AUTHOR'S NOTE:
I hope everyone reading this is doing well. In my household this week, everyone has been experiencing illness. If I had a penny for every cough that was coughed this week, I'd almost be a millionaire! XD
Unfortunately, I've only done a little bit of reading of fanfiction this week, but I plan to catch up on the story updates soon!
I appreciate the 7 comments on the 7th chapter of this story! Thanks to Kai Lover911, Guest, FirstFandomFangirl, lovesgod12, StoryMaker7, INFJwriter, and AveXCninja11!
In this chapter, the search for Kai does not go well...
Chapter 8 - A Dark Summer Day
To distract herself from shedding the tears of worry about Kai that threatened to fill her eyes, the fire ninja's fiancee looked away from the valley to see what the others in her group were up to.
Cole and Zane were pointing up the mountainside, no doubt deciding how to proceed further in their search area. Back in the area where the group had come from, Sensei was handing Nya the map. Lloyd and Jay, standing over toward the south, appeared to be finishing their conversation. Sam saw Lloyd turn and walk back toward her with the water bottles Jay had just given him.
A crackling sound coming from the valley caught Sam's attention. It reminded her of fireworks. She turned and again looked down in that direction, trying to determine the source of the noise. It seemed like it was getting louder.
She soon found out what was causing it. A wall of flames appeared in view from behind the outcropping of rock. It steadily blazed toward the group.
"Fire!" Sam screamed, running in the opposite direction. "Fire!"
Her shouts quickly caught the attention of the others in the group.
"Fire?!" Cole exclaimed in confusion to Zane. "This area's already burned!"
"It does seem like an anomaly!" Zane agreed. Though he was several dozen yards away, he shot ice at the flames to douse them, but to no avail - the fire continued to advance. "The fire is indeed real, but my powers have no effect!"
Cole then formed a high hill of dirt to contain the fire, but to his horror, the flames were not deterred. Even though they had no visible fuel to consume, they apparently had climbed up the hill on the far side and were now making their way down the hill on the near side, continuing to steadily advance toward the group.
Cole quickly assessed the situation. There was not enough room or time to summon the dragons and fly away to safety.
"Everyone! Run back toward the rock wall dropoff and jump down!" he ordered. "The fire can't burn if there's only rocks there!" At least he hoped that was true - this fire had already crossed a hill of plain dirt. But there was no other option.
Lloyd dropped the water bottles and ran toward Sam, who was discovering - to her dismay - that her heavy thick-soled hiking boots were not conducive to fast running. The green ninja, upon catching up to the blonde, grabbed her hand and pulled her along as they raced back to the spot they had been at just a short while ago.
Sensei Wu and Nya reached the rock wall dropoff first, since they were the closest. Sensei took her hand and performed a quick Spinjitzu to safely negotiate the eight-foot descent.
"The flames are coming in too fast!" Jay yelled. He had been the farthest one from the wall when the danger began.
As Lloyd ran, pulling the stumbling Sam behind him, he glanced behind him and past her shoulder. Jay was right - the flames were moving in quickly. Too quickly to save both of them.
"Sam!" the green ninja shouted while they kept running. "I'm gonna fling you toward the dropoff! Do your Spinjitzu to land safely!"
"You know I...haven't mastered...Spinjitzu, Lloyd!" Sam protested in between gasps for breath due to the sprinting. He had given her lessons last summer because she wanted to impress Kai, and she had developed the skill to form a very rudimentary tornado, but once school had started last fall, she became too busy to keep up the training and had only recently resumed it when she moved back onto the Bounty three weeks ago.
"Just do it, Sam! You'll be fine! NinjaGO!" Lloyd yelled, and in one swift motion, he thrust Sam forward toward the rock wall dropoff, just seconds ahead of the flames.
While in midair Sam awkwardly formed a Spinjitzu tornado. It was weak, but it kept her from severe injury as she sailed through the air and landed in a heap on the ground down in the rock wall dropoff, eight feet below the level she and Lloyd were just at. The fire jacket she was wearing also provided some cushion for her fall.
Her trajectory took her a few yards out from the wall. Sensei and Nya, huddling low against the wall of rock, saw her land. Immediately they ran to her and dragged her closer to the wall as the crackling sound became louder and louder. The three crouched against the rocks, waiting for the others to join them. They kept waiting, covering their ears at the noise, which now had reached the decibel level of a jet engine. When it seemed the noise couldn't get any louder, Sam looked up above her, at the top edge of the rock wall. The flames appeared to have reached the very edge of the precipice, burning just eight feet above them.
For a brief second, it seemed that the flames were looking down at her.
Then the flames disappeared from view, as if they had retreated, and the loud noise ceased. But the ninja still had not appeared.
The wise teacher and two young women slowly removed their hands from their ears and stood up. All was eerily quiet.
"Sensei! I'm worried about Jay and the others!" Nya said softly.
Sensei put his hand on her shoulder and looked at his two companions with worry in his own eyes. "I will climb back up to reach the trail again. I do not know what I will find up there. You ladies may choose whether you wish to go up there as well, or remain here. I can understand if you wish to stay here."
Sam knew that Sensei was trying to brace the young women for the likelihood that the lifeless bodies of the four ninja were now lying on the ground in the aftermath of the blaze.
"I'll go up with you, Sensei," Sam said quietly. The wise teacher was not only an instructor to the ninja, but he was also their mentor, confidant, and friend. Sam wished to be by the side of the elderly man, so he wouldn't be alone in facing the worst case scenario involving his beloved pupils.
"Me, too," Nya added, also wishing to provide support to the man who served as an honorary uncle to her and her brother.
"Very well," Sensei said. "Let us proceed."
The three of them made their way up the same steep dirt path that they had climbed just a short while ago with the ninja.
When they reached the trail at the end of the dirt path, their eyes reluctantly scanned the ground of the surrounding area for lumps of yellow, the color of their fire jackets. They were astonished that none were to be found.
"Lloyd! Zane!" they called out into the quietness of the morning. "Jay! Cole!"
No reply could be heard.
A thought struck Sam as she remembered the flames which seemed to look down at her from the precipice. "Sensei, you don't suppose that…"
Sensei knew what she was thinking. "...Yes, I believe Fiora took the rest of the ninja, too. That fast moving fire obviously was Fiora's method of capturing them. The same way she captured Kai."
Fiora's act of evil angered Sam. She can't get away with this! the bride-to-be fumed.
An idea entered her head.
She grabbed the necklace out of her pocket and threw it on the ground.
"Sensei! Use this to keep track of us!" she yelled as she abruptly began to run toward Three Boulders.
"Sam, why are you running?" a startled Nya called out.
"Fiora! Fiora!" Sam screamed into the air, focused on running along the trail. She was mad. She was not going to let this fire witch simply take her man and her friends. She was determined to confront the evil being.
Sensei realized what the bride-to-be was trying to do - deliberately get captured by Fiora. He began to hurry after the fire ninja's fiancee. "Sam, please come back!" he implored her.
"Fiora! Can you hear me?" Sam continued to scream, oblivious to the pleading of the wise teacher.
"Sam, what are you doing?" Nya shouted as she picked up the jewelry from the ground and hustled to follow the other two.
"Fiora! We know you took the ninja!" Sam yelled.
"Sam, please don't do this!" Sensei called out from several yards behind her.
Sam reached the three large rocks and quickly climbed on top of them, wanting to position herself as high up as possible. She held her arms in the air.
The next thing she was about to say was a falsehood, but she hoped Fiora would accept it as truth, or at least believe that it might be true...
"Fiora! Take me, too! I'm pregnant with the next generation of fire masters!"
The boulders suddenly shifted, forming a deep hole in the center of them. Sam was immediately sucked into the hole. Just as suddenly, the boulders shifted back to their original position, sealing the hole before Sensei could reach her.
Sensei approached the big stones and sorrowfully stood silent, staring at the spot where the blonde college student had been present just moments ago.
Nya came up behind the wise teacher, breathing hard. "Sensei, here's Sam's necklace."
Sensei took it from her and held it in his hand, fingering the wedding ring intended for the bride-to-be. In a quiet voice, he made a statement to Nya.
"This ring is the only link we now have with the ninja and with Sam."