It was nearly midnight and the lights from Ninjago City illuminated the pier where the water was crammed full of boats and covered in a thick layer of mist. A chilly breeze ruffled Seliel's hair as she and the girls walked down the wharf where a large group was gathered.
"Those must be the other Elemental Masters," Nya noted. "How many do you think there are?"
"Sixteen," Pixal answered immediately.
"Wow. You really think we can beat all of them?"
"Well, some of them will be pitted against each other throughout the first round," Skylor reassured her. "So no, we won't have to worry about every single one of them."
"That's good –" Nya broke off as something caught her eye. "Uh-oh. Don't look now."
Of course they all looked. Seliel was immediately struck with a bolt of rage and indignation.
"You!" She marched ahead until she came face-to-face with the Ninja of Earth. "What are you doing here?"
Cole raised his hands in surrender. "We got an invitation! We're allowed to participate too, you know."
"Typical." Nya said. "Of course you four would be involved. Did Wu get sick of you, or was this his plan all along? To make money off of underground fighting matches?"
Kai opened his mouth to speak, but Cole signaled for him to keep quiet. "We wanted to test ourselves against other fighters."
"Right, I forgot. We're not good enough for you," Seliel sneered. "You've only said so about a hundred times."
"Sorry to burst your bubble," Skylor cut in, "but the message said no weapons."
"We believe that Master Chen will allow us to use them when he realizes that they are the only way we can wield our elements," Zane answered.
"Good luck with that," Skylor scoffed. Seliel knew she had a point. Chen probably wouldn't want elements he couldn't take. Surely even he wasn't foolish enough to believe he could wield all four golden weapons at once.
"You can't tell us not to fight," Jay said. "This is Master Chen's tournament, not yours."
Seliel would have fought them all right then for a couple of coins, but she restrained herself. "You know what? Fine. But if you go against any of us, it's not going to be like last time. We're winning this thing, and that's a promise."
"Fine," Cole shot back. "Maybe then we'll finally settle this once and for all."
"Oh, sure. Remind me, who was it that ended up flat on their backs during our last fight?"
Kai pointed at her accusingly. "Only because you guys don't fight fair!"
Now it was Nya's turn to scoff in disbelief. "Look who's talking!"
"How could you think –?"
"If you hadn't –"
"You were the ones –"
The wharf quickly erupted into a verbal battlefield as the two teams squabbled back and forth. Seliel barely noticed the other masters clustering around them eagerly, hoping that a fight would break out before the tournament even started.
Cole was practically in her face, now. "Our team against yours. We'll see who's really the better fighter once and for all."
"If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get. We won't rest until every one of you has fallen!"
"Enough!" A voice cut in through all of the bickering and they fell quiet. While their backs were turned a ferry had arrived at the end of the dock, shrouded in mist. A man stood before the crowd. He had dark hair, a rather sinister looking mustache, and wore red and purple armor. His features were hard and serious, etched from stone. "You will all have a chance to fight soon enough. But let's save it for the ring, shall we?"
Casting a few final dirty looks at each other, the two teams separated, fitting into a line with all the other masters to board the ship.
"I can't believe this," Seliel growled from where their team stood at the back of the line. She glowered at the ninja's backs as they neared the boat. "They must be after the staff."
"But how could they know about it?" asked Pixal, who Seliel realized had stayed quiet during the argument.
"Who knows? But they're all just like their master, a bunch of power-hungry monsters."
Skylor hummed in thought. "But they sure are cute."
Seliel whirled around, aghast. "Skylor! No!"
"What? We're all thinking it. Right . . . ?" She looked around at her friends' appalled faces and shrugged.
Nya face-palmed. "You've got to be kidding me. You remember they're our mortal enemies, right?"
"Well, yeah . . . but I guess with all the action last time, I never really got a good look at any of them. We were all wearing our hoods just about every time we met."
"Except when that Earth Ninja lost my first helmet in the Caves of Despair," Seliel grumbled. "He still owes me for that."
Skylor waved a hand, as if to brush aside their worries. "It's not like I'm gonna ask any of them out, I know they can't be trusted."
Seliel crossed her arms. "You've got that right." Cute or not, evil ninja were still evil ninja. And those guys were totally evil.
She turned back to the front of the line. The strange man was standing at the plank that served as a bridge between the dock and the boat, welcoming the elemental masters and checking for the weapons that they weren't supposed to bring. To her dismay, he let the boys on the boat with hardly any resistance. It looked like they were right. Mater Chen would let them keep the golden weapons if it was their only means of fighting.
The girls were quiet as the line continued to move forward, and soon it was their turn to board.
"Skylor," the man said as the girls approached. "Master Chen will be charmed to know that you have accepted his offer."
"Did I have a choice?" she asked dryly.
"Of course, Master Chen would never force you to do anything you didn't want to do. There are, however, consequences." And with that comment and a pleasant smile, he gestured for her to board.
"He's kind of creepy," Nya commented once they were out of earshot.
Skylor still threw a cautious glance at him, making sure that he really was out of range. "Clouse is bad news. He's my dad's second-in-command, and a master of dark magic. We'll want to stay out of his way as much as possible."
"So that's Clouse." Seliel nodded. "Duly noted. Now, how long until we reach the island?"
"Dunno, a few hours at least. We've got a lot of time to kill. What do you think, wanna scope out the competition?"
Seliel's mouth quirked into a smile. "My thoughts exactly."
. . .
Cole was not impressed by the amateurs on this ship. They all flaunted their elements in a useless game of intimidation, as if they thought they could actually frighten anyone else on a boat full of Elemental Masters. But he knew that there was more to intimidation than a show of strength.
"Whatever you do, don't show off your powers," Cole warned his teammates. "It's better if we save our best moves for later, to take our opponents by surprise."
"Not very bright, are they?" Jay noted. "Maybe this will be easier than we thought."
"Zane, you taking note of all these elements?" Cole paused when he didn't get a response and turned to see what had happened to Zane. Jay was right behind him, but Zane and Kai had come to a stop a ways back, leaning over the edge of the ship and watching as the girls filed on board.
"Hey, ding-dongs!" Cole called, smacking both of them on the back of the head. "We're on a mission, remember? This is no time to get distracted!"
"Ow! Relax," Kai said. "We were just checking out the competition."
Jay snickered. "Yeah, we noticed."
Kai moved to punch him and Jay flinched, making Kai smirk with satisfaction. "Might I remind you that we still don't know what a couple of their elements are."
"Three, actually," Zane corrected him.
"Two. One's teleportation, one's telekinesis."
"I still don't think that is correct," Zane argued.
"Yeah," Jay said. "Telekinesis isn't an element!"
"Look who's talking," Kai shot back.
Cole had to laugh. "He got you there."
"Hey, why didn't we just ask Master Chen what their elements are?" Jay wondered.
Cole groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose as he realized that Jay was right. "Agh, why didn't I think of that?" There was no telling when they would get another chance, either. They had to be careful to preserve the secret of their alliance.
"Well we know for sure that one of them is teleportation," Jay said. "The other one has something to do with lifting objects and throwing them around, whatever you want to call it. That still leaves two more that we have no clue as to what they can do."
"Yeah, and isn't one of them your sister?" Cole asked, turning to Kai.
"Don't look at me. I didn't even know what I was capable of until Master Wu told me. I don't have the slightest idea what Nya's element might be."
"Another Fire Master, perhaps?" Zane suggested.
Jay's eyes widened. "Is that possible?"
Kai shook his head. "I don't think so. I was the only one who could pull the sword of fire out of its resting place." His brow furrowed at the memory.
"There is also the amber ninja," Zane said. "Her element is a mystery as well."
"But didn't she do the same thing as the other girl?" Jay said. "Who, by the way, is apparently a robot?! Did anybody else notice that?"
"I did indeed notice," said Zane, somehow managing to keep a straight face. "She's quite the marvel."
"I wish we had a robot on our team," Jay grumbled.
Cole sighed. "We'll just have to wait until we get another chance to speak with Master Chen. In the meantime, keep an eye out for any clues. We don't want to be caught in a fight with one of them and not know how to handle ourselves."
Kai nodded further down the deck. "Or we could try asking." Cole saw that the girls were on the far side of the ship. The red-head was looking their way, and Kai flashed one of his ridiculous smiles that he thought were so charming. He took a step towards her, but Cole caught him by the back of his gi, pulling him short.
"Not a chance."
The girl laughed to herself before her fuchsia-haired friend pulled her away.
"Aw, come on! Not cool, man," Kai grumbled.
Cole let him go. "I need you to stay focused, not go chasing after some girl. Who, might I remind you, is still our enemy."
Kai crossed his arms. "Yeah, whatever."
Cole started to walk them towards the opposite end of the boat, away from the girls. "Come on. I want to talk strategy. We may not know what they're capable of, but we can still prepare for a battle."
They followed, thankfully, without any more complaints. But Cole was getting worried about his teammates. If they were starting to develop feelings for the other ninja all of a sudden, there could be trouble. They were there for one reason, and one reason only: to defeat Garmadon's ninja so that Master Chen could take their elements and make sure they wouldn't be a problem anymore. If any of his brothers suddenly turned soft towards them, they might hesitate when the time came.
Master Wu was counting on them, but more than anything he was counting on Cole to lead this team well. Cole would have to make sure that his team kept their heads on straight, or it could mean failure.