I really need to update this story more... Also, have any of you noticed the fact that I usually seem to have Jay be one of the main characters in my Ninjago stories? I'm not entirely sure why, but I guess that I just like the way that his character is written.
"...What?" I said, widening my eyes and staring at Jay, dumbfounded. He grinned, gesturing to the dragon behind me.
"You heard what I said," Jay replied, stepping closer before slowly walking behind me, moving to where the dragon was. I turned around, watching as Jay approached the dragon. I heard a low growl come from the dragon, before Jay held out his hand a little. "Easy, girl. I'm a friend. Calm down." At that, the dragon stopped growling, simply looking at Jay.
"How-how did you do that?" I asked, looking at Jay. "And how do you know that the dragon is a she?"
"You have a lot to learn, Alex," he said, turning towards me. "First of all, dragons always share the same gender as their Elemental, as well as some of the same powers. Secondly," Jay grabbed my hand, flipping it over and tracing the lines on my palm, "look at these lines. They match the markings under her eyes. And thirdly, if you have any scars, she'll have them in the same exact place." I was stunned, not knowing what to say.
"So, I... found this bracelet earlier, and then I walked to the cliffs where the dragons were," I said, carefully unhooking the bracelet and handing it to Jay, the dragon's eyes following the piece of metal. "And then... she showed up, and carried me here."
"Hmm..." Jay muttered, examining each charm, until he fell on the paw print. "Animals... that's different. I guess that makes sense, but the only thing similar is..." Jay shook his head, handing the bracelet back to me. "Nevermind." He said quickly.
"C'mon," Jay said, once I had fastened the bracelet back onto my wrist. "Let's get her back to the cliffs. Its not the best idea to have an Elemental Dragon flying around this place. It draws too much attention."
"But... that's not to say that we can't have one good fly with her." I looked at Jay warily, nervous about what he was suggesting.
"Okay, so, click your tongue to have her take off, and then do it again to have her land," Jay said, sitting behind me on the dark brown scales.
"Why can't you control her?" I asked, turning towards Jay.
"Because I'm not her Elemental," Jay replied. "Now come on, click your tongue." I sighed, looking over at Jay one last time before doing as he said.
The dragon simply looked at me, confused.
"You gotta do it louder," Jay said to me, tapping my shoulder. I rolled my eyes, clicking my tongue twice, louder than before. The dragon shot straight up into the air, forcing me to cling tightly to her scales. Jay was yelling, the wind carrying his voice. Somehow, he was holding on with only his legs, one of his hands pressing into my left shoulder blade, the other on the lower right part of my back. My fingers were digging into the scales on her back, and I was carefully avoiding the scars on her back.
"See!?" Jay yelled over the wind, steadying me as the dragon began to level out, banking to the left, flying towards the cliffs. "This is freedom! This is how things should be; no longer having to live in shacks in the middle of a war! This, is living!" I turned, looking at him over my shoulder, unable to hide the grin that split my face. Then the dragon began to fly downwards, towards the stretch of grass that lead to the cliffs, before Jay gasped.
"Get down!" Jay hissed, pushing my stomach against the back of the dragon, and then practically laying on top of me, flipping his hood up. "Don't move. I saw someone in the cliffs down there, riding one of the dragons. We need to stay hidden."
"Okay," I said quietly, nodding as much as I could.
"Tell her to land," Jay told me, his voice right next to my ear. "Two clicks, then say where." I clicked my tongue twice, and the dragon began to descend, moving in wise circles towards the ground.
"Grass," I said quietly, and a few seconds later the dragon touched down. She folded her wings in a way that hid Jay and I. then Jay slowly began to move, sliding off of the dragon and landing quietly on the ground. He ducked behind one of her legs, quietly peering out around it. "What are you doing?!" I hissed, looking down at him. Jay looked up at me, holding his finger to his lips.
"I'm getting Wisp," he said quietly. "I saw a blue dragon down there when we were flying." Jay began to crawl towards the edge of the cliff, moving slowly through the tall grass, my dragon's gaze following his movements. Once Jay had moved to the edge of the cliff, he peered through the grass, he looked down. "Wisp! Wisp, get up here now! Wi-" Then he stopped, his shoulders dropping as he moved backwards, towards where me and my dragon were.
"Jay?" I said, still keeping my voice low. "Jay, what's wrong?" He quickly stood up, getting back on the dragon behind me.
"That's not Wisp," Jay said, shaking his head. "That's Oceania. She'd listen to me, but... I'd rather not. It brings up some painful memories."
"Oceania..." I murmured. "That sounds like a name that a water Elemental would use, right?" Jay nodded weakly.
"We're trying to get her back right now," he said quietly. "There's a reason Oceania listens to me, but she'll also listen to Kai, at least occasionally."
"So that means... that she's Nya's dragon?" I asked, trying to hide what I already knew from the show. "Nya's a Water Elemental?"
"Yeah," Jay said, nodding in confirmation. "And she's a damn good one, too. Oceania tried going after her, and it took a long time to convince her to stay. Because if a dragon dies, so does its Elemental's powers, and that's why we're so resilient. Whenever an Elemental gets hit, it's dragon takes most of the damage. And that's why if an Elemental gets too badly injured, they run the risk of losing their powers."
"I'll hep you get her back," I said, smiling, looking back at Jay. "I promise." Then I gently rubbed a patch of scales on the dragon's back. "Ari, trees."
Jay and I climbed off of Ari's back once we were safely withing the cover of the trees, and Jay looked over at me once I had sent her back to the cliffs.
"What?" I asked, turning away from his gaze. "Why're you looking at me like that?"
"I'm wondering where that came from," Jay said, a smile on his face. "Ari. It's different." I smiled, shrugging.
"It was the name of one of my friends," I said, making up a quick lie. "That, and it means animal. Fitting, don't you think?"
"It'd be more fitting if you were telling the truth," Jay shot back, making me jump. "Ari is the name of one of Cole's friends, who was captured and killed by Garmadon himself when the shit hit the fan for the first time. She was one of Wu's friend's daughters, and he was teaching her, or something of the sort." Then Jay turned, beginning to walk ahead of me. "It's not a good idea to lie about things that didn't happen to you."
I stood there, dumbfounded, as Jay disappeared into the trees. After a minute, I followed after him numbly, knowing that there was a long, silent walk ahead of us.
Woo! Another chapter (albeit EXTREMELY overdue), and some shit goes down. A new character is introduced (somewhat), but that's only if you guys consider a dragon to be a character. Also, Ari actually does mean animal, and yes, I am going to explain exactly what happened to Nya, hopefully within the next few chapters. And did anyone else pick up on the subtle foreshadowing about Alex? Let me know in a review if you did! CameronNinjaDragons, signing off.