Chapter Eleven: AJ is Short...Deal with it!
"Daddy!" AJ suddenly screeched, startling Amber who was busy during research for her history essay that she was supposed to be writing.
Amber looked up to see that Lloyd Garmadon, husband of Anna Garmadon, had indeed walked into their classroom. Well...more like he limped into the room. He was leaning rather heavily against a crutch, favoring his right leg. "Hey there kiddo." Lloyd slung his arm around her shoulder's in a half hug, a grin splattered on his features. "How's the ninja training going for you? Any of you unlock your true potential yet?"
"What's true potential?" AJ wrinkled her nose, even as she wrapped her small arms around her father's torso.
Lloyd used his free hand to first scratch the top of his head, then wrap it around her to hug her back. "Um... depends on the person really. Let's just say that you need to discover that before you can use your powers."
"Great... maybe one of Dad's books will have something more on it?" Rocky pointed to the high shelf that had several books, including a bunch on Ninja theories.
Amber scanned the shelf, before spotting just what they were looking for, Ninja Theories: Power Origins. "There!" No sooner had Amber pointed the dull brown book out to the others, than AJ darted forward and tried to climb up to the shelf. "AJ!"
"It's totally okay! I got this!" AJ reached for the shelf...and promptly fell backwards off of the chair that she was standing on.
Storm thankfully managed to catch his younger cousin before she landed on the floor. "Maybe let one of us taller ones get it down..."
"I'm not short!" AJ's outburst immediately caused mass confusion. Amber was a couple inches short for her age, and AJ only came up to her waist.
"Um...AJ?" Amber lifted hand up, using it to indicate the size difference between them. "And I'm short. It's like... a fact."
AJ crossed her arms, annoyance flaring in her eyes. "I. Am. Not. Short."
"Sweetie... the doctors even say that for your age kids are at least a foot taller than what you actually are." Lloyd pointed out, eyebrows drawing close together in confusion.
"That and you're what, six years younger than the rest of us?" Juni pointed out the age gap between her and the rest of the school body.
"Four years! And you and Storm skipped grades too!" AJ glared at him for daring to suggest that her age is the only reason why she was so much smaller than the rest of them.
"I only skipped one year." Storm calmly pointed out, glancing sideways at Ocean, who of course nodded in confirmation.
Feeling somewhat betrayed, AJ turned to face Juni. He gave an innocent smile as he shrugged at her. "I only skipped two grades. I mean... Icey Ocean, Rocky, and Amber are all fifteen. Storm is fourteen. I'm twelve and a smidgen tall compared to other twelve year olds. You are only ten...and taking tenth grade level classes."
"That's because I am in the tenth grade!"
"We know..." "Attention, will the Dragon Squad please report to my office for assignment?" Kai's voice suddenly crackled over the old fashioned intercom system.
The six friends, and a still worried Lloyd, glanced at each other, concern creasing their features. "We best get goin'." Icey spoke up softly, still tense about the whole AJ is short argument that just took place.
Amber tightened her grip on the steering wheel, her mind reeling. While a part of her knew she should be concentrating on the mission on hand, she was more interested in trying to see what she could remember about the ninjas powers from the stories that Kai told her growing up. "Amber?" Icey poked her best friend in the arm, amusement dancing in her eyes. "You do remember that the ninmobile is self-driving... correct?"
Amber jumped slightly, before hurriedly releasing her death grip on the steering wheel. "Right... sorry Icey."
"No problem. So... Downtown uh?" Icey leaned back in her seat, already fingering a shruiken that Zane had given her as a gift at the start of the new school year.
"Yeah..." "I think it's gonna be awesome!" Juni interrupted them, excitement flooding his voice.
Before anyone could ask him why he was so excited, a loud explosion caused the Ninmobile to spin in a circle. "Everyone out! Now!" Amber somehow managed to bark out, even as she shoved open the door next to her, diving out of the moving vehicle.
By the time that Amber got back to her feet, the others were out and ready to fight... oh and she was face to face with a Creep. "Uh..hi." With a flick of her wrist, she managed to nick him with her katana, the screech of surprise and pain indicating that the Creep hadn't even noticed that she was harmed.
A fight broke out after that, with them trying to see if they couldn't see where the glob was at. Amber twisted around, dodging a few blows. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something that... honestly explained so much about AJ's recent attitude about her height. "Ice! Gossip magazines have been doing articles on Green... and from what I can see... they aren't exactly nice about her size!"
"That explains why the past week her I'm not short tirade seems to have gotten worse. I mean, she's always trying to convince us that she's not short... but never to this extreme!" Icey gasped out as she tucked into a roll to prevent herself from getting hit.
"Guys! I found it!" Juni was standing next to a crack between two buildings, the device blinking rapidly to let them know it was there.
"Great! Use the pinchers to pick it up and put it into the vial!" Amber hollered back to him.
"I can't! I'm too tall to fit!"
"Great... now would be a great time for someone short to show up!" AJ exclaimed loudly as she glared at the crack while battling off a Creep.
Juni shook his head as he sprinted forward, shoving the gear for the retrieval into her hands. "You are short Green! I'll cover you! Just get that piece!"
AJ appeared to pause just long enough to glare at him, before whirling around and heading towards the crack. "Fine! I'll do it! But I'm not short!" With that said, she disappeared from view.
Amber turned her attention back to the battle, realizing that she just had to trust AJ to get over the whole short thing long enough to retrieve the glop before the Creeps do. Minutes ticked by as she continued battling the Creeps, all the while wondering since when did they stop bringing Brutus along with, when suddenly a green glowing orb appeared out of nowhere, blasting all of the Creeps away. Startled, she spun around to find that AJ was next to the crack... and glowing a bright green, seemingly hovering midair.
"Whoa..." Ocean whispered softly, shock flooding the group.
"That... my students would be AJ's true potential." Kai, in his ninja gi hood pulled up to hide his face, appeared on the scene, smiling to himself at the sight of his youngest student unlocking hers first.
"Awesome!" Storm and Juni blurted out at the same time.
AJ lowered to the ground, the glow dying down. Blinking rapidly, she glanced around the gathered crowd, before turning suddenly to face her friends. "Growing up... I always saw being short as not something one should be proud of...more like ashamed of. Mom and Dad tried to make me see that it was fine...but well. Especially now that the world is watching...and comparing my size to you guys... I guess I needed to learn that how the world sees me doesn't matter. What matter is how I see myself... and I'm short but capable."
The friends moved forward, hugging her in a group hug quickly. Kai smiled, while explaining what she just said had to due with her true potential. "Each one of you has a mental block that is preventing you from using your powers. For Green here, it was her size. She had a hard time accepting the fact that she was short compared to others her age... and especially a hard time with the fact that all of her friends are taller than her."
A/N: Done! Lloyd's back... haven't seen him since the prologue and I probably should confirm that I did not kill him off...yet. Also... next few chapters are going to be true Potentials for the gang. AJ is the fact she simply needs to accept the fact that she is short. I need to come up with ideas for Rocky, Ocean, Storm, and Juni. Icey and Amber I already know what I want to do for them. Warning, when I do Amber, one of the last ones to get theirs, you might want tissues... just so ya know. I think next chapter will be Icey unless I get a good idea for one of the others. Oh boy... Icey will have you shaking your head at her and agreeing with Juni over THAT matter.
Reviews:
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True Potentials (So far):
AJ: Being short isn't a bad thing! Being shorter than the others can be helpful in some cases!
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SkyTalon