Into the Depths... AU Ninjago FanFiction

Chapter 18

After the ninja left Kai in the hospital...

The team assembled outside the hospital before making a move to the monastery. "Why didn't you say anything about you and Kai being a couple?" Jay asked Lloyd once the others were out of earshot.

"I don't know. Maybe it's because: 1. you'd treat Kai differently once you found out. 2. you'd also treat me differently and 3. I don't know what but you'd come up with something!" Lloyd snapped back, ticking each item off on his fingers before storming off.

Jay raised his palms towards Lloyd defensively. "I wasn't trying to be rude..." he muttered back, but Lloyd had already caught up with the others. They got to monastery and raced inside to find a pair of shackles on the floor. "Damn! Maya's escaped!" Nya exclaimed picking up the hand cuffs to show the others.

"We have to find Ray!" Cole responded urgently as the group divided as they searched each room. Lloyd checked the control room, Jay looked in the bedrooms, and Cole and Zane checked the main rooms while Nya checked the perimeter.

"Anything?" Jay asked over the coms as he searched his room.

"Nothing yet. What about you, Lloyd?" Nya questioned.

"Nada!" Lloyd answered as he switched on the monitor. "Cole, Zane, please tell me you guys have found something?"

"Hang on. .. " Cole answered as he crept behind the sofa. Collapsed on the floor was Ray, he looked like he'd been knocked out with a piece of driftwood that lay a few feet away along with the keys. "We found him. Meet us in the main room." Zane answered as Cole moved Ray onto the sofa. Soon afterwards, the others ran to meet Cole and Zane.

"What happened?" Jay asked

"I think he was knocked out with this piece of driftwood. The when he was down, the queen made a break for it." Cole answered holding up the thick plank for the others to see.

"Was it all an act? Pretending to be good to get our guard down?" Lloyd questioned.

"What if Celiea's spirit transferred itself into Maya's body before the crown got flung off and then making all this up. . ." Zane started as an alert went off. 

"You were saying?" Cole shot back as everyone raced to the control room. They activated the monitor to see what was going on. On screen was Maya, who had her crown back. 

"I know you can hear me, Ninja, so listen carefully. If Nya doesn't return with me peacefully to the ocean, her annoying brother gets it!" She hissed as she turned the camera. Kai lay on the docks knocked out. He had his hands bound and blood stained his shirt. The sword wound had reopened. The others watched with a mix of emotions. Nya looked like she was trying not to smash the console to pieces, Lloyd was absolutely horrified and everyone else looked shocked. "You have until sundown to decide..." She told them switching the  camera back to her. "If you're not here by then, well I don't think anyone can swim with bound wrists!" She laughed menacingly at that thought as the screen blacked out.

"What are we going to do? I personally don't want to go back to the ocean, but what choice do we have!" Nya exclaimed turning to the others for support or ideas.

"There has to be a way out of this mess!" Lloyd said trying to think of a way to rescue Kai. 

"What if we did what we did the first time? We follow Nya to meet with her mother, two of us help Nya if Maya decides to attack and the other two get Kai out of there?" Cole suggested everyone seemed to agree, but Lloyd had a bad feeling about it all. What if we agreed to her terms and she still kills him?! Panic filled Lloyd with dread, he'd thought that he had lost Kai the first time Maya attacked, what if this time was different?

         Half an hour earlier...

I was halfway through my salad when there was a commotion outside.

"You're not allowed in there! Only his friends..." someone started which was cut off by a loud BLAST!!! 

I thought the others had Maya locked up? I thought as I took off the clip on my right forefinger that was connected to the heart rate monitor. I managed to stand up without my body shaking so much. If that witch is here, then I'm not going without a fight! I thought as the door blew off of its hinges. In walked the she-demon with her sword in hand. "Hello, Kai..."

I grabbed a nearby broom and readied it, though it wouldn't do much against an enchanted cutlass.

"I don't want to fight. I just want to talk..." she started.

"I'm not interested in anything you have to say!" I interrupted. "I'm not going anywhere without a fight!"

She sighed, looking at me with a blank expression. "I'm very disappointed in you, grandson." She said as she lunged. Grandson? I managed to snap out of confusion and get out of the way but the tip scraped my bad side. Damn that cursed cutlass! I felt my side, it seemed more like a scratch this time but reopening an old cut really stings.

"There's no point in fighting me, Kai..." Maya said as I backed up looking around for an escape. Then I noticed the window. "Come quietly and no one gets hurt."

"Not a chance in Shintaro!" I cursed at her as I broke the window. 

"Get back here!" She screamed as I leaped through the smashed window.

There was no point in fighting, so I ran. I knew she was on my trail so I weaved around buildings and raced across rooftops, trying to lose her. There was of course a downside to my plan. The sudden increase of my pulse made my blood pump faster, so the left side of my shirt was soon soaked in crimson blood. 

Dizziness crept into the back of my mind. I tried to shut out the feeling and reduced my speed a bit. I couldn't risk passing out and letting her catch me. I glanced over my shoulder. She was only a few rooftops behind me. I jumped down into the alleyway. I need another plan. There was a bunch of junk lying around, so I did what ninja do best.

Blend into their surroundings.

I pulled at the scrap metal and trash so I was more or less hidden. Using a tiny gap through the metal so I could still see what was going on. Not long after I hidden myself, I heard footsteps echoing through the alleyway. "You think you can hide from me? How cute." She laughed as she walked closer to my hiding spot. Her voice bouncing off of the walls, somehow, making the metal vibrate and the floor shake slightly.

During that, a piece of metal adjacent me had slipped down and was now digging into my side. You son of an Oni! I cursed silently as my cut stung like someone just rubbed salt on it. I grimaced, but I didn't groan. Right now, keeping myself hidden was my top priority. Unfortunately, she conjured up a strong hurricane which blew away most of the scrap revealing me.

"Found you, Kai. Now, get your injured arse over here." She snapped as I scowled. The dizzy feeling came back. As I tried running, the dizzy feeling got stronger. I tripped over my own feet, scraping the side of my face against the concrete.

Everything seemed fuzzy. I tried crawling but my arms went back to feeling like jelly. My fingers went numb first as the feeling spread throughout my arms. By now, I couldn't even grip a twig, my hands were that numb as Maya zeroed in on me, laughing at my pathetic attempt to escape. "You're coming with me. . ." Maya said as she pulled out pieces of rope, that was all I saw before darkness clouded my vision once again.