The Temple On Haunted Hill
We arrive on a tour to Yang's Temple.
"Welcome to Yang's Haunted Temple, the historical landmark and former home of Sensei Yang, the notorious sensei without a pupil, infamous for creating the lost martial art of Airjitzu. Unfortunately, we can't take our tour groups inside, for rumors say anyone trapped inside its walls at sunrise, will be turned into a Ghost permanently. But, if you listen closely, maybe we'll be able to hear the Ghost of Sensei Yang himself looking for his lost pupils." Patty smiles, leading the group.
"I hope it's not a rumor, for it's our only hope!" Zane yells, as I quickly cover my ears, wincing.
"Ah, sorry about my loud friend. He's a little hard of hearing." Cole apologizes.
"Known for his un-" Patty clears her throat. "-usual teaching methods..."
"I thought you said you fixed him?" Kai whispers.
"At least he's no longer talking backwards. I guess my tinkering got his volume level stuck, hehe." Jay says.
"At least you can understand me now!" Zane yells.
"... Dating back, ahem, to the Edo Period..." Patty glares at us.
"Well, from now on, only speak if you have something really important to say." Cole orders.
"Who put you in charge?" Kai asks.
"I did. After you guys mucked it up, it's my turn to be in charge. And, like me, I like my plans simple. We sneak in, learn Airjitzu from the Ghost of Sensei Yang, then get out before sunup." Cole commands.
"Since Morro already knows Airjitzu, we just have to hope he hasn't figured out the next clue." I say.
"Well, the sun is setting, which means we should head back to the bus. Wouldn't want anyone to turn into a Ghost." Patty says, and we take this opportunity to hide behind a statue. We wait until nightfall, then rush to the temple.Cole and Jay try to open the windows, but Zane and Kai just opens the door.
"Oh, uh, okay." Cole says.
"Not everything has to be so hard y'know?" I say. We walk around the hallways, entering a room.
"Oh." Cole sees a Spykor in front of him. "Argh!"
"Relax. If this place is truly haunted, we just need to wait until he shows himself." Kai says.
"Uh, he should've been here by now." Jay groans.
"You heard the tour guide, if we're not out by sunup, we'll be Ghosts." Cole frets.
"You didn't buy into that malarkey, did you?" Kai smirks.
"Hey, I don't wanna be a Ghost. Who wants to be a Ghost? Why didn't anyone warn us this place would get so creepy after dark?" Cole asks.
"Uh, remind me again why we agreed to put the guy afraid of Ghosts in charge?" Jay says.
Zane shows Jay a book. "Listen to this!"
"Argh! Allow me." Jay takes the book. "Ahem. Whoa. It says here though many believed Sensei Yang's unusually strict teachings drove his pupils away, others admit to never seeing any of them leave the temple grounds, suggesting a more sinister plot. Hah! How awesome is that?"
"Not awesome. Not even a little." Cole shakes his head.
"Don't believe everything you read." Kai rolls his eyes.
"Yang was hard on his pupils for a reason, for in his words As iron sharpens iron, Sensei sharpens student." I read.
"Hmm. I wonder what he means by that." Kai says a grandfather clock starts groaning.
"It's him. He's in the clock!" Cole shrieks.
"You're the leader. Check it out." I beckon, hiding behind Zane.
Cole opens the door and the Falcon flies out. "Aah!" Zane plays the groaning sound on the Falcon and everyone laughs at him. "A prank? Really?"
"Heh, we were just trying to help you relax." Kai reasons.
"Yeah, heh. You should have heard yourself scream!" I laugh. Zane plays a recording of Cole screaming and we laugh again, but stop when we hear a thudding sound.
"Ah. Another prank? Real funny. Didn't anyone teach you to quit while you're ahead?" Cole snaps, opening a door and leaving.
"Uh, was that you?" I ask.
"Not me." Jay shakes his head.
"Me either!" Zane confirms.
"Nope." Kai says.
"Cole, wait!" We yell, running out the room.
"I swear, Cole." Kai yells.
"Let's go back! We didn't do that!" Jay pleads.
"It wasn't us!" Zane says.
"Okay, I have to admit, this is pretty good. How'd you get the handles to move all by itself? Is Nya behind there?" Cole jokes.
"Don't open that door!" Jay yells, but Cole opens it, and nothing happens.
"Well, that was anticlimactic." I comment.
"Sensei Yang's dojo. This is where he must've trained his pupils." Kai says, as we creep in the room.
"Or got rid of them." Jay mutters.
"Knock it off, guys. If that wasn't you behind the rattling door, who was it?" Cole asks.
"The Ghost of Sensei Yang!" We say, and Cole rolls his eyes.
"As iron sharpens iron, Sensei sharpens students." A voices says.
"It's the Ghost of Sensei Yang!" We shriek.
"Uh, guys, what does he mean by sharpen?" Jay asks. I see the swords on the wall start moving.
"Let's not hang around to find out!" I yell.
"Let's get out of here!" Kai runs away and we follow him.
"Does this mean he doesn't want to teach us Airjitzu?" Jay asks.
"Forget Airjitzu, where's the window?" Kai snaps.
"This way!" Cole yells. We try to open it, but it's locked.
"Gah, we're caged in like animals!" Jay yells, and Yang laughs.
"Argh! Let's try the front door!" Cole yells.
"But that's downstairs, and in case you haven't paid any attention, there's flying weapons trying to slice and dice us!" I snap.
"There's a dumbwaiter!" Zane points behind Jay.
"Hey, watch who you're calling-oh, a dumbwaiter! That can take us down." We go in the dumbwaiter. "You said there'd be enough room for all five of us in here." Jay snaps.
"My calculations are always correct!" Zane retorts.
"Ow, my ear. Well, turn on a light or something, because I can't see a thing." Cole groans. Zane illuminates the dumbwaiter and we see Yang.
"As iron sharpens iron..." We quickly run away. "As iron sharpens iron, Sensei sharpens student!" We open the front door, but almost fall down a green spacey place.
"What is it? What's down there? Oh, wait, don't tell me! I don't want to know!" Jay yells.
"We appear to be trapped within some kind of inter-dimensional ethereal realm!" Zane informs.
"Oh, I told you not to tell me, Zane! Knowing that just makes things worse!" Jay yells, as we get pulled back inside. We finally avoid all of Yang's tricks.
"Ah. All right, so there's no way out of the Haunted Temple, but at least all the commotion's died down." Jay pants.
"Yeah, we just gotta get through the night together. Show Yang, we're not scared. Huh?" Kai turns to look at a portrait of Yang. The clock chimes.
"It's just a clock. We're not afraid of time, but we are afraid of not getting outta here in time. Oh my gosh, why did we spend the night in a haunted temple?" Cole panics.
"Everyone, get ahold of yourselves! Even if my volume wasn't stuck, I'd still be yelling at this decibel!" Zane yells.
"Zane's right. What are we doing? We need to toughen up. We're Ninja! We already missed out on the Airjitzu the first time, we can't let this opportunity pass." Cole commands.
"Uh, guys? I walk up to a picture of a ship in the sea. "Are paintings supposed to move?" Jay taps the picture, and the room slowly starts to flood with water.
"Why did you touch the scary picture, Jay?" Cole snaps.
"I didn't know it would do that, Cole!" Jay retorts.
Kai tries to open the doors. "Unh! It's locked! Ugh!"
"As iron sharpens iron, Sensei sharpens student!" Yang says.
"Oh, great, back for round two." Jay groans.
"Water. I'm afraid of...water. We're all gonna drown!" Kai tugs on the door harder.
Jay grabs onto a plank. "It's all in your head, Kai. He's trying to scare us out so we don't get Airjitzu."
"I don't know, tastes pretty real to me." Cole coughs up water.
"Where's Kai!?" Zane yells.
Kai finally opens the doors and we flow out of the room.
"Well, wasn't that refreshing." I pant.
"First the haunting, then water. What's next?" Cole asks.
"That's it. He is testing us. Don't you see, Cole's afraid of Ghosts, and Kai's afraid of water" Jay says.
"As iron sharpens iron, Sensei sharpens student. He's making us face our fears." Kai says.
"Which means whatever he throws at us next, we have to face together. And this time, no running away." Cole orders.
"Or swimming away." Jay adds.
"Fine, but time's running out and if we don't figure out a way of staying in this together, none of us are gonna get out alive." Kai says.
"I may have an idea." I smirk. I take a deep breath, and try to summon an actual rope, not my elemental one. I open my eyes, to see a relatively okay rope. "Well, that was easier than I expected."
"What is that supposed to do?" Jay asks.
"We can tie ourselves together, so no one can run away!" I reason.
"Okay then, let's do this." Kai says, and we tie ourselves together.
"All right, no matter what happens, no one can run away. We're in this together." Cole orders.
"Haha! Ain't no thang but a Sensei Yang. Let's find him and get that Airjitzu." Jay cheers.
"Just so we're not surprised, Zane, Jay, Kaylee, what sort of things are you afraid of?" Kai asks.
"Ah! I think I know what I'm afraid of!" Zane yells, and we see Morro. "It's Morro!" We scream.
"Of all the times to have to fight him again." Cole groans.
"Ugh, and he already knows Airjitzu. We don't stand a chance!" Jay shrieks.
"Why now?!" I wail.
"Wait a minute. If we're all afraid of Morro, this must be the next test. And how are we supposed to save Lloyd, if we don't have the courage to face him?" Kai reasons.
"He's right. Let's get him!" We run after him, but are slowed down due to being tied together. "We weren't fast enough." Cole pants.
"There he is!" Kai yells.
"All right. Let's step together. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three." Cole commands, and we run in sync until Kai stops at a set of stairs.
"Ow!" Jay yelps.
"He went up to the attic." Kai says.
"Uh, attics. Definitely near the top of the list of things I'm afraid of." We go up and see Morro. "He's just standing there. What do we do?"
"I don't know. But go face him, Jay." Kai says.
"Ugh, you face him!" Jay snaps.
"We'll all face him." I retort. As we approach him, Morro disappears. We jump back and we see Yang.
"As iron sharpens iron, Sensei sharpens student. You have passed the test." Sensei Yang says.
"Huh? Then you'll teach how to do Airjitzu?" Kai asks.
Yang shows us a scroll. "Only those who see things through will reap the benefit of the reward." He gives Cole the Scroll.
"That's not the only thing we see-through. Why is it I can see through my hand!?" Jay shrieks.
"Now you will join my students." Yang laughs devilishy as several ghosts rise up behind him.
"He's not just their mentor, he's their captor." Cole gasps.
"The new dawn's upon us. Get out of here before the clock's last chime, if you can." Yang says. We scream and fall down the stairs.
"Why did we tie ourselves together!?" Zane yells.
"There's no time to complain, we just have to move. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three." Cole orders.
"The door! Hurry!" I yell, as we run out the door. We make it out, gasping for air.
"Ah. My hand. I can see my hand! We made it!" Kai cheers.
Jay holds up Cole's end of the rope. "Ugh, but where's Cole?" Jay asks.
"Don't worry, I got the Scroll!" Cole yells, and we gasp. He was a ghost. A fricking ghost. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"
"You didn't make it out in time." Jay sadly says.
"Yeah, Cole, you're a...a..." Kai starts.
"I'm a...Ghost..." Cole gasps, falling on his knees. We walk closer to him, and we start comforting him.
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