Chapter 3: Finding the Ice Ninja

Cold. Icy. Temperatures below zero.

Such words would strike fear in the hearts of of any normal person. But in the sleepy village of Glacimai, such weather conditions were considered normal. Adults went to work, children learned that things known as 'snow days', were only a myth. All knew each other and no one ever seemed to want to leave. Everyone continued on with their lives almost immune to the cold they'd been living in since birth.

And today was no different.

A thick layer of fresh snow covered the ground. A brown haired young boy raced down the sidewalk, leaving footprints in his wake. The unsuspecting snow crunched under his boots as he searched for something.

Or someone.

Suddenly finding what he was looking for, the boy rushed forward.

"Zora!"

The blond haired teenager looked down from her perch on the windowsill. The eight year old boy stood just beneath her. Zora looked slightly bored, as if nothing ever phased her.

"Yes?"

The boy grinned.

"I came to get you! I will bring you to school today!"

Zora's calculating eyes stared down.

"What are you, my knight in shining armor?"

"Yes! That is, if you want me to be."

"I don't."

The girl's abrupt answer caused the little boy to step back a little.

"But I gotta take you!"

"Don't care."

"But I promised!"

"Sounds like a personal problem."

The boy shuddered. Zora's indifferent stare seemed to burn a hole right through him. But determination, or maybe it was pure stubbornness, caused him to stand his ground. He looked up at the older girl with glare.

"You come down now! I have to take you to school!"

The teen sighed. Children. Always thinking they were stronger and tougher then they actually were. Until they had to face the music. Then they always ran back to their parents with their tails between their legs.

"Zora!"

He wasn't going to give up, was he? Fine. She could amuse him for a few minutes at least. No reason to break his unrealistic illusion.

Zora leap to the ground gracefully. The boy jumped back, surprised. Then he laughed.

"You always do that. I should be used to it by now."

Zora ignored him.

"Are you taking me to school or not?"

"Course I am," the boy said proudly,"That's what I said I would do."

The boy grabbed Zora's hand, which she pushed away in annoyance. He pouted but didn't complain, simply turning to lead the way to the school. The two walked in silence. Ever so often the boy would look over his shoulder to make sure she was still there. And every time he saw she was, he breathed a sigh of relief. As the two reached the school building, Zora turned, as if to walk away. Seeing this, the boy turned and tugged on her shirt, insisting she stay. This power struggle continued until a boy standing by the school came over, pulling the two apart.

"You know Phillip when I told you to go get Zora, I didn't intend for you to attempt to drag her in. I just wanted you to lead her in the right direction."

Phillip cocked his head.

"But isn't going to school important?"

"You'll understand when you're older. Now run along, you'll be late."

"But..."

"What's that? Is that the school bell I hear? Ding dong, ding dong. Ding..."

"I'm going, I'm going!"

As Phillip ran toward the school building, the elder boy turned to a highly annoyed Zora.

"Matt. I should of guessed you were behind this. Phillip would never act on his own."

Matt grinned.

"Face it Z. You weren't going to go to school anyway."

"So?"

"So, I want to spend time with you. You don't have to put up an act around me. I know you're just a big softie inside."

The girl shrugged.

"Whatever. Just try to keep up."

The girl sprinted off to the left, heading in the opposite direction of the school. Matt shook his head and leap after her. The two headed past houses and villagers, some giving a friendly wave to the familiar faces. Others just shook their heads, knowing the teens were skipping school again. Finally Zora stopped, right at the edge of town. Matt skidded to a stop beside her.

"Where we goin' today Z? Will it be another trip to the Glacier Cliffs? Or another adventure in Icicle Cavern?"

The girl shrugged and started walking through the frozen wasteland, away from the village.

"I don't know."

Matt followed her.

"Hey what's wrong Z?" he asked in concern. The girl avoided eye contact.

"I mean you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. You've just been so down lately."

Silence.

Matt sighed, running his hand through his hair. Zora was always so quiet, never telling him how she felt. It was such a pain. He really, really wanted to help her but with nothing to go on, he was helpless. No matter what he did, she never opened up, she never smiled. Honestly, there was nothing he could do. There was nothing anyone could do. For as long as he could remember, she'd been like this. He glanced over at her again. She was knelt down, investigating a crystal flower, the only plant that would grow in the icy temperature.

"Why do you think it's like this?"

Matt looked at Zora in surprise. He hadn't expected her to say anything.

"Pardon?"

"Why do think the flower grows like this?"

"Because... it does?" the boy answered hesitantly. Zora rolled her eyes.

"Of course not. There's always a reason. Do you suppose this flower grows anywhere else? I'd think not. Therefore at some point in time it must have adapted to the environment here."

"I suppose. Where are you going with this?"

"I'm just saying, this flower grows here, and most likely only here. But due to the frigid temperatures, this is the only plant we ever see. Don't you wish you could see others?"

"We can look at them in books."

The girl looked up at the sky.

"But don't you see? That's not the same at all," she sighed,"Going back to my question, why do you think it's like this? Why are people so afraid to step out of their comfort zones? Why is that people are so afraid of the unknown?"

The green eyed boy looked at her in confusion saying,"You're not still talking about flowers, are you?"

Zora shook her head, her eyes downcast.

"Nevermind. You wouldn't understand."

"No! Tell me!" Matt grabbed her arms, surprising himself as much as he surprised her,"I want to understand. But I can't do anything if you don't tell me."

"I told you it was nothing."

"No, you said I wouldn't understand. So here I am telling you that I will understand. Tell me."

Zora pulled her arms away from him and bolted in the other direction. Matt watched her go. Maybe he'd gone too far. Without a second thought he ran after her, completely missing the warning sign he passed.

...

Zora's cheeks burned with anger. Why did Matt have to act like he could understand her? He didn't know how she felt. He knew his parents. Yes, they may have died but at least he knew who they were and what happened to them. It was better then knowing nothing at all. No one seemed to know, or even remember how she came to the village. It was almost as though sixteen years she had suddenly appeared with no explanation. But logic told her that wasn't the least bit possible. Someone had to know something. They were just keeping it from her. They had to be.

She heard a cry from behind her.

"Zora! Hey wait up! I'm sorry I made you mad!"

Whatever. Matt could keep chasing her for all she cared. He was never going to catch up.

That was when she heard a sickening crack.

At first it was faint as if it wasn't even there. But as she heard the noise again, this time louder, Zora knew she wasn't imagining things. She instantly stopped running and looked down at her feet.

Ice.

It hadn't cracked yet, at least not beneath her, but it was definitely there. As she heard the ice break again, her heart sunk. She turned around to find her worst fears a reality.

Matt was barely balancing on the cracked ice, continuously wobbling. One false move and he was a goner. He looked up at her.

"Sorry Zora."

The ice wobbled and the boy lost his footing, falling backwards into the freezing water.

"Matt!"

It happened too fast. All she could do was watch. There was nothing she could do. She fell to her knees in disbelief. That hadn't just happened. There was no way that just happened.

"Are you okay?"

They were so silent, that she hadn't even noticed the person come up beside her. But her brain was so confused that Zora couldn't even comprehend the question. All she could manage was looking up and then looking back at the hole of despair in the ground. Somehow the stranger seemed to understand.

"I see. Stay here."

The stranger dived into the frigid waters. It was so unbelievably ridiculous, Zora didn't even have a chance to process what had happened. Suddenly the stranger came back up, with Matt in tow. Matt was shivering and hardly conscious. But he seemed to be alive.

All Zora could do was stare. Had this stranger just risked his life for Matt?

"He needs to get warm quickly. Where's your village?"

"Village?"

"Your home?"

"Home?"

"This is no time for panicking. It is imperative you tell me."

Zora shook her head, snapping out of her state. She pointed toward the village.

"Just keep going straight. It's not very far."

"Good."

Somehow holding Matt with one arm, the stranger held a hand out to help Zora get up. She accepted it. Once she was up, she peeled off her jacket, wrapping it around Matt's body.

"What are you doing?"

"You said he has to get warm. Please take him to the village. You should see it as soon as you get to the top of hill."

"Are you not coming?"

Zora sighed.

"I can't. I refuse to live around the villagers after what I've done. I have to leave now or Matt won't let me go. Sorry for abusing your help. Maybe I'll be able to repay you some day."

"I can't just leave you here. You have no coat."

"I'll be fine. I don't feel the cold. If you value his life, please listen to me!"

The stranger looked confused but nodded. Then he took off toward the village. Zora sighed. At least she couldn't hurt anyone this way.

"Zora. Don't blame yourself."

Zora looked up to see an older woman standing in front of her.

"Why?"

"Because it could of happened to anyone. Your friend will be just fine."

Zora shrugged.

"Since you seem dead set on leaving the village, why don't you come with me? You may be able to find out who you are."

Under normal circumstances, Zora would have said no. But she had nothing now. What did she have to lose?

Note from the Author

Yet another new chapter in the new version of The Real Story of Ninjago! This took one much less time then Jayleen's chapter (yet somehow it's a lot longer). As promised, I changed Zora's character quite a bit. She definitely has her own personality now. Looking back over my original work, I noticed that I wrote Zora's character to be almost exactly like Zane. She had almost no defining characteristics that made her Zora. So I definitely wanted to change that. At first when I was writing with an idea for her new character, I hated it. I felt like Zora was too much like Katie. But as I kept writing I realized that while she has a sharp tongue, unlike Katie Zora is much more analytical. She thinks everything over and never seems to react rashly. Also, she almost never shows her emotions, something Katie is incapable of. Overall, her character is a little bit stronger then I intended I really like the new Zora.

Another obvious thing I changed was this chapter. In the original "Finding the Ice Ninja", Zora literally thinks about her past, runs into Zane, says about two things to him, walks away, and saves a dog. Not very interesting or practical if you ask me. Why is it suddenly the dead of winter? Why would Zane tell this random girl his past that he hardly tells anyone? Why does Zora tell Zane her past? Why does Zane decide to meditate after meeting Zora? What the heck was I thinking about at the time? Honestly the whole plot made no sense what so ever. But, I did take two points from the chapter to shape Zora's new character. One, Zora states at one point that "you wouldn't understand". If you look back up to her conversation with Matt what is that she tells him? (I'll give you a hint, I just said it :) ) Two, after meeting Zane, Zora thinks "And with that I was on my way." Very nonchalant if you ask me. And whose new character is described as nonchalant? (Again, I'll give you a hint. It's Zora.) So as you can see, I did use the framework of the chapter to frame Zora's character. So I did use it for something.

Also, like last time, I'd like to thank my second reviewer, Johnathen. I'm glad you like the story and I hope you'll continue to read it. I won't say much about the pairings because they may change. There's two sets of characters I'm definitely putting together no matter what but as for the others... well you'll have to wait and see.

Also, for anyone, if you've read this far, good job. Here's a cookie. (::)

Goodbye and a goodbye,

Animals Music and Ninjago (AM&N)

P.S. Up next, fire vs. flame. Anyone who's a fan of Kai, stay tuned :)

Please Review!

Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago. I only own Sensei Yin, Cathleen, Jayleen, and Zora. (As well as Matt, Phillip, and the town of Glacimai)