Author's Note: I guess you noticed by now that the name of the fic has changed entirely. There are actually a couple reasons for this. The most simple ones are that the title was a mouthful and in case you're not interacting on my DeviantArt or Ninjago Tumblr blog, well, it kinda spoils some things (which I guess you guys already picked up on that already). The title hit me some time ago in the middle of the night during a somewhat breakdown and I realized how much more sense it actually made since well, a lot is technically hidden away.
Also, I was trying hard to get out of a writer's block. I don't even think it's a block, but it feels more like a slump or something like that. The title change kinda helped.
Anyways, I won't keep you guys here. Let's get the plot rolling again.
Chapter 12: A Welcome and Unwelcome Return
'Well, that was all interesting.' Jay figured. 'Watched Cole go off to visit a girl, the girl gets kidnapped by some snakes, we kicked some reptiles in the tail, rescued the girl, experienced some bizarre breeze that came out of nowhere, Bounty almost tilted us all over, Sam's staying and hey, everything's all good now.' He listed off everything that happened throughout this half of a week.
Everything was good, except for the Serpentine getting two Silver Fang Blades and Kai having a chance to get the map but he had to go and burn that up to a crisp. Nya was upset about not having the map, saying it would've been useful if he even tried to get a copy of it, but in the end, she did understand the circumstances that were unfortunately forcibly given to them. It did however delay the Serpentine quite a bit since they haven't heard much of them trying to find a Fang Blade for a short while.
'Heh, those snakes must have their tails in knots over that mess,' Jay chuckled to himself while he leaned against the wall and fiddled with the small communication device in his hand with a pair of tweezers pulling the tiny wires in place.
He was quite proud of the achievement. Hopefully, with a little fine tuning and maybe some color coding, he'll make more for the rest of the team. Oh, and speaking of things he's working on.. He looked over to the shorter brunette who was more or less wandering about but now finally had a chance to look around the ship without the "bizarre breeze" nearly tipping them over. It didn't take him a moment to see his brother-in-arms clad in black just arriving almost right behind her. Jay swears that he must've been following her, saying he was "keeping an eye on her" as an excuse.
'Yeah sure. Just say you wanna stare at her, big guy. I know what you actually meant.' He rolled his eyes and focused back on the device, but still aware of the two in the galley, aka the kitchen inside their beloved ship. Cole, somehow, hadn't noticed him. Of course, he wasn't saying anything in the moment, but it also definitely had something to do with the fact that Cole was in fact staring at Sam. 'Hah! I knew it!'
Mind you, Cole wasn't trying to stare at her, but he still had an off feeling around her and figured it had to be easier to find a clue as to why he felt that way around her. The brunette was wearing the clothes that Nya let her borrow for the day. A plain olive-green shirt with black half sleeves going to her elbow while she had bandages wrapped around her forearms and some skinny jeans with a little belt pulling it tighter to fit on her waist.
'Wasn't Nya a size medium or small? Were the pants a little loose somehow?' Cole would ask, but refrained from doing so. It's not like he could just stroll up to Sam and question her about her weight or something without it coming off as insensitive. He knew what that always sounded like and didn't want to shame anyone for it or anything.
He felt a nudge to the side and Jay's voice had to put his thoughts to a screeching halt. "Wow, Cole. I didn't know you were the kind to like backs... Or is it just Sam's back you wanna stare at?"
'Do we need a Master of Lightning? Is Lightning even a real element?' Cole thought to himself.
Sam definitely heard Jay's comment because she stood flat on her feet and became stiff as a board. Her head was tilted low and he couldn't see her face when she turned and left the galley, getting out of his view. He turned his sights to the blue jay who had to open that big fat mouth of his and looked at the sly cat-like grin on his face.
"Jay, again, do I need to tell you it's not like that?" He deadpanned to him, getting more annoyed at the blue ninja.
"And do I need to tell you that I just might actually be seeing something you don't?" Jay chuckled. "Wasn't it you who said I had good observation skills?"
"Uh, yeah. When it's used for the good of the missions, not for fulfilling some delusions."
"You say delusion, I say vision cause I know I see something."
"Unless you're suddenly replacing Sensei Wu or Zane, then you're out of our mind if you see anything between Sam and I at all."
"Uh huh, right." Jay nodded, before thinking, 'I'll take my chances, big man.'
Cole shook his head at his antics. Honestly, he knew Ninja never quit, it was literally their unofficial motto and all, but damn did Jay really take it seriously.
"Anyways, I was actually looking for you cause we got the training dummies you made out. Did you have to put some snake heads on it?"
"Hey, it's hard to get a good snake model for a head like that. Why? Were they so convincing they scared you?" Jay teased.
"Will you please just head up to the main deck already?" Cole asked him insistently.
The shinobi in blue just went ahead of him, going to the stairs and heading up to the main deck. His electric green eyes were quick to zoom over to the person handling the spotlight for them. A familiar, gorgeous woman with onyx hair and a red outfit hugging her frame. He couldn't lie and say he wasn't jealous of the outfit getting to hold her so close like that, he'd absolutely love to have his hands in their place, but his own morality just threw those thoughts to the deepest part of his mind and those thoughts will take a long time before they'd ever resurface. Right beside Nya was Sam, the brunette was close to Nya's height. Of course, she was a little hunched over with her arms still crossed over and holding her sides. She might be close to the other's height if she stood straight.
Cole noticed Jay staring the moment he finally got up the steps before that stupid bluebird gave him a catlike grin.
"Hey, Sam! You wanna watch Cole train? Fingers crossed and he might get his shirt off." Sam's response was a red face and her covering that same face with her hands in embarrassment.
"Seriously, Jay? That doesn't make sense! It's barely even sun up for crying out loud. It's not even hot." Cole retorted.
"Oh?" The obnoxious blue bird raised his notched eyebrow, "You're right. It's probably too dark for her to see the walking sculpture you are. However are you saying that if it were a hot summer day, you'd be shirtless for her?"
Cole just had his eyebrows furrowed before he grumbled, "One of these days, I am going to throw you off the Bounty."
"I'd like to see you try."
"You won't see me coming by then."
"I'll be on the lookout then." Jay had his hands on his hips and gave a sway while he walked away.
Cole shook his head at him with a disgruntled sigh that mirrored Jay's when his parents visited the Bounty the first time. This whole illusion that the bluebird insisted on making reality was getting annoying real fast. He was actually considering throwing the damn guy off the Bounty out of the sky. Sure, Jay would recover but still...
His silvery-grey eyes looked to Sam next to Nya. Her own eyes were looking around the deck of the Bounty. He actually wondered how she was even seeing with one eye being entirely covered by a massive set of bangs... Ironic he'd say that considering his own hair. Well, she definitely did see rather well for only having one eye out, especially when she had a chance to fight back some snakes before her capture.
Hmm.. Well, maybe since she was staying he could teach her. Not to prove Jay's point of whatever he's seeing, but to actually help her a bit and to see what else she was capable of, especially since they've eavesdropped and heard about a Hypnobrai becoming half blind during Sam's capture. That and it would be nice to have an ally that wasn't just The Samurai. No offense to Nya but one person could only do so much.
Cole sighed before he looked to see Zane coming up. The air shifted slightly into feeling a little colder while he approached. Thankfully it was a decently warm evening and it didn't affect them too much. He did however notice the amount of people and the fact one was missing.
"Where's Mr. Hotshot?" Cole asked.
"If you are referring to Kai, then I believe he said he will join us momentarily." Zane answered.
"Hmm. He wouldn't miss training for the world. I'm sure he'll be here soon enough." Jay turned to look up at the samurai woman. "Nya, if you could please." He grinned softly underneath his mask.
Even at the distance she could see his smile with just his eyes. She gave a soft smile of her own back at him before nodding. "Alright. Lights out everyone."
And with a pull of a switch, the spotlight turned off and everything was dark. Let the training begin.
Meanwhile, the spiky-haired brunet in red decided he wasn't going to head up to join them like the other three thought he would. Honestly, he really wouldn't miss the chance to try to one-up them, but it felt almost pointless with the others already achieving their true potential and yet he felt so far away from reaching his own. It just wasn't fair. It wasn't right and it still didn't feel right. What his whole point of being a ninja to become stronger if he couldn't get his powers too? He only originally became a ninja in the first place for Nya and now she doesn't need it. Yes, he was proud of her for her abilities but now he felt stuck. He felt like he wasn't going anywhere.
Well, that's why he came here, to the door of sensei's room. The tan skinned teen looked around, making sure no one followed him here. While the other three were busy more than likely showing off their powers, he couldn't be too certain of anyone following him, especially the latest newcomer.
'Who the heck even is she? Why is it now of all times she's gotta appear?' He asked himself.
Whoever this Sam was, the Serpentine, or at least Pythor, find her important and it just made the Ninja have an even bigger target on their backs. If anything, Kai did hope she wasn't allied with the snakes and that she wouldn't be the one to pierce those targets. He can't imagine one of his brothers hurt, especially if Cole was hurt by her. The Master of Earth might not ever admit to having any sort of attachment or attraction to her, but even Kai could say Jay was onto something. Of course if he did admit that, then he'd never hear the end of it from the annoying chatterbox of a bird about how right he was. So he wasn't about to agree with that walking lightning rod any time soon.
He shook his head and finally opened the door, slipping into the room. Surely, the old man could've left something to help him figure it out. Even if Wu did just up and leave to find help from whoever, there was no way he'd leave them in the dust without anything, right? He looked around the room. The walls were still the same simple dark red boards of the ship. Ahead of him is where Sensei would've been. That man would be sitting on the mat with the large censer in front of him while burning some sticks. Kai never got to know what was so important about those sticks other than the fact they produced Spirit Smoke and how the old master told them not to disturb him whenever he was using them. Kai was never the kind to get magic anyways and he wasn't about to now.
His dark cyan-blue eyes caught the sight of something in the deep red, ornate storage compartment just behind the little doors.
'Maybe Sensei has something in there?' He wondered.
He got closer, reaching his hands on the little knobs and pulled the doors open. At first it looked like there was nothing and he thought maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him again like that Venomari venom, which by the way, he would not recommend, until he reached in and his hand felt up on something. He nearly jerked his hand back before grabbing it and pulling it out.
'It's the gi...' His eyes widened in surprise and astonishment.
There, in his hands, was the gi made for the prophesized Green Ninja. He held it up by the shoulders and it unfolded almost unceremoniously.
'Ironic of it to do so.' He hummed, feeling it out in his hands. The color contrasted so much against his own, but he could make do with it, if it were ever his of course. There was some bits of silver detailing the suit around where the chest would be with a matching belt piece. On the back, he could see a serpent symbol with its tail wrapping around itself.
'Even more ironic to wear something with a snake on it while fighting some snakes,' He figured with a huff.
Overall though, the suit didn't look too bad. It looked like it'd fit him too. The brunet went to the door and poked his head out, still making sure that no one was around.
'Well, what the guys don't know won't hurt any.' He figured, still eying the green shozoku with interest.
The sound of a blade being unsheathed caught their attention. There was a gentle, yet sharp golden glow from the scythe while it was in its wielder's hands. The dummy with the Venomari-like head attached moved forward a couple of paces. Nya had to admit that Jay liked his little bot projects and he was definitely so jealous of Dr. Julien's work.
"Earth!" Cole called out, slamming down his scythe, piercing its blade into the deck and causing it to quake and for the dummy to be sent flying before it landed squarely on its back. He performed a flip and landed right ahead.
Another snake-headed dummy was on another part of the deck with the blue ninja as its opponent. He swung his nunchaku around and spun in a sense of showmanship, more like showing off to the samurai woman watching.
"Lightning!" Jay hopped up to perform Spinjitzu, forming a tornado with glowing blue electricity before he stopped, swinging his nunchaku with enough force to snap the snake dummy's head off.
Just a short distance away, shurikens flew through the air and just like a mix of a boomerang and a frisbee, they returned right back to the nindroid's hands. His icy stare was focused on the reptilian replica before him.
"Ice!" He spun around, hopping up and threw the shurikens through his legs behind him. They landed right near the dummy's feet and an cold exterior began forming around the dummy, freezing it from bottom to top. Zane could guess that with enough force, he could potentially break the now brittle snake mannequin, but of course, that would lead to Jay's lecture about touching another man's robot which was ironic of him to say to Zane of all people now.
A massive stage light turned right on with Nya pointing it to shine right on them.
"Good training. Your powers are getting stronger." Nya applauded, looking around on the deck.
She caught Jay closing his eyes with a smile hiding underneath his mask and she couldn't help the smile back. That boy was absolutely contagious to her and honestly, she liked it. Her gaze flicked over to see the brunette who also had her eyes, or rather eye, set on the scythe wielder. Nya could see there was a sense of awe on her face, watching the three shinobi display their elemental powers and putting them into practice. Sure, Sam definitely caught glimpses of them the second time Cole and her met, if Nya heard it all right, but now she could see them clearly using their powers without the need to defend herself from scaly claws. However, despite the awe in her eye, there was also something else. It was something hiding underneath and it just barely glinted to the surface for a moment before Sam tilted her head down, covering her face with her long hair.
Was that... envy she saw there?
No, it can't be. Why would she be envious? That can't be right... and speaking about what's not right, Nya realized something when she looked back on the deck and finally counted them. There were still only three ninjas. Weren't there supposed to be four?
"Where's Kai?" The sister of fire asked.
"He didn't come up?" Zane inquired.
"It appears not, Zane. Unless he's suddenly learning to blend in with the deck, except he's not the right shade of red for it." Jay jabbed, putting his nunchaku away back in their holster.
"Any idea where that spiky pepper is?" Cole finally asked.
"Hmm," Jay hummed, putting a hand on his chin for a moment. "Well, if he still feels the same way as ever about not achieving his True Potential yet, then I think we can all easily deduce where he is."
The three looked at one another for a moment before they nodded and simultaneously concluded, "Sensei's room." With that, the trio piled through the door, going right ahead to find their missing fourth member.
"What's this True Potential I've been hearing about?" Sam asked, feeling puzzled over the subject and looking up at Nya who shook her head at the guys' antics already.
"Hmm?" Nya hummed, finally turning back to Sam. "Oh, well, Jay kinda explained it to me when he achieved his true potential, I'm surprised he hadn't pulled out a whole lecture for you since he found it so spectacular."
"Well, what is it?" The brunette brushed herself off when she got up.
"Jay says that when he achieved his, his powers felt like they were at the tipping point. The lightning in him just built up in him, it felt alive and almost overwhelming, but he felt like he could command a whole storm if he wanted to. He said he finally felt free from the fear in his heart and his fear was finally being accepted as he was." Nya went on with a smile, feeling a sense of fondness. Jay explained this better than she could and he was so excited to go into detail. She swears his eyes looked much brighter than they had before despite his electric green eyes while he went on. She sighed softly, "I can't believe it took little ol' me to help him unlock his powers."
"You helped him?" Sam inquired more curiously with a raised eyebrow.
"It was supposed to be our first date but that ended in a semi-disaster with the Serpentine finding the first Fang blade. You can guess how that went." Nya sighed softly. "Well, it wasn't a total loss since Jay unlocked his powers in time to rescue both of us from a rollercoaster disaster." Sam looked taken aback by that but Nya waved it off, "Remind me to let Jay babble on about that one day. I'm sure he won't mind it."
"Droit." The brunette muttered, leaning over the ship.
Nya almost couldn't help but felt that Sam was definitely building up to something, however the girl just wouldn't let it out. Did it have something to do with that glint of envy she saw just moments earlier in Sam's eye? She wondered. What was she envious of? Their powers? Well, Nya could understand it on some level. It was because of their powers that they formed a team and decided to do some good with them in the first place yet Nya felt left behind before she paved her own way. Now that her secret identity as the samurai was out to the team, both Jay and Kai had shown a sense of pride in the Japanese woman. Even though Kai's praise lessened when he began becoming more obsessed about the prophecy. She was getting worried for him.
Nya shook that off and finally moved the light aside, shutting it off. "Nice of Cole's dad to get us one of these stage lights. He had to talk to some people to even let us have it in the first place."
Sam perked up a bit at the mention of Cole's father and gave a soft hum to that before heading inside. More than likely Nya could guess that Sam was gonna look for her safe space, as Jay insinuated Cole being that. Hmm... Maybe one of these days later on, she could consider calling Jay her own safe space as well. The ebony-haired girl gave a small smile at the thought. However, her focus shifted when she heard the sounds of grunting and the chain of the anchor just barely clinking around.
'No way. We're way above the clouds. No one would know of this... unless...' Nya couldn't help but look over, seeing a familiar straw hat and feeling a sense of excitement take over. 'It is him! Oh the guys are going to be so surprised!'
Kai couldn't help but look himself in the mirror, performing some fighting moves in front and feeling so ecstatic. Damn, he had to admit he looked good in green. He felt good. He felt powerful even. Does that mean what he thinks it means?
'Only one way to find out.' He thought.
"Fire!" He called out with a spin.
"Unlock fire!" He said.
Nothing happened.
"Uh, Fire go!"
Nothing still.
"Shoot flames!" He rapidly shot out punches, hoping for something yet there was still nothing.
He groaned pathetically, "Oh, come on. Everyone else can do it. So can you." He tried his best to encourage himself. "BRING HEAT!" He screamed, backflipping into doing some one-handed pushups before hopping right back up to look in the mirror again.
Still there was nothing... except some unexpected laughter and applause. His face fell when he saw the reflection of one ninja behind him.
"Very nice. Perhaps if you tried the phrase "Fire dork," maybe it might work." Cole advised jokingly, putting a hand on his hip.
The usually fiery ninja pulled the zukin and fukumen off in a panic while he looked all around, confirming the other two shinobi were there as well.
"How long have you all been watching?" He finally spoke up.
Zane walked into the room last, presumably right after Jay who looked so invested into the gi already. "The Green Ninja suit! That's awesome!"
Kai barely managed to pull himself together, his eyebrows curved upward and his eyes flicking around. The usually confident ninja stuttered softly, "Well, I was looking for some kind of clue from Sensei and then I found this." He motioned to the gi, still not making any eye contact with the others. Embarrassment didn't quite cut it on what he was feeling. He knew there was something else underneath that better fit how he felt but he just didn't have the word for it yet.
"But you know only he who is foretold to face Lord Garmadon is destined to be the Green Ninja, and only he should wear the Green Ninja outfit. So Sensei would most likely be very—" Zane went on to explain what they all already knew. It was basic knowledge to them at this point.
"I know. I know." Kai cut him off with a sigh, heading towards the window. "But I thought if I just tried it on, it might help me see my True Potential." The spiky-haired brunet gripped on the window sill while he looked out. "It's not fair that you guys have unlocked your cool powers and I still haven't." His grip left the window sill as he turned to the other three who've joined right beside him. "Besides, Sensei's gone and we don't know when he's coming back —"
He was cut off by the sound of a door opening. All of the Ninja team turned their attention to it and a familiar voice spoke.
"Hello, I'm home." It was their sensei.
"SENSEI!" The other three announced and rushed out of there, unable to contain their excitement over the old man's return already.
Kai, however, did not join in the excitement. Instead there was a mix of horror and embarrassment as he looked at himself, still in the green shozoku. If fate wasn't on his side before, it definitely wasn't now. He muttered a low curse to himself and immediately hopped out of view, rushing to get back into his own red gi and hopefully put the suit away as he found it.
On the upper deck, the old man took a deep breath and finally relaxed, watching his students come out one by one. There was Cole, Zane, and strangely Jay after the other two. Funny, he would've figured the shinobi in blue would be first out with his remarkable speed. Nonetheless, he was content seeing them again after a long while.
"Ah. It's so good to be home." Wu smiled softly.
"So glad you're back." Zane returned his smile with one of his own.
"Did you bring us anything?" Cole asked, excitedly.
'Oh boy do I have a surprise for all of you.' Wu fought back a chuckle.
"Oh, Sensei, you missed a lot." He pushed through, hopping up on the table and pointing to the others in question. "Zane's a Nindroid, Nya's the mysterious Samurai, Cole's a dancer and I think we found him his future love interest—" Jay babbled on before being cut off.
"We did not!" Cole barked at him. "It's not like that!"
"Oh, yeah? You wanna tell Sensei about your dreams being repetitive after your True Potential happened?" Jay hopped back down with his hands on his hips.
"Zane is a... what? And.. True Potential?" Wu felt stunned, confusion befuddling his mind.
"You've been gone a while. We'll catch you up later. But you should know, all of us except for Kai have discovered our True Potential." Zane explained, going right by him.
"Have you now?" Wu's interest piqued with that question. "Where is Kai?"
"Right here," Kai's voice sounded distant for a moment before Wu could see him zoom right up. The Japanese teen flattened out his gi a bit with his hands before he looked up at the elder with a smile. "So glad you're back safe."
It was barely a second later and yet Kai felt he spoke too soon when he saw a dark figure behind his teacher. One moment it was just four arms appearing and the next, a whole body stepped out from behind the old man. Kai's eyes narrowed and he instantly recognized the other's face.
Lord Garmadon.
"Aah! Sensei behind you!" He warned, leaping right into action and pulling his Sword of Fire right out of its sheath.
The Master of Fire landed right before the four-armed man, who looked surprised at the sudden attack.
"Sensei!" Zane called, throwing himself in front of the old man and acting as a shield already.
Kai swung his sword at him, feeling the heat of his Golden Weapon in his hands and watching the Dark Lord fall back in an attempt to get his neck away from his blade.
"Ugh! He's got four arms!" He growled, pouncing onto the man and holding his sword sideways, hoping to get close enough to land a blow.
Garmadon grabbed the sword by the handle and blade, pushing back against the young Master of Fire and grunting. "So we meet again."
Kai used all of his weight to keep the four-armed freak pinned down and he looked up to his teacher. "He must've followed you, Sensei!"
Wu gave a scoff and pushed Zane aside, making the Nindroid stumble a bit in surprise. The old man rushed up to Kai and grabbed his shoulder, pulling him back. "Kai, stop! He is the reason why I left."
The spiky-haired brunet looked shock, shooting his gaze from his Sensei to the nonhuman man beneath him while he felt the hand leave his shoulder. His shock went away but was replaced with a glare. Bright red eyes burned back at him while Garmadon bared his sharp teeth back. The four-armed man repressed a rumbling growl that wanted out of him, but Wu could no doubt still hear it slip pass his guard.
"For as long as Pythor has Lloyd, he will be our guest." Wu instructed.
The complaints were immediate.
"We have to live with this guy?!"
"But Sensei, he has four arms!"
Cole and Zane respectively in that order mirrored each other's shock.
"Uh, must I remind you ever since he turned evil, he's been trying to get our Golden Weapons?" Jay asked urgently, pushing past Zane and Cole to get in front.
"ENOUGH!" Wu's voice echoed with anger.
All four shinobi backed up immediately. They very rarely saw their Sensei angry. It was almost frightening. One of Jay's hands slipped back to find Nya's and she gave a soft squeeze in comfort and solidarity.
"Yes, Sensei." They all spoke simultaneously.
Finally, the dark-skinned man got up, brushing himself off aggressively and grumbling something underneath his breath. Whatever it was, it made Wu shoot a look at him.
"This isn't about the weapons. It's about my son." He growled at the Ninja. How dare they even consider that he'd put anything else above one of the few things he still found so precious? So much so he was going to corrupt the world into darkness to find the light of his life. Of course, they wouldn't see it that way. They would never even entertain the thought of it if they ever knew how much he care for him.
"From here on out, you will obey me and you will respect my brother." The older Japanese man placed a hand on himself before pointing the other to Garmadon, who crossed his arms and stood straighter.
"Yes, Sensei." Three of them bowed their heads but Kai was looking to the side, still holding a glare meant for the four-armed freak of a man.
"Now to the bridge. We must put our attention to more pressing matters." He turned and walked past them, heading towards the bridge.
Garmadon followed closely behind him. He stopped for a moment, turning to face the young fire master and he gave a perpetual grin at him right before he followed his younger brother. Kai just gritted his teeth and clenched his fist, wanting to let out a growl but refusing to let it be heard by anyone.
The four shinobi and one samurai arrived to the bridge to the sensei and lord waiting. Wu finally decided to speak up when they all settled.
"So where are we at with the four Fangblades?" He asked, looking between all of them and awaiting the answer.
Jay answered first, raising his hand a bit. "Oh, Pythor's managed to take the first two, but there's still two left."
"And we only need one in order to prevent him from unleashing the Great Devourer." Cole finished off.
"Any luck finding their whereabouts?" Wu inquired.
"No," Zane denied before adding on, "but the Falcon is programmed to alert us if he sees any suspicious activity."
"Good. If we find the Fangblade, we find Lloyd." He nodded before he looked between the Smith siblings, "Kai and Nya, prepare the deck and double check the anchor. We need to be ready when we first get word of activity."
"Yes, Sensei." The two bowed their heads.
Kai kept his glare on the tallest in the room and grumbled, pointing at the man. "I have my eye on you."
As they left, Kai rotated to keep his eye on the Dark Lord. However, he did very little to keep an eye on his surroundings too, especially when he bumped his head against the door frame and groaned at the sudden shock of pain while rubbing his head. Wu gave a disappointed and frustrated sigh, putting a hand to his temple while Garmadon had to bite back a chuckle over that.
'Yeah, he definitely has his mother's spite.' He figured.
Nya reached back and grabbed Kai by the arm, pulling him out of view. The brunet however came back into view for a moment just to point two fingers from his eyes to Garmadon's to show that he was watching him. Nya just grabbed him again and pulled even harder for him to follow.
"Now, did I hear that the Falcon was... programmed?" Wu still had a sense of confusion mixed with a slight interest.
"Haha." Jay chuckled, "Okay, Sensei. I don't know where to start. It all started when we saw the Falcon, and then we ran after it..." And so the blue bird began telling him everything, not sparing any details while telling their sensei all of their endeavors and what he had missed out on.
"Hmm... So much really did happen while I was gone." Wu sounded so melancholic for a moment but shook that off.
"Yeah, it was a wild ride without you here, Sensei.. Please don't ever disappear that long again. I was so sure we were gonna fall apart if you didn't return any sooner." Jay gave a grin, crossing his arms.
"Jay.." Zane grabbed his attention. "Aren't you forgetting something?"
"Something... Oh! OOOOOHHH! Sensei! You gotta know," He sounded excited before he halted himself, "Hold on. This'll be hard to explain without her here." He muttered, putting a hand to his chin. A lightbulb suddenly went off in his head. "Zane, how about you go get her?"
"Hey, why am I not the one getting her?" Cole spat out before he even thought about what Jay could possibly be conceiving.
"Oh?.. What's wrong? Is the big mountain man scared that his little lady could get attached to someone else?" He raised his notched eyebrow at Master of Earth.
"It's not like that, Jay. I've been telling you this. I don't know why you don't get that." Cole insisted.
"Uh huh, right. Sure." He had that stupid cat-like grin again.
Cole still swears he was gonna toss that man off the Bounty one of these days. Zane however broke the tension between the two.
"Perhaps it is best for Cole to find her." Zane suggested.
"You sure about that?" Jay asked.
"Yes. After all, Sam does feel the safest around Cole."
"Yeah, Yeah. I'm her safe space or whatever." Cole sighed in semi-defeat. "Fine. I'll find her." He went ahead to leave out of the bridge before he turned to Jay. "You better not hold this over me, bluebird."
"Oh hush and go find your dream girl." Jay teased.
Cole just groaned in response and left the others.
'How many times do I have to tell Jay that it wasn't like that before he took the hint?' He thought.
At this point, it was going to take a miracle for that chatterbox to shut up.. A miracle or something smacking hard enough against his vocal cords again. He chuckled, still remembering the time with the Skulkin Army trying to grab a hold of their Golden Weapons just barely a little over a year ago. Garmadon was mysterious and scary then.. Not that he wasn't now, but if Sensei trusted him, then he sees no reason to not trust him too. At least, he'd only do so for now.
"Nya, the Lord of Darkness just became our roommate." He heard Kai announce in such a dramatic way just as he went downstairs into the lower deck.
'Damn, that actually sounds like a good light novel,' Cole admitted, before shaking his head, 'but not an ideal situation to be in... Especially now... especially with her on board too.'
It's one thing to have Garmadon close to the Golden Weapons but then there's Sam... Someone that was made an oracle, a fake one at that, and her visions were triggered by whatever Pythor did. Garmadon could figure out what that snake did and for all he knew, that Dark Lord could steal Sam away and use her to see the visions too. Cole already saw how painful it looked to Sam and he hated how helpless he felt when trying to snap her out of it for a good few solid minutes while she could do nothing but cry with her eyes burning so brightly. He'd hate it even worse if that man took her away and used her until she couldn't do it anymore and Cole wouldn't be able to do a thing to help her out.
"Cole... Cole..?" A voice snapped him out of his spiral.
He looked to see the long-haired brunette at his side, holding his upper arm for a moment before she let go. "Hey Sam. What happened? Where were you?"
"The kitchen again... I was still trying to reach into the cabinet. I was going to come back up but then I heard yelling and then nothing and I thought.. I.." She trailed off, gently swaying back and forth and her hands cupping each other.
Ah right. He almost forgot that she didn't really like yelling. At least, that's what he's assumed, considering the backstory he made up for her in his head however, Pythor's insistence on keeping Sam and his whole involvement with her did contradict a whole lot. How would that snake even know her? Did he know of her family before the Serpentine were all locked away? If that's the case, then what kind of situation was Sam in to have left her family and get sucked in with the snakes anyways? He didn't know nor did he like the implications there. No.. He shouldn't be assuming things like that. Even if it did make sense in a weird, twisted sort of way, he shouldn't be making up assumptions.
"It's fine now." He answered her, realizing he was off-world for the moment before coming back. "It was... a surprise."
"A surprise?" Sam raised an eyebrow. Or at least, she raised her most visible eyebrow without the hair in the way,
"Let's just say Sensei came back, I asked if he brought us anything and he in fact did bring back something for us. Or rather, I should say he brought someone." He gritted his teeth, forcing them into a smile.
"Some... one?" Sam looked so confused with a mix of worry hiding underneath.
Cole gave a sigh and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'll fill you in on the way. Just be ready for Jay to start babbling off again."
Wu listened intently when the Master of Ice explained his brother-in-arm's dream to him. ".. And the dream ends after he feels a sharp pain in his head."
"Hmm.. I see." Wu hummed, running a hand down his long mustache.
"Yeah, it was crazy. Not as crazy as Cole finding the girl from his dreams."
"Jay, it's only a running theory that the girl and Sam could be one and the same, not that they are." Zane clarified.
Jay just groaned, "Ah, come on. Don't ruin this for me. I've had an idea about them ever since I saw Sam gripping on him for dear life."
"Your ideas are sometimes half-baked, as Kai would say." Zane replied, "The most notable one was using the anchor to crash into a building."
"Hey, it was a good idea at the moment. You guys didn't have to go through with it." Jay crossed his arms with a huff, "Also it's different this time."
"What's different this time?"
Everyone turned their attention to the originator of the question. The Master of Earth had returned and this time, he had someone in tow. A long-haired brunette with her skin being a muted color of brown with a reddish tinge, like raw umber or medium brown. Her left eye was what struck as the most odd being a shade close to turquoise while her right eye, or the entire right half of her face was covered by her dark hair.
"Oh thank the gods!" Jay bursted, changing the subject before Zane could rat him out. "You finally arrived. I wasn't sure how much longer I'd entertain the old man." He zoomed over as quick as his element, ushering the girl over to the Sensei before Cole could even react.
'Again, damn his quick little feet... and he calls me Twinkle-toes.' Cole rolled his eyes and repressed a grunt, crossing his arms while he went to stand nearby with Zane.
"So, Sensei, this is Sam. Sam, this is our Sensei Wu." He pointed out between the two before pointing to the taller, four-armed man. "And that's Sensei's brother, Lord Garmadon. Captain of Despair, Doer of Evil, and most notably Lloyd's father. He's staying with us until we get Lloyd back from Pythor."
Sam looked like a deer in the headlights for a moment before her eye focused intensely on Jay. "... what?"
"Oh... We did not tell you about Lloyd yet, did we? He's a little kid, about yay-high," He placed a hand at the side of his waist, "short, fluffy blonde hair, freaky eyes and maybe some things he inherited from the Dark Lord here?"
The blue ninja babbled on, unaware of the shorter brunette just giving a scary type of stare at first. It was possibly the first time the original trio of Ninja have seen Sam with that face. Both Zane and Cole noticed her hands clenching into fists so tightly that her medium brown knuckles just turned as white as the Ice Ninja's suit.
"You.. said nothing about Pythor imprisoning a whole child." Sam stated, something in her tone dripped with venom yet there was a mix of worry and fear. "You guys did nothing to get him out while you were rescuing me?"
"Hey, hey, we don't know where Pythor's holding Lloyd and it's not like we had the map of Ouroboros tattooed on the back of our hands. We got lucky just finding you with Zane's robotic bird."
Zane looked mildly offended and he muttered, "He's more than robotic. He's my friend."
The Nindroid received a hand on his shoulder from Cole. He glanced over, seeing that although Cole was trying to comfort him, he had his sights set on Sam's movements.
"Excuse me.. Did you say you rescued her from Ouroboros?" Garmadon was the one who asked.
"I did mention that it wouldn't make sense without Sam here, right?"
".. Go on."
"Yeah, well, for some reason, Pythor found her important enough to put the search for the Fangblades on hold and throw out like two dozen of his little snake army to get her and it turns out the reason might be because she could probably see the future like an oracle but Zane says there's no way she is since it shouldn't hurt and exhaust her to see the future and all that. That's not even the half of what happened."
"What else happened?" Garmadon towered over the lightning master as he had his red glare set down on him.
Jay gave a sort of nervous chuckle before Zane stepped in, taking the nonhuman's eyes off the blue ninja. "I believe what Jay is leading up to is that the search for the Fangblades may be delayed on both the Serpentine and ourselves, due to Kai burning the original Map of Fangs in an attempt to get it while we were escaping with Sam."
Garmadon pulled back, walking to look out the windshield of the bridge and seeing the red ninja on the deck, still busy with the assignment Wu had given him yet he was doing it so aggressively. Almost cartoonishly aggressive like a small dog being irritated. One poke and he'd pop and start snapping at Garmadon. The man rolled his eyes.
"So he has her spite and rashness. My son's going to be stuck imprisoned with those snakes because of him... Some Ninja you are training, Wu." Garmadon grumbled at his younger brother.
Wu, however, didn't respond and Garmadon noticed. The bearded man looked transfixed, stuck. His eyes never left the smaller brunette when she first arrived into the room. Anything that was said to him felt muffled while his stare remained on her. His chest barely moved and Garm could see that his left hand was clenched, very clearly used to having their father's old staff in his hand for support. Something about seeing Sam actually frightened Wu quite a bit, left him in a state of disbelief even, and to be honest, even if he would never admit it himself, Garmadon felt the same, especially with how familiar she looked to both of the brothers.
The Master of Earth no doubt saw Wu looking like a deer in headlights and came forward, heading to Sam's side before Jay could continue on trying to defend themselves. "Sensei... Sensei?" He caught the old man's attention with a slight jump, "Whoa, easy Sensei. You've looked like you've seen a ghost or something."
"I... It's.." Wu looked over to Sam, who only now began hiding herself behind the obsidian ninja, almost as a force of habit than anything else. Despite the personality shift, there was no mistaking it. It had to be her, but then.. there were some horrible implications that Wu didn't want to think of. He couldn't say anything without any actual confirmation, without any proof.
'Besides, there's no easy way to talk about what happened,' He thought, keeping his gaze on Sam, 'And perhaps.. she knows that too.'
He looked down, bowing his head in greeting, but also covering his eyes with his straw hat. "It's nice to meet you, Sam."
"It's.. nice to meet you too?" Sam responded.
"Ah, forgive me. It's been a long journey." Wu notified softly although Garmadon knew it was a half-lie. "Excuse me."
The older Japanese man walked right pass the Ninja while the three separated, watching him go pass and leave the bridge of the ship. Garmadon followed right after him, shoving past the ninja. He looked to see Wu just pick up his pace once he was out of line-of-sight from his students.
'Oh no you don't. You better not hide from this brother.' He thought, hopping on his feet before he picked up his own pace, following after him in a rush. There was no way Wu was getting out of this one. Not this time.
Deep underground, hiding miles away from their beloved city of Ouroboros but just underneath the Mountain of a Million Steps, in the center of the massive Serpentine labyrinth, Pythor and his generals were in the middle of a discussion. Well, at least the Generals were. Pythor had his eyes glaring deeply at the two Silver Fangblades on their new holder. Two more and eventually they'll let the Devourer out. He let out a slight, frustrated growl that rolled up his throat but was muffled by his shut snout. What good was letting out the Devourer if he couldn't know the future? If he couldn't ever know what would happen to them after their proclaimed idol would be released from their own wrongful imprisonment?
"My King, you've barely said a word since we all arrived." Acidicus mentioned to him.
Pythor was barely paying attention and he proved it by hissing out a slew of curses, "Damn those Ninja. They stole the girl and torched our map!"
Skales slithered forward, holding his staff up with the other generals. "We can easily make another map with our staves and parchment." He went on before muttering, "and perhaps make it fireproof too since that fire-starter thinks he can cause such a ruckus."
"Why don't we forget about the girl since the Ninja have her now?" Skalidor inquired.
That, however, was a mistake. Pythor's eyes finally left the Fangblades and his head snapped towards the Constrictai in question. He bared his fangs and shoved the silvery-daggers to Skales' grasp. "What did you say?"
"Why don't we leave her to the Ninja? They are no doubt on high alert and won't let her out of their sights. So why not focus back on the Fangblades while they're busy with the girl?" The Constrictai didn't notice the taller violet Serpentine slithering closer, gripping on his tribe's staff in hand.
He did notice him when the staff slammed far too close to where he was standing. He hopped back and shot a look back up at the Anacondrai. His own glare was overpowered by the larger serpentine.
"Have you any mind to lose, Skalidor? You do not understand how important that girl is." The violet-colored anaconda snapped at him, "My tribe spent years putting too much work into her for her to simply be lost to us. I simply refuse to have those Ninja have her. If they figure out how to trigger her future sight, she could very well be used against us. We cannot allow that. We must not allow that to happen!"
"I was just thinking," The onyx-scaled boa constrictor was cut off.
"No... Enough.." Pythor hissed. He turned back, handing the Anacondrai staff to his second-in-command. "Do what you must. I'll develop a plan that'll get both the girl and the other two Fangblades."
"And the Ninja?" Skales inquired.
"We must combat their growing abilities."
"General Fangtom is still discussing with his tribe about making more people and things turn into Serpentine." Skales discussed, "However, we've all witnessed their elemental abilities with the last Masters who've had them when we were young and in war and these Ninja are learning fast. More soldiers are simply not enough against them." The Hypnobrai slithered after him.
Pythor just turned his head sharply at Skales. "Then brainstorm ideas! Find new ways to take them out. Anything. We've lost plenty and can't afford to lose more."
Skales wanted to almost hiss and huff at his contradiction. Wasn't it the Anacondrai himself who threw soldiers out to find one girl? He wanted to ask that, but refrained from doing so. He could very well lose his position as second-in-command and be subjected to things Pythor would inflict on others, especially on those who disobeyed.
Instead, he kept his snout shut and gave a nod. "Yes, sire."
With that, Pythor slithered away, far from the commotion of the main room, and deep into the massive labyrinth. He felt up on the wall beside him, remembering how he helped formed these tunnels with a map. Skales was technically leading the expedition of the tunnel making but Pythor still was the one who formed the map. The Constrictai who were digging wondered why the Anacondrai Tomb wasn't connected to their labyrinth but he snapped and forbade them from ever going there. He supposed they took it as he didn't want to be reminded of the ones he'd lost in the tomb and therefore, didn't bring it up again.
'If only they knew,' He figured with a small hum, rubbing his eyes for a moment and letting out a sigh of frustration.
Other than his breath, it was all silent.
All except a slight crumble and the sound of a small pebble dropping onto the ground. Pythor picked his head up and looked around. Impossible. He knew the walls were a bit rocky, but they were refined enough to hold torches in place. Who was here? Why were they here? There was no way no human ever learned of this place.
"Come on out! Show yourself!" He hissed, baring his fangs. Dammit, why'd he leave his staff back with the others? Oh yeah, to remake that map that stupid little arsonist burned.
"Is that any way to treat a familiar face?" The voice quipped with a hiss.
He found the source of the voice and with his own eyes, he could see the outline of a snout peeking out around the corner.
"And how do I know it's a familiar face?" The Anacondrai sneered, clenching his fists while pulling the tip of his tail up, ready and able to use it if necessary.
"Come now. You do know me."
Pythor watched the head come right around the corner a little further and one eye peeking through the darkness and aimed right at him.
"You..." The Anacondrai warrior recognized the eye and there was disbelief in his tone before he shook that off. "What do you want?" He still had his fangs bared out at the figure.
"You know exactly what I want and I know what you want as well.." The other serpent person responded. "It's her."
"What..?"
"We both want the girl for very different reasons." The other Serpentine went on and Pythor swore he saw a grin on his snout. "I can get her for you."
"How? Those Ninja are always on the move on that stupid flying boat of theirs. No one has been able to get on, let alone reach it."
"You are right to have your doubts, old friend of mine." The snake hissed, getting closer but stopped before he reached the torch's light. "But I have a plan. One that causes a bit of destruction on the very inside of their air-bound home. I just need a favor from you too."
Pythor gave a hum. He looked back towards the main room, weighing his options. He couldn't possibly leave it up to Skales and the other Generals to come up with anything on the fly. They not only needed the girl back but their search for the Fangblades must continue on. It would be ideal if the Ninja were right out of the picture. He knew this Serpentine well enough to know that he'd get the job done... but the others don't know him. If they knew of his existence, it might cause a few sparks of mistrust in not only, the Serpentine army, but the entire race, and he couldn't have that. Not when they're halfway to getting their idol out of prison. However, as he said, it would be ideal to take the Ninja out and perhaps that would cause them to favor and welcome the other serpentine right in.
Either way, what did he have to lose?
"I'm listening." The Anacondrai hissed, preparing to listen intently on whatever plan that has been concocted up in the other reptilian's head.
Translator:
*Droit (French) - Right.
*shozoku (ninja clothing/costume) - the name of the entire ninja outfit
*zukin (ninja clothing/costume) - the hood covering the head
*fukumen (ninja clothing/costume) - the mask covering the face
Author's Note: Yeah! I finally get to type something based around an episode. If you guys guessed it, it's "The Green Ninja" and I've honestly been looking forward to extending this one episode. I mean I managed to stretch out/fill in the space between episode 9 and 10, I think I can stretch this plot out just a bit more before it snaps.
I can say though, I did not expect so much exposition in this chapter. I was actually very excited to finally begin having things fall into place that I didn't realize it became so long and there was so much dialogue. So I do apologize for that and for making you all wait for so long and this was the end result.
Anyways, if you guys enjoyed this chapter nonetheless, please let me know down below. I'll be sure to read and respond to every comment/review made on here and hopefully I won't take so long next time.
So, I guess I'll see you guys later then.