I'm back, baby! PSAT studies are beating the life outta me, but I'm back!

~~~~~

"Welcome to my humble abode," Jay opened the doors to a mansion, leading the Ninja inside. Charlie's eyes widened at the sight of the inside. A main open room with sunlight filtering in through the large windows. Hardwood floors creaked beneath her feet and the scent of cherry blossoms filled her nose. It was a beautiful place, all the Ninja marvelled, but the Master of Darkness couldn't help but wonder where her friend aquired the means to buy this place.

"So, how did you come across this place again?" She asked as the Fritz Donnegan animatronic played his iconic line.

Jay's eyes darted around nervously. "I saved up. Yeah, that's it. Uh, I saved up every little bit and now, ta-da, here's my secret hideout," He chuckled nervously. "Of course it can be our secret hideout."

Something about the way Jay kept glancing around gave Charlie the feeling he was lying. He had always splurged his money as soon as he got any. It was unlikely that he was saving up, especially for a place like this.

Lloyd frowned, his pale spots catching the light. "First we lost Wu, then Misako. Now Kai. I don't know about you, but I'm starting to see a pattern."

"Whenever one of us finds ourselves alone, we disappear," Zane affirmed.

"Then we stick together from here on out," Nya decided. "We need to take a look at that lantern. Jay, hit the lights."

The Master of Lighting tensed, and Charlie sensed his rising anxiety. "Lights," he muttered as he looked around. "Lights. Where would they be?" He ran around, looking for something he should already know, considering it was his house, after all.

He found a few buttons on the wall. "Found them! Sorry, big house," He pressed a few wrong buttons, turning on the AC before he found the button that closed the windows.

Charlie frowned. Jay should know his own house, right. She glanced at Cole, who gave her a troubled look. Something was up with Jay.

But before either of them could do anything, Zane lit the lantern and set it on the table. The wood glowed with a map, leading them to the place they could find their weapon.

"Wow," Nya breathed. "So this is supposed to point to the only thing that can stop Nadakhan?"

"Not stop, slow," Lloyd corrected. "Remember, a drop of venom from a Tiger Widow can kill a normal person, but slow a Djinn down before he can disappear on us. If we need to trap him, we'll need this venom so let's figure out a plan."

As they began to talk about their strategy, Charlie made her way over to Jay. "What's going on?" She asked, her tone gentle yet probing.

"What do you mean?" Jay asked, tugging at his gloves.

"You know what she mean," Cole said, standing on Jay's other side. "You saved up for this place? Baloney. Whenever money comes your way, you waste it on junk food and video games. What's really up? And don't think you can lie to us, we know you too well."

Jay glanced between them, his gaze landing on the floor. "Fine. I made a wish with Nadakhan."

"You what?!"

"You've seen Nadakhan and haven't told us?!

Jay hushed them quickly, lowering his voice to a sharp whisper and leading them away from the others to a couch. "He came when I was alone. I wished to be rich and impress Nya, and instead I got a letter telling me I've inherited my dad's estate, only it turns out I'm adopted and my birth dad is Cliff Gordon."

"Who?" The Master of Earth asked.

"The guy who played Fritz Donnegan," Charlie told him before turning back to Jay.

"How could you be so stupid to make a wish?" Cole asked with controlled rage.

"Everyone else who's faced him is gone now, Jay," Charlie warned.

Jay's shoulders slumped. "It's because back in the Spinjitzu Master's Tomb, when everyone saw their future, and I told everyone I had an eye patch..."

"I remember," Cole nodded.

Jay fiddled with his gloves. "Well, I saw something else. I saw the reflection of me and Nya together."

Charlie's heart almost stopped in her chest. He had seen someone with him too? "What?" She asked incredulously.

Jay looked at her, desperation in his eyes. " I don't know how, but in the future, we end up with each other. Although, she's made it painfully clear I never stood a chance. So when Nadakhan found me, I couldn't resist. But who am I kidding? Nothing I do would impress her. After two wasted wishes, I was barely able to escape without making my third."

Charlie looked past Jay to Cole. He met her gaze, his green tinged eyes speaking silently to her mismatched ones.

"You have to tell them," Cole told his friend.

"I can't," Jay's azure eyes were tinged with fear as he looked at Cole. "Then Nya will know. Please, I'm asking you as my best friend."

Charlie could feel the desperation dripping off every word. She wanted to keep his secret, but the stakes were too high. "Alright," she said. "But if anyone else gets hurt..."

Jay nodded. "Of course. If I'm lying, may I be struck down right now by the First Spinjitzu M–"

The ground rumbled violently, shaking the structure. Charlie gripped the back of the couch to avoid falling off. Then, just as quickly as it started, the shaking stopped.

"Oh," Jay sighed in relief. "It was just another quake. Boy, there's been a lot of those lately."

The TV turned on, portraying a news reporter with fumbled notes. "Another piece to the puzzel, gone," He said. "Ninjago is stumped yet again as another chunk goes missing, this time from none other than Ninjago City."

The Falcon flew in through the open door, settling on the lantern.

Charlie furrowed her brow. The pieces of land disappearing from Ninjago was yet another puzzle they didn't have time to find. "Sensei said he was worried Ninjago would fall apart without him," She murmured.

Lloyd nodded. "We need to get to that island now."

Zane looked to his avian friend. "Go, see if you can find out what Nadakhan is up to."

The bird gave something resembling a nod before flapping it's metallic wings and leaving to gather information.

~~~~~

Slick water coated the dock as the Ninja walked along in search of a ship.

"I still don't understand why we don't take our Dragons," Jay complained.

"Judging from the map, we don't have enough energy to sustain the distance," Zane told him.

Charlie looked around, searching for someone to talk to about renting a boat. Her eyes landed on captain with a flask in his hand. By the looks of it, he had been drinking from it. Charlie could smell the liquor on his breath, even from a distance.

"We'd like to charter a ship," The Master of Darkness addressed him.

The captain laughed drunkenly, one of his eyes glinting eerily. "One eye may be glass," he slurred. "but me other eye sees clear as a bell. A wicked storm's a-brewin', and there ain't no ships to chart."

His glassy gaze landed on Cole, who shifted uncomfortably.

"Oh! You're talking to me?" He asked, glancing at Lloyd. "Uh, well, then, let's find another dock."

The sailor hummed in thought. "All the others will be saying the same. Unless you in one of these beauts–" He gestured to the ships tethered to the dock. "–the only way you're sailing out is on a wish and a prayer."

As everyone walked on in search of someone else, Jay stayed back, a glint of an idea in his eyes. "A wish and prayer you say?" His gaze landed on a boat with the star of his favorite actor. "That wouldn't happen to be Cliff Gordon's boat now, would it?"

"Why, yes. Yes, it is. Why do you ask?"

~~~~~

"Ready about!" Lloyd ordered at the stern. "Slacken a line! Now, now pay it out! That's well! Belay! Belay!"

"Do you even know what you're saying?" Charlie asked her brother playfully.

Lloyd shrugged, a tell tale smirk on his face. "I've seen enough movies to piece together what I'm doing."

"Fair enough," Charlie with a smirk.

"Full steam ahead!" Cole cried as he and Zane pulled out the sail. "Let's use the wind while it's at our back."

The Master of Darkness looked up to see Jay on the lookout reading something. Her mind travelled to when he said he saw him and Nya in the Tomb. She wondered if she should tell Cole, but at the same time, she didn't want to give him hope for the impossible. He was a ghost. Nothing could change that.

But Charlie couldn't keep this too herself and let it tear her apart. She had to tell someone. Maybe Jay would understand.

She climbed the ladder to Jay, peering up to him. "Jay–"

"Ahh–!" The Master of Lighting closed his book shut, hunching over it protectively.

Charlie pursed her lips. "Okay, not sure what I just walked into."

"I thought you were Nya," Jay confessed, relaxing.

Charlie raised an eyebrow. "Why would that matter?"

Jay sighed and pulled the book away from his chest, revealing the title.

"Cliff Gordon's Guide to Wooing Women?" Charlie read aloud. "Seriously?" She pulled herself onto the platform, leaning against the mast.

"I don't know," Jay sighed. "I'm desperate. Ever since I saw her with me in the reflection... I just," He let out a huff, gathering his thoughts. "I know in my heart it's true, but I don't know how to make it happen."

Charlie looked at her friend, feeling nothing but love from him. A painful, desperate love. "I know how you feel," She told him.

Jay's eyes snapped from the horizon to her. They glittered with interest.

Charlie folded her arms and looked out at the sky. "When I saw my reflection, I saw what everyone else saw: an older version of me. But then it changed, and Cole was with me. He was human."

Jay's mouth hung open, but no words came out.

Charlie turned to him, her one blue eye matching his two. "I haven't told him yet, and I don't know how I will. I just wanted you to know that you're not alone in this. You have me, and you have Cole, your best friend."

Jay looked up at her, a small smile on his lips. "Thanks, Charlie. That...That means a lot."

Charlie smiled and patted his shoulder. "That's what friends are for."

"Storm! On the starboard bow!" Nya cried suddenly.

Black clouds rolled in, turning the sky dark. Charlie felt the wind whip against her skin, a sharp contrast to the calm weather from just minutes ago.

"That's not just any storm, that's an electrical storm!" Lloyd declared. "Get ready, Jay, we're gonna need you."

Jay raised an eyebrow. "Need me?"

~~~~~

"This isn't what I had in mind!" The Blue Ninja screamed as he held onto the mast. As the Master of Lighting, he was a natural conduit and acted as such in that moment.

Charlie grunted as she held onto the rope, stabilizing the sail. She was thankful it was only an electrical storm, or Cole would have been lost to the rain.

Lloyd shouted up at Jay from behind her. "You have to act as our lighting rod or else the storm will tear our ship apart!"

Jay was struck again, but this time, the lighting traveled down the mast and across the deck to Zane, who was bailing water.

"It's because we have a Nindroid on board! Charlie realized as the energy hummed at Zane's feet.

"Zane, you have to go below deck!" Lloyd ordered.

"Zane shouldn't be alone!" Jay screamed. "We all need to stay together!"

But Zane was already inside and alone.

"With Zane gone, the lighting's subsided!" Nya cried as she manned the wheel.

"But now there's that!" Lloyd pointed to a tornado made entirely of water emerging from the clouds.

"Port side!" Charlie cried as the tornado came closer. Nya turned the ship, using the Water to help.

Out of the dark, jagged rocks appeared on the horizon.

"Brace yourselves!" Lloyd screamed.

That was the last thing Charlie heard before she lost consciousness.

~~~~~

Sand. Wet sand. Charlie spat it out of her mouth as she sat up. They made it to the island, but the boat was wrecked.

"Are you okay?" Cole asked.

Charlie looked up and saw him standing over her, holding his hand out for her. She took it and stood, looking at the shore. "Yeah, but where's Zane?"

"Maybe he's lost at sea," Nya fretted.

Lloyd shook his head. "Nindroid's don't get lost."

Charlie senses anger, and found Cole with a hard look on his face. "It was Nadakhan," He said. "But don't ask me how I know. Ask Jay."

"We said we wouldn't say anything," Charlie whispered to her lover.

Cole looked down at her. "We said we wouldn't talk as long as no one got hurt. Zane's missing, love, we have to say something."

Charlie sighed, knowing he was right.

"What is he talking about, Jay?" Nya asked.

The Master of Lighting froze, then he suddenly pointed at the sea. "Look, there's Zane."

Lloyd and Nya walked behind him, looking for what he saw. But Charlie already knew he was lying.

"What?" Nya gasped.

"Where?" Lloyd asked.

"There! There!" Jay continued to point to no avail.

"The only thing I see is your stupid hand, Jay," Nya snapped.

"No, no, look!" He insisted. "He's there!"

"Enough is enough!" Cole broke in, stepping toward the Blue Ninja. "Jay has already been with Nadakhan. The mansion, the boat, he wished for them."

Jay glanced between Cole and Charlie, hurt in his eyes. "You swore you wouldn't say anything!"

"I'm sorry, Jay," Charlie said truthfully. "But they need to know."

Cole nodded. "The reason he's here and the others aren't is because Jay never made his third wish. And if Zane knew that, maybe he'd still be here."

Nya turned to Jay, fury in her oaken eyes. "Why didn't you tell us?"

Jay looked at the sand. "I'm sorry. I just couldn't."

"It's because when he saw his future, you were with him," Cole explained.

Nya's eyes widened as she turned to the ginger. Jay sighed and faced her. "You told me we were never gonna happen. I thought maybe these wishes were the very thing that would bring us together. I had to try."

The Master of Water narrowed her eyes at him. "Well, I know who just nominated themselves to extract the Tiger Widow's venom," She said poking her finger in his chest.

As the team, or what was left of it, walked into the jungle, Jay called out after them, "In my defense, I did just find out my parents are not my birth parents."

Nobody batted an eye.

"Nothing? Really?" He grabbed his book and ran after them.

~~~~~

They walked across a large chasm with nothing but a rickety rope bridge to stop them from falling.

"The Tiger Widow's den should be just ahead," Lloyd said. "Watch your step."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Cole said nervously.

Jay let out a sigh from the back of the group. "Just how am I supposed to extract this venom? Can I ask it nicely?"

"Well, maybe if Zane hadn't been captured, we would have a Nindroid around to tell you," Nya snarked.

"Ooh, that's a low blow," Jay breathed. "I mean, do we know anything about this Tiger Widow? Other than it was named to strike terror in the hearts of men."

"Zane told me it was the last of it's species," Charlie answered. "So it sounds like you've only got one chance at this. But I'm sure you'll he just fine–" She stopped short when she witnessed Jay sitting in some kind of webbing. "What are you doing now?" Annoyance flushed out any sympathy.

"Resting my feet on this hammock," The Blue Ninja replied. "We've been walking for miles. If I have to face this thing alone, I'm gonna need to be well rested."

Lloyd cringed as he looked at his friend. "Jay, I don't think that's a hammock."

The Master of Lighting followed Lloyd's gaze to a skeleton tangled in the web he had mistaken for a hammock.

"Aah! Get it off me! Aah!" He screamed as he fought to get out of the tangles. "Get it off of me! Get it off of me!" He landed on the ground, spitting out the substance caught in his mouth.

"We have to keep moving," Nya decided without a second thought for Jay.

"Haven't I suffered enough?" He asked.

"No!" They told him as they ran deeper into the jungle.

They ran until they came to a cliff edge. At the bottom, was an eerie cave.

"There it is. The nest," Lloyd pointed to the cave.

Cole looked at Jay. "Well then, what are you waiting for?"

Jay whipped around to look at him. "Well, I'm sorry if I'm not jumping down there right this instant. Do you see what I'm seeing? Of course not! Because all I see is my life flashing before me!"

"Now are you ready?" Nya asked without a care.

"Whatever happened to sticking together?" Jay asked. "What if Nadakhan persuades me to say my final wish? Any number of bad things could easily happen to me alone down there!"

Even Charlie couldn't find it in her to feel sorry for him. He brought this on himself.

"I have no friends," He sighed as made his way down the cliff.

"Use your canteen to collect the venom!" Cole shouted after him.

"Thank you, Mr. Helpful, but I've got this!"

Cole chuckled to himself as Jay disappeared into the cave. But within moments, screams echoed through the jungle.

"HOW DO I GET VENOM WHEN HIS FANGS ONLY COME OUT WHEN HE TRIES TO BITE ME!?" The Master of Lighting screamed.

"Then let him bite you!" Cole shouted back.

"IF I GET OUTTA HERE, I'M GONNA BITE YOU!"

Cole smirked to himself, but that quickly faded when an overhead ship appeared above them. "Sky Pirates!" He gasped.

"Take cover," Lloyd ordered.

Charlie and him ran into the jungle, splitting up together. As they ran, Jay called out to them. "I see fangs!"

"Then hurry up and get the venom!" Charlie snapped.

"Oh, sorry for the delay! I've never had to milk the fangs of a giant spider before!"

Charlie and Lloyd came to another end of the cliff. Nodding to each other, they summoned their Dragons and began their attack on the aerial vessel.

They twisted and turned through the air, holding the pirates off until Jay screamed that he had the venom.

The siblings landed in the jungle next to Nya and Cole. "Protect Jay!" Lloyd ordered.

The Blue Ninja was running to them, a giant arachnid on his tail.

"That's one big spider," Cole noted.

"Hurry!" Charlie urged as they ran back to the bridge. But as they made it to the end, the bridge gave way under the spider's weight. Lloyd gripped Nya, who held Charlie, who held Cole, who held the canteen Jay was holding on to.

"Hold on!" Lloyd encouraged.

The Tiger Widow crawled up closer to them.

"Getting closer," Nya warned.

"Oh, you don't say," Jay snarked as he fought off the spider with his legs.

In a poof of orange smoke, Nadakhan appeared to him. "You are certainly in a precarious position. Time is running out, but you have one wish left. You can wish it all–"

"Blah, blah, blah," Jay interrupted. "You think I'm thick enough to fall for that trick? No way! I'd rather be eaten by a spider than listen to your beguiling voice."

"Then have it your way," Nadakhan hit Jay, making him fall. He grabbed him, holding him over the ravine just to display his powerful position. He grabbed the canteen. "Now say goodbye to the only thing that can stop me," He emptied the liquid that was inside.

"No!" Jay cried. "No, no, no! No!"

Nadakhan looked up at them, his eyes gleaming maliciously. "And say goodbye to your friend," He disappeared and the Tiger Widow fell into the depths.

"I'll be back for the rest of you!" The Djinn called from his arial vehicle. Jay was with him, his mouth gagged. "And since you can't get off the island, I'll know exactly where to find you!" He laughed maliciously as he left with his crew.

"Should we fly after them?" Cole asked as they pulled themselves up.

"No. Save your strength," Nya advised.

"But he has Jay and he just got rid of the only thing that can stop him," Charlie reasoned.

Nya shook her head. "No, he didn't."

"Huh?" Lloyd was just as confused as Charlie felt.

The Master of Water pulled out a sliver container. "He emptied the wrong canteen."

Cole's eyes lit up. "You mean–"

"We have the only thing that can stop him," Charlie finished.

Nya nodded. "And better yet, they don't know we have it. Jay has suffered enough. It's time they do the suffering."