Jade hobbled automatically to the waterfall and stuck her wrists into the water. She heaved a sigh of relief and gave Dustin the evil eye a second later. "I could have handled him, you know," she said sourly.
He snorted. "Not with those," he pointed out her injuries; they were starting to blister. He reached into a nearby tree and pulled out the first aid kit that Cam Watanabe stored just in case. Dustin sat beside her and pulled out her right arm from the awater. He dabbed some Neosporin right on her dragon tattoo.
"So," said Jade, flinching a little, "how did you do that? Get us away from Harlequin, I mean."
Dustin racked his brain, trying to find a believable lie. It was only then that the consequences of his brash actions finally occurred to him. He wasn't supposed to take outsiders to Ninja Ops. Ever. Sensei is gonna kill me, he groaned inwardly. Aloud, he cleared his throat. "Im like...different, you know?" He quickly changed the subject. "So what did that creature want from you anyway?"
"Same as usual," she answered. "He works for the bitch that killed my parents. They were murdered, did you know that?"
"Oh." He said nothing and allowed the silence to take over. A minute later Jade said in a commanding voice, "Look at me."
Dustin looked up and into her creepy peepers, the pupils dilating eerily. "Stop it," Jade snapped. "I can see your aura wavering; I don't need your pity." She hit his forehead with her two fingers.
"I don't pity you." He rubbed his forehead in irritation; that hit really hurt.
"Liar." Jade fell silent once again. Dustin used that silence to finish treating her injuries and debate quickly in his head. The alien mentioned Lothor, he thought, trying to reason with himself. This war...Jade has to be involved in it. He opened his mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by the girl. "Thank you," she said with a tiny smile. "I've been on my own for so long that I've forgotten what it feels like to have someone take care of me."
Dustin smiled back. "You should keep doing that," he said, storing the kit back into the tree. "Smiling, I mean? You look way prettier." She responded to this with a roll of her eyes. He extended a hand to help her up. "Come on. I need to take you somewhere."
"Home, right?"
"Nah. I wanna introduce you to someone."
Jade walked down the stone steps, following Dustin reluctantly. This place, whatever it was, seemed secret. She didn't want to intrude. He seemed to sense her suspicion and grabbed her hand to lead her forward. "Hey guys," he called.
She looked into the spacious room. There was a part of the room filled with ancient scrolls and tablets. The other part was like a scene from a Sci-Fi movie: computers everywhere. There was a wooden table in the center and something that looked like a habitat in one corner. Her eyes widened when she saw her cousin Tori in a black leather outfit a/n: wow, that sounds kinky XD sparring with Blake Bradley. "Tori?" she asked uncertainly.
The blonde dropped her fists and gaped at her, but only for a second. "Dustin, you goof!" she exploded. "You brought my cousin here?"
A Japanese teenager glared at Dustin, who cowered. "You know the rules," he said in a voice as low as a rumble. "Dustin, I expected more." Then he stopped in thought. "That's a lie, but I thought that you learned your lesson with Marah."
"Dude, do we need to keep bringing that up?" Dustin demanded, blushing. "I know I screwed up. Anyway, we were attacked today at the skate park." He relayed the story to the other teenagers while Jade studied the insignia on her cousin's uniform. It was a black circle with a red symbol in the center. The symbol looked like a spiky letter H. Her eyes widened.
"What's wrong?" Tori asked.
Jade glared at her cousin. "You're a Wind Ninja?" she demanded.
There was silence in the room. Shane Clarke stared at her. Dustin's jaw dropped. Jade ignored their sentiments and marched over to Hunter and Blake. She examined the sybols on their uniforms. "Students from the Thunder Ninja Academy."
"How do you know about us?" Hunter demanded.
"She is a pupil from another academy." The habitat rolled forward, as if on wheels. There stood a guinea pig wearing sensei outfit and carrying staff the size of a toothpick. He motioned for her to come closer.
Jade knelt down to his level. "This is insane," she muttered. "I thought I just heard that hamster talk."
"He's a guinea pig," snapped the Japanese guy. "He's my father and the sensei of the Wind Ninja Academy. Show some respect."
"Cam," said the guinea pig warningly. He looked at the dragon circling up Jade's wrist and stared up at her mismatched eyes with his own ebony ones. She had a feeling of someone or something going through her thoughts and memories. She could see images in her head; images that she could not forget.
Flash! Jade was back at the Shadow Academy, kneeling down in front of her parents corpses.
Flash! She glared at Medusa, her eyes full of hate. Her insides bubbled and boiled.
"Stop!"
Jade opened her eyes and gasped when she saw the wreckage. The habitat was blown apart, smoking and singeing. The teenagers had taken cover, moving their hands from their faces. "I'm sorry," she whispered.
"Dad!" Cam called. His shoulders sagged in relief when he saw the guinea pig standing on one of the monitors.
"I'm fine, Cam," the guinea pig said. "Dustin. Would you like to explain why you have brought a Dragon into Ninja Ops?"
a/n: Ack! It's so weird! OO But I don't think Sensei really has mind-reading capabilities, does he?