The Master of Nature

Misunderstandings

With the help of a magician and a clown, the ninja managed to sneak past the nindroids. Hope was interested in how they were going to switch off the power.

"So, Nya, shutting down this power substation. Can we really destroy the Overlord and his Nindroids by simply flipping a switch?" asked Cole.

Nya shook her head. "Cripple them, yes. Destroy, no. Once we've powered down his army, we still need to reboot the central computer with the Techno Blades. And don't forget, since he knows we have them, they aren't gonna let us just waltz in."

"Whoa!" exclaimed Jay. "Wait a minute, if shutting down the power turns off everything connected to it, wouldn't that mean Pixal too?"

Hope gasped. "Poor Zane! This will break his heart."

"Well, if Zane hasn't figured it out, don't tell him," said Cole. "If we're going to come across more Nindroids, we need to be on our A game."

Garmadon and Lloyd had gone to the Samurai X cave while Pixal was repairing Zane. The others snuck onto a train to get to the power substation.

Hope and Cole were alone in a compartment when Hope received a call from Alyssa. "Hello?" she asked.

Alyssa was crying. "Hope, is it true? Did I really kiss Jay thinking that he was Jason?"

Hope grew tense. "Yes," she said. "Jay was super disgusted."

"J... Jason saw the video, and now he hates me! He thought I cheated on him and broke up with me!"

"I'm so sorry..."

"What do I do? I feel so miserable."

"Listen, we will talk about this, but I am kind of on a mission. And don't be alarmed if you can't reach me later."

"I... Don't understand."

"We can talk later, okay?"

"Okay."

Hope hung up and sighed.

"Hey, Hope. How are our kids?" Cole suddenly said.

Hope gasped at him. "Cole, don't you realise how weird that sounded?"

Cole suddenly looked embarrassed. "I meant our students! I didn't mean..."

"Oh, thank goodness. For a moment, I thought that you were into me."

"Hope, I thought that you knew me better than that," said Cole, sounding offended. "I love you like a sister. Besides, I am not interested in romance at the moment. We already have two lovesick ninja in the team. Well, three if you count Alyssa."

"Well, I think that Dareth is looking after the students," said Hope.

"Er... Hope? Is there anyone you are interested in? I'm cool as long as it isn't one of us."

Hope sighed. "To tell the truth, even if I was interested in someone, I don't think I could pursue them. I was so excited when I first met my foster parents. Alyssa had already endeared herself to me and I thought that we were going to be a family. Of course, I soon learned that I was wrong. Ever since then, I had been afraid to attach myself to people."

Cole looked at Hope sadly. "That must be rough. When my Mom... Died, my Dad spent more time with the Royal Blacksmiths. I didn't understand why he did that back then, but now I know that it was his way of grieving."

"Cole, how did your Mom die?" asked Hope.

"Cancer," said Cole. "She was diagnosed when I was ten and died when I was fourteen."

Hope suddenly thought of her parents, who were in their fifties and not young at all. It dawned on her that they may die one day. Hope had just gotten them back. How would she cope if she lost them again?

"Your friends will be there for you," a voice said in her head. Hope knew that no matter what happened, her friends would be there to help her.

The others came into the compartment. "Is this a good time?" asked Jay. "You two look like you are having a serious conversation."

"It's okay," said Cole. "We were just talking about family stuff."

"Good, because we're here," said Kai.

Unfortunately, nindroids were guarding the power substation.

"I'll stay back. I'm not built for stealth and cannot assist you," said Pixal.

"Be safe and stay out of trouble. I'll see you later," said Zane.

Luckily, a nindroid was too busy making fun of a tiny nindroid to see the ninja sneaking past.

"That's the substation's core," pointed out Nya. "Shut that down, and it's lights out for the Overlord. Now if only we knew which switch..."

Jay pressed a button before Nya could finish her sentence, which started playing the Weekend Whip.

"Turn it off! They can't know we're here," warned Kai.

"Pfft. Buzzkill," muttered Jay. He turned off the music.

"None of these buttons are doing anything. There has to be an easier way," said Cole.

"Yeah, like maybe just hack the system?" suggested Kai. But the glass was too strong for him to break.

Suddenly, the alarm went off. "Nindroids! Our cover is blown! Seal the doors and find a way to shut it down," said Nya.

"Don't seal the door. I'm going out there," said Zane.

"Are you crazy? We barely fixed you up the last time you fought them," complained Jay.

"You didn't fix me, she did," said Zane as he pointed to Pixal in the cameras. He quickly ran out at once, but the tiny nindroid came in.

"Argh! Great. Now they come in fun size!" yelled Jay.

"That doesn't look so fun to me," said Hope.

The ninja tried to hack the tiny nindroid, but his speed and small size made him hard to catch. It fired at Cole, who dodged and the laser hit the glass.

"Ah, that's it. Fight without fighting!" exclaimed Kai. "Hey, Half Pint! Over here! Whoa! We need to provoke him more."

"Or more Nindroids. Nya, open the door!" said Cole.

Nya opened the door and the nindroids fired more lasers, causing more damage to the glass casing.

Finally, the tiny nindroid got caught in the power source after kicking the glass casing, causing the power to go out.

The ninja cheered for a few minutes until they saw Zane cradling Pixal's body. Zane told Pixal that they would get more power for her.

"You've destroyed the only power source in Ninjago," said Pixal. "Power will all be nonexistent. We are not so d-different, are we? We are compatible?"

"Yes, yes we are," said Zane.

Hope couldn't help but cry as she watched Pixal power down. She didn't think that it would be possible to be any sadder. Sadly, the next few weeks would prove her wrong.