Ninjago: The Tribes AU

"It begins"

Kai walked through the shadows of the foliage quietly. He soon approached Ronin, who ran from the opposite direction to meet up with him. The man, while trying to catch his breath, kneeled before the young emperor. "Clouse has convinced the whole tribe that you've been murdered by Lloyd and the other elemental masters. He's leading an attack on this jungle the day after tomorrow."

Kai growled. "WHAT?! They seriously believe that those pathetic maggots were able to take me down just like that? Wow, my tribe is dense. Then again, I suppose we focus more on teaching murder rather than a normal education... but still!"

"So then what's your plan? When do we set into motion the betrayal?"

The fire leader let out a sigh. "When I say so. Until then, I need to get to Garmadon. We have training to do now that I've lost my powers."

The guard questioned if he was serious or not. The leader's face turned red as he did an almost nervous chuckle and put on a cocky smile. "Oh, no, of course not! It's not like I actually need the lesson, I'm just doing it to gain his trust that bit more. Like I said, all part of the plan. I've got it all planned out in my head. In the end, they all will fall to us. I promise." With that, he rushed off to meet with the master.

Meanwhile, Lloyd and Zane stood out at the edge of Hiroshi’s Labyrinth. Zane was intently watching the path like he was awaiting something. The green ninja questioned if Zane was sure what he said would be there would actually be there, and the formling insisted. He'd been flying around in his falcon form and spotted something headed this way. They waited a few more minutes, and Lloyd began to question him again, but was cut off by the formling jumping up in excitement. They both looked on in awe as a mass of people and animals headed towards them.

"It can't be..." The green ninja muttered. "All the tribes! All of them together!"

Zane smiled brightly as he transformed into the falcon and flew off to meet his tribe. Lloyd ran back to the village and called for the other tribe leaders to hurry towards the edge to meet up with everyone. Nya sighed. "That mass probably doesn't include my tribe. They all refuse to come up out of the water. But even if my people aren't going to help fight, I will. Lead me to the others."

Lloyd nodded and gladly did as she asked. Once they arrived at the edge, they were all overjoyed to see everyone again. However, every tribe was slightly separate from the others; like they were keeping their distance. Cole, who admittedly was dreading facing his father after running away, was happy to see everybody. Plus, his dad wasn't really all that mad anymore. He knew that Cole had a duty and excepted that he ran away to fulfill it. As Nya suspected, the Water Tribe was absent from the crowd, but that didn't seem to bother her all that much. You can't disappoint someone who was expecting disappointment. Echo hugged his brother and curled himself around his leg tightly; not letting go, even as he walked. The master of ice seemed to be completely fine with it, like he was used to it happening. Lloyd welcomed them all into the jungle and lead them inside to the village. Garmadon was returning from training with Kai at the same time and was astonished at the sight of every tribe being together again after all these years. Last time this was a normal sight was.... never mind. As leader of the Jade Tribe, he took over the lead for his son.
"Greetings everyone. I am Garmadon- leader of the Jade Tribe. I welcome you to our home. As you are all aware, we're united here once again to fight. The Fire Tribe was planning to destroy us individually like those 16 years ago- but now that we stand united, this battle will NOT end like the last. We are stronger than we know- We're unstoppable when we join forces." His motivational, determined expression softened slightly as he sighed. "I know we've had our differences, but I also know working together is entirely possible. I was around at the time when we were still all friends. I witnessed us join together and do incredible things. True, that was a different generation, but your leaders coming together is proof- that level of trust can still be achieved. So if you love Ninjago, if you love your home, then join us now! Let's fight for our home! Fight for each other!"