A/N: I totally understand if all y'all are, like, gone and left forever because I've been gone for almost and entire freaking year and I am so, so, SO VERY SORRY FOR IT. I've just been having a bad... like, life, lately [and by "lately" I mean some junk happened in February that just kinda killed me

But that's not excuse for me leaving you wonderful Ninja for almost a complete year when there's a binch'a y'all wantin' me to update and I've been trying I swear. This chapter probably isn't all that good cu there's nothing interesting happening

And also, I've been pronouncing Walliper as "Wallaber"  this entire time, my bad. 

And, y'know, Lizz kinda is spooked by Cole, now, cuz Sensei Yang made her 100% petrified of creepy ghosty people. y a y. 

[[legit, he's made ME scared of creepy ghosty people like GodDAMN Yang is spooky af]]

But anyhoe without further adeu, here's a very smol, very... slow-moving chapter that will hopefully do until I can get to more interesting things for you guys and also get back into the groove of writing actual things

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"It's been two hours," Jay reasoned, prodding Lizz's shoulder, "C'mon, just go talk to him."

"I am not going near him," she snapped, trying her hand at Airjitzu once more. Yet again, she failed at it and fell to the deck with a thump and a curse, "He's-"

"At the wrong end of a bad deal," Jay reminded her, "It's not his fault Ya-" he paused, "It's not Cole's fault he's a g-" Jay sighed, "You know what I mean."

"Come on!" Kai's groans caught their attention, "Seriously?!"

Lizz looked down at Kai -- who'd landed on his back at her feet -- and helped him up, "Doin' better than I am."

"Awe," Ronin mocked from his spot in the bird's nest, "Touch short. Like your temper, Kai."

"Let me try," Jay waved his arms about, making room for himself, "I'm for sure a better Arjitzuer than you, Kai."

"Oh yeah?" Kai challenged, "And when did that happen?"

Jay looked up at the sky, preparing to jump, "Like, now!" he jumped and took momentary flight, getting a few feet higher than Ronin's perch before conking out and falling back down.

Lizz poked him in the side with her toes when he didn't move right away, "Don't die."

"Oh yeah," Kai sneered, folding his arms, "That was so much better than me."

Jay was looking utterly incredulous at Kai, "I-It was."

"He's a point, you know," Lizz added, "It was better than yours."

"That wasn't Airjitzu," Ronin chided lazily, hanging over the edge of the bird's nest, "It was Failitzu."

"Or Stupiditzu," Kai snorted.

Sensei Wu got all their attention as he walked up to check their progress, "To master the powers of Airjitzu, we must uplift," he tapped his staff on the deck and looked accusingly up at Ronin, "Not put each other down, Ronin."

Ronin bit into a red apple he'd suddenly acquired, "You closed shop for a week," he waved around his hand as he spoke through his mouthful of apple, "You gotta let me have some fun," he took another bite, "Aren't Ninja supposed to be precise?"

"Ugh," Kai was looking at his outfit, "These new suits are heavy! Why can't we just use our old ones?!"

Lizz raised an eyebrow, "These Gis are embedded with Deep Stone, numbnuts. That's why they're so hefty. Deep Stone-"

"Will protect you from being possessed," Sensei finished, adding a gentle note to Lizz's explanation.

Jay stood up, rubbing the pain away from his rear end, "Yeah, well, maybe the name 'Airjitzu' isn't uplifting enough! Maybe we need something more inspiring, like, 'Cyclondo'!" Jay shouted, pumping his fist in the air before taking flight once more.

Jay did a complete form of Airjitzu, spiraling high above Ronin before he sputtered out again. Ronin laughed as Jay tumbled through the air above him, "Ha! Missed again!"

Jay reached out and grabbed Ronin's half-eaten apple as he fell by. Triumphantly, Jay landed on his feet on the deck. He straightened up laughing like a complete lunatic, "Cyclondo," was the only word he said before taking a bite from the apple.

Lizz was nodding, "Nicely done," then she bent her knees a bit, "My turn!"

She got almost as high up as Jay had, and may have gone even further if her concentration hadn't been disrupted; Misako had walked out on deck and told them to come inside for information on the next mission.

As a result, Lizz's Airjitzu had ended at a complete stop four feet above Ronin; she fell back to the deck with a loud crack. "You alright?" Jay pulled her up.

"I'm fine," she brushed him off and went inside.

They were all seated behind Misako, who was flipping through slides of a projector as she explained, "Now that both Morro and you have Airjitzu, it's time to turn our attention to the second clue; the sword in the cloud."

"Me senses tell me," Zane began, "It could be many'a swords; thar be the Fire Sword, The Sword of Destiny, The Golden Cutlass..."

Lizz was covering her mouth, trying not to laugh loudly as she shook with stifled laughter. Kai was absolutely confused, "I thought you said you... fixed... his voice..."

Jay was grinning ear to ear, "We did."

Lizz took her hand from her mouth a bit, "Then we made it better."

"The Sword of Invisibility," Zane continued listing, waving an arm about as he spoke in his newly-adopted, heavy pirate accent, "The Sword of Invincibility..."

Kai was snickering too, now, "You're right. This is better!"

"The Blade of Ruin-"

"Aye, Zane," Misako cut into his list, "And to add to your colourful account, there are many more swords. But it wasn't until Morro and his allies commandeered Nya's Samurai Mech that it all became clear," she flipped slides on the projector. Now they were all looking at a different picture of a cloud and a sword, "The Sword of Sanctuary. Protected in the Cloud Kingdom."

There was a skeptical snort from the back wall, "Cloud Kingdom?" Ronin scoffed, "I know every square inch of NinjaGo; there ain't no place called the Cloud Kingdom."

"You're right," Sensei Wu began, and everyone turned their attention back to the projector, instead of at Ronin, "It isn't in NinjaGo. It's in a parallel realm that can only be reached through the Blind Man's Eye."

"The Blind Man's Eye?" Nya asked, "You mean the powerful storm cyclone above the clouds? But it's altitude is far too high for The Bounty to reach."

Misako cut in again, "Unless we ascend the tallest mountain in NinjaGo," she flipped another slide, this time to a picture of something Lizz couldn't really name without being obscene about it, "The Wailing Alps."

Sensei Wu walked up, pointing at various parts of the map, "Yes. The Wailing Alps. When the Blind Man's Eye passes its peak, you five Ninja will jump into the eye of the storm-"

"Oo!" Lizz squealed, "I love that song!"

Sensei blinked slowly at her, and without comment on her outburst, slowly began talking again, "Into the eye of the storm using Airjitzu to cross over into Cloud Kingdom to take possession of the Sword of Sanctuary."

"Who, whoa, whoa, Sensei, you're throwing around some big words, here," Jay started waving around his hands, "But I think you got one wrong. It's 'Cyclondo'! Not 'Airjitzu'."

Kai, Zane and Lizz all groaned and started roughing up Jay for being an idiot. Cole pulled his attention away from the kitten fight, "So the Sword of Sanctuary that we're after... what makes it so special?"

"It's special because reflected within its blade, you can foresee your opponent's next move," Sensei explained stiffly.

"And whoever gets it will have a huge advantage," Misako added, turning off her projector.

"Well no duh," Lizz muttered dryly.

"Lights please," Misako turned to face them all after Ronin turned on the lights, "This is about more than finding the next clue to the Spinjitzu Master's Tomb. This is about saving my son," she hung her head, wringing her hands together, "We cannot fail..."

Kai slid from his seat, standing tall, "Then let's gear up. We have one big mountain to climb."

Lizz was the first from the room; having already been wearing the appropriate uniform, she went straight for the deck. Apparently, the other four had the same idea, because they'd followed her right up.

"It's getting really cold," Jay wrapped his arms around himself.

Kai started shivering, too, "Freezing, if you ask me."

Cole, Zane and Lizz were unphased. In fact, Lizz was grinning wildly, "It's amazing up here," she lifted her head, closing her eyes as she let the cold wind blow through her hair.

"You're nuts," Jay shook his head.

Nya had come up on the deck, "Boys," she paused, "And Lizz. We need you down below."

They followed Nya down below -- Lizz trailing far behind because she liked being above deck, loved the feeling of the temperature dropping -- but all the same she found herself down below deck with the others.

Lining the walls were five large mechs, each a colour corresponding with a Ninja's Gi colour; dark blue for Jay, black for Cole, white for Zane, and even darker blue for Lizz's and red for Kai.

She'd seen all of them at least once before, but seen only one in action before. Cole's was the one she'd seen in the Digiverse -- Lizz shuddered at the thought -- and it still had the decals on the shoulders and the shiny gold blades protruding from the wrists.

Kai's looked considerably older, having barely noticeable nicks and dents in it, however it still stood tall and proud and slightly heftier than the others. From where Lizz stood, it looked more equipped with weaponry, too, and it made her wonder what he'd used it to fight against.

Jay's and Zane's looked brand new, but Lizz knew Jay's wasn't because she'd seen it in Nya's Samurai X cave. It's right hand was made up of two blasters, and overall it was dark blue but it had splashes of black, brown and gold on it, too. It wasn't as large as Kai's, either, but it was still pretty bit.

Zane's looked human. Like, too human. Like, it had a head -- it was the only one with a head, too -- and looked to be scowling. The thing was white, with splashes of gold, and looked like a beefed-up Statue of Anubis. The mech stood taller than the rest of them, and with a shudder Lizz looked away from it.

Her attention was then turned onto the dark blue one; her's. It looked more like Cole's than any of them, and was such a rich dark blue it appeared almost black. As oppose to the single blades that came out of the wrists of her mech, there was also a blade on each shoulder. There were raindrop decals just barely visible on the shoulder pads. On either side of the seat were two gold katanas, attached by the grips with the blades pointed upward. Lizz could tell that they were detachable for a quick weapon, "That... that one's mine?"

Nya nodded at her, "Yes it is. It's equipped with all your favourite music, too. I know how much music can calm you down in stressful situations."

Lizz felt a swell of admiration, "Thanks, Nya. I owe you one."

Nya waved a dismissive hand, "Don't mention it," she turned so she could face the entire team, "Without your mechs, you wouldn't be able to survive the extreme conditions on your own. I've also installed headsets into your hoods for easy communication."

"Hoods...?" Lizz was more than slightly confused, until Jay wandered by handing out fluffy-hooded parkas.

"Jay I think you have me yours by accident," she pointed out after she'd put it on. The jacket was a little too big for her.

Jay was struggling to squeeze into the parka he had. At the moment, he had both arms stuck in the tight sleeves, his arms stuck upwards a little due to limited movement, "Yeah," he wheezed out, "I noticed. Help..."

Snickering at him, Kai and Cole grabbed one sleeve and Zane and Lizz took hold of the other, helping Jay ooze out of the parka. It took a lot of effort on Jay's part, but finally they'd gotten him out with only a little sleeve tearing from Kai and Cole's end, "Sorry..." Cole handed her jacket to her.

"'s fine, dude," she slipped on her jacket and feigned irritation, "Ugh. Now my jacket's all stretch out, Jaaaayyyyy..."

He made a face at her, "Not funny. That thing kind of hurt, compressing my muscles."

"Can't compress what you don't have," Lizz zipped up her parka and flipped up her hood, meandering over towards her very intimidating mech.

"Try 'em out," Nya encouraged, "Better to make sure everything works up here rather than down there."

Jay, from the seat of his mech, cleared his throat, "Tell me, Zane. How tall this this mountain?"

Zane's rumbly pirate voice rang out, like, right in Lizz's left hear -- thankfully that's her already mostly-deaf ear -- as she was clambering up into the seat of her mech, "The precise elevation, of the Wailing Alps, be well over three leagues and twenty-eight fathoms!"

Jay snorted, "Zane is so much cooler!"

"Zane was always cool," she defended lightly, eyeing up all the buttons with a mischievous glint in her eye. There was even two joysticks, too, making her video-game urges start to kick in.

I hope this thing has auto-aim...

Ronin had appeared, his hands on his hips as he looked over the group of rambunctious ninja, "Now remember," he looked at the lever that was behind him on the wall, "When you get to the peak, you'll only have one shot to shoot the Blind Man's Eye," he turned back around to face them all, "Don't miss."

"Damn, his voice is so freakin' deep, what the heck..." Lizz commented. As much as the man ticked her off, he had a good voice. She had to give him that much.

Cole sighed heavily, looking to the floor, "I-I dunno, guys. You've had time to practice... Maybe I should sit this one out..."

"Don't even think about it," Kai chastised, staring right at Cole, "You may be a ghost, but you're still apart of the team."

"And if it weren't for you getting the first clue," Jay chimed in, "We wouldn't even be here."

"So what are you gonna do, Cole?" Nya asked lightly, "Are you in? Or out?"

"Phrasing..." Lizz muttered quietly.

Cole suddenly got a really determined look in his eye, taking hold of the right roll-cage bar that bracketed his seat. When he grabbed it, his right forearm went solid, back to human, "Open the hangar doors," he pointed to Ronin.

Ronin happily took the lever in his hand, "Opening hangar doors!" he called out, pulling the lever down.

Red lights started blinking, a warning siren bleeping angrily as the floor opened up, the toes of each of the mechs hanging just off the edge. Like everyone else, Lizz was looking down at the clouds, however she was the only one not rejoicing like Jay was, "Woohoo!!" he laughed, throwing his head back with glee, "Is anybody else getting a tingling feeling?"

"Yeah..." Kai shuddered, "Frostbite."

"Drop 'em!" Ronin shouted.

"Drop what now?!" Lizz cried, afraid of a Wipeout-style Motivator incident happening, though Nya only pressed a green button on the wall that released the hooks keeping the mechs anchored to the ship. As soon as that happened she felt the weight of her mech shift and it finally hit her that she was in a mech suit.

Jay, Kai, Zane and Cole all leaped down and out of the ship with a collective shout of, "NInjaaaaa-snow!!"

Lizz watched them disappear through the wisps of white clouds, "Lizz, you wanna get goin'?"

She shook her head, "I'm... I'm good..."

"Engaging remote override," Nya calmly pulled a remote out of her back pocket, clicking a couple of buttons before taking the small joystick in her hand.

"Wait, wait, wait-!"

Too late. Lizz braced herself in her seat as her mech jumped from the ship without needing to be controlled by her. She tightened her hood to try to control her hair, and she could barely hear her screaming over the whistling of the freezing wind whipping past her ears. The edges of her nose were already becoming lined with frost, her lungs filling with cold air, throat drying out.

She could hear a little bit of talking in the communication line that was in her hood, something that sounded like, '...you okay?' and 'landing.' but then it cleared up, turning into, "Lizz you gotta calm down!"

Only more pterodactyl-type screeching. She'd taken up bracing her feet against the floor, now, though, instead of her seat, and her hands were pressed the armrests of her seat. Lizz was below the cloudline, now, the snow capped mountain hurtling towards her at a rapid pace. The mech's feet were still facing towards the ground, which was good, though Lizz didn't know that she was the one supposed to be in control of the mech, that Nya had turned off the remote controlling.

"Lizzi, cool it!" Jay snapped, "You know this tech! Just relax your mind and unlock your legs."

"Well, the legs of the mech," Kai added, "If you lock the knees of it, you could break both the mech's legs and your legs."

"Not helping!" Cole yelled.

Unlock the knees, unlock the knees, unlock the... she had, like, a total of five seconds to do just that and she hadn't exactly taken a flash-course on how to operate the mech. She pried open and eye and -- ignoring the mountain top hurtling towards her -- she grabbed one of the joysticks and yanked hard on it just before she'd hit the ground in a flurry of snow.

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Total chapter word-count: 2826 words, not including my profuse apologizing

Again, I apologize profusely for you guys having to wait

If it makes you feel any better, I'm planning on continuing this series allllll throughout the TV show -- Seasons, like, 6 & 7, Day of the Departed, and then possibly even one original-ish one where they find a female NinjaGo equivalent of Tarzan

If you guys would want me to do that, anyway

Again, sorry for dying for a year

I went and saw the movie on Sunday!! [10-15-17] and iT WAS A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!!! I'm thinkin' I wanna make Cole in here like Cole in the movie in a little ways cuz Movie!Cole was just AAAAHHHH {{GM me if you wanna know HOW I want to kinda change Cole a bit. It wouldn't be drastic I swear}}

But, yeah... again, sorry for dying

I'm writing a LOT tho cuz last year's issues are in the middle of being resolved so I'm slowly inching back towards my old self

Sorry....

Xx Ninja Out xX