CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE — THE GREAT DEVOURER
day of the great devourer — part one

"But we still have one another." — zane julien

THE GREAT DEVOURER HAD BEEN UNLEASHED, HER FATHER WAS GONE, AND NINJAGO WAS ALREADY DOOMED. Iris tried to stay positive — that somehow they could stop this — but it was hard. The boys all reached for the Wu girl as they felt their own sorrow sink in their hearts. Their teacher was gone and there wasn't anything they could do.

Iris said nothing as the boys cried out. She was too in shock to even move.

Above them the snake once again sailed up into the air as the thunder rumbled in their ears. It reared its head and roared victoriously at its first bite since escaping its prison. If there was one thing Iris knew from her lessons: it was that the Great Devourer was always hungry and could not be satisfied until it had consumed every living thing. And now it had gotten its appetite back. 

Jay gulped as he stared up at the looming beast. It turned in their direction and Iris felt her heart quicken inside her chest. Fear fuelled her as she started to inch back towards the exit; desperate to put some distance between herself and that huge snake. "Oh, maybe if we stand perfectly still..."

But the serpent was staring directly at them. It was sizing up its next meal.

"Run!"

The ninja turned tail and fled with the Great Devourer right behind them. Together the five sprinted as fast as they could, feeling the exertion in their legs as they ran for their very lives. But the Great Devourer was big and fast and it slithered towards them at an almost taunting pace. Fear, it seemed, would consume them whole before the large serpent could. They could feel the effects echo through their bodies as they dashed.

Hissing and growling from behind them added to their fear as the evil serpent chased its prey. They tried to put as much distance between it and them as they could but it was soon catching up. The very snake that turned her Uncle, that ate her Father, it would get them too. And then all of Ninjago.

They could not let that happen. 

She could not let that happen.

The Bounty was up ahead, lowered down so they could climb aboard. So as soon as they reached the vessel, the ninja leapt onto the deck as fast as their limbs could take them. They were out of breath, panting heavily, but they could not stop. So they ran into the bridge were Nya and Lloyd were and collapsed inside the door.

They may have had a chance to regain their breath, but they couldn't stop. 

Iris wheezed as she pushed herself to her feet before erupting into a coughing fit. As she struggled for air, Jay rolled into the room and his eyes instantly went to the screen. The screen that projected an image of the Devourer behind them.

If Iris Wu saw that snake again, it would be too soon. 

"Uh, hate to tell you this, but objects in the mirror are closer than they appear!" Yelled the panicked lightning ninja.

"Working on it. Blasters are on full."

The yellow ninja emitted one final cough before her breathing regulated and she then found herself collapsing to the deck. Whipping off her mask, Iris placed her head into her hands and sobbed. Her Father was gone, the Devourer was out. Ninjago was doomed. And she felt helpless to stop it.

But as soon as the liquid pooled in her palms, Iris threw her head up and scolded herself. This was not the time for grief. She had to help save her ninja — they were what mattered now.

Suddenly the Bounty shot through the air, leaving Ouroboros and the up-close Devourer in the dust. But they were not out of the woods yet, Iris could feel it in her very bones.

"Woo-hoo! Rejoiced the fire ninja as they fled the Serpentine city. "Take that, you stupid snake." 

The Sensei sighed and shook her head. "I don't think you should celebrate just yet." She said and slowly made her way to stand beside her cousin who she could tell was frightened beyond belief. 

And as if Kai and Iris jinxed it, the Devourer suddenly burst up in front of them.

It seemed that snake could do more than just slither, it could burrow too. So now it stared down the Bounty with its large beady eyes, preparing to strike down its next meal — them. 

Oh no.

"Uh, I think it heard you."

Iris wrapped her arms around her young cousin protectively as they kept sailing straight towards the fanged mouth of the giant serpent. But just as the scaly monstrosity was about to take a huge bite out of them, Nya swerved the Bounty right past it. 

Phew. They were safe for now.

But the snake snarled and quickly reacted so it began chasing after them once more. Iris's grip on Lloyd tightened and although the little green ninja was feeling the uncomfortable squeeze of his cousin, he let her, because he knew she was calmer once he was safe by her side. And he felt safer next to her as well.

"Nya, we gotta go faster!" Cried the fire ninja as he watched the snake from the rear window. "That thing is gaining on us."

Iris, on the other hand, couldn't bear to look.

There was a slight tremble in Nya's voice. "We're going as fast as we can. I'll try to make it to Scattered Canyon."

"Probability of us making it that far is less than 8 percent."

For once, Zane's words were not a comfort to the yellow ninja and she felt herself grow more panicked by the second. And it seemed the others weren't too happy about his input either. Cole then quickly piped up and warned them as the vindictive snake grew closer and closer.

"Port side!"

Nya quickly yanked their ship to the opposite side, narrowly missing the lunging serpent. That was another close one. But as Iris and Lloyd watched the screens, she realised that this personification of evil wasn't just going to give up. It will keep coming for them until they are devoured. Just like her Father was. 

Then it would take the rest of Ninjago.

"We're losing speed." Announced Lloyd which cast the hope from every single one of the ninja. "We'll drop to the ground soon." 

This was it for them. Their ship was losing power and the Great Devourer was still coming. It seemed their fate was inevitable.

But then Nya had an idea that might just save them. "Throw everything overboard." They all expressed their confusion in a unionised 'what?' before Nya continued. "We need to lose some weight."

"Port side!" Lloyd alerted them as the snake attacked again.

But this time it seemed that they didn't get out unscathed. Iris could feel it as the Bounty shifted; the snake had taken one bite. Now it would want more.

She left the bridge with the ninja (not without placing a gentle and protective kiss to the top of Lloyd's forehead) so they could try and escape the Devourer. They went from room to room, chucking everything they could overboard. Everything in her room could be replaced so Iris had no hesitation about emptying her area. 

But she did stop to save the picture of her parents. And the one of her and Loralyn from beneath Lloyd's pillow. They may have been just paper in weight but they meant so much more than that. 

On the deck with some of the ninja, Iris tossed the last of her things over the side. And when she caught sight of the snake at their heels, Iris Wu just grew even more afraid. 

But that wasn't the worst of it all. Because suddenly the snake shed some scales and grew in size. 

The more it ate, the more it grew.

Iris hadn't known about that. And as she looked down at their trail of discarded items, she realised they had made a huge mistake. Because in an attempt to save themselves, they had just fed the biggest snake in all Ninjago. And that was just going to make it harder to defeat — if it was even possible to defeat it in the first place.

Cole quickly came to the same conclusion as Iris. "The more it consumed, the bigger it gets." He whipped around to face the others. "Don't throw anything else overboard."

But it was too late.

Kai had tossed her Father's teapot over the railing. And straight into the deadly and hungry mouth of that snake. Not good.

It was a miracle that they made it to Scattered Canyon. So perhaps her Grandfather was smiling down at them after all. 

Iris had never been so afraid before. Grief and fear swirled inside her like a storm she couldn't navigate but the yellow ninja tried her best to calm the tide so she could focus on saving her ninja. She made her way back to the bridge as Nya led the Bounty through the canyon.

They weaved and meandered around the stone pillars as they tried to lose the Devourer inside. But that snake could burrow underground so she wasn't sure how long it would last. They had no other option. This was their last chance. 

Relief filled her as she re-entered the bridge to see that her cousin and the other ninja were alright. Kai, it seemed, had decided to stay outside.  Why, she had no clue. The yellow ninja quickly wrapped her arms around the small quivering boy and held him tight to her chest.

She would die before she let that snake take her cousin.

And that vengestone cuff was still stuck on her wrist so she couldn't do a thing to help. Not to speak ill of the dead, but damn her Father for doing this to her. Teleporting with more than oneself was difficult, but she could have at least tried. 

Zane made his way to Iris's side, having noticed the confliction of emotions on her unmasked face. Her hair was a frantic mess and her cheeks still stained with tears as she clutched the Garmadon boy for dear life. But as soon as he placed a gentle hand upon her shoulder, her grip on the green ninja loosened and she turned to face him. 

No words were said between the masters of space and ice because none were needed. Their eyes said it all. 

With the prospect of death seeming more like reality, the two ninjas wanted to express some form of sentiment before the end. Zane reached for Iris's hand and held it tightly as the Bounty continued to flee. Even if they managed to escape the Devourer tonight, it would catch up to them eventually. Things were looking pretty grim.

"Ah, we lost him."

No, they did not.

Out of nowhere, the Great Devourer dived towards them. It swiped it's pointed tail straight at their ship, knocking it from the sky. Suddenly, they were all tossed about inside the bridge and struggled to find their grip.

Was this how it was going to end?

With one arm around Lloyd and the other hand clutching Zane's, Iris had none spare to try and hold on as the ship tumbled down to the ground. Zane instinctively grabbed the side of the control panel, holding the three of them in place as the alarm wailed above them.

"Abandon ship!"

Down they fell and not even the sails could save them. The screen behind them was ripped from the wall by the force and would have crushed them if Zane hadn't pulled the three of them clear. That was close. 

The Bounty hit the ground harshly and they could feel the impact reverberate through the ship. It shook them from their positions before the front of the ship dove head first into the ground. Jay was flung towards the window and went straight through it, shattering the glass into many pieces. 

But still, the Bounty kept on moving. 

It skidded along the coarse dirt and sand, still taking them away from the Devourer who was right behind them. Nya was right, they had to abandon their ship. It was their only chance.

Turning to face her, Nya gave their Sensei a determined look. "I'll take Lloyd in my suit." She said, reaching for the small green ninja. "You need to go with Zane."

It was the only way. Iris nodded her head with her words and knelt down to face her young cousin. "I'll see you soon, Little Monty." She forced a smile before pressing a soft kiss to his forehead.

"Be safe, Iris." Mumbled Lloyd as he leaned into the girl for one last hug. 

Then, they both let go. And as the Bounty was starting to slow to a halt, Iris left with Zane as Lloyd went out the other door with Nya. She trusted the Samurai to take care of her cousin and keep him safe from that terrible snake. But that didn't mean she wasn't worried.

With her Father gone and her Uncle's tormentor out once more, their family had suffered a great deal. So without the boy in her line of sight, Iris couldn't shake her growing fear and worry. 

Zane reached down and took her hand. "He'll be alright." Not a word passed her lips and she just nodded. "Come on." He led her to the other door and as soon as he passed the frame, he sighed sadly. "Goodbye, old friend."

Then together, the two ninjas leapt from the Bounty. In mid air, Zane used his shurikens to summon his elemental ice bike and they rode away from their sinking ship as fast as they could.

She had her arms wrapped tightly around his waist as she sped off into the distance. But as soon as they were clear of the crashed Bounty, the ninja stopped to turn back and look at what remained of their beloved ship. Iris peeked at the wreckage over Zane's shoulder and the sight of it made her heart sink.

"That's two homes we've lost now." Another tear fell from her eyes. 

Zane felt the sudden dampness in his shoulder as she cried. So he said. "But we still have one another." And of course, the white ninja was right. As the one to have found the ship in the first place, he too mourned its loss. Yet at that moment, he still felt alright. And that was because all his friends were still by his side.

The Great Devourer burst through the ground.

Growling intimidatingly, it eyed up what was left of its prey. And that was the signal for the ninja to get out of there. They turned and fled from the ginormous snake and its next meal before they came to a sheltered area of rock. 

And as the elemental vehicles vanished, the five ninja turned to watch as the Devourer lowered down and picked up their ship in its large mouth. Then all it took was for it close its jaws and the entire ship splintered into two.

"No!"

The cries of the ninja weren't heard by the Devourer — fortunately for them all — as they watched their home be consumed. It pained them all to see the leftover pieces of their ship fall, jagged and uneven, onto the ground as if they were nothing. Tears welled in the ninjas' eyes as they finally allowed the reality of all that had happened to sink in. 

Iris, and the others, had lost so much in the past few hours. But Zane was right: they still had each other. And at that moment, that was all they had.

Cole turned away from the wreckage as the sun rose behind them. Its warm light cast down upon them, reminding them all that a new day had begun. And it was already off to a bad start. "Uh, it's gone."

"That was too intense." Panted Kai as he removed his mask. The sad look on his face was shared amongst the ninja as they collapsed after the events that had just transpired. "All that action. Makes you so thirsty."

Iris pulled at the yellow fabric of her gi as she tried, and failed, to distract herself. Despite losing their home, it seemed everyone was alright... well, almost everyone. Her heart instantly sunk at the image of her Father in her mind. She just couldn't believe he was gone. After all his centuries upon this soil, this was how it ended? It wasn't a good way to go.

Shaking her head, Iris quickly tried to rid herself of that thought and pushed down her emotions as she looked at her ninja. She needed to step up. They were going to need someone — her  — to watch out for them. 

"There's no time to rest." Zane said as he got to his feet.

Iris took a deep breath before joining the ice ninja at his side. "He's right. The Great Devourer is out there and even if we currently don't know how to stop it, we have to warn the people and save as many as we can. And the longer we wait, the more time it'll have to consume and the bigger it will get." From her pocket, Iris withdrew the photo of her parents and a sad smile graced her lips. It just dawned on the Wu girl that she was now an orphan. They were both gone. But they weren't forgotten. "We have to do this. For my Father, and for Ninjago."

"I agree with Iris." Nodded Zane as he turned to grab her wrist comfortingly. "We have to hurry before it gets bigger."

That just seemed to make Jay panic more. "Bigger? Bigger?" He yelled frantically. "That thing, in one big bite, just crushed our entire ship!" Iris could understand his fear so she said nothing. "We need to save as many as we can. Uh, uh, we'll find some kind of refuge, somewhere safe to hide. Ooh, the Serpentine tombs." Suggested the lightning ninja. "Yeah, they're underground. Sure, we'll be without sunlight for months, but they're perfect."

"And what, just give up?"

"You know, as well as I do, that we have no chance at stopping that thing!"

At his words, the young Sensei hung her head. Jay was right. They did not know how to stop the Great Devourer so going up against it would be incredibly stupid. But who else would stand up for Ninjago if not them?

Kai jumped between Jay and Cole, instantly putting their growing argument to rest. "Hey, stop it! Listen to yourselves. Is this what Sensei Wu would have wanted? Us fighting? Running and hiding? Giving up?" A proud smile appeared on Iris's face at his words. He was right.

"But he's not here anymore." Lloyd sad voice added. 

Iris's smile dropped as she turned down to her cousin and wrapped her arm around his small shoulders. He instantly leant into her touch.

"But we have our other Sensei." Kai smiled over at Iris. "And his teachings live on." Kai said. "Sensei once told me: 'it's not the size of a ninja in a fight, but the size of the fight in a ninja'." A small chuckle fell from the master of space's lips at his words because she vividly remembered her Father telling her the same thing. "All this training, all these battles we've had with skeletons and the Serpentine. We've persevered through so much, we can't just give up now."

Re-emerging once more, a hopeful smile appeared on the Wu girl's face at the fire ninja's words. "Ninja never quit."

"Exactly." Grinned Kai and both him and Iris shared an optimistic look of determination.

But then Zane had to bring them back to reality. "But how do we destroy a snake of that magnitude?" He inquired, turning to the most knowledgeable one of them all — Iris — expectantly. But the way she instantly looked away, he realised she had no idea and just squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"Yeah, it's not like we have an extra Sacred Flute lying around to charm it." Pointed out Jay. "Or wait, ha-ha. Or one of our awesome dragons? Oh, I forgot. They took off and left us high and dry." Iris gave the lightning ninja a small glare for his words because those dragons loved the ninja; it wasn't their fault they had to migrate east to the Spirit Coves. "Or, hey, what about our golden weapons? Which will do nothing against a snake that size." A humourless laugh escaped Jay before releasing a defeated sigh. "We are so hooped."

Cole too sighed as he realised the truth of their friend's words. "Jay's right. We would need a weapon so big." Which Iris was sure they didn't have.

"Or an idea that's even bigger!" Exclaimed Kai who jumped in realisation. Iris tilted her head curiously as she was eager to hear his plan. Any plan at this moment would do. "HA! Jay, you're a genius!"

"He is?" Frowned Iris.

Kai was grinning from ear to ear in excitement. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Probably not, but go ahead."

"There's no time." Said Kai as he started to run away from their sheltered rock area. "I'll fill you guys in on the way." 

Both Jay and Iris spoke up. "Where are we going?"

The fire ninja smirked. "We're going to destroy that snake once and for all." 

Iris matched his smirk as they started to follow Kai to wherever they were going. "I like this plan."

And off they went. Away from their ruined home and putting their grief aside. They were going to save Ninjago. And they were going to do it together.

KAI'S PLAN WAS KIND OF GENIUS. 

They quickly arrived at the junkyard of Ed and Edna in their elemental vehicles and Nya's suit. Just like before, Nya had taken Lloyd with her and Iris was once again placed on the back of Zane's bike, not that either of them complained. The ice ninja no longer stiffened when she wrapped her arms around his waist as by now he had grown use to her touch. And Iris, having him by her side seemed to settle the raging storm of emotions inside her.

Grief and fear were the main contenders inside her mind but many others had their own say in the matter. It was complete chaos inside; losing her Father and her home and having to face the monster from her bedtime stories would do that. But having Zane and Lloyd by her side, it just made her feel better for some reason.

The vehicles dematerialised back into their weapons as they arrived Jay's home. "Good idea, Kai." Cole instantly complimented their resident hothead. "If the Devourer likes to consume, this place is a full-on buffet."

Jay went to check in on his parents in their trailer, but there was no response. "Looks like my parents are gone."

"Good, better for us." Kai then moved over to an old car to roll out his plans onto the hood. Wow, they were incredible. 

"It's so awesome."

A hum passed her lips as she stared down at the schematics. "I'm with you, Jay. These are great."

Kai turned to their nindroid friend. "Zane, you still have the recording of the Sacred Flute in your memory bank?" Zane was brilliant. He could access things from when he didn't even know he was a nindroid. Like the sound of the flute that would lull any serpent. 

Feeling a tug on her yellow suit, Iris turned to see her cousin staring up at her. "What is it, Monty? What's wrong?"

But Lloyd said nothing and instead pulled Iris away from the other ninja as they discussed the plan and when he came to a stop, he released her hand to fiddle with his own nervously. This wasn't just about the Great Devourer, Iris realised that quite quickly. "Uh, before Uncle Wu left with you. He, uh, he gave me something." 

Wide-eyed, Iris leaned down to eye-level and placed her hands upon his small shoulders. "What did he give you?" She inquired as she stared at the boy with a curious gaze. "You know you can tell me."

"He, uh, he said to give it you when you got back." Then the green ninja reached inside his suit, he then withdrew a small chain. And on that chain, it was the key. The key to the vengestone cuff around her wrist. The cuff her Father had placed on her. He knew what he was doing. And he knew how to make sure she would get rid of it at the right time. "I didn't know what it was for at the time, but I do now." 

Lloyd then removed the chain from around his neck and offered it to his cousin on his outstretched palm. As she removed her hands from his shoulders, Iris gently retrieved the key from Lloyd and slid it into the hole in the cuff. Then, with one twist, the vengestone fell to the floor.

 A sigh of relief filled her and a smile brightened her face as she felt the burden of that material lift and her powers return. It felt incredible. And just to make sure, Iris then summoned an orb of cosmic energy into her palm and it quickly obeyed. She was back. And just for good measure, she kicked that pesky bit of vengestone as far away from her as she could.

Turning to her cousin, Iris placed a grateful kiss upon his forehead. "Thank you for this, Little Monty."

"I've got your back, Iris."

The yellow ninja chuckled contently. "I know you do. And I've got yours."

And just as they were about to re-join the ninja, the sound of someone approaching caused them to stop. Then a second later, none other than the mailman rode into the junkyard, whistling as he went. That guy was everywhere.

Lloyd, Iris and the others quickly made their way towards him and once he looked up, he was startled by their sudden appearance. "Aah!" He cried out and then said. "You ninja are always sneaking around, giving people heart attacks. You're too quiet."

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." Kai told the mailman and then added. "But you need to get out of here, now." He warned him. 

But it seemed the mailman had other ideas. "Uh, well, now, I—I, too have a job to do," He said as he reached over to the mailbag in his bike basket and pulled out a single letter. "and that's delivering the mail, which I plan to do."

Jay snatched the envelope from his hand in an attempt to make this go faster. "Look, dude, my parents aren't even here. You really should be on your way."

"Them too?" Iris frowned at the man's words. What had he meant by that? "Uh, let me guess, are they at that Take Back Ninjago rally too?" What on Ninjago was that? Anyway, Iris was sure she was about to find out. After being met with confused faces, the mailman's own face contorted with confusion. "You guys haven't heard?" And when their faces didn't change, he continued. "Everyone's getting together for a rally in the city. You know, to raise awareness about all the Serpentine problems that have been surfacing lately."

"Whoa." Breathed out Lloyd in awe. "Would you look at that. You guys are inspirational." He said, gesturing to his five fellow ninja. Iris chuckled lightly and then looked over her shoulder to smile at her cousin.

The mailman was preparing to leave when he stopped to look at them. "Wait a minute. You know what? You guys are right." He said as he slowly backed away from them. But Iris was no longer looking at him because behind she could see the very thing they were running from. The Great Devourer had found them. Oh no. "Wherever you guys are, trouble is always around the corner."

All five settled into a fighting stance as they prepared to face on the Devourer. It was fast approaching.

"I think I'll be leaving now because whatever you guys are up to, I want no part of it." Stated the mailman, completely unaware of the evil that lurked behind him. It was the loud hissing that drew his attention first and perhaps the shadow that was cast over his entire body. Because then the mailman turned and froze instantly at the sight before him. "SNAKE!" He cried and once he regained control of his limbs, he dived into the nearest rubbish bin. 

Kai quickly tried to get the Devourer's attention before he turned to his friends. "It's now or never, guys!" Iris took a deep breath as she pictured the design in her head. Part of her wasn't sure what her addition to the Tornado of Creation would do but the boys had insisted on her participance So participate she shall. "Ninja, go! Fire!" He spun around using spinjitzu and waited for the others.

"Earth!"

"Lightning!"

"Ice!"

She stared up at the large snake before her as it eyed up the heaps of scrap for its next large meal. If it had its way it would consume Jay's entire home and after losing her second, Iris was going to do all she could to make sure that didn't happen to him. Then, she closed her eyes and started to spin. "Space!"

The other four tornados were already being pulled together by some attractive force by the time Iris came over in her own yellow tornado. And as she neared them, her tornado wasn't spat out as she expected, but instead welcomed gratefully as they came together. Five tornados. Five elements. Five ninja.

Together the tornado formed one incredibly large one — the Tornado of Creation. And Iris was a part of it. It felt incredible. Their huge tornado pulled all sorts of things from the ground to form Kai's design. Sheets of metal, old parts, it seemed anything they wanted was already here in Ed & Edna's Scrap 'N Junk. She would have to thank Jay's parents later.

And when the tornado finally stopped spinning, it seemed their efforts had pulled off. Because now all five ninja were sat inside a very large vehicle of Kai's design. It was amazing. 

"Zane, now!"

Iris looked at the buttons around her and realised she had no idea how anything worked. But Zane was smart, she was sure he would figure it out. And he did. Because a moment later a beam of sound shot out of a cannon, aimed straight at the Devourer's head. 

But that grazing beam just made the serpent angrier. "Zane, what was that?" Questioned Cole as he looked up at the even more annoyed Great Devourer. "This isn't target practice. You're supposed to hit him, not give him a haircut."

"Cole!" Scolded Iris.

Zane then jumped in to defend himself. "May I remind you we just magically whipped up this heap of junk." He was right, of course. They may have gone off of Kai's designs but that didn't mean they know how it worked.

"I hope one of us created a reverse feature, because... REVERSE!"

From between Kai and Zane, Iris had a good view of the Devourer but she wished she didn't. Because at that moment, it was coming straight at them. The Wu girl flinched as fear started to claw its way back into her heart. 

"How's this for reverse?" And Cole reversed their new vehicle, straight into a large pile of tyres. Iris held on, white-knuckled, as he then zoomed forwards, dodging each strike from the giant snake as it tried to hit them on the ground. 

Their next blast of the Sacred Flute music did as much as the first: nothing. 

But they had to keep trying.

The ninja aimed the new vehicle over the junkyard wall and into the open. They sped straight past its mouth and towards the end of the very large snake. "I need your help holding him in place." 

"How's this?" Jay found a button he could press and as soon as he did, a large clamp shot out from their creation and grabbed onto the scales of the snake. "Got him." Then the lightning ninja shot another for good measure and together the ninja reversed and pulled the Great Devourer along with them. But Iris knew this wouldn't last long. 

They drove rapidly fast the Devourer and straight through the wall of the junkyard. This yanked the serpent onto the ground and the ninja kept their distance to keep the chain tight and the Devourer down. Now they had a chance. "Zane! Before it gets away! Now, Zane! Now! Take the shot."

"You can do this, Zane." Iris craned her neck to look up at the ice ninja.

He nodded at her. And then as the Devourer tried to pull itself back up, Zane seized the opportunity to strike. "Charm your way out of this!" A third beam of music was sent straight for the head of the snake and it seemed third time was the charm as it hit directly square on.

As the sound impacted against its scales, the scaly monstrosity was sent to the ground and landed with a thud. It had worked. Iris released a sigh of relief. Their weapon worked against the Devourer which meant they had chance.

"Heh, it's working."

The snake groaned and writhed as the noise invaded its mind. It really didn't look pleasant for that snake. And for eating her Father, Iris thought that the punishment was fitting the crime. A tear fell from her dark eyes at the thought of her Father and tried to think of any wisdom he would give them in this time. But she was turning up a blank.

"It's got a weak spot." Kai suddenly proclaimed, pointing upwards. Narrowing her eyes, Iris followed his gaze and gasped when she spotted it too. A little green spot which was brighter than the rest of the scales. 

"What?"

Hope burst through Iris, banishing her fear once again and she grinned. "Kai's right. It's on its forehead—" 

But then a sharp end of a tail pierced their new ride, destroying the sonic cannon and the entire back of the vehicle. Where Zane was.

"ZANE!"

And then the Great Devourer retreated, but that wasn't their main concern at the moment. 

Iris quickly unbuckled herself from their damaged vehicle, coughing as the smoke invaded her lungs. "Is everyone okay?" She asked in concern. All the boys in front of her nodded their heads as although they were a bit startled, they were all alright. 

"But where's Zane?"

Leaping from the vehicle, Iris was about to pull away the broken pieces when Zane managed to push himself to his feet. "Right here." A gasp fell from the Wu girl's lips as she looked at him. Half of his face was missing. She could see the metal and wires underneath but that wasn't what mattered at the moment. Because he was alright.

"You're okay." Chuckled the master of space in relief before she threw her arms around him. Zane was a bit taken aback but quickly relaxed into her hold and smiled into the embrace. "You had me really worried for a moment."

"That was close." Agreed Zane as he pulled away from Iris to grab her hand.

"Too close."

Jay, of course, was being the pessimistic one of the team. "Perfect." He said sarcastically. "Now that was a total failure."

"Not total." Kai pointed out and Iris nodded in agreement with the fire ninja. "Did you guys notice on its forehead? It has a weak spot."

Iris then verified his words. "I saw it too. It exists."

"Oh, great." Sighed Jay and Iris too sighed but for a different reason. "Let me make a note of that. Giant snake, has a wee, itty-bitty weak spot. That'll be TOTALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO GET AT BECAUSE THE THING IS TOO RIDICULOUSLY HUGE TO DO ANYTHING TO STOP IT!"

Nya raised her eyebrow at the boy as he stopped for breath. "Are you done?" After a deep sigh and reclaiming his breath, Jay nodded. Good, because no matter how much Iris loved Jay, they did not need his attitude to make things look even worse than they already were. "Because things just got worse. Look."

As Nya pointed, she focused their attention on a fleeing Devourer who was scurrying in the direction of... Ninjago city. Oh no.

"It's heading towards Ninjago City." Zane also realised.

"That's where my parents are."

Dread filled the yellow ninja as she thought about the mailman's words. "The rally." She remembered. "That means it isn't just Ninjago city there, but all different people from all across Ninjago." 

It seemed her fear was back again as the fates of so many were now in their hands.

Then Kai's words just added even more gravity to the situation. "If it consumes the biggest city in all of Ninjago there will be no stopping it."

Stepping forwards, Iris tried her best to put her fear aside as she looked at her friends. They were all that stood between the Great Devourer and the entirety of Ninjago. It all rested with them. 

"Then we better find out a way to stop it before it does."

For Ninjago. For her Father.

Second last chapter of act 1!!! Almost there!!!

I know this one is a bit longer than the others, but this was just how it came out. I'm hoping the next will be shorter. 

This chapter was bit of a rollercoaster, but to be fair, so was this episode. Iris lost her Father and her second home (yes, we know what happen to both but at the moment she's lost so much). This poor girl is suffering. Kai has taken the lead a bit and to be honest, he respects Iris so much but he knows she isn't the right frame of mind no matter how hard she tries. He's just watching out for her.

Will forever love Iris + Zane as well as Iris + Lloyd's cousin bond. She is basically like a mother to him and they are so close, it's cute.

And next up is the last chapter of act 1!

Thank you for reading!!!

Sincerely Rosie aka Witner326