We're finally on the Ice Chapter! I plan on having a few more changes in this part of the story than in the Fire Chapter so I'm very excited. I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago or the lines from the episode The Never-Realm.

Chapter XIII: The Never-Realm

A portal opened in the sky, allowing the Land Bounty to come out and crash into the snowy mountain not too far below. It bounced off of the mountain and rolled down a little before bouncing up into the air and finally landing with a loud crash!

"Everyone...okay?" Lloyd asked as everyone was now upside down.

Cole groaned. "Great, Now I know how my socks feel in the dryer."

"I think I swallowed my teeth," Kai said.

Suddenly the ninja heard a cry. Not the cry from an animal or a person being attacked, but the cry from a baby.

Cole immediately began freaking out as he unbuckled himself and flipped to land on his feet. He then opened the door to the backseats of the Land Bounty and ran over to where the sound had come from. He opened a cabinet to see none other than his son, C.J.!

"Oh, my gosh! Are you okay?" Cole asked as he picked his son up and began to cradle him. He had a big bruise on his head, but he looked like he was going to be okay.

"How did he sneak on board?" Lloyd asked as everyone else got out of their seats.

"I don't know," Cole answered. He sounded pretty annoyed as he stood up with C.J. in his arms and began looking for some ice. "Is there any ice around here?"

The Bounty began shaking suddenly, causing C.J.'s cries to only grow louder.

"What was that?" Jay asked nervously.

Lloyd ran up to the front of the Bounty to see that they were currently dangling over a cliff!

"Oh, no," Lloyd said.

"What is it?" Jay asked as he began walking forward.

"No. Don't!" Lloyd yelled.

The Bounty began shaking furiously with the shifted movement.

"We have to get out of here. Now!" Nya yelled.

The ninja all began running out of the Bounty. In there hurry, Jay noticed the Traveler's tea and began running towards it. He grabbed the tea and began running back, but as the Bounty tilted, he fell and lost the tea!

"Uh oh!" Cole exclaimed when he noticed this.

He gave C.J. to Kai and ran over to his friend to help. He grabbed the Traveler's tea and managed to throw Jay out of the Bounty right as it was falling. Luckily, Lloyd noticed this and managed to catch Cole right before he would've fallen along with the Bounty.

"Thanks," Cole said as he stood up. He then walked back over to Kai to get C.J. and noticed that they were standing on a bunch of ice! "Oh, great!" he said as he picked some up, wrapped it in his glove and pressed it to C.J.'s head to try to prevent swelling. His cries grew to quiet whimpers.

Jay, Lloyd, and Nya looked over where the Bounty had crashed while Jay said, "Worst parking spot ever."

Cole gasped suddenly causing the others to turn around in worry.

"What's wrong? Is he okay?" Jay asked.

"He's fine, but I dropped the Traveler's tea when I jumped out!" Cole exclaimed.

"You dropped it!" Kai exclaimed.

"Well that's just great! That's awesome!" Jay exclaimed sarcastically. "Now we're stuck on a mountain in the middle of a blizzard with no vehicle, no supplies, and no way back!"

There was a moment of silence before Nya asked, "How are we supposed to get back?"

"Maybe it's best not to worry about that right now. We should start looking for Zane. Anything on the tracker?" Lloyd asked.

Nya took the tracker out of her suit's bag and looked at it, but there weren't any good results.

"Nothing," she said. "No signal."

"No, of course not," Jay said. "That would be too easy. That would give us hope!"

"So what do we do?" Cole asked once he had finally gotten C.J. to stop crying.

"We need to get off this mountain before we all freeze to death," Lloyd replied.

That got the ninja running.

As the ninja were going down the mountain and C.J.'s head stopped hurting, Cole put his son on his shoulders sp the earth master could walk easier. He also stayed a little farther back from the group to speak with his son.

"C.J., I told you to stay at the monastery for a reason," Cole told him, disappointment laced in his voice.

"Yeah," C.J. said as he wrapped his finger around one of his dad's strands of hair.

"Why didn't you stay? You told me you were fine, and I trusted you to stay safe," Cole continued.

"So did Masta' Wu," C.J. replied.

"That's different," Cole told him.

"How?"

"We disobeyed Wu to come here because we need to find Zane. We probably wouldn't push it as much if he was thinking straight."

"He sad?"

"Yeah. He was sad, and we were afraid that he wouldn't be able to fight as well here. That's why we came. But you can't fight at all. And I didn't want to make the same mistake I made when we fought the oni by bringing you here."

"You left."

"And you were supposed to stay."

"You fall," C.J.'s voice was indecipherable to anyone who hadn't known him for as long as Cole did.

Cole stopped walking and looked up to where C.J. was wiping tears from his eyes. He still remembered that? He took C.J. off of his shoulders and placed him back down on the ground before kneeling down so he was now at eye level with him.

"That scared you. Didn't it?" Cole asked him.

C.J. nodded as he probably said, "Yeah."

"And you were afraid that would happen again when I came here, right?"

C.J. didn't answer for a moment because he was too busy wiping the tears off of his red cheeks.

Cole felt heartbroken. He didn't know his fall would affect him this much. He thought everything would be fine. He was back, and C.J. seemed happy most of the time, but he was actually scared of him leaving again.

"I'm really sorry," Cole said as he hugged C.J. He was shocked to feel how cold his son was.

"It okay," C.J. replied.

The two separated from the hug and Cole took his gloves off and gave them to C.J. They were pretty big on him, but they would at least provide a little warmth.

"I'll forgive you for it this time, but you have to promise to listen to me here on out. Especially if I'm on a mission. I can't have you getting hurt," Cole told him.

"Okay," C.J. nodded.

"Good," Cole said as he picked him back up in a way that looked a lot like a hug so he could provide warmth from his body.

After a long while of walking, the ninja had finally made it to the bottom of the mountain and the beginning of a forest.

"Finally," Jay sighed.

The ninja walked through the forest, but things still weren't looking any better for them.

Cole could feel C.J.'s body shivering as he held him as tight as he could, trying to offer warmth, but it still didn't help much. With it being summer when they left Ninjago, they didn't have that much protection, and all the ninja had begun shaking and shivering.

"I'm so c-c-cold. I can't even h-help h-him," Cole said.

"If I still had my powers, I could whip us up a f-f-fire," Kai added.

"It'ss not y-you f-faul-lt," Lloyd told him.

The ninja stopped when they heard growling coming from behind. They turned around to see wolves coming towards them!

"Run!" Lloyd yelled.

The ninja ran as fast as they could, but Lloyd ended up running into a tree and falling over!

"Lloyd!" Jay exclaimed as he ran back towards his little brother. He managed to help him up, but this allowed the wolves to surround the ninja. That's all they did, though. They just growled and refused to attack.

"Why aren't they attacking?" Cole asked.

"I don't know that's really creepy," Jay replied.

The wolves suddenly seemed scared as they ran away, but there was nothing around to be afraid of. At least not that the ninja knew.

"Let's go. Before they come back," Lloyd said.

The ninja walked only a few steps before they made it to a clearing in the forest where a horrid sight had been laid out for them. People were frozen in blocks of ice! C.J. whimpered as he buried his face in Cole's suit.

"What happened to them?" Kai asked.

"Whoa!" Nya exclaimed.

The master of water walked up to one of the blocks and placed her head to it.

"I can hear a heartbeat!" she exclaimed. "Looks like they've been frozen."

Cole handed C.J. to Jay before he walked up to another block and began punching it with his earth punch, but it did nothing. Not even a crack. And it kind of hurt.

"Frozen by what?" Cole asked as he began rubbing his hands.

Suddenly, the tracker began beeping. Nya picked it up and looked at it quickly before saying, "Lloyd, I just picked up a faint signal. From the mech!"

"Where?" Cole asked as Jay handed C.J. back to him.

"That way," Nya replied as she pointed. "Due east!"

The ninja began walked in that direction, but Jay stopped them when he said, "What about all these people? We can't just leave them like this. They're still alive!"

"There's nothing we can do for them right now," Lloyd said, although it was painful to tell his older brother. "We don't even know what happened."

"We have to keep moving," Nya said. "It'll be dark soon. We can come back and help them when we figured out what happened."

Jay nodded, but he clearly didn't like the idea of leaving them. He felt they should be doing at least something.

"The signal's very faint," Nya said as they kept walking. "Must be some interference or something."

"Maybe it's the cold," Cole suggested, not really knowing what else it could be.

"Or the beacon on the mech is-" Jay stopped speaking when he heard growling from nearby.

The ninja turned to see that the wolves were back!

"Oh, great," Nya said.

"I'm getting a little tired of this!" Kai exclaimed.

"Here they come!" Jay yelled.

The ninja put on their masks as the wolves began to pounce. Cole was the only who didn't get ready to fight as he ran away behind a nearby tree to keep C.J. safe.

"Uh oh!" C.J. exclaimed.

"Shh," Cole told him as he watched the fight. He kept a hand over C.J.'s eyes to keep him from watching too, though.

"Let 'em have it!" Lloyd exclaimed as he got his power ready and shot it at one of the wolves, knocking him back, but the other kept running towards him. It jumped into the air and tackled Lloyd to the ground, but he managed to roll and kick the wolf away from him.

Another wolf began running towards Jay and Nya, but Jay used his lightning to shock it away. Another wolf ran towards them, though, and knocked them both over.

"Nya, use your power!" Kai told his sister.

"I'm trying, but nothing's happening!" Nya replied as she stood back up.

"We're surrounded by water!" Kai yelled.

"It's all frozen!" Nya replied as she began backing away from a wolf that looked just about ready to attack, but a bunch of arrows came out of nowhere and nearly shot the wolves down. This scared them, and they began running away.

Cole removed his hand from C.J. before putting him down to allow him to walk up to the ninja with him. Three people were facing them. Two men and a woman. The woman looked at the ninja for a moment before she gestured for them to follow her.

The ninja didn't really know what else to do, so they followed the people to a village over top a completely frozen lake and to a house in the middle of the village. The people led the ninja inside the house and were immediately comforted by warmth from a fire in the middle of the room. An old woman was sitting by it.

"Come, come. Warm yourselves," the woman told them with a cheerful smile.

"Fore!" C.J. yelled excitedly as he ran up to it and sat. The others followed in cold pursuit to warm themselves.

"Thank you!" Kai said to the woman.

"Who are you?" Nya asked. "What is this place?"

"Ooh, this is my home," the woman replied. "I am Sorla, of the People of Great Lake. Who are you? Where do you come from?"

"Far away," Lloyd answered.

"Beyond the forest?" Sorla asked.

Lloyd nodded and the people who led them there began whispering.

"Beyond the mountains?" Sorla asked.

"Yes," Lloyd answered as he stood up only for more whispering to be heard from the people who led them there. "We come from-from a place called Ninjago. We're looking for a friend of our's. His name is Zane."

"Oh, we have seen no one for many years. We are the last tribe on the ice. The others have all fled south, and soon, we too must go," Sorla explained. "The cold grows too strong. The ice too thick, but perhaps Sorla can help. Look. Come! Look into the hearth fire."

Sorla took some dust from a bowl in her hands and threw it into the fire, causing it to immediately turn green.

The ninja and C.J. gaped at the sight.

"Wow!" C.J. exclaimed.

Sorla laughed good naturedly at the child before she turned to Lloyd, and said, "Tell me again the name of your friend."

"Zane," Lloyd answered as he sat back down.

"And the place from which he came?"

"Ninjago," Nya answered.

Sorla closed her eyes, and said to the fire, "Show us, Spirits of the Earth, Spirits of the Lake, show us the fate of Zane from Ninjago."

The fire suddenly exploded into the air to show everyone a castle that looked like it was surrounded by ice.

One of the men from before gasped, and said, "The Emperor!"

"The Castle of Ice," the other man said.

"I-I am sorry for your loss," Sorla told the ninja as the image disappeared.

"What do you mean?" Lloyd asked. The fire showed them where he was. What was he missing?

"You cannot save your friend," Sorla told them. "He has been taken prisoner by the Ice Emperor. For decades, he has ruled this realm, crushing all who stand in his way. His Ice Castle is on the other side of the mountains. A bitter, foul place where the ice is corrupt. A place we do not go."

"Zane is there? In this Ice Castle?" Lloyd asked as he stood back up.

Sorla nodded sadly. She looked truly sorry for the ninja.

"Can you show us the way?" Lloyd asked.

"You cannot!" Sorla exclaimed as she stood up. "It is too cold! The ice there is evil! Dark ice! No one goes there, but the Emperor and his Blizzard Samurai, and they are inhuman! Only a fool would go there. Your friend is lost."

Lloyd shook his head as he looked down at his feet.

"No," he told her. "I refuse to believe that. Zane is strong. I know him, and he would never give up on us, and we're not gonna give up on him!"

"Yeah!" Kai agreed.

"Yeah!" Cole sexclaimed as he jumped up and put an arm around Nya, "and if you think we're not fools, you've got another thing coming!"

"Yeah!" C.J. agreed.

"Ninja never quit," Nya told her.

"All of you speak as one?" Sorla asked as she turned to face the ninja.

"We speak as one," Lloyd replied with confidence.

"Your friend is very fortunate," Sorla said with a smile, "but be warned," he smile went away, "the Emperor's General Vex sees many things. The dark ice serves him. If he knows you are here, he will warn the Emperor."

"Vex?" Lloyd asked.

"He will send his samurai. They feel nothing, they fear nothing! They will come for you," Soral warned.

Far away, in the Castle of Ice Sorla and the men had spoken of, a samurai warrior covered in ice was looking at another chunk of ice in his hand. It was a mirror that allowed him to see the ninja speaking to Sorla. The samurai smiled an evil sort of smile before he walked over to the throne room where another samurai was sitting. His throne was covered in gigantic spikes of ice and there was a staff frozen to his hand.

"My Emperor," the samurai said as he bowed to the other samurai.

"Why...do you disturb my thoughts?" the Ice Emperor asked as he looked at his royal advisor and most powerful samurai warrior. His name was Vex.

"I bring a warning, My Emperor," Vex replied. "Strangers, from a distant realm come to challenge you. They may be here for the prisoner and to defy your rule."

The Ice Emperor was so angry with this news, the ice that kept him to his chair broke!

"They must be...punished!" the Ice Emperor said as he stood up and banged his staff on the ground.

"They must be destroyed," Vex added. "Show them your might. Show them what happens to those who defy the Emperor."

The Ice Emperor sat back down as his rage began to fade, but not enough to stop himself from giving his next order.

"Send my ice samurai," he told his loyal advisor. "Command them to destroy the strangers."

"And all who aid them," Vex added evilly.

"Yes. And all who aid them," the Ice Emperor agreed.

"As you command," Vex promised before he left to get the ice samurai ready for war.

Well now I feel bad for C.J. :(

Anyway, I hope you guys liked that chapter. Leave a review if you'd like.

Have a great day/night!

#God'sNotDead