Ninjago: The Cursed Child

Chapter 34: Versus

"Winner! ...Loser!" The trapdoor opens, but Gravis laughs when he doesn't fall in. Chen drops a sandbag on him. "Master of Speed move on"

Aria goes to kick Ash who turns into smoke and appears behind her.

"Behind you!" Kai shouts

Ash goes to kick her but is grabbed by a purple hand made of darkness that comes out of the ground. Aria laughs and throws a dark energy ball at him hitting him right in the chest. The ninja cheer as Garmadon watches with concern.

Ash turns into smoke, Aria takes out her fans and uses them to create strong gusts of energy that moves his smoke form off the bridge. Ash turns back into solid form and falls towards the lava. Aria used her fans to blast him to solid rock.

Aria climbs up and grabs the Jadeblade.

"Winner! ...Loser!" A trapdoor opens and Ash falls through "Master of Darkness moves on"

Back in the palace, Chen laughs as he watches his Kabuki perform for him. The Ninja approach the Elemental Masters, who are gathered around the bracket.

"What's all the commotion?" Jay questions and they gasp when they see Cole and Jay on the same bracket.

"No, he can't do this" Cole said angrily

"He already did" Aria said "He's the master of this tournament, he can do whatever he wants"

"But why does it say I have to fight Cole?" Jay questions "It didn't say that before. I'm not ready to fight. It was supposed to be my day off"

"Is there a problem, Ninja?" Clouse asked as he approached them

"You cheated!" Cole shouted "You changed the brackets"

"Oopsie" Clouse laughs and walks away.

"What do we do?" Lloyd asked "They can't fight each other. We came here to become whole, not fall further apart"

"You can't undo what's been done. My only advice is to be at peace with it" Garmadon suggested

"Peace? One of us has to lose! Oh, my gosh. It's totally gonna be me. He's got super strength and what do I have? Quick, tell me! What do I have!?" Jay shouted

Aria slapped him hard leaving a red handprint on his cheek "Get ahold of yourself!"

"Ow!" Jay rubbed his cheek "...I needed that"

"Don't listen to my dad. We find Zane then none of us have to battle. Your fight isn't until tonight so we still have time to figure out what Chen's up to and stop this" Lloyd said

Kai nodded "And I think I know just the person who can help. And I think he already knows"

At night, the Ninja went to see Neuro.

"We need your help, Neuro" Lloyd said

"You think I can get close to Chen to read his mind, so you can find your robotic friend and not have to fight" Neuro said

"Don't forget—"

"You still need to know what Chen's up to because he's hiding something" Neuro added

"That's really impressive, Nerdo" Aria said

Neuro glanced at her "It's Neuro, Master of the Mind. And Cole thinks Jay won't last long in a fight"

"Pfft. You think that?" Jay asked

Cole shrugged "You just said it yourself"

"But you didn't have to believe it" Jay said angrily

"Don't be offended, Cole. Jay here thinks you're the least valuable Ninja" Neuro said

"You don't say" Cole said angry, they start pushing each other.

Aria grabbed both their arms and flipped them onto their backs "Knock it off you two"

"Aria for the win" Kai said nodding in approval

"We wanted you to help, Neuro, not make things worse" Lloyd told him annoyed

"But why would I help? You're competition. The sooner you're out, the better for me" Neuro said

"Because if you don't I'll snap you in half" Aria threatened looking him in the eyes "If you don't believe I will just look into my head and you'll know"

"Easy girl" Lloyd pulled Aria back "Neuro if you want what's best for you, just look into my head and you'll see what this tournament is all about" Neuro does, and sees Lloyd's memory of Chen stealing Karlof's Metal "It's only a matter of time before Chen steals your power too. So are you in?"

-

That night, Jay and Cole prepares for their fight.

"Thinks it'll be an easy fight. Well, I'll show him! Haha!" Jay was beating a dummy

Neuro arrives.

"You're cutting it close" Aria said crossing her arms "So did you see into his head?"

"I'm sorry. I couldn't get past Clouse" Neuro said

Aria sighed "I knew it'd be useless"

"But I did see something. For a brief moment, I saw inside Clouse's mind. The powers he's collecting, they are for a spell. A spell for what, I don't know. But it's in his spellbook on page 149" Neuro informed her "I'm sorry it's not enough to stop the fight. I wish I could've done more"

"That's okay. You've done what you could" Aria said patting him on the back

"We had it coming, it's time me and Cole settle things" Jay hit the dummy

"Jay all brothers fight" Aria said "but real brothers make up and move past it"

Aria joins the other ninja in the stans

"Let the tournament continue! Jay, Master of Lightning, versus Cole, Master of—"

They start fighting. Cole overpowers Jay with Earth. They talk a bit and they start fighting without their Elemental Powers. Jay and Cole worked together to defeat the Condrai Crushers that Chen releases.

"Ah, they fight together. Good work" Garmadon said patting Lloyd and Aria on the back

Lloyd shrugged "Yeah, we listen to you every once in a while"

"Enough! I know what you are trying to do. If neither of you will win, then both of you will lose!" Chen activates the trap doors.

Cole takes the Blade but throws it to Jay.

"Winner! ...Loser! Master of Lightning moves on" Chen drops Cole in a trapdoor "About time. Phew"

"Cole may be gone, but he did not lose. Let what he did here today be a lesson for us all: know thine enemy, but more importantly, know thy friend. He fought like a true Ninja" Garmadon said

Aria hugged Lloyd sadly and he rubbed her head "It's ok Aria, Cole will be aright"