Chapter One: Misako's Announcement
"I have some news everyone."
The dinner table quieted as Misako spoke. Every head was turned toward her.
Misako smiled. "So, this may come as a bit of a surprise, but I have an aunt who lives in Ninjago City."
"You have an aunt?" Lloyd asked, wiping spaghetti sauce off his face with a napkin.
Misako nodded. "Yes, my Aunt Himari. Well, she and-"
"How come I've never heard of her?" Lloyd interrupted.
"I'm getting to that," Misako, a bit irritated with her son, continued with her story. "She and I were very close when I was a girl, but after my mother died I didn't see her as often. Not to mention she didn't approve of my.." Misako hesitated before finishing with "..marriage choice. But she and I have recently reconnected and she wants to meet Lloyd and the rest of Wu's wonderful team of ninja so I have invited her to stay the week with us next week."
The ninja froze and exchanged confused glances.
"No offense Misako," Cole said, "But, we've never met this woman, and now she's just gonna come stay with us for a WEEK?"
"Yes," Misako said cheerfully. "And I'm going to ask that you all be very kind and respectful to her. She is older and will expect to treated as an elder."
Lloyd muttered, "Well if she's YOUR aunt then she must be old."
Misako heard and shot Lloyd a warning glance.
"Where is she gonna stay?" Kai asked. "It's not like we have a lot of space here."
Misako smiled. "I thought we could spend the weekend converting Nya's old room into a guest room. She cleared out all her things when she and Jay moved, so it's just a matter of vacuuming, wiping things down and changing the bedsheets and decor. Wu has already given his permission to shorten training time so you can help me with this project."
The ninja were about to protest when Zane said, "Speaking of Nya, weren't she and Jay supposed to arrive half an hour ago?"
As if on cue the sound of the monastery front door was heard closing, and a few moments later Jay and Nya entered the dining room, dripping wet.
"Sorry we're late, it started raining and traffic got backed up a bunch." Nya tugged on the oversized blue hoodie she insisted on wearing to cover her small baby bump and sat down next to PIXAL. "I'm starving."
Jay sat down in between Kai and Cole. "I still think if we let everyone just drive flying cars traffic would flow much more efficiently."
"You wanna fly a car in the rain?" Nya asked with a mouth full of spaghetti.
"Well, okay, maybe that wouldn't work," Jay said. "But I still think the normalization of flying cars would benefit society in a lot of ways."
Misako broke into the discussion by asking "Nya, would it be alright if I redid your old room to be a guest room?"
Nya looked up from her pasta filled plate. "I mean I guess you could, but who's even gonna stay there?"
"My great aunt apparently," Lloyd answered.
"Who?" Jay asked, serving himself some spaghetti.
"Misako reconnected with her Aunt Himari and invited her to spend the week here with us," PIXAL informed him.
"Oh." Nya shared a confused look with her husband. "Um, okay, that's...fun."
"I know it's a bit random." Misako continued. "But the fact that Auntie is coming to see all of you means a lot to me and I would like it to go well."
"And if you make things difficult for Misako or Himari," Master Wu added, "Rest assured you will find yourself on the training grounds all day every day for a whole week. And after yesterday's complaining, I'm pretty sure you do not want that."
The ninja and PIXAL groaned. Wu had made them train for 5 hours straight the afternoon before, minus Nya, who obviously couldn't join them because of her current condition, but desperately longed to.
"So it's settled then," Misako smiled brightly, "We'll spend the next few days getting ready, then Auntie will arrive on Monday. I can't wait for all of you to meet her, this will be so great!"
The ninja looked at each other bewildered; How could they prepare for a woman who they'd never met to stay with them for a week?