"You guys remember the plan right?" Nya's voice crackled over the communication pieces in each of the ninjas' ears as all six of them free-falled towards the ground.
"We just went over the plan no more than five minutes ago, sis," Kai retorted snarkily.
"Can you blame me for wanting to make sure that empty head of yours knew the plan since I literally saw you spacing out?" Nya snapped back.
Kai opened his mouth to defend himself, but closed it, knowing full well she was right.
But to his defense, he was bored and it's not like he didn't know the plan at all.
The ninjas pulled at their backpacks, letting the parachutes pop out and save them from plummeting straight down into the thick trees.
Lloyd jumped in to ease the siblings' moods. "We leave a trail of peanuts while we go through the Maze of Shadows and throw sticks at every possible path. If the stick vanishes, then we avoid that path."
"Then we snatch up that book and bring it back to Borg Tower for safe keeping," Cole added.
"What's so special about the book anyway?" Jay questioned, dangling his feet in the air.
"I believe Master Wu said something about it holding powerful spells," Zane answered. "Oh, prepare for landing."
With experienced practice, they landed safely on the ground, discarding the parachute packs and rolling on the dirt to break their landing.
"Guys? A little help?" Jay's voice came from above.
Five heads tilted upward to see the blue ninja awkwardly wrapped up in a tree, the parachute tangled in the branches.
"You got yourself in that mess, get yourself out of it," Kai said.
"Oh, come on!" Jay complained before attempting to maneuver his arm out of the branches. "Wait, I think I got it! I just need to—AHHHHHH!!"
He gracefully landed face-down on the dirt.
Cole came over and helped Jay up to his feet. "You got a little dirt, uh, everywhere," he gestured to his own face.
"And this is why you're my best bro," Jay clapped his friend on the shoulder and wiped his face with his sleeve.
"Alright, let's go," Lloyd said in his leader voice, initiating the start of the mission. "Zane, you got the peanuts?"
"Affirmative."
"Nya, sticks?"
"Got 'em safe right here," she patted the satchel tied to her hip.
The ninjas walked towards a huge cave that looked intimidating with its dark entrance that held no light in it.
"My mom said the maze isn't that big, so this should be a quick mission. We get in, take the book, and get out," Lloyd lowered his voice to avoid attracting attention from unknown creatures within the cave. "Kai, some light?"
"You got it," a flame appeared in Kai's palm.
There was nothing special about the cave so far, but any second they were going to hit the beginning of the maze.
The maze that Misako and Wu warned them to be extra careful in because one wrong turn could mean turning their bodies into shadows.
Jay nudged Zane with his elbow. "You said we're looking for a spellbook right? Why is it always a spellbook? Why can't it be a fun adventure book for once? Or a cookbook?"
"When I think of spellbooks, all I can think about is Chen," Cole shivered at the thought of the Anacondrai-obsessed man that had way too many buttons in his chair.
"Don't remind me of that creep," Nya made a face under her hood.
The path opened up to a much larger space, illuminated by crystals surrounding the entire ceiling and walls.
"Woah," they all breathed.
Ahead of them stood tall stone walls that split in the middle to reveal the entrance to the maze.
If they looked closely, they could see the wisps of darkness curling around the edges of the walls.
"Remember, stay together and don't stray off," Lloyd reminded them before they took off into the maze entrance.
"If I stick my arm into a path, do you think only my arm would become a shadow?" Jay wondered out loud.
Immediately, they were faced with choosing the path on the left or on the right.
"Nya," Lloyd nodded to her.
She stepped up and threw a stick into the path on the left.
What once looked like a clear path turned into a big cloud of pure darkness, swallowing the stick into its clutches and clearing away to reveal the normal-looking passage from before as if nothing just happened.
"I think you just got your answer," Kai replied to Jay's earlier question.
"Well, now we know why they call it the Maze of Shadows," Cole commented.
The group veered towards the right as Zane remained in the back to do his job of leaving a trail of peanuts so they wouldn't get lost on the way out.
They maneuvered through the maze, avoiding pathways that resulted in shadows eating up the sticks Nya threw.
"This feels too easy," Kai broke the silence.
"What do you mean?" Zane asked, dropping a peanut on the floor.
"Usually when we retrieve some ancient relic, there's always someone to stop and fight us because they wanna steal it for themselves," Kai threw his hands up. "Why is it so easy so far?"
"Shush, Kai!" Jay slapped the fire ninja's arm. "You'll jinx it! I, for one, am glad we've run into nothing so far. So let's keep it that way!"
"Jay's right," Nya agreed. "It feels nice to do a mission without all the fighting."
"Let's manifest a peaceful no-fighting mission," Cole said before holding his arms out wide. "Universe, please let us complete the mission easily with no one to attack us."
"If you end up manifesting the opposite, I'm blaming you," Lloyd said.
The walls opened up to reveal a clearing with a podium in the center.
On the podium stood a thick book with gold detailing on the leather cover, which looked a little bit worn down.
"Let's get the book and get out of here. I don't wanna stay in here longer than necessary," Lloyd walked up to the podium.
He ascended the steps and lifted his hands to grab the spellbook, but before he could wrap his fingers around it, a green blur whipped past him and the book was no longer there.
"Huh?" he said in confusion, looking around for the vanished book.
A maniacal laugh filled the room, the sound echoing across the walls.
"What was that?!" Cole exclaimed, retrieving his hammer from his back.
The rest of them followed suit and pulled out their weapons, readying to attack.
"Look!" Nya pointed at something in the sky.
In the sky was a ghost clad in what looked like a bed sheet wrapped around his body.
His messy hair reached just past his ears and a beard covered his jaw and chin.
"Thanks for leading me straight to the spellbook, pajama people," he smirked with an evil glint in his eyes, waving the book in his hand.
"Pajama people?! You're the one wearing a bed sheet!" Jay pointed at the ghost.
"I believe he's wearing a toga," Zane commented after analyzing the ghost.
"Give us the book!" Lloyd demanded, narrowing his eyes.
"Let me think about it," the ghost pretended to ponder. "Hm, no, I don't think I will!"
"Who even are you?" Nya yelled.
"I am Keos," the ghost introduced himself. "And if you want the book, you'll have to get it over my dead body. Oh wait! I'm already dead."
"Oh great, this is all your fault, Kai!" Jay blamed his friend.
"Me?! What did I do?" Kai argued, facing the blue ninja.
"You said it was too easy and now we have to fight a ghost!" Cole replied.
"You're the one who manifested it to the universe!" Kai fired back.
"Enough arguing, we need to get that book!" Nya snapped, her eyes flitting around to see what the best way to attack was.
A green ball of energy formed between Lloyd's hands and he shot it towards Keos, who simply dodged the attack.
"Lightning!" Jay called out, a bolt of lightning zipped its way at the ghost, but it failed to meet its target.
Keos scoffed. "Is that the best you got?"
He tucked the book into his belt and pulled out a bow and quiver of arrows out of nowhere.
He notched an arrow and sent it flying straight towards the ninjas, causing them to roll out of the way.
"We need to destroy him with water!" Cole shouted.
"There isn't any water here!" Nya responded in frustration as she had the power to feel the presence of nearby water, but she couldn't sense any around her.
"Then we'll have to make it ourselves! Zane, make ice and Kai, melt it!" Lloyd directed before sprinting towards the podium and hopping onto it.
He used the momentum to slash at Keos with his sword, but of course, the weapon just went right through him.
They haven't dealt with ghosts in a while, so all their weapons weren't forged with deepstone, the only thing that could vanquish ghosts.
"You're gonna have to try a lot harder than that to defeat me," the ghost taunted while flying around the cave.
"Oh yeah? How about this?" Nya commanded a stream of water to hit Keos and managed to get just a small splash on him, but it was enough to bring him down to the ground.
The ghost grunted and notched another arrow, pointing right at Cole.
With the release of his fingers, the arrow was sent flying and almost hit its target if it weren't for Cole jumping on top of the maze walls in time, causing the arrow to be swallowed by shadows.
The master of earth noticed the wisps of darkness swirling around his feet and felt something pulling him downwards.
"Woah!" he yelled and jumped off the wall before the shadows could consume him too. "Don't jump on the walls, guys!"
"Fire!" Kai blasted a fireball at Keos and jumped out of the way from another incoming arrow.
The six ninjas attacked all at once, sending blasts from their elemental powers, but Keos simply somersaulted out of the way.
He attacked them head on and would fire three arrows at the same time, sending them at rapid speed.
("Oh come on! He can fire three arrows at once? Give us a break!" Jay had complained.)
The ninjas switched to using spinjitzu to try to disorient Keos, but with no success since Keos was a literal ghost.
While the other ninjas kept him busy, Cole snuck up behind the ghost and sneakily reached for the book.
So close...almost there...
"Ow!" Cole held his forehead in his hands, pain blossoming from the sudden smack Keos inflicted with his bow.
"You pajama people are very predictable," Keos said, clicking his tongue, and used a strong force to send Cole into a wall.
"Why do you want the spellbook anyway?" Lloyd interrogated as his eyes zeroed in on the book.
The ghost snarled and clenched his teeth. "You people, the living, have it so easy here. All you do with your life is do your stupid little tasks to get a minimal amount of satisfaction and happiness. You live a life without knowing what true pain is like. But I won't let that happen anymore. Soon, you will know what real pain the souls of the dead have to bear. Excruciating pain that you wish will end, but it never ever does."
Jay slightly lowered his weapon, tilting his head. "Dude, have you thought about going to therapy? Seems like you got a lot of issues to unpack there."
Keos released an arrow at Jay with a growl and Zane managed to push the blue ninja out of the way, both ninjas tumbling down.
"You won't get away with the book!" Zane directed his ice blue eyes at the ghost.
"Oh yeah? Just watch me," Keos smirked and within mere seconds, he had all the ninjas on the ground groaning from the sudden pain Keos inflicted with impressive speed. "By the way, thanks for the peanut trail! You made this a lot easier."
When Nya managed to turn her head to see the ghost, he was already escaping the maze using the peanut trail they had left.
She smacked her forehead on the ground with a groan. "Great, we just got our butts handed to by a single ghost who probably needs therapy."
****
"What did you say his name was?" Master Wu asked the beaten ninjas.
They had all gathered at the bridge of the Destiny's Bounty to talk about what had happened in the cave.
"Keos and he was wearing this bed sheet that looked totally lame," Jay answered, holding an ice pack to his temple.
"Not a bed sheet, but a toga, I believe. He used a bow and arrow and was able to fire three arrows at once," Zane corrected, recalling what he knew of the ghost.
"I forgot how annoying it was to fight ghosts," Kai kicked the air.
"Keos, hmm," Wu hummed thoughtfully as he stroked his beard.
Lloyd stepped closer to his uncle with his eyebrows furrowed. "Do you know him? He came out of nowhere right before I was about to take the book."
"I'm...not sure I've heard of Keos before," Wu admitted. "But I shall take a look in my scrolls to see if they hold any information on him."
"I can go gather up the scrolls instead," Misako laid a hand on Wu's shoulder briefly before heading into the lower deck.
Nya looked down and clenched her fists. "Ugh, if only I landed a shot at him with my water, I could've dissipated him and we wouldn't have to be on a wild goose chase."
"You did your best, sis," Kai placed a hand on his sister's shoulder. "We'll get him next time."
"Once we figure out his motive and locate him, you can get back at him," Pixal reassured her with a nod.
"Thanks, Pix," Nya managed a small smile.
"Pixal is right," Wu said. "We must figure out his motive for stealing the spellbook. Then we can narrow down where he's headed to."
Cole chimed in. "He said something about how we live a life without knowing 'true' pain," he threw up air quotes. "And then something about how we'll know the real pain the souls of the dead have to bear."
"Real pain...souls of the dead..." Wu repeated, furrowing his brows. "I need to see what the scrolls have to say. There are too many possibilities."
Right on time, Misako bounded to them with three scrolls in her arms and dropped them onto the table. "This is all I could find on Keos and the spellbook, but the information isn't very detailed on Keos."
Wu unrolled the scrolls about Keos over the table, eyes quickly scanning over the text on both parchments, but there wasn't much since the text only covered half of the scrolls.
Then he unrolled the third scroll about the spellbook, which was much more detailed and the entire parchment was covered in ink.
With a heavy sigh, he lifted his head to look at the ninjas. "It is as I feared," he said gravely. "There is only one person who can stop Keos."
"Who?" the ninjas asked in unison.
"We need the Elemental Master of Music."
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Author notes:
hi this is my first ninjago fic so feel free to let me know what you think!
the fic is gonna be a choose your own ending with each of the ninjas so uh pretend that jay and nya never got together for the sake of the fic since this takes place after season 10 and before season 11 lmao
also no i can't write fight scenes, i literally don't know how to write them and it's so hard writing for 6 characters at the same time so i am sorry for the crappy fight scene