The Flower Princess (Ninjago Lava)

Chapter 1: The Calm Before The Storm

Cole POV
I was reading a new book on the armchair, Kai was sleeping on the living room couch, wrapped in my blanket. We were home alone, and waiting for Wu and the others to return. Nya was the first to barge in, and when she saw Kai she tackled him from behind. She grabbed him into a hug, and he screamed, waking up. Nya let go of him. "Whoops, did I interrupt something?"
Kai looked at me, fully awake, gave a mischievous smile, winked, and flipped over the couch (and his sister) and started tickling her. She squealed, calling for Jay or Lloyd. Her boyfriend, or her little brother figure. The two closest to her, other than Kai. I burst into laughter, setting the book down. The others were just walking in, and when they saw the scene, they started laughing along. I saw the clock, it was too late for this much energy. I grabbed the blanket that Kai abandoned on the couch, and collected the hot chocolate we were drinking earlier. As I was putting them in the sink, Lloyd had pulled Kai off of Nya, who was now shaking from laughter. It was midnight now. I gave Kai my blanket, and nudged him toward his room. "You're going back to sleep now that we know our family is safe and sound."
He grumbled, muttering something like "I'm only going back to sleep because your blanket is soft." I chuckled and gently shoved Kai down the hall. I quickly reported the events that went down back here (nothing) before I retreated for my bedroom.
Once I was in my bedroom, I pulled out my notebook and my headphones, and drew with my music for a couple hours. My favorite song was Dandelions by Ruth B. It was a very simple song, yet so beautiful. After a while of drawing, I found myself staring at a picture of a forest on fire. The nice mix of black and red colors pleased me. Satisfied, I stuck my notebook under my bed and listened to my music until I couldn't keep my eyes open.
~The Next Day~
Wu called us all into the kitchen so we could talk about what he learned from the mission yesterday.
"All we found was this map." Wu showed the group the map, with a red X marked on a cave system. "Kai, I want you to take Cole, Lloyd, and Nya with you to check it out. Zane, why don't we make food for when they return?" Zane and Kai nodded, and I quickly followed."Remember," Wu said, "it could be dangerous."
Kai scoffed. "I laugh in the face of danger."
As we were packing for our excursion, Wu stopped by my room. "Make sure Kai doesn't do anything foolish. That's your main job."
I nodded. "That's usually my job anyway." I pulled on my gi, grabbed my backpack, and as I was walking out the door, I patted Wu's shoulder. "We've got this." As I walked out to my car, Lloyd was waiting, and tossed me my keys. Everyone knew I was the best driver and would make the best decisions. "Where's-" I started, before Nya came barging out, dragging Kai by the collar.
"Let go!"
"No," Nya growled. "We promised Sensei we'd leave at noon, so we're gonna leave at noon!"
I sighed. Typical Smith sibling stuff. "Get in," I said, hopping into the driver's seat. This might be a long day.
When we arrived at the location on the map, I was the last to get out of the car. We were at a semi-hidden area, I trusted we didn't need to take everything in with us. As we ventured down the stone halls, I felt on edge. This place was a little off-putting. The air seemed almost...heavy.
"Wait!" Kai grabbed my wrist. He slid his foot over a loose brick in the ground. An arrow shot across the hall. "Booby traps," he sighed. We all groaned. I led the group, feeling around with my foot for any loose bricks in the floor.
When we finally got to the next room, all it had was two identical thrones and  murals on the walls, with thorny vines snaking over them. Kai was the first to try reading the murals, dragging the vines over.
"Ow!" He sucked his finger.
"You okay?" I shouted from my side of the room.
"Fine," he yelled. "A little blood, don't worry. No one touch the vines!" We nodded in response. From what we could gather, the murals seemed to be depicting a familiar story we all knew. The Flower Princess story.
"We better report back to Wu," Nya concluded. "Maybe, though, you and Cole should stay and see if you can find anything else," she told Kai. She and Lloyd took my car, and drove off. Me and Kai started searching the thrones, looking for anything. Maybe a lever, or a switch, or heck, even a puzzle. There had to be something else here.
"Cole! Look at this!" I ran to Kai's throne to see what he saw. "Flower Princess, all right," he said, pointing at a flower symbol engraved in the back of the throne. He must've moved it forward to see the back.
"Let's look at the other one." We pushed the other throne off the wall, and looked for a symbol on the back. Sure enough, there was a fire symbol on the back. "Yup, the Flower Princess' throne room." Me and Kai looked to each other. We realized we'd have to walk back home. I growled lightly. Time for some cardio.