A/N: Happy Easter, everyone! I hope your day was as awesome as mine! And if it wasn't, I have an extra long chapter for you as a present. Hope you like it!
I don't own Ninjago. (If you guys didn't already get the message.)
Chapter Thirteen: Lies and Deception
The continual beeping of her alarm clock roused Nya from her deep slumber. She sat up, slammed the snooze button on the clock, then got back into bed.
Nya tried to fall back asleep, but for some reason she had a feeling something wasn't quite right.
Ever since Anna had gotten used to waking up fairly early for training exercises, she would already be up and about by the time Nya's alarm went off. One thing she would never let Nya do was hit the snooze button.
"Evil never sleeps, and neither should we," Anna had always said. "We're ninja, and that means it's our responsibility to stay alert at all times."
But today, the room Nya shared with Anna was completely silent. No one had given Nya a speech when she'd hit the snooze button.
Nya sat up in her bed. Her gaze immediately rested on Anna's bed, where she expected to see Anna still resting, perhaps sick. What she did see, however, was very different.
The bed was empty. Anna was gone.
Nya jumped out of her bed and rushed to get dressed.
She had to tell the others. What had happened to Anna?
Nya flew down the stairs to the game room. That was the most likely place for the others to be at this time of day.
Sure enough, when Nya burst through the door to the game room, she found Jay, Cole, and Zane all sitting on the wrap-around couch. But not Kai.
A million thoughts raced through Nya's mind, but instead of letting herself get overwhelmed, she decided to ask the most pressing question.
"Where are Kai and Anna?"
Immediately the three ninja jumped to their feet.
"Anna's missing, too?" Cole asked with obvious concern in his voice.
"What do you mean, 'missing too'?" Nya demanded. "What's going on here?"
"We have no idea," Jay said. "When we woke up this morning, Kai wasn't anywhere to be found."
"Yes," Zane agreed. "We have searched the entire ship, but Kai is not here. It is as if he has vanished into thin air."
"What about Anna? Have you seen her?" asked Nya.
"No, we just assumed she was still sleeping," Jay said.
"Well, we can't just stand here!" Nya declared, panic rising in her voice. "This is my brother and my best friend we're talking about! We have to do something!"
Cole was the first one to take charge of the situation. "We'll spread out and search the surrounding area. Wherever they are, they couldn't have gotten very far."
The ninjas ran above deck and spread out to search for their two missing teammates.
After scouring the small clearing where the Destiny's Bounty was anchored, the ninjas continued looking into the surrounding forest.
No matter how long and hard they looked, no one was able to find any traces of either Kai or Anna.
"I don't see them anywhere!" Nya called to the others after a while.
"Keep looking! They have to be out here somewhere!" Cole called back from somewhere off to Nya's right.
"Wouldn't it be wiser if we used our dragons to aid us in our search?" Zane asked. "That way, we could have a better vantage point of the area."
"Good idea, Zane," Jay complimented.
The ninjas all met up back at the Bounty, then ran over to where their elemental dragons were kept. When they got there, each ninja mounted his respective dragon, and Nya took Kai's dragon. Once they were all ready, they shook the reins and gave the command for the dragons to take to the skies; however, the dragons didn't budge.
The four teens urged their dragons again and again to take off, but to no avail.
"Come on, Rocky! What's the matter with you?" Cole asked as he tried to get his dragon to cooperate. "Fly already!"
The dragon paid no attention to its owner's commands. Instead, it reared up and roared in protest, flinging Cole from its back in the process. Cole soared through the air before landing hard on his back with a thud.
"Oww...," Cole moaned in pain. He slowly sat up and rubbed his head. "That's going to leave a mark."
"Okay, something is definitely up with our dragons," Jay commented.
"No, you think?" Cole called sarcastically from his position on the ground. He was still holding his head in his hands.
"There has to be some reason why the dragons are acting this way," Nya said.
Just then, the ninjas all heard a powerful roar that didn't come from any of their dragons. Looking into the sky, they saw the silhouette of a dragon flying towards them from the east.
"Another elemental dragon," Zane breathed in awe. "That's why our dragons didn't leave. They could sense that dragon was coming, and they wanted to welcome it into their midst."
The dragon kept flying closer and closer until it finally landed right in front of the ninjas.
At this range, the ninjas could clearly see how beautiful this dragon was. Its emerald scales glistened in the sun, and the row of spines down its back had a sleek look to them. Whoever owned this dragon was clearly lucky to have such a magnificent beast.
The dragon bowed its head slightly, almost as if it were human. Then, it extended one of its front claws. It gently unfolded its talons to reveal a small scrap of paper with writing all over it.
Nya was the first to react. She jumped down from the dragon she was mounted on and snatched up the paper.
She began reading it while the other ninjas watched her silently in anticipation. Whe she was finished, she looked up at her teammates.
"It's from Kai and Anna," she said quietly.
"What? It is?" Jay asked, sounding confused. "How did they get that dragon to carry a message for them?"
"Kai and Anna? Are they okay? Where are they?" Cole added.
Nya was beginning to get flustered at all of their questions.
"Not so fast, guys!" she said, trying to calm everyone down. "First of all, Kai and Anna are safe. They sneaked out earlier this morning because they think they have a lead on where to find their parents. The note says that there's no need for us to follow them, and they'll be back in no time."
Nya glanced around at the expressions on her friends' faces as they comprehended the news.
"Any other questions?" she asked.
"Yeah," Cole spoke up, "did the note say where Anna and Kai were headed?"
"Umm..." Nya scanned the paper in her hands. "Yes. It says that they're going to a small village called Verdania in the eastern part of Ninjago. Why do you ask?"
"Because that's where we're going, too," Cole declared.
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"How come it seems like we've been walking for hours, but the village isn't getting any closer?" Kai complained as he and Anna walked down the cobblestone path to Anna's hometown.
"I guess this shortcut is a little longer than we originally thought," Anna answered.
"Once we get into the village, what makes you think that your old house will still be there?" Kai questioned. "I mean, it's been vacant for how many years?"
"Only one and a half years," Anna replied. "Plus, nothing ever changes in Verdania. It's one of the smallest villages in all of Ninjago. I'll bet you that everything there looks exactly the same as it did when I left home."
"If you say so," Kai said. "But I'm still not getting my hopes up."
When the two finally reached the village, Kai could see that Anna was right. Verdania was one of the smallest towns he had ever seen. It was much smaller than his home in Ignacia.
All the businesses in the town were arranged along the same cobblestone road that Anna and Kai had followed here. It appeared to be the main road in the town; perhaps because it was the only road.
Beyond the businesses, Kai could count about a dozen homes. That was it in the entire village.
If Kai had to guess, he'd probably say that the reason for Verdania's size was because it was surrounded by thick forests on all sides. There was no telling what could be in those forests. The majority of wooded ares had probably never been explored by humans, so anything could be living there, really...
"Kai! Are you coming?" Anna's voice brought Kai out of his thoughts and back to reality.
Kai looked forward to see that Anna was already several yards ahead. She had turned around and was waiting for him.
"Yeah, wait up!" Kai called back and ran to catch up with Anna.
"So where exactly is your house?" Kai asked once they started walking again.
"Well, it's not really that close to any of the main shops here," Anna answered. "But it's still technically within the city limits. Just kind of secluded, that's all. You'll like it."
Soon the two came to a small house nestled between two stands of trees.
"Welcome to my humble abode," Anna said, gesturing to the house.
"Really? This is your house?" Kai said in disbelief. "It looks pretty rough."
What Kai said was true. Vines were crawling up the sides of the brick house. Weeds sprang up from the cracks in the sidewalk, and trash blew across the lawn. Even the windows had gotten so dirty that the inside of the house wasn't visible through them.
"Hey, that's what happens if you let a house go for a while," Anna said. "Honestly, I'm surprised it doesn't look worse."
Anna and Kai walked up the cracked cement walk to the front door.
"Do you have any ideas on how to get into the house?" Kai asked.
"Actually, yes, I do," Anna replied. She stepped in front of Kai and gave the door a solid shove. To Kai's amazement, the door swung wide open.
"After you," Anna said to Kai.
"How did you –," Kai started. "So you mean that you left your house unlocked all that time?"
"Yep," Anna answered. "I told you, Verdania is a small village. No one's going to break in and steal anything."
Kai and Anna cautiously walked inside the abandoned house. Most of the furniture and other items looked untouched, but a fine layer of dust coated everything.
"Okay, so in my vision, I was looking through some old papers," Anna said. "I think I have an idea of where we can find those. I remember that my mom always kept a big cardboard box full of photos and documents in the closet in her room upstairs."
"Sounds good to me," Kai agreed. "Let's go."
The two teens walked up the old wooden stairs to get to the second floor. Every time they put their weight on a step, it would creak in protest.
When they got upstairs, they headed straight for the master bedroom.
Anna, not wasting any time, crossed the room and pulled a tattered old box from the top shelf in the closet. She dumped the contents out on the bed and started searching through the old papers.
After a few moments, she called Kai over.
"Hey, look at this!" she said, holding up a worn leather-bound journal. "It's my father's old journal! Here, I'll read the last entry."
Anna flipped to the last few pages of the book and started reading: "July 28. We think we have found the secret hiding place of Sombrus' evil fortress. We will leave tomorrow night to investigate the forests surrounding the village. Lillian pleaded with me not to go, but even she knows that I have to. I have to put an end to Sombrus' plan, or else there will be nothing stopping him from taking Ninjago."
Anna closed the book and looked up at Kai. "What do you think? Do you have any ideas where our parents could be now?"
"Not really," Kai admitted. "I do have a few questions, though. First of all, who is this Sombrus guy that your dad keeps talking about? Second, why did your dad keep writing 'we'? Who else did he take with him to investigate?"
"I don't know," Anna sighed. "All I do know is that we're back at square one. We still don't have any ideas where our parents could be."
"But maybe we do!" Kai exclaimed. "You read that your dad was going to investigate the forests around the village, right? What if he took my parents with him, and they got captured in the forest by Sombrus and never returned?"
Anna grinned. "That's ingenious, Kai! And it makes total sense, too!"
"Of course it does," Kai said.
"So what are we waiting for?" Anna asked. "Let's go rescue our parents!"
Anna threw the journal back down on the bed. She and Kai raced down the stairs to the front door, eager to see their parents again.
They both stopped short when they reached the doorway.
There, standing right in front of them in perfect formation, was the entire skeleton army.
What shocked Anna the most was the person commanding the army.
"Hello, Anna," said Lillian. "It took me a while to track you down, but I knew you'd come back here eventually. Either way, you can't stay here. I'm taking you and Kai back to the Underworld. Now."
A/N: How was it? Please tell me in a review, I'd really like to know what you think!
A gigantic thanks to all my reviewers for last chapter: ZaneLoverFan88, Darkrainbow, iluvninjagothenextstepgirl, and KAIISCOOL. You guys are the best!
Response to reviews:
Darkrainbow - Aww, thanks so much! That really means a lot to me! And the cookies were delicious and filling, by the way ;)
KAIISCOOL - How can I put this gently... Kai and Anna will most likely NOT become a couple. But we'll see.
Anyway, please Review, Favorite, Follow, and most of all, enjoy your week! I probably won't because my Easter break is over and I have to go back to school from tomorrow, but oh well!
See you next week,
~Shadow