Chapter Text
"They say, go slow;
And everything just stands so still."
-The Fold (Ghost Whip/Wicked Whip are my fav)
CHAPTER 8: Groundbreaker part 2
Cole lands an uppercut on the nearest training bot. He clotheslines another two that try to sneak up on him from behind. After all his sparring partners have been taken out, he shifts his attention to the obstacle course.
He pushes past the exertion that is starting to make his muscles tighten and cramp painfully. The stiffness in his upper body starts to ebb until it is only a dull ache. Perspiration is trickling down his back. His black gi is just making it worse. His black bangs drip sweat. His hair that he's neglected to cut for the past six months is sticking to his face. Still, he is tenacious, intent on continuing his training until sundown.
Red bleeds into orange as the sun sets. The clouds are nothing but streaks, folding into the horizon with the sun. There is blue dipping into the sky, the night eager to make her appearance. It wouldn't be much longer now.
Unbeknownst to Cole, his two comrades watch from afar from their own training stations.
"I believe the saying goes: It is quite rude to stare."
Jay squeaks. He realizes it's just Zane.
"It's also rude to scare the living bejeebies outta someone Zane, sheesh." Jay dramatically exhales in relief. "Just admiring his stamina. He's like a machine. No offense Zane."
"None taken." Zane responds earnestly. "We should focus on our own training, however. Sensei does not take to idle conversations."
"Zane, I can hardly move my body!" Jay whines, but he's genuinely sore. "I'm sure we can spare a few minutes to catch our breaths. When are you going to tell Cole you're a nindriod? Can I do it? It's been a few months already since he's come here, you know. And a whole year for about the both of us."
Zane is indeed a nindroid, but he is also sore to the core. However, frolic would only result in additional training sessions. He is somewhat concerned about Jay's elevated vitals. Jay is also exhibiting signs of dehydration. Zane gives a resigned sigh.
"I shall tell him eventually when it is relevant." Zane reminds Jay. They've had this conversation before. He heads for the pitcher of water sensei has set out for them and cools the lukewarm beverage with his abilities. He pours a glass and then hands it to Jay. "It is imperative you monitor your input while exercising; drink."
"Show off." Jay teases good-naturedly but Zane gives him a flat look. Jay sighs in return. Zane had gotten a lot better with Jay's teasing and jokes, but many seemed to still fly right over his head. Some of his best material, wasted. At least he could retell them to Cole. At least with him, he had a 50-50 chance of getting a laugh.
"Do not worry, you are getting good at manifesting your element. Soon you'll get the grasp of how to control it completely as well." Zane assures the lightning ninja, but Jay is hardly paying attention.
Jay's eyes have trailed back to Cole. The teen was an unstoppable force of nature, and it was evident why the scythe of quakes had chosen him. His stature was large and intimidating, his build reinforced with broadened shoulders and a husky build. His muscles had muscles! It wasn't fair. Cole had already been muscular when he arrived, but now they were defined and firm!
"Jay, you are staring again..." Zane tells him and he hastily snaps out of it to pick back up on training.
Oblivious, Cole continues to train. His mind is meandering to when sensei first brought him to the temple. He was brought to the golden weapons, Jay and Zane trailing in the room as well with their own sacred artifacts. Sensei and the others had stared at him, almost as if they were waiting for something to happen.
For a split second, nothing did. He was confused until he felt an unfamiliar yet cordial feeling take hold of him. The scythe laid out in front of him was glowing and calling out to him. Without thinking, he'd grabbed it.
Cole's profile was bathed in a soft golden hue as he admired how the curved blade felt balanced in his grip. The earth rumbled, as if content with Cole's decision. Cole had never felt more grounded in his entire life.
This power is yours. The scythe seemed to say. Let me help you harness it until you can manifest it yourself.
Jay was ecstatic for Cole. Zane even looked intrigued. But Wu...
...had turned around without another word, quiet and pensive. Cole couldn't help but wonder if he had done something wrong.
Cole looked at the other weapon lying on the smooth wooden table. It was a golden sword, its designs embossed alongside the handle, the guard carefully crafted into a proud dragon piece. Flames had been forged up the blade, escaping the mouth of the dragon.
It was radiating stifling heat, to a point Cole nearly found intolerable.
Its message clear:
Stay back.
To this day, his sensei's reaction bothered him. It was as if his sensei had expected a different response. When he asked Jay and Zane's opinion on the matter, they seemed oblivious.
Maybe I'm just reading too much into this. Cole thought, weaving through the turntables to avoid the heavy spiky maces. He had gotten hit by a ball once. Cole had welts on his face for weeks afterward from the protruding spikes. They were dull enough not to pierce skin, but that didn't mean they hurt any less.
A gong resounded throughout the courtyard, breaking him from his stray thoughts. Supper was ready.
Cole's stomach growled. If there was one thing Cole looked forward to after a grueling day's worth of training, it was food. It was especially a treat when Zane cooked dessert, his cakes were the best...
"Easy there, big guy. I can hear your stomach growling halfway across the courtyard." Jay comes up to him, snickering. It is quickly cut off when Cole decides to grab him in favor of bestowing him with a noogie. "Oh come on! Ew, you're sweaty! Uncle! I give, okay? Zane! Heeelp!"
"I believe you have brought this upon yourself, friend." Zane says, but he puts a friendly hand on Cole's shoulder. Cole rolls his eyes in response, releasing Jay.
"Thought I smelled smoke from sensei's cooking. Now I know it was just your fried brain from coming up with the same old wisecrack."
"Hey, the last one was about getting to a rowing machine for your flabby latissimus dorsi!* You said you liked that reference!" Jay pouts.
"Yeah, it was funny the first time you said it, Jay."
"I've got a comedian's block, that's all." Jay insists, sporting his trademark grin that would disarm even his most difficult opponent. It was a shame they had to wear their cowls when out on missions.
Cole cracks a smirk despite his best efforts not to encourage Jay's lame jokes. "Wish you'd have a mouth block."
"Foul! That doesn't even make any sense!" Jay looks over at Zane like the ice ninja is some sort of referee. Zane shrugs.
"I'll allow it."
"Heh. I win this round sparky." Cole chuckles.
Dinner is uneventful. Jay is the spotlight as usual, and there was a steady chatter going around the table.
Cole is thinking about his elemental ability. It is slowly but surely starting to manifest. He's gotten quite good at controlling it. Sensei mentioned the scythe was merely an extension of his ability. A tool. One he'd have to figure out how to utilize sooner or later. Sensei had promised more missions, for the crime levels in Ninjago were spiking again.
Cole finished his meal quicker than expected. Jay asked if there was anything wrong, but he assured them he was just tired and that he'd be heading to bed early. Cole took a much needed shower then retired to his room, avoiding Jay's persistent questioning. He surprised himself as he crawled into his bed. As soon as his head hit the pillow, he was asleep.
He had the best dream about cake. Neverending, delicious, and best of all he didn't have to share with anyone. Cole was reaching for a piece of strawberry shortcake when he was startled awake by a soft shhft.
"Hn. Jay? That you?" Cole drawled sleepily but there was no reply. It had sounded like the doors to his room sliding shut. He stuffed his face back into his pillow when it suddenly hit him that he needed to relieve himself. Ugh. But he was so comfortable.
Cole trudges to his feet. I'll just leave the bathroom light off. He thinks lazily.
The earth ninja lumbers out into the hallway. He starts to walk toward the bathroom when something catches his peripheral. He nearly misses it, but a sliver of moonlight illuminates the silhouette briefly. He can't make out much in the dark, and he doesn't have Zane's sixth sense, but he is positive the figure had not been Zane, Jay, or Wu.
Suddenly Cole is much more awake.
"Hey!" He barks out, alarmed. The dark shape pauses, and Cole hopes he's wrong and that Jay will respond with a cliché joke. The shadow disappoints, bolting out of sight around the corner. It's definitely not a sleepwalking jay. Would it be known as Jaywalking in Jay's case? Cole doesn't have time to contemplate.
Cole sprints after the shadow. "Get back here!" He yells, hoping to wake the others.
Cole manages to get a better look at the retreating figure. The first thing he spots is his scythe on the back of the thief. So that's what he was doing in my room. Cole thinks.
The shadow is taller than him, and it's definitely male. He's cut, but strength doesn't always equivalate to power, as Cole has come to learn. The shadow is wearing a body plate and additional chainmail that hardly makes a sound when he moves. His shoulder plate is gold and extends all the way down his left arm. His hat reminds Cole a lot of sensei's straw hat, except the stranger's is a shade of red. Chin-length brown hair frames his collar. The shadow turns to see if Cole is still on his trail and Cole catches a glimpse of a strange monacle device strapped to one of his eyes and a red cloth obscuring half his face.
"Damn kids." The figure growls, tossing something that glints in the light peaking through the semi-opaque shades of the monastery hallways.
Cole realizes what it is last minute, and he just barely has enough time to duck into an adjacent room before the hallway is turned into a blazing inferno. He smashes into another body, tucking and rolling instinctively. His back is burnt by the bifurcating flames that diverge from the hallway.
"Damnit." He groans, his arms trembling from holding himself up so he doesn't collapse on the body underneath him. His back is quivering, and he can feel the new and raw exposed skin. It smells like burnt flesh. It makes him sick.
"Cole? Why does this seem so familiar? Oh my gosh, are you alright?" Jay squeaks from under him. "What's going on?"
Cole rolls away from the unscathed Jay, hissing between his teeth. His back hurts, but he knows he has to get up to stop the bandit that has broken in. Sensei and Zane are in danger if the stranger was after the golden weapons. "Get up. Someone's broken in."
Jay looks confused. One minute he's getting up to check on who was shouting in the middle of the night, the next he's being tackled by Cole and now the said ninja is climbing to his feet. The back portion of black's pajamas (unironically also black) have been mutilated, exposing blistered broadened shoulders.
"But...you're hurt." Jay discerns, but Cole's demeanor has changed to his typical one whenever he gets into a fight. Headstrong and focused.
"No time. The others are in trouble." Cole darts ahead, not waiting to see if Jay is following.
There is a rumble on the other side of the monastery, and smoke is billowing from the hallway It's rising and dispersing already, which is good news for Cole. The air is still hazy and everything is hard to make out. Luckily, he knows the monastery like the back of his hand.
Cole is just about to head in the direction where he can hear more explosions in the background when he hears someone approaching from behind. He instinctively reaches for his scythe only to grasp empty air.
No weapons. Right. Cole remembers.
"Cole? Is that you?" There's a sharp crackling sound and Jay gathers his ability into a single focus point in his palm. The effect is like bringing two wires together to form a circuit. The energy jumps to life, awaiting his command. Jay's face is illuminated in the flickering light. Cole's hair rises involuntarily with the charge his power brings. The air hums with excitement.
"Yeah. Careful with that energy." Cole frowns. He notices Jay's usual nunchucks are missing. Although Jay and Zane have much better control of their elements than him, he knows firsthand how relying too much on their abilities can affect their concentration.
"I've got it under control!" Jay assures him with a quick trick, rolling the sphere of energy between his shoulders and transferring it to his other hand like a mere basketball.
Cole knows Jay is just trying to put him at ease, but now is not the time. He refrains from dragging his hand down his face in exasperation. "Jay. Sensei and Zane need our help. Where are your nunchucks?"
Jay picks up on his clipped tone, stilling. "They weren't in their usual spot- I didn't want to spend too much time looking for them- why? Do you think whoever broke in is after the weapons?"
"I know they're after the weapons. I was just chasing after a thief who was wearing my scythe on his back. It's very possible he stopped at your room first." Cole explains, turning back to the clouded hallway when he hears a soft curse and a figure appear from the smoke.
The figure clad in dark colors freezes, his gold eyes widening in surprise.
"Oh shit."