Chasing Shadows (Lego Ninjago)

Chapter 4: A scared sheep

This was it, their last night before they set off to find the new member of the team. And you guess it, none of them could sleep, their minds stuck on the thought on the fifth Ninja. They knew they had to grasp onto every little wink of sleep they could, they needed energy for tomorrow, but still, sleep was a million miles away. Who could blame them? And strangely enough..a girl?

Who knew what the new Master would be like, although Lloyd was a Ninja, they had all sworn to protect him. Like the new Elemental Master would. None of them knew how the Sensei's, Nya or Misako could sleep. The boys all lay there in their beds with their eyes open looking at the ceiling above them in their separate rooms. The time was 4:33am, they would be getting up to leave in 2hours and 27minutes with only a scrappy piece of torn paper to rely on. Only 3 clues to find, what they were guessing was, Reanne the Purple Ninja of Darkness.

Exactly 2hours and 56minutes later, everyone was up, dressed, fed and ready to leave except the Sensei's, Nya and Misako who weren't coming, despite the Ninja's pleas. Lloyd, Cole, Zane, Kai and Jay all stood outside the school with the others just by the door, they had packed the riddles, food, bottles of water and blankets plus some for the new Master.

"Sorry sis, but it's best if you stay outta this one" Kai instructed his sister.

"What? No way!" Nya sounded extremely offended.

"Nya, he's right. We won't be long, stay here" Jay joined in the conversation.

"But..It's the fifth Ninja, I can't sit here and do nothing.." She moaned.

"You won't besides, it's the fifth Ninja" Cole mocked "They're one of us and you are the 'mysterious Samurai', huh?"

"Very funny, I'll keep a candle burning until you return"

"Good luck Ninja, the road ahead will be tough, but remain strong, a team" Garmadon prompt them.

Lloyd embraced his father in a tight hug before pulling away "We will"

"Good luck Ninja, and bring back, the new Elemental Master" Wu forced a smile.

"No problemo" Jay spoke sarcastically.

With that, the five Ninja turned facing North West, and ran. Yes, they didn't know what they were looking for, but they ran. Small puffs of sand were kicked up each time their boots made contact with the ground, which was surprisingly hard, but at the same time, smooth enough for the sand to rise up as a cloud.

The brothers didn't exactly know how long they had been running for. They were beginning to show signs of tiredness; they were panting, their faces were like a fuchsia pink and their pace was slowing. They had left at 7:29am when the sun was just peeking over the horizon, at the present time it was almost above them in the clear, blue sky.

"It's a..good thing..we're in top..physical condition" Jay panted.

"If you spent the same amount..of time you spent gloating..you'd find this extremely easy" Cole was running just ahead of Jay with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Oh, sorry..I forgot how..healthy and active..you are, knucklehead"

Zane, who was running at the front of the group slowed down to a stop. It took Jay a moment to realise, and by the time he did, he had ran into Cole who was shoved forward into Kai, who spun around and pushed them all back.

"The time is 12:42pm, I think we should stop for lunch" Zane suggested.

"That's the best..idea I've heard all day!" Jay was still trying to catch his breath after all the running.

So, the boys settled down by what looked like a dead tree and took off their backpacks which had their lunches (that had been made by Zane) inside. The sun beated down on them, and in their Ninja Suits, you could imagine how much they were sweating..and after running for around 5hours.

"Has anyone else been thinking about how we won't ever fight as..us, again?" Jay asked through a mouth of cheese sandwich.

"It's all I've been thinking about.." Kai answered taking another bite into his sandwich.

"But with a new Ninja, we'll be a stronger team. According to the riddle; A stronger friendship will be revealed" Lloyd put in, he hadn't eaten, only sipped on his water from a plastic bottle.

"Lloyd, you must eat. You will have little energy and low levels of concentration" Zane noticed Lloyd's lack of eating.

"I'm fine, Zane. Don't worry" Lloyd forced a smile, but received a look from Zane that said 'How stupid do you think I am?' which resulted in Lloyd taking small bites out of his sandwich.

"Do you think-" Jay was cut off by a loud, low pitched buzzing, which caused the Blue Ninja to squeal.

Within 3seconds of hearing the noise, the boys had jumped up to their feet, all back to back. Lloyd had created a ball plasma in his hands and the others had drawn their Elemental Blades firmly infront of them, ready to strike. The team began to walk slowly around in a circle looking for the source of the buzzing which erupted into a low, cackling laugh.

"The Overlord? He was destroyed, right?!.." Kai whispered to Cole, who shot him a worried and puzzled glance.

"Who are you!?" Lloyd shouted to the laugh, which seemed like it didn't have an epicentre.

"Answer us! What do you want?!" Cole joined in the shout.

"Show yourself, you scared old sheep!" Jay also rose is voice.

All of a sudden the deathly laugh stopped, the Ninja held their ground and continued to look the barren landscape. In the middle of the circle they had created, burst a dark purple mist with a humongous boom. With that, they were all put into unconsciousness..