IMPORTANT! This series of oneshots is a spinoff of my other Ninjago fic, The Grass is Always Greener. If you haven't read that fic, then some things in them will not make sense. These chapter details events that were mentioned in Chapter 20, but they might be able to be read on their own, but other chapters might not be.

Brave Boy in Blue: Movie Ninjago

Jay couldn't breathe.

He sat hunched over in a cold sweat trying to gasp air into his lungs and not throw up at the same time, but it never seemed to be enough. Nothing seemed to quell the sheer panic in his racing heart.

Outside his bubble of fear, he was vaguely aware of people approaching him, and one coming closer than the rest.

He didn't recognize Cole until he was sitting right beside him, his hand rubbing circles into his back.

"Jay, look at me," the newly made Earth Ninja said.

Still gasping for air, Jay turned as best he could to focus on Cole.

"It's okay, Jay," Cole said reassuringly. "You're okay, but you need to breathe. Can you do that for me?"

Jay tried to nod as best he could.

"Okay, deep breath in," said Cole.

Jay tried his best to follow his instructions.

"One, two, three, four, now let it out."

Jay exhaled heavily.

They continued like that for another few minutes with Cole counting and giving him reassurances the entire time.

When the panic finally faded, Jay looked around to take in his surroundings.

He was sitting in the pilot seat of his new mech in their secret warehouse with the Green Dragon mech parked on top of it.

It was more than clear what happened. During the most recent Garmadon fight, he'd had another panic attack and Lloyd had to catch him with his own mech before he crashed and carried him back here.

Jay let out a groan and slumped in his pilot seat. "I did it again," he said.

"You almost got shot out of the sky," said Cole firmly. "No one blames you for it."

"Yeah, if it were Kai he'd have wet his pants," Nya called up to them from where the rest of their team were standing just outside the mech, all looking like they wanted to come up but didn't want to crowd him.

"Would not!" Kai protested, but a sharp elbow in the ribs from his sister shut him up.

"Is there anything we can do, Jay?" asked Lloyd, who was still looking up at him in concern.

"Your heart rate is slowing down, but it is still higher than it should be," said Zane helpfully. "Would you like a cold beverage."

The thought of eating or drinking anything right now turned Jay's stomach. He clapped his hand over his mouth and shook his head.

Seeing this, Cole held out a hand to him. "Come on, let's get you out of here."

Jay accepted the hand, and they both climbed down into the warehouse. The Lightning Ninja then winced when he realized that Master Wu had been standing with their teammates too, and had seen the whole thing.

When they reached the ground, the Ninja Master began making his way over to them. Jay ducked his head, expecting to be scolded for losing his head once again when he was supposed to be fighting.

Instead, Master Wu reached out and placed a hand on Jay's shoulder. "Look at me, Jay," he said calmly.

Jay slowly raised his eyes to meet Master Wu's.

"Are you alright?" Wu asked seriously.

Jay faked a weak smile and nodded, but Master Wu saw right through it. "Please, be honest with me, Jay. How do you feel?"

"Like I want to either throw up or pass out," Jay admitted softly.

Master Wu nodded and steered him over to the couch in the warehouse where the team had recently taken to hanging out between training and fights. There was even some talk of bringing in a TV and video game system to make things more fun.

At Master Wu's direction, Jay sat down on the couch, the rest of the team came to join them with Cole and Nya sitting on either side of him, Kai perching on the arm of the couch, and Lloyd took a seat on the floor before him. Zane helpfully handed him a bucket in case his nausea acted up and then sat beside Lloyd.

"What do I do, Master Wu?" asked Jay, feeling pathetic as he hunched over the bucket. "I can't be a ninja if this keeps happening."

"Of course you can be a ninja," said Lloyd encouragingly.

Jay didn't agree. "Not like this," he said. "What if during my next panic attack you guys are too busy saving me that you can't stop Garmadon? What if someone gets hurt because I lose control and crash, or shoot something on accident? If this keeps up we're so going to lose one of these days, and it'll be all my fault."

"It won't be your fault, because we're not gonna lose," said Nya confidently.

However, Zane said, "Statistically speaking, our chances of failure are far higher when Jay is overcome by his anxiety."

"See!" said Jay, pointing at Zane.

"Not helping, Zane," hissed Lloyd in the nindroid's ear.

"But he's right," said Jay emphatically. "I can't do this. Just thinking about going out to fight again makes me feel…" he trailed off and held the bucket to his mouth, which made his feelings very clear.

"Is there any way you can get over it?" asked Kai.

Everyone turned to give him looks so dry the desert was jealous.

Realizing how that sounded, Kai quickly waved his hands and said, "Nonononono, I didn't mean 'get over it,' I meant, is there some way we can help you keep your head at least while you're in the air? So you can still fight with us without this happening all the time. You know, things like calming music, ways we can talk to you over the radio, something like that."

Cole rolled his eyes at the Fire Ninja's flailing, and said, "What he means is, we're a team. We want you with us. How can we help?"

Jay wouldn't look at them and kept his head low in the bucket.

Lloyd turned to his uncle. "Uncle Wu, do you know anything that could help Jay? Maybe one of your magic teas could work, I know you have a calming one."

"He has magic teas?" asked Nya, as she and the others looked surprised.

But Master Wu shook his head. "While Sereni-tea would calm his anxiety, it would also make him oblivious to the world around him, which when flying through the sky is just as dangerous. While I wish I could provide a simple solution, the fact of the matter is that there are things in this world with no quick fix. I'm afraid this is an obstacle Jay must overcome himself." He then pulled up his flute to play Eye of the Tiger.

Jay pulled his face up from the bucket and looked miserable. "There's nothing to overcome," he said, cutting the song off midway. "I can't do it! It's too much."

Master Wu put down his flute. "Perhaps you are right. Perhaps you are not ready for this." He turned to look at all of the assembled team, his face regretful. "All of you are young and inexperienced, and I did not wish to drag you into this."

"You didn't drag us into anything, Master Wu," said Kai.

"Yeah, you just offered to train us, we're the ones who decided to fight," agreed Nya.

"And build ourselves mechs to do it with," added Zane.

"All you did was give us the moves, and the space to make it happen," said Cole.

"We chose this, Uncle Wu," said Lloyd with a determined scowl. "We want to help fight my father."

Master Wu gave them a fond look. "And just as you have chosen to do so, you are also free to choose to stop." He turned to look at Jay. "If that is what you want, young Jay."

Jay felt like a complete heel for backing down when everyone else was determined. Especially in light of all their support. But the thought of getting shot at again by hoards of ocean-themed soldiers…

"I still want to help, but I can't fight!" he said. "I'd just bring everyone down."

"So, what, you want a way to help without fighting Garmadon?" asked Nya with a raised eyebrow. "Is there even a way to do that?"

Jay looked thoughtful for a moment, then his face lit up. "I could be your Guy in the Chair!"

"Our Guy in the Chair?" said Zane, confused.

"Like in the movies?" asked Kai.

"Yes!" said Jay, actually looking excited. "It's perfect! I can still help you guys out, while also staying far, far away from an army of fish-themed maniacs who want to kill me."

The rest of the Ninja Force exchanged glances, and Master Wu looked completely lost.

"You know that guy in movies that sits at a computer and feeds people information, that's what Jay wants to do," explained Cole when he saw Wu's confusion.

"I… see," said Wu with a small frown that made it clear he still didn't completely understand.

"You really want to do that, Jay?" asked Lloyd.

"Yeah," said Jay. "It seems like the best way I can do this."

Lloyd glanced at his uncle. "What do you think, Uncle Wu."

"As I said, it what you do is your choice," said Master Wu.

Jay pumped his fist in the air. "Yes! I need to start building a supercomputer!" He then turned and ran out of the warehouse. "I'm going to the junkyard!"

Lloyd perked up at that. Junkyards were a Master Builder's paradise. "I'm coming too," he said taking off after him.

"Me three!" called Nya, a step behind him, never one to turn down a chance to build.

The rest of the team exchanged glances. "We're not letting them go alone, are we?" asked Kai.

"Those three building nuts surrounded by piles of rusted and precariously stacked pieces of scrap? What could happen," said Cole dryly, already starting to get up.

The ideas those words conjured triggered Kai's protective instincts, and he took off after them. "Wait for me!"

"This sounds fun and educational," said Zane brightly as he wheeled behind them.

Cole chuckled to himself and followed them out at a more sedated pace.

Master Wu watched them go, fondly marveling at the exuberance of youth, before going to call his son, Morro, in hopes of having this strange teen thing explained to him.

In the days between that discussion and the next Garmadon attack, Jay worked tirelessly on that computer. He connected it to all of their mechs and took extra precautions to make sure it was unhackable. He practiced studying maps to find routes, hacking into traffic and security cameras so he would be able to hear and see everything. He was sure by the time the next attack happened, he would be ready.

And then the sirens sounded, and it was go-time.

At first, things went as they normally did. The second the sirens sounded, they all asked for a bathroom pass in order to slip down their locker chutes and save the city as the Secret Ninja Force.

Despite not having any intention to fight, Jay still donned his blue gi. It was a habit by now, and even if he wasn't fighting, he was still part of this team.

Sliding behind his computer, Jay brought it on and began speaking into his microphone. "Okay, mic check, can everyone hear me?"

"Loud and clear, Jay," said Lloyd as he flew out on his green dragon. "You ready for this?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," said Jay, feeling nervous. For all that he'd prepared and considered this a better solution, there was still so many things to take into account. What if he didn't type fast enough? What if the computer crashed? What if he gave the wrong advice? What if-

"You've got this, Jay," said Nya as her water-strider mech leaped out of the warehouse, as if able to sense the spiral his brain was going down.

The praise cut through the nervous thoughts and allowed Jay to force himself back on track. Glad Nya had already left, and wouldn't see him blush, he replied, "You too. You guys have got this." He then added under his breath, "Especially without me there to screw it up."

"I heard that," said Cole as he rolled out. "No blaming yourself."

"Right, sorry," said Jay, making a mental note to be more vigilant about his microphone.

Kai and Zane were the last ones out, and they paused long enough to give him a jaunty salute and a friendly wave respectively before taking off to join the battle.

Jay took a deep breath and began pulling up the camera feed of the attack. "Looks like Garmadon's doing what he usually does," he said as he studied the feed. "Sending his troops out from the water, and they're marching pretty much directly for Ninjago Tower."

"Any sign of my dad?" asked Lloyd.

"Nnnnnoooo," said Jay. "Looks like he hasn't surfaced with the rest yet."

"That's weird, usually he's leading the charge," said Kai.

"Knowing him, he's probably gearing up for a dramatic reveal," said Nya.

"Keep your eyes open, okay," said Lloyd to all of them.

Jay pulled up as many security camera feeds as he could to get visuals in every direction. "I'm on it."

After that things went smoothly. The Ninja Force was taking on Garmadon's grunts, and while there was no sign of the man himself, they were beating them back fairly well.

And Jay, well, Jay felt rather useless. For as cool as being the Guy in the Chair looked in movies, there really wasn't a lot he could actually do. None of the shark men were using anything he could hack, all his teammates knew their way around the city so well that they didn't need directions, and while he could give them a heads up on a sneak attack he knew he could have easily done that from his jet.

He didn't want to admit it, but he couldn't help but feel he should be out there. Still, every time he glanced over at his jet he felt the fear in him rise up to overwhelm him once again.

Besides. While a bit rocky, his teammates seemed to be doing well for themselves fighting without him and were pushing Garmadon's forces back to the beach.

… Maybe they didn't need him after all.

After five minutes of them kicking butt and him barely having to do anything, Jay was ready to call it quits. He turned away from the computer screen to change back into his regular clothes and go back to school. At least he could be some use by providing alibis for where his friends were if any teachers asked.

He reached his backpack just as the screaming started.

He raced back to the computer and his eyes widened at the sight.

Garmadon had finally made his grand entrance, and it was atop a massive mech that looked both ridiculous and terrifying. It was huge and had long tentacles that spread out everywhere.

"Behold! My Leviathan Mech!" Lord Garmadon was shouting through his megaphone. "You all thought I was just into sharks, but I can branch out! How do you like me now, Ninja!"

To Jay's horror, he realized that all five of his friends' mechs were tangled within the tentacles, with them all trapped inside them. Garmadon's army wasn't being pushed back to the beach, they were leading them into a trap!

There was nothing he could do. Being a Guy in the Chair meant he could feed the others information, but nothing he had here could go against that thing.

He could only stare in horror as Garmadon seemed to have a great deal of fun shaking his friends' mechs like ragdolls. He saw Lloyd managed to slip free from his mech and try to run along it to get to Garmadon, only to once again be captured in another tentacle, and was then dragged over to look Garmadon in the face while the villain began a gloating monologue. If looks could kill, the evil warlord would be a smear on the mech from the glare his son (not that he knew it was his son) was giving him as the mech began making its way through the city to the tower.

Jay backed away from the computer in horror.

This was terrible! His friends were captured, Garmadon was about to win, and there was nothing he could do!

He then glanced over his shoulder at his jet.

Well, there was one thing he could do, but… that might just make things worse.

"... And that is why, on this glorious day, I will finally conquer Ninjago," said Garmadon smugly down to the scowling Green Ninja in front of him. Boy, did it feel good to rub his victory in this particular ninja's face. These new ninja warriors in mechs hadn't been around for long, but they'd quickly proven to be stubborn thorns in his side, especially the little green one here.

The Green Ninja rolled his eyes at him and would have undoubtedly said something defiant if the tentacle trapping around him wasn't clamped up to his nose.

"Admit it, you totally didn't see this coming, right?" said Garmadon gleefully. "You thought I was just gonna pop out in another shark, but hey, leviathans are cool too. The perfect way to catch the six of you."

The second he said that Garmadon paused and actually looked around at the mechs for the first time since capturing them.

"Wait, one, two, three…" he muttered, pointing at each of them as he counted under his breath. "Five? There are six of you, right? Where's the little blue plane that's always almost crashing?"

The Green Ninja's scowl only worsened at him, still unable to say anything, but clearly not liking this line of questioning.

"Did he finally crash for real, or just flown the coop?" asked Garmadon, seeing another way to pick at his helpless enemy. "That one always did seem like the weak link. I could always hear him screaming as he flew around, and not in the epic battle cry kinda way."

The Green Ninja was still glaring daggers at him, and he was starting to hear yells of protest and insults coming from the other captured mechs. Perfect, this was really getting under their skin.

"I guess it's just as well he's not here," Garmadon continued with a mocking shrug. "Better he save himself the embarrassment of being defeated by Lord G-"

A bolt of lightning cut him off mid-taunt, and Garmadon jumped back with a yelp as he was nearly fried by it, nearly falling off the top of his leviathan mech in the process.

The Green Ninja let out a muffled sound of surprise and delight as he looked up at the sky, and Garmadon followed his gaze.

"Speak of the devil," the warlord grumbled.

There, flying through the air, was the Blue Lightning Jet, and it was already curving around to take another shot.

As the jet's cannons began sparking as they readied another lightning shot, Garmadon shouted, "Oh no ya don't!" He yanked on his controls and the tentacle holding the Green Ninja was shifted so he was positioned in front of the warlord as a human shield.

Seeing this, the jet's cannons changed targets, and instead, the lightning blast struck Garmadon's army marching along behind them. Since they were all still wet from rising out of the sea, the bolt spread through them and knocked a good chunk out cold.

"Huh, note-to-self, fire the lead of the uniform division and have the new head make lightning-proof outfits," Garmadon muttered to himself as he looked down at his fried troops.

That was all he had time to ponder as he realized the jet was sending more lightning blasts to take out the rest of his troops.

"Hey, cut that out!" shouted Garmadon, and he grabbed his controls again and send the tentacles not holding the rest of the ninja after the jet.

The jet quickly spun out of the way and worked on weaving through their grasping clamps to avoid capture.

"Get back here you little-!" Garmadon grumbled as he sent the metal tentacles flying every which way to try and capture that one last ninja, but the little blue jet was fast, and if he wasn't careful to keep using the Green Ninja as a shield, it was quick to take shots at him whenever the way was clear.

It didn't help that the rest of the ninja nerds were cheering the blue one on, and shouting things to distract the warlord whenever they had a chance.

Then, just when Lord Garmadon thought he had the jet in his grasp, the tentacles controls sputtered and died.

"What! Oh, come on!" Garmadon said, yanking at the controls to get them moving, but they were jammed tight and wouldn't budge.

He looked over the side of his mech to try and find the source of the problem, and it quickly became clear. "Aww," he groaned, seeing the tentacles had been tied into knots while trying to chase down the Lightning Ninja. "Need to fire whoever designed this thing too," he grumbled.

At that moment, another burst of lightning shot at him, and Lord Garmadon was sent tumbling from his mech. He was caught by one of his own remaining forces in their plane and was quickly ferried back to his volcano. "YOU MAY HAVE WON THIS ROUND, BUT I'LL BE BACK!" he shouted at them as he left.

With Garmadon gone, Lloyd finally managed to wiggle free of the tentacle holding him and jumped to the controls to free the others from the other tentacles grasps.

The six mechs then took off to the thunderous fanfare of the watching civilians, cheering that they had once again saved the day.

Jay was able to land the jet himself this time, but when he practically dropped out of the cockpit he had to put his head between his legs and take deep breaths to avoid another panic attack.

Once again, he felt a comforting hand on his back, and when he was able to look up, he saw Cole smiling proudly down at him. "Take your time," he said. "You're the man of the hour."

Jay ducked his head back down and took a few more deep breaths before he felt calm enough to stand up straight.

Only to immediately be tackled in a Kai Hug™.

"Bro! That was so awesome!" the Fire Ninja crowed, practically carrying Jay over to the couch to plop him down. "You totally saved our butts out there!"

"He's right!" said Nya, popping up beside her brother, grinning widely. "That was so ninja!"

Jay flushed at her praise. "I didn't-" he started to say.

"Saved us is right," Lloyd joked patting Jay on the back. "If I had to listen to my dad gloat any longer I would have screamed. Great job, Jay!"

"But-" Jay tried again.

"You also almost single-handedly saved Ninjago," added Zane brightly. "You should be proud, Jay."

Jay just stared at them all with a flustered expression.

"Cool it, guys," said Cole, seeing he was getting overwhelmed. Still, the Earth Ninja shot him a grin. "You did good out there, Jay."

"More than good!" said Nya enthusiastically. "That was one of the bravest things I've ever seen. Especially in light of, well…"

Jay slumped slightly in his seat and glanced over at the computer he'd worked to build that had ultimately been rather useless. "I didn't feel very brave," he admitted. "I spent most of the time up there freaking out."

"Well done, students," said Master Wu, appearing out from behind Lloyd and making all of them jump at his sudden appearance.

"Master Wu!" the teenagers exclaimed in surprise.

Wu tipped his hat to them. "I was coming as quick as I could when I heard Garmadon had captured you. I am glad to see my help is no longer needed." Turning to address Jay, he said, "Courage is not the absence of fear, but the facing of it. There are times you will only find your True Potential when you do things even though they are hard."

Jay briefly wondered about the emphasis he put on the words 'True Potential', but only said, "But what if this is a one-time thing?" he asked. "What if next time, I-"

Master Wu placed a hand on Jay's shoulder to stop him. "I did say it would be hard, not easy," he said. "But it is a struggle worth overcoming if you are willing to do so."

Jay glanced over at his teammates, who were beaming at him, and then back at Master Wu, who was looking proud of his accomplishment that day.

Doing this would be hard, but…

"I'll do it," Jay said.

His team cheered.

In the coming years, it wasn't easy to manage both anxiety and fighting evil, but eventually, they found a way to make it work.

At least until the giant cat showed up, but then that's another story.

A/N This is the first of several oneshots I'm planning to go with my The Grass is Always Greener fic. These oneshots will either explore characters in the movieverse a bit more (such as this one), or will expand on what happens after the main fic ends, and what changes in the show and movieverse come from the events of The Grass is Always Greener. I only have three oneshots I can post before the fic ends, but be sure to stick around because after I post the last chapter there are going to be a bunch more.

As for this oneshot, it expands on something that was mentioned in Chapter 20 of The Grass is Always Greener, when Movie Jay unlocks his True Potential. Kay Hau and I talked about their powers in the movie, and thought that Jay seemed a little more powerful than the rest of his friends, blasting the door and rubble away and then taking down several airplanes in one shot. We theorized that maybe he'd already gotten his True Potential, and this is my little headcanon on how that happened. I hope you enjoyed it.

A major thanks to Kay Hau for helping me plan and write the main fic and these oneshots. They wouldn't have come about without her, and check out her works if you have the time, she's really good.