Ninjago: Purpose and Meaning

9. The Problem

"Are you not making it unnecessarily difficult for him?" Daphne, the Master of Nature asked, wincing as Nadine called an even bigger wave than the last one and threw it at the new Master of Wind.

Tierney let out a short shrill before he was engulfed by the water and was thrown up on the beach. He lay sprawled out on the sand, his brown hair messy with sand and his wet clothes hugged him tightly. He lay still and panted heavily for a few seconds before he got up and waded out into the shallow water, preparing himself for the next wave.

Nadine only shrugged at Daphne's remark while her hand lit up in its usual strong blue light and yet another wave threw itself at the Master of Wind. He raised his hands to meet it, each hand lighting up in a strong silver light but to no effect as the wave yet again washed over him.

"This was how I learned," Nadine said nonchalantly. "And it worked great!"

"It's genius!" Naomi, the Master of Gravity, whispered excitedly before she chuckled as Tierney was knocked over, yet again. "It reminds me of what the First Spinjitzu Master did to us," she smiled at Nadine and Daphne. "It's great to see it happen to somebody else!"

Daphne gave her a disapproving look and folded her arms over her chest as she stared at the Master of Gravity's crouched figure. "He didn't do anything like that to me," she said sternly.

Nadine snorted, trying to hold back her laugh, while Naomi laughed without any remark of trying to hide it.

"That's because you're the Master of Green or something like that!" She said between chuckles.

"Nature," Daphne sighed, but Naomi didn't acknowledge her.

"He threw me and Arashi off a dragon!" Naomi continued, stood from her crouched position, and spread her arms wide to give her words more effect. "He barely told us what we were supposed to do!"

"That's just one example-"

"He apparently threw Nadine in the sea!" Naomi continued as she signed wildly at first Nadine and second the ocean. 

"Both me and Arashi actually," Nadine said, fighting to hold back her laughs.

"Both Nadine and Arashi!" Naomi corrected herself, giving her words even more weight. "That was how he taught us!"

"Still, that doesn't mean he did that to all of us. It could have been just you-"

Naomi interrupted the Master of Nature yet another time. "He literally fought Selene!" She played her trump card. "And he wasn't holding back!"

Daphne opened her mouth to protest but no words came. Her brows furrowed and her lips pursed as she turned her eyes back to the struggling Master of Wind in the shallow water.

"I can't argue with that," she finally said, admitting defeat.

They all had heard the stories of the tough training the First Spinjitzu Master put each of them through. Since they all had different Elemental powers, he had adjusted the training to it, so they all had stories to tell about what he had put them through. But all of them had looked at Selene in disbelief as she told them what he had done to her. He had battled her without holding back. He used power after power and pushed her further and further until he forced Selene to unlock her powers. Nadine and the others almost didn't believe it when they heard it.

The three women turned their eyes back to Tierney who still was fighting against the waves Nadine continuously threw at him. They watched but were caught up in memories of when the First Spinjitzu Master was still one of them, the leader of the Elemental Master.