A/N: Hey, guys! Will you look at that, I'm updating early today! I hope you've been enjoying this story so far, because I sure have!
Okay, I'll stop talking now and let you get to the story. Hope you like it!
Chapter Ten: Legend of the Serpentine
The ninjas walked back to the Destiny's Bounty in silence. As they neared their home, they could see Sensei Wu standing on the deck awaiting their safe arrival. In his hand was a steaming cup of tea.
The ninjas also noticed a small child standing next to the sensei wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and denim jeans.
Cole started, "That looks exactly like..."
"Lloyd!" Anna yelled joyfully. She ran all the way back to the Bounty and threw her arms around Lloyd. "I'm so glad you're back!"
"Alright, alright! Enough already!" Lloyd tried unsuccessfully to push Anna away.
When the rest of the ninjas arrived on the Bounty, Anna asked, "What happened to you? I was so worried!"
"You think I'm going to tell you?" said Lloyd harshly. "It's none of your business where I've been and what I've been doing!"
"Lloyd," warned Sensei Wu in a dangerous tone, "you will tell my students about your travels this instant. They have every right to know."
"Fine," Lloyd pouted. "Here goes. It all started when Kai flipped out on me earlier. I don't know for sure exactly what happened because I blacked out, but when I woke up I was in my father's palace in the Underworld."
"Hey," Kai interrupted, "I didn't mean it. But you were seriously getting on my nerves."
"That doesn't give you an excuse to knock me out and send me back to the Underworld!" Lloyd countered.
"What are you talking about?" questioned Kai. "I have no idea how you got there, but whatever happened, I can assure you I didn't do it on purpose!"
Anna glared at Kai, letting him know not to say too much around the others. Kai and Anna still hadn't agreed on when to tell their friends about their special powers, but now definitely wasn't the time.
"Guys, please. Can we get back to the story now?" Anna said, trying to change the subject.
"Right," Lloyd said. "After wandering around the palace for a while, I finally found my father. He asked me where I'd been, but I couldn't tell him about how the skeletons betrayed me and how you guys took me in, so I lied and said I was off brainstorming ideas on how to become the newest and most evil villain Ninjago has ever seen."
"Oh, please! Just cut to the chase already! We don't have all day to sit around here!" Cole complained.
"I'm getting there!" Lloyd said. "Anyways, my dad just laughed and told me I could never be a great villain if I didn't even have an evil army to do my bidding. That got me thinking... what kind of creatures were there in Ninjago that I could enslave and use to carry out my diabolical plans? Then I remembered those old wives' tales about the half-man, half-snake monsters that used to terrorize Ninjago until they were imprisoned in tombs of stone miles under the surface by the elders of Ninjago."
"You mean the Serpentine?" Jay asked. "You do know those are just legends, right?"
"Oh, no. Don't tell me you did what I think you did," said Kai.
"Um... yeah. About that. I opened the Serpentine tombs," Lloyd admitted.
"Lloyd!" Kai yelled, furious. "Don't you realize what you've done?"
"How could you?" Cole asked.
"You've released Ninjago's most feared enemy to wreak havoc on innocent citizens!" added Jay.
"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" Lloyd tried to apologize, but no one paid him any attention. They just kept yelling at him and accusing him.
The ninjas wold have remained in their state of anger if Sensei Wu had not have spoken up just then.
"Enough!" he said, and immediately the ninjas stopped yelling.
"But Sensei," Jay protested, "don't you realize what's at stake here?"
"Yes, and I have already talked to my nephew," replied Sensei Wu. "I believe he is deeply sorry for his actions."
"Sorry isn't going to fix the fact that innocent lives are being lost at the Serpentine's hands!" Kai yelled.
"Kai!" Sensei Wu scolded. "The past is the past. We cannot change the fact that the Serpentine tombs are now opened. Instead, we must find a way to combat their forces before they cause any more harm."
"But that's impossible!" Anna yelled. "When we faced them, we barely escaped with our lives! We would have been killed if it wasn't for my brother!"
"Face it, Sensei Wu, we can't fight them," Kai said. "We don't know anything about them – their weaknesses, battle strategies, or even what their master plan is. We're completely helpless."
Not quite, Kai," Sensei Wu said. "There is more to the tale of the Serpentine than the part Lloyd told."
Lloyd looked surprised. "What? There is? The only part I've ever heard was about the Elders locking the Serpentine away."
"Yes, but did you ever think about how the Elders managed to force the Serpentine underground?" Sensei Wu asked.
"Well, no, not really," Lloyd replied.
"It was not such an easy task to imprison the Serpentine. Many brave warriors had tried time and time again. Not one was able to succeed," Sensei Wu said.
"Then how did the Serpentine end up in those tombs?" Jay asked.
"Jay, would you quit interrupting?" said Kai, annoyed at his teammate. "This is important!"
"The Elders were distraught. They had lost almost all of their fiercest warriors, and soon there would be no one left to protect the citizens of Ninjago," Sensei Wu continued. "The Elders knew that they must do something. After weeks and weeks of intensive studies, the Elders finally created four Sacred Flutes to aid the warriors."
"Flutes?" said Cole incredulously. "How can a flute be a secret weapon?"
"When played, the instruments would emit a special high-pitched sound that would temporarily stun the Serpentine, rendering them helpless," Sensei Wu replied. "Wielding these new weapons, four warriors were able to force the Serpentine into solid stone tombs, imprisoning them for thousands of years."
"Wait a second," said Anna, "How do you know so much about this part of the story? The rest of us have never even heard it before."
"It is because I was one of the young warriors who imprisoned the Serpentine once and for all," Sensei Wu said simply.
"What? That's impossible!" Jay yelled. "That happened thousands of years ago!"
"Even so, it seems like it was only yesterday," Sensei Wu said.
"Sensei, if you really were one of the warriors that received a Sacred Flute from the Elders, does that mean you still have it?" Anna asked excitedly.
"Yeah, we could really use one of those things now," added Cole. "It sounds like they could fix our snake infestation pretty quickly."
As an answer, Sensei Wu produced a small tan flute out of the folds in his robes.
It looked similar to the flute Anna's brother made for her, but it was constructed out of better materials and had intricate carvings all along the sides.
The ninjas stared at it in silence, wide-eyed and amazed, until Anna finally spoke up.
"If you were one of the warriors who imprisoned the Serpentine, then who were the other three?" she asked. "In your story, you said there were four warriors."
"Why not ask your brother that question?" Sensei Wu said. "He is a flute player, correct? Did you ever ask him where he acquired his flute?"
"What do you mean? My brother doesn't know anything about any of this," said Anna.
"Doesn't he?" questioned Sensei Wu.
Suddenly Anna realized what Sensei Wu meant.
"My father... from what I can remember, he was good friends with you. Are you saying that he was one of the four warriors also?" Anna said slowly.
Sensei Wu nodded.
"So Bryce's flute is one of the Sacred Flutes the Elders made and gave to my father. He must have given it to Bryce before I was born," Anna concluded.
Anna now knew why Sensei Wu's flute looked so similar to her own. Bryce had specially made her flute to look and play like his Sacred Flute.
Unfortunately, even though they looked similar, her flute didn't have the same power as the flutes the Elders created. Anna had tried playing her flute earlier when she was battling the Serpentine, but it hadn't done anything to them.
"That actually makes a lot of sense, Anna," commented Kai. "When you were knocked out and your brother was fighting those snakes, he did pull out some sort of flute at one point. When he played it, the snakes stopped dead in their tracks. They couldn't stand it."
"Really? You just tell me this now?" Anna said. "You do realize that this is information that we could have used earlier!"
"Sorry," apologized Kai, "I guess it slipped my mind."
While they were talking, Sensei Wu walked over to Anna and handed her the Sacred Flute. "Anna, I am now entrusting you with this flute. Guard it with your life, for it is vitally important."
Anna stood there for a moment, too stunned to say anything. Then, she managed to say, "Thank you, Sensei. It is my honor to protect this flute."
"I believe that you can put it to a much better use than can I," Sensei Wu told Anna. Then to the rest of the ninjas he said, "There will be difficult battles in the future, and I may not always be around to guide you. But train hard, harness the power inside you, and together you will be able to overcome any odds."
Then, the sensei turned and walked below the deck, leaving the ninjas to think about his words.
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Anna set the flute her brother made for her down on her bedside table. Then, sitting down on her bed, she picked up the Sacred Flute Sensei Wu had given he a while earlier.
As she ran her fingers over its glossy surface, she could almost feel the power radiating from it.
All of a sudden, she heard a soft knock on her door.
She crossed the room and opened it, revealing Kai standing in the doorway.
"Oh, hey, Kai," she said. "What's up?"
"Do you have a minute?" Kai asked.
"Sure," Anna replied. "Come on in."
Anna walked over and grabbed two chairs from the corner of her room. Then she gave one to Kai, and they both sat down.
"So, what's the matter?" Anna asked. "I thought you would be training like everybody else."
"I wanted to talk about our parents."
"What about them?" Anna asked.
"They're still alive, Anna. Your brother said so himself," Kai said.
"Even if they are, what are we supposed to do about it?" said Anna. "We don't even know where to start looking for them."
"We have to train," Kai replied. "You heard Sensei. Learn to control our powers. Then we can worry about finding out where they are."
Anna looked scared. "No, Kai. We can't. Our powers are too dangerous. I don't think I'll ever be able to control them."
"Now you're starting to sound like your mother," Kai joked.
Anna laughed, but she still sounded nervous.
"I don't know about you, but I can't just sit around here knowing my parents are alive but not doing anything to find them," Kai said. "One way or another, I'm going to find them. Are you with me, or not?"
"Count me in," Anna said.
A/N: How was it? I understand if you thought this chapter was a tiny bit boring, I realize that I put absolutely no action into it. Still, please review anyway! I'd love to know what you thought of the chapter, or if there's something I should fix!
I'd like to thank my amazingly awesome reviewers ZaneLoverFan88 and NinjaMelissa. You guys are the best!
Also, thanks to all you guys that have been favoriting/following this story. I'm glad you enjoy it so much!
I got nothing else, so see you next week and have an awesome day!
~Shadow