In loving memory of Kirby Morrow, the voice actor of Cole. I grew up wih him voice-acting Cole from the moment I watched the first season of Ninjago, and Cole being voiced by a new voice actor in Crystalized and Dragons Rising won't bring the same joy it once did with Kirby. He will always remain one of the best parts of my childhood, and is one of the greatest legends that will be remembered forever. Rest in peace, Kirby Morrow.
"Woah! This place is amazing!" Cole exclaims with amazement. The Ninja agree and walk around the city.
People were buying weapons and food, and they were wearing cool armor, visors, skintones and outfits to go with their avatars. Drones fly around the city as the players walk about and talk to each other with excitment.
"Where should we start? Maybe find a way to customize our avatars? We can upgrade our look!" Cole says excitedly, already forgetting the mission to find Jay and was now thinking about what to do in this exciting, once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Nya sighs. "Cole, I know this Prime Empire place is like video game paradise for you, but our mission is to find Jay, not to get designer clothes."
Lloyd puts a hand on her chest, signaling her and the rest of the team to stop moving. "Uh, guys, that mission just got a bit more complicated!"
People wearing black clothes with red and blue details on them, along with the Prime Empire logo on their chests and face, and helmets with red visors march through the crowd.
Players run out of their way and cower in fear, hiding in places while shops close their doors. The people in the red visors stand dozens of feet in front of the Ninja.
Cole gives his friends a comforting smile. "Maybe this isn't as bad as it looks. Some games have tutorial assistants who meet new players and teach them how the game works."
The Red Visor in the front raises its gun and points it at the Ninja. Its friends do the same. "Eliminate the enemies of Unagami."
"It's as bad as it looks." Kai corrects Cole. The Ninja jump out of the way when lasers were being shot at them.
"Time to go Spinjitzu on these digital creeps!" The team nod at Lloyd's order. "Ninja...GO!" The Ninja jump up in the air, about to perform their Spinjitzu, but nothing happens. They fall flat on their faces, while Kai was trying to get his Spinjitzu to work, but ends up crashing into something.
The Red Visors shooting lasers at the Ninja exchange confused glances. "Uh... Does anyone know what just happened?" Lloyd, Cole and Katarina shrug at Nya's question.
"Come on, Spinjitzu! Come on!" Cole catches Kai, before Kai could try any more failed attempts at trying to perform his Spinjitzu. The Red Visors start shooting lasers from their guns again.
"New plan!" Lloyd says. " Elemental powers! Go!" The Ninja get up and stretch out their arms towards the Red Visors, trying to command their powers, but like their Spinjitzu, nothing happens. After much strain, they stop.
"Seriously?!" Nya exclaims. More lasers come at the Ninja, who run and hide. "What's going on?!"
Kai sits beside his sister. "Not again! Can't I go, like, two seconds without losing my Elemental powers?!"
"Fight now and figure this weird thing out later!" Katarina says. The Ninja run out of their hiding places and run towards the Red Visors. They land blows and high kicks at them, but every time the Ninja attack, it would hurt and make them feel sluggish.
"I don't get it. I feel weak and slow." Katarina tries to land a punch on a Red Visor, but it grabs her fist, pulls her towards it and lands a punch directly on her chest. She crashes.
"It's like our hard-earned ninja skills have been deleted or—!" Another Red Visor punches Nya before she could get her point across. She lands on the ground, and the Red Visor attacking her pulls out its gun and prepares to shoot her.
She braces for impact. Then suddenly, someone in blue comes to her rescue. She opens her eyes and gets up, turning her attention to her rescuer, who runs in another direction. "Jay?!"
"Hey Nya!" She turns her attention to Cole. "Finding Jay isn't gonna be as hard as we thought. Look!" In the distance, Jay was in his gi from when they were fighting the S.O.G while fighting another red Visor.
Nya scratches her head. "How did he get over there?"
"Guys! Jay's here!" Jay was in his gi from when they were in the Tournament of Elements, punching a Red Visor. He backflips in the air and kicks the Red Visor, and executes a side kick to finish it off.
Now everyone was confused. "Does he have teleportation powers in this game or—?"
Lloyd scream when the Red Visors come up to him, ready to blast him at any moment. The Jay wearing his S.O.G. gi comes to his rescue and attacks the Red Visors. Katarina, Nya, Cole and Kai run up to Lloyd, just in time to see the Red Visors disappear.
"Friends of Jay... welcome." The Jay wearing their friend's usual gi reaches his hand out to Lloyd, who takes it and lets them help him up. There was a Jay in his first gi from when he joined the team, the Jay in his S.O.G. gi, and the Jay in his Tournament gi. Lloyd scratches his head.
"Which one of you is the real Jay?"
The Jay who helped Lloyd up smiles from behind their hood. "The real Jay s in the hearts of all who live by his word."
"In Jay we trust." The other three Jay avatars say in unison.
"We are from the League of Jay."
Cole finally got what was going on now. "Oh! You're all players, and you've chosen to play as avatars of Jay."
"Uh, we're talking about Jay? Right? Like, our Jay?" Kai says with disbelief, not quite believing their Jay would be this well-liked.
"I like this fanbase of Jay. Makes sense since he has a very likeable personality." Katarina smiles. Suddenly, drones were scouring the area. The Ninja and the League of Jay gasp silently.
"Hurry! Come with us if you want to keep playing." The Leader urges them.
The Ninja look at each other nervously. "I guess we don't have a choice." Before the Ninja could run after the League of Jay, the Jays jump up on air and run on top of the next building. Lloyd tries to do the same, but he ends up falling flat on his back.
"Uh, how did—What did just—huh?"
Cole and the others walk up to Lloyd. "Hmm...Maybe you have to double-jump. Like in other video games, to reach really tall places. Watch." Cole jumps up into the air once, "Jump!" Then once he plants his feet in the air, he jumps up again, "Double jump!" He lands on the building successfully.
"That makes no sense!" Katarina shouts. The drones scanning the area were getting closer now.
"Go with it!" Nya grabs her hand, leading her towards the building. She, Katarina, Kai and Lloyd follow what Cole did, and they were on the building rooftop in seconds.
"Wow! I just jumped on air!" Nya says in awe.
"Hurry!" The Leader was on the next building. "The Great Jay wills it so!" The Ninja follow the Leader and his group, jumping from building to building on air as the drone follow them and shoot lasers.
"I don't get it!" Lloyd ducks his head from another laser. "I run all the time, but I'm already... getting... tired."
The Leader, who was still running on high stamina and not getting tired at all, scoffs. "Of course, you're getting tired. You're a noob. Your stamina stats are probably quite low."
Cole's eyes widen. "Wait. Are you saying the reason we don't have our powers is because—"
"You haven't bought any skills yet. Here. See my skill tree," The Leader taps their chest, showing the skills he earned in the game on a bright yellow screen. "See? I have Level 48 stamina." They tap the screen, showing more of their skills. "And I have enough experience points to buy another skill. Here."
They tap the skill, buying it with their experience points. They smirk under their hood. "Super back-flip flying kick." He executes his skill on the drones. Katarina growls.
"Seriously? It took me months to learn that move in the real world. But in here you just buy another skill? Not fair!" They come to a halt when three drones surround them.
"There may come a day when the courage of Jays fails... but this is not that day!" The Jay avatars take out their weapons, ready to fight.
"Jay-Ja...GO!" The Jays began fighting the drones with their weapons. The Ninja decide to do the same, but it wasn't easy considering their skills got coded out of existence in the game. They ended up getting hurt in the process as they tried to attack the drones.
Kai gets on top of a drone, but it blasts Kai with its lasers. He screams, falling off the building. Lloyd screams, too. "KAI!" Tears stream down his face as he watches his brother fall. He punches his fist into the building, and buries his face into his hands. "No."
But his grief was short-lived when Kai spawns right next to Lloyd. Kai makes a nervous noise of surprise, causing Lloyd to lift his head out of his hands and look at Kai with disbelief. He was so confused, how did Kai just come back to life?
"I-I'm alive?" Kai pats himself to be sure. "How am I alive?" Lloyd rubs his eyes, making sure it was real and not a dream. "I just-I—Oh, duh! Video game! I just re-spawned. Ha! None of this is real!"
"It feels real!" Katarina says, running away from a drone that was chasing her.
The Leader strikes a drone when it was about to attack Nya. They put a hand on her shoulder. "We will draw them away. Follow the streets to the northwest for 13 blocks. There you will find one of our allies waiting." They strike another drone with their sword without looking.
"Give him the password, 'Mister Cuddlywomp' and he will bring you to Superstar Rockin' Jay. Now fly!"
She nods. "I understand... kind of."
From underneathe their hood, the Leader smiles warmly. "Hmm, I can see why you are beloved to him." She blinks at the Leader and looks on, watching them continue to fight the drones with their group of Jays, and lead them away from the Ninja.
Nya looks at her friends and gestures them to follow her. They jump down the building, entering an alley, and begin walking.
"The Jays said we need to go to—" They stop walking when they spot three Red Visors at the other end of the alley. "Hide." The Ninja hide behind some boxes and clutter, making sure not to be seen by the Red Visors.
However, Kai didn't hide. He just stood bravely out in the open.
"Kai! Hide!" Katarina hisses at him.
"Why? This is a game. If they blast us, we just come back. Here, I'll distract, you get around behind them."
"Kai, I really don't think that's such a good-" Before she could finish her sentence, he was already walking towards the Red Visors bravely.
"Hey, guys! You know who's totally lame?" The Red Visors turn around to face Kai. They exchange glances, before letting Kai continue. "Unagami, that's who!"
One of the Red Visors growl. All three of them point their guns at Kai. "The enemies of Unagami must pay!" He turns around and runs while the Red Visors blast their lasers at him.
The Ninja gasp when they see Kai get hit by the lasers, so they each grab a tire, trap the Red Visors in it, and kick them away. The Red Visors roll away from the Ninja, while Kai spawns next to his friends.
He leans against Cole. " See? Re-spawn is my new favorite word. Whoo-hoo!"
Cole scratches his head. "Uh, I don't know if that's really smart. In games-"
Kai rolls his eyes and gives a shrug. "Whatever, Cole. You're just annoyed that as the team's gaming guru, you weren't the one who figured this out!" He walks head of the group. Lloyd sighs.
"Come on, guys."
Minutes later, after avoiding the Red Visors and the drones, they finally made it to the meeting point. "This is where they told us to meet," The Ninja look around. "Only... there's no garage."
"Why send us to an empty lot?" Lloyd wonders aloud.
"I told you. They're wackos! Anyone who likes Jay that much can't be normal." Kai says. Nya puts a hand on her hip.
"So...me not liking Jay a lot because he's my boyfriend isn't normal?" She says with a raised eyebrow. He turns his attention to his sister and smiles apologetically.
"No?"
"Freeze!" The Ninja jump at the sound of a man's voice in the distance. He had light dull blue skin with a mask over his face, which had triangular markings on his cheeks. He had a hood over his hat, and was wearing a light blue jacket with dragons over his black hood, along with black fingerless gloves. He had kneepads over his ripped jeans. He points a gun at the Ninja.
"Talk. Before Mister Ginormous here does the talking."
"That voice sounds familiar." Katarina whispers.
"Um, shoot, what was it? Mister Snugglewomp? Fuddlewimp? No, no Fud-Fud—Argh! Buddygump?" Cole stammers, trying to remember the password the League gave them.
"Mister Cuddlywomp." Nya says firmly. The man lowers his gun, and sighs.
"The League sent you, huh? Let me guess," The man lowers his hood, revealing the rest of his face. "You're here to see Superstar Rockin' Jay?" The Ninja nod. Katarina's eyes widen at the man's face.
He gestures them to follow. "Come on. Before someone sees us." The Ninja watch the man walk towards the cloaked building, which opens its doors for Scott. Their eyes widen.
"A cloaked hideout?" Nya gasps, as they walk inside and the cloaked door close behind him. They were in awe at the inside of the garage.
"Wow!"
"Awesome!"
The man leans against a car he had been working on. "Name's Scott. I'm a mechanic. My garage is hidden by a Level 999 Stealth Barrier. Those Red Visors can't see it." He smirks. "Even Unagami can't."
"What are you hiding from?" Katarina asks Scott.
"The Red Visors want me to compete in the Speedway Five-Billion. Like everyone else. But I'm smarter. No thanks. And the League of Jays keep my secret, so I help them rebuild their vehicles and weapons and stuff." He explains to her. He picks up a wrench from his workbench.
Kai bends down and sees a strange object in his path. "What's this?" He taps the top of the object, right as when Scott turns around to warn him.
"Don't touch that, it's-!"
But it was too late, the bomb went off, leaving a huge burn mark where the bomb and Kai were seconds ago.
"Dangerous."
Kai spawns next to Scott with a huge smile on his face. " I love this infinite-lives-thing!" He leans against Scott, who just looked annoyed and just pushes Kai away.
"Infinite? You told you that?!" He taps Kai's chest, showing his lives. There appeared to be only one life left for him. "You get four lives in Prime Empire. And looks like you've used three."
Kai's healthboard disappears. He looked scared. "What? What? Why didn't anyone tell me this?"
Cole sighs, irritated. "I tried, but you wouldn't listen!"
Kai rolls his eyes. "Oh, sure, blame the victim!" Lloyd, Katarina, Nya and Cole tap their chests, revealing their healthboards. They all had four lives. "So, so wait, what happens if I lose this last one?"
"You don't want to know. It's horrible. Why do you think I won't race in the Speedway?" Scott presses his chest as he turns his back on the Ninja. He had one life left. "I only have one life left myself."
He goes towards one side of the room, and pushes aside some boxes. There was a circular entrance with a door. He pushes a button, opening the door. "Anyway. If you seek Superstar Rockin' Jay, this is the way."
He enters through the tunnel first, and one by one, the Ninja were following behind as he guided them through the tunnel.
"We're supposed to trust a complete stranger and go into a dangerous looking dark hole?" Cole whispers to his friends.
"I trust him," Katarina whispers back. "And we don't have much of a choice. If the League trusts Scott to help them, then we have to trust him, too."
Seconds later, they were out of the tunnel. When the Ninja crawl out, they were greeted with loud techno music, and a dark room lit up with bright blue neon light.
And it turned out the four Jay avatars weren't the only members of the League of Jay, because there were dozens of more Jay avatars wearing different gis Jay wore, showing their skillset to each as they talked. There was even a Jay avatar bowing down to a huge statue of Jay.
Lloyd, Katarina, Cole and Nya smile and walk around the party room. Kai just stands there, dumbfounded. "I... I can't believe this. Are we in a nightmare?"
The Leader stands on the stage, and clears their throat. "Attention, League of Jay." When no one diverts their attention to them, they sigh and tap their chest. He presses a button on the screen, revealing his voice volume, and he increases it to maximum volume.
"Attention League of Jay!" Everyone, including the Ninja, turn their attention to the Leader. "It is time for the arrival of our hero, our inspiration, the reason for our very existence... Superstar Rockin' Jay himself!"
A trapdoor shaped like a bolt slowly open. Puffs of smoke come out of the trapdoor, as the person on the podium rises higher and higher, doing an awesome, thrilling guitar solo, while the spotlight remains entirely on him.
When he finally stops his guitar solo, the Ninja couldn't help but stare. Jay had light blue skin, and his curly hair was a lighter shade of his skin. He had a bright yellow headband wrapped around his forehead, and his eyes were a bright gold color with a blue star over them.
His bright blue jumpsuit had neon yellow stars all over his collar, and there were bolts and a star on his belt. His jumpsuit was revealing as much of his muscular chest and abs as possible, and it was showing his top surgery scars, too.
He steps off the podium, basking in the League's applause and cheers as he hands his guitar over to the Leader. He waves to them as he chuckles.
The Ninja were still staring at their friend, even Nya, who was admiring her boyfriend and taking in as much of his avatar appearance as possible. "Damn, he's hot." She whispers.
Jay gasps at the sight of his friends and Yang. "Guys! Is that really you?!" He runs over to them and wraps them in one, big embrace. "Wow, I've been waiting for you!"
He waves his arms around, with a huge smile on his face. He turns around, while his friends continue to look at him with astonishment and disbelief.
"Is this place awesome or what?!"