Chapter 8: Once Bitten, Twice Shy
The ninjas and the main six returned after their journey following the falcon and Aqua was really surprised that Frost was a robot, or a Nindroid as Thunder put it. They also told her that Frost has unlocked his true potential. After a few days, the team were on the Destiny's Bounty in the bridge as there was tart over something on the table. Aqua pulled it back and showed them it was a skeleton of a Fangpyre.
"Some villagers unearthed the remains of this Fangpyre a few miles away." Aqua told them. "It predates the Golden Age, and must be hundreds of years old. Although the venom in the fangs of the Fangpyre genetically mutate any creature's cells into reptilian, I've learned there could be a way to stop the effects without having to create an antivenin." Trail was leaning back in his chair, Frost, his falcon, Flash, and Gaia were paying attention to her, Landrush was busy drawing himself, and Thunder did his mane up and looked at her with bedroom eyes and a goofy smile. "If one is able to wildly raise their heart rate, hypothetically it could reverse the venom's effects." Aqua's cheeks were turning pink a little. "Resulting in... diminished, uh- Excuse me, is somepony wearing perfume? I'm severely allergic to perfume."
"Heh. You told me it was stallion's cologne." Thunder whispered to Trail.
"Eh, I get them mixed up," Trail joked and the others laughed, including Frost. After, Frost opened his front panel and turned his humor switch off.
"Ah, looks like class is over." Landrush said as they all closed their books. "Time to start stomping some Serpentine before they find any Fangblades."
"Sounds like a plan." Trail said.
"I'm excited to join." Frost said.
"Can't wait." Gaia said.
"I'll see what Twilight has found on them so far." Flash told the others as they left the bridge. Thunder stay behind and looked at Aqua. When the others were gone, he build up the courage and walked over to her.
"Uh, hey, Aqua, I'm sorry." Thunder spoke. "The reason I was- You know- I went to Trail because- Look, what I'm trying to say is-"
"I know. It's just a cruel joke." Aqua said. "I should be fine. Please, go fight snakes."
"No, no, no. I was trying to impress you." Thunder explained. "Before sensei left, he said our hearts was the key to unlocking our true potential."
"Impress me?" Aqua asked. "But I look so..."
"Fantastic." Thunder told her and made her blush. "Look, maybe, if you'll let me, I can take you to some big fancy restaurant. You don't have to, if you don't want to..."
"You mean like a date?" Aqua asked.
"Um, yeah?" Thunder answered sheepishly.
"Sure! I'd love to." Aqua told him. "But I need to go now before the perfume toxins enter my bloodstream and I go into shock. See you tonight." When she left the room, Thunder celebrated.
"Yes! Ha ha!" He shouted as he danced about until he pricked his hoof on the skeletons' fang. "Ouch! Aah! Man." He shook his hoof and thought it was no harm before he left the room. As he danced his way out of the room, a small drop of the venom fell from the fang at the skeleton. A small fly went down and drink the Venom before it affected it and turned it into a snake hybrid.
Meanwhile in the realm where Sensei Wu, Celestia, and Luna had to travel to, Lord Garmadon had his back to them. "Hello, brother," Garmadon spoke. "What took you so long? You brought the katana from our youth... along with our lovely sisters. Funny, you never had the courage to cross the temple wall, yet now you have the courage to come here." Wu had drawn the katana out. "And Tia, Lulu, my how you've changed since we last met."
"What has become of you, big brother?" Celestia asked.
"And why have you come to this place of darkness?" Luna asked.
"A place as wicked as me?" Garmadon asked them. "Don't you see? Here I feel at home. Back in Equestria, I was physically unable to hold all six Spinjitzu weapons. But here, dark magic has made me stronger, and what was once impossible is now possible." He threw off the cloak he wore and turn to them. They were shocked to see he had become an alicorn as tall as Celestia, with four front hooves and two dragon-like wings.
"You came here only to possessed the weapons of Spinjitzu?" Wu asked.
"Yes, brother, and I refuse to allow you three or your petty ninja to stop me!" Garmadon told them as he conjured up his magic and he held out his four front arms and four weapons appeared in them, and two other weapons were held in his wing claws. He then charged at the three before they charged at him. Wu slide on the ground as Garmadon swung two of the weapons at him while Luna and Celestia flew over his attack. Garmadon turned as Celestia conjured up a sword made of flames and Luna conjure to swords with their magic and all four clashed weapons. Garmadon was getting frustrated as he locked all six weapons with theirs before he pushed them down the hill.
All three of them roll down the hill till they landed in some mud. Garmadon jumped down as they jumped up from the mud. Sensei Wu then did Spinjitzu and fling some mud at Garmadon allowing Celestia and Luna to wrap magical chains around him. As Wu continue to spin and the two sisters hold him in place, Garmadon's horn lit up has he summoned three mud monsters. The three monsters approached Sensei Wu, Celestia, and Luna as Garmadon grinned. Sensei Wu did Spinjitzu at one of them while the two sisters blast two of them back, but it wasn't enough to keep them down. "Brother, we've not come here to-" Wu trying to explain before one of the mud monsters knocked him down.
"Please, just listen to us!" Celestia pleaded as Garmadon broke free from the chains.
"You will pay for your visit." Garmadon told them. "Mud monsters, converge!" All three mud monsters then approached the Sensei Wu, Celestia, and Luna before the merge together with them inside. "None of you belong here, you fools. You should've known better than to try to stop me." He told them as they struggled to get free.
"We didn't come to stop you!" Luna shouted before she was submerged in the mud.
"We came to warn you!" Celestia told him before she was submerged.
"To tell you-" Wu try to say before the mud submerged him too. Garmadon wondered what he was trying to say before Wu's head popped out of the mud. "Your son is in danger! Aah!" He told before the mud covered him again.
"Lloyd?" Garmadon asked in a worried tone before he ran over to the mud monsters and pulled the three out. All three of them coughed from the lack of oxygen before they looked at Garmadon. "What has Lloyd gotten himself into?"
"He has opened a can of worms I fear the three of us will never be able to close." Wu told him.
"You mean, the four of us will never be able to close. Get up. You can tell me more later," Garmadon said as he helped the three up. "First, we need to return home. How did you find me?"
"Traveler's tea." Celestia answered. "But we used it all and now we have no way back."
"There is only one way to return to Equestria." Garmadon told them. "But to get there we must pass through the Mountain of Madness and it is a long dangerous road ahead."
"We wouldn't have it any other way." Luna said.
"We should leave, before it really gets dark." Garmadon told them before they set out to the Mountain of Madness.
Back in Equestria, the ground began to rumble as the Serpentine burst from the ground via Constrictai. Pythor, Scales, and a few other Serpentine emerged from the ground. "Thisss is it, Pythor." Scales told him as he looked at the map. "The map leads up here. The first Fangblade." He pointed to Mega Monster amusement park. "Maybe it's better to wait until dark, so we don't attract any unwanted attention from the ninja or Samurai."
"Oh, I have a feeling we'll fit right in." Pythor said before the marched right over to the theme park. Inside, ponies of all ages we're having fun. Especially with the monster theme as some of the workers were in monster costumes. The Serpentine slithered their way in and nopony seems scared of them, as they assumed they were just costumes, until a couple and a colt ran up to Pythor and Scales.
"Exuse me. Would you mind if my family takes a picture with you?" The staillon asked Pythor.
"Your costume is so authentic." The mare complimented.
"Of course. Welcome to- To, uh..." Pythor looked around until he saw the sign of the amusement park. "Mega Monster amusement park!" The family gathered around Pythor as Scales holds the camera.
"Say cheesssssse." Scales told them.
"Cheese!" All four of them said as Scales took the picture and the flash from the camera made Pythor irritated.
Back on the Destiny's Bounty, Thunder was in their room getting ready for his date as he was looking in the mirror wearing a tuxedo. "Did I ever tell you I was the first one to learn Spinjitzu?" He told his reflection as he was practicing what to say in a suave way. "No. I mean, uh, I invented Spinjitzu. Yeah, that's it. And I invented a few other moves, light the karate double chop. Hyah hyah!" After doing a couple of air chops, he noticed his hoof was turning green with some snake scales. "No! No, no, no. The prick from the Fangpyre fang! Oh, no, this isn't happening. No, it's nothing." He told himself. "It's just a rash, it'll probably just go away. You're gonna do great, Thunder. This is your chance to shine. Heh heh."
Thunder then slide into the bridge where the others are, wearing gloves and a scarf. He then walked with some swagger with a smug smile on his face. "Whoa, where are you going, Mr. Fancy?" Landrush asked when Thunder walked by.
"Didn't you hear?" Thunder asked him. "I'm taking Aqua to a nice restaurant. A really nice restaurant."
"You might wanna change your plans." Flash told Thunder. "The bridge just picked up evidence of Serpentine activity over at Mega Monster amusement park." He said as the monitor showed them an image of Pythor and the Serpentine there.
"Hey, that's Pythor!" Thunder pointed out.
"Pythor would not be there for fun." Frost spoke up. "We believe a Fangblade maybe buried underneath the park."
"We can let them get it!" Gaia side. "Let's go there and get it first!"
"Oh, but my date..." Thunder complained.
"Thunder, if they get all four of them, Pythor can unleash the Great Devourer." Trail reminded him. "Can your priorities straight, man." Thunder had a sad look as he knew he was right and Gaia felt sorry for him.
"Or you can take Aqua to the restaurant that's in Mega Monster amusement park." Gaia told him. "We'll go stop Pythor and if we need you, we'll call." That made Thunder smile bright. Meanwhile, Aqua in her samurai armor flew back to the bounty on her jetpack and to her room. Once inside, she removed the jetpack and heard a knock on the door.
"Uh, Aqua, you there?" She heard Thunder's voice from the other side of the door. Just when he was about to open it, she quickly closed it on him as to not let him see her as the Samurai. "Argh!"
"Don't come in!" Aqua shouted. "I'm getting ready."
"Well, um-" Thunder said behind the door as Aqua struggle to take off her armor. "I wanna talk to you about our date." He told her as she removed her helmet. She then got the weapons that are scattered around her room and duct them in a wardrobe. Her bracelet then beeped on her mirror stand. "I'm hearing really bad reviews for the restaurant and I just..." Her bracelet then showed a hologram map of Equestria and the location of serpentine activity.
"Serpentine spotted at Mega Monster Amusement Park?" Aqua whispered.
"I think we should cancel." Thunder said before she opened the door.
"Oh. You're canceling?" Aqua asked.
"No, no, I just wanted to know if you would rather go to the Mega Monster amusement park instead?" Thunder asked.
"Really? That would be perfect!" Aqua told him. "But aren't you overdressed?" She then saw her Samurai helmet next to her and panicked a little.
"Well, yeah." Thunder said. "Of course I need to change..." Aqua kicked her helmet into her wardrobe and it made a sound. "What was that?"
"Nothing!" Aqua shouted. "You know what, I'll dress up too. Looks fun!" She walked behind some blinds and started to dress up.
"Hey, I was thinking, you know, we'd take my Storm Glider there." Thunder told her.
"Sounds like fun." Aqua said before came around and Thunder's jaw dropped when he saw her wear any beautiful red dress. "I'm in your hooves." She picked up her saddle bag before going over to a wardrobe and her helmet folded in so she can put it in her bag. The two then made their way to their date.
Meanwhile in the dark realm, Sensei Wu, Garmadon, and the two sisters continued their way to the Mountain of Madness. "So, what kind of trouble has Lloyd gotten himself into?" Garmadon ask them.
"Well, I'm afraid to say, the worst kind." Wu told him. "He's reopened the Serpentine tombs, and now that they have united, Pythor is trying to find the four silver Fangblades to unleash the Great Devourer."
"The very snake that turned me evil?" Garmadon asked.
"We're afraid so." Luna answered.
"Why would Lloyd open the tombs?" Garmadon asked.
"To be like you." Celestia told him, drapping a wing on his back.
"I never wanted him to." Garmadon said. "Thank you for watching out for him."
"Hmm. You may think of me as enemy, but we were first, family." Celestia told Garmadon.
Back in Mega Monster amusement park, Thunder and Aqua were at its restaurant for their date. "Yeah, even when I was young, it was clear I was born and bred for adventure." Thunder told Aqua. "I was the first to get my knot badge in 'Lil Scouts. I was always trying daring foods." As Aqua nodded her head, her bracelet kept on beeping. "I built these wings from scrap metal and other-" He stopped when he noticed she wasn't paying attention. "Uh, you okay? Uh, you seem kind of distant."
"Uh, yeah." Aqua said. "It's just the portions are so big. And to think we split our dish."
"So that Samurai. Oh, man." Thunder said. "I hate him, don't you? He's such a showboat, you know." Aqua kind of frowned a little since he's talking about her but he doesn't even know it. "If you ask me, he's nothing without his big, clunky exo suit."
"Oh." Aqua said with a frown.
"Yeah. Nothing can compare to good old-fashioned hoofs and fists, don't you think?" Thunder asked.
"Yeah, sure." Aqua said.
"You know, sssomepony once told me..." Thunder stop when he realized he hissed when he said somepony, like a snake. He then took a spoon and looked at the small reflection of himself to see he had snake fangs and toungue.
"You okay?" Aqua asked.
"Excussse me. I have to use the ressstroom!" Thunder told her before he raced to the restroom and close the door. He then went to the sink and splashed water on his face to cool off. But when he was done, he removed the glove on his hoof that was covered in scales. "Oh, gosssh, I'm turning into a sssnake!"
He had to hide and when the bathroom stalls before he heard a knock on the door of it. "I'm busssy, dude! Can't you sssee it'ssss taken?" he told the stallion on the other side. "I can't go out there looking like thisss." He removed the other glove, showing his other hoof covered in scales as well. "Thisss isss the worssst date ever!"
Aqua was still at their booth waiting for him to come out and wondered when was taking him so long.
Meanwhile on a ride called Ghost Train, some ponies were riding it and were not even afraid of it because of its lame decor. "Ha! Lame! This ride is stupid." A stallion said before the carts passed by Pythor and the Serpentine digging.
"Heh, look how stupid this guy looks." He points at some Venomari before they spit their venom into the passengers' eyes.
With the hallucinatory venom in their eyes, they now became frightened of the ride as it went along, the venom distorting the decorations to appear much more terrifying.
"Get me off this thing! Mommy!"
Meanwhile outside, the other ninjas had arrived. "Where is everypony?" Trail asked before they hurt screams and saw ponies running away from the Ghost Train ride.
"Wait a minute. That ride was never scary." Landrush said.
"Venomari." Frost said.
"Should we get Thunder?" Flash asked.
"Let's not bother the two love birds." Gaia told him. "I think we can handle this." The five of them then made their way into the ride.
"Excuse us, we're coming through." Flash said to the ponies running past them as they made their way in.
"Nothing to look at, folks!" Landrush told them.
"This is official ninja business." Frost stated.
"We have it under control." Trail added on.
"Please go about your day." Gaia concluded.
Meanwhile back of the restaurant, Aqua continued to wait for Thunder come out and her bracelet continues to beep. She sighed knowing that she has to go.
"Sorry, Thunder. Duty calls." Aqua send before she picked up her saddle bag and ran out of the restaurant.
"Ah, you don't look ssso bad." Thunder told himself in the mirror as his face started to grow snake scales. "Jussst go out there and tell her the truth." He then heard a rip coming from his pants and saw that he was growing a sneak tail. "I have a sssecond tailsss! No, no, it'sss okay, Thunder. Lotsss of girlsss like tailsss." He then walked out of the restroom and back to the booth, only to find Aqua gone. "Ssshe left? Aqua?"
"Snake!" Somepony shouted when they saw Thunder like he is now. The ponies in the restaurant came towards him like he was an enemy and started up beating on him with bread, spoons. or forks.
"No! Ssstop!" Thunder pleaded as they continue to beat on him. "You don't underssstand!" Meanwhile outside, Aqua went behind some buildings and pressed a button on her bracelet to transform into her exosuit Samurai armor. She then pressed a button on her bracelet again to calm down her Samurai mech. Once it landed, she hopped in and was ready to fight as the mech ran to wear the serpentine are. Speaking of which, Scales continue to dig a large hole until he hit something. Pythor looked as a used his tail to move some dirt over and saw a dagger that looked like a snake fang and made of silver, it was the first Fangblade.
"Ha ha ha! The first Fangblade is ours!" Pythor declared as he picked it up.
"I should let you know, I looked over the map and we will need keys if we are to get the next one." Scales told Pythor before Trail hold up his sword and it was set a flame to light up the room. All the serpentine that were there saw the ninjas had arrived as the five of them ready their weapons.
"Not so fast!" Trail shouted at them.
"Really? That's the best you got?" Landrush asked Trail.
"I couldn't think of anything on the fly." Trail explained.
"How about, "Time to burn"?" Flash asked.
"Or, "Jump on this fire ride"?" Gaia suggested.
"Well, next time, one of you lead." Trail told them.
"Next time we will." Landrush said.
"Oh, yeah? If you can catch up." Gaia said.
"You gotta follow my lead." Flash argued before the serpentine in front of them growled as they ready their weapons. Well the two sides faced off, another cart for the ponies came by and saw them as the ninjas charged at the serpentine. Frost threw his shurikens as the others raise their weapons. Landrushed smacked one in the face with his scythe while Trail blocked an attack from another. Flash used his bo to knock a few down while Gaia spin kicked five in the face.
"Ninjas? Ninjas aren't scary." A mare said as they went by.
"Watch and learn, my siblings." Frost told them as he closed his eyes and focused. When he opened them, they were glowing as he was using his elemental power. The serpentine backed up from this as a bright light blinded them. When the light died down, the serpentine saw that Frost accidentally froze himself and his friends. "Oops." He said within the ice as the serpentine were laughing at them. They then used this opportunity to escape while they were frozen.
When Pythor made out, a magnet yanked the blade out of his hand and into the samurai mech's claw. "Stop him!" Pythor order as the samurai try to take off but the thrusters were only puffing out smoke.
"Thruster malfunction." The samurai said before the mech made a run fort with the blade and the serpentine chase after it. The Samurai jumped over a roller coaster rail and when the serpentine jumped over it as well, one of them got hit by the roller coaster carts and went along with the ride before he was knocked off. The mech then climbed up the roller coaster as the Serpentine continue to chase it. Once on top the mech slide down the rails and was getting distance from the serpentine. It did a few tricks as it went around and the serpentine watched before it jumped off and grabbed hold of a ferris wheel.
Once the ferris wheel spin around, the samurai dropped to the ground but got surrounded by Serpentine. He ran towards a ride that was spinning in circles and jumped on it while they chased him. Once he was far enough he continued to run away from them with the blade. He didn't get far as some Constrictai Serpentine popped out of the ground in front of him and charged him. When they jumped on his mech, they beat on it until it fell to the ground. They then opened up the center and Pythor went up to the samurai inside it. "Finally, the mystery stallion is revealed." Pythor said as he removed the helmet and revealed that it was not a stallion, but the mare Aqua instead. "Or should I have said mystery mare? Who's gonna save you now, hmm?"
Back in the restaurant, Thunder crawled his way under the angry mob beating on him to the restroom and close the door behind him quickly. He quickly came out with the scarf wrapped around his head to hide his face. "Don't go in there. He bitesss." He told the crowd. "Thisss is not dinner theater, poniesss, it'sss real! Arm yourssselvessss!" He made his way through the crowd before he ran out of the restaurant. He looked behind him and saw his pony tail was shorter and the snake tail grew bigger. "Aqua! Where isss ssshe?" He asked before he saw Pythor and the serpentine with the Fangblade. "Hey!" He got their attention as he pulled out his nunchucks and swung them around. But he turned to his side that they can see his snake tail and they laughed.
"Oh, what happened? Snake bite your tongue?" Pythor joked as they continued to laugh. Thunder then charged at them before he heard a familiar voice.
"Thunder!" He stopped to see Aqua chained up and strapped into a roller coaster cart. "Help!" As she struggled to get free, Pythor knotted to a couple of serpentine to start up the ride.
"Later, alligator. Let's go, boys." Pythor order before he and the other Serpentine left the amusement park. Thunder had no choice but to go save Aqua as he ran to the cart and jumped on.
"What happened to you?" Aqua asked him.
"What happened to you?" Thunder asked her before he saw that the part of the track up ahead has been destroyed with a flaming hoop at the end. "Unh, we have to get you out of here." Aqua saw the snake tail on his back side when he tried to break the chains.
"Were you bit? Take off your head scarf." Aqua told him.
"I prefer not." Thunder said. "I wasss meaning to tell you, but I didn't want it to ruin the date."
"Oh, that's so sweet." Aqua said before try to get free again. "Hey, you are the first in your 'Lil Scouts to get your knot batch, right?"
"Yeah, about that." Thunder said with a nervous laugh. "I made that up jussst so I could impresssss you. I wasss never in 'Lil Scouts."
"You weren't? Hold on." Aqua told him.
"What? You have an idea?" Thunder asked.
"No, hold on!" Aqua shouted as they about to go down the ramp of the roller coaster. Thunder quickly got into a seat and it went down fast. So fast that his scarf flew off his head and showed off his snake face and green skin with snake scales. Thunder felt the scarf was off as Aqua looked at him.
"Aah, don't look at me. I'm a monssster!" Thunder told her as he covered his face. "Though I hate the Ssssamurai. Where isss he when you actually need him?" Aqua look the way as she knew he had to know. "Sssamurai! Help! Help! Sssamurai!"
"Thunder, I don't think the Samurai is coming." Aqua told him.
"Why?" Thunder asked.
"I know this might not be the best time, but I haven't been totally honest either." Aqua said.
"What isss it?"
"I... I'm the Samurai!" Aqua confessed to Thunder, with shocked him to the bone.
"You're the Sssamurai?!" Thunder asked as they were getting close to the end. "Aah! We're running out of track!"
"Thunder, if anything horrible were to happen, I want you to know that you don't have to wear cologne or pretend to be anything you're not." Aqua told him. "Because I like you best when you're you." She then gave him a kiss on the cheek. After which, his entire body glowed before it was returned to normal. "Your face. You're returning back to normal."
"It's just like you said. You must have raised my heart rate." Thunder told her as the end was drawing near.
"Whatever happens next, just remember, you are the best you." Aqua told him. Thunder then stood up on his back hooves as his golden nunchucks were glowing. He then felt power coursing through him as his whole body and eyes he began to glow. "What's happening?" She asked before in a flash of light, he was in his ninja suit and electricity was all over his body.
"My true potential. Thunder answered before he vanished in a flash of light and appear in front of the carts. As he floated in the air, he used his power to slow the cards down to try and stop it as he put his hooves in front of it. Ponies on the ground watched an anticipation as it was getting close to the edge, but stopped before it could thanks to Thunder. He then rested on the cart as his power went down and he was exhausted. After they found and defrosted the others, they met outside the entrance to the amusement park and all but Trail was surprised that Aqua was the mysterious Samurai.
"You really had me fooled." Frost told Aqua. "I never guessed you were the Samurai."
"Me too." Flash said. "Plus, it was nice nice of you to put the egg in an incubator before you left when we were out."
"I wish I had a sister like you." Landrush said.
"Me too. You are just amazing." Gaia told her.
"Technically, I was the first to discover her secret, and didn't we agree whoever we thought was the best when naturally be the Light Ninja?" Trail asked. "Huh? The Light Ninja! Destined ninja to defeat Lord Garmadon, huh?"
"Why when we say that?" Thunder asked.
"Yeah, I'm drawing a blank." Landrush said.
"Doesn't ring a bell." Gaia told him.
"Same here." Flash said.
"Nope. That conversation is not in my database." Frost said as Trail shook his head.
"You know what I learned today?" Thunder spoke.
"What's that?" Aqua asked.
"No matter what kind of secret you have, whether you're a snake or a samurai, it's important to be yourself." Thunder said.
"Yeah, that's cute." Gaia said. "But you wanna know what I learned? The Serpentine now have the first Fangblade."
"But we are getting stronger." Frost pointed out. "One day, we will all reach our true potential and Pythor will be stopped."
"Luckily, we overheard them saying something about a pair of keys to get to the next Fangblade." Flash said. "If we stop them for getting those, their plans will be a total disaster."
"And we figured out all this without sensei." Thunder said. "Pretty good for six ninjas." Aqua then hit his shoulder. "And a samurai."
"I wonder what sensei is doing right now." Trail said.
Back in the Madness Realm, the form mean their way to the base of the Mountain of Madness. "We're here." Garmadon told them. "The Mountain of Madness." Sensei Wu, Celestia, and Luna looked up and could see blue light coming from the top of the very tall mountain.
"The only way back to Equestria is up there?" Celestia asked Garmadon.
"The worst is yet to come." Garmadon told them.
"We made it this far, so bring it on." Luna said before they begin their climb of the mountain.