This story is intended as an homage to my favorite Ninjago character and the old, mostly non-canon graphic novels Greg Farshtey wrote for Ninjago.
WAY-OVERSIMPLIFIED CONTEXT FOR NON-NINJAGO FANS:
Forty years ago, the five tribes of Serpentine from Chima (Hypnobrai, Fangpyre, Venomari, Constrictai, and Anacondrai) fought the humans of Ninjago in a war that only ended when sacred flutes sealed the tribes away. Later, Master Wu, who had fought in that war, formed a team of Ninja (Kai, Cole, Zane, and Jay), who fought the Serpentine when the boy Lloyd released them. Lloyd got aged up and led the Ninja; Nya joined too, and Zane’s robot girlfriend P.I.X.A.L. (aka Samurai X) became a prominent ally, making all their vehicles. Lloyd fell in love with the Jade Princess Harumi, who was actually evil because a Serpentine plot killed her parents when she was young. The Ninja became allies with the Ninjago City police commissioner.
Then, an event called the Merge smushed every realm together, scattering the Ninja. Lloyd took new Ninja members Arin and Sora under his wing, and later added Wyldfyre too. They went to the Tournament of Sources to foil the evil anthropomorphic wolf Lord Ras, who released the Forbidden Five, ancient evil anthropomorphic animal warriors. Arin’s childhood best friend, the Constrictai/Venomari hybrid Frak, was naively working for Ras, but then joined the Ninja when Arin switched to Ras’s team. The Forbidden Five tried to release the ancient Shatter Dragon of Chaos Thunderfang, but he ate them, and Arin defeated him; Sora then followed him to join Ras too. Frak, incidentally, is the awkward Elemental Master of Quake and a fan of conspiracy theorist influencer Intelligent George, and has a crush on Sora.
If there is any context I failed to adequately explain, feel free to let me know.
–PART 1–
Lloyd got the call early in the morning. Before it was even over, he had hailed Jiro the lightning dragon and prepared to fly to the Crossroads. Zane and P.I.X.A.L. were getting ready for their upcoming journey, Wyldfyre was returning from the City of Temples (apparently with something too big to take through the portal gates), Cole was sleeping, Nya and Kai were dealing with goodness-shattered Jay, and Arin and Sora were… Well, it didn’t help to dwell, did it?
The point was, he was the only one of the Ninja who could make the journey. Well, he could have taken Frak, but the newest ninja had enough to stress over. As Lloyd was leaving the monastery, he saw that the young Serpentine was already training in the courtyard, and Riyu was too. Good. At least he knew they were going to be productive with him gone and not sneak off to some carnival like Arin and Sora did… not that the Crossroads would be having any carnivals any time soon, given recent events.
When Lloyd arrived at the scene, it had already been blocked off by police warning tapes. He saw a familiar face waiting for him, expression grim. “Thank you for coming on such short notice, ninja.” The police commissioner looked about for a moment, a little surprised, and stroked his grey mustache. “Just you, eh? I would have thought…”
“Sorry, Commissioner. The others were… too… busy to come on such short notice.”
“Even those new kids?” The commissioner saw Lloyd grimace and sighed. “Well, now’s not the time to catch up. You already heard what happened last night.”
“Yes.”
“We’re keeping it from the press until we have more information. He was a hero to the Constrictai… The last thing we need right now is panic, and we don’t have the resources right now to commit to a full investigation.”
“So that’s why you called me?”
“Yes. Understand this: we’re stretched pretty thin right now. The Crossroads are technically a part of Ninjago City, so we had to respond, especially with such a high-profile case. But, the mayor has made it very clear that we police are not to respond directly to crimes in the Crossroads—leave it for the “other-realmers” to handle, she said. So, we’re in a precarious position. If we do nothing, it’ll leak (like everything these days, it seems), and there’ll be riots. But if we do anything, we’ll have the mayor at our backs—she’s worse than that old Ulysses Trustable, if you can believe it, and he had to resign for incompetence! How the city elected a terrorist I have no idea… You wouldn’t like her.”
“So… what do you want me to do?”
“Ninja, I need you to find out who did… this… before we have to release it to the papers. In two days.”
Lloyd looked out at the crime scene. “It’s hard to believe we were once enemies… We’ve been on the same side so long, I’d nearly forgotten.”
The Commissioner’s face turned to confusion. “Ninja, I’m pretty sure we were never enemies… Unless I’ve forgotten something pretty significant, which I doubt…”
“Not you! Him…”
“Oh. Right”
“Any other information I’ll need?”
The Commissioner nodded. “It seems he was in active contact with Acidicus of the Venomarai not long before the time of the crime… But you can’t tell Acidicus—or anyone—anything, alright? Not unless they’re on your team! We can’t have the Serpentine getting all riled up… the mayor says.”
“Alright,” Lloyd said. “I won’t tell anyone who isn’t a ninja.”
-----
Frak looked at the pictures with a quickly growing sense of horror.
He had been searching the monastery library, trying to distract himself from worrying about Sora, when he had noticed a strangely contemporary book titled “Rise of the Serpentine”. He knew he should have just ignored it, but it was a graphic novel! Why would Master Wu—or even Lloyd—have a graphic novel in their library? Now he was curious.
He had looked at the publication date—it was released during the ninja’s most famous moments, it seemed, after they defeated some ghosts a while back. Frak been very young then, but he had heard all about the ninja. He had quickly grown to idolize them—they were heroes, protecting the innocent from the dangerous. And everything they did after only served to reinforce that in his mind.
But this book… what was it? It claimed to be written by an author Frak did not recognize, with a name that started with a “G”. Whoever they were, they were writing a story about the Ninja—the original four—battling Hypnobrai not long after they were released from their tomb, but the author clearly had a very… strong opinion about Serpentine.
In the story, Cole—the ninja Frak most idolized—said to a Hypnobrai (one he had never met before) that they had an “ugly face”, and then called them “snake-breath”. Frak snorted angrily. What was wrong with a Serpentine’s breath? Had this author ever smelled their own breath? Every Serpentine knew that human breath smelled terrible compared to the very snake breath “Cole” had insulted! The back of the book advertised further books—based on this author’s track record, “Tomb of the Fangpyre” sounded absolutely delightful, Frak thought. Why had the Ninja agreed to their likenesses being used for this libel against the Serpentine?
So, when Lloyd walked into the room, Frak’s first question was: “Master Lloyd? What is this?”
“I’m… sorry?” Lloyd said, his eyebrows arched. “What is what?”
“Well, I was just looking through the library, and I found this book.” Frak held the book up for Lloyd to see. The cover depicted a Hypnobrai and a hypnotized Kai.
Lloyd walked a little closer. “You know, I really have no idea. Why?”
“Well, it’s just… some of the other Ninja are in it, and they said some really horrible things about the Serpentine…”
“Frak,” Lloyd said, his eyes tired, “it’s just a book.” Frak began to protest, but Lloyd waved his hand. “I have something important to tell you, and I need you to pay attention.”
“Always,” Frak said. “What do you need to tell me? Did you get another vision, and now you’ve got to go learn another kind of Spinjitzu to stop Thunderfang’s secret twin brother…”
“Frak, stop,” Lloyd interrupted. “It’s not something like that.”
“Are the Forbidden Five back? Did Ras hurt Sora? Did Cinder escape from prison? Did Roby nearly die again, and now we all have to go back to the City of Temples? Did Jay get his memories back?”
“Frak, what if I told you that, last night, General Skalidor was killed?”
Skalidor of the Constrictai had never been one of the most famous of the Serpentine generals. In fact, of all the generals during the Rise of the Snakes, he was probably the least well-known, given his tendency for lazing around after being trapped underground for so long. As Frak was was not born until sometime after the attack of the Stone Warriors, he did not know Skalidor during that time, but he still knew of the generals. Of their heroic traits, and of their fallacies. The generals were no heroes, despite the hero worship some Serpentine gave them, but they had risen up to defend the Serpentine in their time of need—at least until the evil Pythor had united them under a false cause. Frak had long known of Skales, de facto leader of the Serpentine before and after their turn to peace, and Acidicus, librarian of the Serpentine. And Fangdam had two heads, which was always interesting. Comparatively, Skalidor had attracted far less of Frak’s attention, to his Constrictai father’s endless consternation.
Still, though, that such a major Serpentine had been killed made Frak sad. “Why? How?”
“I don’t know, Frak,” Lloyd said. “That’s what we’re going to find out.”
“What do you… Wait, you really mean it?” Any sadness in Frak’s mind faded for a moment, as it was replaced in his mind with pure excitement. “I get to help you solve a mystery?”
“Everyone else is… uh… elsewhere,” Lloyd said.
Frak barely kept himself from squeeing; now was not the time.
“We need to visit Acidicus in the Serpentine village,” Lloyd said, “and I figured you might know the quickest way to get there.”
“I do,” Frak said, “but you may want to bring a change of clothes.”
“I’ve been down the Ninjago sewers to the village before, Frak. I’ll be fine.”
Frak looked about for a moment, as if making sure nobody was around, before whispering: “Not with the Elemental Master of Quake, I’ll bet…” He looked awkwardly at the ground, remembering unhappily the moment when he had first unlocked his powers.
“Right… Well, you do have more control over your powers now, Frak.”
“I do?”
“I guess we’re going to find out…”
----
“Word is, there’s a new ninja on the streets.”
The man smiled for a moment, before frowning. “Only one problem. He’s a Serpentine!” He accentuated that word strongly, placing much emphasis on it. “Wasn’t it just a few years ago that the Ninja themselves were telling us to “never trust a snake?” Look where they are now! Without their Master Wu to guide them, they’ve lost their way!”
The man leaned forward. “Not just that! An anonymous attendee of the mysterious Tournament of Sources tells me this snake is a known associate of an agent of Imperium—an agent who caused significant damage to a Ninjago highway a year or so ago and is a known enemy of the Ninja! Well, the Ninja’s minds may be on a leave of absence, but not mine! Viewers, you can trust me, Intelligent George!”
“Before we continue, a quick word from our sponsors, Twin Watches! They’re watches so nice, you get the time twice!”
The figure put down the device with newfound determination. How did Intelligent George always manage to determine the precise issue that Ninjago faced? It was hard to say, but if the figure had to judge, it was likely due to an admirable determination to root out the worst threats to Ninjago no one was talking about. And what could be worse than a Serpentine infiltrating the Ninja? A Serpentine? The figure grimaced. Did nobody remember the Rise of the Snakes?
Well, bringing things back to the good old days of only humans in Ninjago City would not be easy, but it had do be done. And none would be more devoted to the cause than the figure. After all, they had already gotten a head start. And a rather good one, at that.
And if those traitorous Ninja decided to get in the way?
Well, in that case, they would have to go too…