Chapter Text
“Anyone seen Kai?”
Zane, who was hanging up the end of a streamer on the wall, turned his head all the way around his back to shake it at Nya.
Jay was blowing up a green balloon. While he wrestled with it for a bit to tie it off, he said, “Not since a few hours ago. He said he was going to visit Lloyd.”
“Kinda pointless when we’re picking up Lloyd anyway,” said Cole, holding Master Wu up on his shoulders while the old man stuck a banner to the ceiling. The other end had already been hooked in place. Spread out the banner read “Welcome home, Lloyd!” in painted letters of red, blue, black, white, cyan and gold. It would be the first thing to greet Lloyd when he entered the dojo behind the shop front of Steep Wisdom, where the ninja had once done their training with Sensei Garmadon.
Nya swatted Cole’s shoulder, which didn’t throw off his balance a bit but did make him say, “Ow,” in protest. “He’s eager to see his little brother, sue him,” she said. “Guess he figured he’d stay and wait for us so we can all leave together. I’ll just call him to make sure.”
“Cell phones are not allowed inside the hospital,” Zane reminded her.
“Oh, right,” said Nya, closing her phone and pocketing it reluctantly. She turned to the others. “Then are you guys all ready?”
“Zane and Jay will stay behind to help finish up with the decorations,” said Wu, leaping down from Cole’s shoulders.
“What?” said Jay, pausing in blowing up another balloon, this one gold. “Why me?”
“Because if you went you’d be too busy talking to Ny-… uh, too busy talking to help Lloyd,” said Cole, stuttering sheepishly at Jay’s warning look.
“Well, more or less, yes,” Wu corroborated.
“Ugh, fine. Go on already.”
“We’ll be back soon,” said Misako, as Zane helped her down the stepladder she’d been using to pin up balloons. “With my son.”
Zane, Wu, and Jay waved them goodbye as Nya, Cole, and Misako left through the tea shop’s door, crossing the shop to its front entrance, which had a sign hanging declaring the shop was CLOSED.
Outside, Cole cracked his knuckles and wrung his hands out. He blew air through his mouth in preparation. “Here goes nothing,” he said.
Aside from Nya, who had only recently come into her powers and couldn’t yet do it anyway, all the ninja had had trouble summoning their dragons ever since Lloyd’s… incident. Understandably so, given that Nya doubted any of them hadn’t been affected by what had happened. Especially Kai. Nya wondered suddenly if he’d used his dragon to reach the hospital on his own that morning.
Cole’s own dragon now materialized before them, it’s scales thick and earthy brown. It lowered its head down to Cole, who gave a whoop of joy. “Alright! Still got it! Come on, ladies.” He gave Misako a leg-up onto the dragon’s back, while Nya jumped up on its hindlegs to sit on its flanks.
With everyone settled, Cole snapped the reins, and the Earth Dragon rose into the sky with a beat of its wings.
It took hardly a few minutes for them to fly to Ninjago City. At Misako’s direction, Cole circled well above the parking lot of the Ninjago City Hospital before dematerializing the Earth Dragon, letting them drop down to the ground without disturbing the other visitors getting into or out of their cars (though every one of them stopped to look up and stare at the great winged beast before it poofed out of existence, a few kids pointing excitedly). Casually, the trio crossed the lot to the hospital entrance.
Inside, Misako approached the counter. “Hi, we’re here to get my son, Lloyd Garmadon,” she said to the nurse. “He’s getting discharged today.”
The nurse checked something on her computer before nodding and waving them towards the elevators.
“Boy, betting Lloyd can’t wait to get out of this place,” said Cole as he pressed the button to the overnight patients’ floor.
“Almost as much as we can’t wait to have him back with us,” said Nya. She looked at the floor sullenly as the elevator went up.
“What’s wrong Nya?” asked Cole.
“Oh, nothing,” she said. “I’m not worried about Lloyd or anything.”
“Lloyd will be absolutely fine,” Misako assured her. “He’s very strong, he won’t let this hold him back for long.”
No, thought Nya, but Kai still might.
The elevator dinged and the doors opened. “You’ll see,” continued Misako as they stepped out and walked the familiar route to Lloyd’s room. “He’ll be back in his green gi and leading you all on missions again before you know it.”
Nya knocked on Lloyd’s door before opening it. The bed inside was empty, the covers disheveled.
“Lloyd?” she called as the three of them entered the room, looking around even though there were no blind spots from the doorway.
Cole knocked on the door of the bathroom. “Lloyd? You in there buddy?” he called. He tested the handle and found it unlocked. “He’s not here,” he said as he stuck his head inside.
“This is strange…” said Misako, looking at the unmade bed and the stand beside it. “His change of clothes are gone.”
“And Kai isn’t here either…” said Nya. She put a hand to her mouth. Something’s not right, she thought.
“They must both be down at the cafeteria,” said Cole lightly. “And they took Lloyd’s stuff ‘cause they weren’t planning on coming back up here.”
“Yes, that must be it,” said Misako with a smile. She patted Nya’s back. “Let’s go see.”
When they arrived at the cafeteria though, a quick sweep of all the heads bent over trays at the tables showed no sign of either Kai or Lloyd.
“There was a coffee stand just outside,” said Cole. “I’ll go check if they’re waiting in line.”
“Lloyd doesn’t like coffee,” said Nya, but Cole had already ducked out of the cafeteria in a rush. Misako was still craning her neck to look out over all the tables, looking for the tell-tale sign of Kai’s gelled hair spikes or Lloyd’s thatch of blonde.
Nya’s stomach was starting to hurt. She wrung her hands together, thinking hard about where else her brother and her friend could be.
Cole returned, frowning pensively. “They’re not there,” he said.
“Oh this is ridiculous,” said Nya frustratedly. She stomped across the cafeteria to the glass doors at the back that led outside. Cole and Misako exchanged a glance before following her.
Nya shoved through the doors, marching past a picnic table full of doctors on their break. When Cole and Misako had caught up with her she’d pulled out her cell phone, flipped it open, and clicked on Kai’s number in her contacts. Impatiently she tapped her foot while the phone dial toned in her ear.
The phone rang several times. Nya’s foot slowed its tapping as her frustration morphed into dread. Pick up… Pick up, Kai…
She turned to look at the other two, her lip trembling. “He’s not-” she began.
“Hello?” said Kai’s voice in her ear.
“Kai? There you are!” Nya breathed a sigh of relief. “Sheesh.”
“Uh, yeah, it’s me,” said Kai, sounding amused. “Who’d you think it would be? You did call me, right?”
“What took you so long? No never mind that, where are you? Is Lloyd with you?”
“Yeah, he’s with me. Sorry I didn’t call you earlier, we were just having so much fun I forgot.”
“Why’d you guys leave the hospital?” Nya demanded, annoyance quickly replacing her worry now that she’d heard Kai’s voice. “You know he’s still recovering! And did you forget we’re supposed to be taking him home today?”
“No I remember, I meant to bring him back soon, just lost track of time.” Kai flippantly waved aside her concerns in his ‘no big deal’ tone. “Just thought he’d want some fresh air for a bit.”
As Kai talked, Nya became aware of a strange noise in the background; a distant but high-pitched keening. It almost sounded like the collective scream of people on a rollercoaster.
“Kai, where are you?”
“We’re…” Kai trailed off, and Nya wondered if he was looking around for a street sign. But then:
“Hey, stop! Leave him alone! NO WAIT- AGH!”
Muffled thumping noises issued from the phone as though it had been dropped, Kai’s shouts of protests becoming distant.
“Kai? Kai!”
Nya could feel Cole and Misako leaning closer to her, trying to hear the phone. Kai’s voice suddenly became clear again. “Nya! Nya, they’ve got Lloyd! They’re taking him, I gotta- AGH! No! GET BACK!” His voice cut off as the phone seemed to have been dropped again.
“Who? Kai, who’s taking him?” Nya shouted into the phone. The doctors over at the picnic table raised their heads.
“Taking who?” said Cole, eyes widening at Nya’s panic. “Is it Lloyd?”
“Nya what’s happening?” asked Misako, gripping Nya’s arm.
“I don’t know, he just-” Nya stopped as a loud click went off and the phone beeped. She looked at the screen in shock. The line had cut.
She thumbed the call button again. After waiting for a bit, a robotic voice interrupted the dial tone: “Sorry, the number you are trying to reach is not available. Please try ag-”
She closed the phone. Cole and Misako were looking at her with worry and confusion.
“What happened?” they both said.
Nya could only shake her head.
Morro took both halves of the phone and snapped it in two. Then he dropped the pieces in the swampy pond in front of him. Behind him, inside the barn, Lloyd was still shouting, unaware that Morro had already ended the call.
Kai was raging in his head.
(You son of a bitch, you shit-fucking snake, fucking bastard-!)
ReLAX, it’s just a phone, Morro answered. Though their mental voices didn’t have any volume, Morro’s always managed to quell Kai’s whenever he spoke. It was still annoying that he had to keep doing it to shut the red ninja up, though. When did these things even become such a big deal? A phone in my time stayed inside the house. Not that I ever had one, but that just goes to show; look how much better off I am without it!
Smirking, Morro turned back to the barn, stepping noisily through the long brush of yellow weeds and swampgrass as he made his way to the barred doors.
Lloyd stopped shouting when Morro entered the barn. He was as Morro had left him, his torso lying across the table, his left arm stretched out, his wrist strapped down. The fingers on that hand were already purpling.
Morro grinned down at him evilly, enjoying the light of hope vanishing from Lloyd’s eyes as he realized whoever had been on the phone still knew nothing of his plight.
Morro picked up the hammer, discarded right next to Lloyd's hand. “Sorry about the interruption,” he said, bracing Lloyd’s arm against the table with his other hand. “Good news is I bought us some more time. So.” He raised the hammer above his shoulder, aiming carefully. “Where were we?”
As soon as they arrived back at the tea shop Nya leaped from the Earth Dragon’s back to barge through the shop doors. “Master Wu! Jay, Zane!” she called, bursting through the back door to the dojo. She was stopped in her tracks by a burst of confetti flying into her face, accompanied by the trumpet of party-blowers.
“Welcome back!” Wu and Jay chorused, while Zane blew on his noise maker again. Nya spat out bits of confetti as Cole and Misako came up behind her.
“Oh, sorry Nya!” said Jay nervously, brushing the rest of the confetti off her shoulders and hair. She pushed his hand aside, ignoring the look of hurt on his face. “Uh, where’s Lloyd?” he asked.
“That’s just it, guys,” said Cole. “Lloyd’s gone!”
“Gone?” said Zane.
“What do you mean, Cole?” asked Wu sharply.
“Wu, my son is missing,” said Misako urgently. “Along with Kai. We asked the hospital staff and no one saw them leave or where they went. And when Nya called Kai-”
“They were attacked!” cried Nya. “Or kidnapped or something, I don’t know! It sounded like someone grabbed Lloyd, and then Kai tried to help… Ugh, if only he’d told me where they were!”
“Calm down, Nya,” said Wu, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Think carefully, now. Can you think of anything that might help us find out where he called you from?”
“Why does it matter now where they were?” said Cole angrily. “We should be figuring out who took them!”
“If we can find their last known location,” said Zane steadily, “we can ask anyone in the area if they saw anything.”
“Exactly,” said Wu. “Come on, Nya. What did Kai tell you?”
Nya shook her head. “I don’t know, he said… he said they were having a lot of fun and lost track of time… and there was this weird screaming noise in the background.”
“Screaming?” said Cole.
“Yeah…”
“Mega Monster Amusement Park!” said Jay. Everyone gave him a look. “What? It makes sense! It’s fun, and there are people screaming… and it wouldn’t be the first time bad guys showed up there,” he added bitterly.
“Well…” said Nya hesitantly, “I did think the screams sounded like people on a rollercoaster…”
“It’s as good a place to start as any,” said Wu, then more grumpily, “Although if it turns out Kai really did decide to take Lloyd to an amusement park while he was still recovering he’d better hope I don’t find him.”
Nya giggled a little, soothed by her master’s initiative. Mollified, she went to stand beside Jay and took his hand. “Mind if I ride with you?” she asked.
Jay did his best not to blush and failed. “Y-yeah, yeah, sure!” He squeezed her hand as they followed the others to the tea shop exit. “Don’t worry, Nya. We’ll find them both before the day is out, you’ll see.”
“I’ll stay here in case they come back!” Misako called. One by one she watched each of the ninja summon their dragons and take off, Wu riding with Zane and Nya with Jay. She continued to stay outside and watch the sky long after they’d disappeared into it.