"No!" I scream, struggling to escape Kai's grip on my hand. My outburst draws the Devourer's attention to us.
Jay grabs my shoulder, slowly helping Kai pull me back under the 'safety' of the archway. "Maybe if we stand perfectly still..."
"Run!" Kai shouts. He pulls me aggressively from Jay and drags me down the corridor, back towards the bounty.
"Hey! Wait for me!" Jay squeals.
We run like hell to the bounty. The ship is just starting up when we climb aboard. We race into the Bridge to find Nya and Lloyd frantically pressing buttons to get out ship in the air. Jay is the last one to roll in. He lands right in front of the computer screen, which displays the Devourer slithering towards us at full speed.
"Uh, hate to tell you this, but objects in the mirror are closer than they appear!" he screams.
Nya sends him a quick glare. "Working on it! Blasters on full!"
Just as the Devourer lunges to eat us, we speed away. I let out a sigh of relief as the image of the devourer gets smaller and smaller as we go faster and faster. Kai lets go of my hand and races to look out the back window.
"Woo-hoo! Take that, you stupid snake!" he shouts. Following his words, the snake bursts out of the ground in front of us.
"I think it heard you!" Jay yells. Nya spins the wheel, turning the ship to the side in order to avoid the teeth of the Devourer.
"Nya, we gotta go faster. That thing is gaining on us!" Kai shouts.
"We're going as fast as we can. I'll try to make it to Scatter Canyon," she replies.
"Probability of us making it that far is less than eight percent!" Zane says.
Nya groans. "Never tell me the odds!"
"It's coming for another attack!" Cole yells. "Port side!"
The boat lurches right again to avoid the snake's attack. "We're loosing speed. We'll drop to the ground pretty soon," Lloyd wails.
"Throw everything overboard," I say. The boys turn to look at me like I have four arms. I sigh exasperatedly, trying hard not to sound snarky with my explanation. "We need to loose some weight."
"Port side!" Lloyd shrieks. We turn right again to avoid the Devourer.
The boys and I rush from the bridge and throw everything we can overboard. Cole throws the fridge, Jay throws a bunch of chairs, Zane throws an electronical thing, Kai throws Uncle's teapot; the Devourer eats all of it. We begin to gain speed while the Devourer grows bigger.
"Man, he sure is hungry. Does anyone else think the Devourer looks bigger than it did before?" Jay says.
Cole's eyes widen, as do mine. "The more it consumes, the bigger it gets!" he shouts.
"Don't throw anything else overboard!" I add.
"We made it to Scatter Canyon. Hold on!" Nya announces.
Our ship lurches right, nearly knocking me overboard. Cole grabs my hand and pulls me into the Bridge by my brother. Jay lets out a small shriek as a 3D image of the devourer jumps from the computer screen. Everyone but Kai is now in the Bridge. After many winding turns, the Devourer is nowhere to be seen.
"We lost him!" Cole says in relief. He spoke too soon. The Devourer came crashing down on us, it's claw-like tail ripping the sails and destroying the rocket boosters.
"Abandon ship!" Nya cries as the vessel begins to fall to the ground.
I grab Lloyd's hand, pulling him harshly towards the door. We exit the Bridge just as the Bounty collides with the ground. The force of impact sends us tumbling down the stairs. I barely notice Jay catapulting through the window. My focus is getting Lloyd out. Nya lands in her Samurai Mech beside me. She scoops me and my brother up before following the boys away from our wrecked ship. We land in a nearby cave and turn just in time to watch the Devourer swallow the Bounty hole.
"It's gone," Cole says, walking deeper into the cave.
Kai lays down at the entrance, panting. "That was so intense. All that action makes you so thirsty!"
I know this is a very serious situation, but I couldn't help myself. With a cheeky grin plastered on my face, I let go of Lloyd and prance over to Kai. I climb onto his lap so that my body straddles his and press my lips passionately to his. He kisses back for a moment, but ultimately comes to his senses and pulls away. He lightly pushes me off him, sending me a playful glare.
"Not that kind of thirsty," Kai says. I give him a wink before climbing off him and standing back up.
"Did you seriously just do that? In front of Lloyd?" Jay exclaims.
I shrug. "Please. He doesn't understand."
"I understand enough to know that that was dirty and gross!" Lloyd says, scrunching up his nose. I stick my tongue out at him and he returns the gesture.
"There's no time for this. We need to warn people before it becomes bigger," Zane says. He's always the one to put us back on track.
"Bigger? Bigger? That thing in one big bite crushed our entire ship!" Jay screeches. He begins to pace back and fourth. "We need to save as many as we can. We'll find some kind of refuge, somewhere safe to hide. Ooo! The Serpentine Tombs. Yeah, they're underground. Sure, we'll be without sunlight, but they'll be perfect!"
Cole turns towards him with a glare. "And what? Just give up?"
Jay paces towards Cole. "You know as well as I do, we have no chance at stopping that thing."
Kai gets up and pulls the two apart. "Hey, stop it! Listen to yourselves. Is this what Sensei Wu would've wanted? Us fighting? Running and hiding? Giving up?"
"But he's not here any more," Lloyd says dejectedly.
I walk over to my baby brother and pull him into a side hug. "But his teachings live on."
Kai nods. "Sensei once told me it's not the size of a Ninja in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the Ninja. All this training, all these battles we've had with skeletons and Serpentine. We've persevered through so much, we cant just give up now. A Ninja never admits defeat. A Ninja always picks himself up when he is down."
"Which is exactly what my Uncle would want us to do right now," I conclude.
"But how do we destroy a snake of that magnitude?" Zane asks.
"Yeah, it's not like we have an extra Sacred Flute lying around to charm it. Or wait, haha, how about one of our awesome Dragons? Oh, I forgot. They took off and left us high and dry. Or, hey, what about our Golden Weapons? Which will do nothing against a snake that size!" Jay screams. "Heh, oh, we are so hooped."
Cole sighs. "Jay's right. We would need a weapon so big."
"Or an idea that's even bigger!" Kai yells. He jumps slightly. "Hah! Jay, you're a genius!" He points at Jay who is now laying on his side, using his hand to support his head. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
Jay shrugs. "Probably not, but go ahead."
"There's no time. I'll fill you guys in on the way!" Kai shouts. He races from the cave.
"Wha- where are you going?" Jay calls after him.
Kai doesn't look back. "We're going to destroy that snake once and for all."
~
Kai took us to Ed and Edna's Junk Yard. While I care deeply for Kai and trust his judgement, his choice to take us here really confuses me. This place is full of things the Devourer can eat, which would make it bigger. Plus, Kai didn't fill us in on the way like he said he would. I have no clue what he is up to.
"Good idea, Kai. If the Devourer likes to consume, this place is a full-on buffet!" Cole shouts.
Jay sighs. "Looks like my parents are gone."
"Good, better for us," he says as he lays out a blueprint.
"When did you have time to make that?" I wonder aloud.
"Don't ask questions," Kai replies with a wink.
"It's so awesome!" Jay marvels.
"Zane, you still have the recording of the Sacred Flute in your memory bank?" Kai asks.
"It might've been destroyed earlier, but I have it's exact tone recorded and ready for playback," Zane says before playing a short clip of the recording.
"Good. There should be enough spare parts around here to create our biggest Tornado of Creation yet. This is gonna be dangerous and we cant have anyone around," Kai says.
As if on cue, the familiar whistle of the post man graces our ears. Cole groans. "What's he doing here?"
The Postman jumps slightly as we approach him. "Ahh! You Ninja are always sneaking around, giving people heart attacks. You're too quiet."
"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. But you need to get out of here now," Kai says.
He crosses his arms. "Well now, I too have a job to do and that's delivering the mail, which I plan to do."
"Look, dude, my parents aren't even here. You should really be on your way," Jay says, taking the mail from the poor mail man.
"Them too? Uh, let me guess, are they at the Take Back Ninjago rally?" the postman says with a roll of his eyes.
Jay furrows his eyebrows. "Uh, Take Back Ninjago rally?"
"What, you guys haven't heard? Everyone's getting together for a rally in the city. You know, to raise awareness about all the Serpentine problems that have been surfacing lately," the postman explains.
Lloyd giggles. "Would you look at that! You guys are inspirational!"
The postman shakes his head and rolls his eyes. Then he freezes. "Wait a minute, you know what? You guys are right. Wherever you guys are, trouble is always right around the corner."
I stop listening after that. My first instinct is to grab Lloyd's hand and stumble backwards. The Great Devourer is slithering up behind the postman and he has no idea. The Ninja begin to step backwards as well while the postman continues his rant. When he finishes, he turns around and spots the devourer. He lets out a small scream and jumps into a trash can.
"It's now or never, guys!" Kai shouts.
I pull Lloyd away and join Nya behind a pile of trash while the four Ninja do their Tornado of creation. I've never seen them do it before, and to be honest, its cool as hell. Their tornado disappears to reveal what Kai called the Ultra Sonic Radar. I hug Lloyd close to my side as they fire a wave of the Sacred Flute tune at the devourer. The giant snake easily dodges it and lunges at the Ninja.
For a short time, the Ninja drive in circles and figure eights to avoid the devourer's attacks. They fire another sound wave and miss again. They drive up a garbage ramp and jump beyond the walls of the junk yard so that we can no longer see them. We do, however, see a grappling hook latch onto the Devourer's neck. The ninja drive back into view, pulling the devourer's head down to the ground. They fire another sound wave and this time it hits the snake. The Devourer lets out a mighty roar as it collapses to the ground. Just when we think we win, we loose. The snake's giant claw for a tail comes up out of the ground behind the ninja and smashes down on them, ripping apart the back, destroying Zane's seat. Content, the Devourer slithers away.
"Is everybody okay!" Cole yells, jumping out of the Ultra Sonic Radar.
"Where's Zane?" Lloyd wails.
"Right here," says Zane. He climbs out of the pile of rubble, but half his face has been torn off to reveal the metal beneath. "That was a close one."
"Too close," Kai says. He jumps from the Ultra Sonic Radar and gives me a short hug.
"Perfect. Now that was a total failure," Jay shouts.
Kai shakes his head. "Not total. Did you guys notice on his forehead? It has a weak spot."
Jay throws his hands in the air and begins to pace back and fourth. "Oh, great. Let me make a note of that. Giant snake has wee, itty-bitty weak spot--" his voice raises to a scream-- "that'll be totally impossible to get to because the thing is too ridiculously huge to do anything to stop it!"
"Are you done now?" Nya says, crossing her arms.
Jay takes a deep breath. "Ah, yes."
"Because things just got worse. Look," Nya says, pointing at the retreating snake. My heart stops and my face pales.
"It's headed toward Ninjago City," Zane says.
"That's where my parents are," Jay says.
"So is everybody else," Cole adds.
Kai's hand finds mine. He glances at me nervously before turning towards the snake again. "If it consumes the biggest city in all of Ninjago, there will be no stopping it," He says.
~
Ahhh, don't you love cliff hangers? I know I do! One more of episode until the end of the season! Until then, I hope you enjoyed. Wacky AWAY!
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