After a short while, Wu directed everyone to sit down in a circle on the floor, since there were no chairs available. Keaton had the candle stick, still glowing brightly in the dim morning light and Wu asked her to put it in the middle of the room so they all could see better. Then, he took a deep breath. He looked from Kai, shaken and breathing heavily from fear and adrenaline, to Cole, tense with anticipation, to Jay, eyes wide with excitement and confusion, to Zane, silent and unreadable.
“Would somebody please tell me what’s going on?” Kai suddenly asked. His voice was shaky and hoarse.
“I suppose we ought to start at the beginning,” said Wu, looking at Kai. “This is the YamaDera monastery outside of Ninjago City.”
“Ninjago City?!” Kai blurted.
“Yes. We brought you here for your safety.”
“But I need to save my sister! She’s in terrible danger!”
“And how were you planning on rescuing her?” said Wu sharply. “By storming the Undead Citadel and defeating the entire Skulkin army singlehandedly?”
Kai was silent.
“We will help you save your sister, but we have more pressing matters to attend to, first,” Wu continued.
“So we’re saving a girl?” Jay asked, his eyebrows rising. “Is she hot?”
“Jay,” Cole groaned, elbowing him.
“I-I just wanna know what we’re getting ourselves into,” said Jay. No one in the room seemed to be very convinced, least of all Kai who was now glaring at him. After a moment Jay turned to look at Kai and asked, “Does she like blue?”
“Back off!” Kai growled.
Just then, Wu let out a very intentional cough to regain their attention. “The reason I have brought you all here—the ‘mission’ I had mentioned—is of the upmost secrecy. You may not breathe a word of what you hear and see outside of this company, understood?” He waiting for all of them to nod. “As you know, I am Master Wu, tactical advisor to the Imperial Army, and ex-captain of his majesty’s personal guard, and I need your help.
“Garmadon’s forces have not moved from their stronghold at the Jade river, and our spies have informed us as to the reason: Garmadon is looking for special weapons. Weapons that would assure his victory.” Everyone in the room swallowed hard. “They are called the Four Golden Weapons of Spinjitsu. They were created very long ago by a very powerful person, and each one has the ability to control an element. The Scythe of Quakes, the Nunchucks of Lightning, the Daggers of Ice, and the Sword of Fire. It is said that their power is so great, that if one man should hold even one, it would surely destroy him. Therefore, I cannot wield them. However, there are those who, in theory, would be able to control this power; they are those already born with the elements inside of them.”
“You mean, elemental powers!?” Jay cried.
“Not so loud,” Wu said with a frown. “Very few know of the existence of the elementals, and we must strive to keep it that way.” Jay looked as though he was going to ask another question, but Cole beat him to it.
“You mean, all of us... we were all born with an elemental power?” he asked.
“Yes,” said Wu. “Zane, Master of Ice, Kai, Master of Fire, Jay, Master of Lightning, and Cole, Master of Earth.” Every eye in the room widened.
“Lightning?!” Jay squealed, attempting to hold back his enthusiasm. “But, wait, he just used his power, and she has, like, water powers, so how come we haven’t used our powers?” He looked at Cole and Zane as he said it, but the looks on their faces told him everything he needed to know. “Wait, you guys already knew about your powers?”
Cole looked down at his hands. “Yeah,” he replied. “For a while now. But all that time... I can’t believe I wasn’t the only one.” He looked around the room at everyone with an expression of bewilderment mixed with curiosity.
“It comes from within you,” Wu explained. “It is a part of you. And as for your question, Jay, I do not have the answer. In truth, I know very little about the way your individual powers behave, and it will be mostly up to you to figure out how to control them, although I will offer what little knowledge I do have.” Wu closed his eyes and reached out one of his old, weathered hands. Suddenly, a light began to shine in his palm—small at first, but it quickly grew to the size of a baseball. Other smaller balls of light swarmed around the first like electrons and atoms, until with a final pulse, the light faded and a porcelain tea cup was all that remained.
Wu’s hand began to shake terribly, and he pulled it back toward him very suddenly, but he kept the cup out where they could see.
“You... you’re like us?” Jay asked.
“In a way,” the master said, breathing a cough or two. “However, my ability, as you can see, is not elemental. It is an ancient power, passed on to me from my father. The power of creation.”
He might as well have said “I am Emperor Meiji.” Every single child in Ninjago knew of the stories of The First Spinjitsu Master, wielder of the powers of creation and destruction, creator of Ninjago, whether they believed them or not. So the only thing Wu could have meant to say is that he was the son of The First Spinjitsu Master.
Everyone’s jaw dropped, at least a little. There was stunned silence for several minutes before Jay found his voice again.
“What the hay to you need us for, then?” he asked. “Also, do we need to, like, bow or something?”
Wu chuckled. “There’s no need. I am still just a man. In fact, more man than my father was. My mother was... mortal, after all.” He paused, lost in an old memory. “But I am not my father. My powers are minuscule compared to his, especially in my old age, and even he required the aid of the Golden Weapons to create Ninjago.”
Again, there was silence. The only people unfazed by this information were Ann and Keaton. They had never known the whole story, but they were very much aware of his lineage. It was something that always made Ann go rigid in his presence.
All at once—though none of them realised what the others were feeling—they all felt that strange tingling in the backs of their heads again. Its humming seemed to calm their nerves a decent bit, to the point where they could talk again.
“So, you’re basically a demigod?” Cole asked.
Wu sighed. “I suppose that is one term for it.”
“You must be at least a thousand years old!” Jay cried.
“Actually, it should make him closer to seven hundred years old,” Zane said simply.
“Very good, Zane,” said Wu. Again, they stared in wonder. “And the last thing you should know... the reason why Garmadon is such a threat... the reason why an old man like me would pull himself out of retirement to fight... is to stop my brother from destroying everything I hold dear.” He paused to let them all take in this new information. “As I inherited part of my father’s power, so did he. Garmadon is my other half... the wielder of destruction.”
“I think my brain is going explode,” Kai mumbled.
“Ditto,” said Jay. “Okay, okay, let me get this straight: you and Lord Garmadon are the children of the First Spinjitsu Master and you’re both trying to get to the Golden Weapons before the other guy does?”
“Correct.”
“And you need us to help you, because we can actually use the weapons, even though they’re stupid powerful?” Jay went on.
“Also correct.”
“Well, I just have one thing to say... sign me up! Let’s do this!” Jay shouted. “When do I get to throw lightning?”
“Now, hold on,” Wu warned. “Before accepting, you must understand the great responsibility that has been bestowed upon you. This will be no easy feat. In fact, it will be the most dangerous thing any of you have ever faced in your entire lives.”
“If it liberates my home from the constant threat of soldiers, I will join you.” Everyone turned to Zane with surprise. He seemed to be the most suspicious of the group, and yet he was the first to commit himself to a life-threatening cause.
“I’m still in, no matter what, Master Wu!” Jay continued. “This is the coolest thing that has ever happened to me in my whole life! Plus I’ll be saving lives, and who knows? Some pretty girls, too?” Everyone rolled their eyes, even Wu.
Cole looked down at his hands for moment. “This is the only worthwhile thing I’ll probably ever do with my life,” he said solemnly. “I’m in.”
All eyes turned to Kai.
He fiddled with the sash on his robe for a moment. “Look, all I care about is saving my sister. So if you guys are gonna actually help me do that, I guess it wouldn’t kill me to help you out,” he said.
“Uh, it might,” Jay piped up. “You did hear the part about it being life-threatening, didn’t you?” Cole elbowed him playfully.
Kai narrowed his eyes. “I guess I’m in, too.”
Wu nodded stoically and stroked his beard. “Very well. You’ve all made up your minds. Now, on to—“
“Wait!” Jay interrupted. “I just remembered I have another question.”
“Yes?” Wu sighed.
“How are we going to find the weapons before Garmadon does?”
“Well, that was precisely what we needed to discuss next. You see, after realising that the weapons were far too powerful for the people of Ninjago, my father hid them away in the farthest reaches of the land and he left but one map to find them.”
“So, we find the map, we find the weapons?” Cole guessed.
“Actually, we already have the map,” said Wu, and he turned toward Kai.
“What?” he asked suddenly.
“My father did not have many close friends. One of the only people he ever trusted was your grandfather,” Wu explained.
“My...” Kai breathed. “He knew my grandfather?”
“For a time, yes. I don’t suppose you ever met him?” asked Wu.
Kai turned away slightly. “No.”
Wu frowned. “Well, let’s hope this works, then.” He rose from his mat and took a step closer to Kai.
“What are you doing?” he asked as Wu offered him his hand. When Kai took it, he lifted him up to his feet.
“The map we need is no ordinary map. To ensure that it never fell into the wrong hands, my father implanted the directions into your grandfather’s mind.” Wu explained. Kai’s eyes widened. “If I may?”
Wu raised his hand and laid his palm on Kai’s forehead. Suddenly, it felt like he was being pulled backward, or falling down, into a deep, dark abyss. There were flashes of images, most of them bright yellow and orange—flying sparks, campfires, dazzling sunsets, even a dress his mother had worn once. Then they stopped with such force, Kai was surprised that he hadn’t fallen over, and there it was, the image of the map, floating in the air. The memory became so clear in his mind now. He had always known the locations of those weapons, and yet...
Kai opened his eyes and sucked in a sharp breath of air as Wu lowered his hand and they were both launched back into reality.
“How did you do that?” Kai asked, shaking.
“I have more than one trick up my sleeve,” said Wu. “My father was truly brilliant, though. To hide a map within the subconscious of a mind.... and then have that same map pass from generation to generation... truly brilliant.”
Kai sat back down and put his face in his hands.
“Hey, are you okay?” Cole leaned over to ask.
“I’m done. I’m just done. I can’t take any more weirdness for today.” Kai muttered, sounding almost on the verge of a breakdown. “I’m cold, I don’t remember how I got here, and I smell like wet dog.”
“Make that wet dog with a side of burned wood,” Jay mentioned.
Wu came over to Kai and laid a hand on his shoulder. “You should go get some rest. In fact, we should all get some rest. The sun is rising, and we head for the Caves of Despair tomorrow.”
Kai finally let the fatigue he’d been holding back take over. He had been working in the blacksmith shop almost none stop for days, then Nya was taken away, and now all this. Cole had to help him to his feet and all the boys walked him to his room, which was just across from Jay’s. They helped him out of the robe, which Jay took back immediately, and then laid him down on the sleeping mat. The moment his head hit the pillow, Kai fell into a very deep, restful sleep.
Cole made sure to close the door as quietly as he could and then turned to the others who were still standing in the hall.
“One heck of a morning, huh?” he said quietly. Jay and Zane nodded. “And I guess we’re all ‘elementals’?”
“Yeah, but apparently you guys have already used your powers?” Jay asked.
“Yeah, you haven’t?” said Cole, his brow furrowed with confusion.
“Do I look like ‘the-living-lightning-rod’?” Jay countered.
“No, you look more like a white-faced monkey,” said Zane, without a hint of sarcasm.
Jay turned and gave him a bizarre look. “You know what, I don’t have the energy for this right now,” he said as he rubbed his eyes.
“Yeah, same,” Cole said, yawning. “See you guys in a few hours.”
“See ya.”
“MmmHmm.”
They all retreated to their rooms and tried to regain the sleep they had lost, but none of them slept more soundly than Kai.
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