Author's Note: Happy National Ninja Day, my readers! (Or any other day whenever you're reading this.)

I'm not gonna lie. I thought I was going to keep a hold of this chapter until next year, but since I managed to get it finished and it's been sitting here for a while, I decided to post it, along with an actual fic cover I recently made. It's kinda longer than the prologue but I hope you guys don't mind.

Anyways, I don't have much to say but I do hope you like it.

Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Finding a Way to Fetch a Fang

His eyes barely managed to open up into a squint and he groaned, sitting up and rubbing one of them with the heel of his palm. His other hand was set down and instead of a bed he should be feeling, he felt… grass? His eyes opened up completely and he looked all around.

He stood up and noticed that the yellowish grass looked much taller than he was. Was he a kid again or was he just shorter? He didn't know.

There was a silence all around him, except for a low breeze and a grasshopper gently chirping. The little bug remained on one of the blades of grass for a moment before it hopped away suddenly… Weird.

It wasn't weird for long though.

"Cole…"

There, he heard it.

A voice that sounded so muffled yet carried over the wind to his ears.

He spun himself around, stumbling on his feet like some clumsy deer.

"Cole…"

His breathing quickened and he felt like he was going to lose it if he didn't see who or what was calling him. As if his mind was read, the wind blew, curving around him before it shoved him forward into the tall grass. The air seemed to be alive and it swirled past him, leading him forward and making the grass shake with the disturbance in front.

He followed after it, shoving the tall blades of grass aside, trying to clear the path ahead. Didn't he have a scythe? Shouldn't he be using it to clear the way? He thought. He tried to reach for it but only found an empty space. He groaned and kept going.

He was almost frustrated with this and he would've been had it not been for that voice being a bit closer this time.

"Cole…"

His eyes looked up and there in the distance he could see a figure. Nothing defining enough for him to recognize. All except for long hair that swayed in the wind. He didn't know anyone with long hair… At least long hair that wasn't put up in a bun.

"Hello?" He called.

The person's head turned around. The face was mostly obscured, however he could've sworn he caught a bright shade of blue-green, maybe turquoise, around where an eye would be.

He was about to call out again, but there was a sudden rush of heat from in front of him and when he finally looked, he came to a dreadful realization.

This wasn't just tall grass..

It was tall, dry grass and there was a blaze of flames that came to life among all of it, eating away at the grass and forming smoke and ash.

The flames licked up the hill and came close to the person, but they didn't move.

Cole tried to reach out, call to them and get them out of there. However, as if in response, the wind blew into his face and with it, carried the smoke to him. It blinded and suffocated him. He could barely see past it. He tried to step forward, but that instantly felt like a mistake with the wind suddenly picking up in speed and strength and it sent him flying back.

Despite the sudden chaos of the fire and smoke, he still heard that voice being carried so gently on the wind.

"Cole…"

"Cole.."

"Cole…"

He awoke to a familiar voice calling him in a hush. His eyes opened a bit and he sat up halfway by his elbows, turning to see the platinum blonde-haired teen, Nindroid? Bah, he'd have to get used to that still.

"Yeah, Zane, what is it now?" The Master of Earth grumbled.

Icy blue eyes scanned over his form and there was a soft breath before he spoke. "My apologies for awakening you, but your heart-rate had elevated in your sleep and I grew concerned."

Cole gave a yawn and rubbed the back of his neck.

"It was… just a dream Zane."

"About what?"

"I don't know."

"How could you not know?"

"It's not like everyone remembers their dreams all the time. How often do you remember yours?"

Zane took a moment to think, perhaps trying to recall a dream he would've had, but there wasn't anything as notable as that green ninja dream he had a long while ago.

He gave a slight hum to Cole as a response. "Hmm, perhaps you are right, my friend."

Cole dropped right back on the mattress and gave a puff through his nose, pulling an arm over his eyes. He technically didn't lie to him. He didn't remember much on the dream, let alone what it was about. All he could remember was how hot it felt and some voice.. The heat was just probably from his sheets, which would explain why they were scrunched up on the side. He probably kicked them off in his sleep. The voice? He didn't know. The voice that was calling to him already was sounding like it was losing its tone, sounding much more muffled like it was sitting in the back of his head or something.

"Would you like to help?" Zane asked.

Cole picked his arm up off his eyes and raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"I was asking if you'd like to help with breakfast. I thought it would be nice to try to instill some cooking skills in you."

Right before Cole could answer, a certain person gave a loud groan and grumbled. "Don't let him in there…" The bunk moved a bit and soon, a snore followed right after.

The Master of Earth could only roll his eyes when Jay just had the audacity to not even be awake. That walking bug zapper just probably had to roll his head over after he said what he had to.

"Thanks for the offer, Zane, but someone seems to think he's gonna die of food poisoning if I ever step foot in the kitchen." Cole hinted. "Besides, I think I'm going to go freshen up before hotshot takes his typical two-hour shower routine and an extra hour on his hair."

"I do not take that long." Kai refuted, sitting up on his top bunk.

"Uh huh, right. You could've fooled all of us." Cole almost tried so hard to not chuckle at the messy bed head Kai had on the top of his head. The guy could probably slap hair gel on that and call it a day.

The master of earth got up before Kai had a chance to even get down from his bunk and headed right for the bathroom. Kai could complain about not having it first all he'd like, but then again, Cole knew he wouldn't mind suddenly making Jay feel like it's too hot to be in bed much longer so he knew he'd be occupied for a minute. As if on cue, there was a sudden yelp that sounded so much like something out of that old cat and mouse cartoon followed by loud complaining from the one and only bluebird.

Cole opened the door to the bathroom, walking in right before he shut it behind him. Now that it was temporarily quiet, all he had left were his thoughts. Again, he didn't technically lie to Zane about not remembering his dream. When he tried so hard to think about it now that he was more awake, it all just looked like one massive blur. He sighed, upon giving up on trying to remember it despite it bothering him a bit. Besides, there was also one other thing on his mind.

'The Fang Blade.. Now that I've actually seen one, why does it look familiar?' He thought to himself, turning the handle on the shower and stripping down from his pajamas while the water warmed up.

The man stepped into the shower right under the spray, feeling the water slide down his form. He looked down at himself as he began to scrub his body roughly, taking note of the little nicks on his forearm.

'Sheesh, these snakes are getting sneakier by the day. I can't believe I let one get close.' He scolded himself.

The Master of Earth was much better at guarding himself but those snakes hadn't been much of a threat before. At least not until Pythor had coronated himself as Snake King above all the other snake people. The Hypnobrai and Fangpyre weren't as organized or as cruel when they were underneath Lloyd's command.

There was a pang of guilt he felt when he thought of Lloyd. He was supposed to pick him up that day, but the boy was no where to be seen. If he had been there sooner or looked harder, he would've got him out of trouble before the little pipsqueak had jumped from the frying pan and into the fire. Now, he was caged like a little bird in the middle of the great cold-blooded city of Ouroboros.

'I can barely imagine how Kai must feel, leaving the kid alone, and all for what?' He shook his head and grabbed at the shampoo, lathering his hair right down to the scalp before rinsing it out completely along with the rest of the soap.

Still the thought of the Fang Blade's appearance was in his mind. He knew he'd seen it before. He swears he does, but it just didn't feel like it clicked yet. He shut off the water and stepped out, grabbing the black towel off the rack, ruffling his hair dry with it first before wrapping it around himself. He wiped the mirror down above the sink. He dragged his hand through his hair not to just test the dryness of it but also to see that… weird spot.

Ever since he could remember, he had this weird scar close to the top of his head. No one could really see it with how much shaggy hair he had going on, but then again no one was really looking for it. Someone would have to shave his head to see it but there was absolutely no way he'd ever let anyone get close enough to his head with some clippers.

He did try to ask about it before with his dad when he was a kid but it was brushed off and his dad acted kinda strange the rest of the day.. Well, stranger than he usually did.

'Hmm… How is dad doing nowadays?' He wondered.

The guy had no idea what he was asking for.

Meanwhile, somewhere far away, a group of cold-blooded reptilians followed after the violet-colored python with the cerulean blue cobra beside him. The taller Anacondrai slithered to a stop, causing his much shorter second in command to bump into him.

The Hypnobrai hissed. "Why mussst we ssstop when the next Fang Blade is just ahead of ussss?"

Pythor moved his magenta glare from Skales to the path ahead. He pulled his tribe's staff right up and slammed it right back down hard. The Serpentine watched as the stone tiles ahead crumbled and revealed themselves to be nothing more than a false floor trap.

"What good is unlocking the Great Devourer with the four Fang Blades if we're not around to see it? Get the boy." The Anacondrai ordered him, frustration lacing his voice.

Skales nodded and called out, "Bring the boy."

Two Serpentine, a Venomari with a spear and a Fangpyre came forward with their prisoner, a blonde-haired boy between them. A neutral look on his face as he looked up to the Anacondrai. The two serpents freed him with the chains loosening right before they backed away with the Venomari still having a grip on his spear.

"Oh? You're letting me go?" Lloyd asked, giving his arms a stretch.

"Heh, only to fetch, my dear boy. Do step lightly," Pythor gave a taunting coo, leading him to the ledge.

Lloyd gave a mental groan and walked along the edge, careful of his steps and trying hard not to think about what would await him if he fell. There was a small gap between him and the other side so he had to hop over but found that it was the last bit of false floor and slipped, letting out a short yelp. His hand was quick to claw into the only solid stone tiles and he grunted, shimmying along the ledge until he pulled himself up back on solid ground.

The blonde looked back at Anacondrai with a glare.

"You really have a thing for putting me in places where I can fall, you know that?" He bared his teeth at him. "Don't think I've forgotten about what happened back at Darkley's with you throwing me off the roof!"

Pythor paid no mind to the aggressive barking the boy was performing. "Aww, you're still on that? Come now, it's a thing of the past. It happened so long ago." He mocked sarcastically. "Now, how about you bring me the Fang Blade and I'll let you go, hmm?"

'Yeah, as if you'd be honest. That'd be a surprise.' Lloyd rolled his eyes and turned back ahead with a low huff.

He trudged forward for a few steps, only to find the floor crumbling and revealing yet another false floor. The boy gave a quick hop and ran right ahead while the floor behind him just kept falling to pieces. He leaped forward and collapsed on hard ground, only to look up and see spikes lowering right on top of him. The boy scrambled out of there and looked back at the spikes standing against the stone floor.

"Whoa.." He mumbled in astonishment. He honestly didn't think he'd get this far… but then again, he'd rather not be skewered.

He stood back up and made his way forward, stepping down on a tile that pressed further into the ground. His face scrunched up into a grimace and his ears picked up on something loading and looked right up in time to see arrow heads. He yelped as the arrows started flying and he zoomed right ahead, narrowly missing them while they pierced into the ground and walls around him.

He came to a stop ahead and panted, feeling his heart race and trying to steal a moment to breathe. His eyes opened up and just ahead of him he could see the shrine where the Fang Blade would be. His hand was gently set on the long bamboo stick beside him and just when he took it off, it moved aside.

What followed after it's displacement was the ceiling collapsing in almost right on him. He zoomed right ahead again, but it wasn't enough as he was caught by the tail end of the disaster, only to be shoved right into the room where the towering shrine was.

'Please let the booby traps be over with,' He thought to himself, panting and climbing up the steps.

When he reached the top, he looked down right where the Fang Blade should be. Instead there was nothing.

'Oh… Oh Pythor's gonna love this.'

He turned on his heel and called out to his captors. "It's gone!"

His voice echoed to the Serpentine behind him.

"It's gone?" He heard Pythor ask.

"Where issss it?" Skales hissed in bewilderment right after.

"Do I still get to be free?" Lloyd's voice echoed again.

"NO!" Pythor snapped back at the boy.

"Ugh!" Lloyd gave an audible huff and stomped in frustration.

'Of course he wasn't gonna let me go. Didn't matter if I grabbed the stupid Fang Blade or not.' He growled in thought and paced around, looking for a way out. 'There has to be a way out. There's gotta be.'

Unfortunately for Lloyd, there wasn't a way out. Whoever thought of these booby traps not only made those to keep them from coming in, but it seemed to also be able to not let anyone out either. This was an ancient temple of traps, not a massive boarding school that he could take the time mapping out an escape… Something he learned from his mom's stories about her adventures…

He shook his head, trying hard not to let himself be caught crying by any of those snakes again. He'd rather not hear Pythor poke fun at him again.

There was a gentle hum of electricity while a hologram of a Fang Blade hovered in front of the screen.

Nya, a short-haired teen had a hand on her chin in thought while she stared at it. Right beside her was Jay, the blue ninja of lightning, having his gaze lovingly upon her. He had to admit, she looked so cute when she concentrated like that. His eyes flicked back and forth between Nya and the holographic Fang Blade.

"Though they got the first one, there are three more and we just need one to stop Pythor." Nya pointed out, "They have the map and we don't so the question remains: how are we gonna find them first?"

The other three ninja looked from her back up to the hologram. Jay, however still had his eyes on her.

"I still can't get over the fact that you were the mysterious Samurai." Jay babbled, still feeling giddy about the whole thing. She looked over at him with a proud smirk and he gave a soft sigh. "Is anyone else blown away like I am?"

"We're over that. Can we move on?" Kai snapped.

"Oh, whoop whoop whoop whew. Someone's a little hot under the collar." Jay put his hands on his his and leaned in, teasing the spiky porcupine.

"It appears his impatience is because he has not found inner peace and unlocked his full potential like you or I have, Jay." Zane stepped forward with his short explanation.

"Great observation, Mr. Roboto, but Cole hasn't found it either." Kai sneered, glaring at the ice ninja.

While the other three were having a rather short spat, Cole still had his eyes on the Fang Blade. He swears he's seen it before. It was right there on the tip of his tongue. What was it? What was it?

"I got it!" Cole gasped.

"You've unlocked it?!" Kai yelled in surprise, "Oh, why am I the only one!?"

"What?" Cole sounded confused for a moment before he shook his head, "No, I figured out where I recognized the Fang Blade from. I have a picture of it."

"Oh, haha, is that it? Heh. Good." Kai sighed in relief while the Master of Earth zoomed out of the bridge.

Cole sped right through the hall and into their shared room, sliding on his knees to his bunk and halting just in time to look under and reach, grabbing a box and pulling it out. He snatched the lid right off and pulled out a photo album. He shoved the box right back precariously and held onto the photo album right before he zoomed right back to the bridge.

"I got it!" He called, letting the album slap right on the table's surface and opening up to the page where the picture was.

Jay snatched the photo album from him and took a look right at it.

"That's it!" The Lightning Ninja gasped.

"Back where I grew up, there's this pretty big competition where every year the winner gets the Blade Cup." Cole explained with a sense of pride while they stared at the photo before looking up to him, "My dad's won it multiple times."

"You never told us your dad was an accomplished athlete. What sport?" Zane asked, sparking a curiosity.

"Oh, h- he's a, uh… a blacksmith." Cole mumbled, breaking away from their stares.

"Nothing wrong with that. My father's a blacksmith, too." Kai added, "But I never heard of a competition—"

"That's because he's not a blacksmith blacksmith." Cole cut him off, standing up and heading over to Jay. "He's a… Royal Blacksmith."

He flipped the page right to the next one. A man stood in the photo, smiling brightly while standing with the trophy in his arms underneath the spotlight. A curved mustache rested underneath his nose while his hair was equally as neat as his outfit. Though, the others could finally guess where Cole got those bushy eyebrows from. The guys couldn't help but snicker at the picture of the man.

"That's your dad?" Jay jabbed, amused at the picture. The contrast between the two had to be the funniest thing on the planet to him.

"But how did the Fang Blade become a trophy?" Kai asked.

"Well, supposedly, the Blade Cup was made by this guy who collected priceless artifacts." Everyone turned at his explanation. "I think his name was Dutch… no, Clutch! Clutch Powers! Anyway, it gets passed on to each year's winner." Cole passed by them as he went on.

"Who has it now?" Zane inquired.

"I don't know." Cole admitted, "I haven't talked to my father in years."

"Well then, we'll call him up." Kai suggested.

"You can't!" Cole blurted right out, surprising the others quite a bit, even making Jay fumble the photo album for a moment before he slapped it down onto the table. He sighed and turned from them, heading to the wheel and grasping the handles. "He.. thinks I'm in Ninjago City training at the Marty Oppenheimer School of Performing Arts." He groaned. "He wanted me to follow in his footsteps but when I couldn't sing or dance, well I… I ran away." He admitted. "When he sees I can't dance, he'll know I've been lying in all the letters I've been sending him."

"He doesn't know you're a ninja?" Zane assessed in bewilderment.

Cole let go of the wheel and made a sharp turn at him. "What? You gonna crack some joke that my old man wears a tutu?"

"No," Kai shook his head, setting a hand on his shoulder, "but if we're going to have any chance at getting that Fang Blade before they do, we better get our own act in tune."

Somewhere far away, in another realm entirely, there were two men climbing up the side of the mountain. The four armed half-Oni grunted as he pulled himself up. The long winter bearded man tried to follow but ended up slipping. He was caught by his older brother who reached back down to him and proceeded to pull him up.

Garmadon let go of his hand and gave a hum when he looked into the distance.

"I had hoped we would've reached the summit before the moon had risen," Garmadon scrunched his eyebrows together, still partially upset at his brother passing out earlier in their travel so suddenly, but couldn't honestly fault him for it. "The Craglings never miss a midnight snack." He forewarned as if he's seen what they were capable of and he has. Despite his natural abilities, he knew better to stay away than to face an entire pack of them by himself unless it came down to it.

"Craglings? What is this place? There's no such thing in Ninjago." Wu sounded bewildered, spinning around to see if any of these things were even around.

"They're a hoard unlike any you've seen. Not all places exist to be found, brother." He remarked. "Sometimes, one much revel in the shadows to truly see the light."

Sounds of rumbles interrupted their stride as rocks proceeded to roll in their way. The stones pulled themselves together, forming into a massive boulder-built, toothy body. A pair of bright yellow-orange eyes flared to life and stared directly at the shorter pair of brothers before them. A guttural growl came out as it reached its hands to them. Garmadon and Wu both backed up as more of these stone creatures formed. Wu could guess that these must be the Craglings that his brother was talking about just moments ago.

The Craglings lumbered towards them, closing in on them. Garmadon let out a cry, baring his teeth back at them as he pulled out a quartet of katanas. He leaped right ahead before smacking the ground hard, making it quake which caused the Craglings to fall backwards. Wu followed after his older brother, pulling out a manriki and spinning it with a high velocity above his head.

The duo sped ahead. Garmadon swung hard with all his might in the thin midsections of the Craglings before him, making them fall apart. Wu swung the sharp weight at the end of his chain at another coming up to him, running right by as it crumbled.

Just as they sped through the group of rock monsters to go further up the summit, Wu felt a massive stone hand grab him, squeezing him in between its massive digits. The Cragling pulled him high in the air only to slam him right down on his back. Wu gasped and let out a yell in surprise when it did so. His eyes widened in fear as the stone monster opened up his maw, intending on swallowing him.

"Watch out, brother!" Garmadon called.

The Cragling looked up in time to see a four-armed half Oni man speeding right up to them. Garmadon leaped right up and with a mighty swing, he destroyed the Cragling that captured his younger brother.

"Thanks," Wu sighed in relief, getting right up to follow Garmadon.

They didn't make it far when more Craglings showed up and surrounded them.

"Just like old times?" Wu hinted at their old adventures together with a slight grin as he went into a fighting position.

"Just like old times," Garmadon agreed as stood back to back with his brother and steadied the swords in his hands.

"Ninja, go!" They cried out and they spun into a pair of Spinjitzu tornadoes, both enhanced with their respective elements as their fight went on.

As the Bounty flew closer and closer to his hometown, Cole couldn't get his mind to stop for a moment.

He was nervous. Not about the mission mind you, but everything else that had to come with it. The mission itself should — keyword: should — be easy enough. They go undercover as a dance troupe, get close enough to the Blade Cup that had the Fang Blade and get the heck out of there. However there was one thing he needed to do in order to even do that.

Face his father.

Everything else should work out fine but seeing his father in person was anything but a cake walk.

He tightened his grip on the brush in hand before loosening his hold, trying hard not to grip it too hard and snap it in half. He only did have a handful of brushes left and he'd rather not feel splinters in his palm again.

The Master of Earth took a deep breath in, holding it for a moment before sighing softly. If there was anything he was good at aside from knowing when to throw punches, it was his sketches. Well, he was more decent at them and it was considered more of a hobby than anything. Gently, he let himself guide his hand while his eyes followed. Thin, gentle lines flitted around the parchment. He was so zoned in, he didn't even notice when a certain blue bird decided to flutter into the room.

He only did notice him when he asked, "Ooh, what you drawing there?"

Jay's voice broke his concentration and he was forced to pulled himself back into the moment, although not without taking notice what he'd drawn.

"I don't know. Looks like something I've dreamed up though." Cole answered.

"Uh huh and I suppose that figure in the background is some lady you dreamed up too? Didn't know that was possible with that clump of dirt you call a brain." Jay gave a mild chuckle at the jab.

Cole just sighed in annoyance. "What do you want, Jay? You're not here for nothing."

"Well, the guys forced me to tell ya that we're almost right above your home. Quaint little town, I gotta say. Though you should've emphasized how little it was since it makes sense that you wanted out into the big world." Jay noted. "Anyways, we should get going soon."

"Yeah, I'll meet you guys up soon. Just give me a minute, will ya?" Cole assured.

"Don't take too long now. We can't lose out on the Fang Blade again." Jay reminded, heading right out.

Cole gave a hum while his eyes remained on the page for a moment. It really did look like his dream… or rather close to it since it was still blurry in his mind.

There was the same long haired figure in the background and it looked to have its head turned into some three-fourths profile and right where the eye would be, it was some blue-green color. At least he thought it was blue-green. What was off about that was the fact that despite the rest of the dream feeling like it was kinda gray and flat, the turquoise color was the only thing that stood out. It was… weird.

Cole shook his head and got up, leaving his sketchbook precariously on his bunk. He had a mission to do. There was no way a dream was distracting him. Besides, he still had other things to worry about.

He still wasn't sure he'd even face his father, but he supposed it was a matter of time before he'd see him again.

'Just find out who has the Blade Cup, grab it, get the heck out of town,' He reminded himself. 'Just go through with this and I'd never have to see him again. I mean, how hard could it be?'

For reasons unknown, all he could get was a sense of dread the moment he thought about that question.

Author's Note: Over five thousand words in this chapter, most of it is following The Royal Blacksmiths episode and one part just had to be Cole in a shower.

Did I have to type that? Maybe not, but then you'd never know that I'll never type another shower moment again and we wouldn't get the smaller details we would see in a normal circumstance. Also who doesn't like seeing the main OG four in a steamy shower? X3.

Anyways, back to this, I hope you guys did enjoy the chapter. If you did, please let me know through reviews/faves/etc.

Have a nice December. I'll see you guys when I finish Chapter 2.