Arriving at the village, Zane was finishing speaking with the fishermen that had reported the incident as they lead them to the docks where a boat and owner once where.
"Here it was. We don't know where they left but this is as much as we can give you."
Zane nodded. "That's alright, thank you. We will try finding your friend and bring him back." He said as the fishermen then left.
Lloyd was looking out at the water as he wondered about the situation. "Why on earth would Morro need to take a boat?"
Skylor hummed as she looked at the water. "You guys said ghosts hate water right?" She asked.
Nya nodded. "Yeah but couldn't Morro take his dragon to where he needed to go?"
Zane shook his head. "No, not unless he was traveling by himself. He would've needed a boat if he was traveling with the rest of his friends."
"But where?" Lloyd asked. He looked at the wide foggy lake and sighed. The fog was so think that it was hard to see the other side, so it seemed they only had one choice. "We're going to need to split up. There's enough of us to split in three and take a dragon to explore the lake." He said before looking at the others. "Cole, you'll travel with Zane. Nya and Jay, you're together. And Skylor." He said turning around to look at her only to see a bright ember glow as a dragon with two large sets of wings looked at the blonde with her rider, ready on its saddle.
"I thought it would be best to keep your location quiet." She said to him, understanding one thing, if she knew anything about this, it was best to keep the gold hidden from a crow's eye. And Lloyd, they had no clue what things Morro had planned for Lloyd and if anything were to happen the others would fall along.
Lloyd looked at her and nodded. "Good idea." He said, surprised to finally see the master of amber's dragon. "But won't-."
Her dragon quickly then turned into a white, radiating a cold mist similar to Zane's.
Nya watched with quite amazement. "Well, I guess we're all set then." She said before looking at Jay who summoned his elemental dragon and climbed up behind him.
Zane nodded, summoning his dragon and helped Cole into his dragon. "Alright, Nya and Jay, you both will fly to the south of the lake. Lloyd and Skylor, you two fly to the north side and me and Cole will fly and explore the west side."
Lloyd looked at him and nodded. "Okay, remember to contact the rest of us if you ever see any signs of Morro." He said before climbing onto Skylor's dragon and flew off.
Nya and Jay flew out just after them with the storm dragon as they waved to the others good luck.
Cole stared at the water nervously and gave an anxious huff. "I'm trusting you won't lose focus, right? My life is literally in your hands. Or- on this Dragon's." He said.
Who would've thought an old fear was helping him with a new one.
Zane looked at Cole and smiled. "I'm nindroid. I'm almost 89.9% positive I can not lose focus.
"I would like those odds better if it was a full 100% percent..." He said as he clung to the dragon.
With all three dragons setting off, the two white dragons blending in the fog and the storm blue dragon taking low to the water.
With Jay and Nya off to search the south, Nya looked at the water gazing at it before placing out her hand, attempting to pull the water into the air. But with the dragon's speed, she could barely make any progress. Gritting her teeth, she tried again before finally... water began to float to her direction as she pulled it close for her to control and hold. She smiled before noticing the Dragon had slowed, confused, she looked to Jay who had been looking back at her before he immediately looked back, as if he wasn't at all responsible.
Nya looked at Jay before a smile curled on her lips but not before using the water she had been holding and used it to splash at the master of lightning, watching him yelp from the cold before tightening his grip on the dragon's reins and resuming its speed.
"W-what was that for!?" He asked, looking at her while trying to whip some of the water off which had sadly already soaked into his clothes.
"I think I can do a little practice on my own, don't you?" She asked, giving him a small look.
Jay gave a small sigh. "I know, I know, sorry I..." He stopped himself before he could say anything that could accidentally come off insulting.
Nya looked at Jay before a thought came to mind. "...How was it when you unlocked your true potential?" She asked. They had all begun with the golden weapons to help aid with their powers. But it was after the four unlocked their true potential that they grew closer with their powers. So perhaps aiming to try and find how to unlock hers could assist her in finding her flow and fully controlling the element of water?
"Oh we- well...." He was nervous to speak as it was recalling when they had their first date . "Well, I guess it was from holding myself back. When we had that date I thought maybe you weren't all that into me unless I tried being more charming and nice looking... Guess I was trying to follow what your brother did when he was around his fangirls. But you reminded me I was pretending to be someone I wasn't. I thought in order for you to well... like me, I had to do all that stuff and that fangpyre venom kinda put me in a mess." He admitted, fearing the worst.
"But it didn't." Nya said. "All I wanted from you was to be you." She recalled.
Nodding, he still remembered those words. As he blushed with a soft smile. "Yeah, I guess. I just wanted to try helping you with your powers sense you helped me with mine."
"I was holding myself back from being something I'm not and you helped me realize that." He said as he looked at her with a soft smile.
Nya paused as she wondered about that. Was she still holding herself back? But from what? What was it that was limiting herself from helping the others? Was it something she needed to let go?
Jay looked at her as she was deep in thought before looking at her and spoke. "Nya?"
Blinking, she looked back at him. "Oh, sorry. I was just stuck in thought about something." She said,
Jay looked at her before a thought came to mind. "Hey, want to try riding the dragon for a bit?" He asked.
Nya looked up at him. "What? But doesn't the dragon need you to keep itself here?" She asked.
He nodded. "Yeah, but I'll keep my hands on the reins. That way you can still lead it and I'll keep hold of the reins to keep it from vanishing."
Nya stared at Jay as she considered his offer. She had ridden on Flame, Kai's fire dragon back when they were starting as ninjas. She had ridden the dragon several times when they were still around. But now, it feels like it's been forever since she last got the chance.
Moving over and in front of the lightning ninja, he held onto the reins, moving his hands for her to hold. It almost felt like nostalgia, her first time taking the reins of the fire dragon and soaring in the sky with the creature.
But now... where was that? She wondered about it before it was interrupted as the dragon made a sharp turn to the right, causing her to yelp before Jay fixed the steering until she got hold and remembered where they were.
Laughing, Nya sighed in relief, "Been so long since I last did this." She said with a small smile.
Jay laughed. "Well... you're warming back to it quite well if you ask me." He said as Nya guided the dragon around.
Nodding in agreement she looked forward, watching her surroundings around them. They've all been riding vehicles for so long that she almost forgot dragons don't have auto pilot mode on them.
Steering the dragon, she couldn't help but smile, remembering such freedom. Then she noticed it... water.... Particles of it had suddenly appeared and were floating around the dragon's wings with a soft vibrate glow. She frowned as she stared at the floating water before noticing it on the rest of the dragon.
Jay immediately took notice as he looked around. "Well, that hasn't happened before." He said as the dragon started to glow dimly and its wings almost looked like they were losing shape. From its jagged lightning shape to falling to a strange foggy like liquid appearance. Then sparks of electricity began to spark dangerously from its body as the water and fog floated from its body.
Jay winced as uncontrolled sparks flashed and Nya immediately let go and the Dragon nearly dropped before its rider held its reins and pulled it back, jolting it back up. Trying to regain control of whatever was going on with it.
But it was still acting up and suddenly he could barely feel his control on it. "On no... on no no no. Come on buddy, calm down." He said but it was already too much with a bright flash and spark. The dragon fell into the water and faded...
Swimming up together, Nya gasped before looking at Jay. "What was that?" She asked.
"I don't know." He said before laughing. "That was crazy." He said, moving some of his hair away from his face before noticing shore up ahead. "But look!" He shouted, pointing towards the direction.
Turning her head, Nya looked towards the direction Jay was pointing at before seeing the boat. "And look!" She spoke with a smile.
"We found it!" Jay said before beginning to swim towards the shore.
Swimming ashore, they stopped as they looked at the boat, keeping their distance from the boat that seemed to have been pulled all the way up to the sand.
"Let's be careful, we don't know if Morro or his guards are still here." Jay said as he looked to Nya.
Nya nodded before tapping her contact device to contact the others. "We've found the boat, sending coordinates now." She spoke as they watched the boat.
It was quiet, still, untouched, and stuck on the sand.
Nya and Jay looked at each other before back at the boat and approached.
Pulling water from the lake, Nya approached cautiously, she wasn't going to risk getting jumped at with any surprises that Morro could have in store for them.
Jay approached, looking through one one the windows inside the small ship. "I'm not seeing anything." He quietly said before they decided to go in and take a closer look.
Getting up on the deck and finding the door inside, they looked around before Nya paused as she noticed what sounded like sounds of someone shivering.
Approaching the room where it came from, she opened the door slowly to find the missing fisherman.
The poor guy was at the end of the room with ropes tied around them holding them in place and preventing them from escaping. Not like them alone would be able to push this ship back in the water.
"Jay! I found them." She said before walking up to them watching them flinch and stare at them. "Hey it's okay, we're here to help you."
"A-are you with th-them? Th-the gh-ghosts?" They asked.
Nya shook her head. "No, who was it that did this to you? Who did you see?" She asked, cutting the ropes around them, freeing him.
They stared before speaking. "A group of ghosts a-and one in red, black, and green. He was leading them."
"That has to be them." My said looking at Nya
"Do you know where they are going?" Nya asked, grabbing a nearby cloth to wrap around the freezing fisherman who took it.
"N-no, I'm sorry. I just woke up here like this. I-I don't remember much, b-but I saw something... I think they are heading to the cursed ruins.
"Cursed ruins?" Nya and Jay asked.
He nodded. "Yes.... There's a place just ahead in the woods. No one dares to go in believing it will bring bad luck. Not even the fish will come to this side of the water. We have a name for it. The grave of the Demons." He told them.
Jay shivered at that. "Okay, that is totally not creepy at all." He said.
Nya frowned. "Why would they be going there?"
The fisherman shook. "I don't know... but I don't want to be around to find out." They said,
Nya looked at him and fround. "Don't worry, we'll get someone to bring you and your ship back to your village. She said,
The fisherman immediately smiled. "Oh thank you thank you! Thank you so much!"
Standing up, she turned her head to Jay and they both waited for the others to arrive.