Chapter 63
Childish Games At Home

.:Violet:.

"Nathan, don't go!" The kids cried out as Violet and Nathan tried to leave the village the next morning. The sun was high in the sky, sending tingling warmth on everyone's skins. But since Nathan would be joining their team, he would be living with them. Violet desperately hoped that the guys move out of that apartment otherwise it would be a bit embarrassing. But problems always rise up, including saying goodbyes to the little fans Nathan have obtained.

"I'm sorry kids but I'll be back soon okay? I'll visit every month." Nathan pleaded as they clung to him, attempting to tackle him down. Violet nearly laughed when they made him wobble. Since they wanted to travel light, both of them had one bag –Violet taking the bag Cole gave her- with food and water in it although Nathan had his important items in his bag; such as his sword care kit, his photo album, the hairpin and some other stuff. He had about three swords –in their sheathes- strapped to his waist

"No!" They cried out and then they proceeded in making Nathan fall. Violet laughed at the sight even though Nathan sent her a cold glare. By the next ten minutes, parents came and pried their child(ren) away from Nathan despites their thrashing.

"Good luck Nathan and safe travels!" They bid their farewells and carried their crying child(ren) away.

"Ready?" Violet asked him as he helped him onto his feet.

"Yeah, thanks for helping me back there." He muttered sarcastically and she laughed. They walked through the forest before she grabbed his hand which took him by surprise.

"Don't worry; I'm not going to kiss you or anything like that." She teased with a wink. Violet felt like she could really open up to Nathan since he already took a role of an older brother to her like Zane.

"So what are you doing?" He asked with a perked eyebrow.

"What a mistress of air can do." She grinned and she hovered above the ground and flew up to the trees. She then realised that carrying Nathan with one hand was probably not the wisest thing to do. Instead, she focused and within seconds, Nathan was flying right next to her.

"How many things can you do?" Bewilderment spread across the samurai's face and Violet laughed.

"Lots."

"You should write it all down in the book so you can keep track of it."

"Hey, that's not a bad idea." She smiled.

.::.

She sighed with relief when the sight of Ninjago City came into her field of vision. Violet flew down towards where the apartment would be with Nathan flying besides her.

"You know what would be cool?"

"What?"

"If you can make me fly but I can control where I want to go instead of you making me float everywhere."

"I don't know how to do that. I don't even think I can do that." Violet told him as they neared the ground. She touched down on the damp concrete and walked towards the dull, apartment door with Nathan –who was now walking- hot in her tracks. She knocked on the door, scrunching her nose when the old people smell reached it however, no one answered the door. She went to open it but she found that the door was locked. A sigh left Violet's mouth as she turned around but she has just managed to catch the sight of the white envelope that sat next to the door. Bending down, she opened the letter and read it out loud.

"Dear Violet, we got the Bounty back! Yippee. Anyway, you're probably reading this because you're mission is over so that's another yippee. Lots have happened since you left. Dareth haven't been producing enough money to kept the dojo running so we entered Ninjaball Run, a racing competition. Dad was there with the bounty (I'm sure Zane told you the night we thought you 'died') and we raced and long story short, we won and got the Bounty back although Dad is siding with the Serpentine generals. So that means we're on the bounty and we're no longer residing here. Nya said she would keep the Bounty above Ninjago City so come up. We miss you… Although Kai is a little bit ticked off so he's been in his room a lot. So maybe come quickly so you can cheer him up like he cheers you up when you're down. From Lloyd."

Violet smiled while reading the letter except for the Kai part. She has completely forgotten about Kai being mad at her.

"Lloyd's the kid right?" He asked and she nodded. "And what's your boyfriend grumpy about?"

"I think he's mad at me… I didn't tell him why I left and refused to let him come with me. He's a bit protective and hot-headed." But she looked up at the blue sky and smile. Violet get to go back home –the home she fought have been destroyed. "Come on."

She flew straight up, also making Nathan fly up behind her. With a quick scan of her surroundings, she could see the Bounty hovered on the outskirts of the city. The ninja of air flew like a bullet towards the Bounty and in less than a minute, she landed on the decks and looked back to see Nathan still in the sky so she made a quick swish of her hand and he rocketed over. Once she made him touch the ground, Nathan sat down.

"Please don't make me go that fast again… I think I'm gonna puke."

"Hold it in because we don't have pirates to clean the decks." She laughed but her mind already drifted into the clouds.

The bounty was fixed, her home was fixed. She recalled the sweet memories –including the times when she hated the place with frustration- and ran to the bridge. She didn't need to know if Nathan was following her. When she opened the wooden door, she found Lloyd sitting on a black wheel chair with the game controller in his hands and his emerald eyes glued on the large screen. She chuckled softly seeing how engaged he was in the game not to notice her opening the door –loudly- and entering in. But it seemed that he heard her chuckle.

"Violet!" The boy's head snapped to her and exclaimed. A large smile spreading from ear to ear appeared on his face. She watched with amusement as Lloyd dropped the controller and scrambled to come over to hug her.

"Hey Lloyd, where's everybody?" She asked as she hugged him back.

"Last night the guys went to Ninjago City's museum since the security cameras picked up footage of my dad but they haven't returned yet so Nya and Uncle went out to look for them, leaving me to take care of the Bounty." He answered with a frown but then she watched as his eyes travelled behind her. "Who are you?" He suddenly snapped.

"Whoa whoa Lloyd. He's with me." Violet answered quickly and she pried herself from Lloyd's hug and took a step back. "Lloyd, this is Nathan. Nathan, this is Lloyd."

"Let me guess. Your mission was to find him?" The youngster asked.

"W-Why yes. You guessed that pretty accurately." She laughed as she ruffled his hair. "Anyway, when did you write that letter?"

"Two days ago." He answered. Just as she was about to ask a question, the familiar ring of the phone echoed in the room.

"I got it Lloyd." She smiled softly at the green ninja as she walked over to the desk and picked up the phone from its charger, "hello, this is Destiny Bounty." She answered and she looked back to Lloyd and Nathan who already got into a deep conversation.

"Violet? Is that you?"

"Jay..?" She questioned. She knew it had to be him but it sounded… different. Like his voice was slight higher than normal.

"When did you come back?"

"I just got onto the bounty a minute ago… Where are you guys and why haven't you guys returned yet? Lloyd told me that you guys went to investigate the museum."

"Yeah, about that, where's Sensei Wu?" Jay said quickly that she had to register slowly what he just said.

"Err, Lloyd told me he and Nya left to look for you guys."

"Damn… apparently we need parental permission to take the bus and we can't seem to get out of the city." He ranted so quickly that she didn't catch every word.

"Huh?"

"Arg, never mind. It's too complicated. Can you meet us at Buddy's Pizza in ten minutes? And bring our weapons too please!" The lightning ninja shouted and then the line went dead so she placed the phone down.

"What is it Violet?" She heard Lloyd asked form behind.

"I think the guys are in trouble but they want us to meet them in Buddy's Pizza. Come and help me get their weapons."

.:Lloyd:.

He walked right next to Violet and Nathan. Nathan wasn't a bad guy, Lloyd already enjoyed his company. So far, Lloyd has learnt that he was a samurai. The youngster went to boast that Violet was the greatest fighter but to the Green Ninja's surprise, Nathan have actually beat her! Well after two hours… But Lloyd bets that Violet wasn't even using her powers on him. But as they entered the pizza restaurant and already, the aroma of the pizzas hit him like a bullet train resulting his stomach to growl furiously.

"Do you think we can get something to get afterwards?"

"Sure, why not." The older girl smile brightly as she readjusted the weapons. Violet and Nathan told him that they would carry the weapons even though he wanted to help them carry something. A scythe was strapped onto her back with a nunchucks hanging from her waist and a set of shurikens in the many slips and pockets of her ninja gi along with her daggers. Nathan had three swords strapped to his waist Lloyd understood that Nathan fought with a sword and he also got one for Kai but the boy was confused on why they would need a spare. Nathan doesn't fight with two swords does he? "Can you see them anyway?"

"No… I can't see them. You don't think we're too early nor too late do you?" He asked innocently, hoping they were okay. Even though they harsh to him during training sessions, it doesn't mean he wants revenge on them, he's not that kind of person anymore.

"Of course not, they should be fine and here." She answered and Lloyd looked around the restaurant. All tables and booths were taken and not a single one had his friends.

"Are there two Buddy's Pizzas in Ninjago City?" Nathan piped up.

"I thought there was only one and that was this one." Lloyd replied truthfully and he walked in. "We may as well check every booth in case if they aren't wearing their gi's."

"Okay." Violet replied and Lloyd stuck to her side like glue. He could tell Nathan was trying his best to spot four men in ninja gi but of course, he never saw what they looked like. But the whole restaurant was packed with little kids screaming and running around and waiters and waitress rolling around on roller stakes with trays of pizza.

"If they're not in here, can we get takeaway?" The Green Ninja asked as he tried to get a look at what the waitress just served the table on his left.

"Okay, but that's after we look." As they were walking next to the booths, he heard four kids whispering to themselves.

"She's late, she shouldn't be late. You don't think she bailed on us do you?"

"Of course not… Unless the Grundle got her." And at that word, a dinosaur popped up in Lloyd's head. Of course there's no such thing as a Grundle otherwise the guys would have dealt with it… Unless they got eaten! No, they can't happen… He thought to himself as he continued to eavesdrop.

"Can we don't think of anything negative?"

"Hey look! Violet, Lloyd!"

Lloyd looked back to Violet and Nathan who didn't seem to hear a thing and when he looked to the table of four kids, a boy in a red sweater and messy, brown hair was looking right at him. He gulped and turned to walk with Violet. Those kids are probably a huge fan of us…

"Hey, come back here." The boy hissed and Lloyd glared at him in return, trying to stare him back down.

"Beat it kid, we're on a mission." Lloyd snapped and went to catch up to Violet only to stop when something got his arm. "Violet!"

He called out, hoping to gain her attention which he did because she turned around with Nathan and frowned.

"Sorry kids, we don't have time to play. If you can kindly let my friend go-"

"Violet, it's me. Kai." The kid sighed and that's when it occurred to Lloyd that all four kids did look like Kai, Jay, Cole and Zane!

"Yeah yeah, very funny. Look kid, I'm tired and I don't want to fight." Violet continued and she was right, she did look tired. Darkish bags lay underneath her eyes, her shoulder-length hair had tangles, there was still dirt smudged on her skin and tiny cuts that are still healing. Nevertheless, she was wrong. Lloyd looked at Nathan whom seemed oddly confused.

"Violet, it's them! It's really them!" Lloyd exclaimed and he tugged on Violet's sleeve. The green ninja watched as Violet's eyes widen.

"What in the name of Ninjago happened to you four?!"

"Not now, we have someone trying to eavesdrop." Lloyd heard Kai and when he followed the ninja of fire's eyes, he saw that Kai was looking at Nathan.

"He's with us." Violet reassured the four young ninja.

"Okay fine, you can explain later but for now you need to listen fast. Garmadon's mega weapon not only reversed time on us but also on a Grundle!"

"A Grundle? What is that?" Lloyd heard her ask.

"It's a dinosaur that hunts down ninja."

"Okay Kai, as weird as this sound, there weren't any ninja in the prehistoric age so there can't be a ninja-hunting-dragon."

"Well this one does!" Cole exclaimed. Lloyd tried so hard not to laugh that he ended up snorting. "What's so funny?"

"You sound ridiculous!" The green ninja laughed, "all four of you actually."

"Anyway, back on track," Jay started, trying to change to topic, "we tried to tell the police but they won't believe us just because they're kids! That's the other reason why we're stuck here."

"Here?! Jay, you arranged us to meet here so really, we're stuck here because of you and we have no money to eat anything!"

"Would you too stop acting like you're ten? Oops, sorry, you are." Violet teased and Lloyd bit down hard on his tongue not to laugh at this. It was hilarious but he ended up laughing. He looked back to Nathan who still looked confused but the samurai kept his mouth shut and listened.

"What's so funny again?" Cole hissed at Lloyd, his once tough and commanding tone turned into a slight squeak.

"Well I guess you know how I feel when nobody listens to me." Lloyd replied with a shrug of his shoulders but he could tell Zane, Kai and Violet weren't getting any patient by the second.

"Come on you guys, this is serious. If we don't turn big so we can use Spinjitzu, we don't stand a chance against the Grundle."

"What about me and Violet or Nathan? I've been told that he have managed to beat Violet." Lloyd asked.

"What?!" All four ninja looked at Violet and then Nathan.

"Okay, you need to explain now." Lloyd heard Jay said, looking straight at Violet.

"Scarlett told me to find her best friend who's a brother to her. And I've found him. He's a really good samurai. He may have beaten me more than once…" She admitted and Lloyd looked at her with wide eyes.

"Why couldn't you tell us this before you left?" Kai suddenly snapped, his amber eyes glaring at Nathan. Lloyd just saw a pang of hurt flash through Violet's eyes but it disappeared.

"Come on, we're getting off track-"

"Stop trying to change the topic!" Kai shouted and instantly, the whole table went quiet. Lloyd watched as Violet and Kai had a glaring competition.

"Please excuse us." Violet suddenly said as she grabbed Kai by the ear.

"Ow! Just because I'm a kid does not mean you can treat me like one!"

.:Kai:.

"Ow! Violet stop!" The ninja in fire whined as Violet pulled his ear to outside the restaurant. He was already angry at her for not telling him what the mission was and then coming back with a man they have no idea who he is apart from 'Scarlett's best friend who's a brother'. And now, she was treating him like a child. Just because he's turned into a kid doesn't mean she have to treat him like one. And it was weird because for once and for all, Violet was much taller than him. Once they got outside, Violet dragged him to the side of the building and she finally let go of his ear. He quickly rubbed the throbbing skin. "What was that for?!"

"That's for being rude and plain stupid!" She shouted back, making him quite scared.

"Well I'm sorry," he started, "but we all have the rights to know where the other teammate is going."

"Oh really? That's your excuse? Because it seemed to me that you can't even let me be by myself for a minute. You're too protective, even when you're a kid."

"What, you're mad at me because of that?"

"No, I'm mad at you for being pissed off at me when I didn't tell you my mission and you just stormed off. I've tried waiting for you to come back so I could say bye but you didn't. Cole was concern that something bad would happen to you guys without my help so I left earlier –without saying bye- so I can finish my mission earlier. And looked what happen." She snapped, her finger pointing at him.

"Hey, you can't blame me for being a kid; blame that on Garmadon."

"No, I'm not blaming you. I'm saying that if I didn't wait for you, I could have come home earlier to prevent this."

"Listen, just because you're powerful and a better ninja than us does not mean you're the best. It doesn't mean you can prevent stuff just like a flick of a switch." Kai growled lowly, ignoring the flash of pain that went through those violet eyes. "Can you just stop thinking you're the best at everything? Because you aren't. We all didn't train like you. We didn't have the extra training. I bet that if we all started training at the same time, you wouldn't be the best. You did have that extra year or two or... Urg, whatever, I don't care how many years but stop trying to rub it in our faces. You can use your elemental powers without a weapon, you're Sensei's favourite pet and you can easily defeat us. Yes, we all know this so stop bragging will you?!" Kai ranted. He was going to say more but he close his mouth when he saw tears brimming Violet's eyes. "Violet, I-"

"Forget it." She spatted out venomously. "If you think you can do this by yourself then do it."

Kai was about to ask what she meant but she already turned on her heels and ran down the valley. "Violet, wait!" He shouted and his tiny legs desperately tried to keep up with her large strides but he couldn't and he already lost Violet out of his sight. "Kai, you stupid, idiotic moron!"

Kai hissed at himself. He should have known that would've hurt Violet more than a knife stabbing her in the stomach and what the heck, Violet doesn't brag. Why did I let my anger control me again? He asked himself miserably.

.::.

"Why didn't you stop it?!" Kai yelled at the girl that was kneeling on the ground with her face and clothes covered in soot and ash however he stormed towards her not feeling any sympathy for her.

"What could I do Kai? Either let myself be killed by those stupid snakes that set this place on fire? Yeah, that would have killed me and the place would still be burning! I'm sorry; I'm not a ninja like you four! I was a simple reporter; I wasn't trained for this junk! So tell me, what could I do? I'm not the one with ice element or fire! I risked my life trying to save the scrolls and then I had to fight against those two bloody snakes there!" She shouted back, her voice tone had no effect on him and he didn't look to where she pointed either.

"Well, you could have released the dragons and get Zane's dragon to put out the fire!" He yelled back at her before turning his attention to Zane who looked like his was going to blow as well. "And you! If you haven't followed that stupid bird, none of this would have happen!"

"Kai!" Wu shouted but Linda (Violet) stood up and forcefully pushed him on the chest and he stumbled back. Shock spread across his face at the amount of strength she had.

"You can't blame us for everything that had happen! The past is the past alright? There's no changing it back. You're telling me how I should have put out the fire but guess what? It can't help us now because everything is gone! And don't go blaming Zane on this! You have already insulted him and I think this is enough. You would have to destroy the treehouse otherwise it'll destroy us and who will save Ninjago city?!" She shouted glaring at Kai with pure hatred in her lavender eyes.

.::.

"Why do I let my anger get the best of me?" Kai groaned as he sat against the building with his hands digging through his hair. Maybe there were times when she said she was better but she wasn't saying them to purposely put others down, just to defend herself…

.::.

"There, you caught me. Now get off me!" She hissed but he didn't move, he glared down at 'Linda' (Violet) and he gripped her shoulders harder.

"Tell me the truth of who you are right now." Kai snapped. He couldn't believe she and Zane were lying to them. Did Sensei Wu know about this too? He was about to ask the question again when her knee shot up and got him between the legs. He swore loudly and fell to the side and he knew he just let her slip. He quickly got up and grabbed her arm and she turned around so fast and punched him in the face.

He stumbled backwards and he held his face as he looked at her. She looked deadly, her lavender eyes narrowed on him and she was in a battle stance. She was waiting for him to make the first move, he knew it.

"Are you really Zane's cousin?" He asked as he readied himself. He knew he can beat her; she's a bloody girl for Ninjago's sake! She didn't answer so he took the first move. He ran at her and aimed for her stomach, hoping to knock her down but she jumped over him and kicked him square in the back. Pain shot up and he hissed. He turned around and looked at her.

"You can't beat me Kai."

"I'm the ninja here, what about you?"

"I'm a ninja that have more experience than you." She hissed but she then realised what she said and clamped a hand over her mouth.

"Really?"

"I'm not the one on the ground now am I?" She spat back. Kai groaned as a response and he got up. This time, he threw a punch but she caught it in one hand and she used her other hand to hit him in the stomach. He doubled over and collapsed on the ground. "You can't beat me Kai."

"Don't you dare use my name you little-"

"Hey! What's going on here?" They both turned around to see Zane at the door.

"He found me…" He heard her say calmly. He groaned and took this opportunity to punch her in the stomach. She cried and he could feel a pair of arms holding him back so he couldn't hit her again.

"Kai stop this! We'll explain everything!"

"You've been lying to me Zane. I thought we were a team and we don't keep secrets from each other."

"Violet is part of our team too, you just don't know that and I'm not keeping secrets, I keeping her identity hidden. I made a promise and I won't break it but I failed to keep it."

.::.

Violet only said that she was a better ninja so he wouldn't go into conclusions like he normally did. He accused both Violet and Zane as liars. Then during that day, when Sensei Wu explained about Violet's place, he mentioned he entrust Zane to cover any mistakes she made. This proved she wasn't perfect at all.

"Kai..?"

The ninja of fire turned his head to the entrance of the valley to see Lloyd, Zane, Cole, Jay and Nathan looking at him with concern on their faces. "What?"

"We're going to see someone who knows how to defeat a Grundle. Are you coming?" Lloyd called out.

"Yeah." Kai called back and he stood up, wiping his clothes clean of dirt and walked up to them.

"Where's Violet."

"She won't be joining us for a couple of hours." He grumbled, guilt gnawing on his stomach, making him feel sick to the core.

An extra-long chapter for my 1st year anniversary for this story! Once again, big thanks to everyone who have made this story a success. This story have 675 reviews (5th out of 2900 Ninjago stories), 57 follows (7th out of 2900 Ninjago stories) and 59 favourites (12th out of 2900 Ninjago stories)! AH! I love you guys soooo much! This is like a dream come true for me! So thanks to everyone who reviewed for the last chapter, I got 19 which is a new record for me. Thanks again to: MortalNinjas, FlameNinjaofDarkFire, AnimalLover22, LightningDanino23, AllyoftheNinja, Yuna53421, ALookIntoMyWorld, Jayla Fire Gal, RandomFanGirl, Karina FuzzyPillow Young, ElementzGirl7, Nightmare, CarlyShi208, ShadowNinja27, Rachymel and christinelovely77.

FlameNinjaofDarkFire: Yeah, I'm not much of a video game person. And about Lar, I was going through Ninjago Wikia and looked over the list of the elemental masters and found Lar but it said he was a character in the books. And I saw the water element master, I was a little bit confused on why he/she didn't come to the island but I bet none of them even wanted to come in the first place.

AnimalLover22: To answer your question, I added in Nathan because I remember earlier in the making of this story, someone reviewed saying how much they love the fact that Violet have so many problems occurring at once and how she's coping with them. I realised that killing Scarlett off killed those problems off so I had to introduce Nathan so he can bring in new problems. But I won't spill the beans. And about the Secret of The Water Ninja, I'm not sure if you read the last chapter which was an author's note. I've actually written half of the story but then one day, POOF! It just disappeared. I got too depressed and couldn't be bothered writing so I really apologise if you were looking forward to the second story. And of course I don't mind you using some of my ideas and I'm happy to review your stories and give you feedback.

LightningDanino23: Yeah, that's her. People kept asking how the dead girl is related so the dead girl being Nathan's girlfriend was a last-minute-throw-in.

Yuna53421: Thanks for the donut! Do you spell it 'doughnut' in your country? Because in Australia most shops says donut.

ALookIntoMyWorld: The sword moves were searched up. I must say, I need to start fencing soon, it'll be better for me for when I write sword fights. Oh well. I think for now on, sword mores may slight be made up.

Jayla Fire Gal: Awww, thank you sooo much! It really makes me happy when someone compliment me like that (smiles with tears in eyes) and you don't have to do that. You don't need to get this story in top 3, I'm happy with my accomplishment. But I appreciate the offer. Thank you!

Nightmare: Thanks!

Rachymel: I'll check it out soon!

Once again, thank you for making my story so successful, I wouldn't have been able to reach this far without you guys. So hugs for everyone!