Hey guys! Starting off another new story, yay! The story takes place sometime before the golden weapons were destroyed, because the ninja use them and their vehicles. Just as a warning, I mention something pretty brutal in this chapter, so if you're not up for it, then feel free to skip the second half of the chapter once I split it with a line. Enjoy the first chapter of my latest twisted creation, Blinded.
Sirens blared, startling the ninja all across the Bounty. Zane had barely been able to catch the spoon he was using to taste his newest dish, Kai had dropped the sword he was sparring Jay with, and the Lightning Ninja yelped when it almost hit his foot. Cole and Lloyd dropped their controllers in surprise, and cried out in frustration when the screen flashed with a game-ending message.
The ninja all met in the control room at the same time, with varying degrees of annoyance. Nya and Sensei showed up as well, but they seemed more composed than the other five.
"Serpentine... again? Today's supposed to be our day off," Cole slapped a hand to his forehead.
"I wound not be so hasty, Cole. There seems to be a large gathering. Approximately 225% larger than our usual tussle," Zane frowned, noting the abnormally large number of black dots, indicating that more than half of the snakes were of the Constrictai tribe. The other part was made primarily of Hypnobrai, indicating that Skales and Skalidor were the leaders of the event.
"Thanks for lifting my spirits," Kai grumbled, and inspected the map. "Looks like we're in for a big fight."
"Well, let's get going. They won't go away with us just sitting here!" Jay put his hand out, waiting for the others to join.
They smiled, and cheered as they spun into tornados of color, each ninja emerging wearing their respective ninja gi.
"Good luck, hot head," Nya gave Kai a quick squeeze and sent him on his way. The ninja whooped as they tumbled through the air, Jay striking poses every five seconds.
Soon enough, they summoned their vehicles and landed a few hundred yards away from the largest Serpentine gathering they had seen since Pythor's first attempt to unite them.
"Holy smokes. That's a lot of snakes," Jay whistled, receiving an eye roll from Kai.
"One hundred and ten. Sixty seven of them belong to the Constrictai tribe," Zane calculated.
"Wow. I'm impressed by the amount of snakes and your math skills," Cole nodded, and the team advanced.
They paused and spread out when they reached the tree line before the small clearing. The surrounded the snakes, each with their own elemental weapon ready to strike. Zane sat still, knowing that his suit was the hardest to camouflage, since it was a dense and fairly dark forest. At the small spark of Jay's nunchucks as the signal, Cole summoned his vehicle and plowed into the crowd, knocking snakes down left and right. The afternoon sun gleamed off their shiny scales, a sight that was oddly calming, considering the circumstances.
Meanwhile, the others proved backup, fighting the others that Cole didn't ram. The air was a mess of hisses and yells, mostly from the snakes. The team had learned that if you fight enough of the reptiles, they'll eventually just retreat and run off, but they seemed to be holding up well this time.
Zane was having the most difficulty for sure. Did they normally fight this hard? Not to mention both Skales and Skalidor were among the mix as well. Didn't they have anyone better to target, like Lloyd? But they weren't throwing punches like they usually were. They seemed to be aiming for his legs, trying to knock him on the floor. The Ice Ninja knew something was up, but couldn't exactly escape with the circle of Serpentine surrounding him. Zane was kicking them away with his shurikens and his katana, but the long tails of the generals proved to be overwhelming.
Zane let out a weak gasp as his back hit the ground rather hard, feeling as if the wind had been knocked out him. As he lay in shock for a split second, he expected a blade to come down into his chest, or maybe his neck. But instead, they grabbed his legs, dragging him into the nearby forest.
Zane grabbed at the ground with what little strength he had, but he gripped nothing but stray leaves and grass. Once he has been scraped along the floor for a bit, they let go, Skalidor's tail choosing instead to wrap around his stomach and arms, holding him to a root underneath him. As his strength returned, Zane struggled against the general's tail, but he wouldn't budge.
"So they should be here then," Skales muttered to himself, accenting his S's with a drawn out hiss. "This is too much trouble for such a simple task."
"What could you possibly want from me?" Zane spat with as much air as he could muster.
"You'll see," Skales grinned, and grabbed Zane's face in his hands. The Ice Ninja squirmed under his cold touch, his scaly fingers trailing along Zane's eyes. He nodded, and let go of his eyes to grab a sharp, curved dagger.
"Sorry, White Ninja. You have something we need." Skales grinned maliciously, and raised the weapon. Zane barely had time to process the situation before it was dug into his right eye.
Back on the battle field, the others were having a surprisingly easy time.
"Hey, Jay, how're you doing?" Kai called, a bit bored with the battle. For there being such a large number of Serpentine, they weren't putting up much of a fight.
"Good. You?" Jay responded, accompanied by the clang of metal on metal as a snake struck Jay's fortified arm on his uniform.
"Good," Kai sighed. The fight continued on for a few more minutes, until the team heard a familiar voice.
"Retreat!" Skales called, and the Serpentine withdrew immediately. Helicopters appeared above, collecting the reptiles before the team could gather together.
The team let them leave, figuring it wasn't worth a fight. It was only when they looked around they noticed something off.
"Where's Zane?" Lloyd gulped, and the team felt their stomachs drop.
"I knew something was up," Cole grumbled, cursing himself for not following his gut.
They fanned out, searching the surround woods, desperately calling out the nindroid's name.
It was Jay who first uncovered the brutal scene. Fake blood covered the Nindroid's face, staining the ground below him. Both eyes were dug out, leaving gaps were the cameras that provided Zane with sight should've been.
"Guys!" Jay weakly called out, feeling faint just looking at the unconscious Ice Ninja. He looked straight out of a horror movie, like a haunted doll. The blood streaming from his eyes and the porcelain skin completed the look. How long had he been awake? Had he clonked out early, or had he endured the pain until Jay arrived?
A sharp gasp surprised the Lightning Ninja as Kai joined him.
"What did they do to him?" Kai whispered in a horrified tone as he crept over to the body, going to check for a sign of the nindroid being alive.
Kai worked up the courage to rest a hand against his chest, and felt a faint hum that indicated that Zane wasn't dead.
More worried and then horrified ninja arrived, until Jay worked up the sense to call the Bounty, although all he could manage were a few choked out cries for help.
All Lloyd could do was whimper as he rested Zane's head against his lap, red staining his pants around his knees and ankles. Cole sat against a tree with his head in his knees, doing all he could not to throw up at the sight of his friend. Kai just stood there with tears pricking the edges of eyes, like the rest of his team had.
Once the Bounty arrived, Nya and Jay spent hours with the blacked out ninja, trying to salvage what they could from his sockets. But it soon became clear enough that the parts they need for Zane were no longer produced, and that the Ice Ninja was fully blind.
"They just dug out the cameras, along with all of the wires that surround them. I knew the Serpentine played dirty, but this is horrible, even for them," Nya grimaced, her hand ghosting along the edges of Zane's empty sockets.
The rest of the team sat in sickened silence, not wanting to move or do anything while their brother was in critical condition. It was when Jay finally stepped out of the workshop, exhausted and his hands stained with fake blood, that the first words were spoken in hours.
"We've done all we can do. He's blind."