Chapter Nine: The Rescuer

As night approached, so did irrational fears. Kai began to think that he would be chained to that tree for the rest of his life or a flood would come rushing in from nowhere and he would drown. He also began to worry about sinister elves and gingerbread men lurking in the dark, but mostly Kai was concerned about never leaving that tree. All the daring and epic missions he had gone on, all the evil villains he had defeated, and this is how he would go-chained to an ordinary tree.

When it began to get slightly colder out, not much though considering he was not too far from a volcano, and it was pitch black out, the fire ninja was officially freaked out. He began to do something that he never thought he ever would do; he called out for help as loud as he could but got no reply.

As it got even later, the ninja began to get more and more tired and he almost drifted off to sleep completely when Kai heard a snap. Immediately, he was wide awake and abruptly moved his eyes all around to find the source of the sound. Kai leaned forward as far as he could to look right when he felt that there was something in front of him. Instinctively, Kai kicked whatever it was in front of him as hard as he could.

"Oi! what was that for?"

The red ninja was immensely confused until the person in front of him turned on his torch, revealing Simon rubbing his shin.

"What are you doing back here?" Kai asked the boy.

"Well I was trying to rescue you but instead I get kicked in the leg," Simon said.

"Well you shouldn't go sneaking around at night. What did you expect me to do?"

"Ok, sorry," Simon said. "Now where's that key? I can't be gone too long or the guys will notice I'm missing."

"Some stupid bird took off with it," Kai said.

"Alright then," Simon paused for a minute before continuing, "then let me look at the lock."

As Simon examined the lock, Kai wondered what good it would do but let the boy examine away. When he seemed to be satisfied, Simon stood back up, set his torch on the ground, and pulled out from an inside pocket of his old-looking, brown jacket what appeared to be a metal lump.

"I think this should work," he said.

Kai was beginning to think his rescuer was a bit mental, but nevertheless continued to watch the younger boy with fascination.

Simon proceeded to place the lump in the palm of his right hand and covered it over with his left. He then closed his eyes, and with a look of concentration on his face, began to slightly move his fingers around. Nearly half a minute later, the boy opened up his eyes and removed his left hand, revealing a little key in place of the metal lump. Simon looked proudly at his work while Kai was getting more confused by the second.

"How did you do that?" Kai asked.

"I just . . . did," Simon nonchalantly replied.

After Kai was freed from the chains, he stretched out his arms for relief.

"Thanks for unchaining me, kid."

Simon smiled. "You're welcome, I'm just glad I finally got to meet you."

"What do you mean?" Kai asked, finding Simon's remark a bit weird.

"It's just that . . . never mind," Simon said, and after an awkward pause he added, "I can walk back to your ship with you since I have a torch."

"Aren't you forgetting that I'm the fire ninja," Kai said, turning his hand into a fireball.

"Oh, right."

After noting Simon's slight look of disappointment, Kai added, "But you can come along if you really want to."

Simon's face immediately lit up and he nodded his head in approval.

The two walked in silence for most of the way back until Kai asked, "So what are you doing in a group like that? I mean, you don't really seem like the gang member type."

Sheepishly looking down, Simon curtly answered, "Long story."

Not wanting to pry, Kai asked no more questions and tried to form some sort of conversation.

"Your hair's pretty cool," he said.

Simon reached up and touched his black hair spikes that closely resembled Kai's and said, "Thanks."

As that didn't seem to work like Kai had planned, nothing else was said the entire time until they reached the Bounty.

"Well I guess we're here," Kai said.

"Alright, and I suppose I better get back to the group. They will be waking up soon," Simon said.

As Simon began on his way off, Kai yelled to him, "Simon?"

"Yeah?" Simon said as he turned around and began to slowly walk backwards.

"Just take care of yourself, alright?"

"I will," Simon said with a smile, turning back around and running off into the night.

Heading back into the Bounty, Kai mentally rated his experiences of the day pretty high on his awkward moments list and resolved not to tell the other ninja, his sister, or his Sensei about Simon.

Early update! I was given so much feedback for the last chapter that I had to give you guys the next. :) It wasn't really my original intention to bring Simon back, but I liked him and you seemed to like him, so here he is. What do you think about him now?

Fifteen reviews! Thank you so much! XD Shoutout to Ninjagymnastgirl, littleluver, The Mayor of Ninjago City, JayaForever421, FirstFandomFangirl, Kairocksrainbow, ThatIsNotACoconut, ninjagirl99204, Skylark Starflower, kaismith1201, Windy, ShinyShiny9, and AntauriFangirl13 for reviewing!

Kairocksrainbow: Thank you so much again for the continuation of your story. I loved it! I would appreciate it if you wouldn't swear though. :)

AntauriFangirl13: Usually in my fanfics, I imagine them during season two or between season two and three (I know they didn't have the Bounty then, but let's pretend they did). When I write, I don't mentally picture Zane as titanium or Cole as a ghost, but you really could put this story whenever you want in the timeline after Lloyd grew up. Sorry if that explanation was unclear.

God bless!