Jay was still grappling the fact that he's adopted, but it was going easy. And fast. And maybe a little too positive. If anything it strengthened his relationship with his parents, showing just about how much they cared about him.

It one day occurred to him than they didn't have to take him in. They could've refused him, or turned him in to an orphanage, or just simply left him there to fend for himself against the harsh weather. There was a mountain of other possibilities that could've happened, and Jay's current one was probably an insanely rare jewel among extremely dull pebbles.

It made him realise how lucky he was to get these parents out of the millions of others he could've been handed off to. They were the best Jay could ever have, and he wouldn't trade them off for anything.

He made sure they knew that. Well, he did and still was making sure they knew that. He hopes they know that. He can never be too sure.

His mom knows it, at least.

"So what happened to Mr Mitchell?" Jay's oddly invested in his mother's group drama, something he notes to not admit to people. He must admit that he might sound like a mom her age right now. However, the story of Mr Mitchell cheating on his wife with a woman who thinks he's single is maybe a little too interesting. Blame the story, not him.

"Well, when his wife and Kelly found out, they had him kicked out. I presume they got a divorce, and we haven't heard from him since. Kelly seems really sorry, though, poor dear." She says, shrugging as she takes a seat in a chair across from Jay.

"You know, I think he deserves it." He replies confidently, Edna looking up at him in mild shock. "He has no manners! What sort of gentleman cheats on his partner?" His rant is angry, a testament to just about how invested he is in this whole situation. Thank the master the doors are locked and nobody's there to listen in.

"Oh, son, you really are a great person." She says, a faint smirk on her face. Frowning, Jay can't tell what it means. "You deserve someone great, like that Skylor girl you're friends with. She's nice."

His mouth hangs open, and he really doesn't want to say it like he does, however in all honesty, in disgust. Skylor? Nah. She's like, the opposite of his type. Plus, they're just friends, and Jay would never even dream of being with her like that despite the crowds of boys she's got drooling all over her out of school. Sure, Skylor's nice and funny and smart like him, but he doesn't love her. He hopes she doesn't love him.

"Skylor? Nah, she's not my type. We only met because of that one Halloween party when we both had snake costumes." Despite his mom quirking an eyebrow at his statement of even having a type in the first place, he warmly remembers that party.

He was not-so-much of a snake, just some subtle scales and a tiny tail because he still wanted to look prim and proper in his new suit. She went all-out and even acquired fangs somehow, practically becoming the snake she was posing as. It was supposed to be a legend, just like the rest of the serpentine, but she'd dressed as the most powerful one. The Anacondrai warrior, favoured by her father even if it was only a fairytale.

"Then what is your type?" He's just dug himself a deeper hole, here, hasn't he? Stupid, stupid, stupid!

He chokes on a desperate attempt at words, sweating slightly in embarrassment. He shrinks in his chair before he remembers to remain manly again, blowing out his breath slowly. "I don't think I really have an example of a person to show you."

"Oh, yeah? You have your imagination and your voice works." It's pressuring, yet he knows this is the type of stuff his mom reels off constantly and carelessly, so maybe it's tike to return his debt.

He sighs once more, straightening in his seat. "Fine. A girl, because… yeah. She's gonna be strong and smart so she can keep up with me, 'cause I like that, y'know? And… probably not a red-head." He feels hypocritical saying the last part, mostly because his own hair is only just changing from a vibrant ginger to a dark brown.

Edna's face lights up as she hastily reaches for her phone. "Oh, I think I saw a girl just like that the other day!"

This is his death sentence. He's done right here an now, isn't he? His mom does not need to play matchmaker for him and someone who probably doesn't even fit the stiff criteria. If anything he'll feel sorry for the girl, having to be dragged into the whole ordeal.

"No, mom, no no no no no. You don't need to-" he tries reaching for her phone, to try and stop her from typing the words in to whatever post or website she's found a girl in. However, he can't get there in time.

The girl on screen is from an orphanage log. Her hair is dark and long and styled nicely, bringing highlight to her sparkling greyish-blue eyes. He can tell just from the picture she's strong, and he would presume she isn't stupid. Her name is Nya and boy what a pretty name that is. It might've been love at first sight if he'd had any form of knowledge about her personality.

"Oh, Jay, isn't she pretty?" His mom encourages, smiling brightly at him. Her mom would clearly like a girl like her around, and Jay might too. However that doesn't change the fact that this a complete stranger and this is weird.

"Yeah, ma, she's pretty. But I don't know her, I don't even think she comes to my school." He's trying to steer the conversation away from what it could become, knowing how giddy his mom gets talking about romance.

"You could always run into someone like that, and there's probably going to be a couple new kids in your class this year." She suggests, slowly standing up to carry on washing the forgotten dishes. Jay wants to tell her that he will probably never meet her in his life, he wants to tell her that he's fourteen and has better things to think about, like video games. But he doesn't. "You never know."

"Sure, mom. Sure." He gets up to leave, trudging back to his room. It's times like these, plain uncomfortable, when he's forced to remember that Ed and Edna aren't his biological parents.

They aren't related by blood. They are very much different people.

And he can't change that.

Jay huffs, frowning at the clouds overcast. He's rather not get caught in the rain during his search for the compact converted jiggly compressor. Especially if he's precariously balanced above a particularly large heap of junk where if he fell he'd go toppling down and probably end up dead.

Turning over a hood of a car and tossing it aside, he carefully rifles through a series of power packs, hoping to find the power supply he needs. Him and his dad have been working on a vehicle for a client for a bit, and now that it's nearly finished, it's just a race for the finishing touches.

The power source they've been using for test runs short-circuited recently and Ed was absolutely and positively confident that they didn't have another in the yard, even though Jay swore he saw one just like it the other day. The only other power pack that would fit otherwise is the compact converted jiggly compressor, which would significantly bump the price up for the client, that is probably buried underneath one of the trashed cars.

A gleam of a gold and black box catches his eye, poking out between an old computer monitor and a series of taps for bathtubs and/or basins. He pries it out, stuffs one of the taps into his shoulder bag to show his parents later and checks over the power pack.

It has a minuscule dent near the handle, and the button on the side looks like it's been chewed. He pushes it down, grinning when the light turns on and it whirs to life. With an excited whoop of victory, he turns it off and begins his trek down the trash mountain.

Sure, it's a little worse-for-wear in places, but it's a still a compact converted jiggly compressor. It still works, and most people don't care enough to check out all the individual parts and components anyway.

As he reaches closer to the bottom he almost drops it, catching it with his foot before threading the leather strap of his bag through the handle of the compressor. His mom made the strap velcro-attached ages ago when he was ten and needed to grab a load of shower curtain rings and screwdrivers all at once.

It was a strange combination for a strange client.

Jumping down onto the dusty floor, he wipes seat off of his forehead and glances up at the darkening clouds, grimacing as they shift to hide the sun from view. He runs over to where his father's fiddling with the programming of the cockpit screen. Ed really isn't good at programming, and will probably mess up every single one of Jay's algorithms if he isn't interrupted.

"Dad! I found it!" He declares, waving it around proudly. He hops up the the steps used to climb into the cockpit, pushing the power pack into his father's hands.

"Ah, great find, son!" Ed compliments, clambering out of the vehicle as his son stands aside. The redhead bites back a sigh of relief as he sees the system is mostly untouched. The older of the two sets the power supply aside on the near workbench, then reaches aside it, into the wardrobe-cabinet-hybrid and pulls out a few screws. "I'll attach it now."

Jay watches as his father moves with expertise, carefully and easily extracting the old power pack and replacing it with the new one. He can't help but grin when it's done.

"So, what's left?" Jay asks, frantically checking over the blueprints for any missed components.

Ed plucks the papers out of his son's hands, tutting as he places them aside. "Just the paint job, but we can't do nothin' if this rain comes down." He looks up at the grey sky, shifting his weight to his right leg.

Jay looks upwards, too, disappointedly remembering the apparently false weather forecast that said it was to be a warm, sunny day. He sighs, pulling the tap out of his bag. "Well, I found this. I thought mom would like it for the bathtub."

"Oh, that's nice. Did you find anymore?" He says, a little faintly as the clouds transition darker.

"There was like a whole bunch of them up there, but I only grabbed this one for a taste-tester. They're easy to get to." He points to the pile of trash with a shy finger, scratching the back of his head with the tap absentmindedly.

Ed hums, looking up to towering trash pile. He knows what his son is hinting at here, he wants to go get the rest of them. He knows he should say no because it'll surely rain in a matter of minutes, especially because dinner's going to be ready soon.

However… Jay might able to get there in time.

They could be the really valuable ones he was looking for the other day.

And if it's for Edna…

"Alright, fine. I'll go distract your mother while you go get them, but be quick!" He says, already turning into the door of the caravan.

With a sigh, Jay looks up at the towering heap of miscellaneous trash. There's like, twenty more taps up there, and he needs to bring them all down. In the rain. In a couple of minutes. Without making too much noise.

Why did he want to do this again? Oh yeah, for his mom, that's why.

He sets for the pile, lodging his foot in a broken car window and pushing himself up and up and up, slightly surprising himself of how fast he can climb. However, he can't beat the weather, which causes a light drizzle of rain to lace his hair. He frowns, rummaging around frantically with a desperation to get back inside.

There's car parts and pipes and pumps and whatever else has been tossed up there, and his memory's inconveniently decided to go blank on the whereabouts of the taps. With a not-so-discreet scoff of indignation, he turns over an old cabinet door, only to find nothing.

But then he feels somebody tap his on the shoulder.

Yelping, he whirls around, hand finding a screwdriver and pointing it menacingly at the intruder. His eyes rake cautiously and slowly over the old man that sits before him, taps in an outstretched hand, expression oddly calm.

Jay sighs a little ashamedly, setting down the screwdriver and taking the tap from the old man before reaching for the others. Once they're all loaded securely into his bag, he turns back to the trespasser.

"Look, thanks for finding these, but I do hope you know we're closed today. Also, customers aren't allowed up here, it's dangerous."

"Yet you're up here, too." He challenges serenely, pulling out a teapot and set of cups from behind him.

Something in the ginger boy relents, whittling down from frustration to curiosity. He should be mad because this random old guy is challenging his job in his own workplace, but he isn't. He's more interested in the teapot and the man. Considering Jay's normally logical, this is strange.

Quirking an eyebrow, he discreetly pinches his arm to ensure this is not a dream, which it isn't, but it feels like one. He glances behind the man, where there is no bag and/or other equipment. This man just pulled a teapot from thin air.

So cool.

"Uh, who are you? Why are you here? How- how did you know what I was looking for?" He sputters out, carefully taking a seat ahead of the man.

"So many questions, Jay." He flinches, wincing at the mention of his name. Who is this guy? Is he a kidnapper? A stalker? A member of some unknown mafia that wants money from his parents' business?

"Uh- are you, like… a criminal? Or…" he knows criminals don't say they're criminals. Yet he's sort of freaked out here, and his day's already been colourful enough. Give him a break.

"No, no. A teacher." He slowly pours a cup of tea, taking a sip before continuing. "Yet there has been complications. I assure you, I have no bad intentions."

"Okay… why are you here then?"

"For you, Jay." Yeah, he still doesn't like it when he says his name. Also, that sounded really weird. Also, he really needs to wrap this up soon, seen as though the rain is picking up to a thick downpour. "You have many talents-"

He takes another sip.

"-which will be strong in my cause. I will make this quick, judging by the rather…disappointing weather." His hand raises to feel the rain, and Jay thinks it's his imagination that's hearing the water thrum and buzz faintly around the guy. "I am assembling a group of six people to fight for good intent. There will be martial arts, lessons-"

"I'm sorry, but I don't think my parents can afford-"

"-and, it is completely free." He says with a smirk, mysterious eyes glimmering and twinkling in his parents' bright fairy lights. Jay's face lights up.

"Wait- this sound's too good to be true- who are the other five, if I'm supposed to be in the group?" He says suspiciously, because he is not going to be stuck in a group full of old people, babies and/or plain idiots. Even if it's free.

The man's face darkens, pulling a business card, again, out of nowhere. "That, I cannot tell you. So far I have found a first, you are the second, and there are more with talents just like you to come. However… I can assure you they will be in age range."

With a wink and a business card being exchanged, the man disappears in the blink of an eye.

Jay hates being one to be won over so easily, but… free karate class? With potential friends? Who are actually his age?

It's like the guy knew all his weak points and wrapped them up all in one big sentence. Shielding the small piece of card from the rain, he reads the bold lettering slowly.

'Master Wu's ninja training. Unlock your true potential in the Ninjago city warehouse for free!'

Master Wu! That's it! He's the guy who knows about what happened to Libber, to his mom. That means he won't have to talk to the Garmadons, thank the master!

It feels so good that Jay would've cried in literally any other circumstance.

The Ninjago city warehouse is only a few minutes away from his school. It sits near the docks on the Northern East coast where Garmadon's volcano is, and even if it's close to that maniacal warlord, he's sure the karate class will give him a fighting chance of survival.

With a smile, he knows he'll convincing his parents as soon as possible. The rain no longer bothers him, especially after he remembers that his mom's making curry tonight and his biological mom's going to get the recognition she deserves… all in one!

Mothers are brave. They deserve nice things. He can do nice things, especially now.

What a win.

Sorry it took so long :(

I've been a lil' busy lately with Christmas coming, but I suppose most people are. I'll try to update this wherever and whenever I can! I will not give up ;)

Would y'all like it if I posted something else during this series or should I focus on this?