Hey, Guys, sorry it's been a while since I've updated, but I'm here now, and I should be continuing to update every week bewtween the time frame of Wednesday-Friday. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago or the lines from the episode The Traveler's Tree

Chapter XVII: The Traveler's Tree

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.

Everyone unbuckled their seat belts, causing most of the ninja to fall on their faces.

"Looks like we made it to the Never-Realm," Cole said as he stood back up.

Suddenly, the Bounty began to shake violently, and the ninja began to realize that it was slightly tipped over.

"What was that?" Nya asked.

Cole ran over to the window to see that they were dangling off of a cliff!

"We have to get out of here now!" Cole yelled. He began to run out of the Land Bounty, but his friends were already out. C.J. was there too, but how did he get there?

"Huh?" Cole asked. He began to make his way out of the Bounty, but Lloyd stopped him.

"Wait! Do you have the Traveler's Tea?" he asked. "So we can get back home?"

"What?" Cole asked, wondering why Lloyd was worried about this now. The Bounty suddenly began shaking again. It was about to fall!

"Cole, we need that tea to get back home, remember?" Lloyd told him. "After we find Zane? So do you still have it?"

Cole began feeling his suit in every possible place he could've put the tea, but it wasn't there!

"Oh, no!" Cole exclaimed.

"Cole, Cole, Cole," Lloyd said in disgust.

"You let us down, Cole," Kai told him.

"It must still be in there. Once you've found it, you can be our friend again," Jay added as he crossed his arms.

Cole looked at his teammates in dismay. He felt completely lost. He turned to his son, but he was now sitting in the snow with his arms crossed and looking away.

"But it's about to fall!" Cole exclaimed.

"You should've thought of that before you lost the tea! Go!" Kai yelled.

Cole couldn't believe how his friends were treating him right now. He turned around nervously to see the tea just sitting on the floor at the farthest side of the Land Bounty. He began to carefully walk over to the tea, all the while begging for the Bounty not to fall. It seemed okay until Cole leaned over to grab the tea bag. He didn't even get to touch it before the Bounty fell off the cliff with Cole inside!

"Cole? Cole, wake up!" Jay yelled as he was falling to his doom.

Cole shot out of bed so fast that he fell out of it and onto his head. All the while, Jay was looking at him with a genuinely friendly smile and a toothbrush in his hand.

"It's okay, Buddy. You're okay," Jay tried to sooth his best friend.

"You!" Cole exclaimed when he realized who was talking to him.

"Huh?" Jay asked.

"I can't believe you did that! You made me go back to the Bounty for the Traveler's Tea, and it fell off a cliff!"

"I what?" Jay asked, wondering in what alternate reality would Jay do that to him. Especially now that C.J. was here. He would never make him do something like that.

"Cole, relax, Buddy. It was just a nightmare," Kai said as he leaned his head over the bunk above, trying not to yawn.

Cole didn't care what he was saying, though. He was still way too mad about everything. "And you!" he exclaimed. "You were even worse! You said I let you down!"

Kai looked at Cole, realizing how bad his nightmare really was. He knew that Cole used to get nightmares a lot, but he would never start acting like it was real. He knew better than that. Unless he was always just too tired to fully care as Kai was now. He could barely keep his eyes open.

"Well, it was a mistake, okay?" Cole told them. "Sometimes things just happen!"

"Hey, hey, hey. We understand," Jay told him. "It's okay."

Cole took his shoulder pad off of the side of his bed and stood up saying, "Yeah, right! That's not what you said in my dream!"

The earth ninja then stomped over to the door and slammed it shut behind him, leaving the lightning and fire ninja very confused.

"It's too early for this," Kai said as he climbed back into a comfortable position on his bed.

"Maybe we should go after him?" Jay asked.

"He'll calm down," Kai replied right before falling asleep again.

As soon as Cole was outside, he was met with a much-needed sight. C.J. running around happily with some other boys his own age. Well, maybe a little older, but he seemed to be having a lot of fun doing whatever it was they were doing. Suddenly, C.J. noticed his father and ran over to him.

"Daddy!" he yelled as he hugged his leg.

"Hey, C.J. Did you find some new friends?" Cole asked as he picked his son up into his arms.

C.J. nodded shyly as he handed his dad one of the puppets Cole made the other day. This one was of him.

"Sowwy," C.J. told him.

"What? No, this is fine! I wasn't going to use them again or anything. Here," Cole said as he handed the puppet back to C.J. He then set him down and told him to go play with the other kids again, but C.J. didn't seem to want to move from his father's side. "Alright, you can come with me, but give the puppet back to the other kids. Okay?"

Meanwhile, Sorla was training Nya in her cabin. In the middle of the cabin was a pot of boiling water.

"Ice and water," Sorla began to explain. "They are different, but the same. You must only remember who you are and believe in yourself."

Nya nodded as she got ready to control the water. She began to lift a big glob of water out of the pot and split it into two before bringing the two over to her.

"Good," Sorla encouraged.

As the water traveled slowly to Nya it cooled down and began turning to ice.

"But I-I feel it changing," Nya said as the ice began to envelope the water. She couldn't see this, though, as she had her eyes closed. "Freezing. It's becoming more difficult."

"Change is inevitable. It is the nature of all things. Life itself, but still, it remains water. You must feel the truth of this. Do not fight it. Embrace the change. You must believe in yourself, Nya."

Nya grunted as the water completely froze over, and she dropped the two balls of ice, falling to her knees.

"Oh. I can't! It's impossible!" Nya said.

"It will obey," Sorla insisted. "When your need is greatest, you must only remember who you are. Try again."

Nya obeyed. She stood up and lifted more water from the pot before separating them into two. Once they were completely covered by ice, she still had control. She began bringing them over to her, only feeling the water inside when she heard Cole's voice, startling her, and she dropped the balls of ice.

"Nya, I think the others are-" Cole stopped when he realized what he just did. "Oh, you were in the middle of-Sorry. Another Cole mistake!"

Cole slammed the door shut as he left the room, feeling even worse than before! He didn't seem to be able to do anything right!

"Cole, wait!" Nya called after her friend, but he didn't hear her.

"Come," Sorla told Nya. She thought it would be best if he had time to calm down. "Try again."

Cole kept his eyes downcast while C.J. sat on top of his shoulders. He thought about so many things. Most of which he knew for a fact was not true, but he couldn't help but believe them. Were his friends telling the truth when they said they forgave him? How could they if he had lost their only way back home off of a cliff? Did they really want to be his friends or were they just pretending? Was he truly the right person for C.J.?

Cole looked up at his son and was about to ask him something when he heard the sound of crying nearby. It wasn't C.J., but it was definitely another child. Cole took C.J. off of his shoulders and placed him down on the ground. He then looked around and noticed a kid sitting against a cabin, crying.

The earth ninja walked over to him, and asked, "Hey there, Kiddo. What's wrong?"

"Mr. Ninja. Nothing. I'm okay," the kid answered as he wiped at his eyes. He couldn't have been over nine.

"You can call me Cole," Cole said with a friendly smile.

"It's just, I'm supposed to play with my friends, but I lost our ball, and now I'm afraid they'll hate me forever!" he told Cole.

"Yeah, I get it."

"How can you possibly get it? You're a ninja. You're not afraid of anything. Ever."

"Sure I am. I make mistakes too. Sometimes. Little ones. That they just keep reminding you about over and over until you-" Cole stopped when he realized that the kid and C.J. were still listening to him. "Uh, heh. What I meant to say is, why don't you find another ball? Or try to make one?"

"How?"

"I don't know. Out of snow, or something?" Cole replied as he made a snowball.

"That's a great idea!" the boy said happily. He began to run off to his friends, but he stopped and turned around. He could see that Cole was sad, and he wanted to help just like Cole helped him.

"You look like you also have a problem, Mr. Ninja," the boy said.

"Yeah. I lost something too," Cole told him, "but it's more important than a ball, and now, because of me, we may never get back home."

"Oh! That's not a big deal. Just go to the Traveler's Tree. When travelers are stuck, they're supposed to go to the tree."

"Wait. Did you say, 'Traveler's Tree'? Oh, I hope that means what I think it does. Where is it? Is it here?"

"Not here. Up there," the boy said as he pointed to a mountain in the distance.

"That's a big help!" Cole exclaimed excitedly. "Now, go. Talk to your friends. I'll bet they're waiting for you."

The boy began to do as he was told, but before he did, he turned around to wave back to his new friend. "Bye, Mr. Ninja! Good luck!" he called.

Cole waved back, but he began to feel a pull on his pant leg. That always mean that C.J. thought something was wrong. He knelt down to face his son and asked, "What's wrong?"

"I go," C.J. told his dad.

"I'm sorry, Buddy, but I can't take you to the top of a mountain. It's too dangerous and cold and-" Cole sighed. "Look, go find Uncle Jay. I'm sure he won't mind playing with you for a bit."

C.J. nodded, but he still didn't look happy.

"I'll be back with the Traveler's Tea. It's not like it's the first cold mountain I've climbed. Now, go," Cole told his son.

C.J. obeyed and began running back to Jay, Kai, and Cole's cabin.

Cole was surprised with how comfortable he was with leaving C.J. alone, but he had no reason to feel uncomfortable about it. All the people were very nice. There were trustworthy guards and warriors to protect the village and keep watch on the people inside, and his friends knew to keep an eye on him if he wasn't in sight. Everything would be fine.

Climbing this mountain seemed much easier than most other mountains Cole had climbed before. It had many ledges on it to rest for a moment and wasn't as steep as many others before. Of course, it was much colder than any other mountain he had climbed before and the higher he went, the colder it got.

On that same mountain, Bolma and Utaug were having a little argument.

"I told you there wouldn't be any fish up here," Bolma said. "I said 'it would be a waste of time'!"

"You never said that," Utaug began, "I said that. I said, 'How can there be fish on a mountain'-" Utaug stopped when he slipped on the ice below their feet, and the two started laughing. That was until Utaug began sliding off the mountain!

"Utaug!" Bolma called after his friend. "Utaug!"

Bolma ran over to where Utaug had slid off, hoping that he would still be alive, and he was. But his fishing rod was the only thing that kept him from falling to his doom, and neither of them knew how strong that rod was.

"Utaug, hold on! Grab my hand! Grab on!" Bolma said as he stuck his pickax in the ice and began climbing down to save him.

Utaug reached out for Bolma's hand, but the line had already broke, and he was beginning to fall!

Bolma reached his hand out further and grabbed his friend in the nick of time, but he wasn't strong enough to bring them both up, and the ice they were hanging onto was beginning to break!

"Pull me up! Quick!" Utaug yelled in fear.

"I-I can't! You're too heavy!" Bolma yelled back.

"Oh! What are you tryin' to say!"

Suddenly, the ice broke, and the two began to fall! But, they stopped somehow. The two looked up to see none other than Cole. He was holding onto the pickax to save them!

"Hey, Guys!" Cole smiled.

"Boy, are we glad to see y-Ah!" Bolma screamed in fear when the pickax broke, and they began falling again, but Cole wasn't done. He threw the remainder of the pickax away, stood up, and punched the ground as hard as he could, creating a ledge to save them. It may have been one of the most powerful things he had ever done, and he passed out.

Bolma and Utaug found another cluster of ledges not too far away. They used them to help them climb back up the mountain before they carried Cole over to a ledge that served as a shelter from the upcoming blizzard.

That night, after Cole had woken up, they were having dinner under the ledge.

"Here, Friend. This fish jerky is some of the last we've saved," Bolma said as he passed it to Cole.

"What?" Cole asked, clearly confused with his choice of wording.

"Well, we heard rumors about a mountain with a stream that wasn't frozen, but-" Utaug began to explain.

"When we got here, we saw it was solid ice, like everything else," Bolma finished.

"If it wasn't for you, this trip would've been our last."

"Well, if I hadn't gotten lost trying to find the Traveler's Tree, our paths might never have crossed," Cole told them.

Bolma and Utaug looked up at this. They seemed very nervous.

"You're looking for the tree?" Bolma asked.

"Yeah, you know where it is?" Cole asked, clearly not picking up on their nervous looks.

"Up there," Utaug said as he pointed to a mountain right next to the one they were on.

Cole smiled as he stood up, ready to embark on the next part of his journey, but before he could even open his mouth to say goodbye, Bolma grabbed onto his shoulders earnestly, and said, "But you can't go that way. That's the home of Krag!"

"Krag?" Cole asked as Bolma let go of him. He began rubbing his shoulders because Bolma had grabbed on tight! "What's a Krag?"

"'What's the Krag'?" Bolma asked. "Oh, nothing important. Just, a living nightmare! A fearsome beast that defends the tree. It's twenty-five feet tall, covered in red fur and yellow teeth and-"

"Yellow fur and red teeth," Utaug corrected.

"Red teeth?" Bolma asked. "Where did you hear such nonsense, Utaug?"

"It's not nonsense, Bolma. My great-great-grandfather saw it once."

"Well, my great-great-grandmother was with him when he saw it, and her eyes were better."

"Wait! Hang on," Cole interrupted. "Has either of you actually seen this 'Krag'?"

The two's responses were all over the place, which proved the earth ninja's point.

"Well, how do you know he even exists?" Cole asked.

"We have heard him," Bolma said, suddenly behind Cole. " He makes a roaring sound at night."

Cole was about to object, but Bolma put his hand over his mouth to quiet him down.

"Just listen," Bolma said.

Cole made his way away from the men and tried to listen as he was told. Sure enough, he began to hear a growling sound, but it wasn't coming from the mountain. He turned around to see, who knows why, but Utaug was making these sounds on purpose!

"That's you!" Cole snapped.

"What?" Utaug asked as if he was the most innocent person in the world.

"I can see your lips moving!"

"Oh, sorry."

"He's probably asleep," Bolma said.

"Okay, well, I'm not worried," Cole told them, "but the part about the tree. Is that part real? Have you guys seen it?"

He got the same answers as when he asked if they had seen Krag.

"Oh, great!" Cole groaned. "Look, Krag or no Krag. I gotta be sure. I gotta try. See you around, Guys."

Without another word, Cole left the two and went over to the nearby mountain. This one was a little harder to climb, but the ledges were much bigger and much more rewarding. Still very cold, though, so Cole put his hood on to keep himself warm.

While Cole was walking on one of the very large ledges, he heard a crunching sound behind him, as if someone was in the snow. He turned around but didn't see a soul.

"Huh," the earth master remarked.

He turned around and began walking until he spotted a tree!

"The Traveler's Tree!" Cole breathed.

Cole began running across an ice bridge to get over to the tree when he heard roaring and a large cracking sound behind him.

"What?" Cole asked as he turned around. "Krag!" he screamed when he saw a yeti running towards him. It didn't look like what Bolma and Utaug had described, but it was clearly dangerous, and it had come out of nowhere just to tackle Cole to the ground.

Meanwhile, Jay and Kai were looking everywhere they could think of for their lost brother. They'd been doing so ever since C.J. found Jay to play hours ago.

"Hey, Nya. Have you seen Cole?" Kai asked as he, Jay, and C.J. ran up to her.

"We figured he needed some space to cool off, but now we're getting worried," Jay explained. "Especially after C.J. came to find me."

"Not since this morning," Nya replied.

"Your friend is up there!" Bolma's voice rang out through the village.

The four turned to see Bolma and Utaug running towards them, trying to catch their breath.

"What?"

"Cole?"

"Daddy?"

"He's on the mountain," Utaug explained. "Oh, we tried to tell him not to go."

"But he would not listen," Bolma added. "He's looking for the Traveler's Tree. Up there!"

The ninja looked up to where Bolma was pointing and heard roaring coming from the mountain!

"Gumdrops!" Jay exclaimed in fear when he heard this.

Hope you guys liked that. Leave a review if you'd like.

Have a great day/night!

#God'sNotDead