Okeedokee, so this was something that got cooked up outta nowhere.
I know what you're thinking: "Jade, what are you doing, putting up a new story when you haven't updated anything since January?!" Well, better late than never, am I right? :D Especially when that means something new for y'all!
Well, if you read the summary, I'll add one more thing: this is in my Ninjago PeaceTime Universe: the present-day stuff is set just a few months after Tournament of Elements, but before Possession, while the actual story is . . . well, in the past. Because it's set at a time of turmoil, it's in a semi-series called Ninjago Wartime. Just so ya know. ;3
Now, ladies and gents . . . enjoy the Jadeness. :)
Chapter 1: Restless
(May 2015)
"Is that all ya got?!"
"You haven't seen the half of it, sunshine!"
"Oh yeah? Then show me the half of it!"
A sound thwack.
"OWWW! What the heck, dude?!"
"You said to show you the half of it! That was it!"
"I didn't say 'conk me over the head with your staff', Cole!"
"You should be glad I was restraining myself, Jay! I could knock you unconscious any day of the week!"
"I'd like to see you try, Dirtclod!"
"It's so on, Zaptrap!"
"Hey, hey, break it up!"
0o0o0o0o0o0
Wu half-opened one eye. Lloyd had stepped in between Cole and Jay and was now chiding his two older teammates: "We're supposed to be training, not trying to put each other in the hospital!"
"I think you could use this." Zane quietly offered Jay a cake of ice, which the Master of Lightning pressed gratefully to the colorful bruise on his his forehead. Kai and Nya had paused only briefly in their training to see the outcome of the commotion, but now they were back to sparring.
A soft half-smile curled the ends of Wu's mouth. His students had grown since he had first recruited them, yes, but they had their moments when they reverted back into the ways of the cocksure teenagers they'd been when he united them as his Ninja team. I'm glad to see they haven't lost their youthful spirit, he thought. Sometimes I fear that their responsibilities had stolen that away, for it was their persistent vigor that aided me in my motivation to choose them for my team in the first place.
He sighed quietly―not a sigh of disappointment, but rather one of contentment. His mind drifted away from the present time . . . to a memory of years long past . . . when he himself had been a young man. . .
(May 1971)
"Is that all ya got?!"
"You haven't seen the half of it, sunshine!"
"Then come at me, turkey!"
"You'll be gobbling by the time I'm done, chicken!"
"I am not a chicken!"
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"BOYS!"
0o0o0o0o0o0
Montgomery and Wu Garmadon froze mid-slap at the sound of their father's yell. Their training session was quickly devolving into a juvenile "am not-are too" debate, their once serious blows turning into seeing who could slap their opponent in the face quicker.
Ying Garmadon sighed, frustrated, as he stepped out onto the training grounds where his sons had been sparring. "What am I going to do with you? We're on the verge of war, and you've managed to turn every single opportunity to prepare yourselves for battle into a petty argument! This is beneath both of you!"
The two young men shuffled their feet, hanging their heads in embarrassment, and in Wu's case, shame. "I'm sorry, Father," the blond murmured; his brother's apology was something of a disjointed mumble.
Ying sighed again. The aged Master's disappointment faded into concern. "Can you think of any reason why you seem so intent to bicker with each other at every opportune moment? Even with Montgomery's . . . condition, you never sought quarrels over such petty things as empty insults."
Monty stiffened. He hated it when his father referred to his problems as a "condition": it made him sound like he was infected with some sort of incurable disease. Which wasn't too far from the truth, but it didn't mean he had to like it. Perhaps it was this unintentional sting that provoked him to say what he said next.
"I'm just feeling restless!" he blurted out. "You haven't let me leave the monastery once since I abandoned my training with Master Chen and threats of a war with the Serpentine began circulating―I want to do something besides hide and train!"
"Wu?" Ying turned to his younger son.
Wu nodded. "My feelings are the same as Monty's. I don't think sitting here and doing virtually nothing to prevent war is a good use of time. And I don't understand why you haven't let either of us leave the monastery since Monty's return and Morro's departure. We can defend ourselves sufficiently against possible adversaries, can we not?"
"A lack of capabilities in self-defense is not what concerns me, my sons." Ying folded his hands behind his back pensively. "A lack of knowledge of your enemy is the more pressing problem. While I indeed created the Serpentine, I have not kept close enough watch on them to see how they have evolved."
He sighed wearily. "That was a mistake. They make claims that the humans are mistreating them; that we're bending and twisting the truce made between the two races in years past. And it is one of our own who spread such lies among them."
Monty nodded curtly. "You don't need to speak in riddles, Father. I know that Master Chen is stirring up tension. He spoke to me very openly about his desire for war. But what does that have to do with keeping us penned up in here?"
"Chen is as cunning as he is insane," Ying replied grimly. "He may have allies we have not yet discovered, and if he does, he may send them after you. If not to kidnap you and hold you hostage as bargaining tools, then to try and convert you to his cause."
Monty rolled his eyes. "I doubt either of us desire Serpentine supremacy, Father."
"Be that as it may, I cannot risk losing you―either of you―to Chen or rebel Serpentine."
"Then we're at a stalemate," Wu sighed. "We're feeling restless and wanting to do something to prevent war, yet you refuse to let us leave."
"Ah, but I think I hold the queen." From behind his back, Ying produced a parchment scroll he'd tucked into the folds of his robes. "You won't be training alone for much longer, should my plan work."
Wu quirked an eyebrow skeptically. "What plan?"
"Get your cloaks and staffs―we'll be partaking in a little walking expedition."
This confused the two brothers no end. "Didn't you say you couldn't risk the two of us going out?" asked a puzzled Monty.
"I never said anything about the three of us not going out," Ying replied calmly. "I think that's 'checkmate', Wu."
So? Whatcha think? You likey? :3
#God's Not Dead!
#Fear Isn't A Word Where I Come From! Perfect Love Casts Out ALL Fear!
#Proud NinjNerd!
(posted March 6th, 2018)