Chapter 1 of my Day of the Departed rewrite is done!
I'm posting it here, and if it gets any interest then I'll put the rest of it up on AO3 bit by bit.
To recap, this is my attempt to expand Day of the Departed into a full season-length (i.e. 10 chapters) story. I hope to be able to let the story breathe the way it should, while still sticking as closely to the original as I can. Thanks to the Ninjago Wiki transcripts for the direct quotes from the show.
And here we go:
Chapter 1
The stillness of the night was first shaken by a rabbit tearing through the grass, then shattered as a small herd of deer crashed through the undergrowth. These were not nocturnal creatures, nor was it wise for those who were at the bottom of the food chain to be anything other than silent. Yet here they were, wide awake, whining, and very nervous, their gazes darting about fearfully.
Elsewhere in the forest, a lone wolf stopped to sniff the air, but he was not hunting. He came to a clearing and shrank back, his ears flattened against his head, his teeth bared in a snarl at an invisible enemy. He lifted his head to the moon, and his growling intensified.
The moon shone down in its serene fullness, isolated from the unease below. A wisp of green drifted across its pale face and dissipated. The white radiance of the moon seemed to intensify for an instant, and then its edges began to take on a green tinge.
Below, the wolf howled, then turned tail and fled in terror back into the safety of the darkness.
*****
The alert came as the Ninja were about to head out. The Mechanic had attempted a breakout at Kryptarium Prison, and Warden Noble had sent the distress call.
Jay groaned. “Not now, not today! Who knows how long this’ll take?”
“I bet the Mechanic did this on purpose,” added Cole grumpily. The Earth Ninja was normally not one to anger quickly, but his fuse had gotten shorter ever since he was turned into a ghost. “Picking a holiday of all days for his shenanigans.” He punched his translucent fists together in frustration. “I’ve got half a mind to just ignore him. We have other things that need our attention.”
But Kai was already talking over him. “Lloyd, it’s a holiday. We have things we wanna do. Do we all really have to go? Can’t just one or two of us maybe, oh I don’t know, just go put the Mechanic back in his cell while the others get on with what we were doing?”
“But Kai, our task will require minimal manpower to complete. I estimate that we will only need -” Zane began, before Kai shushed him.
“We don’t know how bad things are over at Kryptarium, so we’d better have all hands on deck. Our business will have to wait,” Lloyd decided. He turned to Master Wu. “I promise we’ll be back in time.”
Master Wu nodded. “Be careful.”
The six Ninja raced out of the monastery, leaving Wu to gaze after them. He had never admitted it, and probably never would, but every single time they left on a mission, he worried that it was the last time he would ever see them. All it would take was one wrong move - one small mistake. He was painfully aware that as the one who had gathered them and trained them, he was the reason why their lives were constantly on the line, and the responsibility weighed heavily on his heart. But, he told himself, they had learned well. Each of them, alone, was perfectly capable of holding their own; as a team, they were by all measures a force to be reckoned with. As long as they stayed together, they would be all right.
He raised his face to the midday sun, squinting against the harsh glare. Soon, it would begin its descent, but for now, it blazed high above Ninjago, its reign unchallenged by cloud nor shadow. The air in the monastery hung almost unnaturally still. Wu let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.
For now, there was nothing that could be done but to wait.
*****
Jay whooped as his jet did a barrel roll above the other ninjas’ vehicles racing over the Sea of Sand. “Look out, kids!” his voice crackled over the communication link. “Jay is here to save the day!”
“Yeah, and what are we, chopped liver?” Kai groused.
“Jay’s just excited he managed to get the Supersonic Raider Jet,” Nya said, amusement in her voice.
“Yeah, I still don’t understand how you got that, Jay,” Lloyd said in mock jealousy.
“Uh, because I called dibs,” Jay sniffed. “Guy who calls dibs first gets it, right, Cole? …”
No response. “Cole?”
Cole’s Rock Roader was trailing slightly behind the others, and he had been unusually quiet as he focused on maintaining a solid grip on the steering. But now, his hands were beginning to slip through the controls.
“No. No,” he breathed shakily. “Come back. Come… No.” He struggled to maintain his grip, his hands clutching thin air as he fought back rising terror. His vehicle began to veer off course.
“Cole! He’s drifting off again!” Nya shouted.
“I’ll get him,” Jay responded as he turned his jet around. At that moment, the Rock Roader mounted a sand dune and launched itself into the air, narrowly missing Jay.
“Cole! Look out!!” Jay yelled.
Cole grunted as his vehicle landed. His body solidified momentarily, and he slammed on the brakes. The Rock Roader fishtailed to a stop.
“S-sorry, Jay,” Cole’s voice sounded shakily over the communicator. “I -”
“Whew, buddy, I know you're a ghost, but I'm still in the living world, and I'd kinda like to keep it that way,” Jay quipped. He tried to keep his tone lighthearted, but he still regretted his words the moment they left his lips. That had gotta hurt. Something was off with his best friend, but he wasn’t sure what.
“Heads up,” Lloyd said then. “There’s something out there.”
A blurred form was speeding on the horizon - something that looked like an oddly-shaped car.
“It’s the Mechanic,” Zane reported, his eyes digitally magnifying his view. “And he’s in some sort of getaway vehicle heading northeast. He’s going fast.”
“Where did he get that in prison?” Kai exclaimed.
“That’s not important,” Lloyd said impatiently. “Right now, we need to stop him. Jay, we’ll need the boost from your jet. Kai, Nya, with me.”
“I’ll keep him in our sights,” Zane said, already pulling ahead.
“Right! Cole…?”
“I… I think I’ll sit this one out,” came Cole’s subdued response.
“Roger that,” Lloyd said. “Ninja, fire all engines.”
The combined power of their engines gave them a speed boost that none of their vehicles could have achieved alone, and they rapidly caught up to the fleeing Mechanic. It was a short fight; the Mechanic was alone, and his getaway vehicle turned out to be a truck slapped together from mismatched parts and modified for speed. He was pushing it to its limit, so that by the time they reached him it was already beginning to sputter. Without his usual mechanical backup, the professional criminal was outnumbered by the Ninja and quickly overpowered.
“Not one of your best plans, Mechanic,” Kai noted as they waited to hand him over to the authorities. “What possessed you to try breaking out of prison without getting some backup first?”
“Har de har har,” the Mechanic scowled. “It’s the Day of the Departed. I figured everyone would be distracted by the festivities. Guess you ninja just have no respect for the departed.”
“It’s because of you that we were pulled away from our preparations,” Nya shot back, annoyed. “How’d you even break out, anyway?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” sneered the Mechanic.
“Save it, Nya,” Lloyd said. “Here comes Warden Noble.”
The warden ambled over as they loaded the recaptured criminal into the back of a police vehicle. “Thank you for coming over on such short notice,” he said. “We’re short-staffed today because of the holiday, so we needed to call for backup. You could say we’re working with a… skeleton crew.” He guffawed at his own joke. The ninja chuckled politely.
“I hope things go smoothly for the rest of the day,” Lloyd said. “And that you and your team get some time to celebrate the holiday yourselves.”
Noble’s face sobered. “And you as well, young ninja. It’s an important tradition to honor those who have left us.”
“Don’t forget the candy!” Jay interjected, rubbing his hands in anticipation. “Best part of the holiday!”
“Yes, well, we need to go, Warden. Thank you.” Lloyd bowed, and the Ninja turned to leave.
With the waving warden in their rearview mirrors, Nya let out a sigh of frustration. “That took a whole chunk of our afternoon. We’re gonna be late if we don’t hurry.”
“Then we’d better hurry,” Lloyd answered with a sly smirk. “Ninja, fire all engines! … Again.”
Their vehicles shot forward into the desert, leaving a cloud of dust to settle gently behind them. It all but obscured the black Rock Roader, slowly trailing behind the others, as if its driver didn’t trust himself not to lose control of the car - and his own form - again.
*****
It was beginning to get dark by the time they reached Ninjago City. The streets were lined with festive lights, and children could already be seen excitedly running about showing off their costumes to one another, or hoarding the candy that was so ubiquitous during this festival.
Master Wu was waiting for them on the steps at the entrance to the Ninjago History Museum when they arrived. He held up a hand to forestall their flustered apologies. “I’ve taken care of the lanterns,” he informed them. “You need not worry.”
“Thank you, Master Wu,” Zane said. “A Day of the Departed celebration is incomplete without a lantern.”
“That is correct. But come, we will carry out the observances later. For now, we must not keep the curator waiting.”
As if summoned by Master Wu’s words, a man emerged from the darkened museum entrance. His long gray mustache seemed to glow against his garish red suit in the rapidly fading sunset. “Welcome, welcome!” he cried enthusiastically in a peculiar accent. “Ninja, Master Wu!”
“Dr. Saunders,” Wu acknowledged him cordially.
“Oh, please. We are all friends. You must call me by my first name, yes? Sander, yes?”
“Dr. Sander Saunders?” Kai whispered to Nya in disbelief. Nya snorted back a giggle.
“It is very good of you to invite us for this exclusive after-hours tour of your new exhibit, Dr. Saunders,” Master Wu said, as they all entered the museum.
“Oh pish-posh, is nothing! You are the famous Ninja who make it possible, yes? Otherwise, we cannot have…” The curator paused for dramatic effect before a tall marble archway, and waved his arms in a flourish. “The Hall of Villainy!”
The ninja looked about them in awe as they shuffled through the entryway. The hall was lined on both sides with wax figures that looked amazingly real, and disturbingly familiar: Kryptor, his metallic body giving off a cold gleam in the dim light; Kozu, his red armor making him look larger than life; Chen, in a surprisingly accurate replica of his mechanical throne, with its array of buttons; even Samukai, his glass eyes glowing red deep in the recesses of his wax skull. And at the far end of the hall was Morro, Master Wu’s own ex-student. Though he cut a slighter, more human figure than the other statues, his features were fixed in a cold stare that proved even more unnerving than any of the other villains.
“Poetic, is it not?” Dr. Saunders chortled. “Checking this out! You are very lucky ninja! A sneak preview of scary exhibit, on scary holiday, with scary moon!”
“The rarest Yin-Yang eclipse,” Master Wu noted.
“Yeeessss, the eclipse tonight. There is magic in the air!” The curator’s voice echoed ominously in the hall, but then he waggled his fingers in a comically mystical gesture. “Boogily-boogily!”
“It’s… every villain we’ve ever faced,” Kai said aloud, looking around him. No one missed the fact that his voice had cracked just a little. It was one thing to have battled and defeated every one of these villains; it was quite another to feel surrounded by them, and on a night such as this.
“Not every villain,” Cole said. He had been inspecting the placards that accompanied each figure with interest, but now his attention was caught by an alcove off to the side, where a portrait hung above a display case. The man depicted in the portrait was clearly an aged master of martial arts, distinguished by his straw hat and long, bushy black beard. However, his black eyes seemed strangely hollow, and had the odd power of almost trapping the viewer’s gaze. Also, he looked… familiar. Very familiar. Cole found himself unable to look away, almost hypnotized.
“No, not every villain,” Dr. Saunders was saying in response to Cole. “We have many more to unpack. But come this way! As we proceed further on the tour you can…”
Cole wasn’t listening. He tore his eyes from the portrait with an effort, and his gaze fell on the museum label under it.
Portrait of Master Yang
Although known to some as the master without a student, Kodokuna Yang will be remembered by most as the creator of Airjitzu, the most powerful martial art in history.
The start of recognition he felt was accompanied by a sense of - not quite hatred, because there was very little in the world that Cole actually hated, but there was something definitely personal in what he felt toward the man in the portrait. “Remembered as the creator of Airjitzu?” he said aloud to no one in particular. “Well, I remember him as the one who turned me into a ghost.” He curled his translucent fingers into a fist in front of his face, and then his eyes drifted down to an odd-looking artifact in the display case beneath the portrait. It looked like a mace on a chain, but the implement at the end looked like an Aeroblade. Its sharp blades showed no sign of wear, and there were inscriptions on its surface that Cole couldn’t quite make out.
“Hey, uh, Dr. Saunders?” he called out. “What’s the story on this thing?” He laid his hand on the glass, intending to point to the artefact, but his hand simply passed through. Of course.
He turned, but Dr. Saunders hadn’t heard him. “Interesting question!” he was saying to Kai. “Some weapons were not designed for battle, but rather for ceremony or magic rites. We can usually recognize them by how intricate the designs are, and they often have symbols or spells carved into them.”
“Like that one over there? Nya queried, pointing in the direction of Yang’s portrait.
“Exactly!” the curator replied, delighted. “You have a good eye, Nya.”
“Her?” Cole sputtered indignantly. “I’m the one who spotted -”
He stopped abruptly. The group was now moving towards the portrait - towards him. Except they didn’t stop when they got to him. They walked straight through him. No acknowledgement of his existence, no apology, nothing. In fact, Dr. Saunders was still elaborating on the relic: “The Yin Blade belonged to Master Yang, and it is said to possess much dark magic…”
They don’t hear me. Or see me.
It’s like I… I don’t exist anymore.
The color seemed to drain from the world. It had finally happened, the thing he had been most afraid of ever since that fateful day he had emerged from the Airjitzu temple to find his corporeal body gone. He was fading from the real world.
A sudden burst of anger surged through him, and he spun around to level an accusing finger at the portrait behind him. “It’s all your fault!” he cried at the black-bearded old man.
And then, as if in response, he heard a voice echo in his ears.
“Cole…”
He shrank back, staring around him wildly. He knew that voice. The last time he had heard it was the last time he had been whole, he had been - human… But it was impossible!
“Come, Cole…”
Cole cast a pleading look at his fellow ninja, who were still listening politely to Dr. Saunders’ droning exposition on the history of Airjitzu. “Uh, guys,” he quavered, “tell me you’re hearing this…”
They gave no indication that they heard him. Dr. Saunders was now gesturing to the artifact in the case below the portrait. “...which is why it is sealed in this case made of Clearstone,” he was saying, “the hardest substance known to humans. Impenetrable by any living being.” Kai visibly stifled a yawn from the back of the group.
“Cole,” the voice echoed again. There was no choice but to face it himself. He turned to face the portrait squarely.
“Yang,” he responded, with an effort to keep his voice from trembling.
“Close the circle,” the Airjitzu master said, his voice like a half-remembered memory.
Cole wasn’t sure he had heard clearly. “Close the circle?”
“Close the circle…”
“Close… the circle…” Cole could feel himself being drawn in by the spectral voice. For a moment, the museum seemed to fall away. The portrait of Yang blurred and swam before his eyes.
With a gasp, he broke the trance. The portrait snapped back into immobility. Yang’s voice fell silent, and the museum came back into focus.
The ninja weren’t there.
How - ? Cole hurried to the window. The group was already bidding Dr. Saunders farewell outside the museum.
“Thank you so much for such an informative tour, Dr. Saunders,” Master Wu said, shaking hands with the curator. He turned to his students. “The customary concert that marks the culmination of the festival will be held in the city square tonight. It is fortunate that tonight, it also coincides with the eclipse's peak, so that should be quite a spectacle for us. But first, we must go forth and honor those we have lost.” He paused briefly, and his eyes passed over the group of ninja, as if searching for something. But the moment passed, and he resumed his thought. “Those who have departed,” he said, solemnly. He bowed to Dr. Saunders, and they turned to leave.
“Hey!” Cole yelled, a sudden fresh fear gripping him. “Hey! Guys! I’m still here!” He unthinkingly stretched out his hand, which passed easily through the stone walls in front of him. He gasped and retracted his hand, staring at it. Was it just him, or did it look even less substantial than before?
He let it drop to his side. The ninja separated to make preparations for their respective observances, waving to one another and calling out festive wishes as they left. Dr. Saunders turned too, presumably to tend to his own observances, and was soon out of sight.
Cole was alone.
“I can’t believe they just left without me,” he said aloud to the empty hall. “They don’t realize I’m gone.” He held up his right hand again. It glowed faintly in the gloom, just barely visible. He closed his eyes, the despair settling about him like a suffocating fog. His voice dropped just above a whisper.
“Maybe… maybe I am gone.
“Maybe… I’m departed.”