Where The Road Takes Us (Discontinued)

Ch 4: An Uninvited Passenger

"That's it! We are officially pigs," Nya announced, as she gathered all the empty disposable lunchboxes and gave them to Zane.

After a good amount of karaoke, the Ninja felt becoming targets to extreme hunger. Talking, driving, singing, they hardly noticed that they were out of snacks – and it had only been an hour since they had reached the highway. Which meant they had to go a long while without food till they found a motel.

"Kai is the one who had suggested we eat," Lloyd argued. "If he hadn't said that, we wouldn't have noticed that we were hungry." He played with the strap of a duffel bag that lay next to him. "We already had a proper breakfast this morning."

The Master of Fire let out a noise laced with disbelief. "How can you blame me for the food shortage?!" He yelled, glaring at the blonde. "I threw up my breakfast, remember? I was starving!" But Lloyd wasn't listening to the hothead. In fact, he had entirely tuned out the argument as he spotted something on the floor among Kai's duffel and toiletry case.

Zane zipped up the bag after stuffing all the boxes inside before straightening up and dusting his hands. "The amount of blame you are putting on Kai is irrelevant. He never forced us to eat our food."

"Thank you, Zane!"

The nindroid smiled politely. "Actually, the level of happiness with which you are thanking me is also irrelevant." He waited for this statement to settle in before continuing. "I said the amount of the blame was irrelevant; not the blame itself. Technically, if you hadn't interrupted the karaoke but let it continue for a while longer, we would still be well equipped with food."

The entire team burst out laughing as Kai muttered through gritted teeth, "I hate you, Zane."

Cole cleared his throat as a thought occured to him. He adjusted the rearview mirror so that he could look at everyone. "Actually, we are still well equipped with food."

His friends looked at him with confusion, waiting for him to unravel the mystery. "Are you expecting mana from heaven?" Nya asked sarcastically. Cole rolled his eyes before saying, "No. My cookies."

Everyone started protesting on this immediately to Cole's annoyance. "If you think I'm gonna pollute my mouth with your cookies then you're crazy!" Jay hollered. Nya snatched up the bag containing the cookie tin and pulled it out. She rolled down her window and readied herself to dispose it off. "I'm gonna yeet these monstrosities out the window!"

Kai panicked, reached back and pulled the tin out of his sister's grasp. When Nya glared at him indignantly, he replied, "We're not yeeting these out the window! Are you crazy?!"

Cole smiled thankfully at Kai before gluing his eyes back on the road. "Guess I've finally found a fan who likes my baking." Kai stared at him disbelievingly before bonking Cole's head with the tin. "I'm not a fan, you dolt! I'm saving this as a last resort!"

"They should be saved as a never resort, if you know what I'm saying."

"Shut it, Jay!"

Everyone was so busy insulting Cole's kitchen skills that they didn't see their leader jump in surprise and pull up his feet from off the ground. The blonde could swear he saw a feathery head pop up from somewhere in the luggage. He bent down to get a closer look and . . .

"Uh, guys?" He called out but to no avail. Cole was rather loudly defending his cookies while the others offended them louder still. "Guys?" He tried again, raising his voice.

"Yes?" Came someone's impatient reply as silence took over the car. Lloyd rose up from his bent position and unsurely glanced at everyone as they turned around in their respective seats to look at him.