A/N: Sorry this is late! To be honest, I forgot about our internet's cutoff time and then forgot I hadn't done this yet. So... at least this wasn't later?

Review Replies:

none :(

If you ever have time, they are really appreciated!

"... The rest of the day can be used for training. And tomorrow, for that matter."

"Training?! For how long?"

"What about the Bounty?" Jay interjected. "I'm still fixing up the flying mechanisms! I was supposed to finish it up today!"

Wu sighed. "I will take care of that. You four: focus. You will be training until you can answer this simple riddle: what is the best way to defeat your enemy?"

*Transition to a certain scaly perspective*

Pythor glanced at the child, the map taunting him from inside the pocket. If only this stupid child wasn't somehow aware of his every movement, he couldn't even manage to grab it while he was invisible. He hated this long a con, but he'd have to be patient.

"Lloyd?" The child turned away from the fire, still holding the drying meat unnaturally steady. "Why is it you have no friendsss?" Other than because you're a freak.

"Well, Skales became the leader of the Hypnobrai, and he didn't really like me. And Fangtom, general of the Fangpyre, turned out to be an old friend of Skales's, so...I mean there's-" He cut himself off by covering his mouth with one hand and then shrugged, turning back to his jerky.

"But sssurely you've met people of your own ssspeciesss, perhapsss you even went to - oh, what'sss the human word? Ssschool?"

Lloyd tensed, curling in on himself. "I- I was- I was raised at a- a boarding- a boarding school." His shaking made it difficult for him to hold his stick steady.

"Why did you leave?"

"I- they- I... They didn't want me as- didn't want me as a student."

"They kicked you out?!" Pythor let out an outraged gasp. "Well, we'll shhow them."

"What do you- what do you mean?"

"Why don't we get revenge on the very school that rejected you?"

"But, we'll have to- all the teachers and students- we'd be outnumbered! And then there's the ninja who would- would make everything worse... It's best to just lay low."

Pythor narrowed his eyes. "If I didn't know better, I'd sssay you're ssscared."

"Yeah! Yeah, I really- really am." Lloyd adjusted the jerky on the stick.

"Well," that was not what Pythor had been expecting. This human child was just full of surprises. "You underessstimate my abilitiesss, I can easssily take down a handful of humansss. And for the ninja we will ssset a trap, it will be a double revenge."

"But-"

"Get sssome ressst, we have a big day ahead of usss."

Lloyd started at the ground, but nodded. He lay the mostly-dried jerky on a rock and stamped out the fire before curling up in a corner, his back to the wall.

How very strange this human child was.

*At a certain school of evil*

Going against his screaming instincts, Lloyd carefully scrambled toward the outer wall. Pythor was going to meet him on the roof of this building, as long as everything went well. If anything went well.

Lloyd's heart was pounding, his hands quivering as he grasped at the side of the building. The all too familiar building. Finding handholds was easy, actually keeping hold on them proved nearly impossible. Pythor was already there by the time he made his way to the top, and Lloyd immediately raced to the snake's side. He still desperately wanted to be anywhere but there, but Pythor made it a little better.

The first bit of the plan was in motion, now they just had to wait. They watched the ground, both silently scanning for any form of motion. A sound from high in the sky could barely be detected, but Lloyd still glanced up... Just in time to see the shadow of the Bounty approach overhead. Grabbing Pythor, he dove to the edge of the roof, just in time to avoid the anchor that smashed into the center. Creeping toward the hole as the dust cleared, both boy and snake swiftly spotted the four colorful figures coughing at the bottom.

"What- what do we do now?!" Lloyd stared at Pythor with wide, watering eyes. "This- we didn't- didn't plan for this!"

"I'll handle thisss." Pythor growled, opening the hatch and slipping into the building.

Lloyd watched his friend slip away, curling in on himself. "He's coming back. He'll be fine." He muttered again and again, trying to make himself believe it.

The anchor lifted, and Lloyd couldn't help the scream that escaped his lips. His vision blacked out for a second as his heart lept out of his chest. When he picked himself up again he was just in time to catch sight of the empty anchor as the flying ship began to adjust its position in the sky.

To his relief, a scaly purple head appeared through the trapdoor. Lloyd swiftly was at the snake's side, helping Pythor onto the roof. Once he was up Pythor immediately slammed the door shut, throwing several boards on top. Mere seconds later the blue ninja easily broke through their defenses. "Shocked to see me?"

Lloyd let out a whimper, clutching Pythor's scales as he ducked behind him. He was barely aware of what the snake was doing, his wide eyes glued to the ninja.

Something was plucked from his back pocket, and he turned to see Pythor holding the map of Serpentine tombs. "What- what are you- you doing?"

"Sssorry, boy, I have other plansss."

"No!" A tear escaped Lloyd's eye as Pythor faded out of sight. "Please, don't leave me here!"

There were all four ninja on the roof now, although Lloyd wasn't sure when the other three had arrived. He could feel their cruel, evil grins, even though the ninja were wearing masks. He turned away from them, hesitating a second before sprinting toward the edge.

"I got him!" The red ninja pounced on him, easily dragging him back by the hood of his shirt. Lloyd instinctively froze.

The ship descended, lowering the plank as Wu began walking down. "What 'cha gonna do with him, Wu?"

Lloyd curled up as best he could. Of course there was punishment: he had run away, disobeyed direct orders repeatedly, and even tried to be a person. He'd known this was coming, he'd just hoped it would have been awhile longer before he was caught.

"Are you gonna wash his mouth out with soap, for a year?"

"Ground him indefinitely?"

"Have him sit in a corner for a century?"

Lloyd blinked in surprise, were those supposed to be punishments?

"I know exactly what we must do." Wu's voice had an ominous tone.

Tensing, Lloyd did his best to prepare himself for the old man's wrath.

If I'm being honest, this was going to be two separate chapters... but they were both kinda short so I just scooped them together! I hope you liked the extra content!