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!"

The tribes where silent for a moment as they glanced around skeptically at the others, but eventually, they all joined in the clearing. They were ready to fight for what they loved. Kai and Ronin looked around at all the determined soon-to-be warriors almost nervously and then quietly snuck out somewhere else. Jay, Morro, and Brad watched the scene unfold; growing ever more suspicious. Morro snuck over to Brad. "Did you see the way they got nervous when they realized how many people there were on our side?"

The soldier nodded. "Yep. I told you they're planning on betraying us. And I think they just found out it's not gonna be as easy as they thought."

Jay joined in. "So when do we start our counter attack?"

"When the moment is right." Declared Brad. "I'll let you know, but you don't need to worry about that until then."

Meanwhile, Clouse and Chen stood in the throne room. Chen held an ancient Anacondrai sword in his hands and stared at it with a twisted excitement in his eyes. Clouse waved his hand around as a snake of fire wrapped around his arm and danced around his fingers.

"Fire is fun, isn't it Clousey?" Chen smiled.

The sorcerer let out an irritated sigh. "Elemental powers are not supposed to be 'fun'... You out of all people should know that with great power comes great responsibility. And with that responsibility, you must-"

He was immediately cut off by the old master declaring that he was being too serious about it. It would be a lie to say that he always used to use his powers responsibility. In fact, he was the opposite. Chen misused his fire more often than not. There was a reason he was banished... the man was something different- to put it lightly. He wasn't exactly sane. Then again, neither was his tribe; even back then. For the past several hours, Clouse had been trying to perfect his newly stolen abilities, and now he was feeling a lot more confident. The elemental power behaved differently from his normal magic, but the skills he learned from them still seemed to prove useful. With a deep breath, he conjured a shadowy figure that creepily resembled Garmadon. The man charged at the practice dummy and began using his fire to masterfully hit where the Garmadon stand-in was weakest. Chen watched on almost worried from his throne. Clouse pinned it to the ground and mercilessly beat the shadow dummy with a combination of fire and spells. The rage in his eyes only grew as he conjured a tendrill and made it strangle the neck tightly. Several more burst from the ground and wrapped around the creature's limbs, tangling them with crushing force. The man crafted a dagger of dark energy and slashed several deep cuts all over it before plunging it into the figure's chest to end it. Chen rolled over from his lounging possession on the throne and watched as the shadow disappeared, leaving a heavy breathing Clouse behind.

"Wow. That was... violently personal. Out of all this time in your nearly immoral life, you never got that checked out?"

The new master of fire glared at the snake from over his shoulder; telling him to be silent. "Garmadon has done things I can not forgive. The only thing that will bring me joy now is to make sure he suffers as much as possible before I destroy him. I'll make him watch everything he's ever loved burn. Even if I have to tear his eyelids out so he can't look away- I WILL make him witness it all. Starting with his precious little son..."
_______________________________________

The sun began to set as the different tribes all prepared for the battle that was rapidly approaching. Echo and Nelson were told they weren't allowed to join the fight since they were too young, so they just sat and watched the adults train and prepare. Nelson looked at the shy boy sitting beside him and questioned what cool thing he could turn into. Echo timidly glanced back and whispered that he couldn't. Nelson was interested now, so asked why not.
"I'm not a formling." He whispered. "I was born in the Fire Tribe, but they didn't want me because I was special. They tried to hurt me and make me go away forever, but daddy found me. Now I don't have to worry about hurting. At least that's what he told me."

The young wind tribe member put his hand on Echo's shoulder. "It’s going to be alright. I like that your special! Just because you can't turn into anything doesn't mean I hate you now."

"I... I can't do other things either. Daddy said it's cause my brain doesn't work like everyone else's. He said that it's not a bad thing, but now I can't help him or my brother because of it. It's not fair..." The little boy buried his face in his knees to avoid any other eye contact.

"That's not why you can't help." A soothing voice spoke up. Garmadon stepped forward and knelt beside the two. "You two are too young to be on the battlefield. You could be easily lost forever if you go. Brad prepared the cave behind the waterfall for those who are unable to fight to hide in. He'll lead you there tomorrow night so you could get settled in. That way, you could be safe from danger." The two young children agreed that it was for their own safety as the leader left.

There was one one more day before the attack- and regardless of what they said- NOBODY was truly ready.