Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago or the lines from the episode The Belly of the Beast.

Chapter IV: The Belly of the Beast

Hours had passed since the ninja got stranded on a cluster of rocks. The three beetles had disappeared about thirty minutes ago, but the ninja knew that they were hiding somewhere nearby, waiting for them. Most of them still held out hope that they would be able to get off, but every chance they found was quickly proven to be an inadequate way, and now vultures were circling overhead!

"Vultures," Jay groaned as he looked up. He was inside the Land Bounty with Nya, who was attempting to fix the controls. "That's never a good sign."

"They are carrion birds," Zane said over their, working, short-wave comm link. Although they couldn't reach anyone over ten feet of them. "It is a sign they believe we are a potential meal."

"Oh. Thanks, Zane. Way to boost morale!" Jay said.

"Can you guys keep it down? I'm trying to reach Pixal on the radio," Nya said. "Pixal, can you here me? Mayday! Mayday! Come in, Pixal," but she was only met by silence.

"Any luck?" Lloyd asked as he walked in.

"Nothing. There's something wrong with the long-range transmitter, but I can't figure out what," Nya replied.

"Okay, well, don't give up," Lloyd said before he left again.

This time, he went outside to where Kai and Cole were sitting, trying to cool off.

"I can't believe we came all the way out here just to die at the hands of insects!" Lloyd could hear his oldest brother scream at Kai.

"We're gonna be fine, Cole," Kai told him, sounding bored out of his mind. He had been listening to Cole for a long time, and, quite frankly, he would very much prefer it if he was stuck with Jay's ranting right about now.

"I don't care about us! I care about C.J.!"

"So do I, but we're never gonna figure a way out of here if you keep on ranting worse than Jay."

"Well, I'm sorry I have someone to worry about, Kai!" Cole said, clearly offended.

"I didn't mean anything by it. Calm down," Kai replied.

"Calm down? Calm down!"

Lloyd was slightly afraid of where this argument would go or how long it would take so the youngest ninja was quick to intervene by yelling, "Guys!"

The two brothers went quiet at the sound of his voice. They looked over to Lloyd to see that he was holding a cooler, most likely filled with the water Kai had asked him to look for earlier.

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence before Kai asked, "Is that it?"

"This is the last of it," Lloyd replied as he set the cooler on the ground.

"That's not good," Kai said as he stood back up. "Less than a day's supply of water."

Cole groaned before saying, "And the ATV and the Dune Bounty are wrecked. And the rock-cycle isn't fast enough to outrun those beetles!"

"Even if it could, it could only carry one of us," Kai added, hoping that this would not start another freak out from Cole. Luckily, it didn't.

"Maybe Nya can draw some water out of the air?" Lloyd suggested.

"In this heat? Low humidity? I don't think so," Cole told him.

The sound of clanging metal interrupted them suddenly. The three turned around to see Jay messing with his flail and a big stone. They didn't even know when Jay came out there. No doubt he was listening to their hopeless conversation.

"Jay, what are you doing?" Kai asked. He sounded very disinterested.

"Carving a message on this rock so people know who we are when they find our bones," Jay answered as he faced the ninja. They could see that Jay was beginning to carve his name into the rock like a gravestone.

"Can we try to be a little more optimistic, please?" Lloyd asked when he saw this. Everyone was completely hopeless.

"I'm afraid there is little cause for optimism," Zane replied as he began making his way toward the ninja. He was very dirty after working on the engine for the last couple hours. "Our situation is dire. The Bounty's engine will not start without the Thermolytic Kinetic Inverter."

"The thermo-what?" Cole asked.

"It is a critical engine component," Zane answered.

"Well, what's wrong with it?" Kai asked.

"It is missing," Zane replied. "I believe when Beohernie ripped through the hull-"

"Bernie!" Jay corrected.

"-he tore that component out and swallowed it."

"Ugh! Well, that's just great!" Jay exclaimed as he dropped his flail. "First, a giant beetle tries to eat us alive, then we smash into a pile of rocks..."

The other ninja ignored Jay as he went on his little rant to try to figure out another solution.

"Can't we use the ATV's Inverter?" Lloyd asked.

Zane shook his head. "It was also damaged," he told his younger brother.

"What about the rock-cycle's Inverter?" Nya suggested.

"It is inadequate for a vehicle the size of the Dune Bounty," Zane answered.

Jay, noticing that the others weren't paying any mind to him, turned away from his friends and began to walk away.

"Useless pile of-Ugh!" Jay grunted as he kicked a small rock. "Aw, this stinks!"

He kicked the rock again and ended up stubbing his toe. As he held onto his foot painfully, Jay didn't notice the beetle coming up behind him until it was too late.

"No! No, no, no!" Jay exclaimed as he tried to run away.

The other ninja were cut off from their conversation when they heard Jay screaming, "Help!"

Everyone immediately ran towards the blue ninja, who's foot was being pulled by Beohernie's mouth. The only thing keeping him from being digested was that he was holding onto the rock ledge.

"Jay!" Cole exclaimed as everyone ran towards their friend.

"Help!" Jay called again.

Suddenly, he lost his hold on the rocks and was nearly swallowed whole by the beetle when Lloyd grabbed hold of his hand. The ninja had created a chain of ninja to attempt to save their brother.

"Hang on, Jay!" Lloyd called to him.

"Pull me in, pull me in!" Jay's panicked voice screamed.

"I can't. He-he's too strong!" Lloyd yelled back.

"Cole, can you grab my shirt?" Kai asked.

"I think so!" Cole replied.

The earth ninja pulled Kai towards him before letting go and quickly grabbing the back of his shirt.

Since his hand was now free, Kai was able to create a ball of fire in his hand and throw it at the giant beetle.

The fire made the beetle drop Jay, who was still hanging on to Lloyd, and run away.

"Did you see that?" Jay asked once Lloyd helped him up. "He just tried to eat me!"

Lloyd looked behind him as Beohernie growled lightly before turning back to the ninja, and saying, "We better keep off the sand."

"Oh, really?" was Jay's sarcastic reply.

That night, the desert got very cold, so the ninja set up a fire to keep themselves warm. They sat around it and looked at its present glow and warmth. It seemed to keep their hopes up a bit, despite the fact that none of them had a clue of what they could do to get out. Everything they thought of was quickly taken down by Zane, Nya, or even Cole.

Finally, Zane got an idea that might actually work, but the others wouldn't like it.

"I see only one option," Zane told them. "The digestive system of a beetle is very slow. There is a good chance the Thermolytic Inverter is still intact inside Beohernie's stomach.

"Bernie!" Jay corrected.

"What good does that do?" Nya asked.

"If one of us were to be ingested, we might be able to retrieve the device," Zane told them.

"Ingested?" Cole asked. He sounded horrified.

"Uh, are you kidding?" Kai asked.

"If we can get inside Beohernie's stomach-"

"Bernie!" Jay corrected.

"-we should, in theory, be able to retrieve the Inverter and exit again," Zane explained. "Either through the creature's mouth, or through the other end of the digestive-"

"La, la, la, la, la! I don't wanna hear this!" Jay exclaimed.

"Yeah, of all the bad ideas I've heard, and I've heard a few, looking at you, Kai, this takes the cake!" Cole said.

"I agree. It sounds nuts!" Nya added.

"The facts are indisputable," Zane replied. "We need the Inverter. The Inverter is inside the beetle. Ergo, one of us must enter the beetle and retrieve it."

Lloyd began to think about that, which Jay noticed.

"Don't tell me you're considering this!" Jay exclaimed.

"I'm open to other suggestions, if anyone has one," Lloyd replied.

Everyone went silent for a moment as they thought about this. There wasn't a better option. At least one that was possible.

"How do we decide who gets to, you know, be..." Nya trailed off.

"It was my idea. The responsibility is mine," Zane replied.

"No. I'm the responsible one," Lloyd argued as he stood up.

"Guys, guys. You're both to valuable to risk," Kai protested. "It should be someone expendable. Like Jay," he said as he gestured toward the lightning ninja.

"What?!" Jay exclaimed, suddenly feeling very vulnerable.

"Look who's talking!" Cole said angrily as he, Nya, and Jay began to circle Kai.

The four began arguing while Zane and Lloyd sat nearby, watching the fight. Lloyd couldn't take it anymore. He stood up, and said, "Guys!"

The green ninja's volume got everyone's attention as he said, "We're going to settle this like adults. Rock, Paper, Clam!"

The other five groaned but decided to go with it anyway.

First was Jay and Kai against each other. Kai choose clam and Jay choose rock, so Kai was out.

"Ha, ha!" Jay laughed as he jumped up in triumph.

Next was Lloyd and Cole, but Cole mistakenly picked paper and was pushed out of the way by Nya, who won against Lloyd. It was then Nya against Zane.

"I believe paper beats rock," Zane said as he looked at his defeated teammate.

The five other ninja looked at Zane sadly. He had won, which meant that he was going to get eaten by Beohernie.

"Do not worry, My Friends," Zane told them. "Logically, I am the best choice. Being a nindroid, I am more difficult to digest and can survive longer inside a stomach."

Jay couldn't take it anymore. He jumped onto Zane to give him one last hug as he said, "So long, Buddy."

"I have every intention of surviving, Jay," Zane replied as the lightning ninja let go only to have Jay immediately start rubbing his hand across Zane's face as he said, "Sure you do, Pal, sure you do."

The next morning, the ninja tied a rope to Zane's waist and the other end to the back wheel of Cole's rock-cycle. Zane was holding a wrench in one hand and a pot in the other while the ninja were all crowded around him to say goodbye.

"Let's run through the plan again," Lloyd said.

"I bang the pot, drawing the creature's attention. He eats me. When I am in his stomach, I locate the Inverter, radio back, and you pull me out," Zane recited the plan.

"Right," Lloyd nodded.

Jay whimpered slightly before crying, "What could possibly go wrong?"

Zane shook his head with a smile before turning around and walking out onto the sand. So far, Beohernie was not disturbed. Zane turned back to his friends to see them waving at him. Cole was now on the rock-cycle, ready to control the rope.

Zane then turned back around and began banging the wrench against the pot loudly, but nothing happened.

Confused, Zane turned around to face the others and shrugged when suddenly, the ground began to shake violently, and Beohernie came up from below the sand. Zane turned around to face the beetle and dropped the items he was holding. He closed his eyes tightly, waiting for the beetle to eat him.

The other five watched as Beohernie dove onto Zane, swallowing the nindroid whole.

"Zane!" Lloyd called.

"Oh, no!" Jay exclaimed.

The back wheel of the rock-cycle began spinning incredibly fast as the rope moved farther and farther down into the sand with Zane and Beohernie.

"It ate him! It actually ate him!" Kai exclaimed in disbelief.

"Zane! Zane, can you hear me?" Nya began asking into her earpiece, but she only received static.

"Hang on, Zane!" Cole yelled.

"Zane, come in!" Nya said.

After a very tense moment of waiting for an answer, Lloyd said, "Maybe the sand is blocking the signal."

The blue ninja immediately went to worst case scenario by saying, "Or he's being dissolved in stomach acid!"

"What do we do?!" Cole asked.

Suddenly, the rope stopped as it had gone as far as it could. Somehow, Beohernie had not overpowered the rock-cycle yet, and they hoped that Beohernie he wouldn't be able to. If he did, they'd lose Zane forever!

The next thing the ice ninja remembered was seeing the sand again. The pyramid the ninja were looking for was right in front of him! He wondered how he had missed so much already when a giant, flaming snake came up from behind the pyramid and lunged at Zane. Next thing he knew, the serpentine from his dream was right in front of Zane with a staff.

"Revenge!" she screamed before launching a blast of power at him.

The nindroid tried to dive out of the way, and he wasn't even sure if he succeeded because less than a second later he was overlooking an ice castle. Then an ice dragon came towards him, and he was alone. Where had his friends gone?

Suddenly, Zane woke up with a start. It had all been a dream. The same vision he had before. Wait, what was that smell?

Zane looked around to see that he was inside the stomach of Beohernie! All around him was green acid, human bones, and many things that most likely belonged to unlucky traveler's. Thankfully, the rope was still intact, as far as he could tell.

Zane stood up and began to walk around when he accidentally knocked something with his foot. Zane looked down to see that it was a human skull!

"Perhaps this wasn't a good idea," Zane said to himself.

Later, the ninja were still waiting on the edge of the rocks for Zane to contact them.

"This is crazy! How long has he been in there?" Jay asked.

"Almost an hour," Nya replied.

"We gotta pull him out before it's too late!" Cole suddenly exclaimed.

"What if he needs more time to find the Inverter?" Lloyd argued.

"Lloyd's right. We gotta stick to the plan. Wait for the signal," Kai agreed.

As if on cue, static began crackling in their earpieces, followed by Zane's voice.

"Hello. Can anyone hear me?" Zane asked. "Are you there?"

"He's alive!" the ninja began cheering, but Nya started telling them to be quiet so she could hear their brother.

"Zane, we hear you," Nya replied. "What's your situation?"

"I have retrieved the Inverter," Zane's joyful news brought much needed hope to the ninja.

"That's great! Hang tight. We'll get you out of there, Zane."

"Okay, Guys, let's reel him in!" Lloyd told them.

Cole got back on his bike and revved the engine up.

"Give it some gas!" Lloyd ordered. "Nice and easy!"

Cole did so, trying to be careful he didn't go too fast so he wouldn't fly off the rock his bike was so carefully set up on.

"It's working!" Lloyd cheered as he saw the rope moving towards them.

Suddenly, the bike began having a little trouble, and it started going much slower.

"Keep going! Reel him in!" Lloyd told him.

"I'm trying, but Bernie's not making it easy!" Cole replied. "Come on! Come on!"

"Just like reeling in a thousand pound tuna!" Jay mentioned.

"There he is! Look!" Lloyd said as he saw something begin to come up from below the sand.

The ninja were actually surprised by how strong the bike was. The beetle was having a lot of trouble fighting against the pull of the rope.

Suddenly, a loud, dreaded beeping noise could be heard from the bike as a warning.

"We're gonna burn out the engine! We're gonna lose him! Whoa!" Cole exclaimed as Bernie began to pull him.

The breaks used to keep Cole on the sand broke suddenly, and the earth ninja began to tip over.

"Cole!" Lloyd exclaimed as he, Kai, and Jay jumped onto the treads of the bike to try to keep it down.

"He's too strong!" Cole exclaimed.

"Hold on!" Nya yelled.

She threw a grapple onto the treads of the bike, and the four ninja began to pull that to try to keep it down, but they were hardly a match for the big bug.

"He's gonna pull us in!" Cole yelled.

As Bernie tried to get away from the rope, he pulled so hard that Cole lost his balance and fell off of his bike and to the sand.

"Cole!" Nya yelled in worry.

"Look out! Here come the other two!" Jay called.

Cole got up quickly when he saw the other two beetles coming his way. He quickly activated his earth punch and punched down on the ground, sending one of them flying.

"Glad to see you back, Guys," Cole smiled as he looked at his glowing fists.

The earth ninja then turned to the other beetle and got ready to fight it when a blast of green energy suddenly shot the beetle in the head. Cole looked up to see Lloyd sliding down on Zane's rope.

"Got him!" the green ninja yelled before jumping off the rope and onto the sand.

"Ninja go!" Jay screamed as he slid down the rope and shot Bernie in the mouth. The beetle screamed in pain as he lifted his head and broke the rope, causing Jay to begin falling. Luckily, he was caught by his yang, Nya.

"Thank you, Nya. I love you," Jay smiled.

Next, Kai ran out dangerously close to the beetle and began shooting his fire at his mouth.

"Come on, Zane!" the fire ninja called.

After many shots were fired, Bernie finally gave up the ice ninja and spit him out, along with a couple of other items, such as Cole's soda guzzler, which landed on the happy earth ninja's head.

Zane was spit out farther away from the other ninja, though, and he wasn't moving.

"Zane! Are you okay?" Lloyd asked when he ran up to his brother.

"Say something!" Nya begged.

Zane replied by putting his hand up, showing the ninja the Inverter. He smiled slyly as he opened his eyes and sat back up to face his cheering brothers and sister.

Immediately afterwards, the ninja raced off of the sand and placed the Inverter back where it belonged. Kai and Cole rolled their vehicles into the back of the Land Bounty before getting to their seats while Nya was at the wheel.

"Everyone ready?" she asked.

"Get us out of here," Lloyd replied confidently.

Nya revved up the engine and drove very fast so they could get away. This got the beetles attention once again, and they began to chase them.

"Here they come!" Lloyd exclaimed with worry.

"Hold on, Everyone!" Nya said. "Here it goes!"

She moved the wheel father forward, activating jet boosters she had discovered while trying to repair the Bounty earlier. With these, the ninja easily outran the bugs.

"Home free!" Kai cheered.

"That was one doozy of a mirage," Jay added.

I'm so glad you all liked the last chapter, and I really hope you liked my little add-in to this one. Next chapter shouldn't take too long to come out.

Have a great day/night!

#God'sNotDead