Hey everyone, happy Friday. Time for an update. I know that I left you all in a cliffhanger, love doing that to all of you, but you shall see what happens next to Cole. Enjoy.

Chapter 5: Recovery

He has done it. He sacrificed his life to stop radiation from spreading to affect anyone. Only on to him. He was now dead. Gone. Nothing but a corpse. He could already imagine what his life will be like when he's gone.

He could imagine himself lying on a cold metal table of a morgue with the temperature below zero to preserve the bodies. The stark white sheet covering his clothe-less body and face to notify his death. The mourns and cries of his friends and father as he was gone to them. Soon he would be dressed up and placed in elegant coffin to be buried under six feet of earth. That's what he'll like. To be one with his element. Yes. He could imagine it all.

Wait? How could he imagine this all if he's dead? Was he dead or alive?

Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep…

Something didn't feel right. He could hear something. How was that possible? Suddenly a small groan escaped from someone's lips and felt movement from…himself? He could move? Was that possible if you're dead? Or was he not dead after all? "Hey look." a familiar voice rang in his ears. "I think Cole is waking up."

Cole easily recognized it as Jay's voice and couldn't fathom it. He was alive. If you could hear, groan, stir, it's a sign. Come on. he said to himself. Open your eyes. He heard another groan escape felt his heavy eyes opening up slowly and immediately closed them to the bright fluorescent lights. Again. he commanded his body. He felt his eyes slowly opening with what little will power he could muster and finally pried them open. All he saw was a bright light.

The light was bright to burn his retinas after being in darkness for who knows how long. It burns. The light slowly dimmed as his amber eyes were slowly adjusting to see the fluorescent bulbs above him. He kept squinting his eyes to the blink to the slow intensity and carefully turned his head to observe his surroundings. He founded himself in a room thay smelled sterile with the blinds of the window opened.

He was lying on a bed to be dressed in something else than his black suit, but his black tee shirt covered by stark white sheets. He looked to his left to see a monitor of a line moving across with peaks and valleys of his heart rate as the wires wound out and disappeared under his shirt. While a bag of clear liquid ran down in a thin tube and into his left hand; an IV unit. He looked away from the machine he was hooked up to and looked around to see people in the room. People he recognized.

He looked to his right to see Sensei Wu, Laurie, and Nya sitting on the rows of chairs while Zane, Kai, and Jay were standing against the wall. But no sight of Lloyd or Lucas. Where were they? Were they alright? He looked to his left as the sound of a cane tapping on the floor brought his attention and saw his family member by his bed; his father. No one spoke up a word. Lou gave out a tearful smile as the edges of his lips quivered and wrapped his arms around his son. Cole was taken by surprise on what was happening and hugged him back while patting his back. "Uh...what happened?" he asked as he looked over his shoulder to speak.

"What happened was that you took a nasty punch of radiation to pass out." Jay blurted out. "Dude, you survived that and are alive. You're a freakin' legend!"

What? Cole couldn't understand his jabber of talking quickly. He survived? He felt his father releasing him and looked at his brown eyes to see the truth. Lou looked down at his son and saw the glint in his eyes and nodded without speaking. Cole tried to sit up, but felt a wave of nausea hit him hard after he lifted his head off the pillow and slumped back down and felt his world spinning. He closed his eyes to feel the pain pounding his head crease down and slowly opened them. "How long was I out for?" he asked. "And what does he mean?"

Zane pulled himself off from the wall to walk up to Cole's bed and stood to his right. The Ninja of Ice placed a hand on his shoulder to look at the leader with a small smile. "You've been out for a couple of days." he replied softly. "While you were gone, I had to take charge over the team as the leader by Sensei's orders and we stopped a few Serpentine plots." He can reanimate everything that happened in the past days in his databanks. On how small they were without Cole helping them and the few close calls of foiling their plots before being defeated by the enemy. "But we're all glad to see our brother awake."

"Yeah." Kai agreed while crossing his arms over his chest and adjust the sleeves of his sweatshirt. "We were all worried for you after you blacked out. Things were different when Zane was the replacement leader, but he lead well as you would." The fire ninja saw a small smile on the nindroid's lips for the compliment. "But we're glad to see that you're doing alright and want you back as our leader soon. Not that we don't like Zane, but we're a team."

"Hear hear." Jay added while stuffing his hands in his pockets. He then began to chuckle. "While you were gone, you should've seen the look on the general's faces when they saw Lucas back on the team. They looked frightened to see him. I think Skales said something like 'You'll rue the day on the Solstice Battle'."minicking the Hypnobrai's voice while shaking a fist and laughing again. "It was funny though."

Cole smiled to know the city and team were safe while he was gone. He even chuckled a little to know the Serpentine were still scared of them while he was gone. But it soon left his lips as he didn't see the grey and green ninja in his room. Where were they still? "And Lucas and Lloyd?" he inquired. "Are they alright?" then remembered Blolasky. "And Blolasky? Is he alright as well?"

Sensei Wu stood up from his chair and stood next to Zane. "My son and nephew are alright." he replied softly. "As well as the one named Blolasky. He's recovering in the room next to yours." His facial expression then changed to a small frown. "As for Lloyd though, he only has bruised a couple of ribs and one of them is cracked after Blolasky fell on top of him. But he's doing fine. They both just stepped out to get us something to eat. As well as something for you. We somehow knew you'd be waking up soon." And at the exact moment, the door opened to have Lucas and Lloyd walking in.

Cole looked at the two ninjas as they carried food into the room. A box of donuts in Lloyd's arms and a tray of coffee, or tea, or maybe even hot chocolate in Lucas' arms. The Ninja of Earth smiled to know the two were fine after he threw the lead blanket over them to protect them from the radiation, but slightly frowned on Lloyd's injury. "How do you feel, Squirt?" he asked Lloyd.

Lloyd looked at Cole on what he meant and realized the subject and handed Kai the box and walked over to his bedside next to Lou. He unzipped his green sweatshirt and pulled up the right side of his green tee shirt to show the black ninja his injury. Cole saw the white bandages wrapped around his chest with pale green paste, that he suspected Zane mixed together to help the bones, underneath the wrapping. The small ninja smiled to show Cole he was fine and lowered his shirt down. "I'm doing fine." he replied. "Mine or Lucas' powers couldn't heal the bones so Zane whipped up this green paste that'll help. So now I can't train or fight or do anything till they heal. So you hungry?"

Cole chuckled and nodded and Lloyd went to Kai to grab the box. The black ninja was relieved to know the green ninja was healing well. That'll keep him from sneaking out. The earth ninja watched the small ninja walked back with the box and gazed around the assorted pastries. Since he woke up and slowly recovering, he slowly sat himself up better and picked a plain donut to take a bite and let out a low sickly groan as it touched his taste buds. He started feel nausea and lightheaded as he swallowed his bite.

Lucas and the others heard him complain and noticed he looked a bit pale. They became worried a little now. "You alright, Cole?" the water ninja asked while sipping his hot chocolate.

Cole nodded. "Yeah." he groaned. "I just feel sick that's all."

"Here." the grey ninja said and handed Zane his foam cup and reached into the pockets of his sweatshirt. "The cafeteria suggested this to us to give to you to help you eat regular food." He pulled out a small container and a plastic spoon. "It may be a bit bland a little, but it'll help. Trust me." and tossed the items to the leader before grabbing his drink from the white ninja.

Cole quickly tossed his donut on the movable tray on his left and caught the contents the water ninja gave him. It was a small plastic cup with the lid on top to seal the contents inside and it felt chilled in his hands. He removed the lid to see it was white yogurt inside, but felt a bit upset as it was vanilla and not mixed berry or other fruit flavor than vanilla. But like Lucas said, it'll help him and he'll trust him on it. He scooped up a small spoonful of the gelatin food and brought it to his lips to eat and felt less sick than before. "Thanks Lucas." he said. "I feel a bit better." He took another spoonful to eat and set it aside. "So...how did I survive?" and turned his head as the door was opened quickly and blinked in surprised to see his dance partner from the ball. What was she doing here? "Elizabeth?" he gasp.

"Oh my god." the raven-haired girl breathed in an audiable whisper as she slowly took a step forward. Everyone could see she looked surprised and scared. She kept shaking as she saw that Cole was alive in front of her from the radiation he took. "Cole!" she yelped and ran up to him and wrapped her arms tightly around him.

Cole was surprised by this and slowly wrapped his arms around her. Lou watched his son hug the unknown teen back and wondered in suspicion. Was she a friend from the performing arts school? Or someone special that he hasn't mentioned to him yet? He wasn't gonna find out if he kept staring at the two. He cleared his throat and tapped his cane on the floor. "Eh Cole," he asked with a small. "Are you gonna introduce us your friend?"

Elizabeth released Cole to face the quartet dancer and blushed a little for an unknown reason. Cole rolled his amber eyes as he knew what his father was asking. "Dad, this is Elizabeth and..."

"Please call me Betty." she interrupted.

"Eh Betty," he continued. "And she was my partner from this ball we were invited to and the scientist who helped create the machine..." he paused. The earth ninja could see the glint of guilt in Eliz-Betty's ice blue eyes. He could sense on how much pity she had for everything to have him in the hospital. He felt bad that if he blames her for everything. He looked up at everyone and turned his gaze down. "That was suppose to help change the world." he sighed.

Betty looked at Cole with the same guilty look on her face. She blamed herself that Cole and her partner are in the hospital. That wasn't suppose to happen at all. The machine was to help. Not put people in harm with radiation; especially in Cole. "I'm sorry, Cole." she said. "That wasn't suppose to happen. I made sure everything was accurate and yet the project is now terminated. My main concern is how you survived." Everyone looked at her confused as well. "Cole, you shouldn't be alive because of what you've done."

"Why not?" Lloyd asked through a mouthful of a chocolate donut.

Betty looked at Lloyd with a frown. "Because gamma radiation is deadly to those that come in contact with it." she explained. "It's the highest light wave that can cause death."

"Why were you using that amount of energy if you knew it was dangerous to use?" Zane asked while sipping his drink. "Surely there could've been another way."

Betty looked at him to shake her head. "There isn't." she stated. "Not anymore there isn't." sighing as her and Blolasky's work was terminated. "After a year's of research, Blolasky and I created the Nanomeds to help improve the immune system. Our only way to improve them was gamma rays and I was worried on how it affects humans. Clearly what was seen by the board of directors at the university, they discontinued the Nanomed project. Just can't understand though how you survived after a direct blast."

Cole looked up at her to ponder. He remembered bits and pieces on how the machine worked. How it converted the gamma radiation to deliver the Nanomeds in the chamber. How the frog used as the test subject. And the clear bag that housed the Nanomeds. Wait. The bag. Cole remembered that the bag was deflated after he threw himself to the stop the blast. The Nanomeds worked. "The Nanomeds." he stated finally.

Everyone stared at him confused on his response. Did he just say the Nanomeds? "Okay did you just say what we all think you said?" Jay asked.

Cole nodded. "Yeah. That's how I survived." he said and looked at Betty. "Betty, it worked. The Nanomeds kept me alive. Your machine does work. I'm still alive."

Betty was flabbergasted and surprised. The Nanomeds can keep a person alive. "Oh my god." she gasped quietly. It can happen. People can survive gamma radiation with the Nanomeds infused into them. It was a miracle. "It's possible. But my machine is now gone. But my research is still with me, but don't know how to continue it. But it's also my fault that you're here."

"Don't feel bad for yourself." said Sensei Wu as he walked up to her and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "What has happened, happened." he began with his sayings. "The past is the past and we cannot change it. My student and your teacher will recover and you can figure out your research. Remember, no one is blaming you."

Betty looked into the elder's grey eyes to warmly smile at him. "Thank you." she said, relieved. She looked at Cole and then everyone else. "So now what?" she wondered. "What's gonna happen now?" and no one had an idea.

There was a knock on the door and all turned to the door as it was being opened to see a nurse with reddish brown hair to reach her shoulders and blue eyes walking in. She looked up from looking down at her clipboard to blink in surprise at the surrounding visitors. "Oh my." she stuttered. "I didn't know how many visitors would be here." She chuckled lightly. "I just came by to check on our earth ninja here and noticed he's awake. So I need to give him a check up and I'm also sorry but visiting hours are over. You can come visit tomorrow." Everyone looked at each other and knew it was time.

Cole felt upset that he was being left alone after he woke up, but he figured as it was time to go as the sun was setting behind the city. He watched the nurse check his pulse and vitals and went to the monitor and watched the others getting ready to leave. "You guys are gonna keep visiting, right?" he asked while trying to not sound like a whining kid. "Because we're family and a team after all."

Everyone looked at their earth brother to smile. Of course they'll visit him till he's strong again. "Of course we'll visit, Cole." said Jay. "We're family and we take care of each other. Just right now we have to go to train and make sure Garmadon or Serpentine don't attack. And once you're back to our 'Strong as a rock' guy again, we'll save a few Serpentine for you to beat to a pulp. He-he." he laughed.

Cole smiled on the future plan after recovery from his family and said his good-byes after they left, including his father, but not Betty. She stayed a little longer after the nurse left. Why? "So what's gonna happen now?" he asked her.

"I'm not sure, Cole." she shrugged. "Just let this all be normal for now. You're alive and mine and Blolasky's research can continue. Just rest now." She slowly found herself leaning closer to Cole's face to have her lips make contact to his. Cole felt surprised on the warm lips pressing against his and lost himself to her. They could even hear the heart rate monitor increasing by the number of beats. The raven-haired girl pulled herself away to blush with a smile. "I...I'm sorry." she stuttered. "I'm...glad you're alright now. And before I forget," She reached into her hand bag. "I have something for you." and pulled out a gift underneath black silk cloth and placed it on the tray by his bedside. "Get well soon, Rocky." she said and left Cole's room.

Once the door closed behind her, the earth ninja looked at the gift she left and pulled the silk off to smile as it was his masquarade mask from the ball. But then thought about what just happened. Betty kissed him again. Did she have a reason or not? But what about him though? He never felt this way to anyone before. Did she think of the same way to him? "What am I thinking?" he said to himself. "I'm a ninja and she's a scientist and we may be the same age, but she may see me as someone like Jay who loves Nya or Kai with Laurie." He looked at his mask again to think about the fun he had with Betty at the ball and the kiss and gently laid back to stare out at the window. "I think I'm in love." he said, lovestruck.

Oh a little spark happening to our earth ninja, huh? I suck at love moments, because I'm a guy and does action scenes well and not kissing moments so bear with me if that went well. But anyway, I hoped you enjoyed to know Cole survived and hoped all of you readers had a fun Christmas year and will see you all next week. :)