The blazing sun beamed down onto the Sea of Sand, scorching each and every grain, leaving no surface untouched from its burning beams of heat. With the only spots providing any shade being large rocks scattered throughout the desert, exactly where we find the remaining four tribes of Serpentine hiding from the blistering heat

"Argh, my eyesssss will have to get usssssed to the sssssun after hiding away from that wretched Devourer in our tombssssss, for once they actually came in ussssseful" Skales groaned, shielding his hypnotic eyes with his golden Hypnobrai staff, the other three generals slithering beside him, followed by their own tribes

"That issssss the lassssst time we let an Anacondrai lead usssss!" Skalidor hissed, the rest of the Serpentine gladly agreeing "He got what he desssssserved" Fangtom's left head snapped, the right head nodding along

Acidicus coughed up some of his own venom, burning the sand beneath him "Pythor hasssss caussssed usssss all a great deal of humiliation" He spoke with his raspy voice "How are we meant to be feared and take revenge on the ssssssurface dwellersssss if we are ssssscared away and defeated by one of our own?" The Venomari general asked, the many members of the Serpentine raising their weapons in agreement

"Without Garmadon and that wretched Anacondrai no longer around, it ssssseemssss we are in need of a new ruler" Skales smirked, seeing the perfect opportunity to finally get the power he desired "I humbly sssssubmit myssssself to be your new leader, I am determined to right the wrongsssss of Pythor and ensure that we SSSSSSerpentine claim the land for ourssssselvessss, cassssting the filthy sssssurface dwellerssssss into the ssssame tombssssss we were ssssssealed into" The Hypnobrai general announced to the Serpentine, receiving many cheers of admiration

The other three generals however weren't very pleased with Skales' announcement, how was it fair that he got to be the next leader? Why couldn't it be one of them? Surely they are as worthy as becoming the next ruler as much as Skales is

"Hey wait a minute! How come you get to be the next leader?" Skalidor growled at Skales, poking him in the stomach with his Constrictai staff "Clearly I would be the next bessssst to lead ussssss, my ssssskalesssss are the toughesssst and I can crush your windpipe with one ssssqueeze of my tail" The black and orange general threatened his fellow Serpentine, only to be shoved aside by the next complaining general

"What about me?!" Acidicus wheezed, venom drooling from his fangs "With my venom I can make our enemiesssss witnesssss their greatessssst fearssssss, along with burning their sssskin down to nothing but bone" He argued with a cough, spraying more of his venom onto the ground

Just like Skalidor before him Acidicus was shoved out of the way to make room for the two heads of Fangtom, having double the want to become the next ruler of the Serpentine "Don't forget about usssss!" Fangtom's right head snapped at Skales "Our fangsssss can turn our enemiessssss and anything elsssssse into alliesssss" The left head finished, proudly displaying their white fangs "And we have two headsssss!" The right head added on

The Serpentine watched as their generals bickered between themselves on who should lead them all, their support swaying from general to general as the four of them made some good arguments on who is the most suitable to lead them next, it would certainly be hard to determine which Serpentine general should lead them

"SILENCE!" A deep voice shouted out from behind the Serpentine, the sun hiding behind the voice's owner, casting a large and menacing shadow over the reptilian creatures, some of the Serpentine cowering in fear as the black as night shadow consumed them, a slight golden shine coming from the shadow's four arms

"G-G-Garmadon?" Skales stuttered in shock, wondering if his hypnotic eyes were deceiving him, the shadowy figure stepped forth and revealed himself to indeed be Lord Garmadon, wielding all five of the Golden Weapons, surprising all of the Serpentine that he was both alive and in possession of Ninjago's strongest weapons

"W-We thought you would have been eaten by the Great Devourer" Acidicus slithered forward and spoke to the four armed warlord, Garmadon pushing his way through the crowd of Hypnobrai, Constrictai, Venomari and Fangpyre to join the four generals in front of them "Ha! As if the mighty Lord Garmadon would allow an overgrown worm to eat him" Garmadon laughed, pushing Acidicus out of the way so he could stand in the middle "For it was I who dealt the killing blow to that monster!" He proudly told the Serpentine, holding the Golden Weapons in the air and receiving applause from the snakes

The Serpentine generals did not give him such a warm welcome, instead the four of them just stared at him with their reptilian eyes. For once in their lives the generals were threatened by Lord Garmadon, with him in possession of all five Golden Weapons, they would surely be wiped out in a matter of seconds. Was that what he was here for? To tie up loose ends? Not needing the Serpentine anymore after Pythor's demise

"What bringsssss you out here Lord Garmadon?" Skales asked Garmadon, clutching his golden staff and being ready to jump into battle, the other generals sharing the same idea

"Well I originally came out here for that" Garmadon began to tell Skales, pointing two of his arms just a little bit away from the Serpentine, looking directly at the ruins of the Destiny's Bounty "That isssss the Ninja'sssss ship! Doesssss that mean they were devoured too?" Acidicus asked eagerly "Unfortunately not my scaly friend, the Ninja are very much still alive, I was going to put my new weapons to work by rebuilding and taking over their ship. But I couldn't help but hear that you were arguing over who should be the next leader" Garmadon told the Serpentine, a grin spread across his face

The generals were relieved to hear that Garmadon didn't seem to have plans for disposing of them, but they were still threatened as none of them wanted Lord Garmadon to rule them. Never again did they ever want to serve him, the only leader of the Serpentine should be a Serpentine themselves

"You would be correct Garmadon, but we SSSSSSerpentine failed you before, I believe you would be better off leaving ussssss be" Skalidor hissed at Garmadon, being careful as to not upset the warlord currently wielding the Golden Weapons

"Oh but I believe you are mistaken" Lord Garmadon towered over the short Skalidor, giving him a wide toothy grin, showcasing his sharp teeth "You Serpentine didn't fail me, you were only following orders from a lunatic, so I say I should give you all a second chance. Every warlord needs a good army don't they?" Garmadon asked the black and orange snake, getting right in the Serpentine general's scaly face

Skales slithered up beside Garmadon, looking out at the Serpentine "I sssssay we let the SSSSSSerpentine decide!" He announced, hoping that his own kind would choose him "Surely they should have a ssssssay in thisss! They should decide whether to be led by a SSSSSerpentine or an outssssider!" Skales finished his speech, the Serpentine cheering for him, the Hypnobrai general shooting Garmadon a smug look

"That is a very good point Skales" Garmadon tried to hold back his anger as he spoke to his new rival "But if you do not vote for me you will be obliterated!" He loudly shouted while pointing the five Golden Weapons at the frightened Serpentine, with all four tribes quickly bowing to their new elected leader

The Serpentine generals reluctantly bowed as well, with Skales being the most hesitant to do so, clearly not wanting his entire kind to be ruled by an imbecile such as Lord Garmadon who happily accepted the position as the Serpentine's new leader

"Alright then Serpentine, first order of business is getting that ship and making it ours! Now carry me there!" Garmadon shouted, jumping into the crowd of Serpentine like he was crowd surfing, the tribes of snakes just barely being able to carry him out from under their rock, the four generals slithering behind

The four tribes of Serpentine grunted and groaned until they finally reached the ruins of the Destiny's Bounty, carefully placing Lord Garmadon back onto his feet right in front of the destroyed ship, dusting the sand off of him. The Serpentine generals looked on in disgust as their kind were used in such a demeaning way

"Now, to put these weapons to the test!" Garmadon eagerly shouted, raising the five Golden Weapons into the air

Everyone watched in awe as the Golden Weapons began to shine, being surrounded by their elemental powers and listening to what Garmadon wanted to be created. The wreckage of the Ninja's once proud ship began to move, the broken wood and metal being lifted into the air by the weapons, every single piece became consumed by a blurry tornado that spun faster than the eye could see. Once it finished spinning, the Serpentine gasped as the newly rebuilt Destiny's Bounty flew down onto the sand, now featuring a more Garmadon appropriate colour scheme of black and purple

Garmadon grinned wickedly at the sight of his new ship, turning around to face the Serpentine with his four arms spread out wide "I give to you, the Super Awesome Wickedly Evil Black Bounty The Second!" He shouted proudly

"Why don't you just call it the Black Bounty 2.0?" Skales groaned, looking at the warlord disapprovingly "Ugh, you're taking all the fun out of it" Lord Garmadon whined as he boarded his new ship, the Serpentine slithering onto the wooden deck after him

"Where issssss thissss ship going to take usssss?" Fangtom asked "It better not be that volcano lair of yourssss! That volcanic heat wasssss terrible for our sssscalesss!" Fangtom's left head hissed as Garmadon set the ship into flight mode, beginning to hover into the sky "Well we're certainly not going to that destroyed city of ours" Garmadon spoke, turning the ship's wheel to change their flying direction "We're going to the very birthplace of my new fancy toys" He smirked

"And that would be?" Skalidor asked, becoming intrigued "I believe I can ansssswer that quesssstion" Acidicus spoke up "From what I have read the Golden Peaksssss are known to be where the Firsssst SSSSSpinjtzu Masssster created the Golden Weaponsssss" The Venomari general explained, coughing a little venom onto the new floorboards

"Ah so you're the smart one" Garmadon chuckled, the other three Serpentine generals shooting him a glare "You are correct, we are setting course for the Golden Peaks, some of the most treacherous mountains on this island. My father used their gold to create the Golden Weapons, and now I wish to reforge them into something more my style"

Skales scoffed "More your ssssstyle? Are you going to make them into a new helmet?"

"No, but that isn't actually a bad idea" Garmadon rubbed his chin, oblivious to Skales facepalming behind him

"Hurry up! We're almost there! I can see the light!" Lord Garmadon barked orders to the Serpentine, all of them incredibly exhausted from their long journey to the top of the Golden Peaks, it doesn't help that they had to carry their new four armed ruler all the way to the top, not getting a single second to rest

Once again the Serpentine generals watched in disgust, but it wasn't like they could do anything about it. If they tried Garmadon would no doubt destroy them with the Golden Weapons, for now they decided to go along with whatever the warlord wanted, their time to take back control of their own kind will come eventually

Much to the Serpentine's relief, after hours of carrying the very heavy Lord Garmadon, they had finally reached the birthplace of the Golden Weapons, setting Garmadon down and immediately collapsing onto the ground "Geez, you guys act like you've never climbed a mountain before" Garmadon looked down at his new army, turning away from them and stepping closer to the golden light

"Oh it's magnificent" Garmadon grinned, gazing at the golden magma pool in front of him, the Serpentine generals shielding their eyes from the bright golden light

Lord Garmadon raised the Golden Weapons into the air and suddenly all five of them left his possession and began to float into the golden magma pool, the gleaming liquid reacted to the weapons by enveloping them all in a blinding ball of magma, melting the weapons down and forcing the gold to take on a new shape

The cocoon like golden ball rose from the bottom of the magma pool, and with a blinding flash of golden light disappeared, leaving behind a singular floating weapon that was once the five Golden Weapons, now all merged into one. The newly made weapon slowly floated down to the open hand of Lord Garmadon, and upon grasping the weapon in his hand Garmadon felt the golden energy surge through his body, it was so powerful he began to scream out in pain. That painful scream soon became a bone shilling laughter, echoing throughout the Golden Peaks

With this new weapon in his grasp, Garmadon turned to face his army and proudly presented it to them "Serpentine, I present to you, the Super Epic Awesome Ultimate Extremely Cool and Wickedly Evil Mega Weapon!" He held it high for them all to see, blinding their poor eyes with the bright golden light

"Argh, why don't you just call it the Mega Weapon?" Skales groaned, covering his eyes from the golden beam coming from the new weapon, Garmadon grunted in disappointment "Ugh, you're taking all the fun out of it!"

And so with Skales ruining Garmadon's fun, this chapter of Ninja Life comes to a close. Who will end up being the Serpentine's true leader? Does the Black Bounty 2.0 come with insurance?! And will Lord Garmadon ever come up with a good name!? Make sure to keep reading Ninja Life to find out!

As always make sure to let me know your thoughts about this chapter in the comments below and feel free to share it with other Ninjago fans and while you're at it, why don't you go ahead and follow me too? That'll surely get these chapters out a lot more often...