Too cold, too cold, too cold. First Spinjitzu Master it was way too cold. They were still inside and it was still too cold. Just changing into a warmer outfit was enough to make Jay want to curl into a ball and never uncoil.

And the outfits were awful on top of that. Granted, Jay would take warmth over mobility any day, but come on. The jacket plus the armor plus his gi made him feel like one of those clumsy babies in the snow that parents take videos of to embarrass them when they're older. With his gi hood and the thick poofy jacket hood covering his head, he looked like… well, his brain was too frozen to come up with a comparison, but rest assured, he looked ridiculous.

"It is so not fair that you guys don't have to wear anything," he moaned as they gathered on the deck. Because seriously. He and Kai were the only ones to need warm clothes. Cole and Zane were just palling around in their usual clothes despite it being negative a billion degrees (he checked.)

Cole was busy wrapping a spare rope around his chest- one that he assured them was just for climbing aid, not for tying themselves together. "We could always take a trip back to the temple if you want," he deadpanned.

"Ha-ha-hilarious." Hey, his chattering teeth really helped sell the delivery of his sarcastic laugh. Silver linings.

"Can it, Motormouth. If I have t-to listen to your whining the e-entire time, I am going to throw you off a cliff," Kai threatened- his face practically matched the red of his gi and jacket.

"I'll be sure to drag you down with me."

Nya's voice suddenly filled all their heads, courtesy of a comm link that Jay had honestly forgotten about. "If you ladies are done bickering, I've got some new toys for you."

Nya came out, all dressed in nice warm poofy clothes, with a sack of weapons slung over her shoulder with all the care of a school bookbag.

"You s-sure you don't want to come? The weather's great!" Jay said as he tried to bounce in place as though it would banish the cold.

She shook her head. "Not for all the money in the world."

That wasn't true, of course. Sensei had asked her to stay so that she could help defend the Bounty should Morro's ghosts attack. But hey, a sense of humor never hurt anyone.

"Anyway, take these stupid heavy things." She set the sack down in front of them- new weapons. "And don't lose them. We already owe Ronin enough money."

"And don't you forget it!" the mercenary said over the intercom. Oh great, Ronin could talk in their heads now. All of Jay's Christmases must have come at once.

That would explain all this damn snow.

"These are the Aeroblade weapons Ronin ordered for us. They're made with Deepstone, so they should have no problems dealing with ghosts."

Despite the cold, Jay couldn't help but whoop as he spotted a pair of black nunchucks with a silvery chain and a bright blue trim. "Oh yeah! Now we're talking!" He snatched them up and tested the weight, spinning them around a few times. Both Cole and Kai recoiled.

"Watch where you're swinging those!" Kai scolded, as if Jay wasn't perfectly capable of controlling a chain weapon. They felt weighty in his hands, even heavier than his old Nunchucks of Lightning. Weighty, but comfortable.

Less exciting, but the others got new weapons as well. Zane spun a massive shuriken in each hand- they had a vibrant white center and serrated "talons" for blades. How he managed to never lose the old Ice Shurikens was a mystery to Jay.

Kai had a sword, obviously. With a black blade and silver trim on the hilt, plus a leather grip and a red gemstone set in the pommel.

Cole, meanwhile, was holding his new scythe with a look of pure fascination. The green mist from his ghostly form seemed to wrap around the weapon. He pressed his hand over the flat part of the blade and dragged his finger to the silver attachment ring and orange trim.

"Based on that look, I'm guessing it seems to work?" Nya asked with a smile.

Cole nodded. "Feels like it! It's… weird." Jay waited for him to elaborate, but he didn't seem interested in doing that. Instead, he hit the deck with the end of the pole. "It's sturdy."

A ghost with a scythe. How cool is that?

Of course, Jay didn't verbalize how cool it was that they basically had the Grim Reaper fighting on their side. Yet. Instead, he settled for slipping the Aeroblade Nunchucks into a gear strap on his side. There was a sheath for Kai's sword, Zane hung the shurikens on his side, and Cole put his scythe on his back through some kind of strap.

A massive gust of wind chose that moment to sweep over the Bounty. Kai, Jay, and Nya all braced against it. Zane just put up a hand to block the snow, and Cole seemed completely unbothered- not even his hair moved in the wind. Which like, come on.

Although, if he has to be a ghost, at least there's something in it for him.

Didn't make it feel any less unfair considering Jay could barely feel his face.

Sensei's voice sounded over the intercom. "We're approaching the drop point- this is the highest we can safely take you. You'll have until midnight to reach the summit, when the Eye is due to pass over. Remember, Morro-

"Yeah yeah," Jay said. "Is probably planning some terribly violent death trap for us. How could we forget?"

Sensei was quiet for a moment. "And be careful, ninja."

Jay would have come up with some wonderfully clever retort, except that his voice was a bit too genuine with a tone just a bit too concerned.

"We will, Sensei. You can count on us," Cole said with confidence that Jay hadn't heard in a hot minute. Or maybe it was excitement, seeing as he was already half-hanging off the Bounty, staring down the mountain they were about to climb. Personally, the mountain looked to Jay like any other mountain, just nightmarishly cold and snowy and full of cliffs and ledges he was not looking forward to climbing, but you know what? It was nice to know at least one of them was excited.

The ladder dropped down from the Bounty. Jay waited for someone to take the lead. But of course, like the adrenaline junkies they were, Cole and Kai opted to leap from the ship instead with whooping exclamations.

I'm surrounded by insanity, Jay thought as he sighed and followed suit- a foot of snow made for a good cushion, after all.

"Woah, you good, Zaptrap?" asked Cole. He held out a hand.

Jay groaned but still accepted the help. "Why wouldn't I be? We're climbing a giant freezing mountain infested with ghosts-" he kicked himself mentally when he heard his own words. "-Uh. Infested with evil ghosts. Not you- I didn't mean…"

He trailed off when he saw Cole's expression. The jerk looked like he was about to laugh.

"Smooth, Jay," Kai said.

"C'mon then. Let's get going," Cole said, turning to the three of them. "We have plenty of time, but we shouldn't waste it. I saw a decent path when we were still on the Bounty. Follow me."

And just like that, Cole took the lead. Something about it made Jay feel nostalgic- Cole hadn't led them in a pretty long time. Although, most of the warm fuzzies he might have gotten were being smothered by the cold because First Master, Jay couldn't stress enough just how cold it was on this mountain.

He shivered as they trudged along, sticking close to a cliff face as the wind howled above them, like the wails of a-

Oh, that's why it's the "Wailing Alps." Fun. Can't wait to reach the Blind Man's Eye and see where that got its name.

Indeed, the mountain looked like… it looked like a journey. Like, the kind of journey people do in a mid-life crisis where they have nothing to lose, or something. (He didn't actually know how mid-life crises worked, but the sentiment stood.) It was just snow and ice and snow piled so high that just trying to see the summit gave him a crick in the neck.

Well, Cole wasn't screaming in agony, which meant that apparently frozen water didn't count as water when it came to melting ghosts. Three cheers for that.

However, the snow was so deep that just walking required unpleasantly tall steps. Jay was tired in a matter of seconds, which bode wonderfully for the next twelve hours. Every fiber of his being wanted to turn back and take a nap until this was all over.

… That wasn't really the case. The mental image of their kid brother being puppeteered by a vindictive spirit was all the motivation he'd ever need to walk until his body broke down. But he was still gonna whine about it every step of the way.

Although opening his mouth required moving his mouth, and there was a good chance it was already frozen shut. So for now, he'd make do with thinking all his complaints.

He followed Cole.


They had stumbled upon a passion they didn't know Cole had. Not to this extent, at least. It was incredible to watch. Zane was taking stock of and scanning the mountain, calculating potential routes they could ascend while accounting for difficulty and speed.

Cole seemed to do all that at a glance. He scaled the mountain with an utter ease and enthusiasm that was almost infectious, even several hours of climbing later.

"His skill is most impressive, even considering his newfound stamina due to his condition," Pixal mused. "He's taking the most efficient path so that it's easier for the rest of you."

It's nice to see him in his element.

"Agreed"

"You see, guys? If you wedge yourself in here, you can do a lie-back to leverage yourself higher!" he yelled down from several feet above them. Currently he had his hand and feet stuck inside a crack in the mountain face, pressed hard enough against the stone to hold him up and get him to the next hold.

Zane could hear Kai's teeth chattering beside him. "H-h-he makes it sound so easy."

"If ye be moving around more, you can counter some of the effects of this devilish frostbite," Zane offered as he watched their ghostly companion ascend.

"I don't wanna hear it, Captain Cold," Jay snapped. He rubbed his arms through his jacket and rubbed his hands together, even though the thick fabric rendered that a fairly useless gesture. "Ice robots and ghosts are not allowed to talk about the weather."

I can still tell how cold this would be for a human, he thought in amusement.

Pixal didn't say anything to that, but Zane could still feel her presence watching them.

"I miss my fire," Kai whined as he approached the wall of icy stone. Despite his complaints, he followed the route and movements Cole made with moderate success, albeit a bit slower. When he reached the "lie-back" maneuver, however, he instead opted to rock himself back once, twice, building up momentum with which he threw his body sideways to an easier hold.

"Nice dyno, though you'll burn more energy that way!" Cole called down.

"What are you, a gym teacher?" Kai snarked between heavy breaths. "Let me ninja in peace."

Jay groaned and followed suit. He had better success than Kai at mimicking Cole's move's, though he still lacked grace on account of his bulky clothes. Zane followed last- he was much heavier, but also stronger than Jay and Kai, and less bogged down by cumbersome clothes.

He repeated the moves Cole demonstrated- sure enough, he consumed much less energy than the route that appeared easier would have required.

Cole was waiting for them at the top, beaming like a child as Kai and Jay attempted to catch their breath. He gestured to the next clifface- it wasn't just sheer, it also caved outward, creating an unpleasant looking overhang. "I went ahead and looked at the next one- it's pretty difficult. It may be easiest if I just drop a rope down for you."

"Me sensors indicate that 'tis nothing we can't handle. And the snow can catch us should we be taking a spill," Zane said, opting to keep the voice module on. Indeed, it was true. The overhang would be difficult to climb, but not impossible for any of them.

Cole shook his head, already hurrying over to the cliff face. "I don't think I can get tired. Climbing a rope is way easier than scaling this. So it makes the most sense for me to do it and for you guys to save your energy."

"Like a Lloyd in a candy store," Kai mumbled, though he had a smile on his face; he was probably just relieved to see Cole in such high spirits. It was a nice change, even compared to before he became a ghost when the pain of losing Lloyd was still fresh. "Well, I'll take any excuse to not have to do…" he gestured to the overhang. "...that."

It was no secret that Cole was nimble- they were all athletic and acrobatic, but he had a sense of balance that overlapped with that of a dancer. That served him well when rock climbing, because the overhang may as well have been a gentle slope- he didn't even slow as he swung from hold to hold with a fluidity and grace that usually only Kai was capable of.

He even flipped over the top, then beamed down at them as he unwrapped the rope from around his body. "There's a huge boulder up here! I'll tie the rope around it! Just give me a minute!"

"Take your time, it's not like we're freezing to death or anything!" Jay called back.

"I've been pondering me some things," Zane decided to muse out loud.

"What's up, Matey?" Kai asked in a distracted tone. He was mostly focused on squinting up at the ledge Cole had disappeared over.

Perhaps this was a conversation best discussed seriously. He spent a moment disabling the voice module Jay had installed. "We lost our powers when Lloyd was possessed, right?"

Jay visibly deflated. "Aww, turn it back on!"

"What about it?" Cole asked over the voice comm. Kai jumped, having apparently forgotten about their mics.

"I've been wondering if that was actually the case."

Kai gave Zane a bit of a look. "Trust me, if I could light a fire here, I would."

"Why would Nya still be able to access her element when we cannot?" Zane queried. Kai and Jay paused, wearing a nearly identical pensive look.

"We got our powers from Lloyd, though."

"Did we?" he posited. The rope dropped down from over the ledge. Zane tested it with his weight- it held without an issue. He nodded and let Kai start climbing. "The other elemental masters- they all inherited their powers as Nya did."

Jay frowned. "But my parents weren't Elemental Masters. And you're a robot. What about you, Cole?"

Cole hummed thoughtfully over the comms. "I dunno. My mom never mentioned it before she died, though."

That's right, Zane recalled. I recall he said she passed when he was thirteen.

Pixal made a sympathetic noise in his head. "A young age for any child to be without a mother, but he seems to be handling it fine nowadays."

"Sensei found you climbing a mountain after she passed, didn't he?" Jay asked, bouncing up and down in his spot. "You mentioned it when we first met Kai."

"What can I say? I like climbing." Kai grunted unintelligibly as he neared the top of the rope. Cole offered a hand and helped pull his brother over the ledge. "Seriously, we should go on a climbing trip when this is all over!"

"Right, because climbing one of the most inhospitable mountains in all of Ninjago isn't enough adventure," Jay snarked as his turn came on the rope. Climbing, however, did not stop him from complaining. "If you… ask me… this is more than difficult enough."

Cole lied on his belly and hung loosely over the ledge as he waited. He looked downright relaxed. "It's not just about it being a challenge. It's a great way to get away and clear your thoughts. Kinda like meditating."

Kai scoffed. "Yeah, except you don't die if you lose focus when meditating." Although, he didn't sound entirely opposed to the idea. He was rarely one to turn down an adrenaline rush.

"Not all climbing is this dangerous!" Cole explained hastily. "We could use my old gear, and go to an actual crag."

"As long… as it's not this cold," Jay hissed as he grabbed Cole's hand and pulled himself over the ledge by kicking one leg over, then the other. He flopped into the snow unceremoniously. That left Zane. He was heavy, seeing as he was titanium, but the rope was sturdy.

"In any case, my point is that we've always been drawn to our elements, even before we had powers or the Golden Weapons."

"Well yeah, that's why Sensei chose us."

Cole hummed again. "But you're asking if it's the other way around. Sensei didn't choose us for being drawn to our elements, you think we like our elements for the same reason he chose us."

"Currently, that's my theory." Zane accepted Cole's help over the ledge.

"Yeah, but we don't have our powers right now," Jay repeated, sounding pretty annoyed as he bounced in place to keep himself warm.

"I think we do."

The prospect of still possessing their powers was enough to catch their attention. Zane turned to Cole, who was currently untying the rope that he had wrapped around a nearby boulder.

"Your affinity for climbing could perhaps be explained away as a mere hobby that you are skilled at, but you just lifted me over the ledge of the mountain. I weigh many times more than a human."

Cole's strength had always been a fact of life- one to which they had been long accustomed. But it was not normal, and that was easy to forget.

"His strength appears to be approximately ten times greater than the average teenage athlete" Pixal calculated. "Not accounting for any changes that his status as a ghost may present"

He continued talking. "Furthermore, the difference between here and the Bounty has been profound. You haven't had any issues with phasing through the ground."

Cole looked down, as if to confirm that he was, in fact, standing. "Huh." He started looping the rope back around his body until the next time they'd need it- it didn't fall through, and it in fact turned a hazy green like the rest of his clothes after a few seconds.

"Hey yeah!" Jay declared, suddenly sounding excited. "You haven't had any trouble helping us, either! Back on the ship, you had a way harder time grabbing things."

"Now that I think about it, most of the Elemental Masters in the tournament were older than us," Kai mused as they began climbing up a short path that didn't require any complex moves. "Except for Skylor."

"And speed guy," Jay added.

"Griffin Turner," Zane supplied.

"How do you remember that? You weren't even there for most of the tournament," Jay asked, only to shake his head as he nearly slipped on an icy rock. He planted his hand against the ledge towering above them to regain his balance. "Whatever, anyway, what's your point?"

Kai shrugged. "I dunno. They did seem to think it was a big deal. 'how could the elements of creation be so young,'" he quoted in what was presumably an unflattering imitation of one of the competitors. "Maybe Lloyd has been boosting the powers we already have. Would definitely be nice to have some fire right about now…"

Cole jumped across a series of rocks as though it were a game of hopscotch, pivoting on the final step to face the group. "Well, you say I'm in my element, but this place is also pretty cold. How are you, Zane? Any stronger, or something?"

Pixal showed him a quick diagnostics scan.

"I've always operated better in the cold. I can overclock more of my systems without having to worry about overheating," he explained. Plus, something about snow filled him with a deep sense of nostalgia and peace. He liked it.

"Good enough for me!" Jay declared. "Kai, fire us!"

The Master of Fire lost his footing and fell onto a snowy bank. Then he scowled. "I already told you I would if I could! If we do have our powers, they're absolutely pathetic right now!"

Zane switched voices. "Yar, light us a fire or ye be walkin' the plank!"

Kai groaned. Jay laughed. Cole was smiling.

"Something to practice, I guess," Cole said. "Although hopefully we have Lloyd back before we get the chance to."

"Ame-e-en…!" Kai got out, voice stuttering as he slipped again and lost focus. He didn't fall this time, but he did tread a bit more carefully after that, his stance noticeably less loose.

"Oh hey! That wall looks insanely fun to climb!" Cole exclaimed as he rushed ahead. The "fun" wall in question wasn't overhung like the last one, but it did have several clear footholds far enough apart that leaping between them would be necessary.

Jay craned his neck up at the top of the cliff. "Yeah, I don't want to climb that. Hey, is there any reason we can't just Cyclon-do up there?"

"Isn't Airjitzu tiring though?" Cole asked, and it sounded like a genuine question.

"Yeah, but so is climbing a mountain."

The Master of Earth glanced back and forth from the wall to where Jay was standing, then up to the top of the climb. "I'd rather not catapult myself off the cliff, but it's not like I know how tiring Airjitzu is compared to this climb." He stretched his back and began to climb. "Race ya!"

Jay inhaled sharply, audible even over the microphones. "Hey no fair! You got a head start!"

"And you're going to fly! Stop whining and fly, Motormouth!" Cole teased.

He's encouraging Jay, Zane realized.

Jay crouched into the snow. "Watch me! Cyyyy-clonnnn-doooo!"

All at once he sprang upward, the winds whipping around him and propelling him upward. Likewise, Cole lunged from hold to hold in what he had earlier called a "dyno."

They were both almost to the top when Jay's Airjitzu cyclone began to stutter and fail. Jay let out a fairly indignant "Wahhh!" as he careened to the side.

"Woah! Hey! I gotcha!" Cole called as he swung outward just in time to grab Jay's wrist. He continued the momentum by swinging back towards the wall, where Jay frantically grabbed at the nearest hold, panting to catch his breath. "You good?"

Jay didn't respond for a few seconds. "Peachy…" he finally got out. "Nice catch."

Cole grinned. "I think that means I win!"

Jay was about to protest. Unfortunately for him, he was nowhere near able to match Cole's pace as he climbed the rest of the cliff in mere seconds. Kai turned to Zane. "Do you want to race?"

"If ye think ye can handle it," Zane replied. Some healthy competition might keep their spirits up as the sun began to set.

Unfortunately, it was as they were about to ascend that the competition took a turn for the unhealthy. Cole yelled from above. "Jay! Watch out!"

Zane heard the telltale whistling of the Ghost Archer's arrow as it whizzed by Jay's head when Cole tackled him to the ground- it buried itself into the snow somewhere behind Zane. He didn't waste any time; he crouched down and called upon the energy necessary for an Airjitzu cyclone- he felt winds whip around him, providing a platform for him to raise himself up.

He was unsteady, and the winds didn't help. But it was enough for him to dig his hand into the top of the cliffside. Kai, meanwhile, made it about halfway up with his own Airjitzu, after which he latched onto the wall and scaled the rest of the way by foot.

"Great! A sniper!" Jay yelled, panic nearly palpable through the comms. "Why wouldn't they try a sniper!"

"Well, they know we're here now," Cole said. "Fly up a cliff if you're confident in it, otherwise follow my lead, and try to stay hidden."

It was as if a physical switch had been flipped on all of them. Their casual banter melted away, replaced with years of practice and training and very real experience. Cole moved quickly and fluidly up and over an overhang- but instead of pulling himself over the top ledge, he shimmied sideways along the ledge to avoid exposing himself until he spotted some cover. Kai and Jay were already following his path while Zane took up the rear.

When Zane reached the point where Cole had pulled himself up, he repeated the action- the others were crouched behind a particularly large boulder. Zane took the opportunity to risk a glance out from cover. Immediately, there was a flash of green from a spot far above them. He ducked out of the way to hear another screaming arrow narrowly miss him.

Pixal, did you pinpoint his location?

She sounded almost offended. "Of course I did. Follow the path on the right to find the most cover, but be ready for an ambush."

He relayed that information to his team. The next instant, Cole was leading them along a precipitous ledge with their backs to the mountain where their feet barely fit the stone. He gestured to different rocks they could use to maintain their balance in the instance of an unexpected gust of wind, despite him seeming completely unaffected by such things. It seemed effortless- he was in his element, after all.


The ghosts couldn't have waited just a little longer, could they? God forbid they have a chance to climb the massive mountain in peace. Whatever. In practice, it just meant they had to climb, but a little but carefuller.

Kai could handle that, no problem. There really wasn't much else they could do; the Ghost Archer was taking potshots at them when he had line of sight. It wasn't like they could retaliate from their distance. So he followed Cole. Really, for having an evil undead archer taking shots at them, the next few hours were surprisingly chill.

Barring the fact that we're almost certainly being corralled towards a trap, his mind helpfully supplied.

Barring that? Surprisingly chill. Obvious puns aside, it was easy to fall into a sort of detached autopilot- it helped that Cole was really good at finding the easiest possible route for them to climb. The constant exertion… well, it didn't completely stave off the cold, but it did make it more tolerable. As for the wind… it was definitely getting worse the higher they climbed. They stopped being able to hear each other without the comms, and it made it harder to keep a grip on the holds. But it was tolerable. They had certainly endured worse.

It was when the sun was starting to set that things got tricky. Because avoiding arrows in the dark would be difficult. Not to mention climbing a mountain.

But hey, they managed to climb a volcano once. This couldn't be that much harder. Granted, it took a last minute superpower for Kai specifically to escape said erupting volcano, but he still counted it. It was strange how he almost found himself lulled into boredom. It probably said things about his mental health. Especially considering Jay was jittery and frantic beside him, which seemed much more reasonable.

Whatever, the point is that they climbed the mountain and managed to not get shot by evil arrows. It was when things got fully dark that they also got fully interesting. Because obviously, it was pitch dark, with the exception of Cole casting his ominous green glow all over the place.

"Pixal says there is a temple nearby," Zane said when they finally had a chance to travel in cover that also wasn't one of the most precarious things they've ever stood on. "There's a good chance of an ambush waiting for us there."

Kai had to admit, he kinda missed the pirate voice. Made things feel a bit less dire.

"Why a temple? Why here?" Jay asked, sounding fairly out of breath. "The commute to the city must have been awful."

"Mountains are popular for mediation," Zane explained, sounding as in-breath as ever. "They likely grew their own weather-durable crops and were fully self-sufficient."

"Jokes, Zane. These are the jokes."

Cole held up his hand- they all stopped. Indeed, they were behind cover, but that cover was about to run out- although, instead of just another cliff, it almost looked like a path they were approaching. A path to a temple, probably.

The problem was that there really wasn't a better way up the mountain- nearly every other point was overhung, jagged, and icy. It was a choke point they pretty much had to pass through.

"That's probably where their ambush is holed up," Cole guessed as he took a few steps back.

"Maybe we can go a different way than you," Jay tried, voice barely loud enough to hear over the weather. "I mean, no offense or anything. I just mean that you glow and maybe we can take advantage of the night to like, sneak right on by."

Cole glanced up and looked at them for a few moments. "Hmm, nope. Bad idea."

"Why's that?" Kai asked. It felt weird, trying to formulate this plan on the basis that there was probably someone waiting for them around a bend.

He gestured to his admittedly creepy-looking eyes. "I think ghosts can see in the dark?"

Why phrase it like a question?

Jay threw his head back against the stone wall and slid down it until he was sitting in the snow. "Ugh, typical. It can't ever be easy. Well, it's not like we should walk into the ambush."

"Do we even know for sure that they're there?" Kai decided to risk a peek around the boulder- it was enough to get roughly half a second's glance at the temple before deciding not to try his luck. "I don't see them. What if they just want us to think they're waiting for us there?"

"Maybe Cole can turn invisible!" Jay exclaimed, and Kai thanked the First Spinjitzu Master that the Wailing Alps were loud enough to keep Jay from giving away their position. Barely. "Ghosts can do that, right?"

Cole winced. "You really want to bet on something I've never done, that I don't know for certain I can do, when I haven't even tried it?"

It was Zane who spoke up next. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we do not have much time until the Blind Man's Eye passes over the summit."

"Between a rock and a tall cliff," Kai mumbled, chancing a glance over the sheer cliffside- the Bounty was surprisingly far below them.

Cole was silent for a few seconds. He did that thing where he stood so still that he didn't even look alive- relatively speaking.

"Okay, here's the plan," he finally said. "Instead of avoiding them, we'll get the drop on them. Kai and I will take a more roundabout path from above and along the overhang. Then, when they see us, Jay and Zane use the distraction to either finish them off or to avoid them entirely. Whichever comes first."

"Oh, so I'm bait," Kai said in a deadpan voice. "Awesome."

Cole put a hand on his shoulder. "You'll do the best on a difficult climb. You're a natural at this." A wave of emotion hit Kai that he frankly did not have the time to dissect, between the words of encouragement and just how solid Cole's hand felt.

Jay shook his head. "I don't like this."

"When do you ever like this?" Zane asked in a genuine tone.

"When it's easy. And not as deadly." Jay stood back up and stretched his back. "Just give us the signal when."

"You'll probably hear it. Ghoultar isn't exactly quiet."

With that, Kai and Cole embarked on their little suicide mission. The overhang in question was horribly obvious and really not at all worth climbing compared to the temple path, but it was also conceivably the only plausible way they could avoid the temple.

The moves were, not unexpectedly, insanely difficult. Even following Cole. It was less like they were climbing a wall and more like a sloped ceiling. A sloped, icy ceiling that Kai could barely see. But instead of swinging from stalactite to stalactite or whatever, they were using holds that he wouldn't have even thought were holds.

"Okay," Cole said over the comms. "This one's tricky. You have to jam your fist between the rocks here and twist it to make a hold for yourself. It's called a hand jam, believe it or not. From there, you can support yourself just long enough to get to this hold over here."

Kai was in agony but he complied. He fit his fist between a crack in the mountain and painfully scraped it against the stone- he could feel the fabric of his gloves tear. But indeed, if he kept his fist clenched, the pressure was just enough to support his weight until he could move to the next hold.

How does anyone ever figure this stuff out?

He would have complained out loud if he weren't too tired. But he was tired in a weird, exhilarating way. He didn't want to admit it, but there was something strangely fun about climbing. As long as he ignored the annoyingly long fall that awaited him should he screw up. It wouldn't be a fatal one as long as he didn't botch a landing, but still. Not fun.

Cole demonstrated the next move. "This one's called a kneebar. It's gonna be uncomfortable, but if you can wedge your knee in here…" he demonstrated, shifting his knee behind a rock and bending it at an odd angle that snagged it against another rock. It indeed looked very uncomfortable. Then he let go, letting his knee and other foot support the brunt of his weight as he hung almost upside down. "You can take a moment to catch your breath."

"Kay…" was all Kai could manage as Cole moved aside to let him attempt the move. He replicated what Cole did. And First Master, was it uncomfortable. But it indeed let him rest his burning arms.

He could see the temple as he hung upside down. It was a modest thing, just a few buildings. But nice. At least from what he could tell, seeing as he was hanging upside down like a damn monkey and it was crazy dark. Some bamboo platforms ran along the side of the mountain. Way easier than whatever bullshit they were attempting.

And then he saw the ghosts. They were indeed waiting to ambush the passage they had just been in. Kai looked at Cole- he was watching the ghosts closely. "Looks like they really weren't expecting us to be this crazy," Kai mumbled. He wasn't entirely convinced that Cole heard him on account of the gust of wind doing its best to blow him off the mountain.

Kai wondered for a moment why they didn't all just take the overhang. Then he remembered- he currently had his knee jammed in a rock as a resting spot, while Cole clung to the wall like a spider. If all four of them were up here, there's a good chance they would have fallen.

Especially considering Kai still wasn't convinced that he was going to slip and crack his skull open.

"We might be able to ambush them from here…" Cole mused. "Assuming they don't look up any time soon."

"Yuh-huh, and what's the plan for when they do?"

"Jump down, I guess."

Well, couldn't be any worse than when they literally descended from orbit. "Cole, I'm not gonna lie. The blood is rushing to my head. Can we just rush them now?"

"We're ready over here," said Zane over the comms. "If you see an opportunity, we're ready to join you."

Kai unsheathed his sword.

A ninja crawling on a mountain ceiling and ambushing a ghost from above. Can it get any cooler than this?

It felt a lot less epic when accounting for the poofy clothes and frostbite.

"I'll drop on Ghoultar. Kai, you get the Soul Archer," Cole said. "Jay, Zane, get Bansha."

"Don't have to tell me twice!" Kai said. He could see the Soul Archer on a roof as they searched for the ninja. They were lean and small and wore a full purple hood. Kai noticed for the first time that their green glow was much brighter than Cole's. It was downright neon.

He freed his knee from its rocky prison and let out a whoop that the wind probably drowned out but was no less exhilarating.

The snow is probably deep enough to break my fall.

In hindsight, he probably should have considered that before jumping. But it was fine.

The Soul Archer barely had time to blink before Kai came in like a meteor. Between his Spinjitzu and his new sword, the ghost didn't stand a chance- it was a clean cut through their midsection and poof, they were on a trip back to the Cursed Realm.

Oh, ow. Knees did not like that one, not one bit. But adrenaline was one powerful drug, and so Kai let himself slide off the roof in time to see Jay and Zane rushing Bansha. Unfortunately, she was a bit smarter than Ghoultar and the Soul Archer. In that she flew off real fast.

The mountain had, up until that point, been nearly claustrophobic. Massive walls of rock and snow towering over them on all sides. That kind of thing. gave chase past the temple and around another wall of stone, everything opened up. They were on the home stretch- the moon reflected off the snow and ice well enough that they could make out the visage of the final towering cliff in the distance. They just had to cross the snowy plateau.

Whether it was bad luck or Morro, Kai wasn't sure. All he was sure of was that the wind kicked it up to eleven as they gave chase. It was less of a gale and more of a wall that tried to root them to the ground. Not that Kai let that stop him- he kept running even as the wind threatened to blow him clean off the cliff side. He was, however, the slowest at this. Jay was naturally speedy, Zane resisted the wind better, and Cole seemed completely unaffected by it.

Before she could get too high in the air, one of Zane's shurikens clipped her shoulder; it threw her off balance and tumbling into the snow. She screamed, loud and ear-splitting. Jay struck her with his nunchucks while Zane sliced her with the shuriken lodged in her side. She vanished.

The ground trembled.

Oh yeah, her screams are super-powered or something, Kai remembered lamely and belatedly.

Because oh hey, that was an avalanche, wasn't it?

Hmm.

"Avalanche! Avalanche!" came Jay's shrill cries in their comms. So there was one mystery solved.

His bland acknowledgement slowly melted into horror as a wall of snow barreled towards them with the same force of a volcanic eruption (he would know.)

"Find cover!" Zane shouted as he ran back towards the temple. Kai blinked once, twice, before his brain started working and allowed him to follow suit. But those things really move faster than they look.

He realized with a forming pit in his stomach that they weren't going to make it- it hit them in a single awful moment- the way the snow rolled over them, pulling Kai under as though it were a wave of water that he feared so much. Then everything went white, then black, then cold, then quiet.


Moving snow was a lot like water, go figure. It didn't hurt him like water did, but it somehow still swept Cole right up and buried him. Not only was he buried, though. He was buried within the snow, body utterly trapped in some half-tangible state.

Cole's thoughts were sluggish for a moment, like his brain needed to catch up with his body.

What in the name of the First Master…

What snapped him out of it was Jay's voice over the mics.

"Can't move! I can't move! I can't move!" His voice was high and shrill, and he repeated the same phrase over and over, each time more urgent than the last.

Jay? Jay!

"Jay! Calm down!" that was Zane, though dread was seeping through his usually collected exterior. From there, the comms exploded with chatter.

"I can't move, we're gonna die! We're buried in the-"

"You need to slowly-"

"Can't move either!"

"Can't breathe!"

Cole tried to move- he couldn't suffocate, but he still felt just as trapped. Like he was hanging in nothing with nowhere to go.

"Can't breathe! Can't breathe!"

"Jay, you gotta chill!" Kai hissed, sounding like he was in pain.

Jay was hysterical by this point. "Oh yeah! Hah! Chill! You say while we're buried in snow!" He sounded like he was about to cry.

Cole tried to say something, anything, but he was completely and utterly frozen, buried but not, in his unnatural state.

"Cole? You there? Cole!" Kai called with a frantic edge to his words.

"You two need to take slow breaths and calm down, or you'll run out of oxygen-" Zane started to explain.

To that, Jay cackled. "Calm down! Calm down! How am I ever supposed to do that?! We're gonna die like this! We're gonna die! First Master, I don't wanna die!"

Oh yeah, Jay's claustrophobic. Cole remembered, a bit lamely.

"Zane, tell me you can move!"

"I- I cannot. Kai, you need to calm down."

Jay was still chattering nonsense over the mic- Cole could hear his heavy breathing. He was hyperventilating.

You gotta do something, Cole.

You can not let your team die here.

It'll be ÿ̸̢́ó̷̫u̶̝̽r̶̯̈ ̶͕̈́f̴͙̈́a̸͈͌u̴͚͝l̷̖͆ṫ̸̬ if they do.

That thought was too much to bear.

He tried to take Zane's advice and relax, but that was simply not going to happen at the moment. But there had to be something he could do, anything at all-

Whether it was luck or his ghostly body finally reacting to his situation, he wasn't sure.

Cole felt himself fall a few more feet, so that he was further under the snow than ever- but he could at least move, even if he couldn't actually see on account of being submerged in snow. When he stood up, his head could just barely peek out from the snow.

He heard Jay whimper over the comms.

"Shit, shit, surely I can do something!" He told himself through clenched teeth. "Where are you guys?!" He asked the others-

"Cole?! Uh- uh- not sure, I think I was near you? I'm not sure!"

"Can't breathe, can't breathe…"

"If you're facing the summit, Kai was to your one o'clock approximately twenty feet ahead of you. Jay was at your seven o'clock approximately thirty feet back! But they may have moved from the force.

Okay, that he could work with. The mountain was…

"Okay that way… so Jay is…" he looked behind him- he really couldn't see any indication of a buried human. Still, he wasted no time in running in that direction, phantom heartbeats hammering in his mind.

"Jay? Sound off, Zaptrap!" he called- he couldn't keep the desperation out of his voice as he pulled the mic out to avoid the sound throwing him off. He was moving blind.

"Come on, Jay! Give me something to go off of here! Jay!"

All he could hear was a ringing in his ears.

"Jay! Jay!"

He could feel his terror calcify like a blade across his stomach as he ran around in some hope of finding anyone-

Come on, Jay… come on…

"Cole…? Cole…!"

Relief washed over him. His voice was breathy and weak- whether from panic or suffocation, Cole didn't know enough about oxygen consumption to know, but he wasn't in the mood to take chances.

"Jay! I'm right here, Jay!"

He had found Jay- he was right there, completely submerged in snow with zero mobility, but there was a difference in how his body moved through a person, and he could feel the heaviness of his Aeroblade Nunchucks.

Now there was a new problem- getting Jay out.

He put his comm back in. "What… how can I get you out? I'm not- shit…"

He tried to climb to the top of the snow so he could dig Jay out. Except no matter how much he tried, his body wouldn't go solid.

"No no no! It was going so well! Why now? No no no…!"

There has to be something… some tool…!

Cole's mind was going blank, and he was keenly, acutely aware of the ticking clock.

What could ghosts do? Could he… do anything?

The thought hit him like a bolt of Jay's lightning.

The question was how to do it. Possessing Jay wouldn't help, but maybe something else-

Zane had said that maybe they still had a natural affinity for their elements. Maybe that was why he wasn't phasing through the mountain or whatever right now. Even with his ghost body messing up, the earth was there to hold him.

"If you can hold me, maybe you can lift me up…"

He placed his hand on the ground- it didn't phase through, Instead, he felt himself spread. He felt a sense of the earth pushing back, offering resistance. But if he pushed against that resistance, show that he was stronger, that his will was stronger, just maybe-

He ordered the earth to move, and it did.

It wasn't like his Elemental Power. It wasn't the earth bending and warping to serve him, as if it knew exactly what he wanted. Instead, he pulled the earth together, holding it in place with his own body. Puppetting the earth with strings made of his body. The earth did not have eyes and neither did he right now, but he could feel and move and sense the ground beneath him- a larger part of the fragment of a vessel he was possessing. Dirt and stone coalesced and rose from the snow; the vibrations of the movement were enough to shake away the powder. And there was Jay, limp across a bumpy platform of rocks. Kai could feel his sharp gasp for breath as a vibration in the earth.

Next up, Zane.

Cole released the earth in his command and let his strings coil out like snakes until he could wrap them around more stone- he didn't know exactly where Zane was, just that he was close to Jay. So he commanded a larger, flatter plane of earth to rise, and it did. It only took a boost of a couple feet, just a displacement of the icy tomb's sediment, for Zane to be able to force his way to the surface.

Alright Kai, now where are you hiding?

He slinked from boulder to boulder until he could feel one that was out of place, surrounded by a material he could not touch in his current state- Kai's Deepstone armor and weapons. It was a close enough approximation for him to wrap his chains around the nearby rocks and pull them into one- they clumped together, forming a mound that would raise Kai up. He coughed and shuddered as he finally broke free from the snow. He hadn't been in as bad a state as Jay, but it was still too close for comfort.

All at once, like releasing a long-held breath, he released his vessel, and the earth crumpled around him. He blinked once, twice, as his sight and hearing returned.

"Jay! Kai! Zane! Are you guys okay?" Kai was closest, so Cole jumped across the debris to the fire ninja and offered him a hand- Kai tried to take it, but his form was still being stubborn and wouldn't go solid.

"I'm good… I'm good," Kai mumbled, still sounding pretty dazed as he forced himself to his feet. "How is Jay?"

"He is unhurt," Zane said, and it sounded an awful lot like a sigh of relief. Though that was nothing compared to how relieved Cole felt.

Zane had propped Jay up against one of the boulders. He was shaky and had pulled his mask down, but was also, indeed, uninjured. He saw Cole and smiled, flimsy as it may have been.

"Thanks for the save," was all he said, sounding utterly drained. He let himself slide forward so that he was lying on his back as he took deep, slow breaths. He tried to tug a smile onto his lips, but all that came out was some exasperated squeak and a wobbly half-grin. All at once, the vice on Cole's chest evaporated, and he felt like he could breathe again- metaphorically speaking.

"Anytime," Cole exhaled as he sat on the stone next to Jay. He brushed some of the ice out of Jay's hair- it wasn't until the action was complete that he realized he could make his hand solid again.

Great timing, he thought to his uncooperative body. Hopefully it'd pick up on his disappointment and get its act together faster next time.

"H-how much longer do we have-" Jay swallowed hard. "Until we have to be at the summit?"

"Long enough for you to regain your bearings," Zane explained, ever the patience and gentle saint. Kai was a bit jumpier, but was channeling that energy into keeping watch, it would seem. Just as well. Cole was not in the mood to repeat that experience.

I wonder if ghost hair can turn gray. A few more experiences like that and I'll match Wu.

Jay groaned and pushed his palms into his eyes. "Ugh, we fought a snake the size of a city block. We fought an army of invincible stone soldiers. We defeated a dark lord twice. And we beat a cult of indestructible snake warriors. Why was this the single worst thing ever?" It was phrased like a joke, but the tone was nothing but genuine.

Cole sighed. "I'm sorry, I should have thought about avalanches on a mountain like this."

Kai scoffed. "Cole, if you blame yourself for an avalanche caused by a banshee when you single handedly saved us from said avalanche, I am going to punt you into the nearest wall."

"On that topic-" Zane started. Cole had an idea he knew where this was going. "How did you save us? It was difficult to tell."

Cole kicked at a loose clod of dirt, only to misjudge and barely graze the top. "I think I… possessed the earth?"

The others gave him a blank stare. Jay uttered a bit of a strangled chuckle. "Like, all the earth?"

"Oh, First Master, not even close. Just the bits and pieces around here."

"You can possess things?" Kai asked with a furrowed brow.

"Apparently."

"...Cool."

And that was the end of that. Probably a testament to how exhausted they all were.

It was with a shuddering breath that Jay began to work his way into a standing position with the help of Zane.

"Careful," the Nindroid cautioned.

"I… I'm good. I just gotta stand before I freeze over."

Kai's frown was visible through his mask. "You sure? That was pretty ugly."

Jay pulled his mask back down and pushed off from Zane so that he was standing on his own two feet. "Oh really? Thanks for filling me in."

That earned an eye roll. "Alright, back to climbing, I guess." He stretched the leg that Cole had him use for a kneebar. "Just a little bit more…"

Cole glanced up at the final peak they had to climb. Morro would most definitely be waiting for them up there. He grinned and pounded a fist to a palm. He could feel the mist that made up his body respond to his own excitement. "Actually… mind if I try something?"

Jay immediately flopped back into the snow at the first sign of a break. "By all the means in the realms, go ahead."

He closed his eyes, and focused again on the earth. His mind was clearer, calmer. It was easier to tell what exactly he was doing. Slowly, he let his body disseminate and spread into the earth. His vision went dark, but he could feel himself move within his vessel. He couldn't move quickly, but he could reach out with himself- feel for stones and boulders that suited his needs.

Last time, he had built his body in a rush. Now, he got to pick and choose each piece. He sensed Kai leap a bit as Cole dragged a boulder past him. Bit by bit, he chained together a massive form roughly the size of Nya's Samurai X suit. He tugged on the extremities he created, rolling pebbles and stones outward to create a platform by which the other ninja could climb onto the back of his