Announcer voice- Today on Way of the Dragon: Jinlong goes ballistic! Will her draconic instincts prove to be too destructive, or will Jin be able to conquer herself?
Jinlong voice- Episode 10: Game with Death
Jinlong awoke in a small space, her knees brought up to her chest, her head resting on them. Everything hurt; it felt like she'd just fallen out of one of the particularly tall trees on Huan.
Quiet sobbing caught her attention, forced her head up and her eyes open.
"Lloyd?" She mumbled, trying to make her voice louder. "Are you alright?"
The dirty, far-too-skinny child in front of her snapped his head up, blond bangs falling in front of his eyes.
"J-Jin?" He gasped, wiping away his tears. "You're okay! I was worried…"
Well, okay might be pushing it. "Yes, I'm fine. But what about you? You're so skinny. Have they fed you at all?"
"Not really," Lloyd answered quietly. "Skales gave me an apple once, but that's it."
Anger bubbled up inside of her, but Jin pushed it down. She could- would- get revenge later, but there were more pressing things to attend to.
Fishing through her sack, the dragon-girl was displeased to find that almost everything she'd packed was gone, including the food and water she had intended to give to Lloyd.
Stupid snakes!
"They took a buncha stuff from your bag," Lloyd muttered. "I tried to stop them, but…"
No explanation was needed. Jinlong forced a smile on her face, "It's alright. We'll be out of this cage soon enough, anyway."
One thing the Serpentine did leave- likely due to their lack of personal hygiene, Jin mused- was her poorly-knit bright blue washcloth. The corner of her mouth twitched up at the color. Jay was the only one who had yarn on the ship, because apparently he liked it, and he'd been nice enough to give some to Jin.
"Here," She said, handing it to the boy. "Clean yourself up."
"Thanks," Lloyd did as he was told, and the two sat in silence for a while. Jinlong stared out of the cage bars, watching the desert go by, slowly but steadily changing into forest.
"Hey, Jin?" The gremlin spoke up after a while.
"Yes?"
"Are you a dragon?"
At least 50 different thoughts raced through Jin's head, ranging from 'took you long enough to find out' to 'where in Kigana did you get that idea' to 'ohmygoshLloydpleasedon'ttelltheothers'.
"Yes," She said. "I am."
"Wow," Lloyd whispered. "That's so cool."
Was it? She guessed so. Jinlong hadn't really ever stopped to think about her dragon-ness, it was simply a part of her, who she was. But maybe...maybe she was lucky. She had the power to transform into a mighty beast at will, terrorizing her enemies(sort of, maybe) and flying(all 3 feet off the ground). Being stuck in a human skin your whole life couldn't be pleasant.
She hummed. "Yes, I guess it is."
"Can you sing?" Lloyd asked, his cheeks going a bit pink. "My father used to tell me that dragons have the best voices."
Jin's own face went red. "Well- maybe. They taught us- the elder dragons did- back on my island."
"Can you sing me a song?"
Since she, and probably every other sentient creature in all the 16 realms, was weak against the gremlin's puppy dog eyes, she sighed in resignation.
"Alright. But don't laugh!"
"I won't. I promise." Yeah, well Jin knew that Lloyd tended to not make good on his promises. But for some reason, she knew he wouldn't laugh, even if her voice cracked or if she messed up(which was fairly likely).
Jinlong took and deep breath and closed her eyes, recalling the soft lavender song her mother used to sing,
"Jin, ni jiushi jin
Wo zhidao
Ni zhen jin
Xiao yongzhe long
Ni shi jin
Jin…"
"Jin," Lloyd repeated quietly. "That's your name."
"Yes," She nodded. "But in the ancient language of Kigana- that's my realm-, it means 'gold'."
A few moments of silence passed before the boy spoke up again, "My dad was right. Dragons do sing well."
"Thank you," She said. Then, softly, "Wo de xiaolong."
oOo
Volcanoes, Jin decided, were quite possibly the worst thing in all of Ninjago.
As the Serpentine marched right into one, Lloyd and Jinlong in tow, the dragon-girl was fairly certain that the snakes were going to throw them into the lava.
"Lloyd," She said, a sick feeling settling in her gut. "If-if you get the chance, run away. No matter what. Alright?"
Red eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What are you planning?"
"Nothing," Jin answered flatly. And that's what scares me.
When they entered the apparently-active volcano, Jinlong thought she'd roast to death before she got anywhere near the lava. It was hot. The desert felt like an arctic compared to the sweltering, dizzying heat.
A small gasp caught her attention.
"Look!" Lloyd whispered, eyes wide and hopeful. "It's my dad!"
Following the boy's gaze, Jinlong was startled to see a tall, four-armed man with skin like a shadow creeping along a ledge high above them.
"That's your father?" Jin blurted out, instantly regretting it. However, Lloyd seemed unfazed.
"Yep," He said. "I knew he'd come!"
"And over there are the ninja and Sensei Wu," Jin muttered, a grin growing on her gold-freckled face.
"ATTACK!" She heard a very Kai-ish voice shout, before everything went south.
In the next 5 seconds, the chain of events that occurred happened too fast for Jin to think. The four-armed man- Lord Garmadon- appeared seemingly out of nowhere, bashing snakes with a brutal strength. One of the Serpentine, likely Skales, shouted something about dropping the cage. Then, they were falling.
Jin didn't register what was happening. Instinct took over and she was shifting into a dragon, her growing body sundering the cage to pieces, leaving Lloyd clinging to her mane and Jinlong clinging to the rock wall.
She heard shouts of surprise and recognized that they were familiar, but her draconic instincts prevented her from making out the actual words. That only happened when she was in mortal danger- which, Jinlong supposed, being 50 feet from falling into blistering-hot lava qualified as.
With a growl, she heaved herself back onto the path, hissing and baring her fangs at the Serpentine. Her tail swished back and forth threateningly. A wild, feral feeling was rising in her chest, blotting out reason- which was arguable if Jin had any in the first place.
An orange and black Serpentine wielding a jagged sword charged at her, shouting a battle cry. Blood-red rage swelled within Jinlong and before her fury-addled brain could even think, she was snapping, tearing, and sending snakes flying.
Lord Garmadon was next to her, reaching above her. Was he trying to attack her?!
Jinlong tossed her head back, roaring, twisting her long body and snapping at the four-armed man. But he wasn't paying attention or even looking at her. He was screaming. Why was he looking over the ledge-
Oh no.
In a horrible, awful tidal wave of reality, Jin realized she'd thrown Lloyd over the edge. Garmadon hadn't been attacking her, he'd been trying to get his son.
If she knew how, Jinlong would've swore.
Shifting into a human and leaping off the path in a fluid motion of desperation, the dragon-girl felt herself free-fall for less than a second before a hand grabbed the back of her shirt and hauled her back onto the ledge.
"Let go of me," She screamed, thrashing in the person's grip. "Let go!"
"Jin," Came Cole's voice, angrier than usual. "Stop it!"
"But- but Lloyd-"
"I know."
"And I'm the one-"
"I know."
Hot tears stung Jinlong's eyes, spilling over and running down her flushed cheeks. What have I done?
"Help!" A weak voice cried from below, and even though Cole still held her, Jin plowed to the edge of the path.
"Lloyd!" She cried, relief flooding through her. The boy wasn't dead- not yet, anyway. He was crumpled on a chunk of rock floating in the lava, which would surely melt soon. "Hold- hold on, Lloyd, I'm coming!"
A sudden rumbling in the ground pitched the dragon-girl forward, and she was beyond grateful that Cole was still holding onto her shirt, or else she'd have been fried and no one would've saved Lloyd.
"We must leave now or else none of us will make it out!" Said a voice that sounded suspiciously like Wu's.
Spinning around, Jinlong saw that it was indeed Wu, with Zane and Jay next to him.
"But Lloyd!" She yelled, desperation and anger flowing through her. "Lloyd, he- I-"
The ground shook again, and Wu's face hardened. "Now!"
Cole picked up Jin- who was screaming and twisting wildly- and threw her to Jay, who caught her and tossed her over his shoulder.
"Put me down!" She screeched, hitting Jay's back as hard as she could. "Let me go, Lloyd's going to die!"
She watched as Cole and Zane restrained Garmadon- who was reacting much like herself- and pulled him along. Then they were all running towards the exit. Away from Lloyd.
"Let me GO!" Jinlong screamed, kicking, clawing, crying. "What's wrong with you?! Don't you care about him?!"
It was useless. He wouldn't listen; none of them would. They didn't care about Lloyd.
Sobbing, Jin let herself go limp. Lloyd was dead by now, anyway. She could only hope- pray- that it hadn't been painful.
The next thing she knew, Jinlong was sitting on the wooden deck of the Bounty, crying hysterically.
"How- how could you?!" She screamed, her throat raw and scratchy. "You left him! He's dead because- because…"
Because of me. I'm the one who knocked him off the ledge. This is my fault, and no one else's.
Sniffling, she looked up at the ninja and saw for the first time that there were tears on their soot-streaked faces, too.
"Where- where's Kai?" She croaked. The Fire Ninja was nowhere to be seen, but it appeared that his teammates already knew that.
"Where is he?" She demanded, shakily standing up.
No, no, no…
A strange feeling grew in the pit of her belly, a roaring feeling, like a piece of her soul had been ripped away.
What was she going to do? Lloyd was like the sun- there could not be a day without. And if Kai was gone too…
"Look!" Someone cried. "It's- I think it's Kai!"
Through her blurring vision, Jinlong could make out a glowing red sphere, flying from the volcano and landing on the deck.
The fiery orb disappeared, leaving behind a glowing Kai and a slightly-singed-but-very-much-alive Lloyd.
At the exact same moment, Kai and Jinlong both hit the deck, out cold.
Announcer voice- How did Kai and Lloyd survive? What will it mean for the team? And for Jinlong? Find out next time on Way of the Dragon!