The Future of Ninjago

"Powers Day"

"I can't do it, it's too hard!"

Lloyd looked down at his young son, who seemed to have trouble channeling some sort of power. 

Today was the day: The kids liked to call it "Powers Day" ever since they were little, at least, most of them. Lloyd's son, Logan, was the youngest of ten children presently living in the monastery. That didn't stop the young boy from feeling excited at the prospect of having powers one day. In fact, that was the dream of every six year-old boy, right? 

Logan folded his arms in frustration, a pouty look showing predominately on his face. Lloyd ruffled the shaggy black hair on the boy's head and chuckled. "You remind me of me when I went without my powers for the first time. It just takes time and practice. You'll find your powers, buddy."  

He looked up from the step where he was sitting and stared out at the scene in amusement. 

A young teen girl with reddish-brown hair tied back into two ponytails with navy blue bows leaned against the wall, a worn-looking cell phone in her hands. "Skai!" her mother shouted, "I thought you'd be excited about today. What are you doing on your phone?" 

Skai looked up at the Master of Water without a change in expression. "I mean, I am, but...I guess I just don't wanna discover my powers before Lake does," she explained, pointing at a young boy standing by the mural, talking to another girl with pale skin and long, jet black hair.

"Sweetie, Lake is eight years old now--"

"And I'm thirteen now. We're nearly five years apart! Don't you think he'd get a little jealous if I got my powers first?"

Nya seemed to consider it a moment before a commotion broke out.

"Flint! Give me my sword back!" a young brunette yelled.

"Ha! No way Scarlett! You're too young for a sword, foam or not." The redhead teased. 

"Mama taught me how to sword fight, I can do it!" Scarlett yelled back, feebly reaching for the sword in her brother's hands.  The nearby nindroid girl heard the commotion and was the first to respond.

"Flint, give her back the sword, she's learning to fight like the rest of us. Let's not try to keep her from that." 

Flustered, Flint hands the sword back to Scarlett, who ran off with joy to show her mother. "Sorry, Stella. Heh heh."

"All I'm saying," Stella continued, "is if I catch you treating my little brother that way, you're going to have a lot more to worry about than a confrontation about a foam sword." 

"Whaaaaaat? I would never tease Alex. He's like the little brother I never had!"

Lloyd tuned out the rest of the indistinct chatter when he heard the soft sound of clinking plates in the kitchen. "Alright everyone," he shouted, "sounds like dinner's ready, let's head inside!"

A collective groan resounded from each of the children as they made their way towards the door. 

"But no one discovered their powers yet, Uncle Lloyd," Lake complained.

"I know buddy, but we can train more tomorrow, okay?" Lloyd replied.

"I guess."

Lake looked at the girl sitting next to him as he sat down. It was the pale girl with black hair he was talking to earlier. "You seem down, Valerie, is everything okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," she sighed, "I'm just worried that I won't get any powers, Collin seems more likely to get Dad's power, and Mom doesn't have any power. I guess I'm just worried, is all."

The young nindroid, Alexander, who was sitting next to her, looked her direction and smiled. "That's okay, Valerie, my mama doesn't have a power either. And Stella's older, so she might get Daddy's power." 

"My mom has the coolest power in the world!" a blonde girl across the table shouted. "My mom can turn into a wolf anytime she wants! I wonder what I could turn into!" 

"Pff, yeah, sure Accalia, but you're only half formling. Chances may be slimmer than you think," Collin pointed out. 

"I will too be a formling! Mom says that my name means 'she-wolf' in Latin." Accalia shouted back. 

Flint scoffed from across the table. "I'm just wondering why we waited this long to start trying to find our powers. I'm twelve now, I should've discovered them long ago."

"Uncle Lloyd said that they wanted us to wait until they thought Logan was old enough so we could discover them at the same time to be fair," Skai said a matter-of-factly. "Honestly Flint, you could be a little more patient." 

"Puh-lease, my fire could extinguish your water any day," Flint shot back cockily.

"What makes you so sure you're gonna inherit fire?"

"What makes YOU so sure you're NOT gonna inherit water?"

"Will you two shut up?!" Logan shouted. 

The table went silent. Logan hardly ever spoke up, let alone shouted at everyone. He knew this too: he was covering his mouth in shock. Scarlett scooted closer to him.

"Hey, you okay?"

The shouted seemed to attract the attention of the adults, who were sitting at another table across the room. They watched as Scarlett attempted to calm Logan. They too were silent for a moment in shock. Lloyd just stared at his plate. 

"Is it possible to inherit your parents' trauma?" he finally spoke up, slowly picking up the fork he'd dropped. 

"Why would you think that, buddy?" Cole asked, concerned. 

"It's just...Logan's always seemed so distant. I feel like he should've grown out of that stage by now." 

"While his social skills are below average," Zane started, "yes, there are studies that suggest that certain traumas can be inherited by one's child."

"If that's the case," Jay thought aloud, "why did Accalia turn out fine...not that Logan didn't turn out fine but...Accalia has confidence that rival's Kai's, while Logan's more like a quieter version of me."

Lloyd continued to look down at his plate. 

"This is not your fault, Lloyd, " Akita said, attempting to comfort him. "We cannot control what traits our children inherit. It's like rolling a dice, there's little way of knowing which numbers will come up."

Lloyd sighed. "I know," he confessed, looking over at the kids' table. Scarlett was still rubbing Logan's back while he continued to eat in silence. 

"That doesn't change the fact that his behavior is beginning to get...strange."

AN: I hope this first chapter didn't seem too cluttered with character introductions, I just wanted to introduce them before I kicked the main story into gear. I may be swamped with college for a few weeks, but I'll try to update this when I can. If you haven't, check out my other Ninjago story "Deep" Thanks!