Off the side of the road, a stranger dressed in blue and wearing a beanie over his head looked on the side of a small rest stop. Pasted on the brick wall was a poster, more specifically, a wanted poster for the five ninja of Ninjago.
He looked at the poster nervously, seeing the bounty on his head along with the rest of his friends. Jay sighed, gulped down his fear and walked inside, only seeing one person watching the tv.
"We're closed." The owner said.
Jay pulled down the bandana he used to hide his face, "I'm starving. You got anything?" He asked.
"Anything? Sure." The owner gestured to the back of the shop where a single vending machine stood. Jay quickly went over to see what it had, seeing his favorite snack inside.
"Ninja chips. Mm. My favorite." He hummed to himself in delight, but as he patted his pocket for change, he heard the tv in the background.
"The ninja are still at large and public enemy number one." The police chief said to the press.
"Did fame turn them?" A reporter asked.
Jay quickly and quietly used his powers to start up the machine, carefully retrieving his snack, but the entire machine shook from the extra power.
"We've taken their ship as well as secured their known hideouts. They will be caught and pay for their crime spree." The chief continued, "I bet my reelection on it."
Jay carefully walked away, hitting the white ball on the pool table by accident and quietly slipping out of the building.
~~~~
In a room in the police station, Misako who had been caught earlier, was being questioned about the Ninja. But she wouldn't crack even if she knew where they were at the moment.
One of the cops shone the lamp's bright light in her face.
"Just come clean, tell us where they are."
"We know you're protecting them. Spill it!" Another cop shouted at her.
"Like I said, it wasn't them." Misako insisted, "They were framed. You should be searching for the real culprits."
"Right. That's what my mother would say, too. Maybe we should give her some time to sweat it out. Come on, Simon."
"Why won't you tell me where Wu is? I wish to speak to someone in charge!" Misako shouted, but was left without answers.
The two cops left Misako in the room alone to think things over, but she knew that they were al innocent. The one thing that she didn't know was who the real culprits were, and why they chose to frame the ninja for such terrible crimes.
She looked down at the cuffs that kept her in place, but all of a sudden, a new voice broke the silence of the dimly lit room.
"Your wish is yours to keep." The voice said. A small spark of orange light burst from the other side of the room, drawing Misako's attention to it.
She looked up and saw a man floating upside down with four arms and a long black ponytail.
"My wish?" She glared at the stranger, "No."
"Oh, yes." the man said.
"Help!" Misako screamed, "Uncuff me! Don't leave me alone with him!"
The stranger disappeared and reappeared behind her, "No one's behind there, unfortunately." He said, picking up a donut from behind him, "Ooh. Someone was kind enough to bring donuts."
"I know you." Misako said, "You're Nadakhan the Djinn. I knew it. Clouse was looking for the Teapot of Tyrahn."
"Oh. You mean..."He disappeared and reappeared in front of her, the very teapot she mentioned sitting on the table, "This? It's smaller in person, I know. I was trapped in it for longer than I care to recall. But now Clouse is in there. And he has Wu to keep him company."
In the reflection of the teapot, Misako said the images of Wu and Clouse, trapped within the prison Nadakhan once occupied.
"Wu!" Misako shouted in worry, "What have you done to him? What do you want?"
"A good captain never leaves his crew behind, and mine was taken from me by that fiend in white." He disappeared again.
"I've read about you." Misako said, "You were a pirate captain. The stories said you could grant wishes for others, but not for yourself. Is that why you made your living taking what never belonged to you?"
Nadakahn reappeared, "Yes, I cannot wish for myself, but I can always get what I want. Wu already told me where the Realm Crystal is, but I will still need your help."
"Even if you were to find it in Hiroshi's Labyrinth, you'd never find your way out." Misako said, not realizing her mistake.
"So it's hidden in Hiroshi's labyrinth, you say?" He questioned, getting what he wanted.
"Wu didn't tell you." She gasped, "You tricked me. I wish I hadn't said anything in the first place."
"Another wish? I though you'd never ask."
"No!" Misako shouted and disappeared.
~~~~~
The Ninja had escaped to the one place where they could never be found. The place where the main four had met for the first time. The old monastery which still burned to ash, some piece of their old home still standing, but just barely.
"Seriously?" Jay groaned as he jumped off his elemental dragon, "I was the last one to figure out it was Wu's old monastery?" He said referring to the riddle that Kai had posted on his social media, "And Lloyd and Anirei weren't even trained here."
"It'll only be a matter of time before they find this place too, so there isn't much time." Lloyd said.
"Elder brother Zane, show them what you found." Anirei said.
"I came across security footage of sense at the Library of Domu. He was not alone." Zane said, bringing everyone's attention to him. He projected the footage on the nearby wall.
"Hey look, it's Wu." Cole said, but the footage continued, showing that Wu as looking at something out of the camera's range.
"What happened? Who was he looking at?" Kai wondered aloud.
"We don't know, but no one's seen him since." Cole answered.
"The library database indicated he had checked out a book about the Teapot of Tyrahn." A picture of said was shown, "We originally thought we may be dealing with Clouse. If this is what I think it is, it appears to be far worse. We may have a Djinn on our hands."
"A Djinn?" Jay asked.
"Think of a genie, Elder Brother Jay, but something far worse." Anirei said crossing her arms over her chest.
"She's right." Nya agreed, "But unlike a regular genie, when he grants you wishes, you'll be wishing you never met him."
"What else do we know about Djinn?" Lloyd said.
"Hmm. Not much, just that they are very sneaky and have great power."
Zane walked over to Jay, how was smiling widely at the moment.
"I do believe smiling is not the proper reaction when one is warned about a Djinn." Zane said.
"But Nya said they grant wishes, and with wishes anything is possible, right?" Jay questioned.
"Hmm. My logic parameters do not allow me to understand the full extent of a wish. But I am curious where you're going with this."
"Nya made it clear there was no way we'd ever end up together. But I know for a fact from seeing my future that we do. Maybe a wish is what it takes. Maybe this is how she falls for me."
"And perhaps it does not fall that way, Elder Brother." Anirei said appeared next to Zane, "A wish from a Djinn does not work like that, and we shouldn't put our future into a tricky spell."
"And what if it does work, Anirei?" Jay asked, "You can't see the future, right?"
"Did you forget that I could see the future when I was still a child, Elder brother? Even though I can't see the future now, I know for a fact that wishing for something like this will not make for a happy future. If you wish for Nya to fall for you, wouldn't that just make a false love? A forced love? Would she really want that?"
Jay didn't know how to answer, not that he was paying all that much attention to his little sister. He was simply thinking about his one true wish: For Nya to be his.
"Then it's settled." Lloyd said, "Since we know so little about Djinns, we need to head back to town to investigate more about him."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. If we head back together, the police will arrest us on sight. We should split up." Cole suggested.
"But anyone caught along with this character suddenly disappears." Kai pointed out.
"Then we travel in pairs." Lloyd said, "Zane, you, Rei and I will head to the library to see what we can find."
"Wait, wait, wait." Jay said running to Nya's side.
"Yeah, yeah. And Jay and I will look for clues at the scene of the crime where he framed us." Cole said, but Jay frowned at the suggestion, "What do you say, buddy, just like old times?"
"Heh, sweet." Jay laughed nervously, "Who doesn't love old times? Eh?"
"Kai, you and your sister see what else is out there." Lloyd assigned, "If we wanna clear our names and get Sensei back, we need to find this Djinn and take him down. Let's meet back here at sunup."
"And please, everyone, look out for each other." Anirei said, "Right now, comradery is the most important thing we have to keep our team together."
Everyone nodded and ran off to their separate missions, flying away on the elemental dragons to do so.
~~~~~
After dressing in disguises, Lloyd, Zane and Anirei snuck into the Library of Domu, waiting until there was no one left in sight to continue on their search.
"Road clear." Lloyd said and they snuck through the isles of books to the last place where Sensei Wu was see reading. There on the desk was a book, the same book that he was reading before he disappeared.
"The book he was reading is still here." Lloyd pointed out and looked up at the camera pointed at the desk.
"That camera too the footage of sensei." Anirei said.
"We don't want to be spotted." Zane added, "Hacking into the library's central computers now."
Zane did as he said and hacked into the computers, shutting off the camera so that they could safely get to the book. They walked over and started to read from the open pages.
"The Teapot of Tyrahn." Zane read, "The ancient markings on the side describe that it's a powerful relic that can trap mortals."
"Oh. That may explain why people are suddenly disappearing." Lloyd said.
"And there's something more." Zane continued, "Once a Djinn is freed from imprisonment, the only way to destroy him is by--"
For some reason, Zane stopped in his tracks, looking worried for a moment.
"Can you isolate the source?" He asked PIXAL.
"Elder Brother Zane? Are you all right?" Anirei asked.
"What's wrong, Zane? Why'd you stop reading?" Lloyd asked. The two walked over to Zane, but saw him lean forward, as if he was hunching over something.
"Are you there?" Lloyd asked, but Zane had completely shut down. With Zane shut down, the cameras whirred back to life and spotted the Ninja.
"I took the liberty to close off the wing, Lloyd and Anirei." Ronin's voice echoed through the library, "Been meaning to say, love the TV spot."
Lloyd grabbed Anirei by the hand and started to run around the area, trying to find a place to hide or escape.
"What was it you guys said? Reading is the first step to every adventure?"
The two looked up at the only window in the area, and though they didn't want to, Lloyd and Anirei had no choice but to leave Zane behind so that they could escape. But just as they were about to head to the window, they saw that it was barred.
"Yeah, they installed those to keep the bad guys out." Ronin said, "Or was it the good guys in? I don't remember for the life of me. Which ones are you two? Good guys, or bad guys?"
"We were framed. You know us, Ronin." Lloyd said.
"We would never commit any crime and you know it." Anirei added.
"You also know me." Ronin said, "And I'm getting paid awful lot t bring you guys in." Suddenly, he appeared from the other side of the bookshelf, "How's Nya. Boy, I missed her."
Lloyd and Anirei started running away as Ronin fired at them with a strange weapon. Lloyd fired some of his power at Ronin to slow him down and continued running with Anirei. They continued running through the library, Ronin trying to hit them with a sticky substance and Lloyd and Anirei using their power to dodge and deflect each shot.
"Let's make this easy." Ronin said as Lloyd and Anirei hid behind a bookshelf, "I'll take the two of you back to the station, you can answer their questions and clear your name."
"Not until we stop the threat." Lloyd said.
"And you will certainly pay for what you did to my Elder Brother." Anirei added, "However, there is no time for that today."
Together, Anirei and Lloyd pushed the bookshelves over, making them fall one by one, trapping Ronin underneath them. Lloyd used his power to force open the front door, but just before they run out and escape, Ronin threw something and trapped them both. The two ninja fell to the ground, unable to run and escape.
"Looks like I didn't miss either of you." Ronin said, "Three down, four to go."