"Finally, all fixed up and Serpentine free," Cole says as he, Jay, Zane, and I set a sign back in it's rightful place.
Kai stands off to the side, grunting with annoyance as he fails to produce fire from his fingers. "This is frustrating! Our weapons are gone and most of our elemental powers are gone. I mean, we can still do Spinjitzu, but--" he tries to use his fire again and fails-- "I just feel so, I don't know, limited. And thanks to the devourer, our tank's out of commission, our Dragon's hurt, and now the Bounty is destroyed, we don't even have a place to sleep."
I send him a glare of annoyance. "Are you gonna help, or are you gonna stand there and complain some more?"
Kai sighs. "I just feel like we lost more than we gained."
"No one ever said being a hero is easy. Though our good deeds may never make us rich, they make us rich in other ways," Zane says, standing up from screwing the sign in place.
"Yeah, well I don't feel rich," Kai mumbles.
Jay walks over and slings his arm across Kai's shoulder. "I for one enjoy pitching in. I've always wanted to feel part of a community." He pulls away from Kai and looks around. "Speaking of which, anyone see Nya? She said she was gonna help."
As if on cue, Nya rides in with Uncle Wu on a motor bike. "And I have. I may have found us a place to live," She says, holding a flyer out for us to take.
"Really? But there's a waiting list a mile long to live in Ninjago City. How did you do that?" Jay says, looking at Nya's flyer.
"I know a guy who knows a girl, and she knows this girl who knows a guy. Well, this guy knows a girl who's a real estate agent and she can help you find a place, if you catch my drift," she replies with a proud smile.
"And where are you off to?" I ask, patting the front of her bike.
"We have to find a couple of components to fix the Ninja tank. And my dragon ointment has finally arrived. It's a day's trip, but once we get back, he'll be flying again. Also, I love scenic drives," Uncle explains, a childish grin plastered across his face. "Punch it, Nya!"
"Aye, aye, Sensei!" Nya replies and they take off.
"'Patty Keys, Real Estate Queen.'" Jay reads. "This is exactly what we need. Once we get a roof over our head, we can start properly training Lloyd."
"Good, 'cause if I know my Father, he's not going to be taking any breaks," I say.
"And let's not forget, the Serpentine are still at large," Cole adds.
Jay nods. "Alright, I'll call up Patty and we'll start touring some apartments."
~
Patty opens the door to the apartment and I cant help but snort. She cant seriously think we'll live in this place. It is a complete and total dump. The wall paper is pealing, the floors are creaky, the ceiling is leaking, and I don't even want to know what the stain on the bed is from. Nonetheless, she gives us her spiel.
"This one-bedroom, one-half-bath is a cozy dream. Who needs extras when everything is in an arm's reach? Now, wait until you see the lighting." She turns on the light, but it quickly burns out. "Uh, who needs lights when you have this view?" She chuckles nervously before opening the blinds to reveal a brick wall.
"Uh, why do I smell old people?" Lloyd asks.
Patty sighs. "Look, Doll. I'm trying to work around your budget. This is all you can afford."
"Uh, this looks... promising," Cole says optimistically. "Remember, guys, Sensei told us our main objective is to train Lloyd, not kick our feet up in some swanky sweet. If this is all we can afford, this is all we can afford."
Jay is appalled by this. "Woah, woah, woah. Let's not rush into any decision. I mean, if it's really all about Lloyd, don't we need to live in some place that'll make training easier?" he says.
"Yeah, Jay's right. If we have to get Lloyd ready to save Ninjago from his father, shouldn't he at least have his own room?" Kai adds.
"Technically, that does not matter, he only--" Zane is cut off by me punching him in the arm.
"We're only thinking about the children," Jay continues, looking at Patty hopefully.
"I do have another property that you'll just love," she says brightly.
~
The elevator doors open to reveal a very large room. By the looks of it, it is only the entertainment room. I can already see doors leading to other rooms of the apartment. It is beautiful and has a marvelous view of Ninjago, but it is definitely out of our budget. That doesn't stop Patty from giving her spiel.
"Now, this is the eight-bedroom Hero Suite. Floor-to-ceiling windows, digital wall television, state-of-the-art game console..."
"Uh, it seems a little out of our price range," Cole says, halting her speech.
"Oh, sure it costs a little more, but you deserve it. I forgot to mention, there's also a Dragon keep in the roof," she says sweetly.
"Maybe we can get a hero discount. After all, we are the Ninja who saved the city," Jay says.
Patty smirks at us. "I thought Lord Garmadon saved the city."
I scoff. "I'll have you know, I'm his daughter, and Lloyd is his son. I'm sure he'd be very grateful if you helped out his children."
Patty just shakes her head. "We could get day jobs to pay for the extra expenses," Kai suggests.
"We always said we could use a little more responsibility," Zane adds.
"But we have to train Lloyd," Kai continues.
"I could stay back and train him," I suggest, prompting them all to raise their eyebrows at me. "What? It's a good idea. I'm far better than the four of you will ever be."
Cole shakes his head. "You still haven't unlocked your true potential yet."
I open my mouth to reply, but Patty beats me to it. "Did I mention it has an in-house training facility?" she says, opening the door to a massive training course that greatly resembles the monastery's.
"We'll take it!" the boys shout in unison. I can only facepalm.
~
Despite my constant protests, and my pleas to stay home and train Lloyd, I find myself working as a yoga instructor. It could be worse. I could be a party entertainer like Kai. Yoga is actually very fun and I quite enjoy this job. I would still rather be at the penthouse training Lloyd. I don't exactly like that he's home alone all day. But I got outvoted, so here I am.
"And now, as you exhale, slowly, bending the front knee a lot, bring that raised leg to the ground so that you are in crescent pose," I say in the most relaxing tone I can manage. That's definitely the hardest part about this job: keeping a calm attitude. It's very hard to stay calm when you're stressing about your little brother's safety.
"Very good, students. Now, from there you will lower yourself back to the ground, go through your vinyasa into upward dog, breathing all the way. And then curl your toes into the ground and lift up into downward dog."
Instead of doing what I just said to do, I begin to walk around the room, inspecting the people I'm instructing. Many of them are mothers in their mid forties. Most of them are better at yoga then I am. Some of them are super athletes who seem to think they're good at everything. Not yoga; these people are not the most flexible and they don't have the best balance. And then you have my favorite person in the class: Chubby Charlie. She is literally the sweetest person I have ever met, but she is not athletic at all. She definitely struggles the most in this class.
"Charlie, I need your butt to be higher in the air," I kindly tell her. With a grunt, she attempts to do as she's told, but to no avail. I decide to leave her be; After all, she is trying her best.
"Okay, students, now walk your feet to your hands and reverse your swan dive." They do as their told flawlessly. I grin at them. "Congratulations for completing today's class. I hope to see you all again tomorrow."
~
"Oh, my feet! I cant feel my feet!" Cole wails as he gingerly sets his feet into a bucket of iced water.
Kai flops down on the couch. "There was so many of them. And they wouldn't stop," he mumbles tiredly.
Zane paces back and forth across the room, oiling his arm. "My gears locked up several times. I didn't even know my gears could lock up!"
"I don't even have enough energy to play video games," Jay whines from his spot on the floor.
"But I thought you were going to train me when you got home," Lloyd says.
Cole sighs. "Sorry, champ, but we cant until we make rent. How close are we, Jay?"
"Is this jar getting bigger? We're not even close!" he cries as he shakes the half filled jar of coins.
"And our rent is due tomorrow," Zane points out.
"I can pull a double shift," Cole offers.
Zane nods. "And I can do overtime."
"Maybe I could sling a few more pizza pies," Jay adds optimistically.
Kai sits up and sighs. "I can make a little extra if I do the human piñata." We all turn toward him with shocked expressions. "Don't ask."
I shake my head. "I can teach an extended class," I say.
"Great. Then our priorities are set: tomorrow we make rent," Cole announces.
Lloyd frowns. "And what about me?"
"How about you help out and fetch me some more ice," Cole says with an encouraging smile.
Lloyd sighs and goes to get ice, but I stop him. "Nuh uh, you can get your own ice, Cole. Lloyd will be busy training with me," I say, sending all the boys disapproving looks.
Lloyd grins. "Really?"
I nod at him. "Of course! I spent my day stretching, so I am one hundred percent capable of training you right now."
"Alright!" Lloyd cheers and races to the training room.
"I don't think you've ever been hotter in your whole entire life," Kai says flirtatiously. I send him a quick wink before following Lloyd into the training room.
"So what are you gonna teach me first? How to defeat your enemies with a sword? Oh, will you teach me Spinjitzu? Or are you going to teach me Cole's famous Triple Tiger Sashay?"
I laugh and shake my head. "Calm down Lloyd. Even if I wanted to teach you the Triple Tiger Sashay, I have no clue how to do it."
"Then what are you gonna teach me?" he says, eyes wide with anticipation.
I smile at him. "I am going to teach you ballet," I say.
His excitement quickly disappears and he scrunches up his nose in disgust. "Ballet?"
I nod. "To be a ninja, you have to be quick and nimble. Your every movement needs to be graceful. A good way to learn to do that is to learn ballet."
Disappointment paints his face, but he offers a small smile. "I guess that makes sense. How do we start?"
I grin and teach him the basics of ballet. Like me, Lloyd is a very fast learner and a natural athlete. He quickly picked up on the moves and flow of the dance. He wasn't the most graceful, but he was quick and nimble. Gracefulness can only be achieved with practice, which is why Lloyd and I will be doing a short ballet routine every morning before I leave for work, then again when I come home.
"See, ballet isn't so bad," I say as Lloyd manages to land a leap in a half graceful manner.
"You're right. It's actually pretty fun," he replies with genuine joy.
I nod. "And you'll be a better Ninja for doing it." I glance up at the clock on the wall. "Holy crap, look at the time. We should both be getting ready for bed."
Lloyd groans. "Can I please try to run through the training course just once before bed?"
I sigh. "Alright, one time on the easiest setting."
Lloyd grins and presses a few buttons on the control panel to start the course. I smile as I watch him run through it. I cant help but chuckle as he uses some of the ballet techniques I just taught him to dodge the dummies. Pride swells up in my chest when he makes it to the end unscathed.
~
Lloyd and Tasha are sibling goals. Hope you enjoyed the first episode of season 2. School sucks! Until next time, Wacky AWAY!
Word Count: 2186