It had been a few days since the Ninja had escaped from prison, and they were still high on the most wanted list of Ninjago. Thankfully, there were a few eyes that weren't looking for the Ninja.
"Bring me those ninja!" The police commissioner shouted, "They can't just break out of Kryptarium and completely disappear. I want witnesses, I want locations. These fugitives are ninja, people. They could be right under our noses for all we know."
If only the commissioner knew that his words were right, as Nya was disguised as a police officer, complete with fake mustache, trying to find information on the Misfortune's Keep.
"All right, I'm in their secured network." Nya whispered to her communication bracelet, "But I still need that password."
"I'm looking for it now, but I don't get it." Jay said, disguised as another police officer while looking through some papers, "Why do we have to hack into their system when we already have a nindroid? And besides, Anirei's father knew them, right? Doesn't she know anything about it from him?"
"Nindroids don't know everything, and Anirei didn't seem to know all that much about Nadakhan, much less his ship." Nya said, "And if Soto says that the map to the only thing that can stop Nadakhan is on his ship, we need to find it. And find it fast."
"Hey, real fast, what's the password again?" Jay said deepening his voice.
"The password is 'Password'." One of the officers answered.
"Got that?"
"That worked." Nya replied, "Now searching city records for the last known whereabouts of his ship, Misfortune's Keep. Speaking of which, hey Kai, how's Destiny's Bounty holding up?"
~~~~
Kai looked through the fence of the repo yard with Zane by his side, their ship lying in the sun abandoned.
"I've got my eyes on it now, sis. We sure could use it." He touched the fence and got a mild shock, "Ow! Careful, Zane. It's electrified."
"I believe all of the signs on this repo yard made that abundantly clear." Zane said, gesturing to all of the warning signs all over the fence, "Perhaps there's another suitable solution past this obstacle. Airjitzu?"
"You don't have to sound so cocky." Kai groaned as the two performed the technique and jumped over the fence without a problem before running over toward the Bounty.
~~~~
"Okay, I've located Nadakhan's ship." Nya said, "It was last reported to be seen in Gypsy Cove, three clicks north of Cannon Beach."
"Thanks, Delara. Oh, I mean, Nya." Cole laughed followed by Lloyd and Anirei as they rode their Dragons over the ocean.
"Not funny. Let's see how you like it when you look like our enemy's sweetheart." Nya said.
"Well, Nadakhan is mistaking me for my father, so I can relate to you Elder sister."
"Thank you for your sympathy, Anirei, I'm glad to know that you're on my side in this."
"Gypsy Cove isn't far. We'll let you know what we see when we get there." Lloyd said.
Anirei sighed and leaned forward against Lloyd's back. He smiled feeling Anirei relax on his back, but Anirei wasn't completely relaxed. She was thinking about Nadakhan and what he was planning in this realm. A djinn isn't exactly something to be taken lightly, and with the way they used their powers, it was far too dangerous for the ninja to take Nadakhan with their normal methods.
"Rei? You all right?" Lloyd asked, seeing as she was so quiet behind him.
"Huh? Oh, no, I'm all right. Just thinking about some things." Anirei said.
"Is it about your father and Nadakhan?" Cole asked and Anirei nodded.
"Yes, and I'm a little nervous about wishes being made by the others. Djinn are very sneaky and I don't want the others to get hurt by saying the wrong thing in his presence."
"I can understand that." Cole said, "I wouldn't want my words to be twisted so badly that it comes back to bite me in the butt."
Eventually the three made it to the cove, which was completely empty save for a few pieces of junk.
"Well, if you can't get it, for my sake just get out of there, you two." Nya's voice whispered harshly.
"Get out of here? But we just got here." Cole answered back.
"Not you, Cole. Did you find Nadakhan's ship?"
"Not exactly." Lloyd said, "But there is evidence of it. Looks like some repairs were made." He picked some of the junk and noticed that it was electrical wiring, "But this is strange. What is electrical wiring doing on an old pirate ship?"
"Maybe it's already set off to sea." Cole suggested.
"I'm getting no readings of it anywhere." Nya informed, "You'd think a big pirate ship would get someone's attention."
"If Nadakhan's ship's not here, and it's not out there, where is it?" Lloyd asked.
"Very good question, Lloyd. And we'd better find an answer very soon." Anirei said and continued to look around the cave for some kind of clue as to where the Misfortune's Keep was heading.
~~~~~
Meanwhile, high in the sky, the Misfortune's Keep was sailing through the clouds rather than the calm oceans. Nadakhan hovered in his captain's quarters, trying to piece together everything that he needed for his plan to go smoothly. On his wall was a map of Ninjago, and right next to it were two pictures.
One was a hand drawn portrait of Yang from a long time ago. And the other was a picture of Anirei he got from a newspaper.
He stared at the pictures, seeing that there was some resemblance between the two. Suddenly, he realized everything.
"Yang.... you didn't." He gasped and rushed to his drawers, searching through the cluttered papers until he found yet another portrait. It was a picture of Delara smiling at the artist painting her portrait, but there was a soft shadow standing behind her. It was faint, but Nadakhna could see a woman standing behind Delara from the shadows. Her face, though blurred,looked nearly identical to Anirei's face.
"This is far too much of a coincidence." Nadakhan grinned, "The silvery white hair, the face of that shadow. This will be even more wonderful, but will require far more calculated planning."
Just as he was about to sit and continue piecing together his plans, Nadakhan sensed someone lurking outside his door. He rushed to the door and saw Flintlocke standing outside.
"What is it?" Nadakhan asked.
"Uh, the crew and I have kept our mouths shut, but you still haven't told us about your plan."
"You need to trust your captain. Your job is to control the ship, which you seem to be failing at." Nadakhan pointed to the smoke trail left by the engine. My job is to catch the ninja so that the Sword of Souls is powerful enough to do our bidding."
"I'm sorry, captain. I'll have this ship steady in no time." Flintlocke promised and ran off, "I said, steady the ship!"
Nadakhan sighed and opened his pocket watch to see the picture of his beloved Delara, "You never doubted me, Delara." He closed it and turned to see his serpentine crewmate, "Any news?"
"S-Still no sign of the ninja, captain. It's like they d-d-d-disappeared off the map."
"Well, then, maybe' I'll see what progress the so-called police are making in their search."
Nadakhan turned and disappeared, heading to Ninjago City for his next target.
~~~~~
Hours later, the team met up at an underground fighting arena to regroup and discuss their next course of action. As the crowd cheered and yelled, the group sat at a table all in disguise.
"Argh! I'm so tired of all this sneaking around." Kai grumbled.
"Easy, Kai. We're all itching to get back into action. But so far, two of our have gone missing and none of us have yet to lay an eye on him."
"If only we knew someone who had faced him and could tell us what to expect."
Anirei glanced over at Jay, who looked very nervous.
"I wish Wu was here."
"No! Don't say that word!" Jay shouted, surprising and confusing everyone at the table.
Jay chuckled, "I mean, why wish when we have everything we need right here, right? Ha, ha. Go, ninja, go?"
As soon as Jay said that, the people in the club turned their attention towards the group.
"Nice going. You blew our cover." Cole said.
"No, he didn't." Nya said and gestured to the tv above their heads.
"I don't know why this is news anymore, but Ninjago City's once again under attack by pirates." The newsman said as a picture of a large flying ship appeared in the corner of the screen, "Or dare I say, sky pirates?"
"We have to help!" Cole shouted.
"But we're fugitives." Zane reminded.
"Elder brother Cole is right. Right now, the safety of Ninjago City is our top priority." Anirei said.
"And no matter what, we protect the innocent." Lloyd added.
"And Soto said the map is on that ship." Nya said, "If we wanna stop Nadakhan, we need it."
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Kai asked, "I thought we were all itching to get back into action."
"And we're going to act on that itch." Anirei said and stood up, but if we're going to fight Nadakhan then we all have to agree on one rule."
"What's that, Rei?" Lloyd asked.
"Make no wishes around him. A Djinn twists your words and one wish could ruin your chances of ever escaping his grasp." Anriei looked deep into everyone's eyes, almost pleading with them silently to not make a single wish, "Please, no matter what he can promise you, no matter how good the wish may seem, don't make it. Utter not a single word associated with a wish."
Everyone stayed silent for a moment before nodding in agreement. But Anirei noticed Jay's hesitance when agreeing. And she knew exactly why he was so hesitant.
~~~~~
The Ninja quickly made their way back to Ninjago City, running across the rooves of the buildings and making their way to the flying ship led by Nadakhan. Anirei felt deep inside her chest that this was going to end badly, but she pushed down that feeling to focus on their current mission.
"For our own safety, travel in pairs." Lloyd ordered, "We need to protect the people, but also get that map."
"I forgot, what does the map look like?" Cole asked.
"It's on a lantern. Look for a lantern." Zane reminded.
Everyone performed Spinjitzu and split up. Lloyd and landed down on the ground on top of a police car where the Commissioner was standing with the other officers.
"Protect the people Commissioner. We'll deal with this menace." Lloyd assured then ran off with Cole.
Zane, Nya and Anirei ran on the ground following the large anchor that was tearing up the streets, Flintlocke shooting his gun and whatever he could see.
"That is not cool. But this is." Zane said, throwing his icy shuriken. However, Flintlocke was able to shoot them away with great precision and began firing at the Ninja.
Nya used her power to divert the shots, but when she pulled off her hood, Flintlocke was stunned. She truly did look identical to Delara. And when Anirei's mask came off, Flintlocke smiled seeing those bright eyes that reminded him on that white being so long ago.
Anirei noticed his gaze at her and Nya, so she ran up in front of Nya to block his view of her.
"Take your eyes off my sister!" Anirei shouted.
"Sister?"
~~~~~
Somewhere else in the city, Kai had separated from Jay, wanting to go after the lantern despite having been warned to stay together. He jumped high up into the air until he made it to the roof of a building underneath the flying ship. Before he could reach the ship, however, cannon fire rained down to hit Kai. Thankfully, he dodged every shot, but once again he was stopped once again, but not by cannon fire.
Instead, Nadakhan appeared in front of Kai and grabbed him.
"No! Kai!" Jay shouted catching up with his friend, but it was too late. Kai and Nadakhan disappeared in a blast of orange smoke.
When Kai was finally dropped, he fell into the sands of another beach, Nadakhan flying right over him.
"Huh? Where are we? What did you do?" Kai demanded an answer.
"I thought a little privacy might be in order." Nadakhan said, "You were in such a rush. For what? Let me help you. You can wish for it."
"The only thing I wish is for you to take me back." Kai said, forgetting about Anirei's warning and accidently making a wish.
"Your wish is yours to keep." Nadakhan said and granted the wish. There was a bright flash of light, and when it died down, Kai found himself in a different place.
It didn't look like Ninjago City, it was far less modern and reminded him of the village he grew up in with Nya.
"This isn't Ninjago City." He said, "This isn't my wish. I told you to take me back."
"Ah. But how far back?" Nadakhan smirked, "This is Ninjago City. Dare I say, it's humble beginnings."
"Dang it, I made a wish! Anirei warned me not to, how could I be so stupid to forget?"
Nadakhan kept that name in mind.
"Anirei... that has to be her name." He thought to himself and turned back to Kai, who turned and saw a familiar face in the crowd.
"Wait a minute, is that...?" Kai questioned, seeing a man with black hair, a bamboo hat and holding several weapons in his arms walking down the street.
"Your father?" Nadakhan asked, "Yes. I believe he is around your age now. A little more pathetic."
Kai's father kicked the door of a small house and offered to sell the weapons he created to protect those living there from the recent pirate activity.
"Well, pirate activity is on the rise. Protect yourself with a custom-made weapon--" The door slammed in his face, causing him to fall back and drop all of his weapons on the ground.
"A little help?" Kai's father called out, but Kai turned away.
"This isn't what I wished for." He muttered to himself.
Nadakhan got close, "Why won't you help your poor father? He's right there. You could spend some quality time with him."
"Please, friend, I just need a hand." Kai's father called out again.
Kai was hesitant, not wanting to make another wish. His gut was telling him to listen to Anirei's warning and not wish for anything, and yet somewhere in his mind told him to make his wish. He chose the latter.
"I wish for you to take me back. Back to when things were good. Back to before all this mess, when people liked us, and bad guys like you were never a problem. Back to the days when girls were crazy for me."
Nadakhan smirked, "Your wish is yours to keep."
Another flash of light shone in Kai's eyes, and when he opened them again, he was back in the empty streets of Ninjago City.
All of a sudden, a girl called out his name and began running towards him. As soon as that one girl came out, even more girls with wide crazed smiles came out and tried to get Kai. He ran as fast as he could to escape the crazed fangirls, hiding in a building and barricading the doors and windows. But the girls were far too strong and started breaking through his defenses.
"This is--" Kai grunted from the force of the girls while Nadakhan appeared behind him, the Sword of Souls in his hand, "This is not what I wished for!"
"You have one more wish." Nadakhan said, "All of this can go away if you just say the words. Just wish it away and be done with it all."
The girls broke through the blockage and started dragging a terrified Kai away. He had only one more move to play.
"Okay! Okay! Make them stop!" He screamed, "I wish for all of it to go away!" Kai gasped from his wish.
"Your wish is yours to keep." Nadakhan said and Kai screamed, his soul being taken into the sword.
~~~~
In Ninjago City, the ninja were successful in getting the lantern with the map on it and met up on one of the buildings.
"We've got the lantern. Return to the meeting point." Cole said.
They all went to the meeting point and waited for Lloyd to get there before coming up with their next course of action.
"All right, now let's fire this lantern up and check out this map. Kai, a little light?" Cole called out, but Kai didn't answer.
"Where's Kai?" Nya asked.
Just then, Anirei felt all of the heat in her body disappear, as if all the fire in her soul was snuffed out. She fell to the knees as a voice echoed in her mind. A scream, one all too familiar.
"Elder Brother Kai..." She whispered and turned back to see the flying ship disappearing over the horizon.
"Kai?" Nya questioned, "What are you talking about?"
"He's... I can't feel him. It's like he's.... disappeared." Anirei gasped out.
All of a sudden, the ground started to shake, signaling the beginning of yet another change in Ninjago.