Ninjago: The Flash in the Rain

Chapter One

Four Years Later, Cole's POV

"Daddy!" A four year old Bird ran into Jay's arms. They both fell over and rolled on the floor, laughing. Kai came into the living area, carrying his three year old daughter, Aryssi. She wriggled her way out of his arms and waddled over to Bird and Jay. 

She climbed up onto them, proudly shouting "Win! I win!" This brought Skylor rushing into the room just in time to pick Aryssi up before she fell over. 

"You three boys are so irresponsible!" Skylor scolded, pointing at Jay, Kai and me. "Either Ariss could've been squashed, or Bird hurt!" 

"Honey, calm down. Jay would've stopped if somebody was in danger." Kai tried to soothe his wife, but it wasn't working. She was about to yell again when there was a crash at the door. Lloyd and Zane came running in.

Bird got up off the floor and ran over to them. "Hi little dude." Lloyd said. "I need everyone to come with me, immediately." 

"I'll stay with the kids, you go." Skylor said, and I followed my friends out of the room. 

We created our dragons and flew down to Jamanaki village. I noticed it getting colder the closer we got, and even though it was in the mountains it was colder than normal. "Wow, it's really cold." Jay complained, moving his dragon closer to Kai's. "Ah, that's better." He said, as the heat from Kai's fire dragon warmed him up. 

Lloyd and Zane suddenly dove, and shot down to the mountain side. We all followed them, but we were confused at why we were landing before we arrived. "We go the rest of the way on foot." Lloyd said.

"What?! Are you crazy? It's freezing here!" Jay yelled. "We'll all get hypothermia and die!"

"It's not that far, and trust me, it's much safer this way." Zane said. "And when we get there, make sure not to look at her." Her? Who's her? Zane left us with our thoughts as he and Lloyd started trudging through the snow. The thin gloves on my hands did little to keep frostbite away in the time it took us to get to Jamanaki village. Soon we could see the red topped houses that were covered with freshly fallen snow. 

"We'll split up. I'll go with Cole and Jay. Zane, you go with Kai, but keep an eye out for Her." Lloyd looked at Zane. "You know what we're looking for?" He nodded, and we split up.

"So, what are we looking for? And who's Her?" Jay asked. 

"In short, we're looking for Her. Really, we're looking for Her staff, but do not look at Her, no matter how tempting."

We turned a corner, and Jay stopped short. "Nya?" He gasped. "But- You were dead!" 

"Jay, shut your eyes. That's not Nya!" Lloyd shouted, but to no avail. Jay ran off, and as I turned the corner I saw what appeared to be Nya standing in front of a large water fountain. 

"But.. But you were dead." Jay stammered.

"Yes, my dear. I am dead. But it was not your fault, please do not blame yourself."

"Cole, that's Her. We need to get Jay out of there, now!" Lloyd whispered. "We can't let Her put him under Her spell."

"Who is she?" I asked him.

"I'll explain later. But first, we need to get Jay out of there." 

The Nya figure was still talking to Jay. "It really wasn't your fault, love. It was the infant that killed me."

"Don't listen to her, Jay! You need to come back here!" I shouted, but either he couldn't hear me or he was too far under Her spell to respond. "This isn't working," I told Lloyd. "Maybe one of us needs to run and grab him." Lloyd nodded at me, and I took off towards him. Nya spotted me, and hissed. In an instant, she had changed shape into a massive, octopus like beast. She roared as I grabbed Jay and ran. Kai and Zane appeared on the other side of the water fountain, and began blasting her with their powers. 

"No! I can't leave her again!" Jay was screaming and kicking, but I held on, and continued running. I created my dragon and flew as fast as I could while holding Jay still. I looked back and saw Zane get blasted by some dark fog the monster had created. He stumbled, and created his dragon and flew off. Everyone else was not far behind him.

"I'm not done with you, Ninja! You'll never find me! I'm like an octopus, I can hide until I'm ready to strike!" The eight tentacled monster shouted. "You hear me? I strike when I'm ready!" She continued to shout, but I was too far away to hear her. The others caught up to me, and it was a very quiet ride home. 

We arrived back at the floating temple just after sundown. Bird and Aryssi had been put to bed, and everyone gathered for Lloyd's long overdue explanation.

"She doesn't have a name, but many people call her 'The Octopus.' Highly original, I know. She has the ability to shape-shift, and has control over very powerful magic. She has been haunting Jamanaki village for some time, from what the locals told Zane and I earlier, but she has been keeping herself quiet enough as to not attract our attention. Zane and I, uh..."

"We blew up her cave habitat." Zane said. "That was why she was mad with us."

"She is known for liking to deceive people. She sees people's memories and thoughts, and strikes them where it hurts most, in our case, she appeared as Nya in an attempt to lure Jay in." Lloyd continued. "We need to get rid of her, before she causes more pain and suffering, but she is smart. She will know not to come out of hiding while we are still looking for her. This will take a great deal of patience, and time to get her."

"How long?" Skylor asked.

"There's no way to know for sure," Lloyd said. "But someday, maybe Bird and Aryssi may help us defeat her."

Later that night, I walked into Jay and my bunk room. He was sitting on his bed, staring off into space. "You okay, Zap Trap?" I asked him.

"Fine, Cole." He replied. Something was defiantly wrong. He never used my proper name if I didn't use his. 

"No, you're not fine. You haven't been since you saw the Octopus woman-"

"No. Not Octopus woman, that was Nya. And she was right, it was not my fault she died. It was Bird. You said so yourself that night, it might not have been me who struck her with lightning, it could have been Bird. Elemental powers do usually move into the descendant."

"How could you blame the child? He would have no control over his powers, if he even has any! He hasn't shown any signs of it since then."

"I'm going to bed, I don't want to talk about it anymore." Jay lay down on his bed.

"Wait, Jay please don't blame Bird. The--"

He reached over and jolted me with a small burst of lightning. "I said, no, Cole. Goodnight."

I was shocked, literally and figuratively. He had never acted this way before. But it had been a long day, he would probably be better in the morning. "Goodnight, Jay." I said, before turning off the light and falling asleep.

1240 Words :)