The Rise After The Merge- A Ninjago Fan Fiction *on break rn*

Chapter 18- I'm So Glad To See You!

Grace is very conflicted in this chapter yess

"It's time to kick some furry butt." Grace stated as they staked out in the bushes.

But she nervously glanced over at Lloyd after she that. From what Yoru told her, the Corrupt and Conduit are possibly related. So the Dragon King and Lloyd could be possibly related, and she couldn't wrap her head around it. Her head swarmed with a million thoughts, drowning in possible scenarios. What if they're brothers? Grace thought. But that wouldn't make sense. What if they're cousins then? But I don't recall Lloyd having any relatives... or talking about any. But what if? What if?

"Hey Grace, you good?" Lloyd asked as they crouched down in the bushes. "Y- yeah I am," Grace whispered. "Let's just think of a way to get inside."

After formulating a plan, the group sneakily crept in the shadows, trying to avoid the Wolf Mask Army. They could not find out that they where there. They became one with nature, hiding expertly in the landscape, while inching closer to the Shadow Dojo's entrance. "So, how do we get in now?" Arin whispered as they pressed themselves against a wall. "We need some sort of distraction," Lloyd said. "Hmmm," Grace thought out loud. "Maybe someone will write a distraction?" All of a sudden a dragon broke out of the Shadow Dojo and all of the Wolf Mask Army guards ran to recapture it. "Well, what do you know," Arin said as all of them turned to face the reader. "Do you guys have no respect for the fourth wall? It protects the integrity of this story," Zane said, breaking the awkward silence. "Still, that seemed like it came out of nowhere," Lloyd said as he started to walk to the Dojo, while Grace made eye contact with the reader, suspicious of something.

They sneaked into the Dojo, cautious of being caught. It took some navigation tips from Zane, but finally they made it to a huge unmarked door, which still had the key in the key hole. They glanced at each other as they snuck in, wary of their surroundings. "Lloyd?!" Kai yelled as he saw his little brother. "Kai?!" Lloyd shouted out as he tried to find where Kai was. After some searching, Lloyd's stomach dropped.

All of his friends were captured in orbs, unable to get out.

"Riyu! Sora!" Arin yelled as he tried to run to his friends, only to be knocked back. "Wow Riyu, you got even bigger." Riyu squealed in happiness and tried to run to Arin, but the force field was trapping him and knocked him over on his back. "It's no use trying to get through these prisons," Sora started. "Yeah, they're made out of vengestone and something similar to that," Nya finished as they looked down. "Well then, there has to be some otherway to open up them," Lloyd said as he ran around the room, looking for some sort of switch or lever.

Finally, they found a switch and Zane helped unlock the very complicated code- password. The orbs opened and out came crawling out everyone (Kai, Nya, Sora, Riyu, and Cole). Kai ran to give his little bro a hug, and Nya joined. "I'm so glad to see you, Lloyd," Kai said as he ruffled Lloyd's hair. There was a whole reunion with the Ninja as Grace stayed back. She really didn't consider herself a Ninja, a part of their family. "What's your name?" Cole asked as he approached Grace. "M-my name is Grace, and you're Cole, the master of earth, right?" Grace stuttered, as Cole had caught her off guard. "Yeah," Cole replied. "How'd you know?" "Well, I grew up in Ninjago, and I heard all about the Ninja growing up. Even if I barely left my village," Grace told the Earth ninja. "M'kay," Cole said as he walked back in the direction of the Ninja.

Grace didn't say anything, but the sight of all of the ninja reuniting with each other made her sick to her stomach. She wished that she could be reunited with her parents like that, but alas, the world was always a cruel, dark place, no matter how much light shone through. Now Grace longed to find her parents more than ever, to find her rightful place. She would be kidding herself if she thought that she could become a part of the Ninja's family. That would never happen, considering that Kai had no faith in her, and they didn't know enough about her. But Grace wasn't ready to share out her full story, not even to herself. She still needed time to herself to heal before opening up to someone else. And that could take ages, even literally because of her very long lifespan as part Oni. No one would want to stick around with her until then. Literally no one.

"I heard that you all were having a little family reunion," the Dragon King said in awe, slowly walking towards them in a intimidating demeanor. "At least you got a family." All of the Ninja stopped their hugging and teasing to turn to the Dragon King, who had Cinder, Ras, and Jordana behind him, along with a troop of Wolf Mask Army. His cold, dark, piercing gray eyes stopped Riyu from trying to attack, cowering in fear.

" Don't even bother to fight. We have an advantage over you." He then shot crystals out of his hands trying to nail down all of the Ninja. Grace shot her darkness power at him, which got some questionable looks from the Ninja. " The mech is that?" Kai asked. " What, you got two elemental powers or something?" Grace stared at him. "Yeah. What, you got a problem with that? I was born with two powers, and Oni powers. So what? Doesn't necessarily make me better than you. Or is that what you're worried about, hair gel?" Grace snapped back at Kai. Kai opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out, just a small squeak of humiliation.

But soon the Ninja were closely cornered, knocked out and trapped in crystal prisms, all except for Lloyd and Grace. "I'm honestly surprised that this happened so fast," Grace said as she turned around to all of the Ninja. "I'm getting flashbacks from the Overlord's last invasion," Lloyd replied. The Dragon King sighed. "You all make things too hard," he said as he grabbed Grace by the wrist, face to face with her. Out of instinct and fear, Grace stepped on his foot and slapped his face away, making him retaliate. He hit her with the crystals and sent her flying to the ground, leaving Lloyd to be the only one standing. "I'm so glad to see you again," the Dragon King said eerily as he grabbed his shoulders. He whispered something in Lloyd ear, something that made Lloyd's pupils shrink in size before the Dragon King threw him to the ground. No, that makes no sense, Lloyd thought as he slowly fell to the ground. How? Why?

That's it :D

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