~ Part 4 ~ | Losing Control

~*~*~*~
** Lets have a Battle (MLP Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks)**
~*~*~*~

"Me and you, you and me, why don't we see who is better?
We don't have to be one and the same thing
Oh, what's so wrong with a little competition?
I'm going out and winning the audition"

~Rainbow Rocks

(I was stumped on what song to choose and this one randomly came into my head so...yeah)

This chapter is dedicated to @gigikju_ thank you for the awesome comments :)
Feel free to comment or PM if you'd like a shout out!

******

"Seven months, tops."

"I'm willing to say a year."

"A year? No way!"

"Did you see how long it took him to ask her to pass the orange juice this morning?"

Jay interrupted the debate by stampeding in, almost smashing into them as he stumbled to a halt. The boy doubled over, gasping as he tried to catch his breath.

"WE LOST ZANE!" Jay screeched, making people in their vicinity give them a concerned look.

"What?" Cole exclaimed.

"How did you lose him? He's the only tall, weirdly pale, blonde boy wearing a sweater vest!" Kai waved his hand at the groups of short tweens in ripped jeans and gothic t-shirts.

Nya came running over, giving Kai a look as she caught his words. "Instead of criticizing, why don't you help us look for him?"

"We'll split up." Cole broke in, casting a smug look at Kai. "Jay and Nya go one way, Kai and I go the other."

Kai narrowed his eyes at the boy, seeing right through his act. "Why can't Nya and I go together?"

"You guys don't know the city as well as Jay and I." Cole answers innocently, but there was the small challenge in his eye. He wasn't losing this bet.

Jay and Nya glanced at them in confusion as Kai glared at the raven haired boy.

"Actually, I want to go with Jay." Kai grabbed the ginger by the forearm and pulled Jay towards him.

Cole scowled, opening his mouth to protest when Nya threw her hands in the air. "Fine! Jay and Kai, Cole and me. Let's just find Zane quickly!"

Kai dragged Jay away, sticking his tongue out at Cole over his shoulder. Kai pulled Jay in, placing his arm around his neck as he whispered to him.

"Can you wait until after about seven months to ask my sister out?" He murmured to Jay.

Jay balked and stared at him. "But I - I don't... we-uh-we aren't..."

Kai patted him on the back. "Thanks, Buddy. I don't want to lose twenty five dollars on you."

"What?"

****

"I don't understand boys." Nya grumbled to herself as she weaved through the crowd. Since Kai and Jay were venturing outside of the Borg Tower, she and Cole might as well make some work inside.

Cole gave a sheepish smile and just followed her around as she shoved past the crowd, searching for a familiar pair of intelligent blue eyes.

"Where do you think he could have gone?" Nya wondered, pausing for a moment.

"Where did you see him last?" Cole questioned dumbly, using the cliché question. Nya scowled at him but complied.

"I remember bringing him towards the Android section." Nya murmured, brushing her dark hair back as she thought.

Nya looked around at the displays, she smiled as she remembered how much fun she was having with Jay. Geeking out over the tech, laughing at his corny jokes, discussing what they could do it improve it. For some reason her face felt warm as she thought about her time with the ginger haired boy. But she quickly shook away those thoughts when she remembered the problem at hand. Nya also didn't like how Cole was looking at her like he knew something she didn't. Nya hates it when people did that.

They wandered around for awhile, searching faces and apologizing when they accidentally snagged someone that happened to be an old man instead of Zane.

Nya skirted around the edge, looking at what appeared to be an empty display with a few blue prints hung around. Nya frowned. She could have sworn there was something placed there before.

"Nya." Cole nudged her, she turned and followed his gaze. "Is that Zane?"

Nya squinted, ignoring the rest of the people in the crowd as she saw a flash of someone tall duck into a room.

"I think so!" Nya felt her face split into a relieved grin. "Come on, we have to catch up before we lose him again!"

They broke into a run and Nya just managed to catch the sliding door before it closed. It dragged back open and Nya caught sight of Zane's depleting shape. He appeared to be talking with someone...with a mechanical bird on his arm.

"Zane!" Nya called. He turned, his brow knit with confusion but his expression brightened when he saw her.

Nya ran forward, throwing a hug around him as she sighed with relief. "We thought we lost you!"

Cole grinned and approached much slower. His gaze dragged to the young woman standing beside Zane. She was pretty and small but she frowned when she saw Nya whispered to Zane a million apologies for losing him and scolding the poor guy for running off.

Cole was confused why the strange girl glanced away, biting her lip but suddenly it dawned on him.

Oh crap, she thinks Nya's his girlfriend.

Cole stepped in, pulling Nya away. "Hey, let me in here!" Cole joked, weaselling in and moving Zane sneakily closer to the girl. "Don't want to make Jay feel jealous!"

Nya gave him an odd look. But ignored it for now as she spotted the other girl.

"Hello." Nya smiled at her. "I'm Nya, Zane's friend."

Zane blinked, glancing back and forth between the two as the girl stared at Nya for a moment.

"My name is Pixal." She said at last.

Cole tried to signal at Nya from behind Zane and Pixal, making odd hand movements that seemed to confuse her. Nya raised an eyebrow with a "What the heck?" look. He huffed and finally just made a heart shape with his hands over their head. Her eyes widened with understanding.

"That's a very pretty name." Nya looked at the taller boy. "Don't you think Zane?"

Zane's brow furrowed. "I...do agree it is a nice name." He replied in confusion.

"Where were you, buddy?" Cole asked curiously.

"I was talking to Cyrus Borg and getting a DNA test." Zane told them causally.

"WHAT?" Nya was up in his face again. " You talked to Dr. Borg?"

"Yes." Zane took an uncertain step back and glanced at Pixal. "And I got a DNA test."

Nya opened her mouth to ask more questions when she phone rang. "Excuse me." She only glanced at the caller ID for a second before answering.

"Kai?" She said, smiling at Zane, letting him know that he had to spill everything after. "Right on time! We just found Zane!"

"Nya," it was Jay. He sounded like he was crying. Nya's brows drew together with concern. "We need help. Get the car. Please, Kai's hurt."

****

"ZANNNNEEEE!" Jay screamed at the top of his lungs.

Kai slapped one hand over his ear and used the other to aggressively shake his companion. "Shut up! That's not going to work." He avoided the glares from people trying to enjoy a nice date on the patio they were standing by.

"It worked for Nya." Jay pointed out.

"We weren't in the most populated city in Ninjago when we were looking for Nya." Kai snapped back. "We were in the woods!"

Jay shrugged but quieter, keeping his eyes peeled as they roamed down the street. "Maybe he caught sight of the nice sale for loafers." He pointed at the shop ahead of them.

Kai looked ready to protest but changed his mind. "Worth a try."

They made their way towards the shop but they were surprised to see a large crowd gathered there, staring at something. To their surprise a lot of them were young people their age. A few were older but most were between twelve and twenty.

"Who knew so many people liked grandpa shoes." Jay remarked.

A kid nearby, a little thirteen year old heard that and turned around. "We aren't looking at shoes!" She protested, wrinkling her nose at them.

"Then what are you looking at?" Jay asked, genuinely curious.

"You haven't heard? The Green Ninja struck again!" Her braids waved back and forth as she bounced on her toes with a grin on her face.

"The Green Ninja?" Kai snorted.

Jay gasped, shaking Kai around. "The Green Ninja is an amazing street artist who makes the coolest graffiti!"

Jay hadn't realized the things he had missed because of his time at Wu's school. The Green Ninja was just a small thing but what bigger events could Jay be skipping? But Jay couldn't focus on that now. He needed to stay present and positive.

Jay grabbed a reluctant Kai by the sleeve and they worked their way around the crowd before pushing in for a look. Stretched across the wall were jagged letters. The words were painted in black with a neon green outline, white shadows and green splotches dotted around it. It bore the words: Never Gonna Break Me. With the signature of the Green Ninja in the corner. Jay couldn't help but admire with the detailed green dragon symbol wrapped in the artists name.

Unfortunately, Kai appeared unimpressed. "So, people allow him to vandalize here?"

"Well... no." Jay struggled to figure out how to say it. "No one sees him-or her- when they do it. That's why they're a ninja." He nudged Kai with a grin.

"More like some brat who likes to doodle on the walls." Kai scoffed.

Jay raised an eyebrow, giving him a teasing grin. "Look at you Mr. Good Guy. Master Wu would be so proud."

If there had been less people they would've heard the small intake of breath that sounded from those words. But unfortunately someone much worse had talked over it.

A cruel chuckle split through their conversation, turning their attention to a group of teens Nya's age perched on the stairs and collection of bike racks at the building next door. They all wore dark clothes like hoodies and leather jackets or ripped jeans and scuffed runners. If you looked closely you could see the pale blue sweater of their uniforms tucked underneath.

"You're from that old hermit's school for the lost and hopeless?" A dark haired boy with black unruly hair and a wicked look in his eye said, chewing at some gum in his mouth. He spat the candy into his hand before sticking it on the bike rack.

"It's a school for self-discovery!" Jay corrected with a glare. Kai face-palmed, running it down his face. Obviously Jay didn't understand calling it that would make it worse.

"Oh, I'm sorry," the kid laughed, his friends chuckled too. "A self-discovery school. That's much better. Lost little freaks that need some crow to show them how to be God's little angels?"

A nasally voice joined in. The glasses wearing boy sneering at the boys. "I bet they need to meditate and talk about their feelings."

Jay recognized these kids. They were the stupid jerks from Darkley's School for Bad Boys. Suddenly he felt a sinking feeling as Kai gave them an unpleasant hand gesture.

"Is that Crazy-Jay?" The dark haired one narrowed his eyes at him before lighting up with recognition. "It is! Wow, I thought you were in the hospital from another one of your stupid toys."

"Hey, Brad." Jay mumbled awkwardly. Kai glanced at him from the corner of his eye, face unreadable.

Brad stood, patting a boy on the shoulder as he moved aggressively toward the two. "Lloyd, this is the weirdo I told you about. Wanna finally do something actually cool for once in your life?"

Kai's gaze slid over the bowed shape, sitting with his legs bunched up as he bent over something in his lap. All they could currently see was a head of blonde hair, a more golden colour than Zane's and a lot shaggier. When he raised his head Kai caught sight of the most green eyes he's ever seen.

"Find someone more interesting to try and beat up, Brad." Lloyd rolled his eyes, slipping whatever had been on his lap into a backpack. "He looks too small to put up a good fight."

Kai snarled, leaning forward so that he appeared bigger and more menacing. "I could beat you in a fight any day."

"I can see why this one's in the freak-school." A girl with dyed pink bangs chirped, dropping her skateboard on the ground as the rest stood. "He's a little fireball. I bet his parents don't like that."

Jay winced as Kai reacted like he had been slapped. Brad laughed, goading him some more as he caught on to his emotions. The hurt on Kai's face was short lived as he lurched forward.

"KAI!" Jay yelled out, fear rooting in him, horrified as he tackled Brad to the ground.

The group around them swore at the tussling two, egging Brad on as they grappled. The crowd screamed and people started video taping the fight. Kai was winning by far, the brunette was much stronger than Brad was but a flash of blonde ripped the furious boy off of Brad.

Jay stood frozen as Lloyd shoved Kai back standing in between them like a lion tamer breaking up a cat fight.

"IDIOTS!" He hissed, green eyes flashing like acid. "Do you want the police to come and arrest us all?"

"Little chicken!" Brad hissed through his teeth, spitting out blood. Kai didn't say anything, his predatory glare fixed on Brad. "You're gonna let little Lloydie stop ya? You too scared to hurt me?"

"SHUT UP!" Kai growled. He said a few other stuff too but Jay wouldn't dare repeat it.

Jay screamed as Kai practically bowled Lloyd over and lunges at Brad. The blonde held himself firm as he tried to push the much bigger kid off. But all it took was a swipe to the head to get him out of the way. Jay never felt so scared in his life. His heart was pounding in his ears like drums. Something finally shocked him out of his frozen state and he grabbed onto Kai's collar, yanking as hard as he could at his friend.

Jay didn't remember exactly what he said but he recalled swearing a bit. Jay wasn't much of a swearer. Ed and Edna were catholic and didn't tolerate foul language. Maybe that's what got Kai to stop. Maybe it was the fear in his eyes or maybe it was scared sound of his tone. Or maybe it was the silent message that Jay sent to Kai. As their eyes met, he seemed to understand.

Nya wouldn't want to see a Kai like this.

Kai forced himself to calm and released Brad who went stumbling back. His friends caught him and the horrible boy shot some nasty things that Kai was too stunned to hear before running off. The blonde kid, Lloyd, clutched his bleeding head and scrambled away. Casting a look that Jay couldn't decipher back at them before disappearing down the street.

All the adrenaline that fuelled Kai came seemed to be lost and he suddenly felt dizzy. Jay cried out as Kai swayed and the ginger wrapped his arms around his friend, trying to hide his tears.

"Call Nya." Kai whispered, shaky hands fumbling with his phone as he handed it to Jay.

Jay pressed the emergency button, ducking his shoulder under Kai and he tried to drag him away from the watching audience.

"Kai?" Her voice sounded cheerful. "Right on time! We found Zane!"

Jay felt his heart sink as he struggled to talk through his increasing panic. "Nya. We need help. Get the car. Please, Kai's hurt."