We Hope Your Rules And Wisdom Choke You

Chapter 15: Today we escape

Dark clouds coated the far horizon in thick, vicious chunks. They rumbled like an angry god, harsh strikes of lightning flashing in spontaneous bursts of light. The flashes tore through the sky like rags, a beautiful thing to see. Under the thick mass was blurry with pelleting rain, but from here he could make out the faint sight of waves crashing against sharp, towering sea cliffs.

Faint spits of rain fluttered against his skin as he peered over the cerise parapet.

The cliffs in front of them came further into view as the storm passed over it quickly, leaving destruction in its wake.

The Bounty comes to a stop just a half-mile offshore, where they hovered in the safe zone. He guesses they're waiting for the storm to pass before they begin their search. A fair decision; He didn't want to brave the harsh winds that the storm surely contained, nor the lightning. Sure, he was practically immune to it, but that didn't mean he liked it. That would be weird.

The towering figure of his master walks in proud strides to stand beside him. His beard shifts in the wind, and he combs a wrinkled hand through it.

"Be on the lookout." The old voice commanded. He peered at the storm as well. "They could be anywhere on the island."

Jay sighs, glancing away from his master and back to the stormy island. He could hardly even see a sliver of the island, but even that small sliver had huge proportions! They could be anywhere on the island, there was just no way they'd find them within even a day!

He lets the worry fall off his tongue like a complaint. "Master Wu, how are we gonna find them on this massive island?" He picks at the skin by his nails: A nervous habit. "I only gave them a flare, even if they use it we might not see even see them."

Wu stares at his student from the corner of his eye. "That is why we must be focussed," He scrutinises. Without leaving time for Jay to voice his other anxieties, Wu turns on his heel and strides to the control room, arms folded wisely at his lower back.

Jay huffs and mumbles, glaring back at the island as if it was its fault.

Another figure walks to stand beside him. It's Cole.

A rough hand pats at his shoulder, firm and comforting. Jay leans his elbows on the parapet, the heels of his hands digging into his eye sockets. The hand follows him down.

Jay groans. "Ughh, I knew I should have given Garmadon a tracker! I mean, a flare? Sure, it's great for ocean rescues, or in large flat areas, but on the Dark Island? It's full of trees! It's practically a jungle! Not to mention how big it is! Oh, we're never gonna find Lloyd!"

Cole laughs airily at his Jay-like outburst, rubbing a firm circle on his shoulder. "Don't worry too much about it," He supplies. "What's done is done, we'll find them eventually, even if it takes us weeks."

Jay groans again at the comment, but ultimatly he knows it's true. Worrying will only make things worse. And as Master Wu had said before, Lloyd is capable. He'll be fine.

He pries his hands away from his face. "Yeah, Lloyd will be fine." It feels like a lie on his tongue.

Cole narrows his eyes at him. "And Garmadon."

"Yeah, him too." Jay smirks.

The earth ninja huffs another laugh at the audacity. It's always nice to hear, a noise he hasn't quiet heard since the morning it happened. Cole has a nice laugh.

Again, Jay sighs. His mind settles at the thought of the pre mentioned Garmadon.

It was weird, talking about Garmadon as a friend and not an enemy. They'd only ever fought against him, and vice versa. The rare times they'd worked with him being when he had reverted back to his original old-and-wrinkly-but-good self. Then he, well, died, got revived but evil again, and all that stuff. Tried to kill his only son, reined terror upon Ninjago City, caused numerous civilian casualties, got his second-hand killed, got arrested, then- uh, un-arrested, and... well, he guesses that was when he stopped being their enemy. Sure, he'd done some bad things in the past, but that was in the past now, right? Right?