Wow, this is... actually starting to take shape. I'm excited :)
Kai comes home from school exhausted, though no more than usual. Dumping his bag by the front door, he takes off his raincoat, soaked by the squall coming through, and gets himself a drink from the fridge. Slumped at the kitchen table, Kai is fully prepared to begin his evening procrastination. That is, sitting at the table and not moving, specifically not doing his homework, until the forces of the universe conspire to make him. With a sigh, he pulls his phone from his pocket and tosses it next to him. It's dead, courtesy of a few too many games, but Kai isn't about to get up and charge it for a long, long while.
"Kai, honey?" His mom's voice, well, his foster mom's voice, comes from the hallway. Kai loves his foster parents, they've done so much for him and Nya, but the fear of losing the distant, ever-fading memory of long black hair, and the sound of metal pounding, keeps the reminder ever present.
"Yeah?" He slurs embarrassingly, then immediately cringes and wipes his jaw, putting the cap on his sports drink.
"Aren't you supposed to be with Nya?" His mom calls from where she's presumably doing laundry.
"No?" Kai frowns.
"Really?" His mom sticks her head in the kitchen door, blond hair falling gracefully off her shoulders. "She sent me a text, said you and your friends were going out for pizza."
"Oh, shoot!" Kai gasps. "I totally forgot! I gotta go," Kai's mom sidesteps him as he slides into the hall. "Thanks, mom!" He calls over his shoulder as he dashes out the front door. It had completely slipped his mind that the other ninja were calling a meeting to discuss the previous night's events.
Making a bus by literal seconds, Kai takes it to the edge of town where Jay's parents live, and finishes his trip with a short, mud-splattered jog to the junkyard. Running under a neon sign reading "Ed 'n Edna's Scrap and Junk," he skids over to the trailer and knocks on the door.
"Oh, hello sweetie!" Jay's mother, Mrs. Walker, answers, her gray hair drawn up in a bun. "Your friends are over in the garage."
"Thanks!" Kai gasps, trotting at a somewhat more relaxed pace behind the trailer and over to the gray building squished between mountains of scrap. The big garage door is closed, but when Kai tests the handle of the side entrance it opens easily. Stepping in, the door shuts with a shink behind him, and he shakes out his hair in a spray of droplets.
"Hey!" Nya and the guys all greet in unison. "About time you showed up!" Cole laughs.
"No kidding." Nya rolls her eyes, scooting over where she's sitting on the hood of a half-finished car and patting the spot next to her. "What took you so long?"
"Sorry. I forgot," Kai shrugs, his voice only a little hoarse as he catches his breath. He hops up on the hood next to Nya. Around him Jay is seated in decrepit old office chair. Zane stands next to him, leaned against the desk, and across from them sits Cole hunched over on the massive tire of some long-scrapped tractor.
"Now we can get started." Cole says. "Pizza, Kai?" He asks, gesturing to a pile of boxes on the grimy floor.
"I'm good," Kai waves him off, grimacing as Jay leans over and grabs another slice for himself, oil all over his fingers. "Where's Green?" He asks, raising an eyebrow as he reexamines their little assembly.
All at once the other ninja wince, sympathetic but not-completely-repentant expressions in their eyes. After some awkward glancing, Cole answers.
"None of us have his number," he sighs, "and I couldn't exactly ask Master Wu to tell him to attend a secret meeting about Lloyd. We'll fill him in when he comes in for training."
"If he comes in," snorts Jay, earning him a glare from Kai. Kai takes a deep breath though; it can't be helped, and he's made his position in Green more than clear.
"I am sorry, Kai." Zane glances his way sympathetically. "We will have to find some way to contact him after this."
"Good." Kai nods, accepting the peace offering. "It's hard enough to get him to come to practice if we never talk to him."
"Believe me Kai, I know." Cole sighs, taking a slice of pepperoni. "I've talked to Master Wu about it, he just says to leave it in his hands."
"He would probably not attend a meeting such as this anyway," Zane suggests. "Given that we are out of uniform."
"Whatever." Nya grunts, kicking her legs idly. "Let Master Wu handle Green; we can only tackle so many problems." Kai shoots her a look, and she raises and eyebrow unapologetically.
"Speaking of problems," Cole starts, picking at the rubber on the tire, "let's get started. Does anyone have intel on Lloyd?"
"Nope." Jay crosses his arms, putting his feet up on a stack of boxes. "He didn't come to school today; he's probably hiding out at his uncle's ship."
"He did look pretty beat up last night." Kai toes a wrench sitting just out of reach.
"Yeah, I'm confused about that." Cole says. "From the time I started pursuit on the rooftop to the pier, we never touched him. We're missing something here."
"Well, he did have that creepy book in his backpack." Jay interjects. "Zane, have you found anything on that?" He turns to the ice ninja next to him.
"I regret to say there's nothing concrete." Zane sighs. "The closest thing I could find to the darkness described in the book was the prophesied 'ending of the world' in our modern-day mythos."
"Funnily enough, Master Wu said something about that." Nya squints in thought.
"Yes," Zane nods. "He stated that if such a being were to be released, evil would corrupt all sixteen realms."
"Um, wait." Jay sputters, "Multiple realms? That's all just superstition!"
"And we're swimming in it." Cole retorts. "Come on Jay, it's a book about summoning dragons. Point is, the universe as we know it would end."
"Call me a skeptic, but that sounds pretty dire." Kai raised his brow. "Nothing could ever be that bad!"
"Nonetheless, all legends have a grain of truth, and from what I saw it is clear the author of the book wrote it in earnest." Zane pointed out.
"Um, yeah, thousands of years ago!" Kai scoffs. "There's literally hundreds of old fairytales people thought were true back then."
Cole props himself up from where he had been slouching on the tire, listening to the others argue. Looking around at his team, he chews on his lip. "Guys, real or not, do you really think Lloyd would try to unleash something like that?"
"Well, he is the son of Garmadon." Jay points out nonchalantly.
"He certainly has more than enough motive for revenge, given the way the city treats him." Zane adds.
"Maybe I'm the first to point this out, but has anyone ever seen him during the summer?" Nya interjects, "and isn't it a little suspicious he has a thousands-year-old text just lying around?" There was a beat of silence as everyone realized Nya was right. They could not recall seeing Lloyd in public for more than a week after school ended every year.
"So, Lloyd's an archaeologist, good for him." Jay says flippantly.
"Jay, this is serious." Cole growls. He reaches over and takes another piece of, now cold, pizza.
"I sense we will have to reconvene on this matter." Zane said, "but for now, why don't we all just keep our eyes peeled? There is nothing else we can do."
"I agree with Zane." Cole added, glancing at the clock. "We better go back now, or none of use will get anything done tonight. I swear I am not going to have more make-up work."
"Fair enough," Nya sighed, and Kai and Jay echoed the sentiment. They would have to tackle this problem another day.
Lloyd wakes up to the sound of water slapping the side of the old ship. Rubbing his bleary eyes, he swings his legs over the side of the bed with a long yawn. Stumbling a bit, he manages to stand straight after a moment finding his balance on the rocking floor. Peeking through the blinds, the gray skies match the sea overhead, though the cloud bank ends somewhere near the horizon. The ocean wind rocks the Destiny's Bounty where she's anchored.
Uncle Wu's left him some spare clothes, and once Lloyd is dressed in jeans and a green pullover he stumbles toward the kitchen. The light is on, Wu sitting at the small table staring blankly into a teacup.
Lloyd enters wordlessly, pours a cup of tea for himself and takes a seat opposite his uncle. Taking a slow sip, he holds the cup in both hands as he clears his throat.
"How long was I out?"
"Almost sixteen hours." Wu answers softly. Lloyd considers this information, giving his uncle a long look as he takes another drink. Wu's long white beard makes reading his expression nearly impossible.
"School stinks," Lloyd offers, taking one more sip. The cup is emptying quickly, to his chagrin.
Wu snorts, rising up and bringing the teapot over to refill Lloyd's cup. "That it does, nephew. That it does." Taking a seat again, Wu says nothing else for several minutes as Lloyd eyes him cautiously. Finishing his second cup, goodness he was still parched, Lloyd is content to leave Wu to his thoughts.
It's only after Lloyd pours himself a third cup Wu speaks. "Did they attack you?" He asks harshly, though Lloyd knows the angry tone isn't directed at him.
"I could have taken the ninja." Lloyd shakes his head, bringing the drink to his lips.
Wu frowns. "If I hadn't pushed you so hard, if I had just-"
"Your training saved my life." Lloyd interrupts, not about to let his uncle go down that train of thought. Still, Wu is unappeased.
"It was a school night, I could have been a little-"
"Uncle Wu, they tried to put me in vengestone." Lloyd says flatly, too serious to bother with his uncle's guilt complex.
Wu freezes, his eyes slowly rising to meet Lloyd's. With a face schooled by years of keeping his thoughts under wraps, he asks: "they knew you're an elemental master?"
"No." Lloyd shakes his head. "Whoever sent them did. They kept it hidden somehow, I couldn't feel it until the last moment."
Wu nods slowly, leaning back, "and you reacted."
"They almost had me." Lloyd mumbles with his eyes cast down.
"Lloyd, never, ever be ashamed for defending yourself!" His uncle admonishes. "You have a gift, and you should be allowed to use it!" Wu's hand tightens around his own cup, and he pours himself some more tea, taking a large gulp. He's begun rambling before the cup has left his mouth. "…have some hope in this dragons-forsaken city…" Wu's thoughts come out unbidden, and quickly he took another, smaller, sip, the words dwindling until he seals them behind a terse frown.
"Uncle Wu?" Lloyd asks, and Wu's heart constricts to see his nephew's worried red eyes watch him nervously. Taking a deep breath, Wu sighs and gives Lloyd the gentlest smile he can manage.
"I'm quite alright, Lloyd." He huffs a breathless little laugh. "I'll get you something to eat, and you can take the rest of the day to recover. I believe I have a new assignment for the ninja."