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Chapter 7: Pizza

The Bounty

"So to sum it up, Kai succeeded in breaking #0666 out of prison, it's true that the prisoner works for him, Cole and Kai have some kind of bad past relationship with one another, and now Cole has run off for an unknown reason."

The three elders stood silently for a moment as the ninja explained what had happened at the prison. Garmadon had joined them, but with everything that had happened in the past 48 hours, no one seemed to care.

Wu sighed. "It is what it is, and as of right now there is nothing we can do to change it. I believe it is time to pay an old friend of mine a visit."

"You mean that guy who studies monsters for a living?" Jay asked, and his sensei nodded.

"Robert Silver. It's been a long time since I've last seen him." Misako said.

"We can't be rash brother. You know as well as I do that that old man is in ties with the devil. And you know how the devil wants the Mega Weapon." The dark lord raised the Mega Weapon and then lowered it before continuing. "It would be risky to bring it, especially now that he has my son."

"I suppose your right, but I'm afraid that it's a risk we will have to take. If we were to leave the Mega Weapon here, it would certainly be stolen." Wu replied.

"Wait. Why does Kai want the Mega Weapon?" Jay asked.

Misako sighed. "I promise that we will fill you in eventually, but for right now I'm afraid we can't reveal anything just yet."

Within the next hour they found themselves parked outside of a small house in the city. A knock on the wooden door revealed the face of an old man with a short white beard and thick round glasses.

"Wu! It's been forever!" The man exclaimed, and soon several hugs were exchanged.

"Now , now, come in! Come in! Make yourselves at home!"

Jay exchanged glances with Zane. This man seemed way too cheerful to have studied demons his whole life.

Jay's POV

As we entered the small room, my eyes darted around, taking in everything. Almost immediately I took back my thoughts on the man. The walls were completely covered in papers, maps, photographs and glass cases containing various objects that I'd rather not think about. Otherwise, the room was adorned with chairs so that it formed some kind of a sitting room. Looking around at the chairs, I suddenly noticed someone sitting in a corner. He was wearing… a gray sweatshirt with the hood up over his eyes.

"Gah!" I pointed to the boy in the corner. "That's him! He was there! He was with Kai at the prison!"

Immediately everyone's attention was on me and the boy in the corner.

The boy stood and cleared his throat. "I beg your pardon, but I believe that you've mistaken me for someone else." He flipped his hood down, revealing light brown hair and bright green eyes.

"Ahh! Prisoner #0666!" I was frantic.

The boy cracked a smile, and before anyone could question him he burst out laughing. He was hysterical. Soon he was rolling on the floor.

"You… you just…. Oh your face…." He said in between his laughter. Eventually he calmed down enough to speak. "Oh I'm sorry. But it was just the way you worded it, I had to. And the look on your face…" The boy snickered. "That trick never gets old!"

Garmadon looked at the boy. "Well now that you've had your fun, would you care to explain?"

The boy looked up and studied the dark lord's face. Then, his eyes fell upon the Mega Weapon in his hand. He smiled. "That's a pretty weapon." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Well, anyway, I don't think that I'm under any obligation to tell you anything. But I will ask you one thing. Do you have business with the devil?"

"Alright, alright, alright! I think that's enough of that!" Robert stood in between the boy and us and put his arms out. The boy sat back down in the chair he was in before and said nothing. "Now that everyone has calmed down, what brings you here Wu?"

"We wish to learn more about the devil." Wu said.

Robert narrowed his eyes, all traces of his friendly attitude gone. "For what purpose?"

"What does it matter?!" The dark lord spat.

The boy in the sweat shirt stood again with incredible speed and glared at us. "What does it matter?! If you have come here with the intention of learning enough about the devil to destroy him, I have every right to kill you here and now!"

No one said anything for a long time. Finally, Robert sighed. "I don't know about what you see in your eyes Wu, but in this household, we hold the devil in high regards. Both of my children were taken by the hand of darkness and became monsters themselves." He looked as though he were fighting back tears. "My eldest child, Benjamin, knew the devil very well. They were like brothers. He even fought to the death fighting by Kai's side three years ago. It's such a shame that everything they had fell to pieces after that."

It was then that I noticed how the atmosphere in the room had become very somber and depressing, and I didn't like it. Three years ago… what had happened then? The prisoner mentioned something about that too. And he mentioned something about Cole betraying them…

"Um… this is heavy and all but… what exactly happened three years ago? Does it have something to do with Cole?" I immediately regretted that.

The boy in the sweatshirt lunged at me, grabbed my collar, and shoved me against the wall. "Do not speak of that bastard's name! It was his fault! He murdered Benjamin and got Princess Scarlett killed! He sent Kai into depression! He betrayed us when we needed him most and now, if it wasn't for him, Kai would be king! But instead he had to follow Kai's uncle, the king of Hell and betray us all! And now, there is a very good chance that we are all going to be killed!

I was terrified now. The boy's eyes were glowing bright green and his pupils were snakelike, similar to the way Kai's had glowed red. It was now clear that this boy wasn't human.

"Oh no." He continued. "Oh no it won't stop there. Once he kills Kai and what's left of his pack, he'll kill Aziraphale, the king of heaven, and then he will kill Lloyd, the only pure blood left. Then with both keepers dead, he'll claim both Kai's Hell Sword and the Mega Weapon for himself and unleash all of Hell into all realms and become the ultimate king. There will be nothing to stop him! No angel or monster will be powerful enough to kill him, and he will rule forever!"

Suddenly Robert put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "N. Calm yourself. We all regret what happened, but there isn't anything that anyone can do to change it. And there is definitely no reason to take your anger and hatred out on these people."

N sighed and released my collar. Too shaken to stand, I fell to the floor. He glanced down at me. "I suppose you're right." Then he turned and walked through a doorway and disappeared from sight.

Robert turned away and scribbled something on a small table. Turning back, he handed a small paper to Sensei. "I wouldn't do this for any other man Wu. I won't tell you anything directly, but I'll give you something to read." With that, he ushered us out of the house and closed the door behind him.

Cole's POV

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU LOST HER?!"

The werewolf on the other side of the phone line replied hastily. "I'm sorry sir, but we couldn't help it! We had her cornered, but then one of them devil's boys showed up- the one with the bow- and he started shootin' at all of us! We didn't stand a chance! If you could only give us some better wea-"

I cut him off there. "Alright! Shut the hell up already!" It looks like Kai's finally caught up. We have to make haste. If he's there protecting her then they might as well drop dead. They can't even beat one of his trinity. I sighed. If only I had some decent men who actually got stuff done... "Well obviously since the five of you-"

"Three. Jonny and Markus were killed by the boy in grey." The man interrupted.

I clenched my fist. "… three of you can't even manage to capture a six year old girl then I suppose I'll have to come there myself. In the meantime, find her and don't let her out of your sight! Do you understand? And tell your amigos to get me more men! I will not fail to capture her, is that clear?!"

"Yes Sir!"

…

Misako's POV

I glanced down at the small square piece of paper in my hand.

83 Hector Street

All he gave us was a street and a house number. I only assumed that it was in Ninjago City, however my mind was wandering and didn't have time to question it. Information was being spat at us in bits and pieces, but I wasn't sure if I would be capable at putting them together. Making assumptions at this point could be life-threatening, but what choice did we have?

After everything that had happened, I didn't know who to trust and who not to trust. Afterall, the devil had been right under our noses for a year and we didn't even notice until about a week ago. And what's worse, one of the Overlord's men was there too. Three years ago… oh think think think! What happened then? Let's see…

After minutes of racking my brain I still didn't get anything. All I knew was that it caused Kai's group to disband, and that Benjamin and the princess was killed. With a sigh of defeat, I abandoned my thoughts and returned to reality.

"Um… Sensei, I heard Jacob mention something about a 'keeper', and something about a 'pure blood'. What exactly are those?" Jay asked, and I shook my head. If that boy keeps acting the way he has, he'll be the first one dead. He's lucky N didn't rip his head off."

Wu sighed. "I suppose I can tell you that much. But in order to do that, I will have to retell the story of the creation of Ninjago, finally in its full depth and glory."

"Wait- but Misako already told us the full version."

I smiled. "I'm afraid that I only told you what you needed to know, for Lloyd's sake."

"Lloyd plays a much larger role in this than you have let on, doesn't he sensei?" Zane asked, finally speaking up after having remained silent for quite a while.

"… Yes. There is more to Lloyd than meets the eye, more than he even knows himself. I'm certain that's why Kai has taken him. There's no doubt that Lloyd would be of use to him."

"Well, we're here." The dark lord said, and suddenly everyone's attention flew towards their destination.

Before us stood a skyscraper, towering over them in an almost mocking manner. It was constructed out of a dark tinted metal that gave it a dark and sinister look. We were standing in front of two large glass doors, but they were also tinted so that we couldn't tell what awaited us inside.

"I believe that you may want to take a look at this." Zane said, pointing down the road.

Following his finger to the end of the street, there was a car. At least it was once a car. Now, it was nothing more than a pile of charred rubble and a metal frame. Considering the damage to the surrounding buildings, it had no doubt been crashed into many things, so it was obvious that it was intentionally destroyed.

"Do you think Kai drove that car?" Jay asked.

"I thought the police said he escaped in a stolen police car?" I asked.

Suddenly Garmadon's face lit up. "No, Jay has a valid point. The devil is known for his illusions, so it is probable that the police car was nothing more than a diversion. Yes! That must be it! He sent the police running after an illusion and then escaped in another car after they all left."

"But what I don't get, is why this building?" Jay asked.

I smiled. "There's only one way to find out." I rang the doorbell.

After a few seconds there was a click, and the door was pulled open. Soon after, all mouths were agape. Standing in the doorway was none other than little Lloyd Garmadon, his head down counting money.

"Hey uh do you have chang- " His voice trailed off as soon as he looked up. "Um.." He spoke quietly, "You don't happen to deliver pizza anymore, do you Jay?"

"Pizza? No man, I quit that job long ago." He suddenly looked confused. "Why would you even ask that?"

Lloyd bit his lip. "Yeah that's what I thought."

Then he took of running.

Things are starting to get interesting now :)

Here's a random tip: If you are really curious about Kai's past, pay close attention to character's thoughts and rants (*hint hint*) because information can be pieced together :)

If you think you have discovered something, please review and tell me what you found :D

... or, you could just read until the end of the story. That works too ^-^