"Water"
The group wandered through the dying jungle; following closely behind Morro. Then, finally, they arrived at another sandy shore. It would be an absolutely astonishing beach, if it weren’t for the wreckage of what looked like an old village. A charred, demolished, wreck. It hurt to look at. Especially knowing that this was once someone's beautiful home.
"Well, here they are. Welcome to the Water Tribe." Morro gestured to the piles of charcoal that were once houses. Cole walked out into the center of the village and picked up a rusty Fire Tribe sword that was sticking out of the sand. He examined it, then looked around at the others. "I don't think there's a Water Tribe to recruit, Lloyd."
Jay looked out over the ocean with a sigh. It was a shame. The stories he used to here about the Water Tribe were so cool. The leader was said to be able to summon their elemental powers into a dragon made of pure water, then send it to attack. It would have been so awesome to see... Just as that thought passed his mind, he startled, catching a glimpse at something in the water. The blue ninja fell backwards into the sand as he and the creature made eye contact. Jay’s sapphire eyes glistened with intrigue and terror as they met with the glowing blue eyes of the water creature. Then, it disappeared. Jay yelled for the others to come quickly as he frantically tried to explain what he saw.
Morro rolled his eyes. "I think you've been in the sun too long, you must be hallucinating. There's no such thing as a spirit made of ocean water."
"Perhaps, or perhaps not." Zane added. "There's clearly been death and turmoil here, so a haunting wouldn't be all that surprising. Though, I'm not so sure about the 'made of water' part."
"But I SAW them! They we right there!!" Jay pointed down towards the water and the entire group jumped at the sight of a being made of pure water peeking out from right where he was pointing. It was only exposed from half the noise up, but it was very clearly a person. Or.... person shaped?
Either way, it was there. Lloyd looked on baffled. "Who... are you?" He quietly asked.
The spirit blinked as it tilted its head, but it remained silent.
Zane knelt down to look at it further. "I am Zane, leader of the Ice Tribe, and these are my friends. Lloyd of the Jade Tribe, Cole of the Desert, Jay of the Lightning, and Morro; the leader of the Wind Tribe. The ones that live on this island. And you are?"
The elemental entity tilted its head again, but this time, after a moment, it spoke. "I am Nya."
They could tell the voice was feminine, but it had a very mystical, echoing quality to it. She looked up at Morro, scanning his eyes. "You... you’re lungs move by the power of Wojira. You are like me."
Cole questioned what she meant, and Morro’s face turned pale. "Oh. Well- I.... when the Fire Tribe attacked last, they...........” He fell silent as he realized all eyes were on him. He knew he'd have to bring it up eventually, so he might as well do it now. He let out a long sigh. "The Fire Tribe attacked our village and they murdered several people, including my parents. But they didn't stop there. Those wretched terrorists wanted all the elemental masters dead! That included me. I was only 6 years old, and some absolute monster found me hiding away.... they killed me............ But not before I saw his glowing purple eyes." The whole coast seemed to fall silent, as if the winds and tide were mourning.
Cole broke the baffled silence. "Wait- if you died that night, then how come you're here?"
Jay stared at him in fear. "YOU’RE A GHOST!!!??"
Morro snorted. "No, I’m not! Now, if you could let me finish---- I was dead and gone; bleed out and cold. Everyone found me like that, and decided to give me a burial at sea. But as they were about to watch my boat sink, the waves stopped. Wojira emerged from the ocean and revived me. It's like it refused to let its powers bloodline die like that. I don’t remember much after catching my breath, but I do know I've felt different ever since. That's also when the green streak in my hair appeared."
Nya’s eyes glistened. "Mother wouldn't let us die either. We still breathe."
Lloyd’s gaze snapped to the water creature. "What do mean by 'WE'?"
"Us. The Water Tribe... Wojira saved us from the fire.”
Jay perked up. "So the Water Tribe is alive?! In the ocean?!"
Nya nodded. "I can't take you to them if you want."
Morro’s face turned pale. "Well, we can't breathe underwater, so I don't think you can..."
The water spirit ducked back under the surface for a moment, then came crashing back out as a giant dragon. She flapped her wings then motioned for them to climb on her back. Jay’s eyes lit up like this was a dream come true. The others were way less enthusiastic about the offer. As the blue ninja climbed aboard, the others had little choice but to follow. Once they were all on, the dragon took off. Cole latched onto Zane in terror as they flew above the sea. He wasn’t used to flying, Zane on the other hand, loved it. And Morro felt like never before; being engulfed in his element as it blew by. Finally, she dropped them off on a small island; just big enough to hold all of them while being reasonably spaced apart. Nya dove back down into the depths, leaving the gang trapped. A few minutes later, she returned, but in her humanoid form; along with two other people. Except they weren't pure water like Nya, they more resembled a shark/ human hybrid. Their skin was a blue-gray with darker and lighter blue stripes and patterns. Both their hair was black and their teeth were as sharp as a shark. They had gills on their necks, fin- like ears, and a shark tail sprouting from their lower back. It swished behind them as they waded in the water. "Woah... look at them! Nya was right! They really are humans." One of them spoke up.
Lloyd giggled. "Well, I'm more of an Oni and dragon hybrid than a human, but for the most part, yeah. I guess we are."
Nya excitedly smiled at the two, almost as if to say- "I told you so."
"Greetings friends. My name is Benthomaar. This is Nya, and that's Mr. Powers."
The second shark creature smirked at them. "Nah, you can call me Clutch."
Zane looked at the three of them for a moment before asking why Nya was water and the others weren't. The girl smiled. She explained that she was a shark/ human hybrid, but she chose to remain in the water form because it felt more comfortable. It felt like she was more connected to her element that way. That's when they realized. She was the master of water; the leader of the Water Tribe! Aka, the person they were looking for. Lloyd explained why they were there, and gave his 'unite the tribes' speech. The three water dwellers were silent for a second afterwards until the leader spoke up. "No."
"WHAT?! But the Fire Tribe?? You’re literally going to be the most effective in terms of stopping them! Fire vs Water??? Doesn't that ring a bell?" Cole complained.
Benthomaar sighed. "Look. I understand the urgency of the situation, but we can’t let the princess go. It’s far too dangerous! As a royal guard, I promised to keep her safe. Besides, I don't know if we physically can. We've never left the water before. What if something bad happens outside of it?"
Lloyd bent down to Bentho's eye-level. "I get it. For most of my life, I was in the jungle. I never left it. But when I accept this quest, I had to. I was scared, but nothing was scarier than the thought of what the Fire Tribe would do if I didn’t go."
Nya began to glow, and she transformed into a sea creature form that strongly resembled Benthomaar. She got onto the island and turned to Jay. "Well? How do I look?"
The master of lightning stared baffled at her. "You... you look beautiful... in a beautiful sea creature sort of way."
She chuckled, then looked towards Lloyd. "To tell you the truth, I've always wanted to leave the ocean. True, the endless sea is great and all, but I've always dreamed of seeing the main land! So count me in!"
Benthomaar and Clutch began to try to reason with her or talk her out of it, but she had already made up her mind. She leaned down to Bentho. "You and your brother are in charge while I'm gone, alright?"
Benthomaar nodded, then he and Clutch popped back into the ocean. Morro rolled his eyes. "Nice that we got you on board and all, but my tribe is currently unprotected and that's not something I'm comfortable with, so if we could please return to Wind Break island that would be great."
"Oh! Of course!" She jumped into the sea and re-emerged the water dragon. It was a little more awkward riding her back this time, but she was definitely better than the ice boat in terms of ocean travel. Once they reached the shore, Nya turned back into the shark/ human form. The group met up with the Wind Tribe again, and Nya immediately took to Nelson; hugging him and expressing how cute she thought he was. The poor thing was too weak to really fight back, so he just expected it. Morro smiled as he watched his tribe happily greet them and ask Nya questions. They normally weren't so happy or talkative. They rarely ever smiled. It was like once Lloyd and his friends got there, their souls lit up. Their eyes no longer seemed to be dead or empty, but full of hope and life. Truthfully, Morro hadn't seen them like that in forever; possibly even at all. After all the questions and answers, Nya helped the ninja with fishing. This time however, they didn't end up being capsized and dumped on the shore. Again, the master of wind sat on a tree branch and watched his little family wolf down the food. It was relieving to know that they were slowly regaining strength and that they'd be alright; especially after the countless nights of praying that he wouldn’t wake up to their deaths. His tribe- no. His family was going to be okay...
The group sat together and made their plan to return to the Jade Tribe at Hiroshi’s Labyrinth. There, Garmadon would be of assistance. Once they figured out a decent plan, they all curled up by the firelight and fell asleep. As Lloyd’s eyes shut, he felt a wave of comfort wash over him. He had done it. He was going home...
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