It had been days since the little incident and finding out Crevan and Tanaka were brothers, and the other had never seen their silent friend talk so much in that time. Ella as well seemed to fit right in with the two, being she was obviously had a similar skill set with them.

"Yea you probably don't remember me at all… you were like… two years old…" Crevan scratched the back of his head. "I was around seventeen and I just couldn't take the cold like Yosho Island…" he frowned.

"So what do you do in your town? You said it was close by?" Tanaka asked.

His brother laughed a little, "Well, I'm sort of… the mayor I guess, town leader… whatever you'd like to call it…" he chuckled more at Tanaka's expression, "Yea… it was a little hard to leave to do this… especially my daughter…" Crevan looked down at his feet.

"You have a daughter?" Tanaka smiled. He liked the idea of having more family; he had a brother, now a niece and even a sister-in-law? "So when do I get to meet your wife and daughter?"

Crevan stood up and shook his head, "Well… you can meet Seliel but I'm afraid her mother Raven… is uh… well dead…" he clicked his teeth together looking sad. Tanaka remained silent for a while, seeing if his older brother would continue talking, "Why I joined this army... Serpentine general attacked us and killed her…"

The younger one was no longer smiling like mere moments ago, "I am… sorry… I should not have assumed-"

"But you didn't know… it only happened two months ago…" Crevan shook his head. "And it alright… when I find Arcturus I want to be the one to kill him…" he darkly said.

At the sound of that Serpentine name Tanaka went rigid. He wanted to find Misako and the others and tell them quickly. He started off to go find them but was tripped by something he did not see. The ninja with the pale gray eyes looked around quickly. "What the-?" he pushed himself up.

"Tripping over your own two feet now?" Ella walked over to help him all the way up, laughing. Both froze though when a rattling of a tail was heard and a pair of magenta eyes materialized just where they could see them. "Oh gods…" Ella's peridot eyes bugged out as she backed up against Tanaka.

"Anacondrai…" Tanaka whispered.

"Both of you; slowly walk to the edge of the camp and do not make yourselves obvious!" a deep voice hissed calmly. "If anyone asks, say you are going for a walk".

The two black haired soldiers nodded and stiffly started to walk, afraid of what would happen to them once they got outside of the camp perimeter. "You are Arcturus right?" Tanaka quietly asked. "The Anacodnrai leader and general of the Serpentine army?"

"Yes I am boy…" Arcturus confirmed. "You and your pesky friends are going to surrender Ninjago to us, and if they do not, I will kill both of you…"

Ella looked incredibly terrified now as she twisted one arm around Tanaka's; clinging to him out of fear. He looked at her and then back, "They are not so willing to give up Ninjago… if anything I have faith my brother and friends will kill you," he chuckled. Ella looked at him, eyes still bugging, prodding him to shut up right away. "Naturally all of you snakes think so highly of yourselves over mankind… in reality you will always be snakes… burrowing and hiding away like the cowards you are…"

"What the hell are you doing!?" she hissed angrily at him, "You're gonna get us both killed!"

He patted her on the top of her head, "Just relax… he wouldn't harm us… that would get rid of his ninety percent useful bargaining chip for the others anyways…"

She sighed and shook her head, "Oh yes… that makes me feel so much better…"


Rose ran over to the map table Misako and the others were looking at. At the sight of her, they all ceased talking and planning for the newest report. "Well? What's the deal?"

The dark skinned woman smirked, "Arcturus took Tanaka as the bait… though… Ella got caught up in it by accident," she scratched the back of her head, "She could very well be a liability…"

"Arcturus has a secret camp that he and the other leaders are hiding away in… intel told us that and this further confirms things…" she rolled the map up and looked to Wu, "Wanna go on this one with Kasai?" she asked the blonde beside her.

Wu nodded and went grab his weapons, Kasai walked up to her, "You sure we can do this Mimi?" he didn't look all that confident in himself.

The woman with the braid smiled and patted his shoulder, "Why of course I do… you guys just better not screw things up like last time I was up north and Nami had to save you two!" she jabbed a finger with a wink. "Now get out of here… I'll send Crevan and Anthony in to tail you guys in case Anacondrai locate you and move in invisible".

"Sounds good to me," Kasai tied his sheathed sword to his back and ran out of the camp with Wu beside him. Rose had already given them the path they took because she followed them for as long as she could. It was now up to the two younger ninja to find the secret entrance the snakes and other leaders hid in.


Now that they were going to smoke them out, Misako started making the rounds to the other teams to be ready for a fight that was surely coming their way. On her way to the weapon storage she heard a bit of a boom and ran in with her husband at her heels to see what was up.

A couple stood with shocked faces covered in ash and gun powder; obviously they were testing self made weapons, "What…" she trailed off, "Uh… who are you two?" Misako asked; it was getting harder everyday to remember names and jobs. These two were also obviously on weapons development.

"Ed and Edna Walk Captain!" They shouted. "Explosives experts!"

Garmadon rolled his eyes, "Greeeeat… a pair of loons get the highly dangerous stuff…" Misako elbowed him for the rude comment.

"What were guys uh… doing in here?" she kindly asked, coughing a little from the ash in the tent.

"Well we had designs for our own smoke out bombs since we heard about the generals' camp was not too far off from here… thought we could help," Edna smiled brightly, wiping the black and gray off her face and glasses. "Guess things got a little crazy," the pair both laughed.

She waved it off, "It's fine…" she smiled, "Wish I knew how do what you two do… according to the roster papers, you guys are mechanics and inventors?"

"That's right!" Ed shook the powder from his dulling red hair. "We own a scrap yard not too far out in the desert…"

"Greeeeat," Garmadon folded his arms, repeating, "Crazy junker loons with dangerous explosives…"

"Out," Misako pointed, "Gonna be rude; then I will punish you…" He groaned and pretended to zipper his lips shut from anymore snide comments. She returned to her pleasant self and gave attention back to the couple, "Now… do you think you can have a couple by tonight? Because that's when we plan to strike next…"

"We'll do our best!" They piped together. "Edna get the blast powder!"

"Why are you encouraging them?" The darker haired one looked beside him at his shorter wife, "Isn't it obvious they may have a couple of screws loose and you're letting them play with the big guns?"

Misako stopped walking and placed her hands on her hips, "I can't believe you… the only with the nasty temper that can snap at literally any moment over any little thing… question two very friendly and nice people who are actually going to help and give us an upper hand in tonight's op? It seems you're more of the liability…"

He grouchily slouched and decided to hide away in their tent since he was too tired and fed up with everything to argue with her.


Wu perched himself on a low hanging branch, waiting for any signs of enemy activity. "So… it's been a couple of months; right?" he looked at Kasai who was comfortably seated in the middle of the tree where branches twisted around into a nice little seat.

"What do you mean by that Wu?" the blacksmith and ninja yawned, shutting his eyes, waiting for something actually happen..

The blonde in the ninja suit shrugged, "I guess I'm just thinking about Namiko… do you think she'll have the baby soon? Or… ya know…"

"She has to be at least eight months…" Kasai nodded. He hated thinking about that; not being there to see his little girl be born unlike his son. "Well I reckon… I'll just leave when it's almost time and come back when I get the chance…"

"No one would blame- I saw something," Wu straightened up and spied some strange movement. "Up the tree more…" he had a sick feeling in his stomach. Not to mention it would be getting dark out soon, limiting their vision even more.

Without a mistake, it was an Anacondrai, one with a shorter neck, a sentry no doubt by the way it was surveying the place. Crevan and Anthony could be seen by the other two trees away from their position. Kasai knocked on the trunk, giving them the signal. Neither pairs wanted to make a move for fear of fighting off a hoard of enemies on their own though.


"Move it move it!" Misako shouted, running through, "B team I want you to plant the blast charges the Walkers just finished… my team will be the distraction to take out the sentry and company…" she pocketed her satellite phone Anthony had just relayed the situation to. "Do not open fire when you get in there; we have limited amo, and I want your shots to count… do not hit Captain Fugiyoka or lieutenant Montgomery…"

"Man does she get… intense…" Rose had never seen her friends like that before. She was always quiet and more at ease with things. She was running around the entire camp, shouting orders at literally anyone and everyone, whether she assigned them a job already or not.

Garmadon chewed the inside of his cheek, chuckling a little, "I don't know what you're talking about… she's always this intense," he was met with a smack by the young woman as tall as him. "Ouch… you and my wife… always hitting people! Why are you so tall and strong like me anyways?!"

"Because someone has to be the big one to smack you around!" she nodded and smirk, "Now come on… I'm the B team leader…" she started tying her long black hair back.

"Wait… you are?" Garmadon slowly turned towards her. Rose nodded, looking her hair around and tying a knot with it. "Aw man… I'm second to B team leader! I have to answer to you on this one!?"

"That's right now come on!" she started running with an excited grin on her face.

"But I'm the ninja!" he groaned. He caught sight of Misako flashing a sneaky smile and a bit of wave goodbye when he passed by. "You so owe me!" he pointed back at her.

"Do your job right without any smack talk and maybe I will!" she called back, returning to what she was doing, grabbing her chain sickle and scythe.


Ella might as well of had a heart attack seeing so many enemies around her and she was tied up, back to back with Tanaka. "Ella, please calm down…" he closed his eyes and told her. "You will not be harmed and I shall make sure of that…"

She looked back, "Really?" she frowned, still looking worried. He nodded silently and she started smiling a little, "You know what…" he opened one eye and looked back, "I like you". She rested her head back on his back. Tanaka just raised an eyebrow to the comment. The last time a girl he knew was like that was Namiko.

A low beeping sound started echoing in the spacious cave hideaway, everyone inside looked around, wondering what the source was. It didn't take very long to figure out what it was when it exploded, a thick black powder taking over the air, making it harder to breathe.

Eh I'm having fun with this... and yes everyone, Seliel, the Phantom Ninja, her father is Tanaka's brother making her his niece because guess what? I can :D I liked the idea Tanaka was the first Phantom Ninja and passed along the trade to her without his brother knowing...

And yes, Crevan is around fifteen years older. Ella has been a fun character, I wasn't going to make another female but I figured, hey, I need some more diverse ladies besides Misako and Namiko. So I added my Rosie Stone and now Ella :D I may add Sonia in as well, but hey, now I have Edna too to work with. I love speculating on the adults and their lives before the show... I find them even more interesting than the ninja even XD

Thanks for reading! I feel so accomplished with the chapter for some reason... IDK... but I'm happy with it.

~Mar