The Master of Wind

-Ninja Roll-

Premise: Lloyd and Jay have a much-needed conversation. (not included: Nya and Dareth make their way to the Island and Lloyd wins the game, earning the trust of most of the remaining elemental masters)

Lloyd's P.O.V:

Chen had announced he initially wanted to give everyone jewels for their work in the Tournament but, due to Jay's fight with Cole two nights ago, he rejected the idea and took away everyone's private suites, forcing us to sleep in the chow house. Of course, this put me and my teammates on everyone's Most-Hated-Ninjas-Of-The-Year list. If such a list didn't exist prior to this event, it certainly did now.

The chow house reminded me of my time at Darkley's School for Bad Boys (gosh, I'm still trying to forget that name): Bunk-beds of cheap stripped pine with rough canvas mattresses were jammed end to end on both sides of the big, drafty room. At the end of the room, the light shone dimly through a grand window onto the dark purple bedding and the red, shiny floor. Outside to the horizon, you could barely see where the grey sky blended into the grey of the ocean. Grey--the perfect color to describe my mood.

I rolled over in bed. The distant sound of the other contestants' snoring surrounded me. I'd gotten used to other people's snoring having shared a room with the ninja for years, but tonight it was getting on my nerves. I hadn't been sleeping well lately. Granted, I had never been much of a sleeper. Back in Ninjago City, I usually slept only for four or five hours a night. That had never been a big deal, but lately, I was scraping by with only an hour or two, and those weren't even restful. There's only so much of that a person can take. I ran a couple of fingers through my hair, moved out of bed and started to put on my clothes. I really was too tired for this, but I figured that if I was going to be awake, I might as well do something useful.

"Can't sleep?" Jay saw the shock register on my face before I could hide it, and a small smile played on his lips. "Me neither."

He looked haggard and so I pointed toward the half-open window at the far end of the room. "Want some air?"

Careful of the guards outside the door, we sneaked across the room and opened the window, climbing onto the windowsill. "I'm sorry, Lloyd," he said after a while. "I should've been the one to lose back then."

"Don't say that, Jay. I should've never let the feud between you and Cole go on for so long."

"No." He shook his head and his freckled face was puffy and swollen. "I was childish. I was so caught up in my feelings for Nya that I started to disregard my friendship with Cole, and now he's probably powerless, locked up in some awful dungeon..."

I put my hand softly on his shoulder as a token of my sympathy. "I understand your worries, but Cole is strong-- with and without his powers. I'm sure he's bickering with the guards as we speak."

Jay smiled but it didn't reach the eyes. "What do you think Nya is doing right now?"

"Hmm." I wrapped my arms around my knees, staring out through the window into the wilderness of the island behind the buildings. "She's probably sleeping unless she got up early to make some adjustments to one of her projects."

Jay murmured in agreement and we sat for a long time in silence, watching as the night turned into dawn, before he asked, "How do you bear it? Being away from the person you love."

I wasn't surprised. He and the others had figured out my feelings for Aia a long time ago, I'd just been too blind to see it. "I don't, Jay... I drag myself out of nightmares each morning and find there's no relief in waking, but I'm trying not to give in to it. My father once told me that it takes ten times as long to put yourself together as it does to fall apart."

My words seemed to move something within him, and he took a deep breath as if he was forcing himself back into one piece. "I'll remember that." He rubbed my back. "And try to get some sleep, all right? You look like a walking corpse, man."

"Thanks. Tell me something I don't know." I grumbled, getting off the windowsill.

"The bags under your eyes are quite a delectable shade of purple." he joked. "What brand is that?"

"Insomnia."

"Nice. Gotta try that sometime." He wrapped an arm around my neck and ruffled my hair. Jay might not have been the best at talking about feelings, but he sure was a light in the darkness.

-

I barely had the chance to tuck myself into bed before a group of anacondrai cultists burst through the door and strapped a pair of rollerskates onto my feet. Clouse entered the room, dressed in a flowing purple robe that made him resemble an overgrown bat. "Good morning, fighters. Master Chen wants everyone in the Royal Arena -- I wouldn't be late if I were you."

"If most of us have already fought, why are we all in skates?" Skylor asked. She'd proven her worth as a contestant last night when she won against the Master of Sound. Turned out she wasn't another Master of Fire, but rather the Master of Amber, which enabled her to copy Kai's powers through touch-- hence the misunderstanding. Luckily, she was limited to absorb only one power at a time.

"Oh, only two of you will be fighting, but the rest of you will have a chance to affect the outcome," Clouse stated.

"Who's fighting?" Griffin, the Master of Speed, inquired. "Tell us now!"

Clouse's cold, black eyes narrowed into a smug smile."The Green Ninja versus the Master of Form."

"Who's the Master of Form?" I asked Kai. I wasn't particularly nervous as I'd skated before, but I'd never seen this "Master of Form" around.

"You haven't heard? I hear she can look like anyone!" Kai exclaimed. "She'd be right under your nose, and by the time you figure it out, she's discovered all your weaknesses, then it's game over. But you're the Green Ninja, what weakness could you have?"

"Aside from a sore back and no sleep, not many." I shrugged.

"Thanks," Kai patted me on the shoulder but as he skated away, an identical person fell onto the floor in front of me.

"Ugh, skates. Why did it have to be skates," Kai complained as he tried to regain his footing.

"Kai? I just saw you leave--"

Oh.

Cole's P.O.V:

I was sore all over. Having my powers taken away was probably one of the most painful and dehumanizing things I'd ever experienced. When the guards threw me in a cell afterward, I'd initially attempted to break out using my super strength, only to discover that was gone too. I don't think I'd ever realized just how much I relied on my powers for everything.

Clouse had entered at some point, saying that I'd be put to work in Chen's Noodle Factory, which I initially was giddy about until I heard that eating any of the food was prohibited. I was stationed at the same conveyor belt as Karloff and Jacob, the former showing me how to do the job (after I accidentally dumped a bag of flour on a worker) while the latter declared that he would escape the first chance he gets.

And he did try. When Zugu, our unapologetically smelly personal guard left to do his business, Jakob took his chance and leaped for the door. I was about to follow him, but Karloff stopped me, slapping a hand over my mouth to stop me from screaming.

"Eh, make noodles, not trouble!" Karloff warned, and sure enough, as Jacob opened the door, Clouse came into the factory.

The sorcerer scowled, pointing at the Master of Sound. "Make an example of him. Take him to feed my serpent."

Jakob tried to run away but his blindness caused him to trip and fall over a guard's foot. Said guard grabbed him by the arm and dragged him away. His screams sent shivers down my spine and every inch of my being wanted to help him, to do something, but Karloff's grip was too strong.

"Feed his Serpent?" My hands trembled as I tried Karloff's hand from my face. He let go. "He doesn't mean—"

Karloff merely groaned. "Karloff not make trouble, Karlof make noodle."

I guess he was scared too, in his way