"Alright," Jay turns to Echo, a big smile on his face. "that's it, we're done!"
"Shall I call my brother so we can get the coordinates?"
"No reason not to." Jay shrugs and starts walking to the bridge. "Although it's a little strange they haven't called us in all this time."
"Yes. It is a little strange that, in five and a half days, they have not called us to at least give us an update." The bronze nindroid gives the other a worried look. "Do you think something might have happened?"
"I'm sure they're fine, Echo."
"You cannot know that."
"I can."
"How? Have they contacted you without my knowledge?"
"No, I just know them." Echo didn't looked convinced by Jay's words. "They have a nindroid, a ghost, a wise old sensei, and the green ninja with them. I doubt there's any situation they can't get out of."
"Lloyd has a very bad track record with being captured." Echo points out. "And Cole cannot touch water."
"That's… true." Jay chews on his lip a little. "There's no point in speculating. Let's just hurry up and call."
It goes to voicemail without even ringing. Ending it, he tries again, only to get voicemail yet again. Just in case, he tries yet a third time.
"I am sorry about not picking up sooner." Zane says as soon as his face appears on the screen, looking apologetic and with splatters of paint on his face.
"Geez, man, why didn't you call sooner?" Jay breathes a sigh of relief. For a second there he was actually really worried.
"Again, I apologize, we have been very busy and it did not cross my mind."
"What do you mean we haven't fixed the roof yet?!" Kai could be heard yelling in the background. "Just how much is wrong with this fucking house?!"
"Kai, let Hiroshi go!" Lloyd this time.
"I assume the Bounty has been fixed?" Zane asks, ignoring the commotion going on behind him.
"Yep, we barely beat the estimate, right Echo?"
"In total it took us six days, thirteen hours, and twenty one minutes."
"I will send you our coordinates, then." True to his word, a message appears a few seconds later.
"I don't care if the door squeaks!" Zane glances back at Kai's outburst, before turning back to the screen with a wince.
"I will talk to you later." He promises.
"Good luck with whatever you're doing." Jay stifles a laugh as the sounds of a struggle, the two voices belonging to Kai and Cole, can be heard.
"Yes… We will need it." And with that the screen goes dark.
"Why do you think they were working on a house?" Echo asks. "I thought they were trying to find some more tea."
"I have no idea." Jay shrugs. "You can ask them when we arrive at… Hiroshi's labyrinth?"
Huh, he hadn't thought that there were any houses near there.
"Jay?"
"Yeah, buddy?"
"Are we going to leave now?"
"Oh, right!"
"You promised!" Hiroshi pouts.
"That was before you started making up reasons to keep us here!"
"I didn't make anything up."
"Kai, just calm down." Lloyd sighs.
"If you break something we just fixed again…" Cole warns.
"That wasn't my fault!" The master of fire whirls on the ghost. "If you hadn't knocked me over, that window would've been fine."
"I tripped on a root!"
"Calm down, all of you!" Sensei Wu yells, stamping his staff down on the ground. "You are acting like petty children."
"Hiroshi, I think they've done more than enough, give them the tea so they can leave." Dan admonishes.
"Aw…" The forest spirit looks disappointed.
"I knew you were just trying to keep us here!" Kai yells triumphantly.
"I don't like it when people leave…"
"I know, but you promised me you wouldn't keep people here anymore." Dan pats the forest spirit on the head a few times. "I'm sure they'll be back sooner or later."
"…Alright."
He starts to take down the dried bundles hanging up… all of them. Every single bundle that was already hanging up and what he'd hung while they were there, and began to wrap them in cloths.
"That's a lot…" Lloyd says with surprise. "I thought you said you didn't like to keep a lot of lotus breaker around?"
"I don't?" Hiroshi gives him a confused look. "This isn't a lot at all."
"At least we're getting our bang for our buck." Cole shrugs.
"Perhaps we do not have to leave so soon." Zane suggests.
"Uh, have you lost your mind?!" Kai gives the titanium nindroid an 'are you kidding me' look.
"I do not mean we have to keep working on the house." He assures the master of fire. "But the Bounty has been fixed and the others are on their way here."
"More people are coming?" Hiroshi looks up, curious.
"Zane, a minute?" Cole pulls the other aside and whispers. "I don't think it's a good idea to let the others come here. Hiroshi is nice, but he's not…"
"He is not what?"
"You need to leave." Hiroshi's voice sounded worried and he hurriedly pushes the bundles into the ninja's arms before urging them towards the door.
"Whoa, hey, what's with the sudden change of heart?" Dan asks. "I've never seen you try and force people you like to leave before."
"You too." He turns on the painter, a sad, fearful look appearing on his face. "You need to leave too, Dan."
"W-what?" The painter looked confused. "Why? I promised I'd stay-, is this because I still go visit my family every year? I told you I'd always come back, they even sounded interested in meeting you-"
"He's here, Dan, he's come back."
"Who?"
"The one who brought the lotus breaker here. The one who tried to kill me so long ago." He looks down at his hands. "I'm not sure I'll come back again, if I do it won't be in your lifetime."
"I-I'm not going to leave you to die, Hiroshi!"
A groan fills the air, then the sound of cracking wood, the hut shutters, vines are crawling along its surface, constricting until the walls give in under their weight.
"Keep moving." Hiroshi steps back, the trees begin to move, to sway without a breeze, taking on a life of their own. "Don't let him find you."
"Wait! Hiroshi!" The forest spirit is gone.
The braches of the trees sway, reach out, block as much of the sky as they can. It's intimidating, the forest around them moves, every bush and every blade of grass, leaving them disoriented.
"We should go." Lloyd says, swallowing the sudden fear that began creeping up his spine. The forest never moved like this when he'd come here with his dad before. Had Dan already convinced him not to confuse people back then?
"I'm not leaving!" Dan insists.
"Dan, there's something out there that a magical forest spirit is scared of." Cole tries to make the man see reason. "Do you really think there's anything you can do to help?"
"You don't understand." Dan shakes his head. "Hiroshi is this forest. Any mortal man could kill him if they tried hard enough."
"Dan." Zane steps forward. "So long as you remain here, Hiroshi will worry about you, and he will not be able to focus on protecting himself. I believe he will be fine, but for now it would be best if you left."
"I…" He looks up, then down at his feet and nods. "Okay."
"Man, was this forest always so creepy?" Jay laughs, inching a little closer to Echo.
"I would not know." Echo replies, stopping to examine a flower that appeared to be following their movement. "I have not been here before."
He reaches out, aiming to touch one of the wiggling vines slowly reaching out.
"Are you crazy?!" Jay pulls the nindroid back. "You don't just go touching creepy plants!"
"I apologize. I will refrain from doing so in the future."
"Let's just hurry up and find the others." Jay sighs. "I should have picked rock before, then maybe I'd be back on the Bounty instead of Nya."
"We are going in circles."
"What?"
"I recognize that rock." Echo points to said rock, which looked like any other rock to Jay. "We passed by it three times now."
"Oh, great." Jay lets out a little hysteric laugh. "We're lost in Hiroshi's labyrinth."
"We are not lost."
"What?" Jay turns to give the nindroid a confused look. "I thought you said we were going in circles?"
"I did. We are going in circles. But I have noticed a pattern."
"So…?"
"So I can navigate deeper into the forest, given enough time."
"M-maybe we should just go back to the ship?" Jay suggests instead. "We can call Zane again, tell him we're here, and ask him to come out."
"Brother?"
"Yeah, Zane."
"No, I mean he is behind you."
Jay turns and Zane skids to a stop before him.
"I will explain later." He hurries to say, pulling Jay along behind him and motioning for Echo to follow.
"Why are we running?" Jay asks anyway as soon as he's not scrambling to keep up. "And where are the others?"
"Something is following me." The titanium nindroid answers. "I was separated from the others and there is no time to figure out the pattern as well as find them."
"Wha-" Jay tries to look back, only for his foot to catch on a root and cause him to fall. It had only been a second, he was sure, but when he looks up the two nindroids are gone.
Jay is alone.
End chapter nine