Ninjago - Heart of Stone

Chapter Two: The Grundle

Working in the ruins of Ninjago City under the sweltering sun was far from Jay's idea of a good time, but he still leeched satisfaction from helping the community. He also drew comfort from being able to spend so much time with Nya, who was admittedly stronger, tougher, and firmer than Jay, but who still seemed to enjoy spending time with him, too. Since most of the workers were civilian volunteers, Nya had asserted herself as the chief of operations and spent most of her time giving orders and organizing people. Concurrently, Jay spent most of his time listening to her orders, but not actually carrying them out. He had a nasty habit of paying too much attention to the sound of Nya's voice than to the words that were coming out of her mouth, and he was always too embarrassed to admit this to her; he felt that Nya wouldn't be too impressed with him if she had to repeat herself just because he couldn't focus.

Thankfully, Jay was not alone. Cole, who Jay had originally thought would be extremely difficult to get along with, was close to becoming Jay's best friend. He always seemed to be there for him, literally. When Jay needed an extra hand to lift something heavy, Cole was there. When Jay couldn't figure out what he was supposed to be doing, Cole explained it to him. And when Jay was just bored, or needed someone to talk to, or wanted someone to talk to him, Cole was available.

All in all, working in construction in Ninjago City may have been brutal, but it was still fun. Jay at least had friends, and a girlfriend (he still wasn't entirely used to using that word), and the whole team was actually able to work together to achieve something that wasn't death-defying. That didn't mean everyone was happy, though. Jay may have been easily distracted and spacey, but even he noticed that something was off with Lexi.

It wasn't so obvious that anyone would be concerned; she was good at hiding it, and made in plain that she didn't want anything said about it. But ever since her father had left-- heck, ever since he'd arrived in the first place, she'd been acting slightly... off.

Lexi had cold eyes, it was just the way it was. But they looked icier, like they were dead, and not just cold. Jay wondered what exactly had triggered this-- Garmadon's arrival, or his betrayal? Saving the world, or leaving right after? Jay knew that if his father had treated him like this, he wouldn't appreciate it either. He didn't judge Lexi for how she felt, but he wished she'd be more open about it. He was constantly telling the team whenever something was wrong, and he talked about himself incessantly. Lexi may be more private, but no one could be that quiet-- it just wasn't human.

Regardless of Lexi's inner demons, the ninja had a job to do. Ninjago City had effectively been reduced to a pile of rubble and ash, and with the lack of actual construction workers (and the magnitude of the project) they needed all hands on deck. The ninja were currently picking their way through what remained of the Ninjago City Museum of Natural History, trying to salvage what little they could from the debris. The place was a disaster, but it was also kind of cool-- broken pieces of old statues and skeletons littering the rubble, heads and hands and stone swords poking out of cement.

"Hey, Lex," Lloyd called, "come check this out!"

He was standing next to a massive statue of a giant, bug-like animal. It was at least five times the size of Lloyd, and it looked deadly. It's eyes were slits, blackness showing through, it's mouth agape, filled with rows of serrated fangs, outlined by fat, wet-looking lips. Despite being a statue, it looked very real, and very dangerous.

"That's a Grundle," Lexi said as she came over, "they went extinct during the Dark Ages."

"Lucky thing," Lloyd said, patting the Grundle on the side of the face, "can you imagine if these things were still hanging around?"

"I doubt humans could coexist," Lexi said. "It looks cool, though."

Lloyd wrinkled his nose. "It looks ugly." He frowned, running a finger down the statue's side. "I wonder why it's not destroyed? It must be made of tough stuff if it survived all this." He gestured to the destruction around them, emphasizing his point by kicking at a piece of rock that had previously been a part of a statue of a screaming warrior. Lexi shrugged, patting the thick stone that made up the statue.