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Tonight's impromptu mission brought the Ninja to Ninjago City late into the night, when they would normally be winding down to sleep. Most of the Serpentine may have made peace with the human citizens of Ninjago, but there were always going to be outliers, as was the case with any species. Not everyone was the same, and clearly, not all of the Serpentine wanted to change. There was a rebellious group of them attacking a section of the city - breaking into an antique store to be more specific - and the Ninja team had been called to stop them.
"Why did it have to be an antique store?" Jay had complained on the way there. "It's hard not to cause damage in an antique store!"
"I hear you," Lloyd had offered in response. "I plan to have us push them out the door before our powers accidentally break too many things."
"Great plan, should be easy," Kai had encouraged, giving a thumbs-up gesture with an ember flickering above his thumb.
"Then we can finally go to bed. We have to wake up at five in the morning tomorrow," Nya had reminded them all.
"If it helps, it is only around two hours earlier than our usual wake-up time," Zane had chimed in.
Cole had shaken his head and sighed, holding back the urge to yawn. "Thanks Zane, but two hours make all the difference. Hopefully this will be a piece of cake. And then I can get a piece of cake afterward."
"Why haven't you married cake yet?" Jay had quipped jokingly.
"Simple, Jay. I haven't found The One yet," Cole had joked right back. Lloyd found the image of Cole marrying a cake hilarious, and he let everyone know by bursting out into a fit of giggles. His laughter prompted everyone else to chuckle.
The rest of the trip went smoothly, with little to no traffic jams while they rode their elemental vehicles to their destination. By the time they arrived at the antique store, P.I.X.A.L. had discovered another part of the initial Serpentine group attacking a different store in the far distance, and then a third segment of the group at another. After she relayed the information over comms, the Ninja elected to split up to cover more ground. They couldn't all be in three places at once.
Cole and Zane paired up to take down the second group, while Jay and Kai went for the third group. That left Nya and Lloyd to confront the group at the antique store. The Green Ninja worked exceptionally well with his older sister, who packed a punch and refused to allow anyone to mess with her without giving them a taste of karma. If he were being honest with himself, she intimidated him at times, but he would never say it aloud. He was just glad he was on her side.
"Is that all you got?" Nya taunted with a smirk, facing down three Serpentine at once. "You picked the wrong night to commit crimes, fellas."
She dodged every single strike from them with ease, aiming blasts of water at their sides to fling them towards the entrance of the store. She controlled the flow of her powers so as to not break anything else, as a few of the Serpentine had already broken enough artifacts. Nearby, Lloyd shot her a prideful grin.
"We've got this, Nya!" he cheered, coating his fist in green energy before punching one of the snakes across the face. The force of his punch sent them crashing out of a window. Both Ninja flinched a bit at the sound of glass shattering, and Nya sent Lloyd a look.
"Sorry," he said sheepishly.
"That's coming out of your pocket, Greenie," she told him in a blunt manner.
"That's fair."
He was about to run outside with her to finish the job when he heard the sound of something clattering to the floor behind him. He whirled around to see a lone Serpentine they hadn't noticed before attempting to sneak out the back door with a sack of gems in hand. As soon as he was noticed, they bolted outside.
"Hey!" Lloyd shouted, intending to give chase. He glanced back at Nya, silently asking for permission to leave as if he wasn't the team leader. She hesitated before giving him a nod.
"Hurry before they get away! I'll take care of these guys. Just try to be quick, Lloyd!" With that, she rushed outside the building before using Spinjitzu on her opponents, on her way to making quick work of them.
"Got it!" He shot her a grin before turning back around and sprinting in the direction of the Serpentine thief. They were surprisingly fast enough to stay ahead of him, but he was persistent, and it would pay off. He found himself weaving through narrow alleyways to catch up with him, culminating in him running right into an old warehouse.
He vaguely recognized it as an old electronics warehouse, filled with plenty of discarded hardware. For a moment, he absentmindedly wondered if Zane would want to salvage any of it. The thought went away as quickly as it came, honing in on the Serpentine looking left and right for a way out. He fired two warning shots of green energy in either direction to stop them from making another move.
"Gaaaah!" the thief exclaimed, cowering before the Green Ninja. They warily eyed the Green Ninja before... dropping the sack of gems?
He couldn't believe his eyes at first. Before he even had a chance to tell the thief to surrender, there they were, doing just that. He remained tense, just in case it was a trick. He wasn't sure what to say; it was a good thing the thief spoke first.
"H-hey, how about I leave this here, and you can take it back to the store?" the snake proposed, a nervous light in their eyes. "I really didn't want to do this tonight. The others threatened to throttle me if I didn't go along with it. I don't want to disappoint them, but... honestly, I just want to go home to my wife. Can I go home?"
Lloyd gave it a moment of thought, his facial features softening. Being pressured like that was a horrible feeling, and the snake wanting to go home reminded him of the moments he himself wanted the same. Whenever he was stuck in a cage, or isolated from his family, all he ever wanted was to return to his safe place, his home.
Besides, he didn't have to take the guy in. There were security cameras in that store; they would identify them and sort things out later. He hoped they would be lenient on this one; he decided he was even willing to vouch for them if the Ninja were called to give details on their side of the ordeal.
After a few more seconds, he lowered his guard and stepped forward, deactivating his powers. "I'm sorry about your accomplices. I'll let you go, okay? Just promise me you'll go straight home, without causing any further trouble."
The snake appeared shocked at the show of mercy from the Green Ninja. They nodded eagerly, their reptilian eyes shining. "Thank you, thank you! I promise I'll go home right away," they agreed, their voice sounding genuinely grateful. Leaving the bag of gems where it was, they ran past Lloyd and through the warehouse exit, taking a left turn instead of going the way they came. He really hoped he had made the right choice.
Breathing a sigh of relief, he began to walk towards the sack on the ground, nearly filled to the brim with shimmering jewelry and gemstones. He was looking forward to getting all of it back to where it belonged. He wasn't worried about how heavy the bag would be; if that Serpentine could carry it all the way here, then he could definitely do it without breaking a sweat.
Out of nowhere, a brief shiver trailed down his spine, causing him to pause. He glanced over to the left, where he thought he had heard a quiet noise akin to a hiss. There was nothing abnormal to be seen. He released a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding, returning his attention to the stolen goods on the floor.
Time to see how the others are doing, he thought to himself as he knelt down to scoop the sack up. He heard a whistle cut through the air and whipped his head around to find the source. This time, it was more to his right, yet he couldn't see anything. Was he going crazy?
Alright, time to go-
A split second later, something sharp had been buried deep into his side, just above his right hip, piercing his gi and flesh with ease.
"Got you, kid."
Green eyes widening in pain and shock, Lloyd feebly moved a hand to his side, brushing the handle of a dagger... and a scaly hand. He recognized that voice all too well. He didn't even need to see him, yet the perpetrator dropped his camouflage to reveal himself anyway. He was greeted by a sickening red-eyed glare, full of nothing but hatred and satisfaction as the dagger was twisted in further.
"Pythor-!" he gasped out, wrapping both hands around the dagger in an attempt to pull it out. He knew it wasn't a smart move, but he was desperate to get the bleached Anacondrai away from him. It seemed his enemy knew the same thing; he yanked the blade away, blood spurting from the wound before his tail wrapped around his legs. He was swiftly thrown towards a nearby stack of boxes before he could properly fight back.
He crashed onto the ground, hard. Pieces of hardware spilled out of the fallen boxes, his back aching from the impact of being launched into them. He groaned, attempting to push himself back up, only for a harsh wave of dizziness to hit him like a truck. Nausea took hold of his chest, and when he reached for his powers, they weren't working at all. He couldn't get a single spark of green energy to form.
He heard Pythor slithering closer before he saw him. He pressed a hand over his bleeding side and hissed in pain. He earned a laugh from his attacker.
"What's wrong, Lloyd?" he taunted, twirling the blood-stained dagger in his hand. "Can't use your powers?"
The boy shut his right eye when his head began to throb. When he managed to lift his head up, he glared fiercely at Pythor. "Wh-what... did you... do?"
"What's it look like? I stabbed you, obviously," Pythor retorted, holding back the urge to snicker. "Just kidding, I know you're not that stupid. It's called Vengestone poisoning, with a potent amount of snake venom. It's such a shame you didn't see it coming." He sneered at the fallen ninja. "Works out great for me. I get to see you suffer, like you deserve."
His body began to tremble against his will. Poison. There was poison in his bloodstream, coursing through his veins.
Despite the blood slipping through his fingers and the encroaching fog taking over his mind, Lloyd didn't give up on trying to stand. He planted his free palm on the ground, managing to position himself on his knees. "I'm not... down... yet!" he declared, launching himself at the pale snake.
Pythor hissed in irritation as he grappled with the kid, slightly surprised by the strength he still had. When he was nearly shoved to the ground, he snapped his fingers, summoning a mechanism previously hiding behind a large crate. Lloyd recognized it as a snake strangler, the tool used to restrain him back when the Overlord wanted revenge on him.
That was the whole point of this attack. Revenge.
He was about to reactively attack the strangler when a pair of fangs sank into his shoulder. He screamed at the burning pain while the strangler wound itself around his body, squeezing him tighter and tighter until he was forced to let go of Pythor. As soon as the snake pulled his head back, he fell onto his side, howling in pain before pressing his lips together. The device was doing nothing to help the bleeding above his waist, or the poison slowly consuming his body; it had more than likely been added to by Pythor's vicious bite.
"You really are too soft for your own good!" Pythor mocked, hissing out a breathy laugh. "Those Serpentine you and your buddies have been fighting? I hired them as a distraction, and then I paid the guy you oh so generously spared to lure you here! It was all ME!"
He reached down to grasp a fistful of Lloyd's gi, yanking him closer with a snarl. "And guess what? It was all worth it, because you're finally going to die. Slowly... painfully... alone."
He unceremoniously threw him back down to the concrete, flicking his forked tongue a few times. "You know what? You can keep this," he added ominously, holding up the Vengestone dagger. "Consider it a gift from your old friend."
He swiftly thrust the dagger back into Lloyd's waist, grinning when the boy flinched violently, yet he continued to weakly struggle in the snake stranger's coils. He decided to leave that there as well, taking one last look at his enemy before turning around.
"I'll see you in Hell, Lloyd Garmadon."
His last words to him were left hanging in the air as he reactivated his camouflage and slithered out of the warehouse, leaving the poisoned, bleeding boy alone. Lloyd whimpered, tugging at his restraints to no avail. He didn't want to pull the dagger out this time, even if it practically lit his side on fire with the amount of pain he was experiencing. His face was starting to turn blue as his strained breaths regressed into wheezing.
He was lucky to have been able to hold back tears in Pythor's presence. With him gone, he could no longer stop them from rolling down his cheeks. He wriggled on the floor, attempting to crawl towards the exit before he lost consciousness. His throat tightened, making it even harder to breathe than it already was.
He couldn't even use his powers to send a signal to the others. What kind of warrior was he?
Ninja never quit.
"H-help," he cried weakly, taking as deep of a breath as he could before raising his voice. "Help me!"
Ninja never quit!
He strained against the snake strangler, doing his best to fight the sluggish sensation weighing his limbs down while inching his way forward.
Ninja... never...
Blood steadily pooled below him. He opened his mouth to scream, yet only a quivering sob slipped out. He was hit by a violent dizzy spell, courtesy of the poison, causing him to curl up and squeeze his eyes shut.
...never... quit...
"Lloyd? Lloyd, where are you? Lloyd!"
He wanted so badly to lift his head when he heard a faraway voice repeatedly call his name, belonging to none other than Nya. His tears fell faster. "N-Nya... Nya-"
He accidentally cut himself off with a rough sob. He grit his teeth, steeling himself against the burning agony.
"NYA!"
Lloyd had screamed loud enough for his voice to carry across multiple alleyways, full of desperation, pain and fear. It took every bit of remaining energy out of him. Before his consciousness slipped away, his entire body relaxing involuntarily, he thought he had caught a glimpse of his sister running towards the warehouse.
I'm sorry I didn't come back, Nya... I'm sorry... everyone......