Hey guys! Chapter 7, yay! Lol... I don't have much to say. :|
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arrowchristian: I thought that the time I sent him to would be the most eventful since the ninja just discovered the Prophecy of the Green Ninja but don't know anything about the Green Ninja yet... a.k.a., lots of drama coming up! Also I assure you Lloyd will soon be very tempted to stray from the timeline, but for now he's just doing the best he can to not screw up.
Lloyd and Zane decided to wait until the morning to show the others the treehouse fortress they discovered. Soon the ninja were up and ready to penetrate the young kid's tree fort. They rushed through the forest together, Zane leading while Lloyd stayed in the back.
After some time running, Kai became impatient.
"I don't even think Zane knows where he's going," Kai complained, craning his neck at the ice ninja. "Uh, tell us again how you two stumbled upon Lloyd's secret headquarters?"
"We followed a bird," Zane stated, glancing at the red ninja. Jay chuckled.
"Why did you follow a bird?" Jay asked, slightly humored while also slightly curious.
"Because it danced," Zane stated, as if it was obvious. Small tears of laughter gathered in the corners of Jay's eyes as he began to speak.
"Oh… okay, was it a cuckoo bird?" Jay teased, and he, Cole and Kai began cracking up.
"Of course not. Everyone knows that cuckoo birds are not indigenous to these forests," Zane pointed out in a matter-of-fact tone before continuing to sprint off. The ninja shrugged at each other before they rushed after the ice ninja.
Soon they arrived at the clearing and they all skidded to a stop, gazing upon the huge colossus. There was a small voice calling from the treehouse.
"Watch it! No, bigger! Come on, we don't have all day! It's not time for a lunch break!" young Lloyd's voice echoed through the forest.
"Holy cannoli, frosty was right!" Cole gawked, staring at the unstable tree fortress as serpentine darted along it.
"We can't let that brat and those snakes get a foothold on Ninjago," Kai declared, and Lloyd mentally winced.
I forgot they used to call me "brat". That hurts more than I remember.
"We gotta destroy that thing before it becomes operational!" Kai continued, punching his hand for emphasis.
"Whoa, are you sure? It looks like a pretty cool treehouse!" Jay beamed, pointing at the huge tower-like structure. "There's a ropes course… ooh, and a tree swing!"
"Hey, remember who's team you're on," Cole joked, glancing at the master of lighting before getting back on topic. "Alright guys, what do we do?"
"It looks like the entire place is being supported by those three trees," Kai explained, pointing at the three large pines in turn. "Once those ties are severed, the whole place is gonna fall like a house of cards."
"But why would one make a house of cards? Such construction would be careless," Zane questioned, and Kai sighed, shaking his head.
"We should get going," Lloyd pointed out, and the others nodded.
"Travel in shadows, boys," Cole instructed, and the ninja began darting from tree to tree, hiding behind them whenever one of the serpentine was near.
Soon they made it to the bottom of the treehouse, the large protruding planks swaying a terrifying amount in the wind as the ninja stood under it.
I don't remember it being this precarious…
"Let's split up," Lloyd decided, before immediately regretting it. He forgot that Cole was still the leader. He had just gotten so used to being the ninja's leader that giving orders seemed so normal.
Luckily the ninja didn't seem to care, and they all split up. Zane and Jay decided to climb one of the supporting trees, Cole hitched a ride on the bottom of an elevator, and Kai used a vine rope to swing up, leaving Lloyd alone to figure out his way up.
Lloyd decided to climb amongst the cluster of trees in the center of the fortress. He pressed his back against one pine as he used his feet to shimmy up the other. It took a little longer to ascend the treehouse than he had hoped, but he met up with the others at the top nonetheless.
Upon Lloyd's arrival Jay, Zane and Cole rushed over to the three tree supports and prepared to bring down the treehouse.
"Ninja, go!" Jay shouted as he used Spinjitzu on the first rope. As he did the entire fortress shook, nearly knocking Kai and Lloyd off their feet.
"Ninja, go!" Zane called out as he too severed the supporting rope with his Spinjitzu tornado. This time an even more massive tremor came from the suspended building, startled cries of serpentine coming from below their feet. There was a small voice that shouted unidentifiable words at them, quickly drowned out by the shrill shrieks of the Hypnobrai.
"Cole! Wait 'till we're off the treehouse, then cut the line!" Kai shouted over the startled screams of snakes as they evacuated the crumbling tower. Cole nodded, standing by as the ninja gathered.
That's when Lloyd heard Skales say something. He couldn't make out what it was, but Lloyd knew it was that soon-to-be Hypnobrai general from his sharp yet calm tone. As the snake spoke his words, suddenly Cole's eyes turned from the soft brown they once were to a harsh, spiraling red. The earth ninja muttered something as he zoned out, gazing into the distance with a blank stare.
"Where's Cole?" Jay called out as the ninja started to make their way to one of the trees.
"This whole place is coming down!" Kai hollered, his knees wobbling as the treehouse shook violently.
Suddenly Cole jumped in front of the group, blocking their way to the tree. The ninja jumped, stumbling back as the earth ninja slowly stalked towards them.
"No one is going anywhere until you deal with me!" Cole shouted, pointing his golden scythe at the group.
"What's gotten into him?" Kai asked.
"He's under the control of the Hypnobrai," Lloyd explained, starting to reach for his sword before remembering that the Time Twins disarmed him before sending him back in time.
"Yeah, well he better snap out of it quick because this whole place looks like it's about to go down!" Jay shrieked, stumbling over a loose wooden plank on the roof.
Cole continued to creep forward towards the group until they were near the edge of the rooftop with nowhere to go.
"Come on, friends don't hit friends," Jay chuckled nervously right as Cole roundhouse kicked the blue ninja in the jaw. "Ow, okay. I'm gonna ignore that."
"What are we supposed to do? If I use my sword, this whole place will burst into flames faster than a tinderbox!" Kai stated pointedly as he continued to dodge Cole's attempted blows.
"Isn't the anti venom in the staff?" Zane asked as Cole took a breather.
"Yeah, but the staff is back at the monastery," Jay pointed out right as Cole knocked Kai off the rooftop. Zane grabbed the fire ninja by the wrist just in time to prevent his fall. The ice ninja quickly pulled Kai back onto the roof before turning to Jay.
"Jay! Use your lightning! Try to shock him out of his trance!" Zane called out, and the blue ninja nodded in understanding.
"Sorry Cole, this is gonna hurt you a lot more than it's gonna hurt me," Jay muttered before swinging his nunchucks over his head. With a quick flick of the golden weapon, a large bolt of blue lighting discharged at Cole, hitting him spot-on. The earth ninja fell back, but only for a moment. When he sat back up he was enraged, tackling Jay off of the treehouse.
"Jay!" the group cried out in distress, but luckily the master of lightning caught onto a rope and swung down to safety.
"That is a serious safety hazard!" Jay pointed out as the battle raged on on the rooftop. However Cole gave up on attacking the ninja head-on, and instead he jumped onto the platform tree with the last support rope attached to it, raising his scythe as he prepared to sever it.
"No, Cole! Don't!" Kai called out as Zane shouted, "No! No Cole! No!"
Lloyd watched in silence at the earth ninja prepared to cut the rope… until the gentle melody of a flute echoed through the clearing. Lloyd looked up to see Sensei Wu and Nya riding on Flame. Wu was playing an old flute as Flame circled the treehouse.
"Huh? Wh-where am I? What are we doing?" Cole stuttered, released from Skale's hypnotism. Then the others looked up to see their sensei and Nya riding the fire dragon. Cole jumped on, realizing that the treehouse was too unstable. The others followed suit, and just as Lloyd hopped onto Flame the entire treehouse collapsed, leaving a large cloud of dust and a giant pile of timber in its place.
"That flute!" Kai suddenly cried, pointing at the ancient relic Wu held.
"It cancels their powers!" Jay joined, staring at the flute as Wu nodded.
"It's as old as the serpentine themselves," Wu informed the group, before his tone quickly shifted. "But we must hurry! The monastery is unguarded! Quickly!"
When they arrived back at the monastery, all that greeted them were a couple of burnt posts. The ninja gasped as Flame landed, and they rushed to free their dragons from the burning mountainside. Soon the ninja rejoined the group with depressed frowns spread across their faces.
"Our home," Kai whispered meekly, taking in the catastrophic aftermath of the serpentine's wrath.
"Shard! Put this out!" Zane called to his dragon, and the icy beast exhaled a large burst of frost over the remains of the monastery, leaving the charred perimeter now frozen solid.
"The training equipment, gone," Zane murmured to himself, lowering his head.
"Our video games, gone!" Jay cried out, clutching his head.
"They stole their staff back," Wu silently noted as the ninja mourned.
"What do we do now?" Cole asked gently, glancing around at their obliviated home. Kai's breathing slowly became rapid, and he turned towards Lloyd.
"If you hadn't followed that silly bird, none of this would've happened!" Kai shouted at Lloyd, and the Green Ninja flinched.
I don't think this is supposed to happen…
"Kai…" Wu started, but Jay interrupted.
"No, Sensei, he's right!" Jay snapped, turning to face Lloyd as well. "Because of you, my high score has been deleted!"
Lloyd sat there motionless, not knowing how to react.
"This is a teaching moment. We must learn from this," Zane stated, putting his hands on Kai's and Jay's shoulders.
"A 'teaching moment'? What are you talking about? Zane, our home is gone! EVERYTHING IS GONE!" Cole shouted, glaring at Lloyd.
"Enough!" Wu yelled, and the ninja jumped, quickly turning to face their sensei. "We are all at fault. Monty is our guest. Apologize at once."
"We're sorry," the three ninja echoed, sounding like little kids when caught doing something they weren't supposed to; not fully genuine. Lloyd didn't complain however. In fact, he didn't say anything. He just continued to stand in his spot and uncomfortably look upon the younger forms of his friends as they silently scolded him.
"Where's Zane?" Nya suddenly piped up, and Lloyd looked around. Zane was indeed missing. Just as they began looking however, Shard flew up into the air, the ninja of ice riding on his back.
"Wh-what are we eating again?" Kai muttered, looking upon his meal with either disgust, skepticism or both.
"Mud newt," Cole sighed in anguish. "Not bad for something that lives underground."
"What!?" Jay shouted, appalled as he spit out the food he was eating and tossed the mud newt aside. Clearly bored, the ninja of lightning grabbed a rock and threw it as far as he could into a metal can. It was distanced from the overhang they sat under, but it still made it into the can with a loud echoing *clunk!*.
"Yeah! A new high s- sc- score!" Jay stuttered, Lloyd assumed from trying to hold back tears from his lost video games.
"Remember, we must be grateful for what we still have," Wu reminded the group, adjusting his hat as he gazed at Jay, who was now pouting.
"What do we have? Our home is gone," Cole muttered, silently shooting a glare at Lloyd, who pretended to not see it.
"You know, I don't miss our home, I miss Zane," Kai grumbled, kicking a rock near his feet.
"Yeah, I miss Zane," Jay sighed, picking up the rock Kai kicked and tossing it into the can. This time it missed, ricocheting off of the cliff and knocking the can over.
"I wish he was here right now," Cole murmured, glancing at his mud newt before tossing it next to Jay's.
"If only someone hadn't scared him away," Kai growled, side-eyeing Lloyd.
"What did I do?" Lloyd asked, frowning at the fire ninja.
"You lead Zane off with the bird, which ultimately is what allowed the serpentine to burn the monastery! This is all your fault!" Kai snapped, standing up and walking over to the corner Lloyd sat in.
"I really don't see how it is. I merely followed Zane, who chased the bird. I was there by sheer coincidence," Lloyd huffed, trying his best to not engage in the fight.
"Are you blaming Zane?" Kai asked accusingly, gritting his teeth at Lloyd.
"No, I'm just saying it's not my fault!" Lloyd shouted, his attempt to calm himself down failing miserably. Lloyd stood up with Kai, revealing that the Green Ninja was actually taller than the master of fire. Lloyd hadn't expected or noticed that before, but he used it to his advantage nonetheless.
"Yes it is!" Kai hollered, getting in Lloyd's face. "How can we trust you anyway!? You won't tell us your real name, and your face is always hidden behind your dumb mask!"
"That's because it might mess with things if I give you that information! It's not like I'm trying to keep myself anonymous!" Lloyd snarled, looking down at Kai as the fire ninja clenched his fists. Without another word Kai shot his hand up and tore Lloyd's mask off his gi, revealing the Green Ninja's face.
And everyone gasped.
Don't worry, Kai won't be too agressive towards Lloyd in future chapters... probably. (Btw sorry for leaving y'all with a cliff-hanger.) Also on a random note, I think this is the longest chapter I've posted ever, so... that's a thing. Idk anymore...
Anyway, I hope y'all enjoy, please leave a review, and I'll come out with a new chapter on Wednesday! :D