Natedogx15

When Sensei Wu opens the door, he doesn't see anyone using the training grounds. In fact, it looks like no one's touched them in a while. Cobwebs and dust cover all the machines.

Still, Sensei Wu can hear the boys' muffled voices as they shout.

"Zane! Why are you wasting your special attack on me? You have to save it!" Jay angrily shouts at Zane as Sensei Wu keeps looking around.

"We've almost got them, guys!" Adrien shouts urgently as Sensei walks out to the courtyard to look around more.

He heads past all the equipment, toward the monastery's living room. As he does, he hears the voices getting louder.

"Fantastic! I'm out of lives!" Jay announces in frustration before Sensei Wu opens the doors and sees all five boys playing a video game based on themselves on the large TV in the corner of the room.

Around them are the four golden weapons, lying unceremoniously on the floor, with old pizza and pizza boxes around them and the boys.

"But the lesson lives on. And I am getting the hang of it." Zane says in a surprisingly enthusiastic tone, all five are unaware of Sensei Wu's presence.

"Nah. It's just that the rest of them stink. And not the good kind either." Plagg says, lounging on Zane's shoulder, the boy still seemingly unable to hear or see him.

Make that six.

"Heeyah!" Zane shouts in a slightly strained voice.

Sensei Wu silently and swiftly maneuvers around them before anyone can notice.

"Okay, now!" Cole shouts as they all prepare to attack together.

But as they attack, the TV suddenly goes off, causing cries of shock and outrage.

"It took us three hours to get there!" Cole complains as the group looks at Sensei Wu angrily, except Zane.

The white ninja looks more shocked than anything else.

"Why would you do that? Why?" Jay demands as Sensei Wu looks unamused.

"Just because Lord Garmadon escaped through a vortex doesn't mean he won't return one day for the Golden Weapons of Spinjitzu!" Sensei Wu angrily snaps at the group for their ease.

Surprisingly, it's Zane who's the first to speak against his teacher.

"But Sensei Wu. Ever since he's been gone, Ninjago has known nothing but peace." Zane argues while waving an arm.

"We haven't even seen Hawkmoth after the fight in the forest." Adrien pipes up before reaching for one of the pizzas on the floor.

"Yeah. Peace is boring. There's no one to save. There's nothing to do." Jay pipes in with an annoyed expression, obviously not happy with the boredom.

"We can train tomorrow." Cole agrees as he lies on the room's tantami mat floor, using his hands as a pillow.

"Never put off until tomorrow what can be done today." Sensei Wu advises the five, but they don't seem to take him seriously.

Cole even picks up a floor pizza with a grin while looking at Sensei Wu.

"Well, I was going to eat this pizza tomorrow. So, if that's the case." He says before preparing to take a bite.

Sensei Wu immediately kicks it away, causing Cole to cry out in pain, before snapping at the tall teen.

"No pizza for you!" He screams as he spins back to his original place while the teens look at him in shock.

"In order to reach your full potential, you must train." He snaps at them in a hurried, angry tone before pointing out the door.

"Uh, remember when we did a little thing called the Tornado of Creation?" Kai pipes in with an arrogant smirk, causing Sensei Wu to turn to him.

"I thought that was pretty insane." He says while pumping a fist, remembering the rush and power he felt when they did that.

Sensei Wu sighs at the arrogance and looks at the state of his students. Most of the drive seems to evaporate from them during the time of peace. Even Adrien, who excitedly started training at the chance to learn Spinjitzu, seems to be infected by the others' laziness and his newfound freedom.

Since coming to the monastery, Adrien hasn't had to maintain his father's strict rules. And he's been able to hang out with the others every day. Something he's indulged in greatly. And it's not like Plagg has really tried to keep him in line either, hence why he's even more annoyed.

"You five have merely scratched the surface of your full potential." Sensei Wu begins as all five boys relax on the comfortable floor for his speech.

"There are still so many secrets you have yet to unlock." Despite their teacher talking, most of the boys don't really seem to be listening that intently. The ones paying the most attention seem to be Zane and Adrien.

"You haven't even begun to tap into what powers your golden weapons hold." Sensei Wu adds, glaring at the Sword of Fire.

More accurately, how it's being treated. Because there's a slice of pizza resting on it.

As Sensei Wu glares at it. Cole gets an idea and smirks.

He then grabs his scythe and gets up to smirk at Sensei Wu.

"You wanna talk about secret powers. Check this out." Cole tells Sensei Wu as he balances the TV's power cord on the scythe, then plugs it back into its socket.

The TV comes back on, and the boys quickly grab their controllers again to finish the game, which paused on its own, luckily for them.

Sensei Wu strokes his beard in frustration. Zane sees this and quickly sets his controller down to talk to him.

"Don't worry, master. We will be ready when Lord Garmadon returns." Zane promises Sensei Wu before Nya and Tikki rush in, expressions panicked.

"Guys!" Nya huffs as she tries to catch her breath.

"Lord Garmadon!" She lets out.

Everyone turns to her and Tikki at that.

"He's returned!" Nya shouts anxiously as Tikki nods.

"He's attacking Jamanakai Village right now!" Tikki adds anxiously, causing everyone to jump and move around in a panicked frenzy.

In their frenzy, Jay and Kai trip over each other while Zane gets his foot caught on a wire. He jumps around, but Cole accidentally runs into them, and they both fall. Plagg is screaming and zipping around so fast that Adrien can't catch him. The former model ends up sliding on a pizza slice and crashing his face into a pizza box.

Sensei Wu facepalms at this while Nya and Tikki look at them with expressions that mix anger and disappointment. The two then move to help the boys as they stand up. Nya walks toward Jay as the others run past her, holding the Nunchucks of Lightning to the blue ninja.

"Uh, th-thanks." Jay stutters out before Nya shouts in his face.

"We have to hurry!" Nya snaps at him urgently.

"Okay!" Jay shouts in agreement before throwing his hood on and running.

Meanwhile, Tikki helps wipe the pizza off Adrien's face. As she does, Plagg gasps.

"My camembert pizza!" He shouts in anguish, as if a dear friend is lost.

"Knock it off, Stinky Sock!" Tikki snaps, causing Plagg to pout.

"What!?" He whines.

"This is serious. So get in gear!" Tikki says while shaking Plagg.

"Plagg! Claws in!" Adrien saves his Kwami by dragging him into the ring and transforming before chasing after the others.

As the boys run, Nya and Tikki look at each other before nodding.

"Tikki, spots on." Nya commands, causing Tikki to fly into her earrings.

Red and black magic swirls around Nya's form before bursting away from her in an explosion, revealing that she's now wearing an outfit similar to Marinette's when she was Ladybug. However, it's far different.

Nya is now wearing a maroon outfit similar to the ninja robes her brother and the other ninja wear. Wrapped around her waist is a black sash. She also has black wrappings around her wrists that match the black sleeveless gloves. She wears black boots and has black spots running vertically along her chest, similar to how the bird symbols did on her dress. But instead of a hood like the other ninja, she wears a long scarf around her neck that covers her lower face, while a maroon domino mask with black spots covers the upper part of her face. Her hair even grew slightly longer.

Nya is about to run after the boys but pauses, taking a moment to look at her hands with an uncertain expression.

"Only time will tell if you're ready." Sensei Wu advises Nya, causing her to turn to him.

Like Adrien, Nya had been training, too. She didn't want to be helpless like last time. However, unlike Adrien, she's kept up with the training. But she has slowed down a bit from when she first started. But the thought of putting her new skills to the test against the person who kidnapped her causes her to worry about whether she's ready.

Sensei Wu gives the girl a nod, as if telling her to keep going. Seeing this, Nya gives her own nod before running off.

-------------------

The boys are now rushing down one of the monastery's stairwells, toward the pen where they keep their dragons. As soon as they reach the bottom, the gates releasing the dragons to the air from each pen open. The first one with Flame smacking Zane in the head as it lowers.

The others run past Zane as he pushes the gate off him, and Cole jumps on Rocky, but drops the Scythe of Quakes in the process. The ninja looks down at his lost weapon in panic as Jay runs into Wisp's pen, trying to springboard off his tail and onto the saddle with a kung-fu noise. Unfortunately, he overshoots it and slams into Wisp's snout before hitting the ground with a resounding thud.

Off to the side, Sensei Wu shakes his head at how out of practice the boys are.

Cat Noir tries to run to help his friend. But he slips on some of the ice Shard produced in his haste. Meanwhile, Kai and Nya are checking Flame's saddle. Well, it's more like Kai is while also trying to prevent Nya from helping.

"I can help," Nya tells her brother in an annoyed tone as he keeps getting in her way.

"Sorry, sis," Kai says before using Flame's wing to jump on his saddle.

"Where we go, danger follows," Kai tells his sister while waving his arm dramatically.

"That means this is a job for the ones who fought Garmadon," Kai says sternly before realizing Flame's rein is out of reach.

He looks toward Nya awkwardly, blushing under his mask as his eyes convey his embarrassment.

"Uh, a little help." Kai requests.

Nya gives her brother a flat look before grabbing the rein. As she does, she shakes her head at her brother's moment.

The ninja are soon all ready and take off one by one. As they do, Sensei Wu watches them go alone, staring in worry. The man is growing more unsure about whether they're all ready to face his brother every second.

"In time, they'll reach their full potential. Maybe a long time. But in time." He sighs as they fly off.

-------------------

Meanwhile, in the air, Kai takes point, and the others follow in a diamond formation.

"Just like old times, aye, Rocky?" Cole asks while affectionately petting his dragon's head.

"You guys believe what Sensei said about unlocking our full potential?" Kai suddenly questions, now that they're alone.

Jay flies next to Kai and looks at the red ninja as he speaks.

"He may be on to something."

Kai turns to Jay as the blue ninja pulls out his nunchucks.

"I mean, ever since we got these golden weapons, it's not like we've ever had to use them. I wonder what they do?" Jay points out while looking at his weapon and trying to remember a time he got to use it seriously.

Then Zane flies next to Jay and looks at the two.

"I, for one, look forward to the future. If there is more for us to accomplish, let it be." Zane tells the two.

But Kai isn't focused on his words. He's focused on the other passenger riding on Shard.

"Nya! I told you to stay at the monastery!" Kai angrily shouts at his sister, who's sitting behind Zane.

"I can fight too, now, Kai! I've been getting training to use my Miraculous!" Nya calls back to her brother as she continues riding on Shard.

"It's too dangerous! This is Lord Garmadon we're talking about!" Kai shouts at his sister before Zane flies next to Shard.

"I don't know about that. I'm pretty excited about fighting Lord Garmadon. I'm looking forward to trying out some new Spinjitzu moves." Cole says before spinning on Rocky's saddle.

"Could be the perfect opportunity," Cole states as he lands back down.

"Plus, he could tell us where Hawkmoth is. He has to know since they worked together, right?" Cat Noir pipes up from behind Jay.

The blue ninja doesn't seem happy about Nya riding with Zane.

"Oh yeah, did you ever come up with a hero name. Like I suggested?" Cat Noir calls over to Nya.

"Yeah, I have one. But I still don't understand why I need one. It's not like anyone but you has one." Nya calls over to the cat.

"That's because they're obviously ninja. A hero's name is supposed to strike fear into evil and let them know who they're dealing with. The cooler the name, the better the impact." Cat Noir calls back to her.

"Oh, like your name strikes fear in anyone." Kai rolls his eyes at that.

A name that basically means black cat isn't that scary to him.

"Hey, black cats are bad luck." Cat Noir yells at Kai while waving his fist in mock anger.

"Well, hopefully your bad luck doesn't cause us to lose." Cole fires back with a grin under his mask.

Hearing his friend getting dogged on, Jay chuckles before looking forward.

"Race ya there!" Jay says before flipping his rein and making Wisp go faster.

Their formation soon breaks apart at his declaration, and it becomes an actual race to see who can reach the village Garmadon is attacking first as they fly over forests and mountains. Their positions constantly shift, and they even pull some tricks. But it's Kai who spots the village first.

"Jamanakai Village." He mutters somewhat forbodingly as he stares at the village from a break in the clouds.

It seems to be a village made atop a snowy mountain, with large rocks surrounding it like walls.

Kai and Jay look at each other for a moment before Kai grins under his mask.

"First one there wins!" He calls after the others before having Flame dive for the village.

The others quickly follow after Kai, and all four charge toward the village without a hint of stopping. No matter how close to the ground they got, none of them slowed down for a second. Even Cat Noir and Nya seem to get into it. None of the dragons tries to slow down either.

Soon, there's a resounding crash as all four dragons slam themselves near the front gate of the village. And in the next second, Kai erupts in a cheer.

"Haha, I was first!" He laughs victoriously as he is now standing off Flame and on solid ground.

"No, no one was faster than us!" Jay quickly argues next to Cat Noir.

"Yeah. We definitely made it before you." Cat Noir backs his friend up while pointing a thumb at himself.

"Haha, my feet were down before yours!" Cole shouts while pointing at his feet.

"You were all disillusioned. It was clearly us." Zane says as he and Nya stand next to Cole.

"Yeah. We slid down Shard quicker than any of you could get off yours!" Nya shouts competitively.

Their argument gets cut short when they hear the villagers screaming. They quickly run toward the gate and see villagers running around like headless chickens. They're running all over the village or straight into their houses with speed that would make track stars jealous. As they run, a giant humanoid shadow with raised arms rises on the rock behind the village's largest building.

The heroes all run through the gate and prepare their weapons for battle, Nya taking her yo-yo connected to her sash off. As they do, the shadow seems to move, and ominous laughter accompanies it. The laughter causes everyone to tense.

"Stay sharp, fellas. Whatever happens, never let your guard down." Kai warns his friends, remembering all the tricks Garmadon could pull.

No one says anything. Not even Cat Noir or Jay. All they do is listen as the echoey, ominous laughter grows closer. Cat Noir, Kai, and Cole's hands tighten on their weapons while Nya and Jay spin theirs faster, and Zane is getting ready to throw his at a moment's notice. Nervous sweat builds on them all as the shadow grows smaller, signaling Garmadon is growing closer.

"Mhahahahahaha!" The person laughing finally appears, the echoing with their laughter stops to reveal a young, definitely not Lord Garmadon voice.

"It is I, Lloyd Garmadon!" Screams a, now, childish voice as the person turns the corner.

The voice belongs to a young boy with light skin and green eyes. Someone who doesn't even look like he's ten years old. He's barely as tall as the first section of the dragon-themed tower water fountain he walks around. He's dressed in a black hoodie with a green five on the upper-left part of his chest, which covers his hair, and matching black pants. Around his waist is a purplish blue sash. A noteworthy thing about him is that he seems to have painted ribs on the front of his hoodie.

The boy waves his arms as he walks around the corner of the fountain, a serious expression on his face. He then jumps on the first part of the fountain and glares at everything around him.

"I demand all the candy in town. Or else!" Lloyd shouts while waving a fist.

The heroes stare at the child in shock. All they can do is put their weapons away and continue to stare at the child as he tries to be menacing.

"Lloyd Garmadon?" Jay voices their confusion.

"I thought we were going to fight Lloyd Garmadon." He tells the others as she looks at his group.

"It's his son," Cole adds in astonishment before sighing in irritation.

"Looks like he escaped his boarding school for bad boys again," Cole mutters while shaking his head.

"So, much for your hero debut." Cat Noir jokes at Nya.

Nya sighs as she realizes she wasted everyone's time. Cole then pushes past the group and walks toward Lloyd.

"And to think we could have been doing Spinjitzu already." Cole sighs as he punches the air for emphasis.

The group follows Cole toward Lloyd as villagers come out of their houses and also walk toward the fountain. Seeing all the people beginning to surround him, Lloyd seems to lose his nerve and backs away slightly until he feels his legs leaning on the next section of the fountain.

"Uh, uh, give me all your candy. Or else I'll release the Serpentine on you." Lloyd threatens nervously as he tries to regain his bravado.

But all he gets for his threats are boos and jeers from the townsfolk. None of them seems scared anymore, now that they realize it was a false alarm.

The heroes shake their heads as they watch things escalate and continue walking toward Lloyd as the child pulls a can with snake outlines from his hoodie pocket and smirks. The boy quickly unscrews it and aims it at the villagers.

Dozens of fake snakes shoot out of it at the crowd, and Lloyd smiles in victory. He soon loses it when a villager throws a vegetable at him.

"N-no wait!" Lloyd shouts in panic as he starts to lose his composure again.

"I asked for candy! Not vegetables! I hate vegetables!" Lloyd shouts, desperately throwing a lid at the villagers as they continue shouting at him.

The villagers still aren't intimidated. In fact, they take after the one who threw something at Lloyd and begin throwing old fruit and vegetables at him, causing Lloyd to panic as he gets covered in a pile of it all.

Kai shakes his head before picking up one of the fake snakes and stretching it out.

"He's going to have to do better than use an old bedtime story to scare people," Kai mutters before launching the snake away.

"The Serpentine are real, Kai. They are not something to joke about." Zane warns Kai sternly.

"Serpentine, real? We're talking about the ancient race of snake people who once ruled Ninjago and were supposedly locked underground." Kai says in disbelief, causing the others to look at him.

"Sealed in five different tombs to separate the warring tribes and ensure they don't unify to exact their revenge upon those who put them there." Jay nervously points out the rest of the legend to Kai.

But Kai still doesn't seem impressed with the others' belief in the Serpentine.

"It was an old wives' tale to teach kids not to poke their noses where they don't belong," Kai argues, annoyed at their behavior.

"Don't you think it's a little suspicious how no one's ever found one of their tombs?" Kai demands while pointing at the others.

"That's because you'd be a fool to look for one," Cole tells Kai as Cat Noir nods.

"Yeah. Plus, we didn't know about the Miraculous and the Underworld until we had to fight Hawkmoth and Lord Garmadon. I'd really rather not have to fight the Serpentine." Cat Noir voices, raising his ring for emphasis.

"He's right, Kai. The Serpentine could be real." Nya agrees with the other boys, causing Kai to roll his eyes.

"If there was anything I hated more than dragons, it was snakes, rubber or not," Cole tells the group as they walk toward Lloyd while the villagers continue throwing stuff at him.

"Does that mean we should get you a pet snake to help you get over that fear too?" Cat Noir jokes, remembering seeing Cole be so affectionate to Rocky.

"Oh, shut up." Cole snaps at Cat Noir, causing Jay to laugh as they grab Lloyd off the fountain.

"Don't worry, folks, we'll take care of this. Nothing to see here." Cole tells the villagers as Lloyd yells for them to put him down.

The ninja carry Lloyd by one of his limbs while Cat Noir and Nya stand by the sides of the group. Lloyd keeps screaming indignantly as the group passes various villagers, who are returning to what they were doing before the false alarm.

"I'll give you to the count of three to put me down!" Lloyd screams after making some threats.

"One," Lloyd says as the group passes a corner.

"Two." The villagers watch with some anticipation of what they might do.

"What are we supposed to do? Spank him?" Kai cuts Lloyd off to question the group.

"Two and a half!" Lloyd shouts angrily because his plan isn't working.

-------------------

Lloyd now finds himself hanging from a baby-shaped sign that says 'Top Babies' in the middle, staring down at the heroes and villagers in embarrassment and anger. He screams in frustration as he tries his best to pull himself off but can't seem to unhook himself.

"You just made me your nemesis! Mark my words! You'll pay for this!" He screams at the heroes as everyone laughs at his misfortune.

Zane even takes it a step further by going to a vendor to buy all the candy they have on display and handing it out to his friends.

"Next time, try paying for your candy," Cole tells the boy as the heroes all smile up at him while holding a sucker.

Although Cat Noir looks somewhat guilty as he holds some cotton candy.

"Crime doesn't pay, muchacho. You can take that to the bank." Kai says while pointing up at Lloyd and holding a lollipop.

Jay quickly takes bites of his own cotton candy and makes noises of enjoyment.

"Mmmm, cotton candy," Jay says before looking up at Lloyd with a smirk.

Lloyd seethes at them from his position and tries harder to dislodge himself.

However, none of his struggles help, and he ends up deflated in defeat.

-------------------

Not long after, the heroes return to their dragons. As they walk, Cat Noir can't help but voice his opinion.

"Don't you think it was a little harsh to leave him like that? I mean, it's not like he was really hurting anyone." Cat Noir points out as they're leaving the gate.

"He'll be fine. Kids get embarrassed all the time." Jay waves his friend off easily.

"Besides, it'll teach him not to keep causing trouble and try to follow in his father's footsteps," Cole adds.

"I guess..." Cat Noir says uncertainly, looking back toward the village.

"Don't worry. I embarrassed Kai a lot when we were kids." Nya nudges Cat Noir, trying to put him at ease and remembering all the pranks she played on her brother.

"And I got back at you!" Kai calls out as he heads toward Flame.

He jumps toward his saddle. But a scroll falls out of Flame's satchel when Kai uses it as a footstool. Zane sees it and quickly goes to pick it up as Kai lands back down next to him. When he sees what's in Zane's hand, he can't help but grow confused.

"Huh, I don't remember putting this here." He utters as he takes the scroll from Zane.

Zane looks toward Kai's bag and realizes an important detail.

"That's Sensei's bag," Zane informs him while pointing toward the satchel.

Kai looks at Zane in shock as the white ninja continues.

"You must have accidentally took it in the rush," Zane explains before Kai looks back at the scroll.

Kai opens the scroll as the others move toward them.

"What is it?" Jay asks curiously as Kai reads.

"It's a scroll, Windbag." Kai rolls his eyes at Jay's question.

"I know it's a scroll, but what does it say?" Jay snaps in annoyance before pushing Kai so he can see what's on it too.

"It's written in chicken scratch," Jay says angrily as he looks at the unfamiliar writing.

Zane walks to Kai's other side and takes a look at the scroll's contents for himself.

"Not chicken scratch." He informs Jay upon recognizing the writing.

"The ancient language of our ancestors!" Zane informs everyone, causing Cat Noir's eyes to widen.

"Oh, hey! I know how to read that." He calls out as he rushes over.

"You do?" Kai questions.

"Yeah. My father had me learn it." He explains, pushing Jay slightly out of the way to get a better look at the scroll.

"Can you read it?" Kai questions, causing Cat Noir to make a so-so motion.

"I can probably get most of it. It's a hard language to learn, especially since no one uses it anymore." Cat Noir explains, causing Zane to nod.

"Yes. I can barely read it as well." Zane agrees with Cat Noir.

"Let's see." Cat Noir says, taking the scroll from Kai while Zane pushes Kai out of the way so they can both read.

"This symbol means prophecy," Zane says, pointing at a specific symbol, causing Cat Noir to nod.

"Prophecy?" Jay questions.

"It means it tells the future," Kai explains, causing Jay to laugh awkwardly.

"Of course. I knew that." Jay promises, glad his hood is covering his face.

"One ninja... will rise above the others..." Cat Noir voices as he reads, eyes squinting as he struggles to read it.

"And... become the Green Ninja," Zane adds.

With the symbols, there's an image of the four colorful ninjas surrounding a green ninja.

"The ninja destined... to defeat the dark lord." Zane finishes, but Cat Noir tilts his head in uncertainty.

"Are you sure that's defeat? It looks a bit like destroy. Or maybe banish." Cat Noir questions, but he's ignored in favor of the others pushing to take a look.

"Oh, look, a picture!" Jay says excitedly as the group stares at the scroll.

"Dark lord?" Cole questions, squinting his eyes for a moment.

They then widen in realization.

"Hold on. Do you think it means Lord Garmadon?" Cole asks in surprise, causing everyone else's eyes to widen.

Kai takes the scroll back and looks at it with stern eyes as he says.

"Wait a minute. Is that us?" Kai questions as he looks at the picture.

"Is anyone else thinking what I'm thinking?" Kai questions, looking to the group.

Specifically, the other ninjas.

"Like how good I'm going to look in green?" Jay asks with an excited grin under his mask as he imagines himself as the prophesied ninja.

"Isn't it obvious I'm going to be the Green Ninja?" Kai demands, causing Jay to scoff.

"The color obviously suits me!" Jay quickly fires back before Zane cuts in.

"Technically, I am the best." Zane brags in a calm but fierce tone before Cole steps in front of them all.

"Stop it!" He shouts at the three while raising his arms.

"Remember why Sensei brought us together in the first place," Cole tells them as he tries to calm the atmosphere.

"We're a team." He adds while pumping his fist.

"We weren't meant to see this and probably for good reason," Cole explains to the group as Kai hands him the scroll.

Cole pockets the scroll without looking away from the ninja.

"He's right. I doubt Sensei Wu will be happy if he finds out we saw this." Nya adds, Cat Noir nodding with her but looking just as curious as Jay, Kai, and Zane.

"Let's head back home. We have training to do." Cole tells the group before walking toward Rocky, and the others quickly do the same with their own dragons.

"It's about time I added some more finesse to my routine," Jay says as he and Cat Noir get on Wisp.

"Well, I could use some exercise," Zane notes while getting on Shard.

"Yeah. I've got to work on some new moves." Cole agrees before his stomach rumbles.

"But first, some cake," Cole says before he and Rocky take off.

The others watch him go, and Nya shakes her head from her position on Flame.

"He's going to go see Marinette's family again, isn't he?" She asks in a deadpan manner, causing her brother to nod.

"Well, they do make some good cake." Kai points out, remembering how good the last cake Cole brought back for them was.

Cat Noir hears them from behind Jay and gains an unhappy, conflicted expression as he watches Cole go. It seems he still doesn't know how to feel about Marinette's connection to the team, even though she's no longer near him.

Jay, sensing his friend's discomfort, looks back at him with a comforting smile under his hood.

"Hey, relax. Marinette isn't on the team anymore. You won't have to deal with her except for when Cole brings back her family's sweets." Jay promises his friend in a conciliatory voice, causing Cat Noir to sigh.

"You're right." He says before smiling.

"And their food is good." He can't help but agree.

"Yeah, it is. And it's nice they're selling stuff based on our dragons and us." Jay says as the rest of the group finally takes flight.

As they fly, Kai can't help but silently think.

"Could I be the Green Ninja?"

-------------------

Meanwhile, Cole and Rocky are flying quickly toward Ninjago City.

"I don't know about you, Rocky Boy. But I'm starving for some sweets." Cole tells his dragon, causing Rocky to let out a small roar, as if he's agreeing.

It doesn't take them too long to reach the city. And when they do, they immediately land in the street in front of the Dupain-Cheng family's bakery, causing the line of people waiting to jump from Rocky's sudden impact.

"No need to be alarmed, folks. Just a routine cake run." Cole promises the crowd as he gets off Rocky and enters the store.

Since everything with Lord Garmadon, the store has become more popular despite the controversy with Marinette. There are videos of Cole and Rocky first dropping Marinette off at the bakery and about their visits afterward all over the internet. It caused Tom and Sabine to give him and the other heroes VIP treatment.

Inside the bakery, Cole walks past the rest of the line and finds Marinette at the counter, her hair in a messy single bun, and she's wearing a white apron instead of her usual hoodie.

"Hey, Cole." She greets her friend with a slight smile, causing Cole to grin under his mask.

"Hey. Business is as good as usual." He notes as he looks at the line of people, who stare at the two teens.

"Yep. It helps that you keep bringing Rocky." She says with a slight laugh as she sees people taking pictures and even getting close to the dragon, only for Rocky to blow dirt in their faces and scare them off.

One guy, a man in his early-to-mid twenties with light skin, cyan eyes, and pink-tipped blond hair under a black, turned-back baseball cap with sunglasses resting on it, tries to get on the dragon while streaming on his phone. His action causes Rocky to smack him off with his tail and toss him in a dumpster.

Marinette winces at that but fights the urge to laugh. She quickly pushes it down and looks at the ninja in front of her.

"So, what do you want this time?" She asks.

"What's the freshest thing?" Cole asks excitedly.

"We just finished a batch of Rocky Eclairs," Marinette says as Tom comes in with said sweet.

They almost look like normal chocolate eclairs. However, the face is shaped distinctly like Rocky's head. There are even nuts running along the chocolate to act as Rocky's scales.

"Oh, sweet. Rocky is going to love those." Cole says with an excited grin as his mouth waters at the sight and smell of the sweets.

"Take as much as you'd like," Tom says with a welcoming smile, leaning the tray toward Cole.

"Awesome. Thanks." Cole says before grabbing one and pulling his mask up slightly to take a bite.

"Careful!" Marinette calls before Cole starts fanning his tongue.

"Ow, hot, hot, hot!" Cole shouts in pain as he accidentally drops his elclair.

Luckily, Marinette catches it in the air and pulls it back, shaking her head.

"I told you they were fresh." She reminds the boy, then feels the store shake slightly.

She looks at the window and sees Rocky staring at her through it, panting, his tongue sticking out like a dog. Marinette smiles before grabbing one of the bags under the desk and filling it with eclairs, setting Cole's on the counter.

She then walks out the door and holds the bag out to Rocky.

"Here you go, boy," Marinette tells him before throwing the bag into Rocky's awaiting mouth.

The dragon happily gobbles up his treat, enjoying the sweet taste. Once done, he licks Marinette affectionately, making her laugh.

"You're welcome, Rocky." She says while petting his snout.

"It feels like he likes coming here more than me," Cole says as he exits the store with his own bag.

"That's probably because we feed him more than you," Marinette tells him with a smile as she continues to pet Rocky's snout.

"Which is unfair. I need all the energy I can get for when Lord Garmadon returns. Especially now that I'm going to be the Green Ninja." He tells her, causing Marinette to raise an eyebrow.

"You want to be a green ninja? I thought brown or orange would fit better." Marinette tells him in confusion.

"No. Not my suit. Well, not entirely. It's a prophecy we found." Cole tries to explain before Marinette cuts him off.

"Then I don't need to know about it. I'm not on your guys' team anymore." She reminds him while covering her ears.

Luckily, Rocky scared away some of the line. So, people can't really hear their conversation.

"Ah, it's not that bad. It's just a story about-" Cole starts before Marinette cuts him off.

"Lalalalala. I'm not listening." She tells him before entering the store.

Cole watches her go and shakes his head. He then takes another bite of his eclair before waving toward the shop. He then gets back on Rocky, and they fly off.

-------------------

Over a day later, the now-free Lloyd Garmadon is traversing through a blizzard in the Glacier Barrens. The Glacier Barrens are a freezing mountainous region near Jamanakai Village. Despite the harsh conditions, Lloyd walks through the snow without much difficulty.

"Stupid ninja." He mutters as he kicks a rock in his path.

"I'll show them who they're dealing with." He promises himself, clenching his hand in frustration and raising it to his face for emphasis.

After that, Lloyd continues to walk through the snow in his black shoes without difficulty. He keeps kicking the rock in his path every time he walks toward it. However, after one last kick, it makes a different noise. Instead of the sound of crushed snow, it makes a dinging sound, as if it hit a hard substance.

Surprised and curious, Lloyd quickly runs toward the sound, where he finds a snake-like flat rock carving almost unobscured by the heavy snow. As if some form of magic is preventing it from being fully covered in snow. Near the lower jaw of the formation, there's a golden snake statue.

Lloyd stares at the carving in shock before looking at the statue. He reaches toward it, and it pushes back like a lever.

A mechanical sound resonates through the air as Lloyd feels the ground under him shake. Surprised, Lloyd is frozen in place as the carving's jaw starts opening and green mist pours from it. The jaw continues to open, and the ground under Lloyd shakes until he eventually falls into the carving's mouth with a scream of fear.

At the end of the fall, Lloyd crashes into an ice cavern. However, it doesn't look like an ordinary cavern. It looks like someone carved it themselves. The cavern almost looks like a giant mouth. And on the ceiling, protruding like a stalactite, is the carving of a snake with multiple ice-made weapons hanging from it. There are even large crevices on the ground.

Lloyd gets up and stares at his new surroundings with surprise.

"You are out of your mind to venture so far away from home, little one." A smooth, relaxed voice hisses like a snake behind Lloyd, causing the boy to turn around.

 What he sees is a horrifying and shocking sight. Appearing from a darker area of the cave is a humanoid snake man that Lloyd immediately recognizes as a Serpentine. The snake man looks like a giant dark blue cobra with yellow swirls inside his cowl and two yellow stripes down the front and back of his body. On his stripes are white markings similar to a spine and small ribs. And instead of legs, he has a giant snake tail as his lower half. But their eyes are the most fascinating. The eyes are dark red, with black swirls around the pupils.

The snake man is holding a golden staff that looks like a pole with a cobra slithering along it until it rests at the top. At the base where the pole connects to the cobra head, there's a glowing dark blue gem.

Lloyd gasps as he backs away in fear, while the snake man's eyes narrow as he moves toward the boy. Lloyd tries to find a way out, but he can't see anything to help him leave as the Serpentine closes in on him.

"Look into my eyes." The Serpentine hisses his command as he widens his eyes to make them more pronounced.

The eyes seem to swirl like a spiral as the snake man stares down at the panicking Lloyd.

"Give up your mind." The snake orders, his voice growing more sinister, and a spiral shoots from his eyes toward Lloyd.

Lloyd does his best not to look toward the eye as fear and helplessness continue to grow in his heart. But soon, he finds himself looking toward the Serpentine's eyes. His mind starts to loll, and his steps become clumsier. The clumsiness soon leads to Lloyd slipping, sliding down an ice pillar, causing the Serpentine to see his reflection in it.

But more importantly, it causes the spirals to bounce off and hit the Serpentine back. Soon, he can feel his mind lulling and struggles to stand straight. Then it feels like his mind shuts off, like he's waiting for a command.

Seeing the Serpentine no longer moving and acting strangely, Lloyd stands up and turns to the pillar. Soon, he realizes what happened and grins before turning back to the snake man.

"No. I will control you from now on." Lloyd states, pointing to himself, then at the Serpentine.

A wave of undying loyalty slams into the snake as he lowers his weapon and stares respectfully at Lloyd.

"What shall you have us do, Master?" The Serpentine asks, bowing respectfully to Lloyd.

But his words catch Lloyd off guard, and he can't help but ask.

"Us?" He asks in a surprised and nervous tone.

Soon, more Serpentine start appearing. And they appear in different shapes and sizes. Some have the same snake head as the one wielding the gold staff. Some have more humanoid features but are still scaled and red-eyed. Some even have primarily snow-white bodies or primarily white markings. There are even some dark blue, ordinary-looking snakes. But the most notable feature is that none of the humanoid Serpentine have a tail that replaces their legs, like the one under Lloyd's command.

"We are the Hypnobrai. I am Slithraa, general of this tribe." The now-named Slithraa introduces himself to Lloyd while setting the bottom of his staff on the ice.

"Our strength is at your disposal," Slithraa announces, bowing to Lloyd again.

Hearing this and seeing the army, Lloyd can't help but grin evilly.

"My own army of snakes!" He shouts excitedly, then laughs megalomaniacally, raising his arms in triumph.

-------------------

Meanwhile, the ninja are all standing near the dragon pens, away from the monastery. So Sensei Wu won't catch them.

"So then, we all agree the prophecy states that one of us will become the Green Ninja," Jay says while pumping his fist as he looks at the others.

"And the issue will not rest until it's decided." He tells the others as he turns toward the stairway and goes up it, the others following.

"May I suggest a tournament?" Zane asks as the group walks.

"Last ninja standing is the best." He adds before anyone can question it.

"And will be declared the Green Ninja." Kai agrees while clenching his fist in anticipation.

"I love it!" He shouts excitedly as they reach the door.

When they open it, they're met with the sound of Nya's cries as she uses the training course in her hero form. They watch as the girl easily gets through the first machine, then flips over the spinning logs and toward the second machine. She then jumps through the spinning logs and reaches the third machine. Unfortunately, her scarf gets caught on one of the spinning maces. It pulls her down as she tries to jump off the machine, and the rotation pulls her. The girl screams in panic before getting tossed into one of the spring logs.

"Ow." She groans as she stands up and holds her head.

"Hehehe. Hey, Nya." Jay nervously laughs as he walks toward the recovering girl.

"Closer to getting used to your Miraculous?" He asks with a nervous smile as he pulls up his hood.

"I'm getting there. The scarf is a bit annoying, though." Nya says with a smile as she takes the hand Jay holds out to her to help her up.

"Sorry again about wasting our time. Everyone was shouting about Lord Garmadon returning." Nya apologizes.

"Don't worry about it, sis," Kai tells Nya, resting a hand on her shoulder, causing Nya to turn to him.

"But we're going to need the space. Sorry, sis." He apologizes while patting her shoulder as Cole goes to a cabinet filled with their training gear.

Their training gear is training armor like the ones used in kendo and practice versions of their primary weapons. But the ninja are using their actual weapons today. When Cole grabs one of the helmets, he immediately tosses it at the back of Jay's head, much to the blue ninja's annoyance.

"To matches. Then the winners of each face off for the title." Cole states before lifting a kendo helmet in his hand.

"Armor's for our own protection." He states, then looks to his scythe with a grin.

"It's time to see what these babies can do!" He says excitedly, raising his scythe overhead to display it.

He then tosses the armor to the rest of the ninja, and they get suited up.

"Hey, Nya. Wanna stick around and watch me mop the floor with them to prove I'm the Green Ninja?" Kai cockily asks his sister with a grin, causing Nya to roll her eyes with a smile.

"No thanks. What even makes you four think that one of you will be the Green Ninja anyway?" She questions them, causing them all to look at her.

"You heard what the scroll said. One of us will rise above the others to be the Green Ninja." Cole tells Nya as he gets his stuff on.

"It said one ninja. You guys aren't the only ones getting ninja training, remember." Nya points out, motioning to the training equipment.

"Adrien or I could realistically be the Green Ninja too." Nya points out as Adrien comes out of the house.

"What about the Green Ninja?" Adrien asks in confusion, causing Nya to turn to him and point at the ninjas.

"These guys are trying to have a tournament to see who will be the Green Ninja," Nya explains.

At it, Adrien's face lights up in excitement.

"Oh, cool. Who's fighting who?" Adrien asks as Plagg flies out to enjoy the fight with his wielder.

"No, that's not-" Nya starts but groans in frustration.

"Tikki, spots off." She commands, causing Tikki to fly out of the earrings and for Nya to return to her normal clothes.

"You almost had it, Nya," Tikki tells her wielder with a smile, causing Nya to smile back.

"Thank you, Tikki. But can you settle an argument for me?" She asks, causing Tikki to look curious.

"Do you know anything about this Green Ninja legend?" Nya asks, making Tikki nervous.

"Do you, Plagg?" Adrien asks his Kwami as well.

"Oh, yeah. I'm pretty sure all of us Kwami know about it." Plagg nods, causing Tikki to glare at him.

"Plagg!" She yells at the other Kwami.

"What? They already know about it?" Plagg points out.

"But Sensei Wu told us not to talk about it with them." She fires back.

"Yeah. So, they wouldn't know. There's no point if everyone already knows it." Plagg points out, causing Tikki to groan.

"So, do you know who will be the Green Ninja?" Cole asks, causing Plagg to shake his head.

"Nope."

He then raises his arms in a shrug.

"We're not the Kwamis that govern time. We can't see into the future or anything like that."

"So, there's no way to tell which of us is the Green Ninja?" Zane asks, causing Tikki to shake her head.

"I'm afraid not. Only time will tell." She explains to the group.

"More reason for us to get this started," Kai states as he raises the Sword of Fire.

"I still think you guys are jumping the gun. The Green Ninja could easily be Adrien or me." Nya tells them.

"No way. The legend said that one of us would rise above the others." Kai argues with his sister.

"Actually. The legend says a ninja will rise above the others. But you four aren't the only ones training to be ninja." Tikki cuts in while pointing to Nya and Adrien.

"So, I could be the Green Ninja?" Adrien asks excitedly.

"Yeah, kid. You have a chance. Besides, green's partially your color." Plagg adds with a mischievous grin while referring to Adrien's hero colors.

"No way! It has to be one of us!" Jay quickly argues, not wanting extra competition.

"Yeah." Kai agrees.

"Sure it is," Nya says while putting her hands on her hips.

"I think I'll head to Jamanakai Village. Knock yourselves out." She tells them as she walks toward the gate, leaving the boys behind.

"I think I'll just watch this time," Adrien states as he sits

down.

"Alright, first up, Kai vs Jay," Cole states as the ninjas finally get ready.

As they do, Plagg flies over to the training ground button and presses it, removing all the obstacles. With the devices lowering into the ground, Jay and Kai draw their weapons in preparation for the signal.

"Ninja go!" Cole shouts as he throws his arms out when the training ground fully vanishes.

Only to quickly lose his footing and spin onto the ground as Kai and Jay bolt at each other and clash. The two throw the other off them and swap positions in less than a second.

With the opening move ending, Jay shows off by doing tricks with his nunchucks and making martial arts cries to intimidate Kai. Kai glares down at the other teen as Jay spins his nunchucks overhead. Kai gets into a fighting stance, preparing for whatever Jay throws at him. Meanwhile, Jay keeps spinning the nunchucks, causing them to grow brighter over time. But the Nunchucks of Lightning soon electrocute him into breaking his stance.

While Jay tries to recover, Kai takes the opportunity to charge and flip over Jay to attack from behind. Jay barely manages to turn in time to block Kai's next slash and quickly gets back into his fighting stance. The two clash weapons evenly for a moment before Kai decides to take the fight to another dimension by running along the monastery house's walls. As he runs along it, he slashes at Jay a few times, but the blue ninja manages to block Kai's attacks as he chases him.

Seeing that it's not working, Kai jumps off the walls and tries to slash down on Jay with extra momentum. But Jay plays it safe by backing up. Both stare each other down and begin waving their weapons. But Kai is faster. He slashes toward Jay and launches a fireball that brings Jay to his knees before he can build power in his weapon.

Kai stares at his weapon in shock. He didn't think that would actually work. But he then smiles as he realizes he's one step closer to claiming the Green Ninja title.

Meanwhile, Adrien runs up to Jay and looks at him in concern.

"Are you okay?" He asks worriedly.

"Yeah, hehe." Jay laughs sadly.

"Except my pride." He says as the feeling of defeat hurts worse than the burns.

-------------------

After everyone takes a second to recover, Kai acts as the referee to Zane and Cole's bout while Jay sits off to the side with Adrien and Plagg.

"You did well," Adrien tells his friend, trying to cheer him up.

Jay sighs and says nothing else as he watches the fight about to start.

The two are bowing to each other; neither moves to get up as Kai raises his arms.

"Ninja go!" He shouts, throwing his arms down, causing the two to jump back and draw their weapons.

Cole immediately charges at Zane and goes for a wide slash that Zane dodges by jumping over Cole. But Cole's slash cuts through one of the training dummies still on the field like it's paper.

Cole turns and winces at the damage he accidentally causes before regaining focus and charging at Zane again. But this time, he doesn't go for a wide, reckless slash. Instead, he doesn't give Zane time to breathe, using his strength to launch a flurry of slashes at Zane to break his guard. The onslaught pushes Zane back, nearly pinning him against the wall. But Zane quickly jumps over Cole again and gets a safe distance away from the black ninja.

Cole turns back around as Zane regains his stance and pulls out one of his weapons again. Before doing anything, Zane focuses on his golden weapon, trying to make a connection. When he feels something answer him, he immediately throws it at Cole's foot.

Cole stares at the weapon in shock and quickly raises his foot to avoid it. But the shuriken indents itself into the ground, and ice quickly forms over and captures Cole's legs.

Caught off guard, Cole tries to pull himself out while Zane readies his other shuriken. The ice ninja throws the last twin at Cole, but the black ninja manages to block it. Unfortunately, it ricochets back to Zane, causing the white ninja to charge. Zane then takes the opportunity to run around Cole while continuously throwing his weapon. However, Cole is managing to block all the attacks, no matter where they come from.

Finally, Cole manages to hook the scythe around Zane's foot and trip him up before aiming the top of the blade at the downed Zane's neck.

"Winner Cole!" Kai shouts, causing Adrien and Plagg to clap.

"Oh, so close," Plagg calls out to Zane.

-------------------

It's now the final round, and Adrien is acting as referee for Kai and Cole. Meanwhile, Jay and Zane sit dejectedly on the side.

"Alright, this is the final match to see who the best ninja is." Adrien reminds the two as he raises his arms.

Both ninjas glare at each other, weapons already positioned to attack.

"Ninja go!" Adrien shouts as he throws his arms down, causing Kai to bolt toward Cole and throw a quick, strong slash with his full body weight.

Cole quickly intercepts it with his scythe, and his incredible strength prevents him from budging from Kai's attack. The two then begin slashing at each other as they keep moving around. Eventually, Cole decides to backflip away from the clash and lands, smirking toward Kai, who puts his guard up.

Cole raises his weapon and slams it into the ground. A shockwave emits from where the tip pierces the ground, launching Kai back and slamming him into the golden dragon statue in the middle of the training grounds.

As Kai lies on the ground, Cole cheers in victory. The other boys also cheer for his awesome move. Kai growls and quickly pulls himself up. However, something feels wrong. He can feel the Sword of Flames heating up in his hand. Suddenly, it's as if the sword is fighting Kai's grip, shaking his arm as Kai struggles to hold onto it.

Kai fights against the sword as he's pulled around the training grounds. He even tries to use Spinjitzu to force it under control. But none of it works. The sword continues to struggle against him, and the heat it emits continues rising.

"It's too hot!?" Kai screams in panic before the sword suddenly bursts into flames.

Everyone's cheering quickly turns to panic and worry when they see Kai's in danger.

"It's burning/Fire!" Zane and Jay cry at the same time.

The blade's struggle grows worse, and Kai uses Spinjitzu again to try to keep the flames under control. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work, as the sword pulls Kai out of his Spinjitzu, and the red ninja loses his grip on it.

As soon as it lands, fire starts enveloping the training area, causing the boys to panic as they try to put it out. Hearing all the panic, Sensei Wu comes outside to check and is shocked at the chaos. Shock soon turning to anger, Sensei Wu easily walks through the flames to grab Zane's weapon.

He throws them into the air and concentrates. As he does, the shurikens fly in the air in a slow, deliberate manner, as if Sensei Wu is controlling them telekinetically. Soon, they fly over the flames, releasing a magical blue snow trail to put them out.

The boys watch in amazement as the shuriken moves. It's almost like they're dancing in mid-air as they fly to put out the fire before returning to Sensei Wu's hands. That amazement soon turns to worry as Sensei Wu lowers them and glares at the group.

"What were you thinking!?" He demands in an angry tone that the ninja have rarely heard.

"Uh, we were trying to figure out who was the Green Ninja," Jay reveals without thinking and raising his arms, causing Zane to smack him on the back of the head.

"Ow!" He cries before glaring at Zane, who's already looking ahead at Sensei Wu.

Realizing what he said, Jay begins to panic.

"Uh, did I say Green Ninja? No, sorry. Wh-what I said was lean ninja." Jay tries to backtrack, but Sensei Wu isn't impressed.

"You were not supposed to learn about this." He tells everyone as he walks toward the group.

"But Sensei, we want to know. Which one of us is the chosen one?" Kai questions as they all walk toward Sensei Wu.

"None of you!" Sensei Wu snaps, causing Adrien to raise a hand.

"Then does that mean it could be Nya or me?" He asks.

"None of you will be the chosen one if you don't unlock your full potential!" Sensei Wu snaps before turning around.

"But my sword, it was so bright," Kai argues, thinking it's a sign for him.

"Is this what you meant by unlocking our golden weapons?" He can't help but ask.

"You are only at the beginning. And the road is long and winding. But yes, this is what I meant." Sensei Wu explains as he walks away from the group.

"If this is what it takes 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." Sensei Wu delivers one last parting warning before walking back inside, leaving the boys with what he hopes is a lot to think about.

-------------------

At Jamanakai Village, Nya and Tikki are looking around for groceries. Tikki is hiding within Nya's maroon purse. One she specifically got to make traveling more comfortable for the Kwami.

"Tikki, do you think I honestly have a chance of being the Green Ninja?" Nya quietly asks her Kwami so no one else hears.

"Anything's possible, Nya. Legends don't always come true in the way we expect." Tikki explains to her wielder.

Nya mulls over her Kwami's words. She can't help but be hopeful.

"Are you okay?" Tikki asks, noticing something's bothering Nya.

"I'm alright. I guess I'm just a little embarrassed that we messed up." Nya informs her Kwami.

"It's an easy mistake," Tikki promises, causing Nya to nod.

"I know. But it's still embarrassing, especially since Kai still doesn't want me fighting." Nya sighs as she walks to a vegetable vendor.

Tikki is about to say something before they hear the villagers screaming.

"What now?" Nya questions in a mixture of annoyance and exasperation.

She turns around to see all the villagers running for their lives or into their homes. Soon, she catches sight of Lloyd exiting a house with a wheelbarrow of candy.

"Take the candy! Take it all!" Lloyd orders in a fake deep voice as he smirks.

Nya stares at him in confusion and disbelief, unable to believe he's pulling this stunt again, and it seems to be working. But her expression soon turns to dawning horror as she sees the Serpentine following Lloyd out of the house.

Near the front gate, a full army of Serpentine is filing in, with Slithraa and another Serpentine that looks similar to him leading the charge. The Serpentine next to Slithraa has sharper features on its cobra head and grey scales running along its chest and arms.

Nya quickly ducks behind the stall, and she and Tikki hear the two arguing.

"This makes no senssse, General. Raiding an entire town, for sssssssweets?" The Serpentine says, staring at his general in pure bafflement.

"You will do as I command, Skales!" Slithraa shouts as he turns and points at Skales's chest.

Slithraa then holds the staff toward Skales's face.

"Because I hold the staff!" He snaps as he pushes it slightly to Skales, causing him to back down.

Nya and Tikki look at each other in horror, and Nya wonders if she can handle an army of this scale without help.

-------------------

Meanwhile, as the boys continue training, Sensei Wu suddenly sees a vision through the smoke of his incense. The image is of Lloyd and the Serpentine attacking the village. For the first time in a while, a look of utter horror crosses Sensei Wu's face as the vision vanishes. He immediately gets up and rushes into the yard.

"The Serpentine are back! Everyone in Jamanikai Village is in danger!" Sensei Wu desperately explains to the boys, but his words don't have the effect he desires.

"Calm down, Sensei. We were just there. It was some kid who says-" Cole begins to explain to his teacher in a relaxed manner before Sensei Wu urgently cuts him off.

"The Spirit Smoke does not lie. An ancient evil has been released!" Sensei Wu snaps at the ninja, causing them to grow concerned.

"Nya's there right now!" Kai suddenly realizes in horror.

"Nya?" Jay asks in concern as he turns to Kai.

The two bolt for the dragons' pen, the others not far behind them. As they run, Cat Noir calls out.

"Don't worry, Tikki's with her. She should be safe!" Cat Noir urges the two leading the charge to hopefully calm them down.

-------------------

Back at the village, Nya and Tikki watch as the Hypnobrai collect candy from around the villagers, hypnotizing any they can get their hands on and forcing them to help. Meanwhile, Lloyd is grinning as he grabs some from his cart.

"This is awesome!" he laughs as a sugar rush hits him.

"I can't believe he actually found one of the Serpentine's tombs," Tikki says, staring at the Hypnobrai in shock.

"Tikki, what are those?" Nya can't help but ask, staring at the Hypnobrai with the Kwami.

"They're known as the Hypnobrai. They're a tribe of Serpentine with the ability to hypnotize anyone into being their slaves, even other Serpentine." Tikki explains nervously.

Nya's eyes widen at that, and she looks at Tikki urgently.

"Does that mean they can control all of us?" Nya asks worriedly.

Tikki's face grows grim as she nods.

"Yes. But only the ninja. Luckily, the Miraculous provides you and Adrien with some protection against their mind control when you're wearing them." Tikki explains, relieving some of Nya's worries.

"Then that means I have to take them down," Nya mutters before looking at Tikki seriously.

"Tikki, spots on," Nya announces, causing Tikki to fly into her earrings again.

Meanwhile, some of the Hypnobrai see a bright light enveloping the vegetable stall. Looking at each other in confusion, they cautiously head towards it. Before they can reach it, though, a box of vegetables is thrown at one of them and slams into their head, throwing them to the ground. The other one, distracted by his comrade's injury, turns away from the stall, giving Nya time to wrap her yo-yo around them and pull them into the stall before beating them up.

With those two taken care of, Nya uses her yo-yo to pull herself onto a roof and survey the area. The army of Serpentine is many, but it's broken up to comb the village. So, Nya has a chance to get a sneak attack. She looks around the area and sees Lloyd standing with Slithraa nearby, and her eyes narrow.

"Alright. It's time for you to go into another time-out." Nya mutters as she spins her yo-yo, then throws it at Lloyd.

The child screams in surprise as he feels something quickly wrap around his waist before being pulled away from his rewards.

"Who dares!" Slithraa screams, his glare following where Lloyd went until he sees the people on the roof.

When he sees Nya, his eyes widen in recognition.

"A Miraculous user! They're still around?" He demands in shock.

Skales runs next to his general and points at Nya.

"And they look to be the Ladybug, my general!" Skales shouts in alarm.

"Let me go!" Lloyd shouts angrily as he struggles against Nya.

"That's not happening. You're in serious trouble this time." Nya tells Lloyd as he glares at him.

"Who are you anyway?!" Lloyd shouts, glaring back at Nya.

"I'm..." Nya is about to say before she trails off, remembering Cat Noir's words.

"I'm Corinae! And right now, I'm feeling pretty angry about all the mayhem you're causing for just some stupid candy." Nya tells Lloyd angrily, causing the boy to growl.

"Candy is not stupid! And I'll show you mayhem!" He snaps, looking to the Hypnobrai.

"Hypnobrai! Deal with this bug!" Lloyd shouts while pointing at Corinae.

"All soldierssssss, attack! Claim the Miraculous for the tribe!" Slithraa commands, pointing his staff toward Nya.

His command gets cries from the tribe as all the warriors and mind-controlled slaves charge toward the building Nya's on.

The girl looks around nervously as she finds herself surrounded by the mob. But luckily, help comes in the form of Wisp diving toward her.

"Nya!" Jay calls out.

Corinae looks up and sees him and the others getting closer.

She quickly pulls out her yo-yo and swings it around Wisp's leg, using it to fly to safety as part of the mob gets on the building.

As the group flies, all the ninja and Cat Noir suddenly jump off their dragons and land on a roof, Corinae following quickly behind them with Lloyd.

"What the heck is going on?!" Kai demands as the dragons fly off to find somewhere safe to land.

"This one came back to the village with the real Serpentine!" Corinae states, holding Lloyd by his hoodie. She's holding her in a way similar to how someone holds a mischievous kitten by the scruff.

The boy struggles for a moment before he sees all the boys giving him hard glares.

"Where'd you get the Serpentine, Little Garmadon!?" Cole demands from the child, causing Lloyd to cross his arms and look away indignantly.

"Like I'd tell you!" He then looks back at the Serpentine and screams.

"Get them!" He orders, causing Slithraa's eyes to narrow as the tip of his tail rattles.

"Ssssseize them all!" He demands as his troops charge.

"The Serpentine are actually real?" Kai gawks as he finally gets a good look at the enemy.

"I told you they could be real, and we just haven't seen them." Cat Noir points out.

"Now's not the time!" Jay calls back as both the Hypnobrai and hypnotized villagers draw closer to them.

It's not just the Serpentine we have to worry about." Cole points out as he sees the villagers mixed with the army.

"They've all been hypnotized," Corinae warns the group.

"Then how do we unhypnotize them?" Cat Noir demands, pulling out his baton and preparing to push anyone who gets on the roof down.

"Maybe a light shock will do it," Jay says, starting to spin his golden weapon before Zane pulls his arm down.

"No. Our weapons are too unstable. We could do more harm than good." He urgently warns Jay, causing the blue ninja to groan.

"I guess that leaves us with... RUN!" Jay screams as the army climbs to the roof, causing all the heroes to jump off and scatter.

Sprinting all over the village, the heroes do their best to lose any potential pursuers; their acrobatics end with the boys resting behind a wall. Meanwhile, Corinae is somewhere else. As they hide, a section of Cat Noir's staff pops up, revealing something like a cellphone screen.

"So, what's the plan?" Corinae's voice rings out from it as she uses her yo-yo like a cellphone.

Meanwhile, Lloyd is screaming and shouting in her grip, bringing the army's attention toward her.

"I don't know!? How did they hypnotize the whole town?" Jay freaks out before the others hush him.

"Everyone who looked them in the eyes got hypnotized. When we fight them, the four of you can't look them in the eyes. Tikki says Cat Noir and I can, though." Corinae explains.

"I'm mind control proof? Cool." Cat Noir grins.

"Good for you. But what are we supposed to do?" Jay demands before looking around the corner.

"We can't use our weapons, and now we gotta fight with our eyes closed. Ha, perfect." He grumbles as he sees people moving away.

"Sis, you've gotta ditch the brat. They're coming toward you because of him." Kai worriedly adds, seeing Corinae running along the roofs to avoid pursuers.

"I'm fine, Kai! Right now, we need to focus on their leader. The one with the staff is the general." Corinae says before having to use her yo-yo to zip away.

"Remember the stories, if we can get the staff from them, we can save everyone with its cure." Corinae reminds everyone.

"Hey, that's right. The stories always mentioned how the Serpentine kept a cure in their staffs." Cole realizes.

"Exactly. If we can get that, we can save everyone. That's why I'll act as a distraction while you guys get the staff." Corinae explains, causing Kai to look at the others.

"Look, guys. Forget about the whole Green Ninja thing. Let's make Sensei proud." He tells the group urgently, likely because he also wants to save his sister as quickly as possible.

"Now you're talking." Cole grins at Kai's words.

"Hang in there, Nya," Jay calls to the girl.

"I'm trying." She says in some irritation.

With that, the boys sprint out of their hiding place and go straight for the town square, where they believe the general is.

Kai's the first to land and looks around until he hears hissing behind him. He turns to find a group of Hypnobrai soldiers.

"You wanna play? How about some Spinjitzu?" He questions before attacking with his Spinjitzu.

Unfortunately, his Spinjitzu is chaotic. He can't seem to control its direction like before. So, instead of attacking the Hypnobrai, he ends up running into a wall.

"Okay, we're really out of shape." Jay groans as he sees his friend fail.

But Kai quickly pulls himself back up and uses the back of his knuckles to knock out two hypnobrai that moved to pull him up.

Meanwhile, Lloyd continues to scream in Corinae's grip.

"Let me go already! This is your last warning! Do it now or I'll have my Serpentine Army make you cluck like a chicken." Lloyd threatens, causing Corinae to groan.

"You are way too young to come up with a good threat." She tells him.

A group chases after her. But Zane throws his golden weapon from a roof, and ice covers the ground ahead of the group where it lands. The attackers slip and fall over each other, giving Corinae more room to breathe.

"Thanks!" Corinae calls back, but Zane's eyes widen in horror.

"Look out!" He shouts back, causing Corinae to turn forward.

Slithraa hits her in the face with his golden staff. The surprise attack causes her to let go of Lloyd and the boy to roll to Slithraa's side.

"Now, hand over that Miraculous!" Slithraa demands, glaring down at Corinae.

"Ninja go!" Cole calls out as he delivers a flying kick to Slithraa, causing the snake man to fall on Lloyd.

"Not going to happen, Scaly." Cole threatens as Slithraa pulls himself up.

"My name is Slithraa. Not Scaly. That's Scaly." Slithraa grumbles as he rubs his head and points at a Serpentine with a humanoid face, causing them to wave at Cole.

"Oh, well. Still not going to happen." Cole says 

He then grows more serious while glaring at the Serpentine general.

"Go ahead, give me a reason." He begs, as he stares the snake down.

From his position on the ground, Lloyd suddenly shouts.

"Retreat!"

After screaming that, the child runs toward the front gate. Hearing his voice, Slithraa looks around at his army.

"Retreat!" He orders in his own panic before slithering off.

The rest of the Serpentine are quick to follow, almost running Corinae over in the process. Meanwhile, Cole picks up the staff and is met face-to-face with Skales. His eyes widen in shock, but before he can do anything, Skales' eyes begin to spin.

"Look into my eyes!" He demands as the hypnowaves emit from them and hit Cole in the eyes.

Cole can feel his mind wavering as Skales continues.

"I control you," Skales states.

"You control me." Cole agrees in a hollow voice.

With the ninja successfully under his control, Skales reaches for the staff. Unfortunately for him, he's not only dealing with Cole.

"Cole!" Corinae shouts in concern before kicking Skales in his eyes.

"You have the anti-venom!" Nya reminds the ninja, her words seemingly pulling Cole out of Skales' spell.

"By golly, you're right." He realizes as he stares at the staff.

"Quick, the fountain!" Corinae shouts, pointing at the fountain.

"Good idea!" Cole agrees, rushing to the fountain before slamming the staff into the top section.

The water suddenly turns into a dark blue mist that reaches Cole's waist before it spreads along the village waterways, freeing all the villagers from the Hypnobrai's control. Relief floods the heroes as they see everything worked out.

"I see that you all managed to win." Sensei Wu says, suddenly appearing behind them.

Seeing their teacher standing there with a calm expression, Kai sighs. He then goes to the fountain and pulls the staff out of it. Then brings it to his teacher.

"We're sorry, Sensei." He announces in a humble tone, looking down, unable to meet the older man's eyes.

"If we dealt with Lloyd before he became a problem and kept up with our training, none of this would have happened." Kai apologizes sincerely, the others looking down with him.

Sensei Wu strokes his beard as he looks at the group with a stern expression.

"Even lessons learned the hard way are lessons learned." Sensei Wu calmly advises the group before looking at the sunset.

"A great evil has been released. I fear troubling times will come." He announces with a sad and worried expression before he steels his features.

"This is only the beginning." He warns the group with a grim expression.

"Then we will train and be ready for the Serpentine," Zane promises with full conviction as he walks toward Sensei Wu and Kai.

"It may not be Lord Garmadon, but that doesn't mean we won't bring our a-game." Cole agrees, stepping forward as well.

As Sensei Wu looks to them, Kai suddenly pleads.

"Help us train. Help us realize our full potential."

"Yeah, teach us the secrets behind the weapons of Spinjitzu." Jay agrees before Cat Noir steps forward.

"Don't forget about Nya and me. You need to teach us how to use our Miraculous too." Cat Noir says while raising his ring.

Sensei Wu hums in acknowledgement as he sees that his students have learned their lesson.

"There is much to teach. We must return to the monastery." Sensei Wu orders before leading the group off.

As they walk, Nya suddenly remembers something.

"Oh, and it's not Nya when I'm like this. Call me Corinae." She orders the boys with a smile, causing Cat Noir to grin.

"Ah, yeah. That's a great hero name." He tells her before the two high-five.

-------------------

Back in the Hypnobrai's tomb, Lloyd is groaning at their failure.

"Ugh, candy. I need candy." He whines.

On the other side of the cave, Skales and Slithraa are arguing.

"The boy set us free." Slithraa reminds Skales in a stern voice.

"He is a child, he's not one of ussssss!" Skales screams while waving his arm for emphasis.

Having enough, Slithraa smacks the hand Skales kept on his shoulder off before glaring at his subordinate.

"I may not have the ssssstaff, but I am still your general!" He shouts into Skales' face.

"Stand down!" He orders while pointing at Skales.

Reluctantly following the order, Skales walks away with an angry expression.

"You coward." Another Serpentine with black markings on his face and cowl hisses as he steps toward Skales.

"We all know he is under Lloyd's spell. You are second-in-command, and still you do nothing!" He shouts in frustration while pointing at Skale's chest.

Far from angry, Skales looks at his brethren calmly.

"Now was not the time. I still hold the key to destroy the ninja and Miraculous wielders." He reveals, his voice growing more excited and conniving with each word.

"And when I do that, everyone will see it is eye who should be in control." He promises with a laugh at his joke.

As he speaks, he's using one eye to look at something. More specifically, he's using it to look through one of Cole's eyes, who still seems to be under his control.

As he looks through it, his tone grows more maniacal as he laughs in excitement.

And that's it for the first chapter! I hope you're all excited for the next season of my Miraculous x Ninjago fusion story. I know I'm excited to write it.