The Master of Nature

A New Life

When Hope next opened her eyes, she found herself lying on a hospital bed. She still felt stiff and sore, but she managed to sit up in bed. How long have I been here?

Just then, Hope saw Alyssa asleep in a chair next to her. She gently nudged her. Alyssa opened her eyes.

Alyssa gasped when she saw that she was awake. "You're awake," she said. "I was so worried. I thought that you had died. The ninja brought you to the hospital."

"How did you find the ninja anyway?" asked Hope.

"I was lucky," said Alyssa. "They just happened to be passing by, and I called out to them. Then I showed them what my father did."

"Do I... Do I have to go back to your parents?" asked Hope.

"No," said Alyssa. "The ninja reported my parents for child abuse. Since they never hurt me, I don't have to leave, but you are being removed from their custody."

"Oh. But what happens next?"

"Well, the red ninja, what's his name again? Oh yeah, Kai, wanted to know if you would like to stay with them if you don't want to go back to the foster care system. It would only be a temporary solution, but it would work."

Live with the ninja? That thought sounded really amazing. But then, after coming out of a horrible situation, anything sounded great to Hope.

"Yes," she said. "I would like that."

~🌷~🌷~🌷~🌷~🌷~🌷~🌷~🌷~🌷~🌷~

A few days later, Hope was discharged from the hospital. She was thankful that the nurses didn't make her use a wheelchair, for she had to be transported in one the first day after waking up, and it had felt humiliating to her, since she had no broken bones.

The ninja had visited her and introduced themselves, but it was a little difficult for Hope to keep them all in track at first. She had called Cole Jay by mistake, and it had caused Kai to laugh, Jay to look annoyed, and Cole had said, "Hey! I'm not Jay!" But Zane had just looked confused. "What's so funny?" he had asked Kai.

Now Hope knew which ninja was which. However, she soon found that they had more surprises for her.

"You live in a flying ship?" asked Hope. "That's so cool."

"I'm glad that you like it," said Jay. "But wait until you see the inside."

As Hope went on the ship, she spotted a girl with short black hair waiting for them.

"Hi there," she said. "Who's this?"

"Nya, this is Hope Mason," said Kai. "Hope, this is my little sister Nya."

"Nice to meet you Nya," said Hope.

"You too," said Nya. "I must say, it's nice to finally have another girl on the team."

"Nya, do you mind if Hope stays in your room?" asked Cole.

"Oh," said Nya. She looked a little uncomfortable. "Sure. No problem. I don't mind at all."

Hope felt a little bad. "Look, I can sleep on the couch if you don't..."

"What?" asked Nya. "No, I don't mind having a roommate. I used to share a room with Kai when we were kids. It's just... Look, I'll clean up my room first."

While Nya 'cleaned up' her room, the ninja gave Hope a tour. Jay showed Hope every single little thing.

"This is where we play video games."

"Ninja play video games?"

"Hope, we're still teenagers. Of course we play video games."

"Oh."

"And this is our sleeping quarters," said Jay. "It's a little messy, but not all of us make our beds in the morning."

Kai opened another door. "This is the dining room. We eat our meals here. Oh, and if Cole is the one that has cooked the food, don't eat it."

"Why?" asked Hope. "Is his cooking that bad?"

"Nope," said Kai. "It's worse."

"Hey!" said Cole.

"Oh, we haven't introduced you to Sensei yet," said Jay. "But he's away on a trip."

"When is he coming back?" asked Hope.

"We don't know," said Cole. "Sensei Wu's nephew, Lloyd, got kidnapped by the Serpentine, and he's going to find help to rescue him."

"I'm finished!" came Nya's voice.

"That's great!" said Zane. "We should help Hope get settled in."