Chapter 17

Betrayal

"Dad, what are you doing?" a 14-year-old girl asked. She saw her dad with people that she had never seen before. She wasn't sure why, but she didn't trust the people her dad was with. They were wearing clothes to hide every part of them even though it was hot outside. It looked like they were trying to disguise themselves. She knew everyone who worked in their small noodle shop and these people definitely didn't, but her father was talking to them like he was doing business with them.

"I have business I need to take care of," the father said.

"I haven't seen these people before. They don't work here."

"It's other business. Go watch the shop while I'm dealing with this."

"Ok..." the girl said unsure.

As she was walking back into the shop, she took a glance back and saw one of the people her dad was talking to hand him a stack of cash and saw the hand did not look human. It looked more like a skeleton. "Thank you for your service to our Lord," she heard the person say.

Skylor was worried about her father as she was running with Kai to Chen's Noodle Shop that also served as her home. (There was an apartment right above the shop.) Her father was the only family member she had around. Yes, the people in the noodle shop were like her family since she saw them all the time, her father was the only blood-relative she had left. She doesn't know what happened to her mother. She disappeared when Skylor was a baby. It was just her and her father all her life. She was glad to have Kai with her right now. She doesn't know what she would do if she was by herself.

As they arrived at the noodle shop, they saw the restaurant was empty except for her father and the Skulkin. "We have to save him, Kai," Skylor said.

"We will, Sky," Kai reassured her as he grabbed her hand and gave it a little squeeze. "First, we need to get in. There's Skulkin surrounding the place.

"I have an idea," Skylor told him. "Follow me." She lead him onto the roof of the building the noodle shop is in and they climbed down into the window of Skylor bedroom. She had kept the window open just a crack before she left. It drove her dad crazy, but she did it anyway. It made it easier to sneak home after ninja training. They entered through the window and Skylor led them down into the restaurant. When they got there, they saw one Skulkin lunging at Skylor's father. "Leave him alone!" she shouted and then proceeded to touch Kai's arm and shoot fire at the Skulkin.

"Just who we were expecting," a different Skulkin said. "We haven't officially met. My name is Nuckal."

"Blah blah blah," Kai started. "We don't really care about your name."

"Oh. Really? I'm hurt."

"We just want to make sure you don't hurt innocent people and Lord Garmadon never escapes the Underworld."

"Well, you came to the wrong place Master of Fire and Master of Amber," Skylor's father said.

Skylor looked at her father and saw an expression on his face she had never seen before. He looked menacing and she didn't like it at all. She thought back to the conversation she heard three years ago when a skeleton like figure said, "thank you to your service to our Lord." That conversation didn't click in her brain until now. "You're working for Lord Garmadon, aren't you?" Her voice came out soft. She was in disbelief. How could a father that had been so caring after her mother's disappearance turn out to be one of the bad guys.

"I honestly can't believe nobody put the pieces together," her father said. "I didn't think I was being that sneaky. By the way, you ninja can call me Master Chen. Like it says on the sign for this restaurant." Skulkin managed to grab Kai and Skylor. Skylor wasn't really putting up much of a fight though. She still couldn't believe it. She saw Kai glance over at her, but she felt too numb to give some form of acknowledgement. "Yay! I managed to catch two ninja!"

"I think you mean we caught them," Nuckal said.

"No, I mean I caught them."

"I'll bring them back to Lord Garmadon."

"Before you do, I want to see their faces."

"Sure. As long as they come with me after, I don't see the problem."

Master Chen walked over to the two ninja and took the mask off of the one in red first. "Wow. You are a teenager." Master Chen seemed a little surprised at how young the boy he just unmasked was.

"I'm eighteen," Kai spat. "I'm technically an adult."

"Are you still in high school?"

"Not the point."

Master Chen then turned to the ninja wearing orange and took her mask off. He gasped and took a step back immediately after seeing who it was. "Skylor?!"

Skylor looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "How could you, dad?! How could you work for Lord Garmadon?!"

"How could I?!" Master Chen said back. "How could you be a ninja?!"

"Mom was the previous Master of Amber, wasn't she?! Did you do something to her?! Is that why she disappeared?!"

"Skylor, I didn't do anything to your mother. You know I loved her very much. I didn't even know she was an elemental master." He took a glance at Nuckal before looking back at Skylor. Next to her, Kai was trying to break free because he didn't like how distressed Skylor was at the moment and Master Chen must've noticed. "Join me, Skylor. Lord Garmadon has offered us protection if I help him and with your powers, you can be a great use to him too. It's always been you and me, so choose me over this boy," he said referring to Kai at the last part.

Skylor looked at her father and then looked at Kai. She already knew her answer as much as it hurt her. "I'll never help Lord Garmadon and I'm not just choosing Kai. I'm choosing Ninjago."

Master Chen looked back at Nuckal. "Take them away." The Skulkin started dragging Kai and Skylor to see Lord Garmadon.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed!