Chapter Text
Preparing the Storage space turned Extra Room was somewhat tiring admittedly, but the final result was well worth the effort.
The Previously bleak, dusty, suffocating and ugly room was now clean, well ventilated and more lively looking than ever.
All around, he was impressed with his own work.
Seemingly, Elena too.
"Are you sure it's the same room?" she asked once more.
"I can assure you, it is the same room." Zane reaffirmed.
"When did you get good at this whole makeover thing?" she turned to him with a curious smile.
"Building the workshop provided me with some basic experience," he answered. "renovating it proved a lot easier then… Properly decorating a small cave on the side of a mountain."
Elena snorted slightly. "Yep, can't imagine that…" she trailed off as silence once more fell again. "Soooo, how's your training been, Ice Master?" she asked.
"Rather unsuccessful unfortunately, I won't be able to use my powers until I unlock my "True Potential", whatever that may mean…" Zane shrugged. "I can only use my powers if I have the-"
"Yeah yeah yeah Shurikens of Ice used by the First Spinjitzu Master to create Ninjago," Elena laid back on the porch with her hands behind her head and closed eyes. "You've engraved that story into my head at this point."
"What can I say? It's fascinating to think about." Zane looked down at her.
"Well yeah because you're the Master of Ice." she flicked her right eye open at him. "You literally have Golden Shurikens that summon snow and ice, how cool is that?!" she exclaimed.
Zane gave Elena a devious smile.
Elena looked at him with both eyes and a desperate look. "Don't you dare-"
"Icy what you did there." Zane simply muttered, making Elena groan as she pushed herself up next to him, slightly chuckling at the horrible pun as well.
"Your puns are gonna be the death of me." Elena jabbed weakly at his shoulder.
"I would tell you of my best ice pun, But…" Zane smirked. "It slipped my mind."
"GAH STOOOOOP-"
Zane couldn't help but laugh as Elena grabbed his shoulder firmly and began shaking him back and forth, and it seemed like Elena as well couldn't help but laugh.
Elena eventually released her hold, still with a faint smile on her face. "That's it I'm leaving." she said, getting off the porch.
"Did my puns really annoy that much?" Zane stood as well, walking besides her.
"Nah, It's hard to hate those," she glanced at him as they approached the Monastery's gate. "You should know that by now Zane."
"Well you also know me well now, Elena. I ask just to be sure of something." he argued, pulling the gate open for her. "And I'm assuming the reason for your leaving is…"
"Yep, Dad's worried." she finished for him. "Called him up on your land-line yesterday to tell him I'd be crashing over at your place, he uhhh… wasn't too pleased but understood the situation."
Zane hummed. "I see...Perhaps one day I would be able to visit your monastery," he walked outside with Elena. "However much work lies ahead for me and father, but I'll let you know if I can."
"Sounds good to me." she raised her fist slightly, giving him a fist bump. "I'll leave you to it now, good luck with the Ice Element, Zane.
"Thank you." Zane responded. "And best of luck with your training, Elena."
She nodded at him, turning to begin her dcened, "Cya!" she shouted, disappearing into the low clouds of the morning.
"Goodbye!" Zane shouted back, leaving him alone once more with his companion, who flew down to his perch on his shoulder. "Hello again, my friend." he greeted the falcon.
The Falcon responded with a chirp. "Hopefully we see her again, her company is very enjoyable." he spoke to the falcon, walking back inside and closing the gate behind him. "Do you think we'll see each other again soon?" he asked the bird.
It shrugged at him.
"To be expected…" he remarked. "Since there is nothing else to do, what do you suggest, Meditation or Tinkering?" Zane asked.
The falcon answered with a chirp.
"Meditation it is…"
---
4 Hours Later
---
-
Jamanakai was in ruins.
Every building in the small village was left in ruins, fire burning whatever remained.
The desperate pleas and shouts of help coming from the people of the village were almost deafening in volume, yet he couldn't just cover his sensors and pretend not to hear.
Worse yet, Zane couldn't see out of his right eye
He cautiously cupped his right socket, and felt nothing… Where was his eye?!?
To add to the horror, his entire left hand was also missing.
And before he could even think of an explanation, a shadow appeared on the side of the mountain, slowly growing in size until it took the shape of a humanoid figure.
Its red eyes shot open, and directly looked at him with disgust, before it broke into a loud laugh that darkened the entire sky and put out every fire.
Lord Garmadon reached out to him, and engulfed his vision in darkness.
-
"Hnggh- how long is this climb???"
The sudden distant sound snapped him out of the meditative state, forcing him to take deep breaths as his mind began racing with questions about what he had just seen.
"We're almost there."
The Falcon gently nudged at his face, chirping at him to try snap him back into the real world.
He shook his head in an attempt to gather his thoughts, as the distant sounds of heavy breathing and slow steps grew closer, until they stopped right outside the gate.
Zane stood up prematurely, walking towards the gate right as it was knocked a few times.
'Whatever that was, I must consult my father about it…' Zane sighed with a bit of lingering shock and confusion, putting on a smile and pulling the gate wide open.
"Follow me," Wu muttered as he walked in.
"Welcome back father," Zane greeted while another teen with black hair and thick eyebrows walked in with an extremely mesmerised look.
As a matter of fact, they seemed so mesmerised they seemingly didn't even acknowledge his existence.
Huh…Is this what he looked like after setting foot in here for the first time?
"Hello Son," Wu greeted back, coming to an abrupt stop as the other teen stood next to him. "Is the extra room ready?" he asked.
Zane nodded at him, "And food should be ready in approximately two hours."
Satisfied, Wu turned towards the other. "Cole, welcome to the Monastery of Spinjitzu." he put a gentle hand on the teen's shoulder.
Cole shook his head to focus. "O-Oh right, sorry I'm just-" he looked back at the training yard. "really impressed by how nice it looks."
"You're certainly not the first to say that…" Wu muttered with a smirk as Zane walked to his other side.
"Hello There!" Zane greeted, as Cole's head snapped in his direction.
"Zane, this is Cole, our new guest and the Elemental Master of Earth." Wu introduced him before turning to the other. "Cole, this is Zane, My best student, Elemental Master of Ice, and someone akin to my son."
"Oh hey. Nice to meet you." Cole reached out with his hand. "Sorry I didn't notice you earlier." he sheepishly smiled.
"All as well, don't worry about it." Zane reaffirmed and took his hand. "Welcome to the Monastery."
Wu nodded happily at them both.
"So, what do I do now?" Cole asked as he let go of the handshake, turning towards the old man.
"You'll run through the course first, so we can get a sense of your skill and abilities." Wu answered, flashing Zane a smirk as he ran towards the hidden switch.
"The Course?"
"The Training Course." Zane answered for him right as he pressed the hidden button, the machinery coming to life suddenly and causing thecourse rise out of the ground.
And when Zane walked back towards the two, he couldn't but chuckle at Cole's hung mouth and wide eyes.
He definitely looked like that the first time.
"Zane here will give you a demonstration of how it's done." Wu stated, as Cole didn't even seem to register what he had said. "After you Son." he turned to Zane.
He walked ahead, standing at the start of course and shifting slightly in place as he awaited Wu's signal, noticing Cole's focused gaze on him.
"Start."
Zane bolted ahead, recalling the common pattern he'd gotten used to doing many times.
'Up-Left-Down-Up-Right-Down…' he said to himself, jumping over the planks, mimicking one of the many patterns he had memorised.
'Right-Left-Right-Down-Up-Left…' and moved accordingly to dodge the swords.
'Hit-Dodge-Hit-Dodge-Dodge-Hit…' he said to himself, repeating the moves in his head.. 'Aaaaand Spinjitzu!'
Zane jumped out of the course in Spinjitzu, moving towards Wu and Cole quickly and landed perfectly right in front of them.
He straightened himself. "Seven point Twenty-Two seconds."
"Y-You want me, to do that." Cole said. "How did you do it?!"
"While admittedly it didn't take me very long to complete it the, I was still very inexperienced." Zane explained. "What you saw was the result of three years of almost daily training."
"Zane managed to finish it on his first day with no prior training whatsoever, and ever since then he's been gradually lowering his time on it." Wu weighed in. "If he could do it, so could you Cole."
"But how can you be so sure? Cole asked with a bit of self doubt.
"If I recall, you told me that you had some experience in dancing and moving elegantly, your flexiblity should allow you to clear this quickly, but it isn't all about how much expiernce you have." Wu remarked, pointing at the still running course with his staff. "It's about your own self confidence, will, and endurance."
The answer left Cole silent for a few moments, as he eyed up the course one more time with a focused look.
He breathed in. "I guess it's worth a shot at least…"
---
Cole was… Surprised, by his own abilities.
Somehow, he was making quick work on the course, with many mistakes and slip ups of course but far better then what he had originally expected.
Maybe those dance lessons had a use after all…
But even now, there was a still long way to go till he could get through the course as smoothly as the other guy…
What was his name again? Oh yeah Zane.
And supposedly according to him, his performance was exceptional, above all other people he'd seen in his life.
Despite being total strangers up to this point, it felt… nice.
It wasn't like quite Wu's compliments, the fact that he was an old man made his comments better, but the occasional encouragement from Zane also felt nice nonetheless.
"That should be enough for today." Wu stated suddenly, just as Cole back flipped out of the course. "Good work Cole."
"Thank you." he responded, slightly out of breath.
"if you maintain your current performance, you should be able to complete the course in less then 10 seconds by tomorrow." Zane added in while sitting next to Wu.
"Huh, really?" Cole asked as he wondered what math Zane did to gouge an estimate like that one.
"I've come to trust his word on these matters," Wu answered for a question he asked to himself. "I have no doubt in these ones."
"Well, if you say so I guess…" Cole, a bit surprised, shrugged.
"Come inside now," Wu got up. "let us show you around the monastery." and began walking inside.
Cole followed behind, as he stepped inside the building with Zane and Wu ahead of him.
"I can take it from here Master Wu." Zane turned to the old man. "I've already prepared your clothes, and there should be enough cool water for you and Cole."
Wu sighed gratefully. "Thank You Son."
"You're welcome."
"Cole," Wu glanced back at the teenager. "Zane will show you around the monastery, feel free to ask him any questions."
"Got it," Cole nodded at him, as the old man left.
Zane stepped next to him. "Make yourself at home…"