H'lo again! Forgot to mention, updates will be every other day, unless something drastic happens. I've got most of this sucker pre-written. X3
Thank you very much to both guest reviewers! ^_^
GUEST05: Ahhh, Cole. Such a mixed bag there . . . I like how they've been showing off his kind-hearted side, ceding the match to Jay and going back to save the other factory workers, but I am definitely not crazy about the food obsession and general loopiness. He wasn't exactly serious back in the old days, but he had a head on his shoulders; he knew when it was serious-leader-time and when it was time to club Zane with pillows. :P
. . . No disorders, though. Nope. Nuh-uh. Nyet. Don't get me started.
Aww, hadn't thought of Sensei Wu teaching him! That's a sweet idea. ^_^
Thanks again! I hope you enjoy what's in store here. :3
Every man is guilty of the all the good he did not do. - Voltaire
Had it really only been a year? It boggled the mind. One year ago exactly they'd set out on that fateful field trip to Borg Industries. Two weeks—a measly two weeks!—and their world had rocked; they'd been set at each other's throats, dragged through outer space, and suddenly rendered four instead of five. There was a blurry haze of grief and anger and drudgery in between, when they all went their separate ways. Then there was Chen's tournament and invasion of Ninjago, another heart-pounding hurricane of a few weeks. Heaven forbid this become an annual thing.
But now it was over. The strange mixture of misery and guilty relief tasted familiar. As the days slipped by, most of the Elemental Masters went home, leaving condolences with Garmadon's grieving family. It was hard on Misako, a lot of change and loss to take at once. Sensei Wu attempted to console her, but seemed reluctant to get too close—perhaps he knew what it would look like. He himself did not mourn.
So mostly it fell to Lloyd, who quietly took up the yoke. He did his best to comfort his mother, and he didn't cry once, at least not that anybody knew of. Maybe he was used to the feeling by now.
It was odd, though. You would think it was genetic and couldn't change. But by methods unknown—even when he did start smiling again—it was never once that lopsided smile he and his dad had shared.
The ninja were all a little lost, now that the action was over. They were back together again, they had the Destiny's Bounty, it should have all been just like the old days. But what were they to do with themselves?
Zane was talking to Cyrus Borg about getting a new outer shell like his old one, and hopefully rebuilding PIXAL. Borg found him a very bright conversationalist and hinted occasionally that he was interested in a partnership. Cole had lost his lumberjack job when he skipped out for Chen's Island, but he wasn't sure if he wanted a new one or not. Jay was between seasons on his TV show, and he seemed to miss it; he talked frequently about having to continue production on the next season. Kai simply didn't show up at the slither pit anymore. The others didn't even know about his exploits there, and when Lloyd brought it up once Kai only turned away.
So the elephant kept lounging in the room. Everyone seemed to expect that the five of them would go back to being a ninja team, and in a way they all tacitly assumed that too. But privately, each one of them was a little surprised at his own reluctance, at the simple lack of enthusiasm towards the idea. So everybody found other conversation topics.
"One thing I forgot to ask," said Nya over lunch one day. "Sensei, what happened to the Ultra Dragon? When I was on Chen's Island with the boys, you mentioned you were going to summon him and send him over to help. Didn't he ever show up?"
"Actually, he did not," admitted Sensei Wu, looking slightly startled at the realization. "I did summon him, but there was so much happening at the time that I soon forgot about it. That is rather strange . . . "
"It's been a year," said Kai, tilting his head. "How long does dragon mating season last, anyway?"
"Maybe he's in the middle of raising his kids or something?" said Cole. He glanced at Kai's plate. "You gonna eat that pickle?"
Rolling his eyes, Kai pushed the plate across the table.
"I don't know if raising kids would be that time-consuming, that he couldn't even swing by to let us know he was okay."
"What if something's happened to him?" Jay looked uneasy. "Or wait—what if he's forgotten all about us?!"
"Then it'd be pretty rude of us to remind him," said Kai drily.
Still, they were all a little worried. Now that they had something specific to do, they were all too happy to go for it—so a Ninjago-wide search for the Ultra Dragon began. The creature was recognized pretty much everywhere, just like the ninja themselves were, but all the farmers and villagers they questioned didn't recall seeing a large four-headed dragon within the past year.
In the end it was Kai who found the lead. Stopping for dinner in a little inn, he heard some of the travelers there swapping stories. One of them mentioned a nearby mountain which seemed to be haunted—flashes of light would come from it at night, he said, and the place was plagued by earthquakes and freak snowstorms. Some people swore they had heard distant moans and cries coming from the place, echoing creepily.
The mountain was quite distant from any human settlement, just close enough to see from the nearest village and a few local roads. Miles of forest separated it from any curious souls who might wander down that way. But the ninja were more than curious souls; besides, they had the Bounty. It was only a matter of rounding everyone up (Nya and Sensei Wu came along too, of course) and cruising until they found the right mountain.
At first nothing seemed out of the ordinary. It was a nice green peak, spread with meadows and the occasional small tree, settled cozily in the midst of the forest all around. But when they climbed only a little way up the northern flank, they suddenly came upon a gaping cave mouth, perfectly angled so that it was hidden from the ground and most directions in the air.
The cave mouth led into a tunnel, which angled down sharply. They proceeded carefully in through the darkness, led by Zane with his eyes glowing blue. They all held flashlights, but they didn't turn them on—they weren't sure what might live in this cave, and they didn't want to alert it if it wasn't friendly.
"Aren't we pretty much back at ground level by now?" Jay's voice echoed.
"Shhh!" hissed Kai.
"Do you hear that?" whispered Cole suddenly.
They all stood still for a moment. The distinct sound of breathing echoed up from below, so deep and slow that it had to be a massive creature.
"It sounds close," whispered Kai.
"Really close . . . "
"Ultra? . . . " called Lloyd softly.
A sudden sharp whoosh, and the entire tunnel was coated with ice. There were various startled yelps as feet lost purchase on the sharp and now slippery incline, and seconds later everyone was at the bottom of the tunnel. Zane actually managed to land on his feet, but it didn't do him much good because everyone else was behind him and not quite that agile.
"Ultra?" called Lloyd again, pushing himself upright. His voice echoed hollow and slow, indicating that they had landed in a fairly sizeable cave. Dim light filtered in through a few cracks in the distant ceiling—and just as everyone's eyes started to adjust, there was a heavy rustle of movement and a pale shape loomed through the murk. Four pale shapes.
"It's him!"
There followed an affectionate reunion. All four dragon heads first nudged at Lloyd politely (he was, technically, the Ultra Dragon's true owner), but they soon turned to greeting the other ninja and Nya as well. Each of the four heads still remembered his own master best, and besides, the beast as a whole was just the teensiest bit miffed that Lloyd preferred his own Golden dragon. Just a little.
Zane soon became the center of attention. He stood a little shyly as all four massive heads studied him from every angle, nudging him occasionally, sniffing curiously at his hair, drawing back and tilting in scrutiny.
"Didn't anyone ever teach them it's not polite to stare?" joked Cole.
"I expect they are confused because I look different," said Zane awkwardly.
"Relax, they'll still like you fine!" Jay scoffed.
Flame's head seemed the most fascinated by Zane's new metallic form, making the most thorough inspection. At last, after a final sniff and a long hard look into Zane's eyes, it nodded and gave a light doglike sneeze, coating the Nindroid with soot.
"Congratulations," Kai grinned at his startled friend. "You've been approved."
Zane coughed, but smiled.
"Thank you," he told the dragon with his usual grave earnestness, and received a rare nuzzle from Shard's head in return.
"Boy, you missed out on a lot, pal," chuckled Jay, rubbing Wisp's snout. "The whole party. How do you figure—" Suddenly his voice cut off as if something had just lodged in his throat. A second of tense silence, then he called "Guys . . . " in a tone that grated sharply against the others' cheerful conversation. The others turned towards him and fell silent one by one as well. Jay's hand was resting centimeters away from a jagged scar blazed across Wisp's cheek. It ran back along the dragon's head, terrifyingly far down its neck . . . and as everyone's eyes inadvertantly followed the wound back, more scars. Lashed across the back of the neck, all across the shoulders, down the sides, glinting a sickly pink in the dim light. Flashlights clicked on all over the cave, and now the Ultra Dragon was the one being examined.
It was veritably crisscrossed with scars. All over. Bite marks, claw gouges, sloppily healed over, some of them fading, others looking like they had been infected. The ninja looked at each other silently.
"What exactly happens during dragon courtship rituals?" asked Jay at last.
And for the first time they realized that the Ultra Dragon, despite its happy greeting, had not gotten to its feet.
Sensei Wu brought his dragon thermometer. The device's archaic numbers were printed at outlandishly uneven intervals—apparently dragon temperature followed an otherwordly scale. Sensei took the measurement, squinted at the thermometer in disbelief, then tested it against his own palm. Finding the reading correct, he tried the dragon's temperature again.
"This can't have been a courtship ritual," frowned Kai meanwhile. "It looks like he got into a fight. One heck of a fight."
"Perhaps the males compete over the females," suggested Zane, stroking Shard's nose worriedly.
"And . . . our dragon lost?" said Cole in disbelief. "He's the Ultra Dragon!"
"Maybe the other dragons ganged up on him." Nya twisted her hands anxiously. "Maybe having four heads made him an outcast."
Sensei Wu read the thermometer again and shook his head in amazement.
"His temperature is incredibly low," he said. "He's very sick."
"Could he have caught something from the other dragons?" asked Kai.
"It's quite possible. I have never heard of dragon-borne diseases, but . . . "
Cole listened to the others' anxious discussion, his eyes fixed on the lethargic Ultra Dragon. Only now did he notice that the creature's ribs showed plainly all along its scaly underbelly, like the framework of a half-finished ship. His own stomach lurched; dragons, like many reptiles, could go for months without food.
"How long has he been lying here?" asked Nya softly.
Cole shook his head, numb. That dragon had saved their lives over and over; they could never have beaten the Great Devourer or the Overlord's first assault without their pet's loyal assistance, its knack for showing up at just the right time. It had risked its own life for them and for Ninjago. And this was how they repaid it? Leaving it to lie sick and wounded in a cave, all alone, for possibly a year?
They couldn't have known, of course. But that didn't make the guilt any less nauseating. It hung in the air almost tangibly as they all regarded their ill pet, silent. Kai bit his lip, swinging one fist in sudden determination.
"We didn't do anything before, but we can do something now. We're gonna heal this dragon up."
"Yeah! Now that we're here, we'll get you back on your feet in no time," promised Lloyd, rubbing Flame's forehead. "Hang tight big guy. We're gonna bring you a five-star meal, and then we'll see about some medicine."
The dragon gave an odd reptilian purr, all eight bright eyes gleaming, and nuzzled the ninja affectionately one last time before they started to head back out through the tunnel. At the last minute Jay slipped away from the others and darted back to throw his arms around Wisp's muzzle.
"Unlucky in love, huh boy?" he mumbled. "I feel ya. It's like war."