Chapter 7;Darkness is a Cold Place

Waking up, Laura could not feel the soft blankets she became used to over the past few days. Confused, Laura opened her hazel eyes. As she sat up, she felt the metal chains on her wrists and saw the bars of a cage. It wasn't cold. It was warm… When she saw green eyes through the bars, she thought of Cece. Yet these eyes glowed ominously. They weren't Cece's.

Feeling anxious, Laura backed against the wall. In the shadows, Laura saw a red and white samurai warrior. She could not quite make out what he was though.

"I am called General Kozu."

"Kozu…? Weren't you the one that broke out of jail?"

"Yes."

"Why are you here?"

"To guard you..."

Laura was a little anxious, but she did not see any keys on her 'guard' and felt safe behind the bars. Perhaps she just was in a good mood.

"How is Emma doing?" Laura asked. "She is still my friend and I am very concerned."

"Concerned for your kidnapper?"

"Concerned for a friend" Laura raised an eyebrow, "You know who I speak of."

"Oh, I see. I see where you are going at. It isn't your kidnapper you are worried about."

"No, da"

"Emma does not tell me those things. But she does mumble a lot."

"So what does Emma want?"

"You want me to reveal her big plan?"

"Well you are not being controlled by her directly therefore you have your own free will.

You could reveal anything.

However I assume you feel as if you owe something to her or you have something you want from her. If you did not feel either of those, you wouldn't be here. Yet I wonder what is it you owe or want so much you would be her ally.

Let me guess… After being controlled for so long, now that you have your free will you don't know what to do with it?"

General Kozu narrowed his eyes at Laura. "Are you interrogating me?"

Laura sighed. Leaning back against the wall, Laura did not know why she was so calm. Last thing she remembered was going outside with Cece and then… Emma. All the negative feelings she had seemed ridiculous at the moment, yet Laura knew they would come back. Randomly thinking, Laura stared off into space.

Laura pictured Lloyd's grassy green eyes in perfect detail… they so pure and youthful.

Suddenly, Laura remembered what happened. Although it was quite warm in the cage, she shivered. Memories started pouring in and Laura tried to push it all out. Curling up, Laura couldn't fend all this… Yet what bothered her the most was how much she missed her guide…


As the bitter cold smacked him in the face over and over, Lloyd followed the rest of the ninja and Cosmic Legion. Determined to save Laura, Lloyd felt a deep passionate anger swell inside him. Lloyd was willing to save her a million times to prove that she can trust him. Just thinking about the kunoichi of light warmed Lloyd up. Although she was not as tan as Cece, her skin shined in the sun. (Cece and Laura are tan and Emma and Anne are vampires in the sun… makes sense, no?) Laura's round face made the most beautiful smiles with a laugh to match. Even if she was more of a quiet person, Lloyd was fascinated by all the interesting ideas she came up with.

Realizing Lloyd had slowed down, Cole turned around. "Don't worry, Lloyd. Another Cosmic Master is not going to get hurt under my watch."

"Darn it Cole, you just jinxed us." Cece said. Her scarf was showing the direction of the wind as she put her hand on her hip.

"Cece, I don't see how such a simple statement could affect our chances." Zane said.

"Just you wait, Zane."

Anne was starting to get tired, "Come on. Let's go. We are almost at the spot." Cole smiled and everyone started walking again.

After walking for fifteen or so grueling minutes, Nya stopped. "Is this it, Sensei?" Nya asked in the communicator in her suit. (She couldn't bring the samurai suit but she developed a stealthier version that was more compact but less destructive and strong).

"Yes, right below should be a secret entrance to the tombs. It was an old fault in the ice we disguised as a back up. It is a one way door. You can only get in unless Zane… Are you sure about this?"

"Yes. How is Dr. Julien doing?"

"He is still trying to remember what happened. He thinks he forgot something really important and it's on the tip of his tongue."

Jay interrupted the flow of the conversation, "Man, I hate when that happens, so frustrating!"

Nya smiled and rolled her eyes, "We are moving in." Nya ended the call. "Zane…?"

"Yes."

"Do your thing."

Zane nodded his head. Placing his gloved hands on a particular spot on the ice, he felt the fault and the entrance. It would be difficult to open again.

"Are you sure you should have came, Zane? I could have melted the ice." Kai asked.

Zane continued his concentration. "I have done enough resting. I need to get her back or die trying." With that, the staircase appeared in the ground.

"Well done, Zane!" Jay said climbing down the stairs first. Zane sighed in relief and exhaustion.

Anne patted the nindroid's back, "Come on, Zane. You can do it. You know snow."

Zane smiled ruefully, "I do."

Everyone headed down the stairs silent as feathers floating in the air. Zane sensed the presence of many serpentine, but the team seemed to be out of sight. As they continued walking, they had to start crawling to fit in though a small cavern. Then the cavern split. Cole was in the front of the group and he looked back at everyone.

"We'll stay together. Which direction should we go?" Cole thought about it. "Can you sense anything, Zane?"

"I could probably figure out where the tunnels lead. Where do you think they could be hiding Laura? Either way, we need to get out of this tunnel to search."

"Perhaps find an entrance that is clear enough we can go through it." Anne suggested.

"But isn't this a trap? What if they purposely leave an area unguarded to ambush us?" Nya asked.

"Would they know about the secret entrance?" Cole asked.

"It is possible. They did remodel so they could have bumped into it. However I doubt it because this tunnel does not seem to be messed with." Zane said.

"Then look for the entrance with the least serpentine." Cole said.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Cole? I feel like we are walking into a trap." Cece said.

Cole sighed, "Cannot do much about it. Our first priority is to get Laura back. Then we need to do something about Emma and the snakes." Cole looked to Zane. "Have you searched the tunnels yet?"

"Working on it" Zane said pressing his hands onto the ground and focusing his energy on the ice.

They decided to go right. In the small tunnel, it started to get lighter and lighter until they finally reached an opening. Hiding in the shadows with his black suit, Cole looked for anyone. Finding no snake, he crawled out and the others followed. The light in the room glimmered off the icy walls causing them to shine like crystal. The ice was a foggy blue that could not be seen though. The team had ended up in a large and spacious room but it was no ballroom. However it was quite the relief from crawling inside an icy tunnel. The cave was as cold as most villains' in good television shows hearts. Seeing no snakes, they decided to rest a bit having taken a large trudge through ice and snow.

Zane felt like he was low on energy. Fatigue shined off his pale skin. He felt heavier. Trying his hardest, he kept his eyes opened but was relieved to be able to take a break. Looking around the room, he noticed stalagmites and stalactites on the floor and on the ceiling. He had to admire all the ice shimmering like foggy diamonds. Sitting down, he was leaning against a stalagmite. However as he leaned back, he felt a movement in the ice behind him.

Whipping his head back to the others, Zane saw he was alone. Everyone else that was there was gone. Pouncing, Zane stood up with an eagle-like stare. He looked around his surroundings but his eyes kept going towards the black tunnel.

Click, Click, Click, he heard. Coming closer and closer until it was right in front of him. Suddenly, it stopped. Zane backed away. While backing away, the clicks returned. Out of the blue, he felt a clawed hand grab his ninja suit. Like the Cheshire cat, Emma appeared with a devious and madman-like smile.

"Hello, Zane." Emma said. Out of his shock, Zane narrowed his eyes at the snake.

"What did you do with everyone?"

Emma turned her heard left and right. Looking into Zane's icy blue eyes, Emma said, "I merely wanted some time alone with you…"

"Why would you want that?"

"Snakes can be so… idiotic. Sometimes I don't believe I may be going to practically save their species… Yet you… you interest me. When I entered this… body… I got your little Emma's memories… I want to know why… she wanted you so much as to—" Emma stopped herself. She was centimeters from the Nindroid's face.

Her dark pits narrowed. She stepped back. "Ha-ha! Why am I telling you this?" Suddenly, Emma grabbed the Nindroid's neck. "I was ordered to kill you, you know?"

For a few seconds, they stayed like that. Zane's icy blue eyes stared at Emma in terror. Her claws poked his pale skin. Zane could hold his breathe for a long time, but he was scared of those claws snapping his neck. Suddenly, Zane felt her grip loosen. Emma let go of the Nindroid. "But I won't kill you yet…" Emma smiled. Zane felt her claw on his cheek and then she disappeared.


As the cold floor pinched her cheek, Cece woke up. While she lay on the ground, she found that she was in a new place. It was still cold as a snow-cone in a blizzard but the room was smaller. In the center of the wall, there was a throne. She realized she and Kai were the only two in the room…

Well that was until suddenly, looking around her, she heard a laugh. She turned her head and saw… the kidnapper they were trying to save.

Trying to find the source of the laughter, Kai's narrowed eyes zoomed around the room. Suddenly, as his eyes rested on the throne, the evil-turned Seer of Stars appeared out of nowhere with a smirk. Draped around her body was a grayish white dress highlighted with black and royal purple and had a very low neck-line. Nonetheless, her body was also covered in scales.

"Wow Emma, you look pretty B-A." Cece commented.

Stepping off the throne with her exposed legs wearing boots below the knee, her smile grew larger, "Why thank you, I knew you would appreciate it." Emma put her weight on one of her legs as she put her hand on her hip. "Sadly, you probably will not be complementing me anytime soon."

After she took them out for the world to see, Emma's daggers glinted in the pale light reflected off the icy walls.

She dashed towards both Kai and Cece. Before she could get near either of them, Kai had his elemental sword out and blocked the daggers. This gave Cece enough time to take out her machete but not enough to attack Emma.

Recovering from the block, Emma twisted to trip Cece on the ground.

Cece stumbled backwards but caught her self in time to block a dagger. While she was busy with the dagger, Emma tried to jab her with another one but was blocked by Kai.

Emma quickly turned invisible and successfully tripped Cece and Kai. With strength Cece and Kai had not been expecting, Emma kicked Cece across the room and put that same foot on Kai's back.

Emma turned visible again so Kai could see her smirk before… before…

Cece could not believe her eyes. It happened so fast… she could not do anything across the room with her breathe taken out of her…

She could only watch as a dagger literally stabbed Kai in the back.


Hopefully this wont stump me... but yeah... it was totally a trap... Cole thought they could handle it... Thank you for reading this story and the author's note! Everyone! Thanks to those who reviewed as well! Toon Friend, mykindleisawesome, and Lya200! You all diserve tea and Zane cookies! (Cannon shoots cookies to everyone)

SergeantSarcasm7 at you service!