Chapter 9
Zane wearily looked over at his brothers and Nya, the worry and concern etched over all of the ninjas' faces. Cole held a frown over his face, thick eyebrows knitted together in concentration whilst he poured over the map which Lloyd had spread onto the kitchen table. Together the two were placing crosses over the areas they had checked, Lloyd tucking his hair behind his ears and biting his lip as they crossed off yet another area. Jay was nervously drumming his fingers against the chair top which he was leaning against, causing Nya to turn from where she stood, looking over Lloyd's shoulder and glare at him.
"Quit it, would you!" Nya had the same temper as her brother, it just bubbled below the surface a little deeper, taking longer for it to rise. But when it surfaced it was just as quick and scolding. But she also mellowed just as quickly, and she sighed, trying to meet Jay's now downturned electric blue eyes.
"Hey, I'm sorry." She reached over to him, seeking to pat Jay's arm. "I just wish I knew where my hot headed, pain in the butt, ass of a brother has got himself to!" She turned to Jay fully now, seeking solace from the blue clad ninja, who obliged, taking her into his arms and smoothing her hair.
"He's strong Nya, you know he'll be fine."
"But he looked so broken, Jay." Almost whispered, Lloyd and Cole looked over to her, the latter reaching out to her.
"We will find him Nya."
"That's it!" They all started, even PIXAL who was sitting next to him patiently, as Zane jumped up from his seat. Their faces watched him eagerly, waiting for the revelation to come.
"I have been monitoring his body temperature, which, as you know, has been a little warm."
"Er, Zane, Kai's body temperature is always warm, being the master of fire an' all." Cole huffed, turning away back to the map, but Lloyd stared at the nindroid intently with his bright green eyes.
"Zane, go on."
"Well it has become obvious that Kai has a fever running at 2.3 degrees above his normal body temperature. But when I look back and plot his temperature fluctuations, I can see a direct point at which his temperature suddenly spiked to 1.4 degrees above his normal range, and then gradually ascended to its current peak…"
PIXAL stood up excitedly. "Yes Zane! His body acclimatised to a new, extreme temperature in his environment and then his fever started." She was nodding whilst Zane looked downfallen.
"I have to apologise that I did not notice this earlier."
"Apologise for what? I'm still confused over what exactly you're saying here." Cole shrugged his shoulders, looking perplexed.
"He's saying that Kai is somewhere hot, Dirtclod!" Nya shrugged herself from Jay's grip, stepping over to the map. "Which means he is most likely in one of two places that he could have realistically reached in this time frame. Torchfire Mountain, or…"
"…the Fire Temple. That's where he is." Lloyd breathed, finishing Nya's sentence and meeting her gaze. They smiled with relief at each other as Lloyd exhaled a soft "gotcha" under his breathe.
"My calculations concur that this is the most likely location of our brother, based on his average velocity when airborne." Zane reached behind him, grabbing his shurikens.
Jay straightened up, "Well what are we waiting for!"
The journey did not take long on their elemental dragons, and they all agreed it felt good to back on them after such a long period of time without them. They were jovial at first, swirling in and out of each other with the occasional dive bomb from Jay nearly knocking his target off their steed a few times. But as they drew closer, spotting the dense Forest of Tranquilly followed by the foreboding volcano in its clearing just after, the mood grew sombre.
It was quickly very obvious that they were in the right place as they all landed, eyeing the recent scorch marks and disturbed dirt made by what appeared to be a bit of a crash landing. Looking to each other worriedly, Zane quickly spoke into his communicator, letting PIXAL know that they were on the right track. She had offered to stay back at the monastery in case Kai miraculously appeared there, but more so because Sensai Wu and Misako had left early that morning and did not know of the day's happenings.
Jay stepped over the drying up puddle of Kai's vomit, with only a slight grimace and "eww" escaping him. Even Jay was too apprehensive to make light of what they were finding.
Lloyd and Nya stepped up to the bridge which connected the forest to the temple's gate.
"Maybe it would be best if just Nya and I go on first," Lloyd turned to the others. "We don't want to crowd him." Lloyd was fully aware of what state Kai could be in, knowing that if he was or became as distressed as he had been earlier, it could become quite explosive. He eyed the volcano. Literally.
Agreeing to send for them as soon as needed, Lloyd and Nya broke away from the group, pushing open the slightly ajar temple door. Both let out involuntary gasps as the rush of hot air hit them both. It was suffocating, burning hot.
"Trust my brother to pick such a place." Nya sighed.
"It makes perfect sense, when you think about it." She nodded her agreement to Lloyd, and they both pushed on, into the volcanic cavern. Lloyd had to narrow his eyes against the stinging heat as they entered. He knew he was the master of fire, but FSM, how could Kai stand being in this much heat? He searched and gasped as he made out the listless form of his teammate lying on the floor, facing towards the molten lava pool. If Zane had not reassured him it was not the case he would have assumed the worst, that Kai was dead, as he lay so still. Rushing over, Nya cradled her brother's head in her arms.
"Kai. It's all ok Kai, wake up." She stroked his matted hair, looking at Lloyd in alarm as she got no response from her brother.
Lloyd placed his hand on Kai's arm gently.
"Hey bud. Come on, wake up." Kai's eyes fluttered briefly and then he weakly attempted to cover his eyes with his hands, groaning. Nya smiled. He was going to be ok, she knew it.
Gripping Kai's arm more tightly, Lloyd gave his friend a small smile.
"Come on Fireboy, let's get you sat up." They both gripped onto the debilitated ninja and helped him get more upright against the volcano's wall, ignoring Kai's incoherent mumbling and grumbling. Lloyd could have sworn he made out something about a dragon, but there wasn't anything or anyone in there with them. Probably fever riddled gibberish, Lloyd thought to himself. Kai took that moment to retch, and they both leapt to one side as the obviously now very poorly ninja heaved and coughed, spitting out anything left inside of him. When Kai had finished Nya crouched down and gave Kai a bottle of water, with the strict instructions to "sip! Do not gulp." Kai looked up at her, now recognising his sister and smiling weakly.
"Has she gone?" Nya looked gently at her brother, searching him to work out who he meant. But Kai refused to meet her gaze directly.
"Skylor?" she asked softly. The pained breath he took confirmed that was who he meant, also confirming to Nya her suspicions that something had happened between the two this morning. Causing all of this. They had not seen any sign of her, although Nya knew she had stayed overnight. A protective surge built up in her, but her inner voice of reason swallowed it back down. Nya did not know what had happened, and she would try not to judge until she did know.
"I've not seen her Kai. So I guess so."
His shoulders dropped, but he said no more. Nya guessed that was as much as he was capable of right now.
"Lloyd, we need to get him home and get this fever down." Nodding in agreement, he spoke quickly into his communicator, calling upon the strength of the earth ninja to help carry their team mate for the second time over the last 24 hours. He looked down at Kai, who was quietly watching something up towards the ceiling of the volcano, brown eyes following the path of something intently. But when the green ninja followed his gaze he saw nothing but wisps of smoke and spits of the lava, curling up towards the ragged rock outcrops of the cavern above them. This place gave him the creeps, and he was thankful when he saw Cole entering the cavern, swooping down and lifting Kai as gently as a mother would her new-born child. Kai had no energy to fight, just closing his eyes and surrendering to the care of his brothers and sister as they remounted their energy dragons and flew home.
