It's Complicated

Chapter 6: Quiet Flee

"What?!" Jay shrieked out, "When?! Where?! How-?!"

Cole quickly got up and covered Jay's mouth before he attracted any onis to their current location, "Jayy!" He whispered harshly, "Shut it, Motormouth, before you lead the oni towards us!" He hissed quietly. "And to answer your questions... When? Just now. Where? At the Temple. How? I- I actually don't know."

Vania showed her agreement by nodding shakily, "Ye-Yeah! They literally came out of nowhere!"

"After running a few simulations, I think that the oni might have tracked us down." Zane said out of nowhere.

"Tracked us down?! How?" Jay asked.

Zane scratched his head, "The first time the oni caught up to us was because we didn't cover our tracks. After that incident, we've always covered our tracks, so did anyone leave a trail by accident?"

Nya walked up to the duo, "Okay, so maybe I may have forgotten to completely dry out the river." After she said that, a bunch of groans were heard before Nya snapped, "But aside from that, what do we do?" She asked.

"Obviously, leave." Kai scoffed, "Duh!" Nya and Skylor rolled their eyes at him.

It was quiet for a few seconds, only panting was heard from Vania who was still slightly worn out from running away earlier. That was until Lloyd shook his head and stepped forward.

"Nuh-uh. We need to go back to the Temple." Lloyd declared, much to the surprise of everybody as they started protesting and complaining quietly. "Shh! Be quiet, you guys. At this point, the oni will catch us in no time."

Skylor crossed her arms, "Yeah. U-huh. Except that, ahem, you're telling us to go back to the Temple. Not to mention that's where the oni are."

Harumi's eyes widened in realization, "No. Lloyd's right." A chorus of confusion flooded her, "If the oni don't know we're here yet, then we need to make sure that they never knew we were here." She smiled as the others started to get onto her. Harumi swiftly turned to the two nindroids, "Zane, PIXAL, when you guys were at the Temple, did the oni know you were there?"

A few seconds of silence before PIXAL slowly shook her head, "I do not think that they noticed we were there. If they had noticed, it is more than likely that they would have attacked when they got the chance. And at that time, we were without defense or protection."

Lloyd tapped on his chin, "How did you escape the first time?"

"I packed a zipline with me earlier and we used it to slip away from the Temple unnoticed. But alas, I only had one and we had to leave it if we wanted to have a chance to make it to you guys." Zane frowned.

"That is not good. If you left the zipline in the middle of nowhere-"

PIXAL interrupted Lloyd, "It is well hidden inside a tree, Lloyd. You do not have to worry about it being found."

"But it's still evidence." He slammed a fist into his other hand.

"He's right," Harumi started, "At this point, we don't really have a choice but to go back to the Temple. Since the oni don't know that we're here, we need to escape. Get out of here. But not before getting rid of any evidence. So, are you guys in or out?" She held her hand out.

Without hesitation, Lloyd placed his hand on top of hers. "Technically, it was originally my idea so... I'm definitely in."

"Ninja never leave friends behind," Kai held his hand on top of theirs, "I'm in, girl."

Slamming his hand down on theirs, Cole softly cheered, "Heck yeah! I'm so in."

A white hand landed on top of the Earth Ninja's, "If Cole's in, then I'm in." Vania declared.