***Enjoy, and welcome to the scene our villain! :)

Chapter 4

Skylor sighed in relaxation as Aadya glowed beneath her. She could sense the elemental signature of her boyfriend not far behind, but she would have known he was there anyway. It had been a while since she had summoned the dragon, whom she had playfully named "power" in an ancient Ninjago language. There was no way to be discreet about her in the city, so Skylor hardly ever used her. Besides, she was just a physical manifestation of her powers, not like the dragons Kai had told her the original four owned way back when, but it felt wrong to rely on her back in the Tournament without naming her first. Ah! There's the Monastery. Let's get down there and talk to Wu.

Skylor watched Kai open the entrance to the garage at the base of the Mountain of a Thousand Steps, then close it quickly again. She landed in the courtyard, dismissed the dragon, and then walked into the entrance of the building. Kai had beaten her to the room and was already deep in conversation with Master Wu to one side. Maybe a scolding for the late return. P.I.X.A.L and Misako stood in front of her, and Skylor hugged both women warmly before they could even greet her.

"P.I.X! Misako. It's so good to see you. What's going on in the city? Kai didn't seem to know much." P.I.X.A.L and Misako exchanged a glance, then visibly relaxed as Kai and Wu walked up to them.

"Master Wu. It is good to see you. It seems we can't go on any more trips; Kai's element always misbehaves." she said as she tried a joke while bowing respectfully. When she raised her head, the wise master was watching her closely.

"Misbehavior is a curious word, Skylor. Some think that misbehavior is the absence of manners or etiquette. However, it is important to remember that misbehavior and acts of darkness are inevitable, and the root of many growths and gains." Skylor glanced at Kai, who now had moved to her side.

"Of course, Master. Many growths are born of a destructive nature." Wu gave her a small smile. Skylor dipped her head, then refocused.

"Alright, so what's going on in the city? Did the team lose the building, or what do you want Kai and me to…" She cut off as she felt Kai move his hands onto her shoulders. She turned away from their friends and towards Kai.

"Sky…" he started, then looked beyond her to P.I.X.A.L and Misako. The women nodded in tandem, and he took a breath.

""I... I have to tell you something. The building. They lost it a bit ago now, and I knew that, but I couldn't tell you. There was…" Skylor's hands shot to her mouth, realizing what look he wore on his face. She had only ever seen it a few other times.

"Which one of them was in the building?" The urgency in her voice was unmatched as she spun in a circle to the small remainder of the team.

"Who?" Kai stopped her mental spiral quickly as he grabbed her shoulders again and pulled her around to face him.

"No one, Sky. There were no casualties. The manager was able to get everyone out of the building before it fell. That's not what I'm trying to tell you. The building," he paused, then corrected himself, "The restaurant. It was yours." Skylor's world spun, then turned orange.

Back at the scene of the fire, Cole plastered a smile on his face and waved, although he really felt like groaning aloud. A press conference. Of course, Gail Gossip wanted a conference. Hey, obviously, the huge personal loss of a restaurant belonging to one of the famed ninjas needs to be plastered across her shoddy... Updating the people was one thing, but putting Skylor's face across the press when the loss would hit them all hard was just low. Cole just didn't have much patience for those kinds of people.

"Yes Gail, please wait behind the caution tape. Someone will bring the other Elemental Ninja to speak with you soon, as well as the Police Commissioner if he desires to give additional information." He turned away from her calling over his shoulder as he walked to the rest of the ninjas, where they were speaking to the Police Commissioner. Lloyd was talking animatedly.

"...everyone out. I really don't want to give out any more information than what they already know. Obviously, this is the Master of Amber's restaurant, and five of the elemental masters were on the scene quickly. They don't need to know anything about Kai and Skylor being out of town."

"Speaking of, Lloyd," the commissioner interjected, "Are the Masters of Fire and Amber going to be coming to the scene? We have everything pretty much wrapped up, but it will take a little longer to disperse this crowd if we hold a brief conference here." Lloyd frowned, pondering. He glanced at the man in the Chen's uniform, who Cole had noticed earlier.

"Mav confirmed that everyone was out of the building. No casualties. However, it does have the look of arson to me." The man nodded in agreement.

"I would say we tell Gail that there were no casualties and nothing else. Let's try to get rid of them all as fast as possible." Nya took the opportunity to cut in.

"We need to get the people away before Kai and Skylor get here. When Skylor comes, she is likely to blow up at someone if they make a tasteless comment." Jay cringed, having been a victim of Skylor, once not long ago. Apparently, pranks only went so far.

"Let's tell the people we will talk to them tomorrow afternoon, and we need some time to regroup, finalize a report, and plan as a team before talking to the people." Her brothers nodded in agreement, and the Police Commissioner coughed.

"Well then, I guess someone has to go fight off the animals. Jay, would you like to accompany me to tell them off? I think it would be good for your team to have representation to speak and state your case for tomorrow." Jay nodded and followed the older man out of the circle. Mav said goodbye and walked towards the group of employees that remained huddled together in the street.

The rest of the ninjas spent time bouncing their gazes between the dispersing crowd and the smoking rubble that was Master Chen's Noodle House and talking in quiet tones as they discussed what needed to be done. In a short period of time, they had all thanked the Fire and Police responders, and the crowd had dispersed. Mav had gone home after the employees, and a different friend had come to pick up Clara for the night. Thankfully, she and Skylor had been in the process of having the three-bedroom apartment redone, so most of their personal belongings and furniture were elsewhere. Only one fire truck remained, with its crew methodically working through the rubble to cool hot spots where a fire could flare up again.

All that was left to do was wait for Kai and Skylor. Cole climbed up onto the Bounty to bring it lower, as well as grab a blanket or two for them to sit on or wrap up in on the sidewalk across from the restaurant's remains. He passed around cold sandwiches that he had made earlier to stock the kitchen on the Bounty, and they ate in silence. Jay and Nya sat together, he staring into space and her lightly dozing. Besides Nya, Zane was also asleep. Fighting fire took a lot out of them.

Cole sat next to Jay logging the fire and its details in their daily incident notebook that they kept on the Bounty. Master Wu often taught that details that could be forgotten quickly would be important later. He glanced over to where Zane was leaning against a light post.

Lloyd was half-crouching, half-sitting on the sidewalk with one leg stretched out, glaring at the street and sharpening a sword out of the Bounty's supplies.

"Zane?" The nindriod turned his head to look at Lloyd.

"Yes, Lloyd?"

"What did you see around the back of the building? Is there any chance that this wasn't arson?"

The ice ninja took a moment to respond and looked at both Cole and Lloyd before responding.

"No. The building and flame were much too large to simply be a kitchen malfunction. When I went to the back of the restaurant, it was already heavily inflamed, but at different ends of what would have been the back wall of the kitchen and up into the apartment. There were many points, or at least a distinct line, where the fire began." Lloyd gave the sword a particularly strong swipe down its length and shook his head as he watched some sparks dance.

"Well, I guess we will have another crime against us to record. Distinct arson. Wahoo." Zane just turned away from Lloyd, and his mind was taken back to losing another building to a fire many years ago. How much had changed since then...

Cole closed the book he was writing in and tucked it into the basket he had brought the sandwiches down in just as a white and orange-tinted dragon appeared overhead, waking Nya. The dragon flickered just as Cole thought about just how much of Griffin's power Skylor was summoning. Then, to his absolute horror, Aadya shorted out while Skylor was still many feet in the air. Running to catch her, he slid on his knees to grab her and grunted as she hit him.

Skylor gasped as she landed in his arms and opened her eyes. They were unfocused as she struggled out of Cole's grasp and into a standing position. She shook as she backed away from him, still having not said a word. Cole watched her stagger, then looked back to the other ninja on the street. Their faces probably mirrored his emotions, and he took quick strides to catch up to Skylor. She had only managed to get a few feet away from him, and he took her arm.

At first, her eyes were as unfocused as before, but they spat fire as she realized someone was holding her arm, then flooded with tears. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders to support her, then helped her cross the intersection toward her restaurant. A rush of heat behind him announced the arrival of his brother, and Cole quickly moved out of his way to let Kai take her. Or try and take her.

Now Skylor seemed aggravated as she gave Kai a shove and started to run towards the building, ducking under caution tape and ignoring the yells of firemen. Kai had frozen where she shoved him, and Cole wondered what was running through his mind. Skylor's gaze was still trained on the ground as she ran. She only managed to make it several yards before tripping and falling on a piece of debris that had to have blown out from the restaurant. Grabbing her knee, she fell, and Kai rushed forward. Cole could see the blood from his position in the street and watched Kai press his hand to the injury, his mouth moving quickly as he tried to get her to listen. Skylor fell against him, now somewhere between standing and crouching as he held her. She shook her head one last time, then raised her vision to the smoking rubble. No sooner was her head level than Skylor seized, collapsed, and Kai screamed.

Zane was the one to determine the Bounty would be the fastest way to get her to the hospital. Lloyd lowered the gurney from the ship, and Cole carried Skylor as Kai kept the pressure on the cut that was still bleeding through her pants. Jay watched the whole scene unfold while his hair let off sparks every now and again, then climbed the ladder to the deck of the Bounty to help the ship get ready for departure.

Nya stood in the street watching the Bounty fire away, knowing that Skylor was in capable hands and that Zane was one of the best pilots on the team. She shouldn't be on the scene much longer, but a ninja needed to be on the scene if the fire crew was still working. It didn't sit right with her that they all should leave as the crew still sorted through the rubble. So, she talked with the Chief and donned her own heat-resistant gloves, pants, and helmet. Being an Elemental Master of Water didn't mean she wouldn't get burnt. Her gi was enough protection up top. She wasn't stupid enough to put a piece of wood on her chest.

She was worried about Skylor, but Kai needed his brothers to lean on. She was connected to him, yes, but she also knew the limits of their relationship. There was a chance he would just go into protective mode. He did that, she knew. If someone on the team was hurt, Kai would hold vigil and guard on the Bounty like no other until they woke up. Something to do with his element, probably.

So, Nya went to work. She learned how to sort and cool the rubble to avoid flare-ups in a methodical way from the remaining fire crew. The men were honest and brave, a family team almost as much as the ninja themselves. She could tell just how deep the brotherhood through fire ran. Gary, Jaul, West, Kenny, and Chief LJ all had families, wives, and children and still chose to work as firefighters for their community. She was enjoying herself, getting to know them, and relaxing a bit. She had certainly had enough practice finding stolen moments of peace in crises over the years. Looking back on that hour or so, it was a stolen scene.

It was until Chief LJ flipped a door over close to the back of what used to be the restaurant and gasped as though he had been burned. Nya ran over as fast as possible through the rubble and got ready to spray his hands if he had been burnt through the gloves. But it was not his hand that had been burned by what was on the door. Nya gave a similar gasp as she came to his left side, and the rest of the remaining firefighters soon joined the semi-circle. Sprayed onto the back of the door was a symbol of the Anacondrai, and a folded piece of fire-proof piece of paper fluttered on the back. Nya lifted the visor of her helmet and took off the thick gloves to reach for the paper with unsuited hands. LJ stopped her.

"Nya, are you sure you want to read that? It's probably full of propaganda and nothing that you should waste your emotions on. You've had a rough night; don't you think you should wait until your head is clear?" Nya weighed his words, then squared her shoulders.

"I appreciate the concern. But I've been called just about every name under the Sun and some that aren't. I can handle whatever it says, and I owe it to Skylor to start tracking down the thugs who did this. Does anyone have a pair of latex gloves? I don't want to leave fingerprints." Someone ran to the truck and quickly returned with the gloves. He handed them to her and nodded. Nya put them on, then reached for the paper and opened it. The handwriting was walking a fine line between rough and crude, but it was more than legible as she read it aloud.

"Hello, Elemental Master, or whoever finds their miserable time being spent reading my letter. I think it is quite idiotic when villains hide their names from the public. So, to cut out all that hard work for your imbecilic ninja, I will tell you my name. I am Scallta. However, this a name that many go by, and you will waste time trying to figure out how many of us there really are. What won't waste your time is knowing this. We are a very, very, big problem. It would do you well not to sweep our threats under the rug, as you have the rest of your problems once you are stupid enough to think you have beaten them. We are born of past hatreds, and if any of you have an ounce of intelligence in your thick heads, you will figure out what hatreds those precisely are. Tonight was not an accident or a pan of overheated oil, which I am sure you know by now. This is the beginning of a series of hits across your allies, bases, relatives, and hideouts everywhere in this country. You have the unfortunate amount of 5 days before our next hit.

Sincerely,
Scallta: The Archenemy of the Anacondrai.

Nya stared in disbelief as the letter ended and gazed around the circle of firefighters. This could not be happening.

Chapter 5

"Sir. My name is Jay Walker, I am the ELEMENTAL MASTER OF LIGHTNING, A DECORATED AND HONORED FIGHTER BY THE CITY COUNCIL AND GOVERNMENT, AND I AM GETTING SERIOUSLY TICKED OFF." A very angry Jay Walker was present in the waiting room of the Ninjago Southern Hospital. Cole, Lloyd, and Zane stood unhappily behind him as the nurse in front of Jay once again opened his mouth.

"Sir, I once again am required to ask you to wait. Miss Chen was brought in only 20 minutes ago, and we still need to thoroughly evaluate her injuries…." This time, Zane cut off the snippy man.

"Nurse Zachary, she was brought in 34 minutes ago. Dr. Matthews was present to receive her, and I spoke on the phone before arrival to Nurse Makayla about being prepared for all of us. Yes, we are aware that you are a busy man, however, it is very early in the morning, and we are the only group in your waiting room, as well as Skylor is your only active emergency patient. Furthermore, I briefly saw and spoke to Dr. Matthews in the hallway a moment ago on the way back from your lavatory. Additionally, Nurse Makayla is directly behind you at the Nurse's station. All of this would suggest that Skylor has been properly cared for, and her injuries documented, and we would like to see her, as she is allowed to have visitors per your hospital guidelines, Chapter 37, Section 5, Page 16."

The Master of Ice stated all these facts with a cold face and clenched fists. His brothers had backed together behind him, and all stood in various only mildly threatening positions. When Zane went off, it was best to let him go. As other nurses at the station began to raise their heads from their work, Zachary finally puffed his chest and shot his nose in the air.

"Fine. As ninja, I suppose you are allowed to break some protocols for your great services to the city." He said this all with a perfunctory air and started to stride down the hallway. Cole clenched his fists and began to march after him until Lloyd reached for his shoulder and said "Leave it. Let's just get to Skylor." The Earth Ninja deflated and suddenly looked overwhelmingly tired.

The team followed Zachary down the hallway, catching up to the snide nurse quickly and trying to look inconspicuous as they followed him. Zane observed the man and wondered why he appeared so tense. It was a normal reaction for some people. Zane knew that the Elemental Masters still made some of the public very nervous, as if they expected elements to shoot out from their hands or dragons to form under them at any moment. He had even activated his cloaking mechanism so that he appeared more like his brothers and wanted to try to be polite to this nurse regardless of how irritated he seemed. Zane gazed at him from his side vision, and an unusual piece of jewelry caught his eye.

"You have a unique ring, Nurse Zachary. May I ask what material it is made of? My analysis is unable to locate it for some reason." The nurse gave half a smirk, then turned to Zane as they walked beside one another.

"Yes, Master of Ice, you wouldn't be able to place it because of your elemental signature. This is a family heirloom made of reinforced and purified vengestone and precious metal that my great-grandfather found on some family land. I have never found a close match to the metal. It appears it is completely unique."

"How intriguing. It is most beautiful, although I am now sensing a back-pulse of vengestone. Indeed, it seems harder to access my elemental powers, even walking a few feet away from the ring." Zane studied the ring for a second more, then diverted focus. At least the nurse didn't seem nervous anymore.

The small group walking down the hospital corridor garnered more than a few curious glances. Lloyd looked decent, but Cole had been cut by a piece of debris at the scene across his left arm, which Jay had quickly bandaged on the Bounty, although blood was beginning to seep through. Jay himself was still red in the face and glaring at Zachary's back, and Zane was so covered in soot one might not be able to tell he was a nindroid. All four of them smelled of smoke, and undoubtedly looked less than their public reputation normally was. Not to mention the emotions that played across all their faces.

For all the ninjas knew, something could be seriously wrong with Skylor, and all the nurses picked up on this. If the Elemental Ninja were present at the hospital outside of the pediatric ward, one of their teammates laid in a bed somewhere in the maze of rooms and patients. Many nurses and doctors stopped and bowed as the fighters went by, but only Cole acknowledged them with a nod of gratitude. There would be time for the city tomorrow.

When Skylor came to, the first thing she registered was Kai's head asleep on the bed next to her pillow. He was solidly asleep and lay on his side facing her. His left hand held her right in between them. His side rose and fell as he slept, and Skylor smiled as she watched him sleep. She moved to sit up, then froze as her head swam. She groaned and dropped her head again like a rock.

FSM, my head is throbbing. What kind of ... She turned her head so that she could see Kai again, their hands still clenched together. Her second register was that she wasn't in the civilian clothes she had been wearing but a green hospital gown with an IV in her left hand? And why were the bottom of Kai's pant legs and his hands black? Her restaurant.

A wave of nausea gripped her, and Skylor lurched towards the trash can on her side of the bed, ripping her hand out of Kai's. The action woke the Master of Fire.

"Sky? What…" He broke off and watched in shock as Skylor heaved over and over. She shook with effort and was crying again before the nurses even got into the room. Kai jumped out of bed and was met with dirty looks from the nurses that swarmed the room to help Skylor. After getting more dirty looks from a matronly-looking nurse, he excused himself to the hallway, where he leaned against the wall, then dry-washed his face. Glancing up and down the corridor, he looked at his watch. The cheery watch face smiled a way to late number up to him.

"Uurg. I'm going to be so screwed for tonight's patrol." He turned to walk back into Skylor's room and got a total of two steps into the room before nurses shot him twin looks which made him back out quickly. He gestured to the hand sanitizer posted on the wall to justify his presence. He was given a nod, and a finger pointed out the door. Kai got his sanitizer, sighed, and moved back out to his post. He rubbed his hands together, then noticed that they seemed to lighten. Soot. Crap. That probably didn't stain my gi at all. And it's my turn to do laundry this week. Lucky Cole. His gi never stains.

Kai raised his gaze from his hands as he heard footsteps. His brothers came around the corner, and their bodies all seemed to lighten as they saw him. They were accompanied by a young male nurse in dark purple scrubs. His face held a peeved expression, and he held his clipboard in an angry grip at his hip. In short, the guy looked like trouble. Kai's immediate feeling was that the nurse was no good. The ninja straightened against the wall and folded his arms while fixing the nurse with a stare. His brothers must have realized that he was tense because Cole slashed his hand across his neck behind the nurse and pointed to Jay.

Jay was clearly in a foul mood and seemed ready to power up a charge at the first offense against anyone in his family. Well, this will make an interesting next couple of hours. Kai thought as he sent a tentative wave toward the team. Very interesting indeed.