Candy for one, candy for all!🍭🍭🍬🍬

Prompt: "At least this can't get any worse!"

🍁•🍁•🍁•🍁

"Argh! This is so not my day!" Kai yelled, getting up from the muddy puddle he had slipped in and shaking the wet earth off of himself. He made to follow his team but lost his footing and crashed yet again into the muck.

Cole and Jay laughed till their sides hurt, leaning on one another. Kai raised his head, his face smeared with mud. He spat some of it out of his mouth and glared at the chuckling duo.

Lloyd came over, trying to hide his own chuckles before helping Kai up from off the ground. "Maybe we should rest for a while."

They all agreed quickly and sat down on the mossy ground, resting their backs against tree trunks or boulders. Kai grumbled as he wiped dirt off his red tank top and brown shorts.

"Ugh! It got in my hair," he complained, untying the crimson headband and ruffling up his brown spikes, sending a shower of mud on an annoyed Jay.

"No offense, Lloyd," Nya began, picking at the strap of her tank top, "but your uncle has absolutely no idea what 'enjoyable excursions' mean." She stole a glance at her brother who was grumpily swatting away mosquitoes which seemed to be bugging him only.

"In what world is island survival enjoyable?" Cole voiced his thoughts, throwing up his hands. His stomach growled as he looked down at it in pity. "We haven't even had anything to eat except for those stupid, insect-infested mangoes!"

"Mangoes," Jay mumbled sleepily. "Mangoes everywhere. They won't stop coming."

Zane reached over and grabbed the basket he had been carrying for fruits. "We do have this basket full of coconuts."

Kai eyed the green fruits hungrily, wanting nothing more than to crack one open and devour it. "Coconuts which we haven't figured out how to open yet," he groaned, slumping against a tree stump lazily.

"Come on," Lloyd said in a failed attempt at encouragement. "We know all about the toughness of the concrete jungle. It's time to face the real wild side of the world."

"Dude," Cole blurted. "Are you saying we haven't been in the wild?" He fixed Lloyd with an expectant look as the blonde scratched his hair in thought.

"Let me enlighten you," Jay spoke up, disturbing an anthill with a twig. He cleared his throat before listing off his fingers, "The Caves of Despair, the Frozen Wastelands, the Floating Ruins, the Forest of Tranquility, the Toxic Bogs, the Birchwood Forest, the Dark Island, the Endless Sea, Hiroshi's Labyrinth, outer space mind you, Chen's island, the Wailing Alps, that crazy Tiger Widow island, Primevel's Eye, the Desert of Doom, the forests of the Never Realm, Okino's maze and the dungeons of Shintaro."

Kai nodded wearily to that rather long list and turned to face Lloyd who looked astonished at the fact that they had basically survived Ninjago from top to bottom. "If that ain't surviving, I don't know what is," the Master of Fire mumbled. "We even went to outer space, man. Give us some respect."

"Wow," Nya breathed out in amazement, running a hand through her raven tresses. Lloyd bit his lip, trying to think of a way to prove that his uncle was not torturing them with excessive, useless training. "Well, practice makes perfect, right?"

They all stared at Lloyd with unammused expressions. Lloyd smiled sheepishly at the awkwardness before Kai completely lost it and started yelling indignantly.

"What's the matter with you?" Jay snapped, hitting Kai with the twig in his hand. The Master of Fire stood up and began waving his hands around him in a maniacal manner.

"Damn these mosquitoes!" He screamed, flames beginning to dance among his fingers. "Useless bugs!" He started frying the poor insects to crisps until Nya doused him with her water.

"Careful, you idiot!" She hissed at her brother. "Are you planning on setting the whole jungle on fire?!" The brunet sighed in defeat, dropping down onto ground once again. He began itching in various spots on his toned, bare arms, muttering silent profanities.

"At least this can't get any worse," Jay mumbled weakly, eyelids drooping due to lack of rest.

Courtesy of the bad luck that seems to follow the Ninja everywhere they go, they all snapped to attention at the quiet crunching of twigs and leaves. Forgetting about rest and relaxation, they sat up straight and observed their surroundings, eyes peeled for sudden movements.

Nya gasped as heavy breathing and grunting sounded from deep within the trees followed by the early crunching which seemed louder. To the Ninja's horror, a low but menacing growl erupted from a nearby bush.

A few seconds of silence passed in which Jay gestured at Zane to check for danger. Before the nindroid could move, a huge grizzly bear came jumping out from among the bushes, baring its teeth.

Birds squawked and flew to the safety of the trees as the group's screams of panic cut through the suspense filled silence. In an attempt to escape the clutches of the beast, they jumped and fell over one another, resulting in Kai slipping back into the muddy puddle.

"Run!" Nya shouted, unceremoniously heaving her brother out from the mud. She dragged him after the rest of the team, pushing aside branches and jumping over fallen logs and rocks.

They all dashed through jungle, their muddy shoes slapping the ground. There was no denying that the bear, who was familiar with the island terrain, was catching up to them.

"What the flump is a bear doing on an island?!" Jay yelled, his frantic question turning into a scream as the said animal roared behind him. "That is a Kodiak bear," Zane huffed while leaping over a ditch. "They are indigenous to the island biomes."

"This isn't the time for a National Geographic documentary, blizzard mouth," Kai snapped, almost avoiding getting clobbered by a low branch. He was having a hard time navigating through the dense jungle due to the mud on his face.

"Up there!" Lloyd hollered, pointing to a tree with branches arranged in succession, making it look like a branchy staircase around the trunk. Looking back, he figured the time it would take for all of them to climb to safety before they became the bear's evening snack.

"Jump!" Lloyd forced his legs to propel him upwards, hands outstretched. He clasped the lowest branch as soon as it came within reach, heaving himself onto it.

He didn't stop. He kept flipping from one branch to another, leaving space for his friends. Only when he was high enough to be safe did he dare to look down. Everyone had followed his example and were now safely in the arms of the tree. The blonde held his breath as Kai made a weak attempt at a jump and almost missed the branch.

But sisters aren't there to abandoned you. Nya yelled and leaned forward, grabbing Kai's hand. Kai felt his body jerk and his muscle tendon stretch as his fall was stopped. He was left dangling in the air, waving his legs helplessly as the bear gained on him. However, before anything unpleasant happpened, Nya tugged and with surprising strength, managed to lift her brother onto the branch.

The bear finally reached the tree, swiping his claws up at them and snapping his razor sharp teeth. The Ninja were all breathing heavily from the mad dash, holding onto the tree for dear life.

Cole glanced down at the beast whose roaring sent shivers down his spine. "Guess we're stuck here for a while," he mumbled unhelpfully.

"You were terribly wrong, Jay," Zane stated, looking at the branch above him where the Master of Lightning was squatted. "It did get worse."

🍁•🍁•🍁•🍁

*Sigh* Why do I love torturing these poor kids?