Darkness Ninja: Origin

by TheDarknessNinja

Years before Kai, Zane, Lloyd, Jay, Cole, and Nya are trained by Sensei Wu, he has another group of ninja, the weilder of the platinum weapons. Sam comes to Sensei's training last, and this is only the beginning of his story...

Prologue

There once was a pregnant woman who lived on the banks of the Sings River in Eastern Ninjago. Her name was Jasuki Walters and she was married to Walter Walters, whom she loved very much. One day Walter was at the market buying his daily groceries, when two thieves started tormenting two young boys. Walter, a brave loyal citizen of Ninjago, tried to stop the thieves: named Nukal and Kruncha. He just about bested these thieves for he was strong and they were weak. Then they pulled out Katanas and injured him severely. He crawled home to his wife and unborn child. Jasuki,although a great cook, wife, and surprisingly good bowler, was no nurse, and definitely not a miracle worker. Walter Walters died later that night, in his wife's arms.

Jasuki could not live without her husband. She knew that he was living, if you could even call it that, as a skeleton in the Underworld. The thought of him being able to walk and talk and bowl without her, nearly drove her to pieces. Then one day it hit was about to play that special playing card in the back of your hand that you never want to use could it could either save you or lead to your demise. She would call upon her brother, Garmadon, banished to the underworld as a boy and now ruler of the undead. She had not seen him in years, for she had staged her death and he, and her other younger brother Wu, thought she had died long ago.

Garmadon appeared to her that night in the form of a shadow, because his mortal body could not appear in the mortal world. She explained her predicament, and Garmadon confirmed that her thought was true. Walter was living as a skeleton in the Underworld, and that all mortals who die in the underworld would become skeletons at the moment of their deaths. She begged him to let her and her unborn baby move to the underworld so she could see her husband again. Garmadon granted her wish but explained that there was a great risk involved: no one knows what happens when a living mortal dies in the Underworld, it has never happened before. She willingly accepted.

Garmadon told her that the process of transferring a mortal into the underworld would take about a day and that he would need to give her some tea that would knock her out cold, but the baby would not be she woke up, he said, she would be living in a world of skulls and accepted once again, and drank the tea. The moment the liquid hit her lips, she fell asleep. Now I know all of you reading this are thinking, "Wow this Lord Garmadon seems like a really cool guy," but, hate to break it to you, he's not.

Lord Garmadon at the time, was possessed by evil venom of a snake called the great devourer. Evil ran through his blood, and evil thoughts filled his mind. Garmadon only allowed his sister to come to the Underworld, not for her, but for himself. When he was conversing with Jasuki, he noticed an unusual amount of dark power coming from her, although he knew that his sister was full of life and happiness. Then it hit him...The baby! Garmadon began creating a plan that would ensure his escape from the Underworld, and would grant him his reign over all of Ninjago. There was one crucial key he needed: the child had to be raised and grow up in the Underworld. He assigned a new cadet in the Skeleton army to keep a close watch on the baby when it was born. This skeleton's name was Samukai.

When Jasuki woke up she found herself in a place with no sunlight, no laughter, almost no emotion of any kind...and yet Jasuki was the happiest she'd been in a long while. She met up with Walter and they embraced. Jasuki didn't care that his beautiful green eyes were empty sockets and his warm skin now cold bones. All she cared about was that they were together again. He built a small house near the palace and he and his wife lived happily together for 3 months.

On March 1st a baby boy named Samuel Swagosako Walters was born in the Underworld. He had dark hair, but not completely black, hazel eyes, and pale skin. When he was born he didn't cry like most children, in fact he looked almost happy, but know one could really be sure. Then he looked up into his mother's eyes and reached out for her with one of his fat, sausage like fingers and his mother said," Welcome to the Underworld," and she shook his finger. At this moment the baby farted and laughed the liveliest, most authentic laugh you could have ever heard. Anyone who heard this laugh smiled at the thought of true happiness that occurred in such a dark and gloomy pace. This was the first practical joke in the underworld.

My names is Sam and this is my story, a story of action, suspense, sorrow, friendship, and courage. This is a story of the ninja.

CHAPTER I: THE MOUNTAIN OF DARKNESS

I grew up as normally as any mortal kid could in the underworld. My mother didn't tell me that my uncle was the supreme dark ruler of the Underworld, she probably didn't want me to fall into his dark ways. She also didn't tell me of her her brother, the man named Wu. That is important you might want to remember that. Anyway, By the time I was 3 years old I knew every skeletons name and military significance. You see, at 1 year old, my father was recruited for the skeleton army, and I would often watch the military training in action. Before I could talk, at about 2 years old, I could do any attack that a first year cadet in the army could. My personal watchman, Samukai, became very fond of me, and I of him. He was my first real friend. Samukai had recently been promoted to commander of the west flank of the army, and learned all sorts of battle techniques. He started teaching me these moves and strikes, because he noticed how skilled I had become just by teaching myself the basics. Soon I was far more skilled than almost every skeleton in the underworld, except for General Skutano, a long serving battle hardened skeleton who was on the brink of retiring. In fact he did retire, about 2 years after Samukai started my special training, and you'll never guess who took his place as general of all the skeletons in the Underworld, that's right, Samukai, my personal stalker, friend, and first master. Although I still saw him regularly, Samukai didn't have much time to train me anymore because of his new duties as head of the skeleton army.

He assigned Skeleton General Wyplash to train me in the more advanced ways of fighting and the art of stealth. This was crucial to the rest of my story. Wyplash was not as kind and caring as Samukai. In fact, in the beginning, he hated me. Wyplash was the General of Ice, and he was as cold and cruel as it too. His fellow generals of and Earth and Lightning, Kruncha and Nukal (yes the very 2 men who killed my father) were not anywhere as heartless as him. Although they were actually indeed heartless. The only reason I continued my training with him was because I admired his skills in the art of stealth, and I longed to learn his ways. Unfortunately for me, Wyplash would not teach the art of complete stealth to a mere five year old mortal. So what did he teach someone who bested him in almost all kinds of fighting known to man:dead or alive...meditation, he taught me meditation.

Wyplash would make me sit in the bottom of a pit of bone spiders, or hang upside down from one of the stalagmites that filled the cavern roof of the Underworld, and I would have to close my eyes and listen. I could be there for hours at a time, facing death, and yet if I moved, or made any sound at all I would be severely punished. After years of meditating every day, I began to understand why it was so important to meditate. I started to be able to rely on my other senses. I didn't need to see for me to know where someone or something is.

On my 8 year old birthday, I was given my first day off. My parents gave me a bone handled katana. They encouraged me to explore, have an adventure. They wanted me to know what it was like to live like a normal boy. If only that were possible. I thanked them and set out with a bag filled with a dagger, rope, a pen ,and a blank map. I also brought the essentials: water, snacks, and hair gel.

I walked for many miles until I came to a large dark mountain. This mountain looked very strange to me. Once I got nearer I felt like I was in some sort of trance, almost as if the mountain was calling me toward it. I had no intention of going anywhere near it, but next thing I knew, I was standing at its base. I decided to explore, that was the reason I came out anyway. It took me 4 hours to reach the peak, stopping once to eat and twice to fix my hair. I could tell I was the first to ever climb this mount. Once at the top I sat down on a rock and took out my map. Already drawn on it was the settled area off the Underworld. I approximated the distance I had walked and drew this mountain.

From the top I could see all of the Underworld and I knew that the mountain was the center of the whole cavern. As I sat there thinking, 3 bone spiders came up to me. I wasn't watching but I heard their approach. I could tell but the way the pebbles around me shifted that one was directly behind me, another five feet to my left, and the third I heard lower from a web from the roof. I knew from prior experience that these spiders were hungry for fresh meat, and I was like water in the desert. The spider on my left leaped at me, for this was the attack style of bone spiders: one at a time, not all at once. A stupid way of fighting if you ask me, but I guess at the time I would've thought working alone was best. I somersaulted forward, lashing out with my sword at the same time. I sliced off 4 of its legs and it collapsed in defeat, immediately after the Spider above me tried dropping suddenly on to my head. If it succeeded it would have crushed me under its bone body. However I flattened myself to the ground thrusting my sword point into its stomach and kicking it over my head. Two spider's down one to go.

I knew from my studies of bone spiders that the last to attack was the leader of the squad or group. It was also often the largest and in my case,the ugliest…"Ewwww, that's disgusting!"... and apparently the smelliest."Hey mouthbreather, you ever heard of breath mints?" Turns out Ugly over there didn't like being called names. He hurled himself at me, moving faster than any normal bone spider I had ever seen moved. But I wasn't a normal eight year old now was I. Right when it was about to nail me in a bone breaking, spine crushing, hair messing blow, I hurdled the spider, causing it to use its own momentum and fall off the cliff. I felt pretty good about my victory until I felt a tugging on my ankle. I was suddenly thrown off the cliff, grabbing for my rope and throwing it around a rock to catch me. I slammed to a stop with my rope and I wailed in agony. There was something pulling on my ankle and I realized that Ugly shot a web on my ankle and pulled me off the edge with him. I sliced the web and heard the spider hit the ground about 20 seconds later.

Meanwhile I was stuck in my own predicament. I was dangling 40 feet off a huge mountain, probably with a broken ankle, and my arms felt like lead from holding on to my life. I analyzed the situation. I could probably climb up but I don't know what kind of trouble I'd be in because of my ankle. I could call for help, probably the worst idea in the history of the worst ideas in history. Then I noticed a ledge about 10 feet under me and 10 feet forward. I decided that was my best bet for now. I swung on my rope and landed on my right angle. I collapsed in agony, turns out my ankle was worse than I thought. I managed to stand and I examined my surroundings. There were 3 options on where to go: A. Up the ledge to try to get back to the peak with my stuff, B. Down the ledge to get the HECK out of there, or C. into the mysterious cave that was so dark that I couldn't see inside (it was really giving me the Heeby Jeebies). Option B was seriously looking good to me. I was done exploring. Even meditating beats this. But deep down past the fear and tiredness, I felt exhilarated. I opted to go back to the top.

CHAPTER II: THE SWORD OF DARKNESS

I took one step toward the upward leading ledge, and a strange feeling came over me, the same feeling that came upon me when I saw the mountain. I felt as if the cave was calling me. Subconsciously, I walked toward the cave. Three steps inside, a wall suddenly appeared over the doorway. I was trapped! A mysterious purple glow suddenly filled the cave. The source of the light seemed to be coming from the back of the cave. Cautiously, but curiously, I walked toward it. A completely black sword was floating in mid air at the back of the cave. It had a magical purple aura and a grabbed it, knowing that this was the item that called me here. I fainted the moment it made contact with my skin.

. . .

I awoke three days later, freezing, weak, and tired. I sensed I had almost made history once again… I had almost been the first mortal to die in the Underworld. But I didn't die, in fact, through all the pains, I felt more alive than ever. Which sounds strange even now. It was great that I was feeling alive and all, but that didn't block the hunger. I knew I needed to get up and back to the peak to get my food and supplies. Then it occurred to me that I might not even be able to stand let alone walk, but I had to try, my survival depended on it. Using the wall of the cave, I crawled into a standing/slouching/leaning/falling position. Great, I thought, I can't even stand up, how could this day get any worse. Never ask that question.

A horrible, reeking smell filled the cave, a smell I recognized before. Ugly?! How could he have survived that fall?! Though it seemed impossible, there he was, flesh and bo… well really just bones. Once again, I analyzed my situation. My sword was gone. As was my dagger,and rope, and food, and… well you get the picture. I was about to become dinner for a bone spider. Then the voices came. Turn around, Pick it up. I looked around for the mysterious speaker, and looking if they were a friend… or a foe. Grab the sword. Sword! What sword? The darkness sword, they said, seeming to answer my question. Then I realized that they weren't speaking a loud, they were in my head. Great, just great, I thought, not only am I about to be eaten, but I'm going crazy too. Not crazy, not crazy, not crazy. But about to be turned sane.

Oh yeah, I'm losing it . Can't lose something you never had. Years of fighting with yourself. Human or skeleton. Flesh or bones. Real or unreal. You are the one who will finally unite the two words together. You will balance the dark and the light. You will find balance in yourself. Just touch the sword. I finally remembered… The black sword! It somehow had completely slipped my mind. The bone spider seemed to sense that something important was going on and it even looked scared. But it was growing impatient. As I reached towards the sword, it pounced. I grabbed the sword, forgetting that it had knocked me out last time, and I rolled to my left. This wasn't right, I shouldn't be able to move that fast. Sure my reflexes were good but not that good. No time to think about it now, I had to finish a job.

I turned around to face my foe. It seemed confused, it kept looking around and feeling with its legs. I looked down at my legs. Oh he can't see me because I'm invisible, wait… I'M INVISIBLE. I dropped the sword in surprise,and my legs reappeared. The sword must have turned me invisible. Not a good time to realize this. Ol' Ugly saw me and charged. I grabbed the sword, and it threw itself hilt deep in the ground. While being astonished at how deep it had gone and, oh yeah, HOW IT CONTROLLED MY ARM, I almost peed myself when the craziest thing I had seen happen all day happened. Three skeleton arms shot out of a fissure that had appeared where the sword struck the ground. Three full grown Skeletons now stood before me, staring at me.

For the first time, I was afraid of a skeleton. I was normally fine around them, But these were different. They looked stronger, more powerful, and I wasn't sure why they were staring at me or why they were here. Then I realized that I brought them here. This mysterious sword knew I needed help and brought me skeletons to aid me. I wondered if I could learn to use this power without it being accidental, and what other mysteries this sword held. But I didn't have any time for that right now. I looked at the skeletons and wondered why they didn't just attack the spider already, until I realized they were waiting for my command. I uttered one word, the only word that popped into my head, "Fetch." I turned away as the skeletons ripped the spider to shreds.

Once it was dead they looked at me, almost looking confused and I was right

there being confused with them. I sat down and so did they. Looking around, I saw I was trapped, the stone wall was still covering the cave. I dropped my head in exasperation. I sat there in silence for minutes. As I was about to give up, because none of my plans seemed like they would work, an idea struck me. I looked up suddenly… Yes! the skeletons were still there. "Can you talk?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Good I need a favor," I said as I told them my plan.

CHAPTER III: SHADOW TRAVELS

Ten minutes later I was riding home on my new skeletal horse that I named Ribsy. I was thinking about my escape from the Mountain of Darkness, as I was now calling it. The black sword was wrapped in cloth, and strapped to my back. I thought back to the cave and my escape.

. . .

I couldn't believe how obedient my new skeletons were they did whatever I asked without questioning, and they gave advice when I needed it. In the cave, I first asked them their names. The one in the middle, who looked to be the leader of the three said, "I am Isamu, the Courageous, and this...," pointing to the skeleton on his left, "...is my brother, Daisuke, the Helper." The third skeleton then said, "And I am Hyun, the wise." I nodded to each of them and I asked them why they came and why they helped me. They told me that I had summoned them. That's when I told them that the idea of three skeletons popping out of the ground to save me never occurred to me in my life… ever. They explained a little more.

"You need to learn the ways of the darkness sword…"

Oh man do I want to learn the ways of that sword.

"...you are destined to be the legend darkness warrior…"

Darkness Warrior! How cool is that?!

"...the one who unites the underworld and the mortal world."

The mortal world! My unspoken dream, the place where I might feel right…

"Listen guys," they stopped talking immediately, "You have no idea how great all

of that sounds to me, but that's definitely a long term goal. Right now I need to focus on getting out of this cave alive…"

"But if we cou-"

"Guys I already said not now! Anyway who knows what the oxygen levels are, not to mention i'm starving. So here's the plan…" I preceded to tell them my highly developed, deeply sophisticated plan on how I thought we needed to escape, involving shovels, skeleton construction workers, and something about a 54 foot ladder made of bones and Tshirt scraps.

"So, any questions?" , I added confidently after revealing my plan.

"Yeah, why don't we just shadow travel out?", asked Daisuke.

"Shut up Daisuke, he said he doesn't want to learn right now." yelled the

other two.

"Wait, wait, wait, Timeout," I said making a "T" with my hands. "What's shadow

traveling?"

The 3 skeletons explained to me that the darkness warrior, with the help of the sword, could travel through shadows by concentrating and visualizing his destination. He would even be able to do it without the sword, or shadows once the warrior became strong enough.

"That is the coolest thing i've heard all day. Let's give it a shot"

. . .

I thought about this as my new friends flanked my sides and my back. Sure shadow traveling sounded easy, but , oh man, I'm lucky the only injury I got was a bloody nose.

As we neared the outskirts of my village, the 3 skeletons stopped me. I wondered what was wrong.

"You must not tell anyone about this sword. They will only try to take it from you, especially Lord Garmadon" (who by the way, I did not know was my uncle at this point in time.)

"So you're telling me I can't tell anyone about this super, sweet sword… not even my parents!"

They looked at each other for a long time, as if in thought but I couldn't tell.

"You can tell Wyplash, but that is it", and they disappeared into the ground.

CHAPTER IV: Destined?

The next day I showed up for my regular training session with Wyplash. I brought the sword but it was hidden in cloth, strapped to my belt. I walked up to Wyplash. "You're late", he said with a growl.

"Shut up and listen to me", I said, irritated for some reason."I'm sure you heard that I went on a little adventure these past 3 days. Well I found something" Wyplash looked interested for the first time...ever actually.

"What did you find!?"

"This…", I said as I pulled the sword swiftly from my belt.

"The darkness sword...you found...but this means…," he said in a whisper, as if to himself. "Tell me everything!" he said, and for the first time in my life , I did.

. . .

"...and then they told me I could tell you." A few seconds of silence. Wyplash was a good listener.

"It's clear what we must do," he said. "I will train you in the ways of the darkness sword. You will master it and become the legendary darkness warrior. You will unite the real world and the underworld. I somehow always knew it was you. I could tell by the way you trained. You were different than my other students."

I was kind of shocked, this dude has always hated my guts. "Okay so now what"

He look at me with a creepy smirk. "We begin"

CHAPTER V: THE DARKNESS WARRIOR

I trained for 4 years...and then I was ready. I could now shadow travel without even thinking, sword or no. I really wasn't sure if I could do it without a shadow because, well, the whole underworld is a shadow. I was a master swordsman, I out fenced every skeleton in the Underworld. I could sneak up on a fly, and summon skeletons at will. I even found the darkness swords protector, a dragon who I named Pal. I could lift extremely heavy loads and I ran a 5;30 mile at a slow pace. I knew morse code. I could turn invisible. I was almost, almost the legendary darkness warrior. I just had to do one more thing. Wyplash told me this morning.

"Sam you must travel again to the darkness Mountain. There the darkness elder

will accept you as the darkness warrior. travel swiftly and silently."

"Would I do it anyother way?" And I was gone, shadow traveled to my Dragon Keep. There I saddled up Pal, and we were off. It took about an hour to get to the Mountain, but this time it was different, there was a temple on top, made of obsidian metal, with purple flames.

We stopped about 1000 feet away from the mountain.

"This is where I get off Pal, listen for my whistle when to get me," and I jumped. Falling 5000 feet these days is a sinch, First I tucked into a ball and pulled into a dive. 20 feet from the ground I shadow traveled to the top of the mountain and stood before the temple. It was larger than I thought. I walked through the gates and into the temple. It was dark, not that I cared, the darkness made me strong. I traveled up 20 flights of stairs before reaching a large set of doors. I breathed in and then out. I pushed open the doors. Their stood a tall, elderly, yet built man holding a staff with purple flame. The doors shut, and he attacked.

. . .

It took all my skills to not be killed in the first 5 seconds. He struck, I parried he struck again. I struck, he dodged, he dodged, he dodged. I went into a roll and he was expecting that. I came up to strike and he knocked my sword out of my hand. Then he kicked me...hard…in the chest, and went I spiralling backwards. How could I fight this guy, He suspects my every move. Plus I think he just broke a couple ribs...in one kick.

He seemed to have read my thoughts. "You would never be able to defeat me, especially not alone...foolish boy."

"I...I'm the, the darkness warrior," I wheezed.

"No you are not and you never will be. WYplash lied to you. He wasn't your friend. He betrayed you. He sent you here to be killed and then he would retrieve the sword for himself. So…"

"Nope", I cut him off'

"So I would be… wait what did you say? Nope? what do you mean nope?

"I mean you're wrong. Wyplash is my friend he wouldn't betray me. Nothing you will say can ever break my trust." I felt a surge of energy. I stood up and the sword flew to my hand. I flew into the air, glowing with a dark aurora, wind whipping through my hair. And I stabbed the man, through the chest.

He disappeared as I pulled my blade out. "Good young one", I heard from behind me,. I whipped around and saw the same man sitting in a throne. I instinctively the the sword at his face. He just raised his hand and the sword scattered to the ground. I could see he didn't want to fight.

"How!?..." I started.

" Don't work yourself up. That was an illusion. I am the darkness elder and you have just passed the final test...Trust. You unlocked your true potential. I hereby name you, Sam Walters, the faithful, Darkness Warrior! Now go, I sense you are going to have a busy rest of the day." And the temple disappeared and there I stood, alone, on top of the mountain.

CHAPTER VI: PISH POSH

After I whistled for Pal, we flew to Whyplash's home. I began to walk inside, but I saw him outback, talking to a man whose back was to me. Wyplash saw me, his eyes wide. He slightly shook his head no, and I saw his fingers tapping against his thigh. Short taps then long...MORSE CODE. He was trying to tell me something.

Go to samukai. tell him of the sword. he will know what to do. The strange man turned around. It was Garmadon! He sprinted at me but I was gone… melted into a shadow.

. . .

i appeared right outside of Samukai's Palace. His guards let me in and took me to his cave, where he was meditating. We got there fast, I had told them it was urgent. They let me into the dark room. There sat Samukai, his old 4 armed self. I hadn't seen much of him lately, but not much changes in a skeleton. He must've sensed what I came for was important.

"Samukai, I have found the missing sword of darkness."

"Hmmm I did not suspect a human could have found the sword but-"

We were interrupted by a knocking at the door, and before he could say come in, the door creaked open. There stood a strange man. He was medium height, putting me just about as tall as him. He had a white beard and a hat that looked like a frisbee. He looked to be about 5000 years old. I didn't realize what was so different about this man at first, but then it hit me, that's the thing, he was a man. Flesh covered his bones. Wrinkled flesh as it was, but, still, flesh. A moment passed.

"I must speak with the boy", he said quietly.

"Very well," Samukai replied, and my fate was changed forever.

. . .

The man's name was Wu. He took me out of Samukai's Palace and we walked to the edge of the underworld until we came to a small cave. I tried to get some answers while we walked.

"What are we doing? Where are you taking me? How far away is it?

"SHHH" he answered, "Not now"

"Does this have something to do with the darkness sword?'

"Hold your tongue boy", he said.

"Well if this is a kid napping I'm kinda this legendary Darkness Warrior guy and I could probably win."

"Pish Posh darkness warrior. Where did you hear such a thing?' he asked. We arrived at the cave and continued walking inside it.

"Well it's this legend around here that this Darkness Warrior unites the Underworld and the mortal world. Kind of a big deal." I said pleased with myself.

Once again he answered, "Pish posh darkness warrior. A legend you say? how many legends do you know that are true? Legends are stories that bring hope. Some are true. Most are not. This legend is half true. You will unite the two worlds. You will master the element of darkness, I see you have already found your true potential, recently perhaps? Anyway, you will do all that is foretold, but you will not be the darkness warrior pish posh. You will be the darkness ninja: master of stealth, prodigy in the art of the sword, and keeper of shadows, and humble not full of pride like a warrior."

"But I can't be a ninja," I answered.

"Well why not?''

"Because I-", hmmm I don't know, why can't I be a ninja? Something does feel right about the word. "I-I guess you might be right. But what do I do, what do ninjas do.

He answered, "You must learn how to work with a team. You will bring justice and hope. You must become a master in the art of spinjitzu."

I thought about it. What"Okay i'm in"

CHAPTER VII: A FAMILY SECRET

The old man told me to head home, pack anything I needed, and meet back here with pal.

"And with great haste," he added, "I'm sure Garmadon will be using the skeletons to find you." But I wasn't worried about skeletons, in that matter I had their complete trust. First and foremost, they answer to me.

When I got home, I told my mother and father I was leaving, possibly for good. they didn't even look surprised. After I packed, I saddled up Pal. ABout to fly off my mother called, "Make sure Wu takes good care of you".

"I will!", I yelled back. Only after I was flying away, I realized I hadn't ever mentioned his name.

. . .

I arrived back at the cave.

The old man was waiting there for me. He looked worried.

"Where were you!? We must leave immediately. Garmadon is on his way! Quickly, saddle up Pal. We must lea-." He was cut off. Loud engine noises came from a distance, 3 large skeleton rovers pulled up, blocking the exit of the cave. 5 Skeletons got off of each, and Garmadon himself jumped off last.

"So you finally tried this. I knew this day would come. You would try to steal my prize! Well you will not you will fail. You actually thought you could defeat me again?!," again? I have never fought him before, "-Well you will not! You will not defeat me this time-"

"Lord Garmadon, I-"

"-Brother!," Lord Garmadon finished his monologue with that one word.

At that moment, before I had the chance to ask any questions, the old sensei thrust his bamboo staff into the rock ground, sending a flash wave of bright light, momentarily blinding Garmadon and his squadron. He then grab me threw me on my skeleton dragon, pal, and then flipped into the steering position. He whispered secret words into Pal's ears, and Pal took off. Flying at a high speed towards the underworlds roof.

CHAPTER VIII: THE REAL WORLD

I was dead. Okay, Okay, Okay, I guess I should start by saying how I died.

As Pal flew towards the ceiling, I shut my eyes, I will try to describe my feelings. I was upside down, inside out, my skin felt like it was flying of my bones, I aged 1000 years and was born again, I saw my mother, my father, Garmadon, Wu, a woman, and a young boy, with blonde hair. There were ninja, 4 of them, a boy that looked just like me. Snakes, skeletons, more ninja...my skull felt like it was going to explode. And then heat, nothing but unbearable, painful heat. My skin was melting into acid. I was sure I was smoking. My eyelids were bright, brighter than anything I had ever seen. Then I opened my eyes, and I blacked out.

. . .

A few minutes later, I woke up again, I was still hot, but it was cooler than before. I opened my eyes. A flash of light and an instant headache. Breathe, breathe, breathe. Let's try this again. SLOWLY. I reminded myself. I slowly opened my eyes. Light poured in. It tooktoke a couple of seconds for me to take in my surroundings. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. I looked to be on some sort of hill. I was surrounded by trees. I was leaning against a tree, its leaves providing shade. Sensei stood byhby Pal.

I decided I would try to stand up. Slowly, I reached my hands on the tree behind me and I pulled myself to me feet. I was standing but my legs were very weak. I cautiously reached my hand out, past the shade of the trees, and into the sun. It was hot, furry hot. But slowly, my hand got used to the heat and it subsided. It was kind of like jumping in a cool pool of water, feeling freezing at first but then not feeling anything. This was like that, but opposite of course. I inched my body into the sunlight, and in a couple minutes I was fine.

It was amazing how much there was to see, to hear, to smell, to feel. New energy I have never felt before surged through me, I found new strength in my legs. I walked over to Sensei.

"So you are awake. Good. We have much to do if we are to have you at the dojo in 3 weeks time. You must be fully trained in the art of Spinjitzu and used to being the darkness ninja in a world full of light."

"But sensei Wu, wouldn't it be easier for you to teach me Spitzitzu or...whatever the itzu that is... at the dojo because there's, you know, like trainy stuff there.'

"Yes boy I am fully aware that there is 'trainy stuff' at my dojo. And its Spinjitzu. But if you are ever to be accepted into the ninja, you must be trained before you meet them. They will be very judgemental because ninja mostly start at a much younger age."

They can't be that bad I thought to myself. Turns out I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

CHAPTER IX: THE STRUGGLE IS REAL

We went to sleep a couple of minutes after that talk. I couldn't believe how tired I was. I immediately fell into a deep sleep. Then the dreams came

…

I was in a monastery, sensei wu was meditating next to me, I was finishing a workout. I was drenched in sweat, about to go take a shower when sensei spoke. It wasn't his voice though and his eyes stayed shut. He said Boy you must be prepared for the most pain in your life starting tomorrow. Everything you have ever learned will be tested: Your Skills, Beliefs, Knowledge, your sanity. I recognized the voice. It was him, the darkness elder. I rubbed my eyes with my hand, blocking the light, still not quite used to it. "What does that even mean" I asked.

"What does what mean?", it was sensei's voice now. I opened my eyes.

Really?! When am I going to learn. OW. That Sun is sure bright. I slowly opened my eyes again.

Pal was gone, I'm not sure when he left, he just did. Sensei sat drinking tea under a tree.

"Nevermind, " I answered, "Just a dream."

"Ah dreams, be careful of what you dream my student, they may not always be what they seem...Anyway, today you start your training."

. . .

It took us 2 hours to reach the hidden monastery in the woods. Although the shade was a relief, my bod was in no condition to run 15 miles...at least that's what I calculated in my head. One good thing that I realized while I was running behind sensei wu was that i'm actually a decent mathematician. To keep my mind off of the pain and the fact that I couldn't breathe I tried to figure out how far and fast I was traveling. I estimated our pace was about 8 minutes per mile so about 7.5 miles an hour, and 15 miles in 2 hours.

Sorry, I digress. Back to the monastery. It was very rundown, like no one had been there in about 2 years or more. It was a circle with about a 30 foot radius. It was surrounded by a gate with one opening and no roof. There was nothing inside of it. I took it all in in between wheezing and throwing up.

In the Underworld, while traveling on dangerous journeys or missions, I would do these things I called engine checks. During these checks, I would analyze my body and mind, see what was working fine and see what I needed to fix to work better. I did one of these now.

Okay Engine Check. Knees, feet, ankles and legs: All need complete replacements and will never be fixed. Dehydrated. Both lungs have blown up, and I think my brain has learned to sweat...Really need to pee.

So I may be exaggerating just a little bit...but probably not. I went and took a leak behind a tree and I saw a spring of water about 20 feet away. I took a long drink and walked back to the monastery.

Sensei sat cross legged in the middle of the circle. He Spoke to me as I neared him. "As I have said before, you must learn the ancient art of Spinjitzu before I take you to your team." As he said this, he pulled a hidden lever in the ground and a giant obstacle course popped up. It was amazing. Pits with spikes, training dummies bearing swords, Shuriken throwing machines, Human catapults...this thing was legit.

"So what should I start with," I asked.

"You must learn patience and obedience first, but I sense you are wiser than your age would give away. So first I will give you the honor of…" this is it "...cleaning the monastery."

. . .

it took me 3 days…3 days. I first swept the ground, threw out any sticks or branches that fell in the monastery from the trees. I washed the walls, fixed and sanded the gate painted the gate. Then came the training equipment. I sharpened swords, spears, arrows, knives, axes, scythes, daggers, throwing stars, you name it. I fixed the nunchucks, carved new dummies, changed all the old gears and chains in the moving training gear. I Polished the armor, I dusted the weapon racks, I made new bows from wood...And it all put me in even better physical shape that I was. I was slowly getting used to the heat and the sun constantly bearing down on me.

I also saw something that blew my mind. The stars. There were so many of them and I had never seen something like that. Every night sensei would pitch a tent and sleep in the monastery. It was then that I explored.

In the Underworld, night means you can't see anything 2 inches in front of your face. Up here, sure it was dark, probably really dark for normal people, but for me I loved it. It was about the same light intensity as the Underworld was during the day. The moon and the stars gleamed down on the earth creating silhouettes so I could see. Sure I could sense where a lot of stuff was, I learned how to be able to sort of feel things were there in the dark. I don't know, some sort of darkness warrior...no...ninja perk I guess.

The monastery was at the base of a mountain. I was hiking up the mountain on the third night, right after I had finally finished the monastery and sensei had gone to bed. I was defenseless. Sensei took my sword the first day we arrived at the monastery, but I did have a small pocket knife. I was nearing the top of the mountain when the bear came.

It was huge. 20 feet tall when on its hind legs, 8 feet tall walking normally. I mean i'm no expert on black bears but i'm pretty sure they're not supposed to be that big. I froze, and lessened my breathing. Hopefully it wouldn't see me, but of course it did.

It looked right in my eyes, time stopped. Then it came. I turned and ran as fast as I could up the mountain as I relayed options through my brain.

Option A: Shadow travel out of here. Might work, it was definitely dark enough, there was no direct sunlight. Then again I had never tried it in the real world before. What if it takes me right back to the Underworld. No I couldn't chance it.

I neared the top of the mountain and kept thinking.

Option B: Summon some skeletons to take this bear down. No I can't waste energy trying, I probably can't do it up here, the Skeletons are confined to the Underworld.

I was at the Top. I could see everything from up here. Unfortunately I didn't have time. I noticed a pool of water over a cliff at the top of the mountain. It was about 200 feet down. I was already running towards the edge, no time to think.

Option C: JUMP.

. . .

So I jumped...about 2 feet. Then my body was hit by a force so strong from my

right side I'm surprised it didn't kill me. I groaned on the ground and looked up, expecting a bear's claw to be coming down towards my general face region. I got a surprise. Yay me!

I saw a completely black huge dog...no… wolf standing in front of me growling, staring down the bear. The bear was like Puny Vermin, I'm a bear and it attacked. The wolf was faster. It rolled under the bear's legs, slashing at its ankles with the wolves claws. The bear roared in pain and its legs gave out, its momentum shooting him over me into the lake.

I looked up. The wolf was there, standing looking at me. Its eyes were purple. I was scared out of my pants. Then it just nodded it's head as if to say See you later and it disappeared into the shadows of the trees.

. . .

The next morning I started my training. Sensei first made me run 3 miles at the beginning of every day, then do a series of push ups, pull ups, sit ups, squats, planks, and crunches. I moved large boulders and logs. I climbed trees and even learned to swim in a lake about a half mile away. Then I went to the dummies and did a chain of kicks, punches and moves. There were also some motorized dummies, and they took strikes on me and I practiced defensive positions. Then I practiced sword moves and mastered the use of many other weapons...knives, nunchucks, spears, staffs, ninja stars, you name it...except bows, those just didn't work out for me. I mean it's not like I couldn't shoot, I was probably better than most...but compared to the other weapons, I was a good of a shot as a guy whose eyes stopped working.

Once I was "ready", sensei brought out this huge training obstacle course thing. Honestly, I thought it was created for a 2 year old. I finished the course on my first try, before sensei finished making his tea. I really didn't see the point in the whole thing. But apparently sensei did. You wanna know how I know. When I completed it, he muttered: "Hmmm, I see." ...Go figure.

Anyway, a week has passed and sensei said I was done with my physical training. Now to start with the elemental. He told me that he knew I was almost fully trained in element of darkness in the Underworld, but the realm of Ninjago was much different.

I of course had already realized most of this. For example, although my first 3 or so night up in Ninjago I slept like a dead guy, since then it's become more and more difficult to get an hour or two of sleep. The sky was just so bright. Also I was tired more, and not just from the lack of sleep. The heat was barely bearable and In thinked I had developed asthma, cause it was extremely hard to breathe at certain points. Anyway, back to sensei.

he told me that he was going to help me learn again all of the skills that I had mastered in the Underworld and more. We started off with stealth training.

Ninjago was full of ups and downs for stealth. Negative things: there were more things to give me away, for example crunchy leaves, my shadow, the sun. On the other hand, there were plenty more places for me to hide in plain sight like boulders trees more I thought about it the more I realized that the Underworld was a barren wasteland.

Anyway, stealth wasn't too hard to figure out in the mortal realm. I practiced sneaking up on deer and birds, sneaking up on sensei, traveling with no sound, using shadows as my cover. Soon I was a stealth master once again.

Then came the difficult part...Elemental skills. We started off with Shadow Traveling. Sensei told me that it would be much different in Ninjago. First off, I couldn't shadow travel out of thin air like I could in the Underworld. I must melt into a shadow like a sort of portal, or shadow travel at night as long as there was no full moon. Also,the first few times would be extremely difficult and painful and he told me I would have to fight for the control of my conscience, because if I fell asleep in the middle of a travel, I may never come out.

"Joy and happiness," I replied, "Let's get started."

. . .

When went to a darker part of the forest with two large trees standing about 10 feet away from each other. they were 100 feet tall and 10 feet in diameter.

"This will do," sensei wu said. "Now Sam, this might be the most crucial skill to your survival as the darkness ninja. Once you have mastered it, it will expand your power to much much more. You will be able to transport other people and things with you in the shadows. For all I know, you may eventually be able to throw things into the shadow without you traveling with them. At this point, I have no idea. Are you ready."

I thought about it.

"No," i said.

"Too bad. Now clear your mind. Picture yourself jumping into this shadow. Imagine that the ground is an illusion. Now picture this other tree and picture yourself coming out of the shadow it is creating. Once your mind is clear, jump."

I looked at the shadow then the other shadow. Man up I said to myself, and I jumped.

CHAPTER X: PACK YOUR THING

So I jumped...and I landed on my butt right at Sensei's feet.

"Did i do it?" Then I noticed I was sitting in the same shadow i tried to jump into.

"Again," sensei replied.

I looked down at my watch that sensei gave me earlier this week. 09:00. Great this is going to take a while.

I got it on my fifth try. I jumped in the shadow and i came right back out at the other tree a second later. I immediately fell on my back, no strength in my bones. My last thought before losing consciousness was that the stars looked pretty tonight.

. . .

"4 DAYS?!," I asked in disbelief. "It only seemed like a second," I said to sensei.

"Yes it was 4 days Sam, and we are lucky you came back as soon as you did. Do you remember anything?"

"No," I said, "I'm sorry, to me it felt like I was in and out."

"Hmmm, interesting. Well, no time to dwell on it now, we are losing precious minutes. Go back to the trees and do it again."

. . .

By the next day I had it mastered. Sure I would need to continue my training but for now, Sensei told me this would do. I had been at the monastery for two weeks now and i had to finish my training. Over the course of the next week I learned how to summon skeletons, summon pal, and Sensei even gave my sword back for the last couple of days so I could learn some of its powers. On my last day at the monastery, i successfully made it shrink into a pocket knife. That way I could walk with it in public without attracting too much attention.

Later that night Sensei told me I was ready to meet the other ninja.

"Pack your things...your thing sam, and try to sleep. We leave tomorrow

morning at dawn."

. . .

Of course I got no sleep. When sensei finally KO'd I went back up the mountain. I hadn't been there since the bear. When I reached the top, I sat down on a boulder. The last time I was here, I didn't really have a chance to take in the view, and it was amazing. I saw the ocean, mountain ranges, a bright city...it was incredible. I wondered how much my life would change tomorrow. Were these ninja going to hate me as much as it sounds? I hope not. I realized that I didn't have that much experience with human interaction. Well, if they like me or not, they're stuck with me. I had never really had a goal in life before, but now all I wanted was to be accepted by these people, and I hoped they would become my friends. Because all of my friends are dead.

I layed on my back and looked at the stars. They really were beautiful. I thought about my parents and what they are doing right now. I thought about Garmadon and what has happened after me and Wu escaped. I pulled out the darkness sword.

"You really did change my life," I said to the sword. Then a voice came from behind me.

"Sam, tomorrow you will be tested like you have never been before. These ninja will not know what to do with you and many will not trust you at first." It was the Elder. "You must earn their trust. If anyone can do it you can." And he disappeared.

I started to meditate, the skill that I had learned long ago in the Underworld. And although it didn't provide as much energy as sleep did, it was better than nothing.

CHAPTER XI: I GET A HISTORY LESSON

Sensei shook me awake. I was in my tent, not remembering how i got there or going to sleep.

"Chop chop, we are already late." My watch read 08:00. I followed him out of my tent. Sensei was all packed. His satchel was full and his tent was away and put in the storage department at the monastery. I quickly took down my tent and threw the few pairs of all black training clothes into a backpack and I strapped my sword to my back. I threw my tent in the monastery storage. Sensei then pulled the lever and the monastery disappeared like we were never even there.

"Its a 5 hour walk to the dojo," Sensei said. "On our journey I will explain part of the history of ninjago."We walked in silence for about 5 minutes then he spoke.

"My father the elemental master, created ninjago and Spinjitzu. He defeated a thing named the Overlord in an epic battle between darkness and light. And not your darkness but evil. When the battle was over, he had children and taught me and my brother garmadon in the ways of spinjitzu. When died, he passed on his powers to select individuals. The individuals became known as the elemental masters, and when they died, they became the Elders, who are immortal and reign in the Elemental Realm, sister of Cloud Kingdom. The powers that were passed down to me and my brother were darkness and light. My brother was angry that my father did not give all of his power directly to us, and was turned evil by a bite from the venomous great devourer. It was then that I defeated him and sent him into the Underworld where he became the ruler of the Skeletons.

" All the people with elemental powers today descend by blood from the Elders, unless the power was given as a curse. Each element has its own weapon for each generation of elementals (the people who have powers of the Elements). For example, the first darkness Elemental's weapon was a staff, and now yours is a sword. Your sword belongs to a family of 5 weapons: The Platinum Weapons. When together, these weapons are very...very powerful. With the holders using the power of Spinjitzu, a super weapon called a Tornado of destruction is created. The four other ninja have the remaining four platinum weapons, each belonging to a different element. You will But anyway. There are (so far as we know) 29 Elements. Each element is classified as dark and light."

Sensei continued, "When the original spinjitzu master created ninjago, he divided it into two sides, East and West. Those who live in the West know nothing of the East, and likewise East to West. Only a select few know. We are in Eastern Ninjago, I will loan you some books and scrolls when we arrive to help you with any questions you have. I recommend you read them as soon as possible. You will only go into the West on missions and you must never be seen, but I'm sure you know all about that."

"I have taught my 4 ninja in the Art of Spinjitzu in the hopes of keeping evil out of too now have this power. I tried to teach you at the monastery but surprisingly enough, you already know how."

"What? No i don't!" I replied in confusion.

"Yes Sam you do, and when the time comes, you will be able to use Spinjitzu at will."

CHAPTER XII: THE NINJA

We arrived at the base of a mountain with steps and a arch that we could pass under.

"This is it," Sensei said. "Walk all the way up to the top and you will see a large gate with a circumference of about 3.5 miles. Inside the gate is the dojo, fully equipped with a training area, a home for you to stay in, and a forest used for training activities. I will see you soon I'm getting donuts for my ninja. Oh and whatever you do, do not bring out your weapon." And he darted into the tree line and was gone. I only had one question...What the heck were donuts?

. . .

I took one look up the mountain and decided I was done with walking. I melted into the shadow of a tree and appeared at the top of the mountain in front of a gate. I heard voices on the other side and weapons clanging.

"-Then check if anything's there!," yelled a girl.

"Ok Ok calm down," a boy's voice, "...it's probably just a bird. My sensor trip has been all out of whack since the last time MJ fried it with lightning." i heard the gate being unlocked and I quickly dove and took cover behind a tree. I caught a glimpse of a blonde boy about my age opening the gate and looking around. He was wearing all black clothes and holding what looked to be a silver double scythe.

"See Elizabeth-" that must be the girl "-there's nothing there. And the cameras didn't show anything coming up the steps."

"Okay fine, but keep your senses alert, something doesn't seem right to me." Elizabeth stepped outside the Wall. She was also about my age, short, had light brown curly hair, and she carried a silver bow and she had three arrows knocked. There was a sadness in her eyes like an old wound has never healed. The boy patted her on the shoulder.

"Hey," he said, his voice a little bit softer, "Sensei is fine, he's Sensei! How old do you think he is… 250, give or take a few years right? If he's lived this long I doubt anything could kill him."

Elizabeth chuckled, "Thanks John, you're right. i just hopes he gets back soon." Then she punched him in the stomach as if realizing she actually used some emotion. Then they both walked through the gate and shut it...but I didn't hear a lock click. I debated whether or not I should sneak in at night or come in now. I decided to do both and sneak in now.

I slowly pushed open the gate. I saw 4 people dressed in all black, standing about 50 feet away. Two of them were John and Elizabeth. Then there was another blonde boy who was shorter and looked like he could be about 8 or 9. He was holding a weird staff with a circle thing on the top. He was fighting a girl with long brown hair who looked older than the young boy but younger than john. She was fighting with silver nunchucks, that looked like they were connected by a rainbow. John and Elizabeth stood there talking.

There were some weapon racks about 5 feet away from the door. I slowly walked in and crouched behind them. I could make out some of John and Elizabeth's conversation.

"-and put another crack in the dojo? I don't think so!" John said, violently swinging his scythe in the process.

I tried to hear Elizabeth's response but couldn't. I needed to get closer. I took a small step to my right and a loud cracking sound protruded from my foot. Dang it Sam you idiot!

"I think I heard acan made of tin, crushing on a tile floor," John said. Well he's not wrong, although the can may have been aluminum.

Shoot shoot shoot shoot what do I do what do I do. I poked my head over the weapon rack, just in time to see 4 ninja stand in formation 5 feet away...their weapons pointed at me.

CHAPTER XIII: I'M GREAT AT FIRST IMPRESSIONS

"Hi I'm Sam."

What...I panicked. I stood up. Unfortunately my sword was in my hand.

Before I knew it, Elizabeth shot and arrow at my sword making me drop it. I didn't risk picking it back up.

"Ok now that we're all acquainted ,even though we're not, maybe you guys should put down your weapons too, I mean, I think you got me pretty well controlled.

"No!"

"Never!"

"Yeah Right!"

"Fine," yelled John.

Everybody looked at him including me. He looked up and around.

` "I mean, um, I'm fine with not putting my weapon down."He quickly gave a thumbs up to his friends. I liked this guy.

"Y4, grab his sword and bring it to me," Elizabeth said. The short blonde boy ran over to me. I remembered what sensei said.

"No! you can't, touching that sword will send your soul to the depths of the Underworld, there are worse things than dying." Y4 hesitated.

"We'll be careful," Elizabeth said. "Joseph he's lying, grab the sword you'll be fine." I closed my eyes. Right when the boy Joseph reached for the sword, i kicked him in the chest and sent him sailing over the rack of weapons. Then i grabbed my weapon and ran. The gate was looked so I ran towards the forest. Arrows flew over my head. I made it to the tree line and didn't stop. When I was a good deal into the forest I climbed a tree all the way to the top. I couldn't breathe. I looked out and saw the 4 of them jogging through the forest. John came right to the tree I was in and climbed up. How he knew I was there I had no idea.

"Sam!" he called up. "I'm coming up without a weapon so just stay where you are. I am alone." He came up to me. "Listen Sam, we don't want to hurt you, we just need to find out if we can trust you or not. Do you know what I mean?"

"yeah I guess I do. But you have to believe me when I say you can't touch my sword. Okay?"

"I believe you. Now please, come down with me so we can question you and get this all straightened out. Elizabeth doesn't want to hurt you. She's just a little stressed right now is all."

"Because of Sensei?"

"Yeah, he's been missing for awhi...Wait how do you know Sensei?" He asked

"Sensei is the one who sent me here, I'm his newest student." I slid my sword as a pocket knife into my pocket. " I know Spinjitzu. And I'm sorry but I can't go down with you. I'm leaving until he gets back." And I dove off the tree, heading for its shadow.

. . .

Unfortunately I never made it. Two feet from the ground 5 arrows came out of nowhere and their force pushed me into tree. So now i'm pinned to a tree. Great. John jumped down next to me just as the 3 others ran up.

"This guy won't come in easy," MJ said.

"Can I do the honors," Joseph asked, "I need some payback for that kick."

"By all means," said Elizabeth.

Joseph swung his staff at my head. John yelled, "Wait! He knows Sen-" and I lost consciousness.

. . .

Ouch. That hurts. I opened my eyes and light came flooding into my brain, making my headache worse. i looked around the room I was in. It was an 8 by 8 square and 3 walls were made out of solid concrete. The 4th wall was vertical metal bars, spaced every 2 inches. There was also a door. The only thing in the cell was a mat that I was laying on. I sat up and took in more of the situation. It looked like the cell was in a basement, probably in that house from before. I vaguely remembered getting knocked out. Before I could do anything else, I heard voices and footsteps. I layed back down and closed my eyes.

"-But Elizabeth, he said he knew Sensei!," what sounded like John's voice said. "You realize what this means don't you?!...He might know where he is."

"I don't care. He still broke in, kicked Joseph, and tried to escape when you told him not to."

"I just think we should try to be nicer. He's not gonna tell us anything if we keep attacking him."

"Whatever, prep the interrogation room, i'll bring him in." Elizabeth started towards me. I slipped my hand to my pocket...Yes my sword was still there! When Elizabeth got close I jumped up and put my sword to her throat.

"Now Elizabeth, I'm not going to hurt you or run. I will go where you want me to go but I'm gonna tell you where you want me to go. Lead the way to the kitchen, I'm starving."

CHAPTER XIV: I TALK TO STRANGERS

I never knew food could taste so good. I sat at the Ninja's table and ate pretty much everything in their storage. Have you ever had a strawberry...Heaven. They didn't get anything out of me for 10 minutes, they didn't even try once I started eating. They just sat there staring at me scarfing down food. A little rude if you ask me. Elizabeth was the first to snap out of it.

"So tell me about Sensei."

"Well," I said in between bites, "I think I better start off with a little background history, otherwise it's not going to make any sense."

"Fine. Go," Elizabeth said.

"Ok here goes. This isn't going to make any sense. My dad died when my mom was pregnant with me so she moved to the Underworld to be with him. Confusing I know. After I was born, I would watch the skeleton army train and train. I Became friends with a skeleton general named Samukai-" The other ninja gasped. "Yes, Samukai, and he trained me in basic martial arts. Once i got good, he brought me to a skeleton general, Wyplash, to teach me in the art of stealth. So I train and train, and on my 8th birthday, I went on a little adventure. Long story short i found this secret mountain and found this sword," I pulled my completely black sword out ", the sword of Darkness. Sensei told me it's in a family of weapons called the Platinum Weapons."

"Wait why is your sword black?" Joseph asked. "Platinum is silver, and we have the 4 platinum weapons."

"I don't know. Probably because a shining weapon would seriously interfere with stealth and my whole darkness vibe," I answered.

"Go on," John said.

"Okay," I continued, "So i learn that i'm supposed to be some destined dark warrior who unites the Underworld and the real world bla bla bla but i can't tell anyone except Wyplash. Wyplash continues to train me and I master the art of darkness, you'll see what i can do soon enough." Joseph gulped, already having a taste of my power after that kick. "Anyway, I'm twelve now and I find my final test is to return to the mountain and this 'Dark Elder' dude is supposed to grant me the darkness Warrior. The guy attacks me and tries to tell me that Wyplash sent me there to be killed. I'm all like: No son Wyplash is my friend. Next thing I knew i was glowing purple and I stabbed him." John and Elizabeth glanced at each other, their faces looked like the heard something familiar.

"Turns out that he was an illusion, and the real Elder was sitting behind me. He said something like 'Very good young one, you have passed the final test yahda yahda yahda' and boom i'm the darkness warrior. So I go to tell wyplash of my success and there he his talking to Lord Garmadon, the number one person on my 'Do Not Tell' list. Wyplash signals me to go to Samukai. So i go to Samukai and tell him everything. Knock Knock Knock on the door and a man walked in. He was medium height, putting me just about as tall as him. He had a white beard and a hat that looked like a frisbee. He looked to be about 5000 years old. You can probably guess the rest. Wu took me out of the Underworld, taught me spinjitzu, and brought me here."

"So where is he?!," Elizabeth yelled at me.

"If you had to take one guess where he is what would you say?" I asked her.

She closed her eyes, "So help me, if he is getting donuts i wil-"

"I'm back students and I brought donuts!"

. . .

"SENSEI!," the 4 ninja yelled in unison. If there's more than one ninja is it ninjas or ninja. I don't know. Anyway, they all ran out of the kitchen to the door where sensei was and they all got in a big group hug that lasted about a minute. I stayed back and shoved my face full of strawberries. Yum. Then sensei 89i999wu and the ninja came to me.

"So I see you have met Sam."

'Yeah Sensei, about that, can we have a word?" Elizabeth asked glancing at me.

"Yes I suppose that is necessary...A moment please Sam." They walked into the hallway. I couldn't miss this so I went to the doorway and listened.

"What were you thinking?!," Elizabeth retorted. "The Underworld, are you kidding me? You realize Lord Garmadon is in the Underworld. How can you trust him?"

"How can you not? He is a student now and I expect equal treatment for him. He has the same right as any of you to be here."

"Even if he does, how old is he...12, 13? He is so much older than any of us when we started training. He is going to be seriously behind and slow us down," Elizabeth added.

"He has already mastered Spinjitzu and the element of Darkness is extremely strong with him."

"Darkness? Darkness! Sensei do you even hear the words coming out of your mouth. You of all people should know why that is not a good sign," Elizabeth answered.

"And you of all people should know that elements do not define a person."

Everyone was silent. Then John spoke.

"Elizabeth, he's not that bad, and it sounds like he's already unlocked his true potential. Right Sensei?"

"That is correct."

The door opened before I could realize anything.

"What are you doing?"

"Uh nothing, I uh, um-" I stammered out.

'Sensei he's spying on us. How can you trust him!?" Elizabeth questioned again.

"Elizabeth enough, I trust him, shouldn't that be good enough for you?"

Elizabeth muttered under her breath and ran outside into the forest.

"I was afraid this would happen," Sensei said. "May Jean, please go after Elizabeth, try to calm her down. Joseph, I would like to show me some of the techniques you've been working on out in the courtyard. And John, could you please give our new student a tour of the dojo."

"Yes sensei," the three said in unison.

"Meet in the training arena in 1 hour. Training begins again."

CHAPTER XV: PLEASE NO MAIMING

"-and this is the intel room. Here we look at maps, study information, debrief missions, you get the gist."

The room was average sized with a couple windows and 2 doors; the one that we came through and another one directly across from me. I guess this room must be near the center of their headquarters house thing, so there's probably a few ways in. On the center of every wall there was a letter N, E, S, and W.

In the very center stood a hologram machine which shot a 3d model in the air. It was amazing. Right now a globe was being displayed, but by the looks of it the machine could display just about anything from maps to security videos to who knows what, because there was a control console with hundreds of buttons on it.

Around the hologram was 4 long tables, that made a square surrounding it completely. On two of the tables sat computers and laptops, 4 by my count. One table was bare, and the fourth table held the control board.

The walls with the doors were the West and East walls, and we came through the West door. In the corner of the East and South door sat 2 couches and a coffee table. I guess you need a little time to relax when you're planning to brutally attack someone. In the East and North corner was a table with 6 chairs.

In one of the other 2 corners sat a box of weapons, though there was probably a separate weaponry somewhere in the complex. In the other corner sat rows of shelves. On the shelves sat boxes of maps, hard drives, and pieces of information.

"Ninjago to Sam, Hello?," John asked.

"Oh sorry, just a lot to take in."

"Yeah I get it. And hey," he turned to me, "Elizabeth will come around to you. Trust me. You just have to earn her trust, but once you do that, she'll always have your back."

"I hope so, but for now, I got my back covered. Let's keep moving."

John nodded and we went through the rest of the house. It was huge, but it looked probably like any other house you would see in Ninjago. The house had 2 stories. It had a kitchen, a dining room, a library, a living room, even a game room all on the first floor...That game room was sweet, I'd have to check that out later. The basement was where their cells were and their interrogation room. John told me the second floor was where the bedrooms were, and there was also an attic where sensei stayed and where extra weapons and supplies were stored. We didn't go upstairs at that time, but John gave me a tour of the grounds first.

Everything was connected to the house...The place was bigger than I thought. There was a full track and gym, a training/battle arena, a weaponry/forge (John told me he spent a lot of time there), a pool, and even a dragon's Stable, where 4 fully grown dragons were.

"Oh, um, I guess we'll have to add an extra for you...You have a dragon right?"

"Yeah, his name's Pal." We kept walking. There was also a huge garage with an assortment of vehicles.

"So can you guys like, drive?," I asked.

"We all know how just in case we need to get somewhere fast, but all of the vehicles have an automated driver that we're supposed to use. When we turn 16, sensei gives us full control over driving."

"Cool," I responded and we headed back towards the main house.

. . .

John took me to the second floor and showed me the bedrooms. The stairs lead to a straight hallway with two doors on each side, and lead to another stairway straight ahead.

"I guess I'll have to find a room somewhere else," I said, putting 2 and 2 together.

"Actually no, you're in luck, Mj and Eliz share a room, always have. Here I'll show you where your room is." We passed the first two doors. They were both open. The room on the left was painted yellow and had some book cases, a bed, and desk and was fairly empty. The room on the right was painted a shade of forest green and was a mess. Gears and equipment were everywear. Wires, tools, and science protection gear.

"That's my room," John said, "sorry about the mess, I just had a major breakthrough with this new tech and I havn't had time to clean up, The yellow room is joseph's." We continued walking.

"Your room will be next to mine and across from the girls. Don't worry, there's privacy, they almost always have their curtain up." Sure enough, the room on the left was covered by a curtain that almost touched the floor. I looked into my room. It was large...and empty. Not actually empty but it looked unlived in. There was 2 windows, a desk, a closet, and a bed. The walls were white and the floors were wood.

"Trust me, in no time, your room will be as full as mine or josephs. Sensei lets us do whatever we want to the rooms to make them feel as comfortable as possible. If you want, I have an old computer that I don't use anymore and a TV we can set up. And Sensei has a bunch of paints to use for your walls. Anyway, we should probably head to the arena for training. It's about time."

. . .

Everyone else was already there. Sensei stood next to Joseph with a stopwatch while Joseph did a one armed handstand...Could I do that? Who knows. Mj and Elizabeth stood next to each other speaking in hushed tones occasionally glancing at me. I'm not a perfect lip reader but I'm pretty good. This is what looked like they were say.

"Since when was he so rugged and handsome like Oh My Gosh."

"And his hair, pure perfection."

"Not to mention his cool bad boy 'I'm from the Underworld' vibe he's got going on."

"He's the perfect mix of athletic and stylish!"

Ok, so I may have made some of that up...but most of it was definitely true. Anyway, back to the story.

John and I had just arrived. Sensei looked up at us.

"Good you've arrived. Now I'm sure you have continued your training while I was away and you can fend for yourself for another day. Some business has arisen in town that I must attend to. Just do whatever you would normally do. Joseph keep going for that record. May Jean, here, catch." He tossed the stopwatch to her.

"Ghaaa," she squealed as it bumped of her fingers to the ground. She picked it up, "Got it we're good here yup."

Sensei chuckled, "Well at least those reflexes are improving, please keep the time for Joseph ,MJ. And the rest of you, train as you normally would...and involve Sam."

"Yes Sensei," the 4 ninja said and bowed (minus Joseph of course).

"Uh ye-yes Sensei," I bowed three times to make up for being late.

"Just one will do next time, Sam," Sensei said as he walked out.

"Yes Sensei," I said with one bow this time.

And so we trained.

. . .

By we I mean me of course. John immediately went over to Elizabeth and spoke with hushed tones. I was done eavesdropping for the day...probably...and I focused on my sword work. I lined up a series of dummies and practiced maneuvers and parries. I guess I was a little stressed out because in 30 seconds, 12 severed heads laid on the ground with an assortment of limbs and torsos as well. The other ninja stared at me.

"Um sorry," I called, and I put the sword away and went to a pull-up bar. I climbed on top of it and started doing those hanging sit up things. I hung on the bar with my knees then continuously pulled my body up with my torso. I did about 25 when Elizabeth walked over. He stood in a spot where when I descended and completely hang loose from the bar, we could see eye to eye.

I didn't let her disturb me, although she looked like she was trying to say something. So after about 5 more hanging sit ups she spoke.

"Let's settle this once and for all."

"K," I said, not breaking my stride.

"Me and you….duel….your weapon choice...my weapon….choice...third round...bow...staff," She said, annoyed. What? I wasn't going to stop.

"Sounds," come up, "Good," come up, "to," come up, "Me." And I jumped down.

"You have 10 more minutes to prepare, and we will not be using Kendo armor," She turned and walked away.

"Who's Ken and why would I want to wear his armor?"

She continued walking and ignored my comment although I heard her mutter under her breath, "Oh my gosh he's an idiot."

. . .

I didn't use my 10 minutes wisely. Half i used to find a bathroom and half I tried to figure out which side I should put my quiver on (assuming that Elizabeth chose a bow as her weapon, which judging by her 11 bullzeyes in a row my guess was a yes.)

Before I knew it we were standing 20 feet away in the arena with John going over the rules.

"First round bows...well i guess you already figured that out. Anyway, please, try not to maim each other, I don't want to have to clean up blood on the tile. But the arrows are blunts anyway so hopefully you'll be fine."

Hopefully? What is that supposed to mean.

"Begin."

CHAPTER XVI: PUNISHMENT STINKS

The first fight was quick. When John said begin I quickly released an arrow but it was too far to the left. Then Eliz started. She was a blur. She nocked arrows faster than you could tell her to nock an arrow. I would have been out immediately if my reflexes weren't as good as they were. I rolled and dodged a few of her arrows before one came in contact with my leg. Ouch. I decided that ranged combat wasn't my thing so I sprinted and dove at her, trying to catch her off guard and hit her in the head with my bow. She wasn't caught off guard. Just before my bow connected with her face she rolled out of the way, coming up in a kneeling position with an arrow nocked and pointed at me. She released and shot my bow out of my hand….all while I was still in midair from my heroic dive that made me look like a doof.

So I ended up on my back and when I looked up there was an arrow half an inch away from my nose and when my eyes followed it up its shaft, I found Elizabeth at the other end.

"Round 1 goes to Elizabeth." Next round starts in 10 minutes.

I quickly jogged to the armory to grab a sword...that would be my weapon of choice obviously, and i didn't want to accidentally send Elizabeth's soul to the Underworld. I mean I was tempted but after a long, long, long, long decision process i went with no. I'm only kidding of course. It was only a long decision process. I found a sword that was about the same as mine. Weight, and length, those were the two most important things about a sword. The longer the sword the more reach you had and the heavier the sword the more powerful blows you could give. I however prefered smaller lighter swords, which allowed more speed and required less energy for fighting with. I went to the courtyard for the remaining 5 minutes to get used to my sword.

That last fight wasn't going to cause me to give up. I could've called that outcome a mile away. But I knew I could win this one. I could feel it. So I focused on my training. I knew one of the most important things about a sword duel was the opening. A good opening could win the fight for you. The fighter had to be quick and take the other off guard. S i practiced my initial lung strike that I had learned in the Underworld by Wyplash. I could've went with some of the styles that sensei taught me at the monastery but I figured Elizabeth knew those and could see them coming. I glanced over at her. She seemed to have guessed that we would be using swords. I watched as she practiced parries and strikes on the dummies and sparring bots.

Not gonna lie, she was good, definitely better than I had been with a bow. But i knew I could better. My adrenaline was pumping and I continued practicing my take off. Then John called us over. Joseph and May Jean were there too. I guess Joseph had finally stopped that one handed handstand. I'd have to ask him if he beat his record later.

Elizabeth and I lined up. John spoke:

"Round two:Swords. Winner is declared when opponent is disarmed or in an obvious defeat. I will be the judge of that. Try not to slice each other up too badly, I really wish you were wearing armor. Remember, no elemental powers or spinjitzu. Begin."

It wasn't as fast as the first fight. I lunged from the start, not losing a second of time. She parried I swung again, she parried. I started to back her up and she began to lose ground. She took a swing at my head and I rolled to my right, slicing my sword at her ankles. She jumped and I attacked again while she was off balance. Then our swords locked and slid my swordpoint to the hilt of her sword and I flicked up and twisted my wrist. Her sword flew out of her hand ten feet away, and i put my sword point at her neck.

"Round 2 goes to Sam," John said, not showing any emotion.

"Beginners luck," Elizabeth said as we walked away.

. . .

Are you kidding me?! I smacked another dummy in the head with my bo staff. Beginner's luck? I just kicked her butt full size and she knows it. Now she made it personal though and I was mad. I was tired of being treated less than what I deserved. I was ready to join the team if only she would accept me as an equal. Then we wouldn't even be having this problem.

I hit another dummy and swung my bo staff. I just need to win this fight, then she'll see...Then she'll see.

. . .

We were lined up again.

"Round 3, Championship round: Bo-staff. Disarm your opponent or knock them off their feet to win. No elemental powers or spinjitzu. Bow and begin."

It was intense I could feel the rage that was coming from Elizabeth. It's like she was literally giving off heat. Weird I know but I'm just telling it like it is. At one point she made contact with my arm with her staff and she literally burned me. How that was possible I had no idea but I have the mark to prove it. Finally I too let my emotions take over, i put all of my rage, my jealousy, my feelings of not belonging, all of it, all into one blow, heading for her head. I didn't see her blow coming to, at a perpendicular angle. Our weapons met, and a wave of energy exploded through the air, knocking us both onto our backs.

I needed to finish this so I knelt and shoved my hand onto the ground. I called up 10 skeleton soldiers, their hands busting through the tile. I looked up at Elizabeth. She too was kneeling, and ...smoking? A geyser of hot, orange, molten goo shot from the ground straight into the air in front of her.

"No elemental POWERS!" And john slammed his scythe point into the ground, knocking me and Elizabeth over once again, almost as if he caused the ground to shake. My skeletons had went back into the earth, the orange goo was gone. We both lay there moaning and John said, "Well that settles it...you're equal."

. . .

"What were you thinking?!," Sensei roared at Elizabeth and I. He called us over for a private talk. Well private with John. I guess John had told him about our duel.

"You could've killed him!"

"Or I could've killed her," I said, standing up for myself.

"Doesn't matter, either way, using your elemental powers in a duel like that was extremely dangerous and immature. I expect better from the both of you. Your punishment is double chores until I say so"

"Yes Sensei," we responded.

"You have the rest of the afternoon for free time. Sam if I may suggest, you should walk around the dojo on your own and get used to the lay of the land. I will see you all at dinner at 6." And he walked into the house.

CHAPTER XVII:MISSION IMPOSSIBLE

So I took sensei's advice and I walked around the dojo. It wasn't long though before I was in a tree again in the forest. The tree was huge and easily the biggest there. I climbed all the way to the top.

I could see everything. The house, the courtyard, the forge, all of it. The mountain was mostly surrounded by water. It was a peninsula. I wonder if there was a staircase that led to the sea. I'll have to look later.

My position in the tree was above the leaves of all of the other trees, so no one could see me there, unless they were on the roof of one of the buildings. Then I heard voices coming from below. I stuck my head through the leaves.

"But sensei he tried to kill me!"

"You tried to kill him as well."

They were standing at the base of the tree. Elizabeth was silent.

"True point taken, but I probably wouldn't have, maybe just burned him a little."

"Well you two must make amends and earn each other's trust. Therefore, I am assigning the two of you a mission. Meet here again tonight at midnight and I will give you a briefing and you will be on your way. You will be gone 3 days so pack what you will need. And Sam already knows," Sensei said.

"How does Sam already know , I haven't seen him since the duel."

Sensei didn't answer

. . .

Once they left I headed towards the other side of the forest and sure enough, there was a stairwell that went straight down to the ocean with a beach, dock, and plenty of boats and ships. I didn't bother walking down...why would i?

I looked at my watch. 17:45. 15 minutes to get to the kitchen for dinner. I'd better head back so I can get some more of that delicious food.

Everyone was already there when I arrived. They were all sitting at the table. The table had 2 chairs on the longer sides and a chair at each if the two shorter ends. Sensei sat at the head and Mj and Elizabeth sat on the same side across from Joseph and John. When I came in they all got silent.

"Ah there you are Sam, please take a seat and fill your plate and eat," Sensei said.

So I awkwardly sat down at the end of the table, across from sensei, and piled my plate with all sorts of meats, fruits, green things, basically anything. I chowed down while the rest of the people had their own conversations.

Mj and Eliz were debating whether or not buns or ponytails were better (whatever the heck that meant), Joseph and sensei talked about Joseph's maximum flight time(apparently he was a pilot?), and john started to make small talk with me.

"So we switch on and off for whose turn it is to make lunch and dinner, but breakfast is kinda like a serve yourself type of thing. Also, quick tip: do not fill up on snacks on days where Mj is scheduled to cook, she is amazing. We'll put you in the rotation in about a week but for now you can get used to living here first.

We also have a rotation for the chores, you know, cleaning the kitchen, sweeping the courtyard, cleaning up after dragons, you get the gist. I guess you'll be doing extra for a while because of the whole duel thing."

Our main training hours are from 08:00 to 18:00, leaving short breaks along the way for lunch and things. Every once and awhile we do games that put our training to use and stuff, like duels, tournaments, capture the flag, and dragon racing. they're quite fun actually. So, any questions?"

"No, I think I get it," I responded. We were then dismissed and I went to my room and laid on the bed. I was in there for about an hour, meditating, when I decided I was going to take john up on his offer for that TV and computer. I went to his room but he wasn't there, so I headed outside.

In fact, I couldn't find anyone. Sensei had already gone to bed, but the ninja were nowhere to be found. I walked into the forest and climbed my tree. I scanned the entire dojo. I was about to give up when I saw the smoke rising in the setting sunlight. I jumped down and traveled towards it.

After about 15 minutes, I can to what looked like a stone wall that was impossible to climb. It was natural rock and seemed to be near the edge of the top of the mountain, and was about 200 yards east of the stairs leading to the docks.

The smoke was coming from back behind the wall...about 30 feet deep. Stumped, I leaned against the wall… And I feel right through like it wasn't even there. Some sort of machine projected an image over the entrance to the cave I was in, creating the illusion that the cave wasn't even there. I looked ahead.

The cave was about thirty feet deep, and I saw light coming through the other end. I walked there quietly and came to the opening. It was covered by ivy vines hanging down from the top. I heard voices on the other side. It was the ninja, they were laughing.

I peeked my eyes through the vines. The ninja sat around a fire on benches carved into the ground out of stone. They were surrounded by a semi circle rock wall that rose about 20 feet into the air and the wall stopped at the edge of a cliff, so that the people inside could see the sea. The only way in was through the secret cave I went through and anybody looking from the ocean could see only rock. In other words, the only way you could find this place if you already knew about it. Unless you were insanely lucky like me. I focused back in the ninja.

John was talking. "Ok, ok yes I agree that was hilarious, but besides that...he's not that bad."

They were laughing at me?! Suddenly I became self-conscious. I continued to listen.

"...and he took you down in a fight, and we all know that that wasn't just luck." John looked at Elizabeth. MJ and Joseph stopped laughing and whipped their heads toward Elizabeth, probably expecting for her to blow up at John. I was expecting the same thing.

Elizabeth just stared into the fire.

"Yeah, I know," she paused, "the kids knows how to fight, i can't deny that...But that makes me have all the more reason not to trust him. Who knows, he might be perfectly fine and we all become great friends and stuff but i can't believe that, at least not right now."

This was a whole other side to Elizabeth, the side that she was normally on. She talked cool and collective, and she wasn't as rude and arrogant as she had given off. I could tell that she trusted these people with her life, and the same goes for all of them. And suddenly I felt even more unwelcome here. How could I become a part of a bond that has taken years to forge?

I debated walking in the cove, but I opted to just head to the tree where Elizabeth, Sensei, and I would meet at at midnight. Sensei had said to bring our things so i did. I did a quick supply check to make sure that I had everything.

Sword. Check...and we're good. Talk about traveling lightly.

I was in the tree for awhile until I heard footsteps. I looked through the leaves down to the ground. It was Elizabeth. I checked my watch.

23:45. Sensei wasn't do for another 15 minutes. Okay no big deal, I'll just stay up here until he comes right. Wrong! Elizabeth started to climb the tree. My breathing turned shallow, my heart raced. I had to stay completely still.

Please stop Please stop please stop, I said to myself. But she kept coming. SHe climbed all the way to my level...and sat at the same height branch as me...on the opposite side of the tree trunk. We were literally back to back, minus the trunk in between. I didn't make a sound. I peeked around the trunk. She was just sitting there, staring into the sky, looking at the stars. Her silver bow was in her hand, she was wearing all black clothes. There was a weird warmth literally coming off her body.

I wondered what she was thinking about and was in the middle of a crazy daydream of Elizabeth standing up and shooting a star with an arrow when Sensei showed up. Elizabeth climbed down the tree.

They started to talk so i tuned in.

"...unless he was too afraid to show up. He's still got a minute though."

"Oh Sam is already here," Sensei said.

"How do you know?" Eliz asked, mimicking my thoughts.

Before I could do anything, Sensei barely even tapped the side of the tree with his staff and I came tumbling down. It made 0 sense. Anyway back to me, lying on the ground in pain, wondering how i didn't break anything. I stood up.

"You were in the tree? I was in the tree. How did I not realize you were up there?!" Elizabeth said, sounding more angry at herself than at me.

"I don't know, I'm just quiet I guess," I said kinda softly, looking the ground. Sure I could've fired a witty, sarcastic remark at her but I wasn't really in the mood.

Sensei spoke again, "Elizabeth, help Sam up, then the two of you follow me down to the docks. You will be traveling by boat."

Well you can probably guess that she didn't help me up.

We followed Sensei to the edge of the forest, down the stairs, and onto the dock, next to a boat with a dragon's mast. The Destiny Sensei called it. It was equipped with 5 bedrooms, a training area, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and a weaponry. It was basically a mini version of the dojo that could float.

After a brief tour Sensei said, "So let us have some tea while we discuss your mission."

We walked down to the dining room where 3 teacups already sat, empty. Sensei Wu grabbed a teapot from the stove and poured tea into my and Elizabeth's cups, then he grabbed a different teapot and poured tea into his own cup. He said his was decaf, whatever that meant. We sipped our tea in silence. As i looked around I started to feel sick to my stomach. A migraine headache was forming and I started to sweat. I looked up and noticed Elizabeth too looked sick, her skin tone was an unhealthy shade of green. She was fidgeting in her seat. I realized what had happened too late, and I lost consciousness.

. . .

I woke up feeling refreshed and perfectly healthy. I sleep like a brick, dreamless for once. I looked at my watch 12:00. Oh my Gosh, I was asleep for almost 12 hours. That's the most sleep i've gotten in days. I sat up. Somehow I was in a bed, in a room under the dock. I looked through the doorway to see Elizabeth in a room across the hall, still sleeping. The memories of last night came rushing into my brain. Why Sensei had poisoned us was a myth to me, and hopefully Elizabeth will at least try to hate me less so we can figure it out.

Then I realized that I was on a boat, in a strange world, that was traveling by itself through an unknown ocean, with a girl that wanted to kill me. And I had no idea what our mission was, I'm pretty sure Sensei Wu hadn't told us after all. Yeah, this is going to be one heck of a trip.

CHAPTER XVIII: CONFINED FREEDOM

I was training on the deck when Elizabeth woke up. She rushed passed me, not acknowledging my presence, and went straight into the ship's control room via the stairs on the deck. She looked mad, very mad, and she was muttering under her breath. I slowly followed her up the stairs and into the healm.

The helm was awesome. Full of electronic dashboards and buttons and levers. There were multiple screens along with a huge window that showed the sea and the deck/front of the boat. On the window was a digital map and other things, things that I don't know how to describe.

I saw Elizabeth at one of the dashboards, furiously pushing buttons. She was also talking out loud, maybe at me, maybe at herself, maybe at Sensei who could be hundreds of miles away at this point.

"How is this possible? How is this possible!"

"How is what possible?" I asked from the doorway.

She glared at me as if thinking "Did I say you could speak." However, she answered anyway.

"The Navigation systems are going haywire. We don't show up on any of the maps or systems. I can't track where we are or where we're going. I'm stuck on this boat until it arrives at its destination...with you."

That last word she hurled at me like it was the greatest insult imaginable.

She continued, "I'm going to try to contact John." She patted her pockets as if looking for something. "I left my transmitter with my stuff in my room, Stay Here!" And she jogged out of the room down the steps. Not 15 seconds later I heard Elizabeth scream at the top of her lungs, "SENSEIIIIIIII!"

What now? I thought to myself as I walked towards the bedrooms. I walked down the hallway toward Elizabeth's room and then, I stepped through the doorway to see her sitting on her bed with her head in her hands. She seemed to by rubbing a silver necklace with a locket between her fingers, that was around her neck.

"What's the problem," I asked.

"First off I told you to stay there. Second off never, ever come into my room without asking me first." I took a step back out of the doorway.

"Can I come in," I asked with a knock.

"No," she responded, as she walked out the door past me. "And the problem is that, my," she looked at me, "our dear Sensei did not put our bags on the ship. All we have are our weapons."

I walked behind her in silence towards the helm again. Once we got inside she started to push buttons again.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" I asked.

"Yes," she responded, which surprised me. "Stay out of my way." There it was.

. . .

So i went back to training. There was a lot of top quality equipment. But before I started I decided to search the ship for anything Sensei might have neglected to remove from the ship, either on purpose or by accident.

I walked around for about half an hour to find nothing. No running water, no food, no supplies. It was only when I walked into my room to go sit on my bed did I find something. When I walked over the small rug towards the bed, a resounding hollow sound came from the floor. I stopped in my tracks and ripped the rug from the ground.

Sure enough, there was a square of wood flooring that looked like it could be some sort of hatch door, but it had no handle to open it. I pulled out my sword and stabbed it in the middle of the square so it was stuck. Then I lifted the square from the floor. There was a dark tunnel that led straight down. I took a leap of faith and I jumped.

. . .

It was about a 15 foot jump to a concrete floor. Right when my feet made contact with the floor lights flickered on. I was in a room the was about 10 feet by 10 feet. There was a dresser, and a desk. I checked the desk first. Empty. I was more lucky with the dresser.

The first drawer had a bunch of black shirts: short sleeve and long sleeve. The next drawer had black athletic climate control pants. In another drawer was a canteen (unfortunately empty), a flashlight (but no batteries), and some antibiotic skin paste with a bunch of different sized clothes that could be use for bandages or slings or whatever.

Another drawer had a black mask. I tried it on. It fit perfectly on my face. I could breathe through it, and it didn't make my head feel hot. All of the other drawers were empty.

I looked around the room again and saw some hooks on a wall. On the hooks were a sleek black backpack, a black windbreaker jacket, and a coil of about 20 feet of rope. I grabbed the backpack and opened it. I threw a long and short sleeve t shirt inside, then two pairs of pants, a mask, the rope, the canteen, and the first aid supplies. I left the flashlight. I put on the jacket and then slung the backpack on my back. I looked at the tunnel in the ceiling and saw metal ladder rungs. I ran at the wall, jumped off of it, and grabbed the lowest rung and climbed back into my room. Where i slid the covering back over the whole, and then put the rug back in its place. Then I went up to the helm.

Elizabeth was still trying to work the systems. I walked over to the dashboard she was at and threw my backpack over the top.

"What is this," she asked.

"Supplies," I said. I told her the story, and then waited for her response. I couldn't read her face.

"Show me."

. . .

So after I showed her the secret room we sat in silence in my room. Then all of a sudden Elizabeth said, "I wonder…" and she walked into her room.

I realized what she was thinking and followed. She pulled the rug from her floor, and sure enough, there was another door. Elizabeth jumped down and I was about to follow when she looked up at me and said, "I can handle myself."

Irritated, I walked up towards the main deck and I glanced out at sea.

"Elizabeth," I yelled, "You might want to hurry up."

"Why," she said, jogging onto the deck with a jacket like mine and an identical backpack.

"We're here."

CHAPTER XIX: INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY...NOT!

Ok so we weren't actually there but we were close enough. What I meant by "We're here" was: "I see land, we should probably get ready before we arrive there, because it seems that the boat is headed straight towards it.

Once Elizabeth saw the land, she immediately took action. She walked hastily towards the bridge while calling out orders.

"Do a final round of the ship, make sure we have everything we need. When we arrive you take the rope and tie the boat to the nearest thing possible. After you finish grabbing everything we need, meet me in the bridge."

I didn't really feel like arguing, so i did what she asked. There was nothing on the ship that we had forgotten to pack. I assumed Elizabeth grabbed some extra clothes and supplies from her own hidden room. I walked into the bridge.

Elizabeth was staring at the screen. On the screen was an island and a bullet list of words were next to it. Elizabeth summed it up while still looking at the screen.

"So it's an island with a diameter of about 20 miles. It's one large volcano but most likely dormant, as it's full of trees and vegetation. The island is unnamed and uninhabited by people. However there are plenty of animals. The map still doesn't show me where we are in Ninjago, just that we are headed towards this island, arrival time is about 1 minute 20 seconds. There hopefully is some fresh water because we are going to need it. When we get on the island you do as I say. I've had much more mission experience than you have and we need to figure out why sensei sent us here. There's got to be some sort of snake gathering or someth-"

"-Wait wait wait, did you say snake gathering?"

"Yeah…" she responded, looking at me like that was obvious.

"Why would there be a-" we were thrown off of our feet before I could finish my sentence. Now we were there.

. . .

The ship landed on a beach shore. Elizabeth and I made sure that we had our backpacks on, and we jumped off of the boat onto the beach. I tied the rope at the mast to a tree on the tree line. The knot was tight.

"Come on," Elizabeth said. I followed her into the treeline. Once we were out of the sun she sat down on a boulder and I leaned against a tree.

"I'm going to go look for water. Stay here." And she was gone. I checked my watch, it read 16:05. 4 hours since I had woken up on the boat, and 27 hours since I had arrived at the dojo. So much has happened in the past day. It was hard to wrap my mind around. I thought about Sensei and the ninja, and how they've for the most part, been pretty friendly to me. I became lost in thought and I hardly noticed when Elizabeth came back.

However, instead of coming from the forest, she came from the beach, and she looked more angry than Garmadon on a bad day.

"So I take it you didn't find fresh water?" I asked.

"Oh no I found water. There's a stream about a half mile into the woods."

"Oh then what's the problem."

"Why don't you go to the beach and tell me?"

I walked onto the sandy beach. There was nothing there.

"I don't get it what's-" then it dawned on me. The Destiny was gone.

. . .

"I can't believe you!," Elizabeth yelled at me. "The one thing I ask you to do, you ignore. Are you so stubborn that you can't even follow a more experienced team member's orders?"

"Okay first of all," I said holding up one finger, "You never ask me anything. You tell me to do stuff. Which is fine, I guess, I don't really care. But the thing is, I tied the knot. It was tight."

"Well your evidence proving your innocence isn't looking too promising," she retorted.

"What ever happened to 'innocent until proven guilty'?"

"Yeah i go by a different rule in life."

"Oh yeah and what's that?" I asked, starting to get annoyed.

"Guilty until I say so."

And with that she ran into the forest.

. . .

After about 5 miles of trailing behind her we stopped on a ledge that looked over a stream. It was heavy with trees and very secluded.

"This will be a good spot for camp," elizabeth said.

She was right, unfortunately, I was thinking the same thing myself. There was fresh water, and plenty of firewood. We couldn't be seen by anything on the island that would want to kill us if there even was anything on this island. I figured there was though.

During our run I noticed paths weaving in and out of the forest. There was also smoke rising in the distance, although i guess that it could've been the volcano but I thought Elizabeth said it was dormant.

ELizabeth probably noticed the same things and picked this spot for the same reason. She was still ticked off at me for the boat thing. I guess I would be too...if I wasn't innocent.

"I'm going to go hunt, we're going to need some food," Elizabeth said. "While I'm gone. Try to build some sort of shelter, and if you finish, start a fire." And she was gone.

And my days as an aspiring Architect began.

. . .

After about two hours Elizabeth came back. She had two dead birds.

"I built the shelter,' I said, very proud of myself.

The shelter was awesome. It was windproof, rainproof, and had two sleeping spaces. The thing was raised off the ground by 2 foot tall stilts, just in case it flooded down the side of the volcano. The roof was a mix of mud, leaves, and slate, and it was held up by vines that hung down from trees. The walls were made by sticks, trees, branches, and mud. There were working doors. All in all i felt I did a great job.

Elizabeth looked at my masterpiece.

"That should do," Elizabeth said with no emotion. How hard was it to please this girl?

"Try to start a fire, I'll skin these birds and try to get as much meat off of them as I can."

. . .

So after about an hour of rubbing sticks together I couldn't feel my hands, and I couldn't start a fire. I looked at my hands. They were bleeding and blisters were forming.

"Hey I'm gonna quick go wash off my hands in the stream," I said to Elizabeth, then i jogged down to the stream which was about 100 meters away, down hill. I knelt and I put my hands in the water. I literally screamed, out loud. Not only did the wounds on my hands hurt, but the water was also boiling hot. I looked at my hands, they were bright red, and not from the blood. The good news was, the water was so hot, it literally fused the wounds cut on my hands. And there was probably no chance of infection.

The bad news, it looked like I got second, maybe third degree burns. Also, this meant that there was no drinking water on the island, unless we could cool it somehow.

And then I remembered. Elizabeth washed her hands of when she came back from hunting. And she didn't say anything about the heat. I walked around the ledge and up the hill towards our campsite. Elizabeth was sitting by the fire, cooking the birds. Wait sitting by the fire?! How did she start one so quick.

"How did you do that?" I asked.

"Do what," she answered.

"The fire. I was working on that for an hour."

"Oh please. I've been building fires for years. This is nothing."

"Ok whatever." I started to walk away when I remembered the stream. "Hey why didn't you mention the-"

"The what,"she asked.

"Shhh."

"What no, you were in the middle of a question."

"No seriously. Be quiet. Listen."

Finally, she stopped. Hopefully she heard the sound that had interrupted me. Voices.

We listened for about a minute. Nothing was understandable, but it was obvious that we weren't alone on the island. The people on top...if they were people were chanting. They seemed excited, very excited.

"Wait here," Elizabeth said, "I'll go check it out."

"Elizabeth, trust me with this, I can help. This is my specialty."

"No. That's the thing. I can't trust you. Not yet." And she was gone.

CHAPTER XX: ERUPTION

I didn't get much sleep that night. None actually, so I meditated, trying to conserve some energy. I had no idea where Elizabeth was or when she would be back. As time passed, I became more and more worried. I had originally assumed that she would be back quite soon and that she was quick scouting out the scene. I could be wrong though. I hope I'm wrong in fact, because if I'm right, then she's captured...or dead.

. . .

After 2 hours I decided enough was enough, and I started climbing up the mountain. It was pitch black, but that didn't bother me, I could see just fine. I walked about 2 miles up and I found a trace, signs of a fight. I looked at the ground in the moonlight. There were drops of blood, and footprints, lots of them.

I walked about twenty more feet and found the first body. It was a male and he looked human...but at the same time he seemed, I don't know, artificial. His blood was more thin than a normal human and his skin was coarse and fully colored. A normal dead person with a wound like this would be extremely pale by now. It also had no smell. Oh and the wound, I forgot to mention, there was an arrow shaft sticking out from between his two eyes.

I searched the rest of the body. The only thing that I found interesting was what was in his hand, It gleamed in the moonlight. In his hand was a silver chain, and on it a locket. I picked it up. I remembered why it intrigued me so much. This was Elizabeth's, she had it on the ship. I slipped it in my pocket.

I walked away from the body and 20 feet farther up i saw an arrow sticking straight out of a tree. Perturbed, I kept walking. It was about another mile to the top. I slipped behind a bush and looked into the clearing at the top. There was about a space of about 100 square feet of open stone, and then a cave about 30 feet away from me. The entrance to the cave was well lit. There were two guards. Piece of Cake.

. . .

In less than five minutes the guards were unconscious in a tree and I was standing in front of the cave entrance. I looked at the stars one last time, out at the horizon. All the details suddenly came rushing in.

The moonlight shining over the sea. The breeze rustling the leaves and grass. The destiny, bobbing in the waves. The cool air that- Wait the destiny?!

The ship was there, on the opposite side of the island. The islands inhabitants must have stolen it that first day. Take that Elizabeth. Oh crap I forgot about Elizabeth. And with that thought I slipped into the cave.

The cave was strange. It went straight for about fifty feet and then turned 90 degrees to the right. Torches were mounted on the walls every 15 feet. After the turn the tunnel went about 100 more feet and then stopped. It was a complete dead end. I leaned on the wall that ended the cae. It just made no sense. Why would there be guards there if this was just an empty cave. And then I remembered that night at the dojo when I found the ninja in the hidden cove. Maybe there was a fake wall here too.

Getting excited, I swiftly walked down the corridor, running my hand against the cave wall. Sure enough, when the cave turned to the left to the exit, My hand passed straight through the wall. It was located it the same place as another corridor would be if you took a left turn after the initial 50 foot walk instead of a right. Bracing myself for anything, I stepped through the wall.

I was greeted with a metal staff to my jaw. The blow knocked me off my feet, and as I was falling time slowed and I planned my attack. When I hit the ground, I would sweep the legs of my assaulter, and jab their fingers with the hilt of my sword disarming them, Then I would finish with a sword at their throat.

Time speed up to its normal speed and I launched into attack. Within 3 seconds my attacker was on the ground with a sword at her throat.

"What was that for?!" Elizabeth yelled!

"You hit my in the jaw with a metal pole," I whisper yelled back at her.

"Right, sorry about that." I helped her up. For the first time I glanced around the hidden corridor. It was about 10 feet long and then went into a spiral staircase that led into the center of the mountain I could only assume. Also this cave was man made. It was cement and had fluorescent lights.

I focused back on Elizabeth. "You look horrible," I said.

"Thanks," she replied. Her usual sarcasm and tone laced her voice, but she wasn't completely into it. She looked distant, sad, and dare I say it, scared.

"Well I guess my rescue mission was a little too late," i said. "But we should get going now, and I have good news, the ships here, it's on the other side of the island."

"I know," she said, "I was just going to apologize for that. And you're right, we should go, but we can't, not yet. I know why Sensei sent us here." And with that, she started down the stairs.

. . .

The stairs seemed like they lasted for ever. We walked in silence, Elizabeth in front and I in the back. We met a couple guards along the way, but we took them out swiftly and silently. We worked like a well oiled machine, which was strange. I worked off of her moves and she mine.

After about 15 minutes or more of walking down, we reached the bottom and it was magnificent. It was a ginormous warehoused sized area. It was filled with thousands and thousands of people, ordinary people. There was something different about them though. They gave off an aura of death, and I should know.

We crept to the side behind some crates and peered into the crowded space.

In the center of the space was an elevated area, surrounding a pool which looked like was full of lava. It was the very center of the volcano island, but thousands of meters under the peak. A man stood on the platform, he wore a silvery cloak and held a staff that had a crescent on top. He was chanting some form of ancient language. Lights flashed in the air over the vat. All of a sudden a person ran up to the cloaked man screaming, "Lunos she escaped, she's gone!"

The man turned around and I caught a glimpse of his face. His hair was gray, even though he couldn't have been older than 30. He had a crooked smile, and his face was very skinny, I could see his cheekbones. His eyes were silver.

"Ah, but that's where you should have stopped. True, the girl did escape, and on your watch I might add."

"-But she-"

"-HOWEVER," the man named lunos continued, "She is not gone, the foolish girl returned, and she brought a friend." And he stared right at us.

Realizing too late what was going on, we turned to run back up the stairs, but we were already blocked off by around 30 people. They grabbed us and dragged us toward the center stage.

Now that I was closer, i could see that it was in fact lava, that filled the center pool. I glanced over at Elizabeth next to me. She looked strangely calm. Either that or she had a crazy good poker face.

The people threw us onto the stage, and quickly proceeded to tying us up. And then they took our weapons. Great. We stood in silence for a good 2 minutes. After a while I couldn't resist.

"So what is this you talk first we talk first or-" I was slammed in the gut by the man's moon pole.

"Only speak when told," the man said, his voice much more nerdy than I had originally realized. He also was a lot scrawnier than I had first pictured. He was about 5 foot 6, and had no ounce of fat or muscle on him. And he was definitely younger than 30, 20 tops.

"So, the ninja have finally arrived, just as foretold. I suppose you are wondering what I am doing here, and where my army came from. Well i'll tell you. All of these people, every single one is a-"

"Clone," Elizabeth said, "They're all clones."

"Aww you stole my thunder," said Lunos in a whiney tone. I was respecting this guy less and less.

"Be that as it is however, How did you find out?" he asked Elizabeth.

"Well I-"

"Who cares nevermind." He was getting impatient, I could tell.

"Yes it's true, these are all clones. I have successfully cloned everyone living on the island of Ninjago. A great feat I know. They will serve as my army and with them I shall-" and he continued on and on with his master plan. Granted, I probably should have been listening, but I hated monologues. I was actually starting to doze off when he was finishing up.

"-and so lucky for you," he continued, "you made it just in time to witness the grand finale." Well that didn't sound good.

Lunos turned toward the vat of lava and raised his staff over it and started chanting.

"Ad novam vitam , iterum effingo. Ad novam vitam , iterum effingo. Ad novam vitam , iterum effingo."

With his last word, the lava started to churn. Masses of lava started to rise out of the pit, forming the shapes of human bodies. The lava started to slowly fall away from the bodies, showing flesh, limbs, hair, and human parts. As the lava almost completely fell away I realized what was happening.

"What the-"

"-Heck." My sentence was completed by the clone standing in the lava directly across from me...and exact replica of myself.

. . .

I started to get sick to my stomach. This was the strangest thing ever, and I've seen a lot of strange things. I looked at the other clones. The 4 ninja were standing next to me, well my clone at least. There was clone John, MJ, Joseph, and Elizabeth.

"Well that's enough silence and awe," Lunos said in a cheery voice. "Into the lava you go!"

Elizabeth and I made eye contact, and we knew what to do immediately. She Jolted at me and I squatted, holding out my tied hands. She jumped and connected with my hands, and I launched her into the air over my head, shee front flipped directly over Lunos, and held out her arms, slicing the rope that held her wrists together on the sharp part of the crescent on his staff. While she was in midair, I kicked backwards and connected with the guard behind me's groin. Meanwhile, Elizabeth, Landed on the clone who was holding our weapons. She grabbed her bow, and shot an arrow with pinpoint accuracy at my bonds. They ripped in two, and I swung around, catching my sword that Elizabeth had tossed in full swing. I hacked down clone after clone after clone. I didn't see Lunos or the Ninja clones.

Elizabeth and I stayed on the platform fighting off wave after wave. We had to have defeated at least a third of the army. It was amazing, until everything fell apart that is. At one point, all five of the "Ninja" attacked Elizabeth at the same time. She held them off for a bit, but they apparently had the same skills that we had, everything was the same in fact it seemed, except their personalities and morals. They ended up overpowering grabbed her, picked her up and threw her into the vat of lava.

I was stuck in shock, and the clones started to gain around me. Well I guess this is the end. I had a good run. I made some new friends, I think I might have gotten on Elizabeth's good side. I saw the Sun. Yeah, I did okay.

The clones were almost at me now, they just about grabbed me when Mt. Elizabeth erupted.

. . .

In an instant, there was a huge explosion from the lava pit, Elizabeth came flying out, shooting lava in all directions. So I know what her element is, Lava. The lava went all over the clones, but somehow completely missed me. Unfortunately, the lava didn't melt the clones, probably because they were made from it, but it did confuse them and catch them by surprise.

I was in a bit of a daze myself. I only realized there was an open path to the exit when Elizabeth started shouting my name. I quickly shook my head, and I sprinted after her. We made it about fifty feet away from the staircase when it started, the actual eruption had begun.

CHAPTER XXI: The first of many

The ground shook beneath our heads, and the cavern ceiling shook, huge chunks of rock started falling down, crushing clones. We continued to sprint towards the exit.

"You triggered a mass eruption!" I yelled.

"Well sorry for saving your hide," She yelled back from behind me. We kept running, I sliced down 3 clowns in our path, not breaking stride. I reached the start of the stairs and I turned to see Elizabeth close behind. That was good. The bad news was that 50 feet behind her, the entire clone army was chasing us down.

"Go go go," I yelled, waving her past me.

She stopped, "But what about you?' she asked.

"I'll be right there. I can slow them down." She hesitated, as if about to object, but in the end she turned and ran.

I turned around at the steadily gaining army. I knelt to the ground, and slammed my sword into the rock, hilt deep. Skeleton hands, around 30m of them, broke through the earth. I saw my old friends once again. Soon, 30 skeletons faced me, awaiting orders."

"Take care of the clones, then head back to the Underworld." And I sprinted up the stairs, following my teammate.

It took me about 10 minutes to reach the top. Elizabeth was there waiting for me. I turned and saw that the volcano had really erupted. Lava was spewing down the side of the mountain, towards our camp, luckily, we would be headed in the opposite direction to where the ship was.

We both started down the side. After about a half mile, our luck got worse, worse than it had been yet. About 30 feet ahead of us, the earth shook ,knocking us to the ground. I looked up and saw the horrific sight of half a mounting exploding. Once it calmed down, I ran to the edge, Elizabeth at my heals.

The drop was at least 2 miles long, and straight down. I glanced back up the mountain, the clones had fought off my diversion, and they were gaining, fast, and angry. I knew we didn't have enough time, they would be here in seconds. I turned to Eliz.

"Elizabeth do you trust me." She looked at me with unreadable eyes. The clones were gaining, 30 ft, 20 ft, 10 ft.

"Yes" the moment she said the word, I grabbed her arm, and hurled us of the mountain.

. . .

Elizabeth's scream still rang in my ears when we landed on the ship, which was now floating away from the burning mountain. The moment I shadow traveled us to the Destiny I collapsed on the deck, exhausted, yet exhilarated. I hardly noticed Elizabeth sprint to the side of the ship and hurl. Hopefully shadow traveling didn't permanently mess up her insides. Probably should have thought of that before but, oh well.

She glanced over at me, her stomach seemingly settling.

"Well I guess we should go set the coordinates for the dojo."

And just like that we were cool. All the tension between us faded. I guess Sensei planned for this, or maybe he didn't. I had a feeling that I would never be positive about the old man's motives.

I went to stand and my legs immediately gave out. I guess the adrenaline had finally worn off. Luckily Elizabeth had caught me, otherwise I would have broken my nose.

"Woah, there, you obviously need some rest." I grunted in approval.

She guided me to my room where i promptly collapsed into a deep dreamless sleep.

. . .

I woke up three hours later in the same position. I know that seems like nothing but 3 hours is a huge deal for me. I sat up, my head a little groggy, my legs a bit shaky, and my stomach completely empty. I guided myself to the kitchen where a kettle full of a hot liquid was on the stove. I poured some in a cup and sipped it. Not only was it delicious, but it was also strangely energizing.

I left the kitchen to go find elizabeth.

It took me awhile to find her. I checked her room, the control room, the deck. No where. Then I looked up at the moon, trying to think of where else she could be, when I saw her silhouette sitting on the mast of the sails. I walked to the base of the sails, and started climbing. I sat down next to her when I reached the top. I didn't say anything at first, I guess we were both a little bit lost in thought. It was Elizabeth who broke the silence.

"I was cursed when I was a child." I glanced over at her, she still seemed lost in thought. She seemed to have spoken to the horizon rather than to me. I waited for her to continue.

"My element...lava...I wasn't born with it. I mean I was, but I shouldn't have been. It's a cursed element. When I was in my mother's womb, my mother was very sick. One day an old hag came and offered her some medicine that was supposed to heal her. It didn't. She had just enough strength to give birth to me, and then she died."

Her voice shook.

"The hag put a curse on me. Lava filled my veins."

My father...my father blamed me for her death. He hated me. The night I was born he threw me out in the snow, drunk and cruel. The next morning he came out to see me lying in a puddle of warm water."

Years went past, and my father yelled at me and beat me and kept me away from my older brother and sister. Every day, when he fell asleep from his alcohol, or just mysteriously disappeared, i would go into the woods near our cabin. I eventually made a bow and arrows. Archery was my only refuge. I practiced for hours everyday, until my fingers were raw and bleeding."

"One day, my father went away, out of town on business. I went looking for answers. I went into my mother's room and found a box under her bed, full of diaries. I carried the box to my room and shut the door.

When the door opened, I expected to see my father, his cruel face and eyes of hate. Instead, stood my brother and sister. They told me that they disagreed with father and everything he stood for. They promised that We would one day rise together and take back the family. For once in my life, I was hopeful. Hopeful that maybe I wouldn't live the rest of my life alone. Hopeful that i too could feel the amounts of happiness that others do. Hopeful that I could know what a family is. Little did I know, hope didn't exist in the real world.

When my father came home, everything went back to the way it used to be. I shot my arrows when my father was drunk, but at night I would leave the journals my mother left for me. Then one day, the snakes came. It all happened so quick.

I didn't see them at first. I was in the woods, shooting my bow. Everything was normal, and then I heard the porch door open and close. I had thought that my father had woken up, and realized I was gone. I slung the bow over my shoulder and climbed a tree, tall enough that I could see my house and the area around it clearly.

What I saw shocked me. My father stood in the yard, facing the dirt road that lead through the woods to the closest village. At the end of the road stood an army of humanized snakes, Serpentine, I later found out they were called.

The Serpentine are the most intelligent creatures in Ninjago, some even more intelligent and advanced than humans. I watched as my father said something to them, and then the leader responded. They seemed to be having some sort of dialogue. I was too far away to understand. Soon, my brother and sister slipped through the door, and stood on my porch, watching as well.

I then watched two snakes rush past my father and into the house, pushing my siblings aside. Minutes later, they came back out, shaking their heads.

Immediately, my father threw his hands in the air, screaming, 'No, you don't understand, We-'

In an instant, my father, sister and brother were fired upon with an array of arrows. They died instantly. I Saw the army turn around and slither back down the road."

Elizabeth looked out towards the moonlit horizon.

"Once I was sure that they were gone, I swiftly went out of the tree, and ran over to the corpses. I knelt down next to my sister. She was unrecognizable. I held her bloody head in my hands, and I started to cry.

I let her go and looked at my hands, the redness of the blood infuriated me, drove me, gave me power. I clenched my fists and started tracking the army. Nothing could stop me, there was no fear in my mind. Only hate."

"I followed the tracks for about an hour when I was attacked. I thought that I was the one tracking them, and I was, but like I said, the snakes are incredibly smart. The set two of their soldiers aside, just incase anyone was following them. I didn't realize this.

"Out of nowhere, a snake dropped from a tree above the path, and slashed my back with his sharp claws. I screamed in pain but it was cut short. The serpentines long tail wrapped around my neck, cutting off my airflow."

"'It's the girl, he hissed, 'Go get the others.' His partner slithered away, and I slowly started to lose consciousness. Then I decided that this wasn't how I was going to go down. I analyzed the situation.

My bow and quiver hung from my back. The messenger guard was 50 feet away and gaining. All I had to do was get out of the death grip.

"Once again, Ii let my emotions flood over me. Immediately, my skin turned burning hot, I was steaming, and literally glowing. The snake dropped me and I spun around, lashing my fist out towards his face.

"It went through like he was made of clay. I literally melted his face. I later found out that I had unlocked my true potential. Now I just had to worry about the other snake. I turned down the path and saw that it was 150 feet away now. I pulled out an arrow, took a deep breath, knocked the arrow, aimed, and fired. It was a perfect shot, the arrow going clean through the snake's neck. It collapsed, and unfortunately so did I.

"Not only did unlocking my potential wear me out, but It turned out that the cut on my back was much more serious than I had thought. I could feel the blood, well, lava, flowing out of me. I stared into the forested sky. As my vision started to fade, I saw the face of an old man, with a white beard. He looked to be about 500 years old. I blacked out as he picked me up.

It was obviously Sensei. He brought me to the dojo and cared for me. He trained me as the lava ninja and eventually he brought in MJ, John, and Joseph. And you now."

She looked up at me and reached for her neck.

"Oh, and before my brother and sister left me that day, they gave me something, a-a gift from my mother. It was A silver locket,the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. It had an E, engraved on the front...And those damned clones stole it from me! The only thing I had left from my mother or siblings."

Elizabeth was crying now, something I felt that was a rare sight. I slipped my hand to my pocket, the locket was still there, thank goodness. I spoke this time, "When I was tracking you on the island, I saw some of the clones you defeated."

She glanced up at me.

"I searched their bodies...and found this."

I pulled out the locket. Quick as lightning Elizabeth did the most unpredictable thing that happened that night. She hugged me. It really caught me off guard. Then of course she punched me in the arm, just to show me who was in charge I guess.

"Thank you," she said.

I nodded.

Elizabeth and I talked and laughed for the rest of the trip. It was one of the best nights of my life.

. . .

We arrived back at the dojo the next morning. It was strange. Even though I had been there for only a short period of time, it already felt like I was returning home. Sensei stood waiting for us on the dock. When we docked, we walked down the ramp of the Destiny and greeted him with a bow.

"So, he said, "i hope you figured it out."

That's one way of putting it, I thought to myself. In all honesty, what sensei said was so vague, that I could have answered it in many ways. I could have said "Yeah we found an evil army of clones" or "Yes, Elizabeth and I are cool now," or "Sure did, I know She's the lava ninja."

Elizabeth answer summed it all about up.

"Yup" she said.

I looked at her and at Sensei, and nodded in agreement.

Sensei glanced at each of us, smirking slightly with a questioning look. Soon, he headed up the stairs, to climb the side of the mountain to reach the dojo. We followed.

"Tell me everything," Sensei said. Now that was the question I was waiting for.

Elizabeth and I summed up the trip: The clones, how we got off of each other's bad sides, and Lunos especially. Sensei nodded, and at the end he said, "So it is as I feared. Elizabeth, quick round up the others, you know where they'll be. I must quick run down to the village and take care of some business. Sam, wait for us in the kitchen.

I wasn't going to argue, I was starving.

. . .

10 minutes later Elizabeth, John, Joseph, and MJ came into the kitchen, where I was finishing off just about all of the food they have. Elizabeth and John were in deep conversation, Joseph gave me a head nod, and Mj looked up at me, to all of the empty food containers and back to me. She said something under her breath, It was something like "And I thought John ate a lot." Go figure.

Sensei came in then, and Elizabeth and I told our story again. It amazed me at the ninja's ability to listen. Event Joseph, who couldn't have been more than 8, had his full attention on Elizabeth and I.

When we were finished, we all sat in silence for a few seconds, then John spoke.

"So this Lunos guy, is he much of a threat, the way you described him, he sounds like a wannabe."

I answered, "I'd agree, and without his army, he would be nothing. He disappeared for the whole fight. But he's powerful, and is in complete control of the clones."

John nodded.

Sensei spoke up," Yes sam You are correct. Lunos is very powerful. He is the elemental master of the moon, Joseph's opposite." (So was joseph Sun then?...i could see it) "Lunos was also the only known person to be trained by My brother, Lord Garmadon. Garmadon wanted an apprentice, someone to help in his dark ways. Luckily, he did not know of Sam's power, but he did know of Lunos's. Garmadon trained Lunos for many years, teaching him to use his powers for evil rather than good.

However, Garmadon soon came to realize that Lunos lacked the true potential to be a dark lord. He dropped Lunos and began his search for a new apprentice. Out of vengeance, and a need to prove Garmadon wrong, Lunos studied ancient scrolls, and found the crescent staff of moon, and he learned how to use it to create clones. Now he plans to take over Ninjago, to prove himself as an evil mastermind."

"Idiot," Joseph said. I Smiled.

"Yes maybe,' Sensei said, "But i fear that this clone army may be more difficult to defeat than it seems. It wall take all of you to thwart Lunos and bring peace to Ninjago. This is the first of many enemies you shall face. Now. We train. And keep your eyes on the scanners."