Well this one is a lot longer than the first two haha
"Aaaaaaaaah! Get away from me!" I cried as I ran from Jay, who was wielding a water balloon. I didn't dislike getting wet, but I was not in the mood to have water thrown at me right now. I made a beeline for the door; certainly he wouldn't throw it inside, would he?
Boy was I wrong.
"Jay!" I yelled, water dripping from my clothes. The remnants of the balloon were lodged in my hair, which was also soaked on one side.
"You let yourself get cornered!" he retorted.
"Most people don't fight with water balloons indoors!" I said, gingerly stepping out of the puddle that had formed on the floor beneath me. "Just be glad I'm not wearing a white shirt."
"What's going on?- Jay!" Nya came into the room and scolded him. "you brought water balloons inside?!"
"We started outside…" Jay said.
Nya sighed. "Just… clean it up I guess. And get Lin a towel. It's the least you can do."
"Okay…" They both walked out of the room, leaving me with my thoughts and a wet floor.
Almost immediately after they were out of sight, Wu appeared. "Ah, Lin. I need to talk with you- why are you covered in water?"
"Well, Jay-"
"That tells me enough. Anyway, I need to tell you something. You want to continue your self-defense training, yes?"
"Of course," I said.
"Well, I am afraid that with the academy opening soon, we will not have the time to work with you as much as we'd like."
"Oh…" I frowned, disappointed.
"But, I may have a solution," Wu said, holding out a letter. "My brother, in his journey towards redemption, fell in with a group of monks. He helped them renovate their temple, and he now gives lessons in martial arts. I think it would be good for you to continue training under him while we are… not the most available."
"I'm… not sure…"
"You do not have to agree. I haven't sent the letter recommending you to him yet. But I do think you should take advantage of this."
"Are you sure he'll even take me as a student?"
"I am sure he will, as long as he knows I sent you."
I looked up at him. "You really think..?"
Wu put a hand on my shoulder. "Lin. I know you do not see it most of the time, but you have a lot of potential. That is why I want you to continue with Garmadon. And I am sure he will see it as well."
"Sensei, is Lin leaving?" Jay had finally returned to clean up.
"Well… Maybe.."
"WHAT?!" Apparently the rest of the team was right behind him.
"Guys, I haven't decided yet…"
It was too late. They were already panicking, talking so fast I couldn't tell who was saying what.
"But why?"
"Is there something we did?"
"Nooooooo…."
"Maybe it's about the spinjitzu incident-"
"We promised her we'd never talk about that though!"
"I'M SORRY I PROMISE I'LL NEVER CHASE YOU WITH A WATER BALLOON AGAIN! DON'T LEAVE US LIIIIIIIN!"
Okay, I know who that last one was from.
"Everyone be quiet for a moment!" Sensei snapped. "I have offered Lin the opportunity to train with my brother while you all will be too busy with teaching. I know you all would want her to continue her studies, and if you are that desperate to see her, I am sure we can arrange visits."
"Yes, Sensei." they all nodded, bowing slightly.
I smiled a little. "Honestly guys, I'm just flattered you guys care that much about me leaving."
"Of course we do!" They chorused.
I couldn't help but blush a bit; they were too much. But you had to love them. All I could think about as I prepared to leave was how much I'd miss them.
Two days later, I found myself walking up the path to Garmadon's monastery. I was aware of his conversion back to the good side, but I had never met him before. What would he be like?
I knocked on the big wooden door. It was opened by whom I can only assume was Garmadon himself.
"Lor- I mean, Sensei Garmadon," I started . "I am Lin... da Anderson. I would like to be trained -"
"I don't recognize that name." He narrowed his eyes in suspicion
Nervous before but now much more so, I continued "But you see I-".
"I had only planned on taking in younger children to train," he glared. He started to close the door.
"Wait! But Zane- I mean, the ninja sent me! Didn't you get the message from your brother?"
He paused. "No, I did not. Now I would suggest you go, before you make a bigger fool of yourself."
I was about to protest when the mailman came biking up to the door. "Sorry it's late!" He said, handing Garmadon a small scroll.
I smiled sheepishly. "I think that's the note."
He glared at me again, then opened the scroll and silently read its contents. He rolled it back up and turned back to me. "I see you have indeed been sent by them. I apologize for the hostility."
I shrugged. "It's alright. In a way, I don't really blame you."
He let me inside. I smiled and entered, but I could sense he still didn't fully trust me. "Oh great. It's going to be one of those days... " I mentally told myself.
Garmadon led me to a room, and told me to unpack. I went to work emptying my bags, putting my things where I thought they should go. This setup would probably last about two days before it becomes chaos.
I jumped when I dropped a bag and my daggers spilled out. Garmadon came towards me, angry. "Didn't my brother tell you that no weapons are allowed here?"
"Yes, he did, I just forgot, I'm sorry!" I apologized in a rush. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" I thought.
He reached for the weapons. "Something will have to be done with these."
I grabbed them before he could. "Please, don't! You must understand, they're my mother's."
He looked at me for a while, then sighed. "Fine. But don't let me or anyone else see them again."
"I won't, I'm sorry!" I said.
And so began what had to be one of the most awkward weeks of my life. The dagger incident did nothing to mend our already shaky relationship. I had to be very, very careful with what I said and did, which is very difficult for me when I'm not around someone who is making me nervous.
Training was just as bad. Since I needed to be taught on a different level than the rest of his students, he taught me separately before the usual class. Wu and the ninja never seemed to notice my lack of focus, but Garmadon sure did. I tried to explain that I couldn't help a lot of it, but I could tell he wasn't convinced. Needless to say, my skills didn't advance at all.
To be honest, I felt sorry for him. I'd done nothing but drive the sensei nuts since I first knocked on his monastery door. But at the same time, I usually work a charm over people and they see I don't mean any harm, and Garmadon just wasn't buying it.
One day I was in my room after another unproductive lesson, when I heard commotion in the courtyard. I looked out the window to see the students surrounding four guys and a girl in colorful clothes. I jumped up when I realized: The ninja had come!
I raced out of the bedroom, bursting through the door into the courtyard. "Zane!" I zipped past a grumpy Garm (don't tell him I just called him that) over to the group, only to find the owner of the name I'd called to be absent. "Where's… Zane?"
"Oh, he's outside guarding the technoblades. No weapons allowed here, you know," Cole said.
"Haha, yeah…" I replied, mind unwillingly going back to that awful exchange. "Well, I'm going to go find him." I walked out through the gates into the forest.
His white gi stood out against the dark and green colors of the forest, so I had no trouble spotting him. He of course saw me coming, and stood up to greet me. I ran over without a second thought, throwing my arms around him. "Hey Zane!"
He was surprised at first, but quickly hugged me back. "I missed you, Lin." He said.
"I missed you even more!"
"But I did not specifically quantify how much I missed you. How do you know it is less than the amount that you miss me?" He gave me a puzzled look.
"No, what I meant was- Agh, I don't know how to explain it! Just forget I said that." I chuckled , releasing him.
"How is your training going?" Zane asked me.
I didn't answer his question, but grabbed onto his arm. "I want to go back with you!" I said .
He looked at me, startled by my passionate response. "I know you want to be with us, Lin, but we are currently on a very dangerous mission..."
"I'll take my chances."
"I will most likely not be able to train you..."
That's okay! My training is still getting nowhere, so I don't think waiting can hurt. I just can't stay here any longer."
"Why?"
"Because... Well, let's just say me and Garmadon don't quite match."
Zane furrowed his brows in confusion.
"What I mean is... We aren't compatible." I grinned in a sheepish manner.
His face returned to normal. "I understand. I will talk to the others, I am sure they will be fine with you joining us." he said, suddenly turning away. Was that a big smile he was trying to hide?
He turned back after a moment, like nothing had happened, and started telling me about what had happened since I had been gone. I missed a lot, turns out.
I got so caught up in the story, I stopped noticing my surroundings for a while. I guess Zane had as well, because he cut himself short all of a sudden to say, "Where are the technoblades?"
It felt like my stomach had jumped up and fallen straight back down to the earth. We'd lost the one thing we were supposed to be watching. I mean technically it was just Zane's job and not mine, but hey, I wanted to feel like I was a part of things, too.
"What do we do?" My voice raised in a panic.
"Shh," He gently shushed me. "I will just have to look for whoever took them. Stay here."
"Wait!" I grabbed Zane's arm before he could go. "I'll come with you!"
"Lin, that is not necessary, they were my responsibilty-"
"No, please! Come on, it's mostly my fault we lost them anyway."
He sighed. "Okay, but please, please be careful. I do not want to explain both how I lost the blades and how you got hurt." He placed his hands on each of my shoulders.
I pulled away so that he wouldn't notice how that made my face heat up. It was silly, I knew, to get so worked up over a little physical contact, but I couldn't seem to keep myself from blushing at every little gesture. And it only happened with Zane. I didn't understand it; he was my friend, I wasn't uncomfortable with his actions. Why did it make everything in me go haywire?
He began to search for any sign of life or movement. I kept close, trying my best to help look. But it was getting darker, and I didn't have nindroid eyes. I would have walked into a bush at least once had Zane not pulled me back.
After several minutes we heard a sound. Zane stopped me. "get down and out of sight," he whispered, nearly dropping the "s" to stay even quieter.
I crouched down between a bush and a tree and watched him approach where the sound came from. He leaped up and came down on… something. I heard two voices and one definitely wasn't his. Curiosity got the better of me and I jumped up to help.
Underneath Zane was of all people, a girl android. I'd never seen her before, but she seemed really out of place.
"Pixal?" Zane seemed equally confused.
She didn't reply, only tried to fight back. But Zane was too strong for her. He pulled some rope out and bound her hands. "Come with us." He stood Pixal up and led her towards the monastery.
I guess we made more noise than we thought, because by the time we got there, the others were already outside waiting.
"What are you two doing with Pixal?" Kai said as Zane pulled her into view.
"She took the technoblades when we were not looking."
"Oh great," Jay groaned.
"What do we do? She'll just attack us if we let her go," I said.
Zane held up his technoblade. "I may have a solution."
He swung it down. I flinched, not wanting to watch her robotic head split in two. "Zane-"
But it only touched her forehead, causing a soft light to flow through her. Her eyes became green and she relaxed her fighting stance. "Where am I? Why am I tied up?"
"You were hacked by the Overlord," Zane replied. "I used the technoblade to restore your original programming."
"Oh…" Pixal said. "Thank you."
"You are welcome." He began to untie her. "Do you know what happened to Wu?"
"The Overlord probed him for information, that is how we found you. I- Oh no, I just remembered!" Pixal gasped.
"What is it?" Lloyd said.
"I did not come alone."
This cliffhanger would be a lot cooler if it wasn't rehashing the plot we've known for years now lol