NINJAGO: The Fray Of Crows

CHAPTER ONE - The Islands Of Trite

Lloyd Garmadon was fighting an armored Skulkin, and as few Skulkin did, he put up a pretty alright fight. Lloyd was all by himself this time, so fighting things one on one was not much of an issue. His real problem? He needed to find the rest of the ninja.

They ended up separated after trying to convince Nya to head back to the Bounty, and now Lloyd needed to rescue all of them, with only Pixal to his aid. An apparent "Bullheaded-man" had taken them somewhere on the Islands of Trite.

As Lloyd finished off the skeleton with a combo of his Elemental Powers and Spinjitzu, he caught a glance at a scroll the skeleton had been guarding inside of this giant fortressed ravine that became a site for mining. To Lloyd's disenchantment, in this scroll was just a map of the Twelve Islands of Trite, and he was on one of the Islands already.

He'd keep the map in case the skeleton guards marked any important places, but Lloyd had no time to waste. The ninja and Master Wu could be in trouble and it was nobody's fault--other than his.

"I should've listened to Nya..."

But Lloyd didn't have her, he had to rely on himself and the people he still had, like Pixal. They could both figure it out, Lloyd was certain of that, but what he was worried more about was when it came time to get them out--would there be enough of them in comparison to the cluster of guards called the Crows? And would their weapons be strong enough against their means to use Vengestone?

If numbers are what they needed, then Lloyd had to try to find the ninja first. Sensei Wu can handle himself for now.

He rolled the scroll up and then he turned, looking over at a chest that stood just across from him a few paces away. It was adorned in gold, but the box itself was a jade green. Overall plain in design, but eye-catching to Lloyd.

He walked over to it and opened it. Inside was a dark katana blade with a mace attached to the end. Lloyd picked it up to look at it, then he felt it sap the strength from his hands so he dropped it back inside of the box. Lloyd tried to ignite his powers through his hand, but they first sparked before they fully returned again.

The weapon was made of Vengestone, but there was something about the box that had kept the effects from taking away his powers before he even held it.

"Hmm..." That gave Lloyd an idea, if he could just figure out what was with the box's walls that kept the Vengestone inside from messing with him.

And he knew who could help him as he reached for his radio and pressed a button.

"Pixal, come in," Lloyd said through his radio. "I've found something."

"What is it, Lloyd?" asked Pixal. She sounded sad, even for a robot.

She never acted the same without Zane, the two of them were truly inseparable counterparts.

"I may have found an element that counteracts the effects of Vengestone--there's this chest made of it!" Lloyd exclaimed. "Can you bring the Bounty here so we can figure out what it is?"

"I'll try my best," said Pixal. "Pixal out."

Lloyd turned back to the box, then noticed that on the inside of the lid was an odd marking, two horizontal lines and two dots above and below them.

"Huh, that's strange..." muttered Lloyd.

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"Zane... you wouldn't happen to have a radio programmed into you... right?" Jay asked. Zane craned his neck, then merely shook his head.