Lloyd really doesn't want Nova to do much in this chapter, since she still hasn't fully recovered.
____________________________________________________________
*The Elemental Masters are flying on their dragons back to Ninjago.*
"Chen and his Anacondrai army have a day's start on us. Be prepared for anything and everything." said Lloyd.
"How did we lose so much time?" Kai asked.
"You know, you took an oath never to leave a man behind." said Dareth.
"And we're not all quick learners. Mastering your fear to create power dragons takes time." said Jay.
"Well, we're running out of that. There's Ninjago City. Hurry." said Nya.
"Hurry's my middle name. Hyah!" said Griffin.
"Remember, whatever happens down there, we're stronger united. We fight as one." said Lloyd.
"Let's do this!" said Jay.
"I'm not much of a team player, but I'll do it just this once." [robotic] said Nova.
Kai lands his dragon, and a woman sees Skylor. "Serpentine!" Everyone screams and panics.
"I wish I still had the power to change." said Skylor.
"You have changed. You're with us now." said Kai.
Old woman honks her car horn. "Could you be a dear and move your dragon? Thank you, young man."
"If we're the first ones they've seen, where's Chen and why hasn't he attacked?" said Garmadon.
"We have to get you and my father off the streets before we alarm everyone. Everyone else, stick together and watch over the people. Delta you are coming with us too." said Lloyd.
*Skylor notices her hand is going back to normal.*
Nova looked over at him with a raised eyebrow. "Why do I have to go with you guys? I can help the others." [robotic] said Nova.
"Because you still haven't fully recovered, and I'm not taking the risk of you getting hurt more out there." said Lloyd.
Nova blushed a little behind her mask, while she hated that he wouldn't let her go and help the others she understood why. "Fine..." [robotic] She sighed in annoyance.
*The ninja, Garmadon, Skylor, and Nova enter the Samurai X Cave. The Falcon screeches and lands on Zane's arm.*
"And hello to you, my old friend." said Zane.
"Ah. You're all back. Zane, look at you. You're all...shiny." Wu laughs.
"But where's your father?" Misako asked.
"It's me, Misako." said Garmadon, showing himself as Misako gasps.
"And who is that you've brought with you?" Wu asked, pointing at Nova who was keeping to herself more in the back.
"Oh that's Delta the thief, also known as the master of darkness. But don't worry, she is actually very nice unlike the Overlord." said Lloyd while trying not to have them panic.
"You don't have to defend me Lloyd, I can do that myself." [robotic] said Nova crossing her arms before looking over at Wu and Misako. "But he's right, I'm nothing like that bastard Overlord, so don't worry about me turning on you guys." [robotic] she explained.
"Don't worry. We have a reason to believe the spell may be wearing off." said Skylor, bringing them back to the original subject.
"But if that's true, it only makes Chen more desperate to act now. Everyone, this is Skylor, Chen's daughter." said Kai.
"You're amongst friends, Skylor. You too Delta." said Misako.
"Thank you for looking after my Misako." said Garmadon to Wu.
"As any good brother should." said Wu.
"Yes. A good brother." said Garmadon.
"Oof this is awkward to watch." Nova thought as she found herself a chair to sit in and relax. before Lloyd comes after her about not taking care of her recovery.
"There isn't much time. Our friends are on standby but we don't know where Chen will strike first." said Lloyd.
"And if we're not all there to stop him when he first attacks..." said Cole.
"Ninjago will succumb to war. Our greatest fear will come true." said Garmadon.
"Then the greatest victory will be that which has no battle." said Wu.
"But how do we prevent a war? How do we stop an enemy we know so little about?" Jay asked.
"Just ask Pythor." [robotic] said Nova sitting in her chair while looking at some of the stuff in the cave.
"Why should we ask him?" Kai asked.
"Pythor is an Anacondrai, so if anyone should know about how to beat one it would be him." [robotic] Nova said, turning to look back at the group. [robotic] "If you don't believe me that's fine."
"Delta is right, only Pythor would know." said Wu.
"Then we know where we are going next." said Lloyd.
"Good and I'm coming too, and no Lloyd, I am not gonna sit here and just recover. I'm coming with you guys, whether you like it or not." [robotic] Nova crossed her arms as she glared at him until he finally gave in.
*They goes on to use their Dragons to travel to Kryptarium Prison.*
"Kryptarium Prison. Home of Ninjago's worst of the worst." said Garmadon.
"Another good reason for me coming here, should I ever get brought here. I would at least find myself a way to get out of here." Nova thought while taking a good look at everything.
"Sorry I had to confiscate your weapons. Here we try to foster what I call "an environment of encouragement." said Noble.
" I'll rattle your bones, Warden." said Kruncha.
"Very creative, Frakjaw. Love the puns." said Noble.
"Pajama Men!" said Soto.
Nova very slowly without anyone noticing raised her middle finger at Soto.
"Easy, Soto. I'm the captain of this ship. Haha. Ninja ain't popular around these parts, considering you put most of them behind bars, hmm. But who you're looking for, he hates ninja the most. Last cell on the left." said Noble.
Pythor as Rodrigo "Hmm, why yes, Pythor, this may very well be the greatest cup of tea you've steeped." Back to normal voice "Oh, you flatter me, Rodrigo, but do go on."
Nova was trying her best not to laugh at what she was seeing, let alone hearing his voice.
"We need your help." said Lloyd.
Pythor gasps. "Help you? The ninja? You fed me to the Devourer, defeated every army I've aligned with, even forced me to swallow your shrinking pill! Haven't you done enough damage to my diminishing ego?"
Cole turns over his cell, which is actually a dollhouse. Pythor screams. "Well played. I suppose this is about that culturally insensitive noodle baron and his ilk that are now Anacondrai. Impostors, if you ask me."
"Well would you look at that, tiny here actually have a brain." [robotic] said Nova looking at Pythor.
"Now that's just rude, then what does that make you shrimp. You don't look much taller than everyone else here." said Pythor.
Nova glared angrily at him as she still wanted to beat him up.
"You are the last remaining Anacondrai. You must know how to stop them." said Jay, cutting in.
"I'm not going to say another word until you can figure out how to make me big. And don't ask me to trust a ninja." said Pythor.
"Would you trust a snake?" Garmadon asked.
"Garma-Condrai? Oh, now my interest is piqued. Let's make a deal, shall we?" said Pythor.
"I thought you should be aware that someone has been poking around at the Kryptarium database with an interest in your, shall I say, little friend." Pixal told Zane.
"Chen?" Zane asked.
"I don't know, but be on your guard. You may be expecting unannounced visitors." said Pixal.
*An invisible Anacondrai Cultist hands the guard a pair of binoculars.*
"Thanks." A guard sees Kapau waving to him. "Huh?" He is knocked unconscious.
Noble looks up to see a "floating" prisoner's outfit. "Ooh, that's strange." He tries to turn on the alarm, but is stopped by Kapau.
"Hehe, so gullible. Everyone knows there's no such thing as ghosts." Chope takes the keys.
"Then you get the spell book and I'll tell you their weakness and then—" Pythor went on with explaining.
Noble on an intercom. "There's been a breach in Sector 2! They appear to be Anacondrai and—uh-oh, they're coming my way. They see me talking on the intercom. Oh, boy, here they come. Why am I still talking on this thing?"
*All the prisoners except Pythor cheers.*
"You led them to me? What have you done? There's no escaping an Anacondrai!" Pythor tries to open a wardrobe. "Curse this fraudulent furniture!" When it won't open, he hides under a lampshade.
"Tell me! How do we stop them? What is their weakness?" said Garmadon.
"Don't you get it? There is no weakness! They're Anacondrai!" [robotic] said Nova and Pythor in unison causing him to look over at her with a raised eyebrow.
"What? I have my ways." [robotic] said Nova.
"Then why did you come here to see me in the first place?!" Pythor complained.
Nova gave him a slight shrug. [robotic] "Because seeing this would be funny, and so worth it."
"Guys, we've got company." said Kai.
"I'll handle this. Earth!" Cole tosses some bricks at them, but it dents some cell bars.
"We're trying to keep the inmates in, not let them out!" said Jay.
*Garmadon grabs Pythor and some of his venom lands on his hands, turning it back into Anacondrai.*
"Your hand. That may be why they've come for Pythor. What if he holds the key to making their transformation permanent?" said Zane.
"That's why Chen hasn't attacked." said Wu.
"Then we have to get him out of here. If he's the key to preventing a war, we can't let him fall into the wrong hands. Literally." said Lloyd.
"Oh, I get it. It's literal because of my size." Pythor sarcastically said "Haha, very funny. But I'm a little sensitive to all the size references."
Nova couldn't help it but let out a small giggle when she heard him say it himself.
"A little sensitive?" said Garmadon.
"Okay, I stepped right into that one." said Pythor.
"Zane, keep them busy." said Wu.
"Ah. What do you think we've been do—" Kai grunts.
"Get out of here already. It's not like we can hold them off all day." said Jay.
*Noble finally presses the button for the alarms.*
"Kryptarium's on lockdown. If we don't find a way out, we may never escape." Garmadon, Wu, Lloyd, and Nova go under a door.
"Nope it's too early for me to end up in Kryptarium, I at least wanna steal a few more things before that happens." Nova thought to herself.
"It ain't fair. Why is it they've got weapons but we don't?" said Cole.
"Everything's a weapon in the big house." Jay grabs a toothbrush and fights Chope with it.
"Oh, some heroes you are. And to think there's only two of them." Pythor screams when he gets thrown to Lloyd.
"Sensei Wu said the greatest victories—" said Lloyd.
"Has no battle, blah, blah, blah. Well, if they're impostors, you're cowards." said Pythor.
"And what are you? There's a reason we never trust a snake. First the Anacondrai betray the truce in the Serpentine War, then you tricked Lloyd—" said Wu.
"Are we still talking about the Serpentine War? The Anacondrai had every intention of honoring the truce. It was Chen who told us your kind was going to betray us. We had no other choice but to attack." said Pythor.
"Chen said you were going to betray us!" said Garmadon.
"Ugh, sounds like Chen was playing both sides." said Lloyd.
"No surprise there, it's Chen of course he would do that." [robotic] said Nova.
*They see Warriors in front of them.*
"Again I say...cowards." said Pythor.
"Protect Pythor." said Wu.
"Ninja, go!" Lloyd uses Spinjitzu to attack the cultists. "Uh, I lost him!"
Pythor on the ground. "Ugh. Aah!"
"What do you mean you lost him? Find him!" said Garmadon.
Nova quickly found Pythor and picked him up. "Hello again worm." [robotic] She said and dodged some of warriors. "I have him!" [robotic] She shouted to the others.
"I am not a worm!" Pythor complained.
Nova rolled her eyes before quickly summoning her sword and blocked an attack, but she could feel the pain from her right arm, hurting from her injury while using her sword.
"Shit, I don't think I can keep this up with an injured arm." Nova thought before blocking another attack that only sent more pain through her arm.
"What are you doing you idiot, fight back or do something!" Pythor complained.
"As much as I hate to say it to you of all people, I'm still recovering from an injury. So I can't really do much fighting while also protecting you, so how about you shut the fuck up!" [robotic] Nova growled.
Nova kept dodging and blocking attacks until she tripped and dropped Pythor, losing him. "I lost Pythor!" [robotic] She shouted quickly rolling out of the way from an attack before getting back up.
"Shit, maybe it wasn't a good idea for me to come here." Nova thought as her vision was getting a little blurry, and she was beginning to see a few black spots.
"Got him! Don't got him!" shouted Lloyd.
Pythor tries to dodge everything. "I really hate being small!" A cultist grabs him. "What?" Wu saves him. "Wu, my savior."
"Do you have him?" Kai asked.
*Wu realizes a cultist stole him.*
"We can't let them escape." said Cole.
Wu sees prisoners trying to escape. "No, we can't let them escape! No more smashing walls."
"Leave this to me. Ice!" Zane makes a bridge leading outside.
"I'd hate to let anyone down, but...Fire!" Kai breaks the bridge once they're out.
"I encourage you to go back to your cells." said Noble.
*The ninja arrives back at the Samurai Cave.*
"We got here as fast as we could." said Kai.
"Twenty noodle trucks have been spotted heading toward just fifty clicks away." said Nya.
"Let me guess, they ain't hauling noodles?" said Cole.
"Twenty trucks could hold two hundred Anacondrai. If they get to the city before we do, the city will be theirs." saud Zane.
"And they'll have achieved the pivotal first foothold in the war." said Garmadon.
"We have to stop them." said Lloyd.
"You guys do that, I'm sitting this one out." [robotic] said Nova sitting in a chair with an icepack on her injured arm trying to numb the pain.
"I've already warned the others to head them off at the pass. They should be able to hold the line until you offer support. I had them equip themselves so we could communicate." said Nya.
Shade appears on the screen. "We're in position. If they show up, we'll be sure to put up a fight."
"They're coming to your location soon." said Nya.
"I see them. Let's show them what we're made of. The trucks. They're going every which way." said Shade.
"What do you mean? Aren't they going to Ninjago City?" Jay asked.
"I don't know where they're going, but they ain't going together." said Shade.
"There are over twelve densely populated villages within a ten-click radius." said Misako.
"They aren't planning to launch one attack, they're planning multiple." said Kai.
*Nova at this point just tuned the others out as she went on the check her phone.*
"Damn Ronin has left a lot of text messages and calls....fuck. I just remember I never told him where I went, he's probably very mad about not knowing where I've been." Nova thought with a heavy sigh not looking forward to getting a scolding from him.
Nova snapped out of her thoughts just as the lights went out. [robotic] "What the fuck."
"Nya, what just happened?" Wu asked.
"I'll have her back online in no time." said Nya.
"Please hurry." Nova thought already getting a little nervous, even though she was the master of darkness and all that, and she stayed a lot in the shadows. Didn't mean that she liked being in a dark room.
*Luckily it didn't take long for Nya to fix the lights.*
Nova turned her attention to the screen as Zane showed up on it.
"Zane, have you diverted the truck away from the villages?" Wu asked.
"Yes, and once it's at a safe distance, I plan to take care of the Anacondrai." said Zane.
"Good work. The people are safe." said Wu.
"No they aren't. We aren't pulling them away from the people, they're pulling us!" [robotic] said Skylor and Nova in unison.
"Stop the trucks!" said Wu.
"All right, snakes, you're about to be charged." Jay checks the truck, but it's empty except for the driver. Gasps. "No, it can't be."
"Everyone, come back now!" said Wu.
Lloyd's dragon disappears. "I'm not afraid. I can do this. I have to get back." He grunts while trying to summon his Dragon, but can't. "I can't. I'm too afraid."
"It was all a trap." said Garmadon.
"Then that means..." said Misako.
"The greatest victories...have no battle. Our worst fears have come true." said Wu.
"The new Serpentine War...has just begun." said Garmadon.
Nova sighed before getting up from her chair. "I'm getting Lloyd." [robotic] She said using the shadows.
When they weren't given a chance to stop her, all they could do was inform Lloyd that Nova was on her way to pick him up. Even though he was very much against that, since she still hadn't fully recovered.