#man i wonder how misako and garmadon will react

[kindaasrikal]

I had a vision and I’m not sure i executed it greatly but i executed it in a way.

Another thing i was gonna write instead was “If I could cry, I’d sob a river for you.”

I just wanna see how he would react to seeing Wu in such a form. He finally has a chance to see his sensei (his father?) properly again but that chance was ripped away from him. And now he has to deal with even more bull with all the realms merging and apparently having to deal with the ninja, who are their own individual messes, all over again.

[akariarda]

Beautyfull memories will help us in grief

Lloyd is grieving for his father after S4. Misako tells him the story of how they met to comfort him.

Thanks @p4r4no1danarchist for the request! I hope you will like it!!

Lloyd sighed and sat down. He put his head into his hands, trying not to think.

He wanted nothing more than to not think. Because whenever he thought, he thought of him.

The sacrifice of his father was still too fresh. Just when everything...

"Lloyd?" He jolted suddenly when he heard a voice behind him.

"Mom?" Lloyd said hoarsely, looking at Misako. His mother gave him a faint smile.

She was much better at hiding her sadness than Lloyd. He knew she was trying to be strong in front of him, but he could always read her.

"Are you okay?" Misako asked, rubbing his shoulder as she sat down beside him.

They both knew it was a stupid question, but they used it nonetheless.

"I miss him," Lloyd said, on the verge of tears. He constantly said that,he had nothing else to say.

"We all miss him," Misako said sadly, kissing him on the head.

"I don’t know what to do…” Lloyd started, then stopped to try to hold back the tears. "...to make it hurt less."

Misako gazed into the distance and furrowed her brow.

"We can't bring him back, that's for sure." She sighed. "Just as the grief will become more bearable over time... And until then..."

"What until then?" Lloyd quietly asked, closing his eyes. This didn’t prevent a few tears from rolling down his cheeks.

"Until then, son," Misako said, gently wiping his tears. "We can remember the beautiful moments we shared with him instead of constantly mourning him."

"Good idea." Lloyd smiled faintly. "Tell me!"

"What?" Misako looked confused for a moment.

"Well, tell me how it was when you were young... How you met and all those things." Lloyd said enthusiastically, looking at his mother.

Misako continued to gaze into the distance, still frowning.

"If it’s not too hard for you yet," Lloyd quietly finished.

"It’s okay," Misako said and took a deep breath to compose herself. "I’ll tell you. What do you want to hear?"

"How did you meet?" Lloyd said thoughtfully. "But tell me the whole story this time."

"Alright." Misako sighed once more. "It was before the Serpentine War, before your father went to train under Chen. Those were tough times for Ninjago, especially because of the Serpentine."

"But you said that was before the war," Lloyd noted, puzzled.

"Yes, but tensions between the ninjas and the Serpentine existed for years before the war.

Garmadon and I had some mutual friends, but we hadn’t met yet. It was either sheer coincidence or fate wanting it that way.

That day, I was in a bar...

~~~~~~

"Coffee for you?" the waitress asked Misako, who was sitting at the counter.

"Just a quick one," Misako replied thoughtfully.

"Are you alone?" the waitress wondered as Misako prepared her coffee.

"You could say that," Misako said absently and took her coffee when she heard a commotion behind her.

When she turned, she saw a young boy, perhaps 12-15 years old, arguing with two Serpentine.

Soon it escalated into shoving that could turn into a fight at any moment. Misako looked around the bar and saw that no one was reacting.

"Hey!" Misako shouted, moving closer to the arguing Serpentine and the boy.

"What do sss you sss want!?" one of the Serpentine hissed.

"It doesn't look like a fair fight to me," Misako said sternly. "Two against one."

"Maybe you ssshould join sss in," the Serpentine said, trying to strike Misako, but she stopped him.

Already, all eyes in the bar were on them.

"I don't want to fight," Misako coldly replied. "I want you to leave this young man alone."

"Ssssounds like sssomething a human would sssay," the Serpentine spat with hatred. "And you ss wouldn't be asssking who’s to blame sss."

"I don’t care who started it," Misako retorted. "I just don’t want you attacking this boy."

"What if we sss attack you?" the Serpentine hissed and put a knife to her throat.

Misako swallowed. She was ready for a classic fistfight if necessary, not this.

"Cut sss her throat," the Serpentine ordered the other. No one in the bar moved out of fear.

Suddenly, someone came from behind and pulled the Serpentine away.

"What if you fought someone your own size?" Misako finally breathed.

"The ssson of the firssst Ssspinjitzu Masster?" the Serpentine sneered. "You and thisss girl will pay for protecting thossse who insssult usss."

"Run!" Misako shouted to the boy, and he fled.

"It’s just a boy." The brown-haired young man replied.

Misako had to admit he was indeed quite handsome.

"You shouldn't kill!" the son of the first Spinjitzu Master exclaimed and shoved the Serpentine when they tried to attack him.

People slowly began to leave the bar as more Serpentine appeared to assist their brothers.

"Kill them sss!" the Serpentine ordered, swinging a knife towards Misako.

Misako turned, but the knife grazed her cheek.

"Come on!" the young man said, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her out of the crowd.

"We need to hide!" Misako told him when they stopped behind a wall.

"I have a better plan," the young man said, looking her in the eyes. "Don't be scared."

"What?" Misako was confused, then noticed a purple dragon appearing before them.

"You are the son of the first Spinjitzu Master, right?" Misako remembered what she had heard in the bar.

"Garmadon, nice to meet you." Garmadon smiled.

"I'm Misako," she said, shaking his hand.

"Are you okay?"

he asked her worriedly. His eyes were so beautiful. Misako silently nodded at that.

"And now, come on." Garmadon beckoned to her and helped her climb onto the dragon. "I'll take you to the monastery to help you with that wound."

Misako nodded silently again.

"I appreciate you wanting to help," Garmadon said after a while. "But you must be careful. The Serpentine are getting more aggressive and better armed."

"I know," Misako replied quietly. "But there aren’t always elemental masters around to help those in need."

"Do you know any elemental masters?" Garmadon asked her.

"A few," Misako answered shortly.

"Then I think we could get along, Misako." Garmadon smiled at her. "If you want, I can teach you a few tricks with weapons so you won’t run into problems like this again."

"That would be nice," and Misako smiled. "You always help someone like this?"

"Whenever I can,especially beautiful women like you.And the other do also." Garmadon suddenly became serious. "But these are hard times. We aren't always in the right place at the right time..."

"I know," Misako said angrily. "And most people just sit and watch."

"Maybe it's better that way," Garmadon said. "To not get involved in even bigger problems."

Misako felt called out, so she fell silent at this.

"I don't mean you." Garmadon clarified. "You seem like someone who knows how to deal with the Serpentine. You just got caught off guard beacous of knife."

"Definitely," Misako admitted.

"So, do you agree to the training?" Garmadon asked her, and for the first time, Misako realized he was serious.

"I agree."

~~~~~~

"Your father was truly always ready to help others, just like you." Misako finished, stroking Lloyd's head.

"First of all, he was a really good man." Lloyd said and smiled. "It's a shame some people aren't aware of that."

"The most important thing is that we're aware, that you are." Misako smiled at him. "Your fatjer is truly the bravest and noblest person I've ever met."

"I always wanted to be like him in every way. I hope that one day I will be what he truly was," Lloyd said quietly.

"You already are," Misako said and kissed him again. "And he is very proud of you. He always has been."

"Thanks, Mom," Lloyd said and hugged Misako. "It really makes it easier for me."

"It does for me too, son," Misako said and closed her eyes.

They could almost feel his presence when they talked about him. The sadness truly felt more bearable.

[lloydskywalkers]

chrysanthemum

1/2 of the fics i wrote for the 10th anniversary zine!! if you haven’t checked it out yet please do @ninjaneverquit-zine , everyone worked so hard and did such a wonderful job, i’m beyond honored to have been included <3

I may not have been in the fandom since the start, but ninjago means the world to me - it’s gotten me through some of the worst times and pushed further in writing than i thought i’d go, and the fandom’s been a particularly bright light in my life since i’ve joined 💕and of course i can’t not celebrate that by writing for the light of my life lloyd garmadon, so here’s me crying over the garmadons anniversary-style :’D

Garmadon’s son has only been on the earth for twenty-four hours, and he’s only been Lloyd for nineteen, but he already finds himself terrified of the tiny, living thing he cradles in his arms.

“He’s so small,” he tells Misako, eyebrows furrowed in concern. “Is he supposed to be this small?”

Misako, who’s been answering questions similar to this for the better part of the morning, rolls her eyes. “He’s fine, Garmadon. He was born a little early, that’s all.”

Not as reassured as he should be, Garmadon returns his gaze to his son. He’s sleeping now, deathly still in his arms, and he resists the urge to wave a hand over his tiny face, if only to feel the small puffs of breath he knows must be there. He brushes a wisp of hair from his head instead, marveling at how pale it is.

“He’s got my father’s hair,” he murmurs.

“I don’t care, Garmadon, we’re still not naming him after the man.”

It’s Garmadon’s turn to roll his eyes. “I never said that. I said Montgomery was an unacceptable name to burden my son with.”

“Oh, your son.”

He misses the rest of her retort as Lloyd fidgets briefly, tiny features screwing up as he shifts. A flash of lightning from outside brightens the room, and Garmadon pulls Lloyd closer reflexively. The thunder crack follows soon after, and Garmadon flinches, the thick smell of rain filtering through the open windows. He can already see thick droplets sliding down the hydrangeas Misako’s growing in the windowsill, drowning the pale flowers. It’s been pouring all week, typhoons hitting the coast with gusto as they always do this time of year. Garmadon doesn’t like it — his son is much more suited for the sun and all its brightness, not the grey-skied downpour of thunderclouds.

Lloyd hardly reacts to the downpour, having gone still and silent in his arms once again. Garmadon’s heartbeat quickens. He shouldn’t sleep this much, should he? He doesn’t remember Wu being like that, but he was so young when Wu was born, and it was so long ago, and he can’t feel for Lloyd’s breathing now because the breeze pouring through the window’s too strong, and—

A soft hand sets on his shoulder. “Here,” Misako sighs, guiding Garmadon’s hand to rest gently over Lloyd’s chest. “Feel. That’s a heart, going strong.”

Despite his hesitance, a deep-rooted part of him still desperately afraid his touch might hurt something so small, Garmadon does so. Lloyd’s heartbeat is rapid and as fragile as a bird’s wing, but undeniably there. A small, living thing.

Something warm curls in his chest, and Garmadon thinks he might understand his father’s delight in creation — in things that live.

Not, of course, that his father has ever created anything so perfect as Lloyd, but Garmadon can credit him for having tried.

* * *

It’s weird, having a dad.

Not the concept of having a dad — Lloyd’s bragged enough about being the son of Lord Garmadon to at least get that part. But actually having him here, a living, breathing person who looks at Lloyd and cares—

It’s weird, that’s all. Not that it’s a bad weird.

“You need to wrap your hands, before you go hitting things like that,” Garmadon scolds gently, twisting gauze around Lloyd’s bruised, swollen fingers. “The others can show you how, for training. They should have shown you earlier.”

Lloyd bites his lip. He doesn’t tell his dad that the bruises are less from training, and more from pointlessly banging on bars in an attempt to get on Pythor’s nerves. It sounds silly, compared to the way his dad swept in like a big hero and took out all the snakes in single swipes.

A big hero. Lloyd wonders if the others will ever see him that way, too.

His hand twinges as the gauze pulls tight, and Lloyd sucks in a sharp breath. Garmadon flinches, drawing his hands back.

“I’m sorry,” he says, quickly. “I keep forgetting — you’re so small.”

Lloyd makes a face at that. Small? “I’m not that short,” he grumbles. “I’ve grown lots.”

“Of course you have,” Garmadon amends. “I only—”

His expression twists, and Lloyd’s stomach drops. There’s that look again.

“I’m sorry,” Garmadon repeats, sounding downtrodden.

Lloyd purses his lips. For all his bragging, he’s never really thought much about whether he likes his family or not. It’s hard, when you don’t have one around to like. Watching the way his dad worries and his uncle walks around all stone-faced now, Lloyd’s not sure he should like it. He likes Uncle Wu, of course, and he loves his dad, but—

He hates the way they all walk around like they’re preparing for a funeral. His dad’s funeral, his funeral, whichever it ends up being. It’s stupid. Lloyd’s lived on the streets for months, and in Darkley’s even longer. He wouldn’t have minded walking around like he’s doomed for misery then.

But now? When he’s got people who care, and a family?

Lloyd sets his mouth stubbornly. He doesn’t know much about destiny, or the prophecy, but he knows he’s not about to lose this. Not when he’s come so far, when he’s so close to having — to being someone worth having around.

No funerals, Lloyd promises himself. He can see this prophecy through — they both can, the two of them. You have to be alive to be a family, right?

“It’s okay,” he finally replies. “I’m alright, dad.”

And he’s gonna stay that way.

* * *

When Garmadon had thought about the final battle in the past, he’d expected the darkness. The destruction, the pain.

He hadn’t expected to survive.

“So you’re really giving up fighting, then?”

Glancing up at Lloyd, taller now yet still small enough to not quite fit his bright golden gi, Garmadon finds survival a very welcome surprise.

“Yes,” he says, returning his gaze to the flowerbeds Misako’s helped him put in the monastery garden. They’re coming along well, despite the recent fits of bad weather, and they do a fine job of making the monastery look homey. Unthreatening.

He hopes, at least.

“I think I’ve done enough fighting, for my part,” he continues. He gives Lloyd a wry look. “I’m not sure Ninjago could take much more of it from me, anyways.”

“I dunno,” Lloyd says. “It’s been getting pretty boring.”

Garmadon snorts. “Boring is something you should appreciate, son. Excitement isn’t always good.”

“No, but it isn’t bor—dull,” Lloyd mutters, crouching down to study the flowerbeds. Garmadon shakes his head in reply, sighing. He remembers being his son’s age once, yearning for the next thrill, even if it feels ages away now.

He’s got a whole lecture on appreciating the quiet moments on the tip of his tongue, too, when Lloyd speaks up again.

“We used to have these flowers at Darkley’s,” he says, tilting his head as he studies them. “Some of the boys tore them all up and threw ‘em at the window, but they were pretty before that."

Garmadon bites the inside of his cheek, his eyebrows furrowing. His expression softens as he spots the gentle way Lloyd handles the flower, carefully pushing it back to place. It never fails to baffle him how someone as gentle as Lloyd could’ve come from his beginnings, much less from Garmadon, but he treasures it.

“Snapdragons,” Garmadon says, instead. “Fitting flowers, for our family.”

Lloyd looks at him curiously, eyes bright with the light of suspicion, and Garmadon is tempted to tell him the full truth, then and there. But Lloyd is still so young, innocent and naive and barely come to terms with his place as the Green Ninja. The truth of their blood is a heavy one, and Garmadon can’t find it in himself to lay it on Lloyd’s shoulders today. No, his son is happy among humans, so a human he’ll let him be. Someday he’ll know he’s more, closer to the dragons he admires than he realizes, but not quite yet.

Miraculously, Garmadon has the time, now.

“If you stay after dinner, I can show you how they’re planted,” he offers. Lloyd nods, and Garmadon’s smile widens.

Destruction is in his blood, and he’d be blind to say it isn’t in Lloyd’s as well. Power is power, whether it’s bright and beautiful or stained in darkness, and Lloyd could shatter mountains as well as move them, if he wanted.

But Lloyd never moves to pull the flowers up, only watches them rustle slightly in the breeze, leaving them to grow a little bigger, a little brighter. Garmadon, for his part, watches his son, all bright eyes and the burnished gold hair of his grandfather, and reminds himself that one needs not be a master of creation to appreciate life.

* * *

Lloyd likes to think of himself as an optimist, for the most part. He’s at least good at pretending that he is one, with how many times he’s had to convince himself it’s worth it to get back up.

Right now, he’s trying to remember how he’s ever managed to convince himself, because this time, getting back up seems impossible.

Lloyd used to wonder, back during Morro, how far you had to push yourself to break like that. How far someone had to push you, to truly splinter. He thinks he might have found his answer, though his is less of a bitter hatred and more of an empty abyss of hurt.

It hurts to breathe. That would be a sign that something’s wrong, if Lloyd didn’t already have about sixty other signs that he’s in trouble. But the breathing thing is sticking out to him especially, right now. His lungs feel like they’re scraping against his ribs every time he tries to draw breath, bruised and stinging, and there’s a deep ache in his chest that grows worse by the minute.

He tries swallowing again, sand scraping down his throat as he does. He hisses out a breath instead of coughing, almost frightened that his lungs will give out completely if he does.

He says almost, because Lloyd isn’t sure what emotions he’s got left to feel anymore.

A lie. Pain starts numb, sometimes.

Lloyd’s chest spasms as he sucks in another breath, and he wishes the desert would swallow him whole. His father — his real father, who pushed him from the Cursed Realm and told him to return to light and living — would want him to stand back up. He’d beg him to, stress the importance of continuing on, of persevering. Stuff like that.

But if it wasn’t for his father, Lloyd wouldn’t have to get back up in the first place. If it wasn’t for his father, Lloyd wouldn’t be—

His eyes burn, stinging as he squeezes them tightly shut, and he tells himself it’s the sand.

Instead, he focuses on the ragged beat of his heart. He only knows it’s there because his chest throbs in pain with every pulse, but he latches onto the feeling and holds tight.

Still alive, he tells himself, even as every bit of him sings in agony and his lungs scream at him to stop. He’s still alive. His powers aren’t answering him but they will, he knows they will, he can’t disappear like he did with Morro. He can’t — he can’t leave it, not like this, not with his father — not like this. If he can’t stop Harumi, if he can’t save his father, if he can’t do anything else at all, he can at least do this.

Stay alive. Stay alive. Stay alive.

He’s never realized how long the nights out here are, before.

* * *

After everything, the light dies down and the Oni vanish, and Lloyd’s heart stops.

It shouldn’t be a surprise to Garmadon, who isn’t even sure his own heart beats now, but it is.

It’s not supposed to stop. There was a promise made, somewhere, to keep it beating.

It restarts before he has the chance to process what that even means, and the swell of relief is so foreign, Garmadon leaves before he even has the chance to ask Lloyd what he’d seen. He thinks to himself, that will be the end of it. The end of whatever tentative connection he has with the boy, whatever frayed and tattered threads of something they once had. Better to cut them away for good.

Lloyd’s not one to let things die, though. Garmadon should know that at least, the boy tells him.

“I know you like repeating yourself,” he mutters. “Letting go is different.”

“That’s not what this is,” Lloyd huffs back.

Garmadon rolls his eyes, the two of them drifting aimlessly down the Ninjago City garden paths. It’s secluded, the rest of the city still recovering, and Garmadon’s grateful for the quiet, even if it is awkward. Building any kind of bridge with the boy is difficult, if only because Lloyd stresses that they’re rebuilding a bridge, and Garmadon has no memory of any bridge to begin with.

He’s still sifting through jumbled emotions, sorting out what his place in this world was and is supposed to be, but he knows that the word son slips easier from his mouth than daughter ever did, so he figures he’s on the right path, at least.

“It’s about—” Lloyd pauses, his expression contorting. “It’s about surviving, I guess,” he grinds out.

Garmadon’s mouth curls into a grin. “Really. You were quite…vocal, that it was about more than that.”

“It is, it’s just—” Lloyd cuts off again, stopping them in a half-ruined section of garden still littered with remnants of concrete. “It’s the payoff, you know? Here.”

He bends down, brushing dust from a surviving scattering of flowers. He gently touches the edge of a petal, pushing the flower head toward the sun. “See?” he says. “After all that, it’s still alive.”

Garmadon stares at the delicate edges of the petal, smaller and more fragile than any of the buildings that crumbled beneath his rule. At Lloyd’s nod, he stretches his own fingers out toward it, his hand impossibly dark and calloused next to his son’s own small one. But he brushes his fingers over the petal edge nonetheless, almost surprised that it doesn’t decay beneath his touch. It’s soft, he notes, like the fragile skin of a newborn. Odd that it should’ve survived, out of everything else that perished.

“So it is,” he says, carefully. Lloyd says nothing, but there’s a ghost of a smile around his lips. They must make an odd sight, the pair of them crouched in the dirt in the recovering garden. There’s no use in sitting here and looking at the flower, no explanation Garmadon can offer himself, but he doesn’t leave. He can take the moment, he decides, to appreciate what Lloyd is trying to show him.

They too, after all, are still alive.

[silver-ninja-of-the-tides]

Silver and Gold 4--Not Just a Tournament

Chapter 9--Traces

Summary

Fractured once, then fractured again. Four of the heroes of Ninjago have hung up their ninja gear and vainly started anew. And they’ve convinced themselves that they’re not going back.

But as Lloyd and Janet try to piece their team back together, a mysterious invitation to a massive tournament tells them that Zane is alive.

Bonds will be tested. Suspicions of everything they know and don’t know will arise. It all goes down at the Tournament of Elements.

(First chapter)

Zane’s POV

I couldn’t hear anything, and there was nothing to see but the dark. It was as if I no longer existed in any world, real or imaginary. Everything had remained that way for a very long time, long enough for me to think my position was permanent. That is, until my system rebooted.

Opening my eyes, I found my vision full of static, but ultimately it cleared. I felt . . . different, and I wasn’t exactly sure how I was different, or whether or not I liked this difference.

“Zane?”

There was a Nindroid like me standing in front of me with bright green eyes, her expression void of anything but concern. Both of us were standing in what appeared to be a factory.

“Pixal?” I asked cautiously.

“Yes. It’s me, Zane.”

Her smile brought a pleasure to me, and we both embraced.

“I’m so glad you’re back.”

“And I as well. But . . . where are the others?”

“They are mourning the loss of you.”

“The . . . loss of . . .” My memory bank brought up my sacrifice to protect everyone. Oh. That’s right.

“We must tell the others that you’ve returned.”

With my hand in hers, we were about to leave the area when my sensors indicated something foreign. I gently tugged her hand, and she stopped to look to me.

“What is it?”

“Something’s here.”

Both of us scanned our surroundings for any signs of what I had sensed.

“I am detecting a single presence within the—”

Pixal was rudely interrupted with the power being shut off in the factory.

I prepared myself to face this enemy. “I know you’re here. There’s no use in hiding.”

Turning my back to Pixal, I narrowed my eyes as I searched for any sign of movement.

An alarm went off in my system, and I jerked my attention to the rails above me. Suddenly Pixal cried out behind me, and I whirled around as she was receiving an electric shock. “Pixal!”

Catching her, I immediately noticed a foreign device on her back. Merely moments later I received a similar shock, and I tried to reach behind me. The force of the device amplified, and my systems began to shut down. As my consciousness started to fade, I managed to catch a man with a straw hat and a bionic eye patch in the dim light, towering over me.

“Who . . . are you?”

I fell into that same darkness again, and I vainly willed myself to wake up. I needed to wake up to help her and warn the others.

But . . . strangely I don’t remember who they are. Do I really know them? And wasn’t I alone?

A chill passed over me, and I could hear the wind howling. Finally opening my eyes again, I found myself no longer where I was.

Wait.

Where was I before? Was I not here the whole time?

I took in my dark and snowy environment as I stood up. Perhaps I might be able to find someone out here.

As I began walking, I couldn’t shake the sense of cloudy confusion. Something isn’t right. Where was that place I was at? Who are “the others”? And who was she? She looked similar to me. Or at least, I think she does.

Suddenly the ground began to crack underneath my feet, and I had little time to react before I fell through. I crashed down into some sort of small icy cave, and a part of me became detached from me quite literally.

Standing up, I reconnected my arm, and the sound of a disturbed creature bounced off the cave’s walls. Piercing blue eyes glowered at me from within the shadows, and it revealed itself to be a chained winged beast as cold as ice. I felt trapped as the beast closed in on me, and it roared right at me.

I desperately looked for a way to escape, and I found the hole from which I came. Perched outside of that hole was a falcon, and it appeared to be speaking to me.

“Zane! Are you still there? If you can hear me, wake up. You need to wake up!”

I swallowed in some air as I found myself in yet another area that was far less inviting. My wrists were bound by chains, and the room was extremely dark. “It was only a dream . . ."

“It’s amazing you dream. I’ve always wondered what it’s like. You’ve always been special.” I . . . don’t recognize this voice.

“Where am I? Who’re you?”

“I’m . . . Pixal. A friend. And you’re in danger, and have to get out of here. Your memory drive is out of sorts, and your Elemental Power—”

“Elemental . . . power?” I began to tug at my restraints.

“You’re a Nindroid, Zane, a Ninja. And your friends are here to save you. But they can’t do it all. You have to remember who you are.”

I briefly shook my head in a vain attempt to clear it. “Friends?”

“Remember, Zane! You saved your friends and then rebuilt yourself. There are things about you that you don’t understand, that you have yet to discover. But if we’re ever going to get out of here, you have to remember.”

My head began to clear, and I finally identified the owner of the voice. “Pixal . . . We are . . . compatible?”

“Yes, Zane. Yes we are.”

                                                         * * * *

Nya’s POV

“Sure Jay’s cute and funny and I’m always laughing around him but . . . everything’s about him and . . . he never takes me seriously.”

The light at my left dimmed.

“More light, please.”

“Right. He never takes you seriously,” Sensei repeated as I tightened a pipe.

“Then there’s Cole. He’s handsome and I suppose I connect with him on a deeper level but . . . everything’s so serious with him, y’know what I mean?” I held a hand out. “Socket wrench.”

“Young emotions are . . . complicated.”

I raised the tool to the pipe only to stop. “Sensei, these are needle-nose pliers. I asked for a socket wrench. And could you at least try to impart some wisdom?”

“No way. I’m not sticking my finger into that beehive.”

The door to the Samurai X cave slid open, and I spotted Misako’s and Ryan’s shoes.

“So, got those supplies you asked for,” Ryan reported, holding a box.

“Any word?” Sensei asked.

“Nothing,” Misako sighed.

“Nothing on my end, either,” Ryan said.

“It’s been days and still no word from Garmadon or the Ninjas. I’m worried.”

“As am I,” Sensei replied. “It’s time we broaden our search.”

“Well then,” I said. “It’s a good thing I made a mobile base in case the Destiny’s Bounty was ever out of commission.” With a few button presses, the floor to the base opened up. “I call it, The DB Express! Mmh, not married to the name.”

“You know, the more eyes out on the field, the better it’ll be for everyone,” Ryan said.

“I appreciate the help, but I think I can manage on my own.”

“Let me guess. You think I’m needed here.”

“Well . . .”

“I’m more useful out there, Nya. And besides, I can track Janet and Destiny quite well.” Of course you can.

I studied Ryan’s face for a bit as he patiently awaited my reply. Maybe a two-man mission wouldn’t be too bad.

Eventually I caved with a sigh. “All right. Hop in.”

“Find my family, Nya,” Misako said.

“We’re on our way!”

                                                         * * * *

Destiny’s POV

Everyone was up bright and early for breakfast and ready for today’s challenge. Well, most of us were. Some of us were still in PJs.

“This isn’t a fighting tournament,” Lloyd said as we waited in line for food. “It’s an alibi for Chen to steal everyone’s powers. But we still don’t know why.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Kai asked. “Chen wants to destroy New Ninjago City. I dunno what it is, but that place has had a string of bad luck.”

“I’m not so sure,” Cole argued. “From what Sensei G’s told us about ‘em, I have a feeling it’s something far more sinister.”

“That makes two of us,” Janet said from behind me.

“And may I remind us we still don’t know where Zane is,” Jay added. “Which is why we all need to take care of our first rounds to give us more time. Ah—don’t look at me. I’ve already moved on.”

“And you’ve moved in pretty well, too,” I quipped, eyeing his getup.

“Your opponent got himself kicked out,” Cole remarked.

“Eh heh heh. Either way, it’s my day off.” Jay held his tray toward the cook. “Extra creamy biscuits, and don’t skimp.”

I rolled my eyes as he and Cole continued to bicker. “They’re never gonna stop, are they?”

“Well if they don’t I’ll make them stop,” Janet said. “And you know no one wants that.”

“Tell me about it.”

Turning around, I saw Cole rudely turning his nose up at Jay, to which he replied with, “I dropped it first!”

“Did not!” Cole snapped.

“Did too!”

Their arguing eventually made a mess of juice and biscuits on the floor, and Janet and I carefully went around the two.

“This tournament will test them, Lloyd,” Garmadon said. “Either find a way for them to make peace, or neither of them will move on.”

Just then the speakers played a gong being struck, and Master Chen’s voice spoke through them.

“The Tournament of Elements continues,” he said. “Fun time! Would the following masters please make their way to their assigned arena: Speed, Gravity, Smoke, Nature, Mind, oh and last and hopefully not least . . .”

“Huh. Maybe we all got the day off,” Jay commented.

“Fire!” Janet and I glanced to each other. “Remember, only one can remain!”

The cafeteria erupted into murmurs and chatter. Well this is great.

“Looks like we better finish up if we wanna make it in time for the first match,” Lloyd said, and I felt a pair of eyes on me.

“We’ll catch up with you guys in a minute,” Cole said. As the team followed Lloyd to a spot, Cole glanced to me. “Did you talk to him?”

My eyes flickered to Kai. “Right. That. Well, uh . . .”

Letting everyone else leave Kai’s room, I hung around for a bit as he started to slip off his disguise.

“Hey Kai?” I called.

“Hmm?” he said.

“I, uh . . .” I stayed silent for a few seconds too long, and the longer the silence stretched on the more concerned he looked. Just say it already! Do it! “Just . . . keep your head on straight. Wouldn’t want you doing anything stupid.”

A wave of calm passed over him. “Heh. Don’t worry. Nothing can stop this guy!”

I laughed a bit, but his eyes didn’t match his words. “Night Kai.”

“Good night . . .”

I turned to take my leave as I strained to keep my shoulders from tensing.

“Hey uh, Des?”

I turned around, and it was like he lost all confidence.

“Actually never mind. It can wait.”

“All right . . .”

Cole frowned a bit, but otherwise he kept quiet.

“Call me a chicken but I can’t do it. And I don’t think he’s having it easy, either,” I said.

The Earth Ninja glanced to the team’s table, and I followed his gaze to Kai stealing a glance over at us. Immediately he turned away with hunched shoulders. “Well you’re right about one thing. It’s something you can’t rush in to. And only you guys can handle this.”

“Yeah . . . only us . . .”

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