Ninjago: Heart of the Storm (Slow Editing) (Re-Write)

Chapter Eight: The Great Jungle

Audra soon went inside of the Monastery's library to search for answers regarding the past. There's a large desk made of solid wood with books and quills strewn across the top and stacked in piles. The walls were covered with bookshelves that almost reached the ceiling. But there was a clean window at the far left corner. Audra shuddered from the slight drop in temperature as she stepped into the room. She had a feeling she should be in the room for some reason. But she started looking at the books anyways, going with her strongest instincts.
She found a lot of books about Ninjago, the Ninja, the Elemental Alliance, the Resistance, Elemental Masters, myths and legends, and so on. When she found the last book showed a fair amount of wear, appearing to have been well-read with illegible comments in the margins. It seems to be bound in soft leather brown leather.
"There are many Elemental Masters that have different Elemental Powers that has been created by the Elemental Source Dragons. But in this chapter, it'll shall speak about a unique Elemental Master and the Elemental Source Dragon.
And this chapter shall speak about the first Elemental Power of Wind.
According to the legend, the Elemental Wind Dragon was the protector of the sky and the chaser of evildoers that threatened the lands of Ninjago. The Elemental Wind Dragon has a spirited, but determined personality that reflects her.
Every living creature in Ninjago was born with the gift of natural elements, a spark inside connected to one of the elemental sources. From the greatest dragon to the smallest insect, Elemental Powers flowed in their veins."
"But humans were different. Humans were flawed. They were born without this gift. Back in ancient times, the humans struggled to survive in the world, while the Ninjago creatures thrived. Many humans perished from their starvation; others died fighting one another over the scarce resources.
The Elemental Source Dragons were always the most selfless of the Ninjago beings. There came a time when, filled with pity, they desperately wanted to help the struggling humans. After all, it was not the humans' choice to be born without magic.
But the First Dragons were wary. They warned the Elemental Source Dragons that kindness was not always returned with kindness; it would be a mistake to trust the species. After all, if humans were supposed to use magic, they would have been born with it."
"However, the Elemental Source Dragons' compassion and wisdom ran deep, and they could not be convinced. The Elemental Source Dragons had each bestowed the ways of natural elements onto the humans. They gifted a few humans with new elemental abilities, which contained vast magical energy and the power of different elements.
Finally, humans had the ability to take care of themselves and end their suffering. They fed their hungry, cared for their poor, and healed their sick. As they thrived, they elevated humankind in other ways, learning about the world, the stars, and the arts. They created songs, poetry, and other beautiful things."
"The Elemental Source Dragon of Wind and the First Spinjitzu Master have both chosen a spirited and determined young lady named Audra. She was once a humble, but spirited and yet gentle girl. Audra once lived in a simple mountain village with her family and friends. She became beloved by everyone for her beauty, high spirits, and kind heart, but these charms attracted the unwanted attention of a man. Due to her love for the sky, the Elemental Source Dragon of Wind and the First Spinjitzu Master had chosen her to become the first Elemental Master of Wind. She soon gained the ability to control the wind and protect her loved ones from terrible storms."
Just as Audra could continue reading, she heard a knock on the door and turned around to see Lloyd looking at her shyly. As she continued gazing at him, she could sense that Lloyd wants to ask her about something, but Audra didn't know what that question could be. After a bit of awkward hesitation, she finally decided to be bold and ask him about his unasked question.
"H-Hey Audra," stammered Lloyd shyly. "Mum's going to a dig next month. She wants to know if you'd like to go with us."
With nothing much to do, Audra closed the book that she was reading and smiled warmly at Lloyd. "Sure! I'll like to check out this new discovery that I heard about."
Lloyd laughed at her excitement. "I'll let her know."
In the next few days, the two Garmadon's and Audra had gotten off the bus. Audra was so excited that she had trouble sitting still. She had never to a dig sight before and the excitement of it was getting into her.
Misako had just finished putting in the last bag when Audra reached the silver sedan. She planted her hands on her hips and sent Audra a smile. "Ready?"
"Born ready," replied Audra eagerly.
The dig site was outside of a national reserve, and Audra heard just how difficult it was to get the legal procedures in line to set up an excavation site. It was all started five years ago by pure chance when someone had stumbled across pottery sherds while walking their dog — ancient, fragmented remains of a bowl hidden in the dirt where their tennis ball had landed.
After another few years of negotiations excavation had finally begun at the start of summer, but things were only starting to really get interesting now. They'd discovered the sealed entrance to an old man-made cave dug deep into the side of the mountain — so, Dr. Misako Garmadon had been called in to investigate on-site.
"The trick to becoming respectable in your field even when nobody likes you is to always be nice, speak loudly and never be wrong," Misako said while they went through the motorway traffic. "They can't ignore you forever."
After an almost two-hour drive, the trio finally made it to the site. They were soon surrounded by a rainbow exploding and splattering colors all over the place. The jungle surrounded them by sunlit emerald green and the flapping of wings. Birds flew around the tree canopies overhead while purple and gold butterflies flew all around them. He watched as some beautiful yellow butterflies started fluttering around them. Lloyd watched on with amazement, but he blushed when he saw Audra's amazed smile.
Misako put on her sun hat while Lloyd and Audra had both pulled up their hoods, signed in at a portable office and walked past the wired-fence barrier that kept the public out.
"Have you been to an active site before?" Misako asked Audra.
"No," replied Audra.
Misako grinned. "You'll love this, then."
She led me through a crowd of khaki-wearing, sunscreen-slapped, sunhatted archeologists and volunteers. A few nodded at Misako in warm greetings, the rest electing to ignore her. They stopped at the edge of an excavation unit — a large square of ground dug down a good handful of centimeters. Three people were crouched inside, soil-stained trovels and brushes in hand.
A middle aged, dark-skinned woman in a baseball cap looked up at their approach. She broke into a bright beam and rose to her feet, stepping aside her colleagues. She was the first look of kindness either of them had gotten since their arrival. "Doctor Misako!" The woman stepped out of the excavation unit and clapped both hands over hers. "It's been too long."
"Too long indeed." Misako smiled warmly.
She patted her back to urge her a step forward. "Audra, Lloyd, this is Doctor Kaya Onai. She's the excavation director, and an old friend."
Dr. Onai held out a hand for me to shake. Her grip was calloused and firm, as unflappable as her unwavering energy. "And who might you be?"
"I'm Lloyd Garmadon," replied Lloyd calmly.
"And I'm Audra Valiente," Audra shyly said.
Before they could even take another step, a low, deep rumble trembled through the earth around them. Audra flinched, at first thinking it to be a freak quake, but when she stiffened instinctively she knew it was serious. A sprinkle of rain came from the sky and clouded the area as the grumbling drone rattled on.
When it finally subsided and the world returned to normalcy, her brain caught up to her instincts. That wasn't the earth. A creature had made that sound. Audra turned to Misako for answers and found her looking pale in the light of her phone. She was entirely stiff with fear.
"What is it?" Audra asked.
Misako didn't answer. She promptly took her wrist and hurried us out of the cave. Dr. Onai stood by, half-focused on the reports she was still going over, half of them marching toward her.
"Do you understand what we're dealing with?" Dr. Onai asked.
"You need to evacuate the site," Misako firmly ordered.
The reports in Dr. Onai's hand slipped and fell back onto the clipboard. "It's that serious?"
"Far worse than you can imagine." Misako gazed at evenly at Dr. Onai and her companions.
Dr. Onai briefly showed fear before corralling her expression back into command with a clear of her throat. "Understood." She pulled out a walkie talkie from her back pocket and relayed the message down the line. When it was done, Dr. Onai turned back to Misako. "What do you propose we do next?"
Misako glanced at both Lloyd and Audra knowingly. "Next, we get the authorities."
Dr. Onai shared Audra's shock. "...Okay. We'll set up lunch outside the excavation gates and wait for them to arrive."
When Dr. Onai left to sort that out, Audra and Lloyd both watched the site-goers leave their work in varying states of confusion. Audra couldn't blame them. She was just as confused by the turn of events. She'd known that archeological digs were hardly a predictable thing, but this seemed extreme for even that.
Misako stared at the gaping, dark entrance with an apprehensive frown. She looked concerned, but her stare was sharp with thought. She was in the midst of conjuring an intellectual battle strategy.
"What's inside the mountain?" Audra asked, she jumped in place as Lloyd started holding her hand.
Misako's brown eyes turned to Audra. She held her gaze for a second as if in contemplation, before looking back at the entrance with a drawn-out sigh of stress. "... A dragon."
"A dragon?!" exclaimed Audra. "Why would it be here?"
"Maybe it's guarding something," Lloyd said.
Audra shrugged. "Probably."