Chapter Text
“Wouldn’t it be so cool to meet the Skull Sorcerer!” Vania asked, practically jumping up and down with excitement, as they walked down the long stone passageway. The light from her torch guttered as she moved, making their shadows twist and dance on the walls.
“Uh, yeah, great…” Cole said. 'I’d definitely loooove to meet the ancient evil that lived here before your dad,' went unsaid. After all, it sounded like Vania wasn’t really given the chance to do anything, so who was he to shoot down her excitement. It’s not like running into a long-dead wizard was likely.
At least, a normal person wouldn’t have a high chance of running into a long-dead wizard. Him? The odds definitely got higher.
Just then, Cole and Vania emerged onto a ledge overlooking a giant cavern embedded about fifty feet up a cliff wall. Below them was what looked to be a huge mining operation. Giant machines crawled along the rocky terrain, hauling large chunks of stone and digging into the hard earth, while archaic lifts transported workers to different parts of the cavern. It was too far away to see what they were mining, but it looked almost like it was glowing. Cole felt uneasy, a little off, but it was probably just because of the height they were standing at. After all, falling from a helicopter into a death mist understandably made him a little wary of heights.
Further on, a river of fire flowed out the mouth of a giant skull into a churning river below that cut the massive space roughly in half. Lamps and green, glowing crystal torches dotted the walls and floor, helping the glowing magma illuminate the cavern. All in all, the space was really bright for it being underground. Weird.
As Cole looked closer at the miners, he noticed that some of them had the same purple skin as the little guy that had run away with his mom’s necklace! Squinting to try and make out more details, Cole was able to make out long, pointy ears and bright yellow eyes. He’d have to get closer if he wanted to find the creature that he’d seen earlier.
“Oh my, look at all these creatures! Those look just like Mr. Sparkles, my imaginary friend from when I was little!” Vania gasped.
“And just like the one that was in my room. But who are those guys?” Cole pointed to a group of hulking, green figures with pointy fangs, at least two times the size of the purple ones, being led out of a side cavern by a group of armored skeleton warriors. That was bad news, skeleton warriors were never up to anything good. But there was something strange about these ones. They were glinting strangely in the torchlight, almost looking as if they were encased in silver, yet they were black as coal. But Cole had never heard or seen shiny skeleton warriors. And, he reasoned, they hadn’t left the Underworld since the first time Lord Garmadon had come back to Ninjago.
What on earth is going on here?
“I don’t know. But they don’t look happy. They’re all chained up.” Vania pointed out the ball and chains secured around their waists. Cole looked closer at the guards and saw what looked like whips clipped to their belts. “C’mon, let’s get down there,”
“Huh? Oh, yeah, yeah, sure,” Cole responded distractedly. He’d felt kinda weird ever since they entered the cavern. Something was wrong, and not just with this bizarre situation. It was something more, something deeper, but he couldn’t put his finger on exactly what it was. He shook off his daze and made to start down the cliff, when a loud stomping sound filled the cavern.
Down below, one of the giant beasts that resembled an armored rhino made out of rough stone was startled when a miner collapsed from exhaustion, dropping the ball chained to his waist with a loud clang. The stone creature reared its front legs, scaring the purple creature that was steering it and toppling the large crate of stone it was carrying. The entire cavern went silent and every head, skeleton and miner alike, whipped towards the giant skull spewing magma.
Cole and Vania sat with bated breath, but nothing happened.
Until something did happen.
The lavafall groaned, then parted in the middle revealing a wooden drawbridge studded with silver bolts. The door fell open and out stepped a robed figure. His black cloak brushed the floor, the deep green decals on his chest shining in the torchlight. A flat, white mask concealed his features, the eye cut-outs glowing a poisonous green. A broad hat covered his head, not unlike the hats worn by rice paddy farmers in Jumanakai village.
“Who dares,” the figure growled, brandishing the green skull in his hand. “Who dares to disturb the work?”
“Who’s that?” Vania whispered frantically.
Cole was about to respond when the figure leapt into the air using the huge, jet-black wings jutting from their back. Cole and Vania dove behind a cluster of rock right before the man swooped past them, so close that they could feel a wind buffet their hair and see that the wings ended in spikes of bone at least half a foot long.
“I warned you,” the robed specter growled threateningly, “all of you, the work must not stop or there would be punishment.”
“Punish him,” groaned a rusty voice. Cole looked around wildly, trying to determine where it was coming from when Vania elbowed him in the ribs and pointed to the skull in the winged man’s hand. “Punish!” it yelled again. The flying figure pointed the skull at the frightened creatures down below and started firing off what looked like poisonous gas. Yet, wherever the bolts hit, chunks of rock would go flying and carts would be overturned.
Definitely not a gas then.
Cole narrowed his eyes. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but I know a bad guy when I see one, and that is a bad guy.” He turned to Vania. “Get back and tell your dad what’s going on. Tell him to bring his guards and wake up my friends.”
“What about you?” Vania asked.
“I’m the Elemental Master of Earth,” Cole smirked, “and I’m surrounded by earth. I’m gonna do what I do best.”
Vania nodded, a look of steely determination in her eyes, before rushing off to alert the palace.
Cole waited until she was out of sight before putting his rock-climbing skills to use and leaping nimbly down the wall. He stumbled a bit on the landing, blinking hard to try and shake off whatever stupor had taken over him.
“Hey, buddy,” he said lightly, interrupting whatever monologue the skull man had been giving. “Name’s Cole. Ninja. I heard there was some jerk down here, chaining people up, making them work,” Cole put his hands on his hips and shook his head condescendingly. “Have you seen any jerks around here?”
“Get him!”
Skeletons rushed him, brandishing whips and clubs. Cole slammed his fists together to activate his Earth Punch, but the orange streaks merely flickered a few times before fading back to his normal skin tone. “Oh, come one!” he yelled in frustration. A skeleton came up behind him; he took it out with one punch, but something was wrong. His movements felt slightly disconnected, out of sync. Giving himself a shake, he focused on the opponents in front of him, taking them out one by one until all that was left surrounding him was a pile of bones.
“Now,” Cole said, deliberately playing up his arrogance to try and disguise how much effort that – normally simple – fight had taken, “how about you give me the keys to all these chains before I get really angry”
Skull Guy yelled in outrage. “You have meddled in the wrong place, now you will witness my true wrath. The wrath of the Skull Sorcerer!” Well. It looks like Cole’s luck was indeed that bad. Of course he’d run into an evil supposedly vanquished decades ago.
Cole shifted into a defensive posture, knowing that whatever was making him feel weak would likely prevent him from beating the Skull Sorcerer. But he had to try. Ninja never quit. Then, the creepy green skull started chanting in some ancient language and the skeletons he’d just defeated rose up, good as new.
“Shit.”
Skeletons rushed him, but he couldn’t take them down fast enough and more kept appearing in their place. A whip wrapped itself around his wrist and he hissed in pain; little stone fragments seem to be embedded in the material. Cole began to wrench his arm towards his chest in an attempt to tug the creature off balance, trying again to activate his super strength when all of the sudden the lightness he’d been feeling since entering the cavern seemed to increase by tenfold. His mind and body may have been slipping slightly in and out of sync before, but now they simply weren’t coordinating at all. Activating his powers seemed to enhance the strange effect this cavern was having on him. But why? The world was spinning yet at the same time seemed to be lagging three seconds behind. He was barely in control of his own body, almost like dissociating, but worse because it wasn’t that he was on autopilot, he was simply unable to will himself to do anything.
He could only think of two things that created this disturbing effect: a very specific type of poison and vengestone. And as that particular poison was created by the Venomari who, besides from being thousands of miles from here, were now their allies, he had a feeling he knew what these creatures were mining for. Vengestone.
Oh, he was so fucked.
Before he knew what was happening, skeletons had begun dog-piling on top of him, the pressure slowly increasing until he felt something heavy secure itself around his waist. A ball and chain. Perfect.
The skeletons hauled Cole to his feet just to force him right back down to his knees.
“Why,” Cole groaned, “would you make me stand up if you were just going to insist I kneel down again?” While he meant it to be a sarcastic quip it came out more pained than he intended. Simply speaking at all took more effort than Cole would care to admit. The skeletons merely growled at him in response.
Cole desperately tried to come up with a plan to escape, but his brain was taking longer than usual to form coherent thoughts. He’d been in tough situations before, both with and without vengestone, but being completely and totally surrounded by it was unlike anything he’d ever experienced. Especially after trying to use his powers. Cole was always grounded and solid, an unshakeable force even before Master Wu helped him discover his elemental powers, yet the vengestone seemed to untether him from anything solid, real, permanent.
Black leather boots stepped into his frame of vision, but he was so focused on breathing, trying to find his center again, that he didn’t respond until a fist grabbed his dreads and yanked his head up. Cole hissed in pain, gritting his teeth together and staring up at the blank skull looming over him.
“Well, ninja,” the Skull Sorcerer spat, “you heard me earlier: those who disturb the work must be punished.”
Cole sneered back at him, using the man’s grip on his hair, painful as it was, as a point of focus. “This isn’t work, it’s enslavement. What you’re doing is wrong. I’m going to get out of here, my friends will find me, and when they do I will show you that I always protect those who cannot protect themsel-.” The Skull Sorcerer backhanded him, hard, cutting off his sentence and whipping his head to the side. Cole’s eyes began watering and he felt bile rise in his throat. The detached sensation that had been beginning to fade spiked again, making Cole squeeze his eyes shut in an attempt to stay present.
“Your friends will never find you down here, Earth Ninja. Save your pathetic speeches for the empty cell that’s about to become your new home. Thank you for volunteering to be our newest worker.” The Skull Sorcerer chuckled maliciously. “Remember, those who disturb the work will be punished. Swiftly and without mercy. Remove the chain, we wouldn’t want our new friend to… zone out and miss the lesson would we.” He nodded at the skeleton pinning Cole’s arms behind his back before turning around and launching himself into the air, circling the cavern twice before retreating back behind the lavafall.
A henchman removed the ball and chain from Cole’s waist, and he immediately felt the world come into slightly sharper focus, but the improvement was short lived when he felt a bony wrist drive into his stomach. Each punch to his ribs and stomach was accompanied by a burst of pain, yet even in his sorry state he knew they were going easy on him. The skeletons applied just enough pressure for the beating to hurt like hell, but not to cause any lasting damage. Why were they holding back?
Quicker than he expected, they stopped. Cole was hauled to his feet and dragged to a large cage made out of giant bones. Well, thought Cole, at least they’re on brand. Shit! Cole thought. No, can’t float away, not right now. Usually Cole was able to prevent himself from dissociating when he came into contact with vengestone, but being surrounded by it on all sides combined with the beating he took was proving to be an exception.
Trying to even out his breathing, Cole began a grounding technique Jay had taught him years ago.
Five things you can see: the bars of the cage, the glowing piles of vengestone, the strange little purple creatures, the tall green creatures, and the big wooden carts.
Four things you can touch: the cloth of his gi, the stone of the floor, the metal belt buckle across his chest, and the smooth bone of the cage.
Three things you can hear: the clanging of hammers, murmurs from the workers, and heavy footfalls of the giant cartbeasts.
Two things you can smell: dust and sweat.
One thing you can taste: blood from a cut on his cheek.
By the end of the exercise, Cole had gotten his breathing under control and was able to ground himself. The venegestone still dampened his senses, but at least it also took the edge off of the bruises blooming across his torso. Might as well sleep while I can, Cole thought wearily, rolling over onto his back and slipping immediately into unconsciousness.
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Cole awoke to a sharp prodding to his back. He jolted up pushing away the sharp spear tips they were poking him with. “Ok, ok! I get the point!” he yelped. The skeletons did not laugh at his joke.
Grabbing his arms, two warriors marched him across the cavern, passed dozens of green and purple creatures mining for vengestone, and deposited him at his very own cluster of boulders. One of the warriors secured a ball and chain around his waist, clipping the key to his belt before walking away. The other skeleton shoved him forward. Cole stumbled but was able to regain his balance before he face-planted onto hard stone. Before he could so much as think of a retort a pick ax was thrown to him, the skeleton gestured at the stone, growled, then walked away to join their companion.
Cole glared, hands clenched into fists, before turning to the stone and beginning to hack away. The light-headedness that had plagued him since entering the cavern was better than last night, but still a constant presence in the back of his mind. He worried that it would only get stronger as the day wore on, the manual labor doing nothing to ease it. Cole grit his teeth against a wave of nausea. He had to come up with some sort of a plan soon. Before anything bad happened. Well, anything worse than being imprisoned by an evil sorcerer and being forced to do backbreaking manual labor while functioning at maybe 50% (being generous) alongside dozens of enslaved people. Phase one: recon.
A few minutes later, he glanced around to make sure no one was watching him, then leaned over to the green giant next to him. “Psst. Hey. Hey! I’m Cole.”
“Murt.” Murt grunted, not even looking over at him.
“How long have you been down here, Murt?”
“Long time. Like you.”
“What?” Cole asked, confused. “No, I just got here.”
“Me too.” Murt responded brusquely. “Long time.”
Cole stared at him for a second before turning around and walking a few feet over to one of the purple creatures that had had his mom’s necklace. “Hey. Hey, buddy, any way out of here?”
“No,” Came the nasally response.
The crack of a whip right over Cole’s head had him flinching automatically. A guttural roar came from the skeleton that had spotted Cole slacking off. “Ok, ok,” Cole said, turning around to get back to work. Phase one had been a resounding failure. Too bad phase one was as far as he had gotten. Well, no point in putting himself or others in harm's way without a larger strategy. He’d have to wait a little longer, get a better sense of what was going on before coming up with a plan. Concern furrowed his brow. Hopefully Vania had gotten word to his friends by now. But until then, all he could do was work.
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Hours later, he’d only learned three things: 1) The purple guys were called Geckles 2) The green guys were called the Munce and 3) however bad you think glop for lunch is, it’s a million times worse. Oh, and the hours of chipping away at hard stone had made the lightheadedness significantly worse. First Spinjitzu Master, he truly hated vengestone.
To sum it up, Cole was screwed.
After lunch, the skeletons locked Cole in one of the bone cages along with a bunch of the Geckles. He sat with his forehead between his knees, taking deep breaths to ward off the dizziness that had overcome him. A few minutes later, Cole heard the soft sounds of feet alighting onto a surface. Looking up, Cole felt the tension leave his shoulders as he saw Nya, Lloyd, Jay, and Zane crouching in front of his cage. Kai ran up behind them, clutching the key in his hand, and quickly unlocked the door.
“Cole!” Kai pulled Cole close to him, cupping his hands around Cole’s face and gently resting their foreheads. “You’re alright.”
Cole went to bring his hands up to Kai’s face, but hissed in pain and Kai immediately pulled back, concern etched onto his features. “I’m fine, Hothead, just a couple of bruises. C’mere.” He pulled Kai back into a hug, albeit slower than normal. “I’m ok.”
“Uh, I hate to break up the moment, but someone’s coming!” Jay whispered, looking at a hallway where the flickering light of a torch was steadily growing brighter. Zane quickly threw one of his shurikens, breaking the chain of a chandelier and sending it crashing onto the skeleton warriors below.
“Keep it down!” Cole said frantically, breaking away from Kai and glancing furtively towards the lavafall. “There’s a creepy evil guy with wings in that temple, and trust me, you do not want to meet him.”
“Yeah,” Nya agreed, “Let’s not bring the whole place down on our heads.”
Just then, the Geckles in the cage with Cole seemed to realize the door was wide open and they began running out. Nya and Kai began freeing the other cages on the ground while Zane, Jay, and Lloyd scaled the walls to free the Munce and Geckles suspended from the ceiling. They had just freed everyone and were heading towards the exit when a Munce shouted accusingly “You rescue Geckles?”
“Thieving Munce!” A Geckle from the crowd shouted.
“Thieving Geckle!” The Munce bellowed back.
“Hey!” Cole interjected. “Keep it together, guys. Just for a few more seconds.” But the feud between these peoples would not be put on hold, even to escape. They began flinging insults back and forth and before the ninja could do anything, punches were being thrown. Shouts rang throughout the cavern, drawing the attention of a watchtower nearby.
“New plan!” Lloyd yelled. “Jay, Nya, take out that tower. Everyone else: run!”
Jay and Nya lept into action, using spinjitzu to knock the tower and its guards into the magma below. The others began to run for the exit, but no one else was following. They were all too consumed with their fighting. The ninja tried to corral everyone to the exits, but nothing worked.
“Urg, c’mon, we’ll come back for them!” Lloyd said over his shoulder, dashing for the mouth of the closest tunnel. A pack of skeleton warriors dropped down from the ceiling right in front of them, cutting off their escape route. Cole whirled a nearby ball and chain over his head, flinging it towards the warriors, knocking all three down.
“Strike!” Cole yelled, immediately regretting it when spots of blackness dotted his vision for a few seconds. Cole dug his nails into his palm, willing the world to come back into focus. Sounds of battle raged around him, his friends' shouts echoing off the walls and mingling with the sounds of clattering bones. When his sight cleared, Cole groaned and went to regroup with his friends.
“These guys go down so easily!” Kai laughed, cutting three warriors down with no effort.
Cole was about to issue a warning about their regeneration when five warriors appeared behind them. Zane moved to shoot ice at them, but produced only a few flurries.
“My elemental powers appear ineffective!” Zane cried, his robotic voice pitched higher in alarm.
“I was mining for vengestone, Zane, the stuff is all around us!” Cole said, leaning against Kai for support. “It’s restricting our powers!”
“No offense, babe, but that’s like, the first thing you should have told us!” Kai shouted, slinging an arm around Cole’s waist.
“Well I'm sorry, I’ve had a lot on my mind!” Cole yelled back. “But we can still do spinjitzu!” He gently pushed away from Kai and, taking a deep breath, started the motions for spinjitzu, obliterating the skeletons in his path. The others followed suit, but just as the tide was turning, the giant skeleton temple began to glow and the Skull Sorcerer appeared from behind the lavafall.
“Who dares disturb the Skull Sorcerer!”
“Yup, that’s him.” Cole remarked wryly. “That’s who I was telling you about.”
They turned to flee when, but the Skull Sorcerer swooped down in front of them, hovering menacingly.
Kai stepped in front of them all. “There’s six of us and one of you, pal.”
“Rise, my children! Rise!” The villain screamed, green fire pouring from the skull he held in his grasp.
All around them, the skeletons they defeated began to knit themselves back together, the empty pits of their eye sockets glowing a poisonous green.
“Another thing I forgot to mention…” Cole said sheepishly.
“Aww, c’mon, dude!” Nya groaned.
“You will never see the sun again.” laughed the Skull Sorcerer, flying back towards his temple as the skeletons attacked, overpowering them one by one.
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After clipping balls and chains to each of them, the ninja were given pickaxes and forced to continue mining. Cole’s normally bright umber skin had developed an ashy quality, and each swing was harder and harder to complete. The others labored beside him, looking tired, but nowhere near as worse as he felt.
Why was Cole struggling so much when the others were only experiencing the mild side effects of the vengestone? It must be because Cole had tried to use his powers while in vengestone cuffs which had triggered the intense side effects, while the others only tried their powers when in the cavern, physically surrounded, but not restrained by the stuff. And the extreme aftereffects Cole was suffering from, which usually wore off in a few hours, were prolonged because of the overwhelming presence of the stone.
“Worst rescue ever.” Jay said pointedly at Kai, though a smile hid in his features.
“What?” Kai said indignantly. “I asked if someone else had a better idea.”
Cole smiled through the exhaustion, grateful that, even in as dire straits as they were in, at least now he had his team to help him. Now all they had to do was come up with a new plan to escape. But as the saying goes, six minds are better than one.