Announcer voice: Today, on Way of the Dragon: Jinlong is an idiot! Will her lack of foresight get everyone killed, or will she be able to save them? Find out today!
Vaguely offended Jinlong voice: Chapter 11: A Force of Two
Jinlong stared out of the window, watching clouds float through the predawn sky. Try as she might, the dragon-girl hadn't been able to sleep all night. Not that it was really bizarre, considering the previous day's events.
When she'd come to, only a few moments after fainting, she'd been bombarded with the news that Kai had unlocked his 'full potential' and Lloyd was the 'Green Ninja', destined to defeat the Dark Lord. Who, coincidently, was his father. Predictably, neither father nor son took the news very well.
There had also been the matter of explaining why she could turn into a dragon. Jin had been wondering how long she'd been able to keep that a secret; it, admittedly, had been a sort of game to her, but she had to come clean after her stunt at the Fire Temple.
It...it was a lot to process. But it wasn't really bad. Sure, Lloyd had to fight his father, but now she had a good excuse to train him. Her secret was out, but it had never really been a secret.
"What are you doing awake?"
The gravelly voice shattered Jinlong from her thoughts. She spun around, her sensitive draconic eyes easily spotting Lord Garmadon, even in the near-lightless kitchen.
"I could ask you the same question," She shot back, pivoting to face the window again.
Although she'd never admit it, Jinlong was deeply disturbed by the 4-armed man. All her life, she'd been taught that elders were wise, to be trusted and respected. But Garmadon was wicked and cruel. How could she respect someone like that?
"Evil never sleeps," The man answered, sending shivers down the dragon-girl's spine.
"Then I guess good can't, either."
Garmadon snorted. "You sound like my brother."
"And you sound like a deranged lunatic, but you don't hear me pointing that out."
He made a sound that could have, maybe, been interpreted as a laugh. "You know, girl, you're very impudent for a dragon. They're supposed to be disciplined as hatchlings."
"How would you know?" Jinlong challenged. "You're no dragon."
"Really?" Garmadon's voice turned dark. "Is that so?"
"Of course! Dragons are brave and honorable, which you are not!"
He snorted again. "Good to be told my heritage by a little girl."
She was silent for a moment before asking, timidly, "Are you a dragon?"
"Half," He replied curtly. "And half Oni."
"Then that means-"
"Yes," Garmadon cut her off. "My father was the First Spinjitzu Master, Wu is part Oni, Lloyd is only half human- whatever you were going to say, the answer is yes."
"So you're half dragon, but evil?"
"Yes."
"But dragons are good!"
Looking down at her with condescending red eyes, the 4-armed man growled, "You are young and naive. You know nothing of the world."
"Well I know that much! The elders wouldn't lie, so you must be lying. You're no dr-"
"Silence!" Garmadon roared, shutting the dragon-girl up instantly. He took a few deep breaths before barking, "Get out of my sight, girl, before I do something I'll regret."
She didn't need to be told twice. Slinking back to her and Nya's room, Jin could only wonder how such an evil man could be the father of her best friend.
oOo
"They sure do leave us alone a lot," Lloyd complained, laying on the floor of the girls' room.
"Yep," Jin said dryly, knitting.
"I don't know why," He continued. "You kick butt, and I'm the Green Ninja!"
"Technically I'm supposed to be mopping the floor right now," Jin admitted. "And you haven't had any training yet."
"Well, yeah, but still."
Jin's ears suddenly perked up. "Do you hear that?"
Lloyd was silent for a few seconds. "Yeah, it sounds like someone's using the main computer."
Getting to their feet, the Warriors Two hurried to the Bridge, where an unpleasant but not wholly unexpected sight greeted them.
"Dad," Lloyd gasped. "Are you...stealing?"
The 4-armed man turned away from the large computer to face them. There was a strange expression on his face, almost like guilt, only that couldn't be right because he was evil and couldn't feel remorse.
"Lloyd, I-"
The blond boy interrupted his father, eyes burning. "No, I don't wanna hear it! My friends are risking their lives for Ninjago, and you go behind their backs to steal secrets? Just- go! Go back to whatever evil place you came from!"
Garmadon stepped back, wincing. The hurt on his face looked real- real enough to fool Jin, if she hadn't known he was evil.
"Well- if that's how you feel," He muttered, walking towards the door. Jinlong and Lloyd hurried inside the Bridge as he left.
"I can't help it, you know," He called from the doorway. "The evil that runs through me- it makes me do these things. I can't control it."
The Warriors Two didn't turn to face him. Garmadon sighed, and they heard his footsteps fade away.
No sooner than he'd left, static burst through the speaker connecting them to Nya's samurai suit.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" Her teal voice came through.
"Yeah- Jin and me," Lloyd replied through the mic. "Are you okay?"
"Mostly," Nya said. "But we're, uh, a little tied up at the moment."
Uh-oh. When Nya made puns, that usually meant things weren't looking too good.
"How so?" Jin asked.
"Well, we're stuck in a cage that's slowly being lowered into acid."
"That's...not good."
"You don't say?"
"Don't worry!" Lloyd piped up. "We'll come and save you!"
"Er- where's your father?" Nya asked, her skepticism audible even through the static.
"Gone," Jin answered a little more bitterly than she'd intended. "He was stealing secrets."
"Ah, figures," Came Kai's voice. "Jin, you'd better hurry. Lloyd, you stay there. You're too important to risk losing."
Ouch, and I'm not? Granted, Jin would prefer it if the gremlin stayed behind, but that had nothing to do with his newfound status as the 'Green Ninja' and everything to do with his lack of training.
"Yeah," Nya said. "Yeah, just- hurry!"
The connection was cut, leaving the two blonde dragon-children standing there.
"You'll let me come, right?" Was the first thing out of Lloyd's mouth.
"No, sorry," Jin told him, hurrying out of the Bridge. Lloyd followed.
"Please? I promise I'll be super careful and do what you tell me to!"
"No, Lloyd," The dragon-girl was more forceful that time. "You're not trained yet."
"How am I ever gonna get trained if you won't let me come with you?!" Just a few weeks ago, that logic would've worked on Jinlong, because just a few weeks ago, that was her logic.
"By patiently waiting for the ninja to train you."
Lloyd pouted and crossed his arms. "You're no fun! We're supposed to do things together!"
If she were a little older, a little more experienced, she would've said something like 'battle isn't fun'. But she was young and naive, just as Garmadon had said, so she did not.
"Pleeease?" Lloyd begged, pulling out his puppy eyes. Jin sighed.
"Fine. Go put on your gi."
oOo
In hindsight, that was a really bad idea.
Sure, she'd known Lloyd was untrained and uncoordinated. And yes, she'd known that he was, like, 10, and had some serious trust issues that he attempted to cover up with extreme over-confidence. Still, Jin really didn't think their rescue mission would go as badly as it did.
"Why would you do that?!" Kai yelled at her, livid, from across the large cage that held them all. Jin was actually rather glad they were all chained to the bars, because if not, the Fire Ninja probably would've killed her.
"I said I'm sorry!"
"I don't care if you're sorry!" The ninja's face was turning the same shade as his gi. "We specifically told you to leave Lloyd behind! Now he's going to die, and all of Ninjago along with him!"
"At least we're not being lowered into acid!"
"It doesn't matter! They'll just eat us or something, we're still just as dead!"
Lloyd whimpered. Jinlong shut her eyes against the tears and ignored the pounding in her ears.
"Can't you just turn into a dragon?" Jay offered.
"Only if I want to break my leg," She hissed. The cuff around her wrist- needlessly vengestone- would hold her front leg at an unnatural angle if she tried to shift, and would most likely snap her limb.
"You got us into this mess," Kai barked. "You have to get us out."
Vaguely, she wondered why the others weren't stepping in, telling Kai to lay off, or any of the other things they did when Kai went off yelling at someone. Then she got it: they agreed with him.
This is my fault.
There was no one else to blame this time. This time, the fault was all her own and no one else's.
The dragon-girl sighed. She was going to have to shift if she wanted to get her friends out of this…
"SKALES!" A thundering voice roared from below.
Oh no, not him…
"RELEASE MY SON!" Garmadon boomed, so loud that Jinlong winced.
Surprisingly, the cage did start moving downwards. Unsurprisingly, there was still a massive pool of acid underneath it.
"A lotta good that did," Cole muttered, but the cage jerked to a halt, still several feet above the glowing green substance.
Lord Garmadon appeared to be the reason, along with a swarm of... skeletons. Moving, talking, skeletons.
"What even is reality anymore?" Jin groaned as the cuff popped off her wrist, along with everyone else's.
"Come on," Nya called, ushering everyone outside the now-open door, calling her suit to her.
"We must retrieve the Fangblades while the Serpentine are distracted," Zane said, and the 3 other ninja followed him into the mass of snakes and skeletons. The 'Fangblades', Jin had been told, were needed to summon the Great Devourer. The ninja needed them so the Serpentine couldn't do that, or something.
"Hop on," Nya commanded as her samurai suit arrived. Wu helped his nephew up to sit next to him, while Jin clung onto the opposite side.
"Don't worry about us," One of the skeletons called. "We'll keep on fightin' the good fight!"
So, incredibly, unpredictably, they made their escape- with the Fangbaldes, as Jay triumphantly pointed out once they reached the Bounty.
But they almost hadn't. Jin couldn't have done anything about that- it was one dragon-girl against at least a thousand snakes. But she had endangered Lloyd's life. That was careless, immature, stupid- and it had been so, achingly, Jin to do it.
This cannot go on anymore, she told herself. You have got to grow up, Jinlong. You have to take care of Lloyd.
Taking a deep breath, Jin made an oath to herself, silently. From that moment onwards, she vowed, she would be mature.
Announcer voice: Will Jinlong be able to keep her vow, even when faced with death? Find out tomorrow on Way of the Dragon!