Okay, this is turning out to be waaay longer than I anticipated, so I guess this is gonna be a three parter now (?)

"Um, excuse me, ma'am? Do you have a cell phone we could borrow?" Nya asked a woman who was trying to get a good tan. She shifted onto her stomach, giving the couple a confused glance before nodding and reaching into her purse, digging around before pulling out her phone, unlocking it and handing it to Nya.

"Thank you!" Nya said, dialing her brother's number. Cole waited patiently beside her.

"Shit, he's not picking up!" She cursed, handing the phone back to the woman after thanking her again.

Cole chuckled. "I approve of cussing Nya."

She rolled her eyes, a small smile on her face. "Whatever."

Cole groaned, then turned back to the lady. "Where exactly in Ninjago are we? I mean, we couldn't have gotten too far...right?"

Nya shrugged. The lady responded with: "Downtown Ninjago."

Cole huffed. "That's a few hours away from home! And that was with some kind of transportation!" He cried, throwing his hands up in the air.

Nya groaned again, running her hands through her wet and tangled hair. Both of them still had mounds of sand stuck on their backs, and were soaking wet.

"What do we do?!" Cole asked. "I doubt a stranger would let us hitch a ride...and we have no money..."

"Hey, calm down! We can do this. I say our first step will be to find a map and see where we are."

"Dry clothes would be nice." Cole muttered.

"I know, but we don't exactly have any money!" Nya countered.

"You're right." Cole sighed. "What do we do?"

"I say we find a map. Isn't Dareth's dojo downtown?" Nya asked.

"Yeah, but who knows how far away it is!" Cole said.

Nya sighed. "I'm gonna kill that damn dragon..."

"I'll help you." He replied bitterly. Then, he remembered something. "Wait! Didn't Sensei Wu make an emergency bank account in case of situations like these?"

"Yeah, but I doubt there's much money left. We spent the majority of it trying to pay off rent..." She said. "But I guess there's no harm in checking."

Cole nodded. "Okay. Maybe there's enough for a payphone? Or maybe a taxi?"

Nya shrugged. "I guess we should-"

"Excuse me!" The two turned to see a man approaching them. He was tall, but not taller than Cole, and he was wearing a pair of swim trunks. He appeared to be in his twenties or so. "Hello. I couldn't help but notice you two got ditched by your dragon."

The two nodded in unison. "Yep."

"Is there any way my wife and I could help? We really appreciate everything the ninja have done for us, and I don't think it'd be fair if you two were to go about this situation alone after everything you've done for us."

The two glanced at each other. Before either could say anything, a woman rushed up beside the man.

"It looks like you two could use a change of clothes." She turned to the man. "We could give them our coverups."

Before either could say anything, the man had nodded. "We could give you our coverups, if you wanted. The size'll be a gamble, but I guess it'd be better than what you have on now. And don't worry about us, we live close to here. What do you say?"

The pair looked at each other, both wanting to decline out of kindness. But they both knew they needed something dry, at least.

"Um...are you sure? We don't want to be a burden." Nya said, her voice small.

"You bet we are! You two aren't a burden to use! Do you know how many you've saved?! If anything, we should be the ones worrying about being burdens!" The man said. "Now please, follow us!"

The woman gave Nya an olive green sweatshirt and a pair of spandex shorts, while the man gave Cole a plain white shirt and a pair of dark khaki shorts.

"Thank you!" Nya said. "Could we have your first and last names, please?" She asked.

"Louisa and Jack Jones!" The man replied, wrapping his arm around his wife.

"Thank you for your help!" Cole said.

"You're welcome. Do you need to use a cell phone?" The woman offered.

"Oh, um, yes, if you don't mind." Cole responded. He took the unlocked phone, then turned to Nya. "You go change, and I'll try to get a hold of one of the others."

She nodded, then scampered off. He dialed Kai's number, but he didn't pick up again. He tried Jay and Lloyd, but it was a similar situation there, too. He tried Zane.

"Hello?" Zane said.

"Oh, thank overlord you picked up!" Cole said, sighing in relief.

"Cole? What is wrong? Why are calling from an unknown number?"

"The Ultra Dragon ditched us at a beach, and we're trying to get back home, but we're pretty far away. Is there any chance you or the others could pick us up?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm in the middle of my mission. Where are you two?"

"Downtown." He responded, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Okay. If you want, I can call Dareth and let him know you two are on your way."

"That'd be great. Thanks, buddy." Cole said.

"It is no problem, brother. I will let the others know that you might be a little late."

"Okay, Zane. Thanks again. I'll see ya later."

"Goodbye." With that, Cole ended the call and handed the phone back to the woman.

"Thank you two, what you've done means a lot to us. We won't forget it." Cole said.

"Don't mention it." The man said. "Do you two need a ride or anything else?"

Cole shook his head. He would not accept more than what he had already been given! "No thank you, you've already done enough."

"If you say so. Just let us know, and we'll be happy to help you!" The man asked.

"Uh...actually, is there anywhere around here where I could get a map?"

…

The couple directed Cole to the beach's gift shop, where Cole managed to convince the manager to print him a paper copy of the map of downtown Ninjago. He thanked the couple and the manager again, and they were off.

Nya emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, discarding her old clothes in the trash. She was a blushing mess, the sweater too big for her.

But the shorts?

They were just right, sitting on her hips at the perfect angle, fitting her sleek figure perfectly, running about five inches down her thighs...

He was snapped out of his thoughts when she anxiously tugged the sweater down. He scolded himself for thinking about something so inappropriate, and forced himself to quit staring. She met his gaze, and her face got even redder.

"Um...are you going to change?" She asked.

He nodded. "Yeah. Here's a map, by the way." She took it from him and he went to the men's room.

The shirt was a tight fit, like the shorts, and he looked really stupid when he looked at himself. He shook his head. It was better than the sandy and wet outfit, though. He sighed. Well, he'd been in worse situations before.

Nya was staring at the map, her back towards him. His eyes roamed over her bare calves, up to the back of her thighs, and then up...overlord, that woman had a nice ass. He realized what he was thinking, and nearly slapped himself for it.

"Hey. You ready to go?" He asked, walking up to her.

Her eyes darted over his figure a few times. "Uh...yeah." She said. "Let's go. So I was able to find a route that would lead to Dareth's dojo. We'll need to take this road, turn left here..." She continued giving him directions, and he nodded.

"That's a long way to walk." He said.

"Yeah...so, should check in with the bank account? There might be enough for a taxi to drive us a few miles, if we're lucky."

He nodded. "Wouldn't hurt."

"Okay, so the nearest bank is here." She pointed at the icon symbolized for bank. It would take them a little bit off course, but if there was a decent amount of money in it, then it'd be worth it.

"Alright. Let's get to it, then." Cole said, and the two set off into the streets of downtown Ninjago.

…

Nya kept tugging down the bottom of her sweater. Cole suspected it was because she wasn't comfortable in the shorts. After all, she never showed more than her ankles when she had access to her entire wardrobe. Cole didn't blame her, but he wished there could be another option...

He hoped to the overlord that there was a decent amount of money in their emergency bank account. Even if there wasn't enough for a taxi, they could at least grab something to eat and buy something a little less revealing for Nya to wear. He held onto that thin string of hope as the couple continued down the sidewalk.

One thing he hated about downtown was that it was fucking crowded. He didn't like crowds, and it made it harder for him to hold onto that thin string.

It'd be getting dark in a few hours, and it looked like luck was not going to be on their side today. Nya kept glancing down at the map every few minutes to make sure they were still on-course.

They were silent for a while, until they finally reached the bank. Nya sighed in relief.

"Finally! We're here!" Cole said.

Nya was silent, then she said: "It wasn't any use..."

Cole saw the "Closed" sign hanging on the door, seeming to mock them, before he could ask her what she meant.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me..." Cole said.

"Maybe the ATM is still open?" She asked, trying to sound hopeful.

"Yeah, but we don't have the card!" Cole said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Nya groaned. "You're right."

"So, I guess we're just gonna have to walk." Cole said.

"Well, that was a great waste of time!" Nya said, throwing her hands up in the air.

"C'mon, don't be like that. I get that you're frustrated. So am I. But, we still have our map, at least..." He said, gesturing to the map.

She sighed again. "Yeah. Let's just get going." She walked in front of him, and he followed her. They fell quiet again as they fell into step, side by side. Nya resumed checking the map occasionally, while Cole kept his head high.

"Let's turn right up here..." She said, looking up.

"Okay." He responded.

Nya sighed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped like that earlier. I'm just frustrated."

He smiled at her. "It's okay. I'm frustrated too. We just have to keep walking. It'll take a while, but we'll get home." He said.

She offered him a small smile. "We will."

They fell into companionable silence, until Cole caught a few teenage boys staring at Nya. He instantly scowled at them, then took her hand.

"What's wrong?" She asked, looking up at him. She turned to see what he was glaring at, then turned back to him, her face burning.

"Let's get out of here." He mumbled, catching one of the teenager's eyes. He didn't break eye contact as the teenager shot Nya one last, longing glance, but then turned away. Cole kept glancing back every now and then as the two continued walking.

Nya gave his hand a squeeze, and didn't pull away. He felt his cheeks heat up.

"S-sor-"

"Thank you." She mumbled, leaning into his side. "I don't feel like kicking a pervert's ass right now."

He chuckled. "No problem." After a few minutes of her leaning into his side, he gathered enough courage to put his arm around her and pull her close.

She hummed. "You smell nice."

He flushed red. "Um...thanks...?" He felt her chuckle into the crook of his shoulder.

"Like the earth. Windblown trees." She muttered, squeezing his hand again.

It was his turn to chuckle as they continued walking down the street.

Part 3 will be out soon!