hidden in the stern man's gaze, as if he knew something that no one else did.
Lloyd wondered what the thing was. He wondered if it was dangerous.
And he wondered if he'd figure it out before it was too late.
Cole's hammer swept Lloyd's legs out from under him, and his world turned upside down. The earth master barked a laugh at the stunned leader.
"Got ya," he chuckled before helping Lloyd up with a hand. "Get out of your head, green man."
"Sorry," Lloyd murmured.
After another half and hour of training, the team resumed their patrolling.
Lloyd was walking through the lavish halls of the palace, tossing up whether or not to call Y/n (if he got caught 'slacking' by Hutchins, he was sure to never hear the end of it - it would be better to wait until it was his turn to patrol from the roof), when he heard the unmistakable, deep voice of the emperor. He sounded severely disapproved.

Eager to catch any bit of information on the palace he could, Lloyd halted outside the door to the throne room. He deflated upon realising that it had nothing to do with the palace's defences or the SOG (Jay was right, it did sound weird), but his attention was caught once the true nature of the conversation became clear to him.
It was a simple reprimanding of parents to a daughter. What really piqued his interest, however, was the mention of Lloyd himself.
"What were you thinking, Harumi?" the emperor said. He had one of those awful paternal voices, where his anger wasn't evident in his tone, but his disappointment was, which was a million times worse. "You can't just go gallivanting off with a ninja whenever you want!"
"You are a member of the Royal Family of Ninjago," her mother calmly reminded. "It's undignified."
"Not to mention dangerous!" the emperor exclaimed. "And he already has a romantic partner! How could you act so imprudently?"
Lloyd couldn't see the princess' father's face, but he could guess the expression: worried and angry. It was the same one his mother would pull whenever Lloyd did something stupid.
"I was not aware. A- and he's not just a ninja-" the princess defended.
"You are royalty," her mother interrupted. "He is not."
Y/n would have a field day correcting them.

Lloyd strained to hear anything else. While he was flattered that the princess tried to defend him, he was still uneasy by her shock when Lloyd mentioned his girlfriend. He was more uncomfortable by what that shock entailed.
Harumi's defeated sigh was barely audible, but Lloyd's hearing still picked up on it. It was the sigh of a child who accepted their punishment, whether they truly agreed to it or not.
"I'm sorry," Harumi said, words clear, if not coloured with an apology. "I have dishonored our name and our house."
"No, Harumi, we're sorry," the emperor sighed. He sounded older, as if reprimanding his daughter physically aged him. "We all have a role to play and yours is in this palace. Your heart must not interfere."
Harumi's breath shuttered in what Lloyd could only place as grief. Her footsteps swiftly approached, but he was still caught up in this weird family dynamic to hide into the shadows.
The princess' teary eyes caught sight of him and she gave a distraught gasp, feet uncharacteristically stumbling, before continuing as fast as she could towards her room.

"Rumi..." Lloyd sympathetically murmured. A twinge of guilt had settled in his stomach - after all, he felt partly at fault.
He should've listened to his gut and taken the princess straight back to the palace. Instead, he allowed her to wander the dangerous streets of downtown Ninjago and got her in trouble with her parents. Not to mention he would've had a black mark next to his name in terms with the emperor and empress. And the relationship between the monastery and the royal family was already so fragile...
Hutchins stepped through the broad entrance to the throne room. He didn't seem surprised to see Lloyd standing there, staring after Harumi with a guilty frown.
"If you know what's good for you," Hutchins murmured darkly as he followed after the princess. "Stay away from her."

Lloyd released an exhale. Between the false-feeling family dynamic of the royals to Hutchins' general... well, Hutchins, he wasn't sure as to why the palace hadn't already imploded from the strain.

🍃🍂🍁🍂🍃

"Ready to go?"

I groaned into my elbow, draped dramatically across the table in the scroll room.
"It's too early to be responsible," I whined.
Garmadon huffed through his nose, long and tiresome.
"What I would give to spend a day doing nothing," he mused. "But alas, my young child, time waits for no-one and we have a tight schedule today. Up you get."
I made a sound of complaint from the back of my throat as I forced myself to stand. Misako, who was flicking through Uchū's journal, spared me an amused glance.
"And march!" Garmadon clapped his hands, encouraging me to speed up my zombie-like stumbling. "One-and-two, one-and-two!"
"That's not working," I snickered.
"Are you sure?" Garmadon asked as he waited for me to slide my shoes on. "You lived on your father's military base for a while, did you not? Surely this is the same thing they did to motivate you."
"Not a chance," I giggled. "But the attempt is recognised."
"Oh, good," Garmadon said with a serious frown. "I would've thought that you'd assume I didn't put any effort into it, otherwise."
I rolled my eyes with a grin.
"Lead the way, old man."

We were to attend one last meeting with the serpentine council before the new semester at Borg's Institute of Technology began and, in honour of such, Borg himself was attending.
This was due to his involvement with the integration of serpentine citizens into human society. The treaties had been polished and word has been spread; the first wave was getting released - to Borg's university. We were skipping right to tertiary education due to Kvasir's success in both his grades and his social life.
Truly, there was nothing more chill with serpentine integration than university students stressing over other things, like their courses. It was a great place for inter-species friendships to blossom.
Cyrus Borg was already waiting for us at the entrance to the serpentine tombs, fingers twitching in his lap as he sat in his automated wheelchair. Pixal, donning her human disguise with her curly, black ringlets, stood beside him and eagerly returned my excited hug.
"Ah, Mr. Garmadon," Borg greeted with a smile. "A pleasure to be meeting again. Miss Y/n, I hope you are doing well."
"No need for the formality, Cyrus," Garmadon said with a clap of his hand over Borg's outstretched one, intended for a shake. The doctor seemed momentarily perplexed but eased into a nod.
Pixal and I lead the way through the long, damp tomb tunnels. The men behind us filled the silence with conversation. What about? I had no idea. Old man things. Golf, probably.

"Have you met my daughter Pixal?" Borg asked. "She is much like your Zane, you see."
Pixal looked at me from the side of her eyes and sent me an angered, embarrassed look. I raised my brows in confusion.
"... does Zane's father also live at the monastery?"
"He unfortunately passed quite some time ago," Garmadon replied.
"Hmm," Borg hummed in contemplation. "So if he breaks my daughter's heart, it will be you I'll be speaking to."
A beat of dead silence. Absolute dead silence. My eyes widened in wildly amused shock and a look of shame and irritation crossed Pixal's perfect features.
"Dad!" she snapped, turning to send him a warning look.
Garmadon laughed. Like, he laughed - he did that guffaw that only men can do when something really tickles their funny bone. Bewildered by what the everloving fuck I was witnessing, I turned to see Borg still looking as serious as ever and Garmadon almost bent over double with his arms around his stomach. It was echoing in this noise trap, probably all the way down to where the serpentine were.
"My daughter's well being is no laughing matter," Borg sniffed.
"Dad, please," Pixal begged.
Garmadon was still laughing.
"Oh, my god," I murmured, almost on the verge of following Garm. Pixal turned ahead with a shocked gape of her jaw and stormed ahead, pace quickening. I had to awkwardly half-jog to keep up.

"He- he means well," I tried to say between the chuckles that threatened to escape.
"He's annoying," Pixal huffed as we advanced swiftly forth. "I love him, but ever since he's known about Zane, it's like he's gone super-parent. And not in the good way."
I smiled sympathetically but a small, scaly collision kept me from replying. We made it to the tomb quicker than it thought. Must've been the embarrassed racing.
"Y/n!" Raptra exclaimed with her voice muffled from pressing her face against my stomach. I laughed in delight and returned the hug.
"Hey, Raps!" I greeted enthusiastically. I lifted her onto my hip when she reached out to be picked up. "How you've been, bubs?"
"Good!" she beamed. Her four eyes scrunched from the effort of her large smile. "Kvasssir promisssed to ssshow me around the universssity!"
"Really?" I gasped. She nodded feverishly. "That's incredible! What a good brother you have."
"I know!"
"Alright," Kvasir said as he turned to corner from the tomb, clearly overbearing. He was smiling, small and amused. "Ssstop tooting my horn. My head might grow too big."
"Your head'sss already masssssive!" Raptra accused with a whip of her tail. Pixal laughed before lifting her hand to her mouth in composure.

"Good comeback," Kvasir said with a raise of his brow. "Come on, they're busy. Head back to Vallie and the othersss, you can play with Y/n after the meeting."
Raptra hung her head back and groaned but allowed me to place her back on the ground and storm off, shoulders hunched and pouting. Kvasir watched her leave with a shake of his head.
"Ssshe hatesss missssing out."
"She'd be bored to tears during the meeting otherwise," I pointed out. "I know I am."
"True," Kvasir nodded with a smirk. He glanced across from me and smiled at Pixal. "Hi. My name'sss Kvasssir."
"Pixal," the android grinned.
After introductions were made, Kvasir lead the way to the meeting chamber where even more introductions were made. Then the meeting commenced.
"I think we were all in agreement the last time we checked over the conditionsss," Skalidor announced as he placed the large binder atop the rock table. "But one last check through ssshould be administered."

"This binder," Borg asked as he wheeled his chair as close to the table as he could. He watched as Pythor flicked carelessly through the pages. "Is this the one to be presented to the emperor and empress or is this the one for the board of trustees of BiT?"
"Thisss isss the one for the firssst ssmall wave to your place of education, yesss," Fangtom hissed. His second head piped up; "it wasss sssent to you by Y/n... 'wee-wailing...' you."
"Emailing, it's emailing," I quickly corrected.
"He knowss what an email isss," Kvasir whispered under his breath to me. Pixal glanced at us. "I don't underssstand why he pretendsss to be ignorant."
"I don't know, either," I quietly sighed. A thought occurred to me and I tilted my chin to the side as I stared at the dual-helmed general. "It's always that same head, though."
Kvasir gasped beneath his breath. He sent me a wide-eyed look.
"You're right!"
"Thessse pagesss go over what your board of trustees ssshould expect," Skales said. "Lawsss, rulesss, eating habitsss, biology," Acidicus announced. "You will need to inssstall better heatersss into your lecture hallsss, from what Kvasssir hasss told usss."

"Euhm, yes," Borg nodded seriously. "I have been made aware of this. A team has been installing them over the past couple of days. We have also made arrangements for the new students to have access to their lecture theatres without stepping outside, due to Kvasir mentioning how difficult it was to handle the snow in Nom."
I felt my skin prickling, like someone was staring at me. I ignored it and scratched my arm, but the feeling only intensified. I glanced at Kvasir to see if he also felt a little weird, but he was engrossed in what appeared to be a sudden debate between Acidicus and Skalidor about expanding the serpentine's diet group.
My eyes finally locked onto the cherry-maroon gaze of Skales. Even and cool, he stared at me from across the table and tilted his head. I watched back, brow folded. Skales took a calm look around the arguing table before deftly and subtly slipping away. He caught my eyes just before he disappeared behind the rock wall.
Okay, this is very much a sign for me to follow.
I risked a peek at Kvasir and Pixal, but their eyes were jumping from one side of the arguing council table like some weird game of verbal tennis. I took my chance to drift back into the shadows of the circular room and sneak towards the exit.

When I stepped into the larger community cavern, I spotted the general already halfway across the village. I was perplexed by what he wanted to tell me and a little bit afraid, too. Nevertheless, I took a glance back towards the council's room, tightened my cardigan across my body, and resumed after the tall hypnobri.
When we reached the end of the cavern (I had to politely refuse multiple offers of conversation with the townsfolk), Skales waited. The temperature had chilled further, the multiple fires dotting the caves thinning. He didn't say a word, but instead continued to quietly lead me further and further away from the meeting the both of us were supposed to still be in.
Only when we found ourselves in the cave filled floor to ceiling with renditions of the prophecies did we stop. I stared at them hungrily, but my eyes couldn't make sense. The lines were blurring into each other but only when I was looking directly at it.
Stupid prophecies. Stupid cloud kingdom nerds.
The ceiling of the cave was covered in a colony of glow worms. They dotted the wet rock, softly helping the fire in the middle of the cave to illuminate the room. The floor of the cave was dotted with pools connected to underground springs, and what wasn't submerged was covered in wet ink, quills and parchments - multiple attempts of decoding whatever images they could see upon the rock wall. The general picked up one of these pieces of stiff paper and regarded it quietly.

"Y/n, my child," Skales finally spoke up after a period of thoughtful silence. His red eyes dragged down the written serpentine language. "What do you think of fate?"
It was an odd question, but I was used to them. It just became part of the norm now. I stared at the blurry lines and gave a shake of my head.
"Demanding?" I said unsurely. My crossed arms clenched with insecurity when Skales huffed. "It keeps Lloyd busy. Annoying, for sure. It likes to piss me off when I try to figure out what the prophecies mean."
"You humansss are ssso impatient," Skales hummed. He rolled up the piece of paper and looped his fingers around it. "You do not sssee a gift when it'sss right in front of you."
I sent the leader a confused look.
"What do you mean?"
"Isss it not fate that you meet Lloyd?" Skales said as he bent down to retrieve another scribbled piece of parchment. "Isss it not fate that you met young Raptra, beginning the liberation of my kind?"
I stared at the wall silently, ruminating on his words. Of course, he was right. I just liked to complain when given the chance to.
"Fate isss a relationssship between usss and the forcesss that guide our universsse," Skales continued. "A give and take. It will not tell you what it givesss and it will not warn you when it takesss, but it isss a fair trade. It will happen when you leassst expect it - maybe in a year, perhapsss even thisss very evening."
"I don't understand," I confessed.

"Y/n, you have perception far beyond your known capabilitiesss," he murmured. Skales dropped a piece of parchment back to the floor and turned to stare me directly in the eyes. "Utilissse it."

🍃🍂🍁🍂🍃

The setting sun washed Ninjago in a deep, orange haze. The nights were longer, days shorter, as autumn crept closer and turned green leaves yellow.

Lloyd envied the rest of his team at this time of the day - his shift had him patrolling the inside of the palace, while Kai, Zane, Nya and Cole had the outside to watch the sky turn. At least Jay was stuck inside, but he didn't seem to share Lloyd's feelings on the sunset.
There was just something refreshing about it; watching the sun disappear was like washing away the day's grime and cozying down for night. It was a replay or a fast forward. It was a safety net for the tired.
Lloyd caught glimpses of dusk as he passed by the windows, a split second of a glimpse before the walls continued their stretch along the hallways. Covered in thick drapery or pieces of art. Landscapes, portraits, marble sculptures. It was as if the palace was more of a gallery than it was a home. It didn't hold the warmth of the sunset.

Warm, cold. Cold. Cold. Warm, cold. Cold. Cold.
No wonder why nobody felt like a family there.

But in some funny little way, Lloyd could find himself relating to the princess' strife.
Lloyd didn't have an ideal upbringing, either. It wasn't all white picket fences, crusts cut-off, Mum waiting in the car park after class. It was being placed into a boarding school when he was five, kicked out when he was eleven, release the serpentine at eleven-and-three-quarters, and then shoved into the green gi at twelve.
No. Not ideal at all.
Lloyd stopped at a large portrait of the family. The emperor and empress looked regal as ever, lips thin and brows raised. Harumi had that glint of quiet somber in her eyes.
Still... even though Lloyd went through all that, at least he found his family. Rumi still seemed to be searching for hers.
Lloyd wanted to help, but he didn't know how. He wanted to bring light to the princess' life the way Y/n brought to his. But Harumi didn't have a Y/n, and it was always her bringing the laughter and the smiles. Lloyd was only good for the baggage.
He wished she was with him now. Y/n would have an idea about how to bring some more warmth into the palace. She always seemed to have a plan, even as harebrained and silly those plans may be. They always seemed to work.

"Y/n, give me your wisdom," Lloyd sighed. "Your silly, crazy, funny sense of wisdom."

"Who is Y/n?"

Lloyd turned from the portrait. He'd heard the master-at-arms walking past, but didn't realise he'd spoken quite so loud as to catch his attention.
Hutchins was staring at him with his usual grumpy frown, but a small sliver of interest seemed to rest upon his eyebrows and lighten his deep lines. Lloyd was surprised by the guarded sincerity of the old man considering his constant disdain for the team of ninja. But then again, this was the Palace of Secrets. Lloyd should really stop being surprised at being surprised.
"Is Y/n your girlfriend?" Hutchins asked.
"Yeah," Lloyd said with a smile. "She's the best thing that ever happened to me."
Hutchins shifted his eyes to the family portrait. Lloyd copied him.
"Sounds like quite the partner."
"Oh, she is," Lloyd nodded as he studied the background of the portrait - a marble floor, backed by a velvet wall covered in the same thick drapery that decorated the palace. "Y/n was the first person who didn't care that my last name was Garmadon. Even out of my own team. She's always seeing the best in everyone, sometimes even in people who I thought didn't deserve it."

Me, Chen, the serpentine. Lloyd wondered how different his life would be if Y/n wasn't in it - Chen would still be his bully, the serpentine still locked away in their tomb of eternity, Lloyd still ashamed of his own self. He could picture him slipping away entirely into the persona of being the green ninja. How depressing of a life that would be.
Hutchins hummed. It was low and long, like he was weighing the impact of Y/n in his own hands - just as Lloyd was doing.
"Very special indeed," the master-at-arms agreed. He looked out the side of his eyes at Lloyd. "How long have you known each other?"
Whilst part of him was stunned by Hutchins' genuine interest, Lloyd couldn't help himself when it meant he got to ramble about his wonderful second half. He could consciously feel himself falling into a ramble but he also, consciously, didn't care.
"This will be our fourth year," Lloyd replied. "We met when she hit me with her skateboard - by accident, of course. And then she hit me with her car the same evening. A- also an accident."
Hutchins slowly turned his head. A perplexed look stretched his face. Lloyd nervously chuckled.

"It was a lasting first impression," he said with a single-shoulder shrug.
"I can imagine," Hutchins remarked.

After that interaction, Hutchins didn't stick around. He scurried off, probably concerned about the legendary green ninja and his girlfriend who routinely accidentally causes him bodily harm. The sun had fully set and the night began to creep towards midnight.
Lloyd roamed the halls, ears and eyes pricked for anything suspicious. He was getting slow, though, and tired, and just began wondering whether Jay would be pissed if Lloyd swapped his shift early so he could have a much-needed power nap when his comm crackled to life.
"... e've got a ... blem... st sap..!'"
Lloyd lifted his hand to his ear.
"Cole? Cole, you're not coming in," Lloyd said. "You have a bad signal-"
"BLAS... AP! ... I SAW- A-"
"What's he going on about?" Nya asked. Lloyd stopped dead.
"Blast sap," he said. "Cole's located blast sap."
"What?!" Kai spluttered.
"We gotta get everyone out of here," Cole yelled down his comm, which was suddenly a lot clearer. Lloyd began quickly making his way towards the side of tbe palace that held the Mask of Deception. The whole palace is rigged to explode!"

"Begin immediate evac," Lloyd ordered with his heart pounding in his ears. "I'm going after the mask. Do you know who did it?"
"It was Hutchins!"
Lloyd sucked in a breath.
"What-?"
He felt the shock of the explosion before he heard it, a massive shake that had Lloyd tossed against the wall. The massive BOOM that followed pierced sharply through his ears and left them ringing, and an unintended yelp of pain burst from him as he covered them with his hands.
"Is everyone okay?" Zane asked quickly, which garnered a variety of responses.
"We have to get the Royal Family out of here!" Kai yelled.
"We have to get everyone out!" Lloyd commanded as he hobbled down the shaking hall. The ringing in his ears began to irritate. He shook his head. "Nobody gets left behind! Cole, Zane, Jay, you take the first floor. Nya, Kai, the second. Head straight for any structural damage and make sure no one is trapped under the rubble!"
"Uh-oh," Nya whispered.
"That's gonna be difficult, green man," Kai mumbled. "Trouble just arrived on our location. Little back up?"

"Change of plans!" Lloyd grunted as he dodged a falling pillar. The cracks along the walls that the explosion had caused had begun spreading, weakening the floorboards beneath his feet and sending bits of drywall toppling. "Jay, you head towards the mask. I'll rendezvous at the front of the palace."
"Aye, aye!" Jay shrilled.
Lloyd arrived at the front entrance of the palace and it was chaos - fire had sprouted from the explosion, crawling up the columns and drapery that still remained standing. Members of the Sons of Garmadon were tearing around on their street bikes, causing general mayhem and making the palace guards look like untrained fools. It almost had Lloyd's head spinning.
He stuck an arm out and caught a thug who was zipping around on his motorcycle with a cherry laugh. The thug's back crashed to the floor, bike careening into a wall.
Lloyd was just about to snarl at the whimpering man that he held to the floor when a flash of green caught his attention. He turned his head and found Hutchins scurrying through the labyrinth of a mess, eyes wide and frightened.

Lloyd growled and leapt after the man. Hutchins wheezed when he was shoved against a column and coughed again when Lloyd's hand pushed against his chest and back against it. He had him trapped.
"You did this!" Lloyd yelled. "You helped them!"
"Are you daft?!" Hutchins snapped. His eyes blazed with fury and the reflection of fire as he glared at the young man. "I had nothing to do with this!"
"Cole said he saw you in the tunnels," Lloyd accused, almost spitting from rage as he pointed his finger against the master-at-arms' robes. A beam from the ceiling crashed to the ground and Hutchins flinched. "With the explosives!"
Hutchins' eyes jumped back to Lloyd and narrowed.
"Whatever your friend saw, it wasn't me," he vowed in a dark voice. "I have served this house for the better part of my life and have sworn to protect the Royal Family."
"You expect me to believe you-!"
"Watch out!" Hutchins warned as he used the column behind him to shove his weight against Lloyd. Taken aback, he fell, and Hutchins went down with him. A sai dug deep into the wood, trembling from the force of the throw.
Lloyd stared at it in shock. He hadn't even heard the attack, he'd been so focused on getting the truth out of suspect numero uno. He turned to Hutchins.
"You saved me."

Hutchins barely spared him a glance.
"We don't have time for this right now," he croaked as he stood and held out a hand for Lloyd. "We must get tbe royal family to safety, then we can worry about who the traitor is-"
A sharp laugh sliced through the air and the two men barely had time to realise that the laugh came from a woman on a bike that was headed straight towards them. They jumped, barely missing a painful collision, and Lloyd pulled out his sword just as the woman turned her bike on a dime and headed right back into round two.
"Does anyone have eyes on the princess?" Lloyd managed to hear Hutchins shout over the noise of the fighting. His sword was flung out of his hand sometime during his altercation with the woman on the bike.
Hutchins took off, only to be knocked to the ground by the woman. She planted her foot on the ground and the bike went spiralling under her, squealing to a stop.
I need to get her away from her bike, Lloyd thought. Clearly, the woman had some experience utilising her mode of transport as a wicked weapon.
Lloyd picked up his sword and tackled the woman while she wasn't looking, sending her sprawling. She pinged back up before Lloyd could comprehend how fast she was moving, lifting a sai to bring to down upon Hutchins' chest-

Zane swooped in with an explosion of ice and chill, using his spinjitzu to direct his attack at the woman. She was thrown, sent flying across the room while covered in a thin layer of ice and sporting a woozying stun.
Lloyd leapt to his feet as Zane helped Hutchins up. Relief tore through him as he found Harumi unscathed.
"You're okay," Lloyd sighed. "Where's your parents?"
"I don't know," she replied quickly, worried eyes taking in the chaos. She turned to Lloyd. "What about the mask?"
"That doesn't matter right now," Lloyd said.
"Of course it does!" Harumi shot, voice pitched as she stared at him incredulously.
"We need to get everyone out of here alive, princess, that's first priority," Lloyd sternly reminded. "Zane - barricade the doors."
Zane gave a nod before taking off towards the large entrance. The remaining stragglers seemed to have ditched after the woman went down - Lloyd wondered if she was their leader.
"Hutchins, we need-"
"Uhh..." Nya's voice picked up through the comms, cutting Lloyd off. He turned away and lifted his hand to his comm link. "I think my brother just destroyed the Mask of Deception."
"What?" Lloyd burst. "Destroyed the Mask?"

Hutchins walked backwards, eyes wide.
"That one was a fake, I procured the real one from the vaults below," he said as he reached behind the emperor's throne and pulled out the mask. Harumi's brows furrowed in shock.
"A fake?" she echoed.
"Forgive me, your highness," Hutchins hurriedly breathed as he held the powerful artefact up for them to see. Harumi stared at it in disbelief. "It is the Mask of Deception. I wasn't sure if I could trust the ninja."
He looked at Lloyd.
"But I do now," he said.
Hutchins swiftly shoved the throne forward, revealing a hidden passageway. He shoved the mask into Lloyd's chest. A sudden, odd weight in his veins erupted when he held the mask.
"Take it," Hutchins ordered. "And get the princess out of here."
"But what about my parents?" Harumi cried, resisting Hutchins' attempts to push her into the stairwell.
"I'll find them," he promised. Harumi gave one last whimper before disappearing down the stairs. Lloyd stood at the breadth of the secret passage.
"I was wrong about you," he said, wishing that he could take back everything negative he ever thought about the old man. It was clear that he was wise and suspicious, both admirable traits for the position he was in.
"Lloyd," Hutchins began with a hand on his shoulder. "Power changes people, it turns them into monsters. Be careful who you trust. Now go!"

Lloyd nodded and took off after the princess, flying down the old, worn steps of the secret passage. He heard the entrance slide shut behind them.
"Go, go, go!" Lloyd demanded, pushing the princess faster as he caught up. The cobblestones shook unsteadily, disturbed by the explosion. Anything more would cause the tunnel to collapse entirely. "We have to get you and the mask out of here!"
"I know!" Harumi shouted.
They emerged on the street outside the entrance to the palace, just as another massive explosion shook the city and tossed them to the ground. Lloyd groaned as his ears rang once more, echoing thrice the amount, but hauled himself up to his feet and watched in sick horror as the palace caved in on itself. A cloud of dust mushroomed to the sky. Fire licked at the stars.
The squealing tires of a motorcycle snapped Lloyd back into reality as it swept past him, arching in a circle. He kicked the thug off of his ride and grabbed the handlebars of the zooming bike, swinging with the momentum as it arched over the princess' head and landed beside Lloyd.
"Get on!"
Harumi hopped on silently, struggling with the heavy robes she was wearing. Lloyd shoved the mask into her hands and felt that odd weight to his veins drop before revving the bike and shooting away from the palace.

They shot through the traffic of the motorway, being chased down by the Sons of Garmadon. Lloyd almost wanted to laugh at the irony - but a twisting, wary part of them wondered just how many people in Axon's gang really knew who the green ninja is. Surely they wouldn't call themselves the SOG if they knew who Lloyd was? Or maybe they did, and they were just taunting him. It could go either way with that crazy woman (who was now leading the charge in the motorcycle chase) leading the gang.
He glanced over his shoulder and pressed harder on the gas.
"They're right behind us!" Harumi warned over the wind.
"Hold on!" Lloyd shouted as he zipped to the side of a truck and killed the lights. The gang's motorcycles zipped right on past, unaware of Lloyd's hiding spot.
He chuckled smugly before pulling off the motorway and taking a quieter route across the city.
"Lost 'em," Lloyd said with a smirk as he urged the motorbike faster. His smirk dropped, however, when he saw the woman make a crazy leap from one motorway bridge to the other. She was jostled, looked like she hit her head on the handlebars, but kicked up her bike and sai and began charging, jousting style.

"Her again?" Lloyd complained. He swept up his sword and held it out, glaring at the woman as she dragged the tip of her sai against the tarmac. A spray of sparks burst from its wake. He narrowed his eyes. "Keep your head down!"
Harumi obediently tucked her head behind Lloyd.
A mighty CLANG echoed within the passing cars' engines and beeps. Lloyd felt the shock of the impact of metal on metal shiver through his bones. Stomping his foot on the tarmac, he hauled the bike around. Round two.
Harumi gasped. The Mask of Deception was between the woman and Lloyd, splayed out innocently on the road. Lloyd felt his heart jump into his throat.
The woman chuckled and sheathed her sai before kicking off her bike and stomping on the gas. Lloyd swiftly copied, tires tearing down the tarmac while Harumi's grip tightened in anticipation as they each drew nearer. Lloyd's eyes were torn between being locked on the prize and keeping an eye on the enemy.
"I'll grab it! You keep the bike straight," Harumi shouted over the wind as she dipped her arm down towards the tarmac. The bike swerved from the shift in weight and Lloyd had to wrangle the front back into control. The woman was screaming an insane laugh.

They zipped past each other, close enough to rattle from the wind. Lloyd swept the bike back around and paled at the sight of the woman triumphantly holding the mask above her head, gloating.
"We have to get it!" Harumi cried. Lloyd glanced back up at the woman just as the rest of the thugs that broke into the palace arrived, each on their own bikes, each with their own dangerous grin.
"We have to get out of here!" Lloyd corrected as he hauled the bike back the other way and made it lurch into speed. Harumi gasped and tightened her grip, hunching down as Lloyd zipped the bike through the maze of traffic at breakneck speed. The thugs were talking them. Clearly, they were out for blood tonight.
"Where are we supposed to go?!" Harumi yelled. "They're closing in!"
Lloyd gritted just teeth as he dragged the bike's handles, directing it shooting past trucks and vans and hatchbacks and cabs. Any slack in control and concentration could easily spell death, but so could being caught by the Sons of Garmadon.
Lloyd's mind raced. He had to reunite with his team. That was the first issue. He was alone with a vulnerable princess, clearly outnumbered. He had to find a hiding place, maybe. Or outsmart them? But the bikers were right on his ass and he didn't have the opportunity to think of any good out-smarting ideas with all this breathing down his neck.

But, then, he was struck. A brilliant idea, a phenomenal one. Something that looked at the irony of the SOG being called what they are and offering something even more ironic in response.
"Don't worry, princess," Lloyd called as he lifted his hand to his mask. "I have this all under control."
If Harumi doubted him, she didn't say anything. Lloyd waited in apprehension as the dial tone played, before almost hollering in relief when the call was picked up.

"Hey, dad," Lloyd shouted over the wind. "We're going to need your help!"