Enter the Tournament

Chapter 1

One Year Later...

Chen's Noodle House

Kai finally arrived inside the building; we could spot the familiar rolled-outta-bed hairstyle he wore around, and Lloyd was quick to wave at him. 

"Kai! Over here!" he called. 

Cole was huffy when the brunet finally sat; he'd been watching others in the restaurant with envy, and his patience had finally run thin upon Kai walking through the doors. 

"Jay? Cole?" the fire ninja queried. 

"Ha, you too?" the noiret agreed.

"The runt tricked us all." my ginger brother pouted.

"We talk first, then eat." Lloyd instructed as Kai went to grab a piece of sushi off of the buffet bar.

"Ugh, trust me," Cole began, "do you know what kind of restraint I've had to have, staring at all this noodle goodness? You're late!"  

I rolled my eyes.

"Make it quick." Kai responded in his own huff. 

Zane had sacrificed himself in an attempt to defeat the Overlord one year ago; however...it cost him his life; Lloyd had called us together at Chen's to discuss the matter. He explained how he knew it had been difficult moving on without our familiar robot friend. 

He wasn't wrong; Zane's loss caused a separation between all of us. Lloyd and I were the only ones that really stuck around to fight. Kai went off and joined a fight club, where he "beat people to the ground mercilessly"

...More like cheating by using Spinjitzu and then flexing.

Jay somehow became the host of a gameshow related to Wipeout; Cole became part of a local environmental group....AKA lumberjacking. 

I stayed with Lloyd to practice training. There was no way I would give up fighting for this city. There were too many memories that I couldn't forget; besides...it wasn't like there was anywhere else for me to go. Sure, I could say Jay was my brother, but...the energy in the title was beginning to wear out, and since we barely talked anymore after Zane's death...I was beginning to feel like I was only fooling myself. 

Fingers scratching the table lightly in a nervous tick, I continued to listen to Lloyd...until he said something that made me want to up and leave right there and then.
I'm sure the boys felt the same, hearing it.

"Maybe we should...add someone new to our team?" 

Kai's brows furrowed; Jay shot out of his seat.

"A new ninja?!" 

"Are you crazy?!"

"Come on! Zane's irreplaceable!" Cole joined. 

The Green Ninja tried to handle the matter calmly.

"I care about him too, but now it's time to care about this team." he replied.

"Maybe without Zane, there is no team." Kai snared, crossing his arms and looking away. 

Our discussion came to a halt when we noticed how big Jay's eyes had suddenly grown. 
He gulped.

"Don't look now, guys, but we've got trouble!" he whispered frantically.

Nonetheless, we all whipped our heads around to see what the problem was. 

Oh, of course: 

Eyezor.

Eyezor was a gang leader from Who-Knows-Where. He had a bad eye, that was replaced with a fake silver eye....hence the name. He and his goons were basically something of a gangster's worst nightmare. 
I guess their clothing style did a better job explaining it. Sure, fake eye and a mohawk were cool, but the shirtless-with-a-leather-jacket look...wasn't getting the job done for any of them.