It's been a few months since Lou has taken you in, and he felt like a father to you. The Royal Blacksmith taught you how to dance, sing, even play a bit on the piano and a few chords on guitar. He called you a musical prodigy.

One day, you were practicing a song for Ninjago's big talent show! Lou was helping you by playing your song on piano.

He told you to take five so you went to grab a glass of water when you heard a couple of thuds from out front, like people jumping down from high up.

You look out the window to see four boys about your age, carrying weapons!

You told yourself to stay calm and continued to spy on the suspicious boys. The one with messy black hair wearing a dark grey hoodie opened up a case.

"Alright, hand them over."
The voice sounded familiar but you ignored it.

The other three walked over to put the weapons in the case.

"Ah-ah. But no mortal shall possess all four." The boy in blue said, making the others laugh.

"Very funny." The one holding the case said.

Who are these guys? You thought to yourself as you continued to spy.

"Wanna remind me again why we can't keep our weapons?" The boy in red asked. You chuckled to yourself as his hair reminded you of a porcupine.

After the weapons were placed, the boy in black responded as he closed the case.

"I told you, my dad can't find out I'm a ninja, and I don't feel like making up excuses why I'm carrying a giant scythe around." He began walking to the house as he finished explaining.

Wait.
Black hair?
Familiar voice?
Bushy eyebrows?!
Oh. My. Ninjago.

That's Lou's son! You thought to yourself as you overheard the last part.

"Just remember the plan, we find out who has the Fangblade trophy, we snatch it, and then we get the heck out of town."

He's going to steal the Blade cup? Oh hell no!
I've been working too hard for Lou's lousy son and his friends to just steal it!

He knocked on the door and Lou went to answer it.
"Just a moment!" He called out as he walked over with his cane.

He saw me at the window and asked who was there to which you mouthed, 'Your son!'

A smile crossed his face for a brief moment before he opened the door, with a slight frown.

"Hey dad! How long has it been?" The boy asked.

Lou frowned, asking, "What, you too good for the doorbell?" Before slamming the door in their faces. I had to cover my mouth with both hands to stop myself from laughing.

He winked at me before saying to his child, "Use the bell, son."

You giggled as you remembered he installed the new doorbell. He just wanted to show it off.

You heard the bell sing, "Welcome~" and watched as Lou welcomed his son back in open arms.

"Come on in, son. It's been forever!" He chuckled as he hugged the boy. "What did you bring? A quartet? Come in, come in!"

The four walked in as Lou added, "(Y/n) has a kettle of lemon honey tea on the stove right now!"

"(Y/n)?" The one in white asked.

Guess that's my cue. You thought as you walked over to introduce yourself.

"Hi, I'm (y/n)." You say, pretending to sound happy. "You must be Lou's son, right?" You ask gesturing to the boy. Lou's mentioned his name before but you couldn't remember at the moment.

"Yeah, and you must be dad's 'musical prodigy'." He used air quotes before turning to explain to his friends. "She wound up on my dad's doorstep one day and has become his 'daughter he always wanted'." He then turned to face you, with a face of jealousy.

"He writes about you a lot."

"Aw, thanks Lou!" You smiled.

The look of annoyance on Cole's face pleased you.

You helped Lou set up the tea as he played the gramophone. You poured the four some tea, who you now knew as Cole, Jay, Kai, and Zane.

You stood with Lou as he told the others about how he broke his foot.

"It was the cha-cha but I swear the percussionist had it in for me!" He explained.

"No, dad, I didn't tell them about your silly stories." He responded, with annoyance in his voice.

"Silly stories?!" Lou asked.

Kai jumped in, "What he meant was, we've been so busy training at the... uh..." Kai tried to remember the name of the school.

"The Martha Openheimer! Yeah." Jay tried to help.

You mentally facepalm as the music comes to an abrupt halt. Turning to Lou you see him grow suspicious asking the ninja, "Martha, Openheimer?"

Zane came Jay's rescue, correcting his mistake and Cole went to explain how they were working on a school paper of the history of ninjago talent, and that they were wondering how to get their hands on the trophy.

You softly growl knowing what they're up to.

Lou, not knowing what they're actually there for, assumed they were going to perform in his own quartet's place, and when Kai asked him to train them, he left to right a song about his feelings.

The ninja must've forgotten you were there, as Cole slightly raised his voice at Kai. "What are you doing?!"

Before he could answer you clear your throat, reminding the boys you were still present.

"Listen you four! I know what you're doing. So if you're gonna try and steal the Blade cup, you might as well leave now. I've worked hard for this talent show, so I'm not letting you take that trophy, so if any of you do so much as look at it, I tell Lou you're all ninja."

They stared at you, astonished.

"But how-"

You interrupted Kai mid sentence. "You aren't the quietest, explaining your plan out in the open like that. I thought ninja were better." You tease.

Jay grumbled a bit before explaining, "Listen (y/n), if you really care about Cole's dad, then we need that trophy! If we don't take it, someone worse will! Some really bad guys called the serpentine are trying to awaken the Great Devourer, and they need the four fang blades to do it!"

You were silent for a moment, then began to laugh uncontrollably.

Kai rolled his eyes as you continued to laugh. "You done yet?"

You gasp for breath as you try saying, "Almost." Then continue laughing.

You begin to quiet down and take some deep breaths. Finally calming down, you stare at the ninja in disbelief, a smile still on your face from the laughing.

"You're trying to steal the Blade cup before a couple of snakes beat you to it? That's still a crime you know, and how is this 'serpentine' going to get it? It's the most prized and heavily guarded award in all of ninjago!" You couldn't believe a word they were saying. Snakes trying to steal a trophy? Yeah right!

"What Jay says is true. We have fought them on multiple occasions, and they already have one fang blade. We need to get this one before they have a chance to take it." Zane informed you, as you looked at each one of them thoughtfully.

They were obviously delusional.

But you could tell they thought they truly needed it. "Alright, you want the Blade cup? Then you gotta earn it, just like Lou said. If you actually try to win it, I'll keep your secret. But if you try stealing it, your secret life as ninja comes out!" You told the ninja before storming off to your room.

~~~~~~~~T.S.~~~~~~~~

It was the next day and you were watching as the ninja attempted to sing a dance.

"Bop till you drop~"

"Shake it till you break it~"

"Move it till you lose it~"

"Spin it till you win it~"

You groaned as Lou finally yelled, "Stop, stop! If my ears weren't attached to my head, they'd be running away!"

He walked over to you, "Any thoughts?"

"You bet, Kai, love the energy, hate the hair! Jay, you're giving a lot but you're gonna need more!
Zane, you're like a machine, don't change anything.
And Cole, try to act like you wanna be here." You give each ninja their criticism.

"Ha! You took the words right out of my mouth!" Lou praised, which only seemed to irritate Cole more than he already was.

"Lou, I'm going out for some fresh air. If you need me, I'll be at the usual spot." You told Lou before starting to walk out, grabbing your guitar case. You left the house and started walking to the edge of town. There was a small hill with a tree at the top. It was your space for whenever you wanted to be alone, or just practice playing guitar where nobody could bother you.

Hours past as the sun began to set. As you continued to play, you heard footsteps, and turned to see Zane walking towards you.

"Lou said I'd find you here. Dinner is ready, and it is getting dark out. You should come in." The ninja said before sitting on the hill with you.

"I will, I'm just waiting for someone."

"Who?"

"That's what he says." You confused the master of ice, and as if on cue, you heard an owl cry.

You both looked up to see a Great Horned owl circling from above, before diving down. It landed on your outstretched arm, as Zane stared in amazement.

"This is Strix. It means owl in Ancient Greek." You showed your companion to Zane.

Strix looked at the ninja, with his head slightly tilted, wondering who the new comer was. You pat his head. "It's alright Strix, he's okay."

The owl relaxed at your touch, and allowed Zane to pet him. As Zane marvelled at the bird, he noticed your scar on your arm from when you first met Lou.

"Were you in a fight?" The ninja asked, gesturing to the scar. You continued stroking the owl's feathers as you answered.

"I don't know where I got it from. The only thing I remember is hearing Lou's voice, and waking up in his house."

"So you don't know where you came from?"

"Not really, I only have these." You put Strix onto your shoulder to take off your cuffs, showing them to Zane.

He looked at both cuffs before turning to face you. "The ninja are my only family, I only recently discovered where I was from, to find out my father died long ago."

You looked at him with sympathy. "Do you have a mother?"

"No, my father built me."

"Built you?"

He then opened his chest revealing wires and switches. He really is a machine! You though to yourself as you heard a falcon from afar.

The nindroid turned up to the sky as it was his to to stretch out his arm. The falcon swooped down, landing on his arm, staring at Zane with content.

"The falcon is the one that showed me where I was from, my father built him as well." Zane informed you.

Strix looked at the falcon in confusion, and jumped onto Zane's other arm to get a closer look at the mysterious bird.

You and Zane laughed as they continued to play. As you began to watch the sunset, Strix flew off with the falcon, circling in the sky. You and Zane watched the sun sink lower and lower into the ground until you heard him stand up.

"The others will be wondering what's taking so long." He reached out his arm towards you, which you grabbed and stood up. Waving goodbye to Strix and the falcon, you set off towards the house

Maybe the ninja aren't as bad as you thought.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Are you guys enjoying the story? Leave your opinions in the comments!

What about Strix? My family owns five parrots so it was hard for me to leave out a bird sidekick! And owls have such big eyes! And fuzzy feet!!!

Thanks for reading and with that, I bid you adieu~.
-ThatOneScorpio♏️