Breakout Read online

  TITLE PAGE

  FROM THE JOURNAL OF SENSEI GARMADON

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  COPYRIGHT

  These are dangerous times for the ninja. One by one, Master Chen has worked to separate the team during his sinister Tournament of Elements. And now, I fear the ultimate showdown is drawing near.

  I am glad that I did not believe Lloyd when he first told me he was going fishing with Kai, Cole, and Jay. (He did forget to take his fishing pole, so that wasn’t too hard to figure out.) I followed my son to the docks, where he and the ninja were getting ready to board a ship to Master Chen’s island. Right away, I knew that trouble lay ahead.

  Master Chen is a dangerous man, not to be trusted. He had invited the ninja to take part in his Tournament of Elements. Chen sent the invitation to all descendants of the Elemental Masters. Each master has a different power, just as Kai is the Master of Fire, Jay is the Master of Lightning, and Cole is the Master of Earth. As the Green Ninja, Lloyd is the Master of Power. And Zane, who sacrificed himself to save Ninjago, was the Master of Ice.

  Zane is the reason Lloyd and the others agreed to enter the tournament. Master Chen sent the ninja a mysterious message hinting that Zane is alive and being held prisoner on his island. He said the only way to save Zane was to compete in his tournament. Kai, Lloyd, Cole, and Jay will risk anything to find their friend. I knew that grave danger lay ahead in their mission. So I joined them on their journey to Chen’s island.

  At first, Master Chen welcomed us with his usual flair for drama and splendor. The tournament began with a contest. There were Jade Blades hidden in his palace, and the Elemental Master who did not find a Jade Blade would be eliminated.

  The first competitor eliminated was Karlof, the Master of Metal. He disappeared through a trapdoor, and Master Chen used his Staff of Elements to steal Karlof’s power of metal! That is the real reason behind the tournament. Master Chen wants to steal each warrior’s elemental power for his own dark purposes. One by one, the losing competitors are stripped of their powers and sent to work in Chen’s secret underground noodle factory.

  The ninja knew they could not confront Master Chen until they found Zane. So they fought to remain in the tournament. But then, Master Chen pit Cole and Jay against each other in a tournament round. Cole purposefully lost to protect Jay. He disappeared through a trapdoor. And his powers will become Chen’s as well.

  But Cole is strong — stronger than his powers. I am sure that he will find a way out. Well, mostly sure. Master Chen is a devious foe with many strong guards and an army of Anacondrai worshippers who do his bidding. These snake-loving minions seem to have no minds of their own.

  And so, the ninja and I are left to wonder: What does Master Chen want with all of the elemental powers? Does it have something to do with the Anacondrai? He sided with them during the Serpentine Wars, which is why he was banished to this island in the first place.

  I must do what I can to find out. I hope that Cole can protect himself, and that the other ninja remain in the tournament until we can determine what Master Chen is up to.

  And of course, I hope above all that Zane is indeed still alive. But that, perhaps, may be too much.

  As my brother Wu would say, “Do not let hope or regret cloud your judgment.” Those are wise words. But I do regret that Master Chen was allowed to create his evil empire here on this island.

  And, like my son, I will never stop hoping that Zane is alive.

  In the dark tunnels under Master Chen’s palace, a guard with bulging muscles paced down the hallway of the noodle factory. Purple tattoos marked his face, and he wore a helmet shaped like a snake’s head. Armor with toothlike spikes protected his shoulders, and another purple tattoo — a sinister-looking snake — marked his bare chest. Chains and keys dangled from his waist.

  “Lock this place down,” Zugu growled to the guard next to him.

  A heavy door clanked shut, and the sound of creaking bolts echoed across the factory. There was the stomping of feet as Zugu and the guards left. Their shift was over — but the factory workers had to keep on working. If there were no noodles when the guards returned, things would get ugly. Even uglier than Zugu’s face.

  One of the workers walked over to two flour barrels. He had a short black beard and unusually large hands. It was Karlof, the Master of Metal.

  “All clear,” Karlof whispered gruffly to the barrels in his thick accent.

  Cole popped out of one of the barrels. Traces of the white flour made his black hair look gray. He shook his head to get it off.

  Another ninja popped out of the barrel beside him. He wasn’t just a ninja — he was a Nindroid. A Nindroid with a shiny metal body.

  It was Zane!

  Cole turned to Zane. He still couldn’t believe that he had found his friend, alive, in one of Master Chen’s prison cells. Zane had completely rebuilt himself. Now he had a new body of shining titanium metal. His eyes glowed like burning ice. He definitely looked different, but Cole knew that inside, it was the same old Zane.

  As for Cole, after being eliminated from the tournament and having his powers stolen, he had been sent to work in Chen’s noodle factory along with the other tournament losers. But in a stroke of luck, he’d been able to give the guards the slip and find Zane trapped in Chen’s palace dungeons. Cole had freed Zane, and the two of them had gone back to rescue the other workers.

  Cole looked at the group in front of him now:

  There was Karlof, the proud Master of Metal. He used to be able to transform his whole body into powerful steel. He’d had huge metal fists, too. But without his powers, he was just a regular guy.

  Then there was Gravis, the Master of Gravity. He had been able to float through the air and make things levitate before his powers were taken away. Now his feet were planted firmly on the ground as he worked the noodle machines.

  Bolobo was the Master of Nature. He used to be able to control plants by speaking to them and had been able to make vines spring to life anywhere.

  Off to the side was Chamille, the Master of Form. Cole thought Chamille was the most standoffish of all the warriors. She had shocking purple hair and used to be a superconfident shape changer. But losing her powers seemed to have taken the fight out of her.

  Ash was the Master of Smoke. Before being eliminated from the tournament, he had been able to transform into smoke in the blink of an eye. He liked to act tough, too.

  And finally there was Tox, the Master of Poison. She talked back with words as stinging as the poison she used to control. But a few days in Chen’s noodle factory had taken away most of her zing.

  Cole realized that once the fighters had lost their powers, they’d also lost their mojo. Their will to fight. That made Cole sad. Even smart-mouthed Ash was a good guy at heart. They needed to work together to find a way to escape and regain their powers!

  “Back to our plan to get all of us out of here,” Cole told the group confidently.

  Zane’s eyes lit up brightly, and he projected a hologram into the space between them. The glowing blue lines showed a 3-D map of the underground tunnels of Chen’s palace.

  “If we all tried to tackle the labyrinth, some of us would get lost,” Cole explained. “So that’s not an option. But Zane analyzed the sewer network …”

  “Sewer network? Isn’t that stinky?” Karlof interrupted.

  “Hey, I’d blast my way out of here if I could, but all of our powers are gone,” Cole reminded him.

  “The sewer network is old and can only sustain so much weight,” Zane explained. “But after adding up all of
our combined masses, the pipes will hold by the slimmest of margins. It is a viable escape route.”

  “Did anyone else understand that?” Karlof asked.

  “He means it’ll work,” Cole said. “Just as long as nobody gains a pound, because then the pipes will break.”

  As if on cue, Cole’s stomach growled. He chuckled nervously. “Not that we need to worry about that.”

  Suddenly, the clanking of iron bolts interrupted them. Cole and Zane jumped back in the noodle barrels so they wouldn’t be spotted, and the other workers quickly pretended to be busy.

  A guard shoved someone into the room.

  “Get to work,” he said gruffly. Then he left and bolted the door again.

  Cole climbed out of the barrel and took a look at the new worker. He couldn’t believe his eyes. It was their friend, Dareth!

  Dareth called himself the Brown Ninja, but he had no real ninja skills. He was just a nice guy who had an uncanny way of always messing up the ninja’s plans.

  “Don’t worry, boys, the Brown Ninja is here!” Dareth boasted to all the trapped factory workers. “But before I rescue you, can anyone show me how to make puffy pot stickers? Master Chen is taking them off the menu in his noodle shops, and they’re my favorite.”

  As he spoke, Dareth noticed the two flour-covered ninja staring at him.

  “Cole, you’re here! And Zane?! Is that you? Boy, have you changed!” Dareth gave Zane a huge bear hug.

  Karlof looked Dareth up and down.

  “It look like Brown Ninja weigh more than one pound,” he said. “Lots more.”

  Everyone sighed. Zane shut down his hologram schematic with a sad “Game Over” sound.

  “The plan won’t work,” Cole said. “Back to the drawing board.”

  Discouraged, the fighters went back to work making noodles while they tried to think of a new escape plan. Cole and Zane put on workers’ uniforms and joined them. Cole stepped in line next to Dareth.

  “How’d you get here, anyway?” Cole asked him.

  “In Nya’s sweet mobile unit,” Dareth said. “She made it look like a noodle truck and came to the island to look for you guys. She asked me to be her sidekick.”

  “She did?” Cole asked. He wasn’t sure if he should believe that.

  “Yeah, and I was guarding the unit for her when I was captured,” Dareth explained. “Somehow they discovered my hidden location.”

  “‘Somehow,’” Cole repeated. He had a feeling the “somehow” might have had something to do with Dareth. Like his tendency to play loud music. “Did they get Nya?” Cole asked, worried.

  “I don’t know,” Dareth admitted. “But if she’s not here, she must be okay.”

  “I hope so,” Cole said.

  “According to my calculations, Zugu will return in thirteen minutes,” Zane interrupted. “If we are to make another plan, we should do it now.”

  Cole nodded. “Come on, everyone. Let’s put our heads together and try to figure this out.”

  Cole and Zane gathered around a worktable with the other Elemental Masters.

  “Why don’t we just sneak out of here?” Gravis asked. “The same way Cole and Zane snuck back in.”

  “There are guards everywhere,” Zane said. “Right outside the door.”

  “Not to mention an enormous snake,” Cole added.

  Karlof turned pale. “Snake?”

  “Snake,” Zane repeated. “And there are too many of us to leave without being noticed.”

  “All right, then, so what’s the plan?” Ash asked.

  Tox pounded her fist on the table. “I say we punch our way out. Make a break for it.”

  “Master Chen’s guards and Anacondrai worshippers have Fang Blades,” Zane said. “Our fists would be no match against their Serpentine weapons.”

  Cole started scribbling on a piece of noodle wrapper.

  “How about this?” He showed the paper to everybody.

  “Is that … giant egg roll?” Karlof asked.

  “Yeah!” said Cole. “We’ll roll ourselves up in giant egg rolls and get shipped out!”

  Everyone stared.

  “Chance of success — negative thirty percent,” Zane calculated.

  Cole crumpled up the plan and threw it over his shoulder. “Anyone else have any brilliant ideas?”

  “Karlof used to be aeronautical engineer back in Metalonia,” Karlof said suddenly.

  Everyone turned to look at him.

  “Work on Roto Jets.” Karlof shrugged. “Just one could take out entire army.”

  “Great idea,” Cole said, “but two things: We don’t have a Roto Jet … and what good is a jet if we’re underground?”

  Suddenly, Dareth pushed past the group and climbed up on the worktable. He reached toward some pipes up on the ceiling. “Don’t mind me,” he said. “Carry on whatever important business you are all doing.”

  “Sure, we were only using the table to hatch our escape,” Cole said, annoyed. “Dareth, what are you doing?”

  “If there isn’t a machine that makes puffy pot stickers, by golly, I’m going to make one!” Dareth exclaimed.

  Zane’s icy blue eyes gleamed. “That’s it! Dareth, you’ve solved it!”

  “How are puffy pot stickers going to help us?” Cole asked.

  “We’ll use machine parts to build a jet,” Zane said. “Karlof, do you still remember the plans for it?”

  Karlof nodded. “Of course.”

  “Then, it’s settled,” said Zane. “Karlof will create a blueprint. Everyone else gather whatever spare parts you can.”

  “But. We’re. Underground!” Cole emphasized each word. Didn’t anybody understand that jets couldn’t fly underground?

  Just then, the creaking sound of the factory door opening sent everybody scurrying back to the work line. Two guards marched in and trained their eyes on the workers.

  Zane and Karlof huddled together at the worktable, pretending to be busy. But they were actually creating the blueprints for the escape jet.

  “Karlof can find most parts here in factory,” Karlof said. “Noodle press can make turbine. We can use switches and dials from cutting machine. But need more wires. Steel pipes for weapons barrels. And something for rotor.”

  Zane thought for a moment. “Pixal, could you bring up the blueprint of the tunnels again?”

  “Of course,” Pixal replied. Pixal was Zane’s Nindroid friend. Master Chen had captured her at the same time as Zane, and sadly, her Nindroid body had been scrapped. But Zane had saved her neural chip and implanted it in his mind. Now Pixal was with him all the time — and her memory banks were loaded with information!

  “Bringing up the schematics now,” Pixal said.

  Zane scanned the blueprint of the tunnels on his internal screen. “There is an exhaust fan here in the factory large enough to work as a rotor,” he said.

  He nodded up to the metal balcony overlooking the noodle factory. The balcony went all the way around the room, and the guards paced back and forth across it. The exhaust fan was up on the ceiling — and the only way to get to it would be to climb to the balcony.

  “The balcony is guarded,” Zane said. “We must wait until the guards leave.”

  “That will be hours from now,” Karlof said. “Longer we wait, longer we prisoners here.”

  “Good point,” said Cole. “Then we’ve just got to find a way to do it without the guards noticing.”

  Ash, the Master of Smoke, shuffled up to them. “I couldn’t help overhearing,” he said. “Too bad I don’t have my powers. I would create a smoke screen to blind them while we steal it.”

  “Hmmmm,” Cole said thoughtfully. “Maybe you can!”

  “Uh … do you have smoke in your ears? I just told you, I have no powers,” Ash reminded him.

  “But you’re still the Master of Smoke,” Cole pointed out. “You must know a lot about it. For example, as the Master of Earth, I know a lot about rocks. There are igneous rocks and sedimentary rocks and —”r />
  “Yeah, yeah, I get it. You can stop boring me,” Ash snapped. He looked around. Despite his sharp attitude, a little spark came to his eye. “You know, you may be right, though. I do know how to make smoke, and how to change its direction, and stuff like that. It wouldn’t be hard to create a little distraction-action with some burned noodles and a small cooling fan to direct the smoke.”

  “Then how about this?” Cole asked. Together, the four warriors whispered their plan. Ash would turn up the cooking heat on the oil to burn the noodles and create a thick, black smoke. Then he would direct it at the guards while Karlof nabbed the ceiling exhaust fan.

  A short while later, they were ready to try their plan. Karlof nodded as Ash turned up the heat on the noodle fryer. Then Karlof walked over to where Zane was hiding near the steps leading to the balcony. The steps would take them right to the big exhaust fan.

  Across the room, a guard spotted Karlof.

  “Back to work!” the guard barked.

  “Yes!” Karlof grunted.

  But before the guard knew what was happening, a thick cloud of greasy black smoke blew over to him. The guard started to cough. “What’s going on?”

  Karlof and Zane quickly went to work. They ran up the stairs through the thick cloud of smoke. Pixal was able to direct Zane since they could barely see a thing. With Pixal’s help, Zane led Karlof directly to the fan, and together they deftly unscrewed the bolts attaching it to the ceiling bracket. Cole ran up behind them, ready to help carry the heavy fan.

  “Almost got it,” Karlof whispered.

  Suddenly, they heard the sound of approaching feet coming at them on the balcony. A voice reached their ears through the smoke. “What’s going on here?”

  It was Zugu! He was back!

  Cole’s heart pounded quickly. If Zugu caught them, their plan would be over before it started!

  Karlof, Cole, and Zane froze. Zugu would spot them any minute, and they would be toast!

  Suddenly, another guard raced up the steps behind them. Like the others, he wore a helmet that looked like a snake’s head. But this guard ignored them. He stomped through the smoke and toward Zugu’s voice.