Cole was sitting in Jay's room contemplating all his injured friend had managed to tell him. He had listened to Jay explain his dream before he reluctantly told the master of lightning to go back to sleep. If what Zane had said was true, the blue ninja needed to save as much energy as possible. 

The black-haired teen frowned, which he seemed to be doing a lot of lately. He just couldn't be sure that Jay really had been contacted by Zane and the others. It could be an after-affect of the poisoned jade blade, or even just a plain dream. Even if what Zane said made sense, it could all be coincidence. Either way, Cole was just as confused as ever. He stared at Jay's withered black hand in anger, wishing this could all just end. 

Suddenly a huge bang made the master of earth jump, and he went into defense mode instantly. He brought his hands up to his face and stood in a crouch, ready to pummel anything that came within twenty feet of his friend. His dark eyes swept around the room before coming to a halt at the sight of a ragged figure in the doorway. 

It barely looked human. Its hair was plastered down on its face with sweat, and the scar on its cheek was flowing with blood. Its hollow red eyes glared at Cole, making the ninja shiver. Torn red clothes hung from a pale skinny body. The figure was holding a sharp double-edged sword. 

"K-Kai....?" Cole stammered in fear. "What happened to you?"

The horrible mangled shadow didn't answer. He continued to stare at the two ninja with cold fury showing in his blood-red eyes. For one stressful moment, nothing happened. But then a raspy voice whispered into his mind. 

"You don't know the meaning of pain," the voice growled hoarsely. "But I can show you..."

It broke into an awful howling sound, which could be interpreted as laughter, before lunging at Jay. Cole didn't even have time to move before the figure was at the defenseless ninja's side. The black-haired teen gave a mangled scream as the Dark Kai raised his weapon. 

————————————————

Jay boarded the bus awkwardly, not knowing what he was doing there. He wasn't supposed to be on a bus, but he wanted to go somewhere else for a change. He looked up when a young man who looked about Jay's age walked over to him.

The blue ninja was dressed in his usual civilian clothes, for he had no need to wear his ninja gear in Ninjago City. Or wherever he was. He didn't even know anymore. Fortunately, there wasn't anyone besides the other man to make fun of him anyway. Jay smoothed down the edges of his blue jacket with the white stripe as the man addressed him.

Hewwo thewe," the man greeted him. He sounded like Elmer Fudd from Looney Tunes. "Wewcome to the Taco Bus, uh-hah-hah-hah! My name is Dudwey Swawveza, and I'ww be youw host today. May I ask what youw name is?"

Jay blinked in surprise. Dudley Swarveza? What kind of name was that? He had no idea what a "Taco Bus" was, either. He wasn't sure he could trust this man. 

So, thinking of the first name that popped into his head, he stammered, "Um... Hi. My name's.. uh.. Cole. Yeah. That's right. Ha." 

He grinned sheepishly, feeling his cheeks go red. But Dudley didn't seem to notice, because he was busy writing on a taco with a lettuce pen. Jay raised an eyebrow at this. 

"Weww we'we happy to have you aboawd, Cowe! Want a taco?" Without waiting for an answer, he stuffed the taco into Jay's mouth, which abruptly cut off his oxygen supply because his nose was already plugged by a few radishes. Starting to suffocate, he grappled at Dudley's arm, who didn't pay him any attention. He was too busy looking at pictures of mutated gorillas. 

Suddenly, the real Cole entered the bus, and to Jay's great relief, pulled the radishes and taco out of the suffocating teen's face. Who knew how the radishes had gotten there. Meanwhile, Dudley had finally turned, and he was now beaming at Cole. 

"Good day, mate," he greeted in a now Cockney accent. "Right! Welcome ter our Taco Bus! Right! Let me introduce ter yer this not so bad yung man. His name is Cole! Honest guv!" 

The real Cole grimaced, but seemed to understand why Jay hadn't used his real name. He smiled weakly at Dudley and winked at his friend. Suddenly realizing that he was still holding the radishes that had been up Jay's nose, he threw them out the window in disgust. 

"Uh, well. I'm Kai, I suppose," he replied, now looking at Dudley with puppy-dog eyes. "You wouldn't happen to have cake on this bus, would you, Dudley?"

Jay had no idea how Cole knew Dudley's name, since no one had told him. But everyone else seemed at ease, so he didn't say anything. Although he wouldn't have been able to say anything anyway, because Dudley had turned on the radio. After turning the volume knob all the way up to "Burst Your Eardrums" mode, he settled himself into a chair and started to read the newspaper. 

Jay and Cole were now in agony, because their ears were trying to fall off. But suddenly Kai walked onto the bus with carrots sticking out of his ears. Seeing his friends in obvious torment, he walked over to Dudley and gave him a piece of paper.

The paper said, I iz Lllllllllllllllllllllloy-eed. Uhhh....Lllllllllllloy-eed Gah-muh-dawn. Duh, yep. Pleez tuRn off de m00-zik.

Dudley seemed to understand, because he ate a hotdog, which is the code for "okay." But then a crocodile showed up and ate the Taco Bus, so they all went to the movies. But Jay fell asleep at the best part, so they went to the jelly bean pond to play duck-duck-goose with the local cows. After spending an exhilarating evening mooing, they all went home and—

Jay woke up with a start as a shattering cry of agony shot across the room. He looked up just in time to see Cole crumpled on the floor with a bloody figure standing over him.