Spirit's Awakening (Book 1 of Spirit's Calling)

Jade Blade Jumble

The gong split open, revealing a golden bracket underneath. All of the elemental masters were in one of the slots...except for Y/n.

She frowned. Did Chen not want her to fight? If so, why not? Why was she so special?

Luckily, they were too far away to notice the little detail. In fact, the Master of Fire went straight to his main concern: "Good, looks like we're each in our own bracket. We won't have to face each other for a while."

Keep dreaming, Y/n thought darkly. My father's not exactly known to play nice.

"Better find Zane before that happens," the blonde stressed.

Aha. They were the Ninja, the friends Zane said he was waiting for. Well, it would take more than his word for her to trust them, especially Garmadon. The Master of Earth beside Y/n nodded in agreement, his expression that of worry.

"Behold a Jade Blade," Chen announced, Clouse holding up a delicately carved green blade about the size of Y/n's forearm. "Here, it represents life. Obtain it, move on. Allow your opponent to take it...loser."

He spun back to the elementals. "The rules are simple. Every match will be different — no two fights will be the same. Your powers will keep you in the Tournament. Use it or lose it."

"What does that mean?" Y/n frowned, pretending to be confused. Her first alibi.

The Master of Earth shook his head. "No idea," he whispered back, but Y/n ignored him.

"Hm." One of the elementals spoke up. "What does Karlof win?" A good question — even Y/n didn't know what the prize, the thing to keep the elementals on the island, was.

Also...was he talking about himself in third person? Weird.

"Win and stay on the island," Chen replied smoothly. "Win it all, and you'll receive fortunes beyond your wildest dreams, and a lifetime supply of Master Chen noodles. But," he darted over to the Master of Fire, "no one is here for the noodle. You want the glory of being the greatest fighter in all of Ninjago!"

The elementals all cheered — well, most of them. The Ninja stayed silent, staring at each other with worry. Y/n also kept quiet, though her sister joined the cheering.

"And what happens if they lose?" Garmadon broke in seriously.

"Lose?" Chen gasped as if surprised. "Who here likes to lose?" He grinned maliciously at Garmadon.

The other elementals, except the Ninja, laughed at the silly question.

"Now please, enjoy my island!" Chen grinned. "It's a super fun happy place," he added with a fake laugh. "Fun time on me."

"Yeah," Y/n muttered with a scowl. "Super fun."

She blinked, realizing the Earth Ninja was staring at her with alarm. "Oh, I'm sure it's great," she added with a forced grin.

"I'm sure," he echoed, looking away, skeptically.

Clouse took charge again. "You'll now each be shown to your rooms," he announced in his annoying voice. He clapped twice, and several kabuki servants emerged from an adjacent door, holding their arms out in a formal but uncomfortable-looking way. They walked in a single file on the outer circle of fighters until each lined up with an elemental.

"Ah, just what this place needs," the blue Ninja groaned. "Creepy clowns."

Y/n almost laughed at this, then caught her sister's eye. Skylor glared at her and Y/n clamped her mouth shut, alarmed at her near slip-up.

"Not clowns," Garmadon corrected, unamused by the blue Ninja. "Kabuki, Chen's jesters."

The kabuki grabbed the fighters by their wrists, excluding Garmadon.