"Curse you, Wu," Gaia panted, wiping away a few droplets of sweat from her forehead. She had arrived at the monastery, though it had taken her the better part of an hour to get there. Her legs had become sore after the first ten minutes, as she hadn't exercised in a while, but Gaia wasn't one to quit easily. Wu had taught her that: not to give something up unless it meant the world to her. 

She had given Wu up. 

Gaia grabbed the golden hoof-shaped ring on the monastery gate and pulled it with all her strength. She was unpleasantly surprised to find that the gate was locked. 

Although Gaia had been stripped of her elemental powers, she still had some magic left in her. Not enough to fly up to the monastery and back, but enough to make small hole in the gate for her to climb through. The former goddess closed her eyes and focused on the heat in her body. Her hand went up in flames and she smiled. Gaia punched through the gate and as she did, she thought of water. She was thirsty and tired, and she wanted nothing more than a cool glass of-

The smoke began to clear a few moments later. Gaia climbed through the hole and stepped into the training yard. It was empty. She shook the ash off her dress and tied her hair back with a black scrunchie, hoping she didn't look too exhausted. 

Gaia walked up to the door and slid it open, not trying to be particularly quiet. She began searching the whole monastery, checking each of the rooms eagerly for any pictures of Wu. Even though it had been centuries since she had last seen him, Gaia was still head over heels in love. 

She finally came across a collection of pictures. They were paintings of Wu and the ninja, framed with light bamboo sticks and propped against small bags of tea leaves. Gaia picked each one up to get a closer look. She could easily identify all the ninja by the colors they wore. She smiled, impressed that Wu had been able to deal with all of them. They looked like quite the bunch.

There was the fire ninja, clad all in red, with spiky hair and a smile that looked magnetic. He was handsome in a very special way, and boy, was he hot. 

Next came the blue ninja, master of lightning and all things hilarious. He too had an attractive smile, and it seemed that it'd led the boy to the girl in the photo next to his. 

The master of water was undeniably beautiful, with dark hair, hazel eyes, long lashes and the most gorgeous lipstick. She had a gi the color of stormy clouds, which matched her boyfriend's (Gaia didn't know if they were Yin and Yang yet) lightning blue gi. 

A painting of a metal-skinned boy stood beside her, smiling happily. Even though he wasn't looking straight into the camera, his ice-blue eyes seemed to see right into Gaia, and she shivered as she took her eyes of the photo. He was definitely the elemental master of ice.

Standing beside the nindroid was another one. She didn't seem to be an elemental master, as she wore red, blue, and white. Her green eyes shined brightly and were the same color of the legendary green ninja's gi. 

Speak of the devil. The master of energy's messy blonde hair made Gaia's heart flutter. Wu used to have hair like that. Were they related? If they were, Gaia expected the green ninja to have at least a dozen girlfriends. Everyone had chased after Wu back in the day. 

The last ninja made Gaia weak in the knees. There were no words to describe how cute the master of earth was. His black hair, shy smile, toned body... Gaia's mind drifted off before she could stop herself. But the last person in the picture brought her back.

Wu. Even though he hadn't aged as well as her, the mere sight of him made Gaia forget about the black ninja. She quickly put the picture away before she began kissing it.

The former goddess came back to her senses. Damn it! she thought. The brown ninja wasn't here. Badar had been wrong. As Gaia walked out of the room, she noticed a few incense sticks and a pile of ashes. Spirit smoke. She could use spirit smoke!

Gaia quickly arranged the incense sticks the way Wu had taught her to. She needed tea leaves. Spiritius Forsmoger. Maybe with a few ordinary leaves and a bit of her magic...

She grabbed the bag of tea leaves the photo had been leaning on and got to work. A few minutes later, smoke began to curl away from the sticks and Gaia sat down and closed her eyes. She saw herself enter her room and smiled. The spirit smoke knew she was danger. But wait- the room had people inside. The people were- the ninja?!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"They are no longer here," Hailmar said. "They all left a day ago." Wu, Skylor, Pixal, Dareth, Gayle, and Vinny had arrived at Shintaro only minutes before, hoping desperately that the ninja hadn't gotten themselves into any trouble with Gaia. 

"Where have they gone?" Wu asked.

"To explore the mountains around Shintaro," Hailmar explained. "It was Mrs. Garmadon's idea."

"Have you heard anything from them?" Skylor and Pixal asked in unison.

"No. But I assure you, they are all right. Queen Vania knows how to give me a signal when she's in trouble."

"Did they tell you how long they'll be gone?" Gayle questioned, pulling out a notepad and pen. 

"I heard Mrs. Garmadon tell the ninja that they would stop after a day, but perhaps their plan has changed."

"At least they're together," Vinny said helpfully. "It's not possible for someone to take them all down. Right?"

*A/N Had a lot of fun with this one :D Interesting stuff coming up in the next few chapters!*