the good, the bad, and the dirty | jay, kai, and lloyd

16 - the next level

y/n's pov

after jay and i returned to the bounty, sensei wu was on deck, waiting for us. the rest of the ninja were there as well, training with one another. none of them seemed to be distracted by our arrival.

"good morning, y/n and jay," sensei greeted softly, standing in the middle of the ninja. "how was your trip to the manufacturing center?"

"it could've been better," jay replied with a grin. "right, y/n?"

i nodded, a faint smile on my lips. "yeah, pretty disappointing."

"i am sorry to hear to hear that," sensei croaked, stepping closer to us. "but it's time to get moving. jay, go ahead and join the rest of the ninja. you can be lloyd's partner for now."

jay flashed a smile and a thumbs up. his eyes met mine one final time; i mouthed him a quick "thank you" before he skipped on over to lloyd.

after sensei and i watched him leave, sensei wu turned to me. i was about to speak, but he cut me off sharply.

"y/n, care to join me below deck?"

"sure, sensei," i chirped, following him, as he began to head in the designated direction.

he led me over to a room that i barely ever noticed since i got here. i recognized though; it was the weapons area. sensei wu grabbed the handle and twisted it gently. he motioned me to go in before him—so in i went—bowing my head to express my gratitude. it was habit i had back with sensei orion, and i always found myself doing the same thing with sensei wu.

the weaponry in the room was abundant to say the least; all sorts of arms, any i could possibly think of, were all nicely accommodated around. of course, since we were ninja, there was much more bladed and edged weapons than fire arms. all of them were shiny, glistening under the light coming from the ceiling. to my left, six specific weapons hung in a row on the wall, separated by about two feet of distance. the ninja's names were etched in stone carvings that were placed above their weapons. my eyes trailed to each of their choices. kai owned two katanas, jay had a spike flail, while zane's was a bow; cole used a hammer, nya a spear, and finally, lloyd's was a sword. as i finished observing the last arm, i noticed that there was a stone carving with my name on it.

my eyes widened, causing me to spin on my heel to meet sensei wu's gaze. "sensei, am i—"

"yes, y/n," sensei wu interjected again, but i didn't care, since i felt my excitement rise within me. "you are selecting your choice of weaponry. we were fortunate that this robbery didn't require you to use one, but there will be times where your spinjitzu and elemental powers may not be enough. you may go ahead and select anything of your choosing."

i was speechless, my mind racing to come up with a response. i went with the classic bobble head nodding.

i was obviously already here—on the team—but having an actual battle weapon made it feel ten times more official. admittedly, i didn't even think about having one until this very moment. but sensei was right, especially now that there was a potential suspect to my parents' murder. in case of anything, i needed to be fully equipped.

back with sensei orion, i had lots of practice with all types of weaponry. my training with them began as early as thirteen years old, when i first heard rumors of a ninja force assembling. i had an idea of what i worked best with and with what i didn't, so that helped ease down the hunt.

after a couple of minutes of venturing in the big room, my eyes landed on twin sais. they were glimmering, striking silver, the thin blades about thirteen inches long. i smiled, picking them up in my hands to feel them. i remembered there were certain instances where sensei orion lend me his sais for training. he often informed me that out of all of the weaponry i trained with, the sai was the best one i mastered. and i believed it, too; i found sais very comfortable and more my style.