By your Side (Lloyd x Reader)

11

Journey to the Snow Mountain- Jay, Zane, Skylor, and Pixal.

Jay's teeth clattered as he rubbed his arms through his thick blue coat. "Z-Zane! H-how much long-longer until we get to your Element Core?" Zane looked around, him and Pixal unbothered by the cold. "I sense we're getting closer."

Jay groaned. "Why couldn't we just have a map to help find the Element Cores, and not just a gut feeling?" "I am a Nindroid, I do not have a gut feeling." Zane said, giving Jay a side glance. "I am simply following the energy of my Elemental powers."

"Yeah, and that's everywhere!" Jay outstretched his arms to motion at the snow covered mountain they were currently on. The wind began to pick up slightly, and Pixal looked up at the sky. "A blizzard might be coming. It is best if we find shelter until it passes."

"Yeah, lets go with that!" Jay nodded, hugging himself. "Man, who knew being Golden Statues for a long time would make my tolerance for the cold weak?" He grumbled.

"Over there!" Skylor pointed to a cave through the flurries of snow beginning to fall. The Four Ninja trudged through the thick snow towards the cave. Jay stumbled in, and huddled against the wall as far from the cave entrance as possible without going into the darkness.

The other three followed, Zane turning to watch the snow coming down faster. Skylor pulled out a Radiate Portable Camp fire, and she lit it up with a spark of her fingers. Jay thrust his hands in front of the fire after taking off his mittens, and breathed out as the warmth made his fingers numb. Skylor looked into her pack and counted five more of the Portable camp fire, and she hummed. "We have five left. Best to use these wisely." Taking those mini campfires helped, because she wouldn't have to use as much energy as she would have needed to.

Pixal stood next to the other Nindroid. "...How close are we?" Zane sighed, ducking his head down and putting a hand on his temple. "Its confusing. One moment it's close to me, and the next Its far. I suspect the Core has to be on top of the mountain, near the storm, where we'll find Jay's Elemental Core."

"What do you feel right now?" Pixal asked. "It's everywhere. The blizzard is confusing my sense of direction. It was much more clear before the storm."

Lightning flashed across the gray sky, thunder following after it immediately. "Might as well rest out the storm." Skylor called, making the two Nindroids walk over to the two humans.

Jay stared at the small campfire, still shivering. The fire reflected in his blue eyes, the curly haired boy sinking into his jacket. "Do you guys think..." He trailed off. "What's troubling you, Jay?" Pixal asked, sitting next to him, Zane completing the circle in between her and Skylor.

Jay shook his head. "Its nothing..."

"Its clearly bothering you. What's wrong?" A small frown tugged at Skylor's lips as she stared at the Master of Lightning with gentleness and patience.

"It's just.." Jay pulled his jacket tighter around him. "How can we defeat the Crystal King if last time we totally failed? What chances do we have?" "Well, It might be easier, actually." Skylor hummed. "Why do you say that?" Jay furrowed his brows at her. "Remember, we saw the Vengestone Warriors. They're weak, so that means, the Overlord is weak too."

"Maybe, but he's had years to prepare! All while we were statues." Jay grumped, drawing his gaze back into the small fire. Skylor nudged him. "Dont worry about it! Without a physical form, he cant do anything other than command weak soldiers. Once we get you and the others their powers back, we'll be able to win the war."

Jay looked at Skylor, then at Zane and Pixal who were nodding. "We're in this together, remember? Ninja Never Quit." Zane assured. A small smile grew on the brunette's face and he let out a soft sigh, ducking his head.

"You're right. Thanks."

Journey to the Volcano- Kai, Nya, Cole, Lloyd, and Vania

"Hope your reptile genes are enjoying this!" Cole huffed as the other Team carefully scooted across the small ledge on the wall, avoiding the lava pool below. "Just because I'm part dragon doesn't mean I like getting close to lava!" Lloyd hissed. "Maybe that makes you more resistant to the heat just like Kai." Nya said, watching where she stepped, then leaping across the gap after Vania.

"Actually," Kai grunted as he followed after his sister, rolling on the ground then popping up with his hands on his hips. "That makes sense. Remember when I unlocked my true potential? Any one else would have melted being that close to lava."

Lloyd's eyes lidded slightly in annoyance at the man in red at mention of the near death experience before he jumped, stumbling a bit since he lost his balance. Lloyd straightened up and crossed his arms. "Well, at least being not fully human helped with one thing."

"Uh, guys?" Cole's echoing shout made them head in his direction. They all stopped in a line beside the Master of Earth, staring down at the slope that twisted and turned. "Its a slide!" Vania gasped in joy.

"Eh, it seems too...smooth." Nya narrowed her eyes in suspicion. Kai shrugged. "Nothing we haven't seen before. Lets go!" He jumped down on the slope, sliding down and veering past a corner.

"Kai!" Nya gasped.

"Woo-hoo! Come on guys!" Kai's whoop of glee made them breath out in relief. They jumped after Kai, Nya going first, then Cole, then Vania, then Lloyd. The slide lasted a short while, the twists and turns making them dizzy. The slide ended up in a curve facing up, and they screamed as they flew across a wide lava river. Kai was already standing up, Nya following. Vania crashed into Cole, who caught her with a grunt, stumbling back a few steps at the force.

"Look out!" Lloyd's scream made Kai look back, and the male in green barreled into his older brother figure, making Kai squawk out, Nya bursting into laughter. Lloyd groaned as he got up, putting a hand on Kai's face. Kai grumbled as he pushed Lloyd away, sitting up.

"Kai, where to next?" Nya asked, watching as her two brothers stood up. "Well," Kai ran his fingers through his tousled hair, trying to turn them back to their spikes. "I can feel a lot of energy up ahead." He pointed to where the cavern continued, a glow of light on the wall. "You think its your element?" Cole asked. Kai nodded.

"Well, lets go! The sooner we get out of here, the better, cause I'm sweating buckets and its only what- how long have we been here?" Vania looked at the Ninja. "Eeh, two days, more or less." Nya shrugged, tilting her head and hand side to side. Vania took off her backpack and looked through it. "I have four water bottles left."

"We need to use our rations carefully. Who knows how much longer we'll be here." Lloyd said, walking past her and Cole, following Kai who lead the way.

"Hey, theres a huge door with a ton of markings. That has to be it, right?" Kai called. The others hurried to look at what he was talking about. "Oh, that looks like the Temple Vania, me, and the Uplies found in Shintaro!" Cole pipped in, Vania nodding.

The team began to walk towards the large closed doors. "Huh, who knows it would be this easy?" Kai commented, hands on his hips at the simplicity of their mission.

The ground began to rumble, the ground cracking, light coming through the broken ground. Rocks fell down from the top of the cavern, Nya jumping back from a large boulder that fell down the spot she was a second ago.

"You just had to jinx it!" Cole shouted. "Its just an earthquake!" Kai shot back. "Yeah, that, or the volcano's gonna erupt." Nya growled under her breath.

A clawed hand made of flames came out from the growing cracks, more pairs of hands coming out from the other cracks.

"Oh, come on!" Kai groaned.