Akita had thought many things of Lloyd, few of them nice. For one, he talked far too much, and honestly, get over Harumi already! It was infuriating. Then, of course, was his green power. Akita never questioned him about it, and she didn't care to. As a formling she was familiar with magical people, but Lloyd's power had always seemed… lackluster.

For one, all it seemed to do was create light and heal metal. Akita had seen the occasional blast to the face when she and Lloyd had come upon trouble in their journey, but other than creating a distraction it was useless in combat.

She'd thought him soft, with how highly he spoke of Ninjago. He hadn't spent decades wandering alone, fighting tooth and claw to survive, to avenge. He was not prepared for the cold, was soft and weak against the elements. He was no survivor.

Akita had thought wrong.

At the mercy of the Ice Emperor, all Akita could think was how she'd failed Kataru. She was the last of the formlings, and she was not strong enough to avenge her people.

Then Lloyd had entered.

"It's time we finished this, Zane!" He growled, his tone a new, cold note that Akita had not heard him use. Then, his words sank in.

"Zane?" She gasped.

"My name… is not… Zane!" The Emperor roared, and Lloyd ripped off his hood, stalking past Akita without a glance. It occurred to her that Lloyd had not acknowledged her presence.

"Yes, it is!" Lloyd snarled, "and you're going to remember it if I have to knock it into your thick Nindroid skull!"

Slowly, like the frost creeping up from her frozen hand, the pieces settled together in Akita's mind. "You… know the Emperor?" She whispered.

"He's not an emperor!" Lloyd turned to her, his eyes blazing. "He'd my friend! He's the one I'm here to rescue!"

Akita looked at the Emperor with eyes twice as hateful. The destroyer of their land, the murderer of her brother, was a stranger! The face from the picture record, the metallic skin of the man who'd left the mech that Lloyd had fixed, came back to her.

"I am Zane, Master of Ice, son of Dr. Julien…"

"It's hard to explain," Lloyd said, "but I can't let you hurt him!"

Akita's rage suddenly boiled over. She knew she couldn't trust Lloyd, the stranger, the soft, weak-hearted, spineless wanderer, who would defend her brother's murderer!

"I…" Akita's iced hand trembled, and she felt the dagger locked inside the block shift, "...am not yours to command!" She roared, and with a CRACK she broke free and threw herself at the Emperor.

The next few moments were a blur, a rage, a wrestle against Lloyd as he tried to stop what she must do, and it only broke when Lloyd's "friend" caught him from behind and sent him sprawling with his scepter.

"There is NO ZANE!" The Emperor roared in a grating voice, catching Akita in her lunge and throwing her back with ease. Akita had only managed to sit back up when she saw the cold beam aimed at her.

"No!" Lloyd cried, and suddenly there was a green vortex blocking Akita's demise. What? Lloyd had never shown her this! When the stream of ice let up Lloyd appeared, spinning out of the vortex, toward the Ice Emperor, and Akita realised that Lloyd the weak, the soft-hearted, helpless without his mech-shaped crutch, was a warrior!

She scrambled to her feet, knife ready, but already there was no way for Akita to enter the battle and seek her revenge. Lloyd and the Emperor were blazing whirlwinds across the throne room, and when they came from their respective elemental vortexes she saw Lloyd, the stranger, fight with skill she had not believed he had, despite all his stories of "saving the world." He moved with precision, calculation, and the Emperor matched him step for step.

It suddenly occurred to Akita that she could very well die fighting either of them. Even opposed they moved with the fluid, acrobatic grace of warriors who had fought their whole lives together. She could not keep up.

Then Lloyd ran up one of the pillars, which shouldn't have been possible, chased by the Emperor's deadly ice. He vaulted, and Akita heard "wake up Zane," before Lloyd lost the fight. "Lloyd!" She cried as he was enveloped up to the neck in ice.

Now. The Emperor cackled over his immobilized victim, a sight which brought a red-filled haze to Akita's mind. Even if Lloyd had betrayed her, for their journey they had been friends, and for that reason she would spare him the final blow. The Emperor is mine.

She aimed, threw her knife, and the last thing Akita saw was the blinding blue as cold enveloped her.