Ninjago: An Elemental Curse

Chapter 10: Always Expect the Unexpected

As a new day dawned on Ninjago, the ninja team and Ry began their normal morning routines before heading outside for a full day of training.

Earlier that morning, Master Wu and Misako left for the Museum of History in Ninjago City to continue their research on the magical realms and the spellbook. After all, so far most of the information they could find about this mysterious other realm universe was from there.

Meanwhile Pixal was still working on determining what exactly the teal crystal gem necklace the ninja had found on the streets was supposed to be or do. All they knew about it was that when sunlight reflected off the gem, strange dark teal colored clouds began to swirl around it. Other than that, the necklace didn't seem to do anything else. Neither did the weird clouds.

Not only that but she was also attempting to find the elemental masters by tracking their elemental energy. That however was going too well either. The nindroid definitely had her hands full.

The rest of the team and Ry were outside in the training yard. While the others gathered their weapons to prepare for the day of training, Ry just watched them from the monastery porch steps. She sat there, head in her hands, in complete silence. However, her mind was anything but quiet.

No matter how hard she tried, Ry couldn't stop thinking about what Lloyd had told her last night. Morro, her uncle, had possessed Lloyd and used him against his own friends, controlling his body against his will. He forced Lloyd to steal the scroll of Airjitzu, the Sword of Sanctuary, and even the Realm Crystal. He forced Lloyd to attack his friends. Lloyd almost drowned and died because of him.

As she recalled the memory, Ry could still hear the shakiness and fear in Lloyd's voice as he told her the story. At times, it had almost seemed like he was going to cry.

At the time, Ry was more concerned about Lloyd and comforting him as best as she could. She was completely overwhelmed with guilt since her being related to Morro, not to mention her green streaks, probably wasn't helping him.

But now, all Ry could think about was how much she was starting to hate her uncle. Although she barely knew anything about Morro or his past, she just couldn't believe what he did to the ninja, to Lloyd especially.

How could he do something so cruel? How could he almost kill someone? How far was he willing to go to be satisfied with his revenge plot? And what do his actions say about me? What if somewhere deep deep down, I have the ability to go to such lengths? What if one day I get so upset and angry that I do go to such lengths? What if I become so blinded by anger and revenge that I hurt someone?

Ry shuddered at the thoughts. She squinted her eyes shut, slightly shaking her head to make them fade away.

She was terrified and at the same time filled with rage. She was furious at Morro for what he did and how his actions were now affecting her now. She hadn't done anything wrong and yet the ninja were all skeptical of her because of her uncle's actions.

All morning, Ry had barely said a word to anyone, even to Nya. Of course she tried to seem completely fine around all of them, but as the morning went on, it was only getting harder and harder to keep up the act. It was only getting harder to keep her burning anger under control.

"Hey," a voice called out, but it was only a faint sound to Ry. Her gaze just remained glued to the stone ground, her thoughts still running wild.

"Ry? You ok?"

Only when she felt someone place a hand on her shoulder did Ry finally snap out of it. Her head jolted out of her hands, her wide brown eyes immediately locking onto Nya's lighter brown ones.