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Kai was walking around the monastery when he went past the open doors to the courtyard. He stopped for a second, and looked outside.
Sora was on the training course; which was unusual for her to do on her own time, from what Kai knew--very little. The only reason the brunette didn't continue walking after seeing this was because he saw something. Not physically, but mentally. He wouldn't expect this from Sora, of all the trainees, but he saw a little bit of him in her.
She reminded him of how he was before the Tournament of Elements. How he was after Nya... disappeared. Lost. Alone. Swallowed in rage and grief and sadness. Taking a deep breath to gain his confidence--he hadn't spoken to Sora much--Kai walked out into the courtyard.
"Hey Sora!" He waved, trying to sound confident and pleasant. "Uh... what're you doing?"
"Training." A brisk, one-word response from the pink-haired teen told Kai all he needed to know: this was not going to be easy.
Kai stepped a little closer. "Say, why don't I help with that!"
Sora looked confused for a second, and even stopped punching the wood tower to gaze at the brunette with a questioning look. "You? Help me train? Aren't you supposed to be the hothead who does the opposite of all that?" Kai let out a little laugh, then stopped himself and cleared his throat.
"Well, yes, in the past, I shook off training... quite a bit."
"A bit?" Now Sora just sounded like she was teasing him. Great.
"Look, do you want help or not?" He asked. "Because I'm pretty sure you, along with Wyldfyre and the new guy, are the only ones in this monastery to not master Spinjitzu yet! Plus, Wyldfyre is keen on learning herself, Nya is still occupied looking for Jay, and Cole is helping with Frak's training so..." Sora looked back at the master of fire, genuine interest in her eyes.
"Really? I mean, if you wouldn't mind helping," The pink-haired teen sheepishly replied, trying not to seem too eager.
Kai's mind lit up. Finally! A student who was willing to learn from him! "Alright then! Now, you remember the basic foundations that Rontu taught you, correct?"
"Yeah..?"
"Great. How about you show me?"
"And here I thought this was going to be fun."
"Ah-ah-ah, dear Sora, you did not let me finish," Kai smirked as he walked over to the training course switch and flicked it to a different setting. Instead of a ton of wooden stakes and turning towers out of the ground, there were now multiple hoops, ramps, and platforms. Sora stood there, a shocked look on her face. "Didn't know this was here, right?" The teen shook her head. "Well, neither did I until Lloyd showed me after we got back from the Tournament. Really helped with the whole 'mastering Rising Dragon' thing."
"Are you saying..?" Kai let out a short laugh before walking over to Sora, then taking her to one of the ramps in the course.
"No, unfortunately," The brunette smiled and climbed up to the ramp opposite Sora's. "First, you need to actually learn Spinjitzu. Now, watch me." Kai pulled his hood over his head, then got into a ready position.
He jumped up, kicked his leg back, whipped his body around a full 360 degrees, and just as he landed, spun around wildly, creating a tornado of brilliant flames. The brunette stopped after a couple of seconds, removed his hood and looked at a now flabbergasted Sora.
"I know I've seen you all do Spinjitzu before, but that was-"
"Cool?" The fire ninja smirked, then sat down, crossing his legs and gesturing at Sora. "Your turn." The master of technology looked nervous for a second, before taking a deep breath.
"You got this, Sora. Just jump up, kick back, whip around, and spin," she muttered to herself before flipping her hood over her head, and jumping up.
---
"It's okay not to get it on your first day, Sora," Kai attempted to reassure his pink-haired student. Sora was skeptical.
"Really?" She asked, raising an eyebrow, still clutching her aching arm. "I feel like I recall you mentioning Jay getting it during his first Spinjitzu training session."
"That's different."
"Is it, though?"
Kai just nodded before replying, "Did Lloyd ever tell you guys about the South Wing of the monastery?"
"That there was one until Jay trained there?" Sora asked, her opinion still unchanged.
"Yep!" The brunette replied with a wistful smile. "He and his elemental power alike have always just been a bit more... charged up compared to the rest of us. I'm sure you'll get it soon, though."
"Thanks," Sora said, before letting out a yawn.
Kai snickered a little bit, admitting, "You should probably go to bed soon before Lloyd kicks my ass for sleep depriving you."
"It's fine, I do it to myself anyways."
"Sora."
"Okay, jeez. Good night," the teen smiled at Kai before heading inside. The brunette himself stretched his arms above his head before heading in after her and closing the door behind him.
~
"Hey, Kai?" a voice asked from behind the fire ninja. "Why is the Spinjitzu course up? I thought I set it to regular for Sora earlier..."
"I was on it," Kai quickly responded. He didn't need Lloyd of all people to step in on his training. Plus, if all goes well, Sora could show Lloyd her Spinjitzu and he'd be proud of both of them!
---
Throughout the next week, Kai worked endlessly with Sora in the courtyard as she -- slowly but surely -- worked her way towards achieving a Spinjitzu tornado. Even though the training seemed endless, Kai still had faith in his pink-haired apprentice, even when she seemed to have none in herself.
In fact, it was actually on one of the days where Sora was feeling more hopeless than anything that she achieved something huge.
~
"I can't do this!" Sora shouted into the sky, on her back once more from falling from the ramp one too many times for her liking.
"Sure you can!" Kai cheered from his ramp, smiling down at her. "You just need to have faith! One more go at it!" Sora groaned and pushed herself up, jumping onto the ramp and getting into a ready position. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, the pink-haired girl repeated the steps she had been taking for the entire week. Jump up, kick back, whip around, and spin.
She expected to fall.
She expected to disappoint her mentor once more.
What she did not expect, however, was to be enveloped in a twirling sensation of bright pink and magenta energy as she widened her eyes, amazed. Sora stopped spinning and that's when the momentum caught up to her, because she tumbled down the back of the ramp and right onto her back as she exhaled. She heard hurried footsteps coming towards her, and the master of technology opened her eyes to see a stretched out hand in front of her.
Sora accepted it, and was heaved off the ground by Kai, who immediately cheered, "You did it! What did I tell ya!"
"I did it..." Sora breathed, a smile creeping onto her face. "I DID IT!" She cheered loudly, jumping up and pumping a fist into the air as she did so. She had achieved Spinjitzu!
-(looooong timeskip brought to you by Kai's hair gel)-
Sora looked behind her as a shout sounded out. However, she was too late to stop Kai from tumbling off the edge after he pushed Ras down as well. 'Ras was going to attack me. He just-' Her heart stopped for a second realizing that Kai had basically just thrown his life away so that she could live to stop this.
She felt tears prick her eyes, but she couldn't lose focus now, of all times.
"Arin..." Sora breathed out, "you don't have to do this."
First Master, she hated when her voice cracked.
"Yes, I do, Sora. This is the only way to bring my parents back!" The orange-and-black-clad boy shouted back at his friend. He turned around and began walking back towards the altar with all of the Dragon Icons resting on it, but before he could get there, Sora tackled him from behind, no matter how much she didn't want to. Arin let out a grunt as he landed on the ground, then rolled onto his back and kicked Sora away. The girl landed hard on her back and struggled getting back up. When she pushed herself into a sitting position, she saw Arin standing up, facing towards her.
"Since you won't let me do this, I have no other choice but to not let you get in my way any longer," he growled, then spun around into a Spinjitzu tornado, except this time, it wasn't the boy's usual bright orange tornado. This time, it was... different. 'Shatterspin,' Sora's mind screamed at her.
Mustering up every ounce of strength she could, Sora launched into her own tornado, desperate enough to try anything to stop her friend. 'Is he even my friend anymore?' a small part of Sora's mind whispered. She pushed it away, and took a breath. Smoothly moving forward, she suddenly felt a rush of energy course through her body.
Sora opened her eyes.
She was flying. Flying towards Arin, who was still in the twister of red. "For Kai," she muttered to herself before slamming into Arin's body and sending him crashing down to the ground, unconscious. Sora herself immediately collapsed to the ground on her knees and tears streamed from her eyes.
"Nya?" she whispered into her comm, not trusting her full voice. "Please come quick."
---
Sora was still on the ground when she heard multiple sets of running footsteps behind her. She heard words, but couldn't hear any of them clearly. A pair of grey-sleeved arms grabbed onto her shoulders, and blue eyes looked into her own grey ones. She heard Kai's name and nearly started crying again.
"He- he fell," she said, barely able to contain the shiver that coursed down her spine and through her body. "I-I couldn't do anything to stop it." Suddenly, those same pair of arms wrapped around her tightly, and Sora gripped onto the gi of the water ninja and let the tears fall again.
---
"Sora?" a soft voice spoke from behind the cabin's door. "Come to the deck if you can hear me. I'll be back in a few to take you myself if you don't come." Slowly and unsteadily, the master of technology stood up from her spot on the ground and made her way to the door. She opened it to find Nya almost ready to walk away. The noirette smiled softly at her and then led Sora through the halls of the Bounty to the deck.
Standing there was Zane, Pixal and-
"Kai?" Sora said, not believing her own eyes when she saw the red gi. The brunette sheepishly smiled back at her, rubbing a hand against the back of his head.
"Hey Sora," He said. "Miss-" his question was cut off from the shock and impact of Sora slamming him into a hug, so much so that he had to take a step back to prevent himself from completely falling to the floor.
"You stupid fucking idiot! Why the hell would you do that?" she nearly shouted at Kai, fresh tears beginning to stream down her face. "I thought you died!" The brunette seemed to accept that he wasn't getting out of this hug anytime soon and wrapped his own arms around Sora, rubbing calming circles into her back.
"Well, I didn't, I'm here now, with you, with Zane, with Pixal, and with Nya. And that will never change, at least for a long while."