Author's Note: Today was an incredibly hectic day, apologies that this went up so late. I want to inform everyone now that Autobiography of a Legend is going to go on hiatus after next week. I have been at a standstill with my writing progress, and the Season 5 chapters were both difficult to write and not completed in time. Therefore, while Ninjaverse will be continuing, Autobiography is going on hold. I apologize for this and will work to get it going as soon as I am able to get my muse back. Enjoy the chapter!
I lost to Chen. Badly. Really badly. It's one of the worst one sided battles I've ever fought in, and I fought against a lot of villains that clearly held the upper hand. I wish I could say that I won the Tournament of Elements, but I instead came in second. Yes, Chen had altered the bracket to have me versus him, so it technically counted as the final round.
Chen wasn't holding back on using all of the elements at his disposal to beat me senseless. I didn't even get a chance to land a single hit on him. The first time I attacked, he used speed to get out of the way. Just to taunt me, he used shadow to disappear so he could get into a good place to attack me. I only managed to dodge the burst of fire he sent at me because my reflexes were faster than I was. Even then, he froze the board I hid behind and then blew it up with fire as soon as I tried to leap over it.
I notice now that I tend to get a lot of my speeches in while I'm being attacked, and that gets the villains to go into their speeches too. Chen confirmed for me his plan was to rule Ninjago by 'those who deserve it.' He had an obsession with the Anacondrai, and felt they should have won the war. I tried to tell him that real power wasn't stealing, but that was when he decided to use gravity to fling me onto the ceiling. I don't know how anyone can fight when you can't even see which way is up or down. I admit, I have a lot of respect for Gravis after that. It all ended with me being thrown back onto the floor. Painfully.
Chen didn't listen to me, no matter what I said. I couldn't even get in close to get to that staff. It feels kind of hollow to tell him that he doesn't have real power, when he was able to defeat me, the Green Ninja, without a single scratch on him. I got back up from being thrown onto the ground again, and tried to send one last burst of power at him. All Chen did was turn his body to metal to reflect my own attack at me, and I was too exhausted to stop it. I was sent right into the bracket. As if to mock me, my picture on it broke apart and left Chen as the only one standing.
Chen declared himself the winner of the Tournament of Elements. I wasn't able to fight back at that point, and his guards simply took me away to be prepared for the final ceremony. I was going in and out of being conscious, since I'd smacked my head pretty badly when Chen did that knockout blow. That was when I got my first real taste of vengestone. One click of those chains and I couldn't use any of my powers. I've grown to really hate that stuff as time goes on.
In the meanwhile, both my dad and Nya got captured. Clouse decided to chain them up in the lair of his snake, which makes the second time of Chen casually trying to murder my dad. That was also when he tried to parade the fact that he'd turned Kai against them. While I was going in and out, I realized that Chen had told Kai something that made him willing to betray me. I didn't know what it was, but I didn't feel good about it.
There was something that Nya told me about my dad, that sticks with me. While they were down there, my dad grabbed Skylar and threatened to hurt her if Chen didn't let them go. However, Chen just laughed at him, and said that he was Sensei Garmadon now. He reminded my dad that his anger wasn't going to rule him anymore. And, just like that, my dad let her go. My dad wasn't the man he once was. I don't know why… but, hearing that, it reminds me of how happy I was to have my dad. My dad, when he was Lord Garmadon, wouldn't have let her go. Now… now he was a different man. It reminded me of how thankful I was, that he was such a kind man on the island. It… it's a memory that I need, to remember more of him.
Now, I haven't mentioned this until now, but while this was happening, Cole and Zane had been working with Karlof and the others to build a way to escape the factory. Under the guise of making a noodle machine, Karlof had used his experience in aeronautical engineering (I think I said that right) to build a roto jet. Now… why they built a jet underground, I don't really get. I guess it was just something that made sense at the time? I just don't think about it, really. Cole was basically having his own story at that point. Either way, Chen had thrown everyone down into the factory after taking their powers, and they were all working on building that jet.
Right when two guards that kept weirdly talking up how they were 'moving up in the ranks' started taking me to the massive room we'd first seen Chen take Karlof's powers in, the cultists discovered the jet and forced them to make their move. While they were blasting their way out with the jet being… carried through the tunnels, I was being escorted down to Chen to have his massive ceremony.
While I was chained up, Kai came up to talk to me. I demanded to know why he'd done this, and Kai told me not to worry. He then gave an evil laugh and declared it wouldn't hurt 'that much,' which should have told me right there that he wasn't really into it. I'm starting to notice not many of us are really that good of actors except Jay. Either way, Chen started his ceremony, and drained his own daughter of her powers right in front of me.
As soon as he finished with her, leaving her looking sick, he immediately turned to me. I wish I could say that it was the worst pain of my life, but I'd already had that happen before. Honestly, it wasn't that bad. It just was like feeling weak and your body is kinda on fire and cold at the same time. The Digilord did it a lot worse. I was expecting a lot more, given how many times I'd already been thrown around and seen how much it hurt others. Honestly, I think they were kind of overreacting. But that may be that I already had gone through it once before.
While I was laying there weak, feeling empty inside -I didn't say that it didn't feel awful- Skylar and Kai made their move. Apparently, Kai had managed to not only trick Chen, but to also get Skylar to betray him. Things happened incredibly fast from that point on. Skylar kicked the staff away from Chen, and while Chen raged over his daughter betraying him (with a great comeback from Skylar that it ran in the family) Kai grabbed the staff. Kai started throwing bolts of everything all around the room, and saved me from Clouse trying to use the venom in the massive snake head above me to melt me (Chen LOVED his snake theming) with my own power. He freed me too, giving me enough time to realize something was wrong.
Having so much power corrupted Kai. I've noticed that most artifacts in Ninjago that have a lot of power, just seem to always corrupt you. Doesn't matter how good you are, you will start to get corrupted. While he was going back and forth on trying to control the staff, Kai said something that still makes me a little wary about our relationship to this day: he said he should have been the Green Ninja.
I thought Kai was over that by now, but apparently he wasn't. I don't know why, but hearing him say that he still wanted to be it, after all this time… hurt a little? Like, it wasn't something that I think about a lot, but it did hurt to hear that he still felt that way about me. He'd unlocked his True Potential by getting over it, but deep down he still felt that. I… guess I felt bad hearing that. That, and he was starting to walk towards me with a staff crackling with power that I couldn't defend against. That probably did a lot to amplify my fear.
I have to wonder… what if he'd been the Green Ninja? I know this is a bit off topic, but I just have to ask that. I mean, what if he'd actually done that? What if he'd actually been the one to save Ninjago, the one to actually go and take out the Overlord? What if… I'd just remained a kid that never grew into anything? I mean, I don't know how it would have worked, but I still think about it from time to time. I wonder if maybe, the Golden Master wouldn't have happened, if he'd had that power. I mean, sure, he wouldn't have been the most humble about it, but I know Kai has a sense of duty. He would have done all he could to protect Ninjago. So I just, have to wonder sometimes… why, did destiny choose me, a nobody kid with his only claim to fame being his evil dad, versus Kai?
Chen tempted him with just that, he told me later. He told Kai about the fact his parents had secrets that he didn't know about. He also taunted Kai about the fact he still worried about being the Green Ninja. I… have to wonder how much of what Chen taunted him about he really felt. I've asked him before, I've even gotten him to say he doesn't feel that way about me. But, I can't help it. It's one thing if a stranger covets your power, but when someone that has saved your life before, and gave up his own chance at glory for you, still wants it at the end of the day, it messes with you. I… I guess, sometimes I feel, guilty about it. And having him yelling that at me, like he really felt it but had it buried deep down, it just… really hurt me.
But Kai was stopped from doing anything by the Roto Jet burst into the room and knocking the staff out of his hands. The entire room went into chaos as soon as the other Elemental Masters came into the room. I noticed right away that Zane was there, and he looked… different.
Okay, another sidenote: a lot of Ninjago doesn't really remember that Zane sacrificed himself, since he came right back. His new Titanium body was really cool, and he's still updating it to this day. I guess what's odd to me, is that he decided to make his new form more… robotic. Like, before, he was a robot, yeah, but he was a human if you looked at him. Now, you can't look at him and say that he doesn't look like a robot. I'm not saying I'm upset or even that I don't like it, but it's just something that I notice. I was still overjoyed to have him back though.
Kai managed to get the staff and smash it apart, sending everyone's powers back. As soon as I felt my powers back, I turned my sights on everyone in the room. The other four rushed beside me. I felt the biggest smile I'd ever felt in a long time. My team was back together. We gave a massive onslaught of Spinjitzu just to make the occasion. We'd gotten back what Chen had stolen from us. We were a team again.
While we were all fighting, Chen, Clouse, Skylar and a few cultists managed to escape out of as ide passage. Skylar was taken prisoner, since Chen still needed her for the spell. By the time we rounded up everyone in Chen's palace, he was already long gone. Kai was upset, and I don't blame him. Still, as we all gathered up the remaining cultists and realized we now had control over the island, we finally felt like we'd gotten a victory.
To mark our victory, we sank the boat that Chen used to get to and from the island to make sure that he couldn't get off. To our knowledge, all of his vehicles were still at his palace, and he had to have escaped into the jungle. We locked away all of the cultists and declared that we were now in an allianc. While Chen had escaped, we now had finally gotten one over on his tournament, and had finally won. We trusted Chen would realize he was beaten and we could hunt him down without much issue.
With our victory, though, we forgot one thing: Chen was just as crafty as a snake. And there is only one saying when you deal with Serpentine: never trust a snake. Chen hadn't given up on his plans, even if we'd beaten him, driven him out of his own palace, and taken control of his island. We may have cut off his escape, but he still had both Clouse, the spell, and his daughter. What none of us realized, was that Skylar's amber power had absorbed the other powers while it was freed from the staff. Skylar still had the ability to provide all the elements that Chen needed for the spell.
It was the morning after we'd gotten control over the island that Skylar figured that out. While it sounds like I might be rushing through some of these events here, they all happened so fast, dwelling on them will be somewhat difficult. However, this was the point where everything began to change too. It's… this is the part that I often have the hardest time remembering, because of what came after. What… what came after still hurts to think about.
Skylar escaped and sent a message to Neuro, using mind, that she was in trouble. All of us went into the jungle to look for her. Kai was the one that ended up doing it, while Cole and my father took on Chen in his newly fixed copter. I was scouring the jungle, so I didn't see this happen. But, apparently, while they were dogfighting in the air, Clouse leapt onto the Roto Jet and then tried to attack it that way. My dad tackled him off, and the two fell all the way to the jungle floor. My dad intended to finish off Clouse once and for all… and that was just what he did.
Clouse opened up a portal to the Cursed Realm to try to drag my father inside. Dad had been the one to open a portal before to banish the Anacondrai Generals, and Clouse decided to make it ironic that he would be sucked in and deal with them again. My dad, however, managed to trick Clouse into getting dragged in as well. Just before it closed, he leapt out and let Clouse get dragged off to the Cursed Realm, by his own spell. While my dad only told me this in passing, it's important to remember the Cursed Realm. It's important not only for how Chen's entire army ended, but what happened… next.
Kai found Skylar and radioed to us that he was coming back with her. Sometime during his trip back, however, the two let their guard down enough for Chen's minions, apparently those two annoying ones that dragged me to the ceremony if what Kai said about them was right, capture them with vengestone. I really hate that stuff. We turned back and made our way back to the compound to regroup and wait for Kai, realizing soon that something was wrong. It wasn't even an hour after Skylar had first sent her message that… it happened.
My dad suddenly fell on the ground in pain. The tattoo on his back started glowing, and as soon as we started hissing, we figured out what was going on. Chen was performing the spell using Skylar and her absorbed elements. I've seen my dad transform before, and now that I know what possession feels like, this was probably a lot tamer than a lot of the others that I've seen. Still, we all watched in horror as his body shifted and cracked, his legs turned into a massive snake tail just like when Skales beat Slithera all the way back then, and his body turned purple. Oddly, my dad's face and hair remained, just colored purple and with scales instead of skin now, which made it easy to tell it was him. Given that everyone but Chen, Skylar and my dad were all given Serpentine heads, I guess we got lucky.
Of course, if my dad turned, that meant that all of Chen's followers did too. Chen had about 200 or so people on that island aside from us, and the fact we'd all tied them up together meant we suddenly were under attack. I have to say, Pythor was underselling himself. He could turn invisible, yes, but he never really attacked unless he had to. Seeing what those Anacondrai could do… was terrifying. They were like an unstoppable machine. All of our elemental powers barely even scratched them. They could get knocked down and around, so it wasn't like fighting the Stone Army. These were actual people, which made them unpredictable. Given they were all now fighting out of revenge, it also made them that much more motivated to beat us.
We held out behind the door to the compound. I was still reeling from everything that happened. I was giving orders, because I'm just kind of naturally that type of person I think, but I was still trying to understand the fact my dad was now an Anacondrai. It was just so… sudden. Really sudden! And there were swords and spears being stuck through the door. We were all desperate to try to hold out and push them back to figure out how to fight them when they just… vanished.
Chen knew how to stick it to us. He stole the Roto Jet, and used all of the copters we'd caught to pilot his troops off the island. At the time, it sounded like a wonderful thing to destroy all the other ways off the island, but Chen left us with nothing but the buggies and bikes. We were trapped on the island, and Chen was off to Ninjago. He fired on us too, just to really let it sink in. He was going to go and conquer Ninjago and restart the Serpentine Wars. I was ready to go after them alone just to try to slow them down.
We would have been trapped on that island if it wasn't for Zane. Zane showed up riding his own elemental dragon, just like the one that I had. When we'd been falling over the jungle, my dad told me the key to making a dragon was to control your fear. Zane realized that it wasn't the fear of Chen that held us back. It was the fear of who we were, and who we could become. I'd already fought past most of that fear while I was working out my everything on the Dark Island. Zane showed off his new Titanium Dragon, and then Kai showed up on his. Some may say that Kai doesn't do a lot for the team, I say he gets done what he has to get done.
As soon as we had that, we all moved to create our Elemental Dragons. We all flew together, all as one. Chen had told us that only one could remain, and now, we were united. Even my dad told me that we had done what the original alliance didn't and resist Chen's temptations. We were ready to go after them and completely take back Ninjago….
...Until we realized we left Dareth on the island. In all fairness, in the heat of the moment we didn't realize he hadn't been with us. We had to get the kabuki on the island too, since they seemed to be waiting for Chen to return without knowing what was happening. So, we lost about a day on Chen by the time we did that. We all flew back to Ninjago after that, even if it was a little embarrassing that we forgot one of our most important allies.
However, when we got back, Chen hadn't attacked yet. When we landed, we realized that Chen was holding back for some reason. When my dad and Skylar showed that they were steadily turning back into humans, we realized the spell was wearing off. We had to do something to stop them. Of course, the first thing we had to do was get my dad and Skylar off the streets. Everyone was afraid of Serpentine. I'm… not sure why. They'd literally been saved a few months ago by Skales helping lead the people underground while the Golden Master rampaged. Sometimes it feels like people just give the Serpentine the short end of the stick, you know? ...I know I'm saying that while we're getting to the start of the Second Serpentine War, but still.
Because of this, we realized that we had to go and find Pythor. After the Falcon had caught him during the Golden Master's defeat, we had taken him to Kryptarium Prison. I don't like that place, for a number of reasons. I know the obvious one is that my revived father beat me to near death there as a show of his power, but I just don't like the vibe of the place in general. It is ironically one of the most secure places in Ninjago, but even then, that's not saying much. We hurried there to see Pythor right away.
Seeing Pythor living in a dollhouse and calling his imaginary friend 'Rodrigo' was really funny. Honestly, it was just hilarious to see the once proud Serpentine acting like a doll. Of course, as soon as I asked for his help he went back to his normal arrogant self… which was really hard to take seriously when his voice sounded like a squeaky toy. I still find myself laughing when I think about him in that state. Of course, we weren't there for fun, and we needed answers. Pythor must have felt the spell, since he knew about it before we even got there.
While we were talking to Pythor, that's when Chen and his followers attacked. Anacondrai are very good for stealth, even if their massive tails make that seem kinda, not like that. My dad, Wu and I grabbed Pythor and said he couldn't fall into the wrong hands. While he was shrieking in terror at being picked up, a drop of his sweat fell on my dad's arm and turned him back to a full snake. The spell apparently needed some of Pythor to make it permanent.
Just two of Chen's goons were already there to fight, and just them alone were enough for the other ninja to get overwhelmed with fighting them. Pythor told us they had no weakness, and as the ninja threw themselves at them, I think he was right. Just because something has no weakness doesn't mean they can't be beaten, but it does make the fight strong. As they got thrown left and right, that was when the Warden managed to lock the prison down.
We quickly ran our way through the prison's rapidly closing security features. While we were running and dodging all of the… actually kinda effective traps, Pythor told us something interesting. Chen had gotten the Serpentine Wars kicked off by telling the Anacondrai we were going to strike first. That meant they were forced to break off the truce agreements, afraid if they signed they'd look weak and open to attack. I guess Chen was just playing everyone from the beginning, which really puts the entire war and the Serpentine's actions into perspective. Especially since the Anacondrai were all… you know.
When we got out into the courtyard, Chen had already mobilized all of his snakes to come and get Pythor from us. Without thinking, I used Spinjitzu to attack them, which actually worked. I dropped Pythor in the middle of it. In all fairness, I don't normally hold a weapon because of balance, so I must have opened my hand without thinking. And because of that, I didn't realize that Pythor was gone until we were all rapidly working hard to get him back. The Anacondrai were fierce and the three of us were almost completely overwhelmed. Multiple times, I was almost cut in half by their way too sharp blades.
In the end, though, the ninja got out by breaking the walls of the prison down and in the distractio the snakes took Pythor. Realizing this, we had to make the choice to go back to the Samurai X Cave. The thing was, as soon as we got there, it was already the next day given the travel time and the fact we had to rest. Chen was able to use that time to force Pythor to… according to what he said, outrun a rat on a wheel to produce more sweat. I'll add to another casual murder attempt by Chen, since he apparently just left Pythor there being chased by a murderous rat.
That was when we saw that Chen had mobilized all of his noodle trucks and was driving them out to attack Ninjago all at once. We all thought that Chen had loaded his Anacondrai up onto them, and was planning on moving them into the city. Since we were out of position, we had the other elemental masters go to intercept them. We were getting ready to go and back them up… right before all the trucks split up.
I realized right away Chen was going to divide us. He knew he could win with all of us together. But he could win if he was fighting one on one. Still… we didn't have a choice. I gave the order for us all to split up. We each took one of the trucks and flew off to random points in Ninjago to try and stop them. We had to stop him. Chen was going to attack Ninjago, after all! I ended up flying towards Jamanikai Village, which always seems to be the first place people love attacking. I drove the truck away and even stopped to apologize to a kid for breaking a bridge he was playing near to do it.
We all were completely focused on our chases. We were just trying to stop them, but the drivers were crazy. They all had their trucks supped up to withstand almost all of our full elemental blasts. When I finally stopped mine, I was near the top of one of the mountain chains that my dad and I have summited. That was when I threw the doors open to get ready to fight, only to see it was empty.
Chen had divided us again. He led all of his troops to start a sweep campaign, now that we were all scattered. As soon as I heard that news and realized what happened, I was struck with guilt and fear. I'd been the one to give the order for us to split up, and now… now Ninjago was under attack. I was so terrified, I couldn't form my dragon. The comms cut out too due to how far away I was. We were all too far away to save the people. Chen had tricked up.
The Second Serpentine Wars had begun.
"Hey, Cole," Lloyd lifted his head up from finishing the chapter, "Can I uh… give you a heads up?"
Cole, who had been leaning forward and enjoying Lloyd's retelling of events, blinked, "Uh… yeah, sure? What's up?"
"The uhm…. I've been talking about it for a little bit now, but… next chapter is when I have to deal with… that." Lloyd gripped his fist, "I have to talk about… about my dad again."
"Oh," Cole stated flatly, realizing what he was talking about, "And, are you gonna be okay?"
"That's what I'm saying," Lloyd rubbed his hands together, "Zane has handled it already, but just… don't, get upset with me if I start getting angry. I, have been trying to figure out how to talk about it, but… each time I practiced, I get angry."
"I understand," Cole nodded, "I'll make sure we get you working out right after. That's really good for helping relieve stress. I know you hear that all the time, but it's true. Nothing better than working out wanting to punch something by pumping weights. Though, I think tomorrow is actually leg day."
"I'm gonna be busy tomorrow," Lloyd smiled gently, "Jay, Kai and I all made another bet on the console Jay had to buy us. We're seeing how far we can go in Nindroids: Battle Revamped. I recently was able to beat the entire game in just four hours. I figured I could probably school Jay. Kai and I agreed to share the prize if we work together."
"Mind if I get in on that?" Cole smirked, "I know I don't get to game as much as you guys do, but I've been getting in more time lately. I'm pretty good at that game."
"You wanna help us win?" Lloyd asked.
"Nah," Cole grinned, "Imma win against all three of you!"
"The winner makes the losers all buy him a game of his choice," Lloyd pointed out, "You sure you're up for that?"
"Actually, I don't think I'll win," Cole shrugged, "I just wanna have fun with you guys. Plus, after how badly you two beat Jay just to get that thing… I'm pretty sure he'll be gunning for you. I wanna see how he does."
"Heh, sure…" Lloyd sighed, "Sure thing, Cole. We'd love to have you join us. We asked Nya, but she doesn't play that game. And Zane… well, he can do frame-perfect inputs."
"I gotcha," Cole sighed, "Come on, let's get to our workout sesh. Gotta keep it up, you know?"
"We do," Lloyd smiled, "We really do. Let's do it."