Legends of Ninjago: Book 2: Rise of the Serpentine: Chapter 15 — Surprise!

Lloyd looked down at the village and scowled. The last few minutes had been... severely unnerving. When the red ninja charged into the crowd, it was more than a shock, considering that Lloyd had been expecting Wu to show up with a small covert team. Instead, it would seem that Raiden (if that even was his real name) had gone AWOL and tried to get revenge on him. From this point on, he would be labelled as a loose cannon/wild card in Lloyd’s mind. He admired that.

When the black ninja had arrived, he had very much excepted to see Wu somewhere nearby, and yet, all they did was run off. Anyway, as far as he was concerned, the two ninja were incompetent and a minor threat. The real cause for concern was the small squadron down in the rushes below, spearheaded by the Tea Enthusiast himself. Keaton and Ann were there too, which complicated things.

His mind wandered back to the incident. He was standing over Kai, who was completely helpless and unarmed, and despite how much he hated him, despite Lloyd’s promise of killing him back in the canyon, when Slithraa ordered his immediate execution, he faltered. He choked. He realised all at once that it would mean crossing a line he had never so much as toed before. And now, because he had failed to carry out the deed, not only did Raiden escape, but Slithraa seemed to have lost some confidence in his young ally. He had to fix this soon, or else he’d lose his respect among the Hypnobrai.

“Young Garmadon,” said Slithraa, coming up behind him. “It’s-s-s time to move.”

The soldiers were gathered deep in the forest where they were enjoying the delights of canned tuna and beef jerky; all stolen goods from town. Whatever they had been living off of before now must have been barely enough to get by.

“We’ve als-s-so run into s-s-some of your old S-s-skulken companions-s-s. They won’t be bothering us-s-s anymore,” the chief went on.

“Oh?” was all Lloyd said. He was still watching his uncle far beneath him, wondering what Slithraa might have him do if they ever really did catch the old man. Now wasn’t the time. They needed to start moving. “Tell your men to light the fuse, then we’ll blow this popsicle stand.”

“Pops-s-sicle... s-s-stand?” Slithraa asked.

“Yeah it’s, an expre—never mind. Let’s go,” said Lloyd, finally turning around and walking deeper into the wood.

“Humans-s-s...” Slithraa muttered behind him.

The chief raised his staff to the sun and the sharp glint it reflected was the signal for his men on the ground to put in motion the final act of Lloyd’s plan. It had taken him a good deal of time to convince Slithraa to come here, of all places, to begin his campaign. The location didn’t have any geographical significance, or political leverage, or even any cultural relevance. It was nothing more or less than a rinky-dink town in the middle of nowhere. But from where Lloyd stood in the forest, he could still make out the old wooden box in the nearby hills where he used to live.

Whatever. This place deserved everything coming to it. This bridge was finally, finally being burned. Now on to phase two.

He was drawing near to the Serpentine now, and what he heard was troubling.

“Into formation! Now! We’ll be off s-s-soon. Await my order.” Slithraa’s second in command—Admiral Scales—had gotten into a bad habit of ordering the troops around when nobody was watching. Slithraa seemed only mildly annoyed over the subject, but Lloyd knew there was more to the Admiral’s actions than what met the eye. Scales had detested Lloyd from day one, and relished any moment he was humiliated or disregarded, but it was more than even that. There was a very certain demeanour about Admiral Scales—an arrogant, slimy, sneaking sort of demeanour. One that made him weary of the snake’s intentions.

Lloyd marched right up to Scales and barked, “What’s going on here?” in the toughest voice he could muster. Scales sneered at his young commander and Lloyd could almost hear his slimy inner voice cursing at the sight of the “puny human.”

“I was-s-s jus-s-st preparing the troops-s-s,” the Hypnobrai squeezed passed his fangs.

“My troops,” Lloyd corrected.

“Chief Slithraa’s-s-s troops-s-s,” Scales countered.

“OUR troops,” Lloyd pressed firmly, attempting to end this quarrel with as much authority as he could. The troops were all present and watching the interaction unfold, and who’s judgment they were truly loyal to was anyone’s guess at this point. Frankly, they seemed rather confused about the current chain of command, but generally they regarded Lloyd as being Slithraa’s new right hand man.

Lloyd and Scales were now locked in a staring contest that was only broken up by the chief himself coming between them.

“Comrades-s-s, let’s-s-s take a s-s-step back, shall we?” he said in a very hinting tone. Lloyd had learned that when he spoke like this, he usually meant, “shut up or I’m going to have to hurt you.” Reluctantly, he moved away from the admiral. “Forward s-s-slither!” Slithraa cried. The snakes gave a customary solute, and then began to follow their leader toward phase two.

Lloyd walked beside Slithraa at the front. Walking was an excellent time to think, and right now, Lloyd was picturing Wu and his students walking down that false path he had created. He wondered if they’d be able to escape on their own.

“Chief Slithraa?” he asked, looking up at the towering snake.

“Yes-s-s?” he replied, not particularly interested in whatever Lloyd would say next.

“If it pleases your highness, I would like to scout ahead.” Lloyd had been paying very close attention to the way the Hypnobrai conducted themselves around their chief, and he had learned that if you wanted to ask anything of Slithraa, you had to ask in the most respectful way possible. The phrase he had just used was a favourite of Scales’s.

Slithraa bowed his head slightly. “Go ahead,” he said easily. “If you die, it’s you to blame, if death finds us, my verdict’s the same.”

Lloyd grimaced at the old Serpentine proverb and gave a quick bow before running off ahead of the group. The Hypnobrai sure had a lot of weird old habits and phrases. In any case, he was glad to be out of their sight for a little while. He hadn’t been completely alone since he walked up the mountain all those... days ago? Weeks ago? He had no idea. It wasn’t like he had been carrying a calendar around with him all this time.

The forest spread out for a few miles, which was good news for Lloyd. Once he reached a safe enough distance from the Serpentine, he pivoted and started running around where the group would be. He had to get back there, just to make sure.

* * *

Ann and the others tip-toed forward, still following the path Keaton had sniffed out. The foliage was getting denser and more wild, and Ann had this terrible squirmy feeling in the bottom of her stomach. In all her training, the most important thing she had learned was to trust her gut.

“Sensei, I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” she said quietly.

“As do I.” He stroked his beard thoughtfully.

Keaton was still up front, reading the tracks, when Wu suddenly reached out his staff and lifted up her outstretched leg by the back of the knee. With her balance ruined, she toppled backwards and caught herself on a cushion of air.

“What happened? What’s wrong?” Jay asked, trying to peer passed everyone.

Ann looked closer, but for a while she didn’t see anything. Just more forest. And then, after a good deal of squinting, she spotted it. There was a very well disguised tarp laying on the ground, and a plethora of ropes hiding in the trees.

“A trap,” said Wu.

“We’ve got to get out of here,” Ann warned. But right as she was putting up a water shield, a large, scaly tail wrapped around her neck and pulled into the rushes.

“Annji!” Keaton yelled. She took off like a shot, while the others scrambled behind her.

Ann could feel the tail constricting, like a deadly scarf, and her breathing became harsh and raspy. But before she allowed herself to panic, she took a deep a breath. Water began to creep under the tail and cooled down the skin of Ann’s neck, and when the time was right, she used it to create a water bubble around her neck that forced the tail off of her. She gasped and wriggled out of the creature’s grasp, running to a safe distance before turning around, light-headed and disoriented.

Keaton barrelled in and charged at what Ann assumed to be a real-life Serpentine. With one well timed air-kick, she sent him flying into a tree.

“Where’s Annji?!” she yelled.

“I’m—“ she cleared her throat. “I’m here,” said Ann, coming over. “I’m fine.” But the situation was anything but. Wu and the boys had failed to follow them. They were on their own, and the bushes had started hissing.

“I’ve got your back,” Keaton said, whipping out two gold-coloured, metal fans.

“And I’ve got yours,” Ann replied. She instinctively reached for her bo staff before realising that she must have dropped it. So she summoned a water whip instead and stood, poised for a fight.

Eight or nine snake-men came slithering out of the bushes on every side, starring hungrily at them and flicking their forked tongues. Only some of them were armed, but that didn’t comfort Ann in the slightest. She hated feeling like prey.

* * *

Lloyd carefully perched himself high above the scene in the arms of a large fig tree and watched. Wu hadn’t fallen for the trap, so that was good, but the soldiers would still fight them to the death. That had been their orders, after all.

Ann was the first to be attacked. That was smart. She was young and well trained, with quick senses and keen eyes. Keaton went after her, which was predictable. Then, seven Hypnobrai stopped Wu and his two other students from following. The blue ninja and the white ninja... Lloyd had never had the pleasure of meeting them. They were carrying crossbows and shot straight at the advancing snakes who dodged with lightning fast reflexes. If Wu had been in his prime, there would have no chance for them, but now all he could do was cobble together some smoke bombs and confuse the Hypnobrai like a coward. Still, it looked like they would be avoiding capture. He didn’t need to worry anymore. Off he went, back to Slithraa, as if he had never been there.

* * *

Jay coughed from the smoke stifling his lungs and tried to get a visual on the Serpentine to no avail. While he was this disoriented, he couldn’t risk accidentally shooting Zane or Wu out of trigger-happiness, so he put the safety on and threw the crossbow on the ground. His lightning was his most valuable and dangerous weapon anyway.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a flicker of movement. That’s all it seemed to take these days to trigger his reflexes. In some ways it was disturbing how almost involuntary the instinct was, but he always felt so cool after the fact.

His hands went out and grabbed something his eyes hadn’t even fully seen yet. It was cool and scaly, and it was attached to something heavy. In one fluid motion, he yanked on it, sending it flying over his head like a fish caught on a line. THUD! The ground gave a subtle shake.

It happened again. Like there were alarms going off in his brain. “Behind you!” they seemed to say. The creature he had by the tail began to fly again. Jay swung it around and it eventually collided with another Serpentine with a spectacular SPLAT! He finally let go and had started running through the ghastly smoke, anxious to find a familiar face.

‘I can’t see anything,’ he thought. ‘Which way? Where is everybody?’ He could hear fighting coming from all around, but everything was disjointed and confusing.

Suddenly, something rushed passed him with a loud shout. ‘What was that?!’ As he whipped around, his hand shot out again, however this time, it was not to attack. At first, he thought that he had shot a blast of lightning, but following the flash, nothing had been destroyed and he suddenly knew that a Serpentine with a broad sword had just flown by. After a moment, he had an idea.

‘What is that?’ he said again, reaching out a hand in a random direction. The flash came, but not from a powerful bolt. This was a long, delicate thread of electricity that locked onto the nearest conductible object. At the moment of contact, information popped into his head; there was a rock over there. “Woah,” he breathed.

He searched again as he started to run. There was a tree in front him. A rock beside him. A Serpentine going passed him. The more he used this power, the more threads of electricity seemed to spring from him. Soon, he looked like a walking plasma ball. Each tendril was telling him something new about his surroundings, allowing him to practically close his eyes and still avoid everything in his path. But where were Zane and Wu?

After dodging another Serpentine attack, Jay suddenly stopped. There was someone running off over to his right. He followed the person out of the smoke and was thrilled to see Zane not too far ahead.

“Zane!” he called.

“Jay?!” Zane called back. “I’m glad you’re alright. Where’s Sensei Wu?”

“You mean he’s not with you?” Jay asked, uneasy.

The yelling and clanking was disappearing, and so was the smoke cloud. Zane and Jay were now alone in a strange part of the forest.

“Let’s go, then, before it’s too late.” Zane sounded so confident as he took the lead. He started for the retreating cloud, but by now there was not much left of it to see. A few bodies were revealed on the forest floor, and a couple ice blasts, but Wu was nowhere to be found.

Something raven-black darted at Zane, and Jay very nearly shot it with lightning. Zane ducked from, but it had managed to grab his mask and was now flying off with it. It let out a gentle, but majestic squawk as it went.

“Hey!” Zane shouted, reaching for his headwear, but ultimately missing. The mostly black bird circled around again and squawked three more times, but it never came low enough to touch.

“What’s it doing?” Jay wondered aloud.

“I think... it.. wants us to follow it,” Zane said thoughtfully.

“Really?” said Jay, cocking an eyebrow. “Follow the bird? Oookay.” He started moving in a different direction.

“Jay, where are you going?” Zane asked, looking back at him.

“Just looking for leprechauns—where do you think I’m going?!” he snapped. “We’ve gotta find Sensei Wu, remember?”

Zane stood there for a moment, looking long and hard at Jay and watching the falcon still circling above, who seemed to be getting impatient. It swooped down again and, this time, caught Jay’s mask with its other talon. As the fabric was being torn from his head, Jay had been thrashing and squealing, and the second it was getting away, Jay chased after it shouting, “Get back here, you sneaky little THEIF!” Zane smiled and joined him.

* * *

THUD!

CRASH!

STAB!

BAM!

Keaton’s movements were steady and fluid amongst the chaos of battle. In confined spaces, her wind didn’t have quite the same “oomph” as it usually did at range, so she relied a great deal on her fans and dexterity to avoid the swords, clawed hands, and tails whizzing around her. Still, she wished she was attacking from a distance.

A mistimed and weak kick landed Keaton face-down in the grass. There must have been a Serpentine behind her because the next thing she heard was a water blast and yelp of pain. She got to her feet again and the whole thing started all over again. Kicking, dodging, a gust of wind here, a blast of air there, but every time she knocked a snake down, he got right back up again. Ann wasn’t doing much better.

“They won’t stop—Ugh!—coming!” Keaton cried. She slapped one snake with her hard fan and then blasted another into a tree. Both picked themselves up again.

“I see your point,” Ann said, lassoing one Serpentine with a watery rope and throwing it into three other soldiers. “We need to get out of here!”

That was Keaton’s queue. She air jumped and landed on top of her sister in a big bear big. Ann held on for dear life as Keaton unleashed the biggest gust she possibly could and they shot straight up, above the trees. A second later, they were falling back down to Earth, desperately trying to cushion their fall.

With only just enough time to correct themselves, they hit the ground running and didn’t stop until they ran into someone.

“Sensei Wu!” Keaton cried.

“Ann Jing! Keaton! Thank goodness you’re alright!” Wu was saying. “I was worried that the Hypnobrai would prove too strong.” He looked as though he had had a rough fight himself. “Are the boys with you?”

“No,” Ann replied. “Do we need to go find them?”

“As quickly as possible. You must go and track them down and bring them back to the monastery. I will go there shortly, myself. I must attend to certain details,” Wu explained.

That was code for “I’ve got to make it look like we were never here and keep a lid on the media for as long as possible.” Ann nodded in understanding.

“Be safe,” the old man said.

That was as much of a send off as they were going to get. Time was of the essence, and if they didn’t find Zane and Jay soon, it may be too late.