Fun fact: While the crew of Misfortune's Keep didn't like Katarina for being a Ninja, they only liked her because she was useful to them. Flintlocke was the only one who genuinely liked her, and treated her like a friend.

"...And they call themselves the Sons of Garmadon. And they had this creepy symbol that looked like mine and my sister's father. As soon as I saw it, I knew it. Here we go again." Red facepalms itself and Katarina inwardly groans.

"Make it stop!" Keres groans.

"I just have the worst luck. There was this girl named Harumi. And I really thought she liked me, but I found out she was just pretending. She only wanted to bring my father back from the Departed Realm to destroy us," Lloyd sighs sadly. "Just my life."

Thankfully, Red sits up and barks when it looks up at the sky. Katarina and Lloyd look up at the sky, seeing the clouds gathering closer and closer together, while also getting darker and darker.

"Those don't look good. Seems like a storm's brewing," Katarina surmises. "Let's pick up the pace. I hate for us to be caught up in this storm."

Lloyd nods in agreement and Red barks in agreement. The mech moves faster, and he continues talking, much to Red, Katarina, and Keres' dismay.

"So then, there's this huge stone Colossus, and I'm thinking, 'What am I supposed to do? There's no move for this!'"

Red whimpers and covers its ears with its paws. Katarina could tell Keres was banging her head against something, probably because Lloyd was talking about Keres' time in the S.O.G and it was making her uncomfortable.

"And, I mean we all came together and took it down, but, oh boy, it wasn't easy." Suddenly, Lloyd stops talking, seeing something up ahead. The mech kneels down, and Lloyd jumps down to take a closer look.  "Wait. What is that? This doesn't look like normal ice."

Katarina squints her eyes at the abnornmal ice from the mech. It was a bright blue color, and some parts of the ice were glowing. Yeah, not normal ice, ice is not supposed to look like that.

Red barks in agreement at Lloyd's observation. "Yeah, maybe not a good idea," He looks up ahead and his eyes widen. "Wow. There's more of it. It's everywhere. We better keep moving."

He hops back into the mech and reactivates it. The mech starts moving again. "We're going to have to find shelter if this thing gets any worse."

"But where? Even if it does get worse, the chances of us finding shelter is very slim. I don't see anything of the sort for miles." Katarina explains. 

"I don't know. I'll think of something."

Suddenly, lightning strikes at least a hundred feet ahead of them. Ice spikes go along the frozen ice, scaring Lloyd, Katarina and Red. "Ice is definitely not supposed to do that."

Behind the mech, rocks assemble together to form an ice golem. Red snaps its head around, snarling ferociously at the ice golem, who now stares at the mech. 

"Do you hear that?" Lloyd says. Just as the mech turns around, the ice golem makes a swing at the mech. The mech dodges the blow, and Lloyd, Red and Katarina watch the ice golem pound its fist into the ice. 

Red joins Katarina on the mech's shoulder. The mech pulls out its swords and points it at the ice golem, who turns around and swings again at the mech. The mech stumbles backwards, but manages to stand its ground. 

Red jumps off the mech. Katarina uses her power of Form to transform into her phoenix form, and flies off the mech. The mech and the ice golem run at each other. The sword slices clean through the ice golem, forcing its left arm off. 

When the mech turns back around, Lloyd gasps, seeing the arm come back together and reattach itself to the ice golem. "Oh no!"

The ice golem runs towards the mech and plants one hand onto the mech's chest. The mech tries to fight the golem off itself, but it wasn't working, the ice golem kept pushing the mech back more and more. 

Until they fell. Lloyd screams. 

Red runs down the hill and Katarina glides next to the wolf, going towards the mech and its unconscious passenger. The ice golem was completely apart now, but they didn't care, they just wanted to see if Lloyd was okay. 

Once they get to the mech, Red barks loudly. Katarina transforms back to herself and yells, "Lloyd! Are you okay?! Say something!"

The ice golem forms back together. Red stops barking. Katarina gasps. Lloyd abruptly wakes up with a yell. Red and Katarina hop off the mech, watching it get back up and attack the ice golem with its sword. 

The ice golem grabs the hand that was holding the sword, freezing the hand with ice. It pushes the mech back. The alarms for the right arm blare loudly. "Come on! COME ON!"

Lloyd breaks the mech's hand free from the ice. Red and Katarina go onto the ice golem, providing the distraction Lloyd needed to punch the ice golem right in its face. 

The mech tries to attack it with its sword again. The ice golem knocks the sword out of the mech's hand. The blade lands in the snow. 

The mech holds the ice golem off, as Red barks at the ice golem. Katarina uses her powers to attack the ice golem, which resulted in them both getting kicked dozens of feet into the snow. The ice golem pushes the mech aside and walks towards Katarina and Red, who were now unconscious. 

The mech gets back up, showing its bladed arm. "HEY! GET AWAY FROM THEM!" The mech walks threateningly towards the ice golem. Lloyd was going to make this stone giant pay for this. "PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE!"

The ice golem turns around slowly, and stares at Lloyd and the mech blankly. Lloyd chuckles nervously. "Actually, you're bigger. But you know what I mean!" He uses the mech's shuriken slicer, and uses it to slice clean through the ice golem again. The leg comes off, but reattaches itself. 

"How many times do I have to defeat you, before you start to feel it?!" The mech blocks the next attack. The weight was causing the ice to break under its feet. 

Lloyd gasps. If he can't defeat the ice golem with brute force alone, then maybe defeating the ice golem with its heavy weight will. 

He kicks the ice golem far away from him, just enough for Lloyd to use the shurken slicer to slice at the ice. The ice golem walks towards Lloyd. Only the ice cracked beneathe its feet. Lloyd, with one last idea in mind, grabs a large rock with the mech's hands and throws it at the ice golem. 

The ice golem catches it. Lloyd smirks. The ice underneathe the ice golem finally breaks, and Lloyd watches the ice golem sink in the cold, icy water below. He breathes a sigh of relief. 

The ice golem raises its arm out of the ice. Lloyd gasps, waiting for something to happen, but nothing came. The ice golem's arm sank into the water along with the rest of its body. 

"RED! KAT!"

Lloyd directs the mech towards the two and hops out of the mech. "Guys?! Guys, are you okay?!" He uses his fingers to feel their pulses, and breathes a sigh of relief when they were at least still breathing. "Thank the FSM you're both still alive. I'll get you two warm."

The mech comes closer to Red and Katarina, using its arms as some sort of protective barrier. He puts the heat lantern between the three of them. He grabs a bandage out of the first-aid kit and wraps it around Red's hind leg. 

"Now, you just rest. You're going to be okay. We're going to be just fine. I'll take care of you."

It didn't take long for Lloyd to fall asleep. 

Katarina wakes up early the next morning, and sits up. She groans quietly, and sees that Lloyd was still asleep. "Ugh, my head. You okay, Keres?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. What about you?"

"My head hurts, but I'm okay." Katarina looks beside her on her left side. She squints her eyes at the form lying beside her. 

Maybe it was just her mind playing tricks with her, but since when was Red a girl? A beautiful girl with short black hair, her skin a lighter tone than Katarina's, with nice red cheek marks, wearing red and white robes, a cape resembling three wolf tails, and a wolf hat on her head. 

"Wow." She whispers. "That's...that's a..."

"Girl? Yeah, totally not something that we haven't seen before." Keres remarks sarcastically.

"No, I mean, I could've sworn that there was a-" Before Katarina could finish talking, the girl wakes up, just in time to see Katarina still staring. She props her elbow up with a gasp, clearly surprised that Katarina had seen her. 

"I-!" The girl starts immediately, clearly in shock. 

"Hey, hey, it's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you. It's clear that I have some questions, but the important thing to ask is if you're okay." Katarina says calmly. The girl in the wolf hat spoke in an accent, and she had sharp fangs. 

"I...I am okay," The girl says slowly. She was confused why Katarina was so calm about all of this. "Why are you-? How can be so calm about this right now?"

"Because freaking out isn't the best option right now. I just want to be calm about all this, so I don't end up causing a scene," Katarina explains. 

The girl nods. "I see."

What they didn't know was that Lloyd had woken up, having heard the whole conversation. He gets up and immediately grabs the girl by the shoulder, forcing her to turn around. "Who are you?! Where's Red?!"

The girl and Katarina get up. The girl looks away from Lloyd, who spots the bandage on her right leg. "That's the bandage I put on Red."

The girl finally brought herself to look at Lloyd, an apologetic look on her face. "You're Red? You're a wolf? I mean...a girl?"

The girl stands up fully. "I-I can explain."

"I'd like to see you try!"

The girl sighs. She had to explain herself to prevent Lloyd from getting upset any further. "I am Akita, a Formling."

He gasps, getting more and more upset. "A shapeshifter? All this time, you were tricking me? You just let me tell you all those things? Let me go on and on, thinking you were just a wolf?!"

"I did not know if you could be trusted." Akita reasons. 

"You didn't know if I could be trusted?" He scoffs. "That's rich, considering you're the one who can't be trusted!"

"I meant no harm."

"Well, too late! Harm done!" He turns around, no longer making eye contact with her. "I can't believe all the things I told you, about my father, and...and Harumi, and—"

She rolls her eyes. "I never asked for your life story! It is not my fault you talk so much. Like, so much!" Katarina chuckles at Akita's remark. 

He turns back around, glaring at Akita. "So much? At least, I'm honest! I don't pretend to be something else!"

"Are you calling me a liar?" She says lowly. He brings his face until both faces were inches apart. 

"Maybe I am!"

"Take it back." She growls. 

He brings his face away from her. He stands up fully and crosses his arms. "No."

Akita growls even more. "I saved your life! You should be grateful!"

"And I saved yours! So we're even! Now stay away from me!" Lloyd picks up the heat lantern and hops inside the mech. "Now stay away from me! I only travel with people I trust!"

Katarina watches Akita's face morph from hurt to anrgy in a second. "Lloyd, don't do this-!"

"Fine! You too! Stay away from me!" Akita shouts at Lloyd, who directs the mech to stand up. 

"FINE!" The mech walks away from Akita and Katarina. Akita transforms into her wolf form and Katarina uses her power of Form to transform into her phoenix form. They all go in the same direction, which annoyed Lloyd. 

"Hey, what are you doing? I told you not to follow me!" He shouts at Akita, who transforms back into her human form to speak to him. Katarina, in her phoenix form, was in the middle of the mech and Akita. 

"I am not yours to command! I go the way I wish to go! And that is this way!"

"That's the way I'm going. Why are you going this way?" He asks Akita. 

"I am going to face the Ice Emperor." She explains. 

"Well, that's where I'm going! To free my friend, Zane, from the Ice Emperor." He explains to Akita. 

"How? By boring him to death with stories about Harumi?" She remarks. 

Lloyd scoffs. "Oh, what are you going to do? Fetch his slippers?" He retorts. 

She snarls, baring her sharp fangs at him. "You know I can turn back into a wolf anytime, right? And bite you?"

"Maybe you'll get lucky and he's allergic to pets."

That was when Katarina couldn't take the arguing anymore. At this rate, they'll be here all day. She transforms back into herself. "Okay, you two, that's enough. Since we all have a common goal, why don't we try to resolve this peacefully, find some truce, and maybe go back to being friends?"

"NO!" Lloyd and Akita yell in unison. Akita growls at him ferociously. 

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" She goes back into her wolf form and runs away from the mech as fast as possible. 

"YOU LEAVE ME ALONE!" Lloyd uses the mech to scoop up Katarina. He uses the mech to outrun Akita, who stops running after a few seconds and begins to whimper. 

The mech stops, and hesistantly looks behind. She was completely still now, looking at her bandaged leg. She couldn't run in her current condition right now. 

Lloyd sighs and opens the mech to let himself out. "You shouldn't run on that. You're still hurt." Akita, in her wolf form, looks up at him, surprised at his sudden kindness. He hops down and rewraps her bandage, and Katarina joins them a minute later. 

"I am sorry I deceived you." Akita says. 

"I'm sorry, too." Lloyd apologizes. 

"You told me everything about yourself and I... told you nothing. I will share my tale with you, if you will still hear it." He and his sister nod. 

"We'd love to." Katarina says. 

"...I walked out of the village and never looked back. I will not return again until Vex and his master, the Ice Emperor, are brought to justice." Akita finished her tale that night, with Katarina and Lloyd listening attentively. 

"I had no idea." Katarina says apologetically. 

"Now you know." Akita says to Lloyd and Katarina. 

"The Ice Emperor captured our friend, Zane. We're going to get him back. Which means you, my sister and I, we're on the same quest." Lloyd explains, standing up. 

Akita shakes her head. "Not the same. You seek to rescue your friend." 

From behind her back, she unsheathes one silver dagger, with a flame design  starting from the blade's handle and ending at the middle of the silver dagger. The metal glints in the moonlight. 

"I seek revenge."

Both Lloyd and Katarina gasp.