Lloyd's P.O.V.:

It was morning now and I woke up in pain. My head was pounding so hard from when Akamu smashed my head against the wall during another one of his interrogation sessions. This time it was because I refused to tell him what all the kids' weaknesses were. If I had told him that, he would have the advantage and I couldn't let that happen.

Kira was sleeping beside me, resting her head on my shoulder. She wouldn't admit it but she was hurt too. I don't know what he did to her in there, but she came back in yesterday and her knee was hurting to the point where she couldn't stand up and she had a crick in her neck.

We usually are better at fighting back, but Akamu has proven that he was strong enough to hurt us, and he could kill us any time he wanted to.

It wasn't ourselves we were trying to protect, it was each other. If one of us so much as pinched him, he threatened to kill the other, and we both knew he wasn't bluffing. We had to take his beatings to keep each other safe.

I now understand everything that Maizy went through. Even my father wasn't this cruel, not before his sister brought him back at least. I hate to admit it, but I have more in common with her than I thought.

"Are you awake?" Zach asked me from in front of the cell.

"Let me guess, Akamu called again?" I whispered, trying to be quiet so I wouldn't wake Kira.

"Not that." Zach shook his head. "I have information that might help you."

"How do I know I can trust you?" I asked.

"You helped my niece, it's the least I can do."

"But I don't understand. If Akamu wants to save your sister, then why wouldn't you want that too?"

"Nothing would make me happier then Zoey waking up, but the doctors all made it clear that that's nearly impossible." He frowned. "As hard as it is to let her go, I think she would be happier in the departed realm than suffering for the rest of her life. To be honest, it would make me feel better to know that she wasn't suffering anymore."

"She doesn't know, does she?" I realized.

"Who?"

"Maizy. You never told her what happened, did you?"

"No, and she doesn't need to." Zach said. "She thinks her mother died that day, and that's the way it's going to stay."

"Doesn't she deserve to know the truth?"

"If it were up to me she would know everything, but it isn't." He yelled. "Akamu said if she ever found out he would hurt me, and we both know he meant it."

Kira started to wake up and set up on the wall. She was rubbing her neck in pain and she still seemed exhausted.

"What's going on?" She asked me as she coughed. Her voice sounded horse.

"Kira calm down, it's alright." I comforted her. "Are you feeling ok?"

"I-I'm fine." She said before coughing again and then sneezing

I looked at her and she was shivering and her skin was paler than normal. I put my hand on her forehead and it felt warm. I knew she was sick.

"You've got a fever." I told her.

"How's your h-head?" She asked in the middle of a sneeze.

"Don't worry about that now, just rest." I said. "Zach, please bring us something for her to eat and some water, and maybe a blanket and some tissues."

"I'll try, but Akamu's been pretty strict about what I'm supposed to bring you guys." He sighed and left.

I turned my attention back to Kira. She was not looking well at all.

"Kira you're shaking. Are you cold?"

She nodded and held her head.

"Does your head hurt?"

"A little but it's nothing to worry about."

Kira tried to stand up but I could tell her knee was bothering her and she was already weak from her illness. I helped her sit back down.

"Kira you're sick, don't even try to get up." I told her and she sadly nodded. "You were asleep when I woke up, did you sleep all night?"

She shook her head. "I was up most of the night trying to make sure you didn't have a concussion. Remember?"

"No." I shook my head. "I remember Akamu smashing my head on the wall but my memory is kind of a blank after that."

"That's not a good sign." She frowned and started coughing again.

"Hey, relax. I'm ok." I assured her. "You need to rest right now."

Zach came back with a wrapped up blanket and gave it to us. I unwrapped it and it had all the things we had asked for including ice packs, water bottles, two small bowls of rice, tissues, an eyepatch for my black eye and even a few bottles of healing tea.

"Akamu doesn't know I took all this stuff, so try to hide it from him." Zach whispered to me. "I hope you'll find it useful."

"Thank you." I told him.

I took the blanket and gave it to Kira and she wrapped it around herself. I put one of the ice packs on her knee and another on her neck and she flinched. I got her one of the bottles of healing tea and helped her drink it. I was about to give her the other one but she pushed my hand back.

"Come on, you need it." I said.

"You need it more." She insisted.

I knew there was no use arguing with her, so I took the second bottle of healing tea myself. I was honestly feeling a little better. I looked at Kira and she seemed panicked about something.

"What wrong?" I asked.

"I'm worried Lloyd." She sighed.

"I told you I'm ok."

"Not just that, I'm worried that Akamu might be too much for the kids. What if they can't do it?"

"Honey listen to me." I held her hand. "Those kids are strong and we need to believe in them. Because if we lose our hope, then what do we have?"

"How do you think Ryder's doing with leading a team for the first time?" She asked.

"If he's anything like me, I'm sure he's doing just fine."

Ryder's P.O.V.

I was on the training course in my aunt Nya and uncle Jay's backyard trying my hardest to master spinjitsu. I went over the planks, dodged the swords, but of course when I got to the dummy I wiped out again. That was the twentieth time I've attempted to do spinjitsu and I still failed at the same place every time.

"Ryder, it's getting late." Aunt Nya said coming outside. "Are you sure you don't want come inside and take a little break with the other kids? Jay went and got pizza."

"I-I'd love to, but I can't." I said out of breath. "I need to learn spinjitsu so I can save my parents."

"I know you're worried about them, but they'll be ok."

"I know, but everyone else knows spinjitsu, and if I'm the only one who doesn't than what kind of leader am I?"

"If your father were here, you know what he'd say?"

"Ninja never quit? Never put off till tomorrow what can be done today? As iron sharpens iron, brother sharpens brother? Or something along those lines." I sighed.

"He'd tell you that being a good leader isn't about what you can't do, it's about what you can do." She smiled.

"But if I can't do something as simple as Spinjitsu, then how does my father expect me to lead the team?" I frowned.

"You'll find your own way, just like your father did." Aunt Nya smiled. "Now come on inside, it's getting dark and the others are waiting for you."

"I'll be in in a minute, I wanna try a few more times."

"Ok, but only five minutes."

"Ok." I agreed.

Nya went back inside and I continued my training. I was about to start again, when I saw someone moving around in the forest, and it wasn't hard to guess who.

"Come on out." I got into a fighting stance. "I know you're there."

When she came from behind the tree, I grabbed her by the shirt and pushed her against the tree. I was so furious I didn't even look at her.

"What did you do to my parents?!" I demanded. "Tell me where they are right now or I'll..."

"What? Ryder what are you doing?" She questioned.

The sound of voice, the look of her face, those sparkling blue eyes, her long brown ponytail. I soon realized who it was and immediately regretted my actions. I let her go and she brushed herself off.

"I'm so sorry, I thought you were someone else." I apologized and facepalmed. "Ugh! I'm such an idiot! I'm so embarrassed."

"That's ok, I'm actually impressed you were able to catch me." Katie laughed and winked at me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Well I heard about your parents and I figured you could use all the help you can get." Katie said.

"Really? That's great!" I exclaimed. "It would be awesome to have you on the team, that is if I can lead one."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I don't know Spinjitsu, so how could I possibly lead the team?" I frowned.

"Well what ever happens, you'll have my help." She took my hands.

"Thank you." I blushed. Then I realized something. "Oh by the way, sorry I didn't call you. My dad grounded me and took my phone away and then the whole day parent-napping thing happened and..."

"You've been through a lot, I get it." She smiled. "Don't worry about it."

"You're the best." I blushed. "And I have a way to make it up to you. The whole teams inside and maybe you would want to join us for a slice of pizza?"

"I could eat." She shrugged.

We started to head back towards the house and we entered the dining room where everyone was. Most of the adults were on patrol looking for any signs of the Villain Kid Alliance except for my grandparents, uncle Wu, Kai, Nya and Jay. The rest of the kids were sitting around the table. I introduced them all to Katie.

"It's nice to meet you Katie." Nya said.

"Welcome to the Junior Ninja Team." Amber said.

"Thanks guys, I'm happy to help." Katie smiled.

"Ok, now can we go over the plan to get your parents back?" Allison asked.

"Yes, right... my plan... which I... totally have." I lied.

"You don't have one do you?" Ashley crossed her arms.

"Well there's a lot of pressure on me right now ok?" I screamed.

"Easy younger nephew." Wu said to me. "Plans don't just appear out of thin air."

"Exactly." I slammed my head against the table. "I'm sorry guys, you need a leader and I let you down."

"This is new for all of us Ryder." Amber said. "No one expects you to be a perfect leader right away."

"And as you get stronger, so will we." Allison said.

"Don't be so nervous, we know this is tough for you but we know you can do this." Lily smiled.

"Just tell us what to do and we'll do it." Alex offered.

I took a second to think. Then I just asked myself, what would my father do?

"Ok first things first, we need to find their base so we can keep an eye on them. We'll have a better chance of getting the advantage if we know what their plans are." I suggested.

"Ok but we don't have any leads or any idea of where they could be." Jax said.

"Then let's come up with some options." I said. "Alex, can you get me a list of all the abandoned places in Ninjago that might be a good space for a villain headquarters?"

Alex searched through his systems. "It seems that the only options that make since are the caves of despair, Nya's old Samurai X cave, and Yang's haunted temple."

"Wait, I get my own cave?" Trent looked at Nya excitedly.

"Clean your room and then we'll talk." Kai said to him.

"Hey! That's Blake's stuff all the floor!" Trent yelled at his brother.

"Is not!" Blake yelled.

"Is too!" Trent yelled back.

"Can we please stay focused here?" Amber yelled and made her brothers shut up.

"Little brothers am I right?" Lily laughed.

"For the last time, we're the same age!" Jax yelled. "Those eight minutes don't make that much of a difference."

"Anyway, they must have made one of those places as a base, so we need to find out which one it is." I said getting us back on track.

"So what's next, we just go search these places?" Allison asked.

"We'll split up into teams." I said. "Allison, Lily, Katie and I will take Yang's temple. Amber, Jax and  Trent will take the Samurai X cave. And Alex, Blake and Matt will go to the caves of despair. That'll be the biggest place to search."

"Maybe you guys should continue the mission without me." Alex frowned. "I lost my powers recently and I don't know how much help I'll be."

"Powers don't make a hero, right Dad?" Trent looked at Kai.

"Right." He smiled.

"Well, if my team will have me." Alex smiled.

"Of course Alex." I said. "Powers of not, your still an important part of this team."

"Then I will try my best." Alex smiled.

"I-I get to go on the mission too?" Matt questioned.

"Well yeah, if you want to." I offered.

"But I'm not trained like you guys." Matt frowned. "I'll probably just slow you down."

"Matt, you don't have to do this if you don't want to." Nya said.

"Yeah, there are plenty of ways you can help other than fieldwork." Jay said.

"Really? Like what?" Matt asked.

"You can build vehicles to help them on their missions or get information about their opponents or all sorts of things." Nya said.

"Well, I always thought building vehicles looked like fun." Matt said.

"Well if you want to be a builder, then you'll have the best teacher." Kai said winking at Nya.

"Yeah, Nya used to build the best vehicles for us back in the day." Jay said. "They were awesome!"

"And I remember you two always wrecking them." Nya looked at Jay and Kai and they just shrugged. "But Matt, if you want to be a builder, then I would be happy to teach you."

"That is, if that's ok with you Ryder?" Matt looked at me.

"Sure, it wouldn't hurt to get us some wheels." I agreed.

"I guess I'll join Alex and Blake at the caves of despair." Lily offered. "To make the teams even, you know?"

"Good idea." I agreed with her.

"Wait Ryder, what am I going to do?" Ashley asked.

"You're going to stay here where it's safe." I told her.

"But I wanna help." She begged.

"I thought you didn't want to be a ninja anyway." I said.

"Having your own parents kidnapped kinda changes your mind." She snarked. "Now I want to help."

"Look, I don't know what they want, but whatever it is it has something to do with your power." I frowned. "If they get to you, then they win. They can get you do whatever they want you to and that includes pushing you past your limit. That could hurt you, or worse, and I can't let that happen."

"Or they'll lead me right to our parents." She said.

"That's really risky." Alex said.

"Too risky." I said looking at my sister.

"But Ryder, I..."

"No Ashley, I'm the leader and what I say goes. And I say you're not going on this mission. End of discussion."

My sister's eyes filled up with tears and she ran into the other room. I didn't want to make my sister cry, but it was for the best. She'll thank me for this one day, at least I hope so anyway.

"Alright, let's get to work." I said.

"But what about Ashley?" Trent frowned.

"I'd hate to do this, but we need to keep her and her power safe." I sighed. "We can't risk the VKA getting their hands on her."

"Someone should go make sure she's ok." My grandma said.

"I'll do it." My grandfather offered. "I didn't get to be there for her before, now I have a have a chance to make up for lost time."

My grandfather went into the other room to talk to Ashley. I hope I didn't upset her too much.

"Be careful out there." Nya hugged Jax and Lily.

"Mom, relax." Jax said. "We've trained for this."

"Yeah Mom, we've got this." Lily said.

"We know, but that doesn't mean we can't worry about you." Jay said pulling his kids into a hug. "Stay safe out there kiddos."

"Daaadddd." Both the twins groaned in embarrassment.

"Now Trent, be careful out there." Kai told him. "I don't want you get getting hurt."

"I will Dad." He rolled his eyes.

"Relax Dad, I'm going with him remember?" Amber said.

"And besides, now that I got that cool mech, nothing could stop me." Trent bragged.

"Why do I feel like I'm going to regret this." I heard Kai whisper under his breath.

"Don't worry Kai, he'll do fine." Nya said.

"Wait guys, there's one more thing." My grandma said.

She and my uncle Wu walked into the other room and came back with a box full of clothes. I soon realized what they were.

"You can't be a team without these." Wu pulled out one of the suits.

"New suits?" Amber questioned.

[A/N: Imagine the pilot suits, but smaller.]

Everyone was super excited about the uniforms. They actually looked really cool. They were our parents' colors with dragons on the front. Mine was green of course, Blake's was red, Allison's was black, Alex's was white, Jax's was blue, Lily's was maroon and light blue, and Amber's was a burnt orange with a maroon dragon on it, and even Matt got a yellow one with a green dragon on it. All that was left was a light purple suit at the bottom of the box.

"These are so awesome!" Blake exclaimed.

"Cool." Alex said.

"Nice." Amber said.

"Grandma, who is that suit for?" I asked her.

"It's for your sister." She answered. "I know you don't want her on the mission, but there's no harm in her wearing it, right?"

"I guess not." I agreed.

"Sorry Katie, we would have made one for you but we didn't know you be here." Grandma frowned.

"That's ok, I'm just happy to be here." Katie smiled.

We all went our own way and changed into our suits. We all met back up and got ready to go. I just hope I won't do too bad at my first time being a leader.

'I'll make you proud Dad, I promise.'