"Time to wake up, Mr. Nathan." Saikawa unleashed the bright sun into the bedroom that I was sleeping in. Letting out an annoyed groan, I pulled the bedsheets off myself and got out of bed, with my light blue pajama top and bottoms wrinkled from the tossing and turning I was doing the night before. "You appear to have slept well." He said in all seriousness. I twisted my exhausted head and glared at him. "I'm sorry. That was a joke." Saikawa made his way out of the room, allowing me the time to get dressed in my school uniform and put on the bracelet Tabane had created for me.
I joined Ryu, Kotaro, and Lloyd as the three got ready to make their way to the daycare room on campus. "Ready to start the day, Master of Love." Lloyd chuckled. Ryu, confused, asked Lloyd what he meant by Master of Love. "Romeo over here told Sammie she could stop by the club before class today. I hope that's alright?"
"The more the merrier." Ryu gave a warm smile. "The others will be excited, right Kotaro?" Kotaro nodded, letting out a little noise in agreement.
While we were walking to the daycare, Ryu decided to ask me… an interesting question. "So, Nathan, if Lloyd says you're the Master of Love, does that mean you have a crush on Sammie?" He was so genuine in asking the question I couldn't even get mad. My face lit up an embarrassing bright red color again.
"That's a yes." Lloyd laughed, patting Nathan on the back. Lloyd had done a lot of thinking the night before; while he was initially against the thought of me getting distracted with someone, he realized that it'd be good for me and help keep me upbeat and in a good mood while Hunter was missing.
We were surprised that Sammie was already waiting by the door when we arrived at the daycare room. "Morning, water boy!" Sammie greeted me. I was still a little red in the face from earlier, but I managed to get out a good morning to her. Inside the daycare room, all the kids were already there, running around, with Usaida and another kid who looked like an older version of Taka watching over them.
"Morning everyone!" Ryuichi slid open the door. The children ran, jumping all over him, giving him hugs.
"Yo." The older-looking Taka acknowledged Lloyd and me.
"We haven't met before. I'm Lloyd Garmadon. This is Nathan."
"Oh. The Master of Water." He stoically looked at me.
"Word travels fast, I see." I sighed. "You're a part of the babysitter club, too?"
He nodded. "Part-time. I'm also a part of the baseball club, so I spend most of my time there. I'm Kamitani Hayato, that little runt's older brother." The stoic guy pointed to Taka. Those two looking like each other makes a lot of sense now.
The kids paused and looked curiously at Sammie as she entered the room. "Hi, guys!" She bent down and waved at the kids; their faces still unchanged in curiosity. "A little birdy named Inomata told me you guys like to play Ranger Five. How about it? Us grown-ups will be the monsters." The five kids' eyes widened in the sheer joy of that idea. They had never had so many people to play with before.
Playing with the kids was surprisingly a lot of fun. Something about Sammie being around brought out a side in me that I hadn't felt since before Mom died. After she passed away, I stopped playing with kids my age and instead dedicated myself to being there for Hunter, protecting him at all costs. It was like…. Like I was a kid having fun again.
When it was time to head to class, Sammie said her goodbyes to the kids and told them she promised to stop by again. They all waved goodbye to her, excited for when she would return. The three of us walked to class, and Lloyd decided to run ahead because he needed to get something quick. Yeah sure. He didn't want to be a third wheel. "I had a lot of fun today, water boy." Sammie tucked some of her hair behind her ear, turned her head, and smiled at me.
"So did I." I smiled back, getting a little red again. "I-I'd love to do something like this again sometime. If you want?"
Sammie beamed. "How about dinner tomorrow night!?" She got up in my face, blushing with a big smile on her face. I nodded nervously. That's twice now she's asked me to do something with her. I-is she into me, too? "Great! It's another date!" She gave me a big smile and rushed in front of me into the classroom. She was already talking to her friends, who looked at me and giggled as I entered the classroom.
"Looks like something good happened." Lloyd, leaning back in his chair, said to me as I took my seat.
"I've got a date tomorrow. We're going to get dinner."
"Good work, water boy," Lloyd smirked.
"I really hope that doesn't catch on." I sighed.
"Did you guys hear about that building explosion downtown?" We heard a classmate say to his group of friends. "It just exploded out of nowhere, and the police can't figure out why." Lloyd and I passed a glance at each other. "There's even a video of it!" He pulled out his phone and pulled up a security camera video from across the street, showing the front of the building fine, then suddenly breaking apart and engulfed in flames."
"A gas leak, maybe?" one of the guys questioned.
"Could be, that would make the most sense. It could be an electrical fire gone crazy." Another one of the guys brought up.
Lloyd and I looked at each other again. We both knew what caused it but couldn't say anything.
That night, we told Chairwoman Morinomiya and Saikawa that we were going to bed earlier. "You're going to investigate that explosion because you think it involves your brother, aren't you." The chairwoman pointed at Lloyd and me as we tried to make our way to our rooms. She let out a deep sigh. "Just be safe. If you two get into trouble, I will not get you out. And make sure you get your schoolwork done before you leave." We thanked her for her blessing to go check out the aftermath. The chairwoman acts strict, but she's just a kind woman. Does she know what I'm going through with losing a family member?
The two of us went into our rooms and waited until it was much darker outside for us to leave the mansion. Once it was truly dark out and everyone was asleep, Lloyd and I put on our ninja gi and exited the mansion through our windows. Leaping from rooftop to rooftop, we made our way to the scene of the building explosion. Caution tape was wrapped around much of the building's former exterior, and the road was blocked off. "No way this was a gas leak," Lloyd said aloud. The police had left the area, but much of the debris still covered the street.
"Hey, there is an alleyway across the building." I pointed next to us. We slid down a drain pipe into the alleyway, where we noticed a large open area between the surrounding buildings, deep in the alleyway. There wasn't anything too particular about the alleyway. The only thing back here was several overflowing dumpsters and some stray cats.
As Lloyd walked around scanning the area, he felt his foot sink a little deeper into the ground. When he looked down, he saw two large divots in the ground. Almost as if they were footprints. "What could have made these?" He got down on one knee, feeling the dirt. "Look at this." He called to me, pointing at the dirt around the footprints. The ground was blackened, almost as if it had been scorched with fire.
This has to be where Shiori was. I thought to myself. My suspicions were confirmed when I saw two cats tugging on a piece of orange fabric with their teeth. My approaching them must have scared them cause as soon as I bent down by them, they dropped the fabric and ran off the surrounding alleyways towards the street. I picked up the piece of orange cloth and looked at it. It had the silver letter H symbol on Hunter's ninja gi. He was here. I held it out in my hand for Lloyd to examine.
"This was Shiori, alright," Lloyd confirmed, handing me back the piece of Hunter's ninja gi. "But why Hunter? From what you and Nya told me, she seems smart enough not to need his power to create a mech for her "revenge." There's something about this girl that we don't know."
"The better question is, how did she get out of here without anyone noticing? Surely, a massive mech flying through the sky beats out a building explosion, right?"
"It should have, but that explosion was pretty big, and it was late at night, so I'm sure that fire was what everyone was focused on. Well, whatever it is, we should get ba-." We turned to see a couple with their phones pulled out, recording us at the end of the alleyway. It's midnight on a Thursday; what are people doing out this late at night?
"GET RID OF THOSE VIDEOS RIGHT NOW!" He and I screamed in unison. The couple let out a panic scream and ran off down the street. Lloyd and I didn't know what to do. We couldn't chase after them; otherwise, we'd look like the bad guys. Thinking we could at least try to stop them, we ran to the edge of the alleyway, but the citizens taking the picture had left. Reluctantly, we returned to the mansion, thinking about how much trouble we had made for ourselves.
Shiori's mech landed in a junkyard far away from the city. There were pieces of sheet metal, broken down and forgotten cars, and household appliances scattered all over the ground. She began to look around all the junk in her mech. "Yeah. This will do just fine." She grinned. "I got to see the destructive power of the orange ninja; now it's time to see his creative power." By the simple turn of a nob, the tank Hunter was in began to glow orange. That glow spread across the mech. "I can feel it. His power!" Not only was Hunter powering up the mech, but he was also powering up Shiori. Shiori watched pieces of metal in the scrap yard come crashing into her mech, becoming one with it. Slowly, the mech began to grow and grow, covering Hunter and making the cockpit much larger. Her mech was giant before, but now it had increased to the size of a six-story building. "Finally! The true power of the Creator!" She laughed. "Time for one last test, and then it's back to Ninjago!"
In Mr. Hebihara's class the following morning, Lloyd and I kept our heads on our desks. Not only were we exhausted, but we were also upset at ourselves for not doing a better job of keeping ourselves hidden. "What's up with you two?" Sammie and her friends walked over and stood beside Lloyd and my desks.
"Tired," Lloyd's muffled voice spoke.
"Same. Hebihara's homework he assigned yesterday kept me up all night, too. Hey, Nathan." She tapped me on the shoulder, making me lift my head. "I know a great spot for us to go to dinner tonight. It's called Chen's! Meet there around 6:00, okay?"
"For sure!" I began to perk up.
"Everyone, you've got to see this!" A male student came rushing into the classroom. Lloyd and I lifted our heads to see what all the noise this guy was making was about. In his hand was his cell phone, playing the video of Lloyd and me the night before. We could be seen jumping from roof to roof and then sliding down the drain pipe in the alleyway. "This was from last night, by where that building exploded."
Lloyd and I could feel the blood leave our faces as we both went pale.
"Why are two guys running around wearing pajamas?" A girl asked.
"They aren't running around in pajamas!" A boy argued. "Look carefully; those are the same clothes ninjas wear! They each even have a katana on their backs! Plus, one of them is all in gold! So cool!" The others agreed.
I hoped to be freed from this ninja chatter amongst the students in the daycare room, but I soon found my hopes squashed quickly. Ryuichi had shown Kotaro and the others the video, which excited all the young children, even Midori. It's all they wanted to talk about and play.
When Lloyd, Ryuichi, Kotaro, and I arrived back at the mansion, Saikawa was waiting with a gift for me. He was holding a neatly folded dress shirt and pants. "For your date tonight." He put them out for me to take. "I wish you the best of luck." He also handed me an allowance as soon as I accepted the clothes. "This is from madame Morinomiya." I thanked him and noticed it was getting close to 6:00, so I got dressed in the nice outfit Saikawa gave me and made my way to the restaurant.
The restaurant was not too far away from the mansion, so I didn't have to bolt there. It was a very well-kept restaurant that sat right next to a large lake. Of course, I didn't know what to expect from this date, so I had my ninja gi stashed away in a bush near the restaurant. Sammie was waiting patiently outside the restaurant when I walked up. She was in a gorgeous blue floral dress and had let her hair down, a sight I had not gotten to see before. "Water boy! You made it!" She delightfully smiled as I approached her.
"I wouldn't miss this for anything in the world!" I smiled back. Slowly but surely, I was conquering my nerves around her and could speak to her. I ushered her inside the restaurant. It was a fancy ramen shop. Katana, Samurai armor, and old paintings depicting royalty decorated the restaurant's walls. It's not a restaurant I'd ever think I'd go to.
Sammie and I were seated at a nice booth, where we began discussing our families. She asked me about mine first. "My mom passed away when I was very little, and my dad died less than a year ago. It's just me and my brother."
"I didn't know you had a brother. How old is he? Does he go to our school?"
"He's a year younger than me. He would be going to our school but went missing recently." I looked down at the table. Sammie put her hand on mine, causing me to blush. "Wh-what about your family?"
"It's just my mom, dad and I. My dad's a lieutenant for the police, and my mom stays at home. My dad's currently working on that building exploding case; it's very interesting."
"Oh, has he seen that ninja video we saw in class today? Does he think they're involved somehow?"
"I sent it to him earlier, but he doesn't think they were involved." Oh, thank goodness. "He thinks they're just some dumb high school gymnast boys playing dress up." That stung for some reason.
"I'm sure they are." I laughed.
"Nathan!" I heard a familiar voice yell. It was Taka. He was with Hayato and his mother. Letting go of his mom's hand, he ran up and hugged my leg.
"Hey, good to see you, little guy." I tussled his hair.
Suddenly, a swift little punch hit Taka on his head. It was his brother. "Idiot. Can't you see he's doing something?" Taka burst into a roar of tears, screaming how much he hates his big brother.
Another much harder punch landed on the back of Hayato's head, this time from his mother. "And what have I told you about hitting your brother!?" She scolded her oldest son. "I'm so sorry for bothering you, Nathan. We'll let you get back to your dinner."
"It's no worries at all, Ms. Kamitani! Really!" Ms. Kamitani took her two sons over to a table not too far from us and sat down. "Now, where were we." I turned back to Sammie. She was giving me a big smile. "What?"
"You're great with kids, aren't you? I've seen how those kids act with you at the daycare and just now. I think that's what attracted me to you. I could see instantly that you were a good guy. That there was something special about you." I blushed profusely. Then I realized what she said. That there was something special about me. Three people have told me that; what is happening?
When I was about to ask her what she meant by special, I was interrupted by a large explosion just a little over a block away. It was so large that you could see it from the mansion, which Lloyd did. Thinking fast, the Ultimate Spinjitzu Master grabbed his ninja gear and ran towards the explosion. Almost everyone around me screamed, including Sammie. I knew instantly what caused that explosion. It was her. Shiori. It had to be. I got myself out of the both and helped get Sammie out. The Kamitani's were trying to make their way out of the restaurant, along with the other restaurant goers and staff, and get away as soon as possible. "Kamitani!" I shouted at Hayato. Running up to her with Sammie, I asked him for a considerable favor. "Please, help Sammie get out of here and safely back home!" He knew what I was about to do and agreed.
"Get out of here!?" Sammie questioned me. "What about you, Nathan!?"
"Those people are in trouble; I have to go help them!" I told her.
Taka was also scared of everything happening but watched as I rushed out of the restaurant. "Big brother Nathan…. is a hero." The little one said quietly. Only Sammie heard him, and she watched as I ran off to face Shiori.
I rushed to the bush that had my ninja gi in it. Once I grabbed it, I positioned myself behind another building and did Spinjitzu to get everything on. Now I was ready. I ran past several people screaming in terror from the explosion. When I turned the corner, I was shocked as strolling through the flames of the blast was Shiori in her mech. It was already big before, but now… now it seemed we were all the size of ants compared to it. "Fear my wrath!" Her voice boomed over the screaming people running away.
Using my elemental powers, I threw a large wave of water from the lake at the mech, causing it to stumble and almost lose its balance. When the mech steadied, Shiori shifted her attention to me. "The whiny big brother returns!" She shouted at me. "Finally, I can get you out of my way!"
"Not today!" I shouted. Using my water, I created pads to help me approach her cockpit. Her mech arm swung a punch at me, which I narrowly avoided by jumping over it and landing on the arm. I pulled my sword out and made my way up the mech's colossal arm. I could see Shiori in the cockpit as I got higher up the arm. She looked different. Her eyes were orange, and her hair was floating, almost as if my brother's power was corrupting her. I also noticed my brother, who looked unconscious, in a tank with multiple tubes sticking out of it behind her.
"You just don't know when to quit!" Pushing a lever up, she began to call more of my brother's powers into the mech. An orange electricity started to make its way down the mech's arm. Quickly thinking, I jumped to the other arm as she tried to throw another punch at me. She struck the building next to her, and I dodged the glass and debris that fell from the building. "Who do you think you are!?"
Getting myself back up and running up this arm, I made it clear who I was. "I'm the older brother who's gonna get that boy you kidnapped back!" Using Spinjitzu, I called upon the water from the lake, creating a giant tornado of water around me. I forced the water at the mech's cockpit, causing the reinforced glass to crack. The bracelet Tabane had gifted me began to glow, which took my attention off Shiori.
"You'll never see your brother again! I will have my revenge!" She pushed another lever forward and sent a more significant, faster wave of electricity that struck me. The electricity paralyzed me, causing me to fall and slide off the mech's arm. As I dropped toward the ground, I thought what I would care about most here was losing Hunter, but that wasn't who I was thinking about at all. I was thinking about Sammie and how, with me paralyzed and falling to my death, we couldn't be together and spend our lives with one another.
Just when I was about to hit the pavement, I felt a rush of air pulling me to my side. No way! It can't be! Shiori thought.
When the paralysis wore off and I looked, it was Lloyd riding his golden dragon. "Look like I arrived just in time." He smiled beneath his mask.
"Thanks, Lloyd." I smiled back, sitting up on the dragon behind him.
"Anytime. Now, let's stop this villain!"
The dragon adjusted and flew right towards Shiori. It released a large breath of golden power, causing pieces of the mech to fall off. "NO!" Shiori screamed. I didn't predict HE'D be here. I have to get out of here! Shiori turned one of her mech arms into a canon and began to shoot a beam of orange energy at Lloyd and me. Thanks to Lloyd's quick thinking, he and the dragon both shot their golden power, colliding with Shiori's beam.
Panicking inside, Shiori adjusted her mech to fly off, but first, she needed to distract us. The mech raised its other arm and careened itself straight through a building next to us, making it structurally unstable. Lloyd and I looked on in horror as there were still a few people inside the building. The steel beams and columns of the building groaned as the weight of the building became too much, and it began to collapse. Smoke bellowed from the mech's feet as it prepared to take off. "Forget her!" Lloyd yelled to me. "We'll have to get Hunter back later! Now we have to protect the people!"
I stared at Hunter's body inside the mech's cockpit, contemplating what to do. What he would want me to do. I had made my decision. Agreeing with Lloyd, the two of us began to use our elemental powers on the collapsing building. We watched as Shiori's mech took off, leaving the scene of her crime. "So long, ninja!" She laughed, flying off into the night. Together, Lloyd and I caught the building as it had begun to topple over and lowered the broken piece gently to the ground.
Emergency service vehicles arrived to stop the building fire and help get the people out of the broken building. Lloyd and I took this as an opportunity to leave, as we no longer need to be involved. One member of the police below watched as we flew off. "Lieutenant Kobayashi!" an officer ran up to him. "Did you just see that!?"
The lieutenant nodded. "Those two saved that building and got that woman off our hands." He paused for a moment, his cell phone in his pocket ringing. It was his daughter calling. "Sweetheart, are you okay?" He answered the phone. "I know you had a date close to this chaos... No, I haven't seen anyone that matches that description, but I'll keep a look out and ask around if anyone's seen him…. I love you, too. Now, head on home. Your mom is probably worried sick." He hung up his phone and turned to watch as people from the building were being helped and the fire was being put out.
Lloyd and I stopped a few blocks from the mansion and returned to our regular clothes. Our faces were covered in ash from the fire. My body was in slight pain due to fighting that much. When we opened the door to the mansion, we were welcomed back by Saikawa, who told us that chairwoman Morinomiya was busy watching the news. He said he was glad we were okay and brought us to our bedrooms.
Kotaro and Ryuichi were already fast asleep, and Lloyd quickly joined them. However, I had other things to worry about. Pulling out my cell phone, I had several missed texts and calls from Sammie. I decided it'd be best to give her a phone call. "Nathan!? Are you okay!?" The worry in her voice filled me with sorrow, as I shouldn't have just run from her at the restaurant.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay," I reassured her. "I just got back home."
"I was worried sick." I could hear the tremble in her voice as she started to cry.
"I know. I'm sorry. I just…. I just had to run in and help whoever I could."
There was a long pause between the two of us. I could hear her brush the tears out of her eyes. "Why do you have to be so nice?" She asked sincerely. "Why do you have to always put others before yourself? The kids, me, your brother, and now these people. Tonight…. I thought I lost you, Nathan. I've never felt like this before. Please don't scare me like that again. I don't know what it'll do to me." She began to cry again.
"I promise. I won't scare you like that again." I wanted to keep that promise so badly, but I knew that Shiori would be back, and I'd have to fight her again. Another long streak of silence broke out again between us. We both wanted to say the three exact words to each other, but neither of us could bring ourselves to do it. I don't know if it was fear of losing each other or what, but…. but we couldn't say it. Not yet, at least. "You should get some sleep. I'll talk to you again in the morning, okay? We can meet at the babysitter club."
"Okay." She sniffed, most of the tears subsiding. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow." I hung up the phone, held it to my chest, and stared at the ceiling. I felt like my heart was in pain. I know how I feel about Sammie, right? The thought of her calling me special earlier kept banging itself around in my mind. I'm not special. Not in any way, shape, or form. I'm just a nobody. I can't even save my little brother. Thinking of these thoughts, I slowly drifted off to sleep.
Shiori had crashed her mech somewhere deep in the woods, taking down several trees with it. She ensured my tank was still hooked up and working inside the cockpit. Then she turned her attention to something else. "It seems," Shiori turned to an unconscious Hunter, "that the only way I can beat you three ninja is by getting the jump on you. I can't beat you when you come to face me head-on." She jumped out of the cockpit and looked at the pieces of golden power stuck into the mech. Gripping one of the pieces, she broke it in two off the mech. "So, I guess I'll just have to find you before you find me." Clutching the golden power piece, a smirk grew across the woman's face.