AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Howdy! This is The Mayor of Ninjago City with a new story called Trapped in The Big Valley. I am posting the starting chapter today in honor of the FOUR-YEAR anniversary of my story The Fire Within a Ninjago Soldier.
You might be asking why I don't just post the next chapter of my soldier story. Well, I've hit a bit of a snag with the plot of that tale, and I'm mulling over where I want to take the story in its next chapter. So while I'm still mulling, I'm pursuing this idea for a crossover of two of my favorite TV shows.
I assume that most of you reading this are familiar with the TV show Ninjago, which features our favorite ninjas as they battle evil.
For those of you who aren't familiar with the TV show The Big Valley, it features the well-to-do Barkley family as they manage their ranch near Stockton, California in the late 1800s. Victoria Barkley is the family matriarch. Her sons are Jarrod, Nick, and Heath, and her daughter is Audra. Silas is their faithful butler.
The tale you are about to read below takes place approximately two years after my story The Fire Within: An Unforgettable Honeymoon, in which Kai and his brand new bride Samantha encounter danger just after their wedding.
I hope you, my dear reader, will enjoy this first chapter of Trapped in The Big Valley!
Chapter 1 - An Unplanned Journey Begins
"Is the portal open yet inside the stable, Nya?" Jay shouted into his wrist comlink before dodging another ball of energy from Sebastian, the evil sorcerer with whom the ninja were currently engaging in battle. The protectors of Ninjago had tracked their nemesis to the stable of a horse farm and surrounded him, and they were now relentlessly firing their elements at him to try to neutralize him.
"I'm still working on it!" Nya wailed back from her remote post on the Bounty, frantically pushing buttons on the computer console. "I wish Sebastian hadn't shown up before we could completely test the functionality!" She was using a new portal program which she and Jay had developed. When the evil sorcerer unexpectedly managed to escape from the island to which he had been exiled, the decision was made to use the portal program to recapture him. The ninja team planned to force the enemy through the portal, landing him into a cell at Kryptarium Prison which was specially designed to prevent him from using his dark magic to escape.
"Technology troubles, Master of Lightning?" Sebastian sneered from the doorway of the stable, his eyes constantly darting around the yard between the stable and the farmhouse, watching for strikes from the ninja while shooting energy balls of his own.
"Not as much trouble as you're in right now!" the blue ninja shouted his retort. Indeed, he could observe his comrades at their various vantage points around the farmyard, and they looked as determined as ever to capture their prey. Kai looked especially resolute, and Jay understood why, after what Kai's wife Samantha had endured at the hands of the scumbag last year.
"Ho hum! This is becoming quite boring!" Sebastian called out. "I think I shall go inside and take a restful nap!" And with that, he retreated into the horse stable.
Lloyd emerged from behind a rain barrel, a few yards to Jay's right. "I'm heading to the stable door! Cover me, Jay!"
"Got yer back, pardner!" Jay affirmed, keeping vigilant as he watched the green ninja scurry across the expanse of farmyard to approach the stable door. But there were no aggressive moves from the evil sorcerer. The farmyard and its surroundings were quiet.
When Lloyd reached a rain barrel near the stable door, he crouched low. He pointed to Zane, Cole, and Kai and wordlessly signaled that they should station themselves on the other side of the stable. Then he pointed to Jay and silently beckoned to him to join him at the rain barrel. Jay did so.
Together, the two swiftly climbed the three short stairs and flanked the stable door with their backs against the wall, ready to burst in and use their powers at a moment's notice.
Lloyd cocked his head to listen for any movement inside the building. Hearing none, he waved at Jay to follow him inside.
The stable, with about a dozen stalls on each side of the passageway to the other end of the structure, was tranquil. Half of the stalls were occupied with horses.
"Surrender now, Sebastian! Remember, you're surrounded!" Lloyd called out. He quietly signaled to Jay to check each stall on one side while he scouted the stalls on the other.
The search of first few stalls proved fruitless for Lloyd, but as he peered over the gate of a stall with a black horse, the animal spit fluid into his eyes. The green ninja moaned and fell to his knees, clutching his face.
Jay immediately turned around and began to rush to his brother's aid, but the black horse suddenly morphed into Sebastian, and Jay found himself unable to take another step, as if his feet were stuck to the ground.
"Do not bother with attempting to save your fellow ninja, Master of Lightning. Merely bid him goodbye, as I am about to send him to the Cursed Realm!"
"Guys, help!" Jay yelled. "Lloyd's hurt!"
"They cannot save the green ninja, either, I'm afraid," Sebastian chuckled diabolically. "I have put a force field around the building to prevent them from entering."
"Please get the portal open NOW, Nya!" Jay urgently pleaded into the comlink.
"I just changed some code and pushed the button and...it's...working! Oh, it's working!" Nya squealed.
Suddenly, a black shimmery hole appeared over Sebastian's head, and his evil grin turned into a frown as a wind from the hole began to pull the tails of his black frock coat and the ends of his long black hair upward.
"How...how is this possible without magic?" he sputtered as the strength of the wind grew, and with it the decibel level inside the stable.
Jay marveled at the evidence that the portal technology was indeed working.
Sebastian attempted to step out from underneath the hole, but by then the wind was strong enough to lift him off the ground.
"No! No! I will not be taken by this anomaly!" he cried as he reached for a railing of the stall. He managed to cling to it, but only for a second.
"Nooooo!" he wailed as the hole finally sucked him up into its interior. Then, just as suddenly as the hole appeared, it vanished, and the stable became quiet once again. The horses acted as if nothing had happened.
"Nya! Make sure Sebastian went to Kryptarium!" Jay directed through the comlink. "He went through the portal!"
The blue ninja next turned his attention to Lloyd, who sat on the ground rubbing the back of his head. Jay instinctively ran to him, surprised and pleased that his feet could move again.
"You OK, Lloyd?" he inquired, crouching down to the green ninja's level.
The blond young man looked up at his friend with a bewildered expression. "Yeah. My eyes stopped stinging as soon as the noise stopped."
"That's good!" Jay stood up and entered the stall where Sebastian had stood only a minute ago. As he examined the area, he mused, "I wonder if our portal program left any -"
His ruminations were interrupted by a big rush of wind. He looked up and saw blackness above him.
"Another portal?!" he exclaimed. "Nya! A second portal opened up! Shut down the program!" he yelled into the comlink.
"What?! Another portal? How can that be? There's no location registered on the other side of it!"
"I dunno, but shut it down! Now!" Jay panicked, his body beginning to rise from the ground. By this time, Lloyd had scrambled to his feet to aid his blue-clad brother, grabbing onto his arm and holding on to a stall rail.
"Hurry, Nya!" The wind lifted Jay off his feet. Now he was upside down, clutching Lloyd.
"I'm trying!"
"Can't hold on much longer!" Lloyd called out, gritting his teeth as he struggled to retain his grip on the stall rail.
"Please, you've got to!" Nya begged. "I just need a minute to…"
The other ninja brothers ran into the stable, just in time to see their comrades disappear into the vortex. The vortex vanished, and suddenly, all was quiet once again.
As the horrified brothers stared at the location of the action that had just taken place, they saw a small metal object drop to the ground and heard the clink.
It was Jay's wrist comlink.