ArieaCananaid- *Hides behind 'Don't kill the authors sign'* I feel so bad for not posting this sooner! I finished my part on New Years, and randomobsession lost her muse (got it back while watching the trailer for the New Ninjago). Then when she wrote it I couldn't edit for a bit because High School and a ski trip…
Jade- Hehe, I hope you remade it :). I can't really do computer art (my profile pic is what I did on the computer). I didn't realize that… but it does sound similar.
Lya200- Lol, yeah. Thanks, I spent a lot of time researching information.
Guest- Thanks… I think… Is that some secret code for awesome? If so 'b' to you too!
SergeantSarcasm7- HAHAHAHA! XP, So what would you talk to them about….?
StoriesAreMagic- Ehehe, yep, Shiny Cole. XP. Don't worry he won't be the same, we've got plans for him }:).
Wolf-Thanks! Sorry for the lateness!
Disclaimer- If we owned Ninjago we would be fired because of the Hiatus we've put the fans to….
Jay was tiring, fast. No matter how many enemies he felled, three seemed to always be in line to take their place, he could tell that his companions were also wearing out, even Zane with all his endurance. He could also see that the new bodies that Garmadon had 'bestowed' on them were making it so they weren't at the top of their game. Besides, craving chocolate in the middle of a battle was probably not a good thing.
Jay wished Kai was here, it would possibly help their situation at the moment, but he knew that Lloyd had to be protected, if Garmadon got his hands on him the future of all Ninjago would be at stake.
He cut his thoughts short as a Serpentine crossed his 'no-enemy-pass-this-line' zone. He twirled his nunchucks expertly, effectively hitting its offending presence and the other one behind it. Jay dodged a spear with less than his usual grace, trying to find his new balance again.
Once he found it, he attacked with a new vengeance, twisting his lethal weapon in dangerous, complex forms that had taken a lot of unintentional, self-inflicted injuries, to master.
Jay was just about to call to his companions when he heard, over the roar of battle, Garmadon screaming, "Quick we need to get back on board the Bounty before they are able to get it back!"
His brows knit in confusion before realizing that Kai and Lloyd had retaken the Bounty. He glanced over at Cole and he was surprised to see Cole smiling smugly as a third of the hoard broke off to defend their territory.
"You knew that they were going to do that, didn't you?" He accused.
Cole laughed. "What else do you think Kai would do? Although," he added in a softer tone, "I was hoping that Garmadon would have more of his army go after them."
"But two people against an army?" Zane said, entering into the conversation.
"I thought about that and I know that our dragons will sense their distress and come to help."
Just as Cole said that the Ultra-Dragon came flying in, heading strait for the flying ship.
"The universe just loves you, doesn't it?" Jay asked, slightly put out that nothing of that sort ever happened to him.
"What isn't there to love?" Cole asked with a fake air of arrogance using a free hand to gesture at his face.
"I hate you," Jay sulked.
"Oh ho! A bit jealous are we?" Cole said, as he took down two Serpentine with a graceful arc of his scythe.
"Still hate you!" He grunted, before he punched a snake in its aberrant face.
Jay could hear Nya laughing and he smiled, he liked to make her laugh especially-
"Focus!" Zane shouted, successfully snapping him out of his thoughts, just in time to dodge another attack.
Jay laughed nervously, "Sorry…"
He spared a glance towards the dragon, only to let out a horrified gasp. The Ultra-Dragon had rescued Kai and Lloyd but it had gotten trapped by an electric net that the Serpentine had shot and was hurtling towards the ground at high speeds.
Jay felt a rush of many emotions all at once and it hit him like a ton of bricks. He wasn't used to so many at once; usually it was one or two. He tried to separate them into categories in his mind as he became a fighting machine to get to his fallen companions.
Fear, surprise, anger, hurt, disbelief, hate, grief were just a few Jay could put his finger on. He wanted to cry; he wanted to run around in circles screaming in rage; and, most of all, he wanted to finish the chocolate bars that were in one of his pouches. It seemed like the chocolate was the only thing that could calm his frazzled nerves to help him think properly.
He felt a presence come up beside him and looked over to see that it was Zane. Zane looked flustered and he kept rubbing at his temples when he got the chance, like he had a really bad headache.
"Why must these emotions be so vexing?" Jay heard him say. "They are giving me a headache!"
Jay smiled; he had been wondering how Zane had been taking the new feelings.
"Help!"
He looked over to Kai who was trying to fight off the Serpentine while attempting to pull out something out from under the unconscious dragon.
In a split second all four ninja, Nya and Sensei were there to help him.
It was Lloyd. His was out cold and his lower half was trapped underneath the middle of the limp Ultra-Dragon.
"On the count of three we lift up, Kai you grab Lloyd!"
Everybody got in position to follow Cole's order, Sensei Wu guarding their rear.
"One," Cole started counting very quickly, "two, three!"
They grunted in exertion as they lifted part of the heavy reptile. Kai quickly let go and seized the knocked out Lloyd. After he checked to make sure he was okay, he joined their position in a protective circle around the golden haired youth.
"I think he dislocated his shoulder and twisted his ankle," Kai said to no one in particular. "It doesn't seem so bad, but I could be wrong."
They were just starting to get the groove of fighting like this when a voice cut though the clamor of battle, "There is no point in continuing this fight! We fall back!"
The snakes looked relieved as they slowly backed up then turned and darted off as fast as they could run.
"HA! We so beat their ugly faces! If they come here again I will be forced to give them some of the big cannons!" Jay said, holding a pose like the muscle men usually did, patting the muscle on the flexed arm.
"You look ridiculous," Kai said his voice slightly strained as he pushed back his cowl.
"Envious much?" Jay replied with what one could only call a troll face.
Nya narrowed her eyes at her brother sensing his feelings in a way that only siblings could. "All you all right?"
"Me?" Kai replied pointing to himself, when Nya nodded her confirmation he continued, "Yeah, I'm alright, all I got was hit with a bit of the electric net; it's Lloyd I'm worried about, he landed under the dragon."
"You got electrocuted with our Dragon!" Jay suddenly remembered everything that had happened and his voice rose in newly discovered shock, sounding practically hysterical.
"Geez, you need to breathe," Cole said, patting Jay, who was breathing hard, on the back as he walked over to Rocky to make sure there wasn't any lasting damage.
Pop!
There was a pained moan after the cracking noise, making the ninja jump and turn to face the noise.
It was Sensei; he had relocated his nephews dislocated shoulder while the he was still unconscious, he also splinted and wrapped his ankle.
Sensei spoke, "Kai was right, his injuries are not severe, but they will be painful. We must get him to our apartment."
Jay couldn't believe how wrong this day was turning out. Why must Garmadon do this to them? But first, before he went to brooding, he reached into one of his pouches and pulled out a half eaten chocolate bar, quietly munching on it with a contented smile as he brooded the whole way to their residence.
~x~X~x~
Zane pulled out the picture that Mystake had given them for Sensei and the rest to look at. They were currently in there one bedroom one bathroom house, sitting around the table, the one that Kai had to use as a bed. It was sunset, not that one could tell by looking out of the window, for the last rays of light could not penetrate the darkened gloomy alley that lead to their apartment.
Lloyd was on the bottom bunk on one of the two real beds in their dwelling, his leg propped up by a pillow, he was reading a comic book but Zane could tell that his attention was only half into it for want to know what was going to happen.
Zane carefully watched his face; it seemed that the transformation had made him more acute to people's emotions and to more accurately gauge what they were thinking. He watched as Sensei's eyes widened ever so slightly as he read the name on the bottom of the painting, if he wasn't paying attention he would have missed it.
He looked inconspicuously around to see if anybody else noticed it—Kai did. He had a curious expression on his face, his head slightly tilted to the side. It didn't surprise him though, Kai was one of the most observant of the Ninjas.
"Do you know who drew this, Sensei?" Kai asked, clearly not wanting to want for Sensei to tell them on his own terms.
"Asita Aditya, yes I knew h- him, was very well known around 400 years ago; but he did not make this painting by himself, he and my brother made it together," he replied.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Did I hear that right?" Jay made an exaggerated movement of cleaning his ears. "Garmadon helped draw this?"
"Hey I'm not judging him, every baddie needs a secret evil villain hobby that they participate in- like horticulture or cooking or even knitting." Kai smirked.
"Unnecessary input, Hothead," Cole said.
"Hey, at least I have a head that's hot."
Cole reached over and smacked Kai upside the head. The people at the table, including Kai sniggered.
"Just how old are you?" Jay queried when everyone calmed down a bit, around a mouth full of chocolate.
"Old enough to be wise but young enough as to not be senile," their teacher replied.
Kai and Cole both turned there laughter into coughs.
Jay swallowed the rest of his candy before continuing, "Okay….. But how much older is Garmadon than you? He is older than you… Right?"
"Yes, he is. He used to always look after me, even after he was bitten. We fought wars together, we looked out for each other, in fact I might have been closer to this new Garmadon more than the other one for I spent more time with him like that. But through all of that there was a lust for power there that he never had before. It was only after he found out that Mis- his wife was with child was when the venom had gone through him completely, turning him wholly evil. He wanted the Golden Weapons that we fought to hard to protect, we fought a great battle, and I only defeated him because he fell into the Underworld…" Sensei trailed off, a far off look on his face as he remembered the times with his brother.
Even though they didn't get the answer to Jay's questions, to which they were all curious, they were still happy; for that was some of the most they had ever gotten of Sensei's past.
Cole broke the silence first, "You sound as if this happened a long time ago…."
Zane knowing where Cole was going continued his trained off sentence, "As if Lloyd is older than he looks and he ages slower than everybody, ergo living longer…"
Kai picked it up, "Like you guys are elves and it takes longer to grow up and mature. Is Lloyd older than us?"
"Hellllllllooooooo! The person you are speaking about is still in the room and can hear your conversations quite clearly, thank you." Lloyd pouted. "And just for your thoughtlessness I deserve candy and lots of it or I may not forgive you."
He held out his hand looking expectantly with his violet eyes at Jay. Jay held the new chocolate bar he had gotten protectively against his chest, "Mine," his new womanly voice growled.
Everybody turned to Jay, surprised at the venom his voice held.
"What?" Jay questioned with a look of wounded pride on his face. "He can get his own, this," he held up the bar like it was the most valuable thing in the world, tears forming at the corners of his eyes as he switched emotions from angry to emotionally compromised, "this," he repeated, "is mine. I poured blood and sweat into the money that paid for it!" Jay was hysterical when he finished his short monologue.
Zane blinked slowly very astounded at what he was hearing, he never thought his brother –or was it sister now- would act so panic-stricken over something this small. A sudden sound broke him out of his thoughts, then he heard very feminine peels of laughter, he twisted around to see that Kai had fallen from the bench and was rolling on the floor from laughing so hard, tears forming at his eyes as he gasped out, "He's acting like mom used to!"
He turned to see Nya holding her hand to her mouth to cover her laughter and Sensei smiling broadly.
Lloyd and Cole seemed to be the only other people who didn't find it funny, only confusing.
Cole leaned in and whispered in Zane's ear, "I think this is some kind of private joke that we don't know."
"I believe it is," he responded.
Jay flushed with embarrassment.
Zane turned a questioning look towards Kai. Kai just shrugged, sat back on the bench and grabbed his katana that was by the painting on the table and reached out for a bucket full of water that was under the table and pulled out a waterstone that had been soaking in it and started to sharpen his sword. Effectively ignoring everybody giving him puzzled glances.
"Sensei," Cole asked, giving up on knowing what was wrong with Jay; Sensei nodded at Cole to continue, so he did, "since our dragons are out of commission what is the easiest route to the mountain by the Floating Ruins on foot? I take it that just the four of us are going as there are two wounded who will not be able to accompany us and someone needs to stay with them."
Even Kai stopped his sharpening to listen to what there master had to say.
"You assume correctly, as much as I wish to join the quest, my nephew is my first priority. Nya will also stay to look after the dragons." He pulled out a map from the inside of his kimono and laid it over a clear spot on the table. "First head south to the sea then follow the cliffs until you reach the Pass of Miles. Through that pass is the simplest route from here to the Forest of Tranquility. Make sure when you get there you follow the path that heads north."
"Won't that lead us close to where the monastery used to be?"
"Yes Zane, and once you get there head west, and then scale the cliffs." They nodded in remembrance and Sensei carried on with his instructions, "Once you pass the Floating Ruins the road will be even harder, you will have to forge your own path, for no one has been up there for centuries."
"It would have been so much easier if our Dragons didn't get hurt. The universe just hates us doesn't it?" Kai groaned.
"Anything that can go wrong will, we all should know that by now," Cole put in unhelpfully.
"Now ain't that the truth," Kai grumbled.
They all smiled before Cole went back into what they called 'leader mode'. "Sensei, is there anything else that we need to know?"
"I have not traveled that road for many years, I know not what dangers now lurk in the shadows, but I do know that you must be wary. Make sure you observe your surroundings, for anything may help or hinder you on your quest."
The four nodded, not quite understanding what their master was meaning but knowing that it would come in handy sometime.
"What should we do with the flower when we finally reach it?" Zane queried, thinking ahead.
"I would suggest transplanting it so you can easily bring it back," Sensei advised.
After that, the ninja quickly got to packing, making sure to bring supplies and necessities. They finished around 2 am. That night Zane had to sleep on the bench that was connected to the table where Kai slept since Lloyd was still on his bed.
"Hey guys?" Jay's voice cut through the peaceful haze of sleep Zane was experiencing.
"Yeah?" Kai responded automatically for all of them, since he was more awake then them.
"I've been thinking…"
"Oh no, we don't want you to hurt yourself by doing something so harmful, now do we?"
"Shut up Kai." Jay continued, "I've been thin-" a sarcastic snort came from Kai. How a snort could be sarcastic Zane hardly knew, but he found out early on that Kai could make anything sound or be sarcastic. Zane had to ask Kai to teach him how to do that sometime, he filed that thought away for later use.
"Ugh, fine, I've been wondering, why can't we wait for the dragons to heal? Taking a look at the map and knowing long it took for us to get all the weapons, I've calculated that it would take about a month or so to get there, right? And what of the return journey?"
Zane quickly did the math in his head. "Your estimation is correct, however if we wait for the dragon to heal it would take up valuable time and also if we go tomorrow, and don't run into any trouble the dragon should be healed sometime during out return journey. When the Ultra-Dragon heals Sensei might even be able to pick us up. However that was indeed a very wise question, I had not even thought of it until you pointed it out."
"When did you get so wise Jay?" Kai asked almost rhetorically, "Never mind, I know- Nya would say because you are now a girl in body and spirit which makes anyone brilliant. But I know the truth, you actually thought! That is very dangerous thing for you to do, are you sure you don't need to go to the hospital? I'm certain Cole or Zane would be willing to take you."
Before Jay could retort Cole began to add on to Zane's answer. "I've been thinking about that too, Zane is completely right and also I realized that the chances that the media found out about our change they would have a hay day. Sure when we wear our full outfit, cowl included, our voices will be muffled, but you can still hear the difference. Then there's the problem about our new figure, thankfully it is not to most womanly of figures, but it's still feminine and pretty soon people are going to notice. I didn't think that anyone of us want to explain anything so I though it prudent that we got out of the city, fast."
"Makes since I suppose, all things considered. I still wish that we could fly there though," Jay commented.
The phrase 'Don't we all' hung in the air, unspoken, but known to all of them.
~x~X~x~
To some, the day would be considered nice and warm but, to Kai, it was way to hot to be considered 'early spring'. Maybe it was just him, he thought idly, however; one look at his companions silenced that doubt. Kai pushed his sweater's long sleeves so that they were above his elbows. Just because he was the Ninja of Fire, did not mean he like hot weather, he could just tolerate it better than most. It had been a unanimous decision to wear their causal clothes to get out of
town.
Kai was extremely happy that he was leaving the city. It was so crowded, 'Maybe,' he thought, 'it's all the people and cars trapping the heat in making it even more smoggy and hot than it should be.'
Pleased with his new epiphany, he adjusted the straps of the almost 90lb backpack of supplies on his shoulders; he was relieved that he didn't have to carry Cole's, whose was much heavier. A pained gasp from his right made him come back to the present. He turned just in time to see Jay doubled over in pain, his arms wrapped around his middle.
"Pain!" Jay managed to wheeze.
Kai's mouth made a perfect 'O' shape as realization hit him. He tried to think, what did Nya do when that happened to her? Kai rushed over and, reaching into Jay's sweater pocket, pulled out a piece of chocolate. He removed the wrapping and put it into Jay's mouth and whispered in his ear, "Nya always said it helped with the pain."
"I knew there was a point to my sudden craving," he rasped after he swallowed the chocolate.
Zane and Cole shared a look on their faces that seemed to say, 'I-don't-know-why-you-are-like-this-but-I-trust-your-judgment-in-not-telling...maybe'.
They continued walking when, by Kai's seemingly alarming amount of bad luck, they walked by the Mojo Dojo whilst Dareth was walking out of the door. He stared blankly at them for a moment before realization suddenly dawned on him, the same time look of horror flashed on Kai's.
Kai was about to sprint to get away from what he knew would be an awkward meeting, when Zane's hand on his upper arm made him hold back as Dareth's hailed them.
Cringing, Kai turned to face him, "Well hello there beautiful," Dareth said in a voice that he thought to be flirtatious, but it only succeeded in making Kai sick.
Kai looked towards his brothers for help but they seemed to be just as disgusted as him so he answered back with a weak, "Hi..." he pretended not to know his name, just in case Dareth was suspecting anything at all, which in it self was highly dubious.
Dareth took this as a sign to continue his flirting, "Dareth, the Brown Ninja of Awesomeness, at your service. You left so fast the other day and I didn't get your name."
Kai tried very hard to hide the revolution he felt.
"It's, um, Kaira," he used the fake name Jay had bequeathed him with, hoping that Dareth would leave.
"That is a gorgeous name, darling," the Brown Ninja said, continuing to flirt.
Before Kai lost his temper and punched Dareth in the face, Cole butted in.
"I'm sorry sir, but Kaira, our friends and I are going..." Cole floundered for a believable lie.
"Shopping!" Jay piped up.
"We've been planning this trip since, like, forever! And, as much as I enjoy talking to you, we have to go so we can come back before our parents' come after and ground us," the lie slipped easily off Kai's tongue.
Dareth looked disappointed, but he trotted off with a, "I will find you again, beautiful woman."
"Excuse me while I find a suitable bush to throw up in," Kai stated, looking a bit sick.
The ninjas laughed before they continued their journey through the crowded streets of Ninjago, but knew that they probably wouldn't be able to look at Dareth the same again.
I know that this doesn't make up for the wait, but we hope it helps you guys forgive us. The next chapter will come out sooner!
Question:
What did you think of the new Ninjago? Are you annoyed at Nya?