So this is my version of Tick Tock. Some elements of the episodes will be the same as this chapter except for Zane's past. It's a bit of a tear-jerker so be prepared. This is probably going to be the first teen rated chapter I've ever written.
On the training deck, the Ninja were blindfolding Zane to prepare him for a difficult task.
"All right, Zane. You have to wait 10 minutes before you find us," Cole told Zane who was blindfold on a chair.
"My friends, are you sure I have to wear this blindfold?"
"Yeah, we said that you have to be able to find us no matter where we are in case something happens to us," Kai told him.
"10 minutes, starting... NOW!"
Zane heard the others run off in different directions. While their footsteps were light, he could tell who was who just based on their footsteps alone. After all, without his sight, his hearing and sense of smell were enhanced. He also heard one of them set a timer next to him, when it goes off, he'll have to go find the others.
Zane just sat in silence for a while until he heard the timer go off. 'Okay, time to go find the others.' Without taking his blindfold off since they told him not to, Zane proceeded to smell the air around him. 'Their scent is faint but trackable. It seems like Jay did not leave the deck, unlike Kai and Cole who went inside.' Zane followed Jay's scent around the deck, it was faint but he was not certain he didn't leave. He followed the scent until he reached the stairs that lead to the front of the Bounty.
Jay was hiding in a barrel on the front deck of the Bounty. 'Zane will never find me here.' He thought to himself until he saw sunlight come from the top with a blindfolded Zane.
"Jay? Are you in here?" Zane asked him.
"Yeah, how'd you find me so fast?" He asked his hybrid friend as he got out of the barrel.
"Your scent never left the top deck of the Bounty. I think I should find Cole next. After yours, his scent is the strongest."
Jay followed Zane as he used his sense of smell to find Cole. He could tell Cole went into a room but he wasn't sure which one. Although, he did have a feeling where he went. They walked inside the Bounty and Jay followed Cole to the kitchen where, unsurprisingly, they found Cole eating a slice of cake that Zane made last night. "How'd you find me in here?"
"You ate most of the cake last night, after I made more I had a feeling you'd come in here and eat some."
"What can I say, I love cake, especially the ones you make. So, Kai's the last one you need to find?"
"Yes, then you can tell me my time."
"Onward!" Jay shouted.
Jay and Cole followed Zane, who still with his blindfold on, proceeded to search for Kai. "Where would Kai be anyway?" Jay asked.
"I think he's in our room. At least that's where he's scent leads."
Zane went into their room and he was right. "Time! Took you seven minutes this time."
"I broke the record?" Zane asked as he took off the blindfold.
"You destroyed it!" Kai told him.
"Okay, okay. Is anyone thinking what I'm thinking? We've been training for so long, I don't think we can get any better. Just think about all we've accomplished," Jay told them as Cole pretended to fight an enemy behind them.
He was correct. Kai can run across hot coals without burning his feet. Jay can stand or do a handstand on a lightning rod without getting electrified. Cole can lift thousands of pounds without breaking his bones or sweat.
"The question should be raised. Perhaps we have reached our full potential?" Zane said.
The Ninja went inside the Bounty to find Wu. They eventually found him in his room and they didn't notice that he was putting away a katana. "Well, every morning I do five hundred push-ups and I can pick up almost anything with my tail," Zane commented as they entered the room.
"Five hundred? Ha, try a thousand," Kai bragged.
"Hahaha, I do a thousand and one," Jay said trying to one-up them.
"What is this, amateur hour? Sounds like my warm-up. Sensei, what does True Potential look like if..." They see Master Wu putting away a katana and bowed in respect.
"Our apologies, Sensei. We've interrupted you," Zane told him.
Wu sighed as he put the katana away. "I'm sorry if I've been distant lately. My mind has been elsewhere since Lloyd has gone missing. What can I help you with?" He turned to the window and stared off into the clouds.
"Sensei, what if we've done enough training? What if we've reached our True Potential? What if we're ready?" Cole asked him.
"Hm." Wu turned to them and said, "You might have reached peak physical condition, but you've yet to reach your inner potential. In each and every one of us, there are obstacles that hold us back. Only when you conquer that fear will your heart be free. Only then will you reach your True Potential. Only then will we have a fighting chance to stop the Serpentine from releasing the Great Devourer." The sun shined on each of the Ninja's faces as he talked to them.
Wu turned away from them and Zane could tell something was on Wu's mind besides Lloyd. "There's more to the Great Devourer than you've led on, isn't there, Sensei?" Zane asked him.
Wu sighed. "I too have obstacles within my own heart. There's a story I've never told you."
Long ago, when I was a young boy, Garmadon and I were more than brothers. We were the best of friends.
In a flashback, Wu and Garmadon are playing with their toy swords and fighting each other.
"Wait a minute," Jay interrupted. "Now, I know you two were brothers, but really? The King of Cruelty the Doer of Destruction, the Captain of Chaos, and you two were friends?"
"Please, no interruptions."
You see, he did not always have a wicked heart. One day, I lost this very katana.
Wu and Garmadon were sword fighting but Garmadon did an attack that caused Wu to release his sword and it went over the wall.
Knowing our father would be mad, my brother told me to go retrieve it.
Garmadon pointed over the wall and told Wu to get it.
But I refused.
Wu shook his head in fear.
He told me not to put off what can be done today and went to get it himself.
Garmadon went over the wall to get Wu's sword. He found it in a bush but a green rattlesnake came out and bit him. The snake fled then seconds later, Garmadon fainted.
When my father found him, he was very ill, for he was bitten by a legendary snake that would grow forever as long as it consumes.
The first spinjitzu master ran out and picked up Garmadon and brought him inside. The Great Devourer soon got bigger and bigger as it roared in anger.
A great evil had found its way into my brother's heart, for the snake's venom could turn the purest of things wicked.
Wu stood outside Garmadon's room as their father tried to help him. "Leave it. Leave me alone. I don't need you. I hate you."
The snake is the same one the Serpentine want to reawaken today.
"Aah! It hurts! It's all Wu's fault!" Garmadon looked at Wu with pure red eyes.
It is the snake that took my brother away from me.
Out of fear, Wu ran off away from his brother's room.
"So the Great Devourer turned your brother into the Dark Lord?" Kai asked him.
Wu sighed. "It was all my fault." Wu closed the case his katana was in then stood up. "You four have finished your training. You must now focus on stopping Pythor from collecting the Fangblades. But never lose focus on the obstacles that lie within each of your hearts that holds you back from true greatness. Unlock your True Potential."
"But how are we supposed to do that, Sensei?" Zane asked him.
"It is up to each of you to discover. Now I must go on a personal journey of my own," Wu told them as he took his leave.
"Where are you going?" Jay asked him.
"To a place, you cannot follow," Wu simply told them.
"If you're going for Lloyd, the City of Ouroboros is filled with hundreds of Serpentine. You'll never do it alone," Cole told him.
"I am going to find someone who can be of aid. The Serpentine have united and grown stronger and we will need all the help we can get."
Wu asked the Ninja to dropped him off at the top of a mountain then they left.
In the Constrictai tomb, the Serpentine were trying to see if the legend of the Great Devourer could tell them where the Fangblades are.
"It says nothing about where the four Fangblades are hidden. Have our ancestors left us nothing? Where are they?" Skales asked them.
"This, here. This must be a clue. "When five fangs unite as one, the path toward the Devourer has begun"," Pythor said as he slithered to the table.
"Yes, when the five tribes unite. We've done all this. It means nothing. If you don't find out soon, the others will begin to ask questions, and soon they will start to think you don't know what you are doing," Skales told him quietly so no one could hear them.
"I know what I'm doing, fool. I'm trying to unleash the Great Devourer. Legend spoke of a map showing exactly where the four Fangblades have been buried. There must be something around here. Keep looking."
In Jamanakai Village, Nya was putting up posters for the missing Fangblades with the Ninja.
"Oh, this is silly," Zane commented. 'We have no idea where they are and I don't think any humans or hybrids will know where they are either.'
Cole then asked him, "You have any better ideas?" Zane then walked off to hang up more posters.
"Hey, maybe Sensei is gonna go get the Samurai for help," Jay commented, even though he doesn't care for the Samurai all that much, they at least shared a common enemy.
"The Samurai? I'm sure she's—I mean, he's busy looking for the Fangblades as well," Kai said nervously.
Cole turned to Kai and asked, "Uh, is everything all right?"
"Yeah, yeah. Why wouldn't it be?"
"One hundred percent. We're not hiding anything," Nya told him.
Zane was about to turn down an alley but then he smelled something familiar. 'I... I know that smell.' The wind started to blow on the posters and they fell in front of a shopowner shop.
"Hey, hybrid!" Zane didn't respond. He was too lost in his thoughts. "You're making a mess in front of my storefront. Yoo-hoo! You got a problem?" Zane dropped the rest of the posters and walked away. He just couldn't get the familiar scent out of his mind. "Maybe I should teach you a lesson on manners."
Kai ran up to the man and told him, "I'm sorry, sir. Sometimes our friend is in another world."
"He's littering all over the place."
"We'll pick it up. So sorry," Cole told them then the man went back into his store.
"Zane, what's the deal?" Jay asked him.
Zane blinked then said, "I smell something familiar. It's very, very faint but I can smell something familiar."
"Maybe it's Lloyd! Your sense of smell has always helped us and it normally leads us to something good," Jay commented then Zane ran off to track the scent with the others following him.
Kai turned to Nya who just made it to the group and told her, "Head back to the Bounty and wait till you hear from us."
"But where are you going?" Nya asked.
"We're gonna follow Zane's nose. Who knows, it could lead us to the first Fangblade and to Lloyd." So, began their journey to find what Zane was smelling. He barely stopped. He only stopped to make sure he was on the right track of the scent. They ran through a desert then up a snowy mountain. "I guess good fortune is really far away," Kai commented.
They climbed up a rocky mountain then once they were at the top, Zane waited for Cole and Kai to catch up but Jay, who was exhausted, told them, "Keep going. I'll...I'll catch up later."
Kai, Cole, and Zane continued with Zane ahead of them. Zane refused to stop until he found the source of the familiar scent. While they crossed a deep trench on a dead tree. Kai and Zane ran across but Cole was having trouble. "I'm good. Just...just taking a breather. Uh, I'll meet up with you shortly."
"Good thing...we're in...peak...physical...condition," Kai panted then continued to chase after Zane, who did not stop. 'Man, that scent must be really bothering him for him to keep running after it,' Kai thought to himself. The duo arrived on the outskirts of a snowy forest with white and brown trees. "Hey, what do you make of this?" Kai asked as he pointed to a sign that said, 'Beware of Treehorns'.
"I am not familiar with a Treehorn," Zane told him, although he thought the name sounded familiar. 'Odd, I know the name and yet I don't.'
"It's probably just some wild squirrels, heh," Kai joked. "I'll wait for the other guys to catch up."
Zane continued forward. 'The scent was getting stronger and I must not lose it.' Zane ran through the forest following the scent until he heard a sound that made him stop in his tracks.
"Come on, those hybrid freaks are around here somewhere!"
'Hybrid hunters!' Zane looked around frantically. His friends were still far behind him so the only thing he could think of was to hide. 'I must hide from the hunters or else they'll kill me.' Zane ran off to another area of the forest to get away from the hunters. He tried to find a pile of snow deep enough for him to hide under but nowhere was deep enough. 'This is bad, I can't find a place to hide.'
Soon, Zane saw a giant tree that looked out of place. He also saw something that he couldn't believe. 'That looks like a door. Maybe it's a secret hybrid hideout.' Without wasting a second, Zane ran to the giant tree and he was right. There was a hidden home inside of it. There was a large staircase that lead underground. Zane closed the door and made sure no one could enter it. 'I know my friends will want to find me but I can't risk getting caught by the hybrid hunters.'
Zane took off his hood and l noticed something odd. 'The familiar scent, it came from here but why?' Zane looked around the hideout, there were dust and cobwebs everywhere. 'This place has not been used for a long time. Odd, in places like this, hybrids run this place to keep other hybrids safe from hybrid hunters. Zane walked around the home and noticed clutter everywhere. 'I think hybrids came here every so often but as far as I can tell, this hideout is abandoned, but why?'
Eventually, Zane found a small dresser with picture frames on them. There was dust covering the picture, Zane cleared the picture of the dust then he dropped the picture in surprise. 'The scent! That... that's why it's so familiar!'
Wu walked through a Jamankai Village, he walked down an alley and saw Kruncha and Nuckal playing rock, paper, scissors. When Nuckal noticed Wu he shouted, "Aah! Retreat!" The two ran off in fear but Wu was not after them, he entered a tea shop called Mistaké's Tea Shop.
He walked in and said, "I would like to purchase some Traveler's Tea."
Mistaké, who came from a corner, told him, "Never heard of it." Wu put some coins on the counter and Mistaké stated to prepare the tea. "You know, those who drink this never return," She told him after giving him the tea.
"Then I will not bother you again." Wu walked backward and left the shop, leaving Mistaké and the child silent.
The Ninja searched the forest for Zane, they tried to follow his footprints but they were getting harder to track. "Where the heck could Zane be?" Kai asked.
"Considering Zane's a snow leopard hybrid and he's wearing all white, he's probably going to be hard to find. Snow leopards can blend in with the snow and it doesn't help that Zane is wearing all white," Cole told him.
"Hey!" The Ninja turned around and saw a small group of men with guns and swords, they even had bows and arrows, in their hands. In defense, the Ninja took out their own weapons.
"Stay back! What do you want?!" Kai demanded.
"Relax, we're not after you. We're searching for hybrids."
They looked at them confused and Jay asked, "Why?"
"Why? We're hunting for a hybrid whose been stealing from our village."
This put the guys on edge, Zane was a hybrid and they could seriously hurt their friend. "We're the Ninja and we don't approve of this. How about we search for the hybrid and you all go home?" Cole told them.
"Fine, but if we catch the hybrid or hybrids stealing from our home again, then we're going to take care of them ourselves." The group of men left but the guys were still tense.
"Man, no wonder Zane had a big fear of humans. I would after encountering people like that," Jay said once the men couldn't hear them.
"We need to find Zane and leave this place. We'll also need to find the hybrid or hybrids living here. They'll need help finding a place to live," Kai told them with the others nodding in agreement.
The Ninja ran deeper into the forest to find their friend until they found something that was off. "Guys, check this out. This tree has a bigger trunk than all the other trees," Cole told them.
Jay touched the tree and it was cold to the touch. "It's cold too like it's made of metal."
Curious, Kai felt around the supposedly metal tree and found a hidden door handle. "It's a door." Kai opened the door revealing a small home.
"Zane?" Kai said as he entered the hidden home.
"Wow, would you look at this place?" The tree hid someone's home. An abandon hideout. The Ninja walked around then they saw Zane sitting on what seemed to be a child bed with his hood down, legs were close to his chest, and his tail wrapped around him. His ears were also down. "Zane, what's wrong?" Jay asked as the Ninja approached him.
Zane sighed. He picked up the picture beside him and showed it to his friends. It was a picture of two adult snow leopard hybrids with a child snow leopard hybrid. The father had pure white hair along with the child.
"Zane, who are these people?" Cole asked him.
"My mother and father." Zane looked around the home and the bedroom he was in. "This was my home, many years ago and this was my bedroom."
"This is you as a kid? You're so cute!" Jay said as he looked at a young Zane. He was smiling like he didn't have a care in the world.
Zane didn't respond. It was obvious that Zane still missed his parents heavily. He said that they were killed but he barely mentioned how. "What happened to them? You said that they were gone but you never said what happened to them," Kai said as he sat on the bed with his friend. He knew what it was like to lose your parents but Kai considered himself lucky to have his sister. He also hoped that Zane would be comfortable sharing this.
"It was... a long time ago. I was four or five when it happened. I don't remember my age but I can remember this like it was yesterday.
My mother and father wanted humans and hybrids to get along but something we did was help hybrids in need. Our home could house several families at a time. Heh, I can remember meeting a falcon hybrid who was a few years old than me. I thought he was cool since he could fly since it was something I wanted to do one day.
Anyway, one day, we needed to get more food since winter was approaching and many hybrids would didn't like the cold may need a home.
A young Zane was running through the forest with his mother and father trailing behind. "Mother, Father, come on!"
"Zane, slow down! Your mother and I are not as young as we use to be!"
"Dear, he's a kit. Kits have too much energy for their own good."
"Yes, come on. We should catch up. Zane, wait for us!"
Young hybrids have more energy than an average human child. We're like puppies or kittens. We have a lot of energy to burn and once it's gone, we'll sleep for hours. I waited for my parents to catch up since they didn't want me to get lost. That's when I heard it.
A twig snapped scaring Zane a bit. "Hello!" No response came. "Is someone there?"
"Zane, what's wrong, dear?" His mother asked once she and her husband caught up.
"I thought I heard something."
"It can't be a Treehorn, they would attack in groups and their footsteps are bigger and louder than that. Are you sure you didn't hear a rabbit, son?" His father asked.
"I... I'm not sure."
"Well, let's get going. We're going to be expecting hybrids in a few days be..." Zane's mother couldn't even finish her sentence. An arrow went through her shoulder.
An arrow went through my mother's shoulder. Her blood fell on my face. My father told me to run after we heard someone shout.
"GOT ONE!"
"Zane, run! NOW!"
Zane ran and he didn't look back. He could hear his father fighting someone along with his mother and he also heard people running from behind him.
I could hear someone chasing me. They were also shooting arrows at me but none of them hit me.
"Get the brat! Snow leopard hybrids like him will make for a good trade."
My parents told me of hybrid hunters. Hybrid hunters hunt hybrids for sport or out of hate for hybrids. Many will kill the parents and take the children. They'll sell them to the highest bidder and no one will see the kids again.
I soon found a big pile of snow and hid inside it after hiding my footprints.
A young Zane jumped into a giant pile of snow after hiding his footprints. He held his breath as he watched the humans search the area he was last seen in. "Where'd he go?!"
"I don't know. He's just a stupid kid. Come on. Let's find him."
The hunters ran off and Zane didn't move for a long time.
I was probably under that snow for hours. I don't get cold very easily so I stayed there for a while. I didn't even leave until it was night when I felt safer and when I noticed that my mother and father didn't come to find me.
Zane crawled out of the snow and looked around. He smelled the air and he couldn't smell the humans from earlier. "Mother? Father?" No response came back. Zane ran back to where he last saw his parents.
Zane saw two bodies on the ground. "Mother? Father? Is that you?" Again, there was no response back. Zane ran to the two bodies and he covered his mouth in fear. It was his parents. Their ears and tail were cut off their bodies and their claws were ruthlessly torn off. They had holes in their bodies. "Mother?! Father?! Please get up! Please!"
They didn't move. Zane fell to his knees with tears in his eyes. His parents were gone and he was all alone.
"After I buried them, I tried to go back home, but I couldn't find it. I couldn't find the scent since I could still smell my parent's blood."
Kai, Cole, and Jay were speechless. No wonder Zane was so scared of them when they first met, he didn't know who to trust after he lost his parents. "Zane, how could you trust any human after that?"
"My mother always told me to be kind to humans but I didn't believe it after they died." Zane stayed silent for a few moments. "Anyway, I left the forest many years later and found myself stealing food to survive. I was taken to an orphanage sometime later and left when I was 11. I fended for myself until Sensei Wu found me."
"Come on! We need to make those hybrid hunters pay!" Kai said, the others followed him but Zane told them. "No. Hurting the hunters won't do us any good. We'll be like them. We can't put ourselves to their level."
As must as they didn't like it, they knew Zane was right. They can't hurt the hunters even if they wanted to. "Zane, are you going to be okay?" Kai asked.
"I... I am not sure."
"Zane, Pythor is still out there looking for the first Fangblade, and we need you. We need to stop him from hurting both humans and hybrids," Cole told him.
Zane turned away from them and said, "You'll have to go on without me. I need a moment."
They didn't like it, but they decided to leave Zane alone in his home. "We just have to give him time. It's hard to relive those bad memories, especially when the scars are still fresh on his mind."
"How the heck do we get out of this place?" Cole asked then they heard a sound that sent chills up their spines. "What's that?"
Jay listened closer and it wasn't a sound he recognized. "Cute tiny birds?" He said as they all put their hoods up.
Cole then saw something move with four long legs move. "Did you see that?"
"I don't see anything," Jay commented.
"I just saw it too. Treehorns!" A large group of Treehorns surrounded them.
"GET US OUT OF HERE!" They looked and saw the hybrid hunters from earlier. "Guys, it's up to us, we have to save them." The men fell on the ground and before the Treehorn could attack them, Jay ran and made the Treehorn fall saying the hunters. "Thanks, Ninja!"
"Ninja, g—ugh. Ow!" Kai tried to do his spinjitzu but was overpowered quickly by them.
Cole threw one of the Treehorns into another one but another one beat him down to the ground. "There's just too many of them." The Treehorns quickly overpowered them leaving them and the hunters powerless.
Inside, Zane walked around his home. Barely anything changed inside of it. 'It's like, no one came here after they died.' Zane went back to his room and looked around. He saw a few of the drawings he did and smiled. 'I can remember doing these when I was younger.' Zane can hardly remember a time when he didn't trust humans. In fact, he could remember when his mother told him about protecting all humans and hybrids, no matter what, but it wasn't until a certain encounter with a human when he learned to trust them again.
After his parents died, Zane was on his own. He could remember a log cabin in the forest that always had amazing smelling food. The old man who lived there was human so instead of asking him for food, he would normally take food from the garbage. It wasn't healthy but it was the only way he could survive. It was like that for a few months, until one day when he saw a group of older hybrid ganging up on the old man.
"Give your money and food, old man!" A German Shepherd hybrid demanded.
"I don't have much. Please..." The man fell to the ground and tried to get his cane.
"Give it to us or else!"
Zane was hesitant. He didn't like humans but from what he had seen, the human was nice and the hybrids were ganging up on his for no reason. 'It's not right to gang up on a defenseless human.' Without thinking, Zane rushed in and stood in front of the old man. "Leave him alone! He didn't do anything!"
The gang of hybrids looked at Zane then the old man. "I may not like humans, but I won't hurt a young hybrid or a kid. Let's go, boys." Then the gang left.
Zane grabbed the man's cane and handed it to him. The man stood up with Zane's help. "Thank you, young one. Would you like something to..." Before the man could finish his sentence, Zane ran off. "..eat?"
The man watched the area that Zane ran off to and Zane watched from the bushes as the man went back inside. 'Why... why did I help him?' Zane pondered this as he went to his small home. It wasn't much, it was just a pile of snow with a blanket inside of it. He found it some time ago and kept it ever since.
Days later, Zane would see warm food outside the forest near the home where the man lived. Not wanting the food to go to waste, Zane ate it without hesitation. For days after that, Zane would find food outside waiting for him. Eventually, Zane went to the home of the man and knocked on his door. The man opened it and smiled at him. "I was hoping you would come. Come in, little one. I promise I won't hurt you."
Hesitantly, Zane walked in. After being by himself for about a year now, he was pretty nervous since he didn't talk to humans anymore, granted he didn't talk to too many hybrids either. "You're just in time. I was about to make dinner. Would you like to help?" The man asked in a sincere tone. Zane bit his lip nervously, he hadn't cooked food since his parents died but he nodded his head, after all, he did like cooking. "Wonderful, come on. Don't worry though, I'm not concerned if you get fur in the food."
For about six months, Zane lived with the man, who was named, Dr. Julien. He didn't have a wife or kids but he cared for Zane as if he was his own. Zane grew comfortable with him as well. Dr. Julien showed him how to cook and gave him a bed. It was good until Dr. Julien fell ill. Zane cared for him as best as he could but one day, he had to call an ambulance one morning when he noticed that Dr. Julien wouldn't wake up. By the time they arrived, it was too late. Dr. Julien had passed on and Zane was taken to an orphanage.
Zane sighed as he remembered Dr. Julien. If it wasn't for him, Zane probably would have never trusted humans ever again. In fact, Dr. Julien and his mother both told him something that he always kept in his heart. Protect everyone. Everyone deserves protection, no matter who they are or how they feel about you.
"Are you here to help us?" Zane blinked, he was taken out of his thoughts but a child's voice. He turned to the voice to see two falcon hybrids outside his bedroom, one was a girl and the others looked like her little brother. "Our dad is hurt and we're running out of food. Those monsters are outside, can you help us?"
Zane walked over to the two and told him once he got to their level, "Yes, I will but first I need to do something." Zane put his hood up and ran outside. "Hey, guys. Wait up! I need your help with..." Zane watched as his friends and the hybrid hunters were being attacked by the Treehorn. "Leave them alone! Ninja, go!"
Zane was doing spinjitzu better than any of the Ninja had ever seen. He was fighting and using his weapons better than any of them had ever since, even the hunters were impressed. "What's gotten into Zane?" Cole asked.
"I don't know, but I like it," Kai told him.
"Ninja, go!" The Ninja did their spinjitzu driving the Treehorns away. They made the Treehorns fall and beat them down but weren't doing much damage. Cole was soon kicked by a Treehorn but Zane caught him and set him back on his feet.
"Go inside the tree and stay there!" Zane told the hunter who promptly followed Zane's orders without hesitation.
"Why are we listening to that hybrid?" One hunter asked.
"Don't question it! As long as we get to safety!" What the hunters and Ninja didn't notice was one of the younger hunters stayed behind, frozen in fear at the sight of the Treehorn.
The Treehorns start back up then Jay asked, "Are they regrouping?" A loud roar was heard and a much larger Treehown was then seen. "Who's that?"
"The queen," Zane told him.
"JEFFERY!" Zane turned and saw one of the younger hybrid hunter staring at the Queen in fear. The Queen even started to walk toward the human. With no hesitation, Zane ran in front of Jeffery. "You will not hurt my friends or the humans. There is nothing that will hold me back. I am not afraid of them or you!" As Zane was talking, he started to light up. He floated up in the air shocking and amazing everyone who was watching.
"What's happening to him? I've never seen a hybrid do that!" Kai said shocked.
The Queen roared in anger at Zane once she saw a new threat. "Zane's unlocked his True Potential," Cole told them realizing what happened.
Zane threw his shurikens and did spinjitzu several times around the Queen then he returned to his previous position. Then he froze the Queen and the remaining Treehorn fled in fear as Zane fell to the ground. The other Ninja ran to Zane and help him up. "What happened?" He asked in confusion.
"That was awesome!" Jay told him.
"You should've seen yourself," Kai told him amazed.
"Heh, I've never seen anything like it," Cole told him.
"The human!" Zane saw the young human just staring at him on his butt. Zane walked over to him as asked, "Are you alright?" Zane held out his hand and Jeffery grabbed it. Zane helped him stand up.
"That was so COOL! I can't believe I watched the Ninja fight! My friends are never going to believe this!"
"Jeffery!" One of the adult males ran to Jeffery and hugged him. "Don't ever do that again! Okay?" Jeffery nodded. The human release Jeffery from his hug then said hesitantly, "Thank you, for saving my son but why? I thought hybrids hated humans."
Zane shook his head, "No. I know some do but I don't. I want to protect both humans and hybrids. I know you saw the two young falcon hybrids inside. The girl looks like your son's age. How would you feel if someone alone without their parents or without their kids? Humans and hybrids are not that different from each other. We shouldn't be treating each other as such.
The man sighed. "You're right. I guess we've been looking at you and the rest of your kind the wrong way, for that I am sorry."
"You don't need to apologize. If I know anything if we can at least change one person, maybe one day, we can change everyone."
"Well, come on, men. Let's go home, after all, we should start building homes for hybrids now, after all, they aren't that different from us. " The men agreed and with that, they left.
"Whoa! Zane, that was incredible!" Jay told him.
"How'd you do that anyway?"
"I think it must be what Sensei meant by unlocking our hearts. I remembered something two people I cared about told me. I need to protect everyone, Everyone deserves protection, no matter who they are or how they feel about you. I use to be so afraid of humans and hybrid hunters but once I saw that they needed my protection and I needed to help the hybrids in my home, I knew that I need to conquer my fear, and I feel stronger for doing so.
"I'm so jealous. His powers are so cool," Cole said, excited for when he unlocks his True Potential.
"Before we return home, we have something we need to do first." The Ninja went back inside and helped the young falcon's hybrids take care of their father. They patched him up and planned to take him to a hospital to help him heal faster, and the Ninja planned on paying for the expenses. Before they left Zane's home, Zane wanted to grab a few things: a few pictures of his family and something he saw earlier that he was relieved was still intact after all these years, his falcon stuffed animal, after all, he really did love falcons. Zane closed the door to his home and summoned his vehicle, he watched as his friends zoomed ahead, chatting about a race and who was going to win."Watch out, Pythor. We're coming to get you," Zane said with confidence before speeding off himself.
In the Constrictai tomb, Pythor was still trying to find the map. "Where are..." Fangtom's right head asked Pythor. "...the four Fangblades?" Fangtom's left head finished.
"What if there is no map?" Acidicus asked.
Pythor then shouted in anger and frustration. "I know, I know! But I don't know where to look."
"Then I'm taking my Staff back," Fangtom told him as he grabbed his staff.
Acidicus then grabbed his staff and said, "Me too."
Skalidor told him, "Me three." Skaildor then accidentally hit Acidicus and then Acidicus hit Skaildor back with his staff. The two generals then fought with each other, not realizing that they threw their staffs. Anti-venom start to leave their staff and it combined and Pythor noticed this.
"That's it!"
"What's it?" Skales asked him.
Pythor started to grabbed the Serpentine's staffs from the generals. "The Map of Fangs. It's been right in front of us all this time. "When the five fangs unite as one, the path toward the Devourer has begun." It's not speaking of the five tribes, it's the venom in the five Staffs." Pythor slid a piece of paper under the dripping anti-venom from the five staffs. Slowly, the venom started to produce a map with four fanged blades on it. "Behold, the locations of the four Silver Fangblades!" Everyone cheered loudly at the sight. "Soon, the Great Devourer will be unleashed and Ninjago will be ours!"
Wu took a deep breath. He was hesitant about this but he knew that he had no other options. So, he waited for the Traveler's Tea to finish boiling under the campfire. Wu soon removed the teapot and poured it around the campfire. A portal appeared out of nowhere as Wu grabbed his staff and the old katana. He jumped inside the portal and landed in the Realm of Madness.
Wu landed on a small mountain and brushed the dust of him as he heard someone speak. "Hello, brother. What took you so long?" Garmadon laughed evilly as lightning crashed around the two brothers.
That's it. Now, here's the thing. I said that the Falcon wouldn't be in my AU, but I never said that Dr. Julien wouldn't be in it. I like his character and to me, it would be pretty hard to not include him, especially for certain parts in season 2. Anyway, thank you so much for reading. Don't forget to fav, follow, and review, please! Bye! :)