Who's Hiding in the Dark? is the 54th issue of the Ninjago Magazine. It was released on the 3rd of September, 2019 in Germany.
Who's Hiding in the Dark?[]
After escaping from Beohernie, the Ninja continue their journey through the Desert of Doom, making their way to the mysterious Pyramid. As they drive amongst scorching desert winds, Kai, evidently bored, makes known his boredom to the others over their comms systems, irritating Zane who reminded the Fire Ninja that they had only just narrowly escaped from Beohernie, and he had to crawl into the beetle's stomach to retrieve the Land Bounty's Thermolytic Kinetic Inverter. Still annoyed, Zane turned back to his travel book, muttering his hope that the giant scarab beetle would be the last unpleasant surprise for them to encounter. Seconds after saying that, Nya interjected to inform Zane of their next unpleasant surprise: a large sandstorm.
Unable to see anything through the whirlwind of dust, Cole ordered everyone to fall back and take shelter behind some neighboring dunes. Arriving at the dunes, the Ninja would find themselves inside an ancient temple, one that had long been buried and hidden under the dunes through the passage of time. With nothing better to do while they waited for the sandstorm to pass, the Ninja decided explore the vast structure, discovering hieroglyphics depicting Serpentine and Humans. From his guidebook, Zane explained that this structure dated back to a time when man and snake lived together in peace, or rather from Zane's understanding, moreso a fragile truce. Another set of hieroglyphics described a mighty serpent king and a snake woman who attempted to overthrow him and plunge Ninjago into chaos. At this moment, Lloyd pointed nearby to the mummified remains of an ancient serpentine, though none of the Ninja were able to identify its species.
Leaving the mummy behind, the Ninja journeyed deeper, discovering the perfectly preserved remains of an ancient city, with Zane noting that the absence of weather and wind were responsible for the city's near pristine condition. As Zane spoke, Jay curiously inspected a cloth like object hanging from a nearby doorframe, exclaiming that the "curtain looked brand new!" To his shock however, the "curtain" turned out to be the wing of a giant bat which flew upwards after being startled by Jay's touch, extinguishing the Ninja's torches. Unable to see in the dark, Zane activated his night vision and attempted to give instructions to his allies as they each blasted their respective Elemental Powers in an effort to strike the giant bat. After repeated failures, however, a frustrated Kai asked Zane if he could spot any more torches, to which the Ice Ninja replied in the affirmative. Even with additional sources of light however, the Ninja still could not land a hit on the giant bat, which up until now had only been trying to avoid their attacks, forcing them to retreat. Pursued through the halls of the temple by the giant bat, the Ninja were able to return to the temple's entrance, discovering that the sandstorm had since died down. With the bat closing in on them, the Ninja retreated to the Land Bounty as the giant bat emerged from the temple and began aggressively swooping around the Ninja. As they boarded the bounty, Lloyd pointed out they had bigger troubles now: Beohernie had been spotted on the horizon and was heading their way as well.
As Zane grumbled under his breath, wishing how the giant beetle was just a mirage, an idea suddenly struck him. Recalling that mirages are created by rays of light refracting across different layers of hot air, Zane instructed his allies to stand at the Land Bounty's bow while he activated the vehicle's engine to create some downdraft of hot air. These actions together served to create a mirage of the ninja which the giant bat then attacked, missing the real ninja completely as it smacked into Beohernie, instigating a fight between it and the giant scarab. With their foes distracted, the Ninja returned to their vehicles and continued journeying to the pyramid, with Cole hoping that a worse fate was not lying in wait for them there.
Appearances[]
Characters[]
Mentioned[]
Vehicles[]
Creatures[]
Locations[]
Species[]
Trivia[]
- The comic is set between The Belly of the Beast and Boobytraps and How to Survive Them.
- One inconsistency however is that Kai and Cole are driving the ATV and Rock Cycle respectively despite storing both vehicles inside the Land Bounty at the end of the Belly of the Beast. Both vehicles also remained stored when the Ninja arrived at the Pyramid in the latter episode as well.
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