The next day, still in the past, the Ninja from the future watched as the Past Kai and Nya trained with the Past Anirei and Sensei Wu. Anirei was having a good time training with Nya, since she was the only one training at the moment.
However, with Kai...
"You must harness the fire deep within you, Kai." Sensei Wu instructed, just as Kai was hit with one of the sand bags.
"Ah. Yeah, yeah, yeah." Past Kai said, walking away in annoyance.
"Oh, I'm worthless." Kai groaned.
"It's like you don't even want to be a Ninja." Jay pointed out.
"Look, I told you: The only reason I became a Ninja was to rescue my sister." Kai said.
"If Kai doesn't learn to be a Ninja, our future will be destroyed." Zane explained.
"Ugh! Even when Garmadon does something good, it's always evil!" Cole groaned, "Sensei ain't cutting the mustard. Guess it's up to us to get things back on track."
"I thought you said not to get involved. "Change anything, change everything."" Jay said.
"That was before Garmadon altered the past and changed the future. Now we gotta clean up the mess.
"He's right." Zane agreed, "The only way to save our future is for Kai to find his fire."
"But-- What're ya tryin' to say, Zane?"
"I'm saying, we have to give Kai his motivation back. We have to kidnap Nya and deliver her into the hands of the Skeleton."
Kai sighed, not liking the plan, but he had to follow it in order for time to be restored, "Ah, if that's what it takes. But if it's okay with you guys, I've got an idea on how I could talk some sense into myself."
They decided to wait until nightfall to continue with their plan, but in the meantime, they watched Anirei and how she interacted with the past.
"Come on, Nya, you almost had it." Anirei said, helping the older girl stand back up on her feet, "You still need work on your balance."
"Thanks for the advice, Vevila." Nya said, but kept staring at the mask Anirei wore, "If you don't mind me asking, why the mask?"
Anirei stood still, gently touching her mask, "I...uh, got hurt by those skeletons a while ago before I came here to train with Sensei." She made up an excuse, "It left a really bad scar, and I don't like others looking at it."
Nya frowned, "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to--"
"It's all right, Nya. I get asked that a--" Anirei stopped when she felt a sharp pain in her chest, but she hid the pain well with a strained yawn.
"I think I'll go sleep for a little bit. A ninja can't strain their body too much, or else it could lead to consequences." Anirei said and went into the Monastery, before collapsing to her knees on the floor and clutching her chest in pain.
"The Fire.... it hurts...." She groaned.
"Child, are you in pain again?"
"Perhaps you should make an excuse to leave these Ninja. Their presence is causing you more pain than normal."
"I am fine.... I will just have to stay calm and balanced. Please help me tonight." Anirei said.
The voices sighed and waited for Anirei to fall asleep that night to help her become balanced once again.
~~~~
Later on in the evening, Cole, Zane and Jay snuck into the Monastery and crept into Nya's room to start the plan.
"Time to play our parts." Cole said as he passed out Skeleton masks.
"We'll have to act quickly while Kai is keeping himself busy." Zane warned, then grabbed Nya and stuffed her into a sack just as she woke up.
Meanwhile, in Past Kai's room, Kai was starting his own plan. He took the mirror from the bathroom and acted at the reflection, copying every single move his past self was making. At least until...
"Hey, dummy!" Kai shouted to his past self while the latter backed away in shock.
"Yeah, I'm talking to you."
"Me?"
"Would you get your head on straight and start listening to Sensei? The fate of the world kind of rests on it."
"Huh?"
Outside the room, Anirei smiled and chuckled, hearing Past Kai talk to himself. It was fun, but the distraction was perfect for when the pain came through.
~~~~
"Unhand me, Skeletons!" Nya shouted from the sack she was being carried in by Jay.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Nya." jay muttered, but she heard it.
"How'd you know my name?" She growled, "Oh! When my brother finds out about this, you'll be sorry!"
"Actually, he'll be quite relieved." Cole commented.
"Uh, guys. We've got company." Zane warned and looked down to see three people dressed in black gis' approaching Kai's room. It was their past selves.
"Uh, isn't that... us?!" Jay exclaimed grabbing their attention.
"Better lower our masks, so they don't recognize us." Cole said and they did just that, jumping down to attack their past selves while leaving Nya trapped on the roof.
Jay threw a barrel at himself but the past Jay kicked it away. They engaged in battle and were evenly matched, despite Jay from the future having more skills and training.
"Let's not hurt ourselves, boys. I'd hate to leave a mark." Cole whispered to Zane as the white ninja put away his shuriken. He grabbed a handful of tiles from the roof and threw them at his past self. As the three Ninja were fighting, Anirei woke from her sleep due to the noise.
She got dressed in her gi and ran out to see what was happening. Seeing the Ninja fighting themselves, she knew she had to fight along with them. Thankfully, the past ninja had never seen her, so she was able to enter the battle easily.
"Oh. Why does time travel have to be so complicated?" Kai asked himself as he ran out of the rooms with a Skeleton mask on. The sack that Nya was trapped in rolled off the roof, but Anirei and Kai were able to catch her in time.
"Elder brother, you must make it seem as if I was taken as well." She said.
"What? Why?" Kai asked.
"It will be better if the past you believes that I was taken as well. Your past selves were never meant to meet me this early. My disappearance will help restore the timeline. Please, just do as I ask."
Kai didn't understand a lot of Anirei said, but if it helped fix the timeline, then he would do what he had to. No questions asked. He grabbed Anirei in his free arm and held Nya in the other before jumping onto the roof.
"Guys, let's get out of here." Kai said disguising his voice to sound more like a Skeleton. The Ninja pushed their past selves off the roof and hid nearby, watching as the timeline was fixed, with just a little bit of alterations. Now, Kai knew about Anirei, or Vevila, being taken. The girl would have to make a note of what just happened.
It would certainly not be good for her future self.
~~~~
After the Ninja escaped the Monastery, they headed for the nearby forest where they knew the Skeletons would be camped out for the night. They quickly found their campsite and waited for the right moment to drop Nya.
"Hey!" Samukai shouted, "This is no time to celebrate. First we lose that little Lotus girl, and now we don't have the other girl. How would you like to go back to the Underworld to tell Lord Garmadon that we've failed again?"
The Ninja dropped the bagged Nya in front of one of the Skeletons and left on their way with Anirei. They stopped as soon as they were far enough away.
"Thank goodness, the time line is all fixed now, right?" Jay asked hopefully.
"Wrong." Anirei said, "I have a terrible feeling that your Garmadon of the future has more planned than we had believed before."
The Ninja looked at each other and then back at Anirei.
"Anirei, why did you in this time not want us to meet you?" Kai finally asked what everyone was thinking.
"Yeah, I mean, if you had met us here and now in the past, wouldn't that be better for you?" Jay asked.
Anirei shook her head and turned towards the Ninja, a determined and slightly cold look in her bright blue eyes.
"I cannot answer that. But I will say, that if I had met you in this past before.... you would never have met me in the future." She answered and kept jumping across the branches, leaving the ninja behind to wonder even more than before.
~~~~
In the Underground, Samukai had just told Shadow Garmadon that they had succeeded tin taking Nya, but were unsuccessful in find the Lotus child.
"What?!" Shadow Garmadon shouted, "How could you not find her?"
"I am sorry, Master. The Child is as illusive as your own shadows. We will do what we can to find her." Saumkai promised and then left. However, he was not the only one in the room.
Garmadon was hiding in the shadows and only came out to meet his past self.
"Eh! What is the meaning of this?!" Shadow Garmadon shouted.
"It is I, your future self!" Garmadon said.
"How can it be?"
"I know you are searching for the Golden Weapons, and it is because of them that I have traveled back in time and stand before you now."
"I don't understand. You have... Uh, I have four arms."
"Yes, and I need your help to get rid of the Ninja and that girl once and for all."
"The girl? Are you speaking of Anirei Vevila?"
Garmadon nodded, "Yes. You must've seen it in her eyes. She is their child. The Child of the Lotus."
"So it is true that she holds those weapons. The girl never did tell me where she gained those weapons. But her eyes were always familiar to me."
"Yes, and she is very troublesome in the future."
Shadow Garmadon's eyes widened greatly, "She is still alive in your time? I never expected her to live for much longer."
"I am just as surprised as you, especially with her being their child and the power she contains. I had almost forgotten about it until I saw her again in the future. But, she has become much stronger, and she and the Ninja must be stopped. Listen carefully."
Garmadon whispered his plan into his past self's ear, to which they both enjoyed and laughed sinisterly.
~~~~
Time had passed. The four Ninja from the past had gathered most of the Elemental Weapons and were now asleep on their journey to fine the Sword of Fire. Anirei, Sensei Wu and the Ninja from the future sat in the tree overlooking the sleeping ninja.
"Ah. why are we still here?" Jay asked, "I though everything is back on track."
"You are wrong again, Elder Brother Jay." Anirei said, "There are still many things that need to be arranged. You still need the Sword of Fire."
"Anirei's right, Jay." Cole agreed with the girl, "We gotta stay and make sure all goes as planned."
"So what exactly happens next?" Sensei Wu asked.
"Our former selves have most of the Golden Weapons. Shadow Garmadon now should have my sister, and in about one minute, I get woken up and tricked into taking the Sword of Fire that will eventually unleash the greatest nemesis unto Ninjago."
Just as Kai said that, an illusion of Nya appeared and the past Kai followed her.
"Nya! Wait up!" The past Kai shouted and ran off to catch his 'sister'.
The group ran after him to the caves and watched as Kai ran right inside.
"Ah. This is when I steal the Fire Sword and cut my sister down. Then, I get attacked by my own shadow."
Nya dropped from the ceiling wrapped in chains, screaming for help from her brother.
"Nya!" Past Kai shouted.
"Tick-tock. Tick-tock." Shadow Garmadon taunted.
Past Kai jumped across the rocks and grabbed the Sword of Fire, then traveled to cut his sister down using his Spinjitzu to catch her. Nya and Kai stood close together, creeping away from the boiling lava.
"Stay close."
"Trust me, I'm not going anywhere."
"You can't hurt us! You're only a shadow!" Kai shouted at Shadow Garmadon.
"This time, I'm actually much more." The shadow said.
"Wait, he never said that before." Kai said and Anirei's eyes widened.
"Oh no." she gasped, "The two Garmadon's must have met." Anirei grabbed her head as it began pounding terribly with pain. She used her free hand to grip her white short sword, which lessened the pain, but not by much.
Just then, the Garmadon from the past appeared holding the Mega-Weapon in his hands, smiling wickedly at the past Kai and Nya.
"G--Garmadon." Kai stuttered, "You're supposed to be trapped in the underworld."
"Oh, there's so much more you don't know." Garmadon said.
"Go, future me! Destroy him!" Shadow Garmadon said.
"This will be difficult indeed." Anirei said, unsheathing her short swords and running to help the Past Kai fight.
She placed herself in between the two, the future Garmadon gasping when he saw her eyes again.
"Why are you here?" He shouted.
"Protecting my future!" She shouted back, pushing against the future Dark Lord.
Meanwhile, the four ninja of the future could only watch as the fight continued.
"Ah, we have to do something!" Kai said, "Anirei's smaller here, and I don't think my past self is gonna be any help with those arms."
Kai shook his head to clear himself of any doubt and thoughts and then rushed in to help just as Garmadon threw Anirei into Past Kai. Garmadon knocked the Sword of Fire out of Kai's hands, but accidently delivered it to the future Kai. Future Kai landed next to Anirei and helped her to her feet.
"Two Kais?" Shadow Garmadon asked in shock."
"Yeah!" Past Kai said.
"I guess I have four arms, too." Kai added.
"This ends now, Garmadon. You will not destroy time as I may know it!" Anirei shouted.
Garmadon charged and swiped to attack future Kai, but he dodged them before he bent down and allowed his past self to roll over his back. He took Kai's hand and helped him run across the rocky wall, allowing future Kai to hit Garmadon.
Zane joined in and stood in front of Garmadon, the dark lord backing into Cole who stood behind him.
"Now, I've got you." Cole said. Garmadon turned to attack, but Cole took a hold of the Mega-Weapon. He was quickly flipped over and thrown into Kai and Zane.
"I think it's safe to say that the past has drastically changed." Cole commented.
"You mustn't give up, Elder Brothers!" Anirei shouted, striking the Mega-Weapon with her swords as Garmadon tried to hit her back. But since she was much younger and weaker, she was not strong enough to take on future Garmadon. She was eventually thrown into Cole, who caught her just before she could slip into the lava.
"I was thinking about that." Zane said, "It could be possible to erase the events that have transpired so far by destroying the Mega-Weapon that brought us here in the first place."
"You mean, if we destroy that weapon, everything goes back to normal?" Kai questioned.
"Er... Theoretically." Zane admitted.
"Theory is better than nothing at all." Anirei said.
"But nothing can destroy the Mega-Weapon." Cole pointed out, "Only a weapon of equal power has any chance of stopping it."
Anirei looked down at her short swords and was about to say something, when someone else beat her to it.
"Ah-ha. Like maybe the weapons forged to create it in the first place?" Jay asked, holding the rest of the Elemental weapons in his arms.
"The Golden Weapons!" Cole shouted.
"Yeah. I thought these might come in handy." Jay handed the weapons to their respective owners.
"Okay. No time to find out how you got these." Kai said hastily, "We have to destroy the Mega-Weapon once and for all. Fire!"
Kai used his sword to shoot fire at the Mega-Weapon.
"Lightning!"
"Earth!"
"Ice!"
The four elements were aimed at the Mega-Weapon, but Anirei could see the imbalance within the five weapons. She looked down at her short swords and made a decision.
"Child, please, do not do this."
"It will only cause you more pain for the future."
"What future will I have if I do not do this? I'm sorry!"
Anirei jumped onto a separate rock and crossed the black and white blades. Her eyes were shining brightly.... but they were not the same as before.
The two Garmadons were shocked to see the girl standing behind all four of the Ninja, and even though she was far from them, they could see that change in her eyes.
"No... she can't!" They shouted, knowing exactly what the girl was planning.
Anirei looked directly at the Mega-Weapon, muttering something under her breath.
"เ ςคɭɭ ยק๏ภ ๔คгк คภ๔ ɭเﻮђՇ. ςђค๏ร คภ๔ קєคςє. ﻮ๏๏๔ คภ๔ єשเɭ Ŧг๏๓ ๒๏Շђ ค๒๏שє คภ๔ ๒єɭ๏ฬ. เ ς๏๓๓คภ๔ Շђє єɭє๓єภՇร Շ๏ ﻮคՇђєг คภ๔ ๒гเภﻮ Ŧ๏гՇђ Շђє ๔єรՇгยςՇเ๏ภ ๏Ŧ Շђє ๓єﻮค-ฬєคק๏ภ. รคשє ๏ยг ŦยՇยгє, ๔єคг รקเгเՇร ๏Ŧ ɭเﻮђՇ คภ๔ ๔คгк."
As soon as she was done speaking, a powerful beam of white light, and dark shadows came from her blades, engulfing the Mega-Weapon entirely.
"What?! What are you doing?" Garmadon shouted.
"Ninja-go!" Sensei Wu encouraged.
Finally, the Mega-Weapon was forced out of Gamradon's hands and hovered in the air surrounding by a blinding light. The four Golden Weapons the Ninja were holding were forced out of their hands as well, melding themselves into the Mega-Weapon before they were all shot into space, becoming one of the stars in the night sky.
The cave began to crumble and everyone began to fade, the timeline repaired and the future saved.
"Anirei!" The Ninja shouted as they turned to meet her gaze, but she wasn't alone.
A stranger dressed in a black cloak, and a stranger in a white cloak held her hands as she smiled.
"I apologize, Elder Brothers. But you must forget me in this time. Goodbye." Anirei said. The stranger in white picked her and jumped over to the Past Kai.
He looked at Anirei and the stranger warily, but couldn't say anything when Anirei placed her hand on his head.
"This is not goodbye, Brother Kai. I shall see you again. But for now... please.... forget and forgive me..."
There was a sudden flash of light, and nothing was as it used to be.
~~~~
The Ninja stood in the training room, all holding their respective weapons from before they traveled back in time.
"Did we just... uh?" Jay wondered.
"Return to the future?" Kai finished.
"This feels familiar, but weren't we training with Lloyd and Anirei?" Cole asked.
"The future was altered and there is no Green Ninja." Zane said terrified that they were unable to succeed.
However, just then, they heard panting by the door.
"Sorry I'm late, guys." Lloyd said as he rushed into the room, "Are you ready to get training?"
"Ha! You're still here!" Kai exclaimed relieved as they all hugged Lloyd tightly.
"Yeah? Why wouldn't I be?" Lloyd asked.
"So when we went back in time and destroyed Garmadon's Mega-Weapon that didn't change anything?" Jay wondered aloud.
"My father has a Mega-Weapon?" Lloyd asked, completely confused.
"Oh, wait a minute, you've never heard of it?" Kai asked, slicing a nearby watermelon with his sword.
"I-I think I would've remembered that." Lloyd said, "Why? What is it? Should I be concerned?"
The Ninja all laughed at the kid. Now that the Mega-Weapon was gone, there was no need to worry as much, but with Garmadon still out there, they still needed to train hard. But with the relief that Lloyd knows nothing about what happened, thye no longer had to worry about the past and could now look towards a better future.
"Hey, what are you guys laughing at? What's so funny?" Lloyd asked, stealing Kais slice of watermelon and throwing it into the air. He used a nearby sword and carved the watermelon expertly into the shape of a roaring dragon.
"I think some things are better left in the past." Kai said, "Come on, let's just prepare for the future."
"Hey, wait a second." Cole said looking around, "Where's Anirei?"
"Oh, right." Lloyd said putting down his slice of fruit, "I went to get Rei up for training, but she had a pretty bad fever. So I told her to stay in bed and rest, but it was kinda easy to get her to rest this time."
"What are you talking about?" Zane asked, "She normally hates missing training."
"Yeah, but she was really looking bad, so I think she finally gave in and agreed to rest for the night." Lloyd answered.
The Ninja were even more concerned. Whenever Anirei got sick, it hit her hard.
~~~~~
Anirei sat in her bed, coughing and coughing and coughing, the two strangers sitting by her side and rubbing her back in comfort.
"Please, hang in there for a little while longer, Child."
"We are nearly finished balancing you for the night, little one."
Anirei nodded and kept coughing. By the time she finished coughing, the strangers were finished and had disappeared to rest. Anirei brushed her hair out of her face and unsteadily walked over to the mirror. She nearly screamed when she saw her disheveled figure. Her hair had a black streak in it from where she brushed it away from her face.....
but also.... there on her shoulders.....
THE MARKS HAVE SPREAD...... THE TIME WAS DRAWING CLOSER....
"I have to make a decision...."