The Earth's Seismic Faults

The Perfect Plan

     When the Ninja and Vania had reached the palace, they were greeted with small piles of rubble on the floor, and tiny cracks at the ceiling. It looked like the earthquake hit the castle of Shintaro quite hard. 

     "What happened here?" asked Cole, stepping on top of a piece of rubble. "Looks like the earthquake hit much harder here than in the mountains."

     "It did hit really hard here," a voice suddenly said. It turned out to be Skylor. "How about you guys? Did you find the cause for the earthquakes from the mountain that you visited?"

     "Lloyd thought that our 'best course of action' was to come here to the palace and do whatever," said Kai. snickering. "So, Lloyd, what's our best course of action?"

     "As the earthquakes hit harder and harder every day," Lloyd began. "we first have to figure out how to move in the mountain, without falling down or making sure no rocks fall on us. I think that we should first of all, use the jets that Pixal gave us to get here as our vehicles to be on the mountains safely. But, if we use the jets as our transportation, then we won't be able to examine the rocks for any source of something. Princess, is there any armor that we could borrow to get onto the mountains safely?"

     Vania nodded and pointed towards some strong golden armor that the Ninja could use to avoid getting hurt.

      "And me and Skylor are coming, too!" Harumi protested, which Skylor nodded.

      "Don't leave me out!" Vania piped up. "This is my Kingdom. I should have authority to come with you Ninja."

     After ten minutes of debating and wearing the suits, the Ninja and the girls were finally able to take their first step on the mountain that Cole was examining just a few minutes or hours ago. Time sure flies by quickly.

     Cole noticed that some of the mountain floors, which were very smooth earlier, were now covered in thin cracks. As the weight of everyone stepped on top of these, the cracks thickened.

     "I think we should really get a move on," said Jay worriedly, seeing the thickening cracks on the floor. "I don't want to end up falling when we're just starting!"

     All of them hurriedly walked towards the mountain, but carefully examining it for any unusual things that are not supposed to be there. As time ticked, and the Ninja searched, they found nothing that was unusual for a mountain to have. Not until-

     "Hey guys! I think I found something!" Cole announced. "But what does it mean?"

     The other Ninja found that Cole was staring at a small sculpted rock formation. It looked like a lion, a lion which was carrying around a small painted greenish box, that held a beautifully made crest around it. The crest said in very miniscule, but neat handwriting, 'Totum hoc regnum mox iram leonis sentiet. Omnia magna perdet illis, et quos amant furantur'

     "Scanning image for totum hoc regnum mox iram leonis sentiet. Omnia magna perdet illis, et quos amant furantur," said Zane, his Nindroid blue eyes shining. "Oh, it means, 'All of this kingdom shall soon feel the wrath of the lion. It will destroy everything important to them, and steal those who they love' in English. This was made in Latin language."

     Cole repeated the words in his head until he found a solution to what it meant. Or at least what he thought it meant.

     "What if, it isn't a person making or creating all of these horrible earthquakes?" said Cole, immensely thinking of a positive way to say his conclusion. "But an old lion. I mean, I know it sounds crazy and all, but it literally said right there that the lion's wrath shall destroy this kingdom!"

     "That does seem like a possible conclusion, but I think it is best if we keep searching," said Zane. "Lloyd, until how far off do you think we could go up to the mountains?"

     Lloyd shrugged and said, "Until someone gets tired of walking, I guess,"

     Cole turned to his left and saw that Vania looked quite worried after hearing the translation from Latin to English from Zane. Very carefully, he approached her, placed an encouraging hand on her shoulder. Cole thought of a good thing to say to her, until he found the right words.

     "Don't worry, Princess," soothed Cole. "Me and the other Ninja will stop this lion thing, and all of Shintaro will be saved. No more earthquakes. And that, I promise."

     Vania cracked a small smile, which Cole thought was an OK sign to continue moving upwards the mountain. 

     Jay, who must have heard what Cole promised, whispered to Cole, "Jeez, such a great promise to the Queen of Shintaro. You do seem very determined to fulfill that promise, don't you?"

     "I, too, see that Cole seems very resolute in his promise with Queen Vania," said Zane, as he passed the two boys. "What have you promised her, Cole?"

     "It's nothing," mumbled Cole gravely. "Anyways, why aren't there any Dire Bats attacking us? Wasn't there about ten Dire Bats attacking us the last time we went to Shintaro?"

     "There were Dire Bats attacking us when we went to come here," said Kai, a bit bitterly. "So, we ended up deducing the logical solutions, and strafed 'em! In which Skylor thought was a bit violent."

     "Are we just talking here?" said Harumi, patting Kai and Cole on the shoulder. "Or are we trying to move up the mountain?"