Day 1: Write about your favorite character(s) - Cole

"And a five, six, seven, eight!"

Ugh, the Cha Cha Cha. The world's most annoying Latin ballroom dance. If Cole's father had not enrolled him at the Marty Oppenheimer School of Performing Arts, Cole would not be dancing.

But he did, and he is.

Cole held his partner the way he was required to and moved his feet to the beat of the music. The song was a Cha Cha Cha classic: Sway by The Pussycat Dolls. With every mention of the word "sway" the girls would sway their hips and stand up straight right at the succeeding beat.

Many of the pairs had the boys accidentally stepping on the girl's toes, but in Cole's case it was the other way around.

"Sorry," she would say each time she stepped on his foot.

The verses and first two choruses passed like no time at all, and in the bridge and instrumental everyone was required to do a freestyle.

At the start of the instrumental Cole let go of his partner and did a few moves on his own. It was not because he wanted to show off, but rather it was because they knew he was the son of Lou Bucket—one of the four members of the Royal Blacksmiths.

Lou was the youngest and the most talented member of the RB's, and he was also the most popular. He was the most popular student of Marty's at his time there, and it was because of the RB's that he met his wife. However, something happened to her that caused them to be apart. Because of this, Cole grew up without his mother.

But that is not what this is about.

Kicks, pirouettes, and several turns were made and several people were stunned. Everyone watched Cole in awe, and he hated it. Dancing was not his passion. He longed for adventure.

He wanted to be free.

At the last beat of the instrumental Cole pulled his partner back close to him and they resumed the dance. The whole class moved in perfect synchronicity this time, as if they were a bunch of copy-pasted animated figures in a television show of a movie. This went on until the song ended.

"Bravo!" the professor yelled in delight. "You all did so well! Especially you, mister Bucket. You move just like your father!"

Cole sighed. "Thank you, sir."

"Let's pack up now, students, and we'll call it a day. See you all next week!"

Cole picked up his bag and headed straight for the registrar's office.

"Good afternoon," the registrar said with a plastic smile. "What can I help you with?"

"Can I get a drop form?" he asked.

The registrar was perplexed. "How many?"

"Six," which was the amount of subjects he had.

The registrar left the desk to get something from further inside the office. She came back with slips of paper in her hand and handed them over to Cole. "Here you go. Why so many drop forms?"

He shrugged. "Because I want to."

It wasn't like his dad was going to notice the refund in his bank account. His dad never touched Cole's bank account. Cole's tuition was placed in an account that his dad made for him because his dad believed that he should be responsible for his own money.

In a way he was: by dropping out of school.

He took the forms and signed them one by one. By the end of the day he gave the slips to his professors and they all signed them. He went back to the registrar and handed the drop forms.

"You are now officially dropped," she said with a frown. "Are you sure about dropping, mister Bucket? It's only been a few weeks."

He shrugged again. "Yeah."

With a smile he went back to his dormitory and packed up his clothes and other personal belongings. He felt no regrets as he put his items in his bag. He actually felt very relieved. This was the first time he was going to do something without his father's awareness. For the first time he felt...

...free.

As he finished packing he hung the strap on his shoulder and took one long look at the life he was leaving behind.

"Well," he said to himself with a smile. "Here I go."

The moment he stepped out of his room, he could feel his shoulders grow lighter. He no longer felt the burden of school, and for once in his life he could do anything he wanted to.

He walked out of the campus and suddenly he felt like he was on air. It felt great for him to be in charge of his own life for once, and he loved the feeling.

With some spare change he took a bus to a more provincial part of Ninjago. When he arrived he looked at the mountains. He smiled and immediately took off his shirt. He stuffed it in his bag, put the bag around his shoulder so that it was hanging behind him, and summoned a small mound of rock to hold on to and started climbing.

He did not remember how he discovered that he could move rocks on his own, but the power came in handy for him as he climbed up the mountain.

When he finally reached the top, Cole felt like he was the king of the world. The feeling of satisfaction courses through his veins as the wind blew his long, black hair away from his face.

It was after this that he saw a man sitting on top of the mountain. This man had a straw hat, a long white beard, and a pot of tea in his hand.

"Care for a drink?" the old man offered.

Cole blinked twice before nodding.

He sat next to the man and took a teacup from him. "Thank you."

"You're strong," the man said. "I could use someone like you."

Cole was confused. "Someone like me? For what?"

The man looked at him like he was naive, but he immediately smiled. "You'd make a great ninja. How would you like to be in my team? I would really appreciate it if someone like you went under my tutelage and trained with me."

"Who are you, exactly?" Cole asked. Now he was very confused.

"I am Wu, son of the First Spinjitzu Master," the man replied. "If you join my team, you may call me 'sensei'."