The Death and Disease Of Daisy Gustafsson: A Lego ninjago Fanfiction

Chapter 2

It had been a few days since the visit, and Zack's mind had cleared. He was back to his old, bubbly self again, and the ninja were back to sharing their relaxed and friendly lifestyle together. They joked and played games, and there was no shame or tense energy in the air at all. They were all comfortable, and everything was comfortable.

It was a sunny, early spring morning, still chilled from the rain from the past night. Jay was up, making a cup of tea. Cole and Kai were on the deck, watching the infant sun peak over the distant hills. Lloyd, Zane, and Nya were all still in bed, catching a few more seconds of sleep before they had to follow suit and rise with the sun. Zack walked out into the kitchen, and Jay glanced over his shoulder, and greeted Zack with a brief "Good morning!"

"Good morning Jay, what's up?" Zack said.

"Just making an early morning cup of tea." Jay answered. "It's a nice day, isn't it?" He said, his eyes still lidded with sleep.

"Yeah, it's almost summer. Winter went by so quickly, didn't it? It felt like just a few days." Zack added.

"Yeah, i hope nothing bad happens to us.." Jay said.

"What do you mean?" Zack said.

"It seems like every time there's a new season some big, seemingly unbeatable enemy rises from the dust and messes up our flow." Jay said.

"Now that i think about it, that's totally true, what's the deal?" Zack said. "I hope it's not snakes again. Why does it always have to be snakes? Yaknow, i used to like snakes."

Jay laughed, his typical brief "hehe". "Tell me about it."

The ninja went through their typical motions the rest of that day, and after dinner, Zack checked his borgwatch for updates. He checked the news, nothing interesting. He scrolled, and nothing caught his eye, until he saw a news story that shook him up a bit.

"More and more people are catching an unknown disease that scientists think is a mutation of a common fungus, and there has been only 1 fatality so far, and others close, A 16 year old girl named Daisy Gustafsson." Zack stopped reading immediately. He wasn't feeling good. A sick feeling creeped up on him, crawled on his back and between his hair, his spine, his stomach. It's so surreal to have someone you barely know die, just like that. She was sick, he knew that, but the fungus part made Zack's blood go sour and his skin crawl like a frightened insect. He loved moss, he loved mushrooms, but the way they spread, the way they sprouted from the earth in damp, rich dirt, and he tried to get the image of boils and abscesses of organic fungi bursting from the skin of a human being. Another organism, taking control of an already living organism, feeding off of it and growing, changing and dissolving, devouring the host. A strange feeling rose in his stomach, and a burning sensation tickled the back of his throat. He needed to tell the rest of the gang.

"Guys, did you hear the news?" Jay's voice interrupted his train of thought. "The girl we visited died the day after we came and visited her, but look at this!" Jay held up the phone to show Zack, and nearby Lloyd. "It says that she died of a mutated fungus, and a few minutes after she was pronounced deceased, the remains went missing.. I have a bad feeling about this.." Jay said. Lloyd looked concerned.

"I'll use Pixal to gather more data on the subject." Zane said cooly, making everyone in the room tense with anticipation.

"I hope nothing bad comes of this," Lloyd added. a few nodded in agreement.

"Pixal, analysis," Zane muttered, the code words triggering the program to awake. "Of course, Zane. Gathering more information on the death and disease of Daisy Gustafsson."

Zane buzzed, a mechanical sound, and opened his mouth to speak. "Pixal has gathered information on wh-" Before Zane could finish, there was a loud CRASH, and the sound of glass scattering on tile.

"What was that?" Nya interjected.

"I don't know, and i don't think i wanna find out..!" Jay added.

"Fighting formations, ninjas!" Lloyd called.

Everyone took a battle stance and slowed to a crawl, creeping towards the source of the crash. A creature, hunched over, was scattered across the tile floor in a horrible and twisted fashion.

it's head shook violently, and it turned and faced the ninja, looking directly into Zack's eyes. Zack saw it. The glimmer. The hungry, animalistic glimmer of the glazed eyes. He almost fainted.

It screeched, a heaving steadily as if it was trying to crawl towards the ninja. Kai hit it with a wave of fire and it winced, and fell silent and still.

A silence fell over the ninja.

"What the absolute hell was that?" Jay said, breaking the silence.

"I don't know, but look! around it's neck..." Cole said, picking up a note that was attached to the creature.

"Be careful, it could have a disease!" Lloyd said. "We don't know how dangerous this thing is, and we also don't know if it's actually dead."

"Watch your backs, Ninja. I spread like a disease, and i'm here for everyone's bodies. Don't try and stop me, you'll end up killing yourself"...?" Cole read the note aloud.

"Who's it from?" Nya added.

"Does it have a signature?" Zane inquired.

"It says it's from... someone named D.Y.G." Cole said.

"Is it pronounced .... Dig? or does it stand for something?" Jay continued.

"Can we deal with the elephant in the room please?" Kai said. "That thing is still on our floor."

"Kai, that is not an elephant." Zane said. "Also, should i take it to Pixal to analyze the matter of the creature? See what it is composed of?"

"Just get it out of our house. It could be planting spores or something." Kai said.

"Now that i think about it it kinda does look like a fungus, doesn't it?" Zack mused aloud.

"Yeah, i'm already unsettled enough. Looks like this DYG is going to be a threat." Jay said.

"Okay. I'll try my best to take it to the lab for analysis." Zane said. "as for the rest of you? come with me. You're all getting deeply disinfected."

Jay groaned loudly, complaining. Kai rolls his eyes. The rest of the ninja were deal silent and an awkward feeling fell upon the Bounty.