We are to 25 chappies (not counting announcement) My mind has been going a mile a minute for this fanfic today. I would first like to rid any confusion. I will NEVER attempt to pair Jay and Tara. That's wrong :O. Secondly, I love drawing, and I'm an adequate artist. I just can never draw my own characters if I didn't before they were created, if that makes any sense. Would it be fun if I held a drawing competition for Tara, perhaps with who you want her paired with. I dunno, what would the prize even be? PM me with ideas. I'll stop babbling now.

I don't own Lego or Ninjago

CHAPTER 25!

Tara's POV

I stared at everyone skeptically.

"You're telling me we need to go into a highly unstable volcano just to save Lloyd and get a Fang Blade? A volcano where I'm a piece of tinder waiting to combust, where Zane will probably melt down, and the rest of you will collapse from dehydration and heat exhaustion!" I stared at everyone with my hands on my hips. Nearly everyone was staring at the ground or their shoes, not daring to meet my eyes.

"Sounds like fun!" I cheered, not a hint of sarcasm lacing my words. Cole glanced around.

"Where are our weapons?" he asked.

"Oh, Sensei told-" I began to respond.

Kai cut me off, "More importantly, where is Lord Garmadon?" He rushed out the room, not awaiting a response, and almost smacked the door on the way out.

"-Lord Garmadon to fetch them," I finished as I stared after Kai in wonder, "That boy never thinks things through, does he?" Cole snickered.

"Like you do?" he questioned. I glared at him.

"What?" he asked, uncomfortable under my gaze.

"I'm just thoroughly thinking through all the horrendous ways I can wreak havoc and get revenge on you," I told him cheerfully. He merely smirked, not taking the threat seriously.

"I shall await your revenge," he bowed. I awarded him a shove for his attitude as we all headed to the weapons room. Immediately as we tried to enter the room, a door was shut in our faces and locked.

"This would be a greeaat time for you, Cole, to unlock that full potential of yours!" Jay informed Cole as he jostled the doorknob. My eyes glued to the steel frame surrounding the oval door.

"I'll be right back!" I announced as I turned the corner and sped down the hallway. Twenty seconds later, I returned with my supplies and ragged breath. I switched gears and put on safety goggles and gloves.

"Apple cider vinegar, from the kitchen," I told the group as I took a cotton swab and began...uh... swabbing the metal frame.

I held up another bottle, "Muriatic acid." I applied this to the metal as well.

"Why is that on the ship?" Nya whispered to Sensei Wu. I held up the final ingredient.

"Hydrogen peroxide from the first aid kit," I informed everybody as I sprayed it on as well. I grinned. "Together this should increase the oxidization of the iron frame of the door, causing decay quick enough to remove the door easily within the timeframe of thirty seconds."

"Thirty seconds may be too long! Who knows what kind of hospitalization will be needed if we don't get in there right now!" Nya yelled in a distraught voice. Jay approached me, grabbed my shoulders, and bent down to my height.

"Where did you learn that?" he interrogated. I scratched my head as my brain filed through scattered fuzzy thoughts, images, and memories. A word began to replay in my head as I had found my answer.

"A friend. I learned it from a friend," I affirmed. He laughed and stood back.

"A friend huh..." he mused as a crash resounded behind him. Zane had managed to knock the door down. Kai stood on top of Lord Garmadon triumphantly. I looked at him with shame and just shook my head. Sensei Wu rubbed his temples.

"-are my eyes glowing, have I unlocked my true potential? Why isn't it working?" Kai asked as he threw accusatory glances at Lord Garmadon, as if it was his fault that Kai couldn't unlock his true potential. Sensei Wu stepped in and began explaining to Kai his misunderstanding in small baby steps.

"Perhaps it is best you don't reach your full potential, someone might get hurt," Sensei Wu considered.

"Way to go, hero," Cole told Kai in a sarcastic voice.

"I thought I was the hero for finding a way to break down the door," I pouted as I did a superman pose. Everyone laughed at me except Zane. He turned his humor switch on.

"All hail the Rust Hero!" Zane proclaimed. I frowned.

"Watch it, nindroid, you'll be the one rusted next," I threatened. I was laughed at again. I joined in the laughter too, not at myself, but for all the revenge that would come Cole and Zane's way.

The laughter ceased when the ship groaned to a halt. We had arrived. I ran up onto the deck and immediately felt a change in the air. The atmosphere felt dry, the heat making the air feel almost solid. Or maybe it was the black smoke emitting from the volcano. Kai came up behind me.

"I didn't know trees sweated like people," he said. I looked at him like he was a lunatic and felt my brow. It was wet with water.

"We don't. Although we do perspire, it's nearly the same thing," I corrected him. And looked disdainfully at my ninja outfit that stuck and clung to me. Nearly everyone's outfit, except for Cole's, was a darker shade due to the sweat.

As we inched our way stealthily into the heart of the volcano, the temperature rose.

"Maybe my prediction will come true," I mumbled. The tunnel we had been traveling through opened up onto a ledge. Below, serpentine could be seen shoveling dirt or wheel barrowing it away in order to retrieve the Fang Blade. I then noticed a young boy in a cage with an odd black cloak on. Judging by the way Lord Garmadon was looking at the boy, I would go on a limb and guess that that was his son. A clink of metal resounded throughout the cavity of the volcano. Pythor was picking up a metallic object. The Fang Blade. I watched with interest as the blade caught light in our direction. Pythor whirled around.

"Attack!" he boomed.

That can't be good.

I felt something warm on my hand before a searing pain shot up my arm. I looked down.

My arm was on fire.

Definitely not good. (Bit of an understatement, Tara...)

I have some Zane fans coming here and there cheering for Zane, but the majority leans toward Cole. Arg! I don't want to disappoint anyone! I hit my head really hard today getting into a car (I'm fairly tall), I might be super loco in my writing of this chappie due to my major headache...