A/N: Check it out guys! Before school! (only a couple days, but still!) Warnings for this chapter: several mentions of and heavily implied eating of people. Thanks, Pythor.

Anyway I hope you all enjoy!

Lloyd awoke to the sound of scales against stones, but when he opened his eyes he saw nothing.

"Hello? S-"

A hand slapped across his mouth, turning purple as the Anacondrai faded into existence. "Now, now." Pythor tsked. "Wouldn't want to ruin all the fun we're about to have, would we?"

Quickly, the boy shook his head.

"There'sss a good boy." Pythor smirked, gently placing a note on the boy's cot. "Now, let'sss get out of here."

In the morning, Selma went into her elder son's room, thinking he had slept in for once.

Instead, she found a note.

'Dear Skales.

Do not interfere with my plans, nor tell the blasted ninja where to find me. If you do, the human gets it.

Sincerely,

Pythor.'

*A brief intermission by the ninja and two brothers*

"Sensei, behind you!"

All four ninja lept into battle positions, even as Wu stepped protectively in front of Garmadon. "He is the reason I left."

"But-"

"Sensei-"

"He's like-"

"But he's the embodiment of evil!"

"And Lloyd's father." Garmadon himself declared, pushing past his brother. "Why I'm here has nothing to do with you, or your weapons, I am here to keep my son safe. No matter what." As he finished his thought, his eyes narrowed and he wrung his hands together as if wringing someone's neck.

Wu gently set a hand on one of his brother's shoulders, sort of calming the older man. "He will be." Afterwards, he turned to his students. "How has stopping the serpentine been going?"

"Well, sensei, you'll be happy to know that Cole, Jay, and I have all unlocked our true potentials, and that there has been no detectable movement by the serpentine for almost two weeks."

A nod. "But we must stay vigilant."

*This has been a brief intermission by the ninja and two brothers*

Pythor tugged on the rope tied to his captive's wrists. "Ssstop dragging your feet. I'm tired of having to ssswallow you."

Swallowing the slight hesitation, reminding himself of the past few days, Lloyd grinned. "Is that seriously the worst you can do? I've been in far worse than a puddle of stomach acid." With each word, he felt more confident.

Startled, Pythor hissed at him with a glare. "Sssincse when were you so bold?"

"Since I learned how pathetic your punishments are. I mean seriously," he held out an arm, sluggishly bleeding from the untreated bite wound. "You call this a wound?"

"It'sss been two days and you're still bleeding!" The snake defended.

"That's only because it re-opened. Besides, it's not pouring blood, it's more like a papercut by now."

"Exsscuse me?!"

"Yeah, I mean, I've refused your orders, tried to slow your progress, I've even tried to run away and all you've done is swallow me a few times and bite me once. I mean, really. You seriously call those punishments? I've even been insulting you and the most you've done is threaten me." Lloyd laughed, mild hysterics creeping into his voice. "I mean, really. This is the best time I've had whilst imprisoned in some way!" He began laughing loudly, sounding more and more unhinged by the minute.

Pythor sighed. "You're going to be like this the ressst of our trip, aren't you."

"Since you're so pathetic? Yes." He hooked his legs around a tree as Pythor tried to continue dragging him.

"Lisssten, boy. I could kill you in a second!"

"Then why haven't you? You've had plenty of opportunities. Heck, when you coughed me up the first time I tried to strangle myself with this very rope." He held up his bound hands, shaking the rope around his wrists. "And yet you stopped me." Lloyd smirked, enthralled with the tiny bit of power he has over his captor. "Because you need me as leverage."

Pythor growled. "That's it!"

Within seconds, his travelling companion was gone.

A slight huff escaped his lips as he continued towards the Venomari Fangblade, towards the jewel of Hiroshi's Labyrinth.

*Returning to the intermission*

Kai rushed into the room wherein the two brothers sat, talking softly. "Sensei! We've finally found Pythor! He's headed to the fire temple."

"Then why are you not going to intercept him right now?"

"Because," He glanced at Garmadon, "because he's got Lloyd with him."

"He WHAT?!" Garmadon roared, on his feet and out the door in seconds.

Rising to his feet, Wu glanced at his student with concern clear on his face. "You only mentioned Pythor, what of the other serpentine?"

"There's no sign of them. It's just… Pythor and the kid. Y'know, I thought you said he was with some-"

Wu slipped out of the room, efficiently cutting off the conversation.

Shaking his head, Kai followed after the two men.

Lloyd: realizes how wimpy Pythor is.

Also Lloyd: gets drunk on tiny shred of power he has over Pythor.

BTW, the plural version of the title appears in this chapter :)

Have a great day! (and please review if you have a minute!)