Gloved fingers trace over the little designs on the Golden Katana, slipping over the small dragons wings delicately. A discussion about the Fangblades goes straight over Alyssa's head, her mind clouded with doubt. Ever since Zane discovered his True Potential, she started to think over her own.

And then Jay finding his made her spiral into panic. They made it all seem so easy, though she knew it was anything but easy. Sighing quietly, she flipped her katana over on the table, the cushion sinking as she shuffles her weight on the seat.

"No, I figured out where I recognized the Fangblade from. I have a picture of it. Even if I did find my True Potential, Alyssa still hasn't unlocked hers either, Kai."

When her name was mentioned, Alyssa lifts her heard to glance at Cole who rushes out of the room in a hurry. "Sorry?"

Jay chuckles and wraps an arm around Kai, who's expression of panic melts into relief. "Kai here, was freaking out about being the last to unlock his True Potential, weren't you, bud?" He grins teasingly towards the brunet.

Kai groans and shoves Jay off of him as Cole comes back into the Bridge, "Shut it, Jay." He mumbles and spins around to face Cole, who was flipping through a book of photos next to Alyssa. "You said you had a picture of the Fangblade?"

At the mention of the blade, Alyssa places her weapon in its sheath and shuffles closer to Cole, trying to ignore the previous topic. "Really?"

"Yeah, just give me a second." He hums lowly, flipping page after page before grinning widely, "I got it!" The picture he landed on was a trophy made out of the Fangblade, a typical looking golden trophy with the blade jutted out on top. "Back where I grew up, there's this pretty big competition where every year the winner gets the Blade Cup. My dad's won it multiple times."

Zane traces his eyes over the photo along with the others when Jay snatches the book from Cole, "You never told us your dad was an accomplished athlete. What sport?"

Cole hesitates to answer, his eyes wandering around the room. "Oh, he's a, uh...a blacksmith." He mutters out, barely loud enough for the others to hear.

"Nothing wrong with that. My father was a blacksmith, too. But I've never heard of a competition—"

"That's because he's not a 'blacksmith' blacksmith." Cole quickly cuts Kai off and shakes his head, "He's a...Royal Blacksmith." He sighs and stands, brushing past Alyssa who follows after him when he settles between the group crowded around the photo album.

Flipping to a certain page reveals an older man, one who resembles Cole. The man smiles widely at the camera, the shiny golden trophy of the Fangblade held in his hands. Snickers leave the boys mouths as they stare at the photo, Jay choking out a, "That's your dad?"

"But how did the Fangblade become a trophy?" Kai tears his eyes away from the photo to glance at Cole, who wears a deep frown next to the group after shuffling away in embarrassment or shame, perhaps a mixture of both.

"Well, supposedly, the Blade Cup was made by this guy who collected priceless artifacts. His name was something like, uh," Cole furrows his eyebrows in thought, unconsciously biting his bottom lip, "Dutch, no, Clutch. Clutch Powers! Anyway, it gets passed on to each year's winner."

Zane turns away from the book as Cole walks behind them, "Who has it now?"

"I don't know. I haven't talked to my father in years." Cole lowers his head to stare at the floor, face once again falling.

"Well, then we'll call him up." Kai shrugs, grinning like the action was easy. To him it was, not so much for Cole.

"You can't!" Cole instantly shuts the idea down, a deep sigh leaving his mouth. "He thinks I'm in Ninjago City training at the Marty Oppenheimer School of Performing Arts." He slowly walks away from them to grip the steering wheel of the Bounty, eyes unfocused as he stares out through the window. "He wanted me to follow in his footsteps. But when I couldn't sing or dance, well I," He pauses to glance at them from over his shoulder, "I ran away. When he sees I can't dance, he'll know I've been lying in all the letters I've been sending him."

"He doesn't know you're a ninja?"

Cole groans and releases the steering wheel to half heartedly glare at Zane, "What? You gonna crack some joke that my old man wears a tutu?"

"No, but if we're going to have any chance at getting that Fangblade before they do, we better get our own act in tune." Kai claps his hands together with an excited grin, "Let's get changed, people. We have a show to put on."

Watching Jay, Zane and Kai rush off to their rooms to put on some more civilian looking outfits, Alyssa cautiously approaches a quiet Cole, who has his arms crossed tightly over his chest, eyes once again locked on the window.

Clearing her throat, she idly fiddles with the bracelet on her wrist while speaking in a hushed voice. "I can't say I personally know how you feel, but I know facing your dad after all this time isn't going to be easy."

"You can say that again." Cole mutters, dropping his arms to his side with a small groan. He turns to face her, almost stumbling over his words as he tries to speak from his heart. "I just...I never wanted to be like him, I'm not a dancer like he wants me to be, and I know that if I told him that, he'd never look at me the same way again."

She hums softly in her throat and nods once, trying to find the words to comfort him. "I don't know your dad, but if he really cares about you, I think he'd understand, or at least try to. After all, you're his son."

"I wish it was that simple." He runs a hand through his hair before straightening his posture and putting on a false grin, "Our goal is the Fangblade, and that's all I care about at the moment. I'll meet you on the deck with the others, hopefully someone has a plan, and hopefully it's not Jay."

Alyssa chuckles and cracks a small smile herself. She knew what he was doing, but for his sake, she'd let it slide. Leaving Cole to head towards her room, she quickly changes into something comfortable. Slipping on a dark purple shirt over her gi, she shoves on a leather jacket and some black jeans and manages to find some boots to complete the look.

She takes a quick look at herself in the mirror and quickly shoves her necklace inside her shirt after spotting the lavender charms out in the open. Grabbing her hair brush from her side table, she pulls the hair tie out of her hair, letting her ponytail out. Dark hair cascades down her back, sitting just below her hips.

She runs the brush through her hair, wondering when was the last time she cut it. Though, imagining herself with short hair has her face scrunching up in a wince, her heart squeezing in her chest. The pain only intensifies when she brushes through the long purple strand in her hair, the colour sticking out amongst the black.

Leaving her hair out for once, Alyssa neatly places her brush back and straps her sword to her belt. It clashes against her outfit, but she knew she wouldn't be wearing it for the entire day, not if she wants to out Cole to his dad that he was a ninja and all.

Leaving the comfort of her room, she heads straight towards the deck, where she already hears the rest of her team speaking loudly. Is the word quiet even in their vocabulary? She chuckles to herself at the thought.

"And here's our last member." Kai places a hand on his hip and grins towards Alyssa, who rolls her eyes at him. "So it's true then, girls do take longer than guys to get ready." He teases, instantly making Jay shake his head at him in warning.

"I'd be careful, Kai." Alyssa stops herself in front of him and crosses her arms, eyes racking over his relaxed figure, "I might get Nya up here to show you a thing or two us girls can do. Too bad she's flying the bounty," She sighs and glances out to the ground flying bellow them, "I could use her help to throw you overboard."

"Okay, you two." Cole places a hand on both of their shoulders, pulling them closer together with a shake of his head, "Enough, we need to get our heads in the game. The plan is that we're all training at the Marty Oppenheimer School of Performing Arts, Alyssa, you'll be our manager, and I'll handle the rest from there."

"Manager?" Alyssa shimmies her way out of Coles hold to raise an eyebrow at him, "How come I have to be the manager? Wouldn't Zane be more suitable for the role?"

"Cole wants the four us to be a quartet." Jay gestures to the four of them, an almost sheepish smile on his lips, "We think that would impress his dad, you know? It shows that Cole is following in his footsteps and all that."

Huffing through her nose, Alyssa grumbles under her breath. "Fine, fine. Manager it is." She was glad that was the reason, though a small part of her felt almost left out.

The wind brushes by them all as the Bounty hovers over their next destination, Cole's small hometown underneath them. The five of them make their way down with their golden weapons, bright flashes of light blinding them as they all land on the ground safely.

Cole grins and opens the large black case he brought with him, opening it with a click to reveal his scythe sitting comfortable inside with room for the other weapons. "Alright, hand them over."

Jay tuts, waving a finger in the air as he saunters up to the case, "But no mortal shall possess all five." His chuckles die off at Cole's look of annoyance, and quickly decides to shut up and place his nunchucks in the case.

"Very funny." Cole mutters, eyes following Jay as he scurries off, being replaced by Alyssa, Kai and Zane instead.

"You wanna remind me again why we can't keep our weapons?" Kai was the last to place his sword in the case, his stare lingering on the weapon until Cole shuts the case.

"I told you, my dad can't find out I'm a ninja. And I don't feel like making up excuses why I'm carrying a giant scythe around with me." Cole motions for them to follow after him as he walks towards a house behind them, his voice almost nervous as he continues, "Just remember the plan: we find out who has the Fangblade trophy, we snatch it, and then we get the heck out of town."

Facing the door with a wide smile on his face, Cole knocks a few times on the door. A voice calls out from inside the house, "Just a moment." True to his words, the door swings open only a few seconds later, the face of Cole's dad appearing, bushy eyebrows and all.

"Hey, dad. How long has it been?" Grinning, Cole carefully places down the weapons case and opens his arms, expecting a hug from his father.

Furrowing his eyebrows, Cole's dad scoffs. "What? You too good for the doorbell?" Slamming the door shut on them all, he calls out again from inside, "Use the bell, son."

Glancing at the others with confusion, Cole presses down on the doorbell. "Welcome." A sweet tune plays out, and as soon as it does, the door opens quickly.

Cole's dad chuckles and wraps his arms around his stunned son, "Come on in, son. It's been forever. What did you bring?" He pulls back after patting Cole's shoulder to sweep his eyes over the group standing there unsurely. "A quartet? Oh, and a girl! Come in, come in. I've got a kettle of lemon honey tea on the stove right now. I'm Lou, by the way. Pleased to meet you all."

Ignoring how he instantly assumed she wasn't part of the 'quartet', Alyssa bites the inside of her cheek and follows in after the others, the warmth of the house easing her nerves. Music instantly greets her ears, an old song playing on a gramophone softly.

Tapping her fingers on her leg to the beat of the music, Alyssa takes in the many posters hung on the wall while the others get situated on the couch. Many were of the Royal Blacksmiths, Lou, as he introduced himself, was obviously very fond of his group.

Taking a seat besides Kai at the end of the couch, she was instantly surprised when a cup was held out for her. She quickly takes it with a smile, Lou grinning down at her with a serving tray held in his other hand. "Thank you." She nods in appreciating and takes a sip of the tea while he hands a cup to the others on the couch.

Humming to himself, Lou places his hands behind his back after serving everyone and marvels at the group in front of him. Tapping his right foot with his walking cane, he speaks. "Did my son tell you I broke my foot? It was the cha-cha but I swear the percussionist had it in for me."

Groaning, Cole shakes his head. "No, dad. I didn't tell them about your silly stories."

This seems to set Lou off, the man frowning, "Silly stories?"

"Oh, what he meant was, we've been busy training at the...uh..." Kai quickly jumps in, though basically digs his own grave when the name of the school they were supposedly training at vanishes from his brain.

"Uh, the Martha Oppenheimer!" Jay chuckles out, a nervous grin spread across his face.

"Martha Oppenheimer?" Lou instantly cuts off the music, as if he was just hearing things over the background noise that he had playing.

"What he's trying to say is the Marty Oppenheimer School of Performing Arts." Zane corrects calmly, sending Jay a pointed glare.

"Right!" Cole fidgets with the cup in his hands, "Well, um, see, we have this final research paper we're doing on the history of Ninjago talent, and what we really wanted to know was how can we get our hands on the Blade Cup?"

"You're talking about getting your hands on the Blade Cup?" Lou points his cane at the five of them before jabbing it in the direction of the biggest poster hung on the wall, The Blade Cup. "The most prized and heavily guarded award in all of Ninjago, the symbol of excellence in harmony and grace? You can't just get it, you have to earn it. You have to exhibit style. Perfect pitch. Push the boundaries of artistic license and win this year's Ninjago Talent Show!"

His dedication and speech almost made Alyssa want to try and earn the prize, almost. It was obvious the Talent Show meant a lot to him, it was his whole life.

Zane hesitates for a moment before softly speaking, "Perhaps there's an easier way?"

"Is this why you came?" Lou instantly gasps and stares at his son with pride, "You knew I was injured and when my quartet insisted we shan't go on, you four have come to take our place! Haha, ingenious! My son, bringing forth the next evolution of the Royal Blacksmiths! Let me hear the sweet, sweet sound of harmony."

Oh, no. Please, no. Alyssa instantly cringes and holds a hand up to her mouth, unable to participate or even watch the scene about to happen in front of her.

"Harmony..." Jay begins, jumping off the couch with an excitement the others would never be able to match,

Zane was the next to join, his voice wavering in uncertainty. The final blow was Kai, the crack in his voice having Cole, Alyssa and even Lou cringing back in horror.

When it all was over, Cole quickly stands, placing his cup on the coffee table hurriedly. "Look, dad. We just need the trophy."

Grabbing Cole by the arm, he shoves him aside slightly to grin at Lou, "Yeah, we're bringing home the gold and-and we want you to train us!" He feels the confused glare of Cole hitting the side of his face and goes on ignoring it.

Sniffling, Lou wipes at his eyes. "I've never been more proud. If you'll excuse me, I need to write a song about my feelings." He hobbles out of the room, sliding the door shut behind him.

As soon as Lou was out of ear shot, Cole raises his arms in the air at Kai, "What are you doing?"

"Look, we enter this competition so we can get close enough to the Blade Cup. Once we get the Fangblade, we leave town. How hard can this be?" Kai smirks, as if this was going to be the easiest mission they've done yet. The look on Cole's face says otherwise.

"I feel like saying that will instantly make this whole things incredibly difficult, I hope you know that." Alyssa sighs from the couch, having just finished her cup of tea. She finally stands to place her cup besides Cole's discarded one, "And if it does, I'm blaming Kai."

"What?" Kai crosses his arms and turns around to raise an eyebrow at her, "It's just a competition, everyone will be distracted by their own performances, which will be the perfect opportunity for us to sneak around and strike. You got a better idea?"

"One that doesn't include us ruining Cole's relationship with his dad? Sure, I could give you a few from the top of my head." Alyssa retorts with a tilt of her head, index finger tapping her chin in mock thought.

"Guys," Cole pulls Kai back by the arm the second he goes to step towards Alyssa, a tired groan leaving him. "Can we not do this now? We'll figure a way to get the Blade, but fighting over who's right isn't going to help the situation right now."

Just as Kai goes to open his mouth, the sliding door opens again, stopping the possible argument. Lou smiles at them all, unaware of the tension in the room. "If you all would follow me, why don't we get started on training? The Blade Cup isn't winning itself!"

He waves his cane in the air and walks off towards another room, the others quickly following after him in silence. The room was the perfect size for them all, a piano sits in the corner while a mirror behind them shows their different expressions.

"Alright, so we have the quartet here and here..." Lou takes each boy by the shoulder and lines them all up in a certain order, Kai, Jay, Zane and Cole, who was closest to the exit. He nods to himself as he examines them before clicking his fingers and turning to Alyssa, who looks over the piano in curiosity.

"Alyssa, was it?" Lou places a gentle hand on her arm, her green eyes leaving the black and white keys to meet his dark brown ones. "Did you have a part in this at all? Do you sing, dance?"

Chuckling under her breath, she shakes her head. "Oh, no, none of that. I'm their manager, you couldn't even pay me to dance." She sees a smile appear on his face and her tensed body slowly loosens, "If theirs anything you need them to do, just let me know and I'll straighten them up, sir."

"Oh," Lou waves a hand and laughs heartedly, the smile on his face widening, "Please, Lou is just fine, you'll make me sound old."

From there, Lou lays out the training exercise to Alyssa and when she had it all ingrained in her mind, they both explained it to the boys, who each once again had different reactions to the idea.

They practiced. And practiced. And practiced some more. "Okay, from the top." Lou places his fingers over the keys of the piano, Alyssa standing besides him with her arms crossed, "Five, six, seven, eight."

"Bop till you drop!" Kai starts them off, his arms spread wide.

"Shake it till you break it!" Jay sways his hips, arms in the air,

"Move it till you lose it!" Zane jumps and lands in a pose, pitch perfect.

"Spin it till you win it!" Cole spins in the spot and lands in his final position.

"Stop, stop." Lou calls out, a hand held to his head, "If my ears weren't attached to my head, they'd be running away!" Alyssa nods behind him as he walks over to the group, who all have stayed in their poses. "Kai, love the energy, hate the hair." He smacks Kai on the head with his cane, Kai whining in protest.

"Someone had to say it." Alyssa shrugs, a teasing smile on her face. Kai's glare her way only has her smiling wider.

"Jay, you're giving a lot, but I need more." Lou puts himself in the same pose as Jay, the boy in blue pouting when he walks off. "Zane, you're like a machine. Don't change anything." The compliment leaves Zane smiling. "And Cole, try to act like you wanna be here."

"He's worse than Sensei Wu." Jay whispers terribly to Kai, who has to agree.

"Okay, moving forward." Lou takes his position at the front again, "Let's take a look at the big show-stopping climax. Cole, we can't have history repeating itself." He points his cane at Cole with a shake of his head.

Cole sighs and runs a hand through his hair, "Dad, it was the Triple Tiger Sashay. I was seven."

Kai raises an eyebrow curiously, casting a glance between both Lou and Cole. "What's the Triple Tiger Sashay?"

"Only the most difficult dance move ever created." Cole places a hand on his hip, not bothering to look at his father.

Lou nods, "It's true. Many professionals have dare tried, but it's never been successfully completed." He sighs and shakes his head in disappointment.

"Hence, my father thought a seven year-old could!" Cole's voice raises, his shout echoing in the room. He huffs and crosses his arms, "But I ended up falling on my face, humiliating myself, and letting my quartet down."

"If you're going to win, you have to go big!" Hobbling towards the rice door, Lou waves them all off, "Alright, time for a break. Take five." With that, he leaves the room without another word.

"Uh, I'm starting to see why Cole is so closed off." Jay was the one to fill the silence, as usual. A teasing grin appears on his face as he juts his thumb towards Cole over his shoulder, "It's cause twinkle-toes here couldn't deliver the goods. Is that why you ran away?"

Once again, Cole's temper flares, "Oh, I could deliver the goods—!" He inhales sharply and calms himself down, "Look, I'll deal with my father, but let's stick with the plan. All we have to do is keep this charade long enough until we can get our hands on the trophy."

Jay hums and taps his chin with his index finger, grin still on his face. "I don't know. I'm starting to think we can win this thing." At Cole's deep glare, he quickly chuckles with his hands up defensively, "Okay, okay. We'll stick to the plan."

The Concert Hall was in the middle of Cole's hometown, the building tall and lit up brightly against the dark colour of the night sky. Alyssa took it all in with hidden amazement, the other tall structures around the Hall twinkling, she would have never thought something so beautiful would be in a town like Cole's.

Her amazement was quickly stomped out when they entered the building. It was too crowded for her liking, and getting backstage took more effort than she would like to admit. The noise was another thing. Most of the contestants had singing acts, their vocals all tangling together into something she would like to block out.

Making sure to have the guys closer to the back of the room after they came back from changing into their performing clothes, Alyssa tries her best to encourage them during their practise runs.

"Then kick ball change, barrel roll, barrel turn, and we all do the double wings—" Cole instructs the others as they each fall into step, until Jay and Kai knock into each other mid air.

"Ow! Dude you gotta follow me." Jay whine and pushes Kai away from him, rubbing his sore shoulder.

"Follow you? You're two beats off!" Kai jabs a finger into Jay's chest, not one to easily blame.

"Actually, 2.72 off of the beat." Zane interrupts, an innocent smile on his face.

"I don't think the specifics matter in this situation, Zane." Alyssa sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Guys, guys! Let's not make this any harder than it needs to be." Cole moves to stand in between them all, and it was clear to see that he wanted to be anywhere else at that moment. "We just stick to the plan and keep up the charade until the trophy's revealed. Once we steal the Blade Cup, we can argue all we want once we get back home."

"But this is your hometown, Cole. Don't you want to try and win it?" Jay frowns, almost upset that his friend didn't even want to try.

Cole groans, "The only dance step I wanna perform is called get-me-out-of-this-nuthouse-and-let's-burn-these-memories-from-my-head."

"Cole-" Alyssa tries to warn Cole of the approaching figure, having heard his unbalanced footsteps from a mile away.

"What?" She was too late. Lou's angered voice echoes over to the group, the slam of his cane following.

Cole turns sharply at the voice, mouth opening and closing, trying to form words. "Dad, I..."

Lou's eyes scan the floor underneath him for a moment, trying to wrap his head over his own sons words. He slowly lifts his gaze to Cole, words breathy. "You--...You were going to steal it?"

Cole knew it was now or never, and he sighs in defeat. "Dad, I didn't mean for you to hear that, but-but I'm glad you did. There's something I've been wanting to tell you. All these years, I haven't been training to be a singer or a dancer. I found something new that I'm really good at." He slowly makes his way over to his father, who stands there, glued to the floor. "Dad..." Using his Spinjitzu, Cole reveals his ninja garb beneath his clothes. "I'm a ninja. And the truth is, if we don't steal that Fangblade—I mean, Blade Cup—there's other people that will. Bad people. Serpentine. And we need it to save the world." Opening the weapons case that had been placed by the wall they were practising by, Cole takes out his Scythe and straps it to his back. "I know how ridiculous this sounds, but I'm proud of who I am, and I want you to be proud of me, too."

Even with Cole's hopeful eyes stuck on his own, Lou shakily steps back as the irritation begins to build. "I can't be proud of any son who thinks stealing is right. And I'm not gonna wait around to watch you make a mockery of our family's legacy."

Cole watches his father walk away, the cold shoulder hurting almost as much as his words. "Dad, I—" He calls out, but Lou never turns around.

"I'm sure he didn't mean that." Kai places a hand on Cole's shoulder, knowing in his mind that his words did little to comfort him.

"Maybe if he saw you in action." Jay joins in, sending Cole a small smile.

"Cole," Alyssa bites the corner of her lip and joins his other side, "I'm so sorry." Her words on the Bounty come back to bite her, and now she felt like she should have kept her mouth shut.

Shaking his head, Cole shrugs off Kai's hand. "No, it's-it's okay." Ruining the moment was a band of contestants swaggering into the room with rock music following them, though that wasn't what caught their attention. Their terrible disguises were, considering hair on snakes didn't look natural at all. The door the walked through closes, revealing the groups name. "Treble Makers?"

"Wait a minute." Jay blinks multiple times and points his hat at the group, "What are they doing here?"

It seemed like the seconds that passed only got worse. A familiar voice echoes over the speakers, making Kai sneak a peek out of the curtains. "I can't help it if I offend anyone. My only job will be to tell the truth."

"What's going on?" Alyssa mutters to Kai when he comes back to the group, annoyance clear on his features.

"Looks like we're not the only ones planning to steal the Blade Cup. Pythor's here." His answer had Alyssa clenching her fists, the others weren't happy either about the news.

"This complicates things." Zane whispers, tilting his hat slightly.

"Then I say we make our move. We can't risk losing out again. I say we steal it." Jay looks straight at Cole, knowing that he would jump right onto his plan.

Instead, he shakes his head. "We're not gonna steal it. We're gonna win this competition, but we're gonna do it our way."

His determination has them glancing at each other, "Our way?"

"I could really use a pair of earplugs right now." Alyssa groans, hands cupped around her ears as the Treble Makers sing their horrible song. Something about poison lying over the ocean? It made no sense to her, and she really wanted the song to end. Satisfaction takes over her annoyance when the audience screams their dislike towards the singing, a smile appearing on her face.

"And last but not least, The Royal Blacksmi—Uh, hold on. Uh, this just in, there's been a switch. Taking the stage next is Spin Harmony!" The announcer calls out over the speaker.

"If we're gonna do this, I want everyone to see who we are." Cole turns away from the curtains to nod towards his team, who have all changed into their gis at this point.

Zane nervously taps his stomach, "I have butterflies in my stomach."

Jay chuckles and nudges his friend, "Aww, come on. That's just nerves."

Shaking his head, Zane frowns under his mask. "No, I really do have butterflies." Opening his chest panel reveals that he did in fact have butterflies trapped inside of him, the yellow butterflies fluttering out into the open air.

"Okay, uh, glad he got that out of his system." Jay mutters, eyes following the insects in confusion.

The speaker crackles again as the Announcers voice calls out, "Last call for Spin Harmony!"

Noticing his friends hesitation, Jay punches Cole in the shoulder playfully, "Let's do this, for Cole!"

"I have faith in you guys, for once." Alyssa jokes with a smile, lifting her mask to put it over her face. "I'll jump in if any of the Serpentine decide to get in the way."

"Thanks, Alyssa." Cole nods appreciatively, he and the others heading to their stations.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Spin Harmony!" The Announcer grins towards the crowd just as The Weekend Whip begins to play loudly over the speakers, the crowd cheering loudly.

Not even ten seconds into the performance, Alyssa stops her head bobbing to sigh at the snakes climbing on stage towards her dancing team. "No security? Seriously?" Taking matters into her own hands, she enters the stage to grab a snake by their fake beard, planning to throw him back into his seat but only managing to rip the beard right off.

"Oh," She scrunches up her face and throws the beard somewhere out of her sight, the snake grabbing at the place where his beard just was. "Sorry?" She mumbles, grabbing him by the arm and chucking him into some empty seats roughly.

The crowd cheers even louder at her entrance and display of action, the attention making her uneasy. Thankfully, Cole was the one to gain the love of the crowd when he successfully does the Triple Tiger Sashay on three Serpentine, his roar sending all the girls into a frenzy.

"Oh, he did it! The Triple Tiger Sashay! He's danced the impossible!" The Announcer runs back on stage to grab Cole by the arm, shaking him wildly as the crowd screams in awe.

The judges give them a perfect score of 10, even Pythor, who only does so in a way that Alyssa doesn't ever want to remember. Did an arm really just climb up his throat? "It's a perfect score! Spin Harmony wins the Blade Cup!"

Laughing, the ninja huddle around Cole, Kai even going as far to hug him tightly. Cole couldn't help but laugh loudly and hug him back while Jay and Zane grab him by the shoulders. Alyssa chuckles and smiles widely at the sight, though grunts slightly when Cole reaches out to pull her into the group. Her smile stays on her face throughout it all, heart warming inside her chest at their glee.

Walking backstage, their victory was still in high swing. Zane breathes out happily, a little skip in his step. "I've never felt more alive."

Jay laughs loudly, arm wrapped around Kai and Alyssa as he pulls them along. "We did it! Let's go!" He cheers, lifting his arms in the air while knocking his hip into Alyssa's.

She couldn't help but laugh along, his energy contagious. She rolls her eyes when he starts to sway his hips, and when Kai joins in on the other side of her, she had to step back with her hands raised, her cheeks hurting from how much she was smiling. It only got worse when Zane joined their little dance party.

"I think we should be thanking Cole." Kai stops his dance moves to grin towards Cole, who walked behind the group slowly with the Blade Cup in his hands. "Because of you, Ninjago will sleep safely tonight."

"Thanks, but go on and celebrate without me." Cole hands Jay the Blade Cup with a sigh, unable to meet their gazes. "Winning this doesn't feel the same without my dad being able to—"

"Cole!"

"Dad?" Snapping his head over his shoulder, Cole's face brightens significantly at the sight of his father.

"I saw it all, son. I saw it all." Lou's voice was soft, a proud smile on his face. He meets his son halfway, Cole having jogged over to him quickly. Opening his arms, he embraces Cole, hugging him tightly.

Pulling away and taking off his mask, Cole smiles hopefully at Lou, "You saw me dance?"

"More importantly, I saw you fight." Lou places a hand on his sons shoulder, "Those Serpentine were up to no good, trying to steal the show, and I saw you stand up for what is right." He sighs softly and loosens his grip on Cole's shoulder, "I was wrong. I shouldn't have pushed you so hard to follow in my footsteps. Everyone is born with a special talent inside that's just been waiting to get out. And you were born to be a ninja."

"You're not mad?" Cole was quick to ask, the smile never falling from his face. These were the words he'd been wanting to hear from his father for the longest time.

"How can I be? My son's a hero!" Lou grins, stating it loudly with pride.

"Sorry to interrupt your little family reunion, but did you know," A voice interrupts rudely, the group turning to glare heatedly at the snake that rips off their fake beard, "It's me, Pythor."

"You couldn't fool us, Pythor." Cole scoffs, quickly putting his gi mask back on as he and the others step protectively in front of Cole's father.

Pythor rolls his large pink eyes, his malicious grin growing wider, "I didn't want you to miss our big show stopper."

At his words, two Constrictai Serpentine in the stages scaffolding shove a large crate over into the hanging stage lights, which crumble under the sudden weight. Standing underneath the lights unknowingly was Lou, who glances up at falling lights with a look of horror.

"Dad!" Cole shouts, and without hesitation, he rushes towards his father, throwing himself on top of him just as the lights crash and crumble on top of them in a heap of metal.

Dust was kicked up into everyones face at the crash, making them all cough and wave the particles away for fresh air. Through their coughing, Alyssa could just make out Jay's raspy voice, "They took the Fangblade!"

"Forget about it!" She chokes out, blinking the dust from her eyes as she scrambles towards the pile of lights, shouting out her friends name, "Cole!"

Just as she grabs the edge of one of the light panels, a golden flash from the side of the room grabs her attention, as well as the others who had begun to help her. It was Cole's Scythe, glowing brightly in the suitcase it was placed in earlier that day.

"He found his True Potential." Zane speaks softly, just as the heap of metal in front of them begins to glow brightly.

The group quickly back up as the wreckage creaks and groans, shifting under Cole, who groans loudly as he lifts the lights sitting on top of him and his father. His glowing form has them squinting up at him, watching as he throws the pile of lights in his hands to the side of the room, the junk landing heavily with a crash.

"Wha-what? How did we survive that?" Lou sputters, grabbing the hand in front of his face. When he was lifted up, he wasn't expecting the unusual glowing blue eyes of Cole to meet his own, "Son?"

"Cole's found his True Potential. His relationship with his father must have been holding him back." Zane awes at his glowing friend, stepping forward with a wide smile hidden behind his mask.

"He's indestructible!" Jay blinks his eyes quickly, gaping up at Cole who only seems to glow brighter.

Behind them, Kai groans and crosses his arms, "Great. So now I have an even greater chance of being the last one to figure out their special power!"

Huffing, Alyssa side eyes Kai for a moment before deciding to leave him on his own, knowing she would snap at him, that and she really didn't have the energy to fight with him. She joins Zane's side and smiles up at Cole, who's glowing starts to dim.

When his True Potential fades, Cole groans and holds his throbbing forehead with a wince. "Is everyone alright? What just happened?" He asks, out of breath.

"We're all okay, son." Lou places a hand on Cole's forearm, beaming down at him.

Returning to Lou's house in the early hours of the morning, the ninja team found themselves perched on the couch again, warm cups of tea in their hands as they all excitedly talked over each other, the noise usually putting Alyssa off, but even she had been caught up in the moment, chatting excitedly with Cole about his new found powers.

Then Jay decides to change the topic, an annoyed groan leaving his lips. "I guess the scorecard now reads Pythor-two Fangblades, ninja-zero."

Cole shakes his head as Jay takes a loud sip from his cup, though coughs on it when Alyssa elbows him in annoyance. Cole chuckles and pats his back, "Yeah, but all we need is one, and there are still two left to find."

"Who knows? Maybe when I unlock my True Potential, I'll turn into the destined Green Ninja." Kai grins, arms spread across the back of the couch.

"Yeah, dream on." Cole snorts, not even hiding his laughter. "The only thing you're destined for is a more inflated ego." He chuckles, nudging his shoulder.

The tapping of a cane turns their attention towards Lou, who saunters into the room with a photograph in a red frame in his hands, "It may not be the trophy, but it sure will look good on my wall."

Slipping off the sofa and crowding around Lou, Alyssa takes in the picture that was hung on the wall, surrounded by Lou's most precious items. It was a photo of her and the others, all huddled together with the Blade Cup being held up in victory by Cole.

"As far as I'm concerned, you're all my family now." Lou turns to smile at them all, pulling his son in with one arm. He didn't stop there. The others were pulled into the hug, Alyssa being squashed between Cole and Jay.

She couldn't help but laugh under her breath, ducking her head down as her eyes stung. It felt weird, being this close to people after so long, emotionally. Being considered family, but that's what these people were now, right? Family.