Hello, everyone! This chapter was requested by RPM Shadow.

Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago.

About a week after the ninja were freed from Prime Empire and Echo had moved into the monastery, it was Zane's turn to cook dinner, and Echo wanted to help.

"What are we cooking today?" the younger of the two asked.

Zane smiled as he took a pan out of one of the cabinets and said, "I was thinking about making some beef stew."

"How do we do that?" Echo asked.

"By following the recipe," Zane replied, "which is right...here!" Zane exclaimed as he took a piece of paper from a nearby drawer.

"That should make things rather simple," Echo remarked.

"Just as long as there are no requests for a change in recipe tonight, it will be easy."

Unfortunately, as if right on cue, Cole came in, fiddling with his hands, as if he was about to ask something that would cause an issue.

"Hey," the earth master said.

"Hello, Cole. What can I help you with?" Zane asked, although, he knew exactly what the black ninja was going to say.

"Well, I was just wondering what you were making tonight," Cole replied.

"Beef stew," Zane replied.

Cole appeared even more apprehensive now.

"You wish for me to change the recipe?" Zane asked.

"Just a slight change," Cole admitted.

Zane sighed, but smiled afterward so that Cole would not feel bad. He then looked back up to the ninja of earth and asked, "What is it?"

"Well, it's just that, I think C.J. had some kind of reaction to carrots last time I gave them to him."

"That is not good," Zane said. "I'll be sure to not add any carrots to the recipe."

"Thanks, Tin Head. You're the best," Cole smiled.

With that, he left and the two nindroids were left to fix the recipe.

"Wouldn't it be easier to just take the carrots out and continue on with the recipe as normal?" Echo questioned.

"Perhaps," Zane agreed, "but the carrots are in there for a reason, and I believe it should be replaced with something similar."

"Like what?" Echo asked.

The ice master seemed to think for a moment before saying, "Squash. It has a similar taste and vitamins."

"Do we have it here?"

"No," Zane sighed. "I will have to go to the store to get some. Would you mind beginning the meal for me. I should be back in forty minutes."

"Of course, Brother," Echo nodded.

"Thank you. I will be back as soon as possible," Zane replied before leaving the kitchen.

Echo was not very good at cooking. They never had that much food at the lighthouse to work with. If they were able to make any nice meals, they were never very complicated, and they never had easily perishable items, so when Echo saw that the first step in the recipe was to mix beef and flour, he wasn't entirely sure what he was supposed to do.

"Alright. This shouldn't be too hard," the young nindroid told himself.

He got a big bowl and placed the correct amount of beef and flour into it. Then, he got a spoon and began trying to stir it all together. It was difficult, but soon, he felt that he had gotten the hang of it, and he could move on to the next step. Placing it on the stove. That was something Echo was not very familiar with, but it would not be too hard to figure out.

He started pressing a few buttons on the stove. One turned on a light that was much too bright for comfort. He quickly turned that back off before pressing another button that made a digital number appear on a small screen. The number was 350 and it had a small F next to it. That's the number Echo needed to set to preheat the oven, but he wasn't sure how long he should wait until he could begin cooking, so he decided to sit at the table until Zane returned.

Soon, C.J. came into the room with a toy car. He seemed to be unaware that there was another in the room with him.

"Hello, C.J.," Echo said, trying to be friendly. The toddler suddenly looked up to the nindroid, seemingly startled. He still hadn't gotten to know Echo well enough to be able to talk to him comfortably yet. In fact, usually when Echo was in the room, C.J. would stay extra close to his dad for protection, but now, he was by himself with this stranger.

"Hi," C.J. responded shyly.

"What are you doing?" Echo asked. He tried to keep his voice calm and friendly so as to make the young one feel at ease, but C.J. still seemed nervous.

"Playing," the toddler responded.

"What are you playing?"

"Well," C.J. started, he was beginning to feel a little more comfortable, "the red car needs to save the blue car from the black car, so the red car needs to travel through the kitchen to get to the bathroom where the blue car is."

The explanation sounded mostly like gibberish, but Echo nodded and smiled as if he understood every bit of it. He then asked, "Why must you travel through the kitchen?"

"Because that's the quickest way to the bathroom," C.J. said. Echo still couldn't understand everything he was saying, but the toddler sounded rather annoyed by the question, so he decided it was best not to mention it.

Instead, he just said, "Well, as long as you are having fun."

"Yeah. But I need another car."

"Another car?"

"Yeah. To be the black car's friend."

"Okay," Echo started, still confused. "Would you like me to help you find one?"

C.J. hesitated a moment as he started fidgeting with his car. Finally, he looked up to the nindroid and said happily, "Okay!"

Together, the two traveled to Cole and C.J.'s room, and the toddler immediately ran over to a box of toy cars and dumped it all over the floor.

"Uh-" Echo started, but he was soon interrupted when C.J. placed a yellow car in Echo's hand.

"You keep," he said.

The young nindroid was confused. He studied the car slowly and then looked to the child, who was already digging through all of his other cars.

"Are you sure?" Echo asked.

"Yeah," C.J. replied, not looking up from his search.

"Thank you."

"Welcome."

As C.J. continued to dig through his numerous amount of cars, he finally found one that he deemed fit to be the black car's best friend. It was a purple car with green stripes along the hood.

"Okay," the blond said as he stood up. He then ran off to presumably the bathroom before returning to the kitchen a few moments later.

"Now, can you explain this story to me again?" Echo requested.

C.J. sighed as if he was annoyed before looking up to the nindroid and saying, "This car saves blue car from black car. Purple car is friends with black car and red car and wants to save blue car."

"Okay," Echo said slowly. "I believe I understand now, but what will happen to the blue car?"

"Toilet."

"That's what will happen to the blue car if the others can't save him?"

"Yep!"

"Why?"

"Because he likes purple car. But black car likes her too."

"This seems rather complex."

C.J. laughed at this before he began playing in his own little world, leaving Echo to watch. That was until he heard the oven make a beeping noise. That must mean that it was done preheating. So quickly, Echo placed this in a glass tray before placing it in the oven. Then, Zane returned.

"Hello, Brother," Echo greeted.

"Greetings. How did the cooking go?" Zane asked.

"I mixed the beef and flour together," Echo stated proudly.

"Did you cook it as well?"

"Yes."

"That's great! Now we only need to mix the vegetables."

"I can do that," Echo said.

He grabbed a glass bowl from a nearby cabinet and placed some squash and onions in it. Some seasoning was added as well, and he started mixing everything together, but he felt he was struggling.

Zane noticed this and asked, "Would you like some help?"

"Yes," replied Echo.

"Just reposition your hand on the spoon like this," the older nindroid explained as he repositioned his brother's hand better. "Then, you should start doing some different motions as well. Make sure it gets everywhere."

Echo did as Zane said, and soon, it was mixed up just as it was supposed to be. Now, they had to wait for the beef to be ready.

"How did you get so good at cooking?" Echo asked as they sat at the kitchen table to wait.

"Father taught me," Zane replied. "Did he not do the same for you?"

"He did, but our resources were not enough for those efforts to be fruitful."

"Well I'm sure that you'll be a fast learner as I was. Soon, the others will see you as a great chef."

"Perhaps even better than you," the young nindroid remarked with a sly smile.

"We shall see," Zane said.

Suddenly, the timer went off. Standing up from his place at the table, Zane went off to check on the food. After a moment, the timer was set once again, and Zane returned to his seat without taking the beef out of the oven.

"What did you do that for?" Echo asked.

"It was not cooked enough," Zane explained. "Sometimes while cooking, the recipe is not always right."

"So it is more of a guideline?"

"In this particular recipe, yes, but it is usually best to try out the original recipe first. If something is wrong, that's when you make a change."

"Interesting. Is that why you love cooking so much? Since you can change the recipes and make them your own?"

"Indeed. It feels more like art sometimes."

Echo smiled at this. More than anything, he wanted to create his own art. Whether that be through cooking like his brother, inventing like Pixal, or drawing like Cole, he wanted to make something that was his very own.

Dinner time came, and all the ninja had been seated at the table.

"I'm so excited!" Jay exclaimed quietly.

"Why? We eat this all the time. It's nothing new," Kai replied.

"Yes, it is, Kai. This time, two identical nindroids made it. It'll be better than ever!"

"Food!" C.J. exclaimed.

"I'm nervous," Echo admitted to his brother in the kitchen.

"There is no need for that. They will love it," Zane replied.

"What if you're wrong?"

"Does it truly matter? You will get better at this over time."

Echo took a deep breath before saying, "You are right."

Zane smiled at his brother and said, "Now, let's give everyone what they're waiting for."

The two nindroids walked into the dining room and set a bowl of stew in front of each ninja, Pixal, Master Wu, and C.J. They then sat down next to each other and started eating. Echo was immediately rendered speechless. He had never eaten anything that tasted that good. It was incredible.

"How-?" Echo asked, but he was cut off when Cole said, "Wow, Guys. You really outdid yourselves."

"Yeah, this is really good," Lloyd agreed.

"Thank you, but I could not have done it without my brother," Zane replied and Echo smiled brightly at the comment.

After a unanimous vote by the other ninja, Zane and Echo were put in charge of cooking once again.

"What are we making today, Brother?" Echo asked.

"I thought it would be good to make some tandoori chicken."

"Very well. Do we have all the ingredients needed this time?"

"Yes."

"Do we need to change the recipe in any way?"

"No."

"Great. I shall mix the ingredients then while you work on cutting the chicken."

And that's exactly what the brothers did. Once that was done, it began cooking, and once it was done cooking, the brothers realized that they had made a mistake. The chicken came out incredibly dry.

"This is not good," Zane said.

"Perhaps we can make some gravy as well so it will taste better?" Echo suggested.

"We do not have the ingredients to make that, Echo," Zane responded, "and it is too late to go to the store and buy them."

"What shall we do?"

Before Echo could even finish that sentence, though, he had an idea.

"What kinds of fruit do we have?" the young nindroid asked his brother.

"Strawberries, blueberries, mango, pineapple, and oranges. Why?" Zane responded.

"Give me a few moments."

Quickly, Echo took out a blender and different amounts of each of the fruits Zane told him about and placed it in. He then took a bit of kale and added that in. After blending these fruits together and shaking it a few times, Echo came back to his older brother, smiling proudly.

"A smoothie?" Zane asked. "With chicken?"

"It tastes better than you would think," Echo replied, "and it's perfect to have with something so dry."

"Very well," Zane said.

Once again, it was time for dinner and the others had sat down at the table, excitedly awaiting their meal.

"I apologize, but the chicken did come out a little dry," Zane said as he and his brother placed everyone's plates in front of them, along with the smoothies.

"I made everyone drinks to help," Echo responded.

Everyone took a sip of their drinks and the room was immediately filled with praise. Including from the master himself.

"How did you make it taste so good?" Zane asked. "This is miles ahead from anything I've ever done."

"Thank you, Brother, but to be perfectly honest, I do not know. I guess since we always had fruit in the lighthouse, I was able to teach myself."

"Well, you taught yourself well."

"Yeah," Jay said.

"Absolutely," Nya added.

"I believe you found your art," Zane said.

So from that day forward, every time it was Zane's turn to cook dinner, Echo made the drinks.

I hope you all liked that chapter. Next one-shot should be out soon. I got a lot of great requests recently so you should be expecting at least one of those very soon.

Have a great day/night!

#God'sNotDead