A cloudless, beautiful sky stretched over Ninjago, welcoming the inhabitants of the land to venture outside to relax and take in the air. Parents watched their kids as the little ones played in the streets. Civilians lounged in patio chairs. Cars drifted lazily through the roads.
A ways away from Ninjago City in a monastery on a mountain, some ninjas also enjoyed the weather. It was a little chillier than the perfect weather permeating the valley, but a gorgeous day nonetheless, and they planned not to waste it inside.
Lloyd, Kai, Cole, and Zane trained in the courtyard, sounds of fighting marked unmalicious by the witty remarks and amiable laughter that carried between them.
Nya and Pixal remained inside, hovering over a computer monitor and holding a discussion in hushed tones.
As for Jay, he remained in his own room, unwilling to face the others.
The blue-clad ninja laid on his bed, idly blinking up at the fan spinning on his ceiling. Some moisture dripped from the corner of his eye, and his heart picked up with the thought that he was finally breaking down — and all that could happen if the others found him in such a state— but no, it was only a single teardrop from laying down so long with his eyes open. All the pressure that had welled up in his chest was still caged safely behind his ribs where it couldn't reach his team.
How long he could keep it there, Jay didn't know, but it wasn't his place to go making his team feel bad. Especially not today, when they seemed to be enjoying themselves in the downtime they rarely ever received.
Jay was pretty sure he was looking too far into things, anyway. It had been throwaway comments and jokes at his expense that had brought him here. One such remark had struck especially hard today, for some reason, even though Cole had no doubt only been joking around with him. That was what they did. They were friends. They joked and teased.
It still hurt, though.
He'd noticed a pattern in the jokes at his expense. They were all aimed at him being unskilled, graceless, useless. Expendable.
Jay sighed and rolled onto his side. Kai's words rang in his ear.
"Someone expendable. Like Jay."
Jay shook his head at nothing in particular. Surely Kai wouldn't have said that if he'd known everything Jay had been through.
No one but Nya had remembered it when Jay had found out he was adopted, though, and he didn't have the guts to bring it to their attention. It would be a hard conversation, and what was the use? Everyone knowing hardly did anything for them. It would just be some draining words that he spoke into empty air that served no one. It would just be telling them that they weren't the first people he'd been expendable to.
No. His team had only been joking, he reminded himself. They were only making some good-natured jabs at him, and didn't have the context to know how deep those words cut.
But then, even jokes had to come from somewhere. Even under comedic timing and unusual phrases, a joke wouldn't land if it didn't have some level of truth to it.
And it wasn't only jokes. No matter how much time he and Nya spent together, she still got annoyed with him every so often. Jay would be chastised in training for making a move that messed up the whole team, or his teammates would become agitated with him for freaking out during missions.
Jay dragged a hand over his face with a groan. As much as he didn't like it, maybe it was time to talk to someone about this. If nothing else, it would either get some weight off his chest or tell him what he needed to improve in himself.
He really didn't want to talk to his team, though. What if they weren't just joking around with him? What if they were just joking and they felt really bad for overstepping?
Jay thought through his other options.
Master Wu had left a few days ago to investigate a rumor on new Serpentine activity miles away, so he wasn't an option.
Jay briefly considered talking to his parents, then pushed the idea out of his mind. Talking to them about why his birth parents had abandoned him would be even more difficult than talking to the team. How would he even bring up that he'd found out he was adopted? His parents' memories of that timeline had been erased, as well.
With a groan, Jay sat up, reluctantly resolving to seek out one of his team to listen to him. He pushed himself off the bed and walked out of his room.
He peeked into the control room to see if Nya or Pixal were free yet, but they hovered over a computer, pointing out details on the screen to each other.
Seemed too important to disturb for a matter as trivial as Jay's. He moved on.
Jay exited the monastery into the courtyard, allowing the slightly chilly air to wash over him.
He watched them train for a little while he gathered his words, wringing his hands.
Cole spotted him and quickly transitioned from a fighting stance to a conversational one.
Lloyd, his sparring partner, saw the change and followed Cole's gaze.
"Did you wanna jump in?" Cole balled his hands into fists and playfully punched the air in front of him. "It would be a more interesting sparring match with an odd number."
Kai and Zane, caught in a stalemate of fire and ice, heard Cole's query and directed their attention onto Jay.
Jay swallowed the lump in his throat and let out an unsteady chuckle. "Actually, I, uh…" His mind raced. He wasn't ready. The words he'd been so carefully collecting fled under his friends' gaze. "I actually wanted to ask… ehehehe…"
The monastery doors shot open, crashing on either side of the wall with a resounding bang.
Jay yelped and jumped.
Just like that, everyone's attention was off Jay and on Nya, who stood in the doorway.
Nya waved them inside. "Guys, come quick! We're needed in Ninjago City!"
Jay's companions brushed by him to rush in, and he followed after.
Nya led them into the control room, where Pixal tapped away at the controls of the main monitor.
"What is it?" Lloyd asked.
"It's the Storm of Ruins," Nya said. "It's due to reach Ninjago City in just a few days."
"Oh no!" Jay said. "The storm of ruins! That sounds bad!"
The team looked at him.
"It… it is bad, isn't it? With a name like the Storm of Ruins, it's gotta be bad."
Kai goggled at him. "Do you really not know what it is?"
Jay smiled sheepishly.
"Have you been living under a rock?" Cole asked.
It was just a witty remark, Jay reminded himself, though he felt himself flush. Nothing to get overwhelmed over.
"The Storm of Ruins is a meteorological phenomenon that takes place once every twenty years," Zane explained. "It has a mild beginning and end, but the middle of the storm is stronger than any other; strong enough to level cities in just a few minutes. It always takes the same path, and always peaks right over Ninjago City."
"Then how come Ninjago City's still standing?" Jay asked. "If the Storm of Ruins passed over Ninjago City twenty years ago, wouldn't the city be, well, ruins?"
"That would be the case," Pixal said, "If the city did not have a mechanism that gathered energy over the years between storms that formed a shield around the city for the next storm."
"But then it sounds like the city's all good, then," Kai said. "Why are we freaking out about this?"
"We just got a call from the Commissioner," Nya said. "Apparently he got a tip that someone's trying to destroy the mechanism before the storm hits."
"And if the mechanism is destroyed…" Kai thought aloud, piecing the story together.
"Then the whole city goes down," Lloyd finished.
Jay gulped. "What are we gonna do?"
Lloyd tapped his chin."We need to get to the mechanism to protect it ASAP."
"I've downloaded the coordinates," Pixal reported.
"Good work. Everyone aboard the Bounty!"
The ninjas raced out of the room, leaving Jay behind.
So much for downtime. His matter would have to wait.
Jay pulled his mask over his head and raced after them.
"This is as far as the Bounty will go," Nya said, steering the airship to lower its deck against the roof of a nearby skyscraper.
"Thanks, Nya," Lloyd said. "We can take the rooftops the rest of the way."
Pixal set the Bounty to hover in place, and with that, the ninjas hurried out onto the deck and then onto the rooftops.
The sun was setting by the time they met the outside air, setting an anticipative chill over Ninjago City. A few lights already dotted the windows of the buildings around them.
"Which way?" Cole asked.
Bursts of yelling erupting into the air gave the answer.
The team jumped and dodged, deftly making their way over antennas and under billboards and running along windows as they jumped from roof to roof.
They came to rest atop a skyscraper overlooking a shorter one, the latter being bordered by two other buildings of slightly different heights.
The middle skyscraper's roof was entirely consumed by a strange contraption.
The said contraption consisted almost completely of a large metal plate with strange symbols inscribed into it. In the middle, a shimmering crystal the size of a lamp glistened, power lines connecting it to the rest of the contraption.
"That must be the mechanism," Lloyd said. "What's that crystal?"
Pixal held her hand to the side of her head, her eyes flickering. She completed her scan. "That crystal holds colossal amounts of energy. It must be the power source."
Another yell turned their attention to the two buildings bordering the skyscraper.
The commissioner's men stepped back to avoid the figures creeping towards them— or slithering, rather.
Kai groaned. "Aw, great. More Serpentine?"
Cole furrowed his brow. "They don't look like the usual brand of evil snakes. Sorry, no longer evil snakes."
Jay squinted, surveying the Serpentine for himself.
Cole was right. The serpents looked a lot different than the usual Serpentine, their forms so smooth Jay wondered if they even had scales. They had a murky grey tone on their outer side, and their chins and chests were splotched in a cream color. Their heads were a little more blended to their bodies than the usual snake, as well.
"Their pattern and shape closely resemble that of Electrophorus electricus," Zane noted.
Kai raised a brow. "Of what now?"
"Electric eels," Zane clarified.
"I guess you could call them…" Jay snickered to himself. "Serpenteels."
The team collectively groaned.
"What?" Jay said. "Come on, that was good!"
On the building, the Commissioner called, "Fire at will!"
One of his deputies turned to him. "We only have tasers!"
The Commissioner slumped. "Fine! Use those!"
The deputy charged forward, brandishing his taser, and jammed it into the Serpenteel.
Waves of electricity coursed through its body, but it remained undeterred, electricity shimmering over it even after the deputy had recovered his taser.
The deputy took a step back.
The Serpenteel shot its arms out at the deputy and returned the entire charge of electricity.
The deputy convulsed and fell.
"Yyyyeah, definitely electric eels," Nya said.
Lloyd nodded. "Let's avoid giving them any more power."
"Are we gonna just stand here and chat, or are we gonna help?" Cole took a running start and cleared the gap onto the other roof.
The ninja exchanged glances, nodded, and followed.
"Thank goodness you're here!" the Commissioner cried out upon seeing them land.
"Get your officers out of here," Lloyd ordered. "They don't have the right tools to handle these Serpentine. We'll take care of this."
The Commissioner nodded and raced towards a stairwell door on the roof, calling his officers.
"Now let's show these snakes what happens when they threaten our city!"
The team each charged up their powers, readying themselves to fight.
With a few bursts of ice, Zane froze the nearest Serpenteels.
Kai slowed them down with his fire, giving Pixal time to swoop in and land a few blows in hand-to-hand combat. Lloyd and Cole threw bursts of green energy and bits of masonry at their opponents respectively. Nya materialized water out of thin air to sweep the distracted Serpenteels off the roof.
Jay readied a powerful lightning blast, and directed it at the Serpenteel he assumed was in charge.
The Serpenteel accepted the energy, then shot it straight back at Kai.
A pained cry erupted from Kai's throat as he convulsed, waves of electricity coursing through him. When the strike ended, he collapsed onto his hands and knees, panting, a wave of heat emitting from his form.
"Kai!" Nya cried, rushing to his side. She dropped beside him, and upon helping him up, sent Jay a venomous glare.
"Nice job, knucklehead!" Cole said. "Didn't we just say not to do that?"
"I- I'm sorry!" Jay reached out to Kai. "Are you alright?" He internally repeated to himself that now was not the time to give in to the pressure in his chest that told him to break down right then and there.
Kai groaned and gave him a shaky thumbs-up.
"Kai, Zane, Pixal! You three and I will go to the other side; they're trying to reach the mechanism from there, too!" Lloyd ordered. "Nya, Cole, Jay, you're here!"
"Got it!" They chorused.
As the other part of the team left for their side of the rooftops, Jay tried to convince himself that Lloyd hadn't consciously separated him from Kai. Lloyd knew he hadn't hurt Kai on purpose.
Jay quickly repositioned himself to face the oncoming Serpenteels.
Nya and Cole fought beside him, their elemental powers taking down opponents left and right.
Jay was left to punch and kick, and he found himself wishing he'd spent more time training without using his powers.
The Serpenteels seemed to quickly grasp that he was out of his element, and wedged themselves between him and Nya and Cole, forcing him to back away from his friends towards the corner of the rooftop lest he try to fight all of his surrounding enemies at once.
Across the roof from him, Nya and Cole fought back-to-back.
Nya blocked a strike with her wrist. "Why is it always attack first, talk later with Serpentine? Can't we just talk out whatever grudge you have with whoever?"
"Nonsssenssse!" the Serpenteel fighting her called. "Ninjago Ccccity wasssss sssupossed to belong to usss!"
"There are a lot of Serpentine already living here!" Cole said. "You could join them, you know!"
"Nonsssensse! They hide underground, like cowardssss! We will level thisss cccity and take back what is rightfully oursss!"
"Well, so much for talking." Cole crushed the Serpenteel's jaw with a brick.
"Yesss, I wasss getting rather tired of your voiccesss," another Serpenteel called. "Perhapsss sssome sssilencce would ssserve you well!" He held up a small metallic object.
The Serpenteels around Nya and Cole backed away from them.
Cole quirked a brow. "What do you mean-"
The Serpenteel threw the little object.
It cracked on the ground between them.
At once waves of shrill sound burst from the thing, rattling them to their very bones. They clapped their hands over their ears and groaned, though they couldn't hear themselves.
Even after the vibrations of the sound had passed, it still rang in their ears.
"What the-?" Cole said, and clutched his throat. "I can't- am I speaking out loud?" His eyes widened in realization. "Okay, if that's how you want to play! Don't think one sense down means we can't beat you, though!"
"What did you say?" Nya yelled.
The Serpenteels closed in around them again, and Nya and Cole resumed attacking, just as well as ever despite their temporary disability.
At the corner of the roof, Jay was not faring as well. The Serpenteels had him pinned between the stairwell door and the roof's edge, and their numbers allowed them to land one punch on him for every two he blocked.
Jay spotted a TV antenna beside him and kicked it off its stand, laughing to himself as he weighed in his hands. "Oh, yeah! Makeshift weapon!"
He swung the antenna this way and that, now able to block all the punches and kicks the Serpenteels threw at him. No matter the angle, Jay was able to maneuver the antenna to protect himself, and was even able to return a few punches of his own.
One of the Serpenteels grabbed the antenna and held on.
"Hey!" Jay tugged on it, but the Serpenteel refused to budge.
Another one swung a blow at his head, and he was forced to let go of his weapon in order to duck.
He straightened up just in time to see the Serpenteel holding the antenna high over his head, then it came down on him.
The antenna's rod stabbed clean through his shoulder, narrowly missing bone before coming out the other side and embedding itself through the door, effectively pinning him to the staircase entrance.
Jay cried out, the noise sliced into several parts by sharp gasps. He shuddered, trembling helplessly. He wanted nothing more to slide onto the ground, but when his knees buckled, it put pressure on the top of his wound, making him whimper. Hot liquid oozed from the site and made his clothes stick to his clammy, pale skin.
The Serpenteels turned and slithered off, passing an occupied Nya and Cole to cross to the rooftop housing the mechanism.
"N-no!" Jay called out, voice weak and trembling.
He saw Nya and Cole notice passing Serpenteels and rush their fight.
"Go, guys!" Jay cried, trying to keep his voice steady for their sake.
Out of the corner of his eye, Jay saw movement and turned to face it.
A Serpenteel, dagger in hand, slithered towards him, a maniacal glint in its eye.
"Uh, guys? Help!" Jay tugged at the rod plunged through his shoulder, but it was stuck fast, and jostling his wound made stars dance over his vision.
"Guys, seriously! I'm in a lot of danger right now! This guy's gonna kill me!"
Nya and Cole broke through the line of Serpenteels they were fighting and raced forward.
"Yes!"
They ran right past him, eyes trained on the next roof.
"Wait! Guys! I- I need help! Please!"
No one came back for him.
Like they hadn't even heard him.
Jay glanced the way they'd gone, then at the ever-nearing Serpenteel, who now raised the dagger over his chest.
"Please! Someone! Help!"
Still, no footsteps came back towards him.
Tears welled up in Jay's eyes. Just like that, his fears had been confirmed.
One mistake. One big mistake was all it took for them to decide he wasn't worth their time anymore. One big mistake and they tossed him aside. Expendable.
The Serpenteel was only a little more than an arm's reach away now; just a second away from Jay and a stab that would end his life.
"Oh, no. This is going to hurt…"
Jay reached his free hand behind his back and shocked the rod that pinned him to the door.
Jay cried out, keeping a constant stream of hot electricity directed at the rod even as it shocked him right back.
Blood ceased to flow from his wound, and the stench of burning flesh filled the air.
Part of the rod grew red-hot, then brighter, then it melted away from the rest.
Jay stumbled away from the Serpenteel's strike, his senses so foggy he could hardly even tell that he was doing so.
He clambered up a fire escape onto the adjacent roof, just in time to see another Serpenteel shatter the crystal.
"No!" The ninjas yelled in unison.
The Serpenteel leader grinned wide, a manic laugh bursting from his chest. "It is done! Come, we have achieved our goal! Let us go!"
Kai, Nya, and Cole punched at the fleeing Serpenteels in vain. Pixal, Lloyd, and Zane gaped at the shattered remains of Ninjago City's protection.
When the last of the Serpenteels escaped them, an uneasy silence settled over the roof.
"What are we going to do now?" Nya asked.
Jay stumbled forward.
Nya's eyes settled on him, and she gasped. "Jay!"
Jay's heart plummeted. She sounded distressed. Had she really wanted him gone?
The others, except for Cole, followed her gaze to him, then Cole, seeing the rest, did as well.
When they laid eyes on him, they looked… upset. Disgusted.
Fresh tears welled in Jay's eyes. So it really was true.
Nya fished her medkit from the folds of her clothing, and approached Jay upon producing her medical knife.
Jay gasped. "W-what's that for?"
Nya said nothing, approaching him.
"No, get back!"
"Nya knows what she is doing," Pixal said, tone soothing. "She will help."
Help? Help what? Help the team by finishing him off?
"I'm good," Jay said, covering his injured arm. "Really."
Cole's jaw dropped. "You most certainly are not!"
Jay glanced at Nya and gulped.
It was Nya, part of his mind told him. She wasn't going to hurt him.
Maybe after today, she deserved to, the other part of his mind said.
No. No, he was overreacting. She loved him.
Then why did she leave him alone when he cried out for her? When her help could have meant the difference between his life and death?
Nya held his uninjured shoulder and scanned the antenna still protruding from his shoulder. She raised the knife.
Jay pushed her back. "No!"
She gave him a questioning look.
"I- I'm fine."
She blinked vacantly at him.
"Jay, let her do what she needs to," Zane said. "You're in good hands."
"I'll be fine, really!"
"We do not have time for this!" Pixal said. "We need to get back and figure out how we are going to power the mechanism without the crystal. Jay, let her help you."
Jay blinked.
Power. They needed power. Maybe they needed to keep him around, after all.
He considered Nya again. Maybe they really were trying to help him.
Nya used the knife to saw at the bulk of the antenna.
Little by little, she cut through the mass of metal weighing him down, though doing so jostled the wound in his shoulder.
Black spots blurred Jay's vision. "N-Nya, stop."
Nya kept sawing.
"Stop! I said stop! WHY AREN'T YOU LISTENING? I-"
Jay's knees buckled as the black dots dominated his vision. He was faintly aware of someone's arm holding him up before his head lolled against their shoulder and he succumbed to the darkness.
Jay groaned and shifted. His head pounded, but he forced himself to blink his eyes open.
"There you are!"
Cole's face came into focus.
Jay furrowed his brows, taking in his surroundings.
He was on one of the cots on the Bounty, and Cole sat on the one across the room from him, eyes trained on him.
An ache throbbing through his shoulder led him to brush it with the fingers of the opposite hand.
Thick cloth bandages gave slightly under his touch.
"Nya cleaned you up. You scared us."
The recent events flooded into his mind, and he sat up at once.
Cole jumped to his feet. "Hey! Don't you want to take it easy for a while?"
"No." Jay stood and walked out the cabin door.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Cole raced after him. "Where are you going?"
"The bridge," Jay answered. "That's where all the planning will be taking place, right?"
"Yeah, but-"
"Then let's get this show on the road," Jay said. "No time to waste."
"What's the-"
"The fate of Ninjago City rests in our hands, in case you forgot."
"And what do you intend to do?" Cole asked.
Jay stopped walking to turn to him. "Fight for it, duh!"
"No."
"Excuse me?"
"Jay, you've done enough."
The words sent a shudder up Jay's spine like they were an icy breeze. Why would Jay think Cole would see it any differently? He'd already messed up the mission.
"I can do more!"
"You're not fighting with an injury like that! It'll slow you down!"
Jay hardly bit back his reply of, you mean I'll slow you down.
Jay pointedly met Cole's gaze. "I can do better."
Cole sighed. "Jay, we both know you did your best on the last mission."
His heart pounded in his head. Is that what Cole really thought of him? That the best he had to offer was to fail the entire city when they needed him most.
Jay turned and continued down the corridor to the bridge.
Maybe they only needed him to help power the machine, but if he would be given another chance to stick around and prove himself, he would not waste it. He would do what they asked, and then fight by their side as well. He could do it.
Nya and Pixal chatted in the bridge, Nya steering the Bounty while Pixal held up a blueprint.
"So what you're saying," Nya said, "Is that if we can build and power this thing in time, it'll act like a different version of the mechanism that was destroyed?"
"That is correct."
Nya hummed. "But that thing had a massive power source. Even if we can build it in time, we'd need to find a compatible source to run it."
"Unfortunately, also correct," Pixal confirmed, "But this design is more compatible with modern energy sources that could connect to it."
Nya fell silent for a moment, then suggested, "What about yours and Zane's power sources?"
"I had considered that," Pixal said, "But this machine is too power-consuming for even us. It… would destroy us."
"Then I think we need Jay to do it," Nya said.
"That could work."
Jay froze.
He didn't have more power than Pixal and Zane combined.
If it would destroy both of them, then it would destroy him, too.
They had taken him back to use him as a sacrifice instead.
He gasped, walking backwards away from them.
Pixal and Nya turned to where he stood in the doorway.
"Jay!" Nya said, suddenly cheerful. "You're awake! How do you feel?"
Jay shook his head, unbelieving. He backed up further, then turned and ran, brushing by a very confused Cole to rush onto the deck.
Cole turned to Nya and Pixal. "What happened?"
"I do not know," Pixal said. "We were discussing the possibility of dividing the effort of powering the machine between Jay, Zane, and myself to do so safely, when we noticed him behind us. He seemed… unhappy with something."
"Jay!" Nya shouted. "Jay, wait up!"
Nya, Cole, and Pixal ran after him, finding everyone already on the deck.
Kai was already by Jay's side, trying to console him.
"Jay!" Nya rushed forward. "Jay, what's wrong?"
Jay didn't know what to say to her. How could she openly plot to do away with him one second, then pretend to care about him the next?
Instead, he turned and jumped off the Bounty.
The wind rushing in his ears almost drowned out his "friends" calling his name over the airship's edge.
He fell towards the city, further, further, before opening his parachute.
Jay yelped when the parachute opened, the jolt sending angry pain through his shoulder.
The second his parachute lowered to the ground, he folded it up and ducked into an alley, out of view from the Bounty hovering high above.
After so long of repressing it, he curled up on himself, and cried.