Ninjago Lava Ship - It's messed up

Getting mind off of things

A new shiny and cloudy day at the monastery begins, it's morning. Some of the ninja are already awake, eating breakfast, watching TV or playing games as master Wu is meditating in his room. As for Cole, he is in his room, laying down on his bad with crossed arms behind his head, just staring into the ceiling and thinking. Suddenly, one ninja interrupts his thoughts by opening the door of his room and going inside, it was Kai.

"Hey, Cole, get up! Master Wu told us to get everyone out of the bed, eat something real quick then we start with the training. If we're gonna be late.. I actually don't wanna know what will happen if we will.." Kai said, but Cole didn't even move an inch. He was still quietly staring at the ceiling. The red ninja noticed his unusual behaviour. Usually he would start complaining or something, wouldn't he?

Kai tilts his head, raising his eyebrow then asks "What's up with you? Did you hear what I said? We might get killed if we-".

"Yeah, yeah." Cole interrupted him. He then sits up on his bed and stretches his arms above his head, groaning a bit "I heard 'ya. We're gonna get our butts kicked if we don't show up on time, blah blah.". He sighs "I was just thinking.". The black ninja finally stands up and goes towards the exit of his room.

While Cole was walking out of the room, Kai was still looking at him with a raised eyebrow. He gets out of the room after Cole and slams the door shut "You? Thinking? Well that's a first.". Cole didn't even respond to that which made Kai just more confused. He didn't even start a fight. Unfortunately, he couldn't even ask what the problem was, as sensei Wu appeared in front of them.

"I see you only just now got out of your bed, Cole. I hope your stomach is full enough for today's training. Let's go." Wu turns around and leads the way towards the court. Everyone else was already there: Zane and Pixal were talking on the side, Jay was obviously drawn out of the bed too as he was yawning while Nya was patting his shoulder smiling to herself, and Lloyd was already kicking some moves around showing them to Harumi.

"Alright students!" Sensei Wu began "Today's lesson is very simple. You will split into two groups and fight each other. Who wins, gets the day off. Who loses, will have a task to make.".

Jay suddenly gets out of his tiredness "Oh, Oh! Do winners get a prize?". He asks. "The prize is getting a day off, Jay." Sensei Wu exclaims. "Awhh, man. And what will the task be about. Can we choose it if you don't have any ideas?" Jay's eyes widen as he's having a big smile of hope. On that, master Wu just sighs and says simply "No, Jay. I already have something in mind, but you will hear it after the fight.". Jay grumbles to himself "Not fair. We at least gotta know what we're getting ourselves into..". Wu's face gets a slight glare "You can never know what the future holds for you. You will fight for what you want to get, not think about what you might get after losing, when certainly, you don't want to lose, am I right?". The blue ninja gulps then looks down and says quietly "I guess.. Either way, your tasks sure won't be any easy ones.".

"Good. Then we settled that." Master Wu goes back to his old smile "The first team will be Nya, Cole, Harumi and Zane. The second team will include Llyod, Kai, Jay and Pixal. Good luck, you may begin now.". Wu turns around and goes back into the monastery where Misako is, while the ninjas looked at each other for few seconds then began the fight.

It passed few hours since the fight started. Ninjas got themselves out in a desert, some of them already out of breath, but in the end Lloyd's team won. It was no surprise there, Lloyd is a great leader, Kai watched over all of them, Jay was even useful with his ideas and attacks, and Pixal helped with the complicated things and with the ways to win. Nya's group wasn't so good. Nya watched over Harumi like a hawk because she still didn't trust her, Zane was trying his best to keep them together and Cole was doing his best to beat the other team, but teamwork wasn't their strong side. All in all, when they got back to the monastery, Lloyd's group finally could let their guard down and start to relax.

"Woohoo!" Jay cheered with his hands up "Gaming time! Oh yeah!". Nya then punched his upper arm with her elbow then glared at him. "Ouchh-!" Jay looks at her then smiles nervously and hurries into the monastery "Gotta go~". Nya sighs then looks at sensei Wu, who is sitting on the stairs and sipping on his tea. He shakes his head in a disappointment and says to all of them "I expected more from you.". He looks at Nya "Nya, do you know why I put you and Harumi in the same team?". Nya's eyes widen then she looks down sadly "No, sensei..". Wu shakes his head once more "I expected of you to make her feel welcome, but also keep an eye on her, of course. If there is no trust, you will never know how to work together. I wanted you to experience how the future fights will go on. Unlike this one, fights in the future will be serious and dangerous. Keep that in mind. Harumi, you too.". Both Nya and Harumi nod slowly.

Wu turns his head towards Cole "You lacked inspiration to fight, Cole. I don't know what's going on, but get your mind together. As for you Zane, you tried your best. Maybe try a different approach next time. That's all.". He sips on his tea as the four of them were looking at each other wondering how could he have known all these things if he wasn't even there to witness it. "Now for your task..." Master Wu interrupts their thoughts.

The four of them found themselves in Ninjago, cleaning the streets from trash and getting it in a garbage dumb, but they also needed to clean the dumb. Cole and Zane were getting the trash to the dumb while Harumi and Nya were trying to dispose off garbage.

Nya was pinching her nose with one hand while piling the garbage on one spot "Oh God.. I don't mean to be rude, but this smell is definitely worse than Jay's parents' home.". At that time Zane and Cole were walking up to them as the black-haired ninja started to laugh "You said that right.". "At least we might be done by the end of the day. If we work faster, that is." Zane exclaimed.

Harumi nods "You are right. Less talk, more work! Sooner we get this off of our backs, sooner we can get a nice bath when we get back.".

Nya sighs in relief just thinking of a hot bath "That's exactly what I need. You heard, guys! Move your asses! The hot, long bath is waiting for me.".

Harumi chuckles "Same here.", she smiles at Nya and Nya smiles slightly back at her. Cole and Zane just look at each other confused then shrug and start laughing going back to work. Well, at least Cole got his mind off of things thanks to this task which kept him busy. His body might not have gotten a rest, but his mind sure did, until the next day...