Rebooted: Charlie's Story

Codename: Arcturus

The Temple of Light. When the ninja were there last, they received their Elemental Blades. Now they were hear to return their powers.

"I can't do this alone anymore." Lloyd said. "As long as I have all this power, they'll never stop coming for me."

Zane nodded. "From here on out, we can't let anything separate us again."

"He's right." Jay said.

"Absolutely." Cole agreed.

"Let's do this." Kai said.

Lloyd jumped up and struck the bell. Light enveloped the ninja, and Charlie felt a familiar power course through her veins. She looked down at her hands and saw the purple smoke around her hands. "The Elemental Power, it's inside us."

Kai curled his fist. "Fire!" Flames engulfed his hand.

Jay rubbed his hands together and sent sparks in the air. "Haha, anyone shocked to see me do this?"

Cole made the ground rumble, and a short stack of Earth rose beneath him. "No dirt of my shoulder."

Zane played with his Ice. "Chill out."

Charlie chuckled at her friend's puns, but she frowned when she felt everyone's emotions. Side affect of getting her powers back: Charlie could feel the exact emotions of those she was closest to. She felt Cole's excitement, and when he looked at her, she felt his pain and his love. It hurt too much, so she decided to go over to Garmadon and Wu.

The brothers were discussing the ninja and their powers. Garmadon thought it was foolish Lloyd gave up his power, but Wu figured they would learn on their own. When Charlie walked over, her father noticed her pained expression.

"Charlotte? What's wrong?" He asked.

"I–Hm." Charlie sighed. "Me and Cole are having problems." She waited for her father to say something, but he waited for her to continue. "Nya found out that Cole's her perfect match and she's crossing the line. And I'm worried that if Cole's her perfect match then what chance do we have at anything together?" She spoke so fast she thought her tongue would fall off.

Garmadon looked at her. "Do you love Cole?"

"Y-yeah."

"And does Cole love you?"

Charlie looked back at the Black Ninja. "I'm pretty sure. Yeah."

Garmadon smiled at her and rested his hand on her shoulder. "Than you have as much a chance as you make of it. Those perfect matches are determined by personalities. Nya and Cole are similar, but it is you who balances him. I've seen the way he looks at you, Charlotte. Forget what that machine said."

Charlie smiled. Her father was right, it wasn't some stupid machine that determined their fate, they did. "Thanks, Dad."

Garmadon nodded. "You're welcome. I think you'd better go talk to him."

Charlie nodded and turned to go to Cole. She approached him cautiously, hoping he wouldn't reject her. "Hey, Cole."

The Black Ninja looked at her, and Charlie felt a slight sorrow and anxiety from him. "H-hey, Charlie."

"Can I talk to you?" She asked.

Cole nodded and led her to a corner in the temple. "What is it?"

"This is stupid, right?" When Cole stared at her inquisitively she continued. "This whole perfect match thing. We both know we love each other, and we're just gonna let some machine tell us otherwise? I mean, the Overlord could've just hacked the machine for all we know, and Nya's perfect match is Jay." She looked up at him sincerely. "So, what do you say? Could we just forget that ever happened?"