Chapter Text
Ninjago City was a busy place. It was the main capital of Ninjago after all. There were many villages that surrounded the city, along with forests and unexplored territory, but Ninjago City was the most important city of Ninjago. The city was most well known for the dragon hunters. They were trained at the Academy in the city to defend Ninjago from the dreaded dragonbloods that often caused havoc throughout the land. However, there were other things in Ninjago City that people would come to see. Most notably was all the performers who lived in the city and traveled around, bringing entertainment for the people of Ninjago to distract from the fear of the dragonbloods attacking.
The sun was bright, the citizens of Ninjago City were all happy as there hadn’t been any dragonblood attacks recently. It had seemed that ever since Garmadon created his army to defend against the dragonbloods, the city had been even safer than ever. A young boy excitedly ran inside his house, his mother following behind.
“Dad! Dad!” the boy cheered excitedly. “Dad, guess what!?”
“What is it, Cole?” the boy’s father asked.
“Today, me and Mom, we went to the mountain and I fell and scraped my knee! Look at it!” Cole excitedly pointed at the scrape on his knee, causing his father to flinch back.
“Cole, calm down,” his mother said as she walked into the room.
“Ruby, how could you let our son hurt himself like this?” the father asked.
“Oh, Lou, you worry too much,” Ruby said, messing up her son’s hair. “You can’t prevent him from getting hurt every once in a while. Now c’mon, Cole, let’s go get your knee cleaned up.”
“But I’m not done talking about our adventure!” Cole argued.
“You can tell me about it when you clean up,” Lou assured. “We don’t want you getting an infection.”
“Oh, alright…” Cole agreed reluctantly. He followed his mom into the bathroom where she pulled out some basic medical supplies.
“This may sting a bit,” Ruby warned as she got ready to clean the scratch.
“I’m not scared of pain!” Cole assured.
“Alright, tough guy,” Ruby teased. She gently put the rag on the scratch.
“OW!” Cole yelled. “That hurts!”
“I warned you,” Ruby stated. “Now sit still so I can finish cleaning it.” After she finished, she grabbed a bandage and put it over the scratch. “There, good as new.”
Cole jumped up and ran out of the bathroom, Ruby following behind him.
“Dad!” he yelled, running up and hugging his dad.
“Woah, calm down there, Cole,” Lou said, rubbing his son’s head.
“Can I tell you about my adventure now?” Cole asked.
“Aw, sorry, Cole, but I have to leave,” Lou apologized. “The guys called me and I have to go on a performance for the next couple of days.”
“Aww, but you always leave to go perform,” Cole whined.
“Don’t worry, Cole,” Lou assured, “someday you’ll be a performer just like me, and then we can travel together.”
“I don’t want to be a performer,” Cole objected, “I wanna be an explorer! I wanna discover new territory!”
Lou sighed. “I know, but I think you’d like being a performer.”
“Lou, can we talk for a bit?” Ruby asked. The two walked into another room. Cole hid behind the corner, listening in on his parents’ conversation.
“When are you going to stop pressuring him to be a performer?” Ruby asked. “You know that isn’t what he wants.”
“But it’s safe,” Lou explained. “Who knows what kind of trouble he would get into if he started exploring.”
“It’s what he wants,” Ruby argued, “and you should be more supportive of him.”
“I’m trying to protect him, Ruby!” Lou argued.
“From what?”
“You know what.”
“Lou, if you really wanted to protect him, you would let me tell him.”
“No, the less he knows the better.”
Cole decided to stop listening before one of his parents caught him. He went to his room and sat on his bed, letting out a sigh. He looked out his window into the backyard. They didn’t really own a lot of playground equipment. Instead, their backyard was filled with decorations like a small fountain and some benches. It looked more like a public park than a playground. That’s why Cole always enjoyed going out to the mountain with his mother. He was allowed to be rough and have fun. And of course he loved his father, but he was more strict than his mother was.
Cole heard his door open and saw his mother walk in.
“Hey, Cole,” she greeted.
“Did Dad leave again?” Cole asked.
Ruby sighed. “Yeah. He should be back in a couple of days.”
“Why does he have to leave all the time?” Cole pouted. “He never spends any time with us.”
Ruby sat down next to her son and rubbed his head. “Cole, your father loves you. You know that, right?”
Cole shrugged. “He says he does, but then I feel like he just leaves all the time instead of ever actually spending time with me.”
“Cole, sweetie, your father is a busy man,” Ruby explained. “I know it may not seem like it, but being a performer is a very busy job. It’s an important one too.”
“You’re not gonna try to make me be a performer too, are you?” Cole asked.
“Of course not,” Ruby assured. “I know it’s what your father wants, but I know it isn’t what you want.”
Cole paused for a bit and then looked up at his mother. “Hey, Mom?”
“Yeah?”
“Why doesn’t Dad want me to be an explorer?”
Ruby flinched a bit, hesitant to answer. “Well, it's… complicated, Cole,” she explained. “There are a lot of things about this world that I just can’t tell you. The world can be very cruel, and your father is scared that the world will hurt you.”
“I’m strong,” Cole assured, “I won’t let anyone hurt me!”
Ruby let out a soft chuckle. “I know, Cole, but sometimes, you have no control on whether you get hurt or not.”
“Dad doesn’t need to be worried about me,” Cole reassured. “Maybe if he saw how far I threw that rock today, he wouldn’t be as worried about me.”
Ruby laughed again. “Maybe.” She stood up. “How about we go get something to eat?”
“Oo! Can we get cake?” Cole asked.
“Something for dinner, Cole,” Ruby clarified.
“You can have cake for dinner,” Cole argued.
______________________________________________
Years had passed since that conversation Cole had with his mother. Cole started going to the mountain by himself sometimes along with his trips he took with his mother. His father still disapproved of his constant hikes, but his mother always had his back. Cole and his father started getting into more arguments as Cole got older, but his mother was always there to keep them all together. One time, Cole got into a big argument with his father. He ended up storming off to his room, slamming the door behind him.
Cole jumped onto his bed, yelling into his pillow. He raised his head off of his pillow.
“I am so tired of it!” he yelled. “He thinks he knows everything! He thinks he knows what’s best for me when he hasn’t even been in my life long enough to even know who I am!”
Cole was interrupted by a gentle knock on his door.
“Cole, it’s your mother,” Ruby informed.
“Come in,” Cole said.
Ruby walked in and saw her son sitting on his bed, his arms tucked into the pocket of his sweatshirt. Ruby sighed before sitting next to him, wrapping her arms around him.
“I know it’s hard, Cole,” Ruby reassured. “Your father can be really difficult.”
“More like impossible,” Cole mumbled.
“I know it may not seem like it, but your father loves you more than anything in this world.”
“If he loves me so much, how come he never wants anything to do with me?”
“Cole, that isn’t true,” Ruby said, her voice stern.
“He’s never home, Mom!” Cole argued, “He’d rather be out working than at home with his family! I just get the feeling he hates me sometimes…”
Ruby wrapped her son in a full hug. “He does not hate you,” she reassured. “Cole, you are the most wonderful, amazing person in the world.” She gave Cole a kiss on the forehead. “Don’t you ever forget that.”
Cole sighed. “I won’t…” he promised.
Ruby released Cole and stood up.
“Ruby!” Lou called from the other room, “You have a letter!”
Ruby sighed. “I better go. You gonna be ok?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Cole assured, “I feel better now.”
Ruby smiled before leaving the room. She walked downstairs where Lou was holding the letter.
“I don’t recognize the sender,” Lou stated.
“Oh, Lou, I know a lot of people you don’t know about,” Ruby teased, grabbing the letter.
“Alright, well, if you need me, I’ll be in the kitchen starting dinner.”
“Alright.” Ruby looked at the envelope. “Weird, I don’t recognize this name either.” She opened up the letter and read it. “Oh no…” she said quietly. She looked around, panic in her eyes. She took another look at the letter before clenching it in a fist and shoving it into her jacket.
“Lou, I gotta go, I’ll be back,” she called.
“Alright,” Lou called back.
Ruby opened the front door before looking back. She sighed. “I’m sorry,” she whispered before leaving quietly.
______________________________________________
Ruby reread the letter once more. “Meet at the Dragon’s Plain…” she reread before looking up. “This is it. Where are they?”
She heard rustling and turned around quickly to see multiple people walk out of the bushes, a woman with dark hair leading them. She held a katana in her hand, the other people holding various other weapons.
“Aw, if it isn’t Ruby,” the woman greeted. “Thought you would be able to hide forever, huh?”
“What do you want, Scarlett?” Ruby demanded.
“Oh, I think it’s obvious what we want,” Scarlett responded, turning to the others. “Garmadon has ordered us to kill all dragonbloods. We’ve been on quite a roll lately, haven’t we?”
The other soldiers laughed.
“Garmadon said next one on the list was the earth dragonblood,” Scarlett continued, “and I have to admit, Ruby, you’ve been hard to find.”
“I haven’t caused any problems for anyone,” Ruby argued. “You have no reason to kill me.”
“Just because you haven’t caused any problems doesn’t mean you won’t cause any,” Scarlett retaliated.
“C’mon, boss, she’ll be easy to take down. She’s out of practice,” one of the grunts spoke.
“Out of practice?” Ruby questioned. “I’m not too sure about that.”
She stomped her foot on the ground, causing the earth to shake. Multiple soldiers lost their footing and fell over. Ruby continued to concentrate her power, creating a large rock from the ground, sending multiple soldiers flying back.
“Don’t just stand there, get her!” Scarlett ordered.
The remaining soldiers ran towards Ruby with their weapons. Ruby managed to dodge their attacks and beat them back with multiple rocks she would launch at them. One by one, each soldier fell.
“Wow, you guys are almost a challenge,” Ruby taunted, taking off her jacket and tying it around her waist.
“You’re all useless!” Scarlett yelled.
She ran at Ruby with her sword, swinging it rapidly. Ruby blocked each swing with a wall of earth, each wall getting destroyed by Scarlett’s blade. Eventually, Scarlett landed a blow, cutting into Ruby’s arm. Ruby winced at the pain, but kept calm. She pushed Scarlett back with a rock she shot up out of the ground. She looked at the cut on her arm. Blood trickled from it.
“I’m curious, Ruby,” Scarlett said, standing back up, “you haven’t transformed. Why is that?”
Ruby didn’t answer. Instead, she shot another rock at Scarlett, but she dodged easily.
“You didn’t pass your powers on, did you?” Scarlett questioned. “Leaving you with only your basic elemental powers?” She kicked Ruby down, sending her sliding away. Ruby sat up, looking back at Scarlett as she approached. “How stupid could you be? Or, maybe you’re just sick and cruel, willingly making your child a monster.”
“RAGH!” Ruby yelled, shooting a giant piece of rock at Scarlett, knocking her over. Ruby got up and stood over the soldier. “He is not a monster! He is my SON!”
“So, you do have a child,” Scarlett confirmed.
Ruby froze, realizing what she had done. Scarlett took this as an opportunity to catch Ruby off guard. She quickly got up and kicked Ruby’s legs, knocking her over.
“You know, maybe you should’ve done what Libber did,” Scarlett taunted. “She was smart. She got rid of her baby. But you kept yours for some reason.”
Ruby stared up at Scarlett, her face filled with rage.
“You can’t rely on your anger, Ruby,” Scarlett continued, “Your dragon days are over, along with every other day.”
Scarlett swung her sword one more time at Ruby, finishing her mission.
______________________________________________
“Dad, I’m going out for a bit,” Cole said, putting on his sweatshirt as he entered the room. Lou turned to his son, his face full of worry. “Dad? What’s wrong?”
“Cole, I-” Lou’s voice was shaky, “I… I don’t know how to tell you this, but… Your mother is dead…”
Cole’s face turned to complete shock. “What do you mean?” he asked.
“Cole, her body was found last night,” Lou explained, “the police don’t know what happened.”
Cole stepped back, shaking his head. “No, no no no!” he yelled. Tears started to form in his eyes.
Lou put his hand on his son’s shoulder. “I’m sorry Cole. She’s gone…”
Cole sat down on the sofa, covering his face with his hands, tears running down his cheeks. Lou attempted to comfort his son, but Cole smacked his hand away.
“Don’t touch me!” Cole yelled. He got up and ran to his room.
“Cole!” Lou called after his son, but he wouldn’t listen.
Cole slammed his door shut. He sat on his bed and wrapped his arms around himself. “Mom…” he mumbled through the tears. “Please… please don’t be gone! I need you!” He turned to look outside his window. He wiped the tears off of his face, but more kept coming to replace the old ones. The sheets on his bed became dappled with spots where his tears fell. He laid down on his bed and curled up, trying to stop crying.
Cole refused to leave his room for the rest of the day. Lou didn’t know whether or not to bother his son, but he decided to just leave him be. Cole eventually fell asleep and woke up the next day. He left his room to find food since he hadn’t eaten since yesterday morning.
He noticed a note on the fridge as he entered the kitchen.
“Cole, I left to go and do some extra performances, I should be back in about a week,” Cole read the note. “Great.”
He opened the fridge and grabbed a leftover sandwich from a couple days ago. It was kinda stale, but Cole didn’t mind much. He looked at a picture on the wall. It was a picture of him as a kid along with his parents. He looked at his mother’s smile. I’ll never see her smile again… Cole realized. He went back to his room, not wanting to look at the picture anymore. He sat in his room and pulled out a pair of headphones. He put them on and started listening to some music to clear his head. She’s really gone… He still didn’t want to believe it. His mother was always there for him when he needed her, but now she was gone. And the worst part was, he didn’t even know how she died. No one did. Cole sighed and turned his music up, trying to drown out his sad thoughts.
This had become his routine for the weeks ahead. It had been about three weeks and his father was still gone. Cole eventually had to go out and buy some groceries with his own money. He got back, carrying four bags completely full of groceries. As he walked inside, he saw his dad.
“Oh, Cole, there you are,” Lou said as his son walked inside. “I’m sorry I was gone for so long, I-”
Cole completely ignored his father. He angrily put the bags in the kitchen and went to his room. He sat on his bed and pulled out his headphones, but was interrupted by a knock on his door.
“Cole?” Lou said as he opened the door.
“What?” Cole asked angrily.
“How are you feeling?” Lou asked.
Cole rolled his eyes. “How do you think?”
“Hey, do not have an attitude with me, young man,” Lou scolded.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Cole apologized insincerely. “My mom died and my dad decided to leave for multiple weeks leaving his son on his own.”
“I know you’re still upset about your mother, so am I,” Lou argued, “but that’s no reason to raise your voice at me.”
“So what, are you going to try and be there for me?” Cole questioned. “Because you’ve done SUCH a good job of that in the past.”
“Now, listen here, Cole.”
“No, why don’t you listen for once,” Cole interrupted. “All you do is pressure me all the time and then you leave. It’s an endless cycle of me not being good enough for you, and you leaving without even trying to get to know me.”
“Cole, that’s not true,” Lou argued.
“Oh really? All you do is leave so you don’t have to spend time with your own son! You always find excuses to avoid spending time with me!”
“Well, maybe if I had a son who cared, then I would want to spend time with him!” Lou yelled.
The whole room went silent, Cole staring blankly at his father.
“Cole, I’m sorry, I didn’t-” Lou tried to reach his hand out to comfort his son, but Cole moved out of the way. He stormed out of the room. “Cole, where do you think you’re going?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care!” Cole yelled as he headed for the front door. “But I’d rather be anywhere else than somewhere where I’m not cared about!” He slammed the front door, stomping away.
“Cole, wait!” Lou called out.
Cole started walking quicker before going into a full on sprint. Once he was alone, he let himself start to cry. Tears flew off of his face as he ran through the forest by the house. He didn’t look where he was going. He didn’t care where he was going. He just didn’t want to be at home. After running for what felt like hours, Cole stopped. He rested, leaning against a sign. He looked around and noticed he was in a familiar area. He was at the mountain. The place he would always go with his mother. He looked up at the mountain, its peak high in the sky. Cole started breathing heavier and heavier. He felt his anger building up, the sight of the mountain bringing out all of his negative emotions. He felt his anger begin to consume him, as he fell to the ground. He let out a loud yell that turned into a roar. His clothes began to tear as he became surrounded in dust. A massive dust cloud surrounded him, growing bigger and bigger along with Cole until he blasted the cloud away, revealing his dragon form.
He turned his head towards the mountain. He opened his wings and flew up to the peak. He let out a loud roar before charging a blast. He created a massive boulder and shot it at the mountain, destroying its peak. He landed on top of it, the ground flattening as he dug his claws into the rocky earth of the mountain. He let out another massive roar before turning his attention to the forest. He flew up again and launched another rock into the forest, knocking over all the trees in its path. He clawed at another tree, snapping it in half. He continued to destroy the forest around him until he heard footsteps. He turned to see an old man approaching him. He glared at the man.
“Something seems to have angered you, hasn’t it?” The old man spoke.
Cole ignored the man’s words. He leaned his head towards the old man and let out a breath through his nose, dust flying past the man.
“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you,” The old man assured. He pulled out a flute.
Cole tilted his head, confused by the old man. The old man began playing the flute. Cole blinked, his eyes wide from hearing the flute. He closed his eyes and gently sat down. His body became surrounded with dust once more until he shrunk back down to human size, transforming back to normal.
Cole sat on the ground, his clothes ripped up, his sweatshirt completely ripped off, revealing a tank top underneath. He slowly blinked his eyes open. “Wh-what happened?” He asked.
The old man stopped playing the flute and put it away. “That was your first time transforming, I assume.”
“Transforming?” Cole questioned, “What are you talking about? Why did I-”
“Shh,” The old man directed, “I will explain everything, but first, I should introduce myself. My name is Master Wu. And you are the earth dragonblood.”
“WHAT!?” Cole yelled, “But I- How? There’s no way!”
“How else would you explain turning into a dragon?” Wu questioned.
Cole took a deep breath. “I’m a… a dragonblood?”
Wu nodded.
“This is terrible! I-I’m a monster!”
“You are only a monster if you believe you are a monster,” Wu stated.
“What?”
“The world may believe dragonbloods are nothing but destructive beasts, but they do not know the true potential of the dragonbloods,” Wu turned to Cole. “If you are willing to learn, I can teach you how to control your powers. They can be used to help the world rather than hurt.”
“Help the world?” Cole looked down at his hands. He stood up, but stumbled a bit.
“Careful,” Wu advised, “a dragonblood transformation is always very draining afterwards.”
Cole regained his balance. “So, if I can learn to control these powers, I can use them to help people?” he asked.
Wu nodded. “But only if you are willing to try.”
Cole looked around at all the destruction he caused. He looked back into the forest, thinking about his home.
“If you agree to train with me, you will have to come with me back to my monastery,” Wu informed. “But you may never be able to return home.”
Cole clenched his fists. “I don’t have a home anymore…” he turned to Wu. “I’ll do it.”
“I am glad to hear that,” Wu said. “I have been looking for pupils to train, but dragonbloods have been hard to find after my brother started hunting them.”
“Brother?” Cole questioned. “You mean Garmadon is your brother?”
Wu nodded. “We have… different outlooks on dragonbloods. He believes they should all be destroyed, but I believe they should train to be able to protect others.” The two were quiet for a moment. “Come now,” Wu broke the silence, “we must head to my monastery.”
Cole nodded, following his new master.
______________________________________________
They arrived at the monastery.
“You will be the only person training here,” Wu explained, “for now, at least.”
“You mean there’s other dragonbloods who are alive?” Cole asked.
“There will always be dragonbloods,” Wu explained. “Even when one dies without children to pass their powers on to, their powers are given to someone worthy. There are plenty of dragonbloods out there. We just need to find them.” Wu turned to his new student. “We better get you some new clothes to wear.”
Cole looked down at his ripped clothes. “You have anything?”
“Why yes, I do,” Wu said. He generated a glowing ball in his hand and shot it at Cole. Cole braced for impact, but to his surprise, he wasn’t hurt. He watched as his ripped clothes turned into a black, sleeveless outfit with an earth pattern on it.
“Woah, nice,” Cole commented.
“These clothes have magic properties, so they won’t be destroyed if you transform again,” Wu explained. “Now, I’m sure you’ve had a long day. Why don’t you rest, take some time to learn about your new surroundings.”
Cole nodded. “That sounds nice,” he said. Wu walked inside the monastery, but Cole stayed outside for a bit. He looked up at the sky, smiling. “I’m gonna make you proud, Mom.” Cole turned back, following Wu inside.