Snake Attack! Page 3

  “I’m starting to believe we might never catch him,” Zane admitted.

  “I think it’s safe to say, none of us are closer to proving we’re the Green Ninja,” Kai said sadly.

  Sensei Wu walked in, smiling. It was nice to see his ninja working hard at something.

  “Looks like iron sharpening iron,” he said. “You’re getting closer to your true potential.”

  Then he looked around the table. “Where is my nephew? I thought you were looking after him.”

  “I thought Cole was going to pick him up,” Kai said.

  “I went to the arcade, but he wasn’t there,” Cole explained. “Jay was —”

  “Don’t bring me into this, I babysat yesterday,” Jay said defensively.

  Zane was concerned. “Sensei, we have not seen him.”

  A worried look crossed Sensei Wu’s face. “We must find the boy.”

  The ninja hurried back to Ninjago City and headed to the arcade.

  “Lloyd?” Kai called out as he opened the door, but Lloyd was nowhere in sight.

  “He was right here,” Kai said, pointing to the door where he had left Lloyd. “Someone must have seen him.”

  Then Cole noticed something — a security camera mounted on a light post outside the door. He took the tape from the camera and they quickly returned to the ship to analyze it. It wasn’t long before they spotted Lloyd on the tape — wearing a snake costume and heading into the alley.

  “There’s the pipsqueak!” Kai said.

  “What is he up to?” Jay wondered aloud.

  The ninja returned to the alleyway. Zane spotted child-sized footprints and followed them.

  “I sense these are Lloyd’s footprints, but they come to an end here,” he said. “Why?”

  Kai pointed to the tire tracks left by the bus. “Something tells me we’re going for a ride. Come on, guys!”

  They transformed their Weapons into vehicles, and they followed the tracks across the desert. Their supercharged rides were a lot faster than the bus, but the journey still took a long time. They skidded to a stop when they came to the stone Serpentine statues.

  “What is this place?” Cole asked.

  “Looks like Snake City,” Jay guessed.

  “Let’s get a closer look,” Kai suggested.

  Serpentine warriors guarded the city entrance, so the ninja transformed their vehicles back into Weapons and took to the rooftops. They cautiously made their way toward the coliseum, jumping from building to building.

  When they reached the arena, they jumped down and hid behind a large stone pillar. The sight of hundreds of Serpentine gathered together was truly amazing.

  “It appears Pythor has successfully united the tribes,” Zane remarked.

  “Why didn’t we get an invitation? My feelings are hurt,” Jay joked.

  “There’s Lloyd!” Kai cried, pointing.

  Poor Lloyd was trapped in a black metal cage hanging from the statue of the Great Devourer.

  “And look at who they worship,” Jay said, pointing to the evil-looking giant statue.

  “Let me guess. The Great Devourer,” Cole said grimly.

  “All the more reason to get Lloyd out of here,” Kai said with determination. He drew the Sword of Fire. “This comes to an end today!”

  Cole, Zane, and Jay all unleashed their weapons. They charged into the arena as a team.

  Clank! A metal cage dropped from above, trapping them. Their Weapons flew out of their hands and landed just out of reach.

  Pythor slithered up to them with a pleased look on his face.

  “Looks like we’ve caught the main event,” he said, licking his lips.

  The ninja were helpless to fight back as a group of sword-wielding snake warriors surrounded them. The cage rose up, and the soldiers marched them into the Slither Pit.

  “‘Main event’? What do you think he meant by ‘main event’?” Jay asked.

  “I have a feeling we’re the main event,” Kai told him.

  Cole looked around at the hundreds of cheering Serpentine. “Or the main course,” he quipped.

  “Don’t worry,” Kai said in a panicked voice. “The Samurai could still come around to save us.”

  Then Pythor made an announcement from his perch underneath the statue of the Great Devourer.

  “You say you want a battle, and I give you one!” he cried. “I give you ninja versus … samurai!”

  The ninja gasped as a gate opened up in the wall across from them. The Samurai marched out, wearing his metal exo-suit. Heavy chains around his robot wrists kept him tied to the gate. Two Serpentine warriors released the chains, and the Samurai stomped forward.

  “What?” Jay asked angrily. “We have to fight the Samurai? But we don’t even have our Golden Weapons, and he has that hulking thing of armor. It’s not fair!”

  Pythor had no interest in a fair fight. “I want to see once and for all who is the greatest hero!” he announced. “Is it samurai or ninja? Only the victor will be allowed to leave.”

  Kai nodded to his friends. “Stay together.”

  “Perhaps he can join our team to fight our way out,” Zane said. “After all, he hates the Serpentine, too.”

  The Samurai shot a spinning metal disc right at the ninja. They had to jump in different directions to dodge it.

  “Scratch that,” Cole said. “He is not on our team!”

  The Samurai barreled forward and swung at the ninja with his huge robot hand. Zane, Cole, and Kai dodged out of the way, and Jay expertly flipped over the hand, avoiding the blow.

  The four ninja regrouped, forming a defensive line. The Samurai sent another metal disc spinning toward them. Cole, Zane, and Kai scattered, and Jay ducked as the disc soared over his head.

  “Ha-ha! Missed me!” he cried. But the blade boomeranged back and struck the back of his helmet.

  “Ow!” Jay yelled, and the Serpentine cheered. His friends ran up to him.

  Then the Samurai drew a huge silver sword. He jumped high in the air and then brought the sword down on the ninja. Once again, they had to jump and flip to dodge the attack.

  “Tornado of Creation?” Zane asked when they were back on their feet.

  The other ninja nodded. This Spinjitzu move was nearly impossible to beat because it involved all four of their powers.

  “Earth!” Cole cried, becoming a spinning whirlwind.

  “Fire!” yelled Kai as he created his Spinjitzu tornado.

  “Ice!” cried Zane.

  “Lightning!” yelled Jay.

  The four separate tornadoes sparked with energy as they spun around the Slither Pit. Fearful of what was about to happen, the Samurai took a step backward.

  “Ninjaaaaago!” the ninja yelled together.

  Then the four tornadoes collided, creating one massive whirlwind that glowed with white, blue, black, and red light. The powerful tornado sucked any loose object in the arena toward it — rocks, swords, even the candy that the Serpentine were eating in the stands.

  When the tornado stopped spinning, the objects had been combined to create an entirely new object: a giant slingshot with a huge spiked ball nestled in the sling. The four ninja pulled back on the sling and sent the spiked ball flying across the Slither Pit.

  Bam! The ball knocked into the Samurai, sending him colliding into Pythor and Scales.

  The ninja raced forward to finish the fight, but Pythor pulled a serpent-shaped lever next to him. Sharp stone spikes popped up from the arena floor, blocking their path. The ninja looked around and saw that the spikes formed a spiral all around the Slither Pit.

  “Why can’t anyone play fair?” Jay complained.

  Pythor grinned and pulled the lever again. The floor of the arena rose and then tilted, knocking them off of their feet. Flames burst up all around the fighting area. The ninja and the Samurai slid down the slanted floor and had to grab on to the spikes to keep from sliding off into the fire. “Can this get any worse?” Cole asked.

  The Samurai turned
to the ninja and spoke in a low voice. “We must continue to make it appear that we are fighting for real,” he said.

  “We’re not fighting for real?” Jay asked.

  “Keep up the charade and hold on to my exo-suit,” the Samurai instructed.

  The ninja had no choice but to trust the Samurai. With a cry, they all jumped on the exo-suit, pretending to attack the Samurai. Then the Samurai pressed a button, and two jet thrusters burst into flame on the bottom of his robot feet. As the ninja hung on, the suit began to lift off into the sky, leaving plumes of black smoke in its wake.

  Then the jet thrusters began to sputter and shake.

  “There’s too much weight!” Kai cried.

  The Samurai opened the cage on the exo-suit’s chest and jumped back down into the arena. Now that the suit was lighter, it quickly zoomed away.

  “I can’t believe he just saved us!” Cole yelled.

  “He stole our thunder again!” Kai cried angrily.

  “I hate that samurai!” Jay shouted.

  Then they soared away from the arena to safety.

  Go, ninja, go!” Lloyd yelled as the ninja soared away. Pythor looked furious.

  The Samurai landed on the stands.

  Pow! Pow! He knocked down two snake warriors with a quick left hand followed by a quick right. Then he jumped into the Slither Pit and raced to Lloyd’s cage.

  Pythor was faster. He yanked open the cage door and pulled Lloyd to him.

  “Get him!” he yelled to his soldiers.

  At the command, snake warriors surrounded the Samurai. If he was going to escape, he had to do it now — without Lloyd.

  But he didn’t have to leave empty-handed. The Samurai pressed a button on his left sleeve and pointed it at the ninja’s four Golden Weapons, which were propped up against the statue of the Great Devourer.

  “Magnetizer activated,” the Samurai said, and a blue beam shot out. It latched on to the four Weapons, and they floated to the Samurai. He jumped up, spinning, to catch the Weapons in midair. Then he stuffed them into a special pack.

  But the snake warriors were coming closer. Thinking quickly, the Samurai hurled a metal disc at the Slither Pit’s control button. It hit the button and the arena tilted.

  “Aaaaaah!” The Serpentine cried out as they slid down toward the flames under the pit. The Samurai rocketed upward. Lloyd gazed up at him with admiration.

  The Samurai waved good-bye to Pythor, who roared with anger. Then he flew off into the sky, carrying the Golden Weapons with him.

  Meanwhile, the Samurai’s exo-suit was rocketing out of control, spinning and swooping in the sky. The ninja hung on tightly.

  “How do you turn this thing off?” Kai yelled.

  But there was no off button. The suit crash-landed on the sandy floor of the desert, bouncing again and again before it finally came to a stop. The impact sent the four ninja across the yellow desert sand.

  Bruised and shaken, Jay got to his feet and looked around. The crash had kicked up a lot of sand, and he shielded his eyes to get a better look. They were surrounded by sand dunes, and he could make out the battered exo-suit. Then he saw Zane in his white uniform stand up and wave. And there was Cole. But one ninja was missing.

  Kai had landed facedown yards away next to a large sand dune, so his friends couldn’t see him. He pulled himself out and then looked around, but all he could see was miles of sand.

  Then he saw a flash of red speeding across the blue sky.

  “The Samurai?” Kai wondered aloud. He watched as the Samurai’s jet pack began to spit out thick, black smoke. The jet pack sputtered, and now it was the Samurai’s turn to make a crash-landing.

  Bam! It didn’t look good. Kai raced forward to help. When he arrived, the Samurai had his back to him. His helmet looked broken, and Kai watched as the Samurai took it off to fix it.

  This is my chance! Kai thought, his heart beating with excitement. Once I see the Samurai’s face, I will know his real identity. Then everyone will have to agree that I am the Green Ninja!

  Underneath the helmet was a head of shiny black hair. Kai gasped, and the Samurai spun around at the sound. He knew that face.

  It was his sister, Nya!

  Nya?” Kai asked in disbelief.

  Nya quickly tried to put the broken helmet back on.

  “Uh, steer clear, ninja! Don’t look!” she said. But the device she used to make her voice sound deeper wasn’t working. With a sigh, Nya took off the helmet once more.

  “I don’t understand,” Kai said. “You’re the Samurai?”

  “It was always a boy’s club,” Nya explained. “You never let me try to help. So I found my own way to be a hero. Are you mad?”

  “Mad? Of course not,” her brother replied. “It’s just … all this time, I’ve been trying to protect you, and you never needed it. You’re amazing!”

  Nya grinned and playfully punched her brother in the shoulder.

  “Girl power!” she cheered. Then her smile was replaced by a worried look. “You’re not gonna tell the others, are you?”

  “But we have a bet,” Kai said. “We said whoever caught the Samurai would be the Green …”

  Kai didn’t have the heart to finish his sentence when he saw the look on Nya’s face. She looked horrified at the idea that the others would find out her secret.

  “Of course I won’t say anything,” Kai said with a sigh. Being the Green Ninja meant a lot to him — but his sister meant even more.

  He pointed to Nya’s jet pack. “So how did you make all this stuff?”

  “You’d be surprised to know how much spare time I had waiting for you guys to come back from your missions,” Nya told him.

  She handed him the red pack containing the Golden Weapons. “You’d better head back before anyone gets suspicious,” she told him. “We’ll have to rescue Lloyd another day.”

  Kai nodded. A serious look crossed his face. “Nya, whenever I get in trouble, the other three always have my back,” he said. “But you … just … be careful, okay?”

  Nya nodded. “Promise.”

  “But how are you going to get back?” Kai asked her.

  Nya grinned. “I have my ways!” she replied, picking up her helmet and pressing a button.

  On the other side of the desert, Jay, Cole, and Zane were searching for Kai when they heard the exo-suit begin to beep in the distance. Then they heard the engines begin to fire up.

  “Quick! Get it! It’s going to get away!” Jay yelled.

  They ran as fast as they could, but it was no use. The exo-suit flew away without them, trailing plumes of black smoke in its wake. They stopped and doubled over, trying to catch their breath.

  “Great,” Jay complained. “Now we lost Kai, the Samurai suit is gone, and we have no way to get home.”

  Cole turned and looked at the top of the dune behind them.

  “I wouldn’t say that,” he remarked.

  Zane and Jay turned to see Kai making his way over the hill — carrying the four Golden Weapons!

  “It’s about time! Now let’s get out of this sand pit!” Jay said.

  Using the Golden Weapons, the ninja made it back to Destiny’s Bounty. Nya was already there, thanks to the exo-suit. But no one — except for Kai, of course — knew that she had even been gone.

  The ship soared above the clouds. White stars twinkled in the deep blue sky, casting a blue glow over the whole ship. As the ninja got ready for bed, they talked about the day’s events with Sensei Wu.

  “He was all mysterious,” Kai said as he brushed his teeth. “Never said a word. Just handed me the Golden Weapons then poof! He was gone.”

  Cole raised an eyebrow. “Poof? He just poofed?”

  Jay had some questions, too. “Wait a minute, Kai. If the Samurai had his hands on the most powerful weapons in the whole wide world, why would he just give them back?”

  Just then, Nya walked past, trying to act casual as she listened in.

  “I don’t know,” Kai said
. “Maybe she —”

  Nya shot him a warning look.

  “I mean, maybe he’s not so bad after all,” Kai said. “All I do know is that we owe him our lives, and maybe he has made us all a little better.”

  “I sense this means the bet is off,” Zane remarked.

  “More important, my nephew has found his way into the den of snakes,” Sensei Wu said. “I fear there may be no way of rescuing him now.”

  “Sensei, there’s always a way,” Kai said confidently.

  “And don’t worry. We’ll find it,” Cole added.

  Sensei nodded and walked away. He closed the door behind him and found Nya in the hallway next to her room.

  “I think you forgot this,” he said. Then he took the metal spinning disc from behind his robe and handed it to her.

  Nya looked at Sensei Wu, surprised. How did he know? she wondered.

  “Iron sharpens iron, and sibling sharpens sibling,” Sensei Wu said. Then he smiled and walked away.

  Nya went into her room, closing the door behind her. Now that all the Serpentine were united under Pythor, she knew there would be trouble headed their way soon. But she also knew that no matter what challenges she faced, she had the support of her brother, and that was the most important thing of all.

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  First printing, September 2012

  e-ISBN 978-0-545-76600-5

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