Destruction

~14~

All of us jump up, getting into a fighting stance. But we didn't need to because the person is on the wall with us, walking over. The moon is shining on them so we can see who it is.

"Dad!" Lloyd says excitedly and runs over to him and gives him a hug. I only hesitate for half a second before I'm right behind him and join in the embrace. We stay there for a little bit. Dad hasn't said anything else yet, but I can tell he's just as relieved as the both of us.

We pull away and dad looks us both over with a smile, "I am glad you are both alright."

"Us?! What about you?" I ask bewilderedly

"Yeah, where were you? What happened?" My brother asks, furrowing his eyebrows.

We all rejoin the others, "good to see you, Master G!" Cole says

"Are you alright?" Zane asks

"Yeah! They told Nya and I that you jumped onto Chen's jet as he was flying, which is awesome! But then you both fell, so what happened?" Jay asks, speaking quickly

Dad chuckles lightly as he answers, "After Clouse and I fell from the jet, we continued our fight. Clouse used his dark magic and opened a portal to the Cursed Realm."

"Cursed Realm? Do I know what that is?... oh well, either way it doesn't sound good."

"He tried to force me through, but in the end he was the one who was lost. I was slightly injured from the fall however. I had to wait and rest before making my way back. Unfortunately, Chen's guards were still in the jungle, making their way over to the hideout. I wouldn't have been able to take on all of them at once and needed a place to hide. I happened upon one of Chen's many secrets passageways. It led down into the underground tunnels. It took me a little bit to find my way back out considering how deep in the jungle I was, but was eventually able to return to the temple."

Lloyd asks, "you were injured? Are you alright now?"

"And he tried to send you where?"

He smiles again, "yes I am fine now, Lloyd. And it is called the Cursed Realm, Lindsey. It is another land outside of Ninjago. It is nearly impossibly to travel to the other realms and extremely difficult to create the portals to do so. To be honest, I don't now much about them. I have only ever been to one other realm, the Dark Realm. But that one is the easiest to travel to with the use of travelers tea."

I'm still kinda confused, but as long as he's here, I'm not gonna dwell on it.

"Now, what is this about everyone facing their fears?" He asks

Zane fills dad in on his and Pixal's theory about everyone being about to create an elemental dragon and how we could use them against Chen. Dad listens quietly, only nodding along with our plan, but he ultimately agrees.

"You are correct when you said that controlling your fears will help you defeat Chen. He is the type of man who thrives off of it, it makes him feel superior. But we cannot let him get the slip over something this drastic. However, it could be difficult to achieve as the other fighters are only starting to use this power now. I suggest they practice a little bit this morning, but we need focus on stopping Chen and rescuing Kai and Skyler. So even if they are not able to do it, we will need to make our move."

I hum, "but how do we know that Chen hasn't already cast the spell and now they're all Anacondrias?"

Dad shakes his head, "we do not. But with Clouse being gone, I imagine it would've caused some delays. Hopefully Kai and Skyler will be fine through the night."

~

The next morning, everyone is surprisingly very pumped for the day, ready to try again with their dragon powers. Dad's a huge help with them all training, he just makes it seem like the easiest thing in the world to face your fear. He's actually a very calming person when he's not evil and trying to take over Ninjago.