RATS - Ninjago AU

Chapter 2

Zane finished up his chicken noodles and tapped nervously on the table. "Uh... dad? Are there any left overs?"

"You liked the dinner, huh?" Zane nodded. "Would you like me to pack it into a container or something?" 

"Yes, please!" Zane replied as he watched Dr Julien pack the leftover noodles to the plastic container. "Can I go out with my friends tonight? I- I'll be back before six..."

"The same ones who pushed you into the canal?" 

"What? No! The ones that pulled me out..."

Dr Julien sighed. "Okay. Just... be safe and don't go near the canal, okay? Be back before it gets too dark." Dr Julien headed out of the kitchen, "I'll be in the garage so don't forget your keys! You know how your old man's hearing is!" he joked.

"Bye, dad!" Zane found a plastic bag and put the rather large container of food in there. He searched the kitchen and took out three plastic cups and three pairs of chopsticks. He packed a large water bottle and grabbed his keys on the way out.

Meanwhile, Kai waited impatiently by the slot in the tunnel which led to an abandoned room of some sort which they managed to unlock after a few weeks of living there.

"I told you that you can't trust him! He's a selfish brat like any other rich kid!" Lloyd shouted.

Kai furrowed his brows and bit his fingernails.

"We have enough food for tonight anyway..." Nya said.

Kai frowned, "You said it yourself, it's barely enough. I think he's different. I think I can trust him..."

Lloyd scoffed, "Keep dreaming!" The eight-year-old fiddled with his sleeves, pouting a little, and sighed. He clutched onto his stomach as it grumbled.

"Listen, we barely had any food tonight. We had, what? Two spoon-fulls each? We barely found any food today. We have to have at least a bit of hope..." Lloyd and Nya went to the room while Kai waited.

Just as Kai said that, he heard footsteps. He glanced down the tunnel, still hiding behind the blue brick wall. It was Zane. Kai's eyes glistened with excitement as he emerged from behind the small corridor. He waved at Zane to follow him into the slot. He showed him down the corridor and after a few steps, they turned right where a metal door was. He opened it and it revealed a chamber. Between two to three meters long and wide. The room was quite tall. There were two iron barred windows along the wall opposite the door.

To the right, roughly a third of the chamber's ground was covered in old, ripped and mouldy mattresses and blankets which Nya and Lloyd sat on. In the middle was a barrel filled with a mixture of ash and newspapers. To the left, there were a few long planks of wood piled on top of each other to make a table. There were a few tires with old pillows over them as seats. There were a few pens and pencils and loads of scrap paper.

Zane gave the plastic bag to Kai. Lloyd and Nya rushed over and peeked into the plastic the bag and gasped. The siblings exchanged glances with wide smiles on their faces. Kai put the plastic bag on their make-shift table and reached in to take out its contents.

"Chopsticks?! Epic!" Lloyd yelled, taking a pair. Zane smiled at their excitement.

"This is the most food we've had in weeks!" Nya exclaimed.

"Guys, check this out!" Kai said as he took out the 2L bottle of water along with the three cups.

"Woah!!" The three looked up at Zane with wide smiles on their faces. The two younger ones ran over to Zane and hugged him for a brief moment before going back to their dinner table. Kai came over to Zane and hugged him too.

"Thank you..." he said. Zane hugged him back before Kai pulled away. "It means a lot."

"No problem. Uh- I should get home. My dad is gonna get worried if I'm not home by sunset," the blonde answered.

"Bye!" The siblings said.

"Uh, I'll be back in the morning with breakfast!" Zane said. The other kids' eyes glistened in excitement before Zane headed back home.

The next morning, Kai went to the city for his morning work routine as a paper boy. He brings newspapers to the slums he lives close to. The brunette goes round the whole population of the slums and always leaves one house till last. The slums are built over marshes and the huts are built out of wooden planks on wooden stilts. The slums are all joined together by wooden bridges which creaked at every step. Kai stepped into the territory of the last home and the dog which laid by the front door growled and started barking at him as it stepped closer.

"Back!" Kai snapped. "Stay back!" The dog whined as its ears and tail dropped. Kai smiled and stroked the dog, "Good boy. It's just me... It's just Kai." The dog wagged its tail as Kai knocked on the door.

"Come in!" a voice of an old woman called. 

Kai opened the door and stepped inside, "Morning, Nana! I've got your newspaper!"

Nana was the oldest person in this community which is why everyone called her that. She was short, hunched over and had long, braided, grey hair. She always wore a dusty pink sweater and a grey and red floral dress. She pinched Kai's cheek as he handed her the newspaper. "Thank you dear... Come, sit down..." Kai sat down at the table where a mini blackboard and chalk waited. Every morning, Kai would get a lesson on how to read and write in exchange for a newspaper. He would read a paragraph of the newspaper and then Nana would choose a sentence for him to copy down.

When Kai was eight years old, he was taking a stroll around the outskirts of Ninjago city, searching for food while Nana took care of Lloyd and Nya. He bumped into a girl, a year older than him, who was riding a bike. She had short dark red hair and was wearing a grey helmet. She also wore a black t-shirt with a white lightning bolt under a khaki brown sweater. She wore jean shorts over a pair of tights and red shoes to finish off her look. Behind her was another boy with dirty blonde hair. He wore a purple jumper and blue helmet and jeans with black shoes.

"Antonia!" the boy called as he got off his own bike and helped the girl up. Kai sat up and rubbed his head. He stood up and picked up Antonia's bike. 

"S-Sorry..."

"It's okay, kid," Antonia giggled it off.

"Are you... lost?" The boy asked.

"Uh- no... I'm just... nevermind..."

"I'm Nelson! And that's Antonia!" he introduced as reached his hand out to Kai.

Kai hesitantly shook Nelson's hand. "I'm Kai."

"Nice to meet you! If you don't mind me asking, are you an orphan?"

Kai raised his eyebrow, "What's that?"

"It's someone who doesn't have parents..." Antonia explained.

"Yes, I-I am..."

Nelson and Antonia both frowned as they shared glances with each other. Nelsons eyes lit up. "Do you wanna be a paper boy? We hand out newspapers every morning and get paid a little afterwards. It could help you get food and water and stuff." Nelson suggested.

Kai smiled, "Thank you."