Chapter 14:
The next day, the ninjas were getting ready to go and meet the little girl called Emily, from the letter that they got yesterday,
"Hey are we wearing our GIs or just whatever we want?" Crystal called out,
"I reckon just whatever." Kai answered and the others agreed.
Soon they were all ready to head off to the hospital. Soon they got to the hospital and were greeted by the woman at the front desk,
"Oh. Hello ninja. How may I help you?" she asked and they could tell that she was hoping for a certain answer,
"We got this letter requesting that we come a visit a little girl by the name of Emily." Zane responded as he presented the letter and they could tell that the woman got the answer she was hoping for,
"Thank goodness you got it and came. Little Simon was coming out here every hour and siting here for a hour at a time, hoping that you guys would come through those doors." She explained,
"He must really love his sister." Jay stated,
"He does and if I'm correct, Simon will be here right now." She said and sure enough, as if he was waiting for a cue, a little boy, looking around the age of 8, came walking around the corner and his face lit up when he saw the ninjas,
"You guys came! I knew you guys would!" he said as he ran up to the ninjas,
"Simon I'm guessing." Nya said,
"Yep. I haven't told Emily that I asked you guys to come because I wanted it to be a surprise." Simon explained.
Simon had chestnut brown hair, which was cut shortish and was curly, he had hazel eyes and freckles. He was wearing black sneakers, dark blue jeans and a light grey shirt with a cheese grater and a piece of cheese next to it and in black writing it said 'I know this is cheesy but I think you're grate'.
"Nice shirt." Jay commented with a snicker when he noticed the pun,
"Thanks. I wore it because Emily loves puns." Simon explained while the woman at the front desk signed the ninjas in,
"Oh does she?" Jay said, smiling and the others knew that Jay would be punning a lot but honestly Crystal loved puns as well,
"You guys are all signed in. Simon would be able to show you the way." The front desk woman said,
"Thank you. Come on guys, Emily is going to be so happy." Simon said as he started to lead the others to his sister's room.
They stopped in front of the door when Simon stopped them,
"Can you please wait out here for a second please. I wanna make this a big surprise for Emily." Simon requested,
"No probs." Crystal said as Simon entered Emily's room.
Simon entered the room and crawled up to next of the bed where Emily was laying. Emily met the description Simon gave in the letter, she was wearing a bandana over her head to hid the fact her was bald, she was skeletally thin, had thick dark circles under her eyes, she was really pale, had a tube taped to her cheek so she can breathe and had bright hazel eyes like her brother.
"Hey Simon." Emily said,
"Hey Emily. How are you feeling?" Simon asked,
"Not any better and not that pretty." Emily said, disappointed that in her eyes, she didn't look like a princess even though everyone said that she did,
"You do look pretty." Simon said as he held his sister hand and their parents smiled at the sight of Simon supporting his sister, "Hey I have a surprise for you."
"Really? What is it?" Emily asked as Simon went to the door,
"Ok. You guys can come in now." Simon said and as he went back to his spot next to his sister, the ninja walked into the room and Emily's face lit right up at the sight of the ninjas. Even their parents were surprised.
"Hello. Emily right?" Nya asked and Emily just nodded, shocked that the ninjas were right in front of her,
"Your brother told us lots about you and he sent us a letter, asking us to come here and visit you." Lloyd explained and Emily looked at her brother, shocked,
"You planned this?" Emily asked her brother,
"Yeah. I know how much you love the ninjas and I want you to be happy, not sad." Simon said as he hugged his sister who hugged him back.
"You got a great brother, don't you?" Crystal said as she moved closer to the bed,
"Yeah, Simon is great." Emily stated with a great big, proud grin on her face, "Do you have any brothers or sisters?" she asked Crystal,
"Yes I do. I have a big brother and he is the black ninja Cole." Crystal answered,
"Does anyone else have brothers or sisters?" Emily asked,
"The only ones who don't have a sibling are Lloyd and Jay." Kai answered,
"Really? Who are the other's brothers and sisters?" Emily asked,
"Well you got Kai as Nya's older brother, Cole as Crystal's older brother and Zane as the older brother of Echo Zane" Jay explained, "Also I hear that you like puns." He added with a smirk,
"Yeah. They're punny." Emily said with a giggle,
"Yeah, but sometimes they're egg-tremally hard to come up with." Jay said as he pulled a rubber egg from he pocket and Emily and Simon laughed and Crystal giggled,
"Please don't tell me you brought that here just so you could say that." Kai said,
"What if I did? What are you going to do? Pun-ish me?" Jay stated as Kai just slid his hand down his face for Jay always brought his rubber props when he knows that there's gonna be children, "Come on, they aren't that corny." He added as he pulled out a rubber corn as the 2 little ones laughed, Crystal laughed a little too (more at the fact he brought props for his puns) and Nya giggled a bit too,
"Jay. Did you bring rubber props so you could pun?" Zane asked,
"Maybe." Jay said with a smile with the whole group knew that he meant 'yes',
"You're funny. I mean punny." Emily said while she was laughing,
"Why thank you very much." Jay replied, on the inside disappointed in himself that he couldn't throw in a pun with that,
"Why don't the others laugh at your puns?" Emily questioned,
"Because he puns all the time and it gets annoying." Cole spoke up,
"They aren't annoying." Crystal said to her brother,
"That's because you're a pun person." Cole shot back and Crystal thought for a second,
"Please don't be thinking of a pun to say, please." Cole pleaded,
"But Cole, they're pun-derful." Crystal punned with a smirk,
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Jay called, but not too loud for they were in a hospital,
"Noooooooooooo! Why sis why? Why did my sister have to pun?" Cole called but again not too loud for they were in a hospital, as the others laughed at his reaction,
"Nice one." Jay stated as he and Crystal high-fived.
They talked with Emily and Simon for some more, with Jay punning and sometimes Crystal threw in a pun here and there until they had to go home,
"Thanks for visiting me." Emily said,
"No problem, and don't lose that beautiful smile of yours." Nya said.
The ninjas were sad they had to go for they were having a great time with Emily and Simon, even with Jay and Crystal punning. As they exited the room, the children's mother came up to them,
"I just want to personally thank you for taking time out your day to come do this. I was going to ask you guys myself but it looks like Simon beat me to it." The mother said,
"It was no trouble at all. It was actually enjoyable." Zane stated and the others agreed,
"I just want to say that if there's any way to repay you for what you did. The kids are great fans of yours and I just can't image that you guys would actually come and…" the mother continued before crying a little,
"Hey. We're ninja. You don't need to repay us." Lloyd stated,
"And of course we would come and visit fans, especially if they're in hospital." Kai added.
"Thank you again so much." The mother said once again before going back into the room.
When they returned to the temple, they were greeted by Wu,
"How was it?" Wu asked
"It was great, except for the fact the Jay and Crystal wouldn't stop punning." Kai stated as he glared at Crystal and Jay who just smiled,
"Hey, you don't have to deal with them, I, on the other hand, have Crystal as my sister." Cole stated back,
"You 2 cut it out." Nya said,
"It is sad though that there was nothing else that we could do." Crystal stated,
"You did what you could and that is what matters." Wu stated and walked back inside.
They were training and Crystal was training with Lloyd,
"Hey Lloyd?" Crystal started,
"What's up?" Lloyd replied,
"What's so bad about you aunt?" Crystal asked,
"I told you, she's super annoying, embarrassing and her balls are super boring." Lloyd replied,
"But how?" Crystal continued to ask,
"Just…you'll see." Lloyd said with a dead expression and a dead tone.
Later, Cole was talking to his sister,
"So what were you and Lloyd talking about?" Cole questioned in Spanish,
"He wants me to come with him to his auntie's ball next week." Crystal answered in Spanish,
"Wait, Lloyd has an aunt?" Cole wondered in Spanish,
"Yeah. He told me before we headed off to meet Emily. She's from Misako's side." Crystal explained in Spanish,
"Oh. What are the times?" Cole questioned in Spanish, as he always does when he knows Crystal was leaving,
"Do I really need too? I mean like, I'm 20 now." Crystal stated in Spanish only to get a glare from her brother with meant 'yes', she sighed, "Thursday, 8 till 10, probably getting back around 11." Crystal explained in Spanish, with a look of 'oh my gosh, do I really need to do this right now?',
"Is everything ok?" Lloyd asked when he was the look on his girlfriend's face,
"Cole is just being the big brother if you know what I mean." Crystal simply stated,
"Well excuse me. I like to know where you are." Cole shot at her,
"I know." Crystal sighed.
That evening, Crystal was in her room, scribbling in her sketchbook, growing more and more frustrated until she grabbed it and threw it at the wall with a loud thud, then she got a knock on the door,
"Come in!" Crystal groaned,
"I know that thud." Cole stated as he walked into the room,
"I don't have a dress for the ball and a can't think of one to design." Crystal complained and Cole looked at the pages of dresses that Crystal ripped out and started to rearrange the bits of paper,
"You'll think of something. You always do." Cole reassured,
"But I have nothing." Crystal continued to complain,
"You say that all the time." Cole rolled his eyes as he continued to rearrange the pieces of paper,
"But Cole, this is different," Crystal added,
"You say that all time as well." Cole stated, "You'll get it." He said as he left the room, leaving the pieces of ripped out designs in a beautiful dress design. Crystal looked at what her brother did and ideas started to flow through her head,
"That's it!" Crystal stated to herself and started to copy the design into her sketchbook, adding details to the final look.
Cole was walking down the hallway when he saw Zane and Kai,
"What was that loud bang?" Kai asked,
"Crystal and her sketchbook." Cole answered as if it was nothing,
"Is she ok?" Zane asked,
"Yeah. Nothing new." Cole replied,
"Pixal wants to now what was Crystal doing?" Zane asked for Pixal,
"Designing. This happens when she gets frustrated." Cole explained,
"What exactly happened?" Kai questioned,
"She threw her design book at the wall. She's getting stronger." Cole said,
"Is her strength the main point of your concern?" Zane questioned,
"Why not? There's nothing wrong." Cole said as he walked away.
That night, it was time for dinner and everyone was accounted for except Crystal,
"Where's Crystal?" Nya asked,
"Designing." Cole answered, "I got her." He added as got up to go grab her,
"Soooo, since when could Crystal design?" Jay asked but all he got were shrugs,
"She must take it seriously if she's still at it." Kai stated as Crystal and Cole entered the dining room and took their seats,
"Since when do you design?" Jay asked,
"Why are you asking?" Crystal questioned,
"I'm asking because it's something that's never popped up before." Jay replied,
"I've been designing since I could pick up a pencil. Mum taught me everything I know. I design all the time and I can design anything for anyone." Crystal stated, feeling proud of herself,
"So you dance, cook, play video games and design. What's next?" Kai questioned and Crystal and Cole just looked at each other with a smirk, "What?" Kai questioned,
"Let's just say there's a lot still to now about us 2." Crystal stated,
"Like?" Nya asked,
"You'll see." Crystal said as Zane brought in the meal,
"So what are you designing?" Zane asked (he could hear the conversation from the kitchen),
"A dress for next Thursday." Crystal answered,
"Hey did anyone hear that loud bang earlier?" Jay asked, just remembering,
"Who didn't hear it?" Nya asked,
"Was it that loud?" Crystal asked Cole in Spanish,
"Yep. But that just means you're getting stronger." Cole replied in Spanish,
"What are you 2 talking about?" Wu asked the Spanish siblings,
"Nothing important." Crystal replied, "Also I cause that loud thud earlier sorry." She added,
"How?" Lloyd asked,
"I threw my design book at the wall." Crystal answered as if it was nothing,
"Why?" Nya asked,
"It was what I had in my hands that I could throw in frustration." Crystal answered,
"Now we know how to defeat the next enemy." Jay stated,
"Uhhhhh…how?" Cole asked, confused at his random friend,
"Get Crystal frustrated, give a book or something and get her to trow it at them." Jay explained and the group laughed.
The next afternoon, the ninjas were relaxing. Zane was meditating (as well as talking to Pixal), Nya, Jay and Kai were playing the video game dragon racers with Jay winning, Cole was drawing, Crystal was working on her dress and Lloyd was going up to talk to Crystal. When Lloyd got to Crystal's door, he knocked,
"Who is it?" Crystal called out,
"Me." Lloyd answered,
"Come in." Crystal called and Lloyd entered, "Hey. What's up?" she asked as she was holding up pieces of differently cut fabrics to a mannequin,
"Nothing. What are you doing?" Lloyd asked,
"This is the dress I'm gonna wear to you auntie's ball." Crystal explained,
"So you're making the whole thing from scratch?" Lloyd asked,
"Yeah." Crystal confirmed as she pined a piece of fabric to the mannequin to sew on later, "What are you wearing?"
"Mum told aunt about the thing with the tomorrows tea and aunt said she'll send over a tux." Lloyd explained,
"I could design you one. I'm doing a dress for Misako." Crystal offered,
"Nah it's ok. You sounded like you had enough frustration designing your dress. Also since you're doing one for mum, I don't wanna put more work on your shoulders." Lloyd said,
"It won't be any trouble, in fact I all ready have a design for it." Crystal explained as she grabbed her design book and flipped to a page and showed Lloyd. It's was a black tuxedo with green embroiderings up the sleeves and the pant legs and was paired with a really pale green shirt and bright green tie. It may have been a simple design but it was amazing,
"You designed this? That's awesome." Lloyd exclaimed,
"Thanks. I got bored sometime when I get bored, I design for either myself, someone I know or no one in particular." Crystal explained.
Lloyd was about to say something but his phone started to ring and when he saw who it was, eyes opened up wide,
"Excuse me for one second." Lloyd said, "Or an hour." He muttered under his breath but Crystal heard it well, "Hello. Yes it's true. Yes I do. Yeah I got a plan B. I know. Bye." He said into the phone, sighing at points, and he turned to Crystal,
"Who was that?" Crystal asked,
"That is the aunty you're going to meet on Thursday. She called saying that for some reason couldn't get the tux over, I don't know." Lloyd explained,
"And I'm guessing that I'm plan B?" Crystal questioned,
"Only if it's not trouble." Lloyd confirmed,
"None at all. I've made plenty of tuxedos for dad, Cole and the rest of the blacksmith crew." Crystal explained,
"Wait. Cole has worn a tux?" Lloyd asked, trying not to laugh,
"Believe it or not. I got photos if you want." Crystal offered with a smirk,
"Yes!" Lloyd said excitedly as Crystal grabbed one of the photos off her mirror and handed it to Lloyd.
It was of Lou, Cole and Crystal, with Cole and Crystal looking around 15 or 16, and it looked like they were at this ceremony. Crystal was wearing a slim, pale pink dress that reached the bottom of her knees with silver decorations while Lou and Cole were wearing a black tuxedo but Lou had a brown tie while Cole had a black tie. Lloyd snickered at the photo due to Cole being in a tux.
"He does not look happy." Lloyd commented for Cole had a grumpy face while Crystal and Lou were smiling.
"Yeah Cole hates anything fancy." Crystal explained,
"When was this?" Lloyd asked,
"When he was 16 and I was 15. We were at our uncle's 1st show." Crystal explained, "It's hard to see him any more." Crystal sighed sadly,
"Why?" Lloyd asked in concerned,
"He's always so busy." Crystal explained, "Any who. Yeah that's Cole in a tux." She smiled and put the photo back where it belonged, "And how well I make tuxedoes." She added,
"You made those?" Lloyd asked,
"Yeah. They're easy after you do them a couple of times." Crystal stated,
"So it'll be no trouble for you to make mine?" Lloyd asked,
"All I need are your measurements." Crystal confirmed,
"And the materials?" Lloyd questioned,
"Is it bad that as soon as I finished the design, I bought the materials because I wanted to put you in it?" Crystal nervously asked but Lloyd just laughed,
"The only reason it's not bad is because you're my girlfriend." Lloyd answered, then gave her a peck on the lips,
"Good. Now stand here with your legs inline with your hips and your arms up." Crystal directed her boyfriend to do as she grabbed her tape measure.
Lloyd obeyed and Crystal took the measurements and wrote them down in the back her design book where Lloyd saw other measurements,
"What are those measurements?" Lloyd asked,
"Everyone that I've ever done a design for. I keep the measurements in case I need to make a design for them again, so I'm not measuring them again and again." Crystal explained.