Chapter Nine: One Sort of Estranged Uncle Recruited...Check!

I rubbed my forearm, watching as everyone rushed ether thither, trying to locate Chen and his army. We should be helping. I mean, we still have a small portion of our power, unlike the others! I frowned at that, realizing that Star had a point... turning, I quickly faced Skylor. "I can still sense emotions. From what you and Kai said, Chen took all of my powers. So why can I still sense emotions?"

Wu snapped his head up, his gaze latching onto mine. "Ella, can you still broadcast, change, the emotions of others?"

I shook my head, puzzled my that question. "No. At least, I don't think so... Star probably knows better than me. She's the one that typically does that." Everyone gave me a weird look at that statement. Right. No one knows about that little detail. Star? Can we still change the emotions of others?

No. We can sense them, but we can't affect them.

I frowned at that, now even more confused than before. "I don't get it. Star says we can't do that anymore."

Wu shook his head, confusion evident. "None of the past Masters of Emotion could communicate with their other selves. How do you do it?"

Kai piped up, worry edging his voice. "Is that what Garmadon meant when he mentioned something about the element being dangerous?"

Garmadon spoke up from where he stood behind his wife. "Yes."

I lifted my right shoulder partially up in a half shrug, not sure what to say about that. "I don't know. I think Star contacted me first." Star?

It was me Ells. Remember? I told you to move.

I nodded, before turning back to the others. "Yeah, she contacted me first. Three year olds don't have the common sense that if there is an out of control fire next to them that they need to move. Star did though."

Jay gave a nervous laugh, before picking up a random mug. "So, are we going to go interrogate Pythor on how to defeat an army of Anacondrai, or not?"

"Let's go. Ella, you stay here. Got it?" Lloyd looked pointedly at me, as if he were concerned for my well-being.

I opted to roll my eyes and nod in understanding to him. While having Star cross her fingers behind her back. Got to love sisters that no one can see. I mean, with my hands resting on the table in plain sight, it was obvious that I wasn't doing anything to indicate that I was not going to stay put. We watched them go, somehow managing to keep our emotions down so that no one would notice the small fact that we were planning something. As soon as the door snapped shut behind them, Star sighed loudly. Finally. Was beginning to think that they were never going to leave.

"I don't see why we can't tell them about him. He's a friend." I pointed out, taking advantage of being the only there to speak out loud to Star.

Star scoffed, making her feelings on the matter very obvious. Reluctant friend. He only helps us because we saved his life that one time.

I shook my head at her disdain, already darting out the door, pausing only long enough to retrieve the old journal that I had found what felt like ages ago when in reality it was just the other day. So much can happen in a short period of time. Striding out the door, I angled away from everyone else, even as Star began to buzz with excitement. It wasn't often that I would let her take over in broad daylight...

~Star's POV, about two hours later~

I couldn't believe how far the Samurai X cave was to the office. Shaking my head at that little detail, I pushed the door to the government building open, ignoring the startled receptionist to head straight to the back offices. I stepped up to a one that had a beat up sign that labeled it as belonging to a Ryder Hawthorn. Lifting my hand up, I quickly knocked on the door, drawing the occupants attention.

The short, he was only five feet and four inches, man inside looked up, quickly standing upon noticing it was me in the doorway. His blonde hair was by now streaked with gray, and his grey eyes had dark circles underneath them. "Star! Come on in...how's Ella doing?"

I slipped into the room, I used to wonder how he knew about her without me mentioning her...but Chen gave us that answer without knowing he was doing so. "She's resting right now. We had a very exciting past few days."

"Oh?" Ryder leaned against his worn oak desk, one eyebrow shooting upwards.

"Yeah." I looked him over, before holding out the old journal to him. "Do you recognize this?"

Wonder filled him as he stared, stunned, at the old journal. "I haven't seen that in... where did you and your sister find that?" Ryder shook his head, forcing himself into the present.

"Chen had it." Upon noticing, and sensing, his confusion, I expounded on that. "He's a war lord that will be declaring a siege on Ninjago any minute now."

Ryder gave me a shock look, bewilderment edging his voice. "How do you know that?"

"The fact that he left to conquer Ninjago yesterday and he hasn't yet." I took a deep breath, bracing myself to do the one thing that Ella and I agreed needed to be done after finding out who our mother was. "Why didn't you tell me that your my uncle?"

Ryder looked at her for five seconds, before sinking back down in his seat. "Honestly? With my line of work, I can't have any connections to the limelight. Too dangerous for everyone close to me. Your mother, my darling sister, understood this and went to great lengths to make sure that no one could trace her back to me. When we first met...telling you what my relation to her just made sense due to the fact that you could tell I was more affected by her death than her entire fan base. I got used to being the guy in the background that everyone knows exists but doesn't know the name of. Keeping it from you two made sense once I realized that you didn't remember who she was to you."

I shook my head, though I noticed a little odd thing about what he was saying. "Wait... why are you talking as if Ella and I are different people?"

Ryder gave me a weird look...only to jump as a shout filled the office building. "An Anacondrai Army is taking over Jamankai Village!"

Ryder's eyes widened, even as he shoved the open files that he had been going over before I entered his office into a briefcase. "We need to get out of here Star. If any of the stories about Anacondrai are true then we're not safe here. Where's Ella?"

I felt my mouth go dry at that question, alarm flashing through me. "That army would be Chen and his army, he used a spell to turn them into Anacondrai... as for Ella..."