I was originally going to do this with "Ninja Force" but I lost interest with it. So, I am completely revising, revamping, and redoing my story and giving the old one to the one who PMs me the best pitch (as well as give you the secret).
Many months after their return from their last adventure, the ninja and Nya, Kai's sister, had officially moved into the Monastery with Sensei Wu. Today, as he meditated in front of a burning pot of scented sticks, he also listened to the grunts and other sounds his male students made.
"Fire-strike!" he heard Kai exclaimed, bringing the man back into reality.
"Oh my gosh, is that the greatest move you've ever seen?" Kai asked.
That was weird; Kai shouldn't be able to do that yet. So he got up to check on his students and their progress.
"Stop trying to do it yourself, we need to attack as a team," he heard Cole scold.
Opening the doors and looking around, the sensei was surprised to see the training equipment out but not in use, and the ninja were not here but their voices could still be heard.
"Zane, why are you wasting your special attack on me?" Jay asked, "You're supposed to save it."
The old man opened the door to find his students playing their video game, when the four of them were supposed to be training. This would not stand.
"Fantastic, I'm out of lives!" Jay brooded as his teacher silently walked in.
"But the lesson is on, and I am getting the hang of it," Zane replied.
The boys made more random noises.
"Okay, now!" Cole yelled.
They all lean forward towards the television. Then it went black.
"Awww man!" the boys all cried in unison as Sensei Wu pulled the plug on the TV.
"What, what happened?!" Jay exclaimed.
"It took us three hours to get there!" Cole complained.
"What? Why did you do that, why?" Jay asked angrily.
Their mentor wanted to slap the back of their heads for their laziness. Evil was still out there and these four were completely blowing the danger off and more importantly their training.
"Just because Lord Garmadon escaped through a vortex doesn't mean he won't return one day for the Golden Weapons of Spinjitsu!" their teacher scolded.
"But Sensei Wu, ever since he has been gone, Ninjago has had nothing but peace," Zane replied.
"Yeah, peace is boring. There's no one to save, there's nothing to do," Jay complained.
"We can train tomorrow," Cole said as he leaned back.
"Never put off until tomorrow what can be done today," Sensei Wu warned.
"Well, I was going to eat this pizza tomorrow, so, if that's the case," Cole said and held up a piece of pizza, nearly eating it but the old man kicked it out of the boy's hand.
"No pizza for you! In order to reach your full potential you must train!" Sensei snapped.
"Uh, remember when we did a little thing called the 'tornado of creation'? I thought that's as pretty insane," Kai responded. After all, who else could create something out of nothing?
The old man just sighed at the four's apparent lack of progress and faith. What they were able to do now wasn't enough, not for their shared destiny.
"You four have merely scratched the surface of your full potential. There are still so many secrets for you to unlock… you haven't even begun to tap into what powers your golden weapons hold," Sensei said, glancing at each of them.
Everyone, however, was unmoved by the lecture. Behind them, a slice of pizza was being heated by the firesword. Then, Cole got an idea.
"You want to talk secret powers, check this out," Cole said.
He then picked up the cord, moves the plug back into the outlet and pushes it in, all with his scythe. The screen turned on and they boys start playing again. The old man just pulled his whiskers; these teens were beyond not ready. And at this rate, they'll never be.
"Don't worry Master; we'll be ready when Lord Garmadon returns," Zane said reassuringly.
At that moment, Nya rushed in.
"Guys… Lord Garmadon… he's returned!" she exclaimed, "He was spotted approaching Jamonikai Village!"
The guys stumble around and trip on each other, Kai tripping after getting a cord around his ankle. Three of them slightly reorganized themselves and ran out, pulling down their masks; Jay however, was busy looking for his weapon. Nya grabbed it and gave it to him.
"Th..than..thankss..thanks..." Jay stumbled.
"Hurry!" Nya exclaimed.
"Okay!" Jay shouted, flipping his hood down and following the others out.
They all ran to the dragons. Zane ran ahead as Kai lowered the door, nearly hitting Zane. Cole's scythe fell off as he jumped on Rocky, Jay jumped to Wisp's seat only to miss by a mile. Their master shook his head; they had become so lazy that they couldn't even respond to an emergency properly.
"Can I help?" Nya asked her brother while he got on his dragon, Flame.
"Sorry sis, where we go, danger abounds. This is a job for the ninja," Kai answered. Then he tried to reach the reins, only to come up short.
"Ah, a little help?" he asked then gave a weak laugh.
Nya, after rolling her eyes, helped Kai pick up his reins and the ninja flew off.
"Will they ever reach their full potential?" Nya asked the old man, having overheard some of the conversation.
"In time," the elder answered, "maybe a long time, but in time."
Meanwhile, in the skies, the ninja were for once glad that something bad was happening. They had been on vacation for so long, they were sick of it. Who knew a peaceful world was so boring?
"Just like old times, isn't it Rocky?" Cole asked his dragon.
After a few weeks of training on the dragons, Cole had completely gotten over his fear of them. Now, to him, dragons were just like overgrown puppies with scales instead of fur.
"Do you guys believe what Sensei said about unlocking our full potential?" Kai asked.
"He may be on to something, I mean since we got these golden weapons it's not like we've needed to use them. I wonder what they do," Jay replied, examining his nun-chuck.
"I for one look forward to the future, if there is more for us to accomplish, let it be," Zane happily added.
"Don't know about you, but is anyone else a little excited about battling Lord Garmadon? Been waiting to try out some new Spinjitsu moves, could be the perfect opportunity," Cole said excitedly, spinning in his seat.
"Ha-ha, race you there?" Jay asked.
They all nodded and took off, the dragons happy to be able to fly on such a nice day. They playfully followed their riders' commands while displaying impressive aerobatic maneuvers, seemingly defying the laws of physics. Soon, the boys saw a small town on the edge of a mountain, just below them.
"Jimanokai Village; first ninja there wins!" Kai said and shot forward.
They all follow his lead and end up crashing into the ground, tied for first. Not that any of the boys realized it.
"I was first!" Kai exclaimed, instantly standing up.
"No, no one was faster than me!" Jay replied.
"My feet were down before yours," Cole said to Zane.
Zane turns to the others, and corrected, "You are all disillusioned, it was clearly me."
The screaming and panic brought them back into reality, quickly ending the debate and sending them to beyond the village wall. They ran into town, just to find everyone running like lunatics, screaming in terror and shutting themselves inside their houses. The five ninjas ran inside the entrance to Jamonakai Village, brandishing their weapons. A large shadow appeared on the mountain behind the village.
"Stay sharp team, whatever happens, never let your guard down," Kai said quietly.
A familiar evil laugh echoed in their minds as the shadow got smaller and closer. The figure belonging to the shadow came nearer. It got closer... and closer... until finally, the figure walked out from behind the mountain. But instead of Lord Garmadon, it's actually a little boy in a black graphic tee, pants, and cape.
"It's I, Lloyd Garmadon!" he called out to the hidden town folk before jumping up on the fountain, "I demand all the candy in town, or else!"
The boys lowered their defenses and just stared in utter shock: this was the emergency? A ten year-old kid with a morbid imagination and a hankering for sweets?
"Lloyd Garmadon? I thought we were going to face Lord Garmadon," Jay said, confused.
"It's his son!" Cole realized, groaning and remembering that Sensei had once mentioned having a nephew, "He must've escaped his boarding school for bad boys again. And to think we could have been doing Spinjitsu already!"
Cole punched the air as they approached Lloyd. Who ever said 'the cherry doesn't fall far from the blossom' obviously never met Lloyd. The villagers, now realizing that they were in no real danger, gathered around the fountain with angry expressions on their faces, this made Lloyd nervous.
"Ah, ah, give me your candy, or I'll release the Serpintine on you!" he warned, getting desperate by the second looking at the booing crowd of villagers.
The ninja walked towards Lloyd as he pulled out and opened a can filled with fake snakes, snickering evilly. The people definitely didn't find it funny, and started throwing trash at the poor kid.
"No wait! I asked for candy, not vegetables! I HATE VEGETABLES!" Lloyd exclaimed, throwing the empty can's lid at them.
That caused many vegetables, banana peels, and other trash to come flying through the air at him, finally piling over him and knocking him down.
"He's gonna have to do a lot better than use an old bedtime story to scare people," Kai observed, launching a rubber snake into the air.
"The Serpentine are real Kai, they are not something to joke about," Zane warned.
"Serpentine… real? We're talking about the ancient race of snake-people who once ruled Ninjago and were supposedly locked underground," Kai scoffed.
"Sealed in five different tombs, to separate the five warring tribes, and insure they don't unify to exact revenge upon those who put them there!" Jay exclaimed worriedly.
"It was an old wives tale, to teach kids not to poke our noses where they don't belong." Kai snapped, obviously getting annoyed no one would drop the subject," Don't you think it's a little suspicious that no one's ever found one of their tombs?"
"That's because you'd be a fool to look for one. If there was anything I hated more that dragons, it was snakes, rubber or not," Cole responded as he walked up to and grab Lloyd, the lad hitting Jay's head with the empty can.
"Don't worry folks," Cole addressed the crowd, "we'll take care of this, nothing to see here."
"Bow down to me, or suffer my wrath! I'll give you to the count of three! One… two…" Lloyd ordered, struggling to get free from the boys carrying him.
"What are we supposed to do, spank him?" Kai asked.
"…Two-and-a-half..."
"WAA! You just made me your nemesis! Mark my words! You'll pay for this!" Lloyd cried, hanging from a happy baby sign's foot over one of the shops.
The boy ninjas and all the villagers laughed at his feeble attempts to get down. Zane walked over to a counter, bought the left-over candy and gave it to his friends, keeping a loll-pop for himself.
"Next time, try paying for your candy," Cole advised.
"Crime doesn't pay muchacho; you can take that to the bank," Kai smirked.
"Mmm, cotton candy," Jay smiled, teasing Lloyd, and ate his cotton candy.
Lloyd growled and struggled some more, he was really mad now. As the ninja left and the crowd went on with their previous business, a girl around Lloyd's age entered the way the "dark prince" did, albeit quieter and without any notice from the villagers.
"Well," the girl said to herself, "This dump beats the orphanage, that's for sure."
She had on a purple beanie cap with bits of brown hair sticking out as well as a purple shirt with long grey sleeves and a blue tone crescent moon and shooting star combo graphic to match her dark jeans and sneakers. She looked like any other kid in the village, though she strangely avoided the few children running in the streets. Instead, she made a beeline straight to the candy shop, inconveniently at the same time Lloyd freed himself.
"AHHHHH-OUF!" the boy screamed as he fell, his hood falling down.
"OW!" shouted the girl under his back, her cap having fallen off revealing her messy shoulder length hair, "Watch where'ya going, you jerk!"
Lloyd rolled his eyes as he got up, sarcastically saying, "Yeah, next time I fall from a sign, I make sure that no one's under me."
After the girl pushed herself up she and Lloyd turned to face each other, both screaming and jumping a step back after doing so.
"DUDE YOU GOT MY FACE!" the two shrieked and pointed to each other, then argued, "YOUR FACE?! THIS IS MY FACE!"
"I am Lloyd Garmadon, son of Lord Garmadon, and no else has…" The boy was ranting until he recognized the girl's shirt and yelled, "Hey, wait a minute! I know who you are; you're that weird girl from Mrs. Mariko's Home for Unwanted Children that messed up my favorite shirt."
"You mean the one you're wearing?" the girl responded smugly, then, taking a better look at Lloyd, added, "And you're that dufus kid from Darkley's that helped my public school win the elementary school bowling competition last year."
"It's not my fault I suck at bowling!" he yelled as he pulled his hood back on; he then grabbed her wrist and tried to drag her with him, only to find her feet firmly planted.
"Uh, what are you doing?" she glared at him, not distressed at all.
"What do you think? You're my prisoner now, weirdy. I need you as a human shield while I think of my next plan of action."
"My name's Alexis, and I'm not goin' anywhere with you."
Lloyd was about to yell when he realized something, then, smiling smugly, stated "Well, if you don't come with me, I'll just tell the adults that you're a run away."
Alexis exhaled deeply in semi-defeat before putting her beanie cap on (hiding most of her hair) and proceeded to follow the boy away from the town.
While Lloyd and Alexis were talking, the ninja arrived back to the dragons. As the other ninja got on their dragons, Kai knocked something out of a bag attached to Flame. Jay walked over as Zane picked it up.
"Huh, I don't remember putting that there," Kai said, puzzled.
"That's Sensei's bag, you must have taken it in the rush," Zane explained as Kai unrolled the scroll.
On the scroll were some symbols, and a picture of five ninjas: one was dressed in red with a sword, another in black with a scythe, a third in blue with nun-chucks, the fourth in white with throwing stars, and the last and largest in green in the center do a jump kick.
"What is it?" Jay asked.
"It's a scroll windbag," Kai glared.
"I know it's a scroll, but what does it say, it's written in chicken scratch," he retorted as they crowd around Kai.
"Not chicken scratch, the ancient language of our ancestors," Zane replied.
"Uh, can you read it?" Kai asked.
"I can try… this symbol means 'prophecy.'"
"Prophecy?" Jay asked, clearly confounded.
"It means it tells the future," Kai deadpanned.
"Course, I knew that," Jay laughed pathetically.
"'One ninja will rise above the others and become the Green Ninja, the ninja destined to defeat the Dark Lord'," Zane read slowly, pointing to the picture of ninjas.
"Oh look, a picture!" Jay exclaimed.
"Dark Lord? Hold on, do you think they mean Lord Garmadon?" Cole mused.
"Wait a minute, is that us? Is anyone else thinking what I'm thinking?" Kai asked.
"Like how good I'm gonna look in green?" Jay asked.
"Isn't it obvious I'm gonna be the Green Ninja?" Kai retorted.
"The color obviously suits me best," Jay snapped.
"Technically, I am the best," Zane countered.
"Everybody stop it! Remember why Sensei brought us together in the first place, we're a team. We weren't meant to see this and probably for good reason," Cole said, breaking up the fight, "Come on, let's head back home, we have training to do."
"It's about time I added some finesse to my routine," Jay replied.
"Well, I could use some exercise," Zane responded.
"Yeah, I gotta work on some new moves," Cole added as they take off into the sky.
Before taking off, Kai pondered to himself out loud, "Could I be the Green Ninja?"
Far off on a snowy mountainside, several minutes later, Lloyd grumbled and kicked a frozen pebble while he walked.
"Stupid ninja! I'll show them who they're dealing with!" the boy said in anger.
Alexis was a few feet behind him, shivering a bit as they walked.
"H-h-hey-y-y, G-g-g-gorm-m-mag-g-g-gon J-j-jun-n-n-ior-r-r," she called out between shivers, "D-d-does y-y-your p-p-plans inv-v-volve f-f-find-d-d-ding sh-sh-shelt-t-t-ter?"
"Stop being such a baby," Lloyd rebuked her as they continued walking, "It's not that cold."
His pebble suddenly flew too far and hit something metallic. The preteens looked up in surprise. They quickly walked forward and both climbed over a small wall of snow. The boy dropped to the ground, the girl closely behind him, and moved some snow to try and find his pebble. A large flat rock was in front of him. Etched into the stone was a snake's head. Lloyd then found a little golden lever by his elbow.
"Uh, you're not thinkin' about doing what I think you're thinkin' about doing, are ya?" Alexis glared at him.
"Com'on, there could be treasure under this rock," Lloyd reasoned, "Where's your sense of adventure?"
"Taking a backseat to my common sense," Alexis replied warily, "I have a bad feeling about this."
He pushed the lever forward, ignoring his "new friend" and the flat stone began to split down the middle. Green mist rose from the inside of the mountain. Lloyd stood up and immediately lost his balance and slipped over the edge, but not before instinctively grabbing on Alexis' arm and dragging her down with him.
"I blame you for this!" she yelled as they slid down an icy corridor.
When they reached the bottom, the Lloyd hit his head on a pointed piece of ice and tumbled onto the frozen floor, Alexis' riding stopping right where he was. The twosome looked around; they were in an icy cavern complete with frozen stalactites and stalagmites. The sound of dripping water echoed in their ears.
"So much for your treasure theory," the girl muttered under her breath.
"You both are out of your mindssss to venture sssso far away from home, little onesss," a low, cold voice spoke from behind them.
The children gasped gasped, turned around, and saw a blue snake-man figure holding a golden staff.
"Look into my eyessss," the figure said, "Give up your mindsss."
Red waves began pulsing from his eyes, nearly lulling Lloyd into a hypnotic trance. Alexis wasn't affected, but her terror caused her to hide behind Lloyd. They backed up and the snake followed.
"I will control you."
The kids cowered against a stalagmite and sank to the ground. Then, the snake looked at the ice that had collected on the stalagmite behind the humans... and hypnotized himself! Lloyd and Alexis stood up, looked at the ice, realized what had happened, and then Alexis breathed a sigh of relief as Lloyd laughed.
"No," the boy said evilly, "I will control you from now on!"
"What shall you have ussss do, Master?" the snake asked, bowing.
"Us?" the duo echoed, confused.
More snakes appeared from the shadows. Most people would run away screaming, Lloyd, however, seemed delighted while Alexis just stared in shock and awe.
"My own army of snakes!" he cried, "Muh-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
Meanwhile, at the monastery, the ninja had returned and were still talking about the Green Ninja.
"So then we all agree, the prophecy states that one of us will become the Green Ninja, and the issue will not rest until it is decided," Jay said, rather fast.
"I suggest a tournament; last ninja standing is the best," Zane interjected.
"And be declared the Green Ninja! I love it!" Kai exclaimed excitedly.
The boys pushed open the doors to the monastery and walked into the training area to find Nya having a go at it. She did well; overall until she smacked into the flat side of an ax. Jay rushed to her side.
"Hey there Nya; any closer to beating your brother's speed record?" Jay asked shyly as he leaned over her.
"I'm getting there," Nya replied, standing back up with Jay's help. Then she asked, "I heard what happened to town, just a false alarm?"
"Yeah, uh, but we're gonna need the space, sorry sis," Kai answered, putting his arm on his sister's shoulder.
Cole walked over to a cabinet pulled out their kendo gear. He tossed each of the helmets to the others. Jay's helmet hit him on the side of his head.
"Two matches, the winner of each will face off for the title. Armor's for our own protection. It's time to see what these babies can do," Cole explained, raising his scythe in the air.
"Hey Nya, wanna stay and watch me mop the floor with them?" Kai asked.
"No thanks, I think I'll go to Jimonokai Village. Knock yourselves out," Nya replied and walked out of the monastery.
"Alright, first up, Kai versus Jay. Ninja GO!" Cole said and spun backwards.
Jay was showing off his nun-chuck skills while Kai raised his sword. Jay spun his nun-chucks around, eventually electrocuting himself, Kai tried unsuccessfully to knock Jay's weapon away. He dodged some of Jay's attacks, and to get around the opponent, he ran across the wall of the building. Jay swung his nun-chucks around, but somehow Kai's sword created a fireball that knocked Jay down. He glanced in awe at the sword. Jay walked off, defeated.
"Next up, Cole versus Zane. Ninja GO!" Kai said and stepped back.
Cole raised his scythe and Zane spun his shrunkens. Cole advanced at Zane, but sliced a piece of training equipment instead. He struck at Zane, but Zane blocked it. Zane jumped up and lands behind Cole, stinting him for a moment. He landed without his shrunkens, but revealed one which he threw at Cole. Cole's eyes widen as he plants his foot on the frozen weapon. Soon, ice grows, reaching its way up to his body to cover in ice. He glared at Zane as the white ninja pulled his other shuriken out of the air. Cole's face was obviously filled with terror as the ice encased his leg. Cole tried to block the shuriken flying at him, while trying deal with the ice already covering half his body. It seemed hopeless for him when he knocked Zane down and pinned him down with the scythe.
"For the prize and the title of best ninja," Jay said, bored, Zane sitting next him, "Blah, blah, Ninja go."
Kai and Cole began, their golden weapons clashing and clanging. Cole swiped at Kai's head, then back-flipped a few feet. He slammed his scythe into the ground, creating a crack that knocked Kai into a wooden training post. Kai became angry and swiftly got up. He began crazily spinning around.
"It's too hot!" he cried, struggling with his sword.
"It's burning," Zane said.
"Fire!" Jay yelled.
Kai spun around and around until he dropped his sword, which caught on fire. The fire spread around and trapped Kai in a circle of flames. Jay and Zane flipped over the small wall of fire. Cole hastily tried putting the fire out by clanging his scythe on the flames. Kai ran around inside the tiny circle while Sensei Wu appeared, throwing open the doors and running outside. He picked up Zane's shurikens and threw them in the air. He concentrated and the shurikens came together. They started generating ice and snow and flew around the courtyard, putting out the fire. They even doused the flames blazing brightly on Jay's rear. Then, the shurikens spun back to the Sensei and he caught them.
"What were you thinking?!" the old man demanded.
"Uh," Jay stammered, "we were trying to figure who was the Green Ninja…"
Zane whacked him sharply on his back. Their master wasn't supposed to know they knew about the prophecy.
"Ow! Uh, did I say 'Green Ninja'? No, sorry," He cleared his throat, "What I... What I said was 'lean'- Ah..."
"You were not supposed to see this," Wu sighed.
"But, Sensei," Kai explained, "We wanna know: Which one of us is the chosen one?"
"None of you!" the elder turned around, "If you do not unlock your full potential."
"But, my sword, it was so bright!" Kai questioned, "Is this what you meant by unlocking our Golden Weapons?"
"You are only at the beginning, and the road is long and winding. But yes, this is what I meant," Sensei Wu said, returning to his room, "If this is what it must take for you to train, then so be it, but none of you are near the level of what it takes to be the Green Ninja."
In Jamonakai Village, Nya walked to a fruit stand. She was about to pick up a pear, but screams and yells reached her ears.
"What now?" she said, looking around.
"Take the candy!" a boy yelled as he pushed a wheelbarrow full of candy out of a house, "Take it all!"
First, a strange girl around his age followed behind him, Nya didn't know if the girl was a victim or a participator. Then, two snake-like things came out behind the boy, one holding a glittering staff. The quaret passed by a group of villagers. She saw red waves appear from one of the snake's eyes. The villagers' own eyes became a dark red and they moaned.
Nya crouched behind the fruit stand as the two snakes left the children.
She heard one say, "Thissss makessss no ssssensssse, General. Raiding an entire town… for ssssweetssss?"
"You will do as I command," the larger of the two commanded, turning around and jabbing the smaller in the chest, "Because I have the sssstaff!"
The ninjas trained with their weapons, each using them to the best of their knowledge. Inside his room, Sensei Wu meditated in front of the incense pot again. Smoke rose from the pot and showed the man an image: Lloyd walking through Jamonakai Village, followed by a strange girl and agroup of snake people.
He then burst out of the room and cried, "The Serpentine are back! Everyone in Jamonakai Village is in danger!"
"Calm down, Sensei," Cole reassured, "We were just there. It was some kid who said he was…"
"The Spirit-smoke does not lie!" their mentor insisted, "An ancient evil has been released!"
"Nya's there right now!" Kai remembered.
"Nya?" Jay echoed.
The four ran to the dragons' stables, doing everything properly this time, and set out to Jamonakai Village once again.
"Stay close," Kai warned, "Stay together."
"Would we do it any other way?" Cole questioned.
Lloyd walked through the village, twitching and laughing crazily.
"Ha-ha-ha!" Lloyd laughed, "I'm never coming down from this sugar high! Woo-ho!"
"You bet," Alexis agreed, munching on some candy, having decided to join Lloyd.
Suddenly, the four Masters of Spinjitzu leaped down in front of them.
"Sorry to bust your buzz, little Garmadon," Cole said, "But it's way past your bedtime!"
"Yeah, you and…" Jay was trying to say something catchy to Alexis, but realized he didn't know her, "Wait, who's the she-kid?"
"Alexis," the girl groaned.
"Get them!" Lloyd exclaimed, breaking the conversation.
The largest of the snakes rattled his tail and hissed, "Get them!"
"The Serpentine?" Kai gasped, "They're real?"
The Serpentine closed in around the five.
"It's not just them we have to worry about;" Cole said worriedly, "The whole village has been hypnotized!"
Villagers had joined the Serpentine and were walking with them, moaning and mumbling.
Jay began swinging his nun chucks, until Zane stopped him and warned, "Our weapons are unstable! We could do more harm than good!"
Jay replied, "That leaves us with RUUUUUUUN!"
The ninjas dashed away. They flipped and spun until they came behind a building. They slid along the wall and ducked behind a wheelbarrow.
"Nya?" Kai asked as his sister suddenly jumped in front of the wheelbarrow.
"You're okay!" Jay said in relief.
"Barely," she responded, "They've hypnotized everyone in town!"
"Mind control," Jay asked, "How is this possible?"
"When you hear them rattle their tails," Nya warned, "don't look them in the eyes! That's how they get you. Though, I've seen a few try to hypnotize Lloyd's human friend by mistake and she seems immune."
"Well what are we supposed to do?" Jay complained, raising his arms in emphasis, "We can't use our weapons and now we gotta fight with our eyes closed? Perfect."
"The snake with the staff is the general," Nya stated, "He's the one in charge. If we can get the staff from him, it holds the anti-venom. If we get that, we can save everyone!"
"Look guys," Kai sighed, "Forget about the whole Green Ninja thing. Let's make Sensei proud. The five of us; we're a team."
"Now you're talkin'!" Cole grinned.
"And Nya," Jay said to the girl, "you can be our honorary member."
"Gee," Nya said sarcastically, "Thanks."
They jumped onto the roofs and picked their ways back to Lloyd and the Serpentine. Kai jumped down first and was immediately targeted by two snakes.
"You wanna play?" Kai asked, turning around, "How 'bout a little Spinjitzu? Ninjaaaaa-Go!"
He spun into a mini-tornado of red flames and moved towards the snakes. He suddenly whirled out of control and smacked into a wall, and fell down on the ground.
"Okay, we're really out of shape," Jay said from the roofs.
Kai quickly stood up and thrust up his arms, whacking two Serpentine in the nose.
"Hah!" Lloyd yelled over his shoulder as he and Alexis ran off with their stolen candy, "Consider this a warning, ninja! Muh-whaaa-ha-ha!"
Zane threw down his shurikens. Ice formed around the shurikens and Lloyd's wheelbarrow of candy would have bumped into them, tipping the wheelbarrow over, but Alexis intervened at the last minute.
"Look out!" she yelled, pushing Lloyd away from the ice.
"Ninjaaaaa-Go!" Zane yelled.
He spun into a tornado of ice and sped down the roof and kicked the wheelbarrow over.
"My candy!" Lloyd cried as Zane walked right beside the boy and girl.
"Sensei was right," the white ninja stated, "'Never put off until tomorrow what can be done today.' We should've dealt with you the first time around, then you won't have found Alexis and the Hypnobrai."
"Retreat!" Lloyd shouted as he ran off, Alexis following suit.
"Retreat!" The snake general repeated.
The Serpentine began to run out of the village. Cole jumped down from the roof and hit the general in the face with his feet. The snake dropped his staff and it landed in the snow.
"Go ahead," Cole said as the snake bent down to pick it up, "Give me a reason."
The general slithered away quickly. His second in command, however, had other plans.
"Look into my eyessss," he said, making Cole look up, "I control you."
"You... control… me," Cole mumbled.
He was lured into a snake's trap, and his eyes turned scarlet.
He then snapped out of the trance when Nya shouted, "Cole!"
She ran to the snake, then jumped up and kicked him in his face. Cole and the snake walked away in opposite directions.
"You have the anti-venom!" Nya cried.
Cole shook his head and looked at the staff.
"By golly, you're right!"
"Quick! The fountain!"
"Good idea!"
Cole ran to the fountain in the center of the village and stuck the staff in the water. Pale blue mist poured out of the water and flowed over the villagers, causing them to come back to reality. Kai walked to Sensei Wu, who had arrived in the confusion.
"We're sorry, Sensei," He said, "If we'd dealt with Lloyd before he became a problem, none of this would've been necessary."
"Even lessons learned the hard way are lessons learned," the sensei replied, then, thinking aloud, "A great evil has been released. I fear troubling times will come. This is only the beginning."
"Then, we will train," Zane said, as he and the other three walked over, "And we will be ready for the Serpentine."
"It may not be Lord Garmadon," Cole said, "but that doesn't mean we won't bring our A-game."
"Help us train. Help us realize our potential," Kai placed a hand on Sensei Wu's arm.
"Yeah," Jay said, "Teach us the secrets behind the weapons of Spinjitzu."
"There is much to teach," he said as they walked back to the dragons, "We must go back to the monastery."
Nya sighed, "When am I gonna get my own dragon?"
"Patience, Nya. Your time will come."
At the Ice Tomb, the snakes lounged in defeat, though, save the general and Skales, none seemed to notice a barely standing Lloyd and an irked Alexis.
"Candy," Lloyd moaned, "I need… candy!"
Alexis took off her beanie cap and stuffed in Lloyd's mouth, saying, "Quit whining, we got four bigger problems than having no goodies."
"The boy and girl set ussss free," Slithraa said looking at the lad and lass, "And I believe the girl hasss the Sssight."
"They are children!" Skales insisted, "They are not one of usss!"
Slithraa pushed Skales away in anger, "I may not have the sssstaff, but I am sssstill your general! Sssstand down!"
Skales walked away and was met by Mezmo.
"You coward," Mezmo hissed, "We all know he'ssss under Lloyd'ssss sssspell. You are second-in-command and still you do nothing?"
"Now was not the time," Skales explained, "I still hold the key to destroy the ninja. And when I do that, everyone will ssssee it is I who should be in control!"
He began laughing as he focused through the still-hypnotized black-ninja's eyes.
Later that night, as Sensei Wu was taking a midnight stroll around the monastery, he saw Zane coming toward him.
"Is something wrong, Zane?" the elder asked once Zane was arm's length away.
"Not with myself or the others," the white ninja explained, "But something has been troubling me about Lloyd's new friend."
"The Hypnobrai general or the girl?"
"Alexis. Nya said some scouts mistook her for a villager's child and tried to hypnotize her, only to no effect. Then, when I tried to stop them the first time, she seemed to have foreseen my intentions and saved Lloyd from my ice attack."
Both master and student were silent for a few minutes before Zane asked, "Sensei, is it possible that Alexis has a sixth sense like I do?"
The old man just looked at the ice master and said, "I do not know, I would have to meet her myself to find out. But if she does, she could be a problem for us as long as she is with Lloyd."
Zane nodded then asked, "Do you think there is any hope that Lloyd and Alexis would stop on their own."
"Could be," the mentor answered as they walked back to the building, "No one is born evil, Zane and the days of children being required to follow in their parents' footsteps has long passed us. Perhaps if and when they realize the consequences of their actions they will see the light, and hopefully before there are any serious complications."