(A/N) So, I have a job now, and my time to write has been limited, plus I'm going on a big western adventure to places like Mt. Rushmore and Yellowstone, so there's no guarantee for service. I might not be able to update for a while. But I'm really excited for the trip anyway! This chapter, we're going to see some fluff, the rest of the OCs, never-before-seen backstories of Emma, Reed, and Nick, and a new Nightprowler (hence the name)! This chapter is the last one before the action resumes, so use this breather while you have it! Read away!

Chapter 5

The Sixth Nightprowler

Violet sat in her room, looking out the window at the shimmering waves lapping at the island shore. Somewhere across that ocean, her little brother was waiting for rescue with a psycopath for a captor. Who knew what he could be doing to the poor little guy? She knew Drew must be equally, if not more upset than she was. He'd raised the kid, promised her mother he'd keep him safe. And now he was all the way across the sea, in the old tea storehouse in the woods. She, like her father, had figured out that it was their old home that the clues were referring to. After all, she had lived there.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. She slid it open to see Drew. He smiled weakly at her. "Hey. I wanted to talk. Can I come in?" Violet stepped aside to let him in. The couple sat down on the bed.

"So, what's up?" Violet asked her boyfriend.

"Well, Vi, I've been wanting to ask you this for a while, but I never got the chance," he began. "I wanted to ask you, well, if you wanted to, y'know, maybe join our team?"

Violet looked up at Drew and blinked. "Me?"

"Well, yeah. You're a great fighter. We could use a ninja like you."

Violet thought about it. "What exactly do you do? I mean, other than Ninja activities?"

"Well," Drew began, "When we were working for the Agency, Team Nightprowler was a small nocturnal group of elite young agents who were top of their class in a specific field. Nick was a master navigator and tracker, Emma was the best shot in her class, Reed was terrible in combat but his knack for figuring out computers made up for it, I was the best fighter in my grade, and Lex was a child genius. The Black Dragon Agency brought us all together and made us a team. They had brainwashed us all after we were taken from the monastery when we were kids, but it hadn't worked on me, so I was the only one who remembered everything. It was hard being the only one who had any sense of goodness, I'll tell you that. Our final mission for them was, well, you know what it was: to find the Ninja's weaknesses and tell the Agency about it so they could destroy you all. After we became good and joined the Ninja, we haven't been told to do much together as a team."

"So where would I fit in?"

"Well, we're not sure yet. That's something we need to figure out."

"Do I need to pass a test, or can I just join?"

"If I were in charge of the team, I'd just let you join, but since Nick is the leader, he's bound to have some sort of test for you. I'm sure you'll pass it though!" He gave her a peck on the cheek, and she let out a giggle. Even in a crisis, there should still be lighthearted moments. "Don't worry," Drew consoled his girlfriend. "We'll find Lex. It'll be alright, you'll see."

Reed sat in his room on his bed, playing Fist-2-Face 8 on the giant flat-screen tv on the wall. Feverishly he worked the buttons on the controller, beating the crap out of his opponent. He was wracking up points faster than he ever had before.

"Wow. Bad day?" Nick had walked in on him showing no mercy to the CPU.

Without looking up, Reed started to vent. "What do you think? My sister has been kidnapped by Xavier, and all we're doing is sitting here!"

Nick sat down on the bed next to his younger teammate. "What makes you so sure it was Xavier?" he asked.

Reed snorted. "Well, first, the guy called Lex a "squirt" the other day at lunch when we made that challenge. He obviously hates him! And I already told you that when he walked out during Emma's panic attack before she was kidnapped he mouthed 'watch your back!' He also went missing after we found the note. What more proof do you need?"

Nick sighed as he watched Reed's player frying the opponent with lightning blasts. He knew Reed and Emma were close. They were all each other had. He knew their backstory. It was very tragic. Reed and Emma's parents were police officers. The Senseis had actually known them from their ninja days. They were good people. They knew the people of Ninjago City and said hi to some of them on the street. But one night they were on a chase after a man who had robbed a drugstore and shot the man at the register. They finally had him cornered, but the man wasn't going quietly, and his gun was still loaded. That was the night that Mr. and Mrs. Michaels became fallen heroes. And just like that, Reed and Emma were parentless at ages two and six respectively. In their will, the Michaels had named the Ninja as the legal guardians of their kids, since they knew them and knew they could train them to be fighters for good, just like their parents.

Nick didn't remember his parents at all. But he knew he wasn't loved. He spent most of his early life on the street after he was dumped there as soon as he could walk and talk. He was part of a group of boys who stole food and money to get by. His keen senses were a great asset to the group, and he was well respected for his ability to pick a pocket without being noticed. He also had unnatural strength for his age, and could create small tremors in the ground (he didn't know at the time, but these abilities were due to his earth powers), so that helped in fights with rival groups over a scrap of food. He always stuck up for those smaller than him, believing that they needed protection from the bigger bullies who tried to take the money and food that they rightfully "earned".

He'd been in the pickpocket business for years before he snatched a box of chicken dumplings from an unsuspecting Sensei Cole, who had been stopping for a bite to eat while scouting the streets for potential ninja students. Cole had given chase and found Nick dishing out the dumplings to his fellow pickpockets. Nick had caused a tremor to try to scare off the Sensei, but instead of getting angry, Cole told the boys they could keep the dumplings, but that Nick would have to come with him to train to be a ninja. At first, Nick didn't like the idea of being a good boy, having grown up stealing to live another day. But he eventually got used to it and realized that all that time being a pickpocket, looking after the younger ones, he'd been protecting those who couldn't protect themselves. This was no different.

"Did you hear that Drew suggested that Violet joins the team?" Nick asked, trying to get his friend's mind off the topic of his sister.

"No, but figures. He's been wanting her to join the team for a long time." Reed answered. "He's obviously using the excuse that after these kidnappings we need more teammates to get you to let her on board. What would Violet even do? Emma's the sharpshooter who can use virtually any weapon you give her without issues, Drew's the combat expert who knows almost every fighting style there is, I'm possibly the best hacker in Ninjago, considering the fact that I was able to hack into the most secure network in the world last year, you're the navigator, tracker, and leader, and Lex is our mathematical genius who can solve anything. But what's Violet's strength? We all know she's good at combat, but we can't have two combat experts."

"I've been thinking about that," Nick told him. "She definitely has an agile build, and from what I've seen, she's pretty quick. We might want to test her on theft arts. We don't have a thief yet."

"Wouldn't we need to take her on this mission anyways, even if she doesn't join? I mean, we're gonna need someone to show us the way to the hideout."

"True, true," Nick agreed. Then he stood up. "Well, I should probably get one of the arenas ready to test her."

"Have fun."

"Oh, you're coming, too."

"What?! But I'm in the middle of this-"

"No excuses. I'll need your help on creating an obstacle course."

Reed groaned. "Do I have to?"

"Yes. Now get your old Black Dragon uniform on. We're doing this as Nightprowlers."

Violet was in the dojo, warming up for her test. She had no idea what she was going to be doing during it, so she was working on a little bit of everything: push-ups, pull-ups, stretches, handstands, fighting stances. Suddenly the door slid open, and Drew came in wearing something different than his normal gi. It was a uniform of some sort, with a long-sleeved shirt and long pants with pockets everywhere. It was mostly black, but had a red belt tied around his waist. He wore red fingerless gloves and black boots. He had a sly smirk on his face, which, Violet knew, meant he had something he knew she'd like. She noticed he was holding a purple gift bag at his side. She crossed her arms and gave him a small smile. "Alright, fire boy, what's in the bag?"

"Why don't you open it and find out?" Drew suggested, holding it out to her. She took it and plopped herself down on the floor. She tore the tissue paper out and found what looked like a folded-up uniform. Was this...?

"It's your Nightprowler uniform. I asked my mom to put something together real quick," Drew explained to her.

Violet looked up at him. "You...you did this for me? But, I haven't even taken the test yet!"

Drew scratched the back of his head and a little color came to his cheeks. "Well, to be honest, I think you'll pass it with flying colors. It's not designed to be challenging, it's designed to see what you're good at. I can't tell you what you'll be doing, it's supposed to be secret, but it tests things like agility, strength, speed, reaction times, stuff like that. You'll pass it, I just know it."

Violet ran at him, threw her arms around him, and kissed him hard on the lips. When she pulled away, she giggled at her boyfriend's expression: eyes wide in surprise, mouth slightly open in shock. "What?" Violet asked. "It's not like we've never kissed before."

"Never like that," Drew breathed. Violet laughed again and picked up the uniform Drew had given her.

"I'll go put this on. I want to do my test in it," she told him gleefully. Then she raced out of the dojo. Drew just stared after her, still in shock. Then he shook his head. He shouldn't be this surprised. Violet's element was dark energy, so it was in her nature to be impulsive, unpredictable, and have wild mood swings. Dating her was a real rollercoaster; sometimes she'd be passionate and romantic, and other times she'd be insisting on being independent and alone. But Drew had known what he was getting into when he hopped on this train. Lloyd had even warned him about Violet's unpredictability once he was first told about their relationship. But the truth was, Drew wouldn't have her any other way. There was never a boring moment with her around, and he would take her wildness over a predictable girl any day.

Violet checked herself out in the mirror in the girls' bathroom. Her suit looked good. It was made of black leather, and she wore a long purple belt that was wrapped tightly around her from her waist to halfway up her torso. The belt had two clips, one on each side, to hang her war fans on. It had an off-shoulder neckline and an oval-shaped cutout in the back. Her pants were tucked into her black boots, which went up to her knees. There was a short purple skirt that flowed freely allowing her to run. She put her long black hair into a high ponytail to keep it out of her face.

Just then four girls walked into the bathroom together. Violet recognized all of them: Ray Walker, Sukki Wilson, Tora Halestorm, Reena Johnson. Ray was a confident and energetic person, but a little emotionally unstable. She was olive skinned, and had long black hair that came down in waves and purple eyes. Sukki was an optimistic girl who wore her strawberry blonde hair in a braid, and had grey eyes with a spray of freckles on her nose. Tora was stubborn yet kind, with black hair with a green streak running down one side. Her eyes shone bright green, and her cheeks were dotted with freckles. Reena was a mischievious one who stood tall and skinny with pale skin, and had long black hair that sometimes hid one eye.

"OMG, Violet!" Reena gushed. "Is that a new gi? It's so awesome!"

"Thanks," Violet responded, looking down at the suit, "but it's not a gi. Drew gave it to me because I'm being tested today to be a Nightprowler."

"No way!" Ray gasped. "Can we watch you?"

"Well, they didn't say anything about no spectators," Violet mused. "I guess you can."

"Great!" Tora squealed. "Where is it?"

"Arena 4."

"We'll see you there!" Sukki promised.

When Violet arrived a few minutes later, she found the three boys standing at the base of the giant pole, waiting for her. She stood in front of them and glanced at Drew. His cheeks were red; he probably liked her new suit. Then she looked over at Nick and Reed. Reed's suit was different from Drew's. His suit was almost completely black, with long sleeves and long pants. A belt carrying various electronic devices was around his waist. He wore blue gloves and blue shoes, and high-tech communication devices encircled his wrists. Nick also had a unique suit. It had a black and grey cameo pattern on it, and had pockets all over it. His belt carried a swiss army knife, a grappling gun, binoculars, a compass, and many other gadgets. He wore black leather gloves, and wore black army boots. She looked up in the bleachers. The girls she'd met earlier had taken some front row seats. They waved down at her.

"Violet Garmadon," Nick began, "you have been called here because we believe you have the potential to become a Nightprowler. You have demonstrated determination, courage, will, and many other skills that show that you might have what it takes to join us. However, being a Nightprowler will require much more from you. Today, we will test your strength, speed, agility, ingenuity, and problem solving skills to see whether or not you will be permitted to join us. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

Instead of looking satisfied, though, Nick frowned. "Until you have earned the title of Nightprowler you will call me 'sir'. Is that clear?"

Drew turned to his leader with a look of exasperation. "Seriously dude? You're gonna scare her off."

"Yeah," Reed agreed. "You really need to chill."

Then Drew turned to the lightning wielder. "Reed. You've known Nick for how long and you still expect him to be able to chill? Mister Drill Sargent here doesn't know how to chill."

"Will you two cut it out?!" Nick scolded. "Let's just get this over with, then you can fool around all you want. Got it?"

"Whatever," Reed sighed, and all three former agents turned toward the training course.

"NINJAAAAGOOO!" they shouted, and all all three formed spinjitzu tornadoes, Reed's looking a little unstable, since he'd just barely finished the course a few days ago with Sensei Jay. They swept through the obstacles, swirling dust into the air. When all three tornadoes dissipated on the other end of the arena from Violet, the training course had been transformed. The swords and axes around the course were now real, and were red hot. The planks and logs were crackling with electricity, and the ground was actually rippling like ocean waves. The biggest difference though, was that the course was rotating around the pole in the center of the arena. Violet took a step back.

"To pass the test, you must get that key at the top of the pole in the center of the arena," Nick told her. "Fight your way up to it."

"Hey," Drew called over to her. She looked toward him. He was giving her that adorable smirk of his. "You'll do great." Violet thought of their earlier conversation, of him giving her the Nightprowlers suit, of his reaction when she kissed him. She couldn't help but smile back. She had a feeling that he was thinking of the same thing.

Violet began to circle the course, looking for a way through. She observed that the hot swords were on the outermost ring, and were rotating in a clockwise direction. The electrified planks and logs were in the next ring, and they circled counterclockwise. The rippling ground was the innermost ring, and it was going clockwise like the hot swords. Inside that was the pole with the key at the top. This would be difficult. Violet took a deep breath, and dove in.

Nick stood in disbelief. He couldn't believe what he'd just seen. Violet had passed the test on the first try.

At first it looked like she wouldn't make it. She had almost been burnt by the hot swords, and almost lost her balance. But she somehow ended up jumping through to the next ring. When she came to the electrified circle of planks and logs, she demonstrated great agility and strength by maneuvering her way through the field of lightning on her hands, careful not to let her metal war fans come near the bolts. Then she got to the rippling floor. She lost her balance and fell twice, but she kept getting back up. Eventually she found that if she rode the crest of the waves by running with it, she was able to get high enough to jump to the top of the pole and grab the key. As soon as she took it, the entire floor of the arena shone bright white, and when the light died, the training course was back to normal.

"I did it," she breathed, and slid down the pole.

"Violet, you are now the thief on Team Nightprowler," Nick declared. "You have shown us that you have what it takes. Continue to produce these same results."

"I told you that you could do it!" Drew exclaimed, and ran up to her, picked her up, and swung her around in a circle.

Reed rolled his eyes. "Come on, Nick, let's leave these lovebirds and play Fist-2-Face 8," he groaned. "You owe me a round, since you made me quit the one I was on to come down here." With that, the two boys walked out the exit door.

"I still can't believe Violet passed the test on her first try," Nick told his teammate.

"Well, she is the daughter of the Green Ninja," Reed pointed out. "I'm not too surprised."

When the monastery was destroyed last year, the Destiny's Bounty had gone with it, since taking it with the Ninja when they left would draw too much attention. Instead they had fled on foot. So Nya and Jay had built a new one since then, and it served mostly as a control station, always tied to the docks next to the paddleboats. It had more computers than before, plus hundreds of maps, both paper and digital, of the different parts of Ninjago, along with some other known countries like Astoria. Cole, Lloyd and Zane were in the bridge of the Bounty, studying the map of the Shadow Forest. They drew boundaries around shadow wolf territories, traced the safest trails (and those not so safe), trying to locate exactly where Heather's and Lloyd's cottage used to be. It was difficult, as the forest had never been very carefully mapped before now.

"Tell me Lloyd," Cole began, "Why exactly was the cottage so secret in the first place? With all the rare teas you made, you could make a fortune."

"Heather's mother didn't like the outside world that much," Lloyd explained. "She didn't trust most people. It took her a while to warm up to me. She would go out and make some decent money selling our rare teas to tea shops in places like Jamonikai Village, where she trusted the owners. She'd use Traveler's tea to get around, never going on foot, because she'd have to come across people she didn't trust. But in her defense, some of the plants we grew and turned into teas were extremely rare. Don't you think people might exploit that to make their own fortunes? Her fears were not unfounded, Cole."

"Maybe so," Zane put in, "but because of all the secrecy, we now have no idea where to look. And we don't have that much time left. We only have approximately 49 hours left before our time runs out, only a little more than two days. It would be most unfortunate if we were unable to retrieve Emma and Lex."

Just then, the door to the bridge slid open, and Violet ran in wearing something much different than her normal gi. Lloyd stared at his daughter with one eyebrow raised. "Violet, what are you wearing?" he asked, thoroughly confused.

"Dad, I'm a Nightprowler now! I passed their test! I'm part of their team!"

Lloyd blinked. Did he hear her right? Did Drew, Nick, and Reed really add Violet to their group? "Sweetheart, I don't understand," the head Sensei expressed.

Suddenly, the three remaining Nightprowlers entered the room. "It's true, Sensei Lloyd," Nick told him. "We added her to the team. She's one of us now."

For a moment, Lloyd stood there with his mouth slightly open. Then his expression turned cross. "Violet, may I speak with you privately?" he asked, motioning for her to follow him outside the room. When they were both outside the door, he slid it shut and turned to his daughter with a frown.

"Violet, would you care to explain to me why you made such a huge decision without my permission?" the sensei probed.

Violet put her hands on her hips. "Dad, I can make my own decisions. You can't expect me not to do anything without your say-so. I need more independence!"

"You don't understand, Violet! The Nightprowlers do very dangerous tasks! And they also can take extreme measures to get a job done! What job are you doing for them?"

"I'm the thief."

"NO. I will not allow you to steal. You are a ninja, not a criminal!"

"Is something wrong?" Drew had slid open the door, curious as to what all the shouting was about. Nick and Reed were behind him, also wondering the same thing.

"Boys, I'm afraid that Violet will not be allowed to join your team," Lloyd answered. "Thank you for the offer, however."

"What?! No!" Violet exclaimed. "I am not a little girl anymore, Dad! I'm growing up, and nothing you try to do will stop that! Someday I'll be all grown up. You need to accept that!" She walked over to stand by Drew. "I'm a Nightprowler now, and that's that!"

"I'm telling you, Violet, this decision will backfire on you!"

"Fine then! But I've made my choice, and I'm not backing out on it! Besides, I'll need to go with them on this mission to find Emma and Lex anyway because they need a guide who's actually lived there. You can't go, since you have to teach here. So it's got to be me."

Lloyd sighed. "Very well," he said after a moment, "but don't say I didn't warn you!"

"Well, now that that's resolved, let's take a look at our route, shall we?" Reed suggested, trying to change the topic.

"Yes," Cole breathed in relief after the tension had been released. "Lloyd, Zane, and I have been working on that. We believe that the house must be in this general area." He pointed with a stick at a circle about the size of a coffee mug on the map of the forest. "If we can get you somewhere in there with Traveler's Tea, we're hoping that that will get you to a spot that you would be able to recognize. From there, you could find your way to the cottage."

"And Agent I," Zane added. "But that's the optimistic way of saying it. In reality, without an exact location on the map, you could end up anywhere in the forest, possibly in shadow wolf territory. If that doesn't happen and you do end up in the right area, you might not remember where you are and could get lost. You only have about a 43.4 percent chance of getting to the site of the cottage."

"That's a minority," Reed observed, wincing.

"Then let's beat those odds," Nick said with determination in his voice. "Let's gear up, Nightprowlers! We've got some friends to save!"

In the dark laboratory, the young physicist went over to the steel door to check on the hydrochloric acid's progress. There was a large outline of a circle in it where they had been applying coats of acid. He gave the center of the circle a push. Amazingly, it began to budge. "Emma!" Lex called over his shoulder.

"What now?" Emma moaned from the floor on the other side of the room. "This better be good. I'm bored out of my mind."

"I think we've gotten through the door!"

"What?!"

"Get over here! I need help pushing out the circle!" Emma scrambled over to her younger teammate and began to push with him.

"Careful not to touch the acid," Lex reminded her.

"I know! You told me before! I don't need to be told twice!"

Finally, after pushing as hard as they could, the circle of steel crashed to the floor on the other side. "We made it!" Emma exclaimed with glee. Just as they were crawling out though, they heard a tenor voice in front of them.

"You got farther than I thought you would," it stated. "You have my congratulations. But no one gets past me. I thought you would have been smart enough to figure that out, Lex. It seems I was mistaken."

The two escapees looked up to see a tall figure in a trenchcoat and fedora standing over them. Lex sighed. He should have seen this coming.

(A/N) So that escape attempt went over well. XP

Thanks to The Mayor of Ninjago City, AveXCninja11, Kairocksrainbow, SnowflakeShard, ebony umbreon, and JayFan67 for your reviews last chapter! Keep them coming!

In other news, my cousin (the one who likes Ninjago) has told me she's a Kai fan. We've been binge-watching all the episodes from the beginning of Rebooted all the way to the end of Skybound. We're watching the finale on Youtube tonight!

So, am I good or terrible at fluff? Tell me so I can decide if I want to do more of this in the future! Next chapter, we find out who Agent I is! Any final guesses? Last chance people! Next time, we'll also reach the climax of this story with the revelation of Agent I's identity, so hang on tight! Plus, we'll get to see what I like to call a "boss battle scene", and Agent I will do something VERY cruel...

Review please!