Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago or the lines from the episode The Ascent.

Chapter XIV: The Ascent

Everyone had been gathered in front of the stone mech. Wu stood in front of everyone, pacing back and forth. If Cole couldn't unlock the spinjitzu burst, then they would find another way to defeat the Skull Sorcerer, but everyone had to pitch in with their own ideas.

"Here are the facts," Wu began his speech. "We are lost underground, separated from our friends, who are being hunted by an evil necromancer and an army of reanimated skeletons. We have very few weapons and no way out, but we are not giving in to despair. Where there is a will, there is a way, and we will find it! I want suggestions! Ideas!"

Everyone thought hard on a way to get out of the mountain. It seemed hopeless before, but now they had a few more resources. Unfortunately, there were no ideas. At least not any good ones.

"I've got an idea," Cole stated nervously, "but this one's a little nuts."

"This one?" Plundar asked.

"Let's hear it," Wu replied. He knew Cole's ideas could be rather odd, but no one else seemed to have anything.

The master of earth took out his weapon that had been found in the stone mech and drew a squiggly line in the dirt saying, "These are the tracks we found earlier, which I'm guessing lead to the surface, and let's pretend this is the mine cart," he continued as he took a mushroom from Fungus' hat. "We take the wheels off of it, strap the axle to the mech, like a pair of giant roller skates, and use the mech to propel the other carts back up the tracks. Propellant please!"

Fungus took some magic dust from his hat and sprinkled it onto the mushroom so that it started spinning.

"Then, we get in the carts and go zipping back up the tracks like this!"

Everyone watched as Cole threw the mushroom onto the track he created and it went down at an alarmingly fast rate. Right before it got to the end, though, it flew up into the air and exploded in a mini firework.

C.J. hugged Cole's leg tightly after hearing that loud noise.

"Explosion is us?" Korgran asked.

"That idea seems a little, uh...What's the word I'm looking for? Oh, yeah! Nuts!" Plundar exclaimed.

"I told you that at the start. Yeesh. Nobody listens," Cole sighed.

"Well, I don't hear any other suggestions. So unless you guys want to give up and just go back to Rock Bottom..." Vania defended.

"I vote in favor of Cole's plan," Wu told the Upply.

"As do I!" Fungus exclaimed.

"Korgran also. And also Korgran's non-speaking ax," he added as he held the ax up proudly. For a moment, it looked like he had heard something, though, and he looked back down to the ax in confusion.

"Well, Plundar?" Fungus asked. "What do your dice advise?"

Plundar looked down to the dice in his hands that had told him which decisions would be best to make or not throughout the journey and sighed. A slow smile crept onto his face as he threw the dice behind him and said, "I'm deciding this one. And you got me this far, so I'm with you all the way."

Cole smiled at this, and the plan was put into action.

Korgran and Cole worked together to bring the mine cart they entered on into the temple before they started taking the wheels off. They put these wheels on the stone mech and Cole and Wu entered to figure out how to work it in the first place.

"I don't get it. There's no buttons, no dials, how are you supposed to operate this thing?" Cole sighed as he rested his hands on an orange crystal inside the mech. Suddenly, all the crystals began to glow, and the mech started up. As soon as Cole took his hands off, though, it stopped.

"What did you do?" Wu asked.

"Nothing! I barely touched it."

"Hmm. Do you think this mech is powered entirely by elemental energy?"

Cole began to wonder the same thing. He looked down to the crystals next to him and placed his hands on them, activating his power as he did so. It seemed much easier than normal with these crystals to help him.

"This is gonna be a piece of cake!" Cole exclaimed as the mech started moving.

Almost immediately, though, he started slipping on the DIY roller blades. He never mastered roller blading without a mech. How was he going to figure out roller blading with one?

"Sorry. My bad," he apologized after nearly crushing Korgran and Plundar.

It took him a very long time to understand the controls of the mech and to stop falling on the roller blades, but as soon as he felt he had it, everyone chose where they would be seated. It was decided that C.J. would sit in the mech with Cole as it was much less dangerous than the mine carts, Plundar decided to stay in the carts with Adam, the Upply didn't want to be separated, and Wu didn't like being in the mech. So Vania took the only other seat in the mech and acted as C.J.'s buckle in a way since he was seated in her lap.

The mech was soon set on the tracks so Cole didn't even need to worry about balancing anymore. He then grabbed the mine carts with the mech's hands and asked, "Everyone ready?"

"No!" Vania suddenly exclaimed from behind. "Not really. I'm worried."

"Don't be. This is gonna work."

"Not that. It's...my father. If we get out of here, I'm going to have to face him. Aren't I?"

"Yeah, but not alone. We'll be with you," Cole smiled and everyone else agreed.

"Okay. Let's do it!" Vania exclaimed.

"Here goes nothin'," Cole said as he grabbed the crystals once again, and the mech started getting ready to move.

"Is it too late for me to change my mind?" Plundar asked.

Cole began going faster, and they started going down the same path that got them to the earth temple. Cole made sure to break any rock formations in the way, and Krogran made sure to keep everyone in the cart safe by preventing them from falling out. Finally, they slowed down. It was smooth sailing from here. That was until Vania remembered something.

"Cole! The lava monster! What if it's still in the cave waiting for us?"

"What? Just standing there? Staring at a wall? No way! I'm sure he's gone back to his-"

"Lava!" C.J. screamed as soon as he noticed the lava monster standing there, staring at a wall.

Cole screamed in fear as he started going much faster. The lava monster chasing after them.

"Eat my dust!" Cole yelled, hoping to go even faster. And they did, for a moment.

"You did it, Cole! We're losing him!" Wu exclaimed.

The next room had something that may have been worse, though. Dire Bats.

"Oh, dear," was Fungus' reaction.

One bat tried to take Adam, but Fungus used his magic to blast this Dire Bat off of their pet. Another was trying to attack the mech, but Cole threw it off of him and into a cave wall. He breathed a sigh of relief now that it was gone, but he suddenly heard both C.J. and Vania scream behind him. Another Dire Bat had apparently made a hole at the top of the mech and was trying to get them.

"Hey!" Cole exclaimed as he grabbed this bat and tried to get it off, but it was no use. The only thing that got it off was when a lava ball had been fired at it. All the bats went back to the cave ceiling and pretended to be asleep again as the lava monster chased after Cole and the group.

"You again?" Cole asked, but he was suddenly grabbed by the lava monster and thrown into multiple walls before finally being dragged against some railroad tracks below. This left his friends in the mine carts to fend for themselves.

Cole grunted as he finally managed to kick the lava monster off of him, but it immediately grabbed him again and jumped towards the lava. Cole managed to get off just in time, and the monster was the only one to make it to the lava. Cole had landed on a bed of rock nearby.

The lava monster stood up from the lava and start shooting lava balls at the ninja of earth, who blocked them with ease. The lava monster then body slammed him into the rock, causing Cole's hand to slip, and he accidentally hit a different crystal. This one gave him a weapon.

"This thing has a sword?! Yeah!" Cole exclaimed happily.

He slashed at the monster, taking some of its limbs in the process. He was about to finish the monster off too, but it was then that Vania said, "Cole! The mine cart! Stop the mine cart!"

"Cole!" Wu called for help.

"Look!" Korgran told everyone.

When Cole looked up, he saw that the group was heading right toward a hole in the track. If he didn't stop the mine cart soon, his friends would fall into the lava below them.

"Master Wu!"

"Hurry, Cole!"

Cole climbed up to the track and ran as fast as he could towards his friends, but the mech wasn't very good for speed.

"We're not gonna make it!" Vania exclaimed.

"Yes, we will!" Cole replied.

He put all the power he had into getting this mech to go as fast as possible, not slowing down when the lava monster got in the way. He went right through it, destroying it and causing lava to splatter all over the mech before grabbing his friends right before they could hit the lava.

Everyone cheered as Cole flew them back up to the track, and they continued on.

"Big stone thing flies too?" Korgran asked.

"You guys okay?" Cole asked, not hearing the question.

"We're going too fast!" Wu exclaimed.

"I can't slow it down! The lava is overheating the controls! This is gonna get a little bumpy!"

Meanwhile, directly above in the palace garden, an elderly couple were taking their daily morning stroll so they could see the flowers.

"What did you say, Englebert?" the wife asked her husband.

"Me? Nothing," Englebert replied.

"Oh! I thought you made a sound."

"What kind of sound?"

"A sound like-Whoo!"

"'Whoo'? Don't be ridiculous! Why would I make a sound like-?"

Suddenly, the ground close by exploded up into the air as the stone mech breached the surface. When the couple saw Adam, they jumped into each other's arms before falling over from the weight.

Everyone stood up from the knocked over mine carts and mech shakily, but no one seemed harmed.

Cole helped Vania out of the mech after exiting himself and Vania handed C.J. back over to his father.

"Are you okay?" Cole asked everyone, although, he was looking right at Vania when he said it.

The princess grabbed the earth master's hands in her own small ones and nodded. Suddenly, she noticed something.

"Oh, look! We're in the palace gardens!"

"Is that the sky?" Fungus asked, looking up at something he'd longed so much to see for the last twenty years.

"It sure is," Wu smiled.

"You mean, we made it?" Plundar asked.

"We're out?" Korgran added.

Everyone started cheering and running around the grassy plain, jumping up happily at the sky, and smelling the nearby flowers. They then went up to Cole and Vania and started stating their happy exclamations towards them.

"We are no longer Lowly!" Korgran exclaimed.

"We're the Upply!" Fungus told them.

"Upply! Upply! Upply!" they all started cheering.

Vania was happy that her new friends had finally reached the surface, but she couldn't help but have this sickening feeling inside of her. She looked up to the palace she called home, hoping her father was in there, but also wishing she'd never see his face again.

Cole seemed to notice her change in demeanor and announced to the group, "Let's not start celebrating just yet. We still got a job to do. Rescue our friends and free the Munce and Geckles working tirelessly in the mines. Who's with me!"

The Upply and Wu started cheering at this before Cole turned to the princess and said, "Are you sure you don't want to sit this one out?"

"Positive," Vania replied. "I'm not letting anyone fight my battles for me as I sit to the side."

Cole sighed, hoping she was making the right decision before reaching his hand out to her and saying, "Lead the way, Princess."

Vania took the hand once again and squeezed it tightly before she started making her way to the palace, the Upply, Cole, Wu, and C.J. following her.

The first thing Vania noticed when she entered the throne room was that no one was there except for her beloved dragon, locked in the smallest cage she's ever seen.

"Chompy?" she asked as she ran up to the cage, trying to break him free. "Did my father do this to you?"

The chitter from the dragon gave her all the answer she needed.

"Oh, that makes me mad! That makes me so mad! Just hang on, Chompy. Cole?"

The master of earth activated his power and used it to take the door of Chompy's little cell off, freeing the dragon.

Immediately, Chompy jumped to Vania and the two hugged. She then put Chompy down, and he was introduced to Adam the spider. The two started playing together, but that was when a hoard of Shintaran guards entered the room. They didn't look pleased.

"Princess Vania?" Hailmar asked. He seemed surprised that she was even alive. What did Vangelis tell him?

"Hailmar!" Vania addressed.

"You!" he exclaimed as he pointed his spear towards Cole.

"Hailmar, it's okay. Cole is a friend."

"The king gave orders for the ninja to be arrested. On sight! He said they are traitors!"

"That's not true! My father is the traitor, Hailmar! He's lying to you!"

"Stand aside, Princess!"

"Hailmar, listen! My father is lying to you! He's using you! Cole and these men, they were betrayed by my father. They were cast into the mountain!"

"Stand aside! On the king's orders!"

"Go," she whispered to Cole.

"What?" Cole asked.

"He won't hurt me. Just go."

"What about C.J.?"

"I go too," C.J. said defiantly as he looked to his father, but Cole just shook his head. He glanced to Hailmar and then to Wu and said, "As soon as I run, you take C.J. to the gardens. Okay?"

"No!" C.J. screamed.

"On the king's orders, I command you, stand aside!" Hailmar yelled as he began flying in the air.

Cole knelt down to face C.J. and said, "I will do everything in my power to come back to you, I promise."

A few tense moments followed, and the guards weren't sure what the ninja would do. Suddenly, Adam shot some webs at two of the guards, sticking them to the ground and causing chaos. Cole then picked C.J. up and handed him to Wu saying, "Run!"

Wu did so while Chompy tackled the guard coming at Wu to arrest him. The Upply and Cole all fought their way out of the throne room, having Wu and C.J.'s back.

"Stop! I command you!" Hailmar yelled as he threw a spear at Adam. Chompy jumped up and suddenly became huge, causing all the guards to come at the dragon.

"Chompy?" Vania asked in shock. Cole was right when she told her that he could get bigger.

Hailmar and the guards tried to take down Chompy, but Vania interrupted saying, "Hailmar, stand down! I command you! I am the heiress to the throne of Shintaro, and your future queen!"

Hailmar floated back down to the ground and said, "Call off your dragon!"

"Not until you're ready to listen!"

Hailmar responded by charging at the princess, spear in hand.

The Upply, Cole, and Wu stopped at the cave entrance, entering into the mines.

"Daddy!" C.J. whimpered.

Cole came up to his son and said, "I know. I know you hate when I do this." He glanced up to Master Wu, who nodded slightly. It was almost as if they were reading each other's minds. Wu knew what Cole was thinking, and Cole smiled when he realized that he had been given permission to do so.

The earth ninja looked back down to his son and said, "This is the last time. I promise."

With that, Cole and the Upply went back into the mountain and Wu and C.J. began making their way back to the Bounty.

I hope all liked that one.

Have a great day/night!

#God'sNotDead