#ALSO JUST HAVING NYA ACTUALLY BE APART OF THE TOURNAMENT WOULD'VE BEEN SO COOL

[an-oddlyfluffycarpet]

okay SO y'know how in the FIRST first season Nya gets kidnapped by garmadon and kai joins the ninja to save her? What if he didn't go with sensei Wu cause "who TF are you and what do you want with my sister-" and he trys fighting garmadon on his own, nearly getting killed before Nya unlocks her water powers (instead of kai unlocking his fire powers) and escapes on her own, joining the ninja instead of kai, who goes back to their blacksmith business and just continues doing that, but in this au he's a good fucking blacksmith bc he had to be, and also he practiced when nya was off doing cool ninja stuff.

then when Lloyd enters the picture kai also comes back into it, as he found Lloyd in the desert while he was looking for the serpentine, and kai was just on a walk when he find him. Lloyd passes out bc of the heat and Kai's like wtf and brings him back to the shop, sending a letter to Nya cause she mentioned some dumb kid with a cool hoodie causing trouble and Lloyd fits that description pretty well. So after Lloyd wakes up, he gets time to just be a kid cause canon refused to give him that- and when the ninja pop by, Kai's like "yeah kids in the back. He's just reading some of your old textbooks, sis. you guys can come pick em up, except for you wu, you son of a-" and they pick him up, he's the green ninja, blah blah blah, anyhoo!- at the point in the show where Nya unlocks her water powers, instead, it's kai unlocking his fire powers! (Obviously with some changes to the season as a whole for that- cause fire doesn't do shit against ghosts-)

Anyhoo, it pretty much goes like-

"hey guys I'm gonna go see my brother." "oo! Can we come?" "I guess??? I'm going by train though, since he hates it whenever I just fly in on my dragon." "I'm sure it'll be fine if we just drop in near town, nya. No need for a train." (It wasnt. They got scolded for making kai fuck up an important order with their landing.)

But later, Cole, jay, and Zane are 'training' (playing) in the yard in front of the forge, and Kai's working on some stuff, when Lloyd bursts in through the door, hoping to scare someone- kai's shocked, and jumps back, right into the open flame he was working with. He gets up and everyone's staring at him in shock. Kai's like "what?" And they're all like "HOW ARE YOU NOT DEAD-"

So someone runs and gets Nya, and they figure out Kai's the 'master of fire'. He's hesitant to join them at first, since he just found out he has powers and also has no ninja training whatsoever, but Nya finally convinces him, and he becomes part of the team. He already knows how to fight, and spends most of his time either in his cabin, or below deck in the makeshift forge he made. Just because he became a ninja doesn't mean he'd give up the family business!

And instead of Samurai X, there's some idiot in red running around with a sword ♡.

Anyways, y'know how earlier I mentioned how the season would be changed around a bit to fit this au? Yeah, heres most of the changes!!

Morro is still a dick, and he still possess Lloyd! Instead of kai fighting him, it's Nya, as her being Lloyd's big sis is more prominent. Water still is the only way to kill a ghost, but the preeminent is too big and too strong for even a tsunami to truly work. Nya passes out due to exhaustion and kai, who was technically there to deliver a set of armour to a customer, goes into protective big brother mode and sets the preeminent on fire- like, he sets the bits of Stix that she used as armour on fire since it's wooden, and manages to sink her via the pain of burning alive. Instead of the side focus on nya's training to become the water ninja, it's on Kai's struggles to seperate himself from work as a blacksmith, his feelings of never quite being enough compared to the other ninja, his fear of hurting people with his powers instead of helping them, and how he doesn't feel like he truly belongs, because of the bond the other ninja formed throughout the seasons. And unlike with Nya, Kai's not with them on their travels. He's in the blacksmith's shop. He doesn't get to see his little sis save the world, or risk her life day in and day out. He's not apart of their adventures until his fire powers are realized.