Onyx and the Tournament of Elements

Ori's Interlude

Onyx paced her room, too tense to read. A schedule had been placed on the cover of the book she'd tossed aside, detailing mealtimes and tournament etiquette. Lunch wasn't until 1:00 P.M., giving her three hours to kill. Finally she walked out into the balcony in the hope that some fresh air would help clear her head. She leaned on the railing with a sigh, watching the ocean, just barely visible over the jungle canopy, catch the light of the sun. Out of curiosity, Onyx leaned over the edge of her balcony, trying to see the one below hers.

As she leaned over, something hit her lightly on the back of the head. Onyx started violently, nearly falling over the edge. She spun around and grabbed the thing. It was an origami crane. "Sorry!" A voice called from above her. Onyx looked up and saw the girl with dyed hair from earlier. "I wanted to get your attention. I didn't mean to scare you!" She called with a wave. Onyx awkwardly waved back, thinking back to what Chen had said. "You're the Master of Origami, right?" She asked. The girl nodded. "Yeah! My name is Ori. Ironic, right?" She answered.

After a moment, Onyx grinned. For whatever reason, she was finding Ori distinctly likable. "What exactly does the element of origami entail?" She asked. Ori paused for a moment, confused. "Entail? Oh! I can make my things move, see?" Onyx watched the crane quiver and begin to flap its wings, lifting itself through the air and flying back up to Ori. Something about it was oddly entrancing. "So you made that?" Onyx asked, impressed. She'd found origami fascinating for a while but had never gotten around to trying it. "Yeah! I can make lots of stuff. If you wanna come up, I can teach you," Ori offered.

Onyx hesitated for a moment before nodding. Ori was small and wouldn't be difficult to fend off, but Onyx didn't think it would come to that. Her words seemed sincere. "Alright, sure," Onyx accepted, hopping up on the railing of her balcony, jumping across to the roof of the one across from her, and from there leaping up to catch the railing of Ori's balcony and pulling herself up onto it. Ori watched her display, impressed. "Wow. You're one of the ninja, right? I've seen you guys before," she said. Onyx tilted her head. "Oh? Do you live in Ninjago?" She asked.

Ori nodded. "Yep! Me and my dad have an apartment in the middle of the city," she said. Onyx's brow furrowed as she looked at the girl with brightly coloured hair and clothes. "How old are you?" She asked. "Thirteen," Ori answered, sliding open the door to her room and leading Onyx in. "Thirt-does your father know you're here?" Onyx asked, raising an eyebrow. Ori faltered as she pulled a drawer open, revealing rows of neatly stacked origami paper. "Well... no. But I'm going to win the tournament, and when I go back, he'll be so happy with the money that he won't be mad!" She said quickly.

Onyx frowned at the girl's answer, concerned for her well-being. "I see," was all she could think to say. Ori looked back at Onyx. "What colour do you want? I have red, green, blue..." she asked. "Green is fine," Onyx answered. "Do you want dark green or leaf green?" Ori asked, holding up two sheets of green paper and narrowing her eyes at them. "Oh, um... leaf, I guess," Onyx said. Ori smiled. "Ooh, like the Green Ninja?" She asked, pulling out a stack of green and orange paper.

Onyx tilted her head curiously as Ori took a seat at a small table. "I guess so," she said. She hadn't realized she'd been drawn to the colour until Ori had mentioned it. "Here, take a sheet," Ori said, pushing the stack of green paper towards Onyx, who took a single sheet and flipped it colour-side down like Ori had. "Okay, first we need our guide folds..."

After about an hour, Onyx was finally able to fold a decent crane. As she and Ori folded bird after bird, Onyx glanced around, noticing paper cranes littering the room. "You've made a lot of these," she remarked, folding her bird's wings down. "Yeah. They say that if you make 1000, you get a wish. One day, I'm going to make so many I have unlimited wishes," Ori said, deftly finishing another crane and adding it to her pile. Onyx couldn't help but smile at the childish goal.