(A/N) I'M BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK! Finals? DONE! AP tests? DONE! School? DONE DONE DONE!

Wow! I got a lot of good guesses last chapter! But only one was right! Now you'll get to find out who it was! Read away!

Chapter 2

A Mystery

The sky darkened, rumbled, and flashed. The wind picked up and the temperature dropped. The trees in the rainforest began to sway, branches creaking and leaves rustling loudly. A storm was approaching, but two people were still outside. Reed and Emma were working on the electrical systems. A mass blackout had fallen over the entire island, which was really bad news. That meant no lights, no cloaking on the island, no security system, nothing. If a ship were to pass their way, they would be in plain sight, unable to defend themselves. So now Reed and his sister were out here trying to fix it. Reed looked up at the sky. Those clouds were looking pretty angry. He switched his upgraded super-glasses to flashlight mode. Little lights on the sides of the lenses turned on. He opened up a panel in the wall and shined the beams at the exposed wires. He'd have to work quickly, so they could be finished before the storm came in.

That's weird, he thought. Someone had completely switched all the wiring in an impossible way. How did they do that? No wonder the power had gone out, the generator was completely disconnected and the current was broken. Who in Ninjago did that? Well, that didn't really matter at the moment, as long as he was able to fix it. He'd worry about finding the doofus who'd done this later.

"Needlenose pliers, sis, and some tape and wire cutters," Reed grunted, holding his hand out to his sister. Emma shined a flashlight in the toolbox she was carrying and fished out the items he had called for. She placed them in his open hand and he set to work.

Agent I slinked through the hallways, silent as a shadow. His target was just ahead. After he'd caused the blackout, he had set to work hunting down the one who he'd decided to take captive. Considering who it was, there wouldn't be that much of a fight. With Agent I's abilities, this person's attempts to get away would be fruitless. He smiled. This was going to be all too easy.

The teachers had taken all the kids to the dining hall to keep track of them all after the blackout happened. Drew and his father were lighting candles around the room.

"Everyone stay calm!" Nya tried to console the younger children, who were shaking in fear. The older students were actually more excited than scared, and were huddled up in groups discussing what could have caused the blackout. Cole and Nick were checking off names on the list to make sure everyone was here. Right now, however, it was quite difficult since no one was really listening and there was too much noise to hear anything.

"Hailey Rangston!" Cole called out. No response. He tried again, louder this time. "Hailey Rangston!"

"They can't hear you, Sensei Cole," Nick explained irritatedly. Disorder and chaos always put him in a bad mood. He had reached the end of his rope now. "Don't worry, I'll take care of this." Before Cole could stop him, Nick took a deep breath, called upon his inner drill seargent, and...

"QUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!" he boomed. All eyes snapped to him. "Thank you. We are trying to make sure everyone is here and that no one is lost in the hallways. We can't do that if you all aren't listening! Now, Hailey Rangston!"

"Here!" shouted a girl with long brown hair and a slight accent wearing a grey gi.

"Ray Walker!"

"Here!" a girl with long black hair in a ponytail wearing a pastel blue gi answered.

"Melody Walker!"

"Here!" a younger version of Ray in a light pink gi answered.

"Kadian Bridgestone!"

"Here!" called a teen boy with choppy golden-blonde hair and light tan skin in an aqua gi.

"Minako Ohnaku!"

"Here!" a small girl with white hair in a light blue gi squeeked.

"Una Kattana!"

"Here!" a girl with super-short brown hair wearing a light blue and black gi declared.

"Ashley Kattana!"

"Here!" called a girl with shoulder-length brown hair in a black and pink gi.

"Zorane Julien!"

"Here!" a teen with platinum-blonde, slicked-back hair in a cyan gi responded.

"Lex Garmadon!"

Nothing. That wasn't a surprise. Lex didn't talk much. Nick tried something else.

"Lex, if you are here, raise your hand." But no hand went up. Something was wrong. "Has anyone seen Lex? Anyone at all?" No answer. The students began to murmer amongst themselves. Where is he? Nick thought.

Lex held up the small flashlight. It didn't have a very strong beam, so he couldn't see too far ahead of him. He had been here in his room, writing numbers on the wall, when the power suddenly went out. Now he was on the floor, alone and a little bit afraid. He had no idea where everyone else was, so he had no idea what to do. Should he go look for them? Maybe, but who knew what was lurking out there in the dark?

Suddenly the door to his room slid open. Lex whirled around and shined his flashlight at the doorway. There was a tall figure there, wearing a long trenchcoat and a fedora. He took a step inside the room. "Hello, little boy," the figure said in a slick voice. Lex couldn't see his face, but he imagined this stranger grinning evilly at him. Lex crawled backwards across the floor, his eyes filled with fright.

"Don't worry, Lex. I'm not going to hurt you. We're just taking a little trip." Lex stood up and continued to back up until he hit the door to the balcony. It opened, and he stepped outside. The wind howled around him and the stranger, and the rain began to fall hard. Thunder and lightning rumbled and lit up the sky. A flying leaf smacked into Lex's cheek. Eventually his back hit the railing. He looked down and gulped. It was a long drop. He didn't need to do any calculations to know he probably wouldn't survive the fall.

The stranger grabbed Lex. The flashlight left his hand. Lex tried to throw him off, but this person was very strong. Then he started to change. His trenchcoat disappeared to reveal black scales. Wings began to sprout from his back. Lex winced as the nails enlongated into claws and sharpened against his skin, drawing blood. The young victim knew there was only one thing he could do now. For the first time in as long as he could remember, he let out a scream, piercing the cold air.

"Okay! Done!" Reed declared triumphantly, closing the panel. He looked toward the palace. Lights began to show up in windows. He and Emma high-fived. Then they heard it. A scream, a pleading cry, rang out through the storm. They looked toward the balconies, and a large creature with wings shot through the air high above from one of the upper levels. It was carrying something - or someone. The creature let out a screech, and disappeared into the clouds. "Woah!" Reed yelled. "Would somebody please explain what the heck was that?"

"No clue," Emma breathed. "Let's get inside. We need to tell Sensei Lloyd!"

Drew sat with his face in his hands outside the council room with his teammates and Violet. How could he have let this happen? If only he'd been there, he could have toasted that kidnapper to a crisp. He recalled the day he'd been put in charge of Lex. They were in that cell in the Black Dragon Island prison complex. Heather had been lying on the bed with little Lex in her weak arms. She had been slowly wasting away for the past few weeks, and Drew could tell she could no longer hold on.

"Drew, come close," Heather whispered.

Drew obeyed. "What is it, Mrs. Garmadon?"

"Drew, I am very close to death. I know you're young, but I need you to do something for me."

"W-what is it?"

"Take care of Lex."

"What?!" Drew cried. "But I don't know anything about babies!"

"I know that, and I'm sorry, but if you don't take him, then the Black Dragons will kill him. Teach my baby the way of the ninja. Don't let the Black Dragons raise him to be evil."

"I promise I won't let them."

"And...make sure...he sees his father...one day,"

That had been Heather's dying wish to him. Drew had promised he'd look after the kid. He'd promised. And now the poor little guy had been taken away. Some guardian he was.

Just then, his mother slid open the door to the council room. Drew, Emma, Reed, Nick, and Violet looked up. "We're ready for you," Skylor stated, and she went back in, leaving the door open. The students stood up and followed her in.

The council room was the old throne room in the palace, where Chen had welcomed his guests to the Tournament of Elements more than twenty years before. The decor was much different now; they had taken time to redo it over the past two years that they had been hiding here. Paper lanterns of various colors and shapes were strung from the ceiling to light up the room. Banners hung from the cieling, each one a different color and with a symbol representing each elemental power stitched into it. Seven of the banners were larger, and were spaced evenly around the circumfrence of the room. Each one represented the element of each of the Senseis: Fire was red with gold detailing, Water was maroon with light blue detailing, Ice was white with gold, Lightning was blue with silver, Earth was black with silver, Amber was orange with mahogany. But the largest banner was green with a golden dragon stitched on it - the banner for Energy. In front of each of these banners was a chair for the Sensei with that element, each unique in its design. All of the Senseis were sitting in their chairs looking grim.

Team Nightprowler and Violet stood in the center of the room. There was a short silence before Lloyd stood up to speak. "We are here to discuss what happened to my son, Lex Garmadon, at the time of the blackout. You six students are here to tell us everything you know."

"With all due respect, Sensei Lloyd," Reed began cautiously, "I think the only ones of us who know anything are Emma and myself."

"But the others still know his habits, strengths, and weaknesses," Sensei Nya insisted. "Tell us all you know."

"Lex is more capable than he looks," Nick explained. "He may be small, but he can still defend himself pretty well."

"Then how did he get kidnapped?" Sensei Skylor asked.

"The only explaination is that the kidnapper was stronger than he could handle," Drew postulated. He recalled Violet telling him that Lex had once thrown her father off of him when the Head Sensei had made the mistake of trying to touch him. If this kidnapper could overpower a kid who had done that, he'd have to be really powerful.

"Reed, Emma. Tell us what you saw back there." Jay asked.

"Well," Emma began. "We were fixing the blackout problem, and had just succeeded, when out of the upper balconies there came this... thing... that flew away carrying someone."

"After we realized Lex was missing from the dining hall, we knew we had to find him," Nick told the teachers. "We ran upstairs to his room, and we found the doors to the balcony wide open to the storm. Lex was gone, but we found a small flashlight, still on, lying on the ground, along with a small folded piece of paper."

"Do you have it?" Lloyd asked hopefully.

"Yes, but-"

"Can you read it?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because it's written entirely in code," Drew explained sorrowfully. He pulled out a folded piece of paper and gave it to Lloyd. Drew had tried to make sense of it earlier, but it was written in a series of symbols. "I'm sorry Sensei," he apologized. "I tried to decode it, but Lex was the codecracker when we were in the agency, not me."

Sensei Lloyd studied the symbols for a moment. "Zane, can you read this?" he asked, and he passed it to the nindroid. Sensei Zane only had to look at it for a few seconds.

"These are ancient runes," he said. "Specifically, they seem to be Draconian runes, which was the language that societies of criminals typically used in their secret messages during the Dark Ages."

"Strange. You think this person could be involved with the Black Dragons?" Sensei Lloyd asked.

"It would be most unfortunate if he were. We did not know of any Black Dragon agents here."

"There shouldn't be!" Sensei Kai exclaimed. "No one should know that we're here except for us and our contacts on the mainland. And they are sworn to secrecy on their lives."

"Could there be a spy?" Cole asked. "Could there be someone on the island who is a traitor?"

"If so, then we are all in danger," Lloyd said, shaking his head. "This is a mystery that must be solved as quickly as possible. My son's life could be on the line, as well as the lives of everyone else here. This is a mission we cannot fail."

Agent I finished locking up the little green pest. His last move had been successful. He'd captured the green pawn before he'd figured out who he was. Now he had to figure out who was next. The knight? The queen? The bishop? The castle? He decided to consult his chessboard. He entered a dark room where there stood a table lit up by a spotlight from the cieling. On it was a chessboard, and the pieces were scattered across the black and white squares. He sat down at the single chair and studied the chessmen carefully. He moved a few pieces, shook his head, and moved them back into place. He did this several different times in several different ways, searching, searching for the best way to go from where he was now. Who to take? Who was the next biggest risk to him and his plan? Perhaps someone with a special power that was dangerous enough to his plot? Who was like that?

Then it dawned on him. Agent I quickly moved a select few pieces around the board, then made his move. The chosen piece fell, rolled in a little quarter of a circle, then stopped. Yes... yes, this was the one he had to capture next. Agent I stood up and confidently strode away from the chessboard, chuckling quietly.

(A/N) So now we know who that pawn was in Emma's dream in chapter 1, don't we? Lex! But who's this next chess piece? Any guesses? Tell me in the reviews!

By the way, if you're a guest and don't give yourself a name in your review, I give one to you, usually based on what you said in your review. If you review again, tell me your nickname and I'll credit you again in the shoutouts. Otherwise, I'll have to give you another nickname.

Shoutout time! OCs in this chapter belong to BlacknBlue39, Kairocksrainbow, Determine Artist (I hope you're okay with the last name I gave to your OC, you didn't give me one in your description of her), The "Kattanas" Guest (That's your new nickname!), TitaniumMasterOfAquaLightning, and DragonWhisperer762!

Thank you to ebony umbreon, "You Guest It"(intentional play on words because you were the only reviewer to correctly guess that the person Agent I was going to take was Lex), AveXCninja11, Kairocksrainbow, DragonWhisperer762, TitaniumMasterOfAquaLightning, The Mayor of Ninjago City, and Determine Artist for your reviews!

The Mayor of Ninjago City: Thank you! I did better than I expected on AP Chemistry, but the AP Human Geography exam was kinda jerky because most of what my teacher said would be on the exam WASN'T. And I hope you resume your mayoral duties soon!

Determine Artist: Not sure what you mean by "new episode". If you mean season 6, that doesn't exist in my universe. The cutoff is season 5. If you mean the prequel, Neverender, then yes, that is recommended.

TitaniumMasterOfAquaLightning: AAAAAA! I have a nickname now! Thank you!

Kairocksrainbow: You're welcome!

See ya, everyone! Review!