A/N: Hello just typing this for fun. Chances are, I'm not gonna post it for awhile. Today's date is 11/19/2017. This is an Au idea for Ninjago. If you like, you can try to guess what Kai's secret is. Also, I'm not the brightest person out there, by that I mean I haven't seen all the episodes. I'm on the last episode of the pirate season… I think.
Disclaimer: I own Nothing!
Prologue: Sensei and the legendary Golden Weapons Part One
I grimaced as I stood up, pain surging through my left ankle. The broadsword that I had managed to snag from the back of the cart was lying in the dirt next to me. The sun was going down, creating long shadows that stretched forward as if to grab me. Quickly scanning myself, I confirmed that I had several bruises and scratches covering my arms and, by the stinging, presumably my face as well. My light brown tunic had seen better days, while my brown breeches had a long tear in them. My heavy work boots had lost all their shine, having turned to the color of dust. My heavy leather work apron was beat up, but not as badly as my sleeves. Bending down, I picked up the sword to use it as a crutch. Limping, I headed down what looked like a road to me, though I have never seen a road that was grey with yellow and white stripes before.
I hadn't gone far when my ears picked up movement behind me. Tightening my grip on the sword, I quickly moved in position to defend myself, heart hammering loudly. Swinging the sword upward, I stopped the sharp blade inches from an elderly man's neck. He was attired in a white silk outfit, with gold writing, and a straw hat rested on his head to keep the sun off of him. His beard and mustache were both exceedingly long, and were of a pure white coloring. A shudder rippled through me as I read the message on his outfit, a warning against evil from fighting him. A wooden staff held in his right hand tapped patiently against the ground.
"Hmm…long ways from home, are you not?" His voice bespoke of many years of wisdom that have come and gone.
"Yeah, well I don't need your help to find my way anywhere. So, how about I keep going my way, and you keep going yours?" I turned my back on him, planting the sword point down in the ground to help stabilize myself, without putting too much weight on my left ankle. Almost immediately I heard a familiar voice in my head, Now Son, you cannot turn your back on your elders. Especially while travelling. It is a dangerous world out there. Stiffening a groan, I turned back to face him again, "If you like, I can escort you to wherever you are headed."
"Hmm. You believe I cannot defend myself." Moving at incredible speed for someone at his age, he quickly threw me into the ground, agitating my wounds, "Ha! You are the one who needs protecting! You are not yet ready to face my pinkie toe." As if to prove a point, he wiggled his foot in my face, "Fire burns bright in you. Perchance I will train you. Train you how to fight the dreaded Lord Garmadon!" He spun off me, yanking me back to my feet. "Stay on your toes boy! I'll make a ninja out of you yet!"
Bewildered, I allowed this clearly capable elder drag me off to who knows where, my brain having shut down when he mentioned training. After stumbling after him for several minutes, he jerked me to a stop of to the side of the road. Moving nimbly, he set up a campfire and quickly put a kettle of water on to boil. Pulling a rag out of nowhere, he soaked it in the water before it got too hot and wrung it out. Turning to face me, he snatched my right arm and started cleaning my bloody scratches. A soft hum sound escaped him as he scanned me, taking in all of my injuries.
"I'm afraid that I do not know your name." He tightened his grip as I tried to yank my arm away after a particular nasty sting.
"Kai. I don't need your help. I can take care of myself." I muttered as I eyed him nervously.
His deep, knowing, brown eyes suddenly snapped up to meet my own. "Too stubborn. You must learn when to admit you need help." Turning his attention back to my injuries he continued, "You need to cleanse these wounds before infection sets in."
I huffed loudly to show my disagreement. Turning my head away so that I can't see him, I stared at the flickering flames. My fingers clenched in a fist as I fought the urge to attempt to grab at the flames. As I watched the flames dance in the night a single thought crossed my mind…
"I don't know your name."
"I am Sensei Wu. Rest, you need your sleep." Sensei Wu suddenly moved to the other side of the fire, done with cleaning my injuries up.
I slowly lay down, grimacing as my arms stung. A soft sigh escaped me as I closed my eyes to rest for the night.
…
I awoke slowly the next morning to find the sun glaring down at me. Rolling over onto my side, I stared across the smoldering coals at the spot where my companion had fallen asleep last night. He was already gone, and I didn't dare hope that he had left without me. Pushing myself slowly into a sitting position, I scanned the area for him, or any threats.
"You're awake. Come, we have a long ways to go." Sensei Wu suddenly appeared behind me, making me jump a mile out of my skin.
"Where are we going?" I asked as I fell in step with him.
"Patience. You'll see." He led the way down the road.
Several hours later, found me aching all over as I trudged after him. We were now climbing up a steep hill, with him showing off with quick bounds and somersaults as we continued to go up. I could barely find hand and toeholds to pull myself help. Finally reaching the top, I was surprised to see the Monastery, the place where the Spinjitzu Master, and his two sons, along with his students lived. Frowning, I turned to face Sensei Wu, who was calmly sitting on a rock sipping at his tea.
"You brought me to a place of peace to fight?" I questioned his logic, for that matter, why he felt comfortable here.
"Not fight. Train." He pushed the door open, before flipping a small dragon statue that was sitting on a pole in the middle of the courtyard up to reveal a red, round thing hidden underneath.
Before I could ask what it was, he pushed it and an obstacle course popped up from the ground. I jumped back in surprise, before bravely hopping up on one of the poles.
"This looks easy enough." I commented as I balanced on the pole.
A soft 'oh oh' came from him, five seconds before the pole threw me off. Shock surged through me as my mind stopped functioning. Last I checked poles didn't do that. Pushing up from the ground, I looked up to see Sensei Wu sitting on the top step in front of me.
"Finish the course before I finish my tea." He stated calmly before finishing his tea within seconds. I didn't have enough time to blink! "Today you have failed. We will continue in three days time. That should be long enough for you to heal probably. Your room is down the hall, to the left. It has two bunk beds in it." He stated before slipping away.
A sigh escaped me as I limped inside. Just like the courtyard, the air inside hummed with peace and harmony. Following his instructions, I located what I hope is the room he was talking about. It was on the left. Maybe I should have asked him what bunk beds are. This room should do though. It has four beds in it. Though I've never heard of anyone stacking beds before. I quickly swung myself up onto the top bed on the left side of the room. Closing my eyes, I quickly fell asleep, exhausted from these last two days.
…
I was awakened by a young man checking my temperature. He had icy blue eyes, stiff snow white hair, and was wearing a white long sleeved shirt with a bonnet sewn onto the back, and tough-looking blue pants with pockets. Two others were also in the room. The one on the far right had pitch black hair, deep brown eyes, and was wearing a black shirt with the sleeves ripped off and the same kind of pants that the first was wearing. The second one, on the far left, had light brown hair, lighting blue eyes, and was wearing a grease-stained blue shirt, and the same pants as the others, only with more grease on them. I raised my eyebrow at him as I struggled to sit up.
"What are you doing?" I swatted his hand away from my forehead.
"Checking your temperature. You appear to be severely injured. Which can cause inflammation if not properly treated." He stated calmly, concern flashing across his face as he glanced down to my sprained ankle.
"I see…do you normally just check up on random people while their sleeping?" I muttered darkly to myself.
"Only if I notice that they are in need of medical attention." He eerily stayed calm through my grumbling.
"Great. Can I have your names at least?" I figured that I might as well as make some friends while I'm stuck here.
"Of course. I am Zane." The guy that was checking my temperature informed me.
"Name's Cole Bucket." The black haired young man grumped slightly, annoyance flaring in his eyes.
"I'm Jay. Jay Walker. What's your name? Whatcha doing here? Oh! Is Sensei Wu training you too?" The third member of the group suddenly started talking and, didn't stop.
"Whoa there! Slow down! One question at a time." I flung my hands out to stop him.
"Ok, what's your name?" Jay blushed slightly in embarrassment.
"My name is Kai." I considered for a minute on whether or not I should give them my last name, before deciding that Zane hadn't given me his, so it was fine.
"Next question, why are you here?" Cole crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"Sensei Wu brought me here for training. Once I can stand on my own, that is." I grimaced slightly as I sat up, placing weight on my sprained ankle.
"What happened to you?" Cole briefly dropped the tough guy act, to allow concern to govern his actions.
"I…don't remember. I woke up in the middle of the road. I met Sensei shortly after that. I was already pretty beat up when I awoke." I lied through my teeth, wondering vaguely if they would see through the lie.
"Really? Ouch. No wonder you only gave your first name. Zane has amnesia too." Jay flinched, sympathy flashing in his eyes.
Startled, I looked over to the blonde, who merely shrugged.
"I was on my own for two years with no memories before I met him." Zane bowed his head, a tinge of frustration edging his eerily monotone voice.
"So, if you're gonna be here for training, we might as well get to know you. In case you couldn't tell, we all are Sensei's students." Cole sat down next to Kai, leaning back slightly against the wall.
It wasn't long before we were attempting to find something to talk about, that wasn't them telling me about themselves. Unfortunately, my supposed lost memories and the fact I haven't have enough time to rediscover my likes and dislikes, beyond a strange urge to play with fire… lead to awkward silence. After awhile, we turned the lights off and went to sleep.
…
Three days. It's been three days since I first arrived here and met the guys. Any thoughts of homesickness were driven from my mind as we hung out together. The only one I had to be careful around was Jay; he had the same love of inventions as my best friend for life. I stood in front of the obstacle course eyeing it nervously. The others had gone through it several times, and made it look close to effortless. Zane made it effortless. Jay nearly always gets knocked of his feet near the end. Cole made it through alright, but he could never beat the timer. I swallowed down my nerves as I glanced over at where Sensei Wu and the others sat. Cole gave me a thumbs up. I wasn't so sure about this.
"Get in position. You have till I finish my tea to complete the course. Begin." Sensei Wu picked his napkin up.
I quickly jumped into the machine. Dodging as many of the weaponry that the dummies were swinging around blindly as I possibly could. I did not get very far before I was tossed off.
"Fail." Sensei Wu stood up, his tea already finished.
I grimaced as I pushed myself up into a sitting position. The others hurried over to where I was at, Cole reaching his hand out to pull me up into a standing position.
"Good job. I don't think any of us lasted that long on our first time." Cole congratulated me.
"Really? Cause I'm sure none of you did that bad the first time." I pointed out, having a hard time picturing any of them struggling.
"Yep. I never made it past the first dummy." Jay supplied.
"Same here. Didn't realize that it could move until the dummy threw me off." Cole piped up.
"I made it to the second dummy, and then was promptly thrown off due to its velocity." Zane literally had no emotions it seemed.
"Let me guess. You kept going?" I asked as I looked them over.
"Always. Just keep going. It gets easier." Cole squeezed my shoulder.
"Yeah. I think I will." I turned to face the obstacle course, determination setting in. I couldn't go home, so I might as well make the best of it.
…
I knew what to do. After two weeks of nonstop failing at the obstacle course, I figured it out. I was almost fast enough to pass the timer. All I had to do was buy myself a few extra seconds. Tightening the wooden sword in my hand, I glanced over at the others. They did not appear confused about the sudden usage of the weapon, more impressed that I had it. As soon as I started, I kept one eye on Sensei Wu. When he went to sip his tea, I threw the sword, knocking his cup out of his hands. Smirking, I finished the course and landed next to him. Picking up the bowl of sugar, I held it out to him.
"Is that one sugar, or two?" I politely asked as I leaned back casually against the column.
"Hmph!" He stood up and walked over to the door.
"So, when do we learn this spinjitzu we've been hearing so much about?" I asked as I turned to face him, the others falling into step with me, hope shining in their eyes.
"You already have." The doors clicked shut behind him as he gave his cryptic answer.
"Whoa whoa! How can we already know something that he hasn't taught us yet?" Jay blurted out suddenly; panic flaring up on his face.
Sensei Wu did not answer leaving us in confusion. The last couple of days, something had been bothering him, but we knew not what it was. A fact that frustrated Zane, who liked helping people. We quietly slipped back inside to do our chores and eat dinner before going to bed.
…
"Kai! Get up! We have a mega-duper problem!" Jay shook me awake.
"It's not that big of a problem." Cole protested, glaring at our talkative roommate.
"What's going on?" I pushed myself to a sitting position, rubbing sleep out of my eyes.
"Sensei is gone. We do not know where to." Zane calmly stated, worry glowing in his eyes.
I immediately sat bolt right up. "That's not good. Where have you guys looked?"
"Everywhere." Jay and Cole spoke in unison.
"Well you haven't found him, so obviously you haven't looked where he is at." I muttered under my breath, hoping they wouldn't hear me.
"Hey!" Never mind, they heard.
Rolling my eyes good naturedly at them, I jumped out of bed. Breaking at a sprint, we charged of to look for our mentor.
"Sensei!?"
"Sensei!?"
"Sensei!?"
"Sensei!? If you can hear us, tell us where you are!"
I may have reached over and whacked Jay when I heard that. "We wouldn't be looking for him, if he could just tell us where he is!" I hissed at Jay.
A/N: So, this is getting long, and about halfway there…so I'm breaking it into two parts. Obviously this is the first half. Rather long first half. Originally I wasn't going to split it, but the longer I work on it, the more I see the need to split the chapter. Sorry.
SkyTalon