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~ Chapter Seven ~

THE THEIF THAT LEAD HIM TO DESTINY

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IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: In the OG chapter there was a scene in an alleyway where Kai stumbles upon Skylor in an attempted assault. That is not going to happen in this one as while it unfortunately is a common occurrence in the real world, I feel like my younger self romanticized the event into a 'meet cute' wherein Kai saves Skylor, which is incredibly wrong. Any form of assault (be it physical, sexual or mental) should not be used as a literacy tool in an idealized fashion or as filler to manufacture a a base for a meeting between two individuals unless important to the overall plot. Assault in any story should be treated carefully and with respect to actual survivors, and only used when necessary for the story and/or character development, and not just to move the story along as a quick, second hand thought.

Plus Skylor is a badass who would kick ass fr fr

Also, I have not watched any of Dragons Rising just yet, but I have been made aware that Cole might be Gay? And has a boyfriend? If this is the case I apologize for not correctly presenting his sexual orientation in this book, however I wrote this back in 2018 when Cole didn't have a love interest (bar that cursed triangle with Nya and Jay) so in this book he is in a relationship with Seliel. If that does not sit well with you I apologize again and suggest clicking off this story, or alternatively you could just pretend this is before he understood his sexual preference.

The air was stale and frozen after Nya left for the bathroom. No one dared say anything, all were rendered silent in the wake of whatever had just happened to their newly aquaintenced friend. Even Jay, resident chatterbox seemed to stunned to break the quiet. They all understood that something wacky was going on with them, the shared dreams were proof enough of this, but never would they think magic was involved.

Because what else could it have been? Magic was the only logical explanation - as outlandish as it seems. 

Kai stared at Nya's empty chair. The scene playing in a loop in his brain as he tried to wrap his head around what his eyes had seen. Kai wasn't a dreamer, he was a realist. He didn't like things that contradicted his views, but whatever just happened to his sister only picked holes at his ideology. He didn't like it.

And he hated that it happened to his sister. He wanted to go and see if she was okay, but he was terrified at the prospect that something without a logical explanation had happened. He was scared that he was opening a can of worms that would only cause himself and Nya more trouble down the line.

"So," Seliel breathed out, eyes fixated on the now cold latte she ordered. She and Pixel had left to check up on Nya seeing as they were the only ones in the group socially allowed to enter the female bathroom, but they had both come back pretty quickly, neither saying much as they took their seats and fell in synch with the silent bubble the boys had created, "We going to talk about it? Or just sit in silence?"  

"I vote silence," Cole mumbled, his multitude of cakes sat in front of him forgotten.

"No, we should talk." Pixel nodded, eyes unfocused. "It won't do us any good to stew on this."

Zane looked up to the other android, a hand placed of the silver haired teenager's back comfortingly, "I agree," He nodded, "We knew something weird was going on, this is just another item to add to the growing list."

Lloyd pushed his soda can towards the center of the table, "You still think telling Sensei Wu is a bad idea?"

Cole rolled his eyes, "Don't start something, Lloyd. That's what got us into this mess to begin with."

"I'm not starting anything," Lloyd sat up straighter, "I'm the only one giving a logical next step. I don't see you offering up an alternative."

"Yeah? Well maybe-"

"Stop it, both of you!" Seliel scolded, flicking both boys on the backs of their heads as they just so happened to be sat next to her, "We are not bickering anymore. Nya was right, we aren't kids, we should discuss this like adults."

"But we're not really adults either." Zane interjected miserably.

"All the more reason we should tell my uncle." Lloyd persisted, to which Seliel flicked his head again, harder this time in warning. He rubbed his now sore head and pouted as he looked off to the side with an annoyed frown. 

"Look," Seliel continued, "While Lloyd went about it the wrong way, he has a point. We are way out of our depths here, guys." 

The table then got quiet again, all at a loss for what to do. This was a situation so uniquely unheard of that every possible option had far too may cons that outweighed the pros. And while telling Sensei Wu was the best looking option so far, that didn't mean it didn't come with the risks.

Kai sighed through his nose, eyes glancing over to the bathroom door, "Hey Seliel?" He said, eyes still locked on the bathroom, "Can you go check on Nya again? She's been in there for a while and I'm getting a little worried about her."

Seliel shared a look with Pixel, "Umm, Kai? She went home."

Kai's eyes flicked back to the pink haired teenager, "Excuse me?"   

"Yeah," Pixel nodded, "She said she felt overwhelmed and just wanted to walk home alone to think through everything."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Kai demanded, standing from his seat.

"Because she wanted some alone time and I'm guessing she knew you would have demanded to walk with her hence why she asked us not to tell- oh and there he goes." Seliel tried to explain, but before she could finish Kai had darted from his seat, jacket in hand as he exited the café. "Well," The pink haired teenager sighed, "We bought her ten minutes."

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Kai's legs were burning as he raced down the crowded streets of Ninjago. He wasn't out of shape by any means, but his eventful day of one crazy incident after the other had somehow sapped whatever energy he had left. 

He knew Nya would be okay and that he was perhaps overreacting slightly, but his brotherly instincts forced him to keep pushing his body to maintain a run. Nya was a smart and resourceful woman, she would be able to keep herself safe if anything was to happen, which it won't because as far as crime goes, Ninjago City was in the green zone. And yes, Kai was aware she wanted time on her own to think through the crazy emotions of the day, but that didn't stop him from wanting to at least check up on her.

He was about ten minutes out from his destination when he decided to take a quick shortcut through a grubby alleyway. He figured he could cut off at least two minutes of his journey with this calculated move.

Swiftly, Kai swung right, his quickened footfalls echoing through the corridor as he ran through. He could see the exit from the entry and grinned, forcing himself to run quicker - that was his first mistake. His second was bursting through the other end of the alley without so much as a simple glance to check if the area was clear.

As soon as his foot hit the sidewalk of the other street, he collided into someone, the force of his body so strong he fell over on top of his victim.  With the air knocked out from him lungs for a second, he groaned, "I am so sorry, " He wheezed, sliding off the person and onto the ground besides him. 

Or rather her.

"Ugh..." She groaned, pushing herself up onto her elbows, "Why were you running so fast?" She breathed through a wince, "I think you just gave me whiplash."

Kai shook off the last of his breathlessness and got to his feet quickly, offering his hand down to the girl, "Crap are you-?" He paused, eyes finally meeting with the object of collision. "Skylor?"

The girl was rubbing her head with a pained frown, but froze when she heard her name, eyes flicking up to Kai, "How...? Do I know you?"

Kai shook his head, hand reaching down to take hers and pull her to her feet, "No, I'm errr, new student at Ninjago City High. Sorry that might have been creepy." The Redhead smirked slightly, eyes flicking down to their conjoined hands as Kai still held hers. He too became aware of his extended hand contact and quickly let go with a nervous chuckle. "Sorry."

Skylor hand came around to rub her back, "You're good," She smiled, but then it faded into a frown, "Can't say the same for my back though, ugh."

"I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going." Kai quickly explained, but Skylor waved him off.

"It's okay, its not too bad. I think I'm more surprised than anything." She replied eyes drifting back to his, "Why were you running?"

At this Kai laughed nervously, "Would you believe me if I said an alien was chasing me?"

Skylor snorted, "Maybe, this is Ninjago City. Weirder things have happened."

"Tell me about it," Kai agreed, "Today at school I saw a bunch of idiot jocks try down an entire cup of ketchup. It was so gross."

Skylor's smile grew, "Right? They thought they really looked the part but all they were doing is showing how many brain cells they'd lost at practice."

 "You saw it too?" Kai asked, purposely ignoring the fact that that was when he had first saw this girl.

Skylor winced, "Embarrassingly I was also at that table, but you can guarantee I was not cheering them on."

Kai laughed again, hands resting in his pockets, "You a cheerleader then? Or do I have the pleasure of standing in front of our schools quarter back?"

Skylor scoffed through a smirk, "Funny," She smiled, "I'll have you know I am an amazing football player, I'm just too good for them so they didn't let me join the team." 

"Oh yeah, I was the same," Kai continued the joke, "I didn't even try out and they declined my skill."

"Oh really?" Skylor grinned, "That's too bad, would have made cheering for our team more interesting if you were on it."

Kai grinned at her, about to respond with another witty remark when his eyes drifted down to something that caught his eye, "Oh shit," He gasped, reaching down to pick up a very cracked phone with a bright neon orange case, "Your phone. It's cracked."

Skylor gently took the phone out of Kai's grasp, "Damm, I knew I should have bought Applecare." She groaned, but then smirked up at Kai, "I guess I should take your information for insurance purposes."

Kai blinked, "Right, yes. Of course." He fiddled around for his wallet in his pocket, "Do you have Venmo? Paypal?"

Skylor raised an eyebrow, "I mean we'll deal with money later, for now I think just contact details would be sufficient."

"Are you sure? I have cash if that would be better?" Kai reasoned.

Skylor just stared at him incredulously, "I'm asking for you number dumbass. I don't care about the broken screen."

"Oh!" Kai quickly stuffed his wallet back into his pocket, "Right, of course, yes. Umm, Yeah I- I knew that." He tried to recover but he was failing with an embarrassing flare.

Skylor chuckled at Kai flustered face, holding out her phone as Kai inputted his unique eight digits and filled out his name at the top. He wanted to kick himself at how obliviously stupid he had been, not catching the meaning to Skylor's words before she had to spill it out for him. He was normally pretty cool when it came to girls, not that he ever really had an interest in any who had an interest in him.

"Cool," Skylor said once Kai handed back her phone, "Let me quickly send you a text so you have mine," She informed, thumbs dotting across her cracked screen before hitting send.

Kai felt his own phone vibrate as he pulled it out, a new text reading 'You're favorite Quarter Back' looking back at him. He scoffed at the name and quickly added Skylor as a new contact before looking back at the redhead.

Skylor was smiling back at him, "Well, this was definitely a new way to meet someone."

Kai grinned back, giddy at the prospect of getting a girls number. He didn't even care that it was her who asked for it, he found the confident approach rather attractive.

He opened his mouth to respond when a rush of wind zoomed passed him jostling his hair. He barely had time to register the person that whipped pass before the feeling of his phone being ripped from his grasp became startling apparent. With a now empty clasped fist, he yelled, "Hey! Stop!" After the thief.

Skylor who also had her phone stolen from her grasp stared after the thief with wide eyes, yelling similar things before she took off in a mad sprint after the man in a dark blue hoodie. Kai again had little time to register what had happened as his legs began moving before his brain could stop them. And once again he was running down the streets of Ninjago on Skylor's heels, chasing after the mystery person that nicked his phone.

This was just his luck though. Finally when something went right, life took the reigns and stirred him into a wall.

"Get back here!" Skylor yelled. She was surprisingly quick for a girl of her size, easily giving Kai a run for his money in speed.

The concealed thief rounded into an alley, the two teenagers hot on his heels, only this time, life gave Kai a break. The alleyway the thief had chosen just so happened to be a dead end, with nothing but a dumpster pushed up against on wall and a fire escape too high up to reach. The man spun around at the realization of his mistake, but before he could make the getaway, Kai and Skylor blocked the entrance as they spread out to take up as much room as possible. 

"Hah!" Kai grinned, "Looks like your cornered."

"No where to run," Skylor added. "Give us our phones and we'll let you go."

The hooded man stood frozen to the spot, his eyes darting between the two teenagers, "You're freaks!" He yelled, "How did you do that?"

Kai, who blanked at the mans response, cocked his head to the side, "What? We just chased after you? You weren't exactly quick."

The man didn't say anything to that, but continued to stare at the pair with fear in his eyes, "Get away from me you freak!"

It was then that Skylor glanced down at her attire, an orange sleeve in her peripheral causing her brows to furrow as she was not wearing orange when the day began. "Kai?" She gasped "Look what you're wearing."

At the call of his voice he looked over to Skylor, but was immediately taken back at what she was wearing. Similarly to what Nya was wearing only a few hours earlier, Skylor now dawned an orange version of the ninja gi, with buckles and secret compartments alike. He went to question it when he looked down at himself, the same gi meeting his eyes, only in red. "What the..."

"You're freaks!" The thief continued to yell, "Here take your phone, I want nothing to do with this crap!" He yelled placing the phones on the ground. He slowly edged around the obviously stunned pair, before taking off down the streets of Ninjago and never been seen again.

Kai glanced at Skylor, the redhead matching his confused expression. 

Whatever happened to Nya, now seemed to be infecting not only him, but Skylor as well, and Kai honestly didn't know what to do next.     

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