Transgender Jay : A Ninjago Story

9 - Heatwave

"Wake up!" Sensei Wu exclaimed, walking into the ninja's room, smashing two steel plates together, creating a ruckus that would wake the deepest of sleepers.

Jay was the first ninja to sit up, and when he realised he had fallen asleep in his binder he swore very loudly.

Wu clanged the plates together in Jay's direction.

"Language!"

Jay fell back onto his pillow, groaning.

"Sensei... I'm not a kid anymore... I'm allowed to swear."

"It's bad etiquette for role models such as the ninja, don't you think?" Wu added with a sly smile.

"Why are we even getting up this early? I thought Sunday was our lie in day?" Cole asked.

"You've all gotten slower and sloppier. I've prepared a number of exercises to tone your reflexes."

With that, Sensei left the room, and the ninja knew he wouldn't be happy if they took ages getting ready.

"Jeez, so what if we're a bit slower? It's not like anything's going to happen." Kai muttered as he grabbed his ninja suit and started to change.

Jay bit his lip. It wasn't the time to bring up the very real threat of Dei Noctis, but he knew he would have to at some point.

"He's right though, we are quite out of shape." Cole shrugged, looking down at his chest, grabbing at non-existent flab.

"Oh purleeeease Cole, you're bordering on an eight-pack." Jay joked, putting on his own suit.

"Actually, there is no such thing as an eight-pack. There are only six abdominal muscles." Zane pointed out.

Kai at first didn't believe him, and they entered a brief argument about it. Brief because Zane easily won with facts and a cool head.

Heading outside, the ninja realised that it was going to be a very very hot day, considering it was only morning and they were already too hot in their suits.

Sensei's 'activities' were hardly forgiving either, and soon enough, the ninja abandoned their suits and wore nothing more than shorts and t-shirts.

First of all, they all had to complete an obstacle course which was very demanding in the endurance aspect, then they were set up with boxing equipment. The aim was to get as many jabs in within 5 minutes and to simultaneously avoid your partner's jabs.

Jay couldn't help but smile a little bit when he realised they would be boxing. He had spend a lot of free time in the last two weeks hammering away at punching bags and sparring robots alike.

Cole and Zane were chosen to spar first (Zane won), and then it was Jay and Kai. Jay had noticed that Kai had a habit of feinting a direct jab then going for a wider hit, or vice versa, and he used this to his advantage. During his wide swings, his ribs were left unprotected, and by the end of the session, Kai's ribs - as well as his flaming pride from the start of the session - were quite bruised.

Sensei had quite a lot of praise for Jay's technique, and set him know through the occasional nod of approval.

After their fight, it was Lloyd and Nya's turn, and the tournament of sorts carried on.

Eventually, Sensei realised it was getting way too hot for training to continue, and he gave the hard working ninja the rest of the day to do what they wanted with.

"... ughhh... who's gonna go and get the ice-lollies out of the freezer?" Kai groaned, leaning back on the moth-eaten deck chair he had found in the Bounty's lower deck.