........................................................
Italics = Reader's thoughts
........................................................
As soon as we got back to the Tea Farm we set up defenses to keep Morro and his goons at bay when they come for the Sword of Sanctuary. I created a Deepstone wall around the property while the other Ninja worked on setting up defenses in the courtyard. I went back into the Tea shop, seeing Wu and Misako look over books and scrolls, sprawled out all over the front counter. "Any luck?" I ask them as Wu heads to drawings of the three symbols on the wall.
"Not yet. There's not much on the tomb and even fewer that speak of it's location. There's so much we don't know." Misako explained with a sigh before continuing to look through the book in front of her. I go over to her pile of books and scrolls and pick up an unopened one and start to look through it. "We know the skull represents his tomb." Wu states. "But from everything that was ever written about it, there's nothing in Ninjago that matches its description. Where is it? The clues are all right here, but what are we missing?" Misako said, a bit frustrated.
Wu sighs. "We mustn't give up. If Morro finds it first and takes the Realm Crystal, I'd hate to think what would happen next." Wu muses solemnly. "Maybe we are looking at this all wrong. We have all this information but maybe we should focus more on the clues from the staff." I say gesturing to the drawings of the three symbols. As Misako started to open her mouth to say something, a loud alarm bell rang out. "The early-detection warning system." Misako exclaims.
I run out of the shop and see water balloons fly through the air and douse a postman in water. He didn't look too happy. I turned back into the shop. "False alarm. It was just the postman." I say going back to help Misako and Wu research more. Following up on my theory on the clues, I was currently looking through texts on the Scroll of Airjitzu and the Sword of Sanctuary. So far nothing. There has to be something here. I can feel it. I rubbed my eyes in exhaustion. Maybe I need a break though.
I walk to the back and see Nya trying to command water again with a fountain while Ronin worked on cleaning his airship R.E.X. As I walked up to them Nya threw her hands in the air in frustration as she groaned. She hasn't had the best time of late controlling her power and she is still hesitant from going from a Samurai to a Ninja. She often rants to me about her doubts and how she feels forced into this. "Giving up already?" Ronin asks, breaking me out of my thoughts. "Course not. Sensei thinks if I get over my fear of failure, I'll be able to control the water." Nya told us.
She throws her hands in the air and turns away from us. "Sure, I made it rain when I wasn't even paying attention, but here I can't seem to stop a single drop." Nya said defeatedly before groaning again. "There's a reason they say you can't beat a river into submission." I advise her. She doesn't seem to listen as she groans and clenches her fist as she stares at the water as it slowly drops. When nothing happens, she sighs again before Ronin walks forward.
"Wanna know about failure, should've asked me. Heck, I made a career out of it. Word of advice: don't try so hard. You can't fail if you don't care." Ronin says as he fills his bucket with water from the stream. "Don't try? What sort of backwards advice is that? Of course I'm gonna try hard. That's how one excels and— " Nya says before I interrupt her. "Nya, look." I say pointing back to the fountain. The water was flowing back up the fountain instead of dripping down. "Oh my gosh! I'm doing it. I'm really doing it!" Nya exclaims excitedly, throwing her hands in the air. I chuckle at her excited reaction and cheer with her in excitement.
Ronin chuckles as well. "Like I said, don't care so much. Usually when someone wants something too badly, they'll trip over their own feet." Ronin states before starting tio scrub R.E.X. again. "Wow!" Nya says as she jumps on the fountain. I walk over to her. "I'm glad to see you're getting a handle on your powers." "Finally, right?" she asked jokingly. I chuckled. "I knew you'd get it eventually. You never give up. You're going to be a great Ninja." Her smile fades a bit.
"Is that all I'm meant to be? Just someone filling a role again." she asked a bit hesitantly. "Nya you decide what you get to be. You don't fit into a role, you make a role fit you. You decide what kind of Ninja or Master of Water you get to be." I say placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. She smiles at me. "Thanks (Y/n)." she says, giving me a hug. "So, wanna help me train? Or are you too good now that you're an actual Ninja" she asks with a smirk. A smile paints my face as she says that. "Oh, it's on." I teasingly state.
........................................................
"Thanks for gathering on short notice." Misako says to the others. She had called us back into the shop and as we all entered the main room Ronin popped up from behind the front counter looking surprised."Looking for something?" Kai asks. " Ha, just making sure the tea blends are in alphabetical order. Yup, A to Z, heh." Ronin says nervously. "So you figured out where the tomb is?" Jay asks Misako. "Not yet, but we know how to locate it." she tells us.
My attention is pulled away when I see Ronin try to sneak out but is met with Wu as he enters the room. What is that crook up to? "Zane?" Misako asks the nindroid with the mechanical falcon on his hand. The falcon then projects a holographic symbol of the skull image clue. "To bring you up to date, the skull symbol refers to the tomb's entrance." Misako says. "We also know my father's resting site, where the Realm Crystal resides, is protected by three deadly tests designed to keep anyone unworthy away, and only the Sword of Sanctuary can see past its riddles." Wu informs us.
"Yeah, but where is it?" Cole asks. "(Y/n) suggested we looked more at the clues from the staff so we started to wonder if the scroll and sword combined held a secret." Misako says as the projection changes to a floating holographic version of the Sword of Sanctuary and the scroll. "That's when (Y/n) discovered there was a map on the back of the scroll a—" Misako continues before she is cut off. "And if you use the sword on the map, the blade's reflection will reveal the tomb's location." Kai points out. "Exactly." Misako states.
"Which means we'll have to get our hands on that map." Cole says. I walked forward and started speaking. "Yeah, that just brings us to another problem: fInding Morro and the scroll. We have no idea where he could be and..." I looked around. "Hey where did Ronin go? And where is Nya?" I ask. The others looked around the room. "Let's go look for them." Kai said as the other Ninja and I followed him out to the courtyard. As we started to walk across the courtyard we heard Nya yell out from a nearby shack "He's getting away with the sword!"
Ronin ran out of the same shack and was met with five Ninja blocking his path. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. We can do this the easy way or the hard way." Ronin warns. As we continue walking toward him, Jay and Kai hit a trip wire causing a water balloon to hit Jay in the face and Kai to fall into the moat with a big splash. Cole tries to dodge the splash (as he's a ghost now) and pushes Zane onto a catapult launching him into the air.
More water balloons keep shooting at us as Zane flies through the air from catapult to catapult. Cole rolls and dodges as best as he can from the spraying water. Water balloons keep hitting my face as well as Jay's as I try to throw up a Crystal Wall for Cole as he keeps running around dodging water blasts and balloons. Ronin laughs. "That was way too easy!" Nya then comes from behind him and lunges at him. Ronin dodges her and uses Kai's head as a stepping point as he makes his way to the Tea Shop. Jay tries to stop him but Zane lands on him. I was too busy trying to protect Cole. I finally got a Crystal like tent around him to protect him from all the water.
When the water finally stops flying and we start to recover I lower the Crystal around Cole. "Thanks (Y/n)" Cole says with a sigh. "Anytime." I say but our attention is drawn away as Ronin's ship, R.E.X., shoots into the air. Kai tries to use Airjitzu to get to it but it's too high. R.E.X. flies away before he is able to reach it. Kai then falls onto the roof and hangs from it, his suit caught on the corner of the roof. "He's getting away. To the Bounty!" He states.
Me and the other Ninja race towards the flying ship and as I turn back, I see Wu on a majestic gold and white dragon with Misako in tow. As we reach the ship we race towards Ronin, Wu and Misako a ways ahead of us. As Misako and Wu reach Ronin's ship we hear them gasp over the comms. "He's not aboard the ship." Misako informs us. "It's a trick!" Wu states. The Bounty flies to the other side of R.E.X. and sees an empty ship."Then where did Ronin go?" Kai asks.
........................................................
We all were back in Steep Wisdom and we didn;t capture Ronin. Nya told us that he managed to sail away from her as the rest of us went on a wild goose chase after his ship. "Well, obviously he;s taken the sword to Morro." Jay tells the group. "But where's Morro? He could be anywhere." Zane points out. Cole sighs and turns to Nya. "Look, Nya, I know you're not a ninja yet, but if you're gonna be one of us—" Nya cuts Cole off. "I'm sorry. I should've told you when I first suspected Ronin would steal it." She said, defending herself.
"At least she was able to see through his lies. The rest of us were too focused on the tomb to even think of a traitor in our midst." I say defending my friend. "Enough!" Wu yells out, throwing his hands in the air. "We all knew the path to save Lloyd was never going to be a straight line. We were all fooled by Ronin, but that doesn't make us fools. At a time like this, we mustn't butt heads, but put our heads together." Wu tells us but we all turn to Jay when he starts to snicker. "I'm sorry. You said 'butt heads.'" he says before giggling again. Most of us roll our eyes at him or scoff at him.
Zane's Falcon squawks fron the rafter above and projects a hologram of Ronin. The crook whispers as looks over his shoulder as he begins his message. "I can't talk loud, but I wanted to let you know, Nya, you were right. Morro didn't hold up his end of the bargain." he says quietly, turning to her. "And Misako was right too." Ronin states turning to the silver-haired woman. "The scroll and sword did reveal the tomb. I know where it's located. I know you don't have the sword, but I know you can beat them to the tomb." He gasps and looks over his shoulder again.
"They're coming." Ronin states. "Where is it? Where's the tomb?" Jay asks the hologram desperately. "The Caves of Despair! The tomb is in the Caves of Despair!" He tries to tell us as the message starts to cut out. His image is then gone and we are all left confused. "Caves of Despair? We've been there. I don't remember any tomb." Wu questions. "But there are still miles of unexplored mines. It could be there." Misako informs us. "But why should we believe him? It could be a trap." Nya points out. "She's right. We don't know who's side Ronin is on. And I doubt the First Spinjitzu Master would hide his tomb in a place that most people can stumble across." I state.
"We don't have the scroll and we don't have the sword. With Lloyd's life at stake, what other choice do we have?" Kai asks us. Cole and Jay look at each other and nod. "We're in." Cole says as he and Jay send a smile to Kai. "Because his life is at stake means we need to be smart on our next move." I say, my voice raising a bit. "(Y/n)'s right. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. What good will it do us if it's all just a setup?" Nya asks, concerned.
"The Ninja are right." Wu says to Nya and I. "Even a misstep could be a step in the right direction. We cannot afford to do nothing." We continues as he walks forward. "The Ninja will go. As for Nya, you're still not ready." he states solemnly. Nya grains defeatedly and Zane and I placed a hand on her shoulder before following Wu and the other Ninja out of the tea shop.
........................................................
The Ninja and I left as quickly as possible and were now approaching the mountainous terrain. "The Caves of Despair." Kai stated. "This is where we first came for the Golden Weapons. It's like everything has come full circle." Cole says aloud. "Don't say that. Full circle means it's coming to an end, and I don;t want to hear that before I go into the Caves of Despair, one of my least favorite words." Jay complains.
"How do we even know if the tomb is here?" I ask the others. Zane seems to see something and leads us to a cave entrance where the third symbol of a skull is carved into the walls. "The third symbol." Kai states obviously. "Good enough for me. Let's go." Jay exclaims as we walk into the cave. "Let's be on guard though. We don't know what we are walking into." I say to the others as we head further into the earth. "There's another symbol." Jay points out on a flipped over minecart.
"Huh. Looks like it only gets darker the deeper we go." Cole says looking around the large cavern as we walk. We follow Kai as he walks over to a rack of lanterns. "Then it's a good thing we have a little light." He says in his cocky manner. "Wait! What if this is one of the tests?" Cole asks us. Jay gasps dramatically. "Yeah, Sensei said the tomb was gonna be protected by three deadly tests. Maybe if we pick the wrong lantern..." Jay states, concerned. We watched as Kai dramatically went to pick up a lantern. The four of us back away from him as he does so.
As Kai grabs it off the hook he scoffs. "Ha! Nope, just a lantern." he says to us before walking further into the cave. Zane, Cole, and I each grab a lantern. I turn back and see Jay hesitantly grab the last one. When nothing happens his frightened demeanor changes as he stands straight again. "Like I thought, just another lantern. Wait!" He yells running to catch up to us. We continue walking through the corridor of rock and stone until Kai stops as a hole in the cave wall. "Looks like there was a cave-in." He points out before looking through to the other side.
Jay sniffs and covers his mouth. "Ugh! What's that smell?" Jay asks with a tone of disgust. "It smells like rotten eggs." I state covering my face as well. "My senses pick up traces of Kethanol, a highly flammable gas released from deep well mining." Zane informs us. "Sure. Bet that's what all Nindroids say." Cole teases his metal friend. "If you're implying that smell came from me—" Zane says, turning to Cole to defend himself. Kai cuts him off. "Look! Some of these rocks appear to have been recently moved."
"Maybe Morro's already been through here." Kai continues before walking into the next cavern through the hole. We follow our hot-headed friend and pull up our ninja hoods in preparation for what we might face. "Ash. Everything here has been burned. Perhaps one of the traps?" Kai says unsure. "The Kethanol geyser." Zane answers him. "We cannot stay long. It might ignite again at any moment." Zane warns us. "Guys, you might want to come take a look at this." I call out, bringing the others' attention over to me. As they all run over to me, they see a skeleton sprawled out before me.
"Ew! You think it's him?" Jay asks. "The First Spinjitzu Master. Uh, but where's the Realm Crystal?" Kai asks, looking around. "That is not the First Spinjitzu Master." Zane states as he reaches out and flips over a tattered piece of clothing on the skeleton. A black symbol is revealed. "It's the Master of Wind. These are the remains of Morro's mortal body." Zane tells us. "Well, Sensei told us he never came back from looking at the tomb. So if he's here, that means..." Jay says. "It is trap!" The skeleton-faced ghost, known as Ghoultar, says, appearing at the hole where we entered the cavern.
"Now you suffer same fate!" Ghoultar yells before slamming his scythe into the ground. The room starts to tremble and rocks fall from the ceiling. We run to the entrance but it gets blocked by falling rocks before we reach it. "There's no way out. If this was a test, I think we certainly failed it." Kai says, turning to us. Jay starts coughing. "And all this gas is making me a little lightheaded." Jay says swaying a bit and trailing off a bit.
"This cavern is a virtual oven. If those geysers decide to ignite, we'll be cooked." Cole says worriedly. "P.I.X.A.L. has located an opening. The cave-in must have created a gap." Zane tells us. "Oh, but a gap to where? For all we know, it could be a dead end and for the record, that's another one of my least favorite words. 'Dead end.'" Jay exclaims. "Right now it's our only way out. I don't care if Morro himself is up there, we've got to go." I tell the others. "Too late!" Cole yells looking into the geyser before grabbing a boulder and throwing it onto the geyser, blocking it. "Cole, no!" Zane yells to him as Cole does this. "Ha, solved that problem." Cole said proudly.
"Correction, you made it worse. Now the pressure will compact the explosion, multiplying the damage tenfold." Zane informs us. "Oh, what are you trying to say?" Jay asks, raising his voice, one full of fear. "When that rock goes, every cave in a 10-mile radius will be filled with a wall of fire so hot, it'll incinerate everything in its path." Zane tells us. "Guess we better get hot on our heels." Kai says. "Yeah, before fiery hot lava does that for us." I state. "Cyclon-do!" Jay yells out as we do Airjitzu to fly out the opening Zane found. As we reach the opening we climb out of it into another corridor in a mine and race down it.
As we continue to run down the underground pathway, fire and lava start to nip at our heels. I summoned walls of Crystal to try and keep it at bay, but it won;t hold for long. "Hurry!" Zane yells. I run forward leaving Kai behind me and met the other three as they overlooked a hole. The fire and lava burst through my walls and approached Kai. "Go, go, go!" Kai yells as he runs at us. We all jump down the hole and into a minecart, laying on top of each other in a dogpile. "Great, now what? How do we stop this thing?" Jay asks as we stand up and the minecart starts moving forward.
The cart starts to speed up and we all start to scream. We continue speeding down the railway and are thrown into the air. Most of us land back in the minecart. Jay runs outside the minecart trying to catch up to it. The ground then goes out from under him as we pass over a part of the railway that is built over a raveen. Kai and I try to pull Jay back into the cart. "Almost got you." Kai says. The cart shakes and throws Jay behind us. I reach out and grab him. "Hang on." I yelled at him. "Was planning to." Jay sarcastically yelled back, fear wavering in his voice. Zane comes to help me pull him back in as we continue to speed through the mine.
We continue to roll along the rails, and we see Ghoultar ahead of us. Jay draws his Aeroblade and throws it at the ghost, causing the spectre to evaporate into nothing. The Aeroblade then flies back into Jay's hand and he cheers. "Haha, I caught it, guys! I caught it!" Jay exclaims. We roll around the corner and see the rails ahead of us are boarded and taped off with warning signs. "Looks like we're coming to a dead end!" Cole points out. "Oh, there's that word again. Never say that word!" Jay tells Cole.
The minecart breaks through the barricade and speeds up down the forbidden passageway. Jay screams. "Aah! What do I do? What do I do?" He asks in terror. "Use the Aeroblades for brakes." Zane says as he and the others draw their Aeroblades and plunge them into the wheels. It doesn;t seem to slow the cart down. "It almost feels like we're going faster!" Jay observes. We all scream as we are tossed around in the speeding minecart and it weaves through the caverns. We start to scream again as the rails end and we are tossed into the air over a fiery lake of lava.
Suddenly Ronin's airship R.E.X. arrives and lowers a ladder for us. We fall towards it and as the ship starts to fly us out of that hellhole. "Haha! I could kiss Ronin! After I clobber him for getting us into the mess." Cole says. As we climb into the airship we find it empty, flying on autopilot. "Oh, oh, oh. Autopilot! Course he's too scared to show his face." Jay states as he and Cole lean over the empty pilot chairs.
Ronin's face then appears on a screen ahead of us. "Hey, Ninja. If you;re getting this message, I'm sure you have some choice words for me." Ronin's recording says. "Haha! You got that right!" Cole says with furrowed eyebrows. "But I want to tell you, that wasn't me who sent you to the trap. I was under the control of Morro. I know you think I'm a crook by taking the sword, and I wanna make things right by offering my airship, R.E.X. as a peace offering. I know it's not what you had in mind but I've remotely entered the location of the tomb. The real one this time."
A map then appears showing coordinates for somewhere in the Endless Sea. "Look at that. The reason Misako never found the tomb in ninjago was because it was never there in the first place. It's under the ocean." Kai points out. "Morro has a head start, but R.E.X. should get you straight there in a jiff. And if it's any consolation, this'll be the last you see of me. If Nya wants to know a reason, tell her it's because I care. Okay. Good luck. And go make things right." Ronin says as the message starts to break up before fading to white. "Looks like we're headed to the tomb. Time to buckle up." Kai says as Jay and I take the reins of the ship and fly us out and away from the Caves of Despair, a fiery explosion going off behind us.
........................................................
Alright! Another chapter. Thank you for all those who have read this far. I hope you're enjoying these last few updated chapters and where the season is going with (Y/n) in the mix. Keep reading for more!
........................................................