The Greatest Fear of All

*“Ninjago will succumb to war. Our greatest fear will come true.”*

— Garmadon

**The Greatest Fear of All** is the ninth episode of the fourth season and the 43rd episode overall of *Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu*. It aired on April 2, 2015, in the United States on Cartoon Network.

## Synopsis

*With Chen's spell complete, he needs only one ingredient to complete the transformation: the sweat of a true Anacondrai.*

## Plot

The ninja and the Elemental Masters are continuing the journey back to Ninjago City, making up for the lost time as they're a day behind Chen (having left Dareth on the island and going back to get him). As everyone enters the city, Lloyd reminds them that no matter what Chen does, they must stick together. As they land, the citizens see Skylor as a Serpentine, they panic and run away. Garmadon realizes they're the first ones anyone saw; Chen hasn't attacked yet. Lloyd then tells him that he and Skylor must get out of sight, before telling the Elemental Masters to protect the people. As they leave, Skylor notices her hand changing back to normal.

At the same time in their hideout, Chen also notices he's changing back, and questions it, as attacking at that moment would prove disastrous. Kapau and Chope reveal that the spell's effects continue onto the next page: in order for the spell to become permanent, they need the essence of a true Anacondrai. Zugu and Eyezor then inform him of the ninja and the Elemental Masters' arrival, to which Chen decides to switch plans.

At the Samurai X Cave, the six ninja, Nya, and Garmadon are greeted by Sensei Wu, Misako, and the Falcon. Wu is happy to see Zane again and compliments his form. Though Misako is initially surprised by Garmadon being a Serpentine, she is told the situation by Kai and Skylor, the latter soon being comforted by Misako. Garmadon also thanks Wu for looking after his wife, though he feels guilty about the letter upon hearing him say "as any good brother should." Lloyd informs them that while the elemental fighters are on standby, none of them know where Chen will strike first, with the first attack resulting in the first succumbing to war. Jay questions how they defeat an enemy they barely know about, while Wu, with help from the Falcon, decides to find someone who does.

The ninja, Wu, and Garmadon travel to Kryptarium Prison, where Master Wu hopes to find out how to defeat the fake Anacondrai by asking a real Anacondrai. Upon their arrival, the Warden lets them in, and shows them the prison cells housing a variety of inmates. The group heads to the corner of the room, where they find a minuscule Pythor talking to a small basketball in a playhouse. Pythor is very displeased to see the ninja, and when Jay asks how they can defeat the fake Anacondrai, Pythor says that he won't speak to them, but changes his mind upon seeing Garmadon's new appearance, and begins talking with them.

In the meantime, Kapau and Chope break into the prison, stealing the Warden's keys and heading for the main cell hall. The intrusion is announced over the prison's intercom, which makes all the prisoners excited, except for Pythor, who tells Garmadon that there's no way to defeat an Anacondrai because they have no weaknesses. At that moment, Kapau and Chope enter the main hall, with Cole, Kai, and Jay going into battle. Zane soon notices Garmadon's hand change after a drop of Pythor's venom falls on it and deduces that Pythor holds the key to keeping the transformation permanent. Wu and Lloyd realize they have to keep the serpentine away from them or else there will be danger.

Wu then has Zane join in attacking the invading cultists, while his group escapes. Wu, Garmadon, and Lloyd depart with Pythor, although they barely escape after the Warden initiates a full security lockdown. Kapau and Chope prove to be formidable adversaries for the ninja, while Pythor explains to Garmadon that Chen tricked the Serpentine and the first Elemental Masters into battling each other.

Master Wu, Garmadon, and Lloyd managed to escape the prison with Pythor, making it into a basketball court—but a group of Anacondrai Copters and Battle Mechs converge on the area, surrounding the group. Lloyd does Spinjitzu and knocks some of them down, but drops Pythor in the process. Inside the prison, the ninja battle Kapau and Chope. When Kai and Jay unleash their elements on Kapau, he drops his spear, which lands in front of No-Eyed Pete's cell. With help from his parrot, the blind pirate manages to use the spear to flip a switch near his cell, which opens all of the cells in the main hall—freeing the Kryptarium's prisoners. A massive battle breaks out, with the ninja battling various old enemies, including pirates, skeletons, Nindroids, and the Giant Stone Warrior, before escaping from the main hall as Cole breaks through various prison cells.

In the basketball court, Lloyd searches for Pythor, while Wu and Garmadon battle various fake Anacondrai. Master soon manages to find Pythor, but he is seized by an invisible fake Anacondrai warrior moments before the ninja crash into the court. As the fake Anacondrai leave and Kryptarium's freed prisoners rush towards the basketball court, the ninja escape with an ice ramp built by Zane. After escaping the court, Kai destroys the ramp, leaving the prisoners behind in the court with the Warden and the prison's officers surrounding them, ordering them back into their cells.

The fake Anacondrai then return to their camp, with Chen taking Pythor out of a bottle, and setting him down onto a running wheel, with Zugu then placing a Swamp Rat behind him after he protests. Pythor begins slithering away, which causes him to sweat, and the sweat is obtained by Chen, who uses it on himself to make the Anacondrai transformation permanent. In the meantime, a group of noodle trucks head out into a desert.

The ninja return to the Samurai X Cave where Nya reveals to them of the situation and she had left communicators with the Elemental Masters who ready to confront them. However, the trucks unexpectedly split up, sending the Elemental Masters spreading out across Ninjago, including the ninja. Nya readies the *Bounty* for battle, while Garmadon attempts to tell Misako about the letter, but he stops when the power goes out.

The ninja and the other Elemental Masters pursue Chen's noodle trucks across Ninjago using their Elemental Dragons, while Chen and the remaining fake Anacondrai depart from the camp, leaving Pythor to be eaten by the Swamp Rat.

At the Samurai X Cave, everyone begins to get relieved that the people are safe but Skylor realized her father's strategy and tells them as Master Wu realizes that the trucks were creating a diversion to spread the Elemental Masters out and leave Ninjago defenseless, and then orders everyone to stop the trucks. After all of the trucks are crashed or stopped by the Elemental Masters, they open the trailers up—only to find that they're empty, with no fake Anacondrai inside. Every master realizes this and the fear that so many people are in danger causes them to lose control of their dragons, leaving them stranded.

As this happens, Chen's army converges on Jamanakai Village and begins to wreak havoc with Chen laughing at his success. Wu reiterates his quote "The greatest victories have no battles" as their worst fears have been realized. Garmadon then proclaims that the new Serpentine War has just begun.

## Appearances

### Characters

* Chen
* Chope
* Citizen
* Cole
* Dareth
* Frakjaw
* Garmadon
* Griffin Turner
* Jay
* Kai
* Kapau
* Lloyd Garmadon
* Misako
* Noble
* Nya
* Old Woman
* P.I.X.A.L.
* Pythor P. Chumsworth
* Shade
* Skylor
* Soto
* Wu
* Zane
* Zugu

### Creatures

* Elemental Dragons
	+ Elemental Earth Dragon
	+ Elemental Form Dragon
	+ Elemental Fire Dragon
	+ Elemental Lightning Dragon
	+ Titanium Dragon
	+ Energy Dragon
	+ Elemental Speed Dragon
	+ Elemental Metal Dragon
	+ Elemental Poison Dragon
	+ Elemental Light Dragon
	+ Elemental Shadow Dragon
	+ Elemental Nature Dragon
	+ Elemental Mind Dragon
	+ Elemental Smoke Dragon

### Events

* Second Serpentine War
* Serpentine War (mentioned)

### Items

* Anacondrai spears
* Book of Spells
* Titanium statue

### Vehicles

* Noodle trucks
* Roto Jet

### Locations

* Endless Sea
* Ninjago
	+ Ninjago City
	+ Chen's camp
	+ Sea of Sand
		- Kryptarium Prison
	+ Samurai X Cave
	+ Jamanakai Village
	+ Birchwood Forest

### Species

* Anacondrai
* Elemental Dragons
* Humans
* Nindroids
* Oni/Dragon/Human hybrids
* Skulkin
* Stone Warriors

## Trivia

* No-Eyed Pete uses an Anacondrai spear to flip a switch outside his cell, which releases all of Kryptarium's prisoners. The switch doesn't have anything over it to prevent such a disastrous escape from happening, even if it was by accident.
* Unlike the minifigures in the sets, the cultists' Anacondrai forms have splotches of white paint on their faces in the TV show, while in the sets, their faces have none (since the only cultists with their Anacondrai forms that were made into minifigures are that of Kapau, Chope and Eyezor), making their heads appear exactly as the original Anacondrai did.
* It's unclear from this episode as to how or why Chen's head does not turn into that of an Anacondrai following the cult's mass-transformation, as he still has his unique Anacondrai "crown" afterward, with his face simply turned purple. This could be because unlike the other cultists, he did not have any tattoos on his face.
	+ All of the cultists have heads just like the ones of the Anacondrai, although all of them still have white face paint remaining on their heads, except for Eyezor, Zugu, Chope and Kapau, who only had Anacondrai tattoos on their faces, just like all the others.
	+ The only major exception besides Chen is Eyezor, whose distinctive mohawk actually makes it through the transformation, though he still gains the same head of a real Anacondrai just like his fellow cultists. While he never had any white face paint, he still had a face tattoo.
* The episode aired on Cartoon Network as part of "Week of the Ninja."
* The "Wilhelm scream" sound effect is heard in this episode when the prisoners fall back into Kryptarium after Kai destroys the ice bridge Zane had made.
	+ It is heard for the sixth time after "Home" "The Rise of the Great Devourer" "The Last Hope" "Rise of the Spinjitzu Master" and "The Art of the Silent Fist".

## Cultural references

* Pythor has a basketball with a face on it that he refers to as his friend named Rodrigo. This is a reference to the movie *Cast Away*, which featured a volleyball with a face on it that the main character treated as a friend (named Wilson).
* Before the door closes while Sensei Wu, Garmadon, and Lloyd were trying to escape with Pythor, Wu was able to retrieve his hat. This is a reference to *Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom*.

## Continuity

* The events of "Never Trust a Snake," "Day of the Great Devourer," and "The Titanium Ninja" are mentioned.
* A Giant Stone Warrior appears as a prisoner; it's unknown if this is the same warrior who fell in the bottomless pit in "The Stone Army."
	+ It's most likely not the same, as the Giant Stone Warrior's armor and helmet horns are in a more metallic color, unlike the one in "The Stone Army," whose armor and helmet horns were red in color.
* This is the only episode of Season 4 where Karlof appears but doesn't speak.
* When Chop'rai and Kapau'rai scare the warden, one of them says, "there's no such thing as ghosts." This is most likely a reference to the next season which deals with Ghosts.
* Zane has reunited with Falcon, Wu, and Misako.
* Starting from this episode, the capital city of Ninjago is once again referred to by its original name, Ninjago City, instead of being referred to as "New Ninjago City."
* A silhouette of a prisoner can be seen in one shot, but it is unknown who this prisoner is, and it has not yet been revealed.
* Jacob appears with the other Elemental Masters in the Samurai X Cave in this episode despite being left on Chen's Island, as indicated by his voice-over during the credits of the previous episode. Tommy Andreasen stated "They picked him up", indicating Jacob did not unlock his own Elemental Dragon like the rest of the Elemental Masters.
* A story on LEGO.com written to supplement this episode explained how various Kryptarium inmates seen in this episode had ended up in the prison.

## Errors

* When a young boy in Jamanakai Village is playing with a paper dragon, Zugu, who is in his Anacondrai form, sneaks up from behind him. Ahead of the boy is a large group of people, who he runs to after seeing Zugu.
	+ Why they didn't immediately react to Zugu being there is unknown, but it is possible that he was invisible at first.
	+ At the same time, why everyone is crowded around watching someone play with a toy dragon is very odd as well.
	+ And on top of that, there is an entire army of "Anacondrai" behind Zugu as well.
* The dialogue at the beginning of the episode suggests it took time for all the Elemental Masters to unlock their dragons, but the end of the previous episode showed them all unlocking them at once.
* Kruncha is mistakenly called Frakjaw by the warden.
	+ The subtitles also incorrectly read it as FrakJaw.
* Chamille wasn't seen with the other Elemental Masters when Shade commanded them to stop the trucks.
* When Kapau and Chope turned the spellbook's page to page 150, the numbers still display it as pages 148-149. Additionally, they both display the same layouts, but one of the pages has a bookmark and a piece of tape on it.
* In the episode, Pythor is sweating, but in real life, snakes, and any other kind of reptiles, can't sweat, as they don't possess sweat glands.
* As the ninja, Wu, and Garmadon climb the ice ramp out of Kryptarium Prison, Lloyd is not shown to be climbing with them
* The Warden said he confiscated all of the ninja's weapons, yet he didn't confiscate Wu's.
	+ However, it is possible that Wu's staff was simply judged to be a non-weapon.
* Even though Captain Soto's peg leg was in Chen's trophy collection in "The Forgotten Element," Soto is seen with it in this episode. He may have gotten a replacement.
* Pythor said that Anacondrai have no weaknesses, which is false, as all Serpentine are weak to the Scared Flutes.
* When Chen turns back towards Pythor and says "Oh, right, honor", there appears to be a glitch where a part of his right arm disappears.
* At the end of the episode, when Chen and his army invade Jamanakai Village his right arm is shown to be normal.