Skybound: Charlie's Story

Public Enemy Number One

Charlie pulled her hat lower, shielding her eyes from the curious onlookers at the bar. After splitting off from the other Ninja, the Master of Darkness found herself running through alleys and shrouding herself in Darkness.

She sat at the bar, contemplating her current situation. There was just so much to think about, all of it scrambling her brain into mush.

She needed to compartmentalize and take it one thing at a time. Charlie hummed as she tapped her fingers against the wooden bar. The barkeep walked over to her.

"Another water?" He asked.

"Yeah," Charlie kept her gaze low. "That'll do."

The bartender poured her another glass of the cool refreshment. The ice cubes floated into each other, creating a light condensation on the glass. Charlie took a sip of her drink as she mulled over the many events that had happened in the past 24 hours.

They were supposed to be finding the ghost of Clouse in Stiix, but he was gone.

After they searched for him they learned that the Ninja were on the news for committing various crimes.

But they were in Stiix when the report came in. Someone was framing them, but who?

Charlie furrowed her brow, frowning at her water. Something didn't add up. Who was framing them? Clouse's image jumped to the front of her mind. Had he framed them while they were searching for him?

A buzz in her pocket brought the Purple Ninja out of her thoughts. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and a notification from Chirp.

She rolled her mismatched eyes when she saw what the notification was about. Kai, of course, had sent out a Chirp. But this wasn't the normal hair post or Fire thing. It was a riddle.

A place of peace, a place to fight, a brotherhood born one fateful night

"Huh." Charlie hummed in thought. Maybe she should give her old home a visit.

~~~~~

The wind whipped against Charlie's face as she flew her Darkness Dragon. She had changed into her Airjitzu gi before she took off. The fabric was thick, yet lightweight, allowing her to move freely and stay warm.

The ruins of the Monastery of Spinjitzu came into view, along with the glow from 5 other dragons.

Charlie flew in low and landed hers just as Jay showed up, making their team complete.

"Seriously?" The Blue Ninja complained. "I was the last one to figure out it was Wu's old Monastery? And Lloyd wasn't even trained here."

Cole walked up to Charlie, taking her hand. "Hey."

The Master of Darkness gave him a soft smile. "Hey."

"It'll only be a matter of time before they find this place too," Lloyd said. "So there isn't much time. Zane, show them what you found."

"I came across the security footage of Sensei at the library of Domu." The Titanium Ninja said as he projected the footage on to a wall. "He was not alone."

On the projection, their Sensei sat reading, until suddenly he glanced around.

"Hey, look. It's Wu." Said Cole.

Suddenly, Wu disappeared off screen. Charlie furrowed her brow. "What happened? Who was he looking at?"

"We don't know," Cole told her. "But no one's seen him since."

Zane blinked and the projection changed to an image of a book with an ancient symbol. "The library database indicated he had checked out a book about the Teapot of Tyrahn. We originally thought we may be dealing with Clouse. If this is what I think it is, it appears to be far worse. We may have a djinn on our hands."