A.N: Thanks to everyone who submitted OCs! I'm really sorry if I couldn't use yours, but I only really need three. Anyway, the OCs I am using are:
Jayde Rosewood, Queen of Nature, 18 years old (She belongs to bookworm108)
Heather Regina Chito, Queen of Air, 19 years old (She belongs to janinaharm)
Leah Kersey, Queen of Water, 18 years old (She belongs to xInkblotx)
Maurelle Nightshade, Queen of Shadows, 52 years old (She belongs to me)
And Ayesha Nightshade, Maurelle's daughter, 17 years old, Princess of Shadows (She belongs to me)
Disclaimer: I don't own Ninjago
Lloyd
From the day I was born, I have always considered myself as weird. I mean, seriously, how many people have the guy who tried to rule Ninjago for a dad? How many people are the green ninja? How many people have a mum that left them and came back like, 10 years later? I'll tell you how many. One. And that's me.
I can tell you now, though, the day we met the Princess of Shadows, my perception of weird was changed forever. Anyway, I'm probably getting ahead of myself here. Lets just go back to when the rest of the ninja, Nya, Sensei Wu and I first got the message.
Jay, Kai and I were sitting on the Bounty playing Fist to Face 2, while Zane and Cole were training outside, Nya was fiddling with the ship's controls, and Sensei Wu was meditating. I think Kai was kind of mad at me, because I was winning. He kept 'accidentally' hitting me, even though we were on the same team.
Suddenly, there was a deafening crash on the main deck. The three of us rushed out to find everyone else already there crowded around two Ninjago soldiers dressed in yellow and blue. "Are you alright?" Nya questioned, while helping the two men up. The first one seemed to regain his bearings and notice that he was surrounded by ninja. "You must be the ninja who saved Ninjago a few months ago!" He exclaimed. "Our armies have been looking for you for days! We are in desperate need of your help!"
"Why is that? Is there something wrong?" Sensei Wu questioned. The second soldier snapped back into reality, and began to speak in a dazed, yet panicked voice, "T-There are t-too many of t-them…" He trailed off, and then slumped to the ground in an unconscious heap. Jay and Zane rushed to help him, while the first soldier began speaking again. "We were just standing guard at the border of Ninjago, as usual; you know, to keep an eye out for any trouble coming towards the mainland. Then, about an hour ago, we saw a strange army marching in from the North. They were dressed in black and red, and they had strange animals with them." He explained shakily.
I decided to intervene, "What kind of animals?" I asked. They couldn't be as bad as the Serpentine, or the Stone Army, surely. "There were these huge elephants; except they weren't elephants. They were bigger, and had six tusks that curved low enough to be about half a metre from the ground. They were pitch black, with glowing red eyes, and red markings. The army also had these huge dogs, or wolves. They were also black, with red eyes and stripes." The first soldier enlightened.
I had never heard of anything like that before, and I'd never seen an army that dressed in black and red. But when I looked over to Sensei Wu, he was simply pacing back and forth, with his steely grey eyes narrowed. "Sensei," Cole began, "Do you know anything about this army?" Apparently I wasn't the only one who had noticed Sensei's uncharacteristic behavior. "Yes," he voiced, "I know where this army comes from. I just can't reason why they would launch an attack on mainland Ninjago. These uniform colours are those of the Shadow Empire; a large island North–West of Ninjago. They-"
"Wait a minute!" Kai interjected, "What Shadow Empire? I've never heard of that place!" Suddenly, Nya jerked her head up, and gasped.
"I think I've heard that legend before!" She exclaimed. "Thousands of years ago, before the Overlord and The First Spinjitzu Master were even born, Ninjago was an enormous continent; almost three times the size it is now. Back then it was called Advaya. The ruler of Advaya, a king named Jedrek, had four daughters; each one with an elemental power. The eldest had control over air, the first of two twins had control over water, and the second had control over nature. The youngest daughter had the most unusual power of all; power over the shadows."
"After a few years, the king had four weapons forged from pure silver, suited to harness elemental energy; one for each of his daughters. The eldest would obtain the Gauntlets of Air, the twins would have the Bow of Nature and the Bo Staff of Water, and finally, the youngest would have the Twin Daggers of Shadow. Sadly, soon after he had the weapons forged, Jedrek died of a rare illness, leaving his daughters orphaned, seeing as their mother died giving birth to the youngest."
"As the four girls grew older, the youngest and the eldest were constantly arguing. Soon, short squabbles turned into fistfights, and eventually, a war that would last decades broke out between the two of them. The entire land of Advaya was politically divided into two, half of the population siding with the youngest girl, and half siding with the eldest. The two twins were devastated, and didn't know what to do to end all the fighting between their sisters. So eventually, they devised a plan, and agreed that the Water Elemental would pretend to side with her eldest sister, and the Nature Elemental would side with the youngest."
"In doing this, they managed to bring their two sisters to the exact centre of Advaya, and taking them by surprise, forced all four of the Platinum Weapons together. The result of the sudden channel of all four elemental energies combining was a massive explosion, which was so powerful that it split Advaya into five different islands; Ninjago, which was not inhabited until a few decades later by the Overlord and the First Spinjitzu Master, The Kingdom of Air, which was a small island South-West of Ninjago with an entire city of clouds above it, The Territory of Ocean, two tiny islands South-East of Ninjago with a huge underwater system located underneath them, The Realm of Nature, a fairly standard island North-West of Ninjago covered in thick layers of forest and greenery, and The Shadow Empire, a huge island North-East of Ninjago with a mountainous, hilly landscape."
"Each daughter was made the Queen of their respective lands, leaving Ninjago uninhabited. And so, each Queen's descendants ruled their land, and over centuries, all four kingdoms eventually decided to put the past behind them and become friendly towards each other and Ninjago once more. But, since that day, there has never been a reign when every kingdom had a woman in charge at one time." Nya finished with a contented sigh.
"Yes," Sensei Wu continued for her, "And it is prophesized that when all four kingdoms have a Queen as their ruler, five new elements will combine with them, and save the entire divided lands that were once Advaya from a great evil. This prophecy has been named the 'Prophecy of Nine', because it involves nine elements. "
"Okay, that all makes sense," Jay intruded, "but if the kingdoms all made up, then why the heck is the Shadow Empire attacking Ninjago?"
"I think that is what Sensei Wu was confused about in the first place." Zane clarified, earning a nod from Sensei.
"Well, maybe we should just go to the ruler of the Shadow Empire, and ask them why they're attacking us." I reasoned. I may be a lot younger than I look, but hey, I still have good ideas sometimes. Occasionally. Okay, not a lot, but still! "Are you mad?" Kai yelled, "If they're attacking Ninjago, what do you think they'll do when we show up in their territory?" Zane and Cole nodded in agreement. Then my good ol' Uncle Wu decided to stick up for me. "Lloyd may have a valid point," He began, "We should make it clear, though, that we mean them no harm."
After a few moments of contemplating whether to argue with him or not, Kai huffed, and mumbled something about getting ready. Well, I guess that's Kai for ya! Nya simply shook her head at her brother's antics, and walked back into the ship's control room to set course for the Shadow Empire. I just sighed to myself. This was going to be a long trip.
A.N: Wow! Four pages! Anyway, I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far; I was planning to make this chapter longer, but then I decided not to keep you guys waiting, and cut it a bit shorter. Now, for some word and name meanings:
Advaya – United
Jedrek – Strong
Remember to review, guys!
