@hiddenmisc I finished the one-shot!! This takes place after the whole Dragon Cores thing lmao. I think it’s season 2?? Idk..But I forgot to include Zane so y’know…my bad..
anyways here you go!! Hope you enjoy!! This is also up on my A03!!
Things To Do
If you told Sora when she was 10 that, by the time she turned sixteen, she’d have a little brother who was a Spinjitzu genius, a younger cousin who could set her on fire at any moment, a weird and flamboyant uncle who was just as flammable as her cousin, and an adoptive dad who radiated anxiety 24/7, AND all of these people respected her pronouns and called her by her preferred name….
Sora would’ve told you to jump off a bridge and leave her alone, because there was no way any of that would ever happen to her.
But, here she was!! With….all of those oddly specific things she’d just listed.
It was hard to believe that Sora was sitting here now. In the fabled Monastery of Spinjitzu that Arin loved to tell her stories about. In their very own room that the two of them shared!
Arin had been overjoyed for the past few months. Understandably so, this had been his dream since he was a kid. To be training with the Ninja—his heroes!
Sora was just glad to have somewhere safe to stay. She wasn’t used to living so….comfortably. Although Lloyd would insist that, despite their profession, the Ninja were not by any means rich in any way.
Kai had dismissed this quickly and informed the younger Ninja that they had been getting very generous donations from the City of Ninjago every month before the Merge happened, and they had plenty of money saved up in case things got really bad.
Either way, this was all new to Sora. Even in Imperium, she wasn’t extremely well off. Her parents worked good jobs, and she had gone to a good school. But nobody in Imperium was really rich except for the Empress…
Sora also wasn’t used to so many people living in one roof. For the first ten years of her life, it had just been her, her mom, and her dad.
After the Merge it had just been her and Arin, her little brother and best friend.
Now she was living with four other people
Her Master Lloyd—who insisted she could call him ‘dad’ after Sora let it slip once.
Lloyd’s older brother Kai—who very eagerly insisted she called him ‘uncle’ since Lloyd had adopted her into their family.
Lloyd and Kai’s sister, Nya—who made it clear she didn’t care what she was called, but Sora had made it a habit to call her ‘aunt’, because it made her smile.
And Wyldfyre—who Kai didn’t get along with at first, but quickly adopted, which meant that her and Sora were now cousins.
Sora also lived with a few dragons, the most memorable one being Riyu. A small little Mountain Dragon, who Sora was convinced was the one who gave her the Elemental Power she ‘had’.
These people—and creatures—made up Sora’s world now. And though they were gone a lot, they all made their own efforts to get to know each other better.
Arin loved to host sleepovers and game nights occasionally. Sora herself loved talking while training.
And Wyldfyre….well….
Sora and Arin had been quietly reading on Arin’s porch swing in their shared room when Wyldfyre burst through their door, holding a frying pan.
“How much do you wanna bet we can bake a pie in the courtyard??” Wyldfyre grinned, holding up the pan with absolutely zero caution.
“Ah—!! Careful with that!!” Arin yelped, leaping up to snatch the pan out of Wyld’s hands. It must’ve been one of his.
“How would we even do that?” Sora asked her cousin curiously.
Wyldfyre’s hand lit up in loud sparks of fire, causing Arin so jump back in surprise. “I have my hand lit on fire, and Arin tries to bake a pie over it using that thing.” She pointed at the pan with her free hand.
”There’s no way that’ll work. And besides, Master Lloyd wouldn’t let us do that!! It’ll make a mess!” Arin retaliated
“Lloyd won’t care,” Sora made an effort to not call Lloyd ‘dad’ in front of Arin. Wyldfyre, sure. But she wasn’t too sure how Arin would feel about his best friend calling his literal IDOL ‘dad’. Sora dismissed this quickly.
“Twenty bucks says you can’t, Wyld!” She added, jumping up off the swing.
”I dunno what that is,” Wyldfyre admitted with a small shrug. “But are you ready to loose twenty whatever’s, Arin??” She beamed cockily.
Arin sighed. “….I have some pie batter in the fridge.” He caved in, trudging towards the door. Wyldfyre and Sora cheered at their win over him.
And so, here they were. Sitting in the middle of the Courtyard. Wyldfyre sat on the cobblestone floor with Arin hunched over her, carefully moving the pan back on forth over her right hand, which was lit up in flames. Sora stood a few paces ahead of them, recording the whole thing. She’d gotten a quick spark from Riyu so she could use her Elemental Powers to record it at a distance.
This felt…..nice. Sora hadn’t felt this at peace since….well since she first met Arin.
As sad it was to admit, the Merge had ruined a lot of things for other people.
But it changed Sora’s entire life for the better.
And Sora couldn’t be happier.
_________________________________
”Is the pie supposed to be expanding like that?….” Wyldfyre observed. Sora turned to glance at it. To her surprise, and slight fear, the pie was indeed expanding at a rapid rate.
”Uhm—??” Arin began to answer before the door to Lloyd’s room slid open.
”Hey, what’re you guys doing—“
SPLAT!!!
The pie exploded before Lloyd could finish his sentence, sending berry juice absolutely everywhere.
Lloyd stood frozen for a moment, staring at his students in pure shock.
“…..go get the mops…” He finally spoke.
Wyldfyre’s hand shot up in the air. “What’s a mop??” She questioned.
”Oh, FSM, save me…” Lloyd winced, burying his head in his hands.
”Sorry, Master Lloyd…” Arin whined, turning to him and lowering his head in respect.
”Sorry da—Lloyd…” Sora muttered at the same time, scratching the back of her neck awkwardly.
Kai and Nya’s heads popped out from Lloyd’s bedroom door next. Kai barked a laugh and quickly whipped out his phone, taking a picture of the scene in front of him. Nya groaned, narrowing her eyes in confusion as she took everything in.
”Hi, Kai!!” Wyldfyre waved. “Hi, auntie Nya!!”
“Hey, kiddo,” Kai greeted her stifling a laugh.
“FSM, I didn’t know having kids would be like this…” Nya winced. “Come on, guys. Let’s go get you all cleaned up so you can clean up this mess…”
”Yes auntie Nya…” All three kids said in unison.
Still, even as they were mopping up berry juice from the courtyard, Sora had to admit…..
These times were the most fun she’d had in ages.
She wouldn’t trade any of this for the world.
Yall, if you ever said to my younger self someone would see your art and be so inspired they write something based off it I'd laugh at your face.
Clearly, younger me was wrong as the once laughable has happened. This piece is so cute! The kids are so chaotic and this story totally could have very well been the lead up to what happened in the og picture.
I'm so happy you decided to write something based off my art, reading this has made my day
(Og art for ref)
