Jay groaned and rolled on his back. A fire-like sensation rippled across, and he cried out in pain. He sat up, and he realized that his stomach was wrapped in shredded cloth, and his arms were tied behind him. His back still tingled with pain, and it felt as if it reached the bone.

His neck also hurt terribly as he tried to move, and he tasted a metallic taste near his mouth. It was grainy as it rolled on his tongue, and immediately, Jay spat it out. He had tasted dirt.

It was obvious that he couldn't move.

Then a terrible thought hit him in the head, and immediately, he called out quietly, "Nya! Cole! Zane?"

But all that answered him was silence and blackness, and he sat in the middle of it. "Guys?"

"They're not going to answer you, you know."

The voice had been close by, as if the being that the voice belonged to was right above him. But of course Jay couldn't tell, since the darkness totally surrounded him.

"Help me," he said, and coughed as the dust on the cave floor entered his mouth.

"But I already have. If it weren't for me, you would have frozen to death outside."

Slowly Jay began to gather his senses. The voice was definitely male, deep and even, and he could clearly tell he wasn't alone with the being. He could feel dozens more eyes on him, and for all he knew, they were no closer than the speaker was to him just then.

"...Who are you?" Jay asked, his voice hoarse, and he coughed again. "What do you want with me? Why do you want me alive?"

"I'll explain all soon." said the voice. "But only when you've told me where you've taken her."

"Who?"

"My daughter."

"Your daughter?"

"Misako. I know that you've taken her, and I know that you know where she is."

"I don't know anyone named Misako! I swear! I don't know where she is!"

"Liar!"

Suddenly Jay was thrown across the air; he felt the feeling of his body leaving the ground and flying through midair, and he hit a rock wall on his back, and he cried out.

"Make him climb the wall with the others." The voice called. "Maybe it'll get him and his friends to talk."

Then Jay felt furry limbs wrap around his arms and drag his feet across the pebbled cave floor. He hung his head, not bothering to look up. He closed his eyes; he was tired, both physically and emotionally. Tired of running, tired of being captured, tired of this adventure. Jay wished that it was over, and he was on the boats headed for the Dark Island.

Suddenly Jay could see light through his closed eyelids, and he opened them. He was in a crevice, two walls surrounding him and the army dragging him, which he now knew were Turans. The walls grew high, ten times or more his height.

The Ninjago Canyon. Jay thought. So that's where their Nest is.

"Hurry up!" the male voice yelled. "I don't want to wait."

Jay was dragged to the rock wall on his left, his head still down, until a familiar voice spoke to him.

"Jay? Is that you?"

He raised his head and looked over to see Nya. Her short hair was ratted, her eyes drooping, and dirt all over her face. Her clothes were battered, ripped, and dirty, and she looked tired.

But by far, she was the most beautiful woman Jay had ever seen her.

"It's me, Nya. Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine. Bruised and aching, but fine." she replied, sounding almost breathless. "Why did they bring us here?"

"I don't know." Jay sighed. "I wish I did. Where's Cole and Zane?"

Nya shrugged and shook her head. "Don't know. I came out alone, about ten minutes before you did."

Then the voice the had spoken to Jay in the cave yelled again. "If the children won't talk, I suppose we'll make them...CLIMB THE WALL!"

"What?" both Jay and Nya said. They looked at the steep cannon wall ahead of them, the one that led to the forest at the top.

"Think about all those times that you came home to your houses to find their skin cells, their finger and toe nails, and their germs. These humans treat us with no respect. They're frail! They're weak! So how's it to prove it, and make them climb this wall? If they make it, well, they're free. But if not, they die."

The Turan that said this was the same one in the cave with Jay. He came through the group of Turans gathered around Jay and Nya, and looked them in the eye.

"You!" Jay exclaimed. "You killed Wu!"

"Perhaps," the Overlord said. "And now I'm going to kill you too."

Jay and Nya had to turn their bodies to look at the Overlord. They were tied to the cliff so that they wouldn't move. "Cut the ropes!" he called, and two Turans came forward and did so. "Climb!"

The two had nowhere else to go but up. They were surrounded by the creatures, again, and it would be useless to fight them.

"Let's go." Nya said, turning to Jay, and smiled. Then she grabbed hold of the cliff and began to climb, Jay following suit.

Not a great lengths away, Kai jumped down into the crevice and felt himself free-fall, then caught himself on the wall, digging his talons into the canyon's cracks and holes. Then slowly he lowered himself down the wall until he reached the bottom.

Everything was empty, but he could tell that the Turans were definitely there. He could hear with his high-tuned ears their excited shouts and voices.

Kai got down on his hands and knees and felt his talons touch the rock floor. Then as fast as he could, he began to run.