A Shocking End

The atmosphere was particularly cheerful that morning. The sun was shining warmly down across the land, and fluffy white clouds were floating lazily across the azure sky. Mirroring the breeziness of the world around them, four teenage boys were happily chattering away as if nothing could ever make them upset. They had a lot to talk about, since they hadn't known each other very long. Cole and Jay had known each other the longest, since Sensei Wu had recruited them first. Then Zane had joined, and lastly, Kai. Even though they bickered a lot, mostly about who would become the destined "green ninja", they still enjoyed hanging out.

Talking was getting dull, though, since they were running out of interesting topics. So Kai, the hot-headed one with the shortest attention span, had suggested that they play a game. Sure, they were grown men, but.. okay, no they weren't. They were immature kids. But anyway, now they were discussing which game to play.

"There isn't much to do out here, though," Cole was saying thoughtfully as he gazed across the open field surrounding them. They had come out for a picnic. He supposed Sensei Wu had let them escape just so they would be out of his hair—or beard—for an hour or two.

"Yeah, but we can make up our own games!" Kai argued. He was grinning, which Cole usually took as a bad sign. It was better than him grumbling about everything, though. Cole never complained about good moods.

"Like what, Kai?" Jay asked as he twiddled with pieces of grass he had torn out of the ground. He looked up from his project long enough to give Kai a toothy grin. "Throw dirt at Sticker-Bush Head?"

Kai just rolled his eyes. "No, I mean like... I don't know... Tag, or something..?"

"Tag?" Cole laughed and flopped back into the grass before staring up at the blue sky. "That's for little kids, dude."

Kai shrugged helplessly. "I just said I don't know! I don't see you giving me any ideas."

Zane broke in, which was a little surprising since he had been quiet for awhile. "Why don't we just take in the scenery? It is rather beautiful here, wouldn't you say?"

Jay blew a raspberry. "No way! That's so boring, Zane. Only you could just sit around doing nothing and have fun."

"On the contrary, I do not understand how you can recklessly prance around, and call that 'having fun'," Zane replied, crinkling his brow.

Cole laughed again from his spot in the long grass. "Have you seen Jay when he hasn't been moving for more than roughly point two seconds? He turns purple!"

"I do not!" Jay exclaimed incredulously.

"Oh really? Let's see you sit still, then."

Jay gave Cole a murderous glare and took in a deep breath. Sure enough, he made it about three seconds before he groaned and threw up his hands. "Fine, you got me."

"See what I mean?" Cole managed to say with a straight face. If Jay thought Cole was laughing at him, his only reward would be a sharp punch to the arm.

Jay rolled his eyes. "Maybe tag isn't such a bad idea, anyway.."

"Well, you sure are a little kid—"

"Shut up, Cole."

"Okay," Kai broke in, "how about baseball?"

The other three turned to stare at him, and he raised an eyebrow. "What?"

There was a short silence, and then Cole grinned. "I think that's the first good idea you've had since we met you, Kai."

Kai sighed, but managed a small smirk. "Yeah, but we still need a ball."