Objective: Fire

Chapter one

White.
Everything was white.
The storm was howling and the white snow was almost blinding him as he was doing his best to follow sensei wu's instructions.
Lloyd pulled down his scarf that was covering most parts of his face and pulled out a communicator.
" I can't see anything master! The storm is to wild! It will be impossible to continue on this path at the moment."
It didn't take long before his sensei replies.
" I believe you have no choice Lloyd, you must continue or we won't make it in time." Wu replied to his comment.
Lloyd looked ahead. He honestly couldn't see anything but more snow, but this mission was urgent. If he didn't reach the village in time, then the people there may not make it.
" you should have sent Kai." Lloyd spoke into the communicator before putting it away.
He could clearly hear Kai yell " Hey! I heard that!" In the background. This of course made him smile a little before he had to continue.
He pulled up his scarf and pulled his hood over his head, before continuing in the direction towards the village.
This storm was bad. It had lasted for almost a week, and the poor people in the village up this mountain was struggling. Was this storm even natural? That was exactly why he was there, to check it out. Reports from the village at least made it seem unnatural.
Lloyd held up the locator and finally a signal appeared on it.
" yes! Finally!" He cheered happily as it was confirmed to be the village. It seemed to not be too far away after all. He then started heading in the right direction, not taking long until he started to see shapes of houses in the distance. " it's them" Lloyd grins proudly for himself as he struggled to walk through the deep snow.
And then he finally reached it. kolonia, a small village high up into the mountains were known for their ways of growing the Shimana fruits. The only village in the entire world. The fruit seemed to only like it high up on this specific mountain for some strange reason, and this sudden snowstorm wasn't good news. The fruit itself was special, it only growing on this mountain made it the rarest fruit in the world and they contained a special kind of ability to heal the very sick! It has also been rumored to give a healthy man a power up boost! But such power was to dangerous for anyone to posses, so it's art has been forbidden.
Lloyd's only concern at the moment was the health to the tree that beard these fruits, the snowstorm had been to strong this time and the tree and the villagers health had been in danger.
Lloyd now finally reached the gates to the village and was about to knock when the door opened themselves up for him.
No one stood by the gates... so who would have opened the gate for him then? It couldn't have been the wind... it was way to accurate.
" hello...?" Lloyd called out, walking into the village, looking around any sign of life.
Nothing.
All the windows were dark and there didn't seem to be anyone home.
This was bad. Something like this was never a good sign. He ran up to the closest house and ripped the door open, afraid of what could be inside. These people couldn't be.... the storm couldn't have...
He ran inside, hoping not to see anyone laying freezing dead onto the ground, and luckily, he didn't see anyone laying there dead... but he found people, that was for sure.
5 or 6 people were huddled up into the corner of the house, frightened of him.
Lloyd quickly pulled down his mask to reveal his face.
" hey... hey it's me... the green ninja, I'm here to help" Lloyd carefully smiled at them, trying not to go to close, as the people were terrified.
" it's freezing inside... why don't we lit a fire alright...?" He slowly moved towards them, holding out his hand.
This had to be a family. Both parents were holding around their small children, who were crying quietly.
The parents quietly let go of their children and quietly nods at Lloyd, approving his presence.
" w...we don't have anything... to lit up a fire with... they took it..." the woman spoke.
" that won't be a problem... are there more people around? Please gather them here to warm up, alright?" Lloyd walked towards the fire place and threw in some wood. Then he lifted both his hands and lit a fire.
It had taken time to learn how to control his elemental powers, but he had managed to learn some cool tricks from Kai past these two years and it had finally turned out to be useful.
He had to admit that the fire had been the hardest element to learn out of the four orders. Ice being the easiest. Perhaps it had to do with who was teaching, since he could clearly remember Zane being better than Kai to explain things.
" warmth!" One of the kids cheered as she ran towards the fireplace, holding out her hands to warm them. She shyly looked up at Lloyd and thanked him.
" anytime kid" Lloyd smiled down at her and patted her head. Then he turned around to face the father of this family.
" what has happened...? This place looks like a ghost town... why are people hiding? What is going on?" He asked him. The man gently grabbed Lloyd's arm and lead him a bit away from the kids who were gathered around the fireplace.
" a... a group of people attacked us... we thought they were after money or something but they weren't... they ... they stole the fruit... and kidnapped one of our patients... a young boy. I guess he's about your age.. maybe older..." the man quietly told him, not sure what to say.
Lloyd's eyes went wide. " the fruit is gone... how much did they take..?" He questioned the man. He shook his head, not knowing.
" I don't know... the trees are giving very few fruits every year... so this year we had about 10 of them maybe, but I don't have the details at how much we had. These are rumors that I'm telling you..."
Lloyd quietly nods. This wasn't good news.
" and the boy. Why would they kidnap a child from your people?" Lloyd asked, hoping for more information at this subject.
" he isn't one of us... he came here many years ago, badly injured with large wounds that were unhealeble. Or at least it would be if we didn't have the fruit. He wasn't much of a talker, but we took him in,taking good care of him until he got better. As a sign of greatness, he helped us with difficulties within our village and in return, we allowed him to stay here, giving him a place to live and food to eat. He quickly became a part of our family and we treated him like one of our own." The man told Lloyd, grabbing one of the chairs near by, pulling it towards the fire to help his pregnant wife sit down. A smile crossed Lloyd's face at the sight of them, happy to see the strong love between them.
But to Lloyd's surprise, the man turned his attention back to Lloyd and sadly smiled at him.
" you said they kidnapped one of your patients... was the boy sick...?" Lloyd asked, recalling him saying the exact words.
" yes... about a month ago... he was out with our Clan leader. We don't know what truly happened out there, but our leader returned with the boy in his arms, totally knocked out. He was unconscious until the day they kidnapped him... and when they did... this evil snowstorm fell upon us, damaging the fruit trees..." Lloyd's eyes stared at the man in silence.
He had no idea what this could be. To be honest, if the league hadn't been destroyed two years ago, then he would have thought this to be them right away. This could have been a typical league act, but now this wasn't an option anymore. So whoever these people were, they wanted something that only the boy could give them. And the fruit seemed to not be their main priority.
As Lloyd was thinking hard throughout this, he suddenly were caught off guard by a bunch of children running up to him, calling his name out in joy.
" it's Lloyd! The green ninja!"
" it's the green ninja! My hero!"
The kids yelled happy. Lloyd smiled down at them, patting their heads as he looked up to see the whole house crowded. The whole village was coming in. To be such a small village, there sure were more people here than you would first believe it to be.
Everyone were watching him quietly, except the children of course.
" so this is the famous green ninja." A deep male voice came from the crowd, a man pushing his way towards Lloyd who now had caught sight of him.
" I am... and I'm here to help. Master Wu has told me that you guys were in need of help." The man quietly nods, his dark brown eyes staring straight into Lloyd's green. This had to be the leader. He seemed to be about 40 years old and by the look of him, he had a deep respect from the people around. Lloyd had to admit that he looked a bit scary by the sight of his muscles and strict appearance. There was a tattoo underneath his left eye, that was probably a sign of leadership within this clan.
The man finally approached Lloyd and held out his hand, Lloyd gently taking it as they both greeted each other.
" I have matters to speak with you. But I believe it would be better if we discussed our matters somewhere more private." The leader spoke, not moving his eyes off Lloyd as he stood there before him.
" I agree, lead the way then." Lloyd replied. The leader quietly nods, and leads Lloyd outside and towards a different house by the end of the street. This house however looked almost like a type of temple, decorated with typical traditional paintings, telling a story about a blue dragon. It was pretty.
He was lead inside and was invited to sit down by a fireplace. As an act out of kindness, Lloyd lit the fire and warmth started spreading across the room.
" thank you." The learner spoke, taking a seat opposite of Lloyd, turning his attention up at the young ninja.
" I called your master for help, that I did. But I am not in need of food or supplies. Your fire was all that we truly needed.. and.. we have a missing member of our clan."

" I've already been told about the boy. About the gang that attacked you. About the stolen fruit, and how the boy came to find you in the first place" Lloyd informed him, seeing the surprise on his face as he told him this.
" w..who told you..." the leader mumbled.
" that doesn't matter, but I was sent here to aim you guys, help you through this storm, not go out to search for a mission child..." Lloyd knew this was sounding harsh, but for what he knew, this could be a trap.
" he's not a child... he's old enough to take care of himself. But what is badgering me is his powers... he came to us 4 years ago, heavily damaged. I have no idea what had truly happened or where he came from, but what we knew is that he needed help right away.
After fully recovering, he stayed with us. We took care of him and he returned the favor in helping us, with different kind of things. He became one of us. But one day, I decided to take him with me on a tour to get some important supplies from the city, when he suddenly started getting sick. Again, the cause of it unknown. I don't think he even knew what was going on himself, but it was sure not good. I brought him back, and to our horror... the fruit wouldn't heal him. He was knocked out for over a month without anything to help him. No one could do anything, and he didn't seem to be make it. He laid in a coma the whole time until the day the gang attacked. And that was the day I saw the true him...I believe.. he had powers of his own, powers I've never seen before. He tried to fight the enemy. I believe it to be a mixture of light.. and lighting, I don't know! But it was different... it also seemed like he was their main target.. which I cannot explain why... I thought this was important information for you to have... his heart had been troubled and he wasn't sure if he was good or bad. I fear he might become a treat... I have no idea... but... In all honesty... I want him back .. back home." Lloyd was listening quietly. Again he wasn't sure what to say. He was confused at this whole story about this boy. And it wasn't possible for him to have the ability to use lightning. That way Jey's powers.
" so you have no idea of where he came from? Of who he truly is? Or was?" Lloyd questioned him, folding his hands together. The leader shook his head.
" I will report this to my master... but since you have no clues to his whereabouts, I'm sorry we won't be able to do much for him. But as you told me, he could take care of himself. If he's alright, I'm sure he will return... but if we find anything. We will try to help." Lloyd stood up from his seat, quietly nodding at the leader as he was slowly heading towards the exit.
But before he reached the door he stopped, turning to face the leader.
" if we're to look after him, we would need a description of him. How old is he? What does he look like?" Lloyd asked, pulling out his communicator to type down the information.
" His name is Brine... he never told us his surname, so I have no idea if this is his real name. But we used to called him Brine as this was the name he had given himself. He had Blue eyes... light brown hair, white skin.. I believe he's.. about 21 years of age? He never really told us this either..." the leader told Lloyd.
" alright... I have written this all down... I will see what I can do for you... until then, I would recommend to stay inside. I will lit the fires in your houses, and I will send a request for my master to send up some supplies as food, shelter and simple things to keep the people healthy and warm" the leader nods quietly at what Lloyd had just said. He had agreed to receive their help.
" before you go... please take this small gift as a thanks from the village..." to Lloyd's surprise, a small pice of fruit was placed into his hands.
" it's the very last shimana fruit... only use it if needed..."

(( first chapter of this book is now out! Please enjoy! ))