Chapter 2 - Training with Devon

Once Devon pulled herself out of the goop, it was revealed that she did not have a long tail like the Serpentine generals, but instead a strong set of legs with large claws at the ends of her feet. And that wasn't the only thing that was revealed about her physical appearance.

She also lacked the same features as female humans, but Devon was curious as to why all humans chose to wore clothes.

"I find it interessssting how you choose to hide your gender traitsss," Devon eventually admitted, as she walked down the street with Nya and Wu.

"Well, our customs, as well as our appearances, are quite different from yours, but that does not mean we are not the same on the inside," Wu explained.

"I fail sssee how that is possssible. You are warm-blooded mammalssss, and I am a cold-blooded reptile."

"What Sensei means is, we're glad that you're trying to learn about us instead of acting like a…a…," Nya began with a smile, but cut herself when she realized what she was about to say.

Devon quickly noticed this, though, and grimaced, "Acting like a what? A sssavage?"

"Nya did mean that at all," Wu defended the said samurai, to which Devon sighed.

"Yessss, I know. I am jussst so used to being judged and shunned in the blink of an eye. And I was raisssed to either run away, or fight back."

"Well, your fighting skills will be greatly appreciated here, I can assure," Wu pointed out.

"I you sssay so."

With that, they led Devon to a vehicular rental store, and Nya rented an electric scooter with a sidecar. She drove the scooter while Wu rode in the sidecar, and Devon walked next to them as Nya drove slow enough for her to keep up.

They eventually found the ninja trying to fix a streetlamp on the corner of the block, and Nya and Wu explained that they would be gone for a day to pick up dragon ointment and parts to fix the Ninja Tank. But before they left, Nya made sure to give the ninja a brochure of a real estate agency that could help them find a new home.

"Hey, wait a minute! What about her?!" Cole snapped while pointing at Devon.

"Devon can stay here, and help you look after Lloyd," Wu replied before giggling like a child, "Now, punch it, Nya!"

"Aye-aye, Sensei!" Nya shouted before speeding off, and Wu held up his hands as if he were on a rollercoaster.

"'Patty Keys: Real Estate Queen'," Jay read the front of the brochure aloud with a smirk, "Huh, this is exactly what we need. Once we get a roof over our head, we can start properly training Lloyd."

"Good, 'cause if we know Lord Garmadon, he's not gonna be taking any breaks. And let's not forget: The Serpentine are still at large," Cole added, but quickly looked at Devon in fear, "N-No offense."

"None taken. I underssstand where your fear iss coming from, but I am no longer a part of their barbaric waysss," Devon confirmed.

"You're still one of them, though," a voice sneered, as Lloyd rounded the street corner and glared daggers at Devon.

"Yesss, I am acutely aware of that. And I can't begin to ssssay how sssorry I am for corrupting your father," Devon tried to apologize, but Lloyd once again shrugged her off by waving his hand.

"No, ya can't. You ruined his life, and mine," Lloyd growled.

"U-Uh, why don't we start looking for our new place, huh?" Kai awkwardly cut in, and started walking with Lloyd in the opposite direction.

"I fear I may never get through to him," Devon admitted with a heavy sigh.

"We once thought that, too, but we eventually showed him what was right," Zane spoke softly to the tall Serpentine.

Devon looked down at him in surprise, "You're not ssstill mad at me?"

"We are still a bit fearful, but if Sensei Wu trusts you, I suppose we should learn to as well," Zane stated with a smile, to which Devon smiled back.

"I am glad to hear that. What did you sssay your name wasss again?"

"I am Zane, elemental master of ice."

Zane then stuck out his hand, and Devon didn't hesitate to shake it.

"It isss nice to truly make your acquaintance, Zane."

Once Zane and Devon caught up with the others, they contacted Patty from the real estate agency to discuss looking for new homes. Unfortunately, the first offer she had for them was a single-room apartment on the ground floor, and it was very unkempt with a depressing view of a dark alley.

"This one-bedroom, one half-bath is a cozy dream," Patty explained, as she made it painfully obvious that she was trying to sugarcoat the place's poor conditions, "Who needs extras when everything is in arm's reach? Now, wait until you see the lighting!"

Patty then reached for the light switch next to the door, but the single incandescent bulb that hang on a chain from the ceiling instantly fell to the floor when she turned it on.

"Uh, why do I smell old people?" Lloyd questioned as his nose wrinkled from the odd smell.

"Look, Kid, I'm trying to work around your budget. This is all you can afford," Patty explained in utter annoyance.

"Um…this looks promising?" Cole figured.

"I've lived in densss bigger than thissss," Devon muttered under her breath.

Cole only shook his head to try and ignore the terrible setting, "Remember, guys, Sensei told us our main objective is to train Lloyd, not kick our feet up in some swanky suite. If this is all we can afford, then it's all we can afford."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Let's not rush inta any decision. I mean, if it's really all about Lloyd, don't we need ta live some place that'll make his training easier?" Jay quickly pointed out.

"Yeah, Jay's right," Kai reluctantly admitted, "If we have ta get Lloyd ready ta save Ninjago from his father, shouldn't he at least have his own room?"

"Technically, that does not matter. He only-," Zane tried to inform, only to be cut off by a harsh elbow in the torso from Kai.

"We're only thinking about the children," Jay laughed nervously.

"I do have another property that you'll just love," Patty spoke up.

They were all quite intrigued, and they let her lead them up to the top of a tall building. And the second property they were greeted with was far better than the first one.

"Now, this is the eight-bedroom Hero Suite. Floor-to-ceiling windows, digital wall television, state of the art game console…" Patty went on, and they all marveled at how much more wonderful this place was. But it seemed too good to be true.

"Uh, it seems a little out of our price range," Cole stated worriedly.

Patty shrugged it off, "Oh, sure. It costs a little more, but you deserve it. I forgot to mention, there's also a dragon keep on the roof."

"Nice!" Jay commented, "Maybe we can get a hero discount? After all, we are the ninja who saved the city."

"I thought Lord Garmadon saved the city," Patty argued matter-of-factly.

"He did. But he would not have been able to do it without their Golden Weaponssss," Devon informed firmly, and Patty visibly shrank in fear when the former flicked her tongue at her.

"We could get pay jobs to pay for the extra expenses," Kai quickly suggested.

"We always said we could use a little more responsibility," Zane added vigorously.

"But we have to train Lloyd," Kai pointed out.

"Did I mention the in-house training facility?" Patty cut in while grabbing a universal remote, and a secret door in the wall opened at the press of a button. They all stared into the secret room, and were bewildered at the sight of an arena filled with training equipment of various kinds.

"We'll take it!" the four older ninja shouted in unison.

Even after the ninja were able to find day jobs, they still had to leave Devon and Lloyd behind at the suite. It seemed like a good idea to the ninja at first, but things had grown quite awkward between the tall snake and the green ninja once they were left alone.

Lloyd tried to distract himself by trying out the training equipment, but it wasn't easy as Devon continued to watch him from the corner of the room.

"What? You planning to turn me evil, too?" Lloyd sneered after finally having enough, and jumped off of the moving equipment to approach Devon.

"Not at all. I'm just making sure you ssstay safe becaussse I wassss given the tasssk of watching you while the others are at work," Devon calmly protested.

"I don't care. You're still an evil snake, and that's never gonna change."

"I-It could if you give me another chance."

"A chance ta do what? Stab me in the back?"

"No. To train you."

Lloyd furrowed his eyebrows in disbelief, "How would you do that? You don't even know Spinjitzu."

"You're right, I don't. But I do know the ancient fighting style of the snake. Aren't you even a little interessssted?"

"No."

"Very well. I supposssse I will jussst train on my own, then."

Without warning, Devon performed a front flip onto one of the moving platforms, and effortlessly landed on both feet. This easily caught Lloyd's attention, and he watched in curiosity as she dodged and struck the dummies coming towards her. She showed feats of strength and agility that resembled that of the other ninja, and Lloyd was starting to get a bit jealous. It just wasn't fair to him that an evil snake, who literally tried to destroy everything the day before, was able to fight just as well as him.

Devon was so focused on fighting and dodging that she failed to notice the dirty look Lloyd was giving her, and she darted over to a barrel of weapons to grab a sword. She grabbed the weapon mere seconds before a slot in the wall opened, and started launching shurikens at her. She effortlessly managed to angle the sword the right way to make the shurikens bounce off, and impale themselves in the wall right next to Lloyd's head.

The sound of the weapons hitting the wall was enough to snap him back to reality, and he helped when he saw how deep the shurikens dug into the wall.

"That isss one of the bassssic rules of combat: Alwaysss pay attention," Devon instructed while placing one hand on her hip, and putting the sword back in the barrel.

"Beginner's luck," Lloyd scoffed.

"Actually, I am far above the level of a novice. I've been trained in combat for roughly fifty yearssss."

Lloyd gasped at that, "H-How old are you?!"

"Well, the lassst time I checked, I wasss at leassst half of a millennial old."

"Uh, what's a millennial?"

"It isss one thousssand yearsss."

"What?! You're over five hundred years old?! No way!"

Devon giggled at the boy's shock, "It isss very true. I am told that I look quite young for my age, though."

"I'll say."

All of the sudden, the door burst open as the ninja hobbled in, and they complained about how horrible their first day of work was. Each of them were either sore, on the brink of passing out, or stiff from the long day.

"I take it your firssst day on the job wasss not like you hoped?" Devon guessed.

"I-I don't even have the energy…to play video games," Jay grunted after collapsing onto the floor.

"But I thought you were gonna train me when you got home," Lloyd stated with worry.

"Sorry, Champ, but we can't until we make rent," Cole begrudgingly added, "How close are we, Jay?"

The said master of lighting dragged himself to the jar of money, and gasped when he shook it, "Is this jar getting bigger?! We're not even close!"

"And our rent is due tomorrow," Zane informed.

"I can pull a double shift," Cole offered with a shrug.

"And I can do overtime," Zane quickly added.

"Maybe I can sling a few more pizza pies," Jay pondered aloud.

"And I can make a little extra if I do the human piñata," Kai stated, only for the others to blink at him in confusion, "Don't ask…"

"Great, then our priorities are set. Tomorrow, we make rent," Cole confirmed.

"And, uh, what about me?" Lloyd piped up.

"Isss there anything I can do assss well?" Devon offered.

Cole groaned in pain when he put his sore feet back in the tub of ice water, "How about you help out, and fetch me some more ice?"

Lloyd and Devon exchanged worried glances, but said nothing else as they grabbed a bucket and headed downstairs to get some more ice.

"Do you think they will be able to make enough money in time?" Devon eventually asked out of doubt.

"Hey, these are the ninja we're talking about. I'll be damned if they don't keep us a place ta stay," Lloyd boasted with a grin.

"Oh, my. You have quite a mature vocabulary for someone of your age."

"Yeah, well, I was raised in Darkley's School for Bad Boys. Being a mouthy little prick is what I was taught."

"And yet, you are helping the heroesss fight the good fight?"

"I have to now that I'm the destined Green Ninja—plus, they're the only real family I've ever known. My father was never there for me, and I never knew my mother."

Devon instantly felt guilty, especially when Lloyd's tone became sorrowful, "I have not sssseen my parents in a long time either."

Lloyd looked up at her curiously, "What happened to them?"

"That doesssn't really matter right now. Now, come. We need to hurry and get that ice for poor Cole'sss feet," Devon denied while shaking her head, and even picked up her pace. Lloyd found himself even more intrigued by Devon's past, but remained quiet as he followed her.

After once again being left alone while the others went back to work, Lloyd started playing video games to pass the time instead. Devon sat next to him on the couch, and concentrated hard on the flashing images on the TV.

"What isss that?" Devon eventually asked.

"What? You mean, the video game?" Lloyd questioned, not even bothering to take his eyes off of the screen.

"What isss a 'video game'?"

Lloyd immediately paused the game, and gawked at Devon, "You've never played a video game?!"

"No. It hassss not been possssible. I have been locked in a tomb for the lassst couple of hundred yearsss, and when I wasssn't locked away, we did not have thissss kind of entertainment."

"Oh, right. Well…here, lemme show you how. Just take the controller in both your hands, and use the analog stick to control your dragon through the flight course."

Lloyd stifled a laugh when Devon brought the controller close to her eyes, and fiddled with one of the analog sticks with her thumb and index finger.

"No, like this," Lloyd chuckled while fixing Devon's hold on the controller, and made sure she grasped both sides properly, "Good. Now, just use your thumb to move the stick.

Devon placed her thumb on the stick, and her eyes widened in amazement slowly when it moved underneath her hold. But a loud crash and a bright flash of white caught their attention, as a cloud of smoke appeared and a sign on the screen that read "Game Over" blinked repeatedly.

"Whoops. Um…you just died," Lloyd awkwardly informed.

"I…died?" Devon parroted, unable to take her eyes away from the game.

"Y-Yeah, but don't worry! It happens to everyone."

"I died."

"Again, there's no need to get upset."

"I died! How wonderful!" Devon suddenly shouted with complete happiness, which took Lloyd by surprise.

"Wait, you're not mad?"

"Mad? Why would I be mad? I jussst died in my firsssst ever video game! It'sss given me a feeling of competitivenessss, and we Ssserpentine love to compete."

Lloyd chuckled and smiled, "Really? Well, if you want, I could get another controller, and we could play co-op."

"That sssounds like-," Devon began with vigor, her smile instantly faltered and her frill flared up, as she whipped her head towards the window.

"What's wrong?"

Lloyd leaned forward to follow Devon's gaze, but screamed in terror when he saw none other than Skales on a window cleaner, and the platform continued to lower to their floor.

"Hello, little boy," Skales taunted while knocking on the window.

"Get out of here! I'm hold him off!" Devon hissed while jumping into battle stance, and Lloyd sprinted over to the door to escape. But when he tried to type in the code to unlock the door, it remained shut tight.

"You really think you can sssstop me?" Skales asked in disbelief after cutting a hole in the window with his staff to enter.

"I'll do everything in my power to protect that boy," Devon threatened as her frill stretched out to its full length, but it did nothing to intimidate Skales.

"W-What do you want with me, Skales?!" Lloyd demanded.

"You ssseem to be the only thing your father caresss about. But with you as my hosssstage, he'll have no choice but to let me lead the Serpentine," Skales explained with a dark chuckle.

"You won't lay a claw on hisss head—not while I'm around," Devon hissed.

"Hello?! What's going on in there?!" Sensei Wu's voice called from the other side of the door, as he and Nya knocked rapidly.

"Help!" Lloyd shouted at the top of his lungs.

Skales quickly noticed that Devon glanced back at the door at the sound of Wu's voice, and used this as an opportunity to strike. He struck her in the side of the face with his staff, causing her to grab her snout in pain. But Devon snarled and lunged at the Hypnobrai, and attempted to kick him in the face.

Skales was too quick for Devon, though, as he dodged her attack and grabbed her ankle. He then flung her over his head, and sent her crashing into the coffee table hard enough to break it. Devon was dazed for another few seconds, but she shook away the dizziness in time to roll out of the way before Skales could hit her with his staff again.

Devon jumped to her feet and snatched the staff from Skales when he tried to hit her for a third time. She hit him in the blink of an eye, and dazed him long enough to kick him onto his back. Once he was down, she straddled him with her hips and pressed the staff down on his throat. The more she pressed down, the quicker Skales lost oxygen and clear vision.

"Devon!" Wu shouted at the top of his lungs, and his voice was enough to snap her out of it. She looked down and realized she was about to murder Skales, which would have made her stoop to his level. The last thing she would do was murder in cold blood again, so she bashed her head against Skales' forehead to knock him unconscious.

"Whoa…" Lloyd breathed in awe.

"That'sss another important rule of combat: Don't ssstoop to your enemy'ssss level," Devon informed between huffs, as she rose to her feet to recollect herself.

Lloyd really, really hated to admit it, but he was even more jealous of Devon's fighting skills than ever before—as well as very impressed.

Yeah, I know I just posted the first chapter maybe an hour ago, but I just can't stop writing right now.

Until the next chapter, I'm TRikiD, bye-bye!