NINJAGO: The Fray Of Crows

EPILOGUE - Sleigh Bells and Cheer

"Dashing through the snow, on a one-horse open sleigh, o'er the fields we go, laughing all the way..."

The radio played softly inside of the game room as the Ninja looked upon their Christmas Tree that had presents piling up underneath.

It was Christmas Day, and there were many more presents here than there was last night--even the cookies and milk they set out together had been nibbled on.

"Aw, darn it! I missed Santa Claus!" Jay said grumpily.

"You're supposed to miss him, Jay," Kai replied with a shrug. "He's sneakier than all of us combined."

Cole raised an eyebrow at them. "Are you guys sure that Master Wu isn't Santa Claus?"

"What makes you say that?" Zane asked.

"Just look at him, that beard of his is a splitting image!" Cole remarked, but Kai was hesitant.

"I'm pretty sure I heard Wu snoring all through last night, and Santa Claus has reindeer. Where would Sensei Wu keep seven--seven--reindeer?" Kai asked.

"Well, on the underside of the Bounty's hull, of course." Master Wu said as he entered the room.

"But how would that work? They'd just get squished like pancakes whenever we'd land," Kai remarked. "Or is that how we end up with UFO sightings?"

Wu just shrugged his shoulders at him.

"Perhaps you should ask the real Santa Claus where he keeps his reindeer, if you ever get the chance to meet him that is," he said, then strode on past them, over to the Christmas Tree. "You have not touched your gifts yet."

"No, Sensei, we haven't," Lloyd said, then looked at his friends. "We wanted to share our joy of Christmas with Skei... but she still hasn't woken up."

Master Wu rubbed his chin as he pondered, but he nodded to the Ninja.

"That is very thoughtful of you all," Wu said. "But, aren't you afraid that she may be lost in Cooldown--forever?"

"No, she's going to wake up--I know she will," remarked Jay. "We just have to wait for it to happen."

The group frowned and Kai set a hand on Jay's shoulder.

Master Wu then looked over at the old sleds leaning against the wall across from them. "Perhaps an activity will ease our worries for a while, we could head to the park and spend some time there instead."

The Ninja all looked up and were delighted by the idea, but Jay still sulked, it just didn't seem right to do.

❖ ⛩ ❖

"I've got cookies on Lloyd!" Cole shouted as Kai and Lloyd got onto their sleds, getting ready to race each other.

"I do not understand the logic behind 'bets'." Zane said.

"It's like this: I tell Nya that I think Lloyd's going to win, so I bet on it. But she thinks that Kai will win, so she bets on it. If Kai did win--which he won't--then I'd have to give Nya all the cookies I bet, but if the opposite happened, then Nya would have to give me her cookies. Make sense now?" explained Cole, and Nya crossed her arms and shook her head behind him. Zane appeared to understand, at least just a little.

"But, don't you already have cookies? What's the point of betting if Nya might take all of them?" he asked.

Cole and Nya looked at each other, then Cole turned back, scratching his head. "I mean, that can happen, but the point of it is that there's also the chance you could get more cookies than you already have--and gloating rights."