TacoNightFury and ThatIsNotACoconut: Thank you! I really appreciate it when people review!
JayHawk134: ^_^ this story wouldn't be updated half as much as it is, if it wasn't for your regular reviews!:
Guest: He is, but are the others XD?
Previously on Skyward:
All his life, Lloyd had been different. And he knew it. What would they do if they found out he was some sort of dregon freak?
Lloyd spun on his heels. Two glowing red eyes stared at him from the shadows. As he watched, terrified, the area around the eyes slowly changed until a massive snake was slithering towards him.
"Look into my eyessssss." It commanded. "Give up your mind."
"No, you won't!" he shouted.
The serpent began to sway. It relaxed its grip on the staff. In fact, it seemed to relax completely. Lloyd had an inkling as to what occurred. He glanced into the ice behind him. The last traces of green were disappearing from his back, confirming his suspicions.
Nya strolled through the marketplace, pausing to peek at various items. The busy hum and bustle had waned into a trickle of patrons, so the majority of the shops were preparing to close. She paused at a stand laden with vegetables. Hmm, maybe I should get some for dinner tonight.
Frightened screams tore her attention from the produce. What now? Nya turned on her heels. Villagers darted into their houses, as in an eery redux of the morning's events. She frowned. What's going on?
Her questions were presently answered. A young voice shouted, "Take the candy!" Nya couldn't pinpoint the speaker, but he sounded close. She decided to take a gamble and risk being seen. Cautiously, she crept away from the produce.
"Take it all!"
Nya paired the voice with a boy clothed in black. Lloyd Garmadon? she guessed. I thought they got rid of him! She was about to return to her shopping when a rattling noise halted her. Two colossal snakes with teal scales slithered from the shadows. Gray humanoid serpents slunk into the streets. The one with a tail focused on a cluster of people, and Nya gasped when their eyes glazed over. Serpentine! she realized with horror. She ducked behind a crate.
The serpentine wrecked the village. Shops were pillaged, carts were overturned, and candy was heaped into the boy's wheelbarrow. A hypnotized man stumbled past Nya's hiding place, and she recoiled. Voices came close to her location. She flattened herself against the rough wood.
"Thissss makessss no sensssse, General!" Ah. So the serpentine had ranks. "Raiding an entire town, for sweets!"
It was a fair point, and Nya found herself sympathizing with the snake. Why are they doing this? The general, however, was not in the mood for insubordination. "You will do what I command!" he snapped. "Because I hold the staff!"
Nya noticed too late that the speakers were advancing towards her.
"Well, what do we have here?" hissed the one with legs. He moved towards the girl, cornering her against a building. She could hear a rattling sound, and a part of her mind recognized it as the general's tail. "Look into my eyesssssss," he ordered.
The swirling red patterns swam before Nya's eyes. She knew in her head to look away, but she couldn't tear her gaze from the entrancing spirals. Her eyelids grew heavy, and she fought to keep them open. So pretty...
From out of nowhere, a sizable mass of snow fell onto the snake's head. He yelped. He stumbled backward. He used his scaly arms to wipe snow from his hood and eyes. Nya blinked. Now that the serpentine was no longer focusing on her, the spell's effects had broken and she bore only a mild headache as proof of the hypnotizing attempt. Where did that snow come from? She glanced back at her attacker, who was still slightly disoriented. No matter. I shouldn't stay to find out.
Lloyd giggled, his hoard of sweets growing larger by each passing minute. He carted his treasures through the town. Although some buildings didn't keep candy, the majority contained at least one sort of the stuff. Each time a house was pillaged, a serpent would come out with his arms laden with treasures. He glanced around at the wrecked village. Dad will have to notice me now! I'll become the most evilest overlord ever!
I'm unstoppable! He fumbled for another lollipop -his seventeenth, but who was counting?- and popped it into his mouth. "I'm never coming down from this sugar high!"
Without warning, four bright figures dropped from the sky. Lloyd almost squealed, but noises like that weren't befitting of an evil overlord. Where do they come from? It's always from up!
"Sorry to bust your buzz, little Garmadon," the black one announced.
"But it's already past your bedtime," the blue one finished in a taunting manner.
Lloyd glared at his tormentors. Why are some people so mean? When I'm the evil lord, they'll be the first ones to be banished! "You call yourselves ninja?" he retaliated. "What, are you trying to blend into that tomato?" Without pausing, he launched into his next order. "Seize them!"
Cole about had a heart attack. No no, this can't be happening. They're not real!
"The serpentine? They're real?" shouted Kai.
A slow nod. You need to stay calm. Everyone's relying on you! "It looks that way."
"Serpentine," Kai repeated. He shook his head. "Real. And a threat!"
"And it's not just them we need to worry about," the earth ninja realized. With a sick feeling in his gut, he turned around. Men and women staggered towards them, under the influence of the snakes. He fought the urge to hurl. No, you have to stay strong! "The entire village is hypnotized!"
Jay unhooked his nun-chucks and started to charge up a blast of electricity. He was quickly stopped.
"The weapons are too unstable," Zane explained. "We could cause more harm than good."
The nun-chucks reluctantly went back to their resting position. "If we can't use our weapons, then what can we do?"
"Spinjitzu?" suggested Kai.
Cole dismissed the thought with a shake of his head. "No, we can't. What if they think we're evil?"
Kai cocked an eyebrow. "For turning into dragons to fight snakes?"
"You never know!" Cole persisted. You're getting worked up... "Dragons have been extinct for ages! For all we know, they could think we're necromancers!"
"So I guess that leaves us with RUN!"
Cole sprinted through a gap between two women. It was an unspoken team rule to reassemble at the landing place if something went wrong, so he worked his way down the mountain. It appeared that Nya knew of this too, as she was waiting for them there.
"Nya! You're safe!"
"Yeah, barely. They've hypnotized everyone in town!"
"How'd you know where to find us?"
She wordlessly indicated the scattered dragon tracks in the snow. Cole rubbed the back of his neck. Yeah, maybe we should be more careful in covering our tracks... He focused back on the conversation.
"Mind control?" Jay was asking. "How is this possible?"
Nya shuddered. "When you hear them rattle their tails, don't look them in the eyes! That's how they get to you."
Kai snorted. "Well, this is great. We can't use our weapons, we can't spinjitzu, and now we have to fight with our eyes closed? Ha! Perfect!"
"I sense we might be able to use Spinjitzu," Zane spoke. "If the people are truly hypnotized, they won't remember anything from this time."
"Ok, we'll only use spinjitzu if it's absolutely necessary," Cole compromised.
"The snake with a staff is the general," Nya informed. "If we can get that staff, we might be able to reverse the hypnotism!"
"Sounds like a plan," the earth ninja agreed. "Look, guys," he said, turning to his team. "Let's forget this whole green ninja thing. Let's just make Sensei proud."
The five young adults snuck back into the marketplace. Kai, being the rash one that he was, almost immediately abandoned the plan in favor of bashing some serpentine.
"You wanna play! How about some spinjitzu!" The fire ninja, heedless of Cole's shouts, changed into a dragon and smacked the serpentine with his wings.
Cole was close to buying his head in snow and screaming. Does anyone listen to me? "I said if only absolutely necessary!"
The red dragon turned and gave what could only be described as a cheeky smirk. Then his wings unfurled; he flew up and attacked the serpents with torrents of flame.
Cole sighed, but as Kai had revealed their secret, there was no benefit to be found in staying human. He flipped onto the ground. Lloyd, who was watching Kai, now turned to gape at the black ninja.
"What are you staring at," he growled.
Lloyd backed up against his wheelbarrow. "Nothing!" he squeaked. Then, seeming to recover his courage, he asked, "You guys can turn into dregons?"
"Yeah, we can." The brat's eyes widened. He prepared to continue, but Cole cut him off. "So what? Beat it kid." Then, to send his point, he transformed and snarled in his face. As much as he desired to end the conversation, he wasn't prepared to use his elemental abilities... Yet.
"But wait! I've got something to tell you!"
The earth dragon actually did use his powers. He sucked in a deep breath and exhaled a cloud of dust into the boy's eyes. Without glancing back, he spread his wings and soared out of the cramped street.
"Was that really called for?" Zane chided.
"What? He was being annoying!"
The ice dragon snorted but refrained from commenting further. The two dragons glided over the mountain, searching for the serpentine general. After several passes, Cole's companion located him.
"Okay Zane, can you get in there and freeze his tail or whatever? I'll get the staff."
He nodded. Taking advantage of his smaller wingspan, the white dragon spiraled down in concentrated circles. When he was almost level with the snake, he encased his lower half in ice.
Cole began his descent, starting gradually and gaining speed. He switched back into a human while still in the air and landed a solid kick on the serpent. The staff flew from his hand and clattered on the bricks. He bent over and took it into his hands.
Rattling. Cole glanced up, which was his fatal mistake. A pair of red eyes bore into him.
"I control you."
And everything went black.