This chapter is short and it's not my best work, but enjoy it anyway. Also this should clear up where the other villain kids are and what they've been up to. Enjoy! 😉

Maizy's P.O.V.:

I arrived at the temple and went inside. I knew I would have to explain to the alliance why I didn't have Ryder with me, because I promised I would have him.

I set in the room next to my friend Zera. She noticed the bruises all over my face and that I was upset.

"What's up with you?" She asked.

"I'm fine, just fell off my scooter on my way over here." I lied. "Nothing to worry about."

"Says the forcefield girl." She crossed her arms. "Come on, what really happened?"

I looked away from her. She knew what had happened to me.

"Your dad again?" She guessed.

"Yeah." I sighed. "I'll tell you about it later."

"At least your father knows you exist." A girl sitting across from us said.

I've seen this girl here before. She had a long black ponytail and seemed pretty closed off. She had the elemental power of dark magic and was the granddaughter of Clouse. I think her name was Lena.

"Oh so you can talk." Zera said tauntingly.

"Watch your mouth time freak!" Lena yelled. "I'm not someone you wanna mess with."

"Well wizard girl, I'm not either." Zera taunted again.

"Come on girls, knock it off." Marcus said walking into the room, Seth right behind him. "I started the Villain Kid Alliance to cause trouble outside it, not within it."

"You started it? It was my idea!" Seth yelled at Marcus.

"No it wasn't."

"Yes it was!"

"Oh well look who's arguing now?" Zera snarked.

As soon as she said that everybody was arguing all around the room about their own thing. Even I started to defend Zera against Lena's nasty comments.

All of our arguments came to a halt as someone came through the door and shot an icicle at the middle of the room. It left a lair of frozen ice around the coffee table.

"That's better." The person walked up to us. "All your arguing was bothering my auditory sensors."

"Sorry Axel." Seth said to the nindroid.

"Whatever, let's get this over with." Axel set down with the rest of us. "I have more networks to hack into."

"Yes yes, we all know how busy you are." Marcus rolled her eyes. "And I see you have your powers now."

"Stealing them from Borg industries was child's play once I got that nindroid boy's data." Axel said. "Borg should get better security."

"Good, then we're on the right track." Seth said. "Those junior ninja won't know what hit him."

"Speaking of junior ninja, wasn't someone supposed to bring one?" Marcus asked.

"I had a spell to trap three of them in the woods, but then a stupid boy startled me in the forest." Lena said frustratedly. "It got him instead."

"Did he see you?" Marcus asked her.

"Yes, but trust me he doesn't remember a thing." She answered.

"Good, we cannot risk our cover being blown." Axel said.

"Maizy what about you?" Seth turned to me.

"Things are going exactly to plan." I said. "I just need a little more time."

"Exactly to plan?" Lena said. "Last time I checked you saved his life."

"I had to do that to gain his trust." I told them.

"And I suppose that's the reason you let him go yesterday in the temple?" Lena added.

"I'll have you know, before I let him go I put a tracking device on him. That way he can lead us right to his friends and once we know where all of them are, we can take them out one by one. And the best part is I have him wrapped around my finger."

"And after all that he still trusts you?" Zera laughed and gently punched me on the shoulder. "Clever. Great job Maiz."

"Y-yeah, right." I said awkwardly.

I didn't like lying to them. The only reason I placed that tracking device on Ryder was because my father made me. He was still mad at me for letting him go, but I had to. What my father was planning to do to him was horrible, and what happened to my aunt wasn't his fault. Besides I needed him for my own plan, but I needed him to stay close with me just a little longer.

"So what's our next plan of attack?" Seth asked.

"Well one thing's for sure, we need a new plan and I know just where to start." Marcus said.

Lloyd's P.O.V.:

After everything that happened the other night, I needed someone to talk to. So I went to bed and talked to my father in the dreamscape.

"What's bothering you this time son?" My father asked.

"It's Ryder." I sighed. "Right after I got done talking with you last night he ran away with that Maizy girl and almost got himself killed, again."

"And you feel responsible for his mistakes, don't you?"

"In a way yes." I grew frustrated. "I told him a thousand times to watch out for this girl and he still didn't listen to me. What else am I supposed to do?"

"You've done all you can." My father said. "What was that your uncle always said?"

"I cannot teach those who will not listen. I remember." I sighed. "I tried doing what you said and letting him figure it out on his own, but that just made everything worse."

"He's a teenager son. They are one of the most uncontrollable beings in the universe."

"Yeah, I figured that out quick." I rolled my eyes. "I don't know what I can do to get him to listen to me. I'm so sick of him running away from home and on top of that he keeps getting hurt."

"He got hurt again?" Dad asked.

"Yeah, he got all banged up and broke his arm, but Kira said he's gonna be fine. I thought after last time he'd know better." I grunted. "Is it me? Am I doing something wrong?"

"Lloyd I..."

"I've never been this mad at him before, but he's my son. I don't want him to hate me."

"Lloyd?"

"I just wanna keep him safe you know? I feel like I..."

"Lloyd, you're spiraling again!" My dad stopped me.

"Oh was I?" I took a deep breath. "I'm sorry I just got caught up in the moment is all."

"Children make mistakes, but parents make just as many." He sighed. "I should know."

"Dad, that was a long time ago. I told you I forgive you." I said. "Look I gotta go. Thanks for the talk."

"You're welcome."

I woke up in my bedroom and Kira was still asleep. I tried to fall asleep too but I had too much on my mind.

I decided to go downstairs and grab a snack and I ran into Ashley. Which was strange because it was past her bedtime.

"Hey sunshine, what are you doing out of bed?" I asked.

"Well Daddy I... I missed you." I saw a tear roll down her face. "You and Mom never hang out with me anymore."

I felt so bad. I guess we had been so focused on Ryder that we weren't paying any attention to Ashley.

"Awe Ashley, I'm so sorry." I gave her a hug. "I know we've been busy with Ryder lately, but that's no excuse. We should've been paying more attention to you."

"It's ok Daddy, you just like Ryder better than me." She frowned.

"No sunshine, that's not it at all." I said. "I promise tomorrow we'll do something fun, but right now let's get you back into bed."

"But I'm not... tired." She yawned.

"I beg to differ." I giggled. "Why don't I make you a warm glass of milk and I'll be up to read to you in a minute ok?"

"Ok." She yawned again.

I gave her a glass of milk and sent her back to her bedroom. Before I went up to read to her I had to check on Ryder and make sure Ashley wasn't just trying to distract me so he could run away again. I didn't want to say that I didn't trust him, but I had to be sure he didn't run away.

I peaked into his bedroom and walked in on him reading a book.

"Hey bud." I whispered. "How's your arm feeling?"

"It's fine now Dad." He rolled his eyes and continued to read.

"Ok well that's the last chapter for tonight. You need your rest." I told him.

"Alright fine." He agreed.

"And Ryder," I sighed. "You know I'm just trying to keep you safe, right?"

"I know Dad. I'm sorry for making you worry."

"And..."

"And I'm sorry for running away."

"And..."

"And I'm never going to do it again. I've learned my lesson." Ryder sighed. "I just thought she was different."

"It happens to everyone, especially in our family." I sat down next to him on the bed and he put his book on his nightstand. "Look bud, I know what it's like to be betrayed, and it feels horrible. That's what I was trying to protect you from, and I understand that I may have gone a tiny bit overboard, but I only did it to keep you from getting hurt."

"I know." He sighed. "Thanks for looking out for me Dad."

"I always will." I smiled. "Good night bud, I love you."

"I love you too Dad." He smiled and hugged me.

"Do you need anything before you go to sleep?" I asked.

"No thanks, I'm good." He said. "Good night."

"Night bud."

I walked out the door with a smile on my face. It was so nice to have a conversation with my son where we weren't yelling at each other.

Then I went to Ashley's room to read to her like I promised. Three pages into the book she fell asleep on my lap so I tucked her into bed.

"Good night sweetheart." I whispered and gave her a kiss on her forehead.

I left her room and went back into my bedroom. Now that I made things right with Ryder I could finally get myself to fall asleep.

The next morning...

I woke up late and Kira had already gotten up. So I got dressed went to the living room. Ryder was sitting on the couch and Ashley was about to use her powers to fix his broken arm. Kira and my mother were with them too.

"Ashley, you don't have to do this if you don't want to." Ryder said to her. "It'll heal on its own."

"No Ryder, I want to help." She begged.

"Ok, but if it gets too much for you, you can stop." Kira said. "I don't want you to over do it."

"I'll do what I can." Ashley nodded.

Ashley took a deep breath, pulled up her sleeves and looked at Ryder's arm. Her hands started to glow a whitish-blue color and his arm started healing. When she was done she looked exhausted and I ran down stairs caught her before she fell backwards into my arms.

"Ashley, are you ok?" I asked her.

"Y-yeah Daddy." She huffed. "Thanks."

"How's your arm sweetie?" Kira asked Ryder.

"It feels a lot better now." Ryder smiled and moved his arm up and down. He was obviously feeling better. "Thanks sis, again."

"Ashley dear, are you sure you're alright?" Kira asked her.

"Yeah, all that matters is that Ryder's better." She said as she caught her breath. She was still leaning on me for balance and holding her head a little.

"Take it easy sunshine." I set her down on the couch. "Does your head hurt?"

"No, I'm just dizzy." She said.

"You should really be more careful Ryder." My mother said to him. "We were all so worried about you last night."

"I know grandma. I'll try." He said. Then he turned to Ashley. "Sorry I keep making you do this Ash."

"You're not making me do anything." She told him. "I'm happy to do it."

"I'll go make you both some healing tea." My mother said walking into the kitchen.

"Thanks Grandma." They both said.

"Here Mom, I'll help." I said as I followed my mother into the kitchen.

I had been so busy with the kids lately that I hadn't gotten the chance to talk to my mother in a while. I knew that she was worried about everything that had been going on lately, so I wanted to clear things up.

"Hey Mom, thanks for watching Ashley yesterday." I told her. "It really helped us out a lot."

"Of course, anytime." She smiled and continued making the tea. "I'm just glad you and Kira got Ryder home safe."

"Yeah me too. It was a really close call this time." I sighed.

"Is there something on your mind son?"

"It's just that lately I can't get him to listen to me. I feel like we patched things up last night, but the second he's done being grounded I feel like he's gonna go right back to sneaking out again."

"Don't you trust him?"

"I want to, but I don't know anymore. That Maizy girl we told you about is really messing with my head." I sighed. "First She saves him, then kidnaps him, then saves him again. It doesn't make any sense, and yet Ryder still trusts her. I know there's something bigger going on here, but I'm not sure what. Do you think I'm crazy or am I just being paranoid?"

"What you are is a good dad that's concerned for his son, and that's exactly what you're supposed to be." She smiled and put her hand on my shoulder. "Relax, you're doing just fine."

"I just wanna keep him safe, and I feel like I'm failing at that. And last night Ashley assumed Ryder was our favorite because we weren't spending enough time with her. Then I realized she's right about that last part."

"Well that's easy to fix, just make some time for her."

"I want to, but I'm afraid to take my eyes off Ryder." I admitted. "I know I'm being overprotective but I don't want him running away again."

"You're reading too much into this son. I'm sure Ryder's learned his lesson by now."

"I hope so." I sighed. "Thanks Mom."

"Of course." She smiled.

She gave me a hug. Then we finished the kids' tea went back into the living room.

"Here you go kids." My mother said handing them their tea.

"Thanks Grandma." They both said.

"Are you guys feeling any better?" I asked.

"Yeah Daddy I'm fine." Ashley said.

"It feels better, but to be honest my arm is still a little sore." Ryder said.

"Do you need me to heal it again?" Ashley asked him.

"No Ashley, get some rest. You've done enough." Ryder said. "Besides it feels a lot better than before."

"We're glad you're ok bud." Kira smiled.

Then I got a text from Kai.

———{{{Lloyd's Phone}}}———

Kai: Lloyd, I think
we got something.

Lloyd: What?

K: About the fire at the
bank. Blake and I think
we found a lead.

L: That's great!
Who was it?

K: I think you wanna see
for this yourself. Can you
and Ryder meet us at the
bank?

L: I don't know, Ryder's
grounded and Ashley's
been feeling left out lately.
It's just not a good time.

K: Sorry but I you need
to see this. It could
put our kids in danger.

L: Alright, if it's that
urgent we'll be there. 😩

K: Sorry Lloyd. If you want
I can bring Trent so he and
Ashley could play together?

L: Thanks but I don't want
them getting into trouble.
I'll be over there with Ryder.

K: See you there.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I put my phone away and looked back at my family.

"How's your arm now Ryder?" I asked.

"It's pretty much good as new." He replied.

"Great, now go get dressed. Blake and Kai said that they might have a lead on the bank robbery and want us to check it out." I told him.

"I thought I was grounded." He snarked.

"Don't get any ideas young man, I'm only allowing this because I want to find out who it was and I'm going with you so I can keep an eye on you." I warned.

"Whatever works." He agreed and walked upstairs to get dressed.

"Can I go too?" Ashley asked.

"Sorry sweetie, I don't want you to get into trouble." I said.

"Awe man!" She pouted.

"Don't worry sunshine, once the boys leave we'll all have a fun girl's day." Kira said. "How's that sound?"

"Ok." She agreed excitedly. She got up and hugged me. "Bye Daddy, I love you."

"I love you too sunshine." I smiled and hugged her. "Have fun with your mom and grandma today."

"Thanks." She said.

Ryder came back downstairs fully dressed and we started flying to the bank on my dragon. I just really hope I could find out did this to my son.