The Unexpected

Sensei Wu walked through the 2nd floor hallways of his academy as he checked his teachers' progress on their classrooms. He had already looked at how prepared Nya's, Zane's, and Jay's classrooms were for the first day of school, which was fast approaching at a month from today, and was on his way to Kai's classroom when, suddenly, the sound of approaching footsteps sounded from behind him.

One of the custodians, a middle-aged woman named Sandra, came running toward him, her breath heaving as she tried to close the distance between her and Wu.

Her bulky work boots squealed to a stop as she almost crashed into the martial arts master.

"S-sensei," she panted out. "You're needed on the phone."

He furrowed his brow in confusion. Had the Ninjago School District called because there had been some cancellation in the planned date of the opening of the new school? He asked, "Who was it?"

"She said that her name was Misako."

Misako? Why would she be calling now? Has she made a discovery concerning Ninjago's prophesied future? "I'll be right up there," he replied.

"Yeah, okay. Wait, Dareth and the other custodians and janitors have finished with the third floor and are now busy laminating the floor that the Headmaster's Office is located at. We'll have to go a separate way."She walked ahead of him, saying, "Please, follow me."

They sprinted side by side toward his office, taking a longer route than usual by skipping the closest set of stairs, instead opting for the last set of stairs at the hallway that they were at.

When they reached the 4th floor hallway, they saw several custodial workers and janitors working together to remove the old moldy planks that made up the floors of the school and replace them with newer laminate flooring. The stench of the glue used to apply the laminated flooring became stronger as Wu and Gloria approached the Headmaster's Office.

Dareth had been giving the group an explanation on the specific roles that they were taking when Sensei and Gloria arrived at their floor. Some of the workers glanced up from their work in time to see Sensei Wu walk toward his office. Among them was Bo, dressed in baggy work overalls stained with bleach and other chemicals.

Dareth stopped in mid-speech, then held the door open for them, saying, "The phone's on hold."

Sensei walked over to his desk, picked up the phone, then took it off hold. "Hello Misako," he greeted her.

She whispered in an low tone, "Wu, something- unusual happened this morning when I was looking through the archives. I was just robbed by a stranger. "

His eyebrows shot up in surprise. "What? How did that happen?"

"This- this young man, who called himself 'Felix', came up to me, claiming to be a university student majoring in Folklore. I believed him after he gave me a legitimate name of one of the Folklore professors of the University of New Ninjago. Felix said that he needed help finding a certain document for a 'summer assignment', so I assisted him. He stayed with me for no more than five minutes until he calmly left, saying that he had a 'meet' that he had forgotten about. And, a-and-" She paused, shakily catching her breath.

"And what, Misako?"

A sniffle came in on the line as she continued, "A couple of minutes after Felix left, I went back to check on my satchel, when I discovered that it was missing, replaced with his backpack."

"Are you sure that he hadn't just taken the wrong bag in haste?"

"That was my initial thought," she replied. "But, when I opened his backpack to see if I could find any form of identification, it was absolutely empty. It was odd, that a student like him wouldn't have his 'assignments' on him." She inhaled a deep breath before adding, "I went up to the main desk to ask if they had seen a student with my bag. I even gave them a description of his appearance. They told me that they hadn't spotted someone that had my satchel or fit the description."

"Oh no," he gasped.

Her voice noticeably cracked as she said, "T-there was- so much information in that bag. Months worth of notes, scrolls, supporting documents, and contacts. Now they're- gone!"

"Come now, Misako," he consoled her in a soothing tone. "I know you extremely well. Not all of your research was in that bag."

"You're right," she replied in voice lowered to barely above a whisper. "But the scrolls that were in there had important information pointing toward the return of the Overlord. One of them had even told of his newest form. Unfortunately, most of the other scrolls had yet to be translated so I wasn't able to see what they read." There was a shuffling of papers before she said, "Although I do not know his motive for taking my papers, I have a hunch that the perpetrator may still be around this area, possibly expecting to pursue me to my office so that he can take the rest of my research. Do you think that you can come to the archives to investigate and hopefully shine some light onto this strange situation?"

He nodded as he said, "Of course."

She replied, now sounding more relieved, "Great! I was also wondering if you can bring your students with you to maybe survey the area and try to find him."

"Not a problem. I will tell them right away."

"Thank you so much, Wu! You have absolutely no idea how much I owe you right now for this favor you're doing for me."

"No problem. Anything for an old friend."

She chucked lightheartedly, without a trace of her former frustration. "You know, Wu, you were always such a nice man."

He gulped as his face flushed red, suddenly recalling his awkward moments with her earlier that year. After reminding himself that he was talking to his brother's wife, he replied, "P-please, if you may, tell me the address of the archives."

"Sure thing," she replied, then told him the address of the University's archives, along with a few nearby locations and landmarks. She was even considerate enough to give Sensei a detailed physical description of Felix, down to the clothes that he was wearing when she saw him.

He jotted down all information on one of his yellow notepads, then walked off to gather up the Ninja.

After Wu walked out of sight, Bo quickly excused him from the group, saying that he had to go use the restroom.

"That is so weird! Who would've thought that something like this would happen so soon," Jay remarked as he and the other Ninja walked on a steep paved road leading up to the Ultra Dragon's 'pen', a cave in the mountains near the Academy that was kept under constant maintenance by a team of groundskeepers. They all wore light hiking clothing for the hot summer climate and the climb up the mountain, but still carry their Elemental Swords with them, safely stowed away in wooden sheaths on their backs.

"Yeah, not even a couple of months have passed since the defeat of the Overlord," Kai said.

"You know, what doesn't make sense is that it wasn't some sort of dark entity or supernatural force that made the satchel disappear," Cole said. "It was just some guy who was posing as a student. What exactly would be his reasoning behind stealing her bag?"

Jay shrugged as he said, "Well, maybe he thought that she had money in her satchel, so he took off with it?"

"Maybe," Zane replied after having run the situation through his logic parameters several times. "But, if that were the case, why meet her face to face to take her belongings? Why go through all the trouble to follow her to the archives, trick her into helping him, and steal from her when he could've done it simply by snatching her bag?"

Cole added, "Or better yet, have taken someone else's bag. She wasn't exactly the easiest person to steal from. After all, she was in the archives at the time, not walking outside minding her own business."

Kai nodded. "Yeah, it just doesn't make sense."

They finally reached a very small, grassy clearing in the mountains. They turned to face an enormous stone cavern 12 meters in height and almost elliptical in shape. The cave's jagged edges made it appear almost like the gaping mouth of the Great Devourer.

"Man, it's been a while since I've last seen these guys," Kai said as they approached the Ultra Dragon's territory.

"Well, we have been a bit occupied with our full-time jobs as teachers," Cole reminded him.

"Oh, yeah," Kai replied, feeling a bit ashamed at mention of that fact. "Almost forgot." Then he looked up to the cavern and loudly whistled. The high pitched sound resonated through the cave walls, giving the Ninja an impression of the great amount of space inside.

It took a few moments before four individual roars boomed out from the depths of the tunnels, so intense that the four young men had to press their hands atop their ears.

Out of the darkness of the cavern trudged out the colossal four headed dragon, tail trailing behind him. Upon spotting his four former companions, he trotted joyfully toward them, his thunderous footsteps making the ground shake violently.

"Whoa!" Jay yelled as he and the others bounced wildly after every impact that the Ultra Dragon's heavy feet made onto the ground.

The Dragon slowed down to a stop in front of the Ninja, tail still excitedly swinging side by side. Each of his heads came forward to nuzzle against his former masters.

After the brief reunion with their dragons, they worked together to secure an oversized saddle enough to accommodate several people onto the Ultra Dragon's back. Then, they climbed onto the saddle and took off toward the direction of Sensei Wu's Academy.

"Hey, Sensei, where exactly are these 'archives' located at?" Cole asked soon after they had picked up their master from the academy.

"There is a large group of buildings near the archives that Misako said she was robbed," Wu said over the sound of the Ultra Dragon's beating wings."They are all part of a higher education institution known as University of New Ninjago. According to her, the archives were part of a library at the University, called Shiba Ryotaro Library, a two story building which is on the intersection between Pine Boulevard and Mountain Pass Avenue. There is also a small public park right across Mountain Pass."

"This place sounds familiar," Jay said.

"Wait, you know that place?" Cole asked.

Kai looked absolutely shocked. "What? How!? You aren't even old enough to have gone to college!"

Zane nodded, adding, "That and you haven't had any form of formal schooling in over two years."

"Wait, you're telling me now that the training with Sensei wasn't considered enough to fulfill the schooling requirement for just about any university?"

Sensei looked at Jay and said, "I never explicitly told you that my training could be used to fill out requirements. I only offered you the opportunity so that you could help save Ninjago, not replace years of schooling."

When the truth finally sunk through Jay, he sighed and said, "Damn it. I guess that I can still make it as an inventor, but if I ever want to work for a company, I am going to be academically under qualified."

Cole, hearing this, felt some sympathy for his teammate and replied, "Jay, I'm sure that your fame as an accomplished inventor and member of our team can be enough to get you hired. You're really talented and a great team player. Any employer would be crazy to overlook you among their applicant pool just because of your schooling."

The pessimistic thoughts clouding Jay's mind dissipated after he heard what Cole said. "You really think so?"

Kai added, "Yeah, and you really know how to work with technology, despite not having finished high school."

Zane nodded in agreement. "Besides, there are some very well-known inventors that, even with the lack of schooling, have become leaders in their respective fields. A few of them have even gone on to create their own companies."

Jay looked at the three of them, then genuinely smiled, their words filling him with confidence. "Thanks guys."

"So how do you know the University of New Ninjago?" Cole asked.

"When I had first gotten serious about making a one person 'flying machine' over three years ago, I searched for anyone who could've helped me make a life-sized prototype off of a 1:50 scale model that I had, but had difficulty finding someone. During that time, one of the people who supplied me with materials for my inventions referred me to Professor Idler, one of the instructors for the University of Ninjago's Mechanical Engineering program. He agreed to meet with me a week later."

He gazed into the distance as he added, "When I first met with him at the University, I brought my model to show him what I had wanted to create. At first, I was pretty nervous that, when the Professor would see me, he wouldn't take me seriously because many of the other people that I had asked looked down on me for my age. However, he didn't seem to mind the fact that I was younger than the majority of his students. Idler looked over my model and determined several flaws in my original design, then gave some suggestions on how to improve my design. Unlike other engineers that I had met before, he was to the point and very approachable."

"We worked on the prototype for several months afterwards, meeting at least once a week, with me building and testing out the prototype on my own time and Idler helping me on calculations and giving me new ideas of what I should implement on the prototype when I went to the University. I stopped visiting him after Sensei recruited me to be a Ninja."

"I did tell Idler that the flying machine project would be on an indefinite hiatus until I was finished with my 'training'. Even though he was pretty upset, he reluctantly accepted that fact."

He added, "I remember regularly going to the Ryotaro Library, whenever Idler told me to copy down some mechanics formulas and concepts from certain editions in the 2nd floor of the library. Strange though, I would've thought that after the Overlord attacked Ninjago City, the library would be left too damaged to for the University to keep. It wasn't too far from the path that the Overlord and the Stone Army took when they tried taking over Ninjago." He shrugged dismissively. "Then again, the library could've been remodeled during the past few months."

"Hey, why didn't you ever mention this Idler fellow before?" Kai asked.

"Yeah, he seems like a pretty cool guy," Cole said.

Jay replied, "Sorry guys, I guess he just never came up to me in our conversations. At least, not until now. I have told Nya about him though. She saw me emailing him about a year ago and asked me who he was." He rubbed his head as he murmured, "Oh man, it's been a really long time since I last saw him in person."

Sensei turned to Jay and said, "Jay, since you know more about this location than any of us, I suggest that you tell us when we approach the Library."

"Sure thing, Sensei."

About an hour's time passed before the men spotted skyscrapers in the distance. They started their decent, following Jay's instructions to circle around New Ninjago so that they could find the University.

After searching for several minutes around the dozens of construction sites that made up most of New Ninjago City, they were able to locate the University.

"Hey, I think I see the park that Misako was talking about," Kai said as he pointed at a sizable plot of land less than a couple of miles from where they were.

Jay glanced at the park and nodded in confirmation. "Okay, I think that we can land here. I don't see too many people around that clearing."

The Ultra Dragon was steered to the location of the clearing that Jay said and touched down in the very center of a ring of trees.

"Now, to find Mountain Pass and Pine," Cole announced to Sensei Wu and the rest of his team.

"If I remember correctly, Mountain Pass is to the West of the park. That means that we'll have to this way to find it," Jay said, gesturing to his left. "Getting to Mountain Pass is probably a good five minute walk from here. From there, we may have to walk along the street to find Pine."

"What about the Ultra Dragon?" Kai asked

"He can just fly around in the skies for a little while, until it's time for us to leave," Cole replied.

"Alright, let's get going."

Ten minutes later, the group was at the front desk of the library. Sensei Wu was asking the librarian, an average looking male of dark complexion, where the archives were located. The man directed them to an underground floor, right below the floor that they were on.

As they were walking down the stairs, Sensei said, "Misako must still be down here. She said that she wouldn't attempt to go to her office just yet because she suspected that 'Felix' would follow her all the way to her office to later try and take the rest of her documents."

Zane said, "But, Sensei, if the man knew where Misako was, might he also already know where her office is?"

To this, Sensei replied uncertainly, "I am not sure about that, Zane. We will have to check with her on that. Though I do hope that he still hasn't found it."

They arrive at the floor that the archives are at, a vast room lined with shelves of various sizes of antiquated publication, illuminated by the sickly yellow glow of old florescent lights.

Kai looked around the place and scoffed. "These are the archives?!"

"SHHHH!"

They turned to a red-headed college student in a hoodie bearing the University's initials and school colors: red, black, and silver. He is sitting at a desk among piles of books and seems to be extremely frazzled.

"Will you kindly shut your trap?" he asked Kai in a clipped, impatient tone, glaring at the Fire Ninja with frustration. "Some of the people here are busy trying study for tomorrow's test."

"Okay, geez," Kai replied. "We'll get out of your hair."

"Oh, and by the way, these aren't exactly the archives."

"What?!"

"Oh my God," a feminine voice exclaimed melodramatically from behind a bulky backpack and a couple of stacks of large volumes. "Will someone tell this poor lost Freshman to shut the hell up?"

The male sighed as he said, "I already did, Emi. He just doesn't seem to know how to."

Kai glared at him and snarled, "Why you-"

He cut him off. "Look, the both of us need you to leave before we decide to call campus security to take you all out of here." He pointed at somewhere right across the room, "The archives are on this floor, hothead, they just don't happen to be the first thing that you see when you come down from the stair case. They're somewhere along that far wall. It's the really old door that reads the sign, 'Archives'. Should be easy to find."

"Thank you," Cole replied hastily, pulling an enraged Red Ninja with him. "And sorry about my friend."

"Please, don't apologize," the male said, gazing vacantly back at his books. "Just try to use 'inside voices' around here."

"Sure," Cole said as he and the rest of the group moved to the direction of where the college student had pointed at. They reached the wall which, unlike the rest of the room, seemed to be made of old brick. They searched along its length and found an ancient-looking wooden door with a small bronze plaque with faded white letters.

"rchiv?" Jay read aloud what letters still remained.

Kai frowned. "Seriously? 'Rchiv'. That student we saw back there must've not been here in a while."

"Well, here goes nothing," Cole says as he grabs the door handle and pulls the door open.

The wooden door creaks loudly, making the five of them flinch from the uncomfortable noise and Cole stop opening it halfway. There are several collective groans from the other side of the room.

"Oops," Cole whispered. "Almost forgot about them."

"Might as well open the door all the way," Kai said. The Black Ninja sighed and forced the heavy door wide open, the hinges emitting whinny, high-pitched sounds.

The group found themselves staring blankly down at an expanse of dark space, only sparingly illuminated by some old fashioned electric lights and several windows at the very top of the far wall carrying in sunlight from the outside.

"Wu, is that you?" A voice called from the depths of the darkness.

"Misako," he replied.

"Yes. I'm down here. Please, be careful when going down the stairs."

The men descended down the long, winding staircase, completely devoid of a railing.

"Whoa, this is pretty dangerous to be going up and down on," Jay commented, staying close to the stone wall of the room.

She replied from below, "Well, this room has been around for centuries. Whoever built this may have not had a railing in mind, may it be for aesthetics or lack of materials. That or it may have been destroyed a long time ago."

She appeared at the very bottom of the steps, holding a bright LED light lantern.

"Hello again," she said with a relieved smile as she looked at the group.

They gave their customary greetings in reply, then got straight to business. They all gathered near a long wooden table littered with various scrolls. Misako put down the lantern, making sure to keep it far away from the scrolls.

"Sensei told us about your incident with this person, Felix," Cole started. "Is there any other information that you would like to give us that could help find him?"

"I already told Wu 'Felix's' physical description, but I guess that I can repeat what I still remember. He was a male of average height, with Asian facial features, long black hair, medium build." She pauses before adding, "He was wearing a t-shirt depicting the school's logo and plain jeans. No facial hair, no tattoos, no piercing, no scars, some acne."

"He must've looked like a regular college student," Jay noted.

"He probably would've been aiming for that look. After all, he was trying to pass for one," she replied. "When I first saw him enter the archives, I was completely started. I am usually alone in here because it's a quiet place to find and analyze information concerning the fate of my son and Ninjago."

"I'll give him this; Felix did a very good job of passing off as a Folklore Major. When I asked for what class he was looking for, he replied by saying he needed it for his 'Folklore Genres: The Legend' course, one of the courses offered at the Literature Department. I held a healthy amount of skepticism toward him and asked what professor was teaching the course. He replied by giving the name of one of the professors, Dr. Yamauchi, who happened to be teaching that course along with a couple others."

She exhaled wearily, then replied in a self-depreciating tone, "And, from there I believed him."

Sensei Wu said, "Misako, do not blame yourself. With the information that he gave, any other person would've dropped their guard."

She nodded absentmindedly, saying, "I guess. Though I should've caught on when he had trouble making up his mind on what he wanted to take for his assignment. In hindsight, he could've been stalling."

"Do you think that he may have been after anything besides your research?" Jay asked.

"Like what?"

"Your money."

She stops to think and suddenly remembers a crucial fact. "Oh crap! I had taken out money from the bank earlier today." She covered her face with her hands in frustration.

"How much?"

She murmured, "Enough to pay the rent for a nearby apartment in the area."

All of them suddenly recalled how expensive it had been to pay off an apartment in Ninjago City after the Defeat of the Great Devourer and how much more rent must've cost with the extra demand for living space in New Ninjago City. Jay's eyes widened. "Wow. That's a lot of money."

"Great, on top of that, I have to deal with having all my credit cards being inside of there," she moaned, now even more upset with her situation.

Sensei Wu asked, "Didn't my brother buy land some time after the Defeat of the Overlord?"

"He did. He's been busy this summer trying to build a settlement on it. However, if I were to commute from there to here and back again, I wouldn't even have time to sleep. It's just too far from the University."

"I see," Sensei replied, rubbing his long beard in contemplation.

"You know, she could stay with us," Cole suggested.

"Yeah and we can probably take her to work via Ultra Dragon," Kai added.

"Not a bad plan," Sensei said. He then turned to face Misako and asked, "If it's alright with you?"

She thought about it for a moment, then decided.

"I am more than willing to take you up on your offer, as long as it goes through with my husband."

"Then it's settled. You can stay with us for as long as you'd like."

She grinned and chucked. "Wu, you old hoot! You know that I'm only going to stay until I have enough money to be able to pay for the apartment!"

The darkness succeeded in hiding the blush of embarrassment that spread throughout his face. "Of course, that was what I was referring to."

A "plink" sound suddenly echoed through the room, interrupting their conversation.

"What was that?" Misako asked.

"I'm not sure," Sensei replied

"Zane, are your bolts starting to fall off again," Jay asked jokingly.

"No Jay, I believe that they are still intact," Zane replied as he felt the areas around his elbows and torso.

They looked around the dimly lit room, trying to discover the source of the sound.

"Do you think that it could've been some water," Kai asked.

"I doubt it," Misako replied. "This room is strictly kept at cool and dry conditions, so that these ancient documents can withstand more time."

Zane changed his vision to a setting that his father had given him the last time that he had update him: Nocturnal Vision. His eyes suddenly glowed a low neon green color and, though them, he was able to see the details of the room as if he had been in broad daylight.

"Whoa, what's up with Zane?" Cole asked.

"I don't see any other people in here," he said as his eyes scanned throughout the room. They drifted up to the windows and saw it. A figure of a person leaning against the pane of the window directed to the far left.

"I see the figure of someone," he reported, his eyes adjusting from Nocturnal Vision to Normal Vision. Even through his standard vision, he could see it. "It seems to be watching us."