A/N: Hello! I'm back! Time for, well, let's see what I have planned for today… oooh! A kidnapping, an interesting rescue…and Cole is more popular than he thinks he is. Exciting!
Angel Shoulder: How is that exciting?
Devil Shoulder: I'm getting the popcorn. Sounds exciting!
Me: Oh no…how did you two get in?!
Devil Shoulder: Oh, easy! We climbed through your window!
Angel Shoulder: No we didn't. You left the door open by accident.
Me: Now that is more believable. Wait! I left the door open?!
(Grouchily) Devil Shoulder: I still prefer the whole we climbed through the window…
Angel Shoulder: We didn't do that though.
Me: Stop fighting! Man, you would think you two were siblings or something with the way you go at it.
Angel and Devil: We are siblings, unfortunately.
Disclaimer: I own Nothing! Except my OCs!
Chapter Four: Everything goes South
Cole shoved his hands into his pockets as he followed the triplets into the Arcade. It was tradition that on Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Mr. Jones would take the triplets and two friends to the Arcade to keep them busy while Mrs. Jones and Lou did some last minute shopping. Of course, watching them ran off like small children with no restraint made him feel awkward doing this without Mr. Jones. He would typically follow the triplets around everywhere, while Cole and Jones did whatever they pleased. Now, though, they had to watch the triplets and be the mature adults in charge.
"Bailey, Hailey, and Kailey! I want you to stay where I can see you!" Jones yelled as he chased after the three ten year olds.
Cole ran a hand down his face, groaning. He definitely didn't have the same energy as the triplets. Or did he? He technically spent all of his Saturdays playing with Lloyd…and he had the same amount of energy as the triplets. Pushing this to the back of his head, he charged off to track down at least one of his charges.
…
"Come on Cole! Let's go get pizza!" Hailey ran past him, grabbing onto his arm. Kailey was right in front of him squealing. Cole rubbed his forehead as he glanced at the clock. It was time for them to stop and eat their usual pizza that Mr. Jones would order at the nearby Pizza Parlor.
"Jones! Take Bailey to the pizza parlor! I've got the girls!" Cole called out as he was dragged out of the Arcade.
"On it Cole!" Jones yelled as he tried pulling Bailey away from a video game.
Cole jogged through the busy streets of Ninjago City, trying to keep an eye on the energetic girls. Dodging around a couple swinging hands as they talked about who knows what, Cole briefly lost sight of them. When he scanned the area for them again, alarm shot through to see that one of them, unfortunately it was too far for him to see which one, was by herself looking highly terrified as an oddly dressed man yanked on her arm, towards an alley way. Breaking at a sprint, he charged the stranger, swinging a wild punch at him. Turning to face the alleyway, Cole bit his bottom lip upon noticing that there were two of them, one of which was holding the other girl. The frightened ten years old quickly wrapped her arms around Cole as if to hide from her attempted kidnappers. Glancing down, Cole noticed the blue flower shaped locket around her neck. Hailey. It was Hailey with him. Which meant it was Kailey with the strangers. This thought quickly disappeared as a fist entered Cole's vision. Cole leaned back, making it so that he only hit air. Forcing himself to remember his P.E. lessons, Cole swiftly kicked the other guy's legs from out underneath him. Narrowing his eyes in concentration, he continued dodging attacks and landing a few blows, trying to get Kailey back. After awhile, he ripped Kailey out of the second guy's hands and pushed her towards Hailey. Turning to face his opponents, he didn't see the fist until it was too late. He was lying flat on the ground, his breath surprisingly not knocked out. Sucking in a breath out of surprise and shock, he stared at his opponents, one of which was about to slam his fist into Cole's face. Cole flinched; screwing his eyes shut waiting for the impact. It never came. A loud thud echoed through the alleyway, forcing him to open his eyes. A gasp escaped him upon seeing Skylor Chen, junior with orange hair and amber eyes, standing over him, her fingers curled tightly in a fist… a metal fist by the way.
"Are you ok?" Hailey asked as she tugged on Cole's arm.
Cole shakily stood up turning his attention to the girls. Apparently the fight had drawn a crowd. Dareth was nibbling his bottom lip, eyes flickering between the two guys, while Jones was trying to hide Bailey from sight, and cling to Kailey rather tightly. Nodding his head, Cole spoke shakily. "I'm fine. Are you ok?"
"Yeah…thank you." Hailey whispered, her eyes flickering to the ground, out of shyness.
"Where did you get the metal glove, girlie?" One of the near kidnappers demanded glaring at Skylor.
Skylor, Dareth, and Cole quickly spoke in unison. "It's not a glove."
Cole cleared his throat, before adding on a very simple statement. "It's her hand. Skylor does things like that."
"Wait…you know her?" Bailey yelped, surprise flashing across his face.
Cole glanced over at the younger boy. "Yes. Skylor Chen, a Junior…and the most popular girl in my school. Don't worry, she doesn't know my name."
"I know who you are, Cole!" Skylor snapped as she prepared to punch the kidnappers again.
Cole felt his mouth drop as he stared at the older girl. She knew he was… "Great, I was kinda hoping to go through school as invisibly as possible."
Skylor burst out laughing, which didn't make any sense. "You mean like Paleman?" Cole clapped a hand over his mouth to keep himself from giggling. That really explained why she found what he said funny.
Jones blinked slowly, trying to figure out what kind of school had a student with a metal hand. Moving slowly, Skylor and Cole backed out of the alleyway, keeping the girls behind them. Grasping their hands, they turned and bolted out of there, Skylor's hand turning back to normal.
…
"I can't thank you enough for saving my sisters." Jones picked up an extra cheesy slice of pizza. They were at the pizza parlor with the two older high school students, eating two large extra cheesy pepperoni pizzas.
Skylor gave a half shrug as she bit into her slice of pizza. "You should thank Dareth, he was the one to get me."
Cole played with his straw, one eyebrow inching upwards. "How did you know that I was in trouble?"
Dareth sipped at his water before answering. "A rat noticed and told a bird, who told a squirrel, who then told a dog, who told a cat, who told a mouse, who told another bird…" Skylor clapped a hand over his mouth quickly. "Basically, Dareth played telephone with wild animals."
Cole struggled not to smile at the familiar way the two of them interacted with each other. "How long have you two been dating?"
Skylor immediately lurched forward, her eyes popping out of their respective sockets. "We're not dating! Look, we leave within two blocks of each other. Dareth is my best friend. No, he's the younger brother I never had." Skylor declared, forcing herself to take deep breaths to calm herself.
Dareth promptly pried her hand off of his mouth. "Yeah, what she said. We tried dating once…but it was really awkward. So now we're stuck in the best friend zone. Which is an amazing place to be."
Cole gave his head a quick shake. "Ok, ok! I get it! Wait…Dareth's older than you." Cole pointed at Skylor.
"Have you met him?" Skylor drily intoned as she nodded her head at Dareth, who was busy trying to balance his fork on his nose.
Cole pinched his nose before looking down to his plate. It had his partially eaten, fifth piece of pizza on it still. One large pizza pan was empty, while the other held three pieces. Picking his fork up, Cole cut off a bite, wondering what his father would say if they came home with two extras. Two extras that the Jones's kids were learning weren't quite normal…
…
Lou knew that being an only parent meant unplanned surprises, particularly if said child was away at boarding school. But, coming home expecting just your kid and the neighbors kids, only to find two older kids you've never met before…yep, that took the cake. "Cole! Who are these people in my living room!?"
Cole flinched as he sat his pencil down, suddenly not too interested in his Science homework. "Dad, this is Skylor Chen, the most popular girl at my school, who apparently knows my name. And Dareth Von Dare, the least popular kid in school that turns out to be Skylor's best friend. Crazy right?"
Lou looked about ready to explode when Mrs. Jones quickly intervened. "So nice to meet you! What brings you to this part of town?"
Lou rolled his eyes as he turned his back to them. "I'm more wondering if their parents know where they are at. With the disappearances going on lately…"
All four of the teens promptly looked at them funny. "What disappearances?" Skylor slowly asked, panic glinting in her eyes.
"Lately people have been disappearing in one city, then reappearing in another. They're always tied up when they've been found. And by the sound of things, it's the same guys doing it. Oh! Speaking of which, the mystery law breakers tried taking Kailey and me." Hailey explained, turning to face her mother.
"What do you mean they tried to take you?" Mrs. Jones looked like she was about to faint from this little confession.
"Um, well. First Cole came in punching and kicking, and they tried fighting him off, but he dodged most of their attacks. And then, after Cole got knocked to the ground. Skylor came bowling in and punched the guy so hard, he went reeling!" Kailey declared, waving her arms around widely.
Hailey nodded her head in agreement before continuing the story. "Yeah, but she didn't have a normal fist. She had somehow tuned her whole hand into metal!"
"What?!" Both adults yelped, as wide eyed they turned to face the girl. Skylor barely shrugged, as if it were no big deal to her.
"Oh, yeah! While we were eating lunch, we found out that she knew about because Dareth could talk to animals." Bailey supplied, wanting to be helpful.
"Ok…why does the Mystery School have two students that have superpowers?" Lou pinched his nose trying to figure out what was going on. Unfortunately, he said two things that three teens took great offense to.
"It is Sensei Wu's Monastery for the Gifted! And they're not superpowers! They're Gifts!" All three classmates yelled in great offense.
Jones nearly doubled over with laughter. "Ok then! Looks like someone is offensive if you get their school's name wrong."
Cole immediately turned bright red with embarrassment. Dareth suddenly stood up, stretching. "Well, it was nice to meet you guys, but I have to get home before it gets any later."
"Bye Dareth!" Everyone called out enthusiastically.
Once he left, the majority of the group turned back to the board game they were in the process of playing. After moving her piece forward three spaces, only to have it slid back down to the start of the game, Skylor glanced worriedly towards the two adults. "Cole, did they say those two guys we fought were making people disappear for a while now?"
"Yeah. Is something wrong about that Skylor?" Cole spun the spinner, watching it lazily spin around.
"Did you not notice their eyes? They weren't human." Skylor muttered in a low whisper, only for Jones to hear her.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THOSE KIDNAPPERS WEREN'T HUMAN?!" Jones screeched, bringing Lou and Mrs. Jones running into the living room.
Skylor flinched, rubbing the back of her neck. "Um, I meant that has in they were both Hypnobrai."
Confusion crossed all of their faces, none of them recognizing that word, except for Cole, who was puzzled for another reason. "But, for two Hypnobrai to be out and about would mean their entire tribe was released from their prison." Cole began to pace as his mind reeled with this information. "Wait! Isn't the map to the other tribes is in their den?" Cole by now was imagining all the serpentine tribes exacting their revenge on humankind.
Skylor must have used another Gifted's special power or something, because she quickly interjected his thoughts out of there. "Cole, three of the four fangblades have been lost. The only one we know where it's at is the one in our History classroom."
Cole swallowed as he realized that she was telling the truth. There had been a serpentine scare three hundred years ago. Sensei Wu had responded by trying to find and collect all the fangblades before them. Only, has Skylor pointed out, three of the fangblades weren't where they were supposed to be, making them lost forever. Cole sat back down slowly, noticing that the spinner had finally stopped spinning. Cole quickly moved his place four paces, and then climbed a ladder up to the final stretch. Picking his pencil back up, he went back to his homework, mind reeling at the news Skylor delivered.
Lou and Mrs. Jones went back to putting groceries away, all the while discussing what Skylor just told them. As well as Jones and the triplets. Since when could Cole fight? A few hours, and three board games later, Skylor finally stood up to leave. It was already very dark outside.
"You sure about this Skylor? Maybe you would like to stay for the night? Certainly you're parents will understand, with the kidnappers on the loose?" Lou tried to stop the teen from heading home, knowing just how dangerous the city was at night, especially now with these mysterious Hypnobrai on the loose.
"It's fine. Griffin's Gift is super speed." Skylor waved his concern off, not really bothered by what he was implying.
"How is this 'Griffin' going to help you?" Mrs. Jones piped up, concern weaving its way into her voice.
"Skylor's Gift is Absorption." Cole glanced up to look at the two adults. "Basically, that means that she can use the Gifts of others. Anyone watching her will only see a blur."
Lou felt his mouth drop open in shock as he looked to the orange-haired teen. Shrugging, Skylor waved bye and bolted out the door, already using the Gift of super speed.
…
Cole shifted on the cot, scanning his last ten questions. Ugh, he needed Jay or Nya right about now. They would know the answer to this, no problem. "Jones? Bailey? Do either of you know how to fix a hydrogenerator, and disable a missile that was programmed to be launched at your home? Please note that they are right next to each other, and the hydrogenerator is powering an entire city, and is about to blow said city up, and the missile is going to take off any second now."
"What kind of question is that?" Jones arched his eyebrow has he looked up from the notebook he was trying to write a song in.
"It's going to show up on my science test. But I don't know the answer." Cole spun his pencil in last circles, not really too concerned about this.
"If that's 'science', then I'm a monkey's uncle." Bailey declared, one eyebrow arched up has he continued reading the comic he bought behind Jones's back.
Cole shook his head, before snatching the study guide up and standing up. Turning, he headed downstairs to ask Lou if he knew. Stepping on the bottom step, Cole froze as he heard the news report for the day.
"Ten more people have disappeared. Three of the people that disappeared last week in Jamanakai Village have turned up in Ignacia, a much smaller village further south."
"Indeed you are correct. Upon talking to the three that were found, we merely get a confirmation that it is the same two people. Though interestingly enough, apparently they were talking earlier about how they were planning on taking two young girls, but someone had stopped them from doing it."
"Indeed. Now, we don't know what all that's about. All we know is that the kidnappers said something about Descendants of something called Elemental Masters… any idea what that means?"
"No. All I can tell you is that I am sure the families of these two little girls are quite thankful that they're safe and sound. Now unto the weather report."
Cole turned to head back upstairs, his mind reeling. Skylor made the news, sort of. No one it was her…or what Descendants of Elemental Masters have in common.
They all attend Sensei Wu's Monastery for the Gifted.
Cole collapsed onto this cot, staring at the ceiling, not really noticing anything at all. Not even Jones waving his hand in front of his face. Somehow, Cole had a feeling come Monday, there would be some changes around the school…
A/N: HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! Phew. Glad I finished this chapter…also a few notices.
One: I updated Back in my days…
Two: I started a new Ninjago story. It's called The Past, The Present, and The Future. For now. I need to work on a title for it.
SO, till next time!
See ya!
SkyTalon
