Using a flashlight from his backpack, Unagami illuminated the long, long stairway as they walked, passing ancient, unused mounts for torches on the walls.

“Jay, when I found you trapped in those thorns,” Unagami asked, “why hadn’t you used your lightning powers to free yourself?”

“I don’t have those powers anymore,” he admitted. “And while I’m not sure how much I miss them, I do know that I don’t feel complete without them.”

“Yeah,” Unagami replied. “I felt the same way until my dad and I figured some things out and started communicating better.”

“Well, I can’t communicate with powers, so it’s kind of different,” Jay pointed out.

“Maybe it’s not so different,” Unagami countered. “The chances of my father and I rebuilding our relationship were pretty slim. Just like you and I meeting on this island wasn’t very likely. But both things happened. And nothing is truly lost forever. For example, this city we are searching for…The tribe that lived there was long thought gone forever. And yet we are about to find them, in a way. My father always says, you should never give in to the darkness of despair when there’s still a flicker of possibility.”

Jay had to smile again. The kid had some good points, but he wasn’t about to admit it. “Aw, what do you know? You’re just a kid,” he said jokingly.

The stairs ended in a large, flat cave that Jay figured was some kind of meeting room, maybe to prepare for visits to the surface. A storage space had been carved into one wall, and it held wooden staffs that could be lit and used as torches. In another storage space, they found longer staffs: spears. A clear blue stream of water ran like a tiny river through the chamber from the slightest crack under one wall, branching into all the exits ahead of them.

“Cool,” Unagami noted. “They had their own water source, so all they had to gather was food!”

They explored the many caves that led away from this largest one and found what they thought must be living quarters, a community dining area, and even some kind of temple. But one long tunnel halted at a dead end: a stone wall covered top to bottom with etchings and carved spaces into which properly fitted pieces had been placed.

“I can’t make heads or tails of this,” Jay said.

“Early Ninjago language,” Unagami answered, studying them closely. “I think this is a kind of welcome mat. It was written just before the tribe left the island, for whatever reason.”

“They didn’t leave much behind,” Jay said, looking around. “That doesn’t help your game idea much.”

Unagami frowned. “It seems like there should be more to read about the tribe, but I don’t see where…” Then he noticed something at the bottom of the wall and waved Jay over. “Jay! Do you still have the rock that led us to the entrance?”

Jay handed the rock to Unagami, and watched him slide it into a carved-out space in the wall that was shaped just like a lightning bolt! The wall trembled, as the entrance had done on the surface, and then the entire wall swung ninety degrees from its middle. There was a hiss of escaping old air as Jay and Unagami looked into an even larger chamber. In this one, there were recesses that had been carved into all the walls, and they were filled with neatly rolled scrolls.

“The tribe’s library.” Unagami’s voice was almost a whisper.

“Way to go, Unagami!” Jay shouted, and the two of them, grinning, executed another chest bump. This time, they both participated. “This treasure-hunting stuff is cool! I can see why people make movies about it!”

“I’m glad you’re having fun,” Unagami said, almost shyly. “I’m glad we’re doing this together.”

“Me too, buddy,” Jay admitted.

“‘Buddy,’” Unagami repeated. “I like that. No one’s ever called me that before. I like it. It feels like something an older brother might say to a little brother.”

Jay smiled in response, and he and Unagami practically tiptoed into the chamber, as if overly concerned with damaging or disturbing anything. Jay watched as Unagami delicately plucked out a scroll, unrolled it, and read it. When he was finished, he rolled it back up and replaced it, then took another. He nodded, reading, and gestured around the room.

“It looks like these scrolls are grouped by subject,” Unagami said. “These have to do with food—how they found it, how they cooked it, and stuff like that. Some of the species they hunted for food have been extinct for a long time! These scrolls are thousands of years old!”

“Amazing,” Jay said with awe.

Unagami hurried to another collection of scrolls and opened one.

“These explain how the tribe raised children,” he said. “This is really interesting!”

“How so?”

“Every child born into the tribe was raised by the whole tribe, not just their mom and dad. Everyone shared equally in teaching the child and giving them all the things any parent could: care, love, education, protection, encouragement, discipline, and acceptance.”

Unagami looked up sadly.

“I never had anyone to teach me those things or show them to me when I first became self-aware,” he continued. “No wonder I was so unhappy!” His expression brightened. “It’s a good thing that now my dad gives me all those things!”

Jay frowned when he felt himself realizing something.

“Wait…I had all those things when I was growing up. The parents who adopted me, Master Wu, the other ninja, all the friends I’ve made over the years…They did all the things for me that biological parents would have.” He felt something in his chest loosening, a weight coming off his shoulders.

“And it is logical to believe you have given back to them the same things,” Unagami said gently.

“Because ninja sharpens ninja,” Jay went on, starting to smile. “My real mom must have known when she and my dad gave me to the Walkers that they’d make sure I’d always have people around me who would help me, guide me, and teach me. Powerless or not, they’d make sure I’d never be alone if I needed help!”

Even as he said it, he could feel warmth bloom in his chest and spread throughout his body. Then he felt a powerful jolt of energy spring from his chest and out to his hands. He looked at them in wonder. They were sparking! He could feel the hair on the back of his neck and on his arms stand up. It was a familiar feeling, and his heart began to race. He felt stronger and more alive than he’d felt in weeks. Jay felt himself smiling, and Unagami was looking at him and smiling, too.

“Jay? Is something happening?”

“I think so,” Jay answered, with a hint of laughter in his voice. “I think—”

Suddenly, Unagami’s flashlight went out, plunging the cavern into darkness!

“It’s just the batteries,” he assured Jay. “I’ll find some more in my backpack….”

“Don’t worry about it, buddy,” Unagami heard Jay say. Then the cavern was brilliantly lit by crackling, sizzling energy from Jay’s hands! “Like I was about to say, I think my Elemental Power is back…I’m the Master of Lightning again…in full force!”

But before they could celebrate, a loud rumbling cut him off, and the entire cavern started to shake violently!

“And that sounds like an earthquake,” Unagami shouted above the noise, “and it’s building to its full force!”