#and everyone suddenly turned on them and was like 'oh yeah their jokes about ninjago were never funny and neither were any other jokes'

[nyaskitten]

bro imagine getting called out or canceled for some random awful shit and then all your friends turn on you like "oh yeah I never liked them anyways, they had rancid vibes, and they were always a bit off to me". like bro wyd?

[impulsivefanwriter]

A Tiny Spark Leads to a Roaring Flame (But Flames Can Always be Doused by Water)

Heeyyyyy so y’all know the Reverse Thanos Snap AU for SPBNR? Basically everyone but Smith/S!Kai gets sent to the M!verse. Everyone. The entire population of S!verse Ninjago City & a few surrounding areas. Except poor Smith. Essentially it happens because S!Garmadon tries to send Smith to a place where he can't mess with his plans, and ends up sending everyone away from Smith to take him out of the equation. 

The second part to this AU is that the S!Ninja end up searching for Kai in the chaos and grab the Red Ninja before jetting out of there with the Bounty. Except... they didn’t grab Smith (who’s still home), but rather Red (M!Kai).

Red thinks the S!Ninja are babysitter clones created by Garmadon after he somehow turned Lloyd younger without his memories & is trying to raise him to be his new General #1. With this in mind, he pretends to be S!Kai, and waits for the moment he can rescue Lloyd.

What would happen in the S!Ninja discovered his deception/their mistake of grabbing a wrong Kai and mistake Red for a recreated Aki (aka Bizarro Evil Clone Kai) before he could enact his plan?

Well, this is that idea. (Title inspired by how a crack AU spiralled into a beautiful angst-fest)

Enjoy. :3

-----*-----

Red was going to get Lloyd out of here tonight. 

Away from these Not-Friends made by Garmadon to emulate the Ninjaforce. Away from this flying ship built to emulate Master Wu's ship, so familiar and yet so off. Away from this false reality and back to the real everything where they could hopefully get his memories back and his age back and everything back to the way it was before the city descended into chaos.

He just had to... bide his time. Be patient. 

FSM, he was bad at being patient. 

His hands itched to grab Lloyd and run now, but he was horribly outnumbered and without his mech. No matter how badly he wanted to, he couldn't rush this. If he did, he would make everything worse. Like he always did.

But fate- or rather, Lloyd- had other plans.

The little version of his younger brother- yes, they were roughly the same age normally, shut up, Lloyd was still his younger brother- had been... eying him weird all morning. Not like Not-Jay and Not-Cole and Not-Zane, but like Not-Nya. Like he actually knew instead of suspected. These babysitter clones seemed to think he was the Not-Kai, and if that was the opportunity the universe was going to give him, then by the flames of the departed world was he going to skip this chance to save Lloyd.

Currently he stood on the deck of the ship as they parked in the sky a few meters above the docks on the outskirts of the city. It wasn't the docks with the Bounty warehouse, curse his luck, but it wasn't the endless sky or the empty ocean (though it was still too close to that murky, haunting water for his liking. Water was his sister's domain for a reason). At least he could sneak Lloyd off in the cover of night, maybe find someone in the city who wouldn't recognize the Son of Garmadon this way and would be willing to help them hide until they could make it back to the real ninja.

"Kai," Not-Zane spoke suddenly next to him. 

Red would never get used to the way his voice... lacked the same effect the real Zane's had. The effect that Kai and the rest of his team had assured their friend over and over was unique, special, but in a good way. To embrace it. That it wasn't noticeable, but when it was, that it was so Zane that his friends didn't care that it was different. 

This 'Zane' sounded much too different than his own. He hadn't recognized Kai's tested line of 'road work ahead' when they passed one of the many construction signs littering the city (even more so since the chaos happened a week ago), and instead had responded with 'a great deal of work to fix in the city'. 

Seriously, Garmadon, do better research on your clones.

Not-Zane was also much too... calm. Too 'wise' compared to the wild teen that was Zane. And he walked without heelies or whatever Zane used to slide around like a boss, though he was still silent. And that meant, like now, he snuck up on Red fairly often- and Red was training to be a Ninja, so that took serious talent. 

"Kai," Not-Zane said again, and Red finally broke his gaze from where he'd been staring over the railing, planning tonight's escape route. "Lunch has been made for over an hour. Are you alright?"

Red forced his brightest smile. "Course I'm alright! Just trying to figure out what happened, as usual."

Why Lloyd was suddenly like, 8, and without his memories. Why the Not-Friends were on this Not-Ship and had mistaken him for Not-Kai. Why the city was in a state of disarray and chaos. 

Not-Zane studied him, then turned to give the city a sad look. "I'm not sure myself. My scanners can't seem to figure out what is happening. It is as if... blocked by some force."

Red winced, then expertly disguised the move by leaning against the rail. Zane never would use 'my scanners', despite how often Red and the others assured him it was okay. Yet another reason why this wasn't his friend.

"You know Ninjago City," Red said with a weak laugh. "Always one crisis or another. Always those annoying Garmadon Attacks"

This seemed to satisfy Not-Zane, who nodded thoughtfully. "This event definitely seems to have Garmadon's hand in the mess."

He patted Red on the back. "Well, don't worry yourself ragged, Kai. Come in for lunch soon, alright? We have training for Lloyd later."

Ah, right. Training. AKA what Red assumed was how Garmadon was planning to shape this impressionable version of his friend into his new General #1.  

"I'm ready for training now, Zane!"

Speaking of Lloyd- 

The little gremlin came up from the hull with the rest of the Not-Ninja. Red hated when the entire group was together; it was way more difficult to act as Not-Kai around them, especially around Not-Nya. 

For starters, Not-Jay had a notch in his eyebrow that the real Jay never had. He was missing the iconic freckles, and the scarf, and the fluffy hair, though you could always say it was just a wardrobe change. What you couldn't change was the personality differences. This couldn’t be Jay. Jay was anxious and quiet, his jokes (while plentiful) said more timidly and his newest ideas shared with hesitance that only shrank after years of encouragement. He would never be this loud, ever. 

Not-Cole was the leader, probably because Lloyd was so young. But even then, in Red's team, Nya would probably take second-command. Cole was their sturdy support, yes, but he was chill, laid-back. Ready to follow and support his friends to the ends of the earth with his tunes and occasional sarcastic wit, but not lead. Not like Not-Cole, who was more serious and commanding and didn't. listen. to. music. Red hadn't spotted a single record or boombox in the room in the hull. That was a tragic oversight on Garmadon's part. The members of his research team should be Fired.

And then there was Not-Nya. Who wore a dress with confidence that his sister would love but never publicly wear. Who had short hair- Nya had tried that style once, and decided it itched around her neck too much- and jewelry, and a giant flying Samurai mech suit. His sister had the Water Strider Mech, and Not-Nya had a flying combat suit. Sure. Close enough. Personality-wise they were similar. 

Similar at first glance. Nya was fluid and adaptable to whatever role she needed filling. She was spunky, and as fiery as him when it came to tempers, though she knew how to keep hers in check (she had to, right? No one called her hot-headed and impulsive and reckless and blamed her temper for mistakes or damage or whatever the news comments liked to say about the Fire Mech). Not-Nya was also adaptable and independent-minded, but she seemed more rigid. More doing her own thing. 

Point was, everyone wasn't actually his friends, despite how much they tried to prove they were. And they kept acting like he was this Not-Kai, who was just as hot-headed but apparently more mature and training-oriented and basically the better, cooler (or hotter, perhaps, for the fire theme of the red ninja) him, since his acting never seemed to fully convince them. Trying to impersonate a standard he couldn't seem to reach, some legendary hero he wasn't- er, wasn't yet! Yeah! He just needed to prove himself, be better, and he'd be fine. Just... fine. Yeah.

Mini-Lloyd (Red was tempted to call him L'ilyod in his head, but that felt wrong somehow, like he was infringing on some kind of copyright law) stared at him like a goddamn falcon, and he wasn't talking about the bird that circled the ship. He had this bowl-cut Red would tease him about endlessly after all this was over- seriously, how had Mr. Fabulous Hair started with this mess? Garmadon probably didn't even have hair, so there was no way the guy knew how to style it, and it was very evident based on Mini-Lloyd's hairdo. 

Red noticed that all of them were staring, actually. Despite his relaxed rest against the rails, his fingers behind his back clutched the cool bar with a dull shake. He didn't notice how the metal seemed to glow red under his touch. 

"Training, right, we should get onto that," Red tried. "What do you want to start with, Lloyd?" 

"How about a little game?" Lloyd asked with complete innocence. "What we were playing last week before we got interrupted."

Oh sh!t. 

"I-I don't know, shouldn't we start with stretches? Or how about some sparring, that's always more fun than a game!"

"But I wanted to continue our game..." Mini Lloyd said, and FSM's sake, he couldn't deal with that pouting look.

Okay. Okay, don't panic. Think logically. What kind of game would an 8-year-old Lloyd like to play with him? Something physical, so no board games- he liked to test his mettle against Zane on those, and sometimes he would almost not-lose. Logic puzzles also fell more on Jay's area. Trivia, especially music trivia, was a bubble between the anxious motormouth and Cole. Video games fell on team building, and wouldn't classify as a training warmup.

"Well," Red said, taking a hopeful stab in the dark. "There's not too much space on the deck for... tag..."

Lloyd nodded, looking satisfied. The Not-Ninja looked- well, their expressions were hard to read because of how different it was compared to his friends. But Red was a master of deception (well, fire, but eh, technicalities), and he had them fooled, and he just had to keep it up until nightfall so he could rescue Lloyd and explain in a safe location-

"HE'S NOT KAI!"

Orrrrr improvise. Okay, yep, he could improvise. 

Red lunged forward and grabbed Mini Lloyd's wrist from where he had his hand extended in an accusatory point. He ducked under Not-Jay's attempts to grab him- fast, but not as fast as his Jay, his Jay who could disappear from an awkward social interaction in the span of a flickering lightbulb- and dragged his younger brother with him as he vaulted over the railing. Not-Zane almost managed to yank him back onto the Not-ship, but his icy grip caught only empty air as Red pulled Lloyd into a tight hold and ducked.

He hit the dock below with a stumble, rolling back onto his feet and taking off with a very stubborn green ninja in tow. It took all his strength to drag Lloyd (kicking and screaming like he was being kidnapped or something when Red was just trying to rescue him, for FSM's sake. Lloyd didn't know that, but he could still try to be at least a little more considerate.)

The wooden docks creaked and shuddered underfoot and Red grimaced; whoever rebuilt them after the latest Garmadon attack had shredded them like newspaper clearly hadn't wasted any unnecessary change. It certainly didn't help that Lloyd packed quite the punch for someone so small. Red definitely would come out of this with bruised shins and arms from where Mini Lloyd tried to push him away, but it would be worth it to keep his teammate, his younger brother, safe.

Then green filled his vision and broke his hold on Lloyd's wrist, sending him skidding across the dock planks as he was sent flying. When he finally rolled to a stop, neck and shoulder stinging from where the blast had caught him (no burns, just jitters like he'd been shocked), he had to take a few seconds to re-orient himself. Did the Not-Ship have cannons or something? What hit him from behind, so close it could have hit Lloyd?

Lloyd. Was Lloyd okay?

Red pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the bleeding scrapes on his hands and legs from where he'd gotten banged up by the splintered docks. His gaze, sharp and frantic, searched for signs of green. The warning of more blasts, the flash of the fabric of a gi, anything.

He spotted his brother in the arms of Not-Cole. No, no, no-

And suddenly Not-Nya was there, given a boost by Not-Jay. Her grip was as if she were wearing the robotic mech suit, harsh and powerful and near in-human. She threw Red back to the dock floor as her face twisted with the fury of a storming ocean. A resounding crack rang out over the harbour.

Red couldn't tell if it came from the planks under him or his own shoulder.

She pinned him to the wood, barking accusations and threats in his face faster than Not-Jay could talk. Red blinked through a haze of pain, trying to focus on her face and words. She was missing the beauty mark on her face, he noticed. Yet another tell she wasn't his sister.

"-scar on the wrong side-" And it was hard to hear again over the ringing in his ears. He tried to throw her off, get back to Lloyd, anything, but he was-

Useless. 

Her hands suddenly got in his face, slamming his left cheek to the wood. She was close- close to his face, close to his eye, close to his scar- pushing and prying as she tried to do something. Red picked up in his struggling, his attempts to free himself turning to desperate shoves and wild clawing like a trapped animal. He wouldn't let this creation of Garmadon's finish the job that teen had started all those years ago. 

"Or better yet, he needs to shut his damn mouth."

The flash of a knife. His vision half-blurry. Blood- so much blood- and a lasting scar.

"-contacts-" "-red-" "-struggling-" "-we know what he- it- is already-" "-not the real Kai-" "-wish-" "-Garmadon-"

He had to get away. Get Lloyd away from them now.

In one surge of strength- and yep, his shoulder definitely wasn't okay after that move, as if he'd ripped it not just from its socket but from its very attachment to his body- he knocked Not-Nya aside. If he could’ve seen through the red haze, he might have noticed red embers dancing around his fingertips as his desperation and fear tapped into something deep in his soul.

He tried to shoot to his feet, tried to run for Lloyd (held so tight in Not-Cole's grip, surely they were hurting him, he couldn't let that happen-). He roared, "LEAVE MY BROTHER ALONE!", but before he could take another step through Not-Jay and Not-Zane in his path, the docks gave one last ominous shudder  before deciding it had finally had enough.

The planks crumbled underfoot like charred firewood in a crackling campfire, and Red was sent tumbling into the frigid ocean water below.

[m-aster-of-spinjitzu]

the hues of an empty sky

Missing memories, or having two of them for one moment - not quite the same, but if there's one thing Jay's leant over the last few weeks, it's that literally nothing makes sense anymore.

Or, some Skybound aftermath, Zane actually expressing emotions about his memory switch being turned off for all those years, and what was supposed to be a 'they tell everyone about the erased timeline' fic, but it turned into a 'two characters who barely interact on screen talk at like one am in the morning, and don't actually tell the other what exactly they're alluding to the whole time' fic that I wrote at like one am- 

Also yeah, I realized too late that they split up to look for Wu after s7, we’re just gonna pretend that they waited a few days or something, idk anymore tbh, lol.

(I also didn't have time to edit - so please tell me where the typos are? 😂💛)

Word count: 4539

Prompt: crying, from @ninjago-bingo 's warm board.

Trigger warnings: the main character has a panic attack, and squeezes their fingernails into their hands once or twice but I think that's it.

*facepalms* also, guys, i’m so stupid - i literally just realized that this freaking CHANGES TENSE HALFWAY OHMYGOSH I-  i don’t think it’s super noticeable, but ugh, apologies to anyone who actually thought my writing was good lol-

---

It's cold.

Bitterly, freezing cold.

The biting chill of the air is a bit strange for this time of year, but, heck, that's nowhere near the craziest thing that's ever happened to him - not by a long shot.

He sighs, squinting at the stars dotted liberally against the black canvas of the sky.

Cole had once joked that one of them might be the remains of their golden weapons, after they'd hurled the burning mass into the sky - in another alternate timeline; one that only existed in the memories of a certain few.

Gosh - that seemed like such a long time ago.

Wouldn't it be nice to go back to that time, when he'd still thought that their powers were the coolest thing ever - instead of despising them for all the responsibility and sacrifice that came with them? When one of his biggest worries was whether the girl he had a crush on liked him back - not wondering if his friends would survive the night?

"I did not expect to find you awake at this hour, Jay."

Reflexivity, he jumps back, his mind twisting his friend's gentle voice into the- the djin's triumphant, accented one.

You're supposed to be a ninja. What good are you if your friends can still sneak up on you?

"Geez, warn a guy before you sneak up on him! I almost fell off the Bounty!"

"My apologies. I was... surprised to find you awake at this hour," Zane answers. "What are you doing?" "Couldn't sleep. It's too cold," he confesses, not entirely a lie. Ninjago wasn't 'that' far from the Sea of Sand, but he'd grown up in a much warmer area - unfortunately resulting in his practically nonexistent tolerance to the cold. That never failed to stop Kai from teasing him about it, though. He doesn't mention the pressing weight on his chest, almost tangible - or how it constantly makes him feel. Like he's being dragged through the darkness of an empty sky, spikes of fear making everything so freaking terrifying- "You?"

"I have been analyzing my memories of Pixal, in the hope that it may lead me to her whereabouts. However, all my efforts have proved... unsuccessful," Zane answers wearily, shifting his gaze to the sky.

Oh- oh. They'd all be so caught up in the chaos of the last few weeks - hey, it's not like any of them had asked the universe to permanently be out to get them! - that they'd forgotten Pixal was still offline.

"Hey, I'm sure that she's still there somewhere," he says, earnestly. "After all - she wouldn't be your girlfriend if she didn't pull a vanishing act every now and again, eh?"

The question is punctuated with a laugh, but he doesn't say that he's a little worried about her too. They hadn't talked much, but-

I can't see one of my best friends find out that his girlfriend is dead, a quiet voice at the back of his mind points out. Well - been there, done that, wouldn't recommend, he thinks bitterly. Emotional breakdowns and frequent nightmares apply. Anxiety attacks are half off, too!

It's quiet for a few minutes, neither of them seeing a need to break the silence. The wind blows softly through the sails above them; gray wisps of cloud revealing a pale sliver of moonlight that paints the sky in its glow.

It should be a peaceful night: beautiful, calm, no one trying to kill them or destroy their city - for a change.

His hands won't stop shaking.

It should be a peaceful night, but, as usual, the world is too freaking unfair for that-

He hasn't even slept for a full night in weeks! Well, not since- since-

Don't think about it! That's only going to make it worse, duh-

"Are you alright, Jay?"

"Yeah- I- I'm good, thanks," he says quickly, ignoring the way his breathing keeps speeding up. FSM, not this-

Not for the first time, the world suddenly becomes too loud - too much. Every little thing, from trying to breathe properly or even walk- feels insurmountable, because, gosh, oh gosh, it's going to come crashing down if he even moves-

The memory starts off the same as it always does.

Rubble strewn over the temple grounds, his friends literally reduced to nothing more than statues. A shot that hit the mark perfectly, but perfectly shattered his world in the process.

A poison-splattered dress, a terrifying realization.

Her well-aimed joke, but one that never fails to sting every time. Gosh, why hadn't they just allowed her to join their team in the first place? Maybe they could've prevented this- this- whole situation, if they hadn't been so freaking egotistical-

And, again, he's overwhelmed by the sheer sense of helplessness, all his power and training and skills completely useless to one of the people he cared most about. FSM, if only I hadn't used my first w-request so carelessly! If only I'd been able to escape- or, or if only I'd been able to assemble the team faster! If only-

Despite being in what must've been unimaginable pain, she offers a strained smile - a sweet gesture that, ironically, feels like she's poisoning him, because- because FSM, this is all so wrong, it wasn't supposed to end like this-

He watches with horror as her eyes dull and she stills in his arms.

She's gone, FSM, she's gone and it's all my fault-

"Jay?" a voice asks, concern evident in their tone. Distantly, he registers that he's having a breakdown in front of one of his best friends - one of the things he'd been trying really hard to avoid.

Dang it.

"I-" he tries to say, but, great, he's breathing too fast to even get the stupid words out.

"Breathe in for four seconds," Zane says, softly.

Four seconds? Time has no meaning right now, narrowed down to, like - falling down a chasm, terrified of what's at the bottom, except the fear's all around, this- this... foreboding thing of his mind that keeps yelling that he needs to run, or fight, but he can't, can't-

Right. Four seconds.

You're okay, you're fine, no one's trying to hurt you or your friends. She's not dead.

But what if- what if they're being dragged out of this ship right now? What if it was all a dream, and she's dead anyway, because all of us were too stupid to come up with another plan, and none of us could even do anything when she-

After a little while, when he could breathe a little easier, and the fear didn't feel like it was slamming into him from every possible direction, he slowly opened his eyes. Shakily, he wiped a tear from his face - as if that would wipe away all the weeks that had, theoretically, never even freaking happened.

The sky comes back into focus - pinpricks of light against pitch black. 

How was he going to come up with some sorta explanation without... well, explaining everything?

Great.

My nerves are frayed, and I have to lie to a walking lie detector - what could possibly go wrong?

"Are you alright?" Zane asks, his brows creased in concern.

"Heh heh, yeah. Probably just too many video games," he replies quickly, laughter a bit strained.

"You were muttering to yourself," his friend replies quietly. Ugh, trust the way-too-observant-nindroid to call him out on the remains of his facade. "If you do not mind me asking, what was 'all your fault'? I am sure that it was probably a misunderstanding."

You're the one who misunderstands everything, he thinks wearily, ignoring the part of him that yearns to tell someone else about... well, everything that's happened because of that stupid teapot. He's not one to keep secrets by nature, and it's been taking a bigger toll of him than he'd thought it would. Is this how Nya felt when she was still the Samurai? "It's- it's nothing, probably just nonsense."

"Are you sure? You seem... quite worried about something."

Dang it, were his hands still shaking? He presses his fingernails into his palms, squeezing his eyes shut for a second.

He's talking to one of his best friends, FSM. Weren't friends able to tell each other anything?

"Do you think it's easier to forget? Better?"

He didn't even realize he'd asked a question until Zane's eyes widened in surprise.

A forest coated in snow, ice crystals dangling from the tree branches above their heads. Plenty of screaming - way too much, he reflects, couldn't they have been a bit nicer? It must've been pretty jarring to learn that you weren't human, or that your father had erased years of your life from your mind - in that weird underground treehouse. Those crazy tree monsters - and the realization that they all had much more power than they'd thought.

"N- nevermind," he stutters, fleetingly thinking of kicking the deck. "That's way too personal, you don't have to answer it-"

"I do not mind," Zane says, a bit sadly.

Oh.

Heck, his friend was way too nice.

They gaze up at the stars for a few minutes, not really seeing them - one drowning under the weight of too many secrets, the other, too many memories.

It's quiet - too quiet.

Ugh, he thinks, sighing, that sounds like something a low-budget horror movie would start with, cringey sound effects to match.

But the silence is a painful reminder of the days he'd spent tossing and turning in a cramped cell - nothing but his worries and the bruises on his leg from that stupid ball and chain keeping him awake.

He's been trying hard - maybe too hard - to avoid being alone, avoid being in a situation where they've gotta be quiet ever since then, because, dang it, his memories always seem to fill the silence, and they're always far more terrifying than they should be-

It's easier, in a way, to be mocked for his stupid jokes than it is to relive a single moment from those nightmarish few weeks.

Almost reflexively, he grasps for something to fill the quiet.

"Heh, this is a bit awkward. It's okay if you wanna leave-"

"I do not mind," Zane echoes, walking a bit closer. "It is not as if I need to sleep. But... I do not quite know what to think of your question."

There comes the answer - or a semblance of one at least, and it's the last thing he'd been expecting.

"You don't know?" he blurts out before he can even think of trying to filter the thought. Way to treat your friend who's been nothing but kind to you, Jay. "But you're- you're a nindroid! You know everything-"

"Pixal," his friend mutters softly, sighing, and the hurt, the fear, laced through the word makes something in his heart practically twist. He knows all too well what it feels like to be in that situation - even if, technically, it had never happened.

Then- "I wish that were true. But I suppose that my emotions make certain situations much more complicated than... than they need to be. Thus I cannot give my perspective on this - or, at least, without sounding quite conflicted."

"You know that you're allowed to be conflicted, right? Even the coolest Nindroids don't know everything."

"...Yes, I suppose so."

Jay frowns at the almost subconscious hesitation, eyebrows creasing in concern.

"Seriously," he starts earnestly. They're both leaning on one of the railings just above the deck now. "Just 'cause you're a nindroid doesn't mean that you've gotta chase some kind of perfection that doesn't even exist."

He doesn't miss how Zane's eyes widen in shock, their bright blue hue glowing a little brighter - and heck, if that doesn't hurt even more than the earlier realization.

"Besides - it's not like none of us haven't made mistakes before. Hate to go all Wu on ya, but they help us learn or some stupid thing like that. Even if the mistake is trying not to make 'em, you know?"

"Thank you," Zane replies, a tired smile on his face. "Even the most advanced tech is susceptible to error, I suppose."

They've all made lots of mistakes, heaven forbid if one of them is still agonizing over messing up over the crazy situations the universe constantly put them in. It's not like they were told they'd have to face more ancient evil armies than they could count, were they?

Maybe it's time to stop focusing on events that never even happened, and pay more attention to your friends. What's the point of being part of this team if you're always scared or selfish?

"Shut up," he mumbles, rubbing his temples. What's the point of fighting if your own brain is gonna fight you whenever it gets a chance? A few seconds later, he schools his face back into his default anxious grin. "Great, cause I- I- could use your advice on something." "Alright," comes the quiet reply, his friend seemingly lost in thought.

"What if you wanted to tell someone something, but you couldn't?"

His breathing starts to speed up again, but he grips the deck until his fingers are practically bruised, stark white against his tanned skin. Not this time-

"Is this what you were referring to earlier? An event that you blamed yourself for?" Zane asks, eyes flitting between the floor and the sky.

Dang it, way too observant as usual. He masks his surprise with a laugh, but the conversation definitely isn't going as planned and, oh gosh oh gosh, what if-

No, there's no way that any of them would even believe that. Besides - no one can remember stuff that they've forgotten, especially if magic's at play.

"Yeah, kinda," and he's surprised by how steady his voice sounds. It's not easy to even think about that- event, talking about it is a whole different thing. A much more difficult thing, but also - a bit, a little bit, easier. "I-" "Apologies for interrupting," his friend interjects. "I suppose that I have not been entirely honest with you." What?

"A few days ago, I discovered a number of deleted memory files buried deep within my code."

Just like that, his whole world tilts out from underneath him.

It takes every ounce of his strength to keep himself from falling into the abyss again.

Wait, what?

Has he really known for all this time? It's been weeks! Surely he would've said something? It can't be, it never even-

The rational part of his mind points out that he can remember every day of those few weeks. Well, he was the one to make the wish - magical logic is kinda stupid, but maybe that's why he had to remember it or something?

Well then, a small voice interjects, why was Nya cursed to remember everything too?

Of course, even the stupid magical logic doesn't even make sense to the one who caused this whole mess in the first place.

"They were almost entirely corrupted - scrambled in a way that I am not familiar with. However, I did realize that certain files bore dates that have not even occurred yet. I dismissed it as a problem with my code, however..."

Breathe, calm down, it's not like he was able to process them or anything-

We agreed that no one was supposed to know! What if they end up blaming us for keeping it a secret this long, or, or-

"I mean, they could've been-" he starts, but the way in which he's nervously twisting his fingers is a pretty clear indication that he's lying, dang it.

"So when you mentioned that you were unable to tell someone something - did you mean that it was because they had quite literally forgotten about it?"

Great. Fantastic. Of course the literal robot has pieced it together by now-

He squeezes his eyes shut for a minute, hoping that if he ignores the problem, maybe it'll go away.

Okay, fine, maybe he's trying to figure out a way to fix this whole mess. Doesn't mean that he's any closer to coming up with a solution, though.

"Er, yeah," he whispers, shoulders slumped, eyes still firmly shut. Because gosh, he doesn't want to - can't, can't - see the realization dawn that, yeah, he's lied to people he's known for years and years, even though they've all seen way too many times that secrets bring nothing but trouble-

"Well, then - I would say that you don't have to tell them," Zane replies, surprisingly... earnestly? That, or he's either too freaked out to understand the tone properly. Could be either.

He opens his eyes, hesitantly.

And it comes as a bit of a shock to find nothing but concern reflected in his friend's.

The almost persistent weight on his chest feels a little lighter now, like the sky isn't as quite so empty.

Well, it still kinda is. But that doesn't hold as much weight as he'd thought it did - not if one of his friends is willing to look past that; past the heaviness of holding up all those memories with nothing his single star, flickering in and out of the darkness, to try and light the unforgiving darkness of the sky.

"Why?" Jay asks, so quietly he can barely hear it himself. "Don't I owe it to them? Do you?"

"No. Definitely not," comes the reply, so full of conviction that he almost stumbles back. Why-

"My father..."

Oh- oh.

"thought it was better to spare me the pain of mourning him than for me to know who I was," Zane confesses, hesitantly. "Not that I disagree, necessarily. I just..."

He trails off, clutching the railing so hard that the wood almost snaps beneath his titanium fingers.

It takes Jay a little while to realize why - why exactly his friend, who has access to a wealth of knowledge and information, is grasping for an answer. Because- because, well, even if someone does something in your best interests - sometimes the choice isn't always up to them. Or maybe it is, but it was... difficult, to say the least, to let go of the fact that his parents had never told him the truth sooner. Not that he blames them, necessarily - it's not like they knew that his father would pass on before he'd even get the chance to meet him - but... it's confusing, and difficult, not to know why you were left at a junkyard as soon as you were born. Maybe if he'd known that sooner, he could've asked the one person who might've had answers - although it's not like hoping for the past to change will actually change it.

They don't even know that you know, a small voice at the back of his mind points out, and suddenly everything makes a lot more sense-

"You wanted a choice," he breathes, eyes widening. A choice - like one that he'd never been given, one that he stills struggles not to hold against two people who've always had his best interests at heart. Even if they did have the right to withhold that one thing, after all they've done for him - the 'what if's' still echo in his mind far more often than he'd like. "There's nothing wrong with that, even if it feels that way. I kinda get where you're coming from, dude, and it's... super confusing, but I'd be pretty mad if my memories were tampered with like that."

So would anyone, he realizes, heart sinking. Oh, great. Not helping-

"I- I suppose so?" Zane answers, but it sounds more like a question than a reply. "However, in the same vein, it would be unwise for you to give away your choice whilst you still have one." "But don't I owe it to everyone? You just said it, it's horrible to alter people's memories and I- I-" "Did we forget... whatever it was for a good reason? "I- I mean, I guess, but..." "Then you do not owe it to us to relive something that we do not even remember." The words should be a relief - and they kinda are. But some part of him really does want to explain the crazy alternate timeline, and everything that happened in it. It's just... really, really freaking difficult.

"What if- what if I wanted to, though?" Jay asks hysterically, running his hands through his hair in a frenzied sort of way. "And I still couldn't? I just, I-"

He cuts himself off with a bout of forced laughter.

Zane takes a moment to reply, the bright blue light in his eyes flickering - a small tell that he was thinking so deeply, his processors were literally sparking up a bit.

"You queried earlier if it was easier, or better, to forget. And while all situations are different, I suppose it is... well, subjective. What do you think?" Zane asks, softly.

Derailing the conversation a bit, but his friend's obviously smart enough to be leading up to something.

Sure, he'll go along with it.

"I mean, there are some things I'd rather forget, you know? I guess we all know what that feels like," Jay replies, the statement with oddly sad air to it. They're still kids, after all, and it gets a bit exhausting pretending that their superhero lives were all fun and games - when they'd just given him enough grey hair to last then lifetimes, and enough nightmares to keep him from ever getting the normal amount of sleep his mum always prattled on about.

Sleep, heh heh. Practically a foreign concept, now.

"And I know that stuff that happens, like shapes us or something - and Master Wu would probably go off on a whole ramble about why we learn from our mistakes or whatever," he laughs nervously, resisting the urge to just fall headfirst onto the deck of the stupid ship instead of continuing the conversation," and how 'our scars only make us stronger', crap like that, but I just-"

"I'm just really... tired of this," he confesses warily, shoulders slumped. "W- I remember so many horrible things, and I-" he breaks off, laughing bitterly. His voice takes on a sort of brittle quality, way too high pitched, "and I can't even talk about them, dude. If that's not the most pathetic thing ever, I dunno what is."

"It does not-"

"Don't say it," Jay mutters, rubbing his temples. "I know, I know, my feelings aren't pathetic, they're always valid, whatever, spare me the lecture-"

"That is not what I was going to say," Zane replies gently. "It just seems that you have answered your own question."

"Gee, which one?"

"I do not know how much helpful assistance I can provide in this situation, but it is understandable to wish certain events had never occurred. However, seeing as we cannot change the past, it seems unwise to dwell on said events if you can avoid it."

Jay stiffens, clamping a shaky hand over his mouth. Something seems to press down even harder on his chest, a heavy sort of weight that causes his breathing to speed up again. Don't say it don't say it there's no reason to warn them this time-

"If you would like to tell any of us about something, of course you are welcome to. It does not to be the whole story, after all. Just make sure that it is the decision you choose, not one you choose because of what you think how it will affect others," Zane finishes quietly, ducking his head as if he's embarrassed.

The stars are still white-hot, burning away some million miles above them.

"Thanks," he says, and puts his hand softly on Zane's shoulder. "I mean, I know - that all makes sense, I guess. It's just- I-"

"You want to?"

"Yeah," Jay starts, sighing, "I do. It's just- it's not just my choice. And I'm pretty much dying already right now, so, as fantastic as making it all worse sounds, hard pass."

Oops, maybe he shouldn't have said that last bit. They'd agreed not to tell anyone about it - even this conversation was cutting it way too close. It wasn't impossible for them to put everything together - they were a pretty smart group, after all, even without their resident inventor and engineer - and Jay didn't really know what he'd think if they did. Fearful? Relieved? Angry?

"That does... not sound great? Dying certainly does not seem-"

"It's called sarcasm, Zane."

"Oh- yes. My memory now accesses the fact that people often speak in that manner. It does seem a bit counterproductive, though. Why not just say what you mean?"

"Shut it, you have no clue how integral to my life it is," Jay replies with a halfhearted grin.

A few seconds later, he remembers something his friend had mentioned earlier, and the grin disappears.

"You know that you can talk to us if you're not happy, right?" he asks, earnestly. Sure, it's not like he could always do that, considering, well, a stupid djin and even stupider magic, but it's not like he needs to. It's- well- he'll be okay, probably. Maybe. Kinda.

Zane's eyes blink on and off again, blue fading in and out. "I... I suppose that I was not quite aware of that."

Okay, they've screwed up way too many times, but this... this is pretty bad. Dang it, how long does it take for them to throw self-preservation instincts at their friend before he freaking- picks them up or something?

"However, will it not hurt those who have experienced the same unfortunate events?"

Dude, not the best question to ask someone wondering the exact same thing-

"It's been... uh, nice, kind of, talking to you. So- I don't think so, and I'm pretty sure someone would say so if it did. Besides, don't we talk about our adventures all the time? It'd probably be better if we... uh, well- heh heh, nothing."

"If we talked about the less than positive elements of them? Perhaps, but I still-"

Maybe it's the fact Zane has always tried to be there for him, or maybe he's too sleep deprived to care anymore, but this is a way too familiar situation and-

Well, not ignoring the issue would be a start.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we're family, Zane. We care about each other. And, gosh, that means that we care about you too. Memories are stupid and annoying sometimes, but we have to make good ones too, right? To block out the bad ones a bit, I guess? Kinda, at least."

They both look away from the stars now, grappling for something else to say.

In the end, they leave it be with a hug and a fondly exasperated warning about sleeping, if you happen to need it.

After all, they're family. They don't have to be perfect, or tell each other everything - even if it does take them a long time to realize that, and an even longer time remembering it.

---

The next time Jay startles awake from a nightmare, the sky is still empty - painfully so, like an ache that simmers beneath the surface even when it's not able to be seen.

The hue, though, is a little lighter.

Just a little - the all-encompassing darkness of it is now a navy sort of blue, his star shining a little bit brighter.

It's still not sunrise, not even close - but he'll take it. AN: the ‘sky’ mentioned at the start and end is a stupid metaphor that i somehow ended up liking too much to trash, it’s ‘empty’ because he hasn’t told anyone about the timeline, and Nya’s not included because they never had a chance to tell each other everything significant or even talked about it or processed it on screen. so yeah! if you read this,,, not great thing, can i send you a hug or good vibes or smth? tyy🥺

[rosiehunterwolf]

There's Sand Everywhere!

(quick shoutout to @fires-of-ninjago for the title idea and inspiration for this- you remember that ask game where people suggested titles for fics and you had to come up with a story to go along with it? Well, he sent in this title, and I came up with this, and liked it so much that I screenshotted it and- here we are!)

Prompts: Summer and Heist

Word Count: 7,922

Characters: The whole gang (including Pixal) :)

Timeline: Between seasons 12 and 13

Trigger Warnings: none (holy shit that's never happened before-)

Summary: It was just supposed to be a day off. A simple beach day. But when your family consists of six ninja and a samurai, including a nindroid convinced he’s a detective, his reluctant sidekick, an aquaphobe, a girl who can command the sea, an unassuming teen who seems to attract every animal he crosses paths with, and a bunch of argumentative idiots, nothing is ever that easy.

Read on FFN.net

Read on Ao3

Tumblr work under the cut

“We,” Kai proclaimed, surveying the room, “Need a day off.”

Lloyd shrieked at the fire ninja’s sudden outburst, falling out of his chair. Jay broke into snickers, and Lloyd shot him a glare.

“Kai,” Zane sighed, “get off the table.”

Kai stuck his tongue out at the nindroid, but hopped down, anyway. “Look at you guys!” Kai waved his hands at the group for emphasis. Papers fluttered to the ground where Lloyd had knocked them in his fall, Jay and Nya were sitting on the ground, surrounded by stacks of books tall enough to be mistaken for some kind of fort, Pixal was gathering some of the papers that had gone everywhere, while Cole and Zane had only just paused in their task of boxing up and carrying crates to the far side of the room. “Filing documents and organizing? Boooring.”

“Tasks which you’ve been a big help with, by the way,” Lloyd grumbled, as Cole offered him a hand and pulled him to his feet. He turned back to the desk, shuffling papers off of the keyboard of his laptop, the screen filled with lines of script and dozens of files that made Kai's brain hurt just to look at.

Nya pushed her reading glasses up her nose. “Jay and I technically aren’t working. We chose to do this of our own free will.”

Kai rolled his eyes at her. “What kind of psychopaths read for fun?”

Jay kicked his leg out, aiming for Kai’s ankle, but Cole quickly stepped between them, stopping the conflict before it could escalate into anything worse.

“We’re not reading them, we’re sorting them in order from most potentially useful to least so. They’re mechanics and engineering books. You never know when they might come in handy in a pinch.”

“Oh, because that’s so much more interesting. If you guys wanna spend all your free time geeking out, fine, what do I care. But what about the rest of you? C’mon, Lloydster. You don’t really wanna spend your entire day doing this,” he gestured at the laptop and paper-strewn desk- “do you?”

“It’s not about whether or not I want to. This stuff is important, Kai.”

“Lloyd’s right,” Zane agreed. “With all the crazy missions we’ve been on lately, we’ve neglected all our paperwork, and taking care of the Monastery.”

“It’s because we’ve been gone so long that we need a break!” Kai argued. “We just got done saving the entire city from an evil video game AI! If that’s not worth celebrating, I don’t know what is.”

“Technically,” Nya remarked, not even glancing up from the book she was skimming, “That was Jay who did that.”

Kai spluttered, ignoring the smug look on Jay’s face. “Okay, yeah, but we helped! And what about Aspheera? Or the Never Realm? That was all of us. And we didn’t have time to properly recuperate from that before we got launched right into Prime Empire!”

Pixal’s brow furrowed. “Y’know, he has a point…”

A frown flitted across Zane’s face. “I suppose we have been working for a long time…”

“That’s what I’ve been saying! Come on, let’s do something fun.”

“Not video games,” Cole groaned. “Jay and I spent the last three days playing a Lava Zombies tournament, and I’m all gamed-out.”

“No, let’s actually go somewhere. Like the-”

“The library!” Jay pitched.

“Or the museum!” Zane suggested.

“No!” Kai snapped. “Man, you guys are so lame. I meant somewhere fun. We should go to-”

“The beach!” Nya cried suddenly, standing up so quickly that she sent a pile of books toppling over. “Brilliant idea, Kai!”

“Wait, no,” he yelped. “That’s not what I was going to-”

But no one heard him. They were already scrambling to their feet, murmuring excitedly to one another.

“Guys, wait!” he cried. “Why would you want to go to the beach? It’s all sandy, and wet, and-”

“Don’t worry, Kai,” Nya giggled, “we won’t let the ocean hurt you.”

“That’s not-” he felt himself turning red as the others laughed. “That’s not what I meant! I just thought… wouldn’t laser tag or something be a lot more fun?”

The others glanced at each other, uncertain. Zane stepped forward. “Let’s take a vote. All in favor of laser tag, raise your hands.”

Kai lifted his hand, but no one else did. He scowled at them.

“And all in favor of the beach?”

Six hands went up.

“Seems like we have a clear winner. Let’s get going, shall we?”

---

“Do you have the towels?”

“All here!”

“What about the sunscreen?”

“Hold on- Jay, did you grab the sunscreen?”

“What?”

Lloyd cupped his hands around his mouth, yelling louder. “Did you grab the sunscreen?”

“Oh yeah, it’s here! Wait, do you have my-”

“Your what?” Lloyd called, walking over to him, passing Pixal and Zane as they came out of the kitchen. The female nindroid sighed.

“Can’t anything get done around here without everyone making such a racket?”

“Nope,” Nya elbowed her playfully. “When you’ve been with these idiots as long as I have, you get used to it.”

Pixal’s eyes widened. “I can’t imagine ever being used to all this.”

Nya smiled. “Did I mention I’m slightly deaf?”

“We finished making the picnic,” Zane told her, holding out the basket he was carrying. “Is everyone ready to go?”

Nya eyed the guys, who were running around the Monastery, barely avoiding tripping over one another. “‘Ready’ is an overstatement.”

“Hold your horses, we’re almost done,” Cole grunted, heaving the large beach bag over to them. “Have a little faith in us, Nya.”

Nya put her hand on her hip, waiting- and a second later, there was a crashing sound followed by an angry chorus of yells from Kai, Lloyd, and Jay.

Cole grimaced, rubbing the back of his head. “Okay, maybe you’re right to not have any faith in us.”

---

After an intense, fifteen-minute argument about what mode of transportation they would take, they ended up deciding on the city bus, and finally, finally got out the door. The bus ride went off without a hitch, for once, (except for a brief panic about not having the proper change for the bus fare, but luckily Zane had a few extra dollars on him), and before Nya knew it, they were staking out an area on Ninjago City beach. She was beginning to think this could actually work out.

Maybe.

“Check out my abs, dude.”

“They’re the same as last time.”

“Are not! I’m way more shredded than last time we went swimming.”

“Okay, that’s just a straight-up lie. I saw you sneak that extra piece of pie last night.”

“You better not be disrespecting my muscles, Flat Stanley.”

“Hey! I’m way more muscly than I used to be.”

“Are you kidding? We call you ‘green bean’ for a reason, and it’s not just because you’re the green ninja. You’re a twig!”

“I’m a twig? Have you seen Jay?”

“Hey, don’t rope me into this, green machine, and, for your information, I weigh a whole fifteen pounds more than you!”

“Yeah, well, you’re also two years older than me!”

“I think the lesson we need to learn here is that neither of you have abs anywhere near as pronounced as mine-”

Zane sighed, rolling his eyes. “Here, guys,” he held out a pouch to the group, “this is a waterproof pouch, you can store all your valuables in here.”

They quickly filled the pouch with phones, watches, and wallets. However, as Lloyd pulled back, he tripped over Jay’s foot, and half the guys collapsed into a pile, groaning.

“Jay! Get your foot out of my face!”

“Right after you get your elbow out of my ribs!”

Nya turned away from them, shaking her head. Glancing at Pixal, she asked, “Wanna help me get set up?”

The nindroid nodded, and they pulled the large picnic blanket out of the bag, unfolding it to lay it across the sand.

“Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon,” Kai cried, “You get back here right this instant!”

Nya looked up from the blanket to see Kai running through the sand after Lloyd, his feet sinking into the sand with each step, making it difficult for him to retain his balance. He waved a bottle of sunscreen at the green ninja. “It’s sunny out today! And you know how easily you burn!”

“No way!” Lloyd whined. “You always make me stay out of the water for at least twenty minutes to let it set, and it’s way too hot for me to wait that long! I wanna go swimming now.”

Kai lunged for him, and Lloyd yelped, barely dodging out of the way.

“Over here, Lloyd!” Jay cried, already wading into the shallows of the ocean. “He won’t follow you into the water!”

Lloyd hurried after him, splashing up water as he went, accidentally splattering Kai and causing the red ninja to flinch back with a yelp. Sure enough, he froze at the water’s edge, glaring at Jay and Lloyd, where they stood, only about ten feet away, laughing at him.

Zane rubbed a hand over his face, sighing. “They’re both going to get skin cancer, aren’t they?”

“At the very least, they’re going to be bright red tomatoes,” Cole laughed. “Oh, it’s going to be a blast when they take showers.”

Zane stared at him, horrified. “Please don’t let Jay do that again. He had the worst blisters, last time-”

Cole held up his hands. “It was a joke, Zane! A joke!”

Zane narrowed his eyes and didn’t reply.

Nya laughed, grabbing Pixal’s hand. “Come on. Wanna go bodyboarding with me?”

Pixal glanced at her. “I don’t know how.”

“That’s fine.” Nya stepped on the board, flipping it up into her hand and handing it to Pixal, before grabbing a second one for herself. “I can teach you!”

“Thanks, Nya.”

As they walked down towards the shore, they passed Kai and Cole, who had finally managed to get Jay and Lloyd out of the water. Cole had his arms locked around Jay, preventing him from running away as Kai slathered sunscreen across his face. Lloyd was sitting in the sand beside him, pouting, his face already smeared in white.

Nya grinned at him. “Can you guys handle yourselves for twenty minutes if Pix and I go out bodyboarding?”

Lloyd stuck his tongue out at her, and Kai rolled his eyes. “We’ll be fine, Nya. I think you’re forgetting we save the city on a regular basis? We’re perfectly capable.”

Nya put a hand near Pixal’s ear, whispering loudly into it. “Betcha anything the beach will be on fire by the time we get back.”

The two ran off, giggling at the sight of Kai’s smoldering glare, before he could set them on fire.

---

To Kai’s credit, he did not set the beach on fire, or anything, for that matter, but when Nya and Pixal returned, they found him and Cole shoveling sand onto Zane, who was chest-deep by this point.

“Zane!” Pixal exclaimed. “Are you alright?”

“When Kai told me he had something fun to show me, this wasn’t quite what I had imagined.”

“Aww, come on Zane!” Kai grinned. “I’m having a great time.”

Pixal shook her head, and stepped forward, grabbing Zane’s hand and pulling him up, sending sand cascading down everywhere. Cole and Kai groaned.

“Aww, come on, Pix, that took forever!” Cole muttered.

“Yeah, we were gonna shape it into a mermaid tail. Don’t you know how funny that would’ve been?”

“Humor is subjective.” Zane rubbed at his wrists. “Augh, now I’m going to have sand in my gears for weeks.” Shooting a glare at Kai, he added, “I’ll remember this the next time you ditch your swimming lessons.”

“Hey!” Kai yelped. “That’s totally different! Sand is warm, and solid, and most importantly, not dangerous!”

“You could suffocate,” Zane pointed out.

Kai scowled. “You’re a nindroid, you wouldn’t have suffocated.”

“You’re related to an elemental master of water. You won’t drown.”

“Being related to a master of water and being a master of water are two very different things! I control fire, not water, I can’t do anything to protect myself.”

Cole rolled his eyes. “You’re so lame. Remind me again why we brought our friend with aquaphobia to the beach?”

“Technically,” Zane said, raising a finger, “the word you’re looking for is thalassophobia. Kai doesn’t fear water in general, only large bodies, such as-”

“It was his idea,” Nya interrupted. “If it weren’t for him, we’d still be at the Monastery, filing papers.”

“I never suggested the beach!” Kai snapped. “That was your idea!”

“Yeah, well, your suggestions were lame. The beach was the obvious choice.”

“Hey,” Pixal interjected, suddenly realizing they were missing a couple of people. “Where are Jay and Lloyd?”

Cole sighed, pointing up towards their stuff, where Jay and Lloyd were struggling with a large, yellow duck inflatable that was very much not inflated at the moment. Jay had his lips around the mouthpiece, his face red.

“Blow harder, Jay,” Lloyd insisted, hovering by his side. “You’re hardly doing anything!”

Jay pulled his head back, breathing out heavily as the redness faded from his cheeks. “I’d like to see you do better! You’d probably pass out after a minute.”

“Would not!” Lloyd snatched the floaty away from him, blowing hard into the mouthpiece, putting even less air into the floaty than Jay had. His face reddened as he huffed desperately, although he still wasn’t making much progress. After a few moments, Jay pulled it away from him.

“Okay, that’s enough. I don’t want you to actually pass out.”

Lloyd glared at him, panting. “I wasn’t… going to… pass out.”

Jay sighed, grabbing the inflatable and staring at what looked to be the eyes and a very flat, crumpled-looking beak. “At this rate, we’re never going to get Mr. Quackington blown up.”

Lloyd’s nose wrinkled. “Mr. Quackington?”

Jay blinked at him. “Yeah, that’s his name.”

“No, it’s not! His name is Mr. Waddles!”

“Mr. Waddles? What kind of juvenile name is that?”

“Oh, like Mr. Quackington is any better!”

“It is! It’s loads better!”

“Nuh-uh.”

“Is so!”

“It’s not!” Lloyd snapped, green energy sparking between his fingers. Jay glanced down at them thoughtfully. “Hey, what if…”

Lloyd was evidently catching on to Jay’s train of thought, his eyes lighting up. “We can use my powers to inflate Mr. Waddles!”

Jay narrowed his eyes. “Quackington.”

Lloyd bared his teeth, the small fangs glinting. “Waddles.”

Jay sighed. “Okay, whatever. We can use your powers to inflate Mr. Waddles.”

Lloyd grinned widely, whether about the promise of getting his inflated duck or having won the name debate with Jay, Pixal couldn’t tell. He held up a hand and formed a basketball-sized sphere of green energy. Jay’s eyes widened, and he held the mouthpiece up to the energy. Lloyd channeled it inside, watching with glee as the duck puffed up, the yellow plastic slowly tinging green, making the duck look like he was about to be sick.

Zane took a step forward, holding his hand out. “Lloyd, wait-”

There was a sharp snapping noise as the floaty popped, and Lloyd and Jay cried out in horror as the yellow pieces of plastic fluttered to the ground. Lloyd fell to his knees, gripping the busted plastic and wailing, and Jay landed next to him, crying, “No! Mr. Waddles, you were so young!”

“I can’t believe he’s really gone,” Lloyd sniffed. “He was my best friend in the whole world.”

Kai threw up his hands. “Great. You spend the last several years of your life looking out for him only to get replaced by his inflatable plastic duck.”

“Oookay,” Nya said, walking over to Jay and Lloyd and ushering them towards the picnic blanket. “Someone’s obviously been out in the sun too long. Go sit under the umbrella and let’s have something to eat.”

“Good idea,” Zane agreed. “I’m sure we’re all getting hungry. Jay, could you grab the picnic basket? It’s right behind you.”

The lightning ninja grabbed the basket, peering inside briefly as he carried it towards them. “I hope you brought the Pringles. I could really go for some of those right now- augh!”

Before anyone could stop him, Jay was falling to the ground, the basket flying out of his hands and landing sideways in the sand.

“Jay!” Kai cried. “Look what you’ve done to our picnic!”

“Hey! That was totally your fault! Why did you leave your shoes right in the middle of the sand, perfectly positioned for someone to trip over?”

“Why were you clumsy enough to get in the way of my shoes?”

“Guys, guys, it’s okay,” Zane assured. Walking over, he carefully lifted the basket out of the sand. “I’m sure it’s still salvageable.”

“Yeah, but now all our food is going to taste like sand,” Lloyd moaned.

“Lloyd, the food barely touched the sand,” Nya pointed out.

“Doesn’t matter. Every time you go to the beach, if the food gets even remotely close to the sand, it always gets sand in it. Every time. It’s one of the great mysteries of the universe.”

“Well, I think you’ll survive,” she said, passing Lloyd a sandwich and a bag of pretzels. Lloyd took them, but narrowed his eyes.

“Brings a whole new meaning to the word ‘sandwich.’”

“Just eat your food, mister.”

Lloyd shot her a glare, but grudgingly obliged. As Pixal bit into her own sandwich, she realized Lloyd was right, she could feel granules of sand between her teeth as she chewed.

“Hey… at least it adds a little crunch, right?” Cole grinned.

Kai grimaced. “Next time, I elect we don’t let Jay anywhere near the picnic basket.”

Jay chucked a grape at him, but Kai turned at the last second, catching it in his mouth. “Ha!” His gleeful expression faded as he caught sight of something behind Jay. “Um, Lloyd, you have someone you wanna introduce us to?”

The group turned to see a seagull had approached them, tilting its head where it stood only a couple feet away from Lloyd. The green ninja was staring at the bird with wide eyes, an awed expression on his face.

“Lloyd,” Nya sighed, “please don’t tell me you fed it.”

“He’s not an it,” Lloyd snapped. “His name is Scully.”

“Great.” Nya rubbed her hands over her face. “We’re already into name territory.”

“Scully?” Kai’s nose wrinkled. “Isn’t that the name of the seagull from The Little Mermaid?”

“No, that’s Scuttle,” Lloyd sniffed. “They’re completely different.”

“Lloyd,” Pixal scolded, reaching for Lloyd’s wrist just as he tossed another chunk of his sandwich at the seagull, “Feeding wildlife is not a good idea, it can be dangerous-”

Lloyd shrieked suddenly as the bird launched itself at Lloyd’s face. He scrambled to his feet, screaming, and Kai lunged forward, pushing the others out of the way. “Move, move!”

“Get it off me, get it off me!” Lloyd shrieked as the bird’s wings flapped in his face, sending feathers everywhere.

“Blast it with your powers!” Kai called, looking worried but keeping a respectable distance.

“I can’t! He’s on my face!”

“Well, I can’t do it, I’ll set you on fire! Nya, you do it!”

“I’m trying, I’m trying,” the water ninja spat through gritted teeth, globes of water already forming in her hands. “I just need to get a clear shot! For the love of… Lloyd, stop moving so much!”

Lloyd hardly seemed to hear her. “He’s going to claw my eyes out,” he wailed, batting weakly at the creature.

“Nya!”

Nya quickly thrust her hands forward, sending a large ball of water at Lloyd’s head, drenching him and the seagull. The bird squawked angrily, falling to the ground.

“Oh my gosh, are you okay?” Nya and Kai darted over to him, Nya taking his face in her hands as Kai peered over her shoulder. A small red scratch stretched across his left cheek, but apart from that, he appeared unharmed, just frazzled.

“Dude!” Kai cried. “You just got attacked. By a seagull!”

“It owned you!”

Lloyd shot Jay a glare. “Did not.”

“You should have seen your face!” Jay laughed. “Oh wait, you couldn’t- there was a bird in the way!”

Lloyd crossed his arms. “I’d like to remind you how you reacted that time when my uncle set that berserk chicken on us.”

“The chicken had lightning powers. Hardly comparable to a simple seafowl, bud.”

“Ugh, I hope this doesn’t get infected,” Nya muttered, running her finger along the scratch. “We should probably get you checked for rabies when we get home.”

“Nya, I’m fine,” Lloyd groaned, pushing her off. “A seagull isn’t going to give me rabies.”

Nya shrugged. “With your luck, I can never be sure.”

“This is why you don’t give food to wild animals, Lloyd, it makes them bolder-”

“Watch out, Lloyd!” Jay shrieked suddenly, and they whipped around to see the seagull had caught its second wind, squawking as it charged at Lloyd.

Lloyd shrieked, taking off down the beach with the seagull in pursuit. Nya sighed, putting a hand on her head. Kai grinned, walking over to her and putting a hand on her shoulder. “Do you think he’ll learn his lesson?”

“No,” Nya said without hesitation. “Absolutely not. That’s the sad part.”

“Hey,” Cole said, pointing a finger down the beach. “The volleyball court’s just opened up. You guys wanna play?”

“Sure. Tell Lloyd he can join us when he gets that seagull taken care of.”

Nya glanced towards the green ninja, who was currently lobbing balls of energy at the bird and missing by an embarrassingly wide berth. “Looks like it could be a while.”

---

“Great job, team!” Nya cheered, high-fiving Pixal and shooting a grin at Cole. “Although, if I’m being honest, the rest of you didn’t put up much of a competition.”

“Hey, don’t look at me!” Kai snapped. “I was carrying the team! Jay, Lloyd, were you planning on helping me anytime soon?”

“I was trying!” Jay insisted. “But you kept getting in my way!”

“Because every time I let you get the ball, you dropped it!”

“Hey! I never said I was good at volleyball, okay? Why are you attacking me, Lloyd sucked too!”

“It’s not like I ever had time to fit in volleyball practice between all my green ninja training! It wasn’t exactly a top priority!” “Are you telling me you’ve never played before?” Kai spluttered.

“I’ve played!” Lloyd insisted. “Uh… once or twice.”

Kai facepalmed. “Why did I let you come on my team?”

Lloyd grinned widely. “‘Cause you love me.”

Cole elbowed him. “It’s because he lost the coin toss and Nya got to pick first.”

“Hey!” Jay yelped. “Are you telling me you would have picked me last?”

“After I saw you play, yeah,” Cole snorted.

“I’m still not convinced on some of those calls, Zane,” Kai said, walking over to the nindriod. “I don’t think that one play near the third point was a foul.”

“Hey, the ref’s call is law,” Nya smirked. “Stop trying to cheat your way to victory, Kai.”

“I’m not cheating! Zane’s girlfriend is on your team! He’s obviously biased!”

“I’m a nindriod, Kai. I cannot be biased.”

“Stop being a sore loser, Kai.” Behind her, a wave swelled up. She raised her hand- then pointed it forward at Kai.

Her brother shrieked as the seawater drenched him.

“Nya! What’d you do that for?”

“You deserved it, with all the whining you were doing. Besides, you looked hot. I was just doing you a favor.”

“It’s alright,” Lloyd laughed. “You can share my towel, don’t worry.” As he handed Kai the towel, the fire ninja eyed it shrewdly.

“It’s got ducks on it. Of course it does.”

“Hey, you want the towel or not?”

“No, I’m taking the towel.” Kai wrapped the towel around himself, shivering, unfurling the ducks for all to see. Cole snickered, and Kai shot him a glare.

“Should we pack up, then?”

Zane nodded. “If we want to be back in time for dinner, probably.”

The team trudged back to their blanket, wet and sandy, but chatting amiably. They had nearly packed up all their things when Lloyd cried out suddenly.

“Where’s my wallet?”

Zane frowned. “Didn’t you put it in the valuables pouch?”

“I thought I did, but…” he paused. “Oh, wait. I tripped over Jay. I must’ve forgotten to put it in after that.”

“Well, then, it’s gotta be around here somewhere. What color is it, Lloyd?”

“What do you think? Green.”

They spent a good ten minutes searching through their entire bag and the surrounding sand, to no avail. It quickly became clear that if Lloyd’s wallet had ever fallen around here in the first place, it wasn’t here now.

Kai shrugged. “Oh well. It’s not that big of a deal. You don’t have any cards, and I don’t think you were carrying any of the cash. We can get you a new one.”

“No, but I had the things in there!”

Cole frowned. “The things?”

“You know.” Lloyd lowered his voice. “The things. That the mayor gave us?”

“What?!” Jay yelped. “Those were in there?” “You lost them?” Kai cried. “Lloyd, how could you?”

“It’s not like I did it on purpose!” Kai groaned, rubbing his face. “We should’ve never trusted you with them. Or at least split them up, so they weren’t all together.”

“I still do not understand.” Pixal frowned. “What are these things that are so important?”

“They’re a top-secret gift from the mayor,” Jay whispered. “We’re not supposed to tell anyone we have them. Not that telling anyone now would matter anyway, because we don’t have them anymore.”

“It’s not my fault!” Lloyd insisted. “It’s that stupid seagull’s, he’s the one who distracted me-” Lloyd paused, his eyes widening. “That’s it! The seagull must’ve swiped my wallet when it was chasing me!”

“Looks like we have a lead,” Kai growled.

“Wait a minute, does anyone else hear that mysterious music-”

“Oh no,” Pixal muttered, putting a hand on her forehead. “Zane, please don’t tell me you’re going to do this again.”

“It seemed that, after only a few weeks, it was time for me to crack yet another case.” The odd, deep voice rang out, and they turned to see Zane slipping on a fedora.

“Where did that even come from,” Pixal despaired. “I’m positive you didn’t bring that with you. Positive.”

“Again, I was to be accompanied by my trusty assistant, but this time, my highly trained ninja associates would also be coming along, all determined to reclaim what someone had stolen in the heist.”

Jay glanced between Pixal and Zane. “What is happening right now? Am I supposed to know what’s happening?”

Pixal shook her head. “It’s a long story. Just go with it.”

Zane tipped his hat down. “Already, we were off with a very promising lead. I suspected the culprit to be the feathered fiend that had been spotted lurking around at the scene of the crime only an hour prior.”

Kai snorted, placing a hand on Jay’s shoulder. “Oh, this is gold! Did you mess with his voice again, Jay?”

“No, I didn’t touch him! Pixal, you didn’t…”

She shook her head. “Believe me, I wouldn’t do this if you paid me. It was all him.”

Jay grinned. “What do we do next… detective Zane?” He and Kai simultaneously burst into laughter, leaning against each other for support.

Zane side-eyed them. “The primary suspect was as clear as a black bear in a snowstorm, yet the whereabouts of the creature were still unknown. It had vanished into thin air, without leaving so much as a trace in its stead.”

“Hey,” Lloyd said suddenly, leaning down to pick something up off of the sand, “What about this?”

“It appeared to be part of the plumage of a species of avian native to these shores. Could it belong to the specimen we were looking for?”

Kai plucked the feather from Lloyd’s fingers, examining it. “The feather was white with a dark tip, definitely having originated from a seagull- although the spiked, disturbed edges implied that this was from no ordinary gull- it was from one who had recently been in a fight.”

Jay grinned. “It seemed like we had hit the jackpot. Already, we were one step closer to tracking down this culprit.”

Pixal groaned. “Don’t you two start, too. It was bad enough with just Zane.”

Nya grimaced. “Yeah, this is already getting annoying.”

“How is a feather going to tell us where the seagull is now?” Cole asked.

“I could sense the wind was blowing in from the northwest,” Zane narrated. “If we wanted to find the culprit of the caper, we would have to walk upwind, hopefully leading us to the source of the feather.”

“Alright,” Pixal sighed, “let’s get this over with.”

“And so,” Zane grinned, “The Great Gull Caper began.”

The team trudged up the beach for about twenty minutes, to no avail. They passed many other beachgoers, pointing and staring as the ninja passed, but no seagulls were in sight.

“Are you sure about this, Zane?” Pixal asked.

“The feathered suspect had gained an hour’s head start in its escape from the scene, meaning we would have to hasten our pace if we ever hoped to catch up.”

“Oh, I am not walking an hour just to find this thing. Are we sure it’s that important?”

“Yes!” the guys yelped in unison.

“It’s a very important gift from the mayor! It would be rude to lose it,” Jay said. “We have to get it back!”

“Couldn’t you just ask for another… whatever they are?”

“No! They’re one of a kind!” “Well, can we at least hurry this up? Frankly, I’m getting quite tired of Zane’s shenanigans.”

Zane grinned at her. “Although she voiced her disapproval, my assistant knew the efficiency of my methods, as they had gotten us out of a pinch the last time things had been amok.”

“First of all, I was the one who successfully found Dyer last time. You just ended up getting caught.”

“Perhaps, but you used my techniques.”

Pixal huffed. “Second, I don’t appreciate that you keep calling me your assistant. If anything, we’re partners!”

Zane adjusted his fedora. “So it was a promotion she was after, eh? Well, if my assistant could prove her worth by properly complying with my techniques in this case, she may find herself with a loftier position in the future.”

Pixal sighed. “Whatever. Let’s just find the stupid bird, and go.”

The group trekked after Zane again, and Pixal wondered how long they would be here, when Zane suddenly stopped, causing half of the gang to crash into him.

“What?” Jay yelped. “What’s wrong? Why’d we stop?”

Zane pointed near his feet. “It seemed like the culprit had been careless enough to leave behind tracks in the sand.”

Pixal peered over his shoulder. Sure enough, the tracks of some avian species left a trail in the sand- and after consulting her database, it appeared to match the foot of a seagull.

“We’re getting closer!” Cole said. “It has to be around here somewhere.”

Nya’s eyes went wide, and she pointed towards something in the distance. “Look!”

Down the beach, a large group of seagulls was flocking around a half-eaten pretzel, flapping their wings and squawking as they tried to push past each other.

“It could be any of them,” Lloyd despaired. “How are we going to know which one was the one who stole my wallet?”

Jay smirked. “There’s only one way to find out.”

Lloyd eyed him nervously. “How?”

“One seagull, in particular, has come to associate you with food. One seagull has been known to chase you down.”

“Oh,” Lloyd paled, taking a step back and waving his hands. “Oh, no, I do not like where this is heading…”

“Come on, Lloyd, do it for the team,” Cole pleaded.

“You are the one who lost them in the first place,” Kai agreed. “It’s only fair.”

Lloyd groaned. “Why do I let you bully me into these things?”

“Go on,” Nya gave him a gentle shove. “We don’t have all day!”

Sticking his tongue out at her, Lloyd stepped forward, towards the seagulls. Several of them looked his way, a few flapping their wings anxiously and squawking in warning. Lloyd stopped, swallowing.

“Um. Hey. I don’t suppose any of you have seen a green wallet around here?”

Jay rolled his eyes. “They can’t understand you. Get closer!”

“Okay! I’m going, jeez-” he broke off with a yelp as a seagull darted in front of him, nearly tripping him as he stepped on its tail.

The seagull shrieked, and, in a flurry of feathers, the flock broke into a frenzied panic. Lloyd’s eyes widened, and he cried out, running away and frantically ducking swooping seagulls.

He darted behind Kai as a last nervy seagull hopped after him. Kai held up a fist, which burst into flame, scaring the bird off. Kai glanced back at Lloyd, amusement sparkling in his dark eyes. “You okay, bud?”

Lloyd glared. “Don’t look at me like that. These birds are vicious!”

“Look!” Pixal pointed at a gull that had remained behind. With the others out of the way, she could see the small, green wallet between its beak.

“That’s the one!” Cole cried. “After it!”

For ninja, the group was embarrassingly unstealthy as they clamored after the bird, shooting elemental powers at it and screaming as they narrowly avoided each other’s blasts, so that by the time the seagull reached the water, the beach was a mess of crystalized sand, crevices in the ground, and various burn marks from fire, lightning, and energy.

“It’s a seagull!” Nya cried. “We’ve faced giant snakes, lords of darkness, elemental masters, Oni, more criminals and gangsters than I can count, and an evil video game AI, yet we can’t catch one measly seagull? It shouldn’t be this hard, you guys!”

“It’s getting away,” Jay cried, pointing at the bird, who had finally taken flight and was heading out over the ocean.

“No!” Lloyd moaned. “Now we’re never going to get it back!”

“Not on my watch,” Nya growled, racing past them towards the docks. “Come on!” “Oh no,” Kai groaned. “Nya Smith, whatever you are thinking, stop it right now, because I’m not doing it.” “Come on, Kai,” Lloyd insisted, grabbing his wrist and yanking him along. “We have to hurry!”

They raced after Nya, who was running down the dock towards a man who was examining the boats. Kai followed them more slowly, taking careful steps.

“Sir, we need to use a boat, right away! We’ll pay for it, we promise!”

The man shook his head. “Sorry, ma’am, but these are all private boats. The only one we have is that one,” he pointed to a small, worn-looking fishing boat, “and the motor’s broken, so it’s of no use to anyone.”

“It doesn’t matter, I can take care of that. Everyone, get in!”

“W-wait,” the man stuttered, looking flustered.

“We’ll bring it right back, I promise! Now, come on, we don’t have much time!”

“No!” Kai insisted, as everyone else piled in. “Nuh-uh. No way. Not in a million years. You are not bringing me out into the middle of the ocean in a tiny, crowded boat with a busted engine!”

“You don’t need an engine when you’ve got me!” Nya raised her hand, and the water swirled under the boat, rocking it slightly. “Now, come on, we don’t have time for this!” “Y’know what.” Kai took a couple of steps back from the boat. “I’m good. I’ll stay here. You guys have fun finding the wallet. I’ll cheer you on from the beach. The dry, dry beach.”

“Nope.” Cole reached forward, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him in. “This is your gift we’re saving, too. If you want to get part of it, you’re coming with.”

“Finally!” Nya huffed. The water rippled beneath them, and suddenly, it was propelling their boat, and they were off.

“Where’s the bird?” Nya asked. “Does anyone see it?” “Over there!” Cole pointed slightly towards their left, where the seagull was gliding away with surprising speed. Getting into the boat had slowed them down, and it had gotten a large head start.

Nya gritted her teeth. “Hold on.”

“Don’t go faster!” Kai yelped from where he huddled near the middle of the boat, protectively sandwiched between Lloyd and Cole. “If you tip this boat, I will never forgive you.”

“I know what I’m doing,” Nya growled, although the boat slowed slightly as they continued.

“Our team continued to chase the thief, determined to put an end to the Great Gull Caper and put the culprit to justice. Even when our path took us across the raging waters of the ocean, with nothing but a rusty, broken old boat, and deep, swirling waters around us, filled with the dark abyss and the creatures that lurked there…”

“You mean like sharks?” Lloyd perked, peering over the edge. “Did you see any? I wanna see one!”

“Nope,” Kai yelped, pulling himself into a ball as he sat down on the floor of the boat. “Nopety nope nope nope. I’m done. I’m outta here.”

“The prospect of sharks was a dire one, but one we were willing to take. We would get that wallet back, no matter the cost- even if it meant competition from this fierce predator of the sea.”

Kai screamed into his hands. “Just end me now!”

“What Zane means to say,” Pixal said, elbowing Zane sharply, “is that sharks are actually very off-put by the taste of human flesh, and do not go after humans on purpose.”

Kai stared at her. “Oh joy, now a shark can devour my flesh by accident, what a relief.”

“Do not worry, Kai,” she told him. “There is only one estimated death by shark per year in the greater Ninjago City area.”

“Knowing my luck,” Kai grumbled, “I’ll be that one.”

“Did anyone bring their phone with?” Lloyd asked. “I wanna get a good picture when the sharks come for Kai.”

“I call dibs on his katana,” Jay exclaimed. “Y’know, the super flashy one with the flaming dragon carved into the handle?”

Lloyd wrinkled his nose at him. “Why would you want a fire dragon on your katana? You’re the lightning ninja!”

“Hey, just because my element is lightning, doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a super dope fire design when I see one-”

“Guys,” Cole sighed, pushing his way between the two arguing boys. “No one is getting eaten. We’re perfectly safe here, on this boat.”

“Cole’s right,” Pixal agreed. “The sharks around this area are smaller, reef dwellers, and won’t come after us. They may, however, come after our seagull friend if he gets too close to the water.”

Kai made a noise in the back of his throat, and Cole scowled at her. “Thanks for the help, Pix.”

“Nya,” Jay whined, “the seagull’s getting further away! We have to go faster!”

“Don’t!” Pixal cried. “This boat has not been manufactured to withstand a lot of weight. With seven people, especially when two of them are titanium, going too fast would be sure to capsize us.”

“I told you I should’ve stayed behind on the shore,” Kai wailed.

Lloyd leaned further over the edge, raising a hand to his forehead to keep the glare off of his face as he peered intently into the water. “Is… is that a shark?”

Kai stared at him. “Shut up. You’re just baiting.”

Lloyd shook his head, his eyes lighting up in a way that was not reassuring in the slightest. “I’m not! It’s a shark! It’s a real, live shark! I’ve never seen one this close before! Except at like, an aquarium!”

Kai closed his eyes, rocking himself gently. “You’re lying. You stupid liar, I hate you.”

Cole peered over, following Lloyd’s gaze, and promptly bit his lip. “You have got to be kidding me.”

“This is a dumb prank, you guys!” Kai was half-yelling by this point.

“Stop being so loud,” Lloyd hissed. “You’ll scare it!”

Kai blinked at him. “I’ll scare it?”

Lloyd crossed his arms. “A scared shark is an aggressive shark.”

Kai’s mouth snapped shut.

“I can’t believe this,” Cole muttered. “Did we really not bring any weapons?”

“No!” Lloyd yelped. “Cole, you wouldn’t!”

“I would if it kept us from being eaten.”

“For the last time, sharks don’t eat humans!”

Cole ignored him. “Well? Did we?”

Nya snorted. “Why would we bring weapons to the beach?”

“Hey, with how often this city gets attacked, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Nya rolled her eyes. “It was supposed to be our day off.”

“It’s fine,” Pixal reported, keeping a careful eye on the shark. “It’s swimming away now. As long as we leave it alone, we’re safe.”

Kai frowned. “Looks like the gull isn’t so convinced, though.”

Pixal glanced up. Sure enough, the seagull was eyeing the shark nervously, pumping its wings as it flew higher and higher above the surface of the water.

“Do something!” Jay shrieked. “If we don’t stop it now, it’s going to get away for good!”

“Lloyd!” Nya cried. “Is your wallet waterproof?”

“What?”

“Just answer the question!” “Yes! Yes, it is!”

Nya gritted her teeth. “Hold on, everyone!”

Suddenly, a vast wave rose out of the water, looming over the seagull.

Kai’s eyes widened. “Nya, be careful, you’ll hit us too-”

But it was already too late, the wave crashing down, downing the seagull, and soaking them in saltwater. The team cried out, and Kai screamed, throwing his arms over his head in a futile attempt to protect himself. As they all tried to lurch away from the spray, the boat rocked precariously, and, for a horrifying moment, they were suspended there, on the point between balance and capsize.

And then that moment was over, and they were all falling into the ocean.

Pixal’s world immediately dimmed as she plunged into the water, quietness enveloping her like a blanket. For a moment, she was too shocked to do anything, until a foot thrashed past her face, snapping her out of her trance as she swam towards the surface.

A couple of feet before she reached it, a metal hand snatched her wrist and pulled her the rest of the way up.

“Pixal!” Zane cried, his detective voice dropped. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. What about everyone else? Are we all here?”

Zane nodded his head behind her, and she turned to see the others all within a couple of feet. Cole had his hands on the now upside-down boat, trying to use his strength to push it over, but it was hard for him to get a good grip and stay afloat at the same time. Just behind him, Jay was spitting out a mouthful of seawater, sending ripples across the surface of the ocean as he treaded water. Lloyd was doing the same a couple of feet away, only the green ninja was struggling a lot more because of the arms wrapped tightly around his neck.

“Don’t let me go, Lloyd!” Kai yelped, although the feat would’ve been impossible even if Lloyd had wanted to- the fire ninja was clinging to him like a barnacle. “I can’t swim!”

Lloyd sighed. “I know that, Kai. It’s the only reason I’m letting you hold on to me like this.”

“I can’t believe this happened,” Kai cried. “We’re going to die out here. This is the worst day off ever.”

“Hey!” Lloyd snapped. “It’s not my fault this happened!”

Nya shot them all a sharp glare from where she was drifting alongside the boat. She didn’t even bother to tread water like the rest of them, instead using her powers to keep herself afloat. “It was going to work until you guys made such a big fuss about getting a little wet and tipped the boat.”

Cole sighed. “We’re not going to die. As soon as I get this right side up again, we’ll climb up and get out of here. Can you give me a hand, Zane?”

As the nindriod moved to help him, Kai suddenly went rigid.

“Lloyd,” he whispered.

“What, Kai?”

“Something just bumped my foot.”

“It’s probably just seaweed, Kai,” Lloyd sighed, looking down- and promptly froze.

“No one. Move.”

Jay squeezed his eyes shut. “Oh no, oh gosh, don’t tell me that’s what I think it is, this is not happening-”

“Jay, shut up,” Nya whispered, her face pale as she watched the dark shape lurking below them in the water.

“Everyone, stay calm,” Pixal murmured. “Don’t make any sudden movements and try to look it in the eyes.”

“Please, the last thing I’m gonna do is look at it,” Kai breathed, burying his face in Lloyd’s hair.

After a moment, the shark slowly swam past, losing interest.

“It doesn’t care about us,” Zane realized. “It wants the seagull.”

Several yards away, the gull was floating on the water, still trying to shake off the moisture from Nya’s wave. Suddenly realizing the danger it was in, the bird raised its wings- and launched itself into the air, just as fierce jaws snapped against empty air where the seagull had been less than a second ago.

Kai’s fingers dug tighter into Lloyd’s shoulders, and Pixal caught Jay biting his lip as he swallowed back a scream, but, its prey lost, the shark was already swimming away.

“Gotcha,” Nya murmured, reaching a hand out and snatching up the wallet, which the seagull had dropped in all the commotion, before it could sink to the bottom of the ocean.

“Okay. That’s great. We got it. Now can we get out of here?” Kai pleaded.

After a minute, they finally got the boat flipped over, and Cole hauled himself aboard before helping to lift the others. Ten minutes later, they were all safely out of the water and on their way back to the dock, and Pixal had never felt more relieved by the fact.

“So,” Jay asked, as the boat glided through the water, leaning closer to Nya. “Did they survive all that?”

“Let’s see,” Nya murmured, opening up Lloyd’s wallet. Pixal leaned forward, anxious to see what all the fuss had been about.

“Yes!” Jay cried, pulling out seven slips of paper. “They’re all here!”

“Wait.” Pixal snatched one from his hand, quickly scanning it. “A summer pass for free all-you-can-eat ice cream from the Dairy Dragon?”

“Yup,” Jay smiled, passing them out to the others. “The mayor gave them to us as a gift after we saved the city from Prime Empire. That’s what we were going to do today, after the beach, actually.”

“You’re telling me,” Pixal deadpanned. “That we just risked our lives. For free ice cream.”

“Free ice cream is free ice cream, Pix.”

“You’ll understand once you’ve tried their butter pecan,” Nya told her. “It’s to die for.”

“Butter pecan?” Jay spluttered. “No way, the Ninjapolitan is best.”

“You heathen, chocolate fudge is obviously the best flavor-”

“What are you guys talking about, mint chocolate chip is superior!”

“You just like it because it’s green.”

“Do not!”

“Do so!” Nya sighed, putting her head in her hands. “Here we go again.”

“Calm down, all of you,” Pixal said. “You can get whatever flavor of ice cream you want. Just do me a favor and try not to end up capsizing us in the middle of the ocean this time.”

Jay hummed. “No promises.”

[parachutingkitten]

Dancing Without You - Ch 3: Hello

A look into Cole's short time at the Marty Oppenheimer, the friendship he left behind when he ran from it, and what happens once he has to confront it.

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2

“We’re capping off our week by getting dance partners-”

A collective giddy laugh crossed across the room- mainly from the girls… including me. 

“These were assigned by height, so hopefully you’ll be able to work well together. Now, on one hand, you’re going to be dancing with this person for the rest of the semester, so get to know them, and try to get in a rhythm together. On the other hand, it’s only for a semester. So, if you don’t gel with your partner, you can always request a switch next semester. Sound fair?”

Nods spread across the room as Mrs. Haley looked down at her clipboard. “Find your partner once I read your names.” I could feel excitement starting to get the better of me as she started reading names. The kind that made me roll my feet and tighten my fingers. “Sarah Avery and Trevor Littleton.” A whole semester with one person! And through the week I had seen a lot of great dancing from some of the guys. “Mariah Beason and Devon Watson.” Not that it mattered. I’m sure I’d have a great time with whoever I got. It’s a performing arts school! Everyone here wants to dance. That’s what’s important. “Julia Brennen and Alex Garcia.” ...right? 

“Amelia Davenport and Cole Brookstone.”

I peeked out of the crowd only to meet eyes with a pair I’d never seen before. He had messy black hair, dark green eyes, and an uncertain expression playing across his features. We both stepped out of line and walked to the side. I glanced over at him. He seemed nervous.

“It was Cole, right?” I whispered. He seemed caught off guard. 

“Yeah. And Amelia?”

I smiled and nodded. “I haven’t seen you before.”

“I’m usually towards the back,” he shrugged.

“What’s your emphasis?”

“I’m still undeclared. You?”

“Ensemble dance,” I smiled.

“Well, that’s good,” He smirked. “At least one of us will know what we’re doing in this class.” 

I chuckled, trying to stay quiet as Mrs. Haley continued to read names. His sudden confidence seemed to come out of nowhere. “You more of a singer then?” I asked.

“I’m…” he trailed off. “I’m here. Let’s just start with that.” He brushed it off playfully. 

“So, if you’re not a singer, and you’re not a dancer…” 

“Well,” He cut me off, both of us laughing a bit. “I mean, I do sing, and I do dance. I’ve been singing and dancing since I was little. I just… if I had to describe myself, singer and dancer would not be the words I would use.”

“What words would you use?” 

He paused for a moment, thinking it over, as if it were the first time he had considered the question. “Well... I really like hiking, mountain biking, skiing-”

“So, you’re an adrenaline junkie.” I cut him off.

He laughed. “Yeah. Sure, let’s go with that. Adrenaline junkie.” He repeated it, smiling at the thought.

“So, what got you into performance?”

“My dad,” he smiled. “He has crazy-person performer blood. He’s been with the same quartet for years, he’s won the Blade Cup a few times, he’s-”

“The Blade Cup?!” I stopped him. “Really?”

“Yeah, you follow it?”

“Not closely or anything,” I shrugged. “But that’s really cool. The Blade Cup is a real performer’s competition. I mean, I know it’s pretty niche, but it’s a sizable award.”

“What do your parents do?”

“Well,” I hesitated. “They’re both dancers, but they’re in education. They um… they mainly work with really young kids,” I waved it off.

“What’s wrong with that?” he asked, obviously reading my tone.

“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “A lot of people here come from pretty elite families, so when you go up to them and say, ‘my parents work with toddlers’ you get some weird looks.”

“Well, I think it’s awesome.” He assured me. “Getting kids involved in dance is such a wholesome thing to do with your life.” Cole was honestly the first person on campus I had spoken to that wasn’t put off by my parents. Just the tone with which he said ‘wholesome’ made me much happier than it had any right to. “Is that what you want to do?”

“I love my parents, but there’s no way I could do what they do. I’m headed straight for Ninjago City,” I smiled. “I’m gonna be on Broadway someday if it kills me.”

“Well, you’ve certainly got your priorities in line,” he smiled.

“Alright class!” Mrs. Haley broke our conversation. “Everyone has their partner. Most of you have had a minute to chat. Hopefully, you don’t totally hate each other just yet. Let’s get to dancing, shall we? Can we start with just a basic waltz?” Music began to play throughout the studio as Cole took my hands, and we started moving. 

“For what it’s worth, I don’t totally hate you,” I joked.

“Dare I say, things seem to be going pretty well?” 

I smiled, a warm feeling filling me as we danced together.

“Look, I don’t know what your schedule is like, but if you’re free after this, we should totally do something together. Of course, if you have class, or are meeting up with friends or what not-”

He laughed. “Oh, I don’t really have friends here.”

I smiled. “That makes two of us then.”

~*~*~*~

I hadn’t thought too much about it. It all seemed like such a distant thing until the moment we arrived. When I finally pulled up the parking brake, I realized how fast my heart was beating. Why was I so nervous? I don’t get nervous about these things. I never did. But here I was, unconsciously holding my breath at the idea of approaching the front door.

“You said she was apartment 14?” Jay asked me, looking out the window. 

“Yeah,” I sighed. “Should be on the right here somewhere.”

“How do we go about this? Should we all go to the door? Would that be overwhelming for her?” Pixal asked from the back. “Do you want to go by yourself first?”

“No! No, she’ll be fine,” I shook my head. “It’ll be fine. It’s probably better, actually, if there’s more people. Just so there are no surprises or anything… right?” I glanced back at Pixal. Her cloaked disguise caught me a bit off guard for about the fifth time this trip. I was never going to get used to seeing her with normal skin.

“You know her best.” Pixal crossed her arms in defiance of my indecisiveness.

“We’ll all go up together. But leave your stuff here, we don’t want to seem pushy or anything.”

“You seem pretty nervous,” Jay turned to face me.

“Let’s just do this,” I sighed, opening the door to escape his comment. My teammates followed as I locked the car and started over to apartment 14. “You guys should know, she’s…” I paused for a moment trying to find the words. “...a lot. She’s a total performer, and she’s high energy, and she’s very touchy. Don’t ask her about any Broadway show unless you want your ear talked off about it. In fact, the less you mention musical theater, the better off you’ll probably be.” As we reached the top step, I turned around to face them. “And she has this pet peeve about brushing your teeth while on your phone so-”

“Cole,” Pixal stopped me. “I think we’ll be alright. Okay?”

“Right…” I sighed, turning back around to face the door. I took a deep breath, knocking before I freaked myself out too much. A moment passed without any trace of movement behind the door. 

“What if she’s not here? What do we do then? What if-”

“Dude, it’s been like two seconds, chill out,” Jay nagged me. 

And before I could get a chance to think about it, there she was, standing on the other side of the door, staring back at me. 

She looked different.

But she hadn’t changed. 

Her hair was put up in its usual messy bun, and she wore a loose shirt hanging just off her shoulders over a pair of yoga pants. Her bangs hung just above her emerald eyes, almost in a forgotten attempt to cover them. But you couldn’t hide those eyes. They were so green. So rich, so vibrant. 

Exactly like I remembered.

And suddenly, I wasn’t nervous anymore. 

“Hi,” I smiled.

She looked at me, still stunned. 

“... Cole?”

“I hope we’re not interrupting anything.”

“What are you doing here? Why…” She looked behind me, seeing that I wasn’t alone. “Oh my gosh! Come in. You guys are probably on a mission, and I’m just letting you stand out in the open!” She opened the door wider, stepping back into her house. “Come in, come in!” She waved us in, promptly closing the door behind us. “What are you doing here? Do you need something from me, is there something wrong? Did I do something wrong? Am I in trouble? I’m sorry,” she shook her head. “I should just let you talk. Why are you here?” 

“The team’s safety is at risk. We needed a few safe-houses to stay at for a few days, and Cole recommended you as a trustworthy possibility,” Pixal explained.

Amelia glanced over at me again, her mind obviously still a bit overloaded at the moment. “Wow. Okay.” She sighed. 

“It would likely only be a few days,” Jay jumped in. “And you wouldn’t have to do anything, but you should know that us staying with you might attract some danger.”

Amelia stood, her eyes glazed over as she stared at the ground, her arms crossed and biting her lip. She was thinking. The room was quiet for a moment as she processed the information, but her head soon popped back up with a smile, energy entering her body again.

“No, this is great! This actually works out really well! My roommate just moved out a week ago, so I’ve got the whole apartment to myself, and a spare bed, and room on the couch, loads of spare blankets and such. Plus, I’ve got the week off. It really shouldn’t be a problem! Do you guys want anything to drink? I just put on some tea-” Amelia’s head shot over to the kitchen.

“I think we’re alright,” Pixal stopped her, pulling back her attention.

“I’m such a terrible hostess!” Amelia laughed. “I don’t even know your names! I mean, I really should. But I don’t really watch the news much, it’s um…” her eyes glanced over at me for a moment before returning to Pixal. “It can be difficult for me… But maybe I can remember.” She turned to Jay, looking at him for a second. “You’re the blue one, that’s… lightning powers, right?”

“That’s me,” he nodded.

“Hold on, I know this,” She bounced on her heels. “It starts with a J, right?”

“It is Jay.”

“Oh!” She laughed. “That’s right! Jay! And then...” She then turned to Pixal, clearly more stumped than before. “Actually, I’m not sure I recognize you.”

“Maybe this will help,” Pixal deactivated her cloak as Amelia jumped in surprise. 

“Ah! You’re Samurai X!”

“But you can call me Pixal,” She extended a hand, Amelia quickly taking it. 

“That’s so cool! I can already tell we’re going to get along.” She turned to me, a soft smile gracing her face. “...and I know you.”

“I know you.” I smiled back; our eyes now locked on each other.

“Well, I’m going to get our stuff from the car.” Jay announced, heading towards the door.

“Oh, yeah,” Amelia laughed. “I guess you guys would have stuff. Bring it in and we’ll figure out where I’m putting you all.”

“Jay,” Pixal called after him as he exited. “You don’t-” but she was cut off as the door closed. “Have keys…” she sighed. I grabbed the keys from my pocket, tossing them to her as she followed him out. “Thanks.”

As the door closed, I felt arms surround me and a squeak in my ear.

“It’s so good to see you! I missed you so much!”

“I missed you too,” I chuckled as she broke from me. 

“I can’t believe you’re a ninja!” She took my hands, still giddy. “I mean, I can. You’ve been a ninja for years now. But it’s different when you’re right in front of me!”

“And you totally made it to Ninjago City and everything!”

“I always told you I would,” She hit me on the shoulder.

“Are you, like… on Broadway and stuff?”

“Soon! I’ve got an understudy position in an off-Broadway show, but we’re working on moving over sometime next year.”

“That’s so awesome! I can’t believe you actually made it! I mean…” we both chuckled for a moment. “I can. It’s you. But it’s just so surreal now that you’re actually doing it.”

“Oh!” her eyes popped, letting go of me. “I really should go get that tea from the stove before it boils over!” She started towards the kitchen as I followed her, laughing. “What’s so funny?” She asked, moving her pot off the burner. 

“Nothing. It’s just… you’re just as scatterbrained as I remember.”

She turned off the stove, leaning against the counter and taking my hands again. “I really did miss you, you know. It was never the same after you left.”

“I missed you too.” I gripped her hands a bit tighter, our arms swinging to some silent beat running through us both.

“But look at you! You have friends now and everything!” She teased, letting go of me and turning back to her teapot. “Now that’s something I never thought I’d see.” She poured herself a cup as we both chuckled.

“They’re great. I think you’ll really like them.”

“Oh, we’re definitely gonna have some fun.” She turned back around, gingerly holding the warm mug between her hands. “We're having a party tonight for sure.”

“Doesn't that seem kind of counter-intuitive to the whole safe-house thing?”

“Oh, no.” She shook her head. “It’s a Friday night. My neighbors would be suspicious if I didn’t blast music and order pizza.”

[pennywisethedancingclownofderry]

Happy Holidays @give-me-food-and-ninjago !

I was your secret santa partner! I'm sorry that I wasn't able to find the time to familiarise myself with your oc's and I wasn't able to find a way to stick Morro in there anywhere so I hope this will suffice! It's under the cut! (Nevermind I can't figure out how to cut it off sorry everyone)

Thankyou to @coco-jaguar for hosting the event and affording everyone this wonderful opportunity!

Cole peered in through the glass, grimacing when he was forced to wipe away the misting of breath that condensed against the tank’s visage.

“Are you satisfied with your purchase?” Pixal’s voice was cool, yet it held a trace of amusement as the nindroid watched the gecko’s movements alongside him.

“Yeah I am! Look at the little guy!”

The ‘little guy’ in question was currently sleeping inside the faux cave that served as a shelter for the reptile.

“So, what will his name be?” Cole turned to face the android, forehead creased.

“I don’t know really, haven’t thought about it.”

Despite the lack of forethought alluded to in the previous statement, the gecko hadn’t really been a spur of the moment purchase, though it may have seemed like that to the other residents aboard the Destiny’s Bounty. Cole had been considering getting a pet for months and had spent many a late night on his phone, researching pet enclosures and care, hurriedly shoving the phone under a pillow when he heard footsteps patrolling outside the bedroom door.

Luckily, the assorted ninja no longer shared a bedroom, meaning that he didn’t necessarily have to run his plan by the others. However, that wasn’t to say that he had kept his newest acquisition strictly a secret, it wasn’t long after he’d decided on a pet that suited him that a certain curly-haired motor mouth had caught him comparing the prices of tanks on his phone.

‘Pets R’ Us’ was offering a tank for about $90, however ‘Petz Mart’ was offering one of similar specifications, except that it was priced at $150. The only difference? ‘Petz Mart’ had a warranty that lasted about a year longer than its competitor.

A weight landed on his shoulder and Cole jumped as his assailant offered his opinion. “I think you should go with ‘Petz Mart’, can’t beat a longer warranty!” Cole flinched around, staring at his friend’s freckled visage. Jay’s grin split nearly from ear to ear as he watched the earth ninja sputter and choke on his own spit.

“Sooooo, what are you doing? Looking for “Rocky 2 point-“

Cole slammed his hand against the lightning ninja's much maligned 'mouth of lightning' with a hiss. “Shut up!” he glanced about the empty kitchen, concerned that more busybodies would suddenly make themselves known.

He glanced back at his friend and was grateful to find that, as opposed to being offended, Jay seemed to be nothing other than amused. Cole could feel him smirking behind his callused palm and one gingery eyebrow ascended higher and higher up his forehead.

Jay then did the predictable, and utterly disgusting. Licking up the earth ninja’s sweaty palm, the broad grin stretched to near nightmarish lengths, painting his face in a sadistically humourous light.

Cole retrieved his hand with a noise of deep disgust, eyebrows scrunching together.

Jay noticed this movement and couldn’t help but quip, “I’m just saying! I didn’t think you needed any more pets than that lovely pair of caterpillars on your face!”

Said caterpillars then attempted to take their relationship to greater lengths as they pressed further together.

Jay laughed, noticing Cole’s glare. “Oh come on! It’s a joke! What are you doing anyway?” he inquired, not very subtly changing the subject.

Cole sighed. “I’ll tell you if you promise to keep that big mouth of yours shut!”

Jay responded, for once, nonverbally, by miming zipping his lips shut and then, somehow, throwing away the zipper.

“I want to get a pet, okay? I’ve been looking into it lately and a gecko seems like a good fit to me! They sleep a lot and-“

Now it was Jay's turn to physically silence the other. “Okay! Okay? I get it, I don’t need the whole rant.”

Cole turned his eyes downward, “Well isn’t that ironic?”

Jay chose to ignore, or simply didn’t hear the thinly veiled insult. “Sooooooo. . . What are you going to call it?”

Cole blinked back at him. “I don’t know, not yet at least. I’ll figure it out when I meet them.”

And so, Cole’s hypothetical pet remained unnamed, yet even when he did first lay eyes upon the miniscule reptile, still he had no idea what to name him.

Kai was the next to learn about the new acquisition to the ninja family and as he came across the gecko he came up with what he considered to be the most creative and cutting edge among pet names.

“Scales!” he claimed. “Scales is a great name for a lizard!”

Cole frowned, nowadays that seemed to be his default expression. “But we already know a Scales and I don’t think we know him well enough to go naming pets after him!”

Kai nodded, giving his version of what was considered to be understanding. “How about . . . Godzilla, then?”

Cole fixed him with the coldest glare he thought possible. “No.” He stated, steely tone leaving no room for argument.

Zane was the next to come across the gecko, exploring his friend’s room in the hunt for dirty washing.

“Why don’t you name him something with cultural or personal siignificance? Like after the first Spinjitzu master or your father?”

Yet again Cole shook his head. He couldn’t really see any reason to name a lizard after the first Spinjitzu master.

Besides, 'Lou' seemed a stupid name for a gecko.

Nya's take on the situation was just as unhelpful as she attempted to list the unnamed gecko’s physical features as a way of selecting a name for him.

“Spots?” She drummed her callused fingers across the bedside stand Cole had selected to hold the tank.

Cole didn’t even bother to lift his face from where he had mashed it into his pillows, which were luckily softer than those afforded to him on Chen’s island.

“No.”

Nya hummed, peering into the tank.

“Webby?”

Cole frowned. “Webby?” he repeated.

Nya turned and began pointing with her right hand at the junction between finger and thumb on the left.

“You know, like the webbing between your digits.” To emphasise the point the water ninja began to enthusiastically waggle the fingers on both her hands.

Okay, she was definitely doing jazz hands at this point.

Cole groaned. “He’s a leopard gecko, he doesn’t have webbed feet!” he snapped.

Instead of being offended, Nya grinned. “Sorry, not everyone’s a lizard expert, you know?”

She looked back at the tank, peering intently at the gecko, who stared straight back.

Eventually the water ninja was the one to lose the staring contest. Straightening, Nya turned once more to the earth ninja.

“Scales?”

“Your brother already suggested that.”

Nya’s grin flickered as a look of disgust crossed over her features.

“Well, that’s one great mind I don’t want to think alike with.”

Lloyd didn’t so much as offer advice on naming the gecko, but rather sat on Cole’s bed with a book of baby names. The earth ninja had no idea why he had such a thing. When asked Lloyd offered little to no explanation. Stating that he’d bought it for personal reasons.

Of course Cole could respect such a thing, and as such he didn’t question the green ninja any more.

“Aberforth?”

“No.”

“Abraham?”

“No.”

“Adam?”

“No.”

“Then what do you want to call it?”

Cole couldn’t honestly answer. He could only hope that the next person he asked would be more helpful.

“Sensei Wu?”

The old man didn’t offer any verbal answer, instead fixing his aging eyes on his hopeful student.

“I’m trying to find the right name for my pet.”

“Hmmm.”

“And no one’s really offered any good advice for what I should name him.”

“Hmmm.”

Cole blinked. “You’re not going to help me either, are you?”

The elderly teacher’s lips curled upward into a fond smile. “No, Cole. But I believe in this situation it is best not to offer one’s own opinion but to allow the other to formulate their own.”

Cole hummed in response, fixing his eyes on the aging boards of the land bounty.

The two sat in silence for hours, the elder deep in meditation as his student pondered his gecko. Eventually, Cole looked up to meet his sensei’s eyes.

“Ferdinand.” He mumbled, eyes fixed on the teacher's face. “Ferdinand sounds right.”

A small smile began to form on the teacher’s face. “And is that the name you think fits your pet?”

Cole smiled as he thought back to the gecko. “Yeah. Yeah, I think it is.”

Cole peered through the pristine glass of the tank.

“Ferdinand?”

The gecko’s eyes blinked from inside the tank.

Cole smiled. “Ferdinand it is then.”

[eyeofthewolfe]

Ninjago & TLNM: To Be Green

Chapter Eleven: Trust

With tears in his eyes, Lloyd raced across the giant warehouse. He couldn’t believe it...Master Wu is alive!!

The older man was clearly shocked at Lloyd’s reaction to seeing him. However he barely budged as Lloyd lunged on him and wrapped his arms around his master. “Master...you’re okay!”

Even Jay and Nya had stopped their work to watch Lloyd crush Wu. After a few seconds of being in a tight embrace, Master Wu spoke. “I didn’t expect this much of a reaction from returning from my nap.”

Lloyd’s blood went cold. He knew Master Wu’s voice more than he knew his own father’s or mother’s. The voice that Lloyd heard was one of a complete stranger.

The green leader reluctantly pulled away and stared wide-eyed at his not-Master. Besides more wrinkles, this man was a spitting image of Master Wu, but his voice... it had more of an accent than Kai and Jay combined. It was actually miraculous Lloyd had made out the words he had said...

“Master...?” Lloyd forced the words out of his mouth. “Not you too....”

The master sensei took in a breath and then looked Lloyd from top to bottom. After a few seconds of silence, Wu regained a straight composure. “Are you a Lloyd from a different world?”

The green ninja didn’t have to look behind him to know that the other five ninja had lost their jaw to the ground. With a sigh of relief, Lloyd smiled and nodded. “One second I was in my Ninjago and the next-“

“How interesting.” Wu nodded. “I imagined Ninjago to only have one world....I do not know what this means.” There was a long uncomfortable pause as the whole warehouse reflected on Master Wu’s words.

Suddenly Wu slapped his staff on the floor, a sound so unexpectedly sharp that Lloyd flinched in surprise. “Whatever, I guess.” Master Wu shrugged and walked past Lloyd to the table with the map, leaving Lloyd and the orange-haired warrior.

Lloyd stared at Wu as he talked with Cole, Zane and Kai about the battle plan. He shook his head a little in disbelief.

“Is he different too?”

The green ninja turned with wide eyes filled with shock. He didn’t recognize it before but the familiar voice struck him like a staff to the stomach.

The lady in armor was none other than his mom. Or-well, you get it right?

Her eyes flashed wide in response to Lloyd’s shock. “What? Is there something wrong with my hair?”

“Your a warrior??” Lloyd gasped in shock. To that, Koko chuckled. “Oh, this. Yes, I am a warrior. My fighting alias is-“

“WE ARE GOING OUT ON A MISSION WITH LADY IRON DRAGON???”

Koko grinned as Nya, in full sprint, launched a hug onto the warrior. “My dreams are coming true!!”

Her dreamy eyes turned to Lloyd. “Can we be paired up?? Pleaaaaase please please please?”

Lloyd was about to say, “Sure,” when he realized what he originally needed two more people for. After realizing this, he shook his head sadly. “Sorry Nya, I need Mo-uh, Lady Iron Dragon and Wu as a strike team to get Garmadon as fast as possible.”

Both Koko and Nya’s grins slowly faded. With a scowl, Nya dejectedly turned away and walked back to the dragon mech with a comment of disgust. Lloyd tried not to listen to it but it still hurt his heart.

“How grown up of you.” Koko nudged Lloyd. The ninja shrugged his shoulders. “I have to put the plan first. We have to get Garmadon back. You and Wu will be the ones in charge of retrieving Garmadon from...wherever they are keeping him.”

Koko crossed her arms. “Have you made a lot of battle plans in your life?”

Lloyd was confused by the question. “Uuuuuh, kinda...?”

His not-mom leaned in close. “Here’s a little advice, warrior to warrior. Always trust your team more than the plan.”

Chuckling, Lloyd put his hands on his hips. “Oh, I know that.”

Koko raised an eyebrow. “Do you?” Leaving that question hanging in the air, she walked towards Wu humming an unfamiliar song.

Always trust your team more than the plan. Lloyd knew that, right? Of course he did. He’s the green ninja, leader of the best team of ninja in the-

Mid-inspirational thought, he watched as Jay accidentally slipped on a piece for the dragon and elegantly fall to the ground, hitting about ten pieces on the way down. “Ow,” the pain-filled echo from Jay topped with the laughter from his whole team shrouded Koko’s advice just a little in his head. He could trust his old team with his life but these.... imposters were a little harder to trust.

“I’ve got to get home ASAP,” Lloyd grumbled as he jogged over to make sure not-Jay was alright.

________________________________________________

“....and now Meowthra has a spot to live a little west of Ninjago. It’s been peaceful for a few weeks but yesterday the Shark Army launched an attack on the city and captured my dad. My efforts to save him were....” Lloyd searched for the right word while spinning his chopstick in his bowl of noodles. “...worthless.”

He slowly raised his eyes to see how the others were responding to the events from his ‘realm’ in the past month. All he saw from everyone (including the new girl, Skylar? Skyler?) were wide eyes, dropped jaws, and untouched food.

It took a few seconds but finally the host of the restaurant Kai picked found the first words to respond to Lloyd. “There is a little something wrong with your world,” Skyl?r chuckled as she continued to wipe down a counter with a rag. “A giant cat? C’mon, that’s just a little ridiculous.”

“I mean,” Kai shrugged and lifted his hands in defense. “We did have a giant snake attack the city a few years back.”

“A giant snake?!” Lloyd repeated in shock.

“Oh yeah, it was huge!” Cole dangled a long noodle off of his chopstick. “It was as long as like, fifty blocks. If we hadn’t of stopped him-“

“I thought Garmadon stopped him,” Skyl?r interrupted with a side grin.

Jay slapped his hand in the table and Zane almost lost his drink. “What is up with everyone thinking Garmadon saved the day?! I mean he turned it into a huge wave of green goo but we did all the hard work!”

The fire ninja shook his head. “So under appreciated.”

“Talk about being under appreciated,” Lloyd mumbled. “Try having the whole world hate you.”

“Seriously?” Zane picked up Lloyd’s words as if he had said them clearly. “Why did everyone hate you?”

Lloyd sipped his water. “Cuz my dad attacked Ninjago City almost three times a week for like, half a decade. Everyone hated Garmadon, and therefore everyone hated me. Simple, really.”

Nya crossed her arms on the table. “But, they knew you were the Green Ninja right?” Lloyd shook his head. “They didn’t?!” Nya was taken back. “Why?”

The Green Ninja shrugged. “Secret identities. It was to protect us. Didn’t y’all have secret identities?”

A chorus of no’s and nope’s met Lloyd. One “yes” spoke up, but it was from the red head.

“Oh, hush- you were a spy!” Kai laughed at Skyl?r as the group of Ninja laughed at her joke. Lloyd, who didn’t get it, chuckled but caught eye of a flashing blue and red blur as it flew by the window behind all the ninja. He glanced at the team; in the moment of joy, no one had seen the cop car.

They are having fun, Lloyd decided in his head. I’ll let the cops handle this one.

“Nya had a secret identity!” Jay inserted into the conversation.

“Oh yeah?” Cole smirked. “Being my girlfriend?”

The empty restaurant erupted in hysterical laughter with Lloyd nervously chiming in. Jay, meanwhile, scooted away from Cole with a look of betrayal. “That’s...that’s not funny!! I’m serious!! Y’all...”

[evesbeve]

Questioning - Ninjago Lloyd One-Shot (#NinjagoPrideWeek - Day Five - Lloyd)

I think this has to be my favourite thing I wrote for Pride Week! I was planning on writing some Lloyd stuff for a long time, and I actually really really really like writing him, since I can relate a lot to his character!

Here’s some family bonding time with Kai, where lil’ Lloyd questions his sexuality!)

Title: Questioning

Franchise: Ninjago

Summary: All the ninja are excited to finally visit Lloyd’s school, but Lloyd doesn’t seem very excited to go back to Darkley’s. Kai is there to talk him out of it, but it seems Lloyd is more confused about himself rather than his old school.

Word count: 670

Read this on AO3 and FFN!

When the ninja first received the invitation for a ceremony at Darkley's School, Lloyd was excited. However, his excitement dropped rather quickly, as he recalled his time there.

Lloyd knew things were going to be different. Apperantly, the school's policy and education goals had changed, and the school had even been renamed to Darkley's Boarding School for Great Children.

It still didn't make the halls of the school any less haunting. Lloyd had to admit, he was curious about the changes, but also scared. People don't suddenly have a change of heart because of a name change, and Lloyd knew who he was dealing with.

He sighed, pausing the video game he was playing.

"Are you okay bud?" Kai asked, turning off his phone, and moving closer to Lloyd on the couch. "You look kinda stressed."

"I do!?" Lloyd jumped. "I-I mean! Why would I be stressed? I'm okay!" the kid smiled as widely as he could. "See?"

"Oh yeah, definitely stressed." Kai concluded, but it didn't need much thought to figure it out. "What's wrong, little bro?"

Little bro.

Kai had been using that nickname for weeks but Lloyd never got tired of it, unlike other nicknames the team had come up with for him. He liked that one, and he liked Kai.

"I'm just not so sure I'm ready to go back." Lloyd admitted. "Everyone will be different."

"But you hated it there. Isn't that a good thing?"

"Well, I didn't hate Brad…" Lloyd mumbled.

"Is Brad the one I'm competing against for the 'best friend' title?" Kai joked.

Lloyd shook his head, cracking a smile. "Yeah, he was my best friend, but also… Yeah. He was my best friend."

Lloyd knew that Kai wasn't going to buy any of the words he said. It was clear he was hiding something.

Kai raised an eyebrow. "Lloyd?"

"What?" Lloyd turned away, eyesiding Kai. "I'm not hiding anything."

"Lloyd, not even Jay could tell a more obvious lie."

"Ugh…!" Lloyd groaned. "How do you manage to make me tell you everything?"

"Becase I'm your best friend and not that Brad guy?" Kai winked, hoping it would light up the kid's spirits.

"Maybe." Lloyd sighed. "I, um… I'm not very proud of the rest of the story."

"Hey, you can tell me." Kai smiled at Lloyd, trying to encourage him. "I won't judge you."

"You promise?" Lloyd looked up at Kai.

"Promise."

The green ninja sighed once more. He knew Kai was telling him the truth, but he still found it difficult to express his thoughts.

"I guess I kinda liked Brad."

Kai tilted his head, signaling Lloyd to continue.

"I had a crush on him."

"That's all?" Kai asked.

"What do you mean 'that's all'?" Lloyd was confused.

Kai's expression did not change at all. "That's the great reveal? Your deepest secret? The very depths of your heart-"

"Okay, I get it, you're not surprised!" Lloyd interrupted him. "For some reason."

"Did you want me to be?" Kai asked.

"I thought you'd think I'm disgusting for liking a guy."

"Lloyd, no." Kai shook his head. "Of course I wouldn't. It's completely normal."

"It is?" Lloyd put both his legs on the couch, hugging them.

"Yeah!" Kai put a hand on the kid's shoulder. "There is nothing to be ashamed of, okay? If you like dudes instead of girls, that's your business, and nobody else's. I'm glad you told me."

Lloyd smiled slightly. "I'm glad I told you too."

"Come here." Kai opened his hands to welcome Lloyd into a hug, which the kid accepted immediately.

"And for the record," Lloyd said after pulling away. "I like girls too."

"Ay, bi buddies!" Kai cheered and held out his fist for a fist bump.

"By buddies…?" Lloyd tilted his head. "Who are we saying goodbye to?"

"No," Kai chuckled. "I meant bisexual. It's when you're into both women and men. Bi is a shortcut."

"Oh!" Lloyd nodded. "I get it!"

Lloyd bumped his fist with Kai's and giggled.

Bi buddies it was.

[ninjagoruinedmylife]

"An Awkward Prom" - a.k.a thing i promised to to and i haven't sleep yesterday to finish it rip me

Aaaaalright folks, so. Today is ninjago oc day which i was really REALLY REALLY hyped for, considering the fact that i have an oc i developed lately. Her name is Ange and she is daughter of Karlof and next elemental master of metal (i think i mentioned her here once or twice tho). And, because we are dorks, me and @clumsinessinperson made Ange and Ali’s oc, Nozomi, meet and ~fall in love~ *dabs* So, to celebrate it, we did a kind of… collab thing for them?? Ali drew a beautiful fanart of this two and i wrote a short fic about a situation that is connected with it. I hope you’ll like it!!

(Also im tagging @evelinaonline bc she threw this event and also she really wanted to see what was this secret thing i was working on with Ali XD)

***

Ange realised that there is no turning back way too late.

She was pretty chill whole day - hell, she nearly forgot about this whole school prom. Two hours before it, when notification on her phone ringed, she nearly got a heart attack. She had to prepare and, to be honest, she sucked when it came to subject of looks.

She threw nearly most of the things from her closet while looking for a blue dress she bought a few weeks ago. After all, she found it in a washing mashine, all curled up with other clothes. Ange sighed deeply and ironed it as fast as she could, hoping that she won’t burn a hole in it. When she was putting the cloth on, her hands were trembling and she started breathing heavily. Now she regretted every decision she made about this event - signing in being the first one, buying way too high heels being the second, and inviting Nozomi being the third.

At first she thought that this will be great idea. They knew each other for so long, Ange never met someone who would understand her so much and stay with her no matter what… But after they said that they are going there as friends, girl started wondering if she didn’t want to invite him from other reason than “I don’t have anyone else to ask.”

Maybe it wasn’t too late to call him and tell that something happened and she can’t go to the prom. Maybe she could tell that she had an asthma attack and… No, he would still come to see if she’s okay. Maybe she could announce that her father came to visit… Bad idea as well, Karloff lived way too far to randomly come to her. Ange tried to come up with some kind of solution while she was brushing her hair, painting her nails, putting on makeup. She ended up with no ideas and completly awful eyeshades. She accidentally chose the brown ones instead of the silver ones and now she looked like if she played with dirt and didn’t washed her face in few days.

Damnit.

When she did everything in her power to save her image, phone ringed again. She grabbed it with one hand, the other still busy paiting her face, and she didn’t even need to put it up to her ear to hear a loud rock music and even louder voice of a familiar man.

“Ya ready, kid?!” Ronin asked in his usual manner. “We’ll be next to your house in about ten minutes, so I sure hope you are! See ya then!”

And that he hanged off.

Ange sighed and her determination only grew. After she finally finished her makeup, she put on some silver jewelery she kept with her since she had to first move to Ninjago City, and then run away from anacondrai warriors. It was the only thing that reminded her of her mum - a pair of round earrings, long necklace decorated with blue crystals, and three big rings engraved with some strange patterns. She used to have a habit of not going anywhere without them on. Not only from sentiment, though; she knew she could easily change it in deadly weapon in the time of the biggest need.

Luckily, today no one was gonna kill her (besides for her own embarrasment, of course), so she could wear it only for aesthetic reasons.

Ange looked at herself in the mirror and she even smiled. She wasn’t looking half as bad as she thought she would, to be absolutely honest. She still felt way too tall and fragile, but she could even pass as an attractive person! That was an achievement to celebrate, but she had no time to bake a victorious cake and open up the shampain.

She stood in front of the door, holding her phone tight and waiting for a call from either Nozomi or his father, but the first thing she heard was a familiar noise that went through the window.

“Hell no.” Girl mumbled under her breath when she turned around.

Right next to her balcony, floated R.E.X. - huge flying ship that belonged to Ronin. She blushed a bit from both fury and awkwardness, and walked towards it. Her neighbours were gonna look at her strange again.

“We don’t have a whole day!” Ronin yelled when she came close enough to hear his words. “Don’t act like if you are on a walk in a park, come here faster!”

Ange hissed with frustration and moved her hand a bit. Metal bars that surrounded her balcony suddenly changed their place and turned into a bridge for a girl to walk on a ship. She looked around, a little worried that someone saw her - good, no neighbour around. She still felt hella anxious when it came to using her powers around people she didn’t know.

She sat next to Ronin and looked at her right. On his other side was Nozomi, who waved to her awkwardly. His whole face was completly red, like if someone threw tomatoes at him. When Ange smiled and waved back, he started looking a bit more relaxed.

Ronin still hadn’t started flying again - he nodded constantly to the rythm of a very loud, very agressive and very scary (in girl’s opinion) song. This state would last even longer if Nozomi didn’t react.

“Dad”, boy sounded slightly annoyed. “Remember? We have to go.”

“As you said, we don’t have a whole day, sir.” Ange coughed due to how much smoke R.E.X. producted.

“Oh, yeah. Good idea, kiddos.” Ronin cracked a smile and then they started flying so fast that Ange got scared if they won’t end up dying soon. “So. How is this whole art school thing going, girl? I remember a good ol’ times when we didn’t had a time for a stuff like that, I’m telling you. You had to work hard from the day you were born, or you had to start stealing, and you probably know what I chose…”

And it felt like with every word, he got faster and faster.

Ange, who was now not even a little red, but completly pale, looked at her friend over his dad’s shoulder and whispered:

“Can we kill him, please?”

“We don’t know how to fly this thing,” Nozomi shook his head sadly. “We would die sooner than he will kill us.”

It was good that they mastered the art of reading lips movement through all this time. In other case, they wouldnt talk about subject like that near Ronin and, what’s even more important, they couldn’t understand each other. Meanwhile, man was still rambling about how much schools suck when you can become a criminal.

“Oh, didn’t he try to learn you? Maybe you know some basic stuff…”

“You forgot an important part - I don’t want my dad to die!”

“Who are you planning to kill?!” Ronin screamed in their terrified faces after the vehicle stopped in front of a huge building. ‘He turned off the music few seconds ago, so he probably didn’t hear much’, Ange realised and felt a big weight leaving her chest. If she survived this, she will survive tonight’s prom for sure.

“Uuuh…” Nozomi scratched the back of his neck.

“My teacher!” Ange interrupted. “My math teacher, sir.”

“I bet he’s a pain in the ass, huh?” Ronin laughed shortly. “Okay, kiddos, go. Have fun, don’t do drugs, and blablabla. I’ll come and pick you up at 11.”

If a moment ago Ange thought that this was gonna be the easier part of the evening, the fear of what was gonna happen returned when she came out of the ship. She stood in front of her school and Nozomi soon joined her. Everyone from her school, now dressed all elegant, looked at R.E.X. with open mouths. Which meant that they saw her as well. And they saw her with Nozomi.

Even bigger damnit.

“Is everything okay?” Her friend looked at her, seemingly worried. “You look nervous as hell.”

“I always AM nervous as hell, Nozomi.” She answered and then started walking towards the entrace. “It’s not a big deal today, though.”

“I hope so, we came here to… have fun. Or whatever normal teenagers do during proms.” Boy frowned and then blushed. “It’s so strange. I’m not sure if it was a good decision to take me with you, Ange. I’m a terrible dancer and I don’t know anyone here…”

“Hey”, she grabbed his hand. “I asked you to go with me because I know I’ll have fun with you. You are my best friend after all.”

“You forgot to add that I’m your ONLY friend.” Nozomi smiled mischeviously, and then he looked down at their holding hands with a frown. “Hm, won’t they all think that we are dating? You know, holding hands and stuff is usually pretty romantic, as far as I remember from all those movies.”

He laughed, as if he just said a good joke, but girl noticed a growing blush on his face a minute before anxiety hit her.

“Ugh, I-” Ange let go of his hand immediately, feeling a lump in her throat growing and growing. “I’m sorry for that, if I made you feel bad or-”

“I mean, it’s not like I don’t like it or something-” boy grabbed her wrist and looked down. “I just guess that at this point I can stand people looking at me because I’m with a person I’m most comfortable around, and not because I stole something.”

 She wasn’t ready to answer somehow for that and, luckily, she didn’t had to.

They heard a really loud rock music once again, and when they turned around, they saw Ronin running in their direction with a camera.

“I forgot to take a pic of ya two!” He took a few deep breaths and then got camera higher. “Okay so, stand somehow to look nice, and then say "cheese” or some other bullshit… Ready?“

They looked at each other with awkward expressions, but after a minute Ange placed her hand on Nozomi’s back and he wrapped his arm around her waist. Both awfully blushing teenagers tried to put normal smiles on their faces, and without any more word Ronin took a photo.

"Okay, now I’m leaving for real, I promise!” He screamed when he was getting back to his vehicle.

Ange sighed. Maybe this prom won’t be such a tragedy.

[breaking-earth]

Breaking Earth (Ninjago Fanfic): Epilogue

Took the danger, left the fun.

All previous chapters: here

“Are you positive you are up for this?”

The Designer tightened her coat as she readied herself by the doorway. “Of course. Let’s get on with it.”

Everyone was still busy with their Designs, all but two. The tall slender woman brushed back her bangs and stared at the smooth wall. “I go break into the bank, get the attention of the ninja, retrieve the subject and bring him back here. Piece of cake.”

Her coworker raised his eyebrows. “And…?”

With a pause, she looked down and chuckled. “Oh, yes and the protocol, I know.”

He lifted the memory eraser and showed her. She barely offered a glance. “I’m going to leave it right here so you won’t forget, when the time comes.”

She turned and faced her coworker with a slim smile. “I won’t forget. And when it is time to use it on me, I will be ready. Do not doubt me, Ralph.”

Ralph carefully placed the device down on the table. “I do not doubt you, Madge. I just worry. I know who you are after, and how important he is to you.”

Madge’s smile faltered. “What was that supposed to mean?”

He crossed his hands behind his back. “Don’t get too attached. You know what must be done, to him…and to you.”

Madge rolled her eyes as she turned back to the door. “Don’t worry, I will be extra cold to him. Now, the clock is ticking. Let’s move.”

As Ralph began to type on the door, he made one last comment. “You know not to tell him the nature of this realm, correct? He will be curious.”

Madge stood straighter. “And I am stern.”

He hesitated on the last digit. “He’s smart.”

Madge froze, and her gaze drifted to the floor. As the door exploded with light, she looked back up at her coworker.

“I know,” she whispered, and then slipped into the light.

 ___________________________________________________________

Of all the things that transpired as soon as Cole returned back from the realm, the one that surprised him the most was that none of his teammates really acknowledged the tight leather pants.

Jay of course went back into full-tear mode, and he had to be clinging onto some part of Cole’s body until they had to Airjitzu back to the Bounty. The other ninja teared up as well, Lloyd being the only other one to cry happy tears. Even Cole had some tough time holding back the stream.

Once they were all back on the deck of the Bounty, there was a quick celebration amongst the whole team about Cole’s safe return and lack of, well, danger to the world. Of course he was questioned, but Cole kept his word and mentioned nothing about the realm he was brought to. He accidently snapped after Kai called Madge “the criminal”, correcting him instantly that “she was just doing her job. She is not a criminal.” Madge was never mentioned after that.

As soon as the Bounty returned to the Temple, Cole excused himself to go get some new clothes. (“The leather pants are awesome though!” Nya told him, which actually made him blush a little.) Regardless, Cole needed some time to himself to recollect himself after the last 36 hours.

His room was exactly the way he left it all those hours ago, with ash all on the ground and cracks on the floorboards. With a groan, he sidestepped the mess and went to his mirror/closet.

As he reached for a spare hoodie, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. For the first time in years, his body had fully returned to normal. Not only were the green cracks on his back and chest gone, the green scar on his temple was also no more. Even his hazel eyes had reverted back to its full brown. If anything, the only thing that made him look different than before was that his hair was about two inches longer than he preferred.

With a smile, Cole snuck his hands into his pockets to admire his old self. Suddenly, he froze when his fingers touched something that wasn’t leather. His smile fading, he carefully slipped the object out of his pocket.

It was a small piece of paper that had seven words written delicately and carefully. Cole had to squint to read them.

“Took the danger, left the fun. Madge.”

Cole gasped with a small grin. She left him a note? A cryptic note? What was that supposed to mean, she left the fun?

“Well look who returned.”

Cole almost accidently ripped the small note in half as he flinched. “YANG!” He screeched. Cole spun around with his eyebrows raised. “Will you please-“

The ghost didn’t hesitate. “No,” he interrupted, with a smug smile.

The teenager had to shut his eyes before he strangled air. “Good to see you too,” he continued with his teeth clamped together.

There was a pause as Yang just stared back at Cole with a warm look. Finally, Yang was forced to look at the ground.

“I…I didn’t know if you were coming back,” the ghost murmured. “You left, didn’t even say goodbye, and I thought maybe….”

“Oh,” Cole loosened his tension from the scare. “I didn’t know…you….”

“Cared?” Yang finished with a sad stare. “Cole, you aren’t just a friend, you’re my only friend. I didn’t know what I would do without you.”

Cole let that sink in, which was hard. Cole had no idea he meant so much to the elder master. He was left speechless.

Yang felt the awkwardness of the conversation and chuckled. “I guess I would have started haunting that short kid. Jay? Yeah. That would have been fun.”

That made Cole wheeze in sudden laughter. “Pleaaaase no, as soon as he found this place was still haunted, he would make us all move out.”

The ghost laughed in turn, then shrugged. “Well then, I guess I know who my next target is.”

The two friends shared a laugh, before Yang wished Cole a farewell and retired to the attic to continue his meditation. It was only a few seconds after Cole pulled up a pair of black sweatpants when rapid knocking sounded at his door.

“Come in, Jay.” Cole called out as he grabbed a tank top from his closet.

The door burst open with almost as much excitement as his best friend. “Cole! We are going to do something fun!”

As Cole slipped into his top, he rose his eyebrows. “Define fun. Because I hope it isn’t Zane calling a rematch on Go Fish.”

“No no no noooo,” Jay droned as he leaned on the doorframe. “Lloyd just got back from a trip to a store nearby, and he bought a cheap football. We are going to divide into teams and play tackle!”

That made Cole pause. “That….actually sounds fun. Who came up with that?”

“Uh, Ray actually,” the auburn haired ninja responded. “Him and a few others used to play in his younger years. Lloyd is in charge of choosing teams, but we are about to start, like right now.”

“Oh,” Cole froze when heard that. He glanced in the mirror. “I was actually about to trim my hair some, cuz it’s getting kinda long-“

Jay groaned. “Ah, come ooooon!”

Cole lifted his hands in defense. “It’ll get in the way during football! I’ve gotta see to play.”

Jay gave him an agitated stare before his eyes widened. “Just borrow one of Nya’s hair ties.”

Cole didn’t know how to respond to that.

“And-“ Jay continued. “If there’s any extra hair that isn’t long enough, just borrow Kai’s headband.”

“You’re joking.”

“Am not.”

“No.”

Jay shrugged. “I dunno, I think you would rock a man-bun.”

As Cole grabbed a hoodie and walked out of his room with Jay, he couldn’t resist saying, “Just because I didn’t die doesn’t mean that I’m not going to put my hair in a man-bun.”

Jay lightly punched Cole’s arm, which felt like a fly had landed on his skin. “That’s TOTALLY what it means!”

It was too hard to keep a straight face. Cole cracked a grin and then nudged Jay. “I missed you too. Now, last one outside is a rotten ninja!”

____________________________________________________________ 

“I’m open, wide open!”

“No way, that’s totally cheating!”

“Woah! Sick moves, Kai- why don’t I see those on the battlefield?”

It’s safe to say that their game of tackle football was the most fun the ninja have had in a very long time. All six of them had a grin on their face for almost the whole time as the neon green and orange football was tossed around, thrown, fumbed, and even chucked to the ground in victory. The yard of the Temple was cleared for their very serious game, with dummies marking the “touchdown zone” for the two respected teams. Lloyd split the teams almost perfectly, putting Lloyd, Kai, and Nya against Cole, Jay, and Zane.

Lloyd’s team had the ball. As the blonde waited for Nya to escape Jay and Zane’s defense, Kai was holding back Cole from taking the green ninja down.

Finally, Nya made a quick move with her feet that sent Jay biting the dirt. Lloyd tossed her the football and she ran it in for a touchdown.

The siblings and Lloyd cheered (again) as they celebrated their seventh touchdown in a row. Cole, Jay, and Zane regrouped, ready to score their first.

“Alright we’ve got it this time,” Cole told his team. They both nodded, ready for the comeback. Cole told them the play, and they got at the ready. “Hike!” Cole shouted, and Jay shot down the field like a rocket, Zane ready to protect his quarterback.

Cole threw the ball almost instantly, aiming for his teammate. Jay looked back, and caught the ball. Cole was about to cheer when Nya lunged on top of the receiver and knocking the both to the ground. Somehow, Jay still held onto the ball.

“Ooohhh,” Kai called as dirt rose around the two. Nya was already scrambling to her feet and brushing off the dirt. Jay, however, remained on the ground.

Nya rolled her head back and groaned. “Get up, zaptrap,” she joked, but Jay covered his head with his arm.

“Oh, I’ve been killed!” Jay yelled dramatically.

The other four rolled their eyes in unison, knowing exactly where this was going. Even Nya narrowed her eyes. “Killed by what?” she responded with the least amount of enthusiasm as possible.

“Killed by your awesomeness, of course!” Jay sat up and grinned, then accepting her hand up.

Finally, Nya rolled her eyes. “If you can be killed by my awesomeness, then your gravestone has already decayed by now.” She tilted her head all cute like before turning back to her team.  Jay was left standing, actually wondering which of the siblings was better at burning people.  

“Then you’re dating a dead guy!” Jay called out, but his last remark wasn’t responded to. Nya gave him one last warm smirk before regrouping with Kai and Lloyd. Jay however accidently backed into Zane.

“Ouch.” Jay groaned as he rubbed the back of his head. He turned to see his friends shaking their heads.

Cole raised an eyebrow. “She nailed you pretty hard, you okay?”

The freckled teen couldn’t help but blush. “Nah, I’m good. What’s the next play?”

 _____________________________________________________________

Wu carefully slipped the tattered book back on the shelf. Through the walls he could hear his old students cheering and laughing as they played on the front lawn. Only a few hours have passed since Cole had returned after his voyage to the unknown realm. Ray was the one who came up with the idea of football; it was something him and some of his old friends used to do when he was younger. Now him and Maya were watching while Misako was….

“I hope you are being very very careful with that book, Wu. It’s filled with priceless information.”

The old man chuckled as he slowly stood to a standing position. He looked over to see Misako leaning against the doorframe. Her wrinkled skin couldn’t hide the glow on her cheeks. Even at her age, her hazel eyes still harnessed great energy and power. She remained calm throughout the whole ordeal with Cole even though she had no idea what was happening. For someone who thrived for information, the lack of thereof in the past 24 hours must have been excruciating. But here she was, calm, collected, and still in the dark about where Cole went and what happened to him.

With a soft groan, Wu sat down on his bed. Misako slid down next to him and carefully rested her cheek on his shoulder, not letting his beard touch her face. “You know, I don’t think Cole went to the Realm of Elemental Masters.”

All that Wu had to react to that was a light chuckle. “I know,” he wheezed as he too stared at his bookshelf. “That realm is mostly imaginative, part theorized. But….” Wu interlocked his boney hands as he gazed at the tattered book on the shelf, which inside held the tall tale of the realm Misako mentioned. “…at that moment the ninja needed an educated answer, whether it was real or fiction.”

Misako smiled. “And I couldn’t agree more. I’m glad Cole is okay, after everything he went through.”

“Cole is strong,” Wu remarked. “He is too strong sometimes. Hopefully now he knows that sometimes showing you are weak is the strongest move of all.”

The room fell silent as Misako didn’t respond, but kept her gaze locked on the window and bookshelf. There was a cry from outside followed by a cheer and scattered laughter. That brought Misako to show a full grin. They were doing something fun, for a change.

“Where do you think he went?” she asked softly. Wu looked down with a smile. Curiosity had won over.

“I will be honest with you, Misako.” He slid to the side and Misako lifted her head and gazed into his eyes. “I have no clue where Cole could have gone and how such a transformation could be altered to his body. But one thing is very clear- Cole made it extremely clear- the place he went is of the highest confidentiality. I hope Cole never tells us, for both our sakes and his.”

Misako nodded slowly. “I bet it’s a powerful realm,” she thought aloud. Wu tilted his head some before giving Misako a mischievous look.

“Maybe it’s the Realm of Elemental Masters after all.”

 __________________________________________________________

It’s never felt so good to sweat. For Cole, that is.

Wiping his face, the black haired ninja watched as Lloyd, Kai, and Nya celebrated yet again another touchdown. Maybe Lloyd didn’t do a great job dividing the teams up; somehow the dynamic duo and the titanium ninja have yet to earn a single point. It was embarrassing.

The three teenage boys huddled together. Cole took a deep breath.

“Both of you go long.”

It was instantly shot down. “Are you nuts?!” Jay whisper-shouted (he can do that, apparently) while Zane said, “You will get sacked instantly. They will get the ball back!”

Cole patted them both on the back. “They won’t even see it coming. Look, both of you take off as fast as you can and I will throw it in the endzone. Piece of cake.”

The two others didn’t say anything as Cole slapped the football, ready to play. Lloyd, Kai, and Nya stiffened when both Zane and Jay prepped themselves to rush forward as receivers, instead of one of them being a defenseman. Cole took that moment of confusement to his advantage. “Hike!” he barked instantly.

Jay and Zane shot forward, splitting Lloyd and Nya to cover one each. However, their pause at the ‘snap’ caused both Jay and Zane to dash right past the two ninja.

Just another second, Cole thought to himself, but he didn’t have it. Kai had broken from his shock as had just realized that Cole was vulnerable. He was now in midair ready to send Cole crashing to the ground. Panic shot like a spark of electricity through Cole’s body as he brought his arm back and threw the football as far as he could.

As the football left Cole’s hands, Kai looked his eyes on the release and his eyes widened. He screamed as he collided with Cole, and for good reason. Cole didn’t even track the football, his eyes were glued to his own hands.

It was hard, but Cole resisted any urge to touch Kai in any way as they both slammed into the dirt. Without hesitation, the red ninja scrambled off of Cole, looking at himself to make sure he wasn’t affected in any way.

Lloyd was the only one to watch his brand new football soar in a perfect spiral into the clouds and out of sight, much farther than any human could possibly throw. Even Cole’s super strength couldn’t allow him to project that ball that far.

“No…..no no no….” Cole gasped as he stared at his hands. Instead of the tan they were supposed to be, they had reverted back to its eerie glowing orange.

His friends started to approach him, but Cole barked at them to stop moving and not to come any closer. “This shouldn’t be possible…she fixed me….” Cole murmured. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Maya leave Ray’s side and rush inside to get Wu and Misako.

“Cole…?” Jay whimpered from behind Nya. “Are you going to….explode?”

He didn’t respond because something felt off. The orange glow was like it was before, like way before the mess with the spreading cracks occurred. Cole looked up to his friends and pointed at his left temple. “Is the scar back?”

They all shook their head. Cole furrowed his eyebrows, confused. “It thought that they were connected…” he murmured as he slowly wiggled his illuminated his fingers. Suddenly he placed his hand palm down on the ground.

All five ninja instantly scrambled backwards, expecting the ground to explode. However, nothing happened. Not even one piece of ash rose from the ground.

Cole began to laugh.

The ninja all stated at their friend with wide eyes as Cole began to laugh the hardest they had ever seen him laugh. None of them cracked a smile, even Jay kept a straight face as Cole continued to wheeze his laughter.

“Took the danger, left the fun!” Cole told the others as his hands faded back to normal. “I’m cured but I still have my superpowers!” With a sigh he fell back on the dirt. He calmed down his laughter enough to say, “She’s the best.”

Nya turned to the others. “Anyone catch any of that?”

Zane shook his head. “Nope. Nothing.”

“Same here,” Kai murmured. “Maybe we should question his sanity along with his-“

“Cole’s fine,” Jay snapped. “And he got his Earth Punch back too! Now he’s happy and unnaturally strong.”

Lloyd pointed into the distance. “Yeah, strong enough to throw my brand new football to the other side of Ninjago. Cole owes me seven dollars.”

The group chuckled before they all gathered around Cole. “You good, buddy?” Lloyd asked the black ninja as he looked back up at the others.

Nobody could read Cole’s expression in that moment. All they saw was their typically serious yet light-hearted friend smiling ear to ear like he’d just won the lottery. But what they didn’t realize was how happy he really was.

For the first time that he could remember, he felt more connected to the group- not only as a teammate with superpowers- but as the foundation of the greatest friendship any group of teenagers could ever imagine. They all were staring at him, each practicing their self-knowing roles in their team and friendship, and now Cole could finally join them. Who could’ve known that the only way for Cole to feel whole again was to break him first.  

“I’m solid.”

[chaos-cubed]

While it definitely looks great and has solid voice acting, the characters are super empty feeling, and the plot gives practically zero actual focus to any character other than Lloyd and Garmadon. The most annoying part for me is how they rewrote the characterization of Zane and Garmadon specifically.

Garmadon in cannon is evil, yeah, but he still cares immensely for Lloyd. One of his biggest motivations in the show for attacking the ninja is so that he never has to fight his son when he reaches his full potential. In fact he also teams up with them at one point to protect Lloyd. The only reason Garmadon wasn’t there for Lloyd as a young kid is because he was imprisoned in the underworld (at least i think that’s what it was called). However, in the movie garmadon is reduced to this dumb dramatic villain with little to no redeeming character traits who doesn’t care about Lloyd at all.

For zane, in the show his character is built around him being mechanical, sure, but it’s not in the same (almost insulting) way the movie does it. In the show, he walks like a normal guy, talks like a normal guy (for the most part), and shows emotion like a normal guy. He has trouble picking up on subtext and jokes, but other than that he’s shown to be completely sentient and very humanlike. But movie zane is always talking in this strange way, like some kind of text to speech engine almost, and most of his lines are jokes about him being a robot. As a part of his character he’s shown to struggle with in the show, to reduce it to a joke comes off as insulting to zane’s entire character.

And don’t even get me started on how the entire movie is basically just bullying Lloyd. Everyone in the city hates him, the radio is constantly playing songs about hating him, his friends turn on him the second he makes a mistake (although the stealing and usage of the laser pointer had severe consequences, you can tell he didn’t mean any harm, he wanted to help and was unable to think of a better way), and his dad thinks of him as not a son, but at best a general (and we’ve already seen how he treats those poor guys).

And do you know how important to the plot any character but Garmadon, Lloyd, and maybe meothra are? Not at all. Everyone else in the movie could practically drop dead, and the plot could more than likely still manage. Like actually think about it for a minute, other than jokes, what do the other characters actually add? Moral support for Lloyd? Oh wait they don’t actually do a very good job at that, as seen by their extreme lack of sympathy towards Lloyd in a point where he needs their support the most. And wu, yeah he’s supposed to be the teacher or whatever but he’s not even there for 90% of the movie!

And above all else this movie just feels empty and pointless. The movie doesn’t record something out of the ordinary for the world it’s set in, garmadon attacks happen every day. The characters seem to change their minds whenever it’s convenient to the plot. They go on this stupid journey for these pieces for them to be completely abandoned the second they’re shown to be ineffective. The characters didn’t really grow, they just suddenly start to use their elemental powers, and Lloyd has to be the bigger person to change garmadon’s mind on being a jerk when he’s shown to have to be the bigger person constantly. It puts the responsibility on the victim instead of the aggressor.

And maybe all this is just because im used to the show, which puts far more effort into the characterization, the plot points, and the world building. But in all honesty it feels like ninjago by someone who’s never actually watched it. For pete’s sake there isn’t even MENTION of spinjitsu, the MAIN ABILITY they use in the show. The serpentine, an incredibly important early foe they face, and important part of the world of ninjago are nowhere to be seen. And the world in the movie honestly just feels like it’s missing so much of the magic the show had.

Sorry i went on so long, but i recently rewatched this movie so all of these points are fresh in my brain. Of course, nothing against you for enjoying the movie, im just very passionate about why i didn’t.

not to start anything but literally why don’t people like the ninjago movie? like i genuinely don’t know

[silver-ninja-of-the-tides]

Silver and Gold 4--Not Just a Tournament

Chapter 7--Something Forming in the Deep

Summary

Fractured once, then fractured again. Four of the heroes of Ninjago have hung up their ninja gear and vainly started anew. And they’ve convinced themselves that they’re not going back.

But as Lloyd and Janet try to piece their team back together, a mysterious invitation to a massive tournament tells them that Zane is alive.

Bonds will be tested. Suspicions of everything they know and don’t know will arise. It all goes down at the Tournament of Elements.

(First chapter)

Cole’s POV

Below me, Des merely flipped over to Kai’s balcony right before Lloyd and I landed on the rail. Why am I not surprised they’re neighbors?

Kai let us in just as Janet dropped in, and I couldn’t believe his room! He has a normal bed! And typical Kai just has to have a lavafall.

“Yup. This has him written all over it. Literally,” Des said as she looked at the picture of Kai.

“Ugh. That’s it. His room’s better than mine!” I summed up. “And look at these!” I gestured to the confections on the small table. “I don’t have these!”

“What’s wrong with your room?” Janet asked, leaning against the dresser behind me.

“Oh nothing, nothing . . . except for a stone hard bed!”

“That’s it?”

“I mean that literally!”

“Sooo I’m guessing you don’t have silk sheets,” Des said wryly.

“Absolutely not!”

Kai suddenly slipped inside and slammed his door shut.

“Where’s Jay?” Des asked, and he poked his head back outside.

“Oh okay, heh! Good night, heh heh!” He closed the door again with raised shoulders, and we all exchanged looks. A couple seconds went by before he went back outside.

“You just had to leave me hangin’, huh, Romeo?” Jay retorted, and he and Kai finally came inside. “Woah-ho-ho-ho! Nice digs!”

“I know!” I complained. “His room is so much nicer than mine! Look. Chocolate-covered shell peas! I love these!” After eating a couple I leapt onto Kai’s bed with the peas. “Ohh and look how soft your pillows are!”

“They can’t be that soft,” Des said.

“Try them out!”

With a smirk she jumped onto the bed. “Ooh you’re right! They are soft, almost as soft as mine.”

“Man, mine are made of rock! What a croc.”

“Okay, it was almost impossible to get here,” Jay said. “This place is swarming with guards! Any ideas on how we search the island?”

“We travel by shadow,” Kai answered. “Cover every square inch of this place until we find him.”

My hand brushed up against the wall, and the next thing I knew, Des and I were seeing nothing but black. Instinctively I grappled onto the sheets and Des’s hand to keep us from falling.

“What did you do?” she interrogated.

“How am I supposed to know?!”

“Well whatever you did, undo it.”

“You try and do something! My hands are occupied!”

Looking around, she randomly kicked to the right, and we miraculously flipped back into Kai’s room. “That was lucky.” A few seconds went by before we looked to each other in realization.

“Uh, guys? This bed is uh—”

“Cole! I get it! You like my bed!” Kai barked. “Will you stop playing around?”

“He just found something!” Des argued.

“Like what, exactly?” Janet asked.

“I think I know how we can search the island,” I said. “Hop on, guys!”

The others exchanged looks.

“Just get on,” Des said. We all crowded onto the bed and laid there for a few moments.

“Okay, I feel ridiculous,” Lloyd admitted.

“Took the words right out of mouth,” Janet said.

Jay sighed. “You’re right. The pillows are soft!”

“Is this a joke?” Lloyd asked.

“I must’ve done something to trigger it,” I said. “I was laying here, then I stretched—”

Click!

The bed flipped over a few times before stopping above the same pit of darkness, and we all gasped as we hung from the bed. Well, most of us did. Kai was hanging on to my foot and Des was holding Janet’s wrist.

“Secret passageway!” Jay gushed. “Cool!”

Kai produced a flame for light. “Nice work, Cole. Maybe Zane’s not on the island, but in it.”

Suddenly we heard grunting from another direction, and it seemed to be really close by.

“Quiet! Do you hear that?” Lloyd whispered. Above us were two tiny holes streaming with light.

“Oh! Secret peepholes!” Jay beamed. “Ha hah, super cool!” He scaled the wall to reach the peepholes. “Sounds like someone’s fighting on the other side of this wall.”

“Whaddya see? Who’s fighting?” I asked.

“It’s not a fight. It’s Skylor’s room. And it looks like she’s training.”

“Lemme see, lemme see!” Kai zipped up the wall to get a look.

“Seriously?” Janet criticized.

“Ohhh, looks like Kai’s got the hots for her,” I teased.

“No, she’s competition!” Kai protested. “I just wanna know what powers we’re up against.”

“Ugh, wait your turn!” Jay scoffed.

“We can at least share!”

Janet just face palmed at their antics while Des looked to the roof in annoyance.

“Guys! This is an invasion of privacy!” Lloyd scolded.

“Her room doesn’t reveal anything about her power,” Kai said disappointedly. Suddenly the duo gasped.

“What was it? What did you see?” I begged.

“She’s . . . fire.”

“Wait a minute,” Lloyd started. “If we’re all descendants of elemental masters . . .”

I started teasing him. “Kai’s heart is on fiiire! Kai’s heart is on fiiire! Kai’s heart is on fiiire!”

“Can we please just keep moving?” Kai spat.

“Finally!” Des retorted, throwing her arms up.

“Ooh-hoo-hoo! Looks like someone’s a little jealous!” I joked.

With a growl she doused me with water.

“Hey!”

“Let’s just find Zane and get out of here.” She stormed off behind Kai, and the rest of us exchanged looks before moving on. I, on the other hand, have found the shell peas, and I’m enjoying every one of them.

As we walked, Kai and Des kept stealing side glances at each other before he ultimately turned his head away in embarrassment. As much as I like getting on their nerves, those two need to talk things out if this gets messy.

“It’s like a maze down here,” Kai finally said. “Good thing you’re leaving a trail back to our room.”

“I’m what?” Behind me was a trail of shell peas. “Oh! Yeah, heh. I meant to do that.”

“And a trail of water,” Janet added.

“Yeah. And that . . .”

Coming across a shaft, we all climbed down as we ventured deeper into the passageways. Glancing over my shoulder, Des had her arms folded and was tapping her fingers against them. Occasionally her eyes flickered to Kai. After looking to him and her, I fell into step with her.

“. . . You uh, gonna talk to him?”

“Me?” Des asked. “No. I mean . . . of course I’m gonna talk to him, but now’s not the time. We both have other things to focus on, like finding Zane.”

“Can’t be too hard. You’re neighbors.”

“It’s a delicate situation, Cole. I can’t just waltz up to him and talk about it.”

I glanced over to the others, who were unaware of our conversation. “Look. I don’t want you two to have a similar problem to what Jay and I had about Nya.”

“Had?”

“Okay. We s-still have that problem. But my point is, try to find the time to talk to him. Even though things are getting crazy here, just do it. You’ll thank me later.”

She stayed quiet, and her fingers drifted to her pin. “I’ll think about it.”

“Heh. Don’t think about it for too long.”

She shot me a look.

“All right, that was bad. But hey! If they’re related then you won’t have anything to worry about.”

“Maybe . . .” Man. I wish I could take my own advice . . .

Eventually we came across a stone tunnel, which meant that we were actually making some kind of progress.

“Everyone stop!” Lloyd grabbed Kai’s shoulder and gestured to the trip wire. “Booby traps.”

“Ho ho! Booby traps!” Jay said. “Even cooler, ha hah!”

Lloyd gave his a stern look.

“Or I mean, kinda cool. I mean they’re totally not cool. Y’know ‘cause they’re dangerous.”

“From here on out we have to watch our step.”

“Do you hear that?” Kai asked. “Everyone, be quiet.”

We all fell silent, and we could pick out some form of chanting far ahead of us.

“Where's it coming from?” Des asked.

“Only one way to find out,” Janet replied.

Carefully we made our way further into the tunnel. I wonder if any of Chen’s goons have ever accidentally triggered any of these traps . . .

Footsteps from another part of the tunnel stopped us in our tracks, and we hid behind a boulder. Four of Master Chen’s thugs walked by heading for the source of the chanting. Shortly afterwards, several more followed behind.

“Psst.” Lloyd gestured to the incoming guards, and unanimously we all pulled them aside to knock ‘em out. “Hope you don’t mind if we borrow these.”

We slipped the armor over our suits and put on the snake skulls they had.

“Huh. Good thing we have short hair,” Des said.

“Oh speak for yourself, Destiny!” Janet hissed, pulling her hair back in a tight bun.

“Something doesn’t feel right,” Jay said, unsure. “We got the armor, the hats; what are we missing?”

Lloyd looked down at the unconscious guards in thought. Then his eyes fell onto me, and I stopped mid-bite.

“What?”

Jay’s POV

So here we were in the heart of the action in plain sight. In front of us was a horde of guards all chanting as they stood in front of Clouse. A giant stone statue of a Serpentine head loomed over us, and torches lit the room entirely.

“Stop licking your tattoos!” Kai scolded in a hushed tone.

“It’s chocolate! I can’t resist,” Cole protested quietly.

“Shh! Just try to fit in,” Lloyd said. Hah! I’m already doing that!

As the rest of us tried “chanting,” I could barely see someone up ahead walking toward the assembled group with some kind of glowing staff. With one pound at the ground everyone dropped to the floor, and we hastily did the same seconds later.

“Bring out the loser!” Chen ordered. Two men came in dragging a struggling metal Karlof to the front.

“Get hands off Karlof! Karlof wish he never signed up for this!” He was thrown at the feet of Chen, and he had no choice but to look up. “What is chanting for?”

“They’re saying ‘Only one can remain.’ ”

“He really likes that phrase, doesn’t he?” Des whispered.

“No kidding,” Cole commented.

“Like I said, ‘Use it or lose it’!” Chen quoted.

The same two guards held Karlof back by the arms, and Chen fired his staff at him. An ice-like mist seeped into Karlof before retreating back into the staff, bringing a gray mist with it. Karlof’s metal skin was gone, and he dropped face first onto the ground like he was drained of energy.

“He’s stolen Karlof’s power!” Kai realized.

“And he used ice,” Cole added. “That means he must’ve already stolen Zane’s power, too!”

(First chapter) (Next chapter) (Previous chapter)

[kelphero47]

The Marvelous Adventures of Echo Zane - Chapter 3

Yeah, new chapter for my readers. Send me a message to tell me what you think.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So, from now on I shall be called 'Echo' as my brother already uses the name of 'Zane'?" Echo asked the Ninja as the group sat in the game room. He had already been given a full tour of the Bounty, as well as introduced to Wu and Misako.

"I know it will be hard to adjust to this change but it would be confusing for two people named 'Zane' to be in the same room, and most likely having the same conversations." Zane explained as he watched his brother think it over.

"I do not see any reason to disagree, so I am now known as Echo." Echo nodded mostly to himself as he watched the rest of the group nod in agreement.

"Now that that's over and done with, I'm hungry." Cole complained sagging against the couch, "We had a light breakfast because of Darreth and then we skipped lunch."

"Same here, meeting Echo was worth skipping a meal but food sounds pretty good right now." Kai smiled as Cole patted him on the shoulder.

"All those in favour of Zane cooking instead of Cole tonight." Jay added before the earth ninja could move anywhere towards the kitchen. The other ninja raised their hands, which made Cole hold a hand over his heart in mock offense even though he had his other hand up as well. "Motion carried, and anyway we wouldn't want Echo's first meal in forever to be whatever Cole calls cooking."

"Now that's taking it too far." Cole threw a pillow at Jay's head before leaping at the other. The two of them rolled over the floor in an overexaggerated fight. Echo frowned at the pair before looking at the other ninja, Nya seemed to notice his stare. "Don't worry Echo, they do this all the time. They're just joking around... Usually." Just as she said this Jay threw a pillow at Cole who it missed and hit Kai in the face.

"Hey!" He was about to jump in when Lloyd placed a hand on his shoulder. The fire ninja turned to his friend who shook his head causing him to sigh in response, "Fine."

Lloyd then turned his attention to the fighting pair, "Hey knock it off you two, or you're not getting dinner." Both of the ninja stopped in their tracks at that statement which meant Cole's foot was in Jay's face and Jay was about to punch Cole in the stomach. The two quickly detached from each other to go back to sitting cross-legged next to each other. Nya laughed at the their shocked faced at the mention of not getting food, "See Echo, this is completely normal for them."

"So Zane what's for dinner anyway?" Jay changed the subject which caused the rest of the team to look interestedly at the ice ninja.

**The next day**

This was the second time Echo had watched people mill about at such a frantic pace, it was just as loud as the first despite there being less people. Somehow it was also scarier than the port. Despite the presence of the Ninja right beside him Echo felt uneasy, like something bad was going to happen. Speaking of the Ninja they had given him some of their clothes for the time being to help him blend in a little more, apparently everyone here wore clothes android or not so Echo just 'rolled with it' (whatever that meant, Jay had said it so Echo decided not to question it). Then the Ninja sighed in unison, breaking Echo out of his thoughts, as a man in brown sauntered over to the group through all the busy people, acting as if he didn't have a care in the world. "Well, well, well... If it isn't the Ninja, ready to ditch me again today?"

"Darreth..." Kai spoke warningly.

"I'm only kidding," Darreth laughed. "But you guys do have important work to do today. You've got a new commercial to shoot for a..." He went over the clipboard in his hands, "Clothing line. I'd like all of you on that one, then another interview but this one's about Zane's mystery brother so I want..." Echo ignored Darreth at that point as he tapped Zane on the shoulder earning his brother's attention. He looked at the elder with a confused expression, "What is an 'interview'? Why is there one about me?" He whispered trying not to interrupt Darreth despite him not being focused on the two, it looked like he had gotten into some form of debate with Kai involving the younger of the two being held back by Cole. Zane smiled good-naturedly, "An interview in this sense is a face to face meeting where the interviewer asks us questions. It happens to be about you due to Jay mentioning you in our previous one."

The pair of brothers re-focused on Darreth's voice as Kai began yelling at him. "You touch my hair one more time-!" Cole decided to cover his friends mouth at this point, looking pleadingly at the other three ninja near them. Jay was trying not to laugh at Kai's outburst while Nya and Lloyd looked disappointed with Nya going so far as to shake her head. The fire ninja decided it would be an appropriate time to escape Cole's hold by biting his hand. Said ninja yelled as his friends laughed, "What'd you do that for?!"

"Your hand tastes funny..." Kai ignored his question as he complained.

"I think we're getting off topic here." Lloyd interjected as Cole grimaced at his own hand, "We can all agree that no one should touch Kai's hair. We can still do the commercial with it the way it is."

"Fine..." Darreth sighed as the Ninja smiled, "You all need to get over to hair and make-up now though." The Ninja turned to leave their manager before he continued talking, "Wait... Aren't there usually six of you?" Everyone turned their attention to Echo who was currently watching some staff set up for the commercial.

Zane smiled at his brother's curious nature, "This my brother Echo, he's the one Jay mentioned the other day."

At the mention of his name Echo turned around, "Hi." He gave a shy wave as a large smile slowly crept onto Darreth's face.

"Oh my gosh, this changes everything. Okay, um... We need to update the feed, get pictures of you two together being all sibling-y then we need to prep this guy for the interview later." Darreth moved closer to Echo as he went on his rant until he was in what most people would consider their personal space. "How do you feel about cue cards?"

"Um..." Echo took a step back from the over excited man, "What are 'cue cards'?"

This question only served to make the other more excited, "The 'naive type' are we? Oh, this is great, the fangirls are gonna love you!" At the mention of fangirls Echo looked visibly frightened which Darreth, of course, didn't seem to notice. "We should get you to hair and make-up too. See what they can do about your complexion because you look a bit... Rusted."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Zane decided to jump in this point, "He's still getting used to life in Ninjago and-"

"He'll be fine!" Darreth waved off his concern, "I mean what could possibly go wrong?"

**Time skip**

Echo had sat through the Ninja's photoshoot watching as the group uncomfortably meandered through their first experience being models. They'd been actors before but not models. Kai had taken it in stride, a bit too much. Before Jay had decided to trip him up which meant the fire ninja had tried to set him on fire. Well until Zane reminded them the clothes they were wearing were on loan. Besides that mishap they'd done pretty well, Echo decided they looked really nice. I guess that was the point as Darreth had explained that the clothing line had been inspired by the Ninja.

Echo for his part in this whole ordeal had hated hair and make-up. They had tried to cover up his face with a layer of weird smelling stuff until he sneezed by accident and half of his face panelling fell off. Darreth had screamed at that part. Thankfully Nya had brought a screwdriver with her in case something like that had happened, well not the screaming part.

Now he and the Ninja were sat on couches in front of a camera and lot of strangers alongside this guy sat behind a desk. He had introduced himself as 'Stephen Greenswich' and seemed like a nice enough person. The interview had begun slowly, with him mostly addressing the Ninja and taking an interest in their recent activity. With this being said Echo hadn't been prepared for when the focused finally fell on him. "So Echo, from their last interview the Ninja mentioned you being a new thing in their lives, previously unknown for the most part. Care to tell us what you've been up to before that?" Stephen smiled, leaning his head in his hands with his elbow propped up of the desk.

"Um..." Echo turned to the Ninja to receive encouraging looks, "Well... I was built by m-my father while he was imprisoned... I hadn't left the island at all, e-even after he left suddenly..."

"So how'd you get to Ninjago City?"

" I b-built a boat..."

"All by yourself?"

"No, I had he-elp... From my friend Gizmo..."

"What's he like?"

"He's about this big", Echo held out his arms shakily as an estimate. "And f-from the way he looks he's been call a buc-ket before..."

"Interesting..." Stephen leant back on his chair in mock thoughtfulness, "And how do you like it here? Who's you're favorite out of the Ninja? Or don't you know yet? Done anything interesting with them yet?"

"I..." Echo looked at his feet for a moment, it felt like there was something trapped in his throat. "I... L-like it here... It's certainly different and... Um..." He looked up as a hand touched his shoulder. Zane smiled sadly at his younger brother as Echo stuttered, "I-I'm sorry..."

"It's okay sweetheart, it happens to the best of us." Stephen looked between the android siblings, "I adore this right now." He wiped away a small tear, "Anyhow let's take some audience questions shall we, and everyone remember to be nice." He cast a mock threatening look over the crowd, "We don't want to scare the little guy." This drew a small laugh from the audience before some put their hands up, "Okay, girl in the cute shirt on the front row."

"This one's for Nya, what's it like living with a load of guys?"

"Absolutely terrible", Nya replied without a moment's hesitation. "But they are pretty fun to beat at videogames, so there are some plus sides." She laughed at their insulted looks but waved them off easily. "Next one?"

"Um... Guy with the hat that looks like a chicken... Don't give me that look, where'd you even buy that?" Stephen mocked the man glaring at him from the audience.

"I got one for Kai, how much gel do you use every morning?"

"Hmm...", Kai started wordlessly counting on his fingers. "About six or seven..."

"Handfuls?" Cole asked quickly.

"Bottles." He looked seriously at the earth ninja as Cole's mouth fell open, "Of course handfuls, I'm don't need that much."

"That's more than most people though." Lloyd pointed out which got a nod from the others.

"Whatever." Kai shrugged before sinking back in his seat, "Not my fault my hair takes forever..."

"Okay, girl with ponytails in the middle." Stephen left the fire ninja mumbling to himself.

"So, my questions for the new guy. Jay mentioned last time that you were 'alone', why is that?"

"Oh... That's because I was alone... Kind of. I mean G-Gizmo was there but he isn't the best company... But h-he's all I had left after my father left with Zane and the o-others." Echo tried to smile through the stuttering and the sad looks he was being given.

"Next question... You there, jumping up and down in your seat." Said person blushed slightly at his statement before standing.

"Another for the new guy, why'd he leave you there?"

"…" Echo looked at his feet again silently thinking over his answer in his head. He had thought about this question himself a lot after his father left and almost always came to the same conclusion. "I wasn't Zane."

"What?" Zane asked almost reflexively to his brother's declaration.

"I mean it's the r-reason I was made... To replace you. When you came b-ack he didn't need me anymore so... I was left behind." Echo nodded to himself, "But I guess that w-was inevitable."

"Echo..." Zane looked as if he was about to cry as well as most of the studio.

"I-I'm sorry..."

"For what?"

"For upsetting you..." Echo trailed off as everyone looked at him like he'd just grown a limb, "If I had known my story was sad, I would have stopped. It was-" He was cut off by Zane wrapping his arms around him. Echo sat still for a second as his brother almost slumped against him.

"You don't have to apologise..." Zane whispered during the embrace, "If anyone should be sad right now it's you."

"Why?"

"Because you're so much more than my replacement, you understand that. Right?" The ice ninja separated from Echo to take in his brother's confused expression. "You're your own person."

"…I understand." He nodded slowly, "I am Echo, not Zane, and therefore not you."

"Yes." Zane went in to hug him again but was interrupted by the sound of hysterical crying. The two androids turned to face the other ninja who shrugged before Jay pointed to the presenter. Said presenter was crying loudly into a tissue completely oblivious to the people looking at him. Another person came onto the stage wearing a shirt with the word 'staff' on it. "It's been a pleasure having you guys on here... Despite Stephen's waterworks, geez get a hold of yourself man. That's all for tonight folks, on Ninjago Speaks."

With that the stage went dark for a second before brightening up again. The Ninja sighed in relief as they proceeded to get up, "Man, do those not get any easier." Kai stated as he stretched.

"Tell me about it." Jay replied still slumped on the couch, "That's was certainly interesting though, never seen a presenter cry that much."

"What'd you expect with Mr-Tragic-Backstory over here." Cole joked jabbing his thumb in Echo's direction.

"I still apologise for any incon-" Echo started firmly before Cole interrupted him.

"I was just kidding." The others laughed as Echo still looked confused, "Oh right, we still need to teach you a sense of humour."

[eyeofthewolfe]

Ninjago Normal AU

A World Where Master Wu Never Trained ANY Ninja

Chapter Eighteen: Creation

Every single one of the teenagers were left speechless after what Master Wu had said. They all stared in shock at the old man, who had a smug smile on his face as he gazed upon the teenagers.

“Uh-“ Jay shattered the silence as he scratched his head. “You know who we are?”

The master hesitated before frowning. “No, I have no idea who you are.”

Cole slowly furrowed his eyebrows and glanced at Kai and Nya, who had similar expressions. Zane let out a very emotionless, “Uh-“

With a groan, Master Wu pushed himself off the ground. Morro instinctively moved forward to help the old man to his feet. He nodded to the robed middle-aged caretaker in gratitude and turned back to the teenagers. “What I mean, is that I do not know who you all are as a person. But I do know who you all are eventually going to be, and where you come from.”

“You know about our pasts?” Kai raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Master Wu chuckled. “Why yes, Kai. I do.”

With a frown, Kai tilted his head. “I didn’t...tell you my name.”

“You didn’t,” Master Wu continued. “But your father did.”

Chills ran down Kai and Nya’s spine. “You know our dad?” Nya gasped.

Master Wu waved his hand. “That story comes later. But first, let us all go sit in the dining hall. Morro, if you could...”

The master held a tight grasp on Morro’s arm as the middle aged man escorted the old man out of the room and down the hallway. Kai and Nya were still speechless, never expecting that this random stranger could know so much about their missing parents.

Jay looked over to Lloyd, who was nervously playing with a candy wrapper. “Master Wu isn’t that bad,” Jay whispered to Lloyd.

The blonde kid rolled his eyes. “You literally just met him. Try being family with the guy.”

The six guests followed Morro and Wu through the halls until they all turned into a open room with a long picnic-styled table. Master Wu, with the help of Morro, slid into a seat at the end of the table. The old man gestured for his guests to sit. Kai slid in to the left of the Master with Nya and Cole next to him, and Jay, Zane, and Lloyd took the other side of the table, with the blonde sitting as far away from his uncle as he could.

“Morro,” Master Wu turned to the caretaker. “Can you please make us all some tea? We have a lot of catching up to do.”

With a nod, Morro slipped out of the room to what could only be assumed to be the direction to the kitchen.

Cole gestured after the caretaker. “Who is that? Is he an Elemental...uh,-“

“An Elemental Master?” Wu chuckled. “No, he is not. At least not that I know of.”

“He’s very...interesting,” Jay voiced, and Wu smiled at his hands.

“Morro is very passionate. He definitely cares for me, which I enjoy. He means the world to me.”

Nya leaned forward. “Is he your son?”

“In a way,” Master Wu replied honestly. “I’ve known him since he was a child.”

“Where did you find him?” Zane asked.

Master Wu rubbed his beard. “It’s actually the opposite: he found me. He was an orphan looking for food, and so I gave him a home. I took care of him all his childhood, and now he cares for me.”

Nya could t help but smile a little. “That’s sweet,” she murmured.

The old man heard the comment and nodded to her. “He is a special person. I can’t imagine my life without him in it.”

Under the table, Cole slid his hand into Nya’s.

“Speaking of which,” Master Wu knitted his long boney fingers onto the table. “You all must have a lot of questions about who you really and what you are able to do.”

Nya squeezed Cole’s hand. The dark haired teenager knew what that meant; she was nervous.

“Elemental Masters,” Kai voiced. “You mentioned that earlier. Are they real?”

Master Wu stared straight back at Kai. “Are you real?”

“Uh-“ Kai was surprised with the question. “Yeah?”

“Then they are real. You Kai, are an Elemental Master.”

His eyes widened some. “And so are you Cole,” Wu rested his eyes on the teenager he spoke of. “And you Zane, and you Jay.”

“But-“ Jay scrunched his eyes together. “I don’t get it. If we have always been Elemental Masters, why are we suddenly able to, dare I say, master the elements so easily? I couldn’t control lightning a week ago.”

Master Wu tilted his head some and looked around. After a hesitation, he turned back to Jay. “Did you know the other people in this room a week ago?”

The freckled teenager opened his mouth and paused. “I, uh... no I did not.”

“I knew Kai for a few months and nothing weird happened,” Cole spoke up. “Right Kai?”

His eyes dropped to the table. “Actually, I did have signs of my fire ability. I was immune to fire while working in the blacksmith shop.”

Cole scrunched his eyebrows. “But- why didn’t I have weird Elemental signs?”

Master Wu smiled as if he was remembering a distant memory. “Master of Earth,” he called out. Cole turned to him as if he had called his name. “Your abilities are not as physically seen as the others. While you can create boulders as easily as Kai can with fire of Zane with ice, you are also much, much stronger than the average person. You probably never noticed how strong you actually are, and most likely still haven’t.”

His brown eyes drifted down to his open hand. When the old man put it that way, then maybe he did have symptoms of his abilities after meeting Kai.

“There is something else,” the old man voiced. “Something that occurs with every generation of a particular set of Elemental Masters.”

“Generation?” Zane picked the word out. “Elemental abilities are hereditary?”

“Indeed they are.” Master Wu answered, the noticed the shocked expression on Zane’s face. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s impossible.” Zane told the old man. “I can’t be an Elemental Master.”

“Why is that?” Wu asked curiously.

Zane glanced around nervously. “Because...I’m a...robot.”

“WHAT?”

All the eyes shot to Lloyd after his sudden outburst. His green eyes were wide with shock.

“You didn’t see me working in his chest back at the tower?” Nya asked with surprise.

Lloyd shook his head. “Are you serious? I wasn’t paying attention! But you are a robot?? That’s so awesome!!”

Zane couldn’t help but smile at that. “Uh, thanks?”

“It is most peculiar,” Master Wu directed the attention back to himself as he gazed curiously at Zane. “I’ll have to find out more about you to find out how that’s possible. But with everyone else, the Elemental Master trait is passed down from parent to child. Most of the time the four most powerful Elemental Masters always remain together, but you all are an exception.”

Kai narrowed his eyes. “Exception?” Suddenly, Nya perked up. “Wait, what do you mean the four most powerful Elemental Masters?”

Lloyd nervously put his head on his arms crossed on the table.

Master Wu gestured to the table. “The Elemental Masters Of Fire, Ice, Earth, and Lightning are the most powerful Elemental Masters in Ninjago. So powerful that there are weapons crafted to help the masters harness their great power.”

“Why those four? You make is sound like there are more.” Jay asked.

“Oh there are. But those four-you Four are the Elemental Masters of Creation.”

It was as if a brick had dropped on each of their heads. “Cre....Creation?” Jay stuttered. “You can’t be serious.”

Master Wu chuckled some. “I’m too old to make jokes. I don’t have the energy or brainpower.”

Jay sat back in his seat with his eyes wide behind his glasses. Zane remained emotionless, but his silence and stillness made him feel on edge. Cole tightened his hand with Nya’s in order to tell her that now he was scared. Kai let out a long sigh. Lloyd still couldn’t make eye contact with anyone else at the table.

“That’s...a lot to take in.” Kai murmured.

“Indeed.” Master Wu. “It was a matter of time before you four found each other, and then found me.”

Nya froze. “Wait, what do you mean about them finding each other?”

With a twinkle in his eye, Master Wu responded to Nya. “The Elemental Masters Of Creation are so powerful that they are attracted to each other without necessarily realizing it. That is why in the past, your ancestors stayed together. It’s an unbreakable bond that is only shared with the four elements of Creation.”

The teenagers looked around at each other. “It’s not...romantic? Right?” Jay squeaked.

Wu chuckled. “Oh no, definitely not. You probably don’t feel it, but it’s there. Also, you all got help from someone in order to help you all getting together seem as natural as possible.”

“Who?” Nya asked, confused. Master Wu turned to her and stared straight into her eyes.

“You.”

All eyes instantly turned to Nya in surprise. Nya took in a sharp breath in surprise. “I, Uh...I’m not special like them.”

“And that’s where you are wrong,” Master Wu smiled. Nya’s eyes widened. “But, how did I help bring them all together?”

The old man took a deep breath. “That is easy. You are an Elemental Master too.”

Nya’s heart skipped a few beats. “That’s...”

“Impossible?” Master Wu smiled. “Your mother wound have said the same thing.”

He raised his hand before Nya could ask about her mom in shock. “I will explain that later. What is important now is that you realize that you are the connection of the four. You make their bond smooth and not broken or uncomfortable. They all know you, and you know all of them. You are connected to each of the four. Part of it must be your personality, but the big reason is that you are the-“

“Elemental Master of Water,” Nya murmured. Master Wu hesitated, impressed. Nya looked around. “Water is the connection. A conductor for lighting, a form of ice, the balance to fire, a part of Earth. This whole time....”

“You are more clever than I let on.” Master Wu chuckled. At that moment, Morro slid back into the room with a large tray of cups and a steaming tea kettle. “Oh wonderful,” Master Wu smiled up at the caretaker. “Thank you, Morro.”

As Morro passed out the cups, he murmured his welcome. Master Wu took a sip of his tea and looked around the table. “Alright, I have spoken a lot, and now it your turns.”

“Our turns?” Jay repeated.

Master Wu leaned back as Morro positioned himself next to his master. “Yes. Tell me about your lives. I am curious to see what the children of my old friends have done with their young lives so far.”