"It wasn't worth it," Nya mumbled. She turned to Cole. "We should have stayed. Then Jay wouldn't be alone with- with him. And you… You wouldn't be…" She couldn't finish speaking.
It had been a whole day since they had been stranded on Tiger Widow Island. Nya had fallen into a depressive mood, which brought down the morale of the remaining team. She was usually the last to give up, but much like Jay, her emotions had been battered and bruised and bent into shapes she found hard to withstand. To add to that, Jay had always been her weakness, no matter the state of their relationship. Losing him was hitting her hard.
Cole looked at his hand. It was more translucent than it had once been. He had not fully recovered from his little stunt and probably never would. He had reached a new level of transparency, of… non-existence. Unlike Morro, he now faced a real risk of fading away. Sooner, rather than later.
He knew he shouldn't have pulled that maneuver, that he shouldn't have summoned his element after draining himself, but he couldn't find it in himself to regret his actions. Choosing to split the team and escape Nadakhan had been the better option. Had been the best option.
Cole had recognized the look Nadakhan had when he looked at Nya. Cole had seen it plenty of times on others. Sometimes more leering, sometimes more respectful. But always transparently clear. He didn't think he would be able to cope with whatever Nadakhan wanted from Nya. He didn't doubt Nya could cope, of course. She was no damsel in distress, she was tougher than the Cursed Realm itself! No one would ever be able to break her. But Cole knew he couldn't cope with it. And neither could Morro or Jay for that matter. So, in his opinion, sacrificing some of his corporeality for her (temporary) safety was worth it.
He wasn't quite so certain it was worth Jay. He had to hope, had to believe, that Jay would be okay. He hated abandoning him, but there had been no way for all four to get out. This was the best outcome. It had to be.
He hoped it was.
(He really hoped Jay was nursed and medicated.)
(He really hoped Jay had not bled to death.)
(He really hoped Jay was still alive.)
He stopped making knots for the raft.
"Nya," he spoke lowly. He mulled over what he would say. "We will get Jay back," he promised. Her eyes met his and they looked sorrowful.
"He probably thinks I hate him."
"Jay knows you better than that, Nya," Cole argued. "And he knows we haven't abandoned him. Not forever." Cole sure hoped Jay knew that, but of all of them, the master of lightning had been the most emotionally wrung out. It wasn't a guarantee. Who knew where he mentally was right now.
She looked away, sullenly.
"I miss Kai," she said quietly.
"I know," Cole answered, in a very soft tone. This wasn't the first time they had been separated from teammates with no foreseeable end in sight. But this was different. At least then, they were sure that the others were alive. And they had something to do. But here? They were so helpless.
It had been different when Morro was possessing Kai. They'd at least had options. And when Master Chen was taking them prisoner at the tournament: they were getting new allies, constantly. However, in this misadventure, it had just been one losing battle after the next, with their numbers constantly dwindling. And no options to undo anything.
They were down to three.
Who knew if they could even get the others back.
It was getting very hard to keep going.
Cole continued busying himself with the raft. He and Morro, not needing sleep, had spent the whole night working on it. It was coming along nicely. They would probably be finished by the next day. "We'll get him back too," Cole finally said. "Just like at the tournament. Just like during the possession. We'll get him back."
Nya nodded, but it seemed more in acknowledgement, rather than agreement.
"Do you think Zane and Pixal are together?" she asked quietly.
"Yeah. Yeah, I do," Cole weakly answered. That would be nice, at least. A silver lining. Zane and Pixal, together. Not alone. Not like everyone else. Together.
There was some shuffling in the jungle. Morro had returned with more building materials. He didn't say anything, just got to work. Emotions were something Morro was pretty bad at, especially when it was other people's feelings. He found it easier to just shut down and work, than actually try to process or talk about anything.
Nya looked up at the blue sky and thought about Jay. He had wished to be more mature. Was he now? She reflected and concluded… Not really. Because he had never been that immature to begin with. Sure, he could be childish, but… Now that she had been confronted with a supposedly more "mature" Jay… She had always known that side existed. That he had changed over the years, for the better.
It just wasn't always very apparent.
She needed to get Jay back.
She needed to save her team.
She sat up from her rock.
"I'm gonna go wash up. I'll be back," she announced mechanically, before wandering off. Morro and Cole shot each other a look, then shrugged. She could look after herself.
She walked down to the freshwater stream that Morro had discovered (read: almost fallen into) during the night. She had been using it as her personal source of drinking water, but now…
She stripped off her clothes and took a plunge. She needed to reboot herself. She was tired. Exhausted. Physically and emotionally. It was time to put on her big girl pants. She had probably spent too much time wallowing in self-pity. Jay needed her. Kai needed her. Her team needed her.
She bathed and swam around for a bit, until she started feeling more like herself again. She then got out, got dressed and headed back to their makeshift camp. It was hot enough that by the time she returned, her hair was dry again.
She offered the two ghosts a weak smile as she approached them.
"Sorry about… earlier," she said, trying to apologize for basically shutting down completely for a whole day. It just came across as awkward. "How can I help?"
Morro cocked an eyebrow, neither bemused nor interested in her sudden turn. Cole grinned though.
"Perfect timing!" he said. "I need a hand over here."
She came over and the three got to work on the raft. On average, it was supposed to take about forty hours to build a decent raft. They had it done in thirty.
Things had happened quite quickly after that. They still had two flasks of poison, they had a workable raft, and they had the masters of wind and water. The journey back to civilization was long and tiresome, but they had returned in less than a week. Nya had never been happier to sit in a junk food restaurant while stinking of a week's worth of sea, scarfing down food like the world would end tomorrow (which it might well do, she supposed).
Cole ate just as much alongside her, even though he didn't actually need to eat. Morro, who had become somewhat put off food since joining the Ninja, had mostly hidden on his side of the booth, invisible, embarrassed by both Cole and Nya, glad no one could see him together with them.
The TV droned mindlessly in the background. It seemed the sky pirates had been harassing Ninjago City in their absence, stealing entire landmasses to form a "New Djinjago" up in the sky. And they were recruiting new pirates at an alarming scale. Many elemental masters had disappeared, and the remaining ninja had a feeling they knew where.
There had been no mention of Jay.
In that greasy diner, the three came up with a plan. It was fairly simple. The sky pirates were busy recruiting. Nya would disguise herself and pretend to join the crew, to try and collect intel on Nadakhan's plans, as well as free the Bounty. Cole and Morro would in the meanwhile turn invisible and search the various ships, try to find Jay and hopefully, poison Nadakhan's drink.
They forgot that their only successful plans in this adventure had so far involved Lloyd, the night they had broken out of Kryptarium. In other words, the plan was not successful.
Getting onto the ship was perhaps concerningly easy. Nya just showed up and said "I wanna be a pirate" and they let her in. Granted, she was wearing a moustache and was doing her best impression of masculinity personified (albeit shoved into a petite female body), so she wasn't exactly raising suspicion, but it still felt… odd. Odd that something was actually going to plan for once.
"Good luck, Nya," Cole said to her, as he and Morro disembarked from their shared ship.
"C'mon Cole, let's get this done with," Morro hissed back, already storming off.
"Stay safe," Nya said softly, giving Cole one last hug. "Keep Morro out of trouble."
Cole gave Nya a sharp nod and headed off. He hesitated and looked back at her. She was already sailing away. For a moment, he wondered if this was the last he'd ever see of her. So far, every time a team member was left alone, they were then gone forever.
He mentally shook his head as he followed after Morro. He shouldn't be paranoid. Perhaps now things were finally going to start turning around for them. Besides, Jay had not disappeared for good. At least, Cole hoped so. They couldn't lose another ninja. He couldn't lose another friend. Most certainly not his best friend (sorry Zane, Kai, Pixal).
He let the dark thoughts fade and focused on the plan. The two ghosts bounced from ship to ship, checking every brig in the entire fleet, but finding them all conspicuously empty.
"They make quick work of their enemies," Morro concluded, when the last brig was similarly empty. He didn't say what they were both thinking.
"We'll try to find Jay later," Cole decided. "We can't… We can't let this mission be pointless. We know where Nadakhan's room is. We have the keys. We'll go there, poison all of his drinks," he spoke venomously, "then go back to looking for Jay."
Unsurprisingly, Morro seemed to like that idea. (Morro was always the first to advocate violence and revenge. It was something he was still working on.)
They headed over to the Misfortune's Keep, staying out of sight of the crew. As ghost ninjas, it was pathetically easy to slip into the captain's cabin.
Cole ran over to the table, removing his flask from his hip. They had enough that they could afford to poison every drink. He began pouring some into the various bottles littering the table – Nadakhan had so many, they had to make sure his next drink was his last. Morro remained by the door, on lookout duty.
"Cole, hurry it up," he said, getting antsy. He had always been a more hands-on kind of guy. Despite being a ninja, Morro did not like sneaking around when the direct approach was so much easier.
"Don't rush me," Cole retorted, keeping his voice soft. His hands were already jittery with anticipation, he didn't need to get more nervous. He had accidentally spilled some of the poison onto the carpet and anymore waste would be bad. He needed to calm his nerves and-
"Cole?" someone asked. That wasn't Morro-
"Jay?!" Cole asked, turning around to see Jay dragging himself out from underneath a heavy-looking wardrobe. He moved so slowly, it made Cole cringe. Jay looked up at him and the relief on his face was worrying.
"I knew you'd come," he said, smiling tiredly.
"Oh man- Are you ok? What happened to your eye?" Cole asked, rushing to his friend's side and noticing the eyepatch. Jay touched it, like he had forgotten it was there. Morro appeared next to Cole.
"They really did a number on him, huh?" Morro unhelpfully pointed out. Jay wanted to say something but slumped over instead.
"Oh- Jay- C'mon buddy, let's get you out of here," Cole said, forgetting about the poison, the flask still sitting on the dining table, open and forgotten. He looked at the ball and chain around Jay's ankle. "Is that…?"
"Vengestone, yeah," Jay said, trying to sit up. Morro inspected the lock and was pleased to find it looked like a fit for one of the keys he and Cole had stolen.
"You're safe now. Nya's also nearby," Morro told Jay. "She's trying to figure out what Nadakhan's plans are."
"I know what they are," Jay said, suddenly a bit more energized. "He wouldn't stop bragging about it. He wants to-"
"Tell us later," Cole instructed, the chain falling off Jay's ankle. "Save your strength for getting off this ship."
"But-" Jay tried to argue. He held his head in his hand, feeling a brief dizzy spell. No longer being cuffed to vengestone helped him feel a bit better, but he was still weak from beatings and barely getting any food.
"FSM, I think I hear footsteps," Morro warned, vanishing from sight. Cole frowned.
"We don't have time for this," Cole muttered, then shoved Jay into the wardrobe. "Sorry," he added, when Jay let out a pained yelp.
Cole closed the doors and threw Jay's ball and chain under Nadakhan's bed, out of sight. He looked to see if anything else was out of place but ran out of time when the doorknob rattled. Like Morro, Cole vanished from sight.
Nadakhan entered, followed by a crewmate with an impressive moustache… His first mate.
"This blue ninja is more trouble than he's worth," the first mate continued speaking. "Throw him overboard and be done with it. Why do you need his third wish?"
Nadakhan let out a long-suffering sigh.
"It is not so simple to explain, Flintlocke," Nadakhan answered. "But let me explain anyway, since you keep asking and asking. The Djinn Blade allows me to take the powers of elemental masters. The more I have, the more powerful I become. And the Ninja… They possess the six most powerful elements in Ninjago."
"New Djinjago is almost fully formed. What do you need with more power?" Flintlocke argued.
"A king needs loyal subjects. And when he cannot find them, he will force them," Nadakhan darkly said. Flintlocke let out an exasperated groan.
"But you don't even want a throne! That's why you left Djinjago! To be free of- of obligation and politics and…" Flintlocke paused. "Do you even know what you want anymore? Or has all your wish-granting confused you? Hearing the wants of everyone else, I can see how that might warp a mind…"
"Hold your tongue, Flintlocke," Nadakhan warned. "You are a dear friend. I would be sad if anything were to happen to you." The threat was unmissable in his tone. Flintlocke looked down, at the carpet. Nadakhan's eyes sparked with satisfaction, but he still looked grim. He turned back to the dining table. "We are out of Fiddlehead cider. Have someone get me a new case," he instructed dully. Then his eyes landed on the flask, still sitting on the table, the stench of tiger widow venom wafting in the air.
Cole silently swore.
"Tell me Flintlocke… Where is Jay?" Nadakhan asked.
"I, uh… I can't say I know, Captain," Flintlocke answered hesitantly. "Probably scrubbing the deck, I can go and find out-"
"I do not think you will find him," Nadakhan answered, picking up the flask. "I think our ninja friends have come and gone."
As if on cue, the ship jerked suddenly, and the ball and chain came rolling out from under the bed. For a moment, Flintlocke stared at it disbelievingly, while Nadakhan grimaced that yes, Jay had been set free.
The moment seemed to hang there an eternity.
Flintlocke then bolted out of the room, barking orders at the startled crew. Nadakhan dropped the flask and watched its contents pour out with disinterest. It almost seemed like he would just stay there and watch, when he suddenly snarled and kicked the dining table over, every drink spilling out onto the floor.
"They still have poison…" Nadakhan muttered. He let out a roar and hit the wall with his fists. He breathed out heavily, regained his composure, then left the room, to go to the deck where all chaos had broken loose.
The ninja instantly came out of hiding, Jay collapsing to the floor.
"We need to get out of here- fast," Cole said, as both he and Morro helped Jay to his feet, Jay's arms slung over their shoulders.
"We won't get far like this," Morro argued.
"We'll deal with it, when we need to," Cole snapped, making his way out of the cabin and onto deck. To immediately be faced with hundreds of pirates. There was a moment silence, as they stared at each other in surprise.
"Hold Jay," Morro said, letting go of Jay's arm. He cracked his knuckles. He had been itching for a fight ever since Kai had been taken. The pirates came out of their stupor and lunged forward toward them, yelling all sorts of things, like "get them!" or "the ninja!" or "not the chew toy!"
Morro simply summoned wind and with the flick of his wrist blew his attackers overboard. That made the rest hesitate and Morro grinned, watching them back away.
"Hi. Master of Wind here," Morro informed them, as he drew closer. "You must be the sky pirates," he casually continued. "You sure you want to pick a fight with your master?"
The insult lured some of the pirates out of their stupor, enraging them into attacking the ghost but Morro once again easily threw them over the side. He was thrilled. Finally, his powers had some use.
"I wish Nya was here to see this," Morro said, grinning manically.
"Your wish is yours to keep," someone said into his ear, causing him to send a gust of wind straight over his shoulder as he jerked away. The mast of the ship snapped clean off and Cole (with Jay still leaning on him for support) had to hobble out of the way.
And there, among the mess, suddenly stood Nya without her disguise, looking disoriented, a stolen cutlass in her hand.
"So, you have not left yet. Good," Nadakhan purred above Morro. He was grinning, as if everything so far had been going to plan. "Perhaps we can now have a civil conversation?"
"We'll talk civil with you when you give us our friends back! And restore Ninjago!" Nya snapped, holding up the cutlass threateningly.
"The hard way it is," Nadakhan said in careful measure. He looked to his crew. "Get them."
Chaos erupted, but Morro was in his element. The skies were his element, and he was thriving, vanquishing whole swaths of Nadakhan's army with every flick and twist. It felt so satisfying-
"Morro, focus! We need to get Jay to safety!" Cole called to him. For a second, Morro turned to his team and saw that while things were going wonderfully smoothly for Morro… They weren't for the rest of the ninja. Jay was regaining strength just from being free of Vengestone, but he had still been starved, tortured and beaten. He was in no shape to fight.
Morro hesitated, deciding how to rejoin his team and look for a way off-
But then Nadakhan slammed Kai's sword down on Morro and all thoughts of escape disappeared. Morro blocked but couldn't quite push the sword away. Nadakhan used the opportunity to lean in closer.
"Do you recognize this sword, Ninja? Didn't it belong to a friend of yours?" Nadakhan taunted, pressing down. Morro's eyes narrowed and with another powerful gust, made Nadakhan back off.
"I'll rip that thing out of your cold dead body," Morro threatened.
"You can try," Nadakhan smoothly replied, grinning menacingly.
While Morro and Nadakhan dueled, Nya did her best to defend her friends. With water so far below her and no clouds in the sky, she couldn't use much of her element to aid her. She was stuck using her stolen cutlass.
This was not exactly a problem. She had once been Samurai X after all. She could hold off any number of enemies with a single sword alone. The problem was for how long. She knew she couldn't keep this up forever.
"Cole, I could really use your help!" Nya called to the ghost. To be fair on him, Cole was trying to help as much as he could, but at the same time, he needed to support Jay. Jay flung a bolt of lightning at several pirates. While it helped, it left him a little weaker than before.
"Jay, save your strength!" Cole snapped. "Look, there's a lifeboat! We could escape on that, right?"
"Those things are slower than Kai in the shower! They'll blow us out of the skies!" Nya argued.
"Not if we're falling," Cole said, as he started making his way over, dragging Jay with him. They would launch the boat, drop down from the sky and before they hit the water, launch it. An escape, a good one. But before Cole could get even close to the boat, an ice wall formed between them, separating ninja from ninja from lifeboat.
"You're not going anywhere, ninja," Nadakhan darkly promised.
"Yes, they are!" Morro snapped and threw a blast of wind at the ice walls. They shattered, blowing a few pirates off the deck as a bonus. The path was clear-
"Gah, that's not fair!" Cole complained, when new ice walls formed before him. "He's trapping us with our friend's powers… I got it!"
"Cole…" Jay said warningly, guessing at what Cole wanted to say, but the master of earth ignored him.
"I wish he didn't have that sword!" Cole shouted, just as Nadakhan was about to strike Morro. The sword suddenly spun out of Nadakhan's hand and Morro sent the djinn flying high into the sky… Then Nadakhan appeared in front of Cole, seething, raising Kai's sword. In the back, Flintlocke caught the Djinn Blade. Nadakhan attacked the two ninjas and Cole threw himself and Jay to the deck, to avoid getting cut in half by Kai's sword. Flintlocke joined the fray and handed the Djinn Blade back to Nadakhan.
"Here you go, Captain," Flintlocke said.
While Nadakhan was distracted, Cole and Jay sprinted to Morro's side.
"Well, you got what you wished for, boulder brain! Words matter," Jay reprimanded him.
"I could just drop you. Right here, right now," Cole lowly pointed out.
"This is important," Jay insisted. "We can't just fire off wishes from the hip! We shouldn't be wishing at all!"
"I think I agree with Jay," Nya added, as she skidded to their side. "I wish you hadn't wasted your wish-"
"Nya!" Jay reprimanded and Nya cursed under her breath.
All four stood at the ready. The pirates snarled and leered. Morro summoned a wind to encircle himself and his friends, a protective shield of wind.
"Try and get us!" Morro challenged them. A few were stupid enough to do so and were spun around a few times, before being flung high into the sky and overboard.
"Morro, escape," Cole reminded the ghost.
"What? They can't get us here. I'm in my element," Morro dismissed. As long as his friends stayed by his side, no one could hurt them. By the look in Nadakhan's eye, it seemed the Djinn knew this too.
"Clancee, my dear boy…" Nadakhan spoke up, turning to his sole serpentine crew member.
"Uh… yes, Captain?" Clancee asked.
"It just occurred to me that you still have two wishes left."
"B-but, uh, Clancee doesn't need wishes! Clancee's just happy how he is-"
"Wish the master of wind away or I'll make you wish you had," Nadakhan threatened.
"B—b-b-b-but… ok then…" Clancee stuttered, shrinking under Nadakhan's gaze. Despite not being able to hear much from the rushing winds, Nya could guess.
"I wish Clancee couldn't wish Morro away!" she quickly exclaimed. Nadakhan hissed.
"Get creative," Nadakhan told Clancee.
"I-I-I- uh- I-I wish the Master of Wind wasn't the Master of Wind!" Clancee shouted.
"Your wish is yours to keep…" Nadakhan said, grinning. "Well done, Clancee."
Morro watched in horror as his winds disappeared into nothingness. Worse, he suddenly felt like something had been ripped out of him and he fell to his knees. He was a ghost, he always felt like something was missing, but now something else, something equally vital was gone. The pirates began approaching, but then there was a crack of thunder.
"Stay back," Jay warned them, electricity still cracking at his fingertips. He looked off-balance and mildly dazed, but his unsteadiness made the pirates hesitate, uncertain if Jay could release another controlled blast or would kill more than intended.
"Morro, it's ok," Cole tried to reassure Morro, seeing the former Master of Wind staring at his hands in horror, unmoving, eyes wide, jaw slack. Suddenly, Morro snapped back to reality. His eyes narrowed on Nadakhan.
"Morro- what are you thinking-" Nya said, recognizing that bitter determination suddenly radiating off Morro. The ghost ignored her, approaching Nadakhan.
"Well, fine," Morro said lowly, glaring at the djinn. "You want to steal my destiny from me?"
"Oh no," Nya weakly said. "Morro, don't-"
"Then I'll give you what you want! So the Master of Wind is too much trouble for you?!"
"Morro-" Jay tried to warn.
"Let's see how you do against the most powerful elemental master!" Morro roared. "I wish I was the Green Ninja!"
"Your wish is yours to keep," Nadakhan said, waving an arm.
Nothing happened.
"Why isn't anything happening?" Morro demanded.
"Hm… Well, tell me, former elemental master, what do you know of the prophecy of the Green Ninja?"
Morro looked at him suspiciously.
"That he's destined to be the best of all ninjas, a living legend, the one who will save Ninjago from the greatest evil the realms will ever know."
"You see, there is a part of the prophecy you clearly you do not know," Nadakhan continued, "that before the Green Ninja can rise, another great evil must be defeated with the four golden weapons," he explained.
"You mean Samukai? We've already defeated him," Cole argued. "He held the weapons and… uh, died."
"Oh no. I do not mean some weak leader of the skulkin," Nadakhan smugly explained. "You see, this evil has not awakened. She is not destined to awaken until…"
There was an ungodly screeching. So loud and painful, almost everyone onboard had to cover their ears as the howl rang out from far, far away. Nya ran to the side of the ship and in the distance, she saw something was rising out of the ground.
"Wh- what is that thing?!" she asked, horrified.
"The Great Devourer," Nadakhan answered. Clancee joined Nya's side, looking equally horrified.
"Sh-sh-she's the gr-great eater! She'll eat all of Ninjago!" he cried out, recognizing the snake from myth and childhood fairy tales.
"And the more she eats, the greater she becomes," Nadakhan finished explaining. He appeared at Nya's side. "Do not worry, Master of Water, she is destined to be stopped by the four golden weapons… Hm… Only… Who will wield the four golden weapons?" Nadakhan asked, turning to Cole and Jay. "After all, there are only two people left that can wield a golden weapon," he said and Cole stood in front of Jay protectively, noticing how the djinn's gaze seemed to linger on the Master of Lightning. Jay was just happy to have someone to hide behind again.
Morro stared at the Great Devourer, as she landed on the ground in the distance, roaring loudly once more. He turned to his teammates, eyes wide and stricken with guilt and grief.
"Morro-" Nya called again, but Nadakhan spoke over her.
"That is right, Green Ninja," Nadakhan said. "Without your friends Kai and Zane, well, there is no one to stop her. Congratulations. You will be the Green Ninja after the Great Devourer has devoured the whole realm."
"That's- that's not-" Morro stuttered.
"Of course, if you were not the Green Ninja, the world would not need to end in the jaws of the Great Devourer," Nadakhan told him, encircling him. "You could… wish it all away."
"Morro, don't!" Jay cried out, because no, they couldn't lose anyone else, not again, not Morro- but Morro couldn't hear him. All the ghost could think about was the Preeminent, the sudden realization of what he had done, how far he had fallen, so twisted in bitterness and rage and anger. He remembered the horror that had come with that moment of lucidity and now, he had gone and done it again and this time, there hadn't been centuries of bitterness and resentment to twist him into a monster. This was him, not his bitterness, not his brokenness. Just Morro.
He had just doomed Ninjago. And this time, Nya wouldn't be able to save it.
"I-"
"Time is ticking… I wonder how much the Great Devourer will eat until you do what is right, oh Master of Wind…"
"I-"
"Morro, we can fix this!" Cole desperately yelled to his teammate.
"Yeah, listen to us! Don't wish for anything!" Jay yelled again.
"Morro!"
"Well? Green Ninja?" Nadakhan asked.
"I…"
"Morro, don't!"
"I wish it all away."
"Your wish is yours to keep," Nadakhan promised. The remaining ninjas could only stare in absolute misery as Morro disappeared out of reality. In the distance, the Great Devourer vanished with him, as if she had never been there to begin with. "No awakened Green Ninja, no Great Devourer," Nadakhan surmised, turning to what remained of the ninjas.
"Now… What to do with you…" Nadakhan thought aloud. The three glared at him. He had taken a teammate from them, right in front of them and they had been unable to stop him. But they would not cower, they would not be afraid (although Jay would allow himself to hang on to Cole for dear life, he was so exhausted). Even with no clear escape, with no way out, with no hope of saving anyone, they would not cave, they would not crumble. They would not give up.
Jay tried to electrocute Nadakhan, but he had already run out of energy again. Only sparks came out.
"Hm. Very nice, Jay," Nadakhan mocked. "And you, Cole? No clever ghost tricks left?"
"Maybe I don't need any!" Cole retorted. Nadakhan laughed.
"Such confidence! And where does this confidence come from? Delusion?"
"It comes from knowing we'll win," Nya steadfastly answered. Nadakhan turned to her, and his eyes softened just a little.
"Oh, and I suppose this is factual?" he asked.
"You said it yourself," Nya answered. "The Great Devourer is destined to be defeated with the four golden weapons. And for that to happen, Zane and Kai need to be free. Which means, you have to lose." She smirked. "It's destiny."
"Do you forget, dear Delara-"
"Nya."
"-that I can wield your brother's sword as he would?"
"I'd like to see you try and wield all four," Nya challenged. She hadn't seen Samukai's death, but Kai had told her about it. She knew only very few people could wield all four golden weapons without being harmed. Realizing she had called his bluff, Nadakhan growled. Cole laughed.
"I wish you'd said that sooner!" Cole said, grinning at the angered djinn.
"Cole!" Jay snapped and Cole realized what he'd done. The djinn was now smiling down at him.
"Your wish is yours to keep."
"I wish you'd stop making wishes!" Nya snapped at him, annoyed. Jay just stared at her in open disbelief, and she covered her mouth. Now Cole couldn't use his last wish.
"Your wish is yours to keep!" Nadakhan boasted. "Pirates! Grab them!"
The sky pirates had the three-remaining ninjas in their grips.
"Thank you for your help, Delara," Nadakhan said.
"Nya," Nya snarled.
"Now all I need is the blue ninja's wish and no one will be left to threaten me," Nadakhan said, grabbing both Cole and Jay at the back of their gi's. "Of course… Maybe Flintlocke is right, and it is more of a… how do you say… Nice to have?"
"Hey, what are you doing with them?!" Nya demanded.
"Put me down!" Cole yelled, hands going up to Nadakhan's firm fist, trying to loosen them. It seemed djinns were unfortunately supernaturally strong, even the Earth ninja could not break his grip. Jay once more tried to summon lightning, but still only sparks escaped his fingers.
Nya tried to go after them but was held back by several pairs of arms. The sky pirates weren't going to let her go.
"Nya," Nadakhan said, once he reached the other side of his ship. "I wish for you to marry me," he announced. "If you do not, you can bid your friends farewell."
Cole and Jay stared at her silently.
There was no need to talk. They knew what she would say, what she had to say. She looked at them, her eyes watery. She didn't want to say it. She desperately did not want to, she had just lost Morro. They looked at her pleadingly. Do it.
"I will not," she stated firmly. If it weren't for her eyes, her distress wouldn't have been seen or heard.
"So be it," Nadakhan said casually, as if they'd been discussing the weather.
Then he threw them overboard.
"No!" Nya screamed and broke loose of the hands. She raced to the side and looked over. "I wish-" she began.
"You're out of wishes," Nadakhan coldly told her.
Cole stared at rapidly approaching death, large, blue, all encompassing. He knew what was happening. The wind was rushing passed them as with every passing second, they fell closer to their deaths. He was still looking up at Nya's distraught face and as he looked at her unshed tears, he thought this had to be one of the worst ways to die.
He couldn't let it end like this.
Jay was screaming next to him. Cole wasn't sure if he was screaming too, he wasn't sure he was feeling much of anything at all. He had entered that ghostly space where emotions just… didn't exist.
As they fell, Cole had one, desperate idea.
There was no way he was going to survive. He knew that. He understood it. He accepted it. He couldn't fly and he couldn't survive water. But Jay…
Cole turned over to look at Jay.
It might work for Jay.
He grabbed Jay's arms and pulled the blue ninja closer, holding onto Jay's collar.
"What are you doing?!" Jay yelled at him, over the rushing winds.
"Trust me!" Cole yelled back. Cole checked, to make sure Jay was falling below him, that the Master of Lightning would hit the water first. Cole could give him perhaps a split-second, maybe a second of intangibility. He knew what he was planning had a slim chance of succeeding, but maybe a split-second was all that was needed to turn solid water back to fluid. Maybe it was enough for Jay to land in water without the impact.
"Cole!" Jay screamed over the winds, looking more and more confused and distressed, hands gripping his, trying to get him to let go, trying to grasp Cole's thoughts, not understanding what his friend was planning. Cole wished he could say more as the deep blue rapidly approached them. But the winds were too loud, and it was too much to explain. So, he just smiled and hoped – hoped that Jay would understand.
The waters hit them.
Nya cried when she saw the splash. Jay did not surface. Cole was gone.
She was alone.
"This will pass," she heard Nadakhan say to her. She turned sharply, throwing a punch, but he was gone, and she fell to her knees.
"Come here and take a punch to the face, you coward!" she angrily demanded. Nadakhan tutted.
"Nya, Nya, Nya," Nadakhan calmly retorted. "Now you are the last ninja. Much as I am the last Djinn. Now, we are square."
"We are not! Square! You killed my family!" she snapped.
"And you killed all my people!" Nadakhan threw back, glaring at her, towering over her menacingly. She did not back down though, scowling at him. So he continued, "If I truly wanted justice, I could have taken an eye for an eye! Realm for a realm! But I have not! I have settled for less. In case you have forgotten, Master of Water, you did not just kill the Preeminent, you destroyed Djinjago with it! And yet, I do not plan to destroy Ninjago in retaliation. If anything, you should not be angry with me. You should be grateful. Because you may think you've lost everything you could possibly ever lose, but I think we both know, you can always lose more."
He stared at her, watched her will dissolve as she listened to his words.
"Do not worry, Nya," Nadakhan told her. "Now that we are even, now that I have forgiven you, I will be good to you," he promised. "Once we are married."
Nya looked horrified, all color flushing out of her face.
"And this far away from the ocean, I think there is not much you can do to stop me," he continued, pleased to see her despair. He turned away.
"Flintlocke… Make sure my bride is ready for our wedding."
"Aye-aye, Captain."
For a second, all Jay felt was nothingness. He recognized the feeling as the state of being intangible. Before this whole nightmare had started, Cole and Morro had been putting their ghost powers to use, practicing new maneuvers with the team, things that better incorporated the ghosts' abilities into their tactics.
He had never liked intangibility. It felt worse than nothingness. Like something very important to reality- to living- was absent.
Then he felt cold.
And he couldn't breathe.
His eyes opened and he was looking at the water surface, sun dancing across its surface, lighting his face.
He was underwater.
He was sinking.
He needed to breathe, felt himself almost choke with realization. So cold. He started kicking his legs, arms sweeping water out of the way as he made his way to the surface. He broke through the waves, gasping desperately for air. He choked at first, but soon was able to breathe in large gulps. For a few moments, all that mattered was keeping his head above water and breathing.
It felt like eternity passed, just that simple desire of breathing, euphoria washing over him when he finally had air in his lungs again… In truth, it was over in a moment, and ended sharply when cold, cruel reality hit him.
"Cole!" Jay shouted, as his legs beat water. He swiveled around, looking desperately for his friend, but all he saw was more and more ocean. No- no, no, no, this can't be happening, not him, not- "Cole!" he yelled louder.
There was no one in sight. The sky pirate fleet was soaring away, up to New Djinjago. And there was no Cole. No Cole in sight- Cole was gone- Cole was-
"Cole!" he screamed.
Sorry the update took so long. I got stuck on trying to get the ninja to use up their wishes without breaking the flow of the story or having them make overly stupid mistakes (Sorry Nya).