Green With Envy
The Forgotten Ninjago Episode
Chapter Three: Deep in Thought
Sensei Wu's face lit up when he saw all of the serpentine staffs safely in the bridge, but his face fell when he saw how scattered all of the ninja were. "I sense that the mission was completed but with unfavorable outcomes," Wu said in his raspy voice.
Kai made a big show of placing the four staffs in the center of the room. Right then Nya and Lloyd walked in. Nya's face cracked into a smile, and Lloyd smirked when he saw the ninja. "We're glad you're back." Nya welcomed them. "How did the mission go?" Lloyd asked. "Well, not too bad if I do say so myself," Kai said while leaning against the Hypnobrai staff. "I mean, I did just get us the four serpentine staffs—"
"Did Lloyd do anything crazy while we were gone?" Jay asked excitedly. "Like, shoot lasers from his eyes or something?" He regarded Lloyd how someone would look at a bomb that might go off at any second. Nya laughed. Jay smiled. He might not be as strong as Cole, but at least he could make Nya laugh, and that made him feel good.
Kai's head jerked up when he realized that no one was paying attention to him. Everyone was looking at Lloyd.
Jay turned when he heard a frustrated gargle of a sound and saw the tip of the fire ninja's spiky hair as he stomped downstairs.
"I'll go check on him." Nya said quickly as she ran down after her brother.
"Are you sure the mission went well?" Lloyd teased as he craned his neck to catch a glimpse of the two downstairs.
"I'm going to go… train." Stuttered Cole as he rushed downstairs. Zane mumbled something about his falcon needing repair and ran upstairs.
Sensei and Lloyd's heads turned to Jay, the only one left in the room. Jay put his hands up in surrender. "Hey! Don't look at me, I didn't do anything!"
In the dojo, Cole made sure that both of his hands were secured before he lifted up the pole. He strained as the weight kicked in. He could do it. He'd done it before. Cole lifted the weights until his hands were straight above his head then back down again. Working out. He was good at that. You didn't need to be smart to lift weights. You didn't have to know all the weaknesses of the serpentine or what the heck everyone else was thinking about. You only needed—his eyes drifted to the stack of weights on the floor. Cole put the bar down and added more weight to the ends of it. Getting back into position, he made sure that his posture was correct. 570 lbs… this was pushing his limits. He could do it. Sweat broke out on his forehead. He was the strong one of the group. Who said he had to be the smart one? yet apparently now he wasn't even observant or intelligent enough…
Zane was intelligent enough. Zane was really smart; the guy was a walking computer. No one would tease him or point out his mistakes if he were as smart as Zane. With one last exclamation, he managed to lift the weights up over his head and land them back down with a loud thump. The bar bounced slightly on the dojo floor, making the weight lifting chalk on Cole's hands scatter into the air. Cole breathed hard, and when the dust settled, he noticed Nya standing in the doorway. Startled, Cole stepped back a few feet.
"Oh sorry, didn't mean to startle you." She apologized.
"Have you been standing there the whole time?" Cole asked, wiping some sweat from his forehead. Nya nodded slightly, looking at the floor. "I tried to call your name, but you didn't respond. It's like you didn't even hear me."
"Well, I was thinking. And training."
"Why are you training so hard?" Nya asked, looking at him. Cole didn't respond at first. He hoped that his shortness of breath would provide some kind of excuse for him not to answer her immediately. "I don't' really… know." He answered between breaths. Nya crossed her arms and leaned against the doorway.
"You really don't need to train any harder." She said, picking her words carefully. "You're in peak physical condition. I think lifting too much will do more harm than good."
Suddenly Nya had a weird sensation. She paused a moment. It was near the steps. She sensed something near the steps. Like she and Cole weren't the only ones here… She turned to look at the stairway. Empty.
"What is it?" asked Cole, staring at where she was staring. Nya looked back at him. "Nothing. It's just… I could tell something was off for a second, but it's nothing."
Cole nodded.
"Hey, how's Kai?"
"Oh, he's fine." Nya said casually. "You know how Kai can be sometimes." She laughed nervously. "He was just angry. That's all."
Cole was glad that his fellow ninja was doing okay; he made a mental note to follow up with him later.
"I should probably check in with the others about Kai." Nya looked up at Cole and smiled a bit sadly. She turned to leave, then looked back. He was staring at his weights. Slowly he began to put them back in their places. Nya turned and proceeded to swiftly ascend the steps.
Jay was in his room. Sitting. On the floor. He couldn't decide if he should be pacing or lying down or what. He couldn't believe what he had overheard. Nya talking to Cole? Nya? his Nya? Normally he wouldn't be so freaked out about it—I mean, he and Nya weren't even officially dating yet or anything. It was just a crush. But in his mind Nya was his Nya. And Nya talking to other guys was fine, but talking to Cole about him not having to train anymore? About Cole being in peak physical condition? Thoughts flooded his mind. His worst nightmare coming true: Nya thought Cole was strong. Stronger than he, Jay, was. Jay panicked. That didn't necessarily mean that Nya liked Cole, right?
Pft, of course not, Jay. Don't be silly. He assured himself. There's no reason she would like him more than you… except for the fact that he can lift like a thousand pounds and fight six serpentine at once like it's no big problem. Jay shook his head. Talking himself calm wasn't helping. He needed… He needed to train more. Yeah, that was it. Jay stood up. If he had Cole's super strength, he would melt Nya's heart in an instant and completely blow her away. Jay hit the ground and began doing push ups. As fast as he could do them. 32…33…34… he counted in his head. He rolled up and began throwing kicks and landing punches at his bed, at the chair, at the wall… anything.
The door opened and Nya stepped in, unaware of Jay's frenzied training.
"I kept knocking on the door and you weren't—" She was abruptly cut off by a loud, "Ninjaaaaaa-goooo!" as Jay turned into a swirling tornado of pulsing paused and looked on with wide, silent eyes, the blue light from the spinjitzu dancing on her pupils. After a moment, Jay stopped spinning and let himself come to a complete stop. He was breathing hard.
"Jay," said Nya quietly. Jay turned around. "Oh, uh, hi Nya. How's uh, it going?" At the sight of her beautiful face, Jay almost forgot that he was slightly mad at her.
"I just came by to say that I talked to Kai, and he's doing fine. He's been a little angry. I was on my way to tell Zane." Nya surveyed Jay's messy room with shoe marks on the walls.
Nothing about you not wanting me to train harder? Jay's thoughts yelled at her. Am I in too peak- physical condition? But instead, all he said was, "Okay."
Nya walked out then popped her head back in. "Oh, and enjoy your training." She added.
Jay sighed.
As she walked down the hall, she couldn't help but wonder what it must feel like—for Cole and Jay and Kai and Zane—to know that no matter how much or how hard you train, you will still go to bed at the end of the day knowing that you're a ninja. And that nothing can change that.
Zane had gone up to the deck of Destiny's Bounty and was meditating. Trying to distract himself from his thoughts. Breathe in, breathe out. He tried to think about how much the success of this trip meant for the crew. Having the staffs aboard provided a great advantage to the team. Breathe in, breathe out. It didn't matter, necessarily, how the staffs were acquired. It was a team effort, and that's what counted.
Well was it? He heard a voice inside him say. Cole and Jay had fended off a large quantity of serpentine, and he had… Zane's shoulders drooped. What had he done? Nothing much except try to come up with a plan and fail and end up having to be saved by Kai.
Breathe in, breathe out.
Kai had done most of the work. He had gotten them in there and came up with the idea to sneak in and get the staffs while the serpentine dealt with the mayhem they had created. Zane's calculations hadn't done any of that. Zane's statistics had nearly gotten him killed.
Breathe in, breathe out.
Zane needed to be more brash and daring like Kai. Only then could he be efficient instead of hiding behind his numbers and facts.
Suddenly Zane felt the urge to turn around. Nya had just reached the top of the stairs onto the deck. "Zane."
He waited, acknowledging her. "Well at least someone's paying attention." Nya muttered.
"I wanted to tell you that Kai's fine. He just burst out for some reason, but he's good now."
He thanked her. She nodded and walked down the stairs. Zane smiled. Finally Kai was going to be his old self again. When they met he would apologize for not thinking straight, and Zane would apologize for not being more alert in battle and everything would be back to normal. Zane took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Breathe in, breathe out.
Nya's voice crackled to life over the intercom. "Guys, we have another mission for you. And this time, Pythor's back!"
Zane sprung up and ran down the stairs to the bridge.