Sorry for the delay! I was having trouble writing this chapter because I didn't really know what to write because it would be too short for my standards. Anyways, I realized now that I made Brisa silver and the kunoichi of life would be pink while the second chapter of the story says vice-versa, so I went and changed that to make it consistent and not confuse readers who may have just started the story.
Also, if this story were a show/anime, I guess the second season/arc would've started around now (or maybe just before/after they found their Blades). I don't know, it could be before or after they got their Blades, whichever way you would think about it as, and if you don't care (which most of you won't, I know), then that's fine as well!
Hope you like it!
Chapter 29: Crossroad of Decision
It was obviously night when the group reached the Bounty again. Everyone was inside, eating dinner, assuming the five that went to the park had eaten on their own while they were there.
"I see we have a new face," Wu said when he saw Zoe. She gave a quick smile to everyone.
"I am sensing that she is the destined kunoichi of life," Zane said with a quick glance at her.
"Did you all have dinner?" Misako asked the group.
Cole nodded, and then saw Lloyd and Zoe. "Well, except for the two of them, I think."
Lloyd nodded in agreement. "Yeah, Zoe and I haven't eaten yet."
"There is still some pasta and garlic bread left," the white ninja told the two. "Help yourselves."
Lloyd and Zoe sat down at the table and ate the food that was still left.
"So, she's the kunoichi of life we've looked so hard for?" Kai asked nobody in particular.
"Yeah, Lloyd thinks it's her," his sister answered.
The red ninja raised his eyebrows at Lloyd, and then looked at Zoe, who looked like she hadn't heard a thing.
Their dinner was done fast, even with general conversations, so Wu decided to start his questions. "Zoe, as I understand, you have trusted Lloyd's gut feeling about you and have accepted his offer of becoming the kunoichi of life?"
Zoe nodded. "That's right."
Wu closed his eyes. "Then you are aware of the downsides of doing so?"
Zoe thought for a moment before she gave her answer. "Um, not really, no."
Wu sat back in his chair. "Then Jay will tell you." He looked at the blue ninja expectedly, and everyone else followed.
He turned his gaze to his Sensei. "Oh, uh, what?"
"Tell Zoe the difficulties of the path you have taken to become a ninja," Wu told him.
"Oh, it's uh…hard," the blue ninja said quickly.
Sensei Wu nodded in approval. "Very insightful. Anyone else?"
Reyna looked at her brothers and sisters, then stepped up. "I may not have been a kunoichi as long as they've been a ninja, but I can say it will be a pretty hard path. I haven't done most of the things that make it hard, but I'm sure we'll end up having to do something that we don't like. Oh, and training. Training is hard because we wake up early and do stretches."
Sensei Wu nodded again. "We don't mean to discourage you, Zoe, but we just want to make sure that you are happy with your decision. Life as a ninja or kunoichi can get tough at times, and I want to make you know what you are missing in your life before this to accept this new one."
Zoe thought hard. All the things she would miss…her family, her friends, her job, and, most importantly, her freedom. She had the freedom to do almost anything she wanted, and that's the way she wanted to live life. But by being a kunoichi, she was throwing away much of that freedom, and instead, was doing something someone else told her was her destiny.
While she was thinking, Lloyd couldn't help but admire the way her black-looking eyes looked with the rest of her face in "thinking" mode. Her eyes and her face actually made her look scary.
"Um, can I get more time to think?" Zoe asked Sensei Wu. She felt really pressured to give her final answer right now, and more time would definitely help her.
Wu nodded. "Yes, of course. You can have until tomorrow morning, even longer if you need extra time. Take as much time as you need."
Zoe was relieved she would get more time to think about it. After all, it was a matter of a big part of her life they were talking about.
Later, the ninja and kunoichi told some of their stories to Zoe, including how they were found, the names of their Blades, and some of their adventures.
At the end of it all, Zoe nodded her head like she was impressed. "That's a lot of stuff," she said. "And some cool Blade names. But why doesn't Lloyd have one?"
The ninja in question shrugged. "I don't know. I guess that because I'm supposed to be more powerful than them, I don't get one. If you become the kunoichi of life, I doubt you'd get a Blade either."
"That's right," Misako jumped in. "The fifth ninja or kunoichi don't get a Blade, but only the four whose elements they possess get one."
Zoe changed the topic. "What kind of powers would I have if I chose to be the kunoichi of life?"
Misako shifted around, not knowing what to say. "Well…that's something we can only find out when the time comes. See, an element such as, let's say, water, is pretty easy to predict in which powers the person would have. Something like life is much harder to predict, leaving us with a mystery."
Zoe looked impressed. "Would I be able to bring people back to life?"
Misako chuckled. "Perhaps, perhaps not. We don't know."
"That'd be really cool if you would be able to!" Nya exclaimed in excitement. She was, of course, thinking of her parents. Similarly, Kai was as well. The other ninja and kunoichi also thought of the people they would want alive as well.
Zoe also thought, but about other things, like what her powers could be. Suddenly, she realized how tired she was, and decided she would sleep. She stood up. "I think I'll go home now," she said. "I'm feeling sleepy."
Everyone looked at her. "Uh, we have an extra bed in our room that you could sleep on," Brisa informed her.
"Yeah, it's supposed to be for you," Astra said.
Zoe looked at the group in shock. "A bed? For me? How long has it been there?"
Nya shrugged. "It's been a while, but I can't remember exactly when. But it was always meant for the kunoichi of life."
Zoe didn't really have any words for them. She was surprised they would let a stranger like her stay on their ship for a night, not to say she was going to leave them tomorrow. "Well…wow, thanks, I guess."
Nya jumped up. "As leader of the kunoichi, I'll show you to our room." She walked with Zoe until they reached the room and came back a moment after.
Everyone was sure Zoe wouldn't be able to hear them talk now. "So, do you guys think she'll join us?" Lloyd asked anxiously. He really wanted her to join them, and that much was obvious to the rest of the team.
"Relax, Lloyd," Jay soothed him. "She said yes at the park, didn't she?" When Lloyd nodded, he continued. "Then she'll say yes tomorrow too."
"I would not be so sure of that," Zane put in his take on the matter. "She did not seem to be very aware of what she was giving up at the amusement park. Now she has an idea of our life and what we do. That may have changed her mind."
Lloyd's eyes gave a menacing look. "Uh, Zane, I think you should try saying what Lloyd wanted to hear," Cole whispered to the white ninja.
"But I told him what was in my mind about the matter," he responded.
"That's fine, but we'd rather see you in the one piece you are right now," Kai also whispered to the nindroid, who happened to be sitting in between the black and red ninja.
Zane shrugged. "We'll hear her decision tomorrow. For now, let us talk of other matters."
"Like what?" Lloyd asked.
"What are we going to do next?" Nya asked the team. "Like, if Zoe says yes, which she probably will, what do we do in the days after?"
"It's simple," Misako answered the cyan kunoichi. "You haven't had proper training with your Blades yet, so you will learn to master it. The kunoichi will also have to work towards their true potential."
"Yes, that is right," Sensei Wu came walking in, staff in hand. He had come back from a break to his room. "The kunoichi must unlock their true potential by getting past what holds them back mentally, not physically."
"And how do we know what's holding us back?" Reyna asked him.
"You must have some idea about that." Wu smiled lightly. "I can already guess the weakness for some of you." When he said this, he looked at Nya and Astra, both of which looked back at him a bit anxiously, to say the least. "But, back to your question, Reyna." The teal kunoichi perked up again after hearing her name. "If there is something that you may be thinking about often, then that could be the mental weakness."
Both Reyna and Brisa looked down after he said that. If something that they often thought about could be the obstacle they need to get over, then they may very well know what it is.
"But how do we overcome it?" Astra asked her Sensei.
Instead of Wu, Misako answered her. "You will be put into a position where you have no choice but to overcome it. If you make the right decision at that time, then you will unlock your full power."
Everyone took in the words she said. It made sense.
"Yeah, for me, I wanted to save Lloyd and the Fang Blade inside the Fire Temple," Kai said. "But obviously, I couldn't do both, so I got over the fact that I can't always do everything, and I saved Lloyd and ditched the Fang Blade."
"In other words, he couldn't always be the hero," his sister teased him.
Kai glared at her, but she ignored it.
"It makes sense," Brisa said. "What Misako said makes sense. It'll unlock when the time comes."
Both Wu and Misako nodded.
Cole yawned. "You know what? I'm going to sleep too. Good night, everyone."
Everyone else agreed as well and said their good nights. When Jay and Nya thought no one was looking, they did a quick kiss, but they didn't know that Kai fully saw what they did, but he decided to let them off.
In the morning, everyone miraculously had breakfast together, something that rarely ever happened. Zoe took this time to get to know her new friends better, as well as giving them an idea of her personality by showing them her funny side. Everyone laughed at the jokes she said, making her feel more included. This only made Lloyd like her more.
After they were done breakfast, everyone begged Zoe to tell them if she was going to accept being the kunoichi of life or not.
"Zoe! Have you made up your mind yet?" Brisa asked her.
"Yeah! Will you join us?" Nya asked her as well.
Misako chuckled, listening to their begging. "Wu and I decided that you would train first and then Zoe gives us her answer. That way, she knows what our training looks like and can decide off that."
"No fair!" Astra pouted. "She gets to see our training and decide, while I just get brought here?"
"To be fair, you did decide you wanted to come with us," Zane reminded her.
Astra shrugged, not having anything left to say.
"Sure, I have my answer, but I guess I'll tell you after your training!" Zoe said while giving them all a big smile like 'haha!'
Everyone groaned but went with it anyways, and it seemed like the only happy ones of the bunch were Zoe, Wu, and Misako.
They headed outside for training with their Blades in hand. At first, the ninja and kunoichi talked to their Blades more to create a closer relationship with it. After all, it would prove to be their best friends in a fight.
After that, they started some real training. They worked on drawing the power from the Blade and blasting it off the Bounty, and it seemed that the Bounty went to the middle of nowhere to do this, although Nya claimed it was still close to Ninjago City, nobody could see it. The only exception to this training was Brisa, who had to do other training first. Lloyd, being the only one of them without a Blade, worked on his balance because he had no idea what else to do.
Finally, they did some light sparring with their Blades aside. It involved only their bodies and nothing more.
It was close to noon when the ninja and kunoichi were done their training, and they asked Wu and Misako if Zoe could tell her decision then. They nodded.
"Well, Zoe," Lloyd told her. "What's the plan?"
She shifted her legs and head around a lot, thinking of what to say. He answer was pretty much finalized. This one answer would decide what she would do for the next few months, maybe even years, so it was, of course, a big decision to make. "Well…" she started.
Now the story will be focusing on the mental obstacles the kunoichi face and how they overcome it to get their full potential. This'll come with training, fluff, and some Blade action! Oh, and maybe some drama as well...
Hope you liked it!
