Sooooo... I'm not to proud on this chapter... or the prologue chapters for that matter. But that's because I crammed 10 minutes per chapter so the pace feels a bit rushed to me. Other than that I do hope you enjoy this chapter.
"'Sign me up'" Jay's voice rang over the sounds of the carriage. "Way to go, spark plug." Kai only gave the Blue Ninja a glare.
As Calli had suspected. The boys were the ones to pull the carriage. Cole was pulling the front with Kai right behind him and Jay and Zane to the sides. She herself was uncomfortably sitting behind Sensei Wu, currently dressed the same way she had that day in Ninjago City in a violet hoody and black leggings, still grumbling about having to come along.
Another bump on the road made her groan as she was knocked into the side of the carriage. Why couldn't she just stay at the monastery?
Oh yeah, because Sensei told her so.
"And what about her?" Kai's voice and question snapped her attention towards him.
"What about me?" The ginger girl pulled her hood from before her eyes.
"You're from Ninjago City, aren't you?" Jay clarified, he heard her drop the information once before.
The redhead gave a slight nod. "For about a year, yes." She slowly admitted. "but I lived in Stiix before that."
Kai was about to ask more when Sensei suddenly called out. "Shh…. Stop!" As the boys stopped abruptly, Calli was thrown to the ground with a small yelp. "The caves of Despair. Samukai must be close in unearthing the Scythe of Quakes. Remember, do not use the weapon. For its power…"
"Yeah, Yeah, Yeah! It's too much for us mortals. Alright guys. Let's Chop-Socky this lemonade stand!" Jay interrupted as Zane helped Calli get up. They all moved behind a large rock that gave them enough room to oversee the ground level.
The Caves of Despair looked more like a mine than anything else. It was crawling with skeletons that were excavating the said tunnels.
"Cole, you got the plan?" Jay was a bit too enthusiastic for the whole situation.
The Black Ninja nodded and all the attention focused on him, well, almost all attention. "Sure do, First, We lower ourselves down the ledge and then-" It was then he noticed that something, or rather someone was missing.
"…. Where's Kai?"
Jay was the first to spot him. Cole sighed. "Come on. Call, you stick close." The girl sighed but nodded before following the boys. The three in front her made quick work to get there, opening the path for her to catch up easily, taking out a skeleton that
They finally reached The Red Ninja on one of the watchtowers. Kai was eyeing the map that the skeleton had, taking mental notes when the others joined him Jay hit him on the head,
"What's the matter with you!" He whisper-yelled. Kai just shushed him, after some more discussion and checking they all climbed down again.
Kai dashed past Calli before she could even ask what was going on. He'd quickly entered the caves on the other side of the Skulkin army. Cole and Zane quickly rushed past her when Jay pulled her along.
"Skeletons had the map upside down, dug in the wrong area, Kai ran off again." The Blue Ninja rambled in explanation as they ran towards the entrance.
She and Jay were the last to enter the caves and as Kai tried to push way a boulder and Cole was berating his behaviour.
"Before you run off again, you need to remember we're a team." He scolded with very little success.
Kai was very close to rolling his eyes as he answered. "Yeah, whatever." Calli was getting annoyed by his behaviour and without looking, she could feel the others felt the same.
The others quickly helped Kai with the boulder, making it quick work of it, revealing a large open space.
The room they entered had large statues of heads Calli had never seen before. In the middle of the room was a Golden Scythe stuck in what looked to be the head of a dragon as if it was the sword Excalibur, waiting for its rightful owner to retrieve it, not that they were the rightful owners. But eh, small details.
Calli had only to look at the weapon once to feel the power radiating from it. It made her somewhat uncomfortable, or very uncomfortable.
"WOW! That's so Cool!" Jay exclaimed, his voice echoing through the mines.
Cole shushed him quickly and walked to the weapon. "Not so loud" With one quick movement, he grabbed the golden Scythe out of the ground, wrapped it in some kind of blanket and tossed it to Kai who was standing closest to him.
"Come on, don't be so paranoid. We're totally on opposite sides of the caves." Jay argued.
"I'm with Cole on this one. Just cuz they're on the opposite site doesn't mean they won't find us." Jay threw a glare in Calli's direction.
"You always side with them." he huffed.
The girl rolled her eyes. "Cuz they 'ave common sense. You don't." It wasn't right to take out her annoyance on him and she knew it but she just wanted this job done with and if his shouting attracted any skeletons it would be bad.
"Zip it, both of you, now that we've got the Scythe, let's sneak you while those boneheads are still busy." Jay gave Calli one last look as she shrunk down at the authority in Cole's voice, pulling her hood back over her eyes.
The black Ninja was the first to exit, the rest quickly followed. "Alright, everyone, stick together. The exit's right around the corner."
And along with the exit was Samukai and the rest of the Skulkin's. Calli could feel her nerves rising to a new level. There was no way they would get out of here without a fight. There were to many even for her stealth skills.
"You can touch Gold, right?" Calli looked up to Zane and nodded reluctantly. "Yeah, I have no problems with gold and silver. Just as long as there is no impurity to it." She didn't know why he wanted to know, she could guess to toss her the weapon in case of emergency.
"But I don't think I'd be able to hold the thing. So, if ye wanna play Monkey Ball with it, count me out." She got some more weird looks. "Besides it's better if I stay here to begin with, ye're the ones with training, not me."
"No, we're not leaving anyone behind, if they were to spot you, we won't able to get to you in time, just stay close to me." Calli pursed her lips into a thin line. She didn't particularly like it but, she'd never been able to refuse anything that sounded like an order. She knew Cole was a capable fighter, as were the others but he had to watch his own back during the fight, didn't he?
Much more time she didn't get as Samukai suddenly poked his head around the corner, effectively making Cole, who was standing at the front, jump back, startled. Behind the Skulkin general, more of the living skeletons she'd seen before.
As Samukai readied his weapons, so did the others. Calli had brought a small knife for the occasion, but it would do very little against an army of, well Bones. Especially if they all had a knife too, Samukai even had four. One in each hand.
The Ninja charged at the same time the Skulkin did. Jay and Kai both making a game from it. But the latter quickly got surrounded by the enemy.
Calli called out for Zane as she ducked under a Skulkin's blow and pointed to the red ninja.
Zane nodded and made sure to get some open space in between them.
"Kai!" He called. "Throw it here!" Kai nodded and tossed the scythe to the white Ninja. Zane then set his eyes on Cole, who ran past them, Calli still on his heels.
"GOING LONG!" The white ninja yelled and Cole caught the Scythe with ease.
"Just cuz I said I didn' wanna play any monkey-ball, didn' mean you guys had to-" Calli's rant was cut short as one of the Skulkin had managed to grab her by her hood and pushed her against the wall. "Lemme go." Of course, her protests fell to deaf ears… or whatever the Skulkin used to listen with.
"Guys! Calli's in trouble!" As Jay yelled it to the rest, Calli was currently reaching for a bone one of the Skulkin lost. As the soldier holding her readied his dagger, her fingers curled around the bone.
She glared at the skeleton. "I said, Lemme Go!" With some luck, and more strength in her body then she thought she had, she managed to knock the skull right of its spine. Zane had by now caught up with her. "Nice swing."
"Thanks. Let's hope I won't 'ave to do that again." They quickly regrouped with the rest. Kai and Jay were surrounded and basically back to back, and Cole had to resort to kicks only, because his hands were full of the scythe which he wasn't able to switch with his regular that strapped on his back.
"There's too many of them!" Exclaimed Kai as the five of them were driven to the middle as if they were cattle.
Calli had once again moved behind Cole, one hand gripping at the fabric of his Gi, unless a miracle happened, they weren't going to get out of this unscathed, or even alive. He looked at her from the corner of his eyes and gave her a nod as if to say she would be fine.
Suddenly Jay cried out as he Head-butted one of the soldiers. "Let me handle it!" and he did, he went all out on every soldier he came across. "It's just like the training course!"
He started to demonstrate. "Over the planks. Dodging swords!" He started to spin quickly. "Here comes the dummy!" Suddenly energy started to build up around him, quickly growing into a tornado of lightning. Jay had used Spinjitsu for the first time.
In the confusion, Cole quickly switched Scythes as he and the others watched in awe.
Kai was the first to snap out of it. "Jay! What's the key?"
The Blue Ninja laughed. "I'm just going through the motions!" Some more skeletons fell. "This is what Sensei must have meant when he said we already know it!"
The other boys reacted with enthusiasm. And while Calli wasn't an "Elemental Master" She could still follow some of the advice. She'd done quite a lot of parcour in Ninjago City and Stiix. She would just have to use the walls and other things in the environment to her advantage.
Kai quickly mimicked and quoted Jay. Kai's Color was, of course red, and it seemed to be leaving a path of heat in its wake.
Zane used his Spinjitzu to go after two more Skulkin Generals, who fled upon seeing the icy cold tornado heading their way. Zane stopped once they were gone.
"I sense you do not stand a chance."
Samukai stepped back. "Retreat!" The boys stopped spinning, leaving only the dust it was made out off.
"Huh, guess they didn't want a Second Serving of these babies." Cole grinned. Kai and Jay both groaned as Calli, who was just done tricking a soldier to ram himself beyond repair into a wall, face-palmed. "Good thing they didn't check the merchandise in the back."
"Okay, ye're not allowed to make puns again, Like, Ever." Cole stuck his tongue out at her but she just shrugged.
The black ninja turned around as the others started to celebrate. His look suddenly changing into one of shock.
"Ehm guys?" They didn't hear him.
"Didn't Sensei say there was a guardian protecting the weapons?"
"Is… that…a…" Calli turned to see what Cole was going on about before diving behind him.
This wasn't good.
"That's not what I think it is, is it?" The Black Ninja had been backing away slowly. Only now did his friends turn.
Standing behind them, was a large brown dragon. Calli wasn't someone that feared dragons, at least not as much as Cole did. But there was a difference between seeing one in a book and seeing one standing in front of you.
Jay laughed nervously. "You mean... A dragon?"
"That sure looks like a dragon." Though there was fear in Kai's voice, it wasn't as bad as Cole.
Zane, however, sounded completely normal and calm. "I sense we won't be able to spin our way out of this one."
The brown, overgrown lizard opened his mouth and shot a ray of dusty energy their way. Everyone threw themselves down on the ground. Once he stopped, everyone wasted no time to get away and hide.
Calli huffed as her hair had gotten out of her ponytail, making the ginger curls free to obscure her vision. Once save she quickly snatched a ribbon out of her pocked and managed to bind it together albeit loosely. It was better to see the dragon, despite how much she wanted to close her eyes and wish it to go way.
"I thought dragons weren't from this world." Cole cried out, backing against the wall as if it were to give him some comfort. The girl could feel him freaking out on the inside more then he actually showed.
Kai uncovered the Scythe he had taken from the Black Ninja and readied it in his hands.
"NO, no. Kai, Bad idea! Sensei told us not to!" Jay noticed the Red Ninja's plan and tried to stop him, to no avail.
"You'd better keep your mouth shut!" Kai yelled and charged at the dragon.
Cole also tried to warn but it was useless as Kai thrusted the weapon into the ground. Large cracks started to appear as the cave started to cave in.
Calli, for once was the one that ran on the front. While she was tied in speed and agility with Jay, her feet were a whole lot more steady and usable to jump from rock to rock and walls if necessary. It wasn't much different from the streets in Ninjago with all the cars. Only this was a lot more potentially fatal, and with the traffic in the city that was saying something.
They had to stop once the room's exits had been completely blocked out.
"What now!" Calli managed to make herself audible above the falling rocks.
"We'll use Spinjitzu." Cole answered once he noticed the roof opening.
Calli's eyes widened, theywould use Spinjitsu. She would be stuck here. Unless maybe she could use the falling rocks to climb up. It was that or the dragon and she figured being killed by rocks was a whole lot more favourable then being mutilated and absolutely broken by a dragon.
Before she could protest however, someone grabbed her and only a few seconds later she was standing outside.
"You okay?" She heard Jay ask and she could only nod, feeling slightly dizzy, thankful he had grabbed her, but not wanting to do that again.
She heard the others celebrate before the familiar voice of Sensei Wu cut them off. "ENOUGH! I told you not to use the Scythe!"
"He did it!" Kai only let out a surprised 'What' as Jay pointed his finger at him, rightfully so.
Cole sounded somewhere in-between conflicted and still coming down from the heart-attack from the dragon. "I warned him, Sensei."
"Using it was my only option!" He defended himself.
"And what makes you think you're more important than the team." Calli opened her mouth to defend Kai but Zane stopped her. It wasn't that fair, seeing as it was either using it or being eaten by a dragon.
"There are still three weapons left." Sensei told the Red Ninja as he walked away. "Maybe next time you could do it right." With that, the discussion was finished.
The Redhead gave Kai a small smile before she walked after the others, Silently praying she wouldn't have to go with them on any more adventures.
And how wrong she is... xD So I'm busy with a sketch of how I see Calli and will try to post it on my Deviantart tonight: XDark-LoversX is my account name.
I actually got a couple of reviews already and I can't thank you guys enough for the nice things you guys said already. :)
I hope you Enjoyed this Chapter and I'll See ya in the next one!