Nya and Kai stood outside an absolutely ginormous warehouse in a rather industrial part of Ninjago City. From here there was fairly easy access to the ocean, the rivers, downtown, the brickyards, and even the sky as there was nothing restricting the airspace. It would be an awesome place to practice with any sort of mech.

And it supposedly was the secret headquarters of the Ninja.

Even as they wondered where on Ninjago the entrance was, there was an eerie trill of flute music and a "ha!" Suddenly they were in the center of a triangle formation of the Earth Ninja, Lightning Ninja, and Ice Ninja.

An old man with a staff stepped down from seemingly nowhere.

"Welcome Fire Ninja. Water Ninja. It is time for you to take your rightful place as heroes of Ninjago and protectors of Ninjago City. Are you ready?"

"WHAT?!" screamed Nya

"We have to FIGHT?!" Kai added his scream to his sister's, even as they spun back to back to try keep an eye on all their opponents.

With that last phrase, the old man, who must be their parents' Master Wu, twirled around the staff quicker than they could follow, ending with it at his lips. And he tooted out the notes to "Ce-le-brate good times! Come on!"

And with a laugh the three ninjas relaxed their stances and took off their hoods, revealing Cole, Jay, and Zane.

"This is so awesome!" cried out Jay, running forward to grab both Kai and Nya in a hug. "You have no idea how hard it is to fight Garmadon with only three mechs!"

Kai and Nya's eyes were bulging.

"You guys are the Ninja?" exclaimed Kai. "Dude! That's so cool!"

"Wait - we're going to be actual Ninja?! I thought we were just going to start training!" cried out Nya.

"We'll make sure you can operate any mech before taking it out, sure," chuckled Cole. "We're not stupid! But you don't need to know spinjitzu immediately. We rarely fight hand-to-hand with anyone."

"Yes. Since Garmadon began attacking the city twelve years ago, regular crime has been steady at an all time low. The Ninja are only necessary for turning back Garmadon's forces, and he hasn't gone all out since the retirement of the last Fire and Water Ninjas," explained Zane.

"You almost make his weekly attacks sound good for the city, Zane!" complained Jay.

"Statistically, Garmadon can be credited with completely wiping out gang violence, as he has recruited all possible competitors, and eliminating unemployment and low income, with the massive amounts of reconstruction always necessary following every battle," noted Zane, tilting his head and with his eyes flickering as he analyzed the data.

"Yeah, but he still causes millions in property damage and endangers the lives of civilians each time he invades," interrupted Cole. "So still the bad guy." He turned to Kai and Nya, smiling broadly. "So, you guys ready for a test drive of your parents' mechs?"

"YES!" Kai and Nya screamed, this time in excitement.

"Don't forget to change into your gi!" called out Master Wu to the charging gang of teenage ninja that still had a very long way to go. "And two hours training in spinjitzu when you're done playing!"

A quiet figure appeared behind Master Wu as he was sighing at the concept of youth in general.

"They're so young," she sighed, both interrupting and echoing his thoughts. "Lloyd must be about the same age."

"Misako," greeted Master Wu, turning and bowing slightly. He'd been expecting her. "Did you bring the scroll?"

"Yes. It confirms my worst fears, like I told you in my last message." Lloyd's mother reached back and lowered her large tubular bag down from her back. She unscrewed the top and pulled out a dusty, delicate scroll.

"The Green Ninja, the one destined to destroy Garmadon once and for all, is Lloyd."

"How can you be so certain?" asked Wu, taking the scroll and opening it. "I still feel it could be one of my students."

Inside was a hand painted sketch of a small hoodless ninja in green gi, in the center of a circle surrounded by five elemental ninja. The small figure had thick blond hair and bright green eyes, and the five elemental ninja were fire, water, lightning, ice, and earth, each using their power in case the colors of their gi weren't enough.

It was obviously Lloyd, even before unrolling more of the scroll and reading the inscription written in the script of the First Spinjitzu Master.

It didn't translate well, but the basic premise was Father and Son, representing Evil and Good, would clash. Good would prevail only after the ultimate sacrifice, and Evil's reign would end. There was more, but that was quite enough for now.

Wu closed the scroll and ground his hand against his forehead. It was his and Misako's worst fears.

"The prophecy says Lloyd and Garmadon will fight. And it sounds an awful lot like both of them are going to die," whispered Misako. "Please, please tell me I'm wrong."

"Forewarned is forearmed," Wu tried to comfort his sister-in-law and best friend. "There must be some way. Perhaps ultimate sacrifice refers to having to kill his father, not having to die himself."

"How is that any better?" despaired Misako, covering her mouth as tears began falling from her eyes.

Wu took a deep breath. "Would you rather lose both of them? Which will surely happen if Lloyd is untrained and unprepared."

Misako knew what Wu was getting at, and shook her head. "I went searching for a way to prevent this battle, Wu. Not to hasten it. You mustn't train Lloyd."

"And should the prophecy only be broken if Evil wins, Misako? You know as well as I that the evil in my brother's veins worsens every year. Eventually Garmadon will lose himself entirely, and the remaining monster will not hesitate to murder his son in cold blood to prevent the prophecy's fulfillment." He narrowed his eyes at her disapprovingly. "Especially as you saw fit to explain the prophecy to him, heedless of my warnings."

"No. No, Lloyd keeps him sane," Misako argued, as much to herself as Wu.

"For how long? No one has ever escaped the venom of the Great Devourer."

Misako had no reply. Her knees gave out as she began weeping in earnest. Wu lowered himself to his knees and set a hand on her shoulder.

"I-I abandoned my child," she blubbered. "For a hope that doesn't exist!"

"We must try. Good is foretold to win. We do not yet know the nature of the final prophesied battle. We can only prepare Lloyd to face it when it comes."

~~ ! Go Ninja Go ! ~~

The next morning, Dad was waiting for me at breakfast. He'd made waffles, so he had something serious to talk to me about.

I snagged two waffles from the plate on the table, and he passed over the butter and syrup. After a moment's hesitation, he went to the fridge and pantry and came back with whipped cream, rainbow sprinkles, and chocolate chips.

Yep, it was bad if he was using my weakness for sugar against me first thing in the morning. Even knowing that, I couldn't help quickly shoving aside the butter and syrup in order to pile on all the goodies I really shouldn't have this early. I was going to crash so hard later, but it's always so worth it.

He waited until I finished my first waffle and was starting my second, no doubt hoping my sugar high was well enough along for him to drop his bomb.

"I'm sending General Number 16 to school with you."

I froze, actually froze, fork full of sugary goodness halfway to my mouth. After a second I sighed regretfully and set the fork down. I was still pleasantly buzzed, and I didn't want to sour the taste of sugar overload waffles with this discussion.

"Dad. I really, really, reeeeeeealy don't want a bodyguard."

He looked away. "Your mother called yesterday."

"Uh, yeah. I was there." And I guess she's not Koko for some reason anymore?

"She may join up with my idiot brother to kidnap you."

"Wait, what? What does Uncle Wu have to do with this? I've never even met the guy!"

"They believe in some retarded prophecy about how I'm going to be destroyed. Apparently the fruit of my loins is the key to the prophecy."

So that's what yesterday's call was about. No wonder he got so upset.

"Ok, Dad, first of all, yuck! Please don't call me that. Ever. Again. Second, I finally have some kids willing to hang out with me. They may even be my friends. Please, please, please, don't ruin this for me."

"I have to protect you."

"Dad..." I groaned. "Isn't your brother, like, the secret Master of the Ninja? So he's like a good guy? Good guys aren't supposed to kidnap their opponent's kid."

My dad actually frowned thoughtfully at that. I guess "what good guys do" doesn't come up in his thinking very often.

"Even if they did 'kidnap' me, they wouldn't hurt me or keep me against my will. I haven't actually committed any crimes-"

"You released the Serpentine."

"That was like practically a decade ago! Anyway, the Ninja said not to worry about that when they rescued me from Pythor. My point is they're not going to lock me up and throw away the key."

"They'll try to turn you against me!"

I got up and came around the table to hug my dad. His stiffened muscles slowly relaxed and he returned the hug.

"I told you, Dad. I could never hate you." I leaned back and looked up into his face. "Even if I do kinda wish you'd give up on conquering Ninjago City and take up, I dunno, golf or something."

We both waited as he thought this over.

"General Number 16 is still going to Ninjago City with you."

I groaned.

"To search for your mother. If she finds nothing on her scans, I'll let you off the hook. Maybe she's not even here."

"Yes!" I cheered, and quickly zipped back over to finish my dessert breakfast.

"There must be a way to use golf to conquer Ninjago," mumbled Dad to himself.

Crap. I really hope this isn't like "sharks are cool, daddy!" all over again.