Orchid romance

14

When the ferry came to the docks, we all slowly got off. Lloyd stayed next to me the whole time. Cole and Jay avoided talking to me directly like it was the plague. 

"This place is weird." Lloyd leaned down to me to whisper. I get what he means. Whoever master Chen is, this guy has an obsession with snakes. The stones on the side off the path had snakes carved into them. On the backs off many of the guards that were already on the island was the same snake tattoo. 

"It gives me a bad vibe." I whispered back as we all finally got off. The creepy dude steps in front of us all. "Welcome to Chen's Island. The tournament of elements welcomes its brave fighters. Master Chen will be pleased you've returned, Sensei Garmadon." The dude sneered at the elderly man. "The pleasure is all mine, Clouse."

Oh his name is Clouse. Weird name. Fits him and at least I can stop calling him creepy dude. Even though he is. "I'm sure it is." Clouse gave him a forced smile. 

All of us looked at each other and thought the same thing. Only Jay actually said it. "Definitely feeling some tension between you two." Some? These two are acting like people that know they don't like each other but say nothing about it. 

"Yeah, and how is it we're on an island I've never seen on any map?" Kai asked as he looked around. This seemed too big to not be on some map. It has to. Some where. "And care to explain how the face to Ninjago's most popular noodle house is secretly assembling an underground fighting tournament?!" Cole whispered yelled. Of course that's what bothers him about this. 

From what I understand from Shadow, he isn't to be trusted. I'm pretty sure he will end up being someone we fight. Shadow was pretty clear on one thing, he's bad news.

"Master Chen used to be a friend. Now he's a traitor. During the Serpentine wars, Chen turned against his own kind and sided with the treacherous snakes." Garmadon explained as he glared at every guard. "The battle you and Uncle Wu fought together in? He was an enemy?" Lloyd turned his attention back to his father after looking at some of the buildings. 

His father nodded. "He used deception to divide the Elemental Masters. We barely defeated the Serpentine, and in a deal for his surrender, Chen was to never leave this island. Little did we know, he'd begin to build his criminal empire from here."

'You let him live old man.'

'James, please not now.'

'What do you mean not now! I told the old Geezer to kill him and he didn't.'

How does shadow know Garamdon? When Shadow first showed up, he did say experienced them. But just through thought. 

'We will explain later, we promise. But now is not the time.'

With that they stopped taking again. "He may have divided our ancestors, but he's not gonna divide us." Lloyd said as he glanced over to me and gave me a small smile. I can only hope Lloyd is right. There is a high chance that he isn't. All the sudden, we stopped. Kai had pushed all of us to the side as Skylor walked past. 

She stopped and motioned me to follow. She might end up being a good ally for this. I nodded to her and turned quickly to the boys. "I'll meet you in there." Lloyd face went into a frown for half a second before he nodded. 

"I thought they didn't matter to you?" Skylor glanced at me when I caught up to her. "Some of them do." She hums in response. "I hope they don't get in the way for you. I want to be able to fight you at some point." She finally turned to me with a wicked smile.

"Ditto."

As we walked, we talked about how we got into fighting. Especially in the culture we are in. Skylor said she didn't have a choice in the matter. It was that or die. Her father didn't leave much of a choice. Who ever her father is, I will strangle. She looked ashamed for some reason as she spoke.