"Somebody claims to have seen the Serpentine in Bear Forest," Nya informed the only ninjas she knew where to find. She knew Zane was meditating with Sensei, but she wasn't sure where Lloyd or Cole was.

"Again?" Kai sighed, not even looking away from the video game he was playing with Jay on the couch, "It's probably just another false alarm, sis."

"And what if it's not?"

"Bear Forest? Um, no offense, Nya, but that sounds kind of made-up," Jay said.

"No, I checked. It's just west of Ninjago City."

"Great. Another pointless mission! The Serpentine haven't attacked since we went to the Dark Island, so it's been months. Don't you think they'd have done something by now if they wanted to?"

"Fine, I'll check myself."

Kai finally snapped his head over at Nya, shocked. "You can't go! What if there really are snakes there?! I'll go find Cole." Throwing the controller on the couch beside him, he jumped up and ran out the room, calling the earth ninja's name.

"Yes!" Jay fist-pumped a moment later. "I win!"

"Let's split up so we can cover more ground. Me, Lloyd, and Zane will go right, and Kai and Jay, you'll go left. We'll meet back at the Bounty in about half an hour," Cole directed, pointing in what seemed random directions. The others were getting sick of the Serpentine sightings (there had been many since the Overlord was defeated), but not Cole. Maybe he just missed the fighting itself, but every time he lead the team into an area where the Serpentine had supposedly been spotted, he was as believing as the others had been the 1st time.

"Aye, aye, captain," Jay said, mock-saluting Cole before they separated into groups. Kai and Jay were soon weaving their way around the trees, more focused on not tripping over roots than keeping an eye out for the snakes they were certain weren't here. For a little while they talked about random things, as Jay checked his watch every 5 seconds and Kai glanced back at Jay every once in a while.

"Look at that, the sun's setting already!"

Jay didn't respond this time, so Kai turned around. He wasn't there. The red ninja stopped.

"Ha, ha. Very funny, Jay. You can come out now." Nothing happened. "This is a joke, right?... Jay?"

Soon he was wandering around, shouting his friend's name with no luck. He finally decided if Jay got lost, he'd probably try to get back to the ship, which was partly visible in the sky through the leaves and branches. Nya had it hovering mid-air for just this reason. Kai started back the way he came and waited for the rest of his teammates by the ship. After a few minutes he saw Cole and the others walking towards him.

"Is Jay around here somewhere?" Cole asked immediately.

"Why was that the first thing you say? Not 'did you see anything?' "

"Kai, where is he?"

"I wish I knew," Kai said, looking at his feet.

"You lost him?"

"Yeah."

"Did you look for him?"

"Of course I looked for him!"

They ended up walking around, calling his name for a while. Finally they gave up and called for Nya to land. After she landed, she came out on deck to ask them how the mission went. Looking at the boys, she realized one of them was missing. "Where's Jay?"

"Kai lost him," Lloyd replied.

"What Lloyd means to say is, Jay became separated from Kai. I am certain he'll turn up soon, " Zane told her.

"Maybe we should stay here overnight, and we can search again in the morning when it's brighter. Maybe he'll be here in the morning," Cole said hopefully.

He was not back the next morning, so Nya and the ninja set off back into the forest. Within a few minutes, a small blue Hypnobrai slowly walked right up to them, shaking with every step. Nya taken a defensive stance and the ninja had begun to reach for their weapons when the snake stuttered, "D-Don't h-hurt me! I know w-where the b-blue one is."

"You mean Jay?"

"I-I d-don't know h-his name, but his clothes were all blue. He hasn't woke up since March bit him or he'd be with you by now, only if he had woke up before now he'd just go alone and you wouldn't get the riddle." The small snake had switched from stuttering to talking faster.

"Everything you just said was a riddle," Kai commented.

"I'll take you to him, but if March comes back don't blame me." The Hypnobrai started to walk away. The 5 exchanged looks, silently asking each other, 'Should we follow him?' In the end, they hurried after the snake, weapons in hand in case it was a trap.

Abruptly, the snake stopped. Cole, who had been right behind him, nearly bumped into him. "I couldn't stop March. I hate it when he's like this!"

The 5 weren't listening. They were staring at the blue ninja, sprawled under one of the many trees like he'd been tossed there. He was ghostly pale and his hand was bleeding, which they didn't notice at first. His eyes were closed, and for a second Kai thought he was dead until he saw that his chest was rising and falling slightly.