Chapter by: LillaSmolBean
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What was that smell?
If Cloud was able to speak, she'd be asking that question. The puppy had woken up after a mysterious smell had filled her muzzle and ever since, she had been feeling rather...what was the right word to put it, bizarre? Curious, even, to figure out what that smell was.
But to do so, she had to get out of here. She knew for a fact that the scent was beyond the bounty. Why's that? The puppy had blinked, trotting her way over to her owner's bedroom window, it was opened. 'The smell could have came through from there, that means whatever I smelled comes from the city.' concluded the puppy, righteous as ever.
She sensed a flame ignite within her, a desire to go out and adventure. She had seen everything here in the Bounty and occasionally looked through the city with Harumi accompanying her for a walk. But every time she had ever been out, it had always felt..quite compelling. Her surroundings were limited and she had always been watched.
"Don't go to far now, Cloud." there was that, whenever she was sniffing around the wet pavement for clues during that noodle truck mission, she could never escape and look around on her own.
So that's why,
'My desire? It's to explore the city myself, find out what's really out there.'
Cloud had made up her mind, her curiosity and desire getting the best of her. Without much effort, she jumped up to the ledge where the window was and carefully moved her paws to step on the frame. She saw it, the outside world below her, the buildings being ever so close to tower over the bounty. This was it, this was Ninjago city calling out her name.
Taking a deep breath, she glanced back at the almost deserted room and nodded to herself. 'I won't let myself get distracted, I'll return here as soon as possible. No time for my head to be in the clouds.' She promised to herself, before allowing herself to fall from the bounty, looking worriedly as she tried to look for a ledge to safely land on.
The fall felt like ages, she could have sworn that the moon was shifting over to a new dawn at this point. But no, it was still the dead of the night even if she fluttered her eyes shut. Breathing in the musk air and surprising herself with how cold nights could get, she didn't realize her small form landing in a bush.
Shaking her head and licking the dirt off her paws, Cloud attempted to get out of the bush, only to realize something pulling at her neck. She growled and barked, trying to free herself from whatever might have grabbed her. If only her paws weren't useless, if only they were like a human's hand, she'd pry whatever ate at her neck without further hesitation.
Minutes and minutes of struggling allowed her to regain her freedom. Cloud stumbled forward and almost landed on the rocky ground. She whimpered and recognized the feeling of a solid ground. Ah, she finally made it, she was here in Ninjago, not just viewing it from the skies above like this city was a petting zoo.
Brushing her uncomfortable state from earlier, she figured her collar must have been caught in a twig, the puppy began running off, freedom being all of hers for tonight. She failed to notice the light green collar laying around a few centimetres from the bush and onto the cold pavement.
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There were barley any lights coming from buildings considering it was night, but the neon flashes from streetlights were not a problem. The puppy felt amazed, ecstatic, what was it? A feeling of breathing in all of that cold air, even if it sent shivers down her spine as she wandered off into the unknown. So many buildings, so much free air all around here, Cloud was shocked.
Even if she knew that Harumi was against the idea of her going outside into the city, Cloud didn't feel at all bad for finally getting to discover things on her own. Yeah, she knows that Harumi was only looking out for her safety, but the whole resistance couldn't just expect her to be a good guard dog and forever condemn herself to that flying ship.
Continuing to look around and getting lured by the fresh pastries inside a now closed shop, she stumbled upon an alley-way where the smell she recognized from earlier came back. That's it, it was so strong, so bitter, what was it? Cloud entered the alleyway and looked around, whimpering to herself as the narrowed down space was dark.
She continued to walk deeper until she felt her paws getting soaked into a liquid. Her first instinct was to squirm, she backed away and lifted her paw off the ground to discover a brown stain on her white paw.
She knew she shouldn't taste things, especially when she was out here alone into a city, who knew what substances could be lurking around?
Risking it, Cloud gave her paw a little lick. The taste became clear to her now. Not coffee, not some hot chocolate, it was tea. It tasted awfully familiar from that one time Mistaké's tea spilled onto her fur. So that's what that smell was, now she understood. But the bigger question remains, why was tea thrown out here? Did it mean something? Was Mistaké linked by this alleyway by chance?-
She flinched at the sound of footsteps nearby. Cloud's breathing stopped.
"Well well, what's a purse dog doing out here all alone?" A voice asked coming from in front of her.
"That's none of your business, streetdog." Cloud snapped back, bearing off her canines. But instantly softened as she realized the bigger picture. She found herself speaking back, she even heard herself speak!
The voice that spoke to her before revealed themselves from the shadows, presenting themselves as a pretty roughed up Husky puppy. He gave a questionable glance, even tilting his head at her as Cloud began walking off, her tail wagging in happiness.
"What are you so happy about?" He asked, following behind the white furred Pomeranian, not like he wanted to in the first place but meeting another dog was rare for him. Cloud giggled and turned back to the Husky, completely forgetting for a second that she had yelled at him.
"I'm so excited, this means that I finally speak to Harumi! She can finally understand me and we'll...we'll have so many conversations together." She sighed happily, stopping in her tracks for a second. Her smile dropped for a second and she lifted her head up to the sky.
"If I could speak to her, then maybe...maybe she'll actually listen to me when I tell her it's dangerous to go somewhere." She whispered.
The Husky lifted a brow, stopping where she shopped and only had one question in mind: "Harumi? What, the purse owner?" He smirked, clearly meant to tease the lost puppy. The Pomeranian rolled her eyes and shook her head at the other puppy. "Nope! Harumi's more than just my owner, she's a wonderful person. She's so brave and fierce! Ooh, kind too!"
Sighing, the husky rolled his eyes at his turn but still kept his smirk. "Wow, you sure are a handful. Do you talk to yourself often?" He inquired, following her out of the alleyway. Cloud shook her head, not questioning herself to why this dog she found in an alleyway, was still following her. Guess, it couldn't be helped.
"Oh gee wow, do you often follow cute puppies all alone?" She turned the tables around in a pesky remark. The Husky lightly gasped and growled, he didn't respond in less than a second though. It was clear that Cloud did end up flustering him with her words. Well, to her relief, the other puppy didn't want to seem like some stalking creeper. He instantly denied her claim.
Cloud found herself laughing at the dog and although his mood worsened more and more, it changed when a sound escaped from Cloud's stomach. They stopped at the sound of the grumble and now it was Cloud's turn to be embarrassed. The Husky laughed but surprisingly didn't end up making a remark towards Cloud as revenge.
Instead, he asked her a question, wanting to help her as he understood pretty quickly that she wasn't from around here.
"You Hungry?"
Well, who was one to lie? She came down here with a full stomach but in her mind, it was possibly all the wandering that made her starve. She went off to so many places, saw so many things...monuments, shops, greenery. Blushing and turning her head back, Cloud nodded. "A little, I guess." She responded timidly.
The Husky nodded as well and began making a turn to their right. Cloud saw a few lit-up buildings up ahead. "That's more than just a little, haha." He jabbed, laughing a little himself.
Her cheeks flashing a brighter colour of pink, Cloud pouted and walked a little faster, still following him for directions though. "Oh shut it!" She squeaked, clearly not enjoying all the teasing.
He enjoyed one last laugh before catching up to her then surpassing her. "Anyways, I know a place. Follow me." He was more than willing to guide her.
"There's a restaurant around here that's still opened?" She wondered, a little surprised about that. She thought that she snuck out quite late already.
The Husky nodded and continued to walk towards a certain three-storey restaurant two blocks away. "Loads."
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They soon arrived in front of a rather fancy-looking restaurant. Cloud was astonished with the amount of lights and attracting colours. She even proceeded to step forward towards the entrance before the Husky pulled her by the paw and shook his head.
"No, you can't. You'll get caught and that's the last thing you want. Getting shooed by the chefs is the worse." He admitted, then bringing her over to the alternative route he had in mind. Cloud nodded, brushed off the slight fright like it was nothing and followed him.
"Do you know another way?" She asked, examining how deserted the alleyway seemed compared to the other one where they met. There were at least some crates in that one, this one just had one garbage container and that's it.
"'Course I do. Alleyway over here then window up there." He lifted his snout up to point at the direction of an opened window, presumingly leading them to the diners on the second floor. Cloud took that into account before sighing and following up the roof of a lower building.
"My name is Cloud by the way. It's nice to meet you even if I thought you seemed rather unpleasant at first." The Pomeranian introduced herself, willing to give this Husky a chance despite his jerk-like moves from earlier.
The Husky blinked, staring at her for a second. He wasn't really that used to opening up to people, considering he's been out on the streets for awhile now. He never really had someone close to him that he would consider a friend. Most of the other dogs he meets, finds him filthy and wouldn't dare approach him for another minute. Always those fancy Poodles or classy Dalmatians.
Figuring that he was stalling her, he gave in and responded. Both dogs jumped through the window, thus breaking into the establishment. It wouldn't take long before they were found, the Husky was sure of it. But if he found one dish for this newly found puppy,
"My name is Nix."
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They landed in the middle of dinner service, it seemed. Nix and Cloud landed on a dinner's table, knocking down a plate of spaghetti onto the ground. Obviously, their little stunt didn't last for too long.
The lady by the table including the man she was in, screamed in horror as two dogs landed onto their table.
The two dogs hopped down as the couple that were just by their table rushed out of the restaurant, following by other dinners who thought they were feral dogs. The only ones amused tonight were the children accompanying the parents for a family dinner. Nix growled at the people inside the restaurant, encouraging them to all leave.
"Soup's on." He alerted to Cloud, pointing his eyes to the plate of spaghetti on the ground. It wasn't as presenting as her doggy bowl, that's for sure, but it was no big deal. It was still food in the end. Cloud sniffed the still warm noodles and began to eat one by one, careful to not swallow too quickly. "Thanks Nix."
They both ate the noodles off the ground, earning a little bit of tomato sauce on their muzzles but they just laughed at each other for that. He sighed and finished eating his own dish that he found back on that table. In the end, they had spaghetti with a side of baguettes, very Italian-like order from that couple, Nix noticed.
"So how did you end up in that alleyway in the first place, who exactly are you?" Nix interrogated, taking a bite out of the bread then glanced back at the still eating Cloud. Story, huh? Now that was a question worth thinking about. She had so much to say about that topic but she knew that Nix possibly wasn't here all night for her so she needed to keep the information limited.
"My story? Well, I'm just a Pomeranian puppy, in the process of growing up, that so happens to be owned by the Jade princess of Ninjago and live with my family, the resistance." She explained with a soft smile. It was ironic how she found herself smiling or her mood lightening up whenever she talked about her family. She appreciates and loves all of them so much. Excluding people like Garmadon and Lloyd.
"How I was found isn't really important," she mentioned with an uncomfortable sideglance. Well, there was nothing wrong about being found, it's just that Garmadon found her before Harumi, something that she was disappointed about, really. She detests the man for being so strict on Harumi and for hurting her a while ago.
"But I have fun with my family. There's funny people like Killow, he's a really tall guy and there's Ultra Violet! She's a tad insane in the head but she's so cool, she has grey-skin and purple makeup!" Cloud smiled, more and more as she talked about her loving family.
Raising a brow, finding this story a little too surreal and fantasy-like, Nix dropped a noodle to the ground, not bothering to pick it back up in the meantime. "What, so you want to settle down with a family?" He grinned, meant for it to be another tease for Cloud. But surprisingly, she wasn't affected this time. That's because that's what she really wanted. Instead of hearing her aggressive barks at him, she smiled even more.
"Yes because I love my family, so so much. Except Garmadon though, he's a freaky mean guy with four-arms, never liked him." She admitted, taking a huge bite out of the baguette after liking its taste the first bite. At that, Nix shook his head, not wanting to follow along anymore. There were too many plot holes and just...things that didn't make sense in his mind of his.
"Okay, Cloud, you're certainly a liar." He stated, with a bitter growl before stepping away from the food they were just eating.
"First you mention a big guy and then a grey-skinned woman. Now you're talking about a four-armed freak?" He questioned, not really believing her. Finishing the last remaining noodles, Cloud snapped back at Nix, growling as well.
"But I'm not lying, it's true! How about you shut up? You can come visit whenever, I swear I'm not lying." She brushed her paws onto the carpet, clearing away the tomato sauce caught on them before heading towards the main entrance. "Well whatever, it was nice meeting you and thanks for the meal, but I've got to return to Harumi now." She admitted, whimpering slightly as she lost count of time.
Nix sighed and followed after her. Something about their encounter just didn't feel satisfying to him, he couldn't place his paws on it but he knew that there was something missing. "Hey hang on, that's it? You're just gonna leave like that?" He pursued, instead of asking her nicely on where she was going next, he decided to growl and attempt to get in her way. Cloud, who noticed what he was up to, growled, trying to push him away.
Both puppies walked through the door and ended up on the streets once more.
Cloud, who was now infuriated, snapped back at Nix. "What's your problem? I said thank you, didn't I?" Venom could've dropped from her words. So low-tempered, Nix realizes. Therefore, he wasted no time and tried to grab her by the paw. "I don't have one, I just don't want you to go like that!" He sighed, wanting to interact with her more.
But Cloud didn't buy it, she gave Nix a glare before throwing herself onto the other puppy. Tackling him to the ground, she raised her paw to slap his cheek. "Why are you suddenly acting like we're all buddy-buddy, huh?! We literally just met!" She snapped, refraining from biting his cheek along with the slap.
Nix whimpered and tried to push her off of him. "But that's why I want you to stay awhile longer, I want to get to know you Cloud, liar or not-" he reasoned, trying to make it up to her. He just wanted to get to know her, maybe be properly friends? He was so lonely around here, he never met someone like her. He just wanted a friend.
Rolling her eyes, Cloud got off of him and walked off, desperate to return back to the bounty. Truth be told, she didn't know exactly where the bounty was from here but it was a flying ship, she could just look up and find it parked above one of the many skyscrapers. She didn't realize Nix getting back up from the ground and following her along.
"Look Cloud, you don't need to constantly yell at me-" he tried with a sigh. His response alerted the Pomeranian that he was following her. However, she couldn't care less. She continued to walk, wanting to get back home already. That is...
"Cloud! Cloud, where are you?"
The puppy and supposedly Nix, heard two women calling out for her. Cloud is at you recognized one of them, a smile lit up on her face as she ran towards the sound of the calls. "Harumi! Harumi, I hear Rumi!" She gasped, already out of breath due to how excited she was.
She continued to run, ignoring Nix's calls for her from behind, some of them she couldn't even register. Only one thought was on her mind: 'I need to find Harumi.'
She was so focused on that one thought that she failed to notice a dark mist spiralling in her direction from the left.
"Cloud!!" Nix cried out, louder than ever.
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The Husky brought a paw to his forehead and changed his speed, he began to run after her. His eyes fixed on the mist ready to strike his acquaintance, he leaped from the ground and toppled over her, knocking the Pomeranian out of the way.
Cloud gasped, immediately barking in pain as she scratched her left paw against the pavement. Her stomach was weighed down by Nix's body over hers, she growled and kicked him off her.
"What is wrong with you?! I don't need you to come in and save me! I'm from the resistance, I can save myself!" She yelled at Nix, unappreciative of the fact that he just rescued her when her head was in the clouds.
Recovering from the kick to his own stomach, Nix beared his canines at her.
"Look, I don't know why you're so snappy, you're not some kind of princess, I was just trying to help!" He reasoned, instantly walking over to her despite his stomach slightly hurting him. Cloud only shook his head and walked off once more.
"Well I don't need your help!"
She continued to walk, not hearing Harumi's voice anymore made her panic. Oh no, what if Cloud missed her completely? What if she was somewhere else now and she couldn't catch up to her because stupid Nix here, tackled her.
"Why did you tackle me, anyways?" She whispered, shooting the question to no one in particular, as if Nix would listen after she just yelled at him. But it would be nice to get answers.
She bumped into a figure without hesitation, the Pomeranian nervously looking up and her angry look falling almost instantly. "Hey Nix..?" She whimpered, calling for the Husky for once. A big contradiction in the end.
The Husky barked at the three shadowy demon-like creatures by the Pomeranian. But merely a puppy like him posed no threat. The fight was completely one-sided, the puppies tried to attack only to grabbed by the neck and thrown in nets.
This was it, they knew they were getting captured and the one who was the most upset was Cloud.
She growled at her kidnappers, trying to bite away at the net but it was no use. She couldn't save herself, she couldn't save Nix, she couldn't get to Harumi! She couldn't do anything.
"Oni!" The Pomeranian raged. Her screams, despite them being the loudest she could manage, it felt like this net sucked away her voice.
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A/N: Hey hey, we surpassed 100 chapters, yay! Anyways, thank you for reading chapter 101, I really hope you enjoyed it despite it sorta being a spin-off from the main plot so far, here's little Cloud's adventures! But now, they've been captured by the oni! Though, at least she isn't alone, she's made a new friend, sort of! This chapter was to mainly introduce Nix, the newest non-human character!
Originally, the chapter's name was gonna be "Clouds in the night" as a pun for Cloud and Nix's names(Nix can mean snow and night, depending on language) but changed it afterwards as "Head in the clouds" felt more appropriate for this chapter's plot line! Cloud really got distracted, now didn't she?
Well, that's my A/N over! See you guys next time, cya cya!^^