Ninjago stories

Belly of the Beast

“... Ergo, one of us must go in and retrieve the inverter.”
Lloyd pondered. “ Hmmmmm…”
Jay turned to him. “ Don’t tell me you’re considering this!”
Before Lloyd could reply, they heard a whistle.
A whistle Jay knew well.
“ Mia!” He exclaimed, trying to get up.
He couldn’t.
“ Uh, guys? Help!”
The others tried to get up. They couldn’t.
“ How?!” Lloyd exclaimed.
Cole smashed his hands together and tried “ Nope, can’t do it.”
They saw a rock hurling in the air.
It crashed on the sand.
The rock began to move.
“ MIA!” Jay yelled, trying his level best to get out.
“ Don’t worry, Jay,” he heard. “ I’ll be fiiiiiiiine.”
Jay groaned. “ Mia….”
Before he could say anything, the beetle came up.
In fact, all three of them did.
BUt Mia didn’t panic. She whistled again. “ NOW!”
A plane came above her, and it turned upside down. Six people jumped and landed on their feet next to Mia.
“Nels, Jake, distract them with your elemental powers. Unagami, call your gamers!”
Unagaimi looked at Mia. “ Uh…. this isn’t Prime Empire.”
“ Yeah, and we can’t use our powers, remember?” Nelson asked.
Mia slapped her head. “ New plan. Boys, run around or something. Distract them. Girls, we’ve got some Bernie Wrangling to do.”
Back with the ninja, they were watching with bated breath and wide eyes.
“ I can’t believe she’s your sister Jay. You’re opposites!” Lloyd said.
Jay shook his head, recovering. “ That’s why we’re a good team.”
But then a FOURTH Berie came.
It was looking at Mia.
“ MIA!” Jay yelled.
Mia turned, and screamed. “ WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!”
It was larger than the other three, and it was going to eat her.
But then something blue hit it.
Mia turned, to find her brother looking expectantly at her. “ Well? What are you waiting for?”
Mia smiled. “ You’re the best, you know that?”
“ Just go!” Kai exclaimed before they could get distracted.
Mia nodded, and turned. “ Okay. Annie, use your Shockwave. Emma, make the clouds cover the sun. Rose, you’re with me.”
“ What are we gonna do?” Rose asked as she followed Mia, who threw her a rope.
“ We’re gonna secure them.”
“ And then what?”
“ Use my wind to bring the inverter out of their mouths.”
Emma, who overheard, nodded. “ Got it.”
Focusing, she thrust her hands to the sky, and black shot from them.
The sky was immediately covered, and they could barely see a thing.
Lucky for Rose and Mia, Mia used her ( rather, Kai’s) fire to see.
“ GET TO COVER GUYS!” Mia yelled. “ FOLLOW THE LIGHT!”
Kai, hearing, lit his hand on fire, and he could see five figures running to them.
“ Now what do we do?” Annie asked as she looked at the clouds.
Emma sighed and took her doodle pad out. “ We wait.”
“ In the meantime, could you help us and take us out?!” Jay asked.
Nelson raised a brow. “ You have’t freed yourselves?”
“ If we did, we wouldn’t be sitting here.” Lloyd said in a flat voice.
Jake laughed. “ Guys! All you had to do was press the button.”
“ What button?!” Jay asked, looning everywhere.
Jake shook his head and tapped the front of the rock. Jay fell face first.
“ Oh.”
" Wait, it was that easy?!" Lloyd asked as he hit the button and stood up.
Nelson nodded. “ Yep!”
Annie looked at Emma. “ You thinking what I’m thinking?”
“ Probably no but spit it out.”
Annie rolled her eyes." Use your darkness to make it harder for Beohermie-"
" Bernie!"
" To see."
" I already did that." She pointed to where Rose and Mia still were.
“ Oh. you think they’re okay?”
“ Ovi.”
“ You say that like it’s obvious.”
“ ‘Cause it is.”

Meanwhile, Mia and Rose darted through the chaos, focused and determined. The enormous beetles stomped and snarled, their mandibles snapping dangerously close, but Mia remained calm, her eyes fixed on their target.

"Rose, go for their legs!" Mia shouted, tossing a rope to Rose.

Without hesitation, Rose grabbed the rope and nodded. "On it!" she called back as they split off in opposite directions. They moved swiftly, ducking and weaving between the beetles' massive legs. Rose expertly looped the rope around the legs of one of the beetles, yanking it tight to trap the creature's movement.

The beetle shrieked in frustration, trying to free itself, but Rose wasn't done. She darted in close and kicked its stomach with all her might. The beetle staggered backward, giving Mia the opening she needed.

"Perfect timing, Rose!" Mia shouted, her hands glowing with elemental energy. With a sharp exhale, she summoned a gust of wind that swirled around her, concentrating it into a controlled vortex. "Time to get that inverter!"

The wind snaked its way toward the beetle's gaping mouth, swirling with enough force to pull anything loose inside. Mia gritted her teeth, focusing harder, and with a powerful whoosh, the wind ripped the inverter out of the beetle's throat.

"Got it!" Mia yelled triumphantly, holding the glowing inverter in her hand.

Another beetle lunged, but Rose swung back, using the remaining rope to entangle its legs, and kicked its stomach once more, sending it sprawling to the ground.

"That should keep them busy for now!" Rose panted, joining Mia as they sprinted away from the fallen beetles.

Behind them, the other beetles screeched and thrashed against their bindings, but Mia and Rose had already escaped their reach. They met up with the rest of their team, who had managed to distract the other beetles just long enough to keep them at bay.

Jay, finally freed thanks to Jake's discovery of the hidden button, ran toward Mia. "You did it!"

Mia nodded, catching her breath. "Told you I'd be fine."

Kai, still holding his flaming hand aloft to guide the others, smirked. "Nice work, Mia."

Mia grinned back, holding up the inverter. "All in a day's work."