*aggressively yeets chapter into story*
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arrowchristian: ah yes, my blue boi always needs snackies lol (lets be real I also always need snackies so it works lol) You know, they could use a break... *shoves upcoming chapters into the fridge* nothing to see here-
ANYWAY here's chapter 8
"So what's the plan?" Eve asked as they headed for the courtyard.
"I'll work on tracking down a more precise location," Jay said. "In my vision, I could see the city through the window, but it was pretty far out. The ocean was on the right, looking out, so that puts us west of Ninjago City proper, on the peninsula. Probably out past the western rice fields. I'll narrow it down from there."
Cole nodded. "Sounds good. Eve, I'd still like to work on combat today, just in case. And maybe summoning?"
She shrugged. "Shouldn't be a problem."
Jay allowed a slight grin. "Alright. I'll let you know when I get a location." He flashed Eve a good luck thumbs up and went inside.
The courtyard was otherwise empty. "Ready?" Cole asked.
Eve just nodded.
"We're gonna have to go over a lot today," he said. "We'll build off what we did the other day. Remember the fighting stances?"
She quickly demonstrated.
"Good. Okay, now my biggest concern here is defense." He dropped into his own ready stance. "Protecting your head and torso are the most important. You can use your arms for that mostly, and also evading. Like this." He demonstrated a few moves. "You want to stay on your feet for as long as possible. Evading is your best move for that- stay light on your feet, balance is key. Once you're down, it becomes a grappling game."
She forced a chuckle. "I think I might be a little small for that."
He shrugged. "Maybe, but that could be an advantage. You're quick. Use it." He set his stance. "So if I strike like this-" he mimed a punch toward her face. She ducked. "That works," he chuckled. "Try blocking." He "attacked" again, and she blocked with one of the moves he showed her.
"Nice, that was good. You could also deflect and turn it into a strike." He paused. "Punch me."
She laughed. "Excuse me?"
"I promise you won't actually hurt me. Just try to punch me in the face. Slowly."
She did. He leaned to the side, bringing his arm up to deflect the punch. At the same time, he mimed his own punch at her with his other hand.
She blinked in surprise. "Nice."
He grinned. "You try."
She copied his stance from before and nodded. He slowly mimed a punch. She rotated, bringing her arm up to deflect, and punched with her free hand.
"Great! Now try a little faster."
They repeated the sequence a few more times.
"Again. Faster."
He threw a punch, and she deflected and threw a punch of her own. She accidentally hit him for real. "Oh geez- I am so sorry!"
He took a pace back and made a face. "Don't worry about it. That was a good hit."
"Are you okay?"
He grinned, rubbing his jaw where she hit him. "I'm fine. Really. Nicely done." He chuckled. "Let's move on."
They spent the next hour working on mostly defensive moves, though Cole did teach her a few offensives as well. She was extra careful to not accidentally hit him again.
By the end of the session, she was much more confident in her ability. She was also exhausted.
She took a quick shower, then met the boys in the kitchen for lunch. Jay was making mac and cheese when she entered. Cole sat in the dining nook with an energy drink and a sandwich.
"Want some?" Jay asked, offering her the pot.
"Yes please!" she said, and he scooped some into two bowls.
"So what'd you find?" Cole asked as Jay brought the food over and sat down.
"Quite a bit, actually," Jay answered around a bite of mac. "I sketched out the scene as best I could, but it's pretty much stuck in my brain at this point." He stabbed at a few noodles with his fork. "And it turns out, there are quite a few shipyards west of the city within eyesight. Like four, I think?"
"Were you able to narrow it down?" Eve asked. "That's a lot of ground to cover."
He nodded. "The ship from the vision looked pretty old from what I saw. Whoever owns it seriously could splurge on a paint job, I mean-"
"Not the point, Jay," Cole said.
"Anyway, I narrowed it down to two that are old enough to fit with our target. And then I had Zane run some geometric analysis on some of the images I got online, something about matching the skyline of the city. In hindsight, I probably could have just asked him to do that in the first place, but either way, it worked."
He pulled out his phone and showed them a picture. It showed the rundown entrance to an old ships' harbor. The sign read "Sudnigan Harbor" in faded Ninjargon.
"I've never heard of Sudnigan Harbor," Cole said.
Eve shook her head. "Me neither."
Jay grinned. "Neither have I, but I found it on a map, it's pretty isolated, about twenty or so minutes outside the city, so from here it would be between an hour and an hour and a half." He pulled up the map.
Cole studied it for a moment. "So we can take vehicles in and ditch about a mile out, right around here. That's not bad walking distance but it's far enough out that they won't hear us coming. We'll travel light and quiet."
"I like it," Eve said with a grin. "But what about comms?"
Jay grimaced. "Oh, I don't like running a mission without comms."
Cole shrugged. "We'll have them, but for emergencies only. This is a stealth mission, so yeah, don't use it unless you have to. Actually, I think we should stick together for this one; we don't know what we're walking into and I don't want to be surprised and cut off from backup."
"What are we looking for, exactly?" Eve asked.
"Anything that might help us- documents, gear, anything that could indicate what she's planning."
"Maybe if we get lucky we'll find the guy's whole evil plan!" Jay exclaimed.
Eve rolled her eyes. "Wouldn't that be nice."
Jay pulled a face.
Cole drummed on the table. "Alright, well, I'll talk to Pixal about getting those bikes fixed up, and we'll talk to Lloyd and Wu tonight. Jay, you good with getting the tech we'll need?"
Jay nodded.
"What can I do?" Eve asked.
Cole was quiet for a second. "Work on your shields and portals. Just in case."
Eve found Nya to help her with her summoning. They were under the cherry blossom tree again, the sounds of the rest of the team training drifting over the courtyard walls.
"Okay, how about this?" Nya gathered a small orb of water. "Ready?"
Eve nodded.
Nya launched a small stream of water at her, and she whipped her arm up. A shield materialized and the water ran down it as if it was solid.
"Good! Now hold it!" Nya called. She didn't relent her spray.
Eve gritted her teeth. "Come on-" The shield flickered.
"Don't let it down!" Nya ordered. "Hold it!"
Eve felt her hold slipping. The shield snapped out and she was sprayed in the face.
Nya shook her hands out. "Again." She prepared another stream.
Eve threw a shield into place. It held longer, but not long enough.
Nya frowned. "Okay. Portal. Try to the kitchen."
Eve nodded and held out her hands, shortening the Space. A yellow hole appeared in the air.
"Bigger."
She pulled her hands apart and the portal grew. She could see the fridge. The portal began to shake.
"Stabilize it, Eve! Come on."
The portal was about the size of a window, and Eve focused her energy on stabilizing it.
"Good. Try going bigger."
Eve groaned but expanded the portal more. It became the size of a small doorway. Nya ducked through it and grabbed a water bottle off the counter. Before she could come back through, the portal snapped out.
Eve huffed in frustration and paced as she waited for Nya to come back.
A twig cracked behind her. Without thinking, she threw both hands out wide. A shimmering yellow dome appeared around her fingertips, encasing her right as a mini tidal wave crashed into it. Eve whipped around to see Nya's jaw drop.
The surprise of what she'd just done broke Eve's concentration, and the dome collapsed, soaking her. Nya relented the wave and came over. "That was something else."
"I've never done a shield like that."
"Well you've never cast like that, either," Nya said, blowing out a breath. "Why did you do it like that?"
Eve simply shrugged. "Instinct, I guess? I have no idea."
"Could you do it again?"
"I'm not sure."
Nya frowned thoughtfully. "Let's call it a day; I don't want to wear you out too much."
That night, dinner was scattered and chaotic, as per usual, Eve was learning. Everyone ate while doing their own thing; Jay and Cole were off doing their own prep, Lloyd was helping Zane with research or something, and no-one had seen Kai for half an hour. Nya thought he went to bed early.
Pixal had invited the other girls to eat dinner together in the basement. Eve didn't even know the monastery had a basement.
She and Nya brought their plates and took what was apparently a newly installed elevator down. It was hidden off the lounge, and apparently was not yet common knowledge. They reached the bottom and Eve gasped.
The space was huge, bigger than she ever could have expected, with surprisingly cavernous ceilings, finished floors, and sufficient lighting.
"Do the boys know this is here?" She asked Nya.
Nya shook her head. "Not yet. Well, except for Zane, he helps a lot down here."
They found Pixal tucked under a piece of machinery at the other end of the room, near a large screen and half-finished consol. Nya called a greeting and Pixal shimmied out.
"I have a table and some chairs this way," she said, smiling. "I apologize for the mess."
Eve noticed three bikes in one corner; the black and blue ones looked finished, but the third had wires sticking out of the front panel and was only half painted in a pale yellow. So yellow must be her color. She grinned. "What is this place?" she asked in awe.
Pixal smiled proudly, setting some tools down. "It will be the new Samurai X cave and base of Ninja Operations. But it won't be ready for the rest of the team to help for quite some time, so I would appreciate if you'd not tell them yet."
Eve nodded. "Of course."
"How did training go?" Pixal asked as they all sat down. "Are you progressing?"
Eve laughed. "I think so, although I accidentally punched Cole in the face earlier."
Nya choked back a laugh. "I would have liked to see that."
Pixal grinned. "What about your powers? How is your summoning coming along?"
Eve looked to Nya to answer.
"From what I've seen, she's getting better. She conjured a shield that was different from her others today- it was like a forcefield dome, not just a shield wall."
Pixal's eyes widened. "That's fantastic! I'd like to see sometime."
Eve fidgeted with her fork. "You and me both. I'm not sure I could do it again; Nya startled me is all."
"I'm sure if the circumstances were replicated, you could manage. But we won't try that tonight." Pix paused. "Is there anything I can do to help you prepare for your mission tomorrow?"
"I think the boys mostly have it covered; thanks though."
Nya raised an eyebrow. "That's not what she meant and you know it."
Eve sighed. "I know. I think I'm okay. Cole taught me some good self-defense earlier, and I'm feeling good about my powers. Honestly, I'm feeling good about the mission. I think it will go well. With any luck, I won't even need to fight."
Pixal sighed. "If you're sure…" She was quiet for a second, then turned to Nya. "How are you doing? With Jay on the mission."
She groaned. "I mean, I can't exactly stop him. And the team has a point- he's the only one who can identify the target location. He'll be fine."
"That is not what I asked."
Nya hesitated. "I'm worried about him, of course I am. He just came out of an element-induced coma, for Spinjitsu Master's sake. I mean, he really does seem fine, but- I don't know, his memory of what happened is still hazy."
Pixal laid a comforting hand on Nya's shoulder. "He is a skilled fighter, Nya. And very smart. He'll be okay."
She nodded. "I know. But just- he's my boyfriend, it's kind of in the job description to worry about him. But he's gonna be great. I know it." She turned to Eve. "Look, I know it's a lot to ask, but could you just… keep an eye on him? Just to be safe. Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."
Eve nodded. "Of course."
Nya sighed in relief. "Thank you." She was quiet for a moment. "Well, that got depressing. I think Kai wanted to do a NinjaKart tournament tomorrow. I should accept, right? Put him in his place. You should join us, Eve! We'll have it once you're back. Pix, you're welcome to play, too."
Eve grinned. "That'd be awesome, I'm in."
Eve excused herself after the meal to make her meeting.
Cole and Jay had gotten tech and transportation worked out, and after dinner, they ran their plan by Lloyd and Wu. Both approved it, and Wu recommended they all get to sleep early.
As she was leaving, Wu stopped her. "One moment please, Eve?" He beckoned her to follow him and she did. She waited in the hall as he went to his room and got something off the table. He handed it to her; a wide, flat box.
"I ordered this when you joined us," Wu said. "Lloyd told me you like yellow."
She opened the box and gasped. "For real?"
He nodded.
She gently pulled out a uniform, similar to the ones the Ninja wore, complete with a hood and mask. It was made from lightweight, pale yellow fabric, with white trim and a pale gold dragon motif that stretched across the back from rib to shoulder. The hood had a small, almost imperceptible comm set.
"But I'm only a temporary-"
Wu waved his hand. "Nonsense. You are a member of this team, I don't care for how long. You needed a uniform. I hope this one is suitable."
She nodded. "I love it. Thank you."
He smiled. "Of course. Now go to bed! You need all your wits about you tomorrow. And no midnight coffee breaks."
"Wait-"
He chuckled and winked at her. "No, Cole did not tell me. But a Master always knows."
Hello yes, me again, thanks for reading and uh- yeah. Peace out for now.