It would appear that the ninja brethren had decided amongst themselves, that they would be spending the night on the beach save for Zane who was busy welding a new foot plate on. The nindroid had to make sure he would have a watertight seal as before because water in mechanical parts was akin to using a motor without oil….the parts would rub and eventually cease up causing friction damage and fractures in the metal, fragments of said metal would break of and cause further damage.
In all seriousness, Zane would end up becoming more electrically charged than Jay and in turn he would eventually become (for want of a better word) a giant magnet. So he largely wanted to avoid that and had taken the opportunity to stay off the sand at least until he could be sure his repair was watertight as before.
Zane is his wisdom had decided to stay on board, mostly to keep an eye on Jay as per usual, it seemed like that was all he had been doing. The new issue he faced had diverted his attention from feeling like an overqualified nurse and he grasped it with both hands, feeling a little part of his old life coming back.
No, it wasn't that he didn't care about his team mates, he did. He cared for them as he would hope they would for him but recently it was all he had been doing. He thought about his father, the genius who had created him and why he was created, which led him back to finding out about being a robotic android. It was Jay's choice to call him a ninja droid or nindroid and Zane had agreed, once he had come to terms with it.
'Is this all that I am now? Am I resigned to spend my time being a medical professional when I would much prefer to increase my skills training and fighting?'
He sighed and finally finished his repairs, putting the welding torch back on the bench, removing his protective face mask with his other hand. He admired the foot plate and regarded it as a wound, another one he wore proudly, one that would have a story to tell in years to come about how he saved his brother from certain death at the possible jaws of a tiger shark.
'Why am I now feeling guilt for thinking such things, maybe a system wide glitch. Perhaps I will attempt to reconfigurate my neural drives and central processing units during shutdown and reboot protocols.'
Once he stood, he checked the watertight barrier again, squirting a high pressurised water stream at his foot and smiled when. His system status read acceptable levels, no water moisture evident except for the immediate humidity surrounding him. His mechanical workings were, for now, watertight as before.
Typically after he had welded a new titanium footplate on, he did the final relevant checks on Jay. Once everything was as it should be he dimmed the lights on board and retired to his own sleeping quarters for some well needed rest. After all, he had spent a fair amount of energy on swimming, running, cooking and floating, as well as repairing himself and performing lifesaving surgical proceedures to boot.
'I am sure that when we are older, maybe sensei's ourselves, that we may look back on this episode and smile fondly.' Zane thought as he lay his head back on his bed, smiling when Cole had walked back in to the shared bedroom with a towel wrapped around him.
He had even managed to persuade Cole to enjoy himself, telling him that he needed to spend some quality time with his team and the black ninja had simply agreed and followed the order.
As soon as Cole had rinsed the salt water from his hair and skin he dressed in dry warm clothes but before he left the Bounty he grabbed a spare sleeping bag. He quickly checked in on Jay who was sleeping with a smile on his face, morphine was obviously doing its job well.
Cole smirked and closed the infirmary door gently and then disembarked from the Wooden ship via the ramp. His feet sank into the soft dry sandy beach making his journey slower than usual as he adjusted his strides to accommodate the fact that he couldn't move as fast at least whilst he was on this type of terrain.
"It's annoying to walk to on during the day because it's too damned hot and its annoying at night because it freaking cold." He grumbled to himself and cringed as it the sand stuck to his still damp toes creating an uncomfortable rubbing friction.
If he was honest with himself, the master of earth was still shaken up and also slightly cold after jumping into the ocean a few hours prior. It hadn't scared him as such but if the shark had been any bigger, well, Jay would be dead for sure and whose fault was that?
'Damn it Nya, do you even care about him?'
He made his quick journey to join Kai despite his feet sinking into the sand with every step. Lloyd and Nya were sitting on the palm fronds on the beach and Kai was sitting on a solitary log big enough for two. The closer Cole got the more he noticed, they all seemed to be drinking steaming hot drinks and holding sticks over the roaring flames of the camp fire.
Sitting around the fire was warming him up though none more so then when Kai warmed up his hot chocolate, wrapping his warmed arms around him.
"What happened Cole?" He whispered sitting closer so he could talk without disturbing Nya who had climbed into her own sleeping bag.
Lloyd had done the same, both were lying down around the fire having drank their hot chocolate. The log shifted slightly on the dry sand as Cole sat on it, leaning forward he warmed his hands on the burning embers, the hot chocolate nestled between his legs.
He took a deep sigh, "Riptide as you would imagine, you can still see it even now. You see that buoy in the distance….the warning one with the red light, well it's heavily leaning and kind of identifies a rip tide." He said with a frown but it was hidden by the dark night and the fact his face wasn't looking directly at the fire as he had spoken.
"I guess during the day we would have been able to identify it. What were they thinking going that far out though?" He asked himself but Kai answered as best as he could.
"I don't know, really I'm at a loss, guessing it might have been a bit of both."
"Personally Kai, I don't think Jay would have swam that far out in his state without a little prompting."
"Yeah I know." Kai said sheepishly and looked at Nya who had fallen asleep with a frown etched onto her face. "But everything's okay now, guess they both learned a valuable lesson!"
"You could say that but why has it always got to be him, we need Jay to be in peak fitness, this will only hold him back again."
"He'll recover though, he always does, hehe even his healing seems faster maybe his element speeds up growth too." Kai suggested and laughed.
Cole's face was un-moving as he spoke, his chiselled features not showing any emotion, just concern. "Jay was petrified, according to Zane." He added bringing Kai's gaze back to him.
"As I thought he would be….and for good reason too." He grabbed his water and took a drink before setting it down at his side. "You remember me saying how he hates deep water?"
"Uhuh?" Kai nodded slowly.
"Well he got bitten by a shark, not a big one judging by the bite, pulled this out of his ankle bone though…"
Cole retrieved the shark tooth which still had remnants of shark gum on it…"hehe I'm thinking of making it into a necklace for him hehhee." He pulled out some thin black leather straps and proceeded to pull them taught, creating a knot of sorts that he quickly secured to the hideous tooth.
"Fuck! That's razor sharp, anything else I mean is he okay now? I mean a shark bite is traumatic enough right."
"He'll get over it, might not want to swim in the ocean for a while though." Cole laughed. "At least until we deal with the shark population hahaha."
"Were not fishermen Cole, don't think Sensei Wu would approve of it to be fair."
"I'm joking Kai, sheesh get a grip, you're just as bad as Zane."
"Hey no fair, that wasn't even a funny joke Cole. You need to spend more time with Jay if you wanna outdo his jokes." He huffed and shook his head looking up to the clear night sky.
"So other than the fact that you still need some serious help with humour is there anything else?" Kai flicked a piece of trapped meat from his teeth with his tongue.
"Uhm yeah, Jay had to have some minor surgery on his scar, he burst a stitch when he pulled Zane against the flow, ya know Zane is pretty heavy even more so when you add in a strong current." Cole said, angrily poking the fire growling when the end of his stick broke.
"…..Stupid doctors used the wrong ones on him…..selfish pricks."
"What?" Kai stopped drinking his forever hot chocolate.
"They gave up on him Kai, the ones they used are used to hold a wound closed until the person is buried, the ones that the mortician uses, strong stitches that never allow the wound to heal fully."
"Zane had to remove them and replace them all with dissolvable ones, so Jay's gonna feel like shit for a few days at least….not much blood loss either which was a huge relief as we don't exactly have a blood bank on board."
"Urgh gross, so that's why he was so quick to suggest organ donation, because he'd done a shoddy job of repairing the damage." He flicked another burst of fire at the un-burnt log near the back of the neat burning embers.
Cole grabbed another stick and loaded it with three marshmallows looking at Kai. "Yeah something like that."
"I guess when we're too old for this shit Zane might have a future in surgery….." Kai suggested and smirked as he set fire to Cole's marshmallows.
"Whoa, what?" Cole fumed and blew the flames out on his now singed and blackened marshmallows that looked somewhat inedible and possibly carcinogenic.
"Ooh sorry maybe next time keep a better watch, you know fire is pretty hot right?" Kai smirked again and flat out laughed. "Sorry Cole, here have some more."
Cole shook his head and took the bag off Kai, cautiously slipping one fluffy marshmallow onto the end of his stick before staring at it intently as he lowered it back over the fire.
"Thanks and next time don't burn perfectly good food, its sacrilege" Cole smirked and gave Kai a dead arm in response for getting his fingers sticky with melted burnt marshmallow.
"Cole, look there's some I gotta tell you and it isn't about Jay. It affects all of us."
Cole's ears pricked up and his attention dropped from watching his sweet snack roasting on the fire, he turned to one of his best friends to enquire. "So what is it? Come on spill the beans, another adventure, new villains?"
"Haa, so eager. Well you realise we still have the serpentine to deal with."
"Yeah sorta." Cole shrugged his shoulders "So what's happening with the cowardly cave dwellers then?"
"Not entirely sure, but we all know them, I mean ya know they're always planning something."
"Yeah, but why have they suddenly started again, ya know with the whole serpentine wars thing, the devourer and the failed Anacondrai takeover, it's like they don't learn."
"The Anacondrai, well, that was Clouse and Chen." Kai replied quickly, "But yeah, they don't learn."
Kai drank the last remains of his hot chocolate and placed the cup to his side, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Pythor was used because he was tiny and I guess he still held us responsible for that whole thing. What with being shrunk to 1/12th of his normal size." Kai snickered and emphasised the size with his fingers.
The master of earth stared back at his now caramelised marshmallow eagerly. "Yeah but why did he target Jay then?" He asked and bit carefully into the now gooey snack.
"I don't think he meant to Cole, I think he was targeting Zane but their aim was off and Jay got hit instead."
"Some terrible shot that was huh? If they'd got Zane, god knows what they would've done to him. Maybe reprogrammed him or something equally as adventurous."
Kai simply watched Cole stuffing his face with the melted marshmallow, "Well, either way I think we need to protect Zane. I mean Jay is on the mend right?"
"Sorta on the mend." Cole replied cryptically vague.
Kai took a deep breath in and sighed, "Cole, look, I thought I should let you know that Lloyd has suggested that we go back to Ninjago city soon, maybe tomorrow.
Cole span his head quickly to look at Kai, his free hand brushing his black hair from his face. "What! Why so soon?"
"Simply? Because there have been rumours of Serpentine causing trouble…..at the hospital where uhm, Rose works."
"Wha….What? Tomorrow, I-I guess I can go for that. I wasn't expecting it to be so soon ya know a little notice is always handy but come on less than 24 hours!" Cole stated, looking at Kai in the fire light, his face was deadly serious.
"Ugh…" A resignated sigh left Cole's lips, "Fine, so what time does Lloyd want to set off anyway?"
"Sunrise after training…so a suggestion for ya, get some sleep." Kai replied getting up off the log which tilted slightly on the sand as the weight adjusted. He patted Cole gently on the back and stalked off to find his sleeping bag.
"What, you're going to sleep now? After dropping that bombshell…" Cole asked with a stupendous look on his face, most of his look of shock was hidden by the fire as it died down to smouldering embers.
Kai hurriedly kicked off his flip flops before vigorously shaking his sleeping bag, ridding it of any potential crabs or snakes or scorpions, anything that might have crawled into it.
"Yup, I'm going to sleep now."
"Besides we're sleeping under the stars tonight because as of tomorrow we'll be back near the city….so take advantage while you still can." Kai murmured and climbed into his sleeping bag, using his red hoodie as his soft pillow.
Cole stood and followed suit, shaking his before climbing into it, zipping it right up to his ears. He turned and looked at the infirmary light on board the Bounty, he was worried about Jay for he remembered all to painfully how hard Lloyd had found it when he found his ultimate potential.
Once he found it he was hounded by none other than the Overlord, but for Lloyd it was expected that he would find his true potential. He was and still is the prophesized green ninja of energy but Jay wasn't meant to be, it could either be his beginning or downfall furthermore he could easily die as his element was unstable.
Lloyd almost did die, well he got hurt on the dark island, hell everyone did, Jay even took a mace to the head and yet somehow survived. The Overlord turned them all evil, one by one by way of the Overlord possessed Lord Garmadon and that dark matter.
The only thing on Cole's mind before he fell asleep was a vision of Jay being destroyed by his own element, maybe if he hadn't have screamed out at that part of his dream he may have seen the rest of the dream. Not everything that comes from lightning is death and destruction, sometimes it leads to regrowth and rebirth….from light comes life.
Cole sat up sweating, his head in his hands, the fire was smouldering, the flames all but gone from the make shift camp fire. Everyone else was still sleeping undisturbed by Cole's recent outburst, even the lights on the Bounty were off, the one in the infirmary was set to a low light. The master of earth lay back down and turned to face Kai, staring annoyingly at Nya who lay at Kai's feet, Lloyd was below Cole's feet in a circular pattern around the camp fire but far enough away to be safe from flying burning embers.
'What were you thinking Nya, do you even love him or are you just trying to destroy him again?'
The more Cole thought about it the more he realised that he cared more for Jay than Nya did, he could see she was playing him, trying to get him to fall for her again but all the time pulling him along like a dog on a leash.
'Maybe he likes to be treated like that…..no I'm fairly sure he doesn't but how to make him see sense.'
All the master of earth could see was a pitiful image of his brother in blue being paraded around by Nya, her trophy husband who fumbled with his words and actions around her and her friends.
He would always be like that because of her…because of Nya. He bit his lip and stared at the Bounty until he envisioned something else entirely which shocked him to the core. He pictured himself hugging Jay, a tight and closer embrace than usual, telling him everything would be okay and that he would be there for him no matter what.