The sun shone brightly in the early morning hours. The clouds had disappeared a long time ago, and not a single raindrop made its way down to the ground.

The flying kingdom of Shintaro was thriving during the summer months. Their crops were growing, their people hosted more public events, and their days became longer than their nights, meaning everyone had more time to be productive.

Especially inside the large Royal Palace, where the staff got to work immediately when nine uninvited guests stood at the entryway.

They were sent to Queen Vania, who was sitting in her throne and talking to Hailmar when she realized who the guests were. "Oh goodness," she said, standing up. She handed Hailmar her scepter, placed the heavy crown on the pillow beside her throne, and lifted her gown to step down the stairs without any hinderance. "What in the world has happened to you?"

That question was loaded with worry. The ninja looked rough.

Master Wu was barely able to stand, even with the help of his staff. Pixal and Misako stood on either sides of him to steady him. Nya, Kai, Jay, and Cole were standing around Lloyd, who was clutching Zane's arm to stand as well.

"Ninjago..." Lloyd couldn't bring himself to say the words on the tip of his tongue.

"What about Ninjago?" Vania quickly waved over two guards and ordered them to spread word to the other staff to prepare guest rooms for each person as well as to tell her kitchen staff to prepare food. Then she turned back to the others. "Tell me. What is going on?"

Wu shook his head. "Ninjago...is overrun by evil."

— — — —

The hot brew burned the inside of Lloyd's mouth. He willed himself to keep drinking, though, because he was both incredibly thirsty and tired, so tired. He was sure the burning sensation would wake him up, even if only a little bit.

But his eyes could barely stay open. And his limbs were begging his brain to give out already.

"That should help you a little," Kai said, looking at the bandage on Lloyd's bicep critically, making sure it was tightly secured around his flesh. The bleeding had stopped a while ago, but that didn't mean it didn't need to be bandaged up. "You okay, bud?"

Lloyd sighed. He brought the tea cup down and set it on the brown coaster in front of him, holding it with both hands to warm them up. "Yeah. I think so."

"Tell us what happened down there," Cole urged him on. The Green Ninja had yet to explain every detail of what had happened down there to them; the only information he had told them was the bare minimum, enough to ensue fear in the others, enough for them all to decide to seek refuge in Shintaro.

Lloyd closed his tired eyes and let out a shuddered breath.

The thrill of being chased by six of his enemies kept Lloyd going. He needed to get out of that confined space, or else he would be done for. Harumi and the Overlord had tried to kill him once, and he was sure they were fueled by the desire to finish what they had started now.

He didn't wait for any of them to realize what was going on. While the five on the ground had just started to get up, Lloyd turned around and ran down the path he had come from with the moving cart. The path was long, dark, and didn't seem to have an end, but he kept running and running, without looking back once.

He heard loud screams and dubious laughter. One of them—he guessed the Overlord—told the other villains Lloyd just escaped, and after that, everyone was in that same tunnel, after him.

They had weapons. He didn't.

The Scythe of Quakes, although only able to be controlled by the Master of Earth usually, was now wielded by Vangelis. Lloyd couldn't see what exactly the older man was doing, but based on the rock formations appearing in front of his running path, he guessed Vangelis found a way to control the weapon.

The same was with Aspheera as well, who sent blasts of fire after Lloyd, who dodged each of them but was also slowed down by them.

But one positive aspect was that the fire blasts that passed Lloyd by lasted long enough to grant Lloyd some light to see where he was going, even if the path didn't have any splitting ways.

"Lightning!" Lloyd heard Pythor hiss in the distance, but when nothing happened a few seconds later, Pythor groaned. "How are you able to control your weapons and I am not?"

Lloyd felt at least a little bit relieved. Getting electrocuted was not a pretty way to get caught.

Yet once the ground beneath his feet became slippery, Lloyd realized ice was also up there, together with lightning.

Internally panicking, Lloyd knew he was cooked. He could barely walk straight without slipping, let alone run, which he desperately needed to right now.

When another rock formation formed in front of him, he could not dodge it. He harshly collided with it, gasping when he fell on his arm and cut open part of his bicep on the uneven surface.

He was temporarily stunned, but he had to get back up. The longer he was unmoving, the closer the enemy got. Lloyd was sure he could have taken on one enemy, even together with a Golden Weapon, but six? Including the four weapons? Fat chance.

So he picked himself back up and continued to get farther away. When he realized he would get nowhere with the ice covering the ground, he started to jump from wall to wall, ensuring his speed once again.

And to his surprise, he overlooked the fact that once the villains would get to the spot the ice had started to cover the ground, they had to cross it as well.

He heard Harumi's frustrated yell, it echoed in his ears. "How are we supposed to get to him now?!"

"I know," came Aspheera's voice a little later.

And then, with the blink of an eye, the ice was gone, replaced with water. Aspheera used the Sword of Flames and turned the ice to water. Lloyd jumped back down and continued to sprint on the wet ground.

The flame that made the ice turn to water gave Lloyd a trusted light source, so he sprinted even faster to be right behind it so he could at least see.

And what he saw was a bricked wall right in front of him, only a few more steps away. That sent him into panic mode.

Lloyd began to touch the bricks one by one. One of them had to...

He pressed down into one particular brick that acted like a button and caused the wall to separate into two, creating a small gap in the middle that Lloyd quickly squished through before it would get too wide.

He recognized the area he entered. It was the one he had come from; the graffiti on the wall, the flickering lights above him, the lone train filled with vengestone.

Lloyd pressed down on the same brick that closed the wall again before sprinting down the train tracks until he reached the manhole. He climbed up the rusty, old ladder and pushed the grate out of the way.

Once his feet touched the concrete ground above the surface, he was so happy he could give it a long smooch.

But instead, he wasted no time and ran down the same road he had used to come there. He ran and ran and ran, passing by several civilians who looked at him funnily. There were many reasons as to why he could be looked at like that.

His costume was falling apart.

Blood was gushing out of his arm.

He was sprinting down the street like he was running for his life.

Which he was.

When he saw the headlights of a familiar noodle truck, Lloyd let out a sigh of relief and sprinted towards it, not stopping when it looked like he would collide with it since the truck didn't seem to stop either.

But then it did, and Lloyd jumped inside, falling against the fake leather seating. His whole body ached like it was on fire and his breath came out in short wheezes.

"Lloyd!" Jay yelled from the back.

"Turn around!" Lloyd screamed at Cole, who opened his mouth to question why. But Lloyd didn't let him let out a word. "TURN AROUND, COLE! GET US AS FAR AWAY FROM HERE AS POSSIBLE!"

When Cole, as well as the other three, realized Lloyd was on the brink of having a panic attack, he yanked the steering wheel to the side and sped away, into the other direction.

"What the hell happened, Lloyd?" Kai asked, also from the back. "And why is your arm bleeding?"

"They're coming!" Lloyd began to spew around random phrases that the others could not piece together. "They're coming! They resurrected him! She resurrected him! We need to...get away...get the heck away!"

Zane and Cole exchanged alarmed glances. The former, who was sitting in the front between Cole and Lloyd, leaned forward and tapped on the call button of his tablet.

Nya's worried voice greeted him a moment later. "Have you found him?"

"He has found us," Zane said. "And it seems a lot has happened."

Time seemed to slow down when Lloyd stopped talking and let the new information sink in. The revelation that a resurrection had taken place was bad enough, but Harumi coming back and four former villains wielding the Golden Weapons and turning them evil?

"My father..." Vania's words clogged up her throat. Her father was back doing evil things and threatening lives. She hated the fact that she was related to a criminal.

"You didn't use your powers against them?" Kai asked Lloyd, taking a seat beside him.

The ninja, Pixal, Wu, Misako, Vania, and Hailmar were in the conference room of the palace, hidden away from the rest of the world. It was one of the most well protected places in Shintaro, since important decisions were made in there regarding the kingdom's laws, rules, and safety.

"I kind of forgot I had powers," Lloyd answered. "I was too busy trying to get away from them. Must have slipped my mind in the heat of the moment."

That was only partially correct. Another, less wanted reason was that Lloyd didn't want to use his powers against her.

He despised how she still managed to have a strong hold on him and his actions.

"What will we do now?" Misako asked, making everyone turn to look at her. She was sitting on the other side of the table, Wu being right next to her. Pixal stood behind him and Zane stood beside her.

"This is serious," Wu said after a beat. "We have done what we thought was best in the moment; we fled. We got away, packed our most important things, left Ninjago. We were barely able to stick together."

"We have to get back down." Kai stood back up, his balled fists pressed against the smooth surface of the table. "We have to fight. Take back our territory."

"We can't just do that, Kai," his sister voiced, which made everyone look at her. She was sitting on Misako's other side, her hands holding a mug of coffee, her face oddly calm. The others couldn't see it, but Jay, who was sitting next to his Yang, had his hand resting comfortably on her thigh, his thumb grazing over her clothed skin soothingly. "I'm sure they've taken over already. If we go down there now, we'll get obliterated."

"I agree with Nya," Jay followed. "It's not safe to go back now. We need a proper plan."

"We need a strategy," Cole agreed. He was standing beside Lloyd's sitting form. "A game plan."

"I am afraid we are overlooking the biggest issue," Zane said, his tone somewhat scared.

Lloyd lifted his gaze and looked at his friend. "What is it?"

"We may have saved ourselves, but we have not saved anyone else in Ninjago. The civilians are in acute danger."

Kai cursed. "What do we do? We can't just hide and do nothing."

"We will definitely not do that," Wu assured him, "but we cannot get into battle without a good plan. Lloyd is injured. We have no weapons. They are loaded with fury and too many to tackle at once. And they have the Golden Weapons. It would be foolish to jump into action now."

"We can give you as many weapons as you need," Vania said confidently. "And you can use any of our resources. The kingdom of Shintaro is with you."

"Thank you, Vania." Cole smiled at her.

She smiled back. "As long as my father is taken care of, I will be fine." She sighed. "As much as a part of me wants to love him, I know what has to happen to make sure he will never strike again."

"What has to happen?" Jay asked, confused.

Vania couldn't bring herself to answer, too saddened by the realization. Escaping Shintaro's prison was a highly punishable crime, something that could not be forgiven. Vangelis did something irreversible, and like every other criminal escaping their sentence, he needed to face the consequences at some point. Him having been the former King meant nothing to the eye of Shintaro's Royal Court.

The ninja quickly realized what she meant when they looked at Hailmar, who stood a few steps away from the Queen.

He brought his hand up, straightened his fingers, and pretended to slice his neck.