"Family Means No One's Left Behind"~ A Greenflame and Children Story

Chapter Thirty Four: A New Dawn

Lari's Point of View~
Five years had passed quickly and the rest of us grew up pretty fast as well. Dad and Skylor even had another baby born with the element of Amber. They named him Sky because the day he was born, the sky was flushed with a set of red, orange, and pink colors, sort of as a resemblance to Sker or Skylor since they had bright red hair. I would've never thought being an older brother would be hard. I give credit to my older siblings for putting up with me when we were little. Sky is five years old now. It'll be a long time before he starts his actual training and development as an elemental master. But my family and I promised to help him every step of the way.

The rest of us have been pursuing our own goals in what we want to do with our lives. May, Akidah, and Mia have been working on ways to restore the old school in Stixx that Mia's grandmother owned. Kabaz had been working part-time at a gym as an assistant coach. Meanwhile, I had been in my second year of high school with a part-time job at the noodle house. (The girls were also in school while Kabaz had graduated and was in college). I had also joined the soccer club along with Kano while Sonia was a member of the student council.

Although the five years we spent weren't what we had planned, we all managed to pull through the pain of grief and loss, and we never stopped moving forward. Sure, it took a long time to keep going and there were multiple times where each of us felt like there was no point in moving forward or it felt like we trapped in the past, but with help and support from friends and family, we were able to move on and live our lives to the fullest. Just like how Sker would've wanted us to.

Right now, it was a Saturday morning and I was laying down in bed when I felt Sky's body plop down on my chest. "Lari! It's time to wake up! Mama and Akidah made breakfast! Come on!" He exclaimed excitedly and a little impatiently. I yawned and put my hand over my face. "Why'd you have to wake me up? I was peacefully dreaming," I groaned. "I had to or else you would've missed out on good breakfast," Sky said. I sat up, causing him to fall back onto the sheets of my bed. I yawned again and stretched out. Sky got off the bed and was bouncing on his toes near the entrance of the room. "Hurry up and get ready!" He said before running down the hall back towards the others. I could hear the commotion from the kitchen, plates and cutlery being moved, food sizzling, and glasses of different drinks being poured. I quickly threw on some clothes and brushed my hair and teeth before going to the kitchen and sitting down at the table.

"Morning, Lari. Sleep well?" Lloyd asked, coming over with a glass of milk and sitting down. "Morning, Dad. And yeah, all until the little runt jumped on my chest and woke me up," I responded, purposely raising my voice on the last part to get Sky's attention. "You would've slept all day if I didn't wake you up!" Sky shouted from the kitchen. Lloyd only laughed. "He is definitely more like your brothers, Lari. Full of energy and always moving about," He said, taking a sip of his drink. I chuckled and soon, Skylor and Akidah brought out some plates with eggs, bacon, and a couple slices of toast and put them on the table. May came out with condiments like salt, pepper, and other things like that. Kai came out from his room holding Sky. Guess the runt gave him the same wake up call I was given. "Morning, Kai. Guess Sky woke you up too?" Lloyd said. Kai put Sky down and sat next to him and kissed his cheek. "Yep, little guy jumped on the chest," He responded. Lloyd only laughed again. Sky scurried to his seat as his mom set a plate down and a glass of orange juice. Once everyone was set, we all began to eat. "Mama! What are we gonna do today? Everyone has to know!" Sky questioned eagerly. "We're going shopping later and going to pay your big brother, Sker a visit. Kabaz will meet us there at around 2:00," she said with a smile. "We're going to visit Sker?" I asked, not knowing about the visit. "Mhm, Sky has something he wants to tell him. Besides, it's been a while since we last visited him," Skylor answered. "I'm guessing Kabaz knew since he's meeting us there?" Akidah questioned. "Yeah, we called and asked him a couple days ago to make sure the timing would be okay with his schedule," Lloyd said. "So what's the something you wanna tell him, Sky?" I asked. "It's a secret! And you'll only know once we see him!" Sky answered with a grin on his face. "Okay, okay. We should get ready in a little while. Time flies by quicker when you least expect it to," I said.

{Time Skip~}

As expected, time flew by and right now, we were all about ready to head out. We were just waiting on Sky. "Hurry up, Sky or we'll keep your brother waiting!" Lloyd called out. "I'm coming! I just need to put on my shoes!" He shouted from his room. A short moment later, he came scampering out to us, holding his baseball. "What's the baseball for?" Lloyd asked. "A surprise!" Sky said happily. "You know you can't play while at the cemetery," I said. "I know. I'll wait til Mama says it's okay," Sky replied, looking at Skylor. She nodded and told the rest of us to get outside. We all went outside and summoned our elemental dragons, Sky was riding with Kai.

We flew down to the cemetery and landed at the entrance. "Where's Kabaz? I want him to see my surprise too!" Sky questioned, looking around for our older brother. "He's on his way, honey. He'll be here in a minute," Skylor said, rubbing Sky's head. Soon enough, Kabaz came flying on his dragon. "Hey, Kabaz, how's it been?" Dad asked. "Eh, same as always, not much has been going on, but I'm doing okay. How the rest of you guys been?" He responded. "We've been good. Sky, here, wants to show all of us someething special," May said. "He does, does he? Can't wait to see what he has in store," Kabaz said with a chuckle and ruffled Sky's auburn hair. We all went in and to Sker's grave. We all said our prayers and said hello to him. Given Sky's young age, he's not all that sad about having a dead brother he never met. He talks to his grave as if he were actually talking to Sker in person. "Sker, you'll never believe what Mama taught me! She taught me two new elements! I can use Gravity and Light now!" Sky said excitedly. He then proceeded to demonstrate his newfound elemental abilities in front of everyone. He used the baseball for his Gravity demonstration and then made himself invisible via Light. Everyone laughed a little and gave Sky a small applause for his progress in becoming the next Master of Amber.

"Good job, Sky! You're learning so quickly!" Akidah praised in her cheery voice. "Yeah! Soon I'll be the best elemental master ever! Then I'll grow up to be a ninja who fights bad guys! Haha!" Sky cheered. "Okay, okay, bud, I think it's time to settle down. We are still in a place where we have to be quiet, after all," Kai said with a chuckle. Sky nodded and held the baseball in his small hands and sat down next to his mother. After Sky's demonstration of his powers, the rest of us decided to talk about different things that have been going on in our lives. I talked a lot about things that were happenig at school and the soccer club. I told him about all the training I went through (and still continue to do) and how I expanded my fighting skills. I even got the chance to meet other elemental masters like Griffin Turner, Ash, and Shade. It was nice sharing my stories and listening to the others. It felt like we were actually talking with Sker again, face to face, a family reunion. 

We spent the afternoon at the grave until Sky started to get whiny and wanted to go home. "Sky, behave yourself in a place like this. We're gonna go in a moment," Kai said. Sky groaned and leaned against his side. Kai rubbed his back in hopes it would keep Sky from throwing a fit. After a few more words and our goodbyes, we all stood up and left the cemetery. "You're coming home with us, Kabaz?!" Sky shouted as we were walking down the sidewalk. "Surprise!" He responded and picked up our little brother and carried him on his shoulders. "I'm staying over for the weekend then going back to the dorms Sunday afternoon," He told us in his usual chipper tone. "You should've told us, kid. We would've cleaned up a little for your stay," Lloyd said, lightly punching Kabaz's arm. "Don't worry about a thing, Dad. Besides, it'll just feel more like home if there's a little mess," Kabaz said with a laugh. We all walked back to our house and just like my older brother had stated, the house was a little messy, but he only smiled and went inside. 

"So what do you guys wanna do?" I asked once we were all in and situated. "TV! TV!" Sky shouted as he bounced on Kabaz's lap. "Any objections or other suggestions?" I asked. Everyone agreed to watching TV and put on a show Sky could watch. As we all watched, a loud booming noise eminated from outside. In a panic, everyone scrambled to the front of the house to see the commotion. From afar, in the city, there was smoke rising and screaming. "There's trouble!" May shouted. Kabaz handed Sky to Kai and the rest of us got our ninja gear on. Oh, yeah, forgot to mention, but my siblings and I also followed in our parents' footsteps and became Ninjago's new team of ninja! 

With all our gear on and Sky safe in dad's arms, the four of us ran outside and mounted our elemental dragons. "Be careful out there, kids!" Dad hollered. "Yeah! And make sure to kick butt!" Sky added, lifting a fist in the air. We waved goodbye and took off for Ninjago City, our home we swore to protect. 

The End.