Chapter 87
Of Spies And Ninja

.:Violet:.

It was weird, the ninja of air expected the dark island to be dark everywhere to live up to its name but… it wasn't that dark. Violet thought the sky would always be dark, the sand black, all trees dead and the waters murky. That wasn't the case. The sky would be blue but as she found out, it turned darker the deep you venture in and the sand was a clear yellow with some sticks shells poking out. The trees were tall to cast shadows but all leaves branched out higher than the middle of the tree.

It wasn't long before she, Kai, Jay, Cole and Zane arrived at Garmadon's camp; Lloyd staying back to make sure he doesn't prematurely start the final fight between him and his father.

"What do you guys think he's building?" Kai whispered as all five laid on their stomachs of a high, flat rock and overlooking the fences to peer into the camp.

"Who cares about that? We need to look for what the medallion matches up to." Cole declared, holding the gold circle to his eye.

Violet let the bicker between her teammates to themselves of who gets a turn at the medallion. It seems she always seem to be injured or gone whenever there's someone new who entered onto the Bounty. First was Lloyd, she was still out of it inside her bedroom from the staff's venom. Then it was Scarlett. Sure Violet knew her sister but she never knew that her sister would join them on the Bounty and when she did, the ninja of air blacked out! Nathan she brought on so he doesn't count. She missed out on Misako's arrival and Zane's reunion with his father.

"Wait!" Zane's voice suddenly called out, causing Cole to hiss as him to be quiet.

"You found the temple?"

"No, look!" And the Nindroid pointed into the camp. Violet narrowed her odd-coloured eyes and gasp to see the robotic falcon lying on its back on a wooden table in the camp.

"I thought when it was shot down; it was lost for good…" Kai muttered as Zane got up, his voice trailing off. Violet could tell the red ninja was hoping Zane wasn't offended.

"Not if I can retrieve it-"

"Wait Zane." Violet whispered as she yanked on his hand to get him to sit down before they could be stopped. "You can't go in without a plan."

"Plan? This is straying from the plan." Cole hissed, she could tell the leader was getting reckless from the lack of fighting. "We're supposed to find the temple of light, staying out of sight."

"That rhymes!" Jay suddenly exclaimed out that both Cole and Kai jumped on him, hoping his voice didn't get too carried out.

"Who cares Jay?" Violet sighed at the blue ninja's childish act.

"If I was any of you, I would do the same," Zane continued, his blue set on the falcon, "but I have to get my friend back." And before any of them could protest, the white ninja already jumped down from the rock and to the camp grounds. Violet was about to get up when a hand grabbed her wrist and when she looked back, she found it was Cole who stopped her.

"The more of use that go, the more chance we'll get caught-"

"And you expect me to let Zane go like that?" The air elemental master hissed as she tugged on her wrist. "I can disappear remember?"

"And Misako said the Stone Army was created to resist all of the First Spinjitzu Master's tricks that were also passed to us. Even if you disappear, I'm sure they can see you." Cole reminded and Violet could only huff in annoyance.

So they waited in suspense as she, Kai and Cole watched Zane while Jay continued to look for the three points that can match up to the Temple of Light; at the same thing, annoying the rest of them.

"I spy with my little eye… err…. Another tree!" Jay exclaimed and Violet punched him in the shoulder, earning a whine from the Motor-Mouth.

"Jay, seriously, how did you ever become a ninja?" Cole snapped, narrowly his chocolate eyes and busy and thick eyebrows at the ninja in blue. Everyone was on the edge, including her. Kai's hands were tucked into tight fists with his knuckles turning white.

"Can Zane just get his bird already and get out of there? I can't take this anymore."

"Just be patient you two, it's better he takes his time and get out of there safely instead of him rushing like you do Mr Hot-Headed and Impatient and get caught-" Violet snapped until the brunette swiftly cut her off.

"Whoa, aren't you bitter too?" Kai grumbled underneath his breath. She merely growled as a response until Jay cried out with joy.

"Guys, look! I found it!" And by now, Jay was standing, jumping with excitement as he past the medallion to Kai.

"It matches up, that's where the Temple of Light must be!"

"Jay, I take back everything I said. You're a fine ninja, not as fine as me but a fine-!"

"Guys, shut up, they spotted Zane!" Violet cried out and she pushed past Kai and Cole and flew from the rock and into Garmadon's base. She landed on the ground in front of Zane, who held his falcon close with his back to a large rock and a group of warriors surrounding him. "Stay back!"

And channelling her powers, she shot a large gush of wind from her palms. However, this did little damage to the group as it pushed them back for a couple of centimetres.

"Violet, what are you doing here?"

"Attempting to save your butt-"

"My butt? But my butt isn't in danger-"

"It's an expression." Violet softly sighed as she looked back to the angry Stone Warriors. Both ninja braced themselves for the pain to arrive but instead, the loud roar of engines was heard and the air elemental master saw one of the Stone Army's vehicles drove past, pushing all of the warriors away. Then three ninja dressed in red, blue and black jumped out of it.

"What are you two waiting for? Red carpet?" Cole asked. Violet smiled at his remark and she ran towards Jay and Kai who already left to find a safe exit which wasn't crawling with statues. It wasn't long until a herd of them were hot on their heels.

"Remember how Sensei said to stay out of sight?" Kai asked, deep pants lacing into his words.

"Yeah, that was good advice." Cole puffed as they got to the fence. Kai pressed his hands against it and immediately Cole jumped on his shoulders and Jay and Zane following in pursuit. "Come on Violet!"

"Got it!" Violet called back and she climbed up the human ladder. But spears flew into the fence just above her head, startling the ninja and the ladder wobbled and broke apart.

"Why didn't we listen to Sensei?" Jay cried out as he got up, along with the rest of her team but then more spears came towards them. Violet dived back onto the ground as well as everyone else but a sharp yelp came from the ninja in black. When the purple-eyed girl looked towards him, he was kneeling on the ground, clutching his upper arm where one of the spears had just skimmed his arm but leaving a deep gash.

"Cole, are you okay?" She asked as the next wave of spears came. She tossed a hand out, making the air grew tense and push the spears back.

"Yeah, perfectly fine." Was the response she got back until something else caught Cole's attention. "Look, there's a gate!"

"Come on!" Kai then yelled. Everyone quickly recovered and ran through the base with Cole in the lead, still clutching his arm. Violet could already tell Zane was concern about his wound. Then the five entered onto a rickety old bridge made of rope and wood planks. They were forced to run in a single file, Cole in the lead, then Zane, Jay, her and finally Kai who kept a hand pressed against her back, as if encouraging her to keep going. It wasn't until Zane cried out, the wooden plank underneath his foot disappeared.

"I got you Zane!" Jay then shouted, helping the Nindroid up.

"Thank you Jay."

"No worries."

"Come on guys, we're halfway there!" Cole panted he suddenly stopped, making the rest of them stop. Violet looked ahead to see warriors were at the end of the bridge, blocking their way. She looked back to see the same thing.

"Violet, can you help us out of here?" Jay asked.

"I can't fly more than two people at once. Sorry guys." She apologised and through the stone warriors at the front, she could see Garmadon grinning at them. His black lips snarling into a grin not as sick as Vincent's but it was menacing. She then frowned when he was given a box of popcorn.

"We've been in situations like this a hundred of times before. Quick, someone thing of an idea!" Kai exclaimed.

"I don't know! Jump into that hole?" Jay offered but the idea was immediately dismissed.

"I say we fight!" Cole then suggested.

"With what?" Violet snapped as she looked around. "No one have their powers but me which isn't fair and we have no weapons! Let's not forget you're injured."

"It's not that bad." Cole muttered until Zane cut them all off.

"I got you all into this mess. I think I have an idea of how to get us out." Zane announced but it was too late. The Stone Warriors already piled onto the old bridge. The weight became unbearable and finally, it gave out. "Grab a plank underneath your feet and use spinjitzu!"

Violet, however, wasn't quick enough. As the others grabbed a plank and used Spinjitzu to fly, everything around her disappeared from her grasp. She frantically look around as she fell down along with the statues into the deep pit. All the wooden planks were too far from her grasp.

"Fly Violet! You're the ninja of air from a reason!" She then heard Cole shout out and mentally, she face palmed. Easily and effortlessly, she caught herself in mid-air and looked up to the others who were now skateboarding away on their planks. Being swift, she flew after them. In less than a minute, the guys jumped off their makeshift skateboard and used their hoods to make their landing softer.

"Let's head back to our camp and inform the others." Cole announced and he already started jogging off.

"Can't we get a break?" Jay then whined but once Cole shot him a pointed look, Jay stopped and continued after him along with Zane. Violet then followed with Kai running up along her.

"Are you okay?"

"Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't mean physically you know." He said and Violet looked at him. "And please be honest with me."

"Truthfully… I don't know. I guess I'm glad it's the Stone Army than Vincent's gang but at the same time… not really." She sighed and turned her glaze to the track in front of her created by the other's footsteps. "At least the Stone Army doesn't talk or have weapons that can kill you if aimed correctly, plus if they happen to capture us, we'll be taken to Garmadon and he isn't that cruel when you come to think about it… But my powers have no effect on them and I feel useless because of that. But Vincent's gang, they can talk and they can just say things to tear you down completely, they have weapons that can kill you so quickly so they won't even spare you a chance but at least…" Violet thoughts wondered off. At least I can kill them? She felt like if she said these words to Kai, he'll see her differently, the cold-blooded killer Vincent called her.

"You can kill them?" Kai's voice was soft as he asked this.

"… Yes." She replied slowly and was unable to make eye contact with those amber eyes.

"Violet, please don't be hard on yourself. You did what you had to do. I suppose if any of us were in your shoes, we would have done the same."

"Really?" The girl asked and she looked to Kai's face.

"Yes. To be honest, I kept thinking what it would be like to be in your shoes for a situation like that." He admitted and avoided her eyes. "And I keep thinking 'what would I do?'. What you have done Violet, I don't think anyone else would have been able to do that. You were so brave even though you were scared shitless, you continued to fight with hope even though things were dark, you didn't even give up… If I went through that 'night', I thought to myself 'I would have given up… There would be no way possible I could have convinced myself otherwise.'"

"You're just being modest." Violet replied but he shook his head.

"No, I'm not. I'm being serious. That's one of the billions reasons why I love you, you're so brave, you have this bravery no one else has on this very land-"

"Kai, you know that's not true. Everyone is scared of something-"

"But you don't break down or cry or give up on the very spot, you use it to fuel you and you face it."

"No I don't."

"Yes you do! When you first arrived at the village, you kept going despite the fact that you still vomited at the sight. You still went on after all the things Vincent did to you-"

"But I did give up but and once I had you there."

"And when was this?" Kai queried her.

"When I fell off the Bounty… Kai, I tried so hard to get back to the surface but I couldn't!"

"Shh!" And suddenly Kai stopped and brought her into his arms. "But you tried your best and you're completely fine. It's okay."

"I'm not crying you know."

"Yeah I know but I want to hug you." Kai confessed and Violet laughed softly however they both pulled from the hug within seconds. "Sumire, can I ask you something?"

"O-Okay." She replied, not really liking the way the tone of Kai's warm voice changed.

"Tell me… last night, did you have a nightmare?" He asked softly that Violet looked into his eyes to see he was distant.

"About the water?" And the brunette softly nodded his head. "Yeah… I felt like I was drowning again, I couldn't breathe. Your sister had to wake me up and I'm so grateful for it… Why?" And when he didn't reply but looked down, she knew why. "You had the same dream didn't you?"

"I've never seen the ocean like that before… And it haunts me because when I dived in to go after you, I kept getting pushed around and it was so hard to breathe or even know where you were. One moment I was happy, next I saw the girl I love get kissed by someone else-"

"-Kai-"

"-hold up, that's a discussion for later and then came yelling and the next thing I knew you were over board. I was so scared of losing you I just jumped in… I really thought I could have drowned. I always thought water was a beautiful thing and now I've seen both sides…" Kai muttered, his shoulders slumped with sorrow. The last sentence made the mistress of air realise of her experience with Vincent, like how she thought the people of Ninjago were all innocent and safe, truth is not all of them can be trusted. She saw both light and dark side, like Kai saw with the water. "Every time I look at the ocean, I just remember try to drag you to the surface while trying not to drown. I've never been so scared like that before, not even when Nya was taken… Then again, it could never match the fear you went through…"

"And you're telling me I was brave…" She sighed but one of her small hands went to cup his cheek which was still bruised from his earlier tackle with Nathan. "But Kai, in case if you haven't realised, you faced your fear, you kept going with so much courage too. Listen, just like me, you'll be a little bit scared of it for a while but having loved ones nearby really helps."

"Thanks Violet," Kai said with a small smile as he leaned down and captured her leaps for a quick yet sweet kiss. "Come on, let's catch up to the others."

"Okay."

And it occurred to Violet that today was the day Kai became afraid of water.

.::.

It wasn't long until they reached their camp, informing the others of their findings. By findings, Violet meant finding the Temple of Light and the falcon as well as getting spotted by the entire army. It wasn't long until they were sent off once again, only to have Lloyd joining them and promising Wu that they would stick to the plan. The vehicle was long and narrow with a drill in front. It was a dark colour with flames designed along the sides. Inside, along the sides were buttons and seven seats. There were four rows; the back three had two seats while the front was just the driver's seat. Cole was seated in the front with Zane and Lloyd in front of Kai and Violet and Jay sitting by himself, not that the motor mouth complained. Then the vehicle went with a loud whir of the engines. Then it wasn't long before a couple of the Stone Army's vehicles appeared and Cole's crazing driving instincts kicked in.

"Cole, you do know how to drive this thing right?" Jay exclaimed from the back as he kept kneeling on his seat to peer through the back window.

"Of course I do Jay, sit down, I can't see through the rear-view mirror." Cole ordered as he quickly turned the wheel to turn a sharp right into the dense forest. Since there weren't any seatbelts, Violet slid along the leather seats and onto Kai.

"Can you at least drive a little bit smoother?" Violet barked as Kai helped her up.

"I'm sorry but in case if you haven't noticed, there are four other vehicles that are trying to kill us!"

"So what? You're doing road rage right now?" She asked, taking a reference from the one of the boys' games, Burnout Paradise.

"Nah, more like Marked Man." Lloyd added from in front and the ninja of air could only huff in response.

"Okay guys, hold on!" Cole yelled and then the vehicle went into a sharp U-turn and drove straight for one of the Stone Warrior's.

"Cole, are you crazy?!"

"Trust me!" It wasn't long until the vehicle was airborne and just as they were about to hit the ground, the driver punched one of the orange buttons and the drill in front spun, digging through the dirt right in front of the other vehicle.

"That's it, I'm driving once all of this is over." Kai declared but the white, blue and green ninja only cried in joy from their getaway.

Okay, that wasn't such a good ending but this Dark Island is so hard to write… . I hope you all enjoyed reading it because I definitely did not enjoy writing it. But massive thanks to Darkrainbow, Applejack ninja lover, FlameNinjaofDarkFire, ALookIntoMyWorld, Mihoshi 2.0, CarlyShi208, ElementzGirl7, I'm Rat, ShadowNinja27, MortalNinjas and all the silent readers!

Darkrainbow: Well I live in Australia so our seasons are reversed. In the state I lived, there hasn't been snow for 31 years, this year it snowed :)

So once again, big thanks. Next week I'll be able to update on Friday but the Friday after I got a Volleyball competition that lasts for 3 days so no chapter then but I'll try to get it up on the day before, may be difficult since I have training that afternoon too…. So I'll see you guys soon!