Legends of Ninjago: Book 2: Rise of the Serpentine: Chapter 18 — The Hypnotist

In the pitch blackness of Cole’s earthy fortress, the boys listened to sounds of metal scraping off of the hard stone. The Serpentine were relentless, and whether they got in or not, the boys were still surrounded.

“What’d you go and do that for?” Kai yelled, his hand resting on the hilt of his katana.

“Well...” Cole started, with no idea what to say after that.

“No, you’ve been making mistake after mistake. What’s wrong with you?” Cole couldn’t see Kai’s glare, but he could feel it in his voice. As a matter of fact, it was starting to feel very warm in the little dome.

But Cole just clenched his fists. “I’m fine, alright?! Just a little...”

“Yeah?” Kai said expectantly.

Now Cole could feel Zane, Kai, and Jay staring at him. Think, think, think! What would they believe?

“It’s none of your business!” he finally blurted. “I’ll. Be. Fine.”

THUD!

One of the stones in the structure came loose and fell to the floor, letting in daylight and a Hypnobrai fist.

“Aaaah!” Jay screamed. “Can we continue this love-fest somewhere else please?!”

Then another stone came loose, then two more, then three, and soon the whole structure was falling apart. Cole raised his arms and the rocks hit the snakes instead of the ninja. With that precious window of opportunity, Cole led the charge and pushed passed the nearest Serpentine, his skin shivering as he brushed up against those cold scales.

As they were leaving, however, Jay and Kai suddenly let out yelps of surprise. Cole turned around to find them lifted off of the ground by two long, teal tails. Zane moved first, freezing the two Hypnobrai where they stood; his blast sent an icy chill through the air. Kai and Jay fell with a PLOP, but by then, more Serpentine had arrived.

By sheer force of will, and more than a few stone walls, Cole had barrelled down into the small valley below where he suddenly found a construction sight which was positively teeming with Hypnobrai. Everywhere he looked he saw more teal scales and bulbous red eyes, following him, taunting him, chasing him. There was still a chance they could salvage all of this, though. The mission was to find—and if necessary, rescue—Ann Jing, Keaton, Zane, and Jay. Well, they had certainly found them, now it was only a matter of escaping.

Cole suddenly found himself, dodging building supplies; ducking under scaffolding, sliding under massive wooden beams, and avoiding being sliced by active buzz saws.

“Keep moving!” Zane shouted. “I see Ann! Up on the ridge!” Cole looked up and squinted. There was a tiny speck of a person waving their arms around above them, and it looked as though she was urging them all to meet up with her.

More and more stone walls went up, pushing aside any Serpentine who tried to cross swords with Cole, and he could hear the familiar sounds of thunder and flames being shot off behind him. But the most terrifying sound of all: the crowd of Hypnobrai all screaming and clanging their weapons directly behind the four boys.

The moment that Jay—who had been at the back of the group—exited the scaffolding, a large gust of wind sprung up out of nowhere. Cole dropped to his knees and clung firmly to the ground, feeling no urge to turn around and see the wooden framework of the Serpentine’s building bow to the mercy of Keaton’s powers. It’s support beams popped out of the fresh cement and from there, it all came toppling down right on the Serpentine’s heads.

Finally, the wind stopped, and Cole took only a glance at the dusty scene behind him before bolting at full speed. The others were close by when he and the girls met up somewhere between the top and bottom of the little valley.

“Is everyone all right?” Ann asked, looking genuinely concerned for a moment.

“Yes,” said Zane.

“We’re fine,” Jay added.

“Good. Now what in the name of Ninjago were you thinking?!” Ann railed. That tone of voice, that sharp accusation... she yelled it at everyone, but... it really felt like she was yelling at Cole. After all, this was his fault. None of this would have happened if he hadn’t blown their cover.

“...Cole...”

The others started running again, disappearing into the trees nearby, but Cole couldn’t seem to move.

“Cole? Did you call for me?”

Kai even stopped and turned around, seemingly worried for his friend, but Cole couldn’t hear what he was saying.

‘I... I messed up... big time...’ he thought. What kind of long lasting consequences would this blunder have? How many more mistakes could he afford to make?

“Hello again, Cole”

Cole blinked. This wasn’t the forest. This was... the glass atrium in the white expanse... and Scales was standing right in front of him.

“Well, if you don’t need me, then I’ll just let myself out,” the snake said, turning around.

“No, wait!” Cole said, thinking frantically.

“Yes?” Scales asked. He turned around enough for Cole to see his face and it somehow looked full of compassion. But that wasn’t right, the Serpentine were... they were... “Would you like me to help?” Scales pressed.

Cole was surprised by himself. The words were right on his lips, begging to jump out. With a shaky jaw, he let them.

“Yes... please...”

“Very well.”

There was a moment—a wonderful, euphoric moment—when the world turned dark. It was warm and hid Cole away from all the things he didn’t want to think about. Nothing so much as breezed over his mind as he drifted through space, his burdens lifted and his spirit light. And then that moment ended.

The darkness he had so welcomed at first, all at once become cold and bitter. He tried to move, to get away from it, but found his arms chained behind his back. Finally, he realised that his eyes were closed, and so he opened them to see Scales standing next to some kind of enormous television screen. What used to be a light, colourful atrium was now pitch blackness. Only Cole, Scales, and the screen existed.

“What is this?” Cole asked, frightened. “What is that?!” He looked closer at the screen and began to make out people on the other side. With a sickening feeling in his stomach, he realised that it was Kai and the others, still in the woods, trying to get through to him.

“I win. You loose,” said the snake. He disappeared with a cackle that made Cole want to strangle him.

“NOOOO!!! I TAKE IT BACK!!! LET ME OUT!!! LET ME OOOOUUUT!!!”

* * *

“Cole, let’s move!” Kai yelled. Still, he didn’t budge. “What’s the matter with you?!” He stomped right up to him and gave him a gentle slap to the face. “Snap out of it!” Nothing he did or said seemed to change anything. He still kept staring off into the distance.

“What’s wrong? Why isn’t he moving?” Ann asked.

“I don’t know, he won’t say anything,” Kai said.

“Is he having a mental breakdown?” Keaton wondered, rushing to his side.

“Grab him and let’s go,” Ann urged, giving one last uneasy glance at the Serpentine rising to their tails not too far away.

Zane and Kai rushed toward him, but just before their fingers touched the fabric of his ninja garb, Cole’s arms shot out. His fists clung on to Kai and Zane’s wrists with a viper-like grip. It was so sudden that it made the two of them jump.

Then, two words were heard, dripping from Cole’s mouth like poison:

“Hail Slithraa.”

He sprung into alarming action, hitting Jay hard in his solar plexus and then dragging Zane by the arm and throwing him at Ann, Kai, and Keaton. They only had a moment to gather their wits before Cole launched them upwards in an reverse avalanche. Kai felt weightless for all of 2.4 seconds, and then he hit the ground and rolled uncontrollably, everything spinning and hurting, until he slammed into a tree. He felt like he couldn’t breathe, and he didn’t have a lot of time to think, either, with all the rocks pelting down on top of him. After everything seemed to settle, he was left laying on the ground on his stomach, coughing and wheezing.

“Kai! You okay?” Keaton cried. She rushed over on a gust of wind and knelt down beside him.

“I’ll... be... fine,” he groaned. Just as he was getting up, he heard Cole’s voice again.

“Listen closely, ninja,” he said. He was standing a few yards away, his back to the open valley. “This will be our one and only offer. Surrender, or die.” With those last words, he whipped out his scythe.

This was several levels of messed up. Had he joined the Serpentine? He didn’t seem like himself at all. Upon closer inspection, Cole’s demeanour wasn’t the only thing out of sorts; his eyes were glowing bright red—the same red eyes of the Hypnobrai.

“Cole, we’re not gonna fight you,” Jay said, limping a few steps closer to his friend. Kai looked around some more and found the rest of the team picking themselves up too. “We’re friends! And friends don’t punch each other!”

“Jay, stay away from him!” Kai warned, reaching out an arm. Cole looked more like a bear just waiting for excuse to maul something.

Jay’s next step was held aloft, seemingly confused about whether or not to continue. “But... this is Cole we’re talking about!” Jay’s foot moved forward. “Cole, come on, stop goofing around!”

“Jay! Don’t—“ Ann tried to warn.

Cole made one movement and suddenly Jay was flying backwards, further into the forest. The Earth beneath them settled again and Cole looked up.

“I told you. Surrender or die,” he said.

Keaton was the first at Jay’s side, and he seemed pretty banged up, but okay enough that he should be able to run.

“All right, that’s it!”

Kai looked up and saw Ann stomping toward Cole, a massive amount of water suspended behind her. She turned back to them for a moment.

“You guys get out of here. I’ll handle him,” she said with a tone colder than ice.

“So it’s death, then?” Cole asked.

“Only for my enemies,” Ann growled. “Besides, betraying and hurting my teammates really ticks me off!” She blasted the most condensed beam of water she could at Cole’s face. When he blocked with a rock, she simply ran around and grabbed one of his legs with a water whip. Just before she pull on it, he used a stone pillar beneath her feet to launch her into the air, but she refused to let go of his ankle. As she went up, so did he. His head banged against his own stone pillar as he flew upwards, feet first. Ann managed to pull him so hard that he was a few feet above her when they started to fall. Like a gigantic, wet slap to the face, she used a big sheet of water to smack Cole down. He landed on the ground first, but he used that to his advantage and slowed his fall.

“Kai, move!” Zane said as he pulled Kai up by the shoulder. Kai’s eyes were fixed, even as he ran in the opposite direction, on the fight. He should be doing something. Somehow, he knew that this had something to do with him. All the time spent with Cole recently... all their arguments... how could he not have noticed Cole’s slow decent? Was this his fault? What if he had apologised from the very beginning? What if he had just sucked up his pride and said those few stupid words?! Would this be happening right now?

Still, it was too late. Zane wasn’t letting go of him any time soon, and they were already a fair distance from the fight. They met up with Keaton and Jay as they ran, but Kai’s eyes were still glued to Ann and Cole, now mere specks which he could only see every so often when trees weren’t in his way.

* * *

Three heavy boulders were falling fast toward Ann’s head. She listened to her first instinct, and instantly regretted it. Now she was holding the boulders in midair with a water blob, feeling strained under the pressure. The water’s surface was a mere inch from her head.

“The offer still stands, you know,” Cole said, walking a bit closer. “If you come quietly, we’ll let you live. I, for one, would deeply appreciate it.”

“I don’t know—Ngh!—what’s going on... or even if I’m talking to the real Cole... but.. I’ll never stop fighting! Never!” She struggled to get out all of her words while keeping the boulders from crushing her, especially with Cole still trying to pull them down.

“Suit yourself,” Cole replied.

Ann stared angrily at her teammate. Any kind of change this drastic must mean that he was under someone’s influence, and given the fact that those kinds of powers are rare, her bet was on the Hypnobrai. In that case, what could she even do to break the hypnosis? She hadn’t exactly read any books about how to defeat a Serpentine. All Wu had told her was to avoid combat at all costs. Well, so much for that order.

Cole now raised his right hand and she saw a slab of stone come out of the ground. As it launched toward her, she tried to stop it with another water shield, although it proved too weak. A second slab hit her from behind and with her concentration broken, the first slab crashed into her face, creating an Ann sandwich. And then the boulders came crashing down. This was the end...

Ann blinked. She was back where she was: the boulders overhead, water blob holding them there, and Cole getting ready to attack her. It was as if everything had reset.

Cole lifted the two slabs of stone out of the ground and Ann needed to move quickly. She decided to jump up into the water blob and then swim above the boulders. Once she was out of harm’s way, she released the rocks and let them fall to earth. CRASH! She now hovered above Cole, suspended in a bubble of water.

This was starting to tax her physical and mental reserves. She didn’t know how much more elemental-ing she could take, but she couldn’t use her bo staff while Cole kept throwing rocks at her. She couldn’t even reach her bo staff anyway, seeing as it was lying on the ground several yards away. She needed to end this quickly, but what would be the best way? Should she capture Cole maybe? At the moment, however, he was a liability and a threat to their safety.

She lowered herself to the ground and dropped her shield.

“You can’t stop me,” Ann said, attempting to buy herself some time to recover.

“It would appear that way.”

“It would appear that way.”

Ann looked around to try and find the owner of the second voice. Then, from behind one of the trees, a Serpentine emerged. He looked particularly devious. Any time he spoke, Cole spoke at the exact same time, in the exact same tone, saying the exact same thing. The hypnotist!

“But appearances can often be deceiving.”

“But appearances can often be deceiving.”

Right when Ann thought she had an advantage, she realised what the Hypnobrai meant. The horde from the valley now slithered into position, surrounding her in a circle of certain death.

“This is your final chance. Surrender, or...”

“This is your final chance. Surrender, or...”

The Hypnobrai’s eyes glowed brighter, then Cole lifted his scythe up to his neck.

“...or I die,” Cole said.

Ann couldn’t believe her own eyes. Never before had she been faced with a situation like this. There had to be an angle here she was missing.

“Wait...” she said suddenly. “You wouldn’t... Cole’s your best asset, you wouldn’t—”

She had let herself become distracted! A Hypnobrai grabbed her from behind and her arms were pinned to her sides. She thrashed backward and forward, using her legs to create some feeble water attacks, but more and more hands were on her in a matter of seconds. Every last limb was restrained, every last muscle constricted, and every last little iota of energy was gone. She should’ve gotten out when she had the chance! Why hadn’t she retreated? She had the most perfect opportunity in the history of battle, and she didn’t even think to take it! Aargh!

She was gagged with her own mask and it took two Serpentine tails wrapped around her body before she was completely immobilised. She could barely even wriggle her ankles.

“We’ll take this-s-s as-s-s... s-s-surrender,” the hypnotist said, slithering forward. “Ann Jing, I pres-s-sume?” Ann wanted nothing more than to spit in this creature’s hideous face. When he got too close, she recoiled as much as she could. “Yes-s-s, the one with all the battle training and s-s-secrets-s-s.” He gave his signature chuckle. “Chief S-s-slithraa will be very pleas-s-sed.”

As he slithered away, Ann’s eyes landed on Cole again. He was starring at her, stern and unmoving, but there was something off about his face: tiny, silver tears streaming down his cheeks.

* * *

“NOOO!! NOOO!! PLEASE STOP!!! PLEASE!!! LET ME OUT!!!” Cole was crying now, out of desperation. He couldn’t bear to see Ann like this, all tied up and gagged, and he was just standing there! He couldn’t move so much as a pinky toe! This was all his fault... he had let Scales in... he had let himself be duped... and now everyone else was paying the price. The way his friends had looked at him... he would never be able to forget it.

Cole yanked on his chains again, and this time, he didn’t stop trying to move forward. He planted his feet and pushed with everything he had, ignoring how much the cuffs dug into his wrists. He had to break free. He had to stop all of this.

For a moment, it felt like he was making progress—like he was stretching the metal links out further this time—but then another red blast hit him. This happened whenever he fought back against Scales, and he could only presume that Scales himself was doing it to him. He fell backward as the pain coursed through his body, and he let out another raspy scream. He was running out of energy for this...

When the pain stopped, he was lying on his back, staring up at the empty, black ceiling, idle tears falling from his eyes. What could he even do? How would he get out if Scales was always watching? He knew one thing, though: he absolutely couldn’t be there when they interrogated Ann. He had to keep fighting, if only to free her.

“All right, s-s-snakes-s-s! Grab the s-s-supplies-s-s and move out!” Scales was saying somewhere on the other side of the giant screen. “AND COLE, WATCH THE PRIS-S-SONER.” His voice boomed around the empty space. There was always a moment—a sick, disgusting moment—right after any order was given, when he would be unable to resist listening and a stupid grin would flash across his face. After that, his real world body would be obeying, and all of a sudden his inner self would be back to normal, anger rising up in him again. He tried to shake away that stupid feeling, that involuntary agreement, and tried to stop his legs from walking closer to Ann, but even though he could feel them, they wouldn’t listen. It was like a horrible version of sleep paralyses.

He looked up at the screen—against his better judgment—and could tell that he was marching among the crowd of Serpentine. Then he heard a muffled grunt belonging to a feminine voice. Every so often, he could grab control of something insignificant. In this case, it was his head. Hearing Ann’s voice made him want to turn his neck and see her, and Scales seemed to have no objection. He saw her, exactly the same as before, struggling slightly against her captors. He was a prisoner too, he realised. A prisoner in his own head.

Cole didn’t have the slightest clue where they were going, all he had been told to do was guard Ann, which he was actually happy to do, he just wished that he guarding her from the snakes instead of the other way around. Either way, it looked like they were in for a long walk, so he laid back down and tried to conserve his energy.

The absolute worst part of this mind control thing was that napping was completely impossible. As long as Scales needed him awake, not even his inner self could rest. So although he was tired and laying down in front of the screen, nothing he did would let him doze off. It was just right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot, over and over and over and over and over again for what felt like hours. After a certain point, he noticed his feet twitching in time to his real-world legs.

“...co.... wh...pp...t...ou...”

“Hello?” Cole asked, getting up and looking around. That had not been Scales... in fact, it sounded like a girl. “Hello?” He called out again. All he could hear was the sound of his feet marching over gravel. Well, whatever it was, it seemed like it was gone.

* * *

Lloyd paced back and forth, muttering to himself. Everything was going well so far, which meant that something was bound to go wrong soon. His prior experiences on the matter had trained him well.

“Are you sure about this, Your Highness?” he asked Chief Slithraa, who was sitting nearby the fire.

“For the final time, Hatchling, Admiral S-s-scales-s-s can handle s-s-something as-s-s trivial as-s-s cons-s-struction work,” the chief replied, somewhat annoyed.

“But—”

“Oh, by Anguis’s-s-s fangs-s-s! S-s-sit down before you wear a groove into the ground!” the chief cried. Lloyd obeyed right away, frowning all the while. He wasn’t used to people bossing him around. Still, he could tell that Slithraa was losing patience with him, so he dropped the subject.

“Who’s Anguis, anyway?” he asked suddenly. Chief Slithraa turned to look at him curiously. “You guys mention her a lot.”

“Well of course-s-se we do. S-s-she is-s-s our goddes-s-s,” the snake answered. “Anguis-s-s, goddes-s-s of des-s-struction and venom. But I believe in the common tongue, s-s-she is-s-s known as-s-s The Great Devourer.”

“The Great Devourer?” Lloyd repeated. “Why is she called that?”

“Becaus-s-se, in ancient legend, it is-s-s foretold, that s-s-she will one day ris-s-se from The Depths-s-s and devour this world.” The chief seemed untroubled by this, but Lloyd couldn’t help gulping. Boy, out of all the Serpentine stories he’d heard so far, he hoped that this one wasn’t true the most. All the other Hypnobrai who were gathered around the fire seemed to feel the same.

Everyone rose to their feet—er, tails—when they heard someone moving through the rushes far away. It was quiet enough that it could just be a wild animal... or something far more nefarious.

“Scouts,” said the chief. All it took was that one word and three Serpentine shot forward, disappearing into the night. Several minutes went by with no sound whatsoever. Then, muffled voices. Finally, one of the scouts returned.

“It’s-s-s S-s-scales-s-s, your highnes-s-s,” he said. “He’s-s-s returned with news-s-s and pris-s-soners-s-s.”

Scales? Here? News? Prisoners? What had that bumbling blockhead done now?! Lloyd folded his arms and glowered, preparing for some verbal target practise.

Scales emerged from the foliage not too long after the scout, accompanied by the entire platoon which he had been entrusted with.

“S-s-scales-s-s!” the chief bellowed. “What is-s-s the meaning of this-s-s?!”

“Apologies-s-s, oh Merc-c-ciful One,” Scales hissed, bowing low to the ground. “I’m afraid to s-s-say that we were ambushed and forc-c-ced to abandon our work.”

Lloyd’s anger was suddenly redirected. “The ninja!” he cried through gritted teeth.

“Prec-c-cis-s-sely,” said Scales, nodding slowly. “The little brats-s-s tore down everything. But, fear not, My Lord, for Anguis-s-s has-s-smiled upon us! I present, the ninja of water, and the ninja of Earth!”

A tall figure walked into camp followed by two Hypnobrai holding a girl in their coils. The first person, a boy, came to them willingly and then dropped to one knee, saying,

“Hail, Chief Slithraa!”

Meanwhile, the girl looked drowsy and unhappy.

“By Anguis-s-s’ fangs!” Chief Slithraa said, moving closer to Cole. “You managed to hypnotis-s-se one of the elementals?”

Scales slithered out of the way so that Slithraa could get a better look and said, “It was-s-s no was-s-say feat, Your Highnes-s-s, but given enough time, he couldn’t help but bow to my will.”

Lloyd hated Scales so much right now! Him and his smug little face with his smug little cackled—Ooooh! He’d show him. One of these days, he’d show him.

“And what about the girl?” Slithraa asked, moving over to her.

“Impenetrable, jus-s-st like the others-s-s,” Scales replied. “I had all of my bes-s-st s-s-snakes-s-s attempt it, but not one could get through.”

Slithraa gently lifted Ann’s chin up, and Lloyd assumed that he was trying to hypnotise her, but just like with himself, nothing happened. The chief left Ann alone and hummed contemplatively.

“S-s-so then, what caus-s-sed this-s-s one to budge?” he wondered aloud, slithering back over to Cole, who rose to his feet and stared off into space as if he was unaware of everything going on around him. Well, in a manner of speaking, he was.

“What does-s-s it matter? We have him, and we can us-s-we him!” Scales cackled, a greedy smile spreading over his face.

That weasel! Lloyd had to resist the urge to pull on his ear-like hood.

“Don’t be s-s-so narrow minded!” the chief snapped back. “If we can puzzle out how you hypnotis-s-sed him in the first place, then perhaps-s-s we can...” he moved back to Ann and placed a single finger on her forehead. “...replicate it.”

“Of cours-s-se!” Scales said enthusiastically. “Brilliant, as-s-s always-s-s, Your Highnes-s-s!”

Lloyd looked on at the two prisoners uneasily. He couldn’t care less about the boy, but he knew how much Ann meant to Wu, and on top of that—Ann suddenly made eye contact with him and gave a withering scowl—they had what you might call a history.