Legacy of the Departed

Chapter 4 - The Blame Game

While Sensei Yang had a chat with the villains that had been awakened from the Departed Realm, Cole and Morro were forced to sit on the rotten wood floor back to back. Yang's students were ever vigilant and watched them closely with creepy, undead eyes. It was fair to say that things had taken a turn for the worst.

So maybe this night hadn't gone exactly how Cole imagined it. He hadn't expected Sensei Yang to have such an elaborate plan, but this wouldn't be the first time Cole had walked himself right into a bad situation. He could still fix it. Somehow.

On the bright side, there was one thing he was almost certain about. At this point, he figured it was a safe bet that Morro probably wasn't working with Yang. So at least he'd cleared that up.

Cole looked at Yang's students, who stood ominously around them. "C'mon guys, can't we talk this out? You know, student to ninja?"

He got no response, just more blank stares.

"Somehow, I don't think they captured us just to chat," Morro said over his shoulder.

Cole sighed, trying to hold onto his patience. "It doesn't hurt to try."

"If you say so."

"Well what's your bright idea?" Cole snapped.

Morro was quiet for a moment, and Cole realized that he had taken the question seriously. Cole wondered what kind of plan he had in mind. Come to think of it, when the ninja fought Morro before, he had somehow always managed to be one step ahead of them. He was scary good at strategizing. Cole twisted halfway to try and see him, anticipating what he would say.

He felt Morro shift behind him. "I don't know. We could . . . think about our place in the universe?"

"What kind of answer is that?!"

"I thought that was something you'd want to hear!"

"Why would I want to hear that?"

"I don't know, you're the one that got us into this mess! I never should have agreed to this."

"Well I'm not gonna sit around here and feel sorry for myself."

"That's not what I –"

"We have to do something!"

"You can try all you like," said Sensei Yang as he approached. "But its useless. Those chains are enough to stop your ghostly and elemental abilities. And right now I'm holding the most powerful weapon in the room. So I wouldn't try anything if I were you."

"Ha! I've faced worse odds before!" Cole said boldly. "If you think that'll stop me, you've got another thing coming. But I'm making you a promise tonight that I'm gonna bust out of here and stop you from using that thing!"

There was brief pause before Morro asked, "Do you even know what 'that thing' does?"

"I . . . Well, no," Cole admitted. "But I bet you don't, either!"

"I wasn't the one throwing it around two minutes ago!"

Sensei Yang's maniacal laughter prevented them from getting into another argument.

"I almost hate to ask," Cole said, "But what's so funny, now?"

"Mostly I find the situation ironic. Here you held the antidote to your own affliction, and you didn't even know it."

Morro seemed to catch on first. He turned sharply behind Cole. "The blade . . .?"

"That's right, the Yin Blade, together with the eclipse, holds the power of life and death."