Greetings

When Jinlong woke up, she was staring at a cloudy, grey sky that was clearly about to start raining.

"What...happened?" She muttered, sitting up and holding her aching head. Looking around, the dragon quickly realized she wasn't in Kigana- at least, no place in Kigana she'd ever seen. She was sitting in an alleyway, among boxes and garbage cans, looking out at a cobblestone street with a few people wandering about.

"Where am I?" The girl muttered to herself, standing up. She nearly fell over from the head rush she got, but she braced herself against a wall until she could see clearly.

After she'd gathered her bearings, the dragon walked out of the alley and her mouth dropped open in amazement.

Everywhere she looked, there were buildings. Small, wooden buildings with colorful banners and signs. Brightly-painted stands or carts, selling things like rice and vegetables. But what stood out to Jinlong the most were the people- at least 50 of them, some just standing around, others haggling with shopkeepers over prices. But, everywhere she looked, she couldn't see a single dragon.

Oh, great, she thought sarcastically. That means I'm definitely not in Kigana.

But then where was she? Of course, she knew of the 16 Realms, but how in Kigana could she have gotten to a different one? A portal, maybe, but dragons could only make portals to the Underworld and...Ninjago.

"Oh," She whispered, a strong gust of wind picking up. "I'm in Ninjago."

Jinlong knew, admittedly, next to nothing about Ninjago. Why would she? There were so many better things to do than learn about some different realm that didn't affect her life in any way. Like swimming, or climbing, or even training. But now, standing all alone in some village in the said realm, she really wished she'd paid attention during her lessons a bit more.

Suddenly, a piece of paper hit Jinlong in the face, and she scrambled to grab it.

'Dragon-Keeper wanted,' it read. 'Minimal experience needed'

Suddenly, a smile broke out across her youthful face. She knew what this was. It was an advertisement for a job. A job Jinlong could get, then ask the dragons to make a portal to Kigana for her, and then she'd be home. But besides the large words across the top, there was a picture of an ice dragon and some seemingly-random letters and numbers.

"1-3-4-7-2, South Way, M-I-H," She read out loud. "What's that mean?"

"What's what mean?"

Jinlong's head snapped up, her eyes wide, to see an old woman standing in front of her.

"O-oh," The dragon said. She knew she should ask the woman for help, seeing as she was completely and entirely lost(literally), but she had no idea how to ask. "U-um, could you please tell me what these numbers and letters mean, ma'am?"

The elderly lady took the paper, holding it tightly against the wind, a look of confusion slowly spreading across her wrinkled face.

"My dear," She said, looking back at Jinlong. "That's the address. It tells you where it is."

Jinlong's face heated up, despite the rapidly-dropping temperature.

"Oh, ha, yeah," She said awkwardly. "B-but, um...wh-where, exactly, is it...?"

The woman look at Jinlong, a mixture of confusion, worry, and interest on her face.

"Up there," She said pointing to a large mountain just behind the town. "It's a monastery. Wu, the man who runs it, used to have a student, a little boy with a peculiar streak in his hair, but I don't know if he's training anybody nowadays."

"Oh," The dragon felt like that's all she'd really said to the old woman, 'oh'. "Thank you for the help, ma'am."

"No problem, my dear," She told the girl. "What's your name?"

"Jin-" The dragon cut herself short. Was Jinlong even considered a name in Ninjago?

"Jin," The lady repeated. "How pretty. Do you have a last name?"

What the heck was a 'last name'? Why was everything in Ninjago so confusing?!

Looking for something that might pass as an answer, Jinlong's eyes came to rest on her feet. "Shoe...?"

"Jin Shu," The lady said, nodding and sticking out her hand. "Nice to meet you. You may call me Mrs. Akiyama."

Thankfully, Jinlong knew what a handshake was, and shook Mrs. Akiyama's hand. "Nice to meet you, too, ma'am."

"If you're in need of food or a place to stay, my dear-"

"Nope," The girl quickly cut the woman off. "Nope, nope, all good here, ma'am. But, uh, thank you."

Then, before she could mess anything else up, the dragon turned and started off in the direction Mrs. Akiyama had pointed her in. She really hoped she hadn't offended the poor woman- she was really quite nice. She'd even(unknowingly) given her a fake name that'd work in Ninjago- Jin Shu.

Before she could even make it to the stairs leading up to the monastery, though, Jinlong felt a drop of rain against her face.

"Just what I need," She muttered to herself, folding the flyer up and putting it on the inside of the qipao she was wearing. "A rainstorm."

Soon, the sky was pouring down buckets of water and 'Jin' was drenched, shivering, and had barely even started up the stairs. And there were lots of stairs. It'd probably take her the better part of an hour to climb them. But, once she did, she'd be on her way home.

It was that thought that kept her going, despite the facts that her legs and lungs were burning, although her skin was cold to the touch.

"Stupid stairs," She huffed. "Better be worth it..."

Then, finally, she arrived at the top to see two large, red, wooden gates that looked to be the only entrance to the walled-off monastery. Jinlong was so cold she could barely move her fingers, but she still managed to use the large metal knocker to pound on the gates. No one came.

"Dang it," She whispered angrily, tears of frustration threatening to spill. "Open the door..."

So, she knocked again. And again. For at least 10 minutes the girl was just standing outside the monastery, knocking every 30 or so seconds, mentally begging someone would answer.

Then, right as she was about to give up hope, a young teen, no older than 15, opened the gate. He was wearing an electric blue hoodie with the hood pulled up, but his reddish hair was still visible.

"What do you want," He snapped, clearly exasperated. "Why're you up here, kid? In case you weren't aware, it's raining cats and dogs!"

"H-h-hi," The dragon said, teeth chattering as she attempted to bow. "I'm J-J-Jin Shu-u. I-I came i-in receipt of-f your f-flyer."

"What flyer?" The boy asked, beginning to shiver himself.

"F-for a D-dragon-Sitter," 'Jin said, pulling the paper out and unfolding it, despite her stiff hands. "S-see?"

"Jeez, your hands are blue," He exclaimed when she held the flyer out to him, completely ignoring the paper. "How long have you been out here?"

"10 minutes," Jinlong said. "A-about f-fifty, i-if you count the c-climb."

And that was how Jinlong found herself in the home of 4 teenage boys, all of whom looked to be around 15 or 16, one teenage girl who said she was 14, and one very, very old-looking man.

After about a million "Hi, I'm Jin Shu, can I work for you?"s and "Yes, I'm fine, I don't have hypo-whatever-you-said"s, the 6 inhabitants of the monastery finally decided her life was not in danger and introduced themselves.

The tallest of them, a pale boy with blond hair and black eyes wearing white was Zane. The next tallest, a dark-skinned boy with shaggy black hair and bushy eyebrows was Cole. The one with the spikey hair and brown eyes was Kai, and the kind of short one who'd opened the door was Jay. The old man was Wu, but apparently, all the teenagers were his students, so they addressed him as Sensei Wu. The girl with a bob of black hair and ocean-blue eyes was Nya, Kai's sister. Okay. Jinlong was going to forget all of that within 5 minutes.

"Nice to meet you all," She said from the couch they'd insisted she sat down on. "I'm Jin Shu."

"Hello, Jin," Wu said. "Now, what exactly were you doing at my monastery during a rainstorm?"

"I, uh, want a job," Jin said, once more pulling out the flyer. "As a Dragon-Sitter."

"A Dragon-Sitter?" Wu said with interest. If Jin didn't know better, she'd have thought he put extra emphasis on the word dragon.

"Yes," The girl nodded. "I love dragons, always have, always will."

"I see," The man muttered, stroking his long, white beard.

"Uh, Sensei, I don't mean to interrupt, but..." The one in red, Kai, looked doubtfully at Jinlong. "She doesn't exactly look like Dragon-Sitter material."

"What do you mean?" Jin asked, an eyebrow raised suspiciously.

"Well, it's just that...you don't exactly strike me as tough, kid."

The golden-haired girl felt the heat rise to her cheeks.

"First of all," She said, her voice squeaking more than she would have liked. "I'm 14 and you're, what, 15? Barely older than me. Second, I assure you, I'm plenty tough."

"Suuure you are," Kai muttered, clearly still skeptical.

"Now, Kai," Wu gently said. "Do not be rude to our guest, please."

He turned back to the girl, an unreadable expression on his face.

"Now, Jin, why is it you'd be qualified to be our Dragon-Sitter?"

"W-well," The dragon stuttered, scrambling for a response. "I-I'm a hard worker and very dedicated. I love dragons, too. And, uh, the flyer said minimal experience needed, so..."

Wu nodded. "That is true."

"And, uh...I can also clean and cook?" Jin was getting desperate. "A-and I don't need to be paid. Room and board would be nice, though."

"Not a bad deal, if you ask me," Jay whispered loudly to Cole.

"Well, Miss Jin Shu," Wu said. "I am pleased to say that you shall be our new Dragon-Sitter."

And just like that, the dragon-in-a-human's-skin was given a pair of ridiculously giant overalls, a white shirt, and a pair of massive rubber boots, as well as a list of her daily, weekly, and monthly chores. She was on her way home, though, so she wouldn't have to end up doing them.

Right?

All the chapter names in this fic are going to be references to martial arts movies. Because. Reasons.

Did you like it? Did you despise it? Please, tell me. I yearn for reviews.