The years passed on quickly from there, and Xavier was glad that his perception of time was sped up (or at least that it seemed to be), because those 10 years were more or less incredibly uneventful. Of course, there were little mishaps here and there that added excitement to their lives (usually Kai doing something impulsive that ended in a scuffle with something or other), but aside from the occasional bandit attack, things were pretty peaceful. Despite this, Xavier was filled with a general sense of unease, unsure of what would happen next: whether it was because of the plot, because of his own situation as a reincarnation, or for some other reason, he was sure that what he was experiencing now could only be the calm before the storm, a reprieve before he had to find a way to become stronger and face whatever came to him head on. In preparation, Xavier did end up accepting Falia's advice to fully commit to the bow, at least for a while. With all the time he had though, he did get to learn about some other weapons from her. Falia had a surprisingly in depth understanding of weapons, more than would be expected from a normal hunter, making Xavier just a tad more scared of her, even if she was always relatively chill.
As for Kai and Nya, the two, though still close with Xavier and Falia, became more sure they wanted to carry on their parents' work in the blacksmith shop. Through the years, they had more or less accepted that their parents were gone, and they ended up returning to where they had lived before with Ray and Maya. Falia and Xavier were always there to help though, since after all they were still neighbors and Kai and Nya were still just teens, but Xavier understood they wanted some measure of control in their life, and neither him nor Falia objected to the change in the end.
This monotony did eventually come to an end however, though the day started like any other at first. Kai was in the forge, working on his weapon making skills: he was generally pretty good at making things, but his problem was ultimately a lack of patience, which in turn disturbed his precision. Still, Xav had known him long enough to say that his determination would ultimately outweigh his impulsiveness when it came down to it. On that particular day, Xavier had come to visit the forge where Kai and Nya were working, and upon reaching the shop at the top of the hill, he came to the sight of Kai holding a severely warped blade. Seeing Xavier make his way towards them, Kai gave a slightly embarrassed smile.
"Oh, hey Xav! You kind of came at a bad time, since I'm busy practicing, but uh… I guess you can stay and watch."
Nya giggled a bit at his awkwardness, but Kai ignored her, and Xavier returned a grin in response to Kai
"You might laugh now Nya, but your brother is doing really well for his age. He can keep the place afloat, and that's not easy."
"Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it for myself. Honestly, things would go a lot more smoothly if he just let me help out."
Kai rolled his eyes, clearly having heard this spiel more than a few times already.
"We've been over this Nya, I'm the older brother here, and it's my job to protect you. Blacksmithing is dangerous work."
Nya looked as if she had a biting retort, but before she could respond, the three of them noticed what looked like a storm brewing unnaturally fast. Xavier squinted to see what was going on in that direction, and saw the outline of some…. Strange vehicles? That was the most he could make out in the darkness, and numerous villagers were also heading out to see what the commotion was. As if on cue, the machines came barreling down at top speed, causing the villagers to scatter in fear, and as they got closer, Xavier could see more details that caused him to take a step back in fear: the war vehicles were manned only by skeletal monsters, with glowing red eyes and armor that seemed more like a torture device than protection, filled with spikes and metal bits that looked painful. Kai immediately leapt into action, as skeletons began attacking the area in the village and the shop, and ram to strike a skeleton with a sword he grabbed from the rack.
"Nya, stay back! Xav, give me a hand here."
Xavier grabbed a bow and some arrows from a rack, and deftly fired them into the advancing skeletons as Kai picked them off. Unfortunately, the boney nature made both the sword and bow relatively less effective, and for every arrow Xavier loosed into the skeletons that struck, another was dodged or simply passed through one of the holes between their bones. Xavier saw from the corner of his eye that Nya had evidently picked up on this though, and disobeying her brother like always, pulled out a wooden staff and began slamming the blunt weapon against the bony creatures, an attack that was much more effective. Xavier gave her a thumbs up while Kai scowled at his sister ending up in harm's way.
"Thanks for the assist Nya!"
"Don't encourage her"
Despite Kai's misgivings, the three working together were able to make real headway against the monsters, and their weapons seemed to do better now that they knew how to adjust for the weird physiology of the skeletal warriors. Xavier ran outside to see if he could get a better shot, but before he could loose another, a much bigger and more imposing figure jumped into the fray… this one hardly seemed like it could ever have been human, with four arms that each held massive knives, and it seemed to be the leader, having the highest intelligence of the lot. Slamming its knives into the startled Kai, it cackled madly.
"These babies are the protectors of this village? Looks like this place is easy pickings!"
Before Xav could fire an arrow into the beast's malformed head, from within his blindspot, a golden flash appeared and slammed into the skeleton leader, almost faster than Xavier could see, and sent the warrior flying. As the dust settled, Xavier saw an old man, with a long white beard and a conical hat enter the fight with his staff, and Nya let out a small gasp.
"That's the old man who came into our shop earlier! What's he doing back?"
Xavier on the other hand, was less surprised than Nya was. Little that he remembered from the show from when he was a kid, he did know who this was: Master Wu, the old teacher who was the one who gave the ninja their valuable lessons. It seemed his reputation for his skill wasn't exaggerated, and he quickly outmaneuvered the skeletal warlord. When the skeleton seemed open enough from dealing with Wu, Xavier sent a shot his way. The arrow hurtled through the air at struck him in the head: it didn't kill him, but it left a clear crack in its skull. Tossing it's knives at Wu to give itself an opening, it ran back quickly to the vehicle nearby and scuttled back into driver's seat along with two of his lieutenants had just joined him.
"Arrrgh! You two, just get the girl and go, that's what Garmadon wanted!"
The skeleton with a helmet punched a button on the vehicle, and from the back, a large claw shot out, and before Xavier could respond, it grabbed Nya and sped off: he tried to fire an arrow into it, but it struck only metal. Xavier cursed, and the only thing keeping him from panicking was the fact that he was certain this was probably "scripted" so to speak. Xavier ran over to Kai, who had no such thoughts holding him back and thus was about to strangle Wu.
"Why didn't you do anything!"
Xavier could only place a hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him down.
"Kai, there was nothing any of us could have done. They only thing we can do is chase after them."
Wu shook his head, looking rather shaken.
"I appreciate your defense, young one, but we cannot even do that. The skulkin are returning to the underworld as we speak, and we have no method to reach it as of now."
Kai looked like he was about to explode, and pulling himself away from Xavier, pointed accusingly towards Wu.
"What, are you saying we should just leave her with them? You're insane!"
Wu raised a hand to interrupt Kai, seemingly a bit calmer despite being shaken by the suddenness of it all.
"Please hold on! I understand your worry and panic, but even if you could reach the underworld, you wouldn't be strong enough to defeat the skulkin, especially if Lord Garmadon has taken control of it. Your only option is my training."
Wu explained how Lord Garmadon was searching for the four weapons of Spinjitzu, which were used by the First Spinjitzu Master to create the world, and how he had been sealed there by his brother when they fought over their father's weapons, as well as how Kai's father had been a friend of his and been entrusted with the map to the four weapons. Xavier noticed that he seemed to be leaving a lot of story out, like the way he knew Kai and Nya's parents. Kai seemed to pick up on this, and realizing that Wu was thus the son of the First Spinjitzu Master of the story, and could teach him to become far more powerful.
"Can you really help me then?"
Wu nodded, glad to see that Kai was no longer as distressed as before.
"I can. But you must also trust me and come to train rigorously if we are to do so, for I cannot do so here."
Xavier decided this was the right time to cut in, feeling rather annoyed by how Wu seemed to be entirely ignoring his presence in favor of Kai.
"Excuse me, I hate to interrupt, but if you're going to train Kai in… Spinjitzu, I should come too. Nya is like a sister to me, and I'm not just going to sit back and let some spirits and monsters kidnap her without a fight."
Wu seemed almost startled by Xavier, and wasn't sure what to say. Wu studied him momentarily, as if examining him for flaws and faults, the finally shook his head.
"I'm sorry, but you are not one of the ones I was meant to train. Kai is… he has a fire inside, something that you cannot learn simply through training. I am sure that you are capable, but you are not what I am looking for."
Now it was Xavier's turn to get angry, being filled with anger. It shouldn't have been upsetting, but Xavier felt like everything he'd worked towards building up in this world since he was born here was being torn down, and he felt powerless. But before he could say anything, Kai spoke up for him.
"Wu, that's what you said your name was when we met earlier? I don't know what all this stuff about "special fires" is, but I trust Xav with my life. He's a wiz with a bow, and if him being here gives us even a slightly better chance of saving Nya, then he's coming with us.
Wu furrowed his brow, not having expected this resistance, but after a tense moment, the old master could only sigh in exasperation.
"Very well, say your goodbyes and prepare to leave. You will not need to bring anything with you but your resolve. Your training starts today."