Singe

Down, Cafeteria

6:53 PM

Lloyd was slowly growing accustomed to dinners in Down. There wasn't a lot of conversation around the table—understandable, as most of the diners were exhausted from running several Singes, and those who hadn't, training zealously to prepare for those patrols. London and Dr. Julien continued the discussion from the MTR earlier about Whisperers. Gahiji added his own pithy rebukes here and there, and Ed and Edna chimed in, too, obviously thrilled by the unburying of one of their favorite topics.

Lloyd didn't feel like listening: he knew he would get hopelessly confused if he did. Fortunately, the others didn't, either, so Lloyd, Azamat, and the other Ninja talked about the sparring match between Cole and Azamat.

It grew late. Dishes clinked into the sink, and a lot of the adults left, weary from their discussion. Amilia and December, who had spent all of dinner chatting, left together, waving to the Ninja who stayed to talk with Azamat.

London put a load of dishes into the washer and left, and still the Ninja talked.

"So tomorrow's Saturday," Cole said, directing his fork at Azamat. "Your birthday?"

Azamat grinned and nodded. "Amilia and I are turning sixteen."

"Ahh, sweet sixteen," Cole said, smirking and raising one eyebrow. "So, you're going blue tomorrow. What else?"

"Well." Azamat glanced at the ceiling. "I'm planning to spend most of my birthday with my friends. We're all heading out to NinjaGo City. I want to get my hair cut and visit that super-cool music store they have there on main street, and there's a few other things I wanna do, too, but after lunch we'll meet up with Amilia to get some Adelaide's chocolate. She's going to buy herself some new art stuff."

"That's a lot," Lloyd said.

"So where do you go to get your hair done?" Kai asked.

"Well, I've always just gone to Ken Cuts, but this time I'm going to this Peyton Alva guy." Azamat twiddled his fork across the remains of his salmon fillet and rice, like a drafting compass. "I want something pretty edgy done, and I don't think Ken Cuts are gonna—ahem, cut it."

Jay spoke for the first time. "I know Peyton," he said.

The Ninja all looked at him. "You do?" Cole said.

" 'Course. Ma used to get her hair done there all the time."

"Wait—Mrs. Walker got her hair done at Peyton Alva's," Azamat repeated, a grin twitching at the corners of his mouth.

"Yeah." Jay, flustered by the sudden attention, blushed. "Aw, that's not weird, is it? She got her hair dyed all the time. She always looked like a blue and gold macaw when she got back from the City."

"Really?" Lloyd thought of Jay's mother, whose hair this evening had been done in a tight, tidy, graying bun.

"Come on, you guys didn't know this?" Jay traced a squiggly motion on his shoulder. "She's got a snake tattoo, too. You've never seen it?"

The Ninja all shook their heads, eyes wide. Kai grinned, but Zane looked a little horrified.

"She has a little blue star on her knuckle, too. Come on, you've got to have seen that one."

They shook their heads again.

Jay rolled his eyes and put his chin in his hand. "I'll tell her to show you later."

While Lloyd processed this, Azamat bounced in his seat, ecstatic. "Definitely!"

Kai eyed him. "You want a tattoo, Azamat?" he said.

Azamat reined it in a little. "Well, I have a friend who's a tattoo artist and he does really cool stuff. He said when I turn eighteen, if I have a design, he'll do it."

"... That's it? You just think they're cool, so you want one?"

"Yeah." Azamat sighed and mirrored Jay, resting his jaw in his palm. "But for now, I wait. And get a peacock haircut." He gave a small smirk. "Which, honestly, is almost as good."

"So you really are gonna turn blue tomorrow?" Jay inquired. "That'll look really good on you."

"Are you really allowed an opinion, Blue Ninja?" Kai said dryly.

"Hey, hey," Jay said, while Lloyd and Azamat laughed. "I know my shades of blue, Kai, you doubter."

Then Jay cringed and looked away. It took the others a moment to realize why—then they thought of Nya, too, and shut their mouths. Azamat glanced from Jay to the others, then picked up his fork and pretended not to feel awkward by twiddling it across his plate.

Cole suddenly elbowed Lloyd. "Hey. Weren't we supposed to go on a patrol?"

Lloyd blinked. "Uh... yeah."

"I'm sure someone would have come to get you," Zane said. "And perhaps they still will. Did London tell you who would be taking you?"

"Uh." Lloyd and Cole exchanged looks. "No."

"I 'spect Gahiji will take you somewhere," Azamat said, stifling a yawn.

"Should we go find him?" Lloyd asked Cole.

Cole hesitated. "Yeah. It's about time we cleaned up, anyways."

Jay gave a short groan. "Well, have fun with Grump-hiji," he said bitterly. "You're sure to have a blast."

They all stared at him.

"Grump-hiji?" Kai repeated.

Jay raised his hands and waved them violently back and forth, blanching. "That's not what I meant to—uh—! Sorry, I was just thinking that, I guess it popped out—cuz he's so grumpy all the time, y'know?" He groaned. "D-don't tell him I said that, would you?"

But the rest of them all burst out laughing. Lloyd clapped a hand to his forehead. "Jay!" he exclaimed as Azamat smacked his forehead against the table. Kai hid his face in his hands, shaking with laughter.

"Me and my big mouth..." Jay slumped in his seat, blushing furiously.

"It's not funny," Cole said, recovering. "Gahiji's got a lot of reason to be—uh—well, I mean—" He laughed again. "Spinjitzu Master, Jay! It's so true!"

"That's hilarious!" Azamat exclaimed, leaning over the table a little, shoving his empty dishes aside. "Grump-hiji... Heh, or Crab-hiji, cuz he's so crabby."

This earned even more laughter.

"Really," Zane said, "we shouldn't treat this matter with levity. Cole is right. He has—em, reasons for his behavior." But he, too, sounded on the verge of cracking up.

"Crab-hiji?" Jay was finally a little more comfortable with his slip-up. "Don't you mean Grumble-hiji, Azamat?"

"What did you say? Rage-hiji?" Azamat said, cupping a hand to his ear.

Kai whimpered with laughter, ducking under the table.

"No no, Grouch-hiji," Jay corrected him, struggling to maintain a straight face. Lloyd knew they really shouldn't be laughing, but it was so true.

"Wait a moment, here, Jay," Azamat said, raising a hand. He, too, was attempting to keep himself assembled after a bout of violent laughter. "I, myself, prefer a more ironic twist. For example." He cleared his throat. "Giggle-hiji."

Lloyd was going to pass out, he was laughing so hard. He had to turn from the group until he could compose himself, wheezing for breath—and in doing so, he caught sight of December, peering in at them from the doorway.

Lloyd straightened. "H-hi."

The Ninja turned and clamped their mouths shut.

Except Kai, who still hid under the table, guffawing.

December's expression looked maddeningly blank. "We can hear you all through Down," she said. "What are you laughing about?"

"Uh..."

No one wanted to say "your brother".

But December cracked a grin. "Giggle-hiji? You don't mean Gahiji, do you?"

Another explosive fit of laughter sounded, muffled, from under the table. Lloyd dealt Kai a solid jab in the back with his elbow, but the Red Ninja's mirth barely faltered.

"But Gahiji doesn't laugh at all," December said.

Jay raised his hand. "See, that's the irony," he explained. "He doesn't laugh, let alone—" And here, he barely choked down his laughter. "—let alone giggle."

December snickered, then covered her mouth against some more open snorts. Then they all guffawed without restraint.

"As long as we're on this train of thought," December said over the commotion, "you might as well call him Tee-hee-hiji!"

The room's contents collapsed in conniptions of hilarity.

"What's going on in here?"

Kai's head thudded against the underside of the table before he pulled himself out from under it, disoriented. The room had fallen completely silent in less than a second.

Gahiji peered into the Cafeteria, scowling.

"This is what's keeping you?" he drawled, raising one eyebrow at his sister. December shrugged, then bit her lip against a crazy grin and choked down a laugh. Fortunately, Gahiji had turned away, and didn't notice.

"Brookstone, Garmadon. It's time."

Both of them stood up. "R-right," Cole said.

"Yessir, Grumphiji," Lloyd said.

Everyone froze.

Gahiji narrowed his eyes. "Excuse me?"

Lloyd stammered.

"I mean—! Sorry—not—no, uh—yessir."

Jay groaned, clapping a hand to his forehead.

"Uh—y-yessir, I'm coming."

Lloyd's face was about as hot as the salmon fillet when it came out of the frying pan, and, he was sure, was about the same shade of pink.

Gahiji glanced skywards.

Then he turned on his heel and started back down the corridor. "The Singe isn't going to run itself."

They were out the doorway in the heartbeat that Gahiji turned. Lloyd cursed his terrible timing and simultaneously uttered thanks to the First Spinjitzu Master that he was still alive, falling into step beside Cole and December.

"That was close," Cole whispered.

Gahiji's cloak swished—Lloyd could hear his disapproval in each footstep that echoed down the hall.

"But we're not out of the woods yet," December admitted, wincing.

Lloyd shuddered.

Torchfire Mountain, at the foot of the volcano

7:06 PM

The teleportation process was a lot less laughter-provoking than the last time that Cole had experienced it. Everything was orange; it seemed to Cole a lot like what a sphere of amber would look like if it suddenly liquified.

But even when the glow faded, they were left standing in a desert the color of peach meat. The sunset in the Badlands bled like thickened fruit syrup over the flats and dunes. No breeze ruffled their cloaks—only the heat of the day, stored beneath the sand, shimmered up through the air and distorted their vision. The sun hovered just above a hummock of cantaloupe sand, a glowing white pearl in the perfect scarlet of the sky.

Cole and Lloyd both bent over, coughing, when the teleportation effects wore off. Cole felt thirsty already—sand sifted itself into his shoes and the hot, still air was almost suffocating.

"Teleportation is one of the trickier Shauto maneuvers," December said, shoving her coin in a pocket of her cargo pants. "For first-time Shautei, and those who don't know Shauto, we usually transport them via the jets—the teleportation process is quite disorienting the first time you use it."

Cole heard the apology in her voice. Obviously Gahiji had no choice, the night he'd had to teleport them to Down, but apparently it wasn't standard protocol.

Lloyd looked up, and in doing so, stumbled backwards a few paces. "Woah. Uh, that's Torchfire Mountain, right?" he said, pointing up at the volcano to their right.

Torchfire Mountain's fiery pink planes and ridges cast stark shadows of blue-black that crisscrossed over itself, making it look like a colossal burning crystal in the desert dusk.

"It surely is." December gestured to the pouches on their belts. "Hey, find your Rescue stone."

"This is so cool," Lloyd muttered to Cole as they searched. "This is like—like—Starfarer Con."

Cole raised an eyebrow.

"I haven't been this excited since I got to meet Kent Greene. You know, the author of Starfarer." Lloyd definitely looked flushed.

Cole couldn't help but chuckle at him."I can relate to that. It's exciting, huh?"

" 'Ey, Gahiji, will you pull up the Shields?" December asked, having apparently missed this entire exchange.

Gahiji, in the Control Room back in Down, didn't reply. The next thing the Ninja knew, December was glowing.

Cole blinked several times, and Lloyd rubbed his eyes, both trying to wrap their heads around the sight before them. December was now surrounded by a yellow, green, pink, and blue, the colors swirling in a thick aura. They were textured—Cole blinked until his eyes stung—like frosting on a cupcake. It contrasted brilliantly with the rest of the red-and-gold landscape.

"Don't be alarmed," December said, grinning at their reactions. "This is just my Shield." She traced the contours of light and color that curled around her in eddies of what looked like emerald and ultramarine sugar.

"Wow," Lloyd breathed. "And here I thought I was using See on accident. Why is it those colors?"

"I don't know," December admitted. "It's what my soul looks like, I guess."

Gahiji's voice vibrated from Cole's wrist communicator. "Brace yourselves."

They had barely received the warning before a shock hit Cole—it felt like someone grabbed him around the middle and squeezed as hard as they could. His feet started to tingle; the Shauto symbols tied around his ankles began to glare bronze, and an orb of gray and mahogany formed around him.

Cole shouted and nearly toppled backwards. He caught himself, however, in time to watch hundreds of beige and ashen pebbles materialize and hover around him. He was seized with the power of his own Element.

Cole stuttered for a moment. He couldn't work any actual words out, especially not when he tried to catch one of the rocks in his hand, and his fingers went straight through it as if through a holographic image.

"You alright?" December asked.

Cole swallowed, still panting, but nodded.

Lloyd waited anxiously, feet braced apart, for his own Shield to activate. Cole, despite some of his vision being obscured by what looked like a miniature Spinjitzu tornado, watched.

Lloyd's Shield blazed to life. Cole's eyebrows shot into the air—it looked like a giant ghostly lemon.

"That's weird," he said.

"I told you," Lloyd said, gesturing breathlessly to himself. "Buttered movie-theatre popcorn!" His soul aura billowed like a sphere of sulfurous smoke, shimmering with white flecks.

"Woah," December remarked. "I'd have thought that the Green Ninja's soul aura would be... well... green."

"No kidding," Lloyd said. "I thought that Elemental Master's souls were supposed to be completely in-tune with their Element...? See, Cole's looks like his Element."

December nodded, gazing at Lloyd, then at the Earth Ninja. "That is really weird," she said.

"Hey," Gahiji addressed them. "You know See, Lloyd?"

"Uh—yeah."

"Use it."

They all looked at each other, wincing. That sounded a lot like "hurry up" to Cole.

Cole and Lloyd had both been given all the gear needed to run a Singe, including the Shield anklets, a belt with many pockets, and a long black cloak. The most significant of this equipment was the pouch containing a bunch of Shauto stones, a set of two pens, eight vials of peppermint extract, and a packet of mint candies. Lloyd rummaged in this bag now, fishing out the See Stone and holding it up triumphantly.

"Go ahead, use it," December said. "See is how we find Whisperers."

Lloyd turned the stone over in his palm and murmured, "Pokazhite mnye potok." Cole felt a faint rush of Shauto, and Lloyd's eyes glazed over, becoming completely white.

"What does that mean, anyway?" Cole asked December. "Pokazhite mnye potok?"

" 'Show me the truth'," December replied, resting one hand on her hip. "When you say 'Pokazhite mnye potok', you're directly asking Shauto to show you what's really there, not just what you can see with your own eyes. ... I think that's what it means. Gahiji knows Amid better than I do."

"Okay, cool." Cole paused, and they both watched Lloyd peer around.

"Dr. Julien said that Shauto speaks Amid," he added at last. "Or, at least, that was the gist. So does that mean Shauto doesn't understand Ninjagian?"

December's eyebrows raised a little. "Uh... Huh. I don't know that it doesn't understand Ninjagian, but it seems to only respond to Amid. ... I really don't know."

Lloyd swept his hair back from his forehead, exhaling. "See is still a little disorienting," he admitted. "I'm assuming Whisperers are those black dots?"

"Right," December said. "So where are they?"

Lloyd pointed to one side of the volcano. "There's one dot over there," he said. "And..." He faltered. "... A lot over there," he finished, swinging his arm to indicate the other side.

Cole's fists clenched involuntarily. "How many? Can you count them?"

Lloyd's mouth worked silently, his finger bouncing up and down in the same general area as he counted the Whisperers—his expression grew steadily more horrified. Cole squinted in that direction, and he could see a gray smudge on the horizon, too, even without using Shauto. The Badland heat still seemed determined to undermine his efforts, even in retreat for the night, and made the image undulate and quiver.

"Ten," Lloyd said quietly. "Eleven, twelve, thirteen."

Cole glanced to December, who looked pale. She relayed the information to her wrist communicator, her eyes shifting to white as she, too, attempted to count the Whisperers on the horizon.

Cole eyed them both. The he rummaged in his own pouch, pulled out his See stone, gripped it tight in one gloved hand, and said, "Pokazhite mnye potok."

It was thrilling.

The world became as white as the Glacier Barrens in the dead of winter, but for December and Lloyd's auras. Cole had to shake himself—the transition from crimsons and golds to snowy landscapes nearly blinded him. The craggy coral face of the volcano was now silver. The marble sands of the desert stretched out for miles. The sun was a still a pearl, only ashen, now, a strange, dully shining feather-gray.

Lloyd and December were both supernatural outlines of themselves, and his own body was see-through; the Shauto stone was completely visible through the back of his hand, glowing green.

Now he could better see the Whisperers in the distance. Cole blinked the last of his shock and began to count. The heat waves no longer inhibited his vision.

One, two three, four, five... twelve, thirteen. From this distance, they appeared as deceitfully cute black puffballs, not showing any signs of budging from their spot on the horizon.

"Is this what Whisperers normally do?" Cole asked, a nervous edge to his voice.

"No," December said. She glanced from her communicator to the far-off Whisperers several times. "No, this is not normal."

Lloyd tapped Cole on the shoulder, making the Master of Earth start and turn to him. Lloyd's translucent gray finger pointed towards the group of Whisperers.

"Cole, do you see that, there? Does that little dot look blue to you?"

Cole narrowed his eyes, trying to follow Lloyd's blurry index finger to the corner of the Whisperers. "I don't see—" he started, then caught sight of it.

A little dot, much smaller than the rest of the black ones. It was hard to make out the color of it, but it did appear to be a sort of blotted gray-blue-periwinkle.

"It is blue," he said. He rubbed his strained eyes. "And look, there's a white one, too. And a purple one!"

"Hey, December," Lloyd said, still pointing vehemently at the cluster. "Look, do you see colored dots in there?"

"Where?"

Lloyd caught her by the shoulder and held her down next to his arm, following his arm out to the corner of the gathering. "At the edge," he said, and December gave a small groan.

"I see it," she said. "Gosh, we can't run a single Singe without running into these guys anymore?"

"What is it?" Cole and Lloyd asked in unison, both dreading the reply.

"Hidein," December said. She lifted her wrist communicator and said, "So, braht, what do we do?"

Cole and Lloyd both fell silent. Over the faint, bubbly rumble of the volcano far above, they listened for Gahiji's voice through the speakers.

"How many Hidein?" he said.

"I count three, but we're really far away. Send the Birds for recon."

"Three?" There came a few clicks from the other end. "Most likely, it's a group of Hidein collecting Whisperers."

"Collecting Whisperers?" December repeated. Her brow twitched in irritation. "Hey, listen, you—"

Gahiji ignored her. "They gather 'rogue' Whisperers and take them back to their base. It'll be easier to fight them when they're collecting like this. Their Hidoi will be divided between the Whisperers."

"Hold on, hold on!" December was becoming impatient. "I know you don't like to talk about your time with Wyche—but you knew that his soldiers collected Whisperers? We knew he was in control of them, but you knew how of this all worked, and you didn't bother to tell us?"

"I forgot."

Gahiji's tone was so flat that it was somehow jeering. December opened her mouth, then chuckled ruefully and thumped her wrist a few times to vent, grinning, but indisputably annoyed.

"I am not ignoring that, Gahiji. But what do we do?"

"I need a clear view of the situation first, but I'll teleport to you and have Amilia take the wings."

"Great."

December dropped her arm back to her side. "You can stop using See, now, Gahiji's going to get a better look," she told Cole and Lloyd, who switched hands with their Shauto stones, blinking back to their own color vision. At least the sun was nestling itself into the highest dune, cutting the heat and bright oranges of sunset in half.

"So?" Cole said. "What's the plan?"

December let out a deep breath. "Well, I don't know much about fighting Hidein, but it's gonna be tricky. We're gonna have to use Shauto against the Whisperers, and fight hand-to-hand with the Hidein at the same time—they'll use Hidoi against us, too." She held up her Rescue stone. "You can use Rescue against them; it'll have the same effect as when Lloyd uses a kamehameha against a regular person."

Cole found his own Rescue stone and gripped it.

"We'll have Gahiji here, I think," December said, sounding immensely relieved by the prospect. "Just... keep each other's backs, and we'll be fine."

Lloyd and Cole exchanged looks. Lloyd's hands were already crackling with Shauto.

"Here, crouch down," December said, gesturing for them to join her on their knees in the sandy rocks. "As soon as Gahiji gives the word, we'll move."

She glanced over her shoulder at the two of them crouching next to her, offering a bleak smile. "You guys doing alright? ... Heck of a first Singe, huh?"

Cole snorted in response.

"Oh, yeah. The simple Heal ritual is zhiit. Just draw a circle and Punctuate it - there's not enough time to teach you the real thing, but that should heal at least a little bit."

"And zhiit?" Cole inquired after a pause. "What does that mean?"

December grimaced. " 'Live'."

Another silence.

"I take it back," Lloyd said under his breath. "This is not like Starfarer Con. Not at all."

December's head whipped in his direction faster than Cole could blink. "What did you say?"

Lloyd blushed. "I—well—nothing, I was—mostly, just, talking to myself—"

"Starfarer?" December's eyes glittered. She turned and grabbed Lloyd by the shoulders, shaking him wildly. "What about Starfarer?"

"Uh—!"

"Are you a Donnifan too?" December demanded.

"What?" Lloyd's shock increased. "You—you—?!"

The wrist communicator made a strange sound. It took Cole a moment to register that Gahiji was groaning.

"Answer the question! Are you a Donnifan?"

Lloyd finally beamed, a huge grin that took up his entire face. "For-ever, sister!" he cried, and they high-fived, the resounding smack! echoing off the volcano's face. Both Lloyd and December laughed helplessly.

Cole felt a sudden, disturbing connection with third wheels.

"This is great," Gahiji said. Even over the wrist communicator's speaker, the dripping displeasure in his tone was painfully audible. "But those Whisperers are moving towards you fast."

The joyous union was put to an abrupt halt. "Towards us?" December repeated, her eyes growing wider. "You're not serious?"

"I am." The words were clipped and annoyed.

"Great!" Cole said vehemently. "So the plan is to sit here and wait for them?"

"No. Give me thirty seconds." There was a thp of static as Gahiji terminated the link, and the communicator's speakers fell silent.

There was a pause.

"You know what this is like?" Lloyd said at last.

"What?" December and Cole said in unison.

"This is like in volume four, where Princess Stoskai is waiting for Captain Orachid to show up and save them from the atlantic giants."

Lloyd grinned unapologetically while December laughed. Cole fought the urge to slap himself in the face.

"Would that mean that Gahiji is Captain Orachid?" December asked.

This sent both Lloyd and December into fits of hysterical giggling, for which only the pair of them would ever understand why. Cole could only watch, fascinated and a little disturbed by the extreme geekiness of his companions.

Gahiji materialized beside Lloyd. Lloyd gasped and recoiled—he was still not used to the whole teleportation thing. It took a second to calm himself as the amber sparks dispersed like spinning flames.

"Eyy, braht," December said, nudging him, obviously anxious. "How do we do this?"

A glove hid the Hidoi tattoos on Gahiji's right arm. He rolled back the other sleeve of his cloak, and Lloyd found himself unable to tear his gaze away from the emerald labyrinth of tattoos wrapping over and under his arm, down his fingers, and into his palm.

The twisting greens seemed too vivid for his dark skin. Lloyd realized after a moment that the ink was alive with the actual power of Shauto. This he felt more than saw, as the leftover Shauto from Gahiji's teleportation faded, still throbbing gently, pulsed in his soul.

Gahiji rolled his sleeve back until it bunched at the elbow. He was already facing the distant Hidein and Whisperers when he teleported, and he never took his eyes from them as he absently slipped a See stone from his pouch into his glowing, tattooed fingers. Cole's eyes followed the tattoos, too, and he and Lloyd both stared in awe of the commitment and might that they represented, the ink stirring to life and lighting Gahiji's dark features with serious, true power.

"Destroying the Whisperers is our first priority," Gahiji said quietly. His eyes were pure white as he used See to view the enemy in the distance. He tilted his head slightly. "Cole and December, remain here. December, instruct Cole in Rescuing from a distance."

They're nearly a mile out, and there's thirteen of them, Lloyd almost said. Gahiji seemed confident that it could be done, however, so he kept his mouth shut.

Cole nodded.

Gahiji then turned around, facing Lloyd. His flat white stare disoriented the Green Ninja, and it took a moment for him to realize that he was looking through Lloyd, and not at him. "We'll deal with that one last," he said, referencing the Whisperer on the other side of the horizon. Then his eyes shimmered to silver, fixed now upon Lloyd. "You come with me, Garmadon."

Lloyd didn't doubt his ability to hold his own in a fight—he was the Green Ninja, for crying out loud—but he couldn't stifle some surprise. "Me? Not December?"

"Your access to Shauto is infinitely wider than December's, as you are the Ultimate Spinjitzu Master. You are a trained Elemental Ninja." Indifferently, Gahiji turned back to the cluster of Whisperers. "December must be the one to instruct Cole in long-distance Rescue."

"Right," Lloyd said. That makes sense, but...

Gahiji made a quick gesture with his glowing hand for Lloyd to step up beside him, which Lloyd did, his face draining.

"G'luck, braht," December said.

Gahiji nodded. He turned to Lloyd.

"Channel your power. Do not restrain it. Understand?"

Lloyd blinked. Then he attempted a smile. "We're gonna blast them dead?"

Gahiji turned back to the horizon, his frown lifting the barest fraction.

A warmth on the back of his neck. Lloyd stiffened when Gahiji touched him, when Shauto flooded through his tattoos and into Lloyd's shoulders. Gahiji said something in Amid to his teleportation coin.

And Lloyd understood it.

"Myy nachali," Gahiji said.

"And now, it begins."

Lloyd's breath caught. How...?

How could he possibly have gleaned Gahiji's meaning from the sounds that came out of his mouth?

Did Shauto translate speech, too? It would make sense, especially with Gahiji's hand on his neck and power coursing through his veins. That act would remove the barriers of language.

So that was why I understood the Amid—but, em, why did he say "And now it begins"?

Then, Shauto's fiery teleportation rush swept them both into a whirlwind of color and motion, and Lloyd understood again.

Down, Cafeteria

7:23 PM

Generally, in Down, Azamat never had more time than he knew what to do with. He was always doing something; whether it was patrolling, training, re-visiting the theory on a few different Shauto maneuvers, keeping up with his music theory, practicing or cooking. There was always something that needed doing. It never crossed his mind that one could be without task, or—Spinjitzu Master forbid—bored.

So it caught him completely off-guard to enter the cafeteria and find Kai at the table, surfing his phone, absolutely languid.

"Hey, Kai," Azamat said, waving once on his way past him.

Kai glanced at him. "Hey."

"What are you doing on your phone?" Azamat asked.

"Facebook."

"Oh, fun." Azamat pulled the first cupboard open, scanning its contents. When there was no further conversation, Azamat turned back to eye Kai. "You look bored," he said.

"Nah." Kai stifled a yawn. "I'm just... uh..."

"Bored?"

"... Yeah."

Azamat snorted. He closed the first cupboard and opened the second, his brow furrowing when he didn't find what he wanted. "You could go to bed. It's late enough." He searched the countertop, peering behind the toaster, the coffee maker, and the mixer. "You could do Takigyo... although, I have to say, you seem better than ever."

Kai grunted.

"You could hit the PTR..." Azamat trailed off. He patted his jean pockets, then opened the cupboards again, grimacing. "Hey, you haven't seen my mints, have you?"

"Your mints?" Kai turned around in his chair, eyebrows raising. "Try the Control Room. There must be thousands in there."

"Ha, ha. But I've got a box of candy canes somewhere in here. It's got my name on it, and a big blue bow."

"... Candy canes?"

"Yeah. It's a birthday present from Lila."

Kai blinked. "Lila?" he repeated.

"Yeah, Lila. My friend. She's from Orrora. Come on, it's here somewhere!" Azamat exclaimed, re-checking the cupboards. "I sure hope no one ate them, for their own sake."

Kai's eyebrows continued up his forehead.

"Come on, this sucks," Azamat said. "Where are my freaking candy canes? They were over here for the longest time. I had one a couple days ago."

He cut himself off when a blood curdling war cry echoed throughout Down.

A jolt of adrenaline and unpleasant deja vu seized Azamat. He slammed the cupboard door shut and rushed after Kai, who had jumped straight up and out the door.

He and the Master of Fire burst into the Control Room to find December, holding Cole by the scruff of the neck, restraining him. Sparks of orange fizzled in the air: they had just teleported.

"Woah, there," December said breathlessly. Her heels dug into the floor to constrain the Master of Earth. Cole's battle cry tapered off, and he glanced around, panicked and confused. "Easy. They're gone."

Cole looked beyond human communication. Finally, he said, "What?"

December let go of Cole's cloak. Cole hesitantly stood up straight, his fists still raised, eyes wild. Azamat noticed the Rescue stone that he clutched in his palm, and sighed, relieved to find that it was only the aftermath of Cole and Lloyd's first patrol.

"Gahiji and Lloyd should appear in approximately eight seconds." Amilia said from where she sat at the dashboard. She tilted one of the Birds' monitors towards her.

Air rushed into the Control Room from the doorway, ruffling Azamat's hair, and an amber glow gathered in the air next to Cole and December. Kai shielded his gaze, and Azamat had to squint, though he was used to the teleportation process.

Gahiji and Lloyd, accompanied by the Birds, materialized in the center of the light. They stood back to back, Lloyd's head pressed between Gahiji's shoulder-blades, his arms raised and a sphere of blinding light in between his palms. Gahiji held the teleportation coin in one flat palm, perfectly nonchalant but for the sour expression on his face. Lloyd's own war scream reverberated painfully in the Control Room.

Lloyd blinked several times, cutting off his shout. "Ha," he said faintly. "We're alive!"

Gahiji straightened his leather jacket, dropping the coin in his pocket. Lloyd dimmed the kamehameha in his hands, breathless.

"That's everybody," Amilia said. She reached into the fading teleportation glow and plucked the Birds from the air, switching them off and setting them on the dashboard. "Job well done, you guys!"

Lloyd and Cole both looked like they had just emerged from having to barricade themselves in a fallout shelter. They shed red sand every time they moved. Cole's hair was thrust back, encrusted in wet grit, and Lloyd's legs shook.

"We're gonna do that regularly?" Lloyd croaked.

Amilia handed them each a plastic water bottle. December didn't hesitate to guzzle hers. Both Cole and Lloyd stared for a moment at their own drinks, before registering an apparent thirst, and beginning to rehydrate themselves.

"How'd it go, then?" Kai said eagerly, as the rest of Down's occupants appeared in the doorway.

Cole laughed, wiping his mouth. "It was definitely not Starfarer Con."

"We fought Hidein," Lloyd said.

"Wh—Hidein?" Jay cried out. "Are you serious?"

"Dead." Lloyd put one hand on his hip and bent over, still trying to catch his breath. "They all got away, but we fought them, alright. As soon as all the Whisperers were dead, the Hidein ran off with their tails tucked between their legs."

"We deprived them of their easy weapon." Gahiji said. He stripped the Shauto glove from his right hand, rolling down his other sleeve. "

"There were fourteen Whisperers," Cole said. "And all of them except one were together in a single group. It was crazy! That lone Whisperer nearly gutted me with wooden talons or something."

Azamat could not help but smile. Now that the two Ninja were semi-recovered from the experience, they were practically bouncing as they retold the moment's events, faces shining with sweat and the ecstasy of battle.

"Next time," Gahiji said quietly to London, "We're going to catch a Hidein, make him talk. Find out where they're stationed, at least."

"Good idea," London agreed.

Gahiji jabbed a finger at Cole and Lloyd, who were still bobbing and explaining and shouting with delight in between swigs of water. "They need sleep," he said.

London regarded the two Ninja for a moment, chuckling. "Ohh, yeah."