(Y/n)'s POV
Once we had arrived at the pyramid site, we immediately go to talk to Clutch Powers.
"This is Gayle Gossip from the desert, where a mysterious pyramid has been discovered. What's inside? Nobody knows. But at this moment, the ninja have arrived and are preparing to enter the pyramid with famed explorer, Clutch Powers." Gayle Gossip reports, pointing the camera our way as we try to persuade Clutch Powers.
"Your assistance will be very helpful." Zane tells him as we watch Clutch drink out of a cup.
"Nope. No way. Nein, danke." Clutch refuses.
"But nobody knows what's inside. There could be valuable historical relics." Lloyd argues.
"Treasures!" Kai exclaims.
"Gold!" Jay adds before gasping gasping, "And diamonds!"
"And most importantly, adventure!" I state.
Clutch continues drinking his juice and shrugs, not convinced.
"Come on, seriously?!" Seliel complains.
"You are the foremost expert on ancient structures and your book, Booby Traps and How to Survive Them, is considered a seminal work." Zane tells him.
"Flattered! But still no." Clutch says and continues drinking the juice.
"Professor, isn't there anything we can do to convince you?" Nya asks.
"Yeah, you're an adventurer, right? What's the problem?" Morro asks.
"Professor Powers! There's a call for you!" A man calls out running up to Clutch with a phone.
"Now, Dwayne. I told you I didn't want to be disturbed." Clutch tells him.
"But it's...The Explorer's Club!" Dwayne states.
Clutch tosses his juice in surprise, "W-What? Give me that!" He exclaims before snatching the phone, "Ahem. This is Professor Powers."
The rest of us stand behind him as the person on the other line talks.
"What? This is an outrage! I demand an explanation!" Clutch declares, stomping his foot like a child.
"He's a lot less…exciting than he is in his book." I whisper to Cole as we are both Clutch Powers fans.
"Right? I'd thought he'd jump at the chance to explore an ancient pyramid." Cole whispers back, "You don't think he made it all up, do you?"
"I just discovered a pyramid!" Clutch exclaims, still talking on the phone.
"Wha-! No, of course not." I immediately shut down, giving Cole a small shove, "He found one of the Fang Blades, remember? There's no way."
"Yes, yes, I'm here! And don't cancel anything! I'll get back to you." Clutch states before hanging up the phone and turning to us, "Ugh. Well guys, looks like you're in luck. Clutch Powers is open for business!"
"Yes!" Cole and I exclaim, giving each other a fist bump as Clutch opens a chest and takes out an amulet and two flashlights.
We all follow him into the Pyramid as he uses the flashlight to look around. He then shines the light at us and narrows his eyes.
"Now before we take another step, I hope each of you has read my book. It could save your life." Clutch tells us.
"Of course!" Zane replies.
"Definitely!" Cole and I exclaim.
"Yeah! I love...that book." Kai lies as he winks at the rest of us.
I smack him on the head before following Clutch again. We soon get to a room with a very unstable looking bridge.
"Woah!" Nya and Seliel say in awe.
"Chapter Eight: Rickety Old Bridges." Clutch says, turning to us, "Only one way to cross them: fast and first." He then runs across the bridge as fast as he can, "Last person in line usually doesn't make it!"
We all immediately run after him, Morro being first with Cole and I right behind him. Once across the bridge we look back to see that Kai and Jay had tripped and are now on the floor. Lloyd and Seliel jump over them and make it across. Nya helps Kai up before they both make it across and finally, Zane makes it across carrying Jay.
"That wasn't so bad!" Jay says as Zane puts him down.
"Huh! It was actually pretty sturdy!" Cole states.
"Even though it looks like it could collapse at any second." Morro adds.
"Yeah, we got lucky. But luck runs out." Clutch tells us.
We follow him down a hallway and come across some stairs. Clutch then holds out his arm in front of us, stopping us from moving forward.
"Don't!" He exclaims as he seems to lean in and inspect the cobwebs.
Jay suddenly gasps and turns to Cole and I, "Did you see that?"
"See what?" We both ask, wondering what he had seen.
"I don't like the look of these." Clutch says, drawing our attention.
"Uh. They're cobwebs." Kai tells him.
"Yeah, well, that's what they want us to think! Jump over, like this!" Clutch exclaims before jumping over the cobwebs.
We all jump over the cobweb…or at least that's what we assumed until we hear a snap and see that Jay had completely ignored Clutch and stepped on the cobweb.
The ground starts to shake and I look around nervously as I wait for something happen.
"Gumdrops!" Clutch exclaims as the stairs fold into a steep slide, causing all of us to slide down the passageway.
"WOAH!!" We all scream.
"Grab onto something!" Lloyd tells us.
"I'm trying!" Kai replies as he tries to grab onto the folded stairs.
"There's nothing to grab, it's too smooth!" Jay adds.
"Guys, guys, GUYS!" Cole yells, looking towards the bottom of the passageway.
"SPIKES!" Seliel exclaims as we all see the spike pit.
"Leave this to the master of destruction!" I declare as I charge up my power before blasting the spikes at the bottom.
We all fall into the pit, a bit bruised, but not impaled. So I call it a win.
"He said to step over them!" Cole scolds Jay.
"I did!" Jay lies.
"Yeah right!" Morro states, gesturing to the cobweb attached to his foot.
If you did, we wouldn't be lying here in a pit with…" Cole stops as he sees the rest of us staring behind him, "What? What are you guys staring at?" He looks behind him and falls backwards as he finally spots the skeleton impaled on a spike, "AH!"
"I wonder who that was." Zane says.
"Someone who didn't stop in time." I state.
Clutch walks over to the skeleton and looks over it. Jay follows him and looks at Clutch in shock before turning to look at Cole and I, gesturing to Clutch's eye patch. We look at Jay confused and he sighs in disappointment.
"Hmm...Hageman. A competitor. He was good. Very good. But, he didn't read my book. And it cost him his life." Clutch informs us.
Zane picks up a book from the floor, "Actually, he did read it."
Cole and I gasp in disbelief before looking to Clutch for an explanation.
"Now, let me see that!" Clutch exclaims as he snatches the book from Zane and opens to a bookmarked page, "Aha! He stopped on chapter eight. Cobweb traps are in chapter nine."
Cole and I let out a sigh of relief and grin at each other.
"Oh, come on! It can't be that good." Jay whispers to us.
"But it is!" Cole and I tell him.
"Sure." He says sarcastically.
Clutch tosses the book and it hits Hageman's head, causing it to fall off, along with the rest of his skeleton, causing me to wince.
"What? You gonna steal the stuff off of this skeleton too?" Nya teases.
"NYA!" I say, embarrassed.
"Um, what?" Morro asks.
"Nothing!" I state quickly as I rush to follow after Clutch and the others, not missing the fact that Jay had picked up Clutch's book.
We then enter a crypt with sarcophagi in it.
"Wow! Would you look at that!" Kai says in awe.
"Nobody touch nothing." Clutch orders, but then we stumble upon a broken pillar blocking the path, "Gumdrops."
"Cole?" Lloyd asks as he and Cole smirk at each other.
"I got this." Cole says before he activates his lava arm and lifts up the pillar. We all look towards the now unblocked hall, realizing how long it is, "Any. Day. Now!"
We all quickly run under the pillar and Cole follows us after throwing it away. At the end of the hallway we find a room with tiles on the wall along with ancient language.
"What...is this?" Lloyd asks.
"It appears to be an ancient locking mechanism. If the image is properly assembled, the chamber will open." Zane explains after scanning the tiles.
"Ooh! Like a puzzle game! Oh-ho! I'm good at these!" Jay cheers as he picks up a large stick to move the tiles.
"Slide that one over there." Nya instructs, helping him with the puzzle.
"I don't like this. It feels familiar." I tell Lloyd.
"Good familiar or bad familiar?" He asks.
"I can't tell yet." I reply.
Zane walks over to a wall with ancient language on it and I look at it confused.
"Hieroglyphics," Morro states. I look at him in slight surprise and he smirks, "You were wondering what it was called, right?"
I blush slightly and look back at the Hieroglyphics as Zane scans them.
"What does it say?" Lloyd asks the Nindroid.
"Beware, ye who enter the serpent's tomb. For her anger nearly did consume..all Ninjago, until a foolish boy with a staff of power…her evil did destroy." Zane reads.
"What does that mean?" Seliel questions.
"Gobbledygook, who knows? I haven't seen an inscription yet that made a lick of sense. I just ignore them." Clutch states.
'Staff of power…'
"Foolish boy…"
Lloyd and I look at each other with wide eyes, suddenly realizing what this place was.
"Wait, don't!" Lloyd, Zane, and I shout as we try to stop Nya and Jay from finishing the puzzle, but it's too late.
Jay moves the last tile and the puzzle reveals a picture of Aspheera. The room starts shaking and the tiles explode, causing us all to get blasted back.
From in the smoke, we hear someone laughing and as the smoke clears, we can see Aspheera slithering out of her tomb.
"Free at least." She states before noticing us, "Where is he?”
"Who?" Lloyd asks nervously, already having an idea of who she's talking about.
"The Treacherous Deceiver. The one who imprisoned me. Tell me where he is! And I, Aspheera, will show you mercy." Aspheera declares.
"I believe she's looking for the boy mentioned in the hieroglyphics." Zane tells us.
"Yeah, I got that part." I state, growing annoyed.
"What do I tell her?" Lloyd asks
"Tell her the truth. We don't know!" Nya says.
"Umm...That was a while ago." Lloyd tells Aspheera.
The snake obviously didn't like that answer and blasts Lloyd with magic from her staff.
We all pull our hoods on as we charge up our own powers.
"Oh, it is on!" I declare.
"Let her have it!" Jay exclaims before we start blasting her with our powers, but she blocks it all with her staff.
Aspheera cackles before pointing at Kai, "You! You're a fire Elemental?"
"Yeah! And the name's Kai!" Kai states before blasting her again. But the fire is once again blocked.
Aspheera smiles, "Your fire warms me. For too long I have been trapped in this cold, dark place. I will take your fire!"
"Oh, yeah?" Kai says, going to attack her again.
But then Aspheera creates a shock wave with her staff, and we all fall back as she lifts Kai in the air using her staff.
"Kai!" Nya calls out as we see Kai struggle and yell out in pain.
Fire shoots from Kai's body and starts going to Aspheera.
"What's happening?!" Cole asks.
"She's stealing his Elemental Powers! We must stop her!" Zane tells us.
Seliel throws down multiple smoke bombs and we all charge at Aspheera with Spinjitzu.
"Ninja, go!" We exclaim.
But then Aspheera also does Spinjitzu and knocks us all back as she continues to steal Kai's fire.
'Oh right…'
"She knows Spinjitzu." Morro says in shock.
"Forgot about that."
"How?!" Jay exclaims.
Aspheera finishes absorbing Kai's Fire and drops him on the floor, unconscious.
"Kai!" Lloyd shouts as we run over to him, checking to see if he's okay. We then look at Aspheera whose scales have changed from blue to gold as fire surrounds her body.
"I thank you, Elemental. In return for your gift, I shall spare your lives." She says before using magic to lift us up and chain us all to the wall, "May you enjoy your time in this place as much as I did. Farewell!"
My eyes widen as we watch her slither away, "Hey! Get back here!"
"You won't get away with this!" Lloyd declares.
"Well would you look at that. A villain heading to Ninjago to seek revenge and cause chaos…again!" Seliel complains.
We all groan in annoyance, knowing that our quest for adventure has now turned into a mission to save Ninjago…again.
Hi....I'm alive...once again. Do I have an exuse?
...
No. This is what happens when you're lazy. 😁