Chapter Five: I'll Hold My Breath

Until you see me in your dreams, we'll stay awake beneath the trees

We'll watch the buildings turn to dust, a sky of diamonds just for us

"The next challenge begins tomorrow, but I'm going to explain it tonight," Chen said, grinning.

The sun outside had already set – through the windows near the front entrance, Chen could see the stars brightening up as the sun's last rays died to the blackness of space. He wasn't giving his servants very much time, but they would make do with what he gave them.

"Tomorrow, your goal is to come here," he said. "The last person to arrive in the entrance hall will be eliminated from the Tournament."

"So, wait," one of the contestants – the Master of Lightning, Chen recalled – asked. "We just have to walk downstairs to win?"

Chen ignored the question. "Wake up early tomorrow, and make sure to cling tightly to your pillows," he said. "Good night."

He dismissed them and left the room through the double doors behind him. He walked down the straight hallway until he hit the dead end and sensed a presence behind him.

"Clouse," Chen said. He turned around and saw his favorite servant following him. "Tomorrow's challenge is going to be quite fun. I think you'll enjoy it."

"Is that so," Clouse said flatly.

"Yes, yes," Chen answered. "I think I'll let you watch it, and at least the first half of Round One. After that point I think you would be able to be out of commission for a few days – how does that sound?"

Clouse frowned angrily. "Not until he has a test subject. I am not submitting my life to him unguarded."

"A wise choice," Chen told him. "But you're beginning to frustrate me, Clouse. And you can take Turner as an example – it's a terrible idea to not give me what I want. All I want is for you to get that little 'operation' out of the way as soon as possible – is that too hard to understand?"

"I will continue to refuse," Clouse growled.

"Fine," Chen said. "You're still not allowed into the Catacombs until you change."

Chen concentrated on his right hand and saw the bones shift through the surface of his glove. Black claw-tips ripped through the fabric as Clouse watched.

Chen raised the now mutated hand to show to Clouse. "It looks worse than it feels, if you're wondering. It just feels… strange."

Using the tips of his claws, he reached for the memorized spot and found the small disc set into the wall. Only the very tips of his claws were able to reach inside of the crack. He twisted the disc and released his grip, only for the false wall to slide back like a screen, revealing the dark, rocky tunnel behind it.

"Good night," Chen said, smiling with teeth that were a bit too pointy.

Chen stumbled awkwardly through the slowly closing gap into the rocky tunnel, gazing back at Clouse from the darkness with glowing eyes and dangerously sharp teeth.

The gap closed, and he shed the rest of his disguise.

He opened his eyes slowly, taking in one detail at a time: the soft, yellowish early-morning light; the vibrant green plants with delicate, nearly translucent leaves; the tiny blue-purple flowers that smelled like sunshine; the gentle breeze that made them all wave like a sea of life.

He was almost certain that he was dreaming, and figured that he would fall asleep again and fade into some other illusion, but though he tried to, the stick poking him in the back was just too uncomfortable –

And then the reality of his situation caught up to him, and Cole swore under his breath.

He stood up quickly and inspected the surrounding area. Bushes and trees, so many trees, so much green. It was bringing back memories of when he had been wandering Ninjago on his own for however-many-years, memories of independence and freedom and the joys of the open road…

Cole remembered Chen's words with a sudden degree of clarity, and realized why this challenge would be so difficult to win: in order to get to the entrance hall, he had to know how to find it.

He looked back at where he had been lying, and decided that he would wonder how Chen had transported him out into the wilderness without waking him up later. Carved into the tree behind his head was a symbol that looked like an arrow. Considering that he had no idea where Chen's palace was, Cole decided to go in the direction the arrow pointed to try to find it.

He began struggling through the bushes in the direction the arrow had shown him. Thorns tore at his clothes and branches tangled his hair as his bare feet stepped on vibrant grasses and tiny bugs.

After about a half hour of walking, he finally found a green clearing filled with tall grass. A canyon on one side of it appeared to split the clearing in half, as a similar grassy area appeared on the other side of it. The bottom of the canyon appeared dry, but he heard a tiny trickle of water echoing up suggesting a small stream at the very bottom.

Using his powers, he summoned a condensed mass of rock to reach over the canyon. He stepped into the middle of the canyon and looked up and down its length. He didn't find Chen's palace, but one end of the canyon led to the sea.

He walked off the bridge and prepared to smash it so that no other contestants could use it, but then he heard a voice.

"Cole!"

He turned around quickly. Lloyd had called out to him – Jay was standing next to him, smiling. Cole smashed the bridge and then walked over to them.

"We've been looking for you," Jay said as soon as Cole came closer. "I saw a few of the other guys earlier, but there was no sign of you or Kai anywhere."

"We still haven't found Kai," Lloyd continued. "But our first priority is to find Chen's palace. Do you have any idea where it is?"

"The sea's this way," Cole said, pointing towards one end of the canyon. "If we walk along the beach we'll be able to find it, and because there won't be all these plants, we'll probably be able to get there faster."

"Good plan," Lloyd said. "Let's get going!"

Kai wasn't exactly sure where he was going anymore, but he figured it didn't matter. As long as he made it back to Chen's palace before some other sorry contestant did, he was fine.

So far, he'd only seen one other contestant: a girl with purple hair who had almost melted into the scenery before he could get a better look at her. There had been no sign of Cole, Jay or Lloyd anywhere; he was tempted to turn on his radio to try to find them, but he didn't want to trust it, considering that he had no idea where any of the other contestants were, either. He decided to try to get to Chen's palace before he worried about wherever the others were.

A split-second later, his foot found unstable ground and he was suddenly tumbling through a hole that hadn't been there a moment before. A shower of dirt and small rocks pelted him after he landed head first on a cobblestone floor.

Kai groaned dramatically and stood up to brush himself off. He had landed in a dark tunnel stretching in both directions. The sloping, arch-like walls were also made of round, gray cobblestones. The center of the ceiling had collapsed; he had probably stepped on a weak section and the additional weight had caused it to cave in.

The air in the tunnel tasted stale, but he could sense a small breeze coming from one end of the tunnel. He decided to follow it, wondering if it was something important.

When he began hearing voices, he stopped in his tracks and listened. He couldn't make out more than snatches of conversation. Kai crept closer and strained his ears.

"…probably… more noise, anyway…"

"…guess… doesn't matter… we should still… to Chen after our shift finishes."

He stopped abruptly when he heard Chen's name. He couldn't see the speakers in the near-complete darkness in the tunnel, but something was strange –

"…Do you smell something?"

Kai stood perfectly still.

"Dirt, as always… and something… else…"

He heard more than saw something whip through the air in front of him, but as soon as he sensed it he ran away from the conversation as fast as he possibly could.

"After it! No outsiders may enter the Den!" one of the voices screamed. A tide of pursuers had gathered behind him, throwing things at him and trying to make him trip. He ran for the light of the hole he'd fallen through and sprang out of it like a raging demon. He heard his pursuers cry out in frustration at how bright the light was, but he ran until he tripped on some sort of vine and then rolled under a bush to hide.

He waited several minutes, and when nobody came after him, he crawled out from underneath the dense foliage of the bush and started to walk back towards the tunnel's entrance.

Instead of jumping down inside again, he simply looked which direction the tunnel went. Considering it was a relatively straight tunnel, Kai figured that he could at least find out where one end wound up above ground. This time he followed the other end of the tunnel to see where it led.

After half an hour of stumbling through the bushes, he found a wall. Kai climbed a nearby tree to look up over it.

It was Chen's palace. He was at almost the exact center of the back side of the palace. He couldn't see the open gate on the other side from here, but he'd made it.

Kai jumped down from the tree and jogged along the wall, trailing his fingers on the lines of stacked stone. He didn't see anyone else until he peered through the front gate and saw Lloyd, Jay and Cole standing in the doorway. He ran inside the entrance hall and a gong sounded as he stepped over the threshold. The door shut behind him with a bang, and he heard a sharp crash as the iron gate snapped shut outside.

"The challenge is over!" Chen shouted from somewhere – it took Kai a moment to find him standing near the rear doors. "In two days' time, the competitive Tournament shall begin!"

Chen disappeared through the door without another word. The other remaining contestants started to filter out of the room one by one. Eventually, the four of them were alone in the entrance hall.

Lloyd frowned. "That was close, Kai."

"What were you doing out there, anyway?" Cole asked.

Kai glanced around the room quickly to make sure they were alone. "I found something," he said quietly. "Come to my room tonight, we'll talk more there."

The other three nodded, and they all left the entrance hall.

"So, wait," Jay asked. "Some strange tunnel caved in underneath you… and you thought it was a good idea to follow voices?"

"That's not the point, Jay," Kai said.

"Dude, were you even listening on the first day?" Jay pressed. "Chen rattled off all sorts of stuff about 'restricted areas'. If where you were wasn't a 'restricted area', I don't know what is."

"Do you think Zane's going to be in an unrestricted area?"

The question caught Jay off guard, and apparently Lloyd as well. All of them turned to look at Cole.

"We need to take risks," Cole warned. "We've always had to take risks. Usually, the chances aren't good, either," he continued. "When we fought the Great Devourer, Zane could have told us exactly how small of a chance we had of surviving, but we did. That's what's important."

Cole turned towards Jay. "I don't know why this time is any different for you, but I know that it's bothering you. But if Kai didn't take that chance with the tunnel, we'd be no better off than we were yesterday. We almost know where he is now – we just need to find him."

"I'll admit it," Jay said, sighing. "Something's off about this tournament. It's too… convenient."

Silence invaded the room. Cole, Kai and Lloyd stared at him with looks that ranged from confusion to suspicion.

"But – but really!" Jay continued. "Half the world saw Zane explode three or four months ago. Then we get an invitation to go to a 'prestigious tournament' that's being held for the first time by a guy who's been stuck on this island for who-even-knows how many years, and the prize is supposedly Zane. What if it's all a ploy – what if it's some kind of sick joke? What if he had us come here and now he's going to kill us all off one by one –!"

"Jay, calm down," Kai said. "Getting yourself worked up like this isn't going to help. We have a back-up plan: if we need to go home, we'll call Nya, and we'll leave right away."

Jay sat quietly while the others discussed how best to explore the tunnel. The bad feeling in the pit of his stomach grew.

It ate him alive, and he didn't stop it.

(A/N): Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! I'm one day early, but oh well. :D

Also: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE IN LIKE FIVE DAYS OR SOMETHING~ Get me candy pls.

This chapter kinda got the short stick in terms of quality, but the next chapter's going to be of even more horrendous quality. Can't I just skip to posting Act Two already? Act Two is more fun, and higher quality, and longer chapters, and better, and more plot stuff. Not horrendous battle scenes, heck no.

This chapter's song is I'll Hold My Breath by Ellie Goulding. The title's a pun because it has trees in the song. Next chapter will be Mr. Brightside by The Killers.

Also every single last thing in this chapter is foreshadowing. Otherwise, the point of this chapter is mostly just to eliminate one more competitor. So, yeah.

See you in two weeks! :D

I'm not sure how else to get into contact with that sweet anon who reviewed on monday or tuesday so hi baby thank u very much :D