This chapter should hopefully answer some of the questions that were raised in the previous part. (Note: This is not canon.)

——-

Reunion (Part 1)

"Wu?" Lloyd gasped incredulously, looking at the young child. "Is that really you? Wow, you've... grown." He said, for the lack of better words.

"Or, maybe you've just shrunk?" The boy replied with a cheeky grin.

Considering the weight the Green Ninja had been carrying on his shoulders, this would have been not too surprising at all.

"Wu, what did we talk about?" Cole chided the boy. "Always show respect to your elders. Even if they are younger."

He the turned to the newcomer. "Sorry, little Wu is having a bit of a difficult phase at the moment..."

"I can't believe it." Lloyd blurted out.

"I know." The blue Ninja sighed. "Who would have thought our wise and strict Sensei used to be such a brat?"

"No, I can't believe you're still alive!" Lloyd corrected him.

"What?" The four older boys asked simultaneously.

"We thought you were dead." Lloyd cried. "I-I saw the Colossus crushing the Destiny's Bounty..."

"Ah, it takes a lot more than that to get rid of us." Kai grinned.

"Yeah, you know what they say." Jay added. "Only the good die young."

"That means you must have a very long life ahead of you." Cole teased his best friend.

"Hey, which one of us is the relic from the Stone Age?" The Master of Lightning retorted.

Listening to the brotherly banter, Lloyd realised just how much he had missed these idiots.

And no matter how hard he tried to fight them, tears were pooling in his eyes and started to run down his cheeks.

While over the last few days, the Green Ninja had been through a whole array of emotions – from disbelieve over disappointment to anger (mainly at himself) – he had not been able to grief properly for his (presumed) dead friends.

Sure, there had been a few stray tears to escape his eyes, while he had watched the Bounty getting crumpled like a sheet of paper, but he then had simply wiped them away and swallowed the feelings, just like he had always taken everything that had been thrown at him without much of a complaint.

But now that relief and pure happiness overtook him, he just couldn't hold them back any more.

And right now he didn't care what had happened and how he'd got here. Right now, all that mattered was that his brothers and uncle were alive and that he was with them.

Lloyd wrapped his arms around his friends, pulling them into another tight hug.

And he started crying like he had never cried before.

——-

"Thank you." Lloyd smiled weakly as Zane carefully handed him a cup of tea.

When he had calmed down enough to walk, his friends had led the Green Ninja to their makeshift home in the ruins of the Destiny's Bounty. Just how many times had they managed to destroy the ship? Lloyd wondered. Also, ...

"What's it with all this tea?" He asked. "Ever since you've been... gone, everyone's been drinking nothing but tea."

"Ah, you've finally started to appreciate the good things in life." Wu laughed, also holding a steaming cup in his small hands.

"Our cappuccino maker didn't survive the Realm crossing." Jay explained. "And here, we can't get our hands on the parts needed to fix it."

"Also, a much as I miss my coffee in the morning, a broken kitchen appliance is the least of our worries at the moment." Kai added.

"And we should not forget that it was tea that has saved out lives." Zane stated.

"Tea?" Lloyd asked. "Wait, how did you actually get here?"

"Traveller's Tea." Cole explained.

"Mystake gave it to us when you were still out cold." Kai placed a hand on his younger brother's shoulder. "How are you feeling, by the way?"

"Ah, I'm fine." As usual, Lloyd brushed it off. But for the first time in almost a week, it was actually true. "That must have been one strong tea to get all of you plus the Bounty to a different Realm."

"It was. I'm really sorry that you thought we were dead." Cole apologised. "We assumed you'd notice that the ship has disappeared in its whole."

"We didn't get to check." Lloyd shook his head. "We barely made it out of there alive ourselves so we..."

"Uhm, when you say 'we'..." Jay chimed in.

"Yes, Nya was with me." Lloyd confirmed. He didn't dare to mention that he had no idea though where she was now. He didn't want to ruin it yet. "And PI-..."

"How is Nya?" The blue Ninja interrupted him again.

"She was very upset, considering we believed you dead."

"Really?" Jay's face lit up. "Ouch." He exclaimed, as Kai smacked his arm rather hard.

"I cannot believe you're happy that my sister is miserable!" The red Ninja glared at him. "How many times have I warned you not to break her heart?"

"Of course I am not happy, I hate to see my love upset." Jay answered quickly. "But you cannot really blame me for all this..." He then turned back to Lloyd. "So tell me, does she miss me?"

"She does." Lloyd nodded. "A lot. But Nya's very strong. And her, PIXAL and Skylor have been helping each other a lot."

"Skylor is with you as well?" Suddenly Kai's interest was piqued.

"Yes." Lloyd confirmed. "She was very keen to help us when we told her what happened – or what we thought had happened..."

"Had you known that this was all it took to make her join the team, you would have faked your death years ago, huh?" Jay nudged the Master of Fire.

Cole shook his head in disbelief. "Jay, sometimes I seriously wonder if you've left your brain back in Ninjago..."

"No, but I've left my heart there." The Master of Lightning dramatically proclaimed. "Nya misses me..." He then whispered to himself, wearing a little smile on his face.

"They all miss you. We all missed you."

"We've missed all of you too." Cole replied. "But we had no way of getting back or even contacting you. We were hoping that you would try to get your powers back at the Temple of Light."

"Zane has calculated a 84.6% probability that it was gonna happen." Jay said. "And luckily, our Nindroid is never wrong."

"And why was that?"

"You know that Ninjago is one of sixteen Realms, right?" Cole asked.

"Actually, there's only fourteen left now..." The blue Ninja interjected.

"Jay, who is telling the story, you or me?"

"But you're telling it wrong..." The other one whined.

"But it doesn't matter. And Lloyd doesn't have enough time left to let you tell it."

"What do you mean about that?" Lloyd wanted to know.

"Always two of the Realms are connected to each other. So, things that happen in one Realm will affect the other, and vice versa." Cole explained.

Lloyd understood. "So, when Nya drowned the Preeminent..."

Cole nodded. "Yes, there was another Realm that got destroyed as well."

Jay looked the Green Ninja in his eyes "Please, don't tell Nya that you know about this." He pleaded. "It's a very difficult subject for her."

"I won't." Lloyd promised.

"Anyhow, as the First Spinjitzu Master came from this place, it's no real surprise that the First Realm is Ninjago's Sister Realm."

"Well, it's more like her Mother Realm..."

"Jay!" Kai exclaimed. "If you interrupt anyone of us one more time, I swear we're gonna leave you here for good, no matter how much my sister misses you!"

"The Temple of Light, as well as the Oni Temple in the Primeval's Eye are actually portals from Ninjago to the First Realms. But because of everything that's been going on, it has lost some of its power. It's only your mind that has travelled here, your body is still back in Ninjago."

"That means the girls should still be there as well - and they should be alright." Lloyd sighed in relief.

"I'd guess so." The black Ninja nodded.

"And it means that I can't stay here with you..."

"That's right." Cole nodded again. "And we need you in Ninjago."

"But what about you?"

"We first have a job to finish here before we can return."

"When you get back to Ninjago, could you please give a message to PIXAL for me?" Zane suddenly asked. The Master of Ice hadn't participated in the conversation, since Lloyd had informed them that the female Nindroid had escaped Ninjago City with him.

"And another one to Nya for me, please?" Apparently, Jay had already forgotten the red Ninja's threat – or decided to ignore it. And Kai had something else on his mind right now anyway.

"And maybe one to Skylor as well?" He smiled.