A/N) Well I guess I should begin with an apology... but that takes up too much space. Besides life doesn't always let you do what youd rather do, like say, posting a new chapter.
Anyway, this one is actually pretty fun.
I hope you guys have fun reading it.
It was a strange thing. After Cole had brought her back everyone seemed to be acting differently towards her. Nicer, maybe more trusting.
She seemed to become more interested in what they did and said, instead of staring at them all indifferently she stared curiously, thoughtfully, her eye seemed to lose their suspicious look as she studied them
How they laughed, teased, talked with each other... it had a warm feeling to it. For some reason she seemed to be noticing this more and more. What Cole had said to her, this word... friends, it had stuck to her mind. She didn't understand it. But when she watched them it seemed to become clearer.
A strange alien thing began to invade her inside... feelings. Different feelings. Not just pain, anger, and fear. Other feelings, ones she never felt before. Interest, sometimes amusement, and maybe some small amount of trust.
It was at this point that she realized... she wasn't just a dark shadowed soul created to do her masters biding then be disposed of if she failed or completed it.
It was an unknown thought, terrifying... did she have a soul? Better yet, did her soul belong to her? Just like these people, did she have a choice? Was there something else then the life she had lead? Was that even a life? Did she have a life to live?
Her mind was buzzing in a whirl wind of confusion and fear. Confusion of not understanding these new foreign thoughts and ideas. Fear of not knowing what to do with them, or where it would take her. Suddenly instead of a dark tunnel at which once she reached the end she would surly die... a light was burning at the end, terror of what was on the other side began to consume her resulting in mistrust all over again.
Fear and confusion went hand in hand with distrust, perhaps that was why she had lived her entire life that way.
"What does that mean sensei?" Jay peered over Wu's shoulder as the old man examined an old scroll.
"It means," Garmadon answered, "That the dark moon will rise in one month time, and the eye of Neero will rise with it's curse."
The ninja all looked at each other, apprehension hung in the air.
"Um... soooo, what do we do until, er, before then?" Kai asked, his frown deepening.
Wu looked at his trained warriors, "I'm afraid there's not much we can do. At this point we have nothing about how to stop this curse."
Their shoulders slumped, "There has to be something." Cole tapped his chin in thought.
Misako interrupted their thoughts when she walked into the room, several more scrolls in her hand, yellow with age. A brightly colored ribbon wrapped delicately around each one.
"Perhaps these may hold the answer. I found them near an old cave by Ninjago mountain, they are written in an extremely old language and I have not been able to translate all of them." She placed them on the table and gently unrolled one, "This one, I have deciphered for the most part." She pointed to what looked like strangely shaped symbols on the side of the crinkly paper.
The ninja all surrounded her and the scrolls, "See here. It says on that prophesized night one born from the same ashes as the chosen dark king will rise and bring order in the name of the lost cursed hero. What do you think that means?"
"Um... better question, whose the dark king?" Jay spoke up squinting at the chicken scratch.
Misako shuddered slightly, "My fear is that, that crazy young man we meet before... he's said something about being the grand son of the first dark queen..."
"Ok, what I don't understand is the part about "born from the same ashes'? What do ashes have to do with anything?" Cole asked looking at their elderly masters, hoping for the answer.
Unfortunately neither made a sign that they knew... that was bad.
Lloyd sighed, "Gee, you're silence is veeery reassuring."
Croc was getting more and more fed up. People were lying, they were hiding the ninja's. He knew they were. Nobody would give him any clues. All were suspicious of him now. His master was getting angrier every day. Pretty soon the ninja would hear about the fishy looking man that was looking for them.
The hulking man pinched the bridge of his nose. This search was quickly becoming tiresome. He took a deep breath, just hold on, until master finishes his evil schemes... just until then.
He took another deep breath and turned into a noodle shop. Maybe he should get something to eat before he continued his bothersome search.
He walked up to the counter as easygoing as possible to keep any suspicion away from himself.
The woman on the other side flashed him a fake smile, "Hi, welcome to master Chen's noddle shop, what will you have today?"
He was about to open his mouth and answer when a loud yelp was heard from the back of the store. He turned narrowing his eyes, along with a few other customers, to see what the commotion was about.
His eyes widened instantly, then a vicious gleaming grin spread across his wide face.
They were right there!
He sucked in his breath as his eye went back to the woman behind the counter. He quickly gave her a short order and went to a booth, only three booths away from the ninja. He slid into it inconspicuously and pretended to read a menu while listening to their conversation.
"Stop that Jay! You don't play with food like that."
"Hey, I can do whatever I want with my food, you eat yours. Your not my mother."
"Cut it out guys, hey Zane, pass the wasabi."
"Here you are, would you like some sushi?"
"Ugh, no, keep that stuff away from me."
"Lloyd, cut it out, those are my noodles!"
"Unsaid law short stuff, ya don't touch another man's noodles!"
Croc scoffed to himself. THESE squabbling children were the great hero's of Ninjago... That was just humiliating.
"Stop it guys. Come on, we gotta go. Maybe Misako has translated at least some of those other scrolls." The black clad young man stood up and walked towards the counter.
Croc instinctively brought the menu higher up to cover half his face as he watched them, with narrowed eyes, one by one follow the taller ninja. Their leader... hum, that might be interesting information for his master.
"Come on Lloyd, let's roll." The one with the sparkling blue eyes called to the obviously youngest member of their group.
Croc smirked to himself just as the waitress walked up. He snatched the food from her hand, handed her a bill and deftly made up his mind.
He was following those boys.
"What to you guys think those scrolls say?" Jay popped the question as they all crossed the busy street.
Kai shrugged, "Probably the answer to our problems, which is why we ironically can't read them."
"Yah, ain't that always our luck." Cole grinned as they turned down the side walk.
Lloyd sighed, "Ya know guys. Sometimes, just once, I wish the bad guys would be a lot easier to defeat."
Jay let out a laugh, throwing his arm around the young ninja, "As if short stuff. If that was the way the world worked, we'd be out of a job."
"Yah but still-"
"Shhhhh."
They all stopped in their tracks falling silent as they watched Zane scan the area carefully.
"What is it Zane?" Cole tried to hear what his friend heard, but only car horns and dog barks reached his ears.
Zane shook his head, "Oh nothing... never mind. I thought... Someone was following. Must have just been in my mind."
The ninja shrugged it off as nerves and continued down the way towards their current home.
Little knowing that Croc was following them like a cat followed it's prey. With a gleaming grin, anticipating success.
"Nya, Sensei's, we're home." Jay called instantly heading towards the meditating room.
Cole looked around, "Hey, where is everybody?"
Zane shrugged, "Must have stepped out."
"Or their all busy working on those scrolls. The difference between our losing or winning." Kai smiled ruefully and followed after Jay.
Cole shook his head, "Whatever, I'm heading towards the kitchen. See if I can cook up dessert and put this doggy bag away."
"Just don't cook anything complicated, like pudding. We need to be alive to fight this battle." Lloyd called out, needling the older ninja.
"Ha ha, very funny."
"I was serious..."
Cole was busy humming to himself a tune he'd learned from his father a few years in his childhood, completely oblivious to the shadow that passed behind him, across the kitchen door.
He hummed as he began mixing some chocolate pudding in a large bowl. He turned still humming and nearly jumped out of his shorts, he let out a yelp just barley keeping the bowl from falling out of his hands.
"Whoa... where did you come from?"
The shadow girl was sitting there, silently staring at him. Not even blinking.
Cole felt that uncomfortable feeling crawl up his spine again, only this time... it felt different.
"Um... shadow girl?" What? What was he supposed to call her? She apparently had no known name, "What's with the sudden stare down and-"
A quick movement from her as she practically lunged forward, cut him off. She grabbed his collar and pulled him down to her significantly short level.
"Shhhh." She placed a cautious finger to her lips.
Cole stared, not understanding.
"I saw... Croc, my king - the king, has sent him here. To destroy you."
Cole's face paled slightly, "Say what? Wait, was he here before us or after?"
Her eyes seemed to glow an bright purple, "I don't know, I was asleep and he just-"
"Shhh,"Cole snapped up grabbed her around the waist and dragged her into the pantry.
This quick and seemingly threatening act earned him a punch in the gut for his trouble.
"Ow, hey, I'm on your side." He glared at her as she pressed herself against the opposite wall.
"S-so you say. Pardon me if I don't believe that all the way yet."
Cole opened his mouth to retort just as a dark shadow appeared underneath the crack of the door.
"Stay here." He instructed as the footsteps moved out of the kitchen.
Before she could protest Cole had slipped out of the closet and ran towards the mediation room.
He heard shouts and sounds of fighting in the living room.
That stopped him in his tracks as he turned heel and ran in the opposite direction.
What he saw freaked him out.
His friends were all over the place, fighting that hulking man who didn't look like he was going down so easily this time.
"Cole! Freakzilla here followed us home- HEY!" Jay gasped as Croc kicked him in the shoulder sending him rolling towards Coles' feet.
"Great... so need help?"
Jay glared at him.
Nya screamed.
Whatever they were about to say to each other vanished from their minds as both young men threw themselves into the battle.
"Hey hulk! Didn't your mama ever tell you to call before you visit!" Cole growled out and picked up the sofa, whacking the man from behind just as Kai flashed a flame at him.
"Zane, freeze him down."
Zane flipped over a misplaced coffee table and landed with his palms firmly on the ground. Shard of ice shot up instantly, crawling their way over the grunting mans body.
"No! My master will, have, you!" Croc howled and broke through the ice sending chunks everywhere.
A few hit the ninja, knocking out Jay, injuring Sensei Wu and Misako.
"Looks like he didn't like his new winter coat." Kai tried to make light of the situation as he watched his sister pour over Jay's unconscious form.
"My master WILL WIN!" The petty slaves eyes burned with hate, and fear. Fear of failure. Fear of going back to his master empty handed and getting punished for it.
Cole gapped as he picked up an ice chunk that had landed on his chest. He aimed to throw it at the slave, but Croc was having none of it. The man lifted the nearest block of ice and hurled it at the black haired ninja.
Cole yelped as Kai melted the ice right before it hit his face.
"Thanks.
"Got your back."
"Who's got theirs!" Cole leaped up as Croc flung a fist towards Nya and Jay.
Nya screamed, in an effort to protect her boyfriend, she flung her leg out, Croc grabbed it and pulled her in his grasp, letting her dangle upside down.
"I don't know who you are, but you may be valuable to my master." Croc hissed.
Suddenly, before anybody moved, a bolt of energy exploded, hitting Croc in his back.
Croc howled, letting Nya go, who rolled to her feet, out of harms way.
"Who dares." The man seethed as he turned around, blood dripping from the opened gash in his back.
His eyes widened in surprise as he stared at the small panting figure of an all too familiar face,"You! Alive... but master-"
Another blast erupted from her hand, stopping him cold as it blasted his face.
Croc let out a scream of pain and rolled over, his hand nursing his bleeding face. He knew the numbers didn't matter anymore. Master would have to be satisfied with information instead of bodies.
He let out a roar and threw himself out the nearest window, jumping to his feet and running into the near by trees.
By this time the ninja and their family had recollected themselves. They all stared, half in horror, half in confusion, and bits of surprise mixed in between.
"What the-" Jay groaned before he could finish that statement.
Cole stood up unsteadily, his eyes not leaving the small framed girls hands, "You... have powers? Like us!"