Keaton knew what she was about to do was suicide, but when she saw her big sister standing there, spouting that nonsense about the Hypnobrai, her heart felt like it would tear in two if she didn’t do something. To Zane’s dismay, she abandoned her hiding place and charged at Ann, hoping that the sound of her voice or the sight of her face might be enough to snap the water ninja out of her trance.
Keaton grabbed her sister, and in the shock and panic of the moment, she dragged her down from the car hood with barely any idea about what to do next. “Ann?!” she cried, shaking her sister’s arms and searching her eyes for any sign that she was still there. Her expression was blank, and her eyes were glazed over. The snakes had begun to close in around her, but if she could just wake Ann up, then maybe they could get away in time and—
“Ann Jing!” the snake who was with Ann yelled. “Wake up! You’ve been taken captive!” He clapped his hands together and all of a sudden, Ann blinked and looked around. She spotted Keaton and her eyes widened in raw anger, an expression Keaton had rarely seen from Ann. She instantly threw Keaton’s hands away and backed off into the crowd. Keaton felt her heart move up into her throat, then down into her stomach, and goodness-knows-where-else, not knowing what to think as two words rang out very clearly among the Serpentine who were getting far too close for comfort,
“Get down!”
Her muscle memory kicked in, and she instantly ducked, placing her hands over her head. Jay swooped in, taking down some of the enemy soldiers with a single blast, and he yanked Keaton up by the arm. They were running now, but the only reason Keaton knew that was because her eyes were frozen in place, staring at the ground.
Jay brought her to safety behind a mangled, flaming car, but they were quickly pursued by none other than Ann herself. She had an air of anger that outmatched all of the Serpentine present, and she seemed to have it out for Keaton specifically.
Suddenly, the car was flipped over in a watery wave, completely exposing Keaton and Jay. Ann was ready with another wave of water, but Keaton took a bold step forward, her arms raised in surrender.
“Ann-Ji, it’s me! Keaton!” she squeaked, stepping closer still.
“Don’t get cute with me,” said Ann, which was a pretty normal thing for her to say, but it came out far nastier than Keaton was used to. “You’re one of Wu’s students.”
“Yes! Of course I am!” Keaton replied, not quite sure what was going on. Cole hadn’t acted like this. Why was Ann different? “And so are you!”
“Ann Jing! It’s-s-s a trick! Attack!” that same Hypnobrai yelled, and suddenly Ann had a water tendril flailing toward them.
‘When there’s harm, protect and disarm!’ Keaton recited in her head. Just as the water was about to hit her and Jay, she summoned a wind so strong that it blew straight through the tendril and pushed Ann back, splashing the water everywhere.
“Keaton, we need to get out of here!” Jay cried, grabbing her by the shoulder.
“I’m not leaving Ann!” Keaton snapped back. She unfurled her war fans and took a deep breath, her eyes glued to her sister who was getting back on her feet. “Ann Jing! Stop!” Down came a water whip, but Keaton knew how to blow it away. Ann growled in frustration and tried again, while Jay started fending off the Serpentine horde with his lightning. Ann kept shooting at Keaton again and again, from above, below, left and right, pushing the air ninja back and Keaton was barely breaking them apart in time. Ann was simply too fast!
“Stop!” Keaton yelled, unleashing an air wave that managed to disorient Ann for a few seconds. “Please, Ann-Ji! You’re being hypnotised!”
Ann looked up and her expression darkened. “Nice try,” she said. Keaton felt her eyes growing wet and her chest felt so, so tight.
“Ann-Ji—“
Ann blasted water like a fire truck hose and knocked Keaton off her feet. She felt her body hit the ground, the wind knocked out of her lungs, and she could tell that there were a million awful bruises already forming. Keaton couldn’t see very well with the water in her eyes, but when she swiped at her face a few times and looked up, she thought she saw a dozen-or-so arrows falling down straight towards her. She raised a hand but never got the chance to blow them away as a sheet of ice suddenly appeared and caught them all.
“Zane!” she cried when the ice ninja appeared out of nowhere and sent a few more Serpentine to the ground as he went. He paused when he saw Ann, but that proved to be a mistake. She used her fire hose move once again and Zane was caught off guard. With a loud “Oof!” he fell to the ground beside Keaton.
Keaton had to clench her jaw to keep it from quivering as she got to her feet and tightened the grip on her fans. She had to put an end to this! Keaton charged at Ann, full speed, and Ann Jing really had to think fast to defend herself from the little ninja’s air slices.
“Ann-Ji! Please! Come back to me!” Keaton yelled whenever she could, but no matter how many times she pleaded, Ann remained unfazed and unmoved.
Ann was finally in the position to attack again, and sent wave after wave at Keaton. Zane and Jay were never far behind, but they were more preoccupied with fending off the army of snakes which the two girls seemed to have forgotten about. Zane blocked off parts of the street to prevent the party from getting too crowded, and Jay had a particularly fun time zapping Serpentine left and right. Sometimes all it took was scaring the Hypnobrai off with the loud crackles of his electricity, but the Fangpyres, he noticed, were far more bold. The candy cane coloured snakes seemed eager to get to him, and probably take a bite out of him, which made Jay all the more eager to keep them at a safe distance. More lightning was required.
Jay suddenly got a horrible feeling that something was coming up behind him. His head swivelled just in time to see a Hypnobrai lunging in his direction, and all he could think to do was jump out of the way—and straight into the horde of Serpentine. He flexed his arms and legs with all his might, really giving the snakes a run for their money, but their scaly hands and tails refused to let go.
WhatdoIdo? WhatdoIdo? he yelled in his head. There were Fangpyres all around him, he realised, and like when you find a cockroach in your shower, he felt the urge run as far away as possible. In his panic, Jay managed to break one of his arms free and used it to unleash a wild bolt which scared off most of the snakes. All that was left for him to do was yank his left arm free and run like the wind!
“AAAAAAAAHHH!” he screamed when he pulled his arm free. There was a shooting, burning pain in his forearm, and it felt like his body was going into some kind of shock. Zane’s ice suddenly appeared and Jay felt safe to lie on the ground for a second, breathing in and out quickly and clutching his arm.
“What happened?” Zane asked frantically, kneeling next to Jay.
After flinching one last time, Jay said, “I don’t know—ugh! But it hurts!”
Zane could make out where the pain was coming from and he ripped back the navy blue fabric to reveal a long, bloody gash in Jay’s arm.
“Oh, that’s nasty!” Jay cried, feeling the pain swell again. He began to wonder if maybe he’d pass out. His head definitely felt dizzy enough.
“Hey, hey, hey! Stay with me!” Zane said, tapping Jay’s face. He ripped up his own shozoku hem and used it to wrap up Jay’s arm, then tied it tightly.
“AAAAHAHAHAA SWEET MERCY!!!” Jay yelled. “Do you think you could’ve tied it any tighter?!”
“Well, yes, I could’ve tied it tighter, actually,” Zane replied as he helped Jay to his feet.
“It was a rhetorical question!” Jay snapped.
* * *
Ann was on the offensive, which meant that Keaton could either block, or run. This time around, she chose the latter. Using her air-jumps, she quickly evaded each and every one of Ann’s water whips as though she was the last kid standing in a twisted game of dodge ball, and she was starting to feel low on energy. As quickly as Ann and the other teens wore out from using their powers, it was nothing compared to Keaton. She was the smallest and the youngest, which meant that even now her arms were shaking with the effort it took to keep them up.
“You’re weak,” Ann said bluntly as she finally managed to knock Keaton out of the sky. She rolled on the dirty ground hard and coughed smoke out of her lungs. “Why would Wu even send you out onto the battlefield?”
After another cough, Keaton said, “It wasn’t his idea, Ann. It was yours.”
Ann growled. “Enough!” She reached out with a liquid hand and grabbed the little ninja by the torso.
“It was your idea, Ann!” she cried again. “Two years ago, at the monastery, Wu was giving me my evaluation! Don’t you remember!?” Ann’s expression grew darker. “He was worried about sending me out into the field. He was worried I’d get hurt. You’re the one who convinced him to let me go with you on missions. You said that I could be a scout. You believed in me!” She felt her body jolt with adrenaline as Ann threw her to the broken ground. Her tessen were out of reach now, but she grasped her will to keep fighting with both hands and refused to let go. On her wobbling hands and knees, Keaton watched Ann walk over to her as though she were the grim reaper himself.
“You didn’t give up on me! So I’m not giving up on you!” Keaton sobbed. “We’re sisters!”
Right as she was about to get up again, Ann kicked her in the head. She landed back on the ground and stared up at the shadowy figure that was her big sister.
“You are a student of Master Wu and an enemy of the Hypnobrai,” she said in a voice so quiet yet dripping with contempt.
“Ann-Ji,” Keaton said, finally letting her tears overflow. “I love you!”
“Not enough to win this fight, it looks like,” Ann remarked as she raised her arms above her head, ready to—WHACK!!!
Ann fell over quite suddenly, scaring Keaton half to death, and when she looked up, she saw Zane holding a broken pipe, with Jay right behind him. Keaton felt her lungs shake as she breathed in sob after sob. The whole world seemed so terrifying right now that she just wanted to shut her eyes and never open them ever again. She felt someone picking her up, and let herself be carried away. Away from that last horrifying moment. Away from the fire and smoke. Away from the pain. Far, far, far away.
* * *
The town was in a state of mass hysteria by the time the ninja were escaping. The leaders were unable to control anything, half the town was burning, there were soldiers running around in a panic, and the only saving grace was that it gave them a perfect chance to get away. Although, Zane thought it was an awful shame that they weren’t able to free any of the hypnotised humans. One day soon, they had to go back for them.
“This is team Beta,” Zane said into his earpiece as he ran, carrying a crumpled Keaton in his arms. “We’ve got Ann. Returning to your position.” But all he got in response was a garbled mess of static. It made his head ache for some reason, and after a while, he had to take the earpiece out.
Just then, as they were sneaking through the dark suburbs, they heard a horrible, screeching, wailing sound somewhere far off. Just another reminder of the nightmare they were escaping from.
They had just cleared the city limits and were now making their way up the hill toward Wu and Nya’s location. It was far more difficult this time with their energy sapped and the two sisters weighing them down, but Zane and Jay slowly pushed through.
After a few minutes of hiking, Zane heard something moving up ahead. He touched Jay’s shoulder and motioned for him to be quiet. Slowly, silently, Zane lowered Keaton to the ground and inched further up the mountain alone. There was a shrub up ahead that looked surprisingly suspicious, and he was just a few feet away from finding out why.
He was just about to leap out with an ice shard at the ready, when he had to stop himself and nearly fell over. “Guys? Guys, is that you?” Nya called out.
“Yes, it’s us,” Zane said, relieved that he hadn’t hurt Nya, who was sneaking her way toward them. She was clutching her naginata and looked terribly jumpy. She heaved a deep sigh when she knew that she was surrounded by friends and not enemies.
“Are you guys okay?” Nya asked, coming over with more confidence.
“We’re fine,” said Jay, adjusting Ann on his good shoulder.
Zane went to pick up Keaton again and replied, “A little banged up, but otherwise okay.”
“What happened?” she pressed on, occasionally darting her eyes around, probably looking for any snakes.
“The plan… kinda fell apart,” Jay started. “Kai had to—Kai! We left him and Cole back down there!”
“You what?!” Nya cried.
“We have to go back!” Jay said, instantly supporting Nya’s feelings.
“We need to find somewhere safe to leave Ann and Keaton first,” said Zane.
“Leave them up with the jet packs behind the boulder up there, and let’s go!” Nya urged, tromping down the hillside.
“Um, what?” Jay asked.
“I’m coming with you,” she replied, sounding very firm.
“I wouldn’t advise it,” Zane urged, coming after her. “That town is no place for someone without training.”
“Yeah! Plus, it’s super dangerous!” Jay said, following the two of them down.
“I’m not gonna leave my brother!”
“And neither are we,” Zane said sternly as he grabbed Nya by the arm and stopped her. She wheeled on him and stared up into his steely eyes.
“I can’t just sit by and do nothing,” she said quietly, clearly trying to hold back warm tears. Zane was silent and kept studying her delicate face for any kind of sign that she was ready for this sort of mission. She seemed passionate, that’s for sure, but passion alone wouldn’t be enough to keep her alive.
Suddenly, her eyes were drawn to the crumbling sound of gravel behind them and she turned pale. “Look out!” she shrieked. In a split second, Zane and Jay were ready to fight, but their Serpentine attacker was already immobilised. He had tried to get the jump on them, and had ended up skewered on the end of Nya’s naginata.
Nya was hunched low to the ground, clutching her weapon and staring up at the frozen, snaky body looming over her in utter shock and horror. Zane quickly took it from her and shoved the body away while Jay knelt down next to her. She still wasn’t moving, and her eyes were as wide as saucers.
“Just breathe,” Jay was saying over and over again, while Nya covered her mouth with her hands as though she was holding back bile.
“That’s why you’re not going down there,” Zane said after a while. “Come on. Let’s get back to the meet up point and then we can go save Kai.” This time, Nya didn’t argue.
The boulder was cold and quiet and the perfect place to rest after a long battle. Ann and Keaton were placed comfortably on some nearby grass and Nya was still shaking when she reclined against the rock. Zane wanted nothing more than to join the girls, but the work wasn’t over yet. One last ride into battle. He hoped this was a good idea.
A footstep came from somewhere below. There was someone coming! Zane ducked and held his breath. He should’ve expected more Serpentine to follow them, and now they had led them straight to the one place that needed to be Serpentine-free! After a quick motion for silence from the others, Zane peeked around the boulder and saw two figures shakily making their way toward them.
“Nya! Sensei Wu!” they called as they got closer. That was no snake! It was—
“Kai!” Zane and Jay both said as they leapt to their feet and rushed to meet him.
“Guys?” Kai asked, looking up. “You’re okay!” Kai looked positively awful. He had the worst, puffy black eye Zane had ever seen, a torn lip, scratches and scrapes on every inch of exposed skin, and a serious-looking gash on his forehead. Despite all of that, he still seemed to be in good spirits.
To Zane’s great surprise and relief, there was someone else walking with Kai’s help. A certain earth ninja they had been missing.
“Cole!” Jay shouted happily.
Cole appeared to be pretty tired, bruised and dirty as well, but the smile on his face when Jay came barrelling toward him looked like the happiest on earth. He chuckled more than once and gave a round of hugs to the guys.
“We missed you, you big meat head!” said Jay.
“I missed you, too,” Cole replied, and it sounded like he genuinely meant it. “You have no idea.”
“When we get back to camp, we are throwing the biggest, baddest celebration/welcome home party Ninjago has ever seen!” Jay was yammering while flailing his arms around for dramatic emphasis.
“Camp? Aren’t we heading back to the monastery?” Cole asked, looking around at each of them.
“Funny story,” Kai said slowly. “You see, uh…”
“Thegovernment’safterusbecausetheythinkWu’sbadorsomethingandkidnappedus
all,sotheytookthemonasteryandeverythinginit!” Jay blurted, catching his breath. “Sorry, I’m just still kinda shaken. They took my E-boi, guys! I’m never getting those high scores back!” Zane patted him sorrowfully on the back as Cole continued.
“Woah… so… no more monastery?”
“Looks that way,” said Kai.
“And no more video games!” Jay reminded them all. “Oh, also, we have jet packs now! You’re welcome!”
“Yikes… gone for a few days and I’m already completely out of the loop,” Cole lamented.
Just then, Nya came out and silently walked up to her brother for a hug—a huge frown on her face. Kai transferred Cole to Zane, because apparently he couldn’t stand on his own, while he wrapped his arms around his sister. “What happened?” he asked, more to the guys than to her. He seemed ready to deal out a beating to whoever was responsible for making Nya sad.
“We were attacked. Scared her half to death,” Zane explained. Kai looked like he was mentally beating himself up and he hugged Nya tighter.
“Where’s Sensei Wu?” Cole asked suddenly.
“He…” Nya stuttered. “He went into town… looking for you.”
Cole looked mildly panicked. “Do you guys know where Ann is?”
“Right over there,” said Jay, pointing a finger.
Cole instantly starting moving toward the boulder, whether he had help or not, and didn’t stop until he could see Ann for himself. His legs gave out finally, and he landed beside her while the rest of the group caught up to him.
“Is she…?” Cole asked.
“She’s alive. Unfortunately—OOF!” said Jay as Zane stuck his elbow into his side. “Keaton’s fine too, by the way.” Cole seemed to let out a hidden breath.
“We had to knock her out, though,” Zane went on. He still felt awful about that part. Hopefully she wouldn’t remember when she woke up.
“Yeah…that makes sense,” Cole muttered, still looking down at her.
After a minute or so of silence, Kai spoke up. “What happened to you two?”
Cole heaved a heavy sigh. “Too much…” was all he said. Then he turned back to them all. “Keep an eye on her in case she wakes up. I’m not entirely sure what’ll happen.” They nodded solemnly.
After that, everyone seemed pretty keen to stay where they were and wait for Wu to come back. Zane used his earpiece to try and contact him a few times, but all he got was static. They thought about going to search for him, but he was the master and could take care of himself... they hoped. Besides, it had always been the plan for him to go into town after Ann and Cole were safe. They just needed to be patient and pray that everything turned out okay.
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