A blue Spouse (Ninjago Royalty AU)

CHAPTER 83: The end of the quest

Survival instinct was something Jay was quite familiar with. All his life he'd had to make choices purely based on prolonging the hours he had ahead of him. It was something that came with growing up in the poor conditions he did.

But this was different.

What Jay was feeling now as he saw that eye-patched jerk taking the harmony ball from him wasn't just survival instincts kicking in.

It was... a sense of duty.

Jay could not let that thief corrupt such a meaningful object with his vile actions. He'd rather die. He had to protect it, protect Lloyd and all the royal family's memories —he had to protect what they meant to Jay.

His legs moved on their own will, taking a little jump before they thrust forward and kicked the sleazy man in front of him right on the balls. Ronin let out a yell, dropping to his knees immediately after, and grasping at his goods.

"What the-?!" Vinay exclaimed. His hold on Jay's right arm softened a fraction, enough to allow the boy to bend the limb and hit Vinay in the base of his throat with his elbow. The thief stumbled backward, hands reaching for the aching spot.

'Your elbows are the strongest parts of your body. Aim them well and you can get your opponent out of breath for a solid minute.' Cole's fighting lessons coming back to Jay with astonishing clarity.

About to execute the same maneuver on the remaining captor, Jay felt once anew his arms being pulled back and restrained, but this time he was a lot more alert of his situation. Jay fought against Clem's grip with tooth and nail, almost finding a breach in it that would allow him to break free, but as expected from a brute of his size, Clem threw them both down, annoyed at Jay's constant squirming. He pinned the boy to the ground with his full body. The sudden blow of weight alarmed Jay. How was he supposed to escape even?! That guy was almost as heavy as Cole!

Almost as heavy...

Jay immediately went back to his relentless squirming.

"It's useless, kid," the man above him growled —but he couldn't be more wrong.

Jay couldn't help the little satisfaction that started to swell up in his chest when the giant didn't notice his naked legs bending and sneaking up against his body. Jay trembled, his nerves were on fire. It was working!

'Most brawny guys out there rely heavily on their weight and muscles as a form of intimidation, so you need to stay calm and use that overconfidence to your own advantage.' Jay could still picture Cole on top of him, pinning him gently over the soft grass of the royal garden as he taught him the trick that was most likely going to save his life now.

With all his strength, Jay thrust up with his knees and pushed the gorilla away from him, taking him completely by surprise. Clem was sent rolling to the side, grunting as the small rocks around pressed against him.

Without allowing the man a moment to regain control over Jay, the boy dragged his hand over the ground in one swift move, then threw a fistful of dirt right into Clem's face. His demon-like yellow eyes closed as he groaned in pain.

'Anything around you can be a powerful weapon, remember that.'

Good Brahma! Jay had never been so grateful for Cole's incessant training! He would never complain again about it, no matter how sore it left him! But in order to do that he still had to get himself away from these rats first.

Jay sat up on the ground and quickly scanned his surroundings, he couldn't lower his guard now. He spotted Vinay laying ahead, grabbing at his throat and having obvious trouble breathing. Jay might as well have squashed his pipe unknowingly.