"Reach out to me, young Garmadon."

Lloyd pulled up a wad of his blonde hair into his balled fists. He could feel the sweat drip down his forehead like fire – every little drop felt as if it would burn right through him.

"Reach out."

Lloyd wanted to scream. He couldn't. Oh for the love of the First Spinjitzu Master, he wanted to do something. Once again, he was stuck in one of those terrible, horrible dreams that just about tortured you until you could see the blood on your hands…

But then you would wake up.

Right now, Lloyd wanted nothing more than to skip over to that part. The middle part was always the part he hated. He tried to ignore the images of his parents, Uncle Wu, and even the other ninja suffering. He shut his eyes tighter than he could have ever imagined possible, just so he would never look. He would hate himself forever if he looked, even for a fraction of a second. He tried to ignore that menacing, screeching voice that haunted him every night.

But it was so hard.

So heartbreakingly hard.

Watching the people you care about die every night, over and over again…it was disturbing. No, disturbing was too tame of a word to describe what Lloyd had been forced for weeks to experience. It was devastating. Wu had talked once about these kind of dreams. They were as intense as they come, and the only way out was to conquer all fear.

Unfortunately for Lloyd, he had more than one fear to check off the bucket list. You would think that being the powerful, heroic Green Ninja would mean you would certainly have no fear, right? Kids grow up sometimes thinking they're invincible. So they do some pretty stupid things. Lloyd, however, knew he wasn't invincible, but he had still done stupid things.

But when he thought back, he had once thought just as kids do. He had once thought being the son of Lord Garmadon would truly mean something for him. He unleashed three of the Serpentine tribes just to prove to everyone that he was invincible, just like his dad. And he supposed unleashing the Serpentine really was stupid, so…

But he got older, and he grew with the fear he had. As he grew, the fear grew with him. As much as he hated to admit it, he had spent years and still had never taken care of this fear. He just let it exist there, y'know, let it do it's thing.

That was a mistake.

"Lloyd Garmadon, your end is very near!"

Lloyd's composure stiffened against the voice once more, his eyes narrowing and his mouth forming into an angry, teeth-barring snarl. "Stay away!" He was so done with this same scene playing in his little dream world every single night. He knew it all by heart at this point. Every night it was the same. Kai was the first to go, then Nya. Then Jay would rush by her side, leading to his own death. Then Cole would scream to Lloyd to run. "They're everywhere, Lloyd! Everywhere-!" That's when his words would be cut off by his own sudden death - his limp, lifeless body falling to the floor.

And then everything would black over, back to that horrible, terrible creature who took his brother Zane from him. That selfish being…

Overlord.

Lloyd had once thought that the booming, horrendous voice that killed his brothers in his dreams was the Overlord, but he knew it really wasn't. It was someone completely different. Lloyd had a feeling that deep down, he knew who it was. But it hurt too much to believe it.

Add one more fear to the bucket list.

"You're scared. Scared of me! Scared of failure!"

Lloyd let out a shaky breath, hoping the terrible dream was near over.

"Scared of YOURSELF."

Lloyd woke with a jolt, finding himself once more in his room. In Chen's palace…

No more terrifying death nightmares. At least for now…

Now, he had a tournament to prepare for. It was enough that Chen wanted him to get back in, but on such short notice? After going through blast damage by some unknown attacker? It just…doesn't make sense. But then again, neither does Chen. Or anything else on the island.

With a groan, Lloyd managed to slip out of the bed. His feet made impact with the floor lightly and slowly, yet the pain he received from it was very much there. Gritting his teeth, he managed to stand up properly and moved his hand over to the bedstand to grab his walking stick. His hand felt nothing, and he realized that the stick was stood alongside the edge of the mirror on the other end of the room.

Might as well use this as good practice, he thought to himself, extending his hand across the room, towards that stick. With his eyes shut, and his mind quieted, he focused only on the elements, connecting with the elements around him. He never questioned how he was still able to do his without Golden Power. He just…connected. It was nowhere as strong as it had once been, but the connection with all the elements was still very much there.

He searched around with his senses, and he eventually picked up the one he looked for. Connecting to Neuro's elemental signature, Lloyd locked his hands at his chest like he used to do when he first started training with his green Energy powers as a kid, and created a force lock between his palms. The element formed inside, and a green haze overtook it. Using the manipulated power over gravity, Lloyd called the walking stick to his hand, and within less than a second, the stick reacted to his call, flying into his hand with great speed and accuracy.

With a smile, Lloyd threw a coat on over his tournament gi, taking note of the yet present snow outside his room. Winter seemed to never leave here. Locking his door, he slid the key back into the pocket of his green gi, and walked off in the direction of the front doors.

"Hey, leaving so soon?" A voice called after him. Lloyd turned his head to see.

"Oh, hey. Kapau, right?" Lloyd grinned. "Nah, I'm just heading out to train under the sunrise. It's the best way to train, if you ask me."

Kapau stood with jaw dropped, his eyes wide in surprise.

Lloyd shifted uncomfortably. "Uh…is it something I said?"

"You…you got my name right!" Kapau exclaimed, his mouth forming in a giant grin. "Thank you! So much!"

"Uh…you're welcome?"

"Onion Dip no more! Kapau I shall forever be!" The cultist laughed hysterically, causing Lloyd to slowly back away.

"Okay then…"

"Hey, Chope!" Kapau called into the other room. "Someone got my name right!"

"No way!" Chope exclaimed, running out. "Can he get my name right, too? My name's Chope!"

"You literally just told him your name, idiot," Kapau pointed out. "What else would he call you now?"

"I just wanna hear it!" Chope laughed. "Go on, Green Ninja! Go on!"

Lloyd was officially weirded out. "Uh…hey, Chope?"

"AH!" Chope screamed, looking at Kapau. "He got my name right! HE GOT MY NAME RIGHT!"

"I know! This feels so rewarding, dude!" Kapau laughed. He turned back to Lloyd. "Hey, pal, thanks for the kind gesture. We owe you one. But not really, cuz if Master Chen found out, he'd feed us to Clouse's giant pet snake, but you get the point."

"Also, don't tell Master Chen, but we're up early making blueberry pancakes," Chope added. "Would you like some?"

"No thanks!" Lloyd stuttered as he ran out past the doors outside. "I need to get out of this nuthouse!"

"Skylor, my dear…" Chen cooed, walking off of his podium and down to his daughter, who stood there waiting for him. He moved his hand to touch her cheek, but she shifted away, hiding away her face.

"I'm not so keen on having you place your dirty hands on my face, father." She muttered. "You're being unfair to the contestants again."

"Unfair?" Chen exclaimed. "How so? All I've ever done is make the tournament better for everyone! Unless you're talking about Lloyd..."

"Yes," Skylor spoke harshly. "That's exactly what I'm talking about. He just suffered major injuries to himself, and you're expecting him to just…get back up and fight some people? And Bolobo- he got cuts all over his face, and you told him to put salt on it!"

"Yeah, he's an idiot for listening to that fortune cookie," Chen laughed. "But like I say, 'no fortune cookie can lie!'"

"That statement is literally so false that I…ugh, I just can't." Skylor facepalmed and walked out of the room. Chen was so caught up in himself that he never noticed his daughter leave the room.

Hey guys! Been awhile, eh?

I'm so sorry that it's been a while since I last updated this story. What has it been, January? Either way, I'm sorry this chapter is so late. I've just been really caught up with school and life, and haven't had a ton of time to work on chapters. But I really do feel like I've got my writing mojo back, so that's good.

As for reviews,

Zena: Yes, there will be much of that.

SpitfirewaterNinja: Lol I love your comment on meeting Chen on the streets. Hope you see this chapter soon, Mel. We all miss you.

AuroraRain18: Sorry you probably won't see this chapter this week, Rain. :/ But as always, your review made me smile. Thank you for that.

RiverIsTheMagicWord: Haha, just calling me EB is okay. Diamond is a WHOLE other person, who's name I just bore as a tribute I guess lol. And I'm glad you're so hyped for these chapters. Gives me a whole lot of motivation, I tell ya.

EntityEndDragon: Thanks again for the delightful comment, old friend!

RandomDragon2.0: Yes, it's a MASSIVE pickle!

Blueberry Bird:

1. Sorry, I don't like to spoil anything.

2. Cookies are the best medicine (::)

3. More of that will come xD

SkyDreamer12: It's funny sometimes what things make us laugh. Thanks!

Until the next chapter,

~EB