SideNote: Nya DID eventually tell Lloyd and the others that she had found Cole and that he was off doing his own mission with the assumed Wu-Ghost.

**I didn't actually watch all of DR Part 2, just the last episode, so I just skimmed through some of the episodes to find a scene where she tells them that she had found Cole, but couldn't.

A review from Catgirl Hamato asking if Jay's memory will come back… I can't really spoil that for you, now can I? (;

I love it when you guys leave reviews!

And don't worry, we're getting actual development now.

Chapter 7: Playing Dumb

Present Time - POV: Lloyd

"This is taking a lot longer than expected," I said as I heard another stifled groan from Kai.

"Hey, maybe the universe wants us to turn back." Kai got various looks from everyone at that comment.

"I… do not find the logic in that statement," Zane said while Kai looked like he was having an internal battle on whether or not to explain sarcasm to Zane.

"In all seriousness, we better be close; we're pretty low on fuel," Nya said, looking at the mini-screen planted in front of her vehicle.

I was honestly glad that she was starting to get more focused and active. I just hope Jay's alright, for both Jay and Nya. It's pretty obvious she's blaming herself for this, and I don't want her to feel any worse than she already is. We would all be really worried and guilty if he were to be hurt, but, she would most likely be affected most, being his yang and all. Come to think of it…

"Why didn't we call Cole?" I remarked.'

"Well, like I said before, we have no idea where he is and how to communicate with him. He'll just finish his own mission and come back to the monastery for the others to tell him that we have left to find Jay. He'll find us when he can," Nya replied.

"What is Cole's mission, anyway?" Kai asked.

"He said something about something drawing him to somewhere and that he felt something with the earth."

A beat.

"Woooow, real informative, sis."

"Hey, it's his own mission– I don't have to know every detail from memory. All I know is that he's more than capable of finding his way back to the monastery and calling us."

I gave out a sigh of relief as I started to see the big, hard walls of Imperium.

"Ah, finally. We're here," I informed them as I pulled out a hat similar to what Wu used to wear. Then I felt a frown tugging on my lips.

Hm. What he used to wear.

You don't have any proof that he's dead– he's Sensei after all. He has made it clear to us multiple times that he can take care of himself just fine. We haven't even seen a certainly life-threatening realm yet.

It'll be fine.

It'll be just fine.

Once we get the team back together, everything will be back to normal.

Loss isn't our strong suit. When someone is 'gone for good' the team just falls apart. I don't know what we would do without Wu. I'm not ready to be a permanent master yet. I'm still just Lloyd.

"Uh, Lloyd?" Kai's voice cut me from my thoughts, "You do know you're heading straight for a rock, right?"

"AaaAAah!" I swirled away from the rock just in time.

That was too close.

I looked at Kai for a brief moment to glare at him and with a sarcastic tone I said, "Of course, Kai. I just wanted to get close to the rock so I could caress it with my hand as we were driving by."

Kai chuckled at that as Zane was probably going to say something about that not being safe, but decided against it. As we neared the wall, I took one last glance at the others before getting off and saw that they had already changed into their disguises. I must've gotten lost in my thoughts for quite a while.

When we got off, we showed the guards our real faces and they immediately recognized us as the ninja that saved the merged world, and let us in. As we were walking by every one of us was on our toes ready for any type of hate-ambush. Just because the majority is grateful doesn't mean each and every one of them is.

When we reached the newly named Council Hall, we showed the guards there our faces too and told them that we would like to have a quick meeting with the new council. They let us quickly, as if in a rush, led us to the main room with multiple throne-like fancy chairs, and told us to wait while they rushed off.

I then realized that they probably thought the world was ending again and that we needed help on the matter, which made me feel pretty guilty. Interrupting the council's work, which is probably a lot thanks to the new rising government, just because of our selfish needs. I mean, I guess it's not really selfish, since Jay is a missing ninja, but still. It doesn't concern them and we probably should've made an appointment or something.

I wanted to call after them to tell them that it wasn't too urgent but didn't have the time.

The room Beatrix's throne was in hadn't changed all that much. Then again, they didn't really have the time to make changes when some of the people, probably dragon hunters like the Claws of Imperium, were probably upset about not hunting dragons. All that changed was Beatrix's throne being replaced with less super big fancy chairs lined up facing the main doors and all of the Beatrix posters and banners being removed. The room still had a tense atmosphere, and when the council came, they would be sitting on their thrones looking down at us like we were traitors being questioned. I'm certain that wasn't their intention.

It appeared that I was right about them thinking the world was ending judging by the tense and worried looks on the council members' faces when they entered along with 4 guards. The five members quickly settled in their seats and, like we were in a movie, the man sitting in the middle throne was the first to speak.

"Hello, ninja. Is there anything we could help you with?"

Quickly wanting to get this 'interrogation' over with, "Uh, yes," I started, but couldn't decide on what to call them, so I settled with "Sir."

"We were tracking down someone and just wanted permission to look at your security footage," I said sheepishly.

They all visibly relaxed after hearing that we had no world-ending news to offer.

"Of course, and you ninja always have the authority to check anything if you feel that it is necessary. It is the least we could do after you all saved the world," he answered.

Turning to look at a specific guard, "One of our guards will show you where you need to be headed," he stopped for a moment, turning to us, "Unless you would like more? We know it could be a little unnerving knowing that some people could not be as fond of your presence here as others."

"We appreciate it, but it's completely fine, we came prepared," I offered them a grateful smile.

As the council was preparing to take their leave to whichever room they came from, one of the guards started heading off through the main doors and indicated that we should follow him.

POV: Agent Walker

I was heading off with Jeremy to the training room, which was blinding, to say the least, because of its unnecessarily bright white walls, when I felt a sudden wave of nausea and fell to my knees with one hand on my head.

"Ugh…"

I hate it when this happens. It's just so sudden that I have no time to hide it or react to it before immediately feeling weak and falling down. I hate showing weakness. It happens occasionally, but weirdly, it has never happened in the midst of a mission. It feels like being charged with energy so fast that your body can't handle it and that it makes you sick. They say that it's an abnormal side-effect of memory-wiping, but I know it's a lie. To make me feel better or to not try to find a solution, I don't know. It's very unlikely for only me to have it when everyone has gone through it before joining the Administration.

Even though I don't know the full reason for joining the Administration, knowing that I had sacrificed my memories and the life that I had, and the fact that I can't get it back makes me feel like I have sacrificed too much to turn back and hope that the past me did this for a good reason. Some life I sacrificed, anyway. Apparently, there wasn't much to forget because my parents had died in an attack and I wanted to make sure nothing like that happened to anyone else. That's what the Administrator told me, anyway. He told me that in private, too.

"Hey, you ok? Is it happening again?"

I heard muffled noises and assumed it was Jeremy, and nodded as much as I could without getting more dizzy.

After a few minutes of walking around, I hit a soft texture, probably my bed. Knowing that there wasn't anything either of us could do instead of waiting it out, and probably remembering that I would not appreciate being looked at while I was trying to regain my composure, I heard the door open and close with a few 'get well' comments from Jeremy.

I really hate these sudden attacks.

Having nothing to do, my mind started having really absurd ideas on how The Administrator would become The Administrator after purposefully wiping his own memories, and then convincing everyone else to do the same solely on the trust they have in a random mind-wiped person.

I inwardly sighed.

This is going to be a long day.

(Fun Fact: The Administrator didn't mind-wipe himself. Just a slimmer of the old Jay's curiosity and absurd, out-of-the-blue ideas.)

POV: Zane

When we reached a private room with multiple computer screens, the guards felt the need to leave the room. They kindly informed us that we had the authority to analyze any file or date we desired.

Nya took a seat in front of the brightly lit computer screens and we crowded around her. The guards affirmed to us that it would be wise to look at footage of incidents first. Nya seemed to acknowledge the suggestion and opened a file named 'Incidents'.

The ones we went through seemed to not be of any use to us until we found a file named 'The Mechanic - 3 years ago.'

Upon noticing the name, we gave each other uneasy yet very interested looks. The possibility of old enemies attacking lost ninjas after the events of the merge had not struck any of us. According to my databases, Kryptarium Prison was demolished, and that realization gave us more on our plates than we would like.

"Okay…" Nya said as she clicked on the file.

After a few minutes of normalcy, the camera started to track two people with sunglasses wearing various hats, and a person with a gray hoodie pulled up to hide their face. As I observed their movements, it was evident that they were communicating with each other. The guy with combed, straight black hair and sunglasses wearing black pants with a gray shirt shot a look in the direction of the guy with a gray hoodie and navy pants as if he was annoyed by something he had said. The footage provided audio of the event, but it was difficult to hear what the selected suspects were saying.

Everyone kept watching and observing the footage silently, eager to see the action.

"Why isn't anything happening?" Kai said with an impatient tone.

"It would appear that the footage starts with following three specific people as if to show how it started. But none of them appear to have any similarity with that of The Mechanic," I informed Kai.

Right when I had finished talking, the gray hooded figure stepped out of the camera's bounds into a dark alley where no camera was present. He then muttered something, probably to his communication device, and took out a phone as he headed to a nearby shop but did not enter.

Then The Mechanic emerged from the dark alley and lit a store on fire while introducing himself. The person with the hoodie's hood fell down, and I identified it as Jay. Nya gasped at the newly revealed information but did not take her eyes off the screen. Lloyd and Kai looked at the screen with wide eyes, probably mirroring the expression of my own. When The Mechanic referred to Jay as a ninja, Jay seemed evidently confused, and replied with 'What ninja?'

The Mechanic did not seem to be the only one confused at that response, as everyone in the room had confused expressions with a tinge of worry mixed in. Everyone started to get very worried when Jay asked how The Mechanic knew his name, and that's when I recognized the third person with wavy, dark yellow hair wearing sunglasses and a dark green shirt with gray pants as an agent of The Administration.

I had been lost in my thoughts as the footage came to an end and paused.

There was a very uncomfortable silence afterward, and everyone seemed to have been lost in their thoughts for what seemed like hours, but was just a matter of 58.3 seconds.

Not wanting to intrude in their thoughts, I did not say anything. Kai was the first to speak.

"Welp, it's pretty obvious what's going on," Lloyd and I turned to look at him, but Nya did not move. "He's going undercover to avoid trouble and just playing dumb."

"It is likely that he landed in The Administration and is undercover and 'playing dumb', as Kai said."

I could tell it was wrong and unwise to implement such hope in them, but we all needed it right now. I also didn't want to say any bad news before I was sure that was the case.

I remember an agent in The Administration talking about a manager with the first name Jay, but I waved it off out of hope and denial, saying to myself that there could be many people with the name Jay.

Now, I am starting to think that was not the case.

Bruh, I spent like 3 straight hours on this– I think I'm getting addicted.