All right, here's the next chapter! I hope you enjoy it! Oh, and by the way, I changed the colors of the twins' ninja suits. Kailee's suit is now yellow and Jayne's is now an aqua blue color. I'll try to go back and change that in the previous chapters.

Anyway, enough talking. On with the chapter!

Chapter 18

Kailee and Keegan rushed over to Jayne's side. Ripping off his gloves, Keegan felt her wrist, looking for her pulse, meanwhile watching for the rise and fall of her chest to indicate that she was breathing.

"Is she all right?" Kailee asked her cousin.

"Her pulse is weak," he told her. "She's breathing. Just barely, though."

Kailee didn't know she had been holding her breath until she released it. She studied her sister's pale face. A few minor cuts and bruises were visible. Kailee removed her gloves and gingerly touched her sister's cheek. She heard Keegan gasp.

"Kailee! What happened to your hand?" he asked, pointing to the hand she had touched Jayne's cheek with. Kailee looked down at her hand and almost screamed.

Instead of the normal tan skin, her hand was now covered with greenish-yellow scales!

"My hand!" she exclaimed, holding it in her other hand as she turned it over and examined it. "What's wrong with it?" Keegan wrapped his fingers around her wrist and pulled her hand closer to him. He moved her fingers gently as he studied them.

"Those serpentine must've done something to you during the fight," he told her. Kailee gasped as she remembered.

"One of them did bite me," she admitted. Keegan nodded.

"I'll bet that's what did it," he said. "Is it just your hand?"

"I hope so," Kailee said as she rolled up her sleeve. The rest of her arm was slowly turning green as scales were beginning to form on it. "I'm turning into a snake! Keegan, what am I going to do?" she asked him, her voice raised in a mixture of anger and panic.

"Calm down, Kailee, I'm sure the others will know how to fix you," he assured her.

"'Calm down!' You're telling me to calm down?" Kailee asked in disbelief, her voice now at a full yell. "First those serpentine hurt my sister and then they turn me into a snake and all you can say is to calm down?" Keegan grabbed her shoulders firmly but gently and looked into her eyes. She tried to shrug his hands from off her shoulders, but he refused to let her. She glared at him, her eyes full of angry flames.

"Kailee, listen to me," he told her. "Panicking isn't going to help the situation any. Jayne is gonna be just fine and so are you. Once we get back to the Bounty, the others will know what to do." Kailee continued to glare at him for a moment before sighing and closing her eyes. Keegan felt the tension in her shoulders begin to melt away as she took a deep breath to settle her nerves. When she opened her eyes, the flames were gone from her hazel eyes and she smiled.

"Thanks," she said. Keegan nodded and left his hands fall away from her shoulders.

A rustle in the grass next to them was heard followed by the weak sound of a voice.

"Kailee?" Jayne asked. Both Kailee and Keegan turned their attention to her. Her eyes were still closed, but the color was beginning to return to her face.

"I'm here, Jaynie," Kailee assured her. Slowly, Jayne's eyelids slid open, revealing her cool blue eyes. She blinked a couple of times as if trying to bring everything into focus.

"What happened?" Jayne asked.

"One of the constrictai grabbed you," Keegan answered.

"Oh, yeah, I remember now," Jayne replied. Using her hands, she pulled herself into a sitting position. She put her hand to her forehead.

"You all right?" Kailee asked.

"Yeah, I just feel a little dizzy," Jayne admitted.

"It's getting late. We should be getting back to the Bounty before they start worrying about us," Keegan told his cousins. The girls looked up as they realized that he was right. The sun was just beginning to set overhead.

"Can you walk?" Kailee asked her sister. Jayne nodded.

"I think so," she replied as she stood to her feet. She wobbled a little and Kailee put her arm around her shoulder to steady her. Jayne caught sight of her sister's scaly hand as Kailee rested it on her shoulder. "What happened to your hand?" She asked.

"I got bit," Kailee told her as they began heading towards the Bounty with Keegan leading the way.

By the time the three of them made it back to the Bounty, the sun was just barely in the sky. Nya was on deck waiting for them as they trudged up the ramp.

"You're late for dinner," Nya told them sternly.

"We're sorry, Aunt Nya," Keegan apologized.

"We would have gotten back in time, Mama, if it hadn't been for the serpentine," Jayne told her. Nya's eyes filled with concern.

"You ran into the serpentine?" Nya asked. They nodded. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, but Kailee's not," Jayne answered.

"What do you mean?" her mother asked.

"She got bit," Jayne replied.

"Kailee, come here," she said and the girl obeyed. Nya gasped in surprise. Kailee's normal tan skin had been replaced by greenish-yellow scales. Her teeth now had fangs and her tongue was forked.

"What am I going to do, Mama?" Kailee hissed, her voice full of fear.

"Don't worry, honey. I have the anti venom in the bridge. We can change you back to normal," Nya assured her. Kailee smiled.

"Let'sssss do it then!" she said. "I'm tired of being a ssssssnake."

"You two can go on up to dinner," Nya told Jayne and Keegan as Kailee followed her into the bridge.

Thirty minutes later, the ninja were all gathered in the dining room. Kailee had been turned back to normal and Zane brought out the leftovers from supper for the three young teens.

"So, Kailee, how'd it feel to be a snake?" Lloyd asked with a chuckle. Kailee shivered and wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Awful," she answered, causing the others to burst into laughter.

"So what happened out there today?" Kai asked.

"Well, we were out exploring and we stopped to rest for awhile. Jayne said she was thirsty and went to the river to get a drink," Keegan began.

"I heard some rustling in the bushes behind me and when I turned around, six of the serpentine had surrounded me. The leader began talking and he stuck his face this far from mine!" Jayne continued, using her hands to demonstrate the distance. "It was gross! I could feel his hot breath on my face."

"What did you do?" Cole asked her.

"Now that I think about it, it probably wasn't the best thing to do, but at the time I didn't think about it," Jayne answered. "I punched him square in the jaw." The other ninja chuckled at her last statement.

"Good girl!" Kai praised his niece.

"I'll bet Scales didn't like that too much," Lloyd remarked. Jayne shook her head.

"No, that's when he had the others capture me and he threatened me," she told them. Turning her eyes to her sister, she continued."That's when I began to hope that Kailee had gotten my message." Kailee nodded.

"Yeah, I was just beginning to wonder what was taking you so long, when I heard your message," she said as she picked up the story. "I told Keegan about Jayne's message and we hurried towards the river. We watched in the bushes for a while until we saw Scales threaten Jayne. That's when we jumped out and the fighting began."

"We did good at first," Keegan said. "The girls used their weapons and I had picked up a big stick earlier that I used for my weapon. Me and Kailee knocked out several of the serpentine."

"After the serpentine released me, I retrieved my bow and arrow and took a shot at the nearest snake, hitting him in the shoulder. He got mad and grabbed at me with his tail. I tried to avoid it, but he was just too fast. Before I knew what happened, he had me wrapped tightly in his tail and was squeezing me so hard I couldn't breathe. I knew I wouldn't be able to hold out much longer, so I sent Kailee a message to help me," Jayne said. She paused for a moment. "I must've passed out. I don't remember anything else after that."

"Once we had taken care of all of the serpentine that were around us except for Scales, I heard Jayne send me another message. I turned around to find her being squeezed by one of the serpentine," Kailee said. "I started to run towards her, but Scales grabbed me before I could get far." Kailee paused and glanced at Keegan. "That's when Keegan used his special power to put the snake to sleep." The other ninja turned their attention to the curly-headed boy.

"What 'special powers'?" Kai asked his son.

"Well, I just used my eyes to hypnotize the snake and he went to sleep," Keegan answered, shrugging his shoulders."There's nothing special about it." Everyone just stared at him.

"Nothing special about it!" Cole exclaimed in surprise. Lloyd snorted.

"Yeah, it's not like it's something anybody can do," he agreed.

"How long have you been able to do that for?" Nya asked.

"When I was little, I began to notice that I was able to do stuff with my eyes that allowed me to control things," Keegan told them. "It seems to work best on animals, though. It doesn't work on people most of the time."

"Is that why you stood and stared at that bear?" Zane asked him. Keegan nodded.

"Yes sir, but the bear was too sick to pay attention to me," he said.

"Son, do you realize what this means?" Kai asked. Keegan shook his head, a look of confusion on his face. "You're a ninja!"

Keegan stared at his father in shock. "You mean it?" he asked. Kai smiled as he nodded. Keegan looked around the table, a smile growing on his face. "I'm a ninja!" he exclaimed in excitement. The others laughed.

Sensei had slipped from the room, unnoticed, sometime during the previous conversation. He had returned just then, having overheard Keegan's last statement.

"Yes, Keegan, you are a ninja," Sensei told him. The older man sat down in his chair, setting a flat box on top of the table. He slid the box down the table to Keegan, who stared at it in wonder.

"What's this?" the boy asked.

"Your new uniform," Sensei replied. Keegan's eyes opened wide in surprise.

"A real ninja suit?" he asked, opening the box. He pulled out an orange suit, with a pair if black gloves.

"Of course it is!" Lloyd answered.

"You can't be a ninja without a ninja suit," Cole told him. Keegan chuckled at himself.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," he agreed.

"Why don't you put it on?" Kailee suggested.

"Sure!" her cousin said, jumping up from the table and rushing from the room, leaving the others laughing at his haste.

Deep in the darkest caverns under the earth, a young girl was expertly countering her serpentine opponents' attacks. Her mother watched, a pleased expression on her face. Although it had taken her daughter a little longer to learn everything she needed to learn about martial arts, the girl's training had finally reached its peak. There was nothing more that she could teach her. Her mother chuckled softly. Her daughter was now ready for her first assignment, the only reason she had put so much time and effort into her training.

"Mistress Lilith, what do you plan to do now that the transssformation isss complete?" a voice asked, startling her from her thoughts. She turned and saw one of her serpentine servants at her side.

"I have an idea that will work," she replied, turning her attention back to watching her daughter. The serpentine bowed in submission before backing away from her.

Within a few minutes, the young teenager had defeated all of the serpentine opponents. She moved to stand before her mother, waiting for her words of approval. The girl's long black hair had worked itself loose from its ponytail during the previous fight and now tumbled down her back in a cascade of curls and waves. She pushed her long bangs out of her face, tucking them behind her ear before resting her hand on her hip. Her cool gray eyes matched her nonchalant disposition perfectly.

"Perfect. Absolutely perfect," Lilith told her daughter, an evil grin appearing on her face. Her eyes narrowed as she thought about her plan. It was foolproof, and Adrianna was the perfect person for the job. It was time to tell her.

"Now that you've finished your training, I have an important mission for you," Lilith began. "It is time that I told you the reason for all your training." She paused for a moment. "I want you to do what I cannot. To rise to a new level of supremeness, to be the best." When the girl continued to look puzzled, Lilith explained. "I want you to go to Ninjago and find the ninja. These ninja have convinced everyone that they are Heroes, but I know the truth. They are evil people who only want to rule all of Ninjago. I want you to befriend them and find out what is the best way to defeat them. Their weaknesses. But whatever you do, don't let them know who you are or what you are doing. Can I trust you to complete this task?" she looked deep into her daughter's eyes.

"Mother, have I ever let you down before?" the girl asked, her voice full of annoyance at being asked that question.

"It will not be an easy task," her mother warned her. "These ninja are very devious. They have managed to elude all of my attempts to discover their latest hiding place. You will have to figure out where they are and then relay that information back to me."

"That doesn't sound too hard," Adrianna assured her. Lilith smiled her evil smile.

"Good," she said. "Good. Now, go get some rest. You'll need to get an early start tomorrow."

Once inside her room, the girl leaned against the locked door, breathing heavily. Though she wouldn't admit it, she was a little nervous about this mission. She knew about the ninja. Even though she hadn't said it, she knew that her mother would send her on a mission like this.

That was the only reason her mother had spent so much time training her. She trained her in more than just fighting. She had worked hard to instill her hatred in her daughter's heart. Lilith hated anything good and pure. At first, the girl had resisted all of her mother's attempts. This had angered her mother.

Adrianna squeezed her eyes right as she remembered her mother's angry reaction. That was when she had learned the hard way to NEVER anger her mother.

Slowly, she made her way over to sit on her bed. Reaching underneath her shirt, the girl pulled out a tiny, silver, heart-shaped locket with a tiny silver bow above it. Elegantly engraved on the front was a capital A. The A had not been intended to stand for Adrianna, though. When it had been engraved on the locket, her name had been different. SHE had been different.

Opening the locket, she stared down at the smiling faces that stared back at her. She remembered the day that those pictures had been taken. She had been so happy back then. But that was before the tragedy had happened, destroying her once happy childhood. Even though she had been young, she still remembered it like it was yesterday.

Standing to her feet, she walked over to stand in front of the mirror. She studied the face of the girl that stared back at her. It was very similar to that of the little girl in the locket. But, at the same time, it was very different.

The face in the mirror was a little older than the one in the locket. True, that was because the girl was older, but it wasn't just the difference in age that made them different. The girl in the locket was happy. She loved her family and they loved her. She was good and kind. An angel, some people called her.

The girl reflected in the mirror was hard and cold. Years of hurt and pain and turned into bitterness and hatred, consuming every fiber of her being until there was nothing good left in her. No longer was she happy. Her eyes were dull and sad; her face emotionless.

Quickly, she snapped the locket shut and dropped back beneath her shirt, shoving the memories away with it. She wiped the unshed tears from her eyes with the back of her hand. She couldn't allow herself to cry. Crying was a sign of weakness. That, her mother had taught her well.

Making her way back to the bed, she stretched herself out on it. Her mother had advised her to rest and she decided to listen to her advice. She soon discovered that she was more tired than she'd thought. Sleep overcame her and she didn't fight it.

So? What do you think? How do you like Adrianna? What do you think her name used to be? (I'll give you a hint, I mentioned her in one of my previous chapters by her other name!) And what do you think the tragedy is that happened to her? Tell me in the reviews!

Also, I REALLY need some suggestions for Keegan's and Adrianna's weapons. And, should I make theirs and the twins' weapons be able to change into vehicles? If so, what should they be?

Thanks again to everyone who has been reviewing and to those who have been reading this even though they haven't reviewed! ;-) You guys are awesome!