The Island (Cole x oc)

The Keepers of the Amulet

We thundered further and deeper into the island, speeding our way over hills and through valleys. Motion suddenly caught my attention and I picked up heavy rustlings in the leaves over the roar of the chopper engines.

"Lloyd, I hear something," I called down to the green ninja. He glanced up at the ridge above us before swerving to a stop, the other ninja just behind us.

As the cross hatches of the choppers popped up, Nya inquired, "What's wrong?"

"I thought I saw something up there," Lloyd pointed up on the ridge, "An animal."

"I heard it, too," I added, "whatever it was, it sounded big."

"We're in the jungle, Lloyd," Jay dismissed, "There's lots of animals. And how did you hear anything over the chopper motors, Celine?" He shot me a skeptical look.

"Hey, hey, don't ignore it when Celine says she hears something big. Last time I did that, there was a close call with a lava monster," Cole interjected, catching my eye and winking.

I squinted at Cole incredulously. Did he really just stick up for me?

"Hey, by the way, did anyone bring a snack?," Cole asked, changing subjects abruptly, "I'm starving."

"I did," Jay responded with a grin.

"Great!"

"But it fell in the ocean," Jay continued.

"Oh, thanks for getting my hopes up," Cole moaned, plopping to a sitting position on top of his chopper.

I briefly took a mental inventory of what I had stashed in my utility belt: life straw, emergency blanket, a pocketknife, paracord, but no food.

Lloyd shifted his attention to Twitchy, who appeared to be on the brink of a mental breakdown, "What kind of animals are there on this island, Twitchy?"

"Uh," Twitchy stammered, "Poisonous pythons, poisonous jaguars, poisonous frogs, poisonous eels, poisonous piranhas, poisonous birds!" he exclaimed loudly as a small flock flew over us.

"Poisonous birds?" Nya questioned skeptically.

"Don't you mean venomous pythons?" I added quietly.

"Pretty much everything on this island is poisonous!" Twitchy went on, "Especially those berries." He pointed towards Cole, who was munching on some white berries growing nearby.

Cole bolted to attention, stared at the berries in his hand, and promptly spit them out.

I rolled my eyes, "Did no one ever teach to not eat something if you don't know for sure what it is?"

"Whatever is on this island," Lloyd spoke, gearing up to keep riding, "It won't stop us from finding my mom and Master Wu."

"And Clutch Powers," Nya reminded brightly.

"Huh? Oh yeah, right. And Clutch," Lloyd corrected skeptically. The crosshatch of the chopper slammed down and Lloyd cranked the vehicle into gear, shooting us, once again, through the jungle.

After a few miles, we skidded to a stop and one by one we leapt out of the choppers.

"Let's leave the jungle choppers here. There's no way we're gonna drive through that," Lloyd voiced as we approached and inspected a particularly dense part of the jungle.

A low growl from behind caught my attention.

"Ha, you weren't kidding, you really are hungry," Kai joked at Cole, "I can hear your stomach growling from here."