FullMetalPon-3: Haha, that dork. And hey, Jay's dragon side might have grown a liking for all that fish at this point too!
RandomDragon: AT LAST THE RECONCILIATION CHAPTER IS HERE. Gah, this thing was so hard writing and I'm still not 100 percent happy with it but it's as good as I've got right now. Hope you enjoy!
Takawari-Senju-SD29: No one was expecting the Monastery's fate, least all the ninja. Glad you enjoyed!
Previously on Skyward:
'It's unlikely that we will speak again, once you have left. You have received your mission: the Overlord's Dark Matter must be destroyed.'
'To help you accomplish this task, we have talked amongst ourselves and come to a decision. We want to give you our blessings and adopt you into our clans.'
The news was playing, with the reporter on one side of the screen and a still shot of some blurry red thing on the other.
"And once again, our Samurai savior has protected us from another devastating attack of the Serpentine."
They broke through the tree line. All teasing fell silent. Because the Monastery was gone. All that remained of their old home was a heap of charred ruin.
Cole heaved a chunk of wood onto his shoulder. A cloud of dust flew up in his face, setting off a coughing fit. But that's all there seemed to be- just dust and ashes mixed together. "And nothing over here," he reported.
"Keep looking!" Kai shouted back. "There's got to be something here that gives us a clue!"
Cole dropped the plank. He stretched his back, arms overhead, as he looked around at the wreckage. It had been- startling, to say the least, to arrive back at the Monastery and find it in such a state. But the damage wasn't new. That was one thing Cole was certain of.
Too bad the rubble couldn't talk. Cole was sure they knew the story. He lifted another piece, crouching down to see better. There has to be a clue around here somewhere. Out of the five ninja Cole wouldn't call any of them exceptionally good at tracking, but he was still the best at it among them.
There was an abandoned dagger here, looking as if it were made from a tooth or fang. Cole fished it out before letting the beam fall back to the ground. What's this? He turned the blade over in his hands. It was marked with a circular pattern Cole was sure that he'd seen before.
Cole straightened, mind racing. Maybe the rubble didn't need to talk. Everything he needed was here, just begging him to put it together. He looked around the ruined Monastery with new eyes.
How had the fire started? Up until now, they'd assumed it was accidental. What motive would anyone have to trek all the way up the mountain just to light a building on fire? But the more he thought about it, the less it seemed to fit.
"Hey, Kai. Where did the fire start?"
The fire ninja gave him a confused look from the other side of the rubble. "Huh?" He vaulted over a plank, skidding to a stop beside him. "Where did the fire start? What makes you think I know how to tell you that?"
"Because you're the master of fire and so was your dad." Cole rolled his eyes, ignoring the stab of pain in his heart at the word. That had been happening more recently, too. "I'm sure he taught you that kind of thing."
Kai opened his mouth. Closed it. "You know, I wasn't expecting you to say that. But lucky for you, you're right. Hmm." He scanned the remains of the rooms, taking off in a seemingly random direction. "Over here. No, about right here."
"Really? You're sure?"
"Hey, you were the one to ask me for help, right? And yeah, I'm sure. See the burn lines?" He gestured wide. Cole's eyes tracked his arm movement, coming to rest on the black seared into the wood. "They're all moving away from this point. So the fire must have started here."
"Okay. Thanks, Kai." Cole frowned. They were standing in what used to be the training court, right outside the main building. And there were no natural causes of fire anywhere near- no stove, no glue guns, no candles.
Arson, then. Cole found that he wasn't really surprised. And Cole was certain he knew who'd done it. Because that symbol on the dagger- that was the Hypnobrai symbol. The Hypnobrai had come up here, or what was left of them, and burnt the place to the ground most likely in revenge for what Kai and Cole had done to their tribe.
Cole turned to tell the others. But Jay cut him off before he could speak.
"Hey guys, come look at this!"
The lightning ninja was crouched down by yet another pile of debris. The others crowded around him. When Cole came over he saw a lens, like a tiny eye, peeping out from it. He frowned. What's a camera doing here? All of a sudden, the lens turned so it stared straight at Cole. And the little red light at the top of it blinked.
"Get out of the way!"
Cole jumped back, almost before his brain had fully registered Zane's shout. But it was too late. Twin chains sprung from the rubble, wrapping tight around his chest and slamming him back into the posts. Pain bloomed in his chest. His lungs seemed to lock. But Cole had had the wind knocked from him enough times that he knew he just had to grit his teeth and ride it through.
"What was that?" gasped Kai, somewhere off to his left.
"I'm sorry!" Zane sounded miserable. "I had a feeling but I warned all of you too late."
Cole squirmed, but the chains only dug into his skin. "It's not your fault. None of us were expecting an attack."
"Yeah, where did those chains even come from?" Cole looked down. Jay was lying on the ground, his legs trussed up like a bird. Cole added him to his mental tally and ran through it again. His pack still lacked one. Where is-
"There's some sorta launcher over here." Lloyd was squatting down next to the pile. He, apparently, had been lucky enough to escape the attack.
Kai made a lunging motion, only to be stopped by the chains. "Lloyd, get away from there! It could still be loaded!"
Lloyd backed away, but still looked like he wanted to get a closer peek. "I don't think it is," he said. "Please? Can I go look?"
"Oh, let the kid have his fun." Jay scowled, sitting up and glaring at his chained legs. "His reflexes are fast enough that he can get out of the way." Sparks danced at his hands, fizzing out when they touched the chains. "Okay, what the heck?"
"My fire isn't working either." Cole heard hissing sounds, like water hitting coal, from Kai's side. "What are these things made out of?"
"Vengestone." Zane sounded resigned. "Remember what Ice told us about their councils?"
Cole did remember and he cursed. For peace councils, dragons made circles outlined with the rock. It canceled out elemental power for anyone inside them, making it that much easier to prevent a fight. He didn't bother to try and call up his earth powers. Even if they weren't harmful, they wouldn't be worth any help.
"So what do we do now?" asked Kai.
Cole rested his weight against the pillar. "I guess we wait it out. That thing was obviously a camera."
"Obviously," Jay said.
"So someone must be watching it. And if they saw us, they'll be on their way."
Kai made a flame in his palm. It flickered, climbing higher and higher before it vanished in a puff of smoke when it touched the chains. Ugh. Vengestone is the worst!
Kai squirmed in his bonds. Oh, c'mon snakes, just attack us already! I'm tired of waiting. Cole had told them all about the dagger he'd found in the rubble, and Kai would never admit it, but the idea of facing the Hypnobrai general again made his stomach turn unpleasantly.
A hissing noise. Kai jerked, twisting his head this way and that. Finally! He clenched his fists. The noise cut off abruptly. Kai thought that it came from just below the rise of the mountain. No, don't leave. Show yourself, snake! There was a sound like footsteps now and Kai tensed, preparing for a fight.
But it wasn't a Hypnobrai general coming over the hill. It was a figure, armored in red and black and carrying two circular blades.
Chakram, Kai's mind immediately supplied. They're called chakram. A hazy memory popped into his head, of his dad making them for his mom. And where had he seen the red and black armor before? He was sure it looked familiar- oh yeah, that was it! It was that Samurai guy from the noodle shop!
The Samurai stalked over to them. He stopped in front of Kai, still not breaking his silence. Kai reached out and tried to read his emotions. The anger and frustration weren't surprising but- was that happiness? What the heck?
The Samurai reached up. Kai tensed, and so did the rest of the ninja. But his hands only went to his helmet. The mask came off and Kai found himself staring into his sister's eyes.
For a moment his brain shut down. What? The two images in his head couldn't connect. Why is Nya's face in the suit? Then reality came crashing down hard and he choked on a cry.
"Nya?"
Kai's heart leaped. It was! Spinjitzu Master, it's so good to see her! His eyes widened. Oh my gosh, Nya! We completely forgot about her! Guilt rose up like a wave in his throat. I completely forgot about her. There was a choking sound behind him, but he paid Jay little notice. What kind of brother am I? I promised Mom and Dad I'd look out for her...
He chanced a look back up. Nya's face was stone. Her mood spiked. Kai had no time to wonder before her hand shot out and slapped him hard across the cheek.
Kai's head snapped back and he saw stars. There was a shout from behind him that he barely heard over the ringing in his ears. He winced. Ouch. I forgot how hard she hits...
"Where were you?" she screamed. "No letters, no calls. You've been gone for a month! A month, Kai!"
"It's not my fault!" Kai shouted back reflexively. "We've been so busy and we were out in the middle of nowhere and-"
The excuses died on his tongue. Could he have gotten a message back to Nya? Probably not. But did he try anyways? The answer was no. He had been too selfish, too caught up in his own problems, to spare a thought towards civilization and his own sister. Kai hung his head.
"You could have been dead. You could have been dead, and I would never have known." Nya's voice was still sharp, but a lifetime of living with her meant Kai could pick out the waver that she so desperately tried to hide. "No note, Kai. You five just- disappeared!- without a trace. What was I supposed to do?"
"We had an important lead-" Cole began, but Kai twisted so he could kick him in the shin. 'Hey! What was that about?' he scowled through the tele-link.
Kai sent him as good of an impression as he could of 'this is my problem, not yours'. His heart thumped painfully in his chest. I really am the worst brother. But he forced himself to look up and find her eyes. "I'm sorry, Nya."
"What?" Nya stopped dead in her tracks. Kai swallowed. His throat felt dry. Growing up, he and Nya never apologized to each other. It was just a sibling thing. You know. Get mad at each other, go stew for a half hour, then later start playing together like nothing ever happened. Kai couldn't think of a time when he'd apologized and by the look on her face, she hadn't been expecting him to.
He forced himself to swallow his pride. "I said I'm sorry." Everyone's eyes were on him now and he felt exposed and vulnerable. It was one thing to be cocky and sure around his teammates. It was another thing to be like that to his sister. But he could do it for Nya. He would do anything for her. "I was- I was just thinking of myself." His voice fell with the last words and he couldn't look at her any longer.
What must she think of him? She was probably still mad at him, right? It would probably be forgotten in a few days by everyone else, or at least he hoped so. Actually, what had Earth told Cole? Something like: 'you have a good pack you can trust in'? Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to open up to his team. Spinjitzu Master knew they'd been through so much together already.
"I got so caught up in my own stuff," he continued. "And I forgot to let you in on it. We should have told you what was going on. I should have."
"And what is going on?" Nya asked. She paced around them, stopping to the right of Kai. "Why did you leave? It had something to do with your dragon side, didn't it? I tracked you to your campsite past the amusement park."
"Really?" Cole was upset. "I thought we covered all our tracks!"
"Well think again." Nya made a 'get on with it' gesture.
Kai sorted through the events of the past. Gosh, it felt like years had gone by since they first took off. "Okay, so remember the green ninja prophecy?"
"...No."
"Oh." Kai bit his lip. We didn't tell her about that either? Yikes. "Well, back when the serpentine first attacked that village-"
"Jamanakai," Jay put in helpfully.
"Yeah, that one. Zane had stolen Sensei Wu's bags and he found this scroll inside."
"I prefer the term 'accidentally took'," said Zane, squirming a little.
"It was a prophecy about how a green ninja's gonna defeat Lord Garmadon." There was a start of surprise from someone to his right, then cold flooded them. Kai froze and looked over, but Cole only met him with a confused look. He frowned and continued, more cautiously. Who was that? "Anyway, when Cole got captured by the serpentine, he figured out that Lloyd here-" he jerked his head towards the kid- "was the green ninja." Nya's glare didn't waver, but Kai felt her mood softening, and encouraged, he continued. "Then once I busted them out he brought him back here. But then we started talking about how we all felt pulled to the east."
"Correction: you almost shot me outta the sky because of your dragon instincts taking over." Jay gave him a little glare.
"Details." Kai wanted to wave his hand but sensed that the move would not go favorably for him so kept still. "But there still was something pulling us. And so we decided to go before things got worse."
"And what was pulling you?"
"Dragons." At Nya's sharp look, he hurried to correct. "Not alive ones. Spirits. They're the ones who made it possible for us to change. They taught us how to use our powers and told us about an evil overlord from hundreds of years ago that we need to stop from coming back."
Nya frowned, and this time it wasn't at him. "An overlord- like a giant devouring snake, by any chance?"
"Uh, no?" Kai looked over at Cole who shrugged back. "Pretty sure not."
"How many evil historical giants does Ninjago have?" Nya mumbled. She looked back up to him. "So you've been preparing for a war." It wasn't really a question. Kai answered anyway.
"That's about it, yeah." As the hostility had all but faded from Nya's mood, Kai felt it was safe to ask: "Hey, can you let us out of these chains?" He wiggled his hands for emphasis.
She glowered at him. "Don't think that I'm not still mad at you." But she pressed a button on her gauntlet and the chains went loose around his chest.
"Thanks," Cole said, rubbing at his arms. "So what happened here?"
"Serpentine." Nya's lips pulled up in a sneer. Kai started. Nya had only been angry during the whole confrontation. But when had his sister become this... bitter? The feeling left a sour taste on his senses. "They came up here looking for you, and when they didn't find you, they torched it."
"Oh. Was this before or after you made your totally awesome samurai gear?" Kai rolled his eyes. Jay's voice had almost risen to a squeal at the end.
Nya was turned away from him, but Kai still felt the almost-smile that flitted across her face. "Before. Sensei Wu and I were both out when they came. I was actually looking for you, at the park."
"Hey yeah, where is Sensei?" Cole looked around like he expected the teacher to appear on command. "We wanted to ask him what he thought about the Serpentine attacks.
Nya sighed. "You probably know more than he does already." Some mix of feelings tinted her words- worry, resignation, anger. "Sensei Wu left about the same time you five did. It's just been me keeping the peace for a while now."
"Just you?" Jay and Cole jerked away from him and Kai realized he must have projected again. He clamped down on his fear and bit his lip. "That's a lot to take care of."
"No kidding."
"Where is he now?" asked Lloyd. The kid's mood sparked with curiosity- Kai realized that he'd never actually met the uncle he'd heard so much about yet.
"Who cares?" Nya scowled. "We're better off without him."
"Okayyy," said Cole, like he sensed the tension and wanted to change the subject. "So you've been living on your own. Wait, where have you been living? Not here," he said, looking around.
For the first time since they'd come back, Nya smirked. "Well, funny story actually..."
"Holy cow!"
Jay knew he was gawking, but he honestly couldn't care. A pirate ship. Nya had an honest-to-goodness freaking pirate ship. Spinjitzu Master, he'd died and gone to the next world. "Where did you find this thing?"
"In the middle of the Sea of Sand." Nya grinned down at him and Jay couldn't help but beam back. His stomach turned flips and he was pretty sure static was crackling all throughout his clothes. "I was out by this junkyard there and the couple mentioned they'd found it a couple days earlier," she continued. "No one was claiming it, so..." She gave a one-shoulder shrug. "I did. Come on inside."
Obediently, Jay followed her up the gangplank. They were in a large clearing in the middle of Treetop Jungle, the big ship resting on a pile of timber. Hey, something doesn't add up here. "Wait a minute. If you found this ship out in the Sea of Sand, then how did you get it here?"
Nya fiddled with the plates of her armor. "I might have crashed it."
"You crashed a ship?" Kai shouted. "Nya! That's dangerous!"
"No more dangerous than diving headfirst at the ground," Nya shot back and yeah, okay, she did have a point there. "And crashed is a strong word."
"It is the word you used," said Zane, and shrugged when Nya whirled on him. "Well, it is!"
"Oh, just hurry up already."
Nya led them to the bridge of the ship. "Watch out for the wires," she said, stepping over and around the tangle of coils. "Well, this is it. Over here's my security system and this is where I'm working on the rocket booster situation. Hey Jay," she said, turning to him, "Now that you're here, do you mind helping me out? I might just need a fresh pair of eyes on it."
"Sure!" Jay said, probably too quickly and too loudly. He winced. "Yeah, I can help."
"Cool."
"So fill us in on what's going on here," said Cole, kicking some wires aside so he could pull out a chair by the table. Nya gave him an unimpressed look, hands thrown out in front of her. "What are the serpentine up too?"
Sighing, Nya pulled out the chair across from him. "The serpentine are led by this snake called Pythor. He's an Anacondrai who wants to bring back the Great Devourer. I don't know why though."
"Anacondrai? Like the Serpentine we fought against in the war?" asked Zane at the same time Kai exclaimed: "Wait a minute, those guys are real too?"
"Yes, they are," said Nya, rolling her eyes at her brother. "He's the only one I've seen, though. They're collecting these things called Fangblades which I guess can reawaken it."
"The big snake." Jay shuddered at just the thought. Why would anyone think that bringing it back is a good idea
"That's the one," Nya said, nodding. "There's four of these blades and as far as I can tell, you need all of them for the ritual. They have at least one of them, but if we can nab one before they do then-"
"They're stopped in their tracks," said Cole, crossing his arms.
"Exactly."
"Have you been looking for them?" asked Zane.
We'd be glad to help you with looking!" said Kai, standing up a bit too quickly and knocking over his chair in the progress. Jay sniggered and the fire ninja shrugged his shoulders in a 'who cares?' way. "With all six of us on the hunt, we can't possibly not find one."
"Five."
"Huh?" Jay twisted his head to see the earth ninja. What's got him sounding all dramatic?
"It can't be all six of us looking," said Cole, "because I won't be able to help."
