Ninjago: The Purple Ninja - Book 2

SOFS: Ice Chapter 4 - The Message

"So yeah, that's my dad. Garmadon, Lord of Destruction, King of Shadows." Lloyd finishes telling to the wolf. "I wouldn't normally confide this stuff to someone I just met, but I can tell you. You're just a wolf."

He, the wolf, and Katarina had been walking since last night, and Lloyd hadn't been able to shut up since. She didn't say anything the whole time he talked, because it was his way of passing the time, and who was she to get in the way of that?

"Haha. It's kinda nice to be able to get this off my chest actually. But I can't keep calling you Wolf. You ought to have a real name," He hums thoughtfully. "How about Rover?"

The wolf turns around and tilts its head at the name. 

"Uh, how about, uh, Buster? Buddy?" The wolf barks at Lloyd's name suggesstions. "Nah, those don't fit."

"How about Red?" Katarina suggests. "Because it has red on its cheeks and tails." 

The wolf barks in agreement. She pets its head. Lloyd smiles at the name, and how much the wolf, now named Red, liked it so much. "We're making progress, Red!"

The tracker beeps. Katarina takes out the tracker from her back pocket and pulls up the tracker's antennae. "The mech's signal is getting stronger. Let's go this way!" 

Lloyd, Katarina and Red run further down towards a foggy bank, until they reach a canyon. They walk down the canyon. "We're getting close, guys." He says. 

Suddenly, Red stops and begins to whimper. They turn around to see the wolf backing away from them. "What's the matter?"

Red barks warily. Katarina gives Lloyd a worried look. "Lloyd, it doesn't want to go this way. It's warning us that there's something up ahead. Maybe we should take a different route."

Lloyd, who was now holding the tracker, sighs a little. "Look, we gotta go this way. I bet whatever's down this path isn't something we can't handle, right?"

Katarina and Red give each other a wary look, then look at Lloyd. Red sits down and barks warily again, and she goes over to it and strokes its back to comfort it. 

"Lloyd, I really think we should take a different route. If Red says it's dangerous and to not cross here, then we should listen to it. Just to be safe-" 

Lloyd cuts her sister's warnings off. "C'mon, it can't be that bad. We're Ninja, we can handle it. We've face bigger threats than whatever's down this path before."

She nods. "I know, but Red says-"

"You're seriously gonna listen to a wolf rather than me?" He says, putting a hand on his hip. 

She shakes her head. "No, I'm just saying-"

"Then let's get going then. The mech's right up ahead." He turns around and starts walking ahead of them. Katarina and Red share another look at each other, before getting up and following him close behind.

At first, it didn't seem all that bad. But the further they got down the canyons, the more the atmosphere around them seemed to get tense and scary. 

Red and Katarina stop when they feel the bones crunching beneathe their feet, and it took Katarina a second to realize they were walking through a graveyard. Red barks at Lloyd again, who sighs and turns around to give the two of them an annoyed look. 

"What is it?" Katarina gestures him to look down, while Red growls at the bones. Lloyd finally looks down and gasps upon seeing they were walking through some sort of graveyard. Maybe he should've heeded the warnings. "Bones? What happened here?"

Something soars overhead. Lloyd and Katarina yelp in surprise. "What was that?!"

Lloyd, Katarina and Red barely had time to react when the creatures dives down towards them. They get out of the way. The overgrown bird, its eyes glowing an icey blue, flies back up into the sky and screeches. It soars down on the group again.