Lloyd's P.O.V.:

We were still in that cell. All of my friends were sleeping, but I was so stressed I couldn't stop pacing the floor back and forth. I just couldn't stop thinking about what kind of danger Ninjago was in.

Ninjago, why were we even trying to help them anymore? Everyone in the city had completely turned on us, and all we've ever done is try and save them and make their world a better place. There was absolutely nothing in it for us. We just did it because we're good people and we want Ninjago to be a place of peace and harmony. I guess the citizens no longer appreciate that.

I know I had told my team that this would all blow over in a few days, but I'm starting to think that was a lie. I keep hearing the workers talk about a group called "the new ninja" and how they were bringing in low level thugs left and right and how Ninjago has never been lower when it came to crime rates. I had to face the facts that we were being replaced and this was our new life now. After everything we've done for Ninjago, this is how they treat us? What's the point anymore?

"Mr. Garmadon, you have a visitor." The guard said outside the cell.

"Do you know who it is?" I asked.

"No idea, but he specifically requested you." The guard said.

"Ok then." I nodded.

The guard let me out of the cell and I followed him to the visitor center. I figured it wasn't my father because they would probably arrest him on site if he came around this place. It was either my mother or Master Wu, but I didn't really want to talk to them right now either.

"Hey um, I just wanted to say, me and a lot of the other guys really respect what you've done for Ninjago." The guard said as we were walking.

"Thank you." I smiled.

"It's not personal, we're just following the law you know?"

"I know officer. We're not gonna make any trouble."

"Thanks." He smiled.

He led me to a booth in the corner and I sat down and faced him. There was a man in a kabuki mask sitting in front of me.

"Dad, if this is how you avoided the guards, you aren't fooling me." I rolled my eyes.

"I am not your father, Lloyd." He said in a deep voice.

"Then, who are you?" I asked.

"A messenger of the Crystal King." He said. "He wants you to know, he's assembling your enemies against you. Soon they will strike, and all Ninjago will fall before his wrath."

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked.

"Because I want to see the look of despair on your face. The look of helplessness as you see something you love destroyed before your very eyes!"

"No!" I yelled.

The kabuki man got out of his chair and started walking away. I couldn't let him escape. I started banging on the glass trying to break it.

"Stop that person! Someone, stop him! He's getting away!" I yelled.

I ran passed the guard and started running towards the man.

"Stop that Ninja, he's trying to escape!" The guard said through his walkie.

"No, I'm not, it's him. He's getting away!" I said pointing to the guy.

I jumped over the guards and stole the guard's keys. I rushed into the hallway and disabled the lock with my powers. I saw the man getting on the elevator, but I didn't make it before he closed the door. I ran into the stairwell and started was immediately bombarded by guards.

"Sorry, can't explain. But I'm not trying to escape." I told them as I evaded their capture.

I noticed there were more guards coming up the stairs.

"There's more guards than prisoners." I said.

I decided to jump over the railing and land on the first floor below. I unlocked the door and went into another hallway. There was a swarm of guards on both sides of the hall. I saw the kabuki guy leave and wave bye to me as the door closed behind him. I didn't want to create more problems for me and the ninja, so I put both my hands up in defeat and they put the handcuffs on me.

They brought me back to the cell, all my friends were awake now and watched as they took the cuffs off and threw me in with them.

"Lloyd, what the heck? I thought you said no escape plans." Kai crossed his arms.

"Yeah, and if you were trying to escape, why didn't we know about it?" Cole asked.

"I didn't try to escape, I was trying to stop someone else from escaping." I explained.

"Another prisoner?" Jay asked.

"No, someone came to visit me and he was wearing this weird kabuki mask and said something about compiling our all our greatest enemies against us." I said.

"Are you sure it wasn't your dad playing a prank on you?" Kai asked.

"That's what I thought at first but it couldn't have been, he only had two arms." I said.

"Did he say anything else?" Cole asked.

"Does the name Crystal King mean anything to you guys?" I asked them.

"Negative." Zane said. "I find no references to that name in any of my databases."

"Who or what is a Crystal King?" Kai asked.

"I don't know, but I have a bad feeling we're about to find out." I said.

Nya's P.O.V.:

We were at the Monastery with Seliel. As soon as she heard that Cole and the others were arrested, she was eager to help us break them out.

"Ok guys, here's the plan." Seliel said. "Since the new ninja, won't admit to what they did and let the ninja go, we're going to break them out."

"Ok but how?" Skylor asked. "Kryptarian is the most secure place in the world."

"Yes, but there's a bus that leaves tomorrow at noon for the prisoners to do manual labor." Seliel said. "We are going to infiltrate that bus and bring the real ninja home."

"How are we going to do that?" Kira asked.

"If I had my water power I could've just caused a fire hydrant to burst and create a diversion, but I can't do any of that now." I frowned.

"It's ok Nya, we won't need it." Seliel said. "In order to get to the city from Krytarian, the bus has to go through the dessert first. That is when we strike."

Seliel explained her entire plan in detail, and we were all on board with it. However there was one problem, her plan involved evacuating the ninja in the Samurai X mech.

"I regret to inform you that my Samurai X mech is not fit to carry the weight of four people and a nindroid at that distance." Pixal explained.

"Don't you have two Samurai X mechs?" Seliel looked at me.

"Well I gave mine to Pixal after she became Samurai X because I was happy being the water ninja, but now that I don't have any of that anymore." I frowned.

"Hold on Nya, I have an idea." Pixal said.

She pulled me into the elevator and we rode it downstairs. She showed me to her workshop and there were a bunch of smaller pixal robots helping to build a giant mech in the middle. It looked like they were just putting the finishing touches on it.

"Pixal, what is all this?" I asked.

"From the moment I found out we were getting you back, I was working on this mech for you." She answered.

"But I just got back two days ago and they look like they're almost done."

"I know, they work pretty fast." She said as one of the pixalbots passed by us.

"That mech looks awesome. I love the hydraulic joints on this thing." I said looking at it.

"I'm glad you like it, because it is yours." She smiled.

"But Pixal, you're Samurai X now, it wouldn't feel right to just take that from you."

"You are not taking it from me, I am giving it to you." She said. "I know what it is like to not feel needed, and I don't want you to feel like that. Besides, there is no reason there cannot be two Samurai Xs, right?"

"I love it!" I gave her a big hug. "Thank you so much Pixal."

"Of course Nya." Pixal smiled.

I was so happy that Pixal made this awesome mech for me. It's like my life had purpose again. And the best part, now I could help out to rescue the boys. This was perfect.

I went upstairs and told the girls about what Pixal built and they thought it was an awesome idea to use that mech to rescue the boys. We got everything ready and made a plan to catch the bus tomorrow.

The next morning...

Jay's P.O.V.:

We were all fast asleep when we heard a whistle. There was a guard standing outside our cell.

"Rise and shine!" He yelled. "Roll out for work detail."

We all got out of our beds and walked out as he opened the door. I stretched my back as it was sore from sleeping on the floor.

"Work detail?" I yawned.

"I didn't know you had to work in jail." Kai frowned.

"It is common for prisoners to be given labor, both as a form of exercise and of promoting a responsible work ethic." Zane explained.

"Oh, beats staying here all day." Cole shrugged.

"And it's a chance to show we don't mean any trouble, so no powers ok?" Lloyd said.

"You're the one who was trying to chase visitors away." Kai said.

"I was trying to keep him from getting away!" Lloyd yelled. "Either way, let's just try to be on our best behavior."

We followed the guard to a bus outside and boarded it along with all the other prisoners. They gave us instructions and we headed out. When we were about half way there, we saw a girl with a bonnet on her hand next a car that was smoking. She was trying to flag someone down.

The bus pulled over and the driver and the guard went out to talk to her. As she was talking, I realized that she and her car looked very familiar.

"Hey guys, is it just me or does that look like..."

"Kira!" Lloyd finished my sentence. "The girls must be here to break us out."

"I thought we were supposed to be on our best behavior." Kai crossed his arms.

"Do you wanna save Ninjago or not? Because we can't do that from prison." Lloyd said.

"Good point." Cole said.

"Oh, you guys are breaking out?" The guy in front of me asked. He was wearing a mask and wings on his arms. "Trying to get an invitation to the Crystal King's council are you?"

"Wait, you know about the Crystal King?" Lloyd asked.

"Oh yeah, any villain worth their salt is on the council of the Crystal King." He said. "Pythor, Vangelis, The Mechanic, all the big guys."

"Thanks for the info... um..."

"Fugi-Dove! At your service." He took a bow at Lloyd.

I ignored him and kept watching the situation. As the driver was looking at the engine, Kira 'accidentally' closed the hood on his head, trapping him. Then Seliel came out from behind the car and used her smoke bombs to temporarily blind the driver.

"Hey look, Seliel's here too." Cole smiled out the window.

All of a sudden the back door to the bus opened and revealed a giant mech with another one behind it. We knew who that was.

"Pixal?" Zane looked up at the original mech.

"Nya?" I looked at the larger mech.

"Come on guys, we need to hurry." We heard Nya say.

Zane and Kai got onto Pixal's mech and Cole, Lloyd and I got on Nya's. I saw Skylor jump in the truck and put it in neutral, leaving the guards to chase after it. Kira, Seliel and Skylor all jumped in the car and started going the other direction. They started taking us back to the monastery.

Lloyd's P.O.V.:

Once we got there we were so happy to be home. Nya and Jay had a great big hug which I think he really needed after being away from her for so long. After a little while, Kira's car pulled up to the monastery and she, Skylor and Seliel hopped out of it. We said our hellos and enjoyed seeing our loved ones again, but now we had a more important matter to deal with.

I went over to my mom, Master Wu, and my father who stood in the middle of the living room. He flashed a small smile at me, but I didn't return it and just crossed my arms. I didn't really want to hear anything he had to say.

"Lloyd, I've thought a lot about how to tell you this, but I think my style is more blunt than heartfelt." He said.

"What are you trying to say?" I asked.

"What I'm trying to say is... I'm... I'm sorry." My father said. "You don't have to forgive me, and to be honest I haven't even forgiven myself for walking away that day, but I have become a better person and if you can give me a chance, I would like to show you that. Please."

I had to think about this. Of course I didn't want him back in my life, but never before did I think the words I'm sorry or please would ever come out of my father's mouth. Was he actually being sincere?

"Fine, you get one chance, but you are on thin ice. If you so much as steal a pencil, you're out of here. Understood?" I said.

"Understood." He nodded.

I started walking away, but then I realized something. My dad was the greatest villain that ever lived, was it possible that he got an invitation?

"Hey Dad, do you know anything about the Crystal King?" I asked.

"Crystal King?" He thought about it. "I know I've heard those names somewhere before, but I don't remember where."

"Well apparently, he's been rounding up the villains from our past and we think he's the one behind all the vengestone operations going on."

"Rounding up past villains?" He thought. "I never got an invite."

"Not yet, but maybe you will soon." I said.

"So? I would never say yes anyway. Even if I was still evil, you know I don't work in teams."

"I know, but what if you said yes?"

"Why would I do that?"

"No, not you, someone that looks like you." I said. "We could disguise someone as you and interrupt your invitation. Then whoever it is will lead us right to the rest of the council."

"That will not work." Wu said. "Pixal says their scanners can detect similarities of the DNA they are looking for."

"Well, in that case, the only one who could do it is..." My mom looked at me and so did the rest of the room.

"Fine, I guess I have to." I sighed.

"Are you sure that will work?" My father asked.

"Only one way to find out." I said.

I went to over to tell my friends about my plan and they were all for it. Zane even had a piece of experimental cloaking technology that I could use to cloak myself into my father. It even added two extra holographic arms. The only thing was, since it was still a prototype, the waterproofing wasn't done yet, so if got wet it was going to short out and reveal myself. Oh well, I'm sure nothing would go wrong.

Before I was ready, I stepped into my room to look in the mirror and I couldn't believe what I looked like. I looked exactly like him. I couldn't believe I was doing this.

"Hey." Kira came in behind me.

I turned around and showed her my disguise. She looked surprised.

"Wow, you look just like..."

"My dad?" I sighed.

"I just came in to see how you were feeling about all this."

"What, you mean having my biggest fear becoming a reality?" I looked at myself.

"Don't worry, you'll do fine, it's only a few hours until you find out where their lair is, then you make up an excuse and leave once you have enough info." Kira reminded me. "Besides, Zane put a GPS in the cloaking device so we'll know where you are the entire time."

"I know, it just feels weird. Like I've tried so hard not to be my father, and now I have to be." I frowned and looked in the mirror.

"This doesn't change anything ok. You are nothing like your father, emember that."

"Thanks." I smiled.

We shared a hug and we went to my Dad's bedroom. I had to sleep here tonight so the kabuki guy could find me.

Later that night, when everything was quiet, I heard a weird sound. I opened my eyes and saw a crystal spider in front of me. It scanned me and then a hologram of the kabuki guy popped up.

"Lord Garmadon." It asked. "You are invited to join the council of the Crystal King and have your revenge upon those who wronged you. Do you accept?"

"I'd like nothing more." I said, trying to sound like my father.

"Good. Follow the spider, it will bring you to me."

The hologram disappeared and I started to follow the spider. It led me back to the N-line tunnels where we fought the mechanic that time. The spider unlocked the door appeared in the brick wall. I couldn't believe it, Jay was right.

I jumped through the door and jumped through it before it closed. It led me to a long staircase and at the top was some kind of capsule. It turned around and opened the door automatically and I hopped in. I set down and buttoned my seatbelt. The thing just took off at an almost supernaturally fast speed.

Once it finally got to the end of the track, I was taken to a room with an army of vengestone warrior statues. I was definitely on the right track. I saw another crystal spider and followed it up a staircase. There I was faced with all my worst enemies sitting at one table. Asphera, Vangelis, Pythor, The Mechanic, and then at the end of the table was... Mr. E.

I guess we know what happened to Echo now. I couldn't react to that now, I had to play the part of my father. I was going to tell Zane on my communicator, but I wasn't getting any reception. And anyway, this is something I need to tell him in person. He at least deserves that.

"Ahh, Mr. E. Long time no see." I said.

"It's Mr. F now." Pythor said. "Let's just say he got a... new upgrade."

"And who are you exactly?" Vangelis asked.

"Are you denssse Vangelisss?" Asphera said. "That isss Lord Garmadon. Conqueror of all Ninjago."

"He's more successful than any of us." The Mechanic said. "He's taken over Ninjago twice."

"Didn't he alssso save it twice?" Pythor hissed.

"Hey! I have done more than any of you guys." I said.

"Ok point taken." The Mechanic said.

"Take your ssseat Lord Garmadon." Asphera said.

I tried not to shutter at people calling me Lord Garmadon. It felt so weird to hear that after I had spent all these years trying not to be like him. Anyways, I took my seat before anyone could get suspicious.

"So um, who sits there?" I pointed to the empty chair at the center of the table.

"Our host, I presume." Vangelis replied.

"The crystal king." Pythor said.

"Wrong." The kabuki guy entered the room. "That is where I sit."

"You're not the Crystal King?" Asphera asked.

"I am merely his herald." He answered. "I prepare the way, I do his bidding."

"Like a servant?" Vangelis asked.

"You should watch your tone Vangelis, you have me to thank for those shiny new wings." The herald said. "Or perhaps you'd rather reconsider? And have us send you back to where you came from."

"What does this crystal king want from us?" Asphera asked.

"He will reveal his plan in time, but this is not that time." He said. "Unfortunately, it seems... we have an imposter among us."

We all looked around the table at each other, and everyone was mainly looking at me.

"Who?"

"See for yourself." He said as played the footage.

"Besides, Zane put a GPS in the cloaking device so we'll know where you are the entire time."

"I know, it just feels weird. Like I've tried so hard not to be my father, and now I have to be." I frowned and looked in the mirror.

"This doesn't change anything ok. You are nothing like your father, remember that."

"Thanks." I smiled.

As they were watching, I tried to sneak out the back, but Mr. F cut me off. The herald splashed me with a bucket of water and my cloaking device shorted out.

"I can explain..." I threw my hands up.

"It's the green ninja!" The Mechanic yelled. "Get him!"

I tried to make a run for it, but Pythor used his invisibility to grab me by the neck. I managed to use my spinjitsu to get free, but Mr. F used his laser to hit me the stomach and it stunned me on the floor. I could still hear but I couldn't get my eyes to open.

"So, you came all this way to find out who I am." I heard the herald say. "Can't you guess? Can you not feel it Lloyd? Can't you sense it?"

I opened my eyes, but my vision was so blurry.

"I'll give you a clue... The spider's in the house, sleep, sleep. The spider bit the mouse sleep deep..."

That song... that terrible, horrible song filling my head with horrible memories. Make it stop! Please make it stop! It can't be her, no it can't... it can't be...

"Don't wake up or else..."

She took off her mask. It was her.

"You'll find a spider in your mouth."

Harumi...