Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Lloyd’s ear were ringing horribly. It wasn’t as bad as when Jay had ‘fixed’ Zane’s voice so he screeched instead of spoke, but it was still bad. His head was throbbing as well, you’d like he’d be used to that by now. With a wince he sat up, scanning around the room as he looked at the surprising mass of people scattered about. Pushing down a hand on a seat? Lloyd breathed a sigh of relief when he spotted Kai slouched over in the distance.

At least someone he knew was here. Practically scrambling up, Lloyd made his way to the tanned man. Trying to summon a ball of light in his palm, the efforts were useless. Unless that pillar literally hit the energy out of Lloyd’s body, then wherever they were or whatever was around was neutralizing it. Just great.

“Kai”, Lloyd shoved the toned man by the shoulder, hoping it would wake him, “Kai wake up.” A mumble left Kai’s mouth, a quiet and childish excuse leaving it before Lloyd shoved his shoulder a second time.

“What the fuck?”

Lloyd snapped his head up, eyes widening and his body freezing as he stared dead at the ghost whom was looking at him with a mixed expression. Before he could even start to move away from Morro a familiar high-pitched yelp was echoed throughout the theatre, causing Lloyd to sigh before he closed his eyes. So Jay was here. More exclamations were heard around the room as the people awoke. Some turned to gap at the ghost in the room, others looked around and tried to scrutinize others.

“Quiet.” Well that gravely tone could only belong to his father. Few let up with their questions? It was hard to make out in the moment, did he need to get his hearing tested again?

With a sigh Lloyd tried to step forward, maybe he father would calm down if he talked to him. He hummed to himself. It was unlikely but it didn’t hurt to try. Excusing himself as he bumped into someone’s shoulder, he didn’t catch the look of distress upon the man’s face as he passed.

“You’re making a scene.” The words came out more venomous than Lloyd would’ve liked, his eyes darting around the room whilst his posture relaxed at the sight of his uncle in the corner of his view. “Sit down.”

His father only looked at him, his own eyes darting above when the lights started to turn on dimly. The screen flickered on itself, some whispering in awe which cause him to raise a brow. They’d never seen a electronic screen before? Not that he could really comment on the matter, they weren’t really…flexible with entertainment at Darkley’s.

“Welcome citizens of Ninjago. You may be confused about why and how you are all here…” Reading the words off the screen underneath his breathe, Lloyd felt his stomach churn.

“Oh, wow, you don’t think?!” a freckled, somewhat curly-haired brunette glared at the screen with crossed arms, causing a black hair who was slightly taller than him to elbow him in his ribs, shaking her head at his antics. Lloyd didn’t pay the couple any mind, it wouldn’t matter anyways. There was hardly any sense in calming down Jay in matters like this.

“I have gathered you all here to understand the past, watch the present, and navigate the future. You all preset will view certain “seasons” of the ninjas lives, or the future ninjas in some of your cases.” His father continued, his voice ringing out louder than Lloyd’s. No one bothered to stop him, but he supposed he wouldn’t want to stop a four-armed, almost seven foot tall oni when he was speaking either.

View their lives? Is this thing serious?

“These “seasons” will be lengthy so be warned that you shall be here awhile. I’ve prepared rooms for your stay, food, and necessities for you to live while you stay here. Do not worry about time in your respective timelines, it has been frozen as long as you stay here. Some new guests may join at specific “seasons” but until then introduce yourselves and get comfortable.”

Oh.

His father stopped speaking, arms crossing themselves as he made his way to a seat. Is he serious? There’s no way he was just going to roll with all of this.

A blonde woman fitted in a blue gi with electric markings - weird - let out a nervous laugh before speaking up, “So I guess I’ll go first?” When no one else bothered to interrupt her, she cleared her throat, “You all can just call me Libber.”

“Wu”, a younger version of his uncle spoke up, before motioning to a dark-haired man who looked like he’d rather be anywhere else, “and this is my brother Garmadon.” Great, just what he needed. A second father in the same room as himself.

Lloyd scanned the room, names imprinting themselves in his ears as he spotted the present version of his uncle. His mother was here, and so was the younger version of herself, too, apparently. Shifting through the people, he noted more. Cole’s mom, Cliff Gordon. Oh, yeah. He knew him. Not personally, of course, but he was his biggest fan at one point.

“Sensei Garmadon.” Lloyd froze again, not daring to look behind him as some murmurs started up the room again. Three versions of his dad in one place at the same time. Today was not his day, what the hell. His mother of present time moved to him almost instantly, making guilt crawl up his spine. It’s not like he didn’t want to do the same, just..not the time.

His uncle, the one from the present time, went after. His mother followed suit, her voice breathless from either joy or a wondered surprise. He could barely read her tone, honestly.

The Smith family was next. Kai, Ray, Maya – who had tugged a stiffened Nya closer to herself – introduced each other, the married pair often speaking above one another unintentionally. Cole introduced himself and his dad, a woman adorned with clothing from the past watched the two yet not speaking up afterwards.

Jay was next, shifty as his eyes bounced around the room at lightning speed. Low joke but whatever. He patted Zane and said his name for him, ignoring the look he was getting from the nindroid. Pixal stepped in when she noticed anxious looks coming from people who have yet to see technology that ‘advanced’. Stating claims to ease their worries.

Jay’s parents went after himself (to which Lloyd couldn’t help but turn around to. They were really going to have a full cast here, huh). Cyrus Borg was also here. How many times was he gonna say that? Also here.

Lloyd had made it to front row of the viewing room, plopping down in a chair mindlessly as he shifted his body sideways. Resting his chin on his forearms, he could gauge everyone’s reactions without having to be at point-blank. Kai shot him a look before moving to Nya’s side, mumbling something in quiet.

Weird.

Skylor went next, not bothering to hid her last name unlike…How long ago was that? Four years? Lloyd couldn’t remember. Jeez, why was he becoming petty now? That thought was pushed out of his head when his younger, younger father looked appalled. Pushing his gaze downwards. Oh just his luck, this was after the letter situation. Another situation to defuse. Later, at least.

Nuts and bolts also known as Ronin and Dareth were here, making Lloyd knock his head into the top of the seat. Just what he needed, Ronin making jabs at him during that stupid ghost incident and Dareth trying to offer his “psychological relationship help” during any scene with his father slash fathers. This was great counter lost count.

“Hey.”

He knew that silky, slimy voice anywhere. He tried not to move, to show any reaction as steadied his voice, “What do you want, Harumi?”

“That’s funny, I thought we were on nickname status last time I checked.” He could practically envision how her eyes rolled, how a tiny but visible smirk pulled at her lips whenever she retorted. Snarky bitch.

“If you’re not gonna say anything useful, then I would suppose that you go.”

Lloyd’s posture relaxed when he heard her footsteps fade away, his eyes locking onto his mother and his father as they both moved down to his row. He stiffened again when the scent of oldened ink which belonged to his father reached his nose.

For once, Lloyd wanted to cling behind his mother but fought the urge to do so. This was going to be a long session, wasn’t it?

Chapter Text

Wu muttered the title name under his breath as he scrunched his face in contemplation. Surely this would show the beginning of the story belonging to the next generation of ninjas, albeit in what his time period could consider the next generation. He was supposedly a Sensei in the era, so all he could hope was that if he did appear in this episode he wouldn’t do anything that would make himself reflect upon his future self in a conflicted matter.

Glancing over at his brother, a frown tugged at Wu’s lips as he met Garmadon’s eyes, who all but snickered as if he had read his thoughts exactly. Wu didn’t say anything as he didn’t want to light a match to start a fire that would be fueled by Garmadon’s words in front of all of these people, although a pit formed in his stomach as he remembered that they were watching the future, so there was a great chance that he would see what would become of his brother and the poison of evil that was quite literally still running within his veins.

Meanwhile, Kai had sunk so far down within his seat that his parents were afraid that if he were to stay like that for a while he would mold into it. Ray had already clutched onto Maya’s hand as she looked downward, Kai never made a big fuss in front of anyone unless it was for a good reason. But then again, if twenty-plus people were going to view their life, especially at a time of their life when they weren’t exactly “living the life”, they would be just as upset, too.

Lloyd really wanted to scream, actually. Not only was the man who possessed him, his situationship-type-ex-crush who tried to kill him multiple times after manipulating him, his shell of a father who almost killed him, and the version of his father who he banished into the departed realm were in the same room, but he had to sit by the last one; frankly he was regretting choosing to sit by his mother because his normal father, of course, chose to sit on the row with them to no one’s surprise.

He didn’t want to be near him but there was no way in hell he wasn’t going to get up and ask someone to swap places with him just because he had issues with his undead father.

The questions Lloyd knew his sane version of his father wanted to ask him were brewing in his mind, but he couldn’t focus on that right now, not when there were only two or so more minutes left until the viewing started. Focusing on something besides the man beside him seemed like a good idea, so he subtly turned his head to glance back behind him at his teammates.

Cole was preoccupied with talking to his mom, at least from what he could see, Kai looked miserable, Nya was trying to stop Jay from bouncing out of his seat, and Zane seemed to be analyzing the theatre itself. He caught his younger uncle and father in a stare-off before the latter glanced at him from the corner of his eye. Lloyd broke the focus as he blinked, situating himself back into a comfortable position. His gaze felt cold.

The screen flickered to life, showing a small group of people harvesting plants from a small group of water, a blacksmith shop resting on a hill, upwards on the road behind them. Panning inward, a younger Kai and Nya were shown inside the blacksmith shop, the former at work at the forge.

“Oh it’s starting!”, Libbers grabbed onto Wu’s arm and shook it, snapping him out of his trance. With a small chuckle Wu nodded, peeling Libbers’ hand off of his arm, sometimes her hyper attitude was enough to break the tension in the room.

“That’s the blacksmith shop isn’t it Kai?” Maya turned to look at her son who only groaned in response, burrowing his face in his hands. Her frown deepened at the sight, “I’ll take that as a yes.”

Kai hammers the hot blade of a sword, a concentrated look on his face, although a mix of cheekiness was laced in it, “To forge the perfect weapon, you first need the right metal and plenty of heat. He then turned to put the newly forged sword in a barrel filled nearly to the top with water.

Ray nodded at his on-screen son’s words as he watched him with concentration, he knew that the Kai shown was younger than the one seat away from him but he had the determination to become a great blacksmith if he hadn’t become a ninja.

” Cool it off”, Kai drawled out the last word before an and was exhaled, “Presto!” The confident smile on Kai’s face faded as fast as the steam on the now crooked sword evaporated, making him sigh in disappointment at the finished product. Nya let out a laugh as Kai’s face turned into an annoyed look at the sound as he set the twisted sword and hammer on the workbench. “You made it too quickly, Kai.”

A wince left Ray at the sight of the bent sword all the while Skylor raised an eyebrow at Nya’s words. So he did rush through things even before he became a ninja.
A snort left Lloyd before he glanced back at him again, “Call me crazy but I think you personally need something more than “the right metal and plenty of heat”. Y’know, starts with s and ends with l?” Kai grumbled behind his hands as he peeked his fingers open to shoot Lloyd a look, “You’re so lucky I don’t have a pillow right now.”

The scene focused on Nya as she gave him a sympathetic glance, “If Father was still here, he’d say-” Kai turned glanced over his shoulder and gave her a look, “I know. No matter how much fire you have, experience isn’t something you learn overnight.” Kai turned back to look at the sword on the workbench, “That may work for you, Nya, but I’m gonna be a better blacksmith than Dad ever was.” Kai finished as Nya gave him an indifferent look, both of them unaware of Sensei Wu approaching in the background.

Kai winced at his choice of words. Sure he didn’t know the truth behind his parent's disappearance but it still wasn’t a reason to go brushing off everything that was related to them. Sure they all had their little bonding experience if you could even call it that, during the entire time twins incident but still.

Sensei Wu looked around the shop before bumping a helmet with his bamboo-crafted staff, “Hmm, your metal is loud and heavy. Useful to slow one down. Useless in the art of stealth. All tools for a samurai, but nothing for a ninja?” Kai raises an eyebrow at Wu before placing the sword and hammer on the workbench.

“Creep.” Misako slapped Garmadon on the arm at his words, shaking her head at him with her voice in a low whisper, “Don’t act like you don’t surprise people like that either.” A raised eyebrow was directed at her but nothing else was said.

” Ninja?” Kai echoed the word in question as he motioned with his hand, “Huh, you’re a long way from finding a ninja in these parts, old man. And the shop is called ‘Four Weapons’ not ‘For Browsing’.” The scene panned to show the name of the shop before it focused on a Kai who has a finger pointed at Sensei Wu, “Either buy something or go peddle your insults somewhere else.”

A low whistle left Ronin’s lips as he slid his hat under his seat so he could see better, propping his elbow on the armrest much to Zane’s dismay, “Goddamn kid, you always talk to your teachers like that?”

“He hasn’t my teacher yet Ronin.”

Wu only blinked back at Kai, seeming completely unbothered by his words, “Ha! Too bad. Thought I’d find something special here.” Sensei Wu walked away until he was not on-screen as Kai turned to look at Nya, who motioned for Kai to show the elderly man around. Kai grabbed up a helmet, “If it’s something special you’re looking for, let me sh-” Kai’s eyes widened as he looked around the now empty part of the shop. Nya noticed his expression, “What is it?” Kai just shook his head, “He was just..” He only bit down on his lip before pausing, “Forget it.”

The harvesters from before stopped their work as they noticed a dark cloud covering the sky around them, three Skulkin generals were shown one of the many Skull Trucks as they stopped on top of the hill. “Oh, oh! Let me go first! Please, oh please! I’m dying to go down there!” the skeleton with a metal piece as his left eye spoke with undeniable excitement. A skeleton with a harness and hat spoke up next with annoyance, “You nitwit, you’re already dead! Try to control yourself in front of Master Samukai.” The skeleton then turned to Samukai, his tone changing to one that was underlined with a suggestion, “But with all due respect, last time you did say I could go first.”

Jay furrowed his eyes at the sight of Nuckal, ignoring the others from the past's questions about who they were. His gaze landed on the eyepatch as he swallowed. ” Just relax Jay, they won’t show it until later”.

Harumi rubbed her face with her hand, she couldn’t believe that these idiots were once the ninjas’ greatest problem.

Samukai simply looked at both of them, “Sorry boys, this one is mine. Just remember what we’re after and find that map.”Samukai yelled out an attack before the Skulkin Vehicles drove at full speed down the hill. While the farmers tried to charge towards the trucks, they ran away at the number of them.

Nya gazed at Kai in worry before focusing on the skeletons approaching from the shop, “What are they?” Kai adjusted a helmet on his head as he was shown dressed in armor, “I don’t know. Stay here.” As Kai exited the shop with a focused face, he engaged in combat with them. He managed to cross weapons with two of them before a Skulkin warrior decapitated itself, its head biting Kai’s foot.

“My knight in shining armor.”

“Nya, please.”

“Ow!” Kai winced before preparing to kick the Skulkin’s head. “Bite this!” Kai kicked the head, sending it flying straight over the roof of the blacksmith shop while two skeletons clapped at the action. Nya took that opportunity to take them both out. Kai gaped at Nya’s appearance, “I thought I told you to stay back!” Nya huffed while fending off the attacks with Kai, “And what? Let you have all the fun?”

Ronin tilted his head at the sight of Nya fighting. That girl always did independently carry herself, and the fact that she seemed well-versed in combat wasn’t that surprising. She must’ve taken care of her brother as much as he did to her.

While the siblings fight Kruncha and Nuckal, the skeleton vest and the skeleton with metal eye respectfully, start looking around the shop. While Nuckal was looking at himself dressed out in a samurai helmet instead of looking around for what they needed, Kruncha noticed and hit him with another samurai helmet, “You’re not lookin’ hard enough!”

“Idiots.” Harumi glanced at the two seated in her row. Guess they all did have the same idea of the skeletons.

” Ow! You’re not lookin’ hard enough”, Nuckal hit Kruncha back in retaliation. The two of them went into a fistfight before Nuckal got hit in the chest by Kruncha, causing him to hit a post. At the impact the sign on the shop fell, revealing the map they were looking for. Both of them turned and gasped at the sight, “The map!”

Sensei Wu only sighed at the hiding spot, only a Smith would hide something so important in a spot that simple. Then again, he was lucky that the map wasn’t placed in a mess somewhere in the shop.

“Wouldn’t a more suitable place for a map of that importance be sufficient? After all, if the Skulkin warriors are going that far for it, hiding it behind a sign isn’t that safe?” Cole interjected so Ray wouldn’t have to answer Pixal’s question, “I think he might’ve had other problems to attend to at the moment.” She seemed to take that answer before nodding to herself. Cole sighed to himself in relief.

Kai told him a little about when and how his parents were taken, although everyone else on the team just knew that they were taken to forcibly work for Acronix and Krux, Cole knew more of the story. Kai had called the information “Best Buddies Benefits”.

Kai finished off the Skulkin warriors outside when Samukai approached him, a smirk adored the former’s face as he took a fighting stance. Samukai chuckled and pulled out four knives, which accompanied his four arms. Kai’s smirk faded as he realized he was outmatched, a nervous oops leaving him as he took a step back. Samukai disarms Kai with ease and kicks him down, twirling his knives in his hands he prepares to deliver the final blow when a small tornado of gold knocks into Samukai.

“Wu to the rescue”, the younger Misako chuckled while the younger Garmadon only rolled his eyes. The latter then chose to focus on watching the screen rather than the two lovebirds beside him.

The tornado stopped and Sensei Wu appeared in its place, Samukai shook his head, “Sensei Wu! Your Spinjitzu looks rusty.” In response, Sensei Wu readies his staff, “Nothing like bone to sharpen its edge, Samukai.” As Kai struggles to get up, Samukai focuses on the water tank above him, with a chuckle he throws his knives toward Wu. Wu dodges them but in return they hit the leg of the water tank, causing it to come down. Right before it could hit Kai, Sensei Wu performed Spinjitzu and successfully rescued Kai from being crushed by it. Samukai takes the opportunity to retreat into his Skull truck before he calls out, “Lord Garmadon says take the girl!”

Maya couldn’t help but gasp at the sight of the water tank coming down and almost crushing her son. She reached over and squeezed his shoulder, he’s okay. He’s still here.

Lloyd grumbled at the mention of his father. Why did his dad seem to make it his job to terrorize his friends whenever he did turn evil?

Younger Garmadon couldn’t help but wince, so he was going to have to deal with the repercussions of his future self’s actions this early on.

Sensei Wu was shown with a shocked look on his face, “Lord Garmadon?” Kruncha laughs as he launches the truck’s bone hand to grab onto Nya, Kai yells out before the Skeleton Army escapes with Nya. Kai tries to run after them but stops when they’re completely out of sight, a frown making its place on his face, “They took Nya.” Wu only hums in response, “I told you.” He hits Kai on the head with his bamboo stick a few times, “Useless.”

“Harsh but true.” Lloyd flinched at the sound of his dad’s voice beside him but caught himself as he transformed it into a nod of agreement, although he was certain that his dad caught it.

Kai grumbles and turns around furiously, “You could’ve done something! You could’ve used your…Twistitzu or your-” Wu interjected by correcting the terms but Kai didn’t pay attention to it, “But you did nothing!” With an aggravated groan, Kai turns and goes to walk away, “I’m going to get my sister back!”

“Oh, but you made fun of my Cyclondo!” Jay gave him a pointed look.

“That’s before I knew the correct name of Spinjitzu, Jay.”

“Where they go, a mortal cannot”, Wu spoke up, causing Kai to stop in his blind pursuit, “That was Samukai, King of the Underworld. And if it’s true that he’s carrying order for Lord Garmadon, then I fear things are much worse than I ever thought.” Kai scoffed in response, “Lord Garmadon?! Underworld?!” He stepped forward towards Wu in rage, “What’s going on?! What do we have that’s so important to them?! And why would they take my sister?!”

“Yes, why would you take Nya, Garmadon?” Wu tilted his eyebrows upward in a mocking motion, “Creep.” Garmadon clicked his tongue as he paid Wu no attention, not wanting his words of mock written over the paper-thin walls of Garmadon’s resolve to conflict.

” What’s so important? How about everything in Ninjago itself?” As Sensei Wu paused the scene was zoomed into his eye.

The six ninjas in the room collectively let out groans of annoyance or noises of protest at the words, not wanting to hear the story for the nth time. Sensei Wu often told it to them over meals or whenever he supervised their training as a reminder of their past and the reason they were all brought together in the first, well, why some of them were brought together in the first place.

Needless to say, the story had gotten old quickly.

The screen fades to light as it shows an outline of ink in the shape of a man making movements, mountains, hills, and nature sprouting in his movements as Wu’s voice narrates over the scene. “Long before time had a name, Ninjago was created by the First Spinjitzu Master by using the Four Weapons of Spinjitzu.

Picking at the skin around her fingers, Harumi couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Why did she have to listen to some ancient story and watch scenarios that happened at least over three years ago. It wasn’t something she wanted to get summoned while she was in the middle of her, well, death.

The ghost who was seated beside her seemed to be as bored as her, maybe even more so as he didn’t pay the story being told onscreen any attention, either. She wondered if he had troubles with Lloyd because the only attention he had given the blond was sharp looks of annoyance. Maybe if they got a break after a while they could get out of these stupid seats and talk to pass time, if he even wanted to talk.

As the screen panned up while color hit the mountains as clouds formed out of ink, the screen flashed a white before a scythe, nunchucks, a pair of shurikens, and a sword passed from one side of the screen to another in that respective order. “The Scythe of Quakes, the Nunchucks of Lightning, the Shurikens of Ice, and the Sword of Fire.” Another flash lit up the screen before all four of the weapons rotated in a circular motion, “Weapons so powerful, no one can handle all of their power at once.”

But of course he was going after them. Garmadon felt as if everyone in the room was looking at one of the versions of himself, some not so secretly as others. The youngest version in the room, however, could only hope that the version of himself seated behind him was not older than the “good” version seated at the very front of the theatre.

The First Spinjitzu Master was shown in the center, a boy clad in white on his left while one adorned in black was on his right. “When he passed away, his two sons swore to protect them.” As the First Spinjitzu Master faded away, the two sons bowed in their kneeling stance in return.

“Oh, that’s you too!” Libbers voice rang out in excitement as she bounced her feet, shaking Wu’s arm a bit violently much to his dismay. Out of everyone in the room from the far past, she surprisingly, was one of the most excited to view the future. Maybe it was just a part of her personality, she always had a thing for watching things.

” But the oldest was consumed by darkness and wanted to possess them.” Lightning flashed as dark clouds crept up on the boy as if they were his shadow, his eyes going red at the flash of the lightning, the only light that accompanied him. Another flash of lightning revealed the two brothers fighting before the son fitted in white successfully knocked the one in black off. “A Battle Between Brothers broke out, and the oldest was struck down and banished to the Underworld.”

“How fun.” Bitterness was soaking Garmadon’s words like a towel dropped into a bathtub by accident. Wu swallowed back the apology that was creeping up his throat with urgency, he couldn’t apologize for what his future self was doing, right? After all, it was because of Garmadon’s actions that he was falling into a place Wu himself could not drag him out of. But then again, didn’t he cause his older brother to get bitten by that damned snake? Silence was all that accompanied Wu, dwelling over past mistakes wasn’t going to help anything: it was destiny after all.

As the screen flashed the brother who fell was outlined with white. The screen returned to normal, showing a now fully darkened man falling downwards. As the screen faded to black, the brother in white was shown meditating, “Peace returned, and the younger brother hid the weapons, but knowing his older brother’s relentless ambition for power, he placed a guardian to protect them. As the brother entered a hole in a mountain, a shadow of a dragon crept up and painted the side of the mountain. “And for fear of his own demise, a map for an honest man to hide”, the brother in white was shown handing the map to a man who partially resembled Kai in a blacksmith shop.

Ray chuckled as he glanced at Sensei Wu, he wouldn’t call himself honest, but he did appreciate the thought.

The flashback ends as it zooms out from Sensei Wu’s eye as Kai sits on a rock while running his fingers down a sword in the background he listens to Wu with a look of contemplation on his face, “That honest man was your father. The older brother is Lord Garmadon. And I need to find those weapons before he does.”

Kai watches as Wu walks past him, “You’re the younger brother? Then you came here looking for the map?” Wu shakes his head and turns to look at Kai, “No. I came for something greater: you. Since my brother cannot enter this realm, it's obvious he has struck a deal with Samukai. If he were to collect all four weapons, even I would not be able to stop him again. But you, you have the fire inside. I will train you to harness it. Use it. Become a Spinjitzu Master.”

A somewhat hysteric laugh left Kai before he slapped a hand over his mouth as he ducked his head again, whether it was to ignore the stares or to cover his embarrassment, no one really knew. Maya herself looked skeptical, Kai didn’t even look fifteen on-screen, so why was Wu trying to recruit a teenager for some mission that clearly required someone with experience?

“Look”, Kai raises an eyebrow before moving Sensei Wu’s bamboo staff from his face, “I’m flatter you think I’m all that, but I gotta save my sister!” With a shrug, Kai brushed past Wu, “I’m not getting involved in your sibling rivalry.”

With a sigh, Maya glanced back at her son, so she was right. The only reason Kai decided to go along with Wu’s mission was because he just wanted Nya back safe and sound. Was it the same for everyone else, or not?

Kai didn’t get very far before Wu knocked him down, the end of the staff under his chinas the latter let out a chuckle, “Clunky mule. You are not even ready to face my pinky toe. If you want to get your sister back, you must control the fire that burns inside. Only when you become a Spinjitzu Master, will you be able to face… Lord Garmadon.” Kai sighed out in defeat before meeting Wu’s gaze, annoyance still in it but most of it had simmered down, “Okay. Then when do we start?”

The next day is shown on screen as Kai struggles to climb the mountain to reach the monastery that Wu is in. With pants Kai struggles to catch his breath, “How long is training gonna be? Aren’t we in a bit of a rush since they have the map?” Wu paused for a moment, “Patience.” Pushing open the door to the monastery Wu walked in first, “You will be ready when you are ready. Not a minute sooner.”

Cole laughed, “You had trouble climbing up that?” His voice was filled with nothing but tease directed at Kai who in response cracked a small smile in return, “Well excuse me for not being a big mountain climber.” The underlying anxiousness in Maya seemed to fade away a bit at her son’s slight happiness, maybe she was just reading into things wrong after all.

” A monastery?” Kai looked around with surprise evident on his face, “you expect me to learn to fight in a place of place?” The scene focused on Sensei Wu in front of a small golden dragon ornament atop a stand, “Not fight. Train. In order to become a true ninja, first you must be able to see what others do not.”

At Kai’s doubt of there being nothing to see, Sensei Wu pushes back the dragon statue which reveals a hidden button. He pushes it which reveals all of the training equipment within the monastery; there’s a section for dodging, balance, stamina, and one-on-one. An amazed Kai exclaimed at the amount of equipment, “Is that gonna teach me how to do that cool move?”

“I wish, that would’ve made it so much easier than just spinning and shit and hoping for the best.”

Kai goes to stand on the nearest training poles as he strikes poses, spinning around to face Wu, the pole descends and the excitement on Kai’s face fades into question. Wu’s face was one of worry as an oh dear left him before Kai got launched from the pole into the dragon symbol, falling face-first into the ground.

A childish giggle left Lloyd’s mouth as he snickered at the sight of Kai failing the training for the first time. Although he was sure that if the brunet was in the mood to remind Lloyd of his early struggles he would, but that didn’t seem to speak up, only cutting him a look from the sides of his eyes.

With a groan Kai glazed up to see Wu seated in front of him, who set a napkin and teacut in his lap, “Complete the training course before I finish my tea. Then we will see if you are ready.” Wu poured himself tea and and then downed the entire thing, the scene glanced at Kai’s yet again, confused face before focusing back on Wu, “Today you failed. Tomorrow you will try again.”

Wu backflips after setting the teacup aside which was followed by Kai getting up, “Failed?! But I didn’t even start to-” Wu closed the shoji door leading into the monastery, and a patience came from behind it before the screen faded to black. The screen fades back up and shows Kai trying to tackle the training but continuing to fail to do so day after day.

“Imagine.”

“Lloyd if you don’t shut up.”

One day, Kai approaches the training with a wood sword and goes through training, near the training poles he knocks Sensei Wu’s teacup away with the sword to stall him. Sensei Wu goes to pour himself more tea and after he looks up to see that Kai is nowhere to be seen.

” Was that one sugar or two?” Kai’s voice cut out from Wu’s left side as he’s shown sitting beside him, a leg propped up on the steps. Wu gave him an impressed look before getting up and entering the monastery, “So, am I gonna learn this Spinjitzu I’ve been hearing about?” Wu didn’t bother to look back at him, “You already have. Your final test comes tomorrow”, the shoji door closed officially separating the two again, “My advice is to get some sleep.”

“Oh wait is this when?...” Zane nodded at Jay’s question, “I believe it is.” Pixal bumped his shoulder in question but the nindroid just shrugged in response.

Night is shown as three people clad in black ninja gis sneak into the monastery, being quiet enough not to wake a sleeping Wu. Kai is shown brushing his teeth as he pretends to fight while looking in the mirror, “Oh yeah?! Well take this!” A ninja wielding nunchucks and an eyebrow scar lands near his door, a second one possessing shurikens lands behind him, and a third with a scythe is shown as Kai comes face to face with him amidst his daydream. Looking over his shoulders, Kai realizes that he’s trapped as the three prepare to attack him, “Oops…”

“That's embarrassing."

Lloyd yelped when he felt a kick being delivered to the back of his head, turning around to go tell Kai off but the latter had already stood up. Brushing past rows of feet to go who knows where else in the place they were stuck in. Oh. Maybe he should’ve listened to him beforehand.

The screen cut to dark, signaling the episode's end. Maybe they did need the break after all. As his father’s - as in the stable one - voice reached his ears Lloyd couldn’t help but sigh out, great. They were going to talk this early on.

Chapter Text

“Don’t start.”

Cole stopped his pace almost immediately, watching as Kai picked at the sore near his temple. “I don’t wanna hear it.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything.”

A huff of breath came from Kai. “Good.”

“Your mom is worried about you, though”, Cole flopped down in front of Kai, his back to the other side of the wall in Kai’s sulking corner.

Cole only a disinterested hum of acknowledgement from Kai. Silence drifted as the former tried to listen in on the faint chatter coming from the theatre room. He frowned.

“Lloyd.”

Blinking thrice, Cole shifted his attention back to the oddly quiet brunet, “What?”

Kai made a motion with his head, “You should be checking up on him, not me.”

Unease swirled within Cole’s stomach as he stared at Kai, the latter’s expression unchanging from its blank state. He’d forgotten how bad it was whenever Kai was experiencing something awful inside. How he would push, push, push until they all left him alone with his thoughts.

God maybe that’s where Lloyd got it from.

“He’s M.I.A”, Cole pursed his lips as he lifted himself from the ground, “His dad, the sensei version. They talked for a bit before, boom.”

He mimicked an explosion with his hands, “I don’t think he could stomach it anymore. I was going to look for him, but…”

I came to look for you first. Unsaid, yet heard entirely.

“I shouldn’t have kicked him. I don’t know why I did that.” Kai shifted his head, resting the side of his face against his knees, “I’m such an idiot.”

“You’re under pressure. A lot of it”, Cole frowned. He doesn’t always agree with Kai’s actions when he gets distressed, no, but it’s not fair for him to blame anyone nor anything except for himself in the end. “You’re not an idiot.”

No response was given. With furrowed brows Cole thought of the note, it didn’t say they had to be present for everything. Maybe he could cheat out of the next ‘episode’ for the time being. An opportunity to scope out the rest of the area arose, as well.

Cole opened his mouth before shutting it just as fast, perhaps he needed to leave Kai alone after all. “I’ll be looking around, if you…want to join or something.” He cracked a small smile before turning, not bothering to see if the Master of Fire was giving him an ounce of attention or not.

A dining room was connected directly behind the theatre, he found Ronin, Dareth, and Skylor chatting in between bites of food. The redhead raised a hand at him, “You here to talk business or get something to eat?”

“Something like that.” Cole matched Ronin’s stance as he leaned against the same table, “Anything interesting goin’ on with you guys?”

“We found these, room with names. I think it was the rest area mentioned in the note.” Cole would’ve cringed at the sight of Dareth speaking with his mouth full if he also wasn’t guilty of doing so seven out of ten times.

A yelp of surprise struck throughout the room as Ronin knocked Dareth’s shin with the tip of his boot, “And by we, he means me.” He jabbed his thumb in the center of his armor plate, “Some slates had blank spots, I think those are the hidden names of guests that’ll be joining us.”

“I checked the room I was assigned”, Skylor bit off a piece of WeiLong Strip. “Don’t know how whoever, or whatever, brought us here knew my clothing sizes, but they got my taste right.”

That’s right. Necessities.

“Anything else?”

Dareth looked up from his plate before shrugging and no other answer came from Skylor. Ronin, however, did let out a hum seconds later. Scooping up a juice pouch in one hand.

“I thought I saw a few lounge rooms earlier. Other than that, nothing much.” Ronin played with the straw to his drink before finally jabbing it into the entrance, “Despite how big this place seems, there’s not too much to it.”

Cole muttered his thanks before clenching and unclenching his fists at his sides rhythmically. Not even an hour into his long stay at this place, and he hasn’t even gotten his chills to stop.

Wu didn’t feel comfortable in the slightest.

His brother was ignoring him altogether, he didn’t blame him after what had been revealed yet it still hurt. The teacher version of Garmadon only stared, same as the ghost. The near platinum blond sitting in the row with Wu’s future family smacked into his shoulder on the way out.

It took all of his being to think of it as an accident.

The ghost residing in the theatre’s back corner eyed him for a long moment before disappearing through a wall. Wu wondered if that was someone else he had the displeasure of having relations with.

He would not be surprised if so.

Libber left to go chat pick up a chat with the future Master of Lightning, Jay. Both Masters of Ice were having conversation but besides that almost everyone had left the theatre room. The only people, excluding himself, left within it were Jay’s parents, the silent white haired woman, and…

Of course, Sensei Garmadon.

Wu didn’t catch nor does he wish he did catch Garmadon and Lloyd’s conversation. Seeing his older brother show visible emotion with others around is enough to tell him exactly how it went, even with age Wu knows that his brother would remain stoic enough unless it wasn’t need be.

Lloyd…

His descent seemed familiar yet it was nothing but an enigma. Even if Lloyd and Garmadon didn’t have their talk, Wu would’ve been able to discern their connection. If not for Garmadon’s sharper features within Wu’s time, provided that you pushed eye and hair colors aside, they could be mistaken as the same person.

Cole and Lilly was an easy pairing. Wu hoped she would say something her family soon even if they both are from the future. Ray and Maya having kids wasn’t a surprise, yet the underlying stiff formality was unusual. Maybe no one within his group lived and raised their kids with no hardships.

The thought made Wu ache.

“Bad time already?”

Nya filled Wu’s view as she pocketed her hands in a newly claimed jacket. She let out a soft puff, mindless kicked at the ground with the tip of her shoes, “I would be more weirder out about talking to this version of you, but I’ve seen weirder things.”

Her eyes darted past his person before focusing back on him. Her smile seemed suspicious in his eyes but he didn’t say anything. “Something like that.”

It was Nya’s turn to pause at his words.
The screen’s light reflected in Nya’s eyes as Wu looked behind his shoulder. Countdown, five minutes. Another episode was starting.

“I better go, uh, tell everyone.” Nya pointed behind herself and she was gone before Wu could spit out a remark. His gaze flickered back to the screen, his face tensing. The Golden Weapon?

Jay flopped in his claimed seat, a hand held out to offer Nya candies before it was brushed away. “Have you seen Cole?”

“No.” The question was flipped. “Have you seen Kai?”

“I think I saw him dart into the kitchen on my way back here. Or maybe that was his dad. Or Skylor.” The hand that held the sweets was brushed off on Jay’s pants – simple sweats he snatched up along with a plain top during his time away from the theatre room – as he leaned back further in his chair. “They were wearing red.”

“And since when does Skylor dress with red as a predominant color?”

He heard Nya sigh at his puzzled expression as she looked at the screen, speaking low when more people settled back into their seats. “I’m worried about him, y’know? I know what happened but I don’t know what happened.” His hand found hers when the lights dimmed, a squeeze delivered. Jay really hoped Cole chatted with Kai.

The screen fades in to show the ninjas readying their weapons. The one carrying shurikens goes to strike, but not before Kai shoves his toothbrush into their mouth – mask and all. Kai moves away as the toothbrush gets spit out, knocking the nunchuck carrying ninja straight in the face. It gets shooed away and thrown into the air, hitting the ninja with the scythe in the back. While each of them are staggered in their own ways, Kai takes the opportunity to escape through the ceiling.

Jay couldn't help but run his tongue along his front teeth, he’s sure that’s what cause them to have their slight gap. Pretty positive. One in five non-perfect are caused by toothbrush incidents, makes total sense.
He doesn’t make it far before the ninja with the shurikens pops in front of him, trying to do a kick attack when Kai swiftly dodges out of the way. Kai laughs when they fall to the ground, the victory short lived as he, himself, gets kicked through the roof.

With a rough roll, Kai lands with his back to the stand where the training course button is located. As the ninja appear, Kai hits the button whilst each section of the training course knocks each of them away – save for the one holding the scythe.

Lou felt oddly proud. It’s not like he was not as upset about Cole being a ninja as he was in the past, but seeing his son — even for a split second at his beginnings — show more strength than the others was warming in its own way.

“I never asked how he got another hammer.” Jay peeked his head over the rows with a crooked smile on his face. “I think it’s better if you ask Cole when he comes back later, it’s a really funny story. In general! In general.” Jay quickly added the latter when Nya jabbed his side with her index finger, no need for it to all sound partial.

“I know my brother does really stupid things sometimes, but did you really have to kick him out of the roof?” Nya commented soon after Jay was finished, straightening her posture as she squinted at the screen. “Wait which one you did that?”

However, with Kai positioned on a punching bag, they get knocked down together. They all reposition in front of the Monastery’s front door, landing equal hits upon each other. With a tackle, they tried to keep one another down before Wu shoots out a stop, causing them all to cease their fight and to stand up accordingly.

The ninjas clad in gis simultaneously say “Yes, sensei”, leaving Kai with a dumbfound expression whilst he scans everyone.

“Please do not tell me that you all were unaware of Kai being a member of your team”, Pixal could feel her eye marginally twitch, second hand embarrassment hitting her agnate to a train. She was aware with all of her research that the ninja started on rough grounding, though rough seemed to be generous.

Jay let out a mindless whistle. Zane gave a frivolous laugh.

And Nya gaped.

“Wait a minute! They’re your students, too?” Wu nodded in confirmation at Kai’s question, “This was my final test, wasn’t it?”

“Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah.” The ninja with the eyebrow slit interrupted, a finger pointed in Wu’s direction, “You never said anything about a fourth.”

A displeased look appeared on Maya’s face. So Wu just neglected to give out proper information to his students? Kai could’ve been hurt, they all had weapons and he didn’t. She really didn’t enjoy to confront old friends, but Wu’s actions were already pushing at her buttons.

Harumi perked up from the very back. If they reacted that way about an extra member, she wondered how chaotic is was once the word of the Green Ninja and the Prophecy got around.

He didn’t stop his rant there, his arms moving as he talked, “It’s always three. Three black mice, three musketeers, three-”

“Uh”, the ninja to Kai’s left held out an arm, stopping the other’s mess of words. “What he’s trying to say Sensei Wu, is that the three of us have trained together. We’re solid.”

He makes a fist with one hand, covering it up with his other hand as Kai crosses his arms, now amused at the situation. “Didn’t look so solid to me.” The quip draws the attention of the ninja who previously spoke, his brows furrowing in irritation.

Libber grimaced, that reminded her of introduction with the Master of Ice. Garmadon had said someone as concrete as him didn’t need lightning trying to bounce off of it. Safe to say she didn’t get the memo until she was facing a sharp wall of ice.

A small laugh left Skylor as she watched the screen with a soft expression, seems as if Kai’s attitude didn’t start changing until after the tournament. But she supposed the change was needed more after that than before it.

“Master, what is the meaning of this?” The ninja whom hadn’t spoke before steps up, his voice calm as eyes Wu.

Wu steps down as he gets on even ground with each of them, “Each of you have been chosen. Each in tune with elemental properties.”

Wu lets out an exclamation as he uses spinjitzu, brushing every one of the four in the process. They’re left with properly colored gis with an elemental symbol adorned to them and weapons in their hands. White with shurikens, blue the nunchucks, red with a swore, and black with a scythe. Awe rips through every member as they check out their new suits.

Jay nearly jumped when his mother tsked beside him, her arms crossed as she broke the quiet that crept up in the theatre. Oh god, he hoped she wouldn’t say it. Just let it pass, don’t say anything please, please please, please-

“He’s practically swimming in that!” She said it.

Sensei Garmadon nodded, although he doubt anyone that wasn’t Misako could see it. He hadn’t noticed it when he was still…in his previous form, but Kai hardly did fit into the gi’s made for his person. It wasn’t as noticeable when a year or so had passed.

Misako wanted to add a comment, yet she couldn’t be one to talk. She played with the scarf around her neck, she knew the second Lloyd appeared as a child she wouldn’t be able to stomach her guilt.

The blue ninja let out an excited laugh, “Look what color I am!”

“Wait a minute”, the one still adorned in black gazed at the gi suited upon him, “I’m still black.”

Thank the First for Cole.
A barely concealed snort echoed in the theatre and a laugh was triggered by the ridiculous noise. Zane covered his mouth as if the unintentional double entendre was one of the most scandalous things he has ever heard.

Touching Kai’s shoulder with the end of his staff, Wu pays him no attention, “Kai! Master of Fire. It burns bright in you.” He pauses, moving and repeating the same motion to Jay.

“Jay is blue, Master of Lightning.”

Jay chuckles a bit smugly, his words aimed at the fellow ninjas, “That’s not all I’m the master of. I do a little inventing, I dabble in model building-” His nunchucks moved in his clutched hand as he makes motions to go along with his words, “Touch of cooking, little poetry.”

With a tucked head, the tips of Jay’s ears flushed as his parents spewed compliments and ruffled his head.

“You do poetry?” Wu perked up at the mention, meeting Jay’s eyes as the Master of Lightning shot him a wink. He paid no attention to Garmadon’s dramatic coughing a seat away.

An annoyed groan comes from the black ninja, “More like mouth of lightning.”

“Black ninja is Cole”, Wu moves onto him, speaking faster as if to prevent another squabble, “Solid as rock. Master of Earth.”

Cole preforms a few moves at which Kai lets out a sarcastic laugh at, provoking him to end with the blade of his scythe at Kai’s throat – a half-hearted ‘threat’.

“Nice to meet you, kid. I got your back.” Cole removes his mask. Shaggy, black hair framed over his face as over swept bangs reached the middle of his eyebrows, his words pointed directly at Kai as he continued his blither, “And for the record, there ain’t nothing in this world I’m afraid of.”

Lilly shifted in her seat, clearing her throat as she looked towards the future team of elemental masters. She would have to question her leaders in the future if Cole didn’t always get along with his teammates, or if he was acting tough for a facade. Was it because of her passing? It would explain how he seemed more open in present time.

Ice tapped his foot when Libber let out a mindless hum, eyes narrowing at the repetition of her observations. “I wasn’t even going to say anything, frosty.”

“Mhm.”

“Except for dragons”, The white ninja pointed out as Jay blinked in stupor.

A blank look washed over Cole’s face as he lowered his scythe, the end of it tapping onto the stone ground. “Dragons aren’t..from this world, Zane. I said in this world.”

Wu introduces Zane with his title of Master of Ice as the latter bows and proceeds to spin his shurikens, “And seer with sixth sense.”

Garmadon brushed off Misako’s question as he stared down at his hands, outstretching them as he peered at his veins. Dragon. Dragons and Oni, Oni and Dragons. Surely Wu wouldn’t mention anything of that sort this early on.

Kai peers over Jay to gaze at Zane, “I sense this one takes things a little too seriously.”

Zane removes his own mask, revealing a blond cut near perfectly, proving Kai’s comment correct as he asks if Kai also has “the gift”. Jay laughs nervously as he slides closter to Zane, revealing auburn hair as he reminds Zane if they remembered what they both had talked about.

With a tone still monotonous, Zane lets out a laugh that sounds incredibly awkward as Jay puts his face in his palm. Wu calls attention and Jay immediately positions himself into his previous placement.

Ferment had reached into Harumi’s chest as she watched Zane. She thought of E. How he would only watch and let out a hoarse ‘laugh’ once in a while at Kilo’s antics. E had seemed more advanced than Zane’s original form. Despite the technological differences, the lack of human interaction was more noticeable in Zane.

She blinked when she felt a tear slid down her cheek, angrily rubbing it away. Harumi was sure it would leave red mark, but it would fade. Unlike her last memory of E.

“You four are the chosen ones. Who will protect the Four Weapons of Spinjitzu from Lord Garmadon!”

“But what about my sister?” Kai’s tone is direct as he lifts up his sword as Jay gasps.

“We’re saving a girl? Is she hot?”

Cole looks appalled. “Jay...”

Jay stutters in defense of himself as he takes another step back, “I just wanna know what we’re getting ourselves into.”

Clint shrunk when Libber’s eye cut into him from across the theatre room. Ronin slapped a hand over Dareth’s mouth before he could say anything that would damage the Water Ninja’s psyche more than the viewing was already doing.

Cole’s face did look really funny there, though.

“...Does she like blue?”

“Back. Off.”

“My favorite color.” Jay bumped her shoulder with his, picking up the whisper just for him.

“When we find the weapons, we will find your sister”, With a simple tap of his staff, Wu switches back to the main subject, “It is time! We must go to the first weapon.”

Cole interjects, stopping Wu in his rush, “You said you were gonna teach up spinjitzu.”

“Spinjitzu is in inside of each and every one of you, but it will only be unlocked when the key is ready to be found. Come! My feet are tired. We will take the horse carriage.”

“Great, now we have to find a key?”

“Yeah”, Cole sounded distant as he responded to Jay’s question, “I have a feeling he’s taking us for a ride.”

Kai adjusted his grip on his sword’s handle, face focused, “Well if it means finding my sister, then sign me up.”

“Brother...” Sensei Garmadon shifted in the front seat, uneasy as he leaned to look past Misako. “I didn’t care then but I can care now, is there any logical reason of why you’re dragging this all out? Oh don’t look at me like that.”

With a quick glance behind, he caught a small look at Nya’s blank gaze and exhaled heavily. “You are treating Kai as if he is a donkey and Nya is the carrot, if you’re not going to talk with me about you were thinking then I’m sure Ray and Maya will be happy to do.”

Misako grasped his shoulder as she pushed him back into his chair, her head shaking as she frowned at the screen. Not the time was what was read in her eyes.

Sensei Garmadon clenched his jaw. When did she ever have a good sense of timing?

The scene cuts to a mountain, trees lining the path towards a step climb. Clouds surrounded its bottom, making the mountain seem as if it was resting on them. It then cuts to the four ninja showing exertion as they push the horse carriage Wu is resting in.

“Sign me up!” Jay mocks Kai’s previous statement, grumbling, “Way to go, sparkplug.”

“I sense this is some, strange form of team building.” Zane speaks between breaths as he spares a glance at Cole.

“Don’t start.” Garmadon held up his hands as Misako spoke up on Wu’s behalf. It wasn’t like he was going to jab into his brother for being older, hell, if roles were reversed he couldn’t say he would do the same. Although he’d probably prefer to drive the horse carriage with actual horses.

Libber raised a hand hi into the air as she called out for Zane. “Okay so, like, if you’re a robot, how do you get tired?”

Zane held his tongue, he wanted to correct the term ‘robot’. However, considering that his and Pixal’s very being was still an awe to Libber and her group it would best to leave it be for now. “I was designed to function like a human. Therefore, my former self is more similar to one than I am now.”

How he wished Cyrus Borg hadn’t left the theatre to retire.

However, Cole seems to be faring better than the others as he speaks without a show of any exhaustion. “Just keep pulling, we have a long way to go.” The sentence is finished by the time he focuses back in front of himself after looking at his teammates from behind.

“So”, Kai takes a look at Jay first before moving onto Cole and Zane, “Where did Sensei find you three?”

Cole looks back once again, going first. “Let’s just say if it wasn’t for Sensei Wu, I don’t think we would ever be seen together.”

Lou and Nya both showed discomfort at that statement. Even though they hardly talked to one another, let alone be around each other since the Time Twins, Kai was stamp on Cole and Cole was a stamp on Kai. What was that Mystaké had said to Nya once? Right, trains run on both coal and fire.

She didn’t think the pun was funny at the time, but when the older woman had laughed couldn’t help but let out one of her own.

“I was testing my limits.” The scene shifts, showing three mountain climbers in the needed gear being quickly out-done by Cole with nothing but a rope and climbing shorts. He laughs as he makes it to the top, only to be shocked at the sight of Sensei Wu sitting and drinking tea upon it.

“I was testing my inventions.” Jay goes next, a transition to show Jay adorning a self-made glider. He jumps off of a tall building with a bright smile as they work only to crash through a billboard in the next second. Wu is sitting directly beside him when he lands, a hand out to offer Jay a cup of tea.

E entered Harumi’s mind again as she rubbed at her temples. Observer, always where he needed to be. A chill washed over her body as she flinched back, the ghost from earlier back the seat it claimed earlier. Harumi watched as pure black eyes watched ahead before he quirked up the corner of his lips.

It was gone as fast as it appeared.

“-ucky, really. In fact, Zane’s luckier than I am!” She hardly registered the playful chatter going on in the rooms below her own. Yeah, she was definitely going to move seats after this episode was over.

A snowy setting inside of a village is shown next, five villagers gaze under the frozen pond within it whilst murmuring to themselves. Zane is revealed to be meditating under a pond, his voice coming over the scene, “And I was testing myself.”

Zane’s eyes open as he glances to his left, blinking and sputtering for air when he spots Wu beside him. Tea in his hand as an offer before he drinks it himself, seeing how bewildered Zane looks. The scene cuts back to the on-screen present, and Wu is still drinking tea in the present.

“The scenery is beautiful.” Ice nodded in approval, as if under the influence that the titanium man brought winter with himself. He only smiled, a hand coming to rest against his cheek.

Libber suppressed a blow at Ice.

“You’re right, if it weren’t for Sensei none of us would-” Wu cuts Kai off with a sharp shush, telling then to stop at which they all do so with acute speed, “The Caves of Despair. Samukai must be close to unearthing the Scythe of Quakes. Remember, do not use the weapon. For its power-”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah!” It is Wu who gets cut off by Jay this time, Cole and Zane crouched down beside the two of them respectively. “It’s too much for us mortals. Alright, guys. Let’s chop-socky this lemonade stand! Cole, you got a plan?”

Cole’s gaze is focused on the land below them as he speaks. “Sure do. First, we lower ourselves down to the ledge. And then-”

Lord Garmadon in his ever brooding state paid attention. Now this caught his eye. This seemed to make him understand why they were overreacting so much when Cole fell, he’s a rock of their team. Lloyd held a leader title, and he was respected.

Another question was written down to be answered. Did Lloyd have the respect Cole did at the beginning solely because of his title, or did he have to work harder to earn it?

Cole blinks, his voice now filled with lassitude. “Where’s Kai?”

Kai’s already on the ground level, rolling stealthily as he creeps behind two Skulkin warriors. The other three ninja go after him, already seeing him trying to take action. They sneak past three other Sklukin warriors as they try to stay on Kai’s path, then they use cover to move past those which are working leisurely. One gets alerted by a noise made, but the ninja luckily get away when a rock hits a worker’s foot.

“Oh, look. Your need to keep your Fire Ninja going has nearly gotten him killed this early on.”

“Garmadon-”

“Seriously”, Garmadon’s eyes were blood red as he glowered at Wu, “You appear to be so incredibly lucky that your threats in this mission are as dumb as rocks. There’s no way those four twigs could take on all of that this early.”

A spare Shulkin warrior spots Kai but Cole takes him out silently, allowing the red ninja to move on. Kai peers up from behind a rock, spotting Samukai with the map. He exclaims in surprise as it pans to an excited Nuckal picks up a shaped rock, “I found something!”

Kruncha only looks at him in annoyance, “That another rock, you bonehead!”

“But it’s shaped like a doughnut! I wonder what if it tastes like-” Nuckal bites down on the rock harshly, a grimace of pain releasing from his mouth as one of his teeth fall out. Kruncha only shakes his head in sheer disappointment.

Dareth chortled, drawing eyes. Skylor only peered forward, these two reminded her of Kapou and Chop.

The ninja all now all back together as they peer inside of tear of a cloth upon the place where the map laid. “What’s the matter with you?” Kai only shushes Jay, eyes flickering up to him in annoyance at the tap on his head.

Samukai laughs at the map before leaving, as Jay peers at it. “It’s upside down, they’re digging in the wrong spot.”

“Sight.” Sensei Garmadon spoke up, “Their eyes are horrid, really.”

“The Golden Weapon is near.” Zane throws down a shuriken attached to a rope, throwing it at the map and pulling it up with zero issue.

“There’s no time to waste”, Kai backflips off of the roof without his team, again.

“What is it with that guy? Always in a rush.”

Nya couldn’t help the audible groan that escaped her, good grief did no one there remember that she was currently kidnapped in that time? Well, besides Kai and Wu obviously. Not that it really mattered to anyone else, they didn’t even know anything about her besides her name.

The ninja arrive inside of the cave, seeing Kai try to push a boulder from a pathway’s entrance. “Hey! Before you race off again, you need to remember that we’re a team.” Cole’s voice is surprisingly soft as he talks to Kai.

Kai stares at him indifferently for a moment before resuming his task at hand. “Yeah…whatever.”
“The hell was that about?” Ronin and Skylor met gazes for a split second. The latter couldn’t shake it off, they acted a bit too blase around each other for people who just met. It irked her for some reason. Please let it not be some weird projection thing.

The other ninja assist him as the way inside in revealed, the Scythe of Quakes being revealed. “Woah! That is so cool!” The reverb of Jay’s voice alerts the Skulkin warriors as Cole shushes him a bit too late.

“Come on. Don’t be paranoid. We’re totally on the other side of the caverns.”

“Zip it, okay?” Cole tosses the Scythe of Quakes to Kai, “Now that we’ve got the Scythe, let’s sneak out while those boneheads are still busy.” The dragon head that was holding the Scythe opens bit-by-bit as they leave.

“Oh, boy.” Ed was sympathetic as Edna tsked again. “Jay’s always had tendency for his voice ot be louder than he means to, there was this one time when we went to-”

“Dad! Not the, uh, time…”

“Alright team. Everyone stick together. The way out is right around the corner.” Cole turns his head to be face-to-face with Samukai, eyes widening as he gasps. A mess of Skulkin warriors is revealed as everyone gets their weapons ready.

Lilly recoiled. Cole seemed to be either either fortunate or unfortunate when he took lead in action.

Garmadon sat up along with his second version. Jay’s energy matched Libber’s yet he seemed to pick up on things a bit faster. An imaginative mind. He blinked, that reminded him of the person Libber told the Alliance she was going out to dinner with. What was his name? Clint?

Nya smiled to herself, if Kai were here he surely would make a comment about seeing things in Jay’s point-of-view. Thoughts overcame herself as the smile dropped, she hoped if there were more of that it wouldn’t be for anything serious.

Like…she shuddered. Him

Kai’s calls to Jay, asking for the key at which Jay laughs at. “I’m just going through the motions. This is what Sensei must of meant when he says we must have already know it.” Inside of Jay’s Spinjitzu, each Skulkin is slowed as electricity bounces between them with each of Jay’s hits.

“Over the planks! Dodge the swords, here comes the dummy!” Following each motion as well, Kai unlocks his own Spinjitzu as Kruncha laughs.

“He just called you a dummy.”

“No, he called you a dummy.”

“Okay, you have to admit that was pretty funny.” No one spoke up to Dareth’s comment.

Wu’s faced scrunched up, he would really enjoy if he had paper to write things down on regarding the future elements each team member brought. From what he gathered already Jay had quick actions, Cole carried himself like Lilly – a foundation for others to follow.

And Kai was, well, he was certainly a person. Not that Ray and Maya’s missing figures and a kidnapped sister were the easiest things to stomach. Wu snickered as Garmadon was doing his best to avoid peeking at his brother. They wouldn’t be able to take them on, huh?

The two Skulkin Generals retreat with haste when Zane’s Spinjitzu comes toward their direction. He stops it short, sarcasm almost leaking into Zane’s tone as he spins his shurikens on his fingers, “I sense you do not stand a chance.”

A retreat is uttered as the entirety of the Skeleton Army retreats at the sight of the four spinjitzu tornados. “Huh! Guess they didn’t want a second serving of these babies.” Jay and Kai only make faces at Cole’s comment.

Jay fashioned his face to the one on the screen, “I’m so glad he doesn’t do that anymore.”

“I mean, it’s not like he has to flex to show off his muscles anymore.”

Cole doesn’t seem to notice or bother as he turns around to flex, “Good thing they didn’t check out the merchandise in the back.” He freezes short as he starts taking small yet rushed steps back, a noise of discomfort getting the other ninja’s attentions.

“Guys?”

Zane doesn’t pick up on the shake in Cole’s voice as he ponders, “Didn’t Sensei say there was a guardian protecting the weapons?’

Rocky. It wasn’t too long ago when they’d uncovered what remained of Ulta, he’s glad Cole wasn’t there to see it. Jay didn’t remember a lot of what happened in the First Realm clearly although Kai’s venomous attitude towards the Baron always stayed with him.

Even if that said attitude happened when dealing with other antagonizers in their lives.

A growl ripples through the air as the rest of the team turns around. Cole swallows, “That’s not what I think it is, is it?”

“You mean a dragon?” Jay’s voice cracks out in an inelegant pitch as the Earth Dragon is shown looming above the four.

“Uh, that sure looks like a dragon.” It rises on its hind legs, wings spreading on time with Kai’s words.

“Tell me you didn’t.” Garmadon’s headache was growing by the minute. He grunted when he was met with another disordered glimpse. “Nevermind.”

“I sense we won’t be able to spin our way out of this one.” They get knocked down by a wave of sand as Jay screams out. Kai scrambles up as he adjusts his grip on the Scythe, staring for a split second longer before Cole grabs him by the arm.

Pixal covered her ears at the screech with a wince. She was glad the pitch of Jay’s screams changed when he age, or else she would have to turn down the sound intake within her programming. Or build some sort of noise-canceling program.

“Run, run run!” Libber’s voice nearly matched Jay’s as she screamed display.

From a row behind her, Ronin pressed his lips in a straight line at the blonde.

“You managed to get out with just a scratch?” Misako – at least the one from an olden time – spoke up for the first time, the dragon catching her attention. “You got hit directly by its attack.”

“Jay here has always been so luck.” Edna gushed and all Jay felt was bitterness. She didn’t know the half of it.

“Then you better keep your mouth shut.” Cole’s warning is also renounced as Kai uses the Scythe, the end of it jabbing into the ground as it cracks in half. Tops of the cave collapse onto the dragon, as it’s stunned the others run and hop away.

Nya carped. “Total buffoon…”

The tops of the cave pull apart as the team uses Spinjitzu to escape from the dragon’s waiting mouth and claws, shooting from the opening as Zane and Jay land flatly on the ground. “That was so awesome!” Kai laughs and high-fives Cole as Jay and Zane get up, the former twitching slightly in the process.

“Yes! We are unbelievable.” Wu fixes them all with a stern look.

“We are the best!”

“Did you see that? I was like “pow”, and you were like “bam”!”

“Enough!” The ninja straighten, their attention now fully on Wu. “I told you not to use the Scythe!”

“He did it.” Jay and Cole point at Kai as he spits out a dumb what.

Sensei Wu braced himself as memories of his scolding resurfaced. He held a hand to his forehead, perhaps he needed to lie down and reflect. He was sure his brother could take over and answer as much as possible.

The air felt tense to Zane as he watched the situation with new eyes. He hardly recalled most things when he was rebuilt, and even if it did, he doubted his software was good enough for him to discern what really was going on with Kai and Wu.

Cole shrugs. “I warned him, Sensei.” Kai raised an eyebrow at him.

“Using it was my only option”, Wu gets close into Kai’s face as his voice raises at the teen. “And what makes you think you’re more important than the team?” Kai’s face is filled with only anger as he looks at Wu.

“They took my sister, remember?”

Wu backs away, sparing no time on that subject. “There are still three Weapons left. Maybe next time you can do it right.” The team walks away as no one spares Kai a glance, he pivots the Scythe on his shoulder as he follows them; less ardor lacing his movements.

Ah. Someone shot up and was gone from the room before on-screen Wu could finish talking. Someone else tapped nails nervously and Zane was faintly aware of the not-so-quiet argument happening to his left. Tensions had risen to a max and they were only halfway through the very beginning.

The screen fades to black before fading in on the Underworld, a nervous Samukai twiddling the bones of his fingers is shown. “Master, I have failed you. They have learned Spinjitzu and they have the Scythe.”

“Good”, Samukai looks up in surprise as Garmadon’s voice cuts through the air, “Then my brother was there.”

Samukai gives a small nod, “If I gather my army, we can easily ambush them and-”

“No.” Samukai stops talking, lowering his gaze towards the ground more, “Let them think they’re winning.”

“Yeesh, Garm”, Libber rubbed the back of her neck as the brunet cracked an eyebrow up at her. “Really selling this big evil dude thing.” She frowned when his face darkened. Libber wasn’t as close to Garmadon as she was his brother, but she still didn’t want the guy to feel isolated because of his future.

“But I…do not understand.”

Samukai stares straight as Garmadon begins to chuckle, “Everything is going to plan.” Wrapping his arms around himself, Samukai gets further from away at the screen fades to black. Another title flashes on the screen as soon as it’s completely black, King of Shadows./strong>

Chapter Text

Where have you been?

here! just been through a mental slump and i did nawt want to write through it because it would turn out to be bad along with not carrying out to the fullest. my workload has lessened and i'm on medication that actually works so it's better. i'm absolutely going to write more for this, i've just been working on other projects and reading for inspiration so there's that. over 200+ kudos for a work that only have 3 real (and short) chapters is crazy though

When's the next chapter?

i don't like to put down things like this because life is unpredictable but i would say next month for sure (MAYBE sooner if i can get around to my ninjago drafts). i'm planning on rewriting the others because they're in major need of it guys i SWEAR i take college english.... some of your comments have given me ideas (shoutout to ice chapter enjoyer) and the themes for the other seasons will, again, be implemented more heavily so keep watch on the tags i don't want any of you to get jumpscared later on.

What about Dragons Rising / Dragons Rising S2?

i feel the need to answer this because i've gotten comments and i just want to state it straight, i do plan on working on it. HOWEVER, there's a lot in dragons rising that i feel as if they didn't give way to its fullest opportunity. some things are there to be there and the character plots make me want to scream sometimes because i feel like it demeans most of their growth. along with that, i also did include it into the fandom lists so yea yea it's going to happen just not soon considering the length of this show. so overall, yes i'll be covering it but i might have different takes on the story when putting it into writing because some of it is messy imo.

Update times?

except monthly or 2-3 times a month starting february. i have like 3 different accounts mostly to put out random things and then dip to another one, i'm horrible with planning long term. again!! not abandoned!! just very slow because i am looking over 20 lore aspects and rewriting so much because my former writing is making me look down in absolute shame.

Other.

if you have anything else you're curious about feel free to comment if needed! hopefully i can see you guys soon in the next actual chapter ^^