4. Dark Sides: Rise of the Anacondrai

Chapter 31 - No Ninja Left Behind

A/N: We only have 2 chapters left, and as per my custom, I will be posting BOTH of them next week! So come ready for a big finale!

. . .

"Zane!"

Kai watched helplessly from a distance as his friend's body convulsed with lightning before collapsing to the ground. Kai shot to his feet, but Jay immediately yanked him back down again.

"Are you crazy!"

"Let me go," Kai shouted in protest.

But Jay clung firmly to his sleeve. "Didn't you see what that thing just did? If you go out there, you won't be able to get to him and it won't do the rest of us any good if you're both struck down!"

Kai hesitated. He had a point, but they couldn't just leave Zane out there!

"What would you do, anyway?" Jay continued, desperately trying to reason with him. "Remember what Zane told us? You wouldn't know the first thing about how to help him. I don't even think I would know what to do."

Kai knew Jay was right. How could he know if Zane was badly injured? Would a robot or nindroid or whatever have a pulse? How would Kai know how to help?

"If you go out there, you'll probably end up doing more harm than good!"

Kai clenched his fist. He ducked back down beside Jay. Fixing his gaze on the dragon, he watched it carefully, ready to leap out and rescue his brother if it tried anything again.

The heads were scanning the chasm now, watching Chen's Anacondrai scurry aimlessly to and fro like trapped insects. It was chaos out there, and Kai kept losing sight of Zane. He caught another glimpse and was relieved to see that Pixal was with him now. The dragon was on her side, at least she might be able to protect him. Kai hoped she would.

At that moment, Cole dropped down beside them. "You guys okay?" he asked.

"Zane was hit by the dragon," Jay said.

"He's completely vulnerable out there," Kai said. "We need to get him out before something worse happens!"

Cole was straining to see Zane. He opened his mouth to speak when a firm voice said, "No."

All three boys turned to see their master calmly approaching. Kai had almost forgotten about him, but he was so used to looking out for the others, and Master Wu could clearly take care of himself. But what did he mean about not helping Zane? What did he want them to do?

"It's too late to save Zane," Master Wu explained, much to Kai and the others' shock.

Kai couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had to be misunderstanding him. "You're not saying –"

"The girl is with him," he said, nodding to the figures trapped amongst the confusion. "He'll be fine. But this battle has grown out of our control. It's time we leave."

"We can't leave him!"

"Zane has got himself into this mess, there's nothing we can do for him now."

Kai shot to his feet. "This is all your fault!"

"Kai –" Cole reached out a hand to calm him, but Kai shrugged him off.

"We didn't have to help Chen, but you're so obsessed with fighting Garmadon that you dragged us into this!"

"Mind your tone," Wu growled. "Or I may see fit to leave you behind as well." But as he said this, something else caught Kai's attention.