#SOG red shogun

[blursed-ninjago-ideas]

Whumptober 6

So I have to explain the context for this one a little bit. I guess call it SOG Red Shogun AU.

Kai uses his old Slither Pit connections to go deep undercover in the SOG. The team quickly loses contact with him.

Prompt: Recording

Randomly Selected Whumpee: Kai

Selection method: Rolled dice

TW: Alcohol abuse, various injuries, and a lot of vague but uncomfy implications.

--

“Everyone to the bridge. You’ll want to see this.” Pixal said.

Jay and Nya shared a worried glance before they set their tools down. Zane and Pixal were waiting for them when they arrived.

Pixal was staring at the screen with a strong frown and Zane was pacing back and forth. A bad sign if Zane was doing something so out of character.

“How are the computer repairs coming?” Jay asked nervously.

Cole came in behind him holding Baby Wu’s hand. It was still weird that the baby they had been taking care of was their sensei.

“The repairs are going well. Our situation is not.” Pixal said, not taking her eyes off the screen. “The virus downloaded several files onto our computer.”

Nya sighed in frustration.

“How long will it take to remove the malware?” she asked.

“You misunderstand.” Pixal said, finally turning to face the others. “These are normal video files.”

Pixal received three confused looks before Zane stopped pacing long enough to speak.

“The good news is that we have contact from Kai.” Zane said.

Nobody liked how that was phrased.

“There’s bad news, isn’t there?” Jay asked, barely keeping his voice level.

Zane nodded. He gestured to the screen as he pressed play on the first video.

There was a wave of relief to see Kai alive, but it was chased with concern at his appearance.

His eyes were unfocused and his skin was covered in bruises and soiled bandages. He was trying to wrap his knuckles, something he had done a millions times before, but he was having trouble with it this time. His hands were shaking too much and his movements seemed too sloppy.

“How’s it going, Red?” the voice behind the camera asked.

Kai barely responded. His entire focus was on wrapping his hands.

“Let me help you with that.” a female voice.

The owner slid into frame to sit next to Kai and help him wrap his hands. Her cherry red Mohawk blocked most of Kai’s face, but what could be seen wasn’t reacting. He seemed to barely know she was even there.

“He’s pretty out of it.” laughed the camera man.

The Redhead laughed as she finished wrapping Kai’s hands.

“I think we poured like two bottles of vodka down his throat.” she said “Top it off with the concussion and he probably can’t remember his own name!”

The camera shook as the camera man laughed again.

Nya felt Jay reach over and squeeze her hand.

“What is this?” she asked.

Zane just shook his head.

“Are you filming?” the redhead on screen asked.

“Boss wanted to make a presentation for his friends.” The camera man explained “Said to get some glamour shots of our little ‘new addition’.”

“This is just a part of his cover, right? I mean, he threw the wire out to make them think he was quitting being a ninja. This is just….” Jay trailed off.

“I do not believe Kai is faking this.” Pixal said, clenching her fist.

Jay wanted to argue, but Nya squeaked next to him.

The camera focused on Kai’s face again and it was undeniable. Kai wasn't sober at all. He looked like he had been dragged through the cursed realm and back with the dried blood caking on his face.

“Let’s get you in the ring, Red.” the cameraman said, reaching a hand forward to help Kai stand.

Kai mindlessly took the hand and nearly fell back over the moment he stood.

That was the end of the first video.

They all stood in silence for a moment before Pixal spoke.

“There is more.”

No one answered her.

She reached forward to play the second video, but Nya shot forward and stopped her. Pixal didn’t argue. She just took a step back.

“I believe Kai’s cover was blown.” Zane said, having calmed down.

--

That just felt like the place to end it.

Kai threw the wire out to maintain his cover and that left him alone. He was fine with the enemies, it was the "old friends" he wasn't prepared for. Old habits are easy to pick back up, especially when you're surrounded by bad influences. Kai ended up blowing his cover without knowing it, but by then the SOG were having too much fun playing with him. (I will stop rambling about this au now.)

-Ivy

[rarlkove]

What do the other ninja think of Zanes betrayal? We've seen Nya and Lloyds but I don't recall seeing the others (apologies if I just forgot one-)

Interesting question! Surprising as it might be, I think Lloyd's the only one who really sees it as a full-on betrayal. Everyone else has negative feelings about it, but far less accusatory ones. Kai sees it as not much different as his whole Red Shogun thing, so he gets it, but wishes Zane didn't feel it was something he had to do. Whether or not it's actually similar is up for debate. PIXAL has been aware of what he's been doing the whole time unlike a lot of the team, she just doesn't speak to him (or anyone else..) about it. She's far more concerned with the danger he's putting himself in than any moral implications. (I assume she kept up the Samurai X deal during the ninja's absence, so she would have noticed, if anything, a slight downtick in crime from the SOG or whatever they may be going by these days. Zane isn't there for the crime so much as he is there for the people, and he has a tendency to direct their attention to other things.)

Cole, as the only other person besides PIXAL who stayed at the monastery, is shocked that apparently that's where he's been disappearing off to for large increments of time for the past year. He'd figured before then that the only reason Zane didn't talk about where he was going is because he was sad and didn't feel like it, not that it was something, like, actually potentially bad.

Jay doesn't actually care that much. He's been at the lighthouse practically the whole time so it's not like he knows anything while it's actually happening, and once the team gets back together... You can see how he is in Crystalized so far.

[kittydemon9000]

The Beginning of Heatstroke, aka Red's Villain Origin

* crashes down from the ceiling * I HAVE FINALLY FINISHED ONE OF MY 5+ CURRENT WRITING PROJECTS! BEHOLD, A WRITTEN VERSION OF THE 'Red's Villain Origin AU', also known as RVO / Heatstroke AU

To summarize the AU for SPBNR for those that don't now it: 

“Who'd be the biggest conspiracy theorist out of the M!Ninja? The one who drinks 5 hour energy at 3am and spits off the craziest theories and then actually gets it right but nobody gives the theory any merit because the rest of the theories are too crazy?”

The answer: Red / M!Kai

Red: Okay hear me out: Smith is actually an alternative version of one of us sent here from another dimension.

The other M!Ninja: You’re just saying that because Smith’s cool and you want him to be your counterpart

Based on the M!ninja making red cork boards trying to figure out ‘What Is Up With Smith’: Red gets increasingly accurate and nobody will believe him (all pre shogun reveal) and he eventually snaps and takes up a secret villain persona to fight Shogun like 'if they won't believe me I'll do it myself' and it gets awkward when he accidentally does too much damage and catches not only Shogun's attention like planned, but also the rest of the Ninjaforce, and now he has to keep his own identity a secret

So, without further ado, I present... Heatstroke

------------

Red blamed the 5-hour energy coffee blend at 3:00am for this.

It was no surprise that between ‘Operation: What’s Going on with Smith’ & the sudden appearance of Shogun that the resident Bounty red-stringed ‘joke’ cork-board doubled in size and seriousness. It also was no surprise that Red had a corner all to himself and that his theories were… in the words of the others, ‘wildly inaccurate and implausible’.

But this time, he was sure he’d gotten it right.

Smith is Shogun sent here from another continent/planet/dimension with the goal of protecting Ninjago City.

The latest string of laughs and scoffs at his theory was the last straw. He’d show them. He’d prove it!

Which was why he was currently standing on the roof of a noodle house, awkwardly adjusting the spare motorcycle helmet he’d ‘borrowed’ from Nya and painted black and orangey-yellow (red had seemed too obvious). He’d exchanged his Ninjaforce outfit for a soot-burned cross between a bomber jacket and a leather jacket. Down his back jutted a row of flames like the spines of a monster, courtesy of one of Nya & Jay’s unfinished inventions Red had modified- surely nothing bad would come of that!

For tonight, the Red Ninja was off-duty. For tonight, it was Heatstroke’s turn.

He fiddled with one of the weapons he’d ‘lent out’ from Master Wu. It resembled a small arm canon, like a smaller version of the Ultimate Weapon. The plaque under its post had read ‘Elemental Focuser’, which, in cryptic Wu speak, probably translated to ‘you can use an elemental power like something out of Avatar: The Last Airbender’. So far he’d only figured out how to activate a focused jet of fire. Well, at least it was on brand. He hoped it would help him catch Shogun’s attention so he could unmask him.

He’d tried confronting Smith at school, of course. But there were only so many ways of saying ‘are you the new vigilante helping the ninjas’, and Smith has a genuine talent for dancing around the topic. Red could confront him with the name Shogun to get a proper reaction, but that would mean explaining how he knew the name and outing himself as the Red Ninja.

So fake villainy really was the only way.

His plan was to use the Elemental Focuser to cause some minor petty damage, just enough to attract the new vigilante. Perhaps set a trash can on fire, block an alleyway with rocks (if he figured out how to change the setting from fire to earth), small things that could easily be repaired.

Of course, plans were never actually stuck to. One way or another, something was always improvised.

Red’s improvisation just happened to involve him accidentally setting the entire alleyway on fire.

He’d only been aiming for one dumpster, honest! And maybe he’d spotted a couple fliers for a SoG meeting on the ground and happened to burn those too. And a newspaper article blaming Lloyd for the recent Garmadon attack, again. And an article about those ‘Damn Ninja Menaces’ by a S. Sonah Sameson. And-

Okay, so maybe Red had aimed the fire at a few small targets. But just a few! And with good reason and good care, but…

Well, fire liked to burn. Give it enough kindle and it’ll continue to grow, stretching like reaching branches towards each other to join in a massive bonfire. 

So now the entire alleyway was on fire, and Red was panicking. 

He’d luckily chosen an abandoned part of town near the beaches where Shogun sightings seemed most frequent, but with the stupid Elemental Focuser not switching from fire mode to water mode or ice mode or something that didn’t have the potential to burn Ninjago City to the ground, Red had no way of stopping the flames.

And more flames meant more destruction which meant a bigger audience.

Which was why his previously muted comm suddenly flared to life, the only warning Red had before Nya’s water strider mech slid around the corner.

Red scrambled onto a roof as the mech drove past, spraying water at the bonfire to dose it. His sigh of relief was just as quickly dosed as Lloyd’s voice came over the comms; “Status, Grey?”

“Flames are out,” Nya replied. “Pursing the joker that set it ablaze.”

Uh oh. Red took off across the roof, leaping from building to building. Tiles creaked, pebbled and dust scattering underfoot. The sounds of the mech’s engine roaring behind him echoed through alleyways below to create the illusion the mech was everywhere at once. 

As the chase grew on, more mechs started to join in. Red ducked into a narrow avenue to avoid Zane’s tank, then under a cafe overhang to throw off Jay and Lloyd. His heart hammered in his chest and he groaned, filling the inside of the motorcycle helmet with steam. Saying this was going ‘bad’ would be the understatement of the century. 

What had he been thinking? Oh wait: he hadn’t. Seriously? ‘Oh I’ll just pretend to be a villain real quick, that should get Shogun’s attention and not the attention of literally my entire team of fellow ninjas!’ Stupid, impulsive, this was why everyone was always calling the red ninja the ‘hothead’ when he really tried not to be- Lloyd’s voice over the comms snapped him from his thoughts. “I can’t catch them! It’s like they know our every move!”

Red winced as he climbed up a banister and leapt from balcony to balcony. Sorry, Lloyd. 

He didn’t miss how the others asked Nya where Red was. And how she made up excuses the others bought so easily- granted, he’d told those excuses to his sister before setting his plan into motion, but still, ouch. They acted like he was simply being at best too busy and at worst lazy and selfish.

He just wanted them to know the truth! Why couldn’t they at least try to believe him when-

Of course, that was when Shogun dropped out of the sky and tackled him.

Red shouted with surprise as he tumbled down from the second floor, slamming into a few softer bags of garbage to break his fall before rolling and slamming into the unforgiving concrete. A crack formed in his vision as the visor of his motorbike helmet smacked into the concrete ground. One of the fire jets on his back sputtered and sparked, sending a thin wisp of smoke into the air.

Shogun pinned his wrists to the ground and growled. “Who are you?”

Red tried to break free, agony turning his muscles and bones to fire with the movement after his fall, but the vigilante was too strong. Damn, how often did this guy train?

“Who am I?” Red said, a nervous tinge to his voice. He quickly smoothed it over with faked confidence. “Who are you? Who are all of us, really?”

Shogun narrowed his eyes behind his hood. “Did Garmadon send you? Or someone else?”

Red sputtered. Really, the nerve! Garmadon? The thought turned his insides to disgusting mud. “Nobody sent me!”

“Then why are you here?” Shogun spat.

“Why am I here?” Why was he here again? Oh right, the bright idea on how to reveal that Shogun was Smith. “It’s, uh… a valid reason! That I don’t have to tell you!” He tried for a villainous laugh. Stay in character, don’t blow your cover, you got this!

Shogun was unimpressed. “Nearly burning down my home was a valid reason?”

“Well, I wasn’t trying to set everything on- wait, WHAT?” Uh oh. “You LIVE here?”

Now it was Shogun’s turn to look uncomfortable, though the expression was quickly wiped from his face. “Nothing wrong with this district.” 

Red nodded. “‘Course not. Uh, sorry about that… wasn’t my intention, I swear.”

Shoot, he could hear Jay’s jet getting closer. He had to get out of here, but Shogun, annoyingly, didn’t seem to be in the mood to simply let him go. “Then what is your intention?”

“Well, for starters, it’s getting out of here. This really isn’t going to plan and I’d rather just be home right now, or even inventing a time machine like in that book ‘Hands of Time’ to slap my past self in the face for even thinking about this stupid idea in the first place-“

Jay wasn’t the only one that could ramble under pressure, it seemed.

Shogun leaned closer. “What idea?”

Red shrugged as best he could with how he was pinned to the ground. “Well, for starters, I just wanted to prove to my friends that you’re Smith, and things just kinda escalated from-”

The words were out of his mouth before he realized what he said. 

Shogun lurched back, letting go of him. His eyes betrayed a kaleidoscope of emotions; surprise, worry, suspicious, hurt, fear, realization. 

“…Kai?”

Well, f!ck.

“I-“

Red was about to badly attempt to bullsh!t his way out of his identity reveal before it suddenly dawned on him that Shogun had not denied his theory. 

Which meant Shogun was Smith.

And it also meant Smith instantly recognized him as Kai, which, considering his disguise, was aptly concerning. Sure, he was the first one in his group of friends people would think to do something this extreme but give him some credit! Zane was a regular detective, he’d do the same if it meant answers! Or, well, at least something similar. And Nya could be an adrenaline seeker. And Lloyd- well, maybe not Lloyd. Or Jay, either. Cole had his head just enough on his shoulders that he probably wouldn’t do this either.

But come on, instantly guessing it?

Well, at least Smith/Shogun didn’t know Kai was the Red Ninja. That would be a catastrophe.

Right. Back to the current catastrophe at hand.

Shogun- Smith- still had a look as if he’d been slapped, and Red hated it. He hadn’t meant to hurt his friend. Shogun… Shogun hadn’t wanted them to find out his identity. And then Red had gone and done it, just to prove that he could be the smart one, or a leader, or the protector so they didn’t get hurt, or literally anything but just the ‘hotheaded one’. 

…And he’d done it in the most hotheaded, impulsive way possible.

He really was an idiot.

The cracked helmet hid the look on his face, a twisted mess of distraught and shame. But it didn’t help hide how he took stumbled to his feet and away from Smith, nervous that any second he’d spill another mistake and mess up again, like how he always freaking messed up on everything. Don’t pick this fight, interject there instead, no, not there, idiot, there, FMS why are you so useless-

Focus, focus.

Lloyd’s voice, sharp in the intercom and full of static from his tumble, snapped him from his thoughts. “Anyone got eyes on the arsonist?”

Red caught Smith’s eye as he raised his hand to his own communicator. He was so screwed, so busted, so doomed… Smith would report it, and the others would know, and they’d think he was just messing around in an alleyway with some stolen devices and weapons out of curiosity or rage, - and-

“None yet, still looking.”

…What?

Smith stared at him, gaze searching. He looked shaken, more so than Red- who’d just taken a fall from a second story, mind you, it was a miracle he wasn’t more injured than a couple small scrapes and some future bruises-, yet everything from the set of his jaw to the softening of his furrowed brows suggested a change in emotions. Well, not quite change; more like repress and replace.

“You wanted to prove yourself, didn’t you.”

Red flushed, hand instinctually clamping into a tight fist at his side. The still-working fire jets on his back ignited without him pressing any buttons; faulty activation from the fall or something. 

Palms up and hands raised, Smith silently asked to defuse the situation. “Didn’t mean it as an insult. This wasn’t about venting some anger, was it.”

Red’s lack of response only confirmed it. Smith continued. “I won’t say anything about this if you don’t tell anyone my identity. Deal? I know finding it out was important to you, but-“

“Deal,” Red interrupted. Guilt ate away at his core, like a wave of water dousing a candle. “Smith, I-“ He swallowed hard and stared at the alley floor. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to… to…”

Smith’s hand was suddenly on his shoulder and he flinched before relaxing as Smith didn’t move further, nor did the grip tighten. “I’m a little hurt, you’re right. But I’m not mad. And I won’t tell the others, so you can relax. But you better get out of here and get yourself an alibi. We can talk at school or something.”

Wow, he was handling this rather calmly. Red was struck by the sudden memory of- what did Jay call the word? Right. Compartmentalizing. That… wasn’t healthy. But at the roar of Lloyd’s mech somewhere nearby, he didn’t comment further. Instead, he shot Smith a grateful nod and ran down the alley, sticking to the shadows and blind spots of the flying mechs and the tight alleyways where the land mechs couldn’t reach him. 

When he got home, miraculously without further incident (though Shogun leading the others on a wild goose chase over the comms certainly helped there), he ditched the outfit in a bag hidden beneath a loose floorboard in the shed. He’d return the weapon to Master Wu’s ship later, and… well, hope Nya never searched for the missing supplies. There wasn’t a way of fixing it without involving her or Jay, and neither was an option.

Heatstroke was back off duty, and so was the Red Ninja.

For now, he could just be Kai Smith. And there wasn’t any issue with that.

…

Right?

—————

yooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

THIS IS AMAZING REHJJGFHDESFXJVZ

and ah yes, good ol trauma and compartmentalizing, we love to see it

[impulsivefanwriter]

One Wrong Word (Calypso AU)

Hehehe I had fun on this one. For context, this is based on the Calypso AU for @kittydemon9000​‘s story SPBNR- essentially, instead of S2 Kai/Smith getting wished into the M!verse, it’s S8 Smith tackling Mr. E (who in this AU is Echo Zane) into the summoning ceremony portal and taking the masks with them, ending up in the M!verse. Mr. E/S!Echo decides to use the name Calypso and makes a deal with Smith not to hurt the M!ninja in exchange for getting to keep the oni masks.

There’s a lot more to the Calypso AU that can be found in the discord, but that’s the basic summary for this particular fic.

Deciding to follow Mr. E, one of the new vigilantes and a much more violent one than Shogun, Red (M!Kai) dons his backup secret identity of Heatstroke and sneaks after him.

Unfortunately for M!Kai, things don’t quite work out the way he was hoping...

Enjoy :3

Kai Smith was furious.

It was by simple chance that he spotted the figure following Mr. E- Calypso, as he wanted to be called here out of costume- though it wasn't because the spy was stealthy. Far from it; it was a miracle no one else paid them much attention. Considering they were in a city that got attacked at least once a week, that was both an expected and sad thing.

No, what was interesting about this figure was not how badly they tried to subtly follow Mr. E- though that in itself was familiar- but rather their chosen attire. At first Shogun thought it was perhaps some fan of Mr. E, what with the spray-painted motorcycle helmet and the jacket, but the rigid spikes of fire from perhaps some kind of cosplay caught his attention the most.

Fire. The bad stealth. Stalking Mr. E.

It was one of the ninja. And Kai could guess in one try who it was.

Mr. E, who would have to be the worst (not as in 'evil', but in 'really bad at this') SoG member ever not to notice Red's (as Kai had taken to calling the other Kai in his head) attempts at stealth, finally had enough, it seemed. He vanished into a crowd and Red's movements stalled, unsure where to go next. The helmet visor- seriously, why was he dressed like some villain and not in his normal ninja gi?- swept back and forth.

Then Mr. E appeared behind him, grabbed him by the arm, and dragged him into an alleyway.

At this, Shogun leapt down from his actually hidden perch (though he still suspected Mr. E knew, because of course the bastard would) and stormed into the alleyway after. The two had a deal, after all, and it thankfully covered idiotic reckless teen shenanigans.

He wasn't a moment too soon either as Mr. E had Red pinned to the wall. The firejet spikes were shuttering and puffing smoke, and the helmet was cracked as if he'd been slammed into the bricks behind him. Red clawed at Mr. E's arm, but Kai knew from experience that the nindroid wasn't going to move.

"Enough!" Shogun barked out, catching both of their attentions.

Red's reaction was a little slower, which Kai hoped was just because Mr. E had the reflexes of a nindroid and not because Red had some kind of concussion; the SoG member could hit pretty damn hard, hard enough to take down Titanium Zane, so there was no question what he could do to a regular human who probably wasn't wearing a supportive, semi-shock absorbing gi (though Kai didn't know if that's how the Ninjaforce's worked in this universe).

"You don't get to interfere," Mr. E snarled back at him, the lights of his own visor narrowing. "I caught this one trying to follow me fair and square."

"We had a deal," Kai countered, closing the distance between them with a few steps. Up closer he could see cracks in the brick and shattered pieces of metal laying at Red's feet- or where his feet would be if Mr. E didn't having him dangling in the air by the scruff of his jacket and the wall.

Like a stubborn kid, Mr. E replied, "Deal doesn't count for street punks."

"But it counts for the ninja."

Mr. E scoffed. "That's not a ninja."

"Yeah? Look at him." Kai gestured at the still flailing and very panicked teen in Mr. E's grip. "It's Red."

Mr. E leaned close to Red's face, bumping the two helmet visor's together as the latter tried to lean away only to be pushed further against the wall he was trapped against. "...How about I make sure-"

Shogun sighed. "No, E, you can't take his mask off."

Red, who stopped his pawing at Mr. E's arm in favour of trying to brace himself against the wall, coughed out a weak, "p-please don't-"

Shogun levelled Mr. E with a glare. "Put him down."

Mr. E glared back. "No."

"E."

Mr. E's grip on Red's jacket collar tightened, earning another cough. "No."

Shogun stepped forward with one fist balled. "I said. Put. Him. Down. Or the deal is off."

Mr. E snarled but let go, unceremoniously dumping Red on the ground. The teen sputtered weakly and Kai winced, noting the sharp metal fragments on the ground. "I didn't say drop him!"

"You said put him down," Mr. E said. "You didn't say gently."

Kai scowled, but there was nothing he could do now about it. He balled both fists and adjusted the twin katanas on his belt (one of the only things he'd brought with him through the portal as he'd grappled Mr. E). "Whatever. You know the deal. You don't hurt them, and I don't try to take that from you. Not like how you took everything from me."

Mr. E lashed out, grabbing the front of Kai's gi not entirely unlike how he'd been holding his counterpart moments before but without the lift. "You don't get to tell me what to do, Smith."

Shogun ignored the way Red's gaze snapped to him. He wouldn't let Mr. E see how much that stung, having his hard secret-keeping work flung in his face intentionally or not. "Last chance, Cal."

With an inhuman growl, Mr. E let go of the fabric and stepped back. Good. One thing dealt with.

Kai turned to Red, missing how his fiery gaze made the other wince and shrink back like a flower curling away from a wildfire. "And you. What were you thinking?"

"I- I just wanted to-"

To help. To prove he was the green ninja. To prove he was a good leader. To prove his parents were- good? bad? Wrong in their decision to leave him and his sister behind, Time Twins or not?

Kai felt something hot and nasty bubble in his chest.

"To what? What excuse could you possibly have?"

Red cut himself off with the audible click of a jaw slamming shut. But Kai wasn't done yet; the building storm in his chest had only just started. "You wanted to show you can be the hero, huh? Follow Mr. E anywhere, even somewhere obviously dangerous, just to prove you could take him in a fight, huh? Left everyone behind in your stupid little stunt?”

His words burnt his own throat, the taste of smoke think on his tongue like ash. "You left them all behind. Let them to get hurt in your absence. For no possible reason other than your own impulsiveness. Did you really think you were strong enough to- to-"

To deal with the portal. To stop Mr. E, stop the Sons of Garmadon, stop the Time Twins, stop Morro, stop Master Chen, stop the Overlord, stop Garmadon, stop the Devourer, stop Samukai.

Kai slammed his fist into the wall with a sharp groan of anger and frustration, leaning closer to the reflection of his furious face on glass pressed against the brick. “You can’t do this, Kai! There are people counting on you, people who care about you! You can’t afford to be reckless! I know you think that throwing yourself out on the line in front of them will keep them safe, but it won’t! You need to be there for them, and the only way you can really help them is if you’re going to help yourself!”

His chest was burning, a consuming black hole that broke every wall of the carefully crafted compartmentalization boxes. “You never once stop to think, do you? You could have gotten Lloyd killed!”

A volcano, a blade, a cage.

“You could have gotten Nya- your sister- killed!”

A chain, a flaming sword, a dragon and a temple and a shadow.

“You could have gotten Cole killed!”

He did, he let it happen, let the curse claim his brother until he nearly faded away as a ghost, only getting him back by a slim chance, a roll of the dice.

“You could have gotten Zane killed!”

The Overlord, the Golden Master, and then the Sons of Garmadon, Mr. E, Chen’s island, so many close calls.

“You could have gotten Jay killed!”

He couldn’t remember, didn’t remember, and yet some feeling in his gut told him something had happened, something to do with the sky or pirates or both.

“You could have gotten Sensei Wu killed!”

In the time stream, gone, gone, who’s to say they were gonna get him back, if he even was back, what if, what if-

“You could have gotten them all killed, and it would have been all. your. fault. You and your stupid, reckless, impulsive, hot-headed actions where you try to play hero and take on every role yourself, and yet someone always has to take your place instead and get hurt.”

His family, hurt over and over again, cuts and bruises and busted lips and fractured ankles and still, oh so still chests.

He was panting, smoke curling out of his mouth, eyes ablaze, fists tight as embers threatened to spark from his palms. The word deep in his soul, etched there even since he feared he couldn’t take care of Nya by himself, spat from his lips like hot poison. “Useless.”

He was so close to the shiny visor he could see through it, past his furious reflection at himself. Past to the face under the helmet.

Like staring in a mirror.

A mirror with the scar on the wrong side. With eyes so wide, pupils so shrunken and glazed and reflecting the glow of Kai’s look of pure anger, encased in a ring of hurt like a deep, oozing cauterized wound-

The wave of anger washed away as if Kai had been doused in icy water. Dimly he was aware of Mr. E staring at him with- what was that prickling sensation? Surprise? Shock?- but all he could see was Red, poor Red, who was a Kai but wasn't Kai-

Red, who's breath hitched and chest heaved without air, who had thick globs of transparent tears running down his face, who looked to all the world as if Kai had struck him across the face and then stabbed him with one of Mr. E's knives twenty eight times. Because in a way, Kai had.

"Red- Kai-" Shogun's voice betrayed him, cracking on the name, but it fell on deaf ears as he stumbled back. "I'm- I'm so, so sor-”

Red bolted, scrambling down the alley so fast smears of blood from freshly cut palms and  the metal shards in his legs and back studded the walls and floor. Pieces of his get-up were tossed aside without a care, helmet cracking as it hit the far wall, and then he was gone, for once vanished so swiftly that not even Shogun would be able to spot him.

Mr. E was still staring at him.

Kai took a shaky step, dawning horror slamming into him over and over like the relentless tide. Only one thought echoed in his mind:

What have I done?

[an1malcannibal]

So about that sog Kai au 👀👀👀 do you mind telling us about it????😳😳😳

ALSJJDJSKALAJSJSKALA GOTCHU BRO 🥺💞💞💞 thank you for asking!!!!! Beware.... long post time....

Basically this starts aaaallllll the way back in season 4, where when Kai became the red shogun, he got involved in even shadier and shadier business situations (he basically becomes a for-hire grunt/guard because he’s so good at fighting! As a result, he’s so deep in the underworld and it’s dealings that when the ninja tried to look for him in season 4, they straight up can’t find him. They use all of their connections, everything they can, but he’s completely disappeared, without so much of a trace past three months after Zane died. (This is a year later. They hadn’t checked up on Kai in a while, he had a huge fight with them before he left, swore he never wanted to see them again, etc. they decided to give him time and space). So they file Kai as a missing person, and come together for the search for him! A few days after the report is filed and they start the search, they get their invitations to Chen’s! Kai didn’t get an invite because even Chen couldn’t find him... so the ninja have to make the difficult decision to pause their search and try and go save Zane, only to have nya AND Garmadon show up because Nya came with him for backup, but then she heard abt Zane, and made the even harder decision to join them on their quest to get Zane. Season 4 happens relatively the same, only Nya was the one to become romantically involved with skylor instead of Kai (staff moment didn’t happen because nya didn’t have the villainous traits for the staff to bring out rip. But it did help connect her to her elemental powers a little early! Good for you queen). But anyways. Harm still gets yeeted, seasons aftermath is the same except now they have Zane and have to face the search for Kai, which hits them like a ton of bricks. Season 4 ends.

so when season 5 starts everything is pretty different, there’s no tea shop, because all of their energy and focus is on the search for kai, so nya hasn’t had time to rlly focus on trying to develop her powers, so later when she trains her skill level is abt the same. morro happens, which delays the search AGAIN. they are in very low spirits abt all this. season 5s ending and resulting effects are the same. skybound does not happen just like in the show :). day of the dead happens, season 7 is a bit more complicated but again, results for the ninja are the same. basically normal seasons, except kai isn’t there and they are generally in lower spirits because all of their free time is spent looking for kai, but they think he’s either vanished completely or.... something worse that they don’t want to think about. so by time season 8 starts, the ninja have definitely become much more lax on their search, not spending as much time on it, dealing with other threats. they hate it, but ninjago needs defending and they are the ones to do it. by time season 8 starts, they’ve stopped actively going all over ninjago. they just keep their eyes out during missions more, that kind of thing. MEANWHILE!

this whole time, kais been doing his shady activities. traveling around with different gangs until he finds one that have him work for them full time, however it’s one of the biggest organized crime syndicates in ninjago. all over the whole continent! so he basically has to travel a lot, and he goes DEEP undercover, because originally he didn’t want anyone to find him, then it became he was so ashamed of all the criminal activity he’s taken part in. however, after a while of stewing in definitely the WORST environment for this kind of thing, he slowly but surely has so much resentment, the anger, then eventually even hate for the ninja. it wasn’t near overnight, but it happened. he thought about all the hurtful things they had said to eachother in their last fight. how deeply everyone’s words had cut. how they all seemed to gang up on him, when he now knew he was grieving, and sure he was out of line a bit then, but did it really require that? them taking everything out on him? he thought about how it took months for them to even realize he was gone, that his last motel was a dead end and he hadn’t left a trace since. how they didn’t try and somehow let him know that zane was alive. how they had seemed to search for him like mad and then disappear for so long, almost at this point having given up on finding him entirely. he didn’t want to talk to them, but it had been nice, secretly, to know that they at least cared enough to look for him, to miss him maybe. he thought about how zane dying had fractured the team, but kai being as good as dead didn’t seem to meaningfully impact the team in any way. he was selfish for thinking this, he knew, but GOD it hurt him more than he could describe. all that he had done for each of his teammates. his sister. his family. his whole life he had done nothing but sacrifice for all of them, only for them to not sacrifice a thing in return for him? he is. angry. and devastatingly depressed about it at the same time. and he’s filled with so many conflicting emotions, because on one side he still truly cares about them, and would do so much for things to go back to the way they were. but on the other side, he is just filled with so much resentment and anger, hatred all built up, the feeling of betrayal and deep, gut wrenching sadness, all swirling together, clouding his mind, mixing with his deep, almost hidden happiness of being actually FREE of all of the hero junk, the responsibility, the destiny, EVERYTHING. he also, even more secretly, enjoys the fighting more now. he doesn’t have to hold back. he can keep going until he burns himself out because that’s what he’s paid to do, damn the consequences. he’s swept up into being more and more violent, even accepting a few hit jobs a couple of times, mainly to see if he could. he could. basically rn he’s an absolute SOUP of conflicting violent emotions and dubious morality. This is the state he’s in when he meets Harumi.

he meets harumi on a job, she was working with the opposite gang, starting to get herself into the crime rings so she could firmly establish the sons of garmadon, (this part might change a bit because i actually have to watch season 8-9-10 lol but i’m getting to it i promise) they end up outside after, ending up sharing a lighter and some smokes, causing them to start talking, and end up opening up a bit and bonding a bit. they end up sort of.... acquaintances. they will talk after a job or before sharing a lighter to smoke sometimes, talking about so many different things. eventually they end up talking abt the ninja and how much they HATE them, harumi egging kai on in his negative emotions towards him, revealing her parents fates. kai ends up revealing the stuff abt his parents, how he was forced to raise his sister from far too young..... eventually revealing that he was, at one time. the red ninja. never again to him though. never again. he’s begun to hate everything he once stood for. harumi has her suspicions, he fit the description of the missing red ninja, from broadcasts and flyers. this was just the kind of business where you don’t ask those kinds of questions. besides, she liked kai. and what better way to get back at the green ninja, the once she hated most, than getting his former teammate on her side?

BUM BUM BUM

So that’s it so far!!!! I hope u like this bro! I have a lot more details and fights in mind, especially when we actually get into season 8 lol, but I don’t wanna spoil anything rn!!!!! Lots of fun stuff I’m planning on posting lol 👀 PLEASE tell me what u think bro..... I crave feedback and criticism..... pls bro.... 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

[rarlkove]

Zane brain rot is once again taking over my brain

Anyway, in my opinion the best if not funniest situation to the ninjas knowing about the double agent in the long con au is.

Wu knew from the start and so did Nya

Cole found out from the sticker and immediately went “Oh your a double agent” to which Zane was incredibly concerned about his trust in him. Cole thinks it’s hilarious

After that Zane wanted to tell Kai and Jay everyone else thought I was funnier if they figured it out on their own

Zane proceeded to try and tell them but they are big idiots

It became a game of who could be the most obvious about it until they notice. I will push my idiot Jay and Kai agenda

The sticker incident took place in the case in which Zane joins the SOG in the gap between Seabound and Crystalized. In the event that that happens:

Nya wouldn't know because she was uh. Absent. She's one of the last to find out, since she doesn't actually get a chance to catch up with the ninja until a while after she's been de-ocean'd. Not indicative of how much she does or does not pay attention to Zane, just because it's hard to keep tabs on your robot buddy when either you're too busy hanging out with fish and not being a solid or he's stuck in a high security prison.

Wu is THE last to find out, both because he was too busy with his research over the timeskip and also because I can't have him knowing for story purposes; he would absolutely kick up too much of a fuss for it to stay a secret to anyone after that. Maybe. Honestly, my Wu characterization isn't very polished, I don't think about him a whole lot.

Cole and PIXAL both find out over the course of the timeskip, since they're the only ones besides Wu not to leave the monastery and therefore spend the most time with Zane. You're correct in that Cole finds out over the sticker incident; Zane has been frequently disappearing to who knows where mostly during the night, and Cole finally knows where to. PIXAL finds out because she's Samurai X. If the SOG are back in some capacity, and the ninja are split up, who else is gonna fight them? PIXAL is mostly concerned for Zane's safety. He may or may not know that she knows.

Kai finds out shortly after the gang gets back together. His deal with the Red Shogun and Zane's deal with the SOG are not entirely dissimilar, and so Kai is quick to recognize it.

Jay is far too distracted to figure anything out. He doesn't notice anything might be off until someone tells him. In long con "canon(?)", however, things go differently.

You are correct in that your scenario would be funny, though!