Chapter Eight: Solo Mission

The sick ninja had finally gotten warm (all it had taken was an entire volcano!) and Kai had the opportunity to just relax on the bridge.

"I just need two seconds by myself," he said as he slouched back in a chair, and precisely two seconds later, the emergency alarm rang. "Seriously?"

Slowly getting out of his chair, Kai turned off the alarm and was about to see what the problem was. The other ninja and Nya, also hearing the alarm, came running onto the bridge as fast as the blankets wrapped around them allowed.

"What's the trouble?" Jay said with a stuffed up nose.

Kai was about to say, "I haven't checked yet," but stopped himself when he realized that his friends needed rest, not a mission. Knowing they would never let him go alone if there was trouble, he instead told them, "Oh . . . uhh . . there's no trouble. Nope, no trouble at all. I . . uh . . accidentally set off the alarm. Everything is just fine."

The ninja and Nya gave Kai suspicious looks, but accepted what he had said because of his "special way with technology".

Once the others were out of sight, the red ninja looked to see what the trouble was; that was one thing he knew how to do on his sister's computer. There appeared to be some suspicious skeleton movement a few miles into the forest. Kai knew that a skeletons put up an easy fight for a well trained ninja and figured he would be completely fine going without his team. He was more concerned about how he could leave the Bounty for a bit without arousing suspicion.

"Hey, Kai?" Lloyd yelled from the other room, breaking Kai's train of thoughts.

"Yeah?" the red ninja called back as he made his way to the others.

After sniffing, Lloyd said, "We have officially run out of tissues."

Normally, Kai might have replied, "Well what do you want me to do about it?" but sensing a perfect opportunity to slip away, he instead said, "I'll just go to a shop and get some more then."

"But, Kai," Zane said, "The nearest shop is miles away."

"Uhh, that's alright. I could use the walk anyway. If I'm not back in a few hours, go ahead and take some more medicine if you start to feel worse."

And with that, Kai grabbed his sword and set off, not to a shop, but to see what some suspicious looking skeletons were up to.

Exiting the Bounty into the hot, fresh air was a massive relief from the stuffy, sick air in the ship. Taking a deep breath, Kai set off.

As he began to get closer to the location where the skeletons were seen, the fire ninja climbed up a tree and nimbly swung from branch to branch so as not to be spotted. Soon, his target was in sight and Kai stopped in a tree directly above them. He counted a total of seven skeletons, a few more than he originally anticipated, and moved down a few branches to get a better listen at what they were saying.

"Well, we could have raided that fire temple tonight if it weren't for the boat that fell from the sky," one of the skeletons said.

"Don't ya know? That's the ninja's ship," another one said, making sure to add extra bitterness to the word "ninja".

"So make sure you keep your guard up," Kai determined as the group leader said. "They're sneaky, and where there's one, another isn't too far behind."

"Then it's a good thing we brought preparations," said a fourth, sending the group into a laugh.

At this remark, Kai gulped. There was, however, another thing bothering the ninja about these rogue skeletons-something about them was just not quite right. They did not really sound or act like any skeletons he had encountered before. Crouching down on his branch to get a closer look, Kai heard a snapping noise, but before he could react, the branch broke from under him. He fell to the ground with a thud and found himself surrounded by all seven skeletons.

"Well look at what we have here."

Alright so I think I got rid of my writer's block or at least just temporarily, but thanks for being patient. Hopefully it is gone for good because I've got lots of stories in the back of my mind to write. Please leave me a review and feel free to use constructive criticism. :) I always love to hear your input.

Thank you so much, WhenTheSunFallsDown, Ningymnistgirl, JayaForever421, AwesomeDisneyWolfChild, The Mayor of Ninjago City, Kairocksrainbow, Aldecaalfi, Suika-69, NWN Night Walker Ninja, FirstFandomFangirl, SweetHeart114, Artimes' Thorns, Guest, INFJwriter, LeoHamato, AntauriFangirl13, Kai's Girlfriend, ZaneLoverFan88, and turtlepower12, for reviewing/following/favouriting. XD I appreciate each one.

WhenTheSunFallsDown: Well it made my day that it made your day. :)

FirstFandomFangirl: Your review put a huge smile on my face. :D

Artimes' Thorns: I'll take that into consideration.

God bless!