• 𝓓𝓮𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓷𝔂 • {Ninjago}

•S1 E3: Snakebit (2)•

Jay squinted, concentrating hard on fixing the button. He had to get it in order. There was just the tiniest bit of a bad feeling in his chest. You never knew when the Serpentine might come and—

"Sure got a lot of junk piling up. If only there was a place we could get rid of it," Kai said, passing by with Zane. They snickered quietly as the blue ninja glared at them, a smudge of grease on his cheek.

"If you don't mind, I'm trying to focus," he growled before turning back to his work.

Cole walked past, a phone held up to his ear. "Hi, mom and dad. Of course, I'd love to visit. What kind of son would I be if I didn't want to?"

"Eheheheh," Jay laughed sarcastically, turning away from his work. "I know what you're trying to do. OK, look, I might have promised to visit my parents, but there's a lot of stuff on my plate."

Suddenly, Nya swing open the bridge door and strode inside. The ninja of lightning tensed, wiping his mouth along with the grease. "Hehe. Hi, Nya."

"You gonna visit your parents today?" she asked, waving hi to her brother.

"Uh, sure am," he laughed nervously. "Just about to leave."

Nya chuckled. "Tell them I say hi."

As she left, the rest of the ninja turned their attention to Jay with skeptical and slightly irritated looks. "What?" he floundered, waving around his screwdriver. "So my plate's not that full."

After a few more minutes of chores, Jay went outside into the hot sun to mount his dragon. Yet when he tried to mount Wisp, the blue dragon refused to move. "Come on, Wisp," he whined, pulling on the reins. "It'll be a quick visit. Just in and out, nothing more."

The dragon made a sighing sound, shaking his head slightly. "Hm. It is as I suspected," Wu announced, coming out from behind the dragon with a large thermometer. The readings were high, even for a dragon. "The dragons are molting. They're shedding their scales."

Jay stopped tugging on the reins. "What does that mean?"

"Every adolescent Dragon goes through a transformation before it becomes an adult," the elder explained. "We must allow them to migrate east to the Spirit Coves for their transformation."

The ninja's face fell. "Will we see them again?"

"It is hard to say. But we need to allow them to follow their path," the former sighed.

The others, walking by to see their dragons, caught the conversation. "Rocky's going east?" Cole said, suddenly sad. He pet the earthy dragon, gasping, "Say it isn't so, Rocky."

Zane did likewise, although it was a silent exchange. The two were solemn for a moment before breaking apart.

Jay walked over to where Nya was consoling Kai over his dragon, rubbing his neck and saying, "Well, I guess I gotta go on this long walk all by myself. Sure be nice to have company..."

Nya blinked before starting to nod, catching on. But before she could say anything, Kai cut in, "Of course we'll go, buddy."

"I could use a break," Cole agreed.

Zane smiled reassuringly. "All you had to do was ask."

The blue ninja sighed, disappointed yet again.

As the dragons flew away into the sky, the ninja—along with Wu and his flute—started off on their trek to Jay's parents. "Of all the days to lose our ride," the blue ninja sighed despondently as he watched the four dragons soar into the sun.

Zane came up behind his sensei, a curious look in his eyes. "That flute. You've never told us why it's so special."

Wu stopped playing before saying, "Long ago there were many flutes, created to combat the powers of the Serpentine and drive them underground. But over time, Ninjago has forgotten its ancestors' wisdom, and now this is the only one." He went back to playing the flute as Jay rolled his eyes.