Ninjago: The Tribes AU

"Lightning"

Lloyd walked through the jungle, carefully studying his map. The path to the Lightning Tribe seemed to go over a small canyon. The boy ninja carried on pushing his way through the thick foliage until he finally broke out. The blinding sunlight shown down as he took his first steps out of the jungle. His eyes widened with wonder while he saw the land beyond the brush for the first time. A rocky, but grassy terrain lay ahead of him, and it got sandier as it went until it turned to desert at the horizon line. For now though, it was just a matter of navigating the hills and trenches until he found his target. Lloyd was enamored by the glory of the new environment; with all the new plants and wildlife he’d never seen. The green ninja hiked through the tall grass and rocky cliffs until he reached a canyon with a small rope bridge stretching across. It didn’t look like it was in very good condition, making it difficult to want to cross. The fear of it snapping and falling to his premature death really began to bubble up as he started trying to cross it. The bridge creaked and crackled with each shaking step.

‘Don’t look down… Don’t look down… Do NOT look down…’ he whimpered to himself.
Each footstep made the bridge feel and sound like it was about to collapse under his feet. The ninja opened one eye a sliver to peak, and his heart began racing. “Aaaah! I looked down!!” Lloyd picked up speed, racing across the bridge. Just as he got close to the end, the overpass snapped. He quickly lunged toward the bluff and barley made it. Lloyd hung from the edge with his feet dangling below. In a panic, he scrambled to pull himself up. The green ninja panted as he looked back at the broken bridge. “Well, I guess there’s no going back now.” He sighed.

After almost a day and a half, Lloyd came to a stop as he caught a whiff of cooking meat. He followed his nose over a hill and was met with a wave of wonder and fear. A village. A village unlike anything Lloyd had ever seen before. There were little to no trees around it, and all the houses were on the ground. They were made of a combination of stone and wood. One building had a open front face with a large kiln in it. There were shiny metal objects placed everywhere in the place. Another building seemed to serve as somewhere to cook. Lloyd watched the village of people go about their lives happily. He took a deep breath while he examined the map. “OK! Looks like I found the Lightning Tribe. All there is to do now is go down there and find the leader. Then- um. Make friends with them? I guess…? Huh. I suppose I don’t really have much of a plan.” Lloyd shook off his worry and began to sneak into the village. This place was so bizarrely different from the Jade Tribe, but it was wonderful nonetheless. The town was absolutely beautiful. Lloyd hid behind a building and peaked out to catch a glimpse at the surroundings. Just as he turned back into the shadows, he bummed into something. No. SOMEONE…. The man looked down at Lloyd and began to apologize, but then noticed his appearance as foreign. The man slowly started to take a step back.

“Woah, woah hey! PLEASE don’t be scared of me.” Lloyd begged. “I’m here to help you.”

However, the man didn’t listen. He bolted away screaming. That alarmed everyone else, and before Lloyd could figure out what was going on, he was cornered by spear wielding guards. One placed their spear-point against the ninja’s throat. “State your business for being here heathen! Why have you intruded on our land?!!”
Before Lloyd could answer, he felt a burst of pain shoot through his body. He fell to the ground as he sparked and his vision faded to black.
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Lloyd’s eyes fluttered open as his blurry vision began to clear. He was tied to a stone pillar in the center of the room he was in. Pottery with depictions of lightning dragons and thunder clouds were scattered around the house. Some were filled with water, others held wheat or some type of grains. Lloyd looked around at the interior with fear, but arguably a bit of wonder. Just then, a teenager with messy brown hair, a white and blue toga, and sandals walked down the wooden staircase. He smirked as he advanced toward the green ninja.