Children of Destiny
Okay guys! We'll finally start focusing on the other ninjas but first, the last henchmen of the Overlord will finally reveal themselves, another original couple will appear, we'll see a bit of Melody's crush on Chris, allusions to Rebooted & there's a bunch of references in this chapter! Enjoy!
Chapter 20: A Nasty Surprise
With Liana finding her true potential, Misako knew her students were finally making progress. It will only be a matter of time before all of them find their true potential but with nothing serious happening, even she thought it wouldn't hurt for them to have one day off.
The new generation spent their day off watching the newest horror movie to come out. It was still new but there were already rave reviews over 'The Revenge of Morro'. Many horror movie fans called it the greatest (and scariest) movie they've ever seen and even those who don't like the genre also said it was amazing due to its focus on 'psychological' horror.
The new generation wanted to check it out but some of them quickly regretted it.
Akira shrieked when the woman was dragged down the dark halls by shadow demons and clung to Alex, begging her to hold him. Leon also looked like he wanted to look away but at the same time, he felt glued to the big screen while the disturbing images of the protagonist's nightmares flashed on the silver screen. It was a good thing he made the twelve-year-old Willow watch the more kid-friendly 'Pepper's Island Adventure'.
Believe it or not, Chris and Kyle actually liked horror movies and what's more unbelievable was that they got it from their father. Jay secretly liked horror movies but never watched it when he was on the previous Bounty, not wanting the others to think he was a weirdo or scare Nya. But whenever he was asked why he still acted like a spaz in a sticky situation back then, he claimed that he liked scary things in movies and comics but NOT in 'real life'.
Chris would've enjoyed the movie if not for some of his teammates screaming their lungs out. To make things worse, Melody was sitting next to him and clung to him whenever a very scary part came up, despite Amy sitting opposite of her. The water wielder's nails were so sharp the blue ninja felt like they could pierce through his clothes and into his flesh.
"Ow!" The lighting ninja yelped upon the raven-haired girl's painful grip, "I'm not your personal pin cushion! Your sister's over there!"
"But I'm scared!" Melody complained.
"Don't look at me! It's your fault for not going with Willow! Geez! When's the last time you got a manicure!? I swear to god, your nails are like freakin' claws!"
"D-désolé…"
The kunoichi of water finally let go of Chris' arm but not for long. After a few moments of eerie silence, Morro's ghost suddenly jumped in front of the screen in the protagonist's point of view, bellowing out a terrifying screech. Everyone in the theater screamed and obviously, Melody just HAD to cling to the lightning ninja again, giving him more nail marks on his arm…
With 'Pepper's Island Adventure' done, Willow had to wait for the rest of her team.
Since both movies ran for about the same time, she didn't have to wait for long until the others came out of the theater and it was definitely a sight to see. The pink kunoichi couldn't help but laugh at her brother and the rest of the ninjas, who were all white as sheets with eyes wide as dinner plates, clattering teeth, and bodies shivering as if they were stuck outside in the dead of winter. Looks like 'The Revenge of Morro' lived up to the ninjas' expectations.
"What happened to you?" The twelve-year-old girl barely managed to ask in between laughs.
"Don't ask…" Amy answered shakily.
"At least be thankful we didn't watch it at night." Forrest sighed.
"What difference would it make!?" Akira complained, "I'm still gonna have nightmares!"
"Akira, it's just a movie…" Liana tried to calm the ninja of her opposite element.
"I thought it was a good movie." Kyle said.
"If you liked it so much, then why did you keep screaming?" Leon retorted.
"Adrenaline rush," The yellow ninja answered, "That's part of the appeal of horror movies."
"I would've liked it…" Chris started, "If SOMEONE hadn't been digging her nails into my skin!"
The blue ninja glared at Melody who only looked down shyly.
"Sorry… I just don't like scary movies…"
"Then why did you come with us in the first place!?" The blue ninja asked with annoyance.
The kunoichi of water didn't answer, only keeping her aqua eyes downwards but the kunoichi closest to her can see hints of a blush. Kyle saw it too and it took a lot for him to not guffaw out loud. He knew Chris wasn't interested in THAT sort of stuff but the eldest ninja grew impatient.
"Let's just go," The blue ninja huffed, "At least some of us will sleep tonight."
The younger ninjas followed their brother but not without some snickers…
Later that night…
Jay finally called it a day at his office. All the former ninja wanted to do now was go home and have some TLC with his loving wife and maybe plan a day to watch The Revenge of Morro.
"You have something I would like to have." A voice said behind him.
The inventor turned around and saw one of the hooded men that appeared in the news lately and immediately took a fighting stance with his lightning-quick reflexes.
"You!" The ninja inventor hissed and summoned bolt of lightning in his hands.
The enemy knew better than to come alone. He pretty much dragged one of his allies with him and a bunch of the lowly goons also followed him to Ninjago City.
"What do you want!?" Jay snarled at these mysterious enemies.
"Must I repeat myself?" The man sighed nonchalantly, "I've heard stories about you being the dumbest of the ninjas. I guess those tales aren't as inaccurate as I thought…"
The inventor felt his blood boil at the thought of having his intellect questioned. But he already knew this guy was obviously up to no good and he was the only one who can stop him.
"NINJA-GO!"
A bright blue twister spun across the room and crackled with lightning. Loose papers were sent flying and some of the furnishings were knocked over but the former ninja refused to show any mercy to these crooks.
With speed nigh impossible for humans to achieve, the cloaked men evaded the bright tornado but speed was Jay's forte. His electric twister dispersed and he summoned bolts of lightning on his hands to exchange blows with them, even managing to punch his target in the gut. But the remaining henchman summoned the underlings to outnumber their opponent.
The punks all dogpiled on the inventor but the former lightning ninja used his Spinjitzu again to send them flying but his little victory didn't last long.
The inventor's skull was suddenly plagued by a terrible pain and he can feel reality slip away. He tried to stay awake but the pain added weight to his eyelids. He barely managed to turn around and saw the other cloaked man behind him before his consciousness left him.
With Jay finally out cold, the cloaked figure turned everything in the office upside-down to find what he was looking for. He hated to admit it but Jay did a pretty damn good job hiding it. But he finally spotted a small safe tucked away in the furthest corner of the room.
'Of course…' The man didn't bother spending such ungodly hours to figure out the combination to open the lock. He only used the arcane abilities granted to him by the Overlord to summon a mass of dark energy in his hands and destroy one corner of the safe.
"Finally, it's all mine." He smiled such a cruel smile when he reached in and finally grabbed the one thing he needed to get his revenge.
With the object he truly wanted, the man was prepared to go back to his hideout.
"But what are we gonna do with him?" One of the thugs lifted Jay's seemingly lifeless form.
"Leave him," The hooded man said, "I have everything I need."
The goon callously threw the former ninja's body across the office before following him out of the city and back to their master's keep.
But leaving Jay may end up being his biggest mistake…
'Jay!' A familiar voice echoed in the darkness but Jay can't move.
'Daddy!' A different voice called out but it was also familiar to the former ninja.
Jay can't remember what happened or how he got here but quickly realized he was trapped in his own head that ached like someone used a jackhammer on it.
"Nya…? Sayuri…?" The Scandinavian man woke up and saw his wife and daughter staring down at him with concern in their hazel eyes.
"I was so worried about you!" The former kunoichi embraced her husband as tight as she can, "You never came home! I thought something must've happened to you!"
"W-what time is it…?"
"It's past midnight."
Jay couldn't help but feel ashamed for making his family worry but they were here for him.
"Daddy! What happened?" Sayuri too clung to her father.
Jay felt his skull pound as the memories came flooding back. He now remembered the strange cloaked man saying he had something he wanted and the gang that ambushed him.
What did he have that the enemies wanted?
The ninja turned inventor was shocked at the mess that was his office. He scrambled to put his belongings back in place but it slowly dawned on him that something wasn't right. Jay still felt like something was missing and he had every right to be afraid. There was one thing he used as inspiration for his inventions and he vowed to never show anyone.
"Jay, what's wrong?" Nya asked, noticing the way her husband frantically looked over his stuff.
'No…!'
The inventor found the small safe where he kept it and inspected it.
Much to Jay's horror, the blueprints were gone!
These weren't just any blueprints but the blueprints that were for a machine like no other! They were for a very dear friend.
All the ever talkative Jay can only say was…
"…Fan…"
The sun was rising but things were already looking bleak.
The screen in the bridge was already beeping by the time Misako came in. The red light flashed, which wasn't a good sign. The scholar activated the message and was surprised to see Jay, who looked more frazzled than she's ever seen him.
"Misako, we have an emergency!" The former ninja exclaimed to his sons' teacher.
"What is it?" The wise woman was all ears.
"Bring the ninjas. I think they'll have to know too. Especially Liana and Forrest…"
The blue ninja's mention of the Julien children was enough for Misako to know this was a VERY serious situation and wasted no time summoning her students to the bridge.
"Dad! What's going on!?" Kyle inquired his parent once everyone was assembled.
"Uh… Liana? Forrest? You do know your dad used to be a nindroid right…?" The ninja inventor asked, darting his sapphire eyes around nervously.
"What does this have to do with our dad?" Liana asked.
"When I became an inventor, I had his permission to use his old blueprints as inspiration for my inventions and I kept them safe with me ever since but… you see, there are times when things don't work out… Uh… it's like those moments where something goes wrong like a huge science project blowing up in your face. It happened to me so many times before, you wouldn't believe it. Like one time, I- "
"Jay, there's no use delaying the inevitable." Misako said with slight exasperation.
"The bad guys have it." Jay shrunk in his seat, expecting the new generation to wail on him.
And wail they did.
"How could you let them do that!?" Forrest exclaimed, "Do you have any idea what they can do now that they have it!?"
"Dad! How could you be so irresponsible!?" Chris even chewed out his own father for allowing the enemies to win.
"I was outnumbered," The former ninja tried to defend himself, "I fought back but there were too many of them and that guy with the hood knocked me out. I… let you all down…"
The normally talkative man fell silent, feeling more ashamed at his own failure than humiliated for admitting it to his children.
"Now what are we gonna do!?" Alex tossed up her arms in frustration, "Uncle apparently blew it trying to keep the blueprints away from the Overlord and next thing we know, Mr. Julien will have some psychotic clone going after him! This is just perfect!"
"It has already happened. There's nothing we can do about that," Misako sternly reminded the new generation, "The least we can do is prepare ourselves for the hardships to come. We must find the Overlord and his henchmen and stop them at all costs."
"But we have no idea where the Overlord's base is!" Kyle complained, "Every time we beat up the bad guys, they just literally disappear in a cloud of smoke!"
"If they won't show us their hideout, then we'll have to look for it ourselves." Forrest vowed.
"But that could take years!" Leon exclaimed, "Ninjago's a big place and it won't be easy finding their lair! By the time we find it, we'd be as old as Gruncle Wu and the Overlord would already take over at least half of Ninjago! It's hopeless!"
"Then we'll take advantage of all the time we've got," Amy said, "I remember Sensei Wu saying not to put off tomorrow what can be done today."
Even to this day, Sensei Wu's wisdom proved invaluable to his students and their children.
Back in the Overlord's base, the stalker finally had what he was looking for. Now he can get to work preparing his own cold dish of revenge. Looking through the blueprints, it didn't take long for him to come up with the perfect war machine.
"What are you doing?" Jacob asked with a bored tone.
"Shush!" The man hissed, "I need to concentrate!"
The ash blonde man merely rolled his eyes while his cohort continued building his contraption. He already gathered the equipment he needed to build it and now that he had the blueprints, he knew exactly what to build but he'll need all the time he can get. Then another scheme was planned out in his head.
It will take quite a while for his contraption to be activated even after the construction has been completed but the pesky ninjas will try looking for him and his master. He'll have to keep them from finding the base and buy enough time to get his machine to work.
Without saying a word, he dragged the last hooded man with him.
"Where are we going?" His cohort asked with impatience.
"We're just taking another trip to the city…" The stalker smirked under his cloak, "We never got to give the brats a proper introduction…"
But even his 'sidekick' can tell there was more to it than introductions…
The Bounty flew over Ninjago, scanning the lands for anything suspicious that may lead to the enigmatic lair of the Overlord and his 'floozies' as some of the ninjas like to put it.
Tonight was the Charbonneau sister's turn to cook and luckily, they didn't inherit their father's abhorrent cooking skills, if one can call it that. The sisters made some Eintopf with a recipe that was passed down from their mother's side of the family for generations.
Everyone noticed that Melody gave Chris a larger helping of Eintopf, earning the oblivious ninja some chortles from his teammates. Unlike her, the lightning wielder had absolutely no interest in all that teenage romance drama. Besides, his mind was preoccupied with what happened to his dad and the consequences that will follow now that the Overlord has Zane's blueprints. But the kunoichi of water still blushed as she sat right across from him.
"What's her problem?" Chris whispered to Amy, who seemed exasperated by Melody's antics.
The kunoichi of earth can tell her sister's feelings were NOT mutual but she didn't want to crush her sensitive sister's heart. Everyone knew what happened between Liana and Akira.
"Just let her down gently." The black kunoichi only whispered to the lightning ninja.
It took several moments for Chris to realize what the earth wielder was talking about.
Melody had a crush on him but as far as he's concerned, he wasn't interested in romance and he sure as hell doesn't want a serious relationship, especially with one of his own teammates, especially one who's three years younger than him.
The lightning wielder opened his mouth to say something but the alarm went off.
The timing couldn't have been more appropriate…
Ninjago City was once again in need of heroes but they knew who to call.
"NINJA-GO!"
Ten human-sized tornadoes flew to the ground, making a grand entrance to the city.
The new generation were ready to fight evil, no matter what time of day it was.
"Chris! Kyle!"
The Walker brothers heard familiar voices calling out to them.
"Mom! Dad!" They were quite surprised to see their parents rushing to join them.
"What are you doing here?" Kyle asked, "We can take care of ourselves."
"We're still coming with you!" Jay declared with Nya by his side.
"You're our sons and we love you too much to let you go out there by yourselves." Nya said.
"Really, you don't have to go out of the way because of us." Chris spoke.
"But it was my fault the bad guys got Zane's blueprints so I have to get them back." Jay vowed.
"You won't do it alone," His faithful wife added, "I'll stick with you to the very end."
"Okay, where were the bad guys last seen?"
"The locals claimed they saw the 'lesser' underlings near the park in the center of the city." Nya answered, pointing towards the general direction.
The group made a beeline for their destination and soon found who they were looking for.
The two hooded men marched through the streets, letting the thugs following them do as they please as they made their way towards the ninjas.
"Well, if it isn't the famous Jason Walker?" The man smirked under his hood, "I forgot to thank you for giving me the thing I need for my new masterpiece."
"Do you have any idea what you've done!?" Jay glared at the foes.
"I know," The man said dismissively, "I may have stolen from you but it's all for a good cause."
"There is NO excuse for stealing!" Chris brandished the Nunchucks of Lightning, "Give back the blueprints or we'll MAKE you!"
The man only chuckled darkly over the young ninja's threat. It frankly amused him to mess with the pretentious brats as he placed his hands on the hem of his hood.
"The other guys revealed themselves so there's no use to keep wearing these things anymore."
Before the ninja and kunoichi knew what was going on, the culprit finally threw back the hood of his cloak as did the last enigmatic man.
The man who stole Zane's blueprints even looked like the former nindroid himself. His hair was slicked back revealing the same hairline as Zane and Liana but was light brown. His eyes were in a sky blue hue and he also had slight hints of facial hair on his chin. His face was also 'long' like the ice ninja and his son.
Jay and Nya immediately recognized the man from his 'missing' photos.
"Ash…!"
This left the last man's identity as Clouse.
While Ash and the other 'agents' of the Overlord had some muscle, Clouse was built like a twig. He long brown hair with thick bangs falling over his teal eyes and had a dark blue streak on the right side. He too had his own reasons to join the Overlord but the ninjas' attention was on Ash.
"I'm quite honored you remember my name," Ash began, "It's been a long time since- "
"Enough introductions!" Jay cut him off, "Give back the blueprints!"
"Why did you take my dad's blueprints!?" Forrest asked, "What do you want with him!?"
Ash's expression quickly turned sour as he looked back on the hardships he faced before joining the Overlord…
"It was that pretentious Adam Julien who ruined my family's name. Too bad he's dead now, but at least he left behind that thing for me to enact my revenge on!"
'Zane…!'
Jay was more than a little concerned for the former nindroid and Liana and Forrest didn't take it well either.
"How do you know about our grandfather!?" Liana moved in front of the group to defend them, "Why do you have to drag our father into this!?"
"Our grandfathers had quite a history together," Ash started coolly, "My grandfather was said to be a genius in his time. His name was Cyrus and once worked at the now defunct Alexander Industries… that is until that foolish upstart ruined his latest plan."
The tales Dr. Julien told the original ninjas of his beginnings came flooding back to Jay and Nya.
"He did what he had to do," Nya said in an austere voice, "Your grandfather was going to make bioweapons that threatened the peace in his era."
"Peace!?" Ash stared at the former kunoichi as if she was a diseased dog, "There's no such thing as 'peace'! No matter what we do or who we are, there's always gonna be war!"
"But not in such a scale!" Jay talked back, "People will always get into fights but there's no way we'll allow something as terrible as whatever it is that you're trying to build!"
"This isn't about war!" The vengeful man exploded, "Do you have any idea how badly that fool ruined my family's reputation!? We were once one of the most respected people in Ninjago but ever since Cyrus was exposed, my family's been ruined and it's all because of that son of a bitch who was all 'weapons are evil' bullshit! If anyone's going to restore my family's name, it's going to be me!"
"But you don't have to go down this path!" Nya pleaded, "You could've found another way! You don't have to follow the Overlord to repair your family's reputation!"
"Shut up!" Ash barked at the former kunoichi, "You don't know what it's like having your family name ruined! How dare you talk back at me!?"
"Enough with the backstory!" Akira cut him off, "We will NOT let you get away with this!"
The Overlord's agent only chuckled; a bad omen…
"Oh, but you already did." Ash sneered down at the ninja and kunoichi.
"What are you talking about!?" The nature ninja snarled, "What do you want with our dad!?"
"Our little meeting was all the time I need to build my new war machine. You know, you aren't so bad after all. First, you gave me the blueprints and now, you've also given me the time I need to build my own tool of vengeance."
'It was a trap!' The new generation cursed themselves for being so naïve.
"I can finally get my revenge and it's all thanks to you." Ash cruelly smirked at the ninjas.
Jay felt a deep pit in his heart knowing he allowed Ash to get Zane's blueprints.
"Clouse." The man commanded his cohort.
Clouse formed several strange signals with his hands and then the familiar dark smoke engulfed himself, Ash, and the goons, blocking off the ninjas' sight in the process.
"NO!"
Once the smoke has cleared, Ash, Clouse, and their minions were gone.
"KUSO!" Alex punched the ground in frustration, "We let them get away again!"
"Now what are we supposed to do!?" Willow asked.
"Just as Misako said, we have to find the Overlord's base of operation," Liana started, "It's more than likely to take a long time but we can't afford to waste more of it than we already have."
"But we still don't have any clues!" Kyle complained, "We'll NEVER find it!"
"Kyle, remember what I told you about positive thinking?" Jay reminded his younger son.
"But how can we think positively when the bad guys got away again!?"
"Optimism can make a big difference," Nya said to the whole group, "If you keep focusing only on the negative, you won't be able to fulfill your destiny. You need to keep telling yourselves to find what you're looking for and only then will you be able to find it."
"We know…" Chris and Kyle said, grateful to have such supportive parents.
"But I have one question though…" Willow interrupted the brief moment.
"What is it?" Jay asked.
"What exactly is Ash trying to build out of Zane's blueprints?"
Both generations of the ninjas felt a shadow loom over them. Jay and Nya remembered Adam Julien's story of how Cyrus wanted to build a humanoid bioweapon…
Ash could very well be finishing what his grandfather had started all those years ago…
The Overlord was pleasantly surprised by Ash's war machine as it slowly came to fruition. These humans weren't as dumb as the rest of their kind and his henchman's invention had potential. The machine raised itself up and scanned the lair for signs of life. The contraption activated its voice box to speak but only static came out at first but it was soon able to speak.
And then, the machine finally said its first word.
"Master…" The mechanical being faced the Overlord.
The new machine was finally complete and already knew its purpose: to serve the dark lord.
The midnight sky was polluted by the Overlord's malicious cackles…
OMFG! Things are REALLY gonna go down from here!
Anyway, here's the references in this story: there's one for the newest season which is actually obvious, there's a hidden F bomb in this chapter, & there's a Lego game reference but it's a relatively unknown game so good luck finding it. If any of you can find both of the latter 2, I may give a prize to the 1st one who can spot them…
Also, an interesting note on Ash… the canon Ash from Tournament of the Elements is voiced by Brent Miller, Zane's voice actor, & this Ash wants revenge on Zane!
Enough chatter. Tell me what you think of this chapter & as always, please review!