Birthdays Chapter 6: Jay: Worst Birthday Ever, a ninjago fanfic

Finally, finally, after almost three years of working on this series of one-shots, Birthdays has finally come to an end. Jay finally got his birthday party after organising parties for each one of his family. I just hope that you all enjoy this one as much as you've enjoyed the other five one-shot-esque chapters. Especially considering the first half of this story. At least you'll get to see how I think Jay got the scar over his eye from his earlier show looks, plus a little headcannon I have surrounding that story.

Worst Birthday Ever

When Jay woke up that morning, he expected warm smiles and 'Happy Birthday's all around. He also expected to be woken up at a respectable hour. Instead, he got woken up at three thirty in the morning to blaring alarms and, oddly, a pain in his gut. One that was much sharper than what he had been feeling a couple of days ago.

He ignored the pain, spinjitzued into his ninja uniform, and stumbled into the door feeling light-headed. That should have told him that something wasn't right. Especially when the pain seemed to strengthen because of it. But he merely shook his head and ignored what had happened, instead rushing out of his room and into the control room of the monastery.

" There you are, Jay." Pixal said, only glancing at him as he entered the room. " I was just about to send someone to go get you."

Judging by the fact that everyone else was already there, Jay figured he was the last one to get there. He blamed the stumble.

" Right. What's the problem?" He nodded, trying to breathe through the persisting pain.

" The Sky Pirates who escaped from Kryptarium Prison have banded together once more and seem to be lurking around Clutch Powers' mansion in the residential area of Ninjago City looking towards the coast. The specific Sky Pirates you're looking for are Dogshank, Flintlocke, Dubloon and Monkey Wretch. It also seems like they have recruited Clancee to whatever they are planning. Speaking of which, exactly why they have targeted Clutch Powers in unclear."

The colour drained from Jay's face at the mention of the Sky Pirates. He remembered quite clearly what it was like to fight them. And the various scars over his body even started to itch at the memories of what they did to him. He didn't want to have to fight them on his birthday.

But at the same time, his head started to spin again, similarly to when he was getting dressed back in his room. Not to mention, the pain in his gut seemed to spike alongside it. He found himself having to lean against the nearest solid mass in order to keep himself from falling over. He just never expected that solid mass to be Kai.

" Jay? You alright?" the fire ninja asked, worriedly looking down at the lightning ninja.

This, of course, caused everyone's attention to turn to Jay.

That was bad. With everyone's attention on him, Jay was more than sure that they'd be able to tell that something was wrong with him. And he didn't want them fussing over him. He was sure it was just a stomach ache. A really bad stomach ache… but nothing he wouldn't be able to handle. If anything, he was more concerned about the sky pirates.

" Yeah, just… bad memories." He said, trying to deter the other ninja from his pain. He did not notice the silent look that Zane and Pixal both shared after having gotten a good look at him.

" Will you be able to handle the pirates?" Cole asked, ever concerned about his friend.

" Of course. You guys will be with me, anyway. We can handle them. Just… leave Keo out of this one."

" But I can…" Keo started, looking both confused and worried at what he was seeing and hearing.

" You're still in training. And these guys are nasty. I'm not going to have a repeat of what happened if I can avoid it."

" What if you need me?"

" Please, Keo. Just stay here."

With a darkening look growing on his face, Jay turned and walked out of the room. Mentally he was preparing himself for what was to come while trying to force down the unbidden memories that were emerging at the same time. But physically, he was fighting the pain that was trying to take over his body. And he knew the others could see that. Especially now that they knew that something was going on.

" But I can still help." He just heard Keo say as he walked away, trying to reason with whoever would listen.

It was Nya who turned to face the young teen, gently placing a hand on his shoulder as she did so. In the back of her mind, she was reminded of a time when a younger Lloyd found himself in similar situations.

" Jay's right, Keo." She said. " The pirates we're going to be facing are too strong for you at the moment. We don't want you getting hurt again so soon after what happened when we met. What you could do, though, is start thinking of how we can set up the monastery for Jay's birthday. We'll try and make this quick, so don't go decorating as soon as we leave, okay. Think on this first. But if we're not back by the time we usually have breakfast, then you can go ahead and decorate to your heart's content. Echo Zane might even like to help you."

Keo merely nodded. Lloyd, however, could clearly see the disappointment in his eyes from where he stood. And he knew exactly what it felt like to be turned away from important missions. He could only hope that the young wind elemental would understand what they were trying to tell him or even see Jay's birthday party preparations as a mission for himself.

But it was Zane's sad sounding hum that caught everyone's attention.

" Something wrong, Zane?" the green ninja asked.

" I fear there is." The male nindroid sighed. " Jay's pain is clearly getting worse. And I don't think it's just because of the pirates."

" What pain?" Keo asked, even as the older teens all looked at each other with worry.

" Jay's been in pain for a few days now. He might not say anything, but you can see it in his eyes and the way he moves. Compared with other things that both Pixal and I have noticed, we both fear he could have appendicitis. We will need to keep a close eye on him in case something bad happens."

" Then shouldn't we get him to a doctor?" Kai asked, the worry seeping into his voice.

" I've tried. Multiple times yesterday. He wouldn't listen to me."

" Idiot." Nya hissed. " Guess I'll give it a shot. You promise to stay here, Keo?"

Keo looked up at the young woman beside him, an almost pleading look in his eye. Even though he was new to the whole ninja thing, he still hadn't figured out the best way of thanking the older teenagers for all the help they have given him in the past months. He figured that if he could prove himself on this mission, he'd be able to essentially pay the ninja back for all they had done for him.

But there was clearly a look of warning in Nya's eyes when his gaze locked onto hers. It was a look that told him he needed to do what he was told, what was expected of him. That look alone sent a chill running down the boy's spine.

" I promise I won't do anything stupid. I give a Kalun's promise I shall obey. Ixoi kahando poa Altzoel dhiffi leise servassam." He said, holding his hand over his heart as he spoke his promise.

" Thank you." The water ninja smiled.

The older ninja all started to make their way out of the control room at that point. But Lloyd stayed back a little. He could still see the disappointment of not being able to go along in Keo's eyes despite the promise that had just been made. And he knew what it felt like to be left behind. So he figured he'd be able to ease things for the boy a little more, hoping it would make him feel like he was doing something super special.

" Keo." He called, causing the boy to look up at him. " While you're waiting, why don't you help Pixal make sure nothing bad happens anywhere else. You might even be able to learn some stuff off her that could help in missions."

That seemed to perk the boy up. With eyes shining, Keo gave the green ninja a nod before rushing off to find a stool or chair to sit on during his task. He may not have gotten the chance to prove himself or even return the favour to the ninja, but he was all for learning new skills that could aid him in the future. He didn't notice when Pixal gave a nod of understanding herself or when Lloyd slipped out of the room to head to the hangar.

By the time Jay got to the elevator that led down to the hangar, he was in excruciating pain. Somehow, he made it into the elevator without falling over, but he quickly found himself leaning against the cabin wall for support. It didn't help that the ride down was armed with the conversations he had had with Zane the day before playing in his head.

Zane, the ever-concerned friend when it came to his teammates' health, had asked if he had been feeling alright. Jay had been an idiot and denied the dull pain that was emerging in his lower right abdomen. The two had gotten into a heated discussion about lying and going to see doctors which ended with Jay rudely walking away after declaring that he didn't need to see the doctor.

Now, though, the lightning master was beginning to wonder why he hadn't just sucked up the courage and taken his friend's offer of going with him to see the doctor. Was he too late to say he was sorry and take up that offer? Could he even bring himself to see a doctor after what had happened to him as a child? The doors to the hangar opened before he could even answer his own questions and he made his slow way over to where his vehicles rested.

" No. I've got a job to do." Jay said aloud as he made his way to his Desert Lightning Bike. " As much as I dislike Clutch Powers, I can't let those pirates near him."

Before he could get onto the bike, however, he was overcome by yet another wave of sharp pain. One that had him bent over in a sad attempt at alleviating whatever was wrong in his gut. It didn't work. And the other ninja were entering the hangar at that moment as well, which meant that he was no longer able to hide the pain.

" Jay!" Cole's voice called above everyone else's as they all rushed to his side. Or at least, he was the only voice the blue ninja could make out.

Nya was first at his side, her hands ghosting over his back and arm in fear of hurting him further should she touch him.

" Jay, please. You need to go see someone about this. You shouldn't have to hold the pain in like this." She urged.

" I'm not going to the doctors." Jay replied through gritted teeth.

" Why not?"

" They'll… They'll just make things worse."

" Or they could make things better." Cole said, trying to get through to his friend.

" How do you know?" The question came out as a growl, but no one could tell if it was the pain talking or if it was just Jay.

" Because you shouldn't be in pain like this."

" I'm not going to the doctors!" The pain subsided almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth, letting the blue ninja finally breathe again. " I don't need to."

The other ninja could only look at each other with clear concern written on their faces. It was true that Jay hated going to the doctors but if he was as sick as he clearly was, then they were going to have to get him there themselves. His health, they all knew, was more important than the surprise party they were planning.

It was Zane who spoke up next. And his voice sounded tired even as he tried to make it sound caring and concerned. " Jay. Please do not fight us on this. We only want what is best for you. And right now, that is to help you alleviate the pain you are clearly in."

" And I said I don't need some doctor coming after me." Jay replied, though his growl wasn't as aggressive as it had been. " Not again."

That just sent concern shooting through his friends even more so than what had already been coursing through their veins. And yet, none of them could figure out how to approach Jay on the matter. It didn't help that Jay had finally managed to stand on his own two feet once more and was now attempting to climb back onto his bike, either.

" Jay, I don't think that is wise." Nya called out.

" And how else am I supposed to get to the Sky Pirates?" Came her curt, but mostly pain filled reply.

" How do you expect to get there if you can't even get on your bike without hurting yourself?" Kai questioned.

And he was right. Even though he was finally able to stand up again, Jay couldn't lift his leg up high enough to get it over the seat. Every time he tried, the pain would return. And he knew that he was just lucky that the pain hadn't gotten to the point where he was on the floor again. Something that he feared the others could sense would come if he wasn't careful.

Regardless, Jay refused to make eye contact. He knew that if he did, the others would notice just how much pain he was currently in. Lloyd or someone would then pull rank on him and force him to sit out the mission for the sake of his own health (never mind the fact that it's what he should be doing in the first place). But that would also mean that someone else would have to sit out, too, because he couldn't actually drive in his current condition, no matter his attempts. That would then mean that the team would be short of the power needed to stop the Sky Pirates.

Phobia aside, he was not going to let the Sky Pirates get away with whatever they were planning.

Little did Jay know, even as he stood in from of them, frozen in pain and refusing to look at them, the others were having their own whispered conversation. One that pretty much voiced Jay's own thoughts.

They all knew that Jay had a phobia of doctors and pretty much everything they do and that it was that phobia that was playing a big part in him not wanting to abandon the mission. But Nya at least, maybe even Kai and Cole, could understand why he refused to abandon the fight against old enemies. With the amount of pain that the Sky Pirates had done to him, they knew that the blue ninja was going to make sure they didn't offer a repeat performance… on him or anyone else.

And they were almost thankful that Jay wasn't focused on what it was they were actually saying. The reason for that was because they were planning on tricking the birthday boy into taking care of himself. There was really only one problem with that, though. Their vehicles were a mixture of running fully on electric energy, running partially on hybrid technology, and linking to the driver's own elemental powers. Meaning, Jay could overpower any one of their vehicles or even override anything in the systems if he so desired.

But at the same time, it was a risk they'd have to take.

" I'll do it." Cole sighed, a little louder than he intended given how his eyes instantly widened and he turned to face Jay.

Cole's voice seemed to awaken Jay from his pain filled thoughts, because as soon as he heard it, his head whipped around to face his friends, bringing his body with it. Unfortunately, his body didn't really approve of fast movements at that point in time. Immediately Jay felt like he was going to be sick, not to mention everything ached something fierce. And the look on his face must have shown it, too, because hands were suddenly everywhere, reaching out for him to make sure he wasn't going to fall.

Time seemed to merge for a bit after that moment. Jay could feel hands on him, but he couldn't tell who they belonged to. Voices drifted in and out of his ears without making any sense. His eyes had closed, but even then, he was seeing specks of light dancing behind his eyelids. In the haze that his brain was in, the one thing he was able to make sense of was that he was in that much pain he couldn't think straight.

Somehow, he wasn't exactly sure but he had a good guess as to how, Jay found himself in the back of the Earth Driller. Cole was still by his side, fussing around with a seatbelt. Jay guessed it was his own but why were his friend's hands shaking? A small noise managed to escape his lips, easily alerting the older boy to the fact that his friend's pain had subsided once again.

" Easy, Jay. We're gonna get on the road in just a minute." Cole said calmly, although the lightning ninja could tell from his voice that he was being cautious with his words. " Just need to make sure you're not going to fly out of the cockpit on me."

" Yeah, it would help not to die on my birthday." Jay tried to joke. " Bad enough I have to fight pirates that hate me. And this pain is the worst."

What Jay failed to notice was the dark look on Cole's face as he spoke. With how sick his friend currently was, the Earth Master did not need to be reminded of how the day's plans had gone down the drain. He also didn't need the thoughts of possibly losing his best friend to anything, be it pirate or illness.

Really, Jay was just making him worry more with his words.

" Zane told us you refused his help earlier." He said instead, his voice with a hard edge to it that he tried to hide. " You should have done something about the pain then. It wouldn't be as bad now."

Happy that Jay was significantly locked in the back seat, Cole slid himself into the driver's seat and started up the engine. Not long afterwards, the two were making their way into the city.

" You know I don't like doctors, Cole." Jay's tone was almost accusatory, but Cole paid no heed to it.

" I know. You fight us every time you need medical attention after a particularly nasty fight… even if it's one of us that needs to patch you up."

" Then why are you so adamant I go see a doctor if you know I hate them?"

" Because we don't like seeing you in pain. And if a doctor can make it so that you're not in pain anymore, then we will get you there and be with you all the way through the visit so that you know they are only trying to help you. Seeing you in pain scares us, Jay, just like I know it scares you when you see any one of us in pain."

Silence fell in the back seat of the Earth Driller at those words… and it made Cole edgy. The thing was, even though they knew Jay was afraid of doctors and medical procedures, none of the ninja knew exactly why he was afraid. All any of them knew was that he'd fight whoever was trying to take care of him… even if he knew who they were. The thing was, both Cole and Jay could see this conversation fast approaching a point where Jay would need to explain his fear.

Very quietly, so quietly that Cole had to strain his hearing, Jay whispered to himself, " What if it's all just a rouse to get you to lower your guard?"

" Jay?" the master of earth questioned, all sorts of thoughts rushing through his head, silently begging his friend to speak up.

That wasn't what happened, though. Instead, as Jay looked out of the window in an attempt to ignore the growing silence, he noticed the Land Cruiser II turn into the lane beside them and then off in another direction entirely. Confused, the lightning ninja looked down at the screen in front of him, easily pulling up a map on the device and punching in Clutch Powers' address. That's when he noticed that Cole was taking him, not to the fight like he thought, but to the Ninjago City Hospital.

" Cole, turn around!" he ordered, his fear making him yell.

For a reply, he got a curse instead. And that just worsened his fear. It meant that Cole had been planning on tricking him all along, meant that his best friend was going to betray him yet again. Regardless of the fact that this time it was to take care of his health.

Even so, electricity began to tingle across the backs of the blue ninja's hands in warning. And that warning was seen, heard and felt, loud and clear, by the earth master in the driver's seat.

" Sorry, Jay. I can't do that." Cole growled back, a concerned edge to his hard voice. " That dizzy spell you had back in the hangar caused you to faint from the movements and the amount of pain you're in. The safest place for you right now is the hospital."

" No it's not, Cole. Doctors are evil! They break your bones on you and try to blind you with needles! They're not friendly! I'd rather take my chances with the Sky Pirates! Now turn back!"

Sparks started to get stronger at the outburst, jumping off Jay's skin and into the air a little more often. Cole didn't know what to do. Trying to calm Jay down was going to be a nightmare with how worked up he already was, not to mention the information he had just been given was a doozy to process. It made him wonder just what happened in Jay's childhood because he knew that, as a ninja at least, the doctors had always been as gentle as they could be with Jay.

But out of everything that was going through Cole's head at that moment, only one thing managed to get passed his lips.

" Jay, don't you dare fry my Earth Driller!"

" Have I said how much I really don't like this?" Nya said, sitting in the passenger seat as Kai drove the rest of the team to the Clutch Powers Mansion.

" Because we're tricking Jay or because of your history with the Sky Pirates?" Lloyd asked, the uncomfortable feelings swimming in his gut easily visible on Nya's face.

" Both."

" As much as it pains all of us to have done what we did, it was the best course of action." Zane replied.

" It still feels like we're betraying his trust. I mean, Jay hates going to the doctors and we're dragging him there. To make it worse, I can understand why Jay wants to stop the Sky Pirates, possibly more than any one of you. Health aside, that is."

That was something the boys couldn't deny. They knew of the Sky Pirates only through their encounter on the Dark Island as well as the words that were spoken about them… and even those were scarce considering how they were told. Add to that just how painful the fights to get Jay to the doctors could be, both physically and mentally, and they could all see how tough the situation was for the water ninja.

Kai looked over at his sister with soft eyes. " He'll understand why we did this… eventually. Once he's actually feeling better. It's what always happens."

" You're right." Nya sighed.

Still, the feeling would not go away. Nya tried to ignore it, though, as they got closer to their destination. She even tried her hardest to concentrate on getting Kai to the right place instead of the dark feeling within her. But even as the richer part of the city came into view, she could tell that the feeling was only getting stronger.

Before long (and mostly thanks to Kai's erratic driving), Clutch Powers' Mansion had come into view. Gold coated fencing lined the perimeter of the massive block of land, upon which sat a three story building made of white brick. Pillars coated in either gold or bronze accentuated the white of the stones. And yet, even as the Land Bounty II got closer to the mansion, it was clear that the place was more a cheap show than anything else.

Apparently, Clutch liked to live large and spend little while doing so.

But they weren't there to admire the place. They needed to find some Sky Pirates and stop them from plundering the place.

Kai parked the Land Bounty II half on the nature strip before letting everyone out of the vehicle. As soon as he was off himself, Zane quickly took the lead and started scanning along the fence for any damage or other signs of forced entry. After about five minutes, his scanners managed to pick something up.

" This way." He said, leading the others along the perimeter.

Following at a trot, it was soon easy to see where the escaped criminals had created their entry into the grounds. About six or seven metres along the side fence, one of the fence panels had been ripped out of the ground entirely, the twisted metal lying on the grass just inside the fence line.

" I think we found where Dogshank created their entry." Lloyd pointed out stupidly, looking at the twisted fence panel like he wished Cole was with them.

" Channelling your inner Jay, are you Green Bean?" Kai joked, though he was also eyeing the twisted metal.

" You could say that."

" Well, let's focus on what we have to do and then we can go meet up with him and Cole at the hospital."

Nods of confirmation followed, steeling all their nerves, before the four ninja rushed through the gaping hole in the fence. The only good thing was that they didn't have to try hard to find the pirates. For however long they had been in the grounds, it sounded like they had been arguing with each other at the same time… half of which sounded like it was one sided while other parts had a metallic monkey screeching at them.

" B-b-but I still don't u-u-understand why, I mean of all of us, I h-h-had to c-come back. I-I-I don't know what you r-r-remember about the C-C-Cap'n, b-but I'm happy with my job." The stuttered words of the snake pirate reached the ninja's ears as they got closer to the motley group.

There were a few minutes of silence that was only accentuated by the fact that one of the pirates was moving his body rapidly. What seemed to be a screech of agreement from the monkey on his shoulder followed shortly after.

" I kinda agree with Clancee, though." The glint of an accent broke through the silence. " Why are we here? We were not long due out of that prison ourselves, ne'ermind the fact he was out earlier for good behaviour."

" You know, that's a good question." Kai spoke up once he and the rest of his team were close enough, thus causing the pirates to turn and face them in shock. " Because, when you think about it, you've just given yourselves more time in prison for breaking out."

To watch all five pirates before them suddenly realised that what the fire master was saying was true was a somewhat odd feeling. It was like watching a lightbulb turn on above all of their heads. After a minute of thinking things through, Flintlock made to open his mouth to try and explain what he could of their situation. But then a crash sounded on the street before he could get any words out.

" I really don't think this is a good idea, you know." A very familiar voice shouted through the silence that followed in the early morning.

Worst of all, the sound of that very familiar voice send dread running through the ninja already in the grounds. That very familiar voice, you see, belonged to Cole. And if Cole was there, then that meant Jay was also there, especially with how the earth master was talking. That in itself told them that Jay had found out about their little plan and had taken it into his own hands to right what he believed was their wrong.

Sure enough, as all eyes focussed on the road, there was Jay somehow storming his way over to them. Following behind was a somewhat irksome Cole. The reason for that, easily seen behind him, was that Jay had somehow managed to crash the Earth Driller into Clutch Powers' front fence. So it was fair to say that Cole's most prized vehicle being smashed, and the fact that his friend was ignoring him and not getting his own health checked, meant that Cole wasn't too happy with the situation.

About halfway towards the gathering of pirates and ninja, though, Jay was forced to stop. It gave Cole a chance to catch up to him, but his movements had gained a more urgent air about them. The reason was because Jay, as much as he struggled not to, had doubled over in pain and looked to be retching this time. Without a second thought, both Nya and Zane had rushed over to his side, leaving Lloyd and Kai to deal with the Sky Pirates.

" Let me get this straight, you let your clearly sick crewmate follow you to try and fight us? Because it looks to me like you're here for a fight." Dogshank growled in incredulity.

" Don't insult our intelligence like that!" Kai bristled. " He is clearly going against our advice."

" As for fighting," Lloyd added less aggressively, " that all depends on you. We came to stop you from destroying Clutch Powers' Mansion. If you go peacefully back to Kryptarium, then we won't fight you."

" And if we don't?" Flintlocke asked, acting as a voice for Dubloon.

" Then we're going to have to use force." A rather sickly sounding growl responded from behind the red and green ninja.

Once again, all eyes found themselves locked onto the form of the lightning ninja. Somehow, he had heard the exchange of words from where he was trying not to hack up whatever was wrong in his gut and had managed to settle himself enough to continue his trek. And even though his face betrayed the amount of pain he was clearly in, both Lloyd and Kai could see in his eyes that he was just waiting for a reason to attack.

" Is that supposed to be a threat?" Dogshank growled, but with the way that Dubloon had moved it was hard to tell if she was talking for herself or the two-faced man.

" Only if you make it one."

Lloyd and Kai could only look at each other in shock. They had never seen Jay like this before. And, quite frankly, they weren't sure if they liked it. To make matters worse, the blue ninja had managed to get himself in a position that protected his stomach area if he was attacked by the pirates.

Cole, Zane and Nya hurried to their sides, the looks on their own faces a mixture of concern and confusion (and irritation in Cole's case).

" I've alerted Pixal to Jay's worsening condition and requested her presence here." Zane whispered to the red and green ninja. " She should be here shortly."

" Wait, worsening?" Kai repeated, eyes wide as he turned to Zane.

All the titanium ninja did was give a solemn nod. Unfortunately, that just had Kai turning to Jay with concern blazing through annoyance in his eyes.

" First Spinjitzu Master, Jay! Why won't you do what you need to do in order to take care of yourself?"

" Because that means going to see doctors and doctors are evil!" Jay growled back like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Nya could only sigh as she moved over to her boyfriend and placed a hand on his tense shoulder. " And you know that any one of us will be by your side all the way."

The water ninja could feel some of the tension leave Jay's body as she spoke, giving her a small sense of hope that he would finally do something. But it quickly returned when Dogshank made a move towards Clutch Powers' Mansion. In warning, Jay sent a bolt of lightning just in front of the massive woman's feet, but all it seemed to do was anger the pirate.

That's when all hell seemed to break loose. Immediately, Dogshank was storming towards the lightning ninja, claiming that he had started the fight that she was going to finish. Jay returned her words with a growl of his own, claiming that he had sent her a warning shot and not an actual attack. Lloyd, who had been talking with Flintlocke to try and understand why they had broken out of prison in the first place (because it really seemed like they were at the mansion for a specific reason), instantly went to calm both of them down only to end up struggling with Flintlocke instead.

In all the commotion, no one saw what actually happened. All they knew was that one minute things were somewhat fine considering everyone was yelling and arguing, and the next, Jay was lying on his side screaming bloody murder. Even Dogshank had to take a step back in surprise as Zane hurried to Jay's side, Nya already kneeling beside him. The other three ninja were then quick to form a barrier around their downed comrade at the scream as well.

" I didn't touch him, I swear I didn't touch him!" Dogshank said, hands up in surrender at the glares that she was receiving.

" Well, it's your word against his screams! And seeing that I don't really trust you…" Kai growled back, his fist flexing despite him managing to keep his arm from moving up to his sword.

" Don't make things worse, Kai." Lloyd warned.

Kai would have argued the point a little more except for the fact that loud revving could be heard close by… and it was getting closer. What's more, it sounded like a motorcycle was coming towards them. Concerned with how loud the motorcycle's revs were getting, Cole turned to look at the road. Just in time to witness what looked like Jay's Desert Lightning Bike flying over his crashed Earth Driller and the fence like it was riding on air.

And given who the rider looked to be, that was a high possibility.

For, sitting unexpectedly well considering he'd never ridden a motorbike before, was Keo. The look on his face, however, was another story. Under the helmet he had somehow managed to find, the kid's eyes were blown wide with fear and a hint of urgency. And with both kid and bike still in mid-air, Cole could share that fear. In fact, he had gone pale at the sight, unable to tear his own eyes away from the scene before him.

" Land the bike, Keo!" The Earth Elemental eventually managed to yell, alerting everyone else to who the rider was (not that the extremely loud engine didn't alert them all already).

Cole honestly didn't know what was worse; witnessing Keo literally flying in on his best friend's motorbike or watching the kid land said motorbike. Almost as soon as he had called out to the young wind elemental, Keo had stopped using his wind powers. This caused the Desert Lightning to drop out of the sky quite close to where Jay was still screaming out in agony.

" And I thought Lloyd would be the one giving me heart attacks." Cole found himself whispering to Kai.

" Hey!" Lloyd had obviously heard from the other side of the fire master.

" Well, now you've got your own heart attack giver. Lloyd is officially mine." Kai replied, ignoring the younger of the three of them.

" As high strung as this situation is, I do not appreciate being called a 'heart attack giver'."

" It's true though." Both Kai and Cole replied, stunning the green ninja into silence.

Clearly beaten, Lloyd had no choice but to return his focus to his surroundings. And that included trying to check if Keo had hurt himself as well as keeping an eye on the sky pirates. From the looks of things, though, Keo seemed fine.

After taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, the kid had finally managed to dismount the motorbike… but he was physically shaking from his experience. Removing the helmet seemed to help calm him a little, though. But then he turned to face Nya and Zane… and saw the betrayal in the water ninja's eyes.

" Keo, you promised." Was all Nya had to say to him for the guilt wash over him.

And Keo looked like he was going to reply, probably to apologise… until his slightly glowing eyes squinted just a little and the wind picked up again. Only this time, the wind seemed to be channelling itself towards the sky pirates. All the ninja, sans Jay, focused their attention on the direction of the blowing wind. But none were expecting to find three miniature tornadoes spinning around the sky pirates like they had just been rounded up like flock animals.

" I'll try my best to explain later." The wind elemental said, relaxing his eyes but not his powers. " But right now you need to get Jay to the hospital. Omeron is getting angsty."

At the mention of the lightning spirit guide, Zane could not help but turn to face Keo himself. Aside from the unnatural glow, the boy's eyes were a mixture of determination, worry and something else he could not quite put a name to. That something and the glowing, he had surmised beforehand, had some kind of connection. Most likely, both were connected to his supernatural abilities.

But, even more important was that he had seen that look before. It was a look that, despite Keo's young age, was not to be ignored.

" We will get him there." He said before turning to Cole. " Cole, can we have the keys to the Earth Driller please?"

" No can do, Zane." The earth master shook his head. " Either I'm going to have to power it home myself or we're going to have to tow it. Jay's fried the electricals in it… again."

Even Nya couldn't help but close her eyes and sigh at that discovery. There were times when Jay's panicking could be a real pain.

" We'll take the Desert Lightning." She said, moving to take the handles of said motorbike from Keo. " Zane, hold Jay?"

" If I must." Was her reply.

Within moments, Nya and Zane were taking off to the hospital, Jay sandwiched between them with his voice going hoarse from all the screaming.

It hurt the others just to listen to those screams. The only thing they told them was that something had gone terribly wrong inside their friend's body. And not one of them could wait for the moment that they could be by Jay's side again so that they could help him through that pain. Even if the only thing they could do was just be by his side.

But Cole, Lloyd and Kai knew that they had a few things that needed to be done before they could return to their friend's side. Namely take care of the sky pirates and what they were doing at Clutch Powers' mansion and having a little talk with Keo for disobeying them.

When Nya and Zane arrived at the hospital, they found themselves grateful that moving Jay off the motorcycle had caused him to start screaming again. Well, aside from the fact that it hurt to know that they had caused pain to go streaming through him again, that is. The place was packed… even for the early morning. Zane had to carry Jay into the emergency room, too, so that, combined with his screams, definitely caught the attention of the nurses.

Nya managed to give the nurses Jay's more personal details before her boyfriend managed to open his eyes and saw where he was. That was when things took a turn for the worst. Jay started panicking and struggling against Zane, clearly attempting to escape. And the ice ninja had no choice but to rely on his bionic strength in order to keep him under control. It was both a relief and a worry to know that the lightning master was too weak to use his lightning at that point.

" I'm so sorry about this." Nya apologised to the nurse. " He has this extreme fear of doctors which is why it's taken this long to get him here."

" It's all right, dearie. I can guarantee that we've had worse today." The older nurse smiled back almost tiredly. " What did you say his symptoms were?"

Zane managed to settle Jay enough to be able to speak at that point. " We think he has appendicitis. His bowel movement is almost non-existent and has been for a couple of days now, he has been unsteady on his feet and, as such, unable to move to his full capabilities, and just from observations I've noticed he is holding his abdominal region a lot. His pain levels are also extremely high if the screams are anything to go by."

" A friend of ours tried to bring him in earlier, but he fought with him and ended up following us to where we were going instead. Next thing we knew, Jay had collapsed on the ground screaming." Nya added, omitting the fact that they had been on a mission at the time.

" I'll see if we can get him seen right away. But we can only allow one person who isn't family in with him. The other would have to wait in the waiting room." the nurse nodded with an apologetic look on her face.

Nya and Zane looked at each other. Out of the two of them, both knew who would be the one to stay with Jay. And it wasn't the Ice master.

" I'll wait for when the others arrive. And I'll call his parents. As Jay's yang, you have more right to be by his side that I do as just his friend." Zane said, cementing the thought.

Even the nurse agreed on the plan, which surprised Nya a little. But Jay's whimpers quickly focussed her attention back on his care. And before Nya knew what had happened, the nurse had already called for someone to better assess Jay.

Zane tilted his head to the side after gaining Nya's attention for himself. Clearly he was suggesting they moved out of the way of the nurses' desk, which would also be the sensible thing to do. Nya took the hint. But before either of them could figure out where to sit, another nurse appeared with a wheelchair and called for Jay.

The look of agony and betrayal that Jay sent both Zane and Nya as he was placed in the wheelchair was enough to almost shatter the ice ninja's core. And by the looks of it, not even Nya was immune. She brushed the hair out of his face and whispered what she hoped were strengthening words, before kissing his forehead and walking with the nurse into the emergency room. This left Zane to go outside so that he could get better reception when calling his teammates and, more importantly, Jay's parents.

Of course, that was priority number one. Ed and Edna Walker needed to know what was going on with their son so that they could be by his side as soon as possible. Which meant that Zane had to get on to them as soon as possible. There was just one minor problem. It had been so long since Zane, himself, had conversed with either of Jay's parents that he had forgotten how… intense they could be at times.

As soon as Zane had managed to get onto Edna and tell her that Jay was in the hospital, she had started worrying something fierce. Her voice had gone from confused cheeriness to one that feared for her child's life as she quickly jumped to conclusions and threatened whichever villain put him there. It surprised the nindroid that such a sweet old lady could turn into such a mama bear at the flick of a switch when needed. It took talking to Ed to get all the information across on what was going on.

Ed promised that he and his wife were on the way shortly before ending the call. Zane just hoped that they were both speedy and careful as they made their way to see Jay. After all, it would not do to have them in an accident as well.

The sky had lightened considerably by the time Zane had gotten off the phone and gone back inside to the waiting room. He had gone in search of an update on Jay, but Nya was nowhere to be seen. True, she hadn't promised to come out and tell him what she could, but it also meant that their lightning wielder was in that much pain and fear that Nya herself was afraid of leaving him.

Either way, it made the ice master worry even more for the health of his friend. And the machine brewed tea that was now in his hands did nothing to settle that worry. Nor did the magazines that were standard in the waiting room. Before he knew it, Kai, Cole and Lloyd had joined him, looking all manners of exhausted and worried.

Shortly behind the silent arrival of his friends were Ed and Edna. But they didn't seem to realise that the other ninja were in the waiting room. They just made their way straight to the nurses' desk and were soon ushered into the emergency ward. And still time seemed to move slowly for the titanium ninja.

" No news on Jay?" Lloyd's voice pulled Zane from his thoughts.

The young man had just returned from the bathroom with a strong smelling coffee in his hands. Zane hadn't even realised that he had left for the bathroom. Nor did he realise that both Cole and Kai had strong coffees of their own in their hands. So it was a little bit of a surprise from all three of them when Zane had to register what had just been asked.

" Negative." The nindroid replied with a sigh. " It's making me worry even more for his health."

" He'll come out of it alright. It's Jay." Kai said with a small smile, although his eyes gave away his own worries.

" I do know that, but with the look of betrayal he sent my way before going in, I cannot help how I feel."

Cole put a comforting hand on his shoulder. As for words, none could be spoken after that. So the boys kind of lapsed into silence… until Kai decided he needed to let Zane know what had happened after he and Nya had left for the hospital. The sky pirates had to be contained until the police arrived to take them all back to prison for trespassing and escape, but they still wouldn't say a thing about why they were there in the first place. Once they were gone, Cole ended up trying to fix the fence where both they and the pirates had broken it before waiting around for Pixal.

When Pixal did finally arrive in her samurai suit, she immediately went into reprimanding Keo for leaving the monastery. None of the older boys had stopped her, either. They had done the same thing, after all. But once things had calmed down somewhat, Pixal returned to the monastery, taking both Keo and the Earth Driller with her. Although, before he left, Keo did mention that he had started decorating the lounge room for the surprise party before he had been urged to get Jay to the hospital.

When Lloyd mentioned the surprise party, Zane felt his ice powers start to tingle along the backs of his hands. And the other boys could feel the temperature drop around them because of that. There was good reason for the reaction, too. In all the commotion that was the sky pirates and Jay being in pain, thought of Jay's birthday had easily slipped from the mind. And the returned knowledge only served to make Zane feel worse about what was going on.

For the entire year, Jay had been planning the best birthdays for all five of his friends. And each one of those birthdays had been unique to each friend. Not to mention they had been on their birthdays. As a combination of a thank you and a celebration of Jay's birthday, Cole and Nya had come up with the idea of a surprise party for him which was to be held that afternoon. Even Ed and Edna were in on it.

But with Jay being in the hospital, plans had to be put aside. And it sucked. There was no other way to say it. Because it meant that none of the other ninja could give Jay the perfect birthday that he deserved.

" What are we going to do now?" Kai asked, breaking the silence that had formed after the debrief as he tried to calm Zane enough to control his ice powers.

" There is nothing we can do. Jay is in emergency and will likely be admitted." Zane pointed out with a sigh. He didn't need Kai to point out that he needed to control his powers, but he appreciated the comfort that his friend was trying to give him.

" Actually, there is one thing we can do." Cole said, gaining all attention. " We wait to see what's going to happen next and postpone the party if necessary. Until we know what's going on, the only thing we can do is figure out how to make Jay feel better now, without going too extreme."

" That means no hugs." Lloyd muttered, more towards Kai than anyone else.

" Especially not with the amount of pain that he was in when he left Clutch Powers' Mansion."

More silence filled the void that was an attempt to figure out what to do. But without word on Jay's health, it was kind of hard to think about what to do. At most, something would pop into someone's head and they would open their mouth as if to speak, but nothing would come out and they would end up just shaking their head.

Throughout all this, Zane kept his eyes on the emergency room's doors. At some point, he wasn't sure when, both Cole and Kai had to get up to use the bathroom themselves. Lloyd stayed with him, trying to do some puzzle in one of the magazines that had accumulated next to the nindroid. Finally, sometime after the earth and fire elementals had returned, the emergency room doors opened to three familiar faces.

" You were right, Zane." Nya said as she made her way to her brother and friends, followed by Ed and Edna. The four boys looked up at her words. " It's appendicitis. They've taken Jay in for emergency surgery because his appendix burst, although I'm not exactly sure if it was a punch Dogshank possibly threw at him that did it. And I was with him when he went down."

No one knew what to say. The most anyone did as a response was nod their head, and that just so happened to be Zane. Lloyd and Cole, completely stunned by the information, could only silently offer their seats to Ed and Edna. Both of them were thinking over what had happened to get to this point with Cole going one step further and driving his best friend along a different route to the hospital instead of making it seem like he was heading to the fight.

Nya made her way over to the seat beside her brother, intending to sit there after having gone numb from everything. Instead, she found herself sitting on Kai's lap, wrapped in his warm embrace as he silently allowed her to let go and show her more tender side given the situation.

It was a few minutes before any noise came from the group, and when it did, it made almost everyone jump.

" Ha." Kai huffed out, gaining everyone's attention. " And he said that I was the one to always throw a spanner in the works when it came to planning birthday parties."

" You're really thinking about that now when your friend is currently lying on an operating table?" Nya hissed, smacking his shoulder.

" But it's true. I'm not saying I blame him for getting sick or anything, but it kind of sucks that all this is happening on his birthday. And this was definitely not the kind of surprise that we had planned either."

" Oh gosh, how are we going to turn this around for Jay?" Ed asked, understanding where the fire ninja was coming from.

Surprisingly, it was Lloyd who spoke up. " Jay's going to be in the hospital for a few days recovering from the surgery, so we have some more time to plan and let everyone else know about the situation. But the party itself is going to need to be postponed."

" Oh, but we mustn't forget that Jay would be in fear the whole time." Edna spoke up. " He's afraid of hospitals and doctors, don't you know."

" We know." Cole muttered under his breath. If anyone heard him, he was ignored.

" Why is that, Mrs Walker?" Nya asked gently.

The older woman gained an almost sorrowful expression to her features.

" Well," She started, " when he was a young boy, before he met any of you, Jay had a penchant for climbing things in the middle of lightning storms. Namely the rather tall junk piles that littered the junkyard. One night, he had snuck out in the middle of the night during a rather nasty storm. And, to make matters worse, the rain was torrential. Jay, the foolish boy, had tried climbing up one of the junk piles in the terrible weather and we guess that he was almost at the top when he lost his footing and his grip on the wet surfaces. Ed and I were woken by the noise thinking it was just a really loud clap of thunder… until we heard the scream."

" That scream sent chills running down our spines, it did." Ed added. " It was… I have no word for it. But it was the most terrible sound that we had ever heard. Edna and I ran to Jay's room only to realised that he wasn't there. That was when we realised that the crash wasn't from above us. We ran outside and to the back of the caravan where we found our boy underneath scraps of junk and holding his right eye. It wasn't until after we had moved him from under the pile that we noticed his left leg was more than definitely broken. I ended up calling the ambulance purely and simply because I couldn't stomach what had happened to my son. I don't know how Edna managed to stay there."

" Because my son was injured and needed me. That's how. But, gosh, did the sight make my stomach churn." Edna reminded her husband. She then returned her attention to the group of teenagers around her and continued with the story. " But it was at the hospital that things got worse. Jay was already scared to death and in pain because of what had happened, so when the doctors said he would need emergency surgery to fix his broken leg, he freaked something fierce. Now, Jay had never been away from home before then. And surgery meant to him that he would have to stay in the hospital for I don't know how long his mind gave him. So that worsened his fear.

" But while he was in surgery, he woke up. The doctors had said that he shouldn't have been able to feel any pain, but he saw things and he felt things and it… well, it traumatised him. He told me, once he was back home, that he saw one of the doctors leaning in to stitch up the cut above his right eye and that he could feel them doing something to his already broken leg. Even now, after having gone to someone to help him figure things out from the surgery, he fears that something like that is going to happen again whenever he sees even just the family doctor."

" We were lucky in a way, when it came to getting Jay in a hospital to see other people. He seemed to take to it rather quickly. But like my Edna just said, the real pain was getting him there or to a doctor with him being the patient. We'd have to drag him kicking and screaming just to get him a check-up." Ed finished.

Silence fell once more within the group as they took in the story they had just been told. Mixed emotions ran through each of the ninja, ranging from exasperation to concern and even pity. But the main thing that went through each of their minds was 'at least they knew why Jay feared doctors'. There were even a few thoughts on how Jay's friends could better help him overcome his fear now that they were armed with this new information… well, after the initial shock of the story wore off.

Cole's mind, however, had travelled to the moments in the Earth Driller when Jay had started panicking about going to the hospital. More specifically what his best friend had said about doctors being evil and why.

It all made sense now. Jay probably had a medical file with notes on it that told the doctors and nurses just what had happened when he was a kid, too. So that would explain any sensitivity that the doctors and nurses showed towards the lightning master.

Lloyd must have seen the look on Cole's face, though, because he was quickly questioned on his thoughts. At first, the earth master didn't think it was right for him to answer those questions, always trying to turn the focus off him. But then Edna made an easy guess that Jay had finally started to open up about his fears, even if he didn't realise what he was doing. That left Cole unable to do anything but explain what was going through his head, starting with what he had learned in the Earth Driller.

His words got the others thinking as well, but some even voiced their own thoughts on how to help their friend.

After the telling of Jay's troubling hospital experience as a kid, all thoughts of Jay's birthday party were lost to the minds of those who were hoping that their friend and son would be okay. In fact, it wasn't until after Lloyd, Kai and Zane had returned back to the monastery that the thoughts returned. And it had only been because they had walked into the lounge room where Keo had started decorating for the birthday party. The three boys decided then to clean up and alert everyone of what was going on.

Things hadn't changed much when Nya and Cole returned from the hospital, either. Well, there was no more evidence of the party to be seen other than some notes that were now laid over the lounge room table. And Lloyd, Kai and Zane seemed to be looking over them when the two had walked in, thoroughly exhausted.

The black and silver ninja had remained at the hospital with Ed and Edna to wait for Jay to come out of surgery. But judging from the looks on their faces when they walked in, something wasn't quite right. And trying to get anything out of the two was almost like fighting a battle. Cole was too panicked to even form comprehensible words, which was out of character for him so something must have gone down, and Nya only said that Jay was awake before disappearing into the bathroom.

Neither Lloyd, Kai nor Zane could get anything out of Nya or Cole after that. So they could only assume what had gone on in the hospital. The only thing that would come to mind, however, was that Jay hadn't been as pleased to see them as they had been to see him awake and recovering.

" He said he hated me! Again!" Cole was clearly more agitated than first thought.

It had been some time since he and Nya had gotten home, and he had finally emerged from the training room not long after Nya had emerged from the bathroom. Of course, as stressed as he was, Cole still had energy within him that could not be released from taking out a punching bag or two. And, apparently, his solution to releasing that stress was to pace in front of the others as they tried to sort out what to do in the lounge room.

Nya had also joined the boys in the lounge room, but she looked a lot less stressed by the situation than the black ninja. In fact, where she sat between her brother and adopted brother, she looked more tired than anything. There was more than one occasion where either Lloyd or Kai would think that she had fallen asleep thanks to the way she held her head in her hands and had her eyes closed.

The only thing that told any of the boys that she was still awake was when a small ball of water started to form after Cole's words. Almost instinctively, Lloyd and Kai inched away from the water ninja who had since opened her eyes slightly in order to aim her attack. Cole, however, remained oblivious as he continued pacing before her. He didn't even take any notice when the ball of water floated over to and above his head.

Needless to say, the second the earth master opened his mouth to start complaining again, the water ball was dropped, and he was left a shrieking, spluttering mess.

" You're not a ghost anymore, Cole. There's no need for that." Nya grumbled, tiredly. " There's also no need to act the way you are with what Jay said. You know he'd never mean it. It's only because we were the ones who put him in the hospital."

" Correction, you put him there. I tried to get him there and he ended up frying my Earth Driller."

" Technicalities. The thing is, he's sore about what we did to get him the help he needed, because he clearly wasn't doing it himself. Don't take to heart what he said because you are still his best friend, and he is still yours. Now quit pacing and help us figure out what to do about this surprise party."

Cole tilted his head back in an attempt to calm himself down, not caring that he was spraying water on the floor and walls behind him. Zane, however, did care. And he was almost glaring at the black ninja for doing so. Thankfully he had also noticed his little brother peeking around the lounge room door and had sent Echo a quick digital message to send Gizmo to clean up, which the copper nindroid hurried to do.

" The only thing we've worked out is that the party is postponed. We don't even know when to." The earth master groaned after a minute or two.

" One week's time, exactly." Lloyd said almost offhandedly. Both Nya and Cole turned to look at him, confusion clearly written on their faces. " We worked it out while you were still at the hospital. Zane needed to know before letting the rest of the guests know."

" We've been home for two hours now. When were we going to find that out?" Nya growled.

" Nya, calm down. We were going to tell you as soon as we could. But you took a shower as soon as you got home and, well… Cole was stressing." Kai tried to soothe.

Nya took a deep breath. " Well, I guess I should tell you all that I promised Jay we'd show up later this afternoon for his birthday. Although, he may still be a little peeved about his current predicament."

" I figured that would be the case. So I packed a few essentials for you to take over to him." A voice said from the doorway to the lounge room.

All eyes turned towards the voice, easily spotting Pixal standing there and holding one of Jay's backpacks up. Behind her, once more peeping around the door, was Echo Zane who was trying to urge the Tai-D bot into the room. But Pixal knew that all attention was on her and not the other droid, so she took that chance to enter the room. The look on her face was a mix of smugness (which she usually donned when surprising the others with her preparedness) and of empathy. It was clear to the ninja that she also hoped Jay would get better quickly despite the issues he obviously had.

" I've packed a couple of sets of pyjamas and one of every day wear, his soft toy, the blanket his mother sent him last birthday, and some things he could use to help speed up the time, so to speak." She said as she placed the bag on the table. " I've also included my birthday present to him. I think he might enjoy it while he is stuck in the hospital."

" What did you get him?" Lloyd asked, thoroughly interested in the secret the female droid had been keeping for quite some time now.

For his troubles, he received a swat on the arm courtesy of Nya.

" Let's just say it's something new that I hope he will enjoy."

And just like that, the conversation switched from planning Jay's now postponed birthday to trying to figure out what presents everyone had gotten Jay. More importantly, everyone was trying to figure out when they were going to give their presents to the birthday boy. Would it be beneficial to Jay's mental health to receive presents at the hospital or would it be better to receive those presents in a more private and comfortable setting?

After quite a few minutes, it became clear that Nya and Cole were going to join Pixal in giving Jay his birthday presents on his actual birthday. For one reason or another Kai, Lloyd and Zane opted that the birthday party would be the more comfortable way for Jay to receive his gifts. Kai saw it as an opportunity to make sure that his gift was perfect for his friend (even though everyone he asked already said that it was perfect).

But when Cole asked if Keo would be joining them on the trip to the hospital to see Jay and give him his gift, Lloyd shook his head in the negative.

" Keo's been grounded. He's not allowed to leave the monastery for a week. If he has to, he has to have two of us with him. But get this, he's put himself on strict training while he's grounded. Uncle Wu only gave him today and tomorrow of intense training." The green ninja replied.

" And judging from past gifts, I believe that Keo would much enjoy seeing the reaction to what he has to give Jay himself rather than letting someone else give the gift for him." Zane added.

" So that makes Keo a party giver." Kai said. " Anything else we need to change about the party? Visiting hours start soon. I just checked."

" Jay will still be in recovery when he returns. Some of the games will need to be changed."

" I will go over the list while you five are gone, review the games and make changes accordingly. Echo may also like to help." Pixal offered, looking over at Echo Zane who was now standing in the doorway. Said droid immediately donned a massive grin on his face and nodded his head enthusiastically, a clear yet silent sign that he would love to help. " I will also check any pre-orders we may have to do in terms of food and the likes. Tell Jay I wish him well."

" And me and Gizmo." Echo piped up, finally finding his voice in all the commotion that had occurred that day. " And I'll give him his birthday present when I see him, too."

" We'll make sure to wish Jay a happy birthday from the both of you." Nya smiled at both of her droid friends.

And just like that, Pixal was gone. Echo following after her with eagerness to help while Gizmo finished up with his cleaning task.

Their leave also meant that the ninja needed to get a move on themselves if they wanted to make it to the hospital in time. That meant getting dressed and, in Nya and Cole's cases, getting their birthday presents for Jay ready. Although why Cole had to check which game console of Jay's had been put into his backpack was a little confusing to the others.

Jay looked around his private hospital room, wary but high on pain killers at the same time. It was one of the more homey looking rooms in the hospital with somewhat nice carpet, beige painted walls and light timber furnishings. It was still fairly boring, though. But ever since his parents had left not long after the lunch trolley had gone past his room, and mainly because the doctors had told them that they couldn't stay, he had been cautiously watching the door.

To be honest, he was praying to the First Spinjitzu Master that no more doctors showed up to do anything else to him. A nurse had arrived at one point afterwards, needing to check his vitals and pain levels and such. But mostly he was left alone to watch the standard television he didn't even bother to turn on and fight with himself not to fall asleep in case the doctors showed up and did something to him.

Of course, sleep had no qualms about who it took into its clutches and when. And it was always sneaky about when it would take over the mind. So it was that Jay was startled awake by the sound of someone knocking on his hospital door, confused as to who it was and when he had fallen asleep.

Expecting to see a nurse walk in, or worse a doctor, he found himself surprised as first Kai then Nya and Cole, Lloyd and Zane entered the room. Nya even had one of his backpacks in hand.

" Hey, bud. How you feeling?" Kai asked softly.

" I hate you." Jay deadpanned, his voice croaky from sleep. " All of you."

The males of the team all looked to each other, Cole clearly trying to get something across with his eyes alone. Nya, however, took one of the two chairs in the room and went to sit next to her bedbound boyfriend.

" I still don't believe you." She said. " And I know that you don't believe it either, deep down."

" How do you know? You're not the one who woke up in pain. You're not the one who could barely do Spinjitzu. You're not the one who had to go after pirates on your birthday. And to top it off, you're not the one who was forced into the hospital, a place you hate because of bad incidents as a child as you now know thanks to my parents. This is the worst birthday ever."

Jay turned his head away, not wanting to look at any of his friends, trying to keep his fears and emotions in check. Unfortunately for him, his little speech had told everyone in the room that he was scared and that he felt betrayed by them. And, in some small yet weird kind of way, they all kind of agreed that they deserved the treatment he was giving them. After all, his friends did force him into something, somewhere, he hated.

But at the same time, the others felt like Jay was being a little unreasonable, or at least overdramatic, when it came to him hating them for what they did. Jay's health had been on the line, his life had been in danger. No one could fault any one of the other ninja for what they did or tried to do.

Quietly, Nya slipped her hand over Jay's, taking comfort in the fact that he did not shy away from the touch. " Wanna know something, Jay?"

The question caught Jay's curiosity and he turned back to face his girlfriend. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Cole and the other boys were also looking at the water ninja with equal curiosity. Nya glanced at them for a second, herself, before returning her attention to the bedbound ninja that she loved.

" We'd do it again, too, if it meant saving your life." She continued.

Jay's eyebrows furrowed, not quite sure what to make of his girlfriend's words. He was sure he was just telling all of them off just a minute ago, after all. But his answer did not come from Nya. Instead, it had come from Zane, who had stepped to the end of his bed.

" You had appendicitis, Jay." The nindroid said as calmly as he could. " Acute appendicitis to the point that your appendix burst while you were at Clutch Powers' Mansion. And that could have killed you. That was what Cole was trying to avoid when he was trying to get you to the hospital earlier. He was trying to get you the help that you clearly needed before things got serious. But you didn't listen, to us nor your own body, and got worse because of it. As such, you had to undergo emergency surgery to save your life. We couldn't do anything else to help you but get you here as quickly as possible lest we lost you forever."

" Also, we didn't actually plan for any of this to happen." Cole admitted.

All eyes turned to the black ninja, those who weren't injured practically hissing at him in an attempt to keep him silent. Jay didn't know what he was feeling at that. On one hand, he kind of felt bad for getting annoyed at his friends and their attempts to clearly save him thanks to his fears; but on the other, he was confused. And even then he didn't know whether to be confused by whatever it was Cole was trying to say or by the rather strong reactions he had received from the rest of the team.

Cole, however, seemed to take it all in his stride.

" It's true, isn't it? We may or may not have planned anything for the day but what happened today certainly wasn't what we were going to plan if we did plan something."

" So you were planning something." Jay said, suddenly suspicious.

" I didn't say we were planning anything. I was just putting emphasis on the fact that we did not plan on today going the way it did."

" Yeah, you lot were definitely planning something."

" Do you have any evidence to support that claim?" Kai asked in an attempt to lighten Jay's mood.

Surprisingly, Jay smirked at the question despite feeling his eyes begin to droop.

" Actually, I noticed that my party planning book wasn't where I last left it a few days ago." He replied smugly. " Instead of being on the left side of my workbench with all my other workbooks, I found it in the centre of the workbench. Not to mention when I looked through it, I noticed there were some marks on the edges of some of the pages that I know I didn't put there."

All eyes turned to Lloyd, who clearly wasn't feeling too comfortable anymore. The reason being, he had been tasked with copying down the various notes that Jay had made for all of his previous party plans. Just like Jay, the others had wanted to make the day as perfect for him as he had made their birthdays. And that included trying not to copy any of the games or other plans that had been previously used. But, apparently, Lloyd had slipped up in the task.

And for Jay, it just confirmed his suspicions that someone had been snooping around in his stuff. Yet the only thing he could do on the matter was shake his head. He really should have expected something to happen… well, concerning his birthday, at least.

" Okay, so you're planning something for me that includes looking at my birthday plans." The blue ninja surmised, regaining attention on him.

The others gained dumbstruck looks on their faces, not expecting Jay to come up with things so quickly, before their looks melted into something more akin to sheepishness. Jay, on the other hand, found himself pleased with the looks on their faces. Because, really, he'd left them no room for arguments… and they knew it. Not sure what to do now, the boys at the end of the hospital bed all turned to look at Nya.

A sigh left Nya's lips at the realisation that it was all up to her to salvage the surprise party. And that meant that if things were to go ahead without any hitches (hopefully, considering their line of work), she may have to tell at least some of the truth. But how to do that without threatening the surprise any further?

" Okay, so you got us." She said after a few seconds, focussing her gaze on her boyfriend. " We were planning something for today, but like Cole said, nothing we planned had anything to do with what actually happened. But it looks like we may have to work something out for when you're feeling better, instead. If none of us forgets, we'll talk about it when you get home."

" That's fair." Jay mumbled through a poorly concealed yawn.

" We did, however, bring you some birthday presents and Echo's birthday wishes to help cheer you up. Some of your presents had to be left at the monastery because they were either too big or too dangerous to be brought to the hospital."

" You remembered my birthday?"

" Why did you think we'd forget?" Cole asked.

" Well… besides the whole suspicious thing, you guys didn't seem to show much interest in the fact that today was my birthday. Especially in these past few days. And if I did bug any of you, you'd avoid the subject one way or another."

" Hey, unlike Kai, who somehow manages to forget his own birthday, none of us could ever forget your birthday. It's one of the most important days in the calendar… at least for us. There's no way we'd ever forget our brother, best friend and, in Nya's case, Yin."

Nods and confirmations of agreements travelled all around the room, reassuring Jay that he was important to the team, to the family. Although Kai had to be forced to stop glaring at Cole for his little quip. Even so, they were more than happy to quell any fears that Jay may have had on the matter, still attempting to make him happy on his birthday despite the circumstances. Any thoughts the others had on why Jay's fears were emerging now and as they were were put off until after they had left the hospital.

At that moment, though, Nya could only smile as she brought Jay's backpack to rest on her lap. This, of course, caught Jay's attention. But now that he was somewhat settled on his answers, Jay was able to focus better on what she was pulling out of the bag. First, he watched as she pulled out a smallish, handmade box with a ribbon tied around it in gold, then a plastic bag that looked more like it was protecting something than anything else.

It seemed that was the case, too, because Nya then pulled out a slightly thick bundle wrapped in birthday paper from the plastic bag. Taped on the centre of the present was an envelope with Jay's name written on it in the neat handwriting of Pixal. It was this present that Nya handed to the birthday boy first, after closing the backpack and placing it on the floor beside the bed.

" Pixal wishes she could be here to give this to you personally, but she had some things she needed to do back at the monastery. She also didn't want to overwhelm you after what you went through. So she asked us to give it to you. Said she thought you would appreciate it during your stay here." The water ninja said as she passed the present on.

Curious, Jay took the gift and quickly read the birthday card before unwrapping the gift itself. Nya silently took the card and placed it on his nightstand as he did so. Underneath the wrapping was a small set of comic books, ten in total. And, judging from the cover of the first comic, the first ten copies of a new comic series written from the same creators of the Starfarer series.

The series was called 'Mechadroids' and it looked to be based around a group of kids discovering an ancient tribe of droids that could shapeshift into large beasts. It honestly looked interesting. So interesting, in fact, that Jay was tempted to start reading the first comic right there and then. The only thing that stopped him from doing so was the sound of Lloyd's voice pulling him back into the real world.

" So what did you get?" the green ninja asked excitedly.

" The start of a new comic series called 'Mechadroids'." Jay replied, showing off the first comic book. " Looks really interesting, too. I kinda want to start reading it now."

" We could tell." Kai laughed. " I think you forgot we were still here."

Jay's face going bright red was enough of an answer for the others to realise that Kai had hit the nail on the head with that statement. And, of course, smiles emerged on faces because of it. But Nya quickly took the opportunity to help Jay save face somewhat. With a soft smile on her face, she handed her boyfriend the little box that she had taken from his bag.

" This is my gift… well part of it." she explained as she handed the gift over. " Happy birthday, Jay."

The blue ninja gladly took his next gift, almost eager to get his mind off the embarrassment. Upon taking the box, though, he noted that it was quite weighty for something that could sit easily on both of his open palms. And the fact that there was no card didn't go unnoticed either, but Nya quickly calmed that thought by stating that there was more to his present back at the monastery. Knowing that only made Jay more curious as to what he was getting.

Instead, he turned his focus to what was in front of him.

Upon opening the gift box, he was greeted with some kind of tool housed in a leather casing. And the details etched into the leather were eye catching. Lightning bolts bordered the case with features including dragons and very familiar looking mechanical marvels. The main image, however, was that of his elemental symbol, which was engraved into the centre of the case… or rather into the latch that kept the tool from falling out. Not to mention, it took a little while for him to remember that all of the mechanical marvels shown were his own creations that he had made since becoming a ninja.

The tool itself was clearly handmade, and thanks to the hopeful glint in her eyes, it was easy to tell that Nya had created it especially for him. So Jay did the natural thing and kissed his girlfriend in thanks before taking the tool out of its casing to get a proper look at it.

That was when he discovered that he had been gifted with a nice looking multitool. Multiple sized screwdrivers, blades, hex keys, pliers, even a hammer had been built into the tool. That wasn't all, as Jay found out. On closer inspection, one of the edges of the multitool had a ruler etched into it, and a small level on the other side. Finally, as more of a decorative piece than anything else, was a yin-yang symbol with both his and Nya's elements encased within; a symbol clearly meant to be one of love.

" I couldn't fit everything I was planning on adding." Nya admitted rather sheepishly. " But I hope you like it."

Jay just looked up at her with a massive smile on his face, for once unable to speak.

Kai had no troubles speaking for him, though. " What else did you want to add to it? It looks like you've just given him a miniature tool box with added blades for protection."

" Technically, that is what a multitool is, Kai." Zane supplied.

The red ninja huffed but looked to his sister to await his answer.

" Maybe a watch or a compass or a mini saw." Nya replied with a shrug of her shoulders.

" Nah, it doesn't need those." Jay finally managed to work his voice. " It's perfect just the way it is. And you can bet I'm going to use it non-stop. Although, you may have to look after it for me. At least until I get out of here. Doubt those idiot doctors would appreciate me threatening them with any one of those blades."

" Yeah, that might be a wise decision." Cole agreed, shifting something in his hands as he remembered how hard it was to get Jay to the hospital in the first place.

Nods of agreement seemed to follow from the boys at the end of the bed, so Jay quickly packed his present away and handed it back to Nya for safe keeping. He even made sure to sneak another kiss in when she went to take a hold of the gift. Once the gift was back in her hands, Nya placed it safely into her little backpack along with her other personal items. She then turned her attention on to Cole, who once more shifted whatever he was holding from one hand to the other.

" Your turn, Cole." She urged quietly after a few minutes had passed.

It was only thanks to Nya that Jay finally realised that Cole had not entered the hospital room empty handed like he had originally thought. And from what he could see over the end of the bed, what was in his friend's hand looked suspiciously like a gift bag. Cole noticed the inquisitive look in his friend's eyes and shifted nervously once more on the spot, but he managed to take a deep breath and moved over to the other side of Jay's hospital bed. There he placed the gift bag on the bed so that Jay could easily reach it.

" This will be the last present for now," the Master of Earth admitted, " but it's something that goes well with the game console Pixal packed into your backpack, so… I hope you like it. Happy birthday."

" Thanks… wait, Pixal packed one of my game consoles?" Jay started saying before getting side-tracked.

" Yeah, she packed the latest one you got. Your Borg Sphere Pro or whatever the new console it."

" BSP, yeah. Oh, I hope she put in the Endermal game I'm playing. I'm almost up to the fifth champion battle."

" Jay, easy. I have no idea what game she's put in the backpack for you. I just checked to make sure that the console was in there. But I think you should check what's in the gift bag before you go hunting for that Endermal game."

" Oh, right." Jay could not help the slight redness that tinted his face as he gave a small nod.

Once again realising he needed to focus, Jay moved the gift bag closer to him. The first thing his hand grabbed, however, was the gift itself. And his eyes widened when he saw what it was that he had picked up. The new Train Simulator game. Admittedly, he had pre-ordered the game as soon as he had realised that it was coming out, but thanks to things out of his control, he had had to cancel the order. Cole had been there when he'd had to cancel, too, so he knew how bad Jay wanted the game.

" You little sneak." The blue ninja shook his head before looking up at his best friend, a tired smirk on his face.

" Okay, you got me." Cole smirked back. " I went back a week later and managed to pre-order it myself. I couldn't stand seeing you so dejected, especially after all the hype you went through explaining it to me."

Again, Jay shook his head at his friend's sneakiness before checking the giftbag one more time. Just in case he had missed anything. It was a good thing he did, too, otherwise he would have missed the Endermal plushie that was also sitting in the bag. The smile on the blue ninja's face as he took a good look at the blue and black cat-like creature was enough to let Cole know that he had guessed right with the plushie that he had chosen.

But the smile was interrupted by yet another yawn from the blue ninja. And it didn't go unnoticed.

" Perhaps it is best if we let you get some more rest, Jay." Zane suggested softly.

Jay's eyes widened at the suggestion. And not in a good way. Resting in the hospital meant that the others would need to leave. And if the others left, then he would be alone. In the hospital. With evil doctors and nurses who were probably planning ways to make his birthday (and by extension his life) miserable. Or worse.

Nya, as always, read him like a book. The moment her boyfriend started panicking again, she had taken in hand his backpack and had gone searching through its contents. A few minutes later, she pulled out Mr Cuddlywomp and the blanket that Edna had made for him the year before. With soothing words and promises that she, at least, would visit every day Jay was in the hospital, Nya made sure that her boyfriend was snuggled up with his soft toys and blanket before she was able to leave the room. The other ninja following suit once Jay was ready and in better feeling clothes.

The hardest part about having to wait an extra week for Jay's birthday, as the others found out, was keeping it a surprise once the birthday boy had gotten home from the hospital. Thankfully, in the three days that Jay was hospitalised for, preparations seemed to go smoothly. Especially seeing that things were mostly prepared already. Not to mention everyone was free to talk about preparations during those three days thanks to Jay not being there.

As soon as Pixal knew of how Jay was faring, once the other ninja had returned home, she had gone through the revised list of games for the party. Instead of the blindfold Twister game they had originally planned for, they were now going to be playing Charades. Blow Up Basketball was still going to go ahead, too, as long as Jay took it easy. The trivia and ping pong games were also still in the running, although Kai still questioned the Trivia game, leading to everyone else opting to asking Jay what kinds of games he would like to play once he got home.

While the ninja were at the hospital, Pixal had also gotten into contact with Skylor. The Master of Amber had originally offered to cater to the party, even hosting it like she had done with Lloyd's, so when she heard about Jay's predicament, she was understandably concerned. But, thankfully, she had yet to start on the catering and so was more than happy to extend the catering service to the week after, even offering to bring the food up to the monastery so that Jay didn't have to travel as far after the surgery.

The others were more than grateful when they heard that, Kai even sending a quick text to his girlfriend in thanks. After all, they all knew how busy Skylor must have been both that day and the day the party had been moved to. Although, to no one's surprise, Kai left any and all plans to the others that first night when he made off with his phone, clearly conversing with his girlfriend.

The last thing left to deal with, though, had been Jay's birthday cake. As soon as Jay had gone to bed the night before everything had happened, Zane had stayed up to make the orange poppyseed delight. As of the meeting that occurred the first night of Jay's hospital stay, it had been completed and was waiting in the kitchen. What's more, everyone knew there was no chance that it would make it to the new party date without spoiling. Which begged the question; what to do with cake number one.

" Can we eat it?" Cole asked upon the revelation.

" Does the fact that it was meant for Jay's birthday, and so is decorated as such, not deter you?" Pixal replied, unimpressed.

" Maybe a little. But what else are we going to do with it? Let it rot?"

" And the cake lover has a point." Lloyd sighed. All eyes turned to him to explain. " The cake is going to spoil by next week. And I doubt anyone wants to waste it. That essentially leaves us with one option."

" So we can eat it." Cole surmised.

" Perhaps after I re-ice the cake." Zane had his thinking face on. " That may make the rest of us less apprehensive of eating Jay's birthday cake without him."

He disappeared into the kitchen shortly after that.

In the end, Cole did end up eating the first birthday cake. Although when he got to it, it looked less like it was for a birthday and more like one of Zane's more artistic creations. What no one else realised, though, was that he had snuck off a picture of the old and new designs to Jay, explaining the situation. Jay wasn't exactly happy about it, but he accepted what had happened. He even demanded a complete remake for when his party was going to be.

After Cole had relayed the information back to Zane, the nindroid made sure to comply with the request. But before he did, he almost had to corner the earth master just to get the answer as to why Jay was suddenly making such a request. Whether he was pleased or not by the end of it, Cole wasn't too sure. But Zane wasn't trying to kill him (or anyone else for that matter) so he figured that everything was going to turn out okay.

When Jay did finally come home, he was under strict rest orders. That meant he took up the lounge room for the majority of the time, either playing video games or trying to work on blueprint designs for his next projects. At least, that's how he interpreted the orders. He didn't like the fact that Zane and Nya, mostly, were almost breathing down his neck to move around a little.

Unfortunately, Jay taking up residence within the loungeroom meant that the others had to figure out how to get Jay out of said room long enough for them to decorate it for the party.

Cole opted to take their friend out for an easy walk at the base of the mountain, either taking the elevator or just carrying him down first, he had yet to figure that part out. It was Keo who vetoed the idea saying that Jay would still be recovering and thus not able to walk for long. And this was despite the fact that Zane was saying Jay was walking better with each day that passed. Past experience, the others knew, was a moving factor to the young boy's words.

Kai had this look on his face that clearly told the others he was planning something. And, knowing him, it probably included either speed, driving or fire. Thankfully, whatever he was going to suggest was interrupted by Nya before it even got past his lips. The reason being that the water ninja had conveniently remembered that Jay had his follow up appointment that same day, and he had asked her to go with him. Although Kai didn't like the interruption, he could say nothing against the follow up appointment being the perfect way to get Jay out of the lounge room.

Things seemed to flow smoothly after that. Pixal and the boys were also able to figure out who would be doing what while Nya and Jay were out.

If she was being honest, Nya was almost sorry for Pixal, who had taken up looking after the party planning from her since Jay had gone into hospital. Almost, because she knew the other female in the monastery could handle herself against the boys quite easily if need be. And yet, a small part of her almost felt sorry for the boys, too, because they all knew that Pixal could be scary at times, to put it lightly.

One thing was for sure, though, and everyone seemed to know it without saying, Zane would be a good mediator should anything arise.

Before they knew it, the day of Jay's birthday party had arrived. And, as Jay couldn't do it himself, someone was panicking for him.

" The games!" Cole almost screamed through the monastery. " We forgot to ask Jay about the games!"

For his troubles, the earth master received death glares from almost everyone sitting around the breakfast table. The only one not doing so was Jay, and that was only because he was making his way into the kitchen. It was with a look of confusion on his face that said ninja passed the kitchen threshold.

" Ask me about what games?" He asked as he did so.

A chill ran down Cole's spine when he heard his friend's voice. He might as well have just presented Jay with the plans for his own surprise birthday party at the sudden reminder his brain had so kindly given him. And those death stares he was receiving definitely helped to seal in that fear. The only thing that eased that fear somewhat was the fact that Jay was standing behind him and so couldn't see his face.

" Didn't you say something about your birthday last night?" He replied instead, praying that Jay didn't hear the caution and panic in his voice.

The death glares intensified. Even Echo Zane was glaring at him now that he knew what had been on Cole's brain.

" Uh… no?"

" Oh, well… uh… must have been dreaming. Sorry."

Whether or not Cole had saved himself, he wasn't too sure. Especially with everyone's eyes now locked on to him like homing missiles, clearly wanting to watch his every move for the rest of the day. But at least the glares had lessened some degrees. Maybe he was safe?

Jay, though, had noticed the stiffness in his friends' bodies lessen and knew that all of them were planning something. It kind of added up, what with the death glares at the rather strange outburst and the strange silence over any birthday plans before then. And yet, it somehow didn't worry him as much as he had thought it would back in the hospital.

Still, though, he remained silent on the matter as he grabbed his breakfast and took his place at the table. And he admittedly watched, in silence, as the others pretty much refused to mention anything else about a birthday or party games throughout the meal. More evidence that they were planning something. But he kept playing along.

Right up until he had finished washing his dirty dishes and had gone back to the table that everyone was still sitting around.

" So," he started, startling everyone, " party games."

" Party games?" Keo questioned back. Jay wasn't sure if he had already forgotten what had gone on at the start of breakfast or if he was just playing some kind of weird game, but he ignored it.

" Party games. Or so dream Cole wanted to know anyway. But I was thinking, and this was during breakfast so it may not be well thought out, but if I was to get a relatively easy birthday party, maybe there could be a game where we had some kind of flashcard system with really common or popular words written on them that we mixed up together and then each take terms trying to sing a song containing that word that's written on the card. Kind of like a bingo game but for singing; Singing Bingo."

" That… is not a bad idea." Kai seemed surprised at the game suggestion.

" Yeah, for someone who can sing." Cole shot back.

" It does not seem to be a competitive game, Cole, but rather one of fun. Besides, I do recall you singing your heart out at Laughy's bar a few times." Zane pointed out matter-of-factly.

Cole didn't even pick up a fight at that. He just kind of accepted that he was never going to win. Especially against a nindroid. He still lowered his head in defeat, though. Lloyd, having seen the look on the earth master's face, merely shook his head before turning to face Jay.

" Did you have any other game ideas?" He asked.

" I was only thinking about it during breakfast. Like, while I was eating. My brain doesn't work that fast." Jay lifted his shoulders, almost in a shrug, as he tried to get the pressure off himself. " Besides, I was thinking about other things as well."

" Like what?" Kai dared to ask.

" Just… uh… things. A lot of things. That may or may not include boredom, blueprints and perception. And, you know, trying to hurry up this healing process without hurting myself anymore. I would say the usual, if I'm being honest. But, yeah, I don't have any more ideas for potential games. Sorry."

Jay knew he was rambling a little bit. The slightly confused look on everyone else's faces told him that much. But he may or may not have let his mouth run a little bit on him at the same time. And he was quick to realise that he may have just alerted them all to the fact that he knew they were planning something despite what they had said back in the hospital that time. So, he had done the only thing he could think of to try and hide it; talk more.

He really hoped it didn't come back to bite him in the butt later on.

Unfortunately for him, there were a few teammates who had managed to catch that little slip of words. And it was clear on their features that they were confused by what he had meant and not the rambling that was going on. Zane, of course, was quick to realise that Jay was on to them, as were Pixal and, surprisingly, Echo. In fact, the ice master had turned to face Nya in the hopes that she was quick to realise as well. But, as with breakfast, Jay took note of what was going on himself. And he was starting to feel a little awkward for it.

" You know what? I think I'll go play some more Train Simulator. I'm clearly not being very helpful out here anyway." The blue ninja said, attempting to leave the room without being awkward about it… and failing miserably in the process.

" Just remember that you and I have to go see the doctor for your follow up appointment in a couple of hours." Nya sighed, noticing the look Zane was giving her and quickly realising the reason for Jay's sudden exit.

" Do I have to?"

" If you want to make sure everything is going right with the healing process then yes. But if you want that drainage tube left in there…"

" Fine, I'll go."

Nya watched her boyfriend leave the room, slowly and carefully with each step he took, an indecipherable look on her own face. If she was being honest, she hated having to use Jay's surgical wound against him. Especially when she knew just how much he hated the uncomfortable feeling and the amount of care needed just to make sure he didn't end up back in the hospital. It annoyed him to no end for multiple reasons and she had used that to get him to face his fear of doctors again.

Adding onto that guilt of what she had just done was the fact that she was pretty sure he knew that the other ninja were planning something. To what extent was unsure. But it made the water master's stomach twist uncomfortably knowing that there was a high chance, yet again, that things could go horribly wrong. Which didn't help with the fact that she had just eaten breakfast.

Somewhere in the back of Nya's mind, the girl wondered if it were thoughts and situations like these that were the cause of many a panic attack within her boyfriend. Especially during his planning of everyone else's birthday parties.

" Nya?" a voice pulled her from her thoughts and back into the real world. " Are you okay?"

" Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay. Just lost in thought for a minute there." She replied with a small smile.

" About how much of an idiot I am?" Cole asked, clearly referring to what had happened earlier.

" While I do think you're an idiot sometimes, Cole, I wasn't thinking about that. More thinking about Jay and how much of an idiot I am."

" You shouldn't call yourself that, sis." Trust Kai to want to protect his little sister even from herself.

Nya's smile widened at the thought. But it had still managed to morph itself into one plagued by all kinds of different thoughts. Which, in turn, worried the others still sitting at the breakfast table.

" Feels like it, though. I used Jay's wound against him. And you know how much he hates both it and the reminder of what happened a week ago which led to it." She eventually said after shaking her head of her thoughts. " Plus, I think I'm realising how easily Jay can slip into a panic attack, especially over party planning. There is a possibility that Jay knows at least something is up."

Cole tucked his head into his shoulders, clearly feeling responsible for that. But it was Zane who somehow managed to ease those fears. All he had to do was state that it was better for Jay to have those kinds of thoughts that day and not any other. Because face it, if Jay was just starting to question what was going on, on the day that the party plans were to be put into action, then there really wasn't need to worry. Especially with all the party planning pretty much done.

There were a few confused faces once Zane had finished his explanation, mainly because their owners hadn't realised just how far along said preparations were. But it wasn't long before the day's tasks were finally divvied up between those remaining in the kitchen, with Nya being the only exception. Her task was already known to everyone (even Jay, though he would never realise it).

About half an hour later, as planned by most of the ninja, Kai left the monastery. His story was that he had gotten a message from Skylor asking for help at the Noodle House. In reality, it was to make sure that Skylor had a way to the party with the food while also keeping Jay in the dark on the matter. If Skylor asked him to help at the restaurant, then he would. But, until he got there, he had no idea what he was going to be doing while he waited for the right time.

Nya waited about another forty-five minutes on top of that before coaxing Jay out of his room and into the car that the team kept for everyday 'not saving the world' use. Her target was the hospital where Jay had his follow up appointment. Her hopes were that, by leaving early, they could get a decent parking spot and maybe have some time to themselves before actually seeing the doctor… and then have some more time to themselves afterwards to help digest what the doctor said.

Not to mention, she had some questions that she wanted to pass by Jay before she asked the doctor herself, because she was willing to bet that Jay himself was not planning on asking some of the more personal questions. Knowing him, he'd be too scared to even think about asking them. But she wisely kept her thoughts to herself while she promised the others that she would let them know when she and Jay were heading home.

Pixal kept an eye on the everyday vehicle as it made its way out of the hangar and towards the city. The last thing anyone wanted now was for there to be an issue and Jay having to be returned to the monastery before it was party time. But she also had to make sure that she wasn't seen by the blue ninja, or at least not suspicious, which was why she was thankful that she could access the security cameras remotely. It also meant that she was able to do other tasks while she was keeping an eye on them, like setting up the Singing Bingo game that Jay had suggested.

As soon as she deemed the car a safe distance away, she gave the 'all clear' for the rest of the team to get to work.

Zane got right to task, double checking that Jay's birthday cake was made anew and with the request of it being a replica of the original. Although he may have altered the decorations just a tad too. He still had to have some kind of surprise element.

He also had to keep both Cole and Lloyd away from the icing bowl once the two boys realised he had not yet iced the cake. A number of times he had to shoo them out of the kitchen. Even Echo Zane had to be warned to stay away from the decorative treats when his older brother discovered that Cole had attempted to use him to sneak some treats away.

Needless to stay, the next time Zane and Cole crossed paths, there were some stern words sent the earth master's way. Thankfully, the message was received loud and clear. By everyone.

That was also when Cole decided that it was safer for him to just stay away from the kitchen. And, having moved the furniture around in the lounge room, with help from Lloyd, that meant that he needed to focus on the music set up. In the end, the lounge room had a similar look to what it did during Nya's birthday party; with the lounges up against the walls, a big open area in front of the television screen and tables set up for the food and presents at the back of the room.

It was also a good thing that Cole decided to stay in the lounge room as both Keo and Echo had been tasked with decorating. That meant that the two of them needed supervision. Cole really didn't want a repeat of what happened at Kai's birthday, with Keo trying to use his powers to put the decorations up. And, well, Echo was just excited about everything.

Which was part of the reason why it had been so easy to convince him to try and steal some treats… not that Cole would ever try something like that again. He valued his life too much.

Once the room had been decorated to Keo and Echo's expectations, and Cole had made sure that no one was going to be swimming in said decorations, the older boy dared to leave the lounge room in search of Lloyd. He even convinced the two decorators into bringing the presents into the lounge room from where they had been hidden in Keo's room the previous night.

After having helped move the furniture around and then getting kicked out of the kitchen himself, the green ninja had figured he'd best get the games sorted for the party. Which was why Cole expected to find Lloyd in his bedroom, working on getting the party games ready. When Cole did not expect to find when he got there was for the door to be slightly ajar and silence coming from within.

" Lloyd?" he called softly, gently rasping his knuckles on the doorframe before poking his head through the gap.

Lloyd didn't answer. Mainly because he wasn't in the room. But there was enough light for Cole to see that he had managed to blow up the inflatable basketball and hoop before disappearing. So at least that was ready. But unless he talked to Lloyd first, Cole wouldn't know for sure what help he could provide… if he could provide any at all.

So the search continued. And, as luck would have it, everywhere Cole looked, Lloyd was nowhere to be seen. To make matters worse, he had this feeling that the master of energy would almost always enter the same room he'd been searching in shortly after he had left it. It was like they were just missing each other… or playing some weird game of cat and mouse.

Which led to the Earth master feeling like he needed to recheck rooms that he'd already searched through. Rooms like the kitchen, despite both boys having been banned from it for the rest of the day. By Cole's third attempt to locate Lloyd in the kitchen, Zane was looking very annoyed.

" Cole, what are you doing?" the nindroid eventually asked.

" I'm looking for Lloyd. I'm trying to see what he's up to with the games." The black ninja replied.

" Have you tried looking in his room?"

" Empty. As is the rest of the monastery… well, when it comes to me being able to find Lloyd."

" Have you checked the hangar?"

" He's not there. Zane, I've checked everywhere at least three times now. I can't find him. I almost feel like he's trailing me."

Zane hummed at the new information before practically demanding Cole sit at the dinning table. Not wanting to get into any more trouble with the ice master, the black ninja did as he was told. The next thing he knew, White had made him a warm cup of calming tea and placed it in front of him.

" This may help in your search." Was all he said before returning to what he had been doing with the cake.

Cole looked down at the steaming cup in front of him. In all honesty, he was confused. How could a cup of tea help with his search for Lloyd? Also, why was Zane not trying to kick him out of the kitchen like he had previously tried to do? He turned to ask Zane about the tea, but instead found the nindroid's back to him, clearly working at the oven. Seeing as he wasn't going to get any answers, Cole took a sip of his tea… and found himself relaxing almost immediately.

It wasn't until after he had finished the drink he didn't realise he had needed that he and Zane were accompanied by Pixal. Apparently, like Cole, she had been on the look out for Lloyd. Although she had also been looking for Cole himself. Turns out she had a new task for the earth master if he was up for it. But just before she could give the task, the man of the hour walked in looking stressed. Instantly, Zane demanded Lloyd sit at the dinning table and placed a steaming cup of calming tea in front of him.

" Zane, tea is not going to help me find the 'Charades' game." Lloyd huffed despite taking a sip of the tea.

" A calm mind helps to find things easier than when it was troubled." Zane replied.

" You've been hanging out with Master Wu too much, Zane." Cole shook his head, a small smile on his face.

" I also knew that if you stayed in one place, Cole, then Lloyd would eventually come to you. Especially with the state his mind is in at the moment."

Lloyd looked up at Cole when he heard that. " You've been looking for me?"

" Well, yeah. The lounge room is all set up with music and decorations. It just needs the games and the food. But Kai still hasn't gotten back with Skylor, so I was going to see how you were going with the games. But I couldn't find you in your room or anywhere. Zane sat me down with a cup of tea after my third attempt of searching in here." The earth elemental admitted.

" That reminds me, Lloyd." Pixal piped up. " I've finished putting together the 'Singing Bingo' game that Jay thought up at breakfast and put it in your room, on your bed.

" Thanks, Pix. I can tick that off the list. That just leaves the 'Charades' game that I have ben turning the monastery upside down for." Lloyd sighed.

" Have you asked Echo Zane?"

" Echo?" Both boys at the table asked.

" Yes, Echo. He insisted I get him a 'charades' game two weeks ago when Nya and I went to the shopping centre for some 'girl time' and we would not let him join us. I'm actually surprised that he hasn't told any of you that he now has it."

" With so much going on at the moment, I would not be surprised if he just got excited about something else. Like Jay's birthday and then concern for Jay's health. Much like the rest of us." Zane surmised.

Knowing who they were talking about, that was more than definitely a high possibility. And no one could fault the younger droid for it.

Lloyd finished his cup of tea before deciding that he needed to go in search of Echo. As for getting Cole's help with setting up the games, he seemed fine with how things were going so far and figured he didn't need the help just yet. If it turned out he would need help, they all knew there were a pair of eager youngsters waiting around the corner. That meant that Cole was free to do Pixal's latest task for him; picking up Ed and Edna Walker in time for their son's party.

And with that, the chaos in the monastery seemed to settle once more. Especially now that the lounge room was almost ready for the party. In fact, about ten minutes after Cole had left to head to the junkyard, Kai returned on his elemental dragon with Skylor and a few large bags containing the packed meals. Of course, bringing the food over to the party wasn't enough. Kai still had to look after the food and keep it warm, due to the fact that Zane was still using the oven despite being done with the cake.

Not long after the older teens had had their little gathering, Keo had entered the kitchen with the idea to make golden cakes for Jay's birthday. It was pure timing. Zane had finished baking the cake during the gathering and so was more than happy to help him. Kai and Skylor had arrived at the monastery seconds after the golden cakes had been put in the oven.

And yet, neither Kai nor Skylor seemed to mind with waiting. It just meant that they wee able to see how things were going at the monastery for themselves. Keo even showed Skylor where the food was going to be placed in the lounge room, which was a big help because it meant that she could set up anything she needed to help serve the food. It also meant that Skylor could place her birthday gift by the giant teddy bear on the present table.

Said teddy bear did get a confused look from the master of amber, mainly due to its massive size. But Skylor merely shrugged it off. Moreso when Keo saw the questioning look and explained that it was a combined gift from the ninja.

Before long, the golden cakes were ready, the party room was waiting for the birthday boy, and Skylor had commandeered the kitchen for the final preparations on the food. Cole returned in good time with Jay's parents, who seemed to scrutinise everything while somehow not doing so in the process (Kai couldn't understand it and he was in charge of making sure the elderly couple were comfortable while Cole got ready for the party himself).

Nya had messaged Pixal, just as Cole had walked into the monastery with Ed and Edna, stating that she and Jay were leaving the hospital. Which had meant that the earth master had roughly thirty to forty-five minutes to get ready. Time he quickly spent in the shower. He was lucky, too. By the time he got out of the bathroom, Jay and Nya were about five minutes from the monastery. Kai was waiting outside the bathroom for him with the news.

" So, that went well." Nya said cheerfully as she parked the car back in its spot in the hangar.

" I guess." Jay shrugged.

His movements out of the car, however, were a lot slower than what they had been when he first got into the vehicle that morning. He had finally gotten the drainage tube taken out, but he was still feeling uncomfortable with the pain and the numbness thanks to getting it out. But Nya was right at his side for him to lean on if needed.

" Hey, you're right on track with your healing. Plus, you finally got that tube out of you after only a week. That has to be a bonus." She said, watching her boyfriend's moves for when he was ready to head up o the main part of the monastery.

Jay smiled at that fact, but it was weak, and Nya could tell. " You're right about that. Don't know what I'd have done if it had to be left in for an extra four weeks."

" Then what's wrong?"

" What if you guys need me for a mission? What if something happens? I'm out of commission for an entire month still!"

" First, you're starting to sound like my brother. Second, it's going to be okay. We would rather you get yourself healed up than see you getting yourself even more hurt than you already are. And you know that."

Jay could only sigh. There was no fighting that argument. Still, he was silent as he started making his way over to the elevator that led up to the lounge room. Nya was by his side all the way, ready for if she was ever needed. But she could also see that something else was playing on her boyfriend's mind. And it worried her that he was this quiet about it.

" Are you sure there's nothing else that's bothering you?" the water ninja urged gently.

More silence. But Jay did look her way when she spoke. His face scrunched up slightly as he thought about the best way to get what was on his mind out, if he would at all. Just when Nya thought she wouldn't get an answer at all, the words came out of his mouth.

" Why'd you have to ask those questions?"

She knew exactly was he was talking about, too. And, to be honest, she wasn't that surprised he was asking her again. He hadn't exactly felt comfortable when she had asked the doctor, after all. But with how their relationship had progressed recently, they both needed answers. Especially with Nya not wanting to hurt Jay just as much as Jay not wanting to hurt her.

" I've told you why." She replied, still with that gentle tone. " I don't want to hurt you and I don't want you to hurt yourself more."

The only reply to that was yet another sigh from Jay as he tried to get the answers he was given to stick to his brain. And, because of the silence that that task brought with it, the elevator ride was equally silent. In fact, neither Jay nor Nya knew how to continue the conversation because of it… or else just weren't willing to voice their thoughts on the matter. The only thing that Nya hoped for was that things didn't go badly because of the silence once the doors opened.

It wasn't long, though, before the elevator had stopped and the doors were opening to the lounge room. Well, no turning back now. Any questions would have to wait until later as Nya held the elevator doors open for Jay before following him into the room herself.

Neither of them expected to see what their eyes showed them, though.

Decorations of various shades of blue practically covered the lounge room. it was almost like a party bomb had blown up in there. Even Nya was amazed at the sight. Especially when she realised the food table barely had anything near it in case of possible decoration disaster. It was like there was a force field there or something.

On the food table rested four warm serving cloches which obviously held the lunch treats that Skylor had made. Beside them was a rather large platter of Keo's golden cakes as well as five different bottles of soft drink. A large pitcher of water also sat on the table. Even the party snacks had a place at the table amongst everything else. The cake, however, must have still been in the fridge, awaiting the perfect moment, as it was not in the lounge room.

Focussing away from the food, but still part of the decorations, there were three different banners hanging from the ceiling. And all said the exact same thing. The first one, the one hanging over the doorway into the lounge room, looked suspiciously like the one from Kai's birthday. The second one (another generic store bought one) was hanging up behind the present table and partially obscured by the giant teddy bear's head.

The third and final banner was massive and somehow managed to hang from one side of the room to the other. It was obviously handmade, too. The letters were all over the place, it was a rainbow of colours, there were hand drawn pictures of Jay and lightning bolts wherever they could fit, and it was covered in glitter and sticky tape. Nya half expected the remains of a glitter shower to be seen underneath it.

On the couch that had been pushed against the wall, the one opposite the main entry way, sat the games that Lloyd had been tasked with. Well, most of them, anyway. The blow up basketball hoop was already positioned at the end of the couch. The basketball itself was resting on top of the charades box, along with a stack of boxes with extra bits of cardboard glued into them, and a rather neat looking stack of cards resting in a clear container.

" What is…?" Jay started to say, finally getting over the initial confusion.

He never got the chance to finish because, as soon as he started talking, the rest of the building inhabitants popped up from around the place, screaming out 'surprise'. They were all lucky that he was too stunned to use his powers in defence.

Nya, however, saw the wide eyed look that was on Jay's face and calmly walked into his vision, gently placing her hand on his shoulder as she did so.

" Happy birthday, Jay." She said as a way of getting him to realise what was going on.

" But… I… What?" was all Jay managed to get out.

" You were right, Jay, about us planning something. We were planning a surprise party for you. And the original date for the party was supposed to be last week, on your actual birthday. But, well, plans changed when you ended up in hospital and we ended up having to rethink a few things because of it."

" But… even Ma and Pa?"

" Your darn tootin, Jay. We wouldn't miss this for the world." Ed spoke up, making his way over to the two, his wife following.

" Your father did tell me he wanted to do something special for you this year." Edna smiled. " And when Nya called us and told us what she and the rest of your friends were planning… well, we just couldn't say no, now, could we?"

Jay looked around the room, at the still smiling faces with slightly concerned looks in their eyes. They were either worried about his reaction or else worried about his health. Possibly both. But it was also obvious that they had worked hard on this for him. That's when the smile finally emerged on his own face, soft at first but definitely growing.

" Thanks guys. And thank you, Ma and Pa." He finally said.

The next thing that Ed, Edna and Nya all knew was that Jay was bringing them in for a well deserved hug, albeit a gentle one considering how tender his body still was. Somehow Cole ended up in the mix as well, being as gentle as he could be, and quickly followed by Echo Zane. It wasn't long after that that Jay found himself surrounded by family and friends. And, of course, just as he was getting comfortable with basking in the love, the wound in his side decided that that was the best time to remind him it was still there.

" Okay, okay. I need to sit." He called out, immediately getting the desired effect of everyone moving off him. " But I do think we need some music at this party."

As soon as Cole was clear of the mass of bodies, he made his way over to the music player. Within seconds of him pressing the play button, the sure sound of Jay's playlist echoed throughout the room. and, if it wasn't for the wound in his side, Jay would have gladly danced his way through the 'Celebrate' song that was playing. Instead, he had to allow Nya to help ease him to the free lounge.

Skylor was the first to make her way over to the birthday boy once he was comfortable, easy conversation quickly forming between all three as Nya had opted to sit by her boyfriend's side. And when topics changed to Jay's wound and how he was now feeling, both Jay and Nya could tell that everyone had somehow gained super hearing and had heard the question. It was like the whole room had gone still at the question. Surprisingly, though, Jay thanked how loud he could get sometimes when he talked. He used that to his advantage to let everyone know how the doctor's check-up went without going into too much detail.

The relief that washed through the room at the answer didn't go unnoticed either. Zane's and Pixal's smiles both seemed to get just that little bit wider, Cole was clearly trying to find a suitable song for the news, even Jay's parents seemed to relax a bit more. However, there was no doubt that, once the party was officially over, Jay was going to be bombarded with further questions on the matter.

For the moment, Jay kept his focus on the party and those celebrating his birthday with him. Well, tried to. The pain in his side was subsiding, as was the conversation with Skylor as she and Nya both started on their own 'girly' topics. But Jay's attention had been caught by what was going on by the couch on the other side of the room.

Lloyd and Kai seemed to be having quite the discussion over there, pointing and waving their hands animatedly despite their hushed voices. Both Keo and Echo Zane had already moved away from them; Keo making his way to the food table while Echo took interest in Cole and the sound booth again. The red and green ninja were too caught up in whatever they were talking about to notice, though. And yet, the more Jay watched them, the more confused he seemed to get.

Were they arguing over the games that sat on the couch or was Jay just reading things wrong like he often did?

The grumbling of his stomach forced the questions out of his head. Even worse, Skylor and Nya seemed to have heard it. The two girls had gone silent mere seconds after Jay, himself, had heard his stomach's protests. And there was nothing he could do to hide the blush that formed across his cheeks when he realised his predicament.

" Getting hungry, Jay?" Skylor asked with a smirk.

" Maybe a little." The blue ninja admitted, tucking his head into his shoulders a little.

" Well, it's your choice. We've got the usual party snacks like chips, nuts and biscuits. Plus there's Keo's golden cakes, which I think he had already attacked judging by the blissed out look on his face. Or there's the lunch that I made."

" Oh, what'd you make?" Nya asked eagerly. Apparently, she was getting hungry as well. She just happened to be hiding it better than Jay.

Skylor could only laugh. " There's prawn fried rice, puffy potstickers, pork and beef bao buns, rice paper rolls, spring rolls and spicy fried chicken wings. Just tell me what you want and I'll get it for you, Jay. Then I'll let everyone else know it's time to eat."

At the mention of spicy fried chicken wings, a look of longing emerged on the blue ninja's face. Skylor made the perfect spicy fried chicken, in both Jay's and Kai's opinions. Although Kai always ordered the dish extra spicy for himself. For Jay, the original recipe was just the perfect amount of spice so that he was able to enjoy the kick it gave but not burn his mouth (or any other part of his body). And knowing there was spicy chicken on the menu (probably done just the way he liked it) was torturous for the blue ninja.

The downtrodden sigh that left his mouth a few seconds later didn't go unnoticed, either. Of course, the reaction confused Skylor. But Nya knew exactly why the menu, or at least what was on it, was slightly upsetting her boyfriend.

" They'll be other times, Jay." The water ninja said sympathetically.

" I'm going to take a wild guess and say that the doctor forbade you from eating spicy stuff, right Jay?" the master of amber asked.

" Unfortunately." Came the grumbled affirmation. " Which makes another reason why this year's birthday was the worst. I can't enjoy the best spicy fried chicken there is in the entire realm, if not the entire sixteen realms, when it is sitting metres away from me at my own birthday party."

Skylor turned to Nya, sending her a silent question, when her ears caught the words 'worst birthday'. Things couldn't be that bad in the monastery, could they? Unfortunately, the sad nod that Nya gave her in reply clearly said that it could be. The look in Nya's eyes as she nodded also confirmed that the other ninja have already tried to deal with the depressive thoughts. Part of Skylor suspected that the giant teddy bear had something to do with it, as well.

" Tell you what, Jay. As soon as your doctor says you can eat spicy food again, you let me know and come straight down to the noodle house. I'll have a bowl of spicy fried chicken wings waiting for you, on the house." She said, before asking a passing Pixal for a piece of paper and pen. When Pixal returned a few minutes later, she got to work scribbling something down. " Here. So that neither of us forgets, bring this with you to give to me. Consider it part of your birthday present."

Jay honestly didn't know what to say, even as he took the note from her grasp. Well… other than a really amazed 'thank you'. In fact, he completely forgot about the original question he had been asked. He just found himself staring at the piece of paper that read 'Jay's special spicy chicken order' complete with smiley face and a balloon next to it.

Nya, thankfully, did remember. With that still gentle tone in her voice, she was able to ease his mind back into remembering the rest of the lunch menu. In the end, and with yet another pink hue to his face, Jay went with a small lunch of fried rice, some spring rolls and some rice paper rolls, with a glass of water for the drink. Nya followed Skylor to the food table, calling out that lunch was ready before serving herself up with some rice and bao buns.

She even carried Skylor's lunch with her as the two made their way back to the blue ninja. Only, Jay found that they weren't alone in coming over to his couch. All of his friends did, with Zane carrying drinks for everyone on an ice tray that he had brought in from the kitchen. The four older guests opted to use the table to save themselves from possible embarrassment when getting up off the floor.

Of course, that didn't mean that the elders weren't included in the light banter that occurred during the meal. More often that not, either Ed or Edna join in with some embarrassing story of previous birthdays with Jay. Like when he tried to make a 3D game of 'pin the tail on the donkey' (complete with robotic donkey) for his cousin Ivy's birthday, and when he turned it on at the party, the donkey turned around and chased him around the room before proceeding to keel over and stop working once it had accomplished its goal of biting him on the nose. By the end of the story, Jay's face was as red as Kai's gi.

Whether for good or bad, though, that story brought forth conversation on the types of games Lloyd had set up for the party they were currently enjoying. Jay wasn't exactly sure about the blow up basketball set given he was still healing, but someone (he wasn't exactly sure who, probably Lloyd) managed to convince him it would be fine as long as everyone took it easy. Then there was Echo Zane. The copper droid was super excited ever since the talk on games had started.

" You alright there, Echo?" Nya asked after a short time of watching the droid's excitement grow.

" Can we play 'Charades' now?" Echo asked.

" Echo. People are still easting. " His older brother reprimanded.

" Sorry."

Even so, smiles and a few giggles emerged at the little exchange.

" It's okay, Echo. When everyone's done with lunch, we can play a few rounds of 'Charades'." Jay laughed.

Lloyd turned to the ninja in blue, a questioning look on his face. It was clear that he wanted to make sure Jay was okay with letting Echo make the first choice of game. Jay merely nodded his head in silent confirmation, the smile never leaving his face. Besides, one had to just look at Echo to notice just how excited he was. If he hadn't been bouncing in his spot before, he most definitely was now.

Charades turned out to be quite interesting. As there were so many players, the rules ended up being the first to guess correctly the answer went next. Jay even had the opportunity to use a chair if he needed it, but otherwise he was to keep things relatively simple for himself. After all, no one wanted to see him hurt again. The ideas for the game could come from Echo's 'charades' box or else from one's own mind, which also made things interesting. Really, the only things that weren't allowed were pirates and anything else fear inducing… which turned out to make the game quite tricky at times. Well, aside from the main rule of no talking when doing your actions.

Jay was the first player to go. It was kind of a unanimous decision. After all, it was his birthday. He decided to pick from Echo's lists before carefully making his way to the middle of the room so everyone could see him. Kai brought him the chair for in case he needed it… which formed a smile on Jay's face, the boy already falling silent.

The first clue that Jay gave was brushing the sides of his face, starting with his fingers spread wide before coming together. Lloyd instantly thought he was trying to grow a moustache. Cole countered by saying that Jay would twirl a moustache if he had one. They both received a glare before Jay shook his head in the negative and continued to mime having big teeth. Skylor was the first to guess that it was some form of big cat, which prompted Jay to give a nod before continuing with his next clue.

" It's Cole, isn't it?" Kai asked after Jay mimed being strong, or at least having decent muscles.

" Last I checked, I did not have big teeth or whiskers." Cole grumbled back.

" I would have to agree with Cole." Zane butted in, a thoughtful look on his face. " The image of a big cat does not come to mind when picturing Cole as an animal."

" Thank you, Zane."

Unfortunately for the earth master, Zane hadn't finished with what he was saying. As such, a dangerous smirk emerged on the titanium ninja's face. " He's more like a teddy bear."

Cue unimpressed pout from said 'teddy bear'.

" Give us another clue, Jay." Nya smiled as the others laughed at Cole's expense.

For his next clue, Jay encircled his head with his hands, creating what could only be guessed as a wreath or something similar. It seemed to do the trick. Both Keo and Echo Zane were almost bouncing out of their seats trying to get the chance to answer. Cole was laughing at their eagerness, though his eyes said that he knew the answer as well. Zane and the girls were also quick to key into what the answer could be. Lloyd seemed to have his suspicions, but Kai remained clueless… which was funny because Jay was looking straight at him.

In the end, Echo was chosen to enlighten the fire master. " Lion! You're a lion!"

" Yes! Finally." Jay agreed, a massive smile on his face as he gingerly took his place back on the couch.

Echo was that excited to start his round that he almost forgot to stand in the middle of the room. If it hadn't been for the Tai-D bot constantly banging into his leg in an attempt to move him into position, he would have started his go right where he had been sitting. Only then, when Echo was correctly in the middle of the room, was it discovered that the Tai-D bot wanted to play as well. Unfortunately, that also meant that he was getting in the way a lot.

Zane ended up having to retrieve the small bot and promised it that it could help with the blow up basketball game, and maybe even join in, as long as it stayed out of the way in 'Charades'. The others didn't say anything, but they were all secretly glad that Tai-D decided that that was a fair deal.

Once Echo was clear of any accidental obstructions, he got right into the game. First, he seemed to step up onto something. Then he clipped something to his shirt. Once he was satisfied with himself, he started walking. Occasionally, he would speed up his pace, but mostly he just walked on the spot… completely confusing everyone watching him. It took a good five, nearly ten minutes before someone realised that Echo was on a treadmill, and by that point, the copper droid had to almost fly himself off said treadmill because he was going too fast.

Next up was Jay's father, who had been the one to guess Echo's treadmill. He started playing a violin. Lloyd got the idea to become a window cleaner after that performance, followed by Cole who decided to build himself a bike of some description. There were a few minds that questioned the integrity of the bike, though. Jay even laughed about it once his best friend had sat back down.

Skylor, however, caught everyone off guard. She got dressed into something presumably nice looking, walked a short distance and then started dancing. Some of the moves, though, were borderline sensual. And looking over at Kai, one could tell that he was no longer aware of his surroundings. Even more, the master of amber knew what she was doing to him, if the look in her eyes and the smirk on her lips were anything to go by.

Master Wu, Misako, Ed and Edna were all wondering if they should put a stop to it, but it turned out that Nya was well on the case.

" Okay, you cheeky seductress, you can sit down, now." The water master called out, struggling to keep the laughter out of her voice. " Preferably before my brother sets himself on fire."

" Also, we have minors in this room." Cole added.

He had crossed over to where Keo was sitting and was currently covering the young teen's eyes, a slight blush over his own nose. It wasn't like he was attracted to Skylor like that, but it had caught him off guard. Lloyd, too, by the looks of it. The green ninja was pointedly keeping his eyes on Kai.

The master of amber couldn't help but laugh at the reactions she had unintentionally gotten.

" Well, I was going for backup dancer, but I'll accept seductress." She said as she bowed out and was replaced by Nya.

" You just wanted to tease Kai." Jay corrected with a smirk.

" That too."

Turns out Nya wasn't that much better when it came to teasing Kai. With the cheekiest grin on her face, she seemed to take forever looking for something to wear. Then she spent even longer in front of an imaginary mirror styling her hair up, quite possibly into spikes given how her fingers were splayed. That alone caused laughter to erupt in the room. Yet, despite everyone knowing who she was mimicking, no one said a word.

Her brother, on the other hand, was too busy going red in the face. Whether by embarrassment or annoyance, it was unclear. But he broke when he watched his little sister start to swagger around the room.

" Hey, I do not swagger!" He pouted.

" Oh, you totally do." She countered.

Even worse for Kai, the others all agreed. Grumbling, he took the centre of the room. But, in true Kai fashion, he managed to warn them all with his turn of charades. By starting an invisible fire and continuing to add things to it, slowly making the flames bigger. His actual element, of course, was not in play, as per the rules. But the message was clear to all; stop teasing Kai. The majority of them listened. Nya and Skylor – those closest to Kai – didn't… but they did slow down.

In the end, everyone had great fun playing charades. And everyone got to have at least one go at miming. Some, like Jay, even got two goes. Although, he had to give up halfway trying to mow the lawn due to his side acting up. Keo had fun with his turn, too. He started spinning around in a circle and ended up getting himself dizzy before someone realised that he was trying to be a washing machine. But pretty soon it was time to call quits on the game.

The reason being, Zane and Skylor had both disappeared into the kitchen after cleaning up the lunch table. When they returned, Zane was carrying the birthday cake with him, which he placed on the now cleared table (which Cole and Lloyd had both moved over to where Jay sat). The lightning ninja couldn't stop grinning like a Cheshire cat. After all, he was finally able to eat cake for his birthday. Even better, the doctor had cleared it with a smile (that Jay certainly was not suspicious about).

Much like the first cake that Zane had made (and that Jay only had the opportunity to see thanks to a photo sent by Cole), this cake was a rectangular cake with difference shades of blue in the frosting. Even some of the decorations were the same as the original cake. But, it seemed Zane had decided to make some slight differences to the birthday cake now sitting in front of the lightning master.

This cake had a blue and white marble glaze layering the top and sides, streaks of gold seemingly illuminating the night-like image in a similar way to lightning. Edible gold star and lightning bolt decorations accentuated the gold within the mirror glaze, positioned in a diagonal pattern along the edge of the cake. In one of the top corners sat a curve of gold and silver spheres of various sizes, more stars and lightning bolts adding to the effect. In the diagonally opposite corner rested a silver fondant lightning octopus. To be more precise, it was Jay's elemental emblem from years ago. Finally, in the middle of the cake, were the words 'Happy Birthday Jay'.

Almost as soon as Kai had lit the candles, Jay was graced with an off-key version of the birthday song. And, although the lightning master was glad it was over quickly, somehow his Cheshire cat grin grew wider because of it. The excitement was only quelled slightly when, after making the first cut in the cake, he looked over to Nya and saw the loving smile that she was giving him.

She had done so much for him. They all had. And, yeah okay, maybe this birthday wasn't exactly the worst there could have been. Considering what had happened on the actual day, it was still bad. But this party definitely made up for it. Jay just hoped that the kiss he gave Nya conveyed the thanks that he had for everything that had been done.

" Okay, okay." Lloyd's voice cut through the moment. " I think that kiss had gone on longer than birthday cake regulations state."

" I was unaware that birthday cakes had such regulations." Zane said, although the glint in his eye clearly said that he was teasing the young leader.

" Well, there are. Regulations state that a birthday cake kiss has to be a peck. On the cheek. No exceptions to couples."

" And who wrote those regulations?" Skylor asked, a mischievous smirk on her face.

Lloyd looked around the room at the rest of his team mates, clearly flustered. Other than Keo and Echo, who looked extremely confused, the others all bore smirks akin to Skylor's. And, from that point on, it was clear on his face that whatever was going on in his head was epically failing. Then Cole had to go and embarrass him even further.

" I think your age is showing, Greenie." He said smugly.

If it was at all possible, Lloyd's face got even redder. " I just… Can't I… It is not!"

Laughter erupted within the room once again. And, if Jay was being honest, he felt happier at the fact that Lloyd was trying to joke about like he was. He was clearly trying to make him forget about what had happened on that year's birthday. Kind of like what he had tried to do earlier in the year for the little green bean (even if said green bean was no longer smaller than him). Judging by the slight smile Lloyd was giving him once he heard Jay's laughter, the blue ninja had understood exactly what he had been trying to do.

Zane was quick to settle everyone down, though, when he started handing out slices of birthday cake. Jay, of course, got first slice, shortly followed by his parents. And the blue ninja's eyes lit up when he realised that it was an orange poppyseed cake, the best flavour out there (in his opinion. Cole can say what he wants, he ain't budging on the matter). Not to mention he could taste that Zane had made the cake almost as soon as the first bite had touched his tongue.

Heaven on a plate, as Cole rightly put it once he had taken a bite out of his own slice. The others were not far behind him with similar compliments… well, except for Keo. Having never had that particular flavour before, the young wind elemental wasn't quite sure what to think of it. But he was polite about it, even as birthday wishes continued to flow towards the lightning elemental as the cake was passed around.

Once everyone was satisfied with the amount of cake in their bellies, it was decided that ping pong connect-a-four would be a good game to play next. This time, it was Kai who helped Cole swap the cake table for a bigger table that could hold the two connect-a-four boxes that had been specifically made for the game. Cole even suggested turning the game into a tournament type of game, with a second slice of cake as the prize. Clearly, he was still hungry. But the idea was agreed upon, Zane cut the prize slice, and Misako and Pixal worked together to create a suitable tournament bracket.

Due to the slightly odd make-up of the bracket, two pairs had to go first before the winners were moved up into a match-up that was waiting for a partner. From there, the tournament would continue as if there had been not extra brackets attached.

It quickly became clear, however, that there was a very high possibility that none of the seven humans would win the prize slice thanks to the three droids who were also on the list. Lloyd, especially, had given up hope when he realised that he had been placed against Zane in one of the two 'hanging brackets'. But, at the same time, he didn't want to forfeit the match. Zane still won, meaning he ended up versing Nya in her 'open' bracket.

Keo and Skylor had a similar game in the sense that their match was the other of the two 'hanging brackets'. Unlike Lloyd, however, they had a better game. Keo even got to chose the two contrasting ping pong ball colours so that it was easier for him to tell how his match was going. But where Lloyd's match only lasted a few shots (thanks to most of his throws either sailing over the box or else the ping pong balls falling into slots he had not been aiming for), Skylor and Keo's match lasted longer.

In fact, the master of amber quickly found that Keo was quite the opponent when it came to aiming and throwing. Something that the others knew all too well thanks to that Kalun strategy game his father had taught him. Unfortunately for Keo, Ping Pong Connect-a-Four was not Rygwachii and he ended up leaving himself open, resulting in Skylor taking the win… only to find herself versing Pixal.

Needless to say, Skylor ended up losing to the female droid in a similar fashion to Lloyd's match against the master of ice.

What was even funnier, though, was that Cole had to go up against Echo Zane. Somehow, the earth master still lost despite the copper droid often missing his aim, and thus the game box, altogether. And Cole wasn't trying to go easy on the kid, either. The baffled look on his face as he tried to figure out how he had lost the match remained throughout the tournament.

The game between Nya and Zane turned out to be an intense battle, but ultimately, the water ninja fell and allowed Zane to progress. Jay and Kai's match was equally intense. Jay suspected that it had something to do with the stubbornness that flowed through the siblings. But he ended up having to forfeit after a wrong throw sent his side spasming. If it hadn't, both Kai and Jay suspected that the match would have ended in a tie.

The final round turned out to be Pixal versus Zane. Kai had ultimately succumbed to the force of nature that was the master of ice, much like his siblings before him. And Echo somehow got distracted halfway through his game with Pixal, resulting in Pixal taking an easy win. Yet it was Jay who proposed that they upped the difficulty in the finale by blinding both droids. Said droids had no choice but to accept the challenge when all seven of their human friends essentially ganged up on them with the answer.

So they picked their helpers and shut down their optics.

Poor Echo Zane soon found himself dodging ping pong balls as he tried to tidy up the second couch, putting away the second ping pong box as he did so. At least he had some form of relief whenever either Skylor or Cole (the helpers) handed the players their ping pong balls. In the end, though, Zane still won. But it was a close game, even with the players being blinded.

However, the titanium ninja decided to split the prize slice in half and gave each to Lloyd and Keo. He claimed he was just full from both lunch and his earlier slice of cake, yet there was the slight hint in his voice that he felt bad for his chosen cake eaters due to them being kicked out of the tournament so early. Cole may or may not have felt a little jealous about it as he was seen sneaking back over to where the cake sat to get himself an extra slice.

Of course, it was Cole's luck that Tai-D picked up the inflatable basketball and started rolling around the room with it high above its head. Occasionally, it would gently throw it at someone, clearly trying to get them to realise that it wanted to join in on the party games. In fact, its first target was Cole. who was just about to take his first bite when he felt the inflatable ball being thrown at his legs.

" Um… I'm going to take a wild guess and say you want to play ball." The earth master said, with raised eyebrow, as the small bot picked up the basketball again.

The Gismo spun in a circle where it stood, still holding the ball. Cole took that as an affirmative answer.

" I'm not the one you should be asking."

Before Cole could get anything else out, the Tai-D bot had turned and zipped over to the next person to ask. When it tried asking Skylor (as she had been the closest to where Cole had been standing), it realised pretty quickly that it wasn't going to get a proper answer from her either. She had just looked confused at the little bot, not having spent as long with it as the ninja had and so not understanding.

After about five minutes of searching the room for someone to ask (during which everyone had learned of what it wanted), Pixal directed the little bot in front of Jay. The blue ninja was smiling at it, quietly waiting even as he motioned for Lloyd to start setting up the rest of the game. Gently, more so as its way of asking, the Tai-D bot placed the inflatable basketball on Jay's lap.

" You want to play basketball, do you, Tai-D?" Jay asked.

Again, Tai-D spun in a circle as a way of confirmation.

" Then let's play ball."

Jay had never seen the little robot so happy before. It took the basketball from his lap, spun in a circle in front of him, and threw the ball at the hoop that Lloyd had just moved away from. Only, when the bot had stopped spinning to throw the basketball, it had ended up still facing Jay. Meaning, it had thrown the ball behind it. even more mind blowing was the fact that it had easily made the shot, the ball going neatly through the hoop.

" Hey, Tai-D? Can you do that again? Please?" Echo asked, just as stunned by what he had seen as everyone else was.

Not seeing the issue, Tai-D retrieved the basketball and went back to where it had sat by Jay's feet. It them completed the exact same move, in the exact same way, getting the same perfect results as before. And it still stunned its onlookers.

But Lloyd now sported a glint in his eye. Whether mischievous or not was hard to tell. And that only worried those who managed to catch the gaze of the green ninja. Even more so when it became apparent that there were strips of fabric resting on the second lounge. Had that fabric been there at the start of the party?

" I just had an idea." Those words, coming out of the green ninja's mouth and at that point in time, sent chills down every older person's spine. " Let's play trick basketball."

" What do you mean by 'Trick basketball'?" Kai asked, ever wary.

" We try and do what Tai-D did. Do tricks with the blow up basketball and see if you can get it through the hoop easily."

" Um, Lloyd. There's a flaw in that idea." Jay pointed out, getting his leader's attention. " I just got that stupid drainage tube out of my wound before arriving at this party. Like, I don't know, a few hours at max. I can't do trick basketball."

" Okay, okay. No really bad tricks. At most, you can copy Tai-D just without the spinning. But definitely blindfolds."

" And how is wearing a blindfold not a trick?" Cole asked.

" Because we are literally standing in front of a blow up basketball hoop that's more or less designed for kids (it's the only thing I could just at such short notice). And the only fancy shot allowed is a backwards throw over the head, otherwise you throw normally. That's it. And I just thought of another idea; we could play the music, kind of like in pass the parcel, but when the music stops that's when you have to shoot."

All eyes turned to Jay. It was his birthday, so ultimately it was his decision. And he knew that. He just wasn't too sure about all the attention suddenly on him like it was now. Especially with the knowledge that both he and Zane had pretty much promised Tai-D that it could play basketball with them.

Jay really did not like being on the bad side of that robot.

After a few minutes of thought, a sigh left the lightning ninja's lips. " Okay. Rules of basketball: we wear blindfolds, take turns shooting the ball at the hoop, get three shots each before passing the ball to the next person, only one of those three shots can be a backwards shot, and no music stopping otherwise this party would take forever and I kind of want to open presents."

" That's fair." Nya admitted, everyone else agreeing with her.

Taking in to account Jay's current comfort levels as well as everything else that was going on, even Lloyd had to admit that he was starting to get a little carried away with his basketball plans. But it was Echo Zane who made a slight change to the rules. It was more of an addition, really, and one that was whole-heartedly accepted. The Tai-D bot was the only exception to the blindfold rule and that was mainly because it was also going to be retrieving the basketball for everyone after they had taken their shots.

Despite all this, though, the game didn't last very long. Tai-D had instantly taken it upon itself to choose who got to go when. As such, Echo got to go first. And he did manage to get the basketball through the hoop, but it had been on his third shot. No one cared that it was because the ball had bounced off the rim.

It was also discovered that playing basketball while blindfolded was a lot more trickier than first thought. With Echo's new body being more advanced (and a lot less rusty) than his old one, it had become common knowledge within the group that his aim was quite good when he focussed. He also gained a kind of air about him when he was focussed, which was definitely present during his turn at basketball. So to see that he missed on his first two shots, while blindfolded, proved to the others that the small strips of fabric were not to be messed with.

Keo's go was next, but he was quickly 'disqualified' when people noticed the faint green glow coming from behind the blindfold. The kid hadn't meant to activate his spiritual powers (they all knew he was still trying to control them), but he had decided to sit out the rest of the game because of it. Just to be on the safe side. Zane and Pixal decided to sit out the game with him, both saying that, due to their robotic natures, they could also be seen as cheating. The reality was, they didn't want Keo to feel left out.

When it was Cole's turn to shoot, Lloyd was seen praying that he didn't accidentally bust the inflatable objects when he practically pegged the basketball at the hoop. Thankfully, no such incidents occurred. The ball, however, did manage to rebound off the back of the inflatable board and hit Cole in the head. There was even a repeat performance where the earth master tried to shoot backwards and the ball go him in the back of the head. Needless to say, he gave up his last shot in favour of nursing his wounded pride.

Tai-D was happy though. The bot was allowed to take Cole's third shot for him. It even did its little spinning backwards throw (which still got a perfect score) before passing on the ball to Jay. The blue ninja, however, had not expected to find the ball in his lap again.

" Go on, Jay." Nya urged quietly, noticing the slightly dazed look in his eye.

" You never know, you might be better at this than normal basketball." Kai added. The blue ninja glared at his fiery companion. He did not need a reminder of the last time he played any kind of basketball. Said fiery companion merely shrugged his shoulders. " Hey, I'm trying to be optimistic here."

Another sigh slipped through Jay's lips as he took the basketball and accepted the blindfold being placed over his eyes. He felt someone move him into position (probably Cole judging from the size of the hands) then pat his shoulder to tell him that it was okay for him to shoot. One deep breath, a bounce of the basketball, Jay took the shot… only for stunned silence to follow.

" Um…" he started, fearing he had done something wrong but not wanting to take off the blindfold yet.

" Do that again, Jay." Kai's voice sounded shocked for some reason. And Jay knew he was hard to surprise even with his free-flowing emotions.

Tai-D placed the basketball back into his hands and moved away, Cole calling out another shocked all clear to shoot. So Jay did exactly what he did before. He took a breath, bounced the basketball a little and threw it in the direction he figured the basketball hoop was.

" Someone please tell me that wasn't a fluke." Kai's voice came again.

" What?" Jay asked, really getting worried now.

" Third time lucky, Jay." Cole's voice came, this time, the basketball being placed into the blue ninja's hands a little rougher than Tai-D usually passed it.

" That'll be my three shots, then."

" I have a feeling no one cares about the three shots rule anymore."

" Why? What's going on?"

" Just take the shot." Kai grumbled, a familiar tinge in his voice peeking through the surprise.

So Jay took the shot… and apparently got the same results as before, judging from the others' reactions.

" Okay, okay. That couldn't have been a fluke. What is going on?"

" That's what I want to know!" Finally, Jay tore off the blindfold and glared at his friends, clearly demanding answers.

" We don't know how you keep on doing it, but every shot you've made was a swish shot, Jay." Skylor explained gently.

Jay laughed. He couldn't help it. The last time he played basketball, he'd failed miserably at getting the ball through the ring. The others even laughed at him because of it. So to hear he was able to get the ball straight through the hoop with swish shots and wearing a blindfold… you couldn't blame him.

" I can't even get the ball through the hoop. I doubt I got swishes or whatever you call it. I'll show you." He said, picking up the ball again and throwing it at the hoop.

True to his word, the ball bounced right off the backboard, missing the hoop entirely… which was even more confusing for everyone. Kai decided he needed to test something out, though, as he gave Jay the basketball and turned him around so his back was facing the basketball hoop. He even put the blindfold back on.

" Okay, Jay. Shoot backwards. And don't fight me." The fire master practically demanded.

" But…" The blue ninja tried.

" I said don't fight me."

It was easier to just give up and do what he was told. This time, Jay was able to hear the tell-tale swish as the ball passed through the inflatable net with ease. Whether out of surprise or the slight pain in his side, however, his body started to sway. Nya was at his side in an instant and gently getting him to sit back down on the couch.

" I think we should stop with basketball for now." The water ninja declared as she took the blindfold off her boyfriend's face.

Once more, a number of others voiced their agreements.

" I also think that the next time Jay plays basketball, he plays with a blindfold." Kai added.

" Yeah, I'm not going to think about that." Jay hissed through his teeth, more out of pain than anything else.

" I'm telling you, you're like a pro when you've got the blindfold on."

Jay's father nodded to that statement. " I kind of agree with Kai, there, son. Even though you're still healing from your surgery, those were some mighty impressive shots you did."

" Zane, show him."

Zane took one look at the blue ninja and noticed the pained look in his eyes and slow breathing he was doing. There was also a hint of tiredness to those electric blue irises. It was something he could not ignore even if he wanted to.

" Maybe when Jay is feeling up to it more, I will show him my recordings." The nindroid said with a soft smile. " Right now, I think it is time to open presents."

Jay liked that idea. It meant he didn't need to do anything too strenuous for a while. The smile that spread across his lips definitely had a hint of relief in it, though. But whether anyone else realised it (other than Nya and Zane who noticed instantly) was another story as no one gave anything away. They all just made their way over to the present table to collect their gifts and bring them over to the lightning master while he rested. Cole even carried the giant teddy bear over, although with the way he was guarding it, Jay got the feeling that that was going to be the last gift he received today.

The first present came in the form of a couple of new shirts from his parents. Both looked to be hand-made, and knowing his mother, they probably were. The first shirt that Jay picked up was a long sleeved, button down shirt made of blue velvet. Gold buttons accentuated the garment as well as the two gold embroidered lightning bolts on the ends of the collar. The other was a more casual t-shirt, still blue in colour but with a camouflage pattern to it. And still there was a small gold lightning bolt embroidered over the left chest area.

But what really made Jay's eyes almost pop out of his head was what was under the shirts. Looking up at him was a brand new, limited edition VT 500 Hybrid Electro-Steam engine model set complete with modified BRTM-12 carriages and rail system. The others didn't quite understand the significance of the set, but a clearly excited Jay eagerly told his friends that the model engine had been the last type of engine to haul BRTM-12 carriages before they were discontinued as well as the first ever train engine to start using electricity, even if it was as a hybridised form. Ed finished off the explanation by stating that it was the one thing that had appeared on a good majority of Jay's childhood winter festival lists… and embarrassing Jay in the process.

It was clear to all that Jay was excited by just the sight of the model train set. Nya expected him to open the box right there and then. Jay, however, managed to restrain himself and put the gift aside (with a little help), thanking both his parents with careful hugs before turning to face his girlfriend, a slightly questioning look on his face. The reason, Nya was sure was because of the gift she now held in her hands and the gift she had given him back in the hospital.

" This is the second part of your birthday present." Nya said with a smile. " And be careful. It is a little on the heavy side."

" Right. Thank you." Jay replied, carefully taking the gift and placing it beside him.

Opening the gift had Jay's eyes widen even more. It looked like an ordinary backpack. In fact, it looked a lot like something out of the science-fiction movies he enjoyed. There were slits in the sides of the pack where it looked like wings could open up from, and the engines that were built into the pack itself and the wingtips gave away what it truly was. But there were other feathers that made the gift unique, like the clear safety features built into the pack, what looked like some kind of sensor, and was that hatch access to the inner workings or an actual pocket to put things in?

" A jet pack?" the blue ninja almost whispered.

" I swear, you're spoiling him, Nya." Kai was clearly teasing if the look in his eye was anything to go by.

" Then you can see it as returning the favour for all the times my Yin has spoiled me." His sister shot back. She then turned back to face said Yin. " I actually took inspiration from one of your own glider designs. Just improved on it a bit. And I've linked it to your elemental signature so you can use your own lightning to power the jets or you can use Pixal's eco-fuel to save your energy for fighting."

" You mean I can fight with the jetpack on?" Jay asked, still in awe.

" If that's what needs to happen, they yeah. But I'd be careful when doing so. It's still an easy target than can go boom if you're not careful."

Jay still loved the jetpack and was sorely tempted to try it out right there and then. Those thoughts were squashed when both Nya and Zane recognised the glint in his eyes and quickly told him of the repercussions if he did follow through with them. As always, they were a convincing pair… especially when the lightning master didn't want to end up back in the hospital.

Surprisingly, it was Echo Zane who decided that he needed to get Jay's thoughts away from the hospital. Even more surprising was that he had gotten Jay a paint set for his birthday, complete with a pack of small canvasses. He even apologised for not having something as sool as the train set or the jetpack to give him, especially when he had only seen small doodles on Jay's other works from when he had been thinking of other things. That had been why he got the paint set. The copper droid had thought his friend would like to try his hand at doing art work.

Of course, the birthday boy would not accept Echo's apology, mainly because there was no need for it. The paint set was still a great birthday present. Especially seeing that, after Echo's explanation for why he picked that gift, it wasn't until then that he had even thought it possible to turn his random doodles into something more than just idle drawings of thought. Jay was more than willing to give it a go, at least.

The next present came from Keo. And, as there seemed to be a theme going on with the newest ninja, the boy had given him a hand-carved animal sculpture. The animal in question was an octopus with tentacles that looked like they were actual lightning bolts. Even its body seemed to have lightning arching around it. Jay wasn't the only one stunned by the sculpture judging by the looks of awe and amazement that were going around the room.

Cole discovered that he wasn't the only one who gave Jay a new video game for his birthday. Both Wu and Skylor also had the same idea, although Master Wu had to make his choice ninja related and Skylor had gotten some new instalment of an old classic. Jay was more than excited to try out both games. And Misako got him a gift card only because she had no idea what else to get him. Her only condition was that he wasn't to spend it all in one place.

Zane gifted Jay with a few model building kits. One of them, the only wooden kit out of the three, looked to be modelled on the lightning ninja's old lightning jet. And by the look on his face, there was no doubt that Jay was going to have fun building that. The other two kits were made of metal. Jay instantly recognised the Starfarer spacecraft ' the Stormspiker' on one of the kits, which made him smile despite the conflicting feelings he had towards his biological father. Finally, there was a model based on the Spinjitzu monastery.

" Thanks Zane. I'm sure these will keep me busy for a bit." Jay smiled, looking for a place to rest his new modelling kits until they could be moved to his room. Nya gently took them off his hands to place them back on the table with his other opened presents, leaving him to turn to Kai and Lloyd. " Okay, who's next?"

Lloyd and Kai both looked at each other, almost daring the other to move, before the green ninja jumped up, oddly triangular gift in hand. The gift wasn't small either. In fact, it looked suspiciously like a guitar case had been attacked by an entire roll of wrapping paper. And, to be honest, that confused Jay.

" Okay, I'm pretty sure you already know what this is," Lloyd said, taking note of the confused look on his friend's face, " so I'm just going to put out there the fact that everyone else seemed to have already gotten you the cool stuff for your birthday when I remembered you saying something about you playing a guitar. Either that or I had one heck of a weird dream, clung to that as a memory and then totally botched this by getting the wrong thing. So hopefully I didn't just ruin this. Happy birthday, Jay."

Lloyd handed Jay the present who, after reading the birthday card, proceeded to tear open the wrapping. He would have tried to save the wrapping paper (because it really did look like a roll of the stuff had been used) but he just could not find where the end of the wrapping paper way. Knowing his luck, it was tucked under another flap of paper. So he did the only thing he could do.

Maybe they'd be able to save the dregs for later… if someone bothered to think about it.

Beyond the wrapping emerged a generic black guitar case which Jay opened to reveal a stunning blue acoustic guitar. Black rimmed the sides and edges of the instrument but never took away from the beauty of it. If anything, it accentuated the blue. To say Jay was stunned would be an understatement. Something like this would have had to have cost a few hundred bucks regardless of its looks (or more so because of them, when you think about it).

" Lloyd, this is… wow. I almost don't want to play it 'cause it looks so… I don't know, untouchable? I don't know." The blue ninja eventually managed to get out.

He heard Kai whisper something about his lack of words, but he chose not to take note of it. Instead, he chose to focus on the gift giver.

" Well, I kinda hope you do. You were kind of amazing in the dream or whatever it was that compelled me to get it for you." Lloyd replied, rubbing at his arm nervously.

" Just don't get too upset if reality turns out to be completely different, okay?"

" No promises."

No one could say that Jay didn't try to warn him. In fact, they were all witness to it, so they had no excuse. But while the blue ninja could kind of play something as he strummed the guitar, it was clear that he was going to need lessons. Jay made sure to place the instrument back in its case and was safely moved out of the way before turning to face Kai, quickly saving the others' ears from any horrors he may have produced in his attempt at playing.

" Saving the best for last?" Kai asked with a smirk as he presented his gift.

" Hate to say it, but with the way Cole is clutching that giant teddy bear, I would say that is the last." Jay replied, equally as mischievous. " As for the best, well… there's three people who can rightfully claim that title; my parents and my girlfriend."

" But I'm your girlfriend's brother. In-laws should count for something."

" Depends on the in-law."

" What's that supposed to mean?"

" It means Jay should really stop teasing my brother before he ends up getting himself killed." Nya butted in.

And judging by the slight twitch in the corner of Kai's eye, Jay figured he'd better listen. So he took the box that had been in Kai's hands and took off the ribbon once he had read the card. For some reason, though, the older Smith sibling was getting into the habit of not wrapping gifts he had made. And this was evident by the fact that the ribbon was hiding the blacksmith logo that was on the top of the box. Also, the unimpressed look Nya was giving her brother didn't help the situation.

But it was what was in the box that had Jay's jaw practically on his lap (and his other gifts were all amazing, so this was saying something). Inside sat a shining, gold kusarigama. Unlike the one he currently used, the blade was shaped like a dragon's head complete with horns, eyes and scales. Said eyes were made from blazing blue gemstones with the same type of gems inlayed along the edges of the scales, making them pop out against the gold plating. The chain linking the sickle to the weight was golden and somehow made to look like actual scales, with every third link being a similar blue to the gemstones without being gemstones themselves. The weight looked like the dragon's claw, with scales and gemstone tipped talons to match.

It was a work of art. A deadly work of art that somehow looked a lot stronger, a lot more sturdier, than his current kusarigama. Would it be wrong to say that he felt like he'd never want to use it because it looked so damn awesome?

" Okay, out of everyone who is not my parents or my girlfriend, this is most definitely the best gift I've gotten this year. Quite possibly the best in a long time, too." He somehow managed to get out of his mouth after a few minutes of just staring at the weapon.

" You can fight with it, too. The blade is made of stronger than normal materials so it's durable and the claw is made of the same stuff. So, double whammy if you ever need it. My, uh, my dad gave me a few pointers to make it better than your other kusarigama." Kai admitted, before the gruff sound of someone clearing their throat reached his ears. " And Cole helped by finding the right kinds of gemstones to use for the eyes and the scales."

" It's amazing. Thank you."

Just taking the weapon from the confines of the box was enough to elevate the awe the blue ninja felt. The feel of the grips were pure comfort under his skin, and that was with the feel of the gemstones embedded into the metal. Not to mention the overall weight of the weapon was a perfect balance for him. The only thing that Jay was sorry about was that he physically couldn't test it out properly. Aside from the fact that they were having a birthday party inside the monastery, his body would not be able to handle the stress of the movements.

He ended up placing the weapon back into its box and getting someone to move it to the side for him. That's when Cole saw his chance and came forward with the giant teddy bear. It was a fluffy, dark brown bear with a cream coloured muzzle and cream paw pads. Instead of the generic brown eyes that Jay had seen on other teddies, this one's eyes were blue. It even had a large blue bandana around its neck.

" This big guy is from all of us." Cole said, patting the bear on the head as it sat beside him. " We saw it when we were leaving the hospital last week. Although Zane gave him eye surgery and Lloyd found him a small tablecloth that we managed to turn into a bandana for him. We just wanted to make you feel better after what happened."

" And we wanted to get you a stuffed toy of your own, to keep Mr Cuddlywomp company. We're just sorry we couldn't make him from scratch given we only had a week to sort everything, including the party, out." Nya added.

" So you got him a friend that pretty much dwarfs him?" Jay could not help but question.

" Don't dis the height difference." Cole butted in. " We're besties and you're smaller than me."

" By a few inches! Mr Cuddlywomp isn't even the size of this guy's arm!"

Nya could only sigh at the boys' antics.

" Believe it or not, but blame Kai." She ended up saying in an attempt to silence the light-hearted bickering.

Kai, however, seemed taken back by that accusation. " Why me? You were just as much at fault."

" Because you were the one who pointed him out in the shop in the first place. I just went one step further and actually got it. Which reminds me, I'm still waiting for what you owe me." His sister bit back.

Jay turned to face Cole. " I'm guessing that's the true reason why Teddy, here, is from all of you?"

Surprisingly, Cole shook his head before giving the bear a good squeeze around the shoulders. " Actually, it's part of the reason. We had agreed on getting him for you before we all realised that Nya was the only one who had enough money on her at the time to get him. So we each had a little role to play in bringing him to you. I, uh… kinda gave him the name 'Michael'."

Jay tested the name out, carefully getting up and going over to take the bear by the shoulders himself. And the look on his face as he did so was surprisingly scrutinizing. It was a good minute and a half before a pleased smile graced his lips. Which had his friends releasing breaths they hadn't realised they had been holding.

" Not that I don't think Michael is a good name, it is. But I think he's more of a 'Mikey'." The blue ninja admitted, still with that please look on his face. " He feels like he's a more casual kind of bear, not one who insists of being formal about pretty much everything. Or at least he prefers being called by his nickname 'Mikey' instead of by his full name, Michael."

Mikey was a good name for the giant teddy bear. And everyone agreed. Including Mr Cuddlywomp, though Jay made sure to ask him away from prying eyes and ears. The only issue, really, was that Jay had nowhere to put Mikey, he was so big. It was only thanks to Zane that Jay managed to find him a home in the corner of his room, moving some of his furniture out of the way so that there was room for him.

But, propped up with pillows and blankets, Mikey was surprisingly snuggly, as Jay was currently discovering. With how big the bear was, he just had to see how snuggly he was. He was not disappointed. Even with the day, he was not disappointed. True, it had been busy, but it had also been fun. Not to mention, Jay's voice was probably shot thanks to 'Singing Bingo'.

That had been fun, considering it had been a spur of the moment idea from that morning in order to throw off any thoughts of the others realising he knew they were up to something. Cole even had the added idea to add music to the songs that people made up. He had found a list of instrumental and karaoke style songs on the internet that he played for the occasion. Half the time, people were belting out random songs that they'd made up for everyone ese to try and guess what the word on the card was.

Echo kept finding song titles on the internet himself and would sing those songs instead of making up his own. Although he did make up his own dance routines which were hilarious. He had his brother's humour, that was for sure. And no one had the heart to ruin his fun.

Both Kai and Lloyd were equally as problematic as each other when it came to making stuff up. Most of the time, they got confused with what they were doing, which ended up with everyone else getting confused trying to understand them. But it was still hilarious to watch, especially when Echo or even Tai-D tried to help them with figuring out what to sing. How Kai and Lloyd managed to protect their cards in the ensuing mess was beyond Jay.

Then there was Keo who kept slipping into the Kalun language during his songs, making it so that half the time, Zane was the only one who understood what he was trying to say. When he'd finish the song he was singing, he'd realise what had happened, get all apologetic, then try to fix the confusion he'd caused only to have it all happen again. So his turns ended up with everyone trying to guess more than just what had been written on the cards he picked.

Looking back on the day, everyone seemed to have had a good time. At least, that's what it looked like from Jay's perspective. But, as always, the party had to come to an end. Cole ended up taking Jay's parents back home to their junkyard (but not before they managed to make a big fuss over their son as always). Skylor even found herself as a guest of the monastery for the night. It had been Kai's idea, but it had also surprised him that Wu had accepted the idea.

Also, Jay may or may not have fallen asleep in the lounge room at some point. At least, that's what he figured seeing as he remembered waving his parents out of the room one minute, then he was startled awake by Cole's return. The room had also been tidied in that time, too. The rest of the day went by in a bit of an uneventful blur.

The blue ninja gave a small sigh as he turned to face Mikey again.

" You know, this year's birthday may have been the worst one I've had thanks to certain things that happened to go wrong all at once, but it was up there as one of the best, too. Mainly for the party, though." He told the bear.

" I'm glad to hear that." A voice called from his doorway.

Startled, Jay whipped his head to the door, only to relax when he saw his girlfriend standing there with a smile on her face. A few seconds later, after a silent exchange where Nya asked for permission to enter the room, she made her way over to Jay's bed where she sat herself on the edge.

" How long have you been standing there?" Jay found himself asking in greeting.

" Honestly, I just got here to check on how you were going. And with the door open, it was just luck that I heard you." Nya replied. " But I am glad you had fun, today at least."

" Considering I'm pretty much still an invalid."

" Oh, come on, Jay. You're not that bad. You got your drainage tube taken out, finally."

" And then got put straight into a birthday party. That reminds me, I need to tell Lloyd to get rid of that blow-up basketball hoop. I don't trust him or Kai with it."

The look Jay received after saying that definitely gave him mixed signals. On one hand, Nya was smiling at him and his antics. On the other, her eyes had a hard edge to them. Apparently, he had just said the wrong thing. And it must have shown on his face that he knew he was in trouble.

" Do you really want to dash Tai-D's hopes of becoming Ninjago's greatest basketball player?" His girlfriend asked, cementing his fears.

Still, though… " They were pretty good, weren't they."

" I finally get you using better pronouns for Tai-D." Nya was laughing again.

" Yeah, yeah. So why'd you really come in here? Aside from checking in on me."

" What makes you think that?"

" Aside from all the smiling and the squinty eyes you just gave me, there's something about you that screams you've got something to ask me."

Nya's head dropped to her chest, but her smile merely widened. Clearly, she had been discovered.

" Okay, okay. You got me." She said. " Mum and Dad just called me and Kai. They wish you happy birthday, by the way. Anyway, they're going away next weekend to some convention that Mum's dragging Dad to and they're asking for someone to watch the blacksmith. It's just luck that Kai can't do it because he's promised both Lloyd and Skylor he'd do things with them over the weekend. So, I was thinking, you and I have some time to ourselves next weekend, starting Friday and ending Monday when they get home. It'll get you out of the monastery and maybe we could just enjoy being with each other. The doctor also said that things should be okay for us by then as long as we still take things easy."

" No one breathing down our necks, no Kai to threaten bloody murder, and the all clear from the doctor… I think we've got ourselves a date." Jay smiled back, carefully peeling himself from the confines of Mikey's softness and making his way to his girlfriend's side to seal the deal with a passionate kiss.

One that was welcomed whole-heartedly.