Specials, Specials, and more specials

Special #31

"I dare you to beat me." Jay had a piece of pizza hovering out his mouth, yet he stood above Cole with a video game controller in his hands. Cole stared at his phone, captured by social media.

"You mean you want to go down for the third time?" Cole said, slapping him on the back. Kai slouched in his chair, irritated that he was stuck playing chess with Zane. Zane closed off the last opportunity for Kai's king to escape, and Kai gave up.

"I quit. How am I supposed to win a game?" Jay smirked at his attitude.

"That's what you get for trying to sneak my ice cream out the fridge. You think I wouldn't notice it, huh? Huh!?" Cole leaned back on the couch, meeting his eyes on Kai.

"He got you there." Kai raged, his anger overflowing in the room. The room door opened up, Lloyd walking inside.

"This is interesting." Lloyd chuckled, noticing the dynamic. Kai was ready to throw his chair at Jay, and Cole seemed prepared to dodge. Zane sat calmly in the corner, the chess board pieces thrown all over the ground.

"Jay begged me to beat Kai. I had no reason to, but he promised it would be entertaining." Zane's eyes glinted maliciously at Kai. "It really was." Kai smashed the wooden chair into pieces.

"Jay! Did you set this up knowing that Zane would laugh at my own fury?!" Kai shouted. Jay hid his chuckle.

"Yes." Jay started laughing on the floor, gasping for oxygen. Kai cracked his knuckles and brought his fists on the carpet ground. Jay scrambled to move, avoiding the flames which began to burn the room down. Lloyd took a second chair and sat across from Zane.

"I should probably do something about this." Lloyd asked Zane for advice, seeking help from one of his friends. Zane was far from logic, a dark smile appearing over his features from Jay's misery.

"No offense, but Zane's the last person you would want to ask." Cole grabbed Kai by the arm to stop his swing from hitting him in the face. "He'd allow them to fight, then laugh as one of them screeches in pain. Then Zane might let them suffer, laughing as Jay or Kai continuously screams for help." Cole turned off his phone, moving from the couch as it began to burn. Zane blinked, attempting to recollect himself.

"He's right, isn't he?" Zane sent Lloyd a short nod, ushering his eyes away from the scene. Lloyd groaned, banging his head against the table.

"Can you all just calm down? We just got back from another mission, and I come inside to see half the room ablaze." Lloyd placed his arms on the table, burying himself in his frustration. With every person recovered from Zane's change, Wu had sent the ninja on mission after mission.

"Someone remind me what day it is? I lost track after the 10th mission." Lloyd muttered, keeping the noise in the room to a minimum.

"It's been about a month." Zane bent down and took the chess pieces back in, organizing the board to its previous state. Zane offered to play chess with Lloyd, but Lloyd rubbed his head no.

"I'm not ready to see myself fail, only for you to laugh at my failure." Lloyd swallowed his defeat, Zane shrugging.

"Yes, I would do that." Zane replied. Nya opened the door, the fire creeping over the carpet. With an exasperated sigh, Nya drew water from her hands and blasted the room, as well as the two feuding ninja.

"Will you all please calm down!" Nya screamed. "I go for one second to find the room ablaze!" Jay tried to chuckle her off, making Nya even more upset. Kai sat like a wet cat, triggered over their discussion.

"Anyways, Master Wu wants us outside." Nya pointed to the exit of the door. "He's waiting on the gates of the monastery." Every ninja stood, following Nya through the monastery. Nya led them on the outskirts of the monatsery, the stairs leading down the path.

"Wow, Master Wu! What is this?" Cole commented. The Japanese Cherry Blossom tree had benches surrounding it, and food was prepared at the side. The ninja took seats in each bench, Jay sitting besides Nya, Lloyd with P.I.X.A.L., Kai with Misako, and Zane with Cole. Wu sat at the head of the table, a small bench holding his own tea pot.

"Just a little something we whipped up. We know that you all have been busy away on missions, so we decided to do something for you all." Misako stood from her bench and passed around cups. Kai smiled, happy to relax a bit from these missions.

"Thanks mom." Lloyd said. Misako poured a cup of tea for him, doing the same for the rest of the ninja.

"We also wanted to discuss something." Wu helped himself to the cake on the trays, disregarding the different meals which were to come. The ninja gave each other worrisome glances, but Wu sipped his tea.

"Yes, that's exactly what I want to talk about." Wu set his cup on the wood. "Over this period of hardships, I feel as if I was the one who failed you."

"Failed us?" Lloyd laughed. "Failed us for what?"

"For not acting as your mentor." Wu stated. "I should've been the one to guide you out of this, to help you see the way. Instead, I resorted to holding myself up in my own failure. As the one who should lead the way, I did nothing but hold you back." The ninja stared at one another, each one having the same thing on their minds. Everyone chuckled, nodding with confidence.

"We failed you." Nya started. "All of us were trained by you to move on. To understand change, and flow with it. Instead, all we did was hold each other back." The group began to sit in silence, her words carefully impacting each and every one of them.

"She's right." Lloyd clutched his heart, her words resonating within him. "I was supposed to keep everyone together, to lead us. But all I did was dwell in my anger, angry that we let Zane off the hook. I can't believe I thought like that."

Kai downed an entire cup of tea, ignoring the heat which overflowed from it. "Heh. I called someone I knew for ages a traitor. How could I do something like that? He's my friend. I should've known better than to overlook all the time we spent together." The ninja began eating the food at the table, but Wu refrained from touching a bite. Cole spotted his refrain, and set his fork at the side.

"Master Wu." Cole licked the food next to his mouth. "You of all people taught us to never quit. Ninja never quit. Well, none of us are backing down from this challenge." Cole looked up at the cherry blossom tree, studying the leaves as it flew off into the sky.

"Even if our friend changes, even if he's someone that I hate, I won't let that blind me. All of us will stop wallowing in our regrets, and eventually go on." Cole lowered his gaze on Zane, bitterness revolving in Cole's eyes. Zane meeted Cole's gaze, noticing the hatred in small corners, but Cole looked down at the ground and smiled.

"And sure, I still don't feel the same. I don't think any of us will." Jay hid his face away from Cole's words, the regret he felt evident. "But this isn't a challenge we'll run from. We agreed that we're facing it head on, without a shred of reluctance."

"Like I said, together." Lloyd raised his cup for a toast, offering it to his Master. "We're facing our challenges together."

"As well as hoping for a better future." P.I.X.A.L. commented. The group looked towards Wu, waiting for a response. Wu chuckled, proud to see his students united.

"I couldn't have said it better."

The End

>_<

This concludes a series which has started from November to June. Thanks for joining this series on such a long adventure. I had a lot of fun writing it, and I hope you all had a lot of fun reading it as well.

*Sadly salutes, then cries in a corner.* Goodbye my friends.

If you have any questions, ask me :P