Chapter 14 – I know who I am
The sun was high over the horizon as the ninja followed Zane as he followed the hawk, but they followed him from a good distance. They were arriving in a large forest with lots of snow and ice on the ground, a few snowy mountains in the distance, and there were many tall trees with long dead limbs. But Cole, Kai and Jay began to get tired and fell behind, while Zane kept following the flying bird into the large wintery forest. Suddenly the ninja were out of breath and stopped for a breather.
"Oh, I can't run anymore," Cole panted.
"Yeah, I bet Zane's ran a marathon before," Jay panted. Kai was the only one who kept walking, but he only walked a few inches as he accidently tripped over some hard object buried in the snow.
"Son of a-!" Kai exclaimed but cut himself off when he turned back at the lump in the snow, "that wasn't snow, was it?" asked Kai.
"What is that?" Cole asked as he and Jay walked over to Kai and helped him up as they all stared at the lump in the snow. Jay leaned down and rubbed the snow away, and they found out it was a small wooden picket sign with words carved into it.
"It says something, but I can't quite make it out," Jay said as he squinted at the old writing on the sign, "though it looks like it says 'BEWARE OF TREEHORNS'," Jay said as he read the sign aloud.
"Treehorns? What in all of Ninjago are those?" asked Kai.
"I don't know, but we thought dragons and Serpentine couldn't exist, when lo and behold they do, so I think we should listen to this warning," Cole said as he looked at the sign. Suddenly a low and loud wailing was echoing through the woods.
"What was that?" Jay whimpered.
"I don't know, but we better go," Kai pointed out, and they began to run after Zane again. But Zane was no longer in sight.
The said ice ninja was much father ahead as he followed the hawk. Suddenly, as Zane approached a tree with a very large trunk, the hawk stopped flying and plummeted to the snowy ground. Zane gasped as he ran up to the bird. But when Zane saw the bird close up, he realized the bird was twitching and electrical sparks flew from the bird's body, as if it were a robot. Zane's silver eyes widened.
"A robot?" Zane said in awe as he gaped at the bird, but then he picked it up. Suddenly Zane looked up and noticed the large tree in front of him and gasped.
"This place—it was the first thing I remember in my life—it was tree I awoke in," Zane said and walked up to the tree. Zane hit his knuckles on the tree bark, but it wasn't bark, it was metal made to look like bark. And each time Zane knocked on the metal bark, the bark made a low CLANK noise. Zane walked to a different side of the tree, and found a large crack in the tree, but it was actually a large metal door left slightly open. Zane reached for the door and pulled it open with slight ease. As the door swung slowly all the way open, the bright mid-day light reflecting off the snow seeped into the large dark room in the fake tree.
The room was underground, so a spiraling staircase spun down from the door Zane was at and lead to the floor of the room. There was a bed on the floor with a few old blankets. Many old pipes and water tanks were in the room too, as well as some very old and dusty computers.
Zane walked carefully down the stairs and into the circular room. When Zane looked at a table in the room, he noticed a table with some old blue prints. Zane walked up to the table and grabbed a single sheet of blue prints. The blue prints on the paper Zane picked up had an exact picture of the hawk he was holding, showing many visible wires and gadgets in the hawk.
"Hmm," Zane hummed as he put the paper down and opened a chest panel on the hawk, revealing the gadgets that were said to be their on their on the robot hawk's blue prints. Zane saw a few bent and dislocated wires in the hawk, so he straightened them and put them back into place. When Zane was finished repairing the bird, the birds eye flickered open, and he fluttered his wings. Zane adjusted the bird so the hawk would perch on his wrist.
"That must feel much better, right?" Zane asked with a smile, the bird only took Zane be surprise and flew off of Zane and landed on one of the stairs and stared down at Zane.
"What I don't get is why you would bring back here—and why would your blue prints be here too?" Zane asked as he turned and looked at the other old blue prints. Zane spread the papers out, until he saw one of the papers had his name written on it.
"Huh?" Zane asked as he pulled the blue prints with his name on it out. Zane stared at the paper for a matter of seconds before his eyes went as wide as dinner plates and he began to hyperventilate. As Zane went into panic mode, the hawk blinked its yellow eyes, and they once again became a glowing blue color.
Outside, the other ninja were running up to the tree, and they skidded to a halt when they saw the tree had a giant metal door hanging open.
"Uh, is there supposed to be a door on that tree—or is the tree just some genetically modified hybrid?" Jay asked as he turned his head at a ninety degree angel to stare at the tree.
"I bet Zane's been here; let's go," Cole ordered and he and the other two walked up to the tree and through the door. When they arrived at the top of the spiraling staircase in the tree, they gasped when they saw Zane sitting slumped up against the wall with his head tilted upwards and his eyes closed.
"Zane, what the heck are you doing in a tree?" Jay asked as he looked around while he and Kai and Cole walked down the stairs. But since Kai couldn't see the last step, he missed the step and fell flat on the floor.
"Ow," Kai said as his voice was muffled by the floor. Cole helped Kai up.
"Now I know," Zane simply said without looking at anyone.
"Know—what?" asked Cole.
"Now I know why I didn't need oxygen when I was being choked, why I don't have a sense of humor—or why I'm not like you, because I'm not you," Zane said softly.
"Well, yeah I mean, I'm Jay, they're Kai and Cole, and you're Zane, duh," Jay joked.
"No—I mean I'm not human," Zane said as he finally got up and looked at the boys.
"Ix-may on the Onfusion-cay," Kai said flatly in Pig-Latin. Zane only sighed as he pulled up his ninja suit, revealing his bare torso, and opened a chest panel, just like the hawk. Cole and Jay jumped back and shrieked, but Kai remained still and confused.
"What am I missing?" asked Kai.
"You're missing the fact that Zane's a robot," Cole whimpered as he stared at the buttons and lights and wires inside Zane, meaning he was a robot.
"Yeah," Jay sighed, "and it's so cool, you're a robot ninja, no, a Nindroid!" Jay exclaimed happily.
"A what?" Cole and Kai asked in unison.
"I had a humor switch, and it was switched off this whole time," Zane said as he pointed to a switch in him with the label 'Humor.'
"So that's why you never got idioms," Jay sighed.
"And I'd rather keep it that way," Zane said softly, and closed the panel and put his suit back down over him.
"So, now that-," Kai began, but Zane interrupted him.
"Wait, hold on Kai," Zane cut in, and grabbed an empty glass cup that he found and went over to a nearby sink, and rushing water noises were soon heard.
"Huh, I'm surprised this place still has plumbing," Cole piped up.
Zane turned off the water and the glass was filled with clear and clean water. Zane walked over to Kai and stood directly in front of him. Kai looked confused. Suddenly Zane just splashed the water right into Kai's eyes. Kai winced and rubbed his eyes. But when Kai opened his eyes again, they were no longer green, and were back to normal. Kai gasped and smiled.
"Hey, I can see! I didn't see what that was? What was it, some kind of scientific liquid substance that can cure all?" Kai asked happily as he blinked away the water in his eyes.
"That there was H2O," Zane replied flatly and put the glass down.
"Oh," Kai said with a dull look, "so, as I was saying, you said you'd come back to the team after you found out who you were, so will you come back?" Kai continued.
"I can't. Yes, I did say I would return when I said I discovered who I was, but I didn't. I only discovered what I was, and I don't know who built me, and why," Zane explained.
"What are you saying?" asked Cole.
"I can't go back, not yet, at least, so please just leave me," Zane said reluctantly as he turned his back to the ninja.
The boys all exchanged sad glances before reluctantly heading back up the stairs and out of the tree. It was quiet, until the hawk flew down and landed on the table in front of Zane, making Zane look at the bird. The bird leaned down, for he was standing on Zane's blue prints, and he pecked the paper. Zane looked at the spot the bird pecked and noticed the hawk was pecking at a picture of a switch located in Zane. Zane gasped and lifted his suit up and quickly opened the panel, he looked down at a stray switch labeled 'Memory.'
"I have a memory switch?" Zane said as he looked at the switch, and then he saw that it was switched off. "The Memory Switch" by Jay Vincent begins to play. So Zane slowly flipped the switch on. And suddenly Zane went stiff and his silver eyes began to glow.
Zane had flashbacks of himself in the tree. Zane was dressed in all white, white long sleeved shirt, white jeans, and white sneakers.
The first thing he saw was a man with brown hair, green eyes, and wore glasses. After that memory, Zane remembered taking a first step, most likely just after being built, and he looked up and saw his reflection in a mirror he and the man was standing in front of. Zane looked over at the man. He was wearing lab clothes.
"Hello Zane, I'm your creator, Dr. Julian," the man, Dr. Julian, said softly to Zane.
Zane had another flashback of when he and his dad were cooking some homemade soup.
Another flashback of Dr. Julian first introducing the hawk to Zane appeared.
A flashback of Zane and Dr. Julian, with the hawk perched on Zane's shoulder as they posed and their picture was taken together came too.
And finally, a flashback of Dr. Julian as an old man laying on the bed in the room, and he raised a shaky hand towards Zane. Zane was staring sadly down at his dying creator.
"Zane, before I go, know that I built you to protect those who can't protect themselves, and I want you to fulfill that wish of mine," Dr. Julian said softly, and Zane nodded with a soft smile, "and what I'm about to do—is only because you were like my son, and I love you," Dr. Julian said with a smile and took off his glasses. Zane's smile disappeared as Dr. Julian reached a weak hand towards Zane's chest panel and opened it. Dr. Julian reached for Zane's 'Memory' switch and flipped it off. Just as Zane's memory went away, he went stiff and stared at nothing in particular, and Dr. Julian took his last breath, closed his eyes, and his glasses slid from his hand and fell to the floor.
Zane snapped back to reality, as his eyes stopped glowing, and he remained quiet. Suddenly, a black liquid leaked from one of Zane's eyes. Zane noticed the black liquid on his face and wiped it clean off, and he stared t it on his hand.
"Oil," Zane said softly, "a robot cries oily tears," Zane said sadly, and let his hand drop to his side. Zane then turned towards the bed and noticed a small rectangle shaped figure covered by a piece of cloth. Zane removed the cloth, and found it was the picture taken of Zane, Dr. Julian and the hawk together in a picture frame.
Meanwhile, the other three ninja just waited outside the tree.
"Poor Zane, it must be a lot to take in to know that you're not human," Cole sighed.
"Yeah, and let's not put more pressure on the guy-I mean robot-or whatever, and make him come back when he doesn't want to; let's just go back, I'm sure he'll return soon," Kai explained.
But before the ninja even took one step to head back, slow, and loud thumping noises were heard throughout the forest, as if a dinosaur were walking on the ground.
"Ok, this was why I hated Jurassic Park," Jay said, as the thumping continued. Suddenly, the cracking and the falling noises of trees were heard. A nearby tree was suddenly uprooted, along with three other perfectly squared trees.
"Uh, trees aren't supposed to move!" Cole exclaimed with fear. The low wailing from earlier was heard again. More and more trees around the ninja were becoming uprooted, and were actually beginning to walk with any other three trees.
Back inside the tree, Zane picked up the picture and examined it sadly. "Zane's True Potential" by Jay Vincent began to play.
"I won't let you down—father," Zane said softly. But suddenly the moment was ruined when loud screaming noises coming from the ninja outside. Zane put the picture down, and put up his ninja mask up and over his face as he ran up the stairs.
But when Zane got back outside, he saw the others doing Spinjitzu and they had their golden weapons out as they were fighting a tall creature.
The creature walked on four legs that blend in with the trees, and their legs were many, many, many yards tall. They had slim ant shaped bodies, and even giant ant shaped heads, and they had massive jaws with fangs. But the towering creatures also had no eyes. The ninja were outnumbered as they fought about six or seven of the creatures. Kai stopped fighting and was first to notice Zane.
"Zane, they're Treehorns!" Kai said, and he grabbed out the now noticeable golden Shurikans of Ice he was carrying.
"Here!" Kai exclaimed as he threw the shurikans to Zane. Zane caught his golden weapon in his hands.
Zane didn't know what to do, so he just stood there as he watched the many ton weighing Treehorns to almost crush his brothers in a single stomp.
"There may be an 'I' in ninja, but their isn't in 'team'!" Zane exclaimed firmly. Zane suddenly threw both his shurikans at the last minute as the group of Treehorns surrounded the ninja, and the shurikans shot ice from themselves, and the ice shot at the Treehorns' knees and froze their knee joints. The shurikans came flying back to Zane like boomerangs, but then Zane threw them again. And this time, the shurikans were thrown right at the Treehorns' knees, and since their knees were covered in breakable ice, when the shurikans struck each and every knee, the knees broke apart, and the Treehorns fell to the ground, each with a very loud THUD. And when the Treehorns' heavy bodies fell from such a great distance off the ground, when they all landed, their spines made a sickening crack sound, and they roared and shrieked in pain.
"Nice one, Nindroid," Jay complemented.
"Thank you for the complement and insult—but we aren't done here," Zane said, and with that, more deep thumping and roaring was head. A big shadow loomed over the ninja as they tried to step back in fear.
"What is that?" Cole whimpered.
"The Queen," Zane replied.
They were all staring upon a Treehorn much bigger than the others, and she had multiple purple colored eyes on her face.
"We're gonna die!" Jay exclaimed with fear.
"No!" Zane exclaimed as he stepped forward to the Queen Treehorn, "I know who I am now, and as long as I know I am Zane, I won't let you hurt them!" Zane yelled at the Queen Treehorn.
The queen roared at Zane, but suddenly Zane threw his shurikans up in the air, and they lined up with each other and spun as they remained in mid-air. The holes in the golden shurikans were aimed right at the queen. Suddenly Zane drew his hand back, and he acted as if he were holding something, but nothing was visible in his hand. But suddenly a very large, long and sharp spear made out of ice formed in Zane's hand.
"Whoa," the other ninja said in awe.
Zane grunted as he threw the ice spear. Things slowed down and went silent as the spear approached the mid-air shurikans and flew right towards the holes. As soon as the sharp tip of the spear just barely reached the shurikans, things sped up again. The ice spear shot straight through the holes of the two shurikans, and as soon as the spear went through, it was engulfed in a white color. The shurikans jerked back as the spear suddenly got a major speed boost from them and it continued to shoot right for the queen. The spear soon impaled the Queen Treehorn in the neck. The queen roared in pain and staggered before falling to the ground. The Queen Treehorn took a few more rasping breaths before she stopped moving, and was gone. The shurikans suddenly stopped spinning and floating and plopped down into the snow. Zane walked up to his shurikans and picked them up.
"Zane—are you ok?" Cole asked softly, breaking the silence. Zane turned and cracked a smile at his metaphorical brothers.
"Never better—come, let's all go home," Zane said softly, making the others smile, and they eventually began their trek back to Destiny's Bounty.
In the icy tomb of the Hypnobrai, all the tribes, Hypnobrai, Fangpyre, Constrictai and Venomarai were all gathered together. While the four generals of the tribe, Fangtom, Skales, Skalidor, and Acidcus, along with Pythor, were getting the attention of the four tribes.
"Listen, all tribes, I am Pythor, general of the now deceased Anacondrai tribe, but I stand before you, along with your generals, to ask of you all to join together so we can make the surface dwellers of Ninjago suffer beneath our claws, so what do you ssssssay?!" Pythor announced, earning cheering hisses and evil cackling from the Serpentine. Pythor smiled at this.
"Good, that means yes, but I will tell you that the reason I am gathering all of the tribes is so we can release The Great Devourer!" Pythor announced, making the cheers louder.
"Yesss, the very one and only snake that we worship as our god, we will set him free, and he will destroy all of Ninjago, making the strength of us Ssserpentine known!" Pythor yelled over the cheering.
"Sssssilence you goonssss!" Skalidor boomed in his low voice, and the cheering stopped.
"Thank you, Skalidor," said Pythor, "now, to set the Great Devourer free, we must find the only things that will release it: the Four Silver Fang Blades. They say to find them we need the venom from each Serpentine tribe!" Pythor yelled.
With that, Pythor grabbed out the map of the Serpentine tombs, the one he stole from Lloyd, and unrolled it so the crowd could see it. Pythor then turned the map horizontal in his claws, and then he bared his fangs over the paper. Dark purple colored venom began to drip from his fangs and onto the parchment.
"Generals, spill your venom, and the locations of the Four Fang Blades will be revealed," Pythor demanded, and soon the other four Serpentine tribe generals gathered around the paper, and allowed their venom to drop from their fangs and onto the map. The exotic colored venom of the generals mixed together and spread out among the map, and soon, pictures that once seemed invisible, began to appear on the map in front of their eyes. The generals looked down at the map agape. Pythor began to chuckle evilly.
"Yesss," Pythor hissed with a grin.