"It is as I suspected." Wu looked down at his thermometer, then back up at Jay's dragons. "Your dragons are molting, they are shedding their scales."

"What does that mean?" Jay asked, looking up sadly at his dragon.

"Every adolescent dragon goes through a transformation before becoming an adult." Sensei Wu explained. "We must allow them to travel east, to the Spirit Coves, for their transformation."

"Will we see them again?"

"It is hard to say." Wu responded. "But we must allow them to follow their path."

"Rocky's going east?" Cole hurried past the pair to reach his own dragon. "Say it isn't so, Rocky." Lloyd watched as the ninja went in turn to say goodbye to their dragons. He felt a little sad, but no doubt less than they did. He knew they were coming back - in another form, but still coming back.

Once the ninja had finished saying goodbye, the dragons took off, flocking together as they flew off in the direction of the rising sun. Cole stayed the longest, watching after them even as his brothers headed back towards the ship.

"Hey," Lloyd caught his attention as the black ninja finally turned and walked past him. "You'll see him again, okay?" Cole brightened slightly.

"Okay." He patted Lloyd on the head. "Thanks."

"Hey, Cole!" Jay called as the pair climbed back up onto the deck. "Me an' Nya are gonna work on repairing the bridge. We could use your help."

"Sure." Cole jogged over to join him. "Hey, we're expecting a visit from your parents today, aren't we?" Jay's face fell.

"Right..."

"What problem do you have with your parents, anyway?" Kai asked, stepping over to join the. "They seem nice enough to me."

"Oh, yeah, they're nice, alright." Jay shoved his hands in his pockets. "Really nice. And they love to talk. Get them started, and the next thing you know half the day is gone and you're sitting there nodding along while they talk about half-compressed-jiggly-compactors, or whatever."

"So that's where you got it from." Zane cut in thoughtfully. Jay flushed.

"Hey!"

"There's no shame in being compared to your parents, Jay." Nya patted his arm. Lloyd shifted uncomfortably.

"Well..." Cole began slowly, but stopped. "Never mind."

"Me too." Lloyd agreed.

"I don't even know who my parents are." Zane shrugged. "If I had any."

"Jay, if you don't want your parents, I'll take them." Cole suggested. Jay sputtered.

"What??"

"Me too." Nya chimed in.

"Me three." Lloyd said with a grin.

"It's settled." Zane said decisively. "Jay, we're all adopting your parents." The blue ninja looked around incredulously, then finally burst into confused laughter.

"Fine. But you have to be the ones to tell them that when they come over." Jay spun around and marched off towards the bridge. Nya and Cole followed, still smirking.

"Man, is Jay really the only one of us with two parents?" Kai shook his head.

"I guess." Lloyd mused. "Cole just has his dad. Well - I guess I have both parents, but one of them is..."

"Lord Garmadon." Zane finished. "Where is your mother?" Lloyd shrugged.

"Ninjago City."

"Do you know where? We could find her."

"She didn't care enough to not leave me in an evil boarding school when I was three, so, I doubt she cares enough now." That got both of their attention, and even Kai looked a bit sympathetic. "Well," Lloyd allowed. "Supposedly she's trying to find a way around my destiny, which is to fight my father." He shrugged. "It doesn't work, so she just kinda looks stupid now."

"I'm so sorry." Zane spoke up sadly. "I cannot imagine how it feels to be abandoned by a parent."

"Well..." Lloyd shrugged. "Helps that I know why, at least." Kai was quiet, staring at the floorboards. "Anyway," Lloyd spoke up brightly. "I'm going to watch them fix the bridge."

"I'll come too." Zane suggested. "I would like to know how to repair myself if the need arises."

"Oh, yeah, of course." Lloyd headed toward the bridge, his two brothers trailing along behind him.

—

Lloyd leaned over the railing of the Destiny's Bounty, watching the sun as it disappeared over the horizon. Unease churned in the pit of his stomach, and he chewed his bottom lip. The Fangpyre were supposed to still be trapped... Jay's parents were just running late, right?

Ed and Edna had yet to show up, and now night was falling. Lloyd seriously doubted that they intended to travel at night, so something must've come up. What sort of things could come up at a junkyard? Maybe their vehicle had stopped working, and they'd had to repair it, and would come by tomorrow. Or, maybe one of those giant piles of junk collapsed onto their trailer.

Or maybe the Fangpyre had turned them into snakes and locked them in a broken refrigerator.

None of the other ninja seemed to be worried about it. Maybe they'd forgotten? It had been a long day of organizing and cleaning and trying to fix the equipment in the bridge, with moderate success. Jay had yet to test it, but he said it was almost there. 'It' being the ship's ability to take off and fly, presumably. Which made Lloyd wonder- wasn't this ship last owned by Captain Soto? Where did all the technology come from?

Turning away from the horizon, Lloyd wandered back inside, to where his siblings were sitting and chatting around the living space.

"Hey," He called out, getting their attention. "Jay's parents never showed up." Nya frowned, while Jay looked slightly relieved.

"That is odd." She mused. "They said they were coming over today."

"My parents are forgetful." Jay shrugged. "Maybe they lost track of time."

"Maybe," Lloyd agreed. "But there are also Serpentine on the loose." Jay sat up straight at that.

"You're right." He pursed his lips. "We should probably go check on them."

"We should." Lloyd nodded. "It can probably wait until tomorrow..."

"Tomorrow?? My parents could be in danger." Jay surged upright. Lloyd smirked a bit. Even if he found them irritating, he still loved them.

"Calm down, sparkplug." Kai rebuked, looking up from his comic book. "Why would the Serpentine go to a junkyard? Wouldn't they want to go where a bunch of people are, so they could hypnotize them?" Jay frowned, sinking down into his seat again.

"Yeah," He allowed. "But they could still hypnotize my parents."

"We'll go and check on them tomorrow, how about that?" Cole suggested, trying to placate him. "I don't want to try to walk all that way at night - we could get jumped. It'll be safer in the daylight."

"Right." Jay gave a heavy sigh, obviously still antsy. "First thing in the morning, alright?"

"First thing in the morning." Cole agreed. "I'll let Sensei know." He stood, heading off to find their mentor. Lloyd sat down on a stool, fiddling with the corner of his T-shirt. So far, despite his trying to stop them, the Hypnobrai had been released and the Monastery had burned. Despite the changes he was trying to make, destiny was still chugging along at an alarming rate. What if the Fangpyre had been released as well? He didn't relish the thought of Krux and Acronix slithering around as snake hybrids. They wouldn't be that foolish, would they?

Worrying would not change the outcome, Lloyd decided at last. He may as well get some sleep, as restless as it may be.

—

"What a time to lose our rides, huh?" Jay complained, plodding along the desert path. The reminder had Cole's shoulders slumping a bit.

"Hey, the exercise will be good for us." Kai said with a shrug and a grin. Lloyd glowered from behind him, where he was struggling to keep up. 9-year-old him was not in ninja-shape.

After a quick breakfast, the inhabitants of the Bounty had set off toward Ed and Edna's junkyard. It was a long, arduous walk, though Zane and Sensei Wu seemed entirely unaffected. Wu was currently playing the sacred flute, apparently just for fun since there didn't appear to be any serpentine about.

"That flute." Zane spoke up, gesturing to the instrument. "You've never told us why it's so special."

Wu paused in his playing to answer the question. "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. Now, this is the only one."

"Yeah, great, history lesson." Jay hurried past the pair. "Look, we're almost there." He pointed to the junkyard sign, which had appeared in the distance, and the group sped up to reach it more quickly.

As they neared the gate, Jay skidded to a stop. "Shh! You hear that??" The rest of the group slowed, straining their ears.

"I don't hear anything." Cole ventured at last.

"Exactly. It's quiet." Jay yanked his ninja hood over his head. "My family's never quiet. Mom! Dad!"

The ninja followed Jay into the junkyard, Lloyd hanging back with Wu. The Fangpyre couldn't be free, could they?? Why would the Time Twins do such a thing??

"Mom!" Jay pulled the door of his parents' trailer open. "Oh, darn it!! Where are they??"

"Is it possible that we missed them, and they're on their way to the Bounty?" Zane suggested.

"No, their car's still here." Jay pointed to the souped-up automobile. "Unless they decided to travel another way. But we should've passed them then! They're not ninjas, we would see them coming a mile away!" He sighed in frustration. "Spread out, guys, search the junkyard. Maybe they're just-"

"Ssso we meet again, ninja." A new voice cut in. Lloyd promptly felt chills as Skales slithered out from behind a pile of scrap, holding the Hypnobrai's staff. Immediately, the ninja were battle-ready.

"Where are my parents?!" Jay snapped, charging his nunchucks

"So hossstile." Skales rebuked. "Your parentsss are in good hands."

"Yours? Because I doubt that."

"Not his." The ninja spun at the sound of a new voice, and Lloyd's heart jumped as Fangtom emerged from behind the trailer. "Mine."

"No." Lloyd whispered. "How?!"

"Ssso kind of you to put yourselves directly at our mercccy." Skales hissed. "Hit it, boys."

All around them, Fangpyre robots of various sizes suddenly rose out of the scrap, piloted by a few of the Fangpyre warriors. The Hypnobrai foot soldiers made their appearance as well, and the ninja were completely surrounded within a few moments.

"I'll say it again!" Jay shouted in alarm. "What a time to lose our rides!!"

"I for one am glad the dragons are not here." Zane countered, drawing his shurikens. "The bite of the Fangpyre can turn anything into a serpent. I would not fancy letting my dragon be turned into a snake."

"Be on your guard, Zane." Cole warned him. "If they can control these hunks of junk, they'll be able to bite you, too."

"What do we do??" Lloyd hissed to his uncle, hiding behind the gate. "This wasn't supposed to happen!! I was the one who originally freed the Fangpyre- to get revenge on the Hypnobrai! They're supposed to hate each other!!"

"The Hands of Time may be behind this." Wu spoke grimly. "If that is the case, they may be serpents already."

"A change only in form." Lloyd muttered. "But the ninja are outnumbered - heavily so. What do we do??"

"Nobody messes with my family!" Came Jay's enraged shout, and Lloyd peered around the corner to find him charging the Hypnobrai army. Ignoring his brothers shouting for him to fall back, Jay spun into a spinjitzu tornado, whizzing through the group of snakes and knocking them down like bowling pins.

One of the Fangpyre's creations, a crane with a wrecking ball that had a nasty face on it, rolled out into the open in an attempt to attack. The remaining three ninja jumped into action, Cole making a dash for the machine and diving out of the way when the wrecking ball came down on his head. Zane and Kai worked together to give him cover from the other snakes, the latter using his fire to drive them back while Zane made the ground too slippery for him to approach.

Cole swung into the cab of the crane, kicking the previous pilot out the other side and grabbing the control levers. The machine wobbled, then turned. The wrecking ball swept over the crowd of Hypnobrai, and sent several of them slamming into one of the piles of junk.

"Ssstop him!" Skales cried. The Serpentine converged on Cole's new toy, forcing him to abandon it to avoid them. The moment he did, he was dodging Fangpyre flying at him, fangs gleaming as they fought to be the one to bite him first.

"Sensei-!" Lloyd yelped.

"Zane!" Wu hurled the sacred flute into the fray, causing Lloyd's heart to jump into his throat until Zane caught it out of the air. "Use this!" Zane obeyed, tugging off his ninja hood and beginning to play the ancient instrument.

The Serpentine cowered at the sound, shrieking and covering their ears. Cole used this to hastily get back to his team - minus Jay. Where had he gone??

"This is becoming more trouble than it's worth!!" Fangtom howled, trying in vain to cover his ears on both heads.

"Let'sss get out of here!" Skales hissed. "We got what we came for!" The Serpentine immediately began to retreat, as well as they could while under the influence of the flute's music.

"Hold it!!" Jay abruptly made his reappearance, shooting out of the shadows and knocking Fangtom flat on his back with a flying kick. The snake yowled, trying in vain to get his tail underneath him before Jay pinned him with a foot on his chest. "Where are my parents?!" The blue ninja snapped. "I'm not asking you again!!"

"Fine! Enough!!" Fangtom struggled. "They're there, happy now?!" The Fangpyre general pointed to an old refrigerator, which had a metal bar threaded through the handle to keep it from opening.

"Very!" Jay hopped off of him, hurrying over to the fridge. Zane stopped playing, running to join him as the Serpentine scuttled away.

Jay pulled the bar out and threw the door open, revealing his parents. They were tied up, with duct tape over their mouths, but were unharmed - except for the sickly-green pallor of their skin.