Third POV

"I warned you about trusting them!" Cole said, throwing his hands in the air.

"Let's not jump to conclusions. They could be in great danger." Sensei Wu informed them, stroking his beard.

"Sensei is right, they might have been kidnapped by the Sons of Garmadon-"

"Ugh, I can't believe how calmly you're taking this!" Cole snapped, interrupting Zane. "Two of our team members have left all of a sudden! And not just any team members! No, they just happen to be freaking criminals! Doesn't anyone find this suspicious?!"

"Dude, relax. You're blabbering more than Jay right now and that is not a good sign." Lloyd chuckled.

"Anyways," Jay spoke up, glaring at Lloyd. "They'll probably come back. At least I think so.. But if your so curious we can just go and look for them." He looked back at Wu, who nodded.

"Zane, Lloyd, you don't mind spying on the Sons of Garmadon alone, right?" He glanced at the two.

"We don't mind, although we'll have to find their hideout first.." Zane sighed.

"I'll stay here in case they come back." Wu said.

"Of course.." Lloyd rose a brow. "Bye uncle." He said goobye before going outside with the others.

"I guess we'll meet up later?" Cole waved at Lloyd and Zane, who were just mounting Shard.

"Yup. Good luck on finding the others." They both waved back at them as Shard flew off. From what they had heard before, they'd be heading to Ninjago City once again to find clues about the gang and most importantly, Garmadon's plans.

Cole and Jay approached their dragons as well. They figured it would be best to bring them along, in case Zane and Lloyd ran into trouble.

"He really is a dog, huh?" Jay chuckled at the sight of Rocky. He hadn't been out for a while, so him being finally free to roam around made him jump up and down like a dog.

"He likes to eat treats as well." Cole petted the dragon's head, before calming it down. It lowered his wing, letting him mount it.

"I say we start from Jamanakai." Jay said, getting on Wisp. "They can't have gone that far."

Cole nodded, as both of the dragons flew off. Well, even though the flight was short, it quickly turned into a race. Cole ended up winning, much to Jay's surprise. They landed in the village's entrance as people gathered around the dragons.

"Nothing to see here people. Just some elemental flying lizards." Jay tried to reassure them, quickly running from the crowd along with Cole.

"I am surprised you managed to stay calm this entire time." Cole smirked at his best friend. "I mean, I would have expected you to at least scream."

He could feel the growing pressure in Jay's face. And he was right, he broke down right after. "Of course and I'm worried! They could be seriously injured by now! Heck, they could be dead for all we know!" He finally snapped.

"Look, I'm a bit paranoid as well, but let's not jump to conclusions." Cole looked at him with wide eyes. "But it's nice that you got that out."

As they were walking past all the houses, they noticed a loud sound -or more like loud cursing- coming from one of the shops.

"I knew I should have stayed on Stixx.." They saw a middle aged man, rummaging through some boxes. It looked like the shop has just opened. He sighed and put on his red straw hat, before he noticed the two ninja staring at him.

"What do you want?" He growled. "If you're not going to buy something, I don't care. And what's up with the pygamas?"

"More like what's up with the metal eyepatch.." Jay whispered to Cole. "Uhm, we just want to ask you something-"

"Can't you see I'm busy right now?! Rex is missing and I've got to find him."

"Rex? Missing?" Cole wondered.

"Yeah, I use that vehicle to get eveywhere! He was stolen last night. I found his location, but it's in the woods. I swear once I get my hands on the thieves-" The man once again growled.

"We can help you find him!" Jay exclaimed. Both him and Cole knew who the thieves were. If they want to find them, starting from there would be a good start.

The man thought for a bit, then sighed. "Fine. But don't expect anything in return." He hesitated but eventually gave them a handshake.

He smirked. "The name's Ronin, by the way."

~•~

"Do you think they'll come back?" Lloyd looked up at Zane, who raised his shoulders.

"I'm not quite sure.. Although I have hope, the possibility of us finding them right now is very low." He sighed. "But we must keep positive." He said, giving him a tumbs up.

They walked around a bit more, though they didn't find anything. They decided to go into the deeper, darker parts of the city, where poverty was the main problem. If the Sons of Garmadon were going to be hiding anywhere, it would be there.

They got deeper and deeper into the city, eventually spotting some of them harassing some citizens.

"We should help them!"

"I think we should keep a low profile. We don't want them recognizing us." Zane gaven the blond a frown, lowering his head. "Trust me my friend, we will help them more by spying on the real enemies here."

Lloyd sighed and sat back down. After a few minutes of scenery they couldn't bare to see, the gang members mounted their motorcycles and drifted off.

They followed them, keeping them as close as they could. Lucky for them, their hideout wasn't too far from their current location. They saw some members enter an old garage as it seemed, not the place they would expect a huge organization's secret lair to be. The building was pretty ruined and has certainly not aged well.

To their advantage, this allowed them to spy on them more easily. They peeked out of a fallen piece of the roof. They once again saw the same people from before, two grey skinned people, a buff male, as well as a female with distinct jet black hair speaking to another figure which they didn't recognize. No Garmadon though.

"Hey, since you're a nindroid and all, can you hear what they're saying?" Lloyd asked.

"Centainly." He smiled and tried to focus on them. He was lucky enough to hear what they were saying, they were being very quiet, even without people watching them.

"What should we do now? We've got all the masks, can't we just begin from now?" The female enquired. "Why does he want us to do all his work if he claims he's so powerful?"

She was immediately cut off by the furious voice of the uknown figure. "Because unlike you, he actually knows how to summon them." They snapped. Zane recognized the voice as a female one.

"And if we don't get that realm crystal, then I'll make sure your blood is used to create it."

Just then, another familiar figure entered the room, that red and black android they had seen the last time they were here. He signaled something at the figure, Zane couldn't signal any actual sound coming out of him.

"What do you mean they've escaped?" She facepalmed. "Find them right now. Or else." She gave the android a gesture, to which he nodded.

"My.. signal. It's gone." Zane stuttered.

"What do you mean it's gone? It can't be gone!" Lloyd exclaimed, immediately covering his mouth with his hands.

The people looked up from them. They couldn't hear them very clearly, but they knew they had to get out.

They ran as quickly as possible, knocking stuff out of their way. They could hear footsteps but it didn't feel like they were being followed.

They turned around a corner, hoping not to get noticed. They could feel the shadow of someone running towards them but they didn't know what to do. They were frozen in place, heavily breathing.

The person kept getting closer.

And closer.

"LLOYD!"

~•~

"So, you're saying Rex ended all the way here." Cole cut through some vines using his scythe.

"Acording to my tracker, yes. It should be right- REX!" Ronin gasped. "What did they do to you?!"

The machine was indeed broken, the glass was shattered, the seats were ripped. It had no use right now, and would take a couple of weeks to fully repair.

"Uhm, are we going to ignore the giant temple that's standing in front of us?" Jay said.

"I think they might be in here. But we have to find a way to get in." Cole said, rubbing his chin.

"You're talking about the Temple of Water and Fire huh? Don't bother trying to get in. The bridge only opens to those snake red people who have conquered it. Once you get in, you won't get out." Ronin informed them.

"How do you know so much about this place?" Cole gave him a suspicious look.

"I've been through a lot kid. Enough to learn stuff most people don't know. We all have our secrets, after all." He said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a machine to take care of." He started picking up whatever was left of it.

"Woah woah woah!" Jay exclaimed. "We helped you find and will help you rebuild your precious Rex, you'll help us save our friends."

"What part of 'don't expect anything in return' don't you understand? I'm out."

"We'll give you money, okay? Just help us get them back." Jay cut him off.

Ronin smirked. "Now it's getting interesting. You can count on me if you need anything."

"Great. Then it's settled." Cole said.

Now all they had to do is wait until night time falls, then they could strike. Well, that is unless someone else striked first.

Haha, I'm on a roll XD!

Okay, yup, that's it, next chapter I'm gonna piss so many dang people off. Half of my readers are gonna be gone like I just did the Thanos snap.

C ya!