"Eighty-six. Eighty-seven. Eighty-eight," the voice coaxed out. "Eighty-...nine. Ninety!"

As the Fire Ninja collapsed on the concrete floor, the people around him spared him a look of boredom.

"Couldn't even get to a hundred?" Lloyd asked his friend, unimpressed.

"Shut up!" Kai yelled, turning his head to Lloyd. "It's not like you're any better."

"Always so snappy." The Green Ninja shook his head as he sighed.

Kai's tired body slowly lifted itself up and into a sitting position. His eyes roamed around the barely filled prison cell.

It was day time in Ninjago. He could see it through the narrow window that was on the other side of the round building. Jay was sitting on his bed; the upper bed of the bunk bed that was pushed against the left corner. Cole was trying to get Zane to speak something that was not emotionless, and Lloyd was sitting on the upper bed of the bunk bed that was pushed against the right corner of the cell and reading a book.

Kai sighed. It was day eight in Krypterium, according to the eight tally marks that were carved on the concrete wall next to Jay's bed.

Many other people were awake as well and making some noise. Wooden cups were clattered against the metal bars and people were not shouting but talking very loudly.

It got on Kai's nerves.

"Come on, Zane," Cole said, grabbing his friend's stiff shoulders and shaking his body back and forth. "Tell me what's four plus four!"

"Eight."

"How about you add a little... pzazz to your answer?"

"Eight."

Cole tilted his head back and groaned. "You're no fun, Zane!" he accused, letting go of his shoulders to cross his arms.

Zane chose not to react and instead led his gaze away from the Black Ninja.

Loud footsteps neared the ninjas' cell, and the voice followed soon after.

"Ninja," a guard said coldly. "You have visitors."

Upon hearing those words, all five ninja looked at the guard, their interests piqued.

"Visitors?" Lloyd asked, putting his book down to jump down the bunk bed. He landed right next to Kai. "Who?"

"Your manager and his assistant."

Cole furrowed his eyebrows as he came to stand next to his friends.

"Our manager and his... assistant?"

— — — —

The two visitors were sitting on the visitor's side of the visiting area. There was a piece of durable plexiglass that separated the visitors from the inmates, and the only way to speak to each other was over a black telephone that had a cord preventing people from stealing it.

They were the only people in the entire room. It was eerily quiet as there were only two police guards on either side of the door.

The door on the inmate's side was opened as shackled footsteps rung throughout the room. A guard stepped inside first before the Green Ninja came in next. Behind him was Cole, behind Cole was Jay, behind Jay was Zane, and behind Zane was Kai. Behind Kai was a guard holding his taser ready in his hands.

The five ninja were all shackled to the nines. Handcuffs were binding their hands together and each of them had large balls of vengestone tied to their feet that were shackled together as well.

It was a pitiful sight.

"Dareth?" Lloyd was the first one to open his mouth, looking at the one claiming to be the ninjas' manager. Then he looked at the person who was next to him. "Skylor?"

"Skylor?" Kai spoke up, surprised. He shuffled to the front to have a look for himself.

Said woman smiled at him. Since she couldn't hear what was said on the other side, she let her imagination fill in the blanks.

Skylor grabbed the dark device that was hung on the side of the cubicle and brought the speaker to her mouth, resting the upper end against her ear.

"Hi," she said softly, watching as Kai grabbed the telephone on his side and brought it to his ear.

"Skylor," he said, ignoring her greeting to get to the main topic. "I've missed you."

"Very touchy-feely of you, Kai." She chuckled. Then she sobered up. "I missed you, too. How've you been?"

Kai sat down on the singular chair and sighed. "Awful."

The others had to get really close to Kai to be able to listen to what was said on the other side.

"We're not allowed to do anything in here," he voiced. "And the worst part? Have you seen the gross food they give us? Can it even be considered food?"

Kai was about to complain some more about the prison food but couldn't when the phone was ripped out of his hand. "Hey!" he exclaimed, looking at Lloyd.

"Skylor," Lloyd said, his tone serious.

"Lloyd." Skylor nodded, just as serious.

The Green Ninja stared at her for a few silent seconds before bursting out, "Skylor, please get us out of here, these guys are making me go nuts! Cole is crazy, Jay is mute, Zane is emo, and Kai is, well, Kai!"

Rolling his eyes, Cole took the phone and breathed into it. "Skylor," he said calmly, glaring at her. "You need to get them to release us because if I have to spend another week with these maniacs in that confined space, I will start to plot something. Mark my words."

Skylor listened to his words and didn't know how to respond, so she settled with nodding. "I'll try but the chances are narrow."

"How narrow?" Lloyd asked.

"Very narrow," Dareth chimed in, taking the telephone out of Skylor's grasp. "My friends," he began, "your chances are very narrow."

Dareth's tone was trist, and based on the grip he had on the phone, he was conflicted. His brown suit was wrinkly and his black tie was loose. His left leg kept bouncing up and down as he glanced back at the guards before looking back at his friends.

"We have tried our best and spoken to a lot of people, but none of them listened to us, saying we were 'just as guilty' and should just 'rot in prison' like you all."

"This is ridiculous!" Kai exclaimed. The guards on his side immediately put their hands on their guns and broke out into fighting stances. Kai rolled his eyes at them and leaned a little away from the phone. "Chill out, it wasn't that serious."

Jay used that moment to take the phone. He held it with both of his hands as he looked at Dareth and Skylor with curiosity and concern written across his face.

"How's Nya doing?"

It was the question everyone had lingering in the back of their minds. Kai quickly looked away from the guards to listen to the answer.

Skylor and Dareth looked at each other before looking back at the guys. Dareth slowly handed the other the phone since he knew he wasn't a person who knew how to say the right words for the right times.

"She's... okay," Skylor answered slowly.

"Okay?" Jay asked, coming a little closer to the plexiglass.

"Physically speaking, yes. Her body is healthy. She just doesn't have her powers back."

"That's good," Jay whispered, smiling. He had been wondering and worrying about Nya's well-being ever since they had been forcefully separated at the courtroom without being able to say goodbye to each other.

"I feel like there is a but," Kai speculated, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"But," Skylor cleared her throat, "she's not really back to being her old self."

"What do you mean?" Jay asked, his smile gone again.

"I wouldn't really consider her being mentally well, guys, I'm not going to lie," she said. "I'd even go as far as to say she's become depressed."

Kai's eyes softened. "How come?" he asked, worried about his baby sister.

Skylor sighed. She switched to holding the phone from her right hand to her left one. "She's a mess without you guys," she admitted. Her eyes looked from Kai's to Jay's. "Especially you two."

To change the subject, Skylor racked her brain.

"And Aspheera is still on the loose, too."

"Ugh, don't remind us," Cole said, rolling his eyes. "That snake is so annoying."

"Revenge!" Lloyd heaved out, trying to imitate Aspheera's signature line.

That caused the others to let out a small chuckle.

"Um, why hasn't Nya come and visited us?" Kai asked, going back to being serious.

Skylor cleared her throat uncomfortably. "She's not allowed to," she replied.

"Excuse me?" Jay and Kai said at the same time.

Dareth sighed and brought his lips close to the phone's speaker. "The mayor forbade her to visit you guys."

"Why am I not surprised?" Cole asked sarcastically, unconsciously balling his hands into fists.

"Visiting hours are over," one of the guards suddenly said.

"But we aren't done yet," Lloyd replied, looking at the guard behind them.

"I don't care. Mayor's rules."

"That mayor is beginning to get on my last nerve," Kai seethed out quietly, watching as the guards began to get the others away from the glass.

Before they had to go, Jay gripped the phone like his life depended on it and looked at Skylor pleadingly.

"Skylor, please tell Nya that all of this shouldn't get to her. I know she's probably blaming herself so please tell her none of this is her fault. And-"

"Mr. Walker," the guard that was meant to lead Jay away warned.

Jay ignored him.

"Tell her that I'm proud of her and that I will always be by her side, no matter how much distance there is between us."

The guard gripped Jay's elbow and tried to pull him off the phone. Just before he succeeded, Jay managed to tell Skylor the last thing that was on his mind.

"And tell Nya I love her!"