#most of the problems in ninjago was caused by wu and somehow end up making it the ninja's problems AND EVEN FORGETTING THEYRE TOO YOUNG TO

[dudidump]

idc if hes the son of fsm master fung is better!!

im spamming the tags w a rant (dont read too much into it i havent rewatched the entirety of ninjago/newseasons for a while so i mightve got wu's chara wrong idk)

#HEAR ME TF OUT OKAY #most of the problems in ninjago was caused by wu and somehow end up making it the ninja's problems AND EVEN FORGETTING THEYRE TOO YOUNG TO #BE WITNESSING ALL OF THESE #“Oh no theres smth i havent told u yet” AGAIN?? #master fung lets the monks have FUN AND BE KIDS?? LIKE?? #AND IM NOT TALKING AS RARE AS WU LETS THEM!! #HE ACKNOWLEDGES THEIR STRUGGLES AND TELLS THEM ITS VALID? ITS OKAY TO GO THROUGH IT BUT HELPS THEM OVERCOME IT?? IN A MUCH CLEARER WAY?? #im not saying wu doesnt do that but ive seen him prioritize destinies n shit more 😒 #ninjago #lego ninjago #master wu #sensei wu #ninjago wu #xiaolin showdown #xiaolin chronicles #xiaolin showdown master fung #master fung

[coleisunderrated]

Season 11: The Destruction of Zane Julien

You read that right. Season 11 ended up doing nothing more but destroy everything about Zane that made him who he was and was one big middle finger to all the character development and hardships he went through. Follow the cut for why and my biggest rant yet and the bane of my time in this fandom

Making one of the ninja evil was kind of a given seeing how much the fandom wanted it. I wouldn’t have had a problem with it either but the writers decided to ‘play it safe’ by using Zane simply because he’s a robot who can just be reprogrammed. It really dehumanized him, especially after he struggled time and again to be just as human as the rest of the ninja. I know Ninjago’s writing has never been stellar but there was a whole bunch of problems with Zane being the Ice Emperor. What was the point in making him evil if he had no real reason other than a shoehorned case of amnesia? which was the laziest way to go And why would they do it if they won’t go into the undoubtedly traumatic effects it will have on him or even the changes that could’ve happened within the team?

And worst of all, all the damage from that lazy and bad writing has been done. Season 11 ended up completely destroying his character.

Before season 11, Zane was the sweetest person of Ninjago. He grew and learned about himself and the world just like any other human. He was always the odd one out but soon earned his place in the team. He had a very sweet and loving relationship with his father and even if it’s been retconned, he was also accepting of his brother Echo. He found his true potential by embracing who he was and knowing the love he had for his friends. He even sacrificed his own life to stop the Overlord, dying as a true hero. He was a true protector and went through way more than any ninja did (besides Lloyd) to save Ninjago time and again. Even if he was a robot, he was, in a way, more human than many other characters in Ninjago. His story has been told and the only way to add more was to explore more of his past such as his encounter with the previous Master of Ice or his life between his father’s first death and meeting Sensei Wu. But all of that, all the character development and growth he had, and all the suffering he endured to uphold his duty, has been rendered meaningless and thrown down the drain the moment Zane was revealed to be the irredeemable and monstrous Ice Emperor.

Zane was made to protect those who can’t protect themselves. As the Ice Emperor, he did the exact opposite by ruling not just a city like Garmadon did but an entire realm with an iron fist. He also killed countless innocent beings. He committed genocide on Krag’s species and most likely many others who weren’t lucky to have any lone survivors. The formlings and the villagers being frozen wasn’t treated as such because ‘oh hey they’re still alive, they just can’t do anything’ but it was really no better than if he actually killed them. For the formlings, their culture, way of life, and knowledge of shapeshifting, had been wiped out for countless years. He killed so many people and living things, brought so much suffering to a whole realm, and committed countless atrocities that are absolutely unforgivable. Nothing could ever make up for what he did. He jumped beyond the moral event horizon further than any villain in Ninjago ever did and yes, that includes Harumi.

Much of the fandom and even canon put all the blame on Vex and while he can be considered the true villain of the Ice Chapter and him manipulating Zane to do his dirty work for him made him all the more vile, what is often overlooked is that Zane still did these terrible things out of his own will. The scroll corrupted him but didn’t erase his will and tyrant or not, he could still disagree with Vex, make his own decisions, and even did things Vex had no say in such as imprisoning Lloyd.

And then the writers only made it even worse with the way they ended it.

When Boreal was defeated, the other ninja finally realized the Ice Emperor is Zane yeah Ninjago has never been good with subtlety I’m actually disgusted that they, especially Cole, took him back. They knew he was a genocidal tyrant who caused decades of suffering to the whole Never Realm yet they don’t have to do any fighting and let Lloyd take all the credit and welcome him back to the team like all that never happened. They all took a backseat throughout the whole Ice Chapter so Lloyd to get all the spotlight and do everything himself yet again (which is a whole other issue in of itself). And once they meet up with Zane, all of his crimes and atrocities they know he did are forgotten just because he’s their friend and the protagonist who should always be treated as a hero no matter what he does. And Krag doesn’t even seem to be scared or angry when he sees Zane, who killed his kind. And then he gets to be with the ninja for a bit before they go home while the denizens of the Never Realm don’t seem to react at all to his presence. Even if he never really showed his face up to this point, the ninja and Vex would’ve surely said something but no, he's not an evil dictator anymore and was a good guy all along so he won’t have to face any repercussions or fess up to all the horrible crimes he committed. Then again, what’s the point if nothing could ever redeem him after all that?

And the message at the beginning of the Ice Chapter has also ended up being irrelevant. It strongly implied that not only is Zane no longer the good-natured nindroid we all know and love but that there will also be no going back. The only way it could’ve had any impact at all was if Zane was actually going to be gone for good. The possibility of it being the key to restore Zane’s memories also a waste of potential. Speaking of which, it was unrealistic and a blatant deus ex machina that Vex only had to say ‘protect’ and boom! Zane’s memories are back and he returns in a flash and everything is all good and normal again. He didn’t have to struggle one bit to recover his memories. Regaining memories is not that simple and Zane didn’t even acknowledge all the harm he caused nor does he really do anything to Vex other than freezing him for a bit. At this point, he has devolved into nothing more than the unsympathetic and unforgivable karma houdini he now is.

All this makes me think of a Twitter post I saw earlier of how ‘we were not ready for the ending’. With Nya learning to control ice at one point, the writers seemed like were seriously going to kill off Zane or write him off permanently and replace him with Nya. What could’ve also happened is somehow, if Zane survived, the First Spinjitzu Master’s spirit may sense what Zane did and would be so disgusted by his actions he takes away his elemental powers and pass them on to Nya or Zane himself does so. With Zane powerless and traumatized, he ends up leaving the team for good. He certainly won’t be able to stay in the Never Realm either given all the harm he caused and everyone there would most likely want him dead. If he didn’t die, he either shuts down permanently or leaves for some completely different realm and never comes back. I remember when the whole fandom was scared something like that would happen but looking back now, those would’ve been way better than that awful finale we got. Killing off Zane for good or him leaving permanently would’ve been a very huge move and Ninjago is no stranger to this stuff but that leads to another problem. The problem isn’t whether or not the writers will make any big moves, it’s that they often end up doing a bad job at it.

And the finale. Goddamn the finale.

The finale only made Zane look even more unsympathetic and undeserving of the happy ending or anything resembling it. You can forgive the monster who killed and harmed countless innocent people and caused a devastating eternal winter to a whole realm simply because they happen to be your corrupted friend who doesn’t remember you but they’re memories came back in a snap and you can fix them in an instant with the Power of Friendship(TM)! That is complete and utter bullshit! And it completely destroyed his place in the team. He can’t be seen as a ninja or a good guy anymore and the ninja know they’re siding with a murderer and tyrant who’ll never have to face any consequences for all the terrible things he did and will most likely never address all the trauma he’ll now have. And while I may not ship Pixane, can you imagine how devastating it would be for Pixal to know what Zane did? If the Pixane episode doesn’t address any Ice Emperor stuff or her trying to help him, it’s gonna feel very... off. Honestly, Zane’s relationship with the ninja and even Pixal is now very toxic.

And no, Zane apologizing or the ninja helping him being 'behind the scenes’ just won’t cut it. We can only get so much from what actually happens in the show. Even if it appeared in the show he’s done way too many things that are too terrible to deserve even an ounce of sympathy.

Gonna diverge a bit here but am I the only one who thought Vex also got off way too easy?

Anyway, with all said and done, Zane now feels completely out of place in Ninjago. The writers most likely had a different ending in mind that would result in Zane being gone for good but they changed it at the last minute and as a result, it doesn’t feel right with him there. It no longer feels like he’s part of the team and while the ninja still serve their purpose and have more of their story to tell, Zane doesn’t seem to fit in anymore and is... just there. The Ice Chapter completely threw away all the development he had and made his story a total waste. I’m also starting to fear this will affect Pixal, who (as far as the writers are concerned) is most relevant as a love interest, not a samurai or even her own character.

The only way the writers could salvage Zane’s character at all is to consider this season nonexistent and they’re doing a pretty damn good job at that and that isn’t really a good thing. As for the next season, I’m feeling ‘meh’ about it and while Cole seems to finally get some attention after that, I have some bad feelings about what’s gonna happen. Besides all that, Zane’s presence and status as a good guy now feels unearned and forced. And if he goes into any ‘protecting others’ spiel, what was once a core element of his character has become hollow and now makes him a massive hypocrite. That’s how bad this season ended up being for Zane, his story, and everything that made him who he was.

All in all, congratulations Ninjago writers. You took one of your most beloved and well-developed characters who deserved the world and completely ruined him beyond repair. I can’t wait to find out who will be the next character you’ll destroy.

#ninjago #ninjago zane #ninjago ice emperor #season 11 spoilers #underrated rants #underrated critique

[extreme-technicality]

does talking to an anon help about ninjago help? cuz I'm down

DHDKCKGSC YES IT DOES THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR OFFERING YOUR SERVICES

Okay now that I know I won’t be clogging people’s dashes buckle the fuck in my dude and I should stress that I literally would not be talking about this as much as I will be if I didn’t genuinely enjoy the show. I’m gonna go season by season and just Rant

S1 has the serpentine as the bbeg and like, as far as villains go they’re p lit. They’re early enough that they haven’t been done to hell, things are fresh, the characters and dynamics are being fleshed out, and all in all s1 is a pretty solid season. There’s some fuckery that gets brought up re: how the FUCK aging works and what the actual timeline of Ninjago is and how Wu and Garmadon fit into that timeline, fuckery that LITERALLY NEVER GETS RESOLVED IN A SATISFYING WAY BC ITS REVEALED IN A LATER SEASON (s8, dw we’ll get there lmao) THAT THE ONLY REASON THE FIRST SPINJITSU MASTER, WU, AND GARMADON LIVED AS LONG AS THEY DID IS CUZ THEYRE BASICALLY DEMIGODS AND ITS IMPLIED THAT LLOYD WILL ALSO LIVE FOR A LONG ASS TIME WHICH MEANS ONE DAY HES GONNA OUTLIVE ALL HIS FRIENDS AND EVERYONE HE EVER LOVED WHICH IS A FUN THING TO THINK ABOUT AT NIGHT But anyway I digress, s1 also coincidentally introduces Lloyd (he wasn’t in the pilot episodes that set up the rest of the series) and the existence of Evil Dad Garmadon.

S2 is where Garmadon starts acting a lot more Evil and a lot less Dad. He’s the main antagonist for that season, and I actually read somewhere that the show was originally slated to end after s2 which high key explains the fuckery of literally every single season after this lmaooooo. Much like s1, I really can’t find much to complain about, the first two seasons are pretty decent as far as I can remember

Season. Fucking. Three. Where the fuck do I start??? I hate season three for entirely personal reasons revolving around the STUPID GODDAMN ROMANCE WRITING. okay lemme back up and explain a thing first so, Jay is dating Nya and they’re fine, they’re going steady, aND THEN????? THE BEGINNING OF THE SEASON INTRODUCES BULLSHIT LOVE TRIANGLE FUCKERY FOR ZERO GODDAMN REASON, BITCH I HATE LOVE TRIANGLES AND I HATE THEM EVEN MORE WHEN THEYRE DONE FOR NO GODDAMN REASON!!! AND THEN. AS IF THAT WERENT ENOUGH. THEY SHOEHORNED A ROBOT ROMANCE BETWEEN ZANE AND PIXAL AND I KNOW I RANTED ABOUT THIS A LITTLE BIT WHEN I WAS ACTUALLY WATCHING BUT I DIDNT GO INTO ENOUGH DETAIL!!!! THEY MADE THE OTHER NINJA OOC IN ORDER TO PROP UP THEIR SHIP!!!!!! AND AT ONE POINT ZANE GOES “its like we were…made for each other” AND I HAD TO FUCUCJDHVE I HAD TO SCREAM INTO A PILLOW BRO, IM SO TIRED!!!! NO THE FUCK YOU WERENT!!!!!! YOU WERE MADE FOR YOU AND PIXAL WAS MADE FOR PIXAL AND IF YALLS WANNA BANG BOLTS THATS FINE BUT DONT IMPLY THAT EITHER OF YOU WERE MADE INCOMPLETE!!!! THATS AN INSULT TO YOUR MAKERS AND YOURSELVES, MOVE ON, PLEASE AND THANK YOU. anyway that season also killed Zane (for the first time, but not the last) (spoiler alert lmao) and like, not to be an emotional little shit but I did cry a bit at his funeral.

S4 is honestly one of my favorites, even though the romance crimes continue (the love triangle bullshit is continuing and honestly I maintain that Cole, Nya, and Jay should all have gotten together and in my personal canon they DID, and also Kai has a forced romance) the VILLAIN makes up for it imo. He’s campy!! He’s funny!! He’s a clown!! He’s serious enough that if he says “I’m gonna kill you” HE MEANS IT and that’s so fucking refreshing!!!! S4 is honestly 8/10 just for the villain alone, don’t like that it retconned the SHIT out of the elemental masters and how many different elements there are TO master but eh, it’s ninjago, shit is stupid.

S5 was…interesting? OH WAIT I FORGOT TO MENTION THAT S3 INTRODUCED A GARMADON WHO WAS A LOT LESS EVIL AND A LOT MORE DAD, HONESTLY I THOUGHT IT TOOK A LOT OF THE FLAVOR OUT BUT THATS JUST ME LMAOOO. anyway s5 killed Garmadon, and I was a little sad cuz I like him okay??? I just think he’s NEAT, he’s got big dad energy, he was teaching Lloyd some shit that just got DROPPED and literally was never brought up again which is honestly a theme in Ninjago. Ninjago drinking game: take a shot every time they introduce a plot point or ability and drop it at or before the end of the season. WHICH THEY ALSO DID IN S5 WITH A DIFFERENT POWER ACTUALLY, so all the ninja are masters of Spinjitsu right, well s5 introduced the concept of Airjitsu which only Spinjitsu masters can learn and it lets them FLY and they used that for seasons 5 and 6 and then they nEVER BROUGHT IT UP AGAIN EVEN THOUGH IT WOULDVE COME IN HANDY FOR S E V E R A L DIFFERENT SITUATIONS ACROSS THE SEASONS, ONE OF THEM WOULD BE FALLING TO THEIR DOOM AND MY ASS WOULD BE YELLING “YOU CAN FLY, DUMBASS” - anyway, they do that again later lmao it’s fine. But what’s low key NOT fine is they made Nya the WATER NINJA!!! Like I’m not mad she has powers, except I kinda am, she was doing just fine as Samurai X and honestly the only reason she has super special ninja powers is for plot reasons. Also Cole got turned into a ghost, but by s7 he’s????? No longer a ghost????????? And that’s NEVER addressed or reasoned away, so like. Cool lmao

S6 didn’t happen. Like, canonically, s6 ends with wish fuckery that undoes the entire season and none of the characters remember anything that happened except Jay and Nya because S6 is the season where they get back together so they remember all those events for???? Feelings reasons?????? Unclear, moving on. The actual bbeg for S6 was a djinn with a vaguely Spanish accent, and to this DAY I don’t know why they made him have a SPANISH accent. Djinn are Arabic, not Spanish!! They’re not central or South American, either!!!! Your villain design makes no sense, do better

S7 had MORE time fuckery, and retconned what happened to Kai and Nya’s parents and hmmmhmhmhmhmhm that makes me Upsetti Spaghetti :3 not just the retconning, but the fact that they LITERALLY brought them back oNLY TO NEVER MENTION THEM AGAIN!!!!!! LITERALLY!!!!!!!! Okay so at the VERY very beginning, like pilot episodes beginning, Kai talks about their dad like he died/left fairly recently, BUT s7 contradicts that and claims that both of their parents were essentially abducted when Kai and Nya were little kids, which makes me question what in the fresh fuck two little kids were doing for all those years alone. SETTING THAT ASIDE FOR A HOT SECOND, their parents were also apparently good friends of Wu’s and old war buddies (from the Serpentine wars, which is YET ANOTHER bit of the timeline that doesn’t quite add up but honestly I could make a whole other post about that shit). But if they were such good fucking friends, why didn’t Wu check in every now and again??? What the fuck was Wu doing that was so fucking important that he couldn’t have been assed to visit his friends ONCE in like TEN MOTHERFUCKING YEARS and realize “oh shit, they’re not here and there are two tiny children running around unsupervised…My Kids Now : )” LIKE????? WU YOU LOW KEY SHOULDA LOOKED OUT FOR YOUR FRIENDS’ KIDS BETTER, THEY COULDA DIED BRO!!! Uhhhh the time fuckery also results in Wu getting yeeted ahead in time a bit and the ninja gotta find him

Season. Eight. I have…mixed feelings about this one. The beginning absolutely SLAUGHTERED me, and not in a “this is so fucking funny” way. No, the beginning made me feel like I was being flayed alive with just about every episode because Ninjago was back on its forced romance bullshit and this time it was Lloyd’s turn on the chopping block. That hurt my soul cuz like, look at that mans color scheme, he’s CLEARLY alloaro, why are you forcing romance on my aro man, why would you hurt me like that, BUT ALSO BECAUSE HE AND THE GIRL HE WAS BEING SET UP WITH HAD A LITTLE HEART TO HEART REALLY EARLY ON AND IT WAS THE MOST QUEER CODED SHIT!!!! IT DEADASS READ AS A CONVERSATION BETWEEN AN OUT AND PROUD QUEER AND A CLOSETED QUEER AND THEY MADE!!! IT!!!!! STRAIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!! The only thing that kept me watching at first was wanting to find Wu, and then I started enjoying myself once Cole found a plot-relevant baby and had fatherhood thrust upon him. Everything went from “ehhhhh” to “holy shit this FUCKS” once it was revealed that Rumi (Lloyd’s love interest) wAS PLAYING HIM THE WHOLE TIME AND WAS EVIL AND HAD AN EVIL GIRLFRIEND!!!!!! LITERALLY IMPROVED EVERYTHING ABOUT THE SEASON FOR ME, I COULD EVEN FORGIVE THE WHOLE “let’s resurrect Garmadon, but as evil as possible” BULLSHIT!!!!!!

S9 is a continuation of s8, Garmadon is back and 1000% Evil, 10% Dad, but none of the Dad energies is directed at Lloyd - it’s all directed at Rumi, and honestly I could write a whole ass post on just RUMI cuz that’s honestly my DAUGHTER and I LOVE HER and I’m MAD SHE DIES AT THE END OF THIS SEASON!!!! SHE DESERVED THERAPY AND TO LIVE WITH HER GF AND MAYBE SOME CRIME. AS A TREAT. RUMI DESERVED BETTER AND LOW KEY IM GONNA WRITE A FIC ABOUT IT, BUT ANYWAY WHERE WAS I

Ah right, so s9 has the four major Ninja stuck in the original dimension with no way home, while Lloyd has no powers (cuz he almost died last season) and has to somehow lead a resistance against Garmadon (who has taken control of Ninjago City and is working on the rest of Ninjago). Actually, s9 is pretty cool. Like, the end of s8 and into s9 are low key my favorite episodes, and I kinda wanna rewatch them now -

S10 is a FUN one. Garmadon got got last season, but he didn’t DIE, so he’s in cold storage and now there’s Another Threat and he’s the only one who knows wtf they’re up against so they let him out and he works with them. The funny part is, he is still Very Much Evil and doesn’t quite Get emotions like he did when he was, uh, human lmao, sO HE WOKE UP EVERY DAY DURING THAT SEASON AND DECIDED TO CAUSE PROBLEMS ON PURPOSE. IT WAS THE FUNNIEST FUCKING SHIT. 1000000/10 MY FAVORITE GARMADON, he ended that season by literally fucking off into Ninjago and they never decided to track him down 😭😭😭😭😭and I’m so SAD about it dude

S11 has another Serpentine as the bbeg, though in the setup to that they retconned how the fucking Serpentine tribes and history work??? I think???? Also Wu was a good 150% angrier and generally Done with the ninja’s shit, which was honestly refreshing tho I’m not quite sure I liked what the refreshed view was, but whatever lmao. S11 also had the ninja get yeeted to the dimension farthest from Ninjago, and honestly - okay, so they didn’t all go at the same TIME, Zane left about a week or two before the others did but there was time dilation fuckery afoot which I’m not too mad about cuz low key it makes sense. What I AM mad about is that they didn’t play the angst up to its full POTENTIAL!!!!!! Zane was EVIL in the other dimension!!!! Okay so I’m Ninjago he was only gone for maybe a week or two, but DECADES had passed in the other one, and all that time Zane was alone and disconnected from everyone he knew and loved, with a staff that boosted his power while slowly corrupting him and Turning Him Evil to help him, and like???? The thought of Zane trying to find a way home, trying to get SOME sort of message back, while he has to use the staff more and more to help him survive the long, lonely decades, so that by the time his family DOES show up its too late??? BRO. B R O. THAT JUST HITS DIFFERENT, BUT NINJAGO DIDNT DO THAT!!! THEY MADE HIM EVIL DUE TO MEMORY WIPE!!!!!! MEMORY WIPE IS BABY SHIT COMPARED TO A LONG, SLOW CORRUPTION!!!!!!

S12 was alright. It went into Cole’s mom, touched on some of the adventures she had had, threatened another forced romance (this time on poor Cole, just leave my mans ALONE) but thankfully didn’t follow through this time, introduced cool new powers that honestly hasn’t been elaborated on since that’s the most recent season I think lmao

Anyway thanks for reading and letting me rant!!!! I have,,So Much More I could talk about, PLEASE ask me about Rumi, some of my headcanons re: Garmadon and Wu’s dynamic, the Serpentine, my top five times they butchered Kai’s character for Plot Reasons, or anything else I brought up here that you want me to elaborate on!!!

#technical talks #ninja hoe #ask dadzawa #nonnie #this was honestly therapeutic tysm #and it let me kill time before I play Mario kart so bonus points!! #I definitely forgot to mention A Lot (like all the times one or all of the ninja lost their powers) #so like!!! feel free to bug me for more shit!!!!

[aweebwrites]

Move on Dragons Ch18

“Team meeting!” Lloyd called out once they returned from New Ninjago City.

“What’s going on?” Zane asked as he walked towards the edge of the bridge, sliding his welding mask up.

“We gotta talk about what to tell the public and then some.” Nya told him then allowed her wings to slip out through the slits in the back of her gi so she could use them as a boost to get up on the ship. “How are the upgrades on the mainframe coming along?” She asked.

“Pixal finished them just moments ago. I’ve moved onto upgrading and reinforcing the wheel of the ship.” He informed her, gesturing to the inside for her to take a look.

“I’ll get Kai and Jay.” Cole told Lloyd, unfurling his own wings and tail once he got the go ahead, taking flight to the large tower.

He spiraled around it to the top and landed inside, finding the area pretty much empty, save for Garmadad, Kai, Jay and the sleeping twins.

“Where’s everyone else?” Cole asked as he walked in.

“They’re doing rounds. Turnss out they have other things to do than hanging out with uss all day. They gotta patrol and keep the peace among the other dragonss. They’re also gonna hang out for a while with just them.” Jay shrugged, not at all bothered by it.

Hanging out with them was cool and all but time with your original friends is also good.

“Oh. Well, at least these two are asleep. It is around their nap time…” Cole murmured as he looked outside to gauge the time.

“How was the mission?” Kai asked as he fiddled around on his phone.

“Nothing serious but we have a team meeting to get to. We’ve put off a couple things long enough.” Cole told them and both half serpentine and half dragon could immediately think of a few things they should probably address.

“Do you mind watching them for a while?” Jay asked Garmadad, turning around to look at the elder dragon as he sat in contemplation.

“Not at all.” He says after a moment, rising on all fours and walking closer.

“Something’s on your mind though.” Kai pointed out, knowing his dragon father well enough by now.

“Yes, there is. However, that can be discussed after you’ve discussed what your teammates.” Garmadad rumbled as Kai and Jay got up, giving him more room to curl himself protectively around the dragonlings, draping a large wing over them for warmth.

“Alright. We’ll be back in a bit.” Kai murmured, butting his head against his large paw then chuckling once he was nuzzled.

He made sure to give both Jay and Cole a departing nuzzle as well, Jay leaving a little blue under the scales once he actually ended up purring. A short glide later and the other half of the team was on site, Pixal included.

“Before we get started, I wanna try out the retraction system we have for the masts on the ship and the support we added to the deck.” Nya called out from the bridge then pressed a large blue button on the control panel.

The group watched in awe as the sails of the ship retracted into the masts and the masts themselves began to retract into the deck, the railings around the edge of the ship also following, leaving the space completely clear ad flat

“Kai! Try landing on the deck- carefully!” Zane called out and Kai blinked before he flew up and shifted into his much larger dragon form.

He then flew over to and hovered over the ship before slowly setting himself down. Here’s to hoping he doesn’t completely wreck the ship. Sure the Land Bounty was now a thing as Pixal finished it- and a few others- while they were out doing dragon business but the ship has been destroyed almost every other couple of months. He placed a paw down hesitantly, then another, then all four before he slowly set down all of his weight, surprising him when the deck didn’t give out below me.

“Awesome! The support is holding up. That’s good.” Nya grinned.

“This is only a means of emergency however. While you are on the ship like this, the ship cannot fly- or float as you are too heavy.” Pixal called out in warning and he carefully turned around to test it.

He could just barely hold but it was pretty cool.

“Oh. So that’s where those scales went.” Lloyd spoke up as he looked up at Kai’s chest area that sported 7 different coloured scales in the same pattern a necklace would be.

One red scale- no doubt belonging to Blaze- appeared redder than Kai’s normal scales but that was more due to the fact that the scales on Kai’s underbelly were a paler red than the rest of him.

“Huh, ok.” Cole says as he blinked up at them.

“So they just- became his scales instead?” Jay asked, a little confused on how that worked.

Kai looked down at them in confusion before he shifted back to his smaller form, Pixal taking that as her cue to bring up the masts and railings again.

“What are you guys talking about?” Kai asked as they flew up, landing on the deck around him.

“The scales other us gave you. They’re kinda apart of you. Literally.” Lloyd pointed out and Kai immediately placed a hand over his chest before looking down.

The scales were in fact, nestled into his scales as if they were his own, despite them being much bigger than his normal scales like this. No doubt Garmadad’s and Wu’s were still rather large in his other form. He honestly never noticed. He does have a habit of reaching there to stroke one but he somehow never noticed that they were quite literally embedded into his flesh now. Not that he minded. This just meant he’d literally always have a part of them with him. In fact, it was kinda cool.

“Ok, one mystery solved. Now let’s get right into things.” Cole says as Nya, Zane and Pixal came down from the bridge.

“First, we won’t always have a situation where half the team or less have to go to the city, and half the team don’t exactly look like they used to. It’s not a bad thing before you guys start spiraling. It’s just that it seems like a good idea to let the city know what to expect before we all show up as creatures from a different dimension.” Nya pointed out.

“That and we have no clue how permanent these changes are. I mean, Kai’s wasn’t exactly permanent. Only the eyes were. Every other time until around when the dragons ended up in Ninjago, he used their scales to shift. Should we tell the city it’s permanent or not?” Cole asked, looking amongst their team.

“And we haven’t told all of Ninjago about the dragons either.” Lloyd reminded.

“We really should tell them about the dragons. I mean, Hiroshi’s Labyrinth might be pretty huge but it’s relatively small on a dragon’s scale. The dragons are getting restless to fly further out. They try to hide it but let’s be honest, they weren’t meant to be confined to a specific area. They haven’t been able to fly over the Endless Sea because of fishermen and they certainly under no circumstances cannot go to the Dark Island to do their flying.” Kai pointed out.

“But if they leave Hiroshi’s Labyrinth for long, they’ll sstart turning human.” Jay pointed out.

“Which is why they won’t.” Zane followed up. “Needing more airspace doesn’t mean they need somewhere else to settle down or linger. We used to take care of dragons and we all know how stir crazy they get if we don’t take them out for long flights.” He reminded them.

“Ninjago is familiar with dragons, as you all made them familiar to them. They are most likely not going to have a problem with dragons occasionally flying overhead so that is the least of our concerns.” Pixal told them. “What we should focus on is your appearances. Jay’s is explainable and understandable. That and the fact that Ninjago has been getting along with Serpentine kind will put him in the clear. Kai’s and the rest of you will cause for some curiosity but Lloyd’s... Might cause panic.” She admitted.

“Yeah, I saw that coming…” Lloyd sighed, looking down at his clawed hands. “I can’t even hide it anymore…” He mumbled even quieter but they all heard.

“None of that. You know hiding this side of yourself is dangerous for you so it’s good you can’t do that anymore.” Cole scolded.

“And panic is only initial. We just have to show them you’re still you and not your father.” Zane pointed out.

“And really, what’s the best way to do that than by saving the city?” Kai grinned at him, wrapping an arm around Lloyd’s shoulder, careful of the shiny black dragon resting there.

“But what do we do before then? We can’t just keep Lloyd out of public appearancess until some big bad appears.” Jay pointed out.

“Jay’s got a point. Plus, everyone saw normal Lloyd today because he decided make-up was a good idea.” Nya pointed out and Lloyd gave a sheepish look once they all turned to look at him.

“Sensei Wu wouldn’t want us to lie or anything though…” He reminded them and they all paused to think.

“I suppose coming clean about that might be best. The city might have it’s doubts but it’s like Kai says, once you ultimately end up saving the city, they’ll realise that you’re really you.” Pixal spoke up and the team collectively frowned.

“But why does he have to prove himself after everything he’s already done for Ninjago?” Cole spoke what everyone was thinking.

“It’s-”

“Not fine.” Kai says, cutting Lloyd off. “Look, we call for a sort of public meeting-”

“A press conference-”

“Yeah, that. We let them know what’s up with them and I’ll set fire to the tail of anyone who says anything other than “thanks for letting us know.” How about that?” Kai asked, cutting Zane’s correction off as he cracked his knuckles.

“I’m down.” Cole says, rolling his shoulders.

“Guys-”

“Perhaps not physical fire. Words can burn too…” Zane hummed.

“Zane wh-”

“That I can get behind.” Nya grinned.

“Guys!” Lloyd yelled round a disbelieving laugh. “Seriously. It’s fine. We let them know and we keep acting as we normally do. That’s it.” He says with an amused but grateful smile, glad his friends, his family was willing to go this far for him.

“... Alright fine. But I withhold the right to taser anyone who tries to be an assshole.” Jay huffed, a spark of electricity traveling from his horns on his head down to the very last set of horns on his tail.

“As for the permanency of the rest of your change, that answer is largely unknown so also letting them know it’s unknown would be best.” Pixal says as she looked to Zane, Nya and Cole.

“Is that all to discuss?” Zane asked and the team paused to see if that was all they could think of.

“When do we tell the rest of Ninjago?” Cole asked them.

“... As soon as possible, really. We can head back to the city- after we check out our room. We moved it to the front of the ship and moved Sensei Wu into our old room. I mean why did he have the bigger room to begin with?” Nya asked as she urged the others to follow her below deck.

“I dunno. Sensei privilege I guesss.” Jay shrugged as they walked along the short corridor to the room at the end of the hall.

Nya opened the door for them and they awed at the much bigger space- and the much bigger beds! Kai flopped down on his then stretched after wiggling around a bit.

“I can actually fit! This is amazing sis!” Kai grinned as he rolled over on his stomach, his wings folded close.

“Well, I thought it was pretty important since I’ve gotten so used to shifting that… I sometimes shift in my sleep.” Nya shrugged as the others checked out their beds and the storage beneath.

“Same.” Cole admits, flopping back on his bed.

“They’re really comfortable too…” Lloyd mumbled, burying his face into his pillow, Little G curling up his lower half on the pillow nearby, kneading his tiny paws into the material.

“I mean, if we’re doing a room makeover, why not get new bedding?” Nya asked, sitting down on her own bed.

“What about Pixal?” Jay asked, all but melting into his bed.

“I have my own quarters on the ship.” She told them lightly.

Naturally she would, as she was apart of the team, even if she’s been a bit more independent with missions lately.

“I don’t know how to break it to you guys but… I kinda don’t wanna get up.” Kai mumbled, nuzzling into his pillow.

“Same.” Lloyd mumbled from his place with his face buried into his pillow.

Cole and Jay gave a grunt of confirmation and Zane couldn’t hold back a huff of amusement.

“The Bounty is mostly done and she’s been grounded for a while. I suppose we can take her out for a flight…” Nya suggested.

“Indeed.” Pixal nodded with a smile. “Anchors up!” She called as Zane and Nya followed her out, the rest of their team delivering lazy cheers as they went.

_______________ (Another chappie! I'm inching towards a v important time skip but I wanna address a few things before I suddenly jump ahead. I'll probably make the next chapter longer so the time skip can come up for chapter 20 where we can finally start progressing to the middle end of the fic [I say while knowing that roughly 20 more chapters await us].Thanks for reading!)

#ninjago #kai ninjago #cole ninjago #jay ninjago #nya ninjago #zane ninjago #lloyd ninjago #pixal ninjago #garmadon #aweebwrites' work