Ninjago: The Purple Ninja - Book 2

Prime Empire: Chapter 5 - I Remember You

Katarina takes a deep breath, and exhales. She kept telling herself it's okay, he still remembers her, it's fine, she just needs to stop overthinking it. 

She takes another breath, and walks over to Scott, who was leaning against a counter of Prime Empire's version of a bar inside the party room for the League. "Hey Scott."

He turns his attention towards her. "Hello...erm..." He tilts his head, not really knowing her name. 

"It's me, Katarina...do you remember me, Scott?" She asks nervously. She could feel the sweat forming in her palms, and the anxiety rising in her chest as she studies his face carefully and chuckles anxiously. 

His face turns from confusion to realization. His mouth slowly drops open, and his eyes widen in shock. "Holy...I didn't recognize you. You look...different than when I last saw you."

She chuckles. "Yeah, no kidding."

"No, really. You grew your hair out, and...." He squints his eyes at her pointy ears and her purple eye. "Is that cosplay or something you wear for fun...?"

She notices what he was referring to and shakes her head. "Nope. This is all me. The real me. The purple eye is a new thing. You look the same as you did the last time I saw you, minus the blue skin and those triangle markings."

"Thanks..."

Awkward silence comes between the two for a seemingly long period of time, before Scott decided to break the silence by asking her, "What have you been up to since...?"

"You went to Milton Dyer to test out a game, and he came to my apartment telling me he doesn't know how to explain that you suddenly disappeared?" 

He nods slowly. "Yep."

"Well...I went to a Tournament of Elements on a secluded island, found out I didn't kill my adoptive dad and uncle and that I have a brother, fought an army of snakes and defeated a power-hungry tyrant, joined a team of ninja, was forced to fight my brother who was possessed by a dead Master of Wind, drowned the living embodiment of the Curesd Realm, then I fought an army of Vermillion snake warriors and the Time Twins, found out Harumi was a leader of a crazy biker gang and resurrected my evil dad, had to defeat her and take my dad to prison, take dad out of said prison and let him help us defeat the Oni, then we fought an evil snake sorceress who wanted revenge against my uncle, went to the Never Realm and saved our friend Zane, and....that's about it."

Scott blinks at her, silent while trying to process all that information she said to him in one sentence without running out of breath. "Huh...is that all you did?"

"Oh, no. I also got top surgery and a cool back tattoo." Katarina adds. 

"You got a back tattoo? I asked you to get one thirty years ago and you didn't want it because you thought it wasn't your style." He chuckles. 

"Well...I changed. A lot," She exhales. "After you left, I couldn't bring myself to make any more friends. I was afraid of losing them, and I stayed away from video games because it reminded me of you. And I'm trying to be a better person, be more emotionally vulnerable to my friends instead of bottling up my emotions. I've been growing more and more as a person, and I'm proud of the person I am now."

Scott smiles. "I'm glad you're growing as a person. Honestly, once I get out of here, if I ever get out of here, I'll get to see the things you've been doing. I wanna see the new you out there."

"And you will. I promise me and my friends," She steals a glance from Jay, who was rocking his new look. She smiles. "And Superstar Rockin' Jay will get you out of this game, so you can indulge in Ninjago City as much as you like."