NINJAGO: The Beastmaster

CHAPTER ONE - Powerless

The creatures' claws and talons pried at the doors of their cages as they watched the Beastmaster push a cart with their food piled on top. A clamor of roars, barks, and caws was all that could be heard in the back room behind the stage. The Beastmaster handed out food left and right, calling each of the bizarre animals out by their names.

He then stopped at the end of the long hall, where one single cage was, and this creature wasn't stirring for food like the rest. It was gnawing on the bars of its cage, then stuck its long yellow tongue in disgust at the taste of the Hassuru wood they were made out of.

"Hello, abeko," The Beastmaster greeted, grabbing the last dish on his cart and sliding it into the cage. "Polished calcite--your favorite."

The Griffie looked at the food on the plate, then licked up the stones and crunched them down. The Griffie licked his lips, but he still hungered for more, looking at the plate and sniffing it before taking a bite out of it, too. But the Beastmaster quickly took the plate away before the Griffie could take another bite, and it hissed at him.

"Nope, you're on a special diet, remember?" The Beastmaster said, setting the broken plate back down on the food cart before turning around and starting to walk back with it. "Until tomorrow, abeko."

ᬏࠃᰛ〞

"Alright--let's take this from the top!" Lloyd said, readying his Vengestone Sword. "Ninja-Go!"

The ninja dashed through the training field setup on the bamboo outskirts of Ninjago city. They did flips of incredible spector, slides under low foliage, and spins that decimated the training dummies. Once they got to the end, they looked back at the field, and Lloyd smiled at their progress.

"We're getting really good at this Vengestone stuff!" Jay said. "Ooh! I wonder if I have enough control now to make a sandwich!"

"Psh, I was able to do that forever ago." Cole bragged and Jay scoffed back.

Lloyd's smile then fell as he watched the dust they stirred up begin to fall down and settle, revealing that Ryo was still all the way back at the beginning with her chain weapon in her hands. By the looks, she didn't even bother moving an inch.

"Oh no..." Lloyd said, then started walking back through the completed training field.

The other ninja looked at Lloyd as he walked away, then they slowly followed after him.

"What happened, Ryo? You haven't even moved," Lloyd commented, and Ryo sighed in frustration.

"I just don't get it," Ryo said. "All of you have your powers, but no matter what I do, they don't come back for me."

"It takes patience, Ryo," Lloyd explained, but Ryo just threw her weapon to the ground.

"It's been months, Lloyd! My powers should've been back by now if they were going to come back at all!" Ryo spat, then crossed her arms and turned around, storming off the training field back toward the Bounty.

Lloyd had held his hand up before she walked away and he slowly lowered it. He frowned as he turned back to the others, who shared in his concern.

"She's correct, Lloyd," Zane said. "If her powers were going to return, they would've months ago."

"But you said it yourself: elemental powers don't just disappear," Lloyd replied. "Maybe it's just taking longer because of how long she's used Vengestone with her powers."

"Perhaps that may be. There's so little known about Vengestone's uses and effects with elemental abilities that it's hard to tell what is happening with her," Zane agreed. "It could be similar to that of a time capsule, or maybe her weapon was what held her powers when it was destroyed."