So much for regular updates during the summer. I've had the outline for the rest of the story done for months, but I didn't realize these chapters would be so difficult to flesh out. I should have though, we're introducing several new characters and locations every chapter, which is, as it turns out… exhausting.
I do have to admit, I'm having a great deal of fun writing a story with ninjas and dinosaurs. Not something you see every day.
See y'all next time!
Anyway, with the last chapter, this story now has over 1,000 views! Thanks for your support.
Today's chapter features tall grass and velociraptors at night… what could go wrong? [I smile innocently as a halo appears over my head]
DARKNESS IN CHIMA
Part Four: The World Under
Chapter X
Static Plains
Wednesday June 19, 2019…
As the blue sky started to sport brilliant orange and red hues due to the setting of the sun, the Guardians stood at the precipice of a vast plain covered in tall, yellow grass. In the distance, two sharp mountains jutted out of the ground—labeled The Pikes on the Guardians' map. They knew that the Lightning Crystal waited between those Pikes.
They stared out at the ominous plain and several of them started to feel uneasy about the trek ahead of them. Zee was the one who voiced many of the Guardians' concerns.
"Guys," the Wind Guardian said apprehensively, "I don't feel good about this."
"Yeah," Cole agreed, "after the Jurassic Park marathon we had a few weeks ago, I don't think we should wander into tall grass to be hunted down by the Velociraptor Tribe."
"Who says they're gonna hunt us?" Jay chuckled nervously.
Kai quickly snapped back, "The triceratops shamans did, Bolt-Brain."
"They warned us the velociraptors hunt anything that enters their territory," Lloyd added, ever the more level-headed member of his and Kai's dynamic.
"Wait," Kasey realized, "if we're worried about them hunting us, why don't we just fly our dragons over the plains and land near the crystal?"
"Good idea," Mack replied, having been silent since they left the Horned Forest until now. "Except…"
The Green Ninja closed his eyes. "Jay, Lloyd, feel the air with me… Feel it?"
Lloyd and Jay concentrated, and—both being Masters of Lightning—thought they felt what Mack must be talking about.
"Static," Lloyd said. "Lots of it."
Mack nodded. "Too much unpredictable energy to fly our dragons."
"I guess that's why they call this place 'Static Plains,' right?" Jay quipped.
"So," Pete spoke up, not liking where this was going, "to avoid getting struck by lightning…"
Cole finished Pete's sentence, "We face the raptors."
"Come on, people, we're ninja," Mack encouraged the team. "Our stealth can beat their speed. We just stay together and move slowly and carefully toward those Pikes. Single file; everyone keep silence unless you can't see the person in front of you."
As the sun descended below the horizon, the Guardians began their journey through the tall grass of the Static Plains. They would have preferred to trek in daylight, but every precious moment they were idle counted against their chances of stopping Tenebris. They rested the previous night, and the elemental energy inside them could sustain them without sleep for a couple of days. Additionally, they had magical self-replenishing food supplies from the Phoenix.
Cole was the tallest of the Guardians, and the grass was up to his chin. He was the only one who could see over the grass, so he took point to make sure the group stayed oriented toward the Pikes. They were not quite a mile away, but in the darkness and ominous silence, it felt like the Guardians would have to cross an entire realm to reach their destination.
The Guardians were moving along fine until they heard a rustle. They stopped and there was a moment of tense silence.
It was a different feeling from when they heard the rustling just before the Triceratops Tribe members showed themselves in the Horned Forest. That time, the ninja were uncertain if the noise might have meant danger.
No one dared make a sound. There were another rustle, from another direction, and it sounded like more than one of whatever was making the noise. And the sources were moving.
Soon, they were surrounded by rustling, and they accepted the unavoidable conclusion that they had been successfully hunted, and they drew their weapons to fight.
The moment the Golden Weapons came out, the Guardians were pounced upon by savage-looking warriors with dark blue skin and wild war paint, feathers of assorted bright colors sprouting from the tops of their heads.
The warriors—no doubt Velociraptor Tribe hunters—were small but impossibly fast, and the Guardians quickly found themselves covered in scratches and tied up in ropes; all except for Jay, who had managed to match the velociraptors' speed with his own.
However, now that the other Guardians were out of the fight, the raptors were able to overpower the Lightning Guardian and tie him up as well.
The ninja were stunned at the short amount of time it took the velociraptors to defeat them, and they were beginning to understand how out of their element they truly were. It would seem that the ease they had in dealing with the Triceratops Tribe was not representative of what they should expect from their time in the lower lands.
"You are fast, Blue," one of the velociraptor warriors hissed at Jay, "but not as fast as us."
"Still," another raptor added, "fast enough to impress us. Perhaps you will have the honor of playing a special role."
"A special role in what?" Jay dared to ask.
The two dozen or so velociraptors present all screeched in unison, "The sacrifice!"
"Wait!" Mack shouted as Jay gulped. "We're here to—"
The Green Ninja did not have the chance to explain the Guardians' mission, as he was interrupted by a crack over the head with a raptor's club, knocking him out. The rest of the Guardians met the same fate shortly after their leader, and the raptors dragged them across the Static Plains toward the Pikes.
The Guardians slowly came back to consciousness to hear drums and chanting. They opened their eyes and found themselves in the middle of a circular village made of primitive huts. The Guardians were on their knees and being held upright by their original captors. It was now dark and the moon had risen high.
Behind the huts from their perspective was a pyramid, and behind the pyramid were the Pikes. It was as if the pyramid separated the village from the Pikes.
The Velociraptor Tribe elders stood silent and still in a circle around the area where the dancing was taking place, as if they were forming the arena in which the ritual was set.
"Everyone okay?" Lloyd asked and was met by a chorus of pained groans.
"Dude," Kasey said to Cole who was next to her, "you're a ghost—why'd you let them capture you? Just, like, escape."
"I haven't gotten the hang of my ghost powers, alright?" Cole said, embarrassed. "And Morro is a crap teacher."
The ritual dance was reaching its end, and at the conclusion of the dance, all the music stopped and the whole village stood still. A female velociraptor in elaborate ceremonial jewelry holding a gold scepter shouted a string of words in a language the humans did not understand, and lightning struck a great metal velociraptor statue on top of the pyramid behind her.
The tribe cheered and whooped as the ritual seemed to be a success.
"My children," the ornately adorned raptor addressed the tribe, her voice seeming to project unnaturally, "the Hour of Offering has begun."
All the present raptors cheered again but were quieted when the priestess raised her hand.
"Here, in the presence of our glorious elders," she continued, "we are joined by most rare company: travelers from another world."
The Guardians were taken aback; how did this raptor woman know they were from another world? Mack also noted that the way she spoke reminded him a bit of Rikayla.
"Indeed, the rising moon has revealed to me that these alien creatures are warriors of great renown in worlds beyond our own. They stand between the innocent and the powers of darkness… or so they claim.
"But we see that they have been caught crossing the Plains in order to steal the power of the Lightning Crystal!"
The assembled tribe hooted and jeered at this statement.
"That's not true," Mack said boldly, and the crowd went silent.
The velociraptor priestess walked toward her captives. She knelt down an inch from Mack's face.
"What is truth?" she whispered.
Mack squinted. The last time someone asked that question of a captive, that captive ended up crucified.
"Your tribe's power was stolen," the Green Ninja said carefully as the priestess's face turned from cruel to intrigued. "We're here to return it to you."
At that point one of the raptors who had fought the Guardians spoke up. "Most Excellent Vex, High Priestess. If I may…"
The high priestess looked up at the warrior and inclined her head to indicate that he could speak.
"The blue one," he said, "he is fast. We only overpowered him when his companions were overwhelmed by our own speed."
Vex stood. "Very well. Unbind him."
The raptors released Jay of his bonds and roughly made him stand.
"Blue," Vex addressed Jay, "I have a proposition for you. I offer you a chance to win your friends' lives. I shall escort you to our most sacred Lightning Crystal, which a dark creature of greatest speed has taken for itself.
"If you manage to defeat the creature, I will release your tribe from our claws. If you are killed by the creature, your tribe will be sacrificed. And you must move quickly. Since introductory rites have concluded, the sacrifice must either be completed or formally dissolved within the hour. An unfinished sacrifice could bring untold curses upon our tribe."
"Do you accept, Jay?"
Jay gulped. "Yes, I accept."
When Jay spoke, the Velociraptor Tribe elders reacted with clicking sounds.
Vex's eyes widened. "The elders speak…"
"They're thanking me for accepting your proposition," Jay translated what he heard in his head.
"You have the gift of lightning?" Vex gasped before dropping her scepter and falling prostrate before Jay. "I am I am unworthy to be your escort, Jay the Wise."
Cole and Kai snickered, which was met with a smack from their captors.
Vex continued, "The elders will take you to the crystal, where you will surely destroy that dark creature."
Jay was uncomfortable have a raptor borderline worship him, but he didn't dare rebuke her for fear of insulting the tribe's culture and ending up with his head on a spike. Instead, he quietly nodded and followed the elders to the Pikes, which were just several yards outside the village walls. The previously unguarded site was now fenced in to discourage any raptors from challenging the deadly dark creature strangling their power source.
Before walking around the other side of the pyramid and out of sight, Jay turned around and looked at his friends. "Don't worry," he called out, "I'll get it done."
The other Guardians looked back at him with confidence, and Jay disappeared behind the pyramid.
"Relax," Mack said. "We're dealing with the Element of Lightning here, this won't take long."
The elders stopped at the fence, silently encouraging Jay. The blue ninja nodded in respect to the elders and climbed over the fence. He felt a darkness growing heavier as he approached the point between the Pikes. He could see the Lightning Crystal, its blue light obstructed by a shadow constricting it.
Jay summoned the Nunchucks of Lightning, and the shadow immediately launched at him from the crystal. Jay barely rolled out of the shadow's way, and the shadow began to collect into a shape on the ground.
The shadow tightened into the form of a velociraptor, but wrong—twisted. All of its limbs and claws were disproportionately long, and its claws and fangs were curved wickedly.
Before Jay could blink, he was on his back, pinned down by the creature's legs and just dodging the snapping of its jaws. Jay managed to keep his wits about him; he summoned his power and sent the dark raptor flying across the clearing with a bolt of lightning.
The creature quickly recovered and charged at Jay in a zig-zag so fast that he appeared to almost teleport from one spot to the next. Jay spun the Nunchucks above his head and a miniature electrical storm formed around him. When the creature was upon him, Jay swung and hit the creature with another lightning bolt, this one being even stronger by the power of the Nunchucks.
But again, the creature recovered, even faster than the last time. It charged in a straight line and clawed at Jay. He jumped out of the way, causing the wicked claws to miss his vital organs, but the dark raptor still did damage and left a gash on Jay's left leg.
The Lightning Guardian was falling down when he had a flashback to one of his training sessions with Mack last fall…
"You won't come across many opponents who can match your speed," Mack said, standing in front of Jay in the training room of the house.
"However, we are preparing to face down the darkness, and the darkness is unknown, so we have no reason to assume that our enemies aren't faster than you."
Jay was troubled. Faster than him? What chance would he have against such an opponent?
"But you, as a Master of Lightning, have a trick up your sleeve. The Lightning Zone."
"The Lightning Zone?" Jay snorted. "That sounds kinda lame."
Mack cocked his head. Then, before Jay knew what was happening, he was pinned to the ground, as if the Green Ninja had moved faster than the eyes could perceive.
"How did you—"
"I entered the 'lame' Lightning Zone," Mack smirked before helping Jay back to his feet. "When you tap into the power of Lightning, you can enter a sort of alternate plane where the laws of physics are different, allowing you to move at the speed of light. To the observer, you appear to instantaneously relocate from one position to another."
"Wow," Jay gasped. "But wait, what's the difference between that and teleporting?"
"Any Elemental Master can learn to teleport," Mack replied, "it's just a matter of mastering the space around you. But this—this popping in and out of a high-speed alternate reality—this is a power unique to those who master the elusive Element of Lightning.
"Now, focus…"
Jay's awareness was back in the present, as he was falling down after being wounded by the velociraptor shadow. He hit the ground painfully and looked up to see the raptor preparing to charge and finish him off.
Jay focused.
He concentrated solely on the power within him, ignoring the presence of his enemy, the pain in his leg, and the possibility that failure would mean his death and the ritual sacrifice of his friends. He even ignored the thought of never seeing Nya again should he be defeated by this creature.
When everything was cleared away from his mind, there was only the storm.
Jay opened his eyes and saw the dark raptor frozen in time, its claw an inch away from Jay's face. Jay smiled and stood up, favoring his uninjured right leg.
"Not fast enough, turkey."
The blue ninja then hit the raptor shadow with the Nunchucks, and time went back to normal for Jay. The creature exploded in a shower of sparks, and the Lightning Crystal glowed brilliantly. Just as Pete had after his own battle, Jay could feel gratitude radiating from the crystal.
The elders entered the clearing and lead out a deafening victory screech.
Jay returned limping but triumphant with the Velociraptor Tribe elders, and the tribe rejoiced for the return of their power, knowing that the alien warrior's return meant victory, as the only alternative result of facing the shadow was death.
Vex walked over to bow before Jay, and her acolytes immediately released the Guardians of their bonds.
"Thank you," Mack said, rubbing his wrist.
"I sense you are the leader of this tribe," Vex guessed.
"The Guardians," Mack replied, "Yes, I am. I'm Mack."
"Mack," Vex knelt before him, "you have brought a god to save us. The bringers of a god must be gods themselves, and you are the head of the gods; and so on behalf of the Velociraptor Tribe, I beg your pardon and mercy on us."
"We're not gods," Mack took Vex's hand and helped her to her feet. "We just came to help—all the Dinosaur Tribes had their power stolen, and we're traveling to set it right. Can you tell me how you tribe's power was stolen?"
Vex explained that one day, out of the blue, the shadow creature appeared and seized their crystal, moving so fast there was no chance of even the tribe's fastest warriors stopping it from claiming its prize.
The Guardians then explained that it was the work of their enemy Tenebris, whom the raptors never even saw. Vex marveled at the idea of a warrior so fast as to have eluded the raptors' sight. Jay thought that Tenebris must have used the same power that he had used to defeat the shadow creature, but he kept that detail of his power to himself to avoid being worshipped further by the tribe.
Unlike with the Triceratops Tribe, the Guardians did not stay the night and left as the celebration began, deciding to trek back to Dragon's Landing and rest there for a few hours. Well, most would rest. Mack mounted his elemental dragon and flew back up to the land above to fetch Nya so that she could tend to Jay's wounded leg.
Sensing that time was of the essence, Mack charged Lloyd to take command in his absence and lead the Guardians into Behemoth Mesa, the territory of the Brachiosaurus Tribe.