Part 2
In the toxic bogs, Kai and Jay reached their destination. They dismounted their vehicles and looked around for any signs of snakes.
"Ugh." Jay noted the strong smell, throwing up his nose in air in disgust.
"It's not me." Kai defended. "We're in the toxic Bogs, this stuff will eat though you worse than Cole's chilli." The Red ninja said as he grabbed a stick and poked it into the watery sludge in front of them. The stick dissolved almost immediately. After some thinking the two moved towards the small island in the middle of the sludge lake via the trees.
Jay opened the door of the tomb, it opened slowly, pushing out a wave of green, stinking mist. Jay let out a nervous chuckle as he looked into the dark hallway.
"Let's make it quick before Pythor gets here."
As Jay walked inside, Kai suddenly turned his head towards a rustling sound. Meanwhile Jay was playing an echo game.
Kai suddenly jumped back and grabbed his sword, only to discover it was a frog.
"You shouldn't sneak up on people like that. If I wasn't su-"He cut himself off as the platform the frog suddenly started to rise, Revealing a dark green snake, before Kai could react though, The snake spit a green gas in his eyes. When he opened them again, his vision started to blur and warp.
"Jay!" He called but the Blue ninja didn't hear him. It would take 3 more times of calling out before he reacted.
With raised eyebrow, Jay moved towards his friend.
"There's so many, Gingerbread and elves!" Jay looked from his friend to the Snakes. "Okay I don't know what you're seeing, but this is no time to lose yourself! I need you partner."
By now Kai was Hyperventilating. "I never fought tiny people before! We're toast."
"Anyone ordered a little Kick-butt?" Jay and the snakes now surrounding him and Kai looked up to see Cole and Zane enter the scene. Jay just snickered as the Cave entrance echoed the "Butt" part of Cole's sentence.
"Fool." The blue Ninja screamed as Pythor suddenly appeared behind Cole and Zane. The Pink Dressed Ninja quickly went for the flute but the Long-necked snake quickly stole it using his tail, giving the opening for the other Serpentine to corner the Ninja on a log.
"I've got a Sinking feeling, this might be the last I see of you four." Pythor grinned menacingly.
Cole growled. "That's it, I used to hate dragons, now I officially hate snakes!"
"Wait!" They all looked at Kai, trying to keep their footing on the now sinking log. "A magic flying rope! We can climb to safety!" If it wasn't for Jay, Kai would have walked off into the acid sludge. "That venomari venom is some powerful stuff."
"For whatever it's worth, it was an honour to fight with you." Zane said, not taking his eyes of the enemy.
"For me to." Cole Agreed with Jay.
Just when all of them thought this would be the end, help arrived, in the form of a sturdy rope that got thrown down.
Kai gasped with childlike wonder. "The magic rope!"
"Quick." Jay called. "Everyone, climb over!"
While the boys climbed on the now hanging rope. Another figure landed in-between the snakes, whilst a metal suit landed Behind Pythor. The first figure used their weapon to herd the snakes together and the Metal suit then captured them in a large net, it didn't hold them for very long. As the constrictai just burrowed down and the venomari jumped into the lake, Leaving only Pythor and the two newcomers. The chest of the suite opened, revealing an intimidating figure in samurai armour.
The samurai looked around, looking for their target. Suddenly it's eyes fell on the long-necked snake. "Pythor, Target confirmed!" It spoke with a metallic distorted voice. The purple snake quickly turned and ran, but not before the Samurai could tag him with a dart.
The four-ninja looked at the samurai and its accomplice. Whilst the Samurai had a color-scheme of black and red and its logo looked to be a phoenix. Meanwhile the other was black with purple accents and hid their face behind a black and white mask with inverted details and a raven symbol on the back, the other difference was that the Samurai actually used a Mech suit to use whilst the other used a Glaive.
The samurai jumped down to meet the ninja.
"Who are you two?" Asked Kai, his voice akin to a child that saw Santa Clause for the first time. The accomplice raised an eyebrow under their mask. What was his deal?
"How about the coolest thing I've ever seen!" Jay exclaimed.
"Thank you, mysterious warrior. I own you my life for- " The Samurai looked at their accomplice in the middle of Zane's sentence. The masked helper nodded and with that, he raised their hand and gassed the four knock-out before flying away.
During dinner the discussion was heated over the identity from their mysterious helpers.
"So then, Just when we were gonna bite it, This huge Mechanical Robot-"Samurai" Zane interrupted Jay. "It was Samurai."
Lloyd furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as he looked to his uncle. "A Samu…what?"
"Samurai: Highest level of warrior class." Calli quipped before popping a small piece of fruit from Cole's plate in her mouth, food she might not need but it was fun to see his reaction whenever she stole his. Sensei gave a small nod. "Yes, they would protect nobility and serve with honour on the battlefield."
Zane spoke again. "But, what about the other one? The masked one, He looked like the combination between a Ninja and an assassin. With a Raven outline on his back."
"It was a girl." Everyone looked at Jay with raised eyebrows, wondering where he got that information from. "What? she had… ehm." More stares. The Blue Ninja visibly squirmed. "Don't make me say it out loud!"
The red-head decided to help the boy out. "Curves?"
"Yes! Thank you."
The petite ginger just shrugged. "Sounds like it's a Raven Guard. They used to be warriors that often worked with the Samurai to protect, but later on, they became hired spies and, as ya mentioned, assassins." All eyes fell on her. What? I read, a lot, in case ya forgot."
Suddenly Kai started to speak, his eyes still wide and voice soft and childlike. "He was a hundred feet high, with weapons coming out of each part of him."
Silence filled the room as everyone turned to look at the Red Ninja who was still under the effect of the venom. Said Ninja suddenly leaned into Cole. "Look at Sensei's beard! It's moving like snakes." The Black Ninja leaned away, looking around him for help. Nya pulled her brother back.
"When is this Venomari spit supposed to wear off? It's starting to get annoying." She deadpanned.
"Okay, don't let these mysterious guys cloud what's important!" The Earth Ninja interrupted any further debate. "All the serpentine are out, and if Pythor can unite them the legend states some..." He fumbled a bit. "Great devourer is gonna consume the land and- "Breathe, Cole." He did as Calli instructed and stopped his ramble.
"Great Devourer?" Asked Nya.
Cole nodded. "Whatever it is, it's one can of worms I don't want to see opened."
Lloyd hung his head in shame after hearing all of this. "This is all my fault." He sighed. "If I hadn't opened the first hatch none of this would've happened."
"We cannot change the past, but we can affect the future. At least we have the sacred flute in our possession, so-"Yeah, about that." Jay spoke up, awkwardly coughing and scratching the back of his neck.
"Pythor, sort of, stole it." The White Ninja broke the news.
"The last Sacred flute? Gone!?" Sensei Wu sighed. "You four are Ninjago's last hope, a- "For the second time, Wu's sentence was interrupted, this time however it was the alarm.
"Cold vision must have caught something!" Nya exclaimed and shot up.
"In Ninjago City?" Asked the Black Ninja as everyone stood up and quickly made their way to the bridge.
"How many are there?" Asked Jay as they leaned over the scan.
"Looks like all of 'm." Noted Calli from next to Nya.
Zane nodded. "Pythor must be trying to unite them."
"Go! We mustn't let the five tribes unite." The boys didn't need to be told twice and hurried towards Ninjago's biggest city.
As the boys looked around the city where they had landed, The Raven Guard shadowed them from above, seated on one of the rooftops and looking down on the four Ninja. When they finally decided to move, trying to figure out where the snakes had gone, The Raven moved, landing behind them without a sound.
The four were standing over a manhole, having figured out that this would be the only logical solution for the lack of snakes and it took Her all of her willpower not to snicker when the black one voiced his dislike for the scaly vermin. When they jumped down, she followed them silent as a cat.
The place they ended up was a large and dry open area in the middle of the sewers.
"That's a lot of snakes." Noted the Black one.
The Blue one nodded. "What are we gonna do?" He asked.
"I have an idea. Follow my lead." The other 3 followed the Red one to one side of the area. So, the Raven went the other way, trying to see what effect their idea would have and if she could work with it, and work with it she could.
The boys went around, using the pipes and rope to insult the snakes and turn them onto each other. This all went well, until the black one was spotted.
The Guard stood up from her place and tried to jump down, only to be stopped by one of the Constrictai. "I remember you from the toxic bogsss." He hissed.
The guard wasted no time in grabbing Her Glaive. Eyes focussed on the enemy in front of her. The snake lunged at her, giving her little time to jump away, only narrowly avoiding his attack. The snake buried himself the moment he landed, Throwing their narrow hanging platform off balance. The Raven quickly tried to stabilize herself using her weapon, but with that lowered guard, she missed the Constrictai jumping out of the ground.
This was a vital mistake on the snake's part, the movement of the snake combined with the unstable platform resulted in the platform collapsing. Both the snake and the warrior fell to the ground, but while the snake was able to land by burring himself again, she wasn't so lucky, landing on a sharp piece of debris and resulting in a large flesh-wound in her side.
Fighting any further would be useless and more dangerous now, she had no choice but to retreat. By now the snakes trying to find the Ninja had returned as more of them circled her. Adrenaline started to course through her body, numbing out the pain of the wound, but not so much as to be comfortable, or as comfortable you could be with a gash in your side.
The serpentine were with many, to many to fight on but she wouldn't give in and clutched her weapon in both hands. With a burst of strength, she pushed through, downing at least a couple of the scaly enemies.
However, they just kept on coming and her energy was quickly dwindling down. The guard looked up once again, using one hand to clutch her side.
She could see the eyes of the three captured Ninja on her, and with great hurt in her pride and dignity, she let her Glaive fall to the ground and gave in to her last option; Surrender.
"Good, put her with the others." Pythor grinned, making her glare at him, not that he could see it from behind the mask. "And find that Last Ninja! You won't find him in plain sight!"
If the snake only knew how wrong he was. As if on cue, the pink-that-was-supposed-to-be-white Ninja swung into sight, slamming Pythor and the Hypnobrai general down from where they were standing.
He didn't pay attention to the other snakes as he cut down his friends. "Now let's get out of here."
"Are you all right to run?" It was the Black Ninja who had spoken, eying her side cautiously. The Raven Guard nodded and stood from her place. It was a bit shaky but no-one argued as they made their way to the exit. Trying to keep at least an arm's length away from the serpentine, preferable more than that.
"Let us blow this popsicle stand!" Exclaimed the Pink Ninja from the front, with way to much enthusiasm, before going into a Spinjitzu tornado to get more distance.
The Blue one grinned. "Popsicle stand ey? I like it."
The Now-pink-colored Ninja then used his shuriken to freeze the rest of the hallway before changing them into his vehicle. As the others clambered on, the girl stopped, producing a couple of small discs from a small pouch on her belt. The ice on the walls was thick enough to narrow the passage considerably, so if she were to blow them up, she would be able to slow down the snakes enough.
"Come on!" She turned to the boys and shook her head and motioned for them to go before tossing two of the little discs against the wall.
It was enough motivation to get them going.
The warrior grinned behind her mask as the snakes started to slip. Most of them falling to the ground like Bambi the moment they set foot on the slippery substance. At the same time, the discs exploded, blowing away most of the serpentine and unveiling a hole in the celling that would lead outside. And with that and a bit of difficulty the warrior climbed away.
"You know, whether it was in a lesson book or not, we used the destructive power of rumours to our advantage." Cole grinned as he grabbed a piece of fruit.
"And now the serpentine are further away than ever from getting their act together." Furthered Kai.
Jay nodded. "Yeah, I don't think we would've gotten out from there if it hadn't been for Zane." He said, looking at the said Ninja.
"Don't thank me, Thank Lloyd. If it hadn't been for his laundry skills, we all would've been found." Snickered Zane and as if on cue, the door opened, revealing the green-eyed trouble maker.
"It took me twenty loads, but your suit's no longer pink." Then he looked at Cole. "And to show that I'm sorry Cole, I got you a can of nuts." But like any reasonable person, the black ninja didn't trust the kid with his history of pranks.
"Don't think I don't see where this is going. When I open this a bunch of snakes are gonna pop out, right? No thank you." And with that he walked towards the fridge, completely unaware of the grin on Lloyds face, and as soon as he opened the fridge a bunch of rubber snakes jumped out in his face.
Everyone busted into laughter.
"All right kid, that was a good one." The Earth Ninja grinned.
"Heh, Calli actually helped me with that one." The kid then noticed the absence of the said girl. "Has anyone seen her? I wanted to give her this book to say sorry."
"I think she was in our bedroom." Said Kai, avoiding a rubber snake that Cole threw off.
"I'll go and look." Said the Black Ninja, ignoring Jay's grin.
Meanwhile, Calli was indeed in the bedroom, heavily breathing and shaking as she tried to take care of the wound in her side. Tangle had wrapped himself around her ankle to give some comfort.
She winced as she found another small piece of rock and managed to pull it out. A knock on the door snapped her out of it and with a quick movement she didn't know she was able to produce in this state, she kicked all her equipment under the bed of Zane and Kai.
Only seconds after she had managed to hide her wound the door opened to reveal the eldest ninja. "Hey, dinner is ready and we were… Are you okay?" He looked her up and down and directly noticed something off. Her stance was shaky, as was her posture and she was sickly pale.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Cole raised one eyebrow and walked towards her, not believing her for one second. This resulted in a stare off, until Tangle decided enough was enough and quickly slithered up, moving against the wound on purpose. The girl hissed in pain and clutched her side before glaring at the snake.
"I hate ya." She muttered to the red reptile on now on her shoulder. If regular snakes could shrug, Tangle would have done so, as well as roll his eyes. The Black ninja, now concerned about his friend quickly stepped forward. "Show me."
Calli refused to look at him. Cole sighed, he didn't like doing this but he had to. "Show me." He repeated the words, now with authority in his voice, by now they all had learned that somehow, she wasn't able to refuse anything given as an order. The ginger sighed and lifted part of her shirt.
"What happened?" Calli bit her lip. She should've found an excuse, lied her way out of it like she knew how to do. But, for once, she couldn't, why, she didn't know, but she found herself unable to tell him some ridiculous excuse.
"I think ye know how." She whispered, unable to even look at him. She didn't even need to see him to see he had put one and one together.
Cole looked at the smaller girl, she looked vulnerable right now, unable to even glance at him. She was the one trying to save them tonight, standing in the background until they had gotten captured, and she was the one injured in the process.
"Why?" It was a question that asked more than one, and as he moved to clean and bandaged the wound he found himself unable to ask anything else.
"I just wanted to help, normally my "Skills" are helpful, just not this time." She explained. "Please don't tell the others."
"I won't." Cole eventually said, making the girl sigh a shaky sigh of relieve. "On the condition that you will be more careful and actually train with us, I don't want you to get any more injuries, especially not if it is trying to get us out of a situation." Calli looked away once more, she hated it when he talked like a leader, it made her so stupidly obedient. "Your health is not any less important than ours is. You get that?" This time his voice was a bit softer.
"I promise." Her voice was small, but not any less sincere as she spoke. By now Cole had neatly wrapped the bandages, and, glad with her answer gave her a quick nod.
"Well, like I said, dinner is ready so come down when you're ready, or do you want me to bring you some?"
The ginger shook her head. "No thanks, I'm just going to bed." Cole nodded. "All right, call me when you need anything." With this he made his way back, until Calli called him back.
"Cole?"
"Yeah?" As he turned, he wasn't prepared for the tiny red-head to throw her arms around his waist.
"Thank you, and not just for helping me" Calli muttered. The rest of the sentence was unspoken, but she didn't need to voice them, she knew he understood. She could feel it.
Cole gave a small smile and carefully hugged back. "'t was no problem."
Yeey xD The start of some shipping! I really liked writing the ending of this chapter. And while it does get Cole in the know about it, i never meant for Calli as the Guard to be much of a secret since by now, everyone and their grandmother knows that plot twist. Also it gave me a chance to start showing that she had opened up more. As the saying goes, deeds are better than words. or something like that, i'm not native english so... Actions speak louder then words? Oh well. Also I loved coming up with alternative titles for Zane xD
For an image of Calli's outfit. I've got it on my deviantart. xdark- loversx. deviantart art/ OC- Calli- Colored- 744359522 Just delete the spaces and you're good to go. The mask is on the cover of this book.
Anyhow onto the reviews.
And also let me say thank you for all the Silent and anonymous readers! 6 Favs and 12 Follows? That may not look like much but I appreciate it so much! even if you didn't fav or follow. :) Thank you!
And with that out of the way,
I hope you enjoyed and i'll see you in the next chapter :)