Okay, Master of the Mountain... wow. Wow wow wow WOW.
I have not been this emotionally attached to a season since Hunted - and that's been a while, dude. Cole FINALLY got his focus season and man, this is a serious contender for the top Ninjago season of all time. Vania, Chompy, and the Upply might honestly have more love in my heart than the Prime Empire characters (kid!Unagami is still my fav tho) so I'm just all around obsessed with the tiny plastic ninja peoples again.
Oh also, fandom - you being chill about Cole and Vania (and they were beautiful even if they didn't get together 3) makes me so happy. You guys rock. Pun intended. :)
Okay enough rambling, let's get to de story! :D
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There hadn't been a day that had gone by that Vania hadn't at least looked out of the window, in hopes of seeing that beautiful red ship flying back to her kingdom.
It had been a year, nearly to the day, since her father, the former King Vangelis, was revealed to be the evil Skull Sorcerer...
And it was also a year to the exact day since Cole, the hero of Shintaro, had joined forces with her, Master Wu, and the rag-tag group known as the Upply, along with the rest of the Ninja as well as the Geckles and the Munce to defeat him.
Ever since then, Geckles and Munce had lived in peace above and below the mountain, free to do whatever they pleased. Some had, shockingly, wanted to go back to work in the mines - but only for the precious resources exporting, like Ivory, not for Vengestone. Vania had immediately granted their wishes, and made sure not a single individual went without food or pay every shift.
The chains and Vengestone armor that the Geckles, Munce, and Minos wore had long been cast out of the city and into bowels of the mountain, never to be worn by captive creatures ever again.
And every day, she was reminded of how grateful she was to have had the privilege of meeting the Ninja…
Boy, did she miss them.
Especially Cole and Wu - she had bonded with them the most out of any of the crew, so it was understandable why she missed them the most.
Speaking of Cole, the two actually did keep in touch! Vania didn't have one of those tech-y phones that the people in common cities had, but she did have a pen and paper, as well as her words. And to Cole, that was more than enough to keep in touch with the queen. The two wrote back and forth, spanning forty or so letters over the course of this past year. Her day was improved a million times over
However, she knew she couldn't spend too long wishing the Ninja would return, as royal duties sadly came first. She got ready for the day ahead, then donned her royal garments as she stepped out of her chambers.
"Good morning, Your Highness," Hailmar addressed her respectfully.
"Good morning, Hailmar!" Vania smiled warmly. "So good to see you this morning. How are you?"
"All is well with I, princess," Hailmar said, smiling. "As a matter of fact, I'd say they're great."
"Oh, wonderful news!" Vania beamed. "Is there anything special going on with you? Perhaps… you finally asked out that co-worker you've been spending time trading notes with at your post?"
Hailmar blushed at the tease from arguably-his best friend, but he quickly laughed it off. "I was actually going to say, we are receiving special guests today - ones I think you will be quite happy to see."
"Oh? We haven't sent out any invitations," Vania said, raising a brow. "Who could they be?"
"Are you sure you don't know, Princess?" Hailmar asked, smiling wider than before. "I think you would know that they don't require an invitation."
Vania thought for a moment as they walked towards the royal throne, but then, as they entered the queen's court, it hit her.
"Y-You don't mean…" she started. "T-The Ninja? Wu? COLE?!"
Hailmar nodded in happiness.
"Oh, oh joy!" Vania exclaimed, clapping her hands and jumping up and down. By now, Chompy had joined her, and he too was excited, even if he had no idea what his owner was excited about. "We must tell everyone of their return! When will they be arriving?!"
"Hahaha! Calm down, my Queen," Hailmar chuckled good-naturedly, though he was as excited as her to see the saviors of Shintaro once more. "They should be arriving within three hours. We will soon begin preparing a feast in their honor. They will be staying for the week - I took it upon myself to make the arrangements."
"That sounds so wonderful, thank you so much Hailmar," Vania beamed. "Please, send some of the guards to inform our Geckle and Munce friends! We cannot leave them out of the festivities; I will address the Upply myself."
"As you wish, my Queen," Hailmar bowed his head, then flew off to go send out some guards to inform the Geckles and the Munce.
Vania then ran as fast as she could from the royal chambers to the Upply's shared room - yes, they all shared a room, and they surprisingly kept it quite neat. It was mostly thanks to Fungus using magic, since a giant mess was seen most of the time when visitors weren't around asking for their guidance.
She knocked on their chamber door, and heard footsteps rushing to open it, and Korgran stepped out in his bathrobe, axe at his side like always.
"Ah-H-Hello Korgran!" Vania said, trying to ignore the fact that her friend was in his bathrobe. "I have some exciting news! ...Where's everyone else?"
"Korgran does not know," Korgran said, shrugging.
"We're right here, Korgran!" Fungus called out. "I was getting cereal from the back." "And Adam wanted flowers from the garden," Plundar said. Adam nodded affirmatively.
"Oh, okay then," Vania nodded. "Well, you all wanna hear the exciting news?"
"Of course! Korgran loves exciting news!" Korgran nodded excitedly. "This has been a slow day, let's hear it!" Fungus said in agreement. "Whaddya think, Adam?" asked Plundar, and Adam nodded excitedly.
"The Ninja are returning!" Vania said, clapping and jumping excitedly.
The Upply's mouths all dropped.
"COLE'S GONNA BE HERE?!" Plundar finally said in excitement. Adam started shaking and running around in happiness, as he knew that he missed Cole and Wu as much as everyone else in the group.
"Oh, glorious days!" Fungus said, tossing his hat in the air. "And Wu, too, I would hope!"
"Korgran… Korgran misses Ninja friends!" Korgran said excitedly. "Korgran will get to see Cole and Wu again!"
"They should be here within three hours!" Vania beamed. "Fungus, will you help prepare the feast in the grand hall?"
"Absolutely!" Fungus said, before using a new smoke bomb mushroom to disappear in a brilliant flash of light. Well… not really. He just ran away when everyone was covering their eyes due to the flash.
"Uhm… Plundar, Adam, will you two get the word out to our people? I sent guards down to the Geckles and Munce, so the Sky Folk are all we need to alert." "You got it, queenie!" Plundar saluted. "Let's go, buddy."
Adam excitedly walked behind Plundar as the two rushed out to alert the townsfolk, and Korgran eagerly waited for his duties.
"Korgran, would you please help me make sure we have adequate housing for the Ninja's stay?" Vania asked. "That would mean the absolute world to me."
"Yes, Queen!" Korgran saluted, grabbing his axe. "Korgran will make plenty of room!"
"Oh no no no! Not like that!" Vania laughed. "Just make sure we have seven rooms available in our guest housing areas, please."
"Oh, okie-dokie," Korgran nodded, walking off calmly to make sure rooms were available for when the Ninja arrived.
Vania then briskly walked back to the royal chambers, making sure she would be able to get her royal duties done before the Ninja arrived so she could fool around with them all day, like how she truly wanted to.
Oh, this was so exciting!
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"The court has unanimously agreed on Motion 9-point-4-point-4-point-5-point-11-stroke-12, which forbids the dancing known simply as 'flossing' on Fridays."
All was as it should normally be in Geckle Parliament - Gulch was passing laws without a hitch, and the court was throwing pebbles at him as always. "Haha, ooh, who's your Chancellor?!" Gulch exclaimed happily at the verdict.
Suddenly, however, he found himself interrupted by royal guards coming into the parliament chambers; ones he knew well, in fact.
"Heneral, Horgan?" Gulch asked. "What are you two doing here?"
"We come here by order of the Queen," Horgan said.
"I-I swear it wasn't me who stole the last slice of cake at that wedding!" a Geckle called out.
Gulch smacked his forehead. "Wait to turn yourself over to the authorities until the official business is over, Goppo; we have discussed this." "Sorry sir," Goppo said sheepishly.
Gulch then bounded over the high judge chair, and landed on his feet to come face-to-face with the guards. "Now, what was it you were saying?"
"We come to inform you of the Ninja's return to Shintaro within two and a half hours," Heneral said formally.
Gulch gasped. "The red and white Ninja who are not skeletons are returning?!"
"Uh… y-yes," stuttered Horgan. "Do you mean Kai and Zane, by any chance?"
"Is that their names? Gosh, it's been so long since we erected their monuments," Gulch tapped his chin in thought. "E-Either way, we must prepare to celebrate their return! What shall you have us do?"
"Just send your most culinary-expertise worthy Geckles up to help us prepare the feast in the Grand Hall," Heneral said kindly.
"We will do just that!" Gulch saluted. "All in favor?"
Heneral and Horgan suddenly found themselves pelted with pebbles, before five Geckles came forward out of the court benches. One was already wearing a chef's hat, so that was a good sign.
"These are five of our chef Geckles, and only the best! Gordon is wearing the chef's hat, then there's Gretta, Grego, Ginja, and Geoff."
"Hi!" all the Geckles said simultaneously, except for Gordon, who just said, "Poggers."
Horgan raised a brow, but said nothing. "Well then, come along fellow Geckles! We have a feast to prepare!"
The culinary-know how Geckles all followed, and soon enough, Gulch called for the court to be adjourned for the day so that all the other Geckles could attend the feast and welcome the Ninja back to Shintaro.
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Murtessa was just finishing her meal of glop with her fellow Munce Cabinet when the royal guards came in.
Before that, there had been quite a lively discussion going on - Murtessa and her sister were debating over which flowers in the palace gardens smelled nicer according to 'Milly', and Murt was talking about hair with his friend Mackey, a Munce who had a very interesting way of speaking.
"Like Murt was telling Meef, 'Your hairline receding'," Murt said simply.
"Ah, ain't that just a shame, ol boy," Mackey shook his head.
"Like I was telling you," Murtessa told her sister, "Milly's favorite flowers were hydrangeas, not corneas!"
Before her sister could rebuttal, palace guards Helene and Hallmark walked in. "Huh? Sky Folk?" Murtessa asked, smiling at the company. "What do you wish to ask of us?"
"We come bearing news from Queen Vania," Hallmark announced.
"The Ninja are returning to Shintaro," Helene continued, "and she would like the Munce to offer any assistance they can in preparing the feast in celebration of their return."
Murtessa's jaw dropped.
"Y-You mean… m-my sweet, my sweet Jay is returning?!" she exclaimed, finding her crush on the ninja of lightning coming back in full swing at a million miles an hour.
"Who's May?" Mera, Murtessa's sister, asked, raising a brow.
"Murtessa's crush," Murt teased.
"It is true love, not crush!" Murtessa exclaimed. She then remembered she was in the presence of her majesty's guards, so the Munce queen quickly brushed off what she had just said. "Uhh, what can we do for you?"
"Just send five of your best Munce cooks up, please," Helene smiled.
Murtessa nodded, then shouted the names of five Munce, who all came barrelling in at top speed. "Mobo, Meeka, Moliver, Maime, and Mjorn - go with the palace guards. Cook food for the feast, for Jay is returning!"
"Yes ma'am!" all the Munce saluted.
And with that, the five Munce followed the palace guards up to the surface of Shintaro, almost as excited as the queen - either one could be used as an example - for the Ninja's return.
This would truly be a glorious week!
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Thank you guys so much for reading! If you don't mind, please, leave a review! I'd absolutely LOVE to hear your thoughts on this so far! :D
Special thanks to fellow author OnlyLonelyStars for their great great help on the inspiration for this story, as well as some plot points that will come into play in the future! You're awesome dude!
In the meantime, I hope you all enjoyed! See you next chapter for the reunions!