tournament | ninjago {featuring your ocs!}

prologue

Ninjago hasn't been the same since Zane died.

Everyone felt his loss when it happened. Now, the world seems a little less bright. Things have been especially hard on the Ninja team—or rather, the former ninja team. With their beloved ice ninja gone, they've gone their separate ways, never to return to their former lives again.

Riddled with guilt and anger, Kai takes it out on his opponents as the Red Shogun, fighting in underground tournaments in the underbelly of Ninjago City. Defeating his foes gives him satisfaction—but when each match ends, the fire within him dies. Meanwhile, Jay dominates the big screen as a game show host. The cheers and smiles of the audience make him feel like he's on cloud nine, but the moment he steps offstage, the dull ache of loneliness fills his heart again. While he finds new work on television, Cole finds it as a lumberjack. In the depths of the woods he finds solace, a place far away from the danger and fights he so desperately wants to escape. No one knows his name or expects anything of him. He's free, or at least, somewhat so.

Young Lloyd Garmadon is the only one still clinging to hope, however slight it may be. He spends his days at his father's monastery with Nya and his family, pondering how to make things right. He visits each of the former ninja, asking them to be part of a team once more. They all refuse. It doesn't stop him...after all, Ninja never quit. The others may have forgotten that, but he never will.

Ironically, his girlfriend is the one he's seen the least.

Lloyd hasn't seen Kira in months. She'd gone back home to Jamanakai after Zane's memorial service—she needed time, she'd told him, to process all that's happened and been lost. Out of respect for her and her space, he hasn't visited. They text each other sometimes, and while it's better than nothing, it's not the same as getting to be by her side like he once was.

It's not until months later that the five Ninja finally reunite. It's there, in the shadows behind Chen's Noodle House, that they discover a shocking truth.

The Titanium Ninja is alive. And to find him, they'll have to go somewhere they've never gone before.