Kai POV

I freeze in my tracks.

Sensei Garmadon, who I've known for years, is currently standing 50 away from me with freaking wings and a tail?!?!? The arms of his wings and the base of his tail are black and the webbing between his wings are dark purple, along with the underbelly scales on his tail.  He has lots of black fur covering the tip of his tail as well.

I stare at him. He extends his wings in a stretch and flicks his tail around. He finally turns to me and freezes. We stare awkwardly at each other for what feels like an eternity when he suddenly speaks up, "Uhh," he says slowly in an effort to explain himself. "This isn't what it looks like?"

Garmadon POV

Kai just stares at me, wide eyed. "You... have... wings..." He says slowly.

"Um, yes."  I say back to him.

"And... a tail..."

I stare at him. "Okay, so.... it's exactly what it looks like."

He looks at me for a few more seconds when he suddenly opens his mouth to scream. Before he can scream I put my hands out in front of me to stop him. "Pleasedon'tfreakout!" I say faster than I anticipated.

He stops mid breath. "What the hell are you?" He manages to breathe out.

"Well, it's a bit hard to explain." I decide to put my tail and wings away to make this conversation easier. The white light returns and my wings and tail disappear along with it, leaving me the way I was before.

Kai relaxes a bit and I motion for him to follow me up the hill so we can talk. We walk up the hill and settle under a large oak tree.

"Okay, so... what you saw back there..." I start.

"Um, yeah..." he tries to pick up the conversation. We stay silent for another minute or two when I clear my throat.

"Well, you know of my father, the First Spinjitzu Master?" He nods. "Well, he wasn't exactly... human."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he created Ninjago, as you know, so that means he had to have come from somewhere else; specifically, another realm."

"Another realm? One of the other 16?"

"Yes. The first of the 16, actually.  There is a realm called the First Realm, home to the oni and dragons."

"Oni? What the heck are oni?"

"The oni are evil creatures known for destruction. You see, the dragon and oni were at eternal war with each other because the dragons were creatures of light, and the oni were creatures of darkness.  One day, during the battles, a child was born.  He was both oni and dragon.  The two sides then began to fight over the child, but eventually, the child left the realm, and created a new realm called Ninjago.  As you already may have guessed, this child was my father."

"None of this is explaining why you had dragon features?" Kai says.

"Actually, it does.  You see, my father was part oni, giving him the the form of a human, and part dragon, giving him dragon wings and a tail.  My father was a newly created species, called the dragonkin.  The dragonkin are an ancient species that only runs in one family, my family."

"Wait, so if being a dragonkin runs in your family, does that mean Master Wu is also one?"

I nod.  "Yes.  He is also a dragonkin.  This is also why we've lived for so long.  Dragonkin  can live for generations because of their origin, though we are not immortal, no one is truly immortal."

"Is... this why you have fangs?" He asks me.

"Well, not really. I first received my fangs when I was turned evil by the Great devourer, but normally a dragonkin would grow fangs when they reach the age of malting. So, I basically just got my fangs early."

"Wait, malting? You're not born with the wings and tail?"

"No, you receive them later in life. An adolescent dragonkin goes through a malting faze when they turn 10. That's when they grow fangs, wings, and a tail."

Kai just looks at me. His amber eyes showing how completely lost he is.  "Wow." Is all he says.  "So, why have you waited this long to tell us?  Were you ever going to tell us?"

I sigh.  "I don't know, son.  The dragonkin are a completely unknown species as far as anyone is concerned.  Barely anyone has even heard of my father, no less his heritage."

"Soo..." he shifts.  "I'm the only one who knows?"

"You and a few other people."

"Huh." He places his hands on his hips and looks around.  "So are you going to tell the others?"

I think for a moment.  "Maybe someday, when Wu or I must reveal our dragonkin form to them.  For now, you will tell no one about this."

It takes him a moment, but he nods.  "Yes, Sensei."

"Alright then, off you go now.  I'm sure Wu has a lesson plan set up for you and the others." The setting sun hits his light brown skin as he walks off. I wait until he is out of my sight before I sigh to myself. How could I let him see me? Why would I think turning dragonkin was a good idea? I just have to hope that boy can keep secrets.

Kai POV

I nod and excuse myself.  He stays put at the oak tree while I walk through the valley towards the mountain that holds the monastery on top of it. This has been a very weird few days.  And I can't tell anyone about this whole dragonkin thing. How am I supposed to keep this kind of thing a secret? I walk into the monetary to find a boy with chocolate skin raiding the fridge in the kitchen. He closes the fridge door with a few snacks in his arms and he turns to me. "Hey, where'd you go? We were wondering where you went." Cole says to me as he drops his snacks on the counter.

I laugh and rub the back of my neck. "Hah, oh y'know. Just went on a walk."

"Okay, well master wants us to do sunrise exercise tomorrow."

I groan. "Aww man! Not sunrise exercise! This is why I hate Wednesdays."

"Yeah, you're telling me."

"Hey, um,"

He shoves a pretzel into his mouth. "Yeah?"

Oh shoot, should I tell him? No! I can't. Sensei told me specifically not to tell anyone. Ugh, but how can I keep this a secret?

"Uhh, hello? Earth to Kai?"

"Huh? What?" Cole cocks his head. "You... wanted to tell me something?"

"Um, no. Never mind. Forgot what I was going to say."

He looks at me suspiciously. "Haha, yeah, I hate it when that happens." Good, he didn't question it.

"Want to play video games with me and Jay? I found this really cool Easter egg in this one game, it's so cool! It's like a hidden base!"

Let's hope he doesn't mention what I 'forgot' to say. "Yeah, sure, if it means kicking Jay's butt in video games, than I'm in."

"That can be arranged" he says, stuffing another pretzel in his mouth.

~~~that night~~~

No one's POV

A woman sits at a table in the corner of the room. She pulls out a blank piece of paper and begins to write a letter in the dim lighting of the room. The woman signs off the letter and rolls it up. She grabs a small cylinder container and slides the letter into it.  She walks over to her elevator, container in hand, and the doors open to the main part of the house. The woman steps out of the elevator and walks across the room and outside the front door. She walks along the dirt path all the way through the forest and to the beach. She takes in the starry night sky and lets the wind blow through her hair.

She whistles loudly and not a moment later, a majestic falcon swoops down from the sky and lands onto her outstretched arm. She scratches the falcon's head and attaches the small cylinder container to the bird.  "Take this letter to Wu. Make sure he reads it, then return to me."  The bird looks her in the eyes, like it understands her, and it flies off into the sky. The woman does not leave her spot until she sees the falcon disappear into the horizon.  The woman then turns her back from the ocean and slowly walks back through the forest.

Lloyd POV

It's been two days since Splenda told us about our elemental powers. We've all taken it better than expected. We continue with our usual training and exercises. After today's training is done, we all head into the market to meet another one of our teachers. He doesn't teach us fighting or any of that stuff, but boy, can he fight with words.  We all walk into a small, round, two story hut off the side of the shops. The place is candlelit with almost all parts of the stone walls being covered with book shelves. A large round table sits in the middle of the room. Directly across from the door on the other side of the room sits a nice, unlit, stone fireplace. Off to the side of the door is a spiral staircase leading up to the second story. "Mr. Finch?" Haru calls out. "You home?"

"Hellooo?" Ash also calls out while climbing up the staircase.

"Seems like he's not here." Katelyn says while straightening out some of the books on the shelves.

"Welp, looks like there will be no dead language lessons today!" Haru says to us.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that, Haru." A voice calls from atop the staircase.

"Found him." Ash says as she descends the staircase, a 50 year old man following close behind.

"Hello Mr. Finch." Katelyn says.

"Well hello Katie, Lloyd." He says as he adjusts his glasses.

"Hello sir." I say back to him.

Mr. Finch is a bigger man who wears a light purple shirt and light brown pants.  He has short black hair with many silver streaks running through it.  His brown eyes light up from the glow of the candles.  "Aww man! Looks like we'll have to learn more about this dead language after all." Haru says jokingly.

"It is not a dead language, Haru. It is a language that was once spoken on this very island. The language is still spoken today, it's just very rare to find anyone speaking on the Dark Island these days."

"With all do respect, Mr. Finch, we already know all of this." I say to him. "The language, known as Ningagian was spoken among some of the ancient villages that once thrived on this island. Eventually, those villages died out, and the language wasn't spoken in any other part of the island, so the language was almost forgotten."

"Yes, very good memory you have." He says grabbing a few books off the shelves.

"I'm honestly surprised no one has ever asked you this question, in the many many years that we have been learning this language, but why do we have to learn this language anyway?" Katelyn asks.

He flips through the pages of one of the books. "I just think it would be a good life choice for you all to be bilingual. You never know."

"That still doesn't explain why we have to do it. Every time we try to get out of it, Splenda chews us out for it, and makes us do it anyway. Why would she want us to do it so badly, if it's 'just a good life choice'." She ask again, grabbing a few books off the shelves as well.

"Honestly, I don't know. When you began your training with Splenda all those years ago, she told me she wanted you to be fluent in the Ninjagian language. I've asked her why time and time again but she always avoided the subject. So, eventually, I stopped asking. Perhaps she just wants you to stick to your studies." He stops flipping through the pages and points to the page he had flipped to.  "Ah, here we go. Today, you will have to translate and recite this whole paragraph by memory in Ninjagian."

We all groan and begin to complain but Mr. Finch threatens to add more to the assignment, making us all shut up.  After a while of studying, we look over new vocabulary words in Ninjagian and we work on workbooks.  After a few hours, Mr. Finch let's us go and we decide to split up, well, Haru anyway.

"I'm going to see how Mr. Seller is." Haru tells us.  He kisses Ash and he leaves in the direction of Mr. Seller's house.  Mr. Seller sort of raised Haru throughout his life.  Haru, Ashley, Katie, and I were all orphans together.  As you know, Katie and I washed up onto the beach, Haru was found wandering in the forest as a little kid, and Ashley's birth mother gave her to the village because she couldn't take care of her.  I think her mother was a traveler.  In a way, we're all connected to each other by our past.  And we're all family to each other, heck, Haru and Ashley have been in love since they were 5, they just didn't make it official until two years ago.

Ashley turns to me.  "Guess it's just us now."

I laugh.  "I guess so."

"What do you guys want to do?" Katie asks us.

Ashly thinks for a moment. "I'd love to watch you guys do trick shots in the air." She says.

I laugh. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I'd love to watch you guys fly around and do cool stuff in the air. I find it interesting, honestly."

"Wow, I've never had anyone say that before." Katie says. I agree with her.

"Well, now you have."

Katelyn and I look at each other. "Why not?" She says.

~~~time skip~~~

We walk in the forest to reach our new destination, the meadows. Ashley settles on the grass and watches Katelyn and I while we change into our dragon forms. I break out my wings and tail and I turn to Katelyn.

I think it is safe to say that Katie and I are definitely fraternal twins because the arms of her wings and the base of her tail are lilac purple, the webbing of her wings are light blue along with the underbelly scales of her tail, and the long fur on the tip of her tail is black.  We look at Ashley and she gives us a thumbs up. We push ourselves into the air with our wings and we fly high into the sky. We to cool tricks in the air, such as a barrel roll, loops, diving down and dodging trees, and much more.

"So, you guys have retractable nails like a cat, right?" Ash asks us after we'd landed and taken a seat in the ground.

"Yeah," I tell her while showing her my nails. "They can retract whenever we want them to, not just when you flex them like a cats."

She takes my hand in hers and examines my nails. "Dang Lloyd! Your nails are nicer than any anyone's in this whole village!" She teases.

I laugh. "Yeah, they're fabulous when I pull them out." I say sarcastically.

"They're so long and not flimsy!" She gasps and looks at me with stars in her eyes.

"You should let me paint them!"

"Oh my gosh, YES." Katie agrees.

I frown at them. "No." I say.

"Awww come oooon! It will be fuuuun!" Ashley pleads.

"Noooooo!" I tell them. After five minutes of teasing me they finally drop the subject. "We should be heading back." I tell them. They agree and we go our separate ways.

No one's POV

The three teens say goodbye to each other and they walk home. What they do not expect, though, is that something has been watching their get together for quite some time now. The thing follows the twins all the way back to their house, and then after they've gone inside, the thing tree hops all the way through the forest towards a large mountain that is home to a very evil creature.

~~~the next day~~~

Katelyn POV

I wake up to the sound of my alarm blaring in my ear. I pound my fist on the off button. I, ever so slowly, drag myself out of bed and room, and I force myself to open the glass door and ascend the spiral staircase. I stop halfway up. Wait, normally the first one up makes breakfast, and I don't smell anything being made. I smirk. Lloyd isn't up yet.

I quietly rush down the staircase and over to Lloyd's room. I peak into his room and there he is, laying peacefully under the blankets. He's still asleep. Oooo this is gonna be fun.

I go upstairs and grab a bucket of icy water from the kitchen. I head back to Lloyd's room and I stand over him, bucket in hand. I pour the water on him. He shrieks and bolts up from his sleeping position faster than lighting. I stop and start to laugh uncontrollably. He breathes shakily and glares at me. "What the hell Katelyn? Why did you do that?!?!?"

I continue to laugh. "Because it's hella funny!" I say between laughs.

He glares at me and quickly gets out of bed. I shriek while laughing and I bolt out of his room while he cases me close behind. We run around the house until he finally tackles me to the ground and pins me down. I'm still laughing while telling him to get off me.

"I am sooo getting you back for that." He tells me.

"Yeah, you can try."

Lloyd and I love pranks. Although the prank I pulled wasn't very big or masterful, it always has a satisfying affect in the end.  We joke around a little longer until he finally gets off of me.

"Common weirdo. We have training today." He says to me.

I get up off the floor and look at him. "I bet I can get ready faster than you."

He looks at me. "You dare challenge me mortal?" He jokes.

"Yes. I. Do." I stare him in his heterochromia eyes.

"Last one out the door does the dishes!" He yells as he bolts for his room.

"You're on!"

Jay POV

Nearly two weeks have passed since the announcement of the mission. Today, master Wu and sensei Garmadon had us skip today's lesson to pack our things for the trip to the Dark Island. I was in my room, packing my things, when I hear a knock at my door.

"Come in!" I tell the person. Nya opens the door and walks in. "Hey! What's up?" I ask her.

She sits down on my bed and plants a kiss on my cheek. "Nothing much. How do you feel about this whole 'Dark Island expedition' thing?"

I shrug my shoulders. "I don't really know. It's weird is all. How different could this place really be compared to us?"

She crosses her leg over the other and looks out the window in my room. "Not sure, I guess we'll just have to see. Its just, we're going up against someone that not even the First Spinjitzu Master could defeat. I'm just... worried, I guess."

I stop my packing my things and I sit on the bed beside her. I sling my arm around her and pull her close. "We've all been through so much together, our team, ourselves. Maybe the Overlord lost his touch, after all, it's been a thousand years."

"Yeah, maybe. I'm sorry, I'm just being paranoid."

I kiss her on the cheek. "Hey, you have every right to feel nervous. How's packing going for you?"

"I'm almost finished," she says. "Speaking of which, I should get back." She kisses me and begins to head out the door. On her way out she stops and turns to me. "Love you." She tells me.

"Love you too." She leaves the room and I resume packing. Tomorrow, we fly for the Dark Island.