CHAPTER FOUR — OLD AND NEW
home — part two

"But I've already found them." — zane

AFTER SAVING THE NINJA FROM HYPNOTISED COLE AND THE SERPENTINE, WU AND THE OTHERS RETURNED TO THE MONASTERY TO FIND IT REDUCED TO ASH. The Sensei's home, the place where he had spent so many years, where he taught students and raised his daughter, it was gone. Nothing but the charred skeleton remained. And it was still burning.

The ninja leapt from the dragon's back and onto the ground, their eyes widened in shock. Wu's own eyes were filled with fear as he frantically searched the monastery's remains. "Where's Iris? Where's my daughter?"

"Iris!" Zane called out. Then the others joined in as they began to search for the missing member of their group.

Panic rose up inside the Sensei at the thought of losing his daughter. First his wife, the love of his long life, and now... He couldn't bear to think about it. "Iris!" Yelled Wu, voice trembling with fear.

Back down the mountain, Iris could hear their desperate cries as they searched for her. But she was not there. After teleporting from the monastery, she ended up in one of the places she had stayed in during her trek across Ninjago. There she removed her yellow ninja gi and scrubbed herself from all the soot that had coated her body. She was Iris Wu once more.

Then the girl teleported herself back to the mountain, to what remained of the monastery. She raced up the stone steps, tears still present in her eyes as she neared the summit. "I'm here!" When her voice met their ears, they all sighed in relief. She was alright.

Wu wasted no time in rushing over and encasing his child in an embrace. For a moment there, he thought he had lost her. Just like he had her Mother. "You're okay." He laughed softly as he buried his face into the girl's shoulder.

"Yeah. I am."

But her words didn't even sound convincing to her. Wu pulled the girl back from the hug, eyebrows and beard scrunched as he looked at her, perplexed. That was when he saw the smallest bit of soot that remained just under her chin and he reached out to smear it away before the others could see. "You were—"

No more words were needed, Iris knew what he was about to say. She could see it in his eyes. He knew. "Yes."

"I'm so sorry." He whispered, tears now spilling down his cheeks at the mere thought of what she had just gone through.

Iris shook her head at him. "It wasn't your fault, Father." Then she turned to the curious ninja who was simply relieved to see her okay. "I—I went to Jamankai village. But when I saw the smoke, I rushed back." Iris stitched together a believable lie that the ninja seemed to easily accept. "Everything's gone." 

"Our home." Kai sighed sadly as they all returned to look at the burnt carcass that was once their home. Now it was nothing.

Tears splashed onto the warm stone floor as Iris watched her home turn to dust before her very eyes. Just minutes prior she had been trapped in its blaze, now it had consumed everything just like it would have done her. As Zane asked his dragon to extinguish the flames with ice, Iris dug the slightly charred photo from her bag and handed it to her Father. "I managed to save Mom." And as she pressed the image into his fingers, a tear fell from Wu's eye and landed onto the face of his dearly departed wife.

"Thank you, Iris." He wiped the tear from the picture and then his own eyes before pocketing the image.  

"The training equipment, gone."

Jay let out a broken cry as he clung to his icy friend. "Our video games, gone."

"They stole their staff back." Realised Wu as he deducted the cause of the inferno that stole his home. Of course it was the Serpentine. 

"Now we no longer have the anti-venom." Added Iris with a solemn shake of her head. The anti-venom could cure the Hypnobrai's influence so now they had way to help others who will be afflicted in the future. 

Cole then spoke up, asking the question they were all thinking. "What do we do now?" To be honest, Iris didn't know. And she wasn't sure her Father did either. Sensing his friend's worry, Rocky — Cole's dragon — nudged the earth ninja to try and comfort him. Dragons were wonderful creatures, but even they couldn't fill the whole in the hearts at losing their home.

Grief was a stone in Iris' stomach. The monastery had always been her home, in a sense it was a part of the family, but now it was gone. She quickly wiped her tears with the back of her hand and tried to ignore the smell of burning that was all around them. 

"If you hadn't followed that silly bird," Kai suddenly turned on Zane with all the anger he had been building up, "none of this would've happened." Then both Wu's stepped up defensively with disapproving looks across their features.

"Kai."

"Don't."

Now Jay cut in as he too allowed his anger and grief to seize control of his words. "No. Sensei, he's right." Instinctively Iris reached out to try and stop Jay, but her Father placed out his arm and kept her back. These ninjas were brothers and brothers fight. And that was when Iris realised that they deal with this alone, that they had to build their relationship up and strong. "Because of you, my high score has been deleted." 

"This a teaching moment." Zane attempted to defend himself against three annoyed ninja. "We must learn from this."

"A teaching moment? What's wrong with you? Don't you get it? Everything is gone!"

He was wrong. Not everything was taken by the flames. Sure her childhood home was now ash beneath her feet, but she still had her Father and the ninja. Not everything was lost. Family remained. 

"Enough!" Shouted Wu. His voice managed to bring them all to a silence and they turned to face him. The Sensei's hand rested upon his pocket where the picture of him and his love resided, before speaking to the ninja. It seemed he needed the courage and strength his love gave him. "We are all at fault. Zane is your brother. Apologize at once."

The ninja conceded. They knew their Sensei was right, they were just upset about losing their new home. Understandably so. But Iris didn't approve of the fact that blame was shifted to Zane who did nothing wrong. He was innocent and kind. He would never intend for anything like this to happen. Iris may have not known him long, but she could tell what lay inside his heart. She was good at that. As had been her Mother.

But as the ninja turned to apologize to their brother, he was nowhere to be found. Zane was gone. 

Iris and her Father turned to stare at the horizon only to see Shard — Zane's dragon — disappear into the setting sun. They had no clue where he was going, but Iris could tell: they were going to see him again.

LOSING HER HOME WAS SOMETHING IRIS WU WAS NOT PREPARED FOR WHEN SHE DECIDED TO RETUN TO HELP HER FATHER. Sure she expected it not to be easy, but she didn't think her home would burn to the ground within days of her arrival. Now they had nowhere to go and nowhere to train. It was a catastrophe. 

Iris had barely made it out of the blaze with her life and she was still shaken up over what happened. The ninja could tell something was up with the Wu girl, but they put it up to her losing her childhood home, not realising the truth about what had happened. Only her Father knew, so he made sure to check on Iris and ensure she was alright. 

After leaving the monastery, the group simply wandered as they had no place to go to. They kept on going until it was too late to travel and made camp upon a large stone. Dinner was certainly not Zane's cooking, that much was certain. But Iris was too hungry to argue. All that teleporting and losing her home had really taken its toll on her. She was exhausted.

"Uh, what are we eating again?" Queried Kai as they huddled around the fire and chewed on the cooked snake/eel sort of creature they had on sticks. 

Cole answered as he finished chewing. "Ugh. Mud newt." Ah, yes, that was what it was called. "Not bad for something that lives underground." 

"What?" Jay grimaced. Disgust contorted on his face and then he spat out the contents of his mouth and gagged at the new information. The mud newt wasn't that bad, she had had worse before. Angrily he threw a stone away, only for it to land in the empty can that stood a fair distance from them. "Yay! New high score!" Iris let out a heavy sigh at the lightning ninja's words before taking another bite of her Mud newt. 

"Remember, we must be thankful for what we still have." 

A sad look crossed all of the ninja's faces as Cole asked. "What do we have? Our home is gone."

Kai then said. "You know, I don't miss our home, what I really miss is Zane." They all hummed in agreement with the red ninja. They all wanted Zane back with them. Iris knew that once they started the new day they would not stop until they found their white ninja wherever he was.

"Yeah. I miss Zane." Agreed Jay.

"Zane?"

Iris' eyes followed where Nya's had drifted to and they widened at what they saw. Zane. He was here. It seemed they didn't need to find him after all, for he had found them. "Yeah, Zane. You know, white ninja? The smart, strange one?" Jay said to Nya as Iris gaped at the sight of the ice ninja heading their way. He was back.

"No, Zane!"

"Zane!" They all chorused cheerily as the ninja in question came into view.

Iris couldn't stop the smile spreading across her face as he returned to them. Their mud newt dinner was quickly forgotten as they hurried towards their friend. He was back and that was all that mattered. "Oh, Zane. We're so sorry for everything we said." Jay apologised for them all. "We're a team, and that means we're all responsible." Good, they were learning. 

"You don't need to apologise to me." He reassured them with a kind, infectious smile. An infection that Iris seemed to have caught.

Kai was confused by his friend's words and frowned. "But what about all those awful things we said?" He asked. "Isn't that why you left?"

"Of course not." Replied Zane as he gently shook his head. "I saw the falcon again and I followed him." Now that sounded like their Zane. Dropping everything to follow a mysterious omniscient bird, that was definitely their ice ninja.

Chuckling softly, Cole smiled. "That's our Zane."

"We're so glad to have you back." Iris told him, hand resting on his arm as she offered the man a kind, welcoming smile. That made him turn to Wu girl beside him with a matching smile. 

"Why? Is it my turn to make dinner?"

Laughter enraptured the group at the warrior's words, shaking their bodies with amusement. Their mud newt meals weren't exactly tasteful, so maybe in a way they were glad to have Zane back for dinner. He certainly was the best chef out of all of them. And they were rather hungry after the day they had all had. "Yes, Zane." Her Father chuckled. "We would love for you to make dinner." 

"But I have already made it." He had? When? How? With what? Well, whatever it was, it was going to be good, they all knew that. "Come, I want to show you what I found. I think you will all be pleased."

Then Zane began to lead the way from their camp towards only he knew where. Iris quickly grabbed her bag and slung it over shoulder before heading after the white ninja and the others who were close behind him. They were led through the desert to whatever it was Zane wanted to show them and the ninja were waiting in anticipation for what it was, and for the delicious food that Zane had no doubt cooked up. Iris wasn't sure how long they walked for, but it wasn't too far before Zane came to a stop. 

Turning to face them, Zane began. "I can't explain it, but I feel a strange connection with the falcon. I think he's trying to help show us the path we need to take." Curiouser and curiouser. This falcon was indeed something special. And the connection he had with Zane was fascinating. 

Finally, Zane guided them around the corner to where his surprise laid waiting for them. A large ship stuck in the sand. It was huge, with towering sails and a dragon at bow of the ship. It was beautiful. They all gasped at the sight of it. How it ended up in the middle of the desert, none of them knew. And they didn't really care either.

"Our new home." Zane announced, gesturing to the marooned vessel. It seemed they not only owed the falcon for helping them find Lloyd's fortress, but it had given them a new home too. Whoever and whatever the falcon was, Iris was eternally grateful for its help. It had truly saved them. 

Sounds and phrases of awe emerged from the group as they stared at their new home. It was magnificent. A base truly worthy of what they intended. A true ninja base.

"Do I smell pie?" Jay suddenly spoke up, his mouth watering at the delicious scent that invaded all their noses.

"Cobbler berry. Oh, and I made myrtle berry, and apple, and—" His list was cut off with joyful laughs from his friends. Zane had really pulled out all the stops. Iris couldn't wait to dig into his obviously delicious feast, it smelt incredible. 

And before they could start walking over together, the ninja and Nya started running towards the ship, happy and free. Iris remained on Zane's right as her Father stood on his left. They watched as the others dashed inside towards the warm meal that was awaiting them. They had been saved.

Her Father then spoke up as he smiled at his pupil. "I am proud of you, Zane."

"We both are." Iris added with a wide grin.

"One day, I promise, we will find you family." Vowed Wu as he placed a hand upon the ninja's shoulder. They were going to try and find where Zane came from and Iris wanted to help, it was the least they could for him after everything. He was their friend and friends helped each other. 

Zane glanced over to the ninja as they ran across the gangway and onto the ship, cheering as they went. "But I've already found them."

"I feel there's more to you than meets the eye. There's something special about you, Zane." 

"Sensei, will I become the Green Ninja?" Asked Zane. Iris turned to her Father expectantly. In her opinion, despite Zane's heart she did not believe he could be the green ninja. In fact, she didn't think someone already with elemental abilities could wear the green gi. But she could be wrong. 

Wu gave his student a generic cryptic answer — no surprise there. "It's too early to tell. But if it's in your path, you will know." Ignoring the raised eyebrow his daughter was sending his way, the Sensei then said. "Come now, it would be a shame to let them eat all that pie."

A giggle escaped Iris' throat at her Father's words then the three of them began their way to the ship where the others were waiting. They may have lost their home, but they had gained another. And Iris smiled because they had not what really mattered: each other. She was with her family, old and new, and they would always have each others' backs. No matter what was going to be thrown their way.

Because ninja never quit.

Chapter 4 is here!!! And the end of episode 2!!! The monastery may be gone but now they have the Bounty.

Iris already thinks of these ninja as her family which I love. This girl is so protective of her loved ones, so the ninjas definitely have their backs covered. 

Zane is so cute and sweet and I love how Iris was so ready to set the record straight between the ninja so they would stop picking on Zane. Their bond is only going to grow from here.

But poor Iris though, to be trapped in your childhood home as it burns to the ground. I'm sorry, love, but it had to be done. Now she lost the place where she grew up and has the most memories of her Mother. But at least she still has the picture. It means a lot to both her and her Father.

Thank you for reading!

Sincerely Rosie aka Winter326