The official Fanfiction of the Hybrid AU for Ninjago! I'm finally working on it.
For those who don't know I'm going to give a brief summery of the AU.
In the AU the Ninja (and others depending on how you want your story to go ect.) are part animals.
Zane is a Gyrfalcon and has feathered wings and a tail. Kai is a porcupine and has the ears, tail and quills of a porcupine. Cole is a black bear and has bear ears instead of human ears, claws, sharp teeth, and a tail. Jay is part cat (Havana Brown breed) and has cat ears instead of human ears, claws, teeth, and a tail. Lloyd is part dragon and has green and gold wings, horns and a long green tail with a fluff of gold fur at the end.
These animals can vary if you want them too, but they're kind of made to be those animals.
"The riot has ventured farther into Ninjago City, and many Hybrids have had to take cover in shelters." A reporter announced to the television. "The rioters have gotten-!"
"Hybrids aren't human! They don't deserve to be treated like us!" A man who took the microphone shouted. "They're freaks of nature and deserve to be put down like the animals they are!"
"Lloyd, get out of here. We don't need you to see this-."
"No, Lloyd, stay." Cole interrupted Kai. "He's a hybrid like us and should see why we keep him next to one of us at all the time."
Kai shifted uneasily in his seat and looked over to the dragon-boy. They had always kept Lloyd close, especially after he used the Tomorrow's Tea and grew wings. It became so much harder to hide him after that and that much harder to go outside. They used to send Lloyd because he looked the most human on the outside. They'd make him tuck in his tail and comb his hair to hide his ears. He'd have to stay completely silent so that nobody would have been able to see his teeth.
They didn't like making Lloyd do it, but wearing a hood out in public made you the most suspicious person in the world. Zane was the only one with normal human facial features, but hiding his giant falcon wings was a nightmare. At least Lloyd was able to pull his wings in tightly and was still growing. They weren't at full size and they were easier to hide with a few belts and sweatshirts. Zane's was harder to hide because they constantly puffed up and shifted, making the option of belts really uncomfortable for him.
Jay's tail flicked and smacked into Lloyd's arm, showing the younger male the cat's nervousness. Jay's cat ears were dipped down and his eyes darted around. He was clawing at his jeans and his tail was wagging around madly. The cat tapped his foot constantly and bit at his lip, threatening to break the skin.
Cole wasn't in a better situation. He was doing exactly what Jay was doing, looking around nervously and clawing at his jeans. It wasn't usual for the bear hybrid to get nervous like this, but even he had to admit the rioters were getting more and more violent each day, and they were getting closer and closer to them.
Kai's hair and the quills on his back were standing up, shivering lightly as though they were all going to burst out of him at once. His ears constantly shifted as though he were trying to hear anyone who entered the room unexpectedly.
Zane seemed like the calmest person, but even he couldn't hide his anxiety that had been building. The others could tell that Zane was trying to stay calm to try and help them but they could tell he was crumbling away silently. He was molting his wings a lot more than usual, and there were feathers everywhere in the Bounty. His wings were constantly enlarged and puffed out, and Zane seemed to shift them a lot more as though they were a burden on his back. He stopped his singing too, something that the others had never thought he would do.
Singing for a bird hybrid was a sign of trust and happiness. Zane took it more as a sign of brotherly love then anything, and always sang when they were training. The song he usually sang was just a mix of upbeat whistles and hums but the others loved it just the same. But now Zane stayed silent, and the song was only a memory in all of their heads. They took it as a sign of happiness and hope. And now it was gone.
Nya walked in the room, her beautiful long and puffed tail dragging on the ground as she wondered in. She looked to all of the ninja and sighed. "You guys shouldn't be watching this," She spoke, her ears shifting down as she walked over to the television. "It's not good for you to see this, especially Lloyd." She pressed the button and the screen went black.
"We were only checking to see where they were," Cole assured, his ears shifting to show he was lying. Nya knew better. They had been seeing how long they had to make their next move before the rioters found out about them.
The public didn't know they were all Hybrids until recently. It had been hard to keep silent about it before, but custom made uniforms usually fixed the issue. However, the ninja's new uniforms were faulty in their last mission, and while they fought in Ninjago City the Serpentine has scratched their uniforms just enough for their appendages to spring out for the whole block to see. That's when the public joined the Serpentine and fought against the ninja. Now everyone knew that the people who were trying to save them were part animal. The people couldn't accept that, and now they turned against them. The Ninja were forced to get in the Destiny's Bounty and to flee.
"It's not like we asked to be hybrids!" Jay spoke, crossing his arms and flicking his tail. "We tried to help the people and this is what we get in return?!"
"I don't like it any more than you do, Jay, but it's how it is. It's how we grew up. We knew they were going to find out eventually," Cole pointed out. "We were planning on telling them after we defeated Garmadon."
"Yeah? And why didn't we plan on them finding out about us?" Kai snapped, reaching up and pulling out a quill that was bent awkwardly. He flicked it away and watched it fall to the floor. "Coming up with a plan would have been nice."
"Yeah… and now we don't have Uncle to help us," Lloyd sighed.
It had been almost 3 months since Sensei Wu had left to go look for Garmadon. The Chinese Dragon hybrid had the ability to fly, despite how he had no wings, but the ninja couldn't help but worry for him. After all, he was a hybrid and the rioters were getting more and more land.
"Guys, I hate to say it but maybe we should go into hiding for a while… if the rioters have that much power then maybe they can defend themselves against the Serpentine." Kai sighed.
"But where will we go?" Jay wondered, a frown growing on his face. "We're the only Hybrids that we know of, and nobody's going to open their arms and tell us that we're like them. We have nowhere to go!"
"We can hide in the desert or a cave or something. We can use our powers to survive. I can heat things up for us to eat." Kai replied.
"Oh? I'm sure that Jay and Lloyd would love to eat plants more than anything. They're carnivores, Kai. They need meat. We need protein. Where are we going to get that, huh?" Cole spoke, a low growl mixed with his voice.
"I don't see you coming up with ideas, Cole!" Kai shouted, his quills standing straight up.
"That's because we can't do anything right now! We're stuck in the middle of a group of angry rioters and death! What are we supposed to do?" Cole screamed back, standing up and snarling at the porcupine.
"Guys, please don't fight!" Nya cried out, getting in between them and shoving them away from each other. "Listen, we might be trapped but we have each other. We can do something."
"Zane's smart. Why doesn't he give any input?" Kai snapped. Everyone turned to look at the Gyrfalcon Hybrid that had been silent.
Zane hadn't spoken in almost two weeks, ever since the rioters had began to grow and travel towards them. It seemed like his song wasn't the only thing that left him. The falcon just looked from the television to the group in the room, eyes half shut and glazed over. He remained silent.
"Talk or something, Zane!" Jay cried out, hissing loudly at the bird. But unlike usual Zane didn't react in any way. Instead of flailing his wings and flapping them in shock he simply turned to look at Jay.
"Zane… you've been dead silent for a long time… we've checked your gears and everything's okay… why won't you talk?" Lloyd asked, a frown growing on his face.
Silence was the bird's only reply.
Kai let out an angry sigh and left the room, his quills still standing straight up. Nya followed him, dragging her tail as she ran after him to try and cheer him up. Cole was the next to go, giving a sigh of disappointment before walking slowly towards his room. Lloyd and Jay looked to each other before nodding. Lloyd placed a hand on Zane's back, right in between his wings, and gave a low sigh.
"It'll be okay, Zane. We'll think of something. This family isn't broken yet." With that, the cat and the dragon left the room, leaving the bird to his thoughts.
.
Zane sat silently in his room. After everyone left the room Zane had turned the television back on to see that the broadcast had ended and the camera had been broken in a fight. There was no doubt that the rioters were more violent and headed straight for them. There was no way that they could fight them all.
Perhaps the others had been right… they should hide… but not the way they were thinking…
Zane didn't like it, but for the time he had been silent he had been searching through his data banks for anything that could help them. But every time his computers seemed to find only one solution to how they would all have a chance to escape this unharmed… and Zane didn't like the idea at all.
The idea seemed like the most dangerous one out of anything, and yet it was the safest. It was definitely the scariest one to think of. So many horrors could come out of it that Zane had stayed silent about it for this long. He had been scared witless about the outcomes that he was too horrified to even suggest it.
But he had to if there would be a chance that everyone would be okay.
Zane's wings shuddered as another feather fell from them. He didn't care, really. In all reality if this plan was going to work he'd probably have to pluck them all off anyway… as much as he hated the idea.
Tomorrow. Zane thought to himself, curling his wings around him. He walked over to his bed and gathered the blankets into a small homemade nest before climbing in. I shall tell them tomorrow…
.
The next day seemed long and horrid for everyone. Nya tried to keep everyone happy but even she was feeling the sorrow that circled the Bounty. Everyone was wearing hoodies as though they were hiding their ears, and their tails were kept low.
Zane was the last one in for breakfast. That wasn't unusual for the past few days. And just like the past few meals the bird only played with his food and never took a bite, his wings pulled in as close as they could be.
"Zane… you really should eat," Cole sighed, watching as the bird pushed aside yet another piece of his food. Zane didn't reply.
Kai only shook his head and pushed away his own plate, leaving the half-eaten food to go to waste. "If Zane's not eating then I'm not either."
"That's no way to get him to eat," Nya spoke before taking another small bite.
"I don't care. Zane's starving himself and I want to try something. Until Zane takes a bite I'm not eating another nibble."
"Kai…" Lloyd sighed, setting his fork down. "Please, just eat? We all know that Zane's not going to either talk or eat."
"How can you guys just accept this?"
"You know… Kai does have a point…" Jay spoke. "Zane's a Bird Hybrid… and if he's shedding this much his body's trying to regrow feathers… he needs a lot of nutrients to do that…. He does need to eat…"
"See? It's unhealthy for him in two ways!" Kai exclaimed, pointing to Jay.
"Well what are you going to do? Shove it down his throat?" Cole growled. "It's not like you can force him to eat."
"Guys, please don't fight." Nya sighed.
"You two have been doing that a lot recently," Lloyd pointed out.
Cole sighed, "There's just been a lot of tension lately…"
"Yeah… and there isn't that many ways to get rid of it…" Kai added.
"It's all just merging together… and now we're fighting each other rather than the riots or Serpentine…" Jay spoke.
"At this rate we won't be a team anymore…" Lloyd mumbled.
"Hey, don't say that," Cole said, looking to the dragon. "We might fight, and we might be in a tense and dangerous situation, but it's no different than every other time. We'll get through this. As a team."
Zane shifted uneasily in his seat, his wings growing a little fluffier at the word team. He didn't want to use the term any more, to be honest. After all, it would be the only thing that would ruin the plan…
"What's wrong, Zane?" Jay asked, looking to the bird. "You look uncomfortable."
"No, he's as comfortable as can be while we have rioters coming at us ready to kill us," Kai snapped. "Of course he's uncomfortable. I don't know why he is to be honest. He and Lloyd can just fly away and leave us behind."
"They would never do that and you know that!" Cole shouted, slamming a hand on the table.
"Guys! Can you please stop fighting?" Nya sighed, her ears drooping a little more. "If we're going to get out of this mess we have to stick together and get along."
"How can I get along with him when he keeps pointing out the negatives!" Cole exclaimed, shifting a hand to grip his hair. "Every negative thing just drags me down and it's not helping our situation at all!"
"I'm just pointing out the facts! Things that are happening right now and things that we have to face!" Kai growled, his quills bristling.
Zane sighed, and everyone stopped talking and looked to him. It was honestly the first vocal thing Zane had done in a long while. Zane shook his head.
"Perhaps…" the bird spoke, his voice cracking lightly and his wings pulled uncomfortably tight. "Perhaps it is best… if we go our separate ways…."
