A/N:
Hails: Let's do this. All feedback is appreciated. Feel free to leave a review so I know what to change or improve.
Previously on Ninjago:
Long before time had a name, the first Spinjitzu Master created Ninjago using four elemental weapons.
But when he passed, a dark presence sought out to collect them all: Lord Garmadon.
So I, Sensei Wu, his brother, sought out to find four Ninja to collect them first.
Kai: The Master of Fire. With flames and a temper so hot that with proper training he could could melt even steel.
Jay: The Master of Lightning. With speed so fast and endurance so great, he has the potential to control lightning storms.
Silver: The Master of Wind. So agile and lithe that the wind carries her wherever she pleases. She could tame roaring winds.
Zane: With a coolness under pressure and intellect that puts him at an advantage, he could possibly freeze even an erupting volcano.
Cole: Who's rock hard will, leadership, and connection to the Earth could cause thundering earthquakes as it is in his very nature.
Sensei Wu meditated in peace, where took part in listening to his students training. He sat before the spirit smoke, a burning incense that allowed him to see things that others could not. The ability of premonition.
"Fire strike!" Kai's voice resonated into Sensei Wu's room, causing him to open his eyes in curiosity. So soon? He couldn't have discovered such power after such a short amount of time. "Oh, my gosh, is that greatest move you've ever seen?"
"Stop trying to do it yourself." Cole's voice came next. "We need to attack as a team."
Sensei Wu stood from the smoke, and went to peer into the training area outside. To his surprise, the training course was not in use. It was completely idle and unused since the battle against Lord Garmadon. But the Sensei could've sworn- oh wait. No. Never mind. He knew exactly what they were doing.
"Zane, why are you wasting your special attack on me?" Jay whined from within the game room. "You have to save it!"
Sensei shook his head and wandered down a separate hall to the game room the Ninja had decided to become at home in. He slid open the door to hear Jay and Zane going at it. Jay kind of loudly, and Zane rather intelligently. The other three Ninja ignored them and continued their attack on the boss monster on the screen. Silver smiled and cheered on the others, while the four boys played the game.
The game room was a mess. There were strewn about pizza boxes and the golden weapons laid lazily near their owners. Sensei Wu could pick up the strong scent of oil misting the room in it's clouding stench.
"Fantastic. I'm out of lives." Jay snarled.
"But the lesson lives on," Zane countered. "and I am getting the hang of it. "
There was an excited shout from Kai and Silver. The Ninja were so engrossed in their video game that they didn't even notice Sensei Wu go stealthily past them (in front of the screen, mind you).
"Okay, now!" Cole gave the cue and the others roared in excitement that the boss was down to ten HP from it's former 1000. Now Nine HP. Five HP. One more hit point! At that moment the screen switched off to a black, blank space.
"What? What happened!" Jay stared at the screen with his jaw dropped in disbelief. Sensei Wu held up the plug to the game console to show his actions. This elicited multiple groans from all five of his students.
"It was just getting good." Silver protested.
"It took us three hours to get there!" Cole exclaimed.
"Why would you do that?" Jay hissed at his teacher angrily. "Why?"
"Just because Lord Garmadon escaped through a vortex doesn't mean he won't return one day for the Golden Weapons of Spinjitzu." Sensei Wu explained. He felt a pang of disappointment for his students lack of action to prepare for that battle. Seeing them in such a state, he wondered what had happened along the way to creating this generation act so calm and relaxed despite the lord of evil still being at large.
"But Sensei Wu, ever since he's been gone, Ninjago has had nothing but peace." Zane was the first to speak up. Jay soon followed up in agreement.
"Yeah, peace is boring." He argued. "There's no one to save. There's nothing to do."
"He makes an excellent point, Sensei." Silver nodded her head.
"Silver." Wu shook his head in disapproval. "I've trained you years longer than these boys. You of all people know that training is essential. Especially since you've been out of the game for over a year."
Silver pursed her lips, knowing that Sensei beat her in this round of word disputing.
"We can train tomorrow." Cole laid down on the ground lackadaisically with his arms folded behind his head.
"Never put off until tomorrow what can be done today." Sensei Wu started the beginning of one of his lessons.
"Well, I was gonna eat this pizza tomorrow," Cole trailed off with a slice of pizza in his hand. His interpretation of the lesson left Wu on the opposite end of amused. "so if that's the case..."
Wu wasted no time in kicking the slice from Cole's hand hard enough that it landed in the hallway. Cole grumbled with an annoyed expression as he rubbed his hand from the sudden force that hit it to kneed discomfort away.
"No pizza for you." Sensei Wu said punishingly. "In order to reach your full potential, you must train."
Kai, having heard this lecture about true potential before and what not, spoke up.
"Uh, remember when we did a little thing called the Tornado of Creation?" Kai gestured his hands in whirling motion. "I thought that was pretty insane."
"Oh." Sensei Wu sighed, shaking his head again. He gazed around at his students. "You four have merely scratched the surface of your full potential. There are still so many secrets you have to yet to unlock. You haven't even begun to tap into what powers your golden weapons hold."
"You wanna talk secret powers?" Cole started on a disrespectful note as he wielded the Scythe of Quakes. "Check this out."
He maneuvered the golden scythe to plug the console back in. The TV flipped back on, revealing the title screen of the game and music started pouring out of the speakers. His male teammates each grabbed a controller and cheered eagerly with Cole's smart Alec move. Sensei Wu stroked his beard in a soothing manner as he coped with the unpreparedness of his students. Zane quickly picked up on his teacher's unease.
"Don't worry, master." He said soothingly. "We will be ready when Lord Garmadon returns."
Unfortunately contradictory was a frequent visitor within the Monastery of Spinjitzu today. Nya came bursting into the game room, panic tainting her voice as she spoke rapidly.
"Guys! Lord Garmadon, he's returned!" Nya took a deep breath before choking out the last of her sentence. She didn't even notice when Sensei Wu froze; fearing for his students. "He was spotted approaching Jamanakai Village!"
The Ninja scrambled to get out the door; tripping over each other as they made clumsy moves for their weapons and gear. Nya folded her arms disapprovingly, snatched up the Nunchucks of Lightning for Jay who had just finished lacing up his combat boots, and handed them over to the Blue Ninja.
"T-thanks! Uh..." Jay trailed off, then snapped back into reality from la-la land when Nya yelled at him.
"Hurry!"
"Okay!"
Jay trailed the other four out the door as fast as he could, and the team, high on adrenaline, were at the Dragon Keep in seconds. They opened the doors and were climbing onto their dragons; albeit clumsily and lacking grace. Cole dropped his scythe while hopping onto Rocky; Jay literally bounced off of Wisp's head after leaping too far. This resulted in waking up the lightning dragon who shot him a look of 'are you kidding me?' The Ninja were soon followed by Sensei Wu and Nya, the latter of which went to aid her brother. She looked at Kai longingly as he jumped onto Flame's back.
"Can I help?" Nya asked hopefully.
"Sorry, sis, where we go, danger abounds. This is a job for the Ninja." Kai spoke firmly in denial. But as he went to grab the reigns for Flame, he turned to his sister sheepishly upon realization that he couldn't reach them. "Uh... Uh, a little help? Heh."
Nya, with an annoyed expression, handed Kai the reigns.
With that last move the five dragons took off into the sky with their respective owners steering them in the direction of Jamanakai village.
Still at the dragon keep, Nya stood by Sensei with a curious gaze on the elder man.
"Will they ever reach their full potential?" She asked.
"In time." Sensei Wu hummed as he started towards the stairs with his staff in hand. "Maybe a long time, but in time."
The elemental dragons soared through the vast sky. The cold wind blew in Ninja's faces and made their eyes sting with it's frosty bite.
"Just like old times, eh, Rocky?" Cole asked his dragon companion. Rocky grunted in response.
"You mean when you were drop dead afraid of dragons and screamed like a little girl whenever Rocky got close?" Silver asked with a snarky tint. A roguish spark made her eyes gleam mischievously. "Oh, yeah. Just like old times."
Cole turned to her and snapped.
"I wasn't talking to you, Silver."
The Wind Ninja only smirked underneath mask.
However, the topic that had been weighing at the back of their heads couldn't be avoided forever. It had been three months since their battle with Skulkin, and they had hardly done anything physical with their bodies in between that time and now. The subject couldn't be avoided any longer, and it had to be said by someone and at sometime. So the first one to speak up about how wise their sensei really is had to say something before their supposed second clash against the lord of darkness.
"You guys believe what Sensei said about unlocking our full potential?"
Wisp - Jay's dragon - increased speed to match it's wing beat with Kai's dragon. He raised an eyebrow and spoke.
"He may be onto something." Jay answered. He detached the Nunchucks of Lightning from the belt tied around his hip and waved them around curiously. "I mean, ever since we got these golden weapons, it's not like we've ever had to use them. I wonder what they do."
Zane steered his dragon - Shard - to join in on the conversation.
"I, for one, look forward to the future." Zane said wisely. He thought back to the battle against Lord Garmadon all those months ago. Although three months seemed like a short time, it occurred to Zane that perhaps spending all his time goofing off had not been a smart choice. How powerful Lord Garmadon could've grown in the space between the time the lord of darkness escaped through a vortex to God knows where and now as they, the Ninja, were flying their dragons at top speed to Jamanakai village. "If there is more for us to accomplish, let it be."
"I agree with you, Zane." Silver nodded her head as she struggled to tie her braid up so her golden locks would be out of the way. When she finished, she held out her hand where an orb of condensed air balanced on the palm of her glove. "Yeah, sure. I can do a little bit. But I'm not nearly as strong as I'd like to be. Especially since you all have golden weapons. This battle against Lord Garmadon could prove to be effective in strengthening our physical prowess as well as elemental abilities."
"I don't know about you," Cole pointed to his group, then punched the center of his hand in a threatening manner; despite his voice taint giving away anxious excitement. "but is anyone else a little excited about battling Lord Garmadon? I've been looking forward to trying out some new Spinjitzu moves. This could be the perfect opportunity."
Jay laughed, feeling his psyche get fired up. His very being buzzed with an elated manner.
"Race you there?" He shouted out. He tussled Wisp's reigns, who jolted forward. He was quickly followed close being by Flame and Gale, and rearing in the back: Shard and Rocky. They spiraled in the sky, and brushed past mountain tops over a blanket of fluffy clouds. Jay glanced out at Kai and Silver momentarily to see they were focused on getting the other to let up in their attempts to go faster.
Kai squinted in hopes to be the first one to find Jamanakai village. To his fortune, and excellent vision, he found the small settlement which was perched upon a mountain of its own.
"Jamanakai Village." Kai whispered. He shot a look at his teammates, then whipped Flame's reigns as he shouted out- "First Ninja there wins!"
The five dragons caught each others' draft and banked left to Jamanakai Village. They dived downward, cascading to the rock below. Their dragons hit the breaks and their claws scraped against the ground. Jay hit the ground at nearly the same time as everyone else.
"Ha! I was first!" Kai jumped up with his hands in the air.
"No!" Jay begged to differ. "No one was faster than me."
"Wrong!" Silver popped up. "I beat you all! Dragon racing champion over here!"
"My feet were down before yours." Cole motioned to the earth below him.
"You are all disillusioned." Zane claimed calmly. "It was clearly me."
Before more thoughts could be expressed on who beat, multiple loud screams from innocent civilians erupted from the nearby village. Pedestrians of every kind could be seen taking cover in houses and shops as they slammed doors and windows in hopes to stay safe from Lord Garmadon. Near the village center a dark shadow could be seen looming over the fountain that allowed Jamanakai Village to stay self-sustained.
The Ninja dashed up to the village, and readied their weapons. Although Silver had no Golden Weapon to call her own, she stayed in a fighting stance with a pair of sais in hand anyway. Kai's breath hitched in his throat as he could hear Garmadon's howling cackle echo in his ears. The reminder from the Temple of Fire was almost too much; almost enough to make him turn back. Instead, he grit his teeth and hissed to his teammates.
"Stay sharp, fellas." Kai encouraged. "Whatever happens, never let your guard down."
"It is I!" A squeaky voice screamed out. At that moment, Kai felt his spirits drop. That didn't sound like Lord Garmadon. The personage was close to that identity though. "Lloyd Garmadon!"
A small boy, of maybe age nine or ten, showed himself from behind the fountain. The boy - Lloyd apparently - wore entirely black for the exception of the green five patched to his dark hoody. A violet sash was tied around his waist, and painted over the chest area of his clothes was a ribcage pattern; as if it mean to resemble a Skulkin warrior from the Underworld. Poking out from the top of his head, thin blond strands of hair were barely visible. His eyes were a sea of red scarlet, much like Lord Garmadon's. His pathetic evil laugh failed to scare a single soul.
Silver was the first to remove her hood, and contradicting Kai's earlier statement, she let her guard down. Eyebrows knit together in bemusement, she spoke the first word on every Ninja's mind.
"What?"
A/N:
Hails: Halfway through writing this, I almost deleted half of the chapter. I nearly screamed.
Stay savvy, my friends.
~Hails