Previously on Ninjago:
Wu and Nya came over to check on the situation too, as Zane came onto the screen, with an ice biome in his background. "Zane, have you diverted the truck away from the villages?" Wu asked him.
"Yes, and once it's at a safe distance," Zane replied. "I plan to take care of the Anacondrai."
"Good work," Wu praised. "The people are safe."
(Y/N) still believed that things didn't add up.
"No, they aren't," Skylor gasped out on cue, her voice full of panic. "We aren't pulling them away from the people, they're pulling us!"
***
The Greatest Fear of All - Part 3
(Y/N)'s eyes widened, and so did Nya and Wu's. "Stop the trucks!" she ordered into her intercom.
"Everyone, come back now!" Wu yelled.
They watched in horror as Jay's truck smashed into a tree, and when he opened it, he found it empty. The same could be said for the trucks of everyone else.
A massive wave of panic washed over (Y/N) as she saw Lloyd's energy dragon disappear and he fell to the ground near the truck he had stopped. "I'm not afraid. I can do this. I have to get back. I have to get back to (Y/N)." He closed his eyes, trying to make his dragon, and he made a small energy ball before he let out a defeated sigh, and it disappeared. "I can't. I'm too afraid." He hung his head in defeat, and it made (Y/N)'s heart ache.
"It was all a trap," Garmadon said.
"Then that means..." Misako began, horrified.
"The greatest victories... have no battle," Wu uttered. "Our worst fears have come true."
"The new Serpentine War... has just begun," (Y/N) gulped.
***
The Corridor of Elders - Part 1
They tried to reach the Ninja, starting with Kai, who had coincidentally ended up in the desert, right in front of the original Anacondrai tomb.
"Chen has attacked Jamanakai Village," Nya said, trying to convey the message. "Everyone-"
"I can't read you, Nya," Kai cut her off. "Repeat."
Nya and (Y/N) shared a concerned glance before they tried reaching out to Jay in the Birchwood Forest, but had no luck with him either, so they tried to communicate with Lloyd.
"Hurry, Lloyd," (Y/N) rushed out. "Before it's too late!"
"Tell us where we need to go," Lloyd said instead. "I can't use my power, so if anyone is close-"
His voice cut off, and (Y/N)'s eyes widened in panic, and the decision she made next was purely on instinct.
"I'm leaving to find Lloyd," she blurted.
Nya turned to her, shocked. "No, (Y/N), you can't," she pleaded. "Everyone is separated, and the last thing we need is to lose contact with you, too."
"Nya, you know how my powers work," (Y/N) said. "They're going to get out of control the longer Lloyd and I are apart. We've been working on establishing a longer period of stability, but it's not going to last forever."
She sighed and glanced toward Misako, Wu, and Garmadon at the Bounty. "Go," she said. "I'll cover for you."
(Y/N) embraced her, pulling away with a smile. "Thank you so much. I owe you."
Before Nya could change her mind, (Y/N) pulled her mask down and used her powers to go invisible so she could go out of the cave without getting caught.
***
(Y/N) had got into the air and had noted Lloyd's location too before she left. So, the sensible thing to do would be to go on the road he would use to come back to the cave.
A few minutes had gone by until she noticed a truck on the road. She narrowed her eyes and, on instinct, she veered her dragon toward the ground. The wind whipped in her face, and she landed right in front of the truck.
The truck screeched to a halt, and (Y/N) jumped off her dragon, causing it to disappear while she tried to identify the driver.
She didn't need to because she could already feel the aura of her boyfriend. He jumped out of the truck, and she let out a sigh of relief when she saw him safe.
She wasted no time in running toward him and tackling him into a hug, wrapping her arms around his neck as she realised how terrified she had been of losing him.
"I'm so glad you're okay," (Y/N) mumbled into his neck.
Lloyd's arms came around her as he pulled her closer to him. "Me too," he whispered, kissing the top of her head.
(Y/N) leaned back and pressed her lips to his, savouring the warmth of his body and the electricity that moved between them as he kissed her back.
He would never cease to make her feel like this.
They broke away, and her heart fluttered when she saw him smiling. "I am never getting used to that," he breathed out.
She let out a laugh. "Me neither."
***
(Y/N) used her Dragon to take them back as Lloyd remained unsure about using his, even after she tried to help him. They arrived back at the Samurai X cave after they met with Neuro, and he used his mind-reading powers to contact the other masters.
They were the first ones to arrive, and (Y/N) braced herself for the scolding which she would receive from the three elders. Garmadon appeared the most mad, Misako the most worried, and Wu in the middle of the spectrum.
Despite that, (Y/N) noticed tension between them and noticed that the spell gradually wore off her sister and Garmadon as purple vapours.
"Thank goodness you got my message," Neuro said in relief as everyone arrived.
"Tea?" Wu said, standing with Garmadon and Misako as he poured a cup. Garmadon smiled, assuming it for himself, but Wu gave it to Misako instead, giving Garmadon the cold shoulder, and causing the older brother to frown.
(Y/N) and Lloyd noticed before they walked over to Garmadon as he slithered away from the others.
"He knows about the letter?" Lloyd asked his father in concern, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"The message was delivered," Garmadon mumbled, gaze downcast.
"Not from you, I presume?" (Y/N) asked, folding her arms. He shook his head, and she let out a growl. "Chen."
"So why were we asked here?" Griffin asked, diverting the attention to him. "We should be fighting snakes."
"Because anyone can fight," Wu reflected. "Only one side can declare victory."
"In the time it took you to get here, Chen has taken over the entire Eastern seaboard and is moving inland," Nya began, gesturing to the map on the screen, which displayed a lot of red dots near the Sea. "With each village destroyed, they grow stronger."
"That's a lot of red," Karlof commented. "Karlof not like red."
"How are we supposed to stop them?" Gravis said. "Most of us have lost control of our Dragons, not to mention we're outnumbered ten to one."
"Actually, 62.4 to one," Zane added, causing (Y/N) to send him a 'not the time' look.
"Look, I'm scared like the rest of you," Lloyd admitted. "It may look like we've lost, but it's not over."
"When we thought we lost Zane, it nearly tore us apart," (Y/N) added, placing a hand on her friend's shoulder. "But we didn't quit. We let it fuel us. We grew stronger."
"There's hope," Wu said, pointing his staff at the screen as the map changed. "The Corridor of Elders."
"Corridor of Elders?" Shade inquired as the map changed back to normal again.
(Y/N) hummed in thought, trying to remember why it sounded so familiar.
"I know we don't stand much of a chance taking on his entire army at once, but after he's controlled the East, he'll move West tomorrow and have to pass through Echo Canyons," Wu explained. "Our best tactical position is to make our stand where it bottlenecks: here, at the Corridor of Elders, the monuments honouring our ancestors." Ooohhh. That place, (Y/N) realised. "It's the narrowest channel, but our greatest chance."
"If we can't stop them here," Garmadon added. "The rest of Ninjago will fall like dominoes."
"Karlof not like to lose!" Karlof exclaimed. "Karlof fuelled!"
"Then we have one day to save tomorrow," Wu declared.
The entire room erupted in cheers, and (Y/N) smiled, glad that everyone's spirits had been renewed.
***
Staring at the crowd of snakes in front of her, (Y/N) felt all her confidence evaporate.
Yes, snakes. For some stupid reason, without thinking, her stupid ass had volunteered to rally the snakes, not realising that she had to go to the sewers for it.
Beneath Borg Tower lay the subterranean village of Serpentine, once the burial ground of the Stone Army.
Granted, the location itself enchanted her. The serpentine had added their touch to it, and aside from the black stones embedded with yellow, sparkling spots which made the ceiling of the cave look like the night sky, they had added a lot more laps on the ground, bringing the whole place to light and diminishing the once-gloomy atmosphere. In addition, they carved out paths to make it look more like a proper village.
(Y/N) inhaled, trying to calm down as she counted back to one from five. She cleared her throat, and the buzzing of the conversations went quiet.
No backing out now, (Y/N).
"Hi," she began, nervous on the inside but trying not to show it. "I'm (Y/N) or, as most of you may know me, The Silver Ninja." She had the whole thing prepared like she would give a talk show, but everything evaporated from her now.
"Uh, so I joined the Ninja quite some time ago and even though I've never directly fought snakes, I've always had a dislike of them." At that, she swore she felt some hatred dissipating from the crowd in waves. "But I suppose it's because I lost my adoptive parents to The Great Devourer and my Sensei got bit by it."
"But I know that most of you helped the citizens of Ninjago when the Overlord became the Golden Master and that proves that even snakes can be good," she said, her eyes sweeping over the snakes as she stood on a raised stone platform in front of them. "So from now on, I promise to develop a different perspective of snakes; a positive perspective."
(Y/N) moved on to the reason she had sought them out. "And as you all might be aware, Chen and his 'fake' Anacondrai are taking over Ninjago. So, all I'm asking you guys is to fight not for Ninjago or us, but to fight for yourselves, your friends, and your family."
She felt uneasy as the underground civilization lapsed into silence for a moment before everyone erupted into cheers, taking her by shock.
IT WORKED?! MY SPEECH WORKED?!
Despite her disbelief, she let out a laugh, relief filling her.
***
After everybody had rallied their allies, they stood in the Corridor of Elders, waiting for Chen and his army.
Standing beside Lloyd, (Y/N) felt goosebumps as he took his hand in hers and gave it a squeeze, which she returned.
"Always and forever?" (Y/N) asked, looking at him from the corner of her eye.
He smiled. "Always and forever."
Rumbling echoed through the valley, and they looked ahead, and Chen's Anacondrai army came into view, equipped with swords and four Cultists carrying the Rotor with Chen sitting in it.
"Huh," Jay gulped out, sounding terrified. "There's so many of them."
Lloyd and (Y/N) let go of each other's hands, and he used his powers to make a line on the dirt, right in front of where they were standing. They both nodded at each other before they pulled their masks over their faces and turned around to face their side of the people.
"We fight for each other!" Lloyd exclaimed.
"We fight as one!" (Y/N) cheered, trying to hype everyone.
The Elemental Masters were right behind them, and as the Ninja pulled their masks over their faces, everyone cheered, including the snakes and the people of Ninjago that they had brought together to fight.
"Hold the line!" Lloyd yelled as they all turned to face the snakes, getting into their fighting stances. "Hold the line!" he repeated, putting his arms out as the snakes charged toward them, roaring.
"Hold!" (Y/N) shouted, whipping out her dual blades.
They stood in anticipation as the Anacondrai came closer to them, and when the snakes were a few feet away from them, they fell into a hole that the Masters had covered.
Ha! Chen wasn't the only one with traps up his sleeve.
"Now!" Lloyd ordered.
WHOOO!
How you guys doingg??
Once again, apologies for my absence. 👀
Anyways-
I WATCHED THE 2ND PART OF 'NINJAGO: DRAGONS RISING' LAST WEEK AND IT WAS AMAZZZZZZZZIIIIIIIIINGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LEMME KNOW HOW MANY OF YOU HAVE WATCHED IT BECAUSE I NEED SOMEONE TO FANGIRL OVER IT WITH ME!
LOVE YOU ALL! 💖
STAY SAFE!
STAY HAPPY!