Chapter Text
"Silence!" the king snapped, slamming his fist down on the armrest of his dark blue sapphire and yellow jasper throne that easily towered up to 6ft tall. " do not speak that name to me, Cara. He is nothing but a memory now." "your highness! I'm sorry, forgive me" Cara bows as she speaks, hoping to calm her king.
It worked somewhat. He calmed down a tad bit but was still furious at her mentioning….. him….. No one really understood why the king had this personal vendetta against them. Though…No one was foolish enough to ask or try to investigate. Except maybe the general, she wasn’t too keen on following the king’s orders or rules if she deemed them stupid. Which were many, but she seemed to not mind most of them.
The one she didn’t understand or chose not to follow was the one on never mentioning a ninja by name or proxy. It’s almost drilled into every citizen the king rules over, which were a ton or so. Many rumors began to circle around that the king was once a ninja, but how could a hot-headed, short-tempered, stubborn man be a ninja? Weren’t they supposed to be level-headed, just, and patient? Or was that supposed to be superheroes? Maybe policemen… Who knows! A few other rumors speculated that the king was once betrayed or hurt by one, and vowed to never trust one again. Some just say he has a bad reputation with them. Either way, no ninjas were to be mentioned, under punishment of either imprisonment or a memory warping spell.
~~~
Kai pulled the scarf over his face more as he navigated the city streets. Why is it always Thursdays when everyone wants to go to the marketplace!? All he wanted to do was try and find out what was up with this place. To him, everyone he spoke to was always hushed and secretive, like they were hiding something. Even the guards were sketchy! When he would wave at one, they’d either shake their heads or glare at him. His favorites were always the gate-watching guards on the borders of the city.
Those guys always managed to get into trouble with their superiors. Once, he watched one of them smack another’s head after they did some neat trick of balancing their weapon on their tongue. Poor guy… Anyway! Back to Kai!
He walked past many stalls and looked up to the sky to see many dragons perching on buildings. One that caught his eye was a much bigger dragon staring directly at him… Like it knew who he was and his intention here. Its purple eyes bored into him as he walked past it. Its gaze followed him as he walked through the streets. No matter how hard he tried, it was in his line of sight. Following him over several blocks, the bystanders that noticed were quick to back away discreetly.
The ninja managed to escape the dragon’s gaze but found he had walked into some type of deal. Does it count as a deal when all there is, is a bunch of guards trading supplies for chocolate? Maybe, who knows…. “Aw c’mon! You have 4 pieces! Jericho! Tell him to give me a piece!” one of the guards huffs, making grabby hands to the others. “dude, I can’t do that to him” the other says, moving the chocolate bits farther away “I’m not a dog! I can eat chocolate! Jericho tell him!!!” the one from before said. The one named Jericho sighs and pinches his nose.
“Kay… give him half of a piece,” Jericho said. “What!?” Both of them yelped. “You heard me… split a bit in half,” Jericho said, as the one named Kay huffed and did so. Just as the last one got his half-piece, Kai seemed more lost than the time he learned spinjitsu for the first time… Just as Kai was about to turn around and leave, the one that received the half-piece noticed him and smiled. “Hi!!” They cheer, waving at Kai. “Flinch! Stop being overly friendly to people.” Kay said, flicking the other’s forehead. “Ow!” Flinch yelped, holding his head and whining.
Kai watched them both playfully feud while Jericho stared him down. “Something seems familiar about you, kid… It’s like you are a person of interest, Like someone I’ve seen on a wanted poster…” Jericho said. Kai looked at him and panicked internally. “Eh? Me? Well… A lot of people look like me.” the undercover ninja mumbled. “you sure?” kay mumbles, looking kai over as if to settle on any possible identities. Kai nods as Flinch makes a happy noise while eating his chocolate. The other two look at him and shake their heads. “Always off-topic….” kay sighed, turning to see Kai’s running form. They chase after him, sans Flinch… that boy is more absorbed in enjoying chocolate. Kay did manage to alert the other guards while they were running, but many of them had lost Kai before they knew who he was.
“Hey! Stop!” Some of the guards yelled as Kai fled. He didn’t even notice the dragon’s eyes following him. Or the guard in front of the exits. “Hold it, kid…” One said, holding their weapon. Kai tried to turn and flee, but a sharp pain in his leg caused him to topple over with a yelp. He looked down to see a- THERE’S A LITERAL ARROW THROUGH HIS LEG! “Gerald! What did we say about roof shots!? Shoot to injure, not amputate!” a feminine(?) voice yelled, making the crowd of citizens, guards, and other beings part like how Moses made the sea part. Which at the time was a spectacle to see… Moses, not the voice. The voice parting the crowd is scaring the chicken feathers off him. What are these sentences? I’m not sure, anyways….
Something inside Kai caused him to completely forget his ninja training, cause he began to bawl his eyes out the closer the voice got. Well, to be fair, the arrow did hit a lot of sensitive nerves in his leg and that person’s voice reminded him of master wu when he got fed up with him once. When the person got to him, all the guards did a little salute close to a fist on the heart motion, but more… Shaky?
“No- Don’t salute. Please.” They said, grimacing at the stupid-looking salute their king made. “Yes Sir!” The guards said. “‘M not even a sir… Why are you all like this? Why am I in charge of you? Why couldn’t I have just slept in and chosen to not open my eyes? I could be home…” They said. Kai had a look of confused despair on his face. This was worse than the time he got sucker punched by the spinjitsu obstacle course. “Look, kid. You get two choices. Either we take you to see the king… or! We give you a five-second head start and possibly disembowel you.” They said. Their Dragon shook its head and huffed once, seeming to tell him to choose option 1. “What happens when I see the king?” Kai gasped. “I don’t know… He executes you… Pities you and heals you… Imprisons you for the rest of your life, it really depends on his mood and who you are to him…Most are lucky and get their head hacked off… Some are stuck listening to him yap and yammer on about his glory days…” They said. Thankfully they had a helmet on… Or kai assumed it was a helmet.
~~~
They dragged him to the king and kai gasped when he saw the man… “Oh… It’s you.” The king growled, waving the guards away. “Why?” Kai asked. “What do you mean ‘Why?’” The king mocked. “You killed him!” Kai yelled. “You and I both know he wasn’t that useful to you people…” He sneered. “Useful? You and I both know none of us is more useful than anyone else! How could you forget that?” Kai gasped, flinching at how the king’s hand clenched and a familiar spark sounded. Along with the snarl of more than one lightning dragon perched around the throne. “How could I forget? How is it that you forgot all about me? Did it ever occur to you, what you did to me?” He said.
The poor general sighed. “For all that is sacred! Just get on with this!” They said, yanking their helmet off. “How many times do I have to tell you Ashla? Keep the helmet on.” The king sighed. “When you can tame your temper, lightning.” she teased. “Hey!” He said. “You always did have a poor temper,” Kai said. “Shut up before I do something I regret.” The king huffed. “Yeah, like taking over the rule of a friggin dictator isn’t a regret at all,” Ashla said, holding her helmet under her arm. “Ashla… Not now. I’m trying to decide what to do with him.” The king said. “Why not toss him into the ring? No one really makes it out of there unscathed.” She said. “I’d like him to suffer… Not have instant death.” The king said. “Welp… No entertainment today… Say, what did he do you?” She said.
“He and my so-called team abandoned me,” he said. “You say that like we plan-” Kai started only to get a cup to the face, promptly knocking him out and making his body flop to the floor. Ashla clapped at this. Hey, her definition of entertainment is a bit… Wonky? “Great form!” She cheered. The king growled and turned away, soothing the growling dragon on his throne. “Shh… It’s ok. He’s not a threat. I’ll deal with him… Shhh.” He said to the dragon, kissing its snout. “Oh shoot… You really downed him…” She said, gasping. “And his teeth are intact!” She smiled.
The king looked at her as she smiled and messed with kai’s face. How did she become general exactly?