The ropes holding the horses in place came undone easily and Butterscotch woke up without so much as making a sound. There were a few tins of food sitting in Ann’s travel case and a map in Wu’s satchel, both of which Jay placed in his own saddle bags. He grabbed a warm jacket then climbed up onto his steed and took one last glance back at his companions. He had come so close to finding real friends... but not everyone gets that kind of clique.
The forest was especially difficult to navigate in the dark, but thankfully Jay always came prepared. He pulled out his electric blue flashlight and began plotting his route home. It wasn’t as complicated as people made it look in the movies, but then again he was on a horse and not in a car on a busy city street.
A cold wind rushed passed making Jay shiver and he was zipping up his jacket when Butterscotch began grunting and whinnying violently. She started to back up and her ears stood on end, her head moving from side to side looking around the brush in front of them.
“Woah, woah, woah! Butterscotch, calm down! Calm down! It was just the wind!” Jay said as he tried to stroke her neck. Butterscotch did calm a little bit, but her ears were still up and she was visibly nervous. “We’re just gonna keep moving forward. See? Nothing to worry about. Just your imagination.” Perhaps he was saying it as much to himself as to the horse. After seeing how frighted she was, he began to wonder if perhaps there really was something out there, behind the black trees and bushes, and he began shining his flashlight wherever he thought he heard something.
Several minutes passed by and still the eeriness hung heavy around the young traveler. Staying back at camp suddenly became much more desirable, but it was too late now. And what if he returned and someone was awake and saw him? How would he explain himself then? No, he had to move on.
Butterscotch began to whinny again and she started to thrash and squirm, refusing to move any farther.
“Buttersco—Woah!!” She reared up on her hind legs; Jay clenched his legs around her body and leaned in to hold her neck as tightly as possible and when he opened his eyes a moment later, miraculously, he was still on her back, however he had dropped his flashlight and now was left to what little moonlight could penetrate the thick branches above him.
The frightened horse remained in one place only long enough for Jay regain his senses before she charged ahead, through brush, into spiderwebs, and past the unkept trees. There was very little Jay could do, especially since he was much more concerned with avoiding the hard tree limbs as much as possible, and so was at the will of fate.
“Please stop! Please stop! Please stop! Please!” Jay screamed into Butterscotch’s flurry of a mane.
Suddenly he felt something strong grab hold of his shoulder and he screamed and jumped so badly that he exposed himself and was immediately hit by passing foliage. A tree branch, no doubt, had struck him in the face, and the next thing he knew he was finally still and lying on the ground, ears ringing and mind swelling. There was a sickening moment when Jay couldn’t so much as breathe in and panic seized him, but he lost consciousness before any real terrifying thoughts could form.
* * *
“Grritch! O ckheger ugg toolihee... all right... that should do it... be safe.”
* * *
Pain was the first thing Jay felt when he woke up the next morning. His eyes strained against the unblemished sunlight and his face felt practically swollen. After what felt like an eternity just trying to sit upright, he looked around the unfamiliar forest. He had no idea where he was and frankly his memory of the night before was fuzzy to say the least, but he was more than surprised when he reached up to feel his nose, which felt like it had broken, and found that there was a thick, white bandage there.
Jay attempted to stand up; attempted and failed. His head immediately became dizzy and his vision was blurry, forcing him to remain on the cold grass for a while longer, but that was when he noticed his saddle bags sitting on the ground next to him. Butterscotch was nowhere to be seen, though, so any further attempts at getting home would be extremely difficult.
The sunlight was warm on his skin and the sound of the rustling leaves was very relaxing, so perhaps the situation wasn’t all bad. He used his time to rest and eat a little food, then around noon he felt strong enough to stand. Clinging into a tree for support, his shaky legs lifted him up until he could see above the bushes all around him.
There were a lot of impressions in the grass around him too, mostly it looked like someone had been sitting next to him for a while, likely bandaging his nose. But who? Surely it wasn’t Wu, and he didn’t know anyone else who would be out here of all places...
SNAP!
A flock of ravens took flight suddenly and Jay looked around again. He could see the tree line from here, but the terrain behind wasn’t at all familiar to him. He grabbed the saddlebags, swinging them over his shoulders, and slowly exited the woods to find himself surrounded by large rocks and loose dirt that kept going up and up. He needed to get a better view of the situation, and climbed up onto one of the boulders. From up there he could see past the trees and so much more. He could see all of Ninjago from here, and that’s when he realised that he was on a mountain.
The wind picked up again and that’s when he noticed the storm clouds on the horizon. It probably wasn’t the best idea to up this high in a lightning storm, so he scrambled down and went back into the forest, tripping over his own feet half the time. However, when he tried to get back to where he had woken up, he found himself in an entirely different part of the forest. Even worse, he couldn’t find a way past all the trees and bushes which had grown very thick and close to one another.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” Jay cried. “It’ll take me hours to get around all of this!” But the only choice he had was to go back up the mountain and see if there was another way around the woods.
The journey was unpleasant to say the least. Not only was Jay weighed down by the saddle bags but also by his own unhappiness.
“Couldn’t have just stayed at camp...” he muttered. “No, no! You had to try to run away in the middle of the night. Real smart move, Jay. Next why don’t you stick a fork in a toaster?”
His path lead him higher and higher and soon the sky was dark grey and the air felt wet with the promise of warm, early-summer rain.
After another hour he crested a small ridge and looked out at the world below, farther from it now than when he started. “Where the heck am I?!” Jay shouted at the wind after he collapsed from exhaustion. This was becoming ridiculous, and at this rate, he’d be caught in the storm for sure. “Someone?! Anyone?! Please, I don’t want to be alone anymore!” The wind responded with a large gust aimed right at his face. He bent over on his knees and heaved deep sighs of depression while the first peels of thunder thrummed in the distance.
He stared up at the sky angrily. “You think this is funny, don’t you?!” he cried. Just then, a fat raindrop landed on his face, prophesying the rain to come and he wiped it away indignantly. Soon it was drizzling, and Jay walked on hoping to come by some shelter, or perhaps a tree thick enough to offer relief from the storm, then stopped when he thought he saw a very strange arrangement of stone up ahead.
Jay scrambled a few yards over to find a real flight of stone stairs leading all the way to the top where—Jay stood still, shocked—there was a large, ruined building carved into the topmost part of the mountain. The rain was coming down in torrents now, soaking him to the skin.
He looked up longingly at the temple above him, then turned back to the valley down below. He could either wait out the storm in the temple or the scraggly forest. So he turned and began walking upwards.
As he climbed, the wind seemed to be getting stronger, and the rain came down harder. He was barely able to keep his feet on the slippery stone after a certain point, and very nearly tried to duck for cover underneath some trees, but he stopped when he thought he heard something that definitely was not the wind.
“Shut up you lazy bag of bones! Are you saying you can’t stand against a little wind?”
Suddenly flashes of the glacier sprang to Jay’s mind, and he could feel the cold metal at his throat again. And when he turned around, sure enough, there he was leading another group of Skulkens up the mountain. But that could only mean that this was the location of the Golden Nunchucks. The Sky Temple, was it? He hadn’t been paying very close attention to Wu.
“WhatdoIdo? WhatdoIdo?” he quietly muttered to himself.
The temple was the only place he could hide, so he bolted for it with all the strength he had left. The force of the wind nearly knocked him over a few times, but he kept his balance out of sheer fear of falling towards those monsters.
The temple itself was very old and mostly fallen apart. Large stairs and pillars had chunks missing entirely, and many walls had collapsed. Much of the ceiling was still where it ought to be, although it looked as though this storm might be the very thing to send it all crashing down.
There weren’t many places to hide, but perhaps the soldiers wouldn’t notice him if they were only here for the weapon. There was a side room that didn’t look very important and Jay did not waste a second trying to conceal himself there.
The temple doors opened with a sickening crrrrreeeeeeeaaaaaaakkkkkk and he could hear their heavy footsteps and clinking metal armour as they passed through the main foyer. He held his breath, which he found rather hard to do as his heart was pounding, demanding more oxygen, and his face grew sweaty under his mask. It sounded like the Skulkens were heading into another part of the temple, their footsteps slowly faded away; their gruff voices being drowned out by the sound of the rain and thunder.
Now he was sure that they were gone and he let out some of his heavy gasps for air. The only thing left to decide on would be if he was willing to chance that this was still the safest place to be and stay, or head down the mountain as fast as his legs could carry him. He would’ve preferred to stay where he was, but he had no idea if it was truly safe. What if the Skulkens found him there?
Jay leaned over to peek around the stone wall into the foyer to see if the coast was clear and found a cracked, ivory skull staring straight at him with lifeless red eyes. A bolt of lightning peeled across the sky and thunder rumbled so loud that it shook the temple as Jay sat, paralysed.
“Well, well, well,” the Skulken said, amused.
Jay sprang back as quickly as possible and backed himself up against another stone wall as the soldier tried to move closer to him.
“If it isn’t the little runt. Where’s dear old Sensei Wu? And your friends?” the skeleton went on. He reached down and grabbed Jay by the collar. “Are they nearby? Where are they!?” He shook Jay hard as he said it and the poor boy thought that might vomit.
“I don’t know,” Jay choked. “I’m... alone!”
“You expect me to believe that?” the skeleton replied. He slung Jay over his shoulder and began walking toward his squadron. The captain was livid when he saw Jay and began questioning him like the soldier had, but Jay didn’t know how to answer.
“If the runt wont talk, we’ll make him talk. We can’t afford any more surprise attacks from those whimpering milksops,” said the Captain and he turned to face Jay with his sword drawn. Jay was being held tightly in the arms of one of the soldiers and as the Captain came closer, the soldier exposed Jay’s right arm. “Tell me what I want to know or I’ll slice your arm off!” The blade of his sword came to rest on Jay’s forearm and he began to silently pray for deliverance.
“Please, I don’t know anything! You have to believe me! I came here by myself! Please! I swear I’m telling the truth! Please! Please! I swear!” Jay cried.
“Lies!” screamed the captain, and his sword flew through the air, but just as it began to pierce Jay’s skin it was sent flying across the room by a tendril of water.
“Let him go, ugly!”
Jay turned and saw the others, all of them, standing at the entrance of the temple. Ann was the first to charge, and she led with taking out the captain with a long-distance water attack, followed by close up attacks of the other soldiers with her bow staff. Cole came next, barrelling his way through the crowd with his earth powers until he came to the Skulken who was holding Jay and threw a large boulder at his head, subsequently knocking him over. But when he hit the ground, Jay was still very much in his arms.
“Take one step closer,” the soldier croaked as he sat upright, “and the runt loses an eye.” He swiftly produced a silver dagger from his belt and held it dangerously close to Jay’s face.
Another round of thunder sent the whole mountain top shivering and Jay could hear the stone beginning to crack. He looked up and saw a large chunk of the wall was falling over and with what little strength he had in him he cried out, “I am not a runt!” and pushed off against the ground bringing the skeleton with him. As they tumbled they went directly under the falling bricks. Jay had timed it just right, but he closed his eyes in fear of the worst. When he heard the sounds of bones being crushed and felt the arms of the skeleton go limp he breathed a sigh of relief.
“Nice one!” Cole cheered as he rushed to his side. He dragged him quickly to a corner of the room, away from the fighting and he frowned when he noticed the cut on his arm. “You’re hurt,” he said.
“It’s fine,” Jay replied. “Only a scratch.” He ripped off the hem of his shozoku and used it as a bandage around the cut. “How did you guys find me?”
“You’d be surprised how the wind can carry certain, uh, loud voices to Keaton,” he smiled. Suddenly another soldier came flying into the wall next to them, making the whole building shudder. “Quick! We gotta get you to the weapon chamber before this place collapses!”
“No! We can’t!” Jay blurted in a panic.
“Why not?” Cole asked.
Jay fiddled with his torn hem for a few moments and stuttered profusely.
“You guys gotta get out of here!” Keaton yelled across the room as she blew three soldiers away. “The weapon should be at the top of the building!”
“She’s right, come on!” said Cole and he grabbed Jay’s good arm to pull him up.
“But what if I’m not the Master of Lightning?!” Jay finally said. Cole stopped and looked at him. His eyes were terrified and his breath was rapid. “If I’m not, then the weapon... it could—“
“Jay, listen to me,” Cole said as he grabbed both his shoulders. “Being afraid will only stop you from knowing who you really are.”
“But—“
“Trust me. You’ll be okay.”
There was another rumble of thunder and a great burst of wind which sent a good deal of the ceiling down on top of them.
“Well maybe we should be okay somewhere else!” Jay shrieked as they both tumbled out of danger. “You alright?” he asked looking up at his companion.
“I will be,” he replied. “As soon as you get your butt up to the weapon!” He took a wide stance then made a chunk of earth under Jay’s feet send him flying up to the top level. He landed hard in a wet heap and felt like he would surely be bruised after this. The entire top was gone except for the floor.
“You got this, Jay!” Cole called. He couldn’t see him, but knowing he was near did help.
The noise of the rain, the thunder, the fighting, was all drowned out when Jay laid eyes on the Nunchucks. They sat on a broken down pedestal reflecting any light that would grace it’s smooth surface. He got up slowly and inched closer to them with unbearable dread.
“Jay! What are you waiting for?!” Kai screamed.
“I know you’d like to think we can handle things down here—“
“There are A LOT of soldiers!”
“Jay! Hurry!”
He looked back down and could see the others on the first floor through the many, growing holes in the building’s structure. They needed him. They needed him. There was only one thing he needed to do.
But perhaps there was something else nearby he could use to grab hold of it and—
“AHHH!” Jay screamed as a Skulken sprang up behind him.
“That weapon shall be claimed in the name of Lord Garmadon!” he cried.
Jay was already much closer to the pedestal, so in the heat of the moment he gave a desperate battle cry and leapt for the Nunchucks without a second thought.
Jays fingers wrapped around the cold metal and suddenly everything changed. It felt like the weapon was attacking him, shooting lightning up his arms and up into his head. Goosebumps rippled has skin and he could feel a burning from the crown of his head to the tips of his toes.
“STOOOOOP!” he screamed. “AAAAAAHHHH! IT’S TOO MUCH!!!”
Bright light was flashing all around him, and there was a constant roaring that deafened his ears. He felt his heart beat faster than a war drum, his muscles grew fatigued, his head was throbbing all over with a massive headache, and he couldn’t let go of the Nunchucks.
“STOOOP!!!” he screamed again. Then the bright light retreated and the noise grew so quiet that he wondering if perhaps he really had gone deaf. Jay opened his eyes and everything looked different and still. The raindrops hung frozen in mid-air, the leaves in the wind were blurry but they were also hardly moving, and the Skulken had yet to reach him, even though he was a mere seven feet away. The colours seemed brighter and the air smelled richer. From the top of the temple Jay thought that he could see very clearly for miles and miles. But the most spectacular thing was the lightning. No longer did it flash across the sky, random and fleeting, but it slithered down toward him in brilliant ribbons of light. Several such ribbons came to him and Jay breathlessly reached out his hand to meet them. When his fingers, shaky and wet, touched the tip of the lightning bolt it sent a thrum of warmth up his arm and made his heart leap. It changed its course and followed Jay’s fingers until it was twisting its way up his arm, and the other bolts did the same. It was a magnificent feeling, to say the least, but the most extraordinary thing about it was the distinct feeling that he could hear the voices of the energy itself. It spoke rapidly and boldly. It didn’t care where it went or for how long it stayed, it merely was, and it was grateful to follow Jay anywhere he led it. The ribbons of light finally found their destination and lunged for his heart, leaping inside of it and taking his breath away. In the next moment Jay was on his knees, clutching his chest and the rain was falling again.
“NOOO!” the Skulken soldier shrieked and charged at him. Jay turned abruptly and shot out his hand instinctively. A bolt of lighting collided down from the sky and the skeleton was vaporised where he stood, leaving nothing but flying bits of metal and bone.
Jay’s eyes were wide with unbridled fear and exhilaration. He had sent out a call... and the lightning had answered. Then he smiled. When he stood he looked up at the sky and felt the storm all around him. Hot and cold air currents colliding into chaotic energy sent flashes across the sky. It wasn’t just light and noise, it was a beautiful dance accompanied by loud, rumbling music.
Then he heard the sound of his friends down below and remembered that he needed to help. He took a step forward and immediately fell over. Perhaps the activation of his powers had been more draining than he thought. He got up again and attempted more carefully to jump down to the first level and he did so accompanied by several more bolts of blinding blue light. He sent it colliding with the soldiers, telling it to jump from head to head and not to stop until all of them were gone, but to leave his friends alone. The next moment the rain was washing away the remaining smoke and the fighting was over.
“Jay!” Cole cried as he rushed over. “Jay what happened to you?!”
“Your, like, as tall as me,” Kai noticed with wide eyes.
“I am?” Jay frowned. He looked down at himself and saw that his shozoku didn’t quite fit right anymore, and he was eye level with Kai. “That’s kinda... weird...” Jay’s eyes went blurry and his legs felt weak, but Cole caught him before he fell and lowered him safely to the ground.
“Jay, are you all right?” Master Wu asked and he lifted his chin to get a good look at his face.
“I feel... amazing! But... really tired,” Jay replied, his head rolling a bit. “And sore... and, ugh... dizzy.”
Wu checked his pulse and felt his forehead and did a few other things to check up on his pupil before Ann piped up. “Sensei, how is this possible?”
“I’m not entirely sure,” he replied.
“What do you mean?” Kai asked.
“Jay just grew at least half a foot taller. The weapons don’t alter physical states like this unless they’re used together,” Ann explained. “This doesn’t make any sense.”
“Yeah... I was wondering about that,” said Jay in a dazed sort of way and then his eyelids dropped and he felt his body grow too heavy for him to hold up any longer and he fell completely limp. After that it wasn’t long before he was fast asleep.
How it feels to chew 5 Gum...