A cold breeze blew over a snowy barren. Soft snowflakes fell silently to the icy ground. From out of the shadows came a metallic figure, dressed in white. His ice shone through the darkness. As he walked, the wind whipped around him, and the snow covered his path. This strange figure was not affected by the fatal cold, yet still seemed uneasy, as though he couldn't find his way.
Suddenly, the ground crumbled beneath him, dropping him into a frozen cavern. He lost his arm in the process, while hitting against several rocks along the side of the cave. Surprisingly, he got to his feet rather quickly, re-attaching his arm like it was nothing. He glanced round, his eyes scanning ever nook and cranny of the place.
At that moment, a fearsome roar echoed within the cavern. A dragon of ice emerged, tied down by thick metal chains, and charged towards the metallic figure. He gasped, as the dragon roared in his face again. His eyes found their way to a small hole in the ceiling. Looking away, he could see the anger in the dragon's cold eyes. But from the outside of the cavern came a voice, sweet and gentle, yet filled with distress.
"Zane, can you hear me? Wake up!"
He looked up again to the hole in the ceiling. A falcon stood there, watching him intently. The voice came again.
"Zane, if you can hear me, you need to wake up! You need to wake up!"
********
Zane's eyes fluttered open. He recognised the cell almost immediately. He sighed.
"It was only a dream."
"It amazes me how you dream. I've always wondered what its like."
The voice! It was here! He looked to a small window of sorts, high on the wall beside him, and blocked off by thick bars. A strange glow emitted from it.
"Where am I? Who are you?"
"I'm... Pixal. A friend. And you're in danger, and have to get out of here. Your memory drive is out of sorts, and your elemental power-"
"Elemental... power?" he asked to himself.
"You're a Nindroid Zane, a ninja! And you have to remember who you are. Your friends are here to save you, but they can't do it all! You have to remember who you are!"
"Friends?"
"Remember Zane! You saved your friends, then rebuilt yourself. There are things about you that you don't understand, but if we're ever going to get out of here, you have to remember who you are."
He glanced around the room again. Two little spiders peaked his attention. Their purple tone and skull symbol seemed..familiar. Like he'd seen something like that before. And that girl's voice. Could it be...?
"Pixal? We are...compatible?"
"Yes Zane. Yes we are. Now, we have to get out of here."
********
"Are you sure?"
"Positive. If we all want to get through our first rounds, we have to be ready. So, are you in?"
Y/n sighed anxiously. Of course she wanted to be ready, but something was....frightening about the whole thing. She wasn't sure why, but it was. Yet she knew she couldn't avoid it. She sighed, before nodding in a agreement.
"Good. We can start training after breakfast."
They grabbed their trays, and joined the queue at the counter. They watched as Garmadon was refused dessert.
"There's a valuable lesson here son. If you turn on your evil Sensei in an effort to go straight, you may not be served creamy biscuits."
Y/n was trying really hard not to laugh at that line.
Lloyd huffed. "Well I know what we are being served- a whole bunch of baloney! This tournament isn't about glory. It's about Chen stealing out powers!"
"First, keep your voice down you idiot! Second, why is he doing it anyway?"
"Ugh, isn't it obvious? Chen wants to destroy Ninjago city!"
"Uh I don't know Kai. From what Sensei G's told us about him, I have a feeling its something far more sinister."
"And may I remind us, we still don't know where Zane is. Which is why we all need to take care of our first rounds to give us more time."
The ninja were stunned by Jay's attire. Instead of his gi, he was still in his pajamas.
"Uh Jay, what's with the outfit?"
"Ha, it's my day off! Extra creamy biscuits, and don't skimp!" he laughed, walking away with a tower of biscuits.
"Day off? And I thought ninja never quit!"
"And I thought ninja wouldn't steal your girlfriend!"
Cole and Jay glared at one another, while Y/n watched on in confusion.
"Say what?"
"Whatever you have to say to each other say it now." interrupted Garmadon. "There's no use in holding onto a grudge."
"I dropped it first!"
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
The former friends started fighting each other, sending Jay's tower of biscuits and Cole's juice to the floor. Garmadon sighed.
"This tournament will test them Lloyd. Find a way for them to be at peace, or they'll both lose."
"What's wrong with those two anyway? I thought you said they were friends."
Kai groaned a little. "Basically, Jay was dating my sister Nya, until some stupid love game thing told her she should be with Cole, she got all confused, Jay found out, and n here."
"So, a pointless love triangle?"
"Yeah."
"Fricking excellent." she finished sarcastically.
Just then, Chen's voice came over the intercom. "Would the following fighters please prepare and make their way to their designated arenas: Speed, Gravity, Nature, Mind, Ash, and finally-"
"Huh, maybe we all got the day off."
"Fire!"
Kai gasped. He panicked internally. He knew it was coming, just not so fast. Y/n look at
*******
Kai had bade his friends goodbye and gone with Chen's soldiers to his arena. He had hidden his fear well, but it was there none the less. Y/n now followed the others to the first fight, until Cole stopped her.
"Oh, hey Cole. Everything alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Listen, Kai asked me if I could help you with your training...in case anything were to happen...y'know?"
Y/ n stopped in her tracks. "D -do we really have to? Right now?"
"Well it would help us get a head-start on things, but if you don't want to -"
"No no, it's fine, I-let's just get it over with. If we're really doing this."
He nodded slowly, before leading her to one of the palace courtyards. The place had been cleaned out of any other competitors earlier, leaving them with full access of the area. Cole suddenly caught Y/n off guard, charging towards her. She quickly dodged past and steadied herself. Cole smirked lightly. She was faster than she looked. The two began fighting, first with hands only, then with more karate-style combat. Y/n struggled to keep up at first, but soon fell into a rhythm of attacking, blocking and dodging. Finally, Cole ended it by flipping her onto her back, before helping her stand again.
"Alright, you seem fine on basic combat, we can work on more advanced stuff later. We should try some elemental combat, just to see where you're at with that."
Y/n's face fell at those words. Her secretive nature returned, painting an expressionless look across her face. "Are you...are you sure? Is it really necessary?"
Cole looked at her quizzically. "Well, this is a tournament of elements, powers are kind of a necessity."
Y/n faced away; her eyes shut tight. Cole could hear her muttering and mumbling to herself but couldn't make out any words. He decided to continue with caution.
"Uh, I just remembered...we uh, never asked you what your power was, is I mean, we never asked what it is." She remained silent. He cleared his throat.
"Y/n? What exactly... is your power?"
She spun around, a look of distress still lingering for a moment. "Look, I think we've done enough for today, I think we should head over to the fight before-"
"Y/n," he interrupted. He stepped closer, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You can talk to me. I can tell something is wrong. Please, let me help."
She brushed him away, turning to leave. He grabbed her arm and she looked back.
"Y/n. Let me help."
"You can't help, I'm sorry but you can't!"
"Then who can?"
"No one can help!"
He stopped for a second, sensing her anger rising. But he needed to know. He wasn't going to let her hide behind a mask.
"What is your power Y/n?"
"Cole please, I don't want to talk about this right now?"
"Then when?!?"
"I don't know when!"
"Why are you so afraid of talking about it?"
"What do you-"
"WHAT IS YOUR POWER?!?"
"I DON'T KNOW WHAT MY POWER IS!"
He dropped her arm and stepped back in shock. All her secrecy had disappeared from her face, revealing a lost, pained look. She breathed heavily, her anger overwhelming her.
"I have zero idea what my power is, I never got the chance to ask! I've just had them for as long as I want to remember, and I don't have any answers anymore! I never got to ask my parents because by the time I figured out I had them; they were dead! They...they were...long gone."
"Y/n, I-"
"Don't! I don't want your sympathy! That's all I get, all I ever get, and I'm tired of it! I don't even know what I want at this point, because I don't even know who I am! Never have, never will! And all because some selfish rat took my family away from me! THEY'RE GONE! "
Her anger washed away with those words, being replaced by her anguish. She turned away again, tears trailing down her checks. She clasped her hands to her chest and breathed heavily.
Cole, stunned, stepped forward. Her put an arm over her shoulder, no words being said, but supporting her none-the-less. The two friends just stood there, Y/n's sobs hardly breaking the silence between them. Neither one needed to say anything, because there was nothing to be said. Cole could understand some part of her grief, and that was enough.
They were okay.
********
Cole and Y/n decided to keep this little "issue" on the down-low, at least until after Kai's fight. Everyone was already stressed out, so why add to that? Cole offered to help her figure out what her power was, but she declined, feeling that this was something she needed to do on her own.
The two sat in the stands with the others, waiting for the fight to begin. It was a very elaborate display, a massive volcano filled with raging hot lava. Chen's smirk stayed firmly on his face. Y/n glanced around the crowd, her eyes landing on Skylor, who was anxiously wringing her hands. "She doesn't.... does she?" thought Y/n. It didn't seem likely; they'd only met twenty-four hours ago. Still, Skylor certainly wasn't excited about, to say the least.
Chen raised his hands, calling the drums to a halt. He turned his full attention back to the two competitors standing in wait. "Kai, Master of Fire, versus Ash, Master of Smoke. Fight!"
Kai made a break for the blade, sat in the center of an old rope bridge. Ash shook the bridge over and back, sending the Jadeblade flying into the volcano, landing on one of the rocks below. Kai quickly grabbed onto the side of the bridge before the same could happen to him.
"Come on Kai, you can do it!" yelled Lloyd. The others cheered their friend on.
Kai scaled along the bottom of the bridge, jumping through to the other side at the center and aimed a kick at Ash. Ash disappeared, avoiding the attack, before reappearing behind him. He threw puffs of smoke at Kai, sending him into coughs and splutters. Kai advanced towards him, being met by more smoke. He through punch after punch at him, but Ash dodged them every time. Ash used this to his advantage, sending a hard blow to him that through him to the other end of the bridge. Kai hung on by a single plank of wood.
Half of the crowd cheered at this, and the other (mostly made up of the ninja and Y/n) either gasped or groaned. Skylor hid her face in her hands, again grabbing Y/n's attention. If she was being honest, she thought Skylor was overreacting a little bit. For the entire fight, she was either gasping with fear or looking away. Seemed a little much to Y/n, since she'd only met both fighters a day earlier.
"Best keep an eye on her", thought Y/n.
Lloyd and the others began cheering Kai on. "Come on Kai! Use your power!" Miraculously, Kai seemed to have heard them. He swung back and forth, before using his Spinjitzu.
"Ninja-Go!"
Kai, now staring Ash in the eye, lit his hands ablaze and fired blasts of fire towards him. Ash tried the same move with his smoke, but the two were more evenly matched. Still, Ash managed to dodge the fire, disappearing and reappearing at a moment's notice. But that had been Kai's plan all along. Kai set the bridge on fire, causing it to break and send the competitors into the volcano below. They both landed safely on rocks scattered about the interior of the volcano. Both now stared at the Jadedblade. They met in the middle, attacking each other, before jumping back to their original positions. Ash made a break for the blade, Kai dived after, throwing a blast of fire his way. Ash avoided it, giving Kai just enough time to grab the Jadeblade. He raised it over his head, triumphantly.
"Winner!" yelled Chen.
The crowd cheered and whooped. The team broke into celebration, congratulating their friend at a thousand miles an hour.
"Loser!" sneered Chen, pressing a button on his throne and dropping Ash into who knows where. "Master of Fire moves on."
Grinning, Kai was released and ran to his team. The group welcomed him back, before leaving the arena, a new sense of hope within them. However, this small act of jubilation did not go unnoticed by a certain Clouse...
********
The team strolled into the main hall and were greeted by a huge crowd gathered in front of the bracket board. "What's with all the commotion?" asked Cole. Y/n pushed through the crowd to get a closer look. What she saw knocked the wind out of her. "What is?!?" yelled Jay.
"What with all the fuss? Its-". Lloyd stopped dead in his tracks.
"What now?"
The crowd parted, revealing the change the was made to brackets. The group gasped and turned to Jay and Cole. There on the board was the line-up for the next fight. Jay versus Cole.
"We've got to fight...each other!"
Jay began to freak out. "We can't fight each other! It was supposed to be my day off."
Cole groaned. The two glared at each other, half of pure panic, and half of resentment. Clouse, followed closely by some of Chen's cronies, strolled towards them. "Is something the matter?" he sneered.
"You cheated! You changed the brackets!"
"Oopsie", was all he said in response, twiddling his fingers as he walked away. The two guards howled with laughter before exiting after him. Garmadon came forward.
"What do we do?!? They can't fight each other!" cried Lloyd.
"We cannot undo what is done. My only advise is that you be at peace with one another."
"Peace?!? One of us must lose!" Jay yelled. "Oh, it's definitely going to be me. He has super strength, what do I have?!? Quick, tell me, WHAT DO I HAVE?!?"
"Jay, now's not the time to be getting insecure. We'll figure it out."
"Y/n's right. Your fight's not until tonight. We still have time to figure out what Chen's up to. And I think I know just the guy that can help."
********
Neuro was perched on a rock, deep in thought. The ninja approached, and Lloyd cleared his throat. "Hey uh-"
"You want me to help you figure out what Chen's up to so you can stop the fight between Cole and Jay."
"Don't forget-"
"You still don't know where your mechanical friend is and have no idea where he may be."
"Wow, that's pretty impressive Nerdo-"
"It's Neuro! Master of the Mind. And Cole here things that Jay won't last long in a fight."
"You think that?" Jay asked, glaring at Cole.
"Don't be offended Cole. Jay here things that you're the least valuable ninja."
"You don't say?" he snarled. The two began to fight amongst themselves. Lloyd, frustrated enough already, pushed past them.
"We came here for your help, not to make things worse."
"And why should I help you? Your competition."
"If you want the truth, just look inside my head and you'll see what this tournament is really about."
Intrigued, Neuro searched through Lloyd's mind, coming across the memory of Karloff getting his powers taken away.
"This tournament isn't about glory, it's about Chen stealing our powers. But if we work together, we might be able to stop him. So, are you in?"
Neuro sighed lightly, before reluctantly agreeing. Lloyd gave him instructions to look inside Chen's head, before parting ways. Y/n however hung back. "If Neuro can see inside people's heads..."
"Hey, uh, Neuro-"
"You want to know if I can look inside your mind and figure out what your powers are."
"I- yeah, that."
"I'm sorry Y/n. It doesn't work like that."
"What do you mean?"
"I can only see a person's memories or thoughts. I can't see something you don't know to be true. I can see things as far as the subconscious, but if neither knows the answer to your problem, there's nothing I can do."
"So, what you're saying is unless I have some kind of memory about it, you can't find it?"
"Yes, that is correct."
She sighed heavily. "Well, thanks for trying", she muttered, turning to leave. Neuro looked on in concern. He felt bad for looking in her mind, although she did ask. He hadn't intended on glimpsing that memory. He opened his mouth to say something, but the words disappeared on his tongue. What was he even supposed to say? He didn't know, so he turned and left, wrapped up in his own thoughts.
********
Cole and Jay waited within small, enclosed rooms off a gladiator style arena. Both had strung up punching bags from the ceiling, with a photo of the others face taped onto them. Kai and Y/n stood outside of Jay's section, while Lloyd waited outside Cole's. Jay was busy attacking the bag.
"Thinks I won't last long in a fight; just wait till he sees this!"
He zapped the bag, before kicking it hard enough to knock it off the ceiling. The photo fell to the floor. Jay looked down at it, a wave of regret washing over him. But he shoved it down; why should he forgive Cole, the one who stole his girlfriend, the one who treated him so wrongly? No, he wouldn't. He couldn't bring himself to forget everything.
Meanwhile, Cole was battling his punching bag from within his enclosure. He punched the bag repeatedly, kicking it in anger. He used his Spinjitzu, sending the bag back to the dust. He too watched as the photo of Jay fell to the ground. He too felt that wave of regret, but unlike Jay, he did not let it die. He hadn't intended on hurting his friend, of course not. But he did, and now he was here. And he was about to hurt him again.
Neuro ran over to where Kai and Y/n stood. He had found something.
"Ugh, you're cutting it close!"
"Never mind that, did you get to see inside Chen's head?"
"I'm sorry, Clouse stopped me from getting close to him."
"Good, then we can finally put this feud to rest!" yelled Jay.
"I did see something in Clouse's head. The powers he's gathering, it's for a spell."
"A spell for what?"
"I don't know, I only caught a glance, but it's in his spell book on page one-forty -nine. I'm sorry it's not enough to stop the fight."
"It's ok, you did what you could. Thanks for trying."
Y/n turned to Jay. "Look, I don't know the whole story, but why hold grudges against your friends?"
"He-"
"He is a human being, as are you. We make mistakes you know. Just don't make the one of never forgiving. It'll destroy you. Think about that."
Kai signalled to Lloyd, letting him know that the fight was still on. Lloyd shook his head, defeated.
"You don't have to say it. It was inevitable that we were going to face each other. If anything, it's better that it's Jay, this fight's been a long time coming."
"Well, I'm not a peace with this, but that doesn't mean you still can't find peace with each other. We can't control when we fight, but we can control how we fight. Jay isn't your enemy, Chen is. Remember that."
"Wu once said that the best way to defeat your enemy is to make them your friend, but how do you defeat your friend?"
The bars of were raised, and the music sounded over the arena. Kai and Y/n left Jay,and Lloyd left Cole. They joined Garmadon in the crowd. "You did all you could. It's up to them now."
The drums sounded, and Chen's voice echoed over the crowd. "Let the tournament continue! Jay. Master of Lightning, versus Cole, Mater of-"
He was cut off by the two comrades charging at each other. Jay blasted lightning at Cole, and Cole responded with a blast of earth. "How did you like that, least valuable ninja?" mocked Jay.
"Eat dirt Bluebell!"
There powers met, locking against each other. "Stronger than you thought, aye? That's your betrayal flowing through my veins!"
"I'm looking forward to the peace and quiet around here when you're out of the tournament!"
They pushed back against each other, Cole overthrowing Jay. He watched as he slowly got to his feet. He remembered what Lloyd said.
"Ugh, what are we doing? I don't want you out. You're not my enemy, Chen is!"
"Sure, act like you're my friend then swoop in to steal the prize. Typical Cole manoeuvre!" Jay cried, lightning flowing from his fingertips. He approached Cole menacingly.
"I never meant to hurt you, Jay. If I knew it would destroy our friendship, I'd take it all back!"
Jay was stumped by his words. He remembered what Y/n said. "Well, if we're being honest, I was upset about losing Nya, but I was more upset about losing you. We used to be great friends."
"The best, right? We should've said this long ago, instead of keeping this bottled up."
"Agreed. But how do we stop fighting? We can't both win."
"Maybe if we draw it out, they'll call it a tie. Quick, attack me, but not hard!"
They began sparing each other, throwing slower, more deliberate punches and dodging back and forth. The crowd booed at this. Chen moaned from his throne. "What is this, patty cake? I'm bored. Release the Condra-Crushers!"
At that moment, four vehicles, driven by Chen's followers entered the arena. Bladesspan dangerously and surrounded both Jay and Cole. They stood back-to-back; fists raised.
"I've got your back!"
"And I've got yours!"
Together, they used their Spinjitzu to dodge the first vehicle, sending it crashing it into the arena wall. The team grinned. They were back.
Cole created a small stone ramp, sending the second vehicle into the air. He caught it and threw it back against the incoming third. Jay jumped onto the fourth, and electrocuted the driver, bringing it to a slow stop.
"Enough! I know what you are trying to do!" yelled Chen. "If one of you won't win, then both of you will lose!" He frantically pressed buttons on his throne. The floor began the crumple beneath them. They dodged the growing gaps threatening to drop them into the dark hole below.
"Agh, Chen's right. We can't both win, there can only be one!"
"And it should be you! We both know I'm lucky enough to have even made it this far. You take the blade!"
Cole ran for the pillar stood in the centre ofthe arena and grabbed the blade. Without a moment's hesitation, he threw it to Jay.
"Winner!"
Jay, shocked, looked to Cole. "Loser!" yelled Chen.
"It's yours Jay. We both know I should've bowed out long ago. Win this thing."
The ground fell beneath him, and Cole was dropped into the abyss below. Garmadon turned to the others. "Cole may be gone, but he did not lose. He fought like a true ninja."
********
Zane drilled through the bars frantically, finally breaking through the cell on the other side. "Pixal, I'm through. Now let's get-"
He was horrified. Pixal's parts lay scattered across the room. A make-shift computer stood on a table at the far end. Pixal was on the monitor.
"Pixal, you're-"
"Scrapped. I know. But I couldn't tell you, not when you needed to get out of here. Unfortunately, this is where my journey ends. Zane you must go on. Find your friends, stop Chen. I know you have can do it. And don'tworry about me. I'll be fine."
Zane was heartbroken. His eyes trailed to a hard drive, plugged into the monitor. He had an idea. He plugged out the hard drive and plugged it into his head. Pixal appeared on his screen.
"Zane, you're a genius!"
"Not a genius. Upgraded. Now let's get out of-"
At that moment, a surge of energy ran through him, and he was knocked out.
"Next time, time up the Nindroid in chains he couldn't cut through."
*********
Way out in Ninjago, Nya was searching for the ninja. She spotted the falcon flying towards her. "Where did you come from?"
At that moment, her screen flashed red. "Zane's response beacon? But that's impossible."
The beacon was tracked to a small island off the coast.
"Master Wu, come in. I think I may have found the ninja."