No, that definitely didn't just happen.
So what was it that made his heart flutter and his electricity jolt? It most certainly wasn't Cole. There had to be another reason. Perhaps if he just ignored it, it wouldn't happen again?
Jay cleared his throat, blinking a few times before swivelling around on his chair, facing the island which was once behind him.
"Y'know, I've been thinking," the earth ninja perks up, "after losing to Kai earlier, Karlof ended up in a hole, but where does the hole lead? Where'd he go?"
It takes a moment for Jay to process what he's saying, bringing himself back to the painful reality they're in, before he can respond. He glances over at Cole, who's just closed the bin, and is heading back in his direction. He looks somewhat cheery, more cheery than he should be considering he's having a chat with his supposed worst enemy, one in which they surprisingly weren't arguing. Somehow, the soft smile upon black's face felt comforting to blue.
He shrugs for the twentieth time today, "maybe they escorted him off the island?"
Cole hums, finally reaching the island, standing opposite Jay and picking up his bottle of water. The once soft and comforting smile that lay upon his lips had faded, replaced with furrowed brows and focused eyes.
"I don't know, but wherever it leads, I have an uneasy feeling about it."
"How come?"
"I think it's pretty obvious that Chen doesn't have good intentions regarding the Tournament. I mean, I don't entirely believe this prize for the winner at the end of all this. What's the point of pitting multiple elemental masters against each other in an underground fight club just for a lifetime supply of noodles? How'd he even come up with the idea?" Cole speaks, refusing eye contact, "would it really be a surprise that whatever happens to the losers isn't good? We don't even know where Zane is or how he got a hold of him."
A puzzled expression appears on Jay's face too, glancing down at the table before him. Cole was right; none of them had really thought about Chen's intentions until now. It was strange how none of them had questioned how this Noodle Empire owner had Zane, except that he had an elemental master as his sidekick and was once a Sensei, much like Master Wu, but it still didn't make sense. Besides, the island was so big, their chances of finding Zane was little to nothing, although perhaps wherever Karlof had been taken was also where Chen was hiding their friend?
"It's no wonder Garmadon has a bad feeling about all this," Jay responds quietly, still deep in thought, "but what are we supposed to do?"
Cole shrugs, "I guess we do our best to get to the end."
"Some of us will lose eventually."
"That's not entirely a bad thing, right? It could help find Zane."
"I guess."
The boys stand in awkward silence once again. It felt strange to not be arguing for once, who knows how long that would last, but somehow it was refreshing in a way. Jay looks up at Cole again, who takes a swig of his water. The confused and worried expression on his face makes Jay's stomach churn. Sure, he was concerned too, but there was still a part of him that was intrigued and sort of excited about it all. Cole was too serious about these things sometimes.
A grin creeps up onto the lightning master's face, "although, I guess if Chen really doesn't have any malicious intentions.. This could be sort of fun?"
"Fun?" Cole's eyes meet blue's.
"We're meeting a bunch of new elemental masters, people like us , and we get free noodles for life by the end of it!"
"It's illegal , Jay , " Cole raises an eyebrow slightly.
"We've done loads of illegal stuff before."
"For the good of the city."
"And now we're doing something for Zane," Jay mentions, "besides, even if we don't all win, one of us will and we can share the noodles."
Cole stares blankly at Jay for a moment, his eyes trailing slowly around his face. A smile creeps up onto his lips, glancing away quickly.
"What?" Jay questions.
"Nothing."
Jay gives Cole a blank stare in return, puzzled. It'd been a long time since he'd seen anyone smile around him, especially the earth ninja. Typically, if Jay says something dumb or even remotely stupid, Cole would tell him to shut up or act his age, jokingly, even before they started fighting. To see him actually grin at something silly Jay said made his chest feel light. It made him feel sort of happy.
Sort of.
Something he hadn't been able to place a finger on all night, however, was why Cole was acting so strange. Earlier on in the day, they'd both been ripping each other's throats out, glaring at one another every chance they got, so why was Cole suddenly the opposite? Why was he trying to make simple conversation? Why did he help him clean up his cut? Why was he smiling at something small and stupid Jay on any other normal day would say? It was just like before. It was almost as if they were friends.
But they weren't.
So why was Cole acting like it?
It knocks Jay's thoughts for a moment, leaving him staring at the table with a loose look of confusion. Luckily, the earth ninja didn't pick up on it. What was frustrating Jay a little more, though, was that he didn't even mind it. He liked that Cole was smiling at him, even if his head was screaming at him that he hated Cole's guts, and he sort of liked that weird feeling in his chest earlier when looking into his eyes.
But if it wasn't friendship, what was it?
The door slams open, startling them both. Jay jumps out of his chair, clutching onto the side of the island beside him while Cole almost drops his water. In the doorway stood two of Chen's goons - they were still unsure of the group's name - with very angry expressions on their faces.
"What are you two doing in here?" one of them bellows.
"Uh-" Jay goes to speak, choking on his words.
Cole glances at him briefly, before his gaze re-met with the goons', "we were just looking for something to drink."
"You aren't supposed to be out of your rooms," the other responds aggressively.
"Sorry," Jay mutters, a light annoyance in his tone, "we'll go back."
Cole grips onto his bottle tighter, attempting to hide it behind his back as they both glance at each other with sort-of guilty looks, heading towards the door of the kitchen. Jay pushes the stall back under the island, following closely behind the earth ninja. As they head down the corridor back towards the bedrooms, the goons follow their every move, making it hard for either of the ninja to talk, which normally wouldn't be a problem.
Jay and Cole share quick glances every now and then, both receiving smug grins. Jay knew they'd get caught no matter how much they tried to avoid it. It wasn't like they were quiet, and Chen was likely to have guards dotted around so even if they didn't get found in the kitchen, they would've walked into one anyway. At least they weren't being punished.
They share another quick look and sort-of smile as they both return to their rooms. As Jay closes his bedroom door, his light flickers on, assumingly from the presence of his elemental power. His smile doesn't fade. Instead it grows stronger for a moment as he glances around his room, his much comfier bed and floor-to-ceiling TV with great channels and video games. Perhaps he was lucky, but a part of him did feel smug about it. Part of him agreed that Cole deserved a crappier room than his, and it was a little funny.
"I do have a pair of hands which may be.. handy."
It was nice to be able to speak for once. No arguments. No petty bickering. As much as Jay hated him for everything that happened, there was evidently still a small side of him lingering that still thought Cole was cool. It was clear Cole didn't want to argue anymore. He stopped the bickering about the interaction with Bolobo and went to apologise before Jay rudely cut him off. Perhaps he was sorry? Maybe he regretted what happened? Or he could just want the arguing to end?
Jay did too.
It was pointless. It wasn't solving anything and it definitely was only pushing Nya further away from them both. If neither of them didn't grow up or act like the bigger person, it would likely go on forever, only tearing the team apart more.
"You need to stay still."
Deep down, Jay knew Cole was a good person. He'd done so much for Ninjago, and especially for the team, and there had always been moments since their rivalry that proved Cole did still think of Jay as somewhat a friend - take tonight as an example - and it started to make Jay think of all the possibilities of the future. Tonight was proof that they could have conversations without arguing. They could help each other when needed. They could act like friends.
What was the point in arguing anymore?
As he glanced over at his bed once more, his mind darted back to the look they shared earlier. The way the world stood still around them. The light fluttering in his chest. The electricity jolting in his veins. The way Cole's eyes were full of comfort and longing. The way his eyes drifted to Cole's lips..
"Nah, you'll look cute."
No.
He needed to focus.
Cole went behind his back. He betrayed him. He needed to remember that.
But it was sort of nice to see him again.
Jay made his way over to his bed, picking up his gaming controller on the way. Flopping down onto the comfort of his mattress and sheets, he lets out a loud sigh. No matter how stressful the thought of finding Zane and fighting other elemental masters was - ones that could potentially be a lot stronger than him - a small part of all this felt like a vacation to him. He was in the luxury of a fancy bedroom, one so much better than he had ever dreamt of, with as many video games as possible, that blended so well with the power flowing through his veins. What more could he ask for? It felt like a break from all the crime in the city, all the drama circulating online, and his parents constantly checking in on him. He finally had a little time to himself; time to think .
He was starting to sound like a middle-aged mother.
Eventually sitting up on his bed, he leant back against the pillows, ruffling the sheets as he did so. He stared blankly at the massive screen in front of him. Did any of this feel right, though?
His friend was out there somewhere, supposedly on this island, and who knew what kind of shape he'd be in. Did Zane have the same sort of luxurious room as he did? Was he being treated well? That led him back to the conversation he'd had with Cole. How did Chen even end up with Zane? There was not a sign of him anywhere when the team had emerged after his sacrifice.
Something felt off.
Instead of switching the TV on, like Jay had planned on when he entered the room, he placed the controller on the bed beside him, letting out another deep sigh.
Jay always loved having company. He'd grown up constantly surrounded by his parents, ones who loved and protected him, leaving him with not much time to himself. He always dreamt of what it'd be like to be alone, but whenever he was by himself, it wasn't the greatest of feelings. Instead, he felt relatively bored. Who would he have to ramble to? What did he have to complain about?
His phone chose the perfect time to chime. Glancing over at it briefly, sitting patiently on his bedside table, he reached over for it, hoping (for once) that it was his parents checking up on him. Instead, he was met with a message from Kai.
'Meet in my room. We're gonna figure out what Chen's hiding'
A small smile crept up onto his lips. At least he had something to do now. Although, Chen's goons had only just escorted him and Cole back to their rooms so the likelihood of them still lurking outside was high. As sneaky as Jay was, he didn't trust himself to not get caught, and he'd much prefer it if he wasn't the only one left behind, sulking in his room, wondering what on earth was going on down in that hole Karlof ended up in.
He glanced out to his balcony, a lightbulb flashing in his mind. Kai's room was on the first floor, right? He could just simply hop down to his balcony and knock on the door, it wouldn't be that hard. It's sneaky and he'd be less likely to get caught.
With that in mind, he scrambles off the bed, leaving the sheets a mess, and puts his phone in the pocket of his new gi. Jay heads towards his balcony, making sure to flick the light switch so that the lights would remain on while he leaves, hoping to make it look a little less suspicious. He slides open the large, japanese style doors, peering out into the night sky. He hadn't noticed it'd gotten dark, especially so quickly. There was something calming about it, the soft sound of the waves crashing and trees swaying. He could get used to it.
But he had to focus.
Peering down the side of the balcony to the other floors, he spots Kai's room. He stood waiting on his balcony, almost as if he sensed him coming. Perfect, he could get in quickly and easily without being spotted.
Hopping down onto a balcony below, giving him direct diagonal access to Kai's, he stops, glancing around to make sure nobody's watching.
"What do you think happened to Karlof?"
Whose voice was that?
"I feel horrible," he recognised the second voice, "if I'd known what would happen-"
"You did what you had to do to stay in the Tournament."
Was that Skylor?
Jay perched on the side of the balcony above Skylor's room, rolling his eyes as he glances down at the master of fire. Eventually, Kai's eyes trail up above, shock setting in as he realises the master of lightning is waiting. He clears his throat, looking awkwardly at Skylor.
"I'm sorry if I was cold to you earlier," she continues, "maybe it's good to have friends here."
Watching Kai attempt to flirt with her earlier was painful, especially since he thought he was so good at it. Part of him found it funny, while the other part cringed. But it didn't make much difference to how he was when he first met Nya. That was bad.
He didn't want to think about her right now though.
As Skylor glances away from Kai's view, red looks back up at blue, giving him an awkward smile.
"You had asked about my power earlier.."
Kai gives her another awkward grin before wrapping his hands around his arms and laughing nervously, "yeah, it's so cold out."
He begins heading towards the door to his room, waving to Skylor as he does so.
"Better call it a night," he laughs again.
"Oh," she responds with a slightly annoyed tone, "okay. Sorry to have bothered y-"
"Alright!" Kai waves, stepping inside his room, his head hanging out from behind the door which he's already half closed, "goodnight!"
Skylor sighs as Jay hears her footsteps head back inside, her door closing soon behind. He lets out a light chuckle, being careful not to be too loud to disturb any of the other elemental masters. As Kai reopens his door to check that she's gone, Jay takes the opportunity to hop down onto the balcony. The master of fire gives him a light glare.
"Thanks for ruining my conversation with the love of my life," Kai mutters.
"You just had to leave me waiting, huh, Romeo?" Jay grins.
"Why couldn't you have come to my door like a normal person?"
"Didn't wanna risk getting caught," he responds.
Kai leads him inside, closing the door behind him.
Kai's room is warm, the lighting a mix of red and orange. It looks much cooler than Jay's, the colours being a much better contrast and much nicer to his eyes. His gaze moves slowly across the room, taking everything in. Kai's bed looks comfortable, much like his own, and there's multiple pictures of the master of fire himself dotted around. This was very much in character.
"Woah," Jay smiles, "nice room."
"I know!" Cole's voice comes from across the room, "his room is so much nicer than mine."
Cole is lounged across Kai's couch, Lloyd sat beside him on a chair he pulled up. The master of earth is feasting on some chocolate covered nuts, looking rather annoyed. Lloyd gives Jay a light smile to greet him.
Cole reaches over to grab the bowl, "look, chocolate covered shell peas! I love these!"
He shoves a few in his mouth, Jay watching as he does so. A part of him was annoyed by Cole's presence, remembering that he is in fact a part of the team so would need to tag along, but the longer he watched him enjoy the snacks, the more he realised it didn't matter.
Cole wasn't that bad.
Kai crosses his arms, watching the earth ninja move over to his bed, flopping down with the bowl in his hands. Cole gets comfortable, spreading his arms and legs out across the sheets, his eyes closing as his head reaches the pillows.
"Look how soft your mattress is," Cole sighs as if he's in heaven, "man, mine's made of rock. What a crock."
Jay shakes off his slight smile, glancing over at Lloyd and heading towards the couch Cole was once relaxed on.
"It was almost impossible to get here," Jay begins, "this place is swarming with guards. Any ideas on how we search the island?"
Kai heads over to the two as well, leaving Cole to his snacks.
"We travel by shadow; cover every square inch of this place until we find something."
Jay frowns, "the island's big. We'll need to split up."
"No," Lloyd chirps in, "we need to stick together."
"Uh, guys-" Cole gulps.
The team glance over, all but one of the pillows are on the floor. The sheets are messed up and the bowl of shell peas is suddenly gone. Cole looks distressed, sitting up slightly.
"This bed is-"
Kai grows annoyed, "Cole, I get it! You like my bed. Will you stop playing around?"
A smile creeps onto Jay's face, meeting with Cole's eyes as he also grins.
"I think I know how we can search the island," he says.
The next thing they know, they're all laying on the bed, confused and slightly uncomfortable. It was surprising how big the bed was, however, although it was quite cramped. Jay lay on the left end of the bed, smiling. Cole was right, it was pretty comfortable, better than his own if he was honest. He nestled his head into the pillows as Kai and Lloyd got comfortable.
"Okay, I feel ridiculous," Lloyd grins, glancing over at the other three.
Jay sighs happily before glancing at Cole briefly, "you're right. This mattress is soft."
Lloyd groans, Kai remaining in complete awkward silence. Cole attempts to get comfortable too, rearranging his position. He moves his head, also burying himself into the pillows, his arm moving left slightly, his finger brushing against the back of the lightning ninja's hand gently. Jay's arm darts away quickly.
Cole clears his throat, looking at Jay awkwardly, "sorry."
Lloyd groans again, sitting up slightly, "is this a joke?"
Cole sits up a little too, breaking eye contact with the lightning ninja. He sits in thought for a moment, attempting to recall what happened.
"I must've done something to trigger it," he lays back down, "I was laying here and then I stretched-"
As he pulls himself back a little, the pillow his head is resting on moves back ever so slightly, making a loud clicking noise. The team screams in unison, clutching the bed as they're twisted sideways, the world turning dark all of a sudden. The pillows that were once on the bed were now falling. Their legs were dangling, the grip on the bed being the only thing keeping them up. Jay glances over at Cole, who looks just as confused as he does. He grins.
"Secret passageway!" he exclaims cheerily, "cool."
They all hop down, landing on old wooden flooring. It's dark and eerie, with a strong smell of dust. The only sound around is their loud footsteps, echoing off the grey walls. Kai raises his hand, a focused expression as his hand lights with a small flame.
"Nice work, Cole. Maybe Zane's not on the island but in it." Kai turns to look at the team.
It didn't take long for the team to get into trouble. Somehow, they found themselves running from Chen's goons in less than ten minutes, dressed as if they were part of the gang, although their 'face paint' - which was really disguised as chocolate - was melting down their faces.
A few moments prior, they had stumbled across groups of the Anacondrai Cultists - what they called themselves - wandering into a large, underground arena dotted with spray painted symbols, ones none of them had ever seen before. It looked almost as if they were in an abandoned forest temple. Little did they know, they were about to witness a ceremony. A ceremony in which Master Chen stole the former player, Karlof's, powers.
In the process, they'd gotten caught and were now fleeing, attempting to get as far away as possible before anybody noticed it was them.The tunnels surrounding them looked exactly identical, making it so much harder to find their way out. Lloyd leads the way down one of the last corridors, Kai following closely behind, then Cole and finally Jay, who was straying a little further.
It didn't help that there were huge axes falling down almost on top of them. Whoever set up these traps knew exactly what they were doing.
Eventually finding a break in the wall, Lloyd signals to the rest of the team to quickly dip. As the axes neared closer, Kai and Cole ran into the dip too, meeting with the green ninja. Once Jay finally catches up, he almost sprints directly past the gap, screaming as he reaches his hand out for someone to take. Feeling the breeze behind his back as the axe fell, he's pulled sideways and only just into the dip in the wall.
He breathes a sigh of relief, glancing up from his hands which were intertwined with another's, his eyes meeting hazel.
"That was close," Cole says, a light smile creeping onto his lips.
Jay stares at him in disbelief for a moment before snatching his hands away. He was lucky Cole wasn't bitter enough to let him die, and although he was thankful, he wasn't quite ready to thank him for anything yet.
The team turns to face what they thought would've been a wall, instead meeting with a large hole leading both up and downwards.
Jay frowns, peering at his teammates quickly as the slight sound of hissing came into his ear's reach. Hissing like he'd heard somewhere before.
"What's that sound?" he questions nervously.
As the rest of his teammates look upwards, his eyes trial down, locking onto purple scales and huge, bright purple, glowing eyes.
"That has got to be the second biggest snake I've ever seen!" Kai exclaims.
The serpent, hissing even louder now, rattles its tail at a rapid speed before darting upwards towards the group. In a state of panic, the four jump across the hole, grabbing onto the weak and slightly rotting wooden frames leading through the hole. They climb as fast as ever, attempting to get away from the snake safely.
Eventually reaching another, much smaller, hole in the wall, Lloyd pulls his brothers through, Jay only just fitting on top. They all scramble, cramped together, trying to get as far into the narrow gap as possible as the large serpent's head attempts to poke through. Jay could feel the flicking of its tongue against his leg, its breath smelling like nothing they'd ever smelt before. Awful.
Luckily for them, the fire ninja leans back, his elbow only just hitting a small button which launched them through the floor and onto something soft and bouncy.
Kai and Lloyd land directly next to each other, staring up at the ceiling they had just fallen from. Cole acts as a cushion for Jay's landing.
The hole they'd fallen from closes, revealing a bright red board, resembling one from Kai's bedroom.
The fire ninja sits up, shock written across his face.
"Are we-?"
"Barely.." Lloyd mutters, raising a hand to his head.
Cole attempts to sit up too, pushing Jay off the top of him.
"Did we just-" he says, groaning shortly afterwards.
Jay huffs and scrambles off the bed, struggling to find his feet, "no more sneaking around. From now on, let's just follow the rules."
Kai nods, "we may not have found Zane, but we've found something just as important. This tournament isn't about glory, it's about Chen stealing all of our elemental powers."
"But why?" Lloyd questions, "what could he be planning?"
"I don't know, but if we're gonna find out and find Zane, we're gonna have to play by his rules, especially since he may know it was us in that arena."
"I don't think we were," Cole speaks up, "it was close."
Jay sighs again, glancing over to the back of his leg, "yeah, too close..."
Just above his knee was a gap in the fabric, one of which had been bitten away by the serpent. The master of earth found himself staring at it for a moment, trying not to laugh. Jay was lucky it wasn't anything worse; he could've easily lost an arm or leg completely.
"I think we should call it a night," Lloyd pushes himself off the bed, stretching before heading towards the door.
"Yeah, I need my beauty sleep after that," Kai chirps up before letting out a loud yawn.
"Did you guys wanna meet at the bottom of the stairs tomorrow morning?" Lloyd asks, receiving nods from the other ninja.
The three say goodnight to Kai, leaving together to head upstairs quietly. They don't discuss much, especially since they were all still in shock from the events that had just occurred. A few yawns are exchanged. Lloyd waves the masters of earth and lightning goodbye as he heads to his room on the second floor, directly above Kai's room.
That just left Jay and Cole alone again.
It was awkward at first, but the silence soon fell into something semi-comfortable.
"Y'know.." Cole clears his throat, "I'm glad you didn't get eaten by that snake."
"Knock it off," Jay responds dryly, "we both know you would've enjoyed watching me get mauled by a giant serpent."
Cole chuckles, "damnit, you got me."
He peers to his side, hoping to see Jay smiling along too, but instead was met with a side glance that shared annoyance.
They were getting along earlier. What happened?
The rest of the trip to their floor was silent. Cole blamed it on Jay wanting to keep quiet in case there was anyone nearby who would catch them wearing the cultist uniforms, but he knew the real reason deep down. And he didn't exactly blame him.
Jay's room is the first next to the staircase. As sure as Cole was about how unhappy Jay felt with his presence, he still turns to him with a light smile, wishing him a goodnight. Jay doesn't gift one back, but only stares blankly at him for a second, watching him wander down the hall. The lightning ninja's hand sits firmly on his door handle, a puzzled expression plastered on his pale face.
Something about watching Cole walk off to his room didn't feel right. As happy and petty as he felt about Cole having a bad room, a large part of him still felt bad. It wasn't his fault, he knew that, yet he still felt slightly responsible. He knew how much the earth ninja enjoyed his sleep - almost even more than food - so letting him sleep on a bed made of pure stone was cruel, right?
Jay sighed, closing his eyes briefly, almost as to say his own mind was torturing him. It needed to be done.
"I doubt you're gonna get much sleep in there."
Cole turns on his heel, shrugging as he did so, "it's not like I have much choice."
Jay nearly chokes on his words, "you could.. sleep in my room?"
The earth ninja stops dead in his tracks, confusion written in his eyes for a mere moment before a grin appears, growing wider the longer he stares at Jay's straight face.
"Very funny," Cole smiles, "you can stop bragging about your super cool room now. I get it."
"No, I'm being serious," Jay shrugs, "making you sleep on literal rock isn't really fair."
"It's my element."
Jay rolls his eyes, "just come in already before I change my mind."