I know, I know, I got a lot of batman verse stuff wrong last chapter, but this is kind of an AU because there isn't a place called Airspin near London so... this is an AU of the batman films?
Guest: I liked writing that bit, Jay's always gotta be funny! :) I wouldn't abandon this story! Well, not for long anyway. Thanks :)
CHEESEPUFF fg: I know, my knowledge of batman sucks, but glad you cleared that up :)
And another Jay/Mr Blue chapter :)
Lines. Sticky Notes. Newspaper clippings. Jay groaned, rubbing his temples. He had been staring at this board for days and no ideas had come up to help him with his predicament. Nya was stuck being Pythor's wife. Zane was stuck in a fat organic body, he was stuck with nothing to do about it.
Jay took a few steps back, as if a little distance would help solve his problems. It didn't.
"Urgh!" Jay sat on his office desk, taking a sip of his drink. No new ideas. And this was all his fault too! He had made Pythor so vengeful when he cast the curse, he hadn't properly disposed of all that magic. And what he did after Nya was taken...
"Stupid stinking past self." Jay muttered, glaring at the portrait of Nya that had been placed in his office before he regained his memories. Jay hadn't removed it since, but he considered it now. It would spare him the pain of having to see it every day and be reminded.
Jay was about to take another sip of his drink when he heard the usual pounding at the door of some unruly, impatient customer.
"Go away, I'm not open!" He yelled impatiently.
"Oh come on!" Jay cringed at the sound of Kai's daughter's voice. "My dad needs something out of his locker."
"What about his date?" Jay called.
"Oh that went well. That's actually why he needs- Oh can you just let me in already?"
Jay sighed, but he knew Gwen was just as impatient as her father. He quickly folded up his bulletin board and went over to open the door.
"Thanks." Gwen gave him a nod as she passed. "Can I get a drink?"
"For one fifty five you can." Jay rummaged in some of the drawers, looking for Kai, or as it was in this place, Alex Kennedy's key.
"What's this?" Gwen gestured to the bulletin board. Jay froze.
"Nothing important." He said quickly, grasping the key. "Catch!" He tossed the key, but Gwen was still distracted by the board and ducked away with a yelp. The key hit the board and knocked it to the ground, spilling it's contents across the floor. Jay gasped and dashed forwards to clean it up before Gwen saw it. All sorts of labelled photos, elemental powers listed, a couple of drawings of the ninjas old weapons and suits, all sorts of stuff that would prove the rumours true that the old storage man was crazy.
Gwen's eyes widened as she glimpsed a couple of the photos and notes. "What is this stuff?" She exclaimed, her eyes skimming over a small note that described the battle with the overlord. "Garmadon possessed, green ninja's true potential..."
"Just a few little plans for a graphic novel, I use real people for inspiration, that's all." Jay laughed, grabbing the notes from under her nose. "Now here's the key and-"
Gwen picked up a photo of her father. Across his torso was scrawled in marker pen: Kai, Master of Fire. Gwen turned to Jay, who was squirming internally with nerves.
"You know too?!" She gasped.
...
"Jay, we will find Nya, but right now we have to focus on breaking this curse and bringing Pythor to justice." Zane put a hand on Jay's shoulder. "Now come on, the others are expecting us."
Jay groaned and stood up.
"I'm too tired."
Zane sent out a signal that activated the coffee machine.
"There you go. Now hurry up Jay. Nya wouldn't want you to let down your friends like this." He gave Jay a little smile and went out the door. Jay poured himself a cup and sighed a little. Zane said that like Nya was dead.
Jay quickly joined Zane and the two headed away from the bounty on foot, a short walk to Kai's house.
"We've searched the sewers," Skylor pointed to a map. "Here and here. All that's left is here and-"
"That's where the serpentine live." Jay said quickly. "They'd sooner kill Pythor than help him."
Skylor nodded and crossed that region out. Jay breathed a sigh of relief. If anyone was going back to that little dungeon of magic, it would be him.
"So we can search these areas this afternoon." Skylor gestured.
"Are you sure you ought to go?" Lloyd asked. "You know, with-" He gestured to the small bump that rose from under her shirt. Skylor frowned, folding her arms.
"I'll be fine. I've been training to fight in all conditions since I was eight years old. I think I can handle a three month pregnancy."
"Even so, it would be safer for your child if-" Skylor glared at Zane. "OK, you can come."
"Thank you." Skylor regained her iron grip of control again. "We should travel in small teams. Lloyd and Hana. Zane and PIXAL. Jay and... myself, I guess." Jay gave a small nod, still staring at the ground. At least Skylor had remembered not to say it in time."
...
Jay dropped his notes in shock.
"You know too?!" He echoed. "But how, wait, it worked? Of course!" A smile cracked across his face. Gwen scrambled forwards and picked up some more of the stuff.
"Whoa, ninja gi's, elemental BLADES! So many robots..."
"Those are actually nindroids." Jay pulled down the door to his office and then knelt down next to Gwen, who was tapping her fingers in excitement.
"There must be libraries full here! You know the counterpart of everyone! My dad, Jeffry Pheonix... whoa!" She grinned at Jeffry's photo. "Wait, a family tree! MY family tree! Two elemental masters! And..." Gwen's eyes widened. "Cissy Smith! She really is my sister, I, this is proof!" She clutched the notepaper tightly. "I've got to-" Jay tugged it out of her hands, forcing her to look at him.
"This is top secret stuff." He said firmly. "If any of it should get into the wrong hands... this has got to be a secret, OK?"
Gwen nodded. "I can do that." She said with a smile. "But how did you get all this info? Were you a reporter? Some kind of president of the ninja fan club?"
"How did you find out about Ninjago?" Jay ignored her question. "How come you know? You can't have memories like I do, you were a toddler at the time."
"I erm... I got these crazy dreams." Gwen's eyes swept over the photos, not meeting Jay's. "Dreams about snake people, spies, some kind of elemental tournament. At first I thought they were just dreams, but they became consistent, every single night. So I started to wander around a bit in this dream scape until I came across some kind of library on a floating ship."
"Of course!" Jay slapped his forehead. "Honestly, that was my first ever spell, I don't know how it worked, but it did!"
"What spell?"
"Oh, erm." Jay looked cautiously towards the door. "Before the curse was activated, I, erm managed to cast a spell that would guarantee you the memories of your mother so you could explore Ninjago in your sleep." He smiled. "It was the least I could do."
"Why?" Gwen frowned. Jay cleared his throat hastily.
"Oh that doesn't matter." Gwen turned her attention back to the photos of the townspeople.
"So who are you then? Some kind of wizard?"
Jay laughed.
"Not exactly." He reached his lightning bolt necklace and flipped it open, revealing a hidden compartment in which a small photo was rolled up. Jay kept it on his person at all times, but now he handed it to Gwen.
"Official group photo of the ninja." He said. "Taken a year before Master Wu got lost in time."
Gwen examined the photo and gasped when she saw her father. "There's dad! Oh, and Lukas and Anita's dad too!"
"They were best friends." Jay said with a smile. "Kai was best man at Lloyd's wedding."
"Oh man!" Gwen looked over the rest of the ninja. "Cool, a robot and... is that my teacher! And, whoa Nicole and Jayden's mum and..." She gasped and looked up. "You were a ninja!"
"The blue ninja." Jay declared. "The first one to learn spinjitzu and wielder of the legendary golden nunchucks." Gwen's mouth dropped open.
"Whoa! You certainly don't look like it!"
Jay's smile dropped. Then an idea came to him.
"You know what, I think it's time I showed someone what's in MY locker."
...
"Should we check down here?" Skylor gestured to a small, murky tunnel that lead off to the west. Jay checked the map again."
"That way leads down towards the serpentine. We shouldn't- what are you doing!"
"Checking the tunnel. Pythor may have evaded the serpentine. We should have a look down there." Skylor continued inching her way along the slim tunnel
"Oh Lloyd will probably have looked down there already." Jay was sweating with nerves. He didn't want Skylor to run into Pythor. One, because Pythor would show no restraint in hurting her baby, and two, he may reveal to Skylor why Jay had been late to the party and why Nya had been taken. How it was all his fault.
"Better safe than sorry." Skylor continued down the tunnel, beckoning to Jay, who gave a nervous little sigh and hurried after her.
"How long is this tunnel anyway?" Skylor wondered aloud when they had been travelling for over five minutes."
"How should I know, never been here before." Jay said worriedly. Skylor shot him a frown and kept walking.
"We should probably be searching our assigned tunnels, you know." Jay said quickly. "Pythor could be in any one of them."
"He could also be down here." Skylor snapped. She was getting increasingly annoyed with her teammate and Jay knew it. But he couldn't give up.
"What time is it anyway? We should really be getting back."
Skylor snapped and rounded on him.
"What is your issue today, Jay Walker?!" She demanded. "I know you're in a bad place emotionally since Nya got taken, but you're so reluctant to search, anyone would think you were working for Pythor!" Jay gasped in shock.
"How dare you-"
"What, do the serpentine have some sort of grudge against you? Is this tunnel where your parents are hiding your birthday gift? Is Kai down here? Spill!" She poked him hard in the chest. Jay scrambled to think of an excuse that wouldn't paint him in a bad light.
"It's because he was too scared to fine ME!" Skylor jumped and turned around. Unknown to either of them, a certain snake had slithered up through the dark.'
"Run!" Jay gasped, dashing past Skylor to protect her. "It's me he wants!"
"Jay, what-" Skylor stumbled back.
"Get away from her!" Jay snarled. "I won't let you do to Kai what you did to me!"
"What could I possibly do to Kai that would hurt him anymore than he is now?" Pythor asked in a sickly sweet voice. Skylor gasped.
"You have Kai? Give him BACK!" She leapt at Pythor, pummelling a fast and hard round of punches and kicks all over his face and torso. Pythor growled in pain and seized her by the ankle with his tail, dangling her upsidown. He raised a fist, his eyes flashing anger.
"Not the stomach!" Jay cried, and launched himself at Pythor, blade in hand. He stabbed the snake hard in the shoulder, causing him to drop Skylor to the ground.
"You are the bane of my existence!" Pythor roared, grabbing Jay by the neck and hurling him at the wall. Jay hit it with a smack and collapsed to the ground, rubbing his head.
"Run Skylor!" He cried, as Pythor advanced on him. That was the last thing he saw before he blacked out.
...
Jay grunted as he heaved the heavy door up, revealing the contents of his own locker, which he hadn't opened in years.
"Sure is dusty in here!" Gwen exclaimed, taking a step inside. "Good thing I'm not asthmatic."
"Well," Jay struggled to fix the door to the roof to stop it from sliding down and cutting him in half. "As the child of two people who can wield the element of fire, I'd say your chances of being asthmatic are practically nil." He managed to fix the door and stepped inside, turning on the light and letting the door slide shut behind them.
"Whoa!" Gwen exclaimed. "Look at this stuff!"
"That's all I've been doing for the past sixteen years."
Gwen marvelled at weapons, nunchucks, swords, a scythe or two tucked away behind rows of metal shelving. These shelves were filled with old boxes and scrolls. Gwen picked one up and opened it. It was written in a script she had seen before in her dreams, but couldn't understand.
"That's written in ninjagian." Jay gave a faint smile. "I haven't been in here in ages. I should. My ninjagian's a little rusty."
"And it's your home language!" Gwen exclaimed. "What does it say?"
"Oh it's just some old historical text." Jay rolled it up and put it back. "This here is only a small portion of what's in Ninjago city's national library. None of it's particularly interesting. The really interesting stuff is at the back." He gestured to the far end of the locker where the light from the bulb didn't quite reach. Gwen picked up a stray torch and turned it on.
"Whoa!" She grinned, looking over the contents. Big, pristine scrolls all laid out on a smooth wooden bench. A dusty glass case. Two old, humanoid robots, side by side."
"Wow, the robot from the picture!" Gwen exclaimed, going over to Zane's disused metal body. "Can I turn him on, what-"
"Don't touch that!" Jay snapped. Gwen jumped.
"Sorry." Jay sighed. "But Zane's no longer in there. His mind has been un-digitalised and is now in the body of some overweight engineer who doesn't remember a thing about his old life or friends or girlfriend, or body!" He looked sadly at the robot. "This used to be in his locker, but I moved it in here. I don't want him to see it and get freaked out."
Gwen looked at the robots. "I'm sorry." She said. "This must be harder on you than it is on me, but... don't you think him seeing his old body might be a good idea?" Jay frowned. "I mean, it could jog his memory. Help break the curse. Don't you want this curse broken?"
"Of course I do!" Jay snapped. "But we have to be careful. If Mr Thomas catches on, we're dead."
"What's he got to do with anything?" Gwen asked curiously. Jay gestured to one of the scrolls. Gwen opened it. She didn't understand the text, but could see the picture. It was a large, purple snake, holding a blade.
"What's that?"
"That, is an annacondrai general. Very powerful serpentine warriors, a big threat to Ninjago when in the serpentine wars. Fortunately, only one of them still exists. His name is Pythor and he is responsible for the curse. Here, he goes by the name of Mr Thomas."
"I hate that guy. Sleezy git." Gwen glared at the picture. "Guess dad was right. He really is a snake." Jay gave a feeble laugh.
"You know, if jogging people's memories is the way to go about this, I may have an idea." He gestured to the glass cabinet.
"What's in there?" Gwen asked, getting closer.
"Why don't you have a look for yourself." Jay said with a grin. Gwen went over to the cabinet and rubbed some of the dust off. She gasped when she saw what was inside.
...
Jay woke up on cold hard concrete with a throbbing pain in his head. "Urgh..." He groaned. "Skylor... Nya."
"No, just me." Jay lifted his head to see Pythor standing above him, looking angry."
"What do you want?" Jay muttered, shifting himself into a sitting up position.
"As you said before, I want you." Pythor glowered. "Get up."
"Why should I?"
"Because if you don't-" Pythor gave an evil looking grin. "You can say goodbye to Kai's little girlfriend here-" He gestured towards the left. Jay looked up to see that they were in the little dungeon of magic that Jay had destroyed three months ago. Jay looked to the left and saw a sort of screen, separating a small portion of the dungeon from the rest. There was Skylor, banging on the glass and shouting.
"Skylor!" Jay cried, attempting to get up and run to her, but couldn't.
"Don't worry." Pythor snapped. "She can't see or hear us. She won't see how you're going to help me!"
"I'd never help you, you villain!" Jay snarled, standing on shaky legs. "Now let us go!"
"Really?" Pythor grinned. "You'd never help me cast the curse? After how you can't wait to forget about Kai and Cole's disappearance. The guilt over how you lost Nya?" Jay looked at the ground.
"I'll find a way, no matter what." Pythor looked down at the pitiful ninja before him. "You can just help me activate the curse and it will all be over sooner."
Jay looked at the ground. And sighed.
"OK."
So they got to work. Pythor with the magic and a curse in a jar that he had created months ago. Jay provided his elemental power and engineering skills to fix little instruments that had previously been broken. He hoped Pythor spoke the truth and that Skylor couldn't see what they were doing. He hated that he was betraying his ninja ideals and working with the enemy, but what could he do? As Pythor had said, the curse was inevitable. This would just help the time pass by quicker.
"And one final component that guarantees the memory loss." Pythor declared. "I think you'll find that one important, don't you?"
Jay didn't respond.
"Over there, a high shelf. Go get it."
"At your beck and call." Jay said glumly. He went over to the shelf filled with bottles. They were all labelled and Jay found, with interest, a few extra powders and potions all to do with the curse. One was labelled Flashbacks. Another, nightmares. Memory transfer, memory wipe, resemblance. Jay grinned as an idea came to mind.
"Hurry up!" Pythor snapped. Jay finished mixing the powders and gave them a zap to combine them. He went back over to the snake and handed him the jar. Pythor frowned.
"This is the wrong colour." He snapped.
"Do I look like I care?" Jay snapped back. "It's got the right label, must just be the lighting." Pythor was still frowning when he poured the contents in to the curse jar. An evil smile cracked his lips. Jay smiled also, but it wasn't an evil smile. It was a smile of triumph. There was hope for his family yet.
...
"Hey, can I take some of these." Gwen asked when they were back in the office, gesturing to the photos that littered the floor. Jay frowned. "What, I'm not going to show anyone. I just... want to look over it some more. Learn more about my dad and mum's legacy."
Jay sighed, but smiled. "OK. I know all this by heart anyway. Just don't let anyone see it, especially not your father. He'd go nuts if he found out his precious daughter had been hanging with a moron like me." He gave a feeble laugh.
"But you used to be best friends!" Gwen exclaimed. Jay laughed.
"Even before the curse, I was always the moron one. A bit strange, but then again, we all were." He put a hand on Gwen's shoulder. "Oh and... a question."
"Yeah?"
"What do you know about a pair of twins called Nicole and Jayden?"
"Thoma- Pythor's kids?" Jay glowered.
"No they're not. His wife that he keeps close, she hates him as much as I do."
"Because she was a ninja?"
Jay gave a sad smile. "Just.. when you see the twins, tell them their dad loves them, OK?"
"Erm, sure." Gwen pocketed a few notes and photos. She was halfway home with them before she even realised what Jay had meant. She was so distracted by this that she didn't notice Mr Thomas walking on the footpath towards her until she bumped into him.
"Oh, erm, sorry sir." Gwen gave a nervous little smile. Mr Thomas smiled back. Did he know? Did he know that she knew?
"Quite alright, Miss Kennedy." Gwen continued on her way, her mind spinning with everything she'd found out. So did Pythor, and in his hand was a picture that he had swiped from her pocket. He read the caption under a sketch of a skulkin warrior and his brow narrowed.
"Blue!" He shoved it in his pocket, fuming at the ninja once again. The ninja whom, thanks to a little help, was already plotting his next move.