Breaking the Ice

Author’s note: I got done in time for Ninjago’s fifth anniversary! Whoo! This is dedicated to my dad, who proofread this for me even while he had the flu. You’re the best, Dad! <3

Genre: Action, humor, friendship

Words: Too many 8726

Summary: The four ninja have finally gotten their hands on the scythe of earth when Sensei decides they need a team building exercise. After all, Kai has only just joined the three others. Suddenly they find themselves smack in the middle of an icy forest, and they need to make shelters before it gets dark. But they can’t do much when Kai keeps messing it up! When everything goes wrong and Kai’s life is on the line, he needs to make a choice. To trust... or not to trust?

Warning! Puns and memes ahead!





Breaking the Ice


“Alright, bad news, guys,” Jay's high-pitched voice came from behind a pile of snow. He hurried around it and stood panting for a moment as he tried to catch his breath.

“Sensei says we have to actually spend the night in it.”

The three others groaned loudly, and a short chorus of muffled curses went around the group.

Kai sighed. He had only just met these three other guys, and their sensei was already giving them team building exercises. Only a few hours ago, Sensei Wu had come up to them and informed them that they were going to fly their dragons up into the snowy mountains to build a fort. They had all decided to just make a crude square, but thanks to Jay's new information, they would have to do better.

Kai had to admit; the bunch of hooligans he had been put in a team with was certainly something else. The three of them weren't too bad, but Kai found them a little... weird.

Cole, master of earth, was a pretty rock-hard guy, and not a bad leader. But Kai didn't need, nor want, a leader. He didn't want anyone bossing him around.

The master of lightning, Jay, who was already turning blue in the cold, was an interesting one. He talked too much and had bad puns. What wasn't annoying about him? Plus he was trying to hit on Kai's sister. Kai would have to keep a close eye on that.

Then there was Zane. He was the master of ice, and supposed “seer of the sixth sense.” Kai wasn't sure what that meant, but he did know that the white ninja was very odd. Jokes and sarcasm went right over his head, and he didn't seem to be very normal. For instance, sitting in the fridge at midnight. That wasn't the sort of thing people usually did.

“We should probably get started,” came Cole's rough voice, snapping Kai back to the present. “We only have until tonight, and I don't know about you three, but I don't fancy being a human Popsicle by morning.”

Zane had his finger up, and he was about to say something probably scientific, when Kai broke in.

“Yeah, yeah, Zane, human Popsicles aren't possible and blah blah something boring about only having whatever degrees and what the hey... Let's just get on with it.” He finished with a huff and turned around, starting to trudge through the snow towards the area they chose.

“Also, this spot might not be big enough for a four-person fort,” Kai grumbled.

“Unless we sleep on top of each other,” Jay pointed out, a small snicker escaping his shivering lips.

Kai just rolled his eyes and folded his arms. “This isn't really a great time to be making jokes, you know,” he retorted, already feeling irritated about the whole stupid exercise. “I'm not sleeping within three feet of you people.”

Jay just gave him a fake pout and went back to his shivering. Cole was giving Kai a glare, but the red ninja pretended not to notice. Finally he just sighed.

“Fine, we'll find another place. But you don't have to get snappy with us. We're supposed to work together,” Cole told him, trying to stay calm. But Kai could see in his eyes that he was pretty much ready to blow up any moment.

“Let's just split up and try to find a bigger place. Jay, you go with Zane. I'll go with Kai,” he added with a small sigh. Kai just shot him a nasty look and folded his arms. He would much rather go off by himself, but apparently that wasn't going to happen.

Zane and Jay nodded and were about to take off, when Cole motioned for them to wait a moment.

“Watch out for the thin ice. Sensei told me there was some around here somewhere...”

Jay giggled and cleared his throat. “But Cole, I thought we were supposed to 'break the ice' in this team project?”, he asked innocently, barely holding back another giggle.

“Oh shut up,” Cole shot back, a hint of a smile on his face.

“Well, you know...”, Jay continued. “The thin ice is snow place to be!”

Cole and Kai both groaned. “Jay I swear, I will kill you one of these days,” Cole sighed.

Jay grinned. “Aw come on, there's snow way you would hurt lil' ol' me!”

Apparently he needed to be ignored or he would just go on forever. Cole decided to just continue with the orders and pretend not to notice the pun-making ninja. “If you find a good spot, just yell or something. We'll most likely hear it,” he told them.

“Cole pleeeaaaasssee,” Jay whined. “Don't give me the cold shoulder!”

“Jay,” Kai muttered. “Shut up, please.”

Zane was just watching them with a blank look. Apparently the jokes had gone over his head, like usual.

“Affirmative. We will certainly do our best,” he replied in a monotone, his sharp ice-blue eyes looking determined. Jay patted him on the back.
“Well said. Let's go, Frosty.” With that, they left Cole and Kai out in the showy forest. Kai was still crossing his arms and giving Cole nasty looks. The ninja of earth let out his breath slowly in an attempt to calm himself down.

“Do you have a preference on where you want to look?” he asked, trying to be nice.

“That way,” Kai curtly replied, already walking.

“Kai,” Cole murmured, following him. “You need to calm down. The whole point of this is to become stronger as a team. But you're not even giving it a chance.”

Kai just sniffed. “Well, Mr. Leader Sir, I didn't exactly sign up for any of this. The only reason I'm with you guys is because Nya is gone. I don't work with other people. I only need three people: Me, myself, and I.”

Kai heard Cole sigh again. He seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. Maybe he had problems or something.

“Well that's going to have to change, Hot-head. You're in a team now, and there's nothing you can do about it but leave. And that won't give you much of a chance to save your precious sister.”

“Hmph..” Kai growled. “I'm sure I could save her ten times better alone than with you three morons.”

Cole bit his lip hard. Kai could almost see anger radiating off of him. But fortunately, he managed to swallow and keep his composure. Kai was slightly disappointed. He would have enjoyed yelling at someone for awhile.

“By the way,” the red ninja continued in a stuck-up voice. “Why are you sighing all the time? You got a medical problem?”

Ironically, Cole sighed once again. “No, I'm sighing because you might possibly be the most annoying person I've ever met.”

Kai raised an eyebrow. “More annoying than Jay?”

“Much more annoying.”

“Wow, thanks,” he muttered dryly.

“My pleasure,” came the reply.

They fell silent and walked without arguing for awhile; both of them focused on finding a clear space among the trees. Kai was actually beginning to warm up to Cole. He was one of the only people who had put up with him without ending up yelling. You had to admire that, if nothing else. But Kai still wasn't ready to give up. He didn't want a team. He just wanted to get his sister and be done with it.

“Do you have any idea how to build a snow fort? I mean, like, and actual good one?” Kai asked, breaking the silence.

“No clue,” Cole responded, his eyes surfing their surroundings. He didn't even look angry. Either he was genuinely not mad at him or he was very good at hiding his emotions. Kai figured it was probably the latter. He was too good at annoying people for Cole not to be at least a little upset.

“Mm...” Kai muttered, looking away again. “How about your weird friends?”

Cole glanced sideways at him before deciding he was probably just joking. “Uh.. well.. I doubt Jay does.. But you can never really tell with him. He knows the weirdest things. Zane probably does. I swear he's a walking encyclopedia,” he added with a laugh.

Kai allowed himself a small smirk. “Yeah, I noticed.”

Suddenly a shrill whistle pierced the air, and both of them whipped around in unison.

“That was probably Jay,” Cole mused. He brushed his thick black hair out of his face.

“It was definitely loud enough to be him,” Kai snorted.

“Shush, you. C'mon, let's go see what they found.” Cole broke into a jog and left Kai standing behind him, still smirking.

“Hey, wait up!” Kai gasped, hurrying after him. Fortunately, his legs were longer than Cole's, and he caught up quickly.

After a few moments of jogging, two figures came into view. Kai and Cole skidded to a halt in front of them, their chests heaving.

“Y-You found.. s-something?” Cole managed to gasp out, his breath coming out in billows of steam.

Jay nodded rapidly, jumping up and down in an attempt to warm up. “We found the thin ice! It's a pond right over there!” He pointed with a mittened hand over to a big snow-covered clearing in the distance. Stuck in the snow was a sign that said “Caution: Thin Ice Ahead” in bold red letters.

“Oh,” Jay continued, now rubbing his hands together. “And we also found a big enough spot.”

Zane nodded, not looking cold at all compared to Jay. Of course, sitting in the fridge at midnight wouldn't be much different then where they were at the moment. It made sense – Kind of.

“I have made the necessary calculations,” Zane informed them. “This cleared area appears to be large enough for the desired size of our.. 'snow fort', as you called it.”

“Oh, perfect, Zane.. Thanks!” Cole smiled at him before becoming serious again. “Alright, we don't have much time before nightfall. We gotta finish this thing before then. Zane, what's the procedure for making igloos? It might be easier to make four separate ones instead of a big fort.”

Zane brightened up a bit, thrilled that he was going to be able to help.

“Igloos would indeed be far easier and more efficient than a fort made of snow. We have some options that we may agree upon. We could make four separate igloos, one for each of us. Each one would be only just big enough to fit one curled up person in. That will make it much warmer, but there will not be much room to move around. Another option would be to make two bigger igloos and put two of us in each one. They will be big enough to move around in, which will also make them colder. Fortunately, the body heat of two people will warm it up sufficiently. Do you have a preference?” he finished, looking around at the other three.

Jay just blinked. “Ahh... All I got was 'body heat' and 'warm it up.' Either of those sound great to me.”

Kai was looking sulky again. “I don't want to snuggle with any of you, if that's what you're asking..”

Cole snorted a little. “Kai, you could just go with Zane. He's not even cold.”

Zane nodded again. He hadn't even bothered to wear a coat like the others had. He had shed it awhile ago and was now just carrying it. Apparently he hadn't considered giving it to Jay, who needed it a lot more than he did.

“Aw, Kai, but you're probably so warm!” Jay complained, his teeth chattering softly. “You have the element of fire, right?”

“Well yeah, but it's not like I can use it yet,” Kai grumbled. “And don't even think about touching me.”

“Aw, come on Kai,” Cole broke in. “It's not Jay's fault he's cold. Let's just decide already so we can get started. We'll take a vote, so it's fair.”

“I do not have a preference, so I will just let you three choose,” Zane hummed, backing away a step.

Jay snorted softly. “I vote the one with heat.”

Cole nodded. “I second that.”

“Ugh... I'm outvoted anyway...” Kai mumbled, crossing his arms again. “This had better be good.”

“We can all work on one at a time,” Cole pointed out. “Then it would go faster.”

Kai didn't want to work together in the first place, but there was no point in arguing, so he just sighed and nodded.

“Gah, can we just get going?”, Jay whined. “My body is turning to ice!”

Cole let a wry smile sneak onto his face. “You would be a lot less annoying as an ice statue.”

Jay just sighed and continued his shivering. “Too bad Nya isn't here to warm me up,” he mused wistfully, a glint of humor in his blue eyes.

Kai groaned. “You haven't even met her yet!”

“Oh, but we've met before!”

“...When?”

“Once upon a dream!” Jay erupted into giggles and started waltzing around in the snow, humming “Once Upon a Dream” from Sleeping Beauty.

Kai glanced at Cole with a raised eyebrow, but Cole just shrugged helplessly.

“Um... is he usually like this?” Kai asked as he watched Jay dance with his invisible partner.

“Yeah... But this one's new.”

“Oh, great.”

“Mm-hmm...”

Kai looked over at Zane, who was simply staring at the open area around them and not paying any attention to the three others. He blinked once and then looked at Kai and Cole.

“We should get started. If we do not begin soon, we may not finish before it gets dark.”

Jay stopped dancing and let out a groan. “How much time do we have?”

Zane looked up at the sky for a moment. “Approximately five hours.”

“Ugh!”, Jay exclaimed. “Why did we waste so much time? I'm gunna freeze to death!”

“You will not freeze, Jay. But it would be best to hurry and build our igloos before you become ill. You should get the first choice of bunk-mate, since you are apparently not doing so well. Who do you want to--”

“Cole,” Jay interrupted, grabbing onto the earth ninja's arm. Suddenly he realized how abruptly he had answered, and he blushed a little. “I mean, uh, yeah.. He's.. um... warm...?”

Cole just snorted softly and ruffled Jay's hair. “Eh, I like you too, buddy.” Jay blushed more.

“Okay, okay!” Kai broke in, sounding frustrated. “This is cute and all, but can we just get going already?”

“Tch. Fine!” Jay rolled his eyes. “Can we just go before I die of hypothermia or somethin'?”

“You're not going to die,” Cole snickered. “But yeah, we need to start.” He looked like he was going to move, but then he paused. “Uh...” He glanced at Zane. “How exactly do we make an igloo?”

Zane brightened up again. He hesitated for a moment to gather his thoughts, and then took in a deep breath.

“Here we go..” Kai murmured, crossing his arms. They would probably be there another hour before Zane finally stopped talking.

“Well,” the blonde ninja started. “I will try to keep it short so we do not waste much time. It would be easier if we made the snow bricks first. Unfortunately, we have not brought anything to help with this, so we will just need to use our hands. Then we should make a base of how large we want the igloo to be. Then we just stack up the snow like a brick wall. We need to make sure we keep the bricks sloping a bit inward, because the igloo needs to be round. After we finish with the bricks, we need to pack snow into all the little holes, both on the outside and inside. Then we will smooth it all out and poke a few ventilation holes into the walls. The heat should stay inside, and we will have ourselves an igloo.”

The three others just stared at him for a moment, digesting the information. When they finally felt like they understood, they all looked at each other.

Cole finally broke the silence. “All right, let's get cracking!”, he exclaimed. Then he cracked his knuckles, which seemed slightly ironic to Kai. He had no idea if that was on purpose or not, but.. Well, that didn't matter.

“I'll bet me and Cole can make an igloo faster than you two!” Jay challenged, jogging in place to warm himself up. He had the smallest hint of a smirk on his face, and his eyes were sparkling with mischief.

“Actually, Jay, the correct grammar would be 'Cole and I'...” Zane broke in, not noticing the challenge in Jay's voice.

Cole ignored Zane and rolled his eyes. “We're supposed to be working together, Jay. And we need to actually build good igloos, not sloppy ones.” He paused for a second, and a smile found its way across his lips. “But yeah, we could totally beat you two.”

Kai glanced at Zane to see his reaction, but he was just watching them with a blank expression. Well that wasn't very exciting. He looked back at Cole and Jay, who were now nudging each other in the ribs.

“Ahah, right. I could beat you guys with my eyes closed,” he shot back, flipping his hair.

Jay's smile grew bigger at the taunt. “Yeah right! You couldn't even beat eggs!” That made Cole snort, and Kai narrowed his eyes playfully.

“Well at least I can make my hair look like something other than a floppy rag mop,” he coughed.

“Oh,” Cole snickered. “So you can make it look like a wet floppy rag mop?”

Jay caught on instantly. “Right, right! Or a dirty wet floppy rag mop?”

“Sure, Jay, or maybe a moldy dirty wet floppy rag mop!”

“Yeah! Or maybe a greasy moldy dirty wet fl—”

“Alright!”, Kai interrupted. “You win, you win! But I still bet I could build a better igloo than you two...”

“You can sure build a good pain in the neck,” Jay winked at him before walking towards a pile of snow and immediately tripping over a tree root. He fell face-first into the snow, and both Cole and Kai broke into laughter. His very.. white.. face lifted from the snow and he sneezed loudly. But he wasn't upset for too long, and he joined in the giggling after only a few moments.

After the laughing died down, Jay groaned softly. “I don't think I'll ever be warm again,” he complained, struggling to wipe the snow off his cheeks.

“Ah.. you'll be fine once we actually build these igloos...” Cole helped Jay get out of the snow before looking around the area once more. “Which we really need to get started on, by the way. Let's try not to freeze to death.” He glanced at the three others before continuing. “Right, so.. ah.. let's start making some snow bricks, or whatever you call them.”

“Snricks,” Jay replied, completely poker-faced.

“..Erm... or snow cubes...?” Cole raised an eyebrow.

“Snubes.”

Kai looked a bit shifty-eyed now. “How about.. snow bot?”

Jay grinned. “Snot.”

“Alright, before we get any more lovely words from Jay here...” Cole gave Jay a short glare before clearing his throat and going on. “How about we actually start making these snow bric—“

“Snricks.“

“Oh, shush.”

“You shush!”

“How about we all shush and just make these stupid bricks?” Kai sighed. Couldn't they just get on with this without Cole and Jay bickering every five seconds?

Jay wiped his nose with his glove and grimaced a little. “Yanno... my nose is running. But it's snot that bad.”

Another round of groaning. They should have probably just kept quiet, because it only fueled Jay's hilarity meter. This definitely wouldn't be the last of the puns. If they didn't die from the cold, they might die of horrible jokes.

“..Um.. right. So anyway...” Cole finally broke the awkward silence, as everyone had been glaring at Jay for a moment. Except for Zane of course, who had just been staring at the sky the whole time, not catching any of the jokes – Lucky him. Cole almost wished he was that oblivious to Jay's humor. “How about we all get started?”

Zane looked down from the sky and turned his gaze to Cole. “Ice bricks would possibly be better than snow ones. At least, at this point. It is getting colder, and the snow might not stick as well as it would have before.”

Kai frowned. “Can't you just use your ice power? It would be wayyy faster.”

“I cannot access my powers any more than you or the others, Kai. You should know that.”

He was about to retort angrily, when Cole smacked his arm and gave him a warning look. Kai crossed his arms, but didn't say anything.

“Great,” Cole sighed. “So I guess we should make our way over to that big pond-ish thing over there...”

“Ack!”, Kai exclaimed. He was almost completely fed up with all the waiting. “Let's just hurry up already! Come on, or I'll start without you guys!” He started running towards the lake. He didn't even look back to see if the others were following him. The sooner they finished the dumb igloos, the sooner they could sleep and then go find his sister.

It didn't take very long to get to the ice, and he started swiping the snow off it with his boots. The snow was still sticking together, though, so he couldn't get much off. Kai took out his sword, which he had taken along as a precaution. You never knew what was going to be in a big snowy forest. He wondered if he could just cut the ice out into brick shapes. Well, it was worth a try.

The ninja of fire looked behind him to see if the others were following. They were still standing there, even though Cole looked like he was trying to get Jay moving. He was probably complaining about being frozen to the ground or something pitiful like that. Kai sighed softly and went to take a step further. Unfortunately, he forgot that ice just happened to be slippery, and his legs shot out from under him. He yelped loudly, and he stabbed his sword into the ground in an attempt to keep himself from falling too hard.

He managed to steady himself a little, but he still fell down with a loud thump. “Ouch...”, he murmured. “Hope nobody saw that...” As he was speaking, the ice under him cracked.

“Ah!”, he yipped, yanking his sword out of the ice and scrambling back onto the shore. All the ice where he had previously been standing instantly shattered. There was barely any more ice he could reach, now that he had accidentally destroyed the rest of it.

He heard someone clear their throat, and Kai spun around. Cole, Jay, and Zane were all standing behind him. None of them looked very impressed with his magnificent show of skills.

“Well,” Cole started sarcastically, “That was certainly helpful.”

Kai was starting to blush, so he turned back to the ice and gulped down his embarrassment. “Ah.. no, I can fix it, see?” He hastily dug his sword into a chunk of ice that hadn't cracked apart. It got stuck, but he still tried to saw the ice into a crude block. He ended up cracking the entire rest of the sheet of ice, and his sword fell into the water with a splash.

“....Oops..”, Kai murmured, blushing a deeper shade of red. He wished he could just disappear. That would be way easier than explaining himself to them.

“Oops is right...”, Cole's gruff voice came from behind him. “We're supposed to be a team here. You're not supposed to just go running off by yourself. And especially not destroying all the stuff we need for building igloos.”

“Well...” He tried to rack his brain for a good excuse. “We can still use snow, though... right?”

“That's not the point, Kai. If you had waited for us, this might not have happened.”

Kai sighed. “Fine. Sorry..”, he murmured, even though he wasn't very sorry. If they had actually hurried up, he might not have had to rush off and do things himself. But now that they had moved, maybe now they could start making snow bricks.

“Zane, what're we supposed to do now?”, Jay asked, his eyebrows crinkling slightly. “I thought you said we had to use ice instead of snow!”

“Snow will still work, but we shall have to work faster now that it is getting colder,” Zane replied in his usual monotone. “If we start now, we should be able to finish making all of the snow bricks—” Jay was about to open his mouth to interrupt, probably to correct Zane to say 'snricks', when Cole smacked him over the head. He let out a shrill “Ouch!” and fell quiet, looking grudgingly at his friend. “--before the atmosphere gets too cold,” Zane finished. He looked like he hadn't even noticed the exchange between Jay and Cole.

“Then let's go, so we can get done sometime today!” Cole motioned for the others to follow him, and he started jogging back to the open area they had found earlier. Kai sighed and ran with the other two boys to catch up with Cole. That hadn't turned out how he had expected. He was still convinced that he could do better than the other three, and he promised himself that he would do much better next time. He could make up for that by being totally awesome and helping the others in ways they couldn't.

When they finally got back to the clearing, Cole paused to gather his thoughts. “Alright.. let's try to be at least sorta organized, so we don't spend forever doing this. Zane, you make the bases for the two igloos. You're the best qualified for making them the right size. You can use Jay's nunchucks or something, I dunno... Just do it somehow. Jay and Kai, you can help me make the snow bricks. We can use Zane's shurikens to dig them out. You carry spares, right?”

Zane nodded and threw them one shuriken each. He didn't say anything, but looked at Jay with a silent question. Jay didn't get what he wanted at first, but then he remembered and gave Zane his nunchucks.

“Guard them well, Zane,” Jay told him solemnly, puffing out his chest. Cole and Kai were trying to hold back laughter, but Zane just nodded with the same solemn air.

“I shall indeed keep your weapon safe, Jay,” he agreed. Finally the three ninja couldn't hold it back any longer, and they all burst out into giggles. Zane looked very confused, and Jay slapped him on the back.

“It was a joke, Zane! Sheesh!”, he managed through his giggling. “Can't you take some teasing?”

“I do not understand the purpose of 'teasing',” the white ninja responded, blinking once.

“Apparently not!”, Jay exclaimed, still grinning. “Well that's alright, buddy. You'll learn sooner or later. Maybe a lot later... But any-hey, go make some bases! Because, you know, I'm all about that base, 'bout that base, no trouble!”

Cole rolled his eyes, and Kai sighed loudly. Zane didn't catch the joke, as usual. But Jay found it rather amusing. He started hacking at the snow with the shuriken, humming the song he had alluded to. That would get old way too fast, and Kai and Cole tried to get as far away from Jay as they could before starting to make their own bricks.

“Alright, remember guys, we need to make these sloping inward a bit. And I think they need to get smaller as we get further up, too. But first we can make the bricks for the base—“

“I'm all about that base, 'bout that base... Hey!”

“--which should be fairly easy. Also, Jay? Please shut up.”

“Never gonna give it up, never gonna let it down—“

“Jay, I swear... I will knock out your stupid tongue. And then kill you, maybe. If I feel like it.”

“Mmmmm whatcha sayyyy—“

“Jay!”

“Fine,” Jay murmured, blowing a raspberry.

“What was that?” Cole yelled, even though he had heard Jay quite clearly.

“Oh, nothing important!” he called back, hacking at the snow some more and pulling out a massive brick. He could barely pick it up, so he just cut it in half. “Ha, maybe I shouldn't make them so big..”, he giggled to himself.

After a long hour, they had managed to dig out quite a few bricks. They had dug in silence for awhile, which was a relief for Cole and Kai, who had been plagued by Jay's non-stop talking for the past week or so. There wasn't much time for talking. They had been breathing heavily, and the work was dreadfully boring and hand-numbing. But it wasn't as if they could do anything else. It was either build igloos or freeze to death out in the forest. What fun times.

Since they were running out of room to put the bricks, they decided to bring some of the bigger ones over to the bases of the two igloos and put them in their places. The biggest bricks took at least two people to carry, because they would just fall apart if there wasn't enough support under them. And they weren't very light, either. It was much easier to carry them if there were two people.

Unfortunately, Kai wanted to carry one by himself. He was still rather embarrassed from the whole ice thing, and he wanted to prove that he could do much better. Cole was trying to convince Kai that it wasn't a good idea to carry it all by himself, but he wasn't listening. He could be very stubborn when he wanted to be.

“Look, I can do it! It's not that hard! Just cuz you guys can't doesn't mean that I can't!”, Kai argued, getting angrier as the conversation went on.

“I've told you already.. it's not a good idea! It's hard enough with two people. You'd have to be insane to try to do it by yourself, dude,” Cole sighed. This wasn't going anywhere. Even if he made the best argument in the world, Kai still wouldn't listen. He had no choice but to let him try. Then he would fail, and hopefully that would be the end of the independent thing. Cole wasn't exactly sure what was with Kai and being independent. They really needed to fix that. They were supposed to be a team. They couldn't be a team if Kai kept trying to do everything by himself.

“Well, I must be insane then,” Kai shot back huffily. “Because I'm trying it anyway. And you can't stop me.”

“Fine, fine... But if you make a mess, you're cleaning it up.”

“Don't worry, I won't need to clean anything up.” Kai narrowed his eyes and was already bending down to pick up the large brick. Cole stood back to watch. If nothing else, this would be rather amusing. He looked up to see if the others were watching too, and sure enough, they were. He could already see the excited look on Jay's face. To be honest, it would be fun for them to see Kai mess up after he had been such a pain in the behind.

Kai knew he couldn't mess up now. It was essential that he didn't. He had to prove that he was better than they thought he was... which most likely wasn't much. But this was his chance to prove them wrong, probably his only chance. If he failed this, they would see him as an idiot for the rest of their lives.

He dug his feet deep into the snow, in the attempt to hopefully steady himself if the brick tipped at all. He put his arms under the massive cube and heaved upward. It barely even moved. Well... it was heavier than he had originally thought. Hopefully that wouldn't be a huge problem. He shuffled his feet for another moment or two before trying once again. This time he used more of his strength, and it slowly lifted up. Kai gritted his teeth together and let out a soft growl.

Well at least now he was holding it. Except the problem now was... he still had to bring it over to the base. It might not have been too hard when there was bare ground, but he had forgotten to take into account that the ground covered was with snow and bricks. That would make it so much easier. Not.

He took in a deep breath and stepped forward heavily, his boots getting stuck in the clumping snow. His arms were already burning, and he wasn't sure how much longer he could hold up the snow brick. He would have to move way faster if he wanted to accomplish this. He wouldn't be able to stand it if the others laughed at him. Although he might have to if he didn't get started. He could feel their gazes burning into his skin. This was not good.

He struggled to take another step, and he accidentally dove his foot into a place where there wasn't any snow. It was hard to see when he had a giant clump of snow in his face, and he nearly fell onto his face. Fortunately, he managed to regain his footing and keep going. His arms were now shaking from exhaustion, and he definitely couldn't go much longer. Except he wouldn't have to, because he failed to see a snow brick which happened to be directly in front of his foot.

His toe thumped into the brick, and he seemed to fall in slow motion. The gigantic brick in his arms flew forward and smashed into at least seven other bricks. Kai's arms flew out in front of him, on instinct, to catch himself. Then suddenly it wasn't slow motion anymore, and he fell face-first into the snow, smashing about three bricks as he did so. Through snow-clogged ears, he could hear Jay and Cole laughing, and he sighed. He had really messed that one up. So much for regaining his dignity and not making a fool of himself. He seemed to be rather good at making himself look like an idiot. Probably because he was an idiot. But, of course, nobody needed to know that.

Suddenly he felt hands grip his arm and yank him out of the snow. Kai spit out a ton of snow, and tried to keep himself from blushing. He was already prickling with embarrassment, but he didn't want to admit it in front of them. He glanced at his rescuer, Cole, who was avoiding his gaze and trying not to smile. Then Cole apparently met eyes with Jay, because they both burst out laughing again.

Kai threw up his hands and turned around to survey his mess. “Yeah yeah yeah, you don't have to rub it in,” he huffed, although he was still burning with embarrassment. He scrunched his shoulders together and stuffed his hands into his coat pockets. Why did he always have to show off? He always regretted it later. You'd think he would have learned by now. But at the moment, he had other things to worry about. Like Cole and Jay, who were trying to fight down giggles.

“You should have listened to Cole,” Zane's monotonous voice came from behind him. He put his hand on Kai's shoulder and squeezed it softly. Kai fought back a groan. He didn't really need a lecture at the moment. Apparently he would have to suffer through it and try not to blush too much.

“I had already calculated that you would have barely been able to lift the brick,” the white ninja continued. Then why didn't you tell me?, Kai thought incredulously. The matter-of-fact tone in Zane's voice was already making him irritated. But before he could say anything rude, Zane was talking again.

“Cole knows what he is talking about. Now we have to clean up the disaster you have created with your poor decision. This will leave us with less time to finish the igloos, and we might not get them done before nightfall.”

“Ha ha! You tell him, Zane!” Cole laughed, smacking Zane on the back. The blond-haired teen just gave him a weak smile in return, but Cole didn't seem to notice.

“Anyway,” Cole continued in a more serious tone. “We do need to clean this up.. Yeah, we'll help you, Kai. I figure you've learned by now,” he snickered, which finally made Kai blush.

“Let's do this thing!”, Cole exclaimed, clapping his hands together.

After a long hour or two of making bricks to make up for the ones they had lost, and stacking the bricks up into the correct igloo shape, they were rather worn out. They took a quick break, eating some of the rations Sensei Wu had supplied them with. Later in the evening, the four of them packed snow into the holes in the igloos. And, of course, Jay had to annoy the brains out of them all. Except for Zane, anyway. But who knew if he even had brains?

While they were all inside, smoothing the walls in one of the igloos, Jay had suddenly exclaimed, “When my ice house falls apart, igloo it back together!” Then he had shoved snow into Kai's face and made him sneeze. Unfortunately, Kai hadn't gotten control of his element yet, and he managed to snort flames out his nostrils. It melted a ton of the wall, but it made the three of them laugh to no end.

Now, they were all standing outside and admiring the work they had done on the two igloos. Finally they had finished! And not a moment too soon, for it was already getting dangerously cold outside. They had tested the insides, and it was nice and warm in there. Well... warmer than outside. There was only so much insulation you could do on a house made out of snow. But they were all rather proud of themselves. Even Zane was smiling.

They did a group high five, and then Kai had a brilliant idea to have some more fun. He started to roll some snow into a ball while the others weren't looking, and then he held the ball behind his back. He hesitated for a moment, trying to decide who his victim would be, before pinpointing a certain auburn-haired joker. A smirk appeared on his features, and he bounced the snowball in his hand in anticipation.

Right before he brought his arm back to fling the ball, Cole spotted him. He was aiming at Jay, who was standing right in front of a newly made igloo. “Kai, no!”, Cole screeched, scrambling to intercept the snowball. But he was too late. The crystal white sphere was already whipping towards the unsuspecting Jay.

The snowball hit Jay right in the chest, and the short ninja started falling backwards. He flailed right into the snow house, and the entire thing collapsed on top of him. He let out a groan, but the sound was barely audible with all the snow clogging his face.

The three others were simply staring at him in shock. All their hard work.. was gone. And it was all because of...

“Kai!”, Cole exclaimed, turning on him angrily. “What the heck were you thinking?!”

Kai was slowly inching back, and his eyes were wide. “Cole, I-I didn't.. m-mean to—“

“I'll say you didn't!” Cole was trudging through the snow towards him, a deathly cold glint in his eyes. “When are you going to think, idiot?! Now we have to make another igloo before we freeze to death!”

“I-I'm sorry—“, Kai was trying to stammer, but Cole wasn't finished yet.

“You could have seriously hurt Jay, too! Do you have any idea how hard this snow is?” He took a moment to glance back at Jay, who was still lying in the igloo, completely stunned. Fortunately, Zane was already helping to get him out.

While Cole looked back over his shoulder, Kai turned around and stormed away, his hands clenching into fists. He didn't even know where he was going. He just wanted to get away from.. them. He could already feel their frustrated gazes piercing into him, even though they weren't even looking at him. He let out a low growl and started running, his anger blinding him to whatever was in front of him.

He shut his eyes tight and put on a burst of speed. He felt his fist hit something wooden, and pain shot up his arm. But he didn't stop. He couldn't stop. He just needed to run.

The icy wind was ripping the breath out of his lungs, and he fought to breathe. His hand was throbbing. He faintly heard the three other teens shouting his name, but he ignored it. He didn't care what they had to say.

He saw a large hole, or something, in the ground up ahead. He couldn't tell what it was through the blowing snow. But he knew he would have to jump over it. He closed his eyes and leaped as far as he could over the crevice. Fortunately, he managed to get over it, and he continued to run. He opened his eyes again, even though he couldn't see much anyway.

As he got further away, it got quieter. He could hear nothing but the patter of his feet on the snow, his ragged breathing, and the whistle of the blowing wind. Now the snow was coming down thickly, and it blew into his already-frozen face. He let out a cough as his breathing got worse.

Crack!

His foot crashed through the ground, and he fell hard. He slammed into the snow. His breath was knocked out of him. Intense pain ripped up his leg, and he let out a yelp. He had probably twisted it.. or worse. As he fought to get in more oxygen, he finally realized where he was.

The thin ice.

How could I have been so stupid? He scolded himself. Now look what you've done..

He coughed again, finally regaining his breath. Kai's anger quickly melted into fear. Oh no... Ice meant water. Water meant...

“Help!” he managed to gasp out as he scrabbled against the wet snow. Unfortunately, it made another crack resound around the ice-covered lake. He let out another yelp and quickly stopped moving.

“Nooo, no no no...”, he whimpered to himself. He made himself look back at his leg, and winced at what he saw. It was badly twisted, and his whole leg below his knee was stuck through the ice. He could already feel water seeping through his boot. Water... He shuddered, and not just because of the cold.

“Kai?!”, a yell carried over the wind. It sounded raspy.. Like..

“C-Cole?”, Kai stuttered, his voice seeming very quiet. They probably couldn't even hear him. He tried to keep his attention away from the liquid filling his boot and the cracks slowly appearing around him. He didn't need Cole's help.. he didn't need anyone's help.. he could get out of this himself.

He was starting to breathe rapidly, so he tried to swallow. “N-no freaking out,” he murmured to himself. “Y-you can get out of th-this...”

“Kai?” It sounded like Jay. The voices were closer now, but Kai kept silent this time. He didn't need help. Not from them. Especially not from them.

He turned his head back to see how far he had come. The warning sign was way behind him. That must have been what his fist had run into. Speaking of his fist... He turned his attention to his gloved hand. It was looking a bit swollen, so he quickly tore his glove off.

He was right about it being swollen. His wrist was reddish-purple, and the color was slowly moving up his thumb. He cursed under his breath and tried to put his glove back on, but it was too painful. He flung it across the ice angrily. A few more cracks appeared around him. Oops...

Kai started to concentrate on what he would need to do to get out. First he would have to get his leg out of the ice. How he would do that, he didn't know. His foot and ankle were numbly throbbing at the moment, but he knew if he moved his leg, the pain would come back. Plus if he moved, the ice would just crack more. But he couldn't just stay out there in the dark. He was already cold, and he knew it would just get worse from there. Especially with freezing water creeping up his leg.

He could still hear the three others calling for him, but the sound was muffled by the wind, which was now blowing harder. Fear was starting to take over. Kai's thoughts kept traveling back to the water that would swallow him if the ice finally gave out. His breathing was getting worse as he started to hyperventilate. Suddenly he wasn't so sure he could get out of it himself. But if he called for help, the others would probably laugh at him for tripping. Or what if they only cracked the ice more and sent him to a watery grave?

He shuddered. No thinking about water. That was a bad idea. But it was kind of hard to ignore when your entire leg was soaking with it. He had to make a choice.

Kai listened to the muddled shouts of the others for a few minutes before finally breaking down.

“I'm here!”, he yelled hoarsely. He hadn't realized how close he was to tears. Quickly he wiped his eyes, wincing as it jarred his injured hand.

The shouts had stopped, and Kai was worried that they hadn't heard him. What if they had just given up and went back to finish the igloos? It wasn't like Kai deserved any help. He had been really grumpy today, after all. The others probably hated him, even Zane.

“Kai!”, came two voices, both only a few yards behind him. He almost sobbed with relief.

“G-guys...”, he stuttered, his lips feeling numb. “Don't c-come closer... too th-thin...”

Apparently they had gotten the message, because they weren't moving.

“Kai, what happened? Are you okay?”, Cole asked, concern in his voice. Kai was surprised when he didn't detect even a tinge of anger in the black-haired teen's voice.

“I f-fell...”, he murmured. “My l-leg's stuck in the i-ice.. it's hurt b-bad... a-and my hand...”

“Cole, what're we gunna do?!”, Jay exclaimed, sounding frantic. “The ice is too thin for-”

CRACK!

Kai shrieked as the ice around him gave out, and he fell into the freakishly cold water. He almost passed out as the freezing liquid shot through his clothes and soaked him. Terror washed over him and he scrambled for a handhold. Unfortunately, his bad hand was still ungloved, and it was now useless as his joints locked up. There was nothing to hold on to. He could hear the other yelling in the distance, but then his head went under the water.

No!

He failed wildly and managed to get his nose out of the water, but his snow coat and gear was weighing him down. It didn't help that he had never learned to swim.

“Kai! Just hold on! We're working on it!”, Jay shouted, his voice cracking like nuts.

“This might not be the best time to mention that I have hydrophobia!”, Kai screamed, swallowing a ton of water.

“Just try to stay calm, Kai,” Zane's voice came from another direction. Apparently he had finally joined up with them. “Take deep breaths.”

“That's e-easy for you t-to say!”, Kai blubbered, his breathing rather distorted. The calmness in Zane's voice was driving him insane. “I'm k-kind of d-drowing h-here!” His head went under again, and he swallowed another mouthful of water. He flailed his arms like mad, but nothing was working. He was sinking.

Something hard hit him on the head, and he let out a garbled shout, which filled his mouth with more water. He hurriedly grabbed for the thing, and he was rewarded by being yanked up. His grip slipped once his hands got out of the water, but at least he could breathe again. He coughed up some water and blinked open his eyes.

Cole was standing at the edge of the ice, which somehow wasn't breaking. He had his golden scythe in his hands. That must have been what hit him on the head. Kai had no idea where he had gotten the weapon, since he thought they had left it back at the clearing. But right now that didn't really matter.

“Grab on!”, Cole yelled at him, extending the scythe out to him again. For a second, Kai hesitated. What if this was all just a scheme to get rid of him? Cole could just drop the scythe, and the added weight would drag Kai down into the water. Possibly forever... Or what if the ice broke more and they both fell in? Neither of those choices sounded very appealing. There were too many things that could go wrong. And he barely even knew Cole. How could he trust him to know what to do?

“Come on, Kai! Let me help you!” He tried to extend the weapon further, but he couldn't get any closer to the edge of the ice. Kai stared up at him with wide eyes. He was scared. He didn't know if he could trust him.

Cole saw the fear in his red-brown eyes, and he swallowed down his exasperation.

“I won't let you get hurt, I promise. Just trust me!”

Kai swallowed more water and coughed raggedly. “I-I--” He choked again and coughed a few more times. His voice grew higher in pitch. “I'm s-scared--”

“I.. I know, but you can't stay in there. You'll freeze to death! Won't he, Zane?” He looked back to Zane, who gave him one solemn nod. Jay was holding onto Zane's arm, looking terrified. Cole ripped his gaze away from them and back to Kai.

“Trust me. I know what I'm doing.” His voice was deadly calm, and his expression gave away nothing. Kai stared into his eyes and let out a soft sob.

He grabbed the scythe.

Cole immediately started pulling him out of the icy water, grunting slightly with the effort.

“Hold on tight!”, he ordered through clenched teeth. But Kai had no intention of letting go. Both his hands were clutching the scythe tightly, though his muscles were aching like mad. His leg was completely numb, and it barely hurt. Only a dull throb shot through his ankle.

Cole gave one more heave, and finally Kai was out of the water. He was soaked to the skin and looking a bit blue.

“Zane, give me your coat,” Cole murmured, sitting Kai up. Zane tossed him the coat, and Cole wrapped it around the freezing teen. “We need to get you off this ice, okay?”

His voice had a sort of calming affect on Kai, even in his muddled state. He gave a weak nod, and Cole helped him stand up.

“It'll be okay.. You're safe now.”

And for the first time, Kai trusted him.