Ninjago's Shadow

21: Earth

~~~Cole P.O.V.~~~

After wandering aimlessly through the forest and out into the desert, I am very agitated with myself. “Come on Cole, you’re the leader for goodness sake! And you can’t find a road or town! What’s the matter with you?!” I shout to myself. (So remember that time at the Temple of Light and when that Stone Warrior asked who the leader was? Well, I’m the leader, and when we were asked that I panicked and pointed at Leray. The others just followed my lead.)

The sun falls and I fall asleep, then wake up the next morning and FINALLY find a little desert town. I walk around and ask people for directions to the Rocky Mountain Mines. They stare at me with bewilderment so I leave the town.

A little ways away from the town I fined train tracks and not a minute to late, because a train roars by. I reach up and grab onto a bar, then I am whisked away by the train. Minutes pass by which then roll in to hours of standing on the edge of a train with only a bare to hold on to and sand being blown into my eyes. The only upside is my hood-mask, it keeps the sand out of my lungs. This has beater be worth it.

The land scape begins to change. It grows rockier and baron with cliffs and the old structures of mines appear. The train slows and turns so that I am now facing a hollowed out crater with the dark passages of mines in the rock. With a lurch and the screech of metal wheels on the tracks, the train stops. Workers start come to the train to unload the cargo.

I jump off and walk over to the train conductor and the mine boss. Saluting the train conductor, I thank him by saying, “Thank you for the ride. You saved me many days of walking.” Then turning to the mine boss I say, “I need to get into an old collapsed part of your mine. There is something very important I need to retrieve.”

The mine boss is a big hairy, dirty, brute of a man while the train conductor is tall and wearing a cleanly pressed blue suit with gold buttons.

“And who might you be?” Bellows the mine boss.

I use my spinjitzu then grab my sword, the blade extends as I do a slight bow and say to him, “Ninja of Earth, at your service.” Might as well have a little fun when the others aren’t around. Kai and Jay would laugh their heads off if they saw me do that.

“And what might I have that is so important to you?” He growls squinting at me.

“Well if I don’t retrieve it, it might fall in to the hands of the shadow men.” I explain.

“So? Why do I care?” He growls.

“Think about the Over Lord and the Great Devourer combined, and it will be much worse.” I say.

The mine boss straitens. “Knock you self out.” He says. Then I walk to the far side of the mines.

The entrance is nothing but ruble. “Thanks a lot Kai.” I grumble. If he hadn’t made the cave collapse, this would be much easier.

I walk along the wall hitting it with the hilt of my sword and listening for an echo. The workers start to look at me strangely. Finally I get an echo. Using my sword I blast a small tunnel, only big enough to wiggle through. I get down on my hands and knees and squirm through the entrance.

A rumbling shakes through the little tunnel and I hear the rocks shift above me. Wriggling faster I tumble out head first in to a cave just as the small tunnel collapses. Standing up I look around.

This is the cave where we had found the Scythe of Quakes. It must have been only the mine tunnels that collapsed. “So, now what?” I ask myself, my voice echoes off the dust covered rock walls.

“Melt in to the earth, become one with it.” A smooth polished voice echoes all around me.

I turn around. A girl with dusty drown hair and green eyes that shine like gems stands in the middle of the cave. She is wearing a brown dress with patches of glittery color like crystals and a sparkling belt of gems.

“Who are you?” I ask her.

“Prophecy.” She says. Then she begins to fade as she repeats, “Melt into the earth, become one with it.” Then she is gone.

I look down and cross my arms, deep in thought about her words. Suddenly pain erupts from my chest and my hand flies up to fined an arrow lodged in me. I look up and fined three skeletons. They must have been trapped in here when the tunnel collapsed. Lifting my sword I make a rock fall on them, crushing them to dust.

Dropping my sword, it falls with a clatter, my knees buckle and I sink to the ground. My vision gets blurry as my heart flutters painfully. Dizzy and confused I rip the arrow from my chest and throw it aside. I clutch the wound with both my hands as blood dribbles through my fingers.

My heart flutters one last time then it stops as I struggle to gasp for breath, then slumping forward the world goes black.

When  my eyes flicker open my breath stirs the dust and I slowly sit up. I don’t know what happened. Then I see the pool of dried blood around me and I remember. I look down at my chest expecting to fined a gaping hole. Only to fined a completely new ninja suit. It is still black like the other one but now with small crystals out lined in gold here and there.

Standing I find the golden scythe lying on the ground by my feet I pick it up. I spin then hit it on the ground. In a flash of light I am sitting in my earth car. Pressing the gas peddle the car roars forward and bursts out of the cave in to broad day light. Rocks clatter and cloud of dust rises.

When the dust settles the cave has completely collapsed. Then I race off to the bounty.