Chapter Three: Heist of the Fireworks...

Lloyd flopped unceremoniously into one of the large private jet's comfy chairs, a sigh escaping him. "That could have gone better."

"Ya think?" A young, slightly older teen with spiky auburn hair and dark hazel eyes demanded as he stretched in his seat.

A young female teen leaned over and whacked him, before turning to face Lloyd. "You were almost caught Lloyd...and now we have a new tail that is following us."

Cole grumbled indistinguishably under his breath, even as Jay sat down next to another teen that had stiff looking, snowy white hair and bright blue eyes. The new teen also had rather pale skin. Lloyd ran his fingers through his hair, his face tight. "Yeah...I know. And I was just saying that we need to..."

"Let me join?" A much younger teen, with tan skin and copper colored hair and the exact same blue eyes as the blonde suddenly popped up from behind the area set up like an computer office.

"Echo!" The blonde teen whirled around to glare at him.

Echo slunk off, a whine escaping him. "I wanna help Zane!"

Zane pinched the bridge of his nose, annoyance flaring briefly across his features. "And the answer is still no...you are too young."

"Lloyd is only a year older than me...and Nya is two years older than him! Why can't I help?" Echo gestured first at the ringleader, and then at the only female in the group.

Nya rolled her eyes, even as spiky hair crossed his arms in a huff. "Come on Echo...you know perfectly well why you aren't allowed on missions...and it ain't your age."

Echo sighed, before turning to face him. "Why does the fact that I don't have powers have to affect that decision Kai?"

Kai leaned forward, his eyes flashing with worry, his confident smirk vanishing. "It matters because we are dealing with a group of people that won't hesitate to kill you if they get so much as half a chance."

Echo winced, glancing over at his older brother. Zane nodded his head solemnly in agreement with what Kai had said. Nya walked back over to where Zane was sitting, leaning over as she quickly pulled something up. "Next stop is in Indonesia. Looks like they have a secret lab there...well it was secret until I hacked into the information."

Zane hummed as he quickly pulled up some information on that country. "Since we are dealing with islands...that will mean a lot of water, so Nya. You are Lloyd's second for this one."

"Sweet." Nya nodded in understanding.

"And who is his third this time around?" Kai crossed his arms, a frown crossing his face at the thought that his little sister was going to go into a slightly potential dangerous situation.

Zane hummed as he glanced up at him. "I was thinking you. Unless you have a problem with that. The weather there is labeled hot and humid. Thus, Nya will work best there...BUT there isn't really anyone else that'll have an advantage. Jay and Cole were his second and third last time, so they cannot go. However it has never snowed there, so I will stand out like a sore thumb."

"Got it." Lloyd, Kai, and Nya spoke in unison.

~Meanwhile with Dareth and Pixal~

"I will find Lloyd Ninja if it is the last thing that I do!" Dareth muttered under his breath as he leaned forward.

Pixal shook her head, her green eyes glowing with concern. "Sir...it is late. Perhaps we should reconvene later?"

"No! I will not give up...I will be the one to finally catch Lloyd Ninja!" Dareth waved his arms around wildly, in an attempt to prove his point.

~Back with the Friends~

Kai parked the jeep, eyeing the thick foliage that surrounded the large not at all hidden secret lab. Lloyd pulled on his bright green turncoat and matching hat. Nya shook her head as she waved a hand in front of her to fan herself off. "Seriously Lloyd? It's like a hundred degrees out here!"

Lloyd smirked, similarly to Kai, as he pulled back the coat to reveal that it was filled with gadgets. "A ninja needs his gadgets."

Kai and Nya glanced at each other, before Kai shrugged and slipped to the front door. Pushing the doorbell, he lifted up an empty pizza box up to the security camera that was watching the front door. "Pizza delivery!"

Lloyd and Nya both slapped their faces, even as they waited for a response. When none came, Kai pushed forcefully pushed the door open, tossing the box into the empty garbage can that was next to the door. "April Fool's!" Kai hollered as the box thudded loudly into the trash.

Lloyd shook his head, before slipping away. He scanned the area, a frown crossing his features. "They knew we were coming and closed shop. We're not gonna find anything here."

"Great...and Cole cooked last night so I am starving. Ooh...rice bowl!" Kai grabbed a petri-dish filled with rice.

"Kai! Don't eat that!" Nya snagged the dish away, already scanning it with her eyes. "That's a petri-dish. Which doesn't make any sense for them to have rice on there...unless..." She grabbed a nearby microscope and shoved the dish underneath it, twisting the knobs to zoom in closer. "Thought so. There is some kind of rice eating fungi covering these grains of rice."

"Why are they making rice eating fungi? That makes no sense whatsoever." Kai whined as he crossed his arms.

Lloyd narrowed his eyes as he strode over to where they were at, leaning in to look at the fungi. "When I was younger, they had created imitation rice. It was, well, vile tasting. Indonesia main staple food is rice. There will be a great famine if they lose their crops to this!"

"Great. Now we know what they are planning on doing. What's the plan?" Nya folded her arms, left eyebrow shooting upwards.

Lloyd smiled mischievously as he straightened up. "We level the playing fields a bit." He glanced back at the dish, his face hardening suddenly. "They won't know what hit them..."

…..

Gene titled his head to the side as he heard a soft thump, signaling that someone had landed on the roof of the truck that the one janitor was driving. "Give me a sec... I have an old friend to say hi to." Unbuckling, he climbed out the window and onto the moving truck's roof. He walked purposefully to the crouching green clad figure that was attempting to break into the back of the truck.

Reaching over he placed a hand on the green clad shoulder...and was promptly thrown hard onto his back. A gasp escaped him as he looked up to see an...older teen that was most definitely not Lloyd. Kai clenched his fist as he eyed the idiot that had just tried to take him out. Shaking his head slightly, he went and got into his defensive position, a small smirk crossing his features. "Stand down kid. You have no idea what you are getting into here."

"What?! You're not Lloyd Ninja!" Gene backed up, startled at the appearance of a new guy, to him.

"Nope...I'm, Kai the last guy you want to fight. Nice to meet you!" Kai punched him in the face, even as they hit a rough spot of road, forcing him to jump off.

Gene slipped back to the cab of the truck, slamming his fist into the window to get the driver's attention. "Get to the fireworks display now!"

…..

Lloyd jerked on the steering wheel, pressing his foot down on the gas button even as Kai leapt back into the backseat. "Good job Kai. Gene totally freaked out and Nya was able to get the information we needed. As he spoke, a surge of water shot out of the river they were driving past and landed neatly in the passenger seat. The water dissolved to reveal that it was Nya.

"Fireworks display... I recommend we hurry if we want to stop them." Nya grabbed the buckle and buckled herself in.

Kai nodded, before mumbling to them. "I peeked. The have green fireworks in there. Green goes for a swim...the rest go for a nice long flight."

…..

Lloyd sighed with relief. He just fought a rather difficult battle with Gene, which he won at the last minute. Nya and Kai had removed the green fireworks. When Gene tried to light the fireworks early, Kai raised his hand out to him and distinguished the flame. Let's just say someone was not happy about that.

"Come on guys. Time to head home...Zane made dinner." Lloyd pulled his hat low over his face even as the fireworks erupted in the sky.

"Sweet... I love it when its Zane's turn to cook." Kai cheered as he turned to follow Lloyd.

~Back with Dareth and Pixal~

Dareth groaned as he forced his eyes opened. Something had happened...he had passed out in the parking lot. Eyes widening in horror, he noticed two crisply dressed men standing near the only door to the room they were in. One was wearing red tinted sunglasses, and the other was wearing pitch black sunglasses and carrying some kind of musical instrument. Pixal was just stirring in the chair next to him.

Once they were both awake, one of the men, the one with the red sunglasses, dropped a pen to the floor. A minute later, a hologram of an older woman with long hair pulled back in a braid stood before them. "Greetings. You both are here because we need you're expertise. We are the Masters. That is all you need to know. You may call me Chief."

"What do we know that you need to know?" Pixal questioned softly.

"You know what Lloyd Ninja looks like." Chief firmly informed them.

"Hmm, you are after the infernal criminal Lloyd Ninja as well?" Dareth asked.

"You could say that. We are actually after an entire army of criminals. Darkley's. We believe that he knows something about them." Chief continued on as if he hadn't interrupted her.

"You think that Lloyd Ninja is their leader, no? Yes...yes. That makes perfect sense!" Dareth began to mumble to himself.

Chief sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Why would the leader of an entire army of ghosts be as visible as Lloyd Ninja?"

Dareth opened and closed his mouth, but couldn't find anything to say about that.