Yay, another update! This is another chapter of a decent length and it has a little something called slight plot development! :D


Chapter Three: Kai Knows How to Accessorize

"Hypnobrai Scouts" the green ninja gasped.

Rhea turned to face her friend, noticing that her double vision was beginning to wear off. Slowly, she looked back at where the Hypnobrai were currently. Yes, there were definitely more than she would have liked to see. They seemed to be fighting the others. Rhea could see Kai now, kicking one in the chest before quickly throwing a snowball at the serpent's head. Then there was Cole who was fighting…was that Jay?

Lloyd was running towards the fight and Rhea got to her feet, blades ready. She followed him closely, watching as one of the blue and grey snakes slowly approached. With narrowed eyes, the young girl lunged forward, digging one of her karambits into the snake's shoulder. She yanked it out promptly, watching as the snake cried out in pain and fell to his knees. That was when Rhea realized that she was the only person who had brought weapons. They were always with her, keeping her hair up and out of the way. She had not thought twice about them. No one thought they were going to be ambushed today.

A rough hand gripped the hood of Rhea's coat. The girl lost her footing on the icy snow and was pulled backwards, thrown to the ground. It was Laurie, her eyes red instead of their normal blue. Rhea wriggled out of her itchy coat and watched as her friend fell, landing in a snow pile. What was going on here?

There was the sound of music playing. It was faint, but definitely audible. The purple ninja walked back over towards Laurie, still sprawled out on the ground. Her weapons were ready, just in case something happened. Why had the orange ninja grabbed her like that? Those red eyes, they were absolutely terrifying. Rhea now stood next to the teenage girl, her breathing shallow. What if Laurie did attack her? Would she be able to bring herself to hurt her sister?

Laurie stirred and the young girl froze. "What happened?" the red-head asked, sitting up slowly and gripping her head. Rhea relaxed, her shoulders slumping. Laurie's gaze drifted to the small purple coat that lie in the snow and then up to the person standing over her. "Rhea, put your jacket on!" the orange ninja cried, fumbling to get a good grip on the article of clothing. Curse these mittens of hers. Next year she was definitely buying some gloves.

Rhea knelt in the snow and placed her karambits on the ground. Gently, she took the coat from Laurie's grip and slipped her arms inside. Then she tackled the orange ninja to the ground. The whole situation had been unnerving. Perhaps this was what Lloyd had been talking about: the power of the Hypnobrai.

"Nice to see you too" Laurie replied with some uncertainty. She awkwardly patted the young girl's back. Rhea never acted like this, she barely showed emotion. Something awful must have happened, but Laurie could not really remember. The purple ninja broke the embrace and Laurie saw her big brown eyes glistening with tears. "Oh my gosh, what's wrong?"

What was wrong? Everything was wrong! Rhea felt so scared and small. She could not lose this family, not like she had lost her real one. The thought was absolutely terrifying. This was fear, an emotion she had not felt in the longest time. Perhaps living with these people was not good for her. The emotional wall Rhea had spent the longest time building was crumbling down. Emotions, she could not figure out how to deal with them. She just sat on her knees in the snow, sniffing slightly.

Laurie placed both hands on the girl's shoulders. "What's wrong…" she started to say, but then her ice blue eyes scanned the surrounding area. Hypnobrai? That was right; a group of Hypnobrai had attacked them during their snowball fight. They had gotten Jay, but had they gotten her too? Laurie racked her brain, trying to remember. They must have! Everything in between their arrival and now was fuzzy. Well, that was twice in Laurie's life now that she had fallen for the same trick. She stood quickly, pulling Rhea up with her. "Come with me and stay close" she said hurriedly.

The purple ninja nodded before reaching down to grab her weapons. Laurie was walking ahead quickly, her focus on the others. It appeared that Jay had also come around. Rhea was not sure what had managed to save everyone, but she was happy that they were safe. The girl rushed towards her companion, trying to catch up with her, but a scaly hand covered her mouth and pulled her away.

It was a Hypnobrai, one of the grey ones that had been roaming the area. He wrapped his right arm around her Rhea's front, pinning her forearms to her sides. Her range of motion was seriously limited, the karambits virtually useless. Rhea froze, but her breathing came quick. The serpent jerked her head back roughly and her eyes widened with fear.

"Look into my eyes" the snake hissed.

No, she could not fight back. Rhea wiggled in her captor's grasp, trying desperately to escape. It was difficult, her neck aching terribly from the pressure keeping her head back. The serpent's crimson eyes were glowing and she could not look away. This was terrifying, Rhea was shaking now. She could not remember the last time she was this scared. Wait, what was she thinking about? It was getting harder to remember now…

There was someone behind the snake now. The individual used some kind of weapon to hit the serpent on the back of the head. He let go of Rhea, crying out. She tumbled to the ground and scurried away, but something grabbed her foot. It was that snake from earlier, the dark blue one. What had Lloyd called him? Skales, that was it. He had his tail wrapped around her ankle once more, but only held her back. Rhea was trying to dig her gloved fingers into the snow, hoping to somehow crawl away from these enemies.

"You fool!" Skales growled, using his Staff to hit the lower ranking serpent once more. "Your instructions were not to hypnotize anyone. You were only supposed to detain the ninja, prevent them from escaping." He turned his attention now to Rhea who was still scrambling to escape. "So we meet again, girl" the Hypnobrai General smirked, dragging her closer to him.

She turned around quickly, using one of her karambits to open a gash on Skales' tail. He frowned. "Disarm her!" the serpent ordered. The grey Hypnobrai Scout hurriedly approached the young girl, ripping the weapons from her hands. She narrowed her eyes, trying to keep her grip on them, but it was no use.

Skales held something in his hand that Rhea had not seen previously. It looked like a bracelet, a silver band with a blue gem in the middle of it. Liquid swirled inside, reflecting the high afternoon sun. "Just give me a second, girl, and this lovely trinket can belong to you" he hissed, unlatching the band. Rhea did not like the looks of this. Whatever this snake was planning it could not be good. Did anyone know what was happening? Could anyone help her?

"Not very talkative, are we?" Skales laughed, leaning over Rhea. "It makes it all the more easier for me. No one will hear you scream". The purple ninja kicked out with her free foot and made contact with the serpent's abdomen. He growled, wrapped his tail around her other ankle as well, and looked back towards the grey snake. "Rattla, hold her down!" Skales ordered. The grey Hypnobrai quickly obeyed his superior and knelt beside the girl, restraining her arms. Rhea could feel the tears coming. What were they going to do to her? She closed her eyes, fearing the worst.

She heard the sound of Skales cry out. The tail around her ankles was gone now. Rhea opened her eyes and shifted her body weight backwards, delivering a hard kick to Rattla's jaw. The grey Hypnobrai released the girl and she grabbed her weapons from the ground next to him.

It was Kai; he had thrown himself at Skales, tackling him to the ground. Rhea watched as the two fought, Kai having the upper hand. A sound came from behind Rhea and she whirled around quickly only to see Zane knocking Rattla unconscious. "Are you alright, Rhea?" the nindroid asked, walking towards the small girl. She nodded quickly and closed the distance between her and her brother. His arm wrapped around her shoulder and she felt safe.

"Pick on someone your own size, Skales" Kai growled, his hand around the serpent's throat.

The Hypnobrai General gave a strangled laugh which Kai did not understand. Then there was something icy cold against his skin. The red ninja released his captive and stood up quickly. "What is this?" he asked, gawking at the strange bracelet that now adorned his right wrist.

"It's a present" Skales chuckled, getting up off of the ground. "Merry Christmas." He began to slither away, Staff in hand. "Retreat, we have done what we came to do!" he called out. The Hypnobrai Scouts dispersed, running to catch up to their leader.

Kai yelled in frustration, racing to catch up with them, but Cole held him back. "It's not worth it, Kai" the leader said, grabbing on to the hood of the red ninja's coat. "Everyone is safe now and that's all that matter."

Rhea watched with wide eyes as Kai stopped struggling. "You're right" she heard him sigh, turning to walk back towards the group. "I'm just upset that they were able to hypnotize Jay and Laurie I guess. I shouldn't have let that happen." He approached Zane and Rhea, Cole following close behind. Kai crouched down next to the purple ninja, his eyes somewhat sad. "You're okay, right?" he asked, placing his hand on his knees.

The girl nodded quickly and Kai let out another sigh. At least he had managed to do something to help someone today. A tug on his left coat sleeve brought him back from his thoughts. Rhea pointed at the accessory now latched on to Kai's right wrist. Oh yeah, Skales had put this on him. With a frown, the red ninja tugged on it with his left hand. The thing was sturdy and did not yield.

"Kai, are you okay?" Laurie was running towards the red ninja, Jay and Nya close behind. The orange ninja stopped, trying to catch her breath. She stood next to Rhea and placed a hand on the young girl's shoulder. "What happened?" she asked, now addressing Rhea, "I told you to stay close."

"Skales had her" the nindroid answered plainly, watching as Jay and Nya caught up with the group. "It is most fortunate that Kai was able to recognize the danger Rhea was in."

Laurie turned back towards the red ninja, a smile on her face. She pulled him into a hug, laying her head down on his shoulder. "You're awesome, Kai" the orange ninja said, her voice slightly muffled by the thick material of Kai's coat. The red ninja returned the embrace, his expression forlorn. He did not feel awesome.

"How am I awesome?" he asked, slightly angry. The two broke apart and Kai just stared down at Laurie with narrowed eyes. "We were ambushed! You and Jay were hypnotized! I could have prevented that!"

This time it was the blue ninja who spoke. "Kai, you just said it yourself, it was an ambush. No one had any idea that the Hypnobrai would be here. Last we saw of them they were in Ninjago City, when the Stone Army attacked." Jay stood in front of his friend, arms crossed. "You can't always beat yourself up over what you could have done. We're fine and you can see that."

Nya placed a hand on Jay's shoulder and gave her brother a smile. "He's right, Kai. No matter what happens if everything turns out okay in the end then there shouldn't be any reason to worry about it." Her gaze drifted towards a shiny object on Kai's wrist. It reflected the sunlight briefly, drawing her attention to it. "Kai, what's that?" Nya inquired.

The red ninja looked down to where his sister was staring. "Oh, I'm not sure what it is" he replied, trying to tug it off yet again. "Skales put it on me after I tackled him. It doesn't seem to want to come off." Kai watched as Laurie now took his wrist and flipped it over, looking for a mechanism that would unlock it. Finding none, she sighed and released the red ninja.

"What's the blue thing?" came a voice. Everyone turned around to see Lloyd standing next to Rattla, giving the serpent a tap with his foot. The green ninja left the unconscious Hypnobrai where he was and approached the others. "That blue gem looking thing, what is it?"

"It looks like a smaller version of the orb that Skales has on his Staff" Cole started, taking Kai's wrist. The red ninja rolled his eyes, hoping that grabbing his arm was not going to become a regular thing. "You know what I'm talking about, right? The orb that holds the anti-venom." The black ninja lightly shook Kai's wrist and watched as the liquid inside of the bracelet swirled. He cracked a small smile and began to chuckle. "It's a little gaudy for my taste, but you pull it off Kai. You sure know how to accessorize."

The others began to laugh as well, except for Kai and Rhea. The red ninja narrowed his eyes, obviously angry. "Ha ha, very funny. You probably wouldn't think this was so funny if you had this dumb thing stuck on you!" Rhea was curious as to what the trinket was for. She doubted that the Serpentine were friendly enough to actually give Kai a Christmas present. Besides, Skales was going to put the bracelet on her and was using force to do it. No, this situation was not as comical as everyone made it out to be.

Suddenly, Kai fell to his knees and grunted in pain. Laurie was immediately by his side, a hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong, Kai? Are you okay?" she breathed, watching as the red ninja clenched his teeth and shut his eyes tightly. The orange ninja was worried, her eyes wide. "Please, Kai, say something!"

It was cold, running through his body. The feeling was comparable to ice growing inside of his veins. Kai felt dizzy and disoriented. "I'm okay" he managed to say, getting to one knee. "I'm just not feeling the best right now." Laurie helped him to his feet and the red ninja felt extremely light headed. He placed his left foot backwards in an attempt to steady himself, but lost his footing. Kai began to fall backwards when Cole grabbed a hold of him.

"You're obviously not okay" the leader frowned, giving Laurie a worried glance over Kai's head. "Come on, we'll get the Ultra Dragon and go home, alright?" Cole and Laurie supported most of the red ninja's weight as the trio began their trek across the icy terrain. Zane, Jay, and Nya followed closely behind while Lloyd waited for Rhea to catch up.

The green ninja watched as she quickly pulled her hair back once more, using the karambits to keep the ponytail in place. "Sorry I took off without you after we fell" Lloyd apologized, his gloved fingers interlocked behind his head. Rhea ignored her friend, her thoughts on Kai. He had been fine only a few minutes prior, so why did he suddenly feel sick? She had a bad feeling that it had to do with the thing on his wrist.


Like I said, a little weird for a Christmas specific story. I think it's just the fact that the story is set during winter and in later chapters everyone is preparing for Christmas and it's all nice and full of family stuff...

Thanks for reading! :3