Hi again! I'm finally on schedule! :D
Thank you Grammarosprey and ColdWaterChicken for reviewing!
Grammarosprey— *sweating nervously* Haha, so yeah, that. What I was meant by a 'rotting, crumbling stone bridge' was... I'm not sure, really. In the pilots the bridge is stone and wood, so... my mistake. And yes, I'm glad someone appreciates that little detail. It's always bugged me!
ColdWaterChicken— Aw, thank you! While I love flowery/wordy stories, I have an issue with understanding them as easily, so I try to fix that. And yes, my mom and grandma are definitely more classic piano players, I would love to play modern songs like that! Well, I hope you enjoy this chapter :) No, I absolutely love reading your long reviews! They make my day!
. . .
"C'mon, you've gotta go!"
Jay shook his head stubbornly. Kai sighed, turning to Zane and Cole, who only shrugged. He turned back to Jay, who still stood at the foot of the Floating Ruins, refusing to climb back up the giant pair of nunchucks that was surrounded in thick electricity, enough to cause several objects near the top to float.
"You've got to go up there, because we can't be the ones to face that dragon, or we'll be fried!" Kai argued. "But you can, and you're not going to ride on the back of my dragon."
Jay looked about ready to shout back that he was not going to die for this, but his swollen throat kept him from doing so. All he could do was make raspy noises and grunt, while shaking his head and gesturing wildly.
Cole finally sighed and stepped up to Jay. The ninja in blue went quiet, or as quiet as he could possibly get.
"Jay, c'mon, this is for Wu," he begged. "You know we need that dragon to get to the Underworld and help him. You've just got to do it, man."
Jay paused, and stared at Cole for a couple of seconds. Finally, he sighed, nodded, and began to climb the Floating Ruins. The rest of them cheered. But, it had only been a few minutes before they watched Jay get thrown back off the ruins, the dragon following suit.
Cole caught Jay before he touched the ground, and dodged the electric blue dragon's massive wings as it swooped down to attack.
Man, this guy's a feisty one, Cole thought.
The dragon landed, tail thrashing, nostrils flaring, and claws dug deep into the dirt, looking about ready to charge. They could see lightning sparking at the corners of its mouth. Jay cautiously stepped closer to the dragon, extremely nervous but knowing deep down that he was immune to the dragon's power.
Soon he was close enough to touch it. The dragon wasn't moving, it only looked startled. He placed his hand on its snout, feeling the sparks around it barely tickle his palm, and eventually the electricity around its jaw disappeared.
It relaxed, and so did Jay.
The next dragon was much easier. The ice dragon, a wyvern like the one in the Fire Temple, easily calmed down with Zane's presence. And, though it wasn't easy, they did manage to get Cole near the earth dragon.
They had also slipped into new suits when taming the dragons, ones they found in the saddle bags that were with the dragons. They were in their usual colors, with a dragon printed in gold on the chest, breathing it's own element, with a tail curled on the legs.
Their next step was to get themselves in the Underworld.
"Easy... not so fast..." Cole's shaky voice told the earth dragon.
The ninja were high up in the clouds, a couple miles away from the Caves of Despair, just above a large, open plot of land, on the backs of four colorful dragons. Kai's wyvern, whom he had already dubbed as "Flame", flew headstrong and bold. Jay's flew fast, and was constantly doing flips and loops, of which Jay adored. The ice dragon's wing beats were light and graceful, unlike Cole's, who flew slow and clumsily.
"Woooooo!" Kai yelled, clutching Flame's long neck. "This is awesome!"
Zane grinned heartily. "Yes, this is quite fun."
"Wooooohoohoohoo!"
"So, how do the dragons cross over to the Underworld?" Cole asked. He was seated backwards on the earth dragon, clutching the back of the old saddles they had with his life.
Kai laughed. "I think we're about to find ou—"
And then the dragons dived, headed straight for the very solid ground below them. The ninja's screams could be heard for miles as the creatures began to spin, pointed like little drills preparing to penetrate Ninjago's crust. They didn't stop, and the ground came closer and closer before suddenly everything shifted, and they blacked out.
. . .
Cole's eyes popped open. "Is it over?"
The dragons were soaring through some sort of realm limbo, that consisted of several different elements and pieces of other realms trapped in narrow tunnels. As they flew past a tunnel filled with rocks and veins of some purple material, they had to maneuver past multiple rock formations so they wouldn't get hit.
"Hardly," came Kai's response. "I hope these dragons know what they're doing!"
As they flew, the dragons split up and went multiple different directions. They eventually rejoined in a tunnel filled with magma and hot springs that caused steam to distort the air.
Kai's hands gripped tighter on his dragon's scales. "They're speeding up. Hold on!"
Everything around them shifted and moved again before the dragons crashed someplace else. They weren't in the tunnels, and they certainly weren't in Ninjago.
They were concealed in a small cave next to a larger cavern, a much larger cavern, one of deep blue, ice cold stone that dripped from the ceiling as stalactites and reached up from the floor as stalagmites. That floor was miles below them, separated by a steep, underground cliff. Islands of rock seemed to float in different spots around the cavern, connected by melancholy chains, before they corralled in the center— where a fortified castle of rock and metal and bone stood.
"Solid ground." Cole sounded overjoyed. "We've made it!"
Zane stared at the castle for a while, before he said, "Sensei's inside."
Kai hummed, examining the entrance of Samukai's fort. Thousands of Skulkins guarded the entrance, various weapons in hand, and they were inspecting any "living" thing that tried to enter. "They're expecting us," he replied quietly.
They scaled the ceiling through the long stalactites. Jay reached for the next one— when he realized something wasn't right. The stalactite he was holding wasn't hard or cold. It was warm, and fuzzy, and prickly. He shivered, hesitantly looking up... only to see the eight-eyed, fanged, giant head of an Underworld spykor. And he was touching it.
He looked over, petrified, to see Cole and Kai dangling from the legs of a spykor as well, but they hadn't noticed. He tried to tell them, he did, but all the sounds he made were high-pitched, grating noises.
Cole rolled his eyes. "Can I be the first to say it's been an absolute pleasure since Jay lost his voice?" Kai nodded.
Hey!
And then they noticed. The spykors got aggressive, so they had to let go. Luckily, they hadn't been too far from one of the floating islands, but their landing still hurt. A lot.
"Ninja!" yelled one of the Skulkins. The surrounding skeletons raised their heads in alarm, and began to surround the ninja. All four of them stood back-to-back, weapons brandished, ready to throw down.
"I count ten boneheads to every one of us," Cole told them, tightening his grip on the scythe. "I think I like these odds."
But, then the spykors joined in on the excitement, leaving no room for escape, and no possible way to victory. Kai's brow furrowed.
"Uh oh... anyone got any bright ideas? 'Cause I'm all ears!"
Jay's eyes widened. "Tohnadoh of Crehation!"
Kai raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"
"You feel a weird sensation?" Cole guessed.
Jay shook his head, groaning. "No."
Zane pitched in, "You ate an odd crustacean?"
"Tohnadoh of Crehation!"
Kai gasped. "I got it, I got it! Two natives on vacation! Huh?"
Jay groaned again, before he burst into a coughing fit, as if he was trying to clear his throat. He strained his voice, and tried again, this time very clear: "Tornado of Creation!"
Realization dawned on them, and they all uttered soft ohs before chuckling. Zane smiled, "Welcome back."
But, Cole stepped in as their voice of reason. "But it could lead to disastrous consequences!"
"We're about to have a disastrous consequence," Kai argued.
Cole hesitated, then nodded. "Then, let's do this." He spun into his usual rocky brown Spinjitzu. "Earth!" he shouted.
"Fire!"
"Ice!"
"Lightning!"
Their tornadoes spun clockwise, slowly reaching closer together, before they combined their own unique styles into one giant tornado, a chaotic mish-mash of flames, ice, rock, and stray surges of electricity. It was way taller than if the four of them had stood on each other's head. It moved closer to the army of Skulkins, picking them right up along with multiple stray pieces of debris in their wind, and connected all of it to make "something out of nothing".
When they slowed down, they realized just what exactly they had built. A comical Ferris wheel, made of bone and stone, with pairs of Skulkins trapped in its cars.
Kai gestured to the fortress, before quickly running in its direction. "Hurry, there's no time to waste."
. . .
After entering the Skulkin fortress, they found Wu almost immediately, in the throne room, battling with Samukai himself. Wu swung the Sword of Fire at the Skulkin leader's neck, but he dodged. Their situation seemed dire, because while Samukai had the golden scythe, nunchucks, and shurikens, their sensei only had the sword as his weapon.
Cole saw what must have been Sensei's brother, Garmadon, sitting opposite of them in the room. He looked just as freaky as he sounded, coming from Wu. His skin was a sickly black color, his grin revealed inch-long fangs, and his eyes were a bright crimson. He was clad in only battle armor, with what looked like normal robes underneath.
He gritted his teeth. He had to help Sensei, this fight wasn't fair! Cole moved to join Wu in the fight, with Jay and Zane just behind him, when someone stopped them.
Kai's arms were outstretched, blocking the only entrance inside, and keeping Cole just out of reach of the battle. Cole raised an eyebrow questioningly. What was he doing?
"No," he said. Even he looked unhappy with his decision. "This is Sensei's fight."
And so, the fight continued without their help. Sensei Wu fought valiantly, but due to the Nunchucks of Lightning, he was left on the ground, after the sword slipped out of his grasp.
Garmadon cleared his throat. "Bring me the four weapons," he ordered Samukai.
The Skulkin froze, before slowly reaching down and picking up the Sword of Fire, leaving all of the Golden Weapons in his hands. He kept his back to Garmadon, before he whipped around, grinning wickedly.
"No, you will obey me now!" Samukai demanded, pointing the weapons at Garmadon's throne. But, Garmadon only laughed, the same, cruel laugh Kai heard in the Fire Temple.
Samukai frowned. The weapons were starting to shake in his hands. He looked horrified, as if he couldn't let go of them. They began to quiver more violently. Sensei Wu took a few steps back, telling his ninja:
"No one can handle all of their power at once."
Garmadon looked bored at this point, and Samukai was starting to shake, himself. "You fool! You think I didn't plan on your betrayal?"
Samukai grimaced. "What's... happening to me?"
"You've fallen right into my master plan," Garmadon explained, sitting back in his throne. "Not even I can handle all of their power! But when they are combined, they'll create a vortex through space and time," he frowned, "allowing me to escape this ghastly place."
Cole snuck a glance at Wu, but his sensei didn't look surprised. Only sad.
Finally, Samukai was thrown into the air, and with a flash of light, was gone. The weapons clattered to the ground, and behind them grew a sparking, blinding vortex. Garmadon got up from his seat and examined it, a look of pure fascination on his face.
"Father would not want you to do this, brother," Wu begged.
Garmadon turned to him and snapped, "Father is no longer here!" The blinding white light of the vortex intensified, forcing them to squint to even see him. "Good and evil, there has always been a balance. Where I go, the balance can be destroyed. Soon, I'll be strong enough to possess the four weapons, so I may recreate the world in my image!"
He took one step closer to the blazing vortex, before he turned to Wu one last time and said, "You. You were always his favorite."
And then he jumped through the vortex, and in a flash, he and the vortex were gone. All that was left was them, Sensei Wu, the weapons, and an empty throne room.
"He is gone," Sensei told them, "but he will return."
Kai picked up the Sword of Fire, the familiar warmth of the handle in his palm once again. "Then we'll be ready."
Jay, Zane, and Cole each picked up their weapons, and Cole nodded. "And we'll keep an eye out in case he tries another one of his evil plans."
Wu smiled, proudly. "Then I have done my part. The balance has been restored, for now."
. . .
Sadly, this story is almost over! :'( What happened?
The next chapter is an epilogue sort of thing, with only a little bit of recap. Though I'll definitely say it again next week, I have to thank all of you that reviewed, followed, favorited, or even just read my first ever story. It means a lot!