Chapter 15 - Captain Soto

"We'll fix this, you'll see."

Kai looked at Lloyd, wondering what the child's thoughts were. They had both been the first to wake up, aside from Zane, who had seemingly never left his post at the wheel. Bizarrely enough, the man didn't seem tired either.

"I know." Lloyd shrugged.

"Ah." Kai nodded slowly. "That's good then. . ."

"I wonder what he's done to Ninajgo. He isn't-" Lloyd froze, a small frown tugging at his features. Finally, after going through a rollercoaster of emotions and a somewhat exhausting trip, Lloyd's thoughts fell back toward his mother. She was still on the island, wasn't she? "Oh."

"What? What's wrong?"

"My mom." Lloyd frowned up at Kai. "She's still in Ninjago. I didn't. . . I wanted to take the lamp away from dad so bad, and then it all went wrong, and then Zane and I just sailed out of there and. . . I forgot about her."

"Oh." Kai searched for something to say. Before he could settle on something, however, the Admiral stepped out onto the deck, placing a hand on Lloyd's shoulder.

"I am sure your mother will be able to take care of herself. After all, she does know the most about the Djinn, does she not?"

"Yeah. . ." Lloyd nodded slowly. His mom did know a lot. Maybe she would be okay. Regardless of the words from his uncle, Lloyd's knees felt weak. He'd already lost his dad. What if his mom was gone now, too?

"The only thing we can do is hope for the best, and sail towards Ninjago as fast as we can."

Kai looked at the Admiral, then towards the ocean. "And what about when we reach the island? What's the plan going to be?"

"First, I believe getting the Djinn trapped once more is our priority. Once he can't make wishes of his own, we'll have enough time to figure out the rest."

"I hope we get to Ninjago fast." Jay emerged out on deck, followed by both Nya and Cole. "I don't even want to think of what Nadakhan is doing."

Cole looked around, trying to see if he could pin point their exact location, in order to give Jay a rough estimate on how long they still had to go. Without the stars above him, however, it was difficult to guess their position. There was nothing but an endless ocean and a clear sky.

No, that wasn't right. There was something. An island? It couldn't be the island. They'd sailed straight through the night. The island should have long left the horizon. It couldn't be Ninjago either. It hadn't been long enough for them to be that close.

So what, then? Cole fumbled through the pockets of his coat, searching for his weathered spyglass. By the time his fingers were guiding the object to his eyes, everyone seemed to be watching him.

The open ocean jumped at him through the spyglass, and he ran it across the horizon, searching for the distant shape. When his eyes settled on it, he couldn't help but take a step back. "Well that's bad news."

"What?' Jay came up to stand beside him, squinting against the sunlight. "Is that the island? Have we been going in circles?"

"No." Cole shook his head. "Worse, actually."

"Worse?"

Lloyd reached for his own spyglass, running up to the edge of the deck in order to get as close as possible. The shape in the ocean revealed itself to be. . . a ship. As he searched for the flag, Lloyd understood Cole's reaction. "It's Captain Soto!"

"And who is that?" Jay asked, reaching for Cole's spyglass a second too late. The former pirate had already moved to shove it back within his pockets.

"Yeah," Kai said. "I don't think I've heard of him. In fact, I don't really think I've heard of anyone other than Garmadon."

"Soto." Wu shook his head, frowning at the distant shape. "We should try to outrun him. There is much distance between us and, if we can avoid conflict, that would be for the better."

Zane nodded, acknowledging the order, and trying to keep the sails full of wind. But although he could control the ship's position, having power over the elements was another thing altogether. And the pirate ship was lighter, moving at a steady speed over the ocean. It would take a miracle to avoid it.

"Seriously," Jay looked away from Cole and towards Lloyd, knowing that the child was the most likely to answer his questions. "Who is Soto?"

"He used to be a fairly popular pirate about 10 years ago. My dad took everyone's attention away from him though. Still someone we wouldn't want to run across. I mean, there's like, 7 of us. And he most likely has a full crew of pirates. We wouldn't really stand a chance." Lloyd handed his own spyglass to Jay, who quickly pressed it against his eye. "We don't stand a chance. There's no way we'll actually be able to move faster than them."

"So, we fight then?" Kai said. "There are weapons in this ship. We could do it."

Cole shook his head. "I don't think that's a good idea. You've only been in, what, one fight? Jay has probably never even picked up a sword in his life. And do you really want the kid to try and hold his ground?"

"The kid knows how to fight, thank you." Lloyd crossed his arms. "I've had fencing classes since-"

"That's not the point," Cole interrupted. "The point is, it wouldn't be smart to try and fight Soto."

"He is right." Wu nodded.

"So what, we surrender?" Nya scoffed. "That doesn't sound like a great outcome either. Who's to say he won't just get rid of us?"

"Maybe we can use the cannons to sink his ship before he gets close enough to board." Kai pointed out. "We have a pirate, Ninjago's Admiral, and one of his soldiers. Who's to say we can't take him down?"

"Logic can," Cole said. "We may have more cannons on this ship than they do, but once again, they're an actual crew. Your head would spin if you knew how fast a cannon can be loaded and fired if you have the right people working together. They'd sink our ship before we could do much."

Kai pushed the anger flourishing in his chest down. Getting into a heated argument would be pointless, more so when the dumb pirate obviously knew far more than Kai did about everything. Which made sense, of course. While Kai had spent most of his life grounded within the island, Cole had spent the last years of his life sailing alongside the most infamous pirate captain of the sea.

The worst of it all, was that Cole didn't seem to be smug at all. He was simply stating the facts with such calm. It made Kai want to swing a punch towards his face more than anything else. See him be calm about that.

But Kai held his fists down. "So we just wait then, huh?"

"Nothing to do but hope for the best, I guess," Jay muttered.

With the woman's soul in his possession, Nadakhan was able to make one more wish for the day.

And he already had one in mind, of course.

He needed to get his crew back. And one by one, he would recover everyone.

Well. Almost everyone. There was one person he'd never be able to get back, no matter how much he desired to do so. After all, regardless of his freedom, he still had to abide by his own rules.

And there was no wishing the dead back to life.

Nadakhan willed his mind to focus, thinking of his missing crew members. Who to bring back first? That was an easy question.

As his mind wrapped around his wish, the world before Nadakhan twisted momentarily, reality rippling before his eyes. Once everything returned to normal, a man stood before him, a look of both confusion and amazement glowing in his eyes.

The man blinked, taking in his surroundings, his eyes widening with surprise as they settled on Nadakhan. "Captain! You. . . You're free! And. . . You've brought me back."

"Well of course," Nadakhan smiled. "A captain is nothing without his crew. And you, Flintlock, are my most trusted companion. I've eagerly awaited the moment where we would finally be reunited."

"Yes. . ." Flintlock nodded slowly. "Mind if I ask . . . Where exactly are we, Captain?"

"Ninjago. A rather powerful island, I must say. And it's all ours. But of course, this is only the beginning. We'll sail until every bit of land in this world belongs to us. People will know what it's like to have their lovely freedom ripped away from their unsuspecting hands."

"That's a big plan, don't you think, Captain?"

"Indeed." Nadakhan said. "But with the power of wishes, there won't be much that will be able to stand in our way."

Once again, Kai found himself overwhelmed by a feeling of helplessness.

It was becoming a trend, having nothing to do but wait to see what cards life would deal him. And he despised it. Doing nothing had to be the worst feeling in the world.

But the others were right. Initiating a battle would only wind up in everyone getting killed, either by sinking along with the ship, or getting up close and personal with the sharp metal of a pirate sword.

Not that getting captured seemed to be that much better. Sure, it left the option of escaping eventually, but there was no knowing when that 'eventually' would come. And the longer Nadakhan was free, the worse things would get. So sitting around searching for escape opportunities would be beyond agonizing.

For a moment, Kai even allowed himself to believe that maybe they would get away. The wind had begun to blow with more vigor, and their ship was gliding forward at a pleasant speed. Problem was, the wind didn't only aid them but the pirate ship as well.

And now, all hope was truly lost.

Kai watched as the so called Captain Soto swung from his ship to theirs, landing with a thundering thud! That caused the wood beneath him to rattle. He watched the members of his crew follow close behind with ease, watching the familiar and flawless way they carried their weapons. Cole and Wu had been right. They wouldn't have stood a chance.

"Well now, no fight? Nothing? You have heard of Captain Soto then?" The pirate smiled, and Kai grimaced. Some of his teeth were missing, and the ones that were still attached were an uncomfortable shade of yellow. "Good. It seems most people have chosen to forget, fearing instead that insufferable Garmadon instead."

Soto's eyes went over the people before him, stopping when they reached Cole's gazed. The man's smile turned into a smirk, and he move towards Cole, his wooden peg leg clashing rhythmically against the deck as he moved.

"Oh, now I see why you chose not to fight. Your little friend here must have let you know it was not such a good idea." Soto stopped before Cole. "So? Did Garmadon find the lamp? I suppose he did, didn't he? Bit off a little more than he could chew, didn't he?"

Cole remained quiet, his hands tightening into fists. The reaction was more than enough to give Soto an answer.

"Oh yes, I am familiar with the Djinn's tricks." Soto laughed. "We've run into each other in the past. I knew Garmadon wouldn't be able to resist the idea of having whatever he wished for. And now, now the seas are mine again."

"We'll get him back! And then he'll show you." Lloyd hissed.

"Lloyd, don't." Kai placed his hand on Lloyd's shoulder, making sure the kid didn't try anything dumb.

Captain Soto turned towards Lloyd, frowning at his features. The captain moved closer, and Kai tightened his grip on Lloyd's shoulder. "You, you look familiar."

"I'm Garmadon's son," Lloyd said, beaming with pride. "And I'm going to get him back."

"The souls that the Djinn takes are not to be returned." Soto shook his head. "No one has ever done it. What makes you think you will find a way? You're a child."

Lloyd shrugged, and Soto studied him. The man's eyes locked onto a piece of dull metal peeking out from the kid's pockets. Soto reached, pulling out the teapot. Kai held Lloyd down, preventing him from moving to retrieve it.

"Oh. . . So your father's soul finally set the Djinn free? That's not good. That creature still owes me a wish. But of course. . . One can always seal him back inside." Soto tossed the teapot to one of his men. "Make sure you put that in a safe place. We will need it."

The man nodded, moving back to the pirate ship.

"Now. . . what to do, what to do?" Soto searched everyone's faces. "Hmm. . . I could probably make a fair amount of money off of you, yes. There are more than enough pirates who would pay to have a couple of extra hands at their service."

Soto now looked directly at Wu. "And I'm sure there are plenty of people who would give a considerable amount of gold to see you dead. You've made many enemies, Wu."

The Admiral shrugged. "I have, yes, but most of them are behind bars, are they not?"

"Most," Soto nodded. "But not all."

The pirate Captain turned to face his ship, and began to limp forward, away from his new prisoners. His men stood at attention, ready for Soto's orders, with their swords drawn in order to discourage any one from escaping.

"Lock them up. . . And set sail for the dark island!"