Back with another chapter! This one was a bit hard to write in the middle. I knew what to put in the beginning and end, but no idea about the middle. I don't have anything else to say. Hope you like it!
Chapter 37: True Vines
"I can't always be strong, huh?" Reyna tilted her head down and smiled. Scenes flashed in her head of when she wanted to be strong, but couldn't. These scenes included things far before she became a kunoichi, such as the time where her brother, Rob, was critically ill and she couldn't help but feel helpless and weak, even though she reminded herself many times that she is. Or the time where she stood up to a bully but couldn't do anything after because she was outnumbered and felt helpless and weak after that. A more recent example was her fake fight against Nya, where she kept standing up to beat the cyan kunoichi, but couldn't.
I get it now, Reyna told Vinewhipper.
Good. Vinewhipper would probably be smiling right now if it had a face.
From a place deep within her, power flooded through her like water breaking through a dam. She never felt so powerful, not even when she used Spinjitzu. "I am Reyna, the kunoichi of nature! Like plants and trees may not be able to stay put during a natural disaster, strength in humans is not always permanent!" She swung her Blade into the air, and vines sprung out of the ground and tied Palmer and Jarle together, trapping them. More vines came out and pushed Tylor and Allen back as they fell on the ground and were trapped as well.
"Wow!" Zoe squeaked. "Reyna! You're glowing!"
"It's her true potential!" Brisa exclaimed in happiness.
The last One standing snorted. "Enough of this! That won't help!" he roared and with a swipe of his hand, dark energy blasted past the trapped Four and freed them. The vines from Reyna's true potential were absolutely nothing for him. "We've had our fun for today. We can leave now." He dropped Brisa's parents and they screamed when they hit the ground while the other Four got up and followed the last One. "By the way, the name's Lucas. I guarantee we will meet again many more times." Lucas didn't even turn around as he said that. Jarle snapped his fingers without turning around and freed Brisa and Zoe. Brisa limped over to her parents in slight pain.
"Mom! Dad! Are you okay?!" she asked them.
Meanwhile, Reyna's body stopped glowing from her true potential. "No way…he broke them free like my true potential was nothing…"
Brisa turned back around at to her friend. "Was that Death…or…Destruction that Lucas used?"
"And that's the guy I have to fight?!" Zoe was horrified. "That's crazy!"
"I think…I actually don't know." Reyna said. "It could've been Death or Destruction because vines are plants, and plants are living."
"Whatever it was…" the silver kunoichi's face darkened. "It made your true potential look like nothing."
"Sorry for interrupting, but what do we do about your fallen friends?" Mr. Silvio interrupted.
Brisa looked at her father. "Oh, right…"
"We can't take them all, so we kind of have to wait, don't we?" Zoe asked.
And so wait they did. It wasn't very long before the ninja and kunoichi got back up. After they were all up, Brisa made the announcement that Reyna unlocked her true potential.
"Wow! That's great!" Cole exclaimed happily. "But where'd they go?"
"Yeah, we need to take revenge on them!" Jay punched a fist into his hand.
"They left," Reyna told them. "Lucas said something about-"
"Wait, who's Lucas?" Lloyd asked. "Is it the last guy we didn't know the name of?"
The teal kunoichi nodded and continued. "He said something like they were just here to have fun, and that we'd meet again somewhere."
Zoe felt obligated to add one part. "Many times."
"How about we talk when we get home?" Mrs. Silvio suggested. Everyone agreed and they went to Brisa's house. When they got there, they found that most of the people in the town were there, waiting for them.
"Mom, dad," Brisa said to her parents when they got to the front door. "Do you realize now why I became a kunoichi?"
Her parents looked at each other. "Yes, and we are glad you did." Mr. Silvio replied happily and put his hand on his daughter's shoulder.
"Who knows what those awful men would've done without you heroes?" Mrs. Silvio added.
"Uh, excuse me, but what heroes?" someone from the crowd in front of the house called out.
"Sorry?" Mrs. Silvio acted like she didn't hear what the person said.
"I mean, which heroes leave innocent civilians dying in a store?" the person said again, and everybody recognized it as a man's voice. Jay and Kai felt panic building up inside them, knowing he was talking about them leaving the people in the store.
"It was for the greater good!" Jay shouted in a direction relative to the voice.
"What greater good?" a woman now demanded. "My husband was injured in that store!"
"And my apartment was burnt down!" another woman shouted out.
People continued shouting things out until the entire crowd had something to yell and complain about. It became loud enough to the point where anyone inside the house (Zane, the three Sensei, and the grandparents) came out to see what the commotion was all about.
"Hey, hey! Quiet!" Nya shouted out to them, and surprisingly, they became quiet. "Do you think we wanted your apartment to burn? Or your husband to be injured? We were doing what we could! Jay and Kai didn't want something similar to what happened in the store to happen again, so they ran after the man who did it!"
"And in case you didn't know, each of those bad guys have more than enough power to wipe this town off the map!" Kai's voice boomed. "That includes your existence and the town's existence!"
"But you guys are heroes, aren't you?" someone said. "Then you should've stopped them without destroying so much of the town!"
"Would you rather have your house or shop destroyed or be dead?" Cole asked the man, who happened to be in the front row. "I don't know about you, but I'd rather have my house destroyed because at least that can be rebuilt. A life taken away can't be rebuilt."
This managed to make everyone stay quiet. "We are sorry, everybody," Sensei Wu said at last. "I am sure my students did not mean to let the town be destroyed or have people be injured, but they did what they could."
"Yes, if they actually fought the enemies with their full strength, it would have caused a much greater disaster than what you are facing right now," Misako added.
The complaining and insults stopped. They hadn't realized the danger they could've been in before Wu and Misako stepped in.
The large group entered the house and closed the door behind them.
"Nice to see that you're back up, Zane," Lloyd remarked.
The white ninja nodded. "Yes, but Astra is not, unfortunately."
Nya tilted her head. "She hasn't woke up since she was knocked out? Not even once?"
"No, that's not what he meant," Garmadon said. "She woke up before Zane did, but she has not yet permanently gotten up."
Reyna bit her lip. "That's bad! Something must be wrong…"
"We can worry about that later," Zane said quickly. Everyone was surprised to see him caring for something else at the moment. "But first, we need to know what happened with the Five."
The ninja and kunoichi looked at each other, and then sighed. "Well, like Kai said, we would've been destroyed if they tried at all…" Jay muttered.
Cole nodded. "We took some nasty hits, especially towards the end." He still felt some pain from the strong punch Tylor delivered to his ribs, but luckily, nothing felt like it was broken.
"They actually just gave up," Brisa added. "They just left."
Nya looked at her friend. "Not true. Weren't they getting bored of us and that's why they left?"
Her brother nodded. "Yeah, that's why. They came to have fun with us, that's all."
"And that fun they had destroyed a good portion of Edgeham…" Sensei Wu sighed. "Now all the townspeople are angry with us because we could not protect them or their town."
"Not the way they wanted or expected us to," Misako also sighed.
Brisa's parents looked at each other. "It's okay, they'll understand soon enough," Mr. Silvio said.
"Yes, I'm sure if we could explain to them, then they would understand," Mrs. Silvio added.
"Wow, really?!" Brisa's eyes widened in happiness. "That'd be great!"
"Yeah, it would clear our name," Lloyd added with a smile.
"Now, what about Astra?" Zoe asked Zane. "What are we going to do about her?"
The nindroid sighed. "We cannot do anything but carry her back to the Bounty. We should leave, and soon." Everybody agreed to that, but the silver kunoichi didn't leave until she said bye to her parents and grandparents.
"Bye mom! Bye dad!" she said as she hugged her parents who now understood why she did what she did a while back to become a kunoichi. "I hope you're not angry with me still, are you?"
Mr. Silvio had a stern face. "You still didn't listen to what we said about not doing this kunoichi business."
"And now if word of today's disaster spreads around Ninjago, your reputation will be ruined!" her mother told her angrily.
"And if you listened to us, there wouldn't be any chance of your reputation being ruined!" her father had to add again.
"You could've had such a good life ahead of you, but no!" Mrs. Silvio's voice was getting louder.
Brisa's heart felt like it had shattered again. "But…what about what you said outside…" Her parents didn't reply, and they turned around swiftly. "Grandma, grandpa, make them understand, please!" Sadly, they shook their heads because her parents would not give in to what they said.
Kai was furious with Brisa's parents, but he kept his mouth closed and pulled a tearing Brisa away from her parents as they all left the town to go back on the Bounty.
"It's not fair!" Brisa shouted on the deck with only Kai there to hear her. "Why can't they seem to understand any decision I ever make on my own?!" She paced around the deck angrily. Luckily for the Bounty, if Brisa had unlocked her true potential and had Skydancer in her hand, it would be very likely that it would cause up a storm of wind that reacted to her mood.
Kai stood their silently, watching the kunoichi of wind release her anger and try to cool down.
"Well, say something!" She looked at him with a face that was not usually her carefree self.
The red ninja was startled. "Oh, uh, yeah!" he said in agreement. "I don't get why they don't understand you…"
Brisa narrowed her eyes at him. "Is this a joke? You don't sound serious."
He sighed. "Brisa, it isn't like you to get so angry over this. Sad, maybe, but not angry."
"I'm not going to sit back and relax knowing my parents aren't happy, you know," she said icily.
"Well, what am I supposed to do?!" Kai exploded. "Tell me what you want me to do and I'll help you!"
Brisa lost her fierceness and simply collapsed onto the Bounty floor, ready to cry again. "I don't know, Kai…I don't know…"
Meanwhile, inside the ninja's room, Cole and Reyna were having a blast, being closer than ever after Reyna unlocked her true potential. "How does it feel having your mental obstacle removed?" the black ninja asked. "Nice, huh?"
The teal kunoichi nodded enthusiastically. "It feels great now that I don't always want to be the strongest!"
Cole nodded approvingly. "Yeah, being the best at everything you want to be the best in is near impossible. There's always going to be someone better because nobody gets everything they want. That day where you kept wanting to beat Nya…that definitely wasn't a smart move by you."
The kunoichi looked down at the floor. "Yeah, I know. I got reckless and carried away, but now I know my limits!"
"And you're also the strongest kunoichi right now, but only until the other catch up to you, right?"
She nodded once more. "Yup, and I'll be waiting for the day when all my sisters can unlock their true potentials too. Then we'll beat the Five once and for all!" Remembering about the Five, the way Lucas got rid of her vines still bothered her.
"Reyna? Something wrong?" Cole asked.
"Hm…Lucas…the way he destroyed my vines with ease…he's not going to be an easy opponent for Lloyd and Zoe…"
Cole brushed away the concern. "Don't worry. They'll be able to handle him once Zoe unlocks her true potential, I'm sure of it."
Reyna looked at him and smiled. "You know, Cole, you're a positive guy, and I like that about you. You try to help us out and help inspire confidence with your leader-like qualities."
"And you're strong willed unlike the old stereotype that females are weak," he replied instantly. "And that's good, because that's what you'll need as a kunoichi."
It was at that moment that their feelings for each other truly sparked. "I fell for you a long while back, but I…I think I love you!" he blurted out, feeling weird to say such a thing, but he knew Reyna wouldn't mind.
A true laugh came out from her mouth. "So do I, Cole, I think I love you too." The two got much closer, and for the first time, their lips touched. However, the moment only lasted for a few seconds.
"Hey Cole! Reyna! It's time for-woah!" It was Lloyd. He walked in on the new official couple and was extremely surprised at what they were doing. They stopped immediately as they saw him enter the room.
"Dinner!" Zane called out a moment after Lloyd stopped talking.
"Ugh, gross! You lovebirds couldn't have done that at any other time?!" he shouted teasingly at them.
Cole stood up, furious. "YOU COULDN'T ENTER AT ANY OTHER TIME?!" He ran and chased after Lloyd, while the green ninja, still a kid at heart, ran away from him, while anyone that saw the two running around the ship laughed.
Hurray! Reyna unlocked her true potential! And confessed her feelings to Cole and so did he! But Lloyd walked in on them, and Brisa's parents are still angry at her even though they were acting nice not too long before. Will they have to try a second time to patch up? Lucas also promised that they'd meet again, so will the ninja and kunoichi win then?
Hope you liked it!