Hi guys! Hope you love it-there's gonna be a lot of action in the next chapter XD

"How far are we going?" Kai yelled, wind whipping his hair around in bizarre patterns. Nya turned around in her samurai mech to face him, nearly getting blown over in the process. "All the way!"

The four ninjas clung tightly to the mech. Nya was in the control seat, and Sensei Wu was seated comfortably in the extension Kai's sister had added for him.

Kai regripped and let his thoughts wander. Why would anyone even think of coming up here in the first place? The snow came down in torrents so thick he could hardly see his hand in front of his face, let alone navigate to the top, and keep a constant lookout for Jay and Piper to boot. He didn't know how Nya did it. Then again, the protection of actually being inside the mech must have helped. Whatever the Dark Master was probably pretty bad.

The red ninja pursed his lips. What had the sensei been talking about when he said the Dark Master was working towards a 'worthy cause?' What worthy cause involved kidnapping people and taking them to the top of a incredibly snowy mountain?

Nya was saying something. "What?" he yelled over the rush of the storm. "I said, do you see that?" she repeated. Kai squinted, brushing clumps of snow from his hair and face with his free hand. "You mean that… is that a light?" "I see it!" Cole exclaimed, "Are we going to check it out?" "It does seem like the most agreeable option," Zane commented, glancing at Sensei Wu for a nod of affirmation.

As they got closer, it was clear that someone had build a fire in the cave, emanating light. Everyone's hopes shot up. Releasing the mech, Kai landed on his feet and inched towards the cave. Peering inside, he could hardly believe his luck. There, nestled in the back of the cave, were Jay and Piper! The cave appeared to be otherwise unoccupied, and a small fire lit the space.

"Psst! Piper, Jay!" Kai called in a low voice. Their heads shot up in unison. "Kai?" Piper whispered hopefully. The ninja of fire ventured further in so they could see him. A wide grin spread across her face, but it disappeared as she warned, "You need to leave! He'll be back any second!" "Well, by then we'll all be long gone," Kai replied confidently. "Come on!"

Striding over to where the two were tied, he sliced easily through the ropes on their wrists. Piper massaged her wrists and grinned wryly. "We're not gonna get far with these," she informed him, holding up a chain attached to her ankle that Kai had failed to notice. The red ninja grimaced at the heavy iron coils.

"Do you think the mech can handle them?" Jay suggested, gesturing to where Nya was climbing out of her machine. She shrugged, grinned, relieved to see him safe, and replied, "It's worth a try!" She returned to her post and directed the mech towards the back of the cave.

With the mech and all four remaining ninjas straining at the chains, and with Jay and Piper standing as far to the side as possible, a weak link in the center slowly split open, first on Jay's, then Piper's. Each still had an iron band on their ankles, but at least neither were still tied to the rock.

"Okay, everyone stick together. The way out is right around the corner…" Kai said, leading the way out of the cave… and coming face to face with the Dark Master.

"Who dares invade my-" he boomed, then stopped as his face morphed into a panicked expression, catching sight of Jay and Piper fleeing towards the entrance. "No!" Swinging his arm aggressively, he lit a wall of fire to thwart their escape. The three foremost, Jay, Kai and Piper, careened over it, but as the flames crept higher, Kai realized that the others were still trapped inside.

"Kai!" he heard Nya cry, "Escape! Get out of here while you still can!" "But-" "NOW!" He stumbled backwards, then, with a worried glance at where the Dark Master was fighting has way through his own flames, not seeming to care that his cloak was blazing, the three escapees disappeared into the night.

They ran until all three had stitches in their sides, then collapsed heavily into the snow, panting. Piper's eyebrows were singed. The cave was out of sight. "What do… we do… now?" Jay asked, gulping in the cold air greedily, "I think we need some answers."

Kai stood, then flopped down on his back into the snow. "We can't go back alone. That guy has some major firepower! He can blast us to ashes with a wave of his hand!" The red ninja waved his own hand to emphasize his point, then rolled over to face Piper. "And you! Do you have any idea what I've been going through? I thought you were dead!"

Piper winced. "I'm sorry," she apologized, "I guess I owed you an explanation. I thought I was just going to freefall all the way to the bottom, but my master had other plans and caught me on a slab of rock." She paused and rubbed her shoulder tenderly, then continued, "He locked me in a room so he could deal with me later. When he came back, he heated up my temper and I blew up at him. I was sure after that, I was done for, but he just walked out. He came in a few hours later and chained me in that room we were in before coming to Detrius Peak. Did you send the bird?" she asked. Kai pursed his lips and replied, "The falcon? I guess Zane might have."

She nodded. "Jay started to scratch out a message to you guys in the wall, but it was slow going, and we were interrupted before he finished. I take it you got the fragment, since you came." Kai nodded, relieved that his stress hadn't been entirely for naught. "Now what? We need to get some help from somewhere."

"You say we need help, I say we need answers?" Jay said, more of a statement than a question. Kai nodded, and Jay grinned confidently. "I know just the place."

Can I just say, I love writing? XD ptyl! (Post to you later)