"But Sensei-"

"No buts, Nya," Wu interrupted her bargaining, his gaze flicking to the inside of the tea shop for a very brief second before looking back into her eyes, "I need you to stay here with Lloyd while we go after the realm crystal. If Morro comes for him, you are the best line of defense."

"But I haven't even unlocked my true potential yet!"

"You are staying here. I need you here, to watch over him." Wu insisted and Nya had to admit to herself, no matter how annoyed it made her, that he was right this time, even if it meant that she would have to throw a bucket of water at Morro's face if he showed up.

"Yes, Sensei." She groaned, waiting until the Bounty left to go back inside, locking the doors behind her, only if it was to prove that she was needed on the ship, or at least would be more useful within the action.

Just a few hours ago, she was fully prepared to go with the boys into the tomb of the First Spinjitzu Master despite her lack of control over her elemental abilities, and now, just like so many times before, she was left behind to babysit. It was infuriating.

Even if she had grown to look at Lloyd like a little brother, and was glad that he was home without Morro looming over him, she was still angry when she knew that adding a large hose to her Samurai X mech would stop this problem in its tracks.

' "So when you arrive at the tomb, it is imperative to take the realm crystal and get back out. The less time you spend there, the better.' Wu explained as the five of them listened intently, all adorning their gi's and masks, ready to board The Bounty.

Well, even though there were five of them in the room, it did not include Jay, who had left once they had gotten the gist of the plan decided, citing the need to use the bathroom while Misako brought the Bounty around so they could go as soon as they were ready.

"You ready for your first ninja mission?" Kai asked, his hand on Nya's shoulder bringing her back to reality.

"I've been on ninja missions before, Kai."

"Yeah, but that was Samurai X. This is different."

"It can't be that diffe-"

"Guys?!" Jay's attention-grabbing yell echoed into the main room from outside, but before Nya could question why he was outside, she followed the others to where the call had come from, only to gasp when she saw the sight of a sickly, pale Lloyd lying unconscious in Jay's arms as he added, "I don't think he's breathing." '

He had been breathing, although it had been hardly noticeable to the naked eye, but those five words had sent the others into chaos while Zane, Kai and Wu had jumped into action to assess the situation.

Nya herself had been unable to move aside from the near automatic motion of helping Jay off of the ground; they hadn't been together in awhile, but she would have been lying if she said that making sure he was okay wasn't a reflex after all this time.

Even when Zane reported the scary words like "high fever" and "possible coma", all Nya could focus on was the fact that he had started by telling them that he was alive. He was breathing, his heart was beating and there was zero indication of Morro inside of his body.

While she was relieved that Lloyd was safe with them, she was still annoyed that his arrival meant that she had been forced to the sidelines yet again when she had to stand her ground with Sensei in the first place to go with the boys to retrieve the realm crystal.

Knowing that Wu planned to shut down the tea shop indefinitely in order to pay Cyrus Borg to work on weapons against the ghosts, she didn't worry about manning the desk for the closeout sale.

'For all I know, Morro is on his way to fight me and finish Lloyd off.'

She knew that her thought process was morbid, but she couldn't care enough to consider just how cynical she was; everyone else was allowed to go fight ghosts with very little elemental power to their name while she was a layer of security.

And if she kicked over one of the small displays in the front of the store out of pure frustration, Lloyd wasn't anywhere close to awake so no one had to know.