After avoiding more students and a few teachers, Kai and Harumi finally exited the school through the back doors. They found themselves outside at the back of the school. The only things back there were a few dumpsters and a couple of small fire extinguishers attached to the wall by the doors. Almost no one came back here these days. Only the school janitors, and a few students who wanted to sneak a few cigarettes, some booze, and maybe something a little more naughty.

It seemed that this was the perfect place to hide Gene's stuff.

It wouldn't be trash day for a couple more weeks so Kai felt confident they could throw this stuff in one of the dumpsters. As Kai picked up the bags, something fell out of one of the pockets and when Harumi picked it up, she saw it was a cigarette lighter. A sinister idea suddenly formed in her warped mind and she suddenly snatched the bags from Kai and placed them roughly thirty feet away from the building. She wanted Gene to get the message to never mess with them again.

So she planned on burning a little bit of his bags and some of the stuff inside.

The cheerleader wasn't going to set all his things on fire, and if something went wrong there were fire extinguishers by the doors.

"Hey, Kai, do you want to use this?" She smirked and turned on the lighter, allowing the flame to ignite and shine. It was only a small flame, but Kai still backed away as he felt his wolf starting to try and take control so he would run away. Kai managed to control it, however and fixed Harumi with a small glare. Even if he wasn't scared of fire, Kai wouldn't burn all of Gene's stuff. He hated the kid, but not that much.

"Harumi, we can't burn his stuff." He tried to say, but she either didn't hear him or was ignoring him as she bent down to Gene's stuff. Kai wanted to run over and stop her, but he was too scared of the fire to get closer. He had no choice but to watch as the top of the bag caught the flame and begin to burn. They both backed away as the fire began to grow. Kai was getting ready to grab the fire extinguisher when he suddenly smelt something through the growing cloud of smoke and fire.

It smelled like gunpowder.

But it wasn't like a gun or anything like that. To Kai, it smelled like fireworks you could get in a store for the 4th of July. It was already too late to run and grab the fire extinguisher as he could hear the familiar fizzle of the fireworks being lit. As soon as he realized this, Kai made the split-second decision to grab Harumi and they ducked behind one of the nearby dumpsters. They barely made it in time before the fireworks Gene had hidden in his bag ignited and exploded.

A few managed to escape the blaze as exploded in the sky and against the ground.

As they cowered behind the dumpsters, Kai could feel his wolf was so close to taking control. Harumi looked over at him and for a few seconds, she saw almost all his veins and gums were black, his eyes were yellow, his teeth and claws were longer and sharper. Seeing that he was about to transform, Harumi took Kai's shaking hands into her own and pulled him close. She started bringing him to his senses by whispering reassuring things to him and praying that it would be over soon.

Fate appeared to be on their side that day because Koko and Lawrence, along with their friends and the Granite Hills High students, burst out of the back doors.

By now there were no more fireworks so it seemed that they had all set off. As soon as Koko and Lawrence realized what was happening they grabbed the fire extinguishers and began to battle the blaze. As the teachers tried to put out the fire, the two groups were trying to comprehend what was happening. Ultra Violet and Delara just stood there dumbfounded. As the smoke and flames began to fade Gene recognized his stuff and he screamed and dashed to save his belongings.

Luke and Dogshank barely had a chance to grab him and pull him away from the fire, but Gene still managed to pull something out of the smoldering mess.

Clancee was extremely confused and frightened by all the noise and panic and he was shaking in terror and he tried to cover his ears. Cole and Morro quickly picked up their partners' scents and found them cowering behind the dumpsters. Kai and Harumi were injured, but they were incredibly shaken up by what had happened. They immediately hugged their respective partners and when Cole saw what state Kai was in he positioned himself so he was hiding Kai's unique features.

Jay ran back into the school to get the nurse, scared his friends had been hurt.

Lloyd and Nya shared a look as they tried to figure out what had happened out here while Nya called the fire brigade. Pixal saw that Clancee was starting to panic and she made to led him back inside the school and away from this. As soon as her fingers brushed against him, however, Clancee let out a yelp in fright, startling everyone. He suddenly turned around and violently shoved her away from him and into the wall before running back inside.

Zane rushed to Pixal's side to make sure she wasn't injured.

She said that she was alright, just a little shook up and she made a comment that there was something very wrong with Clancee. Eventually, there wasn't much left of the fire except some weak embers and Kai had calmed down enough to contain his wolf again. But the quiet was short-lived.

"How could you do something so dangerous and cruel?!" Cole angrily demanded as he all but shook Kai and Harumi. "Do you two have any idea how dangerous this was?!"

"Then why did you let us do it?!" Harumi shouted and Cole froze and Kai looked at her in shock.

"You knew about this?!" Koko snapped at him and the noirette struggled to explain to everyone that he knew that they had Gene's stuff but not that they wanted to set it on fire. Kai also tried to add that it was Harumi who started the fire, not him or Cole, but no one but the werewolves and their two human friends looked convinced...

Within a few minutes, the firefighters arrived but by then there wasn't much left of the fire. When they heard about the fireworks, they ordered everyone back inside while they investigated to remains of the fire. They were all moved to the teachers' lounge where Kai and Harumi admitted to everything. Even Harumi confessed that it was her who started the fire and Kai tried to stop her before he saw the fireworks and pulled her away. They were both were given a month's detention.

It would also be put on their records and the principal contacted Kai and Harumi's parents, who were all out of town.

After the firefighters left and they had spoken to the parents, Koko and Lawrence headed back towards the teachers' lounge to speak to the students. Clancee hadn't been seen since the fire and no one knew where he was at the moment. Cole was busy comforting a shaking Kai and Dogshank trying to calm down a still sobbing Gene. Harumi refused to meet anyone's eyes and she had wisely decided to leave the room. No one, even Morro, made to chase after her.

Luke was standing in the corner, glaring at anyone who dared look at him.

Lloyd was playing a game on his phone, trying to distract himself. Morro was sat in silence as he tried to figure out what would make Harumi do something so nasty and dangerous, but he still couldn't understand it. Nya had just gotten off the phone with her and Kai's parents. Ray and Maya were understandably furious with their son and they told their daughter to confiscate all of Kai's games, comics, and anything else that gave him joy when she got home.

Pixal had just finished talking about what happened with Clancee, which Zane confirmed, and Koko made a note to check up on the boy later.

The nurse had also arrived, but Jay wasn't with her. No one had seen the freckled teen or Delara and Ultra Violet since they all went to the teacher's lounge. After the nurse confirmed that no one was injured and left, Koko was about to address the group, but Lawrence beat her to it.

"GENE! You're getting a month's detention for having fireworks!" He bellowed, causing the said boy to flinch and cower further away.

"Cut him some slack, his gear just went up in smoke." Lloyd glared at the new teacher. He hated bullies, whether they be students or teachers.

"Yeah, second time today, you should be getting used to it." Lawrence sneered before he stormed off. Koko rolled her eyes, getting sick and tired of Lawrence's attitude. She gave the teens an apologetic smile and went off to make sure Clancee was alright. But after walking around the school for ten minutes, she still couldn't find him. She was about to reluctantly go and find Lawrence to see if he had seen Clancee when she stopped. She could hear loud voices around the corner.

She peaked her head around and saw Jay arguing loudly with Delara and Ultra Violet.

"Why would I have taken the envelope?" Delara glared at the ginger-haired teen.

"Because it had money in it!" He growled through gritted teeth.

"Oh, and you think she's stolen it?!" Ultra Violet challenged as she stepped between the two of them, but Jay managed to maintain eye contact with the accused.

"You're the only one who saw me with it!"

"I didn't know there was money in it!" She argued and, scared that another fight was about to break out, Koko rushed forward and made her presence known.

"What is going on here?" The teacher asked firmly. Delara and Ultra Violet refused to speak, but Jay was never quiet for too long.

"Someone's stolen my money!"...

As soon as it was known that someone had stolen around two hundred dollars in cash from Jay's bag, the principal ordered Lawrence and Koko to gather everyone who was a person of interest. These included Chad, Clancee, Cole, Dareth, Delara, Dogshank, Gene, Harumi, Kai, Lloyd, Luke, Maggie, Morro, Nya, Pixal, Ultra Violet, and Zane. The two teachers quickly found and dragged all these teens into an empty classroom and started questioning them.

They all either denied knowing anything or stayed quiet.

Koko wasn't about to let them off the hook yet. She scowled and when they all remained silent, Koko sighed and tried a different tactic.

"You don't want to own up in public and you know what? I get that, but one of you has Jay's money and if it's not on my desk in the next ten minutes-"

"No, you don't give them time to hide it somewhere else." Lawrence interrupted and almost pushed her back as he stepped forward. "We're searching your locker and bags!" He shouted, catching everyone off guard. They all wanted to argue but a firm glare from Koko stopped them. Lawrence was sent to search Cole, Lloyd, Zane, Dogshank, Pixal, Chad, Clancee, and Delara's lockers and bags. Koko was tasked with checking Dareth, Gene, Luke, Ultra Violet, Kai, Harumi, Maggie, and Morro's belongings.

"Look, we all know Jay keeps his money in his bag so if we were going to steal it, we would have done it months ago," Cole said as Lawrence started looking through his locker.

"Or wait until a convenient scapegoat turned up." He glared and suddenly frowned when he pulled out some ACDC music CDs. Lawrence held up the disks as if they were infected with some kind of horrible disease. "What are these things doing here?" He growled at the teen, who shrugged.

"Search me, buddy; oh wait, you already have." He shot back. Lawrence just glared at him and left to continue his search, refusing to give Cole his music back.

"Why do I always get the blame? I'm not a thief." Gene whined weakly as Koko looked through his and Luke's lockers.

"It's not just you, we're searching everyone." She reassured him with a small smile, but it didn't do much.

"Go and check the bonfire, it's where most of his stuff is." Luke sneered bitterly and before Koko could say anything there was a loud cry echoing down the hall. Immediately dropping what she was doing, Koko, with Gene and Luke, ran to where the scream came from. When everyone all converged on the scene they saw Lawrence raiding Zane and Pixal's lockers. He was carelessly throwing their projects, which they had spent months on, to the ground.

"Stop it, you're making a mess!" Pixal cried as she desperately tried to pick up their now mostly ruined and broken projects.

"Just be quiet!"

"We haven't stolen anything!" Zane shouted in distress.

"Well, we're soon going to find out, so behave or you'll regret it!" Lawrence warned as he suddenly grabbed Zane by the arm and forced the pale teen away. Seeing that things were becoming more and more heated, Koko rushed forward and got in between Lawrence and her students.

"Please, you don't handle him like that!" She exclaimed before taking a deep breath to regain her composure and keep the peace. "Listen to me, he wouldn't take the money! Look at the state they're in! Please, couldn't you stop?"

"I have to check, why don't you go and do something useful?" He spat and made to resume his search when a scream suddenly erupted through the school. Everyone looked to the left and saw a few girls covered in giant clumps of soap bubbles. But everyone's eyes were fixed on Kai. He had angrily pushed his way through the crowd and his brown hair was stuck up and sticking out in odd ways.

"WHO THE FUCK PUT GLUE IN MY HAIR GEL!?" He screeched like a banshee as he held up the offending jar of hair gel. Everyone denied it and a few of them tried to hide their laughter at Kai's ridiculous hairstyle, making him even angrier. As everyone began shouting at each other, arguing frantically, Morro glanced down the right side of the hallway and saw Clancee. The boy was hunched over by the stairs with his eyes shut tight and he was gritting his teeth as if he was in pain.

He was rocking back and forth and he was covering his ears with his hands.

Feeling very bad for the boy, Morro rushed towards him to see what he could do to help.

"Let's go somewhere quiet." He said and gently put his hand on Clancee's shoulder, intending to lead the boy somewhere safe. As soon as Morro made contact, however, Clancee's eyes shot open and he screamed. Before Morro could register what happened, Clancee violently shoved him away and took off like a bat out of hell. Morro cried out as he stumbled back and started falling down the stairs. He only hit the first few steps before everything went black...

For a moment Morro simply drifted, existed, and breathed. The world was swimming in a way he never thought it could, all blurred and rushed together. It was like he was underwater. Panic slammed into him like a speeding truck, and suddenly he was coughing and coughing like he couldn't breathe. Someone suddenly grabbed his cold hand with their warm one, squeezing it lightly and helping him return to his senses. Taking big gulps of air, his hand finally managed to grip the person's hand that was supporting him.

The world soon stopped swimming, revealing Koko's familiar green eyes peering at him worriedly.

Morro furrowed his brows as he tried to remember what had happened. He soon realized that he was lying at the bottom of the stairs, surrounded by his friends and the crowd of students. His left arm was throbbing with pain and he was worried it might be broken or something. Morro looked up and met all his friends' eyes. Something like anger flared in their eyes, but it ran deeper than that. There was clear fear in all his friends and his girlfriend's eyes.

There was the fear of loss.

The fear of losing Morro again. This almost broke the lone wolf's heart. Before he could offer anything, however, Koko started speaking.

"What happened?" She asked softly when she saw he was awake.

"Clancee." He groaned weakly.

"What did I tell you? You don't think I say these things for the fun of it?!" Lawrence shouted.

"NOT NOW!" Koko suddenly roared, officially fed up with Lawrence. Her sudden outburst started everyone, including Lawrence. No one dared say a word until the ambulance arrived and took Morro to the hospital. Zane shot his father a quick text to let him know so that the werewolf doctor could take care of Morro. After the ambulance had left, the two teachers dispersed the crowd of students and headed to the principal's office. The principal had just finished speaking with the Dobsons on the phone when they arrived.

"Shall I contact the secure unit for Clancee?" He asked the Granite Hills High principal, already getting ready to make the call.

"No, they wouldn't take him anyway, he's not bad enough," Lawrence replied coldly.

"He put Morro in hospital," Koko said in disbelief.

"And now, your school's made him worse." He snapped at her. "This place is out of control, and there's nobody else to blame but you."

"Ninjago High is NOT out of control!" She quickly defended her school.

"Oh yeah?" He laughed before standing up and getting in Koko's face. "I've been here a couple of days; two of your students burned Gene's stuff, the runt has had his cash stolen, one of the queers had glue in his hair gel, the girls' restroom's been sabotaged, AND a student has gone to the hospital because you taught him to ask for advice and then ignore it! If you had a firmer grip on the place none of this would have happened!"

"That's not true!"

"Kids need boundaries, discipline; what they get here is the oh, let's have a hug and talk about it routinely, and it's just not working!"

"Well, it's hardly been a normal couple of days." She argued, trying to make him see reason. "A normal school environment is happy kids, a healthy environment, and the students with the best grades they can achieve and with the skills they need to make it in the world." She explained but he just laughed coldly and bitterly.

"You have been on thin ice ever since the tribunal, and you are NOT taking me down with you!" He spat before storming out, leaving the principal and Koko standing there in shock, trying to process what just happened...

As the school day was finally coming to a close, the principal called all the students who were involved in Jay's missing money and Morro's fall to the student common room for a quick, emergency assembly. The only student who was not at the assembly was Clancee. He had been sent to the nurse's office and was kept there for the rest of the day for his and everyone else's safety. All the students were anxious and worried for the lone wolf, even people like Chad and the students from Granite Hills High.

None were more scared for Morro than Harumi, however.

She was so scared that Morro was seriously injured or possibly worse. At her insistence, Zane called the hospital and spoke to his father. He said that Morro only had a badly sprained wrist, but at least it wasn't broken. He also had a small concussion but Dr. Julien was confident that Morro was allowed to go home tonight. The doctor warned him to take it easy, however. Lloyd had called Morro's foster parents to ask how they were doing and what would happen with Clancee.

The Dobsons confirmed that they were going to have to move Clancee, not that anyone was surprised by that.

They all felt sorry for Clancee, but the Dobsons had Nelson to think about and Clancee had already attacked Morro. They just couldn't take the risk. The only problem was that no one wanted to take Clancee in after hearing what had happened. Everyone, the teachers, students, and parents all tried to tell Lawrence that Clancee needed special help and care but he refused, saying that they were all the problem. Some parents even threatened to pull their children from Ninjago High if the principal didn't expel Clancee.

The students from Granite Hills High tried to defend the boy.

They said that Clancee only went off like that if someone touched him, but that didn't ease people's fears. As they all talked amongst themselves, the principal, Koko, and Lawrence entered the room and everyone suddenly fell silent.

"So, we haven't found Jay's money yet, so we're going to give you one last chance before we call the police." Koko threatened and some of the students looked worried.

"That's a waste of time with no evidence." Lawrence suddenly huffed. "They won't do anything, and we get left with tons of paperwork."

"It's only fair to Jay." The principal replied with a frown at the other principal.

"Well, he should have kept it safer then." Lawrence shrugged, angering everybody in the room. "Now, everybody out! This place is closed until further notice." He ordered and all the students quickly scurried out the student common room. After he locked the doors, Lawrence headed to the principal's office with him and Koko following after him. Once they were alone in the office, Koko quickly approached the new teacher. She suddenly grabbed his arm and forced Lawrence to look at her.

"This is not a prison." She growled at him, looking like she wanted to claw his eyes out. Lawrence didn't react to her words at first. Then he held up two letters and a couple of pens for Koko and the principal to take.

"Do you two want to sit here, and write your letters of resignation?"

"Why would we want to resign?" The principal asked in confusion, but his confusion quickly turned to concern and slight fear as a wide smirk spread across Lawrence's face.

"Because I'm taking over."...

Kai sighed loudly as he finally lost Nya and Cole in the park. Ever since the fire, Kai and Harumi were seldom left alone. He didn't like how they were all supervising him and Harumi, but he had to admit that it made sense, given all the chaos they both had caused earlier. His phone suddenly started buzzing as his sister and boyfriend tried calling him. Kai turned his phone off, but he knew that he couldn't hide out here forever. With an internal groan, he got to his feet and was about to head home when his enhanced hearing picked up the sound of a young boy.

Worried that someone's child was lost in the park, Kai followed the noise to make sure they were alright.

He followed the sound until the brunette found himself in a small, mostly hidden area of the park. The spot was nice and shady, slightly hidden from outside view by a hanging tree Kai didn't know the name of. The low-hanging leaves were almost like curtains, hiding them away. The only spot the leaf curtain broke was by the water's edge, but even then it was still low enough to hide them from outsiders. A forgotten bench was right in the middle of the spot, some moss and fungus growing on the edges and a little dull, but still mostly stable and offering a good view of the lake.

The lake water was murky but cattails and lily pads poked out of the water, and every once in a while there would be a frog or duck nearby.

In this tucked-away part of the park, people could enjoy the outdoors in peace. Kai was so in awe of this patch of nature he almost missed the crying. He looked around and saw someone crouched down under the tree. The brunette approached the figure to see if they were alright, but he froze like a statue when he saw it was Gene. The boy was crying softly as he held close the object that he had managed to save from the fire. Now that he was closer, Kai could see that it was a birthday card, now with burnt edges.

Kai might not have liked Gene, but he had never wanted to hurt the boy like this.

Even though he hadn't set the fire, Kai felt that he should have tried harder to stop Harumi. Not wanting to upset Gene anymore, or be near him, Kai looked for a way to leave. Unfortunately for the brunette, Gene seemed to sense someone was watching him and he whipped around to face the werewolf. They both froze for a few moments before Gene finally looked away and tried to silence his sobbing. This seemed to be Kai's ticket out of this situation, but something made him stay.

Kai knew that even though he might not want to, he and Gene had to sort this out now, or else who knows what could happen next.

His and Nya's Abuela always told them if the world followed the saying an eye for an eye then everyone would be blind. Reluctantly, Kai walked over and sat beside him. A tense silence overtook them for a while before Kai spoke up.

"Is that something precious?" He asked and gestured to the burnt birthday card.

"T-T-The only birthday card I e-ever got from my M-Mom." Gene hiccuped in between sobs, and Kai felt the guilt inside him lodge in his thought.

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry it's the only one, or sorry you set fire to it?" The boy growled and Kai flinched, knowing that he deserved that.

"Both, but more about the fire." The werewolf teen replied, sounding truly sincere. Gene clutched his card tightly, his mind still trying to catch up with the fact Kai apologized to him. He thought carefully about what to say next, trying to ignore the fresh tears forming in his eyes.

"It was me... the glue in your hair gel I mean." He admitted, worried about Kai's reaction. He didn't expect Kai to extend his hand out to him for a handshake.

"Can we call it quits?" The brunette asked and Gene smiled as he and Kai shook their hands in a truce. For now at least...

The next day at school everyone was shocked, yet pleasantly surprised to see Kai and Gene had seemed to make it up between them. Seeing that Gene was hanging around the brunette, the other students from Granite Hills High began being more civil towards the pack. It also helped that they had a common enemy. Upon hearing what Lawrence was trying to do with the school, the teens began plotting against him. Unfortunately, they were struggling to come up with any good ideas.

Cole suggested that they could stage a protest.

But Harumi reminded them that the last time they put on a protest, Lloyd fell off the roof. Jay said they could barricade themselves in the basement. But Kai quickly dismissed this idea. The last time they did that, Harumi had to stop that woman from the council from calling the police.

"Well, you guys know him best, what would you do?" Lloyd suddenly asked the kids from Granite Hills High.

"Nothing." Ultra Violet said, shocking the Ninjago High gang.

"She's right." Delara sighed sadly.

"Yeah, if you fight him it'll make things worse, that's how he ran Granite Hills High." Luke agreed. Nya looked like she was about to say something, only for them all to suddenly freeze when Lawrence suddenly approached them with a mischievous grin. He had been doing his patrols when he had heard the tail end of the teens' conversation.

"Oh, a council of war, is it? Come on, let's break it up." He warned them and a few of them wisely started to disperse.

"There is no law against us hanging out with each other," Pixal said with a glare, which Lawrence matched with his own.

"There is if I say so, now move it on!" He roared and all the teens quickly rushed to their next class. Lawrence smiled as he took in the blissful silence. Everything was finally working as it should be...

Morro tried to stop himself from wincing slightly as he jolted his bandaged arm as he walked towards the high school. The Dobsons had been busy fussing over the lone wolf all night and all morning. Zane's father had given him the all-clear and said he could return to school, but advised him to take a few days off and relax. Morro refused this, however, despite his foster parents' insistence. He had to get back to school and stop Harumi from doing anything more stupid.

Although he was a little upset that Clancee had been moved, he could understand why they did send him away.

The Dobsons were kind and understanding people, but they weren't equipped or educated enough to care for a child with Clancee's problems. But Morro was reassured that the boy would still be attending Ninjago High with the others from Granite Hills High. At least until their old school was repaired. When he first walked into the school, however, he thought for a split second that he had walked into a prison. There were padlocks and chains on any doors and lockers.

The door to the student common room was also chained shut with a note taped on it barring entry.

There were signs all around the school showing various rules such as no dancing, no posters, no shouting, and no singing. Morro realized in horror that Ninjago High had become a reflection of Granite Hills High.

"Hello?" He called out and thankfully there was someone nearby who heard him. It was his teacher, Koko.

"Morro, are you all right?" She asked, pleased to see him as she examined his bandaged wrists.

"I was until I saw this." He admitted and gestured to their surroundings. "What happened?" He asked and Koko sighed sadly as her gaze fell to the ground, unable to look him in the eye.

"It's Lawrence Thompson, he's taken over."...

NEXT CHAPTER: When a fire breaks out at Ninjago High, Pixal and Zane set about discovering who the fire starter is...