After confirming that it was the Sons of Garmadon who started the fire and killed the emperor and empress, the ninja had to find out what they wanted, where was their headquarters, who was in charge and probably some other stuff!

"I think I saw them at Laughy's. That's where they might be hiding." Liv brought up casually. Needless to say it raised some suspicion, as 'Laughy's' was known for its bad name. Mainly because it was a good place for criminals to hang out around.

"I'm sorry, why were you at Laughy's?" Sky asked, raising a brow. Laughy's was known to be a hideout for many criminal gangs.
"Oh, the owner is a funny guy and since he knows Uncle Nix he gives us discounts. I think his name is Dargett, or something like this..." Liv answered, like she was going there every tuesday. And she wasn't. She was visiting the place mainly on fridays and wednesdays. She couldn't possibly be there on tuesday since it was the 'Scheming Day', as Antonia called their heist meetings.

"Okay, so we need someone to investigate it. Someone on the inside." Cole announced.
"I will go." Prince Nick isn't who he had in mind. Definitely. "I know you just want to punch the person who did it to our parents, but please, allow me." Harumi spoke up, volunteering for the mission. Wow. The Jade siblings really wanted to take revenge, huh.

"No, your highness. We can't let anything happen to you. It should be someone skilled, who can blend in. Like Zane." Despite the empathy and care in her voice, Liv felt that something was off with the way Sky spoke those words. Like she didn't trust the princess. Not only with the mission. Which was odd. Sky was usually the first person to make friends with people.

-

Soon after that Zane was sent on a mission to join the gang. After a few hours he came back to the Temple with the information that the one in charge of most things is called 'the Quiet One'.

It didn't surprise Sky. But, truly, how could anything surprise her at that point? She already knew the big twist, and so ensured that Lloyd wasn't getting close to Harumi in any way.

"Hi, how's Leo doin'?" Nick entered the room with a smile. He just finished playing 'Starfarer: the Galactic Adventure' with Lloyd. It was becoming their little habit to beat a few levels every day. He was a nice addition to the group, and a bit of normalcy for Sky.

His habit of starting small talk made it easier to make friends with, despite no method of inveigling him into friendship whatsoever. He was probably the first person in the past four years she didn't have to make a plan of befriending for.

"Good. Thanks for asking." She smiled. She liked that he cared, even without her manipulation directions. "I think he might've lost his sword somewhere, though."

"This one?" He asked, taking the small ōdachi out of his pocket, and giving it to Sky, who smiled kindly in response and nodded. "I still can't believe it. Your turtle has a small weapon. How cool is that?" He chuckled. Oh Sky knew. Liv too. Well, her ankles knew.

Leo was a one attention-seeking turtle. And he knew a way to get what he wanted. Stabbing.

"Would you give him any other weapon? If you could?" Nick asked, smiling. His smile was something he was just giving Sky. She didn't have to get it out of him by herself. So she smiled too. "Well, you know... I could give him dual katanas..." Nick raised a brow at her, clearly expecting something more.

So something more she delivered. "Maybe tonfas or sai's, but only if he was an alligator snapping turtle. Or Kusari-fundo, or maybe nunchaku if he was an ornate box turtle. Maybe even a bō staff. But, you know, bō staff is only for spiny softshells. And only nonbinary ones." Sky nodded, like she was the expert on the topic of weapons for turtles. Well, she kinda was.

"Uncharted are the ways of your mind." Nick chuckled again. His giggle was perfect. He must've been training it for quite some time as a prince. It was flawless. Not even one sound was off. It had an appreciative underline, with a bit of generosity and kindness on the side. How many times was he obligated to use it?

Oh, wait, she had to respond.

"Why thank you." Sky puffed her chest and rested her right hand on it, lifting the left shoulder, turning her head in it's direction in a proud manner. Despite being so automatic, her response was still genuine. A bit exaggerated, of course, but still honest.

One actor stumbles upon another actor. How intriguing.

That's another thing she liked about the raven haired boy. He was raised to be perfect. To get every little detail right, and yet he was still very expressive and energetic, even if that meant being a bit wild and leaving the tradition behind. Sky, as a bit of an actor (and a shapeshifter) herself, could see and hear it. The way his voice never cracked, even while breaking into a laugh.

He knew when to stay serious, when to be playful, and when to show appreciation by giggling or laughing at someone's joke. He clearly had total control over his behaviour, and didn't hesitate to use it.

"Oh, yeah. She's always like that. You'll get used to it." Oh, and there was also Mei, who had just entered the room to comment on Nick's face. She wasn't an actor, but it wasn't a flaw. She was always true, real. She always showed everyone around what she thought and how she felt.

She acted upon emotions and was a wild force. She was always proud, sometimes disrespectful, but who cares. She never laughed to show appreciation, but always if something was actually funny. She smiled truthfully. Her smile was not flawless most of the time, but real. On every occasion.

She was genuine because she just was like that, not because she was choosing to act that way. She always tried to have fun and never hid it. Never repressed it.

Mei also had many hobbies. She could do almost anything and randomly picked up on one of her passions, always leaving a mess behind.

Sometimes, when she was smiling for too long, or embarrassed, which she almost never was, a bit of pink would lightly dust her cheeks. She then looked even better than normally. Magical almost.

"Come on, she has to apply her aloe lotion on the burns." And there was also Zane, who barged into the room, interrupting the nice conversation.

He was holding a box with her burn cream in hand and wearing a frown on his face. He was quick to chase the two out of the room and pass the lotion to Sky. To quickly walk out himself.

-

The next few days she spent on laying in bed, or doing chores around the temple, while the rest of the team was out in the field on missions.

She wasn't particularly dipleased as long as she got to be their girl in headquarters.

And it's not like she was alone. With Wu in the walls you can never be truly alone the Jade siblings were keeping her company either playing scrabble, playing on their phones, trying to cook dinner or just screwing around the temple.

"Hey, who the heck was that old guy? I've never seen him before." Nick asked, jokingly concerned, walking into the room, where Sky was right now watching you tube on her laptop. As soon as she heard it, she sprang to her feet, jumping towards, now startled, boy. "You saw master Wu? Did he offer you anything?!" Nick, taken aback, responded slowly. "Eh, yes? Why?".

Sky realized that she had probably spooked him, and so took a few steps back. "What did you choose? The weapon I mean." She asked curiously, observing as the boy's face shifted now towards wonder instead of confusion and nervousness. "Guan dao. He offered me Guan dao, naginata, a spear and a pair of kunai." He started enlisting.

"Oh my god, a fellow Guan dao enjoyer. I mean, it's thousand times better than a naginata, right?" Sky felt a rush of enthusiasm in her veins, as she smiled. "Yeah, naginata is so simple and boring. Unlike the classy Guan dao." Nick shared her low-key hatred of the japanese weapon. Another reason why she liked him.

"But really, what's up with this guy?" He questioned again. Ah, right. Wu. "He is the ninja master in our team. No one has actually seen him in a long time, except for sightings like yours. Once in a while he picks out a new member to join our ninja forces and then disappears again. I don't know where. He probably lives in the walls or something." Nick chuckled at the last part of Sky's statement.

-

Throughout the next days the ninja in white was trying to climb the ladder of hierarchy in the SoG. And it all paid off, when it finally came. The night Zane returned home with important information. He has met the one in charge. The quiet one.

"He was a nindroid. They say his vocal module has been badly damaged, and that's why he can't speak. He communicates using sign language." That was very good and useful information. If they could get visuals, the team would know what he's saying.

-

Using this technique they spied on him for next weeks.

Soon the ninja discovered that he was, in fact, not highest in hierarchy. There was another person. Someone who was really in charge this whole time.

And Sky thought she just knew who that person was. So she began discreetly excluding Harumi from the team meetings, which wasn't particularly easy, given that the jade siblings were quite literally on house arrest now.

At least she had an excuse in the form of Nick's ninja initiation. (A few lines along "Oh, it's a ninja meeting" were enough.)

Despite being the Jade Prince, the boy preferred the color red over green. That's why his ninja suit he had was crimson, and the name Ruby Ninja just stuck to him.

When his 'training' began he already knew almost everything. He was either a natural or a martial arts enthusiast. Sky personally thought him to be the latter. His moves were precise, confident and flawless, much like his whole character. But there was also something familiar in them. Something bad.

Sky couldn't quite put her finger on it. Maybe his overly steady footwork, maybe his automatic movements, maybe the volume at which he spoke during sparring, almost shouting. And maybe it was every one of these things combined.

He was very skilled with his chosen weapon, but also had a tendency to steal opponent's weapons during combat and use them as his own.

Sky wasn't going to question how in the world he seemed to master almost every weapon she knew. And it was a lot.

His set of skills might've been impressive, but it quickly became apparent that the guy had very little creativity. If he lost his weapon during the fight, and didn't have any other available he was quickly turning to his own body. He never tried using anything else to protect himself, unlike many of the team's members, who were known for their creativity (such as Lloyd or Jay) and were able to fight with sticks, pipes, brooms, kitchen utensils and even fruits of bubblegum.

-

Next months were spent on Zane gaining the trust of Sons of Garmadon and becoming the Quiet One's right hand. It did cost a lot, but was it worth it? Well, it's either cause a bit of ruckus or potentially the whole city getting destroyed by FSM knows what power.

-

Sky thought she knew a lot about this world. But it turns out not as much as to be mentally prepared for the news that higher than the Quiet One was the Dragon Slayer.

Since when did he have time to play around making up random biker gangs, without a license? Because it turns out that Garmadon never allowed them to use his name in the name.

Plus he didn't seem like the type to take orders from anyone, much less Harumi. Why would he be in all this? What gain did he have? Well, don't answer that. Three artifacts to grant a mortal powers of Oni, aka natural enemies of dragons? Of course he wanted the masks.

All the guy wanted was apparently Dragon Warrior's death. And he wanted it so much he put himself into a system that he would surely consider disgusting to get that. He wasn't playing around no more.

-

The next big news Zane brought home was that the SoG were planning to send a unit of around 20 members out into the wild jungles of the Primeval's Eye.

It was obvious that the third mask was somewhere there, in the wilderness of the giant rainforest. So now, what the ninja had to do was to venture there out themselves and find the mask before the SoG.