Chapter Text
I’d never felt so helpless in my life as I watched the events fold out in front of me.
The Great Devourer let out a loud, terrifying roar as it striked. Its giant head charged downward, and before I knew it, it had devoured Sensei Wu and Pythor in one swift gulp.
“Sensei!”
“No!”
I stood there with my mouth agape, hardly able to believe what had just happened. But, there it was, reality smacking me in the face. He… He can’t be gone! He just can’t!
Before I had time to get over my shock, Nya was picking up me and Lloyd in the hands of her exo-suit. She rocketed into the air, quickly taking us out of harm's way and back up to the Destiny’s Bounty. I realized with a jolt that the Great Devourer would be coming for us next, if we didn’t hurry.
“We have to get out of here!” Nya exclaimed, frantically landing her exo-suit and putting the two of us down. She didn’t even bother taking off her Samurai armor, instead heading straight up to the bridge when she hopped out of the suit. Lloyd and I followed close behind her.
Nya immediately leapt into action, starting the ship up again and landing it so that the ninja could come aboard when they arrived. Lloyd fearfully peered out the window, perching on a barrel and watching the giant snake approach us. I scurried around, trying to help Nya however I could.
“Fire up the engines!” she told me.
I looked at the console and shook my head. “There’s no wind!” I informed her. “And we only have reserve fuel!”
“Use it!” she ordered.
I nodded, frantically firing up the engines again. I hoped that we would be able to escape with what little fuel we had left. As the ship thundered to life, the ninja all tumbled into the bridge. Jay rolled in last, landing on his feet next to the computer monitor, which had a live feed of the Great Devourer slithering straight for us.
“Uh, hate to tell you this, but objects in the mirror are closer than they appear!” he shouted, freaking out.
“Working on it,” Nya replied from the wheel. “Blasters on full.”
Kai was perched where Lloyd was earlier, looking out the window. Lloyd and I were keeping watch over the engines and fuel, Cole and Zane closeby.
Terror erupted in my stomach as the Great Devourer grew ever closer. Then, to my great relief, the Bounty rocketed off the ground just in time, narrowly missing the Great Devourer’s strike and flying into the sky.
“Woo-hoo!” Kai cheered as he hopped off the barrel. “Take that, you stupid snake!”
A moment after his cheering, the Great Devourer suddenly erupted from the ground right in front of us, roaring in rage.
“Uh, I think it heard you!” Jay exclaimed.
Nya yanked the ship to the right at the last moment, missing the Great Devourer’s strike again. The snake didn’t give up, however, and kept slithering after us. You’d think that such a big snake would be super slow, but nope---he was slithering faster than I’d thought to be possible, actually travelling at the same speed as the Bounty was flying.
“Nya, we gotta go faster,” Kai urged his sister. “That thing is gaining on us!”
“We’re going as fast as we can!” Nya informed him. “I’ll try to make it to Scattered Canyon.”
Zane offered his calculation. “Probability of us making it that far is less than eight percent!”
“Never tell me the odds!”
“It’s coming in for another attack!” Cole announced from where we stood at the consoles. “Port side!”
Nya swerved the ship to the right again, dodging the Devourer’s strike once more. But how long could she keep it up?
Lloyd looked up from his screen. “We’re losing speed,” he told Nya. “We’ll drop to the ground pretty soon!”
“Throw everything overboard!” Nya ordered.
Everyone responded with a surprised “What?!”
“We need to lose some weight!” she explained.
I realized her wisdom. “She’s right!” I said. “The less we have on board, the faster we can move!”
“Port side!” Lloyd shouted, warning Nya of another oncoming attack. This time, she wasn’t quick enough, and the Great Devourer ate half of one of the rocket boosters propelling the ship.
All the ninja ran out of the bridge, throwing everything overboard that wasn’t important. I saw the trail of stuff they left in our wake, and was sad for a moment to see everything go. But if we didn’t do this, then the Great Devourer would catch us for sure. On the screen, the power to the engines increased as we lost weight, allowing us to move faster.
Unfortunately, I saw the Great Devourer eating everything that the ninja threw overboard. When it did, it seemed to grow larger and larger… Uh oh. Cole eventually noticed this, and stopped everyone from throwing things overboard.
Nya breathed a sigh of relief. “Phew. We made it to Scattered Canyon. Hold on!”
Nya swiftly maneuvered the Bounty through the maze-like canyon, dodging and weaving as she tried to lose the Great Devourer. I heard its ferocious roars as it chased us, and I prayed that we would be able to escape it. Then, after a few tense moments, it was silent. The scanners stopped detecting the giant snake. I went to look out the window with Cole, and we saw no sign of it. It was as if the Great Devourer had simply vanished.
I let out a breath I hadn’t even known I was holding. “We lost him!” I thanked whoever was watching over us today.
I needed to learn not to speak too soon. Out of nowhere, the Great Devourer reappeared right in front of us. It swooped down from above, taking us by surprise. It slithered underneath us, using the huge talon at the end of its tail to tear right into the ship, damaging it severely and making it spiral out of control. Everyone fell to the floor as the ship violently jolted sideways, the warning alarms beeping louder than ever before. Cole grabbed me in his arms to break most of my fall as I yelped in shock.
“Abandon ship!” Nya yelled.
We were all tossed around more and more as the ship plummeted toward the ground. It descended toward the sand at a rapid speed. Zane dodged the computer screen falling off the wall, and Jay was thrown out a window. Cole still held onto me, and I clung to him, the impending impact filling me with terror. He picked me up and scurried out of the bridge with me as everyone abandoned the ship. Nya carried Lloyd off in her exo-suit, Cole carried me, and the rest of the ninja all leapt off safely. The ninja summoned their vehicles using their Golden Weapons, hurrying away from the ship as it finally crashed to the ground.
We all stopped next to it, everyone already grieving for the Destiny’s Bounty as it lay still on the sand. It was our home---to see it defeated and grounded like this was greatly saddening.
We didn’t have long to mourn as the Great Devourer burst from beneath the ground with a roar, reaching to grab the ship in its gaping mouth. Everyone turned tail and fled, fleeing several hundred feet away. Only when we were in the shelter of a rocky overhang nearby did the ninja make their vehicles vanish, and Nya landed. Cole and I hopped out of his vehicle before it vanished, and we all turned to watch the Great Devourer lift our ship into the air.
It tossed the Destiny’s Bounty up into the air like it weighed nothing. It caught the ship in its open mouth, then snapped it in two with one powerful bite.
Everyone screamed in distress. “No!”
Then, the Great Devourer slithered back beneath the sand, vanishing underground. I waited for it to come back--expected it--but thankfully, it didn’t reappear.
I stared out at where the remains of the Destiny’s Bounty were, scattered in the sand. I felt my eyes grow watery, and I tried to not let tears fall. That ship had been my first real home...and now it was destroyed. It seemed like only yesterday that I’d been brought aboard for the first time with Lloyd, when the Bounty had become our home…
I heard somebody walk up next to me, and I turned to see Lloyd. Somehow, I could tell that he was thinking much the same thing I was. Seeing the tears in my eyes, he hugged me tightly, and I returned the embrace just as hard. I buried my face into his shoulder, banishing my tears away. Now’s not the time, I told myself.
“It’s gone,” Cole announced, after the Great Devourer didn’t reappear. Lloyd and I pulled away at his voice.
Kai breathed a sigh of relief and fatigue, pulling off his mask. “That was too intense. All that action...makes you so thirsty...”
“There’s no time to rest,” Zane stated, standing up. “We need to warn people before it becomes bigger.”
“Bigger?” Jay echoed loudly, exasperated. He leapt to his feet, yanking off his mask. “Bigger?! That thing in one big bite just crushed our entire ship !” He started pacing around. “We need to save as many as we can. Uh, uh, we’ll find some kind of refuge, somewhere safe to hide… Oooh! The Serpentine tombs! Yeah, they’re underground, sure. We’ll be without sunlight for months, but they’re perfect!”
“And what?” Cole exclaimed. “Just give up?”
Jay frowned. “You know as well as I do, we have no chance at stopping that thing!”
Kai walked between them. “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 anymore…” Lloyd pointed out, quietly, painfully.
Everyone went quiet, hanging their heads in grief. Lloyd pulled off his mask, and I saw his heartbroken expression at losing his uncle. I pulled my mask off, too, and put my arm around him, trying to offer what comfort I could as I held back my tears again. Sensei Wu had taken me in, allowed me to stay, even though I had run away from my orphanage. Heck, he had even been becoming like the wise old grandfather I never had… Why did he have to die?
Kai spoke again. “But his teachings live on,” he stated, addressing us all. “Sensei once told me it’s not the size of a ninja in a fight, but the size of the fight in the ninja. All this training, all of these battles we’ve had with skeletons and the Serpentine. We’ve persevered through so much, we can’t just give up now! A ninja never admits defeat. A ninja always picks himself up when he is down.”
Slowly, my frown turned into a smile. I looked at Kai in admiration, my heart lifted by his words of inspiration. He’s right, I realized. We can’t just give up, no matter how much we want to. A ninja never quits.
Kai put his arms around Jay and Cole. “Which is exactly what Sensei Wu would want us to do right now.”
“But how do we destroy a snake of that magnitude?” Zane inquired from where he stood next to me and Lloyd.
“Yeah!” Jay agreed, going on a rant again. “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!” He laughed in exasperation, slumping to the ground. “Oh, we are so hooped!”
The ninja had dragons? That had to have been pretty amazing! I want a dragon…
Cole nodded. “Jay’s right. We would need a weapon so big…”
Kai gasped in realization. “Or an idea that’s even bigger!” He jumped for joy. “Ha! Jay, you’re a genius! You thinking what I’m thinking?”
“Probably not, but go ahead,” Jay replied from the ground, looking very done with all of this.
Kai started walking away in excitement. “There’s no time,” he replied. “I’ll fill you guys in on the way!”
I stared after him, confused. “Uh, Kai? Where are we going?”
He whirled around, giving me a large, determined grin. “We’re going to destroy that snake once and for all!”
. . .
Together, the seven of us travelled across the desert, heading for the junkyard that Jay’s parents called home. I rode on the back of Kai’s motorcycle, while Lloyd was carried by Nya in her exo-suit. She could carry me, too, but it was difficult for her to carry more than one person at a time.
I grew nervous at this whole ordeal. “You really have a plan that’ll work?” I asked Kai.
Kai glanced back at me, then looked ahead again. “I’m not sure if it’ll work yet, but I have a good feeling that it will,” he assured me. “It has to. We at least have to try.”
I nodded. “We will,” I replied. Despite my immense fears of the giant Great Devourer, I knew that we had to fight. I grew determined to help in any way I could. No matter what happened, I had to have hope. We would defeat this threat; I knew we would!
A few minutes later, we were approaching the junkyard. Memories of the last time I was here filled my mind. Back then, Lloyd had brought the Fangpyre tribe to get vehicles for their army and fight the ninja, and dragged me along for the ride. That seemed like a lifetime away now. I didn’t fondly remember that experience, but I smiled at how far we’d both come since then. We were now two ninja that were part of a prophecy---something that I never would’ve even dreamt of back then.
Everyone gathered inside the junkyard, dismissing their vehicles. Lloyd came running over as Nya set him down, standing next to me.
“Good idea, Kai,” Cole said. “If the Great Devourer likes to consume, this place is a full-on buffet.”
Jay walked over to the trailer and knocked on the door. After receiving no response, he sighed. “Looks like my parents are gone,” he announced.
“Good,” Kai replied. “Better for us.” He walked over to the hood of a broken car, setting down a rolled-up blueprint. It unraveled across the hood, exposing some sort of weapon vehicle blueprint. I didn’t get a good chance to look at it, however, as the ninja and Nya all crowded around it.
“It’s so awesome!” Jay exclaimed.
“Zane, you still have a recording of the Sacred Flute in your memory bank?” Kai asked the nindroid.
Lloyd and I tried to see over the ninja’s shoulders, standing on our tippy toes and even jumping to try and get a better look. It was kind of frustrating.
Zane nodded. “It might’ve been destroyed earlier, but I have its exact tone recorded and ready for playback.” He opened a panel on his arm, pressing a button. A recording of the flute’s pleasant song played.
Lloyd smirked, like he had an idea. He waved me over, crouching down. I looked at him confused, and he gestured for me to climb onto his shoulders. I wasn’t too confident in the idea, but if he wanted to try it, then I was game. Grabbing his shoulders, I hopped up onto them. Lloyd stood up as I tried to balance, but it was super wobbly. It was hard for Lloyd to hold my weight. I caught sight of the blueprint the ninja were looking at, but I only got to study it for a few seconds before Lloyd collapsed underneath me, sending us both comedically crashing to the ground.
I groaned in pain as my full-body aches from earlier were reignited; we’d all been in such a hurry that I’d forgotten about the pain this entire time. I was pretty sure I had bruises from all those heavy weapons falling on me...
“Good,” Kai said, “and there should be enough spare parts around here to build this whopper. But we’re gonna need to create our biggest Tornado of Creation yet. This is gonna be dangerous, and we can’t have anyone around.”
Just then, we all heard the ring of a bike bell and a man’s busy whistling. We all turned to see a mailman, leisurely riding his bike into the junkyard. Lloyd helped me to my feet as the mailman approached.
Cole grunted. “Ugh. What’s he doing here?”
Kai and Jay ran ahead, greeting him at the entrance. The rest of us watched from where we were. Kai had removed his blueprint from the car’s hood, so Lloyd and I went to sit on top of it just for kicks.
“Aah!” the mailman cried as we suddenly appeared. “You ninja are always sneaking around, giving people heart attacks. You’re too quiet.”
I gawked at him. “That’s… That’s literally what being a ninja means,” I muttered to myself. Lloyd heard me and snickered.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” Kai apologized. “But you need to get out of here, now.”
The mailman rummaged in his bag. “Uh, well, now, I too have a job, and that’s delivering the mail, which I plan to do.” He pulled out an envelope and walked over to Kai and Jay.
“Look, dude, my parents aren’t even here,” Jay informed him, swiping the letter from his hand. “You really should be on your way.”
“What, them too?” the mailman said. “Uh, let me guess. Are they at the Take Back Ninjago rally, too?”
Jay frowned. “Uh… Take Back Ninjago rally?”
“What, you guys haven’t heard?” the mailman replied. “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.”
A smile appeared on my face at his words. “Whoa,” I gasped. “That’s so cool!”
“Would you look at that,” Lloyd said to him. “You guys are inspirational!”
The mailman frowned as he seemed to realize something. “Wait a minute,” he said, grabbing his bike and backing away. “You know what? You guys are right. Wherever you guys are, trouble is always around the corner.”
That was when I fancied a glance behind the mailman. I paled at what I saw: the freaking Great Devourer was in the distance, slithering right toward us! Oh, great! I hopped off the car, and Lloyd did, too, once he saw what I saw.
“I think I’ll be leaving now, because whatever you guys are up to, I want no part of it.”
The mailman turned around as a shadow loomed over him, and he was met with the sight of the Great Devourer towering over him, hissing loudly. The mailman screamed in terror. “S-S-SNAKE!!” He then proceeded to leap headfirst into the nearby trash can, hiding inside of it.
The Great Devourer then looked down at the four ninja, then all the mountains of junk behind them. Lloyd and I ran to the side out of the danger zone, Nya ushering us away.
“Hey!” Kai shouted, pulling on his mask. “It’s now or never, guys! Ninja, go!” He ran forward, twirling into his whirlwind of Spinjitzu. “Fire!”
The others followed his lead. “Earth!”
“Lightning!”
“Ice!”
The four of them came together as one, forming their giant Tornado of Creation like they had in the arena in Ouroboros before. Lloyd and I watched in amazement again as they formed their largest tornado yet. Lloyd, Nya, and I all sheltered behind the trailer, shielding our eyes from the dust created by the wind. The massive tornado sucked in tons of junk from around the junkyard, and after a long minute, the tornado vanished, leaving a brand new vehicle in its wake. It looked just like Kai’s designs, and it was amazing!
The Great Devourer lifted his head to strike at them.
“Zane!” Kai called from where he sat inside the tank. “Now!”
Zane, who sat manning the cannons in the back, shot a beam of the Sacred Flute’s music at the Great Devourer. Sadly, he missed, and the blast shot right over the snake’s head.
“Zane, what was that?” Cole exclaimed. “This isn’t target practice! You’re supposed to hit him, not give him a haircut.”
“May I remind you we just magically whipped up this heap of junk,” Zane retorted.
The Great Devourer rose its head to strike again.
“Well, I hope one of us created a reverse feature,” Kai said, “because… Reverse!”
Cole whacked a button on his console. “How’s this for reverse?”
The large tank reversed, crashing into a pile of tires behind them. It zoomed forward, dodging the Great Devourer’s head slamming into the ground where they had just been. They drove around, dodging the strikes, and Zane tried shooting it with the music again, but missed. They then drove up a pile of tires and over the junkyard wall, now beside the beast.
“I need your help holding him in place,” Zane said.
Jay pressed a button. “How’s this?” He shot two cables at the snake, and the claws at the end attached to his scaly skin. “Got him!”
The tank drove forward, crashing back through the walls into the junkyard again. This caused the Great Devourer’s head to crash to the ground as the ninja’s tank whirled around to face it. As its head slammed down onto the ground, I caught sight of a glowing green spot on its head.
“Zane! Before it gets away!” Kai shouted. “Now, Zane! Now! Take the shot!”
I watched from the sidelines with wide eyes, crossing my fingers.
“Charm your way out of this !” Zane yelled, firing another beam of flute music at the Great Devourer. This time, it struck the snake directly in the face, making it roar in pain as it crashed to the ground once more.
I gasped in delight, exchanging an excited smile with Lloyd. “They hit it!” It was working! We were winning!
Zane kept the music going, keeping the Great Devourer distorted and hissing in pain as it tried to recover. I heard the ninja shouting at each other, but couldn’t hear what they were saying. Then, suddenly, the end of the Devourer’s long tail appeared, raising its giant talon over the back of the ninja’s tank.
“Oh no!” I shouted.
The giant talon slammed down onto the back of the tank, where Zane was, destroying it and effectively cutting off the Sacred Flute’s music.
“Zane!”
Now freed from the music’s power, the Great Devourer hissed at us one more time, then slithered away. I ran over to the damaged part of the tank, Lloyd and Nya following me. Please be okay, please be okay…
“Is everyone okay?” Cole asked the other ninja.
“Where’s Zane?” Lloyd asked as we stopped next to them.
There was movement from the wreckage, and Zane appeared, clutching his head. “Right here,” he announced, turning to us. He was undamaged, except for one half of his face, which was sparking and now exposed the robotic parts underneath. “That was close.”
I let out a sigh of relief, running over to give him a quick hug. He hugged me back, assuring me that he was quite alright.
“Too close,” Kai agreed.
“Perfect,” Jay drawled as he climbed out of the tank. “Now that was a total failure.”
“Not total,” Kai argued as we all gathered together again. “Did you guys notice on his forehead? It has a weak spot.”
“Oh, great,” Jay drawled sarcastically. “Let me make a note of that. Giant snake has wee, itty-bitty weak spot. That’ll be TOTALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO GET AT because the thing is TOO RIDICULOUSLY HUGE to do ANYTHING to stop it!”
Nya gave him an unamused look. “Are you done?”
Jay made a long exhale to calm himself, then replied, “Yes.”
“Because things just got worse,” Nya announced. “Look!”
She pointed over to where the Great Devourer was slithering away. It was heading in a straight path away from the junkyard. After thinking for a moment, I remembered what lay in the direction that it was headed in. Oh no!
“It’s heading toward Ninjago City,” Zane stated grimly.
“That’s where my parents are!” Jay exclaimed worriedly.
“So is everyone else,” Cole pointed out.
Kai stepped forward. “If it consumes the biggest city in all of Ninjago, there will be no stopping it.”
I gulped, fear forming in the pit of my stomach again. If the Great Devourer wasn’t unstoppable before, it would be if we allowed it to consume the city.
But I knew that I had to be brave. It’s not over yet. We’re gonna save the city and defeat the Devourer---I know we will!
. . .
The seven of us hightailed it over to Ninjago City as fast as our vehicles could carry us, crossing the desert at record speeds. The ninja drove the new tank they’d created, and Nya carried me and Lloyd in her exo-suit. Once we finally arrived and sped down the streets to the center of the city, we found that the Great Devourer was already attacking everyone. The people all screamed and fled in panic, trying to run from the beast as it destroyed everything in its path.
The ninja all immediately leapt into action, attacking the giant snake and keeping it away from the innocent people. Jay rescued his parents, and the ninja all hit the Great Devourer with everything they had. Unfortunately, they only succeeded in making it angry, and didn’t really hurt it at all.
Nya’s suit was a little bit slower than the ninja’s tank, so we arrived on the scene a little bit after they did. Nya was having some trouble carrying me and Lloyd while she tried to fly and fight.
I clung onto her suit, my gi mask over my face again as I watched the destruction happen. People were screaming and fleeing in fear, wildly waving their arms for no apparent reason. I wished that there was something I could do, but what could I do against the giant Great Devourer?
That was when I caught sight of a building off to the left. It was damaged---probably having been whacked by the Great Devourer’s tail at some point. There was a group of people huddled together on the roof. I saw that the roof access had caved in on itself, meaning that the people were trapped up there.
“Hey, look!” I exclaimed, pointing them out. “Those people are trapped!” I looked up at Nya. “Drop me off over there, Nya. I’m gonna help them!”
“What?” Lloyd said, a little surprised at my request.
“That building’s unstable, Aurora,” Nya informed me. “Another attack from the Devourer, and it could collapse! It’s too dangerous for you. I can carry them down instead.”
I shook my head. “That’ll take too long,” I argued. “And it’ll be a lot more difficult if you’re having to carry me and Lloyd as well. Besides, the ninja need your help fighting the Devourer!”
Nya still seemed hesitant.
“I can do this, Nya,” I insisted, sensing that she didn’t want to put me in any unnecessary danger. The truth was that I had been in unnecessary danger so often recently that it didn’t bother me as much anymore. If there was a way I could help out, then I wanted to do it---a crumbling building wasn’t going to stop me!
After a moment, Nya nodded. “Alright,” she relented, heading toward the building. “But if you get into any trouble, yell for me.”
“Aye aye!” I replied, giving her a mock salute.
She quickly set me down on the roof. “Good luck, Aurora!” Lloyd shouted at me from where he was squished inside the exo-suit beside Nya.
I smiled up at him, waving. “Thanks, buddy!”
Nya then flew away, rejoining the battle with the Great Devourer. I turned around toward the group of people. They were all either scampering around frantically or huddling together in fear, terrified at being trapped on the roof. None of them really seemed to be trying to escape at all. I took a moment to shake my head. Geez, they’re acting like Lloyd when he panics…
“Everyone!” I shouted, waving my short arms as I approached the people. “Listen up!”
At my voice, the group of people stopped panicking, turning to look at me.
“It’s a tiny ninja!” one of them exclaimed in surprise.
I chose to ignore the comment about my size in favor of dealing with the issue at hand. “I’ve come to help you all get down from here!” I announced.
One man stepped forward. “But the access to the stairs collapsed!” He pointed over at the roof access point, which was covered in a pile of rubble. “And the debris is too heavy for us to move away!”
I hummed in thought, looking around for ideas. That was when I spotted the top of a tree peeking over a side of the roof. It was one of the trees from the park in the city’s center---they were really tall, and most of them had been knocked over by the Great Devourer. This one just so happened to be leaning against the building, providing a straight way from the roof to the street below. That’s it!
I turned back to the group of people. “See that tree over there?” I told them, pointing to it. “You all can slide down it to safety!”
“Are you crazy?” someone exclaimed. “That giant snake is over there!”
“We’ll fall if we try to slide down that tree!” another voice shouted.
I sighed in frustration, taking a deep breath. Time to use my powers of persuasion. “Would you rather be stuck up here, on top of a building that could collapse at any moment?” I pointed out. “Look...I know this is all terrifying. To be honest, I’m a little scared out of my mind! But it’s my job to help you all get to safety. If you can be brave and face your fears, then nothing is impossible!”
Nobody responded for a moment. When I started to think that my inspirational words hadn’t worked on them, the man from before spoke up. “She’s right!” he exclaimed. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m getting out of here!” He then proceeded to run over to where the tree leaned against the building. He hopped down onto it, and I watched as he went sliding ungracefully down the trunk, yelling from the experience. Everyone else ran over to watch as he reached the end of the tree, safely landing rear-first on the street.
“I did it!” the man exclaimed happily.
The others gained confidence when he made it down safely. I watched with a triumphant smile as one by one all the people on the roof hopped down onto the fallen tree and slid down to safety. Once they were down on the street, they ran away in separate directions.
The last woman to go down turned to me before she left. “Thank you, tiny ninja!” she exclaimed with a smile, waving before disappearing over the edge.
I sputtered in shock, running over to shout down after her. “That’s Yellow Ninja! I’m the Yellow Ninja!” Groaning in frustration, I walked away from the tree, crossing my arms in exasperation. “I am not a tiny ninja…”
Hearing more screams and crashes, I ran back over to the edge, watching the fight go down below me. The ninja were still trying to fight the Great Devourer, now with the help of Samurai X. I sighed, leaning on the ledge. “Alright,” I mumbled to myself. “What now?”
That was when I heard a distant roar. It took me a moment to realize that the sound hadn’t come from the Great Devourer, but behind me. There was also a...flapping sound? Wings?
I turned around, trying to pinpoint where it was coming from. When I looked up into the sky, my eyes caught sight of something that made them as wide as the moon. A giant grin spread over my face. “No freaking way!”
Meanwhile, Nya--with Lloyd inside her suit with her--had pried the Great Devourer’s mouth open with a light pole. She was dangling inside its mouth, keeping the beast from closing its mouth.
“Ugh!” Lloyd exclaimed. “Its breath smells worse than Cole’s chili!”
“Hey!” Cole exclaimed at the insult.
The Great Devourer thrashed wildly, trying to get the light pole out of its mouth. Nya struggled to hold onto it as the snake slammed its head against a building.
“Get out of there, sis!” Kai shouted up at her.
Nya’s suit started sparking. “I can’t!” she exclaimed. “I’m stuck!”
The Great Devourer started to bend the light pole with its mouth, slowly crushing it and growing closer and closer to snapping its jaws over Nya’s exo-suit. Nya and Lloyd screamed as the beast wildly shook his head, trying to make them let go so it could eat them.
That was when I swooped in.
Riding on the back of a massive, white-scaled, four-headed dragon--my new best friend--we slammed into the back of the Great Devourer’s head. The force knocked Nya’s suit safely out of the giant snake’s grasp.
“Woooooo-hoooooo!” I cheered loudly as the dragon soared through the air, me clinging tightly to its back.
“Aurora?!” everyone shouted from below.
I waved down at the ninja as the dragon circled the area. “What’s up, guys?!” I laughed in delight, high from the adrenaline coursing through me. I’m riding a freaking dragon!
“Rocky!” Cole exclaimed. “Our dragons are back!”
Zane offered an explanation. “It appears dragons go through a metamorphosis when they reach adulthood. They too have found their true potential!”
“But how did Aurora find them?” Jay inquired.
“Who cares?” Kai stated.
“Yeah!” Cole agreed. “They couldn’t have come at a better time! Go get ‘im, Rocky! Go!”
I leaned down to the dragon heads. “Ready for this?” I asked them, patting their scaly necks affectionately.
The dragon responded with an enthusiastic roar. I giggled, holding on tight as the dragon began its assault on the Great Devourer. The dragon swooped down towards it, a blast of ice billowing from its mouth and freezing the snake’s neck.
“Ice!” Zane shouted from below.
The dragon soared high above the giant snake, stopping and sending a large ball of fire down to explode against its head.
“Fire!” Kai yelled.
I gripped the dragon tightly as it dived again, unable to stop smiling from the excitement. The dragon shot a burst of lightning right into the Great Devourer’s face before flying away again.
“Lightning!” Jay cheered.
The dragon swooped down once more, one of its heads colliding with the Great Devourer’s head. A powerful, earthy shockwave sent the beast sprawling.
“Earth!” Cole shouted.
The Great Devourer slammed into the side of a building, finally releasing Nya and Lloyd. The Samurai exo-suit went falling through the air, plummeting down toward the street below. The dragon had the same thought I did, and swooped downward to catch them in its claws.
“Gotcha!” I exclaimed in glee.
I heard Lloyd cheering from inside the suit. “Yellow Ninja to the rescue!”
His words of enthusiasm and praise made me laugh, as always.
The dragon dropped them off in the park---rather roughly, but this was no time to be slow and gentle. The Great Devourer, meanwhile, had recovered from the dragon’s mighty attacks and slithered up a building. Its head stopped at the top of the building, now level with me and the dragon. It hissed at us threateningly, but we weren’t backing down. I steered the dragon as it attacked the giant snake, shooting lightning at its head, then freezing it with ice, then slamming back into the head again which made the ice shatter. The dragon was relentless, and I had full confidence that it would win against the overgrown snake monster.
“Can dragons and Aurora get any cooler?” Cole commented from where he and everyone else were watching on the ground. “Seriously!”
The dragon breathed a large stream of fire in the Great Devourer’s face, making it roar in pain. “Ha!” I cheered. “Take that!”
As we flew away again, the Great Devourer started slithering back down the building in a full retreat.
“Yes!” Kai exclaimed. “It’s running away!”
I did a little fist-pump in victory. “You’re amazing!” I praised the dragon, petting it once more. “Now, ready to reunite with the ninja?”
The dragon roared enthusiastically in response.
I chuckled. “Let’s go!”
The dragon needed no further encouragement, slowly descending to where the ninja were on the ground. It hovered above them, slowly coming in for a landing. I was all prepared to make a dramatic entrance.
Out of nowhere, the tail end of the Great Devourer burst from beneath the ground below the dragon, swiftly uppercutting it and sending us flying back into the sky.
“No!” everyone shouted.
“Aurora!” I heard Lloyd scream in terror.
I gripped onto the dragon for dear life as it flew lifelessly up into the air, trying not to fall off. Before the dragon could recover from the heavy blow, I saw the Devourer's tail rise above us, and gulped in fear. The huge talon at the end of the tail slammed down onto the dragon, sending us hurtling toward the ground. I screamed, keeping a death grip on the dragon, praying that I wouldn’t be flung off.
“NO!” Cole and Lloyd bellowed.
The dragon crashed to the ground, and that was when I was violently flung off. I landed hard on the ground, pain shooting through me. The world went blurry for a long moment, and my aching from earlier was now back in full force, making me squeeze my eyes shut in pain. I’d probably have even more bruises now…
“Aurora!” I heard the sound of hurried footsteps approaching. Someone fell down beside me and grabbed me. I opened my eyes to see Lloyd, holding me in his arms and looking absolutely terrified. He was definitely more scared than when I’d been buried under those weapons earlier. “Are you okay?!” he asked as the others gathered around me and the dragon.
I struggled to sit up, my body protesting as I did so, and tugged off my mask. Lloyd helped me, and I gave him a reassuring smile through the pain. “Never...better!” I told him, trying to sound enthusiastic. A part of me was just still really happy that I had ridden on the back of a dragon.
Nya hovered over me, checking me out for injuries. After finding nothing broken, she looked up at the guys. “What now?” she asked them.
I looked at the dragon, growing sad as I saw it lying there in pain. I reached out to pet its head comfortingly. Poor thing…
The Great Devourer was still roaming the streets, attacking everyone and everything in sight. I heard the people’s screams, and wondered what we were going to do now. While the ninja tended to the dragon, Lloyd slowly helped me to my feet, letting me lean on him as I grunted and hissed in pain. My whole body was hurting badly, but at least I could still stand.
That was when Lloyd caught sight of something nearby. Or should I say, some one . “You came back!” he exclaimed in joy.
I followed his gaze to see his father approaching us. I smiled; for some reason, I wasn’t that surprised.
“Give me the weapons,” Lord Garmadon told us. “I am the only one who can handle the power of all four weapons at once. It’s the only thing that’ll defeat the Devourer.”
The ninja, of course, were very reluctant. “Uh, I thought we were supposed to do everything in our power not to let him possess the weapons,” Jay said.
“I’ve ran every other scenario through my servers,” Zane announced. “It appears to be the only way.”
We all looked to where the Great Devourer was slithering through the streets, chasing the citizens as they wildly ran away in panic. I had a sinking feeling that Zane was right.
“Give me the weapons,” Garmadon repeated.
Zane turned to his brothers. “Kai?”
“Only I can destroy it,” the dark lord insisted. “Or prepare to watch---”
“Quit your yammering and just do it,” Kai stated, tossing Garmadon his fire sword. “When you have a chance to make the blow, it has a weak spot near its forehead.”
One by one, all the ninja handed their Golden Weapon over to Lord Garmadon.
“Uh, I don’t think this needs to be said,” Jay told him, “but we’re gonna need these back.”
Garmadon chuckled darkly to himself. “I’ll do my part; you just make sure he stays in one spot.” He then began cackling maniacally, turning around and running off to get into position. It vaguely reminded me of Lloyd when I first met him.
“Stays in one spot?” Jay echoed. “Stays in one spot?! How are we supposed to do that?!”
Kai responded with a smirk. “Don’t forget: we’re ninja.”
The ninja all quickly formed a plan, then scurried off to enact it. Meanwhile, Nya took me and Lloyd and found refuge on top of a building where we would be able to see it all go down.
Down on the street below, Kai jumped in front of the Great Devourer, who was slithering along the road between the buildings. Kai taunted the beast, then started to run as the Devour pursued him. He stopped to jump onto a bus passing by under the bridge. The Devourer continued to follow him angrily.
They soon ran into Cole, who picked up the chase from there. Cole ran in front of the snake and led it to an alleyway, jumping on cars along the way. When it couldn’t follow him, the Great Devourer slithered upward to the roof of the building, seeing Jay waiting for it.
Jay jumped off of the roof to another as the snake followed him down. Jay made it across the rooftops and into the construction site of a building. Before the Devourer got the chance to eat him, Jay used his true potential to fly upwards, leading it to Zane.
Zane created an ice slide for them to escape on. The two of them jumped onto the ice slide before the monster destroyed the construction site. The snake followed them as they traveled down the slide, until there was no slide left. The two ninja flew into the air, the Great Devourer behind them with his mouth wide open.
I cheered as the dragon swooped in and caught the two of them as Cole steered it, Kai riding behind him.
“You think it's working?” I heard Jay ask.
“We're about to find out,” Kai announced.
They flew around and followed the Great Devourer’s long body. To their relief, the monstrous snake was now all tangled up, having bitten its own tail. The giant talon on the end was keeping it stuck like that.
The ninja all cheered. “We did it!” Cole exclaimed as they flew over to where Nya, Lloyd, and I were. We all waved at them in glee, congratulating them on their victory. Lloyd was still letting me lean on him---I didn’t want to trust my legs to stand on their own just yet. Shortly, the ninja landed next to us as we all watched the Great Devourer struggle down below.
“Now, where's Garmadon?” Cole wondered. “He's not gonna hold on for much longer.”
Lloyd pointed at the top of a building across from us, higher than where we were. “Look!”
As we all looked upward, the sky suddenly turned dark and ominous. At the center of it was Lord Garmadon, holding the four Golden Weapons high.
Lloyd gazed up at him, tugging off his mask. “Dad!” he exclaimed.
I saw his father briefly give us a glance before turning his attention down to the Great Devourer below him. He growled in fury. “You’re the reason evil runs through my blood.”
He activated all the weapons. They began to glow an eerie purple, and a moment later, a huge blue shockwave of pure power rippled through the air. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach as my eyes remained glued to him in anticipation.
“You bit me once. Now, feel what it’s like to be bitten back!”
Lord Garmadon then jumped off the building, diving down, down, down, heading straight for the Great Devourer trapped below.
“Go get ‘im, Dad,” Lloyd mumbled next to me.
Garmadon yelled in rage as he fell. “Vengeance...will be mine!”
And then, he struck the Great Devourer’s weak spot head-on. The giant snake reared its head upward, roaring in fury and pain and it started glowing. Then, it exploded, releasing a massive tsunami of green goo in all directions throughout Ninjago City. Lloyd and I hid our faces in each other’s shoulders, shielding ourselves from most of it.
Once the huge wave of goo had settled down, cheers rose up from the streets as the people of Ninjago City celebrated. A wide grin broke across my face, and everyone else was smiling, too.
The Great Devourer was gone for good.
“He did it,” I said in awe, grinning widely.
Cole turned to me. “No---we did it!”
Lloyd and I exchanged a joyful look, hugging in delight. I hissed at the pain the pressure on my bruises caused. “Ow.”
“Oops,” Lloyd said, pulling away from me. “Sorry!”
I laughed at him. “To be honest, I don’t even care right now.” I was too happy and relieved.
The people down below us ran out of their hiding places, dancing and frolicking in the streets. They all cheered loudly, just as happy as we were that the giant snake was dead.
Eventually, we all descended from the roof and went back to the streets below. We walked down the street, waving at people as they cheered for us. Lloyd helped me walk, keeping an arm around my waist as I kept my arm around his shoulder.
Jay’s parents ran up to him, embracing their son. “Ooh, our little ninja!” his mother exclaimed proudly.
The dragons landed nearby, and Cole went running to greet them. “Heh, there you are, you big lug,” he greeted, petting one of the dragon’s heads. “It’s good to have you back!”
One of the heads then nudged me. I giggled, holding the head in my hands as Lloyd let me go. “Hey there, big fella!” I greeted, hugging the affectionate dragon and petting its scaly head.
Lloyd looked around, frowning. “I don’t...see my dad,” he announced.
“He should be around here somewhere,” Kai assured him.
Zane scanned the area. “Your analysis is incorrect,” he said after a moment. “He is not here.”
“Then our Golden Weapons are gone, too!” Cole exclaimed. “Well, isn’t that convenient!”
Lloyd hung his head, standing at the edge of the bridge. I frowned, limping over to stand at his side and give him a comforting side hug.
“Look!” Nya interjected. “His footsteps.”
She pointed to where a path of green footsteps led out of the Devourer goo, disappearing around a corner. Lloyd perked up from the hug to look at them, but frowned once again.
“I think you’ll be seeing your father again soon,” I told him, trying to be reassuring.
“I know,” Lloyd replied. “But that’s what I’m afraid of…”
Right… I remembered the prophecy. We’re going to have to fight him one day.
Cole suddenly gasped. “Huh?!” he exclaimed, a smile erupting on his face. “Sensei Wu!”
We all frantically looked in the direction he was looking. Sure enough, picking himself up out of the pile of green goo was Sensei Wu himself. He looked tired, but seemed to be perfectly okay. A large smile spread over my face. He’s alive!
“Wow!” Nya exclaimed.
“Ha!” Jay exclaimed. “Would you look at that! He survived!”
Lloyd’s depression immediately went away. He let me hop onto his back, giving me a piggyback ride as we all jumped down onto the street, sprinting at full speed to go and greet our sensei and friend that we had thought was gone for good.
Sensei Wu smiled widely when we all reached him. “I can’t tell you how glad I am to see you!” He walked past us and bent down, magically finding his teapot in the pile of Devourer goo. “The Great Devourer left a bad taste in my mouth.” He poured himself a cup of tea, sipped it, and then sighed in satisfaction. “Ah, much better. And still hot!” He chuckled.
Lloyd set me down, then walked up to him. “It’s good to have you back, uncle,” he greeted. “But my father left, and he took the Golden Weapons!”
“Ah, very true,” the old sensei replied, placing a hand on his nephew’s shoulder. “The ability of the weapon is truly great, but the ability to better oneself makes you limitless.”
“I couldn’t have said it any better myself,” Jay stated.
“Besides,” Kai said, walking over and placing his hands on my and Lloyd’s shoulders, “we have what is most important: the two of you.”
Sensei Wu smiled proudly. “The pupils have become the masters.”
Lloyd frowned. “Are Aurora and I really gonna have to fight my father one day?”
“One day,” Sensei confirmed. “But today, we can feel good that Ninjago is saved, for tomorrow, you will both train for the day. Good will finally face evil, and a final outcome will be decided for all of time.”
No pressure or anything.
In the gravity of the destiny that awaited me and Lloyd, I felt strangely confident. Sure, the two of us going up against the Lord Garmadon seemed like a daunting, impossible battle. But that’s exactly why we had to fight it. Today, we had proven that the impossible was achievable: the Great Devourer was gone! With time, training, and confidence, I knew that somehow we would be able to defeat the evil that we were destined to fight. After all, we were both ninja now---and ninja never quit.
“Uh, but don’t worry!” Kai rushed to interject. “We’re gonna teach you everything we know.”
“And make sure you both are prepared for that fight,” Jay assured us.
“Because we all know, good will always stand up to evil,” Cole stated.
“And ninja always stand up for what is right,” Zane added.
Lloyd and I exchanged knowing smiles, and we grabbed each other’s hand. I didn’t care what lied ahead of us, or what the world would throw at us next. No matter what, as long as we stood by each other’s side, we could do anything we put our minds to, overcome any evil. And nothing would ever be able to break the bond that we’d formed---not now, not ever.
I stood amongst the people I was delighted to call my family, grinning back at all the smiling faces around me. By choosing to follow the son of Lord Garmadon that one day I had found the family that I'd always wanted. I had received my wish: I had found a home, at last.
Together, we all leapt up into the air as one, in a unified cheer of victory.
“Go, ninja, go!”
The End