"I demand all the candy in town, or else!" Lloyd exclaimed. Despite his best attempts, the poor kid didn't even sound a hair's width of threatening.

"Lloyd Garmadon?" Jay questioned and tilted his head with an incredulous look on his face; although hidden by his Ninja mask. He looked over to his teammates for an answer to his question in hopes they could ease his complete and utter confusion. "I thought we were gonna face Lord Garmadon." Jay continued on, putting emphasis on the lord of darkness' given name.

Cole sighed.

"It's his son." Cole told the Blue Ninja. "Looks like he escaped his boarding school for bad boys again."

"Dare I ask how you know that?" Silver queried as she shot Cole a look.

"I've met the brat a few times." Cole folded his arms. "I will tell you it wasn't pleasant. That's all there is to say on the matter."

"Great." Silver muttered. She dragged a hand down her face. "Just what we need. Especially after all that getting psyched up for another REAL battle."

"Yeah," Cole agreed. He marched forward, his teammates in tow. He punched the air a few times to add significance to his next words. "and to think we could have been doing Spinjitzu already."

Lloyd, now formerly introduced as Lord Garmadon's son, seemed to lose any confidence he had built up in pint-size person. He stood four and half feet tall, shuffled his high-top; sneaker-clad feet, then tried again. However, as the villagers gathered around him, he couldn't help but feel several pairs of eyes on him -boring into him - in a disbelieving manner. The villagers looked relieved; humored even. None of this was going according to plan.

"Uh, give me your candy!" Lloyd screeched and tossed his hands into the air. "Or else I'll release the Serpentine on you!"

The villagers jeered in response. The Ninja joined them silently, not saying a word about this misdemeanor.

Lloyd tried to project fear, only for it backfire when his plan to launch rubber snakes into the crowd only resulted in multiple rocks, pebbles, and even garbage of the like to be tossed at him. He dodged a few, frowned when one hit his head, and growled angrily at the villagers.

"Unh! No, wait!" Lloyd exclaimed as he tossed the lid to his can-o-snakes prank on the dirt ground. "I asked for candy, not vegetables. I hate vegetables!"

Standing next to his teammates, Kai scooped up a nearby green, toy serpent and waved it around as if to test it for realism. Upon figuring out it held no threat, Kai shook his head with a deep, deep sigh. He wasn't the only one to be doing that. Silver took the snake from Kai for a moment, examined it, then returned it Kai's hands after thoroughly discovering the same thing he had. The serpent was useless.

"He's gonna have to do a lot better than use and old bedtime story to scare people." Kai concluded as he slung-shot the rubber snake to another part of the village. Cole followed it with his eyes, then glared at Kai in disapproval. The Fire Ninja didn't even flinch.

"The Serpentine are real, Kai." Zane chided. "They are not something to joke about."

"Serpentine? Real?" Kai asked in an unbelieving tone. "We're talking about the ancient race of snake people who once ruled Ninjago, and were supposedly locked underground?"

"Uh, sealed in five different tombs to separate the warring tribes and ensure they don't unify to exact their revenge upon those who put them there." Jay whimpered fearfully as he gestured to the air in five different spots to represent the five species.

"It was old wives' tale," Kai pointed out. "to teach kids not to poke our noses where they don't belong."

"Yeah, a real one." Silver interjected. "This may sound dumb, but again with the stories from Sensei Wu. He was alive during the Serpentine Wars. He knows all about it and will say the same exact thing everyone else here is telling you. That the Serpentine are real, and you shouldn't take that old wives' tale lightly. It's a serious matter."

"But don't you think it's a little suspicious no one's ever found one of their tombs?" Kai argued.

"That's because you'd be a fool to look for one." Cole shut down Kai's point, then lead his team over to take care of the brat causing mayhem in Jamanakai village. "If there was anything I hated more than dragons, it was snakes. Rubber or not."

Cole reached forward and yanked Lloyd so the boy was slung over his shoulder lazily. Lloyd writhed in Cole's grasp, who didn't let up. "Nothing to see here." Cole announced the crowd and carried the young boy past his teammates and down a random street. The Earth Ninja looked around, hoping to find a suitable punishment.

"Bow down to me or suffer my wrath!" Lloyd screeched from Cole's shoulder. He pounded his tiny fists against against Cole's back, who pretended to not even notice Lloyd's determination to escape. Cole continued sweeping the area for something he could busy the kid with, and fortunately found one just as his teammates began to consider the same thing. Lloyd, on the other hand, was having none of this. "I'll give you to count of three. One, two..."

Lloyd lifted his head and glared at the Fire Ninja who suggested something.

"What are we supposed to do?" Kai asked as Lloyd's scarlet eyes narrowed threateningly. For a moment Kai faltered as he remembered that was the same shade of eyes Lord Garmadon had. But then Kai recalled that Lloyd was also only eight or nine at youngest, and the worst a brat like him could inflict would be intense screaming and empty threats. "Spank him?

"Two and a half!"


Lloyd shouted and thrashed on the flagpole where Cole had hung him seconds prior. He reached back to unsnap his cloak from the storefront. The sign was appropriately, yet still publicly humiliatingly, painted a bright yellow to attract attention and labeled in blocky letters: Tod Baby. Lloyd grit his teeth in frustration as he lashed out multiple times in failed attempts to free himself from humiliation's dreaded clutches. But his desperate endeavor to end his almighty shame and indignity was to no avail. Garmadon's kid wouldn't ever live this moment down. So instead, he made the most of it.

"You just made me your nemesis!" Lloyd declared. "Mark my words, you'll pay for this!"

Due to the ridiculousness of the entire ordeal, the five Ninja, who were entirely the opposite of Lloyd's position, burst into hysterical laughter. The villagers, happening to be in the same position, also took it upon themselves to laugh. They tossed insults and giggled and snorted; finding Lloyd's misfortune entirely amusing. They enjoyed this to the fullest extent and automatically assumed that this is what happens to a kid who acts out in society. Parents take note: the threat of public mortification is how you get your kids to behave.

The first one to end his laughing fit was Zane, who stepped forward with a bit of money and bought all the candy at the a la carte and handed off the sweets to his teammates. A lollipop for Cole; cotton candy for Jay; for Silver a few bits of chocolate; The last little bit went to Kai and Zane who held an assortment of taffies and small suckers in their hands.

"Next time, try paying for your candy." Cole advised as he fit the medium lollipop sucker into his mouth.

"Money might not buy happiness," Silver commented; chewing chocolate as she went. "but it can buy sweet things. That's your key."

"Crime doesn't pay, *Shōnen." Kai shouted up to the squirming troublemaker. "You can take that to the bank."

"Mm, cotton candy." Jay hummed as tore a piece of fluff from the cone.

In response, Lloyd growled incoherently and wriggled around more, shaking a fist angrily. He'd have his revenge.

Oh, yes. No one gets away with disgracing Lloyd Garmadon without a price.

The Ninja would pay sorely for their mistakes.


Kai sauntered over to Flame's underside and adjusted his bag. Upon being sure it was secure on Flame's carrier, he attempted to leap back onto Flame's back, only for his foot to snag on the strap and round cylinder to go tumbling out of the bag. It landed on the rocky earth with a clatter, almost getting wet with the melted snow that topped Jamanakai village's high altitude. Before going any further, Zane scooped up the object and examined it. Kai, in curiosity, leaped down to see what fell out of his person.

"Huh?" He inquired. He took the object from Zane's hands. Upon doing so, he found it was a scroll. "I don't remember putting that here."

"That is Sensei's bag." Zane pointed out helpfully. "You must have accidentally took it in the rush."

Jay and Silver found this discovery puzzling worthy, and joined the other two to get a closer look. They gathered around as Kai unfurled the parchment.

"What is it?" Jay asked.

"It's a scroll, windbag." Kai insulted. This left Jay highly miffed.

"Correction. I'm zaptrap. Silver is windbag." Jay commented. Silver made a face that displayed protest and warning if he went any further. "Besides, I know it's a scroll. But what does it say? It's written in chicken scratch."

"Not chicken scratch." Zane corrected. "The ancient language of our ancestors."

Kai turned to the Ice Ninja with a start.

"Can you read it?" He asked.

"Well, I can try." Zane answered. He felt unsure in his position of translating Ancient Ninjean. The task would be tricky at best. Zane narrowed his eyes, and pointed to a marking on the page. "This symbol means 'prophecy'"

"Prophecy?" Silver asked shakily; unaware that Jay had asked the same thing she did. Zane took note of her pale complexion as all the color drained from her face. Silver clenched her gloved hands tightly and swallowed a growing lump in her throat.

"It means it tells the future." Kai responded and raised an eyebrow.

"Of course." Jay laughed and tossed his head back, causing his auburn hair to fall in his face. "I knew that."

"Ah, I understand what prophecy means, Kai." Silver rolled her eyes when Jay wasn't looking and moved to stand outside of Kai's peripheral vision. "It has to do with premonitions and fortune telling and fate deciding the outcome of all things. You should put that down while you have the chance. Whatever this so called 'prophecy' is about, probably isn't a good thing. Since the First Spinjitzu Master's scrolls always tend to pretty much be 100% accurate when it comes to predicting future events, I'm warning you. Put that scroll away; it's bad news."

"And you would know?" Kai accused.

"Yes, I would;" Silver snarked and pulled the scroll down from Kai's eyes. She glared at him; fiercely cautioning Kai on his next move. "or did you forget that I have been Sensei Wu's student since I was nine? That's five years not counting my disappearance. Five. Years. More. Of Ninjutsu training and living in that monastery than you. I'm familiar with prophecies, and I will say it again. Do not continue reading further on in that parchment. You will regret it."

"Whatever." Kai disregarded any deterrents Silver had just set up. He rolled the scroll open further to find the symbols fading into a picture of six figures. Each one resembled a person in the following colors: red, blue, black, white, grey, and... green? "Uh, Zane. Continue, please."

Silver through her hands up and shot Kai an incredulous look with her sharp, blue eyes; which had lost their former mischievous spark.

"Did he not hear anything I just told him?" Silver's mouth was slightly agape as her hands fell to her side in a clenched fashion.

"One Ninja will rise above the others," Zane ignored Silver's reprimanding look and the words she spoke next.

"Kai. Tell him to stop translating." Silver hissed. Kai pretended not to notice. "It will tear this team apart."

"and become the Green Ninja." Zane continued on. "The Ninja destined to defeat the dark lord."

"Dark lord?" Kai questioned and examined the parchment with a newfound interest. "Hold on. You think they mean Lord Garmadon? Wait a minute, is that us?"

"I don't know, Kai." Silver quipped sarcastically. "How about you put two and two together and just forget about it?"

"Uh, no." Kai smirked. "Is anyone else thinking what I'm thinking?"

Jay scoffed with a smile.

"Like how good I'm gonna look in green?"

"Oh, First Spinjitzu Master." Silver sighed in defeat. "Here we go." Silver's shoulders tensed and her teeth were pressed together behind her lips. I've got to stop this.

"Ha!" Kai snapped. "Isn't it obvious I'm going to be the Green Ninja?"

"Will you all shut up about the stupid Green Ninja?" Silver dismissed the prophecy with an angry scowl.

"The color obviously suits me." Jay poked with a devious smile.

"Technically, I am the best." Zane started in the argument.

"Everyone, stop it!" Cole suddenly exclaimed and tore his team's attention away from the scroll. He snatched the papyrus from Kai's hands and rolled it up tightly. "Remember why Sensei brought us together in the first place: we're a team. Silver's right, we can't focus on this. It'll tear us apart. We weren't meant to see this and probably for good reason. Come on, let's head back home. We have training to do."

Cole motioned to his team, who all started towards their respective dragons. The others mumbled reluctantly, leaving them with buzzing minds and a guilty conscience.

"It's about time I added some finesse to my routine." Jay admitted quietly from the saddle on Wisp's back.

"Well, I could use some exercise." Zane followed up.

"A booster to my Spinjitzu would be good." Silver agreed.

"Yeah," Cole encouraged them all. Although on the inside he felt just as distraught about the prophecy. "I've gotta work on some new moves."

With that, the dragons lifted into the air and soared over Jamanakai village to return back to the Monastery of Spinjitzu. Kai was the only one who had yet to start Flame on his wing beat.

"Could I be the Green Ninja?" Kai wondered aloud.


A/N:

Hails: You'll probably want an explanation.

*Shōnen: The Japanese word for boy. Muchacho also means boy (which is Spanish), but I figured something Asian would be more suited for a show about Ninja. Also, I tried to find the best word suited for replacement, and came up with stuff like "otoko no ko." If someone here knows better than I do which words work better (shōnen or otoko no ko) please correct me because I am horrible at Japanese. It's a really complicated language.