Far below Chen's island, Zane was being escorted through a network of tunnels. After falling beneath the trapdoor, he had landed deep beneath the island, where he found that a couple of Chen's sentries were already waiting for the loser of the match. Now he was being led along the inner workings of the island, to where, he didn't know.
Zane had already been aware that there was more to Master Chen's compound than just the palace, but he and his brothers were forbidden from ever going beneath the island. They hadn't exactly discussed what would happen if one of them lost the tournament, mostly because they hadn't expected to lose. He didn't know whether he was to be released or simply hidden away until the tournament was over.
The guards weren't much help. He had tried speaking with them, but they had very rudely indicated for him to keep quiet. But what worried him most was how they very obviously kept a close eye on him. One guard in front, one behind, as if he was a prisoner being led to his execution. He told himself that Master Chen simply didn't want to let him wander where he shouldn't, but Zane couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. His suspicions only grew when he heard low, ominous chanting echoing through the tunnels.
At times, Zane couldn't distinguish his sixth sense from mere anxiety. In this case, however, he didn't think it mattered which he was feeling.
Zane reached for the shuriken on his belt. He whipped it out and struck the guard in front with a blast of ice. Then he rounded on the guard behind and his kicked him in the chest, knocking him to the ground. He sprinted back the way they had come, as fast as his feet would carry him. He didn't quite know what Chen was up to, but Cole had obviously been right when he said they couldn't trust him.
However, Zane didn't get very far before he ran straight into another, larger group of guards and they overwhelmed him.
"Let me go!" he shouted as they seized his arms. "I demand to speak to Master Chen!" But they wouldn't listen. Someone snatched the golden shuriken from his hand when the two guards he who had been escorting him came running. He was vastly outnumbered now.
As he was half dragged, and half stumbled down the corridor, the chanting grew louder. Then the tunnel opened up in front of him and Zane found himself standing in a large room. A couple dozen of Chen's followers were bowing in front of a flight of steps, murmuring the chant. The stairway in the center of the room had been sculpted to look like the lower jaw of a serpent. The upper half of its head jutted from the ceiling above. One the back wall, more tunnels led deeper into the island. And on the dais in front of all the chanters, Master Chen stood in the stone serpent's mouth, staff in hand.
"Chen!" Zane gasped. "What is the meaning of this? Tell your men to release me!"
"Oh, I will in due time. But first . . . you have something I want."
Did he mean his elemental power? But surely the staff couldn't take that away, could it? The majority of his power came from the golden shurikens.
"Wu will not be pleased when he finds out about this," Zane said.
But Chen only laughed. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but your master has already abandoned you! You failed him, and now he has left you to me."
Zane didn't believe that for a moment. Master Wu wouldn't abandon him so easily, and besides, the golden weapons were too important. He would never let them fall into the hands of a madman like Chen.
"You won't get away with this. My brothers will come for me."
Chen simply shrugged. "We will see. But for now . . ."
One of the guards and handed the shuriken to Chen, who attached it to the front of his staff. "Use it or lose it!" he said triumphantly.
Master Chen aimed the staff at Zane. The Ice Ninja was overwhelmed by a painful sensation as what little elemental power he had was drained out of him. In moments he felt weary, as if he had fought off Chen's entire army. His knees gave out and the guards finally allowed him to slip from their grasp as he collapsed on the floor.
Master Chen was chuckling, terribly pleased with himself. Zane mustered what little strength he had left and propped himself up on his elbows. "You . . . will not . . . get away with this . . ." he gasped.
"You already said that, and yet, I have! But not to worry, I will let you go now – to the factory!"
The guards picked him up again by the arms and began to drag him away. Zane had no more energy left to fight, and he had to let himself be taken away.
As promised, every one of the remaining fighters was given a place to sleep in the chow house. With eleven fighters among them, it was very cramped, and the 'beds' – most of which were just a stiff mattress on top of a table, and a few bunk beds – weren't nearly as comfortable as what they'd had in their original rooms.
Kai struggled to get any sleep that night. He had already had a rough night the day before, too. He had felt like an idiot for letting Skylor take his element so easily, but now he felt even worse knowing that he was responsible for Zane losing his round.
No matter what Kai did, it seemed like he kept messing everything up. No wonder Master Wu was always so mad at him. Kai couldn't really blame him. But he wanted so badly for Master Wu to be proud of him, to know that Kai was the great ninja he had trained him to be. Cole had been right about what he had said before, Kai couldn't afford to let himself be distracted any longer.
But even still, he couldn't get Skylor out of his head.
For the most part he was stuck between anger and disappointment. He was angry she had tricked him, but had she really only wanted his power? Even thought they had only just really met, Kai was legitimately starting to like her. He had thought she felt the same way, but now he was starting to think he'd been wrong. Even if they were on opposite sides, it wasn't right to trick him like she did. Honestly, what kind of a person would do that?
It was one thing to trick an enemy, but toying with Kai's emotions was taking it one step too far. It seemed as if she really was willing to do whatever it took to win.
With all these thoughts in his head, Kai simply couldn't fall asleep. But he noticed that Jay had been tossing and turning for the past hour, too. Just then, Jay rolled over and their eyes met across the aisle. Jay tossed his blankets and hopped off the top of his bunk at the same time Kai did. Beneath Kai's bunk, Cole stirred and got to his feet as well.
"Couldn't sleep, either?" Jay asked.
"Not until we get Zane back." Kai hesitated. "And finish off those girls. That's what we came here for, right?" Chen would take their powers, and without any elements to fight with, Kai wouldn't have to cross paths with any of them again. Then Kai could show Master Wu what kind of a ninja he really was.
"I don't like any of this," Cole said. "There's something else going on, there has to be. Why else would Chen be so insistent to keep Zane as his prisoner?"
"Do you think he's after the Golden Weapons?" Kai asked.
Cole took a moment to consider it. "Maybe. He might realize that we'll be a threat even once he's collected all the elements. It's possible he's trying to finish us off early." Cole sighed, and Kai realized that they had already lost their change to investigate behind Chen's back. Without access to their rooms, they didn't have a way of going beneath the island. And no way to get to Zane, even if they were willing to break the rules just to find him.
"But what's he going to do even if he gets the weapons?" Jay asked. "Doesn't he know that 'no mortal can possess them all'?"
"He'd be a fool to try," Cole said. "But no more foolish than Samukai. Maybe that's why Master Wu isn't worried about it. But I still think –" At that moment, Cole was cut off by the clanging of a small gong. "Back in bed!" The three boys dived back under their covers just as the lights came on.
Clouse entered with a handful of Chen's thugs. Two of them were making a racket, banging repeatedly on their gongs.
"Good morning fighters," Clouse greeted when the ringing finally stopped. "Oh, that's right. It's the middle of the night."
"Hey!" One of the thugs had approached Kai's bed and was strapping something to his feet.
"Do you know what time it is?" Jay asked grumpily as another thug did the same.
Kai hopped out of bed again, only to wobble unsteadily on his feet. He looked down and his stomach dropped. "Roller skates?"
Why skates? Kai was terrible on skates! He let himself roll forward a few inches, trying to find his balance. He was watching his feet, but when he glanced up, Skylor was standing right in front of him. His breath caught and he lost his balance and landed flat on his back.
Kai propped himself up on his elbows. What did she want now? Did she really think he was so dumb that he would let her steal his power again?
She offered a hand to help him up, but even though she was wearing her gloves, he wasn't about to accept it. "Thanks, but I got it," he grumbled. He unceremoniously struggled back onto his feet, ignoring her confusion. He wobbled unsteadily again, drifting away from her.
Another one of Chen's thugs had only managed to get one of Seliel's feet before she tried to kick him in the face. He quickly backed away and Seliel examined the footwear. "Must be another one of Chen's brilliant ideas," she said.
"You know, I'm getting real tired of his shenanigans," Cole said.
Seliel got to her feet and hung on to the table until she found her balance. She carefully pushed off from the table and rolled forward. "Maybe this one isn't too bad."
Meanwhile, Jay was practically rubbing it in Kai and everyone else's faces how easily skating came to him as he maneuvered around the tables with ease.
"Roller skates!" he said as he glided by. "I love roller skates!"
To demonstrate his point, he leapt, spun in the air, and stuck the landing. Okay, so maybe it was kind of impressive.
He was grinning proudly. "Did I ever mention that I once placed first in the Mother-Son Skate-Off?"
Or maybe it wasn't so impressive.
Nya looked at him curiously. "Really?"
Jay's eyes widened. "I mean . . . no! Of course not. That would be super lame." He gave a weak laugh and Kai just shook his head.
Most of the other fighters were getting the hang of it now, too, but Kai still wobbled uncertainly. If everyone else could figure it out, why couldn't he?
"Master Chen wants everyone in the Royal Arena," Clouse informed them. "I wouldn't be late, if I were you."
"If most of us have already fought, why are we all in skates?" Skylor asked.
She made a good point. Kai knew that Cole should be in wheels, because his fight was coming up next. And wasn't he supposed to be fighting another one of Garmadon's ninja . . . ?
"Only two of you will be fighting," Clouse answered. "But the rest of you will have a chance to . . . affect the outcome."
"Who's fighting?" the Master of Speed, asked eagerly. "Tell us now!"
Clouse gestured to the henchmen as he began to back out of the room. "The Master of Teleportation versus the Master of Earth," he said, and the doors slammed shut.
Kai looked to Cole, then Seliel. She threw a nasty look in their direction before skating away. Kai didn't know if he should be relieved or worried. On the one hand, this was a chance to redeem themselves. On the other hand . . . if Cole was right, and Master Chen had it out for them . . . then there was no telling who he would let win.
Nya skated alongside her teammates and the rest of the Elemental Masters as they made their way to the arena. Seliel was already working on a strategy while Skylor told her what she could about the match.
Skylor had to stifle a yawn before she said, "There will probably be rules about how you can use your power. But he'll be pretty limited too, since there's no earth on the track."
"Clouse said you guys can 'affect the outcome.' What does that mean?"
"My guess is that Nya and I will be able to fight, too, and can help you win," Skylor answered, rubbing at her eyes. "Which is great news because I'm pretty good on skates, if I do say so myself."
"At least none of us are as bad as Kai," Nya commented as she threw a glance back at her brother who, at that moment, toppled over for the umpteenth time.
Seliel was frowning at Skylor. "Are you okay? You don't look so good."
Skylor shook her head. "I'm fine. Just a little tired is all. I was up all last night trying to master using fire, and now this . . . I'll be alright though. I can sleep when it's over."
Whether or not she was right, Nya couldn't help but wonder if Skylor was pushing herself too hard. Then again, they had known when they started that Chen wasn't going to take it easy on them.
The tunnel ahead began to slant upward and the Elemental Masters streamed through the hatch and came to a stop on the track. To their left were two lines of helmets. The track wound around in a circle, and in the center was a large billboard that displayed the images of the main competitors with a couple of zeros hanging underneath for score keeping. There was also a timer that said they had a total of fourteen minutes.
Seliel winced at the blown-up photo of herself. "Ugh, my hair never looks right in photos." She self-consciously ran her fingers through her hair.
Skylor gently nudged her. "Nah, you look great!"
"Mm. Thanks." Seliel didn't seem to believe it, but there were more important things at hand, so she didn't say anything more.
"Welcome to my favorite event: Thunderblade!" They all turned to see Master Chen shuffling up the track in his own pair of roller skates.
Griffon perked up. "Hey, I know this game. It's just like –"
"No! This is nothing like that! This is my game, I made it up! Fully original!" Chen brought out a Jadeblade and a helmet, then tossed them across the group of fighters. "A Jadeblade for you, Cole, Master of Earth." Cole caught them deftly in each hand. "And another one for Seliel, Master of Teleportation."
Nya frowned as Seliel caught the blade. "You're starting out with Jadeblades?" This certainly was different from all the other rounds.
"Rules are simple," Chen began to explain. "Each lap you complete with your blade in possession, a point. Most points before time expires, you win."
"And what are we supposed to do?" Jay asked.
"You get to help anyone you wish. Or hurt, for that matter," Chen said with a malicious smile. "You're free to choose sides, I'm not a dictator!"
Nya nearly lost her balance as Griffon rudely brushed past her on his way to Cole. The Master of Earth looked shocked to see so many of the other fighters pick up a helmet and cluster around him – every one of them except for Nya, Seliel, and Skylor.
"What was that Sensei said about making enemies?" Nya asked.
"Forget about them," Seliel said. "We can do this. As a team."
But Skylor, looking at the crowds of supporters around Cole, shook her head. "I sure hope you're right."