Ninjago: Crystalized

Episode 21-Evil Blood

Now that they were back into the world of chaos, it would almost seem that prison was more peaceful and secure, compared to the darkness lurking in the shadows. To live in a world of peace wasn't always a ninja's life. For civilians, perhaps, but not the ninja. Traversing the caves and facing the darkness was the job for the ninja, a job that many seemed to neglect and underestimate the amount of stress it actually took.

"Zane, can you hear me?" Wu's voice could be clearly heard in the ninja's comms, as they walked through the dark subway tunnels.

"Yes, Master Wu." He calmly replied.

"Be careful, I have a bad feeling about this." Wu said.

"Ugh," Jay groaned, "thanks for the encouragement. How about some good news?"

"That federal marshal Hounddog Mcbrag was here," He said, referring to the monastery, "He confiscated the Bounty."

"What?" Kai snapped, with his voice echoing throughout the endless tunnel.

"How is that good news?" Cole ridiculed.

"I'm afraid I don't have any good news." He replied, "They have set up a surveillance around my father's monastery too, so don't return home by the stairs. Be careful out there, ninja."

"Affirmative." Zane replied, before Wu's voice vanished, leaving the four pupils alone.

The four had been in these situations countless times, but the uncertainty and discomfort was thrice as intense. This time, it wasn't as simple and easy as travelling through the Caves of Despair for the Scythe of Quakes under the mind-numb skulkin's noses.

They walked continuously, reaching a subway car on the tracks. It had the traditional designs with painted wood of red, white and black, all faded to lesser colours to the age of time as it sat there unmoved for decades.

"Is that what I think it is?" Jay curiously ran towards the car, although the enthusiasm didn't really comfort the pressure he had.

"If you think it's a rusted piece of junk blocking the tunnel, then yes." Everyone could hear the irritation in Kai's words.

"That's not junk." Jay snapped, "That's a BRTM-12 subway car. You don't see these things now."

Kai couldn't find himself to care. Lloyd's survival was at stake here, and the sense of dread crept into his heart bit by bit the more they traversed the tunnels, not finding a single clue. He lit up a fire from his fist, raising it above his shoulders as they kept walking, in hopes of finding that brick wall.

"The BRTM-12 was the workforce of the old Ninjago Subway System. These cars were discontinued over fifty years ago—" Kai could hear Jay's nonstop blabbering behind him, talking about his old-school nostalgia to Zane and Cole, who didn't seem to be as much uninterested as him, "—This baby was engineered for strength and durability!"

But they had no idea what was coming for them.

The Quiet One had no intention of them reaching the end of the tunnel.

—

Lloyd kept slamming the vengestone bars, hoping for it to do something as he helplessly tried to break free, "Stop! Don't do this!!"

In front of Harumi was the screen with the ninja in sight. The live footage was from the Crystal Spiders, lurking around his brothers like a shadow.

Lloyd knew well how dangerous those spiders could be, but he just couldn't do anything inside this awful cage. He stared at another screen, where the spiders crawled to another place.