NINJAGO: The Fray Of Crows

CHAPTER ELEVEN - The Climb

Hurricane's wings did their best to carry Jay as far as they both could go, but even then, the mighty dragon could only fly so high before needing to land on a mountain ledge. Jay climbed down and pet Hurricane's face as he tried to understand what was holding him back.

"Are you tired, Hurricane? We've only been flying for a couple of minutes..." Jay said, but then he looked up, and the peak of the mountain was still high out of reach.

"Oh! Maybe it's the altitude--you're cold!" Jay realized, but then began to pace around, brainstorming for an idea. "Well, we didn't come all this way just to turn back around for the Bounty, but how will I get up there?"

He stopped walking conveniently in front of some old scaling gear. The only downside to it was that it was still being worn by the skeleton of its last user.

"Ew... ugh, I guess this works..." Jay cringed as he moved to take the gear off the skeleton and put it on himself.

He recalled Hurricane with his elemental powers before spinning the grappling hook and launching it high up on the mountain. He gave it a tug to make sure it was in place, then tied the other end of the rope to his harness before taking the ice pick and striking it into the side of the mountain, using the spiky boots he put on his feet to help him grip to the cliffside.

The snow fell harder the closer he got to the top of the peak, and he found that it became more difficult to get his grip in the ice wall he was climbing.

"Skei!" Jay shouted while he battled with the elements of the mountain, nearing the top. "Come back!"

As he reached to adjust the ice pick's placement, his shoe slipped, and he fell backwards with a shout. The grappling hook's rope he had used to hold him snapped, and there would be nothing to save him from falling all the way to the bottom far below.

"AHHH!" Jay screamed as he looked down, feeling himself plumet. He covered his eyes with his hands, but then the wind rushing past suddenly stilled, and he realized that he wasn't falling anymore.

"Huh?" he mumbled to himself as he tried to look up at his rope, seeing that Skei had been there, holding onto it with a single arm.

"H-Hold on," she grunted. "Shimu!"

The little axolotl had been on standby, but without Skei saying a command, he was on the case. He ran over to Skei before latching onto her shoe with his mouth, helping keep her up while she grabbed the rope with her other hand. Skei then mustered the rest of her strength and pulled Jay up as his arms dug into the snow for the traction to scurry forward. He fell forward and planted his face in the snow, unbothered by the cold.

"What are you doing here?" Skei asked after the fact. "Why aren't you with the others?"

"Are you kidding me? You ran away!" Jay remarked as he pushed up out of the snow. "And now Medua with her freaky, four-headed dragon has a weakness spell--on top of taking the Ninja and everyone else we freed as captives!"

Skei reeled back in surprise, but at the same time, she realized her mistake. It was wrong of her to just up and leave them like that--especially since she was the only one that fully knew how to control the Vengestone, and also had the most knowledge about Medua.

"Anyway, I'm here because Lloyd told me to find you while he used the last of his strength to keep a forcefield around everyone else... I just can't figure out why Medua's spell didn't affect me." Jay added as he got up from the snow and brushed himself off, knocking the Sunstone stone he had worn around his neck free from under his gi's collar.

"What about that I handed you?" Skei asked as she noticed it.

"Handed me what? Oh wait--this?" Jay asked as he held up the stone by the string it was on. "Yeah, I decided to wear it--since it looked cool with the dragon carrying the stone and the way it curled around and such--"