The Master of Nature

The Brown Ninja?

As usual, Wu woke up the ninja around dawn. With the exception of Zane, everyone was so sleepy that they could hardly open their eyes.

Wu was surprised to find everyone so tired. "Why are you guys so tired?" he asked. "Did you spend the night playing video games?"

Nobody told him about the sleepover. They were afraid that they might get scolded for letting Lloyd stay up so late.

Fortunately, after a breakfast of pancakes with honey, butter and fresh strawberries, everyone perked up a little bit. They spent the whole day training Lloyd.

"Ha! Fists of fury! Unh! You can't even see 'em move, I'm so fast! Ha!" said Lloyd enthusiastically.

"Save the gloating.," warned Kai. "It can only be used against you by your enemy."

"Oh, please. I'm ready to face whatever you throw at me," said Lloyd confidently. He kicked Kai and the latter went against the wall.

"Whoa, grasshopper. You're not even ready to face my pinky toe," said Kai, wriggling his left foot.

Hope yawned a little. "How long is this going on?" she asked. "I'm exhausted, and it's not even noon yet."

"We all are tired," said Cole.

"Zane isn't," grumbled Jay.

"Zane's a nindroid. Of course he's not tired," said Hope.

Wu told Lloyd that his next lesson would be with Nya, much to his disappointment. "Aww, but when will I learn Spinjitzu?" asked Lloyd.

Wu sighed. "Patience. It will only be unlocked when the key is ready to be found."

Lloyd moaned as he dragged his feet to meet Nya.

"Hehe. Guys, I know we're trying to prepare Lloyd for the future, but it's hard to give him the best training in these conditions," pointed out Jay.

Wu agreed. "Perhaps we could find somewhere else to aid his journey."

Later that afternoon, the ninja went to Ninjago City to find a place to train Lloyd. Hope looked around fearfully, not wanting to bump into her foster parents.

"You know, I kind of feel bad that we're neglecting Hope's training," said Cole. "I know that Lloyd's the Green Ninja and all that, but she's important to our team too."

Hope's face turned pink. People had been questioning if she could really be a proper member of the team, being a girl and all that, so it was nice that her friends believed that she was a part of their team.

"As soon as we find a proper training spot, we can concentrate on training both of them again," said Zane.

Eventually, they end up at a place called Grand Sensei Dareth's Mojo Dojo.

"This is where Lloyd is going to train?" asked Cole.

"Hehe, it's better than our dumpy apartment," said Jay.

They were greeted by a man with chocolate brown hair and wearing a brown suit. "Welcome to Grand Sensei Dareth's Mojo Dojo. I am Grand Sensei Dareth, and I Dareth you to join my dojo. Heeya!" He tried to do a move, but stumbled.

"Face the wall of karate trophies. If you look closely, my name is on all of them. That is because I am a highly skilled karate machine."

Kai rolled his eyes. "Look, Dareth, we're wondering if we could share your dojo. You see, we've been put in charge of training this little guy to become the greatest ninja in all of Ninjago." He pointed at Lloyd as he said that.

"Not possible, for I am the greatest in the land. How many trophies do you have? I'll let you train here but only on one condition. You can defeat me. If you succeed, we will share the dojo. Unh! That's right. I, Grand Sensei Dareth, master of all animal fighting styles, challenge one of you to a battle. I know the tiger. Rawrr. The python."

Hope blinked in surprise as she watched Dareth hiss. Was this guy for real?

Kai simply used Spinjitzu to defeat him. "You might know animals, but we know Spinjitzu."

Dareth looked surprised , but allowed the ninja to train at his dojo.

Later, Lloyd managed to break ten boards in one strike. Everyone gasped at him.

"That was the power of the Staff of Quakes," said Jay. "And you did it without the Golden Weapon!"

"That must be why you have the potential to be the greatest ninja," said Zane. "You can harness all of the Elemental Powers."

"Really? Cool," said Lloyd.

"With this power, you must be careful," warned Wu. "You must control it before it controls you."

" I have to admit, not bad for a kid," said Dareth. "But instead of ten boards, how about fifty? Stack 'em, boys."

Wu looked like he was getting impatient with Dareth. He watched some of Dareth's students stack up some boards.

"And perhaps if I, Grand Sensei Dareth, can break through them all, you will allow me to join your team and become... the Brown Ninja!"

Jay snickered. "The Brown Ninja? You gotta be joking!"

"Okay, okay. Then maybe this demonstration of my superhuman strength may persuade you," said Dareth. "Jeffy, Phil, are we ready?"

"Yes, Grand Sensei Dareth," said Jeffy and Phil.

"Observe. I call upon the greatest animal to give me strength, the Dragon. Heeyah!"

Needless to say that it didn't end well. Dareth only ended up hurting himself, and everyone laughed except for his students.

As much as Dareth frustrated Hope, she couldn't help thinking that he was amusing. Though he should probably use a better colour than brown if he wanted to be a ninja. And not do any silly animal moves.