Chapter Text
“Ninja, we have a problem!” Pixal’s voice flowed through the recently wired speaker system - which Jay had abused early in the morning on multiple occasions - in the freshly repaired Monastery of Spinjitzu.
Kai threw his video game controller down and leaped to his feet, though regretfully - I was just about to beat Cole again - and hurried down to the bunker. “Are you kidding me?” he hissed under his breath, ignoring the smirk his friend gave him.
He and Cole were the last to reach the bottom of the monastery, both running up to meet the others, who had already gathered near Pixal’s projects.
“What is the matter?” Master Wu asked the nindroid.
Pixal began her report. “A crime ring has been spotted causing trouble - and they’re being violent about it, as well. The police have asked for our assistance in dealing with this. They were last spotted near the antique shop in the downtown area.”
“In other words, they don’t want to get their hands dirty,” Kai grunted.
“Good thing we have plenty of experience with this,” Cole said confidently, putting a closed fist into his opened other hand. “It’ll be a piece of cake.”
“Of course you thought of cake, Cole,” Jay taunted.
Nya rolled her eyes beside her yang. “This should be nothing compared to the Crystal King fiasco,” she said simply, referring to the event that had nearly destroyed the city a few months ago. “A simple crime ring. We get in, put these guys in Kryptarium Prison, and get out.”
“Time to go,” Lloyd said. “Ninja go!’
Zane was the first to leap into action, stepping away to jump into the main vehicle, a four-seater weaponized car - he had stubbornly refused to pilot or let one of his brothers - or sister - pilot another jet after his last takeoff. Nya jumped into the car with Lloyd and Cole, leaving Jay and Kai to the bikes.
Kai met the eyes of his sister’s yang and nodded in determination. The first real trouble in a few weeks. This was the time to shake off any rust accumulated from playing video games. Not that he would admit that himself.
The bunker door split open, and the Masters of Fire and Lightning led the charge to Ninjago City. It only took a few minutes to reach the shop where the bandits had last been spotted. Kai pulled his bike to a halt on the edge of the road, Jay following with the other four in the big car. He stepped off the curb and waited for Lloyd and the others before walking into the shop to talk to the owner.
There wouldn’t be a need. The interior of the shop was wrecked. On the front desk was a hastily written note reading: Not here due to crime ring .
“Hm,” Cole muttered. “That’s nice.”
“Look at this!” Jay exclaimed.
Glancing toward the Master of Lightning, Kai realized that there were footprints on the floor, seemingly wet with oil. The prints led away from the door, but never back to it.
“We should be on the defensive now!” Lloyd exclaimed, beating him to it. “They haven’t left.”
“You’re darn right we haven’t!” a raspy, menacing voice hissed, cutting through the tense air. A burly figure stepped out of the shadows that hid a staircase that led up to the roof. The man was stocky, well muscled with a small but scruffy brown beard, streaked with gray. He even looked like a criminal. “We haven’t left at all.” At least ten other guys attempted to fill the space behind him. Some had baseball bats, others had knives.
The ninja masked up, all unsheathing their weapons. Nya’s trident, Jay’s nunchucks, Cole’s scythe, Zane’s throwing stars, and Lloyd and Kai’s katanas - the Master of Fire had grudgingly made new weapons for the team, as they had all become accustomed to using the golden weapons. “Circle up,” Lloyd whispered. Kai ended up facing the door, where he realized more bandits had come in.
Crap. This was going to be even more difficult than he had expected. Now he counted at least twenty, if not thirty. All armed. “Lloyd,” he called. “You might want Pixal to send some backup.”
“Why?”
“They, like, triple in number if you look back here.”
Lloyd muttered a curse but couldn’t do much of anything.
The lead thug sprang forward, beginning the assault in which they all saw the criminals raining down on them.
Kai punched the first one away - trying to jump on someone wasn’t the smartest fight move considering the man had been somewhere around ten feet away. Another thug lunged forward, bat in hand, and he parried it easily with his sword. Even while being massively outnumbered, the ninja had the upper hand in strength, skill, and combat experience as well as teamwork. He continued to use the sword and his free hand to dodge and parry attacks before, spotting an opening, slid between the fray and began raining down attacks on the thugs. Nothing he inflicted was with intent to harm. He just wanted to scare this ring off or hold them here long enough for the police to arrive.
“Retreat!” one of the bandits cried as he was thrown to the ground by Lloyd for the third time. The thugs fled out the front door.
“After them!” Lloyd cried.
Really? It was an odd call for Lloyd to make, but he saw the sense in it, too. Either let these nuisances escape or give the police their location. He decided to chase after the thugs as Lloyd had called, Jay on his heels. As the fastest two ninja, they caught up to the thugs quickly as the fleeing villains raced up the sidewalk. One of them turned around, and, eyes widened with fear, looked in his hands - an old, rusty ball thing that had come from the antique shop. He wrinkled his nose and threw it at Kai and Jay.
The little rust ball hit the ground and shattered right at the ninjas’ feet. The two stopped and looked at each other.
Then the ball began to rattle.
Jay looked at him in concern. “Uh, Kai, what’s it doing?”
He took a step back. “I don’t-” he broke off as the ball turned into a portal on the ground. The ground right underneath their feet.
And then they were gone.