Chapter Text
Zane was currently asleep in his room on the Monastery, it had been some time since the Oni was defeated and all had returned to peace. It had been months at this point, and all the ninja except for Kai has been taking things easy, Kai wasn't wanting to let his guard down because he kept telling them there will be someone to return one day. But this night, Zane was having a nightmare. He found himself being awaken by strange rumbles which made him concern.
He walked outside and saw someone was banging on the doors.
"Who is it?!" Zane asked scarred as he had a bad feeling, he held his hand out hesitantly and the door burst open suddenly which made him step back in fear, he looked ahead of him and saw a fire like Serpentine with a spear.
"Who are you?! What do you want?!" Zane demanded pointing at it.
"Revenge!" She said as shot a beam of fire at him, Zane gasped in fear as he saw what looked like an army of fire Serpentine. Zane gasped in horror as he heard screaming and saw Kai floating in the air while the same fire serpent from before was doing something to him.
"Kai?!" Zane asked in horror as Kai screamed in pain, He watched as Kai's body began to change, his body had started to lose it's legs and grow a long tail, he became more and more like the serpent from before and until he was transformed completely into one.
"Kai! No!!" Zane screamed in horror as Kai was on the ground unconscious completely transformed into a Serpentine, the serpent woman from before picked up his body and put it around her shoulder.
"What did you do to my friend?!" Zane asked furious as he was ready to fight, she chuckled evilly as a response.
"Making him more suitable, i'm sure he'll be much happier as a serpent." She said as she shot another fire blast at him. Zane then had another vision where he saw a ice palace and a strange figure with armor on a throne. The vision changed back into the one with the army attacking the city and people screamed away in fear.
"No, no!!" Zane screamed in fear as his vision changed again, this time it was Kai being forcefully married to this serpent woman from before and he was looking devastated. The last one showed an ice dragon storming over a small village in an ice kingdom. The dragon breathed it's ice breath all over the village freezing every single citizen. He saw all of his friends except for Kai being froze as well until Jay's head suddenly moved.
"Zane, wake up! Cole's about to beat your high score!" Jay said in fear as Zane woke up with a gasp and stood up breathing heavily, he looked next to him and saw Jay next to him.
"Jay, i just had a terrible nightmare!" Zane said in fear as he got up.
"I'm afraid it's true Zane, Cole is about to beat your high score!" Jay said once again.
"Not that, i had a nightmare something terrible is going to happen. There was an evil serpent with a weapon, and it zapped me with it, and i was her turning Kai into a fire serpent as well! Something about him being more suitable for something, and then there was an ice castle! And a dragon and..." Zane said overwhelmed as he tried to process this.
"Shh, relax Zane, it was just a bad dream." Jay assured him.
"It was a vision!" Zane corrected and Jay shrugged is shoulders.
"Zane, when was the last time one of your visions have actually come true?" Jay asked casually.
"All of my visions have come true. from the Titanium Dragon, and the Green Ninja, and if my calculations are correct, there's a 80% possibility mine will be true, and Kai will be transformed into a fire serpent!" Zane said with worry.
"Geez your going on about that too? Kai said a little while back he had a similar dream like that too, that's why he's been training nonstop for the past few months." Jay said a little annoyed.
"Kai's had them too? Where is he then?" Zane asked concerned as Jay was walking out.
"He's in the training yard, if you wanna chat with him that's fine, but Cole's about to beat your Lava Zombie high score and i don't wanna miss it!" Jay said as he was leaving.
"I'll go talk to Kai, tell Cole that i give him my congrats that he won." Zane said as he went the opposite direction of Jay.
Kai was currently training in the court yard right now, He flipped over some moving obstacles and platforms, he grabbed a few shuriken's and threw them at multiple dummy's right in the center. He then used his Spinjitzu and tore through the rest of the course. Kai stopped and breathed heavily as he looked at the course.
"A little faster that time.." Kai said as he calmed down, Zane walked out of the door and saw him ready to go again.
"Kai, is something the matter?" Zane asked concerned as Kai saw him.
"I'm fine Zane, just a little morning exercise you know? What about you? You look a little stressed." Kai asked concerned and Zane sighed.
"I had a nightmare Kai, i think it was a vision. I saw you being turned into a fire Serpentine by someone, and forced into marriage with her, and i then saw an ice castle with an ice dragon and.. i don't know how to explain it all." Zane said worried as Kai looked surprised.
"You had that nightmare too?" Kai asked worried.
"You've had it before?" Zane asked surprised.
"Yeah, a couple months ago in fact, it's one of the reasons why i've been training so hard lately, and if you and i have the same bad dream, something must be wrong if we both had it." Kai said in concern.
"Could it be a vision of the future, if it's true.. then you'll be turned into a Serpentine at one point.. one that we don't know about.." Zane said in fear.
"I know, but that's why we must be ready, why don't we check on the others to see what they're doing?" Kai suggested.
"I would like that, i'm glad to know i'm not the only one who's had this." Zane said a little relieved.
"You and me both buddy." Kai said as he and Zane walked back inside.
Cole and the rest of the ninja were cheering as Cole had beaten Zane's high score as the two walked in.
"Hey guys, did Cole beat Zane's high score yet?" Kai asked as he sat down.
"Yeah! You should have seen it! He was amazing!" Nya said excited.
"We'll i'm glad you achieved something, congrats Cole." Zane said with a smile.
"Thanks buddy, no hard feelings?" Cole asked.
"Of course not." Zane responded.
"Cool, because my arms a little sore. Kai, you think you have a little time off from training to have a little rest?" Cole asked with a smile.
"You all rest, i'm gonna train, someones gotta keep in shape here." Kai said casually.
We cut to all of them in a hot tub and Kai used his fire to warm it up for all of them.
"Are you sure you don't wanna come in here Kai? It never hurts to relax!" Nya asked while they were in it.
"Sorry guys, but i have a feeling something bad is gonna happen to me, i'm gonna be training in the yard if you need anything, later guys!" Kai shouted as he started to walk off leaving them all disappointed.
"Is anyone else a little weirded out by the fact that Kai's been training nonstop for the past few months, without doing much time to relax?" Jay asked upset .
"Yeah, even after everything's been peaceful, he's still kept up his training." Nya said in agreement.
"Hey, if he's not gonna relax, we all might as well will." Cole said casually while he stretched out his arms.
"Cole, it never hurts to be ready for anything, Kai has his reasons." Zane said in defense.
"Eh whatever buddy, he's can keep training himself too hard all he wants, but right now, there's no villains to fight, and nothing but peace in Ninjago!" Jay said casually. They heard a slam on the ground and looked up and saw Wu looking really upset.
"I can't believe we're back to this." Wu said in disappointment.
"What?" Lloyd asked confused.
"After every big victory, you become lazy, complacent, careless. All of you except for Kai has actually been keeping things in order." Wu explained to them.
"That's not true, we're recovering, relaxing our muscles." Cole said trying to feel his.
"That was months ago." Wu corrected.
"Months? Really? Kai's been training for a while, but for that long?" Nya asked in surprise.
"Yes, look at you all! You've gone soft! You do nothing but play video games and eat cake, and soak in this.. this.." Wu said in anger as he looked down at them.
"Hot tub?" Cole suggested.
"It's not a hot tub! It's the sacred Bell of Divinity! At least Kai has put his respect in his daily training!" Wu said as they all were in a bell. " Out! Out, all of you!" Wu shouted in anger and they all started to complain but Wu wasn't having it at all.
"Emergency meeting in the monastery, in three minutes!" Wu ordered as he started to walk off. All the ninja were in the living room and Kai was standing near the door looking disappointed while Wu walked up to them.
"You have become soft, lazy, flabby." Wu insulted as he knocked away Cole's sandwich.
"Okay that's getting a bit personal." Cole said offended.
"No body's gone soft Master Wu, i assure you, we are in perfect condition!" Lloyd assured as Cole made a loud burp." Silence!" Wu ordered as they all stood up respectfully.
"Here we go." Kai said as he watched Wu chew them out.
"Since ancient times, the hills around this monastery have been populated by a species of highly aggressive predator. The first monks built the wall extra tall, to keep them out. They failed." Wu explained as he was next to a box with a creature inside. " Many monks were lost, and in order to survive, the monks became faster, stronger, more cunning. They evolved into ninja." Wu explained even more as Kai stepped up to explain more.
"He's right, and to this day it is a test that every ninja must face, i faced this thing before already, it will not be easy. To prove they haven't gone soft, you have to survive five minutes in a room with one of these." Kai said as he took out the bar holding it together, Kai and Wu closed the doors as the ninja waited in fear of what this creature could be, and it was revealed to be.. a chicken.
"Oh ha! They really had me going for a second there!" Cole said in relief.
"Heh, who knew Wu and Kai had a sense of humor?" Jay asked relived. The chicken suddenly lit itself up with electricity and attacked all of them. Kai and Wu were outside the room hearing everything happen.
"Glad i kept up with my training, they're not gonna last 10 seconds probably." Kai said a little sadly as they heard more screaming.
"Yes, probably. I am just glad that one of my students has kept up with things around here." Wu replied as all of them came out looking beaten up with the chicken in the box.
"Hey.. we got the chicken.." Lloyd said weakly.
"Yeah.. it's in the box.." Jay said really hurt.
"We're.. we're as sharp as ever!" Cole assured and Kai shook his head again.
"You are weak and slow, a ninja's guard is never down! A ninja expects the unexpected! He is ready for anything." Wu explained once again.
"Right.. "Burp" That's us!" Cole said with a smile and Wu chuckled.
"We will see, come along Kai, it is time for your next exercise." Wu said as he and Kai walked away.
We cut to a montage off all of the ninja being continuously booby trapped by traps Kai placed, jay had dodged some arrows from a cabin, Cole was attacked from the chicken from before, Nya woke up on the tip of the monastery's roof, and Zane was launched into the air from the couch. Kai and Wu were sweeping the outside of the place as the ninja came up to them.
"Oh hey guys, how have you been?" Kai teased as they all looked rough.
"Haha very funny Kai! Did you seriously have to do the trap door?!" Cole asked in anger.
"You've had too much cake for a while Cole." Kai replied and Cole growled.
"Master Wu, is there anything we can do to prove to you that we have not gone soft?" Lloyd asked.
"So you can stop have Kai booby trap everything and stuff?!" Jay shouted in fear.
"There is one thing." Wu said as his hat covered his face.
"What's that?" Lloyd asked curious, Kai took Wu's broom and threw it to the wall which knocked back Wu's staff over to him and he caught it easily.
"Prove me wrong, by defeating me in combat!" Wu instructed.
"Combat?" Lloyd asked concerned.
"But i thought you said violence never solved anything?" Nya asked confused.
"Except in this case. It can prove that you can still fight." Wu explained once more.
"If you wanna stop with all the booby traps, you have to defeat Wu, there's no other way." Kai said as he walked over to the side and stood against the wall.
"Yeah, well what about you?!" Jay asked annoyed.
"Kai has proven me wrong already, he is not in need to prove himself! The rest of you are! Prove you are not afraid by facing me!" Wu demanded as he charged at them.
"This is gonna be good." Kai said as he was eating some popcorn.
Wu jumped in the air and slammed his staff on the ground which created a large shockwave, Wu sweeped at Lloyd's legs and he tried to doge them but was knocked into the air with his staff.
"Fail." Kai shouted as Wu knocked him down, Wu proceeded to do the same thing with all the other ninja until they were knocked down." Fail." Wu finished as Lloyd got up.
"Okay, it's on!" Lloyd said as they all put on they're masks. Cole attempted to slam on the ground with his powers, but they no longer obey him since he's been so lazy. Jay tried to use his lightning on Wu but redirected it right into Zane, he did the same by flipping over Nya's water powers and knocked Jay down. They all recovered and tried to dogpile him, but they had gotten a hold of Zane which surprised them.
"Slow and clumsy." Wu said as they saw he was on the roof somehow.
"This is getting embarrassing!" Jay said in anger
"Ninjago!" Lloyd shouted as they all jumped into the air and used they're Spinjitzu, Wu jumped out of the way and readied his staff once again. Kai watched it all happen as he flinched as Wu pulled multiple painful moves on each of them and they all landed on the ground on top of eachother.
"Fail." Wu said in disappointment as they all groaned in pain. Kai finished his popcorn and walked up to them.
"Wu's right guys, your all untrained now." Kai said sadly.
"Your right, we need a quest." Lloyd told him and they all agreed to that. They heard a roar of anger again and saw the chicken from before jump on down over to them, Kai watched as they all screamed in fear as it attacked each of them. Kai sighed as he remembered his dream from before.
"When will this all happen?" Kai asked with worry as he watched them all get beat up by the creature.
Wu was currently meditating in his room after the lesson he had taught his students, Lloyd came into the room and saw him meditating.
"Master?" Lloyd asked confused and he didn't respond. " Is it okay to speak, i don't wanna interrupt if your meditating." Lloyd said nervously as he didn't respond again.
"Your meditating, i'll wait." Lloyd concluded as he started to stand around for a bit, Lloyd kept on making some noises around that kept interrupting him until Wu opened his eyes having enough.
"What Lloyd?" Wu asked upset.
"Me and the guys decided we're going on a quest. To get back in shape and hone in on our ninja skills." Lloyd said nervously.
"Good." Wu responded with a straight face.
"Yeah except um.. The thing is.. we can't think of a quest. We were hoping you had a.. quest tip?" Lloyd asked nervously again.
"Quest tip? Have you become so lazy you can't even find to do something on your own? Don't come to me for a quest tip! Go out and find a quest! Adventure does not come to the idle, it comes to those who seek it, so seek." Wu explained looking really upset.
"Right! Okay, we'll seek!" Lloyd said with a nervous smile and slammed the doors which caused the staffs behind Wu to fall on the ground and he sighed in annoyance.
The ninja were all training with eachother to gain back the skills they lost, Kai was whipping all of them however as he was the only one who still was in shape.
"Come on guys, that was less then 30 seconds, you really have fallen off right now." Kai said upset.
"How did you know it was 30 seconds?!" Cole asked angry at that remark.
"Had Zane keep a track of how long you all will last, how long were we fighting for Zane?" Kai asked looking at him.
"30 seconds, just like Kai had told us." Zane answered and they all groaned in annoyance until Lloyd walked out to them.
"How'd it go?" Cole asked curiously.
"He's uh.. in a mood." Lloyd answered.
"Did he give you a quest tip?" Jay asked curious.
"No, he said we had to figure it out on our own." Lloyd answered.
"Figures, he's not the one to let things go by easily. We all just need to think of something that can help." Kai told them.
"Maybe we need a change of scenery, sometimes ideas come to you better if you change your surroundings." Jay suggested, the camera cuts to all of them in a hot tub once again trying to think of something.
"Nope, still nothing." Jay said disappointed.
"We need to find an old villain or something, having a threat is always a good start." Kai suggested.
"What about Ultra violet?" Cole suggested.
"Eh, she was nuts, i'd rather face Killow." Kai said annoyed.
"They're both incarcerated in Kryptarium Prison." Zane told him.
"What about Master Chen?" Nya suggested. " The Departed Realm." Zane answered." Pythor?" Cole suggested next." Whereabouts unknown, locating him would require some effort." Zane told them.
"That sounds good to me, what about you guys?" Kai asked ready to go.
"Effort? Uh.. no.." Cole said backing off while he took another drink.
"Come on guys, you can't even bother with a search?" Kai asked annoyed.
"Hey, we're not the ones who kept training for over 2 months, and is probably Wu's favorite at the moment!" Jay said annoyed.
"I've been training because of something bad that may happen to me, Zane knows about this too, we can't just wait around for it to happen." Kai told them a little upset.
"Let's face it, there aren't any villains left. Except um..." Jay said a little nervous.
"Say it, my dad." Lloyd said annoyed and Jay looked ashamed.
"That's really rude you know Jay." Kai said disappointed.
"Wherever he is, he's not really a problem right now, let's move on." Nya told them
"Well who does that leave?" Cole asked confused.
"Maybe we're aiming too high, maybe we don't need a villain. Maybe we just need like.. a criminal, or a gangster." Nya suggested.
"Perhaps we should check in with the commissioner? We might be able to help him in the prevention of some crime?" Zane asked and they all liked that idea.
The ninja had taken the Bounty and flew over to Ninjago city to the police station, the commissioner was working on a ship model slowly painting it until Lloyd opened the door.
"Commissioner!" Lloyd shouted and it surprised him.
"Whoa wh.. what is it now? Robot pirates? Lava zombies?" He asked in fear. " No nothing like that, we just wanna help you catch some bad guys." Lloyd said confidently.
"Oh well.. Actually it's been pretty quiet around here, we don't have any outstanding warrants" He told them and Kai groaned.
"There's gotta be something we can do, i can't just keep on training 24/7 and not have it come into use!" Kai said annoyed.
"Mm not really, take a look at the board." He said pointing at it which had a drawing of a monster on it.
"That's just a child's drawing isn't it?" Kai asked turning back to him.
"Yep, that's a joke, Someone drew it." He answered.
"What about an escaped conflict? Or a fugitive?" Nya asked. " Nope, nothing." He responded." Come on, what about a felon? Hoodlum? Anything?!" Kai asked worried." No." He answered once again and they all groaned.
"Sir?" A guy asked coming into the room.
"What's up jimmy?" The commissioner asked.
"Just got a tip about about some illegal bootlegging operation down at the wharfs!" Jimmy reported.
"We got it!" Lloyd shouted and they all started to run out. Kai was the only one who still remembered the layout of the city and led them to a warehouse where this operation was said to be.
"Okay on three, i kick open the door, we storm the place and take em down!" Lloyd explained and they drew they're weapons ready to go. Lloyd then kicked the door down with the others right behind him.
"Freeze right there!" Lloyd ordered and a guy holding some voiles raised his hands in fear.
"Did you young fellers wanna buy some prune juice?" The man asked as this was revealed to be just a shop and they all groaned once again as Kai went over to pay for it.
"There's gotta be something we can do." Lloyd asked the commissioner again.
"An outstanding warrant, unpaid parking tickets? Anything?" Nya said getting desperate, they heard another knock and saw Jimmy walk into the room again.
"What's up Jimmy?" The commissioner asked.
"Something about a disturbance at the Kryptarium Prison." Jimmy reported and they all smiled." Yes!" Lloyd said in excitement." Jackpot!" Nya said as they put on their masks and ran out once again.
The ninja had arrived at the prison and heard a lot of people on the other side of a wall.
"That sounds terrible!" Cole said worried." We better get in there!" Jay said ready to go.
"On Three! one, two, three!" Lloyd shouted as they burst the door down and saw the prisoners were just.. watching a riot happen on tv and one shushed them.
"Oh high guys!" The warrant told them.
"I don't understand? Where's the riot?" Lloyd asked confused.
"Riot? Oh goodness no. Just a little dispute, but we worked it out didn't we fellas?" He asked looking at a couple other people and they agreed with him.
"Where now?" Lloyd asked looking at them.
"Do you think the prison cafeteria has.. cake?" Cole asked eagerly and they all groaned in annoyance once again.
"Since we are here anyway, perhaps we should check on Killow?" Zane suggested.
"Yeah, maybe he's up to something. " Cole said ready to go, they went over to Killow's cell and found him doing.
"Hello, Killow." Nya said in anger and he turned around.
"Oh hi guys!" He said casually.
"Don't oh hi guys me, what are you up too?" Nya asked suspicious.
"Nothing, just finishing up my painting! You like it?" Killow answered as he showed them a painting with a dog with a dynamite stick.
"Really nice detail! But why does the puppy have a stick of dynamite?" Kai asked confused
" Oh well he's an angry puppy, but he's learning to control his anger. Just like me! I find painting very soothing" Killow explained.
"Couldn't agree with you more on that." Kai said with a smile before he pulled out some juice from earlier." Here, just in case you need a drink." Kai said handing it to him. "Well thank you, i know who's my favorite ninja!" Killow said as they all started to walk away and Killow waved goodbye.
They were all at the office again waiting for something to happen again and they were all very bored, Jimmy came into the office once again.
"Got a cat stuck in a tree!" Jimmy reported and they all groaned again. We see a quick montage of Jimmy reporting more small tasks which the ninja got more an more annoyed with until there was literally nothing for them to do.
"I can't believe this is happening to us.. " Lloyd said disappointed.
"There is literally nothing to do in the entire city!" Nya said annoyed.
"Statistically the absence of every crime or felony in a city this size is remarkable." Zane said pretty surprised.
"How is it that a city this size has no crime? And how is it your working on that model and never making any progress?" Kai asked confused looking at the ship model." What?" He asked confused.
"Oh never mind." Kai said annoyed." What is going on with us? we're getting loopy, we're ninja, we need action, suspense! Danger!" Lloyd told them as Jimmy came in with some files.
"You guys can help me with some filing." Jimmy suggested walking past them.
"How is that dangerous?" Lloyd asked confused.
"If your not paying attention, you could get a paper cut." Jimmy answered. We cut back to the monastery at sunset.
"If i ever see another file it'll be too soon." Lloyd said as they all had cuts on their body's.
"Let's never do that again." Nya said in pain.
"So many paper cuts." Cole said with tears.
"I can't believe you all lost to a filing cabinet." Kai said annoyed and Wu looked confused.
"Let's not tell anyone about this day. Ever." Lloyd said as he fell face flat on the couch.
"Okay with me." Nya said in agreement as she was trying to rest.
"Me too." Cole added." Me three." Jay added as well as they sat next to eachother, Kai gave Lloyd a drink while they all watched the news.
"I'm here with Ninjago's foremost archeologist Clutch Powers, who's discovered an unknown pyramid in the Desert of Doom. Professor Powers, what can you tell us about the pyramid?" Gayle asked holding the mic to him.
"Absolutely nothing Gayle, i haven't been inside and i don't plan to." Clutch answered." But i thought?" Gayle asked confused before he took the mic again.
"Do you wanna know what's inside? Traps, booby traps, butt loads of them. Pitfalls and blow darts, and fake tiles that collapse when you step on them, and big boulders that drop on you, no thank you." Clutch said while the ninja looked amazed.
"But isn't that your job? As an archeologist? To you know.. explore and go on dangerous quests?" Gayle asked looking at him.
"Technically yes, what's your point?" Clutch asked confused.
"Well someone has to go inside." Gayle answered.
"That's it! That's our quest!" Lloyd said in realization.
"I'll pack my bag!" Nya said excited.
"Sunscreen! Bring lots of sunscreen!" Cole told her.
"Ohh! This is gonna be so much fun!" Jay said excited as they all went out of the room, Kai looked back at the report to see if he missed anything.
"Well there you have it, Gayle Gossip broadcasting from a mysterious secret pyramid. And it's gonna stay secret, because no ones going in.. and i got my hair done especially for this day, what a bust!" Gayle said annoyed as Kai saw the camera pull to a picture of a familiar serpent.
"Hold on a minute.." Kai said in fear as he saw what this figure looked like and remembered the one from his dream, the ninja may be in for more then they think for this one..