I wandered around, exploring. I felt a little guilty for poking around, but if I was going to live here, I might as well looking around, right?

When I had woken up, at around 6:30, I had at first felt terror at waking up a half-hour late. But a quick glance around the room had dispelled the fear when my eyes landed on a mahogany dresser and a redhead girl sleeping across the room. At about 7 the ninja were awake. Well, some of them were. Kai and Jay were still asleep until about 7:20. It was currently 11:00, and I was messing around on the training course. I had made it about 20 steps before going sailing.

"Not bad, Beth." Nya called, watching me.

I stood up, brushing myself off. "Thank you."

"Psh, you're doing great for just starting." She smiled.

I nodded, then began again. I got a little bit farther, but tripped and got whacked in the head.

"Are you okay?" Nya shut off the training course, then ran over.

I sat up dizzily. "I guess?"

She sighed, shaking her head with a small laugh.

"Not that funny." I mumbled, standing up and swaying.

"I wonder where the others are? It's been a while." Nya questioned.

Melissa came out, munching on an apple. "Wanna go check on 'em?"

"That might be a good idea." Nya nodded.

"How are we going to get there?" I asked.

"My mech suit." She explained, then hurried to the dragon's den.

I followed her with Melissa following me.

"Mech suit?" I repeated to my friend.

The Arabian-looking girl shrugged. "Who knows?"

We entered the den, which was a cut-out in the mountain and followed Nya to one of the ends. She slid open a huge door, and Melissa and I gasped.

"Whoa..." we breathed.

A huge red mech suit stood in the corner. If it had been any taller, it would've gone through the ceiling.

Nya grabbed a samourai helmet. "You girls ready to go?"

"Lemme get my gloves." Melissa ran out of the room.

Nya glanced at me as she slid on gloves. I glanced down at my ninja suit.

"I suppose I'm okay?" I said.

"You have a weapon?" She asked, tightening the breastplate.

"Oh. No. I'm not good enough yet." I replied.

"Get some just in case." She said.

I hurried inside, grabbed a plastic container then filled it with water. If worse came to worse I could fling it in someone's eyes.

I ran back to the den and pretty much just froze. The machine was on, Nya sitting in the cockpit and Melissa sitting on one of the shoulders.

"C'mon Beth!" Melissa called. "You coming or what?"

I gulped, then somehow managed to climb on the other shoulder.

We were soon hurrying to Ninjago City.

After ditching the suit, we wandered around, looking for the ninja. After searching for a couple minutes with no luck, we met in the middle of the city.

"I've tried to contact the others, with no luck." Nya said, frustrated.

"I talked to some old woman. She gave me some weird advice." Melissa said.

"I couldn't find anything. I asked a bunch of people; none of them had seen ninja running around." I ran my fingers through my hair, annoyed.

"Well, what was the advice?" Nya and I turned to Melissa.

"'If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present.'" Melissa quoted.

"Sounds like good advice to me." Nya shrugged.

I was searching the street, not completely paying attention to the two other girls.

If I was a ninja, where would I be? I wondered to myself. Either going after someone or in the midst of fighting.

Hmm.

"Maybe they're on the outskirts?" I interrupted. "Oh, sorry, did I interrupt?"

"Nah, it's fine. The outskirts, eh?" Melissa thought for a second.

"Good idea. Let's go check." Nya hurried for where we had parked the suit.

We hurried after her.

"I don't see anything." Melissa called.

She was standing on the head of the mech suit, holding a pair of binoculars to her black eyes.

"I'm going to move it!" Nya called back, then started walking it farther.

I had opted to stay on the ground and run in front of it. I dunno, I just don't like being high in the air.

I was concentrating so hard on not being squished by the mech suit that I failed to see the root. It sent me sprawling. I tumbled a couple feet, then shrieked as the ground disappeared from underneath me.

"Beth? Beth! Elizabeth!" Two voices screamed.

I groaned, though oddly enough, didn't feel any pain. I put my hands underneath me to push myself up, then froze as someone made a noise and I touched fabric instead of dirt. Hands grabbed me and pulled me up.

I was face-to-face with blue.

"You okay? You fell ontop of Zane." Jay asked worriedly.

"HEY! HEY! NYA!" Kai screamed.

I turned in a full 360, surprised to find all the ninja there, minus Melissa and Nya. Zane was picking himself up off the ground.

"Had a nice fall?" Emma asked sarcastically.

"I'm so sorry!" I bent down, reaching for Zane.

"No Elizabeth, it's fine." He brushed my hand away, smiling up at me.

"I...I just..." I felt horror-stricken.

"You tripped, obviously, and Zane just happened to be there and break your fall." Emma deadpanned.

Solaris lightly bonked her, earning an indignant "OW! What was that for?!"

"Shut up, *baka."

"Oi! Who's the baka?!"

"You are."

"Are you okay?!" Nya crouched at the edge, peering down at us.

Melissa stood instead of crouching, her arms folded. "What a mess you've gotten yourselves into."

"Not our fault. Completely, anyway." Cole muttered.

"Lemme get the mech so you can climb out." Nya disappeared.

I eyed the walls. About 20 feet, maybe. The suit could easily make a high enough ladder. Speaking of the suit, Nya had lowered an arm into the pit. One by one, the ninja crawled out. I noticed Emma limped while walking to the arm, and hissed a couple times while climbing. I climbed out next, with Lloyd bringing up the rear.

The ninja created vehicles, and I slid behind Zane, since he was my instructor for my element and I felt closest to him.

When we arrived at the monastery, Emma was taken to the infirmary. There the ninja explained what happened.

Fin~

*baka. Means fool or idiot.

Fun fact: Solaris/Alena's native language is Japanese.

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