A NOTE: For this fanfic, the immediate ninja alliance is Lloyd, Cole, Kai, Jay, Zane, Nya, Skylor, and Chamille
A lone eagle soared high above the land, making its way towards the Destiny's Bounty, stationed high in the air. As it approached the railing, it morphed into tan-skinned Chamile who sported long, brown hair and had an overflowing shopping bag in her hand. She scanned the empty deck, stumbling over an overturned barrel.
There was a moment of silence as she frowned, glancing at the barrel, and set down her shopping bag.
"Hello? Guys?" No response. She took a step back, a little nervous now, and tried again.
"Anyone?" Her whisper was carried away by the breeze as she took a cautious step back.
Suddenly, a noise cut through the barren landscape, and she jumped, spinning on her heel. Clearly, she was not alone, and the lyrics of the song Semi-Charmed Life were easily heard.
Taking the stairs two at a time, she flew down until she was infront of Cole's room, and jiggled the doorknob, which refused to budge. But, relentless, she pulled a bobbing pin out of her hair and quietly picked the lock.
Meanwhile, inside, Cole's desk sported a pile of CDs and a black boombox, and he sang along to the song as he shuffled through them.
"It won't stop, I won't come down, I keep stock, With a tick-tock rhythm and a bump for the drop, And then I bumped up, I took the hit I was given, Then I bumped again, And then I bumped again, How do I get back there to, The place where I fell asleep inside you? How do I get myself back to The place where you said-"
The door slammed open, and Chamille tucked the bobbing pin back into her pocket. She surveyed the room and frowned. "WHAT are you doing?"
Cole frowned and sarcastically exclaimed, "Chamille! Hi! I wasn't...Ummmm...Expecting visitors…"
"That's obvious." her eye caught on the boombox, and she walked over to pick it up. "Hey, this is mine!"
"Maaaybe."
"And these are my CDs! When did you take them?"
"I-"
"Well, I'll take em' back now, thanks. Wait, where's my Reputation CD?"
She shuffled around the room and triumphantly lifted her CD out of a pile of books carelessly thrown in the corner.
"Why are you even in my room in the first place?"
"Oh, yeah. Everyone's missing. Thought you should know."
"Everyone? Are you sure you didn't forget there are more places to hang out than the upper deck?"
Chamille snorted. "Yeah, I forgot, Cole. Thank you for reminding me."
"Well, EXcuse ME if someone's being grumpy today."
"Well, get this, Earth Demon: I don't care what you think! Now give me back my things and let's check the security footage!"
About ten minutes later, Chamille and Cole had made their way to the control room, plopping down at the seats without a word and staring at the large screens that made up a whole wall.
Cole frowned as Chamille scrolled through the footage. "Look up what happened while you were gone."
"Gee, thanks, Earth Demon. I couldn't think of that myself for sure."
Cole opened his mouth, then closed it, thinking better of angering her further.
With a few clicks, vidio feed popped up on the screen. In it, the ninja were training, minus Cole, then a shadow fell over them, sporting no particular shape. They looked up, then the screen sputtered once, twice, and went back to an empty deck. Cole and Chamille looked at each other in shock.
"What just happened?!" Cole asked.
Chamille sighed and explained, "Edited feed. We're not dealing with any old villain."
Cole scowled. "Nice to know. I couldn't think of that myself for sure."
"I know."
After a second of searching and three passwords, Chamille clicked on another file.
The feed was slightly blurry, but it was clear enough to see the ninja training on deck.
"This is what we just saw!" Cole complained.
Chamille slapped a hand over his mouth. "Shush."
As the shadow fell over the ninja, though, five white dragons scooped onto the deck, then the screen went blank again, but only as something was pressed over it. After a second, a map was visible of the Ninjago shoreline, a large red X over the sea to the west.
Then the screen went black, and a message popped up: FOOTAGE UNAVAILABLE. TRY AGAIN LATER.
Cole gaped at Chamille. "I thought you said the footage was deleted!"
Chamille nodded, suddenly looking very nervous, and whispered, "It was. That was butterfly cams. But now it IS deleted...all of it."
"What the heck does that-"
Chamille elbowed him and hissed, "It means we're being hacked into RIGHT NOW! Get your stuff. I think I can get a copy of the map, but the Bounty isn't safe. That means we'll have to travel on foot to find the others."
"That's just dandy." Cole muttered, but he did what Chamille asked.
Chamille is frowned at her watch as she waited for Cole in the control room. She was wearing a well-stocked backpack, and her sweater was wrapped tightly around her waist. Both her bow and arrows were secured to her belt and her double-bladed spear was safely folded up in her backpack, but still within reach just in case.
Suddenly, Cole dashed in, an empty-looking backpack in one hand and his scythe in the other. He was panting and out of breath, but had the sense to shrink back when he saw Chamille's glare.
"That's all you packed?"
Cole turned around. "I can go get more. It might take me a while though."
"Just no. We needa find the others. Minus Lloyd. I would be able to live with lloyd being captured."
Cole opened his mouth to protest, but Chamille shoved him into the hallway.
After all, there was no going back now.
In the crowded streets of Ninjago City, Cole and Chamille trudged along. It was mid-day, as opposed to mid-morning, when they had started out. Neither had eaten a decent breakfast, and the constant movement had left them restless and hungry, as well as tired.
"Can we stop for food? I didn't even have my after-breakfast snack yet! Or my after-after-breakfast snack, either!" Cole complained. Chamille ignored him. Cole had been complaining all morning, and she was fed up with her travel partner.
"Chamille? Food? PLEEEASE?"
That was different. Cole hadn't said 'please' to her for as long as she'd known him, and she only hesitated a second before saying, "I hate to agree with you, but I'm kinda hungry, too."
Cole looked hopefully at her. "Hey...is that a Buck's Star?"
Across the street, a small coffee joint dubbed Buck's Star was welcomingly placed. Cole and Chamille looked at each other, than nearly trampled each other as they raced to the shop, quickly sprinting across multiple lanes of traffic and into the cozy building and eagerly claiming a table. Chamille spread a wad of cash out on the table and silently counted, and Cole flagged down a waiter.
"Hi! Welcome to Buck's Star Coffee. What would you like?" A plump, blonde waitress in a pink dress asked them, jotting down notes on an ordering pad.
Cole went first. "Two...no, three donuts, three large muffins banana bread, a whole loaf, and...ummm...one latte with extra whipped cream. Please."
The waitress looked unfazed. "No problem, dearie. And you, miss?"
"One large mocha and three slices of lemon bread, and a power bar, please. I'll take a donut with that, also."
"You and your boyfriend sure eat a lot, don't you?" the waitress replied with a chuckle.
Chamille went beet red, quickly shifting her body so that she was more muscular and her hair was blacker, also slightly darkening her skin, and replied, "Actually, we're cousins."
The waitress seemed so unfazed compared to Cole, though slightly confused regarding the change in appearance, it was funny.
As the waiter nodded and walked away, Cole elbowed her hard in the ribs.
"OW! WHAT the JINX was that for?"
"We're not cousins! And someone could have noticed you transforming!"
"Oh, shut up. The waiter didn't notice ANYTHING."
Cole lowered his voice to a whisper. "No, but she did."
He pointed to an old-looking lady with short, curly silver hair and very fair, almost white, skin and hideous blobs of red makeup around her eyes and on her cheeks. She was looking slyly at Chamille, who started to get up.
"No. It'll just attract attention to us." Cole reminded her. Chamille sat back down and waved over-cheerfully at the old lady, then turned back to cole, her tone of voice much different than her fake smile.
"Fine. We'll wait until we get some food first. But I don't like the looks of her."
Just as she spoke, the cheerful waitress plopped two large to-go bags down infront of them. "Here ya go!"
As she left, Chamille hissed, "Here that? Let's scram."
But as she stood up and turned around, the old lady appeared behind her. "Hello, dearie. I couldn't help but notice you had the most lovely bow."
"But I'm not wearing a-" Chamille realized that her magically protected bow's disguise, brewed carefully by Mistaké, had been seen through, presumably by some magical force.
Cole stood up and shouldered his backpack. "We should go."
"So soon?" The lady inquired, sitting down. Her smile turned to an estic sneer as white wings with veins of red sprouted from her shoulders. In a matter of seconds, a full-grown dragon faced the teens, its glistening white teeth glinting in the light.
With a mighty screech, a burst of flames shot from ts mouth, setting Buck's Star ablaze in a burst of red.
Miles away, a prisoner awoke.
"Wh-wha? Where am I? What happened?" Jay sat up in a cold, dark prison cell, complete with vengestone bars and an impenetrable cement floor.
Besides him, a dark figure seemed to stir.
"Jay?" Nya whispered, "Why are you in my room?"
"Nya, we're not in your room."
"Where are we in the Destiny's Bounty, then?"
"We're not on the Destiny's Bounty."
Nya sat up. "What?"
Footsteps echoed in the darkness as Nya walked over to the bars of the cell, and Jay realized they weren't just hers.
A tall, thin man with raven-black hair was standing at the cell door, red blotches around his eyes and on his cheeks. "They're awake."
"Finally! I was startina think they'd never stir." An equally-made-up man replied, cackling.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Nya asked, taking a cautious step back.
"That's for me to know and you, little one, to find out."
The other guard smiled wickedly. "What're we to do with 'em now?"
In a high-pitched laugh, the other responded, "Take them to the king, of course."
Jay stood up beside Nya. "The king of who? Where? Where are we?"
The guard gave him a hard stare. "The Palace of the Retreating Sea, of course."
"And who are you taking us to?"
"You two are oh so observant for ninja." One guard chuckled sarcastically.
The other guard grinned. "We're taking you to our master. King of the shifts. And he'll decide if you're worth keeping alive."