Legends of Ninjago Book 1: Brotherhood (Ninjago AU, Cole, Jay, Zane, Kai)

Chapter 22: The Next Step

"You're alive!" Was the very first thing Kai could say upon seeing his sensei again. But then everyone seemed to have something to say, and they said it all at once.
"This was not my idea! I was brought here against my will!" said Ann.
"Thank goodness, Sensei Wu! Please help us! Do you know how to get out of here?" Jay asked.
"I'm sorry, Sensei! Keaton, Jay and I are only here because of me," Cole was saying.
"How did you survive the fall?" Zane inquired.
"It's so good to see you again!" Keaton cried, and she rushed forward to hug him, which he did, but his gaze was still fixed on the others. His eyes were like daggers, and everyone seemed to shrink a bit. Kai's own throat went very dry the longer he stared.
"I assume that all the ruckus earlier was your doing?" The master speculated. He took everyone's silence as a "yes." "I want an explanation. Now."
"I was following your orders, Sensei. But things... took an unexpected turn," Ann Jing explained.
"The fire dragon took us," said Nya, right before Kai said,
"Dragons have some sort of teleporting power."
Wu looked far more stern now than he did before.
"And what about you three?" He asked, turning to Cole, Keaton, and Jay. They all shuffled uncomfortably for a moment.
"It was my fault, Sensei," said Cole, and he stepped forward. "I was the one who turned back, and... I made Jay and Keaton follow me."
Kai noticed Keaton, still clinging to Wu, lift her head up and look at Cole with big eyes. She let go and walked over so that she could lay one of her tiny hands on his large shoulder.
"I wanted to help you... but we ended up getting side tracked. We found a fleet of Skulkins and snuck in. It's my fault we're here." He lowered his head and felt one of the burns on his arm.
"But you're here. You must have a plan," Kai piped up, hoping to hear some good news.
"The only good news I have is that I was not captured due to your antics causing an enormous distraction," Wu replied. "You all have displayed reckless and irresponsible behaviour, and under other circumstances, I would punish all of you for your actions. However... you have all performed admirably to have come so far. Follow me. There are Golden Weapons to retrieve."
Wu turned around and started down the tunnel while the ninja followed in relief.
"So what's the plan, Sensei?" Kai asked.
"The weapons have proven very difficult to find in this labyrinthine fortress, but thanks to your shenanigans, their security led me straight to their location. I've simply been waiting for the correct time to strike," said Wu. His face was hidden in the darkness, but Kai could tell he was frowning. "Their guards are too numerous for me to take on alone, but you six should be able to distract them long enough—"
"Seven," Nya corrected.
"What?" Wu asked, stopping to look around. "Who said that?"
"I did."
Wu had to lean in very close using the light of the sword to see Nya's face, dirty and frightened.
"Who are you?" he asked, confused.
"This is my sister," said Kai, coming up next to her and wrapping his arm around her shoulders.
"Nya," she clarified. "Nice to meet you."
"Ah. Nice to meet you, too," Wu said as he stroked his beard. "This complicated things..." He thought for a moment, then said, "This way." He led them to a specific place in the tunnel wall where—when Wu placed his hand on what looked like solid stone—he passed right through it, making a squishy, slimy sort of sound.
"Eww, gross," Jay whined with a disgusted look on his face.
Ann followed without missing a beat, but the rest of them were hesitant.
Kai stepped forward carefully and reached out to poke at the wall then scrunched up his nose when he felt the cold, wet surface. But Wu was waiting for them, and a Skulkin could walk down the hall at any moment, so he closed his eyes, held his breath, and prepared for the worst. He pushed his arms through first, and felt them get sucked into the thick material. He shivered as his torso, legs, and head followed.
The wall was thin, and he reached the other side within two seconds, but the slimy sensation didn't go away, leaving his skin crawling. Nya and the others came one by one, and none of them looked happy about it.
The room on the other side wasn't very big, and with all of them crammed in together, there wasn't much room to move.
"Nya, and anyone else who desires, may stay in here until we come to retrieve you after the battle is over," Wu explained. He paused to let anyone speak up, but they were all silent.
Kai, for one, wasn't planning on giving up just yet. Now that his sister was safe, he had one less thing to worry about, too. He was more than a little surprised by himself, actually. For the entirety of the journey, he had been solely focused on finding Nya, but even though he had accomplished his mission, he still wanted to keep fighting.
"We don't stop until Garmadon and King Samukai are gone for good." Kai was shocked at his own steady voice, ringing out across the silence. He felt much braver than he had in a long time, despite what they were about to go do.
"Very well." Wu didn't exactly sound thrilled, but he wasn't upset either.
In any case, they needed to turn their attention toward the coming battle. Wu walked them through the lay-out of the scene and how they were going to take on the Skulkins. The weapons were located in the King's palace, somewhere Garmadon would have easy access to them, but that was for Wu to worry about. The others were going to be out in the main courtyard area, which was surrounded by a bottomless pit. All they needed to do was barge in, causing a commotion, and hold their own until Wu got to the weapons.
Since they were without weapons (except for the spear and sword that they grabbed off of Chopov & company) they were going to have to rely mostly on their powers. Meanwhile Ann and Keaton were given the sword and spear, as they had actual training. The two of them, plus Zane, would lead the attack, with Cole, Jay, and Kai providing support. Zane and Cole would also be providing defence in the form of walls and shields. With Wu's final words, they all nodded to each other in agreement.
Just as they were walking back out of the small room, about to put into action their battle plan, Nya grabbed Kai's arm and held him back.
"What's wrong?" Kai asked, feeling her tremble. He lit a ball of fire and saw her face; etched with worry.
"It's just... everything that's happened... it's all gone by so fast. You almost died several times. A-and now you're going out again, risking your life, and—what if this time you don't come back?" Her eyes were wet with tears, but when she tried to wipe them away she ended up smudging her dirty face. "What am I supposed to do if you're not there, at home, in the forge? I only just got you back!"
"Shh, shh," Kai said quietly, and he extinguished his flame so that he could hug her. "It's gonna be okay. When we get home, I promise we'll watch the fireflies every night, and we can finally buy that nice dress you always wanted, and we can go into town and have some real melonpan made by Mrs. Nakamura." That earned a laugh from Nya, who had buried her face in his black, shredded shozoku. "I promise. One day, everything will be just like it used to be."
Nya sniffed. "I love you."
Kai was caught a little off guard, because this wasn't something they ever really said to one another, but it was true. And it was just the thing he needed to hear. "I love you, too," he replied, holding her closer.
After a while, Kai roused himself from this touching scene and bid his sister a final goodbye before he rejoined the others outside. But she was on his mind the entire time, and he was going to be fighting for her, as well as his parents, who were still out there somewhere.
He took a deep breath and Wu disappeared into the shadows all around, leaving the ninja to make their way to the courtyard alone. Cole, Ann, and Jay were at the front, while he, Zane, and Keaton were at the back. The light of another room came into view two minutes later and that's when Ann signalled for them to stop. She sent Keaton forward to scout, and she returned shortly with a long description of the guards' positions.
"Our main objective is to keep the entrance to the palace clear," said Ann. "Keep the fighting close to the tunnel entrance or out in the open. Keep their attention."
"Shouldn't be too hard," Jay commented. "I've been told I'm very distracting."
Cole gave a small chuckle and Ann actually grinned a little.
"Keaton will provide the most important support. If you're in trouble, send up a single shot of element, like a signal flare." Ann went for a minute longer, and then it was time to move.
They marched bravely into the courtyard and Kai flinched as the bright, purple flame-light hit his eyes, then he saw the Skulkin guards stop and look at them in shock. The courtyard was much larger than he thought, and the darkness below them looked very daunting, indeed. This was it.
"For Ninjago!" Kai cried, and they plunged themselves into the newborn battle.
The Skulkins—being taken by surprise—fell quickly at first. Ann led the charge, swiping water whips and piercing armour with her sword. Zane shot out daggers of ice that splintered bone and sent the soldiers to the ground.
Meanwhile, Kai focused on really using his powers. A Skulkin came charging at him from his side and he barely had enough time to react. He put out both hands and felt the familiar heat rise up in his stomach, through his chest, down his arms, and burning out of his fingers. The Skulkin was taken by surprise and began screeching in pain, then he ran off, presumably trying to find some water. With the confidence he was building, Kai went after another soldier.
"Kai, look out!" Cole yelled over the noise.
On his left, another Skulkin was charging, his sword about strike. Suddenly, large, bulky stalagmites appeared out of the ground in a strait line very quickly. When it hit the guard, it grew so large that it sent him flying up into the air, breaking into a million pieces when he came crashing down.
Kai was so distracted by this that he didn't see his original target coming at him. But Cole's stone snake wasn't done yet. The ground beneath Kai's feet began to shake, then suddenly he was launched up into the air, flipping backwards over the Skulkins' heads. Relying mostly on instinct, Kai shot out wild flames and somehow cushioned his fall, sending a fire wave bursting from all around him.
"COME AND GET ME YOU SKULL FREAKS!!" Jay shouted, appearing out of nowhere and electrocuting three Skulkins who were standing relatively close together. Kai stood behind him, back to back, shooting more flames and keeping the other Skulkins at bay. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he caught a glimpse of Sensei Wu slipping into the temple, but then he saw Ann surrounded somewhere up ahead.
"Ann!" he yelled, running forward. He lit two parallel walls of fire on either side of himself as he went, to keep any unwanted threats out, then climbed up a large mound of earth and ice. Taking a good look at the situation, he jumped feet first into the chaos. Kai knew that he had to be careful not to hit Ann, so he released two tendrils of flame and told them to strike only the Skulkens. It took a lot of energy and concentration, and his outstretched arms felt like they were about to cramp, but he had successfully repelled the advancing soldiers, who were now screaming and running away covered in flames.
"Thanks," Ann said quickly, before throwing her sword at a Skulkin behind Kai.
Kai heard one of the guards say something about the palace, and he immediately rushed over to the front gates and lit a fire fence, blocking off the path to its main entrance. But now he was beginning to regret making it. He suddenly felt very tired, and needed a few seconds to catch his breath and wipe his sweaty brow.
He jumped when a large, stone wall erupted next to him. Presumably, Cole had seen incoming danger and had just saved his life. He would have liked to thank Cole, but he couldn't seem to find him in the chaos all around. Besides, he had other things to worry about. Like the giant spiders slowly propelling down from the black ceiling.
"Guys! What do we do about those things?" Kai yelled, hoping someone would hear.
They were at least eleven feet tall, with large, poison-filled fangs, and eight bulbous eyes. Their bodies were thick and hairy, but they didn't seem to be able to move very fast.
"Um, find a very big shoe?" Cole suggested.
Jay, however, charged right ahead, screaming, "SUPER ELECTRIC BLAST!" and he jumped into the air, firing off the biggest blast he had managed to conjure yet. Which still wasn't that big, but it felt like a major accomplishment at the time.
"What is he doing?!" Ann shrieked.
But even as she said it, the electricity from Jay landed right between one of the spider's eyes and shocked its brain, sending it reeling back. Kai gave an enthusiastic chuckle and ran to Jay's side.
"Come on," he said. "Let's roast these bugs!"
"well, actually, they're not—" Zane started, but he was cut off by advancing Skulkin soldiers.
Kai and Jay raced up to the next spider and together they unleashed a new kind of attack. When Kai's fire and Jay's lightning met in the open air, they began to swirl together, their energies combining into a flaming laser that burned through the spider entirely.
"That... was... AWESOME!!!" Jay cheered, gasping for air. Kai was doing the same, but he didn't have nearly as much energy as Jay. His limbs began to feel very tired, and his reactions were sluggish.
"Pay attention, you two!" said Zane, coming up behind them and creating a new barrier to protect them from another spider.
"Sorry," Kai breathed, and he tried to stand up straighter, ignoring his screaming lungs.
"Woah, was that an apology?" Cole jeered, coming over as well. He was throwing boulders left and right and looked extremely tired as well. "I didn't know you had a heart, Kai!"
"Keep your eyes on the blood-thirsty spider, will you?" Kai asked, annoyed, but unable to hide his grin.
"Yeah, the spiders probably have more heart than you do," Cole went on. "If you asked, they might even give you a hug." He put up a rock shield to protect him from the giant arachnid limbs crashing down around him.
"Yeah, with their fangs!" Jay remarked. "Ahh!" One spider nearly got a bite out of him, but Zane froze its head before it got the chance.
More and more Skulkins and spiders pressed in, pushing the boys closer and closer together. At one point, Kai and Zane happened to fire off an attack at the same time, and like what had happened with Jay earlier, their powers seemed to glob together into an even more powerful attack.
"Uh, not to bring the mood down, or anything, but we need a new plan here," Cole said, summoning another, larger barrier and wiping the sweat from his forehead. "I don't know how much more I can take."
"Come on!" Jay shouted. "We can take 'em! FOR NINJAGO!" He rushed another spider, who ended up smacking him with one of its hairy legs, leaving him clutching his stomach on the ground. "You know what? I think we might need a plan," he said, wincing.
Kai roles his eyes. "I think I've got something." The others turned to him.
"Spill it!" Cole said, fighting off yet another soldier.
"Each time I did an attack with Jay and Zane, our powers got stronger," Kai explained. "So that means, if we all attack at once, it should be huge! Big enough to wipe the floor with these knuckle heads!"
"Let's do it!" Jay exclaimed.
"Sounds better than anything else I could come up with," said Cole.
"That seems like a reasonable strategy," Zane concurred.
"How do we do it?" Jay asked.
"I don't know—uh, get closer together for starters," said Kai.
Cole and Zane made a complete shelter for them while they figured this out. Through the ice, they could see the angry Skulkens and disgusting spiders watching them with beady eyes. The boys formed something of a circle (or square, depending on how you look at it) back to back, and then looked at one another.
"Now what?" Cole asked.
Kai looked down and saw Jay's hand next to him. He reached down and grabbed it firmly. Jay looked up at him in surprise at first, but then nodded with confidence. Jay then grabbed Cole's hand, who grabbed Zane's hand and so on. Before long, all of their arms were interlocked.
"Next step, please, before this gets weird," Jay said impatiently.
"Too late," Cole quipped.
"Just focus on the Skulkins and spiders, and... start using your powers," Kai said, hoping that what he was saying made any sense, or would actually work. He closed his eyes and brought the fire back up through his body. For a long moment, all he felt was the energy, pulsing around him, and then he felt something new in his right hand. It felt like a constant zap of static electricity, stinging his hand over and over again, and in his left hand, an icy chill that made his skin go numb. But neither of these things felt bad; they felt like pure energy, pooling and mixing together.
From their hands, streams of elements began to shoot out, all combined like Kai's other attacks. They spiralled up and and up until they met high above the boys, merging into one unified beam which pierced the ice-and-earth shell around them and sent it crumbling to the ground. Then it grew larger and wilder, sweeping up the Skulkins and the spiders and disintegrating them, or pushing them off the edge of the the stone ground and into the bottomless moat.
But the longer they all held on, the more Kai was sure that his body would tear in two. Eventually he couldn't hold on any longer, and he yanked his hands free of the others. His legs collapsed under his own weight, and he fell to the floor, beads of sweat dripping from his skin. He took large breaths, and coughed a few times, trying to let his body sort itself out.
"Are you boys all right?" Ann asked, rushing over. She looked especially frazzled and windswept. "What just happened?"
"We... we... all... powers..." Cole murmured, clearly too exhausted for cohesive thought.
"Well, Zane, do you think you could help me for a moment?" Ann asked, lifting Zane to his feet. She plugged the tunnel entrance with water and then had Zane freeze it, which was the very last ounce of energy he had before he finally passed out.
"That should keep us safe for now," Kai heard Ann say. "That and the wall of fire over there."
Kai was lying on his back with his eyes closed, just listening to his own breathing. He had no idea that using his powers could be so draining, but at the very least they'd managed to completely defeat the Skulkins. He snickered as a thought came to him: in the end, they were stronger together.