After the three young ones left, Nya and Zuma started explaining what had happened with Lloyd and Toothless. Sora quickly grew bored with the conversation and looked over at Tuffnut, who was currently trying to get a closer look at one of the orbs. He picked up a smallish one but turned around to see Ruffnut glaring at him.
"Benthomaar told us not to touch those." Ruffnut scolded, slowly but surely pushing Tuffnut back.
"He never said I couldn't. He just said they were fragile." Tuffnut retorted. Ruffnut grabbed the orb and tried to yank it out of Tuffnut's hands.
"Hey, let go!" Tuffnut shouted.
"You let go!" The two pulled it back and forth, each trying to grab it from the other. Ruffnut jerked it upward, but Tuffnut let go of it so suddenly that Ruffnut fell backwards. The orb fell to the floor and shattered into hundreds of glass-like shards. Tuffnut gasped and leaped to his feet in anger.
"Now look at what you've done!" Tuffnut yelled.
"What I've done?! You're the one who grabbed it!" At that, Benthomaar, Nya, Zuma, and the Mighty Twins looked up suddenly, watching as the two twins butted their helmets together and tried to knock each other over like two stags in a fight. Benthomaar turned to Nya and asked, "Do they always fight with each other like this?"
"Yep, pretty much." Nya answered. Then Tuck stood up, a glare on his face. "That's it! I'm not putting up with this anymore."
"I agree." Ella replied. "Those twins need to be taught a thing or two." With that, the two began to approach the twins, who were still at each other's throats.
"What are you two doing?!" Zuma cried. Then he said to himself, "Oh, I hope they're not about to do something stupid."
As Sora watched in suspense, Tuck and Ella got right up to where the twins were. "What is it with you two?" Tuck yelled—loud enough that Tuffnut and Ruffnut stopped fighting and just stared at the young Mighty Twin glaring at them.
Ella decided now was a good time to back her brother up. "You two have been bickering and arguing with each other ever since we left the dojo, and it's starting to get on my nerves!"
"What she said." Tuck replied, in a tone that meant business. Then he continued with, "If you two keep acting like this, you'll simply hurt yourselves and the team! You know as well as we do that this mission requires all hands and paws on deck. But you cannot help the team if you're not willing to help each other!"
"Why would I want to help her?" Tuffnut retorted.
"Yeah, ditto for him." Ruffnut replied.
"Because there may come a time when you two are the only ones who can save the world," Ella answered. "And when that time comes, you have to be able to work together as a team."
"You shouldn't just be siblings—you should be best friends." Tuck explained. "One day, you may find you only have each other to turn to for help. If you're simply arguing all the time, instead of treating each other with kindness and respect, your bond will suffer."
Tuffnut scoffed at the remark. "Easy for you to say. You two never disagree with each other."
"That's not true." Ella said. "There actually was a time when we did nothing but disagree."
"No way." Ruffnut replied.
"Way."
"Then how come you've got each other's backs now? If you didn't exactly get along at first, what changed?" Tuffnut asked.
"Well," Tuck began nervously, "One day, we—our parents and us two—were at the coast in Foggy Bottom, and Ella and I were tussling over who had built the better sandcastle. That's when the sky began to darken above us."
Ella continued, "We didn't even notice it until the ground started to shake. Then several horrifically, terribly terrifying things happened."
At that moment, Tuck picked up the story again. "A heavy rain started to fall and would not let up, and there were lightning strikes happening left and right. If that wasn't bad enough, the wind was blowing so hard it triggered a bunch of smallish rockslides that sent rocks tumbling onto the beach. Our parents and us had to really scurry to avoid being hit by them. But that wasn't the worst part."
As Ella took another turn with the story, she inadvertently started to cry. "There was a really, really big lightning bolt, and…and it hit a nearby tree, and…the tree started on fire. The…the flames spread to some scrub grass on the beach and…and our parents were trapped behind a wall of flame."
"Wait, now I'm totally confused." Tuffnut interrupted. "If there was rain coming down like crazy, why didn't it put the fire out?"
"We…we don't know." Tuck answered, tears beginning to spring to his own eyes. "The flames just kept spreading, no matter how much rain poured down."
As Nya listened to this, she suddenly realized what the Mighty Twins were talking about. What they had witnessed was an Elemental Maelstrom. Master Wu had told the Ninja about them long ago. When one happened, it was as if all the elements were lashing out against something not right. Usually that something involved a misuse of either Elemental Power or something similar—a misuse so severe that it caused a great disturbance in the laws of nature. An Elemental Maelstrom was capable of causing horrendous natural disasters—earthquakes, mudslides, lightning storms, out-of-control fires, tsunamis, cyclones—all occurring at the exact same time.
Even through his tears, Tuck continued with the horrific tale. "That wall of flame cut the two of us off from our parents. They…they couldn't get out, and we couldn't get in. Then the worst thing of all happened. A huge wave from the sea came up, as big as a mountain, and Ella and I got caught in it."
"That's how we ended up in Adventure Bay." Ella stated. "The wave washed us onto the beach, and…and we've been on our own ever since."
Tuffnut and Ruffnut just stood there, mouths agape at what they had just heard. If this was true, then that meant these two pups had only had each other right up until they had met the Ninja Pups (then simply the Mighty Pups). No wonder they had each other's backs all the time! Having no parents, they had had no choice but to protect each other.
Sora shuddered as she thought about what these poor twins had been through. A catastrophe of that magnitude was almost too ghastly to think about. It sounded even worse than the Merge, Mergequakes, and Mergequake Storm combined. She sincerely hoped that she would never see something like that happen in the Merged Realms.
Benthomaar, hoping to change the subject, cleared his throat and asked Nya how exactly he could help them find Lloyd and Toothless. Sora quickly found the conversation becoming boring again and decided to explore the palace. Who knew—maybe she'd find some really interesting technology to examine. When the others weren't looking, she slipped quietly out of the room and down a nearby hallway to see what she could find. As she went, she didn't notice a huge black dragon, covered from snout to tail in magenta-purple crystals, watching her leave through a glass window.
Meanwhile, Kelly, Gracie, and Kelpie were having a wonderful time observing the numerous wonders of Merlopia. As they swam through the somewhat crowded but beautiful streets (if you could even say that an underwater kingdom had streets), several amazing sights caught their eye. A pod of narwhals trilled as they swam through a current overhead. Branches of brightly colored coral swayed in the water just as trees might sway in the wind. A quartet played a bubbly, upbeat tune on their instruments—a silver harp with blue seaweed strings, a horn made from a golden conch shell, a flute of hard ivory coral, and a coconut-shell drum set.
As Kelly gazed around, taking in all these magnificent sights and sounds, a voice suddenly shouted, "Incoming!" Instinctively, Kelly ducked just before a frisbee-like disc made of a scallop shell zoomed at lightning-fast speed over her head. "I got this!" Gracie shouted. Swimming after the disc, she made a 180-degree twist in the water and caught the disc in her mouth like a Zoom-It dog would a frisbee. Then she took the disc out of her mouth and threw it back, yelling, "Catch!" Once again, Kelly had to duck as the disc zoomed past. She then watched as a young Maaray boy reached up and grabbed the disc with one hand. "Thanks, pup!" he called out before he and his friends returned to their game.
"That was so cool!" Kelly cried out, swimming to Gracie. "How did you learn how to do that?"
"Well, um…" Gracie's ears drooped as she stammered, "Bar—Bark used to do it all the time. I—I guess I just picked it up from him."
Putting two and two together, Kelly asked softly, "You miss Bark, don't you?"
"I do. I…I really do. He was more than just my brother. He was my best friend."
"I didn't know you had a brother." Kelpie said, swimming over to join in the conversation.
"Actually, I have two brothers. My older brother, Matthew, is on another team. But my twin brother, Bark, is…is missing. He got…swept away in the Merge, and…and we don't know where he is."
"Oh, Gracie!" Kelpie exclaimed. "I'm so sorry!"
"Yeah, so am I." Gracie replied. "I haven't ever been separated from him for more than a day. The one time we even came close was right before we joined the Ninja Pups, and we found each other again in just a few hours."
For a few moments, a sorrowful silence filled the air—pardon me, water. Then Kelly laid a paw on Gracie's shoulder and said, "If it helps, I…I really liked your song earlier."
Gracie seemed to perk up a bit. "Aw, thanks, Kelly. I'm glad you liked it."
"Liked it?!" Kelly exclaimed. "I loved it!" She could feel her excitement begin to rise as she kept on going. "It made me want to laugh and sing and cry all at the same time!"
Gracie laughed. "You wouldn't be the only one. I guess you can say my songs have a…a power in them—a power that can shape others' emotions."
"Wow." Kelly exclaimed in wonder. "I wish my music could do that."
"Well, you never know, Kelly." Gracie stated. "There can be a kind of magic in music."
Kelly huffed dejectedly. "There's no magic in my music. What's your secret?"
In response, Gracie put a comforting paw on Kelly's shoulder and said, "You know, sometimes it's like that for me too. But other times…something happens…something I can't explain. Sometimes, a song can feel so powerful and full of beauty, that it fills you with a…a kind of longing that you simply can't explain in words."
For a moment, the two just hovered there, Kelly looking at Gracie in wonder. Then their thoughts were interrupted by Kelpie asking, "You like music, Kelly?"
"Well, yes. Yes, I do." Kelly answered.
"That is so exciting!" Kelpie exclaimed, flipping in the water with excitement. "I love music too!"
"I guess that makes three of us." Gracie commented.
"Could you sing a song, Kelly? Please?" Kelpie asked.
Kelly was shocked at the abrupt request. "Right now?"
"Well, yeah."
"Go on, Kelly." Gracie encouraged.
"But I…I don't know what to sing about!" Kelly stammered nervously.
"Just sing from your heart, and you'll figure it out."
Kelly thought for a moment about that, then began softly singing a lullaby that Skye had taught her.
Magic Mermoon, shining so bright,
Make my wish come true tonight.
Take me where I long to be,
To a dreamland under the sea.
When I see your smiling face,
I'll know I've found that perfect place.
As her confidence grew, her song grew louder. But what she didn't notice was that there were pink swirls of light streaming all around her as she sang. Nor did she notice that her eyes and the tips of her ears and tail glowed pink as her song continued. And as she hovered there, singing with great joy and wonder, her greatest wish was then granted.
It was Kelpie and Gracie who first noticed the change. Gracie just stared in surprise. As for Kelpie, well, had her jaw not been attached, it would have fallen off her face and onto the ocean floor. It took a few minutes for both of them to find their voices again. And it was Gracie who said something first.
"Kelly, you…you have a TAIL!"
Kelly was confused. "I'm a pup, Gracie. I always have a tail."
"No, Kelly!" Kelpie piped up. "What she means is…you have a fish tail!"
When Kelly looked down, she gasped. Sure enough, her legs and tiny pup tail had been replaced by a purple-and-pink-striped Merpup tail!
"I'm a Merpup! I can't believe it! I'm a Merpup!" Kelly zoomed around in a couple loop-de-loops and let out a few excited yips. "Yay! Yay! Yay! This is amazing!"
"That is so cool!" Kelpie squealed. Even Gracie grinned. Apparently, Kelly's enthusiasm was contagious. Then Kelly stopped in confusion. "Wait a moment. How did this happen?"
"I don't know." Gracie answered. "But if I had to take a guess, I'd have to say that maybe…" Then she gasped in recognition. "Maybe your song gave you that Merpup tail!"
"Really? You really think my song caused this?" Kelly asked excitedly, admiring her tail. "Pawsome!"
Suddenly, Gracie's ears perked up. There was a strange noise off in the distance. It sounded like someone was talking but didn't want anyone to hear them. She swam closer to the noise, being closely followed by Kelpie and Kelly. The three hid behind some seaweed and watched silently as a mysterious man in a black aqua-suit spoke to a black dragon with magenta-purple crystals all along its back. Gracie stifled a scream as she realized that those were Forbidden Crystals—the very crystals that had corrupted everyone in Ninjago, even the Ninja themselves.
"Are you sure the young one is an Elemental?" the man asked. When the dragon gave a slight nod, the man chuckled menacingly. "Good—my plan is working perfectly. That child shall be mine before the Merlopians even knew what hit them. And to make things even better, I'll finally have my revenge on the royal family of Merlopia for banishing me all those years ago."
The man laughed evilly before taking off on the dragon's back. For a few minutes, all the three girls could do was stare in disbelief and fright. What should they do about this? In that moment, they were all thinking the same thing.
"We've got to warn the others!"
