This takes place before Cole and Jay met Zane. Based off thought that the order the Ninja met goes Cole, Jay, Zane, and Kai.
Cole sat on the ground, staring at the monastery doors. His emerald eyes focused on them with intensity, as he forced himself to relax and let his mind clear it's thoughts away. He never took his eyes off of it. Cole had been sitting there since he woke up.
The method was working, somewhat. His mind was clear aside from the door which stood a few feet from him. But other then that, he was calm and relaxed. Cole then shut his eyes and leaned back against the pillar.
"Interesting method, Cole," a voice said from behind Cole, causing the green eyed boy to jump. He swiftly turned around and looked up at the older man.
"Sensei Wu," he said with a respectful bow of his head.
The teacher smiled and he continued, "My apologies for startling you, Cole, but I came to ask if you would kindly show my new student the training course ."
Standing up, Cole cocked his head towards his teacher. "You mean, Jay?"
Jay had been in the monastery for two days now, and all he ever did was sit and watch TV which annoyed Cole on a certain level.
Sensei Wu nodded his head and turned around. "But, c - can't you do that?" Cole asked.
"On second thought, you do not get a choice. See this as an opportunity to make a new friend." The elder man stroked his beard thoroughly, and walked into the monastery, leaving Cole behind.
Before Cole could rant about it, Sensei Wu poked his head back out. "Oh, and Cole, please teach Jay a thing or two. He doesn't have as much skill in fighting as you do."
Once Sensei Wu left, Cole stood immobile and clenched his fists. He had to show Jay the training course and then train… with him? Taking a deep breath, he followed Sensei Wu's path and found Jay sitting in the TV room, feet on the couch with the TV on. Cole looked to the television screen and saw monster trucks, then food, then cartoons. Jay was constantly switching channels.
"Get your feet off the couch," he said, first thing.
Jay jumped and he immediately dropped the remote, flipping his body to look at Cole. "How long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough to see you watching cartoons," Cole said with a smirk.
Laughing nervously, Jay reached for the remte, switched off the power, and stood up, legs wobbling from siting down to long. The blood rushed back through his legs and Jay felt doozy. "So… what do you want… eh, Cole?"
The teen gave a nod and he folded his arms across his chest. "Sensei Wu wants me to show you something."
"So like a tour guide?"
"Er, not exactly..." Cole said with a shrug and opened the door wider, walking outside. Jay followed and saw Cole standing by a post that was a little over half his height, with a small dragon statue on top.
Raising a brow of curiosity, Jay asked, "What? You waiting for me to say something?" He took a few steps forward and patted his foot against the ground.
"No, I was waiting for you to volunteer."
"Volunteer? For… what?" Jay watched as Cole tipped the dragon backwards and a big fat red button sat underneath. Jay opened his mouth, hoping it wasn't what he thought it was. Cole's finger pressed against the button and Jay was bumped higher into the air.
He stumbled backwards, and yelped when a sillohoutte of a man in armor popped up, holding a sillohoutte of an axe. He looked behind him and another man stood there, my holding anything. Next to Cole, a row of posts were aligned, each moving at their own speed, up and down. He noticed more spinning wheels around him, but fell off his when one of the sillohouttes hit his back.
Jay coughed as he landed on the ground and he lifted his head up, wincing. "What was that?"
Towering over Jay, Cole chuckled and answered, "Training course, I was expecting you to get pricked on the feet, but watching your reaction was good enough."
"Okay, so now what?" Jay pulled himself off the ground and looked around when he noticed Cole wasn't there. He flinched when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Jay turned around and saw Cole standing there with a sword in his hand. "You gonna fight me, tough guy?" Jay snickered as he slipped into one of those commonly known karate poses. But, losing his balance, Jay fell backwards, groaning.
Cole laughed and put a hand to his forehead. "Now that you've seen the training course, we get to train."
"What? I'm training? For what?"
"You wanted to become a Ninja, right?" Face red, Jay chuckled. Cole handed Jay the sword and walked over to one of the moving posts. "First job, make it across these posts safely."
Jay looked at the posts and half grinned, waving his hand. "Oh, pfh, I can do that." Swallowing, he set down his sword and attempted to crawl onto one of the posts. He got up and tried to stand up, his legs shaking from the stress. Finally, he made it and he straightened his back, a proud smile forming on his face. The post began to come down, Jay's weight pulling on it. Jay put his hands on his hips and smirked at Cole's face.
"Ha! I can do it, no pro-" his words turned into a scream as the post popped back up and sent him up into the sky. Jay fell, smacking onto the ground and he groaned louder.
"You aren't very bright, are you?" Cole asked with a sly grin.
Jay hissed and stood bal up, going for a second attempt. His second try failed just as the first, but he got one post further then before. Same as the third try, and the fourth try, and the fifth try. Finally, on his sixth try, he was one post away from the last, when Cole yelled:
"Pork!"
Startling Jay, but he quickly brought his focus back to the training and he managed to stay on. Jumping onto the last post, he cheered and leaped off, picking up his sword.
"You did good, even after I yelled pork," Cole said told Jay.
"Yeah, thanks. What was that all about?"
"It was a distraction, and you passed," Cole said as he walked towards a training dummy. "Now let's see what you can do with a sword."
Jay stepped in front of the dummy, and then reverted his eyes back to his sword. "Why can't I use those nun-chucks?" He asked, pointing at the weapons cabinet.
Stepping in between Jay and the cabinet, Cole's eyebrows drew inwards. "Everyone starts basic training off with a sword."
"Well, I don't have to be like everyone. I can just start with the nun-chucks." Jay said to Cole, frowning.
Cole growled and he stuck his pointer finger at Jay's chest. "Sensei Wu asked me to train you, so whatever I say, you gotta do it, 'kay pal?"
Jay pushed Cole's hand away and he turned around. "Okay, fine, whatever." He held the sword up, closed his eyes, and swung it at the dummy. When he opened them, he noticed he didn't even hit the dummy, not even a light graze.
Cole face-palmed. "You're going to need practice. Try again, but this time open your eyes."
So, Jay did the same thing, but kept his eyes open. Successfully, he had sliced the dummy in half. Another one popped up on its place and Cole said, "You're going to do this several more times. Just to get the hang of it. And try a few different moves. Enemies won't always be in one place, and even if they are, they'll have another weapon against you. Maybe a stronger, bigger weapon. So you gotta defend yourself in every way possible."
Jay nodded and swung his sword at the dummy, but this time pretended that the enemy had tried to stab him. So Jay had ducked to the side.
After three more dummies, Cole moved Jay to the wheel where Jay was first introduced to the training course.
He had asked a few questions about video games, which were completely unrelated to their training. But Cole enjoyed them, since he himself was growing tired from the training. He had Jay practice another round of training dummies, but this time there were two to three of them at a time. He had never seen Jay more focused in his life. Usually, the younger one was messing around during lunch and dinner time.
Jay stumbled on most of the other training courses, but Cole noticed he constantly made jokes every time he fell.
The door opened and Sensei Wu stood there, a delightful aroma of soup coming from behind him. "Dinner is ready, students."
Cole looked up and realized they had been training practically the whole day. He took Jay's sword and walked them over to the weapon's cabinet, then followed Jay inside.
Dinner was quiet for the first couple of minutes. Jay had gotten up halfway through dinner to use the bathroom. While Jay wasn't there, Sensei Wu looked to Cole and asked, "How was the training today, Cole?"
"Oh, it was, okay…"
"That's good."
Cole's fork dropped onto his plate and he shook his head. "Why Sensei?"
"Why, what?"
"Why did you chose Jay?"
"You are sounding very negative, Cole. Haven't you learned anything from him?"
"Learned anything from him? What did you expect me to learn? He was the one learning."
Sensei Wu slurped from his tea cup and set it down, looking back at Cole. "Jay is very laid back. I was hoping you could see that."
"Yeah, I've noticed," he answered through tight teeth. "Sensei, he easily gets carried away and makes jokes whenever he fails. He was asking questions about video games during training!"
Sensei Wu smiled, "So you did learn something." Cole felt himself burning. "You asked why I chose him?" Cole nodded, suddenly regretting why he even asked. "He has the sense of curiosity and optimism. I believe he is like lightning, he is quick, humorous, and young. Besides, Cole, don't you feel like you've accomplished something today?"
Cole swallowed his food and he nodded slowly. "Well, I guess you're right."
Sensei Wu smiled.
Cole blinked rapidly a couple of times, then squinted as he stretched and yawned. He gazed around the room, noticing a bit of sunlight creeping in through the blinds. His eyes squinted at Jay's bed and he leaned closer.
"Jay?" He whispered.
No reply.
Cole got out of bed and silently crept over to Jay's and put his hand on the blanket, but was surprised when he felt something soft underneath. He pulled the covers off and saw a giant pillow in its place.
Startled, Cole looked around and rubbed his eyes. Jay wasn't in anywhere in the room. Suddenly, he heard grunting noises coming from outside. Cole, being curious as he was, shuffled towards the door and looked through the crack.
He was surprised at what he saw. He saw Jay up, and training at the training course, which was much better than sitting in front of the television all day.
Coming out in his black ninja gi that Sensei Wu had given both him and Jay when they arrived, he stood by one of the pillars as he watched Jay knock down a row of dummies with his weapon. Cole's eyes narrowed on the weapon Jay was using and realized it was the nun-chucks Jay wanted to use from yesterday. But, Jay seemed to be more skilled with them then he thought.
After Jay finished his last dummy of the wheel, Cole marched down the steps and clapped. "Great job, Jay."
Jay jumped, and wiped at his forehead. "Again?! Why do you keep startling me?" He asked with a laugh in between. "Have you been watching the whole time?"
"No, but you're really good with the nun-chucks. I feel bad for not letting you use them yesterday."
"Heh, you shoulda trusted me."
"I did trust you, I just... didn't trust myself. So, while you're still at it, how about we go? One on one?"
"Ha! You're joking right? Good one, I'm not gonna fight you! So, no thanks, I'll pass!" Jay twirled his nun-chucks in the air and caught the second.
Cole hit the button and the training course lowered back into the ground. "No choice. You're fighting me."
"W-What? But, you're real! You can feel pain and stuff!"
Cole picked out a sword and caressed the blade. "I know it sounds dangerous, especially since, like you said, I can feel pain and stuff, but just trust me on this? Okay?"
Jay glued his eyes on Cole with doubt and fear of beating him up. What if Cole got bruised on the ribs? Or some other place, and he couldn't move for a few days? It'd be his fault. Or what if Cole got whacked in the face by his nun-chucks? That wouldn't be so pretty. Then again, if Jay got hurt, it'd be Cole's fault. But Jay's for agreeing on the sparring. Just then, he realized something that hadn't crossed his mind… he was still a newbie.
Finally, clearing away all the worried thoughts, he inhaled sharply and posed the nun-chucks before him. "Okay, Cole, ready when you - ah!" he ducked quickly as Cole swung his sword at Jay's head. Jay gulped and rolled forward, looking behind him to see Cole landing on the ground. "What - what - I wasn't ready!"
"Too bad, if this were a real battle, your opponent wouldn't wait for you to get ready." Cole pointed his sword, "Focus, Jay." He swung it a couple of times to show off, then charged at Jay, drawing the sword back.
Doing the first thing that came to mind, Jay swung his nun-chucks at Cole's legs, causing a yelp to escape from Cole. Jay chuckled to himself and he stepped backwards, grazing his fingers over his nun-chucks. Cole lifted the injured leg and rubbed the beat-up spot.
Seeing this as an open opportunity, Jay thrust forward a handle from his weapon towards Cole. Unexpectedly, Cole shot up his sword, blocking the attack. Jay stumbled backwards and his jaw dropped slightly open. He twirled the nun-chucks steadily in the air and swung for Cole's other leg, striking it.
As Jay took the time to relax, Cole pointed the tip of the sword to Jay's neck. Jay gulped. Laughing, Cole drew away the sword and stood up straight.
"Not bad. I guess you got the upper-hand there after you knocked my first leg."
"Heh, are you okay?"
Cole shrugged. "Just a couple of bruises. It's all good."
During nighttime, while Jay was buried underneath the covers, he thought about the day for just a moment. Sensei Wu had told them that tomorrow he was leaving to find someone else to join their group.
Just as he was about to close his eyes, Jay sat up in his bed and looked to Cole's bed.
"Cole…?"
He waited for a few seconds. It was real quiet in the darkness.
A minute had almost passed by already, and Jay was just about to wait till tomorrow to ask, until Cole shifted under the covers. He positioned himself to face the direction of the younger one.
"Yeah?"
"Yesterday before I went to bed, Sensei Wu told me what you asked him."
Cole raised a brow. "Really?" He frowned, happy that the darkness was preventing Jay to see.
"That's the reason why I was up early. I wanted to show you that I wasn't as childish as you thought."
Cole traced his finger along his pillow and he chuckled silently.
"Well, you're real focused when you set your mind to something…"
"Isn't everyone?"
"Er, not really…"
Jay plopped his head against his pillow and pursed his lips. He squinted in the dark, seeing a faint outline of Cole on his bed. "So, do you still hate me?"
"Hate you?"
"Yeah, because I talk a lot, and I'm more immature compared to you…" Jay hugged his pillow as he waited for Cole to answer.
"Of course."
"That wasn't quite the answer I was looking for," Jay began, startled, "... Why?"
Cole pulled the blankets over him and he placed his pillow back under his head. He smiled, closing his eyelids.
"Because, no one could hate you as much as I do…"
A/N I hoped ya'll enjoyed this Oneshot! I really enjoyed writing it, it's the longest I've ever written!
