Author's Note: Happy 14th anniversary to Ninjago! Hey it's about the same age I first started thinking of ideas with my old friend! It was so much fun brainstorming and playing around in multiple RPs. I might not have gotten serious about a plot until a long while later after we went our separate ways, but now here it is.
I made this chapter sometime last week and decided to wait to post it until it was the anniversary. It might be shorter than the last one, but for once, I am actually content with how it turned out, and I'm already excited to start working on the next chapter which I'm hoping to post sometime close to the anniversary of "The Royal Blacksmiths" episode. Yeah, it'll be a while but I'm hoping to make it work out.
Anyways, I'd like to say thanks to those who waited for me and I'm happy to finally be back in the writing mood. I hope you guys like this chapter.
Chapter 2: Found in the Sand
It had been weeks… No, a month. She didn't know anymore. All she knew was that she was afraid.
She was so afraid that terror had fueled her entire being from the moment she left. The moment the door had opened, she ran. She ran like absolute hell, like her life depended on it and to be honest, it might as well have. She didn't care about the sun glaring down at her. She didn't care about the hot desert sand burning through her wraps and almost scorching her feet. She didn't care about anything at all, except for escape.
She wanted to put as much distance as possible between her old prison and captors and herself. Yet no matter where she hid, she felt they weren't far behind, even if she couldn't see them anymore.
Now though, she felt frazzled yet she pressed on.
'Can't rest here.' She thought. 'I gotta keep going.'
The brunette could see buildings along the horizon.
'Buildings mean places to hide and people.' She concluded.
She had to at least make it there. She had to hide. She needed to get somewhere her captors wouldn't dare follow her. She had to get away from…
Him.
She had to… to…
The girl felt her legs become heavier with each step. She could barely lift her knees up anymore. Her eyes felt heavy and her breathing felt like it was getting shallower by the moment.
She stumbled a bit to the side before falling to her knees and on her front. Hot sand pressed up on her chest and stomach. Some of it had managed to get underneath her worn-out top. She felt tears well up as she reached a heavy arm out to the horizon.
'No… get up… get up.. I need… I need to get away.. need to… need to..'
Her thoughts faded away while she felt the breeze gently brush against her. Her eyes slipped shut and her consciousness slipped away into a darkness she feared yet could not afford to avoid. She didn't even hear the sound of sand shifting rapidly underneath some feet or catch the sound of wheels approaching just moments later while she slipped further away into the dark.
The engine rumbled underneath the hood as an old man behind the wheel directed the vehicle around. Just beside him was his wife who had her hair up in a bun while it squished up against her head underneath the little leather cap connected to her goggles.
"Ed, dear, do keep it steady. We just picked Sparky up from his visit." The old woman beside the man spoke.
"Edna, he's a tough boy. He'll be fine." The old man, her husband, replied right back while steering.
The Sparky in question was the medium-sized, wire-coated dog sitting in the back. Reddish-brown fur covered the majority of his body while white colored his chest, underbelly and his paws. A blue collar rested on his neck while he had a leather cap on his head with the goggles already over his eyes, matching the two humans who sat up front. The canine usually sat politely in the old jalopy, but this time, he could tell something was off.
He stood up on the worn out leather back seating, feeling the vehicle gently wobble beneath his footing. He turned himself around and placed his paws on the backside of the vehicle.
"Sparky, what're you doing back there, boy?" He heard the old man crow at him.
He would give a response back as he was taught to from his human long ago, but his eyes were focused elsewhere. His ears perked up and his nose twitched with a sniff. The canine whined and paced around the back seat.
"What is it, boy?"
The dog gave no answer for he had decided to speed across the seats and leap out the side of the moving vehicle.
"Hey! Whoa! Sparky!"
He heard the older human call him but his legs carried him. Sand seeped in between his toes while he left a trail of paw pads behind him. He didn't care though. His nose had found something and he knew very well that it never lied to him a day in his life. His wiry coat bounced as he sped through the desert. This dog knew this desert like the wag of his tail. He remembered spending days traveling far from the city long before he ever got picked up by a small fluffy-haired freckled human in blue. He would wonder where that boy is now, but he had no time to wonder that. He knows something is wrong.
And something indeed was wrong.
Right when he was in range, he could see it. An unfamiliar figure laying front-side down in the sand. The canine's ears picked up and he turned his body to see the two elders coming after him. He bounced on his front paws, barking fervently while he bounced before rushing downhill, almost sliding down to the body in the sand.
"Sparky! You know better than to…" The old woman rushed after him, stumbling to a stop when she saw exactly why the dog had rushed out so suddenly. "Oh dear. Honey! We're going to need to make room!" She called back to her husband.
"Why is..?" He would've finished the question but saw the answer why.
There just a couple of feet ahead of them was a body. It looked like a teenage girl with clothes that have torn a bit due to being stretched to their limits, a small bag of whatever was in there and the only visible thing they could see on her was a jade-colored recurved bow that seemed far too big for a girl like her. The sight of such a thing didn't deter the dog. In fact, Sparky sniffed up on the girl's face and she gave a small groan in response, barely lifting an arm to push him away.
He turned to his wife, already seeing the look in her eyes. "Now Edna, we cannot go picking up strangers in the desert again. You remember what happened last time?"
She wasn't having any of it. "Oh Ed, dear. Look at her. She's in tattered clothes and must've passed out in exhaustion. We cannot leave her here. Sparky sure won't leave her either."
The reddish-brown canine stood firmly, putting all of his weight down to anchor himself right next to the girl. His mismatched eyes looked up to Ed and it was at that moment the man surrendered to the dog's famous puppy eyes.
Ed sighed. "Alright. Let me get the jalopy closer and we'll bring her too…" He turned back to get the vehicle, spinning the key ring on his finger along the way. "Edna, you have too big of a heart."
"Oh hush, Ed. You always liked it." She retorted back to him playfully.
Tall shadows loomed over her and brightly colored eyes stared down at her small form, constantly following her no matter where she went. To say fright fueled her entire being would be the understatement of all time.
Her breathing quickened into sharp and short pants, barely able to get a proper breath in while her legs carried her.
No matter how far she went, she could still see claws reaching out to her, desperately grasping at her, trying to grab her by anything she had, whether it was her long hair, clothing, arms or otherwise.
Her eyes caught a small orb of light shining in the distance.
'No way..' She thought to herself.
She quickened her pace and zoomed right to the light, watching as it revealed itself to be a door that was split open.
She beamed so brightly at the sight of an escape, excited to finally have a way out.
However as she finally made it to the exit, finally getting away from claws that'd reach her nonstop, eyes that followed her and shadows that towered her, her smile disappeared nearly as fast as it appeared when she heard a voice.
"Run as far as you can. You'll never escape me." She heard him hiss and made the mistake of turning around.
A shadow had taken form of a serpent man. His sight burned into her mind. He slithered out from the crowd of other shadows and suddenly, he launched himself right at her, making her let out a scream of terror yet her legs could not move any further.
The young brunette opened her eyes in a matter of seconds and she quickly flicked them all around, trying to gather what happened.
'Where am I?' She wondered, looking around.
It looked like she was in a… Actually she had no idea what she was in.
She clearly remembered being in the desert with the sun beating down on her before she presumably passed out into the sand. Now she was in some place with metallic-looking walls and was laying on some cushion with her head resting on a cylinder-shaped pillow while a window was on her right side. Did she get picked up by someone? If so, were they good Samaritans? Do they know who she is? Do they have plans for her? And what the heck was this fluffy weight on her legs?
The girl gently propped herself up on her elbows and looked to see what was weighing her legs down. What she saw was a shiny reddish-brown wire-coated dog with some white on his underside and paws. He wore a loosened blue collar that looked a little dull after some time. She could only guess it had been wearing the same one since he was a pup. She also had to admit. He was cute, but it's not like she wanted to remain stuck forever with the dog, especially now feeling her one leg begin to fall asleep.
Just as she sat up further, the dog gave a sharp intake of air and opened his eyes, revealing them as mismatched pair of brown and blue. The girl froze, not knowing what he would do. The dog's ears perked up and his head tilted curiously. His tongue poked out for a moment to lick his nose before it twitched. An audible sniffing emitted from the dog when he pressed his nose on her side and like a flip of a switch, the dog jumped up and bounced in excitement.
"Ah! Whoa! Hey! Hi! Hi to you too!" The brunette spoke up, kinda spooked from his sudden burst of energy.
She rolled off the makeshift bed-couch-thing and the dog followed with a zoom. He sniffed at her vigorously and his tail wagged at such a fast speed and force that his whole bottom half was wiggling back and forth along with his tail.
"Sparky! What did I tell you? I told you to be gentle." A woman's voice scolded him.
The dog didn't look any bit discouraged. Instead, he just turned and looked at the woman who came in. The girl got to look at her too. There right in the door way was a middle-aged woman with brownish-gray hair pulled up into a bun. She wore a pair of glasses that rested on her nose in front of her soft brown eyes and adorned a buttoned up light bluish-gray shirt with a pink ascot tied around her neck. All the while she walked in, the keys gently jingled on their hoop attached to her hip.
"I'm very sorry, dear. Sparky just gets excited to meet new people." She apologized to the girl.
The teen was.. more confused than anything and she must've looked it too with how the woman picked up on her expressions.
"Where… Where am I?" She asked, her voice much softer.
"Why, you're in our wonderful, lovely abode and ooh, where are my manners? I'm so sorry. My name is Edna. You can call me that if you'd like to, dear." Edna smiled. "And what is your name?"
"I'm.." She shook for a moment before finally stilling herself. "My name is Sam."
"Oh? Just Sam? Nothing else to it, dear?" Edna inquired curiously.
"No. Sam's just fine." She insisted.
"Oh alright." The older woman relented. "There is something I would like to ask you though."
Before Sam could give a response, the front door, or she assumed it was the front door, swung open and a man walked right into the place.
"Welp, security system's been shot for a while. Finally got it back up and running. We should be set until I can upgrade it further for it to be more durable." A silvery-gray haired man rambled on for a moment. "You got all that, hon?"
Edna gave a soft smile to him and nodded. "I'll write it down, Ed, don't worry but look who finally got up."
Ed's brown eyes looked over to the younger brunette, finally getting a decent look at her. She had tanned skin and dark brown hair where the bangs swept to the right side of her face, covering that half. Her turquoise eye met his for a moment before she gave a slight nod in acknowledgment.
A friendly smile grew on his face and he chuckled softly. "Well, it's nice to see you up and about already. Edna here was so worried something happened to ya when we found ya."
"Really?" Sam squeaked out, almost feeling embarrassed at her volume.
"Of course I was, dear. We found you flat against the sand and unconscious." Edna clarified.
"All because of Sparky. That sweet boy rarely ever jumps out of the Jalopy unless it was important so we had to follow him to see what the fuss was about and there you were. Barely even responding to him poking his nose on you." Ed went on for a moment.
"Now while we are on the subject, I was going to ask something." Edna added, "What happened? Why have we found a sweet thing like you out there in the hot desert alone?"
Sam's mind was racing to catch up to her words. By the time she heard the question, she felt herself freeze. Her fingers gave a slight fidget and she swayed side to side, shifting her weight back and forth on her legs.
"I was…" She hesitated for a second. ".. running."
"Oh.. Oh my. From what? If you don't mind me asking." Edna pressed on.
The teen contemplated her words for a moment, looking down at her feet. She had no idea who these people were, yet they gave off such a welcoming hospitable feeling that Sam hadn't felt in a long time. In fact, the last time she felt this, she was smaller than she was now. Younger, even. It had been so long. There was also the fact that she didn't know how they'd react to her story. How would they feel knowing that by harboring her, they invited danger? A danger she wished to keep on running from for as long as it took until it finally passed?
"I was running from…" She halted for a moment, trying to still herself from shaking and finally answered the best she could without worrying them so much, "someone bad."
Edna caught on. Perhaps it was her motherly instincts but she had caught on. Sam might've been keeping her voice steady but she could tell there was a sense of fear dripping right into her tone, trying to throw her off the edge. Her eyes could not remain focused on the person in front of her and her hands clenched tightly, almost digging her nails right into her palms. Edna would ask why she felt so scared but if she did, it felt like going further would only make her hide away.
"Oh.. I'm sorry, dear. I shouldn't have asked." The older woman apologized.
"It's alright. I don't blame you for wondering why I was out there. I just..." Sam halted and almost went into a near panic mode, feeling for her equipment, only to find it missing. "Oh no.. Where? Where is the bow?"
"You mean this?" Ed went over to the table and grabbed it, standing it up to show the massive bow to Sam. "It's a nice recurved bow you've had. I may not know everything about weapons, since I do have multiple side projects that involve vehicles and whatnot, but this seems a little big even for you."
"I know, but I promised someone I'd keep a hold of it." Sam confided softly. She shook her head and grabbed at the grip of the bow. "Look. Thanks for picking me up and holding that for me, but I don't wish to overstay my welcome."
Sam turned her whole body towards the door. She didn't want to stay any longer than she had to. The last thing she needed was to bring trouble to these nice people. Just as she took a step there, the medium sized canine zoomed in front of her, standing between her and the door with his paws firmly pressed into the floor. His soft mismatched eyes stared at her and she swears she could see the gears turning in his head.
Sparky refused to move. He had a feeling that if she went out there, she would potentially never be seen again. There was something out there that was waiting for her and his instincts understood that he needed to protect her as long as she was around his home and his human pack.
"You wouldn't be overstaying, dear." Edna assured her and placed a soft hand on her shoulder. "It's actually nice to have visitors, even through unconventional means. Besides, it's getting dark and we're a long way from the city. We don't want you getting hurt out there, especially how you said you were running from someone. What if they're still after you?"
Sam felt herself tense and goosebumps pick up at the question. She didn't try to answer her, but she didn't need to.
"Why, uh, you know we could get you some help." Ed offered. "Real good help. Maybe the Ninja can help you."
Sam turned to him with a confused face. "The Ninja? Who are they?"
"Oh, they're a small team of our beloved heroes. They've been searching for the Fang-blades, but I'm sure they could spare a moment to help you out." Edna smiled enthusiastically.
The brunette was still confused at them. "How.. How do you know this?"
"Oh, our boy Jay is on the Ninja team. He's been keeping us updated lately."
"Only because you keep calling him, Edna."
"I know, but he's definitely communicating better. I just know something had changed the last time we saw him."
The two kept on bouncing back and forth with each other while Sam had her hand tightly gripping the jade bow. Her eyes looked to the door and down to the dog, guarding her from getting out like he were one of the many canine guards from myth. She knew what was out there, precisely who was out there, so she couldn't possibly blame the dog for following his instincts one bit… Still..
"I'm sorry but.. I still don't want to impose." Sam apologized, her voice soft and low.
Edna, however kept the gentle smile. "Nonsense, dear. Like I said, we love visitors and it's been a while since we had one."
"Edna, you can't force someone to stay."
"I'm not forcing anyone. I'm being hospitable, Ed." She turned back to Sam, "Besides you can't go out in that."
Sam looked down at herself, seeing the tattered, torn clothing and honestly couldn't help feeling a bit offended at that. Her eyebrows knitted together and she gave a huff. It used to be a simple, loose fitting purple kimono with a black sash wrapped around her waist, along with a pair of equally loose fitting pants and black sandals to match. She used to be so little, it barely even fit her. Nowadays though, she had grown into the outfit and it grew tight-fitting around her form. Her kimono discolored and torn along with her pants while her nice sandals were ruined from its wear and tear. Although Sam was offended, she couldn't help but feel embarrassed as well.
The embarrassment didn't let up any when her stomach audibly groaned. Sam's face heated up while Sparky gave a soft bark at the sudden noise and Edna gave a soft laugh.
"How about you stay for the night? Stay for dinner and a bed? Even breakfast in bed tomorrow?" Edna smiled warmly.
Despite her feelings of not wanting to stay and potentially bring trouble, she wouldn't mind having some actual food for the first time in ages.
"Yeah.. Okay."
"Splendid. Ooh, let me get something on the stove." The older woman went right for the kitchen, leaving Ed and Sam alone.
The silvery-white haired man chuckled at his wife's enthusiasm. "Well, hehe, I haven't seen her this excited to make dinner in forever. Guess having a third around does something for her."
"Hmm.." Sam hummed in acknowledgment.
Ed gave a soft sigh. "Don't you worry one bit. We'll get you some help. I know our boy, Jay wouldn't turn anyone down."
Sam nodded. While it was weird how fast things turned, she was grateful she was found by these nice people in the desert. They were a far better option than..
Him.
One question did remain though.
'Just who the heck were these Ninja? Where did they even come from? How come I never heard of them until now?'
Okay, it was more than one question she had, but still, she wondered and she had no idea that she wouldn't have to wonder for too much longer.
Author's Note: You know as far as character introductions go, I say I did a little better here than I did last time. It feels kinda better paced and makes a little bit more sense than whatever I was trying to force the first time. Some things from the first version will appear/happen sometime later on, but I wanna actually establish Sam first.
I do apologize for this chapter being half dialogue, but it also does fit the characters that appeared in this chapter and who will appear in the next one as well.
Please let me know if you enjoyed this chapter and if you did, let me know in the comments/reviews down below and I'll be sure to reply as quick as I can.
See ya next time!