Onyx and the Rise of the Snakes

Can of Worms

Onyx scanned the small collection of books that she had managed to salvage from the ashes of the Monastery, looking for her current favorite manga, 'Pocket Power,' A fun adventure-fantasy about a boy who was in a journey to capture as many powerful Pocketmon and become a champion. Onyx was roughly halfway through the 6th volume and was eager to continue reading. She frowned. The book wasn't in its usual spot. Onyx checked behind the shelf. Then she heard whistling.

Lloyd came into the room. "Hey Onyx. Are you looking for a book?" He asked. Onyx turned. "Oh, hi Lloyd. Yeah, I'm looking for a book. It's the one I was reading the other day. Have you seen it?" She asked. Lloyd thought for a moment. "Hmm... oh! I think that one of the boys borrowed it, but they accidentally dropped it off the Bounty," he said. Onyx stood up quickly. "What?" She asked harshly. Lloyd shrugged. "Sorry," he said.

Onyx hurried down the hallway to where she could hear the boys shouting at each other. She flung open the door. "Okay. Which one of you borrowed my book?" She asked commandingly. No one even bothered to spare her a glance.
Onyx stood in the doorway, tapping her foot impatiently. She hated it when people ignored her. Onyx jumped when Wu stomped past her and flung open the door to a storage closet, revealing Lloyd hiding within, snickering quietly.

The ninja turned to him. Onyx made an angry "Ugh!" Sound when she recognized a red book cover among spices, tools, and a bottle of laundry detergent. "You did this?" Kai, Cole, Jay, and Zane all said at the same time. Onyx merely crossed her arms at Lloyd. "All right boys, I get first dibs." Cole said, rushing at Lloyd. Onyx made no move to stop him. If things got hit of hand, Wu would deal with it.

Wu suddenly flung his staff out in front of Cole, forcing him to stop. "No dibs! I put him up to this for today's lesson. I wanted to show you the destructive power of rumors and that jumping to conclusions only leads to trouble," Wu said. "Uh, no offense, Sensei, but let me jump to this conclusion. Today's lesson is lame," Cole said. "Yeah, why can't you show us how to paralyze your enemy with one finger, or tell if a man is lying by the twitch of his nose?" Jay said.

"Because not all lessons are about fighting! And... because I lost my lesson book." Wu said.
Kai suddenly crossed over to Lloyd and pulled a white book out of his pocket. "You mean this lesson book?" He asked sharply. Wu took it with a surprised and slightly angry look on his face. "It was the perfect plan until you had to come and mess everything-" Cole shut the door on Lloyd, effectively cutting off the sound of his voice.

Nya's voice suddenly spoke over the intercom. "If you're done fooling around, I could use your help in the bridge. We have a snake problem," she said.Kai frowned. "It's one thing letting the son of your nemesis live with you, but having my sister here? I mean, come on! I thought this was a ninja headquarters," he said. "You know I can hear you, right?" Nya asked sharply. Kai winced. "Hey Kai, want to know how to paralyze someone for thirty seconds with your fist? Nya showed me how," Onyx said innocently. "Uh... sure," Kai said warily. Onyx punched him in the kidney. He dropped, stiff. Onyx gave a tiny smirk and trotted after the snickering Jay.

"Last we heard, Pythor had stolen the Map of Dens from Lloyd and was on his way to release the other Serpentine," Nya recapped when they reached the bridge, Kai coming a moment later. Lloyd groaned. "Don't remind me," he said. "Pythor's our most dangerous threat. If he reaches the remaining tombs before we do, with his intellect and the four tribes of Serpentine, there's no telling what he might do," Wu said. "But those tombs could be anywhere! Without that scroll, we might as well throw darts at the map," Jay said. "Good idea," Nya said, flinging two darts, which Kai had to duck. They split and hit two different points. "These are the two known tombs," Nya said, walking past Kai with a noticeable iciness. "Showoff ," he muttered.

"And this is Pythor's tomb," Nya said, adding another dart to the map. "After hours of ruminating on why they were placed in these exact locations, I discovered a pattern," Nya picked up a flashlight that had a stencil placed over it. She turned it on, and the old Serpentine symbol shone onto the map.