I'M BACK SUCKERS! THOUGHT I WAS GONE DIDN'T YA!

Okay everyone, here it is. The first chapter of my Reboot/retelling/reimagining of my first ever fanfiction: Tales of the Serpentine. This will follow my original design for the series but the format and some aspects of the story will be changed. However, the overall spirit and tone that I was shooting for will remain unchanged. Thanks for reading. I own nothing.

Skales sat on a large rock overlooking the underground serpentine village. In the year since they had been imprisoned again, the four tribes had grown into a surprisingly stable community. There had been some infighting, but that was usually contained to isolated events. Overall, there was peace, and Skales was content with it.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Came a familiar voice. Skales turned his head to see Selma, his wife, standing behind him. She was female with pink scales and a pearl necklace.

"Oh, just thinking," Skales replied.

"About?" Selma pressured, sitting down next to him.

"W…Well, I'm concerned about what the Ninja were talking about," Skales admitted.

"You mean about the prophecy?" Selma guessed. Skales nodded in response.

"If what they said is true, then the Golden Master could be rising after all," Skales said. "And we might not be safe down here."

"Skales, listen, you did all you could," Selma said.

At that moment, the entire cave began to shake. Pieces of the ceiling fell to the ground. The floor split as large cracks appeared. Stalagmites crumbled into rubble and stalactites descended from the ceiling.

Skales and Selma immediately stood up. They both knew what was happening. The time had come: the Golden Master had risen.

"I'll go find Junior," Selma said, before running off. Skales quickly slithered to the center of the cavern. He found the other generals: Fangtom, Skalidor, and Acidicus, waiting for him.

"Is everyone ready?" Skales asked. He and the other generals had spent months planning for the rise of the Golden Master.

"As ready as we'll ever be," Fangtom replied.

"Everyone remember their jobs?" Skales asked.

"Reinforce the gates," Fangtom said.

"Secure the ceiling," Acidicus said.

"Eat!" Skalidor exclaimed, to which everyone gave him an annoyed look. "I know, I know, keep everyone together. Sorry, I'm just nervous."

The three then broke apart and headed to their separate jobs. Skales slithered to the top of the highest rock he could find and yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Everyone listen! Stay away from the sides and gather together in the middle! Stay together and no one panic!"

"Look out!" Came a voice from the crowd. Skales looked up to see a stalactite falling right toward him. Skales quickly threw himself off the rock pedestal at the last minute. After brushing dirt from his scales, he looked around at the various serpentine. Fear dominated the crowds. Every snake he knew glanced up at the ceiling every time the ground rumbled, which was becoming much more frequent. Parents clutched their children close and lovers grabbed each other's hands. The sight made Skales think of his own family.

"We need more reinforcements on the doors," Fangtom yelled.

A couple of Serpentine obeyed the general but most of them continued to sit in dark corners cowering, though Skales really could not blame them. It was the end of the world. Skales noticed a soft pat on his shoulder and turned to see his beloved wife, Selma. He followed her over into a dark corner of the caves. As soon as Skales was sure that they were out of earshot, he asked.

"How is Junior? Is he okay?"

"Yes," Selma responded. "He's kinda shaken up, but he's trying to keep the other snakelings distracted."

"How?" Skales inquired.

"Well, you know, organizing little teams to help with… well I don't know, but it's helping," Selma replied.

"Good," Skales said. "Then why did you call me over?"

"It's just I was wondering…about..um" Selma faltered.

"Yeah," Skales urged.

"What about the humans?" Selma asked.

Skales gave her a confused look but before he could respond a deep, resonant voice broke in.

"And what about the humans?" Skales and Selma simultaneously turned to face a tall, broad-shouldered Hyponbrai with two cobra head designs imprinted on his hood, and a long white strip running along his spine ending in a triangle in the center of his eyes. A long curved sword hung at his hip and a trickle of blood ran from a wound on his left arm.

"Cobra, are you okay? You look hurt," Skales asked, noticing the wound.

"Nothing that won't heal, your majesty," Cobra replied with a formal bow.

"Cobra, I told you, you don't have to be formal with me," Skales said, slightly embarrassed.

"Wait," Selma interjected. "What did you mean by 'what about the humans'?"

"The humans have only ever treated us with hatred and fear," Cobra spat. "We tried to warn them of their impending doom but they responded by hunting us down and imprisoning us underground. They deserve their fate."

"By marching into their towns and shouting about doom and destruction, is it really a surprise they thought we were attacking them?" Selma argued back.

Cobra barely chocked back a growl.

"Cobra, I think you should probably get your shoulder looked at," Skales said, hoping to defuse the situation. Cobra gave a disgruntled bow before walking off.

Skales and Selma waited until he was out of earshot before speaking.

"He's not wrong, you know," Skales said. "They did imprison us."

"So? Are we just supposed to let them die without caring?" Selma asked. "What if that was us out there?"

Skales stopped and considered her point. He looked at her and then around at his fellow Serpentine. The Humans were only trying to protect their families. Skales thought. His mind focused on Selma and Junior. Skales knew he would do anything to protect them.

"What do you think we should do?" Skales asked.

Selma paused for a moment, thinking.

"Do you think we could invite them down here?" She suggested after a moment of hesitation.

Skales stared at her, mouth agape.

"A…are you insane?" He asked, recovering from his shock. "After hundreds of years of war and hatred, them locking us underground, us unleashing the deveourer, you think we can just invite them down?"

"What else are we supposed to do?" Selma replied. "We can't just let them die; I thought we agreed about that?"

"I do agree with you," Skales said, though hesitation filled his voice. "But…I'm not sure how well it would go over with the others."

"You're their king," Selma pointed out. "Besides, everyone agreed that we were supposed to turn over a new scale."

"Not everyone," Skales countered, thinking of Cobra.

"Still, it's the right thing to do," Selma said.

Skales paused for a moment, before nodding his head.

"You're right," He agreed. "I'll see what I can do."

Skales slithered back to the main cavern. He tried to think through how he was going to approach Selma's idea to the people when Skalidor approached him.

"How's everyone doing?" Skales asked.

"A couple of injuries here and there, nothing too bad though," Skalidor replied. "Oh, by the way, your brother was hurt, shoulder scrape, but he refused treatment."

"Tell him, that he has to receive treatment…um…by order of the king," Skales said, quickly thinking up something Cobra would obey.

"'Kay," Skalidor replied, though Skales heard Skalidor mutter under his breath "Guy's a jerk, though."

Skales let out a sigh before slithering to the center of the room. Skales cleared his throat, distinctively.

"Everyone, excuse me, everyone!" Skales shouted, trying to raise his voice above the sound of the rumbling.

Serpentine raised their heads and looked at Skales.

"Now that I have your attention, I have an announcement to make," Skales began. "As you all know, the Golden Master has arisen. Now, we are safe underground. But, the humans are not. They are still on the surface, so…So I propose that we allow them to stay with us."

Skales' words were meet with uproar.

"What kinda snake are you!" One venomari shouted.

"They imprisoned us and now you want to let them live here?" A Fangpyre yelled.

"You traitor!" A Constrati growled, infuriated. He picked up a rock and Skales braced himself for the inpact. However, it never came. Cobra grabbed the constracti's wrist, squeezing it until he dropped the rock.

"Your king gave you an order, you unfaithful snake-lings!" Cobra barked, anger in his eyes. The rest of the serpentine quickly quieted down, though Skales could still hear discontented mutterings.

"Listen, I am leading a mission to try and bring as many humans down here as I can," Skales continued, ignoring the increasing murmurings. "Anyone can volunteer to help, but it's not an obligation."

Skales then slithered down from the pedestal. He noticed Cobra skulking off and pulled him aside.

"Cobra, thanks for helping me," Skales said.

Cobra gave Skales an almost irritated look before walking off without a word.

Skales gave his brother a confused look before slithering to the main gate that led to the outside.

Selma approached Skales, whispering to him.

"Please be careful,"

Skales nodded, before hugging her and approaching the main gate. He looked to his left and saw Fangtom and two other serpentine approach. It wasn't much but Skales was surprised that anyone at all even came.

"Thanks for helping," Skales said to Fangtom.

"Hey, what are friends for?" Fangtom replied. "You sure about this?"

Skales nodded before reaching out a hand and opening the door.

To be continued