"We've got a distress call . . ." Nya says as she answers the phone. "The city's under attack!"
"Should we take the Bounty or our dragons?" Jay suggests.
"Then they'll surely know it's us," Kai points out.
"I suggest traveling the old fashion way," Wu says. I hear the engine of a car outside.
"You really did a nice job with the cloaking device," Jay says. He's getting tripped up over the design of the car. It's actually a mobile base complete with weapons, communication systems, and other equipment, but it just looks like a minivan on the outside. We all get in.
Lloyd turns to me. "Just like old times, huh? Like with the whole gang back together again?"
"I remember that," I say. That time when me and the other workers crashed Chen's ceremony with the Roto-jet. I even remember Nya saying, "It always brings tears to my eyes when I see the old gang back together."
Lloyd lets out a sigh. "I felt so lost without my father...it's nice to have him back as well..."
We enter the city. There's many scared citizens looking up at one of their warships. Pixal skillfully navigates us into the back of a deserted alleyway hidden from sight.
"Time to go ninja-mode!" Jay exclaims, putting on his hood.
I stay back for a moment with Garmadon as Lloyd leads the others into battle.
"He's come so far..." he tells me. "I couldn't be more proud of him." I nod, then join the others as we slip out into the city.
"We need to protect the people!" My father says as we run through the city.
I nod in reply. Then I hear a scream. There's a girl cowering in a corner as a warrior stands over her. Her dark eyes are quivering and her windblown hair is covering her face. I unsheath my sword and slam him into the wall, then help the girl up.
"Th-Thank you Lloyd," she says shyly. She looks about my age, a year younger. "My parents . . ." she looks down at her feet. "...died. Can I stay with you?"
"Of course. Let's get to somewhere safe." Another mob of soldiers is advancing on us, and father is busy with some others.
"Stay back," I tell her.
"I'm not going anywhere," She whimpers, backing all the way into the corner.
"NINJA-GOOOOO!" My spinjitzu tornado knocks them all aside. I speak into my earpiece, telling Nya to come pick up the girl. "What's your name?" I ask her.
"I'm Natalie."
"Cool." I tell Nya who the girl is.
I summon my dragon, blasting the warriors with green flames. I fly toward the docks, where the ship is hovering above.
"How are we supposed to make it go away?" Jay asks. "If we touch the force field, we'll be fried!"
"I'll do it," I hear my father say.
"Y-You can destroy the force field?" I ask. Right...he threw me into the wall in our last battle and completely wrecked it...such sad memories...
He starts generating a purple beam and shoots it at the air around the ship. The force field becomes visible. He keeps pushing and it starts fizzing, then breaks with a slight popping sound. He leans on my shoulder for support and nods. Jay sends a blast of lightning at the ship. Kai then uses fire, and the other ninja use their elements to fire at the ship. I'm last and I shoot my own beam at the ship. We burn a smoking hole in the side. The ship starts belching smoke and begins to lose altitude, but a portal appears above and it travels through the portal.
"They got away!" Jay groans.
I turn to Father. "You alright?"
"Yes, just exhausted. My powers can only take so much. I noticed you were saddened a little earlier. Are you okay?"
"Yeah," I sigh. I speak into my earpiece for Nya to pick us up. The car speeds into a view.
"Wow," Jay says as he admires the car. There's barely any scratches on it. I wonder how she managed to keep it in such good condition.
"Come on!" Nya motions us to get in. I get in the back seat with Natalie, and my dad falls asleep on my shoulder. I look down and smile at him. It felt so wonderful to have him back...
We arrive at the monastery, my dad having woken up by then.
"It's so . . ." Natalie observes everything.
"How about cool!" Jay says as he flops on the couch and turns on his video game console.
"You'll get used to him," Cole smirks.
I notice that there's some dust gathering in some areas.
"This place should get redone," Nya observes.
"Seriously? We just got back. And I hate chores!" Jay complains.
"Ninja-gooo!" Wu does spinjitzu, creating some furniture to make the place look like it did so long ago.
"So many old memories . . ." My father breathes. His eyes are on the verge of tearing up. I hug him and sigh. I was there when the serpentine destroyed the place.
"I'm sorry..." I cry. "The serpentine...were all my fault..."
"It's alright...it was so long ago now...you've changed...I'm so proud of you"
I see him glance over to see something faintly glistening. He hugs me for a moment, letting go to take it out. The next crystal! It's been buried beneath the floorboards this whole time!
"No wonder we couldn't locate it!" Misako says. "It was right here!"
"This is so cool!" Jay says as he marvels over the crystal.
"The crystal of lightning?" Natalie asks, confused.
"How do you know?" I ask.
"My parents have read about them," she says.
"So now we need to wait for a signal for the next crystal," Kai says. The crystal begins to pulse and the floor quakes beneath our feet.
"What's happening?" Natalie asks, a hint of fear behind her voice.
"The next one is Earth!" Cole shouts. "That's mine!"
"The Crystal of Earth?" Natalie asks. "My parents have told me about these crystals. That crystal is the only one I know the location."
"Where is it?" Cole asks eagerly.
"It's in . . . Primevil's Eye."
I tense up. My father puts a hand on my shoulder.
"We need to be prepared," I say. "The place is a massive labyrinth."
"Right," Said Misako. "We'll prepare communication equipment. Get some rest, because the clock is still against us. We will prepare departure in two days."
"It must've been hard for you," Natalie says tentatively. We're in my room after dinner.
"It's . . . . complicated," I sigh as I close the curtains in my room.
"It must've been hard for you and your father," she says.
"We've had our ups and downs," I answer. "It must've been hard for you to lose your parents too. I know that feeling well."
She looks down, and for a moment I worry that I might have overstepped her boundaries.
"Well, goodnight," she sighs.
"You too," I tell her as I pull up the covers.
"So we're leaving tomorrow, right?" Jay says.
"Yes," Wu says. "Kai, Jay, and Lloyd, you'll go with Natalie and locate the Crystal of Earth. The rest of us will stay back to keep watch on other activity."
"We should do some training before that, though." Kai suggests.
We head to the main room after breakfast with Wu, Misako, Garmadon, Pixal, and Natalie.
"Wanna join us?" Jay asks her. "Let's play Capture the Flag!" He suggests. Cole has two banners to use as flags.
"The rules are simple," Wu says. "You must bring the opposite team's flag and pin it to your wall."
We let Jay and Cole be team captains. Jay picks Nya as his first choice, then Cole chooses Kai. Jay then picks Zane, and Cole selects me. Finally, Jay chooses Pixal and Natalie asks to join me.
"Sure," I answer.
Misako goes over to the control panel and turns the room into a battle scenario. Blocks used for cover rise out of the floor and ropes swing from the ceiling.
"Go!" Wu says.
For a second, nobody moves. Then, we all jump into action. It's kind of like a real battle with all the chaos. Kai pitches fireballs at Jay, who dives behind a piece of cover.
"Scaredy-cat!" He teases Jay.
Jay blasts lightning back at him and Kai creates a fiery shield that surrounds him. Pixal scans the area with her computer vision while Nya creates a distraction by making spouts of water erupt from the ground. Zane jumps, then does spinjitzu and turns Nya's water into a solid wall..
I see Jay swinging on the ropes above and he's about to land on Cole, so I summon an energy beam and cut the rope down. Jay screeches then rolls behind a ball of cover. I'm fighting Zane, then see Nya slinking toward our flag. I fight Zane's grasp, but he's not letting me get toward Nya.
She takes the flag off the wall, then jumps as an arrow lodges into the wall beside her shoulder. I see Natalie kneeling behind a block of cover. Kai jumps on his sister and they roll over on the ground, the flag fluttering out of her grasp.
Natalie runs toward the flag. She yelps and slides as a blast of ice sails over her head, then grabs our flag and pins it to our wall.
I'm momentarily distracted then find myself on the ground, pinned by Zane. I guess I should have been more aware, since he's a nindroid and has serious focus. I hook my arm around his elbow and flip over so that I'm on top.
"Zane!" I hear Pixal yell. Zane takes her hand and they swing away on one of the ropes, but not before he blasts at me with ice. I dive behind some cover where Natalie is.
"We need a diversion!" Cole says.
"I have an idea," Natalie says.
We look at her with uncertainty.
"Come on, you can trust me," she says. I nod, then jump and grab one of the ropes. Kai meets me in midair and unsheathes his katana. I block with my sword and almost lose my grip on the rope but I swing higher. Down below, Zane is fighting with Cole and Nya is trying to overwhelm him with water. I see Natalie draw her bow and fire some arrows at her. She darts between different pieces of cover. Jay and Pixal see her.
I'm maintaining an energy shield against Kai's fire, and in my free hand blast some beams of energy to distract Pixal. The beams are so bright that Jay shields his eyes, and Natalie grabs the flag off the wall. Jay notices and does Airjitzu, landing in front of Natalie. Nya rushes over to help, but Kai flies down to keep her from Natalie.
I swing over to help Cole, who is a bit overwhelmed with Pixal and Zane. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Natalie throw a dagger that whizzes through Jay's sleeve and she trips him, then slides between Nya's legs and runs back to our side, pinning their flag against our wall.
Misako makes the blocks of cover and ropes sink back into the walls and floor. For a moment, it's totally silent except for the sound of all of us breathing hard.
"I didn't see that coming," Jay says.
"That was quite creative," I tell Natalie. She nods shyly and takes my hand. "Where did you learn how to fight?"
"I took martial arts in the city a while ago, and since you wanted me to join, I figured I might as well do something useful," she says.
Suddenly I feel a sharp pain in my back and I collapse. "Agh!"
"What is it?" She asks worriedly.
"Before you were here . . . I was shot with a dart . . ."
Garmadon rushes in, stopping the training. "Oh, Lloyd!" He kneels beside me and holds me close.
"D-Dad..." I whisper weakly. I hear only a few more words before fainting.
"Don't you ever leave me again..."