Jay tapped his pencil against his lips, trying to think through what he hadn't written down yet. He'd been working on these lists for multiple minutes now, writing almost non-stop, and he still didn't think he'd written everything down yet.
Looking down at his paper, Jay scrutinized what he'd written. At the top of the paper, he'd written in large letters "My teammates have problems" followed by exactly five question marks. Then he'd sectioned the rest of the paper into six lined-off parts for lists. There was one part each for Cole, Kai, Lloyd, Nya, and Zane, as well as one part for possible explanations. It was that last part he was working on at the moment, continually adding to it and then crossing off what he'd just added to it.
"An alien mind-wipe removed their real minds and replaced them with alien minds" was crossed off.
"Garmadon put some kind of nonsense-acting spell on everyone but I'm immune" was crossed off.
"They all lost bets to each other and this is the consequence" was crossed off.
"I didn't hear Sensei tell us to act weird as a training exercise" was crossed off.
"Cole's cooking poisoned everyone, I just didn't eat enough of it to be affected" was crossed off.
The last thing on the list, and the only one that hadn't been crossed off yet, was simple: "Am I just the only normal one here?"
Jay sighed and leaned back in his chair, propping himself up on the back two legs of the chair and staring aimlessly up at the ceiling. He sighed again, partially because he was frustrated, partially because he was worried, and mostly because he was just plain confused.
"Is there something on your mind, Jay?" A voice asked.
Jay didn't have anything on his mind at that moment, because Jay had just flailed in surprise at the voice and fallen over backwards, having tilted his chair just a little too far. Jay crashed to the floor, still staring up at the ceiling but now wincing. "Ow."
"My apologies," Sensei Wu said, appearing above him and holding out a hand. "I didn't realize you were so lost in thought."
Jay took Sensei Wu's hand and heaved himself up, rubbing the back of his head where it had banged against the floor. "Yeah, I guess I didn't realize either."
Sensei Wu nodded and released Jay's hand, stepping over to the table. "What had you so transfixed?"
He picked up the paper.
"Don't-" Jay began quickly, but it was too late.
Sensei Wu gave the paper a quick once-over, then he looked up at Jay.
Jay winced again. That had to be the most unimpressed stare he'd ever seen Sensei Wu give, and that was counting the whole "no pizza for you!" thing.
"Jay, what have your teammates done that caused you to write this?" Sensei Wu said.
"If you're going to ask that, you might as well read the whole thing," Jay said. "They've been, you know, weird. Weirder, even, at least in Zane's case. They've been refusing to go to the doctor, and trying to steal things out of dumpsters, and wearing way too many clothes for the weather given the heating system, and-"
"I see," Sensei Wu said, looking back down at the paper. He paused for a few moments, seeming to read the paper more thoroughly. "So you were… Annoyed."
"I mean, yeah, but also concerned, definitely concerned," Jay said. "It was kind of freaking me out."
"Hence the 'alien mind-wipe' possibility," Sensei Wu said.
"Yeah," Jay said. "I wanted to figure it out before anything else happened."
"I believe I can help with that," Sensei Wu said.
Jay perked up a little. "You can? Do you have some special tea that will make everything make sense?"
"In a way," Sensei Wu said mysteriously. Folding the paper up into his hand, he turned and left the room, calling back over his shoulder, "Come."
Jay followed Sensei Wu eagerly at first, thinking they were heading to the sensei's room for a special tea. Then he realized where they were going and slowed down. "Sensei?"
"Come," Sensei Wu said again, still heading forward.
"Sensei, we're going towards the living room," Jay said slowly, coming to a stop. "You know, where everybody else is right now, trying to pick a movie. I thought you had a special tea that would make everything make sense."
"In a way," Sensei Wu said again.
Jay sighed, but he started following again.
They walked into the living room. Kai and Cole stood by the TV arguing over a movie case, pulling the case back and forth between them. Nya sat on the couch, her legs tucked up beside her and Lloyd half-tucked into her other side, the two of them calling out options to Kai and Cole. Zane sat on the floor, suggesting everyone sit down and think. Each of the voices died down quickly as each person noticed Sensei Wu and Jay standing in the doorway.
"I thought you were going to bed early because you were too tired, Jay," Nya said.
"And Sensei, I thought you didn't like movies," Kai said.
"I was," Jay said. "But-"
"No, you were not," Sensei Wu said calmly.
"Sensei!" Jay protested.
"You were not," Sensei Wu said again. "Because you were concerned."
"Concerned," Zane repeated. "Jay, is everything all right?"
"Yeah?" Jay tried, glancing at Sensei Wu hopefully.
Sensei Wu shook his head.
"No," Jay admitted. "I'm just... Confused."
"Confused about what?" Cole asked, his eyebrows furrowing down over his eyes.
"Confused about you guys," Jay said. "You act like we don't have any money, or like nobody's watching out for us, or like we have to work hard to survive with nothing to help us, or something. It just doesn't make any sense."
Nya sat up a little straighter. "Oh, this. I think I see where this is going."
"If you do, then tell me, because I don't have a clue," Jay said, on the verge of frantic.
"I think the rest of us might have something in common that you don't," Nya said. "A type of struggle, really."
"What?" Jay asked.
"We've all been, well, down on our luck?" Nya said, almost like it was a question.
"I've been down on my luck," Jay said. "Did you forget my home is a junkyard? Because I sure would like to forget that."
"Okay, not my best choice of words," Nya said. "More like, well, more like-"
"Not having a home," Zane finished when Nya paused a few moments too long.
Jay blinked. "What?"
"Oh," Kai said. "Oh, that makes things make more sense."
"Okay, I think I get it now," Cole said.
"What do you mean 'not having a home?'" Jay asked, feeling almost as lost as before.
"Well, Lloyd was wandering around Ninjago, kicked out of his school with nowhere to go and trying to be evil, when we came across him the first time," Nya explained.
"And I kept wandering for a while," Lloyd added.
"So he didn't have a home at that point. And Zane was in kind of a similar situation, no home to go to, and no memories of a home, even," Nya continued.
Zane nodded.
"And Cole, I don't know as much about you, but you were on your own climbing mountains when Sensei found you, right?" Nya asked.
"Pretty much," Cole said.
"And Kai and I, well, we had a home, but our home was a blacksmith shop that we ran on our own from when we were pretty young, nothing to back us up, no safety net," Nya said. "So we all came from situations that made us feel like we didn't have any money, because we didn't, and like we didn't have anyone looking out for us, because we didn't, and like we didn't have anything to help us survive, because we didn't. Because we were alone."
"Oh," Jay said softly. "Yeah. I didn't have that kind of struggle."
Nya nodded slowly, looking down at her feet.
Everyone was quiet for a few moments.
"But you aren't alone anymore," Jay said.
Nya looked up.
"You don't have to struggle so much anymore. You don't have to feel like you have no one and nothing to help you. Because now you do have help, and, I think it's accurate to say, now you do have a home," Jay said slowly. He looked around to see each of the people he had been so concerned about nodding and even starting to smile.
"We have a home now," Kai said.
"And we're not alone anymore," Lloyd said.
Jay grinned. "Yeah."
"Would this be one of the situations in which you might call for a 'group hug?'" Zane asked.
Jay stepped closer. "It is now. Group hug, everybody!"
They all crowded around, hugging each other, and even Sensei Wu joined in. After a few moments of squeezing each other and smiling, they released their hold, stepping back.
"So, are you still too tired for a movie?" Cole asked knowingly.
Jay gave a fake yawn. "Actually-"
"Oh, come on, Jay," Nya said.
Jay laughed. "Okay. Yeah, I'm awake enough. Let's watch something!"
Kai and Cole returned to the movie case they had dropped minutes before, while Nya and Lloyd returned to the couch and Zane dropped down to the floor again. Jay headed over toward the couch, but then he paused and turned back.
"Sensei Wu?" Jay asked. "Did you want to watch with us?"
"I don't normally," Sensei Wu said. "But I think in this case, an exception may be made."
Jay grinned toothily as Sensei Wu came over, plopping down next to him on the couch.
"So, Sensei, that really helped. But it didn't involve any tea. So what was the special tea you were going to give me?" Jay asked, leaning back into the couch and brushing shoulders with Nya.
Now it was Sensei Wu's turn to give a toothy grin. "The special tea was communi-tea."
AN: I hope you all really enjoyed it! Let me know what it made you think and feel! That's all, folks!