You guys probably know what this means: I AIN'T DISCONTINUING! And I am SO happy! I got 7 reviews, so it was like I'm forced to continue. To the ones that reviewed, just even saying 'Don't give up' helped. Thanks for the support and encouragement, and you guys get cookies! (::) (::) (::) (::)

Sorry for that cliffhanger last time, but I was kinda desperate for some action. But don't worry, there's more action to follow. :3

Disclaimer: I don't own Ninjago


Chapter 9

A sharp, high-pitched whistle echoed around the four corners of Ninjago. And in the Mountain of Impossible Heights, one of the Elemental Dragons opened his eyes for the first time in over one million years.

He rose to his feet, unsteady, and his tail swung back and forth like a pendulum as he recovered his balance. He spread his wings, and sunlight filtered through the thin membrane. The color that was reflected shone like the top layer of an ocean: shimmery and a pale light blue.

So the first awakens. He turned his head in the direction of the thought, and saw his sister blinking up at him from where her head rested on her front paws.

Your point being? The blue dragon retorted.

He doesn't seem like much, was the sharp reply.

It wasn't his looks that made me choose him all those years ago, he said, it was what I saw on the inside.

Still. The sister closed her eyes once more. I do hope you have chosen well, my brother. And at least it will not be his blood that will be shed during Ninjago's darkest hour.

I know you wish that you could help your chosen one more, was the soft reply, but she has courage, bravery, and strength.

But will it be enough? The despair and grief was so thick and overwhelming that the brother gently laid a wing over his sister's back in a comforting state.

You can assist her when no one else can, he murmured, she has always been destined for this. Just as you were.

But it's because of us that the prophecy changed, she said bitterly, I never should have hatched and she should not have been born.

But the two of you did, and nothing could have stopped it. Think on it, he advised her before turning around and heading to the entrance of the cave, careful of his sleeping brothers. Once outside, he stretched his wings to their full length, and took off into the bright, sunny sky.


Jay was pacing back and forth in impatient anxiety. He suddenly stopped when he felt a prickle of pain on his back. He suddenly let out a yell of pain as the prickling turned into a sudden bolt of white hot agony. Just as the pained sound escaped his lips, there was a loud roar, and a shadow overcame him, engulfing him in darkness. Cole and Kai dragged Jay over the rocky ground just as the blue dragon landed. It shook its head, and stared down at a shaking and petrified Cole, a terrified Kai, and a pained Jay, who was slowly rising to his feet.

"That hurt," he groaned. He looked up at the dragon, and their eyes locked.

What Emily obviously forgot to mention is that in order for you to be able to ride me, you will have to convince me that I made the right choice. The dragon's voice was powerful and rich, causing it to resound through Jay's head, and he pressed his palms to his head, gasping.

"How am I supposed to do that?" he asked.

Think, the dragon replied with a snort. Jay thought for a few moments before an idea came to mind.

"You guys wouldn't happen to have a needle, some thread, a long swath of thick and sturdy leather, and a few bamboo poles, now would you?" Jay asked wickedly, turning to look at Cole, Zane, and Kai.


Cold, frightened, and curled up in the corner of her dank and dark cell, hugging her knees. A single torch sputtered, shedding weak orange light that barely lit the small confinement area.

Nya Flamy shivered in her thin red phoenix tunic, black leggings, and black flats. Rats and mice squeaked, and she saw beady red eyes staring at her from the shadows that engulfed her cell.

"Mark my words, you'll rue this day!" Nya jerked her head at the furious sound. The words were accompanied by some scuffling, hitting, and loud curses in a language that she didn't know. The door to the cell next to her's opened with a horrible squeaky noise, as if rusted over from lack of use.

"I hate you, skeletons!" The newcomer screamed at the top of her lungs as her hands were chained to the rough stone wall that was facing the door. One of the skeletons slapped her hard, and she responded with a furious scissors kick, disabling the skeleton within seconds. Nya blinked.

The remaining skeleton quickly finished his job before running out the door and locking it once he had closed it.

"So, you must be Nya Flamy, Kai's younger sister?" The newcomer said in a cool and relaxed voice as if nothing had happened three seconds earlier, turning her head to look at Nya. Nya didn't know how to respond.

"Yes?" She finally squeaked out. "How would you know that?"

"First of all, you're on the front page of every paper in Ninjago," was the reply, "and second, I know your brother. He's very concerned about you."

"Oh," Nya said in a small voice. "And who are you?"

"Emily Ross," she answered in a casual voice, as if she was commenting about nice weather. "And I'm here to bust you out."

"But, we're in a dungeon," Nya pointed out.

"Pfft, easy. I've been in more situations like this than I have scars, so I'm a pro at this kind of stuff. Trust me," she added, "I know all the flaws of this place, and there are so many of them. Flaw number one: the locks on our cell doors can be picked easily using a sharp and small blade, like a pocketknife." She pulled out the said object and unlocked the chains that bound her before walking over to the door, where she pulled out the blade and inserted it into the keyhole. Muttering under her breath, she gave a few twists and turns, and then her door was opened silently. Nya blinked. What happened to the screeching hinges?

"Uh, what happened to the hinges?" Nya voiced her thoughts as Emily undid the lock on her cell.

"It's amazing what a little bit of blood will do it them," she explained, holding up her left palm. There was a deep gash, and blood streamed freely down her wrist. Nya watched as Emily pulled out a long piece of white linen and wrapped it tightly around her palm. She tied it securely in a double knot using her teeth, and she looked as if she hadn't cut herself.

"Wait, so blood acts like oil down here?" Nya asked as she followed Emily through the black winding maze with only a single guttering torch to light their way.

"Basically." Emily suddenly stopped, and Nya accidentally crashed into her. In the thin pale orange light, shadows danced across Emily's face as a smile appeared on her face.

"Why are you smiling?"

"Because," she replied in a soft voice, "we're getting out of here now."


Kai was impressed with Jay's inventing skills as he watched with interest as he fastened the amplifier to the snout of his dragon's muzzle.

"'Kay, give it a try," Jay said, wiping his hands on his blue pants. The dragon opened its mouth and let out the loudest roar Kai had ever heard. It rang around the forest, and if he hadn't been hanging onto a tree branch, then he would have been easily knocked to the ground.

"Give us a warning next time!" he gasped, just as Jay's form began to glow. Kai exchanged shocked looks with Zane and Cole as the bright glow faded, and Jay's entire outfit had changed. Instead of it being just blue, it now had a golden dragon imaged on it, with lightning emerging from its mouth. Jay pushed his hood down, and faced his dragon.

"Wisp," he said in a firm voice. The dragon bowed his head in respect to his new master.

Jay scrambled onto Wisp's back, frowning.

"Maybe I should have added reins," he mused in a thoughtful voice. "But those can wait. Right now"-he looked down at Kai, Cole, and Zane-"we've got Emily and Kai's sister to save. You three had better hurry up and call your dragons," he added, "'cuz I think we're running out of time."

The other three exchanged doubtful looks, but nonetheless, they inserted their pointer fingers and thumbs into their mouths, and also whistled.


Hail raised her head as three whistles reached her keen ears. She knew that none of the whistles belonged to Emily, but she still lifted her head. She watched in amusement as her older brothers were slowly rising to their heavily-clawed feet, unstable and unsteady as a newly hatched dragon. The red one lost his balance, and staggered into the side of the white one, who nudged his brother back to his feet and steadied him.

You are sad, my sister. Why? The white one asked Hail.

I don't want this to happen to Emily, she replied, her voice thick, because then I will feel like it is my fault.

But it won't be, said the black-and-brown one, the oldest of the dragons. He turned his head so that he looked over his shoulder, his tail swinging back and forth.

I know, Hail murmured, tucking her nose under her front paws. I just…I don't know. She sighed unhappily.

We will find a way, Hail. This time it was the red dragon from where he stood next to his heavily-muscled brother. Don't worry. And with that, the three brothers took off to the sky, leaving their sister by herself.

She wrapped her paws tightly around her face, and a trickle of moisture slowly made its way out of her eye.


Underneath him, Zane felt the jerky up-down movements of Shard, his dragon that was as white as the one portrayed on his back. Uncomfortable on the slick scales and without reins or any form of protection or safety gear, he felt uneasy, as if one small accident would send him plummeting to his death.

"This is even better when you're steering!" Jay yelled as Wisp performed a three-sixty, which then resulted in a whoop from his rider. Zane rolled his eyes.

"Don't these things have any barf bags, or anything?" Cole whined from where he was hugging Rocky, the earth dragon. Rocky let out a loud snort, and propelled himself forward.

I wonder at times if my earthen brother made the right choice in choosing someone who is so greatly frightened of the wisest creatures in the entire world, Sharp mused telepathically to Zane, who formed a mental image of a shrug and sent it back.

I do not know, that is for sure, he replied. Unlike the others, Zane had quickly mastered telepathic communication. It wasn't all that hard, as a matter of fact. It just took a few tries to get it right, and then it hit him.

"So, how do the dragons cross over to the Underworld?" Jay hollered.

"I think we're about to find out!" Kai answered as Flame went into a steep nose-dive. Shard followed suite, closely followed by Rocky and Wisp. Pressing himself closer to Shard's neck spines, Zane felt a sudden burst of adrenaline, but he knew that a portal would open soon. Sure enough, all four dragons started to turn rapid three-sixties. They hit the swirling portal, and then began on the winding and twisting tunnels.


Emily's palm stung from where she had sliced it open to spread the blood on the hinges, but she didn't care. All she cared about was getting out the Underworld with Nya and getting back to the warm and sunny surface.

"Where are we now?" Nya asked Emily as she continued to follow the winding tunnels of the dungeon.

"Well, we should be nearing the central cells," Emily said slowly, her eyes flickering to the sides, scanning for danger that could very well be lurking in the dark and gloomy shadows, "And that means that we're getting very near to where we can get onto the upper levels of the Underworld, but once that happens, we're going to need to be on full alert. The skeletons are expecting the others to come rescue us, but they don't know that we've escaped."

"Their security is terrible," Nya whispered.

"But on the bright side, it'll be easier for us to escape," Emily replied, grinning. "Then again, it really isn't bright down here…"

"You have a weird sense of humor."

"I'm just pointing out the facts, Nya."

"But, still…" Nya's voice died off as she and Emily appeared in the central cells. In each one was a bloodied, rotting, and decaying corpse.

"Old victims," was all Emily said. She didn't look at them, not even a glance, but she could tell that Nya couldn't help but stare at them. Knowing what would happen, Emily stopped and turned around, waiting for Nya, who watched in horrified fascination as a still-attached eyeball in one of the corpses suddenly popped out with a sickening sound. It was hanging by the thing that connected the eye to the brain (Emily knew it had a name, she just didn't bother to remember it), and she continued to watch as an ugly long, white worm-shaped thing inched its way out of a hole in the thing.

"That's disgusting," Nya commented in a soft voice.

"Yeah," Emily agreed. "It's never pretty down here. Poor souls," she added, "just be thankful you won't become one of them."

"Thanks, Emily," Nya said, feeling disgusted.

"Welcome!" Emily replied cheerfully.

The two girls traveled in silence for a few minutes, only stopping to check to make sure that they weren't being followed by a skeleton that hadn't called the alarm.

"We should be getting close to a ladder where we can get out of the prison and into the main area," Emily said, turning her head left and right, "and then, we're just going to need to wait for a little while for the others to get here."

"The prisoners have escaped!" The loud screech made Emily and Nya jump.

"Come on!" Emily yelled. She and Nya took off running, just as a band of skeletons rounded the corner in front of them. They backpedaled and whipped around, but there was another blockade. They were trapped.

The two females slowly retreated as the skeletons approached them. Emily narrowed her stormy blue-gray eyes before throwing herself forward.

She disabled dozens of them with furious scissor kicks, fast punches, and the occasional crushing slam. Within a few minutes, every single one of the skeletons were gone.

"That will buy us a few minutes at the most," Emily said to a startled Nya, "but not much. Reinforcements are no doubt on their way here right now, which means we are in a little bit of trouble if that happens."

"Where's the exit, then?" Nya asked, fear flooding her voice.

"Right above us," Emily replied. She ran to the ladder and started climbing. Footsteps behind her, plus muttered curses, assured her that Nya was following.

They scrambled out of the hole before taking off at a run, their senses on full alert.

"Emily!" The soft hiss made the named female stop. Relief flooded her as she recognized the voice.

"About time, Cole," she answered as the Italian stood up. "Where are the others?"

"Staying with the dragons," Cole said. "Glad to see you two okay."

"For now, but we ran into a little trouble just a minute or two ago. More skeletons are on their way right now, so we have to leave," Emily warned him. He nodded before turning and leading the way at a full run.

"They're coming!" Jay yelped as Cole, Emily, and Nya skittered to a screeching halt. Zane and Kai immediately scrambled onto their dragons, while Emily got on with Cole and Nya was forced to ride with the one closest to her: Jay.

The four dragons shot into the air like bullets, just as an entire legion of skeleton warriors appeared.

Adrenaline and exhilaration coursed through Emily as she and the others entered a portal, being spit out a few brief seconds later. A few yards to the left was the Bounty. Emily let out a sigh of relief as Cole's dragon landed soundlessly on the warmed wooden planks of the deck.

"So, is that it?" Jay asked. Emily nodded.

"And let me guess," Cole said, "you're going to say that there will be some days that will be worse than this, correct?"

"Well, I don't need to say that now, because it has already been said," Emily replied smoothly. She gave Cole a knowing glance, and he rolled his eyes at her, shaking his head.

The moment was broken by Kai clearing his throat.

"So," he began, "after that lovely adventure, who is hungry?"

"Me!" Everyone clamored at the same time, which then caused them to break down into laughter. Through tears of laughter, Emily knew that the ultimate adventure of a lifetime had truly begun.


So...yeah. I know I switched in between scenes a little too fast during the middle part, but it was too show that they were going on at the same time. Kinda like a movie, where it bounces back and forth between two scenes, ya know?

And if anyone is wondering about Lloyd, he's coming. Maybe in the next chapter or so...I'm not quite sure yet.

Until next time, review, vote on my poll if you haven't already, have a good day/night, and peace.