*+.The Golden Tournament.+*

2. Astonishment

The ninja showed up at Borg Tower, taking in the sight of numerous people. It was odd, as they only expected the Elemental Masters, and themselves. However, they saw Serpentine, random other people, and even somebody who appeared to be from a different realm.

Neuro turned around, noticing the ninja. The rest of the elemental masters noticed and walked over. "Out of everybody, I kinda expected you guys to not be anywhere near the word 'Tournament'", Tox said, putting a hand on her hip.

"I kinda expected that for you guys too", Lloyd simply said. Tox shrugged. Karlof merely grunted. "Fyi, green buddo, I didn't wanna come", Griffin sighed, rubbing the nape of his neck.

"Then why are you here?", Cole asked. Griffin looked at Cole and blinked, though it was hidden under the red shades. He turned his head away, not looking like he was gonna tell anytime soon. Cole raised a skeptical brow, but shrugged it off. Zane was occupied trying to figure out his expression, but it's hard to do if you can't even see their eyes.

Suddenly, a bright light flashed and a large gold-plated door appeared before them. The door opened, and a beautiful female Tengu emerged, white wings spread like an angel's. "Welcome, guests. Please come through this door to enter the area of which the Golden Tournament shall be held", she spoke, bowing respectfully and walking back inside the door.

Neuro and Zane were both taken aback by the sudden bright door before them. Lloyd was simply snatched away from the unusual angel that appeared in it. Everybody else was stolen by the rich-looking plating on the large entrance.

After a deep breath, everybody walked through. They came upon a large building surrounded by a spotless sea, the only spots visible being fish. Tengu surrounded the tops of the building, spears decorating their hands, and armor keeping a tight hold on their bodies. In the water, strange feathery-looking dolphins swam around the building. Large silver serpentine guarded the entrance.

The bridge was made of beautiful pastel blue bricks that seemed to sparkle in different perspectives. The handles of the bridge appeared to be lined with pure gold.

Islands circled the area, all of them lush with green and other various colors. One seemed to be entirely covered with flowers. The clouds were formed so perfectly, you'd think they were painted on the skies.

The crowed stared around in awe as they walked across the bridge. The only people who appeared uncomfortable were Kai and Griffin. Kai was unsettled because he was surrounded by water. Griffin's reason was unknown.

They entered the large marble building, seeing dark royal blue carpets, cocoa colored walls, elaborate reds and golds, and there was a stunning waterfall that seemed to be made of rainbows. This waterfall fell from the head of a large, detailed silver-gold Tengu statue, seeming to act as hair.

Then, multiple silver serpentine slithered down from the curved staircases that went around the statue. They all bowed in unison as a much larger serpentine with beautiful golden designs on his scales came forth.

"The Tengu, Ascemondai, and Hydrocus welcome you", he said in a sweet, musical voice, bowing down respectfully, "I am Olunai, and my brothers and sisters shall guide you to your respective rooms."

The 'Ascemondai' all slithered toward a person, not grabbing them but simply making a 'follow me' motion with their hands. The people followed their respective serpentine.

The ninja and elemental masters realized that they were all neighbored to one another. This caused a large wave of relief within the elemental group. They all went into their rooms. The rooms had a training area, a living room, a kitchen and even more. It was like walking into a small mansion.

It was also noticed that all the rooms had an area where they connected. It led to a large living room area with a large screen, and a fairly sized fancy-looking hot tub in the middle. Heck, it even had a dining area and a self-serve buffet that had almost everything. The only things it didn't have were things related to birds.

A large sign hung over the buffet that said 'Sorry for the lack of chicken and other birds. It just makes the Tengu uncomfortable'.

"What are they? Their siblings?", Jay joked upon reading the sign. This earned a few chuckles from everybody. Cole noticed a gaming console below the large TV. In addition to that, it looked like that hot tub had everything you could ever ask for in a hot tub.

Kai was the first one to jump to the console. He picked up a controller that had the name 'Kai' on it. "Cool! We even have our own special controllers!", he said, turning on the console. It had so many games it was hard to choose. After a while he decided to try just saying what he wanted. "Dragon Rider 2??", Kai inquired to the screen.

Suddenly, the screen lit up with the menu of Dragon Rider 2. It even had their scores on it. Kai gaped at Griffin's Dragon Rider score. "HOW THE HECK DID YOU GET A SCORE OVER 35,000!?", Lloyd shouted in astonishment.

Griffin laughed, honestly entertained by the shocked looks on the faces that surrounded him. "I am speed", he said simply. A few chuckled at the Cars reference. "I think the question SHOULD be; how the heck do they know our scores?", Nya said, pointing out the oddity.

"And another question, how'd they get them on the same console?", Zane said, perplexed by the technologic marvel before him, "It shouldn't even be able to hold that many games, let alone a voice search service!"

"Ascemondai have a knack for gadgets", a silver serpentine said as he dusted off a couple of things, "Anywho, I'm done here! See ya!"

The snake disappeared in a gentle light.

The ninja and elemental masters blinked.

"How strange."