Ninjago Falls

Chapter 21

August 4th, 9:00 am. News Report

Court date set for the early release of Gideon Gleeful from prison. Ford Pines has offered to take custody of Gleeful for the remainder of his sentence. If Pines wins the case, Gleeful will leave jail, but not Pines' sight.

9:01 am. Stan's POV

"Ford, what the Hell is this news report saying?" I ask my brother as he walks into the living room.

"Stanley, Gideon may be vital to our plan."

"What plan?"

"I will tell you once I win the case." He starts walking away.

"And if you don't win the case?"

He stops and turns around. "Then I'll tell you anyway. And then you'll help me get that kid out of jail. Now hurry up and change. We have training today."

Still 9:01 am. Dipper's POV

"Mabel, come on, I don't want to be late to training!"

"What are you training for?" Pacifica asks behind me.

I mentally face palm and turn around. I nearly gasp to see she's wearing a llama sweater. One that's llama looks exactly like the one on the Cipher Wheel. I realize I'm staring and shake my head.

"Why are you wearing that?" I ask.

"Mabel's forcing me to. Why? Does it look bad on me?"

"I wear the same thing every day. You think I know the first thing about fashion?"

She laughs. "Fair point. You never answered my question, though. And that is not you usual outfit." She points to my gi.

"To answer your question, you're coming with us. To comment on you latter statement, no, it's not."

"What's not?" Mabel pops up behind me, scaring me half to death. "Sorry bro bro." She looks at Pacifica. "Wow, you look great in that sweater, just like I knew you would."

Pacifica blushes. "Thanks. But what are you and your brother wearing?"

I start towards the door, dragging both of them by their hands. "We'll tell you when we get there. We're already late."

"Get where?"

I ignore her and continue down the stairs, yelling at Grunkle Stan to get ready. Great Uncle Ford is by the door, waiting for Stan. He moves from the door, telling us that he and Stan will be there shortly.

Mabel and I practically dragged Pacifica to the Bounty, where everyone else was already training. We practically shoved Pacifica onto the ladder, because she refuses to go in boats not in the water. I almost slapped her to get her going, then I realized that might downplay her confidence at the whole 'new chapter in life' thing.

The second we got on deck, Sensei Wu took Pacifica aside and announced her as the ninja of animals, and she was revealed to have a pink and purple gi. He also announced that Nya can now do Spinjitzu, complete with a demonstration.

When Ford gets to the Bounty, I show him the completed Cipher Wheel, with Pacifica as the Llama.

"Great work, Dipper," he said. "Now we just need to figure out what the Cipher Wheel is for."

No POV, 10:00 am

By now, training was in full swing. Another training course had to be set up for full access for everyone, but it was fully operational. Pacifica was confused on the whole thing, and refused to train until she got an explanation.

Dipper and Ford refused one, saying that they'd unveil their crazy plan in under two weeks. Pacifica relented, seeing how much fun the others were having.

By lunch, Mabel and Wendy could successfully do half the course, and Ford could do three quarters of it, having experience in circumstances that require stamina and speed. He insisted that he had no idea how he was so good, but the other Pines could see the glint in his eye that meant he was lying.

As they went in to eat, unknown to them, Bill and Morro were having a heated debate on whether or not to mess up their confidence. Bill was insisting that he could appear to them in human form and mess with them from the inside, while Morro was insisting that that was a horrible idea.

When training recommenced, the debate stopped, them favoring to watch the ninja-in-training instead. Most of them had swapped the course out for weapons training. While most of them were learning with katanas, the Senseis had allowed Wendy to practice with her ax, as she was already quite good with it. Not to mention, also had experience with it.

Going with that logic, Ford was using a modified crossbow. The bolts were non-dangerous (as to prevent accidents from happening). Which was good, as he nearly took Zane's head off.

"It's been a while since I've used one of these," Ford admitted after he had apologized to the nindroid. "Nearly 20 years."

By the end of the day, they had run out of dummies, and everyone now knew how to not stab themselves with a very sharp and dangerous sword.

Exhausted, the ninja-in-training trudged back to the Shack, and from there everyone went to Greasy's for dinner. A certain triangular demon followed them, still plotting his plan. And wondering how he'd keep it from his sister.

Please remember that when I originally wrote this, the finale was not out yet. I did not know Ford knew what the Cipher Wheel was for.