Chapter 12: Near-Death Experience

Jay groaned as he slowly awoke to the sound of a constant beeping sound. When he finally opened his tired eyes, he looked over at the clock on the table near the couch. He frowned however when he didn't remember setting an alarm last night. All he remembered was falling asleep on the couch after looking at the dragonbloods in the arena with Zane.

"Good morning Jay." Someone suddenly said and Jay screamed, sitting up and looking to the left where the voice came from. Zane stood in the doorway grinning, holding an alarm clock.

"Zane, what are you doing here?" He yelled. The blonde teen just smiled in that way that made Jay think he had some form of evil plan up his sleeve.

"Just thought you might enjoy a wake-up call, after all, class starts in about... ten minutes?" He said as Jay looked over at the clock, before cursing and running upstairs to get ready. He could hear Zane laughing downstairs and rolled his eyes, whilst trying to put on his shoes and he shirt at the same time.

"NOT FUNNY!" He shouted but the laughter increased and he ran downstairs, dragging Zane out the door with him. They both ran over to the massive arena, arriving at the exact same time as Ed and Edna. While Edna smiled warmly at them, Ed rolled his tired eyes.

"If you two are late again I'm going to have to give you extra classes or something." He warned as Jay panted and Zane laughed at his friend while he was also panting for air.

"Not...technically...late," Jay argued, still trying to regain his breath. Ed sighed, before unlocking the stadium. They all lined up, but instead of releasing the daily dragonblood, Ed turned to the teens while his wife watched from the sidelines.

"Now, we're reaching the end of your training, and from henceforth one student will be kicked out every class." He said and everyone tensed as Ed walked down the line, examining them like an executioner. Edna couldn't help chuckling at her husband's antics. He came back to where the teens could all see him, an emotionless look on his face.

"Harumi, you're out." He said and the girl looked up from filing her nails, before grunting and walking outside. Everyone watched her leave in amazement, shocked that Ed wasn't joking. "Alright, on with the schedule." The old man smiled as he walked over to the nearest cage and unlocked the door, and the Ice Dragonblood came running out in its dragon form. It immediately started shooting icy blasts at them and everyone scattered to grab a weapon.

Zane and Jay ran to the left and were separated from the others, which wasn't very smart.

The Ice Dragonblood looked between the two groups and didn't even hesitate, charging at the two teens. Natural instincts suddenly kicked in and Jay grabbed a pair of nunchucks and Zane seemed to have the same idea, grabbing a couple of shurikens. When it attacked again, they easily evaded the slower monster. Zane and Jay were running back to the others when suddenly Zane cried out and fell over.

"Zane!" Jay cried and went to help the older boy and couldn't help but yelp in panic when he saw the beast had frozen Zane's feet together in a block of ice. Seeing they were in danger, Ronin and Cole tried to distract the creature as Plundar came over and helped Zane up. He insisted on telling everyone he was fine, but Jay wasn't so sure.

"Zane..." He started but the said boy looked him straight in the eye and looked just about ready to slap his friend.

"Jay. I. Am. Fine." He insisted. "You would be more worried about yourself."

"Myself?" He asked, unsure what Zane meant by that when suddenly an excruciating pain ran through his body. Holding back a scream Jay fell to the ground, now realizing what Zane meant. Looking over his body, Jay saw the Ice Dragonblood had shot a blast at him and now a small portion of the back of his right shoulder was encased in ice. The beast turned to Zane and Jay as everyone ran for their lives, but neither of the partially frozen teens could get up.

The Ice Dragonblood opened its mouth ready to swallow as Zane and Jay screamed, grabbing onto each other.

Siliva leaked from the dragonblood's mouth, but Zane and Jay were both too scared to scream as the spit hit them both. Jay's life flashed before his eyes as the creature went to finish them off. Before it could, however, someone threw a large war hammer at it. It hit the creature in the head and it fell to the ground like a stone. Both still screaming, Zane and Jay looked up and saw Cole standing nearby smirking. Their screaming slowly got quieter as Ed quickly herded the Ice Dragonblood back into its cage and Edna checked over their injuries.

Thankfully the ice had broken off, leaving red marks on their skin.

They were painful, but luckily not life-threatening.

"Well, that certainly was entertaining." The older man said as he turned to the students, Cole to be specific. "Nice work Cole, now, are you two okay?" He asked as he turned to Zane and Jay. The blonde-haired teen started to giggle under his breath while Jay sighed, before lying on the ground.

"We're fine, thanks for asking." He replied sarcastically, but Ed didn't seem to notice. Zane's laughter slowly grew until there were tears running down his face and they all stared at the boy, eyebrows raised.

"I...I...I'm sorry...it's just-" He laughed before he took a minute to try and stop laughing, but was unsuccessful. "Laughing is how I deal with stress!" He added and most shrugged before walking out of the arena, but Jay stayed, making sure the paler teen didn't suffocate. He held out a hand, before helping Zane up. Slowly the laughter decreased, but Zane was still giggling as they left the stadium.

"That is one weird way to deal with stress," Jay commented as Zane shook his head, grinning ear to ear.

"I know, but it works." He shrugged and Jay sighed, before looking at the time.

"Ah not good, I'd love to chat longer Zane but I am very late for something." He said but before the other teen could protest Jay was suddenly running off...

After another successful flight around the sky above the forest, Kai, in his dragon form, carefully turned, following the wind as he slowly landed back in the valley. As Jay climbed off his back Kai couldn't help but think something was wrong. Jay hadn't said a word since he had come to see him or during the flight. Kai knew he shouldn't have cared but he couldn't help it.

"Are you okay Jay?" He asked, trying not to sound too concerned. The smaller boy sat up straight and made a small sound before his mind registered the question.

"Oh...yeah, I'm fine, just...thinking." He mumbled and Kai looked over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow at the boy, who stayed quiet for a while before looking up at him. "Today was the first time I took battle damage from a dragonblood; I thought I was gonna die." He finally said and Kai's eyes widen slightly, but Jay didn't see.

"Oh..." That was all he could say. They were both quiet for a few minutes before Kai broke the silence. "I remember the first time I was hit." He said, Jay raised his head and Kai could tell he wanted to hear more. "I was a lot more scared than I'd like to admit, my whole life I was told that humans were savage, and if they landed a single hit on you, you were dead."

"You know, I was told the same thing." Jay chuckled and Kai shook his head at the irony of the situation but continued.

"So I was lying there terrified and half expecting that day to be my last when you'd never guess who walked out of woods." He smirked as Jay leaned forward so Kai could see him out the corner of his eye.

"Who?" He asked and the smirk grew on Kai's face.

"You." He said and he could feel Kai lean backward in shock, and for a second Kai thought he might fall over.

"Me?" He muttered and Kai nodded. "So that night was the first time you ever got hit by anything?"

"Yep." He nodded and Jay fell silent in thought, and the brunette almost laughed at his next statement.

"You didn't seem that scared when I saw you."

"Yeah, but that's because as soon I saw you I was almost 100% sure you wouldn't have the guts to kill me, but then again when you pulled out that knife-"

"Yes yes, I get it, I was there too." He smiled as he gave Kai a light shove. Kai laughed under his breath, while the shorter teen shook his head. "How can you look back on that and laugh?"

"Because now that I look back on it I realize how stupid it was to be scared."

"Hey!" Jay cried and Kai laughed harder, before looking back at the ginger-haired teen.

"Alright, I bet my hide that if you ever found me injured again you wouldn't be able to kill me." He challenged and Jay glared at him.

"Deal." He accepted and they say in silence for a minute, before Kai grinned and Jay noticed the flaw in that bet. "Hey, if I killed you then I could take your hide anyway."

"And if you don't I get your hide."

"Eww! That's disgusting!"

"That's life." Kai shrugged and he could almost sense Jay pouting behind him.

"...How many wins is that for you?"

"Lost count." He shrugged as he looked over at the horizon and saw the sun was starting to get low in the sky. "You should be heading back or you'll be walking home in the dark."

"Okay." He nodded and was about to start walking back to Ninjago City when Kai suddenly grabbed his shoulder and made him look at him.

"For the record, I am stronger than you, faster than you, smarter than you, in my opinion, more handsome than you and-"

"Kai?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up." He glared and the brunette laughed. He could tell by the tone in Jay's voice he wasn't taking him seriously. The shorter teen started to walk off and Kai grinned.

"Always nice to see you too Jaybird!"

"I SAID SHUT UP!"...