Chapter 1
It was a pleasant day in the land of Ninjago. The sun was high and shining bright, and there was a light breeze blowing through the hills. High up in the air floated Destiny's Bounty, the airship belonging to Sensei Wu and his ninjas. But the ninjas on the ship's deck weren't relaxing and enjoying the weather; instead they were working hard to improve their skills. There was one primary reason for this; the Serpentine tribes were still at large and were a threat to all the good people of Ninjago. The four ninjas trained hard so that the next time they faced Pythor and the other Serpentine, they could defeat them once and for all.
The four ninjas were Kai, Cole, Jay, and Zane. Each had been entrusted with one of the four Golden Weapons of Spinjitzu, which allowed them to wield elemental powers. In the midst of a fight, the ninjas would use these elemental powers to give themselves the upper hand. Today, however, they were using unpowered weapons as they practiced their skills against training dummies.
There was a whirlwind of activity as the ninjas trained. Kai dashed forward towards one of the training dummies, and slashed at it with his katana, striking a small area that disabled it. Jay was working on a rotating turret of swords as he improved his agility by dodging all the blades. Cole was improving his strength as he lifted heavy barrels and threw them high into the air. Zane took advantage of this and threw shurikens at the moving barrels, striking them dead on.
"Nice one!" Cole said as Zane hit the bull's eye on yet another barrel. "But I bet you can't get this!" He picked up another barrel and threw it directly at Zane. Zane jumped up and over the flying barrel, which continued past him towards Kai. Kai spun around and sighted the incoming object just in time, and quickly slashed at it with his sword, cutting it in two.
"Hey, be careful where you throw things!" Kai said to Cole.
"Not that it really matters," Jay said, jumping over to land next to Kai. "Our reflexes are all so good that we can dodge anything!"
"Ether that, or Cole just can't hit anything to begin with," Kai added.
"Hey, I'd like to see you throw something that heavy," Cole retorted, as he and Zane joined them for a quick rest.
"I must say, we have all improved our skills to the point that we are all very formidable in combat," Zane pointed out. "I daresay we could easily defeat the Serpentine in hand to hand combat."
"Yes, but we need to keep improving!" Kai said. "Otherwise, we'll never know which one of us will become the Green Ninja!"
The other three groaned. Kai was obsessed over the identity of the Green Ninja. Weeks ago, the four ninjas had come across a scroll that foretold a Green Ninja would rise and become the most powerful ninja ever. Naturally, they assumed that it would be one of them, but the question was who?
"I mean, it's clear that I'm going to be the Green Ninja," Kai continued. "After all, I am the fiercest fighter of all of us, and fire is the most important element too."
"Right," Jay said, unconvinced. "Keep telling yourself that and maybe you'll believe it someday."
"If we're going for strongest, then I'm clearly the best candidate," Cole pointed out.
"However, would not the Green Ninja also be the purest among us?" Zane questioned. "In that case, I would be the most likely, since I mediate far more often than the rest of you."
"No, it's me," Jay said. "I'm blue, and that's closer to the color green than the rest of you!"
"That has nothing to do with who turns out to be the Green Ninja!" Kai exclaimed.
The four ninjas broke out in argument, but their conversations ceased as Sensei Wu approached. "And what are we discussing today, young pupils?" he asked. "Surely not about the Green Ninja again?"
The four ninjas bowed their heads. They knew Sensei Wu was reluctant to talk about the Green Ninja and had insisted that they continue their training. And now he had just caught them resting and discussing the forbidden topic.
"We're sorry, Sensei," Kai said. "But… we're just so intrigued as to who the Green Ninja really is. We can't help but speculate."
"Then perhaps it is time to put speculation to rest," Sensei Wu said. "There is one way to indicate who the Green Ninja is, and unfortunately none of you have proven yourselves to be the chosen one."
"What way are you speaking of?" Zane asked politely.
"When the four Golden Weapons of Spinjitzu come close to the Green Ninja, they will glow to reveal his presence," Sensei Wu said. "All of you have been in close proximity to the weapons, but none of them have glowed. As such, none of you could be the Green Ninja."
Kai frowned. "But Sensei, that can't be the only way…"
Cole cut him off. "We understand, Sensei. But then, who is the actual Green Ninja?"
"I do not know the answer to the question yet," Sensei Wu said. "But let us drop the topic for now. We are approaching our mail delivery point, and are preparing to land. Please clean up here and meet with the mailman."
The four ninjas complied, and began clearing away their training equipment. As they did so, the Destiny's Bounty began to descend, until it came to rest in a field next to one of Ninjago's major highways.
The four ninjas disembarked and waited next to the road. Just as scheduled, they spotted a bicycle cruising down the road, and the Ninjago Mailman rode forward to meet with them.
"Good, you're here," the Mailman said, pulling out a handful of letters. "I've got a lot for you today."
"Ooh, more fan mail!" Cole said, taking the letters. "Addressed to me… Kai… Zane… me again…"
"I also have this package for Nya," the Mailman said. "Is she not here?"
"My sister's still onboard the Bounty," Kai explained. "I'll take it to her."
"No, I got it!" Jay said, grabbing the package and climbing back aboard the Bounty in haste. It was clear to Kai and the others that Jay had a crush on Nya, and he was willing to go out of his way to spend time with her.
"And finally, here is Sensei Wu's copy of Ninjago Weekly," the Mailman said, handing the newspaper over to the ninjas. "Make sure he gets this."
"Will do," Kai said. "Thanks for the delivery."
"It's all in a day's job," the Mailman said. "As long as I don't have to cycle to the end of the earth to find you. You ninjas sure get around in that airship, and it's not as safe to travel around Ninjago as it used to be."
"You are referring to the Serpentine?" Zane asked.
"Of course!" the Mailman said. "Their attacks are getting worst. And there have been disappearances now too, and we think those snakes are behind it!"
"That is troubling news indeed," Zane said.
"We'll get on that!" Cole promised. "We've been training hard to defeat the Serpentine, and it's about time we finally took them down for good."
"You do that," the Mailman said, getting back on his bicycle. "Now I must be off. More letters to deliver!"
As the Mailman rode off, the ninjas climbed back aboard Destiny's Bounty. "So the snakes are taking hostages now too?" Cole said. "Man, I hate snakes. We've got to stop them!"
"But how?" Zane asked. "We haven't heard of any snake sightings in days. They're lying low, because they know whenever they show up, we go after them."
"And if we don't know where they are, then we can't go and defeat them," Kai added.
"Hey, we might have a lead on them right now!" Jay said, darting forward, following by Nya and Sensei Wu. "Nya got two reports of Serpentine activities going on right now!"
"What, where are they?" Cole asked.
"I found two readings, but they're very far apart," Nya said. "One is in the volcano region north of the Fire Temple. It seems the snakes are doing something in the caves up there. The other is in the canyons south of the Sea of Sand."
"These are the first leads we've had in days, so we must investigate both of them!" Sensei Wu said. "You will need to split up."
"Good idea," Cole said. "Kai, you and Jay go check up on the volcanoes. Zane and I will head down into the desert."
"I can go with you," Nya said. "You'll need all the help you can get."
"No need, sister," Kai said. "We're ninjas; we can handle this ourselves."
Nya frowned, but the four ninjas had already rushed away as they grabbed their golden weapons. Then they jumped off the edge of the Bounty and activated their weapon's special abilities to turn into vehicles. Kai landed on a motorcycle, Zane on a snowmobile, Cole in his Tread Assault, and Jay in a jet. They separated and blasted off towards their destinations.
"Do not fret, Nya," Sensei Wu said. "Your time will come where you shall prove yourself."
"Yes, and maybe that time is today," Nya whispered to herself. She walked over and retrieved the package Jay had given to her. Upon opening it, she pulled out a butterfly sword. Narrowing her eyes, Nya knew what she had to do now.
