The ride to the Bounty was silent, as we all were still taking in what just happened. Cole's a ghost now, but we got the scroll of Airjitsu!...but Cole's a ghost. He can't touch anything, eat anything, or even dare to get near water. I had an assumption that the eating part would be very hard on him, as he tended to eat a lot. Sometimes even binge eat. Now, he can't do that. The food would just phase right through him. I felt really sorry for him. How would he be able to explain this to his parents? How would he be able to enjoy his favorite food, cake? What worried me even more, how long will he last? Ghosts can't always be around forever, and I fear we may have a fatal slip up with water some day and unintentionally kill Cole. I hoped what I feared would never happen, though, hopes can't always save someone.
When we arrived at the Bounty, Nya immediately ran up to us, greeting us all, then running up to Lilly.
"You're my sister, aren't you!?" Nya asked, her eyes wide. Lilly looked utterly confused.
"Um, what?" she asked, giving a I-think-this-girl-is-high look.
"There's no way there can be two masters of water without them being related!" Nya said, not knowing Lilly wasn't really the master of water.
"Woah, you're the master of water Nya? Sweet!" Kai said from behind everyone, giving the smile of a proud older brother.
"I'm guessing you haven't told Nya the thing yet," I said.
"What thing?" Nya asked, now the confused one. Lilly sighed and went through the story again of how she gained her powers through messing with the Elemental Forge of Ice. Nya looked quite surprised about it.
"No wonder you said you couldn't use your powers after your hand was broken," she said. Lilly nodded.
"I honestly think it's great you're the master of water, Nya. You're going to be a huge help in fighting Morro and his ghost army, but I do ask one thing. Please be careful around Cole," she advised. Cole walk-floated into view, his depressed look lingering on his face. Nya gasped out of shock.
"Cole...you're..." her voice trailed off.
"Yeah I know. You don't need to remind me," Cole said quietly, walking past her towards his room.
"I feel sorry for him," I said. It's even worse because we don't know how to turn him back.
"Same. And I thought the only guy I'd ever feel sorry for is that one guy whose girlfriend turned into the moon," Jay said.
"That sounds rough," Kai commented. I swear I've heard of this somewhere before.
After handing the scroll of Airjitzu over to Sensei Wu, he asked me to retrieve Ronin. Freaking. Ronin. Of all people! Why is he even here in the first place!?
"He's most likely napping in the controls room," Sensei Wu informed me as I went to go find the blasted pirate. I stormed down the hallway and opened the door to the controls room to find Ronin slouching and snoring in one of the chairs.
"Hey! Wake up!" I shouted. It wasn't very effective, as he continued to snore. Then, an idea popped into my head. I walked to Lilly and I's room. Our stuffs gotta be in here, unless they left it at Steep Wisdom.
Fortunately, I found the thing I was looking for on one of the tables. The one, the only, airhorn. Oh, it's been so long since I've used this baby. Last time I used it, Lilly fell off her bed and faceplanted on the floor. Of course, that was four months ago. Now, maybe I can get Ronin to faceplant!
I snuck back quietly to the control room. I first made sure Ronin was still asleep, then I held out the airhorn and pressed the button. The beautiful sound erupted from the horn, startling Ronin and waking him up.
"The jig is up! The news is out! They finally found me!" Ronin said quickly in reaction to being woken up so suddenly. What does he mean by 'they finally found me'?
Ronin turned and noticed me at the door. "What the hell did you wake me up for, pipsqueak?" he asked, a little peeved.
"Sensei Wu asked me to retrieve you for something," I said. Then, I walked over and stuck the airhorn by his ear and pressed the button, the BRRRRRRRRRRNNN! erupting from the horn. "And I'm no pipsqueak."
Ronin covered his ears. "Gah! I've already lost my eye and my shop, I don't need to lose my hearing too!"
"Then maybe you shouldn't have called me pipsqueak, old creep," I said.
Ronin muttered under his breath and followed me out to the deck, where my friends and Sensei Wu stood. The only person missing was Cole.
We immediately started learning Airjitsu then, with Ronin watching us from the goal, a red flag flying above. I watched Kai and Jay try Airjitsu, which the tornado for it looked similar to spinjitsu, it was just wider and there was a sphere around the person using Airjistu. It's probably a shield or something. I didn't really expect myself did get Airjitsu down in a flash. I mean, it was only a year ago that I just learned spinjitsu. Everyone else here (minus Ronin) has most likely known spinjitsu for more than three years and most likely have a mastery of it, unlike me. Does spinjitsu mastery affect how you do Airjitsu?
When the time came for me to try, I found that the way to do it was easy. It was just a few motions, no spinning. It was almost like a dance to be honest. It was a piece of cake. I did the motions and then I was in the sphere inside the tornado. I flew upwards towards my goal, the red flag. Just when I thought I could reach it, the sphere disappeared, dropping me onto the pad on the ground.
"Ooh. Just a few inches short, pipsqueak," Ronin commented. I stood up immediately, annoyed.
"I said don't call me that!" I shouted. I could hear him laughing up there. Ugh, what's so funny about me being short!? And why does this guy feel the need to call me that!? Is he asking to get kicked in the face!?
After a bit of practicing, we all went off to do our own thing. Nya went off to see if Cole was doing alright, and Lilly & I just went to the room that was assigned to us. I flopped down on a cushion, feeling exhausted and anticipating an oncoming headache. Having not slept for about 48 hours straight, I started to drift off to sleep, when the sound of Lilly rummaging through something caused me to wake up. I sat up to look and noticed she was holding something.
In her hands was a small syringe, filled with liquid that emitted a dim glow. She started to unwrap her broken hand then, making sure to take the bandages off with care.
"What are you doing?" I asked. She looked up from her hand.
"If I fix the shard now it will be easier. If I fix it later it will be harder," Lilly said, unwrapping the last bandage off her hand.
"So, what's in the syringe?" I asked.
"The stuff I made that gives me my powers. Aka, a modified and liquefied Elemental Forge of Ice," Lilly replied, sticking the needle into the scar on her hand without hesitation. Geez, if I had a needle in my hand I'd be screaming, but she just sticks herself without hesitation and sits there like it's nothing! She injected the forge into her hand, the glowing blue liquid disappearing into the needle and into her hand. She took the needle out of her hand and sat back.
"That's it?" I asked. She shook her head.
"Nope. It comes with a crap ton of pain that lasts for about an hour too. The lady who taught me how to do this compared the worst pain of this to labor pain. Though, the worst pain I've gotten so far was something similar to the feeling of your hand getting broken five times at once," she explained, wincing in the middle of her sentence. I was surprised when she mentioned the lady. Are there other people like Lilly?
"Wait, lady? You didn't teach yourself how to do this? Does that mean there are other people like you?" I inquired.
"I...guess? I have no idea. I never saw the lady again after she told me about it," Lilly said, wincing again from pain, "Last I remember, she said she wanted to gain the powers of lava just by using the forges for fire and earth. Though, I think you have to have metal in the equation to get lava. I'm not sure. I only have a middle school level education."
I heard a small gasp, then someone say "Finally! Something I'm better at than you!"
I sat up to see Kai at the door, smirking like an idiot.
"Yeah, so!? I can still kick your ass in a sparring match!" Lilly stood up immediately, wincing a bit from the pain in her hand.
"But I can solve math problems like x/3 + 5 = 36," Kai said, triumphantly. Lilly blinked, not understanding a word he said.
"Um, what?" she asked, looking to me for help.
"Ha! See!?" Kai pointed. Lilly stomped up to him, obviously a little ticked.
"You know, I'd like to have a round two of that swordfight we had last year," Lilly glared at him.
"Bring it on," Kai smirked. It was then, their faces were close enough that one of the spikes in Kai's hair poked Lilly in the eye, causing her to stumble backward and curse.
"What the heck!? Your stupid hair stabbed my eye!" she said.
"My hair's not stupid, it's awesome, and it poking you in the eye was a defense mechanism," Kai smiled.
"So you admit to your hair being an actual porcupine?" Lilly snickered.
"How the heck would I be able to keep a porcupine on my head?" Kai asked. Lilly shrugged.
"Magic," she said simply, rubbing her eye.
"Well, anyway, I just wanted to tell you guys Misako's going to be showing us a presentation on our next destination soon, so, whenever you guys are ready go ahead and head over to the dining room," Kai informed us. So, that's why he was at the door.
"You still owe me a swordfight, Porcupine," Lilly said.
"Expect one in the future," Kai smiled and winked, before disappearing behind the door. Lilly sat on the floor for a minute, before groaning, lying back, and covering her face with her arms.
"Still convinced that's how you two flirt with each other, and I have to say, it's a pretty odd way to do that," I said. Lilly stayed silent, not protesting or giving me the "I don't like him!" excuse. "Seriously though, what's the deal between you two?"
Lilly sighed. "To put it simply, I don't know if he really does like me or not."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Listen, you don't need to hide it from me. Cole already told me what had been going on between him and Skylor, that waitress girl. And really, if it's still a thing, I don't want to get between them. I don't want to be that kind of person," Lilly said, a sadder tone in her voice. I was pretty shocked to hear Cole had told her already. I expected him to say something about it after this whole ordeal with Morro, but instead he told her earlier.
"Cole told me they stopped being a thing two months ago," I said, "And besides, didn't you two idiots kiss at the train station last year?"
"But you don't know if that's true or not. And really, I doubt what happened at the train station even matters to him," Lilly said. She sounded genuinely hurt, which made me feel really sorry for her. I didn't know what to say then, which made me feel even worse. What do I do!? If I don't say anything, she's going to think I don't care! But if I say the wrong thing she's going to be even more upset!
"I...I don't get what it is," Lilly said, her voice quivering, "Is it the fact that my powers aren't natural? Is it because I'm dumb and not as smart as everyone else? Is it because I don't know how to act!? Is it because she's beautiful and most likely a much better person than I'll ever be? Is it just because I'm not good enough? Is that it?"
I saw tears spilling from her eyes as she laid there. "I just...I don't know what to do anymore," she sniffed, wiping tears from her eyes.
"Maybe you should talk to him at some point, because it sounds like you two need to clear some things up," I said. It's what Luo always told her friends to do when they had issues with other friends/boyfriends/girlfriends. It seemed to help her friends a lot, but would it help Lilly's situation?
"I don't even know if I can do that. We're so busy with Morro we don't usually have time like this to slow down," Lilly said, still wiping tears from her eyes, "Besides, I don't think it's Kai's fault for this."
"Then, who's fault do you think it is?" I asked. Lilly was silent for a moment, then she slowly pointed at herself. Wait...why does she think this all is her fault? She hasn't done anything wrong!
"It's all because I act like my mom, and the only way I know how to act is how I saw my mother act around her friends, my father, and my family...when they were still around," Lilly said, looking at the floor, "I was just hoping that you could possibly teach me how to act the way you do. Teach me how you make friends so easily, and please, just teach me how to be kind and positive like you are."
"Lilly, you don't need to act like me. That'd just be...wrong. Though, you do need work on how you communicate your feelings, please don't act the way I do. Your personality is fine the way it is right now," I said. My words were true. Everyone has a unique personality shaped by their interests, mood, and so many other things. Why try to make it like someone else's when the one you have now is just fine? Sure, you may need tiny fixes, but your personality is supposed to show who you are.
I heard Lilly sigh. She got up and picked up the roll of bandages.
"Everyone's probably waiting for us in the dining room. We should get going," she said quietly. She walked out the door, leaving me in the room. I felt upset that I could only think of one way to help her, and I started to doubt anything I said helped her at all. If only I was as huge a help as I always make myself out to be, huh?
I got up and walked out of the room. I was starting to feel stressed. I wanted to save Lloyd and stop Morro, but at the same time I wanted to resolve the issue between Lilly and Kai, but I also wanted to find a way to make Cole human again. There were so many things I wanted to do, but now its getting to the point where I don't even know what to do. I want to help everyone. I want to save everyone, but there's only so much I can do. I can only do things one at a time. I felt stressed because, I can't resolve all their issues right now. I always thought I could resolve issues in a snap, and I'd be relieved when I'd see my friends smile afterwords, but now, I won't see some of my friends smile, and it hurts me. I just want to see them happy, and to be honest, I'd rather they be happy instead of me. I want them all to live great and happy lives, lives better than mine. They've all had really rough times in the past unlike me, so why not? I want them to live better lives than me. They deserve it.
If only I knew how to cure everyone of sadness.