(A/N) Oh my gosh. I got SIX REVIEWS ON ONE CHAPTER. That's one less review for last chapter than I did for the entirety of Nightprowlers Part 1: Neverender (not the rewrite)! Thank you all! I know, this is a crappy chapter title, but I couldn't think of anything better. This one's about what's going on with the Ninja ever since they escaped one year ago. But don't worry! There's an Agent I appearance at the end!

One more thing: it's OC time! This chapter, we have Tylor Stone, Kadian Bridgestone, and Maihreen Cross, all of whom belong to Kairocksrainbow; Ranci Azel Prower, belonging to MowsTrap; Neil Causer, who belongs to Wandering Cat; Zorane Julien, who belongs to TitaniumMasterOfAquaLightning; Reena Johnson, who belongs to ebony umbreon; James Jackson, who belongs to Lucifer's Descendent. Thank you all for submitting your OCs! And to those who don't see their OCs on this list, not to worry! I have a clear plan for all of them!

Chapter 1

The Island

The waves lapped against the island shore, its sands shining in the sun. The gentle breeze spread the scent of ocean water across the beach of Chen's Island. A young boy picked up a small spiral seashell. Immediately the wheels in his head began to turn. He thought of the logarithmic spiral, the pattern seen throughout all of nature - that is, if you have the eye to see it.

The boy inspected the shell, plopping himself down on the sand. His slightly wavy blonde hair rustled in the salty breeze while his curious hazel eyes took in every detail of the little shell in his palm. It was perfect, unbroken, having not even a single scratch on it. It almost blended in with his fair skin. He held it up to the light, forming a spiral shaped eclipse in front of the sun. Lex Garmadon had always had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, a trait his father often said was inherited from Lex's late mother, Heather. Lex never knew her. She died shortly after he was born.

Lex reflected on the year that had passed since the Ninja had moved to Chen's Island. Team Nightprowler had gotten to know their families better, as well as adjusted to the new environment. Having never been able to have children of their own, Senseis Jay and Nya had adopted Reed and Emma. Sensei Cole had offered to adopt Nick, but the seventeen-year-old (now eighteen) had refused, saying that he was nearly an adult, and he preferred being independent anyway.

Back at the mainland though, things were looking more glum. Scout teams regularly traveled in secret back to Ninjago to get supplies from old contacts of the Ninja, mainly from old elemental masters that remained loyal to the Ninja, but smuggling supplies wasn't their only job. Scouts also would come back with news and intelligence of what was going on. The situation over there only got worse with every new report. The people were being terrorized by their own government. There were stories of people going into restricted zones and never coming out. There were tales of bombings and shootings. They were even starting to rebuild Ninjago City to resemble the technologically advanced New Ninjago City that the Overlord virus had taken over. Sensei Zane had been very upset when that report came in. He didn't like the idea that the city was becoming the same place whose technological flaws had lead to him having to sacrifice his old body. He didn't come out of his room for three days, not even for teaching his meditation classes.

Team Nightprowler had once been a part of the Black Dragon Agency, until Drew had managed to turn Emma, Reed, and Nick good. Now, they were ninja. Lex, Drew, Reed, Emma, and Nick had already proven themselves by turning away from darkness and preserving the way of the Ninja by saving them and all their students from an attack that was being launched by the Black Dragons with the purpose of destroying every last piece of their memory in Ninjago. Ever since then, they had been hiding on the island, waiting for the right time to return...

Drew was helping Violet prepare for the return of the scout team. They had to clean the place until it was "spotless" as Sensei Lloyd had put it. Personally, Drew thought he should have been on the scout team. He had a bunch of experience with the stuff that they went through on their missions. They had been gone for four days now, and everyone was acting like it was such a big deal that they were supposed to be back two days ago. Drew thought that was absurd. Team Nightprowler had been on some missions for the Black Dragons where they had to wait for weeks to return due to the occasional run-in with the authorities. Nobody ever made this big of a deal about it when they returned from their missions.

"What's the big deal about all this?" he huffed, his amber eyes filled with fire. "Why do we have to clean up for a scout team?"

"I think it's just my dad giving us chores again," Violet answered, dusting an ornate blue vase.

"But why did he say it was for the scout team?" Drew continued, trying to scrub a mark off of a table. "It's just a scout team. There's nothing special about it."

Violet sighed. She put down the vase and turned to Drew. Her emerald eyes saw straight through him. "This is about Ivan, isn't it?"

"No, it's not!"

"Don't lie, Drew. You're jealous that you didn't get to go and he did."

Drew gave in. "The guy's a jerk! A snake! And he's always hypnotizing people with his so-called 'charm'."

"Drew, I'm not like the crazy girls on this island who think he's 'dreamy' or anything like that. Sure, I admit he's not bad-looking, but I have no interest in him."

"I've seen the way he looks at you. He's after you, I know it."

"Drew, everyone knows that you and I have been an item for the past six months."

Drew couldn't argue with her on that one. Once it got out that the two best fighters in the entire academy had officially become a couple, the word spread like wildfire amongst the students. Some kids had even come up with a ship name for them: Darkflame, because Violet's power was dark energy and Drew's was fire. Lloyd had been a little bit protective of his daughter at first, but after he made Drew solemnly swear to never, ever, ever, ever hurt Violet, the Sensei allowed the relationship to continue.

When Drew still looked unsatisfied, Violet gave him a peck on the cheek. He reacted by grabbing her by the waist and pulling her into a real kiss on the lips. She ran her fingers through his brick-red hair spikes, and he played with her black ponytail. When they ran out of air, they broke apart and Violet said, "Now, enough with your ranting about Ivan. Help me with this dusty window."

Reed took a deep breath as he stared at the training course set up in the arena where Senseis Jay and Cole were forced to fight each other more than twenty years ago. Since then, it had been turned into a training course for younger fighters. Reed, being "challenged" in fighting skills, was not in the combat classes with kids his age. Instead, he was being privately taught by his adoptive father Sensei Jay, since they shared the same element, lightning. So far, however, he was having no more luck than he would be if he had been in the normal curriculum.

No matter how many times Reed tried, he just couldn't pass the course. He'd made no progress in the last ten weeks. He was beginning to lose hope in himself. Jay, though, didn't seem to want to give up on him, no matter how much he sucked.

"Remember, Reed, you must focus," his adoptive father advised him.

"I can't. I'm no good at this," Reed groaned.

Jay shook his head. "You don't know that. You've never tried to fight."

"Yes I have! At the Black Dragon Training Academy, I never was good at fighting lessons, so they let me drop out and take extra courses in technology. I'm good at that. Why can't I stick with that?"

Just then Jay's face lit up. He clapped and rubbed his hands together. That always meant he had either had an idea, or he'd found out that the scouts had managed to get their hands on the latest Fritz Donnagan comic book. "I've got it!" he declared with a grin.

"Got what?"

"I know what your problem is! You've convinced yourself that you're not good at this. So you don't try. You give up on things you have to do in favor of things you want to do."

"And how do I fix that?"

"If you can't change your circumstances, change your mind. Focus only on what you do right. You'll become more optimistic about fighting if you do. Now, again. This time, don't focus on what you can't do. Focus on what you can do, and build your way up. Positive thinking is a powerful thing indeed."

Reed closed his eyes. What could he do well other than working with technology and computers? Nothing really. Jay just didn't get it. Reed couldn't fight.

Wait a minute.

What if there was another way? What if he didn't have to fight the course like everyone else did? Not being good at fighting was just another way to say that he was good at not fighting, right? What was that one fighting style - the Slicing Fist? No, Silent Fist! What if he did that instead of fruitlessly flailing his throwing stars and missing his target by a mile? He decided to try it.

Reed's eyes snapped open. He ran at the course, but instead of fighting his way through it, he dodged his way through. He weaved through tight spaces, dashed across the planks, started to approach the halfway point-

BANG.

Reed's face came in contact with the flat side of one of the wooden axes. He fell backwards onto the tile. He closed his eyes. Great. Just great. Failure again. He was never going to move up-

"Good job!" Reed opened his eyes to see Jay standing over him with a grin on his face. "You're making progress! And way to think outside the box with applying the Silent Fist."

"But I didn't finish it!" Reed fretted, sitting up. Jay held out his hand and helped Reed up.

"Finishing it takes a lot of practice. You'll get it. Remember what I said? Focus on what you can do, not what you can't do."

Lately, Emma had been having strange nightmares.

They were the same every time, and they all woke her up in the middle of the night with the same feeling of dread that something bad was going to happen. After about a month of this she had consulted Sensei Lloyd about it, and he had told her to talk to Sensei Zane. She was a little nervous, because she had never been to his office before.

Emma knocked on the door to the nindroid's office. "Enter," a robotic voice called from within.

When Emma opened the door, she was met with a surprise. The room was almost completely bare. There was a small wooden desk and chair in the far right of the room, and some comfortable-looking cushions sat on the far left next to the door to the balcony. The plain white walls were bare except for a small photo frame hanging on the wall depicting an old man, a much more human-looking Zane, and a black falcon. She found the Master of Ice himself meditating on a cushion. "I'm sorry, Sensei," she apologized. "Did I interrupt you?"

"Not at all. Come and sit." He gestured to a cushion opposite him. Once Emma had sat down, he spoke. "How may I help you?"

"Lately, I've been having nightmares. Every night it's the same one, and it gets more and more vivid each time."

"Describe it to me."

Emma closed her eyes and brought back the images from those restless nights. She began to tell it.

"I'm small, and I'm on a chessboard. All the pieces are on different places on the board. I look up. Oddly enough, there is only one person playing the game. He has no opponent."

"Do you know who it is?" Zane asked.

"No," Emma responded, "but he was wearing a brown trenchcoat and a fedora. His face was concealed in shadow, so I couldn't see it. Anyway, the lone player reaches over to a black bishop, and begins to move it toward a white pawn. When it gets there, the player takes the pawn and puts it inside his or her coat. Then the bishop moves toward me, and when it gets to me, the player grabs me. I start to scream... and then I wake up, gasping for breath." Emma shivered as she finished her tale.

Zane closed his glowing eyes for a long time. Finally, he opened them to reveal his answer. "After careful analysis of your dream, Emma, I have come to a conclusion."

"You have?"

"Yes. You are gifted with the sixth sense."

Emma sat there in stunned silence. Sixth sense? Her?

"Sensei Zane, I don't understand. What do you mean?"

"It is hard to explain, but to put it simply, sixth sense is the ability to look into the beyond and comprehend certain signs and signals that are missed by most people. To be gifted with sixth sense is a truly rare gift, but it is more common in masters of ice than in others. If you train yourself to control it, as I have, it can give you a glimpse into the future, the past, and even allow you to see something presently happening in a different place."

"But does that mean that my nightmare will come true?!"

"Your gift has just begun to reveal itself within you. The visions and dreams you are receiving now should not be taken literally. They could be symbolic, or perhaps they are just manifestations of your unconscious mind assembling themselves into dreams and visions. I would not trust them quite yet. However, do not ignore them. Keep a record of them, just in case. Train yourself harder, and this new power of yours will develop. As for the meaning of your dream, it is hard to decipher, since your sixth sense is still developing itself. However, I can tell you that there is one thing certain. Your dream is likely foretelling the emergence of a threat of some sort. It would be wise to keep your eye out. I will tell the other Senseis about your dream."

"Thank you, Sensei." Emma bowed, and left the office, unable to shake off the feeling that the threat Sensei Zane mentioned would reveal itself soon.

From the rooftops of the palace, Nick scouted the waves through a telescope, searching for any signs of the scout team's ferry. He'd been looking for hours after being stationed here by Sensei Cole to keep a lookout. So far, there had been no luck.

Wait!

On the horizon appeared a small dot that kept getting bigger and bigger. Nick blew the horn that signaled the return of a scout team's boat, then jumped from roof to roof, sliding down the slopes and columns with agility until he came to a low enough height that he could safely jump to the ground. When he finally got to the docks, the boat had been tied on and the passengers were climbing out onto the dock. This month's scouts were an odd choice, in Nick's opinion, but if Sensei Lloyd thought they were good enough, well, it wasn't Nick's job to judge. He quickly identified each one: Tylor Stone, Kadian Bridgestone, Maihreen Cross, Ranci Prower, Zorane Julien, Neil Causer, Reena Johnson, and James Jackson. Good, they were all accounted for, except for Ivan. They gathered in front of Nick and saluted him. All of them wore the same black gis, but each had a different tiny symbol on the right arm and different colored masks that covered the lower halves of their faces.

"Cross. Have you acquired any information?" Nick asked Maihreen. He always addressed them by their last names, if they were people he didn't know well.

"The place is crawling with agents," Maihreen told him apologetically. She removed her yellow mask and shook out her blonde and black hair. "We picked up some supplies at Stixx from Ronin, but not without paying way more than it was worth. We couldn't get very far into Ninjago City, so we didn't end up with any info. Well, except for Ivan's findings."

"Well, that's to be expected, now, isn't it, Cross? After all, he is our spy. He can get through Ninjago City without getting stopped once... Speaking of which, where is Ivan?" Nick called Ivan by his first name because he happened to be on relatively good terms with him, however pompous he might be.

"Still below deck, filling out his log," Ray replied.

"No, I'm coming!" a confident voice promised. Sure enough, a fairly handsome, tall, oil-black haired, brown eyed teen strode toward them from the direction of the ferry. He took off his dark grey mask to reveal an award-winning smile. He ran his fingers through his short hair. "What did I miss, Nick?"

"Nothing much. Just a brief talk about what was accomplished. I hear you might have some information?"

"Yes, but not much. Mainly, they're just rebuilding the city. There are street patrols though, and I almost got spotted. I did find out that there had been a mass shooting of enemies of the regime two days ago. I'm sorry to say I didn't get more info."

"You did what you could, Ivan."

"Enough chit chat, I'm hungry," Neil complained.

"There's food inside, Causer," Nick assured him, though not without one of his disapproving squints. "Now, let's go. After lunch it'll be time for fifth period, which, of course, for you all will mean Sensei Kai's combat class." Nick heard Tylor groan quietly. Nick rolled his eyes. So unprofessional.

Agent I was stumped. It was time to make his first move. What should he do? He had to take someone out, but he'd have to be strategic about who it was. Who was the greatest threat to his plot? Someone smart, someone who thinks logically, someone who, given time, could somehow sniff him out.

And he couldn't kill the victim. No, any smart person knew that knowing a loved one was dead is better than not knowing anything at all. He needed a real scare, a kidnapping.

But who to capture? And how? These were ninja, after all. He'd have to be quick about it, and no one else could be around. But who to take, who to take? Who was often alone, smart enough to find him, and whose disappearance was significant enough to cause a scare in the establishment?

Then it came to him. Agent I grinned. He knew exactly who to take.

(A/N) Ooooooooooooh, who is Agent I going to take? You'll have to wait for the next chapter to find out! Chapter 2 is when the real story kicks off! Any guesses as to who Agent I is going to kidnap? Review and tell me! Constructive criticism is welcome! And be sure to check out my poll!