Ninjago's Tournament

Part 3

So because long chapters take a long time to wright and time isn't something that i have much of because i have to watch my little sister and i have summer homework, chapters will be shorter and so far it looks like i might be focussing on this fanfic because i'm getting behind in the episodes and theres still along time till the next How To Train Your Ddragon movie comes out. Thats all, enjoy!
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Kai shoves Jay into the room and then closes the sliding doors. "Are we all here?"
Lloyd shakes his head. "Not yet, we're still waiting for Ler-"
"Right here." She says as she shape shifts from the form of an ant and back to herself.
"Okay good. Before we begin," Jay says fairly calmly, half raising his hand. "Can I just ask-" he turns to Leray "-WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?!"
"Shh!" Kai hisses.
"Keep your voice down." Cole adds.
"We don't want to be discovered breaking the rules." Lloyd finishes.
"Oh just answer my question." Jay says, still facing Leray.
Kai, Cole, and Lloyd look at her too, unable to mask their curiosity.
"I lost control for a second." Leray admits. "And Blood Bringer got out."
"Got out!?" Cole splutters.
"What do you mean... got out?" Lloyd cautions.
"You know, you all saw. I mean exactly what I said." She states. "Blood Bringer got out, for a second."
"A second!" Kai exclaims.
"What if it had been more than a second?!" Jay adds.
Leray sighs. "Someone would probably have died..."
This time the four boys fall silent as her words sink in.
She sighs again and sinks on into one of the red chairs, leaning back in it and looking around at them. "I need you to calm down."
"Calm down!?!" Jay practically screeches. "CALM DOWN!?! How can we calm down about this when you have a demon in you that can get out!"
Leray flinches, her hands clasping tightly in her lap, and says nothing.
Lloyd goes to her and stands beside her, putting one hand on her shoulder and the other on the arm of the chair. "Leray," he says, "we need to know."
She doesn't look up at him. "Know, what...?"
"Answers. Answers to our questions."
"That depends on what they are..."
"No."
Now she looks up at him. "I do not have to tell you everything about myself."
"I'm not asking that. I'm asking for you to answer our questions. All of them, without skimming over."
There's a long silence, then finally, "Alright. But no more shouting... please."
"Okay, I'll ask the first question." He says. "This is why you brought your dagger, there's a connection between it and Blood Bringer, isn't there?"
Cole doesn't let her reply, being careful to keep his voice low. "You brought a weapon with you?"
Jay is a little less careful. "And you got past Clouse with it?!"
Kai shushes him a bit before asking, "Did you use manipulation or something to make him let you come with it?"
Leray hesitates, long enough to cause them to think she isn't going to answer. But then she does. "Yes, yes, yes, and no."
"So he just let you bring it?" Kai elaborates.
"He uses sorcery, so I believe he recognized it as a magical weapon and is curious to see why I have it." She shrugs.
"And why do you have it?" Jay persists.
She sighs. "Lloyd is right. There is a connection between my dagger and Blood Bringer."
"When I asked you, you said that when the time came you would tell me how to use it." Lloyd says. "How and why would I have to use it?"
Leray closes her eyes. "Its name is the Blade of Light. It was made by The Counsel to stop Blood Bringer. A fighter was chosen to send down and use it to kill me, but the night before the fighter was to be sent, Mother Spirit stole the dagger. She snuck up on me and stabbed Blood Bringer in the back, the blade went through the spine and hit the heart. The light magic in the blade made forced me back into my human form. And as I lay on my stomach dying, she pulled the dagger out and began to heal me. As she did, she spoke a prophecy. Then sheathed the dagger, buckling it around my ankle. Then I passed out. When I awoke, I had no memory and Dr. Julian was kneeling above me."
"So you lied to us." Cole growls.
Her voice is small, her head hanging. "Yes.... I did....."
"Why?!" Kai raged.
"Well what else was I supposed to say? I had no memory when I first met you all and had to trust in what father told me."
"You could have told us when you got your memory back." Lloyd points out.
"And before the spirit and shadow battle you could have also then."
She looks up. "And what, just tell you that I had been killed already? You all know how I work, I tell my secrets when they are need to be known."
"Then why are you telling us now?" Jay points out.
"Because you asked and because I'm afraid that Blood Bringer might get control of me again soon."
They freeze.
"Will it?" Jay squeaks
Leray nods. "Yes... two more times...."
"How do you know?" Cole asks.
"The prophecy Mother Spirit said."
"What did she say?" Lloyd presses.
Leray takes a deep breath then recites, "Together they live in constant war for control, demon and human in one form. The demon shall stain the human's hands with blood and the human shall bear that grief and regret as her own. Thrice the Blade of Light shall be used to lock the blood thirsty demon away. Then the human shall be strong enough to lock the demon away herself. But never can they be separated for they are one and only together can they live."
"You mean...." Kai trails off so Jay continues the thought. "...that if you and Blood Bringer..." Cole picks up for him."...are separated then you'll...." Lloyd nearly chokes on the word as he finishes for them. "...die...?"
"Yes..." her voice is small. "both Blood Bringer and I will die.... together we make one soul and one body."
Lloyd swallows hard. "But the dagger..."
"Is made to lock Blood Bringer away and not kill either of us.... wound us severely, yes, but not kill us." She explains.
They go silent so she asks, "Anything else?" When they shake their heads she gets to her feet and says, "Then we better get going."
"Aw..." Cole whines as he stretches out on Kai's bed. "But this bed is so co-" the bed flips over and disappears along with Cole. Where the bed once was is now just the floor. Then it flips back. Cole looks around wildly. "You guys saw that right? There was a secret passage down there."
Kai, Jay, and Lloyd nod. Leray smiles, "boys, I think we just found our ticket to finding Zane."
And with that they pile onto the bed, but nothing happens.
"Okay.... I feel ridiculous...." Lloyd says after nothing happens for a while.
"Well, last time all I did was this..." He stretches back and there is a soft click then the bed flips over again and the five ninjas have to hold onto the bed sheets so that they don't slam into the dark corridor floor below them. "And that happened." Cole finishes.
They drop down and look around, to the left is a dead end and to the right the corridor stretches off into darkness. Kai and Lloyd make small flames in their hands, making a circle of light around the group.
"Let's get going." Kai says as he starts walking.
Leray smiles and walks beside Lloyd. "Were going to find my brother..."
Lloyd smiles back at her and moves his flame to one palm so he can hold her hand with his. "He's a brother to all of us. We are going to find him and then get off this island."
Jay stops walking, tilting his head a bit before saying, "do you hear that?"
"Yeah...." Cole agrees. "It sounds like fighting."
Kai looks around. "Where's it coming from?"
"There!" Jay says pointing up at to spots of light coming from high up in the wall. He climbs up and looks through the eye openings of a portrait into the next room. "It's Skylor, and she's training."
"Oh, oh!" Kai says as he puts out the flame in his hands and scales the wall. "Let me see." He tries to nudge Jay out of the way.
"Hey, wait your turn." Jay whispers.
"We can share." Kai whispers back, phishing Jay to the side just enough so that they each have one of the eye wholes.
"What's she doing?" Cole asks.
"Training." Jay repeats.
"And her element is fire!" Kai splutters.
"But all the elemental masters here are descendants of the original masters." Lloyd said.
Cole starts laughing and does a little dance as he sings, "Kai's heart is on fiiireeee! Kai's heart is on fiiireeee!!"
Kai grumbles under his breath then Leray says, "Alright, how about we start moving again." And with that they continue down the secret corridor.
Slowly their surroundings change from the smooth corridor to a rocky cave tunnel. "This is so cool." Cole says, "there's a whole maze of secret passageways down here."
"Wait!" Lloyd suddenly darts forward and grabs Kai's shoulder, stopping him from continuing his step.
"What?! What's wrong?!" Kai splutters.
Lloyd kneels down and gently touches a very thin tripwire strung across the tunnel. "See? There are bobytraps."
"Watch your step fellas." Leray says as she steps over the wire.
They move carefully but don't get far before they hear erri chanting. As one, the five move towards the sound to see what it is. They peer around the rocky wall into a large cavern with an altar and throne on a raised rock platform. Rows of Chen's guards, four across and several down, they bow and chant in front of the altar.
"What's going on?" Jay hisses.
"A ceremony I think." Leray muses.
"We have to get in there." Lloyd lightly hits his fist against the wall.
Cole nods. "We might get a clue to finding Zane."
And with that they back up but the sound of foot steps makes them freeze, then they dart behind a boulder. Four of the guards are walking down the tunnel to the large chamber.
Leray smiles. "I think I just found your ticket to the show." Then vines snap out and silently entangle them and pull the four into the shadows. Kai, Cole, Jay, and Lloyd put on the ceremonial outfits and Leray uses a purple plant poultice to make their tattoos. "You don't have long, this stuff will start to fade."
"How long do we have...?" Jay asks cautiously.
Leray sighs. "I wish I could be exact... but not long."
"Gee..... that's helpful." Kai groans, earning a hard elbow to his stomach from Lloyd.
"Just go." Leray points to the cavern.
"But what about you?" Cole asks.
"No one can see an ant." She replies, then she's gone.
"I kind of hate it when she does that. I'm worried that I'm going to step on her." Jay sighs.
"If you step on her I'll kill you." Lloyd grumbles.
Cole points to the small ant sitting on Lloyd's shoulder. "Well we wont have to worry about that."
Leray points her antennae at the cavern in a silent, "GO!"
"Okay, okay." Kai puts his hands up. "We're going."
And so they finally walk into the cavern to spy on the strange underground ceremony.