The Child of Silver

46

All of the remaining fighters in the tournament were in the main arena, enjoying a delicious meal with the entertainment of the Kabuki servants dancing around the room. However, there was one fighter missing that everyone was curious about.

Reanii hasn't come out of her room since the previous evening after the Thunderblade competition, not even Skyler knew if she was okay or not.

"Try the horned wasp eggs." Chen suggested to Lloyd, "Delicious!"

"Uh, I think I'll pass." Lloyd declined, not even wanting to look at the disgusting green and yellow eggs.

"Oh, lighten up, Green Ninja. This isn't a trick. This is a feast to celebrate the eight of you making it to the second round."

"Yeah, I think your counting is off. There's seven of us here. Reanii is missing." Kai pointed out.

"Ah, yes. One of my servants went to get her for the feast, but she was spent from yesterday's challenge. So, I allowed her to rest for the time being." Chen explained, "And I must congratulate the Master of Shadow's defeat over Master of Poison. She was a bit hard to swallow, am I right?"

Chen laughed along with the Kabuki, who were not so happy to laugh. Lloyd wondered about what was going to happen next, and if they would find their friends in time before anything else could happen to them. But something else was stuck in his mind. Reanii. He wondered if she was all right, too, and who she was underneath that hood and cloak.

"You can relax, Lloyd." Kai assured, "Even if there was a fight, now that we told the others about Chen's dirty plot to steal our powers, we're safe in our secret alliance."

"I tried to enlist Shadow, but that dude's throwing some serious shade." Griffin said.

"Well, if you plan to stop Chen, you'll need everyone on board." Garmadon said, "Each fighter that loses, gives him strength. Soon he'll be too powerful for even all of you combined to overcome."

Lloyd glared at Shadow as he continued to eat, wondering what he was truly up to. Just then, along with one of the Kabuki, another guest entered the room.

"Ah, fortune cookies!" Chen said excitedly, "Bring them to me. And it is good to see you up and about, miss Reanii."

Everyone upon hearing Reanii's name, looked over at the door and saw the cloaked girl, her body slightly swaying as she began to walk down the stairs towards the vacant seat next to Lloyd.

"I apologize for being late to the feast, Chen." Reanii said as she took a seat.

"Of course, your apology is accepted. You weren't feeling well after all, so all is good. Now then, let's dig into these fortune cookies!"

"But they are for your captured-- I mean, honored guests." Clouse reminded.

"I'm not gonna eat them, Clousy Clouse." Chen said waving a fortune cookie in Clouse's face, "I'm just going to read the fortunes. They're my favorite part."

Clouse saw that the fortune cookie Chen was holding had not a white paper inside, but a red one. He quickly took it from his master's hand.

"Might I warn you, our guests are fond of whispering, and I don't think it's about your food. I've heard word they have allied themselves. The ninja have told them about our secret ceremony."

"Do they know about the spells?"

"Not yet about either of them. But we must get ahead of this."

Chen looked down at Reanii, who was struggling to hold her chopsticks, her hands shaking as she ate very slowly.