I suppose this is me venturing into yet another fandom, but hopefully not my last. Hello, all! This is my first Ninjago story, so I'll probably play around with the characters to get use to narrating from their points of view. As crazy a summary as this fanfic has, I get the feeling that things will live up to it in no time. Before we begin, no, this is not crack, and the only decided pairing is Janya (which isn't a dominate theme; I'm not really one for writing a ton of romance). I apologize for any mistakes, since my "beta" is more or less flooded with chapters from another story and won't be able to take on a new project. Also, my updating tends to be as unpredictable as a lightning strike, but I hope I can get a chapter or two out there within an appropriate amount of time.

Ahem! But now that we've gotten all of that formal stuff out of the way... I'm KatStorm! If you have any questions, comments, or words of advice, lay 'em on me! Hopefully, Nevermore will get better as it progresses, but I can't do that without my trusty readers! I hope you enjoy the first chapter!

-This story takes place during the race for the fangblades (back in season one).-

I do not own Ninjago, sadly. (The writing's pretty cool.)

The Strike That Hit Home

The sounds of struggling reached the ears of Sensei Wu, who gave a soft smile at the all-too-familiar noises. His students were training without being asked. Perhaps they were finally taking it seriously.

Wu took a deep breath and placed the prophecy scroll on the top shelf of the bookcase. Lloyd had been identified as the Green Ninja, so until the final battle was closer, the scroll should to be placed out of sight. One never knew when someone might try to steal it, or read too far into their future.

With a deep sigh, Wu sat back on a crate and allowed his tired eyes to trail around the dusty storage room. Usually, all rooms were open to his pupils, but this was one place he had made sure to keep hidden. The room had more than pieces of history- it safeguarded some of Ninjago's darkest secrets, a few of which still remained a mystery to Wu. Regardless, it wasn't up to him to read into the past; the Green Ninja would have that privilege when he reached his true potential. Not even his own curiosity could overrule destiny.

A sudden shift in the Bounty drew Wu out of his thoughts before he could delve any deeper. Things in the room trembled around him as though shaken by an earthquake. Sensei Wu took another deep breath. He would have to give Cole a lecture about using Destiny's Bounty as a playground for his elemental weapon. This would be the fifth time this week alone that the deck might bare the marks of the ninjas' sparring. The last tussle had left the mast on fire and set off an explosion so massive that the coordinates of the Bounty's engine had been recalibrated and left the ship spinning in circles for hours. Jay still swears up and down that it wasn't his fault.

"Those kids are getting to be a handful," Wu mumbled to himself as the Bounty gave another jolt. This time, a few scrolls tumbled from the top shelf, the Green Ninja prophecy included. The man quickly bent over to pick them up but noticed that one of the scrolls looked... odd. Instead of the typical off-white color scrolls usually were, this one was more of a yellow hue than Wu was use to seeing. The edges were worn, and Wu thought he could see a word or two bleeding through the parchment.

Sensei Wu returned the other scrolls to their respective places on the shelf before turning his attention to the yellow oddball in his hands. This scroll also felt heavier, on top of appearing older. His head gently tugged on the ends, opening up the page for his eyes to read.

Before he could even make out the first word, the ship jerked to one side, throwing Wu clear across the room. Red lights flashed as the alarm blared loudly in his ear.

That was never a good sign.

Jay's POV

Okay, I don't care what the others told you (if you've even heard from them), but it was not me who made the training dummy go ka-blooey. Sure, it was my dummy, but that doesn't mean I did it. Are we clear? Crystal?

Cool.

Moving on.

When the alarm went off, my first thought was Nya. I mean, that siren could mean that evil was spotted in Ninjago City, but it was the same bells and whistles that alerted us to enemies aboard Destiny's Bounty. Naturally, I thought of her safety before my own.

That may or may not have distracted me enough so that I didn't notice the blur leaping over the side of the Bounty and then nail me in the back of the head. My back might have been turned, but you wouldn't believe me anyways.

While I was waiting for the world to stop spinning, I noticed that the figure was clad in material of swirling grays and silvers. I couldn't see his face- he was wearing a mask- but what drew my eyes to him wasn't the freakishly realistic ninja suit he wore: it was the glowing whip in his hands. And yes, it was glowing. No Serpentine spit venom in my face while I was getting blindsided.

As soon as the ninja-impersonator turned to get his bearings, a blast of fire came within inches of his face, leaving him to dive sideways or risk serious burns. Kai lunged at the figure, sword in hand, slashing with enough ferocity to make any worthy fighter tremble in their shoes. But this person just wasn't fazed. With a quick backflip, he flicked the whip while spinning midair. The golden weapon fetched tight around the hilt of Kai's sword, yanking it from his grasp and sending it clattering to the deck a few feet behind the intruder.

By then, I figured I could stand up without toppling, but my head was aching like crazy. Without hesitation, I yelled, "NinjaGO!" and whirled around to get my spinjitzu started. From there, the blue tornado almost seemed to form on its own.

Diving for the person, I saw Zane launch his shurikens on either side of my target. They soared over my head, lodging in the floor at the figure's feet, but just as they started to freeze the deck, the figure cracked the whip, wrapping it around the railing, and swung himself off of the side of the Bounty.

"Leaving so soon..?" I ground to a halt and exchanged a confused glance with the other three. Cole lowered his scythe with a frown of disappointment.

"I didn't get to land a single blow!" complained the earth ninja, sheathing his weapon on his back.

"None of us did," said Zane quietly. "We couldn't actually hit him."

"Okay, dude, don't tell me the same person who tried to coldcock me just got away," I groaned loudly.

No sooner than the words left my mouth did the figure use his whip to swing up onto the opposite side of Destiny's Bounty.

"Spoke too soon!" I yelped.

He moved so fast that he was barely a blur, if not almost faster than I could see. As my element was lightning, I was pretty quick on my feet when I wanted to be, but this guy must have drunk twelve cups of coffee before hopping aboard. The masked figure seemingly materialized directly in front of Zane and lashed at the Nindriod with his whip. Zane leaped over the coil, soared over the person's head, and touched down mere inches behind him- and ducked just in time to avoid Cole's scythe. The weapon had come close to decapitating the ice ninja; that newcomer had to be a goner.

A loud clang! shook the foundation of the Bounty. My eyes almost popped out of my head as Cole's scythe bounced off of the intruder's arm.

No... that wasn't his arm... There was something jutting out of it, like a... was that a..?

An arm blade?!

"What the-"

An identical blade shot out of the figure's other arm and slashed at Cole, cutting him off. From his crouched position, Zane deflected the blow with his shurikens and used the advantage to knock the person's feet out from under him.

Before he could get up, I dove forward and snatched up the whip that had been knocked from his hand. Kai brandished his flaming sword at the attacker, closely mirrored by Cole and Zane with their respective weapons. I looped the whip around one shoulder and pulled out my nunchucks, you know, just in case this guy didn't get the picture.

And...

He didn't.

Speedy Gonzales (because what else was I suppose to call him when he moved that fast?) bolted to his feet, eyes smoldering through the slit in his mask. No... they really were smoking. FREAKY.

Just as Speedy threw himself at Zane, I bopped him on the head with my nunchucks, electricity humming through the weapon. Sparks showered down around Speedy who dropped like a rock and lay crumpled on the deck. He twitched a few times, but didn't move otherwise. I exchanged a look with the other ninja and we shuffled closer in synch.

"Uh, is he still breathing?" It really didn't look like he was. I started to poke him with a toe but Cole shot out his hand.

"Wait."

"What? I was just checking!" I sheathed my nunchucks and crossed my arms.

"You just hit him on the head. Once. And that wasn't even your best shot," Kai frowned.

"He was fast," added Cole.

"Too fast," I muttered.

"Where's Sensei?" asked Zane, glancing around.

"I am here," Sensei Wu appeared on the deck, Nya at his side. "There's an intruder aboard Destiny's Bounty."

"We know, Sensei," Kai stepped back and gestured to the limp form.

All fell still as we made room for Sensei to crouch beside Speedy Gonzales. My eyes instinctively went to Nya. She looked so cute with her face scrunched up in worry like that. She was actually worried about us! Or maybe Speedy... I wasn't too sure. Regardless, that expression of hers just made her all the more-

"Cole, please help me move her below decks." Sensei Wu's voice was unnaturally soft.

"Her?!" we ninja yelled.

Without speaking, Sensei put a hand to Speedy's head and gently pushed back the mask. The face of a young woman peered up at us. Well, her eyes were closed, but it still came like a slap through the face.

"She's a woman?!" I nearly screeched, but remembered that Nya was watching and managed to keep it to a normal screaming volume.

"But, Sensei-! There aren't any women ninja!" protested Kai.

Sensei Wu chuckled quietly to himself. "One may come across the occasional kunoichi, however rare. Women are born with their own strengths, like your sister." Nya blushed at this.

The voice of reason (aka: Zane) said with a small smile, "I suppose that makes sense, even though it does go against tradition."

"Sensei," said Cole, "where should we move her to?"

Sensei hesitated a moment before saying, "We'll put her in Lloyd's room."

At those words, Lloyd Garmadon himself exploded onto the deck with a large grin, his black cape sweeping around his feet. "Does that mean I'm moving into the ninja's room?"

"I thought I told you to stay below!" huffed Sensei, getting to his feet. "But yes, you will be moving in with the other ninja."

Lloyd whooped loudly and punched the air with his fist. "Thank you, woman-ninja!"

"Kunoichi," corrected Nya.

"Sensei," Zane piped up. "Do you know who she is or why she is here?"

Our teacher shook her head. "I'm afraid that I'm unable to answer you inquiries. However," he looked up suddenly, "as another stage in your training, I would like for the four of you to work together to figure it out."

This statement earned him five blanks stares; Lloyd hmphed loudly.

"But Sensei, how are we suppose to do that?" I asked, bewildered.

A jolly smile stretched across Sensei Wu's face. "I suppose you'll have to figure that out as well. I have already provided you with sleeping arrangements, so the rest should come to you as easy as a sea breeze."

This brought on a wave of questions, none of which he bothered to answer.

"Nya, would you do me the pleasure of accompanying me below decks?" Sensei prompted, turning to the girl who nodded.

"Sure," she said.

We four elemental ninja gaped at Sensei Wu as he ambled after Nya with a cheery wave over his shoulder. "Do well with the guest, my pupils!" he called over his shoulder.

But none of the other ninja caught the frown that darkened his face just before he vanished.

Kai's POV

I think I'll take over before motormouth here runs off into left field. [Jay: Hey! I stayed on topic just fine!] Anyways, after a quick debate about what to do with the kunoichi, or "Speedy" as Jay had insisted upon calling her, the ninja relocated the girl to Lloyd's room as soon as the young ninja had dumped all of his stuff in our room. We found some rope in one of the cupboards and tied her to the mattress.

"So... what now?" Jay glanced at us.

I crouched next to the girl and lightly ran my finger along the side of the blade sticking out of one of her arms. It had slashed straight through the sleeve of the ninja outfit, but I couldn't see anything that strapped the weapon to her arm. I squinted and pulled up the mangled sleeve to reveal a startling sight.

The blade was protruding out of the girl's skin.

"Whoawhoawhoa! What is THAT?" Jay's eyes were as wide as saucers.

"It appears to be a part of her," answered Zane decisively.

"Y'think?! So what the heck is she? Another Nindriod?"

"That's one explanation," said Cole, scowling down at the kunoichi. "I'll ask Sensei."

"Sensei won't help us, Cole! He told us that he couldn't answer our questions and that we needed to figure it out as the next stage in our training!" I argued hotly. "Besides, what makes you think he'd give us a straight answer, anyways? He'd probably just give us more riddles." I huffed loudly and fixed my eyes on the girl. "He's been acting strange lately," I added.

"You've gotta be kidding me! He didn't really mean that we had to do everything, did he?" moaned Jay.

I smiled wolfishly. "You're free to watch her first."

"Watch her first?" if possible, his eyes widened further as he pointed at himself. "You want to watch her? Why?"

"He means that we should take turns keeping guard," said Cole, catching on. "In case she wakes up and feels like throwing a few more punches."

Jay snuck a peek at the kunoichi and gulped comically. "You guys really do want me dead, don't you? Do you not remember the part where she tried to take my head off? Know what? Cole, you're free to watch her first. You've been needing a new practice dummy, right?"

"Scared?" I smirked.

"No way!" he declared, whipping out his nunchucks and sitting down on the floor so fast I almost missed it. He crossed his arms, eyes closed. "You all go frolic in a field of flowers while I bravely guard our prisoner. I'll be fine here."

Snorting- and dodging a halfhearted kick from Jay- I turned to Cole and Zane. "If Jay's watching her, what should the rest of us do?"

"I'll go talk to Sensei," said Cole. "Even if he refuses to help, his guidance is something we've always relied on in the past."

"Which is probably why he's trying to push us away from it," I nodded to myself. "So to pass Sensei's newest test, we just have to figure out anything and everything about this kunoichi. Do you think it'll be like my first test?"

"You mean when Sensei had us dress up and attack you in the middle of the night?" said Jay from the floor.

"You think this could be another one of Sensei's students?" Cole frowned. "Wouldn't he have told us?"

"Maybe he thought we weren't enough to guard Lloyd," I said, but all that thought did was irritate me. Weren't we good enough? After all, the prophecy stated that the four elemental ninja were suppose to be the protectors of the Green Ninja. Nobody ever mentioned a fifth. Besides, there were only four elements- plus whatever special thing that came with being the Green Ninja; I didn't know much past being able to wield all of the elemental powers. Also, there were only four golden weapons.

Golden weapons...

My eyes fell on the glowing whip still draped around Jay's shoulder.

"Actually, Cole. I think I'll join you," I said in a low tone. "There's something I want to ask him..."

Jay's POV

So Kai jerks the mic out of my hands and says that it's because he's worried I'll get sidetracked, and then he goes and gives it right back. And we say Zane's the weird one. [Cole: Either tell them what happened next, or give me the microphone.] Okay, okay, sheesh. So touchy. This takes true artistic talent, my friends, and clearly- [All: JAY!] Fine! Jeez! I'm talking! I'm talking!

Before certain people can distract me, I think we were to the part where Kai more or less dragged Cole from the room after trying to rip my arm off to get Speedy's whip. Yeah, that sounds about right. Oh, and Zane just up and left without speaking. In other words, they all abandoned me to watch the only kunoichi in that desperate a need of anger management classes.

Fun, right?

Well, she slept for the first three hours. Frankly, someone should have relieved me of my impromptu shift long before then, but everyone seemed to have walked off the edge of the planet, so it was just me and the crazy lady. I would have much rather preferred to have been told to watch Nya, but alas it was not to be. Instead, I was stuck with some asylum-escapee who was just beginning to wake up.

I quickly flipped my mask back on and watched the kunoichi warily. If she started coming at me with those wicked blades of hers, I was zapping her butt back to sleep.

The girl groaned loudly and felt out the bed with one hand. Her eyelids fluttered slightly as the blades sank back into her arms, but didn't fully open. The hand continued to feel out the sheets, the mattress, the floor, until the rope that lashed her to the bed pulled tight. She instantly froze. A moment later, one eye opened slowly.

"I'm warning you, kunoichi-demon! I'm armed!"

I don't know why I said that. At the time, it made perfect sense.

Both eyes blinked open, gradually focusing on me. The irises were a dull gray. "Uh, who are you?"

I stared. "You don't remember?"

She blinked hard a few more times. "Should I remember?"

Okay, I know for a fact that there was no way this amnesia was my fault. That strike wasn't nearly solid enough to cause brain damage, and my lightning wasn't at its strongest either. I continued to stare at her, unable to do much else. I hadn't heard anything from the others in a while, and if I couldn't hear them, they probably couldn't hear me. Well, maybe if I screamed at the top of my lungs, but then Speedy might go psycho on me, or worse: Nya might think I screamed like a girl.

First spinjitzu master, if that ever happens, strike me dead.

[Kai: Good grief...]

I heard that! Ugh, can't a guy tell a story without being interrupted? ANYWHO...

I eyed her without lowering the nunchucks. "So... you have no clue who I am, where you are, or anything..?"

She sighed. "My memory's fine. I've just never met you before. Your voice isn't familiar," she said simply. "But I don't know where I am. This room is... different than where I remembered last remembered myself being."

Great. So the crazy female ninja didn't remember putting a dent in my skull. On the bright side, she didn't remember showing me up! Ha!

I flipped my mask back, but didn't put away my trusty weapon. There was no way in the world I was giving her another chance to best me. Her eyes trailed over my form but didn't give any inclination to remembering me. (Woohoo! Lucky~!)

"Who are you?"

Speedy chuckled wryly. "I think I asked you first."

It couldn't hurt to tell her my name, could it? "I'm Jay. You?"

"Griselda," she replied. (I liked Speedy better.) "Or just Zel. Jay, do you know where we are?"

"Yeah..." I wasn't stalling for time. Nope. Not at all. "Why?"

Zel raised an eyebrow. "Any particular reason why I'm tied to a bed?" Before I could answer, the blades shot out of her arms, slicing right through the rope at her wrists. I barely had time to blink in the time it took her to remove the rest of the rope. The girl brushed the bangs of her pixie cut back from her forehead. "There. That's better."

She. Was. FREE!

With a squeak, I brought my nunchucks down on her, fully intending to knock her out again, but my blow was softened by a pillow that Zel had jerked up as a temporary shield. Just as I was about to whack her again, Zel launched herself into the corner of the room, as far away from me as she could get, still clutching the pillow.

"You!" she gasped. "You're the one who rendered me unconscious!"

"Want another taste?" I twirled the nunchucks, and then screamed towards the doorway, "GUYS?! A LITTLE HELP?!"

Zel's eyes nervously shot towards the door. I quickly slid between her and the exit. By golly, she may have gotten out of the ropes, but I wasn't about to let her walk out of this room without a fight.

"You know him. Zane," she said softly, her tone a whole lot darker than it had just been. "You know Doctor Julien's creation."

I quickly slid my mask back on and began to twirl the nunchucks. "Sure." Gotta keep her talking. Can't let her escape.

"You protect him."

"Actually, we protect the Green Ninja, but Zane too." Where was everyone?

The pillow hit the floor, and a nanosecond later, Zel was flashing past me towards the door. I stuck out my foot and the girl tripped, flew across the room, and slammed into the far wall. This didn't seem to faze her too much, because she dove at me as she as she found solid ground.

I didn't even have time to yell "NinjaGO!" as I usually do. Nope. Just out-of-the-blue spinjitzu. (Hey! That rhymed! [All: groans.]) My tornado knocked her back a few times, but it was pretty clear I was only slowly her down, not stopping her. So it dawned on me that I should probably zap her with some ol' fashioned lightning.

I spun the nunchucks faster and shot a bolt of electricity at her. She dodged the first shot, but the second caught her full in the chest and sent her sprawling to the ground. Speedy Gonzales was back under.

And because Ninjago hates me, the others decided that that moment would be a good time to finally come to my rescue.

"Jay?" Kai burst into the room, sword flashing. Cole and Lloyd were right on his heels. The ninja took one look around the room before their eyes fell to the limp form on the floor.

"Did she wake up?" asked Cole, his hand reaching for his scythe.

"You think?!" I flailed my arms around.

"Why didn't you call us?" Kai demanded.

"I did!"

"Whoa… what happened in here?" Lloyd peered around the room with wide eyes, taking in the severed ropes, matted bed sheets, and the smoking pillowcase.

"Speedy went all nuts on me once she realized who I was! Started babbling about Zane and tried to bowl me over to get out!" I jumped as the pillow actually caught fire and quickly started to stomp it out.

"Zane?" Cole and Kai exchanged a look.

"Now that you mentioned it," began Cole, "Once Zane threw his shurikens, she did sort of hone in on him."

"She tried to take your head off," Kai pointed out.

Cole shook his head. "I interrupted an attack that was meant to hit Zane. It might have been a reflex."

"Okay, whatever. Freaky Zane obsession or not, what are we going to do with her?" I gestured to Zel.

We all exchanged a blank look.

Cole shrugged. "I'll see if we can find some extra chains we can use, since that rope worked so well last time."

Lloyd glanced between Zel and the doorway. "Hey, do you guys know where Zane went off to?"

"I'll find him," I offered quickly and scampered from the room.

They could deal with Speedy's insanity for the time being. I just needed some fresh air and a little talk with Nya.

If you didn't understand the style of narration, just imagine that all of the ninja are crowding around one of those tape recorders with built-in microphones. When they finish what they have to say- or get the mic stolen from them- someone else speaks. The brackets are the background voices and sounds that creep into the recording.

I'm sorry if the first chapter seemed a little monotonous. It should pick up in a chapter or two; it always takes me a bit to get a story moving.

Until next time~!