HEYA, um I edited this chapter so it would flow a little better and we can see into the characters a little more
Some parts are exactly the same, others are absolutely gutted so yay
"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. "Even though Lloyd as Energy is a Grand Element or Grandeur; 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 before it softened, recognizing his anger was not for her.
"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, sounding quite shaken 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 quickly, 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, 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 had 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 four male ninjas were struck silent while Nya darted away to see if she could contact Zane in some way.
But when they did, Misako looked a little more worried but seemed to overcome her generally awkward demeanor to pull herself together and say something.
"I do feel the need to mention that if your relationship with Morro were so ill, 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? Maybe not ill, but maybe horrific would be a good word…
But he knew for a fact that Zane and Morro weren't "ill." towards each other
Even though Zane was out of it for most of that entire situation, there was this time when Zane was coherent, and the pair were alone. Lloyd still remembers those words very well. Those words haunted him every time 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 a 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 if they would be able to achieve "before" now that Zane was gone. Lloyd sighed and thanked his eldritch dad for simply being able to slink out into the shadows of the room.
First Master, this was all his fault
The discussion was hot between the ninjas as they tried to ask what to do next and how to stop Morro from rising again, causing massive chaos like he did last time.
Eventually, Kai and Jay ran out to search for Zane.
Cole was the only one left behind with the elders, and he pursed his lips to ask the question.
"Misako, if you don't mind me asking, about all that-" Cole cut himself off as he had so many questions and nowhere to put them but decided to ask one in particular. "Who, or what, is the Court Overseer." Wu and Garmadon traded a look, but Misako hummed lowly. "Nobody knows. The Court Overseer was just mentioned in a few ancient texts. The most that was said about them is that they were a companion of The First Spinjitsu Master." Misako explained, and the pair both threw a hard look at the area where the Garmadon siblings used to be.
Used to be.
"I am SO tired of that. Not important this, not important that." Cole sighed, whatever they were eventually going to squeal when it was "important."
"Heh. Me too." Misako commiserated.
Hope you enjoyed