Nya's POV

"So you know the plan?" Jay checks with me. We're still in my workshop, but now, I'm getting ready to do something irreversible. I'm going to steal the Obsidian of Earth and Ruby of Fire.

It's going to be difficult. I have no idea where on the ship the gemstones are, or where any of my sisters are, so I can easily get caught. Once I get caught, there's no going back.

"I think so," I shake out my hands, bouncing up and down. "I find the gemstones, bring two to you, and you leave and bring them to your team, who are going to scatter."

"Our team," Jay corrects me, placing a hand on my shoulder. "I've been doing some thinking..."

"That's never good," I joke.

"You haven't even met the guys, and they're already rubbing off on you," he laughs while shaking his head. Slowly, his smile falls into a more serious expression. "You should come with me, like...once you steal the gemstones."

"What? That's not part of the plan."

"I know, but what happens after I leave? You're going to get all the heat from bringing me here, and then Ciara will know that I was here, and she'll surely be mad, and I don't want her punishing you or yelling at you," he explains his reasoning, which sadly makes a lot of sense. I sigh.

"I don't want to abandon my sisters," I explain.

"We're not abandoning them. We're just going on a little vacation. We'll get them on the way back," he reassures me. "I just don't want Ciara hurting you." He gives me a caring look, concern filling his eyes.

"She won't. She's the nice one. All she's ever done is yell at us. It's Mara who is the bad one," I explain. Jay shivers. "I can handle it here. You need to do your typical ninja stuff and protect the gemstones."

"Please be careful," he pleads.

"I'll try," I tell him. "Who do you want watching you while I'm up there?"

"Not Chamille," he answers simply. "Skylor is also kind of scary."

"So either Seliel or PIXAL?" I check to make sure it's okay. The two of us walk over to the chair, knowing that he has to get tied up. He sits down.

"Yeah. Seliel's been a lot nicer this time around. Did something happen to, ya know, make her hate me less?" Jay asks. I shrug, grabbing some of rope to tie him up with.

"I have no idea," I answer honestly, tying Jay up tightly. However, I'm able to avoid the gash in his arm since no one is around now.

"Thank you for doing all of this for us, Nya. You really are amazing," he tells me sincerely, admiration in his eyes. I mirror his smile.

"No Jay, thank you for showing me all the lies I was living with. Without you, I'd still be blindly following two monsters," I finish tying him up. I take a look at him to see if it would be believable that he's a prisoner. When my eyes catch his neat hair, I gently ruffle it, making it look less pristine than before. "Perfect. I'll be back."

---

I've searched all of the rooms in the ship but one, and I don't want to enter the last one. It's as if when I enter, I'll never escape. I don't know what's in there.

Ciara's room sits in front of me, the door closed shut. I haven't seen her all day, so she could easily be in there. However, all I need is some time to grab the gemstones and get out, so I can be quick.

Slowly, I open the black door. Her room is very plain, with little decor. While Mara has always been a bit over the top, Ciara is more practical, taking only what she needs. Her room only has a bed, a dresser, and a nightstand. I close the door behind me and start by checking her dresser. I ruffle through every drawer of black clothing, but I can't find anything. Next, I check under her pillow and under her mattress. They're not under there either.

When I go to check her nightstand, I notice something I didn't before, a picture frame. In the frame, there's a picture of a man, but when I see who it is, my eyes widen.

"What are you doing?" at the sound of her voice, my eyes widen. I stand up, turning around to face Ciara. She is standing with her arms crossed in her doorframe.

"I was looking for some more screws to finish up the motor. I thought you might have some up here," I lie, turning my head to look at the picture again. "Why do you have a picture that looks like one of the guardians, but not them at the same time, in your room?"

"That's not the green ninja. It's one of his relatives," she explains, her hands clasped together, "He was an ally of mine, but he betrayed me."

"I'm sorry Auntie. I didn't know," I look down at the ground. "Do you have any screws in here?"

"No, I do not," she tells me. As I go to walk out of the room, she stops me. "Is everything alright, Nya?" she questions me.

"Yeah, why wouldn't it be?"

"You're exhausted," she tells me, lifting her hand up to examine my face. At her touch, I have to resist pulling away. "You have dark bags under your eyes."

"I've been working really hard on the motor. I want it to be perfect."

"Don't drain yourself. You have an important battle tomorrow, and you have a long walk today. You need to get the last of these," untucking it from underneath her shirt, Ciara pulls out a necklace. On a metal chain, the three gemstones we already acquired are hanging around her neck.

I quickly analyze the situation. I take in everything, from the type of metal the chain is made of to the knives hidden in her belt. It'd be impossible for me to grab them without her stabbing and catching me.

"I'll try my best," I give her a fake smile.

"Good girl, now get out of my room."

---

Walking back into my workshop, I try to not have a sad expression. I can't let anyone know something is wrong. It's hard to fight though. I don't want Jay to be disappointed in me. The whole walk back, I regret not taking the risk.

When I walk back into the room, I catch Jay and Seliel in the middle of a debate. "Nya! Tell Jay he has braidable hair."

"I do not," he protests.

"You so do."

"Thank you for watching him, Seliel," I take neither side, giving my sister a smile, but it's forced. When Jay sees the expression on my face, the smile is wiped off his face.

"It's nothing. You deserved a break. Did you find what you were looking for?" she asks me. I shake my head. "Dang, that's a bummer."

"It is, but oh well. I'll have to improvise," I sigh.

She walks over and gives me a quick hug. "You can do it without the screws." Then, she walks out of the room, closing the door behind her. I lock it before walking over to Jay.

"I'm so sorry. Ciara had them around her neck. I...I just couldn't. It was my only chance since we need to drop her off in an hour anyways. She's going to start preparing the portal to enter the prison realm," I explain, untying the ropes.

"It's alright. I would've done the exact same thing in your situation. Now, we just need to get it the old fashioned way. Let's just hope the rest of our team gets there first, or else it'll be a very ugly battle."

---

"Auntie said that we have to walk the rest of the way," Skylor explains after calling us all up to the deck. Chamille, PIXAL, and Seliel are all standing next to Jay and I, who has been able to not be trapped in the room since Ciara left an hour ago. I've been keeping him "trapped" as we walk around by holding onto his arm, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it.

"But why?"

"The wind conditions in this area are rather unpredictable. Flying in them could result in a fatal crash," PIXAL explains.

"It's a day's walk, so we better get started," Skylor explains. "I already packed bags for everyone except Jay." She hands out the bags to everyone.

"Hey! You're making me go on a one day walk, and I don't even get a bag?" he groans.

"Here, you can carry mine," Seliel places her bag in his cuffed hands before teleporting down to the ground. "Besides, you'd have to go on this walk anyways. Now, you just have better company."

---

"My feet are killing me," Chamille whines. I hear Jay snicker next to me. "What are you laughing at?"

"Well, it's clear you haven't had to do hill runs. Those things are absolute torture. Our master would make Kai, Cole, Zane, and I carry him in this little carriage thing and run up hills. He said it 'built character' but all it built was sore feet and a sore back," he stretches out as he says that.

"Well, if you're so good at these 'hill runs' then you can take turns carrying each of us," Seliel suggests. She looks at Chamille, who gets a smirk on her face.

"No, no, no, I never said I was good at them," he defends himself. "If anyone was, it was Zane. Considering he's a nindroid, his muscles don't fatigue."

"Nindroid?" Skylor asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Jay came up with it. It's a ninja that's also an android," I explain briefly. Jay nods in agreement.

"So PIXAL is also one?" Chamille checks.

"Yep, the only other one I know of that isn't Zane, but believe it or not, there aren't a lot of ninja around here. Wait, scratch that, there are lots of people who are trying to be ninja now that we're famous, but not many of them are good at it. In all honesty, I haven't seen a single good one yet," Jay starts to ramble. I have to fight the smile that starts to appear on my face.

"Famous?"

"A lot of people know who we are, and they want to know stuff about us. That's why Seliel was able to dig up so much information on us."

"Why would ninja, who are supposed to be low profile, want to be famous? It sounds kind of counterproductive if you ask me," Skylor brings up, not tired at all. While the rest of our team, with exception of PIXAL, is at least fatigued, she keeps going. Her, PIXAL, and Jay have maintained the same pace they started with while the rest of us have slowed down or are at least starting to.

"Well, we didn't exactly choose to be famous. We did a bad job at keeping our identities a secret, so then when we saved Ninjago, we absolutely blew up. Besides, we kind of thought after 'the final battle' there wouldn't be much of a need to keep our identities a secret since we didn't think we'd do a lot more fighting."

We walk in silence for several more minutes. We walk through nature, with tall trees towering over us and lots of greenery. It's therapeutic, hearing the sound of nature. The birds chirping, the gentle rustling of the leaves, the occasional scurrying of a rabbit, they all make my happy. It also doesn't hurt my mood to still have my hand on Jay's bicep.

"I'm tapping out. Let's set up camp," Chamille stops, her hands on her knees. The rest of us stop, looking back at her.

"The further we go tonight, the less we'll have to do tomorrow. Come on, let's walk a couple more miles," Skylor urges. Chamille rolls her eyes.

"Seliel and Nya are clearly tired too. Not all of us have thighs of steel like you or are made of steel like PIXAL," she makes a lot of excessive hand gestures.

"I actually am not..." PIXAL starts.

"I know you're not actually made of steel. I'm just saying, neither of you will get tired anytime soon, and the rest of us need rest or else we'll be sore tomorrow," Chamille groans.

"Fine, we'll look for a good place to set up camp while we walk."

---

"Ugh!" I throw the rock in my hand with force into the nearest tree. A piece of bark chips off.

"How can none of us make a fire? You think at least one of us could, or that Auntie would have taught us to before she threw us into the wild?" Seliel exclaims after I fail at making a fire like the rest of my sisters. All five of us have tried, and all five of us have failed. If we don't make a fire, we'll surely be too cold to sleep, even with our blankets.

"Beats me," Skylor sighs, leaning against a tree. "We need to think of something though."

My thoughts automatically drift off to a certain auburn haired boy by habit. He's tied up to a tree, his hair messy from struggling. He seems to be playing some sort of game in his head, continuously closing one eye or the other. The sight makes my heart flutter.

"Jay, can you make a fire?" I ask from across the camp. All eyes turn towards him.

"Depends, manually or with my powers?"

"Manually. We're obviously not letting you use your powers," Seliel answers for me.

"Nope, I can't. Sorry I couldn't be of use," he says the second part sarcastically.

"But you can with your powers?" Skylor asks, intrigued.

"Yeah, but..." not waiting to hear his answer, Skylor walks over and touches his forehead, allowing her to mimic his powers. From where he is, she shoots lightning bolts at the logs we found. When she does so, the logs explode, bursting into pieces. "...not directly," he sighs. "Cole and I were screwing around this one time..."

"Why does everything have to be a story with you?" Chamille asks, but Jay keeps talking, undeterred.

"...and we were curious to see what happened when we wrapped wood in metal wire and shot my powers through it. Don't ask why, cause I really don't know how that even came up. The wire got hot, and the heat was conducted to the wood and after a while, it caused a fire."

"So since we don't have metal, it's useless?"

"Well, I guess there might be other ways..."

"But we're not going to try them. I could've sworn I packed a lighter in Seliel's bag," Skylor groans, walking over to check again.

At the mention of it being in Seliel's bag, I look over to Jay who started playing his game again. I walk over to him. When he sees me, he smiles. "Can you please loosen the ropes? They're killing me," he asks me quietly.

I shake my head. "It's too suspicious." He sighs. "You have the lighter, don't you?"

"A ninja never reveals their secrets," Jay answers vaguely, but from the giddy look on his face, I know he has it.

"Where is it?"

"My pocket," he doesn't even try to keep it a secret. I reach my hand into his pocket and grab the lighter, pulling it out.

"How the heck did you get it in there? You're literally handcuffed."

"As I said, a ninja never reveals their secrets."

A/N yay, another chapter! Bad new though, school starts tomorrow. I wasn't able to finish this book before the start of the school year, but don't worry, I'm still going to keep working on it. It just might go down to 2 updates a week instead of the regular 3

However, I AM planning on grinding out these last two chapters and getting them to you guys within this upcoming week. Next chapter is the climax of the book.

Thoughts on the chapter?

I don't really know what the last part of this chapter is tbh. It wasn't supposed to exist, but I just kept writing cause why not and that happened. I can't tell if I like it or not

Also, the first letter of the title of the sequel is a..... U. Do with that information what you want. 

I hope you guys all enjoyed the chapter! I appreciate you guys so much