December 30th

After recieving info from Zane we decided to head out to the jungle in search of the third mask.
Mei made us an off-road camper. Although only 5 people fit inside comfortably, so that means we're leaving the Jade Siblings in the city along with Zane, Cole and Mei.
Hope we survive.

January 4th

After quick packing and a long travel?? by Destiny's Bounty we have arrived at the rainforest streching out for thousands of miles. The air here was humid and hot (around 30°C), which was honestly better than the 10°C in the city.

We're lucky we're here during the winter. Normally the temperatures here reach to 50°C the rest of the year.

January 5th

We left the Bounty and the rest of our team behind today, and ventured into the jungle in Betsy (our camper).
Honestly I never thought I would ever see Sky with a small turtle sitting a baby sling, pressed to her chest.
Yes. Leo is coming with us.

January 7th

I saw a bird today. It was very colorful. Will try to find out what species it was.

January 9th

I owe Jay pizza for taking the night shift for me today.

January 10th

Lloyd shall not be allowed to drive anymore. He got Betsy stuck for five hours.

January 12th

Kai accidentally deleted the image of the map Zane sent us. We would get lost if not for Sky who had the map on her phone.
I will not ask how she got such a good shot.

January 13th

Jay started infodumping and wouldn't stop. As much as I love gaining new information, after 5 hours his voice started annoying me.

January 15th

Sky says we're close, but I just feel like we're going around in circles.
January 16th
Kai burnt our dinner. He shall be banished from the kitchen.

January 18th

Leo got lost. Sky started full on panicking and turning the whole camper upside down, only to find the bastard an hour later in the glove compartment.

January 20th

Saw a river. We're following it downstream.

January 21st

Jay and Lloyd rebelled against everyone else and, as a form of protest, barricaded themselves in the bathroom.
They agreed to come out only when Sky gave them the Bintendo Change she brought with her. Now they are playing Wario Kart.

January 23rd

We arrived at our destination. It's a face-temple thingy carved into the stone cliff behind a waterfall. Looks ominous but also pretty in a way.

Sky says she and Lloyd are gonna go in tomorrow.

-

"Okay, we're going in. Wish us luck!" Sky shouted, leaving Kai, Jay and Liv in Betsy. She and Lloyd then turned around to get to the cave.

It welcomed the two with an obstacle of pole-like statues and infinite abyss right under their feet. They had to jump from one pole to another, avoiding the one with 8-like symbols on them.

When they finally got through this, the duo found themselves in a circular room with multiple doorways. "Could you please get rid of this wall here?" Sky asked LLoyd, pointing at the rock with an 8-like symbol sitting before her.
"But, don't you see the water around? If I break the wrong one, we'll drown! Also that is a bad symbol, remember?" He was nervous.
"Yes, I remember, and am asking you again. This is the only 'safe' wall around here." Her arguments apparently convinced Lloyd, because the next thing he did was breaking the wall down.

Behind it was another circular room with a platform at the center. On it, was sitting a pedestal, with a mask floating above it in some kind of magical smoke.

The duo approached it carefully so as not to fall into the void under the platform.

Sky tried reaching for the mask, but the smoke seemed to bite and burn into her skin as soon as it came into contact with it, not allowing her to grab the artifact. She backed away a bit, freeing her hand from the feeling.

"Okay, theory confirmed. Only the ones with Oni blood can touch the mask! Our job here is done!" Sky turned around, ready to walk out the door, when Lloyd stopped.

"Really? And we're just gonna leave it here?" Girl turned to him , but didn't have a chance to say anything, because someone suddenly entered the scene.

They, or should I say she, was wearing the mask of vengeance, which altered her appearance, so she was looking like she was wearing a black jumpsuit.

She had an unconscious Garmadon with her. What kind of twisted person kidnaps a 50-ish guy from his little apartment in the city? He was finally living peacefully, and now what? He gets kidnapped and dragged into this mess.

"Give me the mask, or he'll die." She threatened in a raspy voice, putting a knife to Garmadon's throat. Lloyd, rightfully scared about his father's wellbeing, reached out to grab the relic, when Sky stopped him with a hand gesture. "I'm sorry, so that was your plan? To kidnap an old war veteran and threaten a kid to retrieve the mask for you?" Sky mocked. "I really expected more from you, Harumi. I really did." She did not put any pressure on the name. Didn't point it out. She wanted for her victim to feel like this is common knowledge.

"Harumi?! No! NO, no. She will not take my spotlight again!" The voice, ragged by the mask, came angry and furious.

Either Harumi was that good at improvised acting, or...

No, it was her...

It had to be...

Only then did Sky realize that the person standing in front of her didn't have white hair.

Their hair was as black as night itself.

That person had to be the Dragon Slayer.

Their hand rose to their face in an attempt to take the mask off, but the motion was so slow. She could easily defeat them then and there.

But she couldn't move. Or, maybe she didn't want to?

Didn't she want to know who was hiding behind that mask? Behind the title of her nemesis? Wasn't her curiosity consuming her whole? Her stomach twisting in a funny way? Adrenaline rushing through her veins, making her feel the most alive she's been in the past few months?

Who?

That single question consumed her whole existence and spread in her mind like a wildfire. A deadly disease, making her anxious and excited all at once.

And then the mask came off. The moment she saw that face, his face, everything seemed to freeze. Her stomach fell and a sickening feeling of nausea began creeping up her throat.

It was the face of a friend. The first she didn't have to manipulate, the first one who had liked her just as she was, without a staged play.

And yet here he was, standing in front of her with a perfect, proud frown on his face.
He stood here, frozen in his pursuit of a weapon meant to destroy her.

Because he wanted to kill her.

That fact made her blood boil a combination of anger, rage and sorrow.

Her heart squeezed painfully. All of the emotions began overflowing her brain, drowning her in the wilderness.

She couldn't bottle them up.

She had to act up on one.

And rage won.

She lunged forward, her attack blind, wild, not thought through, like a raging waterfall.

She wasn't attacking with her fists. She was attacking with her teeth.

Ready to bite, with her hands now ending with claws rather than nails, she sent him falling to the ground, a deep, low rumble escaping her throat in a loud growl, her fangs now centimeters from his face.

But with a sudden stinging feeling, exploding in her abdomen, her claws disappeared and the growl died in her throat.

Her previously overflowed with rage brain now began drowning in pain. Her stomach screamed with agony, as she collapsed to the floor, pushed off the traitor.

She gruntled in pain, struggling to push herself into an upright position.

"I wouldn't try anything funny if I were you. It's a vengestone blade." He stood up and dusted himself off, his cold tone slicing at her throat.

Was this all an act? She attempted to grab his ankle to stop him from getting closer to Lloyd. He looked back at her, his ice cold stare burning a hole through her heart. He quickly grabbed another dagger and slashed at her hand, not even blinking as she hissed in pain and let go.

His poker face didn't crack when he pushed her off the edge, leaving her to fall to her death.

She was surprised upon finding herself calm in this situation. Everything happening around her was in slow motion, yet she found plummeting to her demise quite calming. Maybe it was the decreasing amount of blood in her body, or the adrenaline wearing off, but it wasn't at all concerning that her life did not flash before her eyes.

She knew that feeling. It was soothing. She knew she would soon succumb to the darkness that had visited her once before.

There was nothing concerning about dying. It will be quick, numb and quiet.

Not even the feeling of falling worried her. After many years of learning to fly she was quite used to it.

More concerning was the fact that she stopped. Upon opening her eyes, she didn't even realize she closed, she saw a person in green holding her hand, keeping her from falling.

Slowly they began pulling her up. But she knew it would be too late in a few seconds, her vision already darkening. She smiled weakly.

Her eyes snapped open so quickly, she immediately got blinded by the bright light surrounding her. What the heck? A second ago she was in a dark cave, plummeting down to her death. What happened?

Jay walked up to her. He wore a worried look on his face, as he broke the news to his sister. "You passed out. Lloyd brought you here." But what about the mask? And Garmadon? Didn't he get kidnapped? And Nick? This lying bitch has to get what he deserves as quickly as possible. "What about the mask?" Sky chose the most important of her questions.

"Ah, yeah. It turns out that Lloyd gave it to the guy who got you in this state because he had his father." Jay said it like it was no news at all. No shock? Was it not concerning? Huh?! "How long ago?" Sky chose to word her least aggressive thought.

"Yeah, that was like..." the blue ninja paused for a bit. Oh, something bad is coming. "5 days ago." He squealed weakly. Okay. It wasn't that bad, right? "Okay. Okay." She was trying to calm herself down. Five days she was unconscious. Five days out the window. In a situation where every minute could mean death for many- She took a sharp, deep breath in. And slow breath out, clenching her diaphragm as hard as she could. "Okay. What exactly happened? The important things, I mean."

Jay put a hand to his chin and started thinking. "Well, we found a good spot for the rest to pick us up, so now we're on the Bounty, Nick has vanished without a trace, he took the mask, and left Garmadon behind with us, Harumi has met master Wu and is now the Jade ninja, Leo got lost two times, but overall Liv is taking good care of him, and we ran out of cereal." That was a bit too much information, but Sky will take it. At least she knows what's going on.

-

After being freed from the IV (*shudder* needles), Sky headed to the kitchen, where, upon entering, six faces welcomed her with a smile and a few quick "Hey"'s and "How you doing"'s. Among them were some new people.

Harumi was sitting at the table, drinking coffee alongside Liv, who was tampering with the toaster for some reason. Sky made a mental note to apologize to Harumi later.

On the opposite side of the kitchen Garmadon was chatting away with Uncle Nix about some TV station. Was he living with Vinny already?

But the person who brought a smile to her lips was Mei. The girl who immediately ran up to her to scold her for walking right after waking up after being stabbed. That just made Sky smile wider.

She didn't know Mei could be so serious and responsible, and scold her for being reckless. (That was a lie. She knew damn well and was enjoying it.)

-

"Okay. So we know that he has to hold a ritual to get the power to kill the Dragon Warrior." Wow. Fresh wound. Sky definitely wasn't ready for the reality of Cole's words to hit her in the face like that. "Where will he hold it? What do you think?"

"Eh, there was an old altar-like thing in the palace. He could be there." Harumi could be right. Based on our velocity and entry angle- the show! Based on the show! God, the quotes were really getting annoying. A bit more of that madness and she won't be able to think outside them.

Anyways. Harumi had a point. "Good thinking! We should check that." Sky made sure to verbally praise the girl she had been keeping from getting close to her family for the past month or more. "I'll contact the police." Lloyd, of all people, stood up to get to the phone before Sky stopped him. "Believe me when I say they are useless. The only thing the police could do is create a distraction." She knew well that the police were incompetent. Come on! She was spying on them for months and no one realized!

Green bean, on the other hand, was considering her words. What was he thinking about? "Hey, what if we use them as a distraction!?" He piped up suddenly. Sky couldn't disagree that it was a good idea. "Smart." She praised and prayed in her mind that this plan works.

"So. Now we will go to check if Nick is back at the palace" Kai gestured to himself and the rest of the ninja (a term which now also meant Harumi - Sky reminded herself). "and if he is, we'll distract him with police and attack." The red ninja summed everything up, earning a few nods from a few people around the room.

"Okay, so I guess I'll-"Sky stood up and got ready to leave the room, but Mei stopped her quickly. "Nuh uh uh. You got stabbed, so you're staying here! And be grateful that you're not on strict bed rest." Oh, yes. Protective Mei. "No missions for you for the next three months." Sky pouted. She wasn't gonna just sit and do nothing! On the other hand it could've been much longer than just three months. Stab wounds in humans take about eight months to heal, so let's just say it wasn't that bad.

"Oh, don't worry. You won't be excluded from missions. You know the rules. Whoever's healing gets automatic dibs on 'person in the headquarters', so better get to work on finding those layouts." Kai definitely cheered her up. She liked playing 'the technician' of the group, and so the first thing she did after walking out of the room was finding the 'mission laptop'.

It was an old, black laptop with at least a dozen different security protocols and firewalls Zane installed on it. It had a few colorful stickers on it that Jay got. It was their shared device with layouts of most of the buildings in the city and map of the city itself on its hard drive. Everyone in the Temple knew the password and everyone was using it, more or less frequently.

This time it was in Cole's room. Sky grabbed it and began searching for the layouts of the palace immediately. She had to have everything ready.