A/N: Another half-chapter to recap where we are in the episodes. The next chapter will be catch-up work too. The good news is that I like this part.
Sunset was already turning the sky orange and stretching black shadows across the beach by the time the other ninja returned to camp. Lloyd looked up from the workbench where he and Dr. Julien were working on the filter.
"Hey, they found the falcon!" the old doc exclaimed, spreading his arms wide in joy.
Sure enough, Zane clutched the mechanical bird in both arms as he and the others emerged from the forest. But Lloyd noticed something else.
"Why are they running?" he asked no one in particular.
Zane might have been out of breath once he reached the workbench, had he not been a nindroid. "Prepare for battle," he urged them both, gently clearing a place between the scattered parts of the filter to set his falcon down on the bench. "We've got company."
"You were spotted?" Uncle Wu had urgency underneath his voice as he stepped forward. "By one? Two?"
"How about..." Kai began with a hopeful smile, then slumped his shoulders. "All of 'em."
"Did you locate the Temple of Light?" asked Misako. She and Uncle Wu had joined the others around the workbench.
"It's at the top of the mountain," answered Kai. "I hope those vehicles are ready, because we could sure use 'em now."
Ready they were. The huge driller vehicle sat on a gentle slope on the beach, the gold-plated hubcaps gently reflecting the sunset's orange light. Misako and Dr. Julien led the way.
"Guess you're gonna have to figure this baby out on the fly," remarked the doc as the other ninja followed at a run. He didn't seem too worried about it.
The cabin roof opened up on its own, and Cole, Kai, and Zane leaped in without hesitation.
Jay joined Nya on the other side of the vehicle as she went on, "We've also packed another surprise in back. Perhaps it could be of use?" She pecked Jay on the lips.
"Another Nya surprise?" exclaimed Jay. He couldn't have sounded happier.
Lloyd grinned and turned when his mom put her hand on his shoulder. "You'll have to go too." She squeezed his hand warmly. "Be safe."
Lloyd smiled back. "We will."
He leaped in to join the other ninja, tapping lightly over the ridges in the vehicle's body and a golden exhaust pipe. Jay had already taken his seat, and was saying his last goodbyes.
"Whatever you do," Uncle Wu called up to them, "do not stop until you find the Temple of Light. Our survival depends on it."
Kai had the seat beside Lloyd, and looked past him to answer Wu. "This time," Kai assured him with a smile, "we'll stick to the plan."
Cole, in the driver's seat, punched a button and the cabin roof slid closed over their heads. Lloyd was the last one to look away from his uncle as Wu wished them, "Good luck, ninja."
With a mechanical growl and hiss, the enormous hind wheels of the vehicle slid backwards against the dune. Cole throttled the engine, and the whole vehicle crawled out of their little man-made cove. The loud purr escalated to a roar as they rounded the bend and shot off across the beach.
Only the sky and the sea in the distance could stop them. Lloyd couldn't keep a grin off of his face.
Finally, finally he was back in the fight! Onward to the Temple of Light!
For only being on its maiden voyage, the driller machine was killer, and the red mech probably saved their lives.
As the boys tunneled through the island and effortlessly scaled the sheer rock face of the mountain, Lloyd kind of found himself wishing that the nerds who built them had gotten a chance to see them in action.
When he had a second to breathe between fending off the Stone Army, he remembered that he was one of those nerds, and that made it even better.
By nightfall, an enormous bell in an ancient temple was struck, and it filled a room full of prophecies and carvings with white light.
By nightfall, Lloyd had the First Spinjitsu Master's power.
By nightfall, four jets of the elements and the shape of a golden dragon shot high into the star-speckled black sky.
A/N: And that completes the scenes from Episode 23, "Island of Darkness"!
Reviews are a working driller mech.