Lloyd walked through the jungle, carefully studying his map. The path to the Lightning Tribe seemed to go over a small canyon. The boy ninja carried on pushing his way through the thick foliage until he finally broke out. The blinding sunlight shown down as he took his first steps out of the jungle. His eyes widened with wonder while he saw the land beyond the brush for the first time. A rocky, but grassy terrain lay ahead of him, and it got sandier as it went until it turned to desert at the horizon line. For now though, it was just a matter of navigating the hills and trenches until he found his target. Lloyd was enamored by the glory of the new environment; with all the new plants and wildlife he’d never seen. The green ninja hiked through the tall grass and rocky cliffs until he reached a canyon with a small rope bridge stretching across. It didn’t look like it was in very good condition, making it difficult to want to cross. The fear of it snapping and falling to his premature death really began to bubble up as he started trying to cross it. The bridge creaked and crackled with each shaking step.

‘Don’t look down… Don’t look down… Do NOT look down…’ he whimpered to himself.
Each footstep made the bridge feel and sound like it was about to collapse under his feet. The ninja opened one eye a sliver to peak, and his heart began racing. “Aaaah! I looked down!!” Lloyd picked up speed, racing across the bridge. Just as he got close to the end, the overpass snapped. He quickly lunged toward the bluff and barley made it. Lloyd hung from the edge with his feet dangling below. In a panic, he scrambled to pull himself up. The green ninja panted as he looked back at the broken bridge. “Well, I guess there’s no going back now.” He sighed.

After almost a day and a half, Lloyd came to a stop as he caught a whiff of cooking meat. He followed his nose over a hill and was met with a wave of wonder and fear. A village. A village unlike anything Lloyd had ever seen before. There were little to no trees around it, and all the houses were on the ground. They were made of a combination of stone and wood. One building had a open front face with a large kiln in it. There were shiny metal objects placed everywhere in the place. Another building seemed to serve as somewhere to cook. Lloyd watched the village of people go about their lives happily. He took a deep breath while he examined the map. “OK! Looks like I found the Lightning Tribe. All there is to do now is go down there and find the leader. Then- um. Make friends with them? I guess…? Huh. I suppose I don’t really have much of a plan.” Lloyd shook off his worry and began to sneak into the village. This place was so bizarrely different from the Jade Tribe, but it was wonderful nonetheless. The town was absolutely beautiful. Lloyd hid behind a building and peaked out to catch a glimpse at the surroundings. Just as he turned back into the shadows, he bummed into something. No. SOMEONE…. The man looked down at Lloyd and began to apologize, but then noticed his appearance as foreign. The man slowly started to take a step back.

“Woah, woah hey! PLEASE don’t be scared of me.” Lloyd begged. “I’m here to help you.”

However, the man didn’t listen. He bolted away screaming. That alarmed everyone else, and before Lloyd could figure out what was going on, he was cornered by spear wielding guards. One placed their spear-point against the ninja’s throat. “State your business for being here heathen! Why have you intruded on our land?!!”
Before Lloyd could answer, he felt a burst of pain shoot through his body. He fell to the ground as he sparked and his vision faded to black.
----------

Lloyd’s eyes fluttered open as his blurry vision began to clear. He was tied to a stone pillar in the center of the room he was in. Pottery with depictions of lightning dragons and thunder clouds were scattered around the house. Some were filled with water, others held wheat or some type of grains. Lloyd looked around at the interior with fear, but arguably a bit of wonder. Just then, a teenager with messy brown hair, a white and blue toga, and sandals walked down the wooden staircase. He smirked as he advanced toward the green ninja.

“Well now, looks like the intruder finally woke up. How’d it feel to get 250 volts get pumped through your veins? Did it hurt?” He mocked. Lloyd scanned the new face, perplexed by his appearance. He tilted his head. “What are you wearing?”

The brown-haired boy almost looked offended. “It’s called a toga. And I can ask you the same thing Tarzan.”
Lloyd didn’t get it, but continued to introduce himself. The other boy introduced himself as Jay; leader of the Lightning Tribe. That certainly wasn’t what Lloyd was expecting, but hey, he found the person he came for.

“Look, Jay- I know what this might look like, but I promise I mean no harm. I’m here to warn you! The Fire Tribe is planning to attack all the tribes in only three weeks time. I came here to ask for your help. I’m on a mission to unite the tribes to stop the Fire Tribe’s army once and for all.”

Jay froze. “The Fire Tribe!? They’re planning an attack?!! But they didn’t come to warn us…?”

The green ninja’s eyes met Jay’s. “Exactly. But I am. I’m from the Jade Tribe, so you have no need to fear me. You have to trust me… We need all the tribes working together if we want to defeat the hell that’s about to be raised.”

The blue leader sighed. “I don’t know if I can fully trust you, but if what you say is true, then we’re in trouble. You also said that you were from the Jade Tribe? You guys are known for being pretty chill, I suppose. Ya know what? Fine.” The leader fried the ropes with a shot of electricity; cutting Lloyd down. “I’ll try to give you the benefit of the doubt here. If you speak the truth, we’ve never had a more serious problem. The Fire Tribe killed my parents the last time they attacked. They almost got me too… but that was 16 years ago. So I can only imagine how much stronger they’ve gotten since then.” Jay shuddered at the memories that rushed over his mind.

They exited the house and talked more about the situation as they walked through the town. Everyone stared at Lloyd in fear as they did. It had been a whole lot of back and forth between them, when suddenly two voices called out for Jay. He spun around in a panic. An older couple approached the two teens. They sprinted up the hill the teenagers stood on and began bombarding Jay with questions and physical contact. Jay groaned. “Mom, Dad- CHILL. I’m talking about official leadership business here. This is Lloyd Garmadon.” He motioned to the blonde boy. “He’s the son of Garmadon; leader of the Jade Tribe. If he’s telling the truth, we might be in severe trouble.”
The couple ran over to Lloyd and began to examine him curiously.

“Woah now Ed, look at all his fancy markings! Do you think they’re permanent?”

“You mean my camouflage paint?... Oh, no that’s-…” The green ninja tried to speak, but was cut off.

“Don’t mind that Edna, look at him, he looks starving.”

“What? Oh, well I guess I’m…” He tried to finish.

“Oh! You’re right dear!” Edna held Lloyd’s hand in hers. “I think he should join us for dinner tonight! I bet he could use something warm to eat. You don’t mind, right Jay?”

Jay’s eye twitched. “WHAT?! NO! He’s from another tribe, why would you even?..” He sighed like he knew he couldn’t win the argument. “Fine. He can join us if he wants, but I still don’t fully trust him, so keep your guard up. Alright?”

The couple agreed as they led Lloyd by the wrist back down the green hill and into their home. He looked back at Jay frightened as they dragged him along, and all the boy had to say was an exasperated shoulder shrug and an eye roll. They led Lloyd into the house and sat him on a wooden couch. The ninja looked around amazed. He had never seen a house anything like this one. Especially not from the inside. Jay noticed his expression and began to ask him how his tribe worked; since it was obviously incredibly different. “Oh, well for starters, we all live in tree houses. But they’re made of wood and bamboo; nothing at all like this place. Also, when we eat, we all gather around the bonfire in the center of the village. We usually all eat the same thing. Well, whatever came from the latest hunt.”

Jay had no idea what a tree house was, but he was starting to think that the Jade Tribe had life a lot harder than them. The more Lloyd talked, the worse it sounded. Soon enough though, they were both called over to the table to eat. Lloyd sat down and immediately recoiled when he noticed the loaf of bread on the table.

“What ever is the problem dear? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”
The green ninja looked down at the bowl of stew in front of him, then back up at the bread. “What is… that?”

Jay’s jaw dropped. “YOU’VE NEVER SEEN BREAD BEFORE!!??”

Lloyd shook his head.

‘Wow.’ Jay thought. ‘This night is going to be long, isn’t it?’

After dinner, Ed and Edna had offered to let Lloyd stay the night. Obviously, he agreed. Jay made him sleep in his room so that he could keep an eye on him and continue to discuss the situation. The two talked for a while, and after a whole lot of trying to convince him, Lloyd finally got Jay to agree to accompany him on the quest. Jay sighed as he turned in his bed to face away from Lloyd. The green ninja, who was laying on the floor, glanced over at the irritated leader. “I thought you said that The Fire Tribe killed your parents?”

Jay lay silent for a moment. “Edna was a close friend of my mother. She took me in as her own after my real mom died. But I don’t like to think about it. They’re my parents. Now shut up and go to sleep.” The tone of his voice was rather mad towards the end. The boy kept silent after that and eventually fell asleep.
When he opened his eyes, he was standing in the living room of Jay’s house. But something was wrong… the interior was decorated very differently; like someone else lived there. He called out for anyone who could hear, but nobody answered. He took a step forward, only to feel a cold chill run down his spine. The wispy figure appeared in front of him again. Another dream? Its glowing white eyes stared deep into his. The apparition zipped over to the wooden staircase leading to the upstairs floor. Lloyd followed. When he reached it, a bloodcurdling scream was made from the upper floor. The figure slowly floated its way up with Lloyd on its tail. They reached a bedroom with a terrifying scene in it. A dead Fire Soldier lay on the floor with blue lightning dancing across his body. He had been electrocuted. Not far away, a woman with blond hair was collapsed face down in a puddle of blood. Lloyd rushed to help, but his hands phased right through her. He couldn’t do anything. The ninja looked up at the ghostly figure who was looking down at the woman in sorrow. It had no mouth or nose, but his eyes were clearly upset. They both turned to the window where they could now see it was nighttime and the village was caught ablaze. The day/night cycle began to speed up until it was the next morning. A woman in about her late 40s to early 50s ran up the stairs and nearly fainted when she saw the now deceased blonde woman. WHAT WAS GOING ON?! Then, Lloyd noticed her face. It was a young Edna! He was being shown the past! Edna frantically raced around the room in tears; looking for something. After a moment, she fell to her knees defeated. Just then, a faint whimper was heard from behind a stack of toppled crates and barrels. Edna jumped up and quickly but carefully moved the boxes. Her hands flung over her mouth in shock as tears began to flow again. Lloyd knelt down beside her to see what had caused such a reaction. A baby boy in nothing more than a simple cloth diaper lay in front of them. He was covered in bruises and a few cuts. The supplies must have fallen on top of him; that was why he was under all the crates and barrels. Edna scooped him up in her arms; holding him close to her heart. The little boy winced at being held, and began to cry. He was clearly in a lot of pain from his injuries, and clutched Edna’s dress tightly in his tiny hands. She stroked his brown hair lovingly as he cried into her. Edna got up and exited the room with the baby. Lloyd turned to the ghostly figure who was sitting by the dead woman; still looking sad. “That’s Jay’s birth mother, isn’t it?” Questioned Lloyd. “That baby was him?... I just saw the night the Fire Tribe attacked last! That’s what’s happened? Why show me this?”

The wispy figure looked at Lloyd with its glowing, emotion-filled, pure white eyes. “To unite the leaders’ bodies is the easy part… But to truly unite… you first need to understand the heart…. One night in history can play a large role…  understand it… understand the broken soul…” It whispered as it sorrowfully stroked the departed woman’s hair.

“I see.” Lloyd sighed. “So what now?”
The ghost didn’t answer, but only seconds after, the entire world was covered by a blinding white light.

The morning sunlight shown through the carved stone window of Jay’s bedroom, and onto the sleeping teens. Jay sat up with a yawn and glanced down to where Lloyd was sleeping on the floor. He only had a dirty old pillow and a well used blanket, but he still somehow managed to look like he was in luxury. Again, it made Jay question things; possibly even feel a little bad for him. He got up, stretched, then kicked Lloyd in the arm to wake him up. “OW! What was that for?!”
The Lightning Tribe leader continued walking away down the stairs. “I’m convinced what you want is pointless, but I unfortunately already agreed. Come on. We’re leaving for the Desert Tribe.”
Lloyd jumped up, following his new partner down to the front door where he flung a satchel over his shoulder. The lightning ninja explained that most of the village was still asleep, so now would be the best time to leave. But before they could, they had to inform the captain of the guards. Reasonable. I guess the town shouldn’t be completely clueless about where their leader disappeared to. The two made there way to the village entrance were a larger man stood with a spear. His clothes were mostly brown, but with metal armor that was covered in a darker brown leather. His hair was rather messy; however, he didn’t seem to be bothered by it. Actually, now that Lloyd saw him better, he recognized him as the guard that held him at spear-point. A shiver ran down his spine as they approached him.

“Dareth!” Jay called. “I’m going on official leadership business with Lloyd. I’ll try to be back as soon as possible, but until then you’re in charge. Don’t do anything stupid.”

The guard saluted. “Of course! And please be careful Jay… it’s dangerous out there.” His gaze snapped to Lloyd. “Especially since you’re with him. I don’t really know if you could trust him.”
Lloyd rolled his eyes. Jay nodded and motioned for the green ninja to follow. They were headed off to the sandy area in the distance. He could only assume that it was the desert that the Desert Tribe was located. It would make sense in terms of names after all.
Welp. Off the two went into the unknown. Jay thought the whole ‘uniting the tribes’ thing was a load of bull, but he had stupidly promised to help, so he just followed through anyway. He didn’t even really trust Lloyd at all. For all he knew, he could be a double agent or assassin of some sort. Long story short, trust wasn’t exactly mutual. Lloyd on the other hand, was overjoyed to have someone with him; other tribe or not… Jay didn’t seem so bad; sure, he was a little grumpy- but it was to be expected. After all, he was more or less being dragged along on a quest he believed was pointless. The idea of uniting the tribes was rather absurd, that was certainly true. It sounded like taking natural enemies, like a fox and rabbit, and placing them in the same room. Things were bound to get messy, but even a cat and dog can get along if given time and the right conditions. Except the different tribes were all feral cats and dogs that had a long history of distrust and animosity with each other. So…. Yeah. It wasn’t a surprise that Jay didn’t exactly have faith that the unity could happen. Even now that Lloyd thought about it more, he was starting to doubt that it could be done. But he had to push on. For his father.

For everyone…