Chapter One: Lockdown

Well, well, well. What has it been...four years? Ah ha ha...oops.
Well, I'm back, and I'd like to say better than ever, but that would be a bit of a stretch. For the first time in quite a while, I have a whole lot of time on my hands and not much to fill it with. And that's because...

I'm quarantined. You're quarantined. We're all quarantined.
And now the ninja are quarantined too.

Nothing better to do in a pandemic than turn back to your old favorite TV show, as well as all the fanfictions that go along with it!

We'll see where this goes. Hopefully at the very least it'll give you something to read and me something to write to make our COVID-19 quarantine a little less awful.

Enjoy!

Background: I'm currently rewatching Season 5, so this takes place shortly after. I just felt like it would fit in pretty well at this point in the timeline.

"Quarantined? Are you kidding me?"

Jay stared angrily at Wu as his Sensei broke the news to the team. "We're ninja—our entire purpose is to save the world and all that jazz—and you're asking us to stay home and do nothing?"

"Nothing," Wu responded calmly, "except for playing video games, eating, and of course a bit of training here and there. And you're right, Jay; your purpose is to save the world. And none of you will be able to do that if you catch the virus and become too sick to fight."

Never in his life had Jay anticipated he would be disappointed by the prospect of sitting at home playing video games all day. But something about the entire ninja team staying aboard the Destiny's Bounty doing basically nothing for the foreseeable future just felt…wrong.

"But see, that's not fair," Kai argued. "How are we supposed to play video games when we've already beaten all of the ones we have, and we can't go into Ninjago city, or any city, to buy more?"

Wu shrugged. "Not my problem." After pausing to take in the annoyed reactions from all six ninja, he continued. "Perhaps then you could do something useful with your time. For once, you'll have a lot of it."

"This is definitely not what I expected when I learned I'm the water ninja," Nya said, clearly just as frustrated as her teammates. "I thought I'd be training twenty-four-seven and taking out every threat that faces Ninjago, not sitting around listening to my brother whine about how he has no new video games to play. I've already done that for plenty long enough, even before becoming Samurai X or the master of water!"

Wu turned his attention to her. "Nobody said you can't still train twenty-four-seven, Nya," he reminded her. "It would certainly be a better use of your time than listening to Kai and Jay argue over who has a bigger—ahem, ahem—score on Sitar Legend."

Nya laughed. "If only, Sensei. I've already beaten the training course we have here on the Bounty."

"Then why don't you and Jay build a new one?"

"Wouldn't matter," she insisted. "I beat the original training course before any of the boys did. I beat this training course the day we installed it. And since I became the water ninja, I've finished it on level ten in a shorter time than Kai has on level one."

"That's because I put my energy into things other than training, unlike you," Kai snapped at his sister.

Wu smirked mischievously. "That explains why she is already a better fighter than you, despite only having discovered her powers two months ago," he teased.

"Hey!" Kai cried. "That's not true!" He put his arm around Nya's shoulders. "Nya was always a better fighter than me, even before getting her powers."

Nya smiled. "Thanks, big brother!"

Jay nodded in agreement. "Yeah, Nya. You've always been the best at just about everything. It's no surprise you're an amazing ninja, too."

As the water ninja blushed, Cole rolled his eyes. "Well, at least being quarantined will give you two lovebirds plenty of time to bond. And do whatever it is that lovebirds do." He turned to Wu. "But what about the rest of us? I can't very well meet up with people from Ninder if I'm stuck on board this ship for the next—First Spinjitzu Master knows how long!"

"Perhaps that's a good thing," Wu replied. "We wouldn't want you…catching anything, and bringing it back here." He laughed. "Take this time to bond with your teammates. Maybe you'll discover something that you've never thought about before."

The master of earth froze. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Wait, how do you hook up with people as a ghost anyway?" Jay asked.

Cole shrugged. "Nunya."

"Nunya?"

The black ninja glared at him. "Nunya business, Zaptrap!"

Sensei shook his head in amusement. "I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to figure it out. Anyways, I should get back to making plans for Steep Wisdom. Just because there's a virus going around, doesn't mean people won't still need their tea."

"But uncle, isn't that a bit…unsanitary?" Lloyd piped up. "A ton of businesses are closing down because of social distancing requirements. If we're not even allowed to leave the ship, how are you still gonna sell tea? And why hasn't Steep Wisdom been shut down already?"

"Well, first of all," Wu responded, "as the business poses no immediate risk of spreading the virus, and tea can be very beneficial for those who do get sick, Steep Wisdom will remain open for delivery only. Second, I don't expect any of you to work in the store during the pandemic. I can't risk my ninja falling ill."

"But what about yourself, Sensei?" Zane asked. "Isn't the virus primarily dangerous to people who are…old?"

Wu looked almost offended. "I appreciate your concern, Zane, but I'm the son of the First Spinjitzu Master. I will be fine. Plus, my many years on this earth have come with excellent immunity. My health is the least of our concerns."

"So you're saying, with age comes immunity?" Jay said. He looked over at the green ninja. "Hey, Lloyd, you hear that? Better make sure you stay on the Bounty."

The blonde laughed. "I'm more likely to die from your cooking, Jay," he teased. "Besides, if anything happens to me, all of your powers go with me. I'll bet that's the real reason you're concerned about me."

"Of course it's not!" Kai argued, glaring at Jay. "We care about you, Lloyd. Screw our powers." He hugged his smaller friend from behind.

Jay scoffed. "Everybody knows that!" He retorted. "But yeah, the powers are nice too. Now that they're back."

"Hell yeah!" Cole exclaimed. "Gosh, this quarantine sucks, but at least we don't have to worry about Morro and all of his BS anymore. That was definitely worse than this stupid virus."

"You say that now," Wu said, "because it hasn't affected you in any considerable way. For thousands of people, this situation is even more dire than the Preeminent's attack on Stiix. Don't take what you have for granted."

Zane nodded. "Of course, Master." He turned to his friends. "This pandemic has already claimed the lives of many, which is much more than can be said for Morro's antics. We are very fortunate that the biggest problem it has posed for us is making us stay away from society, which we already do most of the time anyway."

"Zane is right," Wu agreed. "It doesn't seem like a big deal to you all, but for countless others, it's a matter of life or death."

"It wouldn't be," Jay said, annoyed, "if people would just do as they're told and socially distance themselves!"

Kai narrowed his eyes. "Weren't you just complaining about how you hate social distancing?"

"Uh-huh, and so were you. Doesn't matter whether I wanna social distance or not. What matters is that I'm gonna."

"Because Sensei's making you," Cole chimed in.

"Hey, hey, hey, shut up!"

"I would recommend you all try to get along," Wu suggested. "It'll make being quarantined far more enjoyable if you work together to pass the time instead of constantly arguing."

"I one hundred percent agree with that," Jay said, folding his arms.

Cole laughed. "C'mon, Sensei. You know we love each other. This is just one of the ways we show it!"

"Oh, yeah, I feel the love alright." The blue ninja rolled his eyes.

Wu glanced from one ninja to the other until he had taken in the sight of all six. "Just…try," he ordered. "That is all I can ask of you six during this difficult time."

"Of course we will, Sensei," Lloyd said. "If we have to face this lockdown, at least we can face it together."

Wu smiled. "That's the spirit." He headed for the door. "Now, I'm off to figure out what's going on with the store. You six, try to get along. If you're successful, I just might make a quick stop at Doomsday Comics and pick up the new version of Ninja Kart for you all."

As he left the room, the ninja looked at each other in excitement. Wu smirked to himself. At least he knew how to get them to cooperate.

So there's chapter one! I hope you enjoyed it! I had a lot of fun writing it—dang, I forgot how much I loved to write! I've missed you, !

Please leave a review! It always motivates me even more. I'm planning on getting a lot of chapters out in the very near future, and maybe starting another story. I've had so many ideas over my writing hiatus, and now I think it's about damn time to try and bring them to life! I also have a few that I published years ago that have a lot of potential, and I'd love to continue at least one of those (if not all three) as well.

Let me know if you have any ideas of things you wanna see me write about! Also, question of the day: what are you doing during quarantine? And if by some miracle you're not quarantined...how? I'm losing my mind!

Til next time!

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