I definitely had mixed feelings while editing this, but this is now officially the last chapter of Origin Story, originally named Before We Were Ninja. I had a lot of fun writing it, and was overjoyed to see how many people read and seemed to enjoy it! So, thank you Seleine16, Nuppa Nuppa, Grammarosprey and ColdWaterChicken for reviewing last chapter!

Seleine16– Once again, thank you! I'm glad you liked it.

Grammarosprey— It's an honor, thank you! I for one appreciate good fanfics and try my hardest to do the same. And yeah, I wasn't too happy with that either. XD Thanks for reviewing!

ColdWaterChicken— Haha, yes, I've heard of it, but I'm not too worried. Media's making it a big deal but I'm sure it'll die out, like any other virus. And ooh, I hate those dreams. Sounds freaky! Anyway, thank you for reviewing!

. . .

The sun rose slowly over the rice terraces of Ignacia, casting a warm orange glow over the fields. A small building sat on top of a hill in the distance, surrounded by a courtyard full of trees and shrubs and old stone tiles overgrown with weeds. Jay could barely make it out from where he was mounted on his dragon, gliding just below the clouds, but Kai seemed to recognize it.

They had come straight from the Underworld, headed here on Kai's request. He was worried about his sister, and excessively so, even if he had just saved her from the Skulkins unharmed.

When they exited the palace and returned to where they had left the dragons, Jay saw his sensei's face light up at the sight of them. Almost as if he were an old friend of them, but then again, he had been the one to place them as guardians of the Golden Weapons. Wu claimed he had another way of getting home, so they had, hesitantly, left on their dragons without him.

When they landed, Flame first, Nya ran out of the shop to hug her brother. Then Jay landed his dragon next to the siblings, hopped off, and exclaimed with his throat fully healed, "Hey, my turn!" So, Nya turned to embrace him as well.

When Zane's and Cole's feet were on the ground, neighboring rice farmers began to crowd them, cheering, after Nya had told them all about what the ninja were going to do.

"I'm so happy you're back," she told the boys, obviously relieved.

Kai smiled softly. "For now. But it's not over," he replied. "Lord Garmadon will return."

The cheering subsided, and a gloomy feeling rushed over the crowd.

Cole stepped in, a confident grin written on his face. "And we'll be ready!"

The crowd roared again, and the three of them raised their Golden Weapons in the middle, the heavy metal jarring with a clang...

...when the weapons detonated as soon as the four were touching, throwing Cole, Kai, Zane, and Jay several feet backwards. Nya, along with many farmers, gasped.

Kai chuckled, rubbing the back of his head where he landed. "Okay. We've got to remember not to do that again."

Cole groaned. "Good idea."

"Let's stick to high-fives instead," Jay suggested.

"Agreed," Zane added. At the laughs of the crowd, he asked hesitantly, "Was that a... joke?"

. . .

"Um... are they gonna leave?" Jay asked, glancing swiftly back up at the sky.

After picking up Nya, they agreed to meet up with Wu at the monastery. They removed the dragon's saddles, and set them free, proceeding their strenuous hike up the mountain... but the dragons were still nearby. Whether they were climbing up the rock with them, or circling above, they wouldn't leave.

Cole waved away a tuft of hair that was threatening to stick to his forehead beading with sweat, with a huff. "Tch. If they were planning on sticking around they could at least 'of landed on top of the mountain." At the other's incredulous looks, he replied, "What? Just because I hike often doesn't mean I don't get tired of it."

Jay raised his scarred eyebrow (that was beginning to fade), his mouth quirked into a knowing grin. "But you don't like dragons. You're scared of them."

At this, Cole flushed. "I... I didn't say that."

"I disagree," Zane stepped in. "What I remember you telling Jay is that the only thing you feared as a kid was—"

"That was then, this is now," Cole argued. "Rocky and I have a very close relationship now that we—"

"You named him?"

"Kai named his! What's the difference?"

"Hey, at least mine was a good name—"

"Students," called a familiar voice.

Their faces lit up. "Sensei," Cole asked, "why haven't the dragons left?"

The earth dragon, or Rocky, swooped down to cuddle with his owner, his large snout nuzzling Cole's shoulder, causing Jay to snort and Sensei Wu to raise his eyebrows in surprise. He stepped out of the monastery gateway and down a few steps to meet them. "They have nowhere to go. They are in your hands now."

Jay's eyes widened as his grin grew even bigger. "We can keep them?"

"Yes." Wu turned to Nya, who was standing farthest away from him, behind Kai. "And you are welcome to stay in the monastery whenever you like."

Nya nodded. "Thank you, but that'll be up to Kai."

. . .

Without a stable to keep the dragons warm during the colder months, Wu told the ninja to let them rest in the courtyard until they had one built. Jay's dragon preferred to perch on the wall surrounding the monastery when he wasn't flying, which he did about 80% of the day. Jay supposed he should give his dragon a name, while he was at it. He never had a pet back when he lived in a trailer with his parents in the junkyard, except for the occasional friendly desert iguana that would be kind enough to climb up his arm.

But what should I name him? He wondered, rested on the courtyard wall himself, watching the electric blue and yellow blue and yellow dragon do flips and loops mid-air, reminding himself of him and his old roller blades. Something awesome, probably. But it has to be fitting. Apollo? Nah. Sparky? Ferdinand? Nope, doesn't sound right.

His dragon did a barrel roll and soared up through the clouds, disappearing in a wisp of air.

Wisp. Wisp. Hmm, that's a funny word. It has a ring to it.

"Wisp," Jay repeated aloud, nodding to assure himself. "That's it."

Wisp coasted down from the puff of clouds he had hidden behind, and flew past Jay, whipping hair into his eyes. He laughed.

As the dragon continued to do his own thing, Jay's mind wandered to his team. They had done so many cool things together: fought skeletons, rode dragons, ferried through realms... all in under a week! He had been offered the ride of a lifetime, and he was so glad he took the hand.

But, not only had he gained the trust of his teammates, they gained his trust as a friend. They hadn't picked on him for being nerdy and inventive, they supported his creativity. They had even used his own creation in their escapade to the Floating Ruins!

He was proud to call them his friends.

. . .

Zane's hand glided past his wyvern's cold, ice-colored scales. He had to admit, he had gotten close with the creature, and as the others, decided to name him.

Shard, he had chosen. A bit random and not entirely ice-related, but he learned that not everything had to make sense. So he was fond of it.

Though hardly a month had passed since he had last seen Jude and Agnes, he found himself beginning to forget about them. It wasn't a good thing, of course. They had done so much for him, saved him from the blizzard, offered him a home. Simply retrieving Agnes' lost engagement ring couldn't repay his debt. And how could he forget the two people he had cared about most for the longest time?

But... when he really thought about it, it came down to just one thing— love. They cared for him. They had wanted him to be happy. This was his choice. And, he had found a new home. Zane would never truly forget about them, but he was sure that this team was his future.

. . .

Cole's mind would occasionally flick back to his days in boarding school. He could see so much of Eli in Kai. Dakota in Kai's little sister. Audrey in Jay. Every now and again when he would spend time with his new friends, he could see himself when he hung with his old clique.

But he was slowly starting to forget about his past, and was focusing on other things. He had new priorities, new missions, and some evil dark lord to fight in the future. A part of him was glad to suppress old memories of his parents, music, and school. But another was trying desperately to save precious memories with his only friends from Marty Oppenheimer's. Cole's mind was in turmoil, but something told him it would be okay.

He wasn't ready to tell the other guys about his past, yet. Maybe someday. But right now he was ready to forget.

. . .

"And, that's when we came to get you," Kai finished, playing with a strand of hair above his scar that was beginning to blonde from the sunlight he'd been in over the past few days.

Nya hummed, placing the last of her clothes in the scuffed-up walnut dresser, and rolling her suitcase into the closet before brushing imaginary dust off her hands. "I'm just glad you didn't kill yourselves over me."

Kai frowned. "It wasn't just about saving you, apparently, but that's the only reason I came to Wu, anyway. I risked my life to beat that Garmadon guy up, but we didn't even get to do that."

"But you would have swum through lava to save me anyway, right?" Nya asked.

Kai rolled his eyes good-heartedly. "Maybe..."

"Come on, I know you would."

He chuckled. After a moment or so, he asked her, "How long do you want to stay here?"

Nya raised an eyebrow. "Isn't he still out there? Garmadon isn't gone yet, you guys still have to keep him from taking over Ninjago. Wherever he went, that vortex was the next step in his plan. So far everything's lining up for him."

Kai shrugged. "I guess."

"Don't you want to stay here?" she wondered. "I thought you liked them. Your teammates."

He bit his lip. "I do... but we have to keep Four Weapons running. We're already late on sales, we've gotta get going—"

"Four Weapons?" Nya repeated, her voice suddenly raised. "There are more important things to do than keep our job."

Kai's brow was furrowed. "It's our home, too."

She put her hands on her hips as a defiant gesture. "C'mon, big brother. This is the fate of Ninjago we're talking about. If you're important to this team, I've gotta help you and the rest of the boys stay on track. If this Garmadon's gonna attack our home, you've gotta be there to stop him, not at some boring forge doing a job you sucked at anyway. Let's stay here and train, whaddya say?"

Kai was silent, before he smiled, ruffling his little sister's dark hair. "I... guess we could mortgage the property, if we plan on living here now."

Her sea-blue eyes widened. "We? Really?"

"Well, I'm a ninja now, aren't I?"

. . .

I can't believe it's over! I admit I lost motivation around the last third of the story, and was scrambling to get the outline done (I cheated, I didn't prepare because it was mostly recap D:) along with the rough draft and everything else. But I did it, and I'm surprised and proud of the total 43 reviews, 19 follows and 17 favorites. You guys are awesome!

I will definitely try to get a better start on a better, longer story soon. I have a long list of ideas and even some outlines for my next Ninjago story, so I'll ask all of you for your opinion. Here's the list of ones I'm willing to start next month:

Loose Ends Tied— a sequel/spin off to this story, where Cole tells the team about his time at Marty Oppenheimer's five years later and tries to meet up with Audrey again

Ninjago's Protectors— a two, maybe three part story on the ninja's life in the future and their posterity

Destiny— a Ninjago/Star Wars crossover thingy

Not Yet Ready— a Movie!Verse story that takes place just after the events of the movie

And, no pressure if you don't want to answer, but I would love to know your favorite chapters, and/or anything I could have done to improve my writing.

One last huge thanks to anyone reading! I always appreciate reviews. Mouth of Lightnin out!