Ninjago: Where Heroes Come From

Chapter Twenty One: Ada

Lexi knew she should do something to save herself and Lloyd, but as the snake reared above her, she was unable to move. Lloyd was on the ground beside her, having been knocked to his knees by a flying manhole cover, and he, too, was rooted to the spot, frozen in fear of the Devouror.

The snake lifted its head, opened its jaws, and began to descend on them. Lexi lifted her hands and tried to fight it off, but her powers were useless. The snake was determined to have them both.

Just before she was swallowed, however, the snake stopped. It raised its head, and for a moment, it looked like it was about to slither off. But then, black smoke began to spill from its mouth.

The snake jerked, almost seizing, as its head flopped from side to side, causing the smoke to swirl and wisp towards its eyes. The snakes body began to shudder deeply, writhing in what Lexi hoped was pain. The smoke continued to spill from its jaws, and they began to open, moving as though they were being pried open by some invisible hand. Lexi's eyes widened and she gripped Lloyd's shoulder as the snake reared back, slithering backwards and away from them.

The smoke was becoming thicker and darker, and the jaws were now open wide. Through the thick swirls of inky black fog, Lexi saw a figure standing in the snakes jaws, holding them open.

With fours arms.

"It's him," Lexi gasped, shaking Lloyd's shoulder and hauling him to his feet, "It's him! Lloyd, look! It's our father!"

Lloyd blinked, rubbing his head, then gasped as he saw she was right. Garmadon was standing in the gaping jaws of the snake, holding it open with brute force, emitting the thick black smoke that seemed to be flooding the Devourors entire body. The snake convulsed weirdly, tremors running through its whole body, before it suddenly seized up and collapsed on its side, where it lay still, unmoving.

There was a moments pause, filled by an eerie silence that followed the resounding crash of the Devourors body falling to the ground. Garmadon leaped gracefully from the snakes mouth, turning to see his children standing there in awe. He grinned, saluting them with one hand. The ninja began to get to their feet, staring at the snake's unmoving body, everyone afraid to voice their hope-- that it was over. For a moment, it seemed that it was.

Then the snake exploded.

Lexi flung her hands over her face to shield herself as scales and bits of green goop flew in all directions, splattering against the ground and onto the rubble that surrounded them. The ground seemed to roll with the force of the explosion, the massive creature expanding rapidly and flying in all directions. 

Unfortunately, oozing green venom and jagged scales was not all that had been within the Devouror. It did live up to its name, and along with various large pieces of rubble and chunks of concrete, it had eaten people. Lexi closed her eyes after she saw the first corpse raining down from the sky, followed by more, disfigured by the snake's stomach acids and the venom that corroded it, missing limbs and oozing in blood and venom.

"Lexi?" She opened her eyes at Lloyd's voice, soft and uncertain. He was crouched at her side, clutching his head with one hand and gripping his sleeve with the other. "It... it's over."

Lexi sighed heavily; feeling suddenly exhausted, she sank to the ground and knelt there, unmoving. Lloyd leaned his head on her shoulder and they both simply sat there, silent and still, staring at the wreckage of the city. The Devouror was completely gone, the only remnant of the snake the venom that clung to everything in the vicinity like oozing ivy.

"Lloyd? Lexi?" Kai came running up to them, collapsing to his knees when he reached the twins. The entire left side of his face was drenched in semi-dried blood. He had a hand pressed to his forehead, and through the cracks in his fingers Lexi could see the still-bleeding wound, staining his hand and the upper portion of his arm. "Are you both okay?"