Hi, guys! Sorry I took so long; I was debating on whether or not this should be the next chapter or not, but I decided it was pretty good to keep y'all in suspense, so here it is!
Thanks so much JayFan67, Guest, Puppy, ebony umbreon, Guest, and ponygirl009 for your comments on the last chapter! Glad I got ya hanging! XD I hope this satisfies you a little, but no promises XD
So . . . enjoy!
"Has anyone seen Jay?" Nya said worriedly. "He should be back from patrol duty by now."
"I haven't seen him," Lloyd said, concerned. "He hasn't come back?"
"No," Nya said. She held her Samurai X helmet under one arm, but she was contemplating putting it back on. "I should go look for him. What if something's happened to him?"
"No, we should go looking for him," Zane said firmly. "We need every teammate we have, and the less of us there are, the weaker we are."
"And the more likely the Overlord will succeed in taking over Ninjago," Kai said decisively. He pulled up his mask. "Let's go."
Cole was hesitant. "What's your problem?" Lloyd demanded.
"Nothing," Cole said hurriedly. "Let's go." The other ninja gave him strange looks, but they shrugged it off.
"No vehicles," Lloyd said. "We'll attract too much attention."
"And if I remember correctly," Zane coughed, "we lost our vehicles to the Overlord's Spinjitzu tornado."
"That too." Nya glanced out the window. "Looks like we got company, guys!"
The ninja rushed over to the window. "It's just one Nindroid," Kai scoffed. "We can take him easy."
The Nindroid was making faces at them, mocking and jeering. "Come on out and get me!" he taunted. "Or are you too afraid of Nindroids? You're so cowardly all you ever do is hide in that temple and not even try to fight us anymore! The boredom is polluting the atmosphere out here!" He pretended to hold his nose and made small choking noises.
"That sardonic tin can is really getting on my nerves," Cole growled, clenching his fists.
"Let's get him!" Kai darted out the door and ran toward the Nindroid, Cole close behind. Zane frowned, but he sighed resignedly and followed his comrades out the temple door. Lloyd and Nya exchanged worried looks, but they too ran after their teammates toward the Nindroid.
The Nindroid seemed to be expecting the reaction his taunts provoked. But he turned and ran the other direction, away from the temple and into the city itself. "Talk about cowardly!" Kai shouted at the Nindroid. "What are you doing now?"
"Strategically backtracking!" the Nindroid yelled back, not looking over his shoulder.
"Looks like you're running away to me!" Cole retorted.
"His vocal patterns seem strangely familiar," Zane muttered, "though I'm unsure why."
"How can you tell one Nindroid's vocal patterns from another?" Lloyd asked in disbelief as the Nindroid rounded a corner. "With General Cryptor that makes sense, but with random Nindroids?"
"My analysis is suggesting that he's not a random Nindroid," Zane replied. "He reminds me of-"
Zane's answer was stifled by a Nindroid clamping an arm over his mouth. Zane was taken completely by surprise, and he didn't start yelling until it was too late. A second Nindroid gave Zane an electrical shock with a Taser gun, and he collapsed, senseless, onto the sidewalk. The two Nindroids bound the unconscious Zane with metal ropes, and sent a video feed back to their commander. "One Ninja caught, Lieutenant," one said.
"Good," the lieutenant replied under his breath, "he knows too much. Alert the others stationed along the path. Kai is next. Afterwards, head back to headquarters with Zane. You will receive further instruction from General Cryptor."
Leading his three other teammates, Kai ran after the Nindroid. The Nindroid taunted, "Why don't you try using your fire power? Or are you saving it for a fight in the next millennium? Granted you'll live long enough to see the new age! I don't know if you'll survive long after the Golden Master gives you your just desserts!"
Kai gritted his teeth and kept running, hands blazing with growing fire. "What's the matter?" the Nindroid called behind him mockingly. "Burned your tongue?"
"That's it!" Kai unleashed his fire, blasting after the Nindroid far ahead of his teammates. "I'm not letting a toaster with attitude get the better of me!"
He should have caught up with the Nindroid, but his aim was a little off and he slammed into a lamp-post, his fire burning out with a soft hiss. He fell, unconscious, into the arms of a cloaked Nindroid, who immediately ducked into a nearby alley as the other ninja ran past.
Like Zane, Kai was tied up and in the possession of another pair of Nindroids. "Two down, three more to go, Lieutenant," one of the Nindroids reported via video feed.
"You don't need to report back to me every single time," the lieutenant replied exasperatedly. "Tell the next pair to report to Cryptor when they capture Lloyd. I'm in a bit of a hurry."
"Of course, Lieutenant," the other Nindroid said, bowing as the video feed clicked out.
Lloyd glanced around them as they ran after the Nindroid, who consistently ducked around corners, ran down alleys, and jumped from side-street to side-street as he tried to shake off the Ninja. "Uh, where did Kai and Zane go?" he asked worriedly.
"They probably just got lost down one of these side-streets," Cole replied, keeping a close eye on the Nindroid as they ran. "New Ninjago City is a bit more complicated than normal."
"But isn't it weird?" Lloyd persisted. "I mean, it was like one minute they were there, the next, they're gone. There's something strange going on-"
But he was cut off as a Nindroid caught him by the leg, and dragged him back. "HELP!" Lloyd yelled, but Cole and Nya were too far ahead to hear him. Another Nindroid hit Lloyd on the head, and the Green Ninja collapsed into a dead heap on the sidewalk. After binding up Lloyd, the Nindroids sent back a report to the lieutenant, but instead got General Cryptor. "Don't you metal-heads ever listen?" Cryptor snapped when they asked for the lieutenant. "The lieutenant sent a message warning those in his command not to report back to him, and as an officer, he should be respected. He said to report to me, and managed to rewire his feed so that you couldn't report to him, no matter how hard you try. Did you get Lloyd?"
"Yessir General Cryptor," the Nindroids reported hurriedly. "We're taking him back to headquarters now."
"Then get on with it!" Cryptor's face disappeared.
As one of the pair slung the senseless Lloyd over his shoulder, the other remarked, "The lieutenant is shrewd to come up with a plan like this, doncha think?"
"It does help that his tactical skills got somewhat of an advantage," the other admitted as they snuck into the shadows. "He is a little bit sensitive, though. Wonder why Cryptor respects him."
"Never heard of General Cryptor respecting anyone other than someone of higher rank than himself," the first said. "Lieutenant is lower a rank than general, I think. Gah, I'll have to check when we get back."
"If lieutenant is higher than general, don't mention it to Cryptor," the second advised, shifting Lloyd's weight. "He's going to hate the lieutenant if that's true. He's much younger than Cryptor, and if he managed to get the higher position, Cryptor's gonna have one heck of a tantrum."
Cole and Nya ran after the Nindroid, who seemed to be tiring out, often stopping for quick breathers before dashing away again. "I've never seen a Nindroid get tired before," Nya said, a little confused.
"That is odd," Cole said, slowing down a little as the Nindroid leaned heavily against a wall, panting hard. "Come to think of it," he stopped running completely, "why didn't he enable his cloaking device before now? That could have lost us easily."
"Because I didn't want to lose you," the Nindroid coughed. "Whew! Those high-speed chases can wear a droid out."
"You have got to be the quirkiest Nindroid I've ever met," Nya exclaimed.
The Nindroid looked her in the eye for just one moment. For one second, Nya thought she saw the Nindroid's one visible eye flicker from red to purple, but she figured she just imagined it. Then the Nindroid looked away and started to run again, this time at a trot. When he got a good distance away, the Nindroid stopped and glanced behind him. "Well? I thought you were chasing me!" he called. Then he darted around a corner and disappeared.
"Let's get that idiot toaster," Cole said, gritting his teeth as he ran forward after the Nindroid.
Nya hesitated. There was something about this Nindroid that unsettled her. It didn't seem . . . normal. She mentally shook herself. That's ridiculous, she thought. He's just more annoying than most Nindroids. She ran after Cole, who was quickly catching up with the Nindroid.
The Nindroid had ran down a blocked alley, and was trying to find a place to hide when Cole caught him by the shoulders. "Gotcha!" he yelled triumphantly.
"You think so?" the Nindroid asked, and Cole didn't notice the tone of hatred in his voice. Then, he kicked Cole under the chin, and vanished, his cloaking device hiding him from sight.
"Where did he go?" Nya asked, skidding to a stop next to Cole, who was rubbing his sore jaw.
"Ow, that Nindroid can pack a good kick," Cole muttered, massaging his chin. "I managed to catch him for just one second, then he kicked me and disappeared. I guess he finally enabled his cloaking device."
"Then he can be anywhere by now!" Nya exclaimed, frustrated. "And we've not only lost Jay, but Zane, Kai, and Lloyd too!"
"Let's go," Cole said, taking her hand as he started to turn around. Nya's cheeks flushed involuntarily.
"You're not going anywhere, Ninja!" Where blank empty space was only seconds before, there were Nindroids, circling around the two warriors, cackling menacingly.
The last thing Nya remembered before she was knocked out was Cole shouting, then a yelp of pain as he was knocked unconscious with a powerful kick from a Nindroid. Then everything went black. . .
