RISE OF THE GUARDIANS
Part Two: A New World
Chapter VII
The Ninja Residence; Ninjago City
Ninjago
Monday July 23, 2018…
It had been nearly two months since the ninja left Ninjago, and there was no way to get updates of any kind on the progress of their mission.
Sensei Wu, Misako, and Nya sat in the kitchen having an evening tea together.
"It's been a while," Nya said. "How do you think they're doing?"
"I sense that things are changing fast for them in unexpected ways," Wu replied.
The wise sensei stroked his beard, sipped his tea, and continued. "Whether they have had any success seeking out the Golden Weapons I cannot say. The spirit smoke is unable to see into another realm with any clarity."
Misako took a deep breath and sighed. "We may have no way to hear from the ninja unless they are successful in their quest. So, our only option is to tope, and to keep hoping until they return with the Golden Weapons."
"Which I know they will," Nya asserted. "They've never failed us."
Wu took another sip of his tea. "No, they haven't."
"Nya," Misako took Nya's hand in her own, "I know you miss Jay, as I miss my husband and as we all miss the ninja as a whole. We can help them by continuing to keep them in our thoughts."
Misako smiled warmly, to which Nya responded in kind.
Wu stood up and moved behind Misako and Nya, putting his hands on their shoulders and pulling them into a gentle embrace.
"They will return to us, in time," he said.
The Shadow Palace
Realm of Madness
Tuesday July 24, 2018…
Standing tall overlooking the Eternal Gorge, the Shadow Palace was an imposing and awe-inspiring piece of architecture. The palace was made of black stone and was created by Rikayla as a fortress, base of operations, and living place for herself and her allies.
It comprised a tall central tower surrounded by four shorter towers, between which was a wall that enclosed the central tower in a large courtyard all around it.
The central tower held a throne room at the bottom and Rikayla's bed chamber at the top, and the smaller towers housed Rikayla's high-ranking allies: Tenebris, Scio, Dubito, Ferra, Magno, and Bruta had chambers distributed throughout these towers.
In the earliest hours of the morning, Rikayla awoke in a cold sweat. She sat up and managed to slow her panicked breathing to a manageable level.
The distressed Queen of Darkness then got up, put on her nightgown, and took the Hammer of Night from its resting place beside her bed and went outside the palace for fresh air. She walked over to the Eternal Gorge, a place where she often found comfort.
But there was no comfort in this place now; that which woke Rikayla persisted in burdening her.
"There is an abundance of elemental energy in motion, swirling about the Realm of Earth—around him. It means something…"
Tightening her grip on the Hammer of Night with both hands, Rikayla continued.
"Something has changed, though I know not what that something is. The elements have revealed it to him but have hidden it from me. Have I become so fearsome that the very forces of nature flee from me and flock to the aid of enemies?"
Rikayla turned her face toward the Hammer itself and whispered, "Is this the cost of my power: the rebellion of nature itself?"
The Hut; Billingsley, Alabama
Earth
the same moment…
Mack had woken in a similar manner to Rikayla and in a similar amount of distress, but for a slightly different reason. He woke the other ninja and Sensei Garmadon and led them out of the Elemental Temple into the Hut.
The commotion woke Zee, who slept on the Hut couch after spending the day with Morro. Over the course of the last few weeks, Morro and Zee had slowly developed a truly sweet romance.
"Sorry, Zee," Mack apologized upon Zee waking up. "I forgot you were here."
"Mack," Kai was audibly irritated. "You better have a good reason for us to be up at—" Kai checked the digital clock on the coffee maker— "three in the morning."
"This couldn't wait at least 'til the sun came up?" Jay whined.
"No, it couldn't," Mack curtly replied. "The elements have revealed new information to me in a dream: our new mission, another reason we had to come here."
Lloyd frowned. "I thought we already knew why we were here: to find the Golden Weapons."
"Yes," Mack nodded. "But there's something that we—or rather, I must do before we are able to claim them. I have to find and train the ones who will take possession of these weapons: the Guardians, as they were called in the vision from the elements."
"Guardians?" Kai was still irritated. "What aboutus? We've been protecting Ninjago for a long time."
Mack appealed for calm (a common occurrence when relaying new information to the Red Ninja).
"I know—just listen. I saw some of our faces in the vision, along with three faces that were obscured from my view; these obscured faces are the new Guardians, yet to be trained.
"Three of our team were absent from the vision. What this means: most of you will become Guardians, but some of you have different callings to answer."
"Which ones of us weren't there?" Cole asked.
"As we know," Mack replied, "Nya has chosen the way of the samurai. It is a path of a true and noble warrior, but it does mean that Nya will not be a Guardian, at least in the strictest sense, for the way of the Guardian is the way of the ninja.
"But I don't count this as a loss, for now she is free to discover her own destiny."
"I think Nya will be happy with that," Jay said. "She already knows she has a slightly different path than the rest of us, and she embraces it."
Garmadon voiced his agreement. "Knowing Nya, she will support you all just as strongly in her own, unique capacity."
"In addition," Mack continued, taking a deep breath, "Zane will not become a Guardian."
This information got an immediate reaction.
"Wait, Zane?" Lloyd's eyes were wide. "He's definitely a ninja."
"What's up with that?" Kai asked.
Mack gestured toward the nindroid with his hand. "Zane, perhaps you should tell everyone what you recently brought up to me?"
Everyone turned expectantly toward Zane, who nodded in response to Mack's prompt.
"I…" Zane hesitated. "I would never want to abandon you, my friends."
"But…?" Cole prodded.
"But," Zane continued, "I desperately desire to be with P.I.X.A.L. in the digital world. I have for some time, and I have not known how to tell you all because I do not know how to accomplish this without leaving you."
"Zane," Kai said, much calmer now, "you should've said something."
Cole nodded. "We want you to be happy, bro."
Jay clapped Zane on the back. "We're gonna make that happen as soon as we complete our mission. I promise."
Zane stifled tears. "I am beyond grateful to have brothers like you. Thank you all for understanding. So that I may continue to serve beside you once the transition is done, I hope you will integrate me into the Bounty's computer system."
Lloyd put an arm around Zane. "I'm sure Nya can get that done. We'll make sure we get that done."
Zane shed a solitary tear. "I love you all."
"Who was the third absent face?" Garmadon asked after a moment, ever determined to stay on task.
Mack sighed deeply, knowing that what came next could inflict some pain. "Lastly, Morro… I didn't see your face."
Morro looked hurt. "What? What other calling do I have?"
"I believe your role was to reveal the Guardian of Wind to us," Mack replied.
"What are you talking about?" Lloyd frowned.
Mack walked up to the couch where Zee was now sitting up, intently listening to the conversation.
"There is a Master of Wind among us right now," Mack said, "waiting for her destiny to call her."
"M—me?" Zee stuttered. "No way."
Mack nodded in response. "Your destiny awaits, if you'll trust us—me—to teach you the way to pursue it."
The hurt on Morro's face melted away, and he brightened.
Zee stood up and her face betrayed confusion. "Why not Morro? He's so strong, and you wouldn't have to train him."
"Zee," Morro took her hand, "sometimes we don't know what path we'll end up walking or why we end up on it.
"What I do know is this: you are going to become a great elemental master. Mack is a great teacher, and I'll support you all the way."
"We all will," Cole said.
Zee hugged Morro tightly and he responded in kind.
"I'm gonna do this," she said.
"I believe in you," Morro replied as they separated.
"How do you know I'm the one?" Zee asked, turning her attention back to the group at large.
"I sense the gale within you—the power of Wind," Mack explained. "It gusts through your being when you're close to Morro, growing strong enough over the past few weeks that now it rushes through you even when you're apart.
"Two people of the same element, when joined together with a force as strong as the bond you and Morro have grown, resonate together in that element and cast off waves of elemental energy. I've been monitoring the effect closely, wondering what it could mean.
"Today, I know."
Zee nodded but did not respond immediately. No one pressured her to do so; anyone would need a moment to take in such a revelation.
"So, I'm one of you?" Zee asked after a minute or so of reflection. "I have the same kind of power in me that you all have?"
"Yes," Mack replied. "And once we find the Guardians of Water and Ice, the eight of us will take an oath that will solidify our bond and allow us to begin searching for the Golden Weapons.
"Make no mistake, Morro and Zane—and this applies to Nya as well—as far as I'm concerned, you are Guardians just as fully as those who will take the oath. Every one of us shares in this mission, whether or not you are charged to take possession of a Golden Weapon."
Starting at sunrise later that morning, Zee began to take part in the ninja's rigorous exercise routine, including meeting with Mack every day to help her unlock her elemental powers.
Since the others were firmly in control of their powers, they had stopped these meetings when they came to Earth. As a result, Zee had Mack's undivided attention as she sought to connect with her element.
Zee also moved into the Elemental Temple as part of her devotion to unlocking her powers.
Garmadon also took part in the training, teaching Zee several techniques to overpower bigger and stronger enemies than herself since she was of a particularly small build.
Tuesday July 31, 2018…
Zee learned fast, and with the abundant support of those around her, she made the connection to the wind and performed Spinjitzu for the first time exactly a week after she started training.
Most of the training took place outside on the large area of land that Mack's family owned, so it was easily watched by Rikayla's scouts Scio and Dubito from the nearby woods, including the moment she unlocked Spinjitzu.
"So," Dubito whispered, "she's an elemental master… and he's training her. Should we go back and report this to Rikayla?"
"Not yet," Scio replied, remembering Rikayla's ire the last time they returned with minimally valuable information. "We need to be patient if we want to discover his goal."
"You're right. She would be angry if we don't find out what exactly he's up to."
After a moment, Scio spoke again. "My theory: he is assembling a troop of elemental masters to challenge us."
"I agree," Dubito nodded. "But we have to have proof before bringing that before Rikayla."
"Right," Scio said. "So, we shall be patient and keep watching…"
Mack addressed the team in the fountain room of the Elemental Temple.
"Zee, I'm proud of you—we all are. In just a week, you have connected with the gale inside you, learned Spinjitzu, and you are quickly becoming a skilled fighter."
"Thank you," Zee nodded.
"So, what do we do now?" Lloyd asked.
"Now," Mack sighed, "the search truly begins. The remaining two Guardians of Water and Ice are waiting to be found."
"How do we find them?" Zane asked.
"My brother said that the four of you—" Garmadon referred to Kai, Cole, Jay, and Zane "—were revealed to him by the elemental energy that surrounded you and caused reactions in nature."
Mack pondered this for a moment. "Then we will be vigilant in watching for these reactions, and we will wait for the elements to reveal the remaining Guardians."
Sorry for these short chapters; the restructure caused some chapters to be really long and some to be criminally short. Just the way the cookie crumbles, I guess.
See y'all next time!
