"Wakey wakey," Lar's soft whisper pulled Jade from her slumber. She rolled over and peeked open her eyes, only to look into a dark green pair, making her jump back and fall off the opposite side of the bed. Lar yelped and rushed to her aid, pulling her to her feet, "Sorry! I tried to wake you up gently so that wouldn't happen."

"Well," she yawned, "It happened. What time is it?"

"Five-thirty... Ish," he trailed off, looking out.

"Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?!" she groaned, flopping back onto his very comfy bed. Despite her enjoying dark, gloomy mornings like this, Jade despised waking up. One she was awake, though, mornings were one of her best times of day.

"I'm an early riser," he sat down and leaned over her, "As long as you're with me, you are too. Plus, there's breakfast so let's go."

Jade was standing before he finished the word 'breakfast,' "Do you have a brush?"

"Not normally, no, sorry," he apologized, "I'll be back. Maybe Tox has one," she watched his figure go out the door. After a moment, he waltzed back through, holding a brush, "Found one."

"Well then gimme," she reached her hand out for it, but he didn't hand it over,

"Laaaaaarrrrrrr," she whined playfully, "Give me it!"

"No," he grinned, and began holding the brush up above his head when he saw Jade making her way towards him, "You have to work for it."

It didn't help Jade's case that Lar was a few good inches taller than her. No matter how much she jumped for it, he hand just couldn't get the only thing she needed. Only when she looked up and glared at him did she realize how close they actually were, "Give me the brush, please."

His smirk grew, "On one condition."

"And that is?"

"You go on a date with me tonight."

"Blackmailer," she grinned, "But all the same, I agree. Now gimme the brush!"

In one swift movement, he quickly pressed his lips to hers and stuck the comb into her palm. He was out of the room before Jade could properly process what just happened.

All the same, though, she went on with removing Lar's borrowed shirt and putting on her usual outfit with a shudder, "I'll have to go home and grab an away bag if I'm staying from home for this long," Father and Mother must be severely worried about my whereabouts right now. I have been away for far too long.

Five minutes came and went, and Jade found herself outside the bedroom door in the hall, looking at her intricate surroundings, when suddenly the door on her right opened and out stepped a green haired girl. Jade jumped, "Hello."

The stranger's bright green lips pulled back, forming an evil smirk, "Morning. You must be Lar's newest fling, am I right?"

Jade was flustered, "No, you're.... I'm not... I mean- No, we're not-" But that was the thing that ran through her mind, What are we? I don't know what we are!

"Lar's girl can't put together a comprehensible sentence anymore?" Jade turned er attention to her left to see a very dark and depressing-looking boy her age standing outside the next door down. His voice was far deeper than she'd ever heard, and it was quite mesmerizing, "That's too bad."

"Toxikita," the man on the other side of the newcomer walked from his room as well, "Shadow, leave the poor girl alone. Her mind is absolutely incomprehensible at the moment and she's giving me a headache. Now get to breakfast."

Shadow and Toxikita meandered down to the ground floor and Jade looked at the man who got rid of them. He had a tough, mysterious looking aire to him, complete with slicked back white hair that had a thick stripe of black down the center. There were dark shadows around his eyes, they matched his dark grey outfit. The shadows gave Jade the sense he hasn't slept in a while. But alas, he sleeps fine, "I apologize about those two, they're very nosy in business that isn't their own."

"I kind of guesssed," she chuckled, "Who're you?"

"Neuro, Master of the Mind. Who are you?"

"Jade... Master of... Water?" she shrugged, confused. Am I a Master of Water? I know I can apparently control it, but....

Neuro's smooth, monotone voice held something else in it as he spoke, "Interesting. There is another Master of Water here as well. Perhaps you two are related?"

"Lar?" she questioned, "No no, I've never seen him before in my entire life! There's no way we could be related."

He only hummed, "If you insist. Now," he held out his arm in a goofy matter, "Will you accompany me to breakfast?"

Jade grinned, and took his arm, "It will be my pleasure."

Together the two walked to the 'chow-house,' as Neuro explained that's what 'Master Chen' called it, "What's he like?" Jade asked as they exited the main house and out into the foggy courtyard in front, "Master Chen. I've never met him but this is the second time I've heard of him. Who is he?"

"He's nicer now than he once was," Neuro looked at her, "The few times I see him he is as loving as they come."

"That's good," she smiled, "But... If you don't mind me asking, what was so bad about him before?"

"He invited all of the Elemental Masters he could find in the area to his island, promising a lifetime of riches and glory... If you won his Tournament. Your friends the Ninja were invited as well, but were considerably harder to recruit. Chen used their friend.... Zane, I think, to lure them into his clutches."

"You sspeak of them as if you know them," Jade observed, "Do you?"

"I aided them slightly in freeing their robotic allie and expose Chen for what he was really doing... And then turned on them to save myself."

"What was he doing?" she asked, not looking at Neuro but the life around them. There were several others, all of various colors and powers, all heading towards the sweet smell of food wafting from across the yard. Soon enough, her gaze went back to Neuro's intriguing dark blue eyes, "Besides the Tournament?"

"He had the Tournament as a cover up," Neuro explained, "Two Masters would go against each other, and the loser would get their power stolen from them for a spell to resurrect the Anacondrai. Of course," he paused, as if he was hesitating to disclose information, "The others knew nothing of it."

"That's horrible! Did that happen to you? Getting your power stolen?"

"Yes," he sighed, "Even though I was one of the lucky ones to be let in on the secret by the Ninja-"

"The Ninja were working with Chen?!"

"No no!" he waved his hands, "They were sneaking through the tunnels and watched the first man who lost, Karlof, the Master of Metal, lose his power. They told me, and I was careful. As I was saying, I was one of the few to know the secret, as well as a few others. Together we all began working to get off the island."

"Did you?" she asked, and immediately burst out laughing, "Well obviously you did. But did everyone get back their powers?"

He nodded, "Yes. The red Ninja, Kai? He broke Chen's staff and all the stolen powers were returned to their rightful owner. Soon enough we all got off the island."

Jade noticed that story time might come to an end, seeing the upcoming building was their destination, "What happened to Master Chen?"

Her guess was correct, "That, my dear lady, is a story for another time."

"Filling her head with crazy stuff, are we Neuro?" Griffin had appeared in front of the two, grinning like normal.

"Yes, yes I was," the Master of the Mind replied with dry sarcasm, then looked at Jade with his less-dark demeanor, "I am afraid this is where we part for now. Goodbye."

She waved and watched him get in line for food. Lost in thought, she didn't notice the set of clothing literally appear next to her, "Hello."

Jade jumped, "Invisible guy. Hello."

"My name is Paleman," so that was the name of the invisible man, "Or, really, Mr. Pale."

"Have any less-formal nicknames?" she asked, turning to look at him... Or, well, through him: he had no head, only a floating hat and sunglasses.

"Invìzáble ," he stated in his nasally voice, "I guess you could call me that."

"You're Spanish?" she blurted, and immediately covered her mouth afterwards, "Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you..."

"You didn't, calm down," he assured, "And no, I am not but some of my friends back home were and they gave me that nickname."

"Lucky," she breathed, "You've got friends."

Before Paleman could respond, they were joined by Lar, who swung an arm around Jade's waist to pull her closer, "There you are! I thought Shadow and Toxikita killed you or something!"

"Okay," she started, brushing off his off-kilter comment, "You seem to like some people and others not so much. Like those two, Toxikita and Shadow. Who else don't you like?"

"I'll explain once we sit down to eat," he grabbed a tray for himself and then handed one to her, which she gladly took, "For the time being I'll just lead you through what everything is and tastes like."

Which he did, and Jade took his guidance with much happiness, despite the fact she was bull-headed, as stubborn as a mule and disliked being told what to do. She willingly followed him to a corner booth and slid into the seat opposite of him, "Okay, so give me some details."

"Alright, alright," he amended, pointing to various people as he listed them off. First up was a pair of girls, snickering together in the corner. The taller of the two was almost completely purple: outfit, hair, eye shadow, the works. All except her ruby-red lips, that is. The other one was a red-head. She was moderate on her makeup, going with winged-out eyeliner and she was decked in orange, "Those two over there you do not want to mess with. Camille, the one with purple... everything, she's the Master of Form. Shape changing, can turn into anyone she wants. And the ginger's name is Skylor. She's the Master of Amber, or Absorption. If she touched you in the slightest way-" he cut off and gave Jade a flat look, "Stop snickering, you know what I meant by 'touch you.' You perverted freak."

Jade doubled over, "Sorry! Carry on."

"As I was saying," he sighed, chuckling slightly, "She can use your power as her own, and once she has it she never gets rid of it. Although, she and Camille keep to themselves a lot, it's just a façade. Don't let them near you at all, but keep your eyes peeled," he leaned closer and lowered his voice, "Skylor is Chen's daughter. Evil runs through her veins: that entire family is riddled with bad blood."

Jade nodded, "Noted. Who are they?" she looked in the direction of Shadow and Toxikita, carrying their trays over towards Skylor and Camille, "I mean... You know what I mean! What are they like."

"I've heard rumors that Shadow and Tox were a thing, and I would believe it, too: they spend a lot of time together. The only problem with the theory is that they've got some bad blood between themselves: last year, during the Tournament that I'm sure Neuro explained," Jade nodded, "Shadow and her went up against each other and he was playing dirty. Got her booted, so he won their battle. When the rest of the stuff went down, he tried to patch things up and I suppose it worked for the most part. She's still out for revenge though. Anyway, they're buddies with Sky and Cam. Those four always stir up trouble."

Jade hummed and slurped on her morning-milkshake, "Okay, one: this is really good. Another thing: what's up with you and Ash?"

As if he was summoned, Ash materialized out of nowhere and sat himself next to Lar,

"We're good friends," he sneered, "Deal with it, sweet-cheeks."

She stuck out her tongue at Ash and looked at Lar, "So he's with you then? Someone we can trust?"

"Trust him as much as the next guy does, love him to death or hate his ass, I don't care," he chuckled, biting into a creamy biscuit, "Your opinion won't change mine."

"Yet," Ash mocked, digging his elbow into Lar's side, "Just wait 'till you fall deeper, dude. You'll do practically anything she wants."

"Will not," Jade and Lar both countered. Lar fell silent, leaving Jade to fill the awkwardness, "Anyhoe, what about..." she scanned the room, "Them two? Griffin and Neuro."

"Good friends," Ash joined in their conversation, "Quit the tag-team if I do say so myself. Speed and Mind together... " he shuddered, "Baaaaad combination to go up against."

Lar clasped a hand over the Smoke-Master's mouth, "They're good guys, really. From what I understand they keep mainly to themselves."

"And you and me, obviously," Jade could hardly make out the words from Ash's mouth.

"Are you three through gossiping about us?" Neuro waltzed over to their table and sat on the other side of Ash, smushing Lar against the wall and finding great joy in doing so, "I could hear you from all the way over there."

"We're whispering," Jade pointed out.

"He means he mentally heard you, kiddo," Griffin surfaced in the seat on Jade's right, beaming like the maniac he was, "Damn, his hearing ain't that good."

"See?" Lar raised an eyebrow, "They're both goof-offs like me and Ash over here, so we tend to stick together."

"Ah, giving her the run-down of all the characters here?" Griffin nodded in agreement, "Seems like a good plan, warn Goldilocks about who not to trust."

"Them five?" Jade ignored his comment and motioned towards a group that Paleman was in. They were seated together yet ignored the others completely, "Who are they 'affiliated' with?"

"Bolobo, Karlof, Gravis, Jacob and Paleman are loners," Griffin explained over-enthusiastically.

"Good to know," she took another slurp of her milkshake, "I don't know who any of those people are."

"Bolobo is the one who resembles a hairy caveman over there," Ash pointed to the man on the end of the booth. Ash was right, though. Bolobo had a thick scruffy, brown beard and shoulder length hair to match He was dressed as if he was from the jungle, and had a singular black and white feather on a leather strap as a necklace, "He doesn't talk much and mainly keeps to himself and nature," he paused, and when Jade gave him a questioning look, added on, "Nature is his Element."

"Jacob is the one with the afro and sitar," Lar tuned and leaned over the back of his seat, "Blue bell bottoms and sitar. Elemental Master of Sound..." he trailed off, voice returning in a hushed whisper, "He's blind."

"Well that's gotta suck," Jade muttered.

"Actually, it's to his advantage," Neuro insisted gently, taking a bite of his scrambled eggs, "Opponents see him as a weak target and go easy, thinking he cannot defeat them. Little do they know that he packs quite the bite."

"Duly noted," Jade grazed her eyes over them all, "Him?"

"Karlof is practically harmless," Ash waved his hand, dismissing the burly, black haired man who had silver gauntlets and a matching helmet placed on the floor at his side, "He's got kind of a speech-impediment and talks of himself in the third person. But, all the same he's very durable and has a temper like a short-wicked stick of dynamite."

"Okay, two thingss," she held up two fingers, "One, what's his Element? Two, what's with his gauntlets?" the helmet she could understand.

"He's the Master of Metal," Griffin leaned back in his seat and placed his tray over Jade's now empty one, "Originated from Metalonia. And his gauntlet's help him with his power: increase his already murderous strength, and when he hits them together he himself turns into a walking, talking, fighting piece of steel."

"That's scary-sounding," Jade shuddered at the thought, "Okay, now who's the levitating one over there in the corner?"

"Gravis," Neuro turned to look at the slender man. He had black facial hair shaved into a beard and a goatee, and wore a dark maroon turban with a rusty, golden stud on the front. The rest of his robes were a colour to match his head gear, "Master of Gravity. Stuck up type personality, you don't want to even bother with him. Seeing you with us, though, he may want to be-rid of you: he's got a bone to pick with Griffin."

Before Jade could ask what Griffin did, he explained, "Tournament. We went up against each other and I won fair and square, resulting in him getting a boxing-glove full of sand dropped on his head."

"Um..." she hesitated, "Okay. Ending on that note, I need to go back into the city for a while. See you later tonight," she playfully, yet forcefully, shoved Griffin from his seat and onto the floor.

He jumped up, "Hey! What was that for?"

"You were in my way," she laughed, helping him up, "Anyhoe, since I know that one of you are going to follow me, who's coming along?"

Lar and Ash both said, "I will."

"Looks like Lar's got some competition," Griffin's snicker rang through Jade's ear, but when she turned to look both Speed and Mind were gone.

"Well," Lar hooked his arm around Jade's waist, "Shall we?"

"We shall," she nodded and let him lead her back out into the crisp morning air. It's gotta be close to six thirty at least, she thought, looking over the horizon at the slowly rising sun.

DISCLAIMER: I only own Jade & Lizz. That's it. And for anything that doesn't line up with the actual show of NinjaGo, sorry, I haven't seen E V E R Y single show ever (Such as all Season 1 and any Episodes of Season 4 that hasn't aired on TV) I think Episode 41 is on tonight... So yeah, I went back through this chapter (At least) and changed a couple things.