"Grief is a very powerful emotion. It brings one to their lowest point and does everything it can to keep them there. It has destroyed many lives; do not let it destroy yours.
"Grief is powerful, but so are you. You can conquer grief, you will not let it bring you down, and you will not let it destroy you, because that is not what a sensei does. A sensei rises above grief and sorrow, a sensei conquers it, a sensei learns from it.
"You lost your friend, you lost your lover, and most importantly, you lost your father, who also happened to be your teacher. But you will not let that bring you down. You, Tasha May Garmadon, are a sensei in training, and you will rise above grief.
"Now, take a deep breath, close your eyes, and let your pain fade away. Let your mind be clear and let your heart be whole."
I inhale deeply and close my eyes, just as Uncle instructed.
I lost Zane, but now he is back.
I am whole.
I lost my father, but he died honorably.
I am whole.
I lost the love of my life, but . . . but . . .
"You've conquered fear, you've conquered death, and you've conquered the greatest evils Ninjago has ever seen. You can conquer grief."
I take another deep breath.
Kai does not love me, but my family does.
"I am whole," I say as I exhale.
"Very good," says Wu. "Once your heart is at peace, your mind can once again be at peace, and once your mind is at peace, we can focus more on what makes a sensei a sensei."
I open my eyes and look at him. "But I thought we were learning about what makes a sensei a sensei?"
"We are," he replies. "Everything I teach you and everything you have already taught contributes to this final lesson: a sensei is always learning. As I teach you all I know about being a sensei, I am also learning about being a sensei. But, despite all we're taught, we cant truly learn until we achieve inner peace."
Of course it all leads back to inner peace, something I haven't felt in nearly a year. And ever since I lost my dad, its been even more difficult. I don't know what I'd do if I lost Lloyd.
"Now," Uncle says, snapping me from my thoughts, "our lesson is over. It is time we got to work on the tea shop."
"It opens today, right?" I ask, standing up off the floor and following him down to his brand new tea shop: Steep Wisdom.
"Yes it does." He grabs two buckets and hands one to me. He leads me over to the well and we each scoop a bucket of water. "Steep Wisdom. Not a bad name for a tea shop."
"Not bad at all," I say, smiling.
"Here, let me give you a hand with that," Nya says, reaching for Uncle's bucket.
Uncle dodges her easily and continues past her, into the shop. "I'm old, not weak."
"You can take my bucket, Nya," I say. She rolls her eyes and I follow Uncle to the backroom where we place our buckets.
"You look after Ninja, I look after you," Mom says, smiling at Uncle Wu.
"Well, Steep Wisdom is starting to look like a real tea house," says Nya brightly, then not so brightly, "except for one thing: customers."
"Good things come to those who wait," Uncle replies.
"I'm just saying, it was big, but I've seen bigger."
That was Kai; the boys must be back.
"As big as your ego?" Jay retorts.
"Oh, who am I kidding?" Uncle says. "I'm tired of waiting. I'll put the Ninja to work."
Uncle picks up a blue box, which has fliers and the companies uniforms inside, and goes to meet them.
"How is sensei training going, Tasha?" Nya asks.
I sigh. "It's alright."
"You still miss your father?"
"Of course I miss him," I reply. "I don't think I'll ever stop missing him."
"You'll never stop missing him," Mom says, smiling sadly. "The best you can do is come to peace with it and move on."
"I know, that's what Wu's been telling me."
"Wu is smart," Mom says, "Listen to him."
"I know, mom," I say, rolling my eyes playfully.
The phone starts to ring making the three of us jump.
"That could be our first order!" Mom says, shushing us.
"Aren't we going to look kind of dorky flying up on our Power Dragons with these things on?" Kai asks as he and the boys enter the shop.
I have to smack my hand over my mouth to keep from laughing. The uniforms they're wearing look ridiculous! Ugly tan t-shirts with sky blue aprons and a teapot hat -- the look doesn't suit any of them.
"You wont be flying on anything," Uncle says. "We're selling tea, not magic. Besides, you all have been relying a little too heavily on your Elemental Powers lately. Real powers come from inside."
"It would be our honor, Sensei," Lloyd says.
"Thank you, I'll let him know right away," Mom says putting the phone down
"Is it a big order?" Nya asks hopefully.
"It's the police. They've asked for Lloyd. There's been a break in at the museum."
"Just Lloyd?" I ask, furrowing my eyebrows.
"Just Lloyd," Mom confirms.
"It must be minor then," Uncle says. "You can help the ninja."
I nod. "Okay, but I'm not wearing that ridiculous uniform."
~
"Steep Wisdom! Enlightenment in a cup!" Kai shouts unenthusiastically.
A middle aged lady takes the flier. "Steep Wisdom? Never heard of it."
"Best little tea shop in Ninjago!" says Cole.
"First cup is free, with a flier!" says Zane.
"Take... Why wont you take the flier?" Jay exclaims. "Just take the flier!"
"Take a flier and take a picture with the purple ninja," I announce.
A little girl drags her mom over a large smile on her face.
"Can I please take a picture mommy!" she pleads.
The mom sighs. "Alright."
I grin and hand her a flier before hugging the little girl. The mom snaps a picture before taking her daughter's hand.
"And don't forget to stop at Steep Wisdom!" I call as they leave. "Tea brewed by my Uncle Wu!"
"How did you do that," Jay says, annoyed.
"I'm famous," I say, shrugging.
"Well, no one else is having any luck," Kai says grudgingly.
"It's as if they think I'm passing out a communicable disease!" Jay exclaims. "I mean, sure, I have a cold sore, but it's hardly contagious."
Kai, Cole, and Zane take a step back while I roll my eyes.
"Maybe if we use our powers, we can get this over with," Cole suggests.
"But Sensei gave us strict instruction not to use our Elemental Powers," Zane argues.
"Well, Sensei's not here, and what he doesn't know wont hurt him," Kai replies.
"Yeah, well I'm here, and I will tell Wu if you use your powers," I say, crossing my arms.
"Oh, come on, Tasha," Jay whines. "Quit being a party pooper."
"Guys," I say firmly. "It's not that hard to listen to what your Sensei says."
"Just because you stopped using your powers doesn't mean we have to," Kai says, then to the boys: "I'm in. Is anyone else?"
"Yes," says Cole.
"Yeah!" says Jay.
Cole's the first one to hurry away from our group. He runs over to a little purple car and lifts it high over his head.
"Put, put, put, me down! Put me down, I say!" the driver shouts.
"Feeling tired? Out of strength?" Cole says to the cheering crowd. "Then get a pick me up at Steep Wisdom."
Kai saunters over to a fire breathing man.
"Care to pass the torch?"
"Sure, lets see what you've got there, Mr Teapot," the man says shrugging.
"If this isn't your cup of tea, how about this?" Kai takes the torch and blows fire onto the street. It burns into the ground the shape of a teapot. The crowd cheers. "Steep Wisdom. The hot new place!"
"Ha! You think that's a crowd?" says Jay. "Check this!"
He runs to the nearest electrical box and pulls out the wires. With a smirk, a sends a wave of electricity through the wires and suddenly all the billboards change to Wu's fliers.
"I know, it's shocking, right?"
"If we're going to use our powers, you may as well do it right," says Zane.
Zane summons his ice dragon, earning many cheers of excitement. He flies high into the air and then creates an ice sculpture the shape of a teapot in the clearing he was just standing. The crowd goes wild.
I cant help but laugh at their immaturity. But then, my smile disappears. It's like the breath has been taken out of me; my chest begins to burn. Each breath I attempt to take is shallow, barely reaching the back of my throat before being forced back out. I'm suffocating and I don't know why.
Black dots cloud my vision; My fingers claw desperately at my neck and I stumble forward. My eyes burn with tears.
And then I let go.
Air rushes back into my lungs and I cough frantically.
Everyone in Ninjago city has been deemed useless, a purple aura hanging above their chests as they stand frozen. I used my power on them, but I had no choice. It was almost as if I was forced to do it. If I didn't, I would've suffocated.
Something is wrong, I can feel it in my gut.
I wave my hands and everyone regains the ability to do work, but unlike every other time I've done that, they continue on with what they were doing, almost as if they didn't realize I'd frozen them. This was strange. Normally everyone freaks out, normally everyone is conscious of what I did. But nobody bats an eye.
Then the wind starts to pick up, blowing fliers out of peoples hands. The fire on Kai's torch is blown out and when he tries to relight it, nothing happens. The Steep Wisdom logo disappears from the billboards, and no matter how hard Jay tries, they wont reappear.
"You're such an amateur," says the fire breathing man, snatching the torch back.
"My powers, they're not working!" Kai exclaims.
"Mine either!" says Jay.
"What do you mean? My powers are-- uh oh."
Cole's strength disappears and the car he was holding crushes him.
"Somebody give me a hand!"
Kai and Jay hurry to pull him out.
"If your powers are gone, that means . . ." I trail off, glancing up at Zane. His dragon disappears from beneath him.
"He's kind of fast," says Kai urgently.
"Tasha do something!" Cole exclaims.
But I shake my head. Even if I tried, I don't think I would be able to. Something is wrong with my powers. They haven't disappeared like the boys', but they're not completely under my control.
Zane crashes into the ground, making a large, Zane sized hole in the dirt.
"I think he just broke the sound barrier," Kai says.
"I told you we shouldn't use our powers," Zane grumbles, climbing out.
"What powers? Where did they go?" Jay exclaims.
"We have to see Wu."
~
"Sensei!" says Zane.
"It's an emergency!" yells Jay.
"We need you!"
"It's important!"
"Boys," Mom scolds, "not so loud. Cant you see we have our first customer?"
The little girl who I took pictures with and her mom are here buying tea. The girl beams excitedly. "The real Ninja! Can you shock me?"
Jay laughs uncomfortably. "Not now, kid. Maybe later, okay."
"Where's Wu?" I ask.
As if on cue, Uncle Wu walks into the room, carrying a bag of tea for the customers.
"Sensei!" Kai shouts.
"Yes?"
"We were getting the word out--"
"--and there was this wind--"
"--and our powers disappeared," Zane finished.
"You were using your powers?" Uncle says, slightly upset.
"Yeah, I know, we're terrible students," says Jay, "but what happened to our powers?"
"Uncle," I say importantly, "it was really weird. I wasn't using my powers, but then -- I don't know how to explain it -- something happened and it was like I was forced to use my powers. I still have them, I can feel it, but they aren't fully in my control."
"If what you say is true, then something must have happened to--"
"It's Lloyd!" the girl exclaims, pointing outside.
Just as she said, Lloyd is approaching the shop. But something is not right. He's wearing a weird chest plate, as well as a black scarf. The wind starts to pick up when he pulls down his hood, and a dark look rests on his usually friendly face.
That is not my brother.
~
Hello and welcome to season 5 of Ninjago's Promises. I have taken my two week break, have not gotten any further in pre writing chapters, and have not fixed my mental health, but I love you guys too much to stay away, so here the first chapter to this season. (talk about a run on sentence 🙄) Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, until next week, Wacky AWAY!
Word Count: 2203