Hello! I’ve never posted my Ao3 here before for reasons, but I am being brave and doing it now. Go read my fic, if you want! It’s about Zane with his memory switch turned off, it has five planned chapters spanning from pre-pilot stuff all the way to “Tick Tock”
Shoutout to @oppositemangos for a large part of the inspiration for this fic, both the one chapter that is out and parts that will come in the future. Thank you, Mangos, for giving me permission to use your ideas.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Ugh it will always drive me nuts how Cole never got a “wish sequence” in Skybound. Like he never directly encounters Nadakhan nor does Nadakhan try anything. And that’s insane because Cole is the character who most wants something that can only be achieved through actual magic. You’re telling me he would have never even CONSIDERED wishing for life? This is especially insane to me because Clouse is a ghost who wishes for life, so clearly the writers thought about it, they just decided not to address that desire for Cole at all? Why?
The change wouldn’t have even been permanent, Skybound ends with the characters all being reset back to the beginning of the season. He also doesn’t even have to make this wish I just sort of want him to at least think about it on screen for a few seconds, y’know? But whatever. See if I care (I do).
I am in loveeeeee with your idea/hc of Zane having memory issues before getting his memory switched turned back on, and also the thing where he has a notebook to write stuff down in. I was wondering if it would be okay to use some of your ideas in a fic I’m working on? I’d credit you in an A/N of course, and could give additional credits and links if you’d like me to! Just wondering what your boundaries and preferences are for others using your ideas?
OH MY GOSHHHH I WOULD LOVE THAT
I'd love to have the fic to read when it's finished too!!!!
My boundaries on this stuff is really just let me read the fic when it's finished because I love to see it! Thank you for asking <3
Autism Representation written by an allistic: My name is John Autism and I like the designated autistic interests
unintentionally autistic character written by the creator who hasn't really thought about whether or not theyre autistic: I wish I could be human like the way everyone else is but I know they can tell I'm not. And I know they're right
If I see the words “real parents” instead of “biological parents” one more time I’m going to FREAK OUT!!!! That’s not his “real mom” it’s his BIOLOGICAL MOM!! Hello???
It’s awful, it’s a clip show, Zane is dying again, Zane says “I did not need a statue”, there are like ten seconds of new animation, Jay makes up another word, it’s a super heavy-handed metaphor for PTSD, Zane says “I was so alone,” They defeat trauma through the power of friendship, the ninja learn to talk about their feelings.
we as a society do not acknowledge just how funny the lego ninjago writers were in season 5 for straight up just killing cole for literally no reason in the middle of the season as much as we should. he doesn't even die a climactic hero or a martyr like zane in the season 2 or anything. the poor guy dies because he didnt get out of the ghost house (the house that turns people into ghosts) in time. he spends the rest of the season trying not to get caught in any of the home alone style water traps that his friends set out to get any stray ghosts (somehow forgetting that he's a ghost too), trying to figure out how to touch things again with absolutely no help from the rest of the gang, and being depressed because the prophetic ice wall told him he wouldnt have a future. this has no real narrative consequences - he's fixed by the next season - but when he does come back to life, it's not even in the main series. it's in a one-off special. what did cole ever do to deserve this
Currently obsessed with the idea of a famous ghost who died at a tourist attraction.
Like it’s established that you can go on a bus with a group to see “Yang’s haunted temple” and the tour guide will laugh and be like “you can’t go in because you’ll die” and everyone in the group will laugh with them. And then a famous dead guy gets asked how he died and he’s like “you know Yang’s temple? It really will kill you haha.” And everyone is trying to figure out if he’s telling the truth or joking. It seems like a joke but that doesn’t really seem like the kind of thing he’d lie about so it’s really up in the air.
I think tourism for the temple would go way up, because wow this is where Cole died (allegedly). But there would be a small problem of kids trying to sneak into the temple and stay over night to see if you really will die. It’s really only a few kids who try it but it turns into a tide-pods esq moral panic that gets covered on local news and such. Nobody ever actually dies but they have to hire security to stop people from breaking in (working security there sucks also, bc of the ghosts)
Some talk show host asks Cole about the “trend” and he gives a very serious answer about not doing shit like that bc “it sucks and you’re stuck a ghost forever, it’s not worth it.” But he ends the statement by making some stupid joke like “do something that won’t ruin your life, go lick a toad” and now kids are licking toads and calling it “the Cole challenge” and that’s very bad press for him but hey at least they aren’t doing the temple thing anymore.
Currently obsessed with the idea of a famous ghost who died at a tourist attraction.
Like it’s established that you can go on a bus with a group to see “Yang’s haunted temple” and the tour guide will laugh and be like “you can’t go in because you’ll die” and everyone in the group will laugh with them. And then a famous dead guy gets asked how he died and he’s like “you know Yang’s temple? It really will kill you haha.” And everyone is trying to figure out if he’s telling the truth or joking. It seems like a joke but that doesn’t really seem like the kind of thing he’d lie about so it’s really up in the air.
Re-working Zane’s wish sequence from Episode 5 of Season 6 (Skybound)
Because Zane’s “wish sequence” is lame. Even though it starts very cool (set as a game of chess and pointing out that Zane can overestimate is own intelligence), it very quickly starts to break its own rules and also Nadakhan just kills PIXAL? He can’t do that. Not only can he not do that, but it goes against Zane’s wish not to harm him (well, to do 10x the harm to Nadakhan, which boils down to the same thing), in the same way that putting Nadakhan in the teapot does (which is established to count as harm) bc it’s not physical harm, but clearly is still hurting him. And also, to reiterate, KILLING PIXAL?! That’s not clever that’s just bad writing.
My alternate pitch?
It should be Cole, not PIXAL, who Zane wastes his third wish in a hasty attempt to save.
Because it actually drives me nuts that they don’t properly consider the fact that they established that ghosts (Cole) can’t touch water during Skybound. (Like I know they wanted Zane to be alone but it’s literally storming and Cole can be above deck but Zane can’t? There’s a freaking water tornado right there. And then their stupid ship crashes in the middle of the ocean and they all wake up on an island and Cole is there? He would have gone the way of Morro, no way he didn’t touch water.)
So why not play into that a little more? Send Cole and Zane down together. That makes the ninja seem less stupid for knowingly doing something that has lead to people vanishing in the past. They both should have to be below deck anyway.
Once Cole and Zane are below deck together, and something happens where a little water starts leaking into the room they’re both in. It’s not urgent or anything, but Zane walks over a puddle of water and goes to find a way to plug it/ clean up the spill while leaving Cole to just sort of sit on a piece of furniture to stay away from the water on the floor. This sets up a problem that isn’t the result of Nadakhan’s doing.
(Bonus: Have Zane and the audience both clearly interpret this as Cole being left alone. Zane can give Cole some sort of advice like “Don’t talk to Nadakhan, he can’t hurt you if you don’t talk to him.” Before he leaves. Then it’s more subversive when Nadakhan approaches Zane, and it becomes obvious that Zane is going to be his next target.)
Once Zane is alone in some sort of supply closet below deck (it’s a cartoon, don’t worry about logistics too much), and Nadakhan approaches him, Zane can make his first two wishes. There’s still the element of Zane’s hubris that’s present, he thinks he can outsmart the djinn. PIXAL can warn him not do it and he can say “Not now, PIXAL,” but Natakan isn’t going to kill her because he CANNOT do that.
Something in the wording of his first wish needs to change slightly, and it should be phrased more as “You must understand and carry out the exact meaning of the words as I intended them.” This will come back later, but is essentially a slight nerfing of the original wish. Nadakhan doesn’t follow that wish anyway, though, and if you’re going to do that at least make Zane’s wish wording a little less airtight.
The second wish can remain largely the same. The wording should change slightly, so it’s more about ANYTHING bad happening to Zane instead of just specifically Nadakhan doing harm to Zane. Basically, he should say, “I wish any harm that comes to me is done to you tenfold.”
(Now, in the original show, it is established that putting Nadakhan in the teapot counted as “hurting” him. So it seems like putting Zane in the sword would be exactly the same thing? So…what happened to tenfold harm to Nadakhan? Idk, this wish is just a stupid plot hole that exists in the show that I’m not going to bother fixing. The best argument I can come up with might have to do with even tenfold the amount of power it took to contain Zane wouldn’t have affected Nadakhan? That’s all I got. I don’t care to come up with an alternate second wish, and that would make this post even longer and it’s too long already.) (He does have to say “I wish” though. In the original scene, Zane doesn’t say “I wish” for his second wish, he says “It is imperative” which is NOT the same thing. That pmo.)
While this is happening, you COULD intersperse shots of the situation both above and below deck getting more and more dire. The storm is intensifying, they’re struggling not to capsize, water is really starting to leak in to the area below deck. You could also put the audience in Zane’s shoes a little more by not showing those things, demonstrating that he’s sort of forgotten about his original situation.
When Zane’s about to make his third wish, some sort of commotion happens, something hits the ship maybe? And Zane can hear Cole calling for help or just sort of screaming. So before he makes his final wish, Zane remembers what he was originally supposed to be doing and runs off to go help him. He can find a fairly dire situation, the only exit to the room is blocked by some sort of water spout thing, with more leaks sprouting up everywhere. The rocking of the ship is jostling him around and he’s fighting for his life trying to stay dry and on dry surfaces. The floor to the entirety of the below deck area is covered in a few inches of water. Not only is Cole actively fucked, there’s clearly some sort of fatal damage to the ship, and ultimately everyone aboard is about to go down.
(Now, here’s where I admit the major problem in this one. Zane’s got ice powers, he can just plug the hole. Uhhhhh idk. The easiest thing to do is just make it clear that he’s not thinking super clearly (Mr Logic over here) and is clearly Nadakhan-brained atm. He doesn’t think about the fact that there are alternate solutions, bc Natakan is telling him he only has two choices, and he’s too frantic to not believe him. I think that would be a satisfactory, if not super satisfying, explanation. You could also try and make a case for him not being able to use his powers in this situation for whatever reason, though that might be tricky)
Speaking of, Nadakhan can reveal himself again, this time in front of Cole (remember, you don’t have to be alone to make wishes. We see in the final episodes that that’s true. Nadakhan just seems like he prefers people to be.) He can tell Zane basically “uh oh, this looks bad. You know how to fix this… wish it all to go away.”
Nadakhan doesn’t need to do anything but talk to Zane about the third wish. All he needs to tell Zane is that if he does successfully trap Nadakhan with his third wish, no one will be able to get to Cole in time without his magic. (This doesn’t even have to be true, Nadakhan is allowed to lie.) Zane can try saying he made a wish that “any harm must be done to you” and Nadakhan can remind him “Nuh uh, you said any harm that came to YOU would be done to me. Should have thought of that one you stupid idiot.” So Zane’s really stuck.
Now Zane’s literally standing between Natakan, who is convincing him to use his wish, and Cole, who would probably be trying to convince him not to use magic while actively fighting for his (after)life. That essentially places the same choice on Zane as in the original show, save the life of someone you care about or trap Nadakhan? And he can make the same choice he did in the show. Zane, super panicked and not thinking logically, chooses to save Cole by blurting out “I wish it would all go away!”
Nadakhan does his little, “your wish is yours to keep,” the storm clears, and Zane goes into the sword.
In this case, if the wording of Zane’s first wish is about carrying out his intended meaning, Nadakhan can argue that he did. Zane was clear that he wanted the exact meaning of his words to be understood as intended in the carrying out of the wish. He did NOT say that ONLY what he intended could be incorporated into the wish. If the storm clears and Cole is okay, that is what Zane meant, and the grounds of the first wish are met. Him getting put in the sword is just a little bonus that Nadakhan threw in there, which technically doesn’t go against the wording of the first wish. Yes, it’s sort of cheap, but all of the wishes in Skybound are like this, and I think it’s a lot more about wits and wording than the way it actually was written in the show.
Then they can end up on the island, clear skies, Cole’s fine. That should be how everyone else realizes that Zane used his wishes, the rain and lightning just magically disappeared. Put some corny dialogue in there (“The storm passed? It’s a miracle!” And Cole can be like “Not a miracle—magic. Wish magic…”) and call it a day. He can be a little sad if he wants to.
In this situation, we do lose the chess match set up. I do actually think the chess match is neat, but I don’t think it’s necessary. IMO, the scene is improved more by Zane’s actions making sense and Nadakhan staying within the rules than it is by the presence of the chess motif.
My set-up also makes Zane’s wording of “I wish it would all go away!” Make a teeny bit more sense. Wishing that a storm/water leak that is about to kill your friend and crash your boat would “go away” at least means something. I think this version makes a lot more sense than how it’s used in the show. (What is he wishing away there? The absence of PIXAL? It would make more sense for him to say like “I wish I had her back” or whatever.)
One day I will be a writer for children’s TV and my work will be perfect. For now, I will write fanfiction about this probably. Thanks for reading! Like and subscribe and reblog and leave kudos and repost and
Season 5 is awesome except for they should have made it so Cole can’t touch deepstone instead of giving him weapons and a bike made of the stuff. That crap makes ghosts explode, why is Cole sitting on it?
