Children of Destiny
Okay guys! I left you all wondering what happened to the ninjas & we'll find out in this chapter where one of the ninjas will finally get their true potential! Also, I want to say thank you to everyone who enjoyed the Ice Prince! It was one of my favorite stories to write & I hope I can write more in the future! For now, enjoy!
Chapter 27: Big Brother
Sayuri stared in disbelief at the empty space where her family and the ninjas were.
'They came here just for me…?'
"Where are they? What did you do to them?" The little girl asked.
"Don't worry, little one…" The Overlord hovered right in front of her, "They're not dead. I'm not that cruel to kill them in front of you… But they won't be so lucky if they try again…"
Tears leaked from her hazel eyes not out of fear of her situation but for her family and the ninja and kunoichi who came all this way for her.
What if they'll still do the same if they find out…?
He could feel the warm air caress his face before consciousness returned to him. The memories flashed in his head soon afterward. He attempted to raid the Overlord's lair to free her.
"Sayuri!"
Jay got up in a flash but he wasn't in the Overlord's base of operations.
He was stuck somewhere in the middle of the Sea of Sand.
"Great! Just great!" The grown man threw a tantrum, hitting his fists against the sand resulting clouds of sand getting in his face and cursing the Overlord.
This was just what he needed, sarcasm intended.
"Dad…?" A groggy voice murmured behind him.
Jay saw that Kyle was with him but Chris and Nya were gone. In fact, the only other people with him and his younger son were Alex, Liana, Melody, and Leon. Looks like the Overlord split them up when he cast that spell, damn him.
"Kyle, are you okay?" The former ninja helped his son up.
"I'm fine but… where's Mom and Chris…?"
"The Overlord split us up into two groups. We shouldn't have underestimated him." Jay wanted to beat himself up for letting the dark lord dupe him, especially after having fought him once.
"Where are we…?" Melody shook her still pounding head.
"What do you think?" Alex answered rather abrasively.
The group finally took in their surroundings. The Sea of Sand had a few landmarks strewn here and there but there was nothing but sand where they stood.
"It's no use standing here," Liana said, "We need to find a way out and soon."
"But where will we go?" Leon asked, "There's nothing but sand and we'd die of dehydration no matter what we do!"
"Unless we get out in time," Jay led his group from the dune they stood upon, "The sooner we get out of here, the better."
The new decided to just follow the veteran ninja because what other option was there…?
Nya found herself in the middle of a deep forest with Chris and the other half of the team. She knew this wasn't the Deep Woods because there were also some plants she found that weren't native to Arbouria such as the deep pink franvilscus flowers.
'Curse you, Overlord…' The grown kunoichi mentally swore but her primary goal at the moment was to tend to her son and his teammates.
"Are you alright?" She asked her son once he came to.
Chris clutched his aching head and the memories came back. They ambushed the Overlord's lair to get Sayuri back but the dark lord was actually expecting them and then used that same spell his human minions used to transport them in who knows where.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Chris pounded the earth like an enemy, "We lost!"
"Chris, sweetie," The Japanese woman tried to console him, "We can't win every single battle. Even your father and I have failed some very important missions before."
"This isn't about winning or losing!" The raven-haired ninja snapped at his mother, "It's about that… that... ASSHOLE using Sayuri to get to us, and we let him!"
"He may have won this battle but the war isn't over," Nya still tried to convince her eldest son to calm down, "Not until we find some way to destroy him for good."
"What's going on…?" Willow got up and paused to yawn.
"The Overlord separated us when he cast that spell or whatever." Chris gritted his teeth.
Once everyone was awake, they had to devise a plan to get out of the forest but the blue ninja was extremely pissed over what the Overlord had done.
"This is just perfect!" The lightning ninja threw up his arms in frustration, "Just when we were about to get Sayuri, we're lost in the middle of nowhere!"
"But there must be a way out," Amy said, "We just have to look for it ourselves."
"I think I can help."
Thankfully, Forrest was with the group and being surrounded by flora, he could use the ability to communicate with plants to find a way out.
'Where do we go from here?' The teal ninja asked the trees around him.
'You who have already found the way…' A quivering voice like rustling leaves answered him.
'What do you mean? What way?'
'The time has come for another path to be revealed…'
'Are you talking about the way out of here?'
'You who have found the way… Guide the next one…'
'But can you tell me who this 'next one' is? Can you even tell us how to get out of here?'
The rustling of leaves were Forrest's only answer.
The teal ninja shook his head and returned to reality. His teammates and Nya looked at him in an expecting manner.
"Did you get anything?" Akira asked once the plant wielder came out of his trance.
"I'm not sure what the trees meant but they kept saying I already found the way... and there's another one who'll find it…"
"How will THAT help!?" Chris exploded, "We're stuck in the middle of a jungle with no way out! We're doomed so we might as well learn how to build a freakin' treehouse!"
"Chris, give Forrest a chance." Nya hushed her son.
"But Forrest, what do you mean by 'another one will find it'?" Akira inquired.
Forrest pondered over the flora's words for several moments before coming up with a theory.
"The trees also said I already knew the way. Well, I don't know the way out so I don't think the plants were talking about how to get out of here. Because of what they said about me before, I'm guessing it's time for one of your to find your true potential since I'm the only one here who already did."
"You're not making things any better!" Chris snapped, "Can't you do anything right!?"
"Chris, that was a little uncalled for…" Nya pointed out her son's snappish attitude.
The eldest ninja looked like he wanted to say something but held his tongue. His mother knew something was up but this was something he had to overcome himself. She knew better than to interfere on what could be a pivotal moment for her son.
"But I can still ask the trees for directions," Forrest offered, "They'll guide us out of here."
"Okay then," Nya decided to give the teal ninja the baton, "Forrest, lead the way."
"Kyllä."
The ninjas and veteran kunoichi begun their trip to get out of this forest…
The sun was really beating down on Jay and his 'group'. Alex used the Fans of Gales to create a cooling breeze but the relief was always too fleeting. Liana offered to use her ice powers in her full potential mode but the others didn't want to her exhaust herself just for them.
To make matters worse, the Walker brothers didn't bring the digital 'compasses' their mother made with them when they first tried to raid the Overlord's base. Both groups were stuck in the most isolated parts of Ninjago with no idea where to go and how to find each other. The ninjas tried whistling for their dragons but the elemental beasts were most likely too far away to even hear them since they usually came within a flash but after many attempts to summon them, the draconian companions never showed up. Despite having lived within the Sea of Sand when he was a child, not even Jay can tell where they were going. The dunes were always changing but it still felt like they were going in circles.
"I can't take it anymore!" Kyle collapsed onto the hot sand, "We'll never get out of here!"
"You won't if you keep having that attitude," Jay hoisted up his son, "Just think positively."
"Oji-san, I think you're getting delirious from all the heat." Alex deadpanned.
"No I'm not." The former ninja rebuffed his niece.
"How can you even think positively if your own daughter's still in danger? Dad, how could you be so ignorant!?" The yellow ninja chewed out his own father.
"Optimism and ignorance aren't the same thing," Jay started, "Being optimistic is just striving to make the best outcome a reality. I still want to save Sayuri and I know she's still in danger but if I maintain hope that I can save her, I could make that a reality."
"Then what makes that different from ignorance?" Liana asked.
"Ignorance is basically being reckless and not accepting the reality of the situation. I know we're still lost and Sayuri's still in danger but I still tell myself to push forward. Sure, the odds may not be in our favor, but that doesn't mean it's impossible. We have to keep moving forward. That's one of life's most important rules. You can either wallow in your past mistakes forever or move on and grow up."
"That's the deepest thing I ever heard from you, Dad." Kyle said.
Who knew the once chatty ninja had a deeper side?
"I know things aren't looking so great now but the least you can do is keep trying," Jay goaded his younger son, "Try calling for your dragon again."
Kyle gave his father's advice another chance and whistled. This time, things were different.
A faint beating sound echoed from the group's right and a silhouette appeared in the sky.
It was Star, whose hearing range finally reached its young companion. It greeted the metal ninja by nuzzling his face.
"But there's only one dragon," Alex complained, "And there's six of us."
"Star, can you get the other dragon's here?"
The golden-scaled beast gave the humans a look as if warning them of something to come and they were sure what it was going to do. They hung low and covered their ears but they still felt like their eardrums will burst when the elemental dragon emitted a deafening roar.
A few moments have passed until three more silhouettes appeared in the sky.
Breeze, Rain, and Shard heeded Star's call and reunited with their respective ninjas. Even they were astonished that Jay's advice worked.
"See?" The grown man let out a wide smile, "That's the power of positive thinking!"
"Dad!" The metal ninja exclaimed but in good humor.
"But there's one more problem," Liana started, "We still don't know where Nya and the rest of the ninjas are."
"Rain, do you know where they are?" Melody asked her dragon but not even the dragons knew where the remainder of the team was taken to.
"Should we go back to the Bounty, or look for the others first?" Alex suggested.
"Let's go back," Jay suggested, "I don't want to leave Nya so soon but I know she can get out of any sticky situation by herself and half of the ninjas are already with her. I have faith in them."
"And what about Sayuri?" Kyle asked.
The former ninja's bright blue eyes darkened at the situation his daughter was still stuck in.
"All we can do for now is hope nothing happens to her…"
"What do you think the Overlord wants with her?"
"Honestly, I do NOT want to know. He obviously kidnapped her to lure us into his trap, though I hate to admit that it worked. But if he has some other plan for her, we have to stop him."
While each ninja got onto their respective dragon, Jay got onto Star and Leon hopped on Shard.
They already knew the Sea of Sand was in the general central area of the mainland so they only had to fly east but it wasn't easy knowing half of the team was still separated. Even though Jay had faith in his wife, that didn't stop him from worrying about her.
'Nya… Wherever you are, please be safe…'
Jay and the others can only hope for the best for their missing allies…
Things weren't exactly looking better for the group in the forest.
With Forrest's guidance, Nya's group trudged through the forest. Because of his ability to talk to plants, which are already alive, the teal ninja tried to guide the group but even he had no idea exactly where they were and it felt like they were going in circles.
"This is taking forever!" Akira grew frustrated by their stagnant progress, "Forrest, are you sure you know where we're going?"
"Hey! I didn't say we'd get out of here in a flash!" The teal ninja retorted.
A rustling noise reached the group's trained ears but they had no idea what it was.
"Wait! Do you hear it?" Amy whispered.
"Should we go check it out?" Willow answered with another question.
The ninjas cautiously moved towards the sound and saw the source of the noise.
The sound was that of a large creature eating its kill for the day.
The beast was huge at the height of a full-grown man while still on all fours. Its whole body was covered in thick dark brown fur and a long bushy tail swished behind its hind legs. Its face was hidden but the ninjas can see hints of a flat pug-like nose and curved horns poking from the top of its head. It was oblivious to the humans while it feasted on the carcass of an unfortunate doe who couldn't escape from its wrath in time.
"What is that thing?" Akira asked but his aunt shushed him.
"That's a yaju," The Japanese woman whispered very quietly, "Believe me, you do NOT want to mess with it."
"But what's it doing here?" Willow quietly pondered, "My dad told me their only habitat is the Lumu Woods of the northeastern region of Ninjago."
"Because that's where we are," Forrest concluded, "Why else would it live here?"
"We have to be very careful," Nya whispered to the young ninjas, "These creatures are known to be extremely aggressive, especially when it comes to food. But the good thing is that we now know where we are thanks to the yaju."
"So how will we get past it?" Amy asked.
"I'm starting to feel a little panicky…" Akira tensed up.
"There's no need to panic. The yaju still doesn't know we're here. If we're lucky, it'll leave once it's done eating." The former kunoichi consoled her nephew.
"And who knows how long that'll take? That thing could take forever!" Chris complained with a slightly louder volume in his voice.
"Chris! Be quiet!" Amy hissed and like everyone else, tried to keep the blue ninja's mouth shut.
The eldest ninja sometimes had a bad habit of talking on and on whenever he got riled up like his father had been, especially in the worst moments possible like this one.
"What's the point!?" He continued ranting, "We're already lost with no food and no way to get out of here cuz Forrest doesn't even know what he's doing! Face it! We're failures!"
The yaju heard Chris' ranting and spotted the humans staring at it with hungry beady eyes.
"M-Mrs. Walker…? Is it time for us to panic…?" Willow whispered.
"I-I'm not sure… M-m-maybe he's too full t-to consider us its n-n-next meal…" Even the veteran kunoichi stuttered.
Assuming they were intruders after its food, it let out a terrifying roar and got into a crouching position as if it was going to pounce on them.
"NOW'S THE TIME TO PANIC! RUN!"
The ninjas didn't even need to be asked twice before they followed Nya.
The group ran faster than they ever ran before while the yaju chased them across the thickets.
Forrest summoned his true potential to summon a plethora of poisonous plants and brambles of thorny vines but underneath the creature's thick fur was an equally thick hide and was hardly affected by the plants that suddenly burst within its path. Their bodies were getting exhausted but the constant threat of a raging ravenous beast on their tails kept them running.
"Quick! Up here!" Amy climbed up a tall thick tree and beckoned the others to follow her.
Nya and the ninjas didn't need to be told twice to climb up the tree. But the large animal won't give up its pursuit so easily. The yaju jumped so high with its powerful legs it almost got Akira, who was not as high up as his teammates and aunt. The aggressive creature kept jumping and thrashing its fangs at the humans who clung to the boughs for dear life.
"Chris, this is all you fault!" Akira glared at his cousin, "If you hadn't lost your temper, the yaju wouldn't be out for our blood!"
"My fault!?" The blue ninja snapped, "This wouldn't have happened if the Overlord didn't even take Sayuri in the first goddamn place! I already failed as a brother and guilt-tripping me is NOT making things any better!"
"You actually blame yourself for all this…?" Willow was astonished by Chris' true colors.
"N-no! It's the Overlord's fault for starting it!" The lightning wielder's face reddened.
"Chris, tell them the truth!" Nya can see in her eldest son's face that there was another reason. After all, she is Chris' mother…
The blue ninja was hesitant but the tree started to tremble from the yaju's brute strength. The ninjas might not last long until the tall plant topples over.
"Chris!" The experienced kunoichi urged her son to make his possibly last words honest ones.
"What kind of brother just lets his baby sister get kidnapped by the freakin' Overlord!? Who in their right mind would only run away after being an irresponsible bastard!?"
"Chris, no one's perfect and neither are you!" Nya goaded him, "We make mistakes so we can learn from them, not out of sheer stupidity or bad luck!"
"It's not about making mistakes! All I can do for you is look out for you because I have nothing else! You all have so much potential and the only thing that makes me stand out is being older than you! All I can do is be a clichéd big brother figure and even I failed at that!"
"That's not true!" Willow exclaimed.
"Yes it is!" Chris scoffed at the young kunoichi's plea.
"You may not have been the gentlest person when delivering the truth but you still helped us in your own way! You're still a competent ninja and a good brother to us AND your real siblings!" Akira said.
"Liana and Melody wouldn't have found their true potential if it weren't for you! You gave them the extra push they needed to get to where they are now." Amy added.
"You're just saying that to give me false hope." The blue ninja refused to look at them.
"No! We're really telling the truth!" Forrest shook his head, "You're like a big brother to all of us and you were always able to help us in your own way! That's what makes you the best you!"
"The best me…?"
"That is what I told your father long ago," Nya too tried reaching out to her son, "You're trying too hard to be what you think defines you. There is never a single way to define a person. Like the lightning you and your father control, you're more than what you think you are. There can only be one you and that's why I love you! You're the best you!"
"Really…? After all the things I've said and done…?"
"Of course," His mother held his face so he can look into her hazel eyes, "You already have your place among your team as the blue ninja of lightning and the older brother who always gives his teammates the extra push they need."
"But what about Sayuri? And do I have anything besides that?"
"Yes. You have many other gifts but you were too single-minded to discover them. You are an intelligent young man with a knack for inventions and you were able to make your brother and sister laugh whenever they were sad. Lightning never strikes in the same place and you have to be in tune with your element."
Chris ignored everything, from his mother's advice to the wrathful yaju below. But it wasn't out of stubbornness but because he reconsidered his place among his team. He was something of an older brother but that wasn't the only thing he was good at. He was limiting himself and his true potential.
'My true potential…!'
Lightning strikes anywhere and never in the same place twice. He had to become his element to be able to unleash his true gifts. He will always be the ninjas' older brother but he was more.
"I was the one who got you into this mess…" Chris stood on the bough he was on, "And I will be the one to get you out. It's my duty as a brother!"
Much to his teammates' shock, the eldest ninja leapt off towards the rampaging beast.
"Chris! No!" Nya reached out her hand to stop her son but he already landed on the yaju's back and shocked it with the Nunchucks of Lightning. The beast roared and thrashed about but Chris refused to let up. Not until his teammates were safe.
"We have to help!" Akira was ready to join his cousin but his teammates stopped him.
"This is Chris' battle," Amy said, "He must overcome his own obstacles."
'I can't do everything alone and I can't always be the perfect brother but dammit, I will NEVER quit being a ninja because that's who I am!'
Chris' body erupted in a blinding flash of light and the ninjas and Nya had to cover their eyes for a moment. When they were finally able to open them, a one-of-a-kind sight greeted them.
Chris' body glowed in a bright blue light and lightning crackled around his form. His eyes glowed entirely white but he didn't care about his changes and kept zapping the yaju until it finally gave up and scampered away, whimpering with its tail tucked between its legs.
With the yaju gone, Chris' teammates and mother finally came down from the tree but his body still glowed and crackled with bright blue lightning.
"Chris…!" Nya gasped, "You found your true potential…!"
Chris' body returned to normal only after he was told of his latest feat. This was all so much to take in…
"I never would've thought…" His head was aching with so many thoughts going but the one he felt the most was astonishment.
"But Chris, what you said back there… was it all true…?" Willow asked.
The blue ninja hesitated at first but as always, he was truthful.
"Yes. I always felt that since I'm the oldest, the only thing that made me stand out was being a brotherly figure and it was the one thing I didn't want to fail at and when Sayuri was kidnapped, I felt like I failed at my one purpose in life. I don't know how to describe it but I can feel my very being fall apart."
"Your heart knew only one purpose or at least that's how you felt," Amy explained, "But even the most talented people can make mistakes in what they do best. Sometimes, my dad doesn't know the true power of his strength."
"I guess we all make mistakes…"
"At least we learn from them, right?" The optimistic Willow tried to cheer up the eldest ninja.
"Yeah…"
"But we still don't know the way out." Akira complained.
"Since the Lumu Forest is in the northeast, we must generally go south." Forrest said.
"But where's the south? We don't have a compass." Willow pointed out.
"Leave that to me." The teal ninja went back to communicating with the trees to find a way out.
After what felt like an hour of walking, the small party finally got out of the Lumu Forest.
"Finally!" Akira literally fell on his hands and knees and kissed the ground, "I'm NEVER gonna go into a forest ever again!"
Nya chuckled, remembering how her brother reacted similarly after the original ninjas got out of their first trip to the Deep Woods.
The ninjas whistled several times before their dragons finally arrived.
"Where do you think Jay and the others are, Aunt Nya?" Akira asked once they got on.
"My husband always has a way of figuring things out at the very moment there seems to be no hope. That's why I still trust him."
"Take us back to the Bounty." Chris commanded and Wisp obeyed and took off with the other elemental dragons.
"Wait until Dad hears about this." The lightning ninja was quite proud of himself for once.
"I know he'll be proud of you," Nya started, "We love you unconditionally, even if you can't do everything at once. You're our imperfectly perfect son."
The former kunoichi gave her eldest child a big kiss on the cheek, much to his embarrassment.
"Mom!" The blue ninja whined like his dad would've done with his grandmother.
Everyone else laughed but soon, Chris laughed along with them.
He may not be perfect and can't always be there for them or his real siblings all the time but he will always have his place as the team's older brother who made them laugh, give them a dose of tough love when need be, and just being there to help them.
That was what made him unique and even if he can't do it all the time, he was still the reliable big brother he thrived to be.
Coincidentally, both parties reached the Bounty by the time the sun completely set but still, the dragons had to be as silent as they can in case the Overlord was aware of their hideout by the tiny cape near the beach.
"Nya!" Jay hopped off Star to greet his wife, "I'm so glad you're safe!"
"I feel the same." Nya kissed her husband on the lips.
"Thank goodness you're all okay," Misako sighed in relief, "I was concerned that something may have happened."
"Actually, a lot of stuff happened today." Kyle said.
"Did you find Sayuri?"
"Yeah… but the Overlord warped us away and split us up in the process…" Alex rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment.
Jay's expression darkened knowing that the epitome of all evil still had his daughter…
"Anything else?"
"I found my true potential." Chris finally told his father, brother, and the rest of the team.
"Aw man! I wasn't even there to see it!" Jay lamented not being there for his son's big moment.
"That makes you halfway through your trials." Misako commended him.
"But we still have to come for the Overlord and get Sayuri back. I'm aware of the possibility that he may have moved his base of operations after he warped you away…"
"So what are we going to do next…?" Melody inquired.
"You're not meant to fight the Overlord now, even if you're halfway through your trials. All you have to do rescue Sayuri."
"Yeah."
The Walker family's bonds were strong and they knew they were going to prove it.
And with the ninjas halfway through the first part of their trials, they had faith that they will be able to save Sayuri…
Will the ninjas be able to save her?
Find out in the next chapter but a bunch of stuff will also happen! The big secret I mentioned before will be revealed and perhaps another ninja will find their true potential! Once again, thank you all who enjoyed the Ice Prince & as always, reviews are appreciated!