Two years ago...

"You've gone too far this time, Richard!" A man barged into a lab in Borg Tower, where one of his engineers was working. The man was well dressed, with a bright blue button-down shirt, black tie, and dark gray pants. He wore large black glasses, his neatly combed brown hair covering the ends around his ears. A lanyard was wrapped around his neck with a keycard at the bottom with "Richard Tomisuki Chief Engineer" printed on it. The lab he had entered was in complete disarray. Papers were scattered everywhere, a large generator hanging from the ceiling next to the wall with tools all around it, and the engineer's shirt was half untucked and hair in a mess.

"What? I waited to do the test this time on the generator until you got here." The engineer spun himself in his chair to face the angry Chief.

"This!" He scowled, throwing blueprints onto a table between the two.

Richard walked over to the desk nonchalantly, but his eyes widened when he saw the blueprints. Picking up the blueprints, he began to panic. "How did you get this?" he pointed at them.

"Cyrus said he was concerned about you. Noticed you were working late nights. Later than usual. That's when I decided to see what you were working on, and I found this hidden away on your computer."

"Those are my personal files; you shouldn't be able to-,"

"I had the IT Department pull up all the files you've been working on. They were hidden deep in your computer, as I'm sure you intended." Luke disappointingly shook his head. Richard began to seethe with rage, tightening his fists and scrunching up the blueprint's edges. "Why even think of developing this... this..."

"It's called a mech!" Richard slammed the blueprints down on the table, showing a very detailed layout of a mech.

"Why even think of developing this mech? Huh!? Absorbing elemental powers? Why would this company need to make something like this? We make things to help Ninjago, not hurt it!" Luke

"The ninja have stepped away as our protectors to become... teachers!" Richard waved his hands in disgust at just talking about them. His opinion was that the ninjas were just a bunch of stupid children playing pretend and did more harm than good for the city. "With them gone, we need to protect the people. What better way to do that than using what made them strong?"

"What are you going to do? These plans say you need the elemental powers to be used like a battery! You can't just capture the Golden Ninja! He's all we have left."

"He does nothing other than accept awards and make speeches! He's a child who doesn't understand the Power he has been given! This mech will be built, and I won't let you stop me."

"I can't do anything anyway. Cyrus already axed the project and had the files deleted from your computer. I've never seen that man so nervous, so uneasy about an invention before. Because of that, I've come here to tell you to pack your things. Making stuff like this doesn't align with Dr. Borg's morals or this company's. I refuse to have you put others at risk." Luke turned his back on Richard.

"You can't do this to me, Luke. I have put fifteen years of my life into this company! I've sacrificed so much!" He slammed his fists down on the table and paused. "Have you informed Cyrus of me leaving?"

"I'm heading to inform him now." Luke began to walk towards the lab door.

"Good." Richard gritted his teeth. "I won't let you stop his return." A remote lay in Richard's pants pocket. Sticking his hand in, he pressed a button on it, causing the generator hanging in the lab to explode. The windows' glass shattered, falling many stories to the street below. Sparks formed from newly exposed electrical wires around the room. People at the bottom of the tower could see smoke bellowing from the room.

As an injured Richard began to get up, the fire alarm blasted his eardrums. He had multiple cuts over his body, with blood starting to leave them, as well as scrapes from sliding across the lab floor. His left arm was broken from the impact of hitting the lab floor. When he was fully up, he looked around at the burning room. The generator lay on the ground, a large hole covering most of its front face. I never thought the day would come when I had to use that. He thought to himself. He saw two fallen beams across the room that had fallen to the ground. Under them was Luke lying on his stomach.

Richard limped his way over to look at him. Kicking him, Luke didn't move or make any noise. "Like you said, we make things to help Ninjago, not hurt it." Richard glared at the lifeless body. Then he turned his attention to the lab door. "HELP! HELP!" he screamed, trying to run out of the lab door. "He's trapped! Please, someone!"

Several days later, at the funeral for Luke, Richard watched in disdain as Luke's wife and daughter cried along with others at her father's newly erected headstone. His daughter turned to Luke. "Why did you have to survive and not him?" The seventeen-year-old gritted her teeth at Richard.

"Shiori!" Her grieving mother tried to defuse her daughter.

"You have no one, but he had people who loved and cared about him! He would still be here if you hadn't insisted on that test!" She shouted at him.

"Your father was my best friend. He was like a brother to me." Richard said, turning around and walking away. "You aren't the only one that lost someone that day." A single tear ran down his face.

Cyrus Borg was waiting not too far away with several other friends and family members. When he saw Richard, his claw chair made its way over to him. "I know you two were close." Borg tried to console Richard. "We were as well. He had become a close friend and confidant of mine. I know he was upset with you, but he did care dearly for you. In one of our last meetings, he said he wanted to bring you on as a Chief Engineer by his side. I want to honor his wish and make you the new Chief Engineer of Borg Industries." Borg put his hand on Richard's shoulder.

Wiping away the tear from his eye, a smirk grew on Richard's face. "It would be a great honor, Dr. Borg; thank you."

Shiori stared angrily at Richard as he shook hands with Cyrus Borg, knowing full well that her father's death was somehow that man's fault.

Present Day...

Shiori scowled. The memory of her father's funeral was the only thing she could think about. She knew the way Richard acted that day was unusual. He was responsible for her father's death; she felt it. Fueled by her need for revenge, she made her way to where she arrived in Hunter's truck, deep in the forest she crashed in.

When she found his truck, she climbed out of her mech and opened the cockpit. She ripped out the truck's GPS and jumped back into her damaged mech, where she sat down in front of my unconscious brother and began tinkering away with it, adding other mechanical bits to it. Once she thought she had finished, she pulled out the golden power shard that was lodged in her mech from her pocket and inserted it into the newly updated GPS device. A dot formed several miles away from her. It was Lloyd. She had made a GPS to track down where Lloyd was. She knew that wherever Lloyd was, I was too, and then she could ambush us.

Returning to the controls of her mech, she caused another surge of Hunter's powers, taking his tank apart and using pieces to repair her mech. Shiori could feel the Power of creation flowing through her veins the more and more she used it. Once the tank was fully dismantled and a part of the mech, Shiori, now filled with rage against the Ninja, headed towards Lloyd Garmadon to destroy the two of us and whoever stood in her way, once and for all.

Later that morning, Lloyd and I ran late to the babysitter club. Fighting Shiori from the night before had taken a physical toll on both of us. Opening the door to the daycare room, I was greeted by a hug from Sammie and a hug around my leg from Taka, who was in tears. "Thank goodness," Sammie whispered aloud.

"I'm glad to see you too." I pulled her in tightly and hugged her as well. Our talk last night gave me a lot to think about. I hadn't told Lloyd yet, but I had decided to hang up my ninja gi once Hunter was saved to be with Sammie. The other Ninja had already done that to become teachers. They had the right idea. With the Overlord and Destroyer gone, there was peace, and without an enemy to fight, the Age of the Ninja ended. As long as I am a ninja, Sammie would always be at risk if she was with me, but by giving up the title of Ninja, I could live my life with her.

"Big brother Nathan!" Taka looked up at me. A large amount of snot hung from his nose and attached to my leg. "I'm so happy you're alright!" The other kids began to cry as well and rushed toward me. Taka had told them all about me running off to help people. I knelt, hugged them all, and thanked them for their concern about me.

"Did you all see the colorful ninjas on the TV?" Usaida asked the kids, trying to calm them all down. As if on a dime, they all stopped crying and turned in confusion at Usaida. Usaida pulled out his phone and pulled up a recording a civilian had taken of Lloyd and me fighting Shiori's massive mech. It had over ten million views on it. The footage amazed the kids, especially the footage of my Spinjitzu and Lloyd's golden dragon. They were so amazed that they decided to play ninjas after watching the video.

Sammie, Ryu, and I played ninjas with the children. I gave each of them an elemental power. Taka insisted on being the water ninja, which made me smile. Watching us play, Lloyd sat back briefly with Usaida. He didn't know why, but he felt uneasy. Like the next time we saw Shiori, it wouldn't go as well as last night. He thought it'd be good to spark a conversation with Usaida to take his mind off it. "That whole ninja thing is crazy, isn't it?" Lloyd chuckled.

"It is," Usaida said, picking up a crawling Midori. "To think that there are actual superheroes out there, like what I've read to the kids. Truly amazing. It must be cool for you kids to see people your age like that. People protecting others. Doing what's right."

Lloyd nodded. If there was anything the Golden Ninja liked hearing, it was that he was making a difference.

Suddenly, Lloyd felt a rumble. I noticed him sit up with a concerned look on his face. "You okay, Lloyd?" I questioned. Lloyd's eyes darted until they landed on one of the kids' cups of juice. There were small waves in the juice every time he felt a rumble. His eyes widened. Turning his attention to me, he said nothing and stared at me. It was Shiori, she was here. He and I rushed to the window to confirm our suspicions, and we were right. Shiori's giant mech was slowly walking towards us. "Oh no," I said to myself.

"It's the mech from last night! We need to get everyone out of here now!" Lloyd turned to Usaida, Ryuichi, and Sammie.

"The Chairwoman's office is in the backend of the school. We can take them there!" Ryuichi suggested. Lloyd and I nodded in agreement. Grabbing all the kids, we rushed to get them to safety.

Bursting through the Chairwoman's office door, we caused her to spit her tea out. "What is the meaning of this!?" She demanded.

"Sorry, ma'am!" Ryuichi apologized. "That thing that attacked downtown last night is back and coming here!"

The Chairwoman wasted no time. "Saikawa, raise the academy's alarm! We need to evacuate the school immediately!" Chairwoman Morinomiya looked at Lloyd and me. "I trust that you two can handle this?"

Lloyd and I looked at each other. We knew she had figured out who we were, but she was kind enough to keep it a secret. Now, it was time to let the cat out of the bag. "It would be our honor," Lloyd bowed to her. I followed suit. He motioned for us to get going, and he and I ran out of the office and towards the school's entrance.

"What did you mean when you said you trust those two can handle this?" Sammie asked the Chairwoman. Ryuichi looked at the Chairwoman, confused as well.

"My child. You haven't realized?" The Chairwoman responded. "Those two boys are the ninja you saw on the news yesterday." Sammie was shocked. She ran out of the Chairwoman's office.

"Sammie!" Ryuichi called for her as she ran off. The children couldn't believe it either. Taka was in awe. He saw one of the ninjas run off and save people. Feeling he could do the same. Taka confidently ran out of the room, only Kotaro seeing him leave.

As we ran down the hall, the school's alarm blared. Students began to funnel down the hall in a panic. "Make way!" I shouted. With enough space, Lloyd and I did Spinjitzu to get in our ninja gi and continued running down the hall. The students stopped running and moved to the side in awe as they saw Lloyd and me.

Outside the school, the police, led by Lieutenant Kobayashi, had made a barricade of police cars blocking the front entrance. Shiori was still making her way there. "Get ready, boys!" He shouted to all the other police officers, their guns drawn on Shiori's mech. "We aren't letting her get past this point."

"Don't worry, Lieutenant." Lloyd jumped on the police car's hood in front of Sammie's dad. "We'll take it from here." I jumped on the roof of the car cab next to Lloyd.

"The Ninja! What are you two doing here?"

"Finishing what we came here to do," I told him.

Lloyd and I turned to face Shiori, who stopped about half a mile from the school's entrance. "I knew you two couldn't stay away from a fight!" Shiori shouted over her mech's speaker. Drawing my sword, I readied myself as Lloyd summoned his dragon.

Before I was going to charge in to fight, I noticed something: while much of her mech was repaired, she couldn't fix around the solid Golden Power Lloyd used on her. "Lloyd," I called out. "Her mech!"

"What about it?" He asked.

"When I first fought Shiori at Borg Tower, I couldn't use my water on her. The mech was made of vengestone."

"It is, but we used our powers on her last night?"

"Exactly! By making the mech as big as she has, she's covered up all the vengestone with the metal. We can damage it!"

"Awesome," Lloyd smirked under his mask, summoning his Golden Power around both his hands.

"Time to get Hunter back."

"Ninja, go!" The two of us shouted as we charged towards Shiori.

"Bring it on, fools!" Shiori retorted as she began to summon Hunter's powers into her mech to counter us. Turning her hand into a canon, she began to fire orange energy at Lloyd and me. Jumping around it, the energy struck the ground with so much Power that the earth around us shook.

Lloyd threw his Golden Power at the mech, and I water. Both powers smacked the mech, causing the newly attached pieces to fall to the ground. Frustrated, Shiori increased the output of Hunter's powers. Hunter's body began to react inside the tank. His face clenched up as a sharp pain engulfed his body.

The mech's right fist raised and swung down towards Lloyd. Thinking quickly, Lloyd created his golden dragon, who took the force of the impact, stopping the mech's punch and holding the arm in place. Using Spinjitzu, I hopped onto the mech's arm again. Shiori used the mech's other hand to try to swat at me like a mosquito, but summoning water, I was able to slide up the arm quicker than her mech could hit. Once I got close to the cockpit, I used Spinjitzu once again and crashed into the mech's windscreen, causing a large crack to form. Calling for Lloyd as I fell, he used his powers to form a golden slide for me to reach the ground safely.

"Give it up, Shiori!" I called to her. "You can't beat us!"

"NEVER!" She shouted. Pushing the power usage of Hunter up even more, a muffled screen could be heard. Shiori began to scream as well.

"What's happening!?" I asked Lloyd, hoping he could answer. The police, Lloyd, and I watched in awe as Shiori and the mech reacted to an overflow of Hunter's powers.

"Hunter's powers are being sent into her, somehow!" He answered. And he was right. The ground around us began to shake, and cracks started to form on the sidewalk. Pieces of the sidewalk and brickwork around the entrance started to float and collide with Shiori's mech. She was trying to make it stronger. The force of Hunter's powers was so strong that cars in the police barricade were beginning to get pulled into it.

Lloyd put out his hands and used his Golden Power to try and create a more powerful force to pull the pieces away from the mech. He groaned in pain. The force was a lot stronger than he anticipated. "Take her down, boys!" The Lieutenant ordered. The police began to shoot at the mech, but the bullets just bounced off, doing no damage.

"Sir, we aren't doing anything!" One of the officers shouted.

Realizing this, Lieutenant Kobayashi stopped them. "It's up to them now." He stared at Lloyd and me, praying that we could stop them. "Retreat to the school! We gotta make sure those kids get out of here safely!"

Sammie ran to her father's side as the officers rushed into the school to help evacuate students. "Dad!" She cried out to him.

"Sweetheart? What are you doing out here? Get to somewhere safe!"

"Dad, you've got to get Nathan out of here! It's not safe for him!"

"Nathan? The boy you went out with last night? Isn't he in the school with the others? He shouldn't be out here, and neither should you."

"That's him, dad!" Sammie pointed at me, summoning water and trying to block missiles from one of Hunter's tank parts in the mech's right shoulder. One struck the ground at my feet, sending me flying back, ripping off my mask, and tearing part of my gi.

"NATHAN!" Lloyd shouted. His dragon cracked and lost its form, causing Shiori's punch to hit him and send him flying back into the door of one of the police cars still on the ground.

"It's too dangerous out here! We gotta get you to safety with the others."

"No, I can't leave him!" Sammie shouted as her father began to pull her away. Just then, Taka ran between Sammie and her dad's legs, running towards me. "Taka!" She screamed, ripping herself out of her dad's grasp and running towards Taka.

"Leave him alone, you big bully!" Taka pointed his toy sword at Shiori, getting her attention. Shiori smirked at the boy, her hair floating with orange lightning weaving through it. Her eyes had turned completely orange. My brother's Power had completely encompassed her as he writhed in pain behind her.

"Playing hero, little man?" She caulked her head. Sammie ran up and picked up Taka, who continued to point her sword at her. "Let me show you what happens to people who think heroes are real!" She pulled her fist back and swung a hard punch at them.

"SAMMIE!" Lieutenant Kobayashi shouted.

Sammie squatted down, and she and Taka shut their eyes, waiting for the impact, but nothing happened. They opened their eyes to see me standing before them, holding the mech fist back with my bare hands. I was covered in scrapes and bleeding in several areas. I let out a cough, causing blood to cover a small portion of the mech's fingers.

"I... won't... let you... hurt them!" I groaned, putting all my strength into keeping this mech's hand away from Sammie and Taka.

Lloyd began to get up slowly but was in too much pain to get to me fast enough to stop Shiori. He tried to summon his dragon but was out of energy.

I slowly started to slide back. The force of her fist began to overpower me. The Lieutenant rushed over and grabbed Sammie and Taka, pulling them away from the mech. I couldn't let go of the mech's fist, though. If I gave up, I knew that I would be killed. Shiori laughed. "You think you can stop me, Ninja!? I've studied you! You think you can do everything yourself, but you can't! You aren't a hero, and you aren't special!"

There it was. That word people have kept calling me. Special? Was everyone wrong? Was Shiori right? These thoughts swirled into my head as I was losing my grip on the mech's fist until I heard a voice behind me.

"YOU CAN DO IT, NATHAN!" I turned my head to see Sammie crying with Taka. Behind them was the Chairwoman, Saikawa, the kids, the teachers, and almost the entire student body.

"YOU CAN DO IT!" They all yelled together at me. For once, I was hopeful that I could save my brother. Right here. Right now.

The bracelet Tabane gave me began to glow. Looking down at it, I remembered what Chifuyu had told me when she gave it to me: "She said it was for when you feel the weakest." This was it. This was my weakest point, and it was time to make it my strongest!

"You're... right." I gritted my teeth, causing Shiori to smirk. "I do always think I have to do everything myself. I've always felt that even with Hunter and Lloyd by my side, because I'm the oldest, I have to be the one to protect them. Because they're the special ones. The Ultimate Spinjitzu Master, and the Creator." Lloyd looked on in sadness, thinking he'd placed a burden on me because of his powers. "I may not be special like them, but I AM special to them! I always thought I was there for them, but I was wrong. They've always been there for me because we are special to each other. We care for one another, something you would never understand! With them, by my side, I can defeat anyone who challenges me!" Shiori looked on angrily, forcing more energy into the mech's arm. I let out a scream of pain as orange energy began to shock me. Through the pain, I focused every ounce of my power on the fist. "I am Nathan, the Master of Water! I am special in my own way, and I won't let you hurt the people special to me!"

The bracelet broke, forming a ring around my wrist. Water began to wrap around me, helping me hold the fist back. "What is happening!?" Shiori, enraged, started pressing buttons on her mech.

Lloyd, Sammie, Taka, and everyone else watched in awe as water continued to wrap around me, forming something around me. I could feel my elemental powers strengthen inside me. Looking around, I saw that the water had formed a mech the size of Shiori's that looked like a samurai.

Letting out an enraged scream, Shiori used her mech's other arm to punch me. But to her and my surprise, the punch fazed right through the water. A look of fear grew on her face while a big smile grew on mine. I held out my right hand, and a large sword made of water formed in the mech's hand. Swinging it at her, she tried to block it with her mech's arm, but it cut right through it. Flipping the sword around in my mech's hand, I brought it up and cut through the front of her mech.

"NO!" Shiori panicked. The front of the mech was utterly exposed, with wires short-circuiting, creating sparks and causing her mech to begin to overload. Pipes inside the mech's cockpit began to burst, and the tubes connected to the tank Hunter was in detached and wiggled around. "NOOOOO!"

Lloyd looked on as the mech began to lose its balance. With what little energy he had left, he created his dragon, flew up, and crashed through the crack I had put in the cockpit's windscreen. He kicked Shiori out of the way and threw a golden beam at the tube holding my brother, breaking the glass around him. I broke the tube holding my brother. As Hunter fell out of the tube, Lloyd caught him and began to carry him out. "You're coming too!" He said as he grabbed Shiori and jumped out of the mech and into the hands of my water mech. I lowered them to the ground, and Lloyd jumped off my hand with the two wrapped around in his arms.

Shiori's mech began to smoke more and more and then caught fire. "It's gonna blow!" Lloyd shouted to me. Grabbing one of the mech's legs, I began to spin around with it. As I got faster and faster, I held it up higher until I finally let go. Everyone watched as the mech flew several hundred feet into the air. Shiori's mech exploded into several million tiny pieces, which fell like ash to the ground.

There was silence for a second, then an eruption of cheers, but the fight wasn't over. My samurai mech began to turn back into regular water, and slowly, I descended to the ground. I marched over to Lloyd, who had Hunter lying beside him and holding Shiori on the ground in his arms. He looked up at me with worry in his face. "Nathan, she's dying."

While I didn't like this woman, I didn't want to see her die. I got on my knees on the other side of her, and she looked at me with tears in her eyes. "Hunter's powers must have been too much for her," I said.

"I-I'm sorry," Shiori mumbled, her hand shaking drastically as she rested it on my knee. "I was so blinded by revenge. I hurt so many people." Tears flowed down her face. "I made myself just like him. I've done such horrible things. I-I-I almost hurt a child." She then looked at Lloyd and I. "You have to do what I c-couldn't. Y-you have to stop him."

"Stop him from what? Stop the chief engineer?" I asked.

Shiori nodded. "He wants to bring that demon back. I heard it on the recording of the day my dad was killed. He did it. Back at my home, there is a flash drive on my computer. It has the recording on it. Please, I can't let my father's death be in vain. You... you have to... stop...him." Shiori closed her eyes, and her head dropped to its side. Lloyd and I looked at each other. Shiori had passed away.

"We will." Gently, Lloyd set her down and took a blanket from a police car to cover her up.

Hunter began to cough. He was waking up. Slowly, he opened his eyes and saw me and Lloyd staring at him. "Did you guys win?" He painfully smiled.

"Yes, we did, buddy." Lloyd lifted him upright, and we both hugged him.

"Ow. Why does my body hurt so much?" He groaned.

"She may have sucked a little of your power out of you." I chuckled.

"Well, thanks. I owe you guys my life."

"What are big brothers for." I smiled at him. Hunter laughed and then nodded to tell me there was someone behind me. I turned to see Sammie walking towards me. We paused to look at each other and then ran to one another. We embraced in a big hug when we reached each other and pulled our heads back to look at ourselves. Starring into her eyes and her in mine, we locked our lips into a kiss.

Hunter elbowed Lloyd, "I sure as heck missed a lot." The two laughed.

When we pulled her heads back, I said the words I should have said last night. "I love you," I told her with tears in my eyes.

"I love you too." Sammie sniffled, still crying from earlier.

We hugged each other once more, but that didn't last long. "Ahem." A man said behind Sammie. It was the Lieutenant. Letting go of each other, Sammie and I turned to face the Lieutenant. "So, you're the Nathan my daughter here can't stop talking about." The mustached man grinned. "It's nice to meet you, young man." He held out his hand.

I reached my hand out and shook his hand. "It's nice to meet you too, si- Daughter!?" My eyes widened.

The Lieutenant chuckled. "Yes, I am her father. And yes, I do give you my blessing to marry her."

"DAD!" Sammie shouted, her face turning bright red. I had never seen her so embarrassed before.

Laughing, the Lieutenant put his hand on his daughter's shoulder. "When you're ready, of course." He was clearly messing with his daughter.

"That's not what I meant!" She angrily retorted at him. I broke out in laughter along with her dad. It felt so good to see her be embarrassed like me for once.

Sammie's dad turned his attention back to me. "In all seriousness, Nathan. Thank you and your friend for saving us and my daughter. I will be forever grateful."

"Just doing our job, sir." I beamed. Sammie, her father, and I walked back to the school as Lloyd helped Hunter back so that we could get him to the nurse's office.

I was sitting by Hunter's bedside when Lloyd entered to join me. "I've contacted Nya. She said she was on her way and would be here in about half an hour." He sat down next to me. Hunter was asleep. "All tuckered out, huh?"

"With all that energy being drained from him, he needs to get all the rest he could get."

"Should we say our goodbyes to everyone?" Lloyd asked. I wondered if I should tell Lloyd I wanted to give up being a ninja to be with Sammie, but as long as the Chief Engineer is out there or whoever he wants to bring back, she won't be safe. I must help the others and stop these villains. I nodded.

We headed to the Chairwoman's office, where she sat working as Saikawa poured her some tea. In front of her sat the members of the babysitter club, along with the teachers and their kids. We didn't expect them all to be in her office. As soon as we entered, everyone turned their attention to us. "You two have caused me quite a lot of problems." The Chairwoman glared.

We averted our eyes from her in shame. "We're sorry, ma'am. No, we're sorry for everything. Lying about who we were. Putting your kids in danger. All of it."

"Consider saving the academy your repayment for all of that." A smile appeared on the old woman's face, something none of us would ever think we'd get to see. Even Saikawa was surprised, even if his face did remain stoic. "Thank you two for protecting my students and staff."

"It should be us thanking you!" I pleaded. "You let us stay with you and kept our secret, and you were all so kind!" Lloyd and I bowed in thanks.

She chuckled to herself. "You are welcome. Though I take it, you didn't come here just to thank me?"

Lloyd and I looked at each other and back at her. "Yes, ma'am. We came to say goodbye to all of you."

"I see."

The kids jumped out of their parents' arms and ran over to us, tears in their eyes. "Please don't leave big brother Nathan and big brother Lloyd." They all cried. Taka was wailing louder than any of the other kids. We both kneeled and hugged all six kids goodbye, trying our hardest not to cry either.

"Sorry, you guys." Lloyd smiled through the pain. "We've got other bad guys out there that we've got to stop to keep you safe from."

We both lifted up all the kids and carried them back to their parents. "Wait!" Taka yelled at me after I handed him to his mom. He held out the little sword he always carried with him. "Take it."

I smiled and gently pushed his sword back toward him. "You need this." I smiled. "How will a hero protect those who cannot protect themselves without his trusty sword?" Taka looked up at me in awe, realizing what I meant. I nodded. "It doesn't take someone with powers to be a hero, Taka," I told him. "You, too, can someday be a hero. That goes for all you kids." I looked around the room.

It was Ryuichi and Kamitani stepped forward. "Thank you for saving my idiot brother." Kamitani shook my hand.

"Anytime." I chuckled.

"I'll admit, it's going to be weird not seeing you guys in the club anymore." Ryuichi rubbed the back of his head.

"We'll always be members of the babysitter club," Lloyd told him. "Even if we're not there, we'll be there in spirit.

Ryuichi nodded, trying not to tear up. "Right!" He smiled.

The Chairwoman got up and walked over to Lloyd and me, where she stood before us. Outstretching her arms, she hugged both of us. "We may have only known each other briefly, but you two are good kids. I wish you both nothing but the best." We hugged her back. Like I've always said, she really is a kind person.

Once she released us, Saikawa walked over and hugged us as well, way tighter than the Chairwoman. "I will miss you two as well." A single tear rolled down from behind his glasses. "Forgive me." He turned away from us, drying his eyes with his handkerchief.

"We'll miss you two, Saikawa." Lloyd and I told him.

"Goodbye, Ninja." The Chairwoman and everyone behind her smiled and waved to us.

Trying our hardest still not to cry, we smiled and left her office for the last time.

We woke Hunter up and got him outside, where Nya was waiting with the DBX outside the school entrance. "Nice work, boys." She grinned. Helping Hunter, she carefully put him in a bed in the back of the DBX. "I'll make sure he gets back to the IS dimension safe. Want me to give you two rides to your vehicles."

"That'd be great, Nya. Thanks." Lloyd said.

I turned around to see Sammie standing, looking at me. "Give me a few seconds," I told the two.

Running over to Sammie, we hugged once more. "Please don't go. Stay here." She said to me.

"I can't. The guy Shiori told us about is bad news, and as long as bad guys like him are around, I can't keep you safe. I promise you," I held her close, "I will return to you when I can."

"You better." Tears rolled down her eyes. "Or I'll never forgive you, water boy." She smiled. I gave her one last kiss and headed back to the DBX.

As we drove to our vehicles, Lloyd broke the silence. "You okay, Nathan?"

"Yeah. I will be when we stop this guy." I responded.

Nya dropped us off at our vehicles and went through a portal in the DBX to bring Hunter back to the IS dimension for medical care. Lloyd and I got in our vehicles and went back to Ninjago, where the first destination we went to was Shiori's house. Her mom answered the door, and we told her the painful news. She broke down. Not only was her husband gone, but now her daughter too. She allowed me to search Shiori's bedroom when we told her we could bring the man responsible for their deaths to justice.

Just like Shiori had said, a flash drive was sticking out of her computer, and the first thing pulled up on the monitor was the security cam footage she told us about. We watched the whole video and saw how the chief engineer pushed a button on a remote, detonating the machine and killing Shiori's dad.

When we arrived at Borg Tower, we had the police force with us, ready to arrest the Chief Engineer. Breaking down the lab doors, the Chief Engineer was working away at his computer, shocked to see us. "Ninja! What a surprise!" He got up from his chair to greet us, but we only scowled at him. "This must mean you defeated Shiori?"

"She's dead." I glared.

"Oh my. How tragic, she really was a good woman. She was just like her father in every way. You know, back when he-".

"Stow it!" Lloyd ordered.

The police entered the room and surrounded the chief engineer. "Richard Cretin," One of the officers started, "You are under arrest for the murder of Luke Tomisuki." The chief engineer's hands were pulled behind his back and put into handcuffs.

"So, you found me out. Shiori was brilliant when it came to computers. I am not surprised she was able to build my mech design. She must have hacked my backup computer at some point and got my information."

"Who was it?" I approached, water forming in hand. "Who were you trying to bring back? The Destroyer?"

Cretin scoffed. "I would never tell any of you that. Guess you'll just have to wait and see." He smirked at me.

"Get this man out of my site," I told the police, who dragged him out of the room.

Cyrus shook his head as the police took away his former chief engineer. "Thank you, ninja." Cyrus Borg said as his mechanical chair entered the lab. "Because of you two, an evil has been purged from my company. Now we can get back to building a better future for Ninjago rather than hurting it."

"Of course, Dr. Borg. If anything goes wrong, please give us Ninja a call." Lloyd told him. Cyrus thankfully nodded and let the both of us leave.

"Do you think he ever finished what he was working on to bring back "that demon"?" I quoted Shiori.

"I'd assume not. If he did, we already would have seen him by now."

Lloyd and I left borg tower, not knowing what was on the Richard Cretin's computer. When the lights shut off and the lab doors were locked, the computer magically turned on. Two yellow eyes surrounded by a reddish and purple hue appeared on the monitor. "That fool got himself captured without finishing his work for me!" It screeched in rage. "No matter. I have everything I need here." Files on the monitor began to open, showing all the vehicles Borg Industries had been manufacturing. "Soon, the Golden Ninja will be mine, and he will usher in my return as the Golden Master!" The creature on the monitor laughed and turned itself off.

A week had passed, and Hunter was finally back to his usual self. The two of us decided to take a vacation to the beach while we waited for our break from school to end and the day the new IS Academy would open so we could recuperate after everything we went through. "When are you going to see Sammie again?" Hunter asked me as we sat on a beach relaxing. "It's been a while; surely you want to see her again soon?"

"Of course I do," I told him. I missed Sammie immensely. "Something has just kept me feeling uneasy. I don't know what it is, but it feels like something bigger than Shiori is coming, and I can't keep her safe yet."

"Well, whatever comes our way, we'll have each other." He smiled.

"Always." I agreed. We both took the drinks next to us, clinked them together, and enjoyed our drinks. I will return to you one day, Sammie. Until then, I'll keep fighting so that we can be with each other. And I won't be alone. I'll have my brother and Lloyd with me. Whatever challenge comes our way, the Dimension Holders will be ready!

To Be Continued in Dimension Holders Rebooted...