Alright, so I may have skipped a week updating again. I don't really have an excuse this time except that I've been a little discouraged. I haven't gotten much response for this story, and while reviews aren't everything, I would appreciate feedback. That being said, I also got stuck on a chapter and needed some more time to think and write.
Oh, and I know the summary of this story promises a lot more Garmadon than I've shared so far. He's in here a bit this chapter, but he's got plans for later! Him and those snakes will be getting a lot more bold pretty soon...
Here it is though, our first canon episode! I fit the whole episode into this chapter, so it's a bit of a beast. Then again, it's nothing compared to the next chapter, which is probably my favorite one so far. But here I am, back with my take on Pirates vs. Ninja! Or, in this case, Pirates vs. Kunoichi.
Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago
Alex was sitting on a bench reading a book as the ninja trained Lloyd. Every once in a while, she'd look up to see how he was doing. No Spinjitzu for the young boy yet, but he seemed determined to figure it out.
Jay battled Lloyd on poles, working with him on balance. "You must be light on your feet. Hiyah!" Jay instructed, dodging Lloyd's blows.
The other ninja spent time working with Lloyd as well, each showing off their own strengths. Alex found it fascinating. Jay was the master of lightning, so speed and balance was his forte. Next up was Cole, who brought out a stack of boards and set them down for Lloyd.
Cole was clearly the strongest of the ninja, and as the master of earth, his strength was only amplified. He stood beside Lloyd, who was getting ready to strike all ten boards.
"When you strike with your fists, concentrate. You may be small, but you're strong," Cole assured him.
Lloyd closed his eyes to concentrate before striking the boards with all his might. The entire dojo quaked as the boards broke and Lloyd's power cracked the ground. Alex gasped as his strength threw her to the ground.
Kai was instantly by her side to help her up, but his eyes were still focused on the young boy in front of them. "That was the power of the Staff of Quakes. And you didn't even need the Golden Weapon!"
"But you can summon fire without the Golden Weapon," Alex whispered to Kai.
Kai raised an eyebrow at her, and she realized he had a notch in it. "It's complicated. I'll explain later."
Alex shrugged and turned away. What was the point of being a ninja if your powers were almost completely tied to a weapon?
"That must be why you have the potential to be the greatest ninja," Zane said, his voice filled with awe. "You can harness all of the Elemental Powers."
Lloyd looked down at himself, then back up at the ninja. "Really? Cool!."
As always, Sensei was ready to caution the young boy. "With this power, you must be careful. You must control it before it controls you."
From the other room in the dojo, a man came out. Alex stared, horrified, at the brown haired man with a very… open… shirt that showed off the hair on his chest. Alex's eyes began to burn, but she couldn't seem to tear them away.
"I have to admit, not bad for a kid. But instead of ten boards, how about fifty?" He gestured to a couple of his students, who began stacking a pile of boards.
While his students were busy with the task, the man looked at the ninja. His eyes locked on the girl with them. He then swaggered forward, clearly not noticing her discomfort.
"And who might this little lady be?" Dareth asked, winking at her. "I am Grand Sensei Dareth, soon to be the brown ninja!" He put a brown hood over his head that matched the rest of his outfit. "And if I break all fifty of these boards, would you accompany me on a date?"
Alex was about to speak up, but Kai beat her to it. "She's not going on a date with you," he growled.
Grand Sensei Dareth chose to ignore this. "Well, my talent will speak for itself. I break these boards, I get to be the brown ninja and a date," he bargained.
Jay burst out laughing. "The brown ninja?" he said, imitating the self proclaimed Sensei. "You gotta be joking!"
"Sorry, pal. Club's already full," Cole said. "Unless, of course, you're interested in being a kunoichi with Alex here. Whoops, that's a girls-only club."
Dareth sent another wink toward Alex, who cringed again. "Oh, a strong lady. Maybe you'll be able to keep up with me. Maybe."
Alex finally had enough of the pompous Sensei. She moved to sit back down on the bench, a smirk lifting the corners of her lips. "Go ahead, Grand Sensei Dareth," she encouraged him. "Break those boards."
Maybe even your hand, she thought sadistically. But her pleasant smile stayed on her face.
"Jeffy, Phil, are we ready?" Dareth asked his students.
The two boys, who must have been Jeffy and Phil, gave a short bow for their sensei. "Yes, Grand Sensei Dareth."
Then, the real show began.
"Observe. I call upon the greatest animal to give me strength, The Dragon," Dareth proclaimed. Alex snickered as he mimicked what he believed a dragon to look like, supposedly 'summoning its power.' "Heeyah!" he shrieked as he hit the boards, but his battle cry quickly turned into a cry of pain.
Alex and the ninja burst out laughing, as Dareth hopped around his dojo.
"Oh, man," Jay cackled. He almost felt sorry for the guy, but Dareth had it coming. "Ouch."
All of a sudden, Alex heard screaming from outside the dojo. "What's that noise?" she cried, running over to the window.
For a moment, all seemed well.
Then Alex saw pirates outside the dojo stealing money and belongings from the people of Ninjago City. She let out a cry of astonishment. When she learned she was going to be a kunoichi, this wasn't quite what she had in mind.
They were everywhere, and Alex was frozen in shock. She couldn't move, and only stared at the pirates terrorizing the city.
She felt a comforting hand on her shoulder. From the warmth it emitted, she knew it was Kai without looking.
One hand shook as she lifted it to point out the window. "Pirates…?" she whispered, a question more than a statement.
No one seemed particularly interested in answering her silent question: Where did they come from? Instead, they grimly watched for a few moments before shaking off the shock and beginning to think.
Cole furrowed his brow, making the caterpillars above his eyes more prominent. "Pirates haven't been around for centuries," he muttered.
"Hey, that's our ship!" Jay cried, distracting them from the question of the pirates Sure enough, there was a giant ship in the sky.
Alex remembered the story about the ship they used to have with a training center in it. "I don't think I remember you saying the ship could fly!"
Jay nodded excitedly. "Oh yeah, it flies. Big system to make it work, me and Nya always had a good time working on it together." Then he was lost, a dreamy smile on his face.
Kai smacked him harshly. "Quit dreaming about my sister!" he scolded. "We have more important things to worry about."
"Yeah," Cole said, stepping back from the window. "Like where did they all come from?"
"I sense Lord Garmadon is somehow behind this," Zane said, finally answering Alex's unspoken question.
Lloyd got into a battle stance, ready to face the pirates. "How are we gonna follow them?"
Kai turned to the other ninja with a grin and pulled a bus token out of his pocket. "Perhaps this can be of some use"
The ninja and Alex all changed completely into their suits, and Kai paused. "Ugh, I don't like the kid coming along. It's too dangerous. Alex, stay with him."
"No way!" Alex protested. "I've been training, and I've even mastered Spinjitzu."
"Please, please, please," Lloyd begged beside her. "I'll be super good," he promised with a sugary smile that said he wouldn't swear to anything.
Zane sighed, "The powers inside you are still too great, too uncontrollable."
Cole patted Lloyd on the head. "One of these days you'll be able to join us. Sorry, kid."
"Alex, we really need someone to watch him," Kai told her. "We can't let the future of Ninjago get himself into danger."
Alex rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, just another excuse to get rid of me too. Go save Ninjago without us, I guess."
Kai shot her a grin and the four ninjas leapt away, aiming for a bus passing by. As they hopped inside, Alex managed to hear a final snippet of Kai's voice. "I can't believe I'm saying this but, Follow that ship!"
Alex let her frown turn into a devilish grin. She looked at Lloyd. "Now, how about we go get some backup and save their butts?"
"But I thought they wanted us to stay here," Lloyd said, not following her quite yet.
"You're from Darkley's, aren't you?" Alex asked. When Lloyd nodded at her, she shook her head. "I don't know if I believe that, you're too good at listening for a Darkley's boy."
As Alex told Lloyd her plan, the ninja were stuck on the bus as it stopped for a little old lady crossing the street.
"Come on!" Jay yelled. "The city isn't getting saved any faster if we're stuck up here!"
Cole smacked Jay on the back of the head. "Can it."
"But it's getting away!" Jay protested as they all watched the ship fly away.
In front of the bus, the old lady's bag ripped, spilling her groceries all over the ground. "Oh!"
The ninja sighed in unison, and Cole turned to Kai. "Why wouldn't you let Alex come with us?"
Kai frowned. "Is that really important right now?"
Cole grinned at the fire ninja. "You know, you only get protective over people you care about." Cole wiggled his eyebrows.
"What!" Kai exclaimed. "What are you trying to say?"
Before Cole could respond, the bus began to move again. The old lady had safely crossed the street with the help of Zane, who had carried her belongings for her. The white ninja jumped back on the bus, having sped up the process immensely.
"After that ship!" Kai yelled for a second time, and the bus took off
…...
Up on the roof of the dojo, Dareth posed as he prepared to take down the pirates himself and show the ninja how worthy he was to become one of them. With a battle cry, he leapt onto the ship.
Surrounded by pirates, Dareth felt no fear as he said, "Surrender, or face the Brown Ninja!"
The captain of the ship, Captain Soto, didn't miss a beat before saying, "Pajama man! Get him!"
'Now I have them!' Dareth thought triumphantly. It was his time to show that he was worthy of being the brown ninja! He got into position and…
"The wolf!" Dareth cried with an accompanying howl.
Pirates around him could only stare, and Dareth knew they were in awe. His knowledge was beyond anything else!
Next, he crouched down low. "The spider," he said, and then made a chattering noise to mimic a spider.
The pirates were beginning to shake off their confusion and crept closer. Dareth knew it was time for his greatest trick of all.
"The hippo!" he snorted.
Captain Soto finally had enough of Pajama Man's foolishness. He strode up to the man and used his sword to rip open the man's shirt as a warning. Within seconds, members of his crew had the man tied up on the deck of his ship.
"Those swords are really sharp," the Pajama Man said absently. Captain Soto aimed one at the man's face, and he cringed away. "Aw, nuts," he muttered.
Captain Soto went back up to the top deck of his ship, leaving his crew to take care of the strange man.
"We have more pillaging to do," Captain Soto said with a smile. "Let's move through the city, men!"
One of his crew members took control of the ship. "Where to, Captain?"
Captain Soto couldn't say for sure. "Anywhere you'd like," he yelled. His men always had an eye for shiny things.
Before he could go back to pillaging the city, Captain Soto added, as an afterthought. "Mates, keep an eye out for any other silly masked pajama people."
Better to be safe than sorry, he thought with a shake of his head. Of course, this one wasn't too much of a challenge…
…
Alex was running down the streets of Ninjago City, Lloyd right at her side. She was amazed that this kid was keeping up with her so well - she wasn't a veteran runner or anything, but the kid was probably 12 or so. It was impressive. Plus, she needed him by her side. She had no clue where she was going.
"This is going to take way too long" Lloyd whined beside her. Astounding athleticism aside, he was still an impatient kid.
Alex rolled her eyes but found herself grinning anyway. "You said Nya's shop was somewhere up here, right? And this would be the best place to find her?"
Lloyd nodded in affirmation. "She's always here working on stuff when she's not working out or teaching me about the Ultra Dragon."
They both slowed down to a brisk walk, taking a breather before they found Nya and went to save the boys. "You guys always have stuff going on, don't you?"
The younger boy looked up to the sky, deep in thought. "It wasn't always like this. They used to spend a lot of time playing video games. Now the ninja are training me all the time, and Nya is helping find the other kunoichi instead of building as much as she used to. Ever since the Great Devourer, things have been different." He sighed, lost in his thoughts for a few moments. There used to be so many video games and pranks and candy…
For a moment, Alex saw something flicker in Lloyd's eyes. He seemed to possess an unusual amount of maturity for a kid his age.
Of course, that was only in certain instances. She could tell that he was a troublemaker that would do anything for a good laugh or a bit of candy.
Besides that, he was like a boy growing up too soon. No twelve-year-old kid should have the knowledge that he would be pitted against his father to decide the fate of Ninjago. Already the boy was reminiscing about things he should still have within his reach.
Alex smiled sadly, knowing that Lloyd Garmadon's future would be hard. But he still had plenty of time before his fate caught up to him. After all, he was only twelve.
She thought quickly, trying to come up with a lighter subject to break the silence. "You know, Lloyd, maybe we'll get paid in candy for saving the city."
Even though it was clearly a joke, the boy's green eyes lit up. They were full of mischief once more. 'There he is…' Alex thought with a grin.
"Do you think the pirates stole any candy that we could just 'forget' to return?" His face bore an impish grin.
Alex shrugged in return. "It's possible. I guess we'll just have to check ourselves."
The boy beside her laughed, but it was cut short as they heard yells from the pirates in the sky. 'Will this whole kunoichi thing ever get less weird?' Alex wondered. But a part of her already knew the answer to that.
"Are we close?" Alex knew that Lloyd had been to Nya's shop on several occasions, so he would likely know if they were almost there.
Lloyd nodded, pointing ahead. "Just around the corner of this building and on the right."
Together they jogged the last few paces. As they grew closer, Alex heard the banging noises that came from a garage like the one Nya worked in. Sure enough, the shop was exactly where Lloyd said it was, and Nya was inside. Her face was covered as she worked on a strange looking vehicle. Alex paused to look at it as Lloyd ran up to Nya.
It could fit four people, with one up front driving and the rest vertically behind the driver. It was an odd setup, one that Alex had never seen before. Was this Nya's? And how did she even afford it?
"Nya!" Lloyd hollered at the kunoichi of wind. "Nya, there's pirates and we need your help!"
The banging of metal on metal was too loud, and Nya continued to work away on one of the tires. Could they even be called that? It looked more like the treads of construction equipment.
Alex tore her gaze away from the vehicle and went up to Nya. "Nya!" She grabbed Nya's shoulder as she spoke, making the other girl startle.
Nya pulled the mask off of her face and put down the tools, glancing quickly between Alex and Lloyd. "Where's everyone else?"
Where's Jay? was the question she didn't ask.
The screams of people in Ninjago City broke the silence of Alex's hesitation. Nya didn't need anything more than that to know something was wrong and they had come for her help.
"NINJA-GO!" Nya cried, spinning into her suit. Alex followed her lead, and Lloyd was already in his green ninja uniform.
"Where's the issue?" Nya was all business now, her face determined. "You can explain on the way there."
Alex and Lloyd shared a look before grinning at Nya. "Well, we may need to get to higher ground first," Alex said.
"We should call the dragons!" Lloyd cheered, excited to be a part of the plan.
Nya nodded. "Then let's do it."
...
By this point, Captain Soto was tired of the Pajama Man. He cackled and pointed to the plank going off the side of his ship. "How about we have him walk the plank?"
The other pirates joined him in laughing, filling the ship with noise. Dareth's fear was clearly displayed on his face, but he was still putting on the 'tough guy' act.
"You're making a big mistake," he warned, wriggling in his ropes. Captain Soto led him to the plank, and with a gulp Dareth stepped on. "Don't make me call upon the dragon."
The ninja were disguised in the back of the crowd of pirates, helplessly watching. They were still too far away to save Dareth, and they couldn't risk blowing their cover. On the other hand, they couldn't let Dareth fall off the ship.
"We have to save him," Jay hissed to Kai.
"I know, I know," he muttered. "Try and stall them while I get closer."
Kai began to creep forward, blending in with the crowd of pirates. Cole followed behind him, not wanting to be left behind. Zane stayed back with Jay to think.
"Who here wants to see him go splat?" Captain Soto yelled. The pirates all cheered, excited at the thought of bloodshed. Captain Soto nudged Dareth forward with his sword. The man took a few more shaky steps.
Thinking quickly, Jay called out in his best pirate voice, "Who here wants to see him live?"
The pirates cheered just as loudly for a moment, but the sound died down quickly once they realized what they had cheered for.
Captain Soto cackled. "The plank's getting shorter, huh Pajama Man?" His voice was a cruel taunt.
Dareth gulped. The plank was getting shorter. He opened his mouth, and a steady stream of words came out, "We don't need to do this, fellas. I'm a lousy martial artist. What I do, I wouldn't even call it an art. I know I'm a brown belt, but I painted it! And my trophies? They're all fake!"
In the crowd of pirates, Kai and Cole facepalmed.
"Out of time," Captain Soto sang. With one last push, Dareth was sent off the plank.
"No!" Dareth screamed, but he was cut short.
Instead of hitting the ground, he had landed on the back of a giant four-headed dragon.
"Whoo-hoo!" Lloyd crowed.
"I-I called the Dragon," Dareth said in disbelief. His face broke out into a smile. "I called the Dragon!" he yelled triumphantly.
Lloyd and his dragon disappeared to drop the sensei off somewhere else.
The ninja all knew it was time to fight the pirates. "NINJA-GO!"
In a second, they were all in their gis.
"More Pajama Men?" Captain Soto cried.
A lone pirate with two eye patches wandered around between the ninja and the pirates, a parrot squawking on his shoulder. "Where? I can't see!"
Kai got into position to fight. "Ninja versus pirates. Who will win?"
The pirates began to growl menacingly at the ninja. The ninja each got out their weapons, a sad imitation of the golden weapons they'd once had. All except for Zane, who'd chosen instead to fight bare-handed.
Cole swung his scythe in a clean line, cutting Captain Soto's feather off of his hat.
The feather floated to the ground, an almost peaceful sight.
That was the final straw for Captain Soto. With a growl, he lunged forward, the rest of his men followed behind him.
Immediately, Zane brought out his true weapon. Alex's powers had given him the idea to bring smoke bombs on missions, and he held two in his hands. He squeezed them, and the ship was covered in white smoke. He used that as a distraction to throw his shurikens at Captain Soto, pinning him to the mast of the ship.
Across the ship, Jay was taking on two pirates. He easily knocked them both out with his nunchucks, sending one off the side of the ship.
Kai fought two pirates with his sword, driving them back. He caught a glimpse of a third pirate in the reflection of his sword. He paused and thought quickly before raising his sword in the air, blade down, and driving it into the ship.
Sorry, Destiny's Bounty, he thought.
He used his sword to swing around and kick the three pirates away, winning his own battle as well.
Zane had already taken out Captain Soto with his two shurikens and now brought out a whip with a metal piece on the end. He flicked it at the pirate advancing on him, successfully winning against him as well.
By the plank, Cole was fighting No-Eyed Pete. It was a frustrating battle, since the pirate had no eyes and was relying solely on advice from the parrot on his shoulders.
Cole's scythe got stuck in the ship after a particularly strong blow missed No-Eyed Pete, and he grabbed the parrot right off the pirate's shoulder. The parrot squawked indignantly and Cole held out his right fist.
"Right!" the parrot yelled to his master.
No-Eyed Pete followed his parrot's words, taking him straight into Cole's fist and knocking himself out.
The ninja seemed to have a clear advantage, and Jay found himself on the side of the ship without a pirate to fight. He looked around to see that most of the pirates were being taken care of. Stil, one could always use a little help. To his right, he spotted a gumball machine. In a flash of genius, he smashed his nunchucks against it, breaking the glass. The gumballs flew all over the deck of the ship.
Ninja and pirates alike slipped and fell on the balls, causing everyone to turn and see who'd caused the problem. Jay, the only ninja left standing, sheepishly grinned.
"Jay!" Cole accused from the ground.
"Oops!" Jay chuckled. That hadn't quite been his plan…
Captain Soto cackled, not clumsy enough to have fallen like the rest of his crew.
Three dragons flew by the ship, and three masked individuals jumped onto the ship. One green, one orange, and one grey.
"Ninja, go!" Lloyd yelled as he grabbed a rope and swung around, hitting Zane and Captain Soto.
Alex and Nya each grabbed their silver weapons, and Nya ran to help the other ninja with the pirates.
"Pirate, go!" Captain Soto yelled a mockery of what the pajama people kept saying and slashed at Lloyd.
Lloyd didn't have a weapon and hardly had any training, so he could only try to dodge as the sword came directly at him.
Alex was in front of him in an instant, blocking Captain Soto's sword with her katana. "Go on, kid, I've got this."
Lloyd tried to run off, but Kai was in his way. "Lloyd! Alex! You were supposed to stay behind!"
His eyebrows were furrowed, clearly displaying his displeasure to the green ninja. Alex was busy fighting Captain Soto, using her shadows to confuse him.
She ducked under a blow from the captain before responding. "Don't get your panties in a twist, Kai. We're just here to help."
One of his eyebrows twitched. Without responding, he grabbed Lloyd and shoved him in a barrel. "Stay put," he growled at the kid.
The young boy channeled what he'd learned from Darkley's: Don't listen.
Lloyd began to wiggle around in the barrel, finding his feet and moving around. He rammed right into the lever controlling the anchor. The anchor fell, freed from the ship. Lloyd knocked into Alex and the pirates, sending them to the ground. Kai dodged the boy in the barrel once, but he ended up getting thrown off in the second attempt.
He yelled and grabbed the dropping anchor. I knew they should've stayed behind…
Nya heard the commotion and turned to see the anchor dropping off the side of the ship, the heavy metal plummeting toward the city. "No!" she gasped, running to lift it.
She used her power over air to halt the anchor's descent. Alex appeared and began to search for a way to get it back up.
"Get the anchor up!" Nya yelled, her powers straining under the weight of Kai and the anchor.
Alex looked around frantically, trying to figure out how it had been dislodged. She remembered Lloyd knocking her over and some sort of click - maybe there was a lever up where she'd been?
She ran to the upper deck of the ship, finding a lever on the ground. Alex pushed it, and Nya felt the relief of pressure being taken off her as the anchor began to rise.
The girls breathed out a sigh of relief. All was well.
"Come here, you blurry little munchkin!"
Not everything, apparently.
Lloyd was still in the barrel dodging Captain Soto's sword. Alex ran up there to fend off the pirate to protect Lloyd.
Before she reached him, the barrel yelled, "NINJA-GO!" and exploded into a green tornado.
Alex watched in awe as Lloyd discovered Spinjitzu, the sight truly being wonderful. She could now see why he was so jealous that she'd figured it out before him - it was cool!
"Whoa, Spinjitzu! I just did Spinjitzu for the first time!" Lloyd cheered, turning to Alex for praise.
With his back turned to the pirate, Captain Soto lifted his sword to finally hit the boy. Alex threw herself forward to block the blow, once again saving Lloyd. "Congrats, kid," she managed.
Filled with the rush from his newfound powers, Lloyd concentrated and began to call upon the powers of the green ninja.
Unseen by anyone on deck, Lord Garmadon was watching his son from below. He saw the great power his son commanded and was filled with sorrow. "My son," he whispered, almost proud. But he remembered their fate and shook it off. "He's growing stronger."
Lloyd created a ball of green energy and sent it toward the pirates.
"Lloyd, no!" Alex and Kai yelled in unison.
But it was too late. The energy circled around the ship before running into the mast, knocking it over.
Nya let out a yell and used her powers to stop the mast before it could hit the ninja. Alex used her darkness to cloud the eyes of the pirates, leaving them confused and unable to run. The two girls worked together to make the mast land on the pirates instead of the ninja.
Garmadon watched all of this happen, as well. He turned to the snake next to him. "Didn't I give an order to kidnap the kunoichi of darkness?"
The snakes around him chuckled uneasily. One finally spoke up, and Lord Garmadon recognized him as one of the ones he had sent after the kunoichi. "Well, you sssee, we didn't have a good opportunity, and we decided to kidnap the next one inssstead."
The Dark Lord groaned at the snake's ineptitude. "Just get me one of those kunoichi. I don't care how."
"Who wins between pirates and ninja? It's the kunoichi!" Jay cheered for his girlfriend and Alex.
The two girls high fived, the fallen pirates behind them. Jay sighed dreamily at the sight of Nya.
Alex walked over to Kai, who was grumpily standing to the side. He raised an eyebrow at her, seemingly unimpressed.
"You should be lucky I'm not good at listening," Alex commented. "I think Lloyd is a bad influence on me."
"The kid came from Darkley's," Kai responded. "And if anything, I think you're a bad influence on him - and I didn't know that was possible!"
Alex gave him a grin, flashing him pearly white teeth. Her eyes sparkled with laughter, and she looked radiant, even after the fight. What's happening to me? Kai thought.
"Anyway, I think the phrase you're looking for is 'thank you,'" Alex nudged him. When he didn't respond, she shrugged. "Well, my answer is, 'you're welcome' anyway."
The ship landed, and police were ready with handcuffs to apprehend all of the pirates. They had caused a lot of destruction to the city, and someone needed to be arrested.
"Good work, team," one police officer said as he herded pirates into the police car.
Kai didn't hesitate before proudly stating, "Don't forget to include these guys." He waved at the two kunoichi and Lloyd, who all beamed with recognition.
"You guys did great today," Cole said. He opened his mouth to say more encouraging things, but a policeman cut him off.
"Uh, that your ship?" the man asked.
Jay nodded at the officer, excited to finally get their ship back. "It sure is."
The policeman pointed up to the ship, where Lord Garmadon stood with a bunch of snakes. The man cackled, since things had gone his way once more. "Sorry, you snooze, you lose."
"Lord Garmadon!" Kai yelled the name of the man, giving Alex a clearer picture of who they would be up against.
Beside her, Lloyd looked up to his father. "Dad!" he cried, stretching his arms up toward him.
For a moment, Lord Garmadon looked regretful. But when he spoke, his words cut deep.
"You're becoming stronger, son, but you'll never be strong enough to defeat me. Give up, before it's too late." His words were an offer for his son to join him, but the green ninja looked between his friends and his father and knew where he belonged. He stepped back into line with the ninja, wordlessly stating that he had already chosen his side. "Have it your way."
The next words he spoke were aimed toward the ninja, and were filled with true rage. "Another day, ninja. Another day," he warned.
Jay groaned. "Ah, great. Lord Garmadon is back, and now he's got our ship. This just can't get much better!"
"Well, at least we've got this little guy," Cole said, patting Lloyd on the shoulder.
"And we have the kunoichi, which Sensei has already said will be of great use in the final battle," Zane said. It was a purely factual statement, he hadn't gotten close enough with either kunoichi to see them as sisters yet. Even if Nya had been part of the team for a while.
The ship carrying Lord Garmadon and the snakes flew away, leaving the ninja and the kunoichi behind to watch it. A masked figure snuck up on Jay and tried to attack him, but Jay reacted quickly and flipped the masked man over his shoulder. He landed on his back with a Thud!
"Oh, come on, guys," Dareth said, taking off his mask. "I Dareth you to forgive me." He looked up with a pleading smile.
The team laughed together, knowing that they had a lot of work ahead of them before the final battle.
I should be back sometime next weekend unless something pops up. As always, please leave a review or favorite this story, I want to hear what you guys think!
And next chapter is going to feature a few of our favorite ninja and kunoichi outside the uniforms. It's my favorite chapter so far, so I hope you guys are looking forward to it as well! See you next week!