Author's Note: So how are you guys doing?

Yeah I know it's been a while. I know I said I was gonna post this close to the anniversary of "The Royal Blacksmiths" episode and I did type the first couple of paragraphs around February but then the curse of procrastination got me, and then I got sucked into an art challenge all over again. Energy and motivation was gone for a minute and I had my doubts continuing but I made it back here!

I didn't mean for it to arrive almost a month later, but it's finally here.

Anyways, I hope you guys like the chapter!

Chapter 3: Meeting

The vehicle gently rumbled as it tread across the sandy ground before it hit the asphalt of the lone road that spanned across the desert. Ed gave a small 'oomph' as if he were expressing how the old Jalopy must've felt when it bumped the edge of the road moments before rolling onto it.

"Hehe. I'll never get used to that," Ed chuckled.

"You say that every time, Ed. Also, you forgot the lights again, dear. It's getting dark out." Edna reminded him.

"Oh! Right. Thanks, sugarplum." The old man quickly flipped the headlights on, shining the road ahead.

The woman gave a soft smile at the man before she turned to the back, seeing the younger brunette girl nearly clutching on the edge of the seat. She wore one of their spare cap and goggles on her head.

"How are you doing back there, sweetie?" Edna asked.

"I'm doing alright." Sam replied, still trying to keep herself steady.

"Now, Edna, you needn't worry so much. If she says she's doing fine, then I reckon she's doing fine." Ed interjected.

"Oh, alright." Edna sat back on her front seat.

Sam wasn't necessarily lying. She was doing okay. It just felt odd being in a vehicle at all. It had.. been a long time since she ever traveled anywhere, let alone on wheels. She didn't really want to worry the old couple too much. She already felt like she's done enough worrying Ms. Edna plenty last night when she awoke from a night terror. Edna had came to check on her and Sam couldn't sleep for a long time. At least until she dozed off sometime after Edna made tea. Sam couldn't help but feel ashamed for that moment and she still felt ashamed now.

There was also one thing that still bothered her from the night before. A question that had kept bouncing in her head almost constantly, making her feel incredibly anxious.

"Do.. Do you really think the Ninja will help me?" She finally asked out loud.

"Oh, I'm most certain that they would." Ed assured from his driver's seat. "They're a nice group of heroes and all. I don't see why not and Jay says they've been busy fighting those fiendish snakes and all, but even I know he wouldn't turn down someone's help when it's needed."

"Heh… Yeah." Sam gave a soft hum in response.

Sam's eyes flicked down to her lap. Her fingers felt up on the dark blue jeans and belt she had to borrow from this "Jay" while she wore a button up shirt that Ms. Edna gave her. The older woman told her it was something temporary to wear until she could take her out on the town. Sam didn't quite understand what that meant but it seemed to make the elder happy.

Something caught Sam's eye.

She looked up ahead and there in the distance was a gorgeous display of colorful lights dazzling and shining throughout the city. Buildings towered over her, making her feel a mix of awe and fright. She couldn't stop herself from letting out a small gasp in wonder.

"Whoa…"

"Yep." Ed affirmed. "Welcome to Ninjago City. Biggest city in all of Ninjago. I remember seeing it being a quaint, humble little town when I was a youngin'. It was quite a sight to see it advance since then." Ed smiled.

"That it was, dear." Edna added. "Ooh, maybe we could show her around, Ed."

"Edna, we're here to get her help and to see our boy on stage." Her husband redirected her attention.

"Okay, okay. You're right."

Sam looked to Ed in question. "Stage?"

"Don't you know? It's that time of year when people compete in Ninjago Talent."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah. Jay told us that they were going to enter to get that Blade Cup before the Serpentine do. Like I said, he's been calling a little more to keep us updated and all." Edna affirmed, smiling at the memory softly. The boy barely called her at all before until the Fangpyre happened then the calls coming much more often recently. Whatever had changed, it definitely had to be for the better.

Ninjago Talent. Sam had heard about it coming up when Ed turned on the radio the night before. Truth be told, it wasn't the first time she heard of it. She remembered years ago, a decade even, of a time she wanted to get in the competition and alongside her, would be her best friend. She remembered wanting to sing and dance with him. That was until…until it all… The girl shook her head a bit.

'No. Now's not the time to think about that.' She told herself.

Sam didn't want to worry Ms. Edna anymore than she already had.

The stage..

Kai had once dreamed of being on a billboard in Ninjago City, but never once thought he'd be on a stage in a million years. Let alone on something called Ninjago Talent. Well, technically he was backstage and he was practicing his routine alongside the other guys and Kai swears he wasn't offbeat.

He looked down at himself, seeing the absolutely ridiculous barbershop outfit he had to pull on. Over his solid colored shirt was a red and white vertical striped vest and with that was a pair of red pants. He admitted it looked kinda stupid, but swallowed his pride. Even if Jay called him a walking peppermint despite his element. One of these days he swears he's gonna fry that lightning master up, but whatever feelings he had wasn't important right now.

Not as important as Cole who was laying everything out to his father this very moment. Cole told him everything. About him not being a dancer and how he was a ninja instead. He told him how they needed to take the Blade Cup out of there before the Serpentine could get a chance to steal it first just to save the world. By the way he was finishing up his confession, Kai could hear the tone of his friend wanting his father to have pride in him. Something he understood and once chased long ago before his own father disappeared.

Instead of pride however, Kai could see the older man's face have a mix of shock and disbelief before his eyebrows furrowed together into a frown and he had an unrecognizable expression of disgust and disappointment.

"I can't be proud of any son who thinks stealing is right!" Lou shoved Cole's hand off his arm and put some distance between them. "And I'm not gonna wait around to watch you make a mockery of our family's legacy!"

"Dad I…" Cole couldn't finish his thought. He remained frozen in his spot while his hand reached out to his father. Suddenly, he felt so small like he was the same seven year old who let him down years ago.

Kai must've looked as shocked as the other two shinobi. He watched Lou walk out the door, slamming it behind him as if he were leaving a statement. If he were the same guy as he was when he first met Sensei Wu, perhaps he would've chased after the old man to make him apologize and give Cole a chance. However, he wasn't the same and forcing an apology that would very likely be insincere in the moment wouldn't make anyone feel better. Instead, he went to his brother's side, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sure he didn't mean that." He comforted.

"Maybe if he saw you in action." Jay suggested while he also put a hand on his other shoulder, trying to make him feel better.

"No, it's-it's okay.." Cole shrugged their hands off.

A door creaked open and their attention turned to the source. From it they saw a group of four poorly disguised Serpentine trot and strut their way out of the room. Literally one from each tribe and three out of four of them had blonde wigs while the last one, the Venomari, had a massive Afro with a top hat on.

The door behind them shut and Kai was able to read the name on it. "Treble Makers?"

"Wait a minute. What are they doing here?" Jay inquired.

Kai could ask the same thing. There was no way they could've known about the Fangblade being here. As far as the Ninja knew they were following a map and there was no way it could've led them here.

"I can't help it if I offend anyone." A familiar voice sounded over the microphone. "My only job will be to tell the truth."

The spiky-haired brunet broke away from the other three ninja, deciding to peek through the curtain, seeing the judges just across the stage.

"You don't look anything like your photo." The second judge on the raised platform commented.

'Yeah no kidding.' Kai thought, his sights directly on Pythor who was also poorly disguised with nothing but a beard on.

"Ah, sadly, the camera adds a few pounds," The violet colored anaconda chuckled. "I'm just happy to have the opportunity to judge this prestigious competition."

Somewhere inside the same snake however came a voice, "Wait a minute. I'm still here! He swallowed me! He's not a judge!" He tried to yell but his voice was muffled.

The other two judges gasped.

"Quiet!" Pythor slammed a fist to his stomach. "Or else I won't let you out."

"My apologies." And the man inside was quiet once more.

The master of fire was glad Jay wasn't seeing this. He'd be pretty sure the blue ninja would be a sickly green if he saw all that. He himself felt some bile creep up his throat but he forced it back. His eyes caught sight of the trophy being brought out by an escort of armed guards. Two of them held it between them before setting it on a pedestal sitting right next to the judge's table. Just barely within reach of Pythor.

"The Fangblade." Pythor marveled at the sight of it.

"Uh, yeah. You mean The Blade Cup." The judge beside Pythor corrected him which Kai had to admit he was either bold or stupid to do so.

"Yes, yes. Whatever." Pythor hissed, still keeping his sights on the prize, focusing harder on the blade.

Kai gave a quick glance around. There in the front row he could see a handful of Hypnobrai taking a seat at the ready. He also caught sight of a girl who got up and left just after mouthing an apology to Jay's parents. At least it looked that way. He figured she probably saw the snakes and decided it was much better the just leave than to deal with whatever trouble they could bring. She was probably the only one wise enough to do so. Kai shook his head. Whoever that was definitely wasn't important. Not as important as the current threat they had there, so he had to focus on that one thing only and that was the Serpentine.

The curtain dropped from his hand and he went back to his shinobi brothers with bad news.

"It looks like we're not the only ones planning to steal the Blade Cup. Pythor's here." Kai delivered in a hushed tone.

"This complicates things." Zane assessed.

"Then I say we make our move. We can't risk losing out again. I say we steal it." Jay's mind instantly switched over to the theft idea. As much as he knew it'd break his parent's heart and at worse make things rocky with Nya when it just barely began, he knew at least one of them would understand why.

"We're not gonna steal it."

Everyone froze, looking to Cole who finally spoke up after his whole exchange with his father.

"We're gonna win this competition, but we're gonna do it our way." Cole stated with a newfound conviction.

"Our way?" The other three questioned in confusion.

"Ha! Told you that I'd get us the best seats, Edna." Ed gently jabbed at his wife.

"And you did, Ed. I didn't doubt you for a second." The woman gave a soft smile before turning to the teen on the other side of her. "And are you doing alright, honey?"

Sam brought herself back into the moment to answer her, "Oh, yeah. I'm alright. Just thinking about all the things you've told me about Jay."

"Oh, you haven't even heard about the time I caught him kissing his pillow," Edna was about to start rambling on again.

Edna was eager to speak about this "Jay" character. Sam swears she knows more about this guy than most others with how much Edna had told her. Honestly, she felt a little envy over that. She wished she had someone who showed her off with so much pride and joy even if it would embarrass her at times. She'd rather take on embarrassment than—

"I can't help it if I offend anyone," She heard a voice that made her freeze.

The girl turned ahead slowly and just in front on the raised platform were the judges and the one on the far left of her was someone who made her blood feel like ice while her stomach churned, threatening to shove whatever she ate back up to her throat. Everything looked so dark while her sight focused in on the massive, violet colored serpent man who towered over the other judges if he stood up completely. He talked so casually to the other judges and even if they were questioning his appearance at first, they definitely had other things in mind and were taking this in stride after a moment of shock. She didn't understand how they could and hoped it was because they were afraid to end up like the last judge that was supposed to be there.

The lights finally dimmed and there was a spotlight showcasing a trophy with an illustrious dagger attached on the top. However Sam's attention remained focused on Pythor and in the darkness, she saw his eyes glow. The brunette tried to sink herself into the seat, trying to make herself as small as possible and hoping that she wouldn't catch his eyes.

"Sam, dear, are you alright…?" Edna asked in a soft tone.

"Yeah, I uh… uh…" She tried her best to push the fear right back down.

She didn't want to desert the sweet old couple after they helped her get this far… yet her eyes not only saw a group of unfamiliar serpentine sitting in the audience on the front row, somehow catching no one's attention at all with their own poor disguises, but she saw Pythor pick up his head, flicking his tongue in the air and turned his head to the side. She swears that she'd rather him be focused on the trophy just sitting close to his reach, yet there was no doubt in her mind that he might know she's there… Unfortunately, there was no way she wanted to take that chance.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Edna, but could you excuse me please? I gotta… I gotta go.. I'll be right back. I promise." Sam apologized quickly.

The brunette got up from her seat and tried to walk out at a calm, decent pace, trying to look like she's not panicking, yet it ended up looking like she was speed walking right out of there. Her mouth felt dry while breathing quickened. Her hands trembled as she reached for the steel double doors before she set them down right on one of them, pushing it open and slipping right out of the theater and into the lobby.

She didn't stop until she got to the main entrance and shoved herself outside, panting heavily and trying so hard not to feel sick all over the sidewalk. It even came to the point of her leaning over, putting her hands on her knees while she breathed heavily.

She couldn't do it. She couldn't stay in there, not even in the same room as that Anacondrai. She was too scared to try. Ed and Edna had no idea the things she's seen that snake do, the things she was forced to listen to and the people… the people she lost to him. However if these Ninja, whoever they are, were as capable as she was told, then they were able to take care of these snakes themselves if anything happened.

'Wait… What am I thinking?' Sam asked herself, suddenly coming upon a realization, 'I just left them in there.'

Guilt suddenly sunk into her upon that realization. Even if the Ninja were skilled, there was no way they'd take down an Anacondrai like him.

If anything she knew Pythor was cunning and she had no doubt he was the same cunning trickster now. What if he does cause panic in the theater? What if he knows the Ninja are there too and knows of their connections? What if he uses those connections to his advantage? Would they really trade that Fangblade and lose it to Pythor if he has their friends and family hostage? Her eyes filled with tears and a few slid down her cheeks over the thought.

'No.' She thought to herself, wiping her tears with her forearm roughly to dry them off.

She wasn't about to just crumble and cry when she knew she could do something.. But what? What could she even do? All she knew is that if she decided to desert the old couple now, then not only would she worry Edna even more so, which was something she was already trying to avoid doing yet she might've just done that very thing, but she would also be lost in a city that's already so massive, so loud, so bright, and boisterous. Not to mention it was all unfamiliar to her. She already hadn't step foot into the smaller towns for a while, she'd hate to see what would happen if she were lost.

Besides, she wasn't even armed if things would turn for the worst. At the very least, there would be thieves and at the very most, there's getting snatched by the Serpentine. Everything she had on her before were all left back at that trailer in the junkyard and she had no idea how far that even was.

Sam stared at the ground on her feet and gave a heavy sigh. She still felt guilty for running out the way she did but maybe she could still catch up with the two elders and hope they'd also meet the Ninja. Maybe they'll actually help her. She hoped they still would and most of all, she hoped the sweet old couple were alright.

There was suddenly a chorus of cheers that rattled from inside the building. Sam nearly had her heart leap right out of her upon the noise. She would wonder what would cause something like that, but honestly if those were cheers then it surely meant something good. Something that definitely wasn't caused by Pythor. That's one thing she could be sure of.

"Oooh, Sam's missed out on all this. Ed, we should go look for her. We have to make sure she's alright." Edna tried to insist.

"Take it easy on her, honey. I'm sure she's not far and she'll turn up once we find Jay and his friends." Ed gently grasped her hand, patting his other hand on top of hers to reassure her.

He knew she was just worried and he couldn't necessarily blame her. The girl did appear unconscious in the sand when they first found her, thanks to Sparky nonetheless. Ed had to admit he did take a look at the recurved bow the girl had on her person. It really was far too big for a normal person, let alone someone of her stature and the material felt like something he hadn't encountered before. He mostly worked with metal and machines. Weapons were off the table for him if he could help it any, yet the bow seemed.. Does it seem right to say he found it familiar in a way? Where would he even know any jade-like material anywhere?

He doesn't know for certain and it did kinda nag at him for a while, but he pushed it aside. If he didn't remember, maybe it wasn't that important. Besides, at the time, his wife insisted on bringing home a whole person. Even if family dog was insisting on helping her. Oh, he couldn't wait to tell Jay that. He just had to hear it.

"That was so awesome!"

Speaking of which..

"There he is! Oooh, I know the sound of his voice anywhere, Ed." Edna chimed.

"Now, Edna, don't embarrass the poor boy." Ed jabbed at her a little.

She disregarded it in a playful manner and went to the source of the voice.

"Jay! Jay, dear! You don't mind another surprise visit, do you?" Edna smiled.

Jay nearly leaped in surprise over her sudden presence before sighing softly. "Mom, Dad, you're here too! You saw all that?"

Ed gave a chuckle, "We told you on the phone that we'd be here and we had front row seats too, my boy. Managed to snatch them right before anyone else could."

Jay gave a slight chuckle. He was mostly excited to see them but also kinda embarrassed, especially after the whole act they put on stage. Honestly, he was glad Cole stole the show with that amazing dance move that made them win the competition.

"Speaking of which, we're so proud you won! And with such stiff competition too, except for the act before you and your friends, they were so off key." Ed criticized, though he was no musician himself, he definitely had heard better, even from worse artists.

"Hehehe, yeah, we kinda heard that." Jay chuckled.

Kai gave a small smile at the interaction between them. It was a sight to see Jay and his parents almost easily bounce off each other in conversation. It was also something he envied of Jay. The hothead would've been chewing Jay's head off if he was acting so avoidant of them like before. Or at the very least, he'd embarrass the poor guy since he wouldn't be allowed to grill him over an open fire. Oh well..

There was one other thing Kai did notice though.

"Hey, where is that one girl? You know the one that looked like came with you? Who was talking with you guys or something like that?" Kai pointed out to them.

Jay halted in his words, looking between Kai and his parents. "Girl? You had someone with you?! Ma, I love you so much but please, please, please don't tell me you decided to play matchmaker when I'm clearly currently with—"

"Oh? No, no, no. Nothing like that, Jay, dear. You know we have your best interests in mind. He means our little house-guest we invited, Sam." Edna corrected quickly.

Jay gave a huge sigh that made him look like he deflated a little. "Oh. Huh. Okay, I didn't know that."

Ed chuckled. "I guess we forgot to mention on our last call. You should've seen how we found her. Face first, unconscious in the sand and Sparky wouldn't let us leave until we took her in."

"Sparky?"

"Who?"

That drew everyone's attention to the older couple.

"Oh, yeah. Sparky is the family dog. He was first found wandering around the desert between the city and Junkyard. Sweet little Jay insisted on bringing him home. We just couldn't tell him no then." Edna cooed. "Would you like a picture?"

"Absolutely, Ms. Edna" Nya pushed past Jay who was struggling to contain himself.

The older woman reached into her purse and pulled out a pair of pictures of the beloved canine, showing them to Nya and the others.

"Awww, he looks so cute." Nya cooed over the pictures.

"Indeed." Zane agreed.

Cole turned to Jay and asked, "Jay, buddy. Why didn't you tell us you had a dog?"

"Well, the topic of pets didn't exactly come up. When was I supposed to mention Sparky?" He asked defensively, putting his hands on his hips.

"Where was this dog the first time we visited anyways?" Zane inquired.

"Oh, he was just visiting close friends of ours by then, and he also just had a normal annual checkup done a while ago." Ed chuckled before adding on. "That boy's alright of course and he's back home right now. I'm sure he wouldn't mind a visit from you, Jay. He still looks for you around the trailer and junkyard."

"Yeah. Okay. I'll visit soon but can we please get back on the subject of the girl you brought with you that he supposedly found?" Jay insisted on changing the topic.

"Alright, then." Edna started up, after Nya gave the pictures back. "I was the one who insisted on picking her up when Sparky found her. She was such a mess when we found her and can you believe she didn't trust us at first? I mean I don't blame her since she's been running from something or someone horrible but still- Oh there she is now!" Edna did a small jog, heading over to the girl the moment she spotted her. "Oh, dear you had us worried. What happened? Are you okay?"

The others gave their attention over to her. She looked like a small, meek brunette-haired teen with tan skin. Her right eye was covered with a set of bangs and when Edna reached for them to see her face to check for anything, the girl pulled away.

"I'm alright. Just needed some air. It was kinda crowded in there." The teen wasn't necessarily lying when she said that.

"Oh, you're claustrophobic? Sweetie, you could've told us. I'm sure we would've helped out." Edna was quick to catch on.

'Ah, so there is a name for it.' She thought before answering, "It's alright. I'm better now."

"Well, you're alright. That's all that matters." Edna gave a quick sigh of relief before smiling. "Come on. I told you we'd get the Ninja to help you and Jay and his friends are right there."

Sam looked from Edna to see Ed accompanying a group of people. They were all very… color-coordinated but Sam supposed that the least of the surprises, especially after everything she'd seen up to this point. The girl followed the older woman to join up with them.

"Boys and Nya, this is Sam. Sam, there's our Jay and his friends and girlfriend." Ed introduced them respectively.

"Dad! I don't think we're on title basis right now. We got other things to deal with, you know, like the snakes who got the Fangblade despite it all." The auburn-haired teen in blue clothing barked, embarrassed.

"Easy, Jay. They only just got two right now and they only need two more, but we will get one of them soon enough," Cole set a hand on his shoulder, making him settle down.

The Earth Master turned his head so he could see whoever this "Sam" that the older man was talking so much about. The brunette tried to hide behind Edna, make herself smaller and not in the center of attention, but the older woman insisted on pushing her to the front. Cole would've said something to greet her if it weren't for one thing.

That one thing was that when he looked at her something felt entirely… off. His eyebrows furrowed together into an intense frown at the feeling while he clenched his teeth together to bite back a wince of a sting in his head and it had to be in that one very specific spot he had yet to even show anyone else.

'What is happening? Why am I feeling this?' He wondered.

Whatever it was, it freaked him out a bit and he didn't like it.

He must've looked too intimidating or something cause he just felt Zane's icy hand on his arm and pulled him back. Sam had apparently saw the frown he didn't even know he had on his face and nearly stumbled back. Jay and Edna had caught her before she could fall.

"Careful. You should know concrete and asphalt are not as friendly as sand is." Jay joked at first, "Not that you should be falling face first into sand anyways. I just…" He cleared his throat, helping her stand again before letting her go. "So, Sam is it? I'm Jay. Pretty sure you heard a lot about me from my parents. I'm a great topic." He pointed back to the ebony-haired teen behind him. "The one with big eyebrows is Cole. The red guy over there is Kai and the resident Nindroid right here is Zane."

Sam looked taken aback at first before confusion set on her face. "I'm sorry. A Nindroid? What?"

"Oh, a ninja android. Something I coined myself." Jay said so proudly.

"Perhaps, you shouldn't speak of my personal being so freely, Jay." Zane replied.

"I'm sorry but it's just that you're so freaking cool. What's not to love about you? Actually, come to think of it. I gotta study you one of these days."

"Why do you have to study me?" Zane asked.

"Well, you never know if something horrible will happen and I would hate to be ill-prepared." Jay noted before getting a hand on his arm, turning to see Nya. "Oh. I'm so, so sorry, Nya. Sam, this is Nya. Pretty sure you caught it from Mom and Dad. She's the great Samurai X and the most amazing woman I've got the privilege to know."

Nya smiled at Jay's compliment, turning to see Sam. "It's very nice to meet you, Sam. I think Jay's parents said you needed help. Something about you being found after you've been running away from.. I'm sorry, but did you ever tell them what?" She inquired.

Sam grabbed onto her own arms, looking down. "It's.. Well.. It'd be very hard to explain."

"Hey if it has something to do with the Serpentine, then I think we're your guys." Kai finally spoke up. "I mean, you did seem like the only smart person in the theater to get out when the snakes piled in."

"Oh- Oh! You saw that?" Sam stammered.

"Uh huh. When someone's got an eye for detail, you can't really sneak anything pass them." Kai went on. "So does it have something to do with them?"

Sam was frozen at first. Her eyes averted from all of theirs by looking to the ground before she spoke softly as she nodded, "Yeah.. You can say that it does." She took a moment to catch a breath, trying to keep it all steady. "It's just.. It's got something to do with them.. with one of them."

Despite barely hearing her, they all caught that.

"Huh, guess that explains a lot." Ed added.

"Can you tell us who?" Cole finally interjected.

Sam looked to him. At first, she wanted to answer him, but the more she looked at him the more he looked kinda familiar. Her eyes focused in on the Earth Ninja. She was sure she tensed up so much that she shook a bit. The look on Cole's face softened up a bit and Sam just felt something stir in her.

'Could it be..?' She thought before shaking her head. 'No.. It couldn't. It can't be.. It's not possible.'

"You can't tell us or…?" Cole raised an eyebrow.

"I.." She wanted to speak but what was she supposed to say?

Honestly, she wanted to tell them, him, whoever to finally put their worries and her own mind at ease, yet she couldn't. Something in her just felt like it was forcing her words back down. She reached a hand up to her face. Should she do it?

'It'd be so much easier to explain everything if I did,' She figured, gently grazing her right cheek and barely touching up on her bangs but then she stopped. 'What if.. they don't believe me then? What if they think I'm crazy or worse? What if they think I'm some spy or something?'

"I'm sorry.." She apologized, backing up from the group. "I.. I can't.. I couldn't… I need to go. I'll be.. waiting by the.. the Jalopy.. Yeah.. I'm sorry you guys."

The others watched as she rushed off into the distance, heading her way to the unmistakable six-wheeled vehicle just parked a good couple of feet away. Edna gave a worried expression on her face, looking to Ed and back to Sam.

"Oh, dear.." She fretted once more.

Ed gave a sigh. "It's alright. We did say we'd try to get her help."

"Whoa. Whoa. Hold on. We can still try, Dad." Jay interjected. "I mean we're already handling these Serpentine so much. I'm sure we can keep an eye out just in case for her."

Ed gave a nod. "Thanks son. We'll let her know. I'm sure she'll appreciate it."

"We should head back dear. Sparky will get antsy and you did say the security system could use a few upgrades after it's been out for a while." Edna grabbed on his arm.

"Are you sure you're not the antsy one, dear?" Ed asked halfheartedly.

"Dear.."

"Ah, alright. Welp, Jay, we'll be headed home now. I'll be sure to pass the message! And we're so proud of you for winning! You should send us a picture of you boys with the trophy soon!" Ed called as he walked away.

"And remember, you got to visit soon. Sparky's been waiting around for you. I'm sure he'd like Nya too!" Edna also called to Jay.

"Mooom," the blue ninja groaned before sighing, "Yeah. Alright. I'll be there. I promise. Just tell him not to get so rambunctious when I visit."

The ninja watched at the pair of adults left to the old Jalopy. Edna looked like she was talking to Sam, who was curled up in a ball on the back seat. It took a moment of Ed turning the keys before the vehicle finally started up and they began driving down the street.

"Okay. Um.. That was weird… but I guess I've seen weirder tonight with Zane's little personal butterflies." Jay muttered.

"Yeah but there is one takeaway from this." Cole replied, putting a hand on Jay's shoulder and grinning.

Jay was so sure he wasn't going to like this.

"We're meeting this dog of yours soon." Cole declared.

"What? No! Guys, he's not that special! He's just a dog." Jay barked right back.

"You haven't told us about him. Not even me and I'm your best friend!" Cole retaliated.

"I'd like to see the one other being that could actually stand Jay for so long." Kai crossed his arms with a smirk.

"I agree." Zane nodded.

"Me too." Nya smiled.

Jay gave a small gasp, "you too, Nya?"

"Jay, the dog is clearly missing you and it's not fair you don't visit him or your parents because you're so self absorbed. I thought you said you were doing better this time." Nya put her hands on her hips.

The lightning ninja gave a sigh in defeat and mumbled something about deserving that one. The other guys gave a chuckle over how easy he folded for the samurai woman. When it died down, Cole looked to the spot he'd last seen Sam. Something about her just felt… Again, something felt off. He felt a soft sting on his head and held back a soft hiss of pain.

"Hey Cole, your dad's calling us over. You there in that head of yours?" Jay jabbed at him.

"Huh. Oh, right. Yeah… Let's go." Cole went along with the others.

He didn't want to worry the guys, especially not while they were still celebrating their victory. Yes, they lost the Fangblade and the Blade Cup trophy to Pythor, but he got his true potential. Jay would definitely be gushing about it for a hot minute. Heck, he might gush about it right now and continue on for hours into the night.

However… He looked back again to the spot he saw the smaller brunette. He felt something gnawing at him in the back of his head when she came to mind but elected to put it aside. They still had other priorities in mind, most of them being saving the world from being devoured by a giant snake but tonight was a celebration and Cole just got his dad back after so long.

He wasn't about to let the sudden appearance of this strange girl with his friend's parents weird out his mood anymore than it had.

Author's Note: Well, it has been a bit.

I'm gonna be so for real with you guys, I swear it wasn't meant to be as long as it is, but then when the Walker family got together, suddenly words were flying right out. I don't know how they do it, but now I finally understand Jay's sentiment of them being talkative, even though he ain't one to judge at all. Speaking of the Walker family, of course I was gonna mention the good boy Sparky! He's a sweet boy! A good floofy boy!

Also, I think I did decently on Sam's first interaction with the team and hopefully hint at her past trauma with Pythor.

Was this chapter a little slow? Maybe, but I can proudly say this, the action will be coming soon enough and boy I can't wait.

However, I might be on a little break to rewatch the series and catch up all the way to Dragons Rising so it might be a bit. I just thought I'd warn you guys this time.

So, I do hope you guys liked this chapter and if you did, please leave a comment. I'd love to hear what you're thinking about.

Oh and by the way, if I ever see another person suggesting me art, trying to scam me with half-assed AI shit, I demand you get off my page and never message me again and that's me being kind. If the problem gets worse, I'll leave the site entirely and take my fic somewhere else.

And that's all I got. See you guys later.