skylor

A face she'd known as wise, kind, trustworthy.

A face that had guided her through struggling with her power.

A face she'd trusted above all things.

A face that was a twisted liar.

No.

"Some of you know him better as Principal Wu, a man of wise words and advice." Morro's lips thinned into the barest of smiles. "You may have recalled that we mentioned elemental masters. Legends, among us, of saviours strong and powerful. But you see, only some of the elements are truly good." Morro nodded to Wu, and stepped out of frame.

Wu ran his fingers through his beard thoughtfully. "When I was a boy, I was taught that there are two sides to power. Dark, and light, good and bad, yin and yang. The same applies to the elements that once protected us. But long ago, my father, the First Spinjitzu Master saw that some elemental powers were being abused. That they were being taken advantage of, used for conquering cities. I do admit, I have my own power. But it is of light, and joy, creativity and inspiration. These rogue elements, I hate to say, have resurfaced. Some of the wielders I have helped achieve balance within, but there are still elemental masters out there."

Us. He's talking about us.

"These masters are bent on destruction and using their great gifts for something dark. Power manifests itself in strange people, so be warned, my subjects, of the naivety they may possess." Wu looked to the camera and produced a single sheet of paper, clearing his throat.

"Kai Smith, Master of Fire. Nya Smith, Master of Water. Lloyd Garmadon, Master of Energy. Zane Julien, Master of Ice. Cole Brookstone, Master of Earth. Jay Walker, Master of Lightning, and Skylor Chen, Master of Amber."

His eyes conveyed nothing but total seriousness and care, dark but with desire. To others, citizens who wouldn't know better, they'd believe him. He spoke with such conviction, and with a wise, knowing edge, but not one that made him seem above everything.

"We must find them. I am reluctant to use the power of my role so quickly," Oh I bet you are, "But we must find them. At six-thirty tonight, the Hunt will begin. Police forces will be sweeping the city, alongside my own troops. You must be thinking, this old man is positively crazy to have claim to the throne!"

Her eyes narrowed in hatred. Wu, Wu of all people!

"I can assure you, that as the son of the First Spinjitzu master, creator of this world, that I have the right to lead my wonderful people. But to lead you, and protect you, we must rid the city of these rebellious elementals. I have forged an alliance with the Serpentine Gang to help us hunt down our enemies. It must be known that my brother, the leader of the Sons of Garmadon will try to stop us."

"For your safety, I would suggest staying inside during the Hunt, but if you would like to assist us in the final stages of purging this city, you are very much welcome. I can see no finer city to help prosper, Ninjago. I hope that we, together, as the people who speak for the greater good, are ready to begin a new era in which Ninjago is reborn."

The screen went black.

The cheering began slowly, and a low hum in the distance, before it rose in volume and ferocity, cheers turning to chants of support, stamping and bellowing following it. Skylor double checked the locks on the windows of her tiny home and retreated to her bedroom. She needed to find her friends - they'd been publicly called out, for goodness sake!

Her father would be safe here with all the guards and security, and if anything he'd retreat to the bunker they'd used to play hide and seek in years ago. Now it had actual use, if Clouse had been stocking the supplies it. Skylor knew she could rely on Clouse to keep everything in order at home.

Whatever this Hunt was, it would endanger what was left of her family and she couldn't have that happening to them. She packed lightly and scribbled a note for her father, hesitating at the doorstep before slipping out and making her way to the entrance. She knew every exit and entrance, secret and public, so Skylor went through the little copse of trees behind her house and popped out on the other side of the road.

Looking at her phone, Skylor waited for some clue of where her friends were, but their last dribble of conversation came from before Wu's speech. It was five thirty, so she had an hour to figure out where to hide. The last place she knew where they were was Kai's house. Skylor hitched the bag higher up on her shoulder and drew her jacket closer towards, her hand tightly gripping a pepper spray. She readjusted the hood so it concealed her more and set off in purposeful stride.

It took longer than expected to weave through the city inconspicuously. People were already setting out to look for them, the police setting up barricades and stations.

Are we really so corrupted by our power?

She shook off the thought and let herself smile at the tiny victory - she'd reached the Smith's place. Skylor opted to go jump over the fence by climbing a tree in the garden next door, lowering herself down and then tumbling into the backyard. Half winded, she slowly rose to her feet and was suddenly met with a spatula at her throat.

Her eyes flicked upwards and her posture relaxed. It was just Cole, with a highly inefficient weapon.

"Good, you made it here. We have to...we have to uh,"

"Let's go inside," she suggested gently, sensing that Cole wasn't doing too well right now.

When Skylor walked inside, she was met with seven solemn faces. Kai and Nya were barely holding together - their eyes were rimmed with tears and Skylor didn't know why, but it hurt to see her friends like this. Jay was the only one attempting mindless chatter, whilst Pixal, Zane and Cole opted to keep completely quiet. For some reason, Dr Julien and Evan were there too.

"What are we going to do?" She dared to ask, cringing at their blank expressions.

"Wu was supposed to be our plan. Wu was supposed to help us. We have no plan." Jay murmured desolately, abandoning his hopeful talk. "We have to hide."

"Where?" Kai scoffed. "The Sons of Garmadon have Lloyd with them, and we don't even know if we can trust them either."

"Our parents are still gone." Nya whispered, leaning into Jay's side as she let out a choked sob.

"What happened?" Skylor was pretty sure the Smiths were supposed to be out of town for now.

"The Sons of Garmadon attacked us, and took our parents. We don't even know if dad is alive." Kai's green eyes, usually full of fire and ferocity were dull and empty.

Her mouth fell into an 'O' of surprise, and she wanted to hug her friends, but at the thought of touching someone right now made her want to throw up. "I...don't know what to say."

Nya smiled weakly at her. "There's nothing to say. Jay's right, we have to hide. And if possible, contact someone who can help us. Maybe...the Sons of Garmadon are on our side?"

Cole shook his head. "Wu said they'd just oppose him on the throne. Not that they're with us."

"So, we're fucked." Kai laughed to himself, wiping away his tears. "Of all people...fucking Wu."

"That still brings us back to hiding from whatever this Hunt is. We don't have a lot of time." Jay looked at them, curly locks of auburn hair hiding the misery shading his eyes. "I say we split up. That way there's less chance of catching us all."

"I'll go with Nya," Jay volunteered, giving the girl a subtle smile. She nodded, but it didn't look like she was listening.

"I will accompany Zane," said Pixal, crossing the room to her boyfriend. "We will help Dr Julien and Evan hide someplace safer, away from...us."

"Pixal, you do not have to come with us. You are not being targeted." Zane brushed his thumb over her cheek tenderly. "You could save yourself."

"Or I could help save you," She countered, her jaw set. "Don't try to push me away to save me, Zane."

"So...I'll go find Lloyd?" Cole offered. Everyone agreed, and Skylor sighed as she realised she was paired with Kai. He seemed to realise it, but only acknowledged their situation with a simple nod.

"Who's going to take Ryu?" Nya said, picking up the bundling of naive energy at their feet.

"I will." Kai volunteered. He shot Skylor a look as if to ask is this okay? She nodded back, not really sure why he valued her opinion now. Before, when they'd just made small talk it was easy to ignore him but hide laughs as the outsiders of the group. Now everything was different. Horribly.

"None of you are allowed to die," Nya ordered sternly. "Keep running, find whatever weapons you can use, don't try to contact each other incase they're tracking us...just be safe. Take some Amnestone tea to see if it can boost your powers. I can't lose anyone else."

"You won't," Jay confidently said, getting to his feet. "We are all making it out of here alive. We just have to survive tonight and see what happens."

"Good luck, everyone." Zane said, and Skylor hoped they would have that luck.

If they didn't receive it, they'd see what it was like to be the prey for a predator.

A predator they'd trusted.

nya

They decided to head for the Woodlands, risking a longer journey, but some range of cover under the trees. It was Jay's idea, and Nya was too tired to rebut it or think of a better one. Her body moved on instinct and on autopilot, with her only aim to make it to the trees and hope that the city would be distracted to forget them. Her mind was still replaying that horrible, horrible moment.

The squelch and the spray of blood - blood that now had dried on her hands, but she couldn't be bothered to wash it off. They didn't have the time, and she needed that reminder. To find that assassin, and to...do something that would hurt them just as much in return.

"Nearly there," Jay whispered, tipping his head to the outskirts of the Woodlands.

They were both crouched behind a storeroom of a Master's Mini Market, clutching their bags as they listened to the partying in the streets. It was about six-ten now, giving them twenty minutes to find a deeper place in the woods to hide. Nya nodded to him, and they ran quickly to the forest, crashing through the bushes as fast as they could go.

If anyone was there, they'd think it was a bear or something. They needed speed first, over stealth which would come in later. They ended up stopping in a small natural clearing with a thin stream winding through it. Jay dropped his bag and ran his fingers through his hair, which looked very fluffy and very tempting to run her hands through. But Nya didn't want to get blood in his hair and this certainly wasn't the time to be thinking about romance.

"Where do we go now?" Jay asked as she eyed the trees.

"Up."

"Up?" Jay echoed in confusion. Nya put her bag on and gestured for him to do the same.

"Up, and through the trees. We'll see them coming from below, and we can always hide in a hollowed out trunk or something."

"Up it is." Jay grinned, his dimples deepened by the dirt smudging his face. He was putting a lot of trust into her. He was scanning the trees, his face screwed up like it did when he focused - especially when he was inventing something.

"What?" He turned around, and Nya realised she'd been staring at him.

"Oh, nothing." Then she stepped forwards boldly and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "For luck."

She chose the first tree she walked into and scurried up it, hoping he couldn't see the bright pink burning her cheeks.

Down below, Jay hoped the same, though Nya didn't know it.

astra

"Shit, shit, shit."

"Another time for good measure?" Zander suggested dryly. Astra turned to glare at him, realised she couldn't waste the energy and continued scowling at the assembled leaders of the SOG in the room behind them.

Because they were kids, they'd been ordered outside, even she wasn't allowed inside to know about their plans. Astra was sure that if Wu hadn't called out the Sons of Garmadon publicly, they wouldn't be inside the war room planning. Yet he'd been daring and bold on his first day of rule, rather taking the throne, declaring this so called 'Hunt' for elemental masters.

People followed him easily because they believed he'd freed them from a string of lying, power-holding commanders. She scoffed at herself, disgusted at the moment in which it had been revealed that it was Wu, and not Junior's father, that was the new Emperor. Fingering her bow, she glanced to the shooting range close by and stood up, jerking her ahead over to it at her friends.

"Want to come?"

They looked to each other and shrugged, Lloyd was a little more hesitant, but when Titanium stood up and left him sitting on the bench like a boy sent to the principal's office he scurried along. Titanium's long legs easily kept up with Astra's pace as she noticed the band of metal around his wrist. He saw her staring at it as she nocked her bow and casually sighted.

"It's one of my shields. I use it in battle." He opened his mouth at her surprised expression. "What? Just because I'm an inventor doesn't mean I can't fight."

She lowered her shooting arm and watched with great interest as he simply held his left arm out and one second there was a band of metal, and the next it had expanded to a rectangular shaped shield with the SOG logo stamped into it.

He laughed heartily at Annabella and Zander's gobsmacked expressions. "Master of Metal, remember?" Then he turned to Astra. "What weapons do you use?"

"A katana, and a cross between a bow and a crossbow." At his mildly confused expression, Astra shot off an arrow with the normal bow form, and switched it to crossbow mode and loaded a bolt in a matter of seconds, shooting it with little care for aim. It thudded in one of the outer rings, a poor, lousy shot with no aim since it was for show.

"So you have no one defending you after you shoot?"

She shook her head.

"I can help," He offered, lifting up his shield with a grin. Titanium patted his belt, from which a large hammer hung from. "I'm not bad at bashing heads."

"Titanium and Reaper," she mocked a wondering expression with good humour. "Good thinking."

Someone coughed loudly from behind them, and she turned to find Kade standing there awkwardly.

"When Wu called the Hunt...does that mean all elemental masters, or just the ones he revealed?"

Right, she should be worried about that as well.

"All of them, I'm guessing." As she said it, Titanium looked a little jumpy. "If these people can get their hands on any of us, they'll be rewarded handsomely. So yes, I suppose we'll be in danger as well."

Shortly after Wu had finished his speech, details on the Hunt had flashed out, including prize money for catching elemental masters like they were prized hogs, all from the royal coffer. Thinking about it again, Astra knew it made more sense that Wu was the shadow behind this all. She never really liked that guy. Lloyd had been interrogated heavily on his uncle, delving into his two week trip to the monastery and such to the leaders and planners to see if his tale would give them an upperhand.

It didn't, as far as she knew.

"We need to get Rema out then," Kade said loudly, bringing her back to reality.

"Why?"

"She's an elemental master. My mother and her father are siblings. He was the one that gave her her element, and I got healing from my mother."

Astra's eyebrows rose at that. She knew Kade and Rema were cousins, but didn't know their elemental power linked them too. "I'll speak to Troya about it."

Just as she said it, the door from the war room was flung open, letting out shouting and arguing from inside. Her sister stormed out, aiming for their little group.

"So what's the plan? Astra asked, watching the turbulent emotions behind her calm mask of a face in her eyes.

"We don't have one." Cassie spat, getting out her throwing knives. She sharpened them against each other violently and looked to a target. "They're all distracted by this bleeding guy Obi brought in and his 'significance' since he's wailing about his wife and kids. Valley and I tried, but they're all too riled up right now. So our plan is 'charge in and see what happens'."

Valley was Maya's codename, and Astra frowned at Cassie's angered statement as her sister sent two knives spinning through the air violently. The points dug themselves in the red dot in the centre and her friends took an apprehensive step back.

"What do we do now then?" Zander squeaked, his voice wavering as Cas whirled towards him, her white hair whipping out as she spun.

"Wait for the Hunt to begin, I suppose. And then we'll see the slaughter begin."

cole

Where would the Sons of Garmadon be based?

Of course, Cole wouldn't know this since he had no clue where a crime gang would be holding his friend prisoner. Time was against him, however, and Cole had to keep moving, keep looking and keep aware of anyone around him. As long as he avoided his dad's performing friends, kids from school, and literally anyone he'd ever met, he'd be safe.

He walked into an alleyway and peered around, disappointed to find no sign of the blonde misfit of their friend group. Maybe they weren't even based in Ninjago City, and were dealing in crime from the Sea of Sand or something. Either way, Cole was looking for a needle in a haystack full of Hunters. Whatever this Hunt was, it was dangerous. They'd called out all of the elemental masters Cole knew, and he was almost certain they'd go find his father to see where he was.

That's why his first quick stop had been a rambling explanation at his house, getting his dad out of the city, into his car and somewhere far, far away where he would be safe. Cole was not losing anyone else because of his simple existence. Now his quest to find Lloyd with absolutely no clues was going downhill. He hadn't answered the spam of messages Cole had sent him, only leaving him on read. This was definitely not the time since the Hunt was starting in a couple of minutes, and Cole was lost in a maze of skyscraper business buildings and a Masters supermarket.

The streets were already dotted with gang members, Hunters, police, and the army. Defeated, he sat down on the manhole cover and tried to think of a better solution to finding his friend when the cover beneath him gave way and Cole was suddenly falling. Before he could yell out, someone behind him clocked him over the head with a bat or a heavy object that really hurt and a bag was thrown over his head as he slipped out of consciousness.

He woke up in a dormitory full of bunk beds, being stared down by six people. Four were vaguely familiar, one he didn't know at all, and the last was Lloyd! It was just his luck that he'd sat down on one of their secret entrances or something and they'd found him!

"Lloyd!" He grinned, stepping towards his friend and encasing him in a crushing bear hug.

"We're so crapped." Said the unknown guy, fiddling with a band of metal around his wrist. "I can't believe I agreed to kidnapping a guy."

"Oh, just say fucked. You guys probably do it all the time but you're holed up in the walls making ducks, Ty-man." Drawled a more familiar face. A blonde kid who wasn't Lloyd elbowed her in the stomach and she glared at him.

"Wait a minute, you're Kade! You just joined the football team, right?"

Kade nodded in confirmation.

"Hang on, why'd you kidnap me?" Cole was now very aware of the weapons littering the room and stumbled back into a bed. There was also a trussed up lump that looked like a body lying in a bunk. Was he about to be mugged, but on a severe level?

"Actually—"

"Shut up, Junior." snapped the first girl again. "It's for your safety, and that's my point. Troya and Val will side with me anyway, and so will Titanium here. Won't you?"

"Yes, yes." Titanium agreed reluctantly. Must be a codename. Wonder what hers is. And why is Kade with them?

"You are from the Sons of Garmadon, right?"

"Yes, but that's not the point. I'm doing you a favour, Cole Brookstone. We know you're looking for Junior here and you're an elemental master. It keeps you safe from the Hunt, and if needed, I'll sell both of you out if you even think about going behind my back."

"Well, I mean, you and Kade are both elemental masters, Astra. I could just tell them." Lloyd said matter of factly, drawing himself up to his full height, which compared to Cole, really wasn't that tall since he stood at a towering 6'3, nearly '4.

"You wouldn't." She countered, resting her hand on the hilt of her sword. Kade placed his hand over hers placatingly and Astra (yes, now Cole remembered her from school) shot him a scathing glare. But she didn't shake off his hand from where it rested on hers and Cole added them to his list of matchmaking for the future.

Lloyd scowled at her, a scarily similar expression to the one she had on right then. Cole cleared his throat loudly and looked to Astra suspiciously.

"So, if you're from the Sons of Garmadon, why aren't you up there with them?"

"They're already assembling their plan? I can't fucking believe this—"

"What are we going to do?" Annabella Han, yes, that was her, interjected calmly, a voice of reason and...an avocado?

Astra paused in her angry rant and then looked to them with a grin that only spelled trouble.

"We go out there and fight. Find the other elemental masters and make a show of it."

kai

The Hunt started at six thirty.

Kai and Skylor were hiding in a random Borg Store's back room, watching the red numbers on the digital clock tick down with their hearts pounding. They'd barely talked enough to form a coherent plan. Right now, it consisted of 'run, and keep running'. Skylor refused to so much as stay near him and was huddled behind a different stack of BorgPhone boxes.

Her hair was loosely tied in a ponytail, fanning over the back of her black Master Chen's merch. Her face gave away nothing , eyes fixated on the clock and her fingers fiddling with the holes in her shirt. The store had been the first place they'd looked into, hoping that the Hunters would overlook it. What Kai once treasured and admired as great power, an element of creation, he now was afraid of. Chanting words and phrases inspired by the Archive of Fire in his head kept him calm. Sort of.

The fire will take you if you do not take the fire.

Control.

Fire is tameable, and you must be the tamer.

Fire is a hungry monster, but the hunger has to be wielded by you, rather than against you.

Despite all the positive and slightly ominous quotes Calla and other Masters of Fire had given him, Kai they were not going to survive this night unsctahed. Hunted down like animals. Ryu sensed the need for quiet and wriggled around in Kai's lap a bit. He only had his collar on, no leash since that would get in the way. Kai tried to be quick as he rummaged around his backpack for some dog treats and fed the wee guy a crunchy treat. His fingers brushed past a fresh batch of Amnestone tea and some other supplies.

Wu had betrayed them.

He watched in silence as six twenty nine ticked over, and a loud horn blared through the city.

"We're safe here." Skylor finally said in a whisper, not taking her eyes off the clock. "We're safe here. We're safe here. We're safe here—"

Kai would have done this for any of his friends, he knew, but he felt especially bad for Skylor. Whatever had gone on between her and Liam wasn't his place to ask, but his friend had been pissed, extremely pissed after Skylor had broken up with him and refused to divulge as to why. Of course, Kai had his suspicions but he didn't want to say too much.

He crab walked silently over to Skylor and tried to place a reassuring hand on her back. She jerked back and recoiled immediately, her eyes flashing with danger and hurt.

"Please...don't."

"Is this about Liam?"

She looked at him, loose locks of silky hair framing her face. "What do you think?"

"Did he...touch you or something?"

Skylor's expression didn't waver, but her breath hitched at his words. She was obviously uncomfortable talking about it, so Kai backed down. He'd had his fair share of girls trying to get into his pants without even talking to him properly, but he'd always pushed them away and they'd left quickly after that. Liam wasn't the type of guy to back down easily and liked to get what he wanted.

He should have warned Skylor.

"You can talk to me if you ever need to." He offered, waddling a step back with Ryu awkwardly sitting in his arms to give her space. "I'm here for you."

She simply nodded and swallowed, looking back to the door.

"Thanks, but I don't think you'd understand because you're a—"

Footsteps cut her off, and her eyes went wide. Skylor jerked her head to the back entrance they'd somewhat plotted as a final escape, the door already half open and leading to some rando's unlocked Prius.

Kai mouthed their three-second countdown, slowly rising before slipping through the gap after Skylor and hurling himself into the passenger seat, tensing as Skylor hesitated over the gas pedal.

How the hell did they find us so fast?

Two shots rang out as a warning, punching into the side door of the cat next to them. Skylor jumped at the gunshots and the car shot off as Kai stuck his head out of the window and shrieked as a bullet flew past. It was hard for her to avoid all the craters and holes in the ground, sometimes she had to drive in them and the little car would shudder with effort and then hurtle on determinedly.

Ryu had lost all sense of calm and was barking madly, with Kai's half successful attempts to calm his puppy down failing while also keeping Skylor updated on the current gunfire location. Even with all the craters and holes Kai seriously doubted Skylor's driving skill would get on her resume because he was thrown around the car and had bashed his head at least eight times on the roof because of her Mario Kart-to-reality driving skills.

"GO FASTER GO FASTER!"

"I AM." Skylor shouted back, hunched over the wheel.

They lapped three Chen's Noodles and convenience stores when Skylor stopped the car.

"We have to leave it. We're too loud, if we travel on foot—"

He'd already thrown himself out, knowing Skylor wouldn't want him to drag her along, Ryu cradled in one arm he hurried into a tall office building and jammed the lift button. The horn went off again, and screeches from motorbikes, cackles and hisses followed. The Serpentine gang had been released then, just as Wu had promised.

Survive, he ordered himself as they took the stairs instead. For Nya, for your parents, for Ryu, for Skylor, for your friends, for—

"Mister Smittthh!" giggled a manic voice from below. "Won't you come down here and meet Miss Violet?"

Kai suddenly felt an urge to go downstairs and tell this crazy lady off, but Skylor shot him a pinning glare and he continued running up the carpeted stairs, trying to soften his heaving breaths. At the very top, they arrived in a room full of dusty old cabinets where Kai thought there really should be some CEO's office, but instead was a maze of shelving that would provide them with some sort of cover for some time.

That didn't change the fact that Kai wanted to know how the fuck they found them so fast.

Skylor took charge of their getaway, leading them through the maze on tiptoe feet like they were playing hide and seek as little kids. Instead, they were facing off a crazy lady armed with some firearm that was currently rattling through the boxes on shelves. Skylor's hair had come fully undone from her hasty hairdo and curtained her pale shaky face as she pointed to the emergency exit.

The gunshots were getting dangerously close and Kai nodded once, keeping down as he crab-walked to the handle. Miss Violet, or whatever her insane name was, cackled again and it sent shivers down Kai's spine. Combined with sirens wailing, people shouting and chanting their names like a death list (which really, it was), it was enough to have him opening the door, letting Skylor slip out and closing it carefully.

He set Ryu down far away from the edge and let the puppy pitter-patter around to shake off some energy before picking him up again. Kai's hair gel was defeated by the strong winds passing overhead as it lost the shaped look and went all messy. It still retained it's upright spiky shape but that added to the list of 'Shitty things that have happened today'.

"We have nowhere to go." He tried to shout above the wind. Skylor's hair whipped around her as she turned, pointing to the maintenance ladder down the side.

How the fuck do I not let Ryu fall and climb down a fucking ladder at the same time?

Skylor was already starting to climb down the shaky maintenance ladder, tense as he kept her body flat and close to the building. The wind up here would easily drag them off the ladder if they loosened their grip even slightly. Finally, hours on TikTok kicked in as Kai remembered a front sling made out of a shirt that he could put Ryu in. He backed up against a wall that would protect him from the wailing winds and stripped off his shirt, hurriedly tying it into the sling.

He hooked it over his neck and let it hang in front.

"Thank god you aren't so big yet," Kai dropped Ryu into the sling and tested the security. Satisfied, he began the climb downwards, checking every so often to see Skylor's progress. She was taking a quick break on a slightly more stable balcony.

The door to the rooftop slammed open just as Kai's head disappeared below the edge and he held still, praying Ryu's sling wouldn't break.

"Where is he?" Violet giggled, skipping around the rooftop. "I know you've got that redhead with you too, Kai. Wouldn't it be just sweet if something happened to her?"

Kai took another step down on a rung when he heard the chopping of helicopter blades from above. He slammed his back against the wall and squinted above him at the black helicopter hovering above. The door slid open and a figure in all black hopped out calmly, tugging on the small parachute that they cut away as they tumbled and sprung up in landing.

Ryu snuggled in closer to his chest and Kai knew what he had to do. He moved quickly down to the ladder and stepped onto the balcony Skylor stood on. He pulled off Ryu's sling and dropped it over her head, patting and baby-talking to the puppy before climbing back up. He dared to peek back over the top again, hoping his hair wouldn't give away their presence.

His eyes narrowed as he saw the newcomer fight of Violet, keeping pace with the madwoman's life-striking strokes with a sword. Then he saw what the fighter was using. Two swords. Then a flash of white hair. That fighting style.

It was the same person who'd stabbed his father, tried to kill Nya and had stalked all of them.

This is a terrible idea, he could almost hear Skylor say.

Kai ignored it as he hauled himself up onto the rooftop as Violet and that girl neared the edge. The battle wasn't going in the killer's favour, and when Kai saw it, he took the chance. Violet stepped back to spin her sword in a dramatic show, the girl stepped onto the edge and Kai tugged at her ankles and tackled her off the edge.

In hindsight, it wasn't such a good idea.

zane

The city was in so much more chaos than he'd thought possible. Before the announcements, even the riots wrecking the city were nothing compared to this. It was a full scale battle raging across the city, Serpentine, Ghosts and other gangs clashing against each other. It was only noticeable by the uniforms they wore, the tattoos snaking their skin and the chants bellowed out.

They were lucky the city was so vast, giving them someplace to hide until they could get out. Borders had been shut down all around Ninjago City, an impenetrable barrier of the city's standing army. The streets were citizens looking for money - and a lot of them too, the price on their heads was a hefty sum of money that could satisfy a person for the rest of their life.

If someone thought they found an elemental they'd turn them into the palace, but as far as the giant ad screens - turned manhunt updates had revealed, none of his friends had been found. Like most of the city, Zane was wearing a black hoodie to blend in a best as he could. It helped that Pixal was by his side, pretending to search for him since being in a pair made people trust them more.

One the most frightening things - perhaps the most of all, was the maliciousness and hunger of which the people marching in the streets chanted their names. They overthrew carts and stalls, searched shops and stormed buildings, never once checking to see if their prey was among them. They were just swarming another skyscraper when Zane detected fire.

It was far off, but it was burning fast and eating the fuel quickly. And the only place which had that much burnable materials lying around would be the Woodlands. The orange on the horizon was quickly gaining on the city and other people were beginning to notice. More wailing joined cacophony on the roads, fire engines and fighters quickly racing towards the fire.

"Nya and Jay are in the Woodlands," Pixal whispered to Zane lowly, horrified.

"How do you know?"

"If they can't contact us I at least wanted to know where they are. I placed trackers on them." She replied, walking in time with the other rioters. "They are moving quickly to the edge of the land but the fire is almost there."

The group was now marching up a slope that would take them to a higher viewpoint of the Woodlands. They'd be safe here, Zane knew. There was a sizable river that ran as a barrier, separating the Woodlands and the inner city. But anything else out there would be swallowed by the fire as soon as it could escape the forest. He and Pixal were incredibly lucky no one had noticed them, and it was about time they disappeared to mingle with another crowd of Wu's supporters.

Zane kept his head down and tried not to flinch at the random fights breaking out. He felt incredibly sorry for any look-alikes in the city right now, for most of the low level thugs would try and deceive Wu. Before Zane had known his wise mentor was a traitor, he'd often gone to him for advice about fitting in with society since he was an android. The advice at the time had been thoughtful to Zane, but he found it suspicious now how Wu had only given him vague words.

Then came the fact that as soon as Zane had thought back to their trip, he'd realised he hadn't learnt anything on that two week learning trip. All he'd been taught was how to sit cross-legged and 'clear his mind'. Nothing about using their elemental powers or learning how to fight. He should have seen it before, he realised, his lips thinning in self-disappointment. Something was off about the Archives. The first Master of Ice, Ixue, had mentioned several times that he planned to write full length lessons in the Archive. Zane still had yet to see any signs of these lessons.

Some entries seemed cut off and jagged, pieced together unnaturally like someone had tampered with them. Zane had thought it was just Ixue's unique style of writing, but with further examination on a late school night the rest of the masters had similar choppy writing. His first conclusion was that perhaps the Masters of Ice had a distinctive way of writing that made them special, yet his own style was completely different.

His second conclusion had been that someone had tampered with the Archives to slow their progression of learning their elements, and now he could accuse Wu of doing so. Where the real Archives were peaked his curiosity but they had another, quite literal burning matter to attend to.

The fire seemed closer and several people who were at the front recoiled. He wasn't as affected by the blistering heat that was already getting to the humans and he was thankful for that.

"Zane," Pixal nudged him gently in the side and he barely turned his head to listen to her anxious words.

"Jay and Nya aren't going to make it to the river."

A/N:

-dommie out

p.s get ready for like a whopping 6-10k word final chapter. you think 6k words are a lot? *laughs in ultra violet*