Yes, a Wednesday update! And, a super long chapter too! I hope you guys are enjoying this as much as I am! I'm really having a blast with this story :D
Special thanks to: RandomDragon2.0, RobinLost, Drawkill Vear, Crystal Cea, ABCSKW123-IX, IDontHaveAName, Star, TheYellowNinja, Peanut2196, TheySayImEvil, and Breeze015 for reviewing! All of your reviews mean the world to me!
IDontHaveAName: Thanks for understanding about school! It's so crazy this semester! :/ I will try to post on Wednesday as often as I can XD I am SOOO excited about posting this story! There's certainly something up with Cole. We'll see… ;D Thank you so much for commenting on the chapter titles! I actually put a lot of thought into them, so it's nice to know they're appreciated XD Thank you so much for reviewing!
Star: Gem hasn't exactly learned her lesson yet! XD We'll come back to that later ;D Thank you so much for reviewing!
TheYellowNinja: It makes me SOOO happy you're excited for this story, because I am PUMPED about posting it! Yeah, I really wanted to do Day of the Departed "my way," so the twists will continue to get twistier while sticking loosely to the actual episode :D Gem's not quite as good as we hoped she'd be XD And poor Cole indeed :'( I'll post on Wednesday as much as I can! Thank you so much! :D
TheySayImEvil: Definitely coming! ;D I hope you like how I do DotD! We'll see the bad guys eventually ;D Thank you so much for reviewing! :D
Inviting a rather intense sense of deja vu, all the ninja hit the ground hard, landing on top of one another and catching stray elbows and knees as they tried to determine which way was up.
"Ugh, get off me, Zane!" Kai complained, shoving the nindroid none too gently to the side and sitting up.
And came face to face with no less than a hundred ghosts.
They appeared to be in a… city of some sorts, skyscrapers stretching toward the sun on either side of them, rather modern shops and TV screens adorning the streets. They almost could have been in Ninjago City, and this image contrasted startlingly with the mostly desolate desert and jungle landscapes they had encountered during their last trip to the Departed Realm.
But, perhaps the most noteworthy sight was… well, Morro. His face was everywhere: wanted posters were plastered along every available surface, the same image of the ghost's defiant smirk displayed on the many, many screens and billboards.
The ninja barely had time to study these images though as the crowd of ghosts milling about the square suddenly reanimated after being shocked into stillness by their sudden and spectacular appearance.
"Hey, it's the ninja!" A male ghost shouted, pointing at the pile of teenagers. "Get them!"
Lloyd suddenly recalled Morro's voice. "Here, everything's backwards. You're the bad guys."
The ninja, true to their training, were immediately on their feet as the mob of ghosts rushed toward them.
"Retreat!" Lloyd called, leading the escape. They were hopelessly outnumbered, and there was no point in trying to fight when they still had no idea what was going on. Confident that his ninja were hot on his heels, he flipped over several ghosts' heads and kicked off a parked car, landing in the street.
Several cars honked and swerved to avoid them as they sprinted across, the drivers' mouths going slack once they realized who they had just seen.
Aided by a quick glance over his shoulder as they took turn after dizzying turn, Lloyd saw that the huge mass of ghosts were still hot their trail. He also knew his team was at a clear disadvantage. Lloyd had no idea the layout of the city, while their pursuers had probably lived there their whole lives- er, afterlives.
This hypothesis was only confirmed when he led his team into an alley- that was a dead end.
The ninja turned to face their opponents who were approaching more slowly now that their prey was cornered.
Thinking on his feet, Lloyd glanced at the buildings on either side of them. There were plenty of windows and alcoves that could provide footholds…
"Okay, guys, take to the-"
Lloyd cut himself off when three ghostly figures suddenly descended from the very rooftops he had been eyeing. They seemed to fly down, barely touching the walls, which suggested years of training and experience.
Two of them landed in very familiar fighting stances before the ninja- but they weren't facing them. They were facing the approaching enemy ghosts, almost as if they were… protecting the ninja. All six of the elemental masters were ogling the sudden arrivals with the same bewilderment Lloyd was experiencing.
"C'mon!"
The third ally(?) ghost waved her arm at them from where she was still clinging to the wall, gesturing for them to follow.
"Should we trust her?" Zane asked, glancing between the increasingly impatient woman and his leader warily.
The two fighters suddenly engaged with the enemy mob. They were taking out ghosts by the twos and threes, but it was only a matter of time before the pair of them would be overtaken.
"I say yes!" Kai shouted, leaping onto a windowsill that projected out from the face of the building.
Nodding curtly to let his (more obedient) teammates know that they were trusting this mysterious ghost (for now), Lloyd followed Kai's example, scaling the side of the building with ease. The blonde woman stayed several feet above them, constantly glancing back at them to make sure none of them had been left behind.
When they finally reached the rooftop, slightly winded, she gestured for them to follow her again. "C'mon! Ooh, we'll never make it…," she added as an afterthought, wringing her hands.
"What about them?" Cole asked, pointing over his shoulder at the two warriors valiantly covering their retreat- and quickly losing the advantage as they were overwhelmed by the numbers.
"They can take care of themselves," the woman reassured, already rushing off.
Shrugging, Lloyd took off after her, easily following her example as she leapt small gaps between buildings, obviously heading toward a specific destination.
Then, they heard it in the distance: a train whistle.
"Oh, we're not going to make it!" The woman repeated, increasing her pace.
The ninja shared a confused looks but sped up as well.
They could see train tracks in the distance, running perpendicular to their current path as they continued sprinting across buildings and clearing alleyways. The train itself they could see approaching from the right- at breakneck speed. And, it wasn't slowing down.
Nya spoke up, huffing slightly from the exertion. "Wait, are you telling me we're going to-"
"Jump onto a moving train?" Jay finished, his voice jumping up into his "hysterical" register.
"I mean- yeah," the woman replied, the answer lacking the confidence that would have been immensely reassuring at the moment. "It's really not so bad. And, you guys were trained by Wu, right? You must have done worse than this!"
They stiffened, growing more suspicious now that this mystery ghost seemed to know so much about them.
She finally skidded to a stop at the edge of a building that was almost flush against the train tracks. The train was still a distance away, but it was approaching fast.
"Ready?" She asked, planting a foot on the slightly raised edge of the rooftop.
"This-This is insane!" Cole protested, watching the vehicle loom ever closer.
"Well, think about how the rest of us with very thin skin and very breakable bones feel!" Jay yelled, throwing his hands up into the air in his characteristic spazzy manner.
"Make sure to bend your knees!" Zane reminded them, getting ready to leap.
"Wait, we're actually doing this?" Nya asked.
"If you guys want to stay behind and take your chance with those ghosts, be my guest," Lloyd said, psyching himself up to jump onto the top of a speeding train.
"It's going to look so awesome!" Kai gushed, nearly trembling with anticipation.
"Not the time for you to be an adrenaline junkie, Kai!" Nya chastised.
"Okay, here it comes!" The woman called. The train was nearly upon them now. "When I say go! One… Two… Three- go, go, go!"
They jumped.
Lloyd, Cole, Zane, Nya, and the mystery woman, of course, landed on their feet, though they immediately fell into crouching positions so as to not be knocked off the train by the wind rushing around them.
Meanwhile, Jay fell on top of the female ghost, who instinctively caught him and tucked him under her arm and close to her own body as she held on fast with the other hand.
Kai, even being the most excited about the stunt, had landed on the train but couldn't get a grip- and he started sliding off. He yelled wordlessly as he felt himself slide down the curve of the roof, legs dangling over the side of the train.
Cole reached out to grab his wrist-
His hand phased right through him.
Cole panicked, knowing he was about to watch his brother die because he couldn't make himself solid when he thought he had progressed way beyond this stage of his ghost powers- but fortunately, Zane was also nearby and was just able to grab Kai's hand, though he grunted with the effort of supporting the full weight of his brother.
Get it together, Cole, he reprimanded himself. Trying again, he reached for Kai's unoccupied hand… and managed to grab it this time. Together, he and Zane hauled the red ninja back onto the roof of the train, and Kai breathed in deep breaths of relief as he grabbed on.
"You got a grip?" The woman shouted over the roar of the wind at Jay.
The blue ninja nodded wordlessly, staring at the woman with a perplexed look on his face. Sure, he was in awe of the way she had so easily snatched him out of the air, but that wasn't it. There was something about her, something…
Familiar.
Confident that Jay would not fly off the train, the woman inched forward, reaching for what looked to be a small door. After struggling with the handle for a moment, she managed to push the door inward and pull herself through. Moments later she reappeared, holding her hand out so she could help the ninja into the interior of the train as well.
Once everyone was inside, the female ghost shut the door in the roof again, and the ninja collapsed into various seats around the empty compartment, trembling with exertion as their hearts tried to slow down.
"Let's never do that again," Nya decided, slinging her arm over her eyes.
"Okay, okay, okay," Lloyd pushed himself to his feet and stalked toward the anonymous ghost even though he hadn't fully recovered his breath yet. "Who are you and where are you taking us? And, what is going on?"
The woman laughed nervously, scratching the back of her neck. Now that they could get a good look at her when they weren't running for their lives, they saw she had long blonde hair that went past her shoulders with a… green streak in it that so resembled Morro's, it couldn't be a coincidence. She appeared to be in her mid twenties or so, and she was certainly considered pretty by the male occupants of the train car.
Except for Jay, who suddenly realized why she seemed so familiar.
After discovering that he was adopted in the alternate timeline that never happened, Jay had delved into research to find out as much as he could about his biological parents. Half of that search had been easy: anything and everything he wanted to know about Cliff Gordon was on the internet.
The other half had been a bit tougher. He had only found three or four good photographs of his mother in Master Wu's old photo albums, and there was a portrait or two of her at the museum.
And, now, she was standing right in front of him: Lydia, the former Master of Lightning.
"Right, I guess we should get to all the explaining stuff that usually takes a while- but I have to warn you guys I'm not too good at explaining, so just interrupt me if you have a question or think I'm being unclear or anything," Lydia prefaced, and Jay winced at how much of himself he could see in her- or rather, how much of her he could see in him? "So, I'm Lydia, nice to meet all of you. You're Master Wu's new students?"
They all shared a look- except Jay who was having a mini freak out in the corner.
Nya balked. "Wait, are you saying that you… used to be his student?"
"Oh, yeah, I guess I left that part out," Lydia laughed nervously. "I guess once an elemental master, always an elemental master, right?"
"What is your element?" Zane asked curiously, all of them relaxing now that they had found a natural ally in a fellow elemental master.
"Oh, well, I used to be Master of-"
"I'm Jay!" The blue ninja interrupted, standing up and extending his hand. Because if Lydia revealed her element- that was lightning- like his- they would know- that they must be related- and Jay- couldn't-process- this- right- now.
But, then he realized his mistake. Though he had figured out that his biological mother had died early in his life, which Jay concluded led to him being left up for adoption, she would most likely know her son's name. That, coupled with the knowledge that he was an elemental master would let her figure out that-
She smiled, taking his hand, obviously relieved that someone else was taking the initiative. "Nice to meet you, Jay."
She didn't know.
Reeling with this new information, Jay stumbled backward into his seat.
"I'm Lloyd, this is Zane, that's Cole," the Green Ninja introduced, pointing at the respective ninja, though he raised an eyebrow at Jay's strange behavior. "And, over there are Kai and Nya."
Lydia furrowed her brow. "Kai and Nya, Kai and Nya, why do those names sound familiar…?" She gasped, snapping her fingers. "You're Ray and Maya's kids!"
The siblings immediately straightened in their seats. "You knew our parents?" Kai asked eagerly.
"Oh, yeah, we go way back! Maya was always so sweet, like a big sister to me! And, Ray was… well, he was Ray," she chuckled fondly at the memory of her former teammates.
"So, you know what happened to them?" Kai asked, his tone insistent as he leaned forward in his seat. Nya placed a steadying hand on his arm.
Lydia's face crumpled, and she shook her head. "Oh, no, honey, we left the team at around the same time, and I, um, died pretty soon after that. I'm sorry."
Kai's face fell, and Nya leaned against him.
"May I ask why you left the team?" Zane questioned, apparently only to sate his own curiosity.
Lydia seemed suddenly embarrassed, even if ghosts were incapable of blushing. "Oh, I left for the same reason Ray and Maya left."
When it seemed like she might elaborate further, Jay spoke up, "Not to be rude, but can we please talk about what the heck is going on around here?" Because, Jay knew Ray and Maya left the team to raise a family, and Lydia explaining that she got pregnant would only lead to an interrogation about what her element was and who her child was… which would inevitably lead to the realization that the child in question was right here. Jay did not want to open that can of worms just yet, so the best plan was to change the subject before anybody else connected the dots.
"Right," Lydia laughed nervously again then tapped her chin. "Hm, where should I start?"
"Is it true that all of our worst enemies have formed an alliance?" Lloyd prompted helpfully.
"Yes," she replied, revelling in the simplicity of the yes or no question. "Samukai, Chen, General Cryptor and his nindroids, and Kozu and his Stone Warrior army," she listed off on her fingers.
"Is it true that they could possibly become human again?" Zane asked.
"Well- I think so," Lydia explained sheepishly. "No one knows exactly what happened at the meeting- that is, all of the bad guys I just listed and Morro were invited to a meeting by some mysterious benefactor."
"Mysterious benefactor?" Nya repeated disbelievingly.
"No one knows who organized it!" Lydia insisted. "But, apparently, they found something called the Yin Blade. I don't know all the details, but somehow they can use it to become human again. So, Morro took it."
Lloyd furrowed his brow. "Morro took it?"
"He took the Yin Blade and disappeared. No one knows where he is now, but every ghost in the Departed Realm is looking for him."
"That's why there are all those wanted posters of him?" Cole asked. "The bad guys want to get the Yin Blade back from him."
Lydia nodded solemnly. "Right."
"So, what about the uh…," Kai trailed, gesturing at head so that where he was pointing mirrored the position of Lydia's green streak in her hair.
She peered at him uncomprehendingly, then brightened with understanding. "Oh!" She exclaimed, grabbing the green lock of hair self-consciously. "Well, that's the thing. It's basically a civil war. The bad guys have promised that anyone who catches Morro will also get to become human- so you can imagine that like eighty five percent of the Departed Realm is on their side. But, the fifteen percent of us who think the dead should stay dead put the green streak in our hair to identify us as Lost Souls."
All the ninja shared looks with each other. "Lost Souls?" Lloyd repeated.
Lydia slapped a hand to her face. "Ugh, I told you I wasn't very good at explaining. Lost Soul is the term we use for anyone that's on Morro's side of the war. It's the name of the camp he started with Gem that a lot of us are a part of."
Cole snapped his fingers. "The Gem and Morro Tour of Redemption!" He smiled. "Wow, I'm glad they shortened the name."
"Is this 'camp' where you're taking us now?" Lloyd asked, still mildly suspicious.
Lydia bobbed her head. "Yep! Gem and Corrine," Cole brightened at the mention of his mother, "are waiting for you guys! We weren't sure when- or if- you would arrive, but we managed to figure out that you would end up in the city, so we had teams patrolling there constantly. They must have heard the you guys are here by now."
"How long until we get there?" Kai asked impatiently, glancing out the window at the rapidly changing landscape.
"'Bout an hour or so? Then we have to drive for a little while…"
"What about defense?" Zane asked, a hand on his chin. "Surely our enemies must have heard of our arrival by now as well."
"They don't know where the camp is- and we take great pains to make sure they don't find out," Lydia reassured. "And, the train is just about the only territory we have in the city. We just don't have the numbers to defend anything else."
She breathed out a deep exaggerated breath, collapsing onto a seat. "That was a lot of explaining. Are you guys good for now?"
They shared smirks at her over dramatic behavior. "Yeah, we're good," Cole informed her.
And, they were good, for now at least. They sank into their chairs, ruminating on all of the new information they had received, revelling in the last few moments of peace before they threw themselves into a war.
Jay scrambled to get his thoughts in order, throwing glance after glance at Lydia in front of him and across the aisle. She didn't know who he was- so what was he supposed to say?! How was he supposed to talk to the mother he had never met?!
But, he had stared at those few photographs for hours, wondering what it would be like just to talk to her, just to meet her, just to ask her… why they gave him up.
And, here was his chance. Right in front of him. She was right there…
After twenty minutes of building up the courage, Jay stood and shuffled out his seat and approached hers, earning quite a few stares from his teammates.
"Can I, uh…," he faltered when she looked up at him with the friendly, downright sparkling blue eyes. "Can I sit here?" He asked lamely, pointing at the empty seat beside her.
"Of course!" She smiled invitingly, and the blue ninja sank into the chair gratefully. "Jay, right?"
"Yeah," he mumbled, glancing behind him to make sure his siblings were embroiled in conversations of their own and wouldn't overhear his. "I, uh, just wanted to ask you about- you know, earlier when you said you left for… the same reasons as Ray and Maya- I don't mean to pry! I was just curious-"
She laughed. It was rather unattractive, like the braying of a donkey, but that only meant it was sincere and Jay found himself grinning at the sound of it.
"No, no, it's okay!" She reassured, patting his arm. "I don't mind- I like talking about it!" She sighed, as if looking longingly back into the past. "I got pregnant at around the same time Maya did, so I left the team. Cliff and I were dirt poor at the time, but he was going to hit his big break any day! He was an incredible actor," she added, her tone lovesick and reminding him entirely too much of the voice he used when talking about Nya.
"And the baby?" Jay all but whispered, watching his mother with bated breath. He didn't think he would get so emotional since he hadn't even known her and Edna was his mom mom, and yet, here he was, wishing she would keep talking forever.
Lydia's face fell, and her hand subconsciously drifted to her stomach, as if she could still feel the baby bump there. "My son- sorry, Cliff and I were still arguing about the name by the time he was born, so I don't know what Cliff ended up calling him. I… died in childbirth."
Jay gaped in horror. "I'm… sorry."
She looked away, composing herself. When she looked back there was a smile on her face, but Jay could tell it was forced if only because he had made the same exact expression too many times to count.
"It's okay," she reassured him. "I have the Lost Souls to keep me company until he and Cliff get here. I can't wait to meet him!"
And, Jay felt the sudden impulse to tell her right then and there. Announce it to the whole train car, it's me, it's me, I'm right here!
When Lydia kept speaking.
"I spend a lot of my time imagining what he'll be like," she laughed, leaning her head back against the seat. "I mean, he'll have my sense of humor, of course, and Cliff's good looks. If he inherited my element, then he'll be a fighter, which means he'll be brave and strong."
Jay shut his mouth with a click when he saw Lydia's dreamy expression, apparently seeing the image of the son she had created in her mind.
Sense of humor? Well, definitely. But, good looks? Brave? Strong? No, no, and no. Really, more of a lover than a fighter despite his full time job as a ninja.
Lydia suddenly brightened. "Hey, maybe you know him! The Master of Lightning? He'd be right around your age by now."
Jay's breath caught in his throat, and he struggled to force himself to speak.
"No," he said very quietly. "I don't know him."
Lydia deflated with disappointment. "Oh." When she noticed Jay's crestfallen expression, she nudged him with her arm. "Hey, it's okay! Waiting a little longer isn't going to kill me. Obviously," she said, chuckling at her own joke.
Jay cracked a smile at that but didn't reply, turning away slightly so he could look at anything but her.
:O! Another dead mother of a main character?! I'm sorry, I couldn't resist after they gave us the little glimpse of her in Hands of Time XD
Also, we're using cartoon logic to jump onto a moving train because it's awesome XD