This is an edited version of chapter 3. I have rewritten the last part, so the teams will only be revealed in chapter 4 (but they haven't changed, of course!).
Thanks to Fairycakeater, Guest#1, Guest#2, Apocalypse Ninja, Captain Midnight, LiaLia15, LegoTerraWarrior, MLPninjagomore13 and The Mayor of Ninjago City for commenting on the second chapter!
Chapter 3: Close encounters of the pink kind
Lloyd reluctantly followed his friends, as Nellie and Danni led them along an endless corridor, the blonde TV presenter excitedly babbling nonstop all along the way.
I'll never complain again about Jay talking too much or too fast. He thought.
They stopped in front of a large black door with a bright pink sign, indicating that this was the entrance to the set of The Great Ninjago Bake Off. Nellie turned to the Ninja. "Here we are." She said with a wide grin. "Are you ready to meet your new teammates?"
No, but I don't think I have a choice...
Years of training had sharpened all their senses. So when Nellie opened the door, the Green Ninja could detect the faint scent of the baking ingredients stored at the set, triggering some memories of the black forest gateau incident and causing Lloyd to feel slightly nauseous.
He gulped. I need to get out of here before I get sick.
Cole looked at him worriedly. "Are you alright? Your face looks a bit green-ish…"
"I-I'll be back in a minute; I just need a bit of fresh air..." Lloyd replied. He turned around and quickly made his way back to the exit.
His head down, Lloyd hurried along the corridor, when he suddenly bumped into someone.
"Hey." A rather annoyed female voice complained. "Watch out where you're going."
Lloyd looked up and found himself staring at a very angry yet also very pretty girl in her late teens, around the same age as himself. She was wearing an ugly pink apron, which clashed horribly with her bright scarlet hair. The empty paper cup in her right hand as well as the fresh coffee and milk foam stains on her apron suggested that Lloyd had just made the redhead spill her cappuccino all over herself.
When she noticed the miserable look on Lloyd's face, the young woman gave him a small comforting smile. "Hey, you don't have to be upset. It was just a coffee. And luckily, they weren't able to serve it hot here at the cafe…"
She gestured at her apron. "Are you also here for the Bake Off?"
The pink-turned coffee-brown apron and the name tag – which had become unreadable from the coffee-stains – suggested that she was one of the other contestants in the competition.
"Y-yes, I am." Lloyd answered. "I was just…" …trying to run away. No. Think of something else. "…uhm…just looking for… the bathroom." Okay, that was not what I meant with 'something else'…
"Toilets are over there, just around the corner."
"Tha-thanks."
Lloyd quickly headed to the men's room and splashed some cold water on his burning hot face. At least I'm not pale or green anymore. He thought, looking at the reflection of his flushed cheeks. And thanks to the little distraction on the corridor, he wasn't feeling sick either.
Lloyd sighed. What happened at the book launch really shouldn't bother him as much as it did. But, he just didn't like to be made fun of. He was the freaking Green Ninja, for crying out loud. The well-respected Saviour of Ninjago. The last time people had laughed at him, he had been just a little brat hanging off the candy store sign in Jamanakai Village… And that had been… well, it actually hadn't been that long ago, but a lot had happened since then, so it just felt like a very long time.
So when all of Ninjago, including his teammates, his Sensei and even his mother, had laughed about the newspaper cover showing the Ultimate Sponge-jitzu Master, Lloyd had just felt again like the insecure little boy that he had thought to have long left behind.
And now he was probably up for another public humiliation. Home economics had not been one of the subjects on the curriculum at Darkley's School for Bad Boys, so Lloyd's baking skills were rather limited.
He dried his hands and face with a paper towel and exited the washroom. When he turned around the corner back onto the main corridor, he found the red-haired girl waiting for him. She had removed her coffee-stained apron and had replaced the empty paper cup with two full ones.
"Here, you look like could use one." She handed him one of the cups as they started walking. "I've asked them to put lids on this time."
"Thanks." He replied. "And I am really sorry for earlier."
She laughed. "Nevermind. I guess it must have been urgent... And I am sure they have plenty more of these awful things." She added, gesturing at the soiled apron hanging over her left arm. "They should have put me in charge of the colour and design, I have an amazing fashion sense."
Lloyd couldn't help but agree with her. The tall and rather busty girl definitely looked much better in her yellow low cut top and the very tight skirt of the same colour.
"Before you continue staring at my missing name tag, I'm Ashleena Springwood. But you can call me Ashley."
"Uh, n-nice to meet you, Ashley." Lloyd blushed again. "I-I am Lloyd G-Garmadon."
They stopped in front of the the black door with the pink sign. Lloyd had been so distracted by Ashley and their conversation, that he hadn't noticed that they were back at the entrance to the baking competition.
Ashley nodded at him. "Good luck, Lloyd Garmadon."
She then opened the black door and called: "Has anyone lost a Green Ninja? I found one!"
Lloyd followed her into the room behind the door and saw his teammates and Nellie talking to three girls and two boys who were all wearing the same pink apron.
When he noticed Lloyd entering the room, the Red Ninja excused himself and came over to his friend.
"Are you okay?" He asked worriedly. "Cole said you looked like you were going to throw up. I was going to look for you now, we were just done with the introduction to our baking partners."
"I am fine." Lloyd reassured his big brother. "I just wanted to get some fresh air."
"And you also got coffee and a hot girl." Kai smirked. "Looks like my li'l bro' is growing up… well, you've learned from the best, haven't you?"
"…"
Ashley, who was currently speaking to Nellie, looked over and gave Lloyd a little wink.
"So tell me, how did you meet her?" Kai enquired.
"Uh, I asked her where the toilets are, after I made her spill her coffee all over herself…" The Green Ninja admitted.
"That would not have been my usual strategy, but it seems to have worked." Kai remarked.
Nellie walked over to the two boys. "I am really glad to see that you are back, Lloyd. And as you have already met Ashley, I won't have to introduce you to your baking partner." She said. "But could I please ask you both to see Danni and get your apron before we can start with the show?"
A few minutes later, all twelve contestants were seated comfortably on two large pink sofas. To their huge relief, the Ninja had been given aprons in their respective signature colour (and Cole had even received a waterproof black apron), although Ashley had almost succeeded in convincing Zane to trade his white apron for her fresh pink one.
Nellie, who was sitting in a matching armchair, had given a very enthusiastic welcome to both the live audience in the studio and the viewers at home and was just explaining the new rules of this year's baking competition.
"I am delighted to announce that, in addition to the six finalists from our auditions, Ninjago's beloved ninja have accepted the invitation to take part in this year's competition. Please give a big round of applause for Jay, Cole, Zane, Kai, Lloyd, and Nya."
The audience were more than happy to follow this request. And Lloyd noticed the many Marry Me Kai and similar posters that were held up by their – mainly female – fans, confirming Nellie's earlier statement that the 'secret' of their participation had already been leaked to the public.
"Which means that we now have six teams of two bakers instead of six individual contestants." The presenter was finally able to continue. "Each team has to produce one cake of their choice together and me and my colleagues will not only judge the result but also the team effort."
After this introduction, the host and the contestants made their way over to a different part of the studio. The kitchen area contained a shared area with a large fridge and pantry as well as six nicely sized and well equipped kitchen stalls that were arranged in two rows. And, to Lloyd's surprise, those were not pink.
"The teams each have their own baking station." Nellie explained to the audience. "And you can probably tell from the colours, which ninja gets to work at which kitchen."
The green ninja was glad to see that the baking station in his colour was in the back row, next to the red and light blue one. The one in front of (presumably) his was black and next to a red one. The two kitchen stalls at the front were white and blue, respectively.
Nellie then smiled at the camera. "I am sure that you are just as curious as our contestants to find out who will get to work with which ninja. But… you'll have to wait just a little bit longer." She stated. "We will be back with you shortly, after a little break brought to you by our partner O'Grandma's Baking Ingredients."
Ashley is one of the OCs in Apocalypse Ninja's Destiny's Path series. It's a great series and I highly recommend reading it (you can find the link to the first book on my profile!), so I was very excited that AN has given me permission to use one of their characters.
The teams are:
1: Jay and Tori / NinjaPony
2: Zane and ArcticHazard / Twinfeather
3: Kai and Crystal / KRR
4: Cole and Lia / LiaLia15
5: Lloyd and Ashley / Apocalypse Ninja
6: Nya and Dawn / SpiritWolfMusicalWriter
Judges are:
- Rin / Kiritoandrinforever
- Kate / MLPninjagomore13
