Opera Ninja

For once, the city of Ninjago was peaceful. Kai, Zane, and Lloyd had decided to take advantage of this peace to go out into town and just hang out. Nya had decided to tag along because Jay and Cole had headed off somewhere else to hang out.
At the moment, the four of them were hanging out in the local arcade. Kai and Zane were going head to head in a fighting game as Lloyd watched and cheered them on. Nya sat back and watched with amusement as she drank a smoothie she had bought.
"Ha! You can't touch me Zane, you can't touch me!" Kai bragged as he flipped the controls around expertly. "Prepare to be defeated, because you're toast!" The nindroid smiled as he put up a fight against his friend's game character.
"Do not count your chickens before they hatch, Kai. I am not going to be crispy bread quite yet." Kai smirked a big. Though Zane had finished unlocking his full emotional scale, his sense of humor was still a bit whacky.
"Whatever dude! You're still going down!" Nya shook her head in amusement as she watched her brother get so concentrated on the game.
"Boys," she muttered good-naturedly. Lloyd was literally jumping up and down with excitement.
"Yeah! Go you guys!" He cheered. With a smirk, Kai punched the buttons in rapid succession. On the screen, his character did a complex and ultra powerful combo move, completely annihilating all the green left in Zane's health bar. His nindroid friend shrugged and smiled, accepting his virtual defeat.
"It seems I have lost this round, however, you shall not be so lucky next round, my friend." Lloyd got between them and put his hands on his hips.
"No fair! You guys said I could play winner!" Kai chuckled and gave Lloyd a sort-of noogie.
"So we did. Alright Lloyd, grab your control stick." The boy cheered and ran up to the game, eager to play. As Kai turned back around, a glasses-wearing employee of the place walked by, carrying a heavy-looking tool box. "Hey buddy, you need some help with that?" The man shook his head, a strained look on his face.
"No thanks, I've got it. Thanks for the offer though." Kai shrugged and turned back to Lloyd.
"Alright then. Okay Lloyd, prepare to be-" he cut off in mid-sentence as the employee, hands slick with sweat, accidentally dropped the box right on Kai's foot. The red ninja yelled out from the pain, but the cry quickly became higher in pitch in the matter of a few seconds. The employee, who had been prepare to apologize, covered his ears from the sound. Lloyd and many other patrons in the arcade did similar, clamping their hands over their ears to try and block out the sound. Zane, however, had a different reaction. Instead of reacting to the sound like everyone else, a quick zap of electricity went through his circuitry and he dropped to the floor on his back. When Kai finally stopped screaming, Nya, who seemed to be the only one unaffected by the noise, rushed to her brother's aid.
"Oh my gosh! Kai!" She set down her smoothie and knelled down, pushing the metal box off of her brother's foot before taking it into her hands. "Are you alright?" Her brother grunted with pain when she took hold of his injured foot. Lloyd, once he recovered, looked around. The employee still sat on the ground, but his glasses were shattered even though they were still on his face. In fact, some of the screens of the games and all of the windows were either cracked or shattered as well. He spotted Zane still on the floor, eyes blank and wide open.
"Uh oh." He got next to Zane, opened up his chest plate (this caused a female patron who had recovered from the sound of Kai's scream to faint from the sight), and rebooted him. Zane sat up straight, rubbing his head.
"Oh, my circuitry," he moaned. "What happened?"
"Some guy dropped a box on Kai's foot. And when he screamed, all the windows and stuff shattered, and I think you short-circuited," Lloyd explained. Zane looked at his friend, where Nya was still looking at her brother's foot.
"You sure you're alright? That sounded painful." Kai grunted when she touched a sore spot, but nodded.
"Yeah, I'm fine." To emphasize his point, he stood up, gingerly putting his weight on his other foot. "Man, I haven't done that in years."
"I know," Nya agreed, "I can't believe you still remember how. You and I haven't practiced at all since we quit." Lloyd was about to ask what they were talking about, but the door opened with a jingling of the bell that hung over it.
"I knew it! I knew it came from here!" A woman stood in the doorway, a large smile on her face. She had a large, fluffy hairdo that arranged into somewhat of a beehive shape on top of her head. She wore many dangly pieces of jewelery such as large bracelets and hoop earrings. But the most impressionable thing about her was her dress, which was such a bright orange color that you almost had to squint just to look at it. Kai and Nya saw her a moment after Lloyd and Zane did, but they scowled as soon as they did. "Oh my, I simply can't remember how long it has been since I've heard such a perfect shriek as that!" She saw them, and her eyes up even more. "Oh dear! Of course! How could it have been anyone other than the two of you! Kai and Nya! How good it is to see you two again!"
"Actually, that was just Kai," Lloyd butted in, but the woman didn't seem to hear.
"Madame," Nya said, an angry edge on her voice. "What are you doing around here?"
"Yeah, shouldn't you be at your school with you little drones?" Kai added. Lloyd and Zane looked between the siblings and the woman, confused.
"Do you know this woman?" Zane asked. The woman smiled at him and placed a hand on her chest.
"Well, I should say so young man. Especially considering that I, Madame DeBrick, trained these two since they were children, in order for them to become classical opera singers!"
"Huh?" Lloyd said, going slack-jawed.
"Of course," Mme. DeBrick said dreamily, I remember it as if it were yesterday when I first heard their outstanding talent.
Mme. DeBrick, younger than at the present time, was walking along the road on the outskirts of Ninjago, hoping to find inspiration for her next opera show. She happened to stop and saw a group of children playing in an open field, kicking balls and building things with sticks and such. Two children in particular caught her eye, a young Kai was showing something to a small Nya. She felt a spark of inspiration coming on, when she heard a scream from one of the children.
"SNAKE!" Indeed, a small garden snake had slithered into the place where they were playing. However, the children, who had been raised with stories about the Serpentine and other such things, screamed as they ran in terror. The two young siblings hadn't seen it in time, and it wound up right in front of them before they realized it. When they saw it, they clutched each other and screamed in fear.
When they did, everyone within hearing range (which was quite far) covered their ears. Across the road, the windows of a building shattered simultaneously from the power and the pitch of their voices. Unlike the rest, Madame DeBrick smiled, a spark in her eyes.
"After I heard that, I knew they were born to sing. I found out who their father was from the locals and asked if I could take them under my wing to train them. He accepted, and so began their training in the art of opera."
Kai and Nya, a few years older from that day, stood on a stage next to each other, holding their hands together as the high and low notes tumbled from their mouths like water from a stream. A few people present clapped at the beautiful, refined sounds they were making. DeBrick stood there, smiling half gloatingly and half approvingly.
"As the two of them grew older, their talent likewise grew more refined. They came so close to hitting the synchronized YX sharp over Z major; the highest and hardest synchronized note known to mankind. It had only been a theory before then, attempted by many accomplished singing duos, done by none. They were only days away from reaching it. However..."
Kay and Nya stood on the stage again, their voices reaching higher and higher as DeBrick clapped her hands, cheering on her students.
"Yes, yes!" she cried. "Just a little higher my students!" They tried to follow her command, raising their voices to a pitch no one had ever heard before. But, just as they were about to break the barrier and hit that coveted note, they both began coughing and dropped the note they had been simultaneously building.
"My throat hurts," Nya whispered, her voice sounding scratchy and raw. Kai patted her back comfortingly.
"Mine too, sis," he agreed, his voice sounding similar. He glared out to where their teacher stood. "This is too much Madame, we won't do this anymore. Our voices won't go any higher no matter how hard we try. And these tights are too tight!" He reached to the top of his head where a hat sat, then grabbed it and threw it to the ground. "We quit!" Nya nodded to agree, throwing off a scarf so it landed next to her brother's hat. "Come on Nya, we're leaving." And so they turned their backs and just walked right off the stage, much to the horror of the Madame.
In the present day, the woman gazed at the two from under her lashes. "That's right. And I haven't found anyone as beautifully talented," that gaze turned to a glare for a second, "or as mortifyingly rebellious, since." Lloyd stared at the two, scratching his head after the story
"I don't know what's weirder. The two of you singing opera," he looked at Kai, "Or Kai wearing tights." Krai crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes.
"They're both weird. That's why we quit when we did."
"Yeah," Nya agreed. "The woman was a slave-driver." Madame DeBrick suddenly grabbed one of each of their wrists.
"Well, I've heard about what you two have been doing since you've left your father's shop in the care of your friends. And it is ridiculous. Come, you two have wasted enough time on this silly ninja business." She began dragging the two towards the door, much to their brief shock. "I must have you two perform in my latest opera!" The siblings pulled their wrists from her grasp and stopped themselves from being dragged.
"Hey! Hands off!" Nya shouted.
"Yeah! We're not going anywhere with you!" The woman smiled evilly and pulled a thin, silvery object from a hidden pocket.
"Well, we'll just see about that." Zane stared at the object, a sense of foreboding coming over him.
"What is that?" Kai scoffed and waved his hand at it.
"Just some stupid dog whistle the old hag used to use to keep her students under her control." Nya had a similar reaction, turning her head away from the Madame.
"Yeah. Sorry DeBrick, but those days are over now! That's not going to work on us. You don't control us anymore!" With a smirk, DeBrick put her lips to the whistle and blew. Unlike a regular dog whistle, it let out a sound that Lloyd and Zane could hear, but it just sounded like a garble of strange, off-tune sounds. Kai and Nya, however, reacted differently. Their eyes snapped wide open, blank and empty, as their arms hung at their sides.
"Come along, we have work to do," DeBrick said as she put her whistle away and headed for the door. The siblings followed, that blank look still on their faces.
"Yes Madame," they said in sync. "We must train." They left the arcade, letting the door slam behind them as they followed her out. Lloyd and Zane stood there, watching with confusion.
"Uhh... what just happened?" Lloyd asked.
"Hey, has anyone seen Kai or Nya? I haven't seen them around for a couple of days," Jay noted. It had indeed been about that long since Madame DeBrick had led the siblings off, leaving Zane and Lloyd in their wake. The two still hadn't told this to the other ninja, or Sensei Wu. Lloyd for fear that they would get in trouble for not trying to stop them, and Zane because he was still processing the situation.
"That's right, I haven't seen them either," Cole said. "Have you seen them, Sensei?" Sensei Wu sipped his tea before speaking.
"As a matter of fact, I haven't. Hm, this is a most peculiar development. Lloyd? Zane? Have either of you seen them? You were the ones who were with them last, if I'm correct." Lloyd stiffened and felt a drop of sweat drip down the back of his neck. Next to him, he saw Zane raised his hand up to his face and open his mouth.
"Well Sensei, we- ow!" He stopped and pulled his arm back when Lloyd gave him a violent pinch. Lloyd smiled nervously at his uncle and cleared his throat.
"Uh, umm... yeah! I... I just remembered. They-they wanted me to tell you that they were, um..." he tried thinking fast, feeling all eyes on him. "They weeeere going back home to check on their blacksmith's shop! Um yeah. Lots and lots of backed up orders and work! Lots of blacksmithing to do, yeah..." Wu smiled at his nephew in a relaxed sort of way.
"Ah, that is a relief, now we know where they are. I just wish you had remembered sooner so we didn't worry, Lloyd. Did they say when they would be back?" Lloyd rubbed the back of his head, shrugging with that same fake smile on his face.
"Um.. I dunno. Could be a couple of days, weeks, months even! And they also said not to go and check on them, no matter what." Jay went slack-jawed.
"A couple of months?! But what about Kai helping us? We're supposed to be training you to be the green ninja! And I had a date with Nya this Saturday!" Sensei Wu patted his student's shoulder.
"Now now, Jay. They both have responsibilities outside their work with us. We must allow them time to do those things." Jay sighed, though he looked disappointed.
"Yes Sensei," he mumbled. Lloyd kept the fake smile on his face, backing away towards the door.
"Yeah. Well, now that's all out of the way. Zane!" The white ninja looked over at him, do you want to come help me take care of my dragon?" Zane raised an eyebrow at him, but Lloyd signaled him silently to just come with him.
"Um, sure. I don't see why not. Excuse us Sensei." With that, he followed Lloyd from the room. They both kept walking and went up the stairs to the roof, where the Ultra Dragon was sitting. When he were sure they were alone, Zane turned to Lloyd. "Why did you lie to them, Lloyd? Shouldn't the others know what has happened to Kai and Nya?" Lloyd shook his head at Zane as he petted his dragon on one of its' heads.
"No way. Do you know how much trouble we'd be in if they found out we just let come crazy lady who claimed to be their teacher hypnotize them and lead them away while we just stood there and watched?" He paused for a moment, letting this sink in. "A LOT of trouble. My uncle would punish us for sure!" Zane looked doubtful of this, but decided to go along with the younger's way of thinking.
"Okay then. We can't ask the others for help, and we have absolutely no idea where Kai or Nya are. So, what do we do?" Lloyd placed his hand on his chin for a moment to think. He snapped his fingers and his face lit up.
"I've got it! Zane, you still have that falcon-bot of yours, right? Can you bring it here?" Zane looked confused, but complied. He sent out a silent signal and stuck out his arm, where moments later his robotic pet landed.
"Okay, it is here. Now what?" Lloyd looked as though he was becoming excited.
"Okay. You can track people with it, right?" Zane nodded. "So, why not have it track down Kai and Nya, and then we can go and help them!" Zane's face lit up (though not literally) as ninja in training explained his plan.
"Of course, it is so simple! Excellent thinking Lloyd." Lloyd smiled as Zane began to program the bird's course of action. With a bird-shriek, it took off into the air, beginning it's search for their missing friends. They watched it fly until it had disappeared over the high-rises. "And now, we go and wait." With that, the two went back down the stairs to re-group with the others.
–
The falcon flew high over Ninjago city, it's all-seeing eyes surveying every inch of the streets as its' scanners tried to detect traces of the two it was designated to find. Finally, after days of nonstop searching, a small beeping from its' scanners made it change its' course, making a slow circle to turn in the proper direction. It finally came to the top window of a luxurious-looking condominium complex and perched itself on the windowsill.
Its' robotic eyes searched the room, which had three people in it. Two of them pinged in its' sensors, causing the words 'TARGETS MATCH' to flash across its' field of vision. It began pinging out a silent alarm to it's owner, Zane, to come to that location.
–
Lloyd frowned as he held a lightbulb in his hands, focusing his energy on it. He narrowed his eyes, focusing on one point to try and light it in his hands. He had to focus, like Jay said. Complete, controlled, focus.
He was distracted, though. Zane had sent his falcon out over a week ago, and still no sign of Kai and Nya. He was getting nervous. What if something happened to them? What if that DeBrick lady had done something to them and it was too late to stop it? He was so nervous and frustrated, he couldn't stand knowing that his friends could be in danger, even if it was just from some weird old lady with an obsession for opera. He started and jumped back as the lightbulb shattered in his hands, having overcharged when he didn't pay attention for a moment.
"Aw! Lloyd! That was the last of the lightbulbs!" Lloyd rubbed the back of his head and gave Jay a sheepish look.
"Eh, sorry Jay. I guess I got distracted." Jay looked like he was going to say more, but Zane came into the dojo.
"Oh, Jay, perfect. Could I borrow Lloyd for a moment? I'm going somewhere and I need his help." Jay sighed as he looked at the pieces of shattered glass on the floor.
"Might as well, training was pretty much over for the day anyways."
"Great. Do you need us to get some things while we're out?" Jay seemed like he remembered something.
"Oh yeah, actually, do you think you could get me some-"
"Oh, not those kinds of things," Zane interrupted. He took Lloyd by the wrist and pulled him towards the door. "Well, see you later!" With that, he pulled Lloyd out the door and slammed it behind them. Jay stared after them a moment, then shrugged as he mumbled something about 'weird nindroids' before he began cleaning up the mess that Lloyd's training had made.
–
When they were about a block away from Darreth's Dojo, Zane finally stopped to explain about how his falcon had found Kai and Nya. Lloyd's eyes lit up as he heard this news.
"That's great, Zane! Where are they!? Let's go right now!" With a nod from Zane, the two raced off to the place where Kai and Nya were supposed to be. When they finally arrived, Lloyd's breath was taken away. The place turned out to be on the upper-class side of town, where even the sidewalks seemed to be more classy.
"Wow, this is where they are?" Zane nodded. "Huh, it's so fancy," Lloyd mused. Zane continued to lead, and he stopped in front of what was apparently where they were headed to.
"This is it." Lloyd was amazed. He couldn't even see to the top of the building. When he tried, he couldn't see past the glare of the sun and had to shield his eyes. After a brief talk with the doorman, they were allowed inside and were told how to get to where they wanted.
After a very long ride up the elevator, they finally got to the very top. They got off and went straight to the door. Zane knocked and stepped back, waiting for someone to open it. After a minute it did, and he found himself staring at the person who opened it.
"Oh, hello Zane. How nice of you to drop by." It was Kai, definitely Kai. But he looked... different. He was smiling, though, and motioned for them to come through the door. "Won't you please come in? We were just sitting down to have some tea." Lloyd looked at Zane, shrugged, and they followed him inside.
–
Things were more than a bit awkward as they sat down at the table. Lloyd and Zane were sitting across from Kai and Nya, hardly even paying attention to their tea. They were too busy looking at how different their friends looked at that moment.
Nya was in a classy evening dress with a slit on one leg. Her hair was pulled back into an elegant bun and held in place with a sparkly hair-band. Two ruby earring hung from her ears, and another ruby hung around her neck on a silver necklace chain.
Kai was also in evening wear, a tuxedo nonetheless. His bowtie was straight and his shirt was tucked into his pants, his jacket was without even the slightest wrinkle. His hair, while normally wild and unkempt, was neatly combed and smoothed back against his head, most likely with gel of some sort. They both had calm, slightly dazed, looks on their faces, though they smiled politely at their friends.
"We have missed you both a lot," Zane said, trying to break the awkward silence. "Lloyd really needs to work on his fire control, Kai. And Nya, our vehicle has been sitting in the garage for over a week. It really does need to be fixed. Nya smiled and nodded politely.
"And we have missed you too, Zane. Would you like some more tea?" She acted like she hadn't even heard the first part. Which could have been, considering how out of it she appeared at the moment.
"Erm, sure," Zane said, not knowing how else to respond. Kai held out a plate with a slice of cake on it.
"And how about some cake for you, Lloyd?" Lloyd took it for the same reason Zane took the tea, because he didn't know what else to do. He eyed Kai as he placed it down in front of him.
"Are you guys okay? You aren't acting like yourselves." The two only continued smiling.
"We are very happy," Kai said as he slowly blinked. Nya nodded as if to agree.
"Yes. Opera is our lives." Lloyd narrowed his eyes, not able to take any more of their strange behavior.
"Alright guys, I don't know what that DeBrick lady did to you, but you've gotta' snap out of it!" Lloyd said urgently. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a picture of Kai, sweaty, dirty and smiling from a good, long training session. "Don't you remember this guy?" Instead of reacting the way he had hoped Kai would, by remembering everything, Kai grimaced at the image as if he didn't recognize the messy young man in the picture. Lloyd frowned and put the picture back away. Zane tried next with Nya, pulling what looked like an oily rag from one of his compartments that he used as pockets.
"How about this, Nya? It's the rag you always use to wipe oil from your hands whenever you have finished working on one of your big projects." Nya only did as Kai did, cringing and pushing the object away from her. Lloyd, not about to give up, tried one last gamble.
"Come on guys! You can't tell me you've forgotten about these!" He reached into the case he had been carrying with him and pulled out two items. One was a polished, but well-used sword that Kai used in battles since losing the golden weapons; Kai had forged it himself. The other was the bracelet that Nya usually wore, the one she used to summon her Samurai exosuit from a distance. To his joy, he saw their faces light up upon seeing these objects. They began to reach for them, but stopped suddenly. A strangely pitched noise flowed through the air, causing this effect on the two. Though Lloyd couldn't hear it, Zane could. The two immediately stopped upon hearing this noise, cringing away from their beloved belongings. "Ah man, it's worse than we thought, Zane." The white ninja nodded, a grave look on his face.
"Indeed." Kai and Nya had stopped cringing, and were now smiling calmly once more.
"Well, we apologize for leaving like this, but we really must get back to our opera drills. I trust you two can see yourselves out." Kai got up from his seat and bowed to them.
"Yes, it was so nice to see you again. We must do this again sometime soon." Nya agreed. She curtsied and they both left, closing the door behind thim. Lloyd looked at Zane, worry etched in his features.
"Did you see that, Zane?! Those aren't our friends! That lady did something bad to them, I just know it!" Zane nodded gravely. "We have to help them!"
"I know, Lloyd, I know. I just hope we can help them, before it is too late."
Lloyd sighed as he picked his spoon out of his bowl, watching the liquid drip back down and splash into the bowl. After their unsuccessful visit to Kai and Nya, he and Zane went home disappointed. Now they were sitting around their small table, eating a simple dinner of soup and crackers.
"Don't play with your food, Lloyd," Sensei Wu reprimanded, "and eat it quickly, or else it will get cold."
"Yes uncle," Lloyd said. He slurped some soup out of his spoon, only half-tasting the vegetables and chicken in the broth. The ninja (except for Zane) raised their eyebrows at him.
"What's the matter, Lloyd?" Jay asked. "Got a stomach ache or something?" Lloyd shook his head as he put his spoon back down.
"No. I'm just not really that hungry right now." He got up from the table and looked at Wu. "Would it be alright if I went out to check on Ultra Dragon?" Wu nodded, though he eyed his nephew.
"You may. Just don't be out there too long. I'll save your soup for you." Lloyd nodded his thanks and headed out, closing the door behind him. He trudged up the stairs to the roof, where the dragon still sat. He went up and petted the flying lizard on one of its' heads, earning a pleased grumbling sound.
"Hey there boys." One of the heads nuzzled against him gently, asking to be pet. He complied and patted it on the nose. "I don't know what to do," he said aloud. "Kai and Nya are both gone, and I feel like it's all my fault." He glanced at the dragon, which stared at him with four pairs of large, intelligent eyes, and went on. "I mean, we just let that lady take them without doing anything. I mean, we could have stopped her. It would have been easy to stop her." He leaned his elbow on the roof's edge and pressed his cheek into his hand. "Her and that stupid whistle." His face brightened up suddenly, a smile leaking onto his face. "Wait... the whistle! That's it! The whistle is what's making them all weird! If we find out how to get them out of its' spell, then they'll go back to normal and come back! It's so simple it has to work!" He pet the dragon one more time and ran off. "Thanks Ultra!" The four headed creature stared after him, tilting one of its' heads.
–
When Lloyd finally returned, Sensei Wu was waiting for him. "There you are Lloyd," he greeted as his nephew came in the door. "You were up with the dragon for an awfully long time. And what's that in your hand there?" He pointed with his cane at a plastic bag that Lloyd held in his hand. Lloyd held the bag behind his back, smiling nervously.
"Oh, what, this? Well, after I took care of Ultra, I thought I'd run down to the store and grab some comic books. Sorry I didn't tell you before I went, I thought it would take a minute, but there was this HUGE line at the register, so it took longer than I thought." He kept smiling, feeling a drop of sweat drip down the back of his neck as his uncle stared at him. Finally, though, Wu nodded and turned away from him.
"Well, just make sure to tell us next time. We don't want you running off and something bad happening to you." Lloyd nodded and headed to the table.
"So, is there any soup left?"
–
Zane turned over, opening his eyes as he awoke out of his nightly stasis. He sat up and looked over at the bathroom, where he saw light filtering from under the door. His hyper-sensitive ears picked up something, like pages rustling. He got up from his bed and went to the bathroom, then stopped and knocked on the door.
"Hello? Who's in there," he whispered so as not to wake the others. The door opened a crack, and a hand shot out and pulled him in, closing the door behind him. It turned out that the person was Lloyd. He locked the door as soon as he pulled Zane in. Zane could see he was holding a comic book in one hand. "Lloyd, what is the meaning of this? And why are you reading comics this late at night?"
"I'm not reading comics. I just had this over what I was really reading in case someone walked in on me." He dropped the comic onto the edge of the sink, revealing an old book with a cracked leather cover. "I picked this up at the library when I said I was out buying comics. Which I kind of was considering I bought that. But it took a while to find the book because it was in one of the back rooms and the librarian had to find it." He flipped it open to the page he had been on as he explained what he had been doing. "You know how Kai and Nya were acting so weird?" Zane nodded that he did. "Well, I remembered that that DeBrick lady blew on that weirdo whistle before they started acting like that. So I thought it had something to do with it. So I looked up on things like that, and look what I found."
He showed the page to Zane. It had a picture of the exact same whistle on the worn page. It was slightly discolored from years of being read, but it was recognizable. Above it was the title 'The Whistle of Hypnobrias'.
"According to this book, it's supposed to have been a whistle created by the Hypnobrai tribe themselves, for creatures they couldn't hypnotize with their eyes. But it got lost somehow, and no one ever found it again. I'm sure that this is the same whistle that she had!" Zane eyed Lloyd.
"You have really thought this through, haven't you? I am very impressed." Lloyd smiled at the praise, but went on.
"From her story, it doesn't sound like she used it on them a lot when they were kids. So, I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that it looks like you have to have been under its' influence continuously for a certain amount of time for the effects to be permanent without the whistle. And we can break it completely if we can break the whistle before that." Zane smiled upon hearing this.
"That is excellent, but... what is the bad news?" Lloyd gave him a very grim look.
"The bad news is, it takes ten days of continuous control for it to be permanent. Which means we only have two days left before they're under her control forever.
After they had discovered the time limit to saving their friends, Lloyd and Zane had gone back to the complex the very next day to try and confront Mme. Debrick. However, they were stopped right before they even got to the door when the doorman stepped into their path.
"My apologies good sirs," he drawled, "but I have been specifically asked by the Madame not to let either of you in. She is very busy helping her proteges rehearse for their big performance tomorrow night, 'The Puppets of Brickzance', and they need absolutely no interruptions."
"But we have to see our friends!" Lloyd exclaimed. "We need to-" the doorman waves his hand in Lloyd's face in a 'shoo' kind of manner.
"I must ask that you gentlemen be on your way. Lest you would force me to raise my hand against you." Lloyd snickered at this, and even Zane cracked a bit of a smile. The man raised an eyebrow and sighed. "Very well then, you both leave me no choice." He reached behind him, and pulled a feather duster out from behind his back.
"Ooh! A feather duster! I am SO terrified," Lloyd said in fake fear. Zane played along, as his humor switch was half in the on position.
"Quite. I am shaking in my shoes," he agreed. They began to snicker a bit, until the doorman soundly hit Zane on top of the head with the handle of the duster. "Ow!" Zane yelped. Lloyd tried to speak out against this action, but the doorman waved the duster in his face, causing dust and feathers to fly into his mouth and nose. Both coughing and holding sore spots, they retreated around the building.
"Well, that didn't work out like we hoped," Lloyd stated simply. Zane nodded, then shielded his eyes as he looked up at the building. "So what now? Can we sneak in or something?" Zane shook his head, stil examining the windows.
"No. I doubt that doorman will be fooled by simple disguises. And that building is too tall, even for us to scale. And we can't fly the Ultra Dragon up there because people would notice, including the others." Lloyd placed his hand on his chin, thinking. He suddenly smiled and snapped his fingers.
"What about your bird? You can have it go in to search for the whistle. Then you can have it bring it out here so we can break it. Or it could just drop it out the window, that would break it for sure." Zane nodded and smiled.
"You are very intelligent for someone so young, Lloyd. Good thinking." He sent out a silent signal and his bird flew to him from where it was perched. After giving it its' instructions, it flew up into the air to the window. It finally reached the place, and much for its' luck, the window was wide open. It angled its' wings and prepared for a quick swoop inside to find its' objective and bring it back to its' master. It glided towards the window, eyes trained on its' landing place...
Then it smacked head-first into the glass as DeBrick slammed the window shut. She glared at the bird as it slid down the side before falling back down to earth. She huffed and turned, going back to continue training her 'students'.
Zane could sense something was wrong. He shielded his eyes from the sun, and saw a black dot zooming down to the ground. He gasped when he realized it was his beloved eagle, limp as it fell. Luckily he managed to catch it before it could hit the ground, it landed in his outstretched hands, making pathetic sparking sounds. Zane stood and stared sadly at the bird as Lloyd came up behind him.
"It it okay?" He asked sincerely. Zane nodded, though sadly.
"Yes, it can be repaired. It just won't be able to help us for now. This is most unfortunate luck for us."
–
The two tried all day, but nothing came of their labors. They simply couldn't get that whistle from that accursed woman. At the end of the day, they finally collapsed on the floor in their apartment, groaning in frustration.
"We can't give up, but this is so hard!" Lloyd said to Zane as he let his arms flop beside him. "We've tried everything we can think of, but we can't get our hands on that whistle!" Zane sighed, crossing his arms.
"This is certainly difficult. But we must not lose hope. We still have one more day left to break the spell. Perhaps fortune will shine her light upon us yet." All the way until dinner, they brainstormed so many different ideas, but all of those they talked about either were impractical or just would never work.
As they sat around the table, munching on chicken that Jay had made, Cole suddenly seemed to remember something.
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that." Sensei Wu gave his former student a look of confusion.
"Forgot about what?" Cole sighed and picked up a leg of chicken.
"One of my dad's old friends got in touch with him today. Apparently she's doing some kind of big performance tomorrow night. He hates opera, but they've been friends for a while, so she gave him some tickets to come to the show tomorrow. Anyone want to come with?" He waited, but the table around him was silent. "Come on, don't all speak up at once."
"What's the show called?" Jay asked, though it was more out of curiosity than wanting to go. Cole shrugged, as he munched on his chicken leg.
"I dunno. I think it was 'The Puppets of Brickzance' or something like that. I don't remember too well, but I think that was it." Lloyd swallowed a large lump of chicken, eyes wide with surprise.
"I could go with you, Cole," Zane offered calmly. "And perhaps Lloyd could come along as well? You have said that he needs to learn a bit more about culture, did you not, sensei?" Sensei Wu nodded, tapping his staff.
"That is true, I did say that. And it would be a good opportunity to do so. Very well, you shall both be going with Cole, then. Will you be going along, Jay?" Jay shook his head as he leaned back.
"Nah, I'm good. I've never really liked those kinds of shows." Wu shrugged, and after Cole confirmed that the two would be coming with him and his father, they went on eating. After dinner, Lloyd and Zane escaped to the rooftop once more.
"Can you believe it, Zane?" Lloyd asked. Zane shook his head, obviously not believing it. "How lucky can we get? We can still do this after all."
"Indeed, though it is rather odd how these things always seem to time themselves for us. We would be cutting it rather close, though. According to that book you got, we have until midnight to destroy that whistle and break the spell. What are the odds that Cole's father would be invited to the same performance?" Lloyd shrugged, but then clenched his fist and got serious.
"Well, it doesn't matter. We've got one more chance, and we can't blow it." He crossed his arms and a determined spark came into his eye. "Get ready, Zane. Tomorrow, we go to the opera."
Lloyd grimaced as he pulled at the bowtie around his neck. "This thing itches, how are you supposed to wear these things?" he complained to Cole. The Earth ninja only shrugged his shoulders.
"I've been wearing these things since I was a kid, it's an acquired skill I guess." Cole shrugged and turned to his father, who was trying to show him something. Lloyd grumbled and pulled at his constricting collar. Zane leaned over to him, whispering into his ear so no one else could hear.
"Remember Lloyd, we're not doing this for fun." Lloyd sighed and nodded.
"I know, we're doing this for Kai and Nya. I just wish this collar wasn't so tight. I'm nervous enough without feeling like I can hardly breathe." Zane nodded understandingly.
"I know the feeling. My stomach is all fluttery inside." Lloyd raised an eyebrow, wondering how his normally unflappable friend could lose his cool, then he let out an 'ooh' when he thought he knew why.
"Let me guess, you got some butterflies in your stomach again?" Zane shook his head, opening up his chest for Lloyd to see.
"No, not butterflies. This time it is moths," he said as both ninja watched the insects escape and fly away. After a moment, Lloyd raised an eyebrow.
"Ookaay, well, I'm glad that you got that out of the way." He started as he realized something. "Wait a moment, I almost forgot. What about you? Remember in the arcade? What if they hit that XYZ whatever note and you short out again?" Zane smiled reassuringly at the younger ninja.
"Oh, you need not worry about that, I thought about that and found a solution to that dilemma." He reached into one of his ears and pulled out what seemed to be some kind of high-tech earpiece. "Sonic earplugs. They will allow me to hear regular sounds, but it should keep the tone of their high notes from making me short out. I remembered Nya mentioning that she was working on these for a while, and considering the circumstances, I don't really think she would mind me borrowing them." Lloyd smiled.
"Good old Nya," he agreed.
"Hey! What are you guys doing?" They turned when they saw Cole waving them over to where he and his father were walking. "Come on! The show's gonna' start soon, we've gotta' get to our seats!" Lloyd and Zane nodded to each other, then followed the Earth ninja. They walked through the halls of the Ninjago Opera House, following their friend (and ready to dive behind a fern or potted tree to hide in case Madame DeBrick should come into view). They followed him up several flights of stairs up to what Zane assumed would be the balcony. By the time they reached the top, the overhead lights were already beginning to dim to announce the show's coming start. Cole's father settled himself down in his seat and pulled out a pair of opera binoculars, peering intently through them. Lloyd leaned over the edge of the railing slightly, eyes narrowed at the stage.
"We're so high above the stage. How are we supposed to see anything from way up here?" he questioned. He heard Cole scoff and looked back to see theEarth ninja reclining in his seat.
"See?" he said with a snort. "What's there to see? It's an opera. You don't need to see anything. Besides, I'll probably be asleep before the show even begins." Lloyd sat down in his seat next to Zane, who leaned over so he could whisper to him.
"Cole's view of this opera is a bit rude, but it is fortunate for us," he whispered. "If he really will fall asleep as he claims, then it will make it all the easier for us to save Kai and Nya without his noticing." Lloyd nodded, then settled back in his seat as the red curtain rose.
Down below, Kai and Nya stood at center stage, posed for the performance's beginning. Up above, on the catwalk just above the stage, DeBrick sat on the edge and watched her students with a hawk's eye. Lloyd's eyes widened when he saw her and tugged on Zane's sleeve. Zane looked up and saw her as well, then crouched next to Lloyd.
"Alright, here is what we shall do," he whispered. "DeBrick is sitting there on the catwalk. If she pulls out her whistle, then I shall use this," he pulled a shuriken out of a hidden pocket in his ninja outfit, "to knock it out of her hand. The impact of the fall should shatter it, along with her control over Kai and Nya." Lloyd nodded, a smile on his face.
"Good plan. I like it." The sound of the instruments down in the pit reached his ears and he and Zane quickly jumped back into their seats. With a tap of the conductor's baton, the instruments grew silent from their warm-up and began playing. Along with it, Kay and Nya began to sing. It was actually quite a nice sound, and their movements were well coordinated. Lloyd watched, actually a bit impressed by how well they were performing.
"Wow, they're actually pretty good," he admitted. "Don't you think, Cole?... Cole?" He looked and, true to his word, Cole was fast asleep. The playbill was open on top of his face, you could hear his muffled snoring and the rustling of the pages as they moved with his breath. Lloyd rolled his eyes at how quickly the Earth ninja could fall asleep. Luckily for them it made their mission easier. Next to Cole, though, Cole's father was peering through his opera binoculars with a strange expression on his face.
"Hm, that's odd," he quipped. "I could almost swear that that one performer looks familiar for some reason." Both Zane and Lloyd froze, fearing for a moment that he would recognize Kai (only Kai, though, since Cole's father had never met Nya before). Then, to their relief, he said "Eh, must just be my old eyes playing tricks on me." They let out sighs of relief, but kept their eyes on Kai, Nya, and DeBrick. The performance wasn't meant to take too long, perhaps only half an hour considering it was only a show for two singers. It was cutting it awfully close to midnight, though. Finally, as it drew ever closer to when the clock struck twelve, the finale came up. Lloyd nervously fidgeted in his seat.
"This is getting too close, Zane. What if we can't catch her with her whistle? What if we can't save them? What if-" His worried chatter was stopped by Zane, who had placed a hand over his mouth.
"Hush, I think the finale is out. By my calculations, Madame DeBrick would wish to have them attempt to perform that note in the finale. When they do that, it is highly likely that she will use the whistle then. Just wait another couple of minutes." Lloyd nodded, but was still nervous. "I am as uneasy as you are, but we cannot allow nervousness to get the best of us. We must stay-" He found himself stopping mid-sentence as it seemed Kai and Nya were finishing the last few notes of the grand finale. They both took in large breaths, thrust out their chests, and released the note that DeBrick had trapped them in for in the first place, the synchronized YX sharp over Z major. Up in her place on the catwalk, DeBrick smiled almost wildly, holding up her hand in an almost talon shape in her excitement.
"Yes!" She cried. "That's it! Hold it out!" The pitch of the note caused many people in the audience to cover their ears and cringe greatly, gritting their teeth. Lloyd and Zane did the same. Though Zane didn't short out like he did in the arcade, he understood why the high note was so revered, it almost sounded like it shouldn't have been possible to get someone's voice to go that high, but the two of them did it anyways. All around them, glass things shattered; glasses, binoculars, monocles, and even the crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.
They sustained the note for a good half a minute, making everyone cringe for that long (and Lloyd and Zane internally wonder where they got the air to hold a note that long). Zane changed opening his eyes and saw the glint of the whistle in DeBrick's hand as she brought it to her lips. He narrowed his eyes and pulled out his shuriken, sacrificing one of the hands that covered his ears. Got you. He threw it with deadly accuracy, cleanly knocking it from her hands. She was positively shocked, but that shock turned to wild fear as it spun out of her hands and towards the ground. She let out a 'NO!', but was too late to stop it. The whistle, being so old and fragile, smashed to bits upon impact with the ground, releasing one final airy whistle before it did so.
When the metal instrument smashed, the effects of its' spell broke instantly. Kai and Nya released the note they had been holding, shaking their heads violently, looking like two people who had just awoken from a long sleep. Their eyes were wide, confused for a moment, taking in where they were and what was going on.
"Kai... where are we?" Nya asked slowly. Kai looked over the both of them, just as confused as she was.
"I don't know. What is up with your hair, and why am I in tights?" Lloyd was still trying to rid himself of the ringing in his ears, so he didn't even notice that Kai and Nya were free until Zane tapped him on the shoulder.
"Lloyd, we did it! Look!" Lloyd looked down at the stage, and a wide smile broke out on his face. As he did so, the clock struck the final hour and twelve loud 'bong's rang out. "And just in the nick of time, too."
"Alright!" Lloyd cheered. Cole's father didn't even notice them, as he was still clearing his ears and staring with wonder at his broken binoculars, as they jumped and shimmied down a curtain to the stage. "Kai! Nya!" The siblings looked up at him and Zane with confusion as they reached the two of them. "Now, I know you guys are probably confused right now, but Zane and I will explain everything to you once we're out of here." Kai looked up and frowned.
"Oh, don't worry, I think I have a pretty good idea." He motioned for Nya to follow his gaze. She looked up and frowned as well.
"Yeah, me too. Come on you guys, let's get out of here before people start getting over having their eardrums blown out." The boys agreed and went off-stage, leaving the audience confused and still picking at their ears. Up in the balcony, Cole snorted and sleepily looked around, the playbill slipping off of his face.
"Wha-, what's up? Is it over? Did we win?"
–
Kai shook his head and Nya crossed her arms as they finished hearing Lloyd tell them the story of their being hypnotized and forced to sing again. Just as they were about to reach the door, they heard the sound of someone running in heels towards them.
"Wait! WAIT!" They stopped and turned to see who was calling, and Kai and Nya scowled when they saw DeBrick finally reach them. She was breathing heavily, but she was still able to speak. "You can't leave! You have just hit the note you had trained all your childhood for! You cannot just quit now, now that you have a chance to make it in the big business of opera!"
"Are you kidding?" Kai snapped at her. "We never asked for you to try and hypnotize us to make us singers! We only went along with it in the first place because dad wanted us to. We only quit because you were such a slave-driver. You were wearing us out so much we couldn't do anything else. That's why we quit! Now we're doing something we picked, we don't need you telling us what to do anymore!" DeBrick frowned, looking steamed as a lobster.
"Mindless fighting is what you like?! You are wasting your talent in a dead-end profession! I suppose I was wrong, then. You are not meant to be stars, not two-time quitters like you both!" Nya uncrossed her arms and stomped up to DeBrick, eyes boring right into those of her old teacher.
"Listen, DeBrick, I want to make just one thing straight here. We never quit opera." She grabbed the sash that was draped over her shoulder and threw it to the ground in one swift move, mimicked by Kai as he threw off his gloves. "We quit you!" She turned away from an utterly stunned DeBrick and stomped towards the exit. "Let's get out of here you guys."
"Right behind ya' little sis," Kai responded. With that, the four of them left the opera house, the shocked Madame left in their wake. Once they were out and walking down the street, Lloyd let out a sigh of relief as he pulled of his bowtie.
"Good to have you guys back," he said with a smile. Zane agreed by nodding.
"Quite. We were worried about you, so it is good to see you safe and sound." Kai stretched out his arms, working out the kinks in them from being so stiff.
"Well, we owe you guys a lot. We were almost forced back into the life, thanks for keeping that from happening."
"Seriously," Nya said, "thanks for trying so hard to help us."
"No problem," Lloyd said off-handedly. "Still, that note you guys did was pretty awesome, the way it shattered all that glass and stuff. Do you think you could teach me how to do something like that?" Kai ruffled Lloyd's hair good-naturedly.
"Sure thing, in-between your other training. We'd be happy to, right Nya?"
"Right," she nodded.
Zane smiled a bit. "Well, I think we can all agree that this little venture went out on a high note."
Category:Fan Fiction