The ninja were out on the deck, training Lloyd when Nya spoke over the loudspeaker.
"Guys! Sensei Wu wants to talk to you." She called, and the ninja went to the control room.
"Sensei, is something wrong?" Kai asked.
"There may be. Over the past couple of days, a forest in Ninjago has had parts destroyed. By what, we don't know. But you should make sure it's not anything too dangerous." Sensei Wu told them.
"Yes, Sensei." The ninja told him, bowing. Once in the Ninja Tank, the four began wondering what kind of thing it might be.
"It could be animals." Jay suggested but Cole and Kai snorted.
"Too much damage to be that. But what's the worse it could be?" Cole asked.
In the forest they speak of...
"Come on, Moppet! Concentrate!" Lane said, annoyed. Moppet whimpered and tried again to focus sunlight on the squirrel skin that was the remainder of today's lunch. Again, the light became focused and began to burn the skin, but Moppet squealed and it stopped.
"Moppet, ITS ALREADY DEAD. There's nothing you can do!" Alexia told her.
"I can't help it! You know I hate killing!" Moppet protested.
"Yes, but the squirrel has been dead for over three hours now. So please, just burn the skin already." Alexia said. Moppet sighed and managed to burn it on her fifth try.
"Okay, it's your turn, Alexia." Lane said. Alexia nodded and took out her sword. Concentrating, water ran up the blade and Alexia slashed at the air across her body, releasing a burst of water that cut down three nearby trees. "Good. You're doing really well."
"Your turn, Lane." Alexia said. Lane nodded and took out the freshly killed rat they had found in the cave. She twitched her hand and blood flowed out of the rat's body. She formed a sphere in her hand before she closed her hand, causing the sphere to burst, shooting at a nearby dummy that hung on a tree. The dummy's arm was ripped off from the droplets of blood piercing it's shoulder at the same time, causing it to rip through the thin fabric.
"We're getting better." Lane said cheerfully.
"At the expense of the forest." Moppet pointed out.
"True. Don't worry, we'll move out of here in the next few days. For now, we should make camp. It's getting dark." Alexia noted, looking at the low sun. But in the corner of her eye she saw a few figures in the shadows. She spun around, looking at the spot, but there were only trees there.
"Something wrong, Alexia?" Lane asked. Alexia turned her back to the spot and said,
"I thought I saw dinner, a rabbit. But it must have been a squirrel. Still good, though." But with her back to the shadows, she mouthed 'There's someone there. Don't try to find them, we can surprise them later. For now, pretend nothing is wrong.'
Moppet and Lane nodded and the three set up camp. The ninja watched from the shadows, still amazed at the girls' powers.
"'What's the worst it could be?' Great job Cole, you jinxed it!" Jay hissed.
"So sorry! Listen, if we sneak up on them, we'll get them easily." Cole muttered, taking out his scythe.
Back at the camp, the girls discussed strategy. "I'll take the watch with my sword. Pretend to be sleeping, but be alert for any sounds or movement. Lane, you keep the blood piles in one of the bowls in case you need it and your daggers by your side. Moppet, you have your claws out, but use the moonlight and starlight if you need to. Knock them out, and tie them up with the ropes we use for the dummies. If anyone tries to get me, I'll take them with my sword. Okay?" Alexia asked. The other two nodded and lay down with the log for a pillow, fake yawning. Alexia headed out beyond the campsite, looking out into the night, completely alert.
The ninja saw the girls separate and sprung into action. Kai went to take out Alexia, while the other three crept up to the other 'sleeping' girls. The moment they got close, Lane and Moppet's eyes opened and they took fighting stances. The ninja were momentarily stunned allowing Moppet to latch onto Jay's back and use her fingernails to rake his face. He shouted, trying to get her off, but Moppet elbowed his head and he fell down, unconscious. Meanwhile, Lane used the nearby blood to give Cole a sharp blow to the head, knocking him out, and used the flat of her daggers to knock out Zane.
Kai didn't hear the commotion back at the camp, so he thought it would be easy to take on Alexia. Instead, she saw him from twenty feet away and feinted an attack to his right. When he dodged, Alexia snuck behind him and put him in a headlock. Kai gasped as his air supply was cut off and the world became black. Alexia nodded, satisfied, before dragging him to the camp where the other three ninja were still unconscious.
"That was easy. You'd think fully trained ninja would put up a better fight." Lane said, cocking her head to one side.
"Whatever. We should probably tie them up now." Alexia said, and the four ninja were soon tied to a tree by the fire and blindfolded. "Well, at least I know where we are. The TV show Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu." Alexia told the other two, gaining a gasp from Moppet and a groan from Lane.
"Aw, why couldn't we have gotten Doctor Who?" Lane asked, whining.
Twelve hours later...
Slightly groggy, the ninja woke up to find themselves tied up and blindfolded while they heard the girls they were supposed to capture talk.
"So, what should we do with them?" One voice asked.
"We could kill them." Another voice said.
"LANE!" Two voices yelled.
"Is that your solution to everything?" The first voice asked.
"No, but what CAN we do to them?" Lane asked.
"We could let them go." A third voice remarked.
"Really Moppet? Really? They could have killed us, or dragged us off somewhere." The first voice told her.
"So we can kill them?" Lane asked.
"NO! We can't kill them, right Alexia?" Moppet asked, scared.
"Lane, stop suggesting we kill them." Alexia told her.
"Uh, sorry to interrupt, BUT COULD YOU UNTIE US?" Jay asked, aggravated.
"Just for that, I'm not untying you. I'll un-blindfold one of you instead." Alexia said, and she undid the blindfold on Kai.
"Thanks." Kai muttered.
"Now, we're asking questions. First off, who the hell are you and what the hell were you trying to do with us?" Lane asked, arms folded.
"We're the ninja of Spinjitzu. I'm Kai, Jay is blue, Cole is black, and Zane is white." Kai answered. "We were trying to find out what was destroying the forest."
"SEE? I told you guys we shouldn't have practiced out powers on the forest." Moppet said, superior until Lane shot her a look.
"So what are you going to do now?" Alexia asked.
"They will continue to train the Green Ninja, and I wish for you to join them." A voice from above said. The girls looked up to find a flying ship above them, and there an old man was on the deck.
"Sensei Wu!" The ninja called.
"Could you free the ninja?" Sensei Wu asked kindly. Alexia shrugged, then took out her sword and slashed through the ropes. The ninja removed their own blindfolds.
"What'd you say about joining the ninja?" Lane asked, suspicious.
"You three carry powers within you that resemble that of ninja. Alexia, Master of Water. Lane, Manipulator of Blood. Moppet, Controller of Light." Sensei Wu pointed to each in turn then used Spinjitzu, shouting, "NINJA-GO!" and spun the girls around until they were each wearing a ninja suit. Alexia's was dark aquamarine blue with gold highlights, Lane's was a mix dark red and charcoal black with silver highlights, and Moppet's was sunset orange with gold highlights.
"Cooooool." Moppet said.
"Unexpected, yet completely awesome." Alexia stated, and Lane nodded. The three flipped back their hoods and boarded the ship, Moppet requiring help from Lane.
"Hi, I'm Nya. My brother's Kai. It's nice to have some more girls on the ship." A girl on the ship said with a smile.
"It's nice to meet you, too!" Moppet squealed, and both Lane and Alexia face-palmed as Moppet hugged Nya.
"Uh, thanks." Nya said, surprised.
"Sorry, Moppet's a hugger." Lane explained. "Oh, do you have any food? I'm starving."
Alexia laughed. "Lane, you're ALWAYS hungry!" She told her.
"So are you!" Lane countered, but she was smiling.
At this point, Moppet realized how tired she was when she landed on the deck with a soft clunk, fast asleep.
"Oh my god is she alright?!" Nya asked, frantic.
"She was awake all night and a good part today. She'll be fine as long as she gets some sleep." Lane explained, throwing Moppet over her shoulder. "So, where are the bedrooms?" She asked.
Nya was momentarily shocked but recovered and led the girls to a spare room, where Lane put Moppet to bed and flopped onto her own bed, snoring. Alexia laid down on one of the beds, then frowned as she felt something in one of her back pockets. She reached in and found a MP3 player, still with full battery.
Now let's see... Sweet! It's got my songs! Alexia turned on 'You Gave Me A Promise, Fireflight', singing along.
The waves are crashing down on me,
But I know this cannot be the end, be the end…
Right now I feel like copping out
Will you hold me up, if I just say
That I will stay
[Chorus]
I will hold on to this hope that I have
You gave me a promise
You gave me a promise
I'll push through this moment, I'll never give up
You gave me a promise
You gave me a promise
I'm so tired that I can't stand
But I know that time will heal this heart, heal this heart...
With every door that's slamming shut
A new one's there to lead me where you are
[Chorus]
You, you call out to me
You're just out of reach
But I'm closing in
I'm still going, still believing in your word
[Chorus x2]
While she sang softly to herself, Alexia didn't realize Kai was outside the door listening. She's... really good. He thought to himself.
Alexia laid back down on her bed. Eventually, she gave up on sleep and waited for Nya to call for dinner.
"You guys hungry?" Nya asked, opening the door.
"Sure." Alexia told her. She shook Lane and Moppet awake, the latter groaning and rolling over several times. In the end, Lane just threw her over her shoulder again.
"Be warned, it's Cole's night to cook." Nya said.
The three girls entered the dining room. Looking down at the food, Moppet excused herself to use the bathroom and puked repeatedly for five minutes, Lane turned three different shades of green after her first bite, and Alexia only got through it with her iron-clad stomach (forged from eating the crap her parents served her).
After they went back to their room, Lane began ranting. "HOW can someone mess up food that badly? I swear he killed the food!" She said, angered.
"Just live with it, Lane. There's nothing we can do." Alexia told her. "So, you guys miss home?"
Moppet and Lane looked at each other. "Actually..." Moppet began but Alexia held up a hand.
"I know, I know. You guys actually LIKE your parents. I was just teasing you." She said, tilting her head to one side.
"Moppet, can you leave the room for a minute?" Lane asked her sister, who nodded and left the room. "What happened this time?" Lane asked.
Alexia sighed. "The usual of screaming their heads off at me."
"I'm guessing it was a blessing to come here." Lane said, and Alexia nodded. "You haven't been?..." Lane asked, indicating Alexia's arm. Alexia gripped her arm tightly, so that the faint scars became white.
"No, I stopped a long time ago. You know that." She whispered, holding back tears.
"Can I come in now?" Moppet asked outside the door.
"Sure." Alexia called, then murmured to Lane, "Not a word to anyone."
"We'd better get some sleep. See you in the morning. 'Night." Lane told the other two, rolling over in her bed and snoring. Alexia put in her wax ear plugs and fell asleep, leaving Moppet to fall asleep, wishing she was home.