I own nothing but the story.


"Cole, I've been sent to stop you."

The black haired teen looked up from over a bowl of unidentifiable sludge, "What?"

Zane stepped into the kitchen, trying not to inhale the funky smell that radiated from the copper pot Cole stood over. "The others," he said, "They've sent me to stop you from cooking tonight."

"What?" said Cole, "Why?"

Not one to hold too many punches, Zane replied, "They do not want to eat it."

Cole placed the spoon down on a nearby towel, his jaw dropping in indignation, "They don't?"

"No Cole, and I'm sorry, but I agree with them," wincing, Zane stepped closer to the mysterious substance, "I still have fudge stuck on my teeth from the last time you made dessert."

"That was a simple mistake in ingredient measurements, I won't make it again."

"Jay still won't go near pineapple ever since you made that cake thing."

"I was just trying to spice things up a bit! The recipe was so boring."

"That's the problem," Zane leaned against the counter, "Every time you try to 'spice things up,' Kai ends up spending the rest of the evening on the toilet."

"Well Kai is Kai," said Cole, smiling as he began to stir, "I don't know how he can be the ninja of fire and not handle a few peppers."

Zane chuckled, "True," he said, "But that isn't the point. They want you to stop cooking. They've voted to eradicate your night of cooking in favor of takeout."

Cole continued to stir.

"They are probably arguing over restaurants as we speak," Zane added.

"Is Sensei okay with this?" Cole asked, reaching for the sea salt.

Zane shrugged, "Only if you are. That is why they sent me. They thought I might convince you."

Cole halted his movements, "Do you want me to stop cooking?"

That got Zane thinking. His friend enjoyed cooking. A lot. He didn't want to keep his friend from doing something he liked, but on the other hand, some of the bizarre combinations of food did often leave him hugging the toilet bowl.

Eventually, he sighed, "No."

Cole raised an eyebrow.

"I want you to continue cooking," said Zane, "but could you...experiment...a little less?"

That earned a rueful smile, "Sorry," he replied, "My mom used to change the recipes when she cooked; her stuff always turned out amazing. As a matter of fact," he gestured down to the copper pot, "This is one of her old recipes."

"Oh yeah?" Zane moved around the counter and stood beside Cole, "May I ask what it is?"

By the way it was looking right now, Zane wasn't sure he wanted to know what it was. Inside the pot was a nasty, bubbly, black sludge that clumped together in the middle like slime rather than anything anyone was supposed to eat. It smelled of mixed fruits and toe fungus, and just looking at it made Zane's stomach turn. The answer Cole gave certainly didn't help to ease it:

"It's black now," he said, "That means it was purple once."

Zane raised his eyes to meet Cole's.

"It tastes a lot better than it sounds..."

"How about," Zane said, "We let you cook, but I get to supervise you the whole time. That way, we can prevent any bad decisions."

Cole opened his mouth to speak, closed it, and shrugged, "Fair enough," he said.

With that, Cole continued to work on the ninja's dinner while Zane sat at the counter and watched. Though he intended to be critical, Zane soon found himself to be more fascinated than worried about what concoction Cole was brewing today. At one point, Cole was in the middle of making several sticks of garlic bread, a favorite among the ninja, and Zane was about to comment on how normal the recipe seemed until Cole reached for the powdered sugar.

Befuddled into silence, Zane stared as Cole sprinkled a layer on top of each roll of dough before sliding the tray into the oven.

When the ninja of earth turned to meet Zane's confused stare, he said, "The sugar adds a bit of sweetness the garlic bread doesn't have."

Zane raised his eyebrows, "Are you sure?"

Cole shrugged, "I think so. It worked for toasted marshmallows and cheddar cheese."

Zane blinked. Shook his head. Blinked again. "Where do you come up with these ideas?!"

Cole's laughter rang through the air, but Zane didn't get his answer. For the next thirty minutes, Zane watched, swinging his legs underneath the counter and occasionally adding a few comments to help steer dinner towards the edible end of the food spectrum. Eventually, Cole finished with an impressive meal that Zane was fairly certain the rest of the team would be happy with. The only thing he wasn't certain about was the strange black sludge.

Until this point he'd avoided commenting on it, since Cole said the recipe was his mother's, and because the woman was so dear to his brother, Zane wanted to avoid arousing any conflict. However, he wasn't entirely sure what would happen if the rest of the team ate the sludge. Whenever Cole cooked, he usually ended up eating the majority of the meal without suffering any of the digestive issues the other ninja would experience. It was one of Cole's lesser known super powers; he had the strongest stomach out of any of them. Cole would likely eat the sludge and be completely okay, but the other ninja...

Zane shuddered as he remembered the night of the living dead, where the fish Cole had prepared turned out to be raw and still alive. There was a mess in the bathroom for months afterwards. If this night turned out to be anything like that night...

"What's in this...uh...main dish of yours?" Zane asked as he set the table.

"It's a secret recipe," Cole said, spooning a heaping amount onto each of the empty plates, "You'll have to guess."

"Okay," Zane said, evaluating the possible ways he could slip his serving into the trash without Cole noticing. It was a difficult task, now, since their friend was starting to pick up on all their tricks.

"Look," Cole said as he placed the sludge down at the table's center, "I know I'm not the best cook. And I know you don't want to eat it. But can you at least try it? If you don't like it, I'll eat the rest of it, I promise. And as an added bonus, I'll stop cooking for you, okay?"

Zane froze and stared at his friend. He was playing the sympathy angle, trying to guilt trip the ice ninja into liking his food. Clever.

Gritting his teeth, he smiled, "I'm sure you won't need to do that."

Cole returned his smile with one that was reminiscent of Garmadon and proceeded to shout for the rest of his team. They came in with looks of dread that matched the feelings in the pit of Zane's stomach, and each of them shot Zane looks that told him that he had failed the one job he was supposed to do. When they each sat down at the table, the sludge jiggled.

"I thought you were going to convince him that we were getting takeout," Jay hissed as he sat next to him.

"Well," Zane said, "We decided to compromise instead and still have him cook."

"Alright everyone," Cole said with zealous cheeriness, "dig in!"

The sludge went avoided as everyone bolted for the breadsticks. Cole dove right in, spooning the sludge into his mouth like it was nobody's business, but Zane found himself hesitating. Should he do what's best and eat the terrible stuff first, or follow the rest of the team's lead and fill up on bread sticks and some rice that had somehow turned green?

He looked at Cole, and noted how the sludge remained clumped even after he dug spoonfuls out of it. It looked like a cross between mashed potatoes and jello. At this point, it was anyone's guess as to what it might be like to consume it. Making up his mind, Zane took a deep breath and shoved a spoonful of the stuff into his mouth.

He took his time when chewing, trying to analyze the taste to the best of his abilities. The fruity taste he'd smelled earlier remained, but there were other flavors, as well, including cottage cheese, and barbecue sauce, and possibly even some herbs. To his surprise, he found that it didn't taste horrible. It wasn't good; being a bit of a chef himself, Zane knew what made good food, but he could see how somebody could like this.

Feeling Cole's eyes on him, Zane turned and nodded, taking another spoonful. Cole grinned.

"You're actually eating that?" Jay whispered, looking nauseous.

Zane shrugged, "It's not bad. You ought to try it, you might be surprised."

"Blegh," Jay turned back to his rice.

The ninja left pretty quickly after that, each promising to finish their meals in their room, or in the bathroom, or outside the Bounty, or any other place they could dispose of the meal. Zane finished the rest of his plate in silence while Cole reached for a second helping.

"So, you like it?" he asked.

"I suppose I do," Zane replied, scraping the last of it, "It wasn't as terrible as I predicted."

Cole smiled, "That's good, because I couldn't remember most of the recipe."

Zane looked up, "Really?"

"Nope. I made some of it up as I went along."

Zane stared at him, "Do you do this to most of the meals you cook?"

"Only sometimes. Other times it's usually experiments gone wrong. I'm just thankful this one turned out okay. I can't say I cared for it myself, but it's not like anyone else is going to eat it," Cole trailed off and shrugged, as if that explained it all.

"You're wrong there," Zane picked up the serving spoon and dug out the rest of the sludge, "I'm going to eat it too."

Cole smiled, "Thanks Zane."

Zane grinned and began to eat. Several moments later, he let out a soft, "Oh!"

Cole looked up, "What?"

Zane laughed, "I think I've reached the purple part."


I'd like to thank everyone who read and reviewed my previous story. Considering that it was my first time submitting anything on this site, it meant the world to me. Have a marvelous day.