"Come on Cloud, time to go." The blonde haired boy's voice was heard from the other side of the deck they were standing on.
Not the one belonging from the Bounty, no. This was a whole another ship where the sails were tainted in dark green and strips of red passed through them. This belonged travelled to the island where the tournament of elements will be held.
The boat had landed several minutes earlier, a pretty short ride even for travellers like them, it was situated in the island right across Chen's island, where the original tournament had been held. Therefore, they could still see remnants of the destruction they caused. Lloyd frowns as he noticed Cloud was watching from the sides of the boat at the half-destroyed land, he called her over.
Approximately a two hour boat ride, no one was really worried aside from Harumi herself, she mostly kept to herself most of the time during all of this and barely came out from below deck to speak to all of them. Lloyd feels bad because she missed the opportunity to have a sneak peak to the opponents they'd be fighting, there were new elemental masters, some he hasn't seen before.
Walking onto the pathway set up for them, they took in the scenery of the new island, definitely smaller than the other one and everything was almost entirely built out of wood except for the main building, which was made out of painted stone. The ninjas talked in a grand group, except for Harumi, who distantly followed them and didn't participate at all.
She was nervous, so very nervous. But no one could blame her, she held the invitation letter in hands. That all but meant one thing, how she saw her name inked in the list of participants. She had to participate in a tournament with powers she wasn't familiar with yet. She frowns and keeps walking, following the rest of her teammates.
"What's with the sad face, scared?" She heard a voice call out from behind her. Her breath hitched when she felt someone lightly brush their fingers on her shoulder. She stopped mid-track and looked up to meet eyes with bloodshot pupils with concern drowning in them. It was Garmadon, of course, coming to comfort her. She exhaled.
"Yeah, in all honesty, I am." She admitted to the man whom she knew she could trust. She had heard tales from Lloyd how he was extremely supportive during this segment in his life, his father even lost his life here. That's what Harumi was afraid of, she didn't want anyone losing their lives here. "I have no control over these powers yet here I am, mr. Zephyr, forcing me to participate."
Garmadon shook his head and began walking ahead of her, pulling his hand away. "The thing with these tournaments are that the host are too fixated on power here. They don't realize that skill is much more than that." He says, Harumi wasn't sure whether that was advice from him or not. In fact, it was never obvious whether Garmadon was on their side or not.
There was a building up ahead, the painted stone one seems to be the main attraction of this island. Most of the competitors walked inside and were met with the most imperial of looking of decorations. From the ceilings to the wallpaper, very similar to Chen's place, but with a different colour scheme.
The guests didn't have much time to explore the place, not like their accessibility was endless. They couldn't make it past the stairs due to a small slithering creature sliding down from the stairs. There was a snake in the building, everyone instantly stepped away.
Not like it was a deadly one, it was only a little odd.
To put things worse, it wasn't just a snake that scared everyone in place. The snake came in with a tiny bat. It dove right through the crowd, separating the groups in half and fled right through the door. The snake and the bat was nowhere to be found in the next minute. Everyone was bewildered, not seeing any trace of them anywhere.
But that didn't matter for now, what did, was the massive smoke cloud that appeared in front of the stairs. A spell of some sorts, anyone can guess.
Lloyd got in front of the rest of his team and felt Harumi's wrist, the girl blushed at the closeness. She didn't expect him to defend all of them out of nowhere.
"Stay back." He whispers, his eyes peeled at the concerning source. So the ninjas did so, they stayed on high alert and watched how the elemental masters' first instinct was to cower away. Clearly, elemental masters or not, they lacked training unlike the ninja. Did they rely on their powers too much?
Thankfully, the smoke had been the false alarm. No one was actually in harm, just.. a really terrible entrance if you asked Harumi herself. However, the rest of the competitors seemed astonished. A figure appeared in the clouds of smoke, his two hands were extended and the same bat and snake from before slithered and flew onto the palm of his hands.
A teenager, most likely, stood in front of the ne competitors. He had brown hair with a dark green streak matching his eyes, his outfit was dusty and pretty medieval-styled, considering he seemed to be the Spellcaster of this place.
Everyone listened as the cheers and gasps from before were reduced into silence as their newly arrived host began to speak.
"Welcome, to the tournament of Elements but my version!" The brown-haired spellcaster announced, raising his hands high and mighty.
No one had made such a complaint about the Tournament of Elements being Master Chen's thing. Not like the host cared anyway, he seemed to be having a jolly-good time speaking his mind out of his own revamp of this good old event.
"Rules are simple, it is a survival event, the management team around here have organized fun little games for you all, thank you again for coming, I really appreciate it." He seemed far too friendly despite that devilish snake smile of his, Harumi was well aware. No, in fact, she found his voice of his familiar of some sorts. She recalls hearing it before, but from where..?
"No cheating is allowed, no teaming either. Lastly—"
Yeah no, she wasn't paying attention at all. She'd really need to ask Lloyd for a summary on what had been said so far, for now, her main concern is to figure out why his voice was definitely and utmost familiar. Had she met up with him face to face before? She didn't know, she wishes she does though.
The man snickers and moves away from the front stairs, leaving room for two more figures of authority to stand with him. There was a girl and a man. They walked down the stairs, happy and grateful smiles on their faces. Harumi observed them quietly, yes, they're definitely familiar.
The sorceress had her usual light cyan taint. Strands of her hair braided in the back of her head and black flowers accessories attached to keep the hairstyle, again, same look, same face. She wore a long black dress, supposedly temporary only for this event. What she was missing however, were the wakes. But at this point, Harumi believes that as well might have been an illusion set out by the "Voice"
The man, though, she has never seen before. He had light light blonde hair. He had a light blue bandana and seemed pretty proud in terms of the fancy clothes he was dressed in. He charmed everyone on the spot with his looks. If Harumi had to guess, this would be the "Vast".
That leaves their host as the "Shadow". Without a doubt, ....right? She wasn't making a mistake here and taking him for someone else, right? Did her nightmares give her fake memories?
"I welcome you, Ava Zevada and Matias Helix, the enforcers of this tournament! They will be making sure there is no cheating going on during the event." The host announces with a proud smile, as he stood in line with his friends. Crowds clapped at their arrival onto the room.
Harumi's eyes snaps open. One of the names sounded familiar, yes, she remembers now! From her nightmares, that's where she met that woman. Then that meant...she turns to look at her host.
Only to find he was directly looking at her.
Harumi freaks out on the inside a little, not used to sudden eye contact.
He gives a small snicker before looking back at the front, continuing to address the crowd.
"Most importantly, have fun! Prizes will be announced later on, for now, please please, explore my humble little island!"
With that, the tournament has officially begun for everyone. The competitors spread out and the enforcers walked off back upstairs, to get per say. Harumi sighs, turning her head back to her teammates and preparing to return back to them when she hears a light cough from behind her. She turns back around and sees the host looking for her again. She shakes in place.
"Master of Destruction, honour to have you competing," he stretches out an arm to her.
Harumi gladly shakes it, to not be rude. Though, she felt herself stare back at her host, dread in her eyes. She didn't like this guy's aura at all. He was just...smiling at her as they shook hands.
"How did you know I had powers?" She whispered out letting go of his hand.
The host continued to smile, he scoffed at her question and walked off. Though, barely audible, Harumi heard: "Do not test such a spellcaster's ways. By the way, call me Zephyr."
Harumi gulped and scooted back to the people she knew, Lloyd Garmadon, she whispered in his ear.
"I find him a little weird, no?" She tries to get somebody on her side here. She definitely knew this guy. Definitely. He was a creep, a big nightmare, a big scary shadow.
Lloyd sighs and shakes his head. He whispers back: "Rumi, relax, it's okay, you've just been through a lot lately." He reassures her. Maybe she was just paranoid after everything happened and if something does begin acting up, they'll be on the lookout. If they've stopped Chen before, they'll gladly do so for this Zephyr guy.
Again, Lloyd doesn't know about her nightmares, even if she blurted it all out a few days ago.
She sighs and tries to give him a smile that she understood, she couldn't. It came out as fake, she didn't want it to be that way. But she couldn't help it, Rumi was anxious about everything. She didn't want to participate, she didn't want to see her friends participate too.
It couldn't be helped.
She turns back to face the Spellcaster, as he seems to have taken the stage again. His two helpers as well as his pets, it seems, were there too. Just who were they people? What were they all planning for them?
"You will now all be shown to your rooms, make yourselves comfortable!" Zephyr announced, again pulling off his theatrics. Though, he acted a whole lot like Master Chen, but he just didn't look like him. He did, look like someone else on Master Chen's management staff. The ninjas just didn't remember who.
No one couldn't ask him any questions for once again, he abused his spells and vanished into thin air again. No one knew where he went, not even his helpers, who once again took the stairs upstairs.
Next thing they knew, the competitors were being dragged away, to be shown to their rooms.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
In a green and purple-themed imperial room, the white haired girl was seen pacing back and forth. She thought to herself, really. Ever since she came inside of here and noticed how on point the decorations were to her element. Even if she did find herself sitting in an eerie room, things like the bed and cute closets were comforting to say the least. She wasn't sure how the rooms of the others looked like.
But on a more important note, she had to think, whether she should listen to Lloyd. He says that she's just being way too paranoid. Was she though? Did she have a reason to even be paranoid in the first place? She was with her friends, no? This will be a completion she can participate in with great amount of fun, what is there to be paranoid for?
She looks around, most her luggage being unpacked and sorted out, she didn't know how long she'd be staying here. But she guesses for a couple of days, even weeks, she doesn't know for certain. Giving a sigh and closing her last cabinet, she heads out of her room and curses to herself as she tries and figure out where the canteen was. Her friends told her to meet her there for lunch when she was done unpacking.
Just a couple of hallways back, she entered a massive room full of elemental masters siting in groups. She eventually found her friends in the back, whom she heard Jay call out: "Rumi, over here!" and found a plate of today's menu waiting for her. She thanked them for getting her something and instantly went back to being nervous.
"The cake's a lot tastier this time, the chefs must be pretty good." Cole commented, his fork digging into the chocolate-cream cake and taking a piece out for him to examine and eat.
Nya chuckled and shook her head. "What's that supposed to mean? The cake from last time didn't taste any good to you?" She inquired, surprised that the black ninja's memory goes that far. It's been a couple of years now.
"Well you see, last time, there were cherries. This time, it's a whole new different ingredient!" The ninja argued, the spikes of his fork dipping into the delicious frosting on top.
The conversation pretty much continued from there, but Harumi wasn't paying attention at all. It was if, she was zoning out. She did eat though, she dug her fork many times into the honey chicken and chewed, just like her friends. Except, she was extremely silent. The laughs she heard all around her? Blurred all together.
"Remember that time when Lloyd tried baking and the flour got all over him?"
Wait, was it flour?
She could have sworn that it was something else.
"Oh yeah, he was so clumsy. Never should have trusted him with the cake batter, what a waste!"
Oh, it was cake batter, not flour.
She should pay attention more.
Lloyd laughed, contributing to Zane and Jay's little mentions before turning to Harumi, noticing she was been more than quiet at this point. He puts his food to the side and nudges her on the shoulder, to get her attention.
"You okay?" He asks with a small smile.
Harumi falters, suddenly being dragged out of her thoughts. She lowers her head to her half-eaten food.
"Yeah...I just keep thinking about it, you know?" She whispered.
"Thinking about what?"
She moves her head up to look at him in the eyes.
"About Zephyr, his voice...just sounds really familiar."
She knew she came off as annoying at this point, but she really just couldn't discard that thought like her team would want her to.
Lloyd frowned and instead of speaking again right off the bat, he placed an arm around her and pulled her close to him. He pressed a gentle kiss at her temple, as reassurance.
His eyes directed themselves at the clever man by their left, Harumi saw him too.
"He's no Chen, Rumi. He's a lot nicer and considerate to his participants. There's no evil plot behind all of this, I'm certain." He whispered, the two of them observing Zephyr walk around the canteen.
She still wasn't sure. "But people can pull up acts, Lloyd." She felt the need to remind of something as obvious as that. A little bit of self-loathing there, she did do such a thing a year from now.
"I know, I'm not saying I forgot that. But just trust me, Rumi, okay? He's good, he's a good person. Maybe you mixed him up for someone we fought in the past?"
She thought about it.
Zephyr circled around the canteen, a smile being brought to his face as he found his helpers and greeted them joyfully. Harumi narrowed her eyes at the exchange between him and Ava Zevada, a woman she has yet to trust.
"They seem friendly, don't they?" Lloyd encouraged her to let these conflicted feelings of hers go.
She watched as Matias joined in the conversation with them, they did look friendly, yeah.
"I guess." She swallowed dryly.
Lloyd let go of her—surprising Harumi a little as she was already used to his warmth even if he didn't stay for long. "There, that's the way to go. I'm proud of you, take it easy though." He says.
There was just something off about him.
Maybe she lacked sleep, who knows?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She found herself resting on the bed after lunch. She didn't know where the others are, probably training, but after being invited to join them, she declined to rest up a little. She laid there, on her back, and dove right back in her realm of nightmares and dreams.
Kidding, just nightmares. There was no such thing as sweet dreams anymore.
The minute she went unconscious, she reopened her eyes to find herself in a familiar spot. It wasn't the top of Borg tower, thankfully. She looked around a little and immediately recognized her surroundings. This was the front of the Jade palace. No, but why this place specifically?
She searched around for more clues. It didn't take long for her to spot figures marching towards the beloved guillotine by the front. Ah, this scene, it replayed in her mind. The figures were none other than her beloved family. But something was definitely off. It was an order.
Cloud, Nix, Garmadon, Mistake, Lloyd, Opal, and Mirage, heads hung low and chained to face execution.
Wait...
She saw this order before, she had been told they'd all die.
When...
When was it?
The image of Lloyd's emotionless expression came through her mind.
"We're set out to die, I guess you're on your own now."
Ah, now she remembers. That was when everything became incomprehensible.
"Wait a second!!" She reached out to the six sinners, trying to find a way to save her beloved family from execution. She seemed desperate, even if she knew it was already planned from the start.
Her fingers latched onto something else than thin air. She felt the scales of a snake in front of her. She instantly moved away and held her breath.
Now standing in front of her, were recognizable faces. But those that she's seen before in person, but rather people she's seen in books. But last she recalled, they weren't all looking at her like that....eyes blank and mouths curved into disturbing smiles. She felt chills going up her spine as the skies reddened with crime.
Even the skies acknowledged that having six sinners was enough for this world.
Python, Master Chen, Nadakhan, Acronix and Krux, they all stood there, towering over the guillotine as if having permission to take the six lives before them.
Harumi shut her eyes, not wanting to see this anymore. She was scared enough.
From her vantage point, she had a sneak-peak of the crowds, everyone was dead. It was River of blood there with corpses piling on top of each other here and there. The gates were shut and cries—no, wails were heard all around her. As if these dead citizens didn't want to see the six of them go.
Why like this, why were the ninjas' previous foes all gathered together and laughing at them? What was the meaning of all this?
She held her breath, as the man himself walked up from behind her. She heard that same strong-willed voice as that announcer from earlier. Yes, this was definitely him. She turned around, seeing the brown-haired boy extending his arms out, as if declaring something else.
"Zephyr!" She yelled, in an outburst of wanting explanations.
But Zephyr didn't listen. He chuckled and read paragraphs from the book in front of him.
"We sacrifice you these six atrocities.."
The blade of the guillotine lowered. None of them were doing something, they all accepted their fate. Harumi panicked.
No, why?! Why were they just standing there as the blade kept getting lower and lower?!
"Live, please!"
Blood swept out from the floor.
Harumi shook her head, denying it all.
"Live, whatever you do, live!"
The blade stopped.
She reopened her eyes.
'Oh thanks FSM.' Harumi sighed, bringing herself forward to stare at the mess before her very eyes.
There was no mess, no one had been killed thankfully.
There was however, five figures, all coloured that came to the six's rescue. Red, blue, black, white and grey. She assumes it was the ninja.
Of course it was them, it was always them to come and save the day.
Her eyes peer to the left, she stops in her place.
No, the ninjas will fail, because of the presence of that...that woman. The Voice was here, standing around in the alleyway of the palace. What was she doing there?
Ava Zevada, woman of power, spying on them as an execution took place. She didn't look manipulated by the dimension in any way, maybe she could help her and explain some things?
"Hey—" Harumi tried to call her the cyan-haired woman. That didn't go well for her.
Chaos struck and the five figures in colourful suits all launched themselves on the former threats of Ninjago. Fair, almost unfair fights, really. The ninjas and villains' powers were equalized. Harumi noticed as much.
Standing there and watching the fight, Harumi didn't realize that she wasn't just a spectator to this nightmare, but a participant. Watching the red figure fight with Pythor, she didn't realize anyone would try aiming for her head.
She gasped when she felt her wrist being grabbed by force. She tried to break free, failing in the process and was flung all the way to the alleyway she saw Ava from earlier. Her back hit the wall, blood spitting out in big numbers from the amount of metres she travelled.
She didn't get a break to recover, she wiped the blood off her forehead, as it too, was affected by the attack. She took a shaky breath and stared at her two attackers, Zephyr and Ava stood there proud. She noticed, something in Zephyr's hands though.
A sword. A sword that was meant to end her life.
She shook her head. "Ava, Zephyr, what are you—"
The two of them looked at each other, he nodded to the girl beside him.
Zephyr shushed her. "Pity, this is how Zackery dies. I read up on him lately." He impaled the blade in her shoulder. It earned a wince from Harumi.
"How fitting."
He did it again.
She had to get out of here, no matter what. She shut her eyes and tried to pull her own body out of from his sword. It'll hurt a lot but he'd just keep her pinned there, she had to do something!
"Look at you, Harumi, hopeless as ever." He pulled the sword away and twirled the tip of it on his fingers, the master of destruction's blood trickling down his nails. He snickered.
"I do got to say, being suspicious of me in the real world won't do you any good."
Harumi clenched her teeth, refraining from coughing out more blood in the process.
It hurt, it hurt so bad.
Zephyr rolled his eyes, frustrated and bored out of his mind. He looked over to his side, pondering at whatever the girl beside him was doing.
"Ava, what's taking you so long?" He crossed his arms, sword still in hand.
Ava huffed, "Well I'm sorry but running your tournament from the dream realm is not so simple." she complained.
Nothing left but to crawl away, she stared wide-eyed as the enemies kept coming closer.
"Anyways, you think that's her?" The Voice questioned, her usual bat-like wings sprouting from her back.
"Without a doubt." The Shadow replied, fixing his eyes on the sword in his hands.
They were after her, they wanted to hurt her.
Harumi tried to crawl even further, knowing she might hit a dead end eventually.
She couldn't let that happen, or else that meant another unpleasant awakening.
She saw how Zephyr stood up from his crouching position, as if being bothered of watching her struggle.
"Mm, well, thanks for coming to help me for this one, could've asked Matias but he wasn't fit for the job. I owe you one." He says, raising his blade.
He could see her pleading, her eyes told a different story each time she scurried away from him.
Ava sighed, having no pity for the weakened girl. She pulled out a dagger from her pocket.
"Don't mention it."
The Shadow and Voice stabbed the girl to death.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
She was back in the real world now, it was night out now. Her eyes flickered as she was left to stare at the ceiling fan that she did not recall having. Not to mention, the texture of this bed felt a lot softer. Ah, she remembered now, she wasn't actually back at home. She was on whatever island this was, competing for a prize that no one knew of just yet.
She couldn't believe she had forgotten for a second just like that. She placed a hand over her forehead and just inhaled.
It was also technically the first day she's been out of that dark room in her nightmare realm. Why's that? Did their meeting today by the main hall change their behaviour around her?
So many questions...
For now, she needed to alert her friends on what she had just witnessed. She turned herself to the side, wanting to get off her bed. But instead, found herself staring at a four-armed figure against the wall. He didn't look too pleased with her.
Obviously off guard with Garmadon's sudden appearance, she got off the bed immediately and began questioning him.
"How did you get inside of here?!" She yelled, this had happened too many times now to count. He never looked like he cared.
Yet today was no exception. Garmadon shrugged.
"The door was left open." He made an excuse.
Harumi gritted her teeth, walking over to where her luggage was and went for her handbag, there had her essentials in there.
"You can't just walk up on people while they're sleeping, I can't believe you!" Despite her heart still racing, she was regaining her breath, slowly but surely. Her hands fiddled with the zipper. "Seriously, where's my Garmadon repellant, I swear I need it right about now.."
Garmadon laughs, "'Garmadon repellant?'" He questioned, mildly annoyed with the way she was overreacting at the moment. But oh well, this proves she was in fact a teenager.
She nodded, insisting her words. "Yes, repellant, and I have it right here!" She was about to pull out a spray-bottle however what came off from her hands instead was an oddly fluffy texture. Extra pajamas, maybe.
But it sprung up and surprised even the both of them at once.
"Cloud?! What are you doing here?!"
She was just as shocked as Garmadon, who stood two inches behind her.
Cloud sprung out of the handbag, a protein bar in her mouth and leaped out to be in Harumi's arms. She spat out the bar, implying that she's giving it to her owner.
"Just thought I'd come and help out, you know? Plus, this is an adventure I don't wanna miss!" Cloud replied, enthusiastic as always.
Harumi shook her head, gladly taking the bar.
"But you know it's dangerous for you to be here, right?" She frowned, not liking the idea of her puppy being captured by any of these people here.
Cloud barked, jumping out of Rumi's arms and digging her paws right back in the bag. "Don't worry,"she assures the white haired girl, before pushing out of the bag, a spray-bottle. Harumi couldn't help but chuckle at her exclamation:
"I have the Garmadon repellant!" Cloud said, proud and bright.
Garmadon growled jokingly, "Haha, very funny." He says as Harumi began to spray him little by little, three pushes per second.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now with their little antics out of the way, all three of them sat on the bed. Harumi ate the protein bar and Garmadon was wiping the water off his arms with a spare cloth.
The three of them were all quiet, just staring in the darkness. Chewing noises were heard, Harumi continued to eat her snack.
Then, the silence broke with a mention.
"I know, Harumi, by the way." He started, a little calmly than usual. His fingers never left the bedsheets. "That you're having nightmares."
Harumi laughed a little.
"Gee, thanks, Captain Obvious. Not like I outted myself out of rage that day. In front of Aunt Josephine and Uncle Acronix..."
"I meant before that, I knew."
"What, how? I never told anybody, only uncle Acronix."
Garmadon inhaled, time to be blunt here.
"I spied on you both." He confesses honestly.
She swallowed a little quickly, setting the bar down and just staring at him in disbelief.
"What?!"
It caused an immediate uproar from the white haired girl. Garmadon knew he screwed up his explanations rather badly.
So, he stood up from the bed and went in front of her. He shook his hands out for her and tried to convince her that he wasn't directly spying on her and Acronix that day.
"Listen, listen, it was an accident. I was passing by when I heard you and your uncle talking!" He tried to convince her, doing a really awful job at it, if FSM was here.
She didn't seem too convinced, the white haired girl looked away and gritted her lips, angry at the fact that Garmadon has been nothing but dishonest the entire time.
Cloud frowned and noticed she was upset, the puppy moved from her spot to be sitting on her owner's lap. Even if it was just a small gesture, Harumi appreciated it a ton. She even smiled.
Garmadon didn't like that there was zero progress happening in this conversation. He clenched his fists and took a chance.
"But if you told us what these nightmares were. We can help you." He offered with a gentle smile unlike earlier, he wasn't desperate to cover up lies anymore. He wanted to try and help.
But Harumi didn't buy it. She sulked and looked away from him.
"You all wouldn't understand. I mean...Lloyd didn't! What are the chances you will?" She did speak of the truth though, however. Lloyd kept reassuring her of things that have already been proven in her nightmares many times. She's convinced the Zephyr hosting this tournament is involved.
Garmadon rolled his eyes, that was a good point.
"He's my son, yes, but he doesn't have a great understanding unlike I." He tried.
Oh now she just felt offended in place of her boyfriend there.
Harumi huffed.
Garmadon and Cloud looked at each other, unsure what to do at this point.
So, Harumi spoke for herself here. She stood up, allowing the dog to fall back on the bed and headed for the door.
"I'm going to go clear my thoughts, I can't do this right now." She admitted, telling the two of them she won't leave for long.
The two only blinked, watching as the bedroom door shut in front of their very eyes. Harumi was out of their sights, left due to frustration of not being listened to and potentially being babied?
No one reacted, at least Garmadon didn't.
He continued to stand there, watching the half-opened door. Cloud had to intervene.
"What are you doing, you're not gonna let her wander alone!" Cloud growled, hoping off the bed and stopping at the front door.
"I'll look for her, don't worry." Garmadon gave a promising look. He looked at Cloud, waiting for her usual hostile look to change, even for a second.
The two looked at each other for a moment. Cloud's expression eventually softening.
"Okay, fine. You better."
The door in Harumi's room was half-open, there stood a man peering through, his green eyes glowing with pride. His lips curved into a smile, his plans were coming along just as intended.
Zephyr was watching.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: Heyyyy, lore is finally happening here! The main event has just started, that's right, Zephyr's hosting the tournament of elements this Arc. But why oh why does he do that? Is it because he has certain connections to Master Chen? Who knows, or maybe he's just a diehard fan, that's all. Not to mention, all of Harumi's nightmare demons have been revealed! What role do they play in the story, you ask? That's a question for next time.
Lloyd and his friends are being put to compete against one another in several events, Harumi is still struggling with her nightmares and no one seems to listen to her the way she wants them to. There's still so much planned, hope you guys enjoy the next instalment. Cya guys soon, Lilla out!