the other side | ninjago

another one down

"Cole! What are you doing?" asked Kai from where he stood.

No one knew what to do because now they stood face-to-face with their friend. Cole stood motionless. His dark eyes, now light.

Everyone stood at a standstill, unable to figure out the next way to go. Zane was still entrapped by the vines growing from the ground. The vines began to pull Zane closer to the threat. Again, as he tried to free himself from their grasp, they only began to tighten. As the rest of the team began to see Zane being pulled towards the masked figure, they all ran to help him. Just as they all began to run towards Zane, Cole began to move too. The figure whistled ever so slightly, and he moved forward with the intent of going after his team.

Lloyd got to Zane first, but Cole was right behind him. Just as Lloyd tried to free him, Cole pushed him off of him, throwing punches while he was down.

"Cole, snap out of it!" shouted Lloyd, struggling to regain his footing while Cole attacked him, but Cole did not respond. He did not even make an expression.

The ground began to shake as the team got closer to Zane. It was apparent now that Cole was using his powers against his own team. It was obvious he was under some sort of mind control, but the only time they had seen hypnosis was through Scales when they first became ninja. Of course, poor Cole always gets hypnotized first. But alas, there was no way that Scales was behind this. The serpentine and the people were no longer at war.

The figure remains motionless for the entirety of this time. They now had Cole to do their bidding for them, and it was clear now that they wanted Zane as well. They wanted to create some sort of divide.

It was obvious that the team was not going to get through to Cole, but they desperately needed to keep Zane away from them. Lloyd and Nya tried their hardest to free Zane, while the rest of them traveled to the masked figure. The vines kept pulling Zane closer and closer to the figure, which became too fast for them to keep up with. Cole shaking the land also kept the team from reaching them. In all this time, Kai fell and injured his leg while running, leaving him immobile.

"Guys, it would be nice to get a bit of help," said Zane desperately.

"We are trying. It's not very easy with Cole in our way," said Nya.

Just as captured Zane got close enough to the masked figure, the land around them started to break into its own island, making it impossible for the rest of the team to reach them. No one had ever seen Cole's power to this extent. Not once did they ever think he would be capable of such destruction.

"The ground is breaking!" shouted Jay from where he stood, helping Kai to move.

"We know Jay. Thank you!" said Kai, obviously very sarcastically.

After this sassy comment Jay dropped Kai and kept moving.

"Hey!" exclaimed Kai, visibly in pain.

Nya ran towards the now shifting plot of land where the figure and Zane were. She attempted to jump across the space, but it was clear she was not going to make it. Lloyd grabbed her arm before jumping because he knew she would fall. In doing this, the figure was now left with Zane, who was fully surrounded by vines now. On the other side of the large ravine that stood, the figure created a bridge of vines to get them out of there. Cole followed close behind, and as he left, the ground stopped shifting. They had escaped and with Zane.

The team, now shaken up with the loss of two members, had them in complete silence. They traveled back to the bounty with many struggles because of Kai's injuries. When they made it back, no one spoke. They simply went to their respective rooms to give each other some space. Lloyd found himself alone in a room, and all he did was punch the wall. After putting a hole through the wall, he sat on the ground and reflected on what needed to be done. He knew he needed to find his friends.

Wu and Misako heard Lloyd in the room, and went inside.

Wu looked at the hole Lloyd had just put in the wall. "You're going to have to fix that," said Wu.

"I know, but I need help. What do we do?" Lloyd said.

"We are looking at our next option," said Misako.

Lloyd was not too happy with this answer, but he knew it was the best response he could get. He walked himself back to his room and crawled into his bed. He laid in bed, found himself unable to settle or get the mental image of Cole and Zane out of his head. He also could not stop thinking about the mysterious girl from Chen's. He wanted to see her again.

He still still was curious who she was.