Chapter Text
Nya was tired. She was tired of her identity being “the girl ninja”, “Kai’s sister”, and more recently, “Jay’s ex girlfriend.” Why couldn’t she be “Nya, the elemental master of water, and the newest ninja.”? Her identity has been connected to others for so long, she was fucking sick of this shit.
...And then that interviewer just had to make it worse. Asking the other guys what their favorite moves were, what their motivations were, why they became ninja, etc. But when it came to her…
“Why did you break up with Jay?” “Is there another boy on the team you’re eyeing? Maybe Cole?” “Did you become a ninja to be like your big brother?”
She grit her teeth and said “I don’t see how that’s relevant. I am the newest ninja and the elemental master of water. Why do I always get different questions than the others???”
The reporter just laughed uncomfortably and moved on to asking Lloyd something. Nya wanted to storm off. She was upset and just wanted to punch a training dummy or scream into a pillow or whatever. When the interview ended, she immediately ran to her vehicle and drove to the Destiny’s bounty. Since it was parked over the water, she propelled herself up with it, not having learned airjitzu yet. The training dummies had been set up and she immediately started taking them down with various kicks, punches, and streams of water.
“I see you are back from the interview. How did it go?” Wu said as he walked out, observing Nya train.
“Horrible. They always ask the others these in depth questions and then I get the “girly” questions. And that’s not the half of it! The others always get asked to advertise normal things like reading or whatever, but they always ask ME to advertise make up, or teach cooking, or advertise fashion! All they see me as is the “girl” ninja and I’m TIRED of this BULLSHIT!” Nya ranted as she took down another dummy.
“Language, Nya. It is not up to us how we are perceived, but it is up to us how we respond to that perception. You must rise above what others see you as. None of that matters, only how we perceive ourselves.”
“It’s not- I work just as hard as the others!! I literally SAVED Ninjago from the Preeminent!!! And all I am is the “girl ninja”. It’s so.. ARGHH!!!” She took down the final dummy and stormed off into her quarters, just as the others arrived. Jay stared at the doorway she disappeared into, and made to follow her, until he was stopped by Kai.
“She’s upset. Let her calm down and be by herself for a bit, okay?” Jay nodded in response. Kai walked off to check the computers and go on social media, and Jay lingered for a little while longer, staring into the empty doorway. He wanted to go talk to her, to ask if she was okay, and if she wasn’t, to talk to her. But he knew he was probably the last person Nya would want to see right now. She had recently broken up with him, and even though she reassured him that she still loved him like a friend, and that it wasn’t his fault at all, he couldn’t help but feel like maybe he didn’t do enough for her. Or that he wasn’t enough for her. After all, she deserved better than a boy born in a junkyard. He went to sit across from Zane, who was setting up chess pieces.
“What is bothering you, Jay?” Zane said as he made his first move.
“I just… I know Nya said it wasn’t because of me that we broke up, but I can’t help but wonder, y’know? If I could’ve done something more.” Jay made his move.
“It’s been an intense time for her. She only recently became a ninja and learned she could control water. She still cares about you, I am sure of that.” Zane said as the two of them continued to make their moves. “Checkmate.”
“Dangit, not again!” Jay said as he examined how he lost. “I know she cares about me, but I still can’t help but feel like this. I love her, and I know we’re meant to be, but she doesn’t feel the same way as I do. Even when it’s destiny I screw it up!”
They reset the pieces, and just as Zane was about to respond to Jay, a familiar voice appeared out of nowhere. “How many losses does that make? 100??” Cole said as he literally popped out of thin air. “Anyway, check this out!!” He said with a smile, turning invisible and back.
“That is a wonderful achievement, Cole! I take it you are enjoying your ghostly form?” Zane said, as Jay stared with his mouth agape in awe.
“I mean, I miss being mortal and all. But damn if this isn’t cool!” Cole said, turning invisible and back again.
“That is. SO COOL!” Jay exclaimed. “Can you still be physical when you’re invisible?? Oh my god you could scare Kai SO badly with that, I can imagine the look on his face now!!” Jay exclaimed, breaking out of his awe-inspired stupor.
“I haven’t worked out all the details yet, but you know I’m gonna pull some awesome pranks. And maybe get extra cake.” Cole said with a wink.
“What time do we have to go meet L’il Nelson at the hospital, by the way?”
“Approximately in 20 minutes. In 5 minutes I will get Nya, Lloyd, and Kai, and we will head off on our elemental dragons.” Zane said, smiling.
“Ninja!!! Emergency!!!” Wu yelled from the control center. The ninja all ran to the control center, where Wu began to explain. “Clouse has been seen getting a ticket for a train to Stiix. We don’t know what he’s up to, but you had better stop him. It’s definitely not good.” They all yelled confirmation, until Kai piped up.
“Don’t we need to go to meet L’il Nelson at the hospital though? He’s got two broken legs!!”
“Dealing with Clouse is much more important than visiting him. That’s important too, but we can do it tomorrow. We need to catch Clouse first.” Lloyd said, showing his leadership of the group. They all went on their dragons, and began their journey.
“Hey, there’s the hospital,” Cole said as they passed over Ninjago city. “You think we can stop by for a quick visit?”
“If we do not encounter any problems, we should be able to visit L’il Nelson and still be able to catch Clouse.” Zane replied.
“Great, then let’s head down for a quick visit.” Lloyd said, directing his dragon to the hospital. They talked with L’il Nelson, signed his casts, and declared him an honorary ninja for the day. Unfortunately, as they were getting ready to leave, stampeding was heard down the hall.
“That… constitutes a problem.” Zane said, realizing what was happening. Fangirls and fanboys were storming the hospital, and they wouldn’t stop until they found the ninja.
“How could they have figured out where we were???” Lloyd asked, until his eyes set sights on Kai, typing on his phone. “Kai, did you tweet where we were??”
Kai only looked up before exclaiming a slight “Ah, shit.”
“I know a roof exit, you guys can head out through there!” L’il Nelson exclaimed, happy to be able to help the ninja.
“Thanks, little buddy!” Kai said, before ruffling L’il Nelson’s hair. They then proceded to follow L’il Nelson as he led them through the hallways to a stairwell. Unfortunately, the stampeding was getting louder and louder.
“This is as far as I go, I’ll hold them off!” L’il Nelson exclaimed, waving to the ninja as they got on the stairwell.
“Thanks, L’il Nelson.” Lloyd said, gratefully.
“Not L’il Nelson. Call me… the purple ninja!” L’il Nelson said as he donned a purple ninja hood he himself had made.
Lloyd would’ve asked if he had made it himself, had the stampeding not gotten louder and they needed to get to the roof. Unfortunately, when they got to the roof, there was a ton of helicopters in the air. They immediately airjitzu’d to cover behind a billboard… except for Nya.
“Take my hand Nya! They’ll spot us if you don’t!” Jay yelled, trying to help.
“I don’t need your help!!! I can do this myself!!!” Nya yelled, before trying to jump and spin at the same time, to no avail.
“Just take his hand Nya!!!” Cole said, feeling extremely alarmed as a helicopter was slowly getting closer. She kept jumping, and failing, until a helicopter pulled up.
“What do we have here?” Darreth said, with a camera pointed at the ninja.
“Darreth! We need to get to Stiix to respond to an alert. We don’t have time for stupid promotional material!” Lloyd yelled, hoping Darreth would understand.
“Ooh.. a mission. That’ll get good views.” Darreth said, before throwing down a ladder. “Hop on in!” The ninja got in, hoping they’d be in time to catch Clouse. Little did they know, Clouse would be the least of their worries.
At that moment, Clouse was arriving in Stiix. Immediately, he tried to find what he was looking in the vast piles of rubble left from the Preeminent’s attack on Ninjago. He was trying to not attract attention, as any one of the Stiixians could’ve easily led to his departure from the living world. He grinned evilly as he found what he was looking for, a gold lamp that shined brighter than any gold he had seen before. He immediately rubbed it, and waited. Shortly after, a white cloud appeared, and a very big man appeared waist up above the cloud. He had tanned skin, a lot of muscles shown by not wearing much other than a green armored vest, a mustache, and he was bald other than a ponytail at the back of his head. He stared at Clouse with an evil glint in his eyes.
“I am Nadakhan, the Djinn prince. Who summons me?”
Clouse smiled, he couldn’t believe it had worked! He responded, “My name is Clouse… and I believe I can get three wishes now, oh great genie?”
“Djinn, and yes. But you should know the rules. You cannot wish to harm another, you cannot wish for more wishes, and you certainly cannot wish for love!” Nadakhan said, taking in Clouse with his gaze.
“Yes, yes, I am aware…” Clouse responded. “My first wish… I wish to get my book of spells!”
“Very well. Your wish is yours to keep” Nadakhan said, poofing up a book into Clouse’s hands. Clouse began to page through it, until it disintegrated into ash.
“What the hell is this?” Clouse exclaimed, looking in alarm at what used to be his prized spellbook.
“You wished for your book of spells, but you did not specify what condition. Since it was burned, it is currently ash. Do you have your next wish?” Nadakhan explained, the grin on his face only growing wider.
“Fine, fine. I suppose I can’t beat those pesky ninja as a ghost, so… I wish to be mortal!” Clouse exclaimed, not seeing how his request could be manipulated.
“Your wish is yours to keep.” Nadakhan’s smile only grew larger. Clouse began to turn solid, and look like his old mortal self. Unfortunately at that point, he began to grip himself in unbearable pain, moaning and groaning about how terrible it felt. “Ah, the process of becoming mortal is very painful. All those new sensations overload your ghostly senses, causing you great pain. I bet you had a third wish set up, but at this point you cannot think of anything other than…”
“I wish for it all to go away!!” Clouse yelled out in pain.
“Your wish is yours to keep.” Nadakhan said, grinning more than anything, as Clouse got whisked away into the lamp that had originally been Nadakhan’s prison.
Yes, Clouse would be the least of the ninja’s problems.