Querencia

S2 E1: Darkness Shall Rise*

Unfortunately the complete destruction of the Great Devourer did not make the snake problem go away, instead it led to an entirely new problem. The city had been wrecked. Blood, guts, snake chunks, and venom covered the city, which had pieces torn free or buildings completely torn apart. And the ninja were partly the cause for some of the damage. They had led the Devourer around, in order to trap her, forcing her to shove herself through streets she wouldn't fit through which led to the destruction of multiple stores, apartments, and other buildings.

So, due to their part in the destruction, the ninja had been working with the city's disaster department to find ways to fix the city.

Ed and Edna graciously offered their home up after learning of the destruction of the Bounty, happily accepting the group into their home. Luckily, they had a blow up mattress and a fold out couch so not everyone was sleeping on the floor after exhausting days at rebuilding and cleaning. They did rotate the sleeping arrangement to keep it fair, however.

Due to that arrangement, Ed and Edna would take Lloyd during the day, doting endlessly on the boy by taking him out to restaurants, to the movies, and to arcades. They even did their best to join in on the activities. This made it easier for [M/n] to focus on the cleanup process.

Today was the last day of cleanup, Ed and Edna taking Lloyd to his favorite comic book store as a treat while the ninja piled into the Sonic Raider. Wu and Nya had taken the day to find a more permanent place to stay, using a motorcycle Ed had helped Nya fix up.

The lampposts were the last thing that needed to be done, so Cole, [M/n], and Jay were holding the very last one in place as Zane blowtorched the piece into place. Kai was behind them, trying to summon even a singular spark to his hands - which he'd done every day, since they'd lost four of the five Golden Weapons a month ago - with sounds of frustration.

Zane stepped back, nodding to signal they no longer needed to hold it up. The three backed off, admiring the street full of lammposts they'd put up in the last 3 days.

"Finally. All fixed up and Serpentine free," Cole said, running his fingers through his sweat-soaked hair.

"This is so frustrating! 他妈的!" Kai snapped, shaking his hands out.

The lamp post creaked, keeping anyone from answering as they hurried to catch it. Zane hurried to retorch it back into place, ignoring Kai's complaint for the moment.

"Our weapons are gone and most of our elemental powers are gone. I mean, we can still do Spinjitzu, but..." Kai grunted as his powers continued to falter. "I just feel so, I don't know, limited. And thanks to the Devourer, our tank's out of commission, our Dragon's hurt, the Bounty is destroyed, and we're bumming off Jay's parents."

"Our Elements are not only from the Weapons. We simply needed them to access them without practice, and now we have created a codependency. Had we taken the time to practice, maybe we would still have access to them without the Weapons." Kai only scowled, rolling his eyes. He had ignored all of [M/n]'s advice due to the simple fact that he still had the Golden Tessens.

"No one ever said being a hero is easy," Zane added, pausing in his welding. "Though our good deeds may never make us rich, they make us rich in other ways."

"Yeah? Well, I don't feel rich."

"I for one enjoy pitching in. I've always wanted to feel part of a community, but the junkyard was too far from anybody. But, speaking of which, anyone seen or heard from Nya? I thought she mentioned she was going to help," Jay said, tugging at the post to see if it was stable.

Nya pulled up on her fixed up motorbike, "And I have. I may have found us a place to live."

"Wait, really? But-but there's a waiting list a mile long to live in Ninjago City. How did you do that?" Jay asked, perking up.