Tournament of Elements (book)

Official description[]

On Master Chen's island, nothing is as it seems, and no one is to be trusted. But if the Ninja want to find Zane, they must enter the Tournament of Elements. Join Lloyd, Kai, Cole, and Jay as they face off against dangerous traps, giant serpents, and the most villainous Elemental Masters. Will they survive long enough to find their friend?

Includes Bonus Pages featuring Secrets, codes, maps, and more!

The first in an epic graphic novel series of new stories and action-packed adventures following the Masters of Spinjitzu. Features exclusive content and bonus pages that hold more secrets, codes, and maps of the world of Ninjago.

Plot[]

Chapter 1[]

The ninja and Garmadon are sitting around a table, eating; Cole is stuffing his face with cake. Garmadon reminds them to be careful of Chen's generosity. As soon as he says that, Chen requests Garmadon's presence at his chambers. Lloyd insists his father to not accept the invitation but Garmadon tells him that it wasn't an invitation: it was an order. He leaves with Clouse, who has come to pick him up. Lloyd believes he will return soon but Kai doubts it while Jay chides Cole, who continues to devour the food.

Meanwhile, Chen expresses his pleasure of seeing Garmadon and returns the favor by locking him up in a cage. The ninja soon hear from Chen that they have a special training session against Karlof, Gravis, and a surprise opponent. As a special challenge, they also need to rescue Garmadon out of the cage in one hour — or else he plunges into the sea. The ninja race out the room, debating whether they should split up. But while they're running out the palace to the jungle, they see Karlof following behind them. They run into a dry riverbed which goes under a mountain and soon hear a CRASH behind them. To make matters worse, not only was Karlof after them, but now there was a giant boulder rolling behind him. Kai attempts to stop them with a pile of rocks but Karlof bursts through. Kai then charges at him, throwing them both at the boulder, while his friends shout at him in distress.

Chapter 2[]

Kai jumps away at the last second, leaving Karlof under the boulder and holding it while they escape. The ninja take off for the other side of the tunnel, only to be stopped by a giant spider web blocking the exit, with Skylor stuck to it. Kai insists they rescue her but Lloyd reminds him that she's their surprise opponent. Skylor also refuses their help but then realizes she truly is stuck. Kai immediately grabs the spider web, despite Cole's warning — and gets stuck as well. Jay then zaps the spider web against Skylor and Lloyd's will but ends up freeing them both, much to Skylor's annoyance and Kai's relief. Unbeknownst to the ninja while they're regrouping, Skylor brings down a switch outside the tunnel.

Water immediately rushes into the riverbed, carrying them out to the open where they see Garmadon in a cage hanging over the cliff from a crane. Cole manages to grab the vines and propel himself out of the water. He then uses his powers to toss the others out as well but Lloyd crashes his head into him and sits off to the side, dazed. Unfortunately, Garmadon's cage starts to fall simultaneously so the ninja sans Lloyd rush over to work out the winch, but it's too strong and they call out to Lloyd for help. Lloyd starts to run over when Gravis immediately grabs him from behind. Without Lloyd's help, the ninja are unable to keep their grip, leaving Garmadon to fall once more. Fear of losing his father again, Lloyd uses spinjitzu, tossing Gravis against the winch handle in the process and ultimately brings the cage up. The ninja hurry over but realize that Garmadon was just a hologram! As they start to wonder why, Chen's own hologram appears and laughs, letting them know it would have been too easy and they still had to find the real Garmadon in time.

Chapter 3[]

The ninja are left wondering what to do but Cole assures them Chen would let them know soon enough. A moment later, buzzers sprout up from the ground. Jay goes over to check on one and gets electrocuted as the buzzer springs to life. He recovers and they see the rest of the buzzers creating a path leading them into the jungle.

Two hours later though, the ninja are lost. Jay and Cole squabble over who should have been leader as a snake approaches from above. Kai and Lloyd shout a warning, grabbing the snake's tail and tossing it around a branch. Lloyd then turns to continue on the trail but runs into a thorn and blacks out before his friends can take out the thorn.

Some time later, Lloyd regains consciousness and expresses surprise that Nya is now with the group, though the rest of the ninja downplay this fact, insisting that Nya was always here. Although Lloyd is still weak from the poisonous thorn, he insists that they must press on to find Garmadon. After trudging deeper into the jungle for some time, the group reaches a large gate bearing the symbol of the Anacondrai on it. In spite of Kai's warning that the door was a trap, Cole and Jay insist that they could easily defeat any snake that comes by. Suddenly, Jay, Kai, Cole, and Nya release beams of energy from their eyes towards the symbol on the door as they chant in unison for the door to open up. As it opens, a lone Cultist steps out and declares, "Welcome to your doom!"

Chapter 4[]

Lloyd defeats the Cultist with Spinjitzu before he and the others make their way through the gate. As Lloyd asks his allies how they opened the gate, none of them are able to provide an answer, all seemingly having no memory of the gate even opening in the first place. As they venture deeper into the cave, they discover a wall of crystals containing an army of sleeping Cultists. Suddenly like before with the gate, Lloyd's allies release beams of energy from their eyes as they all chant in unison, "Up up! Fight fight!" Horrified, Lloyd could do nothing but watch as the Cultists awaken and break free from the crystal walls, rushing past the ninja as they make their way to the exit. Although Lloyd insists they must fight and stop their foes, Nya tells Lloyd that he must realize things are hopeless. Nevertheless, Jay, Cole, and Kai standby Lloyd and activate their elemental powers alongside him as the four begin blasting at the Cultists. Suddenly, "Nya" begins to glow with energy as "she" reveals herself to actually have been a Cultist all along. The Cultist then grows to an enormous size, filling the cavern with evil laughter as he declares that the ninja were no match for him. With one mighty kick, the Cultist sends Cole and the others sprawling across the cavern before turning his sights on Lloyd, raising his foot into the air to crush the helpless green ninja.

Meanwhile, in the real world, Kai, Cole, and Jay have all gathered around Lloyd's unconscious body. Kai remarks that Wu once told him that certain plants could give people vague visions of the future while Jay expresses hope that Lloyd would wake up soon. Not long after having said this, Lloyd begins to stir, demanding to know where the Anacondrai Cultists were. Bemused, Kai asked Lloyd if he was alright, noting that the plant's poison had knocked him out for a few hours. In response, Lloyd told his friends that what he had experienced had been no dream, but a warning: Chen could not be trusted!

Chapter 5[]

The ninja continue their way through the jungle in search of Garmadon. Unbeknownst to them however, Chen had sent Griffin Turner to capture them, with the Master of Speed now carefully lying in wait within the brush of the jungle as he stalked his prey. Eventually, the ninja reached the end of the forest, right to the edge of a cliff. Connecting one side to the other was a rickety, wooden suspension bridge that had seen better days. As the ninja discussed their likelihood of safely crossing the bridge, the Master of Speed now made his move, quickly ramming Jay to the ground.

Enraged by the sight of their new opponent, Kai immediately rushed headfirst into combat with Turner. Unfortunately, the Master of Speed's reflexes were too fast for the hot-headed and anger driven Master of Fire who soon found himself tied up and on the ground only seconds later. When Turner turned his attention to Lloyd next, he found himself getting a bit more than he bargained for, finding himself lying on the ground after a swift punch in the face from Cole. With Turner out of commission, the ninja began to cross the bridge, but unfortunately, it seemed like running wasn't the only thing the Master of Speed could do quickly. Recovering from his injury, urner produced a knife and sliced apart the ropes holding the bridge, sending the ninja plummeting into the raging, crocodile filled river below.

Although the ninja were able to out-swim the crocodiles with the help of the river's current, safety was still a long way to go. "Can you hear that roaring sound?" Jay asked as the river's flow cascaded downwards into a waterfall, taking the ninja with it. After surfacing, the ninja began to swim to shore, but as always, danger never lurked too far. Without warning, a massive fangfish leaped out of the water and grabbed Cole within its snapping jaws, pulling him under. "That big fish just ate our friend!" Kai shouted as he and Jay turned to Lloyd for further instructions. "Take a deep breath. We have to go after him." Lloyd replied.

Chapter 6[]

Diving underwater in search of Cole, the ninja quickly realize that they are out of their element here; they need to resurface for more air and to formulate a better plan. Meanwhile, Cole frees himself from the maws of the giant fangfish through the use of Spinjitzu. Unbeknownst to Cole however, his technique was also inadvertently creating a whirlpool on the surface, signaling to his allies that he was fighting his way free.

As the ninja dove back into the depths, they found the giant fangfish lying on its back on the sea bottom with a triumphant Cole floating beside it. Cole then mentioned for his friends to follow him as the four swam into a nearby tunnel, inside of which, the water level soon tapered off and the ninja were able to walk around while breathing air. Although Kai was glad to finally be in a safe location once again, Cole was quick to remind the others to be cautious; the fangfish that had been pursuing them seemed hesitant to follow them into the cave. A few feet later would soon reveal the answers as the ninja discovered the shed skin of a massive snake.

Seconds after discovering the pile of shed skin, the Anacondrai Serpent reared its head through one of the tunnels, leading the ninja to realize that these tunnels weren't meant for people, but the giant serpent. As the serpent pursued the ninja through the tunnels, the latter eventually managed to escape by leaping into a hole in the tunnel. Within the hole, the ninja discovered a skeleton clutching a hand drill which Cole then took, intending to drill out to the lake and flood the tunnel. As water now flooded its way into the caverns, the ninja were pushed out by the force of rushing liquid, bursting them through a hatch to the surface, and landing outside of Chen's palace where Chen and Garmadon waited for them. Impressed by the ninja's survival, Chen congratulated the four but noted that the Tournament of Elements was far from over.

Chapter 7[]

Although the ninja were surprised to see that Garmadon was okay, their sensei informed them that he and Chen had prepared a feast for them to celebrate their overcoming of his tests. Although Jay remained suspicious about Chen's generosity, Cole and Kai were more than happy to sit down and enjoy a nice meal. As the ninja ate, smoke began to fill the room as they all quickly deduced that they had walked right into another one of Chen's traps. Cole complained that he was still hungry and reached for a croissant, raising it to his mouth. But wait, croissants don't have tails, black fur and red eyes do they? With a yelp, Cole hurled away the rat as it scurried off to join the others in its pack that now covered the floors of the arena. As the ninja scrambled, a cackling voice emanated all around from everywhere and nowhere; it was the voice of Ash, Master of Smoke!

Although Ash was confident he could easily defeat the four ninja, he was almost immediately humbled with the ninja cleared the room of his smoke with Spinjitzu, scaring off the horde of rodents in the process. Now surrounded and with nowhere else to go, Ash could do nothing as all four ninja clobbered him, taking him out for the count. With Ash defeated, Chen reappeared once more, declaring that the Ninja have impressed him so far with their victories over the Elemental Masters, but he was eager to see what else they could do. With Chen's parting words, a gate on the other side of the arena opened up and the air became filled with thunderous noise as a herd of Yaks stampeded towards the ninja. As the ninja dodged and defeated the first wave of yaks, they soon found themselves faced with another wave of the stampeding animals. But now, something else strange had happened; the ninja could not move at all! Vines had sprouted from the ground and ensnared the ninja's legs, trapping them in front of the stampede as Bolobo, Master of Nature, stood by, watching his foes' impending doom.

Just seconds before impact, Lloyd, who had been separated from the other three during the first wave of yaks, sprang up from behind and sliced the vines holdings his friends in place with a pair of swords he had found. Shocked by Lloyd's arrival, Bolobo broke his focus, releasing his hold over the yaks which ceased to stampede and now returned to their normal, passive states as they wandered about the arena. Meanwhile, Lloyd tackled Bolobo to the ground before turning to check on his friends. Realizing the ninja were now distracted, Bolobo slipped out from under Lloyd's grasp and escaped the area as the ninja came face to face with their next challenger: ZANE?!

Eager to see their old friend once more, the ninja began to rapidly ask their friend a series of questions, ranging from where he had been, what had happened to him, and more. Zane however remained oddly silent, but his actions made up for his lack of words. Without warning, Zane stepped towards the ninja and realigned the spears he was carrying, pointing it in Lloyd's direction and slightly alarming the green ninja. While the others laughed it off as Zane desiring a practice fight like the old days, they would cease laughing when Zane began attacking them with unprecedented ferocity. Regrouping together, the ninja noticed that Zane's fighting style was off and unfamiliar compared to the precise and gracious movements their robotic friend was known for. Together, the four ninja attacked "Zane" with spinjitzu, knocking "him" to the ground as she returned to her normal appearance of a woman with purple hair. It was Chamille, Master of Form. At that moment, the spectator's box opened, revealing Chen and Garmadon seated inside. Chen congratulated the ninja on their victories, remarking that Garmadon had taught them well. He then released the sensei back to the ninja and urged them to rest well, for the Tournament was only just beginning.

Later that evening, the ninja conferred with Garmadon about their suspicions about Chamille's form. She had taken on Zane's appearance, but was that even possible if she had never met him before? Did that mean Zane was alive? Garmadon confirmed the ninja's suspicions, revealing that Chamille could only take on the appearances of those she had seen before, and for her to have taken on Zane's new form, that must mean he was alive somewhere. Garmadon emphasized that they would all have to find and rescue Zane, but first, he warned the ninja that the worst was only yet to come; he had a terrible feeling that Chen was plotting something nefarious and it would be up for all of them together to stop Chen and whatever he was planning.

Appearances[]

Characters[]

• Ash
• Bolobo
• Chamille
• Chen
• Clouse
• Cole
• Garmadon
• Gravis
• Griffin Turner
• Jay
• Kai
• Karlof
• Lloyd
• Skylor
• Wu
• Zane (form)

Miscellaneous[]

• Nya (dream)

Creatures[]

• Anacondrai serpent

Events[]

• Tournament of Elements (mentioned)

Items[]

• Cake
• Drill
• Noodles
• Sword

Locations[]

• Ninjago
• Chen's Island
  • Chen's Palace

Species[]

• Anacondrai
• Crocodiles
• Fish
  • Fangfish
• Humans
• Nindroids (form)
• Oni/Dragon/Human hybrids
• Rats
• Yaks

Trivia[]

• This is the first Ninjago graphic novel book to use comics from the Ninjago Magazine. The used comics are from issue 1, 2, 3 and 4.
• Presumably, the events of the book take place before the tournament in "Only One Can Remain".
• The book has a lot of inconsistencies with the show:
  • The ninja and Garmadon started out all together in one room. In the show, the Kabuki had split each of them up to their own suites. Clouse also shut out Garmadon from the palace.
  • Skylor betrayed the ninja early on, which is inconsistent with the later events of the season where they still trusted her.
  • The ninja had encountered the Anacondrai serpent before they went to find Zane themselves that night.
  • The ninja fought Chamille and knew her abilities way before the Ninjaball Run.
    • Chamille also met Zane in his Titanium Form prior to official start of the tournament and was able to assume his form.
• In the fourth comic, Ash is producing way more Smoke than in the show. In addition, his style of fighting was also more similar to that of Cinder, a character who would be introduced 10 years later.
• In the character bios, Garmadon's element is listed as being Creation.

Gallery[]