Return of an Old Foe

Flintlocke and Dogshank

Disclaimer: I don't own Ninjago, just the story.

The next couple of days were hard for Flintlocke.  He had to try to act normal around Nadakhan to not look suspicious, but it was harder said than done.  He was lucky that Nadakhan hadn't caught onto anything.  He was trying to act like everything was normal, but he did manage to convince Nadakhan to go through with a couple of ideas he had for torturing Jay.  Although, knowing Nadakhan, those ideas haven't been forgotten, just postponed.  The djinn will do it eventually which is why he had to help the ninja save their friend fast.  He has been trying to make sure that the blue ninja hasn't been getting any more serious injuries.  During the last Scrap 'n' Tap, Flintlocke tapped in and whispered to the blue ninja to make it look like he was putting up a fight.  Flintlocke went easy on him and tried to stay in with the blue ninja as long as he could while making it look convincing.  He figured that the least he could do for the other ninja.

There was one thing though that he knows he will have to do eventually that he wasn't looking forward to.

"Flintlocke, we need to talk."

There it is.  The pirate turned around to see Dogshank.  He had promised that he would explain why he talked to the prisoner and snuck out a couple nights ago.  He had been postponing that because he wasn't sure how she would react or if she would believe him.  "I know," he sighed.  "But we need to go somewhere more private."

Dogshank nodded and allowed Flintlocke to lead her to an area where they could talk without anyone else on the ship hearing them.  "Explain," Dogshank said simply.  She wants the full explanation.  Flintlocke has always been the most loyal to Nadakhan and the way he was sneaking around and didn't want Nadakhan to know where he was going wasn't like him.  Something is going on and Flintlocke had promised her that he would explain it to her, but he's been avoiding her.  She trusts Flintlocke, more than she trusts Nadakhan at times.  Dogshank has to admit that Nadakhan has done some things that have been pretty shady, but Flintlocke has kept him from going too far.  He can be like the djinn's conscience at times.  Nobody can fully stop Nadakhan when he really wants to do something, but the marksman knows how to delay him at least from doing something really awful.  She doesn't want him to keep her in the dark, especially if it's something important.

"Look, there's something going on," Flintlocke starts.  "Please wait until I finish before you start asking questions."  Dogshank nods.  Flintlocke feels like he can trust her.  He knows that she can be more loyal to him than Nadakhan.  Some of the things that Nadakhan has done, she has questioned if it was the right thing to do, so Flintlocke feels like there's a chance Dogshank could be on his side (and some extra muscle might be helpful).  "Nadakhan hasn't been telling us the full truth.  He didn't tell us the real reason he wanted the blue ninja.  I found out that there was some alternate timeline that only three people really remember: the blue ninja, his girlfriend, the water ninja, and Nadakhan.  The ninja and Nadakhan had fought before.  He wanted to marry the water ninja to get infinite wishes and the blue ninja defeated him.  In that timeline, the two of us also switched sides.  The blue ninja's last wish reversed time, so that everything didn't happen from that timeline and we have no memory of it.  Nadakhan has worse intentions than he ever told us about.  Right now, he's focused on getting revenge on the blue ninja, but I don't think he's going to keep the prisoner alive for much longer.  My fear is what he'll move onto after."

"You think he'll go after the water ninja and get infinite wishes again?" Doshank asked.

Flintlocke nodded.  "I think he will.  I understand that we're pirates and a lot of stuff we do is kind of in the grey area, but think of all the stuff he will be able to do if he gets infinite wishes and, on top of that, how expendable we are."

"I trust you Flintlocke," Dogshank said sincerely.  "I trust you more than I trust Nadakhan.  You have always been more honest than him, but the two of us can't do anything against him by ourselves."

"I know.  That's why I snuck out the other night.  I talked to the other ninja.  Tonight, I'm going to sneak out again to get them and sneak them back here to help them save the blue ninja.  I could probably use your help."

"Whatever you need," Dogshank said.  "I'll help in any way I can."

"I need you to help make sure Nadakhan doesn't find out what I'm doing.  I'm going to try to sneak out after he goes to sleep, but in case he wakes up, I need you to make sure he doesn't find out I'm gone."

Dogshank nodded.  "Ok.  I can do that."

"Thank you, Dogshank."

"Of course.  I knew Nadakhan was up to something anyways."

"I'll leave when it gets dark and everyone has gone to bed."

A few hours later and everyone had finally gone to bed or passed out if they got drunk enough which happens a lot with pirates.

Flintlocke managed to slip out with the only person noticing being Dogshank.  Now, she had to make sure that Nadakhan didn't know Flintlocke was gone.  She went to go check on the blue ninja.  During those few hours, Nadakhan had everyone gather for yet another round of Scrap 'n' Tap.  Flintlocke told Dogshank about what he did before and the marksman tapped in to do what he did before to try to help the blue ninja not get hurt as bad.  Dogshank tapped in after and followed Flintlocke's lead.  She had secretly felt bad for the blue ninja before Flintlocke had told her about the alternate timeline, but didn't say anything about it.  In a way, she felt like what they were doing to him was wrong.  She walked over to his cage and looked at him while he was sleeping.  His breaths were coming out slow and shallow.  It worries her a bit.  Knowing everything they did to him under false pretenses is making her feel incredibly guilty.  "Hang on a little bit longer, your friends are on their way."

A/N: Sorry this update took so long.  Hope you enjoyed!