NINJAGO: The Fray Of Crows

CHAPTER SEVEN - The Vengestone Warrior

They flew to the tallest peak and landed the Bounty there, getting off to look for any potential clues of where Skei could've been resting.

"Wow, this place is blander than a desert!" commented Jay with a gesture. "Who would want to rest up here?"

"I reckon it was not like this in Skei's time," said Master Wu. "The Crows have destroyed a great deal of the Islands, if that is not visibly evident from up here."

They all decided to turn around and look at where Wu had been gazing, seeing that the Islands had indeed been tarnished with dark unearthed magic. They all gasped in stunned silence. Lloyd jumped when Shimu poked his head out of the teapot, then he jumped out and started walking through the snow.

"Hey, Shimu, come back here!" Lloyd said, but the little salamander was on a mission, sniffing through the snow, only to stop at a snowflake that landed on his forehead from the sky. He chirped, then Lloyd looked up after chasing him, seeing that snowfall had begun.

Shimu looked back at him, noticing that he was distracted, then continued on, looking for whatever it was he was after.

"Shimu!" Lloyd called as soon as he realized that he moved again, but this time, he actually came back, holding a rock in his mouth. Shimu set it down next to Lloyd's feet, and his tail wagged like a dog would.

"What's this?" Lloyd asked as the stone was particularly rounded and oval-shaped, he picked it up and turned it over in his hands, finding that a symbol was carved into it. "Hey, Wu! Guys! I think Shimu found something."

The group headed over to Lloyd and they looked over his shoulder at the stone in his hands. Master Wu walked up and held out his hand to take it, and Lloyd gave it for him to look at.

"I see," Sensei Wu said. "Perhaps there are stones that need to be aligned that'll grant us the ability to awaken Skei."

"Well, it'll be easier to find them before this snow gets thick," Kai said. Then he had a second idea. "Or..."

Kai ignited his fire abilities and blew a flame over the snowy terrain, melting the thin layer of snow away.

"Hah! I can do you one better," said Cole as he started using his earth powers to pick up rocks and toss away the ones that weren't marked.

"Nope, nope, no, nadda, definitely not." Cole muttered to himself.

Shimu just shook his head and face palmed. Lloyd watched him as he skittered across the ground, over to a rock with three sharp points and climbed atop of it. He made noise that alerted them to the area, then both Kai and Cole stopped their powers to go investigate.

Shimu climbed down and ran around the rock in a circle. Lloyd nudged Kai's shoulder, then he used a small flame to melt the snow Shimu left footprints in, revealing the rest of the stones in semi scattered order.

"Way to go, Shimu!" Cole said.

They all collected the stones and set them back in their assumed places, then Master Wu set the final one down in front of the stoneface, and they lit up with bright blue, creating a spark of energy that bounced from one stone, to the next, and got quicker until it ended back up at the first rock. It stagnated for a moment, leaving the Ninja's to anticipate eagerly, then a beam shot out through the spiked rock in the center, opening a portal into who knew where.

Shimu looked at it excitedly, chirping at the others to follow him right before he jumped into it and vanished.

"Are we seriously jumping into another unknown vortex? How has that gone for us the last few times we did that?" Cole asked, setting his hand on Lloyd who was about to go in after Shimu.