Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago

Chapter XXII: The Mountaintop

It had been nearly a full day since the ninja had gotten the Land Bounty working again. Each ninja took turns driving while the other would either sleep or play video games. Looking at you, Jay! Although, Krag seemed to enjoy playing the Lava Zombies arcade pod they had too. Cole kept C.J. entertained as much as possible, but Uncle Jay and Kai decided to take over when he went down for a nap.

"So, what do you wanna do?" Kai asked his brother as they watched C.J. suck on his stuffed bear's ear. He really had to quit that habit. "We could tell him a story, play with those puppets, give him a piggy-back ride."

"He seems pretty occupied already," Jay responded as C.J. continued his strange habit.

"Don't you think he's kind of old for this?" Kai asked.

"I know I did that until I was five. It's probably nothing. Don't worry about it."

"I still don't like it," Kai said as he walked over to the toddler and bent down to his level, saying, "You wanna play a game, Bud?"

C.J. immediately took his bear out of his mouth and smiled widely as he nodded.

"Great!" Kai exclaimed. "Jay, what game should we play?" he asked as he nudged the lightning ninja's ribs.

Jay seemed pretty taken aback by this, but he chose not to react too negatively with C.J. watching them patiently. Using his quick-thinking skills, Jay thought of a game C.J. would probably like a lot. "Okay, Kid. How about a game of catch?"

He created ball of lightning in his hand and tossed it to Kai, which he caught.

"How in the-?" Kai asked as he stared at the ball in his hand.

"Pretty cool, right? Wu taught me how to do it," Jay said.

"He taught me too, but no one else is able to hold mine. How did you manage to do that?" Kai asked.

Jay shrugged. "I think it depends on how much power to put into it, honestly. Sure it looks big, but I only used a tiny spark so you can barely feel it."

"Huh."

Kai moved the ball around in his hand a moment longer, just to double check that it was safe for the toddler to hold before turning to him and saying, "Alright, you gotta catch it, though. Okay?"

"Okey," C.J. replied with a smile.

Kai tossed the ball gently to C.J., but right before it came into arms reach, he tried catching it, and it hit his hand and disappeared.

"Aw," C.J. said with the most adorable little pout.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't worry. Look! See. I can make another one," Jay said before creating another little electric ball. He passed it to Kai again first, before he passed to C.J. This time, he waited for the ball to be in arms reach, but he was too late this time, and it hit his hand and disappeared before he had time to react.

The three of them continued this for about an hour. Eventually, Kai went to check on Nya, leaving Jay alone with him, but Jay was finding that he enjoyed this little game they were playing.

"Alright, C.J. This is it! I can feel it!" Jay said as he held his newly created lightning ball in his hand. He threw it up and caught it himself a couple times to make sure that it wasn't too powerful before tossing it lightly to C.J. He held his hands up like Jay taught him to get ready to catch the ball and closed them around the ball right before it would've hit his chest.

"Yay!" C.J. cheered.

"Nice job, C.J.," Cole said as he got up from the couch he had been sleeping on.

Jay turned around in surprise. He hadn't noticed that his brother was awake.

C.J. began bouncing happily, but the Bounty turned suddenly, causing everyone to lose their balance. The sound of C.J.'s cries got Cole back on his feet in an instant.

"C.J.! Are you okay?" the earth ninja asked as he ran up to his son.

C.J. quickly got up and nodded as he rubbed at his eyes furiously. It seemed like it scared him more than he was actually hurt.

Once they realized that C.J. was alright, they ran over to where Nya was driving to see what was going on.

"Nya, what happened?" Jay asked.

"Sorry about that, Guys. I was trying to avoid something in our way," Nya replied. "Is everyone okay?"

"Yeah," Cole nodded as Krag came up from behind him.

"Wh-what did you see?" Jay asked nervously.

"I don't know," Nya answered as she and Kai tried to look out to see if there was anything else. Suddenly, the Land Bounty began shaking violently.

"What is that?" Jay asked.

"I don't know," Nya replied again before it shook again. "But we need to find shelter!"

Nya began driving the Land Bounty at full speed to avoid whatever it was that could be chasing them. "Hold on, Everyone!" she yelled.

Everyone put their seat belts on while Krag held onto the back of Cole's seat for dear life. It was less than a minute before the Bounty shook again, and what followed the shaking sent chills down Nya's spine. C.J., who was sitting on his father's lap, lifted his head up and started looking around, wondering why it felt like the Land Bounty wasn't moving anymore, even though it clearly was if you looked out the window.

The ninja all looked out the windows to see that there was white encompassing the vehicle, but it wasn't from the blizzard outside, it was clouds! The Land Bounty was in the air. Suddenly, a screech could be heard above, scaring everyone on board.

Kai unbuckled himself and went over to get a better look out the window. They had to have been hundreds of feet off of the ground!

"This doesn't look good," Kai stated, fear evident in his voice.

"Where is it taking us?" Nya asked.

The answer to her question was presented not too long later when the Land Bounty went above the clouds. Right in front of them was very tall mountain with the biggest nest you've ever seen.

The thing that had taken them gave out another loud screech before setting the Bounty down gently. Cole and C.J. got up then and the young toddler ran over to the window to see humongous snow piles.

"Woah," Cole breathed when he saw how big the snow piles were.

Suddenly, one last screech was heard before the thing went away.

"Great! Now we can escape!" Cole said.

Nya looked out the window a final time before looking at the others, and saying, "There's no way we can drive this thing back down. We'll have to travel on foot."

"Aw," C.J. whimpered when he heard this. He hated walking.

Cole sighed. "How far is the Ice Castle from here?" he asked.

"Another day if we could use the Bounty," Nya replied. "At least from where we were."

Everyone groaned.

"It-it's okay. Kai has some of his fire back. He can make sure we don't freeze to death. Right?" Jay asked his red clad brother.

Kai nodded, but he seemed unsure and a little distant.

Cole sighed. "Alright then," he said. "Let's go."

The six exited the Land Bounty and stepped into the soft, cold snow that coated the bottom of the nest and began taking in their surroundings.

"How do you suppose we'll get down?" Cole asked as he looked down the mountain. By the looks of it, only an experienced mountain climber would be able to get down, which Cole was, but not any of his friends or his son.

Krag walked over to stand next to the earth ninja and growled softly in confusion. He didn't know how to get down either as it was a much steeper mountain than he was used to.

Suddenly, a loud crack was heard from behind, and Cole felt his heart leap into his throat as he immediately assumed the worst. He spun around to see that Kai was looking at one of the lumps of snow suspiciously.

"What happened?" Cole asked as C.J. ran over to him and grabbed his leg.

Jay just shrugged right before a baby eagle, about a foot taller than Krag and much bigger too, burst out of the pile of snow and sat on Kai.

Everyone screamed in fear when they saw this. Except for Kai, who could do nothing but groan under the bird's weight.

"Kai!" Nya exclaimed.

Nya tried to pull her brother out from under the bird's heavy talons, but it was no use. He was stuck.

"Cole!" Nya yelled.

"Krag!" Cole yelled to the yeti next to him as he was busy shielding his son from whatever this bird may plan to do with them.

Krag walked over to the bird and tried to push him off of the fire ninja, but the bird responded by pecking his head, which made him very angry, and he roared loudly at the creature. The bird didn't seem fazed by this. Instead, he just screeched back as loud as he could, which was much more than the ninja expected.

C.J covered his ears and buried his face in Cole's chest right as the bird lost interest in Krag and moved to Jay.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Jay asked as he began to back up. "No! Hey, stop!" he yelled as the baby eagle kept moving closer to him.

Nya gasped as it looked like the bird was going to eat him, but that was far from what the baby eagle had planned for the lightning ninja. Instead, the eagle started snuggling up next to him. It looked like he was using his wing as a blanket for Jay.

"Wh-what's he doing?" Jay asked nervously as he looked up at the very content eagle.

"That's gotta be one of the cutest things I've ever seen," Kai teased, trying and failing to control his laughter.

Jay just groaned as he tried to break free from the eagle's hold, but it was no use.

"Jay, stop playing around. We have to find a way to get off this mountain," Nya scolded in a teasing way.

"I'm trying!" Jay told her, clearing not hearing the laughter in her voice, and the others laughed at that.

"Hmm, I wonder if the little guy can fly yet," Kai said quietly.

"What? You think we can fly out of here?" Cole asked as Jay had almost made his way out of the baby eagle's grasp, but he ended up falling on his face right before the eagle grabbed him with his wings once again, causing C.J. to start laughing wildly.

"He seems old enough," Nya told the others, "but will he be able to hold all of us? He's big, but not that big."

"Well, maybe..." Jay tried to speak, but the bird grabbed him again. "Maybe...Ugh!" Jay nearly lost it as he got out of the baby eagle's grasp once again, but this time he managed to sprint over to where the others were, making the eagle very upset. "Maybe some of us can climb down while the others ride. Or we'll just climb down ourselves without the clingy bird's help.

"Jay!" Nya scolded.

"What?! That thing's worse than my mother!" Jay told her.

Cole chuckled while Kai said, "Look, the little guy's our best bet to get us all out of here alive and find Zane so we can go home. Alright?"

"Zane?" C.J. asked, a tone of longing in his voice.

Jay sighed as he looked at the bird, who was looking back at him with the most pathetically sad expression. "Fine."

Since the ninja weren't entirely sure if he could even fly yet, they decided to test it. With Jay.

"Guys? Are you sure this is the best idea?" Jay asked as he looked down the mountain. It really was a long way down.

"Of course!" Cole said in a too cheerful to be true way. "Alright, Kai! Are you ready?"

"Almost," Kai responded from the nest.

The fire ninja had been trying to coax the giant eagle out of his nest ever since Nya gave him the job, but as soon as it was about to work, C.J. snuggled up next to the bird and started taking a nap. Now Kai was afraid if the bird moved, C.J. would hit his head, but he couldn't grab C.J. because the bird was afraid of Kai and would run away.

Kai looked around the humongous nest before his eyes fell on his sister. He picked a pile of snow off of the ground and tossed it towards her. Nya turned around quickly when she heard something fall right behind her. She looked up to see Kai wearing a pleading expression.

"What's up?" Nya asked as she walked over, but her voice was a little too loud and the eagle began stirring.

Kai froze as he knew he would never make it to C.J. in time if something were to happen.

"Be quiet," he told her. "I need to get over to C.J., but the little guy'll bolt if he notices me coming towards him.

Nya nodded, understanding this predicament.

"Don't worry. I got this," she whispered.

Kai couldn't help but let out a gasp when Nya used her ninja skills to run over to the eagle without making so much as a sound. She then carefully put a gentle hand on the eagle's beak so as not to wake him up and began petting him in a calming manner. She then looked back up at Kai and tilted her head in a way that told him to get moving.

Kai did so and made sure to remember all of the strenuous training he had undergone over the last four years so he could move as quietly as the air to get over to the toddler. The eagle seemed to stir a bit, but Nya's calming touch kept him in his dreams.

Then, carefully, Kai grabbed C.J. under his arms and began to lift him off of the ground, but it was then that C.J. made an uncomfortable noise, scaring the eagle, and the bird whipped its tail around and slammed into Nya, Kai, and C.J.

Screams could be heard as Nya bumped into Cole, causing him to fall on his face and into the snow while Nya almost fell off the mountain! But Jay jumped just in time to catch her while holding onto the mountain. Meanwhile, Kai was holding onto his nephew with one arm while he hung onto a small rock that was slit out of the mountain with the other. He looked down, feet dangling over what looked to be a thousand-foot drop!

"Where's Kai?" Nya asked in concern.

"And C.J.!?" Cole's voice was reaching the heights of hysterics.

The three ninja and Krag began looking around, and Kai could feel his fingers slipping!

"C.J.," Kai said, "cover your ears."

The second C.J. obeyed, Kai screamed, "Help!"

It was less than a second before Cole seemed to just appear at the top, eyes wide and filled with fear. He looked as if he couldn't even move, which was unlike him.

"A-a little help?!" Kai yelled, feeling the strain of holding onto the mountain with every passing moment.

Nya, Jay, and Krag were now standing next to Cole, and Nya immediately knew what to do.

"Jay, get your rope! Now!" she yelled at him.

Jay nodded and ran back to the Land Bounty, returning only a few moments later with said rope. He swung it around like a lasso a few times before throwing it down to Kai. Just as the fire ninja lost his grip he managed to quickly grab onto the rope, but he was too heavy for the ninja to lift. Especially without Cole's help.

"Cole! Come on!" Jay told him.

"I can't-I can't move," Cole replied, shaking now. He couldn't bring himself to move. Time was frozen in place in this awful moment for the earth ninja, and he didn't know how to help.

Krag, who had been helping with the rope, reached over to Cole and grabbed him before placing him in front of the rope. He then growled as he pointed to it.

Cole still couldn't do anything. He was so scared.

"Cole," Nya said softly yet earnestly, despite the strain of pulling the rope. The earth ninja looked up. "He'll be okay if you just grab the rope," Nya told him.

Something seemed to click in Cole's brain as new energy flowed through him. He activated his earth punch and grabbed the rope to pull Kai and C.J. up to safety.

"We're okay now, C.J.," Kai told the little toddler with a smile.

C.J. didn't seem to fully trust this information, though, as his face was buried into Kai's gi as if it was the only thing protecting him.

"C.J.!" Cole yelled as he ran over to the two.

C.J. lifted his head, and his eyes lit up when he saw his father. He loosened his grip on Kai just enough so that the fire ninja could pass him to his dad.

"Kai!" Nya yelled as she ran over to hug her brother. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Kai answered. "Let's never do that again."

Jay sighed. "How are we gonna get off the mountain now?"

Suddenly, a screech was heard overhead. All of the ninja and Krag hid behind the big snow piles for fear that something like that would happen once again. As they peaked out from behind the rocks, they saw the giant eagle that had originally brought them there land with some food for her young eagle.

"Woah!" Nya gasped when she saw how big the mother eagle was.

"She's big enough to take us all down," Kai remarked.

"She's the one who brought us up here," Nya replied, but Kai was no longer next to her.

"Kai? Kai!" she nearly screamed when she saw her brother was now walking carefully up to the eagle.

The eagle screeched loudly, guarding her baby carefully as she saw Kai coming towards them, despite the fact that Kai was much smaller than them both.

"Hey," Kai said softly. "We won't hurt you."

The eagle didn't understand him, though, and screeched once again to try to scare Kai off. Kai wasn't scared, though, at least not in any way that showed.

Kai continued making his way over to the eagle when it suddenly began charging at him. The fire ninja was quick to take out his sword, causing the eagle to stop in fear. Kai let this go on for a moment before he dropped his sword to the ground.

"Kai!" Nya exclaimed quietly when she saw this.

"What's he doing?" Jay asked.

"You thought we were attackers, didn't you?" Kai asked as he looked over to the Land Bounty. It was pretty big and could definitely hurt this bird if they wanted it to, and the scratch marks around the area definitely indicated a fight. The eagle was probably just trying to protect her young.

The giant eagle looked at Kai with curious eyes after seeing him drop the sword. It then lowered its head for Kai to pet his beak, and he did.

"You wanna help us down?" Kai asked as his friends came out of their hiding spot.

The eagle gave a slight shrill of contentment, and before no time, the ninja were at the bottom of the mountain, thanks to the newly dubbed "Phoenix."

"Thanks, Phoenix," Jay said cheerfully as he slid off of her back.

Phoenix gave another shrill before flying back up to the top of the mountain.

"Great! We're off the mountain!" Cole said happily, although he sounded concerned as well. "Now how are we supposed to make to the Ice Castle alive on foot!"

To answer Cole's question, Phoenix had just flown back down to give the ninja their Land Bounty back.

"Oh," Cole blinked.

"Yay!" C.J. exclaimed as he hugged Phoenix.

The ninja and Krag all cheered as all ran back into the Land Bounty and continued their adventure not knowing what else they'd run into.

Hope you guys liked that. Leave a review if you'd like. Next chapter should be out next week.

Have a great day/night!

#God'sNotDead