Ch 16
When Alex woke up, the sun was just rising, setting the sky with shining and vibrant reds and oranges. The city was starting to awaken, as the noises of cars and people began to drift up to the Green Ninja's ears, and that wasn't the only thing drifting. Smells of breakfast foods, from sausages to syrup to fresh bread, wafted into Alex's face, making her mouth water.
These sensations distracted Alex from the black ninja lying next to her, looking at her in wonder as he watched her smile at the world around them, and yawn cutely from a long night's sleep. Her hair was messy and her eyes a bit bleary, but there was something about that look that seemed right to Cole. He felt as though he could watch her looking messier than that, as long as she had that sweet smile and her face fully showing, unlike how she always hid half her face with her hair.
"Cole?" The black ninja was driven from his small trance by Alex's voice, "Yea? What is it?"
Alex looked at him puzzled, "Well good morning for starters. Honestly, you'd think you were the one constantly waking up." She laughed slightly and Cole could only roll his eyes and smile, "Good morning to you too. And don't worry; I'll leave insomnia to you."
Alex giggled a bit, "So we should head back down now." Cole nodded, and helped her grab the blankets they had used as they walked to the apartment.
"Cole?" He looked to Alex, "What?"
"Thanks for... well the company. It actually helped me sleep a bit better." Cole looked a bit stunned, but recovered. "You're welcome."
No one had been awake when the two had walked in, and there had been no questions, so the day continued on, only this time, Alex was finally getting some training done. Well... the closest thing you could get to training in a small one bedroom apartment.
She was currently punching Kai's gloved hands, the latter using a pair of oven mits to stifle the blows Alex was dealing.
"Look at that! Fists of Fury!" Lloyd called out as Alex dealt a series of sharp blows to the oven mits.
"Save the gloating," Kai told Lloyd, "When you're in a fight, that could be used against you."
"Oh please, I can face whatever any of you throw at me!" And with that, Lloyd launched a kick at Kai, knocking him to the floor. Alex clapped, "Keep that up, and I could see you fighting with me soon, kid." Lloyd beamed at her, "Really!?"
"Whoa grasshopper," Kai sat up, "You're not even ready to face my pinky toe."
Alex turned to Kai, "He may not be, but I think I could." Kai shrugged and chuckled.
Sensei spoke up from where he was drinking tea, "I see the student has now become the teacher. You will learn fast, Alex, with lessons from the four ninja."
"Great. Now that that lesson's over, how about some target practice. On Kai?
Cole's comment brought a scared look to Kai's face, but Sensei waved the idea off. "You will each get a turn, but now, I think our Green Ninja is due for a lesson with Nya."
"What? But I want to learn how to fully use my Spinjitzu." Alex complained. "Patience," Sensei replied, "Your time will come." She merely sighed and headed out to meet with Nya, before stating, "At least I'm not as whiny as Kai."
She left the room hearing laughter from the three, while Kai was in a sort of denial.
Alex found herself back on the roof with Nya, petting the Ultra Dragon. "Take care of him, because he's yours now," Nya told her, lightening up Alex's mood a bit more. "Mine? That's so cool!"
Nya smiled, "See? Even a samurai like myself can teach you a thing or two." Alex smiled back, "I never doubted in the first place."
After letting the dragon out for some fresh air, Alex was called away by Jay, who after a short talk with Nya (mostly him staring lovingly at her) took her downstairs to meet with the others out on the block.
"It's time we search Ninjago City for a more suitable place to train Alex," Sensei explained to the group.
Of course Jay had to but in and whine, "Oh but Sensei! Ninjago City is huge! It'll take all day to find this place on foot!"
"And without our Golden Weapons, we have no Spinjitzu vehicles," Zane added, "How will we get around town?"
"You'll learn to travel with these." Sensei held out a small coin like disc.
"What are those?" Cole asked.
Alex rolled her eyes, and before Sensei and the others could say anymore, she merely stated, "Two words: bus tokens."
Sure enough, the group soon found themselves on the local bus heading deeper into the city, feeling kind of aggravated at the fact that they had gone down so far from having a home and some awesome modes of transport to living in a small room and riding on a city bus.
The vehicle soon let them off at a spot in downtown, where the group filed out to discover a possible training spot.
Alex looked at the sign, which read "Grand Sensei Dareth's Mojo Dojo." To her, this shrieked of needy social acceptance, but if it meant somewhere to train, she would accept it.
The group walked into the dojo, and was greeted by the funniest looking man Alex had seen. He wore a brown gi lined with golden apparel, revealing his awkward looking chest hair and had a gold chain wrapped around his neck. His hair was really glossy, to the point where Alex was sure she could see her clear reflection, and he wore a cocky expression as he strode to the ninja.
"Welcome, to Grand Sensei Dareth's Mojo Dojo," the "sensei" greeted, eyebrow raised. "I am Grand Sensei Dareth, and I "dareth" you to join my dojo." Dareth began to shoot off a series of clunky poses.
Alex felt like laughing at Dareth's façade, and the others also looked likewise, but she managed to contain it, as she knew this may be her only hope for suitable training.
"Face the wall of karate trophies. If you look closely, my name is on all of them," Dareth strode over and looked down at his awards, before turning to the others with his cocky smirk, "That is because I am a highly skilled karate machine."
"Look Dareth," Kai interjected, "We were wondering if we could share your dojo. You see we've been put in charge of training Alex here to become the greatest ninja in all of Ninjago."
Dareth looked to Kai, and then to Alex, "Not possible. For I am the greatest in the land. How many trophies do you have, sweetheart?" The grand sensei walked over to Alex, who did all she could to not punch the guy right there. Taking a deep breath, she replied, "Look, bub, can you cut us some slack here? We are the ones who just saved Ninjago City from the giant snake, you know."
Dareth laughed, "Am I looking at Lord Garmadon? Because unless I'm stupid, and I'm not, Lord Garmadon destroyed the Devourer."
Before any of the ninja could interject, Dareth continued, "I'll let you train here, only on one condition: You can defeat me. If you succeed, we can share the dojo."
The grand sensei jumped up and struck another pose, "That's right. I, Grand Sensei Dareth, master of all animal fighting styles, challenge one of you to a battle." Dareth followed this declaration by showing off his animal poses, which only made the desire to laugh at him stronger for Alex. Luckily, Kai used his Spinjitzu to cut him off and send the brown clad man to the floor.
"You may know animals, but we know Spinjitzu," Kai stood before the sensei.
Dareth got up, "You can train in my dojo for as long as you like."
Alex felt alive as she trained with her friends, glad to finally have the space to spar. She was currently fighting Jay on the poles, light on her feet like he had instructed her, but got down when Cole called her over.
"When you strike with your fists, concentrate. You may be a girl, but you're strong." Cole's words brought a surge of willpower into the Green Ninja, and after concentrating on her target, she leaped up, and chopped the wood blocks and table in half, even causing the ground to crack under the ninja's feet.
"That was the power of the Staff of Quakes, and you did it without the Golden Weapon," Kai stated from where he had been blasted by the tremor. Alex looked down at her hands in shock. I just did that with only my hands!
"With this power you must be careful," Sensei wisely stated, "You must control it before it controls you." Alex bowed down and nodded; she wasn't going to let anything control her, not after she had made it this far.
"I have to admit, not bad for a girl," the voice of Dareth brought a sigh to Alex as the man entered the room, "But instead of ten boards, how about fifty?"
Even Sensei was sighing at this attempt as the sensei's students stacked the boards.
"And if I, Grand Sensei Dareth, manage to break these boards, perhaps you can let me join your team and become: The Brown Ninja!" Dareth had fixed up a mask to fit over similarly to the ninja's, and was now posing with it.
The laughter could no longer be contained as everyone began to chuckle at Dareth's newest attempt at gloating. "Sorry pal, club's already full," Cole told him as he walked over to Alex. She whispered to him, "There's a bold and naive reference in that name that I want to make, but its way too dirty." Cole looked confused, but when he understood, he began to laugh.
"Ok ok. But maybe this demonstration of my superhuman strength may persuade you." Dareth walked over to the boards, winking at Alex as he walked by. The Green Ninja rolled her eyes, while Cole merely glared softly at the self proclaimed Brown Ninja.
"Observe." Dareth concentrated on the wooden boards for a moment, mumbling about animals, before landing his hand on the block. Immediately, the Brown Ninja began to scream in agony, holding his hurt hand as the ninja laughed at his display.
Little did they know of the troubles brewing outside...
Dareth, man. He went from annoying to slightly funny over time. That's why I kind of like writing him into this part of the story.
Anyway, thank you guys for reading this story, be sure to follow, fav, or comment on anything you like or want, and I will see you guys next time!
