by Tracey West
“It is time to begin training,” she said.
“Can you teach us how to do that? What you just did?” Garmadon asked eagerly.
“And back in that foggy forest, you jumped up so high,” Wu added. “I’d love to learn that, too.”
Nineko’s long gray tail emerged from her kimono. The tip of it pointed at them.
“Cats have strong hind legs that power their jumps, and tails that help them keep balance,” she explained. “You two do not have those things. But you can learn. Follow me.”
Without warning, she leapt straight into the air and landed on the deck of the tree house.
“How are we…? You haven’t taught us how to do that yet!” Garmadon yelled up.
“Use the ladder,” she replied.
Both boys scrambled up the ladder. Nineko pointed to a thick green twisted vine that extended from the deck to a tree in the distance.
“Balance,” she said. She stepped on the vine and glided across it with swift, sure steps until she reached the tree on the other side.
“I’ll go first!” Garmadon offered.
He placed one foot on the vine and then stretched out both arms at his sides. He slowly took one step after another.
“Hey, that’s pretty good,” Wu said.
“I do this on the old stone wall at home,” Garmadon said. “It’s not that hard. You just need to concen—Whoa!”
Garmadon slipped and fell off the vine. He grabbed on with one hand to stop his fall. Then he tried to pull himself up.
“It’s slippery!” he complained. “This vine is covered with lake slime.”
“Hold on!” Wu cried.
He stepped out onto the vine and slowly made his way across, trying to reach his brother. But just before he reached him, he lost his footing. He tumbled off the vine, knocking into Garmadon and taking him down with him.
Splat! They landed in sticky, squishy mud.
“I could have gotten back on the vine!” Garmadon yelled. “Now look at us!”
“I was just trying to help,” Wu replied.
Nineko jumped down from the tree, landing smoothly beside them.
“You do not have tails,” she said. “So you must bring balance to your body. Garmadon, I can see you feel it. You did very well by using your outstretched arms. Next time, focus your energy in the bottom of your spine as you walk.”
Then Nineko turned to Wu. “You will need to try harder. Use your staff to help you. Now let me see you both again.”
Whoosh!
She ascended back up to the tree.
The boys climbed the ladder and tried again.
Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat!
They ended up in the mud again and again and again…until Garmadon finally made it across. Determined not to fail, Wu concentrated as hard as he could…and he made it, too.
Wu leaned back against the tree trunk. “Finally!”
“Your training is hardly final,” Nineko said. “But it is a good beginning.”
“Can you teach us how to leap straight into the air, like you do? And land silently on your feet when you jump down?” Garmadon asked.
“I have abilities that you do not,” Nineko replied. “But you can use your Spinjitzu to do the same. Watch closely as I jump.”
She leapt off the branch and smoothly somersaulted in midair so that she landed evenly on her feet when she hit the rough ground.
“Use your Spinjitzu when you jump!” she said.
Wu understood. “I will go first this time,” he said. He closed his eyes.
“Ninjaaa-go!” he cried as he launched himself off the branch. As he plummeted, he created a swirling Spinjitzu tornado. When he hit the ground, he kept spinning.
Wham! He slammed into a big tree trunk and fell backward.
“That was the right idea,” Nineko called down. “You just need more control.”
Garmadon tried next and had the same result, spinning wildly out off balance as he landed. The brothers tried again and again and again until the sun rose.
Nineko yawned. “Time for another nap,” she said. “We will continue tonight.”
Exhausted and covered in mud, Wu and Garmadon unrolled their mats on the deck of the tree house and slept. When they woke up, they washed their clothes in some clear water from a well. That night, the training began all over again.
“As you use your Spinjitzu to jump down, you may also use it to jump up,” Nineko instructed. “Begin to spin before you launch off the ground.”
She demonstrated, quickly twirling and then rocketing straight up into the air, landing on a tree branch high above.
“That looks easy!” Garmadon said. He spun and launched—but he couldn’t even get half as high as Nineko.
“Let me try,” Wu said, and the same thing happened to him.
Nineko jumped down. “It’s all in the timing,” she said. “The more you spin, the higher you’ll be able to jump. But you’ll also risk going out of control. It will take practice.”
After their night of training, the boys tried to get more information out of Nineko.
“How did you meet our father?”
“How long did you train with him for?”
“Why did you leave the monastery?”
For several nights, she only twitched her ears and said nothing. On the fifth night, she finally gave in.
“I was an orphan girl,” she began as they drank their tea by candlelight in the tree house. “Hungry and alone, I stole to feed myself and stay alive. Your father caught me stealing eggs from his henhouse. But instead of punishing me, he offered to train me.”
The brothers looked at each other.
“That was a pretty generous thing for Father to do,” Wu remarked.
“Yeah, maybe he has a heart after all,” Garmadon said.
Nineko’s eyes flickered and she said no more.
They continued to train each night until the sun came up. They went to bed muddy and exhausted, woke up and got clean, and then spent another night training.
Garmadon was eager to please Nineko.
“Nineko, look! Look!” he would cry as he walked across the vine. She would shake her head.
“Fail,” she would say. “The goal of a ninja is to be invisible, not to be seen.”
Wu persisted in trying to get Nineko to say more about her past.
“It’s weird that she won’t just tell us her story,” he said to Garmadon one morning as they fetched fresh water from the well.
“It’s not weird. She’s just mysterious,” Garmadon said. “All powerful ninja are mysterious, right? I’m just happy that she’s teaching us her Catjitzu skills.”
“I guess,” Wu said, but he still wasn’t satisfied. The next morning, he pressed Nineko again.
“Did you leave my father before or after you…became like you are now?” he asked one morning, when training was done.
Nineko’s eyes narrowed. “I see there is no satisfying your curiosity,” she said. “I will answer your question—after you master Catjitzu.”
“Awwwww!” Wu groaned, but it pressed both him and his brother to work harder. Day after day they walked the vine, practiced jumping, and got covered in mud. Finally, when Wu thought they might never get it, something kicked in.
Both Wu and Garmadon walked across the twisted vine gracefully with perfect balance. They leapt from the tree house deck and landed silently on their feet on the muddy ground. They jumped effortlessly from the bottom of the tree and landed just beneath Nineko.
“Well done,” she said.
“NOW you can tell us about training with our father,” Wu said.
Garmadon rolled his eyes. “Sheesh, Wu—couldn’t you even wait a minute?”
“I will keep my promise,” Nineko said. “I trained with your father for several years.
Then one day, shortly after my eighteenth birthday, one of his katanas went missing. Your father accused me of stealing it. I had not, but there was no way to convince him. I realized then that he would always see me as the young thief that he had rescued. So I continued training on my own.”
“I—I’m sorry,” Wu stammered, and Nineko jumped to the tree house without another word.
Garmadon punched him in the arm. “Nice job, Wu,” he said. “She obviously didn’t want to tell us because it’s such a painful story. And you made her tell it.”
“How was I supposed to know?” Wu asked. “Still…I mean, that sounds like something Father would do, but…”
“But what, Wu?” Garmadon said sternly. “Father’s right. You’re too curious for your own good sometimes. Come on, let’s fetch some water for Nineko.”
The boys collected a bucket of water and brought it up to the tree house. Nineko was staring out the window. She turned when they arrived.
“Now it is time for you to keep your promise,” she said. “When first light breaks, you may begin your mission for me.”
“Where are we going?” Wu asked.
“Back to the tall mountain where you encountered the jewel thieves,” Nineko replied. “You will have to get past them, but I know a way that is not guarded. The Cat-Eye Jewel is on the very top of the mountain. You will need to use all your skills to reach it. Then you must bring it back to me.”
“We’ll get it for you, Nineko!” Garmadon promised. Then he yawned. “The sun will be up soon. Can’t we wait until the afternoon?”
“I have waited long enough,” Nineko said coldly, and she entered her house.
There she goes again being mysterious, Wu thought. Why won’t she tell us more about this Cat-Eye Jewel?
But there was no point in pressing it. She had kept her end of the bargain by training them, and they owed it to her.
You had a bargain with Aspheera, too, a little voice in his head reminded him. And that ended in a lot of trouble. Still, a deal is a deal….
The brothers slept for a short time and woke at first light to get ready for the mission. Nineko served them tea and a light breakfast, and then they followed her to the shore of the lake.
“Take the boat,” she instructed, “and head west. There is a stream that feeds into the lake from a cavern beneath the mountain. Take the stream into the cavern. Then pass through the cavern and begin your climb. You should not encounter any of the thieves. When you get the jewel, bring it back to me.”
“We won’t fail you!” Garmadon assured her.
“I hope you won’t,” Nineko said. Then she leapt up, leaving them on the shore.
Wu and Garmadon climbed into the boat and began to row, staring at the murky surface of the green lake. After an hour they came to the stream that Nineko had mentioned. They rowed the boat toward the mouth of the stream, getting close to the shore for the first time.
Wu noticed a rustling in a clump of reeds near where the lake and the stream met. He put a finger to his lips and motioned with his head to his brother. Garmadon followed his gaze and saw it, too.
The boys stopped rowing. Then they stood up, jumped from the boat onto the shore, and tackled the figure in the reeds. It was one of the green warriors!
Wu pinned the warrior to the ground with his staff. Garmadon pulled off the man’s hood.
“You’re not a cat ninja!’ Garmadon exclaimed.
“Why would I be a cat ninja?” the warrior asked.
“Well, those ears kind of scream ‘cat,’ ” Wu remarked.
“I’m obviously not a cat,” the man replied.
Garmadon nodded. “We got that. But why are you following us? And are there others with you?”
“It’s just me,” the warrior said. “I’ve been watching you for several days. You need to listen to me. I am not your enemy. Nineko is!”
The brothers gasped.
“He’s lying to save himself,” Garmadon said. “I’m going to check the perimeter.”
“I don’t need to lie to do that,” the warrior said. “I’m a trained warrior. If I wanted to fight you, I’d be doing it right now.”
“We’ll see about that,” Garmadon growled, and he darted off, scouting for other fighters in green, while Wu kept his staff pressed firmly on the warrior’s chest.
Garmadon returned. “He’s alone. He’s telling the truth about that at least.”
“I have no reason to lie to you kids!” the warrior countered. “I’m sure Nineko told you that we are thieves. That we stole the Cat-Eye Jewel from her. But that’s not the case. Let me tell you my story.”
Wu slowly removed his staff.
“Talk,” he said.
The man in green sat up. “My name is Dillon, and I am a member of the Ancient Order of Felis. It is our sacred duty to guard the Cat-Eye Jewel.”
“After you stole it from Nineko?” Garmadon asked.
“It was never hers to steal,” Dillon replied. “The Ancient Order of Felis has been guarding the Cat-Eye Jewel for centuries, long before she was born. The stone is what gives each cat nine lives.”
“I thought that was just a tale,” Wu said.
Dillon replied. “It has been true ever since the stone was created. Because the life of a cat is precious, and often dangerous, the stone protects them by giving each one eight extra lives. However, any cat who harvests the power of the stone will steal all of the lives it holds and become immortal. That is why we guard it so carefully. The mountain is magically protected so that no cat can climb it.”
“That is why Nineko asked us to retrieve the jewel for her,” Wu said.
“You mean steal the jewel,” Dillon said. “That’s what she was trying to do when we stopped her. She used dark sorcery to transform herself into a cat so she could steal the stone and use its powers, but we foiled her plan.”
“Wait, what do you mean, sorcery?” Garmadon asked. “Do you mean magic? She’s a ninja, not some kind of witch.”
“I’m sure she showed you only what she wanted you to see,” Dillon replied.
Wu remembered Nineko’s mysterious refusal to answer most questions.
Is that what she was hiding? he thought.
“The Order of Felis knows her as an evil sorceress, one who committed terrible acts in her pursuit of immortality,” he said. “That is why she wants the Cat-Eye Jewel. She wants to steal all the lives for herself.”
Garmadon frowned. “You want us to believe that Nineko turned herself into a cat lady on purpose?”
Dillon nodded. “That is what happened,” he said. “If you don’t believe me, come with me to the Temple of Felis. Our leader will give you the proof you need.”
Garmadon scowled at Wu. “You don’t think he’s telling the truth, do you? He’s just making up a story so we won’t help Nineko take back what’s rightfully hers.”
“I don’t know,” Wu replied slowly. “Nineko said the green warriors were thieves. But if they wanted to profit from the stone, why are they protecting it? Why not sell it? Or use whatever powers it has for themselves?”
He looked at Dillon. “I want to hear more. Take us to your leader.”
“No way!” Garmadon said. “We need to tie this guy up and do what Nineko asked us to do.”
The brothers stared at each other fiercely.
“I think we should go talk to the other guardians,” Wu said. “See if the story checks out.”
“You mean walk into a trap?” Garmadon asked.
“We can handle ourselves,” Wu said. “If Nineko really is evil, then I don’t want to help her.”
“She trained us in Catjitzu! She saved us twice!” Garmadon cried. “I can’t believe you’re being serious right now, Wu. Let’s do what we came to do. We must keep our promise to Nineko.”
Wu shook his head. “I can’t, Garma
don. Not until I get more information.”
Garmadon turned and walked toward the shore.
“Where are you going?” Wu asked.
“Back to Nineko. I trust her. Are you coming with me?” Garmadon asked.
“No!” Wu replied. “How can you trust her after what we’ve heard?”
“Never mind. I don’t need you,” Garmadon snapped. “I’m going to figure out how to keep our promise.” He jumped into the boat and rowed away.
Wu had never seen Garmadon act like this. He watched his brother disappear across the lake. Will I ever see him again? he thought.
Garmadon hated the idea of going back to Nineko without the jewel. He thought about climbing the mountain himself, but now the thieves—or the guardians, if their story was true—would be looking for him. He wasn’t sure if he could take them on all by himself. He didn’t want to admit it, but he needed Wu.
He’s so stubborn! Garmadon thought. We had one simple thing to do, and Wu had to go mess it up. He’d rather believe the word of a stranger—a thief!—than agree with his own brother.
Another little voice in the back of Garmadon’s head told him that Wu might be right. Dillon’s story could be true, and if that were the case, it would be a bad thing for Nineko to get the jewel. Very bad. But he didn’t want Wu to be right. Something inside him pulled him toward Nineko. He couldn’t really explain it, but he felt that they had a connection somehow. And he wanted to hear what she had to say.
He rowed back across the lake and leapt to the deck of the tree house. He found Nineko inside, meditating. As soon as he stepped into the tree house, she opened an eye.
“You have failed,” she said.
“Not exactly,” Garmadon said. “Wu and I found a scout following us. He told us that he belonged to an ancient order of guards protecting the Cat-Eye Jewel. He says the stone was never yours to begin with. That you only want to steal it to become immortal and that you are a sorceress who did terrible things in your quest for immortality. Wu believed him, but I didn’t.”
