AH! I'm soooo sorry everyone. Dumb dumb me forgot my USB stick in my locker at school and then it was school holidays so I wasn't able to update any stories or let alone work on them. So I deeply apologize but enjoy with the story! And an extra-long chapter for you all! :)

Chapter 8
A Golden Ride

.:Violet:.

She couldn't help but smirk as the four ninja were pulling the carriage Sensei Wu was sitting on, eating some tea as per usual. Cole was placed in front of Kai and he had Jay on his right and Zane on his left, all of them were pulling the bamboo sticks that were attached to the carriage. She jumped onto a branch and waited for the four to catch up. Violet made sure to stay close so she can listen to their argument but she also made sure to stay out of sight.

"So… how did sensei found you three?" She heard Kai asked. Instantly memories on being on the street being homeless and hungry flooded into her eyes. She was grateful that she did accepted Wu's offer. If she turned him down, she knew she would have died a few months ago. She listened how Wu found Cole after he was climbing a cliff without using any harness or pick axes, obliviously he was testing his limits to see what he can do.

For Jay, the blue ninja was testing out an invention, and by fate, he crashed through a billboard sign and that's how he found Wu, drinking tea. Then it came for Zane's. If the Purple Ninja was honest, she was very interested in his story since he was once homeless like her. Zane said in his usual monotone that he was simply meditating at the bottom of a frozen lake for several minutes. When he was about to return to the surface, he saw Wu at the bottom as well, somehow drinking tea. At hearing this, Violet simply rolled her eyes at her sensei's strong fond for tea.

"You're right, if it weren't for Sensei, we wouldn't be toget-"

"Stop!" She was about to leap another branch forward when she heard Wu say that. She tried to stop but her foot slipped and her hand failed to grab the nearest branch. She bit down on her tongue as she fell and when she made contact with the ground, a guttural groan escaped her lips.

"Did you guys hear something?" The wind ninja heard Cole asked and she held her breath.

"It was nothing." She then heard Wu said.

"I heard it too Sensei… can we check it out to make sure we aren't being followed?" Kai's voice echoed through the stilled air.

Damn, I knew we should have saved our invisibility for later!

Her little angle – or devil – guardian said. Violet sighed and agreed, mentally punching herself for getting into this situation.

"It's fine, I don't hear anything." Wu said before clearing his throat. "We're close to the Caves of Despair. I highly suggest we walk by foot now if we want maximum stealth."

When she heard their footsteps faded away, she groaned and got onto her knees slowly. She rubbed circles onto her left arm. She knew a bruise is going to spread wonderfully on her arm. She softly sighed before standing up and she dusted herself. She went to readjust her bow – which she always does as it seem to calm her – but he realized her golden bow and sheath of arrows were gone. She looked around frantically but she let herself relax when she saw it hanging on the end of a branch.

.::.

She quickly dashed to her Sensei once Cole, Jay and Zane left. She also sighed as the impatient red ninja dashed off.

"Sorry Sensei, I would have come earlier but I think you knew what kinda happened." She informed in a sheepish tone and a soft pink rose to her cheeks.

"How on Ninjago did you fell from that branch? I know you are a great climber."

"Well I didn't except you to suddenly call out stop so that threw me off." She replied as she started to observe the camp the skeletons made in order to find the Scythe of Quakes.

"Now listen, I told them not to use the Scythe, I'm afraid they won't be able to control its power."

"The Scythe of Quakes right? No wonder you told them not to use it." She muttered as she could imagine an earth quake splitting the earth apart.

"So can you followed them and make sure they don't do anything reckless?"

"Sure sensei." And she changed into her invisibility form and silently ran through the camp and into the cave. She saw Kai running into another part of the cave and Cole, Zane and Jay inside of an upside-down cart. Unfortunately, a skeleton in front of the other three spotted Kai. Fortunately, the three dragged skeleton into their cart and bashed him. She quickly followed kai as the other three busied themselves. Another group spotted Kai. She sighed and pulled out a pair of twin daggers. Violet ran towards the skeletons and she sliced their heads and quickly stuffed a couple rocks in their mouths. She then chased after kai.

Why does he have to be so damn stupid and ignorant?

She honestly doesn't know the answer to that but now she knows why Sensei wants her to follow them. She's just really glad Cole, Zane and Jay have enough common sense to not do rash and reckless things like Kai does… Maybe Zane and Cole may tell Jay off once in a while but at least Jay is more mature than Kai.

The purple eyed ninja saw kai trying to push open a rock in front of a wall. Of course the weapon had to be in there but she was shock at Kai poor effort to push it. She sighed and she let the gentle breeze push her up and she pushed the top part of the rock. She tried not to groan but stopped when she saw the others. She knew the more she tire herself, the more easier it is for her to suddenly change back into her normal form in front of everyone else.

Once inside, she saw a head of a dragon protruding from the ground with the scythe in its mouth. She grinned as she waited patiently for Cole to realize. To her dismay, he didn't realize and Jay practically gave them away. Violet sighed and jumped out and she could see armies of skeletons running in with axes and swords.

She sighed at Kai and Jay. If she ever does get to meet the four, she'll defiantly be close friends with Zane. Perhaps Cole too. Then Jay then kai. No, stuff that list. Zane would be her close friend, then Cole and Jay while Kai would probably be on her hate list.

'He's disrespectful, ignorant, arrogant, impatient, stupid…'

The list went forever in her head.

You forgot he was cute!

She hissed underneath her breath and hit her head against the wall. She done it a couple times, first time she knocked herself out but now she's used to it. Then she heard the four stopped talking. She took this as a sign that they know that the bone heads heard them. She sighed. She knows they won't be able to do this without spinjitzu.

As she was about to use her element, Kai ran passed her and drew his sword and attacked. She quickly got out of the way and watched as they fought.

These ninja will be the death of me…

.:Jay:.

He spun around and the other end of his chosen weapon chattered the skull of a single skeleton. Unlike the others' weapon, he's able to break stuff instead of penetrate the enemies' skin with the 'pointy end'. Of course, to his logic, sharp blades and point ends won't do anything to these dudder heads. To his advantage, his nunchucks can break and shatter the bones. But he knew him and his team won't be able to this keep up.

Slowly, he started to regret his curiosity in echoes. He doesn't know why but he's so interested in them… He knew this was his fault and soon they're going to get smashed! He then realized the skeletons were actually not trying to kill them –although some of them are- but they are trying to obtain the scythe. They need spinjitzu. Without that they're goners!

"To unlock spinjitzu, you need to think of the key."

He blinked. Did he actually just hear that or was that a figment of memory of Wu telling them about Spinjitzu? Difference is that this was a female voice. It was soft and very melodic. He looked around but he only saw skeletons and his team mates. No girls. Perhaps he was imagining it.

But a hammer from the skeletons whacked against his face and felt himself crash into the rocky wall. He winched as he rubbed the back of his neck. He then looked to the incoming skeletons. The one in the middle was swinging around a wipe while the others are armed with deadly blades. He gulped.

"The training course. Think of the training course." He blinked once again. It was that voice. He looked around. He looked towards the 5 skeletons and realized it was right.

"Thank you my guardian angel!" If he was honest, he felt like a clown just saying that but he did need to say thanks. So was that the key? The training course at the monastery is the key to spinjitzu? He went his instincts take over and he jumped over the skeletons and kicked their heads for good measure.

"Over the planks." He murmured as he concentrated. The then jumped over another two that were swinging their probably poisoned blades.

"Dodge the swords."

When he landed on the ground, he felt powerful. A soft breeze was around him and he felt little zaps striking his skin. He didn't bother him since one of his failing creations did worse damage. In a way it had immune him.

"And here comes the dummy." And he spun around to hit the skeleton in the jaw with his nunchucks but when he did, he didn't stop spinning. Slowly a whirlpool of lightning engulfed him. No, this isn't a whirlpool. It was a tornado and do you know what that mean? Spinjitzu! He did it! When he did stop spinning, the tornado kept spinning around him. It was the weirdest feeling ever. He could just see pass the bolts of lightning so he can see where he's going. The ground beneath his feet vanished and he was completely hovering above the ground.

He then tried to walk forward but the force of the tornado kept his foot at bay. He leaned forward instead and he zoomed forward, everything in his way –which was the skeletons- was pushed back with the force of his spinjitzu.

"Jay how did you do that!" He smirked. He was proud. He was first to do Spinjitzu! That was amazing! "What's the key?"

"I'm just going through the motion; this is what sensei meant that we already know the key!" Jay shouted back to Kai. He tried something new. He started to attack with his nunchucks and the impact was twice as strong. Whoever or whatever that voice is, he owed them or it a lot.

.:Violet:.

She would be lying that blush crept on her cheeks when Jay shouted his thanks to her. In case you missed it:

"Thank you my guardian angel!"

Ok, she did reveal the key to Jay but he was the only one at that moment that wasn't covered head to toe with those skeletons. She even decided to kick butt herself. Violet used her daggers and separated the heads from their boney bodies. She was happy once Kai, Zane and Cole followed after Jay. She then leaned back and watched them. As the ninja chased then out of the caves, the dragon came out of its slumber. She smirked and waited for Cole to turn around. This time, she got her request granted. She saw his face go pale white. Fear flooded in his chocolate brown eyes and his posture with rigid but he was also trembling slightly.

While the others were 'Wahoo' or 'Yippee', Cole went deathly silent. She could see he was fighting with himself not to scream. She slowly went to towards the dragon. In theory, dragons can see invisible things and hear the slightest whispers. It's time to test that theory out. She held out her hands and its nose flared and its eyes narrowed.

"It's alright big fella. We haven't come to use the golden weapon for a bad cause. We also want to protect it from the evil that's planning to steal it." Violet told it calming but in a quiet whisper. It growled at her in response. So it's a boy dragon!

"E-er g-guys?" The purple ninja heard Cole said in the most trembling voice she had ever heard.

Crap! He's going to make the dragon mad.

She groaned and the other three turned around. The dragon stepped in front of her and he bared his wings back and he snarled towards the four.

"Wait! They're with me! They're just scared of you!" She shouted in a whisper but it was drowned by the dragon's snarls. Violet jumped onto its back and patted it head.

It only trust you and not them!

She mentally groaned and listened as the ninja tried to quickly think of a plan while Cole kept stammering about there's a dragon right in front of him. Suddenly, an ear splitting roar pierced through the cave and the dragon blew a mixture of dust and dirt towards the ninja. He then went on his hind legs with his front claws in the air and blew again with little mountains of rocks forming in front of the ninja.

"I thought again weren't from this world!" She heard Cole screamed as he and the others quickly rolled to the side, avoiding the dragon's attacks. Violet continued to plead to the dragon to calm down but the dragon drowned her out and she frowned deeply. She quickly looked to the others and saw Kai grip the scythe tightly.

Oh dear…

"Kai don't do it!" Jay shouted from the other cave and his voice bounced off with wall. "Sensei told us not to use the weapon!"

"So you better keep your mouth shut." He snapped. The purple ninja glared at him before adding 'rude' to Kai's list. She quickly leaped over the dragon's head and rushed to kai but she was too late. The red ninja already slammed the blade of the scythe into the ground. A crack appeared in the ground and the dragon let out a startled cry before flapping its wings. Violet herself was pushed back violently from the force into the wall. A small cry left her lips without her permission but she couldn't see if the others heard her or not. She weakly craned her head and saw rocks falling from the ceiling and toppled onto the dragon.

What surprised her the most is that she haven't fell out of her invisibility form. She realized that when she went to rub the back of her head.

"We got to escape otherwise we'll be buried alive!" She heard Cole shouted; his voice didn't tremble.

Buried alive? Get out of there!

She groaned and stood up shakily.

"We can't. I swear I heard someone else in here. We have to look for her." She heard Jay argued. She bit her tongue for her foolishness for allowing herself to be heard.

"I too heard a female… but it was more of a cry." She heard Zane mutter too. She silently cursed and got up.

"There's no time for that, we have to leave now!" Kai shouted before he used spinjitzu and exited through the roof which is crumbling apart. Cole followed him whereas Zane and Jay exchange glances before following their comrades. After they left, Violet quickly used her wind element and stopped the rocks from falling. With her other hand, she quickly dig through the rocks to see if the dragon was alright. To her relief, he was.

"You are free my friend." She smiled and used her element again to push the bigger rocks off the dragon. He rubbed his snout against her and she couldn't help but giggle. She bid the dragon farewell before leaving herself. Once the dragon exited as well, she let the rocks fall.

But the energy left her body quickly and within seconds, she collapsed with crimson blood seeping through her forearm.

.:Kai:.

He rubbed his hands as snow began to cover the decks of the ship. He didn't understand how Zane can stand this weather. Sure he's the ninja of snow and ice but that's still no reason for not being able to stand the coolness of the air. But the event from the past five days still haunts him.

Ok, so he should have listened to Jay's advice on not using the scythe because now, Wu can't trust him with important roles. He had even considered to leave him out for when they go to collect the shurikens but after hearing they can use spinjitzu, Wu reconsidered his words.

But on the first night on the boat, Jay admitted his guardian angel had told him the key to him, Cole and Zane. He and Cole had a good laugh at Jay when he mentioned the angel bit. They knew there were no such things as angels, maybe devils and demons but nothing else. But when he said the cry they heard earlier sounded the same as his guardian, this is when they took this seriously. He'll admit it too, that voice did sound like a cry from a girl but it sounded so familiar.

He knew it wasn't Nya, or his friends' sisters or his friends that were girls. But that cry… he knew he heard it before… Almost recently. He thought about the reporter who he already forgot the name of. They had the same tone but it sounded different. But when they told him about the cry they heard, Wu's face paled before he told them he'll be back, and do not leave the dock until he returned. It was late at night when he did.

Kai had always been a curious person, always suspicious of others. Now he's suspicious of Wu. Why? Because when Wu did return, the same strawberry scent he smelt when he found that room in the monastery. And now, Sensei Wu spends most of his times in his room. When Zane went to deliever his meal, Wu would ask for him to him another one. But when Zane come back later to collect the dishes, he returned with one plate empty and another still untouched. Only earlier today Zane went in to deliver the meal but didn't come back from the deck. Then after a couple hours he returns with both dishes empty.

Whatever Wu's hiding, kai swears to find out what it is.

Yay! Chapter done! And big thanks to: Guest, DeliciouslyDangerous1, Himeno Kazehito, Nicole Jett and mlplover333. And to answer your question Guest, Wu just used the niece story to cover up Violet's track. Please review! ;)