Chapter Summary: The friends meet Sensei Wu, a sorcerer that is thousands of years old, and learn of the ancient danger that all of Ninjago is about to face...

Chapter Five:

"So... do we just start climbing up the stairs or..." Lloyd broke off as Nya yelled something about racing someone, before taking off, Kai right on her heels.

Zane shrugged, before moving forward to start up the long trail. "We best get going if we want to get back before anyone notices that we are gone."

Cole rubbed his hands together excitedly, his eyes gleaming as he eyed the steps carved into the Mountains thousands of years ago. "You know? I've always wanted to come here just to climb up this mountain." He started to jog forward, bending down briefly to press his fingers against the dirt.

Lloyd sighed as he realized that all of his friends were clearly determined to solve this mystery, and to get to the top of the mountain. With their things dropped off at the hotel they were staying at, they managed to get four rooms, each with two beds in it, at the last minute, they had moved over to the tall mountain that was adjacent to the mountain village. To say the least, Lloyd was suddenly wondering if they should wait till morning to keep going. They only had two hours till sundown, and they wanted to be back before then...

"Lloyd! Come on! Stop being a scaredy-cat!" Kai hollered from further up the trail as he turned back around to look at the youngest member of their little group.

Lloyd opened his mouth to point out that Jay wasn't hurrying up the stairs either, only to realize that Jay was nowhere to be seen. Groaning to himself, he started up the steps. He really shouldn't let his friends do all this for him for nothing.

"Wow...*gasp* no *gasp* wonder *gasp* they *gasp* call *gasp* these *gasp* the *gasp* unending *gasp* staircase *gasp*." Kai bent over, sides heaving as he panted from the extortion of climbing the stairs at top speed for the past two and a half hours.

Lloyd squinted as he glanced up at the stairs, trying to see if he couldn't spot the end of the steps. All he could see was more stairs... for as far up as his eyesight could perceive. "We probably should stop for the night..."

"I did not realize that it would take this long. Perhaps we should have waited until first thing in the morning to do this and bring supplies with us?" Zane didn't appear to be nearly as out of breath as the rest of the friends.

Nya shook her head, flopping down onto the ground as her sides heaved from the exercise. "Gah! I don't think you could prepare enough to do this. I mean seriously? How many steps are there!?"

"I wouldn't mind knowing how it is this monastery even exists up there. The higher up we get, the lower the oxygen gets."

"And you didn't think to tell us this earlier because..?" Lloyd blinked slowly as he stared at Zane in shock.

Zane shrugged, looking semi-repentant. "You didn't ask. Besides that, according to my research, no one has ever made it to the top. They run out of oxygen long before they make it there. Even Mr. Borg's own grandfather never made it to the top. Though he made it further than anyone else ever managed to make it."

Groans rippled through the group as they flopped backwards to stare up at the sky, where the first of the stars were starting to glisten and twinkle. "We're doomed... obviously this Sensei Wu fellow is the right guy that we need to talk to... and he somehow knew about that device and hacked into it to feed it false information." Lloyd lamented as he stared blankly at the sky.

Sighs rippled through the group as everyone settled down to rest for a minute, regain their breath. Cole grunted as he flopped down next to Lloyd, his eyes fluttering shut. "I could really use a nap right about now..."

Lloyd grunted in agreement, but didn't say anything as he closed his own eyes for just a minute...

"Lloyd! Wake up! It's morning and by the looks of things Jay started without us!" Zane abruptly shook Lloyd awake, startling him.

Lloyd bolted up into a sitting position, blinking rapidly as he realized that Zane was telling the truth. The sun was rising, not setting, and Jay didn't appear to be with them anymore. Then again... "I thought Jay was already further ahead than us anyways?"

"I figured that knowing how Jay feels about the dark, he would have climbed back down to us once it started to get dark." Zane explained calmly, while Cole started to climb once more, the siblings on his tail.

Lloyd heaved himself to his feet, before trotting up the steps. "How far up are we anyways?"

Zane paused, eyeing their surroundings carefully. "At the speed we are going... we should reach the point that Mr. Borg's grandfather reached by early evening."

"Wait... what? I thought it took several days for anyone to get that high up the steps." Kai stopped abruptly, turning around to face the two dilly-dalliers.

"Indeed. However we have crossed ground far more quickly than the most athletic persons that have attempted this very same endeavor."

Nya cleared her throat, eyes narrowing slightly as she glared at their intelligent friend. "Zane... how much further do we have before the oxygen starts getting low?"

"We past that point yesterday. The oxygen levels will keep going down the higher up we get."

Lloyd groaned at that, before starting up at a brisk walk. They best get going then... hopefully they wouldn't run out of oxygen before they get to the top.

Jay waved cheerfully at them from where he was sitting casually on top of a rock next to the large wall that surrounded the monastery. "Uh... there really is a monastery up here... wait. Jay? How did you get up here so fast? And your not out of breath!?" Lloyd stared at his friend, confused about what was going on here. Especially since shouldn't they be out of oxygen by now or something?

Jay lifted a finger up, pointing at something next to the rock. "There was an elevator."

Lloyd started in surprise, staring at the piece of technological marvel as if it came from outer space. Zane cleared his throat, one eyebrow shooting upwards. "That is would have been helpful yesterday when we started climbing up the mountain."

"Yeah..." Kai and Nya agreed in unison as they flopped down unceremoniously onto the ground.

Cole stretched, glancing over at the doorbell next to the large monastery double doors. "So... do we ring the bell or what?"

Lloyd swallowed hard, before reaching to ring the bell... the doors burst open as the janitor stood there, a deadly serious expression on his face. "I am Sensei Wu, mighty sorcerer that is thousands of years old and Ninjago is in grave danger! Tea?" He brightened up greatly, pulling out a tea tray out of thin air and offering it to the startled teens.

A/N: Done! Not exactly how I imagined the whole meeting Sensei would go... but the hike up the mountain took awhile... and yet at the same time faster than what should have been physically possible..? Magic... that is all I am going to say about this. And then there was Jay and the elevator. That actually is a reference to the Three Caballeros (an old Disney TV series that is now on Disney Plus) I figured that Wu bursting out the door, he knew they were coming anyways, and blurting all of that out there before calmly asking them if they want tea seemed about right. Also it is late/getting dark once more and he's dealing with five really hungry tired teenagers. Jay obviously has eaten more recently and isn't as worn out as the others.

Reviews:

Yeah... you know when Lloyd was disappointed that there were no crickets chirping earlier in this story... I'm pretty sure they are singing where reviews are supposed to show up. Please review!

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SkyTalon

Next Chapter: Proper introductions, explanations, and perhaps a little bit of training..?