Author's Note: I'm dabbling in a new fandom with this, courtesy of NinjagoGeek4EVER. I've been watching the series with her, and Skylor has intrigued me.
Nya smiled when Skylor slid into the booth opposite her. Lifting her bowl of noodles in salute, she said, "My compliments to the chef."
Skylor grinned, catching a plate of sushi for herself off the conveyor belt. "Thanks! It's always nice to spend my lunch break with a friend."
To be clear, Nya added, "I'm not saying that just because you're a good friend and a fellow elemental master. Your noodle bowls are the best in Ninjago."
The Master of Amber paused, holding her slice of sushi midair. "Well, you know, it comes with the territory."
Nya swallowed her bite of noodles and tilted her head curiously. "What do you mean?"
Skylor delicately took a sip of water before answering. "It's part of how my element works."
"Mad cooking skills?"
"Kinda."
Nya set her bowl aside, intrigued. "Okay, this I gotta hear."
Skylor set her chopsticks down and glanced around for eavesdroppers. It was a reminder for Nya of just how different life was for Skylor, being raised in an environment where she had to keep her elemental power a secret.
"Amber is...different as far as elements go."
"Well, yeah," Nya said. "You're so overpowered that you keep my brother humble, and that takes some doing!"
"Overpowered, huh?" Skylor said with a wry half-smile. "You really think that?"
"You don't?"
Skylor shrugged. "I guess technically I am, but just like with you and your element, it takes time and skill to develop. And it has its drawbacks sometimes. Ambers are artists."
"I don't follow you," Nya said.
Skylor sighed, trying again. "My mom was a painter. She saw all the elements that swirled through her as different colors. That's how she made sense of them all and how she mastered them. She painted and worked with color in different mediums until she could see the element she wanted to use, like a picture in her head. For me, the different elements come out as flavors."
Nya blinked in surprise. She'd never really thought about how Skylor's element might work a bit differently from the rest. "So this," she said, glancing at her bowl of noodles, "was your elemental training?"
Skylor chuckled and reached for another slice of sushi. "Yep."
Nya picked up her noodles, thinking she'd never see the entrees at Chen's in quite the same way again. What would Master Wu and the others make of all this? She turned over in her mind what Skylor had said, and after a thoughtful bite or two, Nya was struck by a sudden question. "What does my element taste like?"
"Hm?"
"Well, my element's water. It's pretty tasteless, unless it tastes bad. So I'm curious…"
"Oh!" Skylor chuckled. "It varies depending on what I'm trying to do with it. Usually nori or something light like salmon. If I'm trying to douse a fire, we're talking dashi."
"So fishy then?"
"Or seaweedy. But yeah."
"What about Kai?" Nya demanded.
"Cayenne pepper," Skylor replied without hesitation. "Lighting a candle is like mild salsa, but using fire in battle...whew! Burns my mouth."
"So that's why you're an entrepreneur instead of a ninja," Nya realized. "Running a restaurant is how you use your element."
"Well, it's certainly the most pleasant and lucrative way to use it, yes," Skylor replied.
Nya grinned and lifted her bowl in salute again. "And you do a great service to the whole city with it!"
Skylor smiled and blushed a little at the praise and took another sip of water.
"What about the rest?" Nya asked. "Does Cole's element taste like dirt?"
Skylor laughed as she dipped another slice of sushi. "Oh, come on, you live in the same monastery as him! You should know this."
Nya thought for a second and then incredulously blurted out, "Cake?!"
Swallowing down her bite, Skylor added, "Chocolate cake."
"And Zane?"
"Mint."
Nya felt like she should have seen that one coming. "Oh! What about Jay?"
"His element tickles my tongue, like soda or kombucha. Trying to do anything with his element gets really intense really fast."
That rang true for Nya, too, and she nodded. "What about Lloyd?"
Skylor smiled wistfully. "His element was a surprise. I expected something with vegetable overtones, but that was the Element of Nature. Lloyd's tastes like salt."
"Salt?"
Skylor shrugged again. "It improves the flavor of everything else."
"Huh," Nya said thoughtfully. But thinking about Lloyd reminded her of another element the Master of Amber had absorbed, one that had honestly worried all the ninja for a few months after she'd been exposed to it.
Skylor finished her last slice of sushi before Nya got up the courage to ask about it, though. "What about Garmadon?"
Skylor shuddered. "Before...his element tasted like mushrooms. But after? Dirt. After wrestling with him over control of the Oni Colossus, all I could taste was dirt for the next week. I made a spicy tuna roll so hot my lips burned, but it still was overwhelmed by the taste of dirt. It wasn't until I was exposed to Master Wu's power again that it finally went away."
"And what did his elemental power taste like?"
Skylor smirked. "Green tea."
"Of course!" Nya laughed at that one and took another bite of her elementally-enhanced noodles.
