Ninjago: The Tribes AU

"They will come"

Cole and Zane stood opposite of each other while Garmadon stood not far away. They circled each other slowly, their eyes locked. On the signal, the two ninja began their training session. The earth ninja stared off strong by levitating a boulder up from beneath the ground and pinning Zane to the floor. Zane growled in frustration as he tried to wriggle free, but Cole wouldn't budge. He shifted the boulder from side to side, taunting Zane as he laughed. "Come on Frosty, you can do better than this!" Cole teased. Then, with a look that practically said 'this was just a distraction.' Icicles jetted up underneath Cole, and he dodged out of the way as quickly as possible. The Ice Emperor transformed into his falcon form, and with a powerful flap of his wings, he flew up and out of the boulder's grasp. Cole tensed as he watched the other swoop down towards him, the intent clear. He raised his arms, a surge of power flooding through them like lava as a wall of earth blocked the impending attack. The force of the impact sent ripples of energy through the ground, causing Cole to stumble backwards. From the other side of the wall, Zane morphed back into his human form and shook off the impact. Rocks flew from all directions as Cole maneuvered them to form spikes and reckless shields in order to avoid Zane's retaliating blasts of ice. Each time Zane tried to freeze him, Cole broke them off with the earth walls. However, Zane did not let up, and neither did Cole. They jumped and flipped around the clearing, dodging each other's attacks. Finally, the earth elemental got the upper hand and knocked Zane into a tree. Garmadon declared Cole the winner as Nya helped Zane to his feet.

The elemental masters looked at the master, eager to see who would go next. Then, the Jade leader cleared his throat and spoke up. "The next round will be me, versus..... Kai."

They all stood baffled as Kai jumped down from a tree branch and a smirk spread across his face.

"But you said we were training today!" Complained Jay.

The teacher nodded. "Exactly, I said we were training today. WE includes me. After talking to Ronin for some time, I found out something quite interesting. Apparently, Kai, and everyone else in the Fire Tribe, is forced to learn combat from a very young age. So if you don't mind, I'd like to test out how well his battling skills actually are." The leader got into a combat ready position; nodding for the opponent to strike whenever he was ready. Kai nodded and he channeled his fire powers into his hands, sparks and flames licking his fingertips. Garmadon stepped back and launched a series of wide arcs with his staff and each one demanding an even quicker response from Kai. The boy obliged, redirecting the staff's blows with forceful jabs of flaming punches. As the fight intensified, the training field took on a life of its own as the smoldering heat from Kai's flames hit Garmadon and its energy deflected off the bamboo staff. The master backflipped over Kai and knocked out his legs with the staff; causing him to buckle to the ground. The fire elemental seemed almost furious by the humiliating fall and tried to engulf himself in a blaze. But he couldn't.
"WHY ISN'T THIS WORKING?!" After struggling for a few moments, his fists ignited and he threw a barrage of fire balls at his opponent. Garmadon smirked as he twisted his staff and dispersed every fire ball that was hurled at him. With a swift movement, he knocked Kai into the pool that the waterfall flowed into. The boy grabbed the side of the pool in panic as he scrambled to get out.

"You fought very well, but there's a reason why you lost. After I knocked you down, you let your rage consume you. You were no longer using tactics or even aiming; just blindly throwing your projectiles. We'll have to work on you controlling that."

The soaked boy snarled at him and the ninja that watched behind. "We aren't going to work on anything! I don't need your dumb advice! Besides, I would have won if my powers didn't start acting up."

Jay tilted his head. "Are you sure you didn't just loose focus?"

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH, MAGGOT!!" Kai roared. Then, he rushed off.