Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Kai was not having a good day

He felt groggy from the moment he woke up and he knew it was going to be rough when he realized that he forgot to buy hair gel the day before, so as a result, he was forced to walk around with completely ungelled hair! Which might not seem like much, but to Kai it was like the world's biggest crime. The day only got worse when they went out for training, where he got his butt kicked by Jay. Jay! If things weren't already bad enough, by the evening,  it started raining. Hard. That meant that they couldn't go outside or anything. At around 10pm, Zane suggested that they played a game, and well Kai was just so unbelievably bored that he decided to go along with it.

It was either that or go on his phone.

He didn't like his phone anymore, not since it started happening. 

Kai never thought there would be a time in his life where he would give up Cherp. But it was just too much that he felt like he didn't have a choice.

“Agh Zane! I still don’t get it!” The fire master complained.

“It is quite simple, Kai.” Zane said calmly, “I will ask you again, you must listen carefully this time.” Kai grumbled in response. Zane cleared his throat.

“Take 2 numbers, such as the square of the first, plus the square of the second, shall equal 8; while the first, plus the product of the first and second, shall equal 6. What are the 2 numbers?” Kai thought long and hard about this one, before asking “8 and 6?” Zane shook his head smiling. Cole laughed “It's 2 and 2 right?” Zane nodded. “AAAAAHHHHHHHHGGGGG WHY IS THIS STUPID GAME SO HARD TO PLAY!!!” Kai yelled angrily, his face as red as his gi. Jay jumped up, “woah calm down Kai, so need to get snappy!” “I’M NOT SNAPPY!!! I’M PERFECTLY CALM!!!!” Kai screamed while storming out the room. Cole sighed, running a hand through his raven black hair, “I’ll go talk to him.”

Cole followed Kai into the shared dorm room. “Heyy Kai… You ok?” Kai turned to face the raven who so rudely went after him. “WHAT DO YOU MEAN? I’M FINE! OK?” Cole put his hands up in defense. He knew how his oldest brother could get and it was better to try to calm him down gently rather than entering a full out fight. “Okaaayyyy… Sure then do you maybe wanna explain why you're yelling at everyone?” Kai crossed his arms, staring down at his brother. “NO! I DO NOT! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!” Cole shook his head and crossed his own arms just like Kai did. “Not a chance bro, not until you tell me what's wrong with you!” This time Kai launched at Cole swinging a fist towards his face. The punch was so forceful it sent Cole flying backwards. He stumbled trying to regain his balance again. Cole stole a gaze towards Kai who was looking somehow even more angry and maybe a little hurt. Wait what? “NOTHING IS WRONG WITH ME COLE! I’M FINE I’M NOT STUPID OR DUMB OR A LIABILITY TO THE TEAM!! I.AM.FINE!!!!” He pushed Cole hard and the latter fell straight onto the floor. Now Cole was getting angry, because he did NOT go there to get beat up by one who he called his brother. “STOP IT KAI! YOU'RE CLEARLY MAD! I CAN SEE THAT! BUT YOU CAN'T HURT PEOPLE OUT OF ANGER!” Kai scoffed, folded his arms and stared down at Cole. “GLAD YOU CAN AT LEAST SEE THAT! CAN’T SAY THE SAME FOR A RAINBOW THOUGH!” Cole opened his mouth to respond but stopped. His gaze dropped to the floor for a second but quickly returned towards Kai… who wasn't showing even the slightest hint of guilt. Cole shook his head at the boy, then got up and walked out of the room. In fact he didn't stop there, he kept walking out of the monastery, and into the pouring rain, he didn't know where he was going but he knew he couldn't stay there.

The thing is, Cole never liked talking about his color blindness, and everyone on the team knew that really well. It had always been something shameful to the young earth elemental, due to the constant teasing he endured long ago for it. And he hated fighting his brothers almost just as much.

 If there really was a good thing about that fight it would be that Kai spared the detail about Cole’s eyes. You see, Cole was born with heterochromia too. That means that his left eye was always a chocolate brown and his right a striking blue. Despite the many compliments the boy got for them it was drowned out by what seemed to be a numberless amount of hate. 

His eyes were always a sore subject for him. 

Why is it always me? He thought to himself.

In fact, Cole was so busy thinking about that and the fight he just escaped from, he didn't realize he was walking straight into a trap. Cole’s foot stepped on something weird and the next thing the boy knew was that he was dangling upside down from a rope. “What in the world?” He asked no one in particular. It was at that moment when Cole realized that he was on a mountain, no surprise there. What was a surprise though, was the rope trap set up on the mountain. Cole’s first thought was poachers, illegal ones at that since it was against the laws to hunt in certain areas. But then he heard a soft russell in the leaves, followed by a voice. “Well, well, well look who I’ve caught in my little trap!” The voice said. Cole couldnt see who it was, which must mean the person is standing behind him. “Hello? Who are you? Can you please help me down from here?” the person laughed, “foolish ninja! Why would I help you when all you’ve caused me is pain! Cole felt something grab the back of his shirt, right before being spun around to face… Well to face whoever it was he was facing. 

The stranger had a slim body, no doubt a girl’s, wearing a tight black suit that was probably a one piece. Her hair was golden blonde, tied together in a messy bun. The rain soaked through her clothes making them look extra shiny. The stranger wore an ugly grin under her pointy nose and dark blue eyes. 

Cole had no idea who she was, it must've shown too, because she let out a cold laugh, clearly enjoying Cole’s flabbergasted expression. 

“Did you miss me Nicholos?” She asked her tone light and sweet, yet somewhat evil. It sent shivers up Cole’s spine. The stranger frowned, “you don’t remember me do you?” Cole shook his head, which he learnt 2 seconds later was a very bad idea, since he was still upside down and the longer he hung the more blood rushed to his head. Great . He thought, “Look lady, I don’t know who you are or what you want from me but, you gotta help me down before we fight” The stranger laughed again, “Oh you really are blind Cole, I don’t want to fight you, I simply miss you.”
That was somehow even worse

Thunder boomed and lightning struck, which given the circumstances, made Cole feel like he was in a horror movie. 

The stranger took out a small needle from her pocket. Cole didn't like needles and he certainly did not trust the person holding one. “What are you doing?” He asked. The stranger yet again let out a rather cold laugh. 

Cole somehow failed to get the joke. 

“Oh you’ll see my little darling… You’ll see.” And with that said she struck the needle right into Cole’s arm. For an agonizing minute, no one said anything, then something terrible happened, Cole began to feel all tingly. The stranger looked at her watch. “5…4…3…2…1…” She said, “It's midnight! The effects should start. Now!” Just as she said it, immense pain shot through the boy’s veins, he screamed so loud it boomed over the thunder. Cole felt like he was dying, the agony was unbearable, then as quickly as it came, it was gone. 

The stranger laughed. “It worked! It worked! Oh Cole, look at you!” Cole moved his hands towards his face so he could see them better, maybe it was the rain clouding his vision, or all the blood rushing to his head, but he could’ve sworn they looked smaller. Cole let out a scream that matched his previous one, except this one was from complete and utter shock. What in the world!

It was at that moment when Cole realized how tired he was, black dots painted around his vision and his head throbbed like mad. The last thing he remembered was hearing the stranger laugh one last time. And he was out.

Chapter Text

When Cole woke up, he was bound tightly in a chair with leather straps, the raven struggled against the bounds, but they didn't even get the slightest bit looser. Cole sighed but decided to take in his surroundings. The walls were painted pure white, which hurt to look at, and there were tables set up everywhere full of all kinds of science equipment like, microscopes, telescopes, bunsen burners, beakers, test tubes, you name it. 

Cole figured it was a lab

“Ahh Cole! Como estas? Glad you woke up” Said a voice. Cole turned his head towards the stranger, who was now dressed completely different, her hair was just as white as the walls and almost as spikey as Kai’s, held back by bright green and orange goggles, unlike her previous outfit she was now wearing tight gray pants and a black shirt covered by a standard white lab coat, her shoes were gray too. She was sitting in her chair, but unlike Cole, wasn't tied to it.

The stranger cleared her throat, “You see Cole, you have been struck with my latest invention! The turn-back-the-clock-inator!” She held out the needle she struck the boy with earlier, “designed specifically for one reason! To make you deage! And to make up for lost time I have brought you to the place where it all began, my beautiful laboratory! Well… My new one since I got kicked out of my old one, which I’m sure you remember?” Cole side eyed her, confused, then promptly shook his head. The stranger groaned, “Ugh come on Cole! You remember don’t you! We were best friends in school!” 

Cole didn't know what she was talking about, since he was pretty sure he didn't make any friends with middle aged adults.

He didn't remember making any friends at all

The stranger rolled her eyes clearly unimpressed, “Chemistry class! You know the one you took when you were 10!” Another pointed look was enough to make the stranger jump up from her seat, “The one I taught! You have to remember me! I’m miss Pale! Your best friend!”

It took Cole a minute to remember who Miss Pale was, but he did vaguely capture a time in chemistry where she fell off her chair, trying to escape a lab rat. Everyone called her Miss Fail behind her back for weeks.

She sighed, “You were always there for me with your poorly designed projects! Whenever a little brat pissed me off your volcano would explode in their faces!” 

Chemistry was never Cole’s best subject, but it was an accident! He swore it was!

Miss Pale developed a dreamy face, “Oh I remember when we got up to trouble crashing weddings! Good times.” 

“Crashing weddings?” Cole interrupted, “When did we ever crash a wedding?” Miss Pale shared an annoyed look, “The principal's wedding Cole! He wanted to show off to the bride by having every student dance a ballet duet for her! But you must’ve known how much I hated him so you obviously tripped and fell into the triple layered chocolate cake on purpose to save me the wasted effort of being there!” 

Cole winced, he had really hoped everyone would forget about that.

Ballet wasn't his best class either.

Miss Pale’s expression turned sober, “Oh but like all good things, it didn't last, I don’t know why but you ran away! It must’ve been a dare somebody gave you as a joke because I know you would never abandon me on purpose, but then that stupid, attention craving Wu scooped you up before I could come find you! And now!” She pointed a bony finger in Cole’s direction, “YOU! Have grown into a filthy, smelly, masculine, MAN! ”
“Hey!” 

Miss Pale wiped a tear, “You looked so much better as a boy, and I’m so sad to say that our friendship was robbed! We could’ve done so much more evil! We could’ve ruined more kids' days! Oh we could’ve done it all! But we didn't, the clock kept ticking no matter how much I wished it would stop.” A small smile appeared on her lips, “but luckily for us both! My invention has given us the opportunity to spend more time together! Unfortunately I only got it to work in days, you see yesterday you were 19 correct?” 

Cole had no idea how she knew that, and what did she mean by yesterday his birthday wasn't until another 6 months!

“Well my dear Nicholos, the turn-back- the-clock-inator has made you once again 18!”

Cole’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, but Miss Pale wasn't finished, “And guess what? Tomorrow you’ll be 17! And it will keep going like that until you are once again my precious little student and best friend!” Cole gulped, “And then the effects would wear off right? I’ll get back to normal?” He asked nervously. Miss Pale laughed, “Oh no! It’ll continue deaging you more and more until you never existed in the first place!”
Cole’s mouth dropped to the floor, and he wrestled with the bounds more desperately, Miss Pale seemed to not notice this, she stuck her hand to her chin in a thoughtful manner, “I will admit, it's quite a bummer, but at least we get to spend an entire 18 days until you are erased from existence! Isn't that just wonderful!”

Giving up on the tight bounds, Cole sighed, completely trapped. All he could do now was hope his brothers could get him out of this mess.

----------------------------------------------------(Meanwhile)-----------------------------------------------------------

Ok Jay, you can do  this ! Jay thought as he stood outside their shared dorm where the current master of fire was sulking. 

And Jay was a nervous wreck

He didn't know why Cole stormed out of the monastery so fast, but he knew it couldn't have been very good, and frankly, he was quite terrified of what Kai would do. (Although won’t actually admit it aloud) 

Now don’t get him wrong, Jay thought the guy was pretty cool, they have known each other for years after all. 

What Jay did not think was cool, was the guy’s temper.
And yes he has mellowed out throughout the years but lately Jay noticed he’s been looking more angry.

And possibly a little hurt too?
And Jay wasn't the only one, they all noticed that something was off.

Hence why Zane stood right beside Jay, who was still lost in thought staring at the door.

Zane nudged him gently, “Jay, while I admire your inventive mind I would highly suggest you open the door, and honor the craftsmanship later.”

Jay blinked out of his thought, “Huh oh right” He said, gently knocking on the wood. There was a bit of rustling inside, then Kai’s head popped out. “What!” He asked grumpily.

Jay gulped, “Well uh we um just wanted to-” The red head cut himself off, “Oh my gosh! Kai, were you CRYING!” Jay yelled, studying the red puffiness under the burnett’s eyes, the flushed cheeks and the very sad expression he held. 

“What! No! Of course not!” Kai said a bit too defensively, “I mean why on earth would I be crying, I’M NOT WEAK OK!” The change of tone caught both the bluebird and the nindroid off guard. “You’re not weak” Jay whispered. Kai scoffed, turned onto his heel and walked back inside the room. 

The other 2 ninja took this as an invitation to come inside.

 
Zane cleared his throat, “Kai did you and Cole get into a fight earlier?” He asked, changing the subject. Kai rolled his eyes, when he mentioned the raven’s name. 

That was probably a yes

Jay spoke next, “Kai, he stormed out of the monastery, an hour ago, he looked really hurt. What exactly did you say?” Kai wiped back round to face Jay faster than anyone expected, “It’s always me huh? I’m the villain! Whenever someone gets hurt I’m always the one to blame RIGHT!” He turned back to face the wall, “You shouldn't worry, Jay, he’s probably just off sulking, he’ll be back soon.” Jay was too stunned to speak, luckily Zane wasn't, “But Kai, it's been an hour, don’t you think he would’ve come back by now?” Jay found his voice, “Yeah what if he’s in trouble!” Kai rolled his eyes, “Oh and tell me Jay what kind of trouble could he be in? Maybe he disturbed a beehive and got a booboo huh?” He asked sarcastically, Jay crossed his arms, “No serious trouble Kai! Like what if he was walking on a hill and got struck by lightning! Or maybe he was resting under a tree and got stuck by lightning, or maybe he was CLIMBING the tree when lightning-”
“BUT lightning is your element, wouldn't you know if it hit something?” Kai scoffed, “Besides what are the chances Cole went somewhere high up”

Zane stared at Kai soberly, “This is Cole we’re talking about Kai, Where do you suppose he goes when he’s upset?” 

Nobody said anything for a while

“Mountain” Kai whispered.

Chapter Text

Jay and Zane walked up the mountain they thought Cole would be on, keeping an eye out for their black hooded friend, their red one, slumping along behind them, shoulders hunched and face down.

Kai did NOT understand what all the fuss was about. “Face it Jay! We’re wasting our time out here! Cole’s probably already back at the monastery by now, and here we are still getting covered in mud! I vote we just go home and take a shower!”

It stopped raining a while ago, but there was still plenty of mud on the ground. It didn't help that they were walking up a very steep slope. Kai tripped multiple times on the way up, making his gi very dirty. Jay and Zane also had their falls, but not as much. Jay because he’s got balance like a cat, and Zane because he has night vision.
Oh yeah and it was one in the morning!

Kai didn't usually get up until it was six!

Well eight these days… He just didn't feel that motivated after it started happening.
He tripped again; Jay tusked “No Kai! We can’t go back! I really have a bad feeling about what happened to Cole! We have to find him!!” Kai rolled his eyes, “How? We don’t even know if he’s up here! It's not like there’s a sign that says, ‘big jerk ninja this way’ He could be anywhere!”

Jay sighed and was about to comment but Zane beat him to it, “actually Kai, I believe we may have found something.” He said matter of fact.
Kai grumbled something about conspiracies but walked a little faster towards Zane anyway.

Oh

He saw what Zane was talking about

“Footprints!!!” Jay yelled excitedly! “And they’re definitely Cole’s! Nobody else’s shoe size is that big!”

So, they kept walking

And walking

And walking

While Kai kept sulking

And moping

And whining

It just wasn't fair! It wasn't Kai’s fault Cole took off! And in his opinion, it was very rude of Cole to just wait until they came looking for him at one in the morning! He was just wasting Kai’s time.

Like other things did.

The ground levelled out and instead of climbing up a slope, they were now just walking normally.
Much to the burnet's relief.

Unfortunately, the universe really seemed to dislike Kai that day, because he tripped and fell into a mud puddle AGAIN!
“JAY, COME ON! I’m tired, hungry and smell like socks! I just want to go HOME!” He yelled, punching the ground.

Jay groaned, “Stop with the whining Kai! It's like you don’t even care that Cole could be lost or hurt or kidnapped for that matter!”

Kai growled, “How could anyone kidnap Cole! He’s a ninja for goodness sake!”

“I don’t know it's happened before!”
“Once Jay ONCE!”
“I’m still worried, ok?”
“You shouldn’t be”
“Why!!”
“BECAUSE HE-”

“ENOUGH YOU TWO!!” Zane yelled.

Wait

Zane yelled?!??!?
Zane never raised his voice.

But at least they stopped. Jay crossed his arms, and Kai puffed out spoke from his nostrils.

Zane sighed, “Look here brothers, I found something.”

Jay walked over to the nindroid, Kai following grumpily.
There, hanging from a tree, was a very tangled piece of rope. “What is it?” Jay asked, Zane moved closer to examine it better, “It seems to be a trap.” Jay got visibly more nervous. Kai rolled his eyes, “Relax, it's probably just poachers.” Jay deflated a bit, that is until Zane said, “I don’t think so Kai, poachers would not set up snares like this, it looks to be designed for man.”

“So what? Do you think Cole set it off?”
“It would make most logical sense, his footprints do end here.”

Jay nodded, walking a bit away from the other two. “Uh guys… I think I found something”
Kai gazed over to what Jay was looking at, “Ha see Zane! Cole didn't get caught! Jay just found his footprints over there!”” Zane shook his head stubbornly, “I don't think those are Cole’s, these seem to be a lot smaller than the ones we were following earlier.” Jay gulped, “So maybe he really was kidnapped!”

“MUWAHAAAAAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA” came a voice, the ninja wasted no time in running towards it.
“What was that?”
“I don’t know!”
“Stay calm”
MUWAHHAHAHHHHAHHHHHHHHAH”
“There it is again!”
“It came from there!”

“Where?”

“By the cliff!”

Of course, when they got there, they were terribly surprised by what the cliff overlooked. There standing in the meadows a good distance down from where they were, was a lab. A HUGE LAB! It had many walls that were painted white, and a rather tall metal roof that seemed to touch the sky. Perched on the roof were many lightning rods that seemed to attract the storm from earlier, since dark rain clouds looked down on it. Kai gulped, maybe Cole really was in danger?
“MUWAHAAAAAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA!”

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

“MUWAHAAAAAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA” Miss Pale yelled proudly.
She was standing on a table, her arms outstretched. Lightning cackled behind her.
Of course, since they were inside, she had to use her, ‘Indoor-lightning-inator,’

Miss Pale smiled, “So what do you think of that one Cole?”
No response.
“Cole?” She turned around to where the boy was tied… And apparently sleeping too.
Miss Pale frowned, “COLE! WAKE UP!” Cole woke up with a start, “wha? Huh? What's going on?” He asked sleepily

Miss Pale frowned, “were you even listening?” Cole shook his head, the scientist rolled her eyes, “I was just asking which evil laugh you prefer me to use on our world domination?”

“Our?” the raven asked. Miss Pale sighed, “Yes, OUR! So, which one do you like more?” She cleared her throat, “MUWAHAAAAAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA or MUWAHHAHAHHHHAHHHHHHHHAH” Cole stared at her deadpanly, “They sound the same to me.” Miss Pale looked offended, “No they don’t, the first one I drag out the ‘Ah’ Sound and the second one, the ‘Ha’”

Cole wondered how his life had come to this.

Still Miss Pale stood waiting for an answer, “uh the um first one?” Miss Pale smiled, “Oh yes, I did like that one from the start, but I just wanted to check with my super cool slay bestie before I started using it!” Cole rolled his eyes, “I am NOT your best friend lady.” Miss Pale sighed and shook her head, “You're being delusional again Cole, of course I’m your best friend!”

“Sorry!” Came a high pitch squeak, “That spot’s taken”

The scientist and the ninja both turned to look at whom the voice belonged to.

“Jay!” Cole mentally relaxed, “Boy am I glad to see you!”

Just then Kai and Zane appeared by Jay’s side, Zane smiled at Cole, “As are we brother”

Kai just rolled his eyes.

“Ugh Jay.” Miss Pale said annoyedly, “I have a bone to pick with you!” She said pointing a finger accusingly. Jay looked confused, “Me? Why?” Miss Pale scolded, “Don’t play dumb with me boy! You think you can really just brainwash Cole to be your best friend without anyone noticing! HE’S MINE!” Jay raised his eyebrow at Cole, who was still tied to his chair. “And now!” Miss Pale said, snapping her fingers, “We will TAKE OVER THE WORLD!”

Just as she said that hundreds of machines sprung to life, the microwave grew legs and walked towards Miss Pale, and so did just about every other appliance in the room. The ninja expected some kind of security, so they were prepared for a quick and easy battle.

So, you can imagine their shocked faces when two giant mechs entered the room.

One of the mechs was bright orange with black patterns on the sides

The other one was pink with clouds and unicorns painted all over it.

Miss Pale smiled, “Today shall be known as Miss Cole Day! Where Miss Pale and Cole RULE OVER NINJAGO! MUWAHAAAAAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA” The raven mentally facepalmed, and he was almost positive he heard his brothers laugh.

Miss Pale smiled, then wasted no time in climbing into the orange mech

That meant the pink one was for…

“Cole! Hurry up and get into your mech!” Cole stared at his former teacher, then at the straps bounding him to the chair. Miss Pale blushed, “Opps uh forgot about that, here” she said pressing a button, immediately the straps loosened, and Cole was able to squeeze out.

“Ok I’m sorry” Jay said, barely able to keep a straight face, “But THAT’S Cole’s mech? Why?” He asked. Miss Pale rolled her eyes, “Well if you must know, I designed MY best friend’s mech based on our times together in school, he always made me feel like a princess, high in the clouds, so I thought it would be fun.” Jay smirked, “Ok and what are the unicorns for?”

Miss Pale waved a dismissal hand in the air, “those represent a nickname Cole had in MOSPA, UniCole I believe it was, he was caught smuggling a stuffed unicorn into school, so everyone called him that, me included.”

Cole blushed uncontrollably while his friends burst out laughing.

Miss Pale clapped her hands, “Now, now we must be going, come on Nicholas let's go!”

Cole gazed up at Miss Pale, “Um no!”

The scientist looked at the boy shocked, “No? What do you mean NO!” Cole shrugged and got into a fighting position, his friends still laughing, did the same, “sorry lady but you're not my best friend, I have a life, a family and you can’t take that away.”

Miss Pale angrily turned to Jay, “What have you done to MY BEST FRIEND!! You BROKE him!”

Jay rolled his eyes, “Wanna tell me what she’s talking about?” He whispered to Cole, “Later, right now we have to get out of here.” He whispered back, Kai scowled “No, we fight, we can take her!” Zane sighed, “I fear not brother, she has too big of an army, I suggest we make a hasty retreat.” He said, turning and running toward the exit. Kai frowned and muttered something under his breath but followed suit, the other two close behind.

“Hey where are you going!” Miss Pale barked, “Leave my best friend alone! He’s MINE!”

The ninjas were already too far off to hear her. She frowned, “Hey you! Refrigerator!” She yelled at the fridge, “Ready your army, and go after the ninja, make sure Cole is unharmed and bring him to me, as for the rest kill them all.” The refrigerator nodded and walked over to the telescope to discuss the details. “And make haste!” Miss Pale yelled after him, "We only have 17 days until Cole disappears forever.”

Chapter Text

“Ahhhhhhh”
“Where do we go”
“The forest we can hide in there”
“Ahhhhhhhhhhh”
“Logically that would be the best place, but we must go deep into it!”
“Why?”
“Because it’ll be harder for them to find us, you idiot!”
“AHHHHHHH”
“JAY WOULD YOU PLEASE STOP SCREAMING!”

Cole sighed, he was struggling to keep up with his friends, ‘darn short legs’ he thought. But he also couldn't help thinking about just how much trouble he was about to be in. He needed to find a cure for whatever was happening to him, and he needed to do it fast.
“My sensors are picking up a small opening 3 miles away. We could potentially hide there.”
‘Finally!’ Cole mentally screamed.
Some time later they arrived. Cole was the only one out of breath, everyone else seemed to be ready for round 2.
“Ok now what the frick was that!” Kai yelled, crossing his arms.
Cole opened his mouth to speak
“language Kai.” Zane said, giving the burnet a warning look.
Cole sighed, “Uh guys-”
“What? I didn't actually say-”
“And you won’t thank you.” Zane interrupted.
Zane had always been like a mom to the group, he was the oldest by plenty after all.
Cole rolled his eyes, “Ninja! listen I’m in-”
“Hey guys!” Jay said jumping up and down excitedly, “I think I’m taller than Cole!”
“I beg your pardon?”
“What?”
Both the fire and ice master’s said simultaneously.

Kai studied his 2 brothers, One of which was smiling so much his face could fall off any moment, and the other looked like he wished he was anywhere else but there. “What the heck! Jay you're right!” He said shocked.
“But how?” Zane said, also scanning the two, “Cole has always been taller than Jay, even taller than Kai?”
Kai glared at Cole, “What?” He spat out rudely. “You shrink or something?”
Cole rolled his eyes, he didn't have time for Kai’s attitude. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you!” He raised his palm to his face in annoyance, “ugh look that crazy lady back there is really my old science teacher, apparently she saw us as friends and now she wants to go back in time to when I was a kid so we could bond more.”

There was silence…
And then there was not.

“HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHH” His friends erupted in laughter, Cole folded his arms. “It’s not funny! She really wants me!”
“OHHAHAHHHHAHOH COLE!!!!” Jay laughed, clutching his stomach, “STOP!! AHAHHAHHAHHHAAAA”
Kai was already rolling on the floor, “YEAH! HAHAHA THAT'S RIDICULOUS! HAHAHA!”
Cole buried his head in his hands. “Guys please!”

Zane was, and luckily for Cole, the only one who did not find his potential impending doom amusing, “Kai, Jay.” He said warningly, “I believe it would be wise if we heard the rest of what Cole has to say, before we jump to any accusations.”

The two boys rolled their eyes, but obliged, still lightly chuckling. “Finally” Cole said relieved, “Ninja listen there’s more, apparently, I de-age by the day, so now I’m 17, but tomorrow I’ll be 16!”
Nobody was laughing now, Jay twitched nervously, “and- and then it stops right?”

Cole shook his head, panic soaking through his body. “It won’t, I’ll keep getting younger and younger until I don’t exist anymore!” He cried, his voice choking up. “It’ll be like I was never-” He gasped for air, why was it so hard to breathe all of a sudden? “Like I was never here” He collapsed onto his knees, holding his throat tightly.
Oh, he was hyperventilating.

He couldn't breathe, he couldn't speak and all his mind kept doing was wondering off to the worst possible scenarios of what could happen to him.
He was drowning in his own thoughts, tears clouded his vision, he shut his eyes tightly, afraid to see the reality. “You're going to die like this'' his mind screamed at him.

He didn't even realize his nails were drawing blood until hands pulled them away from his face.
Warm hands
Cole carefully opened one eye, and was met by the face of his brother.
“Shhh It’s ok, It’s going to be ok” The voice said. “Jay, go get me a water bottle! Zane, maybe go see if we have any blankets in our backpacks.” He ordered.
Cole shut his eyes again, he didn't want his friends to see him like this.
Then the hands moved, it moved so that Cole could also feel the arms.
Strong arms.
Mentally preparing himself, he opened both his eyes.

Kai smiled at him, his arms wrapped sternly around his brother, as if daring anyone to hurt him.
Cole hugged back, afraid to let go.
“Shhh it's ok” Kai cooed, “It’s gonna be alright, we’ll get through this, we always do yeah?”
Cole sighed, he didn't even realize that Jay and Zane got back.
Jay handed Kai the water bottle, and Zane draped a blanket over the raven’s shoulders.
“Here, drink it” Kai said, as he gently placed the bottle into Cole’s hands.
His hands were shaking, but Cole managed to successfully unscrew the lid. Raising the bottle up to his lips he took a sip.
And another
And another
And about 4 more after that.
When was the last time he drank water? He didn't know, but it just tasted so good that he didn't care.
“Woah” Kai grabbed the bottle and pulled it away, “remember to breathe buddy, drink it slowly.”
Cole nodded, and started to drink it again, pretty soon all the water was finished.

“There we go.” Kai said, holding Cole closer. “It’s going to be ok, c’mon say it with me, It’s going to be ok”
“It’s gonna be fine,” Cole mumbled. The raven sighed, he could breathe normally again.

“M’sorry” He muttered. “Shhhh Don’t be” Kai looked Cole in the eyes. “If anyone should be sorry it's me, I was a jerk and I made you run away, this whole thing is my fault.”
“Shhh” Cole said smiling, “It’s ok.” Kai smiled back, then turned his head to look at his friends, concern written all over their faces, “Hey Zane? You think you could scan Cole and try and find out what that needle is and maybe a way to stop it?”

Zane nodded solemnly, “May I?” He asked Cole. With a deep breath the raven parted with Kai and slowly stood up. “Yeah”
Zane’s scanners appeared out of his eyes, and lime green light flashed across Cole’s body. A few seconds later, Zane looked into the boy’s eyes. “The effects are vital, it’s only a matter of weeks before you disappear, however there is a special kind of tea that would be able to reverse the effects, but the ingredients are scattered and it will take a while to locate them all.”
“Then let's go!” Jay yelled, “We’re in this together, no ninja left behind.” Kai nodded. “What do we have to do?”

Zane walked over to his white backpack, and after digging threw it for a few seconds he pulled out a piece of paper and a pen. "First," he said neatly, writing something down, "We have to get the Teapot of Tragedy, located in the Realm of Lost Things." he said, keeping his eyes glued to the paper, "Then we have to go to the Realm of Sweet and Sour for the Candy Corn of Fortune'' everyone nodded already confused, but Zane kept going, "The Music Note of Harmony is located in the Realm of Song and Dance." Cole smiled, he never heard of that place before, but he thought his dad would love it. Zane scribbled something else onto the page, "The Bubble of Healing is at the Kingdom of Thought and the Plagued Pillow in the Realm of Dreams. Then there's the Ticket of Remembrance found at the Realm of Memories." He looked back at his brothers, a troubled expression written across his face. "Lastly there's the Land of Imperium, where we could get the Dragon's Energy Core... But very little is known about Imperium, other than it's said to be the most controlled city in all the realms!"

"Uh How controlled exactly?" Jay asked nervously. Zane shook his head, his eyes drifting back to the paper. "Very controlled, not everybody who lives there has the freewill to wear whatever they want, it's usually only what the Empress desires. I don't know much else about it, other than it's heavily guarded. And breaking in would prove to be quite a challenge." Cole sighed, "Why do we have to break in though?" "Because it's a very secretive city, and they don't take nicely to outsiders."

Kai nodded, “and what happens when we get all these things?”
Cole noticed the boy said “When” Instead of “If” Which he was grateful for, but that did seem like a lot of realm traveling to do in the spam of 17 days.

Zane noticed Cole’s troubled expression, “When we do get it, and brew it, Cole would only have to take one sip of the tea, and he should return back to normal.”

Jay strolled over to his black clad brother, (and was still very pleased that he was taller than him), using Cole’s shoulder as an armrest, he smiled. “Don’t worry little guy, your big brother’s are here to make sure you’re safe and sound!” Cole shoved Jay off him with a grunt. “Already? Not even 5 minutes into telling you and you already start with the teasing.” Kai snuck up behind Cole and delivered a noogie to the boy’s head, messing up his hair. “Aww Come on, we only have 17 days with you like this, may as well make it count right?” And Cole, despite himself actually laughed.

Maybe, just maybe he really was going to be ok.

Chapter Text

“So how far exactly is the Realm of Lost Things?” Jay whined. As the ninja made their way through the dense forest. His legs were killing him, and he was already getting droopy.
It was about 6 am, on a normal day, the ninja would be waking up about now.
Jay almost wanted to laugh. Since when did they have a normal day? Lately it seemed as if the world was playing a joke on them, throwing bad things at them after another.
He was worried about Cole.

I mean, yes, technically Cole was older than him. And the oldest in general after Kai, but that didn't stop anyone from worrying about him.
Then there was Zane, not that much younger than Cole, nor that much older than Jay, sort of the middle child.
Jay was the youngest on this expedition. He missed Lloyd and Nya a lot, then at least he wouldn't seem like a baby, but Master Wu said something about needing them for something important.
“A deal can bring fortune, but others are not so willing, sometimes it can take an army to withhold a man to their debts.”
Yeah, whatever that meant.

“If my internal data is correct, I believe that in order to get to the land of lost things, we must first get lost.” Zane said, “then we should, in one way or another, just appear there.”
“Appear there?” Cole asked shoving Jay to walk aside the Ninjroid, “Like magic?”
“A very powerful magic, supposedly a mist that covers the land, not even Cloud Kingdom could pinpoint its location.”

‘Great’ Jay thought, ‘Not even destiny can help us out’
Cole scoffed. “Eh, never liked those monks anyway, especially Fenwick, if you ask me, it's better we don't have them screwing us over to another Nimbus, right Kai?”

No answer.
Jay turned his head towards his hot-tempered brother.
The red ninja had his shoulders hunched and eyes focused on the ground. His hair stood up in all different directions, you know even more than usual, and he was glaring at the ground so hard, almost daring it to attack them.
“Kai?” Cole asked.
Kai looked up surprised, his eyes overflowing with grief, he masked it quickly although Jay thought he saw a hint of sadness. Maybe even fear?
“Sup” he said, avoiding eye contact.
Zane and Cole had a silent conversation with their eyes.
“Kai, is there something you would like to tell us? Perhaps a burden you've been dealing with?” Zane asked.
Before Kai could open his mouth. A giant crash shook the forest trees.
“What was that?” Jay asked, trying to sound braver than he felt.
Silence
Then a roar of an engine cut through the atmosphere. Whatever this thing was. It was big.
The ground shook. Everyone looked at Cole. “Wasn't me,” he said in a whisper. Jay gulped down a lump of sandpaper. The ground shook once more. This time in the near distance, a tree collapsed, then more surrounding it.
The owner of the noises emerged from the trees and Jay’s very breath leaped out of his throat.

The machine was a massive war vehicle. Four giant tractor wheels held it up with pride. The windows were tinted black, but the most spectacular sight was the giant blades spinning around on the front. Glaring daggers into the ninja.
The vehicle hissed and drove straight for them. Splattering sparks whenever the blade cut across an innocent tree.

Jay just had time to yell “duck!” before the blades reached cutting distance. Jay jumped to the side. Kai and Zane parkoured over it, barely missing the blade, but Cole just stood there, his eyes crazy with fear. Jay wanted to scream but his voice got caught. Luckily Cole managed to come to his senses and roll out of the way just as the blade reached him, singing a strip of his hair.
Part of Jay wanted to scream at him for not moving, but the other part knew it wasn't his fault. Cole was now a year younger afterall. Obviously that meant he wasn't going to be as experienced, but still, Jay figured he'd be having nightmares about the almost incident for weeks.

“Jay, Zane” Cole snapped back into reality, his daze forgotten. “See if you can power off this bad boy with your powers, Kai your with me, were gonna get the final kill”

The team nodded respectively, Cole always had great leadership skills, and was always the first person Jay looked to in emergencies. Jay always wondered how he could stay so calm, especially in situations like this when Cole was already much younger than before.

Jay and Zane didn't waste any time. As soon as Cole gave the orders, they charged at the machine, hands blazing with lightning and ice.

Together, they jumped the war machine. Jay managed to land on the roof, but Zane’s metal body got magnetized to the back. “I seem to have run into a sticky situation,” he said.

Out of the corner of Jay's eye, he saw Cole curse under his breath. He may be a great leader, but his brain was only that of a teenager for the time being.

“New plan” he said, “Zane freeze the back, try to make the rear gears clog up. Jay go for the controls! Kai and I will deal with the blades.”
Kai gave him a sideways glance as if silently asking and how are we going to do that?
Jay however was even more concerned, how was he going to even get to the controls? he had no way of getting inside the machine… Unless.

“Zane!” he squeaked, “can you freeze the door handle under me?” he pointed frantically at the door, just a ninja’s jump away. Zane nodded, then shot an ice vein at the target, hitting the handle for a perfect bullseye.

Jay mentally cheered, when he climbed into the vehicle.
He hated that he had to rely on his friends for help. They probably saw him as a kid most of the time. That's partly why he was so happy Cole was shorter than him for once, it meant he actually had a place.

He dashed for the front of the car, expecting to see the old lady Miss Pale sitting in the driver's seat, with that evil glare on her eyes.

So imagine how shocked he was when a small microwave glared back at him.

Jay wasn't complaining though. He would take a kitchen appliance over a crazy lady any day. He picked up the microwave, its little legs flinging in the air. Since when did Microwaves have legs? Jay decided to not question it.
He considered letting the microwave go free… until he saw the dot.
The small little red flashing dot.
Jay gasped, “IT’S A BOMB!” He yelled.

Chapter Text

Jay gasped, “IT’S A BOMB!” He yelled

Without wasting a second, Jay dived out the window, microwave in hand.
The rest of the team caught on instantly, they’ve been trained for situations like this.
“Jay!” Kai said, shooting a blast of fire at the blades that were still trying to slice their heads off, “Break it!”
Jay’s eyes flashed with fear, “WHAT! YOU WANT ME TO BREAK AN ACTIVE BOMB?”
“We don’t have a choice! You have to try, you’re the inventor here! So inventor-it to STOP!” A second blast of fire escaped the red ninja’s hands, Jay so dearly wanted to slap him and remind Kai that playing with fire around explosives was not a good idea.

The little red dot glowed only brighter, as if it was challenging Jay’s capabilities.
Without thinking about it, Jay raised his fist, and smashed the microwaves glass.
The beeping grew louder, faster even.

Zane managed to unstick himself from the back, “RUN!” He yelled, “MY CALCULATIONS STATE WE HAVE EXACTLY 46.87 SECONDS BEFORE IT EXPLODES! 45, 44…”

Jay reached into the hole in the microwave, he thought he saw something there, and his instincts were telling him to pull it out. When his hand emerged from the inside, Jay was surprised to see a small teapot clutched between his fingers.

“Jayyyyyy!” Cole whined, “We need to get out of here! Come on! Leave the bomb let's go! We don’t have time to sit around and have a tea party!”

Jay dropped the microwave, but held on firmly to the teapot. Kai and Cole gave up on hope of getting the blades to stop as soon as Jay broke the glass. All four ninja ran as fast as they could, further and further away from the explosives and death machine.

“18 seconds!” Zane said. They kept running.
“5”
“4”
“3”
“2”
“1!”

BOOM!

Jay was launched forward as a massive explosion of fire burnt everything within a 10 mile radius. Jay’s last thought was- “This is how it ends” before everything went black.

He woke up sometime later, to the smell of something burning. It took him way longer than he cares to admit to realise that he was in a cave. The ground was hard and uncomfortable, but he could hear rushing water in the distance, it made him think of Nya, it was a comforting thought.

Groggily, and with much effort, he sat up.

Kai was in the corner opposite him, hovering over a fire, little bits of meat were cooking over it on a small piece of metal. It smelled delicious.

Jay’s stomach growled, he didn't realise how hungry he was.
“Morning sleepyhead.” Kai said, his smile wavering.
“Hey” Jay chirped back, although his throat hated him for it.

Kai smiled and walked over to the bluebird. He pushed his hair back and lit a small flame to examine his head. “You don’t have a concussion, do you feel sick?”
“No” Jay lied, truth be told he felt as if his insides were hosting a gymnastics competition.

“Where are the others?” Jay asked. Kai smiled at him again, “patrolling the area, after you blacked out, Zane spotted a mountain that we could hide in, Cole had to carry you up here, but don't worry about that, he’s got like superhuman strength remember?” He added when he saw Jay’s guilty face, “anyway, we slept over here last night, it's 9:40 am right now.”

Jay’s breath seemed to join the gymnasts in doing cartwheels. “What! That means Cole only has 16 days left! Why didn't you guys wake me?”

Kai grimaced “I told him that! Cole was more concerned about you. That's just the kind of stubborn, self giving person he is.” He stared down at the floor. “Unlike some people”

Just as quickly as the fire in Kai’s eyes arrived, it left. “Anyway, have some rabbit-” He pointed to the fire, “-I spent AGES making it, and your lucky Cole wasn't here to mess up the cooking, he did catch it tho, with Zane’s help of course.”
Jay didn't say anything, he just took the food, and nodded his thanks.

If Cole only had 16 days left, that meant he was 16 years old. TWO whole years younger than the bluebird, he wondered why that bothered him. Maybe he missed having his older brother looking after him. He didn't know. He didn't feel like he knew much of anything anymore.

“JAY YOU'RE A GENIUS!!!!”
Jay jumped with surprise, as Cole wrapped him in a giant bear hug. He and Zane had returned from their patrol, and were more than happy to see their friend awake.

Jay looked thoroughly confused, “What?”
Cole laughed, “The teapot buddy!” He let go of Jay so he could stare into his eyes, he looked so happy, so full of life, “The teapot of tragedy! You found it! It was inside the microwave!”
Ohhhhh
Jay blushed, “erm, thanks, but it was really Kai who told me to break it open.”
Cole giggled, his smile widening, “Yeah but Kai’s always looking for things to break open.”
Everyone laughed, even Kai couldn't keep back a snort. Their friendship had grown since the incident in the forest, and yet they still haven't found out what was upsetting the young master of fire.

“Good to see you awake brother,” Zane spoke up, “Cole and I have had a very successful patrol, and we call tell you with utmost certainty that we are not in Ninjago anymore, nor in the land of lost things.

Jay stared at the nindroid, confused. “Then… Where are we?”

“We’re in the realm of sweet and sour, where the Candy corn of Fortune is hidden.” Zane said.

Chapter Text

Kai’s very breath died inside of his throat.
The realm of Sweet and Sour, was MASSIVE!

Apparently, the cave that they slept in last night, was one of many secret entrances to this realm, (Cole and Zane figured that out trying to catch the rabbit) but it was almost worth the trouble of getting blown up. Nothing looked normal there. The skies above were pastel colours, loads of different colours too. The grass was a light soft shade of green, and the trees were pink fluffy candy floss clouds. The ground was littered with lemons and sour sweets. While trees bore the most weird looking candies any of the ninja had ever seen. 

Rocks were cake.

Lakes were chocolate

Hills were jello

Clouds were… Well clouds were still clouds, but it really was such a marvelous sight. 

Kai could 100% get used to this. 

“Do not touch anything Jay.” Zane said, pulling Jay’s hand away from a candy apple. “You do not want to upset the Queen.” 

Jay looked at him weirdly. Cole coughed, “Um, when Zane and I were here chasing the bunny, I might've accidentally fell into a jello hill.” 

“You did not ‘accidentally fall’ Cole, you jumped into it screaming YOLO”
“I remember it differently, Zane, anyway. As soon as I touched it. Everything went dark and Zane and I woke up in some kind of prison.” 

“It was a girl’s bedroom.” 

“Exactly Zane, a prison. Anyway, that's when we met the Queen. Lovely lady really.” 

“She slapped you with her handbag”

“Who's telling the story here Frosty, me or you? She gave us strict warning to never touch anything again.”

“She put a bounty on our heads and sent her guards after us.”

“Which is EXACTLY a strict warning! We ran back here as fast as we could, because as much as I love a good fight. I really didn't feel like fighting 400 candy cane guards.”

“Oh alright got it. No touchy touchy, but how are we supposed to find the Candy Corn of fortune then?” Jay asked.
“That's the thing.” Cole said, “We already found it. It's in the Queen’s bedroom.” 

Of course it was. 

‘Why couldn't dangerous artifacts just be wrapped in a present and delivered to our doorstep for once?’ Jay wondered. 

“Then it looks like we’re going in for a stealth mission, boys. Buckle up!” Kai said.

Breaking into the palace was a lot harder than Kai thought. It was made completely out of gingerbread and taller than any mountain nearby, and as luck would have it, the Queen’s bedroom was right at the top. 

It had a wide milk moat they had to cross first. Filled with mysterious pink bubbles that did not look normal. Kai couldn't swim, so he thanked the First Spinjitzu Master that Zane managed to find a bridge.
Just another thing he couldn't do for himself

Even though it was made of peanut butter brittle, it still held their weight surprisingly well. 

“Oi! You there!”

What went not surprisingly well, was the bridge was out in the open, meaning anyone could see them.

And someone did.

“RUNNNN!!” Cole screamed.

Once they crossed the bridge, the ninja scattered, running in separate directions. 

Kai ran straight into the castle, which he will admit was not the best thing he could have done. 

He was in, what looked to be, a very fancy and sugary throne room. The ceilings were tall and the room was larger than the entire monastery, but the only thing inside it was a giant red carpet and four thrones, one was massive and covered in jelly tots, the one sitting next to it, was a tiny bit smaller but made completely out of lemon bars. The throne on the far left and far right were almost identical, both being made out of pop tarts, although one of them had a small bite mark in the corner.

The inside of the castle, funnily enough, had even more guards than the outside did.
“Oi! Get em!’ One of them shouted.

Kai bolted through one of the doors that led to an abandoned corridor, running as fast as his legs would carry him. 

Unfortunately he ran into someone, or more likely, two someones. 

“Woah, whatcha pal!” Someone said, A tall man, he had black greasy hair and was wearing a blue gown. It was littered with gummy bears and bore a cotton candy lapel by the collar. Kai would’ve laughed, if his life wasn't in danger.

“He went that way!” He heard one of the guards yell. 

“Quick! In here!” Said the second man, he looked identical to the other one. 

Kai decided to take his chances with the gummy bear boys and followed them into a room exiting the corridor. 

“Where did he go?”

“Find him!”

Kai let out a sigh of relief as he heard the gingerbread guards’ footsteps fade away. 

“The name’s Ronald, this is my brother Rick, we’re the royal twins of mischief. We cause most of the trouble here.” One of the twins reached out and shook Kai’s hand, “and you are?”

“Kai.” Kai said, “Fire ninja,” 

“Woaaahhhh” The other twin- Rick- said, “A ninja? That's pretty awesome! You're not from around here are you?” 

“How’d you know?”

“You're not wearing anything candy related.”

Kai snorted, “Guess not. Look Ronald.”
“No I’m Rick, he's Ronald.” Rick corrected, 

“Yeah yeah whatever. Look if you guys like causing trouble, I have a favor to ask you.”

“We’re listening.”

“My brothers and I need to steal the Candy corn of Fortune.”

“You mean,” Ronald took a step closer, his eyebrows raised, “The one our mother owns? The one she spent 15 years trying to collect? The one that's been sitting in this castle for over a decade and is part of our family culture?” 

Kai gulped.

“We’d love to!” The twins said in unison.

Chapter Text

Zane grabbed Jay’s shoulder and shoved him head first into a closet.

“Zane what the mhhuhuhm” Zane slapped his hand over Jay’s mouth and quickly closed the door. 

They waited for a few moments. 

Slowly, Zane pulled away his hand. Jay coughed, “Ugh! Warn me next time you shove me into a tight space! Some of us are a bit claustrophobic here!” He said, opening the door.

“My apologies Jay, but you were simply being too loud, my scanners say anyone could've heard you within a 2 mile radius.” Jay scoffed as he walked out.

“Woaahhhh where are we?” He asked.

Despite being a ninjroid, Zane was at a loss for words.

They, as luck would have it, were no longer in the realm of Sweet and Sour, but they weren't in Ninjago either. A black, chilly, sole sucking fog covered the lands and it was colder, and darker than any other place they’ve ever been to before, so much so that Zane had to turn on his night vision sensors to get a good look at where they were. 

It was… depressing. 

The land stretched out for miles, with nothing to be seen except broken pieces of junk that littered the ground.

“Ow! Who put that thing there!?”

“oooooooohhhhhh”

Zane turned to his brother to find him on the ground rubbing his head. He seemed to have walked into one of those junk piles. 

“What did you just say?” Zane asked.
“I said ow.”

“No, after that.”

“Who put that thing there?” 

“No, before that.”

Jay stared at his brother for what felt like an eternity, “Ow?”

Zane gave up hope and went to help Jay get back on his feet.

“Cool junk though I gotta admit, even if I can’t see it. I bet my dad would love some spare parts for whatever invention he’s making. Mind if I take some home?” Jay reached out and touched the junk pile. 

“Oooooooohhhhhh”

“AHHH!” Jay jumped into Zane’s arms, “It just did something! Zane it sounded like- like?- like?- singing?” 

Zane dropped Jay onto the floor, (“Yelp!”) and went to examine the junk pile. 

Upon closer inspection, he found that it really wasn't junk at all, but what looked to be some kind of music note. Wearily, Zane placed his hand on it for a few seconds. 

“oooooooohhhhhh”

“Well Mr Roboto? Got anything?” Jay whined, still on the ground. 

“It is possible Jay, that that closet we went into, was one of the secret entrances into the Realm of Sweet and Sour, except this one, it seems, is connected to a different realm. One filled with music.”

“The realm of Song and Dance?”

Zane nodded, “but,” Jay said, “Why is it so gloomy? I thought music was supposed to be happy?” 

“Alas young travelers, it used to be.” A croaky voice said. The ninja turned around to see a short man standing in front of him, he had a dark straw hat on his orange head, and his clothes, while being worn down and very dirty, looked to once be a proud tuxedo. 

“And,” Jay asked the man shyly, “It's not anymore?”

The man shook his head. He really was very short, maybe 35 inches? “No, now the lands are simply known as Solitario.”

“Sol-i-tar-what-o?”

“Solitario, It is Spanish for Lonely Jay.” Zane said.

“Ah you speak the language?” The man asked. 

“I am a ninjroid. I can speak every language. What happened to Solitario?”

“Nada bueno, there hasn't been one single song sung, or one dance performed in many years.”

“Why not?”

“The music note of harmony, used to be our power source, it fed everyone in Solitario with joy and song! But, tragically, it was stolen, and with it the joy and meaning to live.”

“Once the music note of harmony was taken from its rightful place, the sky went dark and everyone lost the will to do anything. The floating music notes that once brought so much happiness, to our lands and our people, fell to the ground.”

Jay’s face filled with confusion at the floating music note part, but Zane interrupted him before he could ask about it. “Do you have any idea who might’ve stolen it?”

“Yes, but it's impossible to get back, the person who has it now has put protective barriers over it. Only those who can dance and sing can break the barrier. And there is not a single soul in Solitario who can do that anymore.” He shook his head sadly, hanging it low in depression.

Zane and Jay shared a glance, “Who has it now?” Jay asked. 

“Senor Mannie, he owns a dance studio a couple blocks from here, I can take you to him if you want, but I must warn you. He is a very powerful man and very smart.”

Jay smirked, “Even smarter than a ninjroid? Ha! I think not, take us to this Senor Mannie guy please, uh-”

“-Moon” Moon said, “I was named after the moon, as it dances in the reflection of the tides. Or rather, it used to.” Moon let out a grave sigh. 

Zane gave him a sympathetic smile, “My name is Zane, this is Jay. We need that music note of harmony to save our brother’s life.”

“Que desgraceia! Is he sick?”

“You can say that.” Jay smiled. “So? Are we going to save Cole and Solitario or what?”

“I suppose so,” Moon sighed, “but what is a coal?”

Chapter Text

Cole doesn't know why he dived into the moat.
Maybe because he was hungry, and it reminded him of the milk and cookies his mom used to make for him after school.
Or maybe it was because giant gingerbread guards were chasing him.
One thing was for certain, he was sorely regretting that decision now, he had barely managed to swim to the other side, as the mysterious pink bubbles kept making loud popping noises in his ears, and by the time he finally got away from the gingerbread police, and climbed out of the moat, he was sopping wet and smelled like spoiled milk. 

“Great.” He muttered to himself, “Just great.” 

“Indeed, it is Nicholos!” 

Cole turned around ready to launch and attack on the voice. 

Miss Pale stood only a few meters away, twin ovens guarding her side. “Oh oh you poor thing!” She said, looking at Cole's damp clothes, “Don't worry Nicholos, your bestie is here to take you home! I even bought us matching unicorn onesies!” She clapped her hands together excitedly. 

Cole decided that that was even more terrifying than the candy cane guards. So he spun on his heel and ran. 

“Hey wait! Nicky! Come back! They're pink! Your favorite color!” 

Cole bolted round the back of the castle and was met with a small black door on the side. Deciding to take his chances he opened it carefully and closed it behind him. 

Not a moment too soon either. As he heard the sound of his old teacher's footprints and oven beeps only a few seconds after. 

Cole sighed. That was close. 

He looked around the room he was now in. It looked like a small storage closet. Almost empty except for a spiral staircase leading straight up. 

“Well what do I have to lose?” Cole said to himself. 

Actually a lot

Cole shook his head clean of thought and walked up the stairs.

They were longer than he thought they'd be, but eventually he reached the end. He'd come across a door, although it was difficult to make it out in the dark. Cole grabbed its knob and twisted it. 

“Cole?!”

“Kai?!” 

“What are you doing here?! And why are you covered in pink bubbles?” Kai said. 

Cole shook his head, “I went swimming. Where are- Wait a sec, are we back in the Queen's room?” He said now noticing the giant velvet bed in the middle of the room with twin lamp posts on either side. As well as the podium that stood on the far left corner, on it was a red cushion with a crown on top. 

The crown was beautiful. It was all golden, except for the red (or green as Cole saw it) liquorice lines leading to the middle. In the middle, instead of it being a precious jewel sat the candy corn of fortune. 

“Hello!” A voice said, Cole noticed a man standing next to Kai. Two men. “I'm Ronald! This is my brother Rick.” The man next to him waved. Kai nodded, “They're gonna help us steal the Candy corn of Fortune.” 

Cole was about to point out that having a bunch of strangers lead them in some unknown realm was very dangerous, but he was cut short due to a massive roar. 

“Oh dear.” Rick said. 

“Oh dear?” Kai repeated, “What do you mean ‘oh dear’ that doesn't sound very good!” 

Ronald shook his head, “Mom's awoken the beast.” 

“Beast?” 

“The dragon!” Ronald whispered, shrinking into himself slightly.  

Just then the doors Cole previously entered through slammed open and out stormed a mighty dragon. It let out a loud roar, its teeth snatching in the air. 

“Ay ay ay.” Cole whispered. “This really isn't good.” 

~~~~~~~~~

Moon, Zane realised, was not the happiest person to ever exist. 

He knew he'd be depressed, he'd told them so himself, but he didn't think he'd be THIS grumpy. Every step he took was matched with a sigh, his shoulders were hunched up and his eyes carried a weight no heart could describe. 

He looked just like Cole when he was a ghost. And it scared the ice ninja to tears. 

Well, almost to tears. 

He was a nindroid after all, he couldn't cry. 

Sometimes he wondered if he was even allowed to feel emotions. 

“Sooooooo” Jay sang to break the silence. “How's life treating ya Moon?” Moon didn't stop walking, “Look around Chico. What do you think?” He sighed again. 

Jay nodded, once again falling into silence. Which was very strange. 

“How much further until we get to Senor Mannie?” Zane asked. 

“Not long. De hecho I think I see it.” 

Zane looked up, indeed, he also saw what appeared to be a party shack, and thank goodness it wasn't as depressed looking as the rest of Solitario. In fact, it looked kind of fun. 

It was very lively. Bright colours decorated the walls along with some very questionable graffiti art. Lights shone down from above making the area seem bright and cheerful. It was that place, and that place only did the music notes (similar to the one Jay found earlier) actually danced in the sky. Playing loud joyous music. 

“Despacito. Quiero respirar tu cuello despacito.” 

Zane gagged, not at all approving of the lyrics. 

“Hey I know this one!” Jay sang, “Deja que te diga cosas al oído!”

He pronounced every word wrong and Zane rightly assumed he didn't have a clue to what the lyrics translated to. 

Moon stopped walking. “Aí this is as far as I'll go. I cannot enter that cursed place.” 

“Cursed?” Zane questioned. 

“Cursed.” Moon repeated. “Hasta luego my friends. I hope you don't become a statue.” 

Maybe it was the way Moon left so suddenly, or maybe it was the way Jay kept singing those disgusting lyrics off key and wrong, but Zane had a very, very bad feeling about that shack. 

“Ahhh Hola mis nuevos amigos!” An ominous voice boomed over loudspeakers. “Welcome to Senor Mannie's Fiesta party club!”

Chapter Text

Cole had to give the dragon credit. It was pretty intimidating looking. It was dark black with glowing orange eyes and a sharp jaggerd tail. Purple spikes littered its back and wings whilst his teeth were the spitting image of an evil embodiment. 

Meaning his breath smelt really really bad.

“Look out!” Ronald yelled as the Dragon's mouth snapped at Kai. Kai, caught off guard, barely managed to duck as its head bit a generous size piece of his hair off. 

“AHHHHHH!” Kai screamed. “MY HAIR! SOMEONE QUICK GRAB ME A MIRROR!” 

“I think we have--woah--” Cole back flipped out of the way as the dragon took a snap towards him “--bigger problems!” 

“BIGGER THAN MY HAIR?!” 

“You cannot be serious right now!” 

“SERIOUS AS MY HAIR!” 

“That's doesn't even make sen-”

“ RRROOOOAAAARRRRR” 

The dragon flapped its wings as it tried to fly around the massive room. The four teens ducked their heads as it soard dangerously over them. 

“Argument later?” Cole asked. 

“Later.” Kai agreed, “Let's kick some lizard butt!” 

“Yeah baby!” Rick shouted, “We've been wanting to kill it ever since mom installed it as the new security.” 

Ronald nodded, “The gingerbread guards and cool and all but they can only do so much. I say we spike it right in the heart!” He pumped his fist into the air. 

“Wait!” Cole said, “We need a plan of attack!” 

“We already have a plan,” Kai said, “ATTACK!” 

Kai, followed by the twins. Leaped into the air and ran boldly towards the dragon. 

Then they seemed to remember that they had no weapons or anything to defend themselves against those giant teeth and skidded to a stop. 

Cole cursed something in Spanish under his breath and grabbed the closest thing to him. 

Which happened to be one of the lamps. 

“Hey! Lizard butt!” He yelled. “How about a light lunch!” He said waving the lamp in the air. 

He saw Kai's facepalm out of the corner of his eye, but considering Cole was just about saving his and the twins' life. Kai decided not to say anything. 

The dragon however had lots to say. 

“RROOOOOAAAAAARRRRRRR” It roared as it charged towards the black ninja. 

Cole leaped out of the way, throwing the lamp at the Dragon's head. 

But Cole was never good at archery. Hence why Zane was always the one with the projectile weapons. 

The lamp zoomed just past its head and crashed through the giant window, shattering it into pieces. 

“Hey wait! That's it!” Kai yelled. Cole thought he had a plan, until he saw Kai pick up a piece of discarded glass and squeal. 

It was that moment, that Cole realised Kai was looking at his reflection. 

“MY HAIR!” He yelled, patting the now bald spot in the middle of his head. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO IT! YOU MONSTER! ”

Kai threw the piece of glass in his hand directly at the Dragon's eye. And unlike Cole, he didn't miss. The dragon cried in pain and his giant scaly claws were brought up to his face desperately swatting his injured eye. 

Ronald and Rick took the opportunity to jump onto its back, which if you ask Cole was a very very brave but foolish move. 

“I've got em’!” 

“I've got em'!” They yelled simultaneously. 

While the Dragon's claws and back were distracted, Cole figured the next best target would be the wings. Which were flapping so violently it kept knocking things over. 

And it was getting dangerously close to the candy corn of fortune. 

Cole ran to the shattered window (Ignoring Kai's pitiful sobs and wails about how “his reputation has been ruined.”) And pulled down the velvet curtains. Turning his attention back to the dragon. He ran faster towards it. 

He had hoped he would pick up enough momentum that by the time he would get there he would be able to jump over its wings and trap them. Luckily for them, it worked. 

As soon as he was over the dragon (wings pushed roughly to its sides) Cole slid underneath its belly not yet willing to let go of the curtains. When he emerged from the other side. He grabbed the back end of the curtain and tied it in a double knot to the front. 

In short the dragon was trapped. 

Unfortunately, there was one thing Cole didn't account for. 

“Ronald, get your elbow off of my head!” 

“I would if your butt would get out of my face!”

“Well maybe your face should get out of my butt!”

“I suppose then your head should get off my elbow!” 

The twins were still on the dragon's back when Cole jumped over it. And now, along with the beast's wings. They were trapped against the Dragon's body. 

Cole cursed in Spanish, “Sorry guys! I'll get you out there in a sec… as soon as we figure out how.” 

“Uh,” Ronald wiggled, “We?” 

Cole turned around to see Kai on the ground curled up in a ball crying his eyes out. A piece of his hair held closely to his chest. 

Cole rolled his eyes. “No,” he muttered, “Just me I suppose.” 

“Ehhh” Rick shrugged his shoulders, “Don't worry bout us. We'll explain to mom when she gets up here that we set off mini marshmallow windup men as a joke. She'll be mad for a few minutes but'll get over it.” He then muttered under his breath, “I hope...” 

Cole nodded, “And you're ok with being tied to a dragon for a couple minutes?” 

“Okay with it?!” Ronald yelled, “Ha! Imagine how cool we'll sound bragging to our friends about this! Yeah yeah we'll be fine. Go get the candy corn of fortune to stop your reverse growth spurt.” 

Cole smiled and thanked the twins. 

Hoisting a crown under one arm, and a very distressed red ninja in the other. Cole climbed out the window and scaled down the castle tower. Onto a soft patch of grass. 

He'd better find Jay and Zane and get as far away from that place as possible. After all, he only had 14 days left. 

Speaking of which. Where were Zane and Jay anyway?  

A giant portal appeared out of thin air glowing a mixture of purple, blue and white. 

And out popped something else that was blue and white. 

“Ha! Omigosh Zane! You were awesome!” Jay shouted, shaking Zane's shoulder as the portal closed behind them. “That was amazing!” 

Zane blushed, “Why thank you brother. I don't think I would've done as well as–” His eyes found his way over to the black ninja, “--Cole!” 

“Yeah well Cole went to a dance school so it doesn't really–”  

“No, Cole! Over there!” 

Jay turned towards his brother, “Cole! Uh oh, you look younger. How much did we miss? OMIGOSH is that Kai under your arm?” He gasped, “IS HE BALD?!” 

Kai whimpered as Jay tried to hide his snickers. 

“Only a little bit.” Cole sighed, “And yeah. I'm 14 now. Where did you guys go?” 

Zane pointed to a medal around his neck. A symbol of a music note inside, “Long story.” 

“I'd love to hear all about it.” Cole said, “But right now we gotta get out of here! My teacher's back.” 

“Awww again?” Jay cried indigently. Cole nodded, “Tell me your story as we go to–” he hummed in thought, “Wait. Where are we going next again?” 

“The kingdom of thought. We can get to it using my medal” Zane said. 

“Aw man!” Cole said, “Not another kingdom!” 

“Let's hope this one doesn't have a d-d-dragon.” Kai whined. 

Jay eyed Cole questionably. 

“Long story.” Cole said, “You go first.” 

“OK welllll.” Jay sang as Zane summoned another portal, “Have you ever heard of Senor Mannie?”

Chapter Text

Jay didn't speak Spanish. 

Cole had once tried to teach him before, but Jay was so confused even he gave up. 

Mostly, Jay wasn't bothered by it, but he did feel slightly useless when he and his brother were in a realm that spoke the language. 

At least Zane understood though. If it were Kai, Jay was stuck with then they'd have no chance. 

“Para que te acuerdes si no estás conmigo ”

Even if he didn't understand Spanish. That song was really catchy.

“Jay, do you have any idea what those lyrics mean?” Zane asked as they walked towards the place where the noise had come from. 

“Nope!” Jay said, “Despacito”

A cold voice laughed so loud that Jay almost jumped out of his socks. His voice cracked midway through the song. 

“Hola!” The voice said. 

Jay turned around to meet… a ghost?

But… it wasn't like any ghost they've ever seen before. This ghost was purple and dressed in a dark magenta suit. A red tie loosely dangled from its collar, and a golden choker was proudly worn around his neck. Along with golden earrings, bracelets and-

“Wooaaahhhh!” Jay said, “Cool ring man!” 

The ghost lifted up its pinky finger where the golden ring lay, a symbol of a music note inside. The ghost laughed again, “Gracias Senor! Y qué te trae a mi humilde fiesta?” He said. 

Jay looked at him confused, a small blush appearing on his cheeks. “Uh-”

“Hola!” Spoke Zane as he stepped in between them, “Estamos buscando algo llamado Music Note of Harmony!” 

Jay silently thanked the stars for Zane. That was close. 

The ghost's face grew stone cold for a second, but then cheered up just as fast. “Ah si!” He smiled, “Vamonos sígueme”

The ghost took them inside the shack, and Jay had to admit, he was a little disappointed. It didn't look nearly as cool as it did on the outside, with the flashing lights and loud speakers… It just looked like a regular dance studio. 

There were black plastic chairs near the far end and a barred fence separating that from the dance floor. The shelves by the counter were laced with trophies and awards. 

But no music notes. 

The ghost walked over to one of the shelves and plucked off a strange looking headset. He put it on his head and tapped the side twice. Then he spoke, “Hello? Is this thing on? Can you hear me?” Jay's eyebrows raised in shock, he didn't know the ghost could speak English!

The ghost laughed, “I can't!,” Jay hadn't realised he voiced those thoughts aloud, “But this headset translates it in a language you can understand, whether that be English…Zulu… Afrikaans, whatever!” 

Zane nodded, he could speak all of them quite fluently, but he was glad Jay could now understand. 

“I am Senor Mannie!” The ghost said proudly, “The keeper of the Music note of Harmony.” He gestured towards his ring, “It morphs into any jewelry that matches the keeper.”

Jay smiled, “Great! So can we please have it?” 

The ghost laughed unkindly, “Ha! This isn't a charity kid. I don't just give stuff away, especially not something as important as that! No no… It needs to be won! In a dance contest!” 

Jay bit back a sigh. He supposed it could've been worse, besides he had gotten very good at dancing anyway, “And if we win? You promise you'll give us what we need?” Jay asked. 

The ghost nodded and placed a hand against his heart, “I promise.” The ghost shone a light blue for a few seconds before going back to his regular purple state. He sighed, “I always forget about the curse.” He muttered, “So which one of you is over 18?” 

“18?!” Jay asked, panicked. 

Senor Mannie pointed lazily to a notice board, where giant red letters laid claim to it. Jay had to squint to read the English fine print. No under 18s are allowed to participate in games unless they wish to turn to stone . 

Senor Mannie sighed, “Last time a 15 year old kid tried to beat me in a dance off. He got so traumatised he accidentally knocked over my table-” He pointed to the counter, “-And got zapped with something my- ah- brother was working on. Turned him completely to stone. Never danced again.” 

Jay was starting to get very bad vibes about this place, but before he could say anything, Zane stepped up, “Jay is 17, I am technically 68. I will dance against you… and I intend to win.”

Senor Mannie laughed heartily, “Of course! You have 15 minutes to warm up. Startingggggg 5 minutes ago.” 

“What!” Jay complained, “That's not fair!”

But the ghost had already taken off his headphones and couldn't understand a word he said.

“Not to worry Jay.” Zane said, “I downloaded many dance moves after watching yours and Cole's dance battle last month. I was hoping to surprise you with it, but this will have to do.” 

Jay still had concerns but Senor Mannie was already walking up to them. “Se acabó el tiempo!” 

Zane nodded, and followed Senor Mannie to the dance floor.

Jay took his place at one of the plastic chairs. Feeling utterly useless and foreboding.

And just like that. A loud speaker started playing a song

“Shes into superstitions” 

“Black cats and voodoo dogs”

“I feel a premonition”

“This girl's gonna make me fall.” 

Senor Mannie clapped his hands along with the beat and slid his feet from side to side waving his arms along with him. 

Jay had to admit. He was good. 

Like Bruno Mars-level good. 

“She's into new sensations”

“New kicks in the candle light” 

“She's got a new addiction”

“For every day and night.” 

He kept up with the beat. Tapping his foot to the left side of him-then to the front- then to the right- then behind- then in front again, but this time moving his entire body, so that he was facing a new direction. His ghostly features even spookier from the back. 

“She'll make you take your clothes off and go dancing in the rain”

“She'll make you live her crazy life, but she'll take away your pain.” 

“Like a bullet to your brain.”

When he whipped around to face them again. He did a mix of what seemed to be a cha cha and the tango. 

It was a weird sight to see. 

And yet Jay couldn't look away. 

“Upside inside out”

“She's livin’ la vida loca”

“She'll push and pull you down”

“Livin’ la vida loca”

He clapped his hands one more time bringing his feet together and correcting his poster. Standing completely still. 

Zane took the opportunity to dance. 

Jay was shocked when he witnessed Zane do

-not one

Not two 

Or three or four

But FIVE pirouettes.

Which was impressive on its own. 

And then Zane started break dancing . 

“Her lips are devil red” 

“And her skin's the color mocha”

“She will wear you out”

“Livin’ la vida loca”

Zane spun his legs around his body, while holding himself up 3 times before flipping into a handstand and spinning up and down. 

Jay found himself mesmerised. He had to ask Zane for lessons when they got home. 

“Woke up in New York city”

“In a funky cheap hotel”

“She took my heart and she took my money”

“She must've slipped me a sleeping pill.” 

With one final push of his hands. Zane ended his routine with a front flip, hands outstretched to Senor Mannie indicating it was his turn. 

Jay turned his attention to the purple ghost, who only scoffed in annoyance and did SIX pirouettes. Easily outdoing Zane. 

“She never drinks the water” 

“And makes you order French Champagne”

“Once you've had a taste of her”

“You'll never be the same” 

“Yeah she'll make you go insane.” 

Next the ghost bent over backwards into his own one handed handstand before doing a double backflip landing back on his feet. Arms proudly raised high. 

“He's copying Zane’s moves…” Jay said to himself, “Only… better.” 

“Upside inside out”

“She's livin’ la vida loca”

“She'll push and pull you down”

“Livin’ la vida loca”

Senor Mannie relaxed his arms letting them drop to his sides. He lifted one foot up bending his knee, placed it down on solid ground and twirled to the left. 

He did the same thing for the right side after that. 

“Her lips are devil red” 

“And her skin's the color mocha”

“She will wear you out”

“Livin’ la vida loca”

Finally, he paused long enough to nod at Zane. 

Zane was apparently not threatened by this performance at all. And did a series of impressive flips before landing in the splits. 

Jay on instinct winced. He had tried to do that once and couldn't get back up again. 

Zane had no problems with that though and jumped back up almost instantly. Spinning his arm in the air and slamming it to the ground when his feet touched it. 

“She'll make you take your clothes off and go dancing in the rain”

“She'll make you live her crazy life, but she'll take away your pain.” 

“Like a bullet to your brain.”

He fixed his posture and moved his shoulders one by one syncing with his feet that were sliding backwards. 

He was successfully outdoing Senor Mannie. 

Jay couldn't believe his eyes. 

“Upside inside out”

“She's livin’ la vida loca”

“She'll push and pull you down”

“Livin’ la vida loca”

Zane stopped in place and kicked one foot out to the side. Gracefully spinning around once along with the beat. When he faced Senor Mannie again. He skipped on the spot showcasing his arms in a “Ta da!” Sorta way. 

“Her lips are devil red” 

“And her skin's the color mocha”

“She will wear you out”

“Livin’ la vida loca”
“She’s livin la vida loca.”

Senor Mannie's face fell. And for a second, Jay believed they won… or Zane won. 

But then the ghost wiggled its fingers towards its opposite hand and tapped on the ring. Almost immediately. Some kind of portals started randomly appearing on the dance floor. Teleporting pieces of it away. 

Where they went. Jay didn't know. 

Bit by bit the floor kept disappearing and the dark void that lay seemingly unnoticed below started to become more noticeable. 

And more of a risk. 

Zane was caught off guard and almost fell into a hole. He was jumping from one spot to another as the ground around him began to disappear. 

One minute he was trying not to fall. 

The next he almost ran into a portal.  

And if they made the ground disappear. Jay didnt wanna know what it would do to Zane. 

Jay assumed that due to recent events, the show was over. 

He charged straight at the ghost who was now floating above the chaos. 

He must've forgotten Jay was there. Because he certainly looked surprised when Jay literally leaped into the air and grabbed onto his boots.

Of course. That could also be because Jay literally leaped into the air and grabbed onto his boots.

The ghost muttered something in Spanish that Jay didn't understand but heard Cole say multiple times before, and tried to hang on as Senor Mannie tried to shake him off. “Uh Zane! A little help here!”

“She'll make you take your clothes off and go dancing in the rain”

“She'll make you live her crazy life, but she'll take away your pain.” 

“Like a bullet to your brain”
“Come on!”

Zane took one look at Jay and immediately parkoured towards… the display cabinet. 

“ZANE!”

“Jay take this!” Zane yelled. He threw a trophy towards the master of lightning. 

Now Jay was never much of a sports person, so it was a down right miracle he managed to catch it.

“Upside inside out”

“She's livin’ la vida loca”

“She'll push and pull you down”

“Livin’ la vida loca”

“Stab the ring!” Zane yelled again. Doing his best to avoid the new portals popping up.

Senor Mannie had no idea what was going on. Since he couldn't understand anything they were saying, but he definitely did not like it when Jay tried to poke a sharp object near his flesh, and tried to shake him off harder. 

Unfortunately for him. Jay was a skilled and professional ninja who was trained for situations like these. 

Ok. So not EXACTLY for situations like that, but you get the point. 

He stabbed the ring.

“Her lips are devil red” 

“And her skin's the color mocha”

“She will wear you out”

“Livin’ la vida loca”

The music note inside popped out with a sizzling CRACK and flew all the way to Zane, taking the form of a necklace and attaching itself around Zane's neck. The ninjroid's hand flew towards it. As soon as he touched it, all the portals stopped appearing. 

The ghost let out a scream and managed to shove Jay off onto the floor.

“Upside inside out”

“She's livin’ la vida loca”

“She'll push and pull you down”

“Livin’ la vida loca”

Senor Mannie snatched the sharp trophy out of Jay's hands and raised it above his head, coming in for the blow. 

And he very well would've delivered a very fatal and quite painful one. Had another portal not appeared right in front of him. 

Jay used all the remaining strength he had to push Senor Mannie into it. 

The ghost screamed once more before the portal closed.

“Her lips are devil red” 

“And her skin's the color mocha”

“She will wear you out”

“Livin’ la vida loca”
“She's livin la vida loca.”

Jay whipped around to find Zane standing, arms outstretched. His necklace was glowing a gentle blue as Jay rushed over to him. “Zane! Hey! You did it! That was-” 

“Yes.” Zane smiled, “But you can thank me later Jay. Let's get out of here.” 

“Yeah. But uh how are we gonna do that exactly?” 

Zane pointed at his necklace, “This.” 

Jay backed away, his hands up in surrender, “Woah woah. Buddy. Are you sure that's safe?” 

Zane nodded, “I sense it is.” 

Great . Jay thought Cuz I just LOVE it when he says stuff like THAT.

“Come on!”
“Gotta la vida loca!”

“Gotta, gotta, gotta la vida loca!”

“Gotta, gotta, gotta la vi-”

The song sang its final verse as the two ninjas disappeared.

Chapter Text

“Awww man! A whole realm of dancing and Spanish, two of my most favorite things in the WORLD and I missed it.” Cole sulked once Jay and Zane finished telling the story, “Instead, I was here helping THIS-” He jabbed a finger at Kai's shoulder, “idiot with his dragon problem.” 

Kai sighed as he adjusted his hat, “Not my fault. Stupid dragon, stupid hair, stupid-” 

“We get it!” Jay said, “But could you please take off the hat? It's distracting me.” 

Kai held up a finger, “A. You get distracted at anything and everything Jay seriously.” He held up a second finger, “And two, no matter how degrading this hat is I REFUSE to be seen by the public with my-” He sobbed, “Current situation.” 

The realm of sweet and sour didn't have a thrift store like how the Ninja had come to know them. 

What they did have, was a candy land themed costume store, filled to the brim with all kinds of ridiculous costumes. Kai however decided that wearing a giant red and white candy cane hat was better than being seen (half) bald. He assumed if any of his fans asked why he was wearing a ridiculous hat, he'd just say he was starting a new trend. 

Of course, being voted the NO.1 HOTTEST CELEBRITY IN NINJAGO. It was very likely it would actually become a trend. 

“It is not that bad brother.” Zane said, “I actually think that hairstyle suits you.” 

Jay and Cole tried their best to cover up their laughs, to no avail. Kai scolded, “Yeah yeah laugh it up but-” He pointed to Jay, “Born in a junkyard,” then to Zane, “A ninjroid,” and finally to Cole, “A 12 year old.” 

Cole crossed his arms, “I'm 14 Kai and I may look young but at least I don't look like a dragon bit a big chunk of my hair off.” He put a finger to his chin pretending to think, “Oh yeahhhh that actually did happen to you.” 

“Thats it! Come here you!” Kai launched towards his brother. Cole ducked with a very undignified scream and bolted in the opposite direction, laughing as Kai chased after him. 

~~~~~~~~~~

As the sun set and the skies grew darker, the ninjas decided it would be best to set up camp.

~~~~~~~~~~

He felt his chest close in on itself and he gasped for breath.
The air felt like sandpaper, but he supposed it was better than dying.
He couldn’t risk being alone…Not again, not ever.
His foot got caught on a stone and he fell. He reached his arms out, bracing himself for the worst. 

The hot sand felt like lava against his skin, but it was nothing compared to the poison in his ears. Cold laughter shook the lands, and he curled up trying to block out the unwelcome sound.
“AWAKEN THE BEAST!” It screeched, “AWAKEN THE BEST AND BRING ME THE BOY!” The boy groaned, wishing with all his might that it would just stop.
“AWAKEN!” It screeched, anger and desperation lining its voice.
“AWAKEN!”
“AWAKEN!”
“WAKE UP!”

Kai shot up, gasping for breath, Jay sat next to him, the fire masking a shadow onto his face, “Are you ok?” He asked. Kai nodded slowly. The sky was still dark, so he assumed it was close to midnight. “Nightmare.” He whispered.
It had definitely been a nightmare, but it was one he’d been getting for weeks, and admittedly, it was starting to affect him more than he let on. Jay opened his mouth to speak, probably to ask for more detail but Kai interrupted him, “What time is it?” He asked.
Jay looked down at his watch, “12:00pm” He said, “Hey Kai you sure you’re-”
“ SCREEEEEEEEAAAAAAMMMMM. ” 

Both lightning and fire jumped into defensive positions scanning the area for any sign of whatever or whoever screamed.
Then they saw him.
Cole lay on his back, his body shook violently, his mouth foamed and his eyes were bloodshot. Kai got to him first and rolled him onto his side. “Clock it!” He yelled. Jay’s eyes filtered through his watch then to his friends. “24 seconds!”
Cole shook more violently, but there wasn't anything either could do about it. 

“A minute forty” Jay said again.
Kai’s face darkened, if it went over 5 minutes, they’d be in serious medical trouble.

“Two fifteen.” 

Most seizures stopped on their own by now, but Cole didn’t. In fact he only got worse.
“Three minutes!"
This was nearing critical. 

“Four ten!”
Kai reached into his pocket and grabbed his phone, they had to call an ambulance.
But…Then something happened that shocked Kai into dropping his device. Cole’s body shrunk .

Not drastically, no, but enough.
He was officially 13 years old.

The seizure stopped, and the black ninja’s chest rose and fell normally. 

“5 minutes…” Jay whispered. 

`````````````````````````````````````

Cole’s eyes fluttered open as the sunlight beamed down on them. He sat up and stretched.

“Cole!” Jay crushed him in a hug, “Your ok your ok!”
Cole opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Kai, “Give him some space Jay.” He said grabbing the bluebird by the back of his collar and yanking him off the earth ninja. He then looked at Cole, his eyes searching for any sign of danger, “How you feeling?”
Cole looked at them confused, “I’m fi-iine” His voice cracked mid sentence. Jay giggled before Kai kicked him in the shin. “You don’t feel weird? After last night?”
Cole shook his head, “No? What happened last ni-iight.” Jay’s cheeks puffed up as he tried to hide his amusement. Both ninjas ignored him.

“You mean you don’t remember?” Kai asked. 

“Remeber wh- hat .” 

“You had a seizure.”

“I had a WHA- AAT !”
“Shush not too loud, Zane’s still asleep.”

“Oh sorry yeah I just found out I had a sei- iizure . I’ll try to keep it down.” He scoffed sarcastically.
Kai rolled his eyes, “Well you feel fine don’t you Squeaky?” 

“Don’t call me tha- aat !” 

Jay slapped both hands over his mouth, but his laughter was still present. 

Cole considered bashing both his brother’s heads together but decided he had bigger things to worry about, “What do you me- eean I had a sei- iizure ?”

“Well Jay and I were awake and we heard you scream so we went to check on you and found you having one.” Kai said, “Don’t you remember anything at all?” 

Cole shook his head, “Not really, I mean maybe I had a small headache but I’m not sure. I’ve been asleep since 10pm last night.” 

“Good morning brothers!.” Zane said, walking up to them, “What are you discussing?” 

“Cole’s voice is cracking!”

“Cole had a seizure last night” 

“I want ca- ake .” They said simultaneously. All heads turned to look at the latter, “What?” Cole said, “I hadn’t eaten in da- ays and the gingerbrea -aad palace made me hun- ngry .” 

“You had a seizure last night?” Zane asked, ignoring Cole’s complaints, “How long was it?”

“Exactly 5 minutes." Jay said. Zane’s eyes shot up, “That’s incredibly critical, why didn’t you wake me?” 

“We all need our rest.” Kai said, “Besides, Cole stopped afterwards and he looked fine, just…younger.” 

“Maybe that’s how it happens?” Jay asked, “When he de-ages, that would explain why he doesn’t remember it.”
“Come to thi- iink of it,” Cole said, “I can’t remember wha- aat cause me to de-age be- efore .” 

“I believe tonight we should monitor you though, to be sure.” Zane said kneeling down in front of the raven, “permission to scan you?”
Cole was about to protest when both Jay and Kai said, “Granted.” He pouted as Zane’s scanner activated.

“Your vitals are healthy, although you do seem to be experiencing the slight annoyance known as puberty but you have no signs of having a seizure at all.” Zane said as Jay fell into a fit of giggles again. 

“Jay shu- uut up! It was gonna happen eventually.”

“I didn’t say anything!” Jay protested raising his hands in mock surrender while a smile danced on his lips, before doubling over in laughter.

“Ha ha laugh it up but at lea- ast I still have hair!”

“Hey don’t bring me into this!” Kai complained, adjusting his hat, he kinda hoped the jokes would end by now.

“Kinda hard not to, when you look like a dragon bit half of it off.”

“Shut up Jay!”
“Kai’s got no haaaiiirr Kai’s got no haaaiiirrr” He sang

“You’re about to have no FACE!”  

“Brothers!” Zane said, “We have more urgent things to focus on! Such as brewing the tea before Cole becomes an infant.”
Kai and Jay stopped arguing and took on rather sheepish positions, “Right.” Kai said, “What realm are we now in, again?”
“The Kingdom of Thought.” Zane said, “We are just on the outskirts of it, but before we go in I must warn you of its danger.”

“The Kingdom of Thought is widely known as a manipulative realm. It can take any thought you have and weave it into coming alive, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse. Safety professionals have dubbed it unsafe to visit for tourists, so we’ll have to sneak in as it’s the only way we’ll be able to get the Bubble of Healing.” 

Kai’s face fell. He did NOT like the idea of visiting another kingdom, but as Cole’s voice cracked with a “Lets go!” He realised he didn’t have much of a choice.
At least it would prove to be a good distraction of his nightmare.

Well, as long as he didn’t think about it, but hey! How hard could that be?

Turns out, very very hard.

Chapter Text

Cole loved his brothers, he really did! Even their quirks were something he'd always admired. 

Except for this one… the oh so annoying worrying glances they kept shooting at him. 

Cole was always the big brother (As much as Kai liked to hold being 3 days older than him over his head, Cole still looked after him and saved his ass on multiple occasions), it was his job to protect them! But…as he grew younger each day…he realised that job was getting increasingly difficult. 

Especially when he kept embarrassingly  tripping over his gi.

“Dammit!” He yelled as his face yet again kissed the ground. He heard Jay snicker somewhere in front of him, “Shu-ut up!” He quickly stabilised himself, while standing up. 

His gi was starting to become a problem, by being simply too big for him. 

“Here let me try something.” Kai said, walking over to Cole. He placed a hand on his shoulder and closed his eyes, deep in thought. 

“...” 

“...” 

“Uh Kai…” Cole said a bit awkwardly, “What are you doing?” 

Kai opened one eye annoyed, “I'm trying to imagine your gi being smaller! Ugh Zane! Didn't you say we were in the Kingdom of Thought?” 

Zane looked at him perplexed, “Indeed we are, I believe if you want Cole's gi to fit him, you have to…wish for it to happen?” 

Jay's face paled. 

“Okayy.” Kai said confused, “Then I wish-” 

“-NO WISHES!” Jay yelled. Everyone looked at him concerned, “I mean…why wish for something when we have everything we need right?” 

“Except we don't.” Kai said, “Cole’s gi is way too big, if he wears it anymore, he'll keep tripping over it, and whilst you find that hilarious, I'm worried he won't be able to fight.” 

Since when did Kai get so sensible? 

Zane nodded, “Kai is right…Do it. But be careful, like I mentioned earlier, this is a very manipulative realm.” 

Kai nodded and closed his eyes, “I wish Cole's gi was smaller.” 

There was a “yelp” from Cole as Kai and everyone else looked at him. 

He was standing there, face red, in his underwear. His torn and broken gi lay no bigger than a mushroom under him. 

Zane covered his eyes respectfully. Jay burst into laughter and Kai mumbled apologies over and over again. 

Cole glared at his friends, “Gre-eat! Thanks Ka-ai this is SO much bet-ter!” 

Kai smiled sheepishly, “Okay don't worry I can fix this.” He closed his eyes again, “I wish Cole's gi fit him.” 

Immediately there was another yelp from Cole and everyone expected his gi to be back on him..which did happen but-

-what they didn't expect was to see him an inch tall, glaring up at the red ninja tapping his foot impatiently. 

Kai covered his mouth to hide his amusement, as Zane crouched down and picked Cole up in between his fingers, “Perquilier.” He mumbled as Cole yelled a tiny and very adorable “Put me down!”

“See!” Jay said annoyingly, “Wishes are bad! We can't make them anymore!” He then looked at Cole, “-Well…no more once we get you back to normal.” 

“Wait,” Kai said, “Why can't we just wish-” 

“DONT SAY IT!” Jay yelled. 

Kai rolled his eyes, “Why can't we just W. I. S. H. For Cole to be normal again. You know, not de-agy?” 

“You saw what happened the last two times Kai.” Zane said putting Cole down, “What if we W.I.S.H for that and end up erasing him from existence?” 

Cole's tiny voice popped up, “Uh that wo-ould be bad!” He squeaked. 

“We can't risk it!” Jay decided. 

“Fine.” Kai said, “Then I wish Cole to return back to the way he was before I made any wishes three minutes ago. As a thirteen year old kid with voice cracks.” 

Cole glared at him once more before growing taller into his original body. Bonus! His gi fit him now! Yippee!

“That was hor-rible” Cole said, “No more wishes, lets just get the Bubble of Thought and leave.” He said walking down the path. His brothers close in tow. 

“Where do you think it is?” Jay asked after a while. Zane shook his head, “I'm not sure. My sensors aren't picking any specific coordinates up. Only that it is in this realm.” 

“Great.” Kai said, “So we're just walking blindly?” 

“Not exactly.” Zane said, “We could go to the palace?”

“Ughhh not another palace! I lost half my hair the last time we went to one.” 

“Oh-h the tradagy.” Cole rolled his eyes sarcastically. 

“Watch it Squeaky.” 

“Stop calling me th-at.” 

“Brothers!” Zane stood between them, “I believe over there is a good place to look.” 

Zane pointed towards an ocean. 

But it wasn't like any ocean any of them had seen before, the water here was actually- 

“Red?” Cole asked, “I've ne-ever seen red water before.” 

“It's actually green.” Zane corrected, “and green is a symbol of good health. The Bubble of healing is likely to be in there.” 

Cole ignored the way his face heated up, “Ugh should've brought Nya.” He muttered. 

“Shes on a private mission with Sensei Wu remember? Along with Lloyd?” Kai said, “besides, wouldn't a bubble most likely be in the air? Not underwater.” 

“I'm with Zane on this one.” Jay piped up, “The water looks like a dead give away to me.” 

“But I can't swim! And Cole can't touch-” Kai stopped talking in favor of looking guilty, “No wait…you can. Sorry Cole.” 

Cole shook his head, it was easy to forget he wasn't a ghost anymore. Heck even he forgot sometimes. 

Didn't mean he liked talking about it though. 

“It's fine. Me, Zane and Jay will go down, you stay here and keep guard.” 

“I do not know Cole. I do think it would be wiser to stay together. At least allow me to stay with Kai.” 

Kai shook his head, “Nah it's okay. It's probably a lot more dangerous down there than it is up here and with Cole’s current-uh situation. He needs all the protection he could get.” 

“Yeah.” Jay smirked, “Wouldnt want anywing hwapping twoo our widdle baby bwuther.” He teased, crouching down to Cole's height. Cole slapped Jay's face annoyed, “May-ybe you should sta-y with Kai. I'm sure he'll lo-ove to babysit you.” He said. 

“Says the baby.” Jay teased back. 

“Brothers!” Zane said frustratingly. “I suggest we leave? I don't want to leave Kai alone longer than necessary.” 

Cole nodded, putting his leader fatigue back on, “We'll be-e ba-ck soon. Stay sa-fe.” He told Kai. 

With that, Cole, Zane and Jay jumped into the water. 

It was at that moment Kai realised they couldn't breathe, so he did the one thing he knew he shouldn't have done. 

He made a wish. 

“I wish they could breathe underwater.” He said. 

Boy was that a mistake.

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

Cole held a very…interesting record.
He had the most transformations than any other ninja. From human, to ghost, to human again, (and years later, to a puppy) 

But he’d never in his entire life expected to become a fish. 

He flapped his tale experimentally underwater. Kai must've wished for this to happen, maybe not directly but it was sure annoying. 

“No fair!” Cole heard a muffled voice in his head that sounded quite similar to Jay, “How come you get to be a salmon?” 

Cole swished his tail around to turn his body. Jay- or what he assumed was Jay- appeared to be a very small shrimp.

Cole burst into laughter causing air bubbles to escape through his mouth, “Always knew you were shrimpy.” He teased, glad to realise his voice cracks were no longer a problem. Jay crossed his 8 legs protectively around his middle. “Har har, wait where’s Zane?” 

“I am right here brothers.” Zane swam towards them, looking exactly the same as before, “As a Ninjroid, I already can breathe underwater, in the sense of not being able to breathe at all.” 

Cole flapped his fins, that made sense, but one thing still didn’t, “How can you hear us?” He thought, as Jay and him weren't actually speaking out loud. 

“Pixal and Nya installed fish communication devices in my vocal system when we were trying to stop Wojeria.” He said, “At the time, they weren't aware that Nya could talk to whales, so I was to be their translator, although we never used it.”
Jay giggled, “That is the most random thing ever.” He laughed. 

Cole smiled too, “Okay, so where do we go from here?” He thought. 

Zane’s eyes grew a green tint as scanners escaped through them. He tilted his head to the left and then to the right to scan the surrounding areas. 

“I am picking up a strange structure about 50 fathoms below us. It would be best to go there.”
“Are you sure shrimps can go that far?” Cole teased. Jay scolded, “For your information, us shrimps can dive down all the way to the bottom of the ocean.” He paused, “Wait, how do I know that?”

“It appears you have developed a shrip’s abilities and knowledge.” Zane said, intrigued. 

“Oh great, because everyone knows shrimps are notoriously known for being smart." Jay grumbled.

Cole smirked, “Smarter than you.” 

Jay rolled his eyes, which looked incredibly weird regarding his physical appearance. 

“Friends, I suggest we get going, I am reluctant to leave Kai alone any longer than necessary.” Zane said worryfully before swimming downwards. Cole and Jay exchanged a look and swam after. 

As long as they didn’t make any more wishes, this should be just like any old regular mission (ignoring the fact they’re sea creatures, of course.) 

But…whats to stop other people making wishes for them?

Other…Bad people.

Chapter Text

Kai was bored, there wasn’t much he could really do by himself, and there were only so many songs he could sing to pass the time. 

He regretted not taking swim classes with Nya when they were little but it wasn’t like he was scared of water, he took showers everyday! 

It was deep water that scared him, along with the unknown.

Other than his friends, he had no idea what was down there, and it terrified him.

What if he drowned?

What if the current pulled him in? 

What if he never got to see his family again?

Call him a coward, but he’d take being alone on dry land than underwater with his friends anyday. 

Although…he wasn’t alone for long. 

“Greetings Red Ninja.” Mrs Pale said. 

Kai glared at her unwelcomingly, “Cole isn’t he-”
“Oh I’m not looking for Nicholas.” Mrs Pale said smirking, she straightened her lab coat with a bark of laughter, “Dios, mio no! I’m looking for you.” 

If dramatic music was playing, this would be the appropriate timing for a, dun dun dun.

“Me?” Kai asked confused, “What do you want me for?” 

“Oh I believe you know young Kai.” Mrs Pale slowly walked towards him. Kai made no effort to move. Mrs Pale cupped his cheek in her hands, “You know far too well, I’m sure.” She whispered into his ear.
Kai flinched as her warm breath pierced his skin, “And if I don't?"  

“Then you will when the time is right.” Mrs Pale let go of him and placed a kiss on his cheek. 

It reminded him of his grandmother. Gross

“Whats stopping me from attacking you right now?” Kai said pushing her away and readying his stance. Mrs Pale laughed, "Because you care! You care so much more about me than any of your friends, I know Kai, oh I know it! You would kill them to save me any day!”
Kai lunged at her, but she backflipped backwards and out of arms reach, “I wish you forgot spinjitsu.” She said,

Kai felt something change inside him, and he attempted to summon his spinjitsu, but he couldn't. He just harmlessly spun around in circles, like a kid trying to see how dizzy they could get before they had to stop. 

Kai fell to the floor exhausted, “My spinjitsu?” He said, “What have you-” But he was interrupted when Mrs Pale kicked his face. 

And he was out cold. 

“Si, you will do nicely,” She whispered. “MUWHAHHAHAHA.”

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

“Another forty days I’m lost at sea. I’m just gonna swim until you love me.” Jay sang while swimming, “Swim, Swim, Swim.”

Cole groaned beside him, “How many more of those songs are you going to be singing?" He said. Jay laughed, "Until I run out! Come on Mr Lou Brookstone’s son! Aren’t you supposed to be good at singing?” 

“He is.” Zane swam next to them, “I heard him in the shower last month. Although I must agree with him that those songs are getting quite annoying.”

Jay shrugged, all eight legs going up with it. “I try very hard to be annoying, don’t insult my ability to annoy.”
Cole laughed, “You did not just quote Leo Valdez.”

Jay opened his mouth to retort when he was interrupted by a massive boom. Underwater shock waves appeared in front of the trio and knocked them all backwards. Cole was flung sideways and Jay was forced into a backflip, Zane was only pushed back a little bit, seeming to not be too bothered by it. 

“Ugghh.” Jay shook his head, his already too big eyes widened, “What was that!” Zane put a hand to his chin, in thought, “I do not know, although I am aware of many underwater volcanoes in this region, I do not believe one would’ve been likely to set off.” He paused, “Jay, where is Cole?” 

Jay swished his tail to turn the rest of his body around, if shrimps were capable of breathing, he was sure he would’ve choked at the sight of his fishy brother upside down, “COLE!” Jay and Zane swam towards him.

Zane carefully flipped Cole back around, the salmon in question blinked (Jay wondered if fish could even blink? Whatever it wasn't important right now) before swishing his tail, swimming once again. Even though he looked a bit shaken up, he seemed to be physically fine otherwise, Jay visibly relaxed. 

“That nearly killed us!” Cole said crossly, “Do we know what it was? Or where it came from?” 

Zane's eyes flashed green, "Activating solar scanners, processors estimate three minutes wait time.” Jay and Cole nodded as Zane's face changed to look like a solar scanner. 

“Are you okay?” Jay asked. Ever since the seizure that happened the night prior he, along with everyone else has been keeping a very close eye on Cole, much to his annoyance. Cole rolled his eyes, “I’m fine Jay.” He said a bit frustrated.
Jay didn’t look convinced, “But-” 

“-I said I was fine!” 

“...” 

Cole sighed, “Sorry,” He said ducking his head shamefully, “I- I didn’t mean to-” 

“-No it’s fine I get it, you're fine after you had a seizure AFTER numerous deathly adventures to stop your body from rapidly de-aging and changing like it's been the past six days-” 

“Jay-”

“-And then shrinking down then growing up and changing into a fish who knows how long before an explosion of some kind of some degree launched you backwards like a bajillion yards-”
“-It wasn’t that much-”

“-And then turning upside down, which fish only ever really do when they’re dead! Honestly, how are you even still alive at this point? How are any of us still alive!”

“JAY!” Cole sucked in water and spat it in the shrimp’s face. Jay gagged, “ugh! Gross!” 

Cole looked like he was about to say something but was interrupted by Zane, “Brothers!” The ninjroid said, “It looks like we are in luck!” 

“We are?” Jay asked, “Did you figure out what caused the explosion?” Zane shook his head, “No, but I did locate the bubble of healing, and it appears to be very close by, and not much of a challenge to obtain.”

Cole swished his tail happily, “Really? That's great! How so?” 

Zane beamed, “It only has one deadly obstacle guarding it!” He said smiling. 

“Of course it does.” Jay muttered. Cole didn’t want anything more but to comfort him, however he didn’t know what time it was, and if it was or was not close to midnight. Which is when he would supposedly de-age. Plus,  if his friend’s theories were true about a seizure being how it happened, he didn’t want to be stuck as a fish when the time eventually came around. 

Truthfully, he didn’t know if fish could even have seizures, but he sure did NOT want to find out. 

“Then let's be quick, fight whatever's guarding it, grab it and get out.” He then added, “Preferably in one piece.” Although the joke didn’t seem to land, and only put his shrimpy brother more on edge.

Zane nodded and started swimming downwards, “Follow me brothers!” 

“Wait!” Jay called swimming after, “Isn’t the palace the other way?” 

Zane shook his head, “It’s not in the palace, according to my database it was cast out many moons ago after being classified as dangerous and unstable.”

Cole could practically hear Jay’s anxious thoughts while swimming after him, “It’ll be fine.” He said, “We’ve faced worst, lets just-” 

It must’ve been international interrupt Cole day, because he never got to finish his sentence. 

Of course, that could also be due to the giant kraken that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. 

“HOLY COW!” Jay screamed, coming to a halt suddenly, causing Cole to accidentally ram into him. Of this he took no notice of,  “WHAT IS THAT?!” 

“That is merely a friendly kraken, they are harmless." Zane said, "Don't look back, the bubble of healing is just up ahead.” 

Jay didn’t need to be told twice as he and Cole started swimming again, at least a bit faster than before. 

The kraken let out an enormous roar, right before following them.

“Uh Zane?” Cole said, worry creeping into his voice, “What do Krakens typically eat?” 

“Sailor’s stories say it would destroy ships and feast on the pirates that dwelled on them, however those stories have been proved false by modern day professionals. Kraken are typically harmless to people and only eat small fish and shrimps.” 

“...”

“...”

Zane made a face- “Oh dear….Yes I see how this isn't very ideal.”

Chapter Text

Kai was surrounded by darkness, nothingness stretched out in front of him like an endless road, “Hello?” He called out. 

“Hola Kai.” A voice boomed around him. Kai pulled his hood over his face, “Where am I? Who are you?” 

The voice laughed cold and booming, “Awaken the best and bring me the boy.” 

“I’ll never help you!” Kai said, gripping his head, “Get out of my head!” 

The voice laughed again, “Oh sweet sweet Kai.” It said, “You are the one in my head!” 

Kai shuddered, “Pale? Boy? Ugh are you talking about Cole? Is all this really worth some stupid childhood friendship?” 

“Friendship?” Miss Pale said, “HA! You really believed we were best friends? No no, I despised him! I hated him with every evil bone in me.” The voice moved as it spoke, giving the impression that Kai was surrounded. “Then why do you want Cole so bad?” Kai asked, feeling more on edge. 

Pale laughed, “I never cared about Nicholas! I only cared about his heart!” 

“His heart?” Kai asked, confused.

“Pure as gold, it is not corrupted like mine. You see fire ninja. After Cole and his pathetic friends-”

“-Hey!” 

“-Defeated the great devour, I was in a coma, dying. When I got hit by dark matter, it saved my life. However now my heart is black as stone and cold as ice. I no longer care about anything and anyone but myself and my own selfish needs. Then I heard that Cole, my old student, was a ninja, and fighting for good? Ha! Well I realised his heart was the kindest of all. You see Kai, I need that. I crave it, when Cole eventually deages into nothing I will travel to him and steal his heart before it was ever put into his body! And I will replace it with mine!” 

Kai growled into the darkness, “If you want to be good so bad, stealing another person’s organs is not how you-”

“SILENCE! I DO NOT NEED YOU TO TELL ME WHAT IS WRONG AND RIGHT. Everything I do is wrong, and this is the only way I’ll ever be free of this corrupted curse! And you, petty ninja, are going to make sure my plan succeeds."

“Oh yeah? And why would I do that?”

“Becuase I have something you need.” Suddenly a dark emerald bubble appeared in Kai’s hands but it didn’t pop. 

“This is the bubble of healing.” Miss Pale said, “It can be yours, all I need you to do in return is awaken the beast.” 

“Beast? What beast?” Kai asked, trying his best to sound braver than he felt.

Miss Pale laughed, “You will know when the time is right. Now do we have a deal?” 

“You know what lady? No! No we don’t! My friends are going after the bubble of healing right now! So I don’t need your help.” 

Miss Pale’s booming laughter returned once more, “Oh sweet Kai, you really think I don’t know that? Your friends are going after a fake, I should know, I put it there myself.” 

Kai felt anger rise in his chest. He wanted to yell, he wanted to call her the smelly old bastard she was.

But he couldn’t, his voice had left him.

“Now I ask again.” Miss Pale said urgently, “Do we have a deal?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Being eaten by a giant sea monster was not on Cole’s to do list. 

Neither was turning into a fish

Neither was shaving off years of his life by the week

Why was it that every time something was going right, the universe chucked a massive bomb in their face? Haven’t they gone through enough? 

Behind them the Kraken roared, and sped up. 

“ZANE!” Jay yelled, "I can't keep up! I’m too small!” 

Under different circumstances, Cole woul’dve laughed and pointed out that that was how he had been feeling these past few days. Too small

Not that he was much faster than Jay anyway, he had a point. 

Zane- who was miles ahead- swiftly circled back to them and grabbed them each in one hand, just as the Kraken bit down hard in the space they were before. 

“We’re still not moving fast enough!” Cole said, noticing the Kraken gaining altitude, “Is there any way we can speed up?” 

“Not unless you desire making a wish!” Zane started kicking his legs faster, “I’m going as fast as I can!” 

“NO WISHES!” Jay yelled, “Just uh- look! Down there!” Jay used 4 of his 8 legs to point downward, where sure enough a small cave made itself known. Big enough for them, but not for the sea monster. 

The Kraken roared and started chomping the water directly behind them. It was almost like he was sitting right above the ninjas. 

“Good thinking Jay.” Zane said, “Prepare to dive in 3…2…1!” 

He shot down like a bullet, arms tucked into his sides, each sea creature/ninja in each hand. 

The Kraken followed them, snapping widely as it went. 

Zane managed to swim through the cave with no time to spare. The Kraken let out a roar of annoyance after realising its lunch had got away.

Jay let out a sigh, “Phew, hehe, good job Jay.” He said to himself, “and uh well I’m sure you guys did good too.” 

Zane smiled and Cole grinned, “Yeah, lets just-” Cole paused and his fish face started losing color. Which was strange, since they were cold blooded. 

“Cole?” Zane asked, “Are you alright?” 

Jay gasped, and Zane turned his attention to him. Jay’s face was doing the same thing Cole’s was. Except it was getting darker, and seemed as if it were growing. 

Zane’s eyes shot up. They weren't losing color! They were gaining it! Which meant the wish must’ve been wearing off and they were turning back into humans. 

Which meant they wouldn't be able to breathe for much longer. 

Zane grabbed Jay and Cole in his hands and swiftly swam out their hiding spot and back towards the surface. Hoping behind hope that the Kraken had given up and left.

Unfortunately luck never seemed to be on their side. The Kraken had indeed not gone very far, and when it saw Zane swimming back up with its juicy lunch, it roared and chased after. 

Zane looked back just in time to see its large mouth opening and just barely rolled to the side as the Kraken released a huge ball of energy forcing a loud boom to escape the silence of the waters. 

Zane gasped in realization and activated his scanners to assess the creature in front of him. 

It wasn’t just any Kraken, he realised. Somehow this one could control underwater explosions, and likely the same one that nearly killed Cole earlier. 

As fascinating as this was to the Ninjroid, he remembered his friends who were becoming more and more like their old selves and so desperately, he tried again to swim up again. While doing this, he moved Cole around to the same hand Jay was in, and used his free one to summon ice. As the Kraken started swimming towards them again, looking more hungry than ever. Zane used his powers to shoot a blast of ice right between its eyes. 

The Kraken roared once more before going limp and sinking to somewhere down below.

They were close to the surface now, and that was a good thing, because when Zane looked back he realised he no longer held his friends in his hands. Instead they were normal sized and swimming upwards desperately. 

Finally, just in time, they broke through the surface, Cole and Jay gasping for air and Zane scanning their bodies to make sure they were okay. It was dark out, and Zane’s internal clock said it was getting dangerously close to midnight. 

They had to get out of the water before Cole had a seizure, or else it could be even more dangerous. 

Cole seemed to realise this too, as he was already swimming towards the shore. Jay close behind him, but slugged behind. Tired and exhausted, “Come on brother.” Zane encouraged, “We’re almost there.” 

“We *cough* didn’t.” Jay said, struggling to keep his head above water, “get the bubble-” 

“We can worry about it later, but you need to rest, and in order to do that, you must get to shore. Look, it is right in front of us.” Zane pointed to the banks which were indeed getting rather close. 

Jay nodded once more and poured the rest of his remaining energy to catch up to Cole. Looking more disappointed than tired. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Kai woke up, he felt sick. As if a thousand bugs had crawled down this throat and made themselves comfortable in his stomach. Sitting up groggily, Kai rubbed his eyes with his hands. “Ow.” He said as something hit his face. Opening his palms Kai’s eyes widened. 

Inside was a dark emerald bubble, it seemed as if it were indestructible, and the longer Kai held onto it, the more strength he seemed to get. 

It was the bubble of healing.  

Did that mean….No…He didn’t take the deal….He couldn’t have…Could he?

Grunting and heavy breathing broke through Kai’s train of thought, and his eyes wandered towards the sea, where two out of his three friends were panting, laying on the ground, hands lazily draped across their stomachs. The other one was on his knees looking at them with worry and concern. 

Kai quickly got up, “Guys!” He called before running towards them and kneeling down, “What happened? Are you okay?” He asked, lifting Jay’s head up and putting it on his lap. Jay’s eyes were closed and he definitely looked worse for wear. His breathing was rugged and it seemed like he was in physical pain. 

Kai bit his lip, before gently placing the bubble of healing on his friend’s head. Almost immediately, color seemed to return to Jay’s face and his breathing evened out. 

Zane gasped, “The bubble of healing! But…How?” He stared at Kai questionably. Kai shook his head, “I uh, found it…on the ground.” He lied. 

Zane looked confused, and like he wanted to ask more but Kai put a finger to his mouth and shushed him. Bringing their now sleeping teammates to the ninjroid’s attention. 

Zane moved over and sat by Cole, “It is almost midnight.” He whispered, “if you and Jay were correct then he should be-” 

He was interrupted when Cole’s body began to shake and white foam fogged in his mouth. Zane sighed sadly before turning him onto his side to prevent choking. He and Kai exchanged worried glances, but within 5 minutes, the seizure had passed and indeed. Cole looked younger.

“You should get some rest.” Zane said to the fire ninja, “I will take the first watch.” Kai nodded, suddenly feeling very tired and although he feared what he might’ve seen in his dreams, exhaustion was quick to take over.

He didn’t know how long he could keep his secret, but he’d have to worry about it tomorrow.