Chapter Text
Over the next 4 years, they cleaned, leaving barely any traces of him to clear their minds, and even his prized katanas had gone to the hands of the Ninjago City Museum.
Each day went calmly, and even they had to go to the police station for tasks to do (or Wu would get mad at them again). There were only calls for minor robberies and the occasional escapes of convicts that were easily recaptured. Lloyd had to agree that without him, things felt off, but they had considerably less petty arguments. Even though they were tiring, they were missed greatly.
It wasn’t until the many years free of major battles passed, when the ninja were called to investigate an illegal fighting ring at the renovated Yang’s Tavern, that they saw any of Kai’s legacy again.
Jay shuffled in with a casual outfit on, but kept his face as covered as he could with a hat and face mask. He walked up to the bar and awaited someone to tend to his want. Then, a burly man with large muscles and a lack of hair walked up to him from behind the counter. “Nobody drinks at 3pm, darlin’, too early. O’course you wouldn't know, you’ve never been ‘ere before.” He laughed heartily. “What can I do for you today?”
“I’ve come here to see ‘the Slither Pit’..?” He was unsure what to ask for so he just went along with it. “I-if you don’t mind..”
The man looked Jay up and down as the blue boy took off his cap in the heat of the tavern. “I’ll call my boss to see what he can do about your request. Have a drink from me in the meantime.” His phone buzzed for a few seconds before a voice from the other side spoke in words too glitchy to be made out. “Alright. Man’s cute, short, got curly auburn hair an’ freckles.”
Jay blushed at the mention of being cute, but realised he had taken his mask off to drink, showing his entire face. He internally facepalmed and looked back at his green beverage. He was pretty sure it was a cocktail, but he enjoyed its tropical flavour anyway. “I love this, what is it?”
The man hung up and put his phone in his pocket. “That’s our special, ‘Red Shogun’, named after one of our regulars an’ his favourite drink.”
“Kai..” Jay took another sip. “What do you know about him?”
“I don’t ever remember a lad named Kai.” The taverner responded with a straight face. “An’ by the way, I don’t know about a ‘Slither Pit’, but the Boss Man said he’ll talk with you later.”
Jay had hit a dead end. “At least tell me about this ‘Red Shogun’ guy.”
“Well, he’s quite an outgoin’ fella. At least he were. He came to this tavern once, and returned for a single drink each day since.” Then the taverner pointed at the wall. “He stopped comin’ a few years ago. Damn shame, he were a real treasure.”
The blue ninja looked up to see, beside the smiling picture of Kai, aka the Red Shogun, a small portrait of a person with black shades on and hair tied up in a messy ponytail. Their hand was doing the peace symbol and their pierced tongue stuck out in a rebellious manner. They donned a shirt in blazing black and red tones that screamed ‘bad bitch’, the lack of sleeves revealing arms littered with scars of all sizes. Despite that, there was a deep red cloth tied around their right arm for decoration.
“Wow..” Jay felt his face heat up at the sight of the man, then remembered he had 2 boyfriends. “Who’s that?”
“He's the Boss Man.” The bulky man smiled warmly. “He made a wager, an’ lo an’ behold, I took it. I lost my bet, so ownership of this place went to him.”
“So you’re Yang, ex-owner of the Yang Tavern?” Jay connected the dots to help himself feel a little smarter.
“Correct, darlin’. I do love the boss though, he really made this place shine that extra bit more with his enthusiasm.” Yang stood up straight. “My shift ends now, so Boss Man will be takin’ over with another barkeep in up to five minutes.”
“Thank you for the drink, sir.” Jay tipped the empty glass forward that Yang then took to wash.
“Please, don’t ever hesitate to call me Yang.” He laughed as he took off his apron to leave. As he exited the front, he waved and greeted someone joyfully.
A person walked through the front door, nails painted black and untamed dark hair tied back messily. A bunch of villainous looking folk followed him with cheers and chants of all kinds. The blue ninja was a little overwhelmed with the sudden change of atmosphere but adapted fairly quickly as he pushed through the crowd to reach the man at the front. “Hey, excuse me, but are you the ‘Boss Man’ that Yang was talking about?”
“Depends.” The crowd quietened as the man with shades looked in the direction of the boy in blue. “You the cute guy Yang was talking about?”
“I think? I don’t really think of myself as cute-”
Jay was cut off by the Boss Man pressing a finger to his lips. “Shh. I’d say description checks out if I could actually see. Welcome to Yang’s Tavern, new guy, and welcome to our slither pit.” A wall shifted out of its way to reveal a small arena. “Here, we let our customers bet on battles we set them up with. It’s a nice little stress reliever for when you need to get anything negative out of your system.”
“You’re blind?” He moved his face away from the Boss Man’s hand. “Wait, this is illegal right?
“You with the cops?” He leaned down to the shorter guy. “I know what you are.”
Jay swallowed the lump in his throat, worried that his cover had been blown. “I’m not-”
And he was interrupted by a finger to his lips again. “Don’t worry, I’m just messing. Have a Red Shogun on the house as a little welcoming gift from me.” And he swiftly stirred up a fresh cocktail.
Jay drank up quickly, but his face scrunched up at the strange sensation that hit him like a brick. “What’s up with this..?”
The Boss Man smirked slyly and leaned on his hand from behind the counter. “Enjoy your drink, little bluejay.”
Then everything went dark and fuzzy.
Before he blacked out, he distantly saw Kai running towards the arena in all his flaming glory.
.
.
.
Jay groggily opened his eyes and cringed at the smell that attacked his nose. He jumped up and realised he woke up in a trash can. He removed the bit of mouldy sandwich on his shirt and went to find the others. Luckily, Zane found him and lifted him over to the Bounty. He was immediately put to rest so he could explain the story in top condition.
When he woke up, Cole alerted Zane and Lloyd to get to the room. “Jay, dear, I’m glad to see that you’re fully rested and okay.” Zane said with a smile. “Now, could you recount the details of what happened?”
“I.. Yang, a worker at the tavern, didn’t know what the slither pit was but he told me his boss did. Then he explained to me stuff about the Red Shogun who I’m pretty sure was Kai, because after I met the owner, aka the Boss Man, I think I got really wasted and blacked out after seeing Kai in the arena of the so-called slither pit.”
Lloyd’s eyes were wide. “You saw Kai?!”
“Only for a second before I went.” Jay shrugged.
“Jay, I feel like it is important to mention that after a blood test, I found traces of a depressant in your body, as well as the fact you have experienced acute poisoning.” Zane tapped in.
“Okay, maybe if you told us earlier we could have dealt with that issue before.” Cole pushed. “So basically Jay was drugged.”
“Yes.” Zane said flatly.
“So what you’re saying is that I didn't get wasted, I just got drugged and possibly just saw a hallucination of Kai?” Jay asked, receiving a nod from the nindroid.
“Do you have any idea who could have drugged you?” Lloyd put a hand on his blue friend’s shoulder.
“It was probably the Boss Man. He gave me a funny tasting drink and called me ‘little bluejay’ which was the last thing I remember.” Jay yawned.
Then Wu walked into the room with tea. “Jay, for you. I sense something wrong but I cannot place my finger on it currently.”
“Thank you master.” Jay hummed as he drank the sweet beverage. "I feel alright now."
"If it's okay with you, perhaps you could help me fix up a training dummy? Pixal is busy right now." Wu said, stroking his beard.
"Alright."
Cole helped him up before he, Zane and Lloyd went off to do their own things. Jay followed Wu outside rather than to the training storage room. "Jay, as you are the elemental master of lightning, I find your… aura to be gone. Use your power on me."
“Why?” Jay was not about to electrocute his sensei.
“Trust me.” Wu persisted.
He was confused but tried. He strained, yet nothing worked. “Why.. why are my powers not working?!”
“It is as I thought. Something must have happened to you while you were unconscious, now your powers are gone.” Wu shook his head as he turned around. “We must bear this news to the others.”
Jay followed Wu inside as his head grew lighter in panic. He couldn't think straight when the others walked into the room at Wu’s command. “I have news, ninja.”
They were concerned as Cole looked at Jay with a frown at the shallow breathing from him. “I.. my powers are gone.”
Lloyd gasped the loudest while Jay ran over to hug Zane and Cole. “How? What happened?” Nya asked as she walked in from the other room.
“I don’t know guys..” Jay mumbled.
“It must've happened when you were out.” Zane held the blue ninja’s hand in comfort while Cole kissed his forehead. “I’m so sorry to hear that, honey.”
“Whoever did this to you, we’ll get them back.” Cole swore.
“Together, we’ll locate this person and take them down.” Lloyd put his fist up in a promising manner.
“For now we’ll rest since I need to kick you all off the Bounty now.” Nya announced. “Zane, Cole, just make sure he’s alright.”
“What are boyfriends for?” Cole laughed as he hugged Jay from behind. Zane joined the little group hug as Lloyd scoffed and kicked them out of the Bounty. “Lloyd that is homophobic.” He joked.
“Go be homos somewhere else, my aroace ass is disgusted by your gay activities.” He retorted in a mocking tone.
“Three out of five outnumber you, you’ll never stop us.” Jay sneered, strolling away while holding his boyfriends’ hands. “The gay agenda is too powerful.”
Zane heard a faint facepalming sound and chuckled. “I love you boys.”
“I love you guys too!” Jay smiled as they got to their room with three beds.
“Remember; I’ll always love you more!” Cole grabbed the two of them, laughing, and pulled them down onto their beds where he and Jay burst into fits of giggles, with Zane watching the sight amused.
Jay looked at the ceiling. “I can’t turn off our alarm with my lightning anymore.”
“Should I just actually get up and turn it off manually?” Zane suggested, but earned groans from the other two. “What’s wrong now?”
“It’s literally Summer, Zane. It’s really hot. We need our portable ice man.” Cole latched onto the nindroid, Jay following. “You can’t go anywhere.”
“Fine. Cole, you do it.”
“Why me? You know I sleep like a hibernating bear.” He yawned, proving his point by the mere action.
“What if I told you that you would get the first, freshest plate of breakfast?”
“That changes everything. I’m convinced.” They looked at each other with a mutual feeling of understanding.
Then Jay, who was still tightly gripping onto Zane, tugged on the nindroid’s arm. "Will I be okay without my powers?"
"It's happened to us all before, don't think that your powers are what make you wanted and needed." Zane pecked him on the cheek softly. "We need you for the sake of you, and we love you for Jay Walker, not the Master of Lightning."
Cole leaned over Zane to reach the freckled boy, and cupped his hand on his jaw. "I love Jay Walker."
Jay leaned in and giggled. "Thanks.. I can't help but feel like.." His face turned a little sad. "...Like Kai, y'know? When he felt lost without his powers?"
Zane sat up to find a more comfortable position for Cole, who was on his lap. "He had a little bit more convincing done for him to realise that he wasn't just the Master of Fire."
“He could still kick ass without his powers, he just needed to believe in himself.”
“I guarantee you that I can still kick ass.” Jay snickered before yawning. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, don’t let the bluejay bite.” Cole muttered as he clung onto Zane for the cold. He started snoozing eventually, with the other two following.