AN: This is an especially big chapter, so I hope you enjoy especially well!
"No, no, no, no, no, when Master Wu popped out of nowhere that first time, Cole was the one who screamed, not me!" Kai argued.
Nya and Cole shook their heads, grinning at him. Lloyd didn't know the real answer, but he wanted to be part of the fun, so he shook his head and grinned too.
Kai pouted. "I'm telling you, it was Cole!"
"No, Cole's the one who screamed when that bird flew out of the cupboard in that old house we had a rebel meeting at," Nya corrected.
Cole covered his face with his hands. "Don't remind me."
"You probably thought it was a dragon, didn't you," Kai said mock-sympathetically, obviously happy to get the attention off of himself.
"Did not!" Cole argued. "I was just surprised. And even if it was a dragon, I wouldn't have been scared."
"Surrrre," Kai said, laughing.
"I'm past that now. Dragons are cool, even if they aren't actually from this realm. I'm no longer scared of them," Cole dismissed.
"Wait, dragons are real?" Lloyd wondered.
Cole grinned. "Yeah. They're from a different realm, but they're real. They're pretty cool, too. Master Wu visits their realm sometimes and he always has the best stories when he comes back from there."
Nya and Kai nodded in agreement.
"I am glad to hear you like my stories," Wu's voice said from right behind Lloyd.
Lloyd jumped, but the other three ninja barely flinched. From the numerous stories they had just been telling him, apparently Wu did that a lot, so it made sense they would have gotten used to it. Lloyd, on the other hand, was not used to it, and he breathed out a deep sigh as Wu rounded the table with a scroll of paper in his hands.
"It is somewhat surprising you like my stories, as you often fall asleep during them," Wu continued teasingly.
"When you tell them at sunrise when we've been up all night waiting for you to return, yeah, we do," Kai scoffed.
Wu chuckled, placing the scroll of paper on the table and unrolling it. "I suppose that is fair. I shall have to find a better sense of timing."
"What's that?" Nya asked, leaning over the table to try to get a good look at the newly-unrolled scroll. Cole and Kai did the same thing, and after a moment, Lloyd did too.
"This is a map of Ninjago," Wu explained. He began pointing at different parts of the scroll. "Here, here, here, and here are the places with the largest concentrations of warriors. Over the next week, I will be working on directing the rebels in attacking them. We will not need to win, we just need to wear them down so when we go for Lord and Lady Garmadon in seven days, the warriors will be too tired to fight us off."
"Wait, in seven days?" Lloyd repeated. "That's when you plan to attack my parents?"
"That's when we plan to attack. We. You're a part of the team now too," Cole corrected.
Lloyd waved a hand impatiently. "Yeah, right, whatever, I'm a part of the team, but in seven days? You think I'll be ready that soon?"
"You will have to be," Wu said gravely. "Now that we have you, we must move quickly. Lord and Lady Garmadon know by now that you are gone and they will not stand for what they see as the rebels holding their son captive. They will be putting all of their resources into attacking the rebels and finding you, so we do not have a lot of time. You will have to be ready to defeat them."
"Okay," Lloyd said in a tiny voice. He didn't think he would be ready, but it didn't sound like he was going to have a choice.
Wu continued on as if Lloyd had never spoken, pointing at a different part of the scroll. "As I direct the rebels, you four will go into the desert here and collect the parts we need for making mechs."
Cole peered at the scroll. "That's a junkyard. You think we're going to find the very specific parts we need in a junkyard?"
"I think you will find more than parts there," Wu said mysteriously.
Shrugging, Cole stated, "If you say so, Master."
"Then, you will go here, to this island in the Endless Sea," Wu continued, pointing to another part of the scroll.
"What are we going to find on an island?" Kai asked.
Wu smiled. "Blueprints for crucial parts of our mechs, of course."
"Oh, of course, blueprints, on a random island in the Endless Sea, that makes sense," Kai said sarcastically. "Are we gonna find anything else?"
"Yes," Wu stated, but before Kai could ask anything about what else they'd find, Wu added, "You must use your ninja skills as best you can to sneak in and out of these places. Lord and Lady Garmadon cannot know Lloyd is working with us. You may use your elemental powers if absolutely necessary, but be careful with them, as you are still learning their true potentials."
Kai made a face, but Nya said, "We'll be careful, Master."
"I will procure a ninja suit for Lloyd as soon as I can, but in the meantime, you will need to get him a slightly less conspicuous outfit, so he will be able to avoid any unwanted attention, by which I mean any attention at all," Wu explained, eying Lloyd, who suddenly felt very self-conscious of the fact that he was wearing his pajamas.
"Yes, Master," Cole agreed.
"And most importantly," Wu said. "You must bring the Ultimate Weapons with you."
"Huh?" The three ninja voiced as one.
"You never know when you might meet an Elemental Master. And besides," Wu said with a smile and a twinkle in his eye, "they double quite handily as blunt objects to bludgeon opponents with. And they look cool!"
"...Okay then," Kai said slowly, fidgeting a little. "May we go now, Master?"
"You may get ready to go now, yes," Wu agreed.
"C'mon, Lloyd, let's find you something to wear," Cole suggested.
Ten minutes and numerous outfits modeled for the three ninja's approval later, Lloyd stepped out of the bathroom in Cole's hoodie and Kai's jeans, holding his arms out to his sides. "Well? How's this one?"
Cole, Nya, and Kai considered it.
"I have to say, that hoodie suits you," Nya admitted.
"Green is definitely your color," Kai agreed.
"Why didn't we try it sooner? He is supposed to be the Green Ninja, after all," Cole pointed out. "He looks like a normal teen. I say we go with it."
Kai nodded.
"Then it's settled. You look good, Lloyd," Nya praised.
Lloyd rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. "Thanks?"
"I grabbed the Ultimate Weapons while you were changing two outfits ago," Cole stated, pulling the brown chest out from behind him. "Nya, do you remember the coordinates of where we're headed?"
"I've got 'em," Nya confirmed, tapping her temple with one hand.
Cole nodded to her. "Awesome. And Master Wu's already left to go to one of the big warrior bases, I saw him heading out when I grabbed the Ultimate Weapons, so we're good to fly on over there."
Fly. Right. This was a flying boat. A flying boat that was going to take him and three ninja on a mission to gather materials to help defeat his parents, who were actually evil warlord dictators. Lloyd shook his head hard, trying to shake off the strangeness of the situation but only succeeding in making himself dizzy and making Kai, Cole, and Nya look at him funny.
"Lloyd? You good?" Kai wondered, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah," Lloyd stated, not quite as confidently as he wanted to, and he nodded to Kai. "Yeah, I'm good. Let's go."
Kai looked unconvinced, but he nodded back.
Nya led the way to the ship's control bridge and began setting their course with a little help from Cole, who set the Ultimate Weapons chest on the floor next to him, while Kai went through an explanation of what the different ship's instruments were with several interjected corrections and additions by Nya.
"-And that's pretty much everything in here," Kai stated as he finished showing Lloyd around. "It's actually kind of cool. The computers and the equipment and everything all come from different ships and mechs and planes and all sorts of different things, with all sorts of different histories, and now they're all together in the Destiny's Bounty."
"The what-now?" Lloyd asked, eyebrows furrowing.
"This ship is called the Destiny's Bounty," Cole explained, coming up alongside Kai and leaning against the wall.
"The course is all set?" Kai asked.
Cole nodded. "We're on our way. We'll be there pretty soon."
"In about fifteen minutes," Nya confirmed, coming over and joining them. "So, normally, while the Destiny's Bounty brought us places, we'd train using our elemental powers. But Master Wu hasn't taught you how to access your power yet, Lloyd, so you at least probably shouldn't do that."
"He could watch us, though," Kai pointed out, glancing at Lloyd. "Would you want that?"
"I think that could be cool," Lloyd admitted.
Kai grinned. "Awesome. C'mon, let's go to one of the training rooms."
Kai led the way to a large, mostly-empty room, its walls lined with various weapons, targets, and practice dummies. Taking a sword off one of the walls, he explained, "If we use weapons, we can channel our powers through them. Watch this."
Taking a few practice swings with the sword, Kai took a deep breath and squinted carefully at a target on the opposite wall. Then he swiftly jabbed the sword forward. A ball of flame burst from the sword, barreling toward the target and exploding in a shower of embers as it made contact with the edge of the target.
Lloyd's mouth dropped open as he watched the embers flicker out. "Whoa."
"Pretty sweet, right, bro?" Kai bragged, turning to face Lloyd.
"Very sweet," Lloyd agreed fervently.
"If I wanted, I could make the fire stay lit and just completely light the target on fire," Kai told him. "Wanna see?"
Before Lloyd could respond, Kai jabbed the sword forward again. Another, larger ball of flame came barreling forth, this one hitting the center of the target. This time, instead of showering embers that quickly flickered out, the ball of flame kept on burning as it made contact, and with a whooshing sound, the whole target burst into flame.
Kai grinned at Lloyd. "Awesome, right?"
"Uh, is that supposed to happen?" Lloyd asked nervously, pointing at the wall, where the flame was spreading from the target to the wall itself.
Kai's eyes bugged out. "Ummm…"
"Good job, Kai," Cole praised sarcastically. "See, this is why Master Wu tells us to be careful, dude."
"I didn't think it was going to do that!" Kai protested. "I thought-"
Nya sighed loudly over Kai's explanation and stepped forward, raising her hands. To Lloyd's amazement, a ball of water formed between her hands. She thrust her hands forward, and a stream of water flowed from the water ball between her hands, hitting the target and its surrounding wall.
With a loud hissing sound, the fire went out.
"Ta-daaaa," Nya said in a sing-song voice.
Lloyd applauded.
"Thank you, thank you," Nya said dramatically, bowing repeatedly. "I'll be here all week."
"What about you, Cole?" Lloyd asked. "What kind of things can you do?"
"As the Master of Earth, I can do the most with my powers when I'm on the ground," Cole explained, walking over to the closest wall and pulling a practice dummy off of it.
"In a similar way, I can do a lot more when I'm surrounded by water, and Kai can do a lot more when there's a bunch of fire around," Nya added helpfully.
Cole nodded, setting the practice dummy up and heading back to the wall of weapons. "But I can still do some cool tricks. Check this out."
Lloyd watched as Cole selected a huge hammer from the wall and wound up. Sprinting forward, Cole swung the hammer down at the dummy. It connected with a bang so loud Lloyd's eyes closed involuntarily.
"Good one, Cole," Kai approved.
Lloyd opened his eyes to see the dummy completely flattened against the ground, cracks splintering across its whole body. "Nice! How'd you do that?"
Cole slung the hammer over his shoulder with a smile. "I have all the strength of a massive boulder. It's pretty neat."
"Show me some more," Lloyd begged.
Judging by their trio of grins, the three ninja were happy to oblige, and they spent the rest of the trip demonstrating different uses of their powers for Lloyd. The time passed quickly, though, and sooner than Lloyd would've thought possible, Nya stated that it was time to go to the control bridge so she could land the ship.
Lloyd followed Nya, Kai, and Cole back to the control bridge. He peered out the windows curiously, looking down at the desert below. He'd been to the desert before, of course, since his parents had brought him all over Ninjago to show him the places he would one day rule. But he'd never been to the desert without being escorted by a large group of guards and his parents.
Something in his chest twinged at the thought of his parents. Logically, Lloyd now knew they were evil, but emotionally, it was a different story. Emotionally, all he could picture was all the good times he'd had with them, all the things they had taught him, all the ways they had shown their love for him. Why didn't they love all the citizens of Ninjago the way they loved him?
Before Lloyd could figure that out, he was quite literally shaken out of his thoughts by a small shudder going through the Destiny's Bounty. He stumbled, grabbing at a nearby control panel to regain his balance and looking around to see Kai, Nya, and Cole all perfectly steady. "What was that?"
"Sorry, Lloyd," Nya called over her shoulder, hitting a few buttons and flipping a level on the control panel she was next to. "That was just us landing. The stabilizers for landing are a little on the fritz right now. We should've told you. We're used to it, but you obviously aren't."
"So, we're here," Cole stated, picking up the Ultimate Weapons chest from where he had placed it on the floor when they had entered the control bridge the first time. "Here's our plan. Nya, you know what parts the mechs need, so you're in charge of getting them. Kai, you help her. I'll be on watch, holding the Ultimate Weapons in case we need them. Lloyd, all you've got to do is open the identity lock and then stick close. Everybody got that?"
"Yes," Nya answered.
"Yup," Kai agreed.
Lloyd bobbed his head in the affirmative nervously.
"All right. Let's go," Cole declared, pulling the mask of his ninja suit up to cover his face.
Kai and Nya did the same with the masks of their ninja suits.
Lloyd, being without a ninja suit and therefore without a mask, hesitated for a moment, then flipped up the hood of the hoodie he was wearing. He followed Cole, Nya, and Kai out of the control bridge and onto the deck of the Destiny's Bounty.
Cole led the way to the side of the deck, and then, without any hesitation, jumped right off.
Lloyd gaped over the side down at him. Cole had just jumped down at least four times his height and didn't seem affected at all. He had even landed on his feet and was still holding the chest with the Ultimate Weapons in it.
Before Lloyd could ask him how he'd done it, however, Nya jumped overboard as well, and then Kai did, doing a flip as he went and still landing on his feet just like Cole and Nya had.
"Come on, bro," Kai called up to him.
"I don't know if I can jump that far without getting hurt," Lloyd called down nervously.
"You're a ninja now, you can do it," Kai encouraged.
"He hasn't had training, though," Nya pointed out. "He should just take the ladder."
"There's a ladder?" Lloyd asked, looking around. Sure enough, a rope ladder was folded up next to the side of the deck. "There's a ladder! Why did you jump and risk getting hurt?"
"We're ninja," Kai said like it was obvious. "Plus, it's quicker."
"Quicker but more dangerous," Lloyd corrected, unfolding the ladder and attaching it to the deck's side wall. He climbed down as quickly as he could, but he had to admit, it did take him a lot longer than it had taken the three ninja to just jump off.
"More dangerous? I mean, I guess, but why are you worried about that?" Kai asked in confusion as Lloyd stepped off of the ladder.
"I'm not supposed to do dangerous things," Lloyd explained. "My mom and dad get worried. I'm their son, and-"
"And let me guess, they're worried their evil empire won't have an heir if you die?" Kai asked bluntly.
Lloyd frowned, more than a little confused. How had Kai come to that conclusion? "No. They're worried I'll get hurt. They love me, after all."
"Huh. I guess I didn't think they had it in them to love anybody, except maybe themselves," Kai pondered.
"Me neither," Nya admitted. "They've always been so mean to everybody, I didn't think they cared about anyone or anything at all, other than their dictatorship, I mean."
"No, they care," Lloyd said confidently, then he hesitated. "I mean, at least they say they care. And they act like they care."
"They act like they care about you," Cole pointed out. "But they also act like they care about their citizens, right? You thought they wanted to help Ninjago and keep it safe, so they must've acted like they cared at least a little."
Lloyd bit his lower lip. "Let's not talk about this. We're supposed to be getting supplies, so let's go get supplies and not talk about this."
"Oookay," Cole said slowly, but he turned and started walking away, which Lloyd counted as a success. Kai and Nya followed Cole, and Lloyd followed the three of them to a large walled-off area just a little ways away.
"There's the gate," Kai pointed out after a few moments of walking along the wall.
"And there's the identity lock," Nya added as they got close enough to see the large electronic lock on the gate.
"All right, Lloyd, it's up to you now," Cole stated.
Lloyd hesitated. "Are we sure this'll work?"
"Master Wu said it should, and Master Wu never lies," Cole affirmed. "Not include all the information? Maybe. But he never lies."
Raising his eyebrows, Lloyd muttered, "Not particularly reassuring."
Regardless, he walked up to the identity lock and looked it over. He'd seen his parents activate identity locks many times before, so Lloyd knew what he had to do. Holding his hand out under the scanner, Lloyd held his breath.
For a moment, nothing happened. Lloyd wondered what would happen if his uncle's information was wrong and Lloyd hadn't been put in the identity lock system yet. Would the lock just not open? Would the lock set off an alarm? Would-
Lloyd's worrying was interrupted by a loud click.
The identity lock had unlatched and the gate was now slightly ajar.
"Well done, Lloyd!" Kai crowed.
Nya and Cole shushed him in unison.
"We don't know if any of the people who live here are home," Nya hissed. "They could hear you! They could call the guards!"
"Oh, right. Well done, Lloyd," Kai whispered.
One by one, Kai, Nya, and Cole slipped through the gate. Lloyd hesitated only a moment before following them, deciding that if any guards did get called, he would be better off sticking close to the three ninja who had actually had ninja training.
Now inside the walls, Lloyd's eyes went wide at the sight of piles of trash, heaps of scraps, and absolute mounds of junk.
"All right, go for it," Cole whispered to Nya, who was looking around quickly.
Nya dashed off toward the nearest pile, Kai hot on her heels. The siblings started sifting through the trash, occasionally pulling out an item and setting it aside once Nya had fully examined it.
"So we just wait now?" Lloyd asked in a whisper.
Cole nodded, setting down the Ultimate Weapons chest and leaning back against the wall. "Yup. We let Nya do her thing and get all the parts we need for the mechs, then we get those parts onto the Destiny's Bounty and head for that island."
"What do you think we'll find on a little island in the Endless Sea?" Lloyd wondered.
"Master Wu said we'll find some plans that'll help us make crucial parts of our mechs, so I'm guessing we'll find some plans that'll help us make crucial parts of our mechs," Cole said dryly.
Lloyd frowned. "But he also said we might find something else. Like-"
Cole slapped a hand over Lloyd's mouth.
Indignantly, Lloyd pried Cole's hand away and asked loudly, "What did you do that for-"
Cole easily pulled his hand out of Lloyd's grip and covered Lloyd's mouth again. Cole whispered, "Listen."
Lloyd listened, and after a moment, he heard it too.
Footsteps.
Abandoning his lean against the wall in favor of dashing over to Kai and Nya, Cole hissed, "Guys! Someone's coming, we've gotta go!"
Kai and Nya straightened up and turned toward Cole, but it was too late.
A teenage boy came running around one of the junk piles and skidded to a stop. His mouth dropped open, and he stared at Kai, Nya, and Cole.
"Okay, this might look bad-" Cole began.
"Robbers!" The teenager yelped. He stepped backward hurriedly, stumbling over a pile of sheets of metal that Nya had set aside. He went down with a crash and a shriek.
Lloyd winced. That couldn't have felt good. On instinct, he hurried over to the teenager and leaned over him, putting out a hand. "Need a hand up?"
The teenager stared at him with wide eyes, then he squinted. His mouth dropped open again. "Lad Garmadon?"
Oh. Apparently a hoodie couldn't disguise Lloyd well enough.
From somewhere behind him, Lloyd could hear Kai mutter, "Well, this isn't going well."
Also from somewhere behind Lloyd, Nya and Cole shushed Kai again.
Ignoring the three ninja, Lloyd flipped the hood of his hoodie down. "Hi?"
"Hi," the teenager repeated, sounding terrified. "Um. Uh. Um. I don't- sorry for asking, Lad Garmadon, but why are you and three robbers in my parents' junkyard?"
Lloyd stared at him, searching for a good explanation and coming up at a loss. So he did the only thing he could do and told the teenager the truth. "Actually, they're rebels."
The teenager blinked up at him and repeated, "Rebels? The rebels need stuff from our junkyard? They're rebels?"
"Yeah. Well, the ninja in charge of the rebels, really," Lloyd explained, then he added, "I'm helping them."
The teenager's eyes practically popped out of his head in surprise. "You're helping the rebels?! Lad Garmadon, you, are helping the rebels! How'd that happen?"
"They kidnapped me and told me the truth about my parents being evil dictators," Lloyd said nonchalantly, trying not to give away that the truth still hurt.
"Oh. So, you're on the rebels' side?" The teenager asked slowly.
Lloyd nodded.
"So you're not going to let your parents do anything awful to me and my parents because you somehow got into our junkyard without them with you?" The teenager asked.
Lloyd frowned. "No? Of course not."
The teenager heaved a huge sigh. "Oh boy. Okay. Well, that's. That's good. Yeah, that's good. Okay then! Uh, could I have that hand up now?"
Still somewhat puzzled by the teenager's comment about Lloyd's parents doing something awful, Lloyd offered his hand to the teenager again.
The teenager took it and stood up. "Whew. Okay then. Well, do you and the rebels need any help finding anything?"
"What?" Lloyd asked.
"I mean, if you're here, and you're looking through our piles, obviously you need some scraps. Or junk. I mean, it's called 'Scrap n' Junk' for a reason, it's all scraps and junk here, so if you need help finding anything, I can help you," the teenager rambled.
Lloyd stared at him. "You're not scared of the rebels?"
The teenager shook his head. "Nah. I was pretty scared when I thought they were regular thieves, because regular thieves might do something bad to me, but rebels won't hurt me. They're are fighting to save Ninjago and all its people, you know?"
"I do know that now," Lloyd said slowly.
The teenager bounced in place a little. "Exactly. Uh, can I meet them? I've always wanted to meet some rebels. They're so cool."
"Sure?" Lloyd said hesitantly, looking toward Kai, Nya, and Cole, all of whom just shrugged at him, looking almost as confused as he was.
The teenager grinned and raced over to the three ninja. "Hi! I'm Jay. You guys are really cool. Like, so cool, I've made scrap-sculptures of what I thought you might look like, but then my parents made me take them apart, because if Lord and Lady Garmadon found sculptures of rebels, then they might fire me and anybody around me. Heh. I probably shouldn't have told you any of that. Oops."
"No, you're fine," Kai said, voice sounding strained, like he was barely keeping himself from laughing. "Keep going. It's fine."
Nya smacked him on the arm and turned to Jay. "You made scrap-sculptures? So you know something about building, and maybe inventing?"
"Oh, I love building and inventing," Jay enthused, "I'm all about making stuff. One time, I made a whole coffee machine out of scraps, and another time I made wings, but they didn't work too well. And this other time-"
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Cole interrupted him, looking at Nya.
"I think so," Nya stated, still looking at Jay. "Jay, right?"
"That's me," Jay chirped.
"Jay, how would you like to help the rebels defeat Lord and Lady Garmadon?" Nya asked.
Jay's mouth dropped open. He gasped, "Really?"
"Really. We're making some fighting mechs, so we need more people who can build and invent, and it's not too often we come across someone this enthusiastic about helping the cause," Nya stated. "What do you say?"
"Um, yeah! I say yeah!" Jay cheered. "Let me go leave a note for my parents, then I can come help you find any parts you need. I can be a big help, I promise."
"I'm sure you can," Cole agreed.
Jay beamed at them, then he turned on his heel and ran back the way he came, calling as he rounded a junk pile, "I'll be right back!"
Kai, Cole, Nya, and Lloyd stood in silence for a moment.
"That was unexpected," Lloyd said finally.
"Well, Master Wu did tell us we might find more than parts in the junkyard," Cole offered.
Kai finally started laughing, and through his laughter, choked out, "But you can't tell me you thought that meant we'd find somebody who wants to help us, and definitely somebody like that."
"No matter what he's like, I think he's going to help a lot," Nya stated. "Let's get back to looking for parts."
Reluctantly, Kai reined in his laughter and started helping Nya again, and Cole went back to leaning against the wall by the Ultimate Weapons chest.
Lloyd just stood where he'd ran to help Jay up for a few moments more, thinking about what Jay had said about Lord and Lady Garmadon doing awful things to people who let Lloyd go places without them. Slowly, he walked back over to the wall with Cole. Tentatively, he asked, "Cole? Can I ask you something?"
"You just did," Cole pointed out.
Lloyd rolled his eyes. "I mean, something else."
"Sure," Cole agreed.
"Do my parents do bad things to people?" Lloyd asked.
"Yeah, pretty much," Cole said slowly. "Sorry, kid, but they fire people out of volcanoes, and they put guards everywhere, and they do all sorts of stuff to make people scared enough not to rebel against them. Not that it works against everybody, as you can see by that fact that we're ninja rebels ourselves, but it's still bad."
Lloyd thought about that for a while. It both made a lot of sense and didn't make any sense at all. In his mind, it made a lot of sense. Everyone had always acted scared of him, and it made sense that would be because his parents did awful things to make everyone scared of him and of them. But in his heart, it didn't make any sense at all. Lord and Lady Garmadon weren't just the lord and lady of Ninjago, they were Lloyd's parents. He loved them and didn't know if they could be evil, and they loved him in return. At least, he thought they loved him, or had caring about him been as much of a lie as caring about the citizens of Ninjago?
Lloyd kept pondering that for a long time while Kay and Nya, and Jay when he eventually returned from writing a note for his parents and had some brief introductions made, sorted through scraps to find parts for the ninjas' mechs. When it was time to go, however, he had to set the thought aside for a while and help get ready to go.
"You got that, Lloyd?" Nya asked.
"I've got it," Lloyd managed, stumbling back for a moment under the weight of his boxes of scraps. He regained his footing and started for the gate which Kai and Cole had already brought their loads out through on the way to the Destiny's Bounty.
Behind him, Lloyd heard Nya ask Jay, "Can you take these boxes?"
"Yeah!" Jay enthused from somewhere behind Lloyd, then stammered, "Whoa, whoa, hey- ack!"
At the sound of a crash, Lloyd turned around to see Jay splayed across the ground by the wall, the Ultimate Weapons chest tipped over next to him and the weapons spilled over the ground along with several boxes of scraps.
"Sorry, I tripped over your box of, uh, weird stuff," Jay apologized immediately when he saw Lloyd looking. "None of it is broken! I hope. Uhhh…"
"Yeah, none of it looks broken," Lloyd stated, looking over the Ultimate Weapons scattered across the ground.
"This one's not broken, and this one's not broken," Jay rambled, picking up Ultimate Weapons and putting them back in the chest, which he put upright again, "and this one's not broken, and this one's- oh!"
Lloyd, having turned to pick up a few Ultimate Weapons himself, turned back quickly.
Jay was staring down at a jagged blue Ultimate Weapon in his hands.
Normally, Lloyd might have stared at the Ultimate Weapon on Jay's hands too. It was flickering with light, and little pinpricks of electricity were popping off of it. But no, Lloyd didn't stare at the Ultimate Weapon, because Lloyd was too busy staring at Jay.
Jay's whole body was giving off sparks.
"Jay!" Lloyd exclaimed, putting together the pieces of what might be happening, then he called, "Nya, come over here! Look!"
Nya, who had been stacking up boxes of scraps busily, looked up. Immediately, she ran over. "Jay! You've got elemental powers!"
"Is that what this is?" Jay asked nervously. "I thought I might be dying. You know, touch a magical artifact the wrong way, give off sparks, keel over, and die, that kind of thing."
"No, Jay, you've got elemental powers," Nya repeated.
"What does that mean?" Jay asked, not taking his eyes off of the Ultimate Weapon gripped tightly in his hands.
"It means you've really got to come help us now," Nya stated definitively. "It means you're going to be a ninja."