Darkness surrounded you due to lack of a light source and the secret passage had an eerie vibe that sent chills through your body.
"I think I found a torch," Nya said. "Kai, fire."
A flame brought forth some light into the darkness, casting an orange glow onto everyone.
"I'm really sorry," you said for the millionth time today. "It's my fault he trapped us in here."
"No need to blame yourself," Wu placed his hand on your shoulder. "We could not predict he would do this and what's done is done. We must focus on finding a way out."
You lowered your head and shuffled your feet behind everyone.
Everything was going wrong because of you.
If you had just stayed back at the Bounty, you wouldn't be trapped in a cave like this.
If you had used your power earlier, the Bounty wouldn't be damaged.
"Which path do we take?" Nya asked, drawing you out of your lamenting.
You looked up to see the cave split off into three possible paths.
You assumed that if you chose the wrong one, you were as good as dead.
"Oh I hate caves," Jay complained. "How are we supposed to know which way to go?"
"Zane, do you think you can contact Pixal?" Lloyd asked the nindroid.
"I will try," he replied.
A few seconds later, he shook his head.
"I can't reach her," he placed his hand on the rocky wall. "There is a lot of copper in the earth of this cave and it's blocking my connection."
Lloyd sighed. "Guess we have to figure this out ourselves."
Zane moved closer to the three paths. "Let me try to scan for the safest passage."
You wondered how much he could see in the dark passageways.
"The middle passage is the safest option, if my scans were correct," Zane informed.
The group trudged into the middle path and you stayed right behind Jay and Cole for safety.
"Is anyone else getting the heebie jeebies?" Jay hugged himself, looking around the cave.
"I don't think we'll be getting out that easily..." you muttered to yourself.
"Wait!" Nya shouted from her position at the front of the group.
"What is it, Nya?" Wu questioned.
"Oh ho ho, what do we have here?" an unfamiliar voice sang out with a lilt in their voice.
"Some stragglers I see," another voice said with a playful tone, danger underlying it.
The voices weren't feminine, but they weren't super masculine either.
But whoever was there in the cave with you...they probably weren't friendly.
"Who are you?" Kai demanded.
The others moved up so you were able to get closer and see who was there.
"Uhh, does that guy have two faces or am I just seeing things?" Cole whispered to you.
You were quite confused by the sight.
In front of you stood a large statue that had two faces on either side of it like they shared the same head.
Only their side profiles were visible.
"No no, I see it too," you whispered back at him, trying to make sense of the statue.
"Which one am I supposed to look at?" Jay whispered loudly.
"I am known as Janus," the face on the left said.
"God of doorways, gates, and transitions," the right face followed.
Misako gasped, covering her mouth. "I've read about you before. I didn't think you were..."
"Real?" Righty said, almost mockingly. "Mortals—they never believe."
"Oookay, Janus," Nya said, attempting to diverge the topic. "If you don't mind, we're just trying to pass through so if you could just—"
"STOP right there, little lady," Lefty shouted, shooting a glare at the water ninja.
"We shall let you pass," Righty said.
"If and only if you correctly answer two riddles," Lefty finished. "You have three tries for each riddle."
"And if we don't answer correctly?" Wu dared to ask.
Lefty chuckled darkly. "Then this happens."
Before your mind could register it, a giant spike of rock shot out from a wall, aiming directly at Wu who fortunately dodged it in time.
The spike shattered on impact against the rocky wall.
Your foot subconsciously took a step back as your mouth dropped.
If you answered wrong, you would get annihilated by a huge fucking spike?
The others looked at the shattered spike tensely.
Facing Janus with squared shoulders, Lloyd said, "We'll take the challenge. Give us the first riddle."
"Gladly," Lefty chuckled again, causing uncomfort to crawl all over you.
You really hoped the ninjas were good at riddles.
"What is it that cannot open any locks and yet has 24 keys?" Righty recited. "Oh and by the way, time is ticking."
Everyone huddled together to discuss.
"I bet the answer is fire," Kai immediately said with confidence.
Nya smacked his head. "No, you dummy! It doesn't even make sense!"
"Master? Mom? Any ideas," Lloyd looked to the adults.
"The answer is always discipline," Wu nodded.
"Wu, that doesn't make sense either," Misako shook her head. "What can have 24 keys? I'm not sure if it's a physical object."
"Ooh ooh," Jay raised his hand as if he was a student in class. "What about a door with 24 keyholes? It can't open locks, but it has 24 keys because 24 keys are needed to open it!"
You considered it.
It didn't sound like it was the correct answer, but so far, it was the only one that made sense.
"I think the answer is more simple than that," Zane provided his insight.
"Can't open locks...has 24 keys...." you muttered to yourself.
What could that be?
Something with 24 keys?
"Tick tock, tick tock," Righty taunted. "You have 15 seconds left to give your first answer."
"Ugh I hate riddles," Cole grumbled.
Your brain ran through anything related to keys.
Locks...
Keyholes....
Doorknobs...
Cells...
Cages...
"I feel like we're thinking too literally about this," Lloyd commented. "I don't think they mean actual door keys."
Your brain was doing cartwheels trying to come up with possibilities.
It can't have anything to do with literal door keys...
And if it's not a physical object, then....
"Time's up!" Lefty's voice cut the air.
How could you be so stupid?
"I got it!" you shouted, your heart nearly jumping out of your chest. "I got the answer!"
"You do?" Cole swiveled his head at you.
"What is your answer?" Lefty looked at you as if he was expecting you to answer incorrectly.
"Music," you stated without wavering. "There are 12 major and 12 minor scales, so therefore there are 12 major and minor keys each. That makes 24 keys all together."
"Oh ho, very good, little lady," Righty smirked.
You were the literal master of music.
It was kind of embarrassing how long it took you to realize that the answer was music.
"Let's go, master of music!" Jay pumped his fist in the air.
"Nice job, (y/n)," Lloyd smiled at you.
"I'm glad you're on the team," Misako also flashed a smile at you.
"I'm very glad that I wasn't wrong," you laughed nervously.
If you were wrong, you were just going to dig your own grave at this point.
"Are you ready for your second riddle?" Lefty asked.
"Bring it!" Kai challenged.
"I have cities, but no houses. I have mountains, but no trees. I have water, but no fish. What am I?" Righty said. "And your time is cut in half for this one."
"What?! That's not fair!" Kai exclaimed angrily.
"Who said anything about fairness?" Righty said before laughing wickedly. "Better start thinking before you meet your doom."
"Any guesses? Anyone?" Nya asked in panic.
You had no idea what the answer could possibly be.
And you didn't want to risk giving the wrong answer either.
"An island!" Kai shouted, obviously pulling his answer out of his ass.
You stared at him in disbelief.
That was obviously not the right answer!
"Incorrect," Lefty said.
A spike emerged from the wall and shot towards Zane and Nya, who jumped out of the way in time.
The impact of the spike against the wall caused the cave to rumble and shake a bit as tiny pebbles fell from above.
"Why would you guess an island?! It doesn't even make any sense!" Jay exclaimed at the fire ninja.
"We're short on time and we had to guess something!" Kai defended himself. "Why don't you answer it correctly then?"
"The answer is discipline!" Wu suddenly exclaimed.
"Wrong again!" Righty laughed, as if he was having a fun time and wasn't about to obliterate you all.
"Master! Discipline isn't the answer to everything!" Lloyd smacked his forehead.
The walls rumbled again and the spike was aiming straight at....
You.
It sure looked much bigger when you're the one at the receiving end.
Your feet wouldn't budge from the ground no matter how hard you mentally yelled at them.
All you could do was literally stare at your impending doom in slow motion.
The next thing you knew, something crashed into you, sending you to the ground as your head slammed against the rocky earth.
You grunted in pain, already feeling the throbbing in your head.
Your eyes cracked open to see Cole above you, his shaggy hair dangling over you.
"You okay?" he asked, concern written all over his face, and scanned you for injuries.
"Uh, yeah," you said, a bit winded and disoriented from being thrown to the ground. "Thanks for saving me."
"No problem, that's what I'm here f—"
"SPIDERRR!"
Cole sprang to his feet and helped you up before you could process the fact that he was on you two milliseconds ago.
This was not the time to be getting flustered anyway.
You dusted off the dirt from your pants and surveyed the area to see Jay running from the largest spider you've ever seen in your life.
Coming out from the way you entered the passage, even more huge spiders were quickly crawling towards you.
"Oh my god," you said to yourself.
The impact the spikes made against the walls must have triggered the spiders to come out of hiding.
"Fire!" Kai shouted and blasted a fireball at one of the spiders nearing him.
Unfortunately, the spider shook off the flames and proceeded to approach.
You had backed up as far away as you could from the scene since you didn't exactly have the skills or weapons to fight bigass spiders.
"Ice!" Zane shot a blast of ice at a spider, but the insect flipped onto the ceiling, shooting out a burst of web at the ice ninja, who barely managed to roll out of the way.
The ninjas kept trying to use their elemental powers against the spiders but the insects didn't seem to be affected by them at all.
Lloyd and Nya tried to use spinjitzu, but they were slammed aside by a spider's leg and you gasped in horror.
"In a pickle, are we?" Janus (you didn't see if it was Lefty or Righty) taunted. "You still have to answer the riddle."
"Shut it!" you snapped back.
"Stay back!" Kai yelled, backing up to create distance between the two spiders swiping at him with their legs. "I said stay back!"
His back hit the wall and the spiders were cornering him in.
He couldn't escape without risking serious injuries.
Without thinking, you grabbed a rock from the ground and threw it at one of the spiders.
"Hey!" you yelled.
You threw another rock at the other spider.
"Over here!"
You should've thought that through because now the spiders were barreling towards you instead.
But hey, at least Kai wasn't cornered anymore.
The spider on the right pounced towards you first, attempting to pummel you with one of its huge furry legs, but you somehow ducked in time.
The other spider swiped at your legs and you forced yourself to jump.
The spiders' beady red eyes stared into yours menacingly.
Then they started to deliver quick, swift jabs that you could barely dodge before impact.
It was human instinct and adrenaline controlling your body at this point, otherwise you'd be beaten down to a pulp already.
You ducked from another swipe right when another giant leg sent itself in an arc towards your side before you could register it.
Your body crashed into the rocky wall, immediately crumpling to the ground like a ragdoll.
Your head was throbbing like hell and your ribs screamed in pain every time you took a breath.
"A map!" you heard Misako shout. "The answer is a map!"
"Correct," Janus said sourly, clearly disappointed that you didn't end up failing. "You may pass."
Another rumbling noise filled the cave, the source being the Janus statue splitting in half to reveal the passage.
"This way!" Wu urged, smacking a spider with his staff.
You slowly got on your feet, still a bit out of it from smashing your head on the rocky earth.
A hand grabbed your arm and pulled you along. "Come on, (y/n)!" Nya dragged you with her.
You stumbled over your feet and simply allowed yourself to be dragged along since your head was still muddy.
"Stand back!" Cole said after checking that nobody was left behind.
He hit his fists together and you watched in amazement as his hands started to glow a bright orange and what looked like magma ran up his arms.
With a grunt, he slammed his fists into the ground, causing rocks to crumble into a pile that blocked the path to prevent the spiders from following you.
How did Cole even...?
Could all the ninjas do something like that?
Could you do something like that?
"Is everyone okay?" Misako checked in.
"Yep, still in one piece," Kai said.
"I really hate that Homer guy," Nya huffed, crossing her arms.
"Let's keep moving," Lloyd instructed. "I don't wanna stick around and find out what other friends Homer has in here."
You continued down the cave until it opened up to a bigger area that held tall rocky pillars distanced from each other.
The group got closer and you peered over the edge of the platform you were on.
Before your eyes was a sea of lava, burning bright oranges and reds, and the heat was warming your face.
Your eyes shifted from the pillars to the lava and back to the pillars, your brain connecting the dots.
"We must jump to get across," Wu pointed to across the cave where another platform and entrance was present.
Lloyd jumped onto the closest pillar and stilled for a few seconds to check the stability.
He deemed it safe, so he continued to another pillar.
The ninjas followed suit with Wu and Misako, not hesitating to make these leaps.
You were the last one still standing on the platform and you eyed the sea of lava warily, apprehension running through your body.
"Uh, guys?" you called out, unable to peel your eyes away from the heat. "I don't think I can jump on it without falling."
"You can do it, (y/n)!" Nya encouraged you. "It's not as far as it looks!"
You frowned and made a quick prayer that you wouldn't die.
You exhaled deeply and braced yourself before taking a few steps back to gain momentum.
You held your breath the moment your feet left the ground and didn't dare to exhale until your feet made contact with the rocky pillar.
"Woah!" your arms shot out to regain your balance, stumbling a bit, but somehow managing to actually make it to the pillar.
When you took a look to see where everyone else was at, your mouth opened in disbelief at the sight of them using spinjitzu to get across to the other pillars, blurs of different colors whirling from one place to the next.
You glanced at the pillars near you and panic seized your chest.
The pillars weren't close enough for you to safely jump on and you weren't trying to meet face to face with death so soon.
"How am I supposed to get across?" you shouted at them, gesturing at the distances between the pillars. "I can't do spinjitzu!"
They already reached the other side of the cave and you were still there on the first pillar.
"It's okay, (y/n), you can do it!" Jay shouted back, giving you a thumbs up.
"Believe in yourself! We believe in you!" Lloyd encouraged.
"It looks far, but I promise it's not!" Nya said.
"Statistically speaking, you can make it without spinjitzu," Zane helpfully supplied.
Even if you didn't need spinjitzu to get across, you didn't have the training they did!
You couldn't do what they do.
Your right foot inched forward and you attempted to muster up the courage to make the leap.
The heat from the sea of lava against your skin gave you a reality check.
You sighed in defeat.
"I can't!" your shoulders dropped. "I'm not like you guys. I physically can't do it!"
You weren't strong enough.
The ninjas continued to shout words of encouragement at you, but you blocked them out to consider your next course of action.
You couldn't make the jumps without potentially falling to your death, so the only other thing you could do was turn back.
But Cole had blocked the path from where you came and giant spiders were waiting on the other side.
You were out of options.
Your eyes shut, disappointed in yourself.
You shouldn't have come along with them to the library.
You were just extra baggage getting in the way.
The feeling of a presence near you made you open your eyes.
Kai was standing on the pillar across from you until he leaped onto the one you were on.
You backed up to give him space and looked up at him with wide eyes, confused at what he was trying to do.
"What—"
"Hold on," he told you.
"Hold onto wha—woah!" you shrieked from Kai snaking an arm under your legs to pick you up as his other arm supported your torso from beneath.
On instinct, you wrapped your arms around his neck to stabilize yourself.
Heat flushed across your cheeks at the close proximity with the fire ninja.
You were not blushing just from being carried.
The heat was from the lava.
Nothing more.
Without a word, Kai began to leap across the pillars smoothly and you held on for your life, fearing that he might decide to suddenly drop you into the lava.
He was just helping you since you were incapable of making it across yourself, so why was embarrassment causing a storm in your chest?
You wished he had thrown you over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes instead.
He safely made it to the other side and gently let you down onto your feet.
You immediately created space between him and cleared your throat awkwardly.
"Um, thanks," you said, bringing your hands behind your back and weakly smiling. "I, um, yeah."
Real smooth, (y/n), reaaaal smooth.
You really hoped your cheeks weren't still flushed pink or you were actually going to jump into the lava.
The places where he made contact with you were still tingling with warmth, but you pretended that it didn't exist.
Being the master of fire probably made Kai's body temperature warmer than the average person.
Kai's lips slowly pulled into a smirk and he leaned forward, making you back away to create distance.
"Aww, are you blushing from being carried like a princess?" he teased, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
You sputtered in shock, not expecting him to call you out like that in front of everyone else.
You wouldn't get in trouble for slapping him, right?
"Let's try to get closer to an exit so I can contact Pixal," Zane announced.
Kai was so lucky Zane intervened before you pummeled him.
You waited until everyone went ahead first so you could stay at the back and not get in the way.
The important thing was that your life got saved twice—the first time by Cole and the second by Kai.
The methods of how you got saved...were irrelevant.
There was no need to spare another thought about it, especially considering the embarrassment that came as a package deal with the experience.
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Author's notes:
i decided to post this chapter earlier than i usually do so i hope you enjoyed reading it!
fun fact: homer was the author of the iliad and the odyssey (two poems that are the foundational works of ancient greek literature)
i'd love to know your thoughts while reading so comments would be much appreciated <333 but to the silent readers out there, i appreciate you too!!