STORY 3

NEW GIRL NEXT DOOR

Inside Garmadon`s monastery, Lloyd was standing in the middle of the training room with a blindfold over his eyes. After the young ninja`s second battle with the snakes, it was time to get in some serious training. Garmadon knew that his son was willing to fight and he was happy to teach him. Since the Hypnobrai`s main power is hypnotizing people and putting them under their control, Lloyd had to learn how to fight with his eyes closed and how to use his other senses when he was in a fight. Right now his father was hiding somewhere in the training room and he didn't know where he was. He heard footsteps coming from the right direction, but his father was heading towards the left. Lloyd didn't make it in time and was tackled by a snake dummy. He fell to the floor, landing flat on his back. His father couldn't control his laughter. Lloyd removed the blindfold off his eyes.

"This is hopeless," Lloyd said, "I can hear you coming from one direction, but then your in a different direction. What am I doing wrong?"

"Your ears are trying to trick you," Garmadon said, "You thought someone was in one direction when I was in the other direction. You have to think of it in the opposite way. You also have to use your sense of touch. Use a rule that always helps. Use the three second rule. Wait three seconds so you can hear them coming, whether your eyes are closed or not. When you finally figured out which direction their in, face that way to where you opponent is."

"A three second rule? I thought there was a five second rule when you drop food on the floor and someone only has five seconds to pick it up."

"That's just something children make up nowadays. The three second rule is a fighting tip. It was the same thing my father taught me when I was your age. Every ninja has to learn every fighting technique in the book, especially you. If you're to become one of the greatest ninja in all of Ninjago, you have to learn all sorts of techniques. Plus, you need to have a sensei that can teach you all that you need to know. Luckily, you have a sensei that can help you."

"It's you, isn't it?"

"You're right about that. We'll continue training tomorrow. I need to start preparing for my next class. In the meantime, go home and clean up the furniture. No video games."

"Gotcha, Dad."

Lloyd changed into his regular clothes and walked home. His father had taken away his skateboard for two weeks after the incident that happened last night. Kai`s house was set on fire by the Hypnobrai after they finally retrieved their staff. Lloyd tried to stop them, but it didn't go as well as he thought. He hardly got in any training so it was hard to fight. Plus, he wasn't even suppose to be out. His parents had to leave so they hired a babysitter to watch him, which turned out to be Zeah, an old family friend. He snuck out and tried to fight the Hypnobrai himself. Since it didn't work, he failed and was caught. So he was grounded for two weeks from video games and skateboarding. At least he wasn't grounded from TV. His favorite show, Captain Gladiator, would be coming on tonight and he couldn't wait to see the new episode. On his way home, he saw Nick sitting on the curb. Lloyd stopped walking and looked at him.

"What are you doing?" Lloyd asked.

"Nothing much," Nick said, "I'm just sitting out here and enjoying the view of things."

"I wish I could join you, but I gotta head home. My dad wants me to finish cleaning the rest of the furniture and I gotta help Kai move in."

"I can't believe one of our teachers is moving into your house. How long is he staying?"

"Just until his house is rebuilt. It is kind of my fault that his house was on fire in the first place. If anything, he needs a place to stay."

"I thought it was the Hypnobrai that put the house on fire. Well, that's what I heard."

"It was, but I tried to stop them. I didn't have enough training to fight them. Now my dad is teaching me how to fight the snakes."

"I hope it works out for you. By the way, have you visited your cousin anytime in the past."

"Not since her birthday, which was in June. Why do you ask?"

"She came over to my house first thing yesterday morning and she wouldn't leave until my mom told her it was time to go home. She kept talking about her new pet rabbit that she got the other day."

"There's one thing you should always know about my cousin. She loves anything that's cute and soft."

"I don't care. I'm getting sick of her coming over to my house all the time and talking about such nonsense."

"Then why don't you just ask her to leave?"

"Yeah, I'm not the kind of person to ask a girl to leave my presence and never return. I've tried plenty of times on my sister, but my mom always caught me. It's not fair. I no longer have a father and I have to live with a sister that usually comes over to visit, a mother and a grandmother. Why do I live with a bunch of girls?"

"Nick, your sister's on her way over," Nick`s mother called out.

"Okay, Mom," Nick said, "I'll be inside in just a second." He turned his attention back to Lloyd. "You better start leaving, Lloyd. If my sister see`s any of my friends over, she'll go nuts. Just go ahead and walk away."

"Okay," Lloyd said, "I have to go, anyway. See you later."

Lloyd walked home and saw his mother next door, talking to Miss Allyman. Just one short year ago, Miss Allyman moved into the neighborhood. She was in her early twenties and looked as though she was fourteen. She had moved into town when she became the new coach for the Ninjago City cheerleading squad. The junior squad, to be exact, with all the girls around, above, or exactly Lloyd's age. The one thing Miss Allyman hasn't found when she moved to the city was the man of her dreams. Right now, a smile was patched up on her face as she was talking to Lloyd's mother.

"I can't believe this moment in my life finally came along," Miss Allyman said, "I'm finally going to be a mother."

"I'm so happy for you, Jessica," Misako said, "I'm sure your new daughter will be happy when she finally comes to live with you."

To make sure he couldn't be found, Lloyd hid behind Miss Allyman`s apple tree as he continued listening to the conversation.

"After four long months of payments, interviews and paperwork to fill out, I'm just so glad that my new daughter will be moving in tomorrow," Miss Allyman explained.

"Could you tell me some stuff about her?" Misako asked.

"Of course. Well, her name is Zelda. She's ten years old. She's lived in an orphanage all her life. She has a sweet little British accent and she's really polite. Plus, she's really smart. I saw a whole bunch of books under her bed, on her shelves and everywhere I could see. She has a lot of trophies from science fairs and talent shows. You will never find a little girl like her. She's calm and considerate, never causes any trouble and she's patient."

"That's the kind of daughter a mother would always want."

"The kind of daughter a mother has always dreamed of. Oh, I can't wait for tomorrow. I'm so excited, but kind of nervous at the same time."

"There's nothing to be nervous about. I'm sure everything will be just fine."

A car with a trailer pulled up in front of Lloyd's house. Kai climbed out of the car and waved towards Misako.

"I'm here, Misako," Kai called out. He looked over at Lloyd. "What are you doing over by that tree, Lloyd?"

Seeing that he was caught, Lloyd ran over to Kai. "Hey, Kai. So glad to see you. Hey, I'm really glad your moving in until your house is repaired. I hope it's repaired soon. Do you need some help moving in?"

"I think I can handle carrying all these boxes in myself," Kai said, "Besides, don't you have some furniture you need to clean up?"

"How did you know about that?"

"I was talking to your dad this morning before he left. Luckily, my chair wasn't burned in the fire. I lost my couch, though. Listen, I have another trailer full of stuff that I need to bring in before the end of the day, so I need to get started."

"Sure thing. Go ahead. Pretend that whole conversation didn't happen. In fact, pretend we didn't see each other at all."

Kai sighed as he took one of the boxes out of the trailer. Lloyd chuckled nervously as he walked back inside the house. It seems as though having a teacher from his school living with him won't be easy. At least he didn't lose a lot of things in the fire. Those were the things that Lloyd was able to help save.

Two young boys from a nearby village were running down a hill and headed straight for one of the most foggiest places ever known. Children were told countless times by their parents to never go into the fog, but of course, they didn't listen. In that fog was one of the most scariest cementaries in all of Ninjago. Legend has it that one of the mythical Serpentine tribes are located there, but nobody has ever went and discovered it. Probably because people that went inside the foggy cementary never came back out. These two boys didn't seem to be afraid to go there, though. They were too busy running around and having a jolly good time. By the time they entered the fog, it started to get dark.

"Oh, I knew it was a bad idea to come here," the little blond headed boy said, "I'm scared of the dark."

"Stop acting like such a scaredy cat," the little brown haired boy said, "There's nothing to be afraid of out here."

"If it's this dark and foggy, there is something to be afraid of."

The brown headed boy walked across the scary field, acting like he was the bravest person in the world. He saw something that looked like a shadow and reached out his hand to feel something smooth and cracked. He fanned the fog away and saw a statue of a two headed snake with their fangs showing. The brown haired boy looked at the statue in awe.

"Hey, come over here," little brown said, "This thing looks cool."

Little blond walked up and saw the statue. He jumped up and screamed in fear, hiding behind little brown. "That thing is scary. I told you scary things always happen when it's dark."

"Stop acting like such a crybaby. It's only a statue."

"Yeah, but do you know what statues are capable of? They can put a curse on people."

"That's just an old wise tail. Let me see what else I can find on this thing."

Little brown walked on the tomb of where the statue was placed at and start examining it. He wanted to see if there was some way he could open it. He found a tiny two headed snake statue and pulled on it, discovering that it was a lever. The ground started shaking and little brown walked off the tomb just in time to see the door open. Once it did, the ground stopped shaking and everything was silent except for the two little boys.

"What did you do?" little blond whimpered.

"All I did was search for a lever," little brown said, "Looks like I found it. You wanna see what's inside?"

"I'm not going down there. It looks really scary."

"Well, if you won't go down there, then I can't go down there. Mom told us that we had to stay together."

"Since when did you start listening to Mom?"

"Since that time when you got lost in the mall and I was the one that found you. Then we both got lost until Mom found us."

"I can understand that, but it still seems weird."

Suddenly, two glowing eyes stared at the two boys, making them both shake with fear. Another pair of eyes did the same thing. Little blond screamed when he saw it. Then the eyes started to talk. "Who do we-have here?"

The two boys started screaming and ran. Whatever it was that was in the tomb scared them both. A new tribe of snakes has been released.

At dinnertime, the Garmadons we're having a normal conversation about the day's events. As usual, Lloyd was picking at his vegetables, refusing to eat them. He was trying to zone out Kai`s voice as he continued to speak. Dinner was usually three people, but now that Kai was living with them, dinner would have its differences. Lloyd was trying to find a way to escape the dinner table without being caught. He was waiting for the right time for his parents to be distracted.

"So, as the resolution comes in, the insurance company will pay for all the damages that were made in the house," Kai explained, "They told me that even if the house was to be taken down, they would pay to have it rebuilt as well, along with everything that was inside of it. I could have a choice for how it should look. Of course, I can't put more than one bedroom in there. It still has to be the same size as it was from before. I'm just waiting to see what the construction workers will say about it."

"Well, whatever the reason, I'm sure they might consider taking it down and rebuilding it," Garmadon said, "It may take a few months, but it's all worth it."

"Oh, Garmadon, I almost forgot to tell you," Misako said, "Miss Allyman is finally going to be a mother."

Garmadon almost spit out his tea. "A mother? Why would she have kids? She's not even married."

"I didn't mean she was having children of her own. I meant that she was adopting someone. Tomorrow, she's bringing home a little girl that's actually Lloyd's age. Doesn't that sound wonderful, Lloyd?"

At that moment, Lloyd was already near the staircase. He was just about to take his first step up when he heard his father's voice.

"Lloyd, get back in here and finish your dinner," Garmadon said, "Until this entire plate is empty, your not going anywhere."

Lloyd went back into the dining room and sat down at his seat, staring at his plate in disgust.

"You know the saying, Lloyd," Kai said, "If you don't eat your vegetables, you don't get dessert."

"Which reminds me that there's still some leftover vanilla cake in the fridge," Misako said.

If there was anything Lloyd loved better than anything was cake. Cleaning off his plate, he ran into the kitchen with a look of approval in the fridge. There was enough cake for more than just him. He was hoping to get a good slice out of it. If there's one thing about getting kids to eat their vegetables is to promise them dessert afterwards. That was the one thing Lloyd's parents always did to trick him.

Outside of the snake tomb in the old foggy cementary, a group of snakes led themselves out of the tomb, looking to see they had been freed from being locked under there for hundreds of years. Now they were out, weapons drawn in hand, fangs showing and eyes glowing. Suddenly, a snake with two heads, a long tail, scaly red and white skin and a staff in their hand emerged from the fog. They showed their fangs to prove how horrifying they were.

"For centuries,-we have been-locked underground," the two headed snake said, "Now it is time-to get revenge-on the surface dwellers. Before we begin-our journey,-does anyone here-know a good place-we can terrorize?"

"Oh, I know a place," a snake in the crowd said, "It's a place called Ninjago City and its huge. It has lots of people there."

"Excellent," both heads of the snake said. They looked back at the crowd. "Tomorrow-we will find-this city-and take over. To get there sooner-let us begin-traveling. To Ninjago City!"

The snakes made their route to Ninjago City, with the two headed snake leader as their guide. For years, they have wanted a bigger army with more snakes. Now they would get just that. With the amount of vehicles and machines that are in the city, it would not be difficult for them to fight when in battle. Also, with the amount of people there, their army will be the biggest of all. They have their ways when it comes to raising an army.

Kai had only moved in for one day and he was already getting on Lloyd's nerves. For starters, Kai started waking the young ninja up in the morning. He was fully dressed and ready for the day. School would be starting up in a couple of weeks, so he had to start getting his classroom ready. Lloyd finally completed the task of fighting blindfolded, although he still needed a little more practice on how to fight. When the afternoon rolled around, Lloyd sat in the living room and watched television. Since the furniture was finally clean, it was suitable to sit on. Lloyd's eyes were still focused on the TV when Kai walked inside the house. He paid no attention to Lloyd as he walked inside the basement. When he was preparing to move in, Kai was given one half of the basement to live in. It was only temporary until his house was repaired. He came back up a moment later with a box in his hands. Before he went back out the door, he saw Miss Allyman pull up in her driveway. She opened the door in the backseat and a little girl climbed out of the vehicle. She looked around and examined the house, smiling at everything she saw.

"Well, looks like Miss Allyman`s brand new daughter has arrived," Kai said, "She seems to love the view."

"Why is she so important all of a sudden?" Lloyd asked, walking up to the window, "It's not like she's special or anything."

Once Lloyd looked out the window at her, his eyes became the shapes of hearts. She was everything that he had never seen in a girl his age before. Her hair was a couple of inches passed her shoulders and were pulled up in pigtails. Her eyes were sparkling blue and matched with her blonde hair. She wore a yellow shirt with a rainbow embroidered on it and lime green pants. She wore yellow sneakers that were as bright as the sun with all fake gems that were glued on them. With all that, she was the most beautiful little girl he ever saw. If he were an artist, he would paint her in a surrounding meadow near a tree.

A hand was placed in front of Lloyd's face. Kai was trying to snap him out of his zone. "Lloyd? Lloyd, snap out of it." Kai snapped his fingers. Luckily, it got Lloyd's attention.

"What happened?" Lloyd asked.

"You zoned out. Why did you freeze all of a sudden?"

"I don't know, Kai. I really don't know."

"Well, if you ever want to talk about it, you know where to find me."

Lloyd didn't think he could talk about it. He would be mortified if he told anyone that he now had a crush on the new little girl that was now living next door. Everyone would laugh and he would run away with blushed cheeks. The best thing to do was to keep it secret. As long as nobody figured it out, he was safe.

That night, the Garmadon family and Kai were in the living room. Misako was the only one not present, though. Lloyd was watching the news as his father was taking a nap. Kai was reading, which was usual. Misako was making dinner as she listened to the news on the radio. When she heard something about people disappearing, she stopped stirring ingredients in the bowl and listened to what the anchorwoman was saying.

"Six people from two different villages have been disappearing from the west side," the anchorwoman explained, "The disappearances were called in this morning when the two women and four men never showed up to work. Not only were the work businesses suspicious, but family members were as well. Some people have been reporting some unusual creatures lurking in the Birchwood forest. Unfortunately, these creatures have not been identified, but some say that they may be the cause for the disappearance of these six people. Back to you, Jeff."

Misako turned off the radio and walked into the living, seeing the silence that surrounded the place. "Looks like none of you bothered to watch the news."

"What?" Garmadon said, waking up, "I wasn't sleeping. What did you say?"

"Something important came on the news and you just missed it. Unusual creatures are lurking in the Birchwood forest."

"That hasn't come on the news," Lloyd said.

"It hasn't?" Misako asked.

"No. They just finished talking about six people being missing and all that."

"That's what I'm talking about. Didn't you hear them say something about unusual creatures?"

"I did hear them say something unusual is going on."

"Never mind, Lloyd. I'll just talk to your father about it." Misako looked to see Garmadon fall right back to sleep. "Garmadon!"

"What?" Garmadon said, shooting his eyes open, "What was that, Misako?"

"Never mind." She turned her attention back to Lloyd. "Lloyd, I'm taking you and I over to Miss Allyman`s tomorrow so we can meet her new daughter. This will finally give you a chance to make a new friend. Wear something nice. You always dress nicely in a lady's presence."

Lloyd's eyes almost popped out of his skull. He was meeting the new girl from next door tomorrow. There was already so much on his mind. Why must it be that something new had to enter it. Why do certain things always happen to him? The best he could do was find some way to get out of having to meet her tomorrow. He only had one plan and he didn't have time to lose. He went upstairs to his room and got started.

Morning finally came along and Lloyd was up before Kai could ever get into his room. Lloyd had a plan for what he needed to do. He got out some washable marker and his mother's bright orange cheek blush. He took out her hair dryer to make his fever believable. He used the blue marker to lightly add on his lips. He took out a gray marker and placed it under his eyes. Using the cheek blush, he placed it on both his cheeks, making them look bright pink. Finally, he blew the hair dryer on his face until his entire head felt warm. Once he finished that, he was ready for the only plan he had to work.

He left his room and faked cough as he walked downstairs. He saw his parents in the kitchen and wandered in weakly. He placed himself at the table as his mother looked to see that he was there. She gasped when she looked at him.

"Lloyd, are you alright?" Misako asked.

"Not really," Lloyd said, "I'm not feeling well today."

"Oh, you poor thing. Looks like we'll have to reschedule a time to go over to Miss Allyman`s."

"You won't have to," Garmadon said, walking up to Lloyd and rubbing marker off from his lips, "He's faking."

"Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon," Misako said, "What we're you thinking?"

"I guess I wasn't thinking at all," Lloyd said.

"Go clean yourself up and get dressed. We're going to Miss Allyman`s today."

With Lloyd's plan backfiring, he went upstairs and washed off his face. He got dressed in some good clothes and walked back downstairs. His mother examined him clearly.

"Looks like you're ready to go," Misako said, grabbing her purse.

"I'll try to visit another time," Garmadon said, "There are just too many classes for me to handle on Friday's."

"Have a good day, darling, and I'll tell Jessica you said hi." Misako kissed Garmadon as he walked to his car. Lloyd followed his mother to Miss Allyman`s house, where she was already waiting for them in her front yard.

"Hello, Misako," Miss Allyman said, "Hi there, Lloyd."

"Hello, Miss Allyman," Lloyd said.

"Follow me, Lloyd. There's someone very special I want you to meet. She's in the backyard." Miss Allyman led Lloyd into the backyard where he saw the new girl picking flowers. "There she is. Your mother will be in the house with me if you need her. Go introduce yourself."

Miss Allyman walked back into the house. Lloyd gulped. His cheeks started burning red when the young girl looked at him. A smile spread across her face as she walked up to him. "Hello, there. I'm Zelda. What's your name?"

Lloyd sighed as he became nervous. "I'm Lloyd. Lloyd Garmadon. I live right next door."

"It's so wonderful to meet you, Lloyd. It has been very silent here since I arrived." Her British accent was so clear and understandable, but Lloyd paid no attention to the words she said. He continued to stare into her blue eyes as Zelda rambled on. "Don't get me wrong. I love all my brothers and sister's from the orphanage, but the time has come for me to start a new life."

"That's interesting."

"You should be lucky to have a family that loves you and takes care of you. I've spent practically much whole life in an orphanage. I've always wondered who my real parents were, but as my foster mother used to say, DNA does not make a family. Loves does."

"Yeah. Your right about that. Speaking of-" Before Lloyd could finish, something jumped out of the tree. Lloyd didn't see who it was, but it became suspicious.

"What is it? Did you see something, Lloyd?"

"Oh, no. It wasn't anything. I thought I saw something."

"Were you trying to say something before?"

"Oh, yeah. Okay, speaking of-" Lloyd was cut off by two red snake heads peeking over the fence. His eyes widen with fear.

"Are you alright, Lloyd?"

"Actually, I think I need to use the bathroom. I'll be right back."

"Alright. I won't go anywhere."

Lloyd ran towards the house. Once Zelda turned her head away, Lloyd ran to the side of the house. He did spinjitzu and changed into his ninja uniform. He climbed over the fence to search for the snake. He walked around carefully and was sneaking his way to the tree where he saw the snake. He hid behind the corner of the fence when he saw them. It was a group of snakes with their general, but it was a different tribe. Mostly all the snakes in the group had one head except for the leader, who had two. It was weird. What kind of snake would grow two heads? Suddenly, he heard something coming from his right side, but it was closer to his left side. He counted to three in his head. One... two... three!

Lloyd turned to his left side and kick a snake in the side of his head. The three second rule worked. Instead of hearing it from one side, he heard it from another. Soon, three snakes were down, but there was a whole group of them to go. All of them stopped moving and stood in one place. The only one that moved was the two headed general, who's eyes glared at Lloyd.

"What do you-think you're doing?" the general asked.

"I'm the green ninja, and I wanna know what's going on," Lloyd said.

"That is none-of your business." Their fangs showed greatly.

"Whoa! You guys have sharp fangs. I'm sure whatever helps you guys in battle, your fangs do all the talking."

"You could-say that."

The general swung his staff at Lloyd, who ducked and jumped in the air. He kick one of the snakes head in the face, but it hurt both heads. As they say, two heads are better than one, but they can still get hurt. With the general distracted, Lloyd jumped back into Miss Allyman`s backyard. He heard someone scream. Looking up in the tree, he saw Zelda in the grasp of a snake. Lloyd didn't have much time to waste. Being an expert on climbing trees, he jumped from branch to branch until he was face to face with the snake.

"Let her go!" Lloyd demanded.

"Or what?" the snake asked.

"Or I'll do this."

Lloyd jumped up and landed behind the snake. Lloyd pinched the snake in the arm, turning around and flinging Zelda in the air. Somehow, Lloyd caught her and held the young girl bridal style. His cheeks blushed, but Zelda didn't seem to notice. He jumped out of the tree and placed Zelda on the ground. Zelda ran over close to the house as Lloyd continued to fight. With the amount of snakes taken down, the general didn't think they could take it anymore, especially with one little ninja.

"Retreat!" the two headed general shouted.

The snakes ran off from the area and so did Lloyd. He went back over to the side of the house and did spinjitzu, wearing his normal clothes again. He walked into the backyard and saw Zelda, who ran over to him.

"Lloyd, you missed everything," Zelda said, "These snakes came and they almost tried to kidnap me, but a little green colored hero came along and saved my life. Oh, Lloyd, I wish you could've been here to see it."

"Yeah, but I spent a little longer in the bathroom than I should have. I was trying to fix my hair. I'm always doing that."

"Oh. Well, maybe next time. I wonder who those mysterious creatures were."

"I guess we'll never know."

"Lloyd, it's time to go," Misako said.

"Coming, Mom," Lloyd said. He turned his attention to Zelda. "Well, I guess I better be going now. I'm right next door if you ever need anything."

"Perhaps you will come and visit again soon," Zelda said, "I will see you another day."

"That's a promise I can keep."

Lloyd ran over to his mother as they both walked home. Misako caught a glimpse in her son's eye. "Did you get to know Zelda some today?"

"Not really," Lloyd said, "Some new snake tribe came along and ruined everything. Luckily, was able to defeat them."

"I saw you save Zelda in the process." Misako sighed. "Lloyd, you don't have to hide your true feelings away from me. I know you like Zelda. It's love at first sight. Once you take a look at them, you realize that they're your true soul mate. I see why you like her. You both may end up as childhood sweethearts one day. For now you both are known as acquaintances."

"Promise me that you won't tell anybody that I have a crush on Zelda."

"I promise."

"You can't tell Dad either."

"Well, I can't keep a secret from your father." Misako kissed her son on the forehead. "Oh, about the snakes, I'll explain to you what they are on another time. Let's go and get some ice cream."

Kai`s truck pulled up in the driveway with a filthy Kai covered in dirt and dust coming out of the car. "They demolished my house. Looks like I'll be staying here a little longer than expected."

All anyone did at the moment was laugh. A lot of things can happen. Once you think something good won't happen in the future, you actually see that it can. That's one thing people will try to realize.

THIRD STORY HAS FINALLY BEEN COMPLETE.

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