#i had written all the way up to Zane and Nya meeting when it just poofed.

[goatswithtoast]

Atla x Ninjago

I am so surprised by the small number of Avatar and Ninjago AUs/Crossovers, genuinely thought there'd be loads more, so I thought of my own :D

(Now, this isn't going to follow the Avatar story really, but the Fire Nation still attacked because they had their whole industrial revolution. They're still feared by the other nations and the people are still against anything Fire Nation. Does an Airbender genocide happen? Not to the same extent anyways. Maybe the same way the southern pole was attacked, the Fire Nation focused on only two temples or something. Speaking of the poles, they were left mostly untouched with only a few attacks ever happening)

I'll start in the fire nation. A fire bender met a water bender in the Earth Kingdom and they fell in love. They lived in the Fire Nation and had two kids. They were delighted when Kai started bending, Ray told the whole neighborhood. Nya, being three years old, wanted to make fire too. She was told she could start bending when she got to Kai's age. And on one hot summer's day the next year, she bent water.

Her family was delighted. Maya made her best chewy cookies. Ray did not shut up about it for weeks, he just Had to say how proud he was every time he saw her. Six year old Kai was utterly delighted that he now had someone new to play fight with! Their parents, however, were quick to stop them. No one could see Nya water bending. If she wanted to bend, she had to stick to small things in the house, watering the plants, washing the dishes or making shapes of animals or people to go along with stories, like Maya does at bedtime.

(Kai always wanted to make the funny shapes, but when he got his dad to teach him they could never make them look as friendly with all the sharp edges of their flames.)

They end up moving house quite a few times due to neighbors hearing "excessive splashing" (and Kai shouting in protest every time it so happened to be dumped on him) from their yard. You couldn't keep Nya Smith inside doing baby shapes. Not when Kai got to practice out in the open all day if he wanted to. Not when Kai got to go to a special class after school to get better. She loved her brother, but it just wasn't fair.

Shortly after Nya's eleventh birthday they moved again. But it'd be different this time. They'd be going to the South Pole to learn water bending properly. But they'd be leaving Ray and Kai behind. It certainly wasn't their first choice, but it was the best one they could think of. They couldn't just stop Nya from bending all her life, that'd be cruelty. So they organized the trip, said their goodbyes, and set off.

The first thing they did once they arrived was buy Nya a couple of parkas. She was absolutely frozen. She may be a water bender, but she grew up in the fire nation. The next order of business was to find a teacher. Maya said she had gotten a bit rusty and that it'd be better to find a master anyways. Luckily for them, the local master was available. Sorla was impressed by their story and agreed to teach Nya water bending. Nya already had the basics and learned the more advanced moves very quickly, surpassing older students

(AAAAAAA I had so much more written but it just didn't save.)

Everything Nya learned, she learned to perfection. So she was getting really annoyed with Sorla making her stop everything for a day and focus on Ice. Nya did not get ice. She couldn't understand it. She couldn't bend it, it was solid. It was stubborn, like her, and refused to listen to her.

Besides, who cared if Nya could bend ice or not?! She's good at everything else, why does she have to be good at making ice cubes! She'll just make up for it with her Water bending, she's one of the best at that! Luckily for her, she'll have a new friend soon enough who'll have her back.

-----------------

Zane Julien was born and raised in the South Pole by his father Dr. Julien. While he has the title Doctor, he's no healer. He makes gadgets for the town to help in their daily lives. He's a friendly man but he keeps mostly to himself up in his house with his son.

When Zane started bending, Dr. Julien was delighted with him. He set out to find the best teacher that very day. He found an old friend, who had left for the Earth Kingdom years ago, had returned and started teaching "specialized bending". Zane got started with him a couple of days later.

When this teacher started to teach Zane the basics of water bending, Zane was having quite a bit of trouble. He couldn't understand the flow of water, a slight obstacle in the way of learning water bending. His form was stiff and any water he did bend was choppy. His teacher decided to give ice a try before giving up on him. He was so glad he did.

Zane took to ice bending like a turtleduck to water, mastering every move he was taught and sculpting any object asked for in seconds. Need ice in a drink? Odd request for the South Pole but Zane's got you. Need a chair? Zane has your back. Need an ice spike to spear the heart of your enemy? You've lost him. Zane will use every defensive move he knows before ever attempting to go offense. He will always fight for those close to him and protect them with his life.

Zane eventually became known in the outskirts of town as the Ice Guy. Few knew of his inability to actually bend water, but all respected his skill. Any curious children who haven't quite got the hang of certain techniques can always be sure that Zane will help in any way he can. Any non-benders who just want to see some cool tricks always go home with a sculpture of their favorite animal.

Once, while making the trip into town to get the weekly shopping, Zane hears many frustrated shouts come from a clearing. Always the curious type, he goes toward the sound to see what the problem is. He finds a young girl punching a tree and an older woman watching her, waiting patiently for her to calm down.

"I don't know why you still make me do this!" The young girl groaned. The woman bowed her head like she was preparing for a rant she had heard many times before. "I'll never need to use ice if I'm already a Master Waterbender! No one even cares about ice, I don't, this tree doesn't and I'm sure that man over there doesn't!" She pointed at Zane, who was very surprised to be roped into this argument. The girl growled and started punching the tree again while the woman gave Zane a small smile. "Don't mind her, she can get quite mad sometimes."

"I actually do care about ice" Zane said. Nya paused and turned towards him. "I wasn't asking you, I just said it because you were standing there!" Zane made an 'o' with his mouth in understanding. "Why do you even care about ice?" Nya asked as she walked up to him. "It's a frozen block of water that doesn't move, you can't do anything with it!"

Zane thought about it a moment before giving his answer. Would he really entrust this information with this girl he just met? "Because I cannot bend anything else." Apparently he will. Nya gave him a funny look. "You can bend ice... and nothing else? Not even water?" Zane shook his head. "Water never really came to me, even when I sought it out. It was only from pure boredom my teacher even tried ice."

"You can't be a waterbender then," Sorla said. "We'll have to call you an Icebender." A small smile came to her face with her suggestion. Nya rolled her eyes, still in her bad mood. "There's no such thing as an 'icebender' Master Sorla, he's still a waterbender." "But I cannot bend water, just ice" Zane reminded her "I could show you a few simple moves if you'd like." Nya just huffed and crossed her arms. "Come back tomorrow," Sorla suggested. "She might be more agreeable after a nights rest."

Zane agreed and left to go get the shopping, but not before asking Nya her favorite animal.

Nya arrived home with a sculpture of a badgerfrog that looked like the sculptor only had a vague idea of what the animal was.

>Part 1 (Nya, Zane +Kai) | Part 2 (Lloyd) | Part 2.5 (Morro) | Part 3 (Meetup) | Part 4 (Cole) |

[an-au]

Pre-Series

This is my backstory post detailing a vague timeline for An's childhood and background. It starts after the Serpentine War, when Wu meets their mother (who, I'll admit, I don't have a name for), all the way to the start of the pilot.

Wu meets {NAME} after Misako and Garmadon announce their engagement. He wants to get over Misako, since he's truly happy for them to have found happiness, so the two end up dating. Um, to put it simply, one night neither can remember ends up in {NAME} disappearing and Wu thinking they're broken up. He is very surprised to find a baby on the doorstep to the Monastery, with a short note saying she's his.

Insert a very embarrassing conversation with his brother and Misako, since he hadn't even told them about {NAME} because she disappeared before he felt it was time, and now he has a child to care for.

To quickly deal with the Time Battle, since that happens around this time period, I'm going to say it happened 1 year after An's birth, and once Wu realized what was happening, he asked Misako to take An and babysit until it's all over, wherever she lives outside of the Monastery.

Once the battle is over, An has a pretty normal life in the Monastery. She frequently visits Jamanaki Village and gets along well enough with the children there. She's homeschooled, so she knows a lot about their family history, which overlaps a LOT with Ninjago's history, and her father agrees to teach her martial arts, and eventually Spinjitzu.

An is around 10 when Lloyd is born. I forget to specify when Misako and Garmadon marry, but I've always had the headcanon that regardless of when that happens, Garmadon is hesitant about having kids due to the Great Devourer's venom making his temper and evil tendencies worse. So, at some point after the Battle, they're married, and yes, An participates in the ceremony.

An adores her cousin. She always wants to hold him and take him everywhere. If he's around, every activity now is meant for two.

Uncle Garmadon's temper is getting worse, and An even notices it when he visits. He keeps snapping at her father, but Aunt Misako tells her that he manages it very well and he's trying to be better. He just can't help it sometimes.

A year after Lloyd was born, An wakes up to Wu and Garmadon's fight over the Weapons of Creation. She snuck out of her room, so she saw the ending of it, with her uncle nearly killing her father and being banished through a weird light, but she immediately ran back to her room and pretended to be sleeping when her father checked up on her, so he doesn't know.

After the battle, he drops her off at her Aunt's house, goes to hide the weapons, and gives the map to Kai and Nya's parents.

An learns about the prophecy later, but her father refuses to elaborate on what's written or entertain who it might be.

When An is 14-15, her father starts bringing in students to train. First, it was Cole, then Jay, then Zane. Around this time, An also masters a rudimentary and wobbly version of Spinjitzu.

2 years after Zane showed up, Wu brings over a boy named Kai, who says his sister Nya was kidnapped by skeletons.

An's role in the pilot episodes is to stay and help her father. She pretty much stays at his side until he falls into the underworld, and she barely manages to lead the group after that. They sneak off to get him back, and she reluctantly follows them and is shocked to see her uncle.

[kittydemon9000]

The Beginning of Heatstroke, aka Red's Villain Origin

* crashes down from the ceiling * I HAVE FINALLY FINISHED ONE OF MY 5+ CURRENT WRITING PROJECTS! BEHOLD, A WRITTEN VERSION OF THE 'Red's Villain Origin AU', also known as RVO / Heatstroke AU

To summarize the AU for SPBNR for those that don't now it: 

“Who'd be the biggest conspiracy theorist out of the M!Ninja? The one who drinks 5 hour energy at 3am and spits off the craziest theories and then actually gets it right but nobody gives the theory any merit because the rest of the theories are too crazy?”

The answer: Red / M!Kai

Red: Okay hear me out: Smith is actually an alternative version of one of us sent here from another dimension.

The other M!Ninja: You’re just saying that because Smith’s cool and you want him to be your counterpart

Based on the M!ninja making red cork boards trying to figure out ‘What Is Up With Smith’: Red gets increasingly accurate and nobody will believe him (all pre shogun reveal) and he eventually snaps and takes up a secret villain persona to fight Shogun like 'if they won't believe me I'll do it myself' and it gets awkward when he accidentally does too much damage and catches not only Shogun's attention like planned, but also the rest of the Ninjaforce, and now he has to keep his own identity a secret

So, without further ado, I present... Heatstroke

------------

Red blamed the 5-hour energy coffee blend at 3:00am for this.

It was no surprise that between ‘Operation: What’s Going on with Smith’ & the sudden appearance of Shogun that the resident Bounty red-stringed ‘joke’ cork-board doubled in size and seriousness. It also was no surprise that Red had a corner all to himself and that his theories were… in the words of the others, ‘wildly inaccurate and implausible’.

But this time, he was sure he’d gotten it right.

Smith is Shogun sent here from another continent/planet/dimension with the goal of protecting Ninjago City.

The latest string of laughs and scoffs at his theory was the last straw. He’d show them. He’d prove it!

Which was why he was currently standing on the roof of a noodle house, awkwardly adjusting the spare motorcycle helmet he’d ‘borrowed’ from Nya and painted black and orangey-yellow (red had seemed too obvious). He’d exchanged his Ninjaforce outfit for a soot-burned cross between a bomber jacket and a leather jacket. Down his back jutted a row of flames like the spines of a monster, courtesy of one of Nya & Jay’s unfinished inventions Red had modified- surely nothing bad would come of that!

For tonight, the Red Ninja was off-duty. For tonight, it was Heatstroke’s turn.

He fiddled with one of the weapons he’d ‘lent out’ from Master Wu. It resembled a small arm canon, like a smaller version of the Ultimate Weapon. The plaque under its post had read ‘Elemental Focuser’, which, in cryptic Wu speak, probably translated to ‘you can use an elemental power like something out of Avatar: The Last Airbender’. So far he’d only figured out how to activate a focused jet of fire. Well, at least it was on brand. He hoped it would help him catch Shogun’s attention so he could unmask him.

He’d tried confronting Smith at school, of course. But there were only so many ways of saying ‘are you the new vigilante helping the ninjas’, and Smith has a genuine talent for dancing around the topic. Red could confront him with the name Shogun to get a proper reaction, but that would mean explaining how he knew the name and outing himself as the Red Ninja.

So fake villainy really was the only way.

His plan was to use the Elemental Focuser to cause some minor petty damage, just enough to attract the new vigilante. Perhaps set a trash can on fire, block an alleyway with rocks (if he figured out how to change the setting from fire to earth), small things that could easily be repaired.

Of course, plans were never actually stuck to. One way or another, something was always improvised.

Red’s improvisation just happened to involve him accidentally setting the entire alleyway on fire.

He’d only been aiming for one dumpster, honest! And maybe he’d spotted a couple fliers for a SoG meeting on the ground and happened to burn those too. And a newspaper article blaming Lloyd for the recent Garmadon attack, again. And an article about those ‘Damn Ninja Menaces’ by a S. Sonah Sameson. And-

Okay, so maybe Red had aimed the fire at a few small targets. But just a few! And with good reason and good care, but…

Well, fire liked to burn. Give it enough kindle and it’ll continue to grow, stretching like reaching branches towards each other to join in a massive bonfire. 

So now the entire alleyway was on fire, and Red was panicking. 

He’d luckily chosen an abandoned part of town near the beaches where Shogun sightings seemed most frequent, but with the stupid Elemental Focuser not switching from fire mode to water mode or ice mode or something that didn’t have the potential to burn Ninjago City to the ground, Red had no way of stopping the flames.

And more flames meant more destruction which meant a bigger audience.

Which was why his previously muted comm suddenly flared to life, the only warning Red had before Nya’s water strider mech slid around the corner.

Red scrambled onto a roof as the mech drove past, spraying water at the bonfire to dose it. His sigh of relief was just as quickly dosed as Lloyd’s voice came over the comms; “Status, Grey?”

“Flames are out,” Nya replied. “Pursing the joker that set it ablaze.”

Uh oh. Red took off across the roof, leaping from building to building. Tiles creaked, pebbled and dust scattering underfoot. The sounds of the mech’s engine roaring behind him echoed through alleyways below to create the illusion the mech was everywhere at once. 

As the chase grew on, more mechs started to join in. Red ducked into a narrow avenue to avoid Zane’s tank, then under a cafe overhang to throw off Jay and Lloyd. His heart hammered in his chest and he groaned, filling the inside of the motorcycle helmet with steam. Saying this was going ‘bad’ would be the understatement of the century. 

What had he been thinking? Oh wait: he hadn’t. Seriously? ‘Oh I’ll just pretend to be a villain real quick, that should get Shogun’s attention and not the attention of literally my entire team of fellow ninjas!’ Stupid, impulsive, this was why everyone was always calling the red ninja the ‘hothead’ when he really tried not to be- Lloyd’s voice over the comms snapped him from his thoughts. “I can’t catch them! It’s like they know our every move!”

Red winced as he climbed up a banister and leapt from balcony to balcony. Sorry, Lloyd. 

He didn’t miss how the others asked Nya where Red was. And how she made up excuses the others bought so easily- granted, he’d told those excuses to his sister before setting his plan into motion, but still, ouch. They acted like he was simply being at best too busy and at worst lazy and selfish.

He just wanted them to know the truth! Why couldn’t they at least try to believe him when-

Of course, that was when Shogun dropped out of the sky and tackled him.

Red shouted with surprise as he tumbled down from the second floor, slamming into a few softer bags of garbage to break his fall before rolling and slamming into the unforgiving concrete. A crack formed in his vision as the visor of his motorbike helmet smacked into the concrete ground. One of the fire jets on his back sputtered and sparked, sending a thin wisp of smoke into the air.

Shogun pinned his wrists to the ground and growled. “Who are you?”

Red tried to break free, agony turning his muscles and bones to fire with the movement after his fall, but the vigilante was too strong. Damn, how often did this guy train?

“Who am I?” Red said, a nervous tinge to his voice. He quickly smoothed it over with faked confidence. “Who are you? Who are all of us, really?”

Shogun narrowed his eyes behind his hood. “Did Garmadon send you? Or someone else?”

Red sputtered. Really, the nerve! Garmadon? The thought turned his insides to disgusting mud. “Nobody sent me!”

“Then why are you here?” Shogun spat.

“Why am I here?” Why was he here again? Oh right, the bright idea on how to reveal that Shogun was Smith. “It’s, uh… a valid reason! That I don’t have to tell you!” He tried for a villainous laugh. Stay in character, don’t blow your cover, you got this!

Shogun was unimpressed. “Nearly burning down my home was a valid reason?”

“Well, I wasn’t trying to set everything on- wait, WHAT?” Uh oh. “You LIVE here?”

Now it was Shogun’s turn to look uncomfortable, though the expression was quickly wiped from his face. “Nothing wrong with this district.” 

Red nodded. “‘Course not. Uh, sorry about that… wasn’t my intention, I swear.”

Shoot, he could hear Jay’s jet getting closer. He had to get out of here, but Shogun, annoyingly, didn’t seem to be in the mood to simply let him go. “Then what is your intention?”

“Well, for starters, it’s getting out of here. This really isn’t going to plan and I’d rather just be home right now, or even inventing a time machine like in that book ‘Hands of Time’ to slap my past self in the face for even thinking about this stupid idea in the first place-“

Jay wasn’t the only one that could ramble under pressure, it seemed.

Shogun leaned closer. “What idea?”

Red shrugged as best he could with how he was pinned to the ground. “Well, for starters, I just wanted to prove to my friends that you’re Smith, and things just kinda escalated from-”

The words were out of his mouth before he realized what he said. 

Shogun lurched back, letting go of him. His eyes betrayed a kaleidoscope of emotions; surprise, worry, suspicious, hurt, fear, realization. 

“…Kai?”

Well, f!ck.

“I-“

Red was about to badly attempt to bullsh!t his way out of his identity reveal before it suddenly dawned on him that Shogun had not denied his theory. 

Which meant Shogun was Smith.

And it also meant Smith instantly recognized him as Kai, which, considering his disguise, was aptly concerning. Sure, he was the first one in his group of friends people would think to do something this extreme but give him some credit! Zane was a regular detective, he’d do the same if it meant answers! Or, well, at least something similar. And Nya could be an adrenaline seeker. And Lloyd- well, maybe not Lloyd. Or Jay, either. Cole had his head just enough on his shoulders that he probably wouldn’t do this either.

But come on, instantly guessing it?

Well, at least Smith/Shogun didn’t know Kai was the Red Ninja. That would be a catastrophe.

Right. Back to the current catastrophe at hand.

Shogun- Smith- still had a look as if he’d been slapped, and Red hated it. He hadn’t meant to hurt his friend. Shogun… Shogun hadn’t wanted them to find out his identity. And then Red had gone and done it, just to prove that he could be the smart one, or a leader, or the protector so they didn’t get hurt, or literally anything but just the ‘hotheaded one’. 

…And he’d done it in the most hotheaded, impulsive way possible.

He really was an idiot.

The cracked helmet hid the look on his face, a twisted mess of distraught and shame. But it didn’t help hide how he took stumbled to his feet and away from Smith, nervous that any second he’d spill another mistake and mess up again, like how he always freaking messed up on everything. Don’t pick this fight, interject there instead, no, not there, idiot, there, FMS why are you so useless-

Focus, focus.

Lloyd’s voice, sharp in the intercom and full of static from his tumble, snapped him from his thoughts. “Anyone got eyes on the arsonist?”

Red caught Smith’s eye as he raised his hand to his own communicator. He was so screwed, so busted, so doomed… Smith would report it, and the others would know, and they’d think he was just messing around in an alleyway with some stolen devices and weapons out of curiosity or rage, - and-

“None yet, still looking.”

…What?

Smith stared at him, gaze searching. He looked shaken, more so than Red- who’d just taken a fall from a second story, mind you, it was a miracle he wasn’t more injured than a couple small scrapes and some future bruises-, yet everything from the set of his jaw to the softening of his furrowed brows suggested a change in emotions. Well, not quite change; more like repress and replace.

“You wanted to prove yourself, didn’t you.”

Red flushed, hand instinctually clamping into a tight fist at his side. The still-working fire jets on his back ignited without him pressing any buttons; faulty activation from the fall or something. 

Palms up and hands raised, Smith silently asked to defuse the situation. “Didn’t mean it as an insult. This wasn’t about venting some anger, was it.”

Red’s lack of response only confirmed it. Smith continued. “I won’t say anything about this if you don’t tell anyone my identity. Deal? I know finding it out was important to you, but-“

“Deal,” Red interrupted. Guilt ate away at his core, like a wave of water dousing a candle. “Smith, I-“ He swallowed hard and stared at the alley floor. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to… to…”

Smith’s hand was suddenly on his shoulder and he flinched before relaxing as Smith didn’t move further, nor did the grip tighten. “I’m a little hurt, you’re right. But I’m not mad. And I won’t tell the others, so you can relax. But you better get out of here and get yourself an alibi. We can talk at school or something.”

Wow, he was handling this rather calmly. Red was struck by the sudden memory of- what did Jay call the word? Right. Compartmentalizing. That… wasn’t healthy. But at the roar of Lloyd’s mech somewhere nearby, he didn’t comment further. Instead, he shot Smith a grateful nod and ran down the alley, sticking to the shadows and blind spots of the flying mechs and the tight alleyways where the land mechs couldn’t reach him. 

When he got home, miraculously without further incident (though Shogun leading the others on a wild goose chase over the comms certainly helped there), he ditched the outfit in a bag hidden beneath a loose floorboard in the shed. He’d return the weapon to Master Wu’s ship later, and… well, hope Nya never searched for the missing supplies. There wasn’t a way of fixing it without involving her or Jay, and neither was an option.

Heatstroke was back off duty, and so was the Red Ninja.

For now, he could just be Kai Smith. And there wasn’t any issue with that.

…

Right?

—————

yooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

THIS IS AMAZING REHJJGFHDESFXJVZ

and ah yes, good ol trauma and compartmentalizing, we love to see it

[lizthehobbitcleric]

Cole Brookstone: Sweet Secrets

Warnings: Beware: Only fluff to be found here!

Disclaimer: I do not own ninjago nor the art posted. I only own my ideas/plot lines. All characters are written to be 18+

Summary: Cole has been going out in secret, the boys want to know what he's hiding, and Wu just wants to enjoy his tea in peace for once. (This oneshot in particular is going to be placed somwhere in between season 2 and 3)

~-~-~

It's safe to say that not many secrets are held between the ninja. Considering the fact that they need to entrust each other with their lives, there's just not much room for hiding things. Of course, everyone is entitled to their personal privacy however. Each of them have their own small things that they just don't talk about with the others.

For Lloyd, that happens to be his sweets stash under his bunk.

For Jay? His fear of spiders (Nya and Zane are totally the spider handlers of the group and no one can convince me otherwise.) 

Kai, though he would never admit it, tends to dance and sing to Mariah Carey unironically (especially when the holidays are around).

Zane? It's not so much of a secret as it is an odd habit, but every so often he'll sit in the fridge and meditate for like an hour (cuz... ice powers? I guess??).

As for Cole, well, his secret is a little more significant...

That secret is you.

For all that he loves his brothers, he knows that they would not let him live it down if they found out he had a s/o. Teasing, wanting to meet you every time he goes out, it would never end. Besides that, he would have no problem letting you meet the others. The other reason he keeps you a secret is because of how many enemies he and the ninja have, the less people that know about you means the less chance someone will try to get to him through you.

You two met each other in grade school, your meeting was rather rocky (heh) at first, seeing as you had just moved to a new town and weren't exactly inclined to make new friends. One day however, there were some older kids from a higher class that started picking on you, Cole saw and helped you fight them off (verbally, since little kids aren't all that strong compared to tweens/preteens) and from there your friendship slowly formed.

Your relationship didn't take a romantic turn until you both went to Marty Oppenheimer School of Performing Arts, though Cole left a few months after entering, you two still kept in contact. While you both were in school though, nine times out of ten you two would end up as partners. (I absolutely adore the mental image of Cole lifting the reader during a piece.)

Like his father, he didn't tell you right away that he was a ninja, only when he came to your place to check on you after the Great Devourer attacked that you found out what he did for a living. Needless to say you had a minor panic at the fact that your boyfriend could get hurt at any second without you knowing. He managed to calm you down after a few minutes, though that doesn't stop you from checking him for any injuries any time he visits.

Seeing as he's usually either busy training, fighting crime, or teaching at Wu's academy its not often that he gets to see you. Today however is one of the rare times they're all visiting your village.

"We're here!" Nya called out as she caught sight of her friends near the outskirts of the village. All the ninja were relieved as they tried to catch their breath, it was a pretty decent hike from the school. That's not why they were so winded though, Wu had decided to make it a training exercise for long distance running (turned competition by the ninja excluding Nya and Wu, who took their time).

"Did we really have to walk all the way here? Taking the raider would have been a lot faster." Kai complained. As he approached the boys Wu started to speak.

"Faster perhaps, louder most definitely, besides, it would not fit all of us at once. Besides, hiking will increase your endurance that you all so apparently need, perhaps we should come here more often..." all the ninja (besides Cole) groaned at the idea. Wu continued as he started to walk closer to the village.

"In any case, try not to cause too much trouble would you? I don't wish to have to explain to the mason again how you all destroyed half his wares within a few minutes." ... Yeah, safe to say they were banned from going into certain shops after that. Wu continues to head off into the town. Nya turned to face the others after their master was out of sight.

"I have a few errands to run so I'll see you all later, bye!" She said as she walked in a different direction than their sensei. Cole glanced at the others, trying to figure out the best way to leave alone without arousing suspicion. Luckily Lloyd beat him to it however.

"I'm going to go visit the comi- er book store, meet back here at 5 like usual?" The others nodded their agreement and Lloyd left. Cole turned to head into the village, wanting to get to you as soon as possible.

"I'll cy'a guys later, I'v got someo- somewhere I need to be." He said as he ran off, the others glancing to each other.

"Does anyone else wonder where he goes every time we come here? He always takes off before we can ask!" Jay exclaimed. Kai opened his mouth to say something when Zane replied.

"Cole is entitled to go where he wants though, perhaps he just doesn't wish to be late for something?" Kai raised a brow at the nindroid and shook his head.

"Nah, if it was something like that then he'd tell us, it's probably something embarrassing like hula lessons.." Jay turned to the group as they all imagined what Cole could possibly be doing, now curious.

"I say we tail him! If he won't confess then we'll just have to find out ourselves!" He said as he pumped his fists. Zane tilted his head a bit with a questioning glance.

"Wouldn't that be an invasion of privacy? It's not a crime to go places without us." 

"He does this every time we're here though, aren't you at least a little bit curious?" Kai retorted.

"Well... I suppose it wouldn't hurt.." Zane still wasn't sure on the idea.

"Think of it like a training exercise, we'd have to be able to sneak up on another ninja!" Zane sighed but finally relented and nodded towards the direction Cole rushed off in.

"We best hurry then, we don't want to lose him before we even find out his destination." Jay and Kai fist bumped and they all took off after Cole, doing their best not to be seen by the older ninja.

~-~-~

You had just gone down to the kitchen when you heard your door being unlocked. Quickly you turned your head towards the sound and see your boyfriend coming through the door. You grinned and ran over to him, hugging him tight as he spun you around a bit. 

"You're here!" Cole chuckled as he set you down, you tilted your head slightly and brought him into a kiss, one he quickly reciprocated. You pulled away and grinned at him, pulling him into your home.

"Of course I am, I can't just stop by the village and not say hi to my wonderful partner!" Your grin didn't fade, but softened into a smile as you studied your boyfriend. Even after all this time, you still can't help but want to make sure he's not hurt when he visits.

"I'm glad you're here, you have good timing too! I was just about to make lunch." As if on queue, his stomach growled, empty from the hike earlier.

"Sounds good, want any help?" He gave you a pleading look, the kind you would normally give in to if your kitchen wasn't at stake.

"Hmm well I haven't chopped up the vegetables yet if you want to help out with that?" Cole smiled, it's been a while since you let him help you cook, even if it wasn't really cooking, since the last time you let him near a pot he managed to burn water somehow.

"Aye Aye Captain." He gave a mock solute as you both set to work.

~-~-~

Meanwhile, Jay, Kai, and Zane stood on a nearby roof, not close enough that you two could hear them but just enough to where they could see what just transpired. Jay dropped his mouth open in shock, Kai's eyes were wide as they watched you bring Cole inside. Zane's reaction, while a lot more tame, you could definitely tell he was surprised.

"Cole.... Cole has a girlfriend?!" Kai quickly put his hand over Jay's mouth.

"Shhh, not so loud! Someone will hear us, the last thing we need is Sensei having to bail us out of jail because someone think's we're stalkers." Kai hisses. Jay gets out of Kai's hold as Zane raises a brow. Somewhere in the distance, an older man is sitting in a cafe drinking his tea when he gets a sudden chill.

"Isn't what we're currently doing considered stalking?"

"No we're just... looking out for our brother! That's all there is to it." Jay defended. 

"Even still, it seems we are invading something private, perhaps we should head back?" Zane suggested. The others looked back at the house one last time before Kai sighed for a second.

"Fine you're right, lets get out of here, I think the arcade is still open." The group of three stood up and abandoned their previous post, heading towards the center of town.

~-~-~

You and Cole finished lunch fairly quickly, breakfast burritos complete with eggs, bacon, and (extras of your choice). After eating you two headed into the living room and Cole started to set up (favorite movie). You sat on the couch and Cole sat next to you, he leaned down and laid his head in your lap. He gave you a gentle smile as you started to run your hands through his hair, one of the things you know he enjoys.

The movie ended all too soon, not that you minded, you'd seen it many times already. You looked up at the clock on a nearby wall, 4:37 it read. You look down and see that Cole had fallen asleep, you didn't really want to wake him up but you knew he had to leave to meet up with his team. Your hand moved from his hair to his arm as you gently moved your hand up and down his arm, slowly rousing him from sleep.

This was his favorite way to wake up, with you next to him, gracing him with the gentle smile he so loved. He didn't want to leave, but he knew he had to or the others would wonder where he was. He slowly got up and brought you closer to him, his hand brushed your cheek as he drew you in. You two shared a kiss, one that you both poured all the love you could into, knowing you wouldn't see each other for a while. 

He pulled back and held you for a few minutes before you both stood up and you walked him to the door. 

"I'll come back as soon as I can, alright?" you nodded, understanding that his responsibility to the team comes first more often than not.

"I'll be here waiting for you." reaching your hand out you lightly gripped his shirt and gently pulled him towards you, kissing one last time before he left. A moment later, you two broke away and he gave you a smile that you returned. Then, he backed up and made his way back to the meeting point, but not before looking back and winking at you with a grin on his face. You chuckled as you shook your head and closed the door, heading back into the house to continue on with your day.

The moments you have with Cole may not be often, but you loved and cherished every second of them, and you know he does aswell.

Extra:

"Come on!!" Kai yelled out as he once again drifted into the dirt to the right of him.

"Haha! I have you now!" Jay's cart zoomed past Kai's as he swiftly took 1st place at the last second. Kai looked at Jay, disgruntled.

"I let you win." he said while Jay snickered.

"Suuure, what ever helps you sleep at night." Zane smiled at his two brothers, looking to Kai

"I believe the appropriate term is, "You just got smoked."" Jay burst out laughing as Kai gave him and Zane a withering glare.

"I hate you both."

"You know you love us!"

~-~-~

Fin

[rosiehunterwolf]

CONGRATS ON 100 FOLLOWERS FREN 💖💖 you deserve it and so much more

If you're feeling up to it (DONT FEEL OBLIGATED DO U HEAR ME MY DEAR) movie verse Jay my beloved

asfljdlkj tysm Amour! I'm so glad to have you as part of my tumblr family, ur one of my best friends on here 💕✨

i really needed to write something movie!verse because I LOVE movie!verse and haven't written anything yet, so I was excited for this one

(@fabro-de-omres you've said in the past that you would love to read it if I wrote something movie!verse, so here's ✨content✨)

I'll chase you to the moon and back

Summary: When you’re in a secret ninja force and are your city’s primary protectors, pulling your weight is important.

Jay tries to be an asset to his team, but it’s difficult when he’s viewed as the scaredy-cat who cracks lame jokes. He loves his friends with all his heart, but sometimes it’s hard to know if they return those feelings.

Jay wouldn’t blame them if they didn’t.

Sometimes, Jay felt like he was a burden to the team.

He tried not to, he really did- he knew the others liked him and cared about him. But standing next to strong Cole, smart Zane, brave Kai, determined Nya, or warm-hearted Lloyd, it was difficult not to feel… inadequate.

It didn’t help that Cole hadn’t answered any of his recent texts.

It could be anything, Jay told himself as he stared down at the unread messages, resisting the urge to send another text. He could have an appointment he forgot to tell me about, or maybe he’s just not looking at his phone right now, or he simply doesn’t share my urgency to answer a text message so quickly. Cole had always been much more laid back about that, raising an eyebrow as Jay always scrambled to answer the text from his mom, or whoever had sent it this time.

But Cole was also Jay’s best friend. He knew he got anxious when someone left him unread for too long. Because of that, he had always been good about answering Jay’s texts quickly, even as the others still groaned about the earth ninja taking ages to respond to them.

For him to go an hour without responding was… concerning, to say the least.

Jay pushed the thoughts aside. He was probably just overthinking this, like he always was. Cole would get back to him soon. It wasn’t like he was ignoring him, or anything.

Maybe the others are up to something. He opened the group chat, but although there were usually a hundred notifications at any given time- he had learned that the hard way the first day he had joined, turning on his phone after school to a whopping 785 texts- it was empty now. The last text was from Lloyd, asking Kai to meet him at his locker before lunch.

Jay felt his heart rate spike. The lack of an argument between Kai and Nya in the last five minutes alone was worrying- because heaven forbid they actually talk things out in person, even if they literally lived one bedroom down from each other- and his mind quickly spiraled into possibilities. Had someone kidnapped them? Had their parents grounded them? Or maybe they had committed a crime and gotten thrown into jail. He wouldn’t put it past Kai and Nya to pull something dumb- Cole and Zane would go along with it, and Lloyd would never speak up enough to voice his disproval-

No, don’t be ridiculous, they wouldn’t commit a crime.

Well… Kai might. But the others would stop him.

What if they made a separate group chat without me?

No. His friends would never do that. They’d be more likely to commit that crime.

But the thought wouldn’t leave Jay’s brain, and before he knew it, he was sending a text in the group chat.

jaybird123: What r u guys up to? Wanna hang?

He immediately regretted it. What if he came off as too clingy? Too overbearing? They probably just wanted some time to themselves.

That didn’t sound quite right to Jay, but he stuffed his phone in his pocket, forcing the thought out of his mind.

He decided to go to the park- watching the people there always gave him good ideas for inventions. He was too late to catch a bus down there, but it wasn’t too far to walk.

His phone buzzed, and he glanced down.

thegreendragon: sorry jay, got plans 2nite. maybe tmrrw?

Jay tried to stop the pang of disappointment. Lloyd wouldn’t lie to him. The others probably were just busy. It was no big deal. Tomorrow, things would be back to normal.

A couple of blocks away, he caught the sounds of annoyed shouts, the kind that usually hinted towards the presence of-

He stopped, blinking, as a boy darted past the onlookers and into the shop.

Huh. Lloyd?

Starting towards the store his friend had vanished into, Jay peered through the window, looking for Lloyd-

Jay froze. Lloyd was standing with the others, animatedly babbling something to them as they watched him happily.

Jay shrunk back. They really had met up without him, and had lied about it, too. He wasn’t being paranoid- his friends just didn’t want him around.

For a moment, the shock left Jay floundering. He had no other friends. The other ninja were his entire livelihood. What was he meant to do now?

He quickly wiped at the tears pooling in his eyes. I’ll go home. My mom will know what to do.

He had the worst feeling that this was something that even his mom couldn’t fix, though.

About halfway home, a buzz in his pocket interrupted him from his stupor. Pulling out his phone, he saw there was a new message in the group chat.

rock’n’cole: hey jay, something just came up, can u meet us at the warehouse asap?

Jay just stared at his phone for a minute, debating whether to actually show up or not. After all, the others had ditched him, why shouldn’t he do the same? And he still felt hurt- he wasn’t sure if he was ready to talk to them yet. He really should just go home.

jaybird123: sure, i’ll be there in 20

Jay had never been good at holding grudges.

Thirty minutes later (he had ended up stalling a little bit just for the spite of it) he pushed through the doors of the warehouse. It was pitch black inside, and as he fumbled around for the lights, he couldn’t help but notice that no one else was there. It was stupid of me to come. They just abandoned me. Again.

Suddenly, the lights burst on, and the others were jumping out from behind the furniture, cheering and hugging him. Jay stumbled backward, taken aback. “What’s going on?”

Kai looked at him like he was crazy, gesturing widely at all the balloons and streamers that Jay could see now that the lights were on. “It’s a party, dumbass, what else do you think?”

“What for? It’s not my birthday!”

Nya scoffed, as if he had just told her that men lived on the moon. “Of course not, this is for your Ninja-versary!”

“My… what?”

“The anniversary of the day you first became a ninja, stupid!”

“Oh.” He blinked around at all the decor. “All this? Just for something as simple as that?”

Kai wasn’t the only one looking at him like he had sprouted a second head, now.

“Are you kidding?” Cole said. “We’re not going to skimp on celebrating the day one of our favorite people came into our lives.”

Jay blinked at him. “I…” I’m so sorry for ever doubting you. That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.

“Now, what are we waiting around for?” Cole threw an arm around Jay’s shoulders. “Let’s go get some cake!”

As the ninja hurried over to the table, squabbling over who would get which slice, Jay squashed between the middle of his big, loud, bickering family, he couldn’t have felt more at home.

[cinnamonkittenz]

Rating the ninjago season based on what I’ve gathered from binging the show in 3 weeks while not paying attention 70% of the time

(Spoilers obviously)

Season 1 / Pilot: not often on TV but a very good introduction to the story, love the concept of the skeletons and Garmadon being a knock off Hades, I wish they continued with that instead of the snakes, sadly kinda too fast paced but hey it’s supposed to be a movie I guess, 9/10

Season 2: what my local kids channel played for 5 years on loop, a classic but I’m tired of it bc I’ve seen it too often, has a lot of plot holes and the snakes are too goofy at times for my taste, terrible animation in comparison to the newer seasons, 5/10

Season 3: not as good as I remember it to be but their outfits slap, we finally get to meet PIXAL our queen, the trip to space was kinda random and unnecessary, but the shock when Zane died tho???? 12 year old me was devastated, 8/10

Season 4: really interesting premise, I wish they had committed to Zane staying dead or at least staying away for longer tho, the tension is lost halfway through the season somehow, we need more Skylor content, 7/10

Season 5: Nya has powers now?? And oh it’s just the thing we need to defeat the ghosts???? And airjitzu????? Really?????? Great writing very wow, but Cole being turned into a ghost had me shook so that’s really what saves this season for me, gonna have to subtract some points again tho bc Morro is yelling so much and so loud and it’s annoying, 5.5/10

Season 6: I like the idea of the evil dschinn in a bottle but the rest?? Dschinnjago (how tf is it even spelled)?? What the fuck where’s the creativity, and I hate how literally no one gets character development besides Jay and Nya, literally everyone else had no personality and then gets sucked into that sword, if you’re a jaya stan good for you but this season was so boring to me, 4/10

Season 7: okay this is a hot take bc apparently people kinda like this season and maybe it’s bc I paid even less attention than usual but it was so bad,,,,, snakes again? Can we come up with something different please? Yes the time blades are a cool concept but the rest?? And the character design of the villains is so bad, like seriously what the fuck, my eyes are bleeding, 2/10

Season 8: I was kind of sceptical when they suddenly started with that royal family stuff but Harumi,,, my beloved, the one and only girl boss, I think she’s the best villain of the entire show (yes her goal is kinda cheap but the reason for it and the way she behaves is just top tier villiany), the motorcycle gang is kinda fun as well, dad Cole has my whole heart, and the ending???? BRO?????? 9/10

Season 9: in retrospect it’s really just 4 gays raising a kid in the desert, gives me big mad max fury road vibes at least the aesthetic (i haven’t seen the movie lol), the junk yard baron guy and the faith plot are kinda cringe tho and the HTTYD scene with Kai?? They don’t even try to conceal that it’s a knock off, same camera angle and everything, the plot in ninjago city is like,,,, bro is this still a kids show?? This is straight up ‚a bunch of teens try to fight the fascistic regime in a post apocalyptic world‘, the whole season feels like a filler tho so 7.5/10

Season 10: that Lloyd / Garmadon fight really is something, have the creators forgotten they’re making a kids show??? Don’t remember much besides Harumi straight up dying and thinking that Skylor needs more screentime besides being a plot device, 7/10

Season 11: the beginning is veeeery slow which is kind of annoying and what happened to the plot with Aspheera?? Did I not pay attention again or....?? but the rest? Chefs kiss, love it, Akita my beloved,,,,, I didn’t see Zane as the emperor coming at first (although it’s pretty on the nose now that i think about it) but it’s so dark and so well written I love it,,, like I said a thousand times without the advisor guy and them not having to make it suitable for kids it could have been even better, the ending was so rushed tho and the conflicts were resolved way too easily, that’s why I have to subtract a point, 9/10

Season 12: this season could have used so much more superstar rocking jay content,,, seriously if you give Jay yet another season then fucking commit to it, the second half of the season is literally s6 all over again and I hate it, yes we get it jaya rules but please,,, give the other characters some screentime and development, the way the conflict with unagami is solved is,, questionable??? Like that’s not how it works bro, 6.5/10

Season 13: not at all what I expected it to be bc I had seen so much amazing stuff on here so I was pretty disappointed bc it didn’t feel like Cole’s season, the evil dad trope is overused so pls stop it, the uply (???) and their animated short slapped, we need to see more of Cole’s mom,,, pleeasseeeee, 7/10

Season 14: what the fuck?? Is going on???? Is this even a season??? What’s up with the western colonizers club????? I know it’s set up for s15 but I really didn’t like it esp the portrayal of indigenous people as savages (at least it has the vibe), 1/10

Season 15: listen I’m just not a fan of non human species in the lego world, the snakes were okay but these sea bitches look horrible, the evil son had a great voice actor tho, and the ending,,,,,, bro i still haven’t recovered, I never expected them to commit to something like that, 6.5/10

[gwenbrightly]

The Great Flower Chain Making Competition

Written for the @ninjago-calendar project. The Ninja take Lloyd on a picnic and Cole teaches everyone how to make flower chains.

“He needs normalcy,” Lloyd heard Nya tell his uncle in a hushed voice. He paused outside of his uncle’s room to hear what would come next.  

“But his training-” Wu started in, but Kai interrupted him. 

“But nothing, Master Wu. You can’t expect him to adjust to being the Green Ninja right away without problems. He’s just a kid, so let him be one.” 

There was silence for a moment and Lloyd could easily imagine Nya giving Wu her signature you’d better do as I say or else look to prove her brother’s point. He waited to hear the response, not quite sure what they were talking about, but knowing it involved him. 

“I… suppose you have a point,” Wu admitted eventually, “you can do what you asked on one condition: Everyone stays nearby and return to the Bounty immediately if I contact you.” 

“That’s technically two conditions,” said Nya, pointedly. Wu sighed.  

“Don’t make me regret this.” 

“We won’t,” Kai assured him and then the door opened before Lloyd could disappear around the corner. Nya raised an eyebrow when she saw him.  

“Lloyd, were you… eavesdropping?” 

“N-no,” he insisted at first, but both siblings immediately saw through his lie. 

“How much did you hear, Lloyd?” Kai asked quietly. Lloyd shrugged.  

“I dunno. Not much. But you guys really didn’t have to get on Wu’s case for me over training. I’m fine.” Another lie.  

“Considering we literally just got you back from a group of traitorous snakes, I’d say it’d be completely understandable if you weren’t fine. And besides, it’s our duty to protect you. Even from your uncle,” Kai stated fiercely, ruffling Lloyd’s hair. Nya nodded in agreement.  

“Which is why we convinced him to give everyone the day off so we can take you to do something fun!” she announced. Lloyd blinked.  

“Fun?” he repeated blankly. He had to admit that doing something to get his mind off of, well, everything, sounded appealing. But there was so much to be done now that he knew he was the Green Ninja. Could he even afford a day off? Lloyd wasn’t sure how all this destined savior business worked.  

“That’s right! We’re going on a picnic!”  

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Lloyd questioned, not sharing Nya’s enthusiasm, “I mean, the Serpentine probably want revenge for what happened at the fire temple.” 

“Sure it is. We’ll just have to be careful,” Nya assured him at the same time as Kai insisted, “We only have good ideas!” 

They rolled their eyes at each other, but neither backed down.  

“We’re not taking no for an answer, Lloyd. Fresh air is good for shrimps like you,” Kai continued, giving Lloyd a smile. Lloyd knew he was probably right, though he didn’t know much about fresh air. Darkley’s had always been kind of stuffy.  

Nya looked at him expectantly. He bit his lip.  

“Fine. But if anything goes wrong, I’m telling Pythor to eat you first,” Lloyd relented. A few hours away  couldn’t do any harm.  

_________________________

“I think we’re almost there,” Cole announced. Lloyd could just make out the clearing up ahead. After gathering the rest of the ninja and packing lunch, which had been a hectic affair, the group had set out to find the perfect picnic spot. Cole claimed to “know a place” and the others had eagerly followed his lead.  Lloyd had never been on a picnic before, so he wasn’t really sure what they were looking for, but hopefully it would all make sense sooner or later.  

“Awesome,” Nya said, running her hands together enthusiastically.  

“Yeah,” Kai agreed, sounding less excited, “what did you put in this thing, Zane? My arms are starting to get tired.” 

“Oh, just the picnic essentials.” Zane called over his shoulder. Kai held the picnic basket in front of him, giving it a distaste glare.  

“You sure you didn’t pack the kitchen sink?” 

The nindroid deigned not to reply and Kai continued to mutter complaints as they continued down the trail. Deciding to have mercy on Kai after a few minutes (he was a little tired of the complaining), Lloyd asked,  

“Want me to take it for a sec?” 

“I don’t think that’ll be necessary,” Cole cut in, “we’re here.” 

“Thank goodness,” Kai declared, staggering forward to set the basket down on a tree stump. Lloyd rolled his eyes at his dramatics before wandering off to explore while Nya and Jay spread out the ginormous picnic blanket they had stolen from Wu. 

 He found a stream not far from where Kai had left the picnic basket. Sitting down amongst the reeds, Lloyd watched the water ripple and swirl. He could see tiny minnows swimming in and out of the shadows. What other creatures might be lurking nearby?  

Maybe after they ate, Kai would be interested in helping him find out. There could be water snakes, turtles, or maybe even frogs! Frogs liked marshy areas – didn’t they?  

Lloyd could just imagine the look on Jay’s face when he and Kai brought back the biggest, slimiest frog they could find. He giggled maniacally as he skipped a stone across the stream. It bounced a few times before sinking with a soft plunk. The minnows scattered. Lloyd sighed happily, watching them.  

There was something so peaceful about this place. About the way the gentle breeze tickled the flowers that covered the meadow. Maybe he should pick some for Nya. Girls liked flowers, didn’t they? There hadn’t been many girls at Darkleys.  

Of course, there was always the possibility that she was allergic to flowers. After all, Nya had once told him that she had a perfume allergy. He should probably ask Kai about that before he went and picked too many flowers for her…  

“Lloyd! It’s time for lunch.”  

Someone called, interrupting his thoughts. Plans for pestering his honorary siblings would have to wait. Lloyd sidled over to the picnic blanket and plopped down next to Kai, who handed him a plate.  

“So, Cole. How did you know about this place?” Jay inquired as he set out the sandwich supplies. Cole smiled wistfully and explained,  

“My parents brought me here a few times when I was a kid. We would play in the stream for hours and then Mom would teach me how to make flower chains and force Pop and I to wear them. It was really fun.” 

“Aww. That sounds nice,” Nya commented. She held out a jar of peanut butter to Lloyd, who happily accepted it. He slathered some onto his bread, listening to Cole share more stories about his childhood. Lloyd wished his own parents had been around to take him on picnics and have water fights with him. But that wasn’t the way the world worked.  

With a sigh, Lloyd took a bite of his sandwich. Just the right ratio of jelly to peanut butter. Perfect.  

“You mentioned flower chains, right?” Jay asked through a mouthful of food. It sounded more like he was saying, “Ooh entond oor Jane’s ight?” 

“Yeah?” Cole replied, raising an eyebrow. Jay swallowed before continuing.  

“This might sound kinda silly, but… I’ve always wondered how people make those.” 

“Oh, it’s easy!” Cole announced with a grin, “want me to teach you after we finish eating?” 

“I, for one, would love to learn,” Nya stated. She took a bite of jello salad and glanced around at the others, who nodded.  

“As would I,” Zane agreed serenely. Kai smirked and said,  

“Sure. Why not. But I say we make it a competition.” 

“A competition?” Lloyd asked curiously, his eyes widening. That sounded promising.

“Yeah! I’m thinking we each make a flower chain, and whoever has the best one wins. We can, like, have Master Wu judge them when we get back to the Bounty, or something,” Kai explained.

“That sounds kinda fun,” Nya decided, before turning to Lloyd, “whaddya think? You in?”

Lloyd shrugged noncommittally, but ultimately agreed to join in. He had nothing better to do and was awfully curious about these… flower chains, anyway. What was the point of making chains from flowers? It wasn’t like you could use such a chain to trap enemies or anything exciting. Oh, well. He knew this entire trip was just to distract him from Green Ninja stuff. So it was probably okay if there were no practical applications for flower chains that he could use to cause chaos later on.  

The small boy shoved what was left of his sandwich into his mouth and chewed messily as he gazed around the meadow. There sure were a lot of flowers to choose from. He wondered how they would know which were best to use. And how long it was going to take the others to finish their food. Lloyd was starting to get bored of sitting there with nothing to do. 

“All right, listen up, people. What you’re looking for is flowers with nice long stems, like this,” Cole finally announced. He held up a daffodil. “That makes it easier to weave them together. Once everyone has their supplies, meet back here, and I’ll explain the rest. Everybody ready?” 

“Aye, aye, captain!” Jay said. He gave a teasing salute and trotted off across the meadow. Cole rolled his eyes as he watched him go.  

“Apparently, we have started,” Zane observed with a wry smile. The others laughed. 

“Yeah, I think it’s safe to say the competition has begun.” Cole agreed. 

“Well? What are we waiting for?” Nya asked before nudging Lloyd, “We can’t let Jay beat us!”

She grabbed his arm and drug him off toward the opposite end of the meadow from where Jay had gone.

“Are teams even legal?” Lloyd heard Kai ask in the distance. 

“I never said they weren’t.” came the response. Nya giggled and came to a stop. 

“This looks like a good place to start picking flowers,” she said, bending over to examine a patch of irises. Lloyd nodded and plucked one, careful to make sure the stem was long enough to meet Cole’s standards. 

“Perfect.” Nya smiled approvingly. She began gathering an armful of flowers of her own. Red, then pink, then white, then purple. The two soon had sizable clumps of irises and various other flowers they had found growing nearby. Ready for the next phase of the competition, they returned to the picnic blanket just as the others began heading back. 

“Congratulations, competitors. You have completed the first challenge,” Cole stated in his best announcer voice. The rest of the group cheered with much more vigor than was truly necessary. They were all quite invested in the competition by this point. 

“Now you must learn how to make flower chains from the pro himself. Watch as I demonstrate,” Cole continued. He showed them how to weave the flowers together by taking clumps of 3 and braiding them in an intricate pattern. Next, he showed them how to connect new flowers to the braid by counting several stems as a single strand while braiding. 

The project had mixed results. Cole kept having to jump in to assist Kai before he could tear his flowers apart in frustration (they wouldn’t stay in place), while Jay’s weaving was so complex that even Zane couldn’t make sense of his strategy. 

Nya and Lloyd were hard at work designing a pattern of colors that was extra appealing to the eye when they realized that they had neglected to collect any blue flowers. Nya nodded her head meaningfully towards Jay’s pile of flowers, which contained a variety of blue wildflowers. Lloyd grinned and swapped spots with her, giving her easy access to Jay’s stash.

“Hey, Jay- I seem to be having trouble with this part… mind helping me out?” she asked ever so innocently. Jay flashed her a smile and scooted closer to her before launching into a tirade about the art of braiding. 

“Mhm. Oh, that makes sense,” Nya commented, pretending to be interested as she slipped a few of the flowers from Jay’s pile into Lloyd’s waiting hands. She continued to do this for several minutes before Jay finally caught on. 

“Hey. Hey wait! You can’t do that!” he protested in frustration. Nya simply smiled. 

“All is fair in love and war, Jay.”

“Yeah!” Lloyd agreed, nodding vigorously. Jay glared at him. 

“Do you even know what that means?” he asked. 

“Nope!” Lloyd said, happily adding a blue flower to his chain. All in all, the picnic had been way more exciting than he’d expected. 

[avomorg]

can we read anything for the glass cutter AU? Its living in my brain rent free and I neeeeed more 0-0 Its so amazing <3

Unfortunately (or fortunately), this is not just a romantic story, it's just that I'm drawing one challenge right now. :) I'm sorry, there is a lot of text here.

I use this tag to mark posts related to story of my main character, Hani. The presence of the OC changes the events of the plot of the series, so I can say that this is AU. Since this is not a single plot, but a story associated with almost each of the seasons of Ninjago, AU doesn't have a single idea. But I can say that this is a story where there is another ninja in the team.

I know there are many such characters, and this AU was originally made just for fun. But maybe I can make something good out of it.

I have a detailed article describing Hani's storyline, but I haven't translated it yet, so I'll tell you the most important things.

Hani is the daughter of Wu's ally, Keyon. During the events of the pilot episode, he was killed by skeletons – so Wu said. Hani then became the new master of glass.

Hani studied at Darkley's Boarding School for Great Children, where the ninjas worked as teachers after the second season. She could not learn to control the element on her own, so the glass was attracted to her against her will and left cuts. The ninjas noticed this, but didn't going to interfere, but Zane took pity on the girl. He became involved with her despite Wu's ban (he didn't need the daughter of Keyon, because Keyon died through Wu's fault). Hani became very attached to Zane, with whom she felt safe. He taught the girl frightened by her abilities to find strength in herself. Zane was not sure if her abilities were similar to those of a ninja, but he understood that they should be used for the good of Ninjago so that Hani would not use them for evil. Therefore, he did his best to have Hani join the ninja team and be under their supervision. To do this, he had to argue with his friends and Wu.

In Rebooted, Zane managed to gain Hani's recognition as a team member. Yes, she was weaker than a ninjas, but over time she could become a good fighter – and, most importantly, her abilities would not threaten the safety of Ninjago. Unfortunately, Zane died, and the ninjas didn't want to take responsibility for the girl, so they left her in the care of Garmadon.

After the death of Zane, she was devastated, as after losing her father. But she continued to train alongside Lloyd and Garmadon. Constant training and the desire to be stronger made her character quite tough, but she could confidently fight the enemy. Garmadon didn't like her aggression and too strong will to win, he tried to make Hani more calm.

In the Tournament of Elements, these problems intensified. Clouse skillfully used Hani's aggression, making her an enemy for all other participants in the Tournament. The girl herself, due to the constant use of the element in battles, lost her common sense. Even her appearance began to change. In the end, Clouse was almost able to get her to fight by his side – but Hani was too dangerous, so Chen decided to get rid of her. She was thrown in the desert, chained to the skeleton of some monster. Hani missed the battle in the Elders' Corridors. It was only after this hard lesson that she realized the importance of Garmadon's ideas. But it was already too late.

Maybe Hani would have died in the desert... If not for Morro. He introduced himself as a poor traveler and helped her get out of the chains, while learning from Hani about what is happening in Ninjago. Later they met as opponents. Morro offered Wu to exchange Lloyd for one of the ninjas (this was an attempt to eliminate Nya; if the elements returned to the ninjas, Wu would not develop her abilities). Wu traded Lloyd for Hani. Master never wanted to take her on the team and thus got rid of her. Hani realized that Lloyd was more valuable to the team than she was, and also she hoped to get rid of Wu with Morro's help. As a result, Morro and Hani tried to manipulate each other, but they succeeded equally badly – so they only learned the secrets and weaknesses of each other, being in the same body. Both became vulnerable to each other, so they ceased to be strangers. At the end of Possession, Hani pulled Morro out of the water, creating her Elemental Dragon for the first time. Morro was unable to surrender and die when he had a living ally.

After Morro stayed with the ninjas, the course of events in the canon changed quite a lot.

In the Skybound, Hani looked for ways to bring Morro back to life. But first, Wu had to be convinced to remove the curse from the student. While trying to complete these tasks, Hani found herself trapped like the other ninjas. But Morro was used to achieving everything himself and remained at large, and in the end he helped Jay and his team.

Day of the Departed was the perfect moment to bring Morro back to life. Wu surrendered and removed the curse from him, the portal is open and can let Morro through. But his fear of being unprepared for life almost ruined everything. Morro considers Yang's fate unfair and was ready to give him a place in the world of the living. Cole practically forcibly sent Morro into the portal so that he would not interfere in the fight between the master of the earth and Yang.

In the Recording (fanseason) reveals the stories of the Morro and Hani families. The wind masters are associated with the Cloud Kingdom, which is now in danger. Only Morro, whose fate is in his own hands, can fight the lord of fate. Hani and Lloyd go in search of the Master of Writing, because only they can actively move between worlds: Lloyd is a descendant of the FSM, and Hani, like the former glass masters, is called upon to protect him and follow him. The fates of Morro and Hani, written in the scrolls of their fates, are contrary to their wishes, and they must deal with this.

You can find a little more information about Record on my Instagram, later I want to make full posts here.

During the fight with the Hands of Time, Hani was almost glad that Wu had resigned and supported Lloyd as the new leader. But gradually she began to sympathize with Wu, despite what he had done in the past. The fact that he sacrificed himself to save the students changed Hani's opinion of him. But Morro still hasn't forgiven the teacher. He believed that Wu couldn't just disappear from the life of a ninjas.

The events of the Sons of Garmadon are changed: Lloyd approaches Harumi not because of sympathy for her (since he is already in a relationship with another character, besides, sympathy for the girl is too weak a hook), but because of the desire to bring his father back to life. But to bring back the real Garmadon, not his evil appearance. The real Garmadon will be able to deal with the Sons, like the Anacondrai generals with Chen's army. Harumi, like the entire imperial family, belongs to a mysterious association that knows the secrets of resurrection from the dead. Mysticism and a blind desire to meet his father again deprives Lloyd of the ability to think sanely, and he believes Harumi. Can't a whole secret society lie? Unbeknownst to Lloyd, Harumi bribed the respected Ninjago explorers and mystics to put on this whole show. But Morro doesn't trust the imperial family, since he once participated in the war between the dynasties. He is confident that the Sons of Garmadon are ruled by the descendants of the overthrown dynasty. He doesn't believe in the resurrection of Garmadon and condemns such attachment of Lloyd to his dead father. Morro is also suspicious of Harumi's physical fitness. He is a dangerous foe, so the Sons are trying to eliminate him. Hani generally agrees with Morro, but she still really wants to see Garmadon, so she doesn't want to suspect Harumi. Morro is on a ship and enters the Realm of Oni and Dragons, Hani stays with Lloyd. Before parting, Morro manages to conclude a Yin-Yang Promise with her.

In Hunted, Morro didn't lose heart and settled in the desert - he was used to wandering and starving. Morro tried to save the wind dragon from the Hunters, but failed, was punished, and nearly died. Despite all this, the cruel world of Oni and Dragons came to his liking. As Wu grew older, he and Morro finally found a common language and came to an agreement. Hani at this time trying to continue the fight after the loss of Morro and Zane. She becomes cruel again, like in the Tournament. Due to the destruction of the city in the streets a lot of broken glass, and with so many shells Hani can easily destroy enemies. Harumi gives the order to clear the streets of glass in order to deprive the Resistance of such a dangerous and ubiquitous weapon, but getting rid of all the glass in the city is impossible. The ninjas returned in time – blinded by grief, Hani has not yet lost herself, as in the Tournament.

Morro and Hani already hope for a respite and calm, but Oni's appearance again forces them to be ready for battle. Hani has both interest and disgust for Garmadon, who was resurrected by Harumi. Morro willingly communicates with him, Garmadon cannot really offend him with his sharp remarks. Hani greatly fears for Lloyd's life as he and Garmadon descend into the Darkness. After Cole's fall, Hani tries not to lose control of herself, as she did before. Morro tries to use the wind to pull Cole out of the Darkness, but is unable to break through the cloud. In the final battle with Oni, Morro and Hani use Spinjitzu. Morro is hesitant to team up with the others in the Tornado of Creation because he is unsure of his ability to use Spinjitzu, but Hani persuades him to take the risk. After the completion of the Tornado, Morro hits hard against the wall of the monastery. This encourages him to actively learn Spinjitzu.

The Secrets of the Forbidden Spinjitzu events have been changed, but I haven't finished the AU for this season yet. For now, I can say that the ninjas ended up in the tomb of snakes not out of boredom, but because of the deception of Clutch Powers: he competed with a young researcher for a place in the Club and wanted to use the ninjas to pass traps in the tomb. The Forbidden Spinjitzu is a special elimination weapon used by the FSM to purge Ninjago of its serious competitors. The theme of not just winning, but eliminating enemies runs through the entire season and makes it darker, because the enemy of the ninjas is now Zane. And he is not going to negotiate with them.

Hani's story in 12-13 seasons in progress.

Thanks for reading to the end!

[spinchip]

Hey so I really like your Hometown Glory au and the image of the elemental masters interacting with Lloyd is just in my mind so I written some drabble

(Submitted by @sombrerokiwi)

When Griffen bumped into the kid on the boat ride to the island he thought that the kid was one of the worker’s sons or something. A bit odd that their boss would let him run around in a boat but considering that he literally is in a boat full of elemental masters, it wouldn’t exactly be the strangest thing to see. A little concerning but nothing dangerous exactly happened to them so far besides some warnings and taunts all between them.

So it was shocking to find out that this kid is apparently the master of energy.

What Griffen was focused on was the fact that Chen let them compete in the tournament.

Don’t get him wrong, he was totally going to sweep the competition away and beat all the competitors at their own game. However, letting a kid into this? That’s just wrong.

All the other champions are already older than twenty and then they have to fight this kid who clearly has very limited training? Yeah no that’s not happening. He isn’t going to beat up a kid because he was caught up in this mess.

  If ever he is going to face him, he is going lose. Winning is great and all but he isn’t going to beat up a kid.

——————————————————————————————————————————-

  Kai wasn’t here for the tournament at all, he was here for Nya. All he wanted was to bring Nya home and forget all this tournament of elements BS.

  That all ended when the ship left and when they were basically stranded here once Zane left.

  He wasn’t sure what he was expecting in the tournament. Fights obviously of course. But other than that he doesn’t really know. And everyone else was an elemental master so who knows if he truly has the advantage or not.

  A thirteen year old being announced as one of those masters wasn’t something he would have ever expected. I mean who lets a thirteen year old into what basically is an illegal fight club?

  When the first event rolled around he went and last saw the kid being helped by the invisible guy. To be fair it was more like the guy purposefully dropped his blade in front of him and then stole another one from Cole if he remembers correctly.

  Kai just barely got through by beating the metal elemental master Karlof.

  It was clear to everyone that Karlof was the loser here. What was not expected however was for him to fall down a trap door to who knows where!

  Kai thought that the losers just kind of just either get sent home or are benched somewhere in the area, not dropped down below!

  “Hey hey Chen what exactly is under the trap door?! Do we get thrown to out deaths or something or do we just get thrown into cells?!” shouted Jay

  Chen looked at him with some annoyance. “Well why should I tell you? If you keep winning and not lose then you would never need to know what exactly happens!”

  No one liked that answer. There were murmerings all about and some are glancing at the kid with worry.

  Kai may not want to participate in this tournament but right now it looks like he has three goals in mind. First he needs to find a way off this island if things ever go to hell. Second is to protect Nya and make sure she doesn’t get disqualified. And third is to find out more about the kid and protect him.

  Nya can protect herself and Kai knows but he isn’t about to turn a blind eye at her and now that there is a kid in the mix, he isn’t going to let a thirteen year old get hurt in this place.

  He may not like the kid but he is still just a kid. No one really in this place feels great about the idea of beating up a spunky overconfident kid.

  Later he finds out his name is Lloyd and it turns out that underneath his spunky persona, he is actually a really good kid. Cole and Jay sooned joined him, Nya, and Lloyd at their table. During their time eating Jay talked about how he would tinker with some electronics when he was young, how Cole would basically be the strongest person anyone would have met, and how Lloyd would talk about how his training lessons and something about how his uncle and mom know almost everything about Ninjago.

  At that short time the group seemed to have decided to protect the kid at all times. Kai isn’t sure about the others but like hell is he going to let this kid get hurt.

——————————————————————————————————————————-

  Chamille wasn’t sure what to make of this Lloyd kid.

  On one hand he’s a kid and beating up children is generally frowned upon.

  On the other hand she really wants to win

  When first meeting him she thought he would immediately be disqualified first round through and through. Of course then Paleman pitied him and nudged him towards a jade blade and he advanced.

  Then Karlof fell down the trap door and that puts a new perspective in things.

  For one this means that the losers would be either given death or worse and now everyone is just being real paranoid with each other and making allies with each other and waiting to backstab the other when the time is right.

  This also means that if the squirt loses it means that they are probably sending him to his death.

  Chamille wants to go and teach him that he isn’t that much of a hotshot as he thinks he is but at the same time she doesn’t think death is the best method to teach him.

  As the rounds went by and more and more people get disqualified, everyone just sort of held their breath and hoped to not fight the kid. There is even some talk of finding a way off this island after some rumors fly around that this competition isn’t what it seems. And to be honest, after hearing that the kid is actually competing with them, she is starting to believe that. 

  Lloyd may be the so called Master of Energy but it took Chamille years to fully master her element. Lloyd is no older than thirteen and she doubts he even scratched a surface of his power. Maybe he is as powerful as everyone else but he obviously doesn’t have control over it.

  Of course Chamille was the unlucky one and has to be the one to be pitted against him.

  Chen says that they have to beat each other at Thunderblade and if he thinks that situation makes it better that she is competing with a literal kid then it really doesn’t.

  Everyone took their respective teams however there is some more people at Lloyd’s side than hers and really, she can’t blame them. It’s a rigged fight. I mean pitting a child against an adult is something that isn’t exactly considered fair.

  So she slows down a bit and everyone on her team seem to go a little easier on him. She wants to win of course but she still wants to give him fair chance at least.

  Then one of them starts talking about how Chen is planning to steal their powers for his own goals.

  At first she thought really it’s just something to get her to lose. She wants to win first and foremost and she already gave Lloyd a fighting chance when he had it and if he couldn’t catch up then shame on him. She’s in it for the glory.

  They kept trying to convince the others still and now her own teammates seem to try to sabotage her as well.

  She would have still called it BS if it weren’t for the fact that the kid started to beg to listen to them and to stop the tornament for the sake of surviving and keeping their powers and stopping Chen.

  There was some desperation in his eyes that made Chamille realise that Lloyd was not lying and was telling the honest truth. They both decided to win together and stop Chen once and for all.

  Chen tried to rigged the competition but luckily she is a master of Forme, and as such she can trick Chen into believing that she herself is Lloyd.

  The moment they realised that she wasn’t Lloyd, Clouse started to do some weird magic stuff on Lloyd holding him back. And then Tox decided to just tackle Clouse to stop it. Stupid move if you ask her but if it works, it works.

  At one point both she and Lloyd got the buggy and started to get the same amount of points. Chen of course kept trying to rig the competition but she doubts that at this pace, there is anything able to stop them.

  The moment the race finished they both won. Everyone started to gain up on Chen and take him down and let them go home and stop his plans.

  Chen of course was quick and presses one of the trap door buttons.

  Griffen however is quicker. Especially since he is the elemental master of speed.

  He pushes both Lloyd and her out of the way and falls into the abyss down below.

  Chamille’s not sure what Chen is planning but by god she is going to kick that guys ass for thinking that he can steal all their powers and get away with it.

——————————————————————————————————————————-

WOW! Thank you so much for writing this little fic, I’m so glad you like my AU enough to write for it! i was so excited to read this when i opened my inbox! Thanks again, i love this :]

[blursed-ninjago-ideas]

I deliberately left some scenes out because I didn’t feel like writing them, and other things I just took shortcuts on cause I have a huge headache, but I want this done.

Hydra is Nya’s hero name with the dragon miraculous. 

--

He was debating what to name his latest Akuma. A jealous girl that resented her best friend’s boyfriend. The two were having a very explosive fight in the middle of the park by Collège Françoise Dupont.

Honestly Hawkmoth wasn’t sure which one he was going to get. They were both pretty upset. His little butterfly was heading straight for the fight, until it suddenly turned and changed course.

Sighing, Hawkmoth was pretty sure he knew what was happening, again.

Kai Smith happened to be walking past. The boy was a walking Akuma trap. It was a frustrating waste of his time and resources. If he could just figure out how to harness Kai’s emotions, the boy would be the most powerful weapon against the heroes. But Kai was too stubborn and spontaneous to control. He was so easy to akumatize. Hawkmoth didn’t have to do hardly any work to get him to surrender. He was just so set and focused on his own goals that Hawkmoth couldn’t get him to bother with the miraculous.

The Akuma settled itself into the pendant of a necklace Kai was wearing, and Hawkmoth was already calling the day a wash, but then the empathy link showed him something new.

It was a different than usual.

Kai felt…fragile. He wasn’t focused on any sort of goal. His emotions weren’t from worry or ambition, it was just raw and directionless.

It wasn’t like he had anything to lose, and it could turn out to be a worthy experiment.

-

Kai fiddled with his pendant again. It had become a handy fidget to have. Chloe had made it for him, it turned out she really loved making jewelry and seemed to have a knack for it. He was so proud of her and seeing how excited she got to show off a new piece made his heart melt a little. There was no pride or approval seeking, just pure excitement. She didn’t do it for attention, just to share the happiness she had for it.

It was a far cry from her old attempts at creative pursuits, only doing things she thought would impress, regardless of her own feelings.

Course all the growth on Chloe’s part came at a price, and Nya was the one that paid it. Kai hadn’t meant to neglect her. He just didn’t think she still needed him that much. Chloe was so young and in need of guidance, he had thought Nya was mature enough to not need him. But he should’ve really thought about how much it would hurt to not see him as much. Nya may’ve not needed his care or guidance, but she still needed his company. He was her big brother and the only constant she had growing up; it was cruel to take that away from her. Even if it wasn’t on purpose.

And Lloyd of course would always need Kai. That was his job. It was literally a written destiny that Kai would be there for Lloyd while he fought to protect others as the green ninja. Lloyd had suffered plenty and would probably always need Kai as an emotional crutch. He faced trauma and near-death experiences on the regular. If Kai and the others weren’t there to help him feel safe and loved, there was no way anyone, even Lloyd, could go through all that and not break.

But that left three people that needed Kai to be there for them, and there was only so much of him to go around.

He didn’t want to make that their problem. He toughed it out. He pushed himself. He could keep it up for a little longer. He could do a little more.

Nya had ideas for some new vehicles and wanted Kai’s help with them. It was a good way to spend some quality time and, her own confession, Kai was the better welder

Chloe wanted him to set up a challenge for her to test how far she’d come. It was a good idea, a concrete way to self-reflect and a tangible show of progress.

Lloyd had talked him into helping with a school project. It was nice to see Lloyd doing something that wasn’t life and death stakes.

He didn’t know how in the world he let Adrien talk him into modeling, but that was also on his plate.

It felt like there was a deadening static in his head that he had to force all his thoughts through, a buzzing not unlike an alarm. He had noticed his hands had started to spasm at random points. He wasn’t sure how concerned he should be about that.

Like many things, Kai ignored it. He had things he had to do and people that were depending on him. He had no time to deal with it. It could wait.

He was on his way to meet up with Lloyd, but he had to leave in time to make lunch with Nya, and he had to figure out what to do for Chloe, not to mention he had an early morning photoshoot the next day so he needed to get some sleep for that and probably should shower before it.

His hands found their way to his pendant again. He was pulling it back and forth on the chain, making a rhythmic zipping noise as it pulled on the chain links.

“I’M A PERSON! I DON’T HAVE TO BE AT YOUR BECK AND CALL!”

Kai cringed.

“IS THAT WHAT YOU CALL MAKING TIME FOR ME? ANY TIME! AT ALL? I’M SO SORRY IT’S SUCH A CHORE TO HANG OUT WITH ME.”

“Please don’t make an Akuma” Kai though to himself as he passed the fighting girls.

The shouting back and forth was not doing good things for his nerves. He was trying to take even breaths to counter it, but they just kept screaming.

Kai squeezed his eyes shut and pressed forward. He’d get away soon enough, go help Lloyd, maybe help the heroes if that fight attracted an Akuma, meet up with Nya, then head back to Le Grand Paris and brainstorm with Chloe, then hopefully go to bed, then get up, shower, go model for a while, he should probably take the opportunity to talk to Adrien about Chloe, the backstory someone that grew up with her would know might help him with her, and maybe ask about how Lloyd is doing while he’s there.

Probably should do a quick evaluation of Adrien’s mental health too. From what he’d heard from Lloyd, Adrien may need someone to be there for him too.

AND THE GUYS!

He had completely forgotten to check in with the others! Zane, Cole, and Jay! He needed to check on them too, plus he wanted to see them!

Kai was so busy planning out his tasks that he didn’t see the uneven sidewalk. He realized that he’d tripped as soon as he started to fall, but instead of catching himself, his brain decided that it wanted to do nothing instead. The wind got knocked out of him when he limply hit the ground.

Kai opened his eyes and started at the ground ahead of him. Normally he’d get up and brush himself off, and he would in a minute, but some reason he just kept staring ahead. The static stopping him from making any movements.

He felt like screaming, or even crying. He was in pain and he had just fallen down. It wasn’t a big deal, but it felt like Kai was fighting to keep himself in check and not have a full meltdown. The static in his head was blocking any attempts to steady himself.

He was gathering his courage to stand back up and keep going when a familiar butterfly flew to him.

Kai breathed rapidly, trying not to panic, or breakdown, or cry.

“A bit stressed are we?”

Kai didn’t respond, he just kept trying to breathe.

“Stretched too thin. Too many things you have to juggle. There’s nothing more to give is there?��

Kai felt like he was drowning already. Hawkmoth’s intrusion was pushing him passed his breaking point.

“You know who I am and what I want. I’ll give you the ability to make everything go away, all I ask for in return is Ladybug and Chat Noir’s miraculous. What do you say, Burnout?”

Kai’s eye twitched at the name. Why did it feel right? Why did it feel right? He was drowning under his own emotions and Hawkmoth already seemed to have a handle on it all. There were two options. He could continue to fight and struggle, or he could just give up and have some relief.

There was nothing Kai could tell himself that would make the fight look worth the effort.

“Yes Hawkmoth.”

-

Adrien ducked behind another tree, hoping to get the opportunity to transform, but the tree vanished into smoke against his back, leaving a nasty scorch mark behind.

Adrien had barely got a look at the new Akuma, he couldn’t tell who it was yet, but they knew his name.

Black smudges came down from his eyes and stained his dark grey, ash colored skin. He was wearing a long smokey cloak that seemed to be made of the stuff at the end, a small gold pendant in the shape of a small flame clasped it closed at the neck. Fingerless gloves shot out black fiery blasts and he was slightly blurred with his edges ending in smoke trails.

He looked like the personification of the aftermath of a forest fire.

Adrien jumped behind a bench and coughed from the smoke.

“What’s your deal? Campfire go out?” Adrien tried to taunt, hoping to get the reason for the akumatization out of him.

“I’ve burned too bright for too long and given too much of myself. Well now I’m going to make everything go away.”

Adrien finally caught on to the fire symbolism. It was too strong, even for Hawkmoth. Something was wrong. One more look at the spikey hair Adrien had written off as part of the costume and it clicked.

Adrien knew he recognized the clasp on the cloak. It was the pendant he’d seen Chloe working on. Adrien knew exactly who she made it for.

“Kai.” Adrien said, dodging the next blackened blast.

“It’s Burnout now.”

Adrien tried to get out of sight a few more times, but Burnout just blasted every hiding place he found. He only could grab a few seconds out of sight, if he was lucky. Not enough to transform, but maybe enough to do something else.

“Plagg.” Adrien said, lifting his shirt to let the kwami out.

“What are-“

Adrien cut him off, taking his ring off.

“Find Lloyd. We need Ninja Noir for this.” Adrien said, handing the ring to his kwami.

Plagg almost argued but thought better of it.

“I guess he’d be better for this job anyways.” Plagg said, darting off.

-

Lloyd managed to get away from the panicking crowd, wondering if he needed to help out with this one, when Plagg floated right into his face.

“Plagg?”

“Ninja Noir.”

“What happened to Adrien?” Lloyd asked, reaching for the ring.

“Doesn’t matter. Lloyd, it’s Kai.”

Lloyd gently pushed the ring onto his finger.

“Then this should be pretty easy. Ladybug might not even need me.” Lloyd laughed.

Kai’s akumatization were almost always joke. Give him what he wanted, and he practically surrendered his akumatized object.

Plagg shook his head though.

“No, Kiddo, this is different.”

“What do you mean?” Lloyd asked, trying to not panic

“I mean this isn’t his usual stuff. I think Hawkmoth might’ve really gotten to hi this time.”

Lloyd’s eyes went wide.

“Plagg, Claws out!”

-

Chat Noir wasn’t showing up. She was pretty sure she knew what it was going to tell her, but she used her lucky charm just to be certain.

A painting she knew was in Fu’s home. She needed reinforcements.

She was on her way to go find wielders for the two miraculous she grabbed when she ran right into Ninja Noir.

“Ninja Noir!” she yelped, helping him stand back up. “I’m so glad you’re here. It’s Kai again, but something is different this time.”

“So I’ve heard.” Ninja Noir said as he brushed himself off.

“Lucky Charm said we needed reinforcements. I grabbed the Bee and the Dragon. I’m thinking Chloe would be a good choice since she knows Kai and has used the Bee Miraculous before. For the Dragon I was thinking maybe Lloyd?”

Ninja Noir coughed.

“Um…No good with Lloyd. He’s caught up somewhere, saw him on the way over. How about we divide and conquer. I think I could get this to his sister.”

“That’s probably a good idea. She should know him pretty well.” Ladybug said, passing Ninja Noir the Dragon Miraculous.

-

“I don’t need another needy little brat hanging off me!” Burnout shouted as he flung Ninja Noir off of him.

Lloyd tried to not let it show how personal the remark was. Kai didn’t know it was him under the mask.

“We need a plan!” Hydra said.

“Now might be a good time for a Lucky Charm!” Beatrix said as she pulled Hydra out of the line of fire.

Ladybug jumped off the roof to dodge another blast, rolling when she hit the ground and flinging herself upright as she yelled

“LUCKY CHARM!”

A camera.

Ladybug started to look around for anything that stood out.

A gargoyle, an empty ledge across the street where another one used to be before Burnout got rid of it, Beatrix’s top, Ninja noir, Hydra, and the mirrored windows on the office building.

“Got it.” She said, shoving her teammates in the directions of where they needed to go, giving them a brief rundown of their parts as she did.

Burnout came flying around the corner just after Ladybug got her trap set.

“Water Dragon!” Hydra yelled, soaking Burnout before he could line up any shots.

“Say cheese!” Ladybug yelled, clicking the camera and blinding him with the flash.

While Burnout tried to clear his eyes and figure out how to attack again, Beatrix came swinging in from behind the gargoyle, holding Ninja Noir.

“Cataclysm!” he yelled as he swung by, taking out the pendant and freeing the Akuma.

Ladybug quickly caught it while Beatrix caught a now detransformed Kai on her swing back.

“Miraculous Ladybug!” Ladybug yelled, throwing the camera in the air.

The magic ladybugs swept across Paris, bringing back everything Burnout had made “go away”.

“What? What happened!?” Kai yelled, trying to stand up, only to fall down on his unsteady legs.

“You were akumatized.” Ladybug explained.

“KAI!” Jay yelled form down the street. “Are you ok?!?”

Cole and Zane were not far behind him and the three were running full speed towards their friend.

“Well I’d better get going.” Hydra said.

“Yeah, me too. I’ll take your miraculous.” Ninja Noir added.

The two jetted off in the same direction.

“I…That was…..what did I do?” Kai finally asked.

“Nothing that couldn’t be fixed.” Ladybug assured him.

Kai didn’t look comforted.

“What got you akumatized anyways?” Beatrix asked.

“I…um….”

“You stressed yourself out again didn’t you?” Zane snapped.

“What?” Kai said.

“Ugh! You Always do this Kai! You are allowed to tell people no, you know!” Jay ranted

“I know that! Besides that wasn’t like that at-“

“Do you? Because sometimes you’re determined to take on more than you can handle!” Cole scolded with a hint of concern.

A beep from Ladybug’s earring interrupted them.

“Um…”

Beatrix nodded to her.

“I didn’t use my ability. I can keep this under control here while you go recharge.”

Ladybug looked a little hesitant, but another beep from her earrings and she was running off with a promise to be back soon.

As she left, Nya came running around the corner.

“Kai!” she yelled, while she tackled him in a hug “I was so worried! Are you ok?”

“I’m fine.” Kai said as he gently pushed her off.

“You’re not!” Jay snapped.

“You were akumatized!” Cole added.

“Everybody gets akumatized!” Kai huffed, crossing his arms.

“Yes, but that was significantly more destructive than usual, meaning you were feeling stronger negative emotions.” Zane said.

“Hey guys! Sorry I’m late, I got stuck. Is Kai ok?” Lloyd said, running to them from another street.

“I’m fine!” Kai yelled.

“Stop it!” Zane said.

“You don’t have to fix everything for everyone.” Cole begged.

“I told you guys I was fine!”

“Kai please.” Nya begged.

“I SAID I WAS FINE!”

Beatrix rolled her eyes and made a move.

“Venom!”

And Kai was frozen.

“What did you do that for!?” Jay yelled.

Beatrix put a hand on her hip.

“No you guys can lecture him about selfcare without him arguing. You’ve got five minutes, make the most of it.” She said.

“Oh.” Jay said in surprise.

Ladybug came back into the middle of an improv intervention.

“And I should’ve been a better sister. I was being selfish and demanding and I should know better than that. Sometimes it’s just hard to accept that I don’t have you all to myself anymore. You know I’ve never been great at sharing.” Nya laughed, with tears in her eyes “But you need to tell me ‘no’ sometimes! I need to hear it, Kai. You can’t just let me push you like this; you have to tell me when you’re hurting!”

“Um….” Ladybug muttered.

“We’re just about done.” Beatrix said.

“You can’t just hide ailments from us, and that includes mental and emotional fatigue.” Zane added.

“Alright, I think my work here is done. See you all next time I’m needed!” Beatrix said, grabbing Ladybug’s arm and leading her away.

-

“You may’ve won this time, Ladybug. But now I know something I didn’t know before.” Hawkmoth said to himself.

He’d finally figured out how to weaponize Kai Smith. That boy was going to deliver him the miraculous if he wanted to or not. It was only a matter of time before Hawkmoth got the perfect champion out of him.

“It will require a very precise touch, but this boy will be my greatest weapon!”

--

so yeah, that’s done.

-Ivy

[rinas-ninjas]

Have you written the Into a Mindscape au as an actual story? And if so, do you have a link for that? I really wanna read it

So in theory it should be on the blog tagged #into the mindscape, buuuuut....who knows how Tumblr works. So without further ado ->

“His data is glitching – I think we’ll need to help him manually.”

Jay really hated not thinking things through. Who in their right mind thought uploading themselves into a nindroid’s glitchy programming was a good idea?

He stared in wonder at his surroundings. Nya had shown some weird puzzle box onscreen – so why was he in this dark –

“Who are you?”

He turned in surprise at the accusatory voice. “Huh? What are – who are you?”

A kid – an honest to FSM kid – stood in front of him angrily. “I believe I asked you first.” He insisted. Jay stared at him for a moment – simple clothes, messy blond hair, and intense blue eyes.

“I’m…Jay…” he replied slowly. “Who are you? Where am I? I was supposed to go into Zane’s memory banks…”

The kid straightened up. “Oh – this is Zane’s memory bank.” He stepped forward to Jay. His eyes were unnerving. “Are you here to help him?”

Jay nodded.

The kid smiled. “Good. Then I can assist you.” He grabbed Jay’s hand and tugged him along into the dark. “Are you one of Zane’s friends?” he asked.

“Yeah – I’m one of his teammates.” Jay responded. The kid’s eyes seemed to glow in the low light.

“I am glad you are here,” he said. “Zane needs friends – especially now.”

Jay stopped in alarm when the hand slipped out of his. “Where’d you go?” It was too dark to see. “Kid?”

“I cannot aid in this task,” the kid’s voice echoed around him. “Only you can do this – help Zane! Find the key – or all is lost, and we shall all be trapped here!”

Jay turned this way and that, but it was impossible to see where the kid had gone. He ran a nervous hand through his hair. “Jeez…that better not have been like, some stray program or something…” Sniffling caught his attention, and he warily moved forward in the dark.

“Kid?”

He stumbled back and swore at the harsh clang of metal colliding with his face. He fumbled in front of him and found a doorknob, and quickly opened it to low yellow artificial light.

And to an even younger, smaller kid, sitting on a thin rug surrounded by gears and stray wires.

“What the heeeeck – heck is going on here?” Jay caught himself, extra aware of his younger audience.

The child gasped and sat back. “Who are you?”

Jay found himself taking a second look at the room around him. Shelves haphazardly piled with parts, scrolls and scrolls of blueprints, a horribly messy worktable…it looked exactly like…”Dr. Julien’s workshop?” He wondered.

“You know where this is?”

He stared wide eyed at the child. “You’re – no way,” he shook his head. “Zane?”

“Is that my name?”

Jay knelt down next to him. “I…I think it is. You…” he took stock of the small frame in front of him. It didn’t make any sense, unless Dr. Julien built additional models through the years, but… “You look like him, at least.” He frowned. “Do you not know?”

Artificial tears welled up in his eyes. “I cannot remember.”

Jay swept him in a hug and shushed the tears. “It’s okay,” he murmured. “It’s okay.” He leaned back, holding Zane’s shoulders and looking him in the eye. “I remember, right?”

His small companion nodded tearfully. Jay nodded with him and gave him an encouraging smile. His eyebrows shot up as he scanned the room again. “And the kid from before said we needed to find a key…”

Zane perked up. “A key?” He wiggled out of Jay’s hands and sprung to his feet. He quickly crossed the room to the cluttered worktable. “I saw one – I think. I just,” he screwed up his eyes. “I cannot,”

“Remember…” Jay trailed off. “Memory! Of course! Come here, little Zane.” Zane returned to his spot on the rug. “Now, please don’t freak out, okay?” Gentle fingers pressed a small spot just under Zane’s jaw, opening a panel just below his shirt collar. Zane glanced between it and Jay with wide eyes.

“Wh-what is that?”

Jay ran his hands down his arms in a soothing motion. “It’s okay, little buddy, it’s okay. I think I can help you remember. I just need to look at that panel, okay?” Zane shakily nodded and unbuttoned his shirt. Jay sighed in relief as the panel opened fully, revealing a familiar, albeit much simpler, control panel.

With a memory switch turned to off.

“Hold still, buddy.” He flipped it on and sat back as Zane jolted. The room around them spun, the gears scattered on the floor flying up to hang on shelves and hooks around the room, the wires dashing off to follow them into drawers and organizers, and even the worktable’s chaotic contents hastily reorganized themselves, to Jay’s amazement.

As the world came to a halt, he turned back to the child in front of him. Zane was now buttoning his shirt back up, and there was an affirming fire in his blue eyes that Jay hadn’t seen before.

He met Jay’s look with a grim smile. “Thank you. And well done.”

Jay stared around the room in wonder as it slowly melted away into shadow, leaving him and Zane on the rug. “What’s going on?”

Blue eyes stared intensely at his own. “Zane needs your help. I was easy – a tutorial level, I believe you would call it.” Jay furrowed his eyebrows in concern. “But it will not be so easy from here on. I believe you will need help.”

“One of the others…” Jay murmured, and Zane nodded.

“At least.”

Both of them glanced down to where the child’s feet were fading into shadow, the rug having disappeared as they spoke.

He looked sharply at Jay.

“Get help. Get back. Get the key.”

Jay stared as the boy faded into nothing.

“You did very well.”

Jay jumped as the same child from before stepped forward. “Kid!” He tilted his head in confusion. “Are you taller?”

“I am…improved, somewhat.”

Jay rolled his eyes. “Great, thanks – listen, don’t run off on me like that! You’ll get…” He hummed. “Actually, I don’t know if it’s possible to get lost in here. I think so? Maybe you’ll like, fall into a memory or something. Which would suck…Zane has some nasty ones…” He shuddered.

The kid blinked. “I am not harmed by Zane’s memories.”

Jay rose to his feet and stretched. “Good, because oh boy has he been through it –“ He paused. “Zane’s memories? Who are you?”

He stared at Jay. “Did you find the key?”

“What – no I – agh!” Jay smacked a hand to his face. “I think I need help. How do I get out of here? I need to get one of the others.”

“You cannot get out without Zane.”

“I – what.”

“You can send a message. But until the key is found, there is no leaving.”

Jay gaped at the kid. “How…whatever. It doesn’t matter – I’ll just call Cole in here and we’ll find the key in no time. We’re the dream team! It’ll be easy.”

“Just you wait and,” Jay turned to the kid – or rather – the spot where the kid should be. “Oh come on!”

--------------

“So you sent Jay…into Zane’s brain…and now he needs me to go in too?”

Nya shrugged while she typed away at her console. “From what I can tell, yes. All I know is I got a weird file labeled ‘lightningninja.txt’ that asked for you to be uploaded in.” She turned to where Cole was nervously eyeing the wires and nodes attached to Jay’s unconscious form. “Don’t worry, it’ll be easy. In and out – once Zane’s fixed, I’ll pull you both right back here.”

Cole nodded with her.

“Easy.”

--------------

“Oh thank the first you’re here!” Cole blinked in the blank expanse around him. It was just…black…except for –

“Jay!”

Cole swept the smaller ninja up in a bone-creaking hug. “Okay, I’m here,” he set down a wheezing Jay. “What’s the plan?”

“You have to find the key.”

Cole jumped with a barely contained curse. “Jeez, where did you come from?!” Glaringly bright eyes stared at him.

Jay caught his breath behind him. “Oh yeah.” He gestured. “Cole, meet Creepy Mind Kid.  Creepy Mind Kid, Cole.” He put a hand on Cole’s shoulder. “He says there’s some key we gotta get, I think I find the key, and boom! He still. Says. There’s. A Key.” He glared.

Cole glanced between Jay and the oddly silent kid. “Okay…” He looked around them. Still blank. “So what do we do?”

“Follow me. Find the key.”

Cole gently ignored Jay’s mumbled comments about where keys could possibly be found. “Where is it? Do you know?”

The kid shook his head. “I cannot find the key. It is…a safety measure…that I cannot bypass.”

Cole frowned and ran a hand through his hair. “Okay…well where to then?”

“We are here.”

He turned in place, seeing only Jay. “Kid?”

“Find the key.”

“Where did he –“

“I hate when he does that.” Jay frowned next to him. “Come on, Cole – we need to keep walking. The memory or puzzle or whatever will load soon.”

Cole jogged beside Jay’s quick steps. “What are we looking for? What is this key thing?”

Jay shook his head. “I have no idea. Last time, it was just a memory switch – but that Zane said it was basically level zero.”

“Well that’s helpful,” Cole cut off with a grunt as he tripped over something and landed hard on – how were they standing on solid ground now? “What the…?”

“Sh-sh-sh!”

“Don’t shush me! I just fell!”

“Sh! I hear someone!”

Cole stilled and strained to hear what Jay did. “How is it the guy who routinely blows himself up doesn’t have hearing damage?”

“You’re the one who blasts soft rock 24/7. Now – here!” Jay motioned Cole over to a pile of rock. “Do you hear that?”

Cole’s eyes widened. “Rockslide,” he whispered. “Jay, help me – carefully – move these.” Jay nodded and set to work, Cole carefully raising stalagmites as support as they went. Both froze at the small hand they uncovered, before continuing twice as fast, eventually pulling out a small blonde boy.

“Zane?” Cole breathed. This Zane was still thin, but older than the one Jay had described. “Buddy, can you hear me?”

Blue eyes screwed shut before opening wide. “What – I – father?”

Cole shook his head. “No, we’re not your dad, buddy. What happened?”

Zane shook his head before wincing and laying back down with a whine. “I do not – I can not remember…”

Cole glanced at Jay, who shook his head. “He has long-term memory of his dad. This isn’t a memory switch issue.” He offered a comforting hand to the small nindroid. “I don’t know what the fix is here.”

---------------

“How are you doing, buddy?”

Zane winced as Jay tightened a bolt in his chest. “I-I am doing al-right.” His voice stuttered with a glitch, and Cole frowned.

“If you’re hurting, we can take a break.”

Zane’s small hand gripped Cole’s. “I-I can h-handle it.”

Cole didn’t miss the way Zane’s eyes blinked back tears; even when Jay stopped out of concern, it looked like the damage hurt a lot. “Let’s stop for a bit, okay?” He helped the boy sit up carefully. “We can try to figure out what happened.”

Zane nodded with a wince. “Alright.”

Jay sat in front of him, fishing a penlight out of who knows where. “Let me see your eyes, buddy.”

Zane quietly complied.

“What do you remember last?”

The blonde’s face scrunched in a frown. “I…I was playing…Father said I could explore a little, now that my system was updated.”

“Were you trying to climb up?” Cole asked. He was all too familiar with how volatile seemingly solid rock could be.

Zane shook his head. “No…no I,” His eyes widened. “I was trying to help!”

Jay’s face dropped. “What,” Zane ignored him, opening a small hatch in his thigh.

“She fell!”

Both ninjas stared dumbly at the little bird in his hands. It was feathered, clearly okay if a little shaken by its ordeal.

It angrily chirped at them.

A screech sounded from above, and Cole chanced a look at a tree jutting out from the steep rock above them. “There’s mom…” He looked down at a sheepish Zane. “You were trying to get up there?”

He could have sworn Zane’s ears flushed blue. “I…I thought it was not too high…”

Cole couldn’t help but smile at the embarrassed look. “You always were a softie, you know that? Let me see,” He gently took the baby bird from Zane with a grin. A few moments and a climb (and some close calls from angry Momma Bird) later, it was in its nest and all three boys were on the ground.

Cole turned back to Zane with a soft smile. “You’re allowed to ask for help, you know? People care about you.”

Zane blinked and smiled wide. “Yes,” he replied. “I do know.” He stood, his system suddenly repaired and flawless.

Cole’s eyebrows shot up as the world began to fade to black around them. Zane fixed him with a look that stared straight through his eyes and into his soul.

“He needs your help. All of you. Find the key.”

The boy disappeared into the darkness.

“Protect him.”

Cole stared at the once again blank void surrounding them. “What was that?” He asked.

“I still have no idea,” Jay shook his head. “All I can tell is,” He frowned. “When did you change gis?”

Cole blinked. “What do you mean? I didn’t,” He looked down in surprise. “Huh…” A familiar rope held with an animal badge sat on a simple gi. “I haven’t worn this since Lloyd was a kid.” He looked up at Jay. “Looks like you’ve got it too, Sparkplug.”

Jay looked down and yelped. “That is weird,” He looked at the plain blue gi with confusion. “Why are we wearing this?”

“Zane’s mind is rebooting.” Jay let out another screech and practically climbed Cole.

He glared at the now familiar blond head of hair. “Would you stop doing that?”

Cole dropped him unceremoniously, ignoring the indignant “Hey!” that resulted.

“You’re taller,” He said with suspicion. “What’s going on here?”

The kid ignored his question. “Did you find the key?”

Jay popped up looking as irritated as ever. “Listen, kid, I have not found a single key, all I’ve done is flip a memory switch and dig a mini version of my friend out of a ditch!”

The kid made a face. “That is strange,” He mused. “I thought you would have found it by now.” He turned to Cole. “Do you require more assistance? We can call for the red one.”

Cole looked confused. “The red one – Kai?” He squinted at the kid. “How do you know about Kai? I thought you were separate from Zane.”

A strange look flitted across the kid’s face. “I am…a unique string of code. Do you require further assistance?”

Cole sighed, and traded a look with Jay.

The blue ninja shrugged. “As much as I hate to admit it, we might need the help with the next step.”

Cole nodded. “Tell Nya we need Kai,” he asked.

The kid smiled. “As you wish.”

[lloydskywalkers]

in which the monastery almost burns down again

....and it is, technically, Lloyd’s fault this time. 

This is absolute unforgiving fluff, because I was in the mood and every time I try to write this family being functional it spirals out of control. But also I love Lloyd and he deserves happiness, so here’s a very quickly written birthday fic that I’m not entirely sure I finished but I have two hours left to post ahhhHHH

(Takes place just after the Final Battle, and I’m assuming that an entire year hasn’t passed so they’ve never actually ran into Lloyd’s birthday until now.)

Lloyd would’ve gotten away with it, too, if Cole hadn’t decided to insist on flu shots that year.

“Lloyd, it’ll take five minutes.”

“Yeah, five minutes for you to schedule an appointment, which I don’t need.”

Cole eyes him skeptically. “So you’re saying you don’t remember how sick you got last winter.”

Lloyd grimaces. “That was…different.”

“No, that was the flu,” Cole sighs. “Look, we’re all getting shots, but it’ll be a lot more trouble if you don’t fill out your medical applications so we can get coverage.” He bites his lip, glaring at the computer screen. Zane’s alone had taken him the better part of the morning, and Zane had been cooperative.

Lloyd remains stubborn. “Sorry, I think I hear Sensei calling me—“

“We both know he’s out right now, Lloyd.”

Lloyd grumbles something inaudible.

“Please, just sit down with me for five minutes?” Cole tries a different, probably-mean-but-he’s-at-the-end-of-his-rope-here, tactic. “I mean, now that you’re not so little, I thought you’d be up for it.”

Lloyd makes a face, his expression working. The transition from shooting up to a teenager in the span of a minute has been…something, but Lloyd’s been handling the maturity aspect rather well, if only out of sheer stubbornness (and the general weight of the world). He finally deflates, pulling himself atop the table so he can stare down imperiously at Cole.

“Fine. But I make no promises about shots.”

Cole meets his gaze head-on. “If you try and hide in the air vents instead of going again, I’m going let Zane have full-reign over desserts for the next month.”

“You wouldn’t,” Lloyd hisses at him, scandalized. “You know Zane doesn’t believe in dessert! He’ll just give us fruit.” Lloyd’s nose crinkles in distaste, and Cole hides a grin.

“Fruit isn’t all that bad, you know.”

“Says the cake-hog.”

“I told you, that was Jay, and it was my cake anyways.”

“Sounds like a bunch’a lies, to me—“

He finally gets Lloyd’s application pulled up, and cuts the argument he definitely would have won short.

They’re getting to these flu shot appointments no matter what it takes, because the Final Battle was enough trouble on its own, and no one in this family is going to fall prey a crippling illness and ruin the rest of the year they have left, if Cole can help it.

Despite his initial stubbornness, Lloyd is at least more cooperative than Kai was. Cole manages to get his height — geez he’s short — his weight — maybe they should be increasing his desserts, actually — and then spends a good fifteen minutes arguing over his eye color before they get stuck on the allergies section, then skip a good few sections until they’re close to the end of the application.

“Birthday,” Cole sighs, rubbing his temples.

“September twenty-second,” Lloyd says, through a mouth of popcorn — a compromise, since it is technically junk food, but also healthy enough to—

Wait. Cole frowns, then quickly checks the date on the little calendar icon.

Today is September twenty-fourth.

“Lloyd,” Cole says slowly, a creeping sort of dread making its way up his spine. “Repeat that?”

“September twenty-second,” Lloyd echoes, a bit slower this time.

Cole stares at him. “Like September twenty-second…as in two days ago?”

“Yeah,” Lloyd nods, throwing a kernel of popcorn in the air and trying to catch it in his mouth. He pouts as it misses, landing on the floor instead. Cole doesn’t even lecture him — he’s too busy having a mini-crisis.

“Your birthday was two days ago.”

“Yeah?” Lloyd’s beginning to look annoyed. “That’s what I said. I can write it down for you, if you want.”

“No, that’s—“ Cole blinks rapidly, running a hand over his face. “Wha— why didn’t you say something?”

“Why would I?” Lloyd frowns.

Cole…does not entirely understand what’s going on here.

“Why— because it’s your birthday!” he finally exclaims. Darn it, he’s never missed a birthday before — he even managed to pin down Zane’s, who had claimed he didn’t have a birthday. Now his record is broken, and worse, it’s broken on his baby brother. “We would’ve — we would’ve celebrated, why didn’t you say something?”

Lloyd’s shoulders hunch, and he looks a little on the defensive side now. “I mean, it’s not that big a deal,” he says. “I’m just a little older. S’nothing to get worked up over.”

“Not that big a deal — it’s your birthday!”

“I know that, Cole.”

“I mean, didn’t you ever do anything back—“

He pauses. Oh.

Oh no. Cole is starting to understand what’s going on here, and he doesn’t like it.

Lloyd gives him a strained, painful-looking smile, that’s honestly a terrible excuse of a smile in the first place.

“Darkley’s isn’t really big on birthdays,” he says, with a brittle kind of laughter Cole isn’t used to hearing from his youngest brother. “They didn’t really, uh, care. At all. Kinda just made you a target for the day, ‘cause you were older now, so you could take more hits, you know?”

Cole nods on blank instinct, like that’s totally normal and makes perfect sense. On second thought, why hadn’t they punted any of those kids off the roof of Darkley’s when they’d had the chance? Scratch that, why hadn’t they hunted the teachers down and punted them off?

“So yeah, not a big deal,” Lloyd shrugs. He laughs, that false kind of one again. “I mean, it’s not like I even know how old I am anyways, right? Tomorrow’s Tea, and stuff.” He slides off the table, giving Cole a grin. “Guess that means I can’t fill out the rest of the application, oops! Bummer.”

Lloyd makes a break for the hallway, slipping briefly in his socks before he grabs the doorframe, glaring at Cole. “And you better not put Zane on dessert.”

Then he’s escaped down the hall, leaving Cole to stare after him with his slowly-combusting mess of emotions.

Oooh boy, Kai’s gonna love this.

*********

Kai, as expected, takes it the worst.

“We missed Lloyd’s birthday?” he croaks, looking like he’s moments from tearing up.

“It was two days ago,” Cole says, shaking his head. “Two days. We did clean-up that day! We spent his entire birthday hauling debris around the city.”

“Oh, no,” Nya moans into her hands, where she’s yet to look up from since Cole broke the news.

“I can’t believe I missed this,” Zane says, looking appalled with himself. “I am normally better with dates…”

“Why didn’t he say anything?’ Jay exclaims. “Poor kid, he’s gotta hate us—“

“No, see, he wasn’t even upset,” Cole throws his hands in the air. “Guys, I don’t think he even knows how to celebrate his birthday. He got all tight-lipped about it when I asked, then said that Darkley’s ‘wasn’t big on birthdays’ and something about getting hit, and are we sure we didn’t save the names of his old teachers somewhere?"

Ah, maybe he shouldn’t have said that last part. Kai might actually be crying now.

“Those heartless punks,” Nya’s hissing, her head raised so her eyes can spear everyone with what’s practically lasers burning in them. “Those malicious jerks. What kind of stupid school—“

“I mean, Kai was a human piñata once, so we know it’s legal,” Jay says, his eyes sparking. “That’d be pretty festive.”

“Wha— no, Jay, no one’s getting used as a human piñata.”

“Tell that to Nya,” Jay sulks. Cole finally picks up on the conversation happening beside him, with no small amount of alarm.

“Nya, we are not giving Lloyd the teeth of his old school teachers as a birthday present.”

“I didn’t say we’d be giving them to Lloyd, just that I’d kick them out—“

“No one’s messing with anyone else’s teeth!” Cole yelps, waving his arms between them. He suddenly frowns. “Hold on, maybe I should schedule dentist appointments while I’m at it—“

“No!” comes the united chorus. To Cole’s disappointment, Zane’s voice has joined in as well.

“Lloyd’s birthday is what’s important right now, Cole,” Kai glares.

Well….point. But he’s still gonna put ‘make dentist appointments’ on a sticky note later.

“Okay, so we missed Lloyd’s birthday,” Nya says, determinedly. “That’s bad. What do we do?”

“We’re a pretty half-rate family,” Jay muses.

“Obviously, we made a mistake,” Zane says, sagely. “So we must correct it, and throw him a birthday party to show that we are not, in fact, a half-rate family.”

Cole points at Zane. “Now there’s a better plan.”

“So like, the best birthday party ever, to make up for all the ones he’s missed,” Kai nods.

“Yeah, we’re making up for what, how many years worth of missed birthdays?” Cole asks.

They all fall silent, staring at the table pensively.

“Do we count the Tomorrow’s Tea for missed years or not,” Jay whispers.

Kai kicks him in the leg. “Of course we do!” he says, hotly. “That whole thing sucked, he’d better get something out of it.”

“Also, I don’t think Lloyd would be thrilled if we threw him a ten year-old birthday party,” Nya mutters.

“Ten years?” Cole frowns. “Is that right?”

“Yeah,” Nya says, just as Kai goes “No, it’s nine.”

They both stare at each other.

“Uh oh,” Jay murmurs.

“So clearly, we will not be putting a number on this cake,” Zane rubs his head wearily.

“No, no, we can figure this out,” Cole insists. “Maybe like, his parents will know?”

The others nod, just as Nya’s head snaps up.

“Woah woah wait, hold on a second.” Her eyebrows are furrowed, the growing look on her face thunderous. “Lloyd was with us the whole day, so we know for a fact that no one remembered his birthday.”

“Yeah, and?”

Nya looks at Kai again, who blinks rapidly, before a look that promises trouble crosses his face.

“Maybe we should bring his parents in on this conversation.”

*********

To Garmadon’s credit, he looks even more horrified than Kai did.

“No,” he says, frantically. “Lloyd’s birthday isn’t — no, it’s September already?”

To also be fair, Garmadon was very recently exorcised of some very nasty, mind-affecting snake venom. He’s kind of been through a lot.

“Yeah, it is,” Nya says hotly, clearly not in the mindset of being fair. “And Lloyd’s birthday was two days ago!”

Misako’s head is buried in her hands on the table. “Two months,” she’s lamenting in despair. “I promised Lloyd I’d be better and I made it two months.”

Kai is still arguing with Sensei Wu, while Jay is either attempting to defuse the situation or convince Wu that an exploding cake is a good idea.

“—lost track of time, after the Final Battle, you must understand how chaotic it’s been—“

“Then why didn’t you write it on your calendar or something?!”

“I don’t have a calendar.”

“Well there’s your first problem—“

“Which could be solved! By cake!”

It’s not until Zane shoots him a desperate look that Cole decides to finally speak up.

“Look, guys — hey, look,” he shoulders his way to the middle of the tense huddle they’ve managed to make in the monastery’s sitting room. He takes a minute to thank that Lloyd’s on patrol right now, instead of a room over where he could very easily hear his entire family arguing over who’s fault it is that they forgot his birthday.

“Look,” Cole sighs, once he’s (miraculously) managed to get everyone quiet for a minute. “That’s not the important thing now, okay? The important — lip it, Kai — the important thing, is that we’re going to fix it. Got it?”

While Garmadon and Wu look a little affronted at being ordered around in such a way, the others nod in agreement, and that’s all Cole needs. He’s had enough of the First Spinjitzu Master’s family drama in the past few months, Wu and Garmadon can suck it up.

“Lloyd gets back from patrol in an hour,” he continues. “So if we’re gonna throw a party by this evening, we need to distract him.”

“This evening?” Wu muses. “Isn’t that a bit soon?”

He realizes his mistake a second too late. He’s immediately set upon by four viciously gleeful students chorusing: “Never put off ’til tomorrow what you can do today, Sensei—“

“Alright, alright,” Wu ducks his head.  He mutters under his breath, “I didn’t think I’d be paying for that one so soon.”

“Anyways, distraction,” Cole repeats. “We need someone to make sure he stays out of here the rest of the day, who’s game?”

Kai immediately volunteers, followed shortly by Jay. Cole eyes them shrewdly.

“Let me rephrase,” he says. “Who can keep it a secret long enough for us to surprise him?”

Kai shifts guiltily, and Jay bites his lip.

“I mean, I probably could…” he says, slowly. Cole does not have confidence in that statement. He looks to Zane.

“You’re the only one I trust,” he says, solemnly.

Zane shakes his head with a wry smile. “I’ll bring him back by dinner, will that give you enough time?”

“Totally,” Cole nods, just as Jay says, “Not even close.”

In hindsight, Jay is probably more correct, but Cole will eat dirt before he admits that.

*********

With even further hindsight, Jay is really correct.

“We need presents,” Kai is saying, as he struggles to drag in the truly ridiculous amount of streamers he and Jay purchased. “What can we get for Lloyd that’s acceptable in the next two hours?”

Garmadon purses his lips, glancing briefly at Wu. “Our father’s tradition was normally just a larger sword.”

“Like Lloyd even needs a sword now,” Jay reminds them.

“Why don’t we play it safe, and get him candy, or something?”

“What, you want to encourage his sweet tooth?”

“I don’t hear you coming up with any ideas.”

“What about a mech?”

“That didn’t end so great the last time, remember?”

“There’s always those cursed scrolls, I suppose,” Garmadon muses.

Cole glares at him. “Stop suggesting death weapons!”

“They aren’t all death weapons,” Garmadon huffs. “I’m simply saying, he might appreciate the finer weaponry in life—“

Misako, at least, suggests something nice and safe, like comics. Nya likes that idea, though she also wants to find a complete signed edition of the Starfarer movies, which leads to a heated debate with Jay because “they aren’t movies, Nya, it’s a TV show, and you can’t just buy signed editions, they’re priceless—“

Cole, who has better things to do than watch Jay shoot his romantic life in the foot for the day, wearily takes the end of a streamer from Sensei and helps him put it up. Kai is on the other side, still pushing for a pet.

“What about a cat, though,” he pleads. “Cats are quiet, and they don’t need as much attention.”

“Lloyd would give it much attention,” Cole mutters.

“Exactly,” Sensei Wu sighs. “The monastery is not a place meant for pets. And besides, after his victory against the Overlord, Lloyd will be on the road more often than not. It simply isn’t the time and place for a pet. He has a dragon, I am sure he’ll be fine.”

Kai looks mildly devastated by this answer, and Cole makes a mental note to make sure Kai doesn’t sneak any animals in any time soon. This can come after the mental note that he can’t forget about those flu shots, which comes after the other mental note that they really need to get started on a cake if they’re gonna have one in time.

“He likes that kind with the sprinkles baked in,” Nya informs him.

“Funfetti,” Cole nods. Good tastes in cakes, a family trait. Nya, who clearly does not appreciate good cakes, simply shrugs.

“Sure. With lots of frosting, of course.”

“Great, that shouldn’t be too hard,” Cole decides. “And Jay grabbed candles while he was getting streamers, so we should be set. Let’s get on making that.”

“Oh no,” Kai suddenly groans. They all look at him. “Guys, we sent Zane to distract Lloyd.”

Jay frowns. “So?”

Kai spears him with a look. “That means Zane can’t make the cake.”

An icy silence of horror drops over the room. They all look to each other.

“I’m out,” Cole says.

“I’m still relearning what I can even eat as a human,” Garmadon moans.

“I’m…adequate, at best,” Misako grimaces.

“My cooking ends with coffee,” Nya says, despairingly.

“I can make ramen?” Jay offers.

Kai stares at them. He looks incredulously at Sensei Wu, who shrugs.

“I can make tea cake.”

Kai looks like he’s resisting the urge to roll his eyes back into his head. “Okay, I’m making the cake, since all you are disasters.” He shakes his head, grumbling to himself. “—have you even survived this long, Zane and I pulling all the weight—“

Cole thinks that last statement is rather unwarranted, but Kai can actually reliably make food without burning the house down — ironically enough — so he’s not about to pick an argument with their best bet.

So he focuses on settling another argument, instead.

“How many candles are we putting on this cake, by the way?”

He’s sorely disappointed.

“The Tomorrow’s Tea can be a bit unpredictable,” Sensei Wu says, his eyes guilty. “I…cannot exactly say how many years it would add.”

Cole resists the urge to roll his own eyes into the back of his head. “Thanks for nothing,” he mutters.

“Okay, well we can at least find out how old he was, and work from there,” Nya says, resolutely. She turns on Garmadon. “How old would Lloyd be this year, if he hadn’t aged?”

“Um,” Garmadon says. His expression contorts, eyes going distant. “He was born in that one fall that the coast got hit by a hurricane, so that would make him, ah…let’s see…”

“You have got to be kidding me.”

“I was overcome by the vicious blood of the Great Devourer soon after, years blur together when you’re immortal!”

Misako rolls her eyes, turning to Nya. “I remember, at least. This year he’d be—“

Cole misses the end of her statement as another vicious round of arguing breaks out behind him between Jay and Kai, who are supposed to be watching the cake in the oven.

“I’m his older brother, I’m bringing the cake out.”

“What, like the rest of us aren’t?”

“No, but I’m like — Lloyd’s supreme older brother, so clearly—“

“Oh please, you lost him to the Serpentine in an arcade—“

“Hey, that’s sensitive! And I rescued him afterwards!”

“Yeah, after you had an existential crisis—“

“For the last time, today is not about you,” Cole hisses, wedging between them and pushing them apart. “Cut that out, or I’m gonna think the Tomorrow’s Tea aged you down.”

Jay and Kai glare at each other, but they comply. Cole sighs.

“Look, Kai, you’re the overbearing brother and that’s valid, but I need you front and center when Lloyd walks in,” he says, as he takes the cake out of the oven.

“Why?” Kai frowns, as he begins frosting the cake, seemingly heedless of how hot it still is. Cole watches him in despair for a minute before answering.

“Because you’re the person he’s least likely to blast on instinct if the surprise goes wrong.”

They both make a face, but then shrug. “Point, I guess,” Jay says, tossing the box of candles from hand to hand. “Better him than me.” He glances at Cole. “So, how many candles we sticking on?”

Cole glances back to the now-decorated sitting room, where Wu, Garmadon and Misako are still locked in argument with Nya over…who knows what now.

You know what, he thinks. It’s not worth it.

“Just…stick a bunch on,” he sighs. “They can be, like, a symbol of light, or something.”

“If you say so,” Jay snorts. He proceeds to cram as many candles as he can on the cake, following Kai’s path as he frosts it. Cole watches in trepidation.

“Hey guys, Zane says he’s running out of ideas, so we’d better hurry it — woah, that’s a lot of candles.”

Nya blinks at the cake, frowning at Jay. “You know that’s gonna be a lot of fire when they’re lit, right?”

“And is there a problem with that?” Kai sniffs.

“Nah, don’t worry about it,” Jay waves her off before she can retort. “They’re trick candles, you know? Like the sparky ones that keep relighting? It’s gonna be great, haha.”

Great does not seem to be a word Nya agrees with, if the expression on her face is any giveaway, but they are running out of time and Cole can’t deal with this right now.

“Great, just finish it up, okay?” he says, hastily. “Zane and Lloyd are gonna be back any minute, and we still don’t have a—“

The unmistakeable roar of the Ultradragon comes from just outside the monastery, followed by the loud flapping of wings. Everyone goes still enough that if they were in a sitcom, this would be hilarious, but they’re not, and Cole’s going to lose his mind.

“Light the candles,” he hisses at Kai and Jay, who have frozen in horror. “Light the candles and turn the lights off, go go go!”

*********

Lloyd does not end up blasting Kai in the face with a beam of golden power, which is mildly disappointing.

But he does jump a good three feet in the air, his eyes going the size of dinner plates as he makes a sound like a surprised cat, and Cole thinks that’s just as satisfying.

Not as satisfying as the megawatt smile he wears while turning red as Kai’s gi as they all sing off-key to him, of course, but pretty close.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t delay longer,” Zane apologizes to Cole, as they both watch Lloyd dance around the cake, trying to get the candles to extinguish while Jay and Kai laugh mercilessly at him. “He was beginning to grow suspicious, and I probably checked my phone too many times.”

“You did great,” Cole assures him. A bright flash goes off around the room as Misako snaps a picture, capturing Garmadon tightly embracing his son. Cole shakes his head, his lips quirking. “I really don’t think we could’ve pulled off anything better, anyways. Probably best that you got here before it could get—“

The cake chooses this moment to go nuclear, Jay’s candles lighting up blindingly bright as everyone shrieks, jumping back.

“—any more out of hand,” Cole finishes weakly. Zane quickly darts forward with a yelp, helping Kai — who’s extinguishing the candles with his bare hands, the maniac — eliminate the fire hazard.

Lloyd is the one laughing now, bright giggles as Jay feels at the ends of his singed hair, yelping. His laughter is cut short as Kai plants a firm hand on the back of his head shoves his face directly into the candle-cleared frosting, Nya egging him on from behind.

“Hey, we all have to eat that!” Cole yelps, darting forward. This proves to be a fatal mistake, as he steps in front of Kai just as Lloyd’s trying to get him back by chucking cake at his face.

Well, at least it’s Funfetti, Cole thinks, wiping frosting from his eyes.

Lloyd’s eyes go wide. “Cole, I’m sorry, I was aiming for Kai—“

Cole shakes his head, patting Lloyd on the back. “It’s fine, green machine,” he says. His grin turns evil, and he shoves the hand on Lloyd’s back down, forcing him back into the cake. “Happy Birthd—agh!”

Somehow, they (read: Zane) manage to salvage enough of the cake that it’s still edible, an between the streamers and music Jay starts blaring, it’s a fairly nice party, as far as ones that are whipped up in an hour go. Everyone’s crashed on the couches around the sitting room, finishing the last of their cake, and as long as Jay doesn’t manage to offend anyone, it should be a pretty peaceful evening, all in all.

“A thousand,” Jay’s guessing at Garmadon, his eyebrows drawn together in concentration.

Garmadon’s mouth twitches, and he exchanges glances with Wu. “Incorrect.”

“Oh, come on,” Nya throws her arms up. “Higher or lower?”

Garmadon turns his palms up. “What do you think?”

Jay coughs. “Loaded question.”

Nya looks determined though, and she answers. “Higher.”

Misako snorts into her tea, and Garmadon looks mildly offended. “I hope you’re drawing that conclusion by looking at Wu,” he mutters.

“They can’t be that old,” Kai argues, through a mouthful of cake. He nudges Lloyd with his foot from where he’s sprawled across the couch. “Hey Lloyd, how old’s your dad?”

Lloyd shrugs. “Not sure” he says. There’s a gleam in his eye. “I could maybe tell you, if you guess how old I am.”

“Oh, you sneak—“

“Wait, I have another guess!” Jay’s lips twitch. “Four hundred and twenty.”

That kicks off an entirely different debate, most of which is concerning whether Garmadon and Wu actually get what the joke is, so Cole decides to remove himself from the conversation by clearing plates. Just before anything gets heated.

He’s made it halfway to the kitchen by the time he’s realized Lloyd’s following him, and he jerks his head toward what’s left of the cake. “Want some more? It was your face that went in, so it should be fine for you.”

Lloyd shakes his head, and spears him with a look. “Tattle tale,” he accuses, but his eyes are warm, and the corner of the mouth is twitching with the smile he’s holding back.

Cole flicks his eyes skywards. “I know you said it’s not a big deal,” he replies, fondly. “But it is to us.”

Lloyd ducks his head, flushing with a small, shy kind of smile. Cole ruffles his hair, before continuing. “We didn’t scrounge up a present in time, but if I know Kai, you’ll probably get something stupidly big from everyone in the next few days.”

“You guys don’t have to do that,” Lloyd laughs, a bit breathlessly. “This is—“ He pauses, an odd, watery kind of expression crossing his face before he shakes his head. “This is a present enough.”

Cole smiles at that. “Better than Darkley’s?”

Lloyd laughs, for real this time, without that tense bitterness. “A million times better than Darkley’s,” he grins. “A zillion.”

“Good,” Cole nods, satisfied. “It’s not over yet, either. Nya and Jay made a whole list of terrible party games they’re gonna force you to try out.”

“Oh yeah?” Lloyd says, looking faintly nervous.

“Oh yeah,” Cole grins. “There’s this really great birthday tradition I grew up with, where you make the birthday person sit in the middle and everyone has to go around saying something nice about them.”

Lloyd goes scarlet at the mere thought of it, and Cole’s grin grows wider.

“Please don’t,” he murmurs.

Cole takes mercy on him, flicking a bit of frosting from his blond hair. “We’ll pick something else instead, then.”

He’ll just spring it on him when he’s not suspecting it later, anyways. It’ll do the kid good to hear that people care about him.

If Cole’s learned anything from this family, it’s that.

[boom-fanfic-a-latta]

Hiya!! I was curious about this, but is there a scene written out there about how/when the Ninjas meet the kwamis in this Miraculous AU? Gotta admit, I’m specially curious about Lloyd’s, since there’s this whole subplot about it metamorphosing (that’s a word right?) into a Dragon. Also, did said Kwami know he was going to end up as the Kwami of energy? Was he waiting for I don’t know how long to meet his partner?

OH CHAOS YES AN ELEMENTAL KWAMIS ASK—

I haven’t written anything just yet (but I will get right onto that gosh darn it), but I can certainly explain!

So the way it works in this AU is that each Kwami gets passed down with the element; in other words, basically at birth (or in Zane’s case when he was given it). So they’ve always known their partners, but they do tend to stay hidden until the person is old enough to understand it or when they need to be known.

Kai first met Blaaz and Nya first met Riin at the same time, soon after when their parents disappeared. Kai was startled and suspicious, while Nya (who was really little) was fascinated. Eventually Kai warmed up to the Kwamis and soon they were almost a full family, but obviously with Ray and Maya still missing...but it wasn’t just Kai trying to raise Nya alone. He had help, and someone to look after HIM.

Cole met Terra before his mom got sick, and was introduced to them (Terra is actually nonbinary) by Lilly. Probably one of the most calm/traditional meetings of all of them. Cole was pretty young at the time, and was thus very curious. When Lilly got sick and eventually died, the Kwami helped support him through the hard times.

Jay met Nikki very early compared to the others in age, which is surprising because she’s so shy around those she doesn’t know well. When baby Jay is first left with the Walkers, Nikki helps explain the situation to them, and is basically family to them in all but blood,

Zane receives Snapp at the same time he is given the Ice element, and there is a heartfelt parting with the previous ice master. He is very intrigued, especially post-memory switch being flipped, when he meets Snapp a second time basically 

And then there’s Lloyd and Fangg

Fangg first comes into exsistance when Lloyd is born, but only comes to awareness once the boy has already been put in Darkly’s. Fangg doesn’t know anything about his purpose or element, which leads to some interesting conversations when Lloyd and him first meet the ninja

The transformation from snake to dragon happens either when it’s revealed that Lloyd is the green ninja, when the Tommorow’s Tea happens, at the Temple of Light, or during the final battle. I haven’t decided which yet, though...

[bracedfangirl]

I know I should be putting out the next Fatal Mistake AU chapter but-

School’s got me a little, and I can only put out snippets for a few more days, before I finish the end of the next chapter of it. So here I am with yet another teaser from the later part of the AU, introducing a very much unseen side of Morro

(Small clarification: For a reason the ninja and Morro will have to work together around 2 months after Lloyd dies. I’ll put it in a chapter too later, but if y’all want to know it just send an ask)

"So let me get this straight, Wu never told you anything about how souls and minds and all these things work?"

"Uh no..."

"Shit... Okay, then I guess we'll have to start with the basics… Soul types. There are 5 main ones, and each type has variations of it's own, and each type has a rarity and default traits. Trego, tria, geeda, keydro and sikol. Let's start with tregos. They're stable, possession suitable spirits, who are very common, and can heal their breaks and wounds. Aggressive and impatient most of the time."

Morro says while giving a subtle glare at Kai who tries to hide his offense without success.

"The red is the most aggressive, the intensity getting less in orange and yellow ones-"

"Well I bet Kai's one of these right?"

Jay totally fails changing the mood, but Morro seems to comply.

"You're spot on with that, he's the most hot headed red trego I've ever heard of."

"Hey!"

"What Flamehead? I'm just stating a fact. Anyway, the next are trias who... really differ by variation but are the most common... Possession suitable, usually able to heal their wounds. There's orange white and malachite. Malachite is fairly aggressive and possessive, orange is more like a sane, calm but protective spirit and white... well white is pretty much a very chill, calm and gentle variation."

Jay cuts in again, seemingly oblivious to who he's talking to.

"Okay well they may be common but I didn't recognise any of us."

"You gotta be kidding me! Three of you are trias! Nya's the most vicious malachite I've ever seen! Being an orange is written on Cole's face, and since Zane has an artificial mind, there isn't even any other option."

"What? When was I vicious with you?"

Morro laughs lightly at Nya's protest, before taking up his annoying smug grin, that's been sickening Kai ever since he first saw it.

"Who said I know your personalities from meeting you enough times in person?"

That causes an awkward silence, the urge to break the deal with Morro and just kill him already rapidly growing in Kai.

"A broken soul and a pretty much nonexistent mind doesn't have secrets if you're a possesser ghost. The memories just show up on hit..."

Cole has to keep him down after that, his boiling hatred threatening to burst out of him.

"Anyway back to the original topic, the next are geedas. While you can possess a geeda, it's not the best choice... These guys have issues with emotional control, and often are panicky or anxious. Somewhat stable, but not the best at fixing themselves. There's blue grey and yellow, the grey being the absolute embodiment of anxiety."

Cole snorts, looking at Jay with mischevious eyes.

"I'm sensing Jay in this one."

"He's a yellow one, the second worst to deal with."

"What- rude!"

Zane's eyes light up, and he turns to Morro, words chosen way too carefully.

"What are you? I didn't really see any match yet."

"I'm a keydro, probably a yellow one... Mood swings and emotion control issues are let's say common, but at least mine is so much of a hostile type that you wouldn't ever get possessed. It wouldn't end well for that ghost. We're more of possesser spirits in general. There's grey and green too, but there's not much difference."

Nya isn't exactly subtle at voicing her opinion, voice venomous.

"That would explain why you're such an asshole."

Kai's uncertain, quiet voice suddenly rings out, grief clearly staining it.

"What about Lloyd?"

Morro freezes mid-turn at that, stalling for a few seconds before sighing and flopping down on the ground, eyes miles away. His voice is quiet, and Kai catches a slight emotion in it, something he never thought he'd hear from the ghost.

"Sikol..."

It's terror… fear…

"Black sikol... and trust me, that's not something you want to meet in pure form. Especially not in… his case... Sikols are... unusual and… rare. They have insane mental birth defects, completely missing whole emotions sometimes..."

"Mother of god-"

"Too unstable for possession, but you can't recognise them at all... they don't have a trait you can see to recognise them. They can't heal either… at all."

"So that's why the kid still had nightmares about Darkley's years later-"

"Yes… their wounds stay open for years, making them unpredictable and agressive… Very aggressive… They're vicious, and don't care about anything… sometimes not even their own lives… There's white, gold, grey and black and-"

Morro takes a few seconds to stabilize himself before somehow continuing in a more panicked manner.

"And black ones resemble demons more than humans… they take a dragon like shape and a… shadow like appearance, with glowing wounds and eyes... Fighting one isn't just unwise, but downright suicidal… It's like you picked a fight with a rabid dragon!"

It's in that moment that the question he's been wanting to ask for months explodes out of Kai, anger and pain soaking his voice.

"Then why didn't you stop? If it was unwise and dangerous why didn't you just let him go and try possess one of us? Why him?"

"Because he was the leader, and if I let him get home and tell you about me I won't have a second chance! It's just simple strategy Kai! Besides this way there's at least one person who knows how close he was to snapping permanently... an abandonment break blinding your soul's right eye isn't something you can ignore for long-"

"What's an abandonment break?"

"I said too much again didn’t I? *sigh* It's the most dangerous mental injury you can suffer from... Any break is dangerous, as it's the damage of an emotional core, and you can get it with emotional trauma. An abandonment break is when your love and trust cores get damaged, and the name comes from it being found mostly on people without parents... I've never known that it can appear over your eye until I've seen Lloyd's... It looked serious and like it has been there most of his life... I'm pretty sure it's from Darkley's."

The silence that follows Morro's last statement is so thick, they could cut it if they tried. Everyone is trying to understand the new information, still partially in denial.

"I've been taught how to possess, how to keep control and how to try to avoid sikols for decades, but never once did anyone mention that a 14 year old with the soul injuries of a 90 year old war veteran can exist, much less how he fights! He was weak but attacked in waves, and then it took a lot of force to keep him down... The-The only good thing that came out of this is that I completed the mission given to me and that I showed the world how weak it is. I don't think people should depend on just a person to protect them this much...There's simply no way Helena is doing this for fun, she probably feels like I took something from her and in return she's gonna mess with something she doesn't understand, and-and that will result in chaos! People who feel like they were exploited in their lives are agressive upon forced ressurrection! The problem isn't that Helena is planning to do something disrespectful and disgusting, it's because she's planning on unleashing something no one can control! That's why it's important to stop her. I doubt you'd be happy if someone woke you up at 1 am demanding you to save the world... Imagine how Lloyd will feel, waking up in his fucking rotten body!"

The silence after this is far less thick, Kai making an uneasy, seemingly forced statement.

"Then I suppose… we can work together… but only if you play fairly and by our rules."

"I never expected anything else."

[boulderboi]

Honestly I’ve been thinking of an AU for a while but I have so many that I leave to “die” that part of me didn’t want to even talk about it, but I have been thinking of it for a while so might as well just put it down, even if it is a cheesey one.

So I was thinking of a Supernatural AU, I know that’s a common one, so there probably is something similar to someone else’s. I haven’t thought too much beyond the characters, but in the AU, Wu starts up a sort of safe haven for those with supernatural abilities to avoid anyone going after them, and at first has his brother and their nephew, a werewolf named Cole who insists they aren’t one, and a robot called Zane that was donated by an anonymous person who liked what he was doing.

Nya eventually finds the place by accident with her brother Kai when they run into Zane and he notices Kai’s...”condition”, which is that he’s dead. They end up staying at the place for a while as well until a Serpentine cult come out claiming they’ll destroy anything that isn’t them. During this they meet Jay, who, on their second meeting, Nya decides to kidnap and bring over to the haven themselves. I haven’t written much beyond that though.

Characters -

Nya - One of the only characters that are actually just human, she spent a good amount of her life studying ghosts and the supernatural in general, trying to see if she could find a way to communicate with her brother who died in a freak accident. Eventually she decides to just head back to where she used to live (where she and her parents moved out following the incident) and finds Kai there, the two have a cheerful reunion and through a bit of testing, they find a way to let him leave the house and stay together. She still is the supernatural expert in the group, and she can hold her own quite well as a result.

Kai - A spirit. When he was about 6, he “accidentally” sacrificed himself for his family during a robbery (he ran in on purpose, but thought he could stop the robbers, and didn’t think he’d die from it). His soul ended up getting locked to the house and couldn’t leave, as the way a spirit works is that they get attached to something and can’t go more than 10 miles away from that spot and can change their attachment twice a day. He could’ve gotten out by repeatingly changing his link, but he wasn’t aware of that ability until he saw Nya again, so he ended up stuck there all alone, waiting for his family to come back for around 18 years. He has two forms, the look he WOULD’VE had if he didn’t die (the soul itself’s age) and the look he had when he died (which he doesn’t use often, unless he is really upset.) His main weakness is that he’s at the mercy of whoever he’s attached to.

Lloyd - An oni/dragon hybrid. He’s the youngest and is the result of his oni father and dragonoid mother. Both of them like looking like humans, so he ended up being born looking like one and was unaware of his heritage until he was about 5 to avoid having a breakdown. He took the fact surprisingly well and is quite playful about his abilities. Usually Zane has to look after him to make sure he doesn’t break anything due to underestimating his own strength, though it usually ends with him transforming into an oni or dragon out of rage and Zane having to use his “freeze procedure” on them.

Cole - A werewolf. He felt quite anxious about how others would think about him, as his father sheltered him from any activities that would happen after dark, so he would lie to get out of the house or purposely stay behind when everyone else left after dark so he’d be alone. Due to Kai being put on guard duty on the house because of their linking power, the two ended up becoming good friends, though Cole pretended to be an actual wolf when they hanged out at nighttime. Eventually he was forced to admit the truth, but not before he ended up showing Kai the reason he’s how he is, to make him feel better for how he was sheltering him, Cole’s father always bribed people to get him to have better...everything, which gives him a lot of self confidence issues.

Zane - Like usual, he’s a robot. He was built by Dr. Julien on a whim when he heard about Wu’s “safe haven for the supernatural” idea based on a beta design due to how wonderful it sounded, and he wanted to make sure it was truly a safe haven. They’re designed as both a chore robot and a battle machine, and he can shift between both at any time. Usually he just does the chores, but there are times they activate their battle mode, such as having to defend the haven, or just watch over Lloyd. Julien gave them immense ice powers, and only Julien knows how he has those powers.

Jay - A human/serpentine hybrid. About 15 years before the Serpentine Cult came out, there was a group of Fangpyries paid by some Venomari to test how their powers would work on humans, so along with a few other humans, Jay was kidnapped at a young age and transformed into a snake, though he was unaware of the fact for a long time and thought he was a serpentine all his life (he did NOT take the reveal that he was kidnapped and transformed that well when he found out). He ended up working for the Serpentine Cult, more than willing to destroy anyone in their way until they were “forcefully” brought into the safe haven, where he slowly began questioning it until finally turning against the cult. Basically insert Peridot’s arc from Steven Universe here (though I haven’t seen much of that show so idk if that’s an accurate statement).

I haven’t thought of much in terms of other characters but maybe I’ll touch upon this more, maybe I’ll not. It’s a weird situation where I have ideas for 1/2 of the main 6 but not the other 3.

[rosiehunterwolf]

For the Romping and the Roaring- Part 3

My submission for Day 3 of @serpentfever's Inhuman Event!

Link to read on ffn.net (Recommended if you are on mobile or haven't read the previous parts yet)

Preview:

Dammit, this was all his fault! He was so pathetic, how had he let this happen?

The hairs on the back of his neck tingled, and he glanced up and caught sight of Borg standing outside his cell, staring at him.

“You almost messed up everything, you brat. I’m not going to forget that.”

The pain increased again, and Kai screamed, feeling his eyes roll back in his head as blackness swamped at the edges of his vision.

“Turn it down, I don’t want him passing out.”

The pain dropped suddenly, and Kai gasped in relief, tears streaming down his face. It wasn’t gone completely, though- there was still a faint buzzing emitting from the collar- not enough to be painful, but enough to put him on edge.

Enough to remind him that he wasn’t the one in control here.

(Full chapter under the cut)

Prompts Used: Chase, Dehumanized

Word Count: 9,206 (welp we're back to browser-crashing length again)

Rating: Definitely T, maybe like T+

Trigger Warnings: Dehumanization (obviously), Imprisonment, Torture, Attempted Murder, Drugs, Blood, Depression, Suicidal Thoughts (yeah… this one’s pretty heavy, guys. Probably the darkest thing i've ever written...)

Consciousness came slowly, as if the air around him was thick and sticky. A metallic tang filled his mouth, and his limbs felt weighted and heavy. Everything hurt, and Kai wanted nothing more than to just fall back into the comfort of sleep, but his head was throbbing too much to do so. Breathing slowly, he opened his eyes.

At first, he just saw more darkness, and he wondered if he had even opened his eyes at all. After a few minutes of just staring at the ceiling, though, enough light made its way to his eyes that he could make out the long, steel bars that made up the far wall. Shackles dug into his wrists, the chain only giving him enough room to move his hands up to a foot apart, and another restraint, around his right ankle, was attached to a chain a couple yards long that tied him to where it was bolted to the floor in the corner. His muzzle was gone, although there was a leather band strapped around his throat, almost like some sort of collar. The cell was completely empty except for a toilet in the corner, and a sorry excuse for a mattress against the back wall.

Groaning, he raised his hands and rubbed his face, slowly pulling himself into a sitting position. Immediately, fluid rushed into his throat, and he choked, spitting and sending blood splattering all over the concrete. Running his tongue against the roof of his mouth, he felt the puncture wounds and realized that he must’ve bit down on it sometime when he had been unconscious. Coughing up the rest of the blood, he forced himself to breathe slowly, trying to ignore his stinging tongue.

When he had gotten his bearings a little better, he squinted, peering through the bars. In the cell across from him, Nya laid sprawled out on the floor, her chest rising and falling steadily as she slept. There was a nasty cut across her forehead, blood dripping into her eyes. Kai tasted the air, trying to catch the scent of any other injuries she might’ve had, but the scent of his own blood flooded his nostrils, blocking out anything else.

Against the back wall of the room, between their two cells, was the other occupied cell, where Lloyd was curled up on his mattress, the ashy gray color stained red beneath where his injured leg was stretched out. His chains were similar to the ones Kai and Nya had, although a significant amount shorter, so he could hardly even move around the cell.

Forcing himself to jerk his gaze away, he looked in the other direction. A few more cells stretched down the hallway, but they were all empty.

They were utterly alone.

The only sign of life in the place was the thin crack of light from underneath the door at the end of the hallway. Apart from that, though, the room was pitch black.

Kai leaned back against the wall with a huff. He had really done it now, hadn’t he? Gotten them all thrown in prison- they were likely either going to die or be kept here for the rest of their lives. There was no way that Borg would ever give them any freedom again, now that they knew too much.

There really was no escaping this one, was there?

Augh, if only him and Nya hadn’t had that stupid argument, they would be safe, back with the others right now.

Kai wondered how long they had been here. Had the others noticed their absence yet? Would they try to come after them?

As much as he wanted to be saved, wanted Nya and Lloyd to be safe, he really hoped they didn’t. The last thing he needed right now was the others being thrown in here with them. He hoped they ran far, far, away and never came back.

Kai wished for nothing more than to be back with them now, to feel one of Cole’s strong hugs, or Zane’s comforting presence, or even to hear one of Jay’s horrible jokes.

Kai buried his face in his knees and cried.

He just wanted to go home.

A soft moan sounded from across the room. “...Kai?”

Kai lifted his head briefly, meeting Nya’s tired, scared expression. “What?”

“What happened? Where are we?”

“Borg found us. He’s keeping us prisoner.” He lowered his face back into his knees, not even having the strength to hold his neck up anymore.

“Have you seen him yet? Borg?”

“No.”

“Have you spoken to anyone yet? Has anyone come down here?”

“No.”

Sensing the frustration in his tone, Nya fell silent. He heard the rattle of chains as she paced around the cell. For a long time, that was the only sound he heard, and after a while, he laid, face up, on his mattress, the sound of the chains the only thing reminding him that he wasn’t alone down here.

It could’ve been minutes or hours later when a noise sounded from the other side of the room. Kai sat up, glaring.

The door on the far end swung open, and light washed into the room. Kai threw his arms over his face, hissing at the brightness of it. After only a moment, though, the light faded, and Kai lowered his arms to see the door had been shut again. Flashlights clicked on, shining down the hall, and Kai squinted, catching sight of two trainers, and a vet, none of whose names Kai could remember.

With them, was Borg.

Nya growled at him, gripping the bars of her cell. “What do you want with us?”

“What I wanted was for you to do as you were told,” Borg told her, shining the light in her eyes, “but you just had to go and mess that up, didn’t you.”

Nya blinked furiously at the harsh light, but didn’t back down. “You wanted us to stand by and do nothing as you killed Lloyd?”

“Certain words are not meant for certain ears, dear. You two shouldn’t have been there that night. You really did make things much, much more complicated than they needed to be.”

“Why did you do it,” Kai snapped. “Why did you ever shelter us in the first place if all you were going to do was kill us?”

“Not you,” Borg corrected. “Only the boy. He messed everything up. The rest of you were supposed to be incredibly useful.”

“Stop dodging the question.”

“Boy, I am not dodging anything.” He turned his flashlight’s beam on Kai, his face suddenly looking a lot more threatening than Kai had ever seen it. “You are the one avoiding the truth here. I didn’t ‘take you in’ from anywhere. I made you. You and your mutant friends are nothing more than a lab experiment.”

Kai fell back from the bars, breathing out heavily. He heard Nya gasp, but he didn’t look at her. He didn’t look at anything, just at the ground.

“The truth stings, doesn’t it? You aren’t anything special, you aren’t unique. You were merely a trial for what is to come.”

“A trial for what?” Nya growled.

“You and your friends have been plenty useful. You have been resources to study, to sample DNA from, a test to see if we could contain you before we started making the others.”

Kai blinked. “Others?”

“Of course. You and your friends obviously didn’t work out- and you’re all too far gone now.”

“I don’t understand,” Kai asked. “Why do you want more… more people like us? You obviously don’t care about us.”

“I care about what you can do. Imagine the potential- a legion of seemingly normal people, such as yourself- who can, in the blink of an eye, transform into an army of great beasts! People who could fly, who could cross great distances in the blink of an eye, those who could hear our enemies coming from a mile away, or who could wield the strength of ten men. I’d be unstoppable!”

Kai and Nya exchanged horrified glances. “You’re building an army? What for?”

“Kai, my dear boy. Borg Industries is powerful, but we cannot do whatever we please. We still have so many regulations, limitations, and surveillance. Biotechnology, such as what we have developed, could change the world. But the world is deeply rooted in tradition, afraid of change. They would shun us, sue us for our groundbreaking discoveries, when we deserved to be praised and cheered for. What we need is more power. And power never comes for free. True power is only won through brute force.”

“You’ll never get anyone to comply with that,” Kai hissed. “We’re not objects, we’re living, breathing beings. You can’t just bend that to your will.”

“Oh, but we will. In time, anything can be controlled. We just need to make a few altercations to our future experiments. Something you and your friends have made incredibly easy by being our test subjects over the last couple decades. Your kind is really quite fascinating, you know.”

Kai bared his teeth and roared at him, but Borg merely laughed. “See, the problem with you is that we made you too human. Too sentient. There needs to be some balance, of course- a wild animal is untamed, it has no master- but a human being has too many weaknesses, too many thoughts of rebellion and betrayal.” Narrowing his eyes at Kai, he added, “Something we found out the hard way.

“We got closer with the child- his instincts appeared to be less humane, and he didn’t cause so much of a fuss.” He paused, frowning. “That is, until a few weeks ago.

“I think where we went wrong with him was the species. An oni and a dragon- two of the most powerful creatures known to man- we thought he would have unspeakable power. And he did- but it was too much, too much to be contained.

“But he has been a valuable resource- we shall use what we have learned with him to create a somewhat less powerful species. This time, we will get it right.”

Nya hissed at him, and he scowled, leaning over and spitting on her.

“The child has been very useful, indeed, but he has served his purpose, now. We no longer have a use for him.” Gesturing to the vet with one hand, she stepped forward, the carefully wrapped parcel in her hands now visible as she, Borg, and the trainers walked towards Lloyd’s cage.

“No!” Kai roared, jolting to his feet and racing to the bars. “Get away from him!”

“It’s for your own good. This child could off you in your sleep, if he so wished.”

Time was moving in slow motion. The door of Lloyd’s cage swung open with an eerie creak, and they filed inside. The vet unwrapped the parcel, revealing a syringe filled with a blue liquid, and a long, pointed needle on the end.

“Don’t you fuckin’ touch him!” Kai screamed, shaking at the bars of the cell. “You’re a deranged, psychotic, murdering bi-”

“Please, Dr. Borg, reconsider,” Nya whined, cutting off Kai’s violent string of curses. “We’ll be good, we’ll do what you want, just don’t kill him, please-”

“Shut up, the both of you,” Borg snapped. “We’re trying to work here. Nya, stop your sniveling, we know you’re not on our side. You’re no use to us anymore- Kai, stop trying to break through the bars, don’t you think we thought of that? Why do you think these cells are here in the first place? I had them made a while ago, as a precaution. They’re specifically tailored to counteract your special abilities. Nothing you do is going to break them.”

“I’ll kill you, I’ll find a way out of here and I’ll murder you-”

Borg sighed. “He’s losing it.” Turning to a trainer, he asked, “Turn it on, will you?”

The trainer pulled a small remote from his pocket, and turned a little dial.

Sharp, stinging pain shot through Kai’s neck, and he yelped, falling back from the bars and gripping at his neck- which was when he remembered the leather band there.

“I’m not-” he reached out, gasping as he wrapped a hand around one of the bars. “You’re not making me-”

The pain increased, and Kai doubled over, wheezing, his eyes watering. “Ahhh!”

“Kai!” Nya yelped. “Stop it, what are you doing to him?”

“Handy little device your trainers whipped up for you. Human shock collar. You like it? Except these things can deliver a lot more voltage than the kind people put on their dogs.”

“Stop it, please-” he moaned. Pins and needles were stabbing into his neck, the zinging reverberating down his spine.

“Do it, while he’s distracted.”

Kai pushed back against the pain, rolling his eyes up so that he could see Lloyd. The boy was still sleeping soundly on the mattress, although one ear was twitching slightly. Or maybe that was just the collar, vibrating him.

“Lloyd!” He screamed, the collar making his voice tremble. “Wake up, wake up, they’re going to-”

The pain increased tenfold, and Kai choked, falling to his knees. He gritted his teeth, and they chattered from the vibrations. He wasn’t giving up, he couldn’t-

“Lloyd!”

The roar ripped through the room, echoing off the walls and causing everyone in the room to flinch. Lloyd jerked awake, squealing as he caught sight of Borg and the needle. Leaping off of the mattress, he darted across the cell in a flash-

He stumbled with a squeak of pain as he tripped over his injured leg, tumbling to the floor. The trainers and Borg surrounded him, boxing him in as the vet approached slowly with the needle.

“Lloyd, fight! Fight back!”

Lloyd hissed in the vet’s face, fire shooting from his throat. The vet cried out, stumbling back. One of the trainers grabbed at him, and Lloyd whipped around, chomping down on her hand.

“He bit me,” she shrieked, pulling back. “The brat bit me, I’m probably going to get like, rabies or something!”

“You’ll be fine,” Borg snapped, “just stop him!”

Lloyd hissed in his face, jumping from the man’s hand as he reached for him-

Just as the vet stabbed the needle into his thigh.

Kai, Nya, and Lloyd screamed.

The pain from the shock collar barely registered anymore, the burning in his chest so much stronger. Kai gripped the bars of the cell, rage and fear and despair wracking his body so he didn’t even know how to function.

Borg had done it, he had killed him, he was gone-

Kai’s stomach heaved, and he turned away, throwing up across the concrete. How could this be happening, what had he done to deserve this, what had Lloyd done?

He hugged his knees to his chest, sobs shuddering through him, teeth rattling. He hadn’t even been able to save one person, he had failed everyone, Zane and Cole and Jay were going to hate him when they found out their baby brother was dead and Kai had done nothing to stop it-

Not that it mattered, it wasn’t like he was going to ever see them again.

Dammit, this was all his fault! He was so pathetic, how had he let this happen?

The hairs on the back of his neck tingled, and he glanced up and caught sight of Borg standing outside his cell, staring at him.

“You almost messed up everything, you brat. I’m not going to forget that.”

The pain increased again, and Kai screamed, feeling his eyes roll back in his head as blackness swamped at the edges of his vision.

“Turn it down, I don’t want him passing out.”

The pain dropped suddenly, and Kai gasped in relief, tears streaming down his eyes. It wasn’t gone completely, though- there was still a faint buzzing emitting from the collar- not enough to be painful, but enough to put him on edge.

Enough to remind him that he wasn’t the one in control here.

Not that Kai really cared anymore. Lloyd was dead. Nothing mattered.

Kai wanted to die.

---

Over the next few hours- days? minutes? he didn’t know, and frankly, he didn’t care- weariness dragged at Kai, but sleep wouldn’t come. No, sleep would be too easy, too peaceful. Instead, he laid awake, staring at the ceiling as darkness sapped at his limbs. He didn’t move to the mattress, just stayed on the floor. Maybe the coolness of the concrete could alleviate some of the raging heat storming inside of him.

Every once in a while, he mustered the strength to crawl over the toilet so he could throw up. He didn’t know why he bothered. Being hygienic didn’t matter to him anymore. Nothing mattered.

After the third time, though, he had thrown up everything his stomach had to give, and when his insides kept churning, he just rested his head on the side of the toilet and dry heaved.

“Kai,” Nya whispered after a minute of this. “Stop, you’re just going to make yourself sick again.”

“I don’t care,” he rasped, his throat dry and raw.

“Damn that, I don’t want to lose you too.”

“We’re all going to die down here eventually.”

She fell silent at that. She knew he was right.

“You’re scaring Lloyd, Kai. Don’t let him see you like this.”

“Are you delusional, Nya? Lloyd’s gone.”

“Not yet,” she whimpered. “It… it hasn’t kicked in yet. I guess it must take a while until… anyway, see for yourself.”

“I don’t want to. I’m scared.”

“He’s here, I promise you.”

“What if it’s too painful? I don’t want to see him if I’m just going to lose him in a few minutes.”

“What if you miss out on your only chance to see him one more time?”

Kai was quiet for a moment. Mustering all the strength he had left, he slowly turned over.

Lloyd was sitting at the edge of his cell, staring at him. He was smiling softly at Kai, but his eyes were fearful. Kai tried to ignore how his ears were drooping, how his tail hung limp, and his eyelids heavy with sleep, one he would never wake up from-

Kai broke into tears, and Lloyd churred softly, leaning against the bars as he reached his fingers through. Kai did the same, although there was still a gaping distance between them.

“I’m scared,” he whispered.

“I’m sorry,” Kai choked through the tears. “I’m sorry this happened to you. You don’t deserve any of it.”

“‘s not your fault,”

“It’s not yours, either,” Nya told him. “None of this happened because of you. I want you to remember that, okay? Don’t… don’t think about that, now.”

Nya buried her face in her hands, whimpering. Lloyd leaned his face on the bars. “I love you guys.”

“We love you too, bud,” Kai whispered. “More than you will ever know.”

---

Sleep found him eventually- that, or lack of fluids caused him to pass out. Either way, some time had passed by the time he drug his eyelids open again.

Squinting, he realized there were people standing in front of Lloyd’s cell. Sounds filtered in slowly, taking a moment to come through clearly.

“-don’t understand, why hasn’t it kicked in yet? He should’ve stopped breathing long ago.”

“I’m not sure. This should have worked. It might have something to do with his lineage, I suppose- perhaps his genes grant him extra immunity to fight back against it.”

“That seems logical. He definitely seems very drowsy and sluggish, so it obviously had some effect on him-”

“But not the one we wanted,” a third voice snapped. As consciousness came fully, he connected the voice to Borg. “Apparently he’s immune to euthenasia drugs, now? What next? This is only more proof of what I’ve been saying- he’s becoming more dangerous. We should’ve killed him right away, that first night, when we had the chance.”

“It’s alright, sir, we still have time. He’s not going anywhere, down here. We can develop a stronger serum.”

“Do you think it will work?”

“With the right blood samples from him, I can be confident of it.”

“How soon can you have it ready?”

“A few days, a week- it’s hard to tell until I start.”

“Fine. But it better work this time. Or you’re fired.”

“You have my word, sir.”

Footsteps echoed past his cell, then down the hall. The sound of the door swinging shut determined they had left. Kai sat up immediately.

“Nya! Did you hear that?”

“It didn’t work,” she breathed. “He’s going to be okay!”

“For now. How long do you think it’s going to take them to make the new drug?”

“If I know Borg, I wouldn’t bet on long. We have to find a way out of here before we actually do lose him.”

“But how?” He breathed out, falling back against the wall. “We’re trapped here. The securative measures aren’t exactly light. I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”

Nya was quiet for a moment. “We’ll figure something out.”

“I sure hope so.”

Nya turned towards Lloyd’s cell, pressing her face against the bars. “How’re you doing, Lloydster?”

Lloyd murmured sleepily at her, and she sighed. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad it didn’t kill him, but I hope it doesn’t make him sick.”

“Yeah. It seems like he’s just tired, but who knows.”

The door swung open again, and the two shied back from the light. Two people shuffled in, both unfamiliar, and Kai eyed them warily.

They were young, probably not much older than Cole. Kai was surprised that Borg was even letting them know that Kai and the other hybrids existed, not to mention letting them in their cell block alone.

The male stretched out his hand as he passed, letting his knuckles clack against the bars eerily.

“What do you want,” Kai snapped.

“Chill out, mutant boy, I’m here to feed you.”

Just at the mention of food, Kai’s stomach rumbled. His mouth watered, and against his will, he found himself leaning towards the man. He hadn’t eaten- or drank- anything since the morning of their capture- which, although he had no idea how much time had passed, felt like forever ago. He had even considered drinking out of the toilet at one point, but had decided he wasn’t that desperate.

Yet.

The man laughed at his expression. “Check it out, Em. They really are like animals.”

Kai clenched his teeth, surging up to the bars. “Listen, you punk, you don’t know-”

He was interrupted as his shock collar went off, screaming with pain as he rolled to his knees, frothing at the mouth. He heard shrieks from Nya and Lloyd too, but he was in too much pain to move. The rusty hinges of his cell door screeched as the man entered, laying two metal bowls by the wall. He felt his arms get tugged back, metal cuffs clicking around them. He wanted to kick and hiss at the man, hurt him while he was still within distance, but the pain from the collar stopped him.

There was a dry, rattling sound as the man filled his bowls, then exited the cell, locking the door firmly. Then, finally, the pain dropped away.

“What was that for,” he rasped, his voice still raw from the sudden shock.

“Couldn’t have you fighting back, could we?”

Kai grimaced. He glanced over at Nya and Lloyd and saw they had been cuffed too. “Why do we need handcuffs to eat? Isn’t that sort of counterintuitive?”

“Borg says you’re feisty. Doesn’t want to take the chance of you using anything that’s not bolted down to your advantage. Or to try and kill yourself. He wants to keep you around for a while yet, in case he needs to do any more testing.”

“You think I could escape- or kill myself- with a bowl?”

“You’d be surprised what people can do when they’re desperate. Now, eat up- unless you want to be handcuffed the rest of the night.”

Kai turned to the bowls, squinting at them. One was filled with a gritty-looking water that didn’t seem much more appealing than the toilet water. The other was filled with small, hard, brown pellets.

“What is this, dog food?” Nya scoffed.

The woman smiled. “That’s exactly what it is, sweetheart. What, you weren’t expecting a five-course meal, were you?”

“You can’t seriously expect us to eat this!”

“Would you rather have no food?” The woman asked sweetly. “I’m sure that could be arranged.”

Nya went quiet, but her nose wrinkled as she stared down at the food.

Kai sighed. As unappetizing as it was, it beat the horrible hunger pangs, or passing out from dehydration. He went to reach for the bowl-

Then he remembered the handcuffs.

“How the hell are we supposed to eat with our hands tied behind our backs?”

The guy smiled wickedly. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out, kitty.”

Kai felt his face turn bright red. They wanted them to eat from the bowl like dogs. This was humiliating.

But he was so hungry. He didn’t know when the next opportunity for food would come.

Leaning down, he scooped up a mouthful of the pellets. They were gritty and sour, one of the worst things Kai had ever tasted in his life, but at this point he didn’t care. He could hear the man and woman who had brought the food laughing and jeering behind him, and he tried to ignore it. It was this, or starve.

After he had finished the food, he burped at the awful taste, trying to suppress the urge to throw it all up. But he forced himself to lick the sides of the bowl, getting every bit of food he could scrounge.

The dry, salty taste of the dog food had only worsened his thirst now, and by this point he didn’t care how dirty the water looked, setting upon it with frantic laps of his tongue. He immediately found it to be much harder than eating. Water dribbled down his chin, so by the time the bowl was empty, his front side was soaked and only about half of the liquid had actually been swallowed. The man and woman got a kick out of that, joking that he had wet himself. Kai had never felt worse than this in his life. He would rather take the pain from the shock collar. He had wanted to go hide behind the toilet for the rest of the night, but knew that would only make the teasing worse.

After what seemed like forever, Nya and Lloyd finally finished their meals and the man and woman turned their attention away from Kai. The shock collars were turned on again, and Kai was once again helplessly paralyzed with pain as the man came in and removed his handcuffs, put the more flexible shackles back on, and took away the bowls. When the cell doors were locked, the shock collars were turned off. Kai forced himself to stay still until the man and woman were gone, but as soon as the room’s door was shut, he collapsed into a ball, hugging himself and shivering.

No one spoke for a long time after that, letting him know that he wasn’t the only one deeply disturbed by their experience.

Kai’s sleep was broken and feverish that night, filled with dreams of him, Lloyd, and Nya locked up in a giant kennel. Children kept peering in, poking their fingers at them and barking at them. They dressed him up in bows and made him do tricks, laughing and giving him dog treats when he complied, and zapping him with the shock collar when he didn’t.

He burst awake in a cold sweat, crying with relief when he realized it had just been a dream.

He didn’t fall asleep again after that, even though his whole body felt heavy with exhaustion.

The next time the door opened, he scrambled back from the light, hissing. His head was aching, and the darkness offered the only sort of comfort right now.

But he was ignored, four trainers walking past his and Nya’s cages and towards the one on the end. Instantly, Kai was at the bars, watching them carefully with bared teeth. If they tried to pull something again-

Well, what was he going to do? He was helpless in here.

Glancing over, he saw a pair of yellow-green eyes glowing in the darkness and knew that Nya was watching, too.

The door of Lloyd’s cage slowly creaked open, and a pair of trainers slipped in. Lloyd hissed at them as they approached, and they stopped. Slowly, one of the trainers reached out, and Lloyd snapped at his hand, and he yanked it away, barely escaping unscathed.

The other trainer grabbed an object from his pocket that Kai recognized as the remote to the shock collars, and Kai immediately shied back, trembling as he remembered the pain.

“Behave, mutant,” the trainer with the remote snapped. “Or we will not hesitate to turn this on.”

Lloyd looked at the remote with wide eyes, his ears pressed flat against his head. Kai had been in some of the worst pain of his life the previous night- or whenever it had been, his internal clock had been all thrown off by the dark dungeon- and Lloyd was less than half his size. He didn’t want to think about how hard it must’ve been on his little body.

Reaching down, the other trainer in the cell clipped something onto his collar, then unfurled it. It was a blue, leather leash.

The trainer with the remote pulled a key out of his pocket and crouched down next to Lloyd. He hesitated, giving him a pointed glare. “Remember, no funny business.” Swiftly, he unlocked the chain around his leg.

Lloyd bolted, immediately falling to the floor as the trainer switched on the collar. Lloyd whimpered, writhing, and Kai growled, “Stop!”

A trainer outside of the cage whipped around. “Be quiet, or we won’t hesitate to turn yours on, too.”

“Turn it off,” another one said. “He needs to have strength to walk.”

Lloyd fell still, chest heaving as the collar deactivated. “You’re not going anywhere, pet,” the trainer with the leash scoffed, giving the leash a sharp tug for emphasis. “So don’t even try.”

The trainers filed out of the cage, tugging Lloyd none-to-genly behind them.

“What are you going to do to him?” Kai growled. “Where are you taking him?”

“Your little mutant has proven to be quite stubborn,” one of the trainers scowled. “But our vets are some of the best out there. With only a few blood samples, we’ll have a strong enough drug, don’t you worry.”

“He’s lost too much blood already,” Kai hissed. “You can’t do that.”

“What does it matter to us if he passes out? The creature is of no value to us- in fact, that would only make our job easier.”

Kai roared at her, and a sharp jolt zapped through him. He glared at the trainers. “It’s going to take more than that to quiet me.”

“Careful. If you cause too much trouble, we might zap the little guy, too.”

Kai snapped his jaws shut, his gaze drifting to Lloyd, who was struggling to his feet as the collar tugged tightly at his neck.

“Come on, pet,” the trainer holding Lloyd’s leash demanded. “We don’t have all day.”

Lloyd stumbled after him, but after only a few steps, his bad leg gave out and he tumbled to the floor, crying out.

“Get up!” The trainer yanked on the leash, jolting Lloyd towards him.

“Stop it, he can’t walk on that leg!” Nya cried. “It’s still injured!”

“Then crawl,” the trainer snapped, kicking him forward, and Lloyd jerked onto his hands and knees, shuffling after the trainers slowly.

Kai watched him pass, his ears flattened and his tail tucked between his legs as he was yanked along by the leash, and felt a sick feeling rise in his stomach. This wasn’t right, it was humiliating and a blatant disregard of dignity.

He didn’t understand how he had gone so long in Borg Tower without realizing the signs. How they had always been viewed as lesser, as objects for Borg’s use. No one had ever cared about them. All the toys, the trinkets, the gadgets, the outings- had been nothing but a trick to make them feel like they were worth something.

Nya had been right. As soon as they got out of here, Kai was gonna let Lloyd be whoever he wanted to be, and not make him change for anybody.

If they got out of here.

Kai crawled into the corner of his cage and curled up in a ball, hugging his knees to his chest, trying to ignore the depressing thoughts raging around in his head. He couldn’t afford to listen to them right now, right now he was just trying to focus on not throwing up. He didn’t know how long it would be until they next got food or water.

He was faintly aware of the shivers wracking his body, and wondered if he was coming down with something. He wouldn’t be surprised- he hadn’t consumed anything but dog food and stale water since they had been here, and had been wearing the same crusty clothes the whole time, too. There hadn’t even been a sink provided in the cage, not that it would do much to help him without soap, anyway.

Just another problem to add the list, he supposed.

It was funny how, before they had been captured, he had been so resentful and stressed about their situation, thinking it was one of the worst times of his life.

He would give pretty much anything to have those problems back, now.

---

“It’s been twelve hours since they were supposed to be back,” Jay yelped, pacing back and forth, his footsteps echoing sharply with an unusual agitation. “Even if something had happened, they would’ve come back by now, or at least called us.”

“They could’ve ran out of minutes,” Cole rationalized. “These damn prepaids don’t last very long.”

“But why wouldn’t they come back? Kai and Nya would never worry us like this, not unless they didn’t have a choice in the matter.”

“I know.” Cole ran his fingers through his hair. “But maybe they escaped. Maybe they ran and didn’t want to risk leading anyone back here.”

“I hope you’re right. If anything’s happened to them-” his lip quivered, and he looked away as tears pricked his eyes.

“Jay, it’s going to be okay.” Cole reached out, setting a hand on his shoulder. “We’re going to find them.”

“You can’t promise that,” Jay barked, flinching away.

“No. But I’m going to do everything in my power to try. They’re our family, Jay. Family doesn’t give up on family.”

“I know,” Jay sniffed, wiping at his eyes. “I’m just scared.”

Cole wrapped his hands around him, letting Jay bury his face in his shoulder. “Me too, bud. Me too.”

Jay and Cole jumped nearly a foot in the air as the door swung open, and Cole let out a breath of relief as he realized it was only Zane.

“Did you find anything?”

Zane shook his head. “No sign of them anywhere. I even asked a few of the shopkeepers- as many as I could without raising suspicion, anyway- by showing them a photo I had. A few of them thought they looked familiar, but no one was able to tell me where they went or if they had seen anything out of the ordinary.”

“We have to do something,” Jay insisted. “If they’re being held hostage somewhere, who knows what they’ll do to them.”

“What can we do?” Cole asked. “I want to do something as much as you do, but we don’t have anywhere to start. We don’t even know where they are.”

“Maybe not,” Zane admitted, “but we can make an educated guess. The most likely reason that Kai and Nya have not gotten back to us is that they were captured. There are two main parties most likely responsible. Borg Industries- and the Ninjago City Police.”

Jay frowned. “How do we know the police are against us?”

“We don’t. But we can’t entirely clear them yet, either. If they found out Kai, Nya, and Lloyd’s secret, they could possibly see them as a threat and lock them up.”

“But if hybrids like us are such a rare thing, the news would be all over this if the police had discovered them,” Cole pointed out. “We’re basically living under a rock in here, but you would’ve seen something, like on TV or somewhere, when you went out, wouldn’t you have?”

“Fair point. So we can most likely conclude that it was Borg that found them.”

Jay put his head in his hands. “Last time we saw Borg, he wanted to kill Lloyd. If we’re going to do something, we better hurry.”

“Where do you think he’s keeping them?” Cole asked. “Borg Tower?” “That feels too simple,” Jay muttered. “He knows that’s the first place we’d look. But at the same time, I have no idea where else they would be.”

“We can’t just storm the building,” Zane argued. “There’s only three of us. Even with our enhanced abilities, it would never be enough to get through Borg’s headquarters. If we even knew where to begin looking for them, that is. Borg Tower isn’t exactly small.”

“What options do we have?” Jay whined. “We can’t afford to waste any time. We have no idea what Borg could be doing to them right now. And, besides, even if we could wait a while, it’s not like we’re magically going to gain more allies or anything.”

“We need to come up with some sort of plan,” Zane insisted, “Otherwise we’re going to end up getting captured too, which won’t help anyone.”

“You’re both right. We can’t go in without a plan, but we can’t afford to wait, either. And no one’s going to have an epiphany just sitting around here thinking. If we’re going to make a plan that’ll work, we need more information.”

“How do you suggest we get it?” Zane frowned.

“We sneak down and scope out Borg Tower. We don’t breach it, just observe what we can from afar.”

Jay glanced at him skeptically. “You really think we’ll be able to find out much like that?”

“Does anyone else have any better ideas?”

No one said anything.

“Then it’s settled. That’s what we’re doing.”

“When do we set out?” Jay asked.

“I would like to leave as soon as possible, but it’s just too risky. If we don’t want to get caught, we should wait until the cover of dusk is on our side. I also don’t think we should risk taking the bus at all, and it’s a few hours walk to Borg Tower. We’ll leave here late afternoon.”

Zane and Jay exchanged glances, nodding. “Do you want us to do anything, Cole?”

“I dunno. Grab something to eat, get some rest if you can. I have no idea how long this is going to take. Pack up the bare essentials, just in case we’re not able to come back.

“Come this afternoon, be ready. We’re going to get our family back.”

---

Cole stared up at the looming skyscraper in front of him, his heart pounding in his chest.

This was it. They were here.

“Keep walking, Cole,” Zane whispered from behind him. “We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves.”

Cole picked up the pace, falling into step behind Jay, and melting into the crowd of passersby around them.

“What do we do now?” Jay whispered back to him.

“Just keep an eye out for-” Cole stopped, his gaze drifting towards the front doors of Borg Tower.

“What is it?”

“Over there,” he hissed, nodding sideways in the direction. Two people, emerging from the doors of Borg Tower, whom Cole didn’t recognize, but noticed the familiar outfits of the caretakers, had slung garbage bags over their shoulders, and were heading towards the back to toss them out.

“It might not be much, but it’s as good a place as any to start,” he whispered. “Let’s go!”

Subtly slipping past the citizens, he darted around the side of Borg Tower, Zane and Jay on his heels.

He froze in place as the muffled voices of the caretakers came into view. They were close. But not close enough. He needed to get closer if he wanted to be able to listen in.

If only Kai were here. Where was the guy with superhearing when you needed him?

If only they were all here. Cole just wanted them to be safe. He didn’t know what he would do if they found them and one or more of them were already gone.

But now wasn’t the time to think about that. Now, he had a job to do.

“Transform,” he whispered to the others. “You’ll be smaller, and easier to hide that way.”

With a flash, the three boys were gone, and a badger, a labrador, and a falcon stood in their place.

Crouching low to the ground, Cole edged around the corner.

The caretakers were hauling the trash bags into a dumpster a little ways down. Jay dropped down onto his belly and wriggled under the dumpster in front of them, Cole and Zane squeezing under after him, with considerable more difficulty.

“-giving us a lot of trouble,” the voices filtered in as they got within earshot. “I can’t wait until this whole thing is over and done with.”

“Have they gotten any closer with the drug yet?” the male voice asked.

“Somewhat, I think.” A second voice, the female. “They’re gathering a lot of blood from the kid, which seems to be helping, but it still could take up to a week.”

“What about the older ones? What’s he going to do with them?”

“Borg wants to keep them alive, for now, to see if they can give him any clues to where the rest of them are. I’m not so sure, though- they’re both very stubborn. I think they’d rather die than give up any information. Especially the lion one- he doesn’t seem like he’s gonna last much longer. We can hardly get him to eat anything.”

Cole clenched his teeth, biting back the shuddering breath. So they had been right. Borg did have their friends.

And, from the sounds of it, they were running out of time to save them.

“Do you have the key?” The female snapped. “We can’t have anyone breaking in here.”

“Here.” There was a jangle of metal as the padlock was locked, and then footsteps came sharply towards them. Cole shrunk back, watching their feet cautiously as they passed.

“Why would they need to lock a dumpster?” Jay whispered.

Zane’s eyes glinted. “The only logical solution is that there’s something in there they don’t want anyone to see. They must be hiding evidence. We need to see what’s in those garbage bags.”

“Zane, wait-” Cole hissed, but the falcon was already slipping out from under the dumpster where they were hiding, and over to the one the caretakers had put the bags in.

Jay let out a whine, and Cole crept forward, so he could peer out at Zane. The falcon was perched on top of the dumpster, sticking a talon into the lock as he jiggled it. The clanking of metal echoed threateningly through the air.

“Zane, stop,” he begged. “We can’t let them catch us, we have to wait until we know for sure they’re-”

“What the- I knew I heard something back here!”

Cole cringed back, and Jay yelped beside him as the man’s feet came into view. Cole quickly shushed him. The man had only seen Zane. Revealing themselves as well would only make it easier for him to connect the dots about who they were.

“Shoo, pest, shoo!” The man cried, running towards Zane but still keeping a respectable distance from the large bird of prey. Zane squawked, and Cole heard a flutter of feathers that he hoped was Zane flying away.

“What’s going on, Jake-” the woman called, her footsteps hurrying over and halting abruptly. “Holy shit! Is that a falcon?”

Cole cringed. It didn’t take a genius to know that falcons weren’t native to Ninjago City.

“It’s him!” she cried. “The falcon. It has to be! Quick, catch him!”

Cole shuffled forward as the two scuffled after Zane, who was shrieking and squawking as he flapped just above their heads.

C’mon, Zane, get them out of here-

The woman jumped up, catching his wing in her grasp, and yanked, sending a handful of tawny feathers flying. Zane screeched in pain, falling to the ground.

Jay yelped behind him, and before Cole could stop himself, he shot out from under the dumpster, and latched his jaws around the woman’s shoe.

She screamed, attempting to shake him off. “The other one’s here too! It’s got me, it’s got me, get it off!” She kicked, hard, and Cole went tumbling off her foot, right in front of the man, who raised his foot to deliver a kick-

The man stumbled backwards as something jerked at his leg. A yellow lab was sinking his teeth into his pant leg, holding him back. Releasing it, he barked loudly, running circles around the man as he tried to land a hit on the small dog. But Jay was too fast.

On his other side, Zane was struggling to his feet, oblivious of the woman running up behind him. Dashing past the falcon, there was a flash, and suddenly Cole was five feet taller, and punching the woman in the face with very human knuckles. She crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

The man cried out as he tripped over Jay, and before he could blink, the dog was gone, and Jay was pinning him to the ground with a foot.

The man’s face dissolved into panic as Cole approached him. “Please, don’t hurt me, I won’t tell them about you, I promise.”

Cole paused, narrowing his eyes at him.

“Don’t do it, Cole,” Zane urged, now no longer a bird, and sitting on the floor. “He’s lying. He’ll run right back to them and we’ll be captured before the day is up.”

“I swear, I won’t!” the man begged. “I needed this job! I was told it was such a great opportunity, I had no idea what I was getting into! I don’t want to hurt you!”

“Rich that you’re having a change of heart now,” Jay snorted. “You didn’t seem too concerned about us a minute ago.”

“Please, let me go, if they find me here and figure out I let you escape, they’ll kill me! I have a family!”

Cole glanced at the others. Jay looked uncertain. Zane looked angry. “I still say he’s bluffing.”

Cole glanced down at the man. The terror in his eyes was real, that was for sure. Relenting, he breathed out, taking a step back. “That may be so, but we’re not like them. Jay, let him go.”

Jay looked up at him. “Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

Slowly, Jay moved his foot, and the man bolted to his feet. Cole reached out, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt before he could slip away. Pulling him close, Cole gave him the hardest glare he could muster.

“If I let you go, you’re gonna run. Run as far away from here as you possibly can, and never come back. If you rat us out to anyone- anyone, Borg worker or otherwise- I will personally track you down and find you. And I’ve got the best tracker in the whole city on my side, so I won’t fail. Is that clear?”

The man nodded frantically, his eyes wide. His voice came out a squeak. “I swear on my life, I won’t tell a soul.”

“You better not.” And, with barely a beat of hesitation, Cole released him.

The man was gone in the blink of an eye.

“I hope I didn’t just blow it,” he breathed.

“I can’t tell you if that was the right decision or not,” Jay said, “but you were right about one thing. We’re not like them. If he tells anyone, he’s the scum, not you.”

“I know this sounds dumb, but I don’t think he will. I just had… a feeling.”

“Feelings and survival don’t mix,” Zane snapped.

Cole turned to him, where he still sat on the ground. “I’m sorry, buddy, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t do it.”

“I’m not blaming you, I just don’t trust him,” he muttered, pulling his leg closer to his body with a wince.

Debate forgotten, Cole started forward. “Are you okay? Did she hurt you?”

“Just pulled out a few feathers, nothing serious. But I think I landed badly on my ankle.”

Cole crouched down, tracing his fingers along his ankle. Zane flinched back, grimacing.

“Sorry. Does it hurt bad?”

“Yeah. I think it might be sprained.”

“Hey, guys?”

“Not now, Jay. Do you think we could-”

“Guys!” Jay cried. “This isn’t really something that can wait!” Cole glared back at him. “What?”

Jay held up a small, black device. Cole squinted at it, adjusting his glasses. “What’s so important about that?”

“It’s a pager, Cole. It fell out of the caretaker’s pocket. If she used it, there’s probably Borg employees on their way here right now!”

“Shit,” he muttered. “We gotta get out of here.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to say!”

“Cole, I don’t think I can walk,” Zane admitted. “You two should go without me.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Cole fumed. “We’re family, we don’t leave each other behind!”

“I’ll only slow you down.”

Muffled shouts and harried footsteps came from somewhere nearby. Jay whipped towards them, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Hurry, guys, they’re coming!”

“Get on my back,” Cole demanded. “Now.”

“What?”

“You heard me. I’m going to carry you. Now, hurry!”

Jay helped Zane to his feet, and his friend slipped his hands around Cole’s neck, wrapping his legs around his waist. He had only just about gotten into place when Cole took off running, Jay on his heels.

The lab hybrid quickly overtook him, sniffing the air and leading them down a maze of alleys and backroads. He glanced back at them, his gaze nervously darting to something behind him. Cole didn’t even dare look back.

“Hurry, Cole! They’re getting closer!” “I’m running as fast as I can,” he huffed, although he forced himself to put on a burst of speed.

“Cole…”

“I swear, Zane, if you ask me to leave you behind one more time, I will punch you in the face.”

Zane fell quiet after that, but Cole could still feel his reluctance.

“Cole, watch out, they’ve got-” Jay’s warning was cut off with a yelp as a net came hurling through the air towards them, snagging Jay’s leg.

“-net launchers!” he finished.

“Jay!” “Don’t stop, don’t stop, I’ll be out in a second-”

Cole gritted his teeth, and kept running, even as he passed him.

“Jay, hurry!”

“I’m here, I’m here,” Jay called a moment later, already at his side again. “But they’re getting closer! This isn’t working!”

“Stop running!” A voice called from behind them, over a megaphone. “You will not evade capture. You are only making the consequences worse for yourself. Give up now, and you will be shown mercy!” “Sorry, but last time Borg showed us ‘mercy,’ we barely escaped with our lives,” Cole retorted.

“They’re right, though,” Jay murmured. “We’re never going to be able to outrun them! We need a new plan.”

“Well, we don’t have another plan.”

“I might have one. Keep running, stick to the left roads, that’ll take you out of town.”

Cole snatched his wrist before he could dart away. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“I’m gonna distract them. Lead them somewhere else so you guys can get away.”

“Will you two stop trying to sacrifice yourself,” Cole growled, “For five minutes?”

“I’m not sacrificing myself! I know these streets. I’m faster and more cunning than either of you. I can get away, if I’m on my own. I have no intention of getting caught, trust me.”

“It’s too risky. We’re not splitting up.”

“But-”

“Cole’s right, Jay. We already are down three members, and it’s going to be a whole lot harder to save them if there’s only two of us left.”

“I told you, I won’t get caught!”

“You can’t promise that,” Cole argued. “You’re staying with us, end of discussion.”

“Then what other plans you got, badger boy?”

Cole didn’t look at him.

“Over there!” Zane pointed. “Down that alley, about one hundred feet down, there’s a path hidden behind those vines.”

“What?” Jay snapped. “No there isn’t!”

“Are you forgetting who has falcon-vision here?” Zane retaliated.

“Just do it,” Cole hissed. “It’s not like we have a wide range of options, here!”

They darted down the alley Zane had pointed them down, and Cole scanned the wall for anything unusual. “Where is it?”

“Keep going,” Jay pressed, “We need to get through it before they round the corner or they’ll just follow us in!”

“Right there!” Zane pointed.

Following his finger, Cole caught sight of a patch of vines, the brick crumbling away behind it.

“Jackpot, Zane!” Cole cheered.

Jay scrambled through first, holding back the vines as Cole maneuvered through more carefully, trying to account for Zane. As soon as they were through, Jay yelped, “Go, go, go!” Cole’s lungs were killing him by this point, but he didn’t hesitate to race after him. He would be stupid to belive they were safe now. Already, he could hear the angry shouts of the Borg security officers behind them, and knew it wouldn’t be long before they found the broken wall.

But it had given them a moment. And, right now, they needed every moment they could get.

“What are… what are we going to do now?” Cole wheezed.

“We can’t keep this up,” Zane frowned, watching him with concern. “You can’t keep running forever. Not even Jay.”

“We need help,” Jay panted. “We can’t do this on our own.”

“Who’s going to help us?” Cole huffed. “We’re alone. Nobody has our backs in this.”

“I don’t know, maybe we can go ask someone. Those are houses over there, right? Maybe someone will agree to hide us.”

“They’ll probably think we’re escaped criminals, bozo. No one’s gonna agree to hide some random fugitive.”

“Well, what other choice do we have?”

“I… may have an idea,” Zane said quietly.

They looked at him expectantly, but he hesitated. “Well?” Jay yipped. “Are you going to tell us, or not?”

“You’re not going to like it… but there is somewhere we could go.”

Jay threw up his hands. “We don’t have time for this Zane, they’re gonna find us any minute! Just get to the point!”

“We could go… to the police.”