Cole's POV
Cole huffed as he shoved a Hypnobrai warrior away, barely avoiding getting hypnotized. As a Constrictai stepped forward to take the blue snake's place, Cole heard Jay exclaim, "Hey, Cole! The girl!"
Briefly looking up from his battle, Cole watched Dillon thump onto the ground, a small tuft poking out from her torso.
She took a dart for us! He thought incredulously. With that, he swiftly thwacked his scythe into the Contrictai's head and ran over to the fallen girl as the foot soldier took off squealing in pain.
"Jay! Give Nya our coordinates!" Cole ordered as he hefted the unconscious Dillon onto his shoulders.
"Hey, uh, Nya? You there? We're at the Toxic Bogs, and we could really use some help here!" Jay said into his communicator, following Cole's orders. His only reply was static before dead silence. "Great! Now what? Kai and Zane are unconscious, as well as that girl; we're completely surrounded; and we have no way to escape! Just great!"
"Can it, Jay! This is not a time to be panicking!" Cole was finding it particularly difficult to fight with his arms full with a sleeping person. Not to mention that he and Jay had moved over to where Kai was pinned under the net, so he was trying not to trip over the ninja of fire.
Cole was also starting to get very TIRED of Pythor's laugh, which was currently ringing through ears his over the threatening hisses of the other serpents.
Just as Cole was beginning to think that this might be the end of the line, a sudden wind swept over the bog. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up. What Cole saw filled him with both relief and irritation.
"Look! It's the Samurai! We're saved!" Jay shouted, his voice thick with relief.
True, but did it have to be him that saved us? Why not someone else, like Nya or something? Cole thought as all the Serpentine recognized the giant mech and fled.
As the Samurai landed, Pythor looked over his shoulder and hissed, "Thisss isn't over yet, ninja," before slithering away with the rest of his kind.
Cole turned his attention back to his team. The Samurai had removed the net off of Kai and had dumped Zane next to him.
"Hey, careful!" Cole snapped at the stranger.
"Wow, anyone else getting a sense of déjà vu?" Asked Jay with a nervous laugh. "Except, this time, please don't spray us with that gas of yours. Last time, it left me just a little light-headed," he added.
Without saying a word, the Samurai took back to the air, leaving Cole and Jay coughing as the fire boosters sent dust, dirt, and other debris flying.
"Wait! Can't you give us a lift or something?!" Jay frantically waved his arms and jumped up and down, but to no avail; the Samurai flew off, leaving Cole with three unconscious bodies and a hysterical Jay.
As Cole was about to suggest they find a way to revive the others, a bright light suddenly blared down from above and onto the ninja.
"Yes, Nya! I knew you'd find us!" But before Jay could say anything else, a giant anchor launched towards the ground, and he jumped out of the way with a surprised and fearful yelp.
"Finally! What took you guys so long?" Cole asked as Nya slid down the steel chains.
"Yeah, but next time, watch where you drop that thing!" Jay blurted, pointing at the anchor.
"Sorry, Jay. But anyways, we were having trouble contacting you, so I had to use our back-up trackers to find you four," Nya explained. "Who's that?" She asked as she saw the cargo Cole was toting.
"Oh. This is the girl we were saving. Apparently, Pythor was using her as bait to lure us into a trap. We would have been captured had she not taken one of the darts for us," Cole replied.
"Yeah! The dart would have hit me, and then Cole would have been completely overpowered!" Jay piped up.
"Um, I was thinking it would have been the other way around. I can fight just fine solo. It was you who would have been lost without me."
Nya stepped forward just as Jay was opening his mouth for a retort.
"Okay, boys, enough. Let's get Kai and Zane loaded onto the Bounty and get out of here before the Serpentine return," she said, struggling to lift up her brother. "Urgh, has he always been this heavy?"
"Nah, he ate like fifty puffy pot stickers before this," Jay explained, helping Nya. Cole walked over to Zane and hefted him up onto his free shoulder. Slightly weighed down, he said, "Okay. Let's get out of here."
Dillon's POV
Dillon slowly blinked her eyes open. The first thing she noticed was that her headache had increased tenfold. She moaned in pain, reaching a hand up to her head. As she did so, she saw that she was laying down in a twin bed. The room she was in was decent-sized, containing a dresser and a nightstand. The space was a whole lot bigger than hers back home.
She sat up and sucked in her breath as the movement made her head hurt worse.
"Oh, great, you're up."
Dillon yelped and rolled off the bed, landing with a thud on the wooden floor.
"Oh, sorry, didn't mean to scare you." The person she had seen in the left corner stood up from where they were sitting on a stool and walked over to stand over Dillon. The stranger reached down a hand, and after a moment's hesitation, Dillon took it tentatively. The person pulled her to her feet and set the blanket back onto the bed (it had followed Dillon to the ground when she had leapt back in fright).
"I'm Nya," said the stranger, once again offering a hand.
Dillon took it and gave it a small shake. "Where am I?" Dillon asked.
"Aboard the Destiny's Bounty. And your head must hurt – the boys' were pounding as well," Nya said. "Come with me."
Dillon followed the red-robed stranger out the room and into a hallway. As Nya led the way, Dillon asked, "Who are you?"
"I assume you don't mean my name, seeing as how I already introduced myself," Nya guessed, and Dillon gave a short nod. "I'm Kai's sister – Kai's the spiky-haired, short-tempered one in red."
"Yeah, I know him. He saved me from a Venomari earlier today. It was the first time I met the ninja," Dillon responded.
"'Today'? It's been five days since your first encounter with the team. You met them in the alley on Thursday, they found you in the Toxic Bogs on Saturday, and today's Monday – you slept all through Sunday."
"FIVE DAYS?!" Dillon exclaimed loudly, stopping in her tracks. Oh my gosh! Mom and Dad must be so worried! "And hey – how do you know about Thursday in the alley?" She asked suspiciously.
"Sensei had them tell us everything they knew about you, so we got their sides of the story. After I get you some medicine for your head, Sensei wants to hear your point of view."
"'Sensei'?" Dillon asked as she resumed walking.
"Sensei Wu. He's our teacher, our master – our sensei. He's the son of the first Spinjitzu Master and brother of Lord Garmadon," Nya explained. "Ope, here we are. Wait right here."
Nya walked into a room and came out a few moments later. She held out a tiny tea cup to Dillon that was filled with a green liquid.
"Oh, I don't drink tea," Dillon told Nya, taking a small step back.
"No, this is your medicine," Nya replied.
"Oh. I thought…well, I assumed it would be…like, painkiller pills or something."
"Nah, Sensei likes to do this the more natural way. Anyways, drink up – and I swear it's not tea; just herbs."
Hesitantly, Dillon took the cup and sipped some of its contents. She quickly removed the cup from her lips and coughed, gagging slightly.
"Sorry. It doesn't have the greatest taste in the world."
"No kidding," Dillon choked out between coughs. Although, she could already feel the pain in her head starting to fade.
Bracing herself, she quickly gulped the rest in one big swallow, trying to force the bitter drink down as fast as possible so she wouldn't be able to taste it.
"Thanks," Dillon said gratefully as Nya returned the cup. "My head feels much better already. This stuff works fast!"
"No problem. Now follow me to the bridge and~…"
Dillon stepped into a large room behind Nya, and she looked around in awe. The first thing she saw was the giant screen that covered most of the far wall. A table stood in the center of the room, with a steering wheel facing a large window. Dillon also saw a periscope and several other gadgets and knickknacks.
Nya smiled at Dillon's amazement.
"I know. It's pretty awesome," Nya said.
As Dillon nodded in agreement, she noticed that the four ninja were in the room, along with a bearded old man dressed in white. And they were all staring right at her.
"Um, hey," she said with a small wave and a nervous smile.
"Ah. You must Dillon. Welcome to the Destiny's Bounty." The bearded man started towards her, walking with a wooden staff. "I am Sensei Wu. It is a pleasure to have you aboard."
"'Aboard'?" Dillon asked, and just then the ground wobbled.
"Slight wind turbulence. Nothing to worry about," Nya told everyone.
"'Wind'?" Dillon was starting to get a sick feeling in her stomach.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you. The Bounty is a ship," said Nya.
"Oh, phew! For a second there I thought we were aboard a plane," Dillon said just as Nya added, "A flying ship."
With those words ringing through her ears, Dillon blinked once, twice, and watched the floor rush towards her before everything went black.