Three foolish boys strutted down the road. Kai and Cole often went far faster than poor Jay could keep up with. Kai even bounced about back and forth between the other two like an elf making Jay more frustrated than when Cole barked for Jay to keep up like some drill instructor. He was so frustrated with keeping up that he almost forgot about the cave.
By the time they reached the mouth of it, Jay was gasping for breath far more than worrying about what lay in the darkness to ensnare him. Huffing and puffing for a few moments as Jay was, Kai rolled his eyes impatiently and moaned.
"Don't be like that," said Cole importantly. "Jay doesn't have the training we've had. He's so soft, he's like a bunny compared to us who are like foxes."
"I am not!" Jay snapped.
"Yeah, maybe you're more like a hedgehog," laughed Kai patting Jay's poof of hair on his head.
"Mmph!" said Jay pathetically beneath.
"Hey, leave him alone," Cole said.
Kai shrugged. "You're the one giving him a hard time not me."
"No," said Cole picking up a stick and pounding it on the ground like a staff. "This is training. Serious training. So let's go."
With that he marched into the cave.
Jay gulped. "Y—you mean... in the dark... without a grownup... without..." he gulped again and finished just barely above a squeak, "without a flashlight?"
Cole's footsteps stopped, and he turned around. "What, are you scared of the dark? If you're gunna be a ninja, you can't be scared of the dark! Ninja are the dark. They can sneak in an out of pitch blackness like a cat without making a sound."
"I thought you said ninja were like foxes," complained Jay.
"Y'know, I agree with the flashlight thing, Cole" said Kai raising a brow.
"A ninja!" said Cole with annoyance. "Can use all his other senses when sightless. One of the first rules of being a ninja is learning how to go without one or more of your senses and using the ones that are left to the best of your ability."
Kai sighed and shrugged again.
"What about all those bugs and monsters?" asked Jay.
"Think of it like a video game, and they're the hazards," said Kai.
There was a short pause as both Kai and Cole waited for Jay to move.
"Are there really monsters in this cave?" asked Jay.
"Oh, sure, kid," said Cole. "Big and ferocious, feeding off your fear..."
"You mean sensing my fear?" asked Jay.
"No, I mean feeding," said Cole.
Jay gasped.
"So, this is your last chance," said Cole. "Are you in or aren't you?"
Jay stared at the blackness of the cave. Even the mouth of it looked like a monster with teeth coming up from the top and a pair of lopsided eyes on either side of the opening, but it was just stone. Jay pulled his lips over his clenched teeth. He flattened his puckered brow and then forced it into a scowl as he held up a hand with determination like a fist. It was a rather silly attempt at looking brave.
In fact Kai could not help but laugh a little. Cole had already been smiling with amusement, but he quickly frowned when he heard Kai. Quickly, he shushed him in his bossy way.
"Ugh, I hate it when he leaves you in charge," sighed Kai.
"I'm ready!" claimed Jay before Cole could answer Kai.
Both of the more experienced students looked at Jay as he marched into the cave as though to kick a cowering goblin in the butt. Cole crossed his arms, and Kai glanced at Cole.
"He's ready to go," said Cole quite pleased and began marching after his student-for-the-day.
Kai shook his head and followed.
"Don't forget to use all your senses," said Cole from behind.
Jay nodded, although it was already too dark for Cole to see it. He strained his ears, listening for anything, but he quickly reminded himself that he was not a bat and listening would not help him find his way through even if it might save him from running into a monster. Well, unless it was really quiet. Holding out his hands he felt for the wall. He bumped into something soft and large and hairy.
"Ah!" cried Jay leaping back and falling onto the ground.
"What?" demanded Kai's voice. "It's just me, Jay."
"Oh."
Kai poked him in the face, and Jay made a little "Ak!" but Kai's intention was to find his arm, and he quickly had him upright.
"Er, Sorry. Just keep your hands on the wall," said Kai.
He felt another pair of hands gently push him up in front again.
"Feel the air for freshness to find the shortest way out," said Cole.
Hssss.
"Ah!" cried Jay. "What was that!?"
"A snake, probably," said Kai.
"Are they poisonous?" whimpered Jay.
"Stop it, you're making the monsters hungry," retorted Cole. "It isn't far to the nearest exit. You just gotta find it. Put your feet out ahead of you and feel the ground carefully."
Jay wished he had hiking boots instead of ninja sandals as he felt around and cavern floor. He shivered at the thought of a snake biting his toes through the open socks. His teeth chattered, and he tried not to whimper again as he looked behind his shoulder at the fading light behind them since they had turned a corner from the entryway.
"Crying is the worst thing you can do," said Kai.
"Well, maybe not the worst," said Cole being contrary again, "but it's really gunna make the monsters hungry for you."
Jay shivered again violently. His pounding heart was so loud it was getting hard to hear the others. He wondered if the monsters would be able to hear it too, and he tried to quiet the beating by tensing his chest. He knew he had no control over it, though.
"We're probably getting close to that hole," said Kai suddenly; though rather too casually for Jay's liking. "Y'know, the one where—"
Jay's foot slipped. His heart stopped, and he swallowed his own gasp in an awkward gulp as he felt nothing but empty air beneath him. He grabbed for the nearest thing, which happened to be Cole who let out a surprising cry that made Jay even more frightening as they fell. They tumbled a little and then went straight down again. Then they landed on an earthen bottom.
"Cole! Jay!" cried Kai much more concerned than Jay thought him capable. "Are you guys alright?!"
"Mmph," moaned Cole. "Yeah, I think so. You okay, Jay?"
"Yeah," breathed Jay.
"Well, then what's the big idea pulling me down for?"
"He couldn't see what he was pulling in the dark," Kai pointed out.
"I'm sorry, Cole!" begged Jay.
Cole huffed.
Twiddling his hands, Jay asked, "Did we fall into a monster's lair?"
"Shhh!" Cole snapped, and grabbing him, he tried to pull him out.
They both fell again as Cole reached for a bad stone.
"Guys!" called Kai when he heard them fall again. "Don't worry, I'm coming down to get you!"
"No! Don't!" cried Cole. "Then you'll be stuck down here too."
"I knew we should've brought a flashlight," said Kai.
"Well! Go get a rope and a flashlight then!" snapped Cole.
Jay sat down miserable against the wall of the hole and heaved a heavy sigh.
"Okay, I'll be right back!" said Kai. "Don't move, okay?"
"'Don't move?'" said Cole. "Come on, Kai."
Kai laughed a little, but somewhat apologetically before his footsteps disappeared.
Jay put his head in his hands. "We're gunna be stuck down here forever," he sobbed.
"Don't be stupid," said Cole. "Even if Kai has trouble with the rope, he's gunna bring Zane and together they'll get us out. Besides, if I had some light, I could get out on my own."
"I guess I failed, huh?" Jay said with another choke.
There was a pause. Jay could hear Cole shuffle a little. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"No, I think you did pretty good for first try," Cole admitted. "You did face your fear, after all."
"Really?"
Cole took his hand off again. "Yeah."
"What if the monsters find us?" asked Jay suddenly remembering them.
"The only monsters are your own fear!" said Cole. "Unless you count all the bugs and snakes."
"Huh?"
"Nothing's gunna eat you, okay?"
"You mean you... lied to me?" asked Jay shivering again.
He did not think he really liked Cole or Kai. He did not to begin with. For a moment, he almost dreaded learning to be ninja forever with them more than monsters, especially now that he knew there weren't any.
"I just wanted you to be brave!" said Cole. "And a cave in the dark wasn't scary enough."
"Oh."
He still thought that Cole should not have lied to him, but as he let Cole's words sink in, he felt a little better about it. Just a little. Cole was just trying to help, in a way, even if it was kind of a mean way. He sensed Cole's sincerity, anyway.
"What about the snakes?" asked Jay.
"You really think I would come here in the dark if the snakes were poisonous? I mean, c'mon, think about it."
"Yeah, I guess so," said Jay.
There was another pause, and another shuffling.
"I'm just gunna say, though, that if you get over your fears, you'll probably be able to ninja with us."
Jay bit his lip. The words sounded half-hearted to him.
"Well, like I said, you faced your fears," said Cole, "and Master Wu says that facing your fears is always a good step in becoming a ninja, and letting fear become a monster inside of you is worse than fighting any adversary. You came all this way even though you were afraid."
He sounded more honest this time.
"Yeah..." breathed Jay.
Maybe he had misjudged the students of Master Wu... or at least the abilities of Wu as a teacher. Kai and Cole, despite their brusqueness, were pretty well disciplined even in how to treat fellow teammates. If anyone could teach him to be brave it was Master Wu.
"Unless, of course, you decided that you don't want to be a ninja anymore."
Jay was surprised that Cole almost sounded disappointed by the thought.
"No," said Jay. "I want to be like you and Kai. More than before! I want to be a ninja!"
#
"I want to be one," breathed Jay to himself back in the cavern tunnel in present day.
He was surprised that this had passed through his lips instead of remaining in his head. He paused and reflected just a little more on the event that initiated him into being a ninja. Sure, Cole had been mostly being a jerk at the beginning of it, but being stuck in that hole with him and brought back out again by Kai and Zane made him truly feel part of the group, especially when he reached out his hand to grab Cole when he almost slipped when he tried to show off without using the rope. It had boosted Jay's courage as well as it had frazzled Cole a little with surprise.
Now, whether or not he had fallen down this new hole first, it was up to him to help Nya and Zane for real this time. He was going to do it. Giving into the monsters of fear was not an option. Gripping his flashlight, he pressed on for some time in the dark, but he suddenly felt a draft.
He gasped and pointed the flashlight upwards. A smile spread out across his face.
Quickly, he climbed up this natural shaft. Through a broad, short tunnel, he was blinded by the sunlight streaming in. As he reached the brink of it, he sighed with relief and wished he could tell the others immediately.
With force of habit, he pulled out his phone. He almost wanted to take a picture for them too, but he stopped. Zane wouldn't receive it, and neither would Nya.
He made a face.
But now that he was out, could he call Master Wu?
Master Wu was not always good with cell phones, but it was certainly worth a try.
As he tried to dial, the screen was faulty. It spazzed. Then the screen told him that the connection was bad. Jay knew it was worse than a bad connection. Whatever was in the rock was wrecking his phone's ability to function as a computer device at all much less a phone.
He cringed to think of Zane.
He wondered if it hurt him, but before he rushed back into the cave he paused and looked outside again.
Now that he was used to the light, he saw that this cave opening was right in the middle of a flat wall. It looked like it would be easier to go down than up with some the stony outcroppings leading downwards. Though they would have been too far apart and sharp for a normal person, for a well-trained ninja, it would not be too difficult. It might be a problem getting Nya and Zane down, but he had to get his friends out of the cave first before planning that.
He hurried back inside.