Cole wakes up on hard stone floor, sprawled out in the darkness. It was cold, and the young boy's teeth chattered. He stands up, trying to regain balance, his head pounding like crazy.

Where am I? Cole thought, looking around. But he couldn't see much since barely any light sifted through. All that he could tell was he was in a cave, and very deep inside of it. But the location of the cave was what Cole puzzled about.

"So you're awake..."

Cole jumps at the sudden voice and turns around.

A woman comes out of the light, holding a candle so the boy could see her face. She was tall and lean, and her face was not only smooth and beautiful, but also adorned in fur. It wasn't so hairy to make it like Bigfoot, but enough to know she wasn't human at all.

"You've been asleep for quite a while, you know." she says.

"What do you want from me?" Cole asks. "Who are you?"

"I don't want anything from you," she replied. "I was protecting you. Hiding you. You, you foolish boy, were out in the open, yelling your voice out. Do you know of the danger you are putting yourself in?"

"What danger?" Cole demands. This woman was being too cryptic, and not to mention kidnapped him for a reason she isn't being clear about.

"The danger of my family," the woman told the young boy. "If they had woken up to the sound of your screaming for your friends, then you would be dead by now. You should be thanking me instead of interrogating me."

"Okay, fine." Cole says. "Thank you. But I don't need rescuing. I can make it fine on my own, you know." The young boy flexes his rather large triceps at the woman. "I'm the strongest in the fifth grade!"

"Don't be so cocky," she warned. "My little brother can probably kill you with two punches." That shut the boy up.

She chuckled and ruffled Cole's hair. As a reflex from when his brother did the same thing, he fixes it once again. But thinking of his brother only brought sadness and sentiment. He still didn't know if Jay was even alive, or perhaps on the boats, frantically looking for him.

As if reading the boy's thoughts, the woman bent down to his height and looked him straight in his dark brown eyes. "Your friends are here, you know." she told him, and Cole felt the pit in his stomach sink away.

"Really?" Cole asked excitedly, and she nodded.

"They're in the mayor's house, gathering supplies and sleeping there." the woman told him, but her face grew grave. "But they won't be for long; I feel an evil presence trying to get them out."

At this, Cole's eyes widened. "I have to save them!" he says, almost yelling, and the woman covers his mouth with a furry hand once again. Cole looked to the side and his heart quickened in fear when he saw long talons not much bigger than a grown man's third finger.

"Boy, you'll die in minutes if you go hunting for them alone," she told the anxious boy. "You're too loud; you're going to wake up my father."

"I'm not scared of him." Cole replied and the woman stared bullets into his eyes.

"...you should be petrified." Her voice was eerie and heavy with warning and fear. Cole lowered his eyes to avoid her gaze, but did not stop speaking with bravery.

"If he's so bad, then come with me." Cole counter argued, knocking the woman off-guard. "My friends wouldn't mind you if you tell them you're not a bad guy, and nobody can really make you come back if they realize you're missing,"

"Yes, they can make me come back." she told him. "And your friends would mind. Look; I look like a monster."

"No you don't." Cole said, looking up. "You look just like me, but with a little fur. My grandma used to have fur on her chin, but my family still loved her,"

At this, the woman suddenly changes her expression briefly, with a small smile and a chuckle, only for it to shift back to the characteristic serious eyes. "I'm sorry. My answer is no. I can't come with you."

Cole's lips straightened in a disappointed thin line. "That's too bad." he told her.

"You should go." the woman muttered. "But know this. If you get captured by my father I won't be there to get you out."

"I get it." Cole replied, smiling, and began to walk out of the cave.

"Wait,"

Cole turned toward her again.

"The evil presence...I recognize it."

"Who?"

Kai couldn't sleep.

His mind was focused on the recurring nightmares that haunted him, and in the back of his head, he knew they meant something important. And on top of that, the creatures are coming back, and with more like them. It was extremely difficult to hold one back; what if more came? What would happen then?

Thoughts swirled around the male teenager as he lay awake on his couch, worrying. Worrying about his safety and his life; not to mention Jay's.

And most of all Nya's.

This made Kai sigh even more. Because above all things, he still loved his sister, but he was too angry and stubborn that it clouded everything. Kai knew he had a sister. One that he loved. He was wrong to tell her he didn't.

Kai looked at Nya, who was sleeping with her eyes squeezed shut. He supposed she wasn't sleeping well either. He continued to look at her, and with longing; not how Jay does, but longing for everything to be normal again. For the two to stop bickering and be in the same room without creating any tension.

But the moment was suddenly ceased when a tingle rushes through Kai; the same one that told him to look for Jay in the woods the day before. And now it was telling him something different.

"He's coming...Cole...he's heading towards you. Wait for him outside, and keep your wits about. Send Nya to look for food, and Jay to collect firewood. Now."

And just as before, a rush rippled through Kai's body, as if it flowed right out of him. Immediately, Kai bolted up and shook both Jay and Nya awake. They had no trouble of doing so; being awake was easier than staying asleep.

"Guys," Kai started, then hesitated. He was unsure if he wanted to tell them about his strange 'rushes', and about the valuable information that came with it. Kai didn't know how he would explain it.

"...guys, we need firewood and some food. We're running out." Kai tells them instead.

"So?" Nya asked.

"So I need you to get the food," Kai tells her, pointing to Nya. "And Jay to get the firewood."

"Why don't you go?" Jay asks, suspicious. "You're just going to stay here?"

"Yes," Kai replied, almost stern. "I need to watch over the house so those creatures don't steal our stuff while we're gone. I'm going to stay here."

Knowing Kai is never going to tell the two any differently, Jay and Nya don't say anything else of the argument. "Fine." Jay replied, and turned to Nya.

"I'll walk you out. Let's meet back here in an hour?" Jay asked her, and she nodded.

"Sure." Nya said. And Kai watched the two walk out the door, with sacks from the corner of the room, and close it behind them.

Nya split ways with Jay outside in the crisp but cold air. She looked to the mountains, where the sun still remained in the same spot; at least, until about a day or two later.

She walked down the path and in the empty street. The person-less town made Nya develop a pit in her stomach and tears into her eyes. It was all a reminder that they were left behind, and everybody else that she loved were on those boats. And there was nothing to bring them back, or to bring the three friends to them.

But Nya shook her head free of those thoughts; they weren't going to help them get off of Ninjago.

Nya entered the sidewalk that outlined the base of many stores and restaurants. And Nya knew that some of them aren't locked; she knew both the town and the residents very well.

So after about fifty minutes, Nya's sack was full. She was about to head back to the room when a noise thundered across the street.

Running footsteps.

Somebody was coming.

Panicking, Nya hid behind a pillar in a wall, and she took out her sheathed knife. She had swiped it from the mayor's house, ignoring why Mayor Dareth would keep something like this.

Slowing and calming her breath, Nya holds the sheathed knife close to her chest, ready to strike as soon as the creature came close enough. And she could tell it wouldn't be for long before it was; his footsteps were getting louder, and his heavy panting was too.

Timing it just right, Nya pivoted and struck the creature as hard as she could, feeling her weapon hit something rather hard and solid. The body fell to the ground, rolling around and groaning.

Nya looked down to see it, but gasped with horror. This was no creature. He wasn't even an enemy.

"...Zane?"