Chapter 27; Crimson Necklace
Cece's POV
'I… Am… Going… to… die…' I repeat inside my brain.
Finally, I finish the third mile. It was either that, or to be put out of my misery.
"Victory!" hoarse and out of breath I say, lying on the grass outside the parked bounty. Beneath my sweaty skin the cold grass feels good… I drift off to sleep but I am immediately kicked. I burst up to see the person that kicked me.
"HEY!" I say and look up at Kai standing over me. Squinting, I stare at him in frustration.
"Sleeping is what got you into this mess you know… Are you going to train or not?"
"Not!" I say and turn over. Kai rolls his eyes and kicks me again.
"YOU have to train!" he yells
"Why do you care if I train or if I don't? I don't see anyone else kicking me!" I say and look at Kai. He looks down frustrated and if you looked closely enough you could see his face turn red slightly. He turns away.
"Whatever! It's your choice if you want to face Sensei's wrath or not!" he says turning away. After a moment I get up slowly and follow Kai back on the bounty.
I look behind me and in the distance I see serpentine rushing toward the ship.
"Kai!" poking him on the shoulder, I say.
"What?" He yells and turns over to me. His eyes widen as he notices the serpentine. Hurrying, we sprint onto the deck.
Emma's POV
Everyone training turns their heads to look at all the serpentine. Panting, Kai and Cece race on deck and we all get into our battle positions (poor Cece, three miles and now this!) Cole is the first to dash into battle, everyone else follows his lead. I use my daggers to stab and strike at serpentine. Dexterously, I kick, punch, and trip them.
Leaping, I dodge the weapons of appalling Serpentine.
Racing, my heart beats and my adrenaline is unleashed.
Zooming, I throw my daggers at ones that are farther away and shoot a serpentine creeping up behind Kai.
When I fight, I try to retrieve the daggers I have thrown. Cece shoots snakes with her bow and attacks them with plants. Cole is shaking the bounty and making a mess. Since Lloyd and Laura
strike the queer Serpentine with their powers interdependently. We are all disabling large amounts of Serpentine. The only person I don't see on deck is Zane.
Cole's POV
Because the earth shakes and Serpentine are tripped, many of them are on the ground. I give large and powerful attacks with a strong defense. I inhale the cool air. Racing, I leap off the bounty to fight serpentine on the ground along with Anne, Cece, and Jay. I shake the earth with my elemental sword and fight serpentine in my way.
Avoiding his venomous spit, I kick and punch a Venomari to the ground.
Turning, I slash my sword at another. Taking a deep breath before, the ground underneath my Serpentine opponent shakes and he falls on his face on the ground.
"NINJA-GO!" Screaming, I form my earthy tornado. Leisurely, I dissemble my tornado and inhale sweet air. Exhaling, I get back to fighting the serpents.
Out of the blue, the ground shakes below me.
I am unprepared when the Constrictai General comes up from the dirt and squeezes me with his tail. I try to remember to relax. Painfully, it takes a long time but I eventually squeeze through.
Furious, Skalidor looks at me.
He uses his tail and I am flown in the air. I hit the side of the bounty. Slowly, I slide down and brutally hit the ground. I cringe in pain and look up at Skalidor. I try to get up but my ankle hurts too much and I fall back down. Smiling, Skalidor squeezes me again with his tail.
"COLE!" I hear Anne scream as she hits Skalidor in the head. Skalidor releases me from his grip and turns to Anne. Although blurry, I notice my sword in the distance. Gradually, I reach out for it. Excruciatingly, every muscle aches in pain. I finally grab it as Skalidor is about to kick Anne with his tail.
I slam my sword into the earth and Skalidor falls to the ground. Tumbling, he falls down. Immediately however, he then drills underground where he belongs.
Anne's POV
Automatically, in a trance, I dash to Cole's side. I kneel beside Cole, who is lying on the ground. Gently, I sit him up and he cringes from the pain.
"Cole?" I say and he opens his emerald-green surrounding evergreen or0bs.
"I am ok, Anne. Don t worry…" He says, drifting away.
"I got to get you out of here!" I say and try to stand him up. It seems like one of his ankles is sprained or something like that. Helping him up, slowly he and I limp onto the deck. I try to get him into the infirmary.
Zane's POV
A few Serpentine make it inside the bounty. Fighting them off the best I can, I receive the help of Sensei Wu and Lord Garmadon.
"Zane, you need to get out there! We got this!" Sensei says
"No, I have to protect you guys!" I say. I will not loose my father a second time… not today…
"You can protect us out there!" Garmadon says but I shake my head no.
The door opens and inside…
The snake king enters the room. Drawing out my elemental sword, we engage in battle.
He tries to hypnotize me but I close my eyes. Suddenly he trips me with his tail. Unable to get out of the way, I harshly stumble to the ground. My head hits the ground with a thump. Ignoring me, he moves around me to get to Sensei Wu and Lord Garmadon through the narrow hallway near my father's room... Slowly, I turn towards Skales as I get up. His focuses his attention on hypnotizing Sensei Wu and Lord Garmadon.
"No!" hardly audible, I say. Enraged, I am quick to my feet.
I use my true potential to freeze him at the spot.
Smiling, I see Skales frozen in a block of ice.
Then the ice cracks.
Skales breaks through the ice. Turning his attention towards me angrily, he grabs his staff.
Shocked, I do can nothing. He hits me with it.
I dodge it barely and kick Skales in the chest. Bouncing back, Skales punches me in the arm.
Behind me a serpent hits me with a large mallet. I sprawl onto the floor. Looking up, paralyzed, serpentine soldiers march over me. The last thing I saw; Anne and Cole burst into the room.
Emma's POV
Staring into the eyes of the many serpentine attacking the bounty, I block the door leading inside.
"We need to get out of here!" Nya yells as she punches a snake in the face.
"The serpentine have damaged the boosters! We can't get into the air!" Laura yells from the side of the ship.
"We can't just stay here like sitting ducks!" Kai yells.
"We will have to go to shore then!" Jay replies.
"How do we do that? It's like half a mile away!" Cece includes from across the bounty.
"Cece, perhaps you can make vines carry the bounty and Nya can help using wind" I suggest. Forcefully, I kick a Hypnobrai in the face. Cece tries to lift the bounty but it is too heavy. I fight off more Serpentine but they just keep coming and coming.
"I can't! It's too big!" Cece cries.
"We have to keep trying! Perhaps Nya should try making a tornado or something!" I say.
"I couldn't possibly make one big enough!" Nya says…
"What are we going to do then?" Jay ponders.
I need to cut the serpentine off by its source. Rushing inside, I run down the hallway and I find Sensei Wu and Lord Garmadon unconscious. Quickly, I keep moving and hear a scream inside Dr. Julien's room. I open the door immediately.
I see Dr. J cornered by Skales along with countless other serpentine. Through the chaos, I dash inside the room and start fighting Serpentine to help Dr. J.
"What do you want with me, you snake!" Dr. J protests when Skales merely smiles egregiously at him.
"Look into my eyes, fall under my control!" Skales says.
"NOO!" I yell as Skales successfully hypnotizes him. I can do nothing when I am pined to the wall by two strong Constrictai. Slithering, Skales is beside me as Dr. J leaves the room with Skales' Serpentine soldiers. We are merely inches apart as he looks into my eyes. He grabs the dagger I had in my hand.
He puts it against my neck.
"It amazes me how vexing someone can get after a while…" Skales says as he presses the dagger tighter against my skin. I feel the fear rushing into my head and look at the deep crimson eyes in anger.
"It amazes me how cowardly a king can be!" I retort and he presses the dagger harder into my flesh and I feel blood tinkling down my neck.
"Any last words, the 'mighty Seer of Stars'…" he says dripping with sarcasm.
"Not today!" I say as I kick him in the chest hard flinging the dagger out of his hand. Madly I stab the snake on my left. Suddenly, his grip on me subsides and I fall onto the ground. Pausing, I stop to feel the crimson necklace adorning my neck. Quickly the door opens, Skales stands up and I grab my other dagger.
"RETREAT!" his screech could be heard anywhere around the bounty. I look up to see Skales jumping through a nearby window. Zane who opened the door races towards me.
"Are you ok?" I nod my head but it hurts my large cut. "Where is my father?" I lookup into his two identical snowflake paradoxes and I give him the answer to his painful question.
"He is gone…" I say and he looks at me in shock. "They took him…" Zane stares at me in disbelief.
"No… no…!" Zane mumbles as he falls to his knees, falling into pieces. I crawl on my knees and stand beside him. His countenance is simply dreadful and it brings me almost t tears just looking at it. Quickly, I throw my arms around him. Zane looks at me for a second but then hugs me back as he leans his head against mine.
Kai's POV
Bursting through the door, Nya and I rush inside the infirmary. Staring, I stop my pace beside Cole's bed. He seems to be sleeping.
"I got no clue what to do, Nya…." Anne says to me.
"Don't worry, let me handle this." Nya says and begins to wrap Cole's ankle. "I think it only sprained… What happened?"
"He was fighting Skalidor… he got thrown onto the side of the bounty… Yeah… it was really intense." Anne answers. Nya finishes treating Cole's wounds.
"That was sure some beat down…" I include. Afterwards, it is only silence. Nya stands up.
"He will get better… In about a week or two… not quite sure…" Nya says. We both leave the infirmary leaving Anne alone.
Anne's POV
Kneeling, I look at Cole carefully. He has many wounds and seems beaten up pretty bad. Was this my fault? I should have done something… I should have helped him with Skalidor… Overwhelmed, guilt surrounds me and is all I can think about… sighing, I rest my arm on Cole's bed. Cole… I know I like him… but I don't know if he feels the same way… that may be cliché but it is true… Just the way he says my name… it is like rich satin and soft silk. I feel like I am in a trance whenever I stand beside him... Yet, he just does not seem to share my feelings... I don't blame him I suppose... it's not like I am that pretty... I don't have long beautiful hair or a beautiful satin voice. Yeah, do not make me list it all, it hurts.
Waking up, Cole's eyes creak open. He stares at me and I stand up. Words are stuck inside my throat as we stare inside each others eyes.
"Anne..." Cole whispers and I blush...
"Um... how are you feeling Cole?" I ask. Trying to sit up, Cole cringes in agony. Leaning against the wall he answers my question.
"I feel better... I suppose..." he says. "Oh and Anne... thanks..." I blush even more.
"Oh it is no big deal... anyone else would have done the same..." I sigh, "I should have helped you sooner though... you would not have gotten hurt so much..." I say with guilt leaking outside my throat.
"Anne... You don't need to blame yourself..." Cole says concerned. Our stare deepens and we are both silent. I find myself lost inside a dark green forest... Like a rose, my face erupts with red like a volcano. I feel my heart race as a small tint of pink caresses Cole's cheeks. Cole leans in closer... I am caught by surprise when our lips touch gently... our lips dance gently until Cole becomes more… intense. I lean in closer and I stroke his ebony hair. He puts his arms around my waist. Oh my goodness...
Cece's POV
Walking past the infirmary, I cannot help but smirk as I see Cole and Anne kissing. Should I interrupt them? I suppose I shouldn't... I continue my pace. 'My work here is done.'
Wow, longer than I thought it would be! Nice! I love Cece, don't you? She is a lot like me and my friend. This chapter was so intense! Did any of you suspect this? I know my sister probably did because I talk to her about CC all the time, even though she has only read up this… I hope she liked this chapter! Enough about his mental author… THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH! I have so many reviews! it makes me so happy! I am overly grateful for all the ones I have so far! It makes me so happy to have people love this story almost as much as I do! I sure hope so… it is fun! If nobody liked this story then I probably would have stopped a long ago and have this idea slowly die because I would be the only person in the world who loves it. Yeah… this is a long A/N… But thank you so much!
"Good observation Mr. Roboto! But Cole hasn't unlocked [his true potential] either!" ~Kai to Zane
I approve of your Sarcasitzu Kai... well done!
SergeantSarcasm7 at your service!