Winds of Change: Rising Storm

Chapter 12

 Kai looked at the blinking red dot, annoyance mixed with exhaustion hugging him as he saw it.

"Tell me again."

The nindroid sighed, clicking the screen for the tenth time. "Once again, this blip showed up on the map three days ago. After an hour the light moved to the other side of the map. After another hour, it moved again. Since then, it's moved to three other places, and began to rotate through each position. So it's unclear which location is where they are being held." He recited unenthusiastically.

Kai ran his hand through his hair, releasing a deep breath. "And how many have we checked?"

"Kai," Zane warned. "You already know this. Having me repeat it isn't logical, and won't help the current outcome of this situation."

"Just tell me."

"We've checked two of them. All the locations we received were as far apart as Ninjago can get, and each took two days of travel, even on dragon back. Which is exactly where we need to be." The Ice ninja stared hard at Kai, but he ignored him.

"Lloyd told us to wait, so that's what I'm doing."

Zane stood abruptly up from his chair in the missions room, sending it wheeling into the wall. "Kai, he told us to wait, but he also said they would be back this morning. Neither him, or Cole have shown up, and Jay hasn't reported since he left. So stop ignoring my suggestions, we both know something's up. "

Slamming a fist on the table, Kai growled, "I should have gone." He knew why he hadn't, but he also knew that Zane was right. Something was definitely up. It wasn't like the other ninja to blow their return, or not stay in communication. "Jay shouldn't have gone alone."

"Maybe, but now we need to proceed." He told Kai evenly. "We have two options, go to the spot where my computers say there's a ninety percent chance Nya will be, if the person wasn't lying. Or try and find the rest of the team."

Kai rubbed his temples. "Shouldn't we talk to Sensei?"

"There really isn't enough time." Zane dissuaded. "The longer we wait, the more our chances of success lower into the single digits."

"Fine," Kai stood up, already regretting the choice. "Maybe we should split up?"

"No, that's a bad idea." Zane said bluntly.

He rolled his eyes, gripping the back of the seat. "Then what do you suggest?"

"As I said, I think the logical course of action is to head to the first location. Lloyd and the rest of them can take care of themselves. You obviously weren't listening before." He suggested.

"No, I wasn't." Kai sighed, then made his decision. "You go, I'll leave a message for Sensei and join you." Zane squinted, hesitating for a moment before running down the hall. Kai closed his eyes and took a breath, trying to clear his head. It was normally easy to do, but not recently. He hadn't slept well in weeks, not since his sister had been taken, and it hadn't helped when Tempest was too. Thinking about Tempest gave him many feelings, all jumbled and intertwined, making it impossible to determine exactly what he was feeling.

Because of his indecision, and mostly his worry for his sister, he had become a hazard to the team. His flames burst at random times, and his temperature had been fluctuating from a hundred and five to a hundred and twenty degrees. All of that combined made it impossible to sleep, and the random sparks had set his bed ablaze multiple times.

Get it together, Kai. He told himself. You're acting like a beginner ninja again. He stood straighter and left the room, bumping into the android Pixal as he exited the room.