C🍭A🍬N🍭D🍬Y🍭!

Prompt: Lightning Chicken

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Skylor placed her hands on her hips, raising an unamused eyebrow at the plump brown chicken in Kai's arms as he and his brothers smiled nervously at her.

"No animals allowed, guys," she muttered, gesturing at the bird whose head was moving this way and that, taking in the surroundings of the restaurant.

"Don't worry," Kai assured her with a smug grin. "Belina here is perfectly potty-trained and knows her table manners, don't you Belina?" he asked the chicken as it clucked in response.

"Please, Skylor," Cole pleaded, coming forward and clasping his hands together. "We're super hungry but we can't let Belina out of our sights. We have no other choice."

It took a lot more than a puppy face to persuade Skylor but in the end the redhead reluctantly muttered her permission to which the guys whooped and high-fived one another. She led them over to a table for four and slid the menus to each of them as they pulled out the chairs and sat down.

"Can we get a high chair for the chicken?" Jay inquired. Skylor shook her head before gesturing at one of the waiters to bring the requested item to their table. Kai carefully bundled up the feathery ball of beak and claws and seated her in the high chair. "There we go," he announced in a loving tone that sounded fake, caressing the bird's feathers.

"Why are you guys babysitting a chicken anyway?" Skylor demanded, taking out a pad and a pen from her apron pocket. Her eyes flitted momentarily to the said bird before roaming back to the boys.

"This is Master Wu's little friend," Zane explained. "He is very attached to her and has requested we look after her while he, Lloyd and Nya journey to a far-off village to restore Master's tea stock."

"Sounds fun, doesn't it?" Jay added dryly, a fake smile on his face. "Indeed," Skylor replied with the same sarcasm. "Now what would you guys like?"

The Ninja discussed amongst themselves what they would like to order before Kai turned away from the group and beamed at her. "For starters, how about the–"

He stopped abruptly, glancing over to the chicken. He reached up and covered its head with his hand and replied in a low whisper, "How about the chicken corn soup?"

The redhead couldn't help but giggle at that. The chicken let out an indignant cluck before pecking at Kai's hand. The brunet quickly moved his hand away, glaring at the bird. Skylor jotted down the order and left for the kitchen. "Fifteen minutes"

Cole sighed in satisfaction and leaned back in his chair. "The soups here are the best," he whispered, already imagining the hot and spicy taste of the warm liquid on his tongue. He frowned as he saw the chicken flapping its wings, moving here and there in the confines of the high chair. "Belina's getting a bit restless."

"Maybe we should let her roam free for a little while," Jay suggested, his eyes running down the list of salads in the menu.

"And risk losing her?" Kai countered, pointing a fork at Jay. "No way are we doing that."

"Well, do you want Belina to go electric crazy in your girlfriend's workplace that could obviously result in Skylor losing her job a.k.a her only source of income?" Jay argued back, lowering the menu and narrowing his eyes at Kai.

"She never wanted to do this job anyway," Kai shot back. "She just did it to keep the family business going."

"I think Jay might be onto something," Cole chimed in, rubbing his chin in thought. "Come to think of it, the only reason we get discounts on our meals is because of Skylor."

"Skylor's not the one who's gonna lose her job!" Kai snapped, waving his hands around for effect. "She's the one who has the authority to make the other workers lose their jobs!"

"Well, do you still want Belina to go electric crazy in your girlfriend's workplace that could result in Skylor kicking us out and never speaking to you again?" Jay retorted, grinning smugly at the way Kai had suddenly paused to think it over.

The Master of Fire suddenly stood up and retrieved the chicken from the high chair. He lifted her down to the floor under the table. "Be free, chicken," he whispered to the bird as it clucked happily, already wounding its way around the table legs.

"But not too free," Kai added. "We don't want Master Wu to kill us now, do we?" he said in the same fake sounding friendly voice he used before.

As the group watched the chicken flitting away from them (and causing the occupants of the nearby tables to freak out a little), Zane cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Now that I think about it, maybe we shouldn't let Belina wander free."

Kai growled, clenching his fists. "Will you guys make up your mind?"

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"Here you go," Skylor announced, placing the steaming bowls of soups and plates of crackers on the table along with the squeezy bottles of soya sauce, hot sauce and vinegar.

Cole inhaled the aroma of the food, taking no time at all in picking up a cracker, dipping it into his soup bowl and devouring it. "I love it," he expressed, his mouth full.

Skylor smiled gratefully as the boys enjoyed their meal, pulling up a chair and seating herself at the table. As she settled down, she noticed the empty high chair next to Kai. "Hey, where'd your chicken go?"

"Oh, you mean Belina?" Jay muttered, adding hot sauce to his soup. "She was getting irritated so we let her wander around for a little bit."

Skylor frowned and leaned forward in her chair. "You did what?!" She immediately twisted in her chair, craning her neck to look around for the bird the Ninja had let loose.

"Relax, Sky," Kai stated, chill as ever. "I told you; Belina's potty-trained so there's nothing to worry about."

"Yeah," Cole mumbled, lifting his bowl to his lips and draining it completely. "Being Wu's chicken, she's probably more sophisticated and clean than even us." Cole put his bowl down, belched loudly and wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his gray hoodie.

"I believe that," Skylor muttered, cringing at Cole's behaviour.

"Maybe we should go look for her," Zane suggested, concerned. He pushed his dishes away and removed the napkin from off his lap before standing up. Jay groaned in annoyance, dropping his spoon into his half empty bowl. "Darn it, Zane. I haven't even finished my food."

"Yeah," Kai complained, continuing with his meal and ignoring as everyone began getting up. "Come on!" Cole urged, pulling on the brunet's arm and making him spill his soup. "Do you want Wu to kill us?"

"No," Kai drew out, grumpily getting up from his chair. "Let's go."

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"We've searched everywhere and now I'm freaking out," Jay whimpered as they followed Skylor down the steps from the newly built second floor.

"Ohhh," Kai groaned, pulling at his hair. "I knew we never should've let her out of our sights but you didn't listen to me."

"If you hadn't cared so much about the fact that Skylor would be mad at you, you wouldn't have given in to our incessant bamboozling and none of this would've happened!" Jay accused, glaring at Kai who gasped while Skylor simply rolled her eyes.

"You're blaming me for caring about my relationship with Skylor and giving in to your bamboozling?!" Kai yelled disbelievingly.

"Yes!"

"Stop fighting!" Zane intervened. "Useless arguments are not going to positively affect our status quo." He stared at the bickering duo, silently daring them to start up the fight which, thankfully, they did not.

"There's only one place we haven't checked yet," Skylor piped up.

"And what's that?" Cole asked, desperation evident in his voice.

"The kitchens."

With nerves ready to go haywire, the squirming Ninja made their way to the kitchens of Chen's Noodle House. Inside the air was hot and filled with the aromas of all kinds of Japanese and Chinese cuisines.

The cooks were moving around either testing food, reading cookbooks, chopping up ingredients or stirring mixtures. Waiters ran in and out of the swinging doors, yelling orders or carrying trays of eatables either to serve the customers or to replenish the food belt that ran around the first floor.

"Ninja!" came an excited voice from among the crowd of cooks and waiters. They all turned around to see a rather fat chef rushing towards them. He reached them and, as soon as he did, started shaking Cole's hand vigorously. "It is such an honour to meet you!"

"Um . . . you too . . . I think," Cole mumbled in response, trying to pull his hand away.

"Say, Roberto," Skylor began, separating his and Cole's hand. "You didn't happen to have seen a chicken in here, did you?"

"Of course I did!" Roberto replied enthusiastically. "In fact I was the one who made your soup."

"What did you do with the chicken?" Kai demanded, shaking Roberto by his shoulders. "Tell me now!"

"Chopped it up for your soup, of course," Roberto responded serenely. He furrowed his eyebrows as the panicked looks on the Ninja's faces turned to ones of complete shock and horror.

"I think I'm gonna pass out," Jay whispered.

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The good thing was Jay didn't pass out but was emotionally unstable for a couple of minutes. The Ninja had managed to return to their table with shaking legs accompanied by a very sympathetic Skylor.

"How are we going to inform Master Wu that we consumed his emotional support animal for our afternoon meal?" Zane wondered aloud, a feeling of dread spreading through his systems as he ran a hand through his light hair.

"We can't," Kai muttered. "He'll already be squeezing our throats when he sees that we don't have Belina with us." He glanced at the deserted high chair and wished he had never let the chicken out of it in the first place.

"Cole ate her more than we all did combined!" Jay screamed as the Master of Earth kicked him under the table. "I didn't know it was Belina, you bozo!" he countered.

Skylor squeezed Kai's shoulder reassuringly, trying to think of a way to make this easy for them. "It's okay. I'm sure Wu would understand. Losing pets is something everyone with a pet has to go through."

"You don't understand," Jay squeaked, fear creeping into his voice. "Telling your master that his chicken is dead is one thing. But telling him that you ate his chicken is pretty traumatizing."

However, as soon as Jay was quiet, they heard a loud cluck from under the table. They all paused and looked uncertainly at one another before Zane slowly lowered himself under the said furniture. To his immense relief, the chicken was roaming among their feet, raising its head to look at Zane with its beady eyes.

"She's under here!" Zane announced, his voice muffled as it issued from below.

Without a second to spare, the guys all wriggled out of their seats down to where Zane was crouched. "Belina!" they all exclaimed in unison as their eyes settled on the chicken.

"Don't you ever disappear and make us think we ate you ever again!" Jay cried out dramatically, seizing the bird and hugging it as tightly as he could.

As they all rejoiced over the return of Master Wu's chicken, Skylor slapped a hand to her forehead, wondering why she ever affiliated herself with them in the first place. "You're all so pitiful."

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