Aeria's POV

I seated myself into one of the chairs on the ends of the chains keeping them suspended off the ground and was finishing buckling myself in when I noticed that almost no one else was on the ride except for me.

"Excuse me, sir, why is this ride so empty?" The figure in the costume must not've heard me, because he continued to the ride control panel and turned it on as the swings lifted up, so high into the air that everything in the park below looked super small.

Just as the swings reached their max height, they stopped, but they didn't start spinning around like they should've, only increasing my suspicion of something going wrong.

"Hey, what's going on?!" I yelled down to the guy in the costume while I struggled in my seat, but before I could get an answer, there was an explosion on the side of the park farthest from where I was and I saw 7 colorful spirals heading towards it.

"What's happening?!" I yelled more urgently as I tried to undo the bar on my seat.

"Oh I wouldn't worry about what's happening over there, but over here..." A familiar voice spoke through the speakers on the ride.

"Pythor?!" I looked down to see the white-scaled snake underneath the monster costume, making his way up to me by slithering up on the center pillar of the ride.

"Come on! Unhook!" I growled struggling to undo the chain seat belt keeping me in place until I broke it.

Pythor was getting closer so I got up from the seat and used my hands and feet to climb my way up the chain suspensions up to the roof until I noticed Pythor getting closer so I lept off and used Airjitzu to fly, a little wobbly, the rest of the way up, landing on the top in a roll right onto my feet and starting looking around for him

Hearing some hissing noises, I whirled around to see nothing but empty air until something was swept against my feet and I was knocked onto my back, my wooden box leaping out from my jacket pocket only to be stopped before it went over the edge with a wind gust to levitate it into the air back to me. I got up and was about to tuck the box back into my pocket when I turned around to reveal Pythor standing over me smirking.

"Did you really think you'd be able to escape from me?"

"I don't know, I was hoping." I answered snarkily as I shot a blast of wind at him to knock him off the top, but he dodged easily.

"Pathetic. You can't even hit me when I'm right in front of you." Pythor sneered as I got back into a fighting stance.

"Oh really." I cracked my knuckles and neck as I ran forward and threw a kick at Pythor's head, but he pulled out a long pipe and made my foot hit it instead as he pushed back.

"You're starting to get really annoying." I stated as I tried to punch him, but was deflected by the pipe again.

"The feeling's entirely mutual." Pythor snapped before he grabbed my arm and twisted it behind my back, preventing me from moving before continuing, "However, I still require your assistance, or should I say your darkness."

I wrenched myself free with an angry scream as I twisted the pipe out of his grasp and threw it behind me, off the ride, not even noticing that my box fell out of my pocket again until Pythor picked it up and opened it to take out the photo of me and my brother.

"You're not getting me to use my powers, so just give up already." I demanded angrily.

"That's the funny thing about the ninja, they seem to think they never give up on anything yet they've basically given up on your past." Pythor retorted as he continued to look at the photo before looking up at me.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I growled warningly as we started to circle each other.

"Your brother, they knew him, they've fought him, and yet they haven't told you about that, have they?" Pythor smirked at me as he put the photo back in the box and tossed it aside and I took a second to process what he told me, but shook my head and shouted,

"You're just lying to get my guard down!" I gave another angry scream as I started to try and fight him, but he kept hitting me back until I felt myself going through the same motions as the obstacle course back on the Bounty.

Pausing for a split second to calm my mind, I went through the motions like Lloyd showed me and I whirled around into a glittery purple and black tornado with small specks of dark green.

The pull of the Spinjitzu tornado brought Pythor inside of it and I managed to land several blows on him until he was kicked out.

After spinning out of the tornado, I used a blast of wind to bring my box back into my grasp and I held onto it with an iron grip.

"I may have had my doubts about them before, but they'd never lie to me like that!" I yelled to Pythor determinedly.

"Say what you want, but I think deep down you know I'm telling the truth. Haven't you noticed how they've been so intent on avoiding the topic of your brother and past? All except for little Lloyd who, may I say, has taken quite an interest in you from what I've seen and heard." Pythor continued to smirk at me as he got back up and I readied myself for another Spinjitzu attack when a green light was seen coming towards me and Pythor. When I looked up, I saw Lloyd coming towards us on his dragon with his uniform on.

"Keep what I've said in mind. I have a feeling you'll be hearing the truth sooner than you think. And you won't like what you'll hear." Pythor fell backward off the ride and when I ran to the edge to stop him from escaping, he was nowhere to be seen.

"Aeria!" Lloyd shouted down to me as he pulled his dragon right next to me and helped me get on.

"Where have you been? We needed your help." Lloyd told me as he pulled off his hood to face me.

"With what?"

"A fire broke out on the other side of the park and we could've used your winds to keep it from spreading too far. What were you doing up here?" I hesitate before asking him,

"Lloyd, you guys said that Pythor was supposed to be in some kind of newly upgraded cell in prison, right?"

"Yeah, why?" Lloyd turned back again to look at me with a worried expression.

"I just saw him and we fought, how could he have escaped?"

"I don't know, but we'll find out back at the Bounty, the others went ahead so we need to catch up, hold on." I put my hands on Lloyd's shoulders as he made his dragon fly faster. As we flew through the air with the sun setting behind us, what Pythor told me during our fight kept replaying in my head.

Could they actually have known my brother or was Pythor just lying? I thought to myself as we flew off to the Bounty that was left flying over a forest before we left.

Time Skip to the Bounty

"Aeria, are you OK?" Nya came up to me as soon as Lloyd landed his dragon and we got off onto the deck and she gave me a hug.

"I'm fine, just a little bruised from the fight." I responded, rubbing the bruises forming on my knuckles and Xia walked up to me and started to heal my hands with her powers, "But, I managed to do Spinjitzu for the first time!" I added, slightly excited, but the others didn't seem to hear.

"Fight?! What the heck happened?" Jay asked and Lloyd answered for him,

"Pythor escaped and he tried to corner Aeria on top of the high swings while we were distracted with the fire."

"What?! How?" Cole exclaimed and Lloyd answered again,

"I don't know how, but he's back and we need to protect Aeria."

"I can handle myself." I started to argue, but they wouldn't have it,

"From the way you're banged up after facing him, no you can't." Kai argued back before Nya added more gently,

"Look, I know you think you're strong enough to take on Pythor and you are really skilled, but we can't risk him getting you and using your powers for whatever he has planned for Ninjago City." Nya assured me as we all headed inside the ship. I crossed my arms while walking in as my eyes pinched up in frustration until I groaned and responded,

"Fine, then I'm gonna be in my room if any of you need me." I walked back to my room and shut the door with a sigh. I stood by the door with my arms crossed until I spotted my half-done origami iris on the nightstand and picked it up to finish it while I paced the room.

A few minutes later, I had finished it when a knock sounded on my door,

"Hey, Aeria? Can I come in?"

"Sure..." I answered back dejectedly and the door opened to let Lloyd in.

"You alright?" He asked after he closed the door behind him to stand close to me.

"I just got attacked while we were supposed to be having fun and now I'm on lockdown. I'm doing just peachy."

"We really are trying to protect you."

"I don't need protection, I've been fighting to protect myself all my life."

"And it led to loneliness, anger, and more suffering than anyone should be able to handle. You're strong, but having others backing you up can make you stronger." I tried to keep up my tough appearance, but it came crumbling down as I chuckled,

"That was so cheesy."

"No, it wasn't."

"It really was." I punched Lloyd lightly in the shoulder and he laughed after he stumbled back a bit.

"H-hey!" Lloyd tried to punch me back, but I grabbed his arm and flipped him over my back onto the ground.

"Heh are you OK?" I laughed a little as I sent the iris spinning down onto his face as he lay on the ground. He got up and held the flower with a questioning look on his face.

"Keep it, I don't care what that prophecy says, I think you're a pretty cool guy, whether or not it says that you're meant to be my other half." I pulled Lloyd up as he held the iris in his hand and we both sat down on my bed.

It was silent until I took my box out of my jacket and pulled out the photo of me and my brother, staring at it until I asked Lloyd,

"Pythor kept telling me that you guys knew my brother and have fought him before, but that can't be, right?" I looked over to Lloyd hopeful until I saw that he was looking solemn.

"Lloyd, he was lying, right?" I asked more insistently and he responded with a single word,

"No..."

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