So, I'm not abandoning the story! Here's the next chapter, but be sure to read the bottom! And if questions are PMed to me that can be answered by the bottom text, I will not reply!
Alexia, Lane, and Moppet walked into Sensei Wu's room, Moppet hiding fearfully behind Lane until she pushed Moppet out in front.
"Stop being such a chicken." Lane told her.
"Don't fight. Just go in there already." Alexia told them, going in. Sensei Wu sat on the floor, drinking tea and watching smoke rise from small incense.
"Good morning. I wish to speak with you about being ninja." He said quietly.
"You mean you're not going to punish us for- MMMMMPH!" Lane quickly covered Moppet's mouth to keep her from finishing the sentence.
"Please continue." Alexia said.
"You three are very interesting. Alexia, you are as calm as water, but like the tide, your emotions can twist and turn to a raging sea. Lane, you can be as fast and violent as a rush of adrenaline, but are willing to heal, just as blood heals the scars of the body. Moppet, you are as bright as the sun, yet when you are threatened, you have two options: to go out as if a candle's flame being blown out, or change to the shine of moon and starlight."
"I wish for you to train here with the ninja. You see Lloyd must-"
"Fight against Lord Garmadon, blah, blah, blah, etc. etc. Tell us something we don't already know." Lane said, bored.
"LANE!" Alexia hissed, exasperated.
"What? We already knew it." Lane whined.
Sensei Wu looked surprised, but recovered. "Then you understand that Lloyd must be ready. I wish for you to train here so that when the time comes, you can help Lloyd and the ninja defeat Lord Garmadon."
"Alright, we're fine with that." Alexia said, turning to leave.
"Oh, and about what you did to Lloyd..." Sensei Wu added. Alexia and Lane cursed under their breaths and turned back around. "I believe chores will suffice. I expect the kitchen, bathroom, and your bedroom to be spotless."
After the three girls left, Lane burst. "You just had to mention Lloyd! Moppet, I'm going to kill you!" She said, trying to strangle her little sister, only to have Alexia hold her back.
"We would have been punished anyway. But, now we have a reason to prank Lloyd." Alexia told her. "For now, I'll take the kitchen. Moppet, you're on bathroom since this was YOUR idea, and Lane's got bedroom." Moppet went off but Lane groaned.
"How come she gets the smallest job?" Lane whined.
"She's the smallest. Live with it." Alexia told her.
"You've got a point." She said, and went off to her job. Alexia entered the kitchen, only to sigh. It was clear that no one had cleaned since breakfast, so this would be difficult.
"Might as well start now." Alexia picked up a washcloth and started on the dishes.
Me: ...What? You want a funny Page Break? Sorry, I'm out!
Lane: COME BACK HERE WITH THE PEPPERMINT BARK, TRAITOR! Oh, hi AnimeLover1321.
Me: Hi Lane! Good luck with the Page Break from last chapter. Page Break, you may want to run.
Page Break: AHHHHHHHHHHH!
An hour later, the girls were done and went to their room for ideas.
"Just water-balloon him." Moppet said but Alexia snorted.
"Moppet, how bad was the bathroom stench?" Alexia asked, and Moppet's pupils enlarged.
"S-so t-terrifying." She whispered, curling up into a ball and whimpering.
"We've scarred her for life, and that's not a good thing." Lane told Alexia, her motherly instinct kicking in.
"Okay, I get it. Jesus, I didn't think it would be that bad. When we're home again, you can sue me for any fees that it takes to get Moppet fixed, alright?" Alexia asked. Lane huffed.
"Not enough, but fine. Back to Lloyd, I say we duct tape him to a wall. Clean and easy." Lane suggested.
"Nah, we'd get caught. Let's do something we can't get blamed for. I've got an idea." Alexia told her, smiling deviously.
The two girls went into the bathroom in Lloyd's room. Alexia covered the toilet seat with white toothpaste and Lane added super glue. The two ran out and waited for Lloyd to go into his room. They went back into their room in time to hear his screaming.
"WHAT HAPPENED TO THE TOILET SEAT?" Lloyd screamed. Alexia and Lane burst out laughing. They smothered it enough so the only noise was Lloyd's screaming. Silent tears of laughter slid down both girls' cheeks. Once they had recovered, the two went into the hallway to see the ninja and Nya standing outside Lloyd's room.
"What's going on?" Alexia asked.
"Lloyd's says the toilet seat had something on it, and now he's refusing to come out." Jay explained. "Dude, just come out!"
"I can't!" Lloyd shouted.
"Just do it!" Kai yelled.
"You asked for it!" Lloyd shouted back, coming out. Quickly, Alexia covered Lane and Nya's eyes while Lane covered Alexia's, since Lloyd had his pants and underwear off.
"Dude, there are GIRLS. Put your pants back on!" Cole told him.
"I can't, there's a toilet seat stuck to my butt!" Lloyd said, covering his privates.
"Uh, we're leaving. Like, NOW." Alexia said, taking Nya's hand and sprinting for her bedroom with Lane following.
"I think that may have scarred all of us for life." Nya whimpered, sitting on Alexia's bed.
"Not us. Then again, we've been scarred enough for several people." Lane said, grinning.
"Wait, did you guys do that? After what you did to Lloyd?" Nya asked, cross.
"Hey! Lloyd told on us, and we had to clean the kitchen and BATHROOM. When was the last time it was cleaned?" Alexia asked.
"I don't know. If it was so bad, why aren't you guys in a state of shock?" Nya asked, skeptic.
"Because Moppet was the one that did it." Lane pointed to the whimpering, balled up lump on the bed next to her. She patted the girl, murmuring to her, and Moppet crawled into Lane's lap before becoming a ball again.
"You made your younger sister do it?" Nya asked, appalled.
"No, I made her do it since she was the smallest. Plus, I didn't expect it to be that bad. We only found out after." Alexia explained.
"For the record, when I found out, I was against it." Lane added.
Nya sighed and shook her head. "How long until the toilet seat comes off Lloyd's butt?"
Lane and Alexia looked at each other. "Ahhhh... About that... We have absolutely no idea."
"What?!" Nya yelled.
"Well, super glue is REALLY strong, since several drops can hold up a car. I put quite a few on the toilet seat so... I'm guessing it may be awhile." Lane said.
"Why I switched the package with regular cement glue." Alexia held up the package Lane had used and Lane slapped her forehead.
"No wonder I had to brush it!" She exclaimed, shaking her head.
"Hopefully, the glue will wear off in a few hours, a full day max." Alexia said.
Nya shook her head. "You guys are freaky."
Alexia threw back her head and laughed. "I've been called worse. Oh, do you guys have any bows? I need to practice."
Nya nodded. "In the hold."
Alexia left the room with Lane following. Nya stayed in their room until they were out of earshot then sighed. "Those guys are weird."
On the deck...
Alexia nocked an arrow into her compound bow. She pulled back, slightly struggling with the extra draw she still wasn't used to, aimed, leveled her breathing, and shot.
Her target, a stuffed head, was pierced by the arrow in the mouth, falling off the mast. Nearby, Lane nodded, re-tying the target.
"You're really good."
Alexia sighed and lowered her bow. "Not good enough for parents." Lane walked forward and put her head Alexia's shoulder.
"They're not here. They can't hurt you or make you do anything." She murmured, rubbing Alexia's back.
"Some influences can outlast dimensions." Alexia whispered, looking into the sky.
"What are you not telling me?" Lane asked.
"It's nothing, I just hate my parents." Alexia told her, which was a complete white lie. Lane raised her eyebrow but said nothing.
Alexia nocked another arrow and shot again, this time hitting the dummy in-between the crossed eyes.
Too bad that's not my insane mother's head, or my beating father's head. Or even my pampered brother's head. Alexia thought to herself.
"Maybe we should go inside. It looks like there's going to be a heavy rainstorm." Lane said, looking up.
"You go. I'm fine with rain." Alexia replied, firing another arrow. Lane shrugged and exited the deck in time to escape becoming soaked by the rain.
Alexia remained in the rain, firing arrow after arrow at her target even after it was so punctured in holes that you couldn't see its face.
"Alexia, you should come in. It might thunder." Nya called over the loudspeaker.
"It's ok. I like the rain." Alexia told her. After Nya signed off, Alexia whispered, "It hides the rivers on my cheeks."
Looking into the sky, the only thing Alexia could think of was the night when everything began. It had been raining, and the lightning had scared her seven year-old self. Now she welcomed it. Strike me down. End my pain. She whispered with her mind. Before she knew it, Alexia began to cry. The tears mixed with the raindrops that had hit her face, but it you looked close, the tears made tiny creeks down her cheeks.
"Stop it. You're not seven years old anymore." Alexia hissed to herself.
With Lane...
"You sure she'll be alright?" Kai asked, looking outside.
"Alexia will be fine. Personally, I'm slightly more worried about Moppet." Lane looked over her shoulder to the hallway. Moppet was still in fetal position in their room, and Lane was worried that she might never get out of her terrified state.
"You shouldn't have sent her into the bathroom." Jay pointed out.
"Hey, it was Alexia who did that." Lane protested.
"Lane?" Moppet was in the doorway, rubbing her eyes. She yawned. "What's up?"
Lane held back a laugh. Moppet may have the body of a twelve year-old, but she still had the mind of a five year-old. "You alright, Miss Mops A Lot?" She asked, hugging Moppet and patting her head.
"Yeah, why not?" Moppet asked, her eyes half-closed. Cole opened his mouth to say something but Lane made several hand gestures telling him to shut up before she punched him.
"Hey guys." The ninja turned to see Alexia, soaking wet. Moppet, however, noticed that some of the drops on her face weren't raindrops, but was too tired from her nap to think about it. Alexia squeezed out her hair, letting the water drop onto the floor. "What'd I miss?"
"Not much." Lane answered.
"Good, I'm taking a shower. Bye." Alexia left, thankful that no one had noticed her tears; or so she thought.
"That reminds me, I should start dinner." Cole said, but Lane shook her head.
"Uh-un, I'm not eating the slop you call food. I'll do it." Lane left the room and Cole looked at the others.
"My food's not that bad, right?" He asked.
"I'm going to the game room." Jay said quickly.
"We're going too." Kai added, with Zane nodding.
"I, uh, have to fix the Samurai suit." Nya said, walking away.
Cole turned to Moppet. "Is my food that bad?"
"Oh yeah, Lane said you killed the food. And I puked." She said matter-of-factly. "With Lane cooking, it'll be good food!" Moppet smiled and left Cole looking distraught, wondering whether or not the girls were telling the truth.
*Understand that since school has officially started, and I take a 10th grade course which will result in even MORE homework for me, uploading will be MUCH, MUCH slower than during summer. Also, since I am writing this with a friend and the only time we can see each other is on Saturdays, this is going to slow it down further, plus next week I have a school trip. Sorry, just what's going on!