Work Text:
The lights were bright, the chairs were uncomfortable and Sora’s suit itched like crazy. The interview hadn’t even started and she already hated it so much. The rest of the Ninja (other than Arin, Frak and Wyldfyre who looked equally as nervous as her) looked like this was just another Tuesday for them.
A makeup artist was aggressively putting on some concealer around Lloyd’s dark circles, a hairstylist was putting an obscene amount of hairspray and hair gel in Kai’s hair and the others were just sat back and laid back. Sora didn’t get it. At all.
She could feel Frak fidgeting in his seat by the creak of his chair, Arin was looking up some quick interview tips and Wyldfyre was sniffing herself as if the audience could smell her through the screen.
Eventually Gale rushed in, holding her clip board and Vinny followed like usual. Everyone scuttled to get ready.
“We’re on in 5!” Someone announced and Frak immediately jumped.
“5 what?? 5 minutes? 5 seconds?!” He whispered.
“I think that means 5 minutes, Frak…” Arin whispered to him.
Unfortunately for them, the 5 minutes didn’t feel like nearly enough time to prepare themselves as even more lights flashed on.
“Helloooooo everybody in the Merged Realms and welcome to a very, very special episode of the Gayle Gossip show. Not everyone will recognise them but tonight we have the Ninja, alongside their new recruits! You’ll get to see exclusive new information straight from the source! How interesting! Now, how about you all introduce you for the folks who may not be familiar with your heroics?” Gayle immediately jumped to life, greeting the camera from her small desk before the camera panned to the not-so-small group.
“Oh uh, yes! Hello, I am Lloyd. Lloyd Garmadon.”
“Sup, names Kai Smith, but you can call me Kai.”
“And I am his sister, hello! Hi, I’m Nya… Smith.”
“Good evening, my name is Cole!”
“Salutations, my name is Zane Julien. I am the master of ice.”
After the main group’s introduction was done, Gayle immediately interjected before anyone could say anything else.
“As always, it is a pleasure to have you all! Though you seem to be… down a member, is Jay not with you all?”
Nya grimaced a little bit and sighed.
“He’s… finding himself. We are certain that he will make a return but, just not right now.” She explained and Gayle nodded sadly.
“Of course, now let’s move onto our new ninja recruits! Maybe also say your powers too.”
“I- uhm… yeah, my name? It’s Sora! I’m the elemental master of tech.”
“Wyldfyre. Heat.”
“Hello all! My name is Arin and I… don’t have an elemental power… but I know Spinjitsu!”
Gayle blinked, a little shocked. “Wow! You heard it here folks, a Spinjitsu master with no element! Maybe you can give us a demonstration later, Arin? Well, onto our main segment of-“
Sora loudly cleared her throat which made Gayle pause. Gayle just kind of looked at her and Lloyd immediately stepped in.
“I think that we missed a member of our new team! Would you like to introduce yourself, Frak?” He explained. Gayle didn’t look very happy.
“Yes, thanks Lloyd! Yo, my name is Frak and I’m the master of quake! Hi Mom, if you’re watching!” He grinned, waving at the camera.
Gayle let out a forced smile.
“Ah yes, how… cute. Well, since there is so many of you we’ve decided to split the show into two segments. The first half will be about the original ninja, seeing everything that they’ve been getting up to and then our second half will be dedicated to getting to know the new ninja!”
Sora let out a sigh of relief. At least that meant that she could prepare a little bit better…
The first half went by pretty quickly, a couple questions about what the ninja had been doing with themselves after the merge, more about the certain enemies that they face in the new environment and how they have adapted to the changes.
“And that’s all for the ninja! After this quick commercial break, we’ll learn all about our new heros! Like what’s the secret behind Arin’s pies, what hair products does Sora use and why Wyldfyre is so knowledgeable on dragons!” Gayle quipped, her bubbly personality immediately dropping as soon as she heard the words ‘CUT!’
She immediately turned to Vinny.
“Vinny! Get me a caramel macchiato with two sugars and extra cream!” She barked.
The sudden change in atmosphere made Sora’s head spin. Especially after she realised that they were on next. She made a face but… she needed to do this. She knows that it’s important, even if she doesn’t like it. The more people who know them, the safer they’ll feel.
She glanced at Arin and Frak who sat next to her. Arin looked at lot more collected, but she’s known him long enough to know that he’s probably thinking a million things per second and Frak is probably thinking the same, but he’s not good at hiding it. She usually has to poke Arin a few times to get him to talk while Frak will just blurt it out in a wave of words that she could barely comprehend.
She stood up, dusting off her suit.
“I’m going to get some water, do you guys want any?” She asked, it wasn’t really a question though since she was going to bring them back water anyways. It was just her trying to get them out of their own heads.
Arin stared at her for a few seconds, processing what she said before he nodded. Frak thought for a few moments before also nodding.
At least they were keeping themselves hydrated… She thought to herself.
She walked over to the water table where Nya, Lloyd and Kai were talking to each other. It looked serious so she didn’t want to interrupt. Eventually Nya and Kai went back to their seats and Lloyd made his way over to Sora.
She looked at him curiously as she poured her own water, putting in some fancy looking strawberry flavouring.
“Hey Lloyd, what’s up?” She asked, taking a sip of her now slightly pink water.
“I just wanted to give you a bit of warning. Gayle can be a little bit of an… interesting character. She doesn’t really understand privacy and she can be pushy. I just wanted to let you know because I can guarantee that she’s probably got something up her sleeve.”
That unsettled Sora a little. She understood that Gayle was a reporter and some had a tendency of the lack of respect towards boundaries but surely there was rules in place for this? She sighed, shaking it off. She thanked Lloyd for the heads up and went back to her seat with the three cups of water in hand.
Frak looked a little bit more relaxed now but he was still fidgeting with his shirt sleeves. She handed him his water and he took it happily, taking a sip as he looked around. He tensed when Gayle entered the room once more and sat down at her desk.
“Looks like we’re on soon…” He mumbled and Arin placed a supportive hand on his shoulder.
“We’re going to be great! We finally get to show everyone what we’re made of!” He exclaimed and Frak took a deep breath, nodding.
The way too bright lights turned back on and Sora had to squint until her eyes adjusted to everything again.
That’s the only chance she got to prepare herself as the cameras started rolling about a minute later.
“Hellloooooo! Welcome back to the Gayle Gossip show! If you were with us before the break then you’d already know what’s going on but if you’re just joining us right now then welcome! We’ve already talked to the Ninja that have been keeping our streets safe for many years for all of our Ninjago viewers but their team did a little bit of growing during the merge and now we have new ninja! Say hello to Arin, Sora and Wyldfyre everyone!”
Sora had to stare at Gayle for a moment. What was this lady’s deal with Frak?! Seriously! Ignoring him not once but twice!
“And Frak!” Thankfully she didn’t have to cut in this time as Arin did it for her.
“Oh… Did I not say Frank? Oops.”
Sora nearly walked out but Frak gently took hand and it at least made her not want to blow up right then and there.
“So Arin… We have heard all about your delicious pies! I mean seriously, they’re quite famous amongst residents in the crossroads. The people have to know, what is your favourite pie to make?” Gayle asked, completely moving past that whole thing like it hadn’t even happened.
“Oh, wow! That’s actually a really great question… I uh, I’ve made so many but my favourite? It might be a little bit basic but it’d probably be an apple pie. It’s a classic, you can’t go wrong with it and it’s actually the pie that started it all! Me and Frak used to loooove making pies as kids and apple pie was the first pie we made!” He recalled the memory with a lot of fondness in his eyes. It was really sweet.
“Oh wow, so let me get this straight… You and… Frak have known each other for quite some time then, yes?” Gayle questioned and Sora could only fear where this was going.
“Yeah! Me and Frak go waaaay back. We were Ninja fanatics and we bonded together through that. We grew up together until he had to move away to the sewers.” Arin explained further and Gayle gave a sympathetic nod.
“Ah yes, the Ninjago sewers… that’s where a lot of the Serpentine ended up. Frak, you must’ve had quite a hard time there. I heard it was rather rough around the edges.”
“- Actually uh no, that’s not the case at-“ Frak started but he was immediately cut off again.
“Wyldfyre! You’re from the Wyldness, aren’t you? What’s it like working with people from a realm so different than yours?”
Wyldfyre looked a little bit shocked when her name was called.
“Pshhhh, it’s like… the easiest of easys. Absolutely zero culture shocks. I got used to everything really quickly.” She answered and Kai shot her an unimpressed look.
“Really? None at all? A lot of people have reported that you’re quite hard to work with and you can be very stubborn!”
Wyldfyre immediately deflated into her seat and crossed her arms, looking away and mumbling something.
“Wyldfyre is a very good teammate! Yes, she can be quite… uhm, enthusiastic sometimes but she has shown the most improvement out of all of us! She’s been doing great.” Frak immediately rushed to Wyldfyre’s defence which made her perk up a little bit again.
“I see… Well it’s possible that my sources may be a little bit biased after all, anyways… a little birdie told me that romance is blossoming amongst the team! Now, the ninja are no strangers to romance. It looks like they teach stealing hearts amongst Spinjitsu!” Gayle howled with laughter at her own joke but a dark pit was starting to make its way into Sora’s stomach. Surely she was just talking about Wyldfyre and Roby, right? Cole and Geo too! There’s no way Gayle would know about her, Frak and Arin… right?
“Obviously we have our already established relationships like PIXAL and Zane along with Jay and Nya. They’ve been public knowledge for quite some time and if you’re surprised about either then you’d have to be living under a rock! But we have some new romances buzzing about that I just need to get the details on!” She continued and the pit in Sora’s stomach just got bigger.
“Cole! After that little moment between you, Nya and Jay, a lot of people thought you’d never get back into the dating pool but you proved them all wrong, haven’t you?” Gayle asked and Cole nervously laughed, obviously not expecting this in the slightest.
“Well I mean… Me and Geo… I uh, we’re taking things slow. Not rushing into anything.” He explained, rubbing his neck but Gayle just raised a brow.
“Uh-huh… slow? Cole, I spy that ring on your finger and I know about that family you have with Geo. you know nothing gets past me.” She giggled and Cole nearly turned back into a ghost again. He tried to stumble out an answer but Gayle had already moved onto her next victim.
“Wyldfyre! Nobody ever thought someone would be able to tame the beast that you are but here we are, and with a man of legend no less!”
Wyldfyre immediately sat up, obviously very proud of herself.
“Yeah, me and Roby are doing great! We’re like, the ideal relationship. Everyone should want to be like us.” She said, leaning back in her chair.
Gayle nodded along and Sora half expected her to bring some dirt out on them both but she didn’t. Weird.
“Yes, our viewers have been talking about you non-stop! We might have you back in for another interview just the two of you, who knows!”
Sora could feel the sinister energy starting to stir. Something was coming up, she really hoped it was her gut saying that she needed to eat a sandwich but something tells her that it was worse than that.
Gayle’s eyes met hers and in that moment she knew that it was all over.
“Sora! Your romance was incredibly hard to dig up, let me tell you that-“ Gayle started and Wyldfyre scoffed.
“Sora? Sora’s not dating anyone! Like, c’mon lady. I know you’re supposed to be a reporter but there’s no need to make things up!” She rolled her eyes.
“Oh, but I’m not making things up. Sora’s just very good at hiding things… and so is Frak and Arin from the looks of it.”
Sora sent Gayle a warning glare even though she knows it was already too late.
An image flashed up on the screen behind her and she desperately tried to change it but something was stopping her. She was about to ask what Gayle’s problem was but Frak’s particularly loud yelp drew her attention and she glanced back at the screen and a picture of her holding both Arin and Frak’s hand and both were kissing her cheek walking through the crossroads was staring right back at her.
“I uhm… maybe we can just edit this out… forget that this ever happened?” Frak asked and Arin just let out a long sigh.
“Frak, this is a live recording.”
“IT’S A WHAT???”
Sora immediately grabbed her mic and paused, looking at it. It was glowing a weird yellow light.
Lloyd stared at it, his jaw dropping.
“Vengestone?? Gayle, what the-“
“Look, these moments make for great TV and I know that her powers would interfere with it all-“ Gayle immediately tried to back herself up.
Lloyd immediately shook his head.
“No, you don’t get to invade my student’s privacy just for some tv ratings, Gayle! That’s not cool!”
“I-I have dirt on you too, you know!”
Lloyd just rolled his eyes.
“The media have said far enough about me to care about it anymore.” He grumbled.
Behind all of the cameras, behind it all…Vinny sighed, the viewership rating was off the charts but was this really what he wanted to do?
“Gayle-“
“No, I don’t want to hear a word out of you, Vinny! I don’t care if he’s your step-son, keep the cameras on!”
Lloyd just took a deep breath.
“Yeah, okay. We’re done here.” was all he said as he moved to get up, the others following in various states of shock.
“Oh, wow! I guess dating villains must be a running thing in your family since you had a little fling with RA-“ The door slammed shut behind the ninja and every light, every camera, every single thing in the studio shut down.
The Gayle Gossip show was shortly taken off the air. Permanently.