Hey everybody, here's ep. 5. I own only Ani, plot changes, and any other OCs.
It had been almost a week since the ninja allowed Lloyd to move in with them, just long enough for him to learn everyone's names. At the moment, the Bounty was perched on a tall, flat-headed mountain. Ani was making her way to the shower in the ninja's room when Lloyd bumped into her.
"Oh, sorry Ani," the little boy replied, "But Kai told me to tell you that he fixed the shower head so when you turn it on, it won't sound like starving whales anymore."
"Good to know, Little Brother," Ani said as she took off the boy's hood and rubbed her hand through his hair.
Lloyd laugh a bit and said, "Well, see ya, Sis."
After he left, Ani stepped into the shower, pulled the curtain over, and threw her clothes over the rack. She turned on the faucet and started screaming.
She then stuck her head, on covered with yesterday's dinner on her head, and screamed, "Gahh! Kaaaiii!"
Kai picked up a game controller and settled back for a good hour of video games. He turned on the game when Lloyd walked in, whistling.
"Hey, Kai," the boy spoke up, "Heh, I saw Cole beat your high score. Ya should've seen it, it was pretty spectacular."
Kai turned around, "Uh, you must be talking about Sitar Legend. This is Fist to Face 2; No one beats me on my game."
"Huh, could be wrong," Lloyd said before he walked away, "See ya!"
Just to be sure, Kai brought up the high scores on the screen. Sure enough, Cole's image was on each of the high scores.
"Cooole!"
In the kitchen, Cole was busy stirring a pot of soup.
"Mm-mm... Violetberry soup," Cole thought aloud, "My culinary achievement. If the recipe is not followed exactly…"
He took a sip of the broth, only to gag and make a face.
"By the way," Lloyd's voice came from behind him, and he looked to the boy, "I saw Jay spice things up. I told him not to, but he said your cooking could use it. Bye, Cole!"
And, the lad left. When he was gone, Cole instantly spat out the soup.
"Jaaay!"
Jay, fully suited up in his kendo gear, picked up a remote and pushed a button on it. A funky robot with a handlebar moustache in front of him sparked to life.
Jay put on his helmet and said, "Let's ease our way into this. How 'bout level two, shall we?"
He pushed another button, and, after the robot sparked up a bit, the small screen on the robot flashed a '9'.
"Hey, Jay!" Jay heard Lloyd speak from behind him and turned around, "I saw Zane try to repair the sparring 'bot earlier. Isn't that your expertise? Later, bro!"
Lloyd then left.
"Wait! What?" Jay began pushing buttons to try and stop the robot. It, however, kept advancing on the ninja.
"No! Nooooo! Zaaane!"
Zane, still in his pajamas, set down the laundry basket and was about to open it, but Lloyd suddenly walked up to him, whistling.
"Hello, Lloyd," Zane greeted the boy, "What brings you up here this fine morning?"
"Ani wanted me to pick up some ninja suits," The boy answered, "She said she threw them in with your whites."
Lloyd lifted the lid to the basket and brought out Kai's suit, "Here it is! Thanks!"
And, he walked away. Zane contemplated this for a moment, and pulled out his suit: it was pink. His face grew angry.
In their shared room, the ninja were yelling at each other for the "crimes" commented against the other, Jay out of his padding, Zane still in his PJs and Ani in an orange bath robe, some food bits still in her hair.
"When someone says 'lunch is on me,' that's not suppose to be a literal statement!"
"You couldn't just be happy with the high score! You had to rub it in my face!"
"You know how long it took me to make that? Three days... Three days!"
"It's an unsaid law, okay? You don't touch a man's robot!"
"How am I supposed to strike fear in this? It's pink!"
The ninjas started arguing as Sensei Wu walked into their room. He shook his head and opened the door to the bathroom. Lloyd stood behind the door, laughing normally but semi-evilly. A toolbox, a few bottles of spice, a sledgehammer, and pink dye sat at his feet.
Seeing this, the boy stopped laughing and five loud gasps and questioning cries of "You did this!" were heard.
"Team," Cole said angrily, "I get first dibs on…"
"No dibs!" Lloyd's uncle said firmly, causing the boy to smirk, "I put him up to this for today's lesson. I wanted to show you the disruptive power of rumors, and that jumping to conclusions can only lead to trouble. Did you ever think you find out if the accusations were true?"
"Ah, no offense, Sensei," Cole retorted, "But, lemme jump to this conclusion: Today's lesson is lame."
"Couldn't you have at least tell Lloyd that the bathroom is off limits for pranks?!" Ani snapped, not at all enjoying her "mooshu-y shampoo-y."
"Yeah, and why can't you teach us to paralyze your enemy with one finger?" Jay added, "Or find out if a man is lying by the twitch of his nose?"
"Because not all lessons are about fighting!" the old man snapped, then, in a quieter tone, added, "And I... misplaced my lesson book."
Kai looked at Lloyd with narrowed eyes. He walked up to the boy, who was now smiling innocently, and pulled a book out from his back pocket.
"You mean this lesson book?"
"It was the perfect plan," Lloyd shouted, "Until you had to show up and mess everything …"
Cole shut the bathroom door, muffling Lloyd's voice. He then wiped his hands together.
"If you're done fooling around," Nya said over the loudspeaker, "I could use you guys on the bridge. We do still have a snake problem to attend to... Over and out!"
Ani growled, "It's one thing to let the ten year old son of your nemesis live with you, but having Kai's feeble sister here? I mean, honestly! I thought this was a ninja headquarters, not a little girl's playhouse!"
"You do know I can hear you…" Nya added, "Over and out!"
Sensei Wu, Lloyd, and the ninjas gathered in the bridge, where Nya was standing in front of the screen.
"Last we heard of Pythor," Nya was saying, "He stole the map of dens from Lloyd, and is now on his way to open the last two Serpentine tombs."
"Uhhhh..." Lloyd groaned, "Don't remind me."
"Thank you for pointing out the obvious, Nya," Ani replied.
"Pythor's our most dangerous threat," the old man told everyone, "If he finds those tombs before we do, with his intellect and all four tribes unleashed, there's no telling what he'll do."
"But, those tombs could be anywhere!" Jay reminded.
Ani added, "Without the map of dens, we might as well just throw darts at a map!"
"Good idea!" Nya said cheerily, holding two darts in her hand, "Why don't we?"
She threw the darts at the screen, causing Kai and Ani to duck to avoid getting hit.
"These are the two locations of the Hypnobrai and Fangpyre tombs..."
"Show-off," Kai muttered.
Nya threw another dart as she walked back to the screen, "And this is Pythor's tomb. After many hours of ruminating on why the tombs were placed in these three precise locations, I discovered a secret pattern..."
While Nya was talking, Jay was smiling dreamily at her, and Ani was rolling her eyes at the blue ninja's action. Nya took a flashlight out of a drawer under the screen and flicked it on. She shone the light on the screen and snake-like symbol appeared.
"If you notice," Nya concluded, "all three are in line with the Ninjago symbol for 'serpent'."
"So, the last two tombs must here, and here!" Jay walked next to Nya and pointed to two spots on the screen.
He smiled at her, "Oh, you are so smart."
Ani let her head fall into her hands and shook it. Jay could be such a dupe.
"Was there ever any doubt?" Nya grinned.
"There's little time," Sensei Wu said, "Kai and Jay, you head to the Venomari tomb."
The red and blue ninjas nodded.
"Cole and Zane, you take the Constrictai tomb. And take this," He held up the flute, "You might need it if you run into Pythor."
Cole took the flute.
"Ani, evacuate the nearby villages, bring anyone you can find into a larger area."
Ani bowed saying, "Yes Master."
"Good luck, ninja!"
"What am I going to do?" Nya asked.
"Yeah!" Lloyd smiled, "What're we gonna do?"
"Nya, I need you here to make sure Lloyd doesn't get into any more trouble."
"Yes, Sensei," Nya sighed.
"Let's go, team!" Cole said, grinning, "We got some snakes to club!"
The ninjas ran out of the bridge, agreeing loudly with the black ninja. Sensei Wu placed his hands behind his back and sighed.
"Where are you, Pythor? What are you up to?"
Cole and Zane rode swiftly on their vehicles to the Constrictai tomb. Suddenly, with a flash, Cole's vehicle turned back into his scythe, and he landed on the ground, Zane right behind him. Zane took out his shuriken and glanced down. His suit was still pink. He groaned.
"Well," Cole observed, "Our vehicles won't traverse the steps. We'll go the rest of the way on foot."
"But, this is the Mountain of a Million Steps," Zane pointed out, "Aren't we pressed for time?"
"Then we'll take a shortcut."
A few minutes later, Cole was jumping and climbing up the mountain, Zane clinging to his back.
"Am I holding on too tight?" Zane asked.
"Light as a feather, Pinky," Cole grunted.
He hopped over a stairway and kept on going.
"Almost there!"
In a few more jumps, Cole made it to the top. Zane got off his back and the two jumped over the rocks blocking the way. They peered into the cavern at the middle of the ground.
"Looks like Pythor was already here," Zane said, noticing the rope tied to a rock near the hole, "Perhaps we should investigate."
"Gimme a second," Cole panted, "Whew... go on and start without me."
Zane took hold of the rope and slid down it. When he got to the bottom, he landed on a marble platform. He lit a torch and looked around. The pink ninja walked to a nearby wall and ran his eyes over it.
"Huh," Cole hopped down from the rope, "Didn't Mama Snake ever tell 'em not to draw on the wall?"
"These images describe a legend about one tribe uniting them all," Zane read.
"Well, those snakes had been at war with each other for centuries."
"Well it says here, once they unite, they can find the five Silver Fang-blades that will unleash the Great Devourer: an evil that will consume all of the land, turning day onto night."
Cole raised an eyebrow, "You get all that from those little pictures?"
"This gives me deep concern," Zane said.
While he was talking, the ground behind the two was churned upwards, and the cavern shook slightly.
"If Pythor's not here, and unites all the tribes before Kai and Jay find him…"
"Relax, Zane. They're a bunch of dumb snakes that believe in fairy tales! If anything, we got all the…" The ground crunched under their feet; Cole looked down, "Did you feel that?"
"What?"
"There's something in the ground."
The two turned.
"Don't move."
Suddenly, something huge burst out of the ground behind them and lashed a thick tail around Zane.
"I've been waitin' for you," A deep voice echoed off the cavern walls, "Pythor sends his regards."
A black and orange Constrictai general, that was what got Zane, the two ninjas were in danger.
"Did you stay behind just to tell us that?" Zane choked out, "Pathetic."
"Look who's callin' who pathetic," the snake hissed in Zane's ear, "Pinky."
"Only I call him Pinky!" Cole shouted angrily, whipping out his scythe.
He jumped up and brought his weapon down on the ground, causing the snake to let go of Zane.
"Zane go for the rope!" Cole shouted.
The ninja of ice nodded and began running towards the platform. He was about to grab the rope, but a yell from Cole made him turn.
"Cole?" Zane called.
The snake and black ninja were gone.
"Whoaaaaaa!" Cole flew from the ground and landed on his rear.
Zane watched as the ground rumbled and moved again. A line of rocks marked where the snake was. The rocks headed for Cole, who backed away and took out the flute. He lifted his hood and put the flute to his lips. Instantly, a soft, sweet music filled the air. The snake burst out of the ground and roared, then wrapped his tail swiftly around Cole, who let out a cry.
"Zane," Cole choked, "Zane!"
He yelled in pain and dropped the flute.
"Ninjaaaaa-Go!" Zane spun into his tornado, though now it was pink, and swirled towards the flute.
He picked it up and began playing it. The snake sharply stuck a hand under Zane's hood and grabbed his throat. Zane struggled to lift off his hood again, and he blew into the flute. The snake gripped his throat harder, causing his vision to blur. He took in as much air as he could, and blew out again. The snake yelled and let go of the two ninjas.
"Wrap your head around this!" Cole picked up his scythe and hit the snake with it, knocking him to the ground.
Zane panted, "Good one."
"Thanks," Cole put his scythe on his back, "But, he was expecting us. We better get Ani, I think Kai and Jay are walking into a trap!"
He and Zane ran to the rope.
"Come on! Let's get out of here!"
Kai and Jay sped over a swamp. Jay flew in his jet and Kai rode on his motorcycle. With two bright flashes, the vehicles disappeared and the two ninjas landed on the ground.
"Eww!" Jay put a hand over his nose as they walked up to the bubbling, murky water.
"Hey, it's not me," Kai said, "We're in the Toxic Bogs. This stuff'll eat through you worse than Cole's chili."
He put a stick in the acidic water. When he pulled it out, the tip was singed off; definitely worse than the chili. Jay nodded and hopped onto a tree. The other two followed him, and they began swinging on vines and hopping across trees to the Venomari tomb. They suddenly landed in front of a giant tree. They walked towards the tree. Jay pressed down on a piece of bark, and part of the tree disappeared, releasing green smoke.
"P-U!" Jay coughed.
His words echoed into the dark hole now in the tree, "P-U, P-U, P-U..."
The blue ninja laughed.
Kai sighed, "Let's just make this quick before Pythor gets here."
Jay walked farther into the hole, and Kai noticed that something else was there. He stepped back and looked around, then spotted it crouching at the water's edge. He walked to it and Jay interrupted him.
"This place looks empty. We must've just missed him," Jay turned back into the tree, "Check this out: They say you're the Green Ninja, but I say I am!"
"I am, I am, I am..."
"I am!"
"I am! I am! I am..."
He laughed. Kai continued what he was doing. He walked around for a few seconds, inspecting the bog. Just then, a loud croak made them both whip out him Golden Weapon and point it at what at made the noise: a frog.
"Oh, you shouldn't sneak up on people like that," Kai sighed. The frog hopped onto a lily pad in the water. "Heh, if I weren't such well-trained nin-"
He was interrupted by the lily pad rising out of the water. Kai gasped, for the lily pad wasn't a lily pad at all. It was a snake. The snake cackled and shot venom into the red ninjas' face, causing him to close his eyes and stumble back. They became a bright green; as Kai looked around, his vision swirling.
"Jay!" he called out.
"No, I'm the real Jay!" Jay shouted into the hole.
"No, I'm the real Jay! No, I'm the real Jay! No, I'm the real Jay..."
More Venomari snakes climbed out of the acidic water and lurched towards the red and yellow ninjas. The two swung their weapons around wildly, before collapsing on the ground at the same time. For Kai, the snakes were turning into gnomes and walking gingerbread men.
"Oh! This is not good!" Kai yelled, "Jay!"
Jay turned away from the hole and walked towards the ninja, only to find Venomari snakes closing in on him, and the other ninja cowering out of fear.
"There's so many!" Kai whimpered, "Elves and gingerbread people everywhere!"
"Okay, I don't know what you're seeing," Jay remarked, taking out his nun-chucks and spinning them around, "But this is no time to lose yourself. I need you!"
"I never fought little people before!" Kai shouted, "We're toast!"
Just then, Cole, Ani, and Zane flew out of the trees on their vehicles. Their weapons transformed back, and they landed on the ground.
"Anyone order a little kick-butt?" Cole yelled.
"Butt, butt, butt..."
Jay laughed.
"Boo!" Pythor suddenly burst out from behind the huge tree, scaring Jay.
Zane put away his shuriken and took out the flute. He lifted his hood and began playing the flute, but Pythor lashed his long tail around it and pulled it away.
"Oh," he said, lifting it to his face and examining it, "Let's not let music ruin things, hmm?"
Kai stood up, now focused on Pythor, and joined Jay, Zane, Ani, and Cole. The Venomari closed in on the ninjas, forcing them back towards the bog. When they reached the edge, the five hopped backwards onto a fallen tree. The tree started sinking in the acid.
"Oh, I've got a sinking feeling," Pythor observed, "This may be the last I see of you five."
He cackled. The ninjas looked at the Constrictai snakes that had joined the Venomari.
"That's it," Cole spat, "I used to hate dragons, but now, I officially hate snakes!"
"Join the club," Ani answered, "Do you have any idea how many villages I had to rescue from these freaks!?"
"Wait," Kai slurred, "Do you see that?"
"What?!" Ani snapped.
"A magic floating rope…We can climb to safety!"
He walked towards empty air, but Jay pulled him back.
"Boy, that Venomari venom is some powerful stuff!" Jay remarked.
The snakes on shore began laughing at the ninjas. This appeared to be it, no more ninja, no grand fancy battle, just five friends on a log, sinking into the most corrosive place in all of Ninjago.
"For whatever it is worth," Zane spoke up, "It was an honor to fight beside you all."
"Don't be like that, Zane," Ani argued, "There must be a way out; we just have to find a way out."
"She's right," Cole agreed.
"Yeah," Jay nodded, "But how?"
Then, a rope dropped down in front of them.
"Hey, what?" Cole asked.
"The magic rope," Kai mumbled.
"Quick!" Ani ordered, "Everyone, climb over!"
The forest rumbled then, without warning, and a large robot-like thing descended from the sky. It landed and shot a net from its hand, capturing some of the snakes. The rest of the snakes fled, with the Venomari diving into the acid and the Constrictai burrowing into the ground. Pythor watched for a moment, and then glared at the robot, who pointed a threatening hand towards him.
"Oh, dear," Pythor backed away.
The robot's torso lowered, revealing a human dressed in armor.
"Pythor... Target confirmed," he said in a robotic voice, "Time to bag... And tag."
Pythor turned quickly and slithered away. The warrior raised a wrist and shot a dart into the snake's rear end. Pythor shrieked and slithered to his left, disappearing from view. The ninjas hopped down from the tree and watched the warrior, who hopped out of his robot.
"Who are you?" Ani demanded, suspicious of their rescuer.
"How about the coolest thing I've ever seen!" Jay exclaimed.
"Santa?" Kai mumbled deliriously.
"Yes, stupid," Cole said sarcastically, "It's Saint Nick in the flesh."
"Thank you, mysterious warrior," Zane walked up to the warrior and bowed, "I owe you my life for saving…"
The warrior sprayed a blue mist onto Zane, and the pink ninja fell to the ground, unconscious.
"Hey, that wasn't nice!" Jay said.
"Everyone, be ready to attack," Ani alerted her fells.
But, the warrior just did the same to her, Cole, Kai, and Jay. The four fell to the ground, just like Zane had. The warrior pressed a button on his wrist, which made a rope shoot out of the robot and bring him back into it. The robot's torso went back into place and it flew away. When it had gone entirely, a spotlight from the Bounty shone down onto the ground, illuminating the golden weapons on the ninjas' backs.
"So, then, just when we were gonna bite it," Jay was saying, "This huge mechanical robot came…"
"Samurai," Zane interrupted, "It was samurai."
"A samu-what?" Lloyd turned to Zane with a confused look on his face.
"Samurai, highest level of warrior class," the elder explained, "They would protect nobility, and serve with honor on the battlefield."
"And by all that, he means glorified bodyguards for the weak willed and greedy cowards that make up the rich and elite classes that did whatever they were paid for," Ani interjected, distaste evident in her voice, "They were also arrogant, selfish glory-hogs who took credit for what real heroes did, exploited and blackmailed poor villagers for their so-called 'protection,' and, just like the one that scared off Pythor and the other snakes, they would charge into a ninja's battle and cause a mess of things as a means to play hero."
"Really?" Nya sounded surprised, "Because it sounded like that samurai saved you guys."
"Yes, and scattered the Serpentine and let Pythor get away in the process," Ani angrily clarified, "And we would've found a way to save ourselves on our own."
"He was a hundred feet high," Kai said, still hallucinating, "With weapons coming out every part of him. An…"
Kai stopped talking and leaned in close to Cole, whispering, "Look at Sensei's beard. It's moving like snakes."
Nya shook her head, "When is this Venomari spit s'posed to wear off? It's starting to get annoying."
Kai stuck a dumpling to his cheek; Zane, Lloyd, and Jay, who were sitting across from the red ninja, looked at him weirdly.
"Okay, don't let this mysterious samurai cloud what's really important!" Cole reminded them, "All the Serpentine are out. And if Pythor can unite them, the legend states some Great Devourer is gonna consume the land and…"
"Great Devourer?" Nya frowned.
"Whatever it is, it's a can of worms I don't wanna see open."
Lloyd moaned and put his head in his hands, "Oh, it's all my fault! If I hadn't opened the first hatch, none of this would've happened."
"We cannot change the past," Sensei Wu said, "But, we can affect the future! At least we have the Sacred Flute in our possession, so…"
"Yeah… Heh -heh," Jay tipped over his cup, "About that..."
"Pythor... sort of... stole it," Zane confessed.
"The last Sacred Flute?" their mentor gasped, "Gone?"
He sighed, "You five are Ninjago's last hope."
Suddenly, a loud, ear-piercing alarm broke through the room, snapping Kai out of his Venomari trance.
"Cold Vision must've caught something!" Nya exclaimed, "That means the Serpentine are near!"
"Oh, no!" Cole said, "Ninjago City?"
The group of eight got off their chairs and ran to the bridge.
"How many are there?" Jay asked.
"Looks like all of them," Ani answered.
"Pythor must be trying to unite them," Zane realized.
"Go!" the sensei ordered, "We mustn't let the five tribes unite!"
The ninjas ran out of the bridge, and with five cries of "Ninjaaaaa-Go!" Cole, Jay, Ani, and Zane changed into their suits. Zane sighed; his suit was still pink.
"I must get this taken care of," he said.
Kai swirled clumsily around the room before coming out of his tornado and falling to the ground.
"Don't worry," Jay walked to the fire ninja and winked at him, "It'll wear off soon. For now, you're comin' with me."
He grabbed Kai's hands and pulled him up.
Kai yelled as Jay jumped over the edge of the Bounty, Jay gripping the former's back. Cole, Ani, and Zane followed suit. Jay pulled out his nun-chucks and swung them around, effectively placing him and Kai in the jet.
"Ah," Cole sighed, "I love the smell of land hurtling towards you in the middle of the night!"
Zane blinked, and Ani shook her head and stared at the black ninja. When they had fallen a little further, Cole took out his scythe and transformed it. Zane took out his shuriken and they transformed as well. Ani followed suit, ending up in the spaceship. The boys fell even farther, and Zane went as far as driving down the side of a building. He then landed on the ground and Zane's motorcycle reverted back to shuriken. Cole landed with a thud and whipped around their weapons while Kai and Jay fell from the jet, which changed back into nun-chucks, and Ani landed her vehicle like an expert pilot.
The ninjas looked around in amazement as they walked down the alley they had fallen in.
"Ninjago City," Kai breathed, now cured of the venom.
"Amazing," Zane gasped.
"I've always heard stories of this place," Ani said.
"Biggest city in all of Ninjago," Jay said as he looked around, "I've always wanted to come here."
"Yeah, I always dreamed of being on a billboard here," Cole grinned.
"You too?" Jay asked.
"Yeah, I did, too." Kai nodded.
"I was once when I put myself on a Missing Person's Program," Ani admitted, "I was on a billboard for a month."
"Uh, but may I remind you," Zane spoke, looking at his teammates, "Where are the snakes? We should be standing in the middle of a massive Serpentine gathering."
He and the other four looked down at a smoking manhole.
"Ugh," Cole groaned, "I hate snakes."
Just below them, group of the four tribes and the sole member of the Anacondri was gathered in an abandoned subway station. Pythor examined himself in the window of one of the trains, his tongue flicking out occasionally.
"You'll have to use more than wordsssss to bring the Serpentine together."
Pythor turned to see Skales behind him.
"All I have to do is show them the way," Pythor hissed.
"They're ready for you, Pythor," the Venomari leader, Acidicus, said.
"Ah," Pythor slithered towards the large crowd of Serpentine, "Show time."
He climbed up the middle train and looked over the crowd.
"Friends," the snake began, "Enemies... and enemies who pretend to be friends."
The Serpentine cackled a strange combination of a laugh and a hiss.
"I welcome you..."
The five ninjas ran along the catwalk and stared at the huge crowd.
"That's a lot of snakes," Cole muttered.
"What're we gonna do?" Jay whispered.
"I have an idea," Kai said quietly, "Follow my lead."
His teammates did so as he ran away.
"…what is it with the Constrictai and their vice-like grip," Pythor was saying, "Let it go, already!"
The crowds laugh/hissed again.
"It's funny," one Fangpyre snake said to the Hypnobrai snake next to him, "Because it's so true!"
Pythor chuckled and continued, "But, in all seriousness, the reason why I called you here to this gathering is because... the good people of Ninjago imprisoned us in those insidious tombs. And, I want to return them the favor!"
The Serpentine cheered, meanwhile Kai slid down a rope behind the crowd, unseen.
"That sounds like a great plan," he said, "But, you know the Hypnobrai'll screw it up."
"Who said that?" One of the Hypnobrai hissed angrily.
"Those buck-teeth can bite my rear end!" Jay leaned over behind the Fangpyre.
"I bet they're drinking their own venom," Cole stood behind a post.
"All that digging must've given them dirt-for-brains!" Zane hung from a rope.
Ani called out in a snake-ish voice, "Why ssshould we follow an sssnake without a tribe? Pythor'sss an idiot, anywaysss."
The ninjas watched as the Serpentine began fighting among themselves.
"What's going on?" Pythor demanded, "Why am I losing them?"
Skales shook his head, then spotted the bright orange cloth of Ani's uniform.
"Ninja!" he said, pointing to the girl with his staff, "Don't worry; I'll take care of it."
Cole watched the fighting for a moment, the yelped and disappeared. The same happened to Kai and Ani. Jay and Zane, who were behind the two, started, then noticed the trail of cracked tile coming towards them. The ninjas turned to run, but only Zane got away as three Constrictai snakes popped up and surrounded Jay.
Zane turned as Jay shrieked, "Ruuun!"
Zane began running to his teammate, but quickly turned again and went the other way as more snakes jumped up from the ground and advanced on him. He turned down a hallway and ran towards the exit. But, it was chained up- Zane couldn't escape. The pink ninja looked around, then pressed himself up against a wall and shut his eyes tightly. Would this work? ...No, not even the Serpentine were that dumb. He heard footsteps come closer... closer... then, they were gone.
Zane opened his eyes in surprise and looked down the hallway. None of the Serpentine were there. He glanced at the wall he had hidden on and was surprised to find that it was an almost completely pink ad for Sitar Legend, a video game that they already owned. He raised his arms and noticed that his suit and the ad were almost the exact same shade of pink.
Pythor glared at the fighting crowd, and then turned to Skales.
"Did you take care of them?" he hissed.
"All but one," Skales motioned to one of his snakes to open the broom closet they were standing guard over.
"You freaks won't get away this!" Ani's voice was heard.
Inside the closet were four of the five ninjas, bound in ropes. But, the pink one was still missing.
"Search every nook and cranny," Pythor ordered in a deadly voice, all humorous emotions gone, "If he's a ninja, you'll never find him in plain sight!"
"Look!" one of Skalidor's snakes cried, "A pink ninja!"
Above them, Zane flew in on a rope.
"Go, pink ninja, go!" The ninjas yelled.
Zane flew off the rope he was swing on and knocked Pythor and Skales off the train. He jumped and flipped to his teammates, then took out his shurikens and sliced off their ropes.
"Now!" he said, "Let's get out of here!"
The five jumped onto ropes and swung over the crowd of infuriated Serpentine. They landed on the catwalk and ran out of the room, into a hallway. Half of the crowd chased after them.
"Let us blow this popsicle stand!" Zane yelled, "Ninjaaaaa-Go!"
He swirled into a pink tornado and spun forward.
"Popsicle stand," Jay repeated, "Ha-ha! I like it!"
"Good one Zane!" Ani applauded.
Zane halted and took out his shurikens. He held them out and ice shot out from one of the three tips on the twin weapons. The rest of the hallway was coated in ice in less than six seconds. The pink ninja then transformed his shurikens into the motorcycle and his teammates swiftly jumped onto it. Jay ended up in the back.
Zane revved the engine and sped down the hallway, leaving the Serpentine far behind. Along the way, Jay tumbled from his perch on the motorcycle and had to grab the exhaust pipes to stay on. Zane just kept speeding forward, unaware of his friend's problem. Ani gripped Jay's arm, keeping the blue ninja with her and the other three. Meanwhile, the Serpentine were having a difficult time walking or slithering on the ice. Pythor slipped suddenly and fell to the ice with a yell. His face burned with embarrassment and fury.
"You have to do," Skales grunted, holding Pythor's wrist and pulling him up, "Ugh, better than that to... Agh... unite the tribes!"
"Get your hands off me!" Pythor shouted, startling Skales so much that the Hypnobrai leader cowered.
A few hours later, the ninjas, Sensei Wu, and Nya sat at the table in the small dining room, halfway through the food set out for dinner.
"Y'know," Cole said, "Whether it was in the lesson book or not, we used the destructive power of rumors to our advantage."
"And now the Serpentine are further away than ever from getting their act together," Kai grinned.
"Y'know, I don't think we would've gotten out of there if it hadn't been for Zane," Jay pointed out.
"Don't thank me," Zane said, "Thank Lloyd. If it hadn't been for his 'laundry skills' we all would've been found."
The entire team burst into laughter, especially at Zane's air quotes.
"Speaking of Lloyd," Nya announced, "I had a real plumber fix the shower, so no more lunch bathes for you guys."
"Good thing too," Ani laughed, "I didn't know what smelled worse, the Toxic Bogs, the sewers, or me."
Everyone laughed again. Then, the door to the dining room slid open, and Lloyd walked in.
"Well," the boy said, carrying a pile of Zane's clothing, "it took me twenty loads, but your suit's no longer pink. And to show that I'm sorry, Cole, I got you a can of nuts."
The black ninja looked at him as Lloyd pulled a little can out of his back pocket, similar to the one he had used when he and the male ninja first met.
"Oh, heh- heh, yeah," Cole got out of his seat and walked to the boy, "Don't think I don't see what this is. When I open this, a bunch of snakes're gonna pop out, right? Yeah, no thank you."
He walked to the fridge and opened it. Dozens of plastic snakes burst out, causing Cole to yell in fright and fall to the floor. Everyone, including Cole, laughed once more.