The Master of Nature

Kidnapped

Hope looked into all of the rooms, but she found nothing. Strange. She knew that someone had to be spying on her.

Hope frowned. Had one of the Serpentine followed them on the ship? Perhaps she should alert the others so that they could be put on their guard.

However, the moment Hope turned around, she felt something hit her from the back of her head.

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Hope woke up with a massive headache. How long had she been out? Just then, she remembered what she had been doing before being knocked unconscious. She sat up at once.

She was locked in a cage that looked similar to the one Lloyd was trapped in when he was the Serpentine's prisoner. Was it made of vengestone too?

Hope tried thinking about flowers, but nothing happened. Yep, definitely vengestone.

"Sssssso, the new ninja issssss a girl," came a voice. To Hope's horror, she saw Pythor standing in front of her.

"What do you want from me?" asked Hope.

"Oh, nothing," said Pythor. "I just had to make ssssure that you don't go warning the others and messssssing up my plansssssss."

"It was you!" said Hope. "Of course. What other Serpentine has the ability to disappear since you cannibalized your own tribe!"

Hope suddenly felt scared. Would Pythor eat her? He had eaten his entire tribe and swallowed a talent show judge.

If he wanted to eat you, then he would have already done so, came a voice from inside her head. Besides, he didn't eat Lloyd in the two and a half weeks he had been his prisoner. He clearly had a different motive.

"Well, I have another usssssse for you," said Pythor. "I have stolen back the four Fangblades while you were unconscious. Your friends don't know that I have you, but they will know soon enough."

"What?" asked Hope.

But Pythor didn't elaborate. He just chuckled and disappeared again.

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Hope looked down as two Hypnobrai soldiers guarded her. She was very careful about not looking into their eyes.

However, it wouldn't have mattered either way. The soldiers just talked amongst themselves, clearly having no interest in the girl that they were guarding.

"I must admit, she's much quieter than the boy," said one of them. "All he did was ssssscream and cry the entire time."

"I'm a bit nervoussssss," said the other soldier. "What would happen if Pythor does releasssssse the Great Devourer?"

"It will devour you," said Hope. "It is called the Great Devourer for a reason."

The soldiers looked at her in shock, then they looked at each other. Then they started screaming.

Hope groaned in annoyance. Why did smart villains always have idiotic henchmen?

Hope must have fallen asleep, for the next thing she knew, she was in the city of Ouroboros. Pythor was holding the Fangblades.

"Why am I here?" she asked.

"The ninja are probably on their way to sssssstop me," said Pythor. "I'm going to make them choose between sssssssaving you and sssssstoping me."

Hope gasped. She thought of how Kai had chosen saving Lloyd over getting a Fangblade. Sure, the circumstances were different. Lloyd would have died if Kai had grabbed the Fangblade. But her friends would definitely choose to save her.

Just then, she saw Wu arrive. "What have you done?" he asked Pythor.

"Don't you see?" asked Pythor. "Releasing the Great Devourer is the only way to get back at the people of Ninjago for locking my kind underground for all those years. We should have been the ones ruling the surface, not you!"

"You are playing with a power that cannot be controlled. It will consume everything, even the Serpentine."

"Hope?" came a voice. She saw the ninja looking at her. She wanted to yell for their help, but she couldn't risk revealing their location.

Wu saw her too. "Hope! How..."

"Sensei, help me," she said.

Wu quickly grabbed Pythor. "Let my student go now."

Pythor looked nervous, but unlocked her cage at once. Hope burst out and ran towards her friends.

"Where were you?" asked Cole. "We were really worried when you didn't come back. We thought that something awful happened to you."

However, there was no time to talk. For the Great Devourer had been unleashed.