The Child of Silver

60

The team dropped to the side of the mountain, Kai, Jay and Zane landing on their feet perfectly in the snow. However, Cole, unable to control the mech, fell face first with Anirei into the cold mountain side.

"Cole, Anirei, are you two okay?" Kai asked as he and Jay pulled them out of the snow.

"Gotta work on that landing." Cole sighed, "Hey, you sure you want me along? I can hardly control my new body, let alone this piece of metal."

"Hey, we all have our bad days." Jay said, "We'll pick you up so next time you can return the favor."

"Jay be right." Zane added, "The only we we're gettin' up ye mountain is if we be a hearty crew."

"This isn't about who's a ninja, a nindroid, or even a ghost or spirit." Kai said, "Above all else, we're brothers with our strange little sister to help keep up in line."

"Hey!" Anirei shouted, but then laughed along with the rest of the group, "But Elder Brother Kai is right. As iron sharpens iron, sibling sharpens sibling. And if you need any advice on how to control your new body, I could also offer a few nuggets of wisdom."

"All right then, brothers and sister, let's do this." Cole said with newfound determination as they all started climbing the mountain.

Time passed and the Ninja continued up the mountain. During that time, Anirei gave Cole advice on how to use his ghostly body, since ghosts and spirits were similar in some ways, she was the perfect teacher. 

"Huh, it's not so bad once you get the hang of it." Cole said, "Thanks for the advice, Anirei."

"Of course, anything to help my brothers." She replied with a smile.

"So this Sword of Sanctuary... you really think you can see all of your opponents attacks?" Jay asked, "If we had that kind of power, not even Morro could stop us."

"But if Morro got his hands on it, nothing would stop him, which is why we cannot fail." Kai pointed out, "We just have to keep climbing."

A couple more hours passed and the ninja continued to climb, at one point, Anirei had fallen asleep for an hour, yet none of the Ninja wanted to wake her. With everything going on, they wanted their little sister to rest for the time being. After all, she had been traveling as a spirit for several days and when she can, she connects with Lloyd's spirit to talk with him.

"Zane!" Kai shouted tiredly, "How much further is it until we get to the top?"

"Thar be a long way." Zane answered, "At least 100,000 steps up."

"A hundred thousand? Good thing I'm not counting."

"267, 268, 269, 270, 271, 272, 273." Jay counted until he stopped to look at the yak on the side of the ledge nearby, "Oh, look, a little goat."

"That's not a goat." Kai said, "Don't you remember? We rode one of those."

"It's got horns. It's a goat." 

"Even giraffes have horns. And that's not a goat. It's a yak."

"A yak? No way. Maybe it's a cow."

"I'm about to have a cow."

"Who's about to have a cow?" Anirei asked as she slowly woke up.

"Anirei, you're awake." Cole said happily, "Did you have a nice nap?"

"I rested well, thank you." She replied with a yawn, "How much further until we reach the top?"

"Zane said about a hundred thousand steps." Kai said.

"Oh, I see." Anirei looked down at the snow and saw tracks still fresh and leading towards the peak of the mountain.

"Elder brothers, look." She said pointing to the tracks, "There are tracks here."