"Cole wait!" Jay called from behind him.
The ninja, Skyler and Wu had come with. Wu having sent the other elemental Masters back to the fortress with the injured.
"I can't see or hear anything but us down here now" Nya whispered.
Kai drew up a ball of fire followed by Skyler. It cast enough light to illuminate just a few feet ahead. They were in one tunnel but different tunnels would head off into other directions.
"So how are we doing this?" Lloyd asked.
"I think it is a very bad idea to split up. There no way of knowing if we are going to run into more kappa. Or worse" Kai replied.
"Or worse is a distinct possibility" Cole answered.
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Elsewhere in the caverns
Clouse drug Bree along behind him. Hovering a bit faster than she would keep up with. She kept sliding and ending up dragging her feet and it was pissing him off.
"Can you even try and keep up?" Clouse snapped at her.
"I'm sorry, you are going fast, I can't see and my shoulder is still killing me" Bree hissed at him.
Growling Clouse stopped causing her to skitter foreword. Then he picked her up and carried her. Bree decided this was far worse than getting drug along like a dog. They made their way to another floor to ceiling door. Clouse opening it with his elemental magic. While he was doing that she carefully pulled a hair ribbon and a few pins from her hair. The braids and updo would be in her face. But... just maybe if the others come it might tell them which direction they went. Clouse slammed the door shut with a clang.
"I have everything prepped and ready. Here are the pages you need for the spell" Clouse said quickly.
"I don't need the pages" Bree answered coldly.
"What really? Hmm I guess your mother schooled you better than I thought she was capable" Clouse mused.
"I will need this dam necklace off. How can I do such a powerful spell with this chocking me" Bree told. Once more pulling the necklace up and off her skin with a finger. Even that burnt.
"I saw how much you can do, I don't need you to pull anything stupid" Clouse told her. His anger and impatient showing.
"In all seriousness I don't get why you didn't bother just asking me or Rowena for help. Until you set the kappa after my family and killed them I didn't have a problem with you. I didn't even know you. So why the gigantic charade that spanned space and time" Bree asked him genuinely curious.
"Your mother wanted nothing to do with me. No matter that I told her Wu could never ever love her like she loved him. Further more she took his side in everything. Including the war with the snakes which of course lead to the island and then to that dam Garmadon killing me." Clouse trailed off muttering.
"How did you know then that her and Wu wouldn't work out? She asked. Perhaps stalling for time would help.
"Because I already knew that Wu was in love with Lloyd's mother and always would be. Wait why do you call him Wu, he's your father?" Clouse asked.
"My mother took off before Wu even knew I existed. We do not have any sort of parental relationship" Bree Explained. That was technically true.
"So do you really think Rowena would have let you help me get back at your father, the rest of the Garmadons, all of Ninjago?" Clouse snapped.
"I tried to kill all three of the Garmodons the first time I met them so you you never know" Bree laughed.
"You were married at that point too. Why would you have have ever left Slate to help me? If I didn't plan on having him killed off you'd still be just as loyal to him and all those other brats" Clouse yelled.
Bree raised an eyebrow at that. Apparently for all he knew her and Slate would have been fine? Unfortunately not. And Bree thought she'd forever regret what happened to him. She never wanted him to die like that after leaving her. But Clouse still apparently didn't know about Cole. Whoever was trying to rewrite fate for him must have stopped, or been killed at some point. Now Bree would do some very sketchy things to save Cole. And its probably best if Clouse never finds that out.
"Get on with the spell. I can't stand being in this form anymore" He said shoving her foreword.
In the center of the room were all the ingredients she needed. If she could figure out any other way to kill him she'd do it. But right now... human was her best bet. Delicately pulling up her purple elemental magic she huffed with the effort. The necklace was not helping. It was just making everything painful. Clouse laughed and moved into the center of the circle. It looked different than the spell Harumi had cast to bring Lord Garmadon back. Little things here and there. Clouse had done his homework on setting everything up perfectly.
Swarming the room like inky rain clouds the magic crackled and snapped. It was unnatural to bring back the dead, even just a body. And Bree's magic didn't like it. Pushing harder she struggled.
"I don't think I can do this with this fucking necklace on" she rasped out.
"You'd better do it or you and your daughter are going to suffer for it" Clouse told her. In a deadly calm voice.
Fine. What do I really care if the spell is crap and the new body starts to fall apart eventually. I don't plan on having him live long enough to find that out Bree thought. Pushing more of her elemental magic through the opening portal. The room went black and Bree fell to the ground panting and squirming in pain.
Just in front of her she could hear Clouse get up. And draw magic up his arms again. Laughing he shot balls of fiery magic off hitting the cavern walls and making terrifyingly large chunks break off. The magic and rock crashing and sounded and felt like an earthquake. Bree didn't look up at him or move. Freezing instead as Clouse walked over to her. Shoving her over onto her back he grabbed her by the front of her sweater and lowered his face down to her.
"You know maybe its better that Rowena turned me down repeatedly for your father. It must have really tugged at his heart strings to have him know his precious only child is mine now. And..." Clouse trailed off. Looking up and down at Bree's figure half sprawled on the floor, "You are so much prettier than your mother."
Bree hauled back in revulsion her eyes rolling back in her head as she felt like she was going to pass out.
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Back in the tunnels
The ninja and Cole still searched the many tunnels and caverns. Coming to dead end after dead end. Suddenly all of them felt it. The wave of magic Bree was using to give Clouse back his mortal body. Then the boom of elemental magic... that was not Bree's. Cole could feel that it wasn't her. And it was raw and unstable. Like the body it was held in. The vibrations in the ground reached them then. With a dark smile Cole knew exactly where they needed to go. And ran with the others following him.
Ahead was a huge crack in the floor. The earth quake had torn the floor to shreds and a giant hole had opened up between them and another door. Cole took it in one leap. Being the tallest and strongest out of all of them made it an easy leap. Nya and Jay next. Wu spinjitzued over an then Skyler with Kai. Kai using a blast of fire to propel himself the last bit.
Lloyd jumped last. And he should have made it save more of the floor collapsing underfoot. Making the jump impossibly long than Lloyd had planned for. He started to fall and the others watched in horror. Jay and Kai grabbed onto Coles arms to stop him from leaping out to try and catch him. They couldn't hold the big guy back and Nya and Skyler also caught onto him.
"Cole no!" Jay cried as his best friend hauled all four of them closer and closer to the edge.
Suddenly, With a combination of his own Airjitzu and a blast of wind Lloyd came flying back up. Crashing into the door with a bang and sliding down comically slow with a groan.
"Lloyd!" Wu shouted pulling his nephew upright.
"How'd Ya do that green bean? I thought you were a gonner. And you were gonna be a pancake at the bottom!" Jay asked in his fast and excited voice.
From behind them a voice caused them to turn in alarm.
"He had a little help" Morro said with amusement.
"I sent you back with the others...Why did you come back?" Wu asked in astonishment.
"Riighhhht like I'll ever hear the end of it if one of you all didn't make it back, Even Lloyd" Morro answered laughing.
Amused and happy Morro was still a little weird and he caught Jay cringing at him. That only made him laugh harder.
Lloyd got up and shook himself off. He didn't know what to say. Morro held his hands up.
"Don't worry, I won't make you say anything. Just next time your mad at me don't forget about it" Morro told him with a smirk.
"Sure, Ill owe you one" Lloyd replied still a little uncomfortable that someone who had tried to kill him and possessed his body like a walking meat puppet willingly saved him.
Cole had to turn away so Lloyd didn't see his face. He knew ex-fucking-actly what Morro was going to call that favor in on.
Lloyd not killing him when he found out that Morro and Harumi were together. Together together.
Looking at the door he spotted something. Shiny and purple. It was a ribbon and a few of Bree's hair pins. He had watched her do her hair today in their room. Watched her braid and pin up her curls out of her face. She dropped these here on purpose so Cole could find her. Coles arms lit up a brilliant red orange. His wife was on the other side of this door with that psychopath that took her and wanted to use her for her magic... and other things. He was going to kill Clouse. And he didn't give a shit what anyone else said about it.
