Well, Nova got somewhat of a break after what happened last chapter. Though not completely.
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*The ninja and Nova arrive on a tour to the Temple.*
Nova had simply followed the ninja, not having said a single thing on what happened, as just the thought of it made her turn all red again from blushing.
"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 went on to explain.
"I hope it's not a rumor, for it is our only hope!" Zane yelled.
"Ah, sorry about my loud friend. He's a little hard of hearing." said Cole.
Nova had been able to snap out of her thoughts when she heard Zane's yelling, for once happy to hear anything else than what was repeating in her head.
"Known for his un-" Patty clears her throat. "-usual teaching methods ..."
"I thought you said you fixed him?" said Kai.
"At least he's no longer talking backwards. I guess my tinkering got his volume level stuck, hehe." said Jay.
"At least you can understand me now!" yelled Zane.
"Please, let's just get this over with guys." [robotic] said Nova.
"The first thing you've said since we left Stiix, and that's it?" said Jay.
Nova placed her hands on her hips, giving him a raised eyebrow. [robotic] "And here we are, because you idiots lost the scroll."
" ... Dating back, ahem, to the Edo Period..." Patty went on.
"Well, from now on, only speak if you have something really important to say." said Cole.
"Who put you in charge?" asked Kai
"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." said Cole.
"Since Morro already knows Airjitzu, we just have to hope he hasn't figured out the next clue." said Kai.
Just the mention of his name caused Nova to start blushing agai,n and think about what he said to her.
"What the fuck is wrong with me, hearing his stupid name along with that bullshit he said, shouldn't affect me like this. Come on Nova, snap out of this and focus on the mission ahead." Nova thought to herself.
"Well, the sun is setting, which means we should head back to the bus. Wouldn't want anyone to turn into a Ghost." Patty giggles.
*Later at night, Cole and Jay try to open the windows, but Zane and Kai just open the door.*
"Oh, uh, okay." said Cole as the door closes and locks by itself.
"Creepy." [robotic] said Nova coming out from the shadows giving the ninja a shock.
"Stop doing that!" shouted Jay.
"I'm not doing it on purpose, if I did it would be a lot more creepy and scary." [robotic] Nova said, crossing her arms.
*The ninja and Nova enter a room in the Temple.*
"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." said Kai.
"Uh, he should've been here by now." said Jay.
"Be careful what you wish for." [robotic] said Nova.
"You heard the tour guide, if we're not out by sunup, we'll be ghosts." said Cole.
"You didn't buy into that malarkey, did you?" questioned Kai.
"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?" said Cole.
"I have to agree with Cole, I don't like it being this creepy after dark in this place." [robotic] said Nova.
"Uh, remind me again why we agreed to put the guy afraid of ghosts in charge?" Jay asked.
Zane showed him 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." said Cole.
"Don't believe everything you read." said Kai.
"Yang was hard on his pupils for a reason, for in his words 'As iron sharpens iron, Sensei sharpens student.'" Jay read.
"Hmm. I wonder what he means by that." They watch as a grandfather clock starts moaning.
Cole gets scared. "It's him. He's in the clock!"
"You're the leader. Check it out." said Jay.
"Yeah, you heard the guy. Check it out." [robotic] said Nova hiding behind Jay.
Cole opens the door and the falcon flies out along with a shadow clone of Nova. "Aah!" Zane plays the groaning sound on the falcon and everyone laughs at him. "A prank? Really?"
Nova was laughing as she high-fived her clone before it went back to the shadows.
"Heh, we were just trying to help you relax." said Kai.
"Yeah, heh. You should have heard yourself scream!" said Jay as Zane plays a recording of Cole screaming and everyone laughs again, but stop when they hear a thudding sound.
"Ah. Another prank? Real funny. Didn't anyone teach you to quit while you're ahead?" Cole opens a door and leaves.
"Uh, was that you?" Kai asked, looking at Jay.
"Not me." said Jay.
"Me either!" yelled Zane.
"Hey! Don't look at me, I didn't set it up." [robotic] said Nova when she noticed them looking towards her.
"Cole, wait!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very scary." Cole approaches a door with its handles moving. "As if I believe in ghosts."
"I swear, Cole. We didn't do that." said Kai.
"Let's go back to the study!" said Jay.
Zane simultaneously said "It wasn't us!"
"That isn't any of us, most of all not me!" [robotic] said Nova.
"Okay, I have to admit, this is pretty good. How'd you get the handles to move all by itself? Is Nya behind there?" said Cole.
"Don't open that door!" [robotic] shouted Jay and Nova.
*They scream while Cole opens it, but nothing happens.*
"Well, that was anticlimactic. Sensei Yang's dojo. This is where he must've trained his pupils." said Kai.
"Or got rid of them." said Jay.
"I have a bad feeling about this." [robotic] said Nova.
"Knock it off, guys. If that wasn't you behind the rattling door, who was it?" Cole questioned.
"The Ghost of Sensei Yang." said everyone but Cole.
"As iron sharpens iron, Sensei sharpens student." said Yang.
"It's the Ghost of Sensei Yang!" everyone shouted.
"Uh guys, what does he mean by "sharpen?" Jay sees the swords on the wall start moving.
"Let's not hang around to find out!" said Cole.
"Run!!" [robotic] shouted Nova.
"Let's get out of here!" They run away screaming as bats chase them.
"Uh, does this mean he doesn't want to teach us Airjitzu?" asked Jay.
"Forget Airjitzu, where's the window?" said Kai.
"This way!" They panicky try to open it, but it's locked.
"Gah, we're caged in like animals!" Yang laughs.
"Argh! Let's try the front door!" said Cole.
"But that's downstairs, and in case you haven't paid any attention, there's flying weapons trying to slice and dice us!" said Kai.
"There's a dumbwaiter!" Zane points behind Jay.
"Hey, watch who you're calling—oh, a dumbwaiter! That can take us down." The ninja go in the dumbwaiter. "You said there'd be enough room for all five of us in here."
"Wait, where's Delta!?" shouted Cole.
"I'm in the shadows, so relax." [robotic] said Nova who had gone into the shadows to better hide.
"My calculations are always correct!" said Zane.
"Ow, my ear. Well, turn on a light or something, because I can't see a thing." said Cole as Zane illuminates the dumbwaiter and they see Yang.
"As iron sharpens iron..." The ninja and Nova quickly run away. "As iron sharpens iron, Sensei sharpens student!"
*The ninja and Nova opens the front door, but almost falls down the Ethereal Divide.*
"What is it? What's down there? Oh, wait, don't tell me! I don't wanna know!" said Jay.
"We appear to be trapped within some kind of inter-dimensional ethereal realm!" yelled Zane.
"Oh, I told you not to tell me, Zane! Knowing that just makes things worse!" said Jay.
*The ninja and Nova get pulled back inside, and Yang laughs to himself.*
"You've gotta be fucking kidding me!" [robotic] shouted Nova as they all were running away.
Nova looked around for a way to get out or hide until she saw something big moving around, and it wasn't long until a huge snake showed up in front of them. "RUN!!!" [robotic] She screamed at full volume and started using the shadows to get away.
*A little while later the ninja and Nova 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." said Jay.
"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, but didn't see him moving. The clock chimes, scaring the ninja and Nova.
"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?" said Cole.
"Everyone, get ahold of yourselves! Even if my volume wasn't stuck, I'd still be yelling at this decibel!" yelled Zane.
"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." said Cole.
"Correction, you guys are ninja and missed out on learning Airjitzu." [robotic] said Nova.
"Wait, are you saying that you already know Airjitzu?" Jay asked.
"Yeah? I saw Ronin bring in some new stuff, so I decided to stea-borrow some of the stuff and found the scroll. Finding it interesting so I wanted to learn it without him knowing." [robotic] said Nova.
"Bruh." The ninja looked dumbfounded at her.
"Uh, guys?" Kai walks 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.
Cole while Kai backs away. "Why did you touch the scary picture, Jay?"
"I didn't know it would do that, Cole!" said Jay.
Nova giggled watching this, finding it still funny before looking over at Kai.
Kai tries to open the doors. "Unh! It's locked! Ugh!"
"As iron sharpens iron, Sensei sharpens student!" said Yang.
"Oh, great, back for round two!" said Jay.
"Oh please god damn no." [robotic] said Nova.
Kai hyperventilating. "Water. I'm afraid of...water. We're all gonna drown!" He tugs on the door harder.
Jay grabbing onto a plank. "It's all in your head, Kai. He's trying to scare us out so we don't get Airjitzu."
Cole swims up the surface. "I don't know, tastes pretty real to me."
Nova swims up too before using Airjitzu in what space they had in the room.
"Seriously!" shouted Jay looking at Nova who just shrugged.
"Where's Kai?" Zane yelled.
Kai finally opens the doors and they, except Nova, flow out of the room coughing. "Well, that wasn't refreshing."
Nova gently landed back on the floor shaking her head looking at the ninja.
"First the haunting, then a giant snake, and then the water. What's next?" said Cole.
"That's it. He is testing us. Don't you see, Cole's afraid of ghosts, Delta is afraid of big snakes, and Kai's afraid of water." said Jay.
"As iron sharpens iron, Sensei sharpens student. He's making us face our fears." said Kai.
"I swear, if he wasn't already a ghost I would kill him." [robotic] said Nova.
"Which means whatever he throws at us next, we have to face together. And this time, no running away." said Cole.
"Or swimming away." said Jay.
"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." said Kai.
*The ninja and Nova manage to tie themselves together with a rope.*
"All right, no matter what happens, no one can run away. We're in this together." said Cole.
"I can't believe you guys forced me into this, I would have been completely fine in the shadows." [robotic] Nova complained as she was pretty much in the middle of the group.
"Ha, ha! Ain't no thang but a Sensei Yang. Let's find him and get that Airjitzu." said Jay.
"Just so we're not surprised, Zane, Jay, what sort of things are you afraid of?" Kai asked.
"Ah! I think I know what I'm afraid of." Zane yelled until they see Morro. "It's Morro!" Everyone but Nova screams.
"Of all the times to have to fight him again." said Cole.
Nova just grew all quiet while following the ninja without any complaint.
"Ugh, and he already knows Airjitzu. We don't stand a chance. Well maybe Delta." said Jay.
"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 even have the courage to face him?" said Kai.
"He's right. Let's get him." Everyone runs after him, but are slowed down due to being tied together. "We weren't fast enough."
"There he is!" pointed Kai.
"All right. Let's step together. Three. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three." They run in sync until Kai stops at a set of stairs.
Jay accidentally hits Zane "Ow!"
"He went up to the attic." said Kai.
"Ah. Attics. Definitely near the top of the list of things I'm afraid of." They go up and see Morro. "He's just standing there. What do we do?"
"I don't know. But go face him, Jay." said Kai.
"Ugh! Delta, you face him!" said Jay.
"We'll all face him." said Cole.
*As they approach him, Morro disappears, startling them. The ninja and Nova jump back and they see Yang.*
"As iron sharpens iron, sensei sharpens student. You have passed the test." said Yang.
"Huh? Then you'll teach us how to do Airjitzu?" Kai asked.
Yang shows them 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?" said Jay.
Yang laughs. "Now you will join my students." Several ghosts rise up behind him.
"He's not just their mentor, he's their captor." said Cole.
"Oh hell no!!" [robotic] shouted Nova finally snapping out of it.
"The new dawn's upon us. Get out before the clock's last chime, if you can." said Yang.
*Everyone screams but falls down the stairs.*
"Why did we tie ourselves together?" yelled Zane.
"Why did you guys fucking force me into this!" [robotic] shouted Nova.
"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." said Cole.
Cole drops the scroll. "Uh-oh! Ahh! The scroll!" He unties himself and runs back to retrieve it, while the ninja and Nova get out in time.
"Ah. My hand. I can see my hand. We made it!" said Kai.
Jay holds up Cole's end of the rope. "Ah. But where's Cole?"
"Don't worry, I got the scroll!" Everyone gasps. "Why are you all looking at me like that?" asked Cole.
"You didn't make it out in time." [robotic] said Nova.
"Yeah, Cole, you're a... a..." Kai tried to explain.
Cole gasps in horror. "I'm a... ghost!"
*Yang laughs as the ninja comforts Cole.*
Nova patted Cole's back trying to comfort him but wasn't sure what to say.