JMJ

Chapter 10

Flickering Lights

Earlier…

Jay gasped as he saw Lloyd being dragged up into a tree by the monkeys. His first impulse was to try to help. If only he could zap farther. But he knew he couldn't, especially not without risking hitting Lloyd or someone else along the way. He almost leapt down to try to race after them. He would have too, except that a monkey suddenly emerged with a scream.

"Ah!" Jay almost fell, but the monkey's aim was for Zane still putting out the remains of the fire with Nya.

He stood upright on the bough he was in and zapped. The monkey screamed and ran away, shaking the branches, and Jay clung onto the nearest branch in front of him to steady himself. No sooner had the branch stopped moving when another monkey threw a rock at him from the side.

Already in a zapping sort of mode, Jay tried zapping the rock instead of the monkey. It bounced off harmlessly, and as Jay tried to get out of the way at the same time, the rock still scuffed him. It was enough to make him lose his balance for real this time. Tingling fear spiked through him. He tried to grab the branch— any branch!

But too late.

He did not even scrape the bark.

He plunged down right into darkness, without knowing what happened before he crashed into water and was submerged.

It took him a few seconds to move as hunkered half-sunken. Then as his aching lungs woke him from his stupor, he quickly kicked off a bottom that he could not see in the blackness and swam for the top with a gasp as he broke free. After a few heavy breaths, he looked up at the light of the hole he had fallen down from. He seemed to have ended up in some kind of underground river-cave, but he did not have long to think about it as he saw the monkeys scurrying down to investigate where he had fallen.

Jay cringed.

He did not dare electrocute them now that he was all wet. He thought for sure he wouldn't be as easily hurt as other people by it, but it was quite an elementary concept that electricity and water did not mix.

Instead, he searched the water frantically for his flail. One could almost say he flailed about for it, but he suddenly stopped at the sound of two monkey shrieks side by side. An ice ball and a water blast knocked two monkeys down. A third fell backwards at the brink of the gleaming hole.

Wading and shivering, Jay watched as Nya popped her head through first. He smiled just a little and began swimming for the rocky bank.

Nya grabbed onto a vine, and Zane followed after. Then suddenly there was a strange jolt through Zane, and Jay jumped. So did Nya. For Jay, it only meant he started to swim again straight afterwards, but for Nya this was a critical moment for being distracted.

In her jump onto a nearby ledge, a monkey suddenly landed square on her back. They fell, and Zane, who was trying to orient himself from whatever had happened to him, threw another ice ball at the monkey. His monkey fell, but Nya still fell too unable to reclaim her vine, and she clattered onto the stony sharp ground instead of the water where Jay had fallen. It did not sound like a good clatter either, and Jay cringed again and harder at her cry.

"Nya!" he called.

Zane fell too, but with a better landing. He quickly froze the top of the hole and the monkeys down there with them were either knocked out or frozen into ice cubes. He hurried then for Nya. Jay leapt after them, scraping out of the water like a dog. He stumbled once or twice, his mind racing and his heart pounding, and he certainly forgot all about his weapon.

"Nya!" he cried again.

He collapsed near at hand as Zane tried to help her to her feet.

"Ah!" cried Nya.

Then both saw the crack in her ankle.

"Nya!" said Zane.

"No, Nya!" cried Jay. "It's all my fault!"

It was just the sort of thing that would happen because of him. He was the one stupid enough to fall into this hole in the first place for Zane and Nya to go and try to save him. He knew he was not exactly dead weight to the team, but he knew he was the closest one among them to it, and now he faced the consequences.

"Jay!" snapped Nya. "That's not helping!"

But she was only in pain and began to whimper despite herself directly afterwards.

Jay went instantly silent and clasped his hands together miserably as he looked at Zane.

"Don't move, I—" Zane started, and then winced and shook his head. "Don't—" He cringed and blinked. "Don't—"

Jay felt his face go pale as he stared at Zane in disbelief.

"What's wrong, Zane?" sobbed Nya.

"The refrigerator outside is more full than the inside," burst suddenly out of Zane's mouth.

Despite pain and despite fear, Nya and Jay stared with wide eyes and gaping mouths before turning to each other with confusion.

"I…think," said Jay after a pause.

Zane shifted uneasily with embarrassment.

"I mean," Jay started again. "Maybe it's got something to do with the cave."

Zane looked at Jay and then lowered his head. "It's possible my compass is off from— tzz location."

"Maybe there's a lot of magnetic disturbance down here or something," said Jay.

He was positive that was what it was, but his nasty habit of making everything uncertain as it passed his lips was worse than usual.

"Then what're we gunna do? Wait for the ice to melt?" demanded Nya as she tried to get up. She stopped and cringed. Then she moaned as she sat back down.

"Nya, don't!" Jay cried.

"My watch is exploding," said Zane.

Both Jay and Nya moaned.

"Well, I suppose I could break the ice down but…" Jay paused.

The sound of monkeys could be heard again overhead. They were already trying to break through the ice on their own, and Jay was not sure they would be able to fight them off very well now. Nor was he sure what his electricity would do down here with the whole place being so damp and the possibility of there being a strong metal content to the ground and the magnetism. He bit his lip as he stared upwards, but Zane, after a few seconds' pause, suddenly took off the strap of his quiver.

He jolted a little while he did so, but he continued to be determined with his task as he looked at the crack in Nya's ankle. He lit up the darkness with the glow of his fresh blue eyes, but Jay shivered to see that once or twice even that glow stuttered a little.

Jay felt sick. He felt more than guilty about what had happened. He was in such a state that he did not notice at first Zane motioning Jay to the ankle anxiously.

Nya made a face, knowing exactly what Zane was suggesting.

Jay blinked. Then it dawned on him.

"Oh," he said rubbing his arm. "She needs— you mean you want me to— to hold her ankle together while you…" He gulped feeling squeamish at the very thought despite himself. "While…yeah."

"Straighten the sapling," agreed Zane.

Jay was not sure how just yet, but he knew that there was some sort of rhyme and reason to how Zane was speaking, because he was understanding him. Sort of.

"Right," said Jay.

"You want me to do it, Zane?" asked Nya biting her lip and trying to hide the tear of pain suddenly at the corner of her eye.

"Nya! You can't!" cried Jay rubbing his hands together. "I'll do it. I'll do it."

Nya did not look at all confident. Jay felt even less confident, but squeezing his eyes shut, he leaned down and took Nya's foot in one hand and held her leg above the crack with the other. Zane took his strap, and after another strange little jolt that he tried his best to ignore, he wrapped it around the ankle as quick as a flash. Nya winced and even let out a whimper, but once it was over she only sighed miserably and lay flat back along the ground with eyes closed.

"Does it still hurt?" asked Jay.

Nya opened her eyes at him, and without speaking she conveyed the sentiment, "Uh, yeah, duh."

Jay sighed.

Suddenly Zane stiffened, and it was not because of his condition as he looked up quite alert at the sheet of ice above them. The monkeys were still trying to get through. He aimed upward to give the ice wall some extra strength, but his aim was already a little off.

Jay shuffled a little, and then said, "Maybe we should find another way out of here."

"The horns are a bust. Collision will end in failure," agreed Zane unhappily.

"What about the others, though?" asked Jay.

"The clock is exploding," said Zane.

"I don't know exactly what he means by that," Nya cracked, "but I think we're gunna have to talk about it later, Jay."

"Right," said Jay.

"Can't you fix him?" Nya asked.

"I…well, I might," Jay said with another sigh, "but he could be just fine again once we're out, and besides I don't have any tools."

Zane tried to pick up Nya, but he faltered.

"No, no, Zane, you might drop her," said Jay quivering at the thought. "I— I'm sorry. I know you want— well, I'm the only one not hurt, so… I'll do it."

"Time will give you camel straws," Zane warned.

"Yeah, well, like Nya said, we'll have to worry about that later," murmured Jay as he lifted Nya up himself.

He felt a little strange carrying her, but he fought it. Nya was first and foremost his friend. He would have done anything to help any of his friends, so it should not be any different with her, but he still winced a little remembering the last time he and Nya had had a silly preteen date before their relationship fell away.

Nya may have stopped liking him with a crush, but he had never stopped. His silly preteen crush had turned into a more intense and perhaps sillier teenager crush and now he did not even know what to call it.

But now was certainly not the time to ponder such things. He hated it when his mind had a mind of its own.

At least, his muscles were strong from his training as a ninja to make up for the fact that his nerves were as soft as nerd plushies, so that he could carry her with pretty decent ease. Jay was so impressed as it was with how well Nya was taking it so far. He was not sure he would take such a thing so maturely. But, adjusting Nya in his arms, he followed the light of Zane's eyes into the darkness of the cave.

Hopefully, by the time the monkeys did get through, the trio would be far on the other side of the cave, and the monkeys would not know how to follow them in the dark easily. They may have been faster and more skilled than most snakes they had ever fought, but they seemed to not be a whole lot smarter than the goon-class snake.

After a time of silence save for the occasional tzzt from Zane with the flickering of his eyes, Jay suddenly remembered his weapon still in that pool near the hole. His shoulders slumped a little, and he did not have to sigh again for Nya to know that something struck him being held in his arms as she was.

"What?"

"I don't have my flail anymore," said Jay slowing down.

"Well, you still have your power," said Nya.

Jay shook his head.

It would do little good down here to use it, though, he thought.

"The clock is a time bomb," Zane reminded them.

"Right," said Jay.

He hurried to catch up with Zane, which actually was not that difficult. It seemed that even hovering was not an option anymore for Zane in this cave as he continued to walk steadily but no more than at a speed-walk's pace. But suddenly, Zane stopped too.

"What?" Jay squeaked.

Zane pointed.

There was another body of water.

As Zane moved his eyes back and forth it could easily be made out that the only way to move on was to cross. It would be easy if they were well. What was a little water, after all, to wade through? Even if that was not an option, surely Zane could freeze the water, but it was a long way across even if there were clumps of jagged stone jutting from the ceiling and from out of the water from time to time to take breaks on, but there was another issue as well. As they neared the edge together to inspect the water, they found that it was moving, and rapidly. There was a distant roar too that was probably a waterfall.

Was Zane good enough to keep an ice bridge going all the way across this quick current in his condition? Even normally none of the ninja had tried their powers to that extent. The weird ice cube submarine had been success enough. Maybe if Jay followed close behind Zane as they crossed, but Jay still felt nervous.

He looked up at Zane.

"Well, Zane, can you make a bridge?" asked Nya.

Zane hesitated. He jolted again, and Jay's heart went out to him with all the frustration building up in Zane's face. They had to get out of the cave and fast or there may not be a Zane at all.

Fear and concern flushed to the surface like a wave. Jay could feel himself starting to panic. He tried to fight it, and he hated it, because Nya could feel his muscles tense and he knew it. She was looking at him, and he did not look at her in return as his breath began to quicken and become shallower.

"Jay," said Nya. "Don't! We need you. I see a tunnel up there, see?"

She pointed up at a hole several feet off of the ground above where the river disappeared under a wall of stone.

"Go check it out," said Nya.

He thought of asking Nya if she could make the water avoid them in a little bubble so that they could just walk across the bottom of the river, but he was not sure if Nya could do that even normally either. She could strain herself now. He bit his lip. He was a coward, and he knew it, but it was more the fear of leaving them behind than being alone to check out a hole that made him hesitate. Just like it was more fearing for Lloyd than fear of the unknown ahead of them and Kinkomi's Pow-Dur that made him say that they should go back and obey Master Wu's orders in the first place.

He answered Nya now with no more than a gulp.

"Jay! This is no time to be afraid of the dark!" Nya moaned. "We'll be right here when you get back, okay? Just be brave. Tell yourself it's just a tunnel."

Squeezing his eyes shut, Jay moaned.

That wasn't it, but he knew that Nya had a right to think that of him, like most things she said about him. Well, that was because most things she said about him were true anyway.

"Okay," breathed Jay.

With a stuttering tzzt, Zane held out a flashlight for Jay suddenly.

"Torch the tar," said Zane.

Jay made a face at the unpleasant imagery that phrase made, but he knew what Zane meant. He took it, and his face wrinkled more as he found it difficult to take it from Zane's grasp for a few seconds.

Oh, poor Zane… he thought. If only I did have tools and I could fix him.

But he knew that finding a way out would be the best medicine for him. Zane was not like an ordinary AI, after all. Once he was outside he could potentially readjust himself quickly enough if something was not distorted too much for him to do it on his own once away from the disturbance.

Fixing Zane propelled Jay up to that hole quicker. He leapt dexterously from stone to stone up to the top; though, he lost some of his grace as he flopped chest-first onto the lip of the tunnel.

"Oof!" he grunted and half blew/half shook his hair piece back into position on his face.

Then pulling himself to his feet, he turned on the flashlight. Though, he pointing the flashlight forward, he looked back at the bluish glow of Zane's eyes behind him down below.

"Just be brave, Jay!" called Nya. "Keep telling yourself that you can do this!"

"Bird, fly!" called Zane.

Jay nodded hastily, and then blinking slowly he took a deep breath and turned into the tunnel.

"Just keep telling yourself you can do this…" Jay breathed.

He could not help but think of the irony of his situation being so close to what he considered practically his initiation into the Secret Ninja Force— just a few days after Master Wu had brought him back to the dojo from his house and Jay had explained the whole thing to his parents, anyway. Speaking of his parents, they had been just as wishy-washy about letting him train to be a ninja (even though they were a little unsure and would have liked to have thought about it longer), as Jay was about the team's decisions when he knew they were doing something wrong.

Jay shook his head.

Anyway, back to his "initiation". There had been a tunnel of a cave very much like the one he was in now, and he had not even had a flashlight then. He remembered how much he quivered then from hair piece to the bottoms of his flat feet and how much at every swallow he had to gulp on his own pumping heartbeat. It felt like so long ago, but it really wasn't, was it? Well, half his lifetime ago, anyway. He had been nearly ten and he was eighteen now. He had almost been as afraid of his guides as he was of the cave. He almost felt that they were trying to get him killed off so that they would not have to share their positions as students under Master Wu…

#

"Is this really what ninja training is all about?" Jay complained as he put the mop into the bucket and slopped it onto the floor.

"Hey!" said Cole crossing his arms with a grin. "We had to do it, so do you."

Kai laughed. "You're doing great, Jay."

Jay sighed.

Why had he decided to become a ninja again?

Oh, yeah, because he just happened to lose his way in the woods and be found by a weird happy guy called Zane, who after a few little adventures on the way to a secret dojo, asked him if he wanted to be a ninja. Jay had said, yes. Zane's master, after a bit of thought, consented for some wild reason. What a fool Jay was, and yet something inside of him would not let him go home just yet, and it was always like that since the moment he arrived…just not yet. Maybe there was some destiny involved too, the way Wu kept all mysterious about him.

Master Wu happened to appear just as Kai was laughing, and he looked at Jay. It was only for a second, and there was still something not quite one hundred percent serious about it, but at the same time there was this thing about him. A sympathy, a knowing, a mocking, a curiosity, and at the same time an indecision, and it was quite a complicated expression for Jay to take in. Thankfully, such looks were only brief as Wu glanced down at the mopping and then looked at Kai and Cole suddenly trying to pretend that they were minding their own business.

Wu lowered his eyelids, but did not quite close his eyes as he suddenly straightened himself importantly and said, "Well, Jay, you've made it this far on your second day of training, and since I can see that today my other students are trying to avoid having to help you again for not minding their own business, I think it's time for some more serious training."

Jay smiled.

There was another reason why he could not bring himself to leave. It was this desire to be needed, to be wanted, to do something worthwhile with his life that truly mattered, and certainly to feel brave and strong.

"So Cole!"

Cole stopped in mid- casual-walking with a jolt and a cringe. His eyes widened wider than Jay had seen them thus far after the few days of knowing him. He spun around and bowed appropriately.

"Yes, Sensei!" he said.

"You seem so interested in Jay's progress, so I feel that you can handle being in charge of his training today."

Cole stared in disbelief.

Kai now turned towards the discussion as well and winced a little, but kept his distance in case he was dragged into it too.

"Me, Sensei?" said Cole.

Jay suddenly did not feel so well. He was afraid of Cole to say the least. He would have much rather had Zane in charge of him. What was Master Wu up to? It would be more a punishment for him than Cole to have Cole put in charge of his training.

"Yes," said Wu gravely, and this time as he lowered his eyelids, they closed ever so slightly over his eyes. "As the first of my students, I feel you have enough knowledge and understanding to show Jay the ropes, hmm?"

Cole did not argue, but he sure made a face. It was almost as complicated as Wu's, except far more emotional. It was angry, of course, but also guilty, embarrassed, and almost afraid somehow and thoughtful as though what Wu said to him was alluding to something from before today.

It startled Jay, and he bit his lip.

Things at a ninja dojo sure are deep, he thought.

Kai just turned blanker than before as he watched the scene play out like an intense part of a movie.

Wu opened his eyes and looked rather austerely at Cole.

Cole had no choice but to return him with a slow nod. "Yes, Master Wu."

And just like that, the entire atmosphere around Master Wu's changed like a light switch. He smiled almost carelessly behind his skinny beard and mustache in such a way that he seemed suddenly to remind Jay of a very happy, lazy cat. He had a sort of bounce to him, though, as he turned with a hand wrapped around his back quite as pleased a child himself just being told that he would soon get his favorite treat after dinner.

Jay gaped.

"Good!" said Wu. "So you take care of things while I'm gone, Cole, while Nya and I go to the store."

"Hmm?" asked Nya who had been reading a comic book, and she looked about. "We're going now, Master Wu?"

"Yes," said Wu a little bit more emphatically than seemed natural as he nodded to Nya as though alluding to something from the past that Nya should also know about. "The store. We'll get some more things for your clothes, hmm?"

Nya smiled knowingly, and slipped very prettily off of where she was perched in a little nook in the wall.

"You actually took up clothes-making, Nya?" asked Kai with a raised brow.

Nya laughed.

"A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do, Kai," she said with the charm of a princess.

Jay frowned and wished he was going to the store instead— not to buy clothes materials, of course, but he would so rather be with Wu and honestly, Nya too, who was always so nice and sweet. Cole and Kai were the rough and tough type of duo he would have avoided on the playground at school like the plague.

He half-expected Cole to turn into a werewolf once Wu and Nya promptly left the room, and they heard Wu explaining to Zane that they were leaving with Cole in charge. Jay knew that if they were going to any sort of building, they would be gone a very long time as the dojo was so solitary in the mountain woodland. He sighed and closed his eyes as he clutched onto the mop as though suddenly weak in the knees and needed the support.

"So… now what?" asked Kai.

Cole still looked at bit shaken from his encounter with Wu, but he quickly shook it out of him as he cocked his head at Jay thoughtfully, almost kindly, Jay noticed, but still pretty judgmental just the same.

"We train, that's what," said Cole with a sniff. Then he smiled, "And I got just the thing to get this kid into shape or to weed him out as unworthy."

Jay gulped.

"Do you think you got what it takes to be a ninja, Jay?" Cole demanded.

"Uh…"

"That wasn't quick enough!" said Cole.

"Mmph!"

"So I'm gunna whip you into shape and get you some confidence," Cole huffed. "Being a ninja is about split-second timing."

Kai made a face. "How are you gunna do that, Cole?"

"Y'know that cave down a ways from the dojo?" said Cole.

"Yeah?"

"The one with the bugs the size of your head and the monsters and the… well, other spooky things…"

Kai winced. "Uh…"

"Ahem!" said Cole loudly.

Kai shrugged and glanced at Jay. "Y'know Master Wu…"

"What about Master Wu?"

"Well, he wouldn't like it if you chased him away, right?" asked Kai.

"Who put me in charge?" Cole demanded.

"Master Wu," said Kai sullenly.

"So, let's go."

Jay followed as the other two began to march for the door.

"Where are you guys going?" asked Zane curiously.

"Master Wu put Cole in charge," informed Kai, "and we're gunna go train Jay in that cave nearby."

"Isn't that not exactly safe?" asked Zane. "I mean for a beginner like Jay?"

"That's what we're going to find out," retorted Cole. "Don't worry, Zane. I got everything under control!"

"He says," muttered Kai.

"Well, are you afraid?" demanded Cole turning sharply to Jay.

"Uh, no," Jay lied.

"See?" said Cole. "Needs work, doesn't it. By the time I'm done with him he'll be tough as rocks or he'll be powder."

"Exactly," said Zane. "It's the powder I'm worried about."

"Well, then you stay here, and if Master Wu comes back you can tell him we went to train," retorted Cole.

Jay thought he looked quite confident that he would be back before Master Wu, though. Whatever Cole had planned had to be as quick as it was deadly.

Zane made a face, but no longer argued the point as he remained at the dojo alone.

Part of Jay wished he had asked Zane to join regardless, but he did not feel he had the power yet in the group to suggest anything. He was the new guy and that was that.