We were chasing a Venomari through Ninjago City. We planned on interrogating him to see if he knew where the last Fangblade was. We eventually cornered the Venomari in an alleyway where he ran into Cole. Literally.
"Going somewhere?" Cole questioned as he stared down at the Venomari.
"Thought you could joyride through town and not be noticed, eh? Where's the last Fangblade?" Jay questioned.
"I don't know what you're talking about." The Venomari said.
"You know what it is. The fourth Fangblade. When Pythor finds them all, he plans to unleash the Great Devourer." Kai explained.
"Oh. That Fangblade." The Venomari said. "Ha-ha. You're too late. Pythor's already there now. He's probably already digging it up. If I were you, I'd start preparing for the worst, because when the Great Devourer is awakened, there will be nothing it won't consume."
"Won't that mean it'll consume you too?" Zane asked and the Venomari seemed to have a change of mind.
"Ah! Please, you have to stop him. That snake is crazy. I don't wanna unleash the Great Devourer. I'm a snake, not food." The Venomari freaked out.
"Is it really too late to stop Pythor from getting the last Fangblade?" Kai asked.
"You're days behind him. There's gotta be something else you can do." The Venomari said. After that, we released the Venomari and returned to the bounty where we all gather in the bridge.
"The Venomari's right." Nya said as we stared at a map. "By the time we cast sail clear across to the other side of Ninjago, Pythor will have already beat us to the last Fangblade."
"Uh, come on, guys. This is the last one. We gotta get it. We gotta think of something." Jay said and we all started thinking.
"Hey." Lloyd spoke up, gaining our attention. "All we have to do is just get one Fangblade to stop him. What if we take back the other three? Pythor wouldn't risk having them all on him. He's probably hidden them somewhere, while he goes for the fourth." Lloyd explained.
"It's so simple." Cole said.
"Why didn't I think of that?" Kai asked.
"Way to go, bro." I said and me and Lloyd fist bumped.
"It can't be that easy." Jay said.
"Easy? My algorithms suggest taking the other three would be far more dangerous. Pythor would undoubtedly have them protected by his top generals." Zane explained.
"Ha, finally, I don't have to hold back." Kai grinned.
"Even if you could steal the other three, you don't even know where they are." Garmadon spoke up.
"He's right. For the last few weeks there have been almost no Serpentine sightings. How are they moving around? It's like they're ghosts." Wu said.
"Or snakes." I said, gaining an idea. "Bridge, give me a sonar sweep of Ninjago." I ordered and the computer showed that there was no Serpentine found.
"See? Nothing. It's just like Sensei said." Kai said.
"But what if they aren't traveling above ground? They're snakes, right? Snakes burrow. Bridge, now give me a sonar sweep of Ninjago, but 20 feet below surface." I ordered and the computer showed that all the tombs were connected.
"All the tombs have been interconnected." Kai gasped.
"To make one massive underground fortress." Cole finished.
"And all this time, right under our noses." Jay said.
"Or rather, feet." Zane added.
"There, that's the most protected area." Kai said, pointing at an area on the map. "The Fangblades must be held there."
"Then what are we waiting for? Nya, set the course." Wu ordered.
"Already on it. We'll be there by sun-up." Nya said. Me and the guys then went to the upper deck and started training with Wu watching us.
"There is no room for error." Wu said. "The Serpentine have shown that they have great powers, and to combat them, you must turn their greatest strengths into their greatest weaknesses. Kai, how will you defeat the Hypnobrai?"
"Their hypnotizing powers are useless if their opponent can fight without relying on his eyes." Kai answered as he put a blindfold on and practiced with his sword.
"Good. Jay, the Fangpyre is fast and his bite sharp." Wu said.
"But if he can't bite through your skin, he can't turn you into one of them." Jay explained as he tapped his metal arm covering.
"Yes. Cole, the Constrictai are strong. And they will not let go." Wu informed as he hit a button and a net shot at Cole and wrapped him tightly.
"But instead of fighting back, one must try to loosen up." Cole said as he relaxed and slipped out of the net. "And a little soft shoe doesn't hurt." He added as he tapped the net with his foot.
"Zane. The venom of the Venomari can make you see things. Cloud your perception." Wu said.
"Then I will use my new Falcon Vision." Zane responded as his eyes turned blue before turning back to his normal eye color. He then turned and waved at the falcon.
"Nova. Pythor can disappear. How will you find him?" Wu asked as I put a blindfold on.
"I can sense him. I may not be able to see him but I'll be able to feel where he is." I said as I fought the guys as they attacked me.
"Very good." Wu praised us as I took off the blindfold. "I have trained you well. You are all ready."
"What about you, Sensei? Will you fight?" Kai asked. "We need all the help we can get."
"My concern is that my old bones cannot keep up, but I will be there in spirit." Wu said.
"We're arriving at the Mountain of a Million Steps. You all might want to see this." Nya said over the radio. We went to the railing as Nya steered the bounty to the mountain.
"Look at all those piles of dirt." Jay pointed out. There was a bunch of dirt piles all over the place.
"What are those snakes up to?" Cole questioned.
"Wait for me." Lloyd said as he ran down the stairs from the bridge.
"This is not your fight." Wu denied. "The Green Ninja is too important for a future destiny. You shall stay with me." Nya then showed up with her Samurai X mech.
"Well, he's gonna have to look after himself, because we made room for you." Nya said as she landed on the deck.
"You said you were concerned that you couldn't keep up, so Jay, Nya, and Nova rejiggered the design so you could come along. Well, what do you think?" Kai explained.
"I think......shotgun! Ha-ha!" Wu said as he jumped into his seat. "Wait, did you say Nova helped?"
"Don't get any ideas. I only helped because I'm good at building stuff and we need you on this mission." I said with a glare. I wasn't about to forgive him for lying to me for 13 years.
"I will stay back with Lloyd." Garmadon spoke up. "I don't enjoy saying this but....good luck." Wu, Nya, me, and the guys then crawled down the rope and into the mountain. We looked around the room and saw it empty.
"I thought you said this place would be heavily guarded, Zane." Jay said.
"Forgive me. Even nindroids make mistakes." Zane said.
"Hey, check this out." Cole called as he walked over to a wall that had paintings all over it. There was a painting of a ninja with a mustache.
"Pfft. That doesn't even look like me." Jay scoffed.
"Ah, they're gonna pay for that." Kai growled.
"I mean, at least give me a decent mustache." Cole said as he went to wipe off the paint but a secret entrance opened up. "Uh, I meant to do that." Cole said and we ran down the tunnel. We came to a ledge that overlooked the Serpentine below us.
"So what happens when the Great Devourer is unleashed?" We heard one head of the Fangpyre general ask. "Will it really consume everything?" The other head asked.
"I hope so, if only to teach the surface dwellers a lesson for locking us underground for so many years." The Constrictai general said.
"Who knows if the legend is even true? I for one am curious to see what happens." The Venomari general said.
"Keep alert, Pythor should be back soon." Scales, the Hypnobrai general, said as he slithered over to the other generals.
"There's too many to deal with at once." Kai whispered. "I say we travel by shadow."
"Right behind you." Nya whispered back.
"And I'll be right behind you." Wu quietly said to Nya. We then all started sneaking down the cliff but when we landed we were surrounded by the Serpentine. We were out numbered.
"All right, Operation Stealth was a total bust. We're gonna need reinforcements. Anyone there?" Nya tried to contact Lloyd and Garmadon. "Lloyd, can you hear me? Ugh. I'm not getting anything." A Venomari tried to climb on Nya's Samurai suit but Wu poured hot tea on him and he let go.
"Forget them. We need to fight back." Wu said. "Ninja, show them what you've learned."
"Always wanted to make you my main squeeze." The Constrictai general said as he wrapped his tail around Cole.
"Must relax. Think lose." Cole said and he managed to slip out of the generals tail. "Ha-ha! Triple Tiger Sashay." Cole said and kicked the general and punched and head butted two snakes that were behind him.
"You're surrounded, young fire starter. Perhaps you can now do our bidding." Scales said as he tried to Hypnotize Kai. But Kai closed his eyes and did spinzitsu to defeat Scales and a few other snakes. The Fangpyre general tried to bite Jay but he bite his metal arm covering, causing him to yell.
"What's wrong? Don't like the taste of defeat?" Jay asked as he tapped his arm. "Well, get used to it." Nya then landed beside Jay with Wu still seated in his chair on her shoulder
"Looking good." Nya praised.
"Thanks. You look great too." Jay said dreamily.
"Don't mean to interrupt the lovebirds, but we do have Fangblades to capture." Zane shouted from where he was being surrounded by Serpentine. A Venomari had shot venom into Zane's eyes but Zane just used his Falcon Vision to get rid of the snakes. I was fighting with a few Constrictai when the guys came up beside me and we were beginning to get surrounded. We were busy fighting back when Kai spotted the Fangblades.
"Look. The Fangblades."
"I'll let you have the honors." Cole said to Kai.
"Oh, no, after you." Kai said back.
"No! There's probably a trap!" I yelled but I was too late. Cole had already tried to grab the Fangblades and was now stuck in vines that wrapped around his arms.
"Aah! It's a trap." Cole said and we were locked in a cage. We all then looked over as Pythor showed up.
"Come, come, can this get any better? Seriously. They fell right into my trap." Pythor grinned as he held the last Fangblade.
"Oh, this isn't good." Kai groaned. Our cage was then brought up high into the air. "Where's Lloyd when you need him?" The snakes had somehow taken Nya's Samurai suit and it was wrapped in chains with our weapons.
"Lloyd? Lord Garmadon? Is anyone there?" Nya asked into the radio after she had thrown a rock at it.
"It's me Nya, I'm here. But my dad left. How are you guys holding up? Nya? Hello?" Lloyd said over the radio. Nya had to throw another rock at the radio so she could reply to him.
"We're fine, but we're a little held up at the moment. Our weapons have been taken, and we're locked in cages." Nya explained.
"And Pythor's returned with the fourth Fangblade." Cole added.
"Lloyd, where did your father go?" Zane asked.
"I told him to leave. He was trying to steal secrets." Lloyd explained.
"Ha. Big surprise there." Kai said sarcastically. "I told you about that guy, but you guys wouldn't listen." Kai said with a grin and I hit him over the head.
"Not the time." I glared.
"My dad's going back to where he came from. But don't worry, I'll save you." Lloyd said.
"You are not ready, Lloyd. Your destiny is too great to risk." Wu said.
"I hate to break it to you, Sensei, but if we don't get out of here before Pythor unleashed the Great Devourer, I think this will be the end of all our destinies." Cole said.
"Ugh, I'll get you out of there in a jiff." Lloyd said before the radio went silent. The snakes then began cheering and I turned to look below us.
"Together, we have taken back the four Fangblades. When we return them to the city of Ouroboros, together we will unleash the Great Devourer!" Pythor said and all the snakes started cheering. "To the city of Ouroboros!"
"We spent so much time digging this underground fortress, it'd be a shame not to use it a little bit more." A random Constrictai said.
"At least let us celebrate in capturing the ninja." The Venomari general said.
"Then tonight, we celebrate! With a slither pit!" Pythor said and all the snakes started cheering. I turned around and seen Zane meditating, Kai pacing, and Jay and Cole playing chess. Nya and Wu were with me watching the snakes.
"Ugh, so all we can do is just wait? This is killing me." Kai complained.
"Patience. Lloyd will figure something out." Wu said.
"We're putting all of our trust in the son of the greatest villain Ninjago has even seen. Uh, is anyone else having doubts about this plan?" Kai sassed. I grabbed Kai by the front of his gi and slammed him against the bars with a glare.
"That is my brother your talking about. Have more faith. You whine like a baby." I snarled.
"Just because we don't have our weapons, doesn't mean we can't use our powers. We just need to focus." Kai shot back.
"The chamber was built out of Vengestone. Our elemental powers are rendered useless. Patience." Wu said. I glared at Kai one more time before releasing him and walking away from him. Kai then walked over to Jay and Cole and took the hair oil bottle they were using for their game.
"Hey, that hair oil was just about to be kinged." Jay complained.
"Yeah? Well, I'm just about to get us out of here." Kai said as he opened the bottle of hair oil and started covering himself in it.
"Woah, greaseball. How about warning us before you do that?" Cole asked.
"Unh. You can make jokes all you want, but I don't think we need our special powers to get out of here. Just a little ingenuity." Kai said.
"What do you know about ingenuity?" I asked but Kai ignored me as he squeezed through the bars.
"He made it." Jay cheered.
"Look at that." Zane grinned.
"All right, slickster. But now what?" Cole asked.
"Now, we quietly do a little ball and chain." Kai said as he grabbed a chain and looped it around the bars the cage before sliding down the chain.
"Let's change the game, shall we?" A Fangpyre asked into a microphone before pulling a lever and this ring on the floor with pictures on it spun around. I couldn't see what it landed on but the Fangpyre announced it. "Vat of venom!" There was rumbling before the ground slid back to reveal a huge pool of venom with little stone walkways so the fighters had somewhere to walk. "Next two fighters!" Kai then started swinging on the chain, causing the cage to swing back and forth slowly.
"It's working, keep going." Nya cheered.
"Come on, everyone. Let's see if we can throw our weight around." Cole said. He, Jay, Zane, and I then started running back and forth, causing the cage to swing faster.
"Come on. More speed." Jay said.
"Next one and I've got it. Push." Kai said. Nya and Wu joined us and Kai managed to swing and grab onto a ledge, but Pythor grabbed onto him.
"Ah, ah, ah. Trying to escape, are we?" Pythor asked with a grin.
"Heh. I bet this looks kind of bad, doesn't it, huh?" Kai asked nervously. Kai was then tossed back into the cage and these snakelike vines handcuffed one of our hands to the bars so we couldn't move.
"Great, we're in such a better place than we were before." Cole said sarcastically.
"And now we can't even play checkers." Zane added.
"I was gonna be kinged, Kai." Jay yelled.
"We're stuck handcuffed in a cage with an army of Serpentine below us and your freaking out about playing checkers and not getting kinged?" I asked.
"Don't worry, Sensei, I have faith in Lloyd." Nya said.
"Hey, look up there. It's Lloyd." Kai pointed out. We looked up and seen Lloyd peaking over a ledge. We all stood up and stared as Lloyd started running down the stairs until he tripped and started rolling us way down painfully. We heard the Serpentine fight stop and the cave filled with silence.
"Well, if we don't meet again, Pythor. Unhand the ninja, of suffer humiliation against the Green Ninja!" Lloyd said. It was silent before the entire Serpentine army started laughing.
"Oh, yeah? You and what army?" Pythor asked.
"How about my army of fists?" Lloyd asked as he punched the air but he almost fell, causing the Serpentine to laugh again.
"Or this army!" A voice yelled out. We turned to see Garmadon standing proud with the Skeleton Army behind him and stretched out on the stairs circling around the cave.
"Dad!" Lloyd yelled.
"Lloyd. You helped me realize I do have a choice. And of there is anyone who is going to threaten Ninjago, or better well be me." Garmadon said.
"The Skeleton Army? But why would they fight beside you? You betrayed them and Samukai long ago." Pythor pointed out.
"Because everybody hates snakes." Nuckal said and the entire Skeleton Army laughed.
"Attack!" Pythor yelled.
"Attack!" Nuckal yelled back. The Skeleton and Serpentone army's started fighting each other as a lever was pulled and our cage started moving downwards.
"Hey. We're moving." Jay pointed out the obvious.
"Yeah. The wrong way." Cole said. We then used the bars to hold us up so we didn't touch the venom that was starting to melt the bottom of our cage. I was tied between Zane and Cole. I flapped my wings to try and get higher, but my wing with missing feathers made it hard to fly.
"Lloyd." Nya said. We seen Lloyd sneak passed fighting Serpentine and skeletons before flipping a switch and getting out snake cuffs off and opening our cage. We jumped out before looking up at the chains that held the boys' Golden Weapons and Nya's Samurai mech as they lowered down to us.
"Told you I'd save you." Lloyd said. I could only guess he was grinning under his mask.
"Go, ninja, go!" Kai cheered. We grabbed our weapons while Nya got in her mech with Wu in his chair.
"Ninja, go!" Me and the boys yelled as we did spinjitzu to attack snakes. Pythor tried to slither away but he bumped into Cole.
"Huh? Going somewhere?" Cole asked as he held his scythe against Pythor's neck while taking the Fangblades from him. Pythor then grinned before turning invisible. "Where did he go?"
"Who cares? We have the Fangblades. Let's get out of here." Kai said.
"Ninja, go!" We yelled again as we used spinzitsu to climb the stairs that circle around the cave.
"Don't worry about us. We'll keep fighting the good fight." Kruncha said. Kai stopped spinning to give a salute to Kruncha.
"I never thought I'd be saying this but.........go, ninja, go!" Nuckal yelled. Kai then joined us as we ran through the tunnel we came through and climbed back up the ladder. We boarded the Bounty before taking off away from the mountain. The boys then had the idea to throw a party in the brig to celebrate getting the Fangblades. We gather in the brig and there was a disco ball in the middle of the room with the lights dimmed for the party and we each had a cup of punch that Cole made. And it honestly wasn't bad. Everyone was dancing and laughing to the music but I stayed in a corner while I sipped my punch. Party's weren't really my thing. I noticed a sad Lloyd walk through the door as he walked towards Nya.
"He left, didn't he?" Nya asked with a knowing look. "Then have some Snogfruit punch. Cole made it and it's actually not bad." Nya said as she handed him a cup of the punch. "To Lloyd's dad."
"Hear, hear!" We said as we raised our glasses.
"To Dad." Lloyd repeated.
"Tomorrow we arrive at Torchfire Mountain to destroy these Fangblades once and for all. And it couldn't have been done without your father. I'm going to miss him." Wu said. The boys then continued to laugh and dance but I decided to leave. I held my cup as I walked out of the brig and to the side of the ship to stare at the clouds. I was so lost in my thoughts that I was surprised when someone cleared their throat as they came up beside me and leaned their arms against the railings. I turned to see it was Cole.
"What are you doing out here?" I asked.
"Shouldn't I ask you that?" He grinned. I only shrugged before taking a sip of my drink.
"I guess party's are just not my thing. Probably because I've never been to one." I said.
"You've never been to a party?" Cole asked shocked.
"My childhood wasn't really a place I could go to party's. And while Wu raised me I was more focused on getting stronger rather than going to party's." I explained and Cole nodded in understanding.
"Can you dance?" He suddenly asked.
"W-what?" I gasped. I was shocked he'd asked that.
"Can you dance?" He asked again.
"Sorta. I used to dance with the girl from my childhood when we found the time." I answered. Cole then grabbed my cup and set it down beside his.
"Then let's dance." He grinned.
"Can you dance?" I asked with a smirk.
"Har-har. Yes, I can dance. Kind of." He answered. Cole led me a little from the railings before placing his hand on my waist, resting my hand on his shoulder, and holding my other hand as we slowly started to dance. I grinned as I slowly got the hand of it and started to dance more smoothly.
"Thank you." I mumbled as I rested my head against his chest.
"For what?" Cole questioned.
"For this. And for being there for me. I've been so stressed lately and I've been needing to let the stress go." I murmured.
"Your welcome." Cole answered as we continued to dance across the deck, unaware of the spying eyes of our teammates.