Twilight was swiftly approaching—the last of golden hour’s light silhouetting Pythor’s face as he looked down at Jay with a contemptuous, almost curious, expression.
“What have we here?” He asked, slithering up to him. That long, arched neck leaned in so close, Jay could make out the individual scales on his nose.
“Get back!” Jay shouted, firing up his lighting, but it started to pop and fizzle like a fire cracker, rather than the big bolts he was sued to. He tried again to relight it, but the same, sparkling energy appeared.
Pythor watched his hands carefully for a moment, but a smile quickly spread across his lengthy face. “Having trouble?”
“No!” Jay hissed, and he raised up his fists, still sparkling. “You take one more, uh—s-s-step—clos-s-ser, and I’ll shock you s-s-so bad your tail will fall off!”
“IS THAT SO!?”
Jay fell back as the purple Serpentine lunged at him, and for half a moment, he thought he was going to sink his fangs into his face, his heart leaping out of his chest. He quickly had his fist of electricity at the ready again, but with Pythor looming over him like that, it was clear who still had the advantage.
Those bright eyes of his squinted in the twilight. “You’re still a hatchling, aren’t you? And you’ve somehow managed to get yourself in quite the situation, haven’t you?” His deep chuckle sounded far too pleased. “Allow me to elucidate. You see, funny thing about us Serpentine—“ if it were possible, he leaned in even closer, “—you never cross the alpha. And, why, that just so happens to be me!”
While he was getting caught up in his little speech, Jay thought he might try to shock him, but sadly, it seemed that snakes had much faster reactions than he did.
“Aah!!”
“Naughty, naughty,” Pythor chided, squeezing Jay’s wrist.
Two arms suddenly appeared around the Serpentine’s neck, grabbing a hold of him, and maybe trying to choke him. Nya screeched as Pythor started writhing about trying to shake her off.
“You little brat!” He cried. “Unhand me at once!”
Jay knew he needed to do something, and if he hadn’t started running at them, he might not have been there to catch Nya when Pythor eventually threw her off. Then… the room was empty again. Or rather, it appeared empty. Jay could still smell him, circling around like a vulture.
With the force of a small car, both Jay and Nya were knocked to the floor, and the air was pushed out of their lungs. It had to be Pythor, his long coils pushing hard against him chest and eventually moving up over his mouth.
“Let this be a lesson to you ninja,” came Pythor’s low, disembodied voice, and then his face gradually began to reappear above him, one scale at a time. “The Serpentine are—“
“Jay!?” A far away voice called.
“Jay, come on!”
“Do you see him?”
Pythor instantly hid his face again, and Jay imagined that he was looking around. “It seems you’re not as alone as I thought… No matter. I can still squeeze the life out of the two of you and take the Fang Blade before they even realise we’re here.”
Jay tried to move his arms, or his legs, but Pythor was just so heavy, it was like trying to escape a whole dog pile of people, and the pressure of only increasing. He could still hear Kai, Cole, and Zane’s voices—they had to be outside—but they were already starting to fade, and with the museum already closed, the odds of them getting in before he blacked out were very slim indeed.
He tried again and again to move the invisible tail from his torso, pushed his muscles until they they were shaking and he felt sweaty, but he remained pinned to the floor. He had to do something, or else both he, and Nya, were about to enter the Departed Realm.
There was nothing else for it. No other option that he could see.
As blackness began to rim his vision, he forced his face to move until his mouth was touching the cold, concrete floor, and nothing else. Then, with all the remaining air in his chest, called out,
“HELP—“
His voice cut off right as Pythor smothered his face again, but as the blackness encroached upon his psyche, he could still hear it echoing through the hallways.
He wasn’t sure of what happened next. All he remembered, was someone slapping him in the face and being able to breathe again.
“Jay! Wake up or I swear I’m gonna—“
“Cole?” he croaked. “What the heck, man?”
“Thank the First Spinjitsu Master,” he muttered, letting go of Jay’s jacket front.
“We thought that perhaps we were too late,” said Zane next to them.
Jay let his head roll over, feeling his skull press into the stony floor, and saw Kai holding Nya, relieved. There was still someone he could not see, however.
“Where is-s-s he?” He asked, looking around and behind his friends. “Where’d he go?”
“Who?” Cole was suddenly very alert.
Had he run off when the other ninja arrived? Or was he still in the room? He flicked his tongue out at once, searching for his scent. Oh yeah. He was definitely still here. But the questioned remained: what was he planning on doing next?
Red and white lights suddenly stained his retinas and quick, chirping alarms stung his ears. Of course, there was only one place to look for trouble. The Fang Blade. Its cover was thrown over and the trophy itself seemed to be walking off.
“Hey!” He shouted at it, trying to get up.
The trophy quickened its pace and would have escaped, had it not run straight into the security grate that locked the windows down.
“Oh, pooh,” it said in a posh accent.
“There’s nowhere to run!” Jay was on his feet now, clutching a stitch in his side. “Hand over the trophy!”
A sudden chill swept over the room as elements began to tingle at the ninjas’ fingertips, and the Blade Cup carefully sank to the ground with a delicate thunk. It didn’t move for an uncomfortable amount of time.
“AGH!!” Jay suddenly choked as he was lifted into the air and pushed back into the entryway’s security grate. It bounced and buckled against the weight of him, all the while tearing into his scaly skin.
“Jay!” Cole yelled.
“I should’ve just killed you properly when I had the chance!” Pythor snarled, still invisible.
A blast of snow coated half the room, burning to the touch, and much to the dismay of the Serpentine, who’s invisibility was rendered useless now that he was covered in snowflakes. He shook violently and hissed at the other ninja, bearing his long fangs and letting his tongue stick out hungrily.
Jay saw an opportunity and took it. He fired up another round of electricity and drove it straight into Pythor’s wrist, making it tense up and freeing his throat from his death grip.
Cole moved first after that, using the floor for ammunition, smashing case after case of trophies, but Pythor was fast, and seemingly had a sixth sense about when the next rock would come wizzing by his head. Then, quite unexpectedly, one of those very same rocks came flying back at Cole, and he had to duck to keep his face from getting smashed in.
The next thing anybody knew, he and Zane were on the floor, grappling with the snake’s massive tail. Zane, who seemed to be quite wrapped up, was trying to get his hand free so that he wouldn’t freeze himself, but it wasn’t coming easy.
Fire illuminated the room with its blazing light, letting everyone know that Kai meant business. Before getting singed, Pythor released his captives and retreated to the nearest corner.
While Jay was free, he spotted the trophy, glinting at the opposite end of the room. It was all too easy to run over and grab it, but then of course there was a catch.
“Who are you!?” Kai was yelling at Pythor, pinned down at last by Kai’s threatening, flaming hand.
“I wouldn’t come any closer if I were you,” he glowered, lifting up Nya in his coils.
“Nya!” Kai blurted.
“You there!” The snake snapped. “Give me the trophy, or the girl dies!” His eyes were locked onto Jay, and everyone else followed suit.
What were his options? There was nothing else in the room besides broken glass and trophies, all the exits were shut, and the police were probably about to arrive. In the meantime, Pythor was gently squeezing down on Nya’s body, keeping her from moving.
“Don’t do it!” Nya suddenly said, tears in her eyes.
“Give him the blade!” Kai yelled over her. “Do it! Now!”
Reluctantly, they were out of options. With his head hung low, Jay walked over and handed the trophy to the scaly Serpentine.
“Now there’s a good boy,” Pythor crooned.
“Let her go!” Jay snapped.
“I’m not finished yet,” he said, getting very close to his face again. “Open the window for me.”
“Why would I—“
“I’d choose my next words carefully if I were you.” He lowered Nya, wrapping the end of his tail over her mouth.
He swallowed. Pythor seemed to have this strange ability to make himself appear bigger and more threatening whenever it suited him, and right now was one of those times. Jay felt as though he’d shrunk to half his size as the Serpentine Chief glared at him, and he knew that there was no way he’d be able to win in a fight.
Unclenching his fists, he turned toward the nearest window and summoned as much scraggly energy as he could. The glass should break easy enough, though he might need to try a few times before the metal grate broke, and—
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement. Cole’s hand, by his side, was trying to say something. For the love of Wu’s beard, please let him remember what all those secret signs meant.
“What’s taking so long?” Pythor growled.
Cole’s hand was moving fast, but Jay was able to figure out the gist of what he was saying.
Distraction.
“Open the window!”
“Think fas-s-st!” Jay threw his small ball of electricity at his precious Fang Blade, which sent him into a tizzy. While he was busy trying not to drop the whole trophy, Cole brought part of the ceiling crashing down. It landed square on Pythor’s tail.
“YEEOOOOOWW!!!” He wailed, releasing Nya at once as he tried to dislodge himself from all of the debris.
Zane moved in, probably trying to get to the trophy, while Kai ran over and grabbed Nya’s arm, pulling her out of harm’s way.
“I’ll get the door,” said Cole easily, and he lifted up and massive chunk of the floor and flung it at the window.
CRASH!!!
“Let’s move!” He called, leading the way through the glass-edged window frame. Jay and Kai were right behind him, with Nya and Zane behind them, and Pythor cursing their names from inside the broken building.
Jay was relieved beyond belief to be out of there. So relieved, in fact, that he was finally able to feel all of the pain he was in.
“Jay!” Zane cried, seeing him stumble and fall into the grass of the museum garden.
It was Cole who doubled back and scooped him up, urging the others to keep moving. Nya gave out as well, not long after, but Kai was able to carry her.
Jay could still feel the venom warping his insides, twisting up his organs and frying his nerves as he bounced on Cole shoulder. There were police sirens everywhere, and they had to take a quick little detour through the sewers to avoid them, but eventually, they were jogging along the alleyways, heading home.
“Wait!” Nya suddenly said, stopping the whole group before they left the suburbs. “The medicine! I bought medicine for Ann and Keaton—I left it by the skatepark.”
“Leave it to me,” said Zane, depositing the blade he had snagged into Kai’s hands and turning back. “I’ll catch up!”
“Can you walk again?” Cole asked Jay.
“I… I think so,” he said, not wanting to sound weak. In all actuality, he was still in sever pain, and every step felt like daggers being sliced across his skin, but he wasn’t about to moan and whine about it.
“So what happened back there?” Cole had his stern face on, and Jay decided not to make eye contact. “Answers, now.”
Jay sighed. “I got bitten by one of the Fangpyres-s-s,” he finally admitted, and all at once this great tensity seemed to leave his chest. “I… I thought that maybe… if I was s-s-strong enough… but whatever. Nya followed me and… that’s when we got ambushed. Ngh!” He grasped his side again as the pain swelled up. Cole was by his side instantly, helping to prop him up.
“All you had to do was tell us what was happening, you big dummy,” he grumbled. “We would have figured something out before it got out of hand.”
Jay stared at the sidewalk.
Like it was so easy. Cole was strong and brave… and everything Jay wasn’t.
“We can’t afford to have stuff like this happen,” Cole went on. “We can’t afford to lose a member of the team.”
Ah. So this was just another way Jay had inconvenienced the team and made a mess of things. That totally made him feel so much better.
“You’ve gotta get it into that thick skull of yours.” Here it was. “Your teammates have your back.” Jay looked up at Cole. “You’re still operating as though you’re a one-man show. Don’t push us out, Jay. A team needs all of its members to play their parts. Together.”
“You’re starting to sound like Sensei Wu,” Jay chuckled.
“Yeah, well… let’s hope the real Wu shows up soon, cause I have no idea what we’re supposed to do about your…”
“New look?” Jay offered. He could feel his tail steadily growing behind him—it was down to his calfs now.
He looked up ahead and saw Nya riding on Kai’s back, half asleep. Their little, uh… conversation in the museum was certainly going to be stuck in his mind for a little bit. The way she’d looked at him… how would she ever like him after this? He’d really made a mess of things all the way around.
But… maybe it still wasn’t too late to do better.
* * *
Zane was still running at top speed, looking for the bag of medicine Nya had dropped. She’d said that it was by the skate park, but with only the street lights to guide him, it was proving to be a little trickier than anticipated.
Everyone had gone home by now, leaving the shadowy streets abandoned in the winter cold. He pulled his jacket further around hi neck as the wind bristled passed, him whispering that there may be snow tonight.
Finally, he found the darn thing—thankfully, nobody had come along and moved it—and he gathered up all the bottles, safely stowing them for travel. The other guys were probably a decent ways out by now, but he’d be able to catch in no time.
However, he found himself standing there on the side of the road far longer than he had planned to. There was a faint trembling underneath his feet, and he was getting this pointed feeling that someone was watching him. He turned around, but there was no one there, just more black, empty street. So then what was he feeling?
The trembling sidewalk was getting worse now, almost as if there was something moving underneath him. He started walking away, and the trembling subsided, but the moment he stopped, it returned with even greater force.
CLANG!!!
When he turned around, something was slithering up out of the storm drain. Something green and scaly.
For a moment, he thought about freezing it, but he was near so many small businesses, and he wasn’t sure how much control he would have over the ice. So, reluctantly, he tied the plastic bag around his wrist and charged ahead, blowing passed the Serpentine before he even noticed he was there. But once his presence was known, more of them started popping up, from every nearby manhole.
Zane forced his legs to run faster than they’ve ever run before, carrying him out of the business district, and into the suburbs fast than you can say “time to panic.”
He needed to warn the others and get them all back on the ship before they got caught. Unfortunately, this would also mean that he’d be leading the Serpentine straight toward his friends. Well, perhaps it wasn’t quite as stark as all that. He just needed to get out of city limits first.
As it turned out, the other ninja hadn’t gotten far, and he found them still walking through the residential area.
“Guys!” He shouted at them. They stopped and turned back, legs ready to run. “Serpentine!” Although, you didn’t exactly need someone to tell you that. The whole street behind him was positively swarming with them, slithering at fast as their massive tails would allow, brandishing strange, Serpentine weapons and spitting venom. “RUN!!!”
Cole had Jay over his shoulder again in an instant, and they were all running for their lives in the dead of night, against a swarm of snake warriors who all wanted to rip their heads off. But all they had to do was get out of the city.
“Ninja! You have something that belongs to me!” The purple snake yelled at them. “Hand it over and I might spare you!”
Like that was ever going to happen.
Then, like the light at the end of the tunnel, Zane could see an expanse of road surrounded by trees, and doubled his pace. Slowly, he found himself overtaking both Kai and Cole, and was the first one to set foot on forest soil. When he looked back, though, Cole and Kai were substantially further back than he thought.
“Come on!” He shouted at them.
“You wanna trade cargo?” Kai yelled back, jostling Nya on his shoulder.
They got closer and closer, and Zane slowly started to let the cold seep into his fingertips. They were ten yards away, the Serpentine horde still on their tails.
Five yards away. The ice was getting impatient.
Two yards. Any second now.
Then, BOOM!!! Like an iceberg being unleashed, a massive wall of ice exploded into existence, blocking off the road and stopping the Serpentine in their tracks.
“Woah,” Cole breathed. “Kinda small, don’t you think?”
They didn’t have time to joke long. The snakes had caught up to them, and much to Zane’s dismay, the ice wall didn’t stop them, not one bit. Those that could dig, burrowed themselves underneath it, and the rest, used their long claws to scale it to the top.
“Maybe we should start running,” Kai suggested.
“I think you’re right,” said Zane, taking off.
Sure, the wall slowed them down a little, but they were no closer to escaping scott free.
“Which way?!” Cole asked as they flew dow flew road.
“Straight,” said Nya. “Go straight until you hit this big lumpy tree!”
So they couldn’t even loose the Serpentine in the woods? “Cole, why don’t you launch us?” Zane asked, thinking back to the time they’d first gone after Lloyd and his truck convoy of explosives.
“Not with Nya on board!” Kai shouted back.
Great, so then what were their options?
For the moment, it seemed like all they could do was run. But for how long?
The Serpentine were making up for lost time already, and if they kept on going straight like this, they’d get caught for sure!
“We need to lose them in the trees!” Zane called out.
“But how will we know which way to go?” Nya countered.
“We’re just gonna have to risk it,” said Cole, who was the first to veer off the road.
Into the forest they scurried, guided by hardly more than their wits in the dark, and bound to take a wrong turn sooner or later. They could hear the first wave of Serpentine behind them, loudly calling after them and clanging their metal weapons. Perhaps, if Zane could manage to control the ice, just enough, he could take advantage of the downhill slope they were running on.
He closed his eyes and begged his powers not to overreact. He needed them to cooperate.
* * *
“Woah!” Cole cried as his feet swung into the air, clear over his head. He fell, but onto rocky ground, but smooth ice. Zane came up behind him, pushing him and Jay forward, and picking up speed as they slid down the ice ramp he was making. Kai yelped as he lost his footing, and Nya fell from his back, but they were safe as long as they stayed on the ice.
Cole was beginning to feel nauseous, though, as they wove in and out of the trees, side to side, sometimes banking so hard Zane had to make a vertical wall just to keep them from flying away, as though they were in a crazy bobsled. The fact that they could barely see much further than their own feet added a particularly terrifying flavour to the whole ordeal. Still, the sounds of Serpentine were far behind them now.
Or at least, they were.
When Cole looked back, there was at least eight different Serpentine sliding after them, probably more.
“Kai! Nya! Grab hold!” He yelled to them, thinking that if they could hold together and increase their total body weight, they might be able to go faster. He held out his hands for the others to grab, then pulled them in, and they held on for dear life.
Then, yellow caution tape.
It stuck to Cole’s face and Kai’s hair, getting tangled up in their human meatball, but at least that meant they were close to the ship.
“Zane! Behind you!” Kai suddenly called, seeing a Venomari getting particularly close behind them. In an instant, an ice sheet sprang up and stopped him in his tracks.
The tree line suddenly vanished, and they were out in the open, skidding across frozen ocean water. It took them a second to realise that they were in the inlet finally, and Zane made a wide turn trying to get them back on course. The ship was still waiting for them, untouched by the looks of it, so Zane slowly ground them to a halt, landing gracefully on the deck of the ship.
“Alright, let’s get outta here!” Cole ordered, only to remember that their pilot was currently below deck, sick and probably asleep. There was only one thing for it.
He had never done anything like this before, but the science seemed solid. Cole ran to the bow of the ship and concentrated on the ground, upstream. All he needed to do was nudge it a bit. He quickly wished he had the Scythe of Quakes, though, as he stood there on the deck, holding his breath with the effort it took to move such a stubborn sheet of earth, but eventually, he got it to budge.
“Alright everyone… hold on,” he said, taking a breath. Everyone grabbed hold of the nearest railing as the sound of Serpentine soldiers crested the shoreline… and the sound of rushing water drowned it out. Cole clamped down on the railing of the ship with all his might as it began to move, then tip backward ever so slightly, heading toward the ocean. The wave he had started was growing steadily, pushing them further and further back out of the inlet and—most importantly—away from the Serpentine. However, flying blind in the middle of the night wasn’t exactly what Cole would call comforting. It took every ounce of steal nerves he possessed not to totally panic and think that the ship was going to capsize.
Luckily for those steal nerves of his, the earthquake he had started was not very big, and neither was the wave by the end of it. It simply pushed out to sea where they dropped anchor to avoid any more little adventures, then Zane through up some chilly fog to keep them from being discovered, and finally they were safe.
“Maybe give us-s-s a warning next time,” said Jay, legs wobbling.
“I thought I did?” Said Cole.
“Well, a bigger warning, then,” said Jay.
Cole paused. What was that noise he was hearing? It sounded like footsteps. Oh no. Ann and Keaton! He’d totally forgotten.
He raced over to the stairs and was about start apologising profusely when all of a sudden—
“What in the name of Ninjago is going on?!” Asked Sensei Wu.
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