Ninjago: Her Role, Her Faults

Tick Tock (Part 1)

- Cole -

The guys and I were outside on the bounty as it was floating on the ocean's surface . Zane was underwater while the rest of us counted the minutes he spent beneath there.

"Ten minutes!" Kai exclaimed while reading the stopwatch, "he just broke his own record! The guy's inhuman.

One last minute goes by and Zane swam back up to the surface to catch his breath. The three of us cheered.

"Amazing!" I pumped my fist in the air.

And Jay bows down on his knees, "we're not worthy!"

"I broke the record?"

"You destroyed it!" Kai answered the white ninja's question.

"Okay, is anyone thinking what I'm thinking?" Jay put his arm around Kai's shoulders, "we've been training for so long, I don't think we can get any better. Just thinking of all we've accomplished."

Zane climbed his way back onto the Bounty and I gave him a towel to dry himself off. After giving him a second, he was all dry and added to the theory himself. "The question should be raised. Perhaps we've reached our full potential."

"There's only one way to find out," I grinned, "let's go ask Sensei Wu."

- You -

"So you're going to go after him, aren't you?" I asked, arms crossed and leaning against the wall.

"I have to," Wu insisted, "we'll need his help to find Lloyd, and I'm certain he won't hesitate to lend a hand."

"No doubt, it's his son. But you're heading into my realm," I warned. "There's a reason why it was given the original name, Beila's Retreat." Beila was my second name and what the mortal researchers knew me as. Retreat is what the people- at the time- considered to be my homeland. A name to signify a term of weakness, seeing as how the light always defeated my darkness. But to me, it was a place of safety, and at the same time, a prison. "Garmadon may have gotten even more powerful there. And with my absence, he may also have the creatures wrapped around his finger. And-"

"(Name).." Wu gave me a look of reassurance, but also pleaded me to stop and trust him.

"All I'm saying is: be careful."

My friend nodded, putting away a katana in a red cloth and closing it in a travel case. There was a moment of silence until we heard voices of the ninja approaching the room. Barging in, the colorful quartet was about to ask something but stopped halfway. They read the room and bowed in apology.

"Forgive us, Sensei. We've interrupted you."

Wu sighed as he turned to face his students. "I'm sorry if I've been distant lately. My mind has been elsewhere since Lloyd has gone missing. What can I help you with."

"Sensei," Cole started off, "what if we've done enough training? What if we've reached our true potential? What if we're ready?"

Their master chuckled, "You might have reached peak physical condition, but you've yet to reach your inner potential." He said cryptically, "in each and every one of us, there are obstacles that hold us back. Only when you conquer that fear, will your heart be free. Only then will you reach your true potential...Only then will we have a fighting chance to stop the serpentine from releasing the Great Devourer."

"There's more to the Great Devourer than you've led on, isn't there, Sensei?"

I gripped the sleeves of my suit as Wu sighed again, more sorrowful than before. "I, too, have obstacles within my own heart. There's a story I've never told you..