The Rise of the Great Devourer

*“Awaken, great one! Awaken the insatiable appetite of the beast that will consume all of Ninjago!”*

— Pythor when releasing the Great Devourer

**The Rise of The Great Devourer** is the twelfth episode of the first season of *Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu*. It aired on Cartoon Network on April 4, 2012 in the United States.

## Synopsis

*The ninja haste to the lost city of Ouroboros to try to stop Pythor from awaking The Great Devourer but it is a race against time.*

## Plot

As the *Destiny's Bounty* flies through stormy skies, Sensei Wu is meditating with the aid of his spirit smoke. The smoke shows him a vision of Pythor awakening the Great Devourer, causing Sensei Wu to come to a horrible realization.

Meanwhile, Kai, Nya, and Jay are in the dining room, with the four Fangblades on the table. Nya wonders why they have to go all the way to Torchfire Mountain to destroy the Fangblades, and Kai explains that the blades are made from the Great Devourer's teeth—only the hottest place in all of Ninjago will be able to destroy them. At this point, Cole bursts in, looking rather ill from the ship's swaying—after Jay has a laugh at his expense, he turns to Lloyd and how no one expected him to be the Green Ninja.

Lloyd himself is hard at work in the training room, attempting to hone his skills with little success. His efforts are mocked by Pythor, who appears before him (having snuck aboard the *Destiny's Bounty* in the previous episode) and reveals his intent to reclaim the Fangblades. Lloyd is defiant, but Pythor simply ties him to a punching bag and duct tapes his mouth shut. With a sneer of "Out of sight, out of mind," Pythor cloaks himself once again and moves deeper into the ship.

The storm passes as the *Destiny's Bounty* arrives over Torchfire Mountain, with Kai, Jay, Cole, and Zane meeting Sensei Wu on the deck with the Fangblades. Zane notes that Sensei Wu is rather melancholy, prompting him to tell the ninja about his destiny, saying that there will come a time when they will have to go on without him. The ninja do not understand but proceed to set up a plank from where they can throw the Fangblades into the volcano. Unfortunately, Pythor chooses that moment to sabotage the engines, jerking the ship to one side and throwing Master Wu over the edge.

The ninja form a human chain to catch their teacher, with Kai barely hanging onto the plank with his feet. Nya reports the damage to the engine; in the training room, Lloyd manages to get the tape off and warn the ninja that Pythor is aboard. Sure enough, the Anacondrai General is on the deck, all four Fangblades back in his possession. Lloyd arrives while Pythor gloats and attempts to fight the Serpentine leader, but reveals that he's only stalling until Nya's Samurai Mech can join the battle (although he does manage to kick Pythor in the face).

However, Pythor dodges the mech's attacks and jumps off the *Destiny's Bounty*, being caught by a Fangpyre Rattlecopter as he makes his escape. Kai's hold on the plank finally fails, but Nya catches her friends and takes them back to the ship. Pythor realizes that the Rattlecopter won't make it to Ouroboros before the ninja catch up, but Skales assures his leader that arrangements have been made; specifically, the Serpentine have commandeered a tour bus and forced the driver to take them to Ouroboros.

As the *Destiny's Bounty* follows the snakes, Kai tells Lloyd to stay behind and man the ship while the others retrieve the Fangblades. With that, the ninja summon their vehicles and pursue the bus, prompting Pythor to alert his minions to prepare for a fight. The Fangpyres use their venom to transform the bus into a moving fortress, which attacks the ninja with its tail, side-mounted turrets, and a group of Bite Cycles. As Cole and Kai fend off the Serpentine Vehicles, Nya and Jay draw the train's fire, allowing Zane to leap aboard the back car and detach it from the rest of the vehicle.

With the train's main weapons disabled, Pythor decides to accelerate. The driver protests that any more effort will cause the engine to explode, getting himself thrown out the door for his troubles as Pythor pushes the train to its limit. Despite the speed boost, the ninja still manage to board, and start battling their way towards the front. Skales personally confronts Cole in the second car, but the ninja simply summons his Tread Assault Vehicle and blasts the Skales with its cannon. As the others gather with their ally, Sensei Wu leaps onto the front car and separates it from the rest of the train, declaring that battling Pythor is his destiny, while his students' destiny is to protect Lloyd. As Sensei Wu fights Pythor for the Fangblades, Lloyd uses the Bounty's anchor to carry the rest of the vehicle to Ouroboros.

Meanwhile, the overworked front car crashes in front of the city, and Pythor takes the Fangblades over to the arena, where he plans to awaken the Devourer. The reptilian villain climbs into the mouth of the Great Devourer's statue at the head of the arena and places the Fangblades into the holes in the statue's teeth. With the Fangblades in place, the statue begins leaking venom, lighting up the Slither Pit. The newly-arrived Sensei Wu is angered by what Pythor has done, claiming that the Anacondrai is unleashing forces he cannot control. Pythor retorts that the Great Devourer will punish the surface-dwellers for forcing the Serpentine underground, but Sensei Wu reveals that the Devourer will consume the Serpentine along with everything else.

Unconvinced, Pythor continues to observe the ritual, declaring that he controls the Devourer because he awakened it. Suddenly, the statue crumbles, and Pythor is shocked to find nothing inside. As the ninja, Lloyd, and Nya arrive, the Slither Pit itself begins to crumble, revealing the Great Devourer underneath. Realizing that the beast is far larger than he expected, Pythor attempts to escape—only to be stopped by Sensei Wu, who says that he must witness what he has created. Holding down the panicking Snake King, Sensei Wu tells the ninja that this is his destiny, and that they must do anything they can to stop the Great Devourer. On cue, the Slither Pit finally breaks down, and the Great Devourer bursts free, its massive body towering over the city as it roars and lunges at the screen.

## Appearances

### Characters

* Chokun
* Cole
* Jay
* Kai
* Lloyd Garmadon
* Mezmo
* Mother
* Nya
* Postman
* Pythor P. Chumsworth
* Skales
* Tour Guide
* Wu
* Zane

### Items

* Golden Weapons
	+ Nunchucks of Lightning
	+ Scythe of Quakes
	+ Shurikens of Ice
	+ Sword of Fire
* Serpentine Staffs
	+ Anacondrai Staff
	+ Constrictai Staff
	+ Fangpyre Staff
	+ Hypnobrai Staff
	+ Venomari Staff
* Fangblades

### Vehicles

* Blade Cycle
* *Destiny's Bounty*
* Samurai Mech
* Snowmobile
* Storm Glider
* Tread Assault

### Locations

* Ninjago
	+ Sea of Sand
		- Torchfire Mountain
		- Ouroboros

### Species

* Humans
* Nindroids
* Oni/Dragon/Human hybrids
* Serpentine
	+ Anacondrai
	+ Constrictai
	+ Fangpyre
	+ Hypnobrai
	+ Venomari

## Trivia

* This episode is called "The Final Hour Part 1" on Czech LEGO Youtube channel.
* This is the only penultimate season episode that ends with the phrase "To be continued".
	+ The credits also lack any sort of music, making this the only episode to do so.
* The Wilhelm scream sound effect is heard when Cole launches Fang-Suei off of his Tread Assault, and later by one snake tossed out by the tour bus by Jay.
	+ This also marks the second time the scream is heard in the series after "Home".
* The ancient chanting at Ouroboros was the voices of Jay Vincent and Michael Kramer.

## Continuity

* This episode marks the Great Devourer's first physical appearance in the present day. It also features the final appearance of the Fangblades (except from the Constrictai Fangblade), which are last seen within the statue at the head of Ouroboros' Slither Pit arena.
* Cole is shown to get partially air sick as he turned green due to the ships swaying.

## Errors

* When Jay asks "Hey, what's with Sensei?" he speaks in Cole's voice.
* When Pythor jumps from the Bounty, the Fangblades change position.
* When the little boy on the bus says, "Mommy, snakes are kicking people off the bus," there is a second person added behind his mother who was not in previous shot.
	+ The windows on the bus switch direction as people are thrown off. They remain this way from the rest of the episode.
	+ Not all of the people present in the bus when it was first seen are seen in the groups of people escorted off the bus.
		- In the scene where Cole is fighting Skales on the bus, there is a yellow seat on the right hand side. In the next frame, it returns to green.
		- As the side-mounted turrets are released, they are shown to originate from the middle of the bus. However, a few shots later, the turrets are shown to be on the tail car.
			* When Kai says "What? You try fighting up here!" his shoulder pads slightly clip through arms.
			* When Wu goes to the Serpentine Express with the ninja, he doesn't have his staff. However, when he disconnects the front car of the train, he does it with his staff and he has it in all the following scenes.
				+ When Skales is directly shot by a cannon of the Tread Assault, he should be killed. Although it may be a cartoon logic in this episode, in "Long Live the King," Trimaar is killed by a shot from a smaller weapon, so technically this is an error.
				+ Although the Anacondrai Staff is missing throughout the episode, as soon as Pythor gets up from the driver's seat and goes to Wu, he is already holding the staff.