Chapter 1: Grief
"You never believe me!" cried the little red haired girl, slamming her bedroom door shut in fury. Her father, giving up, turned away from the pink door.
The little girl sat on her lush and lacy bed, surrounded by stuffed animals. Her face was puckered in a frown as she mulled over her problems like any little evil mastermind.
No one believed her. No matter how convincing she tried to be, no one believed her about the girl of light who played with her. No one believed that the girl existed! But the red head knew better. She'd seen this girl, and only a fraction of her light power. If this other girl hadn't even unlocked her true potential yet - her powers might just be unfathomable.
And the red head had the powers to take it. Amber was her power - the power to steal.
Just then, a bright light flashed, and a dark haired girl with mystical eyes stood before the pouter.
"Why couldn't you do that when my dad was here?!" demanded the red head.
"Because," said the mysterious child with a devious grin, "I'm a secret - just for you."
"But no one believes me!"
"You aren't supposed to tell anyone about me!" said the girl. "I'm a secret!"
"A secret with a dumb rule," muttered the pouter.
The dark haired child stuck out her tongue. "No stealing. It's hardly something that needs to be said."
"But your powers - "
"Are mine," said the other territorially. "No stealing."
The red head squinted at the girl. The girl was nice, but not willing to let her powers be taken. Was her friendship worth holding her own desires in check?
Nope.
The red head lunged. She was quick, but not quick enough. The light girl vanished, then re-appeared in the sun rays by the window. Her eyes flashed with fury. "You promised!" she spat.
"Well, maybe I am done with promises!" shouted the red head. She lunged again, and the other girl vanished.
Silence reigned in the room. The offender stopped, and listened. The girl hadn't come back.
"Hello?"
There was no answer. And there never would be.
Lloyd knelt on the ground, feeling like he had buried his heart. His friends, the ninja, stood beside him in the chilly fall air, dressed in mourning clothes. Even though the sun shone, the light was pale, and the trees had lost their bright colored leaves in preparation for winter.
They were a silent group, staring at the two tombstones. It was hard to believe that the markers were there to mark the graves of Sensei Wu and Lord Garmadon.
Wu had been struggling for a while, and had been quite elderly for a long time. Lord Garmadon had never really recovered from the strain that the Overlord had put on his physical and mental health. Both had passed quietly and without pain, maintaining their honor. But loss is loss, and the ninja were silently bearing it.
Finally, Lloyd stood.
"We saved my father," he said, voice cracking from tears. "But then we lost him again." Everyone waited for him to finish his thought.
"I won't let the time be wasted any longer," he said. "My mom is still here. I am going to spend as much time with her as I can." He looked at them with his green eyes, begging them to understand.
"And that means you want to go to her now," said Zane gently.
Lloyd nodded.
"Go ahead," said Kai in a low voice. "We'll miss you."
It didn't feel right, but this was Lloyd's choice. Lloyd turned and walked away. When he was out of earshot, Jay gave a hefty sigh.
"Now what?"
"We are all grieving," said Zane. "Grieving takes a toll on out energy reserves. Perhaps we should all go get something to eat."
Cole told everyone about a new restaurant called Master Chen's Noodle House. The guys were all for it, but Nya politely declined. "I've cried my my appetite away," she said. "I'm gonna go build something." Jay gave her a squeeze. "Text me," he said. Nya smiled tearfully at him, then walked towards a taxi.
Master Chen's Noodle House wasn't expensive, but the food wasn't that great either. Kai hated the noodles.
"They're too slimy!"
"Just eat it," said Jay. "You spent $20 bucks on it!"
"I didn't know they would be slimy!" protested Kai.
"Stop bickering!" snapped Cole. "We've done enough of that in our lifetimes."
Jay and Kai grew quiet. They realized that Cole's mind was still in the cemetery.
Everything in life seemed to have been interrupted by Sensei's death. Cole had been starting his music career, Zane and Jay had been working for a technological genius called Cyrus Borg, and Kai and Nya had reopened For Weapons. But when Sensei died last Friday…
Everything seemed to spin out of control.
"We're all alone now," said Cole softly, despair dripping from his voice.
"Uh, no," said Jay. "Nya is just at work, and Lloyd will be coming back soon."
"No Jay," said Kai, exasperated. "He means that now we are Sensei-less."
"Wow, you got that from the two words he said?" asked Jay, reaching for a fortune cookie.
"Actually, it was four," said Zane.
"Look, guys," said Kai, seeing this was getting out of hand. "Just because our Sensei isn't with us anymore, doesn't mean we can't still be ninja."
There was a silence that followed that Zane didn't understand. No one said anything, but he could tell that they - even Kai - only half believed it.
But there wasn't time to think about it.
Kai suddenly moaned and began shaking. Jay choked on the air he was breathing and began gasping for air. Cole started. "What's going on with you guys?! Jay, Kai - snap out of it!"
Zane scanned them with his DoctorScanner program.
"Help…me…" Jay rasped, clawing the air. Zane assessed the problem quickly when suddenly his vision began to waver. His heart skipped a beat as a warning rang in his ears:
Unauthorized shut down in 10…9…8…
Zane had to think fast. Something was putting him to sleep. "Cole," he said, but stopped. The Master of Earth was snoring with his head laying on the table, out cold.
7…6…5…A thud caused Zane to look at Jay quickly, only to find that he too had collapsed onto the table, unconscious.
"Zane," groaned Kai, eyes wide with fear. "What…what's wrong with me?!"
4…3…2…1…
Zane tried to keep his eyes open, but they slid closed. "We've bijthgisn drugugugugugeddddd…." he whirred. Darkness enveloped them all.