Nya and Jay zoomed through the forest, throttling the D.B Express at her maximum speed. They plowed straight through jungle brush, leaving thick tracks in the marsh wherever the wheels rolled. Only the trees remained, as Nya would not scratch the newly-repainted vehicle that Ryoko had repaired.
"This is nice," Nya whistled. "You sure know your way around ninja tech, Ryoko."
"Thanks," Ryoko's voice crackled on the speaker. "I pride myself in my creations."
"Well, it was mine first," Nya scowled. "You just tweaked her up a little bit, that's all."
"Of course, of course, I forgot," Ryoko laughed. "You pretty much had a monopoly on ninja tech in the good old days, until Cyrus Borg and Ronin showed up. Sill miss those days?"
"I wouldn't trade today for anything of those days," Nya remarked. "Life is as good as it gets now."
"Oh really," Ryoko said. "Well, I won't bother to ask why; that's as obvious as it's going to get."
"Hey Ryoko," Jay asked.
"Yes, lightning ninja," Ryoko answered.
"May I ask you a question, a personal one," Jay sighed.
"Sure," Ryoko replied. "Just don't ask me anything weird that I can't answer. After all, I still have my secrets to keep."
"If you've been Skylor's friend for a while, then how come you never reached out to us," Jay asked. "And on top of that, how did you come to meet Skylor in the first place?"
"One question at a time, thunder boy," Ryoko laughed. "Look, I don't socialize unless I need to, and until this whole Pythar mess started, I had no need to contact any of you."
"But what about my other question," Jay asked.
"Classified," Ryoko stated.
"You don't tell me classified…" Jay grumbled.
Suddenly, Nya pressed hard on the brakes, stopping the D.B. Express on a dime. Jay flew out of the seat into the front window, knocking his head against the glass. Then his air bag deployed, knocking Jay back into his chair. All the engines hissed out a loud puff of steam, and the speakers short-circuited for a brief second.
"Goodness, Nya, did you have to stop so harshly," Jay scowled. "You could have broken something."
"Yeah, Nya, why'd you stop so fast," Ryoko questioned. "It's bad for the engines and the computers. You have my communication lines all scrambled up now."
"Sorry Ryoko," Nya blushed, "but we right on top of the thieves."
"But I don't see…yikes," Jay shouted.
Three Hypnobrai warriors suddenly dashed out of the brush, darting across the road toward the other side. Nya and Jay quickly leaped out, then pulled out their katanas. But the snakes had plunged into the jungle before they could attack.
"Where's your nun chucks, Jay," Nya asked.
"Left them back home," Jay grumbled. "I can't believe Cole switched them out for unicorn figurines!"
Nya snorted, then quickly recomposed herself when she saw Jay scowl and blush.
"No matter, you can swing a katana just as well, right," Nya asked.
"Of course," Jay boasted. "I can handle anything!"
"Anything," Nya winked.
"Yeah, anything," Jay boasted again. "Now can we please get moving? Those treacherous snakes are getting away."
Nya and Jay plunged into the jungle, racing through with drawn katanas after the snakes. They soon spotted the Hypnobrai again and increased their speed. One of the Hypnobrai turned his head, then quickly hissed and glanced forward again.
"Sir," he hissed. "The ninja are right on our tail."
"Blast those ninjas," the leader cursed. "Slithers, take care of them."
"How do I do that," Slithers asked. "If I stop, they'll catch me. And I can't do my hypnotizing while running, can I?"
"You will or you won't get to eat," the leader snarled. "Now take care of them!"
The leader and the other Hypnobrai surged forward, leaving Slithers to deal with the ninja. Slithers turned his head around, facing toward Jay and Nya while maintaining his pace. His eyes then linked with Jay's, starting the hypnosis by shooting spirals out of his eyes. They bounced against Jay's eyes, which started to spin and turn green. Jay swayed to the right near Nya, then swerved quickly to the left.
"Jay, snap out of it," Nya shouted. "Don't let them hypnotize you."
"You expect me to run with my eyes close," Jay shouted. "I'll hit a tree or worse a rock."
"Just trust me," Nya replied. "I'm your wife, remember?"
Jay nodded, then shut his eyes close. The hypnosis immediately wore off, dissipating into the air around him. Slithers hissed, then attempted to strengthen his hypnosis. Jay's eyes began to shiver open and close, too weak to withstand Slither's attack for much longer.
"Hold your eyes shut," Nya ordered.
"You think I'm not trying," Jay yelled.
Nya readied her katana, prepared to launch it at Slithers with a quick flicker of her hand. But before she launched, Slithers smacked into the tree in front of him, knocking himself unconscious. The hypnosis shattered completely, freeing Jay's eyes from the spell. Jay and Nya slowed to a stop, halting above a dazed Slithers.
"Well, I say," Jay chuckled. "Turns out snakes are still as dumb as I thought. These guys haven't changed a bit."
"He's learned his lesson alright," Nya smiled. "Ryoko, can you hear me?"
"Loud and clear, Nya," Ryoko answered via the commlink. "Have you caught them yet?"
"One of them," Jay answered. "He crashed into a tree."
"I'm sending Karlof and Speedo to fetch him," Ryoko said. "Catch the other two, then return with the time claw."
"Will do," Nya answered. "Over and out."
"You sure we can catch them," Jay asked. "They got a head-start while we handled this fella here."
"Since when do ninja ever quit," Nya quipped. "Come on. They couldn't have gotten far."
Nya was right. Within a few minutes, they arrived at the river bank just as the Hypnobrai were shoving off on a raft. Jay barely missed them with his sword as they floated downstream. Then he nearly plunged into the water, pulled back at the last second by Nya.
"Man," Jay complained. "They're getting away. Can't you reverse the current?"
"Who says I need to reverse the current," Nya winked. "Look. They left us a raft to follow them on."
They hopped onto the raft, then Jay grabbed the oar and shoved off the bank. The raft creaked and the water splashed, but the raft entered the rapids intact. Soon they were cruising quickly along the river, rowing toward the snakes ahead on their raft. The Hypnobrai leader turned around and snarled.
"Cursed ninjas," he snarled.
"I told you that Slithers was incompetent, Fibaa," his comrade replied. "We shouldn't have brought Slithers along. After all, he tripped the alarm and exposed himself to that spy."
"I know that Slithers failed, Boa," Fibaa hissed. "Now paddle faster."
"I'm going as fast as I can, Fibaa," Boa answered. "Why don't we use the time claw?"
"Good idea, Boa," Fibaa smiled.
Fibaa pulled from his bag the forward time claw, then aimed it straight at Jay and Nya. He then fired, shooting a beam of time at the paddling ninja. Nya and Jay tried to dodge the blast but moved tool slowly to escape its radius. The beam flew through the ninja, causing them to poof out of sight.
"Good shot, Fibaa," Boa praised. "You got rid of them."
"That'll be the last of those pesky ninjas," Fibaa snorted. "Now keep paddling until we reach the checkpoint."
A few seconds later, they heard a loud pop, followed by a puff of smoke which briefly blanketed the sky above them.
"What was that," Boa asked. "Did you fire the time claw again?"
"No," Fibaa answered. "Must be the after-effect Pythar told us about."
Nya and Jay then reappeared above the cloud, wide-eyed after their brief disappearance. For a brief second, they hovered in mid-air, then the cloud dissolved and they fell on top of the unsuspecting snakes. Boa, who was leaning on the side with the oar, stumbled into the river, barely hanging onto the logs. Fibaa was smashed flat by Jay, the time claw flying out of his hand into the river.
"Great job, ninja," Fibaa hissed. "Looks like nobody will get the time claw now."
Then the time claw appeared on the river surface again, floating steadily along toward the raging rapids. Nya sighed with relief.
"Well, spoke too soon, didn't you," Jay laughed. "Looks like time claws can float."
"Don't gloat so loudly," Fibaa hissed. "There's worse things than me that you should worry about."
"Fibaa," Boa shouted. "Rocks dead ahead."
Nya grabbed the oar from Boa, then starting paddling the raft to the right. The raft splashed and rocked in the rapids, narrowly missing a boulder jutting out of the water. Boa's right hip smacked into the rock, which broke his grip and knocked him into the river. The rapids tossed Boa into the bank, and there he collapsed with a heavy sigh.
"Two down, one to go," Jay stated.
"Watch where you steer," Fibaa chuckled.
Fibaa bit hard into Jay's leg, sinking his fangs deep into the ankle. Jay yelped, then started jumping around the raft while trying to grab his foot. He knocked the oar out of Nya's hand, then nearly fell with Nya into the river. While Nya steadied the raft and Jay, Fibaa barrel-rolled into the river, then promptly swam toward the shore opposite of Boa. By the time the ninja regained their footing, Fibaa had escaped into the jungle.
"That low-down dirty snake," Jay swore. "He bit my foot and now look at it. I won't be able to walk on it for days now."
"Why did Fibaa give up, though," Nya wondered aloud. "He just let us go after the time claw and bailed."
"Who cares," Jay shrugged carelessly. "All I know is that the time claw is ours for the taking."
"Not without an oar," Nya scowled. "You took out our only way to steer."
"Oh, sorry," Jay blushed. "But is it me, or are we heading for an insanely huge rock?!"
Nya glanced over her shoulder. The raft was racing directly toward a large boulder jutting out of the left bank, and there was no time to steer out of the way. Jay and Nya grabbed each other's arms, then faced the boulder together. Suddenly, a rope ladder appeared out of nowhere, dropping right in front of Jay and Nya. They both glanced up. Directly above them, a small flying ship hovered, with Ryoko and Skylor glancing over the side.
"Grab the ladder," Skylor ordered.
Nya and Jay grabbed the ladder. As soon as they were secured, Ryoko steered the ship away from the river. The ladder rose above the boulder, which slightly grazed Jay's foot as they flew past it. At the same time, the raft smashed into the boulder, splintering into a million pieces that floated down the river and over the nearby waterfall. Once they were clear of the falls, Ryoko hauled the ninja in, allowing them to collapse onto the wooden decks.
"Right on time, Ryoko," Nya smiled. "How'd you know we'd need help?"
"I had a feeling," Ryoko laughed, "especially when it involves thunder pants here."
"I am not thunder pants," Jay retorted.
"Well, Ryoko, you saved the day again," Skylor congratulated.
"We didn't get the time claw," Nya said as she helped Jay up. "The river carried it away over the falls."
"That's okay," Skylor smiled. "We can retrieve the time claw another day. For now, let's you guys back to the palace. Jay needs his ankle treated, after all."
In the jungles below, a small squadron of Hypnobrai warriors watched the ninja ship depart, then proceeded onward toward the river. All were armed with various Serpentine weapons of days long gone, all except for Fibaa, who the squadron ran into as they were marching through a patch of thick brush. Fibaa now stood in the center of the group, walking alongside a fuming Pythar as he slithered along.
"I gave you one command and you blew it," Pythar swore. "Can I not trust my own commander to do as I bid?"
"Pythar, my lord," Fibaa hissed. "We were attacked by the ninjas. I could not help but flee."
"Now the time claw is in their possession, you fool," Pythar cursed. "Now all my work will be for naught. Must I complain to the Master on your behalf?"
"No, not the Master," Fibaa pleaded. "He'll have me demoted and placed in the stables. And the ninja did not get the time claw either. It was swept over the falls."
"Hmmm, now that is something I can work with," Pythar mumbled. "Men, change of plans. We'll head at once for the bottom of the falls to retrieve the time claw. And this time, no ninja will be there to stop me…."