It was now dusk as the team is now back at Steep Wisdom as they stood in the shop. "Well, obviously he's taken the sword to Morro." Jay said.
"But where is Morro?" Chantal asked. "He could be anywhere."
"Girls, this is."- Cole is cut off.
"Don't tell us this is our fault, ghost boy!" Eleanor rounded on him with her arms folded. "You're the ones who got caught in your own traps."
"We're sorry!" Nya apologized. "I should've told you when I first suspected Ronin would steal it."
"And don't yell at my sister, Brookestone!" Kai told Cole.
"And what's wrong with girl power?" Chantal asked.
"Enough!" Wu yelled. "We all knew the path to save Lloyd was never going to be a straight line. We were all fooled by Ronin, but that doesn't make us fools. At a time like this, we mustn't butt heads, but put our heads together."
Jay snickers. "I'm sorry. You said 'butt heads.'" He laughs, Rainn joins in.
Suddenly Zane's falcon chirps and it projects an image of Ronin.
"I can't talk loud, but I wanted to let you know, girls, you were right." He whispers. "Morro didn't hold his end of the bargain. And Misako was right too. The scroll and sword did reveal the tomb. I know where it's located. I know you don't have the sword, but I know you can beat them to the tomb." He then gasps. "They're coming."
"Where is it?" Jay asked.
"Yeah! Where's the tomb?" Chantal asked.
"The Caves of Despair! The tomb is in." The message flickers and fuzzes a little. "Caves ... Despair." The transmission is soon cut off.
"Caves of Despair?" Sensei repeated. "We've been there. I don't remember seeing any tomb."
"But there are still miles of unexplored mines." Misako frowned. "It could be there."
"Why should we believe him?" Rainn asked.
"Yeah!" Nya agreed. "It could be a trap."
"We don't have the scroll and we don't have the sword. With Lloyd's life at stake, what other choice do we have?" Kai said. The Ninja nod at each other.
"We're in." Cole said.
"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. What good will it do us if it's all just a setup?" Nya asked.
"The Ninja are right." Sensei said. "Even a misstep could be a step in the right direction. We cannot afford to do nothing. The ninja will go. As for Nya, you're still not ready."
Nya groans.
XxXxXxXxXx
The Ninja, along with Chantal, and Rainn travel to the Caves of Despair. "The Caves of Despair." Chantal said.
"This is where we first came for the Golden Weapons." Cole realized. "It's like everything has come full circle."
"Don't say that!" Jay said. "Full circle means it's coming to an end, and I don't want to hear that before I go into the Caves of Despair, one of my least favorite words!"
"How do we even know the tomb's in there?" Eleanor asked as Zane looks around.
XxXxXxXxX
The team walks up to a symbol. "The third symbol."
"Good enough for me." Jay said. "Let's go." The team headed into the cave.
XxXxXxXxXx
In the tunnel, the Ninja move along as they pass by a knocked over cart. "There's another symbol." Jay said.
"Huh. Looks like it only gets darker the deeper in we go." Cole replied.
Kai notices lanterns. "Then it's a good thing we have a little light."
"Wait!" Rainn gasped. "What if this is one of the tests?"
Jay gasps. "Yeah, Sensei said the tomb was gonna be protected by three deadly tests." He said nervously as Rainn hid behind him, her hands on his shoulders. "Maybe if we pick the wrong lantern." He trails off as Kai carefully reaches for a lantern. Everyone backs away from Kai as he grabs it.
Nothing happened.
"Ha! Nope, just a lantern." Kai said as he moved down the tunnel.
The others each take a lantern, except for Jay and Rainn as they follow Kai. Chewing on his lower lip Jay hesitates before reluctantly taking the last two lanterns. "Like I thought, just another lantern." He puffs out his chest as he tries to act brave as he gives one to Rainn, with her free hand she takes his free hand.
"We're getting left behind." She said worriedly, causing Jay to gulp.
"Wait!" He cries, still holding her hand as he runs after his friends.
XxXxXxXxX
The come up to a tunnel on the right. "Looks like there was a cave-in." Kai said as Chantal sniffs.
"Ugh! What's that smell?"
"Wasn't me, I swear!" Jay said, waving a hand behind his butt.
"My sense pick up traces of Kethanol, a highly flammable gas released from deep well mining." Zane said.
Cole laughs a bit. "Sure." He said sarcastically. "Bet that's what all Nindroids say."
Zane felt offended. "If you're implying that smell came from me."-
"Look, some of these rocks appear to have been recently moved." Kai cuts him off as they look forward. "Maybe Morro's already been through here." They head inside.
XxXxXxXx
The Ninja continue on, now with their hoods on. They see a geyser and some grey stuff, Kai kneels down to swipe some on her finger. "Ash." He looks around. "Everything here has been burned. Perhaps one of the traps?"
"The Kethanol geyser." Zane said. "We cannot stay long. It might ignite again at any moment."
"Look!" Cole said, seeing a skeleton with ragged clothes which are degraded. "Yikes!"
"Whoa!" Eleanor is quick to hide behind him.
"Whoa!" Jay is disgusted as Rainn grabs his arm. "Ew! You think it's him?"
"The First Spinjitzu Master." Kai said as he looked around. "Uh, but where's the Realm Crystal?"
"That is not the First Spinjitzu Master." Zane said, coming to the remains and moves a peace of the clothing, showing a symbol. "It's the Master of Wind."
"Then these are Morro's remains." Chantal said.
"Well, Sensei told us he never came back from looking for the tomb." Jay said. "So if he's here, that means."-
"It is trap!" Ghoultar yelled as he's near the entrance. The Ninja immediately turn to him. "Now you suffer same fate!" He slams in scythe into the ground, causing boulders to come down as they try to run for the entrance, throwing their lanterns to the side as the do so, but it was too late as a boulder drops down in front of the entrance, causing them to cough.
"There's no way out. If this was a test, I think we certainly failed it." Kai choked out.
Jay starts coughing. "And all this gas is making me a little lightheaded."
"This cavern is a virtual oven." Cole said, holding Eleanor's arm as she couched and choked. "If those geysers decide to ignite, we'll be cooked."
Zane soon shined his lights to look around their surroundings. "P.I.X.A.L. has located an opening." He said. "The cave-in must have created a gap."
"But a gap to where?" Jay asked. "For all we know, it could be a dead end and for the record, that's another one of my least favorite words. Dead end."
"Too late!" Cole said as he sees a geyser, letting go of Eleanor's arm he runs over to a nearby giant rock.
"Cole!" Zane yelled as Cole puts the rock over the geyser. "No!"
"Ha, solved that problem."
"Correction, you made it worse. Now the pressure will compact the explosion, multiplying the damage tenfold."
"Oh, what are you trying to say?" Rainn asked.
"When that rock goes, every cave in a 10-mile radius will be filled with a wall of fire so hot, it'll incinerate everything in its path." Zane replied.
"Guess we better get hot on our heels." Kai said.
Jay pulls Rainn to his side and her arms wrap around his neck as the team prepares to do Airjitzu. "Cyclondo!" He yelled as she holds tight to his shoulders as they fly towards the gap.
XxXxXxXx
Climbing out through the gap, they start running down a path.
XxXxXxXxX
"Hurry!" Zane yelled as they come to a stop at a hole.
"Go, go, go!" Kai yells, the team jump down as fire passed by.
XxXxXxXxXxX
They land in a mind cart, causing everyone to groan as it starts to move from the sudden movement. "Great!" Jay yelled. "Now what How do we stop this thing?"
Everyone screams as the cart goes down the rails from the shaking and speed.
A broken rail track caused them to fly off, the team screams as they're flown into the air, the cart lands on the other side and the team minus Jay land inside, he hangs onto the side, Zane catches him.
"Hold on Jay!" He yells before his friends grab him and pulls him back into the cart.
Up ahead Ghoultar emerges onto the tracks, humming to himself before he gasps when he sees the Ninja. Jay pulls out his Aeroblade and throws it at Ghoultar, hitting him and he disappears as the Aeroblade comes back. "Haha, I caught it, guys! I caught it!" He cheers as before they pass through Ghoultar's scythe before it disappears.
"Looks like we're coming to a dead end!" Cole yells, seeing the closed gate.
"Oh, there's that word again!" Jay said. "Never say that word!" They soon crash through the gate as the keep going. "What do I do? What do I do?!"
"The brakes, the brakes, the brakes!" Eleanor cried as she and Chantal grab the handle and pull on it, but it quickly breaks off with a snap.
"Use the Aeroblade for brakes!" Zane said as he, Kai, and Cole pull out their Aeroblade and jam them in the backs of the wheels.
"It almost feels like ... we're going faster!" Jay cried, pulling the tape that hit him in the face over his eyes as they all look on and yell as the tape flies off his face just seconds before they see another broken track.
XxXxXxXxXx
The Ninja scream as they go through a volcano, down to the lava as something soon shows up and a ladder comes down. The team grab a hold of the ladder.
"We're safe!" Eleanor cried in relief.
Cole laughs. "I could kiss Ronin!" He said, causing Eleanor to make a face.
"Ew."
"After I clobber him for getting us into this mess." Cole finished as the team climb up the ladder.
XxXxXxXxX
Once their inside R.E.X. the pilot seat is empty. "Oh, autopilot!" Jay said. "Course he's too scared to show his face!"
The screen shimmers to life. "Hey, Ninja. If you're getting this message, I'm sure you have some choice words for me."
"Damn straight!" Chantal huffed.
"But I want to tell you, that wasn't me who sent you to this trap. I was under the control of Morro. I know you think I'm a crook by taking the sword, and I wanna make things right by offering my airship, R.E.X., as a peace offering. I know it's not what you had in mind, but I've remotely entered the location of the tomb. The real one this time." Ronin's image disappears to be replaced with a map of the Endless Sea.
"Look at that." Kai said, pointing at the screen. "The reason Misako never found the tomb in Ninjago was because it was never there in the first place. It's under the ocean!"
The map disappears and Ronin comes back, but the reception started to go bad. "Morro has a head start, but R.E.X. should get you straight there in a jiff. And if it's any consolation, this'll be the last you see of me. If the girls want to know a reason, tell them it's because I care. Okay. Good luck. And go make things right."
"Ha!" Eleanor folds her arms as she sits in the passenger seat. "That's a laugh!"
"Looks like we're headed to the tomb." Kai said as he stood behind her.
"Time to buckle up." Cole said as he sits down at the pilot's chair and took the controls.
XxXxXxXx
R.E.X. manages to escape the canyon as it starts to explode as the Ninja head for the tomb.