Ninjago Pilots

Pilot #1: Like a Fairy Tale

New Year (well, not yet), New Book!

As I have mentioned several times before, I have a huge folder on my laptop (and even more in my head 😄) with unfinished drafts and unwritten story ideas. I just won't be able to realise all of them, but over the next couple of days/week/months, I'm going to make some of them into 'Pilots' (i.e. test chapters to see what people would be like to read, or maybe find someone interested in 'adopting' the idea).

This is probably my favourite book idea, but it would turn into a rather long adventure...

Title: Like a Fairy Tale

Abstract: In another attempt to get rid of the Ninja, Lord Garmadon uses the Mega Weapon to create a place 'far, far away' and sends the Ninja there, together with their present and future allies (which, of course, includes Sensei Garmadon himself!). During that process, they all lose their memories and identities and take over the roles of different fairy tale characters. Over the course of the story, they have to regain their memories and find a way back home.

Setting: Beginning and end take place in early season 2, but the main part of the story is set in an AU based on the world of Grimms' Fairy Tales.

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Prologue

Garmadon was furious.

The Dark Lord was angrily pacing up and down in the captain's quarters on board the Black Bounty, struggling to come to terms with the fact that those pesky Ninja had just done it again.

Another one of his great ideas to defeat the young Elemental Masters had failed. It appeared that, no matter what obstacles or new enemies he put in their way, they would always find a way to come off victorious in the end. And not only was this very frustrating, but their persistence was also getting really on his nerves.

How dare they keep fighting - and defeating - him? He was Lord Garmadon, the evil mastermind and older son of the First Spinjitzu Master. And he even had the Mega Weapon, while they were just a bunch of kids in colourful pajamas (Garmadon had to admit that Captain Soto did have his moments to shine and, when he was not trying to take back the Bounty, he was a lot more skilled and entertaining than the Serpentine) who trained under Garmadon's little brother and were not even capable of protecting (i.e. babysitting) the young Green Ninja.

Lloyd. Thinking about his precious son, Garmadon's features briefly softened. But then he remembered what fate was lying ahead of him. Of them.

No, he didn't want to hurt – or worse – the boy, but he knew that one day it would have to be one of them. The Final Battle was inevitable. It's either him or me. The prophecy was very clear about that, wasn't it?

Garmadon could, however, try to delay it for as long as possible. And the most promising strategy to achieve this goal was by weakening or breaking Lloyd's team, so that the Green Ninja would take longer to reach his Full Potential required to fulfil his destiny. It could even be that, without his protectors, Lloyd would never become strong enough, so that he would give up even without any fight at all and join his father as his general... yes, even the Dark Lord still had his hopes and dreams.

And all of those dreams would, one way or another, involve defeating Wu and the other four Ninja. But just what exactly would he have to do to finally get rid of them?

During all his years in the Underworld and the time he had spent in the Dark Realm, Garmadon had made so many wonderful evil plans on how to obtain the Golden Weapons to create the Mega Weapon from them.

But he had never thought about what he was actually going to do with it – other than taking over Ninjago and recreating it in his own image, of course. He had always imagined that everything would just happen, once he would hold its power. But ironically, it had only required a not-so-little snake to have those stupid Ninja voluntarily hand over the Golden Weapons to him, while using the Mega Weapon had proved a lot more challenging. If he wasn't so angry right now, Garmadon would probably even find this dilemma kind of amusing.

Sure, he had to give credit to his late father. The First Spinjitzu Master had used the Golden Weapons to create Ninjago and, knowing that they therefore also must hold the power to end it, he must have done something to block their ability to destroy anything at all, in order to prevent exactly this from happening.

Unfortunately, Garmadon was not exactly of the most creative kind of person. And on top of all this, he could only use the Mega Weapon once per day, due to the enormous amount of strength this action required even from him. And when he had to recover from the strains afterwards, he always had to worry about how his incompetent crew would manage – or rather mismanage – things in his absence.

So, what exactly was he supposed to try next?

Suddenly, his eyes fell on a pile of old books lying among the maps on Captain Soto's desk. These gave him an idea. The Dark Lord grinned evilly. Maybe this was the way to defeat those pesky Ninja once and for all.

"Mega Weapon, I command you to create a world far, far away, where the Ninja and everyone who has ever helped them – or who will ever do so – will be trapped in a different reality.

The Mega Weapon began to glow brightly, and all of a sudden, everything started to spin around Garmadon. And in a blinding flash, both of them disappeared, leaving just an empty cabin behind.

Chapter 1

Cole stepped out of the shower. Still dripping, the star of Ninjago's most popular quartet wrapped a fresh white towel around his waist and used another one to dry his neatly cropped raven hair.

The Town Musicians of Ninjago City were currently staying at the royal castle, by invitation of King Borg himself.

Walking into his luxurious bedroom, the singer glimpsed at the mechanical clock in the corner, to make sure he wouldn't be late for the Matinée. The last thing he'd want to do today was to make the royal family wait for him.

But there was no need to worry, there was still plenty of time even to enjoy a generous breakfast. And truth be told, Cole was starving.

For some odd reason, the black-haired male would wake up every morning just before sunrise with a strong urge to exercise. So, he had gone for a long run through the beautiful gardens surrounding the castle before taking an equally long, refreshing shower.

After getting dressed in his formal clothes, the muscular singer briefly went back to the en-suite bathroom, to check his appearance in the small mirror over the sink before heading down to the dining hall.

Perfect. He thought.

But just as Cole was about to turn away, his reflection suddenly changed. Cole found himself looking at a pair of emerald green eyes under bushy black eyebrows – very much like his own before he had had them trimmed, as per his manager's insistence. The rest of the face was covered by a black and silver mask, but Cole instantly knew what it looked like underneath. The hair had the same colour as his own, just slightly longer and a bit shaggy. And his opposite had probably pursed rose his lips in his usual thoughtful frown.

He blinked. When he opened his eyes again, the image was gone. Cole was looking again at his regular own reflection.

Ah, it must have been my imagination. I would never wear that type of clothing. He tried to convince himself, recalling the silver armour that had covered the other's muscular shoulders. I probably just need some food, I have never functioned well on low blood sugar levels. Maybe they still have some leftover cake from last night at the kitchen...

Cole straightened his back and began walking towards the door leading to the corridor. But he only managed to do a few steps into the bedroom, before his world turned black and he hit the floor with a loud *thump*.