Onyx and the Tournament of Elements

The Invitation

Onyx and Lloyd waited in a booth at Chen's Noodle House. "What if they don't come?" Onyx asked after a moment of silence. Lloyd sighed. "Then I guess I can finally buy you sushi," he said. Onyx blinked at him. Then she laughed. It felt good to smile again. It had been a long time since she had. "Fair enough," she said. The pain of losing Zane was still inside of her, and she knew that it wouldn't go away anytime soon, but she still had plenty of life left to live, and she didn't want to live it in grief.

Lloyd's eyes suddenly lit up. "Jay!" He called, waving at the ninja who had walked in. Jay frowned when he saw Onyx, crossing over and taking a seat across from the two. "Why am I here? To third wheel?" He asked dully. "You'll see in a moment," Lloyd answered, tapping a finger lightly on the table and watching the door. After another few minutes spent in uncomfortable silence, Cole walked in. Onyx tensed as Lloyd waved him over, nervous to see how this was going to go.

Cole approached the booth, stopping dead when he set eyes on Jay. Onyx winced at the hateful glare that passed between the two. How had things fallen apart this much? Cole spun on his heel back towards the door, but Lloyd stood. "Cole, wait! Please, just hear me out," he said. Cole's eyes narrowed. "Fine, but I'm not sitting next to that... that person," he said, glaring at Jay. "Fine, I'll sit next to Onyx! At least she hasn't tried to steal Nya," Jay spat, changing seats and allowing Cole to slide into the seat across from Lloyd. Onyx didn't say anything as Jay slid in next to her, merely staring at the sushi belt, identifying the fish over and over as a distraction.

"You've got your uniform on," Cole said to Onyx finally. She nodded, not having anything to say. The table fell into silence again, though this silence was tense and punctuated by glares thrown between Cole and Jay. Onyx met Lloyd's glance, a frustrated disappointment passing between them. Finally, when Onyx was about to escape the situation with the bathroom excuse, Kai entered the restaurant.

"Kai, back here!" Lloyd cried, relief evident in his voice. Kai walked over to the table and stopped when he saw all of the occupants. "Jay? Cole? Onyx?" He said, confused. Cole snorted. "Ha, you too?" He said. Jay wrinkled his nose. "The runt tricked us all," he said. Onyx shrugged a shoulder. "Lloyd didn't trick me. I'm here because I agree with him," she said. Kai rolled his eyes. "Well of course he'd be honest with you," he said, sitting down and reaching for a plate of sushi.

Lloyd caught his hand with a pair of chopsticks. "We talk first, then eat," he said. Cole crossed his arms at Kai. "Uh, trust me, do you know what kind of restraint I've had to stare at all of this noodle goodness? You're late," he said to Kai, who frowned and looked at Lloyd. "Make it quick," he said finally. Lloyd took a breath and nodded. "I know without Zane things have been different, but we have to move on. The reason I brought you all here is because... maybe we should add someone new to our team," he said. Onyx flinched. He was right, but that didn't make it any easier to hear.

The others immediately began to argue. "I cared for him too but now it's time to care about this team," Lloyd said. Onyx put her hand up, waiting for them to fall silent so she could speak. "I don't like the idea of bringing someone else into the team either, but it is time we began to... move on. Why can't we at least start working together again?" She asked. Kai shook his head. "Maybe without Zane, there is no team," he said.

The table fell silent, everyone looking in different directions. Onyx managed to catch Lloyd's eye. She widened hers slightly. 'Now what?' Lloyd shook his head ever so slightly. 'I...don't know.' Onyx began to rub the backs of her hands together as the silence became uncomfortable. She watched the customers enter through the door, frowning when three men with indigo tattoos walked through the doors and sauntered up to the elderly man at the counter.

"Oh. Don't look now, but we've got trouble," Jay said, nodding at the men as they shoved through the line. Kai shook his head. "It's not our problem," he said. The thugs shoved the elderly man into the revolving belt with raucous laughter. Cole cracked his knuckles. "All right, now they're our problem," he said, standing and turning towards the men. "Excuse me, it's not polite to touch someone else's food," Cole said sharply, crossing his arms. Kai grinned as the rest of the ninja stood. "I'd listen if I were you. He's no fun to be around when he's hangry," he said. "Also, we don't like criminals," Onyx added, helping the owner off of the revolving belt. The thugs glanced at each other, grinned, and ran at the ninja.