Sorry for not updating for so long, guys...and I don't think I have anything to say right now.

Chapter 7 – My Sister is the Spy

It's hard to tell what time of day it is when you're deep underground, especially when you have to worry about the dangers within the twisting maze of the cavern that Cole and Zane were trying to navigate, only to be failing epically.

"Cole, we're right back at where we started!" Zane pointed out as he and Cole had only ended up back at Zane's cell again…because Cole was leading.

"Well, why don't you lead then, smart ass?" Cole huffed, but he didn't stop.

"Certainly. But Cole, I am not an ass; an ass is a part of the equine family, and I am not an equine of any sort."

But then the sudden sound of shrill hissing sounded and echoed off the walls of the tunnels; the source sounded like it was miles away, but Cole knew it wouldn't be long until SHE reaches them.

"Aw man…that's not a good sound. We need to run! NOW!"

But Zane was confused when he stood and watched Cole turn and run the other way.

"But I thought you said I could lead!"

"Trust me, Zane! You're gonna wanna keep up!"

And it was right then that Zane heard the rumbling in front of him, so he turned to see what Cole was talking about…but he regretted not running sooner when he saw the bright red eyes and purple and blue scaled jaws of Clouse's giant pet monster of a snake. So the robot wasted no time in sprinting after Cole.

But the two only got a few yards as they didn't expect to run into a blockade…made of dark purple scales.

"This isn't just some wooden blockade, Cole. It's the body of a large—serpent," Zane reluctantly pointed out.

"Get yer running shoes on, Zane!"

With that, they continued to sprint, but each time they figured they found another clear way, the monstrous snake only slithered into their path just before they could escape. And they soon found themselves trapped in a large circular chamber as the serpent slithered around and blocked each of the exits.

"Its strategy is to coil inward and trap us. She's very intelligent."

"Really? I haven't noticed! Thanks for the science lesson!" Cole shouted sarcastically as Clouse's pet continued to do just what Zane said, "I prefer NOT to be eaten!"

Suddenly another loud hiss was let out as they noticed that the snake was done coiling inward and was aiming to snap her jaws, only for them to dodge her when there was finally another way out. But the serpent didn't give up easily as it continued to stay on their tail, and they were soon unfortunately cornered at a real dead end.

When Cole and Zane skidded to a halt, they didn't want to turn around to see the large serpent as it revealed it's dark blue-scaled under belly to tower over them.

"Well…this certainly gives a whole new meaning to 'DEAD end', huh Zane?" Cole whimpered as Clouse's pet opened her huge jaws and flexed her deadly fangs.

Bu when She went to strike the experienced ninja, they dodged her jaws, as she suddenly crashed her huge head into the wall; temporarily dazing herself, and giving Zane to think of an escape route.

"P.I.X.A.L., calculate escape scenarios!"

"P.I.X.A.L.?! You got a GIRL in your head?!"

P.I.X.A.L. observed the current situation through Zane's eyes, and thought quickly.

"The most accurate and successful chance of escape calculated; activating explosive shurikens," P.I.X.A.L. commanded calmly, despite the giant snake in front of them, and Zane opened his hand as small bronze shurikens started to shoot out and pierce the ground, so Zane turned as they were being shot from his metal palm and surrounded Cole and himself with little bronze shurikens, each flashing with little red warning lights and rapidly beeping.

But the explosives soon went off just as the beast went to snap her jaws again, and she missed because Cole and Zane fell down a hole only big enough for them. And Clouse's pet wasn't happy that she just lost yet another easy snack as she glared through the hole and hissed when she saw the two men run off down another smaller tunnel.

The remaining Elemental Masters, the ninja and Garmadon were all gathered in Kai's room, as they had a little 'meeting' and Garmadon was keeping watch at the door so that no one got in or out.

"For the last damn time: I'm not joinin' your pathetic little team," Shadow growled as he shot a dark glare at everyone around the room.

"This isn't about the team; it's about cornering the spy, so no one leaves until he reveals himself," Lloyd said firmly as the other masters shared distrustful glances and Shadow was getting a pretty angry look from Lloyd's eyes.

"Why are you lookin' at me, Green Bean?"

"Kate, Neuro, couldn't you guys just use your mind reading powers?" Jay piped up.

"We tried, but something keeps interfering with our own brain waves," Kate said as she shook her head.

"And I can't help but shake the feeling it's a 'someone' not a 'something' that's causing the problem," Neuro added.

"I have an idea! Anyone who's ever worked for Chen will have the Anacondrai symbol tattoo," Garmadon pointed out as he remained guarding at the door.

"Any volunteers?" Lloyd asked while looking around at everyone, but no one said anything or moved at first.

But Neuro was actually the brave one to step up first. He pulled down the left side of his shirt to reveal the tattoo that Garmadon was talking about…only Neuro didn't have the tattoo.

"Can I go now?" Neuro asked as he adjusted his shirt and tried to leave, only for Lloyd to stop him.

"Not until we check everyone. The sooner everyone is honest, the sooner we can find the spy, and you can all leave," Lloyd explained firmly.

Chen was once again entertaining himself by watching his Kabuki dance around him elegantly as they flittered their fans and he lounged in his large, comfortable throne.

But he was not to enjoy the dancing alone for long as Clouse suddenly came in with his spell book.

"You'd better have a good reason to keep me from basking in this relaxing vibe, Clousey."

"I'm afraid I only bare bad news, Master. First of all, we're still looking for the escaped prisoner. And second, the page with the spell has been stolen."

"And this is my problem because why…?"

"Look, I don't need the page to perform the spell…but if that spell were to fall into the hands of the ninja, then the Elemental Masters will discover that we lied again, and they will only rise against us."

"Then find that page! Don't waste mine or your time telling me about the enigma!" Chen began angrily, but then he lifted up his arms to find Kabuki paint had been accidentally smeared all over his arms and torso, "oh, this shit gets everywhere!"

The entire time Chen and Clouse were talking, Nya was snooping around listening in on their conversation while remaining hidden behind a pillar. But she wasn't to remain perfectly covered for long when a random Kabuki spotted Nya and grabbed her hand to drag her out for Nya to dance. And Clouse couldn't help but notice that Nya had to be dragged out from hiding to perform.

"Master, I can't help but sense the aching presence of a spy."

"A spy? Among my staff? Interesting…" Chen said as he rubbed his fist to his chin and he was smiling evilly.

"Guards, search every Kabuki in this room!" Clouse suddenly called out to Chen's men that were all dressed in red cloaks, and they all soon started to frisk the dancers one by one; getting closer to Nya as she knew she was in trouble, so she only continued to move away from them.

You think Nya's in trouble? Let's get back to Darreth. The said man was listening to one of Elvis Presley's biggest hits on the radio as he was dancing around the DV-Express with a broom as a pretend guitar.

And he was only going to make things worse when he accidentally hit the lever that activated the P.A. system on the outside of the vehicle with his broom-guitar, so his singing and Elvis' music echoed through the cave, passed the water fall and out over Chen's island as everyone in Chen's temples could hear the music.

"Triangulate the signal of that ruckus, and then dispose of the annoying trespasser who dares play it on MY island!" Chen demanded his cronies, so they left his temple and the Kabuki went back to dancing…except for Nya who hasn't been frisked yet thanks to Darreth's mistake and tried to sneak away.

"Hey!"

Nya flinched when she heard Clouse raise his voice, so she quickly turned to find him glaring and pointing at his.

"You stay right Goddamn there."

The only ones left to check of the Anacondrai tattoo were Skylar and Shadow.

"C'mon, let's just go, Skylar!" Kai impatiently begged.

"You seriously don't trust me again? And right after I gave you your friends' message when I could've just given it to Clouse or Chen?" Skylar asked as her green eyes flared with flames of anger.

"Wait! Where'd Shadow go?" Kate questioned as they all suddenly noticed that Shadow was gone, and he was standing right next to Skylar just a second ago.

But it was then that Shadow appeared in the dark corner closest to the door.

"I ain't your spy! And I ain't a part of this!" Shadow growled as he once again became one with the shadows and disappeared. But it wasn't long before he lunged for the door, only for Garmadon to be able to stop him and grab him by his shoulders, so Shadow had no choice but to reappear.

"Ya know, you cast a pretty long shadow, old man!" Shadow grunted as he head-butted Garmadon's forehead and broke free to escape the room.

Now that Shadow has escaped, everyone now knew who the culprit was.

"I knew something about that guy rubbed me the wrong way," Lloyd pointed out with a glare as there was nothing else to do but leave Kai's room.

But speaking of Kai, he was trying to get Skylar's attention before she left too.

"Listen, Skylar…I'm-."

"Don't. Just don't. Just shut up and watch me walk out the door."

With that, the orange-clad red-head walked a few more feet forward, but before actually leaving, she pulled down the left side of her shirt, revealing the she also didn't have the tattoo.

"Our alliance is as safely supported as a Janga tower," Jay added sadly.

Chen was laying out on a comfortable love-seat as three kabuki were tending to him, and one of them was Nya as she was fanning him with a natural giant jungle leaf for a fan.

"Oh, how I love my Kabuki—because they love to serve me. Right?"

The first two Kabuki couldn't help but giggle like they're paid to, but Nya was a little reluctant as she sneered in disgust.

"Fan harder, you twit!"

But then Clouse came walking in with an expression that made Nya uncomfortable as she was also the last Kabuki with them when Chen dismissed the other two Kabuki.

"Have you found the spy's noisy location, Clouse?"

"I'm afraid not, Master. But don't worry—we shall soon find them and make them suffer," Clouse replied darkly as he also glared slowly up at Nya; making the poor woman gulp.

Darreth's joyful dance with a broom-guitar and Elvis' music wasn't to last long when Nya's voice frantically called on the radio: "Darreth! Darreth, they're coming for you!"

The phrase 'they're coming for you' was what managed to pull Darreth from his dance trance. So he started to panic as he dropped the broom, shut the music off and rush to press the right buttons on the front control panel.

"Oh, where the hell is that stupid cloaking thing?!" Darreth asked himself as he continued to search the buttons, "buttons REALLY need to be labeled these days!"

Meanwhile, a large group of angry Chen's cronies were either sprinting or driving Condrai-Crushers up to the waterfall, and at the same time, Darreth had finally found the cloaking button…but it was a struggle to find the right disguise.

And Darreth was running out of time as Chen's men had reach the cave entrance, and no matter how many times Darreth tried, he just kept failing; it went from Chen's food truck, to a circus train, to a giant rock that would've worked but Darreth was too stupid and pressed the button again, so he was caught in a green city bus.

But Darreth's little attempt to hide did give the guards all a good laugh, so while they were temporarily distracted with laughter, Darreth just thought 'screw it'.

Darreth started the vehicle, and then he punched the gas pedal; running over and killing or fatally injuring any one of Chen's guards he ran over. But now, it was a chase along the cliff-side as more of Chen's men came chasing after Darreth in fighter vehicles, and now a new vehicle: fighter jets with dark purple paint jobs and a snake-like design.

But despite being confident a second ago, Darreth was now actually panicking during the chase, so he started frantically pushing buttons. Eventually, he hit the auto-pilot button, and a little blue robot with orange goggles for eyes popped up and took the wheel.

"Alright! Go, little auto-pilot!" Darreth cheered as he pulled up his make-shift ninja mask on his make-shift, brown ninja suit.

And while the robot was driving, Darreth pulled out the vehicle's weapon panel, and started pushing buttons that activated a laser at the top, and he started firing at the guards behind him.

But when the DV-Express hit a big rock on the road, Darreth freaked out and missed; though, he did end up blasting large boulders at the top of the mountain, in which they came crashing down and smashing which ever unfortunate of Chen's cronies in their fighter vehicles or jets.

But the captain of the guard still remained, along with a few more luckier guards.

And Darreth's luck was to run out when the DV-Express was now coming up to the end of the cliff over raging ocean waters far down, and the auto-pilot did nothing but cover it's eyes.

"You are a TERRIBLE driver!" Darreth cried with fear, and no sooner had he said that, that gravity seemed to work with instead of against them when they came to the end, and the large red vehicle was balancing half-way off the edge like the trailer in Jurassic Park two with the two T-Rex parents.

So knowing he's a goner, Darreth used what ever time he had left before he would be captured to contact Nya, but he had bad timing.

Because when Darreth cried "That's it for me, Nya! My cover's been blown! You're on your own!" and his voice transmitted out of Nya's communication bracelet, she was still fanning Chen…so, she was a goner too.

"You! YOU'RE the spy!" Chen shouted for his (people)staff to hear, and when he grasped her arm in a vice grip, he noticed the spell rolled up and sticking out like a sore thumb in her pocket, "the spell! GET HER!"

But Chen didn't know Nya has lived with the ninja team, so he didn't expect Nya to kick him in the jaw, and send him flying back onto his love-seat.

And Chen was infuriated with her, especially when he spit up a tooth Nya kicked out, and that he found blood on his finger when he pressed it to his now bloody lips. So Chen grabbed his (stick)staff, and blasted rays of ice, in hopes of freezing Nya in her place. But Nya was more agile than Chen thought, so she was able to escape the room.

"FIND HER AND THE SPELL! YOU DO NOT REST UNTIL SHE IS FOUND!" Chen boomed.

Meanwhile, news of Nya the betraying Kabuki had soon already reached down underground, as two guards were talking about it while walking through the caverns.

"Did ya hear about that one Kabuki that went all hey-wire?"

"Yeah. But what about the escaped prisoners?"

"Oh, forget those poor saps."

But when the guards had rounded a corner, Zane and Cole came out of hiding when hearing their conversation.

"'Poor saps'? Who do they think they're talking about?" Cole questioned angrily.

"Hurry, Cole. The way out is just around the corner," Zane pointed out, but Cole didn't follow.

"Sorry buddy, but you'll have to go on your own if you want to continue; a ninja is supposed to help those who can't help themselves…so I gotta go back and save the rest of them."

"But a ninja also doesn't leave another ninja behind," Zane said with a smile as he caught up with Cole, and Cole smiled back.

"We WILL get off this island, Buddy; just not now. Not until we've saved the helpless."

Clouse had taken a convoy of guards with him outside the temple to look for Nya that night, but despite being Chen's right-hand man, Clouse didn't expect to round a corner and suddenly get sucker-punched in the face.

The one that landed the blow was Nya, as she suddenly made her escape literally using Clouse's head as a stepping stool, and bounding high up onto the temple rooftops the get away.

"Don't just stand there! GET HER!" Clouse roared at the guards with him, and so they soon went off with their lanterns to find Nya in the night.

But Clouse was smarter, and he recalled Nya jumping up onto the roofs, so he did the same, and he soon caught sight of her to and went leaping from building top to building top in pursue of her.

And it was so dark out, with clouds blocking the moon's light, the Nya didn't notice she was being followed up on yonder roofs. So just when she reached the last rooftop the would let her jump into the jungle, a large object came flying from the side, and knocked dazed her as they both tumbled onto the roof Nya was aiming for.

As Nya tried to shake the dizziness from her head, Clouse didn't wait for her as he suddenly pounced her and pinned her down beneath himself.

"Hey, you wouldn't hit a girl, would ya?" Nya grunted sarcastically as she tried to break free of Clouse's hold, but Clouse didn't go so easy on her.

"Oh, but of course I would; I've killed girls, in fact…little ones, even," Clouse growled with an evil grin.

"Well, only a coward man like you would make it an unfair fight," Nya hissed.

"I'm not a coward!"

And just as Clouse said that, Nya had managed to throw him off guard, and she kneed him in the stomach, and Nya flung him off of her, and then she was finally successful of jumping off and out into the jungle.

But as Clouse was able to stand up while still holding his gut with pain, he cursed the raven-head's name in a whisper.

One of the guards who was just down in the caverns who seemed to miss Cole and Zane hiding in the shadows had come up to the surface to bring bad news to Chen in his throne room.

"Did you find the loose prisoner?" Chen asked with high expectations.

"No. He had escaped with the metal man." But as the guards replied, his form seemed to change drastically with a bright purple aura surrounding him. When he was no longer engulfed in the purple aura, he was no longer a he…but rather Skylar.

"Don't worry, Skylar. The ninja WILL fall to us, just as Ninjago will as well," Chen reassured with a grin.

"But Father, what about…my sister?"

"Kate? She no longer means anything to me, and neither does her husband. Tomorrow, you will show the ninja NOR your sister mercy! And then—we take Ninjago!"

But as father and daughter were sharing an evil laugh together, they had no idea that a certain brunette with sparkling purple eyes was listening while using the Element of Shadows to cloak herself.

There is a Markiplier quote in here. Can anyone find it?

Until the next chapter, I'm TRikiD, bye-bye!