The Master of Nature

The First Challenge

Hours later, they had arrived at Master Chen's island. Hope was very tired. She had not been sleeping well for the past few nights because she had been conflicted about Elijah.

She didn't like him that way, did she? Thinking about him gave her a major headache.

Luckily, the fight between Kai and Karloff was stopped before it could go too far. However, Kai was still head over heels for the girl in orange.

"Ladies first," said Kai as the girl passed by them.

"I'm a girl too," said Hope.

"Sorry Hope," said Kai, his face as red as his gi. "I forgot for a minute."

"How can you forget?" asked Hope.

Hope then overheard Lloyd asking Garmadon about Master Chen. Garmadon admitted that Master Chen had been his Sensei when he was young.

The Elemental Masters sat down in a circle. A comical looking man sitting on a large cushy chair caught their attention.

"Welcome to the Tournament of Elements! Now everyone can all di-rect your attention to me!"

As Master Chen said di, the door had closed behind them and Hope gave a squeal, holding on to Kai's hand. She didn't notice the girl in orange looking at her in annoyance.

It turned out that Master Chen was only trying to scare them by almost saying die. Hope didn't think this was funny.

"I forgot to mention, he has a penchant for theatrics," whispered Garmadon.

"Never before have so many Elemental Fighters been under one roof," said Master Chen. "I see Master of Fire, Earth, Shadow, Speed, even a prophesied Green Savior. And a former pupil has returned. Oh, and two Masters of Nature! One male and one female."

Hope felt everyone's eyes on her, causing her to cover her face. Why are you looking at me? I'm not that interesting. Why can't you look at the other one?

Fortunately, everyone seemed to lose interest in her after a while. Master Chen pointed at a gong with a symbol on it. "This symbol before you is for the Anacondrai, fiercest Serpentine warrior to ever roam this land. Its creed: Only one can remain."

Hope was surprised. Wasn't Pythor an Anacondrai?

Master Chen showed them a Jade Blade, which they were supposed to take to win any round. Then Master Chen called many Kabuki girls to take the Elemental Masters to their rooms.

Hope was certain Master Chen was stalking her. Why? Because her room was exactly like she would like her dream room to be. It had lavender wallpaper with flower patterns on it. Her bed had flower patterns and smelled of roses. There were beautiful flowers arranged in vases all over the room.

Hope looked into the vases. Daisies and lilies. Daisies were Hope's favourite flowers and lilies were Alyssa's. Hope opened the wardrobe to find new ninja gis and floral patterned dresses. They were all lavender, purple, pink and white in colour.

Hope smelt the flowers in a vase. The smell reminded her of Alyssa's favourite perfume. Alyssa haven't worn the perfume since she started living with the ninja because of Nya's perfume allergy.

Hope changed into her new robes and placed a flower hairband in her hair. She suddenly thought of what Elijah would think if he saw her.

Wait, when did she care about how she looked? Especially in front of Elijah?

Hope flopped onto the bed. It just felt so comfortable. Maybe she should close her eyes for a while...

"Fellow fighters, hidden around my island are enough Jadeblades for every participant except for one. The one who returns to the palace arena empty-handed loses. The tournament begins...now!"

Hope, having dozed off for who knows how long, quickly sat up at once. "I can't believe I fell asleep!" She shot up and ran outside in a panic.

Hope saw several Elemental Masters fighting for Jade Blades. Wanting to avoid as much social interaction as possible, she ran the opposite direction. Luckily, she spotted a Jade Blade in a plant pot. She ran to grab it. However, someone else grabbed it at the same time.

Hope's eyes almost fell out of her head when she saw who it was. "Who are you? Why do you look like... Me?"

The person in front of her smirked. "The name's Chamille and I am a Master of Form." To prove her point, she changed into a young woman with poofy purple hair, a tanned complexion, and stunning green eyes. "I can transform to other people."

Hope could feel her social anxiety triggering. She tried taking deep breaths, but she could feel herself trembling.

Get the Jade Blade, came a voice inside her head. She saw Chamille grabbing it. "No!" She attempted to pin her down, but Chamille easily overpowered the younger girl.

"I am stronger than you. You won't get away so easily."

Hope knew Chamille was right. She couldn't fight using strength. But she still had her powers.

Hope thought of poppies, and the red flowers magically sprouted from the ground.

Chamille laughed. "Flowers? That's your idea... Hahaha hahahaha!"

Hope had made the poppies tickle Chamille, effectively distracting her long enough for Hope to take the Jade Blade and run away.

Hope ran to the main room and gave the Jade Blade to Master Chen, who put it on a holder with other Jade Blades. "Three more to go."

Hope saw that Jay and Lloyd were already there. "You okay?" asked Lloyd.

"I'm fine," said Hope. She adjusted her hairband, which had almost fallen off her head.

Soon, Chamille came with a Jade Blade, and she gave Hope the dirtiest look ever. Hope tried her best to ignore her.

"Two Jade Blades remaining," said Clouse.

"Wait! I got one!" yelled Cole as he ran in.

"Cole! Whoo-hoo! You made it," cheered Jay.

"Where's Kai?" asked Cole.

"Only one Jade Blade remaining," said Master Chen.

Soon, the final contestant with the Jade Blade came in, which was Karlof, the Master of Metal. "Hahaha! Karlof wins."

However, Kai came and sneakily unscrewed his metal hand.

"That's not fair. He cheated," said Karlof.

"I did what I had to do," said Kai.

"That is not how you win," said Garmadon.

Karlof sighed and admitted defeat, but the real surprise was yet to come. Master Chen sent Karlof down a trapdoor.