The clamour of people running and screaming accompanied by a blood-thirsty dragon called Grief Bringer chasing them was the only thing to be heard throughout the cavern tunnels. Katarina hadn't woken up for at least fifteen minutes as everyone ran for their lives. 

"That horrible cry! That's Mief-Bringer, the dragon! No mistake!" Murtessa pants. 

"You said Grief-Bringer was killed by some great hero!" Nya says. 

Murtess nods. "It was! It's back! Skull Sorcerer must have reanimated it!" She surmises. The skeletal dragon roars again. Yep, it was no mistake the Skull Sorcerer brought it back to life, and with the help of Hazza D'ur, too. Katarina was right, his magic was powerful, arguably more powerful than hers. 

"The cave! The Strong Cave!" Gulch yells to his fellow Geckles. Kai looks down at the Geckles, shocked. 

"What?!"

"The—the Strong-Cave. It's our... " Gulch stops to take a short breath of air. He wasn't used to running for long amounts of time, unlike the Ninja and the Geckles. "...our only hope!" Kai smiles. This is the only place to get everyone  to safety, away from that dragon. 

"Oh, finally, some good news. Guys—!" Gulch slaps a hand over Kai's mouth, causing the Fire Ninja to be confused by the gesture. 

"Shh! Don't say it out loud! Do you want the Munce to hear?" The Fire NInja looks down at Gulch, bewildered. Of course he wanted everyone to know, including the Munce. He couldn't believe the Geckles were still thinking about their stupid feud, even during a time like this. 

" Yeah, that's the point, Gulch! If we leave them out here, they'll get chewed up by that thing!" Gulch looks down to avoid Kai's gaze. Kai sighs, and shouts loudly, "Follow us, everyone!"

The Skull army, Hazza D'ur, the Skull Sorcerer and Grief Bringer were still on the other side of the lava ravine. They couldn't find a way to get across without risking large numbers of their army. 

"They flee into the mountain." Hazza D'ur breathes. The Skull Sorcerer growls. He points towards three large stalactites, big enough for them to use to get across to the other side of the mountain. 

"Bring it all down!" The dragon immediately obeys and flies towards the stalactites, and sends it all down with a smash of its head. The tips pierce itselves into the lava pool and into the ground, sucessfully creating a bridge. 

"After them. All of you!" The Skull Sorcerer commands his Skull army. They cross the bridge and get towards the other side. Grief Bringer roars again. 

The Ninja, the Munce and the Geckles finally make it into the Strong Cave, which turned out to be a makeshift bunker for the Geckles. Not enough supplies to support at least fifty or a hundred people, though. 

As everyone runs inside, Gulch pants, "Ch...Chancelor Kai...." He leans an arm onto Kai's shoulder as he catches his breath. "....you must order the cave sealed!"

" I have to actually say that?" He sighs, and turns towards the Geckles. "Okay, seal the cave! Now!" Two Geckles rush to the wheel and hurriedly begin to turn it. Everyone else turns towards the entrance, and see the bright green light get closer and closer. If only the door to the cave would close faster!

Suddenly, the door stops closing. The wheel stops spinning. "It's stuck!" One of the Geckles who were turning the wheel shout frantically. 

The army was getting closer. And so was the dragon and the Skull Sorcerer with the skull of Hazza D'ur. 

"Forget the wheel!" Nya shouts. She gets out her trusty trident. "Cut the chain!" She, Murtessa, and Murt use their weapons to cut the chain. The cave shakes. The army and the dragon were now in their line of sight. 

"They're not gonna get shut in time!" Lloyd says. 

"Then we better buy them some time!" Jay replies. Kai, Jay, Lloyd and Zane prepare their weapons and shields, and head out of the cave. Lloyd leaves Katarina in the cave to recover, while the others make their stance. The Skull army stops in front of them. 

"You!"

"Shall!"

"Not!"

"Be granted permission to traverse beyond this point!" Lloyd, Jay and Kai look at Zane, dumbfounded and a bit surprised. They were not expecting their friend to say something like that. Probably more along the lines of the word "Pass". 

The Skull army wasted no time charging at the Ninja for an attack, whilst the dragon screeches. The four Ninja raise their weapons in the air. "NINJA....GO!" The Ninja perform their Spinjitzu on the Skull warriors, taking out large numbers in no time. 

Kai uses his shield to give Lloyd a boost, and uses it to protect himself just in time to reflect the Vengestone spears thrown by the Skull warriors. Lloyd throws his own shield at the warriors, causing the shield to ricohet off at least five of them, and then catches it. 

The Ninja continue using their Spinjitzu and weapons on the army, until it was time to take down the big guy. Grief Bringer screams, causing the Ninja to stop. Zane and Jay look behind them to see the Skull army put themselves back together. The Ninja back up, as they were now surrounded on all sides. 

Green fire forms in Grief Bringer's mouth. "Look out!" Lloyd warns his friends. They all use their shields to protect themselves against Grief Bringer's fire, causing the Skull warriors to be in the brunt of the attack. 

Finally, with a leap of her own, Murtessa was able to bring her spiked bat down on the chain. The door begins to go down. Rapidly. Shit. 

"It's coming down!" Murtessa yells towards Lloyd, Kai, Jay and Zane, who look behind them to see the door to the Strong Cave closing fast. 

"Guys, get in here!" Nya urges them. 

"RUN!" Lloyd yells. Abandoning their shields, the four Ninja make a run for it and were able to slide under the door right before it closes. Grief Bringer then brings itself to bang continously against the door. The Ninja breathe a sigh of relief. 

"Is...is it over?" Katarina says, as she gets up and joins the Ninja with a weak walk of her own. Slight bits of magic electricity dance throughout her body. 

"I think we're safe for now." Kai reassures her. "You okay?"

"I think so..." She replies. "But....it was weird how I just blacked out back there. Wonder why..." She says as she scratches the back of her neck. 

Gulch looks towards Kai. "We are not safe! The enemy is among us! You let them into our cave!" Everyone looks at each other and Gulch, confused. Jay, however, went into an immediate panic. 

"What? Where?!"

Gulch points an accusing finger towards the Munce tribe. "The Munce!" The Munce and the Geckle tribes begin to growl at each other and talk amongst themselves. The Ninja groan in disbelief. 

"Oh, for fucks sake!"

"You're doing this now?!"

"Are you kidding?!"

"Come on!"

"Hide your possessions, Geckles," Gulch warns his fellow tribe. "Before the Munce steal them! Like they stole the Ivory Blade of Deliverance!"

"You stole blade!" Murtessa shot back. "The blade of Milly!"

"It's Gilly, you glop-mouthed—!"

"Milly is our legend, you legend stealing stealer-of-legends!" Murtessa interrupts Gulch in an accusing tone. She looks towards her fellow tribe. "Munce, look through cave for our blade, that Geckle stole from us! Finding it would make being in prison here worth it!"

Katarina huffs. Don't they ever get tired of arguing?

"Oh, you can leave any time!" Gulch shot back. 

"Oh? There is other way out of this cave?" Murtessa gestures around the interior of the cave. 

"Of course not! Do you even understand the point of a strong-cave?" Gulch retorts. Before Murtessa could argue back, the Skull Sorcerer's voice comes from the other side of the cave. 

"Geckles! Munce! Hear me! I offer you a chance! And one chance only! Send out the ninja and I will spare your lives. I will show you mercy." The Skull Sorcerer offers. 

"Mercy! Mercy!" The skull echoes. 

"Send them out and you will be allowed to return to work in the mines. All shall be as it was, a time of peace and hard work. So swears the Skull Sorcerer."

Murtessa and Gulch know the answer to that question. 

"Never!" 

"No way!"

Murtessa shoves Gulch harshly. "I am talking, Geckle!"

"We both started talking at the same time!" Gulch points out.

"No, I said the "Ne" in "Never" before you open mouth." She argues. 

"All of you—" But the Skull Sorcerer was cut off by Gulch, who glanced at everyone in the cave. 

"All right, who was watching? Did anyone see who opened their mouth first?"

"Here me—" The Skull Sorcerer tries. 

"Would one of you just shut up and respond already?!" Katarina shouts towards the two tribe leaders. "Because I am sick and tired of your stupid arguing! I swear when we get out of this cave and solve this, you can argue as much as you like! You can argue for all of eternity, for all I care! Just shut up and make up your minds, before I make you!"

Murtessa and Gulch glance at each other, and silently nod. Katarina was right, they had to stop arguing for at least five minutes to make a simple decision to the Skull Sorcerer. Because this was getting nowhere at this point. 

"Munce will never serve Skull Sorcerer!" Murtessa says. 

"As much as it pains me to agree with a Munce, neither will the Geckles!" Gulch states firmly. 

The Skull Sorcerer narrows his eyes and sighs. If the Geckles and Munce wanted to do this the hard way, so be it. "So be it. Grief-Bringer, my skeletons, destroy them!"

"Destruction! Devastation!" The skull laughs evilly. Grief Bringer roars and uses its tail to slice and bring a pillar of rock down. It charges at the door again. The cave shakes and starts to crumble. The Geckles and Munce hide behind the bunker supplies. Meanwhile, the Skull army uses the pillar to bring the door down.

The door cracks. "It's cracking!" Kai panics. He turns towards Gulch. "You said this strong-cave could withstand the Grief-Bringer!"

"Well, we thought it could, but it's never been tested against the resurrected-skeleton-dragon and an army of evil-skeletons. Without Gilly, all is lost." Nya goes towards a pile of rocks. Why would that be there? Unless...

"Zane, can you scan this?" Zane immediately goes over to the pile of rocks and scans it immediately. 

"There's a space behind this wall of rocks. Possibly a previously covered-up exit." Nya nods. Of course...

"Katarina!" Nya shouts towards her. Katarina whips her head in Nya and Zane's direction. "Use your magic to get pile of rocks off. There's an exit behind it!" She nods and immediately goes towards the rock pile, and activates her magic. 

"I'll try!" She grunts with extertion as she lifts the rocks up. She was struggling to use her magic on the rocks. Either she was too weak or something was messing with her magic. The rocks come back down, and she breathes heavily, completely exhausted. 

"I-It's no use.." She sighs. "I can feel something messing with my powers. I don't what, though."

"You think it's Vengestone?" Zane asks. 

"Of course not. Vengestone only effects Elemental powers. But whatever it is, I can't lift these rocks up." She explains. Nya nods and looks towards everyone in the cave. 

"Listen up! There's an opening behind this rock wall! We're not sure, but it could be a way out. If we're going to bring down this wall, we need everyone's help," She narrows her eyes at Murtessa and Gulch. "And by everyone, I mean everyone!"

The two tribes glance at each other with hesitation, before deciding to come together to help the Ninja get the rocks off the hidden entrance. It didn't take long for the rocks to lessen from the pile. Gulch and Murtessa gasp. 

"Look! There's something back here!"

"He's right! A chamber!"

Nya was watching the two tribes work together with a smile on her face. "Look at them. They're working together. Side by side."

"I never thought I'd see that." Lloyd remarks. When the exit is finally revealed, Kai ignites his fire in both of his hands to light the way for everyone. He looks around. All he sees are more supplies just thrown in the empty space. There was no way out for them, unfortunately. He lowers his head. 

"Huh? No." He turns towards everyone. "It's a dead-end." Everyone groans and sighs. 

"Hmm. What we do?" Murtessa says worriedly. 

"There's no other way out." Gulch says solemnly. The door was about to come down. 

"No. They'll get through any minute!" Jay panics. 

"I—I am sorry. I was wrong to lead you all here." Gulch apologizes to everyone. 

"You gave us shelter. I too am sorry." Murtessa apologizes to Gulch. 

"For what?" He asks, confused. She puts a hand on his shoulder. 

"You Geckles value family, like Munce. You work hard, like Munce. You honor Milly, like Munce. Is possible . . . we are not so different?" She smiles. He smiles back. 

"I . . . was a fool. I saw only the things that made us different, not the things we had in common." He concedes. 

"We were all foolish." She says. 

"We have a common enemy. Let us stand together and face him as allies." Gulch says with determination. She nods. 

"Agreed," The two leaders turn to their respective tribes. "Let us put aside differences and face him together!" 

"This is so beautiful. Two peoples, coming together in peace, love, and harmony." Kai sighs happily. 

Gulch shakes his head. "No, we are not at peace."

"But—I—I thought—" Kai stutters. 

" It must be declared, formally. By you! You are the Chancellor." Gulch reminds Kai. 

"Oh, uh, okay. Uh, then, by the power vested in me as Geckle Chancellor, I hereby declare peace with the Munce!" Kai announces. 

"By my power as Queen, I declare peace with the Geckles!" Nya announces as well. Murtessa and Gulch shake hands.

"Now, we are at peace." Murtessa smiles. 

"I am glad." Gulch smiles back. 

Finally, the door breaks down. Everyone gasps. The Skull Sorcerer was the first to go into the cave, and everyone gets into their fighting stances. Lloyd lowers his weapon and looks around. There was no way that they could take them on in their current position. Unless...

"Wait! We'll do it! We'll take your deal!" 

"WHAT?!" The Geckles, Ninja and Munce shout. 

"Your offer. We turn ourselves in, you let them all go, but not back to the mines. You let them free. If you swear to that, we will surrender without a fight."

The Skull Sorcerer smiles underneathe his mask. "Agreed."

"No, not agreed!" Katarina yells at him. She turns towards her so-called brother instantly. "You! I can't believe you! Surrendering to the enemy! We can take them!"

"There would too many casualities!" Lloyd points out. 

"I'm not talking about that! I'm talking about this!" She jabs a finger in Lloyd's chest. "We're Ninja, and ninja don't ever quit! They don't surrender to the enemy! We fight until our last breath! You surrendering is like....undoing all of our hard work!" 

She gestures to the tribes. "We worked so hard to get them out of there, and you're throwing it all away just because you want an easy way out! You're such a coward!"

"Sis, look around! Half of us are defenseless! They wouldn't last out a second against them! I'm doing what's best for us!" He shot back. 

"Doing what's best for us? Or what's best for you?" She questions him. He glares at her. 

"Are you questioning my judgement?"

"Maybe I am. I think we can take them on. We don't have to surrender to him!" She points towards the Skull Sorcerer. "We're ninja! We can fight back! Show him who's in charge! Just let me-!"

"NO! I'm not risking any lives! Stop acting like my father and start acting like you're a part of this team!" 

Katarina narrows her eyes at Lloyd as her eyes glow for a brief moment. Something behind those eyes resemble a feeling of hurt. "That's the thing. I'm not a part of this team. Not anymore. Or did you forget that you didn't want me around in the first place?"

His shoulders slump a little. "Sometimes, it's better to surrender than put up a fight. I thought Master Wu taught you that. Just shut up and don't do anything. I'll handle this my way." 

She rolls her eyes at him."You're making a mistake, Lloyd. What if he backs down from his word?"

"He won't." The Skull warriors began to escort the Ninja out of the cave. Once they were gone and out of earshot, the Skull Sorcerer laughs lowly while Gulch and Murtessa smile. 

"Once again, outsiders have risked everything to save us." Gulch says. 

"Now, leave us in peace, as you promised!" Murtess says to the Skull Sorcerer, who laughs even louder. 

"Oh, that. You didn't really believe that, did you?" The rest of the Skull army go into the cave and pin the tribe members down. Some of them put up a fight, the other just surrendered. Murtessa screams. 

Hazza D'ur cackles evilly as the Skull warriors put the Geckles and the Munce in chains. "Fools! Fools!"