Ninjago Dragons Rising: the Off-Screen Moments

Identity

In which a runaway girl finds a unique identity in a valuable headpiece. . .

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A little girl trekked through the wilderness.  Alone and tired.  An orphan with no name.

She was panting as she walked through a broken, barren neighborhood that used to be called home.  Walls were wrecked, concrete parking lots cracked, and left to succumb to the dry, desert weather.  Rows of houses and plazas were deserted and replaced with creeping vines and big, bushy greenery.  Whoever used to live here disappeared like the dust in the wind.  Like how she did.

She was far from home.  Well, a place she thought her whole life was home.  How could she call it her home if her home was a lie — a lie to fuel the evil intentions of the seat of power?  Well, of course, she couldn't stay there any longer.  Living a lie is like telling a lie yourself.  And lies are bad.  She had to run away.  "To where?" you may ask.  "A place to start anew," she would answer.  And this empty neighborhood is the perfect place to call her new home.

In the distance, she could see construction frames and cranes and halfway-built buildings.  Using the rusty, leftover metal frames from this neighborhood she saw the inhabitants there were building new homes for themselves.  Curious as her intelligent mind can be, she walked a little further for a closer look at the scene.  Hiding behind a tall stack of bricks, she saw they were almost done with this project, and many people have already moved into the penthouses above her.

Her stomach growled as her eyes spotted a noodle shop at the end of the plaza.  Remembering that she gathered a couple wads of money in her travel bag, she decided to grab a snack.  Sneaking past the construction workers and into the marketplace, she weaved through crowds of people, and by people I mean purple and green-colored gremlins, animals with human bodies, and fish-like aliens mingling with regular humans like her.  There were even robots and weirdly cool, colorful half-human rats with rectangular, red sunglasses.  What a sight to behold!  And for a wandering child like her!

Upon entering the noodle shop, a friendly redhead greeted her.  "Welcome!" she called.  "How may I help you, today?"

"Um, well, I'm really hungry.  I—I have money," the little girl stammered, showing her the few dollar bills she had in her bag.

The lady bore a kind smile, yet her eyes showed concern for the lone girl.  "Do you travel with your parents, or at least an adult?"

She was afraid this question will come, but she did not want to lie.  "No, ma'am.  I. . .have no parents. . ."  Well, that was a lie, but her parents don't even treat her as a daughter, so she guessed it was true to some extent.

The lady lowered her head, her bright red bangs hiding the sad look on her face.  "I'm so sorry. . ."  She hesitated whether she should help the orphan girl or not.  Remembering when she found out her father was an evil man — a con artist using dark magic for the wrong purposes —, she felt connected to the little girl. Although half of her life was a lie, she fixed that and turned her father's legacy for the good. And what wrong is it to help a poor, starving orphan?

"Since you don't have your parents with you, I guess I can give you anything you want on the menu for free," she awkwardly suggested.

"For free?!" the little girl asked, shocked.

"Yes, ma'am, for free," the lady answered with a chuckle.

What luck! the little girl told herself, with a squeal out loud.

After eating several warm, delicious noodles for a couple of hours (yes, she was that hungry), she walked out of the shop, thanking the kind lady, when she saw the cutest yet retro blue and pink headphones on display at the clothing shop across the street.  Walking into the shop, she discovered it was on sale along with a hoodie of the same color and a white and gold suit meant to be worn over the hoodie.  The whole set gave a futuristic vibe: the shine of the gold, the geometric patterns of the suit, the unique addition of the cat ears on the headphones, the well-thought-through combination of the neon colors; it seems like it was screaming her name, begging her to wear them.

She gazed longer at the clothing, imagining herself strolling through this same marketplace with the same, new outfit, a new name, a new home, and a new family amongst its inhabitants.  She won't be alone, and she won't be tired from roaming strange lands.

This place is perfect to start anew! she told herself.  And it all starts with this outfit.

"Hey, kid!  Stare at it longer and you're gonna have to buy it."

Buy it?  The man at the cashier isn't as nice as the kind redhead at the noodle shop, and it shocked her.  She looked down at her clothes.  They were all worn and wrinkled from her travels, and she barely knows how to sew.  All she remembered was being poked by that sharp needle and swearing that she'll never sew again.  Of course, she had to keep that vow.

She took a closer look at the price tag:  "$330.99 for the whole set.  One size fits all!!"  What luck! she thought.  I wouldn't have to buy new clothes again!  Checking her travel bag, the money she would've used for her noodles was still intact, but as she counted them, she realized she only had a few dollars.  No way, I can't even afford it! she told herself in despair.  What to do now?

"So are ya gonna buy it or not?" the mean man at the cashier asked.

"Well, I, uhhh, don't have enough money," she answered nervously.

"Then go ask your parents for some," he shouted over the counter.

"I. . .have no parents."  Well, she couldn't turn back on that statement now.  Let's just hope it works for him.

"I. . .have no parents," she replied with a tremble in her voice.

"Well then ya can't buy it, pink-haired chicken.  Shoo, now!"

"Well, that guy was mean," she muttered to herself as she reluctantly walked out of the shop.  How is she going to buy those awesome clothes now?

She strolled sluggishly down the marketplace as the crowds of people grew smaller as the sun started fading behind the buildings.  Her stomach was full, but she had no place to stay for the night.  The noodle shop across the street was about to close, but maybe she could ask the kind lady if there was a room she could stay in for the night.  At least she didn't have to ask that rude cashier.

"Well, there is a boy about your age living in that penthouse a few blocks down," the redhead said.  "He has the whole place to himself.  Maybe he'll be kind enough to offer you a room."

Thanking the lady, she traveled the few blocks down to the door of the penthouse.  By this time it was dark, and the thick clouds that dominated the afternoon hours faded as the light of the moon declared it conquered the night.

Someday I'll be reborn again like the stars in the night sky, she told herself, gazing at the stars.  And someday I'll shine with other stars like me.

She hoped this boy would be that star, shining with her in her outfit, her new name, and a new life in which no lie will ever control it.

So she knocked on the door. . .

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Ok, ok, cliffhanger, my fault ✋😐.  Buuuutttt, whatever happens next is all up to you!  Apparently I'm saying that because I don't have an exact, detailed scene laid out in my head about what happens next.  So don't ask me to make a part 2.  I'm sorry, but I just think leaving it a cliffhanger would be better.  (Unless I change my mind in the future which Idk if that's going to happen—)