"That's a lot of imminent doom right there," Jay quipped, his eyes growing wide.
"They're gonna destroy the town? That doesn't make any sense!" Cole was squinting at the sight before him, visibly confused. The floor below was swarmed with Skulkens loading more supplies onto their trucks and preparing to set out on a horrific mission.
"Does it matter? We gotta tell Sensei Wu!" said Jay.
"No!" Cole and Kai cried at once. Kai could picture that conversation all too clearly, and it involved certain explanations that would not paint him in a very good light.
Jay looked back at them, very confused. "What, so we--" a Skulken suddenly walked past, making the group turn and hide. "We do nothing?" Jay continued.
"No, of course not," Cole said. "As far as we know, we're the only ones who know about this. We have to do something."
"Well, what exactly? I'm open to suggestions," Jay said flatly.
The three of them stood scowling at the floor for a while before Kai finally spoke up. "We've gotta sabotage them," said Kai. Everyone turned to him, surprise on their faces. A plan like that would mean sacrificing their clean getaway, and if it went badly, well... who could say what might happen to them.
Cole let out a big sigh. "Yeah, I guess we do."
"What?" Jay cried. "Seriously? I thought we were getting out of here! Now you wanna fight the guys who have bombs?"
"If it's not us, then who?" Cole asked. "That town is full of innocent people. Who's gonna save them?" Jay's face softened and he didn't seem to have an answer for Cole.
"Okay," said Jay after a while. "How are we doing this?"
"One straight shot from my fire or your lightning will set the explosives off," Kai said, motioning to Jay. "The only thing we need to worry about is where we detonate them."
"Or, we could do something smart that doesn't involve blowing up everything within a twelve mile radius," Cole countered, giving Kai a look.
The sound of car engines roaring to life in the distance halted their little powwow and prompted them to peer out into the loading area again, only this time, half the cars were gone and the ones remaining were pulling out.
"I vote we leave now and start a new life somewhere far away. I hear rentals on Cozi island are really affordable right now," said Jay.
"Come on," Cole urged as he ignored Jay's comment and started running ahead, attempting to catch up to the vehicles.
"Or we could run straight at the trucks full of explosives, that's fine too." Jay and Kai got off to an awkward start, trying not to rip Zane in two as they ran behind Cole.
There weren't any Skulkens left in the loading dock now, so no one had spotted them yet, and as they raced out of the large doors and into the sunshine, they finally saw where they were. The land outside was actually a small city that seemed eerily quiet and despondent in the light of a stormy autumn day. The trucks, though, were slowly getting farther and farther away from them, no matter how fast they ran down the asphalt streets.
"This is a stupid plan. I hate this plan," Jay whined, running out of breath.
They could just make out their target at the end of a long road which seemed to lead out of the city, but it was about to disappear.
"Hold on," said Cole, in an irritated sort of way. He grabbed Jay and Kai, slung Zane over his shoulder, and planted his feet.
"Oh no," was all Jay had time to say before Cole used a large chunk of earth to launch them into the air. They flew several yards above the tallest building near them, Jay screaming at the top of his lungs,
“AAAAAH!!! I HATE YOU GUYS!”
But they were catching up to the trucks considerably well, until they began to loose momentum.
"Kai!" Cole yelled.
"Yeah, yeah, I know!" Kai retorted. Cole held on extra tight as the fire ninja unleashed a super condensed flame that propelled them farther and farther along, buying them just enough time to shakily crash onto the back of the last truck in the fleet, loaded with several large packs of explosives, covered with a tarp. Most of the boys landed fairly safely, but Zane slipped from Cole's shoulder and flew through the back window of the vehicle, slamming into the Skulken in the front seat.
“Zane just took out the driver!” Jay cried.
The truck began to swerve left and right, making Kai nauseous and lose his grip on the side of the trunk bed he was holding onto. Cole didn't waste a second trying to salvage the situation and began to slowly climb forward and shuffled his way through the broken window, shoving Zane's and the Skulken's bodies away from the driver's seat and taking the wheel.
They were now driving through some mountains, right along a very sharp drop off. Down below, a shallow river snaked its way across the valley floor.
"Now what?" Kai yelled, trying to make his way through the back window.
"What?" Cole called over the rushing wind.
"I said, what do we do now?!" Kai yelled back. When Cole didn't respond, he said, "You have no idea what you're doing, do you? Great plan, Cole! Fan-flipping-tastic!"
Cole made the car swerve so suddenly that Kai flew to one side, slamming his head against a door. "You're more than welcome to take the wheel, Master of Disaster!" Cole shouted angrily.
"That hurt, you know, ya pompous windbag," Kai growled, rubbing his face and inching closer tot he passenger's seat.
"Did it? Huh, funny how that works," Cole said dryly.
"How about you actually do something useful for a change, huh?" Kai snapped.
Then, Cole slammed his foot against the gas pedal so fast while Kai was trying to sit down that he fell backwards, onto the floor.
"All right, that's it!" Kai cried, his blood pressure rising so quickly that his face was turning red. He got up, lunged for the steering wheel and shoved Cole over. "I'm taking the wheel!"
"Hey!" Cole shouted back, wrestling with Kai for the driver's seat. "Get your grubby hands off!"
"Make me!" Kai retorted in a snotty sort of way.
The two of them fighting sent the car swerving left and right, making it impossible for Jay to stay on his feet for longer than two seconds, and he flew back and forth with the explosives in the trunk, on the verge of spewing chunks half the time.
"Is this payback for what happened in Wu's study?" Cole cried, shoving Kai over so hard that he almost flew through the passenger window. "Are you pouting, you big baby?"
"Oh, would you just shut up!" Kai screamed, grabbing the wheel again and ramming his body into Cole's, who in turn got slammed against the car door.
Jay tumbled into the backseat just then and shouted at the two of them, "GUYS! FREAKING PAY ATTENTION TO THE ROAD!!!"
All of them looked up and panicked when they realised that they were moments away from colliding with the cars in front of them.
"Mmm, what's going on?" asked Zane as he slowly woke up and lifted his head.
He never got an answer though, because one second later they had hit the other cars in a terrifyingly loud moment and were sent flying through the windshield which shattered into a million tiny pieces. The force of the impact was so big that it caused a domino effect, and almost every single car ended up crashing into the bumper of the next, sending them flying through the road railing, over the edge of the cliff and down toward the river below.
Jay was screaming his head off and Kai barely had enough time to register that he was even falling before he landed in the dark, freezing water and hit his back against the stony river bottom.
Nightmares flashed before his mind's eye. He couldn't breathe, and the darkness was all around him. He tried to scream, but water filled his lungs. He tried to swim but his limbs wouldn't respond. The cars were crashing all around him, sending a horribly loud sound throughout the water while Kai desperately prayed not to get squashed by one of the massive husks of metal. This was it. This was how he was going to die. Strangled by the frozen silence.
Then, something had him by the collar of his shirt and he was being pulled up, up, up until he breached the surface and saw daylight again. He choked down air and spat out the disgusting river water, conscience of nothing else besides the fact that he was alive.
He was eventually dragged over to the riverbank and dropped onto the hard pebble sand very carelessly. Cole's heavy breath and large footsteps were heard somewhere next to him and Kai assumed that the others were nearby as well.
"You owe me," said Cole. Under normal circumstances, Kai would've replied with something snarky, but right now he could barely hear him over the sound of his own ringing ears. He just laid there, unmoving, and breathing.
"Uh, guys," said Jay in a worried sort of way. "What's that smell?"
Kai instinctively sniffed the air and, sure enough, it smelled like some sort of chemical was burning.
"Run!" Cole cried.
Kai could hear him and Jay and Zane get up and start running, but no matter how hard he tried, Kai couldn't make his own body move.
"Kai, what are you doing?!" Jay yelled.
"I can't move!" Kai shouted.
"Of all the--," Cole muttered, running back over to him and scooping him up.
The group continued to run up the river as fast as they could to get away from the cars and explosives. Kai was at a perfect vantage point to see the ruins of the Skulkens and their vehicles crashed in the muddy water, but there didn't seem to be a whole lot of movement, which made his skin crawl.
The river was getting wider and deeper, and there was less and less room for them to run, forcing them to start trudging through the water instead, when suddenly,
BOOM!!!
There was a small shockwave that made everyone loose their footing and then a humongous wave of fire came shooting toward them in the small valley. Without even thinking, Zane stepped forward and froze that entire section of the river, forming it into a protective wall around the four of them.
Kai closed his eyes as tight as he could and didn't open them again until the rumbling and the noise disappeared. Finally, after what felt like over a minute of nonstop explosions, everything quieted. Finally, they all took in their surroundings. Any and all foliage nearby was now on fire, large chunks of the road had fallen down, not to mention there was water absolutely everywhere.
"Okay, I want answers, and I want them now," Zane said, sternly. He seemed terribly shaken and very disoriented. "What just happened? Where are we? Why does my whole body hurt so much? And why did half the river just explode? Is this some sort of weird fever dream...? Like Hootie and the Blowfish?"
"Zane, get a grip," Cole cried. "Everything's fine, we just... ran into a little trouble with Lloyd Garmadon."
"What?" Zane asked, his forehead scrunching up with surprise.
"We got busted. Lloyd and his Skulkens found us in the woods and brought us to the Citadel," Cole explained.
Jay joined in and said, "And then we were escaping, but somebody thought it was a good idea to chase down a dozen cars loaded with packs of C4 and who knows what else!" He shot a glare at Cole and Kai. Then he softened a bit, "I think everything's finally starting to catch up with me now..." His legs seemed shakier and his breathing was getting more and more violent. "What were you thinking?! No, seriously, I wanna know! We were almost killed! Several times! Oh, First Spinjitsu Master, holy cow, what's Wu gonna do to us when he finds out about this!?"
Kai looked up at Cole's face riddled with confusion, panic, and shock, and he clearly didn't know what to say next.
"None of this would've happened if we had just stayed in our rooms," Zane noted rubbing his eyes and looking around some more.
"Well you guys didn't have to follow me," Kai commented.
"No, no, no, not this again!" Cole shot back. "You weren't supposed to be in there, and you know it!"
"That's besides the point!" Kai replied.
"Guys, we need to get out of here," said Jay as sirens wailed somewhere in the distance.
It was at this moment that Kai realised they were still in their pyjamas with no masks, transportation, backup, or anything.
"We need to get out of here now," Jay repeated.
"Well, where are we gonna go?" Cole asked.
"For right now, we just need to get away from here. We'll find a spot up-river where we can disappear into the rushes," Zane said.
"Kai, can you walk?" Cole looked back down at him expectantly, but Kai didn't really have a response. He tried moving as best as he could, but nothing would happen. It was as if his body wasn't even there anymore.
"I can't feel anything," he said suddenly, more panic rising in his chest (he presumed, at least.)
"Guys, seriously, we gotta go NOW!" Jay cried as the sirens got louder.
"Right," said Cole.
They crossed the river so that they could travel underneath the road to avoid being seen as much as possible and continued heading upstream. Eventually they were able to find a riverside house with an access point along the bank and they snuck onto the property. It didn't seem like there was anybody home and they were able to pass through without any comeuppance.
"Okay, now what?" Jay asked.
"Keep a low profile," said Zane as he peeked up at the road across the river where he could see several fire trucks and military vehicles passing by. "If we get roped into this now, we'll be done for."
"I say, mad dash to the Monastery," Kai piped up.
"No! No more 'mad dashes!'" Jay snapped. "I've had enough of those to last me a life time, thank you very much!"
"Come on, there might be something nearby we can use," Cole said, and he started leading them forward.
As they were walking around to the front of the house, they discovered what appeared to be a brand new car sitting in the driveway. They all stopped and looked at it for a moment, thinking the same thing.
"These people seem rich, I'm sure they can pay for a new one," Cole reasoned, and he stepped forward, shattering the driver's side window with a rock. After unlocking it, he set Kai down in the backseat with Jay while Zane hopped into the passenger's seat. "Thankfully, you're looking at an expert hot-wire-er," Cole said quietly.
They sat in the driveway for a good few minutes, watching Cole fiddle with the wires, before the car suddenly roared to life. It was actually very nice, with pleather seats, a built-in computer GPS, topped off with a wine cooler and that new car smell. Whoever the owner was, they were definitely very rich and computer savvy.
The ride was uneasy to say the least. Just four boys, soaking wet in their pyjamas, driving down the road, fleeing a mega explosion. Kai felt his heart beating faster as the events of the last hour replayed over and over in his head. He must have been on an adrenaline rush, because now he felt like freaking out and completely losing it. Everyone else clearly felt the same way, and from the backseat, Kai could see Cole's hands shaking on the steering wheel.
The last thing they needed to worry about was being caught by the army, who would be setting up a perimeter right about now and keeping people away from the sight of the explosion as well as taking people in for questioning. So Cole drove them in a direction which, although it took them farther from the Monastery, kept them far away from any army entanglements. Or at least, they hoped so. Kai was sure that at any moment they would be pulled over or something. No way they were getting out of this unscathed, this is, of course, if you didn’t already count his injury. It was pretty hard not to think about it for the majority of the ride.
The Undead Citadel was in the far South, so the drive ended up taking all day, though, considering how they were all feeling, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. They didn't stop for food or bathroom breaks, and surprisingly, they didn't even need to stop for fuel because of the car's ridiculously great milage. Over the course of the trip, Kai felt like he had a decent amount of time to unwind, and by four in the afternoon, he and Jay had fallen asleep, lulled by the constant hum of the car engine.
Kai didn't dream this time. Instead, time whizzed by in a blink, and when he opened his eyes again, the sun had set and they were on a highway getting close to Ninjago City. Zane was now in the driver's seat, Cole was next to him, and all that tension from before came back as Kai realised how close they were to facing the wrath of Sensei Wu.
"So how are we gonna explain this to Sensei Wu?" Zane asked quietly in the front.
Cole gave a fat sigh. "I have no idea. Is there even a way we can salvage this at all?"
"Not likely," said Zane, changing lanes.
"Well that's helpful," Cole replied.
"I try to be." Zane didn't seem as frazzled as before--Cole may have filled in a few things for him while Kai was snoozing--and it was nice to finally have everything back down to a normal level of energy, even if it was far from peaceful.
It had to be about eleven at night when they finally reached the preserve where the monastery was and clumsily parked the car. Zane grabbed Kai this time and carried him up the mountain while Cole and Jay trudged miserably behind them, all of them still very tired and their muscles beyond fatigued, but still, they marched on.
Then, from beyond the dark trees, Kai could see the faint glow of candlelight which he knew was coming from the monastery and he swallowed hard.
'This is it,' he thought. 'This is really how I die.'
"Who's there!? Put your hands where I can see them!!" came the booming voice of a guard. He whipped out a flashlight and shined it right at the boys, blinding them completely. The guard was utterly flabbergasted and shouted, "It's the boys! Harry, it's the boys! I've found them!! Go tell Master Wu, and wake Dr. Lee!" He turned his light away and walked up to them. "Sorry about that. Come with me."
He led them in silence toward the front gate where two more guards appeared out of nowhere and snatched Kai from Zane's hands. The monastery was mostly dark and dormant which left an odd feeling in the air as they walked. Kai was brought quickly to the medical room--the other boys trailing behind him--then laid down on one of the soft beds just as Dr. Lee came rushing into the room looking very disheveled and shouting,
"What's wrong? What happened? A-are your legs broken? Is it your spine?"
He galloped up to Kai first and started inspecting him from head to toe, a feeling of dread growing the more he poked and prodded, but Kai had just about guessed what was wrong.
"I'm afraid..." the doctor began, sounding tired and dazed. "That you're almost completely paralysed."
"Paralysed?" Kai repeated, hardly believing his own ears. You could practically hear everyone's jaws hit the floor.
"Oh, but don't worry, it won't be permanent," said Dr. Lee, whipping something up at the counter in the corner.
"What? What do you mean 'not permanent?' How can that be anything but permanent?" Cole asked confused. He and the other boys were standing around Kai and staring at the doctor.
Dr. Lee turned around suddenly, a look of shock upon his face, as if he had just said something he wasn't supposed to. He was stuttering unintelligibly, trying to come up with an answer for Cole, when--
BANG!!
The doors swung open and everyone's heads turned to see Sensei Wu standing in the doorway with a fire in his eyes unlike any Kai had ever seen before. He didn't look as though he had just tumbled out of bed, rather, he looked as though he had been awake for a few hours too many, and the bags under his eyes only seemed to highlight his rage.
"It was Kai's fault," Jay squeaked.
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