The ninja of wind

7

It was a banquit today for the final contestants. I was next to sensei garmadon, and Lloyd, sandwiched in between them. A kabuki came up to us with something that looked revolting. "Try the horned wasp eggs. Delicious!" Lloyd poked them. 

"I-I think I'll pass." Lloyd said and I nodded along with him. 

"Oh, lighten up green ninja, this isn't a trick!" Like I'll ever believe that. A bowl of eyeball soup was placed nearby. "This is a feast to celebrate the nine of you making it to the second round!" The kabuki laughed and clapped. "And I must congratulate the master of shadow's defeat over the master of poison." I was actually quite upset about that. Tox was a friend. I liked our banter. And now she was down in the factory, being treated like a slave. "She was a bit hard to swallow, am I right?" The kabuki laughed and clapped again. "Laugh harder! Ha-ha-ha!" They looked scared for a half second, and started to laugh harder, the same scared look on their faces. Lloyd looked upset. 

"You can relax Lloyd. Even if there was a fight, now that the others know about Chen's dirty plot to steal our powers, we're safe in our secret alliance." I had a bad feeling. Chen's a tricky man to predict. He could do just about anything, and we'd never know how to counter it. 

"I tried to enlist shadow, but that dude's throwing some serious shade."

"Well, if you plan to stop Chen, you'll need everyone on board. Each fighter that loses gives him strength. Soon he'll be too powerful for even all of you combined to overcome."

"I have a sinking feeling. Like something's going to go wrong." I mentioned. "Chen's a hard guy to read. He could do anything and we'd be unprepared to counter."

"Stay on your toes. I'm sure things will be alright." I sigh. 

"I hope so." 

"Ooh fortune cookies! Bring them to me!" 

"But they are for your captured- I mean honored guests." Clouse said. It was softer, but I still caught it. 

"I'm not going to eat them Clousy Clouse, just read the fortunes. They're my favorite part." I stopped listening. Lloyd looked tense. I leaned into him to talk quietly. 

"Are you okay?" His entire face lit up like a Christmas tree, and I giggled. "You look a little nervous there Lloyd~" I teased. He let out a small squeak, and I traced my fingers along his spine. If I don't make a move on him, I might lose my chance. Last thing I want is to miss out on him. Besides, he seems into me too. I felt him shiver under my touch, and I giggled softly. His reactions are so cute. 

"I'mfine." He squeaked out quietly. I laugh softly. 

"If you say so, Lloyd~." I pulled away. 

"It has come to my attention that there are rumors floating about, that I am stealing everyone's powers. I am." The others started whispering among themselves, and I took a sharp intake of breath. What was he up to? Whatever it is, I don't like it. "But it's all for this staff!" He clapped his hands, and the kabuki started posing with fans. Chen looked confused for a second. "No, no, not you staff, I mean my real staff." It was brought out, and everyone gasped. A kabuki servant brought it to Chen and bowed. "The staff of elements! It holds the powers of your fallen foes, and soon it will hold all but one, for the last stadning in my tournament will win this prize and be the greatest fighter ever in the history of ninjago!" Great. I knew I had a bad feeling about this. 

The fighters started to whisper among themselves, greed starting to take over. I'm more than happy with my control over the wind personally, so I'm not interested in the prize. But I still want to know why my birth father abandoned me. I was more than happy right now though, to keep my head down and not say anything-

"You lie! What about the spell!" Lloyd said, slamming his hands down on the table. 

"Lloyd..." I said softly, trying to calm him down. He didn't seem to listen though. But we don't have any proof, just what we saw that night, therefor our best bet is to stay quiet. It seems he doesn't know how to do that about this though. 

"Spell? What spell?"  

"Don't believe him, it's just another one of his tricks."

"Lloyd-"

"Neuro read Clouses mind and saw it. Tell them what you saw, Neuro." I facepalmed silently at my seat. I was tempted to just pull Lloyd into my lap to shut him up right now. If he doesn't, I might have to.

"I... I don't remember. Truthfully, I'm a bit interested in knowing more about that staff."

"And why should we believe everything you say so quickly? How do we know you're not lying to get the staff for yourself?" 

"Okay, that's enough." I mutter to myself. I grab Lloyds shoulder and pull him into my lap. He yelps in surprise, and I wrap an arm around his midsection, and grab his other arm and give it a soft squeeze. 

"Y/n, what-"

"Listen to me. Don't say another word about this right now." I heard him gulp. "We haven't really given them all a reason to trust us. It's not hard to break that trust when given a grand opportunity." My hand on his arm reached across, and gently traced up his neck, getting to his face. I then covered his mouth. "The best thing we can do right now, is stay silent until we can get proof of what he's doing. I don't trust a word he says, so you've got me. But to get the others, you're going to need solid proof, and a fear factor that outweighs the possibility of that pleasure." I felt him shudder. "Do you understand?" He nods, and I let him go, and push him into his seat. His face is flushed, and his eyes blown wide. "Good. Now all that's left is getting proof of what he's doing." 

"Y/n is right." Jay said as Kai gave me a look. I winked as a joke, and he rolled his eyes. A kabuki was waving her fan a little too close to jay's face. "If we're going to convince the others, we need proof." He batted the fan away, but it came back. "We need to find that spell- would you cut that out?!" 

"Jay, it's me." 

"Nya!" They all said quietly. I looked over and smiled. She shushed them. 

"Lower your voices! I'm undercover, and frankly, out of my element. And I heard what happened to Cole. That was big of you both."

"Love is like war Nya. Everybody gets hurt."

"Speaking of love, I see Lloyd got a girlfriend, and Kai, I heard you and Cole got together?" 

"She's not my girlfriend." Lloyd said, and I frowned. 

"I could always fix that~" He went bright red. 

"Yeah, we did." 

"We'll have to celebrate when we get back and find Zane."

"Anyways, is it just you sis?" 

"Dareths also on the island."

"What up ninja?" I had no clue who dareth was, but I knew quite a bit about Nya through the ninja. 

"And in contact with Wu through a mobile base." I also kind of knew who Wu was through the ninja. 

"If you're undercover, that means you can get close to Clouse's spell book! All we know is it's on page 149. I think he might have it in his chambers." 

"I'll look into it. But it sounds like you have your work cut out for you too."

"How so?" 

"How do you think they found out about your alliance? Someone in your circle of trust is a spy." 

"A spy?" Nya glanced over, to see Clouse giving her an odd look. She danced away, trying to look natural. 

"Do you know that servant girl?" Skylor asked, putting a hand on Kai's shoulder. He looked at her and shook his head. 

"No, I don't. Why?" She said nothing, but gave him a paper. 

"My fortune tells me Cole and your friend Zane will be breaking out. You're lucky this didn't end up in the wrong hands." She walked away. 

"He found Zane. I can't believe it! Thanks Skylar. It's nice to know we have some people we can trust." 

"A spy? Who do you think it is?" 

"I have my suspicions." Lloyd said this, sending a glance Shade's way. I already knew what he was thinking.