Ring of the Artisan

Act II Ch. 16: Parrot and Tiger

sorry i keep changing the parrot's name lmao it's pirate again not penelope

~

The rest of the late morning was spent trying to build a dance routine. No matter what happened, someone was always off by a small amount of time, and the ninja would continuously bump into one another.

You, on the other hand, could perfectly follow Lou's instructions. Lou's only complaint was your lack of power and confidence, which you were trying to work on, though it didn't help when the others kept watching you perform.

How could you possibly perform in front of thousands?

Eventually, after Jay tumbled and passed out from exhaustion, Lou decided to "take five" and went out of the room. You brought in several bottles of water from the front counter for everyone (the clerk was nice enough to hand them out for free) and tried to get Jay up. A splash of water to the face was enough to at least get him conscious.

Jay only whined, still lying on the floor. "He's worse than Sensei Wu..."

"I warned you guys about my dad's teaching skills," Cole muttered.

"How are we supposed to win a contest if we're all too exhausted for it?" Kai asked as he drained his water bottle. "I don't even feel like I'm learning anything..."

"We must keep trying," Zane urged his teammates. "If we're to try and get the Blade Cup, we need to put up a convincing act..."

"Who's the one that said we could win this, huh?" Jay glared at Kai. "I can't take this much effort!"

"Guys, it'll be alright," You did your best to defuse the situation. "We could talk to Lou this all being too much..."

"I don't know if he'll listen," Cole grumbled. "He's kind of stubborn like that."

Kai laughed. "I see where you get that from."

"I'm not as stubborn as you, flame brain," Cole shot back.

A door opened and Lou reentered the room. "Let's get back to business! We've got a show to practice for!"

"Five minutes already?" You heard Jay nearly cry.

"Uh, hey, Dad?" Cole hesitantly started. "Could we... take a longer break?"

"What, and miss out on some practice?" Lou questioned. "If you want to win Ninjago Talent, you need to be practicing! We can't have a repeat of the last performance."

Cole suddenly looked very agitated. "Dad, it was the Triple Tiger Sashay. I was seven!"

"The 'Triple Tiger Sashay?'" You repeated, unsure.

"It's only the most difficult dance move ever created," Cole growled.

"It is true," Lou nodded. "Many professionals have tried their hand at the Triple Tiger Sashay, but no one has successfully performed it."

"And you thought a seven-year-old could do it," Cole argued with his dad. "But no, I ended up falling on my face and humiliating my entire team!"

"To be able to win," Lou retorted, "you must go big!" Lou then sighed. "...Perhaps we could take a short break. It is almost lunch..." Lou glanced between the many of you. "Let's all enjoy some lunch and meet back here in thirty! Hopefully, you'll all rest up until then!" Lou then disappeared from the room.

Jay jokingly laughed, having a bit more of his energy back. "I see now why Cole's so closed off. You couldn't—"

"Jay, don't," You stopped the blue ninja in his attempt to insult Cole further. You stood from the ground and walked up to Cole, setting a hand on his back. "You okay?"