Legends of Ninjago: Book 3: The Four Fangs: Chapter 5 - A Blast from the Past

Zane stared at the falcon as it flapped its wings emphatically. It was almost as if it were trying to tell him something. But what? Again it flapped and squawked at him, then it started to fly away.

“Wait!” Zane cried. “Where are you going?” He watched it go, desperately trying to figure out if it meant to lead him somewhere important like it had the last time they had met, and if doing so was worth abandoning his friends, or jeopardising his safety. He was already five steps forward when he had to stop and really think it through. To his surprise and great relief, the bird came swooping back around to him, urging him onward. “I’m sorry, but I must tell my friends first,” he said, turning around. “Please wait for me.”

The falcon, amazingly, perched itself on a nearby tree branch as if it had understood Zane. He smiled at it and then ran inside the cave.

“Everyone!” He called down the tunnel. “Everyone, I have something important to tell you!”

All the other ninja were by his side in a flash.

“What’s wrong?” Ann asked urgently.

“Is it the Serpentine?” Cole already had his fists bared.

“No no, we are not under threat of attack,” Zane clarified, calming them down somewhat. “The falcon has returned!”

Now, he wasn’t entirely sure how he expected them all to react, but stunned silence was probably not it.

“The falcon?” Jay repeated. “As in, the falcon that you were just dreaming about?”

“Wait a minute, hold up,” Ann said, raising a hand. “What are you talking about? A… a… bird?”

Zane took a breath as he prepared to explain for the second time that morning. “I know it must sound strange, but that’s how we found Lloyd’s secret base. A bird led us there,” Zane explained as seriously as possible. Still the others stared, especially the girls.

“So this falcon is back aaaaand you want to follow it?” Kai asked.

“Exactly. If he’s come all this way just to find me, it must be for something important, just like last time. I mean to follow him and see for myself.”

“Zane, Wu’s orders were for us to stay hidden,” Ann said firmly.

“And I will be. I’ll make sure not to be seen.”

“You’ll go by yourself?” Said Keaton with a worried look.

“After a bird?” Kai added.

“Guys.” Everyone looked up at Jay who seemed more serious than before. “I know this all sounds… really weird, but I swear, I was there the first time and… this bird, somehow, knows a thing or two. I mean, the only reason we weren’t caught sneaking up to that construction sight was because the falcon knew how to time it just right so we wouldn’t be seen by the sentries.” A few of the others raised their eyebrows, but Jay remained undeterred. “If Zane says he’s back and trying to lead him somewhere… then I believe him.”

Zane watched his friend and smiled. Usually he’d expect another quippy comment from him. This was a welcome surprise.

“And what? You’re just gonna go gallivanting off with this bird?” Ann countered, chilling the air. “We need to stick together.”

“So come with me,” Zane said simply. “Even if it comes to nothing, it will give us a reason to get out of this cave.”

Everyone seemed to look around a bit. As cool as the cave was, it was still a dark, musty space, far away from fresh air and sunlight.

“I’m going. Anyone who wishes to join me is welcome.” Zane knew he was being rather forceful on this, but he couldn’t waste time. Not when the falcon was waiting for him. Without trying to seem too mean, he turned around and started for the exit, hoping that at least one person would come with him. That person, as it would turn out, was Jay. And Nya and Kai and Cole and Keaton. He only saw Ann when they had reached the outside. She was still standing in the cave entrance while everyone else was out in the snow.

“I still don’t like this,” she said, crossing her arms for warmth.

“We’ll be back long before Wu is,” Zane reassured her. Then he looked skyward, searching for his companion. He appeared above the cave entrance like before. “There you are,” he said, attracting everyone’s attention. “We’re ready now.” The falcon took off. “Hurry! We mustn’t let him get too far ahead of us!”

“Mustn’t?” Jay repeated.

The group set off into the hills and snow, barely aware of what lay in store for them. To Zane’s mind it would be a more-or-less short trip, just as it had been before. Of course, it might have gone a lot faster if Ann hadn’t been slowing them down so much, demanding that they send Keaton to scout ahead before rushing off anywhere. Interestingly enough, she never found anything alarming. There were no signs of life anywhere.

On and on and on they went, over ice-filled rivers, down snaking passageways, across wide fields of fresh powder, and beyond. Wherever the falcon was leading them, it sure was an awful long way away from the coast, and the further they pressed, the more anxious Ann became. Eventually they came to a quiet forest, far away from any civilisation that Zane knew of. It was primarily birch; the white bark blended in with the snow almost scarily well.

“We must be… in Treehorn Hollow,” Ann said, crunching through the snow with the rest of them.

“Treehorn?” Keaton echoed. “As in…?”

“Those huge hulking monsters that can disappear into thin air?” Jay finished, suddenly darting his eyes around.

“But I thought that was just a myth,” said Cole.

“The Serpentine were just a myth too, up until recently.” Ann kept her eyes straight ahead, scanning the world around her for signs of danger. “Keep quiet and stay together.”

The falcon just kept on going and going for what felt like ages, and never once did Zane even stop for a breath or a drink of water. Whatever was driving him to follow this bird, it was more powerful than his human urges. He was actually rather surprised at himself, but the mystery of the falcon kept his mind from dwelling on it for too long. He needed to know where the falcon was taking them or it would drive him mad.

“Hey… maybe… you know… we should start… heading back?” Nya suggested at around noon, panting for breath.

“She’s right,” said Ann. “We don’t want to get caught out here at night.”

“Just a bit farther,” Zane pressed, his eyes glued to the falcon.

“We don’t know how much farther that bird is going to take us.” Ann was starting to sound irritated now. “We don’t have the gear to be out all night when the temperature drops.”

“Then go back yourself,” he snapped, not bothering to look away from the path ahead.

“Zane, what exactly has gotten into you?” Ann asked, finally frustrated. “You usually have more common sense than this.”

Zane pretended not to hear her. In truth, there was a part of himself asking the same question, but he ignored it for the sake of pursuing this mystery. He just knew that this was important. All he needed was a little more time to figure this out.

Then, out of nowhere, the falcon began to wobble and then shake as it flew. “Falcon?” He called to it, not really knowing why. Then it fell from the sky, limp. Zane ran to try and catch it, but it dropped into the snow in a heap. He bent down and brushed the powder away, revealing its blank face. “He’s hurt!” Zane cried, but when he turned around to look at his teammates, they were all standing a few yards away, staring at him. “What are you waiting for? He needs help!”

“Zane, I think it’s time we head back,” Cole said firmly. “That bird clearly wasn’t meant to be out here in the cold and neither are we.”

He looked them up and down—cold, with red noses and cheeks, bundled up in warm coats and boots, and dragged out into the middle of nowhere because of him. Because of the falcon. Because he needed to know what this falcon knew. He needed to know what his connection to it was.

“Just help me find a warm place to take him,” Zane said, scooping up the bird.

He caught some of them—mainly Ann—rolling their eyes, but they did help look for a warm place. Warmth was in everyone’s best interest after all.

As it turns out, however, a warm place is very hard to find when you’re out in the middle of the woods in the snow. They checked for bushes and boroughs, nests and hideaways, but the woods were completely empty.

“Zane—” Ann started.

“Don’t!” Zane snapped. “I just need a little more time to figure out how to help him,” and he clutched the limp bird even tighter in his arms.

“He’s a bird!” The water ninja cried. “Why does it matter so much?”

Zane stopped. Why did it matter so much? Why exactly? Why was he so desperately curious about this animal? Could it be… had he known this bird long ago? Is that why he cared about it so much? If that was the case, then was this falcon trying to lead him somewhere important… to him? Like a home? Or… to…

“Zane!” Ann called again. “Are you even listening?!”

No. No he wasn’t. He was lost in the waterfall of possibilities this small creature opened up, and the more he thought about it, the more it all seemed to make sense to him. A long lost pet coming back to him… yes, that had to be it.

The others, meanwhile, were left to stand around awkwardly and watch Zane stare off into the distance still holding the falcon. Jay seemed to have gotten something stuck in one of his boots, so he went over to a nearby tree—a rather large tree at that—and leaned against it so he could take off his boot.

“What has gotten into him?” Ann muttered, watching Zane carefully.

“Beats me,” Jay answered. “He wasn’t like this the first time.” He looked down into his shoe, then proceeded to bang it against the tree trunk, trying to dislodge whatever was inside, but in doing so, discovered something. When the boot hit the bark, instead of the traditional THUD one might expect to hear, there was an extremely loud CLANG, like metal. Everyone’s eyes went straight to Jay.

“I didn’t do anything,” he said quickly, then the tree started to open up, as if part of the bark were a door, and Jay fall backwards into it. “AAAH! Ow!”

Everyone, even Zane, came over to find out what had just happened.

“What is this? Some kind of metal tree?” Nya wondered.

“Oh, no, I’m fine guys, thanks for asking,” said Jay from the floor of the inside, which was mostly metal. There was a small staircase there, which Jay’s head was dangling over, leading deep down underground.

Without a word or warning, Zane took off down the stairs, still holding the falcon. The others called after him, urging him to wait, but he needed to save his little friend, and maybe this place would offer some help.

The stairs let out into a small room and Zane stopped to look at it. It was round and not very big. Actually, if he tried to imagine it without furniture it looked almost—dare-he-say—familiar.

Suddenly it felt like his suspicions were validated. He must have known this bird. He must have known this place. These must be links to his past. He felt his heart begin to beat a little faster as the realisation dawned on him. The first tangible clue to his past in seven years… but why now? What had taken so long?

The other ninja followed him down and were now looking around.

“Woah… some kind of old bunker?” Cole breathed.

“Or something…” said Nya as she walked over to a row of counters, piled with clutter.

Ann seemed to take note of the messy state of things. “It looks like whoever lived here sure left in a hurry.” She poked around the couch—missing several cushions—and tried not to step on too many of the papers strewn across the floor.

“Wonder why they left…” Jay said softly, eyeing a broken vase and the dead light bulb hanging from the ceiling.

“Hey, Zane?” Nya called, seeming to break Zane out of his trance. He came over to her at once. “Is this your bird?”

He peered over her shoulder and saw that she was pointing at a blue sheet of paper laying on a desk. At first he didn’t see what she meant at all, but then his vision readjusted. Drawn on the paper, in the form of a blueprint, was the falcon. The inside was wires and circuitry and metal.

“No, that… that must be some other bird,” he said quietly. Then he looked down at the lump of feathers in his hands and couldn’t help but notice a striking resemblance.

“Did you find something?” Cole asked, coming over.

“I don’t know,” was all Zane could think to say.

He placed the bird down on the desk and compared him to the blueprint again. If the two were a match, then there should be a little service hatch on his back. Carefully, slowly, Zane turned the bird over and felt for the tiny door. Despite all the soft feathers, and the feel of warm skin beneath them, there was a soft ‘click’ when Zane pressed down and it popped open, revealing a wall of complex circuitry behind it.

“Wait wait wait, the falcon is a robot?” Cole asked, his eyes widening.

“A what?” Jay repeated, coming over.

Soon everyone was around the table staring at the bird like it was the most interesting piece at an art museum. Meanwhile, Zane was reading the blueprints to try and figure out what might be wrong with the thing. To his surprise and convenience, there only seemed to be a wire out of place, which he quickly corrected. As soon as that was fixed, the bird sprang to life again, making everyone jump back a bit. It looked around, almost confused, until it saw Zane and hopped over to him. He reached out his hand and let the falcon climb up his arm and when it was close enough, it started cuddling Zane’s cheek.

“Awww!” Cried Keaton. “He likes you!”

“He knows me,” Zane corrected.

“He what?” Cole said, coming a bit closer. “Dude, you’ve only ever seen him twice.”

“I don’t think so. I think he knew me long before that.” Zane was sure of it now.

“You mean, you think that you knew him before you lost your memories?” Keaton asked.

“Exactly.”

He studied the bird, taking in every minuscule detail. A small chip in his beak, the ruffles in his feathers, the yellow colour of his beady eyes, and the scratchy feeling of his almost scaly feet and talons. They did start to feel more familiar, but… he still didn’t really remember anything from his past. Not clearly. Perhaps there were some more clues here. After all, if his instincts were right, then this place must have been his home at some point, which also made it… the home of his father. Dr. Julien.

“Zane, I… I guess I owe you an apology,” said Ann suddenly. “He was leading you somewhere.”

“Oh… well, thank you.”

“But next time he comes around, we are not going to just drop everything and run off into the woods, do you understand?” And she was right back in drill sergeant mode. “I mean, we didn’t even bring any food. And we still have a long trek back to the caves.”

Everyone seemed to sigh collectively.

“Wait, can’t we stay a while?” Zane asked, turning around to face his friends. “This is the first major clue to my past I’ve had in a long time. I want to have a thorough look around first.”

Ann’s lips seemed to tighten as she thought about it. “Fine,” she relented. “But please try to make it quick.”

Zane smiled and started poking around, as did the others, opening drawers and filing through stacks of papers. It would seem that Dr. Julien was quite the inventor. His blueprints and schematics for all sorts of robots and machines littered the bunker, some crumpled up and tossed in a bin, others jammed into filing cabinets. A good many of them, however, had ended up on the floor. Perhaps the door had come open and the wind blew them all over?

Something else had been bugging Zane about this place. There was no bed, no bathroom, and no tools. How could such a brilliant scientist have neglected to add such simple rooms to his underground hideaway?

“Hang on a sec…” Keaton whispered. “Guys, I think I feel a draft here,” and she pointed at a wall.

Zane came up behind her and felt the smooth surface of it, then pressed down. Similarly to the hatch on the robo falcon, a door popped open and revealed a dark hallway.

“Who’s going first?” Jay asked.

Zane was. He didn’t hesitate, even when his vision became limited in the dark space. What he could see, however, as he entered the next room, was a long table and hundreds and hundreds of tools, big and small, perfect for making robots. He slowly walked up to the long table in the middle of the room and reached out a hand to it. For half a moment he wondered if maybe this place would trigger a memory… but no such luck. His fingers rested on the cold surface, feeling nothing. It was just an old room.

Suddenly, the falcon flapped onto the table and looked up at him.

“Squawk!” He said, tilting his head.

Zane sighed. “I’m sorry, my little friend. It would seem my memories have truly left me.”

The others had come up behind him now and were watching him.

“Zane? You okay?” Cole asked.

“I’ll be fine,” he said quietly. “I’d just hoped… I would be able to find more.”

Still, it wasn’t a total loss. This was his old home, this was his father’s workshop, and this was his pet bird, albeit an unusual bird. Perhaps his father had made the bird for him. That was a comforting thought.

The room wobbled. Tools hanging on the wall swayed and nuts and bolts rattled.

“What was that?” Kai asked, whipping up a fireball.

The room wobbled again, this time harder, forcing the ninja to maintain their balance. The tools and other strange devices had no such internal balance and fell to the metal floor.

“Everyone, move!” Ann bellowed, shoving them all toward the entrance.

The quakes kept coming, one after another, almost in time. Zane remembered to grab the falcon before dashing off with his friends to the cold of the outdoors where the quaking only seemed to get worse.

“What’s going on!?” Nya cried, stumbling in the snow.

“Don’t move!” Ann suddenly yelled.

Zane looked up at her, perplexed, then his eyes stretched out behind her as he saw four tree trunks in the distance moving.

“Did you see that?” He asked, pointing at the moving trees, but when everyone turned to look, it was almost as if they had disappeared.

“Over there!” Said Cole, pointing in another direction, but again, they saw nothing.

“Everyone stay together,” Ann ordered. “I think we may be surrounded.”

“Surrounded by what?” Kai asked, keeping his fireball at the ready.

“Get back here, Treehorn s-s-scum!”

That had not been one of the ninja.

They all quickly peered around the large tree and on the other side, to their sheer disbelief, a hoard of Serpentine were chasing after four enormous trees which were walking in their direction. They followed the trunks up to their point of origin and they saw a hideous beast with nine ruby red eyes dotting its wide face, like some sort of twisted winter spider crab.

“Is that a t—t—“ Keaton stammered.

“TREEHORN!” Jay blurted.

With every step of its bulky legs, the ground shook, making snow fall from the tree tops, and if that wasn’t bad enough, they soon remembered the other things they had seen moving in the forest. More Treehorns. They were smaller and more slender than this one, leading Zane to believe it to be some sort of queen or alpha.

“DUCK FOR COVER!” Jay cried as the Treehorn and the Serpentine came barrelling in their direction. They all crammed inside the metal tree and watched as the crowd ran past them.

“What on earth did we just stumble into?” Ann breathed.

“The Serpentine!” Said Cole, watching them with a fire in his eyes. “Let’s kick some scaly butts!”

“Wait!” Zane urged, grabbing Cole by the arm. “Why have the Serpentine come here of all places? And what do they want with this creature?”

“Whatever it is, it can’t be good. You guys aren’t seriously gonna let our first snake sighting in a month get away, right?” Kai asked, giving them all a look.

“Well I’m not,” said Cole, and he jumped out of the bunker, throwing rocks at Serpentine heads.

“Cole!” Ann called, but it was no use, he was long gone. Kai was hot on his heels, and so, with a frustrated groan, Ann led the rest of them into battle. “Focus on the snakes, and try to avoid that monster!”

The Serpentine were all quite shocked when they finally realised they were not alone, and some slithered away screaming, “Chief! Chief! It’s the ninja!”

Zane gritted his teeth as he let another large blast of ice go, freezing a Hypnobrai where he stood. His lack of control was steadily getting worse, he could tell. But without his weapons, he really didn’t have any other option, except, perhaps, to get a little information. He ran up behind a red snake and tackled him to the ground, shoving his face into the snow.

“What are the Serpentine doing here?” Zane yelled. “Answer me!”

The snake spat out water and tried to wrestle him off his back, but Zane held on with a viper-like grip. When he didn’t answer, he tightened that grip around the snake’s throat.

“Ack! Okay, okay, I’ll talk!” He wheezed. “We’re trying to steal a treasure from the queen Treehorn!”

“What sort of treasure?!” Zane asked, tightening his grip again.

“It’s—eek!—fang—blade!”

“Fangblade?” He repeated. Without realising, he was loosened his hold, and the red Serpentine wasted no time. He broke Zane’s hold and swooped down to one of his arms, sinking his fangs into the thick fabric. Zane panicked and used an ice blast to launch the snake half-way across the forest with a spectacular,

“EEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!”

Zane cradled his arm and looked over the damage. Two holes had been ripped in his sleeve, but underneath, his skin looked fine. He took a calming breath and started running toward Ann.

“Ann! The Serpentine are after something called a Fangblade!” He cried over the raging battle.

She had just finished smashing a snake’s head against the ground when she looked up. “What? What is that?” Then her eyes bulged at something behind Zane. “Look out!” She shrieked, and created a water blade, intending to cut down the enemy behind him, but when Zane turned around, he saw a green snake spitting some sort of acrid liquid into Ann’s face.

“Ann!” Zane cried mere moments before he let a burst of his powers out by complete accident, freezing one of Ann’s arms just as much as the green Serpentine. He rushed to her side, trying to dislodge her from the ice. “Ann, are you okay?”

“What?” She asked in a groggy sort of tone.

“Are you okay?” He repeated, bending down to look her over.

“The mailman! Did you bring me letter or a shoe box today?”

Zane stared at her. “What?”

“Zane! Ann! They’re getting away!” Kai was yelling as he came over.

“Oh, Kai, perfect timing! Can you help me get Ann out of this?”

Kai came over at once and used his flames to melt away the ice. “Quite a sight,” he mumbled, eyeing the Serpentine in the ice chunk. “What kind is it, anyway? I’ve never seen a green one before.” He moved around to get a better look at it and yelped with surprise when he came to his face and found it only half frozen. It hissed at him and spit more of that green stuff into his face, making him cough and sputter.

“Kai!” Said Zane as he pulled Ann’s arm free. Kai fell backwards into the snow with a groan and Zane had to drag him away from the exposed Serpentine face, who was still hissing. “Come on, say something!” Zane urged, shaking his friend a bit. His eyes seemed to glaze over a bit and his head lolled from side to side. Then he blinked.

“Gnome!” He cried and jumped back, more scared than Zane had ever seen him before. “Don’t come any closer! I’m armed!” And he grabbed Ann’s limp arm, flinging her hand around like a weapon.

“I knew I was a cyborg,” said Ann staring up at her arm with a blank expression. “I have a rocket arm!”

“What on earth—“ Zane started, then he remembered the green stuff which was shot into their faces. Could that be the common factor here? Were they hallucinating because of that stuff?

“I’ve never fought little people before! What do I do!” Kai screamed, still flinging Ann’s arm.

“Weeeeeeee!” Ann sang, laying on her back and staring up at the sky while her arm was jostled all over.

Yep. Definitely hallucinating.

Somewhere up ahead, Zane heard shots of lightning being fired and saw Cole, Keaton and Jay still duking it out with the rest of the snakes as the Treehorn began to stumble back toward them, kicking anyone who dared get in her way. Then he looked back at Kai and Ann, flailing about in the snow.

“Stay,” he said firmly and then—hoping he hadn’t just made a huge mistake—ran off to help the others.

Cole was having no problem knocking the Serpentine down like they were rag dolls, but Jay had begun to shake, just like he did when training stretched on for too long. His strength was failing, and he was shooting off lightning bolts willy-nilly. Keaton meanwhile was kicking up too much snow with her powers, generally just making the battlefield a confusing mess. Things were not going well, to say the least. There was no direction, no plan, just “run around and fight” and they were losing badly. The Treehorn was getting closer to Zane, corralled by the Serpentine hissing at her feet.

Zane knew what he had to do. First things first, he ran to Jay’s side, freezing a few snakes along the way, and flung him over his shoulder.

“Hey!” Jay yelped.

Zane started running as fast as he could back to the spot he had left Ann and Kai. To his relief, they were still relatively in the same spot. Placing Jay down he said, “Make sure they don’t run off!” And then went back for Keaton who he found being squeezed to death by a black Serpentine. “Let her go!” He yelled, and froze half his body, careful to aim away from Keaton. The snake let her go with a PLOP and she fell into the snow, gasping. “Can you run on your own?” He asked, and she nodded. “Go find the others—I’ll handle this!”

She took off, a little bit wobbly at first, but it was better than nothing. Then Zane turned back to the Treehorn and Serpentine who were practically on top of him now.

When he found Cole again, he was being dogpiled by every colour of snake; red, green, teal, and black. Zane was about to run in and rescue him when something heavy pushed him into the ground. He lifted his face, craned his neck, and out of the corner of his eye he could see a purple Serpentine sitting on top of him.

“So these are the little nuisances you told me about?” He said in a surprisingly aristocratic tone. “My my my, how abysmal.”