15 Years Earlier
8 year old Cole, wearing a black flannel shirt, orange t-short and grey sweatpants, follows his father down the hallway of a house before stopping near the doorway to a room. Cole had a right black eye and a cut on the left side of his lower lip. Lou beckons Cole to come closer before noticing a middle aged woman in a white nightgown, lying in bed. She sobs a little before coughing. She then notices them and sighs happily. "Hi, honey." She said.
Cole rushes toward his mother. "Mom!" He replied, coming over to hug her. "I don't want you to be sick anymore, mom."
"I know. But, we don't always get what we want, do we? Your father said you got in trouble at school." Cole backs away from his mother, who notices the black eye and cut on his lip.
He lowered his head, ashamed. "Yeah." He looked back at her. "But, it wasn't my fault. There's this kid, and he's just... he's just a big bully. He's always picking on the little kids and-"
"And you got in a fight."
"I'm sorry, mom. I promise I won't fight anymore. I'll be good from now on. I'll make you proud and..." He started to shed some tears. "...and..."
"Oh, Cole. Don't you see? I am proud." She grabs his left hand. "I want you to promise me, Cole, that you will always stand up to those who are cruel and unjust. Always."
"I... I promise, mom." He lowers his head on her lap. "Always." She wraps her arms around his head and lowers her head on top of his.
(A/N: I have to admit, Cole and his mother's scene was really emotional to me)
Present
In Rock Bottom, Cole was leading Maggie, Dragon, Vania, Fungus, Korgran, Plundar, Doug, Snithik and Adam along a tunnel. "What are we doing?" Plundar whispered. "We've explored this tunnel a million times. If there was a way out of Rock Bottom, we would have found it already."
"Come now, Plundar." Fungus replied. "It doesn't hurt to have someone take a fresh look.
They soon stop while Cole continued on. "It's hurting my feet! We've been at this for hours!"
Maggie and Vania soon came over to Plundar, scaring him to be between two women. "Are we having a tea time chat, or are we trying to escape this dungeon?" Vania asked.
"If so, I opt for escaping." Maggie said before they continue on to catch up with Cole.
They soon reach a dead end, which also shows a tiny tunnel having been previously dug in it. "Another dead end?"
"Another dead end." Cole repeated.
The others come up behind them. "Good sir Ninja, if it makes you feel any better, the six of us have been failing to escape this place for years." Fungus replied.
"'Not even Doug's digging has helped us out of this, as you see by that hole in the wall.'" Plundar said, translating Snithik's signing.
"Well, thank you, but that doesn't really help." Cole sarcastically replied before walking away.
Plundar scoffs as he watched him pass by before they follow him. "What are we doing following this guy? This is a waste of time! We're already a bunch of failed adventurers. We don't need a leader to help us fail more."
Maggie limps over to Plundar and grabs him by his hood to make him turn to her. "Cole isn't helping us fail!" She said. "He's helping us escape. Besides, we've been in far worse situations than you lot combined. In fact, the first time I met him was 3 years ago, we were invited to a tournament for Elemental Masters by a traitor from the Serpentine War. Cole was even pitted against his best friend. He would've gone all the way, but instead, he forfeited. He was thrown into a dungeon, forced to make food, but he endured it, managed to bring all the eliminated Elemental Masters, including my husband, and other prisoners onto his side. Do you know how he and the prisoners were able to escape in the end?"
"Uh, no."
"Positive thinking. Which you need to have yourself." Plunder moves his hand in a mocking chatterbox matter.
"Maggie's right, Cole is a fantastic leader!" Vania said, agreeing with Maggie.
Plundar soon stopped to turn to them. "Oh, yeah?" He sarcastically asked. "Where's his 'positive thinking' leading us? In circles?" He shows them another tunnel entrance. "Because guess where we are. That's right." He kicks a stone as they came out to show they're back at the lake. "Back in Rock Bottom!"
Cole comes up to the lake to look at his reflection before becoming angry, picks up a nearby rock and throws it into the lake, resulting in a splash. "****!" He yelled before he turned to a nearby bigger rock as Dragon came over to him.
"What is on your mind, Cole?" Dragon asked as Cole went to sit on the rock. "You seemed troubled."
Cole frown as he lifts his right leg to take off his sock and shake some dirt out of it. "Ever since I saw my mother's locket, I've felt her presence." He looks around the cave while putting his sock aside. "She's connected to this place somehow, I... I can feel it." He looks at his hands a little before sighing. "Will you listen to me? What am I talking about?" He lies down. "Why would my mother have come to this place? We're at the bottom of the world!"
"You're right. This is the lowest you have ever been."
He sits back up while grabbing his sock. "Thanks for noticing." He sarcastically spoke.
He puts the sock back on his foot and jumps off the rock. "No, I mean your mother once told me that her powers were strongest when she was closest to earth." Dragon picks up a nearby stone and looks at it.
"Really?"
"You've never been farther underground, Cole. Never been more surrounded by the very thing that powers you. The Skull Sorcerer thought he was burying you. But what if he was actually bringing you closer to the earth? To the source of your Elemental Power?"
Cole frowns. "So, what do I do? Try to connect with the Earth?"
"Perhaps. Or perhaps you just have to stop worrying so much and let the Earth connect with you." Dragon grabs Cole's left hand and puts the stone in his hand.
Cole looks at the stone before nodding, turns away, closes his eyes and holds his arms out. He tries to concentrate, but stops. "I'm not feeling anything." Suddenly, his Earth Punch activates.
"Cole, open your eyes." He does so, and they were completely orange, his arms were glowing and he was floating in the air, surprising him.
"Whoa!" He drops the stone, which started to levitate, along with other stones.
"Let it in." Cole closes his eyes again, and the markings on his arms and scar start to glow brighter. "Let the energy of the earth infuse you!"
Soon, all the rocks around them, including one that Maggie was sitting down on, start to glow and levitate. "I feel it! It's coming from the ground all around me!" He looks down at the ground before dropping down and punches the ground before orange lines appear and spread down into the lake.
Soon, he deactivated his Earth Punch and the rocks fall back down as Dragon was surprised before Maggie came up to them. "What just happened?" She asked, demanding to know why the rock she sat on was floating.
Cole doesn't answer her as he heads for the lake and the others came up to him to see the path of lines was leading further down the lake. "There's a tunnel down there! Maybe a way out!"
"We're with you!" Fungus said.
They start to move as a reluctant Plundar got out his dice, tosses them in the air and catches them before becoming angered. "Fine." He muttered while putting his bandanna on over his mouth.
Cole was the first to dive in and swam down to follow the trail of lines, followed by Maggie, Dragon, Vania, Fungus, Korgran, Plundar, Doug, Snithik and Adam until they reach the tunnel entrance and swim down it until they reach the exit before Cole briefly stopped to motion the others to swim up and watches them. Vania briefly looks down to look at Cole before turning back, and comes across a skeleton, which made her shriek and cover her mouth in fear, but lets out some air bubbles. Maggie swims up next to her before helping her move up, followed by Fungus, Korgran, Plundar, Doug and Snithik. Adam unfortunately hits his head on the tunnel exit before continuing on as Dragon was behind him, until the strike had knocked a rock down and snag onto Dragon's robe, trapping him. Cole opened his mouth in shock, letting out some air bubbles before closing his mouth again to swim over to Dragon as he struggles to get free. Cole heads over to the rock and starts to push on it as quick as he can before Dragon would lose air until he managed to get it off, grabs hold of Dragon and they start to head for the surface.
At the end of the tunnel, Maggie, Vania, Fungus, Korgran, Plundar, Doug, Snithik and Adam were all out of the lake and breathing heavily. "Where's Cole and Master Wu?" Vania asked.
They all turn to the lake out of concern before Cole and Dragon immediately surfaced and grab onto the edge before they cough from holding the last of their breath. "You... you saved my life!" Dragon said to Cole, surprised.
"Nothing you haven't done for me a thousand times." He replied before turning to the others. "Is everyone okay?" They all nod as Cole and Dragon get out of the lake before Cole moved onward to find a pool of lava with a few many rocks sticking out of it, and three tunnels on the other side.
Vania comes up next to him and sees the tunnels. "But which tunnel do we take?" She asked as the other catch up to them.
"Cole, touch the ground again." Dragon said.
Cole nods before activating his Earth Punch, kneels down and touches the ground. A trail of lines soon appear and spread along some of the rocks, until they stop at the tunnel on the left. "Across the lava?" Plundar asked as Cole stood up and deactivates his Earth Punch. "Ugh, what am I saying? Of course, across the lava. All these nice tunnels we could take, but no." He sarcastically spoke. "We gotta take the tunnel on the other side of the lava."
"You think I'm any happier than that?" Cole asked. "But that's the way. I feel it."
Korgran scoffs. "Korgran fears no lava." He replied, getting out a wooden mug before kneeling down to pour some lava in it and holds it up. "Korgran drinks lava for breakfast!"
He prepares to drink it. "'No, you don't.'" Plundar translates Snithik's signing. "'You drink juice.'"
"What?" The mug immediately sets on fire due to the lava in it and throws it away, shaking his hand a little. "Hot!" He stops upon realising. "Oh, right. Juice! Korgran fears no juice. Lava, on other hand, very scary."
"Is the path filled with danger?" Cole asked while he took off his only boot before throwing it into the lava, which instantly burns it to show him. "Yes. Would it be easier to turn back? Of course. But we can't stop the Skull Sorcerer and save our friends trapped down here, can we?"
"We can't stop him if we're dead, either." Plundar replied.
"Then I guess you better roll your dice and take a chance. What's it going to be? Turn back, or keep going?"
Reluctantly, Plundar gets out his dice and kneels down to throw them across the ground before they stop. He sees where they stopped on and groans in disappointment before raising his bandanna and Cole nods. They move across the lava by jumping onto one rock after the other while Adam stayed where he was and had Maggie on his back since she couldn't jump on her bad leg. Adam moves to touch the lava with a leg before shrieking in pain and backs away. "Come on, Adam, you can do it." Maggie said before pointing up at some stalactites. Adam shoots a line of web at one before retracting it to move over to it while Maggie held on tight before he started to climb up it. Plundar stopped to see Adam climbing along the cave ceiling with Maggie on its back until he reaches a stalactite that was over the other side and shoots a webline to lower down to it before Maggie gets off his back. "Almost there!"
Plundar prepared to move again, when rumbling was heard. "Wait." Cole said, holding out his hand. "I sense danger." He kneels down to touch the rock he was on.
"What are you talking about?" Plundar asked. "We're practically home free."
"Actually, I think Cole might be onto something." Doug replied.
"How so, Doug?"
"I read in one of my scrolls that there were rumours of a monster made of lava, residing underground, and I believed it was a myth. But, seeing Cole like that. It could be real."
"Doug may be right." Cole said. "I sense tremors in the ground beneath us." He stands up. "I've never felt anything like this." A large blob of lava suddenly started to rise up, and everyone turned to see it form into a large monster, which soon roared.
"Never seen anything like that!" Fungus said.
"Look out!" The monster starts to swing some tentacles at them, and they quickly jump onto different rocks as one of the tentacles hits the rock that Cole was on. Vania jumps over to another rock to avoid another tentacle, which hits the rock she was previously on and another comes in front, scaring her before she jumps onto a rock on her left. The monster shots a tentacle out to Cole, who jumps back to avoid it, then backflips to avoid another, landing on rock behind him. "Team, listen up! Korgran, frontal assault! Keep its focus! Look out for those tentacles!"
"Tentacles should look out for Korgran!" He replied before jumping from one rock to another and jumps into the air while raising his axe and strikes a tentacle. He then turned to strike another tentacle before charging at it full on, striking a few more tentacles, and lands behind it as the severed tentacles land in the lava.
The monster roars as its severed tentacles reform and it roars. Korgran quickly moves out of the way as it tries to hit him before it turned its attention to Cole, who brings his fists together to activate his Earth Punch before some of the stalactites glow and break off as well as levitating some rocks. As a tentacle nearly hits him, Cole spun around before holding his arms out wide to send the rocks and stalactites towards the monster. It fires a lava ball, which breaks them apart while it kept going before Cole somersaults to another rock, then again and keeps on going as the monster comes after him. "Master Wu, block those lava balls and send them right back at him!" He jumps onto another rock while holding his arms out wide and spun as more rocks levitate over to him and spin around before he held his arms out to send the rocks to the monster, who fires a lava ball to destroy them.
Cole jumps onto another rock as Vania looks at the monster. "Look out!" She yelled. "More lava flying at us!" Dragon immediately does Spinjitzu, which catches the lava ball before throwing it aside and disperses. "Two more to the left!" Dragon notices them and does Spinjitzu again to combine them and throws it at the lava monster.
Cole jumps back onto another rock as Fungus came up next to him. "Fungus, see if you can distract him with some more of those snow flurries!" They duck down to avoid another tentacle.
"I will do more than just... 'distract him'!" He said, moving to the side to avoid a lava ball before moving left, takes off his hat and puts his hand inside it, which makes the inside of the hat start to glow. The monster starts to advance towards him while roaring before it fires Cole brings a rock over to himself to shield himself from some lava that splashed when it stepped forward before looking up to see a giant boulder on a slope over the monster.
"Plundar, Doug, Snithik, see if you can sneak around and reach that boulder!" Plundar ducks to avoid a tentacle. "It just needs a little nudge." He quickly jumps onto another rock as a lava ball destroys the previous rock.
"Oh, that's a job for Adam." Plundar said, pointing out to a rock that Maggie and Adam were hiding behind. "Get it, Adam!" Adam peeks out from behind the rock.
"Come on, Adam, we can do this." Maggie said, jumping onto his back.
Fungus spins his hand around the inside of his hat. "Get it!" Adam screeches before he starts to climb over to the boulder while Maggie held onto him.
The monster prepared to attack again before Fungus soon held his hat out to fire a giant ball of ice, which started to cool it down and it freezes up. Plundar sighs out of relief and touches the ice as Doug and Snithik came up next to him. "'That won't hold for long.'" Doug said, translating Snithik's signing.
Adam reaches the boulder before Maggie gets off his back. "Adam, Maggie, now!" Cole called out to them.
"Let's do this." Maggie said before raising her bad leg as high as she could to avoid using it and started to push on the boulder as Adam helps her.
The ice on the monster started to melt before Plundar, Doug and Snithik move away from it as it started to break free before Maggie and Adam manage to push the boulder off the slope, and it falls on top of the monster, sending it into the lava, and started a wave. Cole jumps over to Vania before grabbing her, and they reach the centre of a bunch of rocks where the others were. "Everybody alright?"
"Yes." Dragon said.
"I'm okay." Vania said.
"Doing well, sir Ninja." Fungus said.
"I've been better." Plundar said.
"Korgran still alive." Korgran said.
"We're good." Doug said, speaking for Snithik and himself.
"Good job, Adam!" Plundar said. "Good boy!" Adam chitters happily. "And, Maggie, you did well, too." Maggie smirks at him before giving him a thumbs up.
"Yeah." Cole said. "Not bad for a bunch of failed adventurers."
They all head for the other side of the lava and head down the tunnel on the left, chuckling about their accomplishment. "Phew." Vania said as Cole stopped to look at the entrance.
"I feel like I should be back in the field." Maggie said. (A/N: Who thinks Maggie should return to being a ninja, despite her broken leg)
"Hang on." Cole called out to them, making them stop and turn to him. "I'm gonna seal this passage. Just in case that lava monster decides to come back." He turns back to the entrance before bringing his fists together to activate his Earth Punch, jumps in the air, and slams the ground, shaking the tunnel before rocks start to fall and block the tunnel entrance.
Cole soon deactivates his Earth Punch and started to continue on as Plundar comes up to him. "Hey, hold up." Plundar said, stopping him. "I need to say something to you." He sighs. "I was wrong about you. You've been straight with us. You got us outta there, and, we'll, you're okay in my book."
"Thanks, guys. But let's not start getting all huggy yet." Cole resumed moving. "We got a long way to go."
"For the first time, in a long while, I believe we have a chance." Fungus said before he came up next to Cole. "Lead on, young ninja!"
Cole activates his Earth Punch, kneels down and touches the ground, which starts leaving a trail of lines down the tunnel. "Phew!" Vania whispered. "Let's hope it's downhill from here."
"Uh, don't you mean 'uphill'?" Maggie asked.
"Oh, I know it, but you know, 'downhill uphill.'" They start to move again. "That would be nice."
"Yep, I'm willing to bet the worst is behind us." Plundar said as lava started to pour in through the rocks behind them.
(A/N: They'll be a brief break from this story for one that'll connect to this one, involving the other Ninja)