"Hey, has anybody seen Zane?" Jay called as he walked into the common room. "Hm? Uh…not since yesterday. But I went to go see Haco, and Niph wasn't there." Kai answered mildly as he was the only person there, and Jay hmphed quietly.
Kai hesitated as he felt Jay's elemental energy fluctuate oddly. That wasn't good, he hoped nothing was too wrong with the master of Lightning.
"What's up?" Kai paused the game he was playing, and Jay held himself in such a way that was almost…cowed? Nervous? Anxious?
"I feel like we were kinda mean to him…also I desperately want his apple pie." Jay grinned, and even though Kai could tell he was a bit…off, The Master of Fire decided to ignore it. Kai let out a few chuckles.
They continued talking quietly before Cole came into the room. "Uh, hey, Sensei wants us," Cole said gruffly, disappearing back down the hall. The pair looked at each other with sighs before they got up.
When they got to the meeting room/cockpit, the trio walked into Misako and Sensei Wu arguing. Nya, on the other hand, is just sitting and watching them fight.
The trio sidled up to her before starting to whisper. "What's going on, sis?" Kai whispered, and Nya shrugged. "I don't know. Something about Zane and permafrost." Nya shook her head, and Kai sighed.
The elder pair quieted after another few moments, and Misako sat down.
Sensei Wu sighed, agitatedly folded his hands, and waited for the others to come. After another minute, Lloyd and Garmadon slunk into the room in that unnatural way that they did.
"Okay…so what's wrong with Zane?" Jay piped up, and Lloyd looked rather alarmed.
"Is he okay?" Lloyd questioned, wringing his hands, a little nervous at the prospect of his teammate being potentially hurt and out of commission.
Sensei Wu almost squirmed before sighing. "No, Zane is assumingly fine. But an…event has happened, and Zane…is building something known as a Court." Sensei Wu rubbed his temple, and the ninja quietly looked at each other in confusion.
"Uh…Sensei, what's a court?" Jay carefully piped up, and the sound of splintering wood rang throughout the room.
Sensei Wu was quickly backed against a wall by his elder brother while the man threw his broken staff across the room. "Why do they not know of Courts," Garmadon demanded, his voice cold with fury, and Wu hesitated.
"It was never…important." Wu tried, and Garmadon glared. "Not. Important? With two Court Grandeur?" Garmadon hissed, "what were you thinking?!"
"This is a Court. I never thought that with multiple Grandeur, they would branch off." Wu looked somewhat worried and squirmed slightly at the glare of his sibling. The other five ninjas were looking at each other quizzically, and Lloyd glanced at his mother, who held a scroll and looked somewhat exasperated.
"If you two are finished." Misako sighed deeply and spread out the scroll again. "If Zane is Permafrost, the elements surrounding Permafrost are important." Misako pointed out, but the ninjas were still so lost. Garmadon whirled away from his younger brother and leaned on the wall.
"If you must know, since it was never important before, A Court is a system of elemental resonance. There are elements known as Court Grandeur or higher Elements. They are elemental types that are able to…gather lesser elements, making teams built on elemental attraction. Some teams are randomized, but other teams are brought together by a force known as The Court Overseer." Garmadon explained with a sigh, and the ninja listened along, but they didn't really understand what was going on.
"So…what's that gotta do with Zane?" Cole asked, and Garmadon sighed. "Some elements are considered Primordial or Grand elements, known as Grandeur. Even though Lloyd as Energy is a Grand Element Zane, and his element of Permafrost or Ice as it is referred to now is also a Grand Ele-" Garmadon was cut off by Misako and he shot a nasty look to his ex-wife.
"As Garmadon said Zane is a Grand Element but as I am saying Zane isn't the problem. The elements connected to Permafrost are." Misako interjected before she started unscrolling the scroll she had with her.
"Even though Ice itself is an element of Creation, it still has the trait of Destruction. Similar to Fire. But due to that trait, the Elemental Masters linked to Permafrost are rather destructive and are usually aligned with destruction itself." She explained quietly, and none of them liked the way that sounded.
"There…is another part that makes me…worried. In all the stories about Courts, it is said that once a Court is foretold that the Court Overseer would force them together. Dead. Or alive." Both Wu and Garmodon now looked vaguely alarmed and they met eyes before turning their attention back to Misako.
"What are you saying?" Garmadon looked vaguely suspicious, and Misako looked at him gravely.
"Most of Permafrost's court is well and alive, but I know that one element here has been long dead. The Master of Wind." Misako sighed, and now the Ninja realized why she brought the previous topic up.
"What?!" Jay screeched, and Kai took a step back. "Wait, is Morro back?!" Kai yelled while Nya, Cole, and Lloyd looked at each other in shock. The room erupted, aka Jay and Kai were not happy and shrieking to each other while Cole and Lloyd were silent and Nya had already darted away.
Lloyd felt oddly numb as he watched his team fall apart, and the elders were trying to calm them down. But when they did, Misako looked worried now.
"I do feel the need to mention that if your relationship with Morro was so ill that Zane wouldn't want to work with him. Zane would end up rejecting him as his Grandeur." Misako tried to smooth things over but her words didn't do much but make the elder pair give her a look.
Lloyd felt himself go cold and he stared down between his feet. Was ill a word he would have used? He didn't really know.
But what he did know was that Morro and Zane's relationship was not…ill.
Even though Zane was out of it for most of that entire situation there was this time where Zane was coherent and the pair were alone. Lloyd still remembers those words very well. Those words haunted him everytime he looked at Zane.
'I want to save you Morro. I want to go back to what we were before.'
What was before? Before when? Did he and Zane share a body at some point? Did he know Morro when he was once the student of Sensei Wu? Lloyd didn't know and could never ask now that the distrust of The Master of Ice had pushed him away.
Lloyd wondered that now Zane was gone would they be able to achieve "before". Lloyd let the chaos wash over him before he quickly slunk out of the room.
After awhile the elders of the group finally got the fire and electric ninja to settle down and out of the room so they could speculate. "Um, Misako." Cole called after the other ninja left.
"Yes Cole?" "Zane wouldn't betray us right?" Cole asked, lips thin as he stared at the woman. Who simply gave him the same expression, just a little more grave.
"Elemental attraction is far stronger than you think. If The First Elemental Master and Court Overseer decide it so…" Misako let that hang in the air even if it contradicted what she had said previously, and Cole left feeling sick.
Yoohoo lore! Sorry for taking so long. My computer was not having a fun time, and updating things on my phone is hellish. Also I find it hilarious how I was like, "Oh let me keep the chapters in the 500 word range!" and then we have this that's about 1000. I was truly inspired.