Chapter 4: To the Tournament
At breakfast the next day, the ninja were allowed to eat together. Zane, Kai, and Jay all waited as Cole took a swig of juice, and then began his long story.
"There's…something I've never told you guys," he said, looking down at his lap.
"That never starts a good story," said Jay, wincing.
Cole sighed. "It's about my sister."
"WHAT?!" cried Jay and Zane. Kai already knew this was about Cole's sister, but he had been able to freak out last night.
"SISTER?!" screeched Jay. "SISTER?! MY FLIPPIN' BRAIN JUST EXPLODED!"
"Tell us," said Zane. "Why haven't you ever told us about her, and why are you telling us now?"
"She disappeared just a few years before Sensei brought us together," said Cole. "It was too painful to tell strangers about."
Jay had utter sad-shock on his face. "We aren't strangers now!" he protested. "Why didn't you tell us like, after the Great Devourer, or after the Final Battle? I mean, you coulda been like 'we are about to die - I have a sister who is missing - just FWI - lets go die now!'"
"Sorry," said Cole. Silence hung for a moment, and then Zane said, "Tell us what happened."
Cole sighed, then started the long, sad tale.
"We grew up; a complete family. We were all there - me, Mom, Dad, and Destiny. Everything was perfect - Dad was a performer, and Mom stayed home with us. Everything was perfect until I was about twelve years old." He paused, swallowing the lump in his throat. "My mom died."
Jay hung his head in sadness, trying to understand such a deep loss. Kai's eyes started to brim with tears, remembering his own loss when his mother died. Zane just sat, listening.
"Me and my broken family tried really hard to make it," said Cole. "My dad lost himself in song, Dessie tried to keep everything together like Mom always had, and I tried to face the new challenge of bullies in the school yard." He sat back in his chair, thoughtful, lost in the memories that his narration was bringing back. "We were doing ok. Things started getting tougher, but we were tough. Dad was trying to be there for both of us, I know, and I tried to stay out of trouble."
"You are trouble," grumbled Jay.
"But then one day," Cole continued, ignoring Jay like always, "Dessie didn't come home from school. When it got dark, we panicked. Our neighbors and friends all looked - we searched everywhere. She'd vanished."
"Until last night," said Zane.
Cole gave a small smile. Zane could connect the dots like no one else.
"YOU MEAN SHE'S HERE?!" Jay nearly screamed, knocking his chair over in happiness. "Yes! A happy ending!"
"I have to find her," said Cole, leaning forward with a hard determination in his eyes. "Then we escape."
"Of course!" said Zane.
"Duh!" said Kai.
"I'M SO EXCITED!" cried Jay. "OH, THIS IS SO WONDERFUL!"
Suddenly, a guard burst in on their happy moment. "Hey, Master of Earth," he sneered, "time to enter the tournament!"
()
"COLE! DON'T LET HER TOUCH YOU!"
Jay was screaming advice ten minutes before the tournament even started. Kai turned to him, annoyed.
"Number 1: He can't hear you. Number 2: IT WON'T EVEN START FOR TEN MINUTES! So please stop!"
Jay stuck out his tongue. "You're just jealous because Cole gets to fight a little girl, and you have to fight Tree-beard over there!"
"SEXIST!" roared a girl behind them, kicking Jay in the head.
"OW!" cried Jay. "I just meant -"
"THAT little girl is Skylor - an undefeated warrior from Chen's own house!" sneered the girl. Her green eyes flashed. "She's his daughter!"
"I think you just got some juicy information by being a dork," said Kai, amused. "Keep it up."
"There they are!" said Zane, pointing.
"Ha!" said Jay, smirking at Kai. "I was yelling right on time!"
Cole and Skylor stepped into the arena. Everyone cheered. "The goal is to find the pot with the noodles first," said Zane.
"Pfft!" said Jay. "Cole can totally do this - he always finds the food I hide at home."
Cole and Skylor faced one another. "May the best warrior win," said Cole.
"I'll win, don't worry," Skylor taunted, her green eyes narrowed, and she tossed her red hair over her shoulder.
"Get ready," came Clouse's voice over the PA system.
Cole and Skylor faced the sea of pots before them. Cole inhaled slowly, alert for the smell of garlic and cloves on the air. Skylor dug her heel into the soft dirt, and they both braced themselves for the signal to go.
"Set…" Clouse said, and the adrenaline rushed like a waterfall down Cole's veins. The audience held it's breath, trying to watch both fighters, sizing them up, and predicting the outcome.
The bell rang.
Like twin bullets, Cole and Skylor sprinted towards the brown pots. Cole pushed ahead, sweat already moistening his back. He was running, breathing - a ninja with a mission and purpose in mind. Find the pot. Find the pot.
And then Skylor struck.
Kai, Jay, and Zane gasped as she leapt, flipped, and delivered a sickening blow to the back of Cole's neck. The Ninja of earth gave a cry of pain and surprise, toppling to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Skylor rolled past him, then rushed at a pot.
CRASH!
Ding!
"We have a winner!" came Chen's voice.
The crowd leapt to their feet and roared in delight. Zane, Kai, and Jay stared in dumfounded silence at Skylor's laughing face, and the bowl of noodles she held in her hand.
Cole pushed himself up, rubbing his neck and staring at Skylor, stunned. She turned and grinned at him. "Thanks for the earth powers!" she said.
"Aw, and we have a loser!" Chen's voice taunted from the loudspeaker.
Cole stood up, still focused on Skylor. His face grew bright red with rage. "You little - AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
The crowd gasped. Kai, Zane, and Jay leapt to their feet with cries of horror. A trap door had opened underneath Cole, and he disappeared.
()
After the tournament, dinner was served. Zane, Kai, and Jay sat at a table far away from the other competitors, whispering in hushed tones.
"What the heck just happened," hissed Jay.
"I do not know," said Zane. "I wish Nuero was here to tell us. The way the crowd reacted, I don't think that the loser falling through a trap door is a common occurrence."
"It isn't," said a voice. They looked up in surprise to see Nuero, Master of the Mind, standing beside them. He sat down, then gave Zane a chest brace. "This is for your friend," he said, and Zane quickly began to put it on Kai.
Jay opened his mouth.
"Shut up," said Nuero. "I know what you are thinking and have NO TIME for interruptions. Here is what I know: Skylor cheated."
The ninja gasped, but Nuero continued. "I read her mind during the tournament," he said. "She knew exactly where the noodles were, and exactly where the trap door was. She timed it perfectly - the kicking him, leaping over him, grabbing the noodles - she is very skilled. Much like a viper."
He narrowed his eyes at them. "Don't even let her come near you."
"But where is Cole?!" asked Zane.
"Below us," said Nuero. He paused, his face dreadfully grim. "I read Skylor's mind even deeper when I realized that she was cheating. Chen is doing something very evil." He took a breath.
"Chen has masterfully planned all of this - the tournaments, the kidnapping, everything - to steal elemental powers. And what better way to have them but through your very own daughter?"
"So treat Skylor like the black plague," said Jay.
"Yes, though I don't think that's the only way Chen is taking the elemental powers," admitted Nuero. "I'm not sure, but when I tried to go deeper into Skylor's mind, I got the feeling that Skylor knew of another method that Chen was using to extract the powers, but one that she had never seen."
"So, what's this other - " Jay began.
"Method," finished Nuero. "I don't know. Until I read Chen's mind, I won't."
"Can you tell me -" began Kai.
"I can tell you anything," said Nuero. "You have a different subject for me; that of the Ghost."
"Ghost?!" asked Jay, disturbed.
"Yes, though I am convinced she is just a sad elemental," said Nuero. "They say that about eight years ago, a child was kidnapped for the tournaments. But she escaped Chen's clutches, and now lives in the tunnels below this place. She often is blamed for the missing equipment and food that disappears from fighters quarters. She's never helped anyone before though," he added, looking at Kai thoughtfully. "I wonder why she helped you now. I understand that she is extremely solitary. I have never seen her. No one has."
Zane, Jay, and Kai looked at each other. "Sister?!" said Nuero in surprise. "Ha! I would have never realized that."
He stood. "It's been a pleasure, but now that I know Chen's purpose behind the tournament, I am leaving. Just imagine what he could accomplish with my powers! Farewell, ninja."
And like before, he disappeared into the crowd.
"Now what?" asked Jay. "How are we supposed to get Cole back?!"
"I think we can't," said Kai. "But the Ghost could help us. If she is able to sneak around, maybe she could let us out of our rooms or something."
"It's worth a try," said Zane. "Stay up tonight - see if she comes. And Jay, don't freak out if she comes to your room - just be friendly and tell her what we need."
"I'll be cool as a cucumber," said Jay.
Zane raised an eyebrow, obviously not convinced.
()
She raced down the tunnels. The guards had nearly caught her when she had tried to go to the first floor to see the tournament - so she was going to make them pay by getting them lost in the tunnels.
She slid around a corner and ducked through a small opening that joined two tunnels. The guards passed her by. She grinned breathlessly, knowing they would wander until someone came to find them.
Voices. She could hear them, muffled by the dirt walls. She silently stalked them, following the sound. She came to the chamber that connected all of the tunnels.
There stood several people. Chen, dressed in his usual silly cape and snake headdress, and his second in command, Clouse. Clouse wasn't even paying attention - he usually sensed her presence. Next to them, holding someone down, were eight massive guards.
Dessie knew who it was without seeing his face. Cole grunted and tried to throw the guards off of his back, struggling like a caged animal. Dessie wondered how they had managed to get him down here, but then suddenly noticed the trap door above them.
"Master, the staff is ready," said Clouse in a whiney tone. He held it out the large, intricate staff to Chen, who grasped it. "Shall we begin?"
Chen laughed maniacally. "Yes, Clousey-Clouse, we shall! Take this, Earth Lover!"
Dessie rushed out of hiding, seeing what they were going to do - but it was too late. The staff was vibrating and humming loudly, and before she could even strike Chen or the guards, it was sucking Cole's powers away.
The pain was horrible, she knew. She'd seen others go through this, but her heart screamed in agony along with Cole. Eyes wide in horror, his head thrown back in pain, Cole screamed like he had never screamed before. A part of his soul was being slowly torn out - it would ripped little by little until there was none left.
Dessie knew she was helpless to save him. Angry hot tears ran down her face, and she opened her mouth and screamed too.
It ended quickly. Cole lay in the dirt, twitching and writhing in the throbbing pain that gripped him, his screams now silent. But Dessie wasn't finished. Her scream of rage and anguish echoed through the walls of the entire fortress, and everyone shivered at the sound.
Chen and Clouse whirled, and Chen pointed with a shriek. "Ghost!"
"I am not a ghost!" Dessie thundered, eyes turning bright gold. They began to glow with a raw energy that neither Chen nor Clouse had ever contended with. They all backed away slowly; the Ghost had never spoken to them before, and her eyes had never glowed either.
"Chen," hissed Dessie, stepping closer. "You will pay for all of this! You will pay for every ounce of pain you have inflicted on us!"
Chen quaked with fear, then realized his chance. He pointed the staff at her. She glared, solid and unmoving. "I don't fear you," she snarled, and did something so fast they didn't even realized she did it until later.
A beam of light, bright and blinding, shot from her like a laser. Chen was suddenly on the ground, holding his burnt face in agony and screeching in pain like a pig. Chaos was unleashed. Clouse grabbed the staff and held it up, chanting something dark under his breath and pointing it at her. She was running, towards them, but slid to a stop, realizing she had underestimated Clouse. The staff began to vibrate, and just when she thought she was toast, Clouse fell with a surprised cry to the ground. Cole had grabbed his leg and yanked the evil man's feet out from under him.
"Run!" he barked weakly. Clouse snarled and dealt the ninja a blow to the head with the staff. Dessie cried out, seeing the blood began to trickle down his temple. "Cole - "
"RUN!" yelled Cole, struggling with Clouse, both gripping the staff.
A guard ran towards her. Dessie glared at him and in one move, slid between his legs, climbed his back, and broke his neck with a sharp twist. His knees buckled, and he fell, dead before he hit the ground. Cole and Clouse stared in shock. Clouse screamed for more guards, realizing that if she wanted to, she could kill them all. She glared at him, hearing the heavy boots on the stairs. She spat on the ground, and ran.