A/N Welcome to my sequel to The Grass is Always Greener. If you haven't read that fic or the series of oneshots Greener Pastures, I strongly recommend you do so, as some things in this fic will not make sense otherwise. I also recommend Greener Gift-fics by Kay Hau, which are gift-fics for this series, and are considered canon in it. Massive thanks to Kay Hau for beta reading and contributing.

Chapter 1

Movie Ninjago

It was a typical day at Ninjago High School. Or, at least the new kind of typical where they didn't have Garmadon attacks every other day, and six of the student body were celebrities.

Zane Julien was one such celebrity, though he never really understood his classmates' fascination with him and his friends. The six of them worked together to keep Ninjago safe from evildoers, it was as simple as that. The other students' gratitude was appreciated, but their constant questions and eagerness to take pictures could be irritating at the best of times and caused Jay to have an anxiety attack at the worst (though that hasn't happened recently, thankfully).

At least Kai liked the attention, though at times it seemed he was the only one.

It was avoiding one such eager student that caused Zane to speed up going down the hallway and in turning a corner too fast, only to crash into someone else and scatter both their books across the floor.

"I apologize," Zane said automatically. "I should have been watching where I was going."

"No, it's alright. I was not paying attention either," came a soft reply, and Zane took the time to get a better look at who he'd crashed into, and his glowing blue eyes met a pair of sea green ones.

It was a girl. She had long, platinum blonde hair tied in a low side ponytail. She was dressed in an oversized purple sweater-dress with an open neck and red belt over leggings and flats.

After a moment to process her appearance, he recognized her. She was in some of his classes, and he had seen her around the school quite often, but she rarely seemed to engage in any interactions with the rest of the student body. He could not understand why she would refrain from doing so.

In the time he had been processing this, the girl had already gathered up his books and handed them back to him. "We will simply both have to be more careful in the future," she said politely.

"I agree with that assessment," Zane said with his best friendly smile. "I am Zane Julien. I am here to protect those who cannot protect themselves."

The girl gave a small smile at his introduction. "I am Penny Trixie Allons," she said. "And I am here as a student, of which I must get back to. Have a nice day, Zane Julien."

With that, she turned and walked on past him, and Zane watched her go.

She seemed very courteous, he did not understand why she always appeared to be on her own. Perhaps she was lonely and needed friends. While his teammates had warned him not to accept offers of friendship from those who were designated as 'fans', he thought it would be alright in this case. Since she was one of the few students who hadn't been persistently pestering him and his teammates, perhaps she would be safe to befriend.

Even as he resolved to do just that, he continued to watch her make her way down the school hallway. To his surprise, she did not go down it in a straight line. Instead, she would pause every few steps to pick up a piece of litter off the floor to throw into the trash with amazing accuracy, hurry from one side of the hall to the other to hold doors open for those with their arms too full to reach the handle and pause to give directions to visiting parents who seemed confused by the school's layout. Somehow, she managed to do all of this, and still be in class before the bell rang.

Seeing her do all this, Zane was struck by a realization. Not only was she polite, she was kind!

He didn't realize he had still been staring after her long after she was gone until Kai came over to tap him on the shoulder.

"Zane, bro, what's up with you?" the Fire Ninja asked. "We're gonna be late for class any second. You're never late."

Zane slowly rotated his head so he was looking at his friend. "I think I'm in love."

"Okay, tell them what you told me," said Kai a few hours later as they sat together at lunch.

Zane turned to face their group of friends and dutifully repeated his words. "I think I'm in love," he said matter of factly.

There was a beat of silence as the rest of their friends stared at him in surprise. When what he said fully sank in they exploded in a mix of reactions.

"That's great! Who? Is she cute?" asked Jay, happy for him.

"Wow," said Lloyd, who looked happy for him as well, but also surprised. "I don't think I've ever seen you interested in someone before. Whoever it is must be something special."

"Yeah, I'm gonna need a name," said Nya, looking skeptical.

"How can you just fall in love with someone at the drop of a hat?" questioned Kai, who had been confused since his initial revelation.

Cole just listened as they all chattered, and gave Zane a sympathetic look when he saw the Nindroid begin to glitch from trying to keep track of everyone's questions. "Can it, guys," he said in a firm tone, shutting the rest of them up.

They all looked sheepish about their reactions, and Lloyd said, "Sorry. Go on, Zane. Tell us."

Zane's smile returned. "The object of my affection is Penny Trixie Allons," he said, subtly (for him at least) pointing over to the girl in question.

The rest of them were far less subtle when they all turned to look in her direction.

Fortunately, Penny didn't notice as her back was to them. Once again, she was sitting by her lonesome at a table in the back of the cafeteria with no one around to share in a conversation.

"Oh, her?" asked Jay in a whisper, as if she could hear them across the crowded cafeteria. "Yeah, she's cute. Good catch, Zane."

Nya smacked him on the shoulder for that. "There's more to girls than their looks, Jay," she hissed disapprovingly.

Jay looked sheepish at that. "I know that!" he said, shrinking into his scarf and babbling like he always did when he felt bad. "Like, you're gorgeous but there're tons of cooler things about you than just that."

Nya blinked in surprise at his words.

The Lightning Ninja then seemed to realize what he'd just said, and leaned forward to press his face into the table as he turned red in embarrassment.

It was unfortunate that he did that, as he failed to see Nya's startled expression melt into a blush and a pleased smile.

Cole sighed and rubbed Jay's back as he fought through his embarrassment, and Kai, who was still looking over at Penny, spoke up to distract them.

"Oh, is that her name," the Fire Ninja said. "I've seen her around." He turned to shoot a grin at Lloyd. "I always thought she might be some long lost relative of yours," he added.

That had everyone turn to look back and forth between Penny and Lloyd, seeing what Kai was talking about. Both teenagers had very light blond hair and green eyes, though Lloyd's were a far more vivid green than hers.

Lloyd managed a small smile at Kai's theory. "I doubt it," he said. "Mom was an only child, and I think we'd know if Dad or Uncle Wu had any other kids… probably. Still, it would be pretty cool."

Nya, however, had been studying the girl with a critical eye, before turning to address the rest of the table. "Alright," she announced. "I'll check her out and get back to you if she's legit or not."

That made everyone turn to her in confusion.

"Wait, you're giving her the Nya Test?" asked Cole.

Nya raised her eyebrow as if the answer should be obvious. "Of course. You didn't think I'd just do that for Lloyd, did you?"

Lloyd turned red at her words and looked like he wanted to join Jay in burying himself into the table.

The Nya Test came about in their early years of middle school when Lloyd was just starting to realize that girls weren't as gross as he initially thought and were actually kind of pretty (aside from Nya, who had always been awesome in his books, but in a sisterly way). It was right around then his first crush hit him like a bus.

He had suppressed her name from his memory, but he still remembered giving her a flower and tripping over himself trying to talk to her and get her to like him. To his surprise and delight, she'd seemed receptive of his affections, and had given him hope.

Only to humiliate him in the middle of the school cafeteria by dumping her soda on his head and loudly proclaiming she wouldn't be caught dead having anything to do with an evil little creep like him, and that no one would ever love him. The rest of their classmates had joined in on her mocking him for thinking he'd had a chance.

Lloyd had ditched school and run home crying after that. He later heard that both Kai and Nya got a week's detention that day. Nya for giving the girl a black eye, and Kai for crouching behind her when his sister punched so that she tripped and landed in a trashcan.

After that, an occasional attempt at bullying Lloyd was for people to slip him fake love notes or give flirtatious comments to try and lure him in and break his heart again. It was rare, but it happened.

And thus, the Nya Test came to be.

Simply put, Nya would track down the person who was claiming to 'love' Lloyd and investigate them and their intentions. None of the boys knew what the Nya Test actually involved, but it was certainly effective. Sadly, none of the 'love confessions' had been genuine, but no one had been able to get one over on Lloyd again, and he was all the more grateful for it.

Still, this case was a little different from the previous ones.

"I do not think that is necessary," said Zane, slightly concerned Nya would chase Penny away. "I only want to befriend her. She seems kind but lonely."

Nya glanced over at Penny and had to agree with Zane's assessment. Like him, all the times she'd seen Penny in the past, she'd always been on her own.

"Alright, I'll do a different tactic this time," she said. "I'll make friends with her first, and let you know how she is."

"But-" Zane protested, but Nya held up a hand to silence him.

"Let Big Sister Nya do her thing," Nya insisted. "I promise I'll be nice."

They all knew Nya well enough that no amount of protest would change her mind, and Zane could only hope for the best.

Hopefully, whatever the Nya Test actually was, Penny would be able to pass it.

Walking home from school to do homework before training, Kai was still confused about the day's events. For once he was walking alone, as Lloyd needed to rush home to prepare for a trip he was taking the next day with his mother, and his sister had stayed behind to begin her initial stages of the Nya Test. In other words, talk to other students and teachers at school to see what they thought or knew about her target.

Of course, the reason for Nya's need to run her test was the cause of his confusion.

"I don't get it. How can he know he's in love with someone so quickly?" Kai wondered aloud.

Maybe it was a Nindroid thing. For all their friend tried to be normal, some parts of him just couldn't be hidden. They all accepted it about Zane, even if he didn't seem to accept it about himself.

Kai was pulled from his musings when he heard a shout coming from a nearby alleyway.

"Alright, little girl, give us all your money and no one gets hurt," growled someone in a tough-guy voice.

Hearing it, Kai dropped his backpack and hurried towards the alley. If there was one thing he did understand, it was action.

Time to be a hero.

However, just before he reached the alley, the owner of the tough-guy voice let out a shout of pain. The Fire Ninja screeched to a stop just in time to avoid being knocked flat as the owner came flying out of the alley, and landed with a painful thud on the sidewalk.

Kai could practically see the stars spinning around the would-be mugger's head as he lay dazed on the cement. Wondering how that could have happened, he walked over to stare down the alleyway.

What he saw made his jaw drop.

Standing in the middle of the alleyway was a girl with long auburn hair in a French braid, wearing an orange cami with a brown vest and cargo pants. Her expression was cool and confident despite being surrounded by three more thugs like the one who just kissed concrete. All three of them were trying to grab the girl, but every time they tried, she'd evade and land a hit of her own.

Before Kai's very eyes, he watched her judo flip one thug into a dumpster, swing from a fire escape to kick another in the face, before flipping over the last one and kicking him in the back so hard he came flying out of the alley and over Kai's head to land next to the first thug.

As she was dusting off her hands at a job well done, Kai could only utter one word. "Wow!" he said in a breathless tone.

His voice caught her attention, and she turned to look over at him. Suddenly feeling awkward, Kai could only give a small wave back at her, his face still set in an awed expression.

She grinned at him and Kai noticed her cheeks were dotted with freckles. "Thanks," she said, before giving a friendly wave and running off.

Kai didn't realize until five minutes later he was still standing and waving after her even though she was long gone.

Slowly lowering his hand, he remembered the question he'd been puzzling over only moments earlier.

"Oh," he said to himself. "That's how."

The next day at school had Kai still in a slight daze over what he'd seen. Over who he'd seen.

And he hadn't even gotten her name. Stupid!

From the corner of his eye, he could see Nya shooting him looks when she thought he couldn't see, and he knew his twin was growing concerned. While they usually were very open with each other, he hadn't mentioned what he'd seen to her the night before. There wasn't much to tell, and on the off chance he ever saw the girl again, he didn't want his sister to chase her away with a Nya Test.

Besides, there wasn't really anything to tell. He hadn't even gotten her name!

He was pulled from his thoughts when his homeroom teacher came in and began morning announcements.

"To begin with, we have a new student who just transferred in," she said, waving for someone to come in the door. "Everyone, let's please give her a warm welcome."

Glancing over to see the new kid, Kai suddenly sat ramrod straight in his desk and stared.

It was her!

The back-alley brawler from the day before stood at the front of the class with a small smile and gave them all a wave. "Nice to meet you all," she said. "My name is Skylor. I just moved here from out of town. I hope we can be friends."

The rest of the class gave a smattering of applause and a few calls of, "Hi, Skylor." Kai, however, could only gape, too stunned to speak.

"Now," said the teacher. "Since Skylor is new, she is still unfamiliar with the school's layout. Would anyone be willing to-"

"ME!" said Kai, shooting out of his seat like a rocket with his hand waving wildly in the air. "I'll do it! I'll show her around!"

Everyone was staring at him like he was crazy, but he didn't care. His attention was only on Skylor, whose eyes widened in recognition.

She remembered him!

Or she recognized him from being a ninja, but hey, details, at least then she already knew how cool he was.

The teacher had also been taken aback by his enthusiastic response and coughed to regain her composure. "Yes, well, alright." She turned to Skylor, and said, "Skylor, will it be alright if Kai shows you around the school."

Glancing at the teacher, Skylor's small smile grew and she nodded her head. "Not at all, I'd be happy for him to show me." She then turned to look back at Kai and gave him a wink.

She did remember him!

Kai sat back down with a wide grin on his face as Skylor made her way to her own seat and class started.

He had her name and he gets to show her around the school. Things were looking up!

A few seats over, Nya sighed and shook her head at her brother's antics. He couldn't be more obvious if he tried.

As annoying as he could be, Kai was her goofy big brother who needed to be protected just as much as her little brothers did, even if what she was protecting him from was his own stupidity.

Looks like she had another Nya Test to run.

IMPORTANT NOTE! I and some other authors have been having difficulty getting PMs through email as usual. I'm sure that feature will be fixed soon, but if you leave a comment on this fic and want to see my reply, check your PM folder on this site instead of email.

A/N Well, now we know who's falling for who. It's not quite love at first sight, but more both boys admire certain aspects of the two girls. Don't worry, while this fic does have parts in high school, it won't take all of it. The setting gives a unique opportunity for the Ninja to meet and interact with these two without it needing to be a Ninja mission. Of course, given that it's these guys, you just know Ninja business will get mixed up with them, if it's not already. Of course, Nya's going to begin investigating them, so that'll come to light sooner or later.

Massive, massive thanks to Kay Hay for beta reading and helping to plan and prepare this fic. So much of this comes from our talks together about how these versions of these characters could be like in the movie setting. I couldn't have written this without her, and I'll be sure to point out when she's contributed ideas. Some of the characteristics for Penny, including parts of her name, and ideas for Nya's Nya Test came from her. Also that line from Nya about protecting Kai came from her too.

Next Time: Luh-Loyd and Lil'Loyd accompany Koko when she's summoned before the Serpentine, only to find the snakes frightened and hoping for them to stop an ancient prophecy.