Legends of Ninjago: Book 3: The Four Fangs

Chapter 25: The Clutches of Danger

Jay leaned over the side of the ship and watched as the Serpentine inched closer and closer.
"Now would be a really good time to have a water master around!" He griped, and he pulled hard on one of the ropes before tying it roughly down.
"Ooh, irony," Cole quipped.
"Oh, would you knock it off?" It had been a long time since either of them had fought—truly fought—or since one of Jay's pranks. If everyone would stop making jokes at their expense, that would be great.
"But we've gotta be able to do something," Nya piped up, looking around the group anxiously. "We can't just roll over and let them take the ship!"
"Nya's right," Jay blurted. Kai was suddenly looming over him, like a hawk waiting for the right time to draw its talons. "Ahem! If we can't outpace them, then we need to fight back."
"Except we don't have any long range weapons," Cole pointed out. "I'm completely useless out here. Zane—"
"I don't want to risk using my powers out on the water like this. I could inadvertently freeze us all," Zane finished.
"Kai, how far can your fire reach?" Jay asked, ignoring the tension lines in his face.
"Well, let's see," said the fire ninja, and he walked to the far-most end of the stern. With a deep breath, he shot both arms outward, and a sword of a flame came roaring across the wind. Though it did reach quite far, it wasn't far enough, and by the time the Serpentine would be in range, they might as well just break out the katanas. He did not, however, account for how powerful the blast would be, and the sheer explosion of his flames sent Kai reeling backward.
"I meant to do that," he mumbled after the fact.
That only left Jay, and his lightning was still so pathetic right now, he couldn't take down a blender, much less a ship. He turned to his Sensei. "Can't you make a canon or something?"
"You want me to make five-hundred pounds of dead weight that none of you know how to use properly?" Wu asked, raising an eyebrow.
"But there's got to be something!" Jay went on, very conscious of Nya standing not too far away. The Serpentine were getting even closer.
"Jay, the day is not lost yet. We still have our weapons and our will to survive," said Wu confidently.
His eyes fell to the grimy deck. Sure, that was true, but then he caught the look on Nya's face. She'd never been a fan of fighting, ever since Greta Junction. If only he could think of some way which would allow them to bypass this particularly sticky situation.
Then, and idea formed. An idea so crazy, so downright insane, that it just might work.
"I've got something better," he said, turning to the others, smiling.

* * *

Somewhere on the North-East Coast of Ninjago, a naval base was preparing to send out a small fleet of ships.
"Sir, this report just came in," said an officer as he approached the general stationed there."
"Well, what is it?" The general asked.
"This, sir," said the officer, and he held up his laptop, revealing the grainy footage of a figure stealing a small sail boat. "Our prime suspect is the veteran Master Wu."
"When was this?" Asked the general.
"Two nights ago, sir."
"Do we know his trajectory?"
"Still working on it, sir."
"Sir!" Came a second officer as the general walked into a bustling room of monitors and activity. "There's been another sighting of the unregistered junk!"
"Witness reports say that the stolen yacht is in pursuit of it!"
"Where!?" The general demanded.
"Roughly forty-five miles South-East of our location, sir."
"Tell captain Kobayashi to get our fleet in the water, now! I'll have no pirates off the coast of this country," said the general darkly.
"Yes, sir!"
He watched the men around him frantically making calls, scanning radars, and all the other menial tasks that he didn't have the time or patience to know about. His job as the leader was simply to pick a direction to go in. It was the crew's job to know how to get them there.
"Sir, it's an Agent Duan from the IBI for you," said another officer, handing him a phone.
"Oh, what now?" The general frowned, taking the phone. "General Sato speaking."

* * *

"Kai, Zane, follow me!" Jay swiped a spare coil of rope from the night before and they all went back to the stern. Tying one end of the rope around the nearest solid object, he asked, "Zane, do you think you could just use a little of your powers?"
"How much is a little?" He asked, eyeing him.
"Enough to glue Kai to the back of the ship."
"Excuse me, what?" Kai blinked.
Zane looked uncomfortable. "I can try."
"Good. Kai, take this and tie it around your waste," said Jay, handing Kai the other end of the rope.
"Woah, woah, woah," said Cole, coming in between them. "You are not doing that."
"Finally, some common sense." Kai folded his arms.
"It has to be tied properly first," Cole finished. Kai glared at him as he took the rope and started looping it around both his legs and then his waist, finishing it with an unbreakable knot.
After thoroughly convincing Kai to go over the edge of the ship, the three boys worked together to slowly lower him down. Once Jay said he was at the perfect height, Kai yelled back up at them, "I see where you're going with this, and you're insane!"
"Insane or dead. Take it or leave it," Jay called back.
Now it was Zane's turn to propel down. Without a harness, simply clutching onto the rope with his hands, he slid down low enough to not freeze Kai's head.
"This may sting," he said.
"Just get it over with," Kai glared.
Zane steadied himself and only reached out a finger.
SHWOOM!!!
A large sheet of ice had pinned Kai to the wood of the ship. He gritted his teeth from the sheer cold of it, but looked okay all things considered.
"He's in position!" Zane called back, climbing up the rope.
The Serpentine were so close they could hear their horrendous cackling laughter.
"Hold on to your butts!" Kai yelled, just as Zane crested the railing.
Jay braced himself... but the ship didn't seem to lurch or jolt at all. Kai shot out his fire with as much intensity as he could muster, but the ship was simply too big to expect him to move it all at once. But then, Jay looked out at the water. Little by little, it seemed to be gaining speed.
"It's working, Kai!" He shouted down to him. He didn't have time to answer, though, as all of his energy was being put into his fire.
Sure enough, the longer he kept pushing them, the further away the Serpentine became, their laughter fading away.
"A rocket propelled ship! You're a genius!" Nya cheered, standing... awful near to him.
He coughed a few times. "Ah, well, it's nothing, really, it's just Kai slapped to the back of an old wooden tub."
"Okay, great. Where are we sailing to?" Cole asked after a moment or two.
Jay's face froze. Oh shoot. He was right, they needed a heading. Kai wouldn't be able to keep this up forever.
"There are several small islands to our northeast," said Wu. "Perhaps we can hide among them."
"Yes—let's do that," Jay announced, and their Sensei took the wheel.
Unfortunately, Serpentine do not give up easily. Though they had gained an advantage over speed, their enemies still had enough persistence to fill up an entire stadium.
The islands—a collection of enormous, misshapen rocks as it turned out—took an uncomfortable amount of time to reach, where no one had much else to do but anxiously watch their pursuers in the distance. Along the way, Kai's fire went out, and he was left panting, still stuck to the stern.
"You good?" Jay asked.
"Next time, you can be the jet engine," he replied wearily.
In the amount of time it took for him to rest, the Serpentine had regained a lot of ground, and when Kai ignited his fire again, everyone could sense that it wasn't quite as strong as it was before. But so long as they were keeping the Serpentine off their ship, it was worth it.
Then, as if they had just appeared out of nowhere, the islands were right in front of them.
"All we really need to do is lose them in the rocks, right?" Jay asked as Wu took them in.
"If we can," said his teacher. "Hold on to something."
The ship began to groan as they went into their first tight turn, narrowly missing one of the rocks. For half a moment, Jay thought about going over to Nya and offering her a bit of support as the ship swayed to and fro, but he knew he'd already been pushing things all day. If Kai saw him doing that, it might just end their friendship, which already seemed to be hanging by a thread, considering last night. No, he just needed to keep going with the mission for now, and hopefully prove to Kai that he was strong enough to handle the situation.
Jay looked back the way they had come, searching for the enemy ship, and catching a glimpse of them just before they disappeared behind one of the islands. His hands felt restless. Was there anything he could be doing right now? Any way he could help?
Everything grew dreadfully quiet the deeper they went into the islands. They wove in and out, guided by Wu's expert hand, and before long, it was impossible to tell where the Serpentine were. The water lapped against the ship, seagulls cawed overhead, and the wind whistled through the rocks. Still no sign of them.
Then—
CRACK!
"AHH!!!"
SPLASH!!!
All eyes turned to the stern where the rope attached to Kai had gone taught.
"Kai!" Everyone cried at once. They spotted him at once, keeping his head above the choppy, salty water and clinging to the rope.
"Quick, before he hits the rocks!" Said Cole as he grabbed the other end of the rope and started pulling. Jay jumped in as well, periodically looking over the edge and inspecting the ice which had apparently melted to the point it had buckled under Kai's weight.
The ship suddenly turned, causing everyone to readjust their hold as Kai continued to tread water. Had they been going in a straight line, it may have been faster to hoist him up, which would have been much more preferable considering the fact that around the next turn, the Serpentine ship was waiting for them.
"Serpentine!!" Jay cried as they started to uncomfortably close.
Wu turned hard to get away from them and the boys nearly let go of the rope.
"Pull me up!" Kai spluttered.
Cole wasted no time using his excess strength to pull so hard, Kai shot up and  crashed into the railing.
"Gee, thanks," he groaned, clutching his stomach.
"Ninja!" A voice from the Serpentine ship called. "Surrender the Fang Blade now and we may consider sparing your pathetic lives!"
"Real tempting, Barney, but I think we'll have to pass," Jay quipped, racing over to the mast and adjusting the sail so that it caught the wind better. The fabric billowed and pushed the ship forward, but only until the wind changed direction. In this maze of stone islands, sometimes there was no wind at all. Jay bit his lip, wishing Keaton were here. She'd have it fixed in two seconds.
"Then have it your way," the Serpentine finished. When Jay looked back, he saw that same purple snake on the bow, and he dreaded the next words he would say. "Take the ship!"
Grappling hooks and other pointy objects suddenly came flying at them, looking for soft wood to sink their metal fangs into. The boys were able to rip them out and cast them into the sea one by one, but more kept coming, and with every line attached, their ship lost speed.
Suddenly, one harpoon came whizzing by them, sending splinters flying everywhere, and there was a shriek.
"Nya!" Kai yelled, running over. Jay watched him take her by the wrist and then they disappeared below deck.
The Serpentine were getting so close now that it was only a matter of seconds before they boarded.
"What do we do?" Jay asked, turning to his teacher.
Wu gave him a stoic look. "We fight." He tossed something into the air, and when it landed neatly in Jay's hands, he recognised it: his kusarigama. Jay swallowed hard. He would have greatly preferred to use his nunchucks at a time like this.
Kai ran back upstairs right as the first Serpentine soldier leaped across a line and lunged at Cole, who promptly sent him overboard with a punch to the face. He grabbed his katana from Wu and took out the next snake that grabbed onto their railing.
In a blink, there was a Constrictai right in front of Jay, and with what little training he had, he swung the weight at the end of the chain on the kusarigama and sent it crashing into the creature's jaw. It screamed out and tried to grab him with its tail, to which Jay responded by snatching the scaly thing and chucking it with all his might across the deck. Sometimes he forgot how much stronger he was these days, especially after being healed from the Fangpyre venom.
He didn't have a second to think, however, as a flood of Serpentine clawed their way toward them.
Wu was leading the charge, naturally, and doing an incredible job despite his age. Kai was using his fire liberally, which made all of them just as uneasy as it made the Serpentine. Their ship was made of wood, after all. If he wasn't careful, they could have a whole other problem to worry about. Zane on the other hand was being extremely careful and barely used his powers at all while he lunged at the oncoming enemies with his daggers.
As Cole wrestled with a Fangpyre, Jay scanned the crowd for any sign of purple scales. At first, he didn't see anything, which made him anxious. He double checked after knocking out a Hypnobrai and there was still no sign of him. Instantly he thought back to the museum and panicked.
"Where are you going?!" Kai called, watching him run toward the stairs.
Jay didn't have time to respond, though. That slimy snake could be anywhere and he wasn't about to let his invisibility trick fool them this time. Jay had his arms stuck out, feeling around for him as he ran through the short hallways. Nothing so far, which meant that he could already be in the barracks where the Fang Blade was being kept.
He opened the door with a loud BANG and Garmadon looked over at him with a scowl.
"If you've come to ask for help—" He started sourly, but Jay cut him off.
"Has anyone come in here? There's a Serpentine—he can turn invisible!"
Garmadon's eyes hardened. "No, not that I've seen."
Jay paused. "Was that a joke?"
Someone came barrelling down the hall and nearly ran into Jay. "What are you doing?" Kai asked frantically.
"The Fang Blade is safe," said Garmadon, scooping the thing up in his black hands so that they could see. "Are the rest of your friends?"
Jay could have bet money that both he and Kai instantly thought of the same person. Kai took off first, leading them toward the captain's quarters where he had told Nya to stay put until the fighting was over.
There was a Hypnobrai slithering down the stairwell. Kai sent a flying knee into the side of his head and knocked him out cold, then kept running toward the last place he had seen his sister.

* * *