A/N:

Hails: Skeleton CHAAAAAAAASE!

I need to mention something about Silver. Because her hair is in a long braid, she has a tenancy to pin it up whenever she pulls her hood up. However, she has her times when letting her hood down, she doesn't let her hair down and it stays tied up. So yeah, just had to point that out.

Also, the beginning of this chapter is a little morbid. If you don't like dark poetry or writing, I suggest you skip the second paragraph.

The skeletons continued to laugh and cheer like it was the best thing that could ever happen to them, roaring a battle cry as a great warning to the people. In this case it was though. Not only would Lord Garmadon come to rule over Ninjago, but the Skulkin Army would be living like kings and lords, and it would be too easy to give the humans misery.

Humans. Such feeble creatures. So easily broken. Bones that could be shattered with a single, measly twist or fall. Sweet, pale flesh that could be bruised with a simple strike. Beautiful, red blood that would spill from their skin with a quick break. Muscles that could be strained, torn if put to work too hard to accomplish. Innards and organs that could be dug out with a sickle like it was harvesting time. Vocal chords that could be severed by a knife, their screams so melodic to an unforgiving soul. An epidermal cover that was so sensitive and soft, and when struck by a whip it would crack and bleed, become sore. Skulkin are cruel creatures that sing with the blackness, that relish in the dark. Evil, malicious, bloodthirsty, vindictive. They have an insatiable hunger to make all creatures below them suffer. All children would have nightmares, as would most adults.

The Ninja writhed in the ropes that held them in the air, angrily seething at the skeletons for their doltish ignorance of what would be to come, because they thought they could trust, follow Lord Garmadon to a better world. Only the good guys that reveled in the light could truly see the darkness of the matter, and the untrustworthy, dishonest words the King of the Underworld.

"To the Fire Temple!" Samukai screeched in his gravely voice. But a haunting whisper caught his attention, and he turned around with the Golden Weapons gripped tightly in hand to find the shadow of his master glaring evilly.

"My brother has taken the Sword of Fire to the Underworld." Garmadon hissed. "Hurry. Return home and unite the weapons before it's too late." Samukai stared in shock as his master vanished, and turned around with a little uncertainty.

"Uh, change of plans." Samukai spoke. "TO THE UNDERWORLD!"

More screaming continued came from the skeletons, them knowing it was finally time to return home after weeks of searching for the weapons. Nuckal held his weapon up proudly, but then he stupidly realized that he was holding a stick, not his cutlass.

"What happened to your weapon?" Kruncha growled, before walking off. Not waiting to hear his friend's stupid answer. Nuckal shrugged, and tossed the stick behind him nonchalantly. The Skulkin vehicles roared away, their exhaust clogging the Ninja's sense of smell and blinding their eyes. Cole coughed violently, feeling a headache coming on after being tied into a tree upside down, and he almost felt nauseous with the blood rushing to his head.

"Great, now what?" The leader growled.

"Now," Jay said, revealing he had stolen a sword from one of the skeletons. He readied it eagerly. "We get out of here."

"Oh, please be careful." Silver begged upon seeing the sharp, jagged weapon.

"Uh, Jay?" Cole said. "Before you do that you might want to-" Cole was cut off as Jay sliced the main rope holding them, and they fell the ground in a heap. "warn us." Cole groaned. They didn't stand idly by for much longer, and they got to their feet.

"Let's go!" Zane commanded, and it wasn't an order anyone could disagree with. With that, they took off into the night.

The Skulkin vehicles roared along the rocky, forest path. No tranquility to be spared. The trees were just thin, brown and green blurs. The stars in the sky still shined brightly. It couldn't have been past three in the morning right now. The Skulkin took advantage of the black to stay concealed, and were ready for their journey back to the Underworld. Samukai growled at the rate they were going, and demanded them to speed up.

"Faster!" He exclaimed. The needle slowly turned up from the calming green to the vibrant yellow on the speedometer, but Samukai was still not satisfied. "We need to go faster to cross over to the Underworld!" The skeleton army heeded his words, and charged ahead further. Multiple bikes and small trucks disappeared in a flash of light, but a few, including the major monster truck had yet to cross over.

Just behind them, keeping close on the skeleton's trail, the Ninja were just multi colored blurs dashing from tree to tree. Black, blue, white, and grey darts that could hardly be seen in the dark.

"There they are!" Cole pointed out, seeing the bikes and trucks. Jay noticed without a doubt that he was right, and took to the road with his speed rather than the trees, which Silver chose for her gift in balance and agility.

Samukai wanted to cry out in frustration.

"More speed!" He demanded. "We'll never get back home at this rate!" The skeleton at the wheel narrowed it's eyes, and pulled a lever next to him. The speed increased, going much faster now than ever before. But, it had hardly been a few seconds when the vehicle slowed exponentially, the needle that had been teetering on edge of orange to red, sunk back down to the yellow area. "W- What's wrong?" Samukai glanced behind him, and roared angrily. A loose chain that was attached to monstrous truck was tied around the Black Ninja's scythe, which Cole had a death grip on.

A stealthy flip from Zane landed him on the main truck as well, and he took out the two skeletons simply by ducking down because they weren't paying attention as a tree branch clonked them square in the head. Samukai glanced at the White Ninja, who waved back in a friendly manner.

Jay did a quick three-sixty, and two more scouts literally fell apart at the hand of his nunchucks.

Silver took her place after a powerful jump and knocked aside a warrior effortlessly.

Humans may be more susceptible to injuries due to their soft cover, but skeletons were vulnerable to being taken apart because their own structure was not stable.

"GET THEM!" Samukai demanded furiously. But the large group of skeletons was decreasing in number, fast.

Jay screamed his battle cry at the top of his lungs, and engulfed himself in a brilliant blue tornado. Using the ancient art, he made his way to the back of the truck in search of the very things they needed. Fortunately, he found them with no difficulty to attach it's claws to, and pounded his fist into the padlock clamming the container shut, however though, not a bright move. He winced at the sudden pain and flailed his hand in attempt to shake the discomfort away.

"Okay... that's why they make keys." Jay deadpanned slightly. A light bulb went off in his head, and he figured out a way to maybe open the lock. He gripped the truck's ledge like it was his life, and began scaling the side to the very top where the Black Ninja slammed the flat of the blade of his scythe into the heads of Kruncha and Nuckal. "Hey, Cole-" Jay was cut off abruptly when the back of the scythe struck his throat, hard. He coughed violently, and Cole made it his job to finish taking care of the two idiot Skulkin, who found Jay's pain amusing, and then check on his optimistic friend. He wrapped an arm around Jay's shoulder, and apologized for his accident.

"Jay, sorry. I didn't see you."

Silver slid her daggers into the rib cage of a nearby scout, and twisted the blade so he fell apart. She kicked another one in the skull, making it's head fly off. As she busied herself with one more, she gasped suddenly upon seeing something that could ultimately be everyone's demise. About one mile away, was the side of a mountain, no doubt where to enter the Underworld via how fast you can go. She glanced at how fast the truck was going, estimated forty-five to fifty miles an hour, she determined how much time there was to stop this thing. Otherwise, they could end up in two really unhappy places. And one of them was dead, bleeding, and on the ground. Killed by the impact of a vehicle into a stone mountain.

"Guys!" She said, catching the attention of her fellow teammates. "If we're going to stop this thing, we've got to do it now, otherwise we can end up in the Underworld, or crushed into that mountain. We got two minutes tops!"

Cole nodded, ordering the team to pick up the pace.

Zane took to attention, hopped up to the cockpit of the truck, and greeted the driver. Only to be cut off when Samukai landed a devastating blow to his gut. He rolled across the hood with the wind knocked out of him and gasping for air. Vision spinning, his hands searching desperately for something he could grasp onto. Unfortunately it was very front, a frightening skull decoration almost impaling him.

Samukai proceeded to murder the driver by tossing him overboard, where his sorry bones were crushed to pieces. He took the wheel, and smashed the gas pedal, causing the speedometer needle to rocket from yellow to deep crimson in the span of two seconds. The Ninja could no longer grip onto the truck, and they lost balance, each of their bodies slamming into the ground. A sickening crack coming from most of them.

A flash of light blinded them temporarily, and the truck was gone. The only sign that anyone had ever been there was a trail of flames and a dim, mahogany cracks in the side of the mountain.

The Ninja shakily got to their feet, feeling pain in their ribs, a few must have been broken. They assessed themselves for injuries, finding they were mostly okay, and shaking violently due to the adrenaline wearing off. But a new emotion washed over them like tsunami, and they remained silent, staring at their defeat.

Lightning danced across the sky, and rain began pouring from the sky from clouds that had not been there before. Now soaking wet, chilled to the spine, and feeling miserable, Jay managed to speak up. His voice airy and inaudible, it couldn't be understood. Somehow Cole could make sense of it a little though.

"You don't need to say it. I know." He said solemnly, head downcast and his eyes stinging. His tone suggested, spoke for the way they felt. They had failed to protect their home.

"We've lost."

A/N:

Hails: My math really sucks. So if I have it wrong with time and miles and numbers with the stone mountain, I don't really care or give a crap.