Roots of Earth ~ A Ninjago Fanfiction

Chapter 16: Figuring It Out

Cole's voice rose incredulously. "They got the moonstone and Ronin?!"

Nya, Jay, Liana, Matilda, Zane, Cole, and Wu stood together on the steps of Borg Tower. Though Wu, Zane, and Cole had found generic information about the moonstone in geology books, they'd learned nothing helpful about it, other than that ancient civilizations had believed it to be magical.

Now they listened in stunned silence as the others relayed their story. Thankfully no bystanders in the city had been hurt—strangely, no one could ever remember seeing them—but the kidnapping of Ronin was a nasty shock. It was becoming quite clear that these creatures were indeed a dangerous enemy. Nobody wanted to think about what would happen to Ronin.

"There was nothing we could do," Liana explained pathetically. "They were too fast, and they took us by surprise."

"You outnumbered them, didn't you? Three against five!" Cole declared angrily, "Three stupid cats, and you lost the moonstone and Ronin?!"

"Cole!" Wu rebuked sharply. "Calm down! You've seen how efficient those creatures are. You couldn't stop them from taking Lloyd or Misako, could you?"

Abashed, Cole scowled at his feet. "Yes, Master. Sorry." He sighed and looked at everyone apologetically. "Are you all right?"

"We're fine," Jay answered. "I just got a few bruises, and Liana was completely unscathed. Nya, though..."

"What happened to her?" Cole's voice sharpened.

"Rip Claw gave her a little present," Matilda said dryly. "A short spell that gives but a mere taste of the Dark Sleep. Not the real thing, but it's fierce enough."

Everyone looked at Nya with concern.

"For crying out loud, she's fine now!" the witch exclaimed.

"Are you OK? You look... kinda sick." Cole said.

Nya froze. That was exactly what he'd said in her vision.

She swallowed hard. "I'm fine."

Again, that sounded more strained than it was supposed to. Cole arched his eyebrows whilst Jay's furrowed in worry. "Are you sure? You don't sound like it."

"I'm fine, really." Nya took a step back, biting her lip. Again, this is what happened in her vision. Did Rip Claw know Cole was going to say that? Why was the nightmare suddenly repeating itself?

She shut her eyes and wished Cole—as well as everyone else—would stop looking at her.

"Oi, give the girl some space!" Matilda looked annoyed. "Corpus bones, she's obviously no child! Look at her, she's fine."

Nya was relieved to see everyone's gazes shift away from her—all but Jay's. She gave him what she hoped looked like a reassuring smile.

Wu sighed. "We should return to the Bounty."

* * *

"Why?" Lloyd stared at Little Leaf. "Why is your tribe doing this?"

Little Leaf looked at him, her expression like that of apology. "I'm sorry, Lloyd. I really don't know. Black Blood is really secretive, and her warriors don't ask any questions. All I know is that she's collecting moonstones that were once part of one huge moonstone that belonged to our tribe before the Sons and Daughters broke it and stole the pieces."

"What sons and daughters?" he asked. "The Elemental Masters?"

"Yeah, I guess." She replied uneasily, "Our tribe got involved in a war between humans and snake clans seasons and seasons ago, way before I was born. Some of the Sons and Daughters drove away the bakeneko and nekomata tribes after killing many of us and stealing parts of our sacred moonstone."