Back to Black: Chapter 4

"So you four finally decided to come back for me?" A low voice chuckled. Dust arched a brow. "Is that, Cole?" Jay asked, his voice a little higher than usual.

Dust looked over to the side. "Perhaps he survived the fall?" Zane told Kai. His eyes scanned the leaves, searching for a sign of the Black Ninja.

"But - but he would've called for us," Kai fixed his eyes on Dust. "What is it with you and messing with o ur l ives? Especially Cole's?"

The sorcerer pursed his lips. "Well, let's see... Chaos is fun! Messing with the lives of others just pleases me enough that I enjoy doing it for the rest of my life! You see, Ninja, when you have the power to control someone, it is no doubt fun. You can make them do anything you want."

"But why Cole?"

Dust lifted his hand a small image began to take place above his palm. "Cole, the leader - the strong, brave, and very dependable... Now do you wonder why I chose him?" Dust smirked playfully.

Everyone seemed to nod. Then Jay said, "Could you probably explain it more in depth?" Kai elbowed him.

"When you have the power to control someone just like Cole, anything can happen! You can have so much more fun. Cole possesses the abilities that make him who he is, and so do you four. And when you bend that ability, or those abilities... You can do marvelous things. Cole was merely part of an experiment! Although, as I began to have more fun, it turned out rather to be not a test but an official record. I'm not t hat interested in using any of you four. Don't get me wrong, you're all different and special in your own ways, but Cole is more... Interesting." Kai frowned.

"Why can't you just stop messing with him? It's too much for him to handle! Remember last time when Cole broke his arm? That caused him to make the wrong decisions, Dust! He called you up and we all turned away from what we really stood for!" Lloyd hushed Kai and checked his surroundings once more. Cole was close by.

At last, the Black Ninja stepped out of the bushes and stood directly in front of Kai, scythe gripped tightly in one hand. "What has Dust done now?" Kai whispered softly and shook his head at the forest floor.

"What are you doing here?" Cole scoffed. Dust began to fade away, leaving it to just be Cole and the Ninja team.

Lloyd stepped in front of Kai. "We came back to look for you."

Cole rolled his eyes and smirked. "I bet you thought I was dead, hmm. You came here to search for my body. Well, I'm tough enough to handle a fall. You should've known better." Jay winced.

"What did Dust do to you, this time?" Lloyd asked, drawing out his sword slowly.

"He didn't do anything to me. You guys just leaving me here made me feel like a worthless part of the team! You abandoned me!" His voice grew louder causing his eyes to flash purple.

Kai gritted his teeth. "Dust got into his head again."

"How many more times until that mad man actually stops torturing us?" Jay chuckled lightly and followed Lloyd's lead, pulling out his nunchucks.

"Well, at least we know what we're up against."

Before Lloyd could make a sudden move, the earth trembled beneath him. The rocks bounced on the ground and a formation of dirt and rocks began to form, climbing up to reach his legs. Lloyd pivoted a foot back. "You guys gotta stop Cole the best you can!"

The earth clung onto his legs, holding Lloyd in place.

Cole leaned on his scythe and planned on watching things play out as he toyed with his elemental power. "Stop?" Cole chuckled, "You don't understand what it feels like to be abandoned! I'll show you what pain I went through to know my friends- no, family left me to die!"

Kai took some steps forward readying himself. Cole had one arm out and the other around the scythe. He had his hand flat and eyed Jay, tightening his hand to a fist. Jay was hit by a pillar of rock that shot out of the ground a top speeds. He flew back and knocked into a tree. Jay groaned and slid down the tree now with a bloody nose.

Kai was about to go back and help Jay but kept his ground. Zane however called to the Blue Ninja and looked back. Zane's guard was down and Cole smirked at this. Cole made a hand movement as if he was flattening out something and at that exact moment a tower of sturdy rock came in contact with Zane's head.

Zane didn't budge but turned his head to Cole. The nindroid twitched and that was about it. Zane brought his eyebrows in and gripped his shurikens. Kai and Zane made eye contact and both nodded. The two ran around Cole and Jay made his move. The lightning welder crawled to the trapped Green Ninja to not draw Cole's attention. Jay looked to his nunchucks and realized that a weapon with no sharp edge won't help much.

Lloyd looked to Jay and saw the blood, he gasped. Jay tasted the blood on his lip and wiped it away with garb. He looked at the sleeve of his garb and sighed, "Great... more work to do when we get to the Bounty."

Cole looked to Kai and turned his head left to see Zane. No one moved for awhile but while Cole looked to Zane, Kai ran and raised his katana. Cole turned just in time and blocked with his scythe. They glared at each other and both struggled to keep their stand. Zane hesitated to look away remembering what happened a minute ago. Zane thought about Jay and Lloyd, he gazed quickly and saw Jay finding a way to release Lloyd from his struggle.

Zane's eyes met with his two shurikens and his right hand turned ready to throw it. Lloyd looked up and saw Zane aiming his shurikane. Zane quickly threw his shuriken and it hit the rock on Lloyd's legs. Zane ran right when he threw it. Kai stumbled backwards from Cole and Zane threw his last shurikane as he ran around Cole. The sharp end of the weapon cut Cole's cheek and Zane realized what he did. The shurikane flew back and Zane caught it.

"Zane, you-" Cole started and grew angry. Cole was drowning in frustration, hatred, and betrayal. Kai gained his balance back and looked at Cole in shock. Zane interrupted.

"I did not wish to hurt you Cole but you were going to harm Kai." Zane said and put up his hands with one hand holding a shurikane. Cole growled and gripped his scythe till his knuckles were white.

"This just shows how much you all step over me!" Cole pounced on Zane dropping his scythe and Kai grabbed Cole shoulders. Kai pulled Cole away and Zane stepped back. Cole tried to claw at Zane but Kai pushed Cole to the snow.

Jay stopped chipping at the rock around Lloyd with Zane's shurikane and saw Cole laying in the snow. Lloyd looked at Jay, "Don't stop, Jay. I'm almost out."

"But, Cole -"

"He's not on our side anymore, keep clipping!" Lloyd followed where Jay's eyes had wandered to and stared at the Black Ninja's body.

Cole groaned tiredly, he sat up and gazed around, his vision all fuzzy. Kai noticed Cole was awake again. Zane snatched up Cole's scythe and hooked it to his back. He whisked out his shuriken and threw it at Cole's garb, pinning one side of him to the snow. Cole tugged and growled.

"Almost, got, it..." Jay sniffed, wiping his face again. With one last chunk taken off, Lloyd feel free from the rocks. He panted wildly.

"Jay, I need my other shurikane," Zane said, keeping Kai a distance away from Cole. The Blue Ninja tossed it back to the Nindroid, standing up but leaning on Lloyd.

Zane fixed his eyes on his friend. Releasing the shurikane, it cut straight through the cool air and pinned Cole's other shoulder, or side. Cole growled.

"None, of you understand how I feel right now! None of you!" He boasted.

The White Ninja ignored that and unhooked Cole's scythe from his back. With one quick swipe, Cole fell unconscious.


So, I decided to update today! Basically because I wanted to try out my new iPad mini. The next updates won't come until later... MWA HA HA! I'm also working on a quick one shot focussed on Jay... With a song!

a note from Leo: hi guys! I really hope you enjoyed the chapter we worked on for you guys! Things are going to get very interesting! Hehehe I am getting jumpy thinking about it! Thank you guys! :)