"Watch your step."
He retracted his foot, seeing a wire under his foot. He carefully stepped over it, looking around for anyone else.
"Are we almost there?" he asked.
"I'm not sure," she replied. "I don't know where exactly they are. Hopefully we're getting closer."
He nodded. They continued carefully, watching for any traps so they wouldn't trigger them.
"This way," she whispered.
He watched her duck around the corner, into the darkness.
"Are you sure, Dash?" he asked.
"Of course, Zane," she replied. "I can sense everyone here."
"Correction, you can sense every dark magic user here," Zane told her. "They could easily have someone else here who doesn't have dark magic in order to trick us."
"Good point," Dash sighed.
"Good point indeed," a voice said.
Zane spun around as a thick plastic sheet fell into place between him and Dash.
"Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide," the man laughed.
"Go, Dash," Zane said.
Dash placed her hands on the border.
"I'm not leaving you," she insisted.
"You don't have a choice, now run!" Zane shouted at her.
Dash turned away, darting off down the other hall. Zane faced the man, glaring.
"Wanna fight?" the man mocked.
"Doesn't look like I have a choice," Zane replied.
"Well, yes, you do," the man replied. "Fight or surrender."
"Like I would surrender to you," Zane said.
Zane stood his ground for a second, then bolted away. He glanced behind him to see the man chasing him, but he was slowly getting away. He pushed open a door into the stairwell, jumping on the hand rail and sliding down the the next floor below him. He ran into the hall, pulling off an air duct and climbing in before the man could catch up to him. He watched the man run past, waited a minute before crawling out and running back towards where he and Dash separated. He stopped, seeing where the border was between them. He froze it, then kicked it and shattered it to pieces. He jumped over and walked into the pitch black room.
"Dash?" he asked. "Are you in here?"
He had no response. He walked a little further until something tackled him from behind. He was pinned to the ground from behind, unable to see his attacker.
"Get off me!" Zane cried.
"Zane?"
Wait was removed from him and he sat up, seeing Dash in front of him.
"You're OK," Zane smiled.
"So are you," Dash replied. "How did you escape?"
"I ducked into hiding as he ran past and then ran back here," Zane told her. "We've got to get out of here, though. It's too dangerous to continue."
"Are you sure we can get out?" Dash asked. "It was nearly impossible to get in. Maybe we should just find another way to get around."
"Alright," Zane agreed. "But we must be more careful. Understand."
"Yeah," Dash nodded. "Follow me."
Dash took Zane by the wrist and lead him around in the room. They walked until the area lit up around them. They were in another hallway. Dash motioned for her to follow him. They climbed into an air ventilation system, making sure they were unnoticed.
"Follow me," Dash whispered.
Zane turned, crawling through the ducts after Dash. Then they heard voices in the distance.
"I can't feel my hand."
Zane and Dash exchanged looks, then made their way towards the voices.
"Are you sure? Can you feel this?"
"Not at all. I see you doing it, but I can't feel it."
Dash motioned down, and Zane saw a tile filled with tiny holes, so it would go unnoticed by the people in the room.
"This isn't good, then."
"No, it's not."
'Is that Cole and Lloyd?' I mouthed to Dash.
She nodded.
"Do you think someone will come back for us?"
"Eventually."
There was a loud sigh after that. Then a loud crack. Zane tensed, looking at Dash. The vent wasn't holding him like it was Dash.
"Did you hear that?"
"I did. Who's there?"
'What do we do?' Dash mouthed at Zane.
Before Zane could react, the vent caved under him and he fell through the ceiling. He landed in a pile of dust and debris. Cole and Lloyd were coughing, waving the dust away to try and see who was there.
"Zane? Are you alright?" Dash called to him.
"I'm fine!" Zane called back to her.
"Zane?" Lloyd coughed.
Zane broke into spinjitzu, clearing the dust. Cole and Lloyd smiled, running and hugging him.
"You guys alright?" Zane asked.
"Can I come down?" Dash asked.
"Dash?" Cole called.
Dash popped her head from the hole in the ceiling, smiling when she saw Cole. Cole ran over to her and helped her down. They hugged tightly, laughing.
"I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you," Dash told him.
"I'm sorry I didn't listen," Cole laughed. "I should have run when you told me to."
"Well, if you didn't, I would have been alone," Lloyd added.
"True," Cole sighed. "We need to get out of here, though."
"Right," Zane nodded.
"Um, how?" Dash asked. "In case you didn't notice, that vent couldn't safely hold Zane. It will sure collapse with all of us in it."
"She's right," Zane said, looking around the room.
"Can't you use your magic to get us out?" Lloyd asked.
"Others were using magic to teleport in and out of here," Cole said. "But it might not have been dark magic."
"I can do a single person every hour," Dash sighed. "It's the most I can do, so not without hurting myself. Or worse."
"Alright, that's not an option," Cole huffed. "Now what?"
"We keep trying until we figure something out," Zane said. "What about a door?"
"This place is just walls and that huge hole in the ceiling," Lloyd said.
"He has a point," Cole told Lloyd. "If there was a vent we didn't notice, surely there's a door too. Everyone split up and look."
After a couple minutes of searching, Dash found the door out. She pushed it open and they ran.
"How do we get out of here?" Cole asked.
"This wa-" Dash started.
She stopped when Lloyd collapsed. Zane kneeling beside him, finally noticing the wrap around his arm.
"Your hurt," Zane said.
"He's pretty much lost his left arm at this point," Cole sighed.
"It'll be fine," Lloyd shook it off. "I'll be fine."
"I'll carry you," Zane told him. "Your weak from the injury. You shouldn't be moving too much anyways, so you don't make it worse."
Lloyd winced as Cole helped him onto Zane's back. They walked carefully through the base until they found a door out.
"The way out!" Cole cried.
"Cole, not so loud," Zane told him. "You'll get us-"
"I see them!" a guard shouted.
"Caught," Zane mumbled.
They all turned, seeing at least a dozen guards racing at them.
"Move, move, move!" Dash shouted.
They booked it for the door, pushing it open and bolting out. They ran into the forest, panting and out of breath by the time the escaped.
"Let's never do that again," Dash said.
"You'll get used to it as a ninja," Cole laughed. "Trust me."
"Alright, where to?" Dash asked.
"Up and away," Zane told them. "We head for the Temple to regroup with everyone and make our next move of attack."
"Got it," Cole replied. "Come on, Dash."
Cole summoned his dragon, pulling Dash on with him. Zane summoned his, allowing Lloyd to settle before they took off into the sky. Lloyd glanced behind them, seeing the island disappear on the horizon. Hopefully, they could rescue Kai and soon. He wanted this to be over. Forever.
Hands of Time Alternate Ending this weekend! I'm posting it either Saturday or Sunday so get ready. Review your season 7, people. It's going to be awesome. Or at least, I think it will be awesome.