The Imperial Battle II: The Emperor of Ninjago

Chapter 12. Siblings

"I still can't believe we left them behind."

"Nya, we had to."

Nya huffed, shaking her head at the black ninja. She was tired and cold from the whole day worth of climbing up the stupid mountain. The sunset was nearing in the background, but nothing, not even the beauty of the young dusk, could make her think about anything other than Master Wu and Kai. The sight of the avalanche wiping them away kept flashing in her mind.

"Nya, they might be alive," Cole said, clearly trying to sound comforting.

"Or they may have survived the avalanche itself, but died when no one was there to help them," Nya growled, carrying on climbing.

"Or they died instantly," Zane suggested blandly.

"Not helping, Zane," Cole said with a smile that was everything but joyful. It was more like a grimace.

"Sorry," the white ninja apologized. "I'm just trying to keep us together so that we can—"

"Don't you dare even mention that stupid mask!" Nya shouted, whipping around. She was tired of the whole mission. The last thing she wanted to hear was someone mentioning the stupid, useless, cursed mask that had cost them the lives of two people. Not to mention, the lives of the two people Lloyd could simply not lose.

Lloyd was all Nya could think about. She dreaded the moment he’d contact them and hear the news.

"Regardless, we should hurry up," Zane stated calmly.

Nya glared at him. "Why? So that we can get that stupid object, leave this place and get to tell everyone we let two of our team members die?"

"No." The white ninja pointed up at the sky.

Nya turned to peer up and noticed the very ominous clouds. At the very same second, a strong gust of wind blew right at them, confirming Zane's obvious suspicion.

A storm was coming.

"Let's continue as long as we can and then find some place to set camp in," Cole proposed.

Nya bit her lip, glancing behind her. She had the upcoming storm to worry about, but couldn't stop herself from studying the area as though expecting to find Wu and Kai alive. By now she was quite sure they had not survived, but a part of her wanted to keep hoping for the best.

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Zane's weather prediction had been more than correct. It had almost been an understatement. The storm the team was caught in was ruthless, and it was only the beginning of it.

"Keep going! Don't stop!" Cole shouted, his voice almost completely drowned out in the strong wind.

Nya squinted her eyes, trying to see a foot ahead of herself without her vision going blurry and her eyes stinging. Sharp snowflakes were flying into her eyes every quarter of a second, trying to blind and disorient her. All she could use as her guidance was Cole and Zane, who were slowly ascending the mountain right before her.

"We must find shelter! This storm is too strong!" Zane yelled through the wind.

"There's nothing here! We're nearing the summit, which means the mountain will only get steeper and straighter from here!" Nya screamed.

"Wait, a house! There's a house! Go to the house!" Cole suddenly yelled over the howling wind, pointing at what looked like a little ball of golden light to Nya.

"A house?" Zane repeated in disbelief.

"Look!" Cole pointed again. "Come on!"

Nya had nothing against the order. Though exhausted beyond belief, she was more than willing to keep going. Every step she took brought her closer to the house through whose windows shone comforting light. It felt almost too easy to have found something so conveniently.