Long ago, the world of Ninjago was nothing. No land, no life existed. Then, a traveler from another world came to Ninjago, and with his power of Destruction and Creation created the land. With the power of Earth, he lifted the ground from the salty sea. With the power of Water, he created streams to produce Nature and the system of Nature. To prevent one species from overpowering the other, he used the Winds to create Lightning in the sky, and Poison and disease to help neuter any overpopulation problems. Finally, he introduced the concept of temperatures, allowing Death to come in after Life has expired—with Ice being cold and Fire harming anything that came in its way. Before he finished, he realized that Life required Emotion to thrive, and gave the budding Life the ability to decide their Fate. With that settled, he introduced the world the Golden and Silver Weapons he used to create Ninjago – The Scythe of Quakes, the Naginata of Tsunamis, the Tekko-Kagi of Toxins, the Hidden Sais of Tornadoes, the Nunchucks of Lightning, the Shuriken's of Ice, and the Sword of Flames.

In the first years of life, the creator split off his power to the world, hoping that the powers wouldn't be used for evil. Then, the creator had two sons, the eldest being born with the power of Destruction, while the second son bearing the power of Creation. As soon as they were of age, he let the Master of the Dead claim him, allowing them to protect the land as they saw it.

However, the firstborn son was cursed from a vile, corruptive power—a bite from the Great Devourer, a snake that would not stop until everything was eaten. In the wake of his father's death, the Master of Destruction took the Silver Weapons – the destructive powers enhanced his own—and hoped to rule the world with them. His brother, the Master of Creation, fought back—with the Golden Weapons, and hoped to make him see his wrongs. When it became clear that his brother was being consumed by the venom in his body, the Master of Creation despairingly opened a Portal to the Land of Demons, hoping that, somehow, they would cure his brother from the poison in his veins.

In his grief, The Master of Creation took the Golden Weapons and hid them in their respective corners of the land, making sure to map out their locations in case he needed them again, knowing that his brother was not one to cower in another world when his kin betrayed him. The Master of Creation left the map of the Golden Weapons to an honest man, living a simple life near the hidden location of the last element created, in the hopes of one day finding the map with the next Master of Fire…

However, he never suspected that his brother had something up his sleeve, and foresaw the awakening of three Elemental Masters in that village, and made sure to take the two that he needed for his plan…

Ignacia, a village of soft winds and hot summer days, where people work in rice pools and use the elements of Wind, Fire and Water daily. It was a beautiful place, and the people would fight as well as they could as they have no protectors naturally. The village was near the mountain that housed the Fire Temple, an ancient tower that formed to protect a legendary treasure inside.

A few days before the Culture Festival – where the people celebrate their town and its growth, a time of celebrating the perfection in their lives. It was at this afternoon, that the first of three children were whisked away to adventure.

A young child no older than fifteen came up the bend to fetch a pail of water for the blacksmiths, the Four Weapons. She was a slight young girl, with traditional blue robes and black pants, carrying two buckets with her honey-tinted body. Her jade eyes shone with a sense of adventure and faint traces of love. She held in her arms a bamboo stick that carried two buckets of full water, giggling as she came up to the shop.

The Four Weapons shop was once known as the best blacksmiths in the kingdom – two legendary masters of the craft – a husband and wife – once lived in the shop, mending and creating things for all kinds of people – from the poorest to the richest, from simple farmers to even *samurai* - soldiers for the lords in richer cities. The shop had been kept in relative good condition since the children of the original owners – Kai and Nya Hinata – took up the reins of their store. The chimney from the furnace dispelled smoke, meaning that the elder of the two was working on some new things to sell. It was one of her favourite things to watch — seeing the elder brother of the two children mess up again.

"To forge the perfect weapon…" the eldest, a teen who was half a year older than the girl outside the shop said, wearing a white t-shirt with his favourite red jeans under a blacksmith's apron muttered to himself, his brown hair spiked like the very flames he used. His amber eyes concentrated hard on the blade to be in the forge. "You need the right metal, and plenty of heat…" Using the tweezers, he pulled out the weapon from the forge into the cooling bucket, before immediately pulling it out—causing the metal to warp completely. "Pres—ah…" he sighed, seeing the mangled mess of a sword.

The girl outside the store giggled, before another girl joined in mocking the blacksmith. She was the younger of the two, wearing a simple red Chinese dress with an obi sash around her waist, and decorated with golden Phoenixes on her left side. Her light amber eyes alight with mirth, she stated, "You made it too quickly, Kai, be patient." She looked to the newcomer beside her, before smirking at her. "You know what father liked to say…"

"Yeah, yeah. 'No matter how much fire you have, experience isn't something you learn overnight'." The blacksmith – Kai – snorted. "That may work for you, Nya, but I'm gonna be a better blacksmith than dad." He confidently said, making the bucket girl to laugh harder.

"Please, Kai. You're killing me." The bucket girl set the water on the store counter top, her eyes alight with mischief as Kai retrieved the containers for his forging with a forced unamused look. "I like you, but it's obvious you aren't the one that's going to run the shop."

"Please, Kazeko. Have a little more faith in your favourite guy." The girl – Kazeko – rolled her eyes as he flexed his muscles to her. Neither of the three kids noticed the elderly man – wearing white gi under his large straw kasa, wielding a bamboo stick as his walking stick in hand. He hummed as he looked at the merchandise, before speaking outright.

"Hmm… Your metal is loud and heavy." The elderly man stated, causing the three to turn to him in surprise. "Useful to slow one down. Useless in the art of stealth. All the tools of a samurai," He then turned toward the three with mischief in his onyx eyes. "but nothing for a ninja?"

Kai scoffed at the comments. "Ninja, huh?" he then glowered at the old man, wondering who this bozo was and why he decided to pick on him and his stock. "You're a long way from finding any 'ninja', old man." Kai smirked, before noticing that the old man was just browsing in the shop. "And the shop is called 'Four Weapons', not 'For Browsing'. Either buy something or go pedal your insults somewhere else!" He snarled at the browser, wondering if he should go and get the broom for this man.

"Hm… Too bad." The old man said, looking in Kai and Kazeko's direction. "Thought I'd find something special here." He said aloud, before looking at Nya carefully.

Nya gestured to Kai to show the old man the merchandise. Kai and Kazeko had turned away from the older man while searching for something that would satisfy the older man. "Well, I can show you—" As soon as Kai turned around, the man disappeared from the store, leaving the three teens confused as they turned to the spot where the old man was.

"Huh?" both Nya and Kazeko said dumbly, wondering if they saw a ghost.

"He was just… You know what, never mind." Kai sighed, going back to work in the furnace. "Thanks for the water, Mach. Nya," Kai turned to his sister, whom was coming up to the counter with new iron to work with. "Can you give Kimijuna here her payment?" He winked at Kazeko, who giggled at the affection.

"Yeah, yeah lover-boy. Suck it up to your water fetcher…" Nya sighed, but smirked at her brother's affection for the girl. She did as he asked, despite the bitterness she felt with Kazeko.

"It's alright, Junebug. You don't need to pay me." Kazeko said, trying to push the outstretched money back into Nya's hands.

"But I do, Mach. It's not fair that you haven't found a place to stay just yet." Kai said over the roar of the furnace. "Besides, it's better than not being able to eat." He whispered to himself.

"I still don't know why you haven't left this place, with how much you've wanted to explore the world, Kaze." Nya said, getting over the counter to pick up some more iron for Kai.

"Neither do I, honestly." Kazeko shrugged, sadly looking at Kai before leaving out of the shop with Nya. "I just feel… Better being with you guys, even if Kai and I are making goo-goo eyes in your presence." She giggled as Nya looked at her in scorn. "I really do like it here. I just think that life's going to become more interesting if I hang around." She said softly, smiling softly. "Besides, someone's gotta make sure that Kai doesn't end up getting the both of you evicted from your family home."

"Yeah, I do." Nya giggled, getting a look from Kai on her back.

It seemed like a picture-perfect day in the village of Ignacia. But, as with all things in the world, that peace wasn't meant to be.

The skies suddenly darkened, and the rattling of bones could be heard off in the distance. The rice-tenders looked to where the bone-rattling was, and found multiple skeletons riding on cars with skull and bone motifs all over the vehicles present. The roaring of the engines of each of the vehicles suddenly cut off, before revealing that literal skeletons were the ones that were driving. One of the skeletons, with a metallic eyepatch over his right eye with blue loincloth and bracers, plus some bronze spikes on his skull like a mowhawk, eagerly jumped up and down in his seat, his visible red eye swirled with deranged madness.

"Oh! Oh! I wanna murder things! Can I murder things, please Samukai?" the eye-patched skeleton asked, before being thwacked in the head by another skeleton – wearing a monocle and hardhat instead, and brown linens and loincloths.

"You dolt, you don't need to be so hyper! Samukai," the monocle-wearing skeleton turned to the tallest – and four-armed – skeleton behind on the vehicle. "What are we doing, here? And can I drive?" He seemed more into the second question than the first.

"No boys. This is mine." The skeleton—Samukai—said, his smirk overpowering his underbite. "We're after the map. Our boss said it would be near two kunochi-to-be." Samukai looked as he said that, before zooming onto the Four Weapons shop in the distance. With a smirk, he commanded the attack, and the skeletons on the vehicles raced onward. Scaring some humans on the way to the Four Weapons shop, the skeletons screeched and hollered as they got closer, hoping to get the map without much trouble.

While the skeletons got close, Kai, Kazeko and Nya looked out to see the travelling group of skeletons coming in their direction. Kai immediately ran back into the shop, getting out the best samurai armour they had from the mannequins.

"Kai, what are those things?" Nya asked, looking to the dust cloud in the distance.

"Don't know, but stay here, just in case." Kai growled as he looked to the advancing cloud, wearing the samurai gear carefully. "Kazeko, take Nya and get outta here."

Kazeko nodded, grabbing Nya by the wrist and hauling the younger girl inside. Kai immediately fought off the skeletons that tried to go after the two, knocking their skulls off as he swung his blade. One of the bodiless skulls, noticing how close he was to Kai's red shoe, immediately bit into it.

"Argh!" Kai furiously screamed, before kicking the skull up to the sign, knocking it downward to reveal the map to Nya and Kazeko. "Bite that!" He yelled to the skull, about to fight more skeletons when he noticed that Nya and Kazeko had taken care of the two skeletons he was going to fight. "Nya, Mach! I told you to stay back!" Kai yelled at the two, slicing through the skeletons in his path.

"And what? Miss out on the fun?" Nya smirked, smacking a few skeletons in the exchange.

"Aww, come on Yosei! I wouldn't survive if I didn't know your condition!" Kaseko said, kicking a few skeletons in the back as well.

While the three were fighting the skeletons in the front, the two larger skeletons maneuvered through the fight to the back of the Four Weapons shop, before noticing a piece of paper on the back of the sign.

"Kruncha! Look! The map to the Golden Weapons!" the eye-patched skeleton said, grabbing the paper as well as a sword off to the side of one of the mannequins. "We've got this, now, let's kill things!"

"Nuckal! We aren't here to kill!" Kruncha thwacked Nuckal's head, before picking up an axe from the floor. "We're here for the map! And," He looked outside the shop, to find the siblings and Kazeko about to finish off the last of the skulkin soldiers soon. "to grab some potential students for the Lord…" He finished, returning to the fight with Nuckal tailing behind him.

Kai and Nya ended up finishing the last skeleton together. Panting from the exertion all three had with the fight, they prepared themselves to start fighting the leader of the skeletons when Samukai launched himself in the middle, bringing up his four swords with a cruel smirk.

"Oh, great Dragoness." All three had thought as they saw the skeleton pull out the swords. Immediately, they tried to swarm him on all sides, only to be thrown off by Samukai's attack. Immediately, they all fell to the ground, Kai's sword flying out of his hands, while Nya's and Kazeko's own daggers flew off as well. They tried to get back up, to continue fighting against the tall and monstrous being, before a golden tornado suddenly intercepts them and the hulking brute, taking it head on!

"NINJA-GO!" the tornado yelled, sounding exactly like the old man from earlier. The tornado kept up a pretty good fight, though it seemed like he was losing to the monster of a skeleton to the trio. Immediately, they grabbed their lost weapons to fight with once again.

"Wu! I knew you'd be here… You're quite rusty with your Spinjitsu!" The leader stated, pushing the tornado back from him.

"Nothing like using bone to sharpen my blades, Samukai." The tornado – Wu – stated, breaking both the standoff and his tornado to reveal the old man from earlier. He eyed the three near him – and the water tower right by their house. Seemed Samukai noticed the water tower as well, as he smirked while looking in the direction the trio were.

"You can only save one, Wu." Samukai said, before throwing one of his blades at the water tower base, breaking it clean in half. Kai, Nya, and Kazeko looked up to the tower, before realizing what the monstrous skeleton had done. Immediately, Wu revved up his Spinjitsu once again.

"Ninja—GO!" Wu said, taking the trio away as best he could, pulling all three in as the water tower fell to the ground. Because of Wu's velocity, he accidentally threw Nya and Kazeko out of the spin. Nuckal and Kruncha came in soon after, holding the map of the Four Weapons in his hands.

Samukai, noticing the map in Kruncha's hands, immediately retreated to his big truck. "Take the girls! Lord Garmadon needs them!" he yelled to his subordinates, loud enough for Wu to hear over his oldness.

"Lord Garmadon?" Wu asked in surprise, not noticing Samukai ordering Nuckal to capture both Nya and Kazeko from his grasp.

"No! Nya! Kimijuna!" Kai yelled, about to jump onto the skeleton vehicle before they left, but they dashed off before he could go after them. Nevertheless, Kai tried to pursue, 'try' being the keyword, as Wu grabbed the back of his shirt to keep him from chasing after the girls. "Kimijura! NYAAAAAAA!" he collapsed then, a look of horror and fear across his face. "They took my sister and my Kimijuna…" Kai's eyes watered as the thought crossed his mind—the one thing he never expected to happen, happened. Now, he was alone… and about to be thwacked by Wu for not listening to him.

"As I said, useless." Wu stated, before thwacking Kai in the head. Kai immediately became furious at the elder man.

"You—You obviously know more than I! Why didn't you use that twisty-jutsu thingy—"

"Spinjitsu."

"Who cares what it's called! You didn't save my family!" Kai got up then, his heart burning in rage and fear that shone in his eyes. Wu hummed over the look as Kai continued. "I'm going to save them." Wu stepped in front of him then, a glower in his face as he explained the situation.

"Those skeletons are called the Skulkin, Kai. They live in a world where we cannot travel to." Wu turned to Kai carefully. "The four-armed beast you saw there was Samukai, the King of the Skulkin. If it's true that Garmadon has taken control of the Skulkin, then I believe things are direr than I thought…"

Kai couldn't take it anymore. "Garmadon? Skulkin? Nothing matters more than my own sister and my own girl! I can't leave them in those—those monsters— What did we have that was so important to them, and why did they take my family and kimijuna?" If there was tears in his eyes, Kai ignored them for a near snarl of rage.

Wu looked at Kai in distain, before ranting about the world to the poor, angered blacksmith the entire world's history and his family… Each bit separated by death, and miserable fate…

Meanwhile, in another location…

Snow covered the expanse as two figures walked along the long-covered road, their breaths stolen by the howling blasts of wind. The white seemed endless, what little light that could break through the harsh cloud cover lighted the figure's shadows along the path. While the figures remained in their human-like shapes (despite their darkened clothing), the shadows that could be seen had horns and tiny, bat-like wings – which neither of the two seemed to have. The figures had been walking towards a village far away from the place that housed their kind, and they couldn't be more grateful for it. The slightly taller, with the horn in their shadow being on the left of their head, stopped for a moment, their counterpart stopping as well.

The smaller figure tilted their head, their horn in the shadow becoming longer as they moved to the left. "What's up?" they asked, their voice having a feminine hint to it.

"…Lost the scent…" The other said, voice croaked from the harsh winter around the two. The male-sounding figure sighed, before looking at the other carefully. "At this rate, we may not find that map…"

The two both sighed at the idea, puffs of white coming out of their mouths as they looked to where they thought their location was. Suddenly, the feminine-sounding figure started to shiver forcefully.

"You shouldn't stay out for too long, then." A third voice stated, causing the two figures to suddenly turn around and bring out their hands out, bright balls of green and lavender brightening up the snow venomously. Both figures looked to see a young, darkly clad child with a purple streak in her dark hair. Her dark chocolate eyes shone in mirth as she watched the two figure's faces change from fear to recognition.

"No way…" the figures both said, not noticing that the weather had cleared up fully – revealing the two as twins: the male sounding figure having blonde hair and red eyes, and the feminine sounding figure having brown hair with pink eyes. They both looked to each other, their light skin reflecting off the light in their hands, before looking back toward the smaller, almost dead looking kid.

"Lloyd," The girl said, looking at the male carefully. She then turned toward the young girl. "Rei… Want to see Papa?" the child asked, her mouth twitching to a semblance of a smile – hard to tell with the bone mask that covered her face. Immediately, the two – Lloyd and Rei – relaxed, the balls of green and lavender light disappearing immediately.

"Spectra? W-what do you mean see Dad?" The male – Lloyd – asked, his horn and wings suddenly appearing to the girl. The brown-haired girl – Rei – did the same, revealing that her horn was on the right side of her head.

"If you don't remember, Grissie, we can't enter that world – not like you can." Rei stated, her voice getting grumpier in frustration.

Spectra gave Rei a look, before returning to her cheerful state. "Don't worry! Papa taught me how to take more than one person into the portal! I can take you right now, if you want?" She asked carefully, knowing that the two wouldn't want to pass it up for the world.

As expected, the two had thought for a moment, before nodding. With a battle axe given to her by the Skullkin, Spectra instantly cleaved the ground, allowing the three people to pass through safely without incident. The only thing that was left of the three's existence was the mark left by the axe, which had gotten eaten up with the storm that returned.

The next day, halfway up the Mountains of Impossible Height…

Kai grunted as he climbed up the mountain, wondering whomever had the bright idea to try climbing up an impossibly tall mountain range just to prove themselves. Then, the brunette reminded himself that he had been the one to decide that, after the conversation with Wu last night. Speaking of which, where was—

"Patience, young Firestarter." Wu stated, leaving Kai in the dust momentarily as he breezed through the climbing. Right, they were talking about the agency of their mission, considering that the Skullkin stole the map and Kai's sibling and girlfriend. They reached the top, to find a beautiful, intricate monastery made what looked to be out of marble, with red roofing and a red door decorated with golden dragon symbols. Dragon heads made up the door handles, their mouths carrying a ring to pull on as Wu did. "You will be ready, when you are ready. Not a minute sooner." Wu then looked to the stunned Kai, before moving toward an intricate golden dragon statue beside the main entrance to the building.

"Are… Are we really fighting in a place of peace?" Kai asked, wondering if the feelings he had were for disturbing the serene area.

"Not fighting, training." Wu said, as if that made it any better. "Firestarter, in order to become a true ninja, you must first be able to see what others do not." Kai noticed the title that Wu had given him that moment, about to question Wu on the title.

"Wait, why are you calling me—"

Then, the elder suddenly pulled the hand of the dragon statue, causing a massive line of deadly turnabouts and spinning dummies to surface in the monastery's courtyard, startling Kai. In the middle was a carousel outfitted with many deadly, poking things – and a couple of outfitted dummies. Kai couldn't help but be amazed at the machinery involved, as every bit of the contraption spun around with the rotation of the carousel.

"Woah!" Kai awed, momentarily forgetting his question. "Is this how you're going to teach me that spinny thing?" the brunette asked, getting up toward the poles that were bobbing up and down, managing to land on one before it threw the former blacksmith off.

"Complete the training course before I finish my tea." Wu stated, slurping the hot beverage for extra effect as he winced at Kai's failure. "Unfortunately, today you've failed. We'll start again tomorrow." The elder man stated, before retiring back into the monastery in full. Kai looked to the so-called wise man in confusion, picking himself up and dusting himself off.

In the Underworld…

Wearily, Nya carefully opened her eyes, her head pounding and her back sore from resting on rocks. Her mind caught the smell of ancient blood and an undead sense of smell, suddenly making the raven-haired girl to cough loudly out of her slumber. As soon as she did, Nya recognized the layout of the place – dark, forboding place, the walls splattered with dried blood and a musky, tomb-like scent. Nya shivered as she looked beyond her cell – for how she could not see the bone bars keeping her captive in this region? – and found the young girl who made her brother happy in a cell opposite from hers. Kazeko looked forlorn over the whole situation, her body leaning on the bone bars as she peered off in the distance. Immediately, Nya sprang to her feet, reaching her own bars and trying to get Kaze's attention.

"Mach! Are you okay?" Nya frantically asked, worried about her good friend's odd look. Despite how she felt about Kazeko dating her brother, Nya knew that whatever was going on with them both was less important than their situation. Kazeko seemed to think the same, as she looked to Nya with a relieved smile on her face.

"Junebug! I'm glad you're awake!" Kazeko happily said, her face brightening up. "All I had to talk to was my own shadow, and you know how much a conversationalist she is." She giggled at her own remark, causing Nya to chuckle a bit as well. "Nya…" Kazeko said solemnly, reminding Nya of the situation. "Can't you feel it? the call of… something in this place, talking to us…"

"Kaze, what –" As soon as Nya asked the question, a soothing melody that sounded like waves entered her head, almost overtaking her thoughts. "W-what is that?" She asked, freaking out over the siren's call.

"I-I don't…" Kazeko tried to plug her ears, feeling an almost flute-like, excited song in her own head.

"Ah, I see both the Watersiren and the Windfarer have awakened…" A gravely, disturbing voice called out to the two, quieting the songs in their heads. "To think, that you two would be where the Firestarter was as well. As much as I would have loved to take him along, his sense of Justice would have shut out anything I told him…" The figure was at the entrance of the cells, an armoured samurai helmet rested on his head. Black skin covered most of his body, his ribs outlining his chest badly. The only other article of clothing the newcomer had was torn gi pants, burnt and shredded from something – yet kept together to keep the man's dignity. His red eyes glowed with an air of malicious intent yet shone with a hint of fatherly love. The markings on his face, on the other hand, made the intent stand out more than anything else.

"Who – who the Grand Oni are you?" Nya was the first to ask, her expression barely hiding the fear she felt from the man. Kazeko looked over the man's shoulder to find two kids behind him, both looking erringly similar…

"I am Lord Garmadon, my dear Watersiren…" The being – Garmadon – stated, looking at her carefully and gesturing to the figure behind him for something. "And you two are going to become part of my own little group, as long as you have this…" As soon as it was placed in his hand, Garmadon revealed a beautiful, untarnished silver naginata to Nya, reveling in the look of awe and wonder as it sang the soothing song it had sung for her. Behind him, the two figures looked over to Kazeko, revealing themselves to be Lloyd and Rei from earlier.

"Don't think you're getting out of this yet, Miss Windfarer." Lloyd smirked, holding up silver gloves with a compartment that contained beautiful, claw-like sais. "Can't have you running back to your boyfriend without being trained to fight him, too." He winked at Kazeko, knowing she was too busy looking at the sais to hear what he just said. However, Nya did hear him.

"Wait, what do you mean—"

Garmadon took back the naginata – as did Lloyd with the sais – when both girls tried to grab the now-shrieking weapons. "The weapons are useless without knowledge of their corresponding elements, that's what makes them the Silver Weapons that helped shape the world." He winked to Rei, before looking back at Nya's seeking gaze. "When I start your training, you will be bound to a specific contract that I have outlined to all the Weapons when I was dragged down. I'd hate to think how'd you be if you fail it…" He warned the two, before immediately throwing the naginata into Nya's cell, allowing the spell to take effect as she touched the Silver Weapon. Lloyd did the same, shoving the gloves into Kazeko's awaiting hands and watching the effects of his father's magic take place. The magic roared around the two, binding them to the clause that Garmadon had threatened the two as it swarmed around them. When it died down, the two had looked no different than they had been before, save for the hint of a few markings lining their dominant hands - Garmadon's head as a symbol in black ink.

"Oh, my head…" Nya said once the smoke cleared, feeling a sense of protect them, help them swelling in her mind. Immediately, she looked to Lloyd and Rei, the both of whom looking at her expectantly, and bowed silently. "I swear on this Weapon, I'll make sure to see you safe." Her voice droned on, but a hint of relief came when she saw the two smiling excitedly.

"Dad! The spell worked!" Rei excitedly yelped, jumping up and down as they saw Kazeko mimic what Nya did as well.

"Good, good. My Defenders, rise." The two rose, still looking at his charges with a fondness he wished he could express. "We'll begin your training; better to show you how to better protect my children, then using magic to immediately learn it." Garmadon immediately took the hands of his eldest son and daughter, a soft, non-villainous feeling as the three turned to stride out of the cells, the new guards following behind them.

Three weeks after, at the top of the Mountains of Impossible Height…

Kai grunted as he went through the training regimen from Yomi once again, his face contorted into a visage scowling at the carousel of death. His thoughts at how the first bit of training went sprung to mind, and the many failures that he endured before he managed to figure out the system. The first five times, Kai failed at the start, with the bamboo shooting him out into the air. The next week, Kai had failed at the carousel of death with it's merciless dummies, having ended up being knocked back as soon as he hit the side of the carousel instead. The past week, he managed to get past those things, only to nearly get skewered by the spears that were being shot out (luckily, they were just bamboo sticks, but Kai was starting to get hit too many times to tell). And all those moments rounded to Wu immediately finishing his drink before Kai could get up again. Now, Kai had a plan to keep Wu from failing him on the spot, but it needed the precise moment…

There! Just as Wu sat down to start drinking his tea, Kai immediately threw a rock into his cup, shattering the cremated beverage holder and forcing Wu to get up to get another one. Immediately, Kai took the opportunity to take the course again, this time getting through each part of the course with tremendous ease. Like a house cat, he gracefully moved with the motions of the course, keeping himself steady on the shooting bamboo, and frolicking – yes, frolicking – through the carousel of death like a jaguar ready to strike. Kai smirked as he gallivanted like a cheetah through the maze of buzz saws and maces, before finally pouncing on the last dummy like the tiger he was meant to be, arriving back at the start just as Wu absently looked for his missing teapot. With the smirk of a content lion, Kai held up the teapot in his hands, his smirk growing bigger as Wu realized what he had done.

"Was it one sugar, or two?" Kai asked smarmily, amber eyes alight with mirth. Wu couldn't help but be proud of how the young boy handled the course. Kai immediately gave the master the teapot back, watching as Wu poured a cup of green tea for both himself and the excited student.

"Well done, Firestarter." Wu congratulated, giving Kai his own cup before sipping his drink. "You've managed to pass, and the fastest I've seen!" He gave a wink at the boy, before going on. "We'll start looking for the Golden Weapons tomorrow. Go and get some rest." With that, Wu immediately brought Kai up into the monastery, taking the tea-set he had with him.

"H-huh? But what about teaching me Spinjitsu?" Kai asked, bewildered that Wu put him through a course for three weeks without teaching him anything.

"You've already learnt it." Wu cryptically said, puzzling Kai further. "For now, get some rest. We've got a big day tomorrow." Wu retreated to his room, far away from Kai's bemusement and questioning voice.

Later, at night…

Heart a little unsure, but the feeling of the creature he awakened in his head never left him as Kai got ready for bed, feeling antsy over the cryptic message left by Wu. In his fire-red pyjamas, Kai carefully took his toothbrush and cleansed his teeth of any disease or germs in his mouth. The words of his master echo through his mind, making the feeling in his heart ignite with a sense of anger.

"Get some sleep? How about I don't!" Kai angerly said, before throwing a series of moves about with his toothbrush as his practice weapon. In his frustration, he barely noticed the door to his room opening, allowing a dark-clothed figure to enter his room. "Let's go!" Kai thrusted his make-shift sword into an imaginary enemy—possibly Samukai—as the figure settled into place. Another dark-clothed figure entered through Kai's open window, pulling out a pair of shuriken's and waiting for the moment to strike. "I want to save her!" Kai punctuated that last bit with another thrust of the tooth brush, only to hit a dark-clothed ninja behind him… one with a very big, very sharp scythe in his hands.

The fire died inside of him, as Kai realized the situation that was about to happen. "Oh…" he said, uncharacteristically softly.

***Part 1 End***