Chapter Four: Oh look...more people that speak gibberish.

"Ok...Rex. Take him to the brig." Anakin stared down at the stubborn teen that had darkness swirling around him.

"Sir yes sir!" Rex saluted him, before moving to grab Kai.

Kai took a step back, immediately slipping into a defensive position. Anakin could feel his left eyebrow rise up as he looked at him. He had good battle reflexes, he could tell that already. Zane stepped forward, his voice devoid of all emotions. "Kai...give me your elemental blade."

The teen scowled, before reluctantly handing the weapon over to his brother. Anakin felt his jaw clench as he stared at him, before flinging his hands in the air out of annoyance. "Seriously? You hand it over to him...but not me?!"

Kai crossed his arms, a loud scoff escaping him. "There's a difference. You're a random person...he's my brother and best friend. Totally legit reason to hand it over to him."

Anakin sighed, before directing his next statement to both teens. "You still have to go to the brig. We can't have a sith wandering around in here."

Kai and Zane glanced at each other, confusion creasing Kai's brow, nothing indiacted what Zane was thinking right now. Ahsoka recalling her conversation that revealed that they were from an unknown planet, stepped forward. "Master...they don't know what a sith is. They're from some unknown planet..."

"Ninjago." They spoke in rather perfect unison, though with Zane's monotone voice and Kai's sharp, cynical one it was rather off-putting.

Ahsoka shook her head, fighting the urge to throw her hands in the air out of frustration. "Seriously?" She muttered under her breath too quietly for anyone to hear...unless they were trained to listen for the smallest sounds that are often overlooked.

"You should hear it when all six of us do that. Dareth once said that he can always know when we all agree on something cause we will speak in perfect unison, despite the fact that none of our voices sound remotely similar." Kai sniggered, amusement dancing in his eyes.

Zane nodded in agreement, his monotone voice slicing through the air. "Indeed. It was quite humorous when our younger brother, Lloyd, did it with us before his voice deepened."

Kai nodded in agreement, a smirk crossing his face. "Yeah...well. We typically only agree and do that when responding to something Sensei told us."

Anakin frowned, noting the use of the word sensei... Zane had just minutes ago told Kai that was what Ahsoka meant when she called him master, though he didn't know the exact definition for it was still. "We can't have you running around. Your force presence is too dark."

Zane felt confusion flood him, though he managed to keep it off of his features. Turning, he glanced at Kai trying to see what this human-like alien meant by that. All he could tell was that Kai was purposely making his dragon spirit darker than what it actually was...and masking his true feelings with anger and frustration. Rolling his eyes mentally, he would never be caught doing so by anyone outside of his family!, he turned to face Anakin. "Can he just stay with me... he isn't one that you should leave alone." Zane figured that they most likely didn't know that Kai wasn't used to being by himself and needed someone to 'protect' to feel useful.

Kai shot Zane a glare, though he knew Kai well enough to know that he was, in his own way, expressing his gratitude that Zane was giving him a reason to be hovering over his shoulders. Anakin hesitated, before reluctantly nodding in agreement. "Very well. Rex? Show them to the barracks. We don't have space to give them their own rooms."

Pretty sure we can handle barracks. Shouldn't be too much different than the Destiny's Bounty's single bedroom that all five of us boys claimed. Kai used his spirit dragon to silently communicate to Zane. Zane silently agreed, before following the human called Rex out of the hangar.

…..

Zane watched as Kai ran his fingers through his hair, aggravation flaring up blindly from him. He shifted slightly, glancing over at the door to make sure that no one was there to eavesdrop on them, before speaking directly to Kai. "Kai...I am sure that she is alright. Nya is quite capable of taking care of herself."

Kai glanced over at Zane, before dropping his hands to his sides. "Yeah...I guess. But...master? I really don't like that word."

"I know...and I understand that you have a bigger reason to hate it than me." Zane referred softly to the Time Twins, sitting down on one of the bunks in the barrack.

Kai sucked in a deep breath, the pain he had been harboring from that incident flaring briefly, before he smothered it down. Zane sighed, knowing that was the closest to talking about it that they would ever get to. "We best find our way to the cafeteria and get something to eat."

Kai frowned, looking over at him. "You know Z...since these guys aren't from Ninjago then that must mean they have different foods that they eat. For all we know, they don't have Puffy Potstickers." A smirk flashed across his face, signaling that he just made a joke.

Zane chuckled softly, catching onto what he meant by that. "Oh yes... poor Dareth would be devastated if he can't eat his Puff Potstickers." The two ninjas sank to the floor as they laughed, before their stomachs growled loudly, reminding them that they hadn't eaten at all since they left Ninjago who knows how long ago.

….

The cafeteria was easily found...and the rations were definitely not what they were used to. Even ninja rations during a crisis (in other words, mission) were different than this! Pushing these thoughts to the back of their minds, they sat down next to Rex and some others.

One of the others turned to face them, it was the one with the two number five tattoos on the sides of his head. "Hey there. Name's Fives. I think I got your names earlier...Zane and Kai, right?"

Kai jerked his head by way of confirming that was correct, while Zane monotonelessly said a single word. "Yes."

Ahsoka walked over, plopping down next to them. "Hey Zane... I was wondering if you would like to spar with me later?"

Zane peered curiously at her, before speaking in his frustratingly monotone voice. "I am unsure if having a blackbelt go against someone that I highly suspect is not a black belt, but rather an orangebelt."

"Wait what?" Ahsoka knitted her brow in confusion.

Kai snorted as he pushed his tray away from him. "Yeah...icicle? I don't think that they use the belt system to dictate one's ability to fight."

"Belt system?" Ahsoka glanced over at Rex, who just shrugged.

"Yes...it is how we measure one's progress. I am a blackbelt with six gold stripes." Zane sat down his fork, a small smile flickering onto his features.

Ahsoka frowned, before turning to Kai, who looked really upset to hear that. "Yeah...we get it. You got six of the ten gold stripes one needs to get before they can be made a sensei." There was an underlying bitterness in his voice as he glared at the table top.

Ahsoka opened her mouth to say something, only for Kai to suddenly stand up and leave the room. Bewildered, she turned to face Zane. "What was that about?"

"Kai only has two gold stripes. Though his skill is up there and he really should have six gold stripes." Zane paused, glancing over at her. "There is a reason why he hasn't been given the other stripes yet. However that is for him to explain to you, not me." Standing up, he bowed deeply to them. "Now if you will please excuse me, I need to check on him." He then turned and left the room, following after his brother.

A/N: Just to explain a few things... I have a head cannon that the Time Twins actually took Kai and Nya when they took their parents, and they were spies for them the entire time. After finding this out, they were both more or less demoted (gold stripes removed) and everyone is a bit more cautious around them. They would have been completely kicked off the team if Kai and Nya hadn't aided Lou, Karlof, and the rest of the Royal Blacksmiths due to the fact that they weren't supposed to be there. Mainly Kai helped them. They eventually found out that they were basically slaves and had no choice in the matter.

If I messed up on what the order for belts in martial arts is...I'm sorry...I looked it up on Google. In my opinion, even though they don't talk about the belt system in the show... they use martial arts so it makes sense for them to use the belt system.

Ella