Many months after their return from their last adventure, the ninja and Nya, Kai's sister, had officially moved into the Monastery with Sensei Wu. Today, as he meditated in front of a burning pot of scented sticks, he also listened to the grunts and other sounds his male students made.
"Fire-strike!" he heard Kai exclaimed, bringing the man back into reality.
"Oh my Gosh, is that the greatest move you've ever seen?" Kai then asked.
That was weird; Kai shouldn't be able to do that yet. And he didn't hear anything from his niece. So he got up to check on his students and their progress.
"Stop trying to do it yourself, we need to attack as a team," he heard Cole scold.
Opening the doors and looking around, the sensei was surprised to see the training equipment out but not in use, and the ninja were not here but their voices could still be heard. He took a few steps closer to the training equipment when he sensed movement behind him. At the last moment, he swung around, blocking a katana strike with his staff.
"You're skills are improving, Ani," the old man commented, "It's taking me far more time to anticipate your attacks."
"I try, Master," the ninja girl smiled.
The man looked around again and asked, "Where are the others."
Ani breathed in deeply before answering, "Guess."
He nodded and she followed as he made his way to one of the spare rooms.
"Zane, why are you wasting your special attack on me?" Jay asked, "You're supposed to save it."
The old man opened the door to find Ani's four "brothers" playing their video game, when the four of them were supposed to be training. This would not stand.
"Fantastic, I'm out of lives!" Jay brooded as his teacher silently walked in.
"But the lesson is on, and I am getting the hang of it," Zane replied.
The boys made more random noises.
"Okay, now!" Cole yelled.
They all lean forward towards the television. Then it went black.
"Awww man!" the boys all cried in unison as Ani pulled the plug on the TV, smirking as she held the evidence.
"What, what happened?" the blue ninja asked.
"It took us three hours to get there!" Cole complained.
"What? Why did you do that, why?" Jay asked angrily.
"I don't know," Ani replied with mock innocence, "Why are you guys blowing off training for this dumb game?"
Their mentor wanted to slap the back of their heads for their laziness. Evil was still out there and these boys were completely blowing the danger off and more importantly their training.
"Just because Lord Garmadon escaped through a vortex doesn't mean he won't return one day for the Golden Weapons of Spinjitsu!" their teacher scolded.
"But Sensei Wu, ever since he has been gone, Ninjago has had nothing but peace," Zane replied.
"Yeah, peace is boring. There's no one to save, there's nothing to do," Jay complained.
"You mean like do your chores… which I have to do by the way because you treat Nya too much like a princess," the mistress of energy criticized, "Or, I don't know… train so we can be ready for whatever a certain dark lord has planned."
"We can train tomorrow," Cole said as he leaned back.
Ani just stared at him and deadpanned, "You said that yesterday."
"Never put off until tomorrow what can be done today," Sensei Wu warned.
"Well, I was going to eat this pizza tomorrow, so, if that's the case," Cole said and held up a piece of pizza, nearly eating it but the old man kicked it out of the boy's hand, Ani snickering.
"No pizza for you!" Sensei snapped, "In order to reach your full potential you must train!"
"Uh, remember when we did a little thing called the 'tornado of creation'? I thought that's as pretty insane," Kai responded; after all, who else could create something out of nothing?
Wu just sighed at the boys' apparent lack of progress and faith. No, what they can do now wasn't enough, not for their shared destiny.
"You five have merely scratched the surface of your full potential. Even my senior student and best pupil has yet to master her full capacity," Sensei said, glancing at each of them, "There are still so many secrets for you to unlock… you haven't even begun to tap into what powers your golden weapons hold."
The male ninja, however, were unmoved by the lecture. Behind them, a slice of pizza was being heated by the fire-sword. Then, Cole got an idea.
"You want to talk secret powers, check this out," Cole said.
He then picked up the cord, moves the plug back into the outlet and pushes it in, all with his scythe. The screen turns on and they boys start playing again while Ani let her head fall into her hand. Sensei just pulled his whiskers; these teens were beyond not ready. And at this rate, they'll never be.
"Don't worry Master; we'll be ready when Lord Garmadon returns," Zane said reassuringly.
At that moment, Nya rushed in.
"Guys… Lord Garmadon… he's returned!" she exclaimed, "He was spotted approaching Jamonikai Village!"
The guys stumble around and trip on each other, Jay falling on his backside, while Ani had already left and was making her way to the sables. Three of them slightly reorganized themselves and ran out, pulling down their masks; Jay however, was busy looking for his weapon. Nya grabbed it and gave it to him.
"Th..than..thankss..thanks..." Jay stumbled.
"Hurry!" Nya exclaimed.
"Okay!" Jay shouted, flipping his hood down and following the others out.
They all ran to the dragons. Zane ran ahead as Kai lowered the door, nearly hitting Zane. Cole's scythe fell off as he jumped on Rocky, and Jay jumped to Wisp's seat only to miss by a mile; Ani was the only one to properly mount her dragon, Blast. Their master shook his head; the red, blue, black, and white ninjas had become so lazy that they couldn't even respond to an emergency properly.
"Can I help?" Nya asked her brother while he got on his dragon, Flame.
"Sorry sis, where we go, danger abounds," Kai answered, "This is a job for the ninja."
Then he tried to reach the reins, only to come up short.
"Ah, a little help?" he asked then gave a weak laugh.
Both of the girls rolled their eyes. Nya helped Kai pick up his reins and the ninja flew off.
"Will they ever reach their full potential?" Nya asked the old man, having overheard some of the conversation.
"In time," the elder answered, "Maybe a long time for the boys, but in time."
Meanwhile, in the skies, the ninja were for once glad that something bad was happening. They had been on vacation for so long, they were sick of it. Who knew a peaceful world was so boring?
"Just like old times, isn't it Rocky?" Cole asked his dragon.
After a few weeks of training on the dragons, Cole had completely gotten over his fear of them. Now, to him, dragons were just like overgrown puppies with scales instead of fur.
"Do you guys believe what Sensei said about unlocking our full potential?" Kai asked.
"It's a rare feat, only reserved for someone with a connection to one of the elements of creation, even rarer as only the Original Spinjitsu Master and his sons were the only ones to handle the Golden Weapons before us," Ani answered, "Legend says that even Master Wu's father never mastered everything those weapons are capable of. I already have some special abilities that no one else has, but even after ten years I don't know my limits."
"You may be on to something, I mean since we got these weapons," Jay replied, examining his nun-chuck, "It's not like we've needed to use them. I wonder what they do."
"I for one look forward to the future, if there is more for us to accomplish, let it be," Zane happily added.
"Don't know about you, but is anyone else a little excited about battling Lord Garmadon?" Cole said excitedly, spinning in his seat, "Been waiting to try out some new Spinjitsu moves, could be the perfect opportunity."
"Absolutely," Ani agreed.
"Ah, isn't that a conflict of interest for you?" Kai asked, "Lord Garmadon is, after all, your dad."
"Foster dad!" she angrily snapped, "And don't you forget it!"
"OK!"
"Ha-ha, race you there?" Jay asked.
They all nodded and took off, the dragons happy to be able to fly on such a nice day. Blast flapped his immense wings as he and his rider passed Kai and Flame. Ani shook her head as she passed. He glared at her but smiles. She then zoomed upwards into the clouds to hide and glide past everyone. Blasting through some clouds and dropping back in front of Jay, seeing only Cole and Zane ahead of her. She caught up to Zane and stayed even with him for a while.
"Jimanokai Village; first ninja there wins!" Kai said and shot forward.
They all follow his lead and end up crashing into the ground, tied for first. Not that any of the boys realized it.
"I was first!" Kai exclaimed, instantly standing up.
"No, no one was faster than me!" Jay replied.
"My feet were down before yours," Cole said to Zane.
Zane turns to the others, and corrected, "You are all disillusioned, it was clearly me."
"Um, guys! Hello! Dark-lord sighting! Remember?" Ani reminded them, gesturing her arms to the village wall.
They all forget the race and ran into town, just to find everyone running like lunatics, screaming in terror and shutting themselves inside their houses. The five ninjas ran inside the entrance to Jamonakai Village, brandishing their weapons. A large shadow appeared on the mountain behind the village.
"Stay sharp team, whatever happens, never let your guard down," Kai said quietly.
"Hope you boys are as good at real fighting as you are in those dumb video games," Ani murmured, mostly to herself.
A familiar evil laugh echoed in their minds as the shadow got smaller and closer. The figure belonging to the shadow came nearer. It got closer... and closer... until finally, the figure walked out from behind the mountain. But instead of Lord Garmadon, it's actually a little boy in a black graphic tee, pants, and cape.
"It's I, Lloyd Garmadon!" he called out to the hidden town folk before jumping up on the fountain, "I demand all the candy in town… Or else!"
Ani just smiled and shook her head, this was too rich. She hadn't seen her foster brother in years, and now he was trying to be just like his dad, when it was painfully obvious that he had little to nothing in common with the dark-lord.
"Lloyd Garmadon? I thought we were going to face Lord Garmadon," Jay said, confused.
"It's his son!" Cole realized.
"Wait, what?" Jay stammered, looking at their female counterpart.
Ani had a younger foster brother? The girl took a look at her friend.
"Garmadon was a man and had a life before, well, you know," she explained, "You hnestly think he spent his time as a normal human just sitting around playing video games all day?"
"He must've escaped his boarding school for bad boys again. And to think we could have been doing Spinjitsu already," Cole complained, punching the air as they approached Lloyd.
"Who ever said 'the cherry doesn't fall far from the blossom' obviously never met Lloyd," the girl-ninja replied, glancing at the lad again.
The villagers, now realizing that they were in no real danger, gathered around the fountain with angry expressions on their faces, this made Lloyd nervous.
"Ah, ah, give me your candy, or I'll release the Serpintine on you!" he warned, getting desperate by the second looking at the booing crowd of villagers.
The ninja walked towards Lloyd as he pulled out and opened a can filled with fake snakes, snickering evilly. The people definitely didn't find it funny, and started throwing trash at the poor kid.
"No wait! I asked for candy, not vegetables. I hate vegetables!" Lloyd exclaimed, throwing the empty can's lid at them.
That caused many vegetables, banana peels, and other trash to come flying through the air at him, finally piling over him and knocking him down.
"He's gonna have to do a lot better than use an old bedtime story to scare people," Kai observed, launching a rubber snake into the air.
"The Serpentine are real Kai, they are not something to joke about," Zane warned.
"Serpentine… real? We're talking about the ancient race of snake-people who once ruled Ninjago and were supposedly locked underground," Kai scoffed.
"Sealed in five different tombs, to separate the five warring tribes, and insure they don't unify to exact revenge upon those who put them there!" Jay exclaimed worriedly.
"It was an old wives tale, to teach kids not to poke our noses where they don't belong." Kai snapped, obviously getting annoyed no one would drop the subject," Don't you think it's a little suspicious that no one's ever found one of their tombs?"
"That's because you'd be a fool to look for one. If there was anything I hated more that dragons, it was snakes, rubber or not," Cole responded.
"All legends come from facts, there may have been a threat like the Serpentine hundreds of years ago," Ani stated, "And after fighting the undead several months ago I think it's best to keep an open mind."
The boys walked up to and grab Lloyd, the lad hitting Jay's head with the empty can.
"Don't worry folks," Cole addressed the crowd, "We'll take care of this, nothing to see here."
"Bow down to me, or suffer my wrath! I'll give you to the count of three! One… two…" Lloyd ordered, struggling to get free from the boys carrying him.
"What are we supposed to do, spank him?" Kai asked.
"Don't… you… dare," Ani hissed from the sidelines as she followed her teammates.
"…Two-and-a-half..."
"WAA! You just made me your nemesis! Mark my words! You'll pay for this!" Lloyd cried, hanging from a happy baby sign's foot over one of the shops.
The boy ninjas and all the villagers laughed at his feeble attempts to get down. Ani, on the other hand just glared at everyone.
"This is wrong and you boys know it!" she ridiculed her friends, but no one listened.
Zane walked over to a counter, bought the left-over candy and gave it to his friends, keeping a loll-pop for himself.
"Next time, try paying for your candy," Cole advised.
"Crime doesn't pay muchacho," Kai smirked, "You can take that to the bank."
"Mmm, cotton candy," Jay said, teasing Lloyd, and ate his cotton candy.
Lloyd growled and struggled some more, he was really mad now. Finally, Ani couldn't take this anymore, so she jumped up on the roof and helped the boy down. Setting him on the ground, she pulled out her pieces of candy.
"Now, what's the magic word?" she asked the youth.
Lloyd just tried to take it, but Ani stretched her arms away from him and gave the boy a look.
"Please?" he finally asked in a dejected tone and a hurt look on his face.
And with that, the girl gave him the sweets and he turned the favor with a quick hug before running off. Some of the villagers went "awww" at the sight of the female ninja being nice to the small trouble maker; Kai, Jay, and Cole rolled their eyes, girls are just too nice and no fun.
The ninja arrived back to the dragons after dealing with Lloyd. As the other ninja got on their dragons, Kai knocked something out of a bag attached to Flame. Jay and Ani walked over as Zane picked it up.
"Huh, I don't remember putting that there," Kai said, puzzled.
"That's Sensei's bag, you must have taken it in the rush," Zane explained.
"Um, I don't think you should do that," Ani warned as Kai unrolled the scroll.
On the scroll were some symbols, and a picture of six ninjas: one was dressed in red, another in black, a third in blue, the fourth in white, the largest in green, and the last in orange.
"What is it?" Jay asked.
"It's a scroll windbag," Kai glared.
"I know it's a scroll, but what does it say?" he retorted as they crowd around Kai, "It's written in chicken scratch."
"Not chicken scratch, the ancient language of our ancestors," Zane replied.
"Uh, can you read it?" Kai asked.
"I can try… this symbol means 'prophecy.'"
"Prophecy?" Jay asked, clearly confounded.
"It means it tells the future," Ani deadpanned.
"Course, I knew that," Jay laughed pathetically.
"'One ninja will rise above the others and become the Green Ninja, the ninja destined to defeat the Dark Lord'," Zane read slowly, pointing to the picture of ninjas.
"Oh look, a picture!" Jay exclaimed.
"Dark Lord? Hold on, do you think they mean Lord Garmadon?" Cole mused.
"Wait a minute, is that us?" Ani asked, "Is anyone else thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Like how good I'm gonna look in green?" Jay asked.
"Isn't it obvious I'm gonna be the Green Ninja?" Kai retorted.
"The color obviously suits me best," Jay snapped.
"Technically, I am the best," Zane countered.
"But I'm the only one that already has superpowers, so clearly, it's me," Ani butted in.
"Everybody stop it! Remember why Sensei brought us together in the first place, we're a team. We weren't meant to see this and probably for good reason," Cole said, breaking up the fight, "Come on, let's head back home, we have training to do."
"It's about time I added some finesse to my routine," Jay replied.
"Well, I could use some exercise," Zane responded.
"Took you boys long enough," Ani stated, getting on Blast.
"Yeah, I gotta work on some new moves," Cole added as they take off into the sky.
Before taking off, Kai pondered to himself out loud, "Could I be the Green Ninja?"
Far off on a snowy mountain, several minutes later, Lloyd grumbled and kicked a frozen pebble while he walked.
"Stupid ninja! I'll show them who they're dealing with!" the boy said in anger.
This threat didn't include Ani of course; she was just as much family to him as his father was, even if he and his sister shared no blood relation. Plus, she was the only ninja that was nice to him.
His pebble suddenly flew too far and hit something metallic. Lloyd looked up in surprise. He walked forward and both climbed over a small wall of snow. The boy dropped to the ground and moved some snow to try and find his pebble. A large flat rock was in front of him. Etched into the stone was a snake's head. Lloyd then found a little golden lever by his elbow. He pushed it forward and the flat stone began to split down the middle. Green mist rose from the inside of the mountain. Lloyd stood up and immediately lost his balance and slipped over the edge. When he reached the bottom, the he hit his head on a pointed piece of ice and tumbled onto the frozen floor. The boy looked around he was in an icy cavern complete with frozen stalactites and stalagmites. The sound of dripping water echoed in his ears.
"You are out of your mind to venture sssso far away from home, little one," a low, cold voice spoke from behind him.
Lloyd gasped, turned around, and saw a blue snake-man figure holding a golden staff.
"Look into my eyessss," the figure said, "Give up your mind."
Red waves began pulsing from his eyes, nearly lulling Lloyd into a hypnotic trance. He backed up and the snake followed.
"I will control you."
Lloyd cowered against a stalagmite and sank to the ground. Then, the snake looked at the ice that had collected on the stalagmite behind the human... and hypnotized himself! Lloyd stood up, looked at the ice, realized what had happened, and then laughed.
"No," the boy said evilly, "I will control you from now on!"
"What shall you have ussss do, Master?" the snake asked, bowing.
"Us?" the boy echoed, confused.
More snakes appeared from the shadows. Most people would run away screaming, Lloyd, however, seemed delighted.
"My own army of snakes!" he cried, "Muh-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
"So then we all agree, the prophecy states that one of us will become the Green Ninja, and the issue will not rest until it is decided," Jay said, rather fast.
"I suggest a tournament; last ninja standing is the best," Zane interjected.
"And be declared the Green Ninja! I love it!" Kai exclaimed excitedly.
Ani, however, did not, "That's a stupid idea. I want to know who the Green Ninja is as much as you four but this is something Master Wu has to tell us."
The boys pushed open the doors to the monastery and walked into the training area to find Nya having a go at it. She did well; overall until she smacked into the flat side of an ax. Jay rushed to her side.
"Hey there Nya; any closer to beating your brother's speed record?" Jay asked shyly as he leaned over her.
"I'm getting there," Nya replied, standing back up with Jay's help, then asked, "I heard what happened to town, just a false alarm?"
"Yeah, uh, but we're gonna need the space, sorry sis," Kai answered, putting his arm on his sister's shoulder.
Ani realized no one listened to her and muttered, "Why do I even bother?"
Cole walked over to a cabinet pulled out their kendo gear. He tossed each of the helmets to the others. Jay's helmet hit him on the side of his head, the orange ninja couldn't help but laugh at that. He glared at her and grabbed the armor.
"Two matches, the winner of each will face off for the title. Winner can face off with Ani. Armor's for our own protection. It's time to see what these babies can do," Cole explained, raising his scythe in the air.
"I think I'll sit this out, seems way too stupid for me," Ani glared before leaping up to find a spot on the roof to watch the boys humiliate themselves, "But if you insist, I'll just make sure things don't get out of hand."
"Hey Nya, wanna stay and watch me mop the floor with them?" Kai asked.
"No thanks, I think I'll go to Jimonokai Village," Nya replied and walked out of the monastery, "Knock yourselves out."
"Don't worry; they'll do that," the orange ninja shouted, leaning back on the roof, ready for the show to begin.
"Alright, first up, Kai versus Jay," Cole announced and spun backwards, "Ninja GO!"
Jay was showing off his nun-chuck skills while Kai raised his sword. Jay spun his nun-chucks around, eventually electrocuting himself, Kai tried unsuccessfully to knock Jay's weapon away. He dodged some of Jay's attacks, and to get around the opponent, he ran across the wall of the building. Jay swung his nun-chucks around, but somehow Kai's sword created a fireball that knocked Jay down. He glanced in awe at the sword. Jay walked off, defeated.
"Next up, Cole versus Zane," Kai announced and stepped back, "Ninja GO!"
Cole raised his scythe and Zane spun his shurikens. Cole advanced at Zane, but sliced a piece of training equipment instead. He struck at Zane, but Zane blocked it. Zane jumped up and lands behind Cole, stinting him for a moment. He landed without his shurikens, but revealed one which he threw at Cole. Cole's eyes widen as he plants his foot on the frozen weapon. Soon, ice grows, reaching its way up to his body to cover in ice. He glared at Zane as the white ninja pulled his other shuriken out of the air. Cole's face was obviously filled with terror as the ice encased his leg. Cole tried to block the shuriken flying at him, while trying deal with the ice already covering half his body. It seemed hopeless for him when he knocked Zane down and pinned him down with the scythe. Ani clapped her hands; this was starting to look interesting.
"For the prize and the title of best ninja," Jay announced, bored, Zane sitting next him, "Blah, blah, Ninja-Go."
Kai and Cole began, their golden weapons clashing and clanging. Cole swiped at Kai's head, then back-flipped a few feet. He slammed his scythe into the ground, creating a crack that knocked Kai into a wooden training post. Kai became angry and swiftly got up. He began crazily spinning around.
"It's too hot!" he cried, struggling with his sword.
"What the heck?!" Ani shouted as she got off the roof and ran into the building.
"It's burning," Zane said.
"Fire!" Jay yelled.
Kai spun around and around until he dropped his sword, which caught on fire. The fire spread around and trapped Kai in a circle of flames. Jay and Zane flipped over the small wall of fire. Cole hastily tried putting the fire out by clanging his scythe on the flames. Kai ran around inside the tiny circle while Ani returned with Sensei Wu, the latter of whom threw open the doors and ran outside. He picked up Zane's shurikens and threw them in the air. He concentrated and the shurikens came together. They started generating ice and snow and flew around the courtyard, putting out the fire. They even doused the flames blazing brightly on Jay's rear. Then, the shurikens spun back to the Sensei and he caught them.
"What were you thinking?!" the old man demanded.
"They weren't!" Ani retorted.
"Uh," Jay explained, "we were trying to figure who was the Green Ninja…"
Zane whacked him sharply on his back. Their master wasn't supposed to know they knew about the prophecy.
"Ow! Uh, did I say 'Green Ninja'? No, sorry," He cleared his throat, "What I... What I said was 'lean'- Ah..."
"You were not supposed to see this," Wu sighed.
"But, Master, we must know," Ani interjected, "Which one of us is the chosen one?"
"None of you!" the elder turned around, "If you do not unlock your full potential."
"But, my sword, it was so bright!" Kai questioned, "Is this what you meant by unlocking our Golden Weapons?"
"You are only at the beginning, and the road is long and winding. But yes, this is what I meant," Sensei Wu said, returning to his room, "If this is what it must take for you to train, then so be it, but none of you are near the level of what it takes to be the Green Ninja."
Before entering the building, the elder turned his head, facing Ani, and added, "Thank you for coming to me about the fire, but this should've never gotten that far. I expect more discipline and reason from you."
Ani bowed her head, dejected as ever. The boys took note and realized their mistake. They ran into the building and followed their master to his room, stopping the old man from entering.
"Sensei, wait, this was not Ani's fault," the red ninja defended his female companion.
Cole nodded, adding, "She said this was a bad idea and we didn't listen to her."
"She wanted nothing to do with the tournament," Jay added, "It was all us."
"The only reason she stayed was to help us in case of an emergency," Zane concluded, "Just as she alerted you."
Sensei sighed, "I am aware of this, I've known her since she was three. I was disappointed that she did not do a better job in preventing this fiasco."
The boys looked at each other, guilt written all over their faces, and Cole replied, "The truth is, Sensei, ever since we found out Ani's technically Garmadon's daughter, we've kinda been treating her more like a possible double agent and less like a friend."
"And by 'kinda,' he means completely," Kai admitted.
"She's been trying to stop us from doing something wrong or reminding us to do our jobs but we were so wrapped up in her 'shady' past that we end up totally ignoring her," Jay explain, "I mean, she'd say 'guys, don't do this' or 'boys, don't do that' but we don't listen and do all that stuff anyway 'til she eventually just gave up."
"We should have realized our actions affect how you view Ani and how she views herself," Zane confessed, "Please don't punish her for our mistake."
The old man was silent for a moment before smiling and saying, "Well, at least something good came from this train wreck. From now on, I expect you to listen to her more. You may have chosen Cole as your leader, but she is still the senior student."
Later that day in Jamonakai Village, Nya walked to a fruit stand. She was about to pick up a pear, but screams and yells reached her ears.
"What now?" she said, looking around.
"Take the candy!" a boy yelled as he pushed a wheelbarrow full of candy out of a house, "Take it all!"
Then, two snake-like things came out behind the boy, one holding a glittering staff. The trio passed by a group of villagers. She saw red waves appear from one of the snake's eyes. The villagers' own eyes became a dark red and they moaned.
Nya crouched behind the fruit stand as the two snakes left the boy.
She heard one say, "Thissss makessss no ssssensssse, General. Raiding an entire town… for ssssweetssss?"
"You will do as I command," the larger of the two commanded, turning around and jabbing the smaller in the chest, "Because I have the sssstaff!"
The ninjas trained with their weapons, each using them to the best of their knowledge. Inside his room, Sensei Wu meditated in front of the incense pot again. Smoke rose from the pot and showed the man an image: Lloyd walking through Jamonakai Village, followed by a group of snake people.
He then burst out of the room and cried, "The Serpentine are back! Everyone in Jamonakai Village is in danger!"
"Calm down, Sensei," Cole reassured, "We were just there. It was some kid who said he was…"
"The Spirit-smoke does not lie!" their mentor insisted, "An ancient evil has been released!"
"Nya's there right now!" Kai remembered.
"Nya?" Jay echoed.
The five ran to the dragons' stables, doing everything properly this time, and set out to Jamonakai Village once again.
"Stay close," Kai warned, "Stay together."
"Would we do it any other way?" Cole questioned.
Lloyd walked through the village, twitching and laughing crazily.
"Ha-ha-ha!" Lloyd laughed, "I'm never coming down from this sugar high! Woo-ho!"
Suddenly, the five Masters of Spinjitzu leaped down in front of him.
"Sorry to bust your buzz, little Garmadon," Cole said, "But it's way past your bedtime!"
"Lloyd Montgomery, what the heck are you doing?!" Ani scolded, "You are in so much trouble mister!"
"Get them!" Lloyd exclaimed, breaking the conversation.
The largest of the snakes rattled his tail and hissed, "Get them!"
"The Serpentine?" Kai gasped, "They're real?"
The Serpentine closed in around the five.
"It's not just them we have to worry about," Cole said worriedly, "The whole village has been hypnotized!"
Villagers had joined the Serpentine and were walking with them, moaning and mumbling.
Jay began swinging his nun chucks, until Zane stopped him and warned, "Our weapons are unstable! We could do more harm than good!"
"That leaves us with RUUUUUUUN!" Jay yelled.
The ninjas dashed away. They flipped and spun until they came behind a building. They slid along the wall and ducked behind a wheelbarrow.
"Nya?" Kai asked as his sister suddenly jumped in front of the wheelbarrow.
"You're okay!" Jay said in relief.
"Barely," she responded, "They've hypnotized everyone in town!"
"Mind control," Jay asked, "How is this possible?"
"You guys have seen me do it somewhat," Ani reminded him, "But I've never been able to do anything close to this."
"When you hear them rattle their tails," Nya warned, "don't look them in the eyes! That's how they get you."
"Well what are we supposed to do?" Jay demanded, raising his arms in emphasis, "We can't use our weapons and now we gotta fight with our eyes closed? Perfect."
"Then don't," Ani instructed, "Attack from above or behind."
"The snake with the staff is the general," Nya stated, "He's the one in charge. If we can get the staff from him, it holds the anti-venom. If we get that, we can save everyone!"
"Look guys," Kai sighed, "Forget about the whole Green Ninja thing. Let's make Sensei proud. The five of us; we're a team."
"Now you're talkin'!" Cole grinned.
"And Nya," Jay said to the girl, "you can be our honorary member."
"Gee," Nya said sarcastically, "Thanks."
They jumped onto the roofs and picked their ways back to Lloyd and the Serpentine. Kai jumped down first and was immediately targeted by two snakes.
"You wanna play?" Kai asked, turning around, "How 'bout a little Spinjitzu? Ninjaaaaa-Go!"
He spun into a mini-tornado of red flames and moved towards the snakes. He suddenly whirled out of control and smacked into a wall, and fell down on the ground.
"Okay, we're really out of shape," Jay said from the roofs.
"Ya think?!" Ani snapped.
Kai quickly stood up and thrust up his arms, whacking two Serpentine in the nose.
Ani was kicking off snakes left and right. Then something happened: she clenched her right hand into a fist, about to hit an oncoming snake, but instead of getting a shiner, it raised its hands to its throat, unable to breathe. The girl's face gave an expression of horror when she realized what was going on; she was choking it without even touching it. Letting go of her "grip," the snake shook its head, looked at her for a moment, and ran off screaming and waving its hands in the air. The girl ninja felt sick to her stomach.
"Hah!" Lloyd yelled over his shoulder, "Consider this a warning, ninja! Muh-whaaa-ha-ha!"
Ani just shook her head and followed the troublemaker as Zane threw down his shurikens. Ice formed around the shurikens and Lloyd's wheelbarrow of candy bumped into them, tipping the wheelbarrow over.
Lloyd fell on top of it, crying, "My candy!"
"Ninjaaaaa-Go!" Zane yelled. He spun into a tornado of ice and sped down the roof and beside the boy.
"Sensei was right," the white ninja said, "'Never put off until tomorrow what can be done today.' We should've dealt with you the first time around."
"Retreat!" Lloyd shouted as he struggled up.
"Retreat!" The snake general repeated.
The Serpentine began to run out of the village. Cole jumped down from the roof and hit the general in the face with his feet. The snake dropped his staff and it landed in the snow.
"Go ahead," Cole said as the snake bent down to pick it up, "Give me a reason."
The general slithered away quickly. His second in command, however, had other plans.
"Look into my eyessss," he said; making Cole look up, "I control you."
"You... control… me," Cole mumbled.
He was lured into a snake's trap, and his eyes turned scarlet.
He then snapped out of the trance when Nya shouted, "Cole!"
She ran to the snake, then jumped up and kicked him in his face. Cole and the snake walked away in opposite directions.
"You have the anti-venom!" Nya cried.
Cole shook his head and looked at the staff.
"By golly, you're right!"
"Quick! The fountain!"
"Good idea!"
Cole ran to the fountain in the center of the village and stuck the staff in the water. Pale blue mist poured out of the water and flowed over the villagers, causing them to come back to reality. Kai walked to Sensei Wu, who had arrived in the confusion.
"We're sorry, Sensei," He said, "If we'd dealt with Lloyd before he became a problem, none of this would've been necessary."
"Even lessons learned the hard way are lessons learned," the sensei replied, then, thinking aloud, "A great evil has been released. I fear troubling times will come. This is only the beginning."
"Then, we will train," Zane said, as he and the other three walked over, "And we will be ready for the Serpentine."
"It may not be Lord Garmadon," Cole said, "but that doesn't mean we won't bring our A-game."
"Help us train. Help us realize our potential," Kai placed a hand on Sensei Wu's arm.
"Yeah," Jay said, "Teach us the secrets behind the weapons of Spinjitzu."
"Please," Ani added.
"There is much to teach," he said as they walked back to the dragons, "We must go back to the monastery."
Nya sighed, "When am I gonna get my own dragon?"
"Patience, Nya. Your time will come."
"Candy," Lloyd moaned. "I need… candy!"
"The boy set ussss free," Slithraa said looking at the lad.
"He is a child!" Skales insisted, "He is not one of us!"
Slithraa pushed Skales away in anger.
"I may not have the sssstaff, but I am sssstill your general! Sssstand down!"
Skales walked away and was met by Mezmo.
"You coward," Mezmo hissed, "We all know he issss under Lloyd'ssss sssspell. You are second-in-command and still you do nothing?"
"Now was not the time," Skales explained, "I still hold the key to destroy the ninja. And when I do that, everyone will ssssee it is I who should be in control!"
He began laughing as he focused through the still-hypnotized black-ninja's eyes.
Later that night, the sensei entered the courtyard to see a familiar sight: Ani sitting on the ground, hunched over; something he had seen before whenever he caught her "dream-doodling." This often happened when she was younger; at these times, she would draw and color sketches of scenes, both mystic and futuristic, all from her budding imagination. But as he approached the girl, the old man realized she was actually staring at her hands in a terrified state, as if they were mutating.
"Ani, what's wrong?" he asked, she was never like this.
"You didn't see what I did," she tearfully explained, not looking at her adopted uncle, "I'm not even sure I really saw… what I did."
"Tell me."
"I was about to knock this one snake's socks off… but instead… when I gripped my hand… he started choking! I didn't even touch the thing, and… and… I was still st… stra… strangling him."
Then, looking at her teacher, she asked, "What's wrong with me?"
"You've always had a special gift child," the elder answered, "A gift not fully understood and seen for the first time through you. But that does not mean that there is anything wrong with you."
"But what if the next time I do it, it happens to one of the guys, or an innocent bystander, or you, or Lloyd, or…"
"Ani, don't worry. We'll just have to find a way to train you into controlling and understanding this new power."
Kneeling down, the old man embraced his niece. Ani was a good girl with strange abilities that, even with all the man's experience, research, and meditation could not explain. Perhaps she is the green ninja or perhaps her destiny was greater… greater than anyone could ever imagine.
So, is she the green ninja? Or something else? Wait, what am I asking you people for? I'm writing this thing so of course I know the answer.