It's been a few months since we defeated the Oni and since then, Pix and I got up early every morning to do some training together to be ready for whatever may come next, while the others spent most of their time, playing video games and relaxing.
Today, Cole decided to play Lava Zombies, so the rest of us, except Zane who's still asleep, watches him. He's doing really good and as he's about to beat Zane's high score, Jay decides to go and wake him up.
,,Get the guy on the left.'', Lloyd tells him and he defeats the guy. ,,Cole, you're on fire!'', Kai exclaims, just as he beats Zane's high score. ,,Whoo-hoo! You did it!'', Nya cheers and we all start cheering too.
,,That was awesome!'', Kai shouts. ,,Whoo-hoo! Lava Zombie king.'', Cole cheers, as Jay and Zane enter the room. ,,Aw, man. We missed it.'', Jay frowns. ,,Congratulations, Cole. That is quite an achievement.'', Zane mentions. ,,Thanks, buddy. No hard feelings?'', Cole asks.
,,Of course not.'', Zane replies. ,,Ah, good. Because my arm is pretty sore.'', Cole means, making me grin. ,,I'm sore just from watching.'', Nya speaks up. ,,Know what I'm thinking?'', Kai asks, smirking. ,,Hot tub!'', we all shouts together.
,,Kai, a little heat, please?'', Nya asks her brother as we're sitting in the hot tub. ,,But of course.'', Kai replies and uses his power to heat the water up. ,,This is the life.'', Cole sighs, after he takes a slurp out of the soda-guzzler I bought him for his birthday.
,,Oh, we earned it, pal. Fighting all those bad guys, saving Ninjago.'', Kai agrees, before we all gasp as we see Wu standing in front of the hot tub. ,,I can't believe we're back to this.'', he speaks. ,,What?'', Lloyd asks.
,,After every big victory, you get lazy. Complacent. Careless.'', Wu means. ,,Uh, that is not true.'', Kai contradicts. ,,We're recovering. We're resting our muscles.'', Cole adds. ,,It was months ago.'', Wu mentions. ,,Months? Really?'', Nya asks. ,,Are you sure?'', Cole questions too. ,,Yes.'', Wu replies.
,,Oh, well, who's counting?'', Kai asks, scratching the back of his neck. ,,I am! Look at yourselves. You've gone soft. You do nothing all day but play video games and eat cake, and soak in this... This...'', Wu searches for the right word.
,,Hot tub?'', Cole says. ,,It's not a hot tub! It's the sacred Bell of Divinity. Out! Out! All of you!'', Wu shouts, making us all groan. ,,Emergency meeting in the monastery. In three minutes.'', Wu adds, before he leaves us.
,,You have become soft. Lazy. Flabby.'', Wu starts, throwing Cole's sandwich out of his hands with his staff. ,,Okay, that's getting a tad personal.'', Cole means, glaring after Wu. ,,Nobody has gone soft, Master Wu. I promise you. We are in perfect condition.'', Lloyd assures his uncle, while Cole's slurping on the soda-guzzler the whole time.
,,Silence.'', Wu shouts. ,,Since ancient times, the hills around this monastery have been populated by a species of highly aggressive predator. The first monk built the walls extra tall to keep them out. They failed.'', Wu tells them, as something snarls inside the box next to me.
,,Many monks were lost.'', Wu adds. ,,What's in the box?'', Jay asks. ,,In order to survive, the monks became faster, stronger, more cunning. They evolved into Ninja. To this day, it is a test that every Ninja must face.'', Wu continues. ,,Uh, test?'', Cole asks, before he starts slurping again.
,,To prove their courage, they must survive five minutes in a room with one of these.'', Wu ends, before he leaves the room, dragging me along with him, closing the door behind us. ,,What are you doing?'', I ask my father. ,,Teaching them a lesson.'', he replies.
,,And why not me too?'', I ask him. ,,You don't need it. You and Pixal kept training ever since we defeated the Oni. You're the only one of them who's in perfect condition.'', he answers and I nod. ,,And what's inside the box?'', I ask. ,,You'll see.'', he means, before we hear something shriek and the Ninja scream.
After a while, Wu opens the door and they all fall outside, groaning. ,,Hey. We got the chicken.'', Lloyd tells us. ,,Yeah, it's in the box.'', Jay mentions, pointing at the box in front of them. A chicken? ,,We're... we're as sharp as ever.'', Cole states, panting.
,,You are weak and slow. A Ninja's guard is never down! A Ninja expects the unexpected. He is ready for anything.'', Wu tells them. ,,Right. That's us.'', Cole replies, making my father chuckle. ,,We shall see.'', he simply says and walks away. ,,What does that mean?'', Lloyd asks, before the chicken squawks.
,,And why is it you hadn't to do that?'', Jay asks, turning to me. ,,Because I would've actually managed to defeat it.'', I reply, grinning at him. ,,Oh yeah? Let's see.'', Cole means and pushes me into the room together with the box. He opens it and quickly closes the door and the chicken walks out of the box.
It shrieks and strikes me with electricity, making me scream. At least I know now why Wu thought a chicken would be good for this lesson. I start attacking it and after a few minutes, it's back in the box. ,,Did it.'', I simply say, as I walk out of the room and hand the box to Cole, before I walk away.
The past few days, I had to help my father, challenging the Ninja and set up boobytraps for them everywhere. While Wu and I are training, they walk outside and we stop. ,,Master Wu, is there anything that we can do, as a group, that would prove to you that we have not gone soft?'', Lloyd asks. ,,So you could stop booby-trapping stuff?'', Jay nearly shouts the question.
,,There is one thing.'', Wu responds. ,,What's that?'', Lloyd asks. ,,Prove me wrong by defeating me in combat.'', Wu tells them, pointing his staff at them. ,,Combat?'', Lloyd asks. ,,But I thought you said fighting never proves anything.'', Nya speaks up. ,,Except in this case. It will prove you can still fight.'', Wu replies.
,,We can't fight you. You're our Master.'', Lloyd means. ,,And no offense, but, well, you're kinda old.'', Cole adds, making me cough, while I try to hold back my laughter. ,,Ah, is that why? You sure you aren't... afraid?'', Wu asks them. ,,Yeah, right.'', Kai laughs. ,,Then prove it. Attack me.'', Wu means, before he jumps into the air and attacks them.
,,Fail.'', he says as he pushed Lloyd away with his staff. Cole attacks him and the same happens to him and to Kai too. Next to attack is Nya, but he grabs her foot and whirls her around, before letting her go and she crashes into the wall.
He hits Jay with his staff and kicks Zane to the ground, chuckling after he's done. ,,Fail.'', he says once again. ,,Okay, it's on.'', Lloyd means as he gets up. ,,No more Mr Nice Ninja.'', Kai adds. ,,Come on guys, we can take him. You wanna rumble? You got the rumble.'', Cole shouts, before he jumps over to Wu and wants to do his earth punch, but it doesn't work.
,,What?'', Cole asks, staring at his hands. ,,Your elemental powers no longer obey you. Hyah!'', Wu shouts, kicking Cole away and I quickly run over to help him up. ,,Well, I haven't forgotten how to use mine.'', Jay speaks up and uses his power. But before Wu gets hit, he steps aside and Zane gets zapped instead.
,,Uh, Zane?'', Jay asks, before he gets hit by one of Nya's water balls. ,,Gosh, sorry.'', she apologizes. ,,Fire!'', Kai shouts and he and Lloyd attack my father with their power, but he can dodge their attacks.
,,Get his legs! Hold him!'', Jay shouts as they all surround him. ,,Those are my legs!'', Zane yells and they let go of him, looking around for my father. ,,Slow and clumsy.'', Wu speaks from the roof. ,,Huh? How'd he get up there?'', Kai asks, confused.
,,This is getting embarrassing!'', Jay yells, before they use their Spinjitzu to jump onto the roof. ,,Getting? It already was.'', I chuckle, earning a glare from my brother. Wu jumps out of the way and they start fighting again. At some point, I see Cole fall down from the roof, landing on his back. Just seconds after, Jay falls down on top of him, followed by Zane, Kai, Nya and at last, Lloyd.
,,Fail.'', Wu chuckles. ,,Ganache frosting.'', Cole says. ,,Maybe Wu's right.'', Kai thinks. ,,I think so.'', Jay agrees. ,,We need a quest.'', Lloyd means. ,,Yeah.'', Nya and Zane agree, before we hear something screech. ,,Oh, no.'', Cole exclaims. ,,Oh, you gotta be kidding me.'', Jay shouts and they start yelling as the chicken falls down towards them, zapping them a few times. ,,I looked it in the eye!'', Jay yells.
