Master of the Mountain: C.J. Style is here! This will have weekly updates every Monday, so that I have more time to work on my next Fanfiction. I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago or any of the lines from the episode Shintaro.
Chapter I: Shintaro
For once, nothing was going on in Ninjago. There were no repairs to be made in the city, no villains to fight, everything was calm, and that gave the ninja the perfect opportunity to go through some very late spring cleaning.
As Lloyd was carrying his basket of laundry to the laundry room, he overheard some strange noises coming from the game room. Upon sliding open the door, Lloyd saw none other than Cole, C.J., and Wu's chicken playing a new game.
"Are you seriously playing video games right now?" Lloyd asked.
"It's my day off. Why wouldn't I be playing video games?" Cole responded lazily.
"Games!" C.J. yelled. For the past few days, he had been repeating every word he heard incredibly loudly, and Cole had given up trying to tell him to stop.
"We've been gone for weeks, Cole, and this monastery won't clean itself!" Lloyd said as he looked around the room. 'We've got laundry to do, leaves to rake, firewood to chop, and don't even get me started on repairing the sentry cannons outside the wall."
"Wall!"
Cole sighed in annoyance, although, it was unclear whether it was from C.J. screaming everything he heard or Lloyd telling him what to do.
"That sounds like a lot of work," he told his little brother. "Sure you don't wanna play?"
"Play!" C.J. said enthusiastically as he held his controller up to his Uncle Lloyd.
"Did you just hear me?" Lloyd asked. "Cole, we've got a ton to do and-Wait. What game is this?"
"Prime Empire."
The word was too big for C.J. to repeat.
"What?" Lloyd asked.
"What?" C.J. asked.
"What what? What's wrong?" Cole asked.
"Oh, nothing. Except we were just trapped inside that game and got cubed!"
Cole, C.J., and the chicken all looked at each other for a moment, none really sure what to say to that.
Finally, Cole went to the only piece of advice that got him this far.
"You need to let go of the past, Lloyd. Anyway, it's totally safe. Unagami and Dyer worked out the kinks and it's really fun," Cole said.
"Fun," C.J. said, quieter this time, as if trying to convince Lloyd to play as well.
"Look, I gotta concentrate. Just about to beat this level," Cole told the both of them.
C.J. didn't repeat the word this time, and Lloyd couldn't help but feel that Cole had a point. Letting go of the past would probably help with his nightmares, and he did need a break.
Deciding to give in, Lloyd threw the laundry basket to the side and sat down on the couch next to C.J., who gave him the chicken's controller.
"I guess one game wouldn't hurt," Lloyd told himself.
Meanwhile, Jay and Nya were raking leaves out in the courtyard. A task Nya found rather calming, but of course Jay was itching to do literally anything else.
"Oh, how are there this many leaves?" Jay complained. "I don't even see any trees."
"They blow over the walls, Jay," Nya answered, slightly annoyed that she couldn't just have a peaceful moment with her yin. "And we've been gone awhile. Aspheera's invasion, our little trip to the Never-Realm, being stuck in Prime Empire."
"This will take forever to clean up," Jay continued to complain as he used his rake to lift some leaves in the air. The wind carried them back down to the ground in a small cyclone. "Unless..."
"No! Don't get any ideas."
"What? We could be done instantly!"
"If Master Wu sees you using spinjitzu to take short cuts like raking leaves, he's gonna be furious!"
"Oh, he won't know. He's been locked in with his scrolls all day."
"Please don't."
But Nya's pleads fell on deaf ears. Jay began cheering loudly as he started his spinjitzu tornado, gathered up all the leaves, and placed them in a single pile. The entire courtyard was now completely void of leaves.
When the lightning ninja was finished, he showed Nya the big pile with a flourish of his hands, but the water ninja gasped suddenly when Wu came out of the pile.
"Oh," Jay cleared his throat to get his excuse speech ready. "Master Wu. Sorry! I got all hopped up on dreams of efficiency and-What?"
The two watched as Wu walked right past them without a word and headed for the doors of the monastery, shoulders hunched and eyes downcast all the way.
"That was weird," Nya said. "Maser Wu just totally passed up an opportunity to lecture you on something."
"Yeah. He didn't even notice," Jay added, clearly worried.
The couple headed inside, now that their chores were done, and decided to confront Lloyd on this, who was now continuing his work with the laundry, although rather speedily, which usually meant he was hiding something. On most occasions, they'd wait for Wu to say something, but he didn't seem to be in the mood for lecturing today.
"Lloyd? What are you doing?" Nya asked as she saw Lloyd stuffing his clothes into the washing machine.
"Laundry," Lloyd replied, not looking up from his task.
"That fast?"
Lloyd sighed.
"Fine. I was playing a game of Prime Empire with Cole and C.J., but I don't want Master Wu to know, so can you please keep this between us?"
"Sure, but I don't think he's gonna say anything anyway," Jay responded.
"What do you mean?" Lloyd asked.
"Master Wu just saw Jay use spinjitzu to rake leaves, and he didn't say anything!" Nya explained. "I'm worried."
Lloyd frowned as he stood up, not even bothering with the laundry anymore.
"I'm gonna go check on him. Do you mind finishing up for me here?"
"Sure," Nya smiled as she took the basket, ignoring Jay's groans.
"Thanks. I owe ya one."
With that, the youngest ninja left for Master Wu's study, where he was intently reading one of his history books. Something he only did when there was a threat (or about to be one).
"Master Wu?" Lloyd asked. "Is everything okay? Nya and Jay said you seemed a little...distracted."
"What?" Wu asked as he looked up from his book, clearly trying to process what Lloyd had just said. "Oh! No, I'm fine," he said before looking back at his book. "Just reading this Ninjago History Book."
"We're not going to be under attack again soon, are we?"
"No. As far as I know, we're okay for now. I just wanted to learn more about this realm."
"The Realm of Oni and Dragons?" Lloyd asked as he looked at the front cover of the book. "What do you need to know about that for?"
"No reason," Wu replied as he shut the book much harsher than needed. He placed this back on the shelf and suddenly, Misako came in saying, "I've noticed it too, Wu."
"Misako?" Wu asked.
"Mom!" Lloyd exclaimed happily. It wasn't often she came over for visits.
"You've been quiet lately. You haven't been yourself. Are you sure nothing's bothering you?" Misako asked.
Master Wu sighed as he looked towards the suddenly very interesting floorboards.
"I guess I don't really feel like I belong anymore."
"Like you don't belong? But, Master, that's ridiculous! You're the most skilled fighter I've ever seen. You know more about spinjitzu than the rest of us put together! You fought all of us at once and kicked our butts! Remember that?"
"Yeah," Wu smiled. "That was fun."
"We couldn't have saved Ninjago all these times without your help, Master Wu."
"Yet I can't help but feel I am needed elsewhere. I can't put my finger on it, but I need something new. Something that's not in Ninjago."
"Not in Ninjago?"
"Something...I don't know, exciting."
Lloyd frowned as he followed Master Wu out of his study and to the courtyard, where the ninja were currently freaking out about something.
"This is incredible!" Kai exclaimed.
"Are you sure this isn't a mistake?" Nya asked.
Jay gasped excitedly saying, "It's real! It's gotta be! It's addressed to us! Look!"
"What? What is it? Bad news?" Lloyd asked, pessimistic as always.
"It is highly unusual," Zane remarked.
"Ooh! We gotta get ready!" Jay screamed excitedly.
Lloyd heard the words, but he did not take into consideration his tone. Thousands of warning signs went off in his head as he thought about how messy his life was about the get. And stressful.
"What? What happened?" Lloyd asked, running up to his friends. "Someone's located the Teapot of Tyrahn? Uh, Pythor's back? My father's been found? What?"
The mailman chuckled before answering saying, "You got an invitation. To Shintaro!"
"Shintaro?" Lloyd asked, dumbfounded.
"The Ivory City! You don't deliver one of those every day. No siree!"
Jay opened the invitation and fanfare immediately started playing as mini fireworks came out of the card.
"Woah! Fancy card!" Jay exclaimed.
"That's the fanciest card I've ever seen!" Cole sighed as he pushed Zane out of the way. He took in a deep breath and said, "It even smells good!"
Nya, on the other hand, had to cover her mouth to prevent an allergic reaction from showing up.
"Shintaro?" Lloyd asked again. "As in Shintaro?!" Misako had told Lloyd about it before, but he thought it was just a legend.
"As in the remote and exclusive mountain kingdom of Northern Ninjago," Pixal explained.
"Invitations to Shintaro are exceedingly rare. In recorded history, there have only been a handful of outsiders allowed into the Ivory City," Zane added.
"The last recorded invitation was sent out nearly twenty years ago," Echo continued.
"I've heard it's incredible!" Jay yelled. "It's the most beautiful city in the world. And the people have wings! You can't beat wings."
"Wings!" C.J. exclaimed.
"What's it say? The invitation?" Lloyd asked.
Jay cleared his throat before reading the invitation saying, "'King Vangelis of the Northern Kingdom of Shintaro of the Sky Folk, kindly requests your presence' of course he does, 'as honored guests' oh, that makes sense, 'to celebrate the birthday of the princess, Vania'."
"Princess Vania? Who's that?" Cole asked.
"Apparently the daughter of King Vangelis," Nya replied.
"Little is known about Shintaro. Up until recently, it was still considered a mythical place," Zane said.
"Well, it looks like we're gonna see it. In person!" Cole exclaimed.
Everyone began cheering and dispersing off to different locations to get ready to leave. Lloyd took the invitation from Jay while Wu came up to Lloyd and asked, "What's this about Shintaro?"
"We've been invited to the Kingdom of Shintaro to attend Princess Vania's birthday. Master Wu, this is just what you need. This'll get you out of your funk!"
"I am not in a funk!" Wu said as he crossed his arms, "but that does sound intriguing. This might be the change of pace I need."
"Yes!" Lloyd cheered to himself. "Let's go!"
The young man grabbed his uncle's wrist and practically dragged him to the Bounty.
They set sail right away and before long, they were almost to the kingdom. Everyone was very excited.
"Though my optic circuits are inputting full visual data, somehow the zeros and ones of my code cannot convey the grandeur of this moment," Zane sighed happily adventure book in hand. Even though he didn't like Clutch Powers, his book was really good.
"I've never been to a kingdom before," Echo remarked.
"They're very beautiful and all very different. This one fabled to be the greatest of them all," Zane explained to his brother.
"Yeah! It's like...like...totally super cool!" Jay tried to explain.
"That really captured the moment beautifully, Jay. Thanks," was Nya's sarcastic response, along with a playful wink.
"It really is beautiful. Isn't it, Master Wu?" Lloyd asked.
Wu sighed happily as he leaned up against the railing while Cole said, "Yeah. Beats doing chores back at the monastery. That's for sure."
"Yeah!" C.J. exclaimed.
Suddenly, everyone heard a strange growling noise coming from a nearby mountain, placing everyone on high alert.
"What-what was that?" Jay asked.
"There is something you should know. Early accounts of the mythical city of Shintaro claimed that the mountains surrounding it were home to a vicious species of bat called a Dire Bat," Zane informed his friends.
"Dire Bat?" Cole asked.
"Bat?" C.J. asked.
"It's okay, Buddy," Cole told him as he rubbed the boy's head.
"There is much debate among historians as to whether Dire Bats are real or fiction," Zane stated the information from the book in his hand.
Jay laughed as he walked over to the railing saying, "That's gotta be made up."
He was suddenly grabbed by a humongous bat and flown away. The ninja could barely hear their brother in blue screaming, "Not made up! Not made up! Not made up!"
"Jay!" Nya screamed as she ran over to the railing, but she was immediately knocked down when another bat flew by incredibly fast. It landed on the Bounty and got ready to attack, but Lloyd was soon there with a powerful kick to the head, knocking the bat off the Bounty.
Kai then noticed another bat tearing away at the sails. A bunch of its friends came over to help it.
"They're trying to take us down!" Kai announced.
He jumped onto the sail and started throwing fire ball after fire ball at them saying, "Shoo! Shoo, Bats!"
As Kai was doing this, Cole ran into the cabin and placed C.J. down in his crib.
"Stay," he told him before running back to the deck and jumping off the Bounty saying, "I'm coming for you, Buddy!"
Cole landed on one of the Dire Bats that were flying by and managed to steer it towards Jay's direction.
"Wait! Hold on!" Jay screamed. "Can-can we be friends?"
The bat responded by stopping in his tracks and dropping Jay into the mountains far, far below. Jay screamed as he tried to grab onto something. Anything, and soon, he felt a tight, strong hand grab his own.
"You owe me!" Cole strained as he tried to keep his grip on Jay and the bat he was flying at the same time.
The bat was quick to throw them both off, though. Seeing this, Kai grabbed a nearby rope and threw it to his brothers.
"Jay! Cole! Grab the line!" he yelled to them.
The two did and were soon safe and sound on the Bounty again, but the Dire Bats weren't quitting.
Echo jumped onto one of their backs to try to get it to stop, but this just seemed to rile the bat up. It kicked and thrashed around, soon, knocking Echo off the Bounty.
"Echo!" Zane exclaimed as he reached over the Bounty's edge and caught his brother's hand just in time.
The younger nindroid was breathing heavily as he looked up to the titanium ninja. Zane tried to bring him up, but he wasn't strong enough to get him up on his own while trying to fight another bat off at the same time.
"I am in need of assistance!" Zane yelled to the other ninja, but they seemed to be in similar situations.
"What do we do? How do we stop them?" Nya asked.
"Use your elemental powers!" Wu told them.
"Master Wu!" Lloyd exclaimed as a Dire Bat came towards the young master.
Wu jumped out of the way just in time, so that no harm would come to either of them, but the attacking Dire Bat ended up taking out one of the beams for the sails. This was the one Kai was currently balancing on, and he had to hang onto it with all his might to prevent from falling to his doom.
The Bounty began to tip, and it was now heading straight into a mountain. Luckily, it tipped over in a way that allowed Zane and Echo back on the Bounty, but now they had to stand on the railing to prevent themselves from falling.
"Brace for impact!" Lloyd yelled.
Everyone did, but nothing happened. In fact, the Bounty suddenly went upright.
"How?" Nya asked as she stood back up.
"Uh, Guys. You're not gonna believe this," Kai said as he hung onto the edge of the Bounty, looking at something incredible right below.
The ninja followed Kai's gaze to see flying people carrying the Bounty.
One of them even flew to the deck while Cole took a, luckily unhurt, C.J. back into his arms.
"Greetings, Honored Guest!" the winged man said to them. He was adorned in golden armor and helmet and had fine, pale skin. His wings were the same gold as his armor, and he wore a respectful smile on his face. "I am Hailmar. Right hand of King Vangelis. I welcome you to the Kingdom of Shintaro," Hailmar bowed.
"You just saved our lives!" Lloyd exclaimed in shock.
"It is the least we could do," Hailmar responded. "The Dire Bats are a plague. They are one of the many reasons we discourage visitors, for their own safety."
That statement made Lloyd wonder what the other reasons were, but he decided to push these uneasy feelings down as Hailmar continued saying, "But come! Let us put our woes behind us and welcome you to the Ivory City of Shintaro!"
Hailmar gestured towards the most beautiful palace the ninja had ever seen. Shock and awe filled their bodies as they saw themselves coming closer and closer to this amazing place.
"Woah!" C.J. exclaimed.
"Woah is right," Cole breathed. "It's beautiful."
Next chapter should be out on Monday. As always, I'm accepting requests for C.J. Style One-Shots, and I would love to hear your thoughts on this chapter.
Have a great day/night!
#God'sNotDead