Disclaimer: I don't own Ninjago, just the story.

A young boy was at his elementary school.  No one really wanted to be his friend for a stupid reason that the boy hated.  He hates the way his classmates treat him.

Just then, he notices that one of his classmates had their backpack open.  It happened to be someone who always brings candy to school and will share it with everyone, except him, and it just so happened that it was his bag of candy that fell out.

The boy went over and picked it up.  He was going to be nice and give it back until...

"That Garmadon boy stole your candy!" one of his classmates said to the kid who brought the candy.

"No, I didn't!" the boy defended.  "It fell out of your backpack!"

The kid noticed his backpack was open.  "Oh sorry.  Can I please have it back?"

"Don't trust him!" the kid that accused the boy said.  "In the story that our parent's tell us, it says that someone named Lord Garmadon will take over Ninjago.  It could be him!"

The boy had enough of always being accused of being some bad person, so he decided maybe he would play the part.  "You know what?  I think I'll keep the candy!  You don't deserve it anyways!"  The boy began to walk away and ate one of the pieces of candy as he did.

Lloyd wasn't completely sure why the Skulkin decided to attack Borg Tower of all places, but him and his team were going to make sure they didn't get what they wanted.  This was the first mission overall and first time where Lloyd was leading the team in battle.  He never thought of himself as much of a leader.  He was always the bad boy of the school and now he's the leader of the ninja team that's supposed to save Ninjago.

The team has come a long way since they started training.  They learned how to really use and control their powers as well as how to fight well with their weapons.  They also now know how to use Spinjitzu.  Their is still more for them to learn, but they're all a lot better than when they started.  They all also started to really become friends with all the time they've spent training together.

The seven elemental masters were all in their ninja gis with their hoods pulled up to not be recognized by anyone.  They were told by Master Wu to make sure they keep their identities a secret.

Lloyd was fighting some Skulkin, but didn't notice a couple sneak up behind him and managed to knock him out.

"LLOYD!!!" Jay and Nya yelled and ran over to him since they were the closest.

"Guys, Lloyd is down," Nya said into the comms.

"He is supposed to be leading us," Nya heard Zane say.

"I may have an idea."

"Why don't we just give them a good beating?" Nya heard Cole say.

"I like that idea," Kai replied.

"These guys are going down," Skylor said.

"We need to be smart about this," Nya tried to reason, but no one was listening.  Nya looked at Jay.  "Why don't they ever listen?"

"I don't know," Jay said.

More Skulkin jumped in front of the two.

"Do you want to try a double team attack?" Nya asked.

"If you think it will work," Jay said.

"When I shoot water, shoot your lightning at the water."  Nya shot water out at Jay did what Nya told him and they electrocuted all the Skulkin in front of them, but unfortunately, more showed up after.

Suddenly, two people showed up.  One wearing a ninja gi they had never seen before and the other wearing the Samurai X mech.

"That's my mech!" Nya exclaimed angrily.

The two managed to take down the group of Skulkin in front of them.

"Skulkin, retreat!" Samukai told his army.

"Who are you?" Jay asked the two people who helped them out.

"I am Samurai X," one of them said in a distorted robotic voice.

"Yeah," Nya said.  "We got that one and that's my mech!"

"And I am the Phantom Ninja," the other one said clearly trying to disguise their voice.

The Phantom Ninja hopped onto the shoulder of the Samurai X mech and took off.

After they left, Jay and Nya heard a groan from behind them and saw Lloyd getting up.  "Are you ok?" Nya asked as she and Jay helped Lloyd up.

"Yeah," Lloyd said.  "What happened?"

"They retreated."

"Why?"

"Two people claiming to be Samurai X and the Phantom Ninja showed up," Jay answered.

"Ok..."

"I need to find out who took my mech," Nya said.

"Why don't we head back to the monastery?" Lloyd suggested.

The monastery

"You all fought bravely today, but the team does still have issues that need to be worked out," Wu said.  "Your powers were all passed down to you from your parents with the only exception being Lloyd.  You were all born to defeat Lord Garmadon."

Jay didn't know why, but that statement really made him think.  His parents didn't seem like they ever possessed elemental powers, but somehow he's the elemental master of lightning.

"We obviously need someone to take over as leader if something happens to Lloyd again," Wu continued.  Jay had spaced out during part of Wu's lecture.  "I will leave it up to all of you to choose a second-in-command."

Wu let them all go to consider who their second-in-command should be.

Ninjago High School

The next day

Nya, Lloyd, Skylor, Cole, Kai, and Zane were talking over by Kai and Nya's lockers when Jay walked up.

"Hey Nya," Jay started.  "Do you know who took your mech yet?"

"It was so strange," Nya said.  "We know someone took it and used it to help us, but when we got back to the monastery, whoever took it had put it back."

"Maybe we already know the person who took it and the Phantom Ninja," Lloyd suggested.

Jay, Nya, Skylor, and Zane understood what Lloyd was getting at. 

"Do you think?" Skylor asked.

"It is highly possible," Zane said.

"They would know about it," Jay said.

Nya slammed her locker.  "Well, I'm going to give Samurai X a piece of my mind."

The five of them started walking.

"Do you know who they're talking about?" Cole asked Kai.

"No clue, but let's follow them," Kai responded and the two of them started following the others.

The group managed to find the two people they were looking for and, luckily, it was in a part of the school that hardly anybody goes.

"You stole my mech!" Nya said angrily.

"I am sorry, Nya," PIXAL said.

"Don't blame her," Seliel interjected.  "It was my idea."

"And you're the Phantom Ninja," Skylor said.

Now Cole and Kai understood how the others figured out who Samurai X and the Phantom Ninja were and couldn't believe that they didn't figure it out themselves when it was so obvious.

"I am still so sorry, Nya," PIXAL said.  "I should not have taken it."

"No, you shouldn't have," Nya said and then sighed.  "You should've just asked.  I already had you in mind to use it."

"Really?"  PIXAL was surprised that Nya thought of her.

"Of course.  Just no more taking my things without my permission."

"I will not."

"Good."

Cole pulled Seliel aside.  "I thought I told you to stay away from Borg Tower," Cole told Seliel.

"And you really thought I would listen?" Seliel said.

"I was hoping you would."

"And let you guys have all the fun?  I don't think so."

"You could've gotten hurt."

"I can handle myself."

"Are you two done with...whatever this is?" Kai asked and Cole and Seliel crossed their arms and turned towards him.

The bell rang which meant they all had to go to class.  As they were turning to leave, they all saw Zane and PIXAL holding hands.

"What's going on here?" Skylor asked, but she already knew the answer.

"We may be a couple now," PIXAL said.

"We are still figuring everything out," Zane said.

The others all looked at each other with smug expressions.  There might have been a secret bet about when those two would get together and now Jay, Lloyd, Cole, and Kai owe Nya, Skylor, and Seliel $10.  They all started walking to class.

Later

Cole just finished practice for one of his sports teams.  The rest of the ninja team had no clue which one when he met up with them.  Well, minus one.  "What's going on?" he asked.

"We're waiting for Lloyd," Nya said.

"Today is the last day of his month long detention," Kai said.

"You know, we should really talk about who will be our second-in-command," Zane said.  "Master Wu told us that we get to decide who our second-in-command should be."

"I could do it," Cole volunteered.

"Thanks for the offer, Cole," Jay said.  "But I know exactly who our second-in-command should be."

"Are you talking about yourself?" Kai asked.

"No.  I want to nominate Nya."

"Me?" Nya asked.

"You had an idea when we were fighting the Skulkin at Borg Tower.  The others just didn't listen to you."

"I agree with Jay," Skylor said.  "She's smart and an excellent fighter.  I'd follow her if something happened to Lloyd."

"Same here," Seliel said.

"I 100% agree," PIXAL said.

"She is a logical choice," Zane added.

"I hate to admit when Jay is right," Kai said.

"I guess the position is yours if you want it," Cole told Nya.

"Ok," Nya said.  "But only if everyone agrees."  They all nodded.  "I guess I'm now the second-in-command."

Lloyd walked out of the detention room and saw everybody waiting for him.  "What's going on?" he asked.  "I thought that I would just meet you guys at the monastery."

"We wanted to wait for you, Greenie," Kai said and put on arm around Lloyd's shoulders.  "It's your last day of your month long detention after all."

"Don't get too used to me not having detention.  I'll probably find someway to get back in there."

"I don't think you will this time."

Skylor grabbed Kai's other hand.  "We also just chose our second-in-command," she interjected.

"Who?" Lloyd asked.

"Nya."

Lloyd looked over to Nya.  "I think that is an excellent choice."

"We should probably start heading to the monastery before Master Wu decides that he needs to work us to the bone," Nya said.

"That's probably a good idea."

"Do you really think we can win?" Cole asked as they started heading out.  "You know, defeat..."  He looked over at Lloyd and decided not to mention his father by name.  "The bad guys."

"Who knows?" Lloyd answered honestly.  "We need to trust our training and trust each other and hope that the good guys can win."

"But if we lose, Ninjago will be destroyed!" Jay exclaimed worriedly and Nya grabbed his hand and squeezed it.

"We won't let that happen," Lloyd said.  He was starting to sound more and more like a leader.  "We can't let that happen."

The monastery

When the team got there, they told Master Wu about PIXAL and Seliel.

"I see," Wu said and approached the two girls.  "I always believed there was a reason you two were with the others on that day.  I believed there was a reason that you two were meant to know of the others' destiny.  You two were meant to help them.  Welcome to the team."

PIXAL and Seliel smiled at each other.  That's all they wanted for the past few weeks.  They wanted to be included in the team.  They wanted to feel needed and now they were.

All nine of them trained for a while and then went to play some video games.  While playing, Jay got an alert on his phone.  "No way," he said.

"What is it?" Nya asked.

"Cliff Gordon, the actor, just died today."

Lloyd sat up from where he was leaning back on the couch.  "Cliff Gordon?!" he exclaimed.  "The actor in all the Starfarer movies?!"

"That's the one."

"You like Starfarer?" Kai asked Lloyd.

"I don't just like it.  I love it.  It's my favorite movie franchise."

"Mine too," Jay said.

Kai just looked at Lloyd confused because Lloyd didn't seem like the type to be into that.  Jay, definitely.  But Lloyd, no.

"What?" Lloyd asked Kai.  "It's a good franchise.  I can't believe that the star died today."

"Me neither," Jay said and then looked at the time.  "I better get going."

"Bye Jay," Nya said and then kissed him on the cheek.

Jay left the monastery and started to walk home.

The Sea of Sands

Jay didn't tell a lot of people where he lives.  He already gets made fun of for being a nerd.  He didn't want to give anyone anymore ammunition.

He lives in a junkyard where his parents have their own business called: Ed & Edna's Scrap N Junk.  Yeah, he really didn't want anyone to make fun of him for that.  It was just outside of Ninjago City which made it easy for him to go to Ninjago High School.  He hated going there because of the people who made fun of him for who he is.  

That is, until he met Nya.  After their initial meet, they hung out together a few times.  At first, it was just secretly meeting up and talking about inventions they were working on.  Then, it became movies, miniature golfing, etc.  They were careful not to get spotted by anyone who went to their school.  He knew why Nya was keeping it a secret and he went along with it because he didn't want Nya to get made fun of like him.  After a month of secretly meeting up, they started to actually date.  They still kept it a secret, but they started holding hands and eventually kissing.  School wasn't so bad for him anymore.

When he got home, he walked over to the trailer and reached for the door handle, but stopped when he heard his parents talking inside.

"What are we going to do, Ed?" he heard his mother ask.

"We have to tell him the truth, dear," he heard his father reply.  "The letter came for him.  We can't keep this a secret any longer."

"He's going to hate us."

Jay decided to go in and figure out what they were talking about.  He opened the door.  "Mom, Dad, what's going on?"

"Jay, dear," Edna said with a fake smile.  "Why don't you come sit down?"

"Why don't you tell me what's going on?"

Edna looked over to Ed.  "Son, there is something we've been meaning to tell you for a long time.  We just never knew how."  He handed the letter to Jay with a key and Jay read the letter.

"This doesn't make any sense," Jay said when he finished.  "It says my father is dead, but you're right here."

"Son," Ed started and took a deep breath.  "You're adopted."

At that moment, Jay felt like his whole world had stopped.  Everything in his life had been going well.  He has a girlfriend.  He recently got a lot of great friends.  He found out he's the elemental master of lightning...

And then he felt stupid.  Master Wu had mentioned yesterday that elemental powers are inherited and he didn't think his parents ever had any powers.  He had questioned that.  Of course, the people he considered his parents weren't his real parents.

He didn't say anything.  He couldn't say anything and he didn't want to stay there, so he ran out the door.  He ran as fast as he could using his powers to boost his speed.  He didn't know where he was going and he didn't care.  He just couldn't face his 'parents' at the moment.

A/N: This is a way longer chapter than usual, but I haven't updated this in over a month.  I hope you enjoyed!