Ch 17

The training had been going on great. Alex felt happy to finally delve into her powers and work with her newfound friends. And after all of that, the group had been laughing and smiling, ready to spend the rest of the day to themselves.

Until they saw the pirates. Causing terror throughout the city. In their ship.

"Pirates? Haven't they been gone for centuries?" Alex inquired. Zane looked up, "I sense Lord Garmadon is somehow behind this."

"How are we going to follow them?" Lloyd butted in. Kai smiled and held up a token, "Perhaps this can be of some use."

Sure enough, the bus had luckily stopped in front of the dojo to pick up the team as they followed the pirates and Bounty. As the group stepped on, Alex pulled on her hood, and Lloyd pulled on a black makeshift hood Sensei had used before the ninjas had earned their new outfits.

"Ugh. I don't like the kid coming along. Plus Alex isn't that well trained for this," Kai stated. "Please please please!" Lloyd begged, while Alex merely sent a frustrated and pleading look to the others. Zane sighed, "First off, Lloyd, you're too young to be out here fighting. Second off, your powers are too great and uncontrollable Alex. It is best that you both stay out of this."

Before Alex could interject, the others also agreed. "Sorry you two," Cole looked back as the group leaped up top, "Maybe next time."

Alex went over to cover Lloyd's ears as she cursed at her situation. But that was soon cut off as she and Lloyd were thrown forward as the bus stopped for an old lady to cross the street. The two went to the window just as the woman's bag of groceries split open halfway across the street, and the ship got further away. Karma's a bitch Alex thought as she imagined the guys' annoyance at this development, but she shrugged it off, especially since they needed to stop the pirates.

As the guys rushed off to follow the ship, Alex turned to Lloyd. "Cmon, there's only one way we're going to get in on the action. Now follow me, and do exactly as I tell you, ok?"

Lloyd nodded, knowing better than to screw up this opportunity. Grabbing his hand, Alex ran back to the apartment. Hopefully, the dragon would be back by then, ready to go.

The Green Ninja had never felt so alive as she saddled herself and Lloyd into the dragon and took off towards the pirates and the Bounty. The air whipped up in her face as she turned the dragon towards where she had last seen the marauders, and soon spotted them nearby. On closer examination, the pirates seemed to be sending someone off the plank, and (surprise surprise) that someone was Dareth the self proclaimed "Brown Ninja."

As she saw him fall off, Alex guided the dragon quickly towards Dareth, Lloyd letting out a wild whoop as they flew over and caught the "sensei."

The man himself was clearly shocked, but soon came out of the trance to yell out, "I called the dragon!" Alex rolled her eyes and laughed along with the Brown Ninja as they headed for stable ground.

From what the Green Ninja saw, the fight was getting pretty intense, as her four friends were pitted against the pirates. Surprisingly, they were doing quite well despite the odds, but nevertheless, Alex handed the reigns to Lloyd as she leaped down to grab a nearby rigging, the sensation making her cry out in exaltation, "Ninja-GO!"

The rope swung around one of the masts, sending Alex colliding into Zane and the pirate captain. Shaking it off, she stood up to face the one legged leader as he held up his scabbard. "Pirate-Go!" the captain proclaimed as he swung at Alex, but before she could intercept it, Kai came out of nowhere to deflect the blow. As he began to fight off the pirate, he spoke to her, "Alex! You're not supposed to be here!" He grabbed her and dragged her into a nearby barrel as he went off to fight more pirates.

"What the?! Hey!" Alex grunted as she lurched the barrel to her left, trying to escape. She ended up standing, but with the barrel stuck over her head, she could only run around with no idea who she was hitting. She heard a bump and a yell from Kai as she rolled around inside her wooden prison, so she could only hope that he wouldn't be too mad over what had happened. After all, he HAD been the one to put her there.

Currently, apologies would have to wait, as Alex used her hearing to dodge blows from the pirate captain's sword. "Come here you rotten little hag," he growled, finally breaking Alex's temper. "Ninja-GO!" Alex found herself going through the spinning motions as the barrel broke and an emerald green tornado appeared. Stopping herself, she looked down, pirates forgotten, "Oh. My. God! I just did Spinjitzu and HELD it! That's a new record!"

She failed to notice the captain butting her with the end of his scabbard, sending Alex reeling to the floor. She landed on a switch on the floor as she fell, but quickly recovered and joined her team to face off against the remaining pirates.

Angry at the marauder for his earlier insults, Alex held her hands together and formed a ball of green energy, using her power to help it grow as large as her own body. Despite the warnings her friends yelled, she shot off the sphere towards the pirate captain. As it collided against the Bounty, sparks of pure energy were set off across the ship, causing the mast behind the ninja to teeter and fall onto the opposing groups. Alex didn't even have time to yell as the mast came down with a crash on top of the ninja.

Groggily moving out from beneath, the group could do nothing as the pirates looked down on them, ready to finish the job. "You lose, pajama people," the captain spoke as he held out his scabbard, and his crew did likewise. "Now you're walking the plank."

Suddenly, a tremor shook across the city, halting the pirates from doing whatever they had planned for the ninja. What sounded like giant footsteps turned out to be everyone's favorite samurai, Nya. Jumping onto the ship, she grabbed the mast and lifted it off of her companions before using it to send the pirates reeling onto the deck. Once that had been taken care of, Nya planted the pole back into its place.

As she jumped out of her exosuit, Nya used a blade to slide down the sail, cutting it up, before landing in front of her friends, and on top of the captain.

"Who wins between pirates and ninja? It's samurai!" Jay exclaimed as Nya giggled, causing Jay to do his usual routine and sigh dreamily as he looked up at his girl.

Once orders had been taken into affair, the police had arrived ready to cart off the pirates to prison. "Good work team," the officer told the group.

"Don't forget to include this young lady right here." Alex felt Kai patting her on the back as he spoke. She looked back at her friend, happy to know that he finally accepted her help. "On that note, I promise to avoid you when I'm near any barrels," she replied, managing to get a chuckle out of the red ninja.

On a different note, the officer turned to Jay, pointing at the Bounty, "Is that your ship?"

Jay smiled, "It sure is!"

"Sorry! You snooze, you lose!" The ninja turned to see Lord Garmadon and the Serpentine looking down at the ninja as the ship began to start up.

"Dad!" Lloyd called out to his father.

"You're becoming strong, son, but you and your precious Green Ninja will never be strong enough to defeat me! Give up, before it's too late!" This comment seemed to bring Lloyd down, but as Alex walked over to give the boy a reassuring pat, he stood stronger, and moved closer to her and the ninja.

"Fine! Have it your way!" Garmadon yelled back, as he and his Serpentine took their ship and headed to the skies.

"Great! Lord Garmadon's back and now he's got our ship!" Jay huffed as they watched the ship disappear. Cole walked over to Alex and held her shoulder, "Well at least we have our Green Ninja." Alex smiled at this comment as she held onto Lloyd and looked off into the sunset.

"Whooo hya!" The moment was interrupted by a karate yell and the sound of impact as the group turned to find Dareth on the ground looking dazed.

"Aw c'mon guys. I 'dareth' you to forgive me." The group began to laugh at this pun as Lloyd helped up the Brown Ninja, who laughed along with the group, still looking slightly embarrassed.

Good ending to one of the good episodes in a good season! I always found seasons 1 and 2 to be the most enjoyable, though with the newest season, I'm not sure how I feel about it. Don't get me started on season 3.

Anyway, thank you all for continuing to read this story. If you want to request any new subjects I could add as side stories or just to let you know my input, be sure to let me know. Otherwise, until next time, fellow Ninjagonites!