Announcer voice: Today, on Way of the Dragon: Jinlong meets a troubled kid, but there's something different about him. Who is he?
Jinlong voice: Chapter 5: Kid with the Golden Aura
Once they'd deemed it safe to return Jay's parents to their house, there was the matter of Jinlong's fate. She couldn't continue to be a dragon-sitter with no dragons, but Wu said it would be cruel to just kick her out while Ninjago was in a crisis. So she was stuck doing chores. Chores which, as she soon found out, were made exceptionally difficult by 4 teenagers in bright colors.
"I don't understand," The dragon-girl complained as she and Nya cleaned the dining room after breakfast one morning. "How is it even possible to get more food on the floor than in your mouth?"
"Trust me, they find ways," Nya replied, sounding as exasperated as Jinlong felt. At least there were two of them- it made cleaning go by significantly quicker. Probably, anyway. Jin hadn't ever cleaned the dining room before.
"Apart from cleaning, what do you like to do?" Jin asked after they'd finished the dining room. Nya shrugged dismissively.
"Not much. Just normal stuff."
Jin frowned. That sounded like something she'd say, not someone who wasn't hiding who she was. What she was.
"Do you train? I noticed you kicked some serious snake butt the other day."
The black-haired girl shrugged again.
"Not really," She said. "I mean, every now and again when the boys let me, but for the most part I leave them to themselves."
After a few moments of silence, Nya added, "Do you train?"
"Uh, well, I used to," Jin said, before quickly turning the conversation back to Nya. "Do you have any hobbies?"
"I like mechanics," She said. "And foreign languages."
"Foreign languages?" The dragon repeated, interested. "Are you fluent in any?"
"Well, besides Ninjagian, I'm fluent in Polski, Nihon, and Viet. And I'm working on Gaeilge."
Jinlong blinked. "Wow, that's...really impressive."
Nya just shrugged again. "Thanks, but it comes pretty easy to me. And it's not like it's a very useful skill to have, either."
"It might be very helpful someday," Jin offered, beginning to walk towards the stairs to the deck. "Maybe you'll meet someone who can only speak Polinski-"
"Polski," Nya chuckled.
"Yes, that's what I said. And then you'll be able to talk to him and the ninja won't!"
Smiling, the black-haired girl shook her head. "Yeah, maybe."
Jinlong returned the smile, then dashed up the stairs to the main deck, ducking just in time to avoid getting kicked in the face by a familiar red foot but tripping over a box a second later and ending up on the floor anyway.
"Oh, sorry," Kai said, not actually sounding all that remorseful but offering her a hand nonetheless. Jin took it and the red ninja immediately went back to talking with the other 3 ninja. "Since the Green Ninja used fire, that means I'm the Green Ninja!"
"What are you talking about?" Cole demanded. "He had incredible strength to lift the cargo, so it's obviously me!"
"Um, excuse me, but he was using nunchucks- I have nunchucks!" Jay nearly yelled.
"What are you all talking about?" Jin asked at the same time Sensei Wu walked onto the deck.
"Since you are not training-"
"I was training!" Jay cried, jumping into a fighting stance.
"...you must have already found the answer to my riddle. What is the best way to defeat your enemy?"
"Uhh...the best way to defeat your enemy is to...train?" Kai guessed, shrugging.
"Feeble and incorrect!" Wu cried. "Maybe more training will help you focus. A sharp mind can be a greater tool than a sharp weapon." As he said that, he walked down the stairs- backwards, to Jin's utter amazement- and the doors slid shut right as he finished talking.
"How...how does he do that?" The dragon-girl asked, wide-eyed.
Of course, no one answered her, just kept talking amongst themselves. Jinlong frowned.
"Fine then," She muttered to herself, storming off the Bridge. "More cleaning it is."
oOo
A little while later, Jin was crouched down on the windowsill of the large, circular window high on the wall of the Bridge, attempting to scrub the grime off without pushing herself off the sill. Of course, her efforts to not fall off were in vain. When the Bounty's alarm went off, Jinlong jumped out of her skin and off the windowsill, landing hard on the wooden floor below.
"Ow..." She complained as the ninja rushed into the room.
"Break it down for me, sis," Kai told his sister.
"Lloyd's overtaken Darkely's Boarding School for Bad Boys," She cried, pointing to it on a map.
What kind of name is Darkely? Jin wondered, marveling at how different names in Ninjago were from in Kigana as she stood up and dusted herself off. Judging by the looks on everyone's faces, though, it wasn't a very good name, anyway.
"That school is a cesspool of crooked, misbehaved kids," Jay complained. Cole shrugged, mouth in a straight line.
"Doesn't mean they don't need our help," He said. "Step on it!"
They lurched off, and Jin went back to cleaning. The ship, she figured, must have been very old because it was filthy. Even with all the cleaning they'd been doing, there was grime and dust and sand in every nook and cranny. Then again, that could just be that the ninja, save for Zane, were slobs.
When the ninja returned from the boarding school, a new voice floated down the hall to reach her sensitive ears, high-pitched and vaguely familiar.
Peering around the corner, she spotted a short little boy, wearing a black hoodie and trousers. A few wisps of blond(almost golden, like her own) hair stuck out from under his hood, and he had bright red eyes, which Jin thought must be unusual for humans.
"Who is he?" She asked, stepping into view. "I mean, why is he here?"
"He's Sensei's nephew," Cole told her. "Lloyd Garmadon. I think you've seen him before."
"Oh…" Oddly, Jinlong felt drawn to the boy, even though his arms were crossed and he was staring tearfully into a corner. There was something about him- some sort of aura- that felt...golden. And Jin loved gold.
Announcer voice: Next time on Way of the Dragon: Lloyd and Jinlong get to know each other! Will they get along? Find out tomorrow on Way of the Dragon!