Chapter 4
Jay's P.O.V
"Lloyd? What did you do to Kai?"
"Um... what?"
"What did you do to Kai, Lloyd?" I asked him again, starting to get annoyed.
"I don't know where Kai is. But let me ask you something. Weren't we in the prison?" He asked me. Before I could retort back to him that 'No. We are obviously not in the prison. Weren't you paying attention the whole time, mighty green ninja? ' but Cole beat me to it.
"Lloyd we left the prison a long time ago. And we know that you know where Kai is because you dragged him out here to talk to him," Cole reminded him.
"I did?" Lloyd asked, still confused. I mean, how did he forget? It only happened about a couple of minutes ago. I was starting to get confused by all this confusion.
"Yes you did," Zane came into the conversation. Oh! He should probably tell Lloyd what he came across. Probably that will jog his memory! "Hey Zane. Why don't you tell him what you found out from what you told us earlier?" He nodded.
"Tell me about what? And can someone please tell me why we are at the Bounty and not at the prison?! And why do you keep asking me where Kai is?" Lloyd asked, even more confused than before and now starting to get ticked off by the lack of knowledge. Trust me Lloyd, I'm confused too.
"We were at the prison Lloyd. There were 3 armed men in the building all huddled near the hostages. One of them killed a security guard and the other two men. He ran off to courtyard C with a prisoner held hostage and Kai was the only one who followed. Later we found him with a shocked face and seeming paralyzed in the mind as he walked over to a limp body and pulled his sword out of the criminal's ribs. That's when you started becoming aggressive towards him. After we came back onto the Bounty, you dragged Kai to the deck and had a talk with him. Now according to Pixal and my processors, there was a mind controlling bug attached to you. It seemed as though it was making you more aggressive and allowed you to say things that you didn't mean as well as wiping your memory from that event." The nindroid explained to all of us while pointing to a crushed object on the floor when he finished.
"Wait... what?" I asked still confused. Everyone groaned in annoyance than Cole smacked me in the back of my head. I turned to him in irritation. "Ow! What was that for?"
"Are you seriously still confused when Zane just explained the whole thing or were only in la-la land the entire time?" Cole asked me with his patience wearing thin. Geez Cole back up. You're in my space!
"Well no, I was not in 'la-la land'. I was paying attention to everything he said but I was confused about where Kai is, duh!" I told him. He seemed to realize the same thing and backed away. Whew... that was a close one. "Yeah. Where is Kai?"
"Maybe he's around the Bounty?" I asked hopefully but there was a small pit in my stomach that told me otherwise. I decided to ignore it for now. We (Me, Cole,Zane, Wu and Nya) all nodded and began our search. After a thorough clean through the ship, we came up with nothing.
"Where's my brother?" Nya asked on a verge of tears. I quickly comforted her in this time of crisis. "Well what do we do now?" I asked. The pit in my stomach is growing larger.
"Find him my ninja and bring him home. He could be in trouble for all we know," Sensei ordered us. We all nodded and summoned our elemental dragons then flew off in different directions. No matter how hard we tried to look, we came up empty handed. It was already turning dark so we decided it would be best to pick it up in the morning. Nya decided that she would work on how to hack into the bug that controlled Lloyd but she told us it would take her a while by it's type in the security system. But before I went to bed I knew something bad was bound to happen. Not like it hasn't already but I mean worse.
Because that feeling in my stomach wouldn't go away.
Kai's P.O.V.
A new day. A fresh start. I had been a complete 24 hours since my 'drop off' from the Bounty. I woke up in my old bed and headed towards the small kitchen of the blacksmith shop. I made myself a bowl of cereal and ate it. After that, I washed my plate and headed towards my workstation to craft some samurai swords, armor, and whatnot. I also decided that I should add some things for a ninja, like nunchucks, a scythe and shurikens. When I first met Sensei Wu, he was looking for anything for a ninja. So adding it thought it could be a good reminder of my past and the beginning of my journey.
"Mornin' Ka!"
"Morning Jake," I greeted turning around facing my friend. He looked in a good mood so I asked him about it. "You're all bouncy. What's up?"
"Well see, I'm starting a new job at some corporation that helps limit crime. You know, like what you did. I told them about you and they said they would love to meet you to see if you could make a position in it too. I know it's not the same as how you were a ninja but it's the next best thing. We could work alongside each other fighting crime, wearing cool suits and you could still use your elemental power of fire!" He told me excitedly.
"That's cool. I could give it a shot, at least I could still fight and put my skills into good use. Do you know how to fight?" I asked. He nodded, showing me a couple moves. I laughed. "Well let's get going." He took me to the outskirts of Ignisia and down an abandoned building. At least that's what I thought it was until we went inside and there was computerized machinery and things. Ugh I hate technology. There were two other people inside and made their way to us.
"Hello. My name is Dr.O'Neil and you must be Kai, the elemental master of fire and former ninja," the first man greeted. He wore a white lab coat and black pants. He also had brown hair and seemed to be in his thirties. He extended his hand out which I shook. Then I turned to the second man.
"And my name is Professor Wingston. It's a pleasure to meet you," I shook the man's hand. He had blond hair with dark blue eyes and wore a white collared shirt with dark brown pants. He also seemed to be in his thirties or early forties. Wingston continued speaking,"Here, we stop crime and villainous deeds. And since we already know that you were a ninja, we decided to put you into the field immediately. Your partner is going to be Jake and he is also going to be starting working those cases so you will learn together. Questions?"
"Uh, yeah. Where are the other guys? Aren't there supposed to be more people working on such a big project?" I asked curiously.
"Oh well. This is pretty new so we haven't gotten any new recruits. You two will be working first for us and the Professor and I rather work alone to this kind of thing, that shouldn't be a problem right?" O'Neil answered matter-of-factly. I shook my head 'no'.
"Well then let's show you around," Wingston offered as he started walking with us following. "Now most of this machinery is used to create weapons for your suits. But you wouldn't have to worry about that as your main focus is actually defeating enemies and bringing justice. There," he pointed to the corner of the room, "is the training area where you can keep in shape and practice your moves. Here," he motioned to a white platform area, "is where you are going to test your near gear."
Jake and I nodded.
"Here. Put these on." We did so. They were lightweight and seemed similar to my ninja gi. They were both black with silver markings but since we put it on, they added by themselves a symbol. Mine had a red dragon outline, and Jake's had a grey outline of a tiger. Just like our bracelets. "You see, they changed to correspond to their owner's personality. For instance, Kai you have a red dragon to represent your fiery temper and resistance. Jake, you have a grey tiger to represent your fierce determination and will. Now further in depth with the suits, you can access weapons with the buttons on your sleeve. Give it a try with these practice dummies." He pushed a button from a remote and appeared two sand bagged 'dummies'. I pressed a button on my sleeve first and claw-like knives shot out of my sleeve and near my knuckles. I ran up to the bags and slashed against the sandbag, splitting it in half.
"That's so cool, " I commented overly amazed. I turned to see Jake eagerly press his button and claw-like knives appeared from his gloved hand. He immediately rushed up to the dummy and slashed it, leaving five long rips on the fabric. "Heck yeah it is."
"I like that you boys are loving it but we have two more things to show you. First one is that your hoods are attached to your suits, have micro wiring in them so we can watch your battles and built in microphones." We put on our hoods, which look like my ninja gi even more. They tested the microphones which tested perfectly. "And the final thing is very powerful. This vial contains a serum that unleashes great power from you. Like Kai, if you take this serum in battle, your fire power will increase by your control when you use it. Since Kai is the only one that has elemental power, it will only work for him. I'm sorry Jake but don't you worry, we are testing another serum for you to use but it's still in development. So, Kai, would you like to try?" O'Neil handed the vial towards me. I was a bit skeptical at first until I heard Jake. "Come on dude! You haven't shown me your power yet!"
"Fine." I drank the vial and waited. I felt it through my blood and it felt like an adrenaline rush. I used my fire on the dummy one of the scientists put out and it caught on fire. And not like any other fires I conjured- this one can start a whole forest fire!
"Woah." I heard all three of them behind me.
"Well it's getting dark. It's time for you two to get home. You may come here whenever you'd like to train or test out your suits, which you may bring with you. We will radio in with you when there's danger," Dr. O'Neil told us while giving us walkie-talkies. We nodded and headed towards the door.
No One's P.O.V.
"Do you think it will really work?" Dr. O'Neil asked his partner, once the teenage boys left.
"I know it will. That serum he took is now coursing through his veins. Their microchips in the serum so all it needs is a command and then we can control the fire ninja!" Professor Wingston chuckles evilly. But O'Neil still looked worried and confused. "So why did we need to plant the bug on the green ninja to make him kick out Kai?"
Out of the two, Professor Wingston was the mastermind.
"Don't you get it you idiot?! We needed to control the green ninja to get to Kai! Now don't question my motives. After we take them on a crime, we can make Kai and Jake attack the ninja to show dominance to the people and make them fear us for we now have the most powerful weapons!" Wingston laughed evilly and the other only nodded in understanding.
Kai's P.O.V.
"Hello Kai? We have your first mission. There's a current robbery happening in Ninjago City. Come quick so we can give you your new rides," I heard Wingston come in through the walkie talkie. It's already been a day on the job and we already got a mission! I quickly did spinjitzu into my new ninja gi and headed towards the hideout. I met up with Jake along the way making it to the place. Once we entered we immediately got presented to our rides and the briefing on the situation.
"This is your new ride. Kai, you're up first." With a push of a button from O'Neil, a motorcycle drove up next to me. It had black and red markings on the side of it. "Jake, this is yours." Jake's came up and it was a dirt bike that had black and light grey markings. "They both have all the terrain and have the coordinates put in. There's Ninjago City Museum being robbed currently and we need you to take care of it. We managed to get this information before the ninja as well so before they beat us, the bikes will get you there in five minutes from the original fifteen. Good luck," he summed up. We saluted and drove off. It was really fast. Just as we arrived, we jumped off our rides and barged inside where we saw people cowering in the corner and others dressed in black carrying valuable artifacts from their cases.
"Hey!" I shouted, grabbing the attention of the criminals and the people. "Drop those artifacts and surrender if you don't want to get hurt."
"Oh look do we have here? Who are you supposed to be? The knock-off ninja?" What I assumed the leader mocked. I got angry as he continued. "Well what are you gonna do about it? Or is your little 'threat' supposed to sca-" I cut him off by running up to him and lit my hand of fire to punch him. Jake went ahead and attacked and detained the other guys who tried to help their boss.
"Don't ever underestimate me or my partner," I told him dangerously. He looked at me in horror. "W-who are you?"
"I am 'Fire Dragon'."
"And I am 'Tiger Claw'." Jake walked up beside me. We nodded and punched the guy in the face knocking him down and tying him up. We look around to see people cheering and calling out our made-up names. We walked out of the museum after we tied the criminals up and into the people I didn't want to face.
We ran into the ninja.
Cole's P.O.V.
Who the heck are they?!
"Who are you two?" Lloyd asked. They didn't respond but only looked at each other and nodded. At the same time, they started running towards us. We got in a fighting stance already preparing to kick butt although we didn't get the chance because the two mystery people jumped over us and got onto, what I assume, their bikes and rode off.
"Uhh… what just happened?" Jay asked incredulously.
"I don't know or even who those two are but I have a feeling they're gonna be trouble sooner or later," I answered what was on everyone's thoughts. Zane walked up to a civilian that just came out of the bank.
"Excuse me sir, but would you mind telling me what happend?" Zane asked the man.
"Oh you should have seen it! We were all stuck in the bank and two mysterious people came out of nowhere and defeated the criminals. Even one made his fist on FIRE! Their names are 'Fire Dragon' and 'Tiger Claw'," the civilian told him excitedly. Zane nodded respectfully and turned to us.
"Did you hear that? His fist caught on fire! Do you think it's Kai?" Jay asked hopefully.
"It could be the same person but we don't know that for sure. He could light his fire with some mechanics and whatnot. But you are never too sure to check. We'll keep an eye out for these two and see what their planning is," Lloyd decided after a moment of thinking. We all nodded to the command and went back to the Bounty. If it is Kai, then we'll take him home. We want to know what happened to our hot-headed friend.
No one's P.O.V.
Kai and Jake arrived at their hideout moments later after the museum.
"Mission accomplished. The museum criminals are now in jail for their crimes," Jake spoke first.
"Good work boys. How were the new bikes? Work well I assume." Professor Winston congratulated me.
The boys nodded.
"Well excellent! Go home and rest. We'll contact you for more crimes, goodnight," Dr O'Neil spoke next.
"Night!" They spoke simultaneously. The teenage adolescents left the older men behind as walking back to their respected homes.
"So when do we start the plan?" The doctor asked his partner in crime.
"In two days. We'll call them down to a mission and personally lead them to their battlegrounds in Ninjago City. There we will wait for the ninja, as we hacked into their control system to set off their alarm, and unleash Kai's inner hatred towards the ninja especially one in particular," the professor informed.
"What about Jake? Wouldn't he get in the way?"
"Oh yes well we'll give him the same serum as Kai's so he can be controlled too. But since he's no elemental master, he won't get a power up like Kai would."
"Okay. I guess now we wait."
"Yup."
2 days later; No one's P.O.V.
"We have another crime. It's back in Ninjago City in the middle of town square. Come get your bikes and were tagging along with you to see what other adjustments we can make on your suits," Dr. O'Neil informed over the walkie talkie. Jake was with Kai at the time so they both heard the message when it came through.
"Ninjago City can't catch a break can it?" Jake asked as they began running towards their hideout.
"Nope. By experience, I don't think crimes will ever let up," Kai jokes. Once they reached the location, they hopped on their motor vehicles and carrying an extra passenger each, they rode off to their mission, but not before they were offered water which had the serum in it. Once they arrived, the two teens found no crime in sight. Kai was about to ask if it was a false alarm but was cut off by evil chuckling.
"You kids are so stupid!" Professor Wingston laughed. "Do you really think that there was a crime? Or better yet crime fighters? Haha."
The teens were confused.
"Sorry. Let me explain. You know how Lloyd said those awful things to you? Well we controlled him with a bug. And the serum you drank in the water we gave you two, does boost up your power but we can also control you! To show strength against the people and take over Ninjago as you two as my own personal weapons!"
"We won't let you!" Kai shouted with anger and betrayal laced over his voice.
"Well it's too late. After you defeat the ninja for me, nothing will stop us. Goodbye." As he finished that last sentence, Dr.O'Neil pushed a button which stopped the useless argument.
Because Kai and Jake are now under control, as their eyes are blood red.
Unfortunately for the ninja, Nya, and sensei Wu( who wanted to see what all the commotion was about), they arrived just after the control happened. Seeing 'Fire Dragon' and 'Tiger Claw', the ninja all dove down using spinjitzu from the Bounty and across the two.
"Who are you? Is it you Kai?" Lloyd asked first after a moment of silence.
"Well of course it is! Kai here joined us after you threw him off your ship! Not only is he an amazing crime fighter, but he also wants revenge," Professor Wingston told the ninja with a sinister grin. "Go on Kai, show Lloyd what you can do." As commanded, Kai ran up to Lloyd and lit his fist on fire. With the extra power from the serum, Kai managed to knock the green ninja to the ground.
"Kai! This isn't you! You can fight this-!" Cole tried to reason but was cut off by trying to defend himself from Jake's sharp claws.
"Listen Kai. I don't know what happened with our talk before but I didn't mean-Woah!" Lloyd was cut off by dodging Kai's knives. This kept on going. Kai fights mostly Lloyd and Jake with Jay, Zane, and Cole. Kai tried to assist his partner but his target was towards the green ninja. The ninja and their opponents started getting tired and a form of civilians started watching the fight until the fire ninja spoke for the first time.
"Look Lloyd. You shouldn't have dared to come here. You were never going to win. My work here is done until you pay! YOU WILL PAY FOR TAKING EVERYTHING FROM ME! You will NEVER make me come back because like I said before, if you don't want me here then I QUIT!"
Everyone was startled by Kai's outburst.
"... I'm sorry Kai. I don't know what happened. I didn't mean the things I said. Just please come back home!" Lloyd choked a sob at his last sentence. He never cried unless it was for a good reason. Kai's face softened at his saden friend. He took a step closer to the green ninja breaking loose of the control put on him.
"Lloyd- UGH!" Kai's hands flew up to his head in agony. He cried out in pain as he kneeled to the ground.
"KAI!" Lloyd ran up to his brother but was forcefully pushed back by the person he wanted to help.
"You don't care about me! You only care by what I'm becoming! You said it yourself Lloyd, I'm only selfish, hot-headed and only care about myself. Well you know what? YOUR WORSE THAN I AM!" Kai stood up and stepped closer to Lloyd as he backed away. "YOUR selfish Lloyd! The destined GREEN NINJA that everyone cares about! But you don't think the same do you? Do you?! You're just a SELFISH, BRATTY, ANNOYING KID! And I'll tell you another thing… I should have never saved you from that fire temple," Kai told Lloyd coldly. The fire ninja punched Lloyd square in the face which made him fall down, he looked up at his brother in fear, betrayal, and guilt. As tears made their way back down his face, he noticed that Kai's eyes were flickering from brown to red.
"Kai," Lloyd's voice was small just like when before he used the Tomorrow's Tea, "I know you're fighting this. But I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I told you those things but listen to me Kai, you are not selfish. You care about others and put them before you. Your hot headed but that is what makes you worthwhile. I'm sorry I dropped you off the Bounty but it was never my intention. Your my friend and I care about you. All of us care about you. Ever since the fire temple, you were my hero. You were the one that I looked up too. I only tried my best to make you proud. So that's why you have to fight this Kai. Fight it for you. Fight for Ninjago. Fight for us," Lloyd ended with a final sob. Kai's fists curled up to fists.
"We need you Kai,"Cole came up next to the green ninja, "in the beginning, we thought the group only needed Jay,Zane and I but you showed us different."
"It's not the same without you. I always know that you are by my side in battle and ever since you left, it's never been the same," Zane came up next.
"We all know how you are. We see and tell you that your hot headed or short tempered and you were starting to believe that too. But it makes you,you and we wouldn't have it any other way," Zane followed up.
"Your my big brother. You always cared for me when we didn't have much even before our parents disappeared. When you became a ninja, you even tried harder to protect your teammates and me from any dranger. Your not selfish Kai, and you never have been," Nya stepped forward.
"My newest ninja to my team before Lloyd. All you wanted was to save your sister from Garmadon and you didn't let anything stop you, even your teammates. Soon, you learned to trust them and me. Like I said when we first met, 'the fire burns bright in you'. Your fire is your desire to protect the ones you love and to save others, not destroy," Sensei Wu came up last.
Kai was confused.
'How could they say such things? They don't care about me… do they?' Kai thought. His frustration was getting the best of him. All he wanted was to end Lloyd but- why can't he. He literally stands over his target but he can't do it. Kai's curl fists even tighter as they catch on fire.
Lloyd closes his eyes.
Waiting for the inevitable.
But his doom doesn't come. 'Pain? No. Blood? Nope. What the?' Lloyd thinks to himself.
He opens his eyes slowly only to see a hand waiting and a warm smile behind it with soft brown eyes. Stunned, he still took the hand and stood up. After a few cautious seconds…
He hugged Kai.
Tears streaming down his face onto his friends shoulder as he doesn't want to let go, as if it's a lifeline. A lifeline of friendship. "Alright buddy, I missed you too but you can let go now." Kai spoke softly with his signature smirk on his face. Lloyd shook his head 'no'. "Oh come on. Come on come on," Kai said carefully as he pried Lloyd off.
"I'm glad your back," Lloyd said wiping his tears off his face, as the others nodded in agreement.
"Good to be back," Kai said with a smile.
"Nah ah. You're not going anywhere," Kai whipped behind him to see Jake with blazing red eyes but Professor Wingston was the one who spoke. "We still have your friend here and you may have control of yourself but he still is."
"Let Jake go or you know what's best for you and your partner and run away free," growled Kai as his fury is now skyrocketing.
"Yeah I guess so… but I don't know best. TIGER CLAW ATTACK!" Wingston ordered. Jake moved towards Kai as told so with his claws activating and showing. Kai did the same with his.
"Woah! Those are so cool!" Jay commentaed excitedly. Kai paid no attention to him as his focus was on his controlled friend.
"You left me Kai," Jake spoke menacingly. "You left me for them! I needed you and you left me!" Jake ran up to his opponent. His and Kai's weapons clashed .
"Come on Jake. You know I needed too. It was unexpected! I wish I told you- ARGH!" Kai tried to reason but was cut off by a slash to the shoulder.
"But you didn't. You never cared about me or our friendship!" Jake yelled as he ran up to another attack but was deflected. "Listen to me! I did care about you and still do but Ninjago needed me too! So did my new friends!"
"LIES! I was your backup in Ignisia if you got bullied! I was there when you have gotten yourself into a fight! I was there when you fell and cried! See? You don't care and never have! I just had to be there for useless KAI!" Jake yelled as he kept throwing punches,kicks, and slashes from his weapon. Some of them landed an attack. That's when the fire ninja came up with an idea. Already feeling weak, he decided to speak as Jake started getting tired.
"I do care about you. The reason I got bullied was for me to make myself a main target for you not have to deal with them. I got into a fight because some kids were talking bad about you. And this," Kai paused as he pulled his sleeve back to reveal a glowing bracelet, "you gave me when I messed up my prised possession. You cared for me and I'm thankful, but this bracelet gave us a power to show our strong bond. Let me show you that power." Kai took off his bracelet and placed it on the floor.
Then he used his fire power to coat the bracelet.
The fire surrounded the weaved thread and the dragon outline started to glow. Then a large dragon of fire emerged from the outline. Now the ten foot dragon sat next to Kai as he stared at Jake. The fire ninja gave a nod of confirmation to the fire dragon which he roared towards Jake.
A glow started imitating from the controlled boy's wrist. Jake took off the bracelet and threw it off the ground as the tiger outline started glowing and emerged a ten foot grey tiger sitting beside Jake. The dragon and tiger walked up to each other and roared into their faces but made no move to attack. As if it was a friendly roar. Kai looked at his Jake as he put his bracelet back on and walked up to the animals to where they meet. He could see Jake's eyes flicker from red and their original color.
"Come on Jake. Just like old times,"Kai told his friend as he held up his closed fist. Jake slowly made his way as he walked up to his bracelet and kneeled down to pick it up and put it on. Walking at a normal pace, he met Kai as he held up his own fist and fist bumped his friend. "Just like old times." Magically, the dragon and tiger started dropping their solid form and transformed to two small forms of red and grey and travelled to their respected bracelets. Waiting until they are needed most one again.
The ninja came up to the two best friends.
"Guys, this is Jake. My best friend back in Ignisia," Kai told his group of friends as they waved. Jake did the same.
"So what are we going to do with them?" Cole asked as he pointed behind him towards two criminals who were trying to sneak away.
"Oh. Dr. O'Neil and Professor Wingston? Leave them to us. I still got that extra power serum in my blood," Kai told the ninja as he lit his fists on fire but the flames traveled all the way up to his shoulders. He turned to his best friend, "Jake?". In response, Jake activated his claws.
"You shouldn't kill them. They need to be brought to justice," Zane spoke up.
"Oh we won't. We'll just give them the same pain they caused all of us. Plus it would take all my pleasure away if we just killed them on the spot."
Zane and the rest nodded in agreement.
"HEY!" Kai yelled to the two men who stopped in fear. "Fire Dragon and Tiger Claw aren't done with our new mission!"
"And w-what mission is t-that?" Dr. O'Neil cowered behind the Professor.
"It's called 'payback'," Kai told them wearing his famous smirk. " I think you might like to know that we are guaranteed to win."
The End.