Ninjago Falls

Chapter 25

Hey, you guys get an early chapter this week, since I'm heading back up to Cape Cod for a few days. So enjoy!

Roadside Attraction is currently playing out. The gang are on their way to Mystery Mountain.

Sunrise, August 23rd. Ninjago City. No POV

Ronin's hands were itching to steal something. His eye caught one of the fake trophies in 'Grand Sensei Dareth's Mojo Dojo'. He scoffed at the name but slipped inside.

Dareth, who was in the back, heard the door open. He rushed into the front.

"Ninja! You're bac-" He saw Ronin. "You're, not the ninja."

"What gave that away?" Ronin asked sarcastically. What the overweight sensei said clicked in his mind. "Wait, those five knuckleheads aren't missing, are they?"

"Them, Nya, and Sensei. Even Lloyd's mom is missing! They have been for over a month now! How could you not have known that?"

Ronin looks around guiltily. "Uh, you don't really get that many news updates in jail." He shakes his head. "But that's not important. We have to find them. As much as I hate them, they do keep the city from falling apart. Where were they last seen?"

"If I remember correctly, they were in their ship, flying off somewhere."

Ronin rolls his eyes, well, the one that's not covered by an eye patch. "So helpful," he muttered. Louder, he says, "Well, maybe someone else has a better idea on where they are. I'm gonna go look for 'em."

"I'm coming too! You'll need some defense in case we run in to any criminals."

"Are you sure you're not talking about yourself, Flabby?" Ronin pulled out two katanas. " 'Cause I can handle myself just fine."

{Line Break}

It doesn't take long for the duo to find someone who saw the Bounty shortly before its sudden disappearance. Ronin calls his R.E.X. for some aerial coverage.

Dareth, who was uncomfortable with the sudden silence, tried to start a conversation. "So, why did you come into my dojo?"

Ronin rolled his eye again. He pulled out one of the trophies he had swiped. "Some of these babies. Don't know why you have them in a dojo, though. None of them have anything to do with karate."

Dareth stops talking. It's not long before the he starts getting uncomfortable again, though. He asks for some music, so Ronin turns the radio on quietly. Dareth turns it up all the way when they hear the Weekend Whip, yelling, "I love this song!"

Distracted, neither of them see the portal that opens up, until they black out.

Time Skip.

The R.E.X. had crashed somewhere in the woods near Mystery Mountain. Neither man recognizes where they are. When they come to, Ronin instantly jumps out of the cockpit and looks for people. Dareth follows, dizzy from hitting his head.

They emerge from the woods to find a tourist trap. Dareth is the first to notice Darlene, the lady at the ticket booth. He saunters up to her and starts flirting. She offers to bring him to Widow's Peak. Dareth looks back to Ronin, who just waves his hand.

Ronin begins looking around. After asking a few employees, he discovers their exact location. He's never heard of Oregon, but figured they might have gone to a different planet.

Dareth is having much worse luck. Darlene already tied him up in webs and was heading back to the ticket booth.

"Help!" Dareth screamed repeatedly. "It's no use. I'm a goner. No one will be able to hear my last words." He began crying. 

Jay's POV

Stan decided that we should all go on a road trip. Ford, McGucket, Pacifica, Gideon, Misako, and the senseis stayed at the Shack to continue assembling the training course. Wendy and Robbie said they just couldn't come. It's the third day of the trip, and we've just arrived at Mystery Mountain. Stan was telling us that it was way better than the Shack, and Candy read something about half-spider-half-human creatures.

"So wait," I said. "Do they have the head of a human and body of a spider? Other way around? Are they human sized spiders? Or maybe spider sized humans?"

Candy shrugs. "Probably one of the first ones." She shows me the pamphlet.

"Cool."

Mabel starts laughing. I've had that laugh enough to know one of her crazy plans is about to be hatched. She drags Dipper and Candy into the bathroom. When they come out a minute later, Mabel's smiling ear to ear and the other two are blushing and looking anywhere but at each other.

"What did you do?" I ask Mabel.

"Oh, just matchmaking," she replied, staring at Lloyd.

We file out of the RV a minute later. Zane stiffened after a few steps.

"Is that Ronin?" he asked, pointing towards a guy with long-ish hair leaning against a statue of a large blue bull.

The rest of us four original ninja stop. Lloyd had continued walking to hang with Mabel. Nya also went with them, saying something about 'girl time'.

"Sure is. I'd recognize that one-eyed criminal anywhere," Kia snarled.

"How'd he get here?" Cole asked.

We stood there for a minute. "Let's go ask him!" I said.

The others shrugged and we walked over to Ninjago's most famous criminal.

"You guys are here," Ronin said when he saw the ninja. "I've been looking for you."

"How'd you get here?" Kai asked.

Ronin shrugged. "I could ask you the same thing. You know you guys have been missing for over a month. There's practically a manhunt for you." Kia repeated his question. "Some portal or something. That stupid sensei was distracting me."

"Dareth?" Zane questioned.

"Yeah. He was blaring music from the R.E.X. and next thing I know, we're here."

"Where is he?" I asked. Not that I really wanted to see Dareth. After all, he talks more than me, which I didn't think was possible!

"The lady at the ticket booth took him to Widow's Peak. She came back but he didn't."

"That's, suspicious," Cole muttered.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Stan walking arm in arm with the lady from the ticket booth.

"Uh, guys? Should we warn Stan?"

The others turn to look at the retreating man.

"I say we follow 'em," Kai said.