Hi everyone! This is my new Ninjago fanfic! I now have about five stories running and like three more in planning, not to mention a couple billion rarepairs and other oneshots I'm meant to work on. Oh well, they can wait. This one is more important.

I've had this idea for about three or four years now, and only just developed it into a cohesive story for this site. So here it is.

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Ninjago or any of its characters, only the plot and any OCs.

Enjoy!

The ninja, accompanied by Pixal, Akita and Skylor, trudge through the realm of Ninjago, their destination unknown at the moment. Sensei Wu had decided that everyone needed to get out more, so he had sent them all packing and out on a group camping trip. Each member of the party has a large backpack stuffed to the brim with stuff for their trip, including sleeping bags, plenty of water, a few snacks, money and spare clothes. They also have a first-aid kit each.

The group walks in silence, none of them wishing to break it. The occasional bird call or plant rustle or some other natural sound will reach their ears, though nothing more. They cross the countryside of Ninjago, rarely snapping photos or videos of each other or the landscape.

On the third day, the ninja and team gape into the distance as huge, towering mountains loom over them, casting most of the ground in shadows. There is a large forest at the bottom, which buzzes with wildlife and their respective sounds. Insects chirp in the fallen leaves and grass. Birds sing and cry from overhead, their nests hiding in the greenery above the ninja and friends. Every here and there, rocks stick out from the ground, and Lloyd finds himself imagining a wolf and its pack howling at a full moon from atop one of them. He is shaken back into reality when Kai waves his hand in front of his face.

"Hey, Lloyd! Ninjago to Lloyd!" The green ninja blinks rapidly and frowns at Kai, who chuckles quietly to himself. Skylor, Jay and Nya also fight to suppress giggles, covering their mouths with their hands though their grins still show in their eyes. Lloyd rolls his emerald eyes and shuffles his backpack further up his shoulder.

"We're nearly at our campsite for the night." Kai addresses the group once more. Everyone silenced themselves and stares at him for a bit. He shifts uncomfortably on his feet, unnerved by all of the sudden attention. "So... yeah. We're just gonna... keep on walking in... this direction. Yeah, this way." Nya, Jay and Skylor once again hold back laughs. Jay bites his lip as he continues walking.

Within an hour, the team reach their camping spot. There is a large clearing of pure green grass in the forest, not too far in, with a thick line of trees surrounding them. The clearing is a near-circle, nature ensuring they are protected. Akita drops her bag and transforms into her white wolf form before sprinting around in circles at the edges of the clearing. Lloyd rolls his eyes and laughs as he watches her run, her three tails flapping around behind her, her tongue dangling from her mouth as she pants. The other ninja discharge their own bags too, leaving them strewn around on the grass. Cole, Zane and Pixal immediately start unpacking and setting up campfires and tents, while Nya, Jay, Kai and Skylor decide to head into the forest to find some firewood and logs. After all, without the logs to sit on and rest against and the fire acting as their source of heat and light, how are they all going to share scary ghost stories at midnight?

Akita soon gives up her aimless running, padding over to her bag and laying beside it, body spread out. Lloyd stands and starts to set up his own tent. He and Cole will share, whil Nya and Jay, Kai and Skylor, Zane and Pixal will do the same. Akita, however, will be on her own. Happy days.

Two hours before sunset, the firewood team returns, their arm laden with sticks and branches as well as dead leaves and other plants. The wood and leaves are piled into a heap in the middle of the clearing, and the soon-to-be campfire is surrounded by stones and pebbles. At sunset, Kai will light the flames. For now though, the team prepare for the night.

The sun sinks towards the horizon, reluctant to give up the sky. The moon fights against its resistance, rising higher into the heavens. Finally, the sun gives in, retreating out of sight, taking the light blue and orange of the sky with it. The colours are immediately replaced by darker shades of blue and some purples, which streak across the sky like spilt paint. The campfire crackles as it burns, thin smoke rising into the air. Akita returns to her human form and sits outside her tent like the others. Kai pulls a torch from his camping backpack and flicks it on, holding it under his face to cast eerie shadows over it.

"It all began on a cold winter night." He begins, all eyes flicking to him again. Silence fills the campsite besides Kai's voice and the snap of twigs as they burn in the fire. "Three friends went off on a camping trip. Two of them had never been before, while the third had been several times, all to different locations. This would be a new experience for all three, since none of them had been camping in this location before. They set up their tents and waited for nightfall." Kai continues to tell of how the friends had started to tell spooky stories to scare each other. Then, at midnight, one of the friends had woken to strange noises outside their tents. She had never heard that kind of noise before - Kai describes it as being a mix between a wolf's howl and a lion's roar, and the clattering of hooves seemed to underlay it. Jay shivers. None of them had ever heard of such a sound. The girl had opened her tent flap curiously to find nothing out of the ordinary, though decided to find the other two. She crept from her tent into the other one. The other two had been dating, so shared a tent. She had moved into theirs only to find one of the two awake and crouching with his hand over his mouth. The girl had taken his gesture into account and attempted to remain silent. That was when they had heard the noise again. A voice spoke to the friends.

'I know where you are. I'm coming for you.' The third friend then came barrelling back into the tent. Her boyfriend threw his arms around her and held her close to his chest, shushing her quietly. The girl seemed to doze off, and her boyfriend laid his head down onto hers. The noises outside had stopped.

Until the girlfriend lashed out at her boyfriend.

"She snapped her head up, and scratched at his eyes with claws that had sprouted out of nowhere!" Kai exclaims, and everyone in the group gasps. Even Akita looks slightly shocked. "She bit at him, tearing his ear apart. The other girl screamed, only for the boyfriend to silence her with his bloody hand. He slapped it against her mouth, though he had been too late. His girlfriend leapt forward, and killed him. The girl stepped back, her mouth still covered from shock. The girlfriend laughed maniacally, before her neck and back seemed to grow fur. Fur of a dark, unnatural shade of blue. A blue so dark it was nearly black. Her eyes became yellow, her pupils reducing to vertical slits. The girl fled the tent, only to be pursued by the monster behind her. A werewolf, that was the only explainstion to her. She threw a final look over her shoulder. Her final movement. The animal took a leap at her, pinning her to the ground. The creature roared, making the sound they had heard mere moments ago. That was when the creature brought its head down, snapping its jaw shut. The girl was no more." Kai finishes, leaving everyone in shock. Jay huddles close to Nya, who holds him tightly. Pixal nearly hides entirely behind Zane, who glares at Kai, clearly mad at him for telling the story. Even Skylor shuffles closer to Kai, while Akita grabs Lloyd's shoulder and pulls herself to his side. He pats her arm gently and she eases slightly.

"It is said," Kai announces, his voice low and deliberate, "that that exact creature still haunts this forest today, waiting for the next group of campers who are foolish enough to wander too close to her territory." Jay yelps quietly and tucks his head into the crook of Nya's neck. She grips him harder, bringing him closer. She joins Zane in staring furiously at Kai.

That's when it rings out over the forest.

The noise.

The noise that sounds like a mix between a wolf's howling towards the full moon and a lion roaring to defend its pride from attackers. Hooves seem to pound through the trees, causing birds and bats to flap away from their perches and to soar up into the midnight sky, shrieking and screaming as they rise upwards, obscuring the moon from sight. Jay screams quietly as he buries his head into Nya's chest. The Master of Water stares into the shadows all around the group, aware of every little noise and movement.

"Kai," she growls threateningly under her breath, "cut it out now. Stop playing that noise on your phone." She fires a look at her brother, who grips his girlfriend tightly, who is shaking like a leaf in his arms. He locks eyes with his sister, and they nod in agreement. The two immediately stand up and usher everyone silently into their own tents. Nya insists that Akita go into someone else's tent until the coast is clear, though she claims defiantly that she can protect herself. Nya bites her lip as the Formling retreats to her white and red tent. Jay grasps her hand so hard that her fingers become numb, so she gently but forcefully takes him back to their tent, bidding goodnight to the rest of the team. Kai and Skylor retreat into the red tent, while Lloyd and Cole step into the black and green one. Zane and Pixal go into the light grey tent, and Nya opens the flap to the blue tent, allowing Jay inside before her. She ties the flap shut.

The next morning, Nya, Zane and Pixal awake at the same time, Lloyd actually sleeping in for once. Zane and Pixal relight the fire from the night before while Nya paces back and forth. Akita soon emerges from her tent, stretching and yawning. They all bid her good morning, and she returns the greeting as Lloyd had taught her upon return to Ninjago from the Never Realm.

A whimper sounds from a nearby shadow just as Kai, Skylor, Cole, Lloyd and Jay leave their tents. Everyone freezes in their tracks, switching their gazes to Akita, who stares intensely into the forest. She shifts and prepares to defend her team. Another whimper, louder than the first, calls out, and Akita's hackles lower themselves again. Her ears prick and her snarl subsides, head cocking to the side. She pads closer to the edge of the forest before leaping headfirst into the shadows. Lloyd gasps and runs forward, determined to stop her, but Kai and Nya grab him and bring him back into camp, saying that Akita will be able to handle whatever is there. Before long, Akita retunes, shaking her wolf head. She shifts again, and says, "Whoever or whatever was there before is now gone. It sounded like a fellow wolf, though I am guessing that this one is a blood-wolf."

"What does that mean?" Jay asks, his anxiety clear in his voice. Akita quickly turns to face him, a regretful look on her face as she reaches out to calm him.

"I do not mean that she hunts for blood nor that she is the colour of it. I merely mean that she is a wolf by blood, not a Formling or an Oni in disguise, since Lloyd told me in the Never Realm they could change their forms." Akita explains. Everyone gets confused looks on their faces.

"How do you know it's a female?" "Why are they called blood-wolves?" "Why would a wolf be near us and howling?" "It isn't howling, it's whimpering!" "Doesn't that mean it's hurt?" Akita and Nya simultaneously raise their hands for silence. The whimper gets louder.

The ninja turn to its direction only to find a glistening wet nose like a dog's emerge from the foliage. Joined to the nose is a long black snout, which connects to a round, furry head. A wolf, as black as the shadows around it, pushes its head into the clearing. Akita approaches it in her own wolf form, slowly stepping forward. The black wolf recoils and snarls. Akita backtracks as the black wolf limps into the clearing. Lloyd and the other ninja share quick glances, all knowing what thoughts are running through each other's minds. Lloyd leaps forward and grabs the wolf, gently putting his arms around its middle. Nya snatches her fist aid kit from her backpack and lunges forward, pulling the bandages from it. Within thirty minutes, the black wolf has its front right leg bandaged tightly. Lloyd nods and lets go of the animal. It rests its weight gently on the leg, recoiling slightly when it still hurts. It looks up at Lloyd with large dark eyes. It then looks to Akita and makes a noise. Akita nods to it and says, "She wishes to thank you for attempting to speed up the healing process of her leg." Lloyd and Nya nod simultaneously and look back at the wolf.

"Wait," Nya speaks up. "Is this the wolf that whimpered a second ago?" Akita nods.

"I believe she is." She replies, shifting to her wolf form. The black wolf crouches in fear, ready to defend itself. However, Akita seems to bow to the other wolf, who reacts in kind. The ninja and friends watch on in confusion and awe. The black wolf sits. Akita becomes human once more.

"She wishes to stay with us, if that is okay?" The other ninja nod immediately. The wolf seems to smile, lifting her head higher and letting her shoulders relax. The ninja and team return the smiles as the black wolf slowly wanders closer to the firepit. She must sense the heat in the logs and rocks even though the flames no longer glow bright amongst them, for she lays down and places her paws gently on top of the one of the pebbles. The ninja and their team sit themselves down on the logs they collected and used as seats and stare at each other for a while. Finally, as conversation starts to evolve back into existence, the black wolf and Akita both raise their heads and stare off into the distance, focusing on something the others can't see. The black wolf growls quietly and Akita signals for silence before she shifts into her white wolf form. The two canines nod to each other and start to creep towards the tree line. The ninja and team stay close behind them until a group of about five or six men leap out behind them. One grabs Nya by the neck while another does the same to Skylor. Both girls kick out silently, their mouths covered by tough hands. The others whirl around and draw their weapons, the two wolves leaping forward, snarling. One of the men tuts, one of the few not holding one of the girls, who now have to be restrained by two or three of the men each due to the violence of their thrashes for freedom. He steps forward toward the group. The black wolf crouches lower with ever step, her warning growls increasing. She looks ready to pounce at a moment's notice. Akita struggles to keep up with her aggression. The man flicks his foot out towards the wolves' faces. Akita flinches while the black wolf snaps her jaws at the thick boot in her face. The man instantly retracts his leg with a yelp.

"Who are you?" Lloyd shouts furiously. "What do you want?"

"Let them go." Jay's voice is low and threatening, dripping with hatred and venom. The man simply laughs at the two boys. The wolves redouble their snarling.

"Who I am has no concern to you." He replies. His voice is low in pitch, with plenty of confidence ringing through it. "As for what we want... all we need is some information from you."

"So why grab the girls?" Jay's grip tightens on his nunchucks as the other men clench their fists, their hands tightening around the girls' necks and wrists. Both flinch, tears starting to form in their eyes.

"There was simply no better way to make a grand entrance." The leading man grins and signals to the others behind him. They instantly drop the girls. Kai and Jay lunges forward to support them. The men sneer and laugh. Lloyd never takes his eyes off the leader. So he's in charge.

"What information do you want?" He inquires, eyes narrowing. The ringleader's glare returns, more intense than before.

"There is a rare and very dangerous species in this forest. They are a threat to humanity across Ninjago as we know it. They must all be wiped out. We have been hired by someone of a very high status to ensure that all of them are exterminated as soon as possible. We were intending on going around this area, which is supposedly their territory, and ask anyone we find whether they've seen what any signs of them. There's got to be at least one left around here - people have heard it for miles. Wolves aren't very common around here," the man glares down at Akita and the black wolf, who return the furious stare with just as much hatred, "So we came to ask where you found them and whether you've seen anything you would call suspicious activity that could point us towards this species."

"What species? What signs are there?" Lloyd asks disbelievingly. After all, even if these men really had been hired by someone important, they had no right to go around scaring people and snatching others.

"The signs include animals that aren't supposed to be in the area..." the man starts, glaring down his nose at the black wolf in particular.

"We found her here." Lloyd cuts in. Crap. Wolves aren't very common around here. "The white one we've had for a while. We've known her for ages. The black one is new to us. We found both of them here." Too late. The man sneers.

"Right..."

Before Lloyd can say anything more, he feels something seem to enter his mind. A large presence, empty of anything but, at the same time, bursting with thoughts and emotions. He feels fury course through his bones, his eyes see the grass around him, and it glows greener than it should. He feels the same blades of emerald between his toes and on his hands and feet. Wait no, his paws. He tries to shake his head, to clear his mind, but nothing happens. A voice, feminine by far and unlike any he's ever heard, rings in his ears.

'When I tell you all to run, do so as fast as you can behind you. Your survival depends on it.' It says, echoing in the emptiness. Lloyd can feel other presences pressing in on him, and he realises what a hive mind really is even as it is dropped. His eyes return to his own head, and he can no longer see the sun shining on each dew drop in the grass. Mere moments later, he feels one word resonate through his head.

'Run!'

Lloyd turns and races off through the forest, everyone else close on his heels. Behind them, the shouts of the men reach their ears.

"She's one of them!" "Get her!"

Akita slows and howls quietly to the others. They stop to face the black wolf. She isn't behind them. In fact, she isn't anywhere.

The wolf has disappeared.

Instead, a magnificent griffin stands in her place, standing on its powerful lion hind legs, scratching out with its eagle talons. It beats its giant black wings in a quick rhythm, lashing out to defend itself. Its beak and black head flick out and back in rapidly, snapping at the men, tearing through their clothes and leaving deep gouges in their flesh. Lloyd cringes at the sight of the blood despite the magic that holds him in place, the same magic that not many people will be able to experience, the magic of seeing a mythical animal standing in front of them, attacking with every weapon nature gave them. The griffin gains scratches and cuts in its wings, sides and legs, which only seem to aggravate it more. Those that survive, which is actually most of the group, minus one or two along the way, retreat into the forest, running and screaming. The griffin lets its body fall back to the ground, its front feathery legs landing heavily on the dirt. The animal pants slightly. Akita cautiously steps forward into the clearing, approaching the beast with fear in her eyes and hesitation in her steps. The griffin tilts its head to look at her before ducking it head again. Then, miraculously, right before their very eyes, the griffin seems to shrink, its wings folding in on themselves, its tail becoming shorter and losing its feathers, fur spreading forwards from its legs and up across its body, front legs and head. The fur also runs down its tail, coating it. Its head sprouts ears, and its beak vanishes, replaces immediately by a long snout.

The griffin is now the black wolf again.

The creature looks back up at the ninja as a voice slams into their heads again.

'I cannot answer your questions. And you do not need to thank me for saving you. It is my duty.' The ninja and team are paralysed, all seeing through the wolf's eyes to the grass, which now shines with blood. 'Now, I shall leave you, for I know your kind do not usually fare well with the presence of one like me.' The black wolf looks over its shoulder once more before dropping the mental communication and slowly walking back towards the treeline.

"Wait." Lloyd hears a voice behind him. Cole. "Please." The wolf stops abruptly, its eyes shining bright. For what seems like the millionth time in his life, Lloyd wonders if animals really do cry.

'Why?' The wolf asks, for Lloyd is now sure that the strange female voice he hears is emanating from the wolf's mind. Finally, for the first time, he can move while in the wolf's mental connection, and his gaze flacks between Cole and the wolf. Words soon seem to fail the Earth Ninja, and Jay speaks up.

"You saved our lives! Why would we want you to leave?" He asks incredulously. The wolf seems to raise its eyebrows. Do wolves have eyebrows?

'So what?' Lloyd's mouth drops.

"What do you mean, 'so what'?!" He practically screams, and the wolf flinches. "Sorry." He adds, before ploughing on again. "I mean, you saved us! That's plenty reason to want you around! Besides, your power is pretty cool! And... I for one feel like that's a favour to return someday." The wolf seems to smile.

'Thank you. Though I am sure you won't need to save my life any time soon. Though I shall happily stay if you truly do wish for me to.' Lloyd and his team all nod enthusiastically. The wolf trots up to the group, and Akita pads up to her, seeming to smile herself. It must be nice, Lloyd thinks, for her to finally have another shapeshifter around. She's been alone all this time, I can't imagine what that's got to have been like for her. The party walk on in silence, the only noises being their backpacks shifting on their backs.

Two hours later, the team arrive at a new place to bed down for the evening. Everyone is tired, and Kai sets up a new fire. The team sit around it quietly, the flames crackling being the only sound for a while. Akita slowly walks up to Lloyd, still in her wolf form, and gently lays her paws across his outstretched legs. She places her head on her paws and closes her eyes as Lloyd runs a hand across her fur between her ears. The team soon curl up around the fire, too comfortable to head into their tents. The sky remains clear, and the half moon shimmers high above. The black wolf lays between Lloyd and Cole, slightly further towards the outer side of the camp. Cole shoots her one final look before drifting off to sleep.

The ninja team awake to a scream the next morning. Everyone immediately draws their weapons, which had been stowed away in case of an attack, and stand poised for battle. Except the black wolf, who has disappeared again. In her place, lays a human being.

The girl is slim, with midnight blue hair which appears black from Nya's point of view across the camp. Her clothing is fully black, with a few thin cuts across her back and legs. She raises her head and her eyes widen as she realises that every pair of eyes in the camp rests on her. Her skin is tanned, her eyes dark brown and deep. Her hair covers he majority of her face, though her shock and fear are evident. Rapidly, her form switches, pointed ears sprouting from her head while a bushy tail extends from the bottom of her back. She pushes herself onto all fours as her body changes, black fur covering every inch. The black wolf stares at the team, who exchange glances.

'I can explain.'

So this is a kinda parallel universe to Different, which is a new story I released a few days ago. From now on, I will always put recaps at the beginning of the chapters for this story and that story, hopefully preventing any confusion, since the plots may be slightly similar in places while being starkly different in others. Oh well.

If anyone has any questions or notes for this story, please feel free to leave it in the reviews and I'll get back to you on it. Also, I'm writing rarepair one-shots for a collection, so if you have an idea for one for Steamshipping (Kai x Nya), please let me know ASAP. That one will be the first one released, so I am literally begging for one.

Thanks for reading! See you all soon!

-LunaPikazard