It was the middle of the night, a young teenage boy was walking down the street in a black hoodie, and jeans, with a black duffle bag slung over his shoulder. His hood was pulled over his curly hair. Even in the middle of the night, Ninjago City is a busy place. The boy passed an alley and was pulled inside.
"Hey!" He shouted as he faced his attacker, who was dressed in a green ninja gi.
"Sorry about that but I'd like to talk to you for a second." The stranger said. He pulled back his hood, revealing his blond hair and green eyes. He looked to be in his late twenties, possibly early thirties.
"Um, okay?" The boy in black said, he didn't know whether this was a normal thing, having never really been in a city, and certainly not one this large.
"I'm Sensei Lloyd Garmadon." The stranger said, extending his hand.
"I'm Drake." The boy responded, awkwardly shaking Lloyd's hand.
"This is going to sound beyond crazy, but please hear me out." Lloyd began in a nervous tone, "Have you ever heard about the elemental ninja?"
"Yeah who hasn't?" Drake responded. He was a bit unsettled by the way Lloyd looked at him, like Drake was a reminder of something painful. For the past two days Drake had been anxiously awaiting this encounter, not that Lloyd knew that of course.
"The thing is, you're the son of Cole Brookstone, the Black Ninja and Master of Earth. I don't know exactly what happened, but you and your two brothers went missing when you were two weeks old,"
Five brothers, Drake thought with a pang of sadness.
"I've been looking for you ever since. The threat to Elemental Masters is getting stronger every day, you're most in danger. You're welcome to refuse, but your safest option is to come with me to the Monastery of Spinjitzu, I can teach you how to defend yourself, and channel your elemental powers, and most importantly, keep you safe," the last phrase shocked Drake. Was this guy really that willing to take in a kid off the streets? He'd never believed anyone could be that genuine, and still didn't. This guy must want something from him.
Unfortunately, Drake didn't have much choice in the matter. He had to go.
"Alright, I'll go," Drake agreed, offering a very small, very fake smile.
Lloyd smiled back in relief.
"So, how are we going to get there?" Drake asked.
"Ever ridden an Elemental Dragon?"
A short dragon ride later, they arrived at the base of a mountain so tall, its peak was hidden from view by clouds. There was a staircase at the bottom, one that looked like it reached all the way to the top.
"We're not going to climb that, are we?"
Lloyd replied with a mischievous smile.
By the time they reached the top, Drake was out of breath. He looked up at the red and gold gate, which Lloyd stepped forward to open, revealing a pentagon-shaped courtyard, with three sides made up of a house. One wall was painted with a beautiful mural, depicting the Ninja's victories against their greatest opponents, accompanied by a simple red circle with six differently colored handprints inside it.
Lloyd waited patiently for Drake to finish looking at it before leading him inside.
The room they entered was a comfortable looking living room, where four boys who looked close to Drake's age were playing a video game. They were each dressed in a different color, the one on the left was dressed in green, the one next to him in red, then one in white, and one in blue.
"Hi dad!" The one in green greeted Lloyd.
"Guys, meet Drake. Drake, this is my son Ray, that's Phoenix, Mike, and Wally," Lloyd introduced them in the order they were sitting on the couch. Drake waved awkwardly.
"So I guess, that's all of us now," Wally said, running a hand through his black hair.
"Maybe not," Lloyd said, "I still don't know anything about Drake's brothers. I never asked you about them, did I?" his last question was directed at Drake.
"It looks like you know more about them than I do," said Drake.
"Well, if they're out there, I'll find them," Drake knew Lloyd meant it to be comforting, but the thought of Lloyd finding his brothers terrified him more than anything.
"Alright, you all need to go to bed. Ray, can you show Drake where his room is?" Lloyd said.
"Sure, dad," Ray replied. They turned off the TV and got up to their rooms. Drake's was all the way down the hall, decorated in black and orange. There were three beds inside, reminding Drake of his brothers' absence.
"My dad thought he'd find you with your brothers," Ray said apologetically.
"It's fine, it is kind of weird that he didn't, since we apparently went missing together," Drake replied.
"Out of curiosity, do you have any idea why you went missing? Where did you grow up?"
"I grew up at an orphanage near Hiroshi's Labyrinth, a few weeks ago I got fed up with living there and left. Everyone there thought I was freaky because of the weird red dots in my eyes,"
"Ray!" Lloyd called from down the hall.
"What!"
"Go to bed!"
"Well, goodnight," Ray said, heading to his room at the other end of the hall.
"'Night," Drake replied. He set his bag down on the floor and took off his shoes, then collapsed on the nearest bed, pulling the blankets up to his chin.
He was in a lake, he looked up and saw the full moon. He was swimming with a girl. She has long black hair, and blue eyes. She looks around ten years old. Suddenly, she screams as something pulls her down, into the lake.
He screams something, maybe her name, and dives under the water after her. The lake isn't completely dark, because of the moon, but the girl is nowhere to be seen.
Drake jolts awake and sits up, covered in sweat and panting. He swore he heard a scream or two through the walls, followed by fast footsteps and the sound of a door opening at the other end of the hall. He was right next to the wall, which was made of thin wood planks. He was pretty sure Wally's room was next to his. Wally… the girl had looked a lot like him, except she was female of course. Drake could hear heavy breathing in between what sounded like sobs from the other room. He decided there was nothing he could do about it, and fell asleep to the sound of panicked breathing.
This story has a tumblr blog, wyvern-42 I have some art posted and I'll be adding more.