Legends of Ninjago: Book 3: The Four Fangs: Chapter 32 — The Labyrinth

Cole’s head felt a pang of familiar pain, and red rimmed his vision. The Scythe was in his hands, lifted and waiting to unleash its power on the Hypnobrai all around him, but his body felt like it had turned to stone. He blinked hard over and over, trying to force the red to go away, but each time, the Hypnobrai eyes seemed to get larger, and when he saw those eyes…

Scales’ taunting face invaded his mind and made his skin shiver.

Ann’s horrified expression twisted up his heart.

The darkness, the pain, the loneliness, the despair, it all came rushing back to him, whispering in his ear to come back to it. Come and curl up in the dark and let go of control again…

The Scythe was glowing brighter now, and the ground was shaking. It sensed Cole’s panic and it sensed the danger. It wanted to fight back, but something was stopping it. In alarm, Cole realised that it was his own doing. He was purposefully suppressing the Scythe’s power, and the only reason he would do something like that, he realised, was if he was being forced to by the Hypnobrai around him. They weren’t in his head like Scales had been, but they were very close, and they were pressuring him. He could practically hear their voices if he tried,

“Surrender, surrender, surrender…”

He tried to block it out.

The ground shook more.

“Stand down, stand down, stand down…”

He breathed in as deeply and as steadily as he could.

The Scythe glowed brighter.

If he could just… look away from their eyes… if he could just… use the Scythe…

Suddenly, the Scythe itself was moving, and not because of anything Cole had done. As though it were alive, the blade flew up to Cole’s face and filled his vision with golden light. At once the tension in his body vanished and the red left his vision. The golden light was soothing, and he closed his eyes finally, letting the voice of the weapon fill his thoughts. He had been warned against losing control, but at that very moment, it seemed to him that he had only two options: be controlled by the Hypnobrai, or be controlled by the Scythe. It wasn’t a very difficult decision.

The rumbling of the earth around him continued to get worse, until he and the snakes were bouncing where they stood. Cole knew that the Scythe wanted so bad to rip the cave apart and bury the Serpentine alive, but Wu and the others were up above them somewhere. Who knows what kind of an effect earthquakes and cave-ins would have on them up there.

As if responding to Cole’s thoughts, the Scythe started moving again. Still in his hands, it sliced through the air, as though it was trying to cut down the enemy encircling them, and a powerful bright light went out from it! When Cole opened his eyes, those glowing red Hypnobrai eyes were gone. For one moment, he was afraid they had disappeared into the shadows, waiting for the opportunity to strike at him, but when he took a step forward and let the weapon’s faint light reveal the truth, he saw what appeared to be a Hypnobrai… turned to stone.

Cole looked down at the weapon in his hands and marvelled at it. Would wonders never cease?

But there was no time for standing around—he needed to get back to his friends and help them!

With the Scythe at his disposal, be believed that this would be an easy feat, and sure enough when he began to tunnel into the walls and climb up through the stone and dirt, it was as simple as swimming.

If you were shown a map of all the tunnels underneath Ouroboros, you’d think you were looking at a plate of pasta. There were so many levels with so many rooms that someone could wander down there and get lost forever. This thought was at the back of Cole’s mind as he began to tunnel upward. Suppose he was unable to get back to the Slither Pit? Suppose he wasn’t able to find his friends again? What would he do then? But Cole couldn’t bear to dwell on those thoughts at the present moment, which was why they were lingering at the back of his mind. In stark contrast, something very unpleasant had come to occupy the front of his mind.

Cole tunnelled up into another large room—pitch black, same as the others—and was about to find the nearest wall to resume tunnelling, when he felt something moving along the rocks. At once, he swung his Scythe out, prepared to meet friend or foe, but saw no one. They were still in the room, though. Several pebbles and stones were shifting in the dark, making their presence known. If they didn’t come to greet him, then they couldn’t be one of his teammates, in which case, Cole readied himself. This mysterious foe would be turned to stone, and then he could continue his trek back to the Slither Pit.

The only problem was: this mystery enemy had better night vision than he did.

Cole just barely heard the whistle of the knife as it shot through the air like a bullet, and he likely wouldn’t have been able to dodge it, but by a stroke of luck, he turned around to try and see it, and narrowly stepped out of the line of fire. The knife did cut a sizeable hole in the side of his shozoku, though.

Cole realised a moment too late that the dagger was intended as a mere distraction, and the main attack came right after it—a massive blow to his back, which sent him falling onto his hands and knees. If he hadn’t been trained, he might have fallen on his face instead. His reaction time was also quicker, he noticed, and barely missing a beat, he whipped his fist around with a projectile rock behind it, prepared to knock his opponent out.

He suddenly felt a punch to the gut. Some spit came spilling out of his mouth, he felt the urge to curl up, and then something cold and scaly was grabbing his fist and pulling it down. The back his knees were kicked in, something hard wrapping around them to keep him from moving, and worst of all, the tendons in his other arm were squeezed so tight, so suddenly, that his fingers lost their grip on the Scythe of Quakes. It fell, clanging back and forth on the rocks, right beside him, but it might as well be across the room with how little good it was doing him right then.

Cole was pushing against the coils with all the might he possessed, and to his credit, this Serpentine was having a hard time holding him in place. He kept having to readjust his grip, or re-grab him over and over again, but hold him, he did. Then, in a blood-curdling moment, a clawed hand yanked off Cole’s mask and pulled his head back by his hair. He was left looking up at two Hypnobrai eyes that he knew far too well.

“Well, well, well…” said his captor eagerly. “If it is-s-sn’t Cole.”

Fire flared inside of him. “You slithering piece of—” he yelled, but Scales forced a large hand over his mouth to shut him up.

“Sh! Don’t s-s-spoil the moment,” Scales chuckled, and at once his large eyes started pulsating. “Remember how much I helped you las-s-st time? Remember how eas-s-sy it was-s-s? Why bother expending s-s-so much effort trying to fight me—I’ve already got you. You might as-s-s well s-s-surrender.”

Cole shook his head again and again, nearly hurting himself from the sheer force of it. He refused to be pulled back down into this freakish nightmare! He blotted out Scales’ words! He tried to close his eyes and fight back the searing pain in his head! He wouldn’t—he wouldn’t—he wouldn’t let this happen again!

And yet, despite his best efforts, one glimpse at those eyes seemed to be all it took for Scales to pry open the door, even if it was just the tiniest crack.

“Look at me!” he ordered, and though Cole knew he wasn’t being fully controlled, he felt the urge rising up within him to listen. Opening one’s eyes was such a quick and easy thing, after all, and part of Cole wanted to be able to see his surroundings at a perilous time like this. “Let me in…” said Scales, getting even closer.

The pain in Cole’s forehead was swelling now, as if Scales was literally trying to force one of his clawed hands into his skull. The temptation to give in was just unbearable, but he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he let his friends down now!

“GAH!!” Scales screeched as he withdrew his hand from Cole’s mouth and examined the bite-mark on the side of it. “Why you little—”

THWAK!!!

Cole had mustered as much strength as he could and head-butted Scales so hard that actually sent him reeling back! The coils around his arms and legs loosened, and Cole took the opportunity turn the tables. In the blink of an eye, he had Scales pinned by the throat on the ground, his legs forcing Scales’ tail to be still.

“I… will never let you in again!” Cole rasped, breathing hard. “This is for what you did to Ann!”

PUNCH!

He had hit Scales so quickly, he almost didn’t have time to realise what he had done, but by then, he didn’t want to stop.

“And this is for everything you made us do!”

PUNCH!

“And this is—”

Those big red eyes were pulsating again, and like an idiot Cole had stopped to look at them, as if they fascinated him. He was entranced just enough, for just enough time, that Scales was able to pry his tail free and grab Cole by his neck!

“Hgh!”

That tail of his was powerful—capable of easily lifting a full grown man. Once he had Cole in his grip, he threw him carelessly across the floor, his face getting cut up by the sharp rocks! When Cole was able to hold himself upright again, his eyes fell on the golden light of his Scythe sitting across the room, and all other thought vanished. If he could just reach it—get even one hand to grasp its metal—Scales wouldn’t stand a chance.

However, Cole was nowhere near as quick and nimble as Scales, and while he started clawing his way across the stone and rocks, Scales had already leapt upon him! He pushed Cole back down into the ground, tore at his chest with his claws, and grabbed him by his ankle, throwing him carelessly back and forth like a child’s toy—THUD! THUD! THUD!

“Having fun?!” Scales mocked.

THUD!

“You enjoy rolling in the dirt, don’t you, earth-crawler?!”

THUD!

“How about I give you a good welt in your head?! Then maybe you’ll be more cooperative!”

In the blur of blackness and pain, Cole was barely able to conjure a single coherent thought, except for one. He could feel the presence of the Scythe, even from a distance, and when he closed his eyes and listened to it… he thought that maybe he could hear that same voice coming from the walls around him, and the very floor he was being smashed into.

It’s true, he wasn’t thinking coherently when it happened. One moment, he was flying through the air, on the verge of being knocked out, and then the next, he had his hands outstretched, as though he was about to catch himself on the way down. But coherent thinking or no, those hands did go out and they did hit the floor, and when they did, Scales actually paused in a moment of fright.

Cole let out a gasp of pain, and his arms shook. Surely his fingertips would be bruised after this—after thrusting his own hands down into the stone below him as though he were cutting through clay—but they could heal. He had thought that this was only capable while he held the Scythe, but… luckily, it seemed as though he had been learning more than he gave himself credit for.

Scales suddenly tried to pull him by his ankle again, but Cole refused to budge. He was anchored by his arms now, and try as he might, Scales could not move him. The Serpentine freak was just about to think of what he could try next, when Cole used his ankle to pull on Scales’ tail instead of vice versa! With both legs, he held on tight to that scaly tail—wrapping it around once, nice and snug—and then Cole forced himself to plunge headfirst into the solid sanctuary of his native element.

Diving into stone is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. Sure, it’s similar to swimming in water, but water slides easily over your skin. Water is calming and soothing and makes you feel weightless. Stone is another matter entirely—and not loose dirt, either—this is cold, solid, stone. Imagine being snuggly fit into the narrowest crevice in a cave, your body pressed between the roof and the floor—or two walls, if you prefer. You feel as though you can barely breathe in such a tight space, but there’s something comforting knowing the substance around you will not crumble or hurt you. Then imagine you have total control over that substance, and you can make the way ahead appear, like cracking open a stubborn walnut. Of course, the stone doesn’t break perfectly. There are small rocks and plumes of dirt falling on you every second, and cracks forming along the natural fault lines in the stone, as though it’s the world’s hardest graham cracker, being smashed in your hands. You grab the first bit of rock you can feel and pull yourself along, sliding through the stony crevice as easily as if you were a snake yourself, and all the while, you’re trying to get that wretched Scales to let go of your ankle so he’ll get stuck down there, in the dark, unable to breathe. This is what Cole experienced.

Unfortunately, Scales had a very strong will to live, so no matter how hard he tried—no matter which way Cole turned or how tightly he tried to make the stone squeeze his attacker—he refused to let go, and sooner or later they both needed to breathe.

Cole burst through the ground with a loud gasp and tried to stand, but that tail was still wrapped around his ankle. Finally, he brought over a sizeable rock and SMASHED it into the tail!

“AAAHH!!!” Scales screeched, prying himself out of the rubble.

Cole decided he would “help” him get out by proceeding to launch him clear into the air with his powers! He couldn’t tell for sure, but judging by that “splat!” sound, Scales may have hit the ceiling.

With Scales now distracted, Cole made for the Scythe, and immediately discovered how badly he had been injured. Standing made him so, so dizzy, and that headache was now refusing to go away, stinging and burning and biting at his head! Not to mention, his leg (the one Scales had a grip on) felt like it had nearly been pulled out of its socket—and say nothing about how his back and chest were positively throbbing from having been thrown against the ground so many times. Still, Cole persisted, and focused his blurry vision on that golden glow. It wasn’t very far away. He just needed a few seconds to reach it, and then he would win this fight without breaking another sweat.

Of course, Scales was also a sore loser on top of being strong willed, and the moment he could force himself to move again, he was chasing after Cole as though all humane thought had left him, and pure animal was all that remained.

This time, Cole could feel him slithering over the rocks, and—not wanting to take any more hits from this menace—proceeded to jump out of harm’s way, whip around and—

SMASH!

Cole could only take a second to process what he had just done, but in that one moment, all of this became clear: he had just used one of the kicking forms Wu had taught him. It was so ingrained into his memory now that he would probably never forget it in fifty years, so it was no surprise that in a moment of panic, he fell back on it. What did surprise him, however, was just how easily the move had come to him, and even more than that, how he had summoned his powers without meaning to. That one kick, powerful enough on its own, had the added bonus of at least three fist-sized rocks trailing after it, stirring dirt into the air. It was very much like that punch he had thrown earlier, only this time, it felt far more intentional. As though he had just done something very right.

Scales was hit in the shoulder and knocked back, but he simply snarled and tried to pounce again! His eyes were wide and pulsating, and Cole felt his throat go tight. He’d be lying if he said there wasn’t a part of his brain that wanted to fall back into that dark place, where it didn’t have to think so hard and didn’t have to feel guilt or embarrassment or pressure if it didn’t want to… but the rest of him couldn’t possibly trade that for joy and laughter and the freedom to face difficult obstacles, and the fulfilling sense of pride that came with overcoming them. So what if this would hurt? It wouldn’t last forever. It would only take a moment.

Cole gritted his teeth, stared directly into Scales’ eyes, and sucked in a breath! Red rimmed his vision! His headache swelled! Still, he fought back, refuting everything Scales had ever said to him! The moment Scales’ face was within reach, his fist went out to meet it, and more rocks were sailing behind it!

“ACK!!!” cried Scales, falling away to the side. When he tried to get up, Cole came at him again, and again, and again, moving through the stances Wu had taught him. It was almost like magic, how well this was working! Each move was flowing perfectly into the next, like some form of dance, and stones and rocks of all sizes were getting swept up into it! It almost looked like he had his own personal earthy tornado whirling around him!

THUD!

SMACK!

CRASH!

His fists and feet were flying now, beating against Scales’ hard face and chest, and all without the help of the Scythe. Perhaps he had grown stronger since the last time he fought Scales. Or perhaps, it was his power of will which had grown stronger. Unlike last time, Cole knew exactly who he was fighting, and what he was fighting for, in the deepest meaning of the phrase.

Scales was in poor shape by the end of it, and Cole could tell. One more hit might just be all that he needed before he was well and truly done, but rather than finish it there, Cole decided to pause for just a moment. He wanted to look into those red eyes one last time, now unaffected by their glow, and drink in the look of fear on Scales’ bloody face.

“You don’t deserve to live…” Cole rumbled, and at once his fist twitched with the urge to finish things once and for all; egged on by the memory of what Scales made him do while under his control, and what he did to Ann, too.

Scales, however, began to change. The stress seemed to fall from his shoulders, and that fear in his eyes melted away. In its place remained a cold, vacant glare that seemed to Cole to be making its peace with the Grimm Reaper.

“Go ahead then… it does-s-sn’t matter. Anguiss-s-s will avenge me.”

“The Great Devourer is never going to leave its tomb,” said Cole frustratedly.

“Oh, but she will,” Scales continued, eyes widening. “And s-s-soon. My lieutenants-s-s are delivering the final Fang Blade to Pythor as-s-s we s-s-speak!”

Was this true? Or was Scales lying? Cole couldn’t be sure, but he didn’t want to sit around and find out. Now was the time for action.

If only he’d acted faster.

Life seems full of little moments that amount to big things, and this was one of them. Right as Cole was lifting his hand to strike—right as he took in that final breath, about to take Scales’—the whole room began to shake and shudder. Rocks fell from the ceiling, the Scythe clattered angrily on the floor, and Scales… he started to grin.

With a loud CRACK the whole ceiling began to fall in large chunks, and Cole was forced to dive to safety, having not laid a finger on Scales. He was able to slither away to goodness-knows-where, while Cole was left to run for his life! Every second, he was narrowly avoiding death by a hair, ducking and diving again and again to keep from getting crushed. Wherever he could, he would use his powers to shove the massive boulders away, but there simply wasn’t anywhere to shove them to! The whole room was filling up faster than Cole could process it!

Amidst the chaos, one thing remained clear to him: he needed to get to the Scythe! Its glow was a homing beacon for him, and he didn’t dare take his eyes off of it for even a second. Not while he jumped, not while he rolled, and not while he shooed the dust out of his face.

Finally, after an excruciating fight, and after a number of injuries, Cole was right in front of the Scythe of Quakes, though he didn’t have time to enjoy the moment. He snatched it up in both hands, had to try and concentrate through the wave of power that hit him, and then he was moving upward. The Scythe was leading him again.

“Jump!” it commanded Cole’s legs, and at once he jumped, landing on the side of a particularly large boulder coming down. He drove the Scythe into it, as though it were one massive claw, and used it pull himself even further up! He jumped to the next boulder, and the next, climbing fast and farther with every leap, not entirely sure where he would end up on the other side, but knowing that he was one step closer to getting back to his friends.

* * *

Jay was pounding on the metal walls, ramming his body into them, and blasting them with the Nunchucks over and over and over again. It was growing very hot now, and beads of sweat were rolling down his back and chest. The air felt too thick as well, and each breath wasn’t nearly enough to fill his lungs, leaving him gasping and woozy.

“Nya…” he tried to call out.

“Jay!”

He could hear her through the wall, muffled but still understandable.

“Your lightning won’t work—the metal’s too thick! You’re gonna suffocate in there before you break through!”

Jay leaned against the wall, more sweat falling from him and splattering on the floor. Well, if he couldn’t use his powers, then how was he supposed to get out? How could he reach Nya and rescue her? Had he really come this far just to fail?

“Ah!”

“Nya?! Nya, what’s wrong?!”

He pounded on the wall again, but more out of panic than anything else.

“Stay away from me!” she cried, and if Jay listened closely, he could hear other voices, chuckling to themselves. “Don’t touch me!” What were those Serpentine doing?! If only he could see them!

An image of the room outside suddenly flashed into his brain, fuzzy and misshapen. Jay paused, blinking hard. What had that been? His hands were both palm-side-down on the metal, (mostly—the Nunchucks were still in one hand) and he had closed his eyes, feeling a surge of electricity, and then…

There it was again! If only for a moment, he was able to see what was outside the box, just like when he would use his plasma-sense. That’s when it struck him. Metal conducted electricity. The electricity was on the outside of the metal box! He could still use the electricity outside of his prison!

He hung the Nunchucks over his shoulders, pressed his hands against the metal as hard as he could and closed his eyes.

“Jay!” Nya called, sounding terrified.

His heart was beating so fast now, it didn’t feel humanly possible.

He felt at once when the electricity surged and tendrils of plasma were arching around his metal box. The hairs on his head and the back of his neck were standing so stiff it almost felt borderline dangerous, but he could see outside. He could feel the floor and the walls and the pillars and the Serpentine and… Nya. There she was, on her knees, trying to back away as much as she could while her wrists were still chained to the floor. The Serpentine were crowding all around her, but they weren’t spitting venom in her face or trying to hypnotise her or strangle her. They were… they were…

Jay felt his blood run cold. Were they Fangpyres?

His heart felt like it was going to explode as the electricity doubled in size! His whole metal box was filled with blinding white light while the lightning outside arched straight for Nya’s restraints, blasting them into oblivion with a tremendous CRACK!!! Nya gave a yelp of surprise, and so did the Fangpyres. With their prisoner freed, she was no longer an easy target.

“NYA, DON’T RUN, KEEP YOUR FEET ON THE GROUND!!!” Jay yelled, hurting his vocal chords badly.

He could sense her footsteps, and when they stopped, he unleashed another tremendous burst of energy, aiming for those scaly snakes surrounding her! One by one, they fell to the ground, writhing in pain, until the only thing moving out there was Nya.

Then, silence.

“Jay?” said Nya, looking up from where she had been ducking. There was still smoke in the air, wafting over the bodies of the five or so Serpentine lying on the floor, unconscious. “You did it!” she sighed, feeling the urge to laugh with relief. Then the fear quickly returned.

“Jay?” she repeated, waiting for his response. “Jay?!” she said again when he still did not respond. A heavy realisation came and dropped her heart into her stomach.

Despite the fact that her legs were shaky with fear, she forced herself up, dashed over the Serpentine, and reached for the large crank at the side of the room that was connected to the metal box. She forced the handle down, then pulled it back up, then down, and up, and down, and up, like the largest most difficult fishing rod she’d ever reeled. She gasped several times from the burning of her palms as she cranked it, but in that moment, the pain seemed to hardly matter. If she didn’t lift that roof, Jay would die.

She didn’t quite have the strength to lift it all the way back up to the ceiling, but she didn’t need to. The moment it was suspended high enough for her to slide under, she locked the crank in place and ran to Jay’s body, collapsed on the floor of the metal box. She grabbed his arm and started pulling, dragging him out from under that horrible trap, and then she leaned over him, feeling for his breath. It was barely there, if at all. She’d been given a brief lesson in CPR before, but she’d never actually done it, and now she was panicking, wondering if she would make things worse by doing it wrong.

“Come on, Jay, breathe!” she begged him, slapping the side of his face, hoping he would wake up. What if he didn’t wake up? What if it was too late?

She was looking all around the room now, searching for anything that could be of help, when she spotted the Nunchucks lying on the floor. They had fallen from Jay’s shoulders and were now resting on the very edge of the metal box. She darted for them and reached out—but then forced herself to stop. Hadn’t someone at some point explained that the weapons were too powerful for someone like her to touch them? Would she be disintegrated or something if she did?

Okay, she couldn’t touch them, but she didn’t need to. She grabbed Jay’s wrist again and pulled him over to it, wishing she’d actually done that stupid ninja training. Her muscles felt so feeble and pathetic—not even able to move Jay’s body quickly!

The moment he was close enough, she took his arm and forced his hand to touch the metal of the Nunchuck handle. For half a moment, she almost didn’t expect anything to happen. Jay had been unconscious for so long at that point, it was entirely possible that he was gone… but one touch from that weapon and everything changed.

Its glow doubled in brightness, sparks of electricity thrummed through the air, and Jay’s hand firmly grasped it and his eyes shot open! Nya had blinked and almost missed it, but she was sure she had seen a wave of lightning go over Jay’s whole body, followed by an excruciating gasp!

“Jay!” she cried, watching his chest go up and down and loving the way he blinked and looked at her and smiled. She didn’t know what she would have done if he had continued to lay still, as lifeless as that Serpentine she had skewered in Greta Junction. She actually thought she might cry from how relieved she was. “You’re alive!”

She let her head fall onto his chest as the first shaky breaths rose within her. She didn’t care that she looked like an emotional mess. All she could think was, “he’s alive, he’s alive, he’s alive!”

Jay was stunned speechless for the first few seconds. One moment, he was floating through a quiet blackness, the next he was breathing, he was lying on the floor, and he hurt all over. But then… he saw Nya… she was leaning over him… and smiling… and tearing up… and she said his name… and then her head was suddenly on his chest, and… was she crying?

He let go of the Nunchucks and propped himself up on one arm. The other, he brought around so his hand could rest on her silky black hair.

“Nya…” he breathed, watching her shoulders shake. “Hey… it’s alright.”

“I know…” she sniffed. “I just… I thought you were dead…”

She looked up at him, her brown-hazel eyes all glassy and dewey, and Jay felt his face getting warm. He never imagined that she would actually cry like that… over him…

But then Kai’s angry face flashed across his mind’s eye, and he instantly stiffened.

Rather than dwell on mushy thoughts, he snapped himself back into the moment, then sat up and gave Nya a brief hug.

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” he said quietly, his throat feeling raspy. “But come on. We’re not outta the woods yet.” He helped her to her feet, picking up the Nunchucks again and swearing that he wouldn’t let go of Nya’s hand if he could help it. They were getting out of here together no matter what. “Stay close to me.”

Nya steadied herself and nodded.

“Ngh! What?! They’ve escaped!” one of the Serpentine suddenly called, shaking the others awake.

Jay darted at the sound of their awful voices. He led Nya forward by the hand, running back into the darkness of the cave tunnels with only his plasma-sense to guide them.

“So how did they even get to you?” Jay asked over his shoulder.

“They must have known the sandstorm was us. A whole team of Serpentine came to investigate the area it started in,” Nya explained. “I didn’t see them until they were right next to me, and by then…”

“It’s okay,” Jay said, still scanning the cave and leading them. “It happens to everyone.”

Jay didn’t see, but Nya’s expression fell just then as she said to herself, “Yeah, but I feel like it happens to me a lot…”

They came to a screeching halt just then, when Jay sensed a group of Serpentine ahead; blocking their path. He still had the Nunchucks in one hand, but he had Nya by the other.

“Hey. Think you can handle a little more action?” he asked her.

She straightened up, doing her best to be brave. “I’m safe if I’m with you.”

Jay had to try and keep the hairs on the back of his neck from standing on end, and not because of the electricity.

With goosebumps still on his skin, he took a breath and charged ahead, swinging the Nunchucks madly. The Serpentine came at them quicker than either of them expected, leaping out of the shadows, but Jay’s reaction time was just as fast. One moment, they were sliding across of the cave floor, lightning shooting out this way and that, and the next, Jay and Nya were jumping and weaving through the crowd of enemies, narrowly avoiding their claws and swords and spears. One by one, the lightning bolts hit their targets, and body after body fell to the ground behind them. Nya did her best to keep pace with Jay, but to be honest, there were moments when her feet weren’t even on the ground, and she felt as though he was pulling her through the air. Like they were actually flying.

Jay let loose one final burst of energy to blow away the last of the Serpentine, and their way forward was cleared. The way behind them, well, that was still filled with angry Serpentine who were trying to chase after them, but Jay reasoned that they could lose them once they made it back to the main chamber.

In reality, they would end up losing them much sooner.

Right as Jay was sure he and Nya were getting close to the last place he saw their friends, he got the distinct feeling that the caves were shaking. It reminded him of the earthquakes they would sometimes get in Ninjago City, but much worse. Something big had definitely happened somewhere nearby, like an explosion. That was the only reasonable explanation for why the walls and ceiling were now crumbling down around them, and threatening to bury them alive!

Jay managed to dodge one of the first boulders as it came sailing down, but there was no way he’d be able to get him and Nya to safety. As he sensed the next one coming down on top of them, the only thing he could think of was Nya. Instinctively, he grabbed her and shielded her from the rocks above. He only wished he could have done better…

But the next second, they were still very much alive.

Jay opened his eyes and blinked. He could hear the sounds of destruction all around… but he and Nya weren’t hurt… not even a little…

He straightened, looking around—Nya did too—and much to their surprise, the rocks above them had stopped moving. They were actually hovering in mid air.

“Guys! Need an assist?”

Jay smiled.

“Cole! You have got some seriously good timing!”

He came over to them, that giant ridiculous Scythe at his side, and put a hand on Jay’s shoulder.

“You both good? No one’s bleeding or anything?” he asked, looking like he’d been rolling in the dirt.

“We’re okay,” said Nya breathlessly. “Thank you!”

“Don’t mention it. Come on, we gotta find the others!”

With Cole clearing their way now, the trio was able to easily leave the Serpentine behind in the rubble, while they ran to the Slither Pit and their friends.

* * *

Ann was swaying and tripping through the tunnels, unsure of where she was or where she was going. One moment it looked like the torch was to her left, the next it was on her right, then down the hall, then right in front of her, then she was in darkness again. Faces and claws reached out at her from the shadows, threatening to hurt her, but she blasted them back with a powerful water attack.

Her only guide was the sound of Keaton’s laughter, echoing off the walls. The logic of following an echo didn’t occur to her once while she was under the influence of the Venomari gas. The only thing she cared about was getting to her sister at all costs. (Even if that meant trying to run through actual walls, thinking they were made of marshmallows.)

She felt lightheaded, but ignored it. She felt tired, but pushed through. She had no idea if she was going the right way, but marched on, trying every single tunnel she could find.

“Keaton?!” she would cry out occasionally. “Why are you invisible…? Need a sister-locater… or something…”

The laughter was getting closer now, she was certain of it. She just needed to go a little farther and then she would find Keaton. Rescue her, or… get her for a mission, or… something. It was becoming hard to remember why she was down there in the dark in the first place.

Then, more faces appeared. Warped, large, frightening faces—all around her—closing in on her! The only thing for it was to summon as much water as possible to force them away, but the faces still remained. Ann tried again, commanding the water to sweep them back into the caves where they came from, but they still refused to move. She growled in frustration. She knew that something was wrong with her, she had felt this discombobulated before.

Something hard hit her face just then, and she was sent reeling backwards, trying fervently to find her balance again.

She gasped as another burst of pain exploded on her face. She couldn’t defend herself. The only option was to run.

She ran and ran and ran for what felt like a long time, until she heard a high pitched scream.

“Keaton!” she instinctively cried. Her sister was in trouble. She needed to save her. But she was in no condition to fight. She needed to… she needed to…

She needed to take a knee… and breathe… and be very still… and very quiet… and touch her surroundings… and come back to her senses… She grabbed a handful of dirt and pebbles in her hands and let the fine powder fall through her fingertips. She smelled the dry earth rising to her nose. There was water dripping here and there on long pointy stalactites and stalagmites, and running in the walls. She was underneath Ouroboros and Keaton was in danger of the Serpentine!

Ann started running the way she had come. The tunnel still felt long and warped, but the torches passed by one by one like they should, and she had her balance, and felt like she could actually navigate again.

“AHHH!!”

Another scream. Up ahead.

Ann tried to double her speed. It was difficult work while she was still so prone to tripping on the rocks, but with steady concentration, she made it through.

There was a corner up ahead. She rounded it, and there, right in front of her, she saw a group of what looked like some type of Serpentine trying to grab hold of Keaton by any means necessary.

She lost track of herself in the fury.

One moment, she was standing still, the next moment her vision was blurry and her fists felt bruised. Sure, she could have tried to wash the Serpentine away, but the thought simply didn’t occur to her in that moment. Instead, she ground her knuckles into each Serpentine’s face—her foot into their jaws—moving so fast that her water attacks felt slow by comparison.

And then… it was just over.

Ann felt her body cooling down now, and she was breathing so heavily her chest was tight… but she was holding on to Keaton… so everything was alright.

“Why are you so warm?” asked Keaton in a dazed-sort-of-way.

Ann pulled away to look at her and frowned. Keaton wasn’t making eye contact. She was swaying too. Ann’s head wasn’t entirely clear, but she was able to figure out that Keaton must have been hit with a much stronger dose of gas than she was.

“Don’t worry, Keaton,” she breathed, holding her again. “You’re safe now.”

BOOM.

Something had exploded. Ann could feel it, even though it was a distance away. The force of it rattled the caves like an earthquake. Parts of the ceiling were already starting to crumble. Ann suddenly felt very trapped. She was in a cave, a small enclosed tunnel, and the roof was about to collapse. What was she going to do? Her water wouldn’t be able to hold back all of that! Neither would Keaton’s air! This was like a terrible, horrible dream!

“Girls!”

Ann knew that voice.

Someone was suddenly grabbing Ann by her collar and pulling her along. He had her and Keaton and was expertly leading them through the debris.

She knew that figure.

She knew that beard.

They were safe now.

* * *

Kai was steadily climbing higher and higher in his slice of the pit. Every second, the waterline was rising, and the fumes from the gasoline were making him light-headed. He needed to think of something quickly. He had no other option.

Think think think!

There was no way to get out beneath the gasoline that he knew of—no trap doors or secret tunnels. There was one way out at the top of this pit, but it was so far away, and how was he supposed to open that door? The only other opening he knew of was…

The waterfall. It was coming down from a hole in the wall. That hole must connect to a room filled with gasoline, or a pit full of it, or a tub of it. Either way, it was guaranteed that there would be a door or a hatch or something in that other room. How else would the Serpentine have poured that much gas into it in the first place? But how would Kai get to it? The hole was far too small to climb through, and his fire would have to be so superheated to melt the rock, the flames would eat up all his oxygen first. His only tool was…

…the gasoline.

He gulped. If he intentionally lit the gas, it would explode… and potentially blow a hole large enough for him to escape. Or just kill him. But… as the waterline rose ever higher… he began to realise that he was probably dead either way. He had nothing left to lose.

Kai climbed as high as he could go as quickly as possible, not wanting the room to fill up too much, and wanting to put some distance between himself and it. Then… he took a shaky breath.

Quietly, he said to himself, “Ann… take care of Nya for me…”

He let one of his fireballs drop.

It fell into the gasoline, and before you could even see it hit the surface—

FWOOOSH!

BOOM!!!

The fire had lit—it had climbed up the gasoline waterfall—it ignited the gas on the other side of the wall—which exploded.

Kai had nothing to clutch but the Sword of Fire as the waves of destruction enveloped him. Stone shrapnel whizzed past him. The entire pit began to collapse. At some point he fell into it all. Fiery death.

He clutched the Sword of Fire tighter.

The heat burned his skin, the first time in his life he could remember fire hurting him.

It was difficult to breathe for a few moments.

Then, Kai opened his eyes and the flames began to die away. Light poured down from above. The pit was almost completely destroyed, but that included the roof of it. He had a straight shot to the Slither Pitt Room.

But how come he wasn’t toast right now?

The sword in his his hands seemed to glow in response. Kai suddenly remembered another time similar to this, when he dove straight into lava to escape Lord Garmadon. He had been holding the Sword then, too, and it kept him alive. It repelled the heat. Once again, he felt overwhelming relief that he had such a handy weapon at his disposal. Imagine if he didn’t. Nya would be without a brother right now.

With one final breath to steady himself, Kai looked up but didn’t see any Serpentine peering down at him from the room above. They must all be panicking after that terrible explosion. The whole place was still shaking, after all. He sincerely hoped that he was the sole cause of it, and not… he swallowed again… a giant serpent being released from an underground tomb.

Amidst the rumbling, there suddenly came a loud CRASH! Kai whipped around and saw Cole barreling through one of the caved-in walls, Jay and Nya at his heels.

“Nya!” he shrieked. “What are you doing here?!”

He had her in his arms at once, feeling suddenly like an idiot for setting off a bomb while she was in the building.

“Serpentine—where are the others?” Cole said, catching his breath.

“I haven’t seen them,” Kai admitted, feeling a knot forming in his stomach. He sure hoped he hadn’t just done something really, really stupid.

“We’ll have to find them later,” said Jay.

“He’s right—Scales told me they found the final Fang Blade—we need to move now!”

“Waitwaitwait—what do I do?! Where do I hide?!” Nya gasped, tugging at Kai’s sleeve.

“You’re sticking with me,” said Kai. “Just watch my back, don’t let anything touch you, and scream if something does.”

“Okay,” she nodded.

With that, Cole started making their way up and out of the pit, while the whole building continued to shake and rumble all around them. They just needed to find one blade—just one—to stop all of this. It should be fairly easy… in theory. The main thing Kai was worried about were the others. Wu, Ann, Keaton, and Zane. He hoped they were alright.