AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Howdy pardners! I'm back!
In my single-chapter tale, The Decision of The Ninjago City Mayor, which I posted on May 4, I had said I would take a break from Ninjago fan fiction. I needed time to think about some personal changes I want to make in my life. I'm happy to say that I made a choice about what direction I want to go in, and I'm happy to say that I love Ninjago and your stories too much to leave the fandom! Because to be honest, I have been doing some reading on this site during these past 2+ weeks, but I just haven't posted comments. And I even finished the last three chapters of this story that you are now reading. After today, look for updates on Wednesday and Friday of this week.
I would like to thank the nine commenters on The Decision of The Ninjago City Mayor for your sweet and kind wishes for me: taylorjensen517, StoryMaker7, lovesgod12, AveXCninja11, TitaniumMasterOfAquaLightning, SwimmerNinja13, Naruby7, FirstFandomFangirl, and Kairocksrainbow. You are awesome!
And I would like to thank StoryMaker7, Kai Lover911, lovesgod12, and AveXCninja11 for their comments on the previous chapter of this tale you are now reading. I so appreciate you!
A note on something below: Kai's sensitive hearing was demonstrated in Chapter 31 of measuremesky's The Fire Within.
Read on to learn what happens to the fire witch's prisoners…
Chapter 13 - The Chances for Escape Become Slim
Before another hour had passed, Jay and his fellow prisoners had actually gotten the opportunity to use a bathroom.
A tumbleweed soldier had arrived at their jail cell and tossed an orange powder through the jail bars onto the feet of the ninja brothers, explaining that a spell allowing them to tend to their human needs would take effect in eight seconds and last for eight minutes after that. An orange fog suddenly filled the air and cleared just as suddenly, revealing themselves to be standing in a replica of the luxurious, spacious multi-stall men's restroom on the lobby level of the Adams Hotel in downtown Ninjago City.
All the spare time they had was used to search for an escape route through a vent or a pipe, but to no avail. The time remaining until the start of the persuasion process was dwindling, and they were starting to get desperate, especially Kai.
At the eight-minute mark, the orange fog filled the air once again, and when it dissipated, they once again found themselves shackled and lying on the stone floor of the jail cell. The tumbleweed soldier was gone.
"Well, at least that restroom had quality toilet paper," Jay commented.
Kai looked around. "Wait, where's Sam?" he exclaimed worriedly. The blonde college student was missing from the small enclosure.
Seconds later, a yellow fog rose on one side of the jail cell, and when it disappeared, Sam stood there in front of a cart of bowls, spoons, and a pot of something steaming. She had a bewildered look on her face.
"There you are, Sam! Where'd you go?" Kai called out.
Sam shook her head to clear her mind. "Right after you guys disappeared, that soldier sprinkled yellow powder on me, and I found myself in a ladies' room like at the Adams Hotel. Then when I was done using it, I walked through a door into a room like a kitchen, and a tumbleweed told me that there would be eight minutes for me to serve this breakfast, for us to eat it, and for me to collect the dishes back on the cart. And then I suddenly got transported back here."
"Sweet!" Cole was getting his wish of having a breakfast placed in front of him. "What are we having?"
Sam opened the lid of the pot. "Oatmeal."
"Oatmeal, huh?" Cole tilted his head. "Well, it's not blueberry pancakes, but it'll do. We'd better hurry and eat up!"
The shackle chains were short, so the young men had to carefully maneuver themselves from a recumbent position into a sitting position against the wall in back of them. They had already discovered they could do this before the tumbleweed soldier showed up with the orange powder. In the meantime, Sam ladled the oatmeal in the bowls and began to distribute them. The brothers had to hunch over slightly to feed themselves, due to the short length of their wrist shackles.
"You know, guys and gal," Jay spoke up, "I wished for a bathroom and one appeared, and Cole wished for breakfast and it appeared, and Kai looked for Sam and she appeared. I think we should give the power of positive thinking another chance, even though it didn't work the way I wanted it to on Chen's island. So, Zane, isn't there something you and Pixal could do to prevent your mind from being controlled?"
"We will explore our options, but I fear that because Fiora is already aware that my life systems are slightly different than yours, she will be making special arrangements to ensure that we are just as incapacitated as you," Zane replied.
Jay shrugged. "OK, well, I'm still going to keep thinking positively." He began to hum a cheerful tune.
An hour had passed since the breakfast supplies had disappeared in a yellow fog, and the desperate prisoners were running out of time and ideas for escaping. Jay had even stopped humming his odes to the power of positive thinking.
Though none of the ninja team members liked the idea of leaving behind their fellow brothers in a dangerous situation, they decided that since they were technically not facing death nor physical injury, it would be best if they each focused on securing their own individual freedom, with the hope that if at least one of them could reach safety, they could enlist Sensei Wu's wisdom and Nya's technological knowhow in saving the rest of them.
And because the situation that Kai had hoped to avoid - where Sam would have to face Fiora alone - was looking more and more like it would occur, the blonde college student spent some time practicing the flipping of her fire jacket from her shoulders and the flinging of it over an imaginary bowl. She received verbal coaching from her ninja friends, who sat shackled to the back wall of the jail cell while she remained free to move around.
But now, not much talking was going on in the jail cell as each of them quietly contemplated ways of escape...and mentally prepared themselves for the pain Fiora promised they would feel in the brainwashing process, should they fail to escape.
Now that Sam was no longer handcuffed, she nestled next to Kai, resting her head on his shoulder and hugging his waist. His short shackles prevented him from hugging her back, but he rested his head on hers, enjoying her sweet strawberry scent. Neither of them said much.
Sam's fire jacket was draped around her shoulders, with the sleeves loosely tied around her neck. She was prepared for the opportunity to take down the fire witch.
Kai suddenly lifted his head from Sam's golden tresses and announced, "I hear drums."
Sam heard nothing, but she knew that Kai, being a ninja, could hear what the average civilian couldn't. She had first learned of this trait on the day he had tried to kiss her for the first time on their first picnic, before he had been interrupted by a rustling noise. At that time, he was able to hear the voices of the culprits - his nosy brothers - when she was not able to hear anyone talking.
"I hear drums, too," Jay stated. "Sounds just like those drums at Chen's ceremony when he took our powers that time."
Soon Sam herself was able to hear the faint sound of several drums pounding a rhythm, all beating together.
The drumming grew louder when the metal door to the cave area opened.
The prisoners watched as a procession of a half-dozen tumbleweed drummers filed into the cave area and formed a semicircle around the shiny tiles in the center of the floor area, continuing to pound a strong rhythm.
Following them were six tumbleweeds, each carrying a highbacked metal chair. They lined up the chairs in a row, facing the direction of the circle, then marched off to the side and stood at attention.
Next came six more minions, each carrying a pillow on which rested a black metal ring - the cerebrum circlets that each of them were about to wear. The ring was meant to be put over a human head and cover the eyes while resting on the ears and the bridge of the nose, similar to a Halloween mask. Two orange diamond shaped metal pieces on the front formed the image of evil eyes.
At the sight of the menacing looking circlets, Sam gripped Kai's waist a little tighter.
These minions took their places behind each of the highbacked chairs. The drumming became faster. And louder. And even more louder.
All of a sudden, it stopped.
A minion announced, "All hail Mistress Fiora!"
Fiora, with the help of her personal bowl-carrying assistant, entered the room, filling the ceiling space just as she did at yesterday's meeting with the ninja team. The captives watched as the tumbleweed set the ornate bowl in the center of the shiny tiles.
The villainess moved her face close to the jail bars to glare at the prisoners.
"I trust you rested well after your pathetic escape attempt," she chuckled. "You needed to get plenty of rest, for I have a lot of work lined up for you to do."
"You're a piece of work yourself, Fiora!" Kai shouted.
The witch spotted the red ninja in the group and focused on him with her terrifying large orange eyes.
"I see that your rebellious attitude continues, master of fire," she commented in her raspy voice. "Perhaps I can put it to good use when you join my legion of minions."
Before the prisoners could wonder what her comment meant, Fiora's eyes temporarily disappeared. A few seconds later they reappeared, and five beams of orange light shone from the flame symbol on her forehead. Each ninja was touched by a beam, and their shackles unsnapped from their wrists.
The young men stretched their cramped arms in relief. "The power of positive thinking," Jay softly hummed under his breath.
"Stand up, everyone!" the villainess ordered.
They slowly complied. Sam nonchalantly checked the fire jacket sleeves tied around her neck to ensure that the garment remained secured in place.
"Now put your hands behind your backs," she commanded. After they did so, she shot orange light beams at them, and they discovered that their wrists were handcuffed once again, even Sam's.
Jay frowned. "OK, positive thinking didn't work so well just now," he muttered.
The drummers began to beat a slow, steady, ominous beat.
A tumbleweed unlocked the jail cell door and pushed it open. It entered the enclosure and approached Zane, shoving him out of the cell. One by one the rest of the ninja were herded out, each being guided by his own tumbleweed escort, with Kai being the last in the group of young men. Sam was made to follow right behind him by her own escort.
One by one, each of the ninja brothers was pushed into his own highbacked metal chair. Zane. Cole. Lloyd. Jay. Once each of them had been seated, Fiora shot a beam of orange light at them, causing chains to slither around their ankles and their necks, securing the victims to their chairs.
Just before Kai's escort could push him in his chair, the fire ninja spun around to face Sam. He sought her lips and kissed her hard for as long as he could, before their escorts tore them apart. When she looked into his eyes after their kiss, she saw worry - and guilt.
"I'm sorry I couldn't protect you from this moment, Sam!" he called out over the banging of the drums as his escort shoved him forcefully into the chair.
"By your side is right where I want to be, Kai!" Sam called back, her throat tightening with emotion as she was roughly guided to sit down in her own chair.
Fiora shot beams of light at them, and chains of cold steel wrapped themselves around the two prisoners, binding them to their seats.
Before the cerebrum circlets were placed on the prisoners' heads to cover their eyes, Kai and Sam looked at each other one more time.
"I love you, Sam!" Kai shouted to her over the din of the drums.
"I love you, too, Kai!" she shouted back, a sob in her voice.
Then her circlet was placed over her eyes, and she saw only darkness.
Seconds later, she heard Fiora utter a terrifying screech and begin to babble in an unrecognizable language.
The brainwashing process had begun.