"Morning, I heard about what happened. How are you feeling?"
Along the wall of the small room meant for strategizing, the redheaded master of amber patted the shoulder of the green ninja. The blonde looked terrible, no one felt bad if they admitted it to Lloyd himself. His eyes had bags right under and his eyebrows were lowered. As if saying that the pain he felt yesterday would be forever apart of him now. He had a weary and pained expression, all at once. No one in the team could tell how much he suffered. This was about the umpteenth time his father betrayed him. What was the difference? Exactly, there was none. However, this time, it made the green ninja's already cold heart freeze into a fit of betrayal once again. When Skylor walked up to him, he didn't even bother to flinch. That's how much he didn't care about the current situation. No emotions to show his grief. "Hey, Lloyd? Did you zone out?" She called out to him, to no avail.
Obviously noticing her comrade's struggling, the water ninja helped her out a bit by tapping a silver spoon against a glass. It resonated like one of a bell. The training bell that is, back at the old monastery where the green ninja was trained. With the sound, the blonde snapped out of his thoughts and took this moment to rub his tired eyes. Skylor frowned. "Your eyes are red, jabs you been crying all night?" She inquired softly and as emphatically as possible. She knew that this was a hard time for the green ninja, she didn't want to make it worse by being bossy or insensitive. Lloyd shook his head once he removed his palm from his left eye. "No, not at all. I'm just...tired." He stated and crossed his arms.
"Funny, you don't look tired, but more pained." Nya pointed out the obvious while remaining near the closets where weapons were stored. The ones that didn't fit in the closets by the training room. They were the excess ones. The only ones in the room where: ofcourse Lloyd, Nya, Skylor, Dareth and Mistaké. The original members of the divided resistance. "Oh who am I kidding." The blonde huffed in annoyance.
Skylor and Nya's eyes were enlightened in delight as they were finally gonna receive a status update from Lloyd. "Do you really expect me to be fine after what happened yesterday? You were there Nya, I know-" he gave such a response before being interrupted by the water ninja herself.
She lifted a finger, almost in a teacher posture. "Actually. I left right before it happened. I heard some ruckus going on but I thought it was coming from the training room. You know? Since you have the tendency to leave the door open." gave such a response. Lloyd huffed in response. He didn't say a word to form a rebuttal. Despite that being what most people did to probe that they're right. Dareth stepped in, "Do you guys have any idea where he is now?" He referred to the one and only: Garmadon. He was lucky that Lloyd didn't try to retort at the topic. Instead, he was the one who responded his question. "Where do you think? Ofcourse he's by the Borg tower again." His tone wasn't any different. But Nya pointed something out. It was a question that was on all of their minds actually. "What's the use of going back there when he's lost his strongest forces?" She inquired. Dareth didn't understand straight-on. "Forces?" showed the water ninja that he wasn't a veteran in the battle-vocabulary terms. Despite owning a dojo.
"I meant Harumi. His second in command. Basically all of the generals of the SOG." She clarified in which the brown ninja responded with a small nod. He prepared a retort to that. Sitting by his chair, he spoke: "I'm sure he'd find a way to make those twisted Garmadon worshippers, the SOG in general, function without their generals." That made Nya pace back and forth, thinking of a solution to that. It's been several minutes that she kept them waiting thus, giving in, she agreed. "Right, they aren't completely loyal to their generals." She whispered this. Skylor pumped a fist up, trying to alert her comrades about the main problem at hand at the moment.
Luckily for her, they all turned to face her. Even Lloyd, who put up an effort in making a pleasant and interested face into this conversation. "We can talk about our plan to stop Garmadon after. Let's focus on that kicking that colossi's stony rear." She encouraged. A sigh was heard in the room. Everyone was surprised on who decided to speak up for the resistance's next mission.
"I say we attack it without the bounty. It would be too risky." The leader of the team concluded and crossed his arms again. Just by the way he spoke, it was if there wasn't any pain on his mind at the moment. Nya thought for a second. The green ninja patiently waited for her response. "I mean..,it would be true that it would be too risky to bring along the bounty. So what do you have in mind?" She asked but didn't receive a direct answer from him. It was a bit mysterious now that she properly thought about it. "You'll see later, I'll explain everything later. I wanted to confirm one more thing. Do you think the others will be alright with this plan?" Lloyd made his way to the door and didn't open it right away. Skylor gave Nya a break and answered the question herself. "If they what Ninjago city back, they'll gladly forego with this plan." She smiled reassuringly. She knew that Lloyd needed somewhat of positivity right about now but felt that his feelings and enthusiasm was forced. "I just don't want any casualties on our team. We're risking too much for this." He whispered and walked out. The four members of the resistance watched, saddened as he left the strategy room. Mistaké took a sip of her cup of tea. "He's really that bummed out?" She questioned Nya.
Nya was about to blow her fuse at a rhetorical question like that. However, despite being short-tempered, she knew that Mistaké was only testing her patience. "Ofcourse, his father was a massive influence in his life. He can't bear the thought of losing him to the evil side like always." She summarized the whole battling for Ninjago act being pulled off for several years now. Mistaké stood up, grabbed her cup and proceeded to head out as well. "You see, sometimes when the times are hard, our only choice would have to be to move on if we don't want to fall weak on the battleground." left the three individuals still in the room. It gave them a tad to think about. The meaning of that phrase which was probably black and white for the old woman but also the fact that Lloyd returned to his gloomy state.
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A/N Hi guys! LillaSmolBean here! I'm sorry for the such short chapter for this week! You see if I had to admit something, the schedule was a bit droopy so I apologize in advance if the storyline seems messed up at the start of Hunted Part2. Everything should be fine around the next few chapters! But I guess I should explain why such the short chapter? I guess we can say that I have a reason. It's to not to overwhelm the readers with a super long chapter right off the bat. Like: "Welcome to Hunted Arc Part2! *spams a 7000 word essay as Chapter 20*". I hope you guys enjoy this chapter either way! If you did, leave a vote and comment down below your thoughts! Well that concludes this author's note. Thank you so much for reading! Cya guys next Friday!