Roots of Earth ~ A Ninjago Fanfiction

Chapter 66: Ronin Meets Dr. Shadow

Master Wu wanted to begin training with Liana as soon as she had eaten breakfast and washed up. The ninja had parked the Destiny's Bounty that morning nearby the burned-down teashop, in a large field beside a lush grove of trees and a river, so that everyone could have more elbow room and feel grass beneath their feet.

There was still no sign whatsoever of the last two moonstones, and the group knew that there probably wasn't much time left to find them. What made it worse was the fact that if Black Blood and the tribe found either one or both of them, the ninja wouldn't know until it was too late. They could only hope that the Moon Tribe warriors were, at the moment, just as stumped as they were.

Matilda, having experience in fighting in her magical feline form, took on the task of gathering Zane, Cole, Lloyd, and Nya in the nearby grove to teach them the basics of fighting with their tekko-kagi claws. Meanwhile, Wu brought Liana to the stream that ran on the other side of the field in which the Bounty was parked. He wished to start the process in which he would attempt to encourage Liana to draw out her elemental power. It would help, though, if they figured out what exactly it was first.

Walking with Wu away from the Bounty and hearing the voices of the others fade away in the distance, Liana couldn't help but feel a little resentful of being picked out of the group. She wasn't quite ready to accept Matilda's wild theory that she was an Elemental Master. After all, a number of things could have happened that led to Cole's eyes healing. Perhaps Matilda's healing potion only needed a few days to work its effect. As for that whole thing with the Dark Sleep and the exploding chains and door locks, well... that night in Dog Bone's castle was full of magic. Perhaps Raven Frost wasn't as powerful as he thought he was, or something went wrong with the process of the spell.

All that to say, Liana felt skeptical about having an elemental power. I'm not special. I don't have magical powers. I'm just... me. Yet— and yet, even as she voiced these protests both out loud and to herself in her mind, an opposing worm of doubt squirmed deep down.

There was something... something about the way Matilda had asked her if anything like this had happened before that gave her pause. It made Liana reflect back on her years, tentatively reviewing some of the more odd and unexplained memories of her life. One of the most recent of these was when the TV in the hotel living room exploded, just after Uncle George had told her she couldn't go to college because she was blind. Her skin heated up with old anger just at the thought of that night. It had been strange indeed, how the television blew up at the very peak of Liana's barely-suppressed rage. She remembered how she had felt a strange sort of emptiness right after the explosion, almost drained...

But that was just a coincidence, she assured herself, impressing the word "coincidence" in her head. Right?

It was a still, warm day. Liana could feel sunlight heating her through the sleek ninja gi she wore. Both her ponytail and nunchucks at her belt bounced gently as she walked alongside Master Wu. The grass rose to her knees in the field, although she could feel the blades gradually shrinking in length as they neared the little river. The stream's gurgle added a peaceful note to the serene glade, along with the occasional chirp of a robin or warbler. At the bank, she heard Wu stop, and she stopped alongside him.

He instructed her to sit on the ground, with her legs crossed. He had her sit up straight, with her hands on her knees, palms up. "Now close your eyes."

She scoffed, "You know I can't see anyway, right?"

"Just close them."

She sighed, but obliged. Like this is going to make any difference.

She heard him sit down across from her, settling in the grass and dry earth of the bank. Slowly he said, "Now. Breathe. Your life has been a whirlwind of excitement and peril. You have faced incredible odds. Now let go of the tension... Listen to the wind. The birds. The river. Use the sounds you hear envelop you in their world—immerse yourself. Let these sounds build the world around you."