I'm a day late again! I've been so darn busy this week, since I've been home from college and visiting all my friends and family. So sorry I'm late, but here I am! I've got some business to take care of before we begin today.

1. A Twist of Fate has a NEW PROLOGUE! You heard that right, I rewrote it! I got a complaint about my story being a copycat, so I looked for myself. I came to the conclusion that the prologue should be rewritten, but everything else is fine. I mean, the whole female ninja trope? Not really unique to one person, anyway. The prologue kept the same elements, but it was rewritten and reformatted to be much better than before! So please go check that out!

2. I'm pretty sure I promised that Pirates vs. Ninja would be this chapter, but when I reviewed my chapter before I posted it, I realized that that's simply not true. Sorry to disappoint, but Pirates vs. Ninja is NEXT chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago.

Alex woke up to an alarm blaring at sunrise. Nya groaned from the bunk beside hers. Without the other two kunoichi, they each had a bunk bed to themselves, and they had each chosen the bottom bunk.

Their apartment wasn't a complete dump like the boys' was. They had two bunk beds, a kitchen area, a bathroom, and a living room space. It was small, but it wasn't crowded yet. Alex hoped they found somewhere new to live before another Kunoichi showed up.

"What're we doing this mor-morning?" Alex yawned in the middle of her sentence, not completely awake yet.

Nya turned on their coffee maker, getting it ready for them. "We're going to take our dragons out for a ride to warm them up, then do some training outside Ninjago City. The boys are going to call us when they need us, and we're going to help Lloyd with the Ultra Dragon while they look for a dojo to train us and Lloyd in."

Alex yawned again, changing into comfy shorts and a T-shirt. Nya had been working with her on weapon training and Spinjitzu, and Alex swore she was close to figuring it out.

Alex shot off a good morning text to her parents and her friends before grabbing a cup of coffee and a granola bar. "You ready?" she asked Nya once she finished.

Nya was smiling softly at her phone, looking at the sweet message Jay had sent. "Yeah, I'm ready," she said after a moment.

The two Kunoichi got on their dragons and headed for a space outside Ninjago City. Alex was getting better at controlling her dragon. Kai teaching her back when she'd gotten her katana had been very helpful. She still remembered his hands on hers as he guided her on what to do…

They landed in a wide open field, perfect for training. Nya brought out her fans and sent an experimental gust of air at Alex, who managed to stand her ground.

"Warmup, then sparring?" Alex offered, beginning some stretches.

Nya agreed. They proceeded to quietly do some stretches, each lost in their own thoughts.

Nya thought back to her messages with Jay that morning. They were going to set up a date soon, as soon as the ninja found a place for Lloyd to train and that stress had been lifted. Her ninja's sweet demeanor was often charmed her, and he would undoubtedly try to woo her again on their date. Every date with him was like a blank slate. He tried just as hard on every one of them. They hadn't kissed yet, but Nya was hoping it would happen soon.

Maybe if they kissed, they'd also be able to say their true feelings…

Alex kept having the eyes of a certain fire ninja appear in her head. No matter how hard she tried to get him out of her mind, it wouldn't work. She hadn't felt this attracted to someone in a while, and she didn't want to get that close to someone like that again. At least, not yet.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts. "Nya, what did you see in The Devil's Pit?" Alex asked her friend.

The Japanese girl frowned. "I saw my parents."

Alex remembered that much. Not wanting to push, she asked, "Are they gone?"

Nya bit her lip and nodded. "Yeah. My mom died giving birth to me, and my dad died out of grief and alcoholism when I was ten. I never knew my mother, and I rarely saw my real father. He was never violent, but all he did was drink." Her eyes were filled with sorrow, and Alex felt bad about her intrusive question.

"I'm sorry for bringing it up," Alex said quietly. It was the only consolation she could really give.

Nya grabbed her fans again, shaking off the bad memories. Alex picked up her katana, ready to spar.

Nya swung her fans at Alex to create a gust of air, which blew her back a few feet. Alex concentrated and darkness surrounded them, and only she could still see through it. Nya faltered enough for Alex to land a kick on the back of her knee, sending her to the ground.

In return, Nya swept a leg out to knock Alex over as well, using her fans to blow away the cloud of darkness. She leapt up, and Alex stood a few seconds later.

"Good job with the darkness covering your movements," Nya praised. "Now, move fast enough to get out of my way when I hit back."

Nya led with the same move again, using the winds to blow Alex off balance, but this time Alex flipped to the side, dodging the gusts.

"No fair," Alex complained with a grin to show her complaints weren't genuine. "You're the kunoichi of air. I can't move faster than you!"

Alex lashed out with her katana, but Nya blocked it with a fan, catching the katana in between two of the blades . Alex grinned and twisted her katana sharply, sending the fan out of Nya's hand.

Normally, Alex would have gloated. Today, she wanted to best Nya. She sent out another wave of darkness before Nya could get her second fan back, leaving her partner stranded with only half of her power.

Alex could see Nya squinting into the darkness and paused. With a cry, she yelled, "NINJA-GO!"

Nya saw a blur as a swirling dark Spinjitzu tornado came toward her, and before she could do anything, she was flung onto the ground. She gaped up at the tornado that became Alex again. Alex had a giant smug grin on her face.

"Nya! I did it!" Alex exclaimed. "And, I beat you."

Nya stood up and chuckled. "I guess you did…" she admitted, making Alex's grin widen even more. "Buuut, it was only because I got distracted. You've learned Spinjitzu, now learn how to use it in a fair fight."

Alex scoffed, "That was a fair fight! There are always surprises in a fight! You're just mad because I beat you." She crossed her arms and huffed in indignation.

Of course, neither of them were really serious. Alex burst out laughing, and Nya followed in suit. They were both doubled over until Nya straightened up.

"Really, you need to fight me again," Nya said, grabbing her second fan from where Alex had thrown it in their last fight.

"I thought for sure you'd let me off if I learned Spinjitzu…" Alex grumbled.

They both got into a fighting stance again. "Do that again and we can stop," Nya said.

A couple more hours passed before Nya let their training end for the day. Alex collapsed on the ground, not having been able to beat Nya again.

"You came really close several times," Nya tried to soothe Alex.

Alex squinted up into the sunlight. "It wasn't enough," she said solemnly.

"Well, no," Nya admitted. "But even though I haven't been a kunoichi for long, I was a samurai for a while before that. But you learned Spinjitzu really quickly! I'm proud of you."

Alex sat up with a soft smile. "Really?"

"Really," Nya promised. "Now, let's go meet Lloyd and show him how to take care of the Ultra Dragon."

Alex and Nya called Nyx and Dusk back over to them, and they got on their dragons to leave.

Alex, though discouraged by the many, many failures that had followed, was proud that she had learned Spinjitzu. The rush she'd felt when she'd done it had been incredible.

Unfortunately, that had opened Nya up to using her Spinjitzu, and Alex had gotten thrown around several times in that. Plus, she could never catch Nya off guard again. But now, Alex would take a win.

"Hey, Nya?" Alex called over.

"What?"

"Race ya there!"

Alex took off, getting a head start. Nya took off a second behind her, both of them flying as fast as they could to the top of the building the ninja were living in.

Alex loved seeing Ninjago City below her. She was aching to explore it, since seeing Ninjago was a large part of the reason she'd gone with the ninja. To be able to get out of the small town of Shian Hills…

And flying her dragon! Being able to ride Nyx was like a breath of fresh air. She could just fly into the sky and disappear, if she wanted to.

They touched down on the roof at the same time.

"I won!" They both yelled as they hopped down.

"Tie?" Nya suggested.

"Sure," Alex shrugged, not too caught up in it.

They both headed down to the ninja's room to get Lloyd, and they saw Lloyd punching Kai's hands, which had oven mitt coverings. Alex bit her lip, realizing why they wanted to find a dojo so badly. They were in desperate need of better equipment than oven mitts.

She glanced at the other ninja, noting that Zane was wearing a pink floral apron, Jay had a wooden spoon, and Cole appeared to have a pot on his head. Nya nudged Alex, and they both hid snickers behind a hand. Alex looked back at Kai training Lloyd.

Kai was trying to be encouraging, giving Lloyd pointers as he kept hitting the oven mitts.

"Ha! Fists of fury! You can't even see 'em move, I'm so fast! Ha!" Lloyd bragged, clearly seeing himself as better than he actually was.

Kai rolled his eyes, seeing himself in the young boy. "Save the gloating. It can only be used against you by your enemy."

Lloyd scoffed, knowing he was ready for more. "Oh, please. I'm ready to face whatever you throw at me." He kicked at Kai, and managed to knock Kai onto the ground.

"Whoa, grasshopper!" Kai cautioned. "You're not even ready to face my pinky toe." He wiggled his toes to emphasize his point.

"I see the student has become the teacher," Sensei Wu said from behind the boys. He had been observing the training. "You will learn fast, Lloyd, with lessons from the four ninja."

"Alex and I have some things to show off now, too," Nya said with a grin.

The boys all turned to see the girls, since they hadn't noticed the Kunoichi before. Lloyd pouted because they were going to take him to work with dragons - which definitely wasn't as cool as learning Spinjitzu.

Sensei nodded his head. "Show us what you have learned."

Alex stepped into the middle of the room, knowing Nya wanted her to show off her newfound Spinjitzu talent. She spun on her heel, and a dark tornado swirled around her in the middle of the cramped apartment. She stopped after only a moment, not wanting to create a mess.

Five ninja looked back at her, speechless. Nya was proud, and Wu was hiding a smile under his hat. "You have learned quickly," he said. "Very impressive."

"How come she learned it first?" Lloyd whined, irritated that the new girl had learned Spinjitzu before him.

Alex shrugged and looked back at Nya. "Just had a great teacher, I guess." The four older ninja bristled at the dig. "If you want, Lloyd, I bet Nya could help you."

Just as she'd suspected, Lloyd made a face. "Ew, gross! I don't need a girl's help."

Kai smacked the younger boy on the back of the head. "Hey, that girl is my sister, don't diss her!"

Lloyd grumbled something unintelligible before sitting down beside Jay on one of the beds.

Cole broke the tension by saying, "Great, now that that lesson is over, how about some target practice… on Kai?" He wiggled his eyebrows at the fire ninja, who started to fume before Wu cut them both off.

"You'll each get your turn. But now, Lloyd, Nya and Alex are going to teach you about dragons," Wu said. "Nya, go up with Lloyd. Alex, wait here with us for a moment."

Nya headed to the door, leaving Alex behind. "Come on, kiddo."

Lloyd wasn't quite ready to leave his training yet. "Aww, but when will I learn Spinjitzu?" he complained, still frustrated that he hadn't figured it out yet.

Sensei Wu sighed and gave his nephew the only advice he could. "Patience. It will only be unlocked when the key is ready to be found."

The old man had a point. Each person had a different way of learning Spinjitzu. Lloyd only needed to calm down and listen to himself. Then he would find the key. He already had all of the other pieces.

Lloyd groaned, knowing he wouldn't get out of it today. He silently went over to Nya, and they both went up to the roof to take care of the Ultra Dragon.

Cole laughed as soon as Lloyd was gone. "Hey, sound familiar?"

The question was clearly aimed at the red ninja, who looked a little put out. "I wasn't that whiny," he tried to defend himself.

Zane spoke up, saying, "No, you were worse."

Kai gasped, offended. "I was not! Besides, this is different!"

Alex watched the ninja argue, not noticing Sensei come up beside her.

"They are a rather entertaining bunch, aren't they?" It was a rhetorical question, but Sensei Wu had a humorous glint in his eyes.

Alex laughed at the ninja's antics. "They sure are something," she said, not knowing how else to describe it. They were all still messing with each other, and it was times like these where Alex found it hard to imagine that she'd be helping this group of people save Ninjago.

"How is your training going?" Sensei asked, changing the subject. His voice was louder than before, so he clearly wanted the ninja to pay attention.

The boys all looked at her as she thought about her training with Nya. "It's been a lot of sparring, since there's not much else to do. We don't have any kind of equipment, and our apartment is small too, so we just head to an open field outside of Ninjago. I've only managed to beat her once, and it's because I caught her off guard with my Spinjitzu," she admitted,wanting to be honest.

Jay piped up, "I know we're trying to prepare Lloyd and the kunoichi for the future, but it's hard to give them the best training in these conditions."

"Plus," Zane added, "we only have two of the Kunoichi. There are still two more to come, and they will need assistance as well."

Cole sighed. "I miss the Destiny's Bounty. Too bad it's gone."

"Destiny's Bounty?" Alex asked. She hadn't ever heard of that before. "What's that?"

"It was a big ship Zane found early on in our journey," Kai explained. "It has several rooms, a kitchen area, a training room…" he trailed off, lost in memory.

To Alex, that sounded exactly like what they needed. "Well, where is it?"

The ninja and Wu got somber. "Destroyed by the Great Devourer," Cole told her. "That's why we're stranded in Ninjago City right now."

"Well, wouldn't there be some kind of training facility in Ninjago City?" Alex asked. It seemed like a simple solution to her. "A gym or something?"

Sensei Wu considered her idea. "That is an excellent idea, Alex. Perhaps we could find somewhere else to aid your journey." He turned to the ninja, looking like he was about to give them a job. "Alex, thank you for your input. You may go join Nya and Lloyd."

"Thank you, Sensei," Alex said before running upstairs.

A week ago, Alex would have refused if someone told her to run up several flights of stairs. Now, in such a short amount of time, she found it to be fairly simple. She was still out of breath if she ran up them, but her legs didn't ache afterwards, like they used to.

She could hear Nya talking on the rooftop, so she opened the door quietly. "... but it's important to take care of him because one day, he'll be yours."

Nya was petting the Ultra Dragon gently, and Lloyd stood beside her. She must've gotten him to get over his anti-girl mindset for a few minutes. Alex went over and joined them, looking at the dragon that was so much bigger than hers.

Lloyd seemed surprised. "Mine? But he's so big! And the ninja owned the four dragons that make him up!"

Looking at the dragon, Alex could still differentiate each of the heads. She patted the red one, knowing it was Flame, Kai's dragon. The dragon head growled and nudged closer, making Alex laugh.

Nya nodded. "Sure. The elemental dragons were loyal to the four ninja. But the Ultra Dragon, he's meant for the green ninja to ride. And that's you," she said, pointing at Lloyd for emphasis.

"Wow!" Lloyd said, stepping back to admire the dragon. He was impressed by the creature before him, especially since it was meant for him.

"See?" Nya said. "Even a girl like me can show you cool stuff every once in a while."

"Well…" Lloyd grumbled, turning to look back at her, "I guess you do know a few things."

Alex finally spoke up, "I bet there's a few more things Nya could teach you if you're up for it."

Lloyd thought about it for a minute. "How do you fly?"

Nya patted her legs. "It's all in here."

Lloyd chuckled, realizing the girls weren't as bad as he thought. But he couldn't tell the guys that. He had a reputation to uphold!

"Once you learn how to fly him, you'll be able to say you have the biggest and fastest dragon in all of Ninjago!" Alex told him, knowing neither Dusk nor Nyx could outmatch that dragon.

The dragon roared in agreement, shaking its four heads. Alex and Nya stepped back, giving it some space as it spread its wings.

Lloyd grinned at the sight of the majestic dragon that would belong to him. "Yeah, and he'll be all mine!"

Nya patted the dragon's side. "Alright, go on! Get some exercise!" she urged the dragon.

It took off, and the girls and Lloyd silently watched it fly over the city. "He really is beautiful," Alex said quietly.

Lloyd looked up at her. "Yeah… yeah he is," he said. He hesitated a moment before speaking again. "But… you have a nice dragon, too."

Knowing it took a lot for the boy to compliment her, Alex smiled. "Thank you, Lloyd," she said.

Nya pulled out her phone and checked her messages. "Looks like we're looking out for you for now, kiddo. Want any tips, or do you just want to go down and read your comic books?"

The boy thought for a minute, but his twelve-year-old brain won out. "Comic books," he grinned.

They followed him downstairs, and sat down on one of the bunk beds while Lloyd sat on top of another. Alex looked around the small, cramped space.

"I think we got the better end of the living space deal," Alex said. The boys' place was a dump.

Nya laughed. "The funny thing is, they used to have a really nice place. They had more of a penthouse style place, and it had a spot to train Lloyd. But they didn't have enough money for it without all of them working all the time. They were all out doing jobs one day, and Lloyd almost got kidnapped. They had to give up the expensive place and settle for this dump."

Alex laughed with Nya. "Wow, that's rough."

"They didn't exactly like it," Nya admitted. Which was, of course, an understatement. "But Lloyd needs to be kept safe, so they were okay with it in the end."

Alex nodded along, and they lapsed into a comfortable silence for a while. Alex texted her parents, Lloyd read his comic books, and Nya read a book.

A couple hours passed before they heard from the guys again. Nya's phone went off, and she quickly answered it.

"Yeah? … Okay. I'll be there in a few… Yeah, I'll bring them too… Bye, Jay." Nya said into the phone before hanging up.

Lloyd hung off the top bunk. "What'd he say?"

Nya looked up at him with a grin. "He said that they found a place for us to train!"

Alex gasped and sat up. "Really?"

"Yeah!" Nya cheered. "But, uh, he warned me about the sensei there. Said he was kind of a weirdo."

Alex rolled her eyes. "Yeah, like I'm worried about a weirdo now."

Nya looked up the address. "Grand Sensei Dareth's Mojo Dojo," she read from her phone screen. "Huh. He definitely sounds interesting."

"Well…" Alex said. "I guess let's go check it out. Let's go, kid!" she called up to Lloyd.

The three of them walked to the dojo, following Nya's directions. It was the first time Alex had walked around Ninjago City, even if it was just to go to some bigshot's dojo.

The city was alive and bustling with people. It wasn't like Shian Hills, where no one was a stranger. Alex had never liked that, knowing someone was always in her business. There were also so many shops and parks! Alex wasn't a girly girl, but she did enjoy shopping.

"Can we go exploring later?" Alex asked Nya quietly as they neared the dojo.

Nya shook her head. "I've got to go work on something, so I can't. You'd have to ask one of the guys. They'll mostly be helping Lloyd, though."

Hesitating a moment, Alex shook her head. "I'll just do some training," she said with a bland smile. Looked like her dreams of seeing the city would have to wait another day…

They arrived at the dojo, and Nya dropped them off. "I've got some things to do at the shop, so call me if you need anything," she told them, then headed off.

Lloyd headed inside and the guys started working with him immediately, leaving Alex mostly to herself. She didn't mind much, just sat over on a bench and played with darkness, watching it crawl from under the bench and swirl between her fingers. It was much easier to manipulate it in small amounts now. Bigger amounts still took more concentration.

The darkness danced in her hands, creating shapes. Grinning, Alex thought back to when her father would make shadow puppets on the wall for her. She made one that looked like a rabbit before turning it back into shadows.

"You're getting the hang of it," Kai said from beside her.

Alex jumped, not expecting anyone to come up beside her. "I- I guess I am."

She continued to move the shadows between her fingers, then moved them toward him. They weaved through his hair, and he chuckled at her antics.

"Is Ninjago City much like Shian Hills?" he asked, trying to make conversation.

She laughed, bringing the shadows around her hands again. "Not at all, actually," she admitted. Alex looked up into his warm amber eyes.

"Have you gotten the chance to really explore it yet?" he asked, looking back at her.

"No... I asked Nya, but she said she was busy," Alex said sadly, looking back down at her hands. She messed with the shadow some more, the darkness giving her something to do.

Without her looking at him, Kai could admire her more openly. Her strawberry blonde hair was straight, but it had volume so it wasn't limp. He could see a light splatter of freckles on her cheeks. He leaned against the back of the bench, relaxing while he could.

"If you'd like," Kai began, "I'll go with you when I'm done here."

Alex's heart skipped a beat. "Really?" she asked excitedly. "Can you show me everything?"

"I'll show you all the best parts," Kai promised, smirking at her.

"Kai! Quit flirting and get over here!" Cole yelled from by Lloyd.

Kai chuckled, knowing the moment was effectively ruined. He looked over at Alex, whose face was red. "I'll talk to you later, okay?"

She nodded, head filled with the thought of getting to explore Ninjago City with him later.

I feel like I've apologized several times in these ANs this chapter, but here I go again: I'm sorry if this chapter dragged a little, but I wanted to show Alex begin to fit in with the ninja before I tackled a canon episode. That being said, this chapter sets up the next couple very nicely. Alex didn't get a training montage or anything, so maybe the next kunoichi will!

Thank you to for following and favoriting this story!

I'll see you guys again next week, so until then, please read and review!