"Welcome to Yang's Haunted Temple!" a tour guide said, cheerfully. Yeah, a haunted temple. This was the place Kai said we had to go next. He said there's something about Airjitsu in here, though, I don't know about running through a supposed 'haunted temple' for it. And to be honest, when they say 'Sensei Yang', I'm honestly thinking of a blonde girl with gauntlets, not an old ghost.
"Unfortunately, we can't bring anyone inside because rumor has it that if you don't get out of the temple by sunrise, you'll become a ghost!" the tour guide said. Well that's great. Nothing like being rushed to find whatever thing we need in there. Then again, there's twelve hours in a night, so we should be fine, right? I think we'll be fine.
"I HOPE IT'S NOT A RUMOR, FOR IT'S OUR ONLY HOPE!" Zane said, his voice unnecessarily loud. His voice must still be broken. Everyone in the group stared at us.
"Uh, sorry. My friend's a little hard of hearing," Cole said, scratching his head. The tour guide glared at us, annoyed. She turned back to explaining the temple and walked off with the group, leaving us behind.
"I thought you fixed him," Kai said, looking at Jay.
"At least he's not talking backwards! I guess my tinkering got his volume button stuck though," Jay replied. I guess I preferred this over Zane speaking backwards, as we could actually understand him this time. I figured that if his voice stayed backwards, we'd have to get a voice recorder thing and play what he said backwards to understand him. I'm glad we don't have to do that now.
"Anyways, don't say anything unless it's really important, okay Zane?" Cole said. Zane nodded.
"Who put you in charge!?" Kai asked Cole.
"Wasn't Cole the original leader?" I asked.
"Yeah, but-" Kai was interrupted.
"Besides, things didn't go well while you were leader," Lilly shrugged.
"Nothing has gone well overall! It wasn't just when I was leading!" Kai argued.
"Well, I dunno..." Lilly said, smiling and rubbing her chin.
"Please don't list all the things that happened. I get I screwed up at some point while leading," Kai sighed.
"Okay, would you two lovebirds quit bickering? I want to explain my plan!" Cole raised his voice. I cracked up when Lilly and Kai's faces became red. I don't think Cole knew they weren't exactly bickering, but their reactions were priceless!
"Alright so, we sneak in, learn Airjitsu from the ghost of Sensei Yang, and get out before sunrise!" Cole shared his plan. It sounded complicated, but it could be accomplished, right? I'm sure we all could get out in time. Again, there's twelve hours in a night, right? Though, we don't know how Sensei Yang is, so how can we so easily expect him to teach us Airjitsu? I guess it's really up to luck. Maybe Sensei Yang is a really nice person.
We waited until sundown to enter the temple, possibly because of the fact that if you don't get out before sunrise, you become a spirit, and well, it could affect you if you entered in the daytime too, right? Possibly. That's my theory, and most likely Cole's too.
I entered through a door to the temple with my friends, while Cole and Jay tried to yank planks off of a boarded up window, not noticing the door. They quickly followed us in, pretending they actually did notice the door. Once we all were inside, the door slammed shut without any signs of anyone pushing or pulling it. I was startled by the sudden slam, nearly shrieking.
"Spooky," Lilly smiled. How is she not startled!?
"What? You think a ghost slammed that?" I asked. She shook her head.
"Probably the wind," Cole said, beginning down to walk the hallway. We all followed. Lilly giggled as we walked.
"What's so funny?" I asked.
"You got scared by a door. I thought you said you watched a whole ton of horror movies to the point where you can't be scared anymore," Lilly said. Okay, that wasn't entirely true. I mean, I did watch a lot of horror movies, but I still get scared by the toaster, and just now a door. Though, I guess telling everyone I was the unscareable was a huge lie. Crap, now I'm the liar.
"Okay, fine, I still get scared by the toaster," I admitted.
"Karma, the toaster scares everyone," Jay said, looking back at us.
"It doesn't scare me!" Kai lied in a voice full of pride.
"Kai, shut up. Of course it does. You screamed the other day because you got startled by it," Cole said. Kai's cheeks became pink out of humiliation.
"Oh my god, his reaction that day was priceless!" Jay said, laughing. Then he mocked Kai's voice and scream and said "'AAAAAAAA It's gonna kill me! It's gonna kill me!"
Kai glared at Jay, obviously even more humiliated. I couldn't help but laugh. It's pretty hilarious to think about his reaction.
We stopped at a door and walked inside, discovering a library of sorts. It smelled like mothballs inside and was extremely dusty. Okay, this stuff is probably older than my Grandfather Yu, and he's pretty old. I turned to look at the walls and noticed spiders crawling on the wall. I turned away, pretending that I just didn't notice the spawns of Satan. As long as I pretend they aren't there I won't scream.
"Well, if this place is truly haunted, we should wait for Sensei Yang himself to show up," Kai said, looking around the room.
"Ha, yeah, totally, because some old ghost is going to go 'Eyyy there's some kids in here I'm gonna go say hi and teach them Airjitsu'," Lilly said sarcastically.
"If he was going to do that he would have shown up by now," Cole said, sounding a little panicked, "Besides, didn't you hear what the tour guide said? We gotta be out of here by sunrise."
Kai opened his mouth, about to say something when Cole said in a worried voice "I don't wanna be a ghost. Who wants to be a ghost!? And why didn't anyone warn us that it would get so creepy after dark!?"
"Cole, calm down. We'll be out of here in no time," I reassured him. Cole turned to watch Zane pick up a book. Jay rushed over to him.
"Allow me," Jay said, taking the book gently from Zane's hands. He opened the book and looked inside, suddenly becoming intrigued by what he found.
"Woah, it says here that Sensei Yang's unusual strict teachings drove some of his pupils away, others admit to never seeing some leave temple grounds, suggesting a more sinister plot. How awesome is that?" he read. Wait, 'sinister plot'? 'never seeing some leave the temple'? What does this mean? Does this mean that-
"So, Sensei Yang killed his students, or maybe they killed themselves?" Lilly said. It was my assumption too. Something sinister had happened here. The book and my gut feeling say it all.
"What makes you think that?" Jay asked.
"Well, think about it. 'Unusual strict teachings', 'never seeing some leave the temple', 'sinister plot'? Wouldn't you all think something suspicious happened here? Especially since some students were never seen again? Besides, haunted house doesn't always have just one ghost," Lilly said, "I'm really thinking this Sensei Yang guy isn't very friendly."
"Well, maybe Sensei Yang was hard on his pupils for a reason. As iron sharpens iron, sensei sharpens student," Cole said, disagreeing.
"But to the point where his pupils may have committed suicide? That doesn't sound like a sensei sharpening his students. It sounds like a sensei driving his students over the brink," Lilly argued.
Suddenly, a loud thud was heard, causing us all to look at the grandfather clock in the room. Jay suddenly pushed Cole towards it.
"You're the big muscular guy, you should go check it out," Jay declared as he pushed Cole towards it, "You are the leader after all!"
Cole looked panicked and shaky as he reached towards it. I could tell he didn't want to open it, for fear of what may be inside. He took a deep breath and reached for the handle, when suddenly a falcon flew out, startling Cole and making him scream in a higher pitched voice. The falcon flew over to Zane and perched on his arm. He pressed a button on the falcon, making it play back Cole's scream. So, that must be the pet robotic falcon that Zane owns. I've never seen it before. To be honest, I expected it to be made out of titanium, like Zane.
"A prank!? Really!?" Cole shouted, ticked as everyone laughed.
"We were just trying to help you laugh," Kai said.
"You should have heard your scream!" Jay cracked up.
Lilly sighed, as if she were annoyed. "Guys, if we want to get out of here before sunrise, we shouldn't be playing around," I could agree with her. The more time we mess around the more time we waste, correct?
Suddenly we heard a crash which startled us all. Cole, believing it to be another prank, walked out the door.
"Cole! We didn't do it that time!" Jay shouted, running towards the door. We all followed. We turned down a hallway to find Cole standing at a door.
"Cole! That crash wasn't a prank! It's real!" I warned him, trying to convince him.
"Okay, I have to admit, this is pretty good. How did you guys get the handle to move all by itself? Is Nya behind there?" Cole asked, unconvinced. The only thing I know that's behind there could be certain death...and spiders...and certain death spiders. Cole walked through and we followed. We noticed that the inside was a dojo, with a shrine, for whom I guessed to be Sensei Yang, in the center.
"This must have been where his students trained," Kai observed, looking around.
"Or where they met their end," Jay said, shaking out of fear.
"Knock it off! If it wasn't you guys rattling the door, then who was it?" Cole questioned, crossing his arms.
"The ghost of Sensei Yang," the Ninja claimed in unison.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a voice started to say and repeat Sensei Yang's saying. Okay, there's no way science can explain that. This place truly is haunted.
I was the first to the run for the door, and the others followed. We ran out into the hallway as the door slammed shut behind us. We all ran down the hall, bats suddenly chasing us down the hall. Really!? If there's bats, why can't there be Batman!? It was then, as I ran, I noticed something. By a boarded up window sat a pair of shoes. The shoes looked to be those of older times by how they looked. The way they were put there so neatly and untouched confused me, then I had a sick realization. I know why those shoes are there. It's only traditional someone do that before they...
Lilly's theory was right. Sensei Yang either killed his students or drove them over the brink. I suddenly felt very upset and a wave of nausea hit me. We're in a house of horrors, where many students died, and we all could be the next victims. I suddenly felt terrified.
I was so deep in my thoughts I didn't hear my friends talking, but the maniacal laughter of the Sensei pulled me out of my thoughts, causing me to gasp out of fear.
"Maybe we should head for the front door," Cole suggested.
"But that's downstairs! And if you haven't noticed, there's floating weapons trying to kill us!" Kai argued, looking a bit terrified.
"LOOK! THERE'S A DUMB WAITER!" Zane said, pointing at it. I noticed that only four people could fit. Well crap.
As the the Ninja climbed in, Kai questioned "What about you two?"
"We'll take the second trip down. You guys just go and don't worry, alright?" Lilly said. Kai nodded and he disappeared with the guys in the dumb waiter. As we waited, I started to hear voices chanting. "Triangle, chair, comb, crossed," it chanted. I didn't understand it, but it must have been something Lilly knew, because she was paying attention to it. She was turned away from me, so I couldn't see her reaction. She didn't show any signs of terror, so it's just something stupid, right?
Suddenly, we heard a crash that startled the both of us. The only thing I could assume was that the dumb waiter fell, or the ghost of Sensei Yang is coming to kill us, or both. I saw Lilly run over to the wall and feel around for the switch to open the door to the dumb waiter. She hit the switch and the door opened to a rope.
"Hopefully you have your gloves on, or you're getting rope burn," Lilly said, grabbing onto the rope, "By the way, could I borrow your staff?"
I handed her my staff. What's her plan?
"Alright, follow me down," she said, sliding down the rope. I waited a few seconds, then grabbed on, sliding down. I heard a slam, then something breaking beneath me. I saw an opening now on the top of the dumb waiter. Lilly must have broken the top open with the staff. I jumped through the hole, meeting her on the inside. She was silent, as if she were listening for something. Suddenly, I could hear the Ninja screaming. Did they run into Sensei Yang's spirit...or are they dying!?
Lilly's eyes widened and she made a dead run down the hall, sliding to a stop in front of one of the doors. I ran up to her as she tried to open the door as the handle shook crazily. She took my staff and hit the door with the ends of it, trying to break a hole into the door. I could hear yelling on the other side and I was starting to panic. The yelling was starting to die out. Are they dead!?
Lilly threw my staff to the side after trying a few times to break a hole in the door. She slid her katana out of her sleeve and stuck it into the door, trying to use it as a crowbar. She pulled and I assisted her, but it was no use, the door wouldn't budge.
"Damn it," I heard Lilly curse, sounding a little panicked too. Making sure it wasn't bent, she slid her katana back into her sleeve, then knocked loudly on the door.
"Hey! Are you guys-" she was interrupted when the door finally opened, releasing a huge wave of water and the Ninja along with it. I surfaced after being underwater for less than 3 seconds. I turned to see that the Ninja were alright, though they looked a little shaken, especially Kai. Most likely because of the fact that the water was shoulder-deep, or it was for me at least.
Lilly turned and grabbed Kai by the shoulders. "What the heck were you guys doing!? You had me worried!" Okay, that was new. Never before had she admitted she was worried in some way, or I think.
"We almost died," Kai said, paying more attention to the water that surrounded him.
"And if you guys died I would have killed you all!" Lilly replied. Everyone looked at her, bewildered.
"Um, how could you kill us if we were already dead?" Jay asked.
Lilly looked at him. "You get what I mean."
"First the haunting, then the water, what's next!?" asked Cole, frightened. There had to be some weird meaning to this all, or Sensei Yang really is trying to murder us. It was then we could hear something wading through that water, stopping Jay from saying whatever he was about to say. What looked like a clown turned a corner and Lilly immediately yelled "Oh, you've got to be kidding me!"
"Hey kids! Who's ready for a fun time?" the clown said in a stereotypical clown voice.
"What the hell?" Cole said, confused by the presence of the clown.
"I AM NOT READY FOR A FUN TIME," Zane said, backing away. Then I'm here wondering how the clown got in here in the first place!
"Nope. Nope. Nope. Nooooope," Lilly said, backing behind Kai.
"What's wrong? I thought you liked clowns," Kai said. Lilly shook her head.
"No. Clowns are freakin' terrifying. The only kinds of clowns I like are you doofuses," Lilly replied.
"Is that a compliment?" I asked.
"Wait guys, I think Sensei Yang is testing us!" Jay said suddenly, "Cole's fear is ghost, Kai's fear is water, and I'm guessing Lilly's fear is clowns. All of those have shown up so far."
I had a feeling Jay was right, but it didn't explain the chanting I heard earlier. I decided not to bring it up, passing it off as "I was just hearing things."
"So, you're saying Sensei Yang is testing me by having this clown stand here and stare at us?" Lilly asked, a little confused. Jay nodded.
"As iron sharpens iron, sensei sharpens student," Kai repeated Sensei Yang's phrase, rubbing his chin. Then, it was as if a lightbulb went off above his head. "That's it! He's making us face our fears!" he said, figuring it out.
"Kinda like what we had to do with True Potential, right?" I asked. Zane shook his head.
"NO, THAT WAS EMOTIONAL OBSTACLES, KARMA," he corrected me. Well, I was close, right?
Noticing that the clown was gone, Lilly stepped out from behind Kai, acting as if she weren't just hiding behind someone over a clown.
"So, I just faced my fear then?" Lilly said, looking a little triumphant.
"More like you cowered behind me the whole time," Kai said. He was correct. Lilly's cheeks became red.
"Shut up," she said, crossing her arms and looking away, embarrassed.
After a quick pep talk and an agreement to stick together for the rest of the night, we tied ourselves together with a rope that was just so conveniently lying around. I swear to god, we must be in a movie or something. Only in movies and TV shows would something like that happen. Or, luck could actually be on our side for once. Maybe.
"Alright, no matter what happens, no running away. We're all in this together," Cole reminded us. I have no idea why, but then an old tune popped into my head. It went something like "We're allll in this together!" and went on to some other lyrics. I can't remember the name of the song, but I remember hearing it on the TV when I was ten. Huh. Weird.
"Just so we don't get any surprises, what are the rest of you afraid of?" Kai questioned. I'm sure I've already faced my fear in the other room. Spiders.
"Spiders, aka the spawns of Satan," I answered cheerfully.
"I THINK I KNOW WHAT I'M AFRAID OF!" Zane said in a panic. We turned to see what he was looking at and my heart almost stopped right then and there when my eyes fell on him. Morro. He stood there, not saying anything smart or villain-like, like he had said the last time.
"Morro!" I yelled in unison with Cole and Jay. I darted after him, slipping out of the rope, just as Cole was about to say something. I didn't have time for it. If I could stop Morro now, we could save Lloyd even earlier than expected! Then we could totally save Ninjago!
I noticed then that Morro was running away from me. I followed him, dodging knocked over things in the hallway. I could have sworn I heard one of my friends yelling my name, but I didn't care. There was no time. I decided I would chase Morro, and end his reign of terror right here and now.
Though...I kinda hope Lloyd keeps that new voice of his...and I kinda hope you pretended to not have read that right now to spare me the embarrassment. But really, is it bad to like a bad guy's voice? Is it bad I want my best friend to keep the bad guy's voice? Oh god, I'm a horrible person, aren't I? Eh...I should get back to the story...
I stopped when he ran up the stairs to the attic, mostly because someone grabbed me by my scarf. I turned to see Lilly standing there, looking quite pissed. Uh oh.
"What the heck were you thinking!? Running off like that!? You could die in here if you aren't careful!" she yelled, obviously worried. I felt tears well up in my eyes. If there's one thing I don't like, it's when people yell at me. It hurts even worse when it's a friend that does it.
I heard Lilly sigh. "I'm sorry, I'm just, I'm frightened and worried enough being in here. I'm worried that we won't make it out in time, and obviously, that's affecting my reactions to things. I apologize for yelling." I accepted her apology, understanding how she felt. I get how certain situations affect someone's reactions and moods to things. I'm the same way.
"Morro went into the attic right?" Cole asked. I nodded. He ran into the attic and we all followed. I reattached myself to the rope, now feeling upset that I went against what Cole said, "No matter what happens, we stay together."
When we entered, we noticed he just stood there in the corner, doing nothing. What's all this about?
"Hey! Wind-Brain! You gonna do something!? You're usually really talkative!" Lilly shouted, trying to get the ghost's attention. Suddenly, Morro turned, becoming the ghost of Sensei Yang.
"As iron sharpens iron, sensei sharpens student. You have passed the test," the ghostly Sensei said. He passed the scroll to Cole, saying something I couldn't hear. Suddenly ghosts surrounded the Sensei, looking to be his students.
"Now you all will join my students. A new dawn is approaching us. Get out before the clock's last chime if you can!" he said. My eyes widened. Crap! All of us flew down the attic stairs and ran for the door as fast as our legs could carry us. I could see the door ahead and I felt hope and relief rising inside me. We're almost there! We sprinted out the door, feeling relieved that we made it out alive and unscathed.
"Wait, where's Cole!?" Jay asked, sounding worried. Wait, Cole didn't come out with us!? Then...
I heard footsteps, and when I saw him, I gasped in unison with the others. Cole was translucent, and his skin was now a ghastly green. He made a gasp, then, instead of water like tears are made from, ectoplasm streamed from his eyes. "I'm...a ghost."
I felt sorry for him, terribly sorry for him. He's become the thing he feared. Though, there was one thing that scared me the most out of this: Since Cole is now a ghost, does that mean he's...dead? Is there a way a turn him back? Then, a horrifying thought came to mind:
Cole really is dead now, and there's no way we can bring him back.
