Chapter 22 - Finally
The sun was setting over Destiny's Bounty as Kate lay in Lloyd's bed with a massive amount of blood stained bandages wrapped around her torso, and the arrow was out. The ninja, Lloyd and Nya surrounded Kate as she remained out cold, but her breaths were soft and could barely be heard.
"She's fine right now, and she should live—but she's lost a lot of blood, and I don't know when she'll wake up," Nya said sadly, "and Lloyd, I thought it was very sweet of you to give up your bed for Kate," Nya continued with a small smile. Though everyone was sad and worried about Kate, Lloyd was the only one with a tear stained face as he sat on his knees and rested his head on his arms on the bed as he watched Kate closely.
"Lloyd, you can sit there and watch her for as long as you want, but it's not going to make her wake up sooner," Kai said softly but Lloyd didn't even look away from Kate. Kai was just about to reach for Lloyd when Jay grabbed his arm and stopped him while shaking his head at Kai. Nya quietly pushed all of the boys, except for Lloyd, out of the room.
"Kate—I know you can hear me—even if you can't tell me, but I can tell you something. I was going to take care of you for the rest of my life. I was going to give you a promise ring after you said you actually liked me before you were…" Lloyd began softly to Kate as if she was listening but then his voice trailed off, "the promise ring will seal a promise for later—but I'm going to promise you that I will make sure Pythor gets what he deserves," Lloyd continued as he got a slight look of anger on his face. It was silent for another minute until Kate actually began to shake her head a bit and even moan which made Lloyd instantly perk up. Lloyd smiled and gently grabbed Kate's hand as he pulled her hand up to his lips and kissed it.
Lloyd put Kate's hand down and slowly walked backwards out of the room as he continued to look at Kate, but since he wasn't paying attention Lloyd ran back first into the side of the door way. Lloyd rubbed his back and walked out of the room correctly. But as Lloyd was heading down the hall he could see everyone gathering at the entrance to the ship's cabin. Lloyd got confused and pushed himself through everyone and he gasped at what he saw.
Pythor and the other Serpentine tribes were gathered in the center arena of the City of Ouroborus.
"My tribe is getting ressstlessss. After the lassst attempt of ssstealing a fang blade, they aren't ssssso sure if they trussssst you, Pythor," Skales hissed.
"I don't care. But you don't need to worry because I know where the lasssst fang blade is," Pythor said with a smirk.
"Then vhere-issss it?" Fangtom questioned.
"It's to west where the sun sets over the desert. And I do believe getting the lassssst blade will be quite easy," Pythor replied and then he chuckled darkly.
"Garmadon?!" the ninja, Nya and Lloyd all exclaimed when they saw Wu walking back up to the ship with Garmadon by his side. Garmadon and Wu stopped just few feet in front of everyone as they stared at Garmadon.
"Are you out of your trucking mind?!" Jay exclaimed.
"Do not question what I know is right. I only wanted to save…" Wu began firmly but then he stopped when he finally noticed Lloyd, "Lloyd?" asked Wu. This made Garmadon aware of Lloyd too so he looked at his son straight in the eyes and Lloyd looked right back at Garmadon.
"Dad…" was all Lloyd could say as he quickly went up to his dad and he hugged him and Garmadon wasted no time in hugging his son back.
"Son, I am so sorry—that I've become the monster I am now," Garmadon said when Lloyd looked up at him.
"You're not a monster. You're my dad. And you're trying to be the best dad. And it isn't your fault that you're like this. We're going to stop the Serpentine," Lloyd said firmly. It wasn't easy to see, but a tear rolled down Garmadon's face.
"If only your mother were here to see you like this. She would be proud of you," Garmadon said while almost on the verge of sobbing.
"Where is Kate?" Wu asked out of the blue, but the ninja and Nya exchanged nervous looks at each other, "is she alright?" Wu asked as he got more concerned.
"Define 'alright'," Cole said nervously.
"What happened?" asked Wu.
"The Serpentine were the ones that kidnapped Lloyd and Kate," Kai began.
"But then Lloyd and Kate managed to escape and come back to us," Zane added.
"And that's when we discovered Lloyd is the Green Ninja," said Jay.
"But after that we saw that the Serpentine were looking for the third fang blade in a volcano, and we went after them," said Cole.
"And we told Lloyd and Kate to stay here..." Nya added. Lloyd sighed.
"But Kate and I wanted to help, so we geared up with some guns, and—Pythor injured Kate very badly," Lloyd finished, "but she's still alive," Lloyd quickly added. Wu was taken back by this.
"Nya, can you please go fetch the Ninjago Rue 21 bag from my room?" asked Wu. Nya nodded and walked into the ship's cabin.
"Are you sure the four golden weapons said you were the Green Ninja, Lloyd?" Wu asked firmly.
"Yes, they did," Lloyd replied, and suddenly Nya came back with the bag Wu requested and reached inside for the lumpy object in the bag.
"I said when I found my objective, I would tell you what I had the seamstress make. And what I was looking for was the Green Ninja of Creation," Wu explained and pulled the object out of the bag as everyone gasped.
Wu pulled out a ninja suit that looked just like the other ninjas', but it was green. And the suit was also a little to big for Lloyd's size, now.
"The Green Ninja's suit?" Lloyd asked softly.
"Yes. Each ninja suit is made to adapt to its wearer's elements. Kai's suit will never burn. Jay's can absorb electricity. Cole's is meant to keep him from being crushed by tons of weight. And Zane's is meant to keep him from freezing in the cold. But this suit is unique because it can do all of those things, so that you may practice all four elements," Wu explained. But the entire time Garmadon was sad.
"Our family is only becoming more divided," Garmadon sighed.
"What do you mean?" asked Lloyd.
"One of the ninja's goals is to defeat me, and now that you're a ninja now too—you'll have to battle me as well," Garmadon said sorrowfully. Lloyd was taken back by this as he shook his head in disbelief.
"Does anyone hear that?" Jay suddenly asked.
"What are you talk-?" Cole began but Kai cut him off.
"Shh!" Kai cut in, and everyone was silent as the faint sound of whirring blades of a helicopter was heard, "yeah, yeah, I hear it too. It sounds like—a helicopter," Kai continued.
"Who would drive a helicopter all the way out into the desert?" Nya questioned.
"Guys," said Lloyd as he shook his head, "Rattle-Copter at six o'clock," Lloyd simply said. And as everyone turned around, Lloyd was right. Up in the air was the Fangpyre's Rattle-Copter as it began to descend near the ship. Inside the cock pit of the unusual air craft was Pythor, Fangtom and other members of the Serpentine tribes.
Pythor chuckled as he pressed and help a button, activating the helicopter's two machine guns on the sides as a one Serpentine would hold and aim the guns at Destiny's Bounty.
"I think it's time to use the button!" Jay exclaimed as he and everyone else sprinted into the ships cabin and into the computer room.
"What button, Jay?!" Cole questioned. But Jay didn't answer as he flipped up a panel that covered a big red button.
"Jay, if the button is red, then you don't push it!" Lloyd said angrily. Again Jay ignored everything as he pushed the big red button. When the button was pushed, big, giant rocket boosters on the outside of the ship formed and the big sail of the ship's mast turned completely sideways and caught more air as the rockets fired up and the ship actually began to get lifted off the ground and catch some air. The ship wobbled from side to side a bit before it balance out again.
"A flying ship?!" Cole exclaimed.
"I hate flying!" Kai whimpered.
But before the flying ship could get any higher the Serpentine tribe members jumped off their helicopter and onto the ship's deck.
"Well, whether you throw up or not, you better get ready for combat!" Cole yelled as he grabbed out his scythe, put up his ninja mask and ran out to the deck. The rest of the ninja ran out onto the deck.
Lloyd heard a clatter coming from the ninjas' room so he bolted. And a Hypnobrai noticed Lloyd and was about to chase after him, when Garmadon came out of nowhere and tackled the blue serpent, but Garmadon ended up rolling to the point where he went off the edge and was hanging off the edge of the ship.
The Hypnobrai got up and went to the edge where Garmadon was trying not to fall. The Hypnobrai laughed evilly as he lifted up a clawed bipedal leg and stepped harshly onto Garmadon's hand while the claws on his feet dug into his hand. Garmadon screamed in pain. Suddenly the snake took his foot from Garmadon's hand and Garmadon could no longer hold himself, so he dropped down. But lucky for him, the ships wasn't at a deadly height and he landed on a giant sand dune to cushion his fall. Garmadon clutched his injured hand and slowly looked up at the flying Destiny's Bounty.
"Why stay—when I'm already stuck going down a darker path?" Garmadon asked himself, "I'm sorry, Lloyd," Garmadon continued softly.
When Lloyd reached the ninjas' room he gasped to see Pythor towering over Kate's sleeping form as he grinned at her too.
"Pythor," Lloyd said with anger and softness, making Pythor look up at Lloyd. Pythor began to sliver to the other end of the room as Lloyd slowly walked in causing the both of them to circle each other.
"Usually a clever antagonist like me would try to convince the good guy to join their sssside—but I never agreed to that fact. I think it'd be more fun to kill you," Pythor said darkly, but Lloyd was first to lunge at Pythor.
Pretty soon Lloyd and Pythor became a thrashing heap. Pythor pinned Lloyd down and slashed at Lloyd's chest with his claws, causing Lloyd's jacket to rip where it was clawed and the fresh and bloody scratch marks became visible through the tears. Lloyd grunted in pain and thrashed his head back and then his eyes went wide when he discovered the window right behind Lloyd's head and that Pythor was facing. Pythor pulled back just a bit for a second strike, but when Pythor lunged forward Lloyd put his feet to Pythor's torso. So when Lloyd used his legs to push Pythor off, Pythor was pole-vaulted over Lloyd and thrown right towards the window.
Pythor crashed through the window and was sent plummeting down to the big dent in which where Destiny's Bounty used to sit. Pythor didn't move for the next few moments, but slowly but surely Pythor began to stir and meekly stood back up. And as Pythor stood up the sun light reflected off of an object a few feet away. And the reflecting light hit Pythor in the eye. When Pythor saw the object, he smiled.
The ninja, Wu and Nya continued to fight the Serpentine that were on the deck. But suddenly Wu grabbed out the Serpentine snake charmer's flute and played the music, causing the Serpentine to his and pain and clutch their ears. But the snake driving the Rattle-Copter was wearing a big pair of head phones over his ears. And the Rattle-Copter descended to where Pythor was able to board the air craft. The helicopter then rose up again and the Serpentine who were under the flute's musical spell and quickly jumped off the ship and onto the Rattle-Copter. The helicopter soon turned around and flew away rather quickly. Everyone watched as the Rattle-Copter flew away ad they were all confused.
"Why did they suddenly just flee?" Cole asked after he, and the other ninja, pulled down his mask.
"Guys, come quick, Kate's awake!" Lloyd's voice was heard as he was seen running up to the deck and back into the ninjas' room. Everyone followed Lloyd and they crowded Kate and were happy to see her eyes open and her breathing could be heard better. Kate began to mumble something, but she was still very weak, so Lloyd put his ear to Kate's face.
"…ade…der…ip…" was all that could be heard throughout the room. But Lloyd understood exactly what Kate said and his eyes went wide as he slowly looked back up at everyone.
"She said 'blade under ship'—there was a fang blade underneath the ship the whole time! When I threw Pythor out the window, he must've landed in the spot where the ship was resting. That's why they fled—the Serpentine have all four Silver Fang Blades," Lloyd said with worry. Everyone's eyes went wide at this.
"We cannot let this happen. Jay, you go put this thing back on the ground. Ninja, after the ship is back on the ground, go get the dragons and catch up to them and do what you must to stop them. Nya, you take your robot suit and go with the ninja. Lloyd—you stay here with Kate. I'm going as well," Wu explained firmly and everyone did their part.
Jay put Destiny's Bounty back down on the ground gently and after wards the ninja brought out their golden weapons as they mounted their dragons and went after the Rattle-Copter, and Wu hitched a ride with Kai. Nya did the same as she activated her Samurai X suit and eventually activated its rocket boots and blasted off with the ninja and Wu. But Lloyd stayed with Kate.
Kate meekly and slowly sat up and Lloyd rushed to her side to stop her.
"Whoa, Kate, slow down," Lloyd said softly. Kate looked at Lloyd, and with lustful eyes, for once.
"Lloyd—I love you," Kate said softly as her and Lloyd's faces inched closer, and their lips crashed into each other's.