I own neither Ninjago nor Tangler
Ch. 9 The Chase
The day in Corona seemed like every other day for the kingdom, bright and sunny. Outside on the balconies of the castle, Rapunzel was walking alongside Kai and Lloyd. Zane's falcon was currently on Lloyd's shoulder, as was Pascal on Rapunzel's shoulder.
"So you've had Pascal since you we're little?" Lloyd asked
"Yep, we've been best friends forever." Rapunzel smiled, while the chameleon snuggled against her face.
"Animals do make good friends." Kai admitted as Lloyd pet the falcon.
"Okay, I gotta ask; what's it like being you?" Rapunzel asked. "I mean you're ninjas, and you've got amazing powers." It was truly wondrous for the princess to meet others with special abilities.
"Oh, it's awesome" Kai answered simply.
"Yes it is, but it's still quite a responsibility for us." Lloyd added. "We're the defenders of our home Ninjago, so we have to keep it safe, and we have to especially be careful with our powers, a lot people would do just about anything for them." Lloyd remembered how the Overlord wanted his golden power, and how Chen tried to steal all the elemental powers.
Rapunzel could relate quite a bit as well. "I can understand that." She said while looking a bit down as she rubbed her brown hair a bit. Pascal nudged against her, knowing what she was thinking.
The ninjas sensed something was off with her, but chose to keep it to herself. Kai found a way to change the subject. "So, you've got quite the kingdom here."
"Yeah, most of the people here are really nice." Lloyd added.
"Thanks." Rapunzel replied with a smile. "But I wonder what your home Ninjago is like."
"It's a really nice place, we might take you there sometime." Kai suggested
"Really?" Rapunzel's eyes sparkled
"Sure, why not?" Lloyd said.
Rapunzel's smile was very wide. Though there was something on her mind that she wanted to ask Kai. "So, why do you still carry your gold sword?" Kai looked to his Sword of Fire, still sheaved on his back. "I mean Jay, Cole, and Zane gave theirs and the guards put them in a vault for safe keeping, why didn't you?"
Kai took out his golden sword. "It's nothing personal, I just feel it's more secure with me. Besides, I kinda like it, I have a thing for swords, and since it has fire powers like me, it just feels natural."
"May I?" Rapunzel asked. Kai smiled and handed her the golden sword
"Be careful." Kai warned. "It's a weapon, not a toy. First time I played with it, I almost set our dojo on fire."
Rapunzel held the golden sword and saw a brief reflection of her in the blade. She smiled and began to wave it around, but as soon as she did, the blade lit on fire, startling her. She and Pascal yelped and dropped the blade.
"I tried to warn ya." Kai said as he picked up the blade.
"Don't worry about it, be glad you never have to use a weapon." Lloyd added
"Well…" Rapunzel began, rubbing the back of her neck. "I used a frying pan once or twice.
Kai and Lloyd looked to each other. "A frying pan?" They both said in unison.
"There a lot more effective than you might think." She told them, with Pascal nodding in agreement. "So, you guys inherited your elemental powers from your parents?"
"I got mine from my father, and my sister got hers from her mother." Kai replied.
"I actually got mine from my grandfather." Lloyd told her. "My mom is an archeologist."
"Wow, that's cool." Rapunzel said. "What about your dad?"
Lloyd and Kai looked at each other nervously. "Weellll, let's just say his past was… complicated." Lloyd told her.
Before anything else could be said, a certain someone came down the halls and gave an 'ahem', getting their attention.
"Your majesty." The former captain said with a slight bow. "I need to speak to you immediately it's very important."
"Oh, okay." Rapunzel said as she and the two ninjas began to walk toward him.
"Um, just you." The former captain told her, surprising them a bit. "It's a private matter, I prefer it to do it without your friends."
This resulted in Kai and Lloyd giving questionable looks to the former captain, Pascal looked a little suspiciously as well. Rapunzel sighed a bit.
"Sorry guys, I'll be back in a bit."
She then walked down the hall with the former captain, and Pascal still on her shoulder; leaving Kai and Lloyd alone for the moment.
"There's something about that guard I don't trust." Kai told Lloyd.
"Yeah, something seems off about him." Lloyd agreed. "I don't think he's the great evil we're looking for, but I think we should keep an eye on him."
"Well, good thing we have eyes in the sky huh?" Kai gestured to the falcon on Lloyd's shoulders.
"Go on, keep an eye on them." Lloyd told the falcon. The bird of prey then flew off in the direction Rapunzel and the former captain left for.
Castle Courtyard
Eugene had just come down with a bowl of apples and was greeted by the blue, black, and white ninjas practicing their ninjitsu in the courtyard.
"Hey guys." Eugene greeted
"Hello Eugene." Zane greeted back "What brings you down here on this fine day?"
"Came to see what you guys we're up to." He responded, putting his bowl of apples down getting the attention of Maximus who eyed the apples with happiness.
"Aw not much, just practicing our skills and keeping our awesomeness up." Jay said as he nonchalantly grabbed an apple, the same one Maximus was gonna eat. The white horse glared at the blue ninja who was oblivious to it.
"Well you guys defiantly got some skills going on." Eugene admitted. "I mean, when you guys took on all those pirates at once, I was just… wow." He said as Jay munched on his apple.
"Well, pirates are a real breeze compared to some of the stuff we normally go up against." Cole told him.
"I can only imagine." Eugene replied. "I've seen you guys with all these awesome powers, to give you guys a hard time, the bad guys gotta be real strong."
Jay took another apple from the bow, resulting in Maximus glaring hard. "Well they gotta be to give us a challenge." Jay replied as he munched on his second apple.
"However we cannot afford to let our guard down. The last time we did so, it almost resulted in a catastrophe." Zane reminded, remembering how Chen's Anacondrai cult got the drop on them when the heroes thought they had the upper hand.
"So you guys actually saved the world?" Eugene asked.
"Yeah, a lot of time." Cole replied.
"Like I said, just one of the benefits of being awesome." Jay said as he reached into the bowl, and felt around and realized there we're no apples. He looked down surprised.
"What the heck?" Jay asked. "There we're over a dozen in here."
The four all heard munching and looked to see Maximus with puffed cheeks. He smiled and he spat out all the apple cores into Jay's face and gave a cocky smile.
Jay rubbed the spit off his face. "Why you back-stabbing, no good…!" Jay jumped to Maximus and they had begun their fight.
"You can't pick a fight with a horse Jay!" Cole exclaimed as he and Zane tried to separate them
"And you really don't want to pick a fight that one!" Eugene added as he tried to stop them as well.
Castle Balcony
The former captain had led Rapunzel outside to a table with two small cups and a urn of tea.
"Please have a seat your majesty." The former captain said as he pulled out her chair and she sat down. He then sat across from her soon after.
"Is there something you wanted to talk with me about?" Rapunzel asked
"Yes." The former captain sighed. "Are you sure of letting these five strangers stay in the castle?"
"You don't have to worry about them. They're decent people, and they saved my life."
"I am aware." The former captain replied. "However, if I recall correctly, you once highly regarded someone you thought to be your mother, and that did not work out so well for you."
Rapunzel sighed. "I know, but I've got a real good feeling about them."
"They have strange powers, and that has me suspicious, especially how easily they rescued you and knew when exactly to help." Pascal eyed the former captain at that statement.
"Look, I get you're trying to do your job and protect me." Rapunzel began. "But you don't have to worry. Think about it, with the powers they have, if they wanted to do something to me, don't you think they would have done it already?" Pascal nodded in agreement.
"I apologize your majesty. I'm only concerned for your safety." The former captain told her with a slight bow.
"Don't worry about it." She said in a forgiving smile.
"Would you like some tea?" He offered. She nodded. The former captain took her cup and poured the tea into it, but not before slipping a small amount of white power into the drink.
He handed her the cup. "Thank you." She took a sip of it. But as soon as she did, she began to feel a little drowsy. Her vision became a little blurry as she held her head. Pascal looked with worry. The former captain came to her and held her shoulders as she fell back in her chair.
"Are you okay?" He asked her.
"I just feel a little tired…" She said as she fell to a deep slumber.
"I'll take her to her room." The former captain said. Pascal wondered how she could have fallen asleep so quickly. The chameleon looked to her teacup and saw some strange white substance in the liquid. He took a sniff of it and realized it was some kind of drug. He glared at the former captain, realizing what just happened.
Pascal leaped onto his shoulder and stretched his elastic tongue into the former captain's ear. He yelled and angrily swiped the chameleon off his shoulder. "I'm sorry your majesty, this will all make sense when it's over."
The scene was being observed by a certain falcon who quickly flew back inside the castle.
The former captain reached under the table and pulled out a black hooded robe, which he donned as a disguise. His plan was working, he'd use Rapunzel as bait to lure Eugene outside the castle alone, where he'd kill him and leave Rapunzel tied up somewhere to be found by the guards and returned home safely, he would also demand that these masked youths not be involved or else he'd endanger her life, a bluff obviously, but they didn't have to know that.
He picked her up and smiled underneath the hood.
"Hey You!"
He jumped in surprise and turned around to see Kai and Lloyd battle-ready.
"Let her go!" Lloyd demanded
"Unless your in the mood for a serious ass kicking." Kai added as he cracked his knuckles.
'Dammit' The former captain uttered under his hood. He threw Rapunzel over his shoulder and jumped off the railing. The two ninja came to the railing and saw it was only a six foot drop onto a pathway, with a black horse there. He got onto the horse and ran off with Rapunzel.
Pascal got onto the railing and squeaked some curses out to the kidnapper.
"Who was that?" Lloyd wondered
"He's not getting away from us that's for sure." Kai added. He felt a tug on his sleeve and looked to see Pascal pulling on Kai's robe and pointing with his tail in the direction Rapunzel was being taken. "I know we'll get her back." He told Pascal. "You and the falcon get the others and go after him too."
Pascal assumed a military pose and saluted before the falcon came to the railing and got on, the falcon flew with his passenger to the other side of the castle.
The two ninjas jumped down onto the path and began to run after their new enemy.
Jay was being pulled back by Zane, to keep him from fighting anymore with Maximus who was being held back by Cole and Eugene.
"It's an unsaid law, you don't eat another man's food!" Jay told the horse; Maximus neighed and snorted at him in defiance. "What, you want a piece of me Maxi?! Huh? You wanna piece!?"
Maximus grunted and snorted, rearing to go.
"Max, come on he's not worth it!" Eugene told Maximus as he and Cole tried to hold him back
"Jay you are not seriously gonna fight a horse are you?" Zane asked as he held Jay back.
"Oh no. Don't try and reason with me, this guy's got it coming. Ever heard of a glue factor buddy?" Jay taunted
Before it looked like things could get ugly, Cole noticed something in the sky. "Zane, your falcon." He said, getting everyone's attention.
They all looked up to see the falcon land on Zane's shoulders. "Hello old friend." Zane greeted. Pascal climbed off of the falcon and onto Zane's other shoulder.
"Pascal? What's going on?" Eugene asked. Pascal made several squeaks to indicate trouble.
"What's he saying?" Cole asked
"I think Rapunzel's in trouble?" Zane guessed, to which both Pascal and the falcon nodded.
Eugene's eyes went wide, and then became serious. "Max let's go." He said. Maximus nodded in agreement as Eugene mounted him.
Pascal got back on the falcon. "You go find Rapunzel." Zane told his bird. "Eugene, follow my falcon, we will catch up."
"Alright. Let's go."
Maximus took off with Eugene.
"What about us? What are we gonna do?" Jay asked
"It's time we get our ride." Cole said with a smile.
The hooded captain rode through the streets of Corona, with the unconscious princess on his back. He soared on his black horse through the kingdom. This was not part of his plan, but maybe he could still work with this….
"Hey stop!"
He looked to his upper right and was surprised at the sight of Kai and Lloyd running and jumping from rooftop to rooftop. When he had to slow down and make turns, the two ninja just jumped to the next building, that and their training as ninja allowed them to keep up with him.
"Didn't you hear him? He said stop!" Lloyd called down.
The hooded captain just continued to ride.
"Let her go!"
He turned around and saw Eugene riding with Maximus after him, along with the falcon flying parallel to Eugene, with Pascal riding on top of the falcon. All of them looking like they we're ready to pound some sense into this guy.
'Ryder? Great!' The captain uttered sarcastically. He snapped the reins, making his horse go faster.
Kai and Lloyd we're soon letting the fatigue catch up to them, say what you will, but trying to keep up with a horse was still very difficult.
"I don't think we're gonna catch him on foot." Kai told Lloyd as they tried to continue running.
"Then what are we supposed to do?" Lloyd responded.
Soon a large shadow stretched over them. They looked up to see the Ultra-Dragon flying over them. The four-headed dragon flew down to the point where it was flying parallel to the ninja, where the two could see Cole at the reins, with Jay and Zane in the back.
"You guys need a ride?" Cole asked with a smile.
Being extremely grateful, Kai and Lloyd both leaped onto the dragon and landed beside Zane and Jay.
"Thanks guys." Kai said.
"Now lets catch that creep." Lloyd said with determination.
"That's the plan Green Machine." Cole replied as he snapped the reins and the Ultra-Dragon flew faster.
'Dammit! Dammit!' The captain gritted as he continued to ride. He soon looked and smiled and saw the bridge leading out of the kingdom, and the forest on the other side of the bridge. Ryder and Maximus may be able to follow him, but the forest would be too thick for the dragon to pursue him.
He crossed the bridge with Eugene and Max, as well as the falcon and Pascal, close behind. They soon crossed into the forest.
When Cole tried to direct the dragon close to the forest, it only came to graze the canopy, and it couldn't go any further.
"Hey, what's the hold up?!" Jay asked impatiently.
Zane did a brief scan of the area. "The forest canopy is to thick, the Ultra-Dragon cannot follow."
"Well, there's gotta be something we can do." Cole said
"Don't forget, we're ninja." Kai said.
The chase had continued on into the forest, the captain looked behind and still saw Ryder and Maximus close behind; but at least he got rid of those meddeling…
"Hey, there he is!"
The surprised captain looked up to see Cole jumping from tree branch to tree branch, following close behind was Jay, Zane, Lloyd, and Kai. All the ninjas jumped from tree-to-tree with such grace and agility, allowing them to keep up with the captain.
'Do these guys ever quit!?' The captain uttered as the chase continued onward.
Jay had charged his hand with lightning. "I got the creep!"
"No, don't! You'll hit Rapunzel!" Lloyd told him
"What do you recommend then?" Cole asked
"I have a solution." Zane announced getting their attention. The white ninja's eyes turned blue as did the falcon, who flew high above the canopy (still with Pascal ontop), the falcon's POV switched to scan the area and it took notice of a cliff nearby.
"There's a cliff about two miles from here." Zane said. "If we can direct him close to it, we'll have him cornered."
"Alright guys, use your attacks and direct him to that cliff." Kai told the team. "Zane you lead."
"Alright, Kai shoot to his left!" Zane commanded.
Kai launched a ball of fire from his left hand and it impacted the ground near the black horse on it's left, causing it to veer to the right.
"Jay, to the right!"
Jay blasted a beam of lightning to the black horse's right, causing him to veer left.
Zane shot a beam of ice that formed in front of the disguised captain, he then quickly stopped and turned to the right, just as Zane predicted.
"Cole to the right!"
Cole then motioned his hand for a large earth wall to rise to the right of the black horse, causing it to turn right.
"Lloyd! Left!"
Lloyd shot a green energy ball to the left, causing the enemy to shift to the right.
From there, the ninjas continued to blast right and left with their elemental attacks, forcing the disguised captain to continuously change his course and direction; allowing the ninja to direct him exactly to where they wanted him to go.
The black horse soon came to a Cliffside with a river down below. The mounted, hooded, captain turned around and saw Maximus arrive, with Eugene dismounting him. The ninjas landed next to them soon after. Zane's falcon landed on Maximus' head, it and Pascal glared at the kidnapper. Kai drew his Sword of Fire.
Rapunzel slowly came out of her daze. "Ugh… what…? What's going?" A hand soon clasped over her mouth. The hooded man dismounted the black horse; he slapped it in the rear allowing it to leave. The ninja let the horse pass by them, it wasn't their target.
"Let Rapunzel go! Right now!" Eugene commanded.
"I'd listen to the man." Jay advised.
"You weren't supposed to be here. It wasn't supposed to happen like this!" The hooded man exclaimed in frustration.
"Let's see who we're dealing with here." Lloyd said. He formed a small energy ball and had it explode. The wind from the shockwave blew the hood off, revealing the man's face. Rapunzel's, Eugene's, Max's, and Pascal's eyes we're wide with surprise.
"You?!" Eugene said.
"I knew there was something fishy about you." Kai glared.
"Who's this guy?" Cole questioned
"He's the former captain of the guard at Corona." Eugene answered
"The captain of the guard!?" Jay exclaimed
"Why are you doing this?" Lloyd demanded
"What do you want with Rapunzel?" Zane asked.
"It's not the princess, it's that filthy thief, Ryder!" The captain pointed to Eugene. The ninjas looked to Eugene in surprise.
"Oh, come on you're still not upset about that are you?" Eugene said, with Maximus glaring at his former rider.
"What's your beef with Eugene?" Kai demanded.
"He was a thief that was supposed to be hanged for his crimes against the kingdom! Yet now he lives in luxury, when he is supposed to be punished! It was my duty to see that he was!"
The hand-gagged Rapunzel glared at the former captain as he said that.
"Okay, okay. Let me get this straight." Jay began. "This whole thing was just because of some grudge? Dude, you really need to see a therapist."
"Be quiet! What do outsiders like you know?!" The captain questioned
"We know right, and we know wrong. And we have to good graces to know which is which." Lloyd told him.
"And what you're doing is wrong." Kai added. "Make it easier on yourself and just give up."
"I agree, if you surrender now, it will all end much easier for you." Zane advised
"Grudges never help anyone, believe me, I know." Cole told him.
The captain glared as he continued to hold Rapunzel tight. He wasn't sure what to do, he knew he was both outnumbered, and outmatched. He looked down and saw the river below, he wasn't sure if he could make the jump and wouldn't take the chance, but he'd be damned if he gave up now and let Ryder win. He turned back to the ninja, but failed to notice something, or rather someone, in the water.
"You are in no position to do anything." He said. "I have the princess, so I hold all the cards."
"I disagree." A certain female voice spoke from below the cliff.
He turned around and saw a massive stream of water shoot out from the river and blast him in the face, forcing him to let go of Rapunzel.
Eugene, Lloyd, and Maximus quickly ran to her. But they we're surprised to see the stream of water sat down and a certain female ninja step out of it.
"Nya?" Kai and Jay both said at the same time.
The wet captain tried to get back up, but a large gust of wind sent him flying into a stone wall on the right close to the cliff. The heroes turned to another stone wall, parallel to the one the captain smacked into.
"Stay down buddy, if you know what's good for ya." The red-haired, orange clad female ninja commanded.
"Skylar?" Kai questioned.
Both female ninja came together and greeted the heroes.
"Hey boys." Nya greeted
"Did you miss us?" Skylar asked as she put her elbow on Nya's shoulder.
"Man, are we glad to see you ladies." Cole greeted as the seven ninja came together. Rapunzel, Eugene, and Max came up as well.
"Uh, guys?" Eugene spoke, getting their attention. "Friend's of yours?"
"Oh right." Kai said. "Nya, Rapunzel; Rapunzel, Nya."
"Nice to meet you." Nya greeted.
"You're Kai's sister." Rapunzel spoke with a smile and eagerly shook the water ninja's hand. "Oh yes, it's very nice to finally meet you."
"Looks like someone's got a fan, eh babe." Jay said as he nudged Nya with an elbow.
"Nock it off, will ya?" Nya commented with a raised eyebrow and a smile.
"Nice to see you again Skylar." Kai greeted.
"You won't be glad in a few minutes, we're gonna have a nice long chat about that note you left me." She said with a sinister smile.
"Oh boy."
While the ninja greeted and introduced their female comrades to their new friends; they failed to notice the former captain struggling to get up. He reached under his robe and into a hidden satchel. He grabbed onto a bomb, and lit the fuse. Ready to throw it at the unsuspecting group.
Zane sensed danger was coming, he slightly tunred to see the guard about to throw it. He had just one second.
"GUYS! LOOK OUT!"
Zane jumped in front just as the bomb was thrown, exploding in front of Zane, sending him flying back.
"ZANE!" The heroes all yelled. Rapunzel clasped both her hands over her mouth in shock.
Kai angrily threw a fire ball at the captain, which hit him dead-on in the chest, but not before he threw a dagger which pierced into Kai's right arm.
Kai grunted as he held his arm in pain and the guard fell down into the river below.
Nya and Skylar immediately ran to Kai as he pulled out the dagger from his arm, revealing a small, bleeding gash. Kai held his arm.
"Kai? Are you okay?" The worried Skylar asked as Nya looked worried.
"Forget about me, what about Zane?"
Zane struggled to get up as Cole, Jay, and Lloyd came to help him up; his back was turned to everyone else.
"I am fine." Zane spoke, earning a sigh of relief from everyone, except for Jay who saw what the damage was done.
"Uh Zane, your face." Jay whispered, Zane felt his face and the right half was blown off, revealing his Nindroid insides. He quickly pulled his ninja mask over so that Rapunzel, Eugene, and Max couldn't see it. He turned back around.
"Zane, are you okay?" Eugene asked, with Rapunzel looking worried.
"As I said, I am fine. That was close." Zane turned to the red ninja. "Kai, you're bleeding!"
The heroes all turned to Kai, Rapunzel gasped in shock at the sight of his arm. "Only a flesh wound, I'll live." He dismissed.
Jay, Maximus, and Cole looked down into the river and found no sign of the captain.
"He's gone." Cole said
"You think he survived?" Jay wondered
"That fall's not high enough to kill someone, break a few bones maybe, but not kill." Cole informed.
"Come on." Lloyd told everyone. "Sun looks like it's about to set, we should head back."
The heroes then began their trek back through the forest.
The sun was almost set. The river continued to flow downstream. The flow and current ceased a bit in speed the further down it went. About two miles further, the current was at a snail's pace. A hand came up from the river and onto the shore. The struggling captain pulled himself up from the river and onto the shore. He felt his chest, which had a large scorch mark on his chest. He grunted in pain.
"Well, well; what have we here?"
He looked up and was surprised to see the smiling Gothel standing in front of him.
"You?"
"Yes, me." Gothel then quickly put her dagger to the captain's nose. "Now, what might a palace guard be doing here so far away?" She asked.
"Aw so you know this man?"
The guard looked in surprise at the sight of a white and purple, red-eyed, humanoid snake slithering next to Gothel.
"Yes Pythor. He's the captain of the guard of Corona." Gothel answered.
"The captain of the guard you say?" Pythor asked. A grin formed on his face. "Perhaps he could be of use to us."
"Perhaps not." A dark and sinister voice spoke out. Gothel and Pythor both backed away slightly as the transparent Overlord came into view.
For some reason, the former captain had become terrified in the presence of this being. He couldn't explain it, but everything about this transparent figure felt like pure unadulterated evil.
"I do indeed sense a darkness in his soul." The Overlord spoke. "However, I can also sense that he is untrustworthy. Having him amongst us would do more harm than good."
"So he's of no use to us." Gothel said "How perfect."
"Let us go then." The Overlord turned around with Pythor and Gothel following behind him. "Nindroids please put this poor guard out of his misery."
"'Nindroids'?" The frightened captain questioned
As soon as he said that, two Nindroids uncamouflaged around him, giving him quite the fright. They both drew their swords and laughed as they raised them high.
"No. NO! NOOOO…."
The blades we're brought down and blood was splattered on a nearby rock.