Chapter Two

"Soooo…why were you all on the plane?"

Jay wasn't sure how to keep the conversations going. He was a light-hearted person who liked to crack a few jokes and keep a happy relationship between everyone. However, whenever he tried to start a conversation, everyone would conveniently change the subject. It was really starting to get on his nerves. Hopefully this conversation would stick.

Kai, as usual, was grumpy about it. "I could ask you the same question."

If they know I was the pilot, they'll blame me for everything that happened! Jay thought in a panic. "I was...I am…a travelling inventor," he burst out, thinking of the first thing that came to mind.

Nya blinked at him curiously. "What kinds of things do you like to invent?" she asked with a small smile.

A bead of sweat trickled down Jay's neck. Those eyes…that smile…"Wings?" he tried hopefully.

"Wings? For humans?" She sounds genuinely interested! Time to hook it!

"Yeah!" Jay was feeling more comfortable with this subject now; in fact, he felt so comfortable he didn't watch where he was going and slammed into a tree. There were lots of them out and about, though they weren't very large and were easy to avoid.

Cole burst out laughing, as did Kai and Lloyd, who was helping Garmadon carry Misako. Zane looked around at them all, a confused expression on his face, while Wu cracked a grin. Jay smiled, though it was weak. "Ha, ha, guys. Ha."

After finishing his burst of chuckles, Cole offered a hand to the fallen pilot and helped him up, staggering slightly as he used his injured arm. "To answer your question, I'm a cop. Apparently there's a real baddie running around and I was heading to his destination spot."

"I was headed to be studied by yet another scientist," Zane announced.

"My mom – she's an archeologist – was headed to a new site, and my dad and I went with her because it was so far away," Lloyd said, smiling and still trying to hold back laughter.

Jay smiled. Now I've made some real conversation! "Is that so?" He turned to Nya, blushing slightly as he looked away. "And may I ask why you and your brother are here?"

"You may ask me," Kai grunted.

Jay rolled his eyes. "Sure, sure. Mr. Grumpypants. So, why?"

"My name isn't Mr. Grumpypants," Kai protested, flicking his hair backwards so that it didn't dangle in his vision tantalizingly. "And we sell weapons. Swords, staffs, stuff like that. It's all from our father's shop – but after he passed on, we took over the family business."

Nya giggled – Jay practically melted at the sound but tried to keep himself together – and whispered quite loudly, "Kai isn't a very good blacksmith!"

Her brother glared at her. "I am a perfectly good blacksmith, thank you very much."

"My senses are telling me that that is a lie," piped up Zane from the back of the crowd; Jay had to stifle back his laughter as Kai whipped around to glare at the droid, presumably telling him through eye language to shut up. The laughter doubled when the red-garbed teen was smacked in the face by a branch, and he couldn't contain it anymore. Jay was laughing, and so was Cole, and Lloyd, and even Nya (ah, her laughter sounded like the tinkling of little crystalline bells!), but Kai most certainly was not.

"S-Sorry, man," Cole chuckled, leaning over on one knee. "You were just all like, 'I'm gonna walk along now and suddenly BAM!' Priceless!"

Kai grumbled something under his breath and began to push himself up, sitting back against the tree. "Yeah, yeah. It's 'everyone laugh at Kai' day, isn't it?"

Nya sighed and linked her arm with her brothers, helping to haul him up. "The whole world isn't against you, Kai. You have to loosen up." As she said this, however, she glared at the others as if it was somehow their fault. Jay felt his heart clench tight again and sighed. Aw, well…not my fault she's got the worst weirdo in the world for a brother.

As Kai gave him another angry glare, a shudder passed throughout Jay, and he looked at the ground to avoid eye contact. As long as I stay away from him, everything should go fine…

xxx

The guts of that stupid Jay person! Woo his sister, gain pity from all when he slammed into a tree, and then burst out laughing when the exact same thing happened to Kai? Life just wasn't fair, and no matter what Nya said, he wasn't going to trust these weirdos.

The old man with the beard was the strangest of them all, hands down. All this "We will find a way, oh, I'm so wise, woo hoo" stuff was driving him insane. Having to put up with all of these crazies was going to be a nightmare. An honest-to-goodness nightmare.

They continued to walk in silence after Nya's last words, though the blond kid and the old man were talking in whispers among themselves. Kai wondered what they were saying. He decided to strain his ears and try to figure it out.

Upon doing so, the blacksmith was delighted to discover he could actually hear their conversation.

"Uncle, are you sure this is a good idea? Some of these people – the boys, mainly – seem to be against each other," Lloyd murmured nervously.

"You must relax," the man replied calmly. "I know that now it may seem like they have nothing in common and shall not be friends, but I know that one day they will work together as brothers."

Kai bristled. Brothers? With those losers? No thanks. The nerve of that guy! It took him a few seconds to remember: this was an old man. He had no idea what he was talking about.

So why did he sound so sincere?

Suddenly a yelp came up from the boy; Kai turned to see that the woman with grey hair was struggling to open her eyes and blinking in the sunlight. "Mom!" Lloyd smiled, though it was bittersweet. "I'm so glad you're awake."

Kai watched warily as Misako struggled to sit up; Garmadon and Lloyd placed her down on the ground so that she could get her bearings. "My oh my…" Glancing around wildly, she gasped as she saw her husband and son. "The plane crash!" Pulling Lloyd tight to her, she whispered something in his ear that Kai was unable to hear.

The others had stopped walking now, so Kai supposed he had to too. With a grunt, he pulled to a stop and watched as the woman staggered to her feet. With a yelp, she started to fall forwards but was caught by Lloyd.

"Looks like I'm not yet sturdy on my feet!" she grinned, though Kai could tell it was short-lived. Something was clearly wrong. Glancing around at the eight surrounding her, she gasped, "Are we the only survivors?"

Wu spoke, his head bowed. "Yes. We are very fortunate."

Kai watched in interest as Misako's face turned from horrified to upset to a burning rage. Whipping around and pulling out of her son's grasp, she made as if to talk to Wu, but seemed to decide against it. A deep breath went in, and was released. "It is good to know that you are okay."

The words were forced – even Kai could tell that, with his 'lack of emotional depth,' according to Nya. Briefly he wondered what was wrong, but was soon distracted seeing Nya talking with all of the others. She couldn't protect herself! He had to be there to watch over.

"…and so that was how I single-handedly caught the most infamous criminal in the entire city," Cole boasted as the others looked on in awe.

Jay snorted. "Yeah, somehow I'm pretty sure that's a sort of lie. Zane? Can you back me up?"

"It is 75% truth," the android explained, looking around at the others as he spoke. So polite! Kai decided he didn't like this one either. Nuts and bolts had never given him a good feeling. "Processing this through my database, this would mean that yes, Cole caught the criminal, but he was assisted by three other men."

A blush rose to Cole's cheeks. "Well, I did say he was tough…it was hard not to use a little backup."

These were the morons he had to spend weeks, possibly months with? Kai groaned inwardly as he went up to join the conversation.

These were going to be some really long weeks.

xxx

Zane was usually reluctant to allow emotion into his hard-drive – after all, he had spent most of his life in the various science showings, and there he was simply required to stand very still and let others look over him. Sometimes they tapped his switches, and he almost got a chance to properly speak, instead of the dull robotic voice providing his introduction, but the off switch was hit too quickly for him to have a chance.

Occasionally a person would as the science manager if Zane actually had a personality, such as other human beings. The manager would reply that no, he would not have a true personality if he was to be performing work.

But if he had no personality, and he was working with the others now, how was he actively joining in the conversation, and even causing a few of the others to laugh?

Zane pondered this as they continued to walk on, sending his scanning sensors over the area to look for danger. No danger, and no ideas. He was just an android, correct? He wasn't even supposed to be alive right now. His creator must have made him extra specially – however, that same creator had given him to a scientist. He would never know how he was made.

"…and so Dad said, 'Wings?' and I was all like, 'Wings are the thing!'"

Of course. He must contribute to the conversation. Zane smiled and let out a "Ha, ha," wondering if that was a convincing enough laugh. Had he laughed at the correct time? Why was everyone staring at him like that?"

Jay blinked at him. "Was that funny?"

If he wasn't a robot, Zane would have blushed. "I…I am sorry. Apparently I did not know when to jump into your conversation." It sounded so stiff and emotionless from what the others had been saying he could have winced, but it wasn't like he knew how to give proper feelings. He had never even tried.

To his surprise, Jay stopped walking and waited until the android caught up. Looping one arm around Zane's shoulder, he muttered, "Zane, I am going to teach you about humor. You cannot live life without it!"

"Yes, you can," came the voice of Kai, far up ahead. Jay stuck his tongue out before returning back to the android.

"So, are you ready to learn?"

Zane nodded simply, unsure of how to show excitement, so he simply smiled and awaited command, like he had always been told to do as Jay studied him, pacing around and stroking his chin. "Interesting…very interesting. I can work with this."

Zane was left to hope that he wouldn't end up with his parts all over the sidewalk; with a nervous sort of smile, he announced, "Let us do this, then."

Jay smirked. "Trust me. I will."

xxx

Cole was pretty sure he might have a chance at getting along with the others in the group, which seemed like a miracle. Well, except for Kai. Nobody seemed able to get along with Kai. Not even his owns sister could penetrate the large force-field surrounding the blacksmith! But the others weren't really that bad.

Zane was a little stiff, but with a little tinkering, Cole figured he could be as much a part of the party as any of them were, and that would be interesting. What kind of stuff could an android perform, anyways? So many opportunities to learn about the world of robotics! Not that he was into that kind of stuff, but…

Jay was funny, and he seemed to know it. A little outgoing, a little daring, and a lot full of humor. Cole liked him. He could be a nice addition to anyone's team if he could be a little bit more serious.

Lloyd was pretty cool, a little childish for his age, but not that bad. Maybe a bit rambunctious, but truly a pretty nice kid. Cole knew that he liked him, anyways.

Nya seemed strong and tough for a girl, like someone that could take care of herself if she was in any kind of trouble. He guessed she was pretty in some ways, too, but Cole didn't often look for that quality in girls. What he cared about was that the boys wouldn't have to take care of her in the wilderness. That was a relief, honestly.

Misako and Garmadon both seemed a little wary, of each other and anyone that wasn't Lloyd. Cole wasn't sure if he could trust either of them yet; he knew too little of their personalities to make a full assumption.

And the old man – Wu. He was the one that seemed to be sending them on this whole quest, and Cole was suspicious. Life as a cop had taught him that the least likely to commit the crime could easily be the one most capable of taking people down. With his long white beard and small black eyes, Wu seemed like the wise man out of fairy tales, and right then Cole didn't trust him one bit.

Misako and Wu were whispering as Kai and Nya seemed to argue. Lloyd was talking with his father and Jay was tinkering with Zane's systems. Cole grit his teeth and looked back. If he was going to figure out what was up with this Wu guy, he had to sacrifice a bit of trust. Casually dropping back, he strained his ears to listen to what the man and woman were whispering.

"…what have you done?" Misako hissed, eyes flashing angrily.

"I did not know the plane would crash," Wu replied solemnly. "You, of all people, would know I had no intention of destroying that many innocent lives."

What was the old guy rambling on about? Cole's curiosity perked; he listened harder, but was cut off by a screech from Lloyd. "Water!"

Cole hadn't even realized how parched he had been until that moment; eyes glowing, he turned to see a small pool of water resting among a few trees. With a wild cheer, he took off towards it, followed by Jay, Lloyd, and Nya. Zane was unable to move, still paralyzed by Jay's tinkering, and Kai grumbled.

As Cole was the first to reach the pool, he was the first to see it. Eyes widening, he held out one hand behind him, cautioning the others to stop, which they did, a little bit reluctantly.

"What is it?" Jay complained, trying to block the view.

Out of the corner of his mouth, Cole hissed, "Stay very, very stil—"

"That's it! I want some water," Kai yelled, barging past Cole and heading straight for the pond, causing Cole to let out a squeak of horror.

Heading straight towards Kai with a hungry look in its eyes was a full grown mountain lion.

xxx

Misako had often told Lloyd that he moved by gut and not by mind. He never thought about what he did and would often plunge headfirst into battle without giving anything a second thought. At first he had been confused by what this meant, but now he knew.

Otherwise he wouldn't have been charging straight towards the mountain lion screaming a battle cry.

"Lloyd!" Misako shrieked, breaking off of Wu and charging towards her son.

But he didn't hear her. Leaping in front of the beast, he yelled at it, "Leave him alone!"

"Kid!" Kai grunted from behind him, placing a hand on Lloyd's shoulder and trying to force him out of the way. "I can handle this! I don't need you to be some sort of human shield!"

But Lloyd was in the zone, and he was determined, and once he was determinedly in the zone, no one could snap him out, another thing that Misako had told him could work for either the better or the worse. "Go away!" he yelled again at the animal.

The lion seemed hardly affected by the sudden appearance of two new human beings. Letting out another tremendous growl, it continued to advance forward. A shing noise echoed behind him, and Lloyd turned slightly to see Kai had drawn a sword out of his bag. The words of Kai suddenly appeared in his head. "We sell weapons. Swords, staffs, stuff like that."

"Come and face me, coward!" Kai yelled at the mountain lion, which let out a mighty roar and sprang, straight at Lloyd's chest.

The other boys finally reacted and also dove at the enemy; however, not all of them had a weapon to speak of. Cole pulled some nun-chucks out of one of his bags, presumably from his life as a cop, but it seemed awkward in his hand, like he wasn't quite skilled at using it. "Aargh, I need something else," he moaned. "Who wants the nun-chucks? Come on, anyone?"

Jay shrugged and held out his hand, taking the weapon and diving at the lion. He made the first strike, hitting it upside the head, but it was a short-lived victory, as the creature turned and let loose a horrible roar, using the back of one paw to slam Jay away. The inventor hit a tree and groaned, putting one hand to his head. When he took it off, Lloyd was startled to see the dark maroon of blood.

The mountain lion meant business.

Kai darted behind it and made a stab with his sword; the lion moaned in pain as the blade connected with its flesh and whipped around, attempting to sink teeth into the blacksmith's arm. Lloyd saw the wide open, unprotected skin. He saw Jay's nun-chucks, abandoned on the ground. Reaching forward, he took them in his palm, feeling the cold of the metal on his skin, before he struck.

The lion whipped around, looking back and forth, obviously trying to figure out who to go after first; Lloyd took the chance to whack it as Kai stabbed. Nya had a dagger in one arm now, and she was running, and soon there was even more golden-tan fur and blood littering the ground and the air was filled with shrieks and suddenly there was a paw swinging towards Lloyd. He saw it in slow motion, but there was no way to prevent it.

Suddenly he was flying through the air, chest heaving, feeling the sensation of claws rake his chest, and it was not a good one. Skidding across the ground, Lloyd landed in a dusty, bloody heap. The world was slowly fading out of focus…

…until it was lit up by a brilliant light, emanating from his uncle's staff.

Wu was chanting something under his breath, over and over again, the throbbing, piercing light growing larger and brighter until all of a sudden it exploded in a golden burst of stars.

The world went black.

When Lloyd next opened his eyes, there was the body of a mountain lion in front of them. Jay had a bandage surrounding his forehead, and he was propped up against a tree next to him. Looking down, he saw tight leather bandages wrapped around his chest.

As he looked around some more, he noticed almost everyone, minus Zane, Garmadon, Wu and Misako had an injury of some sort. Wu was panting, and for once, he looked his age.

"What was that?" Jay asked to the old man, voice bordering on something imitating awe.

"Something I should not have used," Wu replied, but before he could continue his sentence, he was cut off by Kai, who had a small injury to the shoulder, but nothing major. The boy got to his feet, eyes afire.

"Of course you shouldn't have used it! I could have defeated the freaking thing myself! I didn't need your help, old man! I didn't need that freaky voodoo magic, or whatever you used! I don't need any of you!"

Before anyone could stop him, Kai whipped around and, slinging his bag over his shoulder, stalked off into the undergrowth, not so much as lifting a hand to say goodbye.

xxx

Wu bowed his head. It shouldn't have started, but it had. It had begun.

Nya yelped and started to get up, with an anxious cry. "Kai! Kai, come back!" but Wu hobbled over and placed one hand on her shoulder, slowly forcing her back down against the tree.

"Stay still, young one. Your brother will not stay away. He will be back."

"How do you know?" she shot back at him, the fear in her eyes surpassing the rage in her tone of voice so that it was obvious she was more scared than actually angry.

How could he explain what he knew? How could he explain that the plane crash was because of him, but he had never meant to kill so many? How could he explain that he had tracked them out, these eight, and…

No matter. She did not need to know of this yet. None of them did. "That is none of your concern."

"Yes, it is. He's my brother."

Wu sighed. He hadn't wanted to resort to using this, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Taking out his staff, he whispered an incoherent incantation to it and watched as a small burst of golden dust appeared. Collecting it into his palm, Wu blew the dust into a startled Nya's face; sighing, she collapsed and fell backwards against the tree.

"What did you do to her?" Jay yelped, slowly shaking her shoulder back and forth; Nya's head lolled precariously to the side.

"I did what I had to. She will wake up in perhaps one hour. That will give us time to eat, and to rest. We must keep on the move, after all," Wu replied, allowing a small smile to land on his face as he stared out through the undergrowth where Kai had stormed off.

It seemed bad now, but he knew it was for the best…if only the others could know too.

It was only the curse of being the one to carry out the dreaded prophecy.

Wu sighed. "Come now, and let us rest. Jay, Nya will be fine. D-Does anyone know how to fix up Zane since Jay is hurt? Ah, Misako, you think you can have a go? Good, good." He looked them all over, collapsed on the ground, some whispering among themselves. "Come now, all of you. Let your whispers not shatter your chances of a good rest."