Scales

To be honest, Scales didn't trust Pythor all that much.

The other tribes, they were blinded by his pretty lies and the fact that he was the one who freed them from their tombs, but the Hypnobrai tribe had an advantage over them with the tiny little fact that they weren't freed by Pythor and that they knew better than all when someone was lying.

It was in their blood.

Because of his distrust and dislike of Pythor, Scales felt like an abomination when he tricked the self-appointed "King of the Snakes" into appointing himself as his second-in-command with some pretty lies of his own. The other Hypnobrai didn't give him much of a choice, telling him that it would be best for all Serpentine if he did so, so he would be able to be close to Pythor when he finally decided to show his true, more violent colours.

That way, he would be able to stop the humongous Serpentine more easily.

And the way Pythor was talking…

Releasing the Great Devourer to destroy the humans?

Scales' mind kept screaming at him to slither to the human city of Ninjago (how original, right?) and warn the humans of what Pythor was planning, but he knew for a fact that not all humans were like the humans who let the Hypnobrai out of their tomb and became like part of the tribe.

He sniffed the air with his tongue before gagging (loudly) next to Pythor, who laughed and promised that once the humans were gone, Scales wouldn't have to worry about the bad scents of the sewers ever again.

It seems that Pythor forgot his roots.

When Scales was younger, he would love to read the books about the other tribes, where they came from and all of their legends.

Four of the tribes came from the Great Devourer, a great, big, never-satisfied snake that would eat and eat until there was nothing left.

The Anacondrai, however, come from an ancient tribe of humans who turned themselves into Serpentine many ages ago.

That was why the Anacondrai didn't hiss like the other tribes. That's why they all had tails. That's why they had more than one (or two, in the case of the Fangpire) general.

And something else had been bothering Scales for a very long time.

Ever since he first met Pythor, who opened the entrance of the Hypnobrai tomb and was confused as to how the Hypnobrai didn't manage to break out earlier, Scales had wondered how exactly Pythor escaped.

Pretty words don't exactly work on stone walls and even a thousand Anacondrai would be unable to open up from the inside, even with their incredible strength.

There was only one of Pythor.

And that was a good thing.

"It's cold in here," Pythor told Scales with his un-Serpentine accent (which gave Scales something the humans called "The Chills") as he held his arms in a similar way he had the humans do when they were cold.

"The Hypnobrai spent thirty-six years stuck in a tomb made of ice," Scales retorted, "so you better stop being a little bitch ass about it."

That was something Scales had learned from the humans who lived in the tomb with the Hypnobrai. Hopefully Pythor didn't know where it came from.

"A bitch ass?" Pythor twisted his absurdly long neck around to look Scales in the eyes. "I was merely making a statement, Scales. No need to compare me to mammals."

The way Pythor said "mammals" was similar to the way one would say "Golden Master". He spat it out and shuddered.

Pythor didn't seem to understand the context in which Scales was saying it, and he clearly had no idea that it was a human expression, which was lucky.

Very lucky.

Scales fell back to the previous general of his tribe, Slithraa, to talk.

In another world, Scales would've fought him in the Slither Pit to become leader of the tribe. He would've played dirty and won, because the general was both old, and under his own spell, which put him under the power of a small boy who fell in the tomb.

In this one, Slithraa arranged for Scales to challenge him as leader of the tribe and stage a fight in the pit in order to show that Scales was ready to lead, and that Slithraa was, in fact, still very powerful.

The humans who unsealed the tomb were allowed to watch, which was a great honour for someone outside the tribe. But the humans didn't seem to enjoy the fight as much as the thousands of cheering snakes and one of them hid its face behind its tiny human hands, slowly turning greener and greener as it whimpered.

Slithraa was defeated and was allowed to step down as general and sit in the sun, while Scales got the respect of his people when they saw that yes, Scales deserved the spot a leader.

But that was ages ago, and Scales needed some peace of mind from a wise elder who was watching a bug fly past his face with a delighted expression on his face and his claws in the pockets of a pair of "jeans" he scared off a human.

"That's a fly, Scales," Slithraa told Scales with elation. "It's been so long since I saw a fly. I never thought I'd say this, but I missed the flies. The disgusting little insects…"

Scales watched as the fly went down the throat of Riss, Slithraa's young granddaughter, in a single bite. "Are flied poisonous to eat?" Scales asked, his hood spread out, alert for any signs of sickness in the greyish-blue youngling from eating the bug.

Slithraa shook his head, chuckling. "No, they're not poisonous. But they are annoying."

"And yummy!" Riss squeaked from where she was being held by her mother, Hissi.

"Did you have a question for my father, General?" Hissi asked with her slightly snobbish voice and her snout in the air. "I'm certain that you have far more important things to do than walk behind with a disgraced general and…"

"Hissi, you're a grown Serpentine," Hissi's mother, Wadjet, scolded. "You knew that your father is old, just as you knew that he planned to lose that challenge! Don't be bitter!"

Hissi disregarded her mother's advice and moved to be with her mate and his family.

"AND HE'S NOT DISGRACED!" Wadjet yelled after her daughter.

Scales got the same feeling many have upon being stuck in the middle of a family argument of another family, which made him feel awkward and wonder if he should be asking his worrying question later.

But Slithraa didn't allow it, and neither did his very persistent mate.

"Now, what did you come here for?" Slithraa asked as his mate helped him down some stairs which Scales almost fell down due to him not paying attention. "I know that you didn't pop up unannounced just to hear me talk about flies and to get stuck in some family hostilities between my mate and my daughter."

"I was worrying," Scales said, "about the human younglings and their safety."

Slithraa and Wadjet both seemed very amused about something.

"What?" Scales asked, ignoring the strange feeling he got going down the stairs. "They were basically part of the tribe, and we had to make them leave because of Pythor."

"You're just a papa-snake," Wadjet said fondly as she patted Scales on the face. "Don't you worry. Your little human younglings will be fine."

Scales looked at her with worried red eyes. "But what if they're not? They have another youngling with them! A little one! What if Kai has another dangerous episode and hurts someone again? What if Cole has another meltdown? What if Jay has a mental breakdown and forgets how to speak again?!"

"What if the Overlord comes back from the Dark Island and takes over Ninjago again?" Slithraa joked. "Don't worry, Scales. If they have a little youngling with them, then Kai will be more controlled and is less likely to have an episode in which someone gets hurt…"

"He stabbed the Blue Ninja in the throat!" Scales hissed at the former general. "You saw the scar when we fought them! He can't speak!"

"Jay can keep him calm in such an instance," Wadjet said, taking another step down.

"And who's going to keep Jay calm?" Scales asked. "He's very young and…"

Scales first met Jay when the human youngling fell down in the tomb, unsealing it by accident. Slithraa attempted to hypnotise him, but the youngling was crying too much to actually fall under the general's spell and he was hurt from his fall.

He grabbed the first thing that had come close enough to be grabbed and refused to let go. That thing was Scales, and Scales was trying to calm the boy down enough so Slithraa could hypnotise him.

The little human clung to him like an old skin that refused to be shed, and the clinging got worse when the three other humans came in some time later.

Slithraa gave up on hypnotising the little human and instead, focused all of his energies on getting Jay off of Scales.

The strange humans (Cole, Zane and Kai) hurried over to try and help, but Jay just started screaming instead of crying, yelling "No!" for the rest of the day.

"Aw, Scales is worried about his little hatchlings," Fangtom, a close friend of Scales and the leader of the Fangpire, teased as he slithered past.

He and his brother, Fangdam, were the only two outsiders who knew that the Hypnobrai were already freed by the time Pythor showed up.

Fangdam waved at the Hypnobrai group as he ran after his brother.

Scales was about to ask Slithraa another question, this time about how Pythor could've gotten out of his tomb, when a messenger showed up, telling him that Pythor was asking for him.

Scales had to go and stand by his side and help him convince the tribes that uniting would be the best choice for them all.

Apparently, the Constricti didn't seem to think that the Venomari could be trusted, the Fangpire were arguing with the Constricti and the Venomari seemed to think that the Hypnobrai were weak, which was going to turn into a major war between the tribes pretty soon if it wasn't stopped.

As he reluctantly slithered back to Pythor, he noticed something odd among the mass of snakes surrounding him.

All clad in red, blue, black and white, were the ninjas, sneaking around, whispering false rumours that the Serpentine would keep spreading and laugh at.

So that was what was causing the fights and the riots.

Scales still had to play with false loyalty to Pythor, so he slithered over to where the Blue Ninja was quietly shadowing the White Ninja.

Grab the Blue, leave the White.

The Blue Ninja was mute. He couldn't scream. The White Ninja could. And if the White Ninja screamed, then his friends would be able to hear and come for help.

A Vengestone bracelet was strapped to the boy's wrist.

That meant that his powers wouldn't work.

If his powers didn't work, he couldn't fight back.

The White Ninja didn't notice his friend wrapped in Scales' coils, unable to escape and making soft squeaks in order to try and get his attention.

None of the ninjas would notice until Scales gave the boy to Pythor.

Scales watched as the hope left the young human's grey eyes as his ninja friends had to retreat when the Serpentine became aware of their presence.

The Blue Ninja was put in a cell.

Scales had the feeling that Pythor would have him for a snack later, when nobody was looking.

Just to be safe, Scales had several Hypnobrai guards, including Mezmo, keep watch around the cell.

It was his job to take the Blue Ninja to the cell.

"I'm letting you out at midnight," Scales whispered in the human's ear. "Be careful not to fall asleep."

And with that, the boy was locked up in his cell.


Slithraa was the general before Scales. He's wearing pants because he thinks it makes him look cool (his daughter doesn't agree). Jay was the one who fell in the Hypnobrai Tomb in this AU and grabbed the closest thing to him, which was Scales. It happened right after Cole and Zane met Kai and Jay.

I have this little theory that the Anacondrai were once humans who turned themselves into Serpentine with a spell, because how else would there be a (working) spell to turn humans into Anacondrai? Please tell me what you guys think about this theory!

Scales is nicer than in the canon because his first meeting with humans since his imprisonment was someone who was obviously scared and didn't try to hypnotize the general.

Riss is Slithraa's granddaughter and is about three years old. She's named after a minor character in the Dragonskin Slippers.

Hissi is Riss's mom and Slithraa's daughter.

Wadjet is Slithraa's wife and is named after an Egyptian goddess.

Scales had to capture Ash, because Pythor is questioning his loyalty and bringing in a ninja would be a good way to convince him otherwise. He's going to help Ash escape later because he knows that Pythor will eat him if he has the chance (Jay told him before they were forced to leave everything behind).