"Looks like we've got our fifth ninja," Cole stated simply when Nya explained what had happened as she, Jay, and Lloyd brought the last boxes of scraps aboard the Destiny's Bounty.
"Huh. Well, congrats, dude," Kai told Jay. "Welcome to the team."
Jay shifted from one foot to the other. "Heh. Thanks, I guess. You're sure I'm supposed to be a ninja?"
"Nya said the Ultimate Weapon of Lightning reacted to you, and Nya knows what she's talking about. So yeah, you're supposed to be a ninja," Kai said confidently, giving Jay a heavy pat on the back.
Jay still looked uncertain, but he managed a shaky grin. "Cool. What do ninjas do, then?"
"Well, right now we're gathering parts and blueprints to help build our mechs," Nya explained.
"Then we'll train with our elemental powers and mechs to get ready to face Lord and Lady Garmadon," Cole added.
"Then we'll face them and win and help everybody and be heroes," Kai finished, spreading his arms wide in satisfaction.
Jay nodded thoughtfully. "Where else do you need to go to get parts and blueprints? I know all the best junkyards around, I can offer advice on where to go for parts if you need it."
"Thanks, but I think we've got all the parts we should need for now," Nya speculated. "Really, what's left before we start building is getting a couple blueprints for specific mechanisms on the mechs, and Master Wu told us where to go to get those."
"Master Wu?" Jay repeated.
"He's in charge all of the rebels," Lloyd explained, glad to be one of the ones in the know at least for now.
"Yeah, he's in charge of every rebel, including us. And he knows basically everything, or at least it seems like that," Nya said with a laugh.
"So he said where to get the blueprints, where is that?" Jay asked.
Nya hesitated. "Uh. Some tiny island in the Endless Sea. Don't ask why, because I don't know."
Jay frowned, but, as Nya requested, didn't ask why.
"I'm going to go set in the course for there," Nya explained, turning and heading off the deck, calling behind her, "We should probably get Jay and Lloyd settled in at some point!"
"Kai and I can do that now!" Cole yelled after her. He turned in Lloyd and Jay's direction and nodded at them. "Come on, I don't think we've shown you our bedroom yet, Lloyd, and we definitely haven't shown you anything, Jay."
Cole gave them a brief tour of the Destiny's Bounty, with Kai interjecting his explanations now and then and Jay asking for more about every bit of information he was given. Lloyd trailed slightly behind, kind of paying attention but also kind of lost in thought. Jay was going to be a ninja, so there was only one ninja left to find. That made the confrontation with Lloyd's parents seem so much closer, even though it was still scheduled for the same time as far as Lloyd knew. He had kind of hoped they wouldn't find the last two ninja for a long time so they would have to postpone whatever Wu had planned for confronting Lloyd's parents. Lloyd still hoped that it would take a while to find the last ninja, but a sinking feeling had him convinced it wouldn't take long at all.
The tour concluded in the ninjas' bedroom, a large room with six beds spread out around it. Three of the beds had various possessions gathered around and under and on them, while the other three didn't, but each of six was a single color, a different color for each bed.
"The black one's mine, obviously. The red one's Kai's, the silver one's Nya's, Lloyd gets the green one because he's the prophesied Green Ninja, and Jay, I think Master Wu said lightning's ninja was going to be blue, so blue's yours," Cole explained, pointing at the various beds in turn.
Kai flopped down on the red bed and reclined, propping his head up on his hand. "Which means white is the last one."
"So there'll be six ninja total?" Jay asked.
"Uh-huh. Earth, fire, water, energy, lightning, and, let's see, ice, right?" Kai asked.
"Yeah, ice," Cole agreed. "Don't know how we're going to find them, though. I'll bet Master Wu knows."
"What do you think Master Wu knows?" Nya asked, walking into the bedroom.
"Where to find the sixth ninja," Cole told her.
"The course is all set?" Kai asked her, sitting up on his bed.
"No, Kai, I left the ship's computer undecided and we're going to crash because I didn't set a course," Nya teased.
Cole chuckled, and after a moment, Jay and Lloyd did too.
Pouting heavily, Kai flung a pillow at Nya.
Nya caught the pillow easily and grinned over it at her brother. "You didn't think you could throw fast enough to trick my ninja reflexes, did you?"
"Not really," Kai admitted, laughing. "So, if the course is set, you know how long it's going to take us to get there."
"Yeah. It'll be a good couple of hours," Nya stated. "What do you guys want to do while we wait? Normally we train with our elemental powers, but Lloyd and Jay, you haven't received any training from Master Wu on how to use yours, so that's a bad idea. What should we do instead?"
"Video games," Kai offered. "We haven't played much lately with how much time we spent planning on how to kidnap Lloyd."
"Sounds good to me," Nya commented. "Were you thinking 'Fist to Face 2' or 'Sitar Legend?'"
Jay's face lit up. "You have the new 'Fist to Face' game?"
Nya grinned. "Sure do. Want to try it?"
"Yeah!" Jay enthused. "I haven't got a chance to play it or even get it yet."
More than a little confused, Lloyd frowned. "How have you not been able to even get it?"
"Uh, because it's only been out for like a week," Jay said, as if that made everything make sense.
"Yeah, so? A week is way more than enough time for your parents to get you a video game," Lloyd explained, still not understanding.
Jay's eyebrows furrowed, and he looked to Nya, Kai, and Cole.
"Not everyone has Ninjago's dictators for parents, Lloyd," Nya said simply, jumping into the conversation. "There are a lot of people who have a hard enough time just getting the basics since there's not enough to go around, and even for people who have the money to get video games and fun stuff like that, there's no guarantee on there being enough of those to go around either. The only reason even we have a lot of the stuff we have is because Master Wu has connections. Most people are a lot worse off."
Lloyd swallowed hard. "Oh. Right."
"Anywayyyy," Kai said, dragging out the word in the awkwardness until everyone looked at him. "'Fist to Face 2' tournament, anyone?"
Cole nodded. "I'm in."
"Me too," Nya agreed.
"First one there gets first pick of characters!" Kai said hurriedly, and he jumped off of his bed and ran out the door.
"No fair!" Nya yelled, and she and Cole raced after him.
Lloyd looked at Jay, kind of wanting to apologize, but not being sure how or whether it would just make things more awkward.
Jay looked back at Lloyd. "Uh, do you remember where the video game stuff is? I'm pretty sure I don't."
"I think I remember," Lloyd said, glad to be able to help. He led Jay to the room he recalled seeing a TV and a gaming system in before. Nya, Kai, and Cole were already in there pulling out controllers when Lloyd and Jay walked in.
"Here, Jay, you haven't played before, you should be one of the ones playing the first round," Nya concluded, holding out a controller, which Jay took.
"And Lloyd, you haven't played with us before, you can have one too," Cole offered, holding another controller out to Lloyd.
Lloyd pushed the controller back to him. "I can watch for the first round, it's good."
"Are you sure?" Cole checked.
Lloyd nodded.
"Okay, cool. Kai, Nya, Jay, and I for the first round, then," Cole declared.
They played a first round, and a second, and a third and a fourth and a fifth and many more, switching out who didn't have a controller every time. An hour passed, then another, then another, and sooner than Lloyd would've thought it possible, Nya looked at the clock and announced, "We should be getting to the island any minute now. I'm going to go to the control bridge."
"I'll go with you," Kai offered, putting down his controller.
"We can all go," Cole decided, standing to turn off the TV and gaming system.
The five of them filed down the hall and up the stairs to the control bridge, where Nya checked a few instruments and steered the ship to a stop before announcing, "We're here!"
"And here is a random itty-bitty island in the middle of the Endless Sea where, for some reason, we're supposed to be able to find blueprints for our mechs," Kai sighed. He stretched lazily. "Okay, then. Let's do this."
"What, exactly, are we doing?" Jay wondered.
"Looking for blueprints, I guess," Lloyd offered.
"Yup," Cole affirmed, picking up the chest of Ultimate Weapons. "So let's go."
The five ninja filed out of the control bridge and onto the deck, looking around. Lloyd didn't have much experience with islands, but he figured this one had to be way on the small side. It was just big enough to hold a single lighthouse that stretched several stories into the sky and then hold pretty much nothing else.
"I bet that's some kind of abandoned lighthouse that used to be a place for inventors to store their blueprints," Nya said thoughtfully.
"I'll take that bet," Kai said eagerly.
Nya laughed. "Cool. If it's anything like I think it is, you owe me a week of chores."
"Deal," Kai agreed, and with that he flipped over the side of the deck and landed on the island, shouting to the others still standing on the deck, "Come on!"
"Uh, am I supposed to know how to do that?" Jay asked, watching with wide eyes as Nya and Cole both jumped over the side of the Destiny's Bounty.
"Don't worry, there's a ladder," Lloyd explained, glad he wouldn't be the only one not jumping right off.
Moments later, both Jay and Lloyd had climbed down the ladder and joined the other three on the island. The five ninja headed right for the lighthouse.
Cole made it there first. He reached out for the door handle, then he pulled his hand back quickly. "Identity lock! Lloyd, you're up."
"An identity lock? Doesn't sound abandoned to me," Kai teased Nya.
"We'll have to wait and see," Nya stated.
Lloyd made it to the door and held his hand under the scanner. After a moment, there was a soft click and the door swung open.
Immediately, the sounds of bits of metal clanging against each other and scraping past each other were loudly audible coming from somewhere inside the lighthouse.
"That also doesn't sound abandoned to me," Kai noted.
"Wait and see," Nya reminded him.
"I'll be down in a moment!" A voice yelped, also coming from somewhere inside the lighthouse.
"It's not abandoned," Kai said in sing-songy voice.
Nya sighed. "Fine. You win this time."
Kai pumped his fist through the air. "Yes!"
"But if it's not abandoned, who lives here?" Jay wondered.
"We're about to find out," Cole announced, and he stepped past Lloyd and into the lighthouse.
Lloyd and the other three followed him, looking around. The walls of the lighthouse were covered in blueprints, and the floor was equally covered in bits and pieces of metal and wiring and various other mechanical parts. A spiral staircase led the five ninja up through several floors, each filled with blueprints and assorted scraps, and finally let them out into a open space at the top of the lighthouse.
In that open space, a white-haired man was facing away from them. He was sorting through a pile of papers, mumbling to himself, "Where is it, where is it, where is it…"
"Hello?" Lloyd said.
The man jumped and whirled around, his eyes wide behind the frames of his glasses. "Oh my!"
"Hello," Lloyd said again, smiling in an attempt to calm down the nervous-looking man. "I'm Lloyd Garmadon. Who are you?"
"You're Lad Garmadon," the man stated, looking taken aback. He squinted at Lloyd, then beyond Lloyd, and his eyes widened even further, if that was possible. "And who are your friends?"
"We're ninja!" Jay piped up proudly. "Or, well, ninja-in-training for some of us."
"Lad Garmadon, together with the ninja," the man marvelled. He shook his head. "I never thought I'd live to see the day. Are you working with them, Lad Garmadon?"
Lloyd nodded. "I'm helping them."
"You're helping them. Fascinating!" The man stated. "Are you going to help them find the Green Ninja?"
"No, he is the Green Ninja," Kai interjected.
The man actually laughed at loud at that. "Lad Garmadon, the Green Ninja! Amazing! Well, ninja, what can I do for you?"
"You can answer Lloyd's question," Cole suggested. "Who are you?"
"Why, I'm the Tinkerer, of course. Lord and Lady Garmadon keep me captive on this island so that I'll make them inventions to keep Ninjago under their control," the man explained as if it was completely obvious.
"My parents trapped you here?" Lloyd asked.
The man - the Tinkerer - bobbed his head in a nod. "Indeed they did."
Here was yet another cruel thing Lloyd's parents had done, as if Lloyd's faith in them hadn't been broken down enough. Lloyd frowned. "Well, you don't have to be captive anymore. You can come with us. You can be free."
The Tinkerer shook his head. "Actually, I probably should stay here, Lad Garmadon. Your parents made a plan to come get some new blueprints from me tomorrow. I thought you were them coming early. If they arrive tomorrow and they see I'm not here, they'll know someone bypassed the identity lock. I'm assuming you're keeping it a secret that you're working as a ninja?"
"Yes, the element of surprise is part of our plan," Nya chimed in.
"Then I'd better stay here, so as not to mess up your plan," the Tinkerer said. He smiled then, a wide grin that took Lloyd aback. "But I know someone who doesn't need to stay here."
"There's someone here with you?" Lloyd asked. How many people did his parents keep captive?
"Yes, yes, and he'll be very excited to meet you and get out of here. He's never met anyone or gone anywhere, after all," the Tinkerer said with a laugh.
The ninja exchanged confused looks for several moments as the Tinkerer hurried across the room to a large wardrobe. The Tinkerer knocked three times on the door to the wardrobe, then he called, "You can come out now, Zane!"
The wardrobe door creaked open, and a teenage boy stepped out, looking at Lloyd and the other ninja with wide eyes that almost seemed to glow. He said politely, "Greetings."
"Zane, these are the ninja, they're going to save all of Ninjago. Ninja, this is Zane, my son and creation," the Tinkerer said happily, patting the teenage boy on the shoulder.
"Creation?" Jay repeated.
"I am an android," Zane said simply.
Lloyd felt his eyebrows shoot up as far as they could go. He looked at the Tinkerer, more than a little at a loss.
"Yes, Zane is an android. When your parents first locked me away, Lad Garmadon, I was very lonely. So I started working on a companion," the Tinkerer explained, looking at Zane fondly. "Over time, one thing led to another, and now Zane's my son and I wouldn't have it any other way."
"And you want us to take him with us?" Lloyd asked, confused. "And leave you here alone again?"
The Tinkerer nodded. "Yes, yes, and not just for Zane's sake, but for Ninjago's sake as well. You see, I believe he is destined to become a ninja."
"In addition to being his companion, Father built me to protect those who cannot protect themselves. My power source assists me in that, and assists my father in believing I am meant to be a ninja, as it is concentrated elemental energy, specifically from experiments done by the former Master of Ice," Zane continued.
Kai made a "huh" sound. "Master Wu did say the last ninja was supposed to be the Master of Ice."
"Well, we won't know unless we try," Nya offered, and she looked to Cole, who was already fishing through the box of Ultimate Weapons.
"Here's the Ice Ultimate Weapon," Cole announced, pulling out what seemed to be a large crystal from the chest. He looked Zane up and down, warning, "If this works, it's going to be kind of weird."
"He's used to weird," the Tinkerer said conversationally.
Zane nodded to Cole and held out his hands.
Gently, Cole placed the Ice Ultimate Weapon in Zane's hands.
Lloyd stared closely at the Ice Ultimate Weapon, hoping to see another cool, bizarre thing like what had happened to him and Jay.
He was not disappointed.
Almost immediately, icicles began forming on Zane, spiraling down off of his hands and arms. The temperature in the room dropped significantly, and a light frost emanated out from Zane's feet, covering the ground and creeping up the walls.
The Tinkerer laughed out loud. "That's my boy!"
"So cool!" Jay exclaimed in awe, then he shivered dramatically. "Literally! Uh, Zane, could you put that thing down so the room temperature can go back up?"
"Of course," Zane said politely, passing the Ice Ultimate Weapon back to Cole. As he did so, the icicles and frost vanished like they'd never been there in the first place, and the temperature in the lighthouse rose once more.
"Everyone, I give you our sixth ninja, the Master of Ice," Cole stated with a grin. "Welcome to the team, Zane."