What is up everybody?!
Disclaimer: I don't own Ninjago
"What?" Cole asked.
Zane frowned. "As in an object with a reflective surface?" A puzzled Zane asked.
"It's up to your own interpretation." Cher responded.
Cole racked his brain. A place where reflections occurred most...
"Maybe it's more off a figurative kind of answer." Cole blurted.
"I do not follow..." Zane said.
"Well, first of all, she used the plural form of reflection, which, if we're speaking figuratively here, would reference many reflections, like a group of people. To me, that means it's figurative just for that reason. The next thing is she used the word 'where', as in a place rather than an actual object, which rules out anything with a reflective surface."
"But if is a place, then nothing could be engraved on it simply because the place is not an object." Zane pointed out.
Cole nodded. "Then maybe there's an object inside the place!" Cole realized excitedly.
"So if that is the case, then where is this place?" Zane asked.
Cole thought for a minute, then said: "Let's pretend you made a big mistake. You correct it, but afterwards, you want to reflect somewhere...somewhere peaceful. Calm. Quiet. Where would you go?"
Zane frowned. "Depending on the season, I'd go...Id go to the woods. Deep in the woods."
Cole nodded. "Exactly! Come on!"
The two ran to the outskirts of the farm, where the trees began to replace grass.
"If this is the place she's talking about," Cole said, "then the solution must be carved into a tree!"
So, together, the two boys examined each tree. Darting from tree to tree with no luck, they were just about to give up when Zane spotted an opening.
"Cole! You must come look at this! It appears to be a ruin to an old building. There were fallen pillars everywhere, three of which had an engraving of a serpent, a fish, and a bird.
"Here it is!" Cole said. "Nice job. Okay, so the order is serpent, fish, then the bird!"
Then, they ran out of the forest in a hurry, both repeating the order of animals under their breath. When they reached the stream, Zane wasted no time in jumping in. Cole followed, then Zane turned the dials in the order the pillars were in.
When he resurfaced, Cole dragged him onto land and the three of them stepped back.
"Well done, boys," Cher commented, "you've passed your first test. Much faster than I expected. This first test tells me a lot about you two. But we'll discuss that later," she smiled, "follow me."
... ... ... ...
"How long did you give him to break out Wu?" Kai asked.
"A week. He's supposed to meet me at the same spot on Friday at noon sharp."
Kai nodded, sliding next to her on the sofa. She curled up next to her big brother.
"I've been scared for the upcoming war. I fear especially for Lloyd," Nya whispered, her eyes distant and glassy, "what if we get caught? What will they do to us? What...what will they do to Lloyd?"
Kai hugged his little sister.
"Nothing is going to hurt us or him. We're going to win this war. Together."
She shivered. "I'm so scared, Kai!"
He held her tighter as she curled up in a ball and cried on his chest. He rocked her gently and didn't loosen his grip on her.
... ... ...
Cher led the boys to a patch of grass.
"Where is it?" Cole asked.
"When the correct solution to that puzzle is entered," Cher began, "three metal bars that run underground from the stream to this patch of grass slide back, allowing the faux grass," she held a foot above a patch of grass, "to be revealed when pressure is applied." She put her foot down and pushed the grass, and like a trap door, it collapsed like it was attached to a set of hinges. It was about three feet by three feet. Cher jumped into the hole while yelling "follow meeeeee"!
The boys exchanged hesitant glances. Cole shrugged, then jumped in.
What he thought was a free fall transformed into a...a water slide? Cole couldn't tell. He was moving so fast and yelling so loudly he couldn't tell what was going on.
Eventually, he crashed to a stop. He sat up, only to be crashed into by Zane. The boys skittered to a halt with Cole on top of Zane. They groaned.
"My apologies, Prince." Zane said.
Cole rolled off of the cook and helped him up.
"It's okay, Zane." Cole turned to Cher. "That was awesome!"
Zane smiled. "That was quite...enjoyable."
"See? Just trust me, guys!" Cher pulled the boys to their feet and smiled. She threw her hands up, gesturing to the room around them. "Welcome to my secret hideout!"
Cole looked around in awe. They were standing in a huge cavern. There were three floors, which appeared to be made out of stone, supported by giant wooden pillars. The ceiling was also stone, but it was dotted with little bits of blue. The floor was stone, but it looked to be covered with a layer of translucent marble. The first floor was accompanied with a large kitchen and a few tables. The second floor had a few doors that were closed. The third floor appeared to be closed off, and was packed with boxes of all shapes and sizes. There was a big, white ball attached to a thick wire in the middle of the ceiling that provided light to the entire cavern.
"Wow!" Cole said, bewildered at the sight. "This is amazing! I've never seen anything like this before!"
"This is absolutely fascinating!"
Cole laughed, sucking in a deep breath. Even though he was soaking wet and shivering violently, he felt more alive than he had ever felt before.
"Thank you. It was built years ago, before I was born. It was built by my father, who believed that one day, the Reballatis would overthrow the king. He wanted the future generations of his family to have a safe place to go to if war ever broke out."
Still trying to process the entire cavern, Cole was caught in a trance.
"Anyway, come, boys." She guided them to a staircase, and they went up to the second floor.
"I'll assign you both a room, so if you ever need a place to stay, you're more than welcome to come here." She said. She shifted her gaze to the boys, then pointed at the last two doors on the left. "I'll let you two work out who gets which room. I will give you twenty minutes to get familiar with the base, the layout and your rooms, then we'll begin training. The only rules are one: always push that orange button over there when you come down the water slide. It will reset the solution dials. And, two: please don't go up to the third floor. I only use that for storage."
The two nodded.
"I don't know about you two," she said, "but I'm famished. I'll go prepare dinner. Make yourselves at home." She walked away and disappeared down the staircase.
"This is amazing!" Cole said, walking towards one of the assigned rooms. He twisted the knob and pushed the door open. Inside was a room with a twin sized bed and white-painted walls. There was a small desk on one wall and a smaller dresser on the other side. The other room was exactly the same, except it was painted orange and black.
"Which one do you want?" Cole asked.
"I don't mind." Zane responded.
Cole shrugged. "I'll take the orange and black one."
Zane nodded, smiling. "That is fine. White is my favorite color, anyway." They both split up, disappearing into their rooms.
Okay, I hope the CoNya fluff will begin after the next three chapters. That's my prediction.
Review?!