The Fire Within a Ninjago Cowboy

Chapter 1 - Saturday Night

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Howdy pardners! I am The Mayor of Ninjago City. My family member, known as measuremesky on another fan fiction website, inspired me to start writing Ninjago fan fiction, and I enjoy it so much! We are both huge Ninjago fans.

When our family was on a vacation to Arizona in 2015, we visited the Goldfield Ghost Town in Apache Junction, and I got the idea to use our favorite ninjas in a story about the Old West. I also used the OC of measuremesky's story called The Fire Within, which is actually posted on a site other than this one.

For purposes of this story, I dismantled all the Ninjago canon family relationships except for those related to Garmadon: Lloyd, Misako, and Wu. Morro is a man in his 50s, and the OC, Sam, comes from a different family background than she does in measuremesky's story.

Hope you enjoy this cowboy yarn!

Chapter 1 - Saturday Night

The Morro Saloon in Ninjago Town was busy on Saturday night. As usual, ranch hands from all over the county had come to whoop it up and have a bit of fun at the end of a hard workweek. But Sheriff Lloyd Garmadon always kept things under control. He was the nephew of the owner of the largest ranch in the county, as well as the youngest sheriff in the whole of Ninjago. In the minds of most folks outside the county, these two facts would ordinarily disqualify him as an effective sheriff. But to those who lived in his jurisdiction, his badge was earned. He did not put up with any nonsense, and they knew it.

The ranch hands from Garmadon Ranch, the county's largest ranch, rode into town to patronize the saloon. The black-haired cowboy named Cole was planning to sit at a poker table and play his weekly game with friends from other ranches. Platinum-haired Zane was going to enjoy a sarsaparilla and hang out with the saloon piano player, who sometimes let Zane do the playing. Jay, the auburn-haired ranch hand, planned to sit at a corner table, sipping root beer and admiring a lovely saloon girl named Nya as she waited on tables. She liked him back, for she spent each of her ten-minute breaks sitting and talking with him. Jay dreamed of the day that he would have enough money saved to buy her an engagement ring, but right now he was still a poor cowboy.

The one patron of the saloon who was not planning to have a good time was Kai, the brown-haired ranch hand. Like last week and the weeks before that, he was simply going to sit alone at the bar and not talk to anyone, just down one beer after another. He had been doing this ever since a lovely red-headed lass named Skylor had rejected his proposal of marriage and left town with another man, crushing his heart into a million pieces. He thought that if he drank enough, he could drown the memory of her.

But the best laid plans of mice and cowboys often go awry, for when Kai sat himself on a stool at the end of the bar, an unfamiliar but very pleasant female voice behind him said, "What'll you have, cowboy?" He whirled around and laid his eyes on a saloon girl he had never seen before, a blonde-haired blue-eyed beauty dressed in turquoise. He was immediately smitten.

"Uh, howdy, my name's Kai," he said, politely tipping his hat. "And who might you be?"

"Name's Samantha. But folks call me Sam," she replied, smiling.

"Nice to meet you, Sam. Are you new in town? Haven't seen you around these parts before."

"Yep, just arrived last Monday. Came out west after settling my daddy's estate. He passed away a few months ago." Sam's smile disappeared as she thought of her late father.

Kai could tell she was still in mourning. "Sorry to hear that," he sympathized. "I lost my daddy when I was knee high to a grasshopper."

"Thanks," Sam said. The pain of losing her beloved father was starting to subside, but she still had a long way to go in the healing process. Nevertheless, there was something about the soft brown eyes of this handsome young cowboy that was comforting.

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she brought herself back to the present business at hand.

"So what can I get you this evening, Kai?" she asked.

"I'll start out with a beer. And I think I'll join my friend over there," he said, pointing to where Jay was sitting.

"Sure thing, Kai. Coming right up!" Sam cheerfully went to get Kai's beer while Kai stood up and moved to Jay's table in the corner.

Jay was dreamily looking over at Nya across the room and thus was startled when Kai took a seat at his table.

"Hey, pardner, what brings you to my corner of the corral? Lately you've been drinking your sorrows away on Saturday nights."

"Not this Saturday night."

"What's so different about tonight?" Jay asked.

Just then, Sam showed up at the table with Kai's drink.

"Here you go, Kai. One beer." She set it in front of him, then turned to Jay. "And I'd be happy to refill your glass...?"

"Sam, this here is my friend Jay," Kai said as he made introductions. "Jay, this is Samantha, a new girl who started this week. She goes by the name of Sam."

"Pleased to meet you, ma'am," Jay said as he politely tipped his hat.

"Likewise," Sam smiled. "Say, you wouldn't happen to be the Jay that Nya talks about all the time, would you?" she asked, motioning to her fellow saloon girl across the room.

Jay turned beet red as Kai laughed at his embarrassment. "He's none other!"

"Kai!" Jay hissed through gritted teeth.

"Sam, I think Jay here is fine for now with his root beer," Kai said as he finished chuckling, "but come join us when you have a break." He gazed into her beautiful hypnotic blue eyes.

That's mighty kind of you, Kai," she smiled. "I believe I will, though it won't be for another" - she checked the clock over the bar - "ninety minutes."

"Looking forward to it," he said, giving her a charming lopsided grin. She smiled back and began to tend to other patrons of the saloon.

"Ha! Now I know what's so different about tonight for you, pardner," Jay exclaimed, giving Kai a punch in the arm.

"Yep, I think tonight I'm gonna do me a little star gazing," Kai said as he settled back in his wooden chair, drink in hand, and watched a lovely blonde ray of light twinkle around the room.

"Me, too," Jay said as he swigged a gulp of root beer. As he watched a raven-haired star named Nya, he said, "Yep, the sky is sure beautiful tonight!"