Sorry for the delay! Wanted to write one more chapter of King Me! before I focus almost fully on this one.
Anyways, this chapter isn't anything special. You get to be in Kai and Astra's minds for a bit but that's really it.
Also I realized I hadn't added when this story takes place, because it is a big mix of everything that has happened so far in the show with some things changed so I have added that into the author's note in the first chapter.
Enjoy!
Chapter 12: May the Light be With You
Back on the Bounty, Nya gave Astra a quick tour of their flying ship before they went to bed. It was the same as when she gave the tour to Reyna, showing her the kitchen, television room, bridge, training room, exercise room, the training equipment on the deck, the ninjas' room, and their own room. Then they all gathered on the deck because Sensei Wu had something to tell them.
"What do you have to tell us, Sensei ?" Cole asked, being the leader he is.
"I wanted to tell Astra that her training begins tomorrow." Said kunoichi looked a little nervous.
"Anything else?" Jay asked with a yawn. "I'm ready to go to sleep."
"Yes, one more thing. Tomorrow, at dawn, all of you will participate in sunrise exercise. No exceptions."
That got a groan from all of them, but they knew he was right. They needed to get back in shape again. "Yes, Sensei," everyone except Astra, who had to get used to the "yes Sensei" part, sounded like zombies. After all, they were tired.
Morning came too fast for Astra. They ate a quick breakfast made by Nya, then got right outside on to the deck. Surprisingly, their Sensei was already there, and of course he was drinking tea with his eyes closed.
"You're all late by exactly two minutes." he announced.
How can he tell without a watch or a clock or anything? Astra wondered.
Everyone but the two newer kunoichi became a bit uneasy. They knew he would usually make them train a bit longer if they were late.
"No matter," Wu said as he finished his tea and stood up. "It is time for sunrise exercise."
"Um, what's sunrise exercise?" Reyna asked, being new to this.
"All of you will do the stretches I do at the same time everyday," Wu replied.
"So all we have to do is copy you?" Astra asked, to which her Sensei nodded.
"First, all of you get in a line." Wu commanded them, and the five ninja and three kunoichi did as he said. "Now, do the swooping crane." Wu lifted his arms up and stood on one foot. The ninja and kunoichi copied him. They held that position for 10 seconds before Wu moved on to the next one. "Next, the pinching crab." He bent his back a bit and still had his arms lifted up, but this time his arms from elbows down were a bit in front of him, as opposed to stretched out beside him in the swooping crane.
After 10 seconds of holding it in that position, Wu returned to a normal stance. "Now I will see your physical abilities, but mostly for the kunoichi. You five," Wu pointed at the ninja, "can do 100 push-ups in the meantime."
Cole stretched out his hands and legs. "Only 100? That's easy." Reyna and Astra stared at him like "are you crazy?!"
The five ninja got down to do their 100 push-ups, while Wu studied the girls. "Nya, I know your physical ability is already good, but can you do a handstand?"
"Sure thing." Nya did a flip and landed on her hands and stood there for 10 seconds, as Sensei Wu directed her.
[word for one hand from Stiix and Stones] "Now one hand!" Wu ordered her. Nya hesitated, but jumped on to one hand and held the position, but it was clear she was trying really hard to stay in that position.
"Sensei, I'm done!" Cole called out to his teacher with a smile on his face. He wiped any dust off his hands. Reyna and Astra looked at the black ninja with a bewildered look because of how fast he finished his hundred push-ups. Kai soon got up, followed by Lloyd, Zane and then Jay.
"Good, then do another hundred!" Wu told him. He barely even heard what Cole had said. Jay and Lloyd groaned, but got down to do another hundred anyway. "Okay, Nya," Wu told her female pupil, "you can stop now."
With a sigh of relief, Nya bounced back up onto two feet.
"Astra, can you do a handstand?" Sensei Wu asked the kunoichi of nature.
"Um, I don't think so." the shy girl replied.
Wu nodded, having come prepared to hear that answer from Astra and/or Reyna. "Then you can do one against the rail. Reyna will hold your feet."
Reyna looked surprised that she had been chosen, but she nodded regardless. The two kunoichi went towards the rail.
"Wait, I almost forgot!" Wu suddenly shouted. The two girls froze and looked at him. "Astra, you have not yet gotten your kunoichi outfit. I will give it to you."
"You mean like what Nya, Reyna, and the ninja are wearing?"
"Yes, but only like what Nya and Reyna are wearing; not the ninja."
Astra nodded, and so did Wu. "NINJA GO!" he shouted and burst into his golden tornado of Spinjitzu. Before Astra could escape, the tornado caught her and she felt like she was spinning around as well. Before she knew it, the tornado was gone and what stood in its place was her new teacher. She looked down at herself. She wore similar clothes to what the ninja did, except being yellow, and she had the signature kunoichi "mask" covering her mouth,
"Wow." was all Astra could muster.
Wu closed his eyes and lowered his head a bit. "Now you may continue with the handstand."
Astra looked and felt uncomfortable. "Um, how do I get on my hands?"
"Try doing a flip," Nya suggested, but their teacher just shook his head.
"A person that has never done a handstand most likely will not be able to do a flip to get into the handstand position," Wu explained. "I think it would be best if you lay flat and then Reyna picks you up from your feet and gets you into the handstand position."
Astra laid flat on her back, and Reyna picked her up from the feet as Sensei Wu had explained to them. A few moments later, Astra was doing a handstand, but with some help from Reyna. Even with support, Astra found it hard to stay in that position, and she wondered Nya could do it so easily. Astra only stayed like that for a few seconds, until she found her hands and arms shaking and the next thing she knew she landed on her head and her feet slipped out of Reyna's grasp, so her feet came crashing down as well.
"Ouch," Nya winced, and even Sensei Wu looked a bit worried. Zane got up because he saw Astra fall over.
"Astra, are you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, I think I'm fine," the yellow kunoichi mumbled.
"That did not turn out as well as I'd like, but…fine." Wu sighed. The ninja got up from their second round of their 100 push-ups. "Reyna, I was going to let Astra hold your feet, but she does not seem fine enough to do so."
"No, I'm fine, I can do it," the newest kunoichi insisted.
"If you think you are fine enough to do it, then I will not stop you."
Astra nodded. Reyna started her handstand the same way as Astra had done, and Astra picked her up by the feet. Reyna was able to hold out on the handstand against the railing for the whole 10 seconds.
"Good." her instructor praised her slightly. "Now, we will move onto Astra's training: controlling her element."
"So now comes the lecture about light?" Jay asked in a joking manner.
"Yes. Light is a very defensive element, such as bending the light around anything, even yourself, to make it invisible, although dust can expose it. You would also have the ability to blind people for a short amount of time with a beam of light."
"Similar to a flash bomb?" Lloyd jumped in.
Wu nodded. "Light isn't only a defensive element, however. An experienced Master of Light can create beams of light so powerful and hot that they can melt things with it. You can have all these powers if you train, of course."
Astra hesitated, but thought there would be no harm in trying. "I'll try."
"Should she start by bending sunlight?" Zane asked.
Wu shook his head. "Sunlight is natural light, and natural light may be too powerful for someone who is trying for the first time. We should start with artificial light. Flashlight, anyone?"
"I'll go get one." Zane rushed off to get the flashlight, though they didn't really need one on the Bounty. They had fire from Kai, lightning from Jay in case the power goes out, and now (hopefully), light from Astra.
Zane returned shortly holding a red flashlight. "This is the only flashlight we have on the Bounty," he told them.
"Zane, can you turn it on and flash it at her?" Wu rhetorically asked. "But not her eyes!"
Zane did as he was told and the light from the flashlight streamed onto Astra's stomach area, though it was hard to tell because she was already wearing a bright yellow.
"So how do I do this?" Astra asked. "And what's the goal?"
Sensei Wu thought for a moment. He hadn't thought of what the kunoichi of light was to do with the light. "Cole, could you stand next to Zane?" Cole looked at Sensei Wu strangely, but walked over and stood on the left of his nindroid brother. "A little more to the left, please." Cole waddled over two more steps. "Perfect. Now, Astra, to answer your questions: the goal is to direct the light on Cole's gi. As for how you will do this, you must let the light into you. Accept it, absorb it. Then redirect it to Cole."
"Um, okay, I'll try."
And Astra did try. She concentrated, and wondered how she would absorb the light like Sensei Wu told her, but she had no idea how. She then pretended to try, but really she was still hoping to find a way.
"You are not trying," Sensei Wu suddenly said aloud. That broke Astra's thoughts.
"Yeah, I'm not. I have no idea how to absorb the light. Maybe this all a mistake. What if I'm not the kunoichi of light?" Astra ranted, annoyed.
Sensei Wu stroked his beard. "Let us try something a little different," to which Astra groaned on the inside. "Instead of absorbing it, you can try to make into a ball of light, and then redirect it to Cole. Perhaps that will be easier."
Then Astra tried what her teacher told her. It didseem easier in the yellow kunoichi's mind. Focus, Astra, she told herself. Light. Bend. Light. Circle. Her hands were in the same position as they would be if she was holding an actual ball. Slowly, she began to feel a mass of energy in her hands, although it was a bit weak.
"She's doing it!" Reyna exclaimed.
That did it. It broke Astra's focus and the ball of light burst and fell into the beam of light coming from the flashlight.
Sensei Wu gave a disapproving look towards Reyna, but then turned and smiled at Astra. "Good. You got some progress." Then towards Zane: "You may now turn off the flashlight."
"So does this mean today's training is over?" Kai asked with excitement in his voice. His teacher nodded.
Kai was a bit annoyed and upset. He was furiously pacing the ninjas' room. "Why am I always last? I'm always the last one!" he practically scolded himself. Jay and Cole were playing video games, Lloyd was reading comics, and Zane…well, Zane was doing whatever robots do in their free time. "Even Zane got a girlfriend before I did! How is that possible?"
"Ahem," a voice said from the entrance to the room. Kai looked over and saw Lloyd. "Mind if I come in, or will you kill me?" he asked with a smirk.
"Lloyd! Uh, yeah, come in, if you want." Kai said awkwardly. "Soooo…how much did you hear? Of me talking to myself, I mean."
Lloyd still had a smirk on his face. "All of it." He laughed at Kai's look of horror. "But don't worry, I won't tell any of the others. I'm the other ninja that doesn't have a girlfriend either."
Kai rolled his eyes. "Half the girls in Ninjago would fall for you anyways."
The energy ninja snorted. "Same could be said for you."
The fire ninja had a modest blush as red as his gi.
"So what were you saying about being last in everything?" Lloyd asked.
Kai looked glum. "Of the four of us – before you became a ninja – I was the last ninja to be added to the team, and last to reach my true potential. It's annoying, that I'm always last."
Lloyd put a hand on his brother's shoulder. "'Better late than never', is what they say."
Kai chuckled.
Meanwhile, in the kunoichi's room…
Astra sat on her bed in the kunoichi's room. Nya and Reyna had asked if she wanted to watch a movie on their TV, but she had declined. She thought of how she was going to tell Zane about her big secret. She hadn't told anyone, not even the other kunoichi, about her secret, but she felt like she at least needed to tell Zane. Her thoughts were interrupted by the white ninja himself…
Zane will tell Astra that he's a robot in the next chapter. You'll also find out Astra's secret. Unfortunately, the next chapter won't be coming until the week after the one coming (meaning 24th and onwards) because I will not have access to a computer or Internet until next Saturday.
I also have lots of fun stuff planned to stay tuned in the coming chapters (including the ninja and kunoichi getting weapons, maybe a series of mini-villains, and more)!
Hope you liked it!
