Legends of Ninjago: Book 2: Rise of the Serpentine: Chapter 24 — A Moment

Cole was still staring at the ground in disbelief. The feeling of scaly lips may still have been fresh in his mind, but all he could think of was how close he had gotten to Ann, and—even worse— how very nearly he had let himself kiss her.

When Scales had given him his order, Cole’s brain just completely shut down and refused to reboot. Out of all the embarrassing secrets he could have shared, all the humiliating things he could have done, Scales had to pick the single most utterly-gut-wrenching, below-the-belt-punching, remember-this-for-the-rest-of-your-life-kind-of-humiliating thing on the face of the earth! Cole had heard that snake’s pathetic laughter, he could feel his smugness seeping into his subconscious, and right then and there, Cole swore that if he ever broke free of the hypnosis, Scales would be kissing the end of his scythe.

As Cole had felt the shell that was his body get up and walk over to Ann, he was met with a startling realisation: he almost wanted this to happen. It wasn’t as though he was doing it on purpose, after all, he was hypnotised right now. He could easily excuse himself and Ann would certainly understand. So what if he just... let it happen? But right as he was kneeling down, he stopped and chastised himself. And had just stood up for him a moment ago. She had risked both their lives by trying to escape the night before. She was being held prisoner and forced into this just as much as he was, and he could tell from her expression that she clearly did not find the idea of locking lips pleasurable in the slightest. As much as he would’ve wanted to share his first kiss with her, this was not how he had wanted it to go. This was not the type of man he was. Even if he never got the chance to kiss her ever again at least he could always look back and say to himself, “I got that far.”

With all of that being said, Cole knew what he had to do. He still obeyed the command—technically—he just happened to push himself up on his legs and accidentally smooched the wrong person by mistake. Either way, it prevented years of awkwardness between him and Ann and distracted Scales long enough for Cole to wipe the last of the Hypnobrai slobber from his mouth.

Still, he was staring down at the ground hardly believing what had just happened. It wasn’t just about what he had almost done, or what he had ended up doing, but mainly just the fact that Ann had seen him kiss a Serpentine. Was is there a way, by chance, for them to both get their memories wiped?

The next thing Cole knew, there were flustered voices, and snakes were standing up, and something important must have been going on, otherwise Scales wouldn’t have told him to “watch the prisoner at a safe distance” far away from all the important stuff that was happening.

He decided to take Ann to the only campfire which was completely abandoned. He knew he had made the right decision when she visibly began to relax. Actually, now that they were away from the noise and Scales wasn’t barking any more orders, Cole began to relax too. Wow, this hadn’t happened since… well, since he was back at the monastery. It was so strange… he’d give anything to be there right now. He was sure that everyone else had warm beds to sleep in tonight, and that Sensei Wu was coming up with a plan to rescue them, but in the meantime, he and Ann were stuck sitting here in the dirt and cold; hostages of the Serpentine. If only he’d gone after Kai sooner that day…

Ann gave a gentle sigh and Cole shook out his thoughts. He needed to stay in the moment and make the most of his situation, especially since he had no idea how long this precious window of free time was going to last.

* * *

Ann saw a two headed figures slowly step into the firelight, but was suddenly grabbed by the arms and thrown at Cole who was then ordered to take her away. She quickly swivelled her head around to try and catch another glimpse of the two heads she was sure she had seen, but she couldn’t get past the Hypnobrais’ massive hoods. Eventually she and Cole were out of earshot of the conversation and there was nothing left to do but unwind and think.

Cole brought her to the only free campfire and she sat down in front of a log, reclining a bit and resting her sore back. “What are we going to do?” she thought, feeling more than a little hopeless. Escaping hadn’t worked, and if Wu was planning a rescue mission, he was taking his sweet time with it. Either that, or he had been compromised… Whichever the case, she needed to make the most of her time here by watching, listening, and, if at all possible, dishing out a little bit of sabotage. The only problem was that she didn’t know if there was anything for her to sabotage, seeing as how all Lloyd and Slithraa had done so far was ransack a small town and then travelled to an old, abandoned graveyard for who-knows-what purpose. Whoever that two headed thing was, he seemed to be very important, but without further information, there wasn’t much of a conclusion she could come to, other than: time is running out.

Ann suddenly noticed Cole shift next to her and she looked him over thoughtfully. The incident from earlier hadn’t slipped her mind, and she felt positively awful for him.

“Thank you,” she finally said. “For not... you know...” Cole slowly turned his blank face toward her. “I’m sure that must have taken a great deal of effort.” There was a small smile in the corner of his lips, but it was well hidden as he turned away again. She still saw it, though, brief as it was. This was a good sign; it meant that Cole was fighting back.

But what were they going to do? What were their options? She needed to stop Lloyd and Slithraa before they did something awful, but she didn’t have any advantages! There was no angle she could exploit, no leverage she could use, no resources even. Ann gave a small, frustrated sigh and rested her head against the dirty log, watching the fire as it flicked and vanished into the cold air.

Cole got up just then, and Ann watched him sadly as he walked off, probably fulfilling another one of Scales’ orders, but then he came back holding a cloth in his hands. He got down on his knees in front of her and held it out.

“I... could use... some water,” he said quietly.

Ann stared at him for a moment. He hadn’t demonstrated this much control since Scales was asleep, but given that the snake was awfully distracted at the moment, she wasn’t altogether shocked.

She happily made a water sphere manifest, although she had no idea what for, until Cole took the dripping cloth and started wiping away bits of dried blood from her face. Had she really gotten this dirty? When the cloth reached her left temple, her skin stung and she winced.

“S-sorry,” Cole said awkwardly.

He went over the area again with much more gentility, while Ann fought to remember what had caused the injury. It was largely a blur, but she thought that she remembered something hitting her.

Ann really appreciated what Cole was doing. It was somewhat sweet, in a way, even if he was probably just trying to make up for “the incident.” The soft swish, swish, of the cloth as it slid over her skin, trailing water drops behind it and clearing away all the gunk, felt soothing and comforting, like when... when... she didn’t let herself finish that thought. There was no point in dwelling on the past, especially her own.

“Thank you,” she said when he was finished. Cole placed the cloth on the log and sat next to her, watching the fire. This had turned out to be the single nicest moment of their entire day, and Ann closed her eyes, listening to the wind, and wishing that it would never end.

* * *

“We are—“

“—Chief Fangtom,” the two-headed snake said. Lloyd had been preparing himself for this moment, but he still felt his eyes widen when he saw the Fangpyre chief. The two heads spoke interchangeably, finishing each other’s sentences in the most creepy way possible. He wasn’t very much like the Hypnobrai at all. He had no hood or large red eyes, and his scales were red and white instead of the teal and gold which Lloyd had become accustomed to. The one thing that did look familiar was his golden staff, signifying his supremacy over his tribe. He also seemed slimmer than the other snakes, almost bony, and he didn’t make any moves to attack or seem threatening.

“I am Chief S-s-slithraa,” the chief said. Suddenly, Lloyd found the big, teal Serpentine elbowing him in the side.

“Oh, uh, right, and I am Lloyd Garmadon!” he said, puffing out his chest in a very manly way. “I freed the Hypnobrai from their tomb.”

“And we are the ones-s-s who freed you from your tomb,” Slithraa continued, giving his speech the kind of tone that said, “do you catch my drift?”

Fangtom squinted his eyes and looked the Hypnobrai up and down, seemingly unimpressed. More and more Fangpyres were clawing their way out of the tomb and gathering at their leader’s side, making the whole camp grow uneasy.

“Then we—“

“—are eternally grateful,” said Chief Fangtom, and he nodded his heads in acknowledgment. He and Slithraa slithered towards each other and locked their golden staffs as a sign of partnership. “But our snakes are in need—“

“—of food and water,” Fangtom said, gesturing to his tribe behind him.

“Of cours-s-se,” Slithraa nodded. He ordered for provisions to be brought to them and Lloyd couldn’t help but let out a sneaky smile. Step two had been a success.

After that, the two chiefs sat down together and started talking about a bunch of boring snake stuff that Lloyd didn’t understand or care about. He only chimed in whenever Slithraa turned to him and asked a question, like, “How far to the nearest town?” or “We head to the Anacondrai tomb next, yes?” Honestly, if Lloyd had known how much talking there’d be involved with the Serpentine, then he just might have left them to freeze in the first tomb, but in the end, perhaps it didn’t matter. After all, he was getting what he wanted.

Every so often Lloyd would see Scales glaring at him and the way Lloyd was slouched against a rock, while he was sitting perfectly straight and paying attention to everything the chiefs said. ‘What a kiss-up’ Lloyd thought.

After the nitty gritty was sorted out, the conversation started flowing towards “the good old days” and Lloyd was barely able to keep in his groan of boredom. He didn’t want to seem rude, but he also just wanted to go to bed!

“Hey, psst! Mezmo,” Lloyd whispered to the Serpentine next to him. “What are they talking about?”

Mezmo, Scales’ right hand man, slithered closer and whispered, “The chiefs? They’re recounting the tale of the battle at the Caves of Despair, an old Serpentine legend.”

Lloyd turned back to the conversation and tried to follow along, but they kept saying strange metaphors and using bizarre references, and sooner or later he didn’t understand a word they were saying again.

“Psst! Mezmo? What exactly do the Fangpyres do?” Lloyd asked.

Mezmo looked skittish, glancing back and forth a few times, and whispered, “They have the power to—“

“To what?” Fangtom suddenly said, looking straight at Lloyd. “Talking behind—“

“—someone’s back are we?”

Lloyd shrunk back a bit, while Mezmo completely disappeared behind the nearest tree. “Yes, your highness. Sorry, your highness,” Lloyd said, trying not to make eye contact.

Fangtom rose from his seat and said, “You want to know—“

“—what we Fangpyre can do?” Lloyd gulped.

“First we bare our fangs!” a Fangpyre suddenly said, jumping at Lloyd from the shadows.

“Then we sink our venom into your flesh!” said another as he tried to do just that to Lloyd’s neck. Lloyd scrambled away as fast as he could, not enjoying the way all the Serpentine were now laughing at him.

“And then—“

“—little by little—“ the chief said.

“—you become—“

“—one of us.”

Lloyd didn’t dare move as he looked up at Fangtom who sounded very serious.

“B-but it wouldn’t work on me, right?” he asked, looking to Slithraa for support. “Just like with the hypnosis?”

“Oh, I can assure you—“

“—elementals are very much in danger—“

“—of our venom,” said Fangtom, and he let a tiny drop of green, liquid fall from one of his massive fangs and land on the ground in front of Lloyd.

“Calm down, young Garmadon,” Slithraa said casually. “The chief is-s-s only having a little fun.”

“Yeah... fun...” Lloyd repeated, dusting himself off a little. The other Fangpyres looked very pleased with themselves, and the Hypnobrai weren’t exactly trying to hold in their laughter. This was not a good look for Lloyd. “I think I’m going to hit the hay—er, I mean—retire for the night,” he said, remembering the first time he had tried and failed to use the expression around Slithraa.

“Very well,” said Chief Slithraa. “Be ready to leave by morning.”

“Yes, sir,” Lloyd answered, and he got out of there as fast as he could. Those Fangpyres had gotten far too close for comfort, and what if they snuck up on him while he was sleeping? Would he suddenly wake up one morning to find himself covered in scales and flicking his own forked tongue? Just the thought made him shudder.

On his way to his sleeping mat, he saw Ann and Cole sitting together by one of the fires. A wicked idea popped into his head just then, and he changed direction.

“What are you two losers doing over here?” he asked, coming over. Cole didn’t move, as expected, and Ann gave him a sideways glare. “Getting all cozy?” He kicked up a pile of dirt which hit Cole’s leg. He still didn’t move. “What’s the matter? Snake got your tongue?”

“Go away,” Ann said cooly.

Lloyd stopped for a moment, and then frowned, saying, “You’re not the boss of me.”

Just then, Cole stood up and got real close to him. He stood an alarming two feet taller than Lloyd and he suddenly felt very small.

“She said... go away...” Cole’s voice was not very loud, nor did it have a lot of force behind it, and coming from anyone else, Lloyd may have just laughed in his face, but not when that face had glowing red eyes and was nearly two feet above your body.

“Scales!” Lloyd suddenly shouted. “Your little pet is threatening me!”

Scales’ head popped up amongst the crowd of Hypnobrai and in an instant, he was slithering over. “Cole!” he shouted. After an unspoken command and pulse from his eyes, Cole was suddenly kneeling down, his face against the ground.

“Please f-forgive me, c-c-commander,” he said, trying to grit his teeth.

“That’s better,” said Scales. “And you!” he turned to Lloyd, pointing a scaly finger at him. “Weren’t you supposed to be going to bed?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Lloyd mumbled, and he stomped off to his campfire. What a lame day this had turned out to be. But it would all be worth it when he was finally able to march on Ninjago with an army of Serpentine at his side.