Hey, everyone! Sorry it's been so long. I've come back with a new C.J. one-shot, and I hope that you all enjoy it.

This particular one was requested by Guest and it takes place a few years after Crystalized, so there is a slight spoiler warning for that.

Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago


It was a beautiful summer day. The only downside was the heat. Luckily, the Ninjago City pool was open, and the gang had decided to head to there to cool off. It was rather crowded with all kinds of people. Three of these people were some the ninja recognized. Jimmy the police officer, and Kate and her mother.

C.J. was bouncing up and down with excitement when he saw her to which Cole replied by saying, "Calm down, Buddy. I still gotta put on your sunscreen."

"Okay," C.J. said as he started fidgeting with his hands.

He stopped bouncing around long enough for his father to continue with his sunscreen, but the second he finished, C.J. shoved his floaties onto his arms and did a cannonball into the pool before swimming to his friend, leaving Cole to sit to the side with Kai, who still hadn't gotten over his hydrophobia, despite the fact that Nya taught him to swim.

It felt kind of weird not being with the others in the pool, but the water still hurt him. Just another reminder of his times as a ghost.

"So..." Cole started. "How's non-ninja life going?"

Kai sighed a long, deep sigh before saying, "It's boring. I miss having missions and living with you guys and even training."

"You have a job?" Cole asked.

"I work at Chen's Noodle House with Skylor," Kai replied. A slight smile beginning to form.

"What do you do there?"

"Cook. Turns out, I can make some pretty good stuff when you put a recipe in front of me," Kai replied. "What about you?"

"Well, I work at a daycare when C.J.'s at school."

"School?! Already?"

"Yeah, it's weird."

"It feels like just yesterday you brought him aboard the Bounty."

A moment of silence passed. It was crazy. Just yesterday, he was stuck in the Sons of Garmadon's hideout with a random baby. Not knowing what else to do, he took him home. Now, he was just another citizen living in Ninjago City with his son who went to school, had friends, and was swimming around, laughing and playing.

Cole was still thinking about this when he went home later that day. As he served dinner to him and his son, C.J. tried to start a conversation. It was such a strange thing to Cole that this little boy he had known for so long was able to speak and string together sentences. That he could express his desires. And yet he couldn't help but feel a sense of pride. He raised this little one and taught him how to do these things. Sure, they were rather simple, but the fact that he could teach someone to do these things was very heartwarming to the former earth master.

"I have a question," C.J. said as he picked at his food. He was never a huge fan of chicken.

"What's your question, Buddy?" Cole asked.

"Why do I need arm float tings?"

"Why do you need your arm floaties?"

"Yeah."

"Because without them, you'd sink and not be able to swim."

"Why?"

"Because you don't know how to swim yet."

"Why?"

"What do you mean why?"

"Kate doesn't have them."

"Did she make you feel bad about having floaties."

"No," C.J. responded.

"You just wanna learn how to swim?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. I'll talk to your Aunt Nya about it."

"Yay!"


The next day, the ninja were back at the pool. Since it wasn't as hot, there weren't as many people there, giving Nya and C.J. the space they needed for C.J.'s first swimming lesson.

"You ready, Buddy?" Nya asked.

"Yeah!" C.J. exclaimed excitedly. He was standing on the edge of the pool, looking down at his aunt, who was standing in the area of the pool with the least amount of water. It was about two feet deep, which allowed for C.J. to stand.

He jumped into the pool and walked over to Nya.

"Now the first thing we're going to do is learn how to swim underwater," the master of water explained.

"Under?" C.J. asked. His eyes wide.

"Yep!" Nya replied with a smile. "Now, can you hold your breath for me?"

C.J. took a deep breath before puffing his cheeks out and closing his eyes tightly. After a moment, Nya said, "Okay, okay. You can breathe again."

The blond exhaled loudly before smiling up at his aunt as if to reassure her that everything was okay.

"Okay, so what you're going to do is go underwater and hold your breath. I'll bring you up after a few seconds if you can't get up on your own, okay?"

"Okay," C.J. nodded.

He jumped as high up as he possibly could before going underwater and floating a little bit. Nya helped to keep him under until about four seconds had passed, and the little one shot up from the water with a big smile on his face.

"How'd you do?" Nya asked.

"Good," C.J. smiled.

"Well, now that you can hold your breath underwater, I can teach you the hard part."

"Hard part?" C.J. asked. His r's sounded like w's, multiplying the cuteness in his voice by a ton.

"You're going to move while underwater."

"Swim!"

"Yeah, swimming! Now, all you have to do is kick your legs and move your arms like this," Nya explained as she moved her arms in the most comfortable motion to while swimming.

C.J. did so, but since he wasn't underwater yet, it looked a little odd. Nya had a big smile on her face, though.

"Yes! Just like that! Just, maybe try it while underwater. I want you to swim all the way to your Uncle Jay," she said as she pointed to her now husband, who just waved back to the blond. He was all the way on the other side of the two-foot area of the pool.

"What if I need to breathe?" C.J. asked. Drawing out the word "breathe."

"Take a breath and then continue going. It's pretty simple."

The five year old smiled a confident looking smile before he went underwater and tried to do what Nya taught him. Unfortunately, it seemed he was just flailing his arms wildly. His legs were right, though.

Once C.J. came up with that big smile of his, Nya could only chuckle as she said, "Uh, not exactly, but you're doing great."

C.J. frowned slightly at this, but it was clear he was still all ears.

"Okay, so while you did kick your legs, your arms were going all over the place. You can't move anywhere when you do that, Ceej," Nya explained. "Plus, you kind of look like you're drowning."

"Oh," C.J. said disappointingly.

"Here. Let me show you," Nya continued.

The master of water took a deep breath before going beneath the surface. Since the pool was clear, C.J. could watch as his aunt kicked her feet and calmly moved her arms in a circular motion.

"Oh," C.J. realized as Nya stood back up not too much farther away.

He went underwater and did exactly as his aunt did so he could make it all the way to his uncle Jay.

"Nice job, C.J.!" Jay praised as he lifted to young one into the air. "You swam underwater!"

"I did it!" C.J. laughed. He then looked to his dad, who was smiling brightly and yelled, "I did it!"


When it was time for C.J.'s next lesson, Nya asked Cole for permission to go to a deeper area of the pool. Trusting his younger sister and knowing that she understood the water better than he ever could, he granted her this permission.

Nya picked C.J. up and carried him into the four-foot-deep area of the pool. The water was only one foot above C.J. if he managed to stand.

"What do we do now?" C.J. asked.

"Now, I'll teach you how to swim above water," Nya answered.

"Above the water," C.J. gasped.

"Yeah. Here, let me show you."

Jay swam up next to his wife and took the blond from her so that she could show C.J.

The breaststroke was probably the easiest technique Nya had ever learned. It was the first one she had taught herself, and the first one she taught Kai as well. She didn't think it would be that hard to teach C.J.

As Nya did this, C.J. watched in awe at the idea of completing the move himself. He looked to his uncle Jay, who looked to Nya in awe as well. The former lightning master was never that strong of a swimmer and seeing her glide across the water made him feel as if he was doing the same.

"Amazing, right?" Jay asked the young one.

"Uh huh," C.J. nodded.

Once Nya returned, she said, "You ready for your turn?"

"Yeah!" C.J. exclaimed.

"Okay. It's pretty simple. All you have to do is kick your feet, but there's a new arm movement now," Nya explained. "Move your arms in a few big circles."

C.J. immediately responded by kicking Jay in an effort to push off of him and into the water, but the former lightning master quickly grabbed the blond to prevent him from drowning.

"Please don't do that again," Jay winced.

"Sorry," C.J. replied.

"You okay?" Nya asked.

"Yeah," Jay replied. He then looked down to C.J. and said, "I think she meant while I'm holding you. Just, don't hit me."

"Okay," C.J. nodded. He then looked to Nya and did as she asked, moving both of his arms in a circular motion, moving forward.

"Great!" Nya praised. "Now move them in the opposite direction."

C.J. did so and moved both of his arms backwards.

"Now move one arm forward and one arm backward," Nya said.

The blond obeyed, gaining a quick clap from the master of water.

"Great! Now do that in the water."

C.J. smiled excitedly, ready to swim, but he wasn't going in the water yet, and he had just promised Jay he wouldn't jump off of him again. In frustration, he looked to his uncle Jay, who seemed lost in thought.

"Jay," Nya chuckled softly. "I think he wants you to let him in the water."

"Oh! Sorry," Jay smiled sheepishly as he gently lowered the boy in the water.

Immediately, C.J. started kicking hard in an attempt to keep himself above the water and in one spot.

"Good job, Ceej. Just move your arms like this at the same time," Nya instructed as she moved her arms in an outward circular motion.

C.J. followed her instructions and was soon laughing excitedly.

"Daddy! Look! I swimming!" he yelled.

"Great job, C.J.!" Cole exclaimed.

"Okay, C.J. Swim with me this way," Nya said.

The master of water began swimming over to the deepest edge of the pool. C.J. followed next to her while Jay stayed close behind in case anything were to happen to the blond.

While he did falter for a moment, the young one did well keeping up with the master of water and soon, they made it all the way to the end. C.J. grabbed onto the edge of the pool with his life and Jay did the same.

"You're a fast learner, C.J.," Nya praised. "Good job."

"Thank you," C.J. said. Suddenly becoming very shy.


The next Saturday, the ninja went to the pool was once again, and again, it was very busy, but the ninja were back because Kate had returned, and C.J. was very excited to show his friend his new swimming skills.

"You ready, Bud?" Cole asked as he applied his son's sunscreen.

"Yeah!" C.J. said, barely able to contain his excitement.

The former earth master had just finished with the sunscreen when he said, "And you're good to go."

"Yay!" C.J. exclaimed as he ran to the pool. No floaties in sight.

Once the blond had caught up to his friend, Kai turned to Cole and asked, "You're really letting him go in there without his floaties?"

"Don't tell him, but they're in my bag," Cole replied.


Meanwhile, C.J. and Kate decided to play a game of splash. It wasn't complicated. All you had to do was splash the other person until they yelled at you to stop. Whoever yelled "Stop" first, lost.

"Stop it! Stop it!" Kate screamed after a very long time of the two persistently splashing each other.

"Okay," C.J. replied shyly. She appeared much more distressed than usual during this game.

"I wanna play a new game," Kate whined.

"Like what?" C.J. asked.

Kate wasn't able to answer. She was already halfway to the other side of the pool. The twelve-foot-deep side.

"Like what?" C.J. asked again as he held onto the edge.

After squirming a moment at the edge, Kate managed to pull herself onto concrete ground. She ran over to her parent's pool bag and pulled out some goggles. C.J. looked at them in awe, wondering if she would let him try them on. He remembered Nya telling him that they would help whoever wore them see underwater, but the redhead didn't let him try them on. Instead, she threw them into the pool and they sank to the bottom.

"Why'd you do that?" C.J. asked.

"New game," Kate said. "Get the glasses."

"But that's too deep!" C.J. exclaimed.

Kate looked to her friend curiously. If he could swim, why couldn't he play the game?

"I go first," she said, as if that would solve the problem.

The blond watched as his friend dove under the water and kept swimming farther and farther down, but she soon started coming back up. Her goggles were still at the bottom of the pool.

"Your turn," the redhead said.

"No," C.J. replied.

"Why?"

"It's too deep."

Kate pouted at that. Why couldn't he just play with her?

Seeing that his friend was upset, C.J. said, "Fine."

He went under and kept going farther and farther down. Only a few seconds passed before Cole came over to Kate and asked, "Hey, Kate! Where's C.J.?"

"Down there," Kate replied as she looked down.

The color drained from Cole's face. He didn't hesitate a moment before he dove into the water. After a few moments, he was back up. His son in his arms, and C.J. very confused.

"C.J.! Are you okay?" Cole asked.

"Yeah," C.J. responded.

"Don't you ever go down that deep again, understand? You scared me!" Cole exclaimed between breaths.

"Okay, Daddy," C.J. replied.

"What were you even doing down there?"

C.J. responded by holding up Kate's goggles and handing them to her.

"Sorry," Kate said as she looked up to the former earth master.

Cole just sighed as he shook his head and got out of the water. He then placed C.J. down on the concrete next to him and said, "Maybe it would be better if you played closer to the four," as he pointed to the giant four plastered to the wall of the four-foot deep area.

"Okay!" Kate said happily before she started swimming over to where Cole pointed.

"Sorry, Daddy," C.J. replied.

"It's alright. I just wanna make sure you're safe," Cole replied.

C.J. stayed standing where he was a few more moments before Cole continued saying, "Now go play."

Happily, the blond jumped back into the pool and started swimming after the redhead. Once he made it to her, Kate handed the goggles to him and said, "You keep them."

C.J. took them and looked them over for a moment. Then, he spoke three simple words that caused everyone to laugh. "But they're pink!"

Well, everyone except for Kate, that is.


I hope you all liked that. I will hopefully have another one-shot out pretty soon. If you have an idea for one, let me know.

Have a great day/night!

#God'sNotDead