Hey everyone, happy Friday and time for an update.

Chapter 13: Taming the Beast

Rrrrrraaaaawwwwwrrrrrr!

Cole snorted while quickly opening his eyes to scan for danger, but sighed as there was none. It was his alarm clock waking him up. The dragons of Lloyd and Lucas'. Storm, the grey elemental water dragon and Lloyd's four-headed that has the body and head of his old dragon, Rocky, with others as well. They don't know if Laurie has one or not, but if she's the wind ninja and guardian, there could be a possibility.

Cole shut his eyes tight to the bright light while stretching his arms to wake up and rub his eyes. After his talk with Lucas last night, he still had trouble to sleep, but still a bit better before their talk. He yawned while looking over the saddle of Lloyd's dragon to see Ninjago below him and saw Lucas steering his dragon, Storm, with Lloyd on his lap and Kai and Laurie beside him. "Look who's finally awake, everyone!" Jay's voice shouted.

The earth ninja turned his head to see Jay smirking at him. A smile played on his lips while rolling his eyes. "Not now, Jay." he said while playfully punching his arm and yawning. "I had a rough night, okay. Cut me some slack since we're gonna help calm my anger."

Zane turned his head as he sat in front of Cole; bare back since he gave Cole the seat because he believed he needed it more. He could tell he was tired from the insomniac look and purple bags under his eyes. He looked like he was about to pass out again. "We understand your rough night and desire to calm your body." he said. "But do you think Lucas' idea will help you? I, for one, believe it might be able to help you. But what about you?"

The earth ninja thought it over and shrugged his shoulders. He doesn't know what to think on about Lucas' plan. "I'm not sure." he responded. "But once we get to the Misty Forest, I'm willingly ready to try anything."

"Well you better be ready." Lucas said, flying next to the three on his dragon. "We're here, Zane. Let me lead the way from now on. I know the location better than you would." Zane nodded as he understood. "Follow me." he said and lightly whipped the reins.

Storm and Lloyd's dragon roared and dove down to the fog covered forest below them. Cole gripped the seat tightly and felt his heartbeat rising and quickly checked his watch to see his heart rise up rapidly. He gulped. Breathe Cole. he thought to himself while brushing his hair out of his eyes from the wind. Just breathe like Zane told you to. He drew in a deep breath and exhaled. He breathed in again and exhaled. He looked at his watch to see his heart slowly climbing down. That was too close again.

Zane guided Lloyd's dragon through the thick jungle canopy while tailing behind Lucas. The water ninja scanned around the area to their destination and gently pulled the reins and Storm calmly stopped and lowered himself and his passengers to land on the grassy ground. Zane followed suit and landed behind them. Lucas gently nudged Lloyd off his lap and hopped off his dragon's back with the others behind him. He then waved his hands across from him and the fog surrounding them was shifted away to reveal an open grassland and the base of a mountain with a waterfall pouring out of the side and into a stream. Lucas turned back to his dragon and stroked his hooked snout. "Home sweet home, buddy." he chirped and turned to Cole. "Sorry if that drop spiked your heart up, Cole. But Storm and I were a bit excited that's all."

Cole kept checking his watch to see his heart rate ease down and watched it return to normal and slid off the white dragon's back until his new tennis shoes made contact to the grass. The earth ninja looked around the fog covered forest as it gave chills down his spine to make the hairs on his neck rise up; like if it was haunted in the scary stories he read when he was little. But it also brought back memories before Lucas and Laurie joined the team. It was when the grey ninja was following Garmadon as his apprentice and kidnapped Lloyd to bring him here and they had to rescue him. But the fog was too thick to make it difficult to navigate through unlike Lucas could until they found the two at the exact spot they're on. One thing about the mission was scaring Jay to make him crash into a tree for laughs.

The black ninja kept surveying the area and came to an old tree and felt memories flood through his mind. It was the same tree where the green ninja was found and tied to and it held familiar leaves he seen before on its branches. Shaped as elm leaves and were large as a maple leaf. Knock-out Leaves. The leaf that has a special gas that can render those to unconsciousness. He remembered being a victim to them when fighting Lucas in the forest and waking up in the Underworld. He then turned his gaze away to the stream and noticed a large path of mangled trees on the ground and covered in moss and vines. What happened here? the Ninja of Earth wondered and heard the sound of snapping fingers near his ears and shook his head to return to reality. "Wha-oh yeah, you're fine." he replied back, turning to the others. "I could tell."

There was a small sickly groan being heard and everyone watched Laurie slowly climbed down while staggering to keep balance with Kai's help after she hopped off of Storm. She looked a little paler than usual and her light blue eyes were a little heavy with her messy red hair. She even looked a little green. "You alright, Sis." Lloyd asked to check his older sibling.

The wind ninja slowly took a deep breath and wiped her clammy hands on her tank top. "I'm fine." she replied. "Not used to flying that's all." She suddenly felt a chill breeze past her legs and shivered to the cold. "Why are we dressed like it's summer when it's fall?" she asked while pointing to her orange tank top and jean shorts.

Cole looked down at himself to stare at the black tee shirt and shorts he had around the ship and the others were dressed the same. He could tell that Jay wisehed Nya was with them, but she decided to stay behind to tend to Sensei. He hoped he didn't hurt him too badly. But still that was a good question. Why were they dressed up like it was a hot day in summer? It was fall and surprisingly it wasn't cold than the city or Bounty was. Lucas did say to dress up in comfortable clothes for his idea to work. He'll trust him on it.

Lucas reached up to his dragon's saddle to grab his bag and walked up to the stream. "You'll be fine when you step in the water." he replied to his cousin and waited by the water. "Ready Cole?" he asked and kicked his shoes off and removed his socks.

Cole finished surveying his surroundings and walked up next to the grey ninja and removed his shoes and socks. He turned his gaze to Lucas' back as the water ninja was removing his tee shirt and stared directly at the long scars on his bare back. The black ninja felt pity towards the grey ninja as he forever has those thirteen scars. The ones that Garmadon did to him to by whipping the first dozen and adding the final one to kill him. Thirteen scars now. He couldn't even heal them for he was weak to do so, but the Ninja of Water doesn't mind if he has them as he says they make him stronger on what he has been through with the dark lord. Cole looked away to remove his shirt and noticed Lloyd was joining them while the others were gonna swim in the river.

Jay removed his clothes besides his shorts and dove in. A few second later, he emerges to to gasp for some air and moved some of his hair away. "Huh. Lucas was right." the blue ninja said. "It's surprisingly warm."

Cole looked at the calm water and placed a foot in to test the water and blinked in surprise. It was warm. Not cold like most rivers during the fall seasons. Zane stepped into the water and hummed in deep thought as the water reached to his waist. "Interesting." he acknowledged. "The location of the Sai's of Water must have some source of energy to heat this water."

"Really? Cool." Lloyd chirped while removing his shirt and heard a chirp of joy and turned around to see Storm on his back and rolling in the grass. "Uh... What's he doing?" he asked.

Lucas looked to see his dragon and laughed. "Nothing really." he laughed. "He's just excited to be home that's all. He lived here to be the guardian and left with me when I was thirteen to be my dragon." He turned to Cole. "Ready?"

Cole looked away the pouring waterfall to nod at the water ninja. He was ready.

The Ninja of Water took the first step on the stepping stones to the large inclined rock at the base of the fall with Lloyd behind and then Cole. Lucas watched his steps as the stones were smooth and possibly slippery and looked over his shoulder to see his cousin hopping onto each stone and Cole watching his footing. All three began to feel heavy droplets cascade into their scalps, matting their hair to wet clumps until drenched. Lucas raised his hands up to conjure the waterfall to move it aside like it was an umbrella to allow them to climb onto the inclined rock and sat down. "Ready?" he asked Cole and saw him nod and moved his hands away.

The black ninja felt his shoulders and head become heavy against the rushing water and moved his wet bangs from his eyes. He suddenly no longer felt the weight on his shoulders. He looked at his watch, which he was glad to be waterproof, and noticed his heart rate rose up by five to ten beats to the surprise and went down. He looked at the grey and green ninja as they were crossing their legs and followed suit as well. He watched them close their eyes and closed his eyes too to meditate the water ninja's plan.

Minutes passed, or so Cole thought, the earth ninja kept his eyes closed with deep breaths and the water pouring down on his body. He felt it like it was a deep massage on his head, shoulders, and back. He had to admit though that it was relaxing. But he doesn't also see the point of it though. How was it supposed to help? Sighing, the black ninja opened his eyes to look at the Lucas. "How is this supposed to help me become calm when I'm in combat?" he asked. "I just can't be in water all the time and expect it to help."

Lucas drew in a deep breath and opened his eyes. "It's supposed to help you to think of calming things." he answered. Cole furrowed his brows on it. "Okay... How do I put it this way?" he asked while pondering until he snapped his fingers. "Imagine you're part of this water and you're falling down to hit this rock." he began. "You're angry. But after you hit this rock, you're suddenly calm and gentle as this stream is leading away. Your anger is washed away and you're calmed. Think of your anger washed away." There was a small sigh and both elemental ninjas turned to Lloyd with a smile on his face and eyes closed. "See. Shrimp's got it." he said. "But since we both can harness water, we experience the same. Since you're the earth ninja, try thinking of your element. A mountain. Strong and still without any natural disasters of rock falls or avalanches. Be one with your element."

Cole pondered through it and nodded. "Be one with your element." he repeated and closed his eyes. He imagined himself as a mountain in the middle of Sea of Sands and concentrated. He felt strong. Still. No disasters happening. He was the mountain. And felt his anger sealed with no escape. He now understood. Become one with your element.

Lucas studied him and noticed the un-blankable look on his face and smiled as he found his peace. He suddenly had a theory to prove it. He raised a hand to move some water away and suddenly slapped his other hand across his face. Cole quickly shot his eyes open and his cheek began to sting to the pain and heard his watch going off as his heart rate was rising. What was he doing!? Everyone was either swimming or lounging in the river and were shocked and scared. "What are you doing, Lucas?" Laurie screamed. The grey ninja ignored her and slapped Cole across the face again.

The Ninja of Earth felt his cheek stinging real fast like he was slapped with a wet towel. He heard his watch beeping rapidly and gasped at it was over one-fifty. He then realized what he was doing and looked at the water ninja to nod. Breathe Cole, he said to himself. Think of the mountain. Be one with your element. The earth ninja closed his eyes and thought of the mountain and took deep breaths. He kept concentrating about his peace and imagined himself as the mountain in the middle of the Sea of Sands with no disasters. No rock falls. Avalanches. Mudslides. Nothing. Not even the Hulk wreaking havoc. Just him as the mountain. He drew in a deep breath and exhaled and no longer heard the alarm of his watch. He has done it. He controlled his anger. He opened his eyes and looked at Lucas. "I did it." he said. "I controlled it."

Lucas smiled that his theory worked. Slowly everyone felt a cool rush of adrenaline run in their veins and slowly smiled that it worked. The earth ninja could control his anger. Cole looked around at everyone to smile with them and slowly relaxed to the warm water pouring on his head. If I keep it up, I won't lose myself to him. he thought.

Cole looked around his surroundings again to see bits of sunlight break through the fog. He heard the sound of water splashing and saw the others jumping into the stream while he could see Zane submerging into the water and crossed his legs as he touched the bottom to meditate. He looked at Lloyd as he had an orb of water hovering above his hand and splashed it onto his cousin to laugh. The water ninja laughed back and threw an orb of liquid on him too. And the Ninja of Earth laughed along with them and then formed a question in his head. "You know Lucas," he wondered. "If this is where Storm came from and location of your golden sai's, where is the temple that held them?"

The Ninja of Water looked at the black-haired teen to chuckle a little. Wasn't it obvious? Why do you think he brought them to this area of the forest? "Reach in behind you and see for yourself." he said while gesturing behind them.

Cole looked over his shoulder and leaned his head further to see a rock wall in front of him. He raised one of his bushy brows weirdly while moving his wet bangs out of his eyes and saw a faint light reflecting off the water. He averted his gaze down to blink in surprise as he saw a large pool of water and could see a torch on the wall. Was it burning under the water? Was that even possible? The earth ninja revised Lucas' advice and slowly reached into the water and quickly drew back and quickly looked at Lucas. "It's...dry under there." he exclaimed.

Lucas chuckled. "Amazing, right?" he asked. Cole looked at him and nodded quickly like he seen a ghost. "When I got Storm at thirteen on my birthday, Samukai and the Skulkin Army went into the temple to retrieve my sai's. But as I waited, I started to find this relaxing and I too was surprised by this...shield or something to keep the water at bay to hide the path to the temple. But I never saw the temple or shrine at all. But after that I got to meet Storm and we became friends in one day. One of the best birthdays I ever had." The others saw Storm walk up to Lucas and softly nuzzled his head against his chest. And the grey ninja stroked his snout to receive a lick from his dragon as a sign of a kiss and he walked away to be next to Lloyd's dragon. "Hey why don't we keep trying this method and that way we can try it without the water, alright?" he asked. "Your call."

Col thought it over and nodded. He unraveled his legs to stretch them and heard his knees pop and crossed them together. He closed his eyes to think of his mountain, but quickly opened them as he felt something pierce his abdomen. He looked down to gasp as it was a dart and shakly removed the needle after he felt a cool rush of liquid enter his veins. He could hear the blood pumping in his ears and his own heartbeat. He struggled to keep his eyes open and felt like stone to fall into the river.

"Cole!" everyone shouted and Lucas dove into the water with Zane submerging to save the black ninja. Everyone became tensed as if a minute has past until the ice and water ninja broke the surface with a semiconscious earth ninja between them. Kai and Jay quickly ran over to the river edge and pulled him up as Zane and Lucas pulled him over. Laurie and Lloyd joined in on the two ninjas and carefully laid Cole on the grassy surface. The black ninja looked around to have his vision become blurring and saw everyone's worried faces. What was going on to him?

"You six," a voice boomed. "Step away from the Hulk."

Everyone looked up to see a group of people dressed in misty camouflage clothing with assault weapons in hand. A man with the same clothing but had a white mustache on his face walked up to the Ninja with another person by his side and everyone had a vague memory on him, but couldn't figure out who he was. Who the group of people was either. Zane, taking instincts, stood in front of the group. "Who are you?" he asked quickly. "And what have you done to our friend?"

"Stand down, Ninja." the man demanded. "The name is Theodore Ross, general of Ninjago Special Forces. And what we done to your friend was a sedative so we can take him under our wings. So step away from the target."

"Never." Lucas growled and stood next to Zane. Soon after, everyone else stood next to each other to protect Cole. "We had everything under control. We will not let you take him." and got into an attack stance with the others following.

Ross laughed. "Not under my jurisdiction." he said and looked at his lieutenant. "Blolasky?" Blolasky smirked and raised his assault rifle at Lucas and fired a silent, compressed shot.

Lucas gasped in surprise and looked at the sedative needle in his shoulder and carefully removed it and fell to the ground. "Lucas!" Lloyd cried while kneeling next to his cousin.

Everyone was in shock from their attack and slowly stepped back as the soldiers raised their rifles towards them while slowly advancing. While Blolasky had his rifle aimed on Lloyd and would fire if he didn't step back. "Stand down." Ross commanded. "Lower your weapons and grab the Hulk and move out."

"Sir." the soldiers shouted.

Cole, through his conscious state, watched as the soldiers backed away from his team and head towards him. He watched as the others went to check on Lucas and felt strong hands grab his arms and legs and was slowly being carried away from them. No matter how much he tried to fight, the sedative kept him from using motor control. Where were they taking him? What was going to happen to him? He had no clue. He felt the medicine slowly spreading and could see darkness creeping up on him. He took one last look of his family before his eyes finally shut and was in complete darkness.

Duh-duh-duh! Cliffhanger! I love doing that to these stories. Always making people paranoid till the next chapter. XD Thank you for reading this update and I can't wait to see the reviews and I'll see you all next week. :)