I ducked out of the way to avoid a sword coming in my direction from E accidentally, rolling to the side.
"Watch it." I growled in a low voice as I sent him a glare before jumping to attack Jay, who managed to avoid it.
We had driven to the place before barging in, attacking anyone on sight which basically caused this whole kerfuffle we were in at the moment.
Nya shot some water into the side of my face, making me stumble back a bit with a growl.
I could see the purple hue slowly covering my eyes and took in some deep breaths before leaping out to attack her with my scythe.
I knew I could use my powers and easily defeat everybody here, but where's the fun in that?
She easily parried my attack and we continued to parry or avoid each attack we threw before she became a swirling vortex of water.
I swiftly jumped out of the way to avoid being grabbed and scowled, but saw that E had the fake Mask of Deception in his hand.
I noticed that UV wasn't there, though she did mention something about getting the real mask while we made a whole show about the fake.
But I also noticed that there was only five of the ninja instead of six, where could the other one be?
I watched as I knocked Zane away, Kai shooting a fireball at the mask in E's hand, shattering it into pieces.
They al looked confused.
"Why did it break?"
"I'll alert Lloyd!"
Everyone else looked confused but I growled.
"You fools, it's a fake!" I yelled to the goons in a very different voice.
"Uh guys, bombs were planted under the palace!" I heard Cole yell and my eyes widened.
I heard the cackle of static in my earpiece as UV ran into the room.
"Retreat! I have the location of the real mask! Get out!" She yelled. "The other ninja has it!"
"After them!" The ninja yelled, giving chase.
I ran outside to my bike, going to warp back to base and back to the bounty, if it weren't for a large blue and white mecha suit to stand in my path.
Samurai X.
I was in too much of a hurry to deal with him, so I just gripped onto the handles and drove straight towards him, seeing the arms reach out to grab the bike.
Then I found myself back at the base, making me quickly put the breaks on before I broke something.
It was quiet as I quickly parked my bike, threw my jacket and helmet into my room, changing my appearance before stepping into a shadow and finding myself back in my temporary room on the bounty.
I could feel it just starting to move, so I threw some pyjamas on and messed up my hair before shuffling outside.
The sun was slowly rising over the city as I walked across the deck to the ladder up to the bridge.
I went into the bridge to find Lloyd and a girl with white hair standing there as Lloyd steered.
"Lloyd?" I mumbled, getting the attention of the two and looked around. "What happened? Where's the others...and who's that?" I asked.
I got a better look at the ground, she had her white hair piled into a bun and had traditional white makeup caked onto her face.
But she looked like someone else I knew but I couldn't figure out who.
"Oh, (Y/n), we were tasked with guarding the Mask of Deception from a potential Sons of Garmadon attack, we had the real one but it was snatched away from us. We're off to pick up the others and this is Princess Harumi." Lloyd explained. "They went to try and retrieve the mask but I'm not sure if they did or not."
"Oh, hello your highness." I greeted, dropping into a bow since I was in the presence of royalty.
"Harumi, this is (Y/n), a researcher on the Oni and Ninjago's history, who was attacked by the group who stormed the palace." Lloyd introduced.
"Nice to meet you, (Y/n)." Princess Harumi said with a smile.
However when Lloyd turned back around to steer, Harumi sent a glare towards me, making my heart stop for a second.
The glare, it seemed so familiar, but I couldn't place where it was from, it felt like it could just see through my facade.
That's not good.
Before I could do anything, the bounty stopped at the end of a street that was currently under some road works.
'Uh yeah, I sure hope it does.' I thought before snickering to myself.
The others were waiting at the top as we came to a stop, the three of us climbing down to greet them.
"Need a lift?" Lloyd asked as they hopped onto the deck. "Did you manage to get the mask?"
The five of them looked between each other and shook their heads.
"No they got away." Zane informed us.
"Oh..."
"Wait, are my parents and Hutchin's alright?" Princess Harumi asked in worry.
"Sorry, there were bombs planted under the palace...they didn't make it." Nya said to her gently.
She looked down and grabbed fistfuls of the kimono she was wearing, bottom lip trembling.
"Now I'm all alone again..."
"Hey, don't say that." Lloyd comforted. "You're one of us now. We'll find who is responsible for your parents and Hutchins death."
She nodded, wiping away some tears threatening to ruin her makeup, I felt kind of bad for her.
"Sorry to interrupt this, but we need to talk about the arrangements of having the two of you on board. Mind if we have a chat?" Zane asked politely.
We nodded, letting the group walk to the other side to talk while me and the princess stood there.
I stared at the city before hearing her clear her throat.
I turned around to see her glaring at me.
"Why are you here?" She asked.
"Because the group saved me...and I'm a target-"
"No, I mean why are you here when you didn't report back to me? If you did I wouldn't have staged that attack just to be on here."
My eyes widened as I realised who she was.
"B-boss?" I stuttered. "I-I'm sorry, I forgot to report back."
She sighed through her nose. "Well we can't just have you leave, we're just going to have to work together. Don't get close to any of them."
I nodded quickly with a gulp. "Yes, boss."
"Also, do not call me that...you can call me Harumi!" She said before her expression changed as the group walked back over.
I nodded and gave her a grin. "Okay...Harumi."
"You two will be with us as it's the only safest space that we can keep an eye on the two of you in case if the Sons of Garmadon attacks. We're not too sure what they need the masks for yet, but we'll find out." Zane explained. "(Y/n), she'll share the room with you."
We both nodded in understanding.
"For now, why don't you help Princess Harumi get settled in while we find a place to lay low for awhile." Lloyd asked.
I nodded and pulled lightly on Harumi's kimono to show her where we'd be staying.
———
We landed in a place surrounded by bird-poop covered rocks, seagulls flying around the place, dried seaweed on a few of the rocks.
The smell.
I covered my nose, it was the grossest smells I have ever smelled, and I've been on this land for centuries!
"Is...this where we're going to be living?" I heard Harumi ask in a disgusted tone as she and Lloyd walked onto the deck.
"Just until we know you're safe." Lloyd replied.
"Don't you have a headquarters?"
"It's too in the open, the Sons of Garmadon will be looking for you and (Y/N). We need to keep moving." He said, jumping down from the ledge they were on and holding a hand out for Harumi.
I followed the two up to the bridge, where the others were, talking about the S.O.G.
"So, Harumi...looks like we're going to be roomies for a while." Cole said, cracking a very bad pun.
I rolled my eyes and stood next to where Jay was standing, ignoring what Harumi said.
She was so different undercover, I didn't even know it was her until she had to tell me.
"Oh, hey." Jay greeted.
"Hi."
"We know very little of the Sons of Garmadon's full capabilities." I heard Zane say as he walked to a big screen.
"We know nothing about them, period." Kai said in an annoyed tone.
"We do know they're after the three Oni masks. Unfortunately they already have two of them." Nya explained.
"Pixal scanned everywhere for the third mask, but came up empty. It's as if it never existed." Zane added in. "(Y/n), do you have any ideas?"
I shrugged. "The Oni probably would have hidden it somewhere so well that no one but they could find it. There could possibly be a map but no one has found anything, not even I have."
"Then we need to figure out who's giving the orders." Lloyd chimed in. "A group like this must have a leader."
I tensed up a little, I was the only one in the room that knew fully well where the third Oni mask was and exactly who was giving the orders, but I couldn't reveal that to them or Harumi would have my head.
"You ok (Y/n)? You look a little, uneasy..." Jay asked, looking at me and catching everyone's attention.
I gulped, I could see Harumi giving me a silent glare telling me not to reveal anything.
"Oh, um, I'm just a little motion sick." I lied.
"Oh well, alright..." Jay said a little skeptically.
"Uh forgive me, but, is that...underwear?" Harumi asked, diverting the attention to her and picked up some blue boxers that were lying on the control panel.
"Ah hahaha." Jay laughed before taking them out of her grip and walking backwards towards Nya, Kai and Cole. "We're usually more organised, ahem, but our leader's lost in a time stream...and they're Cole's." He rambled.
"They're blue!" Cole pointed out in offence.
Kai laughed, "You're lucky they're not yellow."
"Uh huh." Harumi said in a disgusted tone.
I giggled a breathed a sigh of relief and sent Harumi a quick smile, in which she retuned.
This is going to be a little harder than I thought.
Word count: 1775 words