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2021-09-08
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Gently Break It

Chapter 2: Hey, Johnny Park!

Summary:

Now that Chen has his Firebrand tucked neatly out of the way, the Tournament of Elements can commence. Chen is holding all the cards and the game is about to start. Will Sensei Garmadon and the ninja unravel his plans in time, or fall to his tricks?

Notes:

whooo... So Part Two got so out of hand it had to be broken into two acts, and both acts are still double the length of Part One. Please go to the bathroom, get a snack, and have a drink with you. It took my beta three hours to read through this chapter. If you're bingeing this in the future, please take a break rn.

Bad news, no Kai in this chapter. Good news, Garmadad galore!

No warnings in this chapter that weren't previously covered. As much pain as I managed to spread out to everyone else, things are pretty tame here.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text


Part Two (Act 1)
Hey, Johnny Park!


Nya felt a pang of regret as she watched the boat leave with her brother. She had never really been apart from him for any notable amount of time. At least not any time that wasn’t traumatic. Her kidnapping was the longest they’d ever been away from one another.

Now he was moving in with the strange Mr. C and she wouldn’t see him for so long. He promised to come back for her birthday, but that seemed so far away as she watched him disappear into the horizon.

She shoved the thought down. This would be good for him. A job where he was needed and had structure was much healthier for him then fighting in a Slither Pit. He promised to write, and Nya knew she needed to give him space to be his own person. He had spent his whole life taking care of her, he deserved a life of his own. She couldn’t be selfish.

It wasn’t like she was helpless without him. It just hurt. She could live without him for a while. It wouldn’t be forever. He’d be back before she knew it. This was a growing experience for them both and deep down she knew they needed it.

She wished Kai would’ve said goodbye to the guys, but she supposed it would be awkward to have both Jay and Cole be there with her.

Lloyd should’ve been there though. The fight was silly. She didn’t really blame Kai for walking away, Jay and Cole were a nightmare to deal with. But he still could’ve been less harsh about it to Lloyd. They were both grieving, and both said things they shouldn’t have.

But they were both boys and neither was willing to be the first to apologize.


“It was really rushed, but I hope it’s going to be good for him.” Nya explained over dinner.

She’d been over at the Garmadon’s a few times since Jay and Cole left. Lloyd was grateful for the friend and his parents were always happy to see her. It was nice to have since she couldn’t have dinner with her brother.

“He needs a chance to figure himself out, you know?” she added.

Lloyd gave her a sad look. She really wished Kai had made up with him before leaving.

“Well, I think it’s great. You know Jay got has his own TV show now. Maybe all of you just needed a break to try something else.” Misako said, lightly pointing her fork with her words.

“Are you sure about it? I mean, all the secrets and with how fast it happened? I would be asking a few more questions.” Garmadon said in concern.

“Kai can take care of himself. He’s been taking care of both of us since he was five, I’m sure he can handle it if anything goes wrong.” Nya huffed.

“If you’re sure.” Garmadon said, staring at his food, his eyebrows furrowed.

He didn’t seem to believe her but was determined to not comment on it anymore. Nya appreciated his restraint. The last thing she needed was another adult doubting her and her brother. Kai had been more than capable of taking care of them, and she hated it when people underestimated him because his age. She’d heard enough snide comments from gossipy villagers or judgey travelers growing up.

Kai wasn’t fragile. He’d withstood hardships that would’ve broken many others. He was always as sturdy and strong as the fire in their furnace growing up, the one he kept going all winter long. The last time Nya had doubted him was when she eight, and not a single time since.

“So, you said he was a bodyguard?” Lloyd asked timidly, aggressively trying to look casual.

As much as he tried to pretend he was still mad, or that he didn’t care, Lloyd couldn’t hide how desperate he was for information about Kai. He clearly missed him, and it made Nya sad to see.

If Kai wasn’t ready to make up with him by her birthday, she was going to force them to talk it out.


“So how is Kai doing?” Lloyd asked as he passed a wrench over to Nya.

She bit back a snide grin from under the car she was working on. Lloyd had only gotten worse about hiding how much he cared. It was kind of adorable with some slight frustration. Lloyd was still pretending that he was mad, but he hadn’t stopped fishing her for info about Kai every time they hung out. He wasn’t subtle at all.

And speaking of not being subtle.

“Oh, wait until you hear this!” Nya laughed as she turned the wrench “He’s got a thing for his boss’s daughter!”

“Wait, isn’t that who he’s supposed to be guarding!?” Lloyd asked, leaning down to look at Nya under the carriage.

“Yup.” Nya said, popping the p.

Lloyd laughed. Nya was happy to hear the sound.

“He’s gonna get fired!” Lloyd said, holding his stomach, and trying to not fall all the way over.

“He’s trying to stay professional about it. He’s not planning on making any moves, but you should see the letter, he just goes on about her for like a whole page!” Nya snickered, pushing herself out into the open and blinking at the bright lights outside her shade.

“So, what’s she like?” Lloyd asked when he finally caught his breath again.

Smiling brightly, he held out a hand for her to take. Any pretense of being mad or not caring had been dropped. Lloyd had forgotten to keep up his act and Nya wasn’t going to remind him. She liked him better when he wasn’t pretending to be bitter. It reminded her too much of how he used to act in that cape and hoodie. All. Wrong.

She took his hand and continued to gossip.

“That’s the thing.” Nya snickered as she yanked herself up with Lloyd’s help “For how much he sung her praises, he didn’t really say much about her. Just that she was ‘amazing and pretty’.”

“Sounds like him!’ Lloyd said, laughing again, nearly dropping Nya before she got fully upright.

Luckily she managed to get her weight under herself properly before Lloyd dropped her. She waited patently for his giggling to die down. When it did, the smile fell off his face.

“I miss him.” Lloyd admitted.

And there it was. He finally broke. He hadn’t forgotten his charade, he’d gotten tired of it.

“I do too.” Nya admitted, reaching out a hand to Lloyd’s shoulder.

She could see how much their fight bothered him. Kai’s leaving the city was just an extra sting. Lloyd had been trying too hard to play the part of the slighted, but he was never really angry, just sad. Nya knew him well enough to see how it weighted his shoulders down with sorrow. She was glad he was finally admitting it out loud.

“I just…. I feel bad about everything I said. I shouldn’t have blamed him like that.” Lloyd sighed.

Admitting regret was one thing, but Nya didn’t want him to start rehashing all the awful things they’d said. She only had the cliff notes, but it was enough to know nothing good would come from revisiting it.

“Yeah, well... He can be an annoying idiot sometimes. Makes it hard to think straight!” Nya joked, lightly pushing Lloyd’s arm.

She earned a smile for her efforts and Nya was glad.

“Any other updates?” Lloyd asked hopefully, taking the segue to change the subject.

Nya thought about it for a minute while she walked over to the tool cart

“Well…. apparently, Mr. C has been letting Kai use his daughter’s private tutors to catch up on all the school he never got.” Nya said, picking up a dry rag and wiping off as much of the grease as she could with it.

“That’s awesome!” Lloyd beamed.

“Yeah. It’s already doing a lot for his confidence.” Nya said with a calm smile on her face, focusing on a stubborn spot on her thumb.

“He’s going to come home and be able to do math!” Lloyd joked.

“We won’t recognize him!” Nya laughed along, giving up on her thumb and throwing the rag over her shoulder.

She couldn’t wait for her birthday. She was excited to see all the ways Kai would change and grow.


Nya reread the letter in her hands. She smiled at her brother’s words about how his boss kept forcing gifts on him. He went on about how he’d tried everything to turn him down, but the man seemed dead set on giving Kai things. Nya guessed that since Kai was the same age as his daughter, Mr. C was feeling a little parental.

She laughed.

She frowned.

That was the last letter she got from him. It had been a while. He was probably just busy. He had a life to live and a job to do. So he forgot to write for a while! No big deal. Nya would live. She could give him space. He didn’t need his baby sister pestering him. She could take care of herself for a while.

Didn’t mean she didn’t miss him though.


She got a disappointingly short letter after waiting so long. Kai was learning to skate. Mr. C’s daughter was teaching him. Other than that, he apologized for the short letter, saying he didn’t have anything to update her on other than him being busy.

Nya cried. She hated herself for doing it, but she missed him. She was glad he was busy and having fun, but she felt so lonely without him there. Then the guilt ate at her. She shouldn’t be thinking of her own feelings. Kai didn’t need to worry about her anymore. She wasn’t a baby.

Kai had been taking care of her before her memories started, making every sacrifice in the world for her. She was not going to allow herself to burden him anymore. She was tough and grown. It was high time Kai focused on himself.

She sent him a short letter in response, updating him on all her little projects and wishing him well. She took great pains to sound put together, not wanting him to worry. No matter how much she wanted to beg for him to come home, she held herself together. He didn’t need his kid sister pestering him because she was lonely and childish. Besides, he was coming home for her birthday. She could wait.


The wait was agonizingly long before she got another letter. It was longer which made her happy.

She laughed loudly as she read that Mr. C’s daughter had apparently made a move on Kai. Mr. C found out and told Kai how impressed he was with him for holding out as long as he had but had known things were going there for a long time.

Kai said was tired, but very happy. Nya was glad to hear it.

She felt embarrassed when she thought about how uneventful her own life had gotten. Kai was taking his chance to grow and come into himself, experiencing all sort so things without her holding him down.

Meanwhile, Nya seemed to have put her life on hold without him.

Her first taste of freedom she had discovered so much about herself and her abilities. To build. To analyze. To fight. She learned how to build vehicles, how to read maps and strategize, how to track enemies. She created her Samurai X persona.

But now that she had no limits, she found herself without any desire to test them. Was she that dependent on Kai’s presence? Did she need him at her back like a safety net? Was she only great if she stood on his shoulders and leaned on his support? Who was she without him?

Nya couldn’t let herself be that. She couldn’t exist only as a burden to her brother. She wanted him to be proud of her.

No, he was always proud of her. He was a good brother like that.

What Nya wanted, was to be worthy of it.

She wanted to be deserving of all the sacrifices he had made for her. She desperately wanted it to be for something worthwhile. She wanted to show the world that Kai had made the right choice when he clipped his wings to provide for her.

Because without her, he was finally living. He was finally getting all the things Nya had kept him from having for so long.

He didn’t need her to sit at home with a candle. He needed her to build her own supports now so he could keep living. Nya needed to figure out how to function without that safety net. He deserved to exist as something other than Nya’s support.

Nya tried to embellish how independent she was without him in her letter back; tried to make it seem like she was thriving. The last thing she wanted was for him to throw away his own happiness to save her again. He’d done enough of that for one life time.


Nya waited patiently for another letter. She started to get worried but told herself she was overreacting.

It got close to her birthday. Maybe Kai was just waiting to talk to her in person? She just needed to wait. She could wait. So she waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Pretty soon her birthday was only a day away and he still hadn’t shown. She was nervous about how close he was cutting it. She was sure he would’ve come early enough for them to make plans.

“I’m sure he’s just running late. He’ll be here on the day, just wait and see.” Misako assured her over dinner.

The day came. Nya was ready for whatever surprise or excuse he’d bring. She sat by the door the whole day and she waited.

And waited.

And waited.

When the bell finally rang and she just about ripped the door off its hinges.

“WHERE HAVE YOU-” Nya cut herself off.

It wasn’t Kai.

It was Lloyd. He had a present in his hand and a stunned look on his face.

“Um…. I dropped by to say hi.” He said lamely.

Nya’s shoulders sank. It wasn’t Kai.

“I mean, I know you probably want some time with your brother, but I figured you could share him for a minute so I could say hello.” He nervously joked.

He wanted to make-up. Lloyd had also been waiting impatiently for Kai’s visit so he could fix things.

“He’s not here.” Nya mumbled, hugging herself tightly.

“He’s not?” Lloyd asked, almost dropping the gift.

“No.” she confirmed.

She sounded miserable. Which was only fitting because she was. She had been holding herself together for weeks with the promise that she’d see him soon. She wasn’t sure how she was going to keep it up without his arrive.

“Oh…. well….I’m sure he’s just running late. He’ll probably have a great story when he gets here!” Lloyd tried.

It wasn’t like Kai to break a promise. Something had to be keeping him, and Lloyd was trying to believe it was something mundane.

Nya nodded halfheartedly. She wanted to believe it too. The alternatives were too much for her to stand to even think about, let alone face.

“Here.” Lloyd gave her the present he’d brought.

Nya took it sadly. She didn’t feel much like opening it. Not until Kai came home and he could watch her. She had never opened a birthday gift without him watching her and she wasn’t about to start.

“How about we have a late birthday dinner for you tomorrow at my place, so my mom and dad can say hi to him too?” Lloyd suggested, trying his best to stay positive.

He was masking his own hurt and worry. He had been hanging himself on the promise of a reconciliation, having gotten so sick of holding his grudge that he was ready to either talk it out or act like they never had a fight in the first place. He needed some scrap of normal back and he missed his best friend.

“Yeah.” Nya said, forcing a smile for him.

“Let’s wait together so we can team up and kick Kai’s butt for worrying us as soon as he gets here.” Lloyd suggested, letting himself in.

“Yeah, ok.” Nya laughed, finally giving Lloyd a real smile.

Nya let him pass her and walk through the doorway. She didn’t want to be alone anyways.

They spend hours finding nonsense to keep themselves busy with. Every board game they could find was played. They binged every episode of Jay’s silly game show and made ruthless fun of it. They ordered pizza and tried to keep laughing.

But with every hour the undercurrent of worry got stronger. The later it got the tighter their smiles got. The shakier their voices got.

“We should sleep.” Nya said reluctantly, staring a the empty street.

“He’s probably stuck somewhere for the night.” Lloyd said, not sounding convinced himself “He’ll be here in the morning.”

Nya nodded, but her lip was pinched between her teeth.

Lloyd woke up late to find Nya with a mug of coffee, staring at the street again.

“Any word?” he asked, wondering if he wanted to try to make himself a cup.

He decided there was no way Nya had enough sugar for him to take it.

She wordlessly shook her head and he sat down next to her. They stared out the window for a few more hours in silence before Nya broke it with a strangled sob in the afternoon.

“Something is wrong!” she cried.

Lloyd decided to bring her home.

They spent the next week and a half trying everything they could think of to get in contact with Kai, but everything was a dead end.

The address Nya had been sending her letters to was just a middleman. Mr. C’s people picked up the letters and brought them to Kai, they delivered Kai’s letters there as well, and they were sent to her from there.

Only Mr. C’s men had stopped coming. The owner of the small post office had no more information than that. Mr. C hadn’t put his full name on any of the documentation there, and the bill for the mailbox rent was squared up a week before Nya’s birthday.

Kai had been warned that cell reception on the island was almost nonexistent, so phone calls weren’t a reliable method of communication. Nya tried it anyways and got nothing.

Because of the nondisclosure, Kai hadn’t told them anything they could use to even figure out who Mr. C was. It was all a bunch of dead ends.

Nya got increasingly upset with every failure. Misako fussed over her constantly as she became a bigger and bigger mess of worry and regret. She had been holding herself together under the assumption that her brother was flourishing and on his way home soon.

Garmadon did everything he could to find Kai, even calling in contacts he swore he’d never speak to again. He was cursing himself under his breath the entire time. He should’ve known something wasn’t right.

Lloyd decided that they’d already lost one ninja, they were not going to lose another. He had something he had to do.


Jay sighed. As mad as he was at Cole, he still missed the team. After Kai left it just seemed like going their separate ways was unavoidable. Without Zane to keep the peace, everything just boiled over. There was no one to cool thing down and keep them all from hurting each other. Feeling just got too hot and they all got burned.

He wondered if Nya missed him. He had noted when her birthday passed and considered reaching out, but decided against it. It was too painful. And she probably didn’t want to hear from him anyways. It was such a difficult contrast to how much time he spend with her when they were dating.

Jay tried to think of other things, like the episode they just finished filming.

Ninja never quit!”

Cathy had cited that old line. Jay couldn’t remember who said it first, but Zane had always embodied it, right up to the end.

They’d really messed that one up, hadn’t they? They had all quit on each other. He’d even quit being a ninja. He was such a rotten quitter.

Jay looked at the photo he kept on his desk for nostalgia’s sake and ruefully repeated the line to Zane’s smiling face, hoping for some kind of answer.

“You have to come back.”

Jay jumped and turned to see a familiar face. Older than the one in the picture he had been staring at, but unmistakable.

“How did you get in here!?” Jay demanded.

Didn’t he have security?

“I’m a ninja.” Lloyd answered flatly. “How do you think?”

Ok, he admittedly did walk into that one. Jay avoided addressing his blunder by switching his focus to Lloyd’s earlier words.

“I’m not coming back.” Jay said firmly “There’s nothing you can say to get me to fight beside Cole, that girl-stealing, black-hearted, rock-“

“Kai is missing.” Lloyd said sharply.

Jay stopped talking and gaped at him.

“What….what do you mean?”

“I mean” Lloyd snapped, stepping forward and jabbing a finger into Jay’s chest “That Kai is gone, and we don’t know what happened to him.”

For once in his life, Jay didn’t have anything to say.

“If you don’t feel like failing another friend, you know where to find me.” Lloyd said before disappearing.

Jay reeled back from the sting the words left. He wasn’t delusional, he knew he was the real reason the team fell apart. He ruined everything with his stupid messy break up. He had actually thought Kai was the one person he hadn’t personally failed, but maybe that was naive of him.

Jay turned and looked at himself in the mirror. He didn’t look anything like a ninja, and felt even less like one.


Cole wasn’t going to say anything. He wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction. If Lloyd was going to just show up and glare at him, he could at least do the courtesy of explaining himself and not expect Cole to roll out the carpet. He was just going to keep chopping wood and Lloyd could just watch him.

Lloyd did watch. He stood behind Cole silently with an intense stare for almost ten silent minutes. Cole didn’t know where he got that kind of patience, he was almost proud.

He tried to act normally while he felt green eyes burn his back. He was sweating from the manual labor and not the heat of Lloyd’s intense glare, he told himself.

First Master! Kai had taught the brat too well. He might as well have been the Master of Fire himself with all the heat in that stare!

Screw it! The kid won! Cole finally broke and turned to look Lloyd in the eye.

“What do you want?” He asked, half annoyed, half exhausted.

“Kai is missing.”

Cole took a step back. It was such a simple statement, but the implications were anything but. And the way Lloyd had ground each word out; Cole thought the fire in his eyes was intense. It seemed like a dim candle next to the scorching fury in Lloyd’s voice.

Cole nervously gulped before speaking.

“How….How long?” Cole finally decided to ask.

“We haven’t heard from him in weeks.” Lloyd answered plainly.

If a voice could burn Cole would be sporting a few third degrees.

“I….” Cole blubbered.

He’d really wanted to leave the whole ninja thing behind him. He had thought he had earned that, a little time to himself.

But if Kai was in trouble, could he really turn his back on that?

“I can’t….” Cole muttered.

“Can’t what, Cole?” Lloyd snarled. “Can’t be bothered to care?”

“I didn’t mean…” Cole stumbled over his words, unsure what he did mean.

“Save it.” Lloyd harshly said, giving a silencing gesture with his hands “If you decide to shape up, you know where I’ll be.”

And with that, Lloyd was gone.

Cole sat down and put his face into his hands.

The little kid he helped train had never been so scathing, so mean. Lloyd had always been the nicest of them. But Cole supposed everyone had their limits. One team member dead, another missing, he must’ve been pretty upset.

And here Cole was, putting his foot in his mouth. Who was he, Jay!?

Maybe Lloyd wasn’t the only one of them that had gotten mean.


Jay saw Nya and didn’t think twice, he just ran straight to her. She looked like a mess, and considering her brother was missing, it was understandable.

It wasn’t until he reached the table that he realized there was someone else there.

“Cole?” Jay asked, a slightly icy tone.

“Not any happier about it than you are, Zap-trap.” Cole said petulantly, staring at the passing food.

“Don’t you two start!” Nya said, despite the tears on her face, she sounded as fierce as ever.

Lloyd gestured for Jay to sit, next to Cole of all things. Jay made a face but did so. It was the only open seat after all, and besides, they had bigger things to worry about. Cole seemed to mirror his attitude.

“Right, so now that we’re all here, let’s review what we know.” Lloyd said, already taking his role of leader.

Nya told them everything she knew. About Mr. C and Kai’s job. The non-disclosure, the island. She told them how his letters slowed down, but he didn’t seem to be in any distress before they stopped. She debated keeping the whole “dating the boss’s daughter” thing to herself, but decided to be thorough with it.

When she finished Jay and Cole already looked frustrated.

“So basically, we know nothing.” Jay said loudly, tossing his hands up and throwing his body onto the back of the booth.

“Well, if we knew where he was, we’d be there rescuing him instead of here talking about it.” Lloyd huffed.

He was beginning to remember why they split up in the first place, and his mood had only been souring more since he found out he wouldn’t get to make-up with Kai.

“Can you please try to be nice?” Cole hissed at Jay.

“Oh, that’s rich, coming from you!” Jay said

“Stop it!” Lloyd yelled.

Nya was about to butt in herself but the argument was interrupted by the yelping of the cashier at the front of the store. Apparently, they had missed the start of a mugging while they were yelling at each other.

“Oh, for the love of-!” Lloyd yelled, standing up with enough force to shake the table.

Impressive, given the fact it was bolted to the floor.

The other’s followed Lloyd’s lead and marched over to face the thugs with their own frustration building.

“We’re kind of in the middle of something important, so could you maybe just not do this right now!?” Cole yelled, getting their attention.

“Yeah, none of us are in the mood today!” Jay added.

Rather than heed the warning, the thugs decided to start a fight. Nya and the boys were out of practice, but still trained well. The fight was very one sided. It wasn’t long until the thugs were retreating out the back door.

The group followed them out back, but by the time they caught up the thugs were gone.

Nya was about to yell some choice words before Lloyd noticed something pinned to the wall above what appeared to be a shrine of some kind.

“Is that…” Cole started.

“Zane?” Jay finished for him.

“What does it say?” Cole asked.

Lloyd raced over and pulled the poster off the wall.

“It says…he’s alive!” he gasped.

“What!?” Jay yelled, snatching the paper from Lloyd.

“I think those thugs weren’t here just to rob the place.” Nya speculated.

“Oh! Cookies!” Cole said, reaching out to the platter on the shrine.

The other three stared while he shoved the entire cookie he’d grabbed into his mouth.

“What?” Cole asked with his mouth full, then swallowed before continuing “Lloyd didn’t let me eat until after we talked. I’m hungry.”

“Aside from the fact that you just ate a cookie off a suspicious plate in a back alley that was under a message about our dead friend, you also just ate a fortune cookie whole.” Nya said, wondering how in the world she ever found him attractive.

“And?” Cole asked, “You’ve seen me eat bigger things in one bite.”

“You do know there are fortunes inside fortune cookies, right?” Jay asked quietly, reaching for one of the three cookies himself and breaking it open to demonstrate.

Cole blinked.

That’s why they’re called that!” he realized.

Nya further questioned her taste in men while Lloyd took the last cookie.

“Hey, listen to this!” he said, then started reading from the fortune “Master Chen has personally invited you to participate in his tournament of elements?”

Master Chen?” Cole asked.

“Secrecy is of the upmost importance. Tell no one or suffer the consequences.” Jay continued, ignoring Cole “If you ever want to see your friend again, meet on the pier at midnight and leave your weapons behind.”

“Oh, because that doesn’t sound like a trap at all!” Nya said in a sarcastic tone.

Then the papers in Lloyd and Jay’s hands popped into a cloud of smoke. They all stared at Cole in concern while he lurched over, a muffled popping noise coming from his stomach.

“You ok?” Nya asked, placing a hand on his back while he hunched over in pain.

“Yeah. Least I know I got the same one you guys did.” Cole said, a hiccup of smoke escaping while he stood back up.

There was a silence. The thought was crossing all their minds, but no one wanted to voice it.

“Guys….What if….Zane’s alive?” Jay asked quietly.

Lloyd was so relived to not have to be the one to say it. He knew what was coming next.

“No.” Nya said in a rigid voice. “No. We came here to look for Kai! We are not going to abandon him to chase after false hope that Zane’s alive.”

“But Nya-” Jay started.

“ZANE IS DEAD!” Nya yelled “Kai needs us right now and we aren’t going to just, abandon him!”

“Nya, we have no leads for Kai.” Cole reasoned, but it fell on deaf ears.

“And that makes it ok to give up on him? Leave him to suffer whatever is happening to him!?” Nya yelled.

“Maybe if we find Zane, he could help us find Kai?” Jay tired.

“How dare you!” Nya snapped, pointing an angry finger in his face. “If you loved me at all, you would be focusing on my missing brother! Not lies about Zane!”

“But what if it’s not a lie, Nya?” Jay asked painfully.

“I DON’T CARE!” Nya yelled.

Nya’s declaration rang out, bringing a heavy silence behind it.

Somehow, they’d shuffled positions in the argument. Jay and Cole were next to each other, and Nya was on the other side of the alley. Lloyd stood between the two sides physically and metaphorically.

“I don’t care if Zane is alive. He’s not important right now!” Nya said firmly “If he’s managed this long, he can wait a little longer. We don’t know where Kai is or what’s happening to him!”

“Nya, this isn’t an easy choice. But we don’t have anything to go off of to find Kai, at least we have a lead for Zane.” Lloyd finally said, carefully.

All his tact was for nothing though.

“I can’t believe you all. My brother is missing, and you can’t be bothered to help me find him!” Nya said, hands tangling through her hair.

“Nya, we’re not giving up on Kai, we just have to make a hard choice right now.” Lloyd said, trying to calm her down.

“Besides, we don’t even have an evidence that Kai’s in trouble. You said yourself he wasn’t in any distress in his letters!” Jay said. “Maybe he’s just ignoring you.”

Nya’s glare made him regret it. He never feared her more than he did in that moment. Lloyd was sending him his own glare, but it paled next to hers. Jay was trying to remember if he ever got around to writing that will because he feared he would need it soon.

Then all of a sudden, all the heat drained from her eyes. Her glare plunged into an icy judgment.

“I don’t know why I expected you all to care. You all have family’s you can go home to. Well, I don’t. And I’m going to do whatever it takes to find my brother.” Nya said in a frigid tone.

“Nya that’s not-” Lloyd stared, still shivering from the coldness in her gaze.

“Do what you want.” Nya interrupted him, bitter and frosty “He’s not your brother.”

Lloyd flinched back at the jab while Nya walked over to the shrine and threw the whole set up to the ground to punctuate her point.

With that point made, Nya stormed away.

Lloyd made a small heartbroken whine as he watched her leave.


Nya had been a visible growing mess of worry and sadness for almost two weeks. So when she seemed to abruptly be overtaken by a mysterious anger and pushed away their help in finding Kai, Garmadon knew something had changed. The question was what.

All Garmadon knew was that Lloyd had tried to get Jay and Cole back on board. He was guessing something went wrong there. Not surprising, the two had been acting poorly and letting their silly squabble get away from them. Kai had honestly made the right call to distance himself from it, although Garmadon wished he hadn’t walked away from Lloyd as well. Then again, their fight was rather explosive. Garmadon had half a mind to scold Lloyd for the things he said, but the boy was remorseful enough without the help, so Garmadon let it lay.

He did hope Kai was equally as introspective about his own inappropriate words, but if he wasn’t, Garmadon would hold his tongue on the matter. Kai was neither his son, nor was he his student. He had no right to tell Kai what to do. As much as it made Garmadon’s heart ache to stand by and watch a child he cared for suffer, it would be inappropriate of him to parent a boy that didn’t belong to him in any way. Not to mention a boy he had been the enemy of for a considerable amount of time.

Nya was the same. Not his kid. Not his student. He couldn’t force her to talk to him, and he would only be rude if he continued to pester her. She clearly didn’t want to talk to him, so if he wanted answers he’d have to ask the kid he did have a right to.

That was how Garmadon found himself in Lloyd’s room. He deciding to ignore the packing for the moment.

“Son, why is Nya so upset?” Garmadon asked from the door frame.

Lloyd jumped slightly, but relaxed quickly when he saw it was his dad that had walked in on him. He did that a lot, jumping and tensing when someone snuck up on him. It squeezed Garmadon’s heart every time he thought about where those quirks had come from. Years of not trusting surprises.

“Oh! Um…We just had a disagreement about what to do.” Lloyd mumbled.

“What sort of disagreement?” Garmadon asked, crossing his arms.

He may’ve had no right to guide and parent Nya, but he could absolutely help his son through his problems.

Lloyd mumbled something that could almost be words.

“What?” Garmadon asked.

He knew he was getting older, but his hearing couldn’t be that bad.

“Nevermind.” Lloyd said, waving it off “Hey Dad, are there other people with elemental powers like us?”

Garmadon stood up straight and narrowed his eyes. That was a very strange segue. And a suspicious question to have.

“What makes you ask that?”

A million worst case scenarios were running through his head. Had Lloyd run into another Elemental Master? Had they threatened him? After the Alliance fell apart quite a few of the other masters had fallen into some unsavory places. And Garmadon knew nothing of their children. It was entirely possible an Elemental Master was trying their hand at villainy while the Ninja were at their lowest.

“No reason! Just wondering!” Lloyd said too quickly. “Well, gotta get going!”

Lloyd forced his way passed his father while Garmadon watched him with concern. Something more than a fight with Nya had happened, but Lloyd wasn’t explaining. Garmadon knew he was going to get an excuse before he even bothered to ask Lloyd where he was going with his packed bag. Garmadon would have to figure out what was happening with his son through other means.

Looking around his son’s room for clues, Garmadon’s heart skipped a beat. On a takeout package was a cartoony, tamed down version of a symbol he knew too well. A symbol he was so afraid of he would cover the mirror when he undressed. A brand that he had been manipulated into accepting when he had been young and vulnerable.

“Chen.” Garmadon muttered to himself with a malice he thought he was no longer capable of.

The man that had done that manipulating. The monster who’s damage Garmadon was still nursing well into his old age. The snide laughter that still echoed in the background of Garmadon’s nightmares.

If he was involved with his son, it made sense why fights were starting and secrets were being kept. It also meant Lloyd was in grim danger.

Garmadon would rather his father’s realm burn than let Chen sink his teeth into another generation, and he’d burn it himself to keep the man away from his child.


They stuck out like sore thumbs.

“I told you we shouldn’t have worn them!” Jay ranted, referring to the gis.

“So, this is supposed to be a tournament of elements, right?” Cole asked, ignoring Jay “You think all of them have powers?”

“I asked my dad about it, and he got really weird. It was almost like he was hiding something.” Lloyd explained.

“Did you miss the part where the cookie said, ‘Tell no one’?” Jay asked in a panic.

“I’m not an idiot Jay! I just asked if he knew anything about any other elemental masters.” Lloyd snapped.

The fighting was coming back, and Lloyd remembered why they fell apart in the first place. The stress that had led up to Kai’s leaving. It had probably contributed a lot more to their cruel words than they realized at the time.

But before a full on argument could start again, a ship appeared. Sailing gracefully to the dock, it was the perfect distraction from their bad blood.

Lloyd did a doubletake at the face tattoos on the… henchmen he guessed? It was certainly distinctive. Wait, weren’t those the same tattoos that the thugs that tried to rob the noodle house had? So things were planned! Nya had been right.

Before Lloyd could think any more on that, someone that was clearly in charge walked onto the dock. He was wearing fine robes and had slicked back hair. He walked with an air of self assurance that set all three of them on edge.

As everyone lined up to board the boat Lloyd leaned in and whispered.

“We still don’t know if this is a trap. Whatever happens, we can’t get separated. We have to stay focused and stay together.”

Jay and Cole nodded. Lloyd took what comfort he could from it.

“Master Chen will be charmed to see you’re accepted his offer.” The man said with a dreary voice. “A Master of Spinjitsu shall fare favorably in his tournament.”

He had a smarmy grin on his face that had Lloyd caught between punching him and cowering from him. Luckily, Jay never seemed to lose his words, no matter the situation.

“We’re not here to fight.” Jay said sternly. “We’re only here to save a friend.”

“Don’t be so petty Master Jay” he said, leaning in to Jay’s space.

Jay hated that the man knew his name, almost as much as he hated the way he said it.

“Everyone here has something to fight for.” He said, pulling out the nunchucks Jay had hoped he could sneak in.

Jay didn’t even bother trying to excuse them. The man just threw them into the water and let Jay pass. He supposed it was worth a shot.

Cole boarded behind him without problem, but before Lloyd could step onto the boat his father called his name.

“Don’t get on that boat.” He said, “If you do, you may never return.”

“Dad, what are you doing here?” Lloyd said, almost sounding embarrassed.

He could see the other competitors giving him amused looks. Like he was little kid getting dropped off at first grade, being forced to give their parent one more hug. So much for being the mighty Green Ninja.

“Master Chen is a dangerous man who should never be trusted. I mean it Lloyd. Whatever he promised you, you can’t believe him.” Garmadon begged.

“Lord Garmadon. It’s been a while.” The man on the boat said smugly. “It’s Sensei now, correct? I can’t remember.”

“Clouse.” Garmadon said with disdain. “I see Master Chen still has you running his errands.”

Ok, so their was clearly some history there. Lloyd was curious, but he didn’t have time to unpack it. He opted for the short answer on his part, hoping his dad would take it.

“It’s Zane, Dad!” Lloyd pleaded. “I have to go!”

Garmadon frantically looked between his son and the boat, looking more like a paranoid parent than a great sensei.

“Last call.” Clouse said. “Are you in, or out?”

Lloyd pushed forward and boarded the boat. Garmadon felt his heart squeeze. He would not allow Chen to take his son. He would not.

“Then I’m coming.” Garmadon said, trying to board.

“Sorry. No more room on the ship.” Clouse said, walking away.

A few other men blocked Garmadon with disgusting smiles, lifting away the plank and cutting him off from the boat.

Garmadon narrowed his eyes and felt a hot rush of anger. He leaped off the dock and onto the ship’s deck, lifting the nearest one of Chen’s followers above his head, and heaving him into the water with all his might. He didn’t even pause to take a breath before turning to glare at Clouse.

“Oh look.” he said in a challenging tone “Now there’s room.”

“My mistake.” Clouse mumbled, walking off without a care.

Garmadon didn’t know if he was covering for his shock and fear, or if he had honestly expected such and action from him. Either way, Garmadon didn’t care to puzzle out Clouse’s true feelings. He knew the man well enough to do it, but his focus was elsewhere.

Namely, the children in front of him.

The ninjas’ jaws dropped. They hadn’t seen Garmadon be so ruthless since he was still a lord.

“I’m not going to let Chen do anything to your three.” Garmadon said sternly.

Jay and Cole visibly gulped. They felt more afraid of him then protected, but it didn’t matter. Garmadon was going to protect them. Chen had gone too far.

“You know that guy. You said his name was Clouse.” Lloyd said, recovering first.

He had seen his father’s protective anger before.

“Don’t let his attire fool you. Clouse is a master of the dark arts. And Chen’s trusted second in command.” Garmadon explained, straightening himself.

“How do you know that?”

“There are many things you haven’t been told.”

“Why?”

The three boys stared at him. Garmadon had to admit, that was a very good question. He’d never felt like it was his place to mentor his brother’s students or, his instincts be forgotten, attempt to parent them. He knew they had parents of their own, and he trusted Wu to guide them.

Maybe that was a mistake. Garmadon had assumed his brother had reasons for the secrets he kept from them, but perhaps he was giving Wu too much credit. He’d always been secretive, even when it wasn’t necessary.

His son had almost walked straight into a trap set by one of the most dangerous men in Ninjago because he didn’t know not to trust him. The only reason Wu’s remaining students weren’t worse off is because Garmadon realized something was wrong and followed them. If he hadn’t noticed Chen’s symbol and put the pieces together, his son and his friends could be gone without a trace, disappeared into the clutches of someone they should’ve known not to trust.

Perhaps that’s what happened to Kai? He went somewhere and got into trouble he couldn’t get out of because Wu wasn’t watching him. When was the last time Garmadon had seen his brother supervise his own students?

The thought enraged him.

His students were struggling with the loss of one of their own, fighting over petty things, and tearing themselves apart in grief and anger. Wu hadn’t lifted a finger to help guide them through that storm. Wu hadn’t done his job as their Sensei.

Perhaps Garmadon wasn’t doing anybody any favors by keeping his hands off his brother’s students. He’d let Wu have his space to do things, and he’d done nothing with it. Garmadon had three hurt and lost children in front of him. They were in danger and didn’t have the experience or maturity to face it on their own.

Garmadon had kept himself back long enough. These children needed guidance and support, and Wu not only wasn’t present to give it, but seemed to be refusing to do so anyways. Garmadon was done respecting his brother’s authority. There were children’s lives at stake! Maybe if Wu had kept a better eye on his wards, Kai wouldn’t have gone missing.

“I don’t know why Wu made the choices he did. I had resigned myself to letting him have them, but perhaps that was a mistake. No more secrets. I’ll tell you about the Elemental Alliance.” Garmadon finally said, squaring his shoulders.

It was time he started to take the responsibility his brother had left. Garmadon would have words with his brother when they returned, but for the time being, he had students to protect and teach.

And when they found Kai, he would make sure he was never left so unattended again.

First thing was first, it was time he started arming his students with the knowledge they needed.

“Everyone on this ship is a descendant of an original elemental master…”


Lloyd’s head was reeling with all the new information his father had just dumped on them. About Chen, the Serpentine war, the Elemental Alliance, its downfall, and more. They were just barely caught up by the time Chen made his entrance.

For all the ominous warnings he’d just been given about the man, Lloyd wasn’t expecting someone quite so…cartoonish.

“I forgot to mention” Garmadon whispered “He also has a penchant for theatrics.”

No kidding.

The man briefly acknowledged them before he had already launch himself into a speech about the Anacondrai warriors. Even Garmadon, the former student who had betrayed him, was barely a footnote to him.

Finally, the full roster was revealed. There was an odd number, so they weren’t separated into brackets yet. If he had to guess, Lloyd would say round one would be a free for all. Once the competitors dropped to an even number they’d probably make a proper bracket. Lloyd hoped he wouldn’t be facing Jay or Cole for a good while. Optimistically, they’d find Zane and be out of there before they got to that point.

As Chen further explained the game, Garmadon raised the question Lloyd was afraid of.

“And what happens if they lose?”

“Lose? Who here likes to lose!?”

The way he avoided answering didn’t fill Lloyd with much confidence in their safety.

“You will now each be shown to your rooms.” Clouse said, summoning a parade of girls in heavy make-up.

Next thing Lloyd knew, one of the girls had his wrist and was pulling him along, away from his remaining friends.

So much for staying together. They’d have to meet back up later.

After being shown his room Lloyd had enough time to change clothes before Chen’s voice came over the PA system accompanied with some cheesy music that sounded like the recording hadn’t been updated since the Serpentine war.

“Fellow fighters! Hidden around my island are enough Jade Blades for every participant except for one!”

Lloyd, after uncovering his ears from the sudden loud noise, figured the first round must been about to begin. Of course, Chen waited just long enough for everyone to get half settled in their rooms to start things off!

His dad had warned him how underhanded Chen could be.

“The one who returns to the palace arena empty-handed loses!” Chen continued. “The tournament begins…”

Lloyd had already figured out what the next word was going to be and started his hunt for one of those Jade Blades.

“NOW! May the best fighter win!”

Lloyd found a blade quickly, but he also found a fight to go with it.

He was outnumbered, but all his opponents were fighting each other as well, plus he’d had formal training since he was little. It wasn’t hard to come out of top.

Just when Lloyd was about to snag the blade, something soft wrapped around his ankle. Somehow, the pattern on the carpet had come to life and was restraining him!

The Master of Mind, whatever his name was, had already gotten up to take advantage of Lloyd’s problem. It was hard to fight with his leg incapacitated, but Lloyd had fought the Overlord with a cast on, so he knew he wasn’t in too much trouble. Especially when he heard his father grunt as he tackled Clouse.

Like magic, the carpet pattern let him go and went back to the way it was meant to be. Lloyd didn’t need to be a genius to figure out that Clouse had just used some of that dark sorcery his father had warned them about.

“Hurry Lloyd! You must not lose!”

Now that he wasn’t fighting with one leg tied behind his back, Lloyd had no issues knocking his opponents back and grabbing the blade for himself. All he had left to do was get it to the arena without letting anyone take it.

Plenty of other masters tried to get it from him, but Lloyd had been the Keep-Away-King back at Darkley’s for a reason. There was nothing any of them could do that Gene hadn’t tried twice before.

He was almost the first one back. The master of speed beat him, but only because his travel time was seconds, Lloyd had still been the first to secure a blade.

He just hoped Jay and Cole managed to get some for themselves.


Jay was pretty cranky to have his bath interrupted. You don’t mess with a man while he’s having a bubble bath!

He may’ve been a bit too heavy handed shocking the guy, but in Jay’s defense: He was attacked. IN. THE. BATH. He deserved a few electrical burns for that!

He once he got the blade (and his revenge) Jay was quick make it to the arena. Lloyd was there already, and a few others. Jay was glad he wasn’t last and was really hoping that Cole wouldn’t be either.

After placing his blade in position, Jay got permission to go put his clothes on. He came back, his hair still dripping onto the carpet, and saw more contestants had made it by then. About half the group was present. The few that had seen Jay’s first entrance were eyeing him curiously, wondering about it.

They could keep wondering. Jay immediately placed himself next to Lloyd.

Lloyd also had questions, but he was a friend and polite about it. So, Jay explained and very loudly complained about his very rude bath interruption. Lloyd in turn quietly told Jay about his encounter with Clouse.

When the Master of Nature finally did get a blade and showed up, Lloyd had to remind Jay to not shock everyone in the room.

Jay wasn’t going to lie; he was really hoping that guy would be the one out.

Things stayed quiet as one by one masters showed up triumphantly with blades in hand. Jay got nervous as the number of blades dwindled and Cole didn’t show.


A stomachache.

Of all the stupid things to cost him the first round! He really should’ve paced himself, or at least known better than to do something so reckless in enemy territory! Cole regretfully had to admit that his father was right all those years ago, he did have a problem with food.

He’d gotten his hands on three separate blades only to have them stolen from him! Good news was that his competition was thinning, bad news was, so were the tickets to a victory.

A glimmer caught his eye. There! Under the couch!

Cole didn’t push himself. There was no one obviously around, but Cole couldn’t be sure. Best to not tip his hand. He slowly walked to the couch, acting like he was in more pain than he really was and was planning on sitting down. No one watching him would think he was a threat, let alone that he’d spotted a blade.

At the last second Cole reached under and took the blade. His grip was strong as stone. No way was he losing another one.

Nobody came at him, Cole figured he might be the last one as he started to the arena.

No, if he really were last, he wouldn’t have a blade. That meant there was at least one more person he had to worry about.

He got to the hall leading to the arena before he ran into trouble.

A strong tug on the blade. Were Cole any less of a climber, he could’ve lost it there. But he’s used that grip to hang for his life on cliff sides for fun enough times, there was no way it was going to give without more of a fight than that.

There was no visible opponent, but Cole had already seen that one of the competitors could turn invisible. He took a good guess and punched the air in the direction of the pulling.

Bingo. The invisible man showed his face (or everything but) as he fell to the ground. He was clearly more accustomed to stealth than combat.

“Sorry buddy.” Cole said, dashing the rest of the way to the arena.

“I GOT ONE! I GOT ONE!” he yelled out.

Lloyd and Jay were already there, along with just about everyone else.

“One blade remains!” Chen declared after taking Cole’s.

“Wow, I was so sure I must’ve been the last one.” Cole said in amazement.

That meant the invisible guy still had one more shot. Who was left?

Before Cole could try to force himself to remember who was missing the answer got announced.

“KARLOFF WINS!!!” the brute shouted while making the final stretch to them.

Before he could get through the doorway however, the blade flew from his hand and into the room ahead of him.

“I’ll take that, thank you!” said the invisible man, reappearing as he ran across the room to give Chen the blade.

Cole realized the guy had probably been waiting by the doorway to grab a blade from someone at the last minute for a while. The plan only had to work once, and he got as many tries as there were opponents left. It was smart. Underhanded, but smart.

“We have a loser!” Chen yelled out.

“That’s not fair!” Karloff whined “He cheated!”

“I don’t recall any rule against that.” The invisible guy said in a mocking tone.

“Fine, I lose!” he huffed “Karloff never wanted to be on stinking island!”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear you did not enjoy your stay.” Chen said in fake sympathy. “I guess this worked out for the best. This is GOODBYE!”

The ground under Karloff opened and he fell into a mysterious hole. It was deep, judging by the echoing of his scream. The thought sent shivers up Cole’s spine.

“As you can see: Lose and you are out!” Chen explained “Break any rule, you are out!”

A henchman took Karloff’s picture off the roster and crushed it. Cole didn’t care for the implications behind the action.

“Never bite the hand that feeds you,” Chen continued “Master Chen’s delicious noodles! Now rest up! Tomorrow the tournament will recommence!”

The sound of a gong dismissed them.


“At least the chow’s good.” Cole commented with his mouth full.

“How can you eat at I time like this!” Jay snapped “It’s killing me! What’s under the trap door!? WHAT HAPPENS TO THE LOSERS!?!?!?”

“Jay, calm down and eat.” Lloyd said, already too tired to put up with any more yelling.

“Don’t think about that.” Garmadon advised, knowing Jay psyching himself out would only hinder them.

“It’s all I can think about!” Jay yelled. “I moved on! I feel guilt!”

Cole lifted his plate off the table as Jay shook it.

“These are not good feelings!!!” He yelled.

“Stop being dramatic!” Cole said, setting his plate back down.

“I’m being dramatic!? For all we know he could be dead! I don’t know what I was expecting though, it’s not like you consider other people’s feelings!” Jay sniped.

Cole slammed down his chopsticks.

“And it’s so like you to make your feelings everybody else’s problem! We have bigger things to worry about than how you’ll face yourself in the mirror!” Cole yelled back.

“Stop yelling!” Lloyd yelled without any thought to the irony.

“Stay out of this!” Cole and Jay yelled at the same time.

“Ugh, and you wonder why Kai left!? You two are insufferable!” Lloyd said.

“ENOUGH!” Garmadon yelled.

All three boys quieted down and stared. Garmadon took the opportunity. If he was going to guide and care for these boys like he’d promised himself he would, stopping petty squabbles was something he’d have to do until they could grow passed them. It was one of many examples of the things that Wu had neglected for some reason.

He honestly couldn’t decide what was the worst answer. That his brother didn’t notice, didn’t care, or that he expected grieving children to have enough emotional maturity to solve their own interpersonal problems.

Regardless, it still fell to Garmadon to teach them better at that moment.

“We are all stressed and worried. While we are all doing our best to cope with these feelings, we must be mindful that it won’t look the same for all of us and not let it wear at us like this.” He explained calmly. “We have a mission to accomplish! Let us focus on that.”

“Right, we need to find Zane.” Cole agreed

“And then get out of here!” Jay said, shivering and looking over his shoulder “I feel like this place is corrupting me.”

“The sooner we do that, the sooner we can get back to looking for Kai.” Lloyd added.

“So, what’s the plan? We can’t exactly roam around. You heard Chen, break a rule and we’re out!” Cole asked.

“You three are ninja, correct?” Garmadon asked humorously.

“Right. We’ll have to be sneaky.” Lloyd said, “Meet in my room at midnight.”

“Mind if I join you?” came a meek and nasally voice.

It was the master of light that had borderline cheated earlier.

Jay wasn’t having it.

“Disappear pal! We don’t need any underhanded jerks butting in here!” Jay snapped.

He was still upset about how Karloff went out.

The pale man did exactly as Jay asked.

Jay sighed.

“I know you’re still here. Unless you think we’re dumb enough to think lunch trays float on their own!”

He reappeared only to storm off.

“You didn’t have to be so mean!” Cole snapped.

“You saw what he did today! How can we trust him!? YOU SEE WHAT I MEAN ABOUT CORRUPTING!?!?! THIS HAS TO STOP!”

“Calm down.” Cole said.

Jay slammed his chopsticks down and glared, but once Garmadon cleared his throat the two decided not to start again.

Lloyd was grateful for it.


Nya’s fury fueled her hunt. She was going to find her brother, no “if” about it. The only question was what other people were going to make her do to find him.

She started with the Slither Pits Kai frequented before Mr. C took him away. Even though every seedy thug quickly learned she had no patience for secrets, none of them had any relevant info.

Not that they had nothing to say. She learned plenty from them. Things she would normally follow up on. Samurai X now had a very long list of leads for unrelated crimes, but Nya didn’t care about any of it. She only cared about what was related to her brother.

She growled at the memory of how her friends had turned their backs.

They didn’t get it. They all had parents to go home to. Kai had raised Nya by himself. She owed him everything! The thought of leaving him, abandoning him; it burned her. He hadn’t left her when their parents did. He didn’t leave her when she was kidnapped and in trouble.

There was no mother’s home cooking, no father’s strong hugs. There was only Kai. Kai, making every sacrifice and always doing his best for her. Kai who had only ever done anything with someone else in mind. How could they just spit in the face of that? Turn their backs?

So Zane may’ve been alive? Whatever. Kai was more important. He should’ve taken priority!

There was no more family to run to. There was no comfort for Nya. Kai was all she had, and now that he was gone she was completely alone. They didn’t understand that. They didn’t understand that it wasn’t just her brother she lost, it was her entire family that was missing. The only person that had ever felt like home had been taken away. She couldn’t just ignore that. The void in her was too large for her to find any forgiveness for them. Perhaps it would be there when her brother was safe and sound, but she knew her missing family would leave room for only rage until she had him back.

Nya was brought out of her thoughts by her phone ringing. She rejected yet another call from Wu and finally decided to turn the thing off. She didn’t want to hear from him or Misako. Both of them had been calling non-stop. She had no answers for them, so she ignored them.

Besides, she may’ve finally found a useful lead.

The bar tender at Yang Tavern had seen Kai talking to a lawyer the night of his last fight. He only had a few clues for her, but Nya would search every law office in the city until she found the right guy if she had to.

When she found the guy, she was going to drag answers out of him until she knew exactly who and where Mr. C was. Then she was going to hunt the man down and force him to give her brother back.

First Master help anyone in her way.


If Jay didn’t show up soon, Lloyd was going to strangle Cole. He wouldn’t shut up about how Lloyd’s bed was better than the rock bed he’d been given. It was taking all of Lloyd’s restraint not to leap across the room and start shaking him.

Just when Lloyd was about to snap, Jay finally slipped in from the balcony.

“Ok, it was almost impossible to get here!” He complained loudly. “This place is swarming with guards! How are we supposed to search the island!?”

“Maybe keep your voice down?” Lloyd asked pretty gently considering his mood.

“Right.” Jay said in a quiet voice. “This place is massive! We’ll have to split up.”

“NO!” Lloyd yelled.

Jay and Cole gave him startled looks.

“We stick together. We’re divided enough as it is.” Lloyd explained in a calmer voice.

He couldn’t help the panic that had shot through his blood at the thought of splitting up. He could be forgiven for being a bit sensitive, given their situation and the childhood he had.

Luckily Jay and Cole let it go.

“That still doesn’t solve how we’re going to search the place! It was hard enough not getting spotted sneaking around here on our own.” Cole said, sitting on the end of the bed.

“I think I have an idea about that.” Lloyd said.

“We’re all ears.” Cole said.

“Given what my dad told us about Chen, I can pretty much guarantee that this place is full of secret passages.” Lloyd explained.

There was no way a villain that eccentric and image conscious would skip out of the secret passages. Not to mention the trap door Karloff had fallen through couldn’t be the only one of its kind in the palace.

“What makes you so sure?” Jay asked

Lloyd smiled deviously.

“Trust me. I know my traps and secret passages.”

They raised their eyebrows in silent doubt.

“Let me see what I can remember….” Lloyd muttered as he called back on his old memories of school. “There are five basic types of passageways. Buttons, Latches, Loose Doors…...”

Lloyd stretched his memory to remember which ones he was forgetting. The answer came to him when he thought about the trap door Chen had used to dispose of Karloff.

“…Remote, and Combination!” he finished.

Cole and Jay both sat in front of a standing Lloyd while he explained

“Buttons are self-explanatory. You press something and the passage opens. Though sometimes it’s a switch or a lever, they all count as Button style.”

Lloyd hadn’t had to recite the knowledge in so long, he was shocked at how easily it was coming back to him.

“Latches are usually knobs of some kind, but it basically means the door is latched closed and you have to unlock it somehow. Sometimes actual keys are involved. Loose Doors are just hidden doors that aren’t protected by anything except secrecy. Basically, all you need to open it is to know that it’s there. Not at all secure and the easiest for someone to find accidentally.”

He couldn’t help but go on a small tangent about the inferiority of Loose Door secret passages. His teacher had drilled it into them. Lloyd could almost hear the man’s voice.

Loose Doors aren’t any better than an open door.”

“Remote means it has to be triggered remotely and the trigger can be taken away. Best used for booby traps. And finally, Combination requires some kind of password or specific series of actions. The most secure, but bad for getting away in a hurry.”

Cole and Jay stared at him in awe.

“Jay, you’re going to try pushing on everything, that’ll find any Push Buttons or Loose Doors that swing in. And Cole, you’re going to try pulling and twisting everything. That’ll find any Pull Buttons, Loose Doors that swing out, or standard Latches. If either of you find something that moves but doesn’t do anything, let me know, it might be part of a combination. I’ll check for the weird stuff like sliding pieces, locks, or markings.” Lloyd explained.

They didn’t move. Had he freaked them out?

“Any questions?” Lloyd asked nervously.

Jay raised his hand.

“What was that!?”

“What do you mean?” Lloyd asked.

“He means since when were you such an expert on this?” Cole said.

“I had a whole semester on ‘this stuff’!” Lloyd snapped. “I got the second highest grade in the class!”

He was still a little proud of that A-. He didn’t make many good grades back then, so he had treasured the ones he did.

They continued to look baffled.

“I was a Darkley's kid?” Lloyd reminded them.

He saw it click.

“OOOOOOHHHHH right!” they both said.

Of course they forgot. Everyone forgot. Sometimes it annoyed Lloyd, but he supposed it was easy to forget. He was a far cry from that evil brat he once was. Even he forgot his background every so often.

“So….” Lloyd said openly, gesturing to the room.

“OH!” Jay said

“Right!” Cole said

Both of them hopped up and started to push, pull, and twist everything they could find.

Lloyd smiled and nodded in approval before setting about his own job. If there were any secret passages in his room, they’d find it.

He carefully scanned over the room and choose a corner to start in. He started to check each board in the floor, checking to see if any slid or depressed. He was methodical about it. Each board the same. Push, left, right, next. Push, left, right, next. Push, left, right, next.

“I think I found a button!” Jay yelled.

Lloyd jumped up and ran over to the shelf Jay was inspecting. Jay pointed to the book he’d pushed further into the shelf. Lloyd didn’t know if he should be amused or angry, he settled on flat and cynical.

“Jay, that’s just a short book.” Lloyd said as he pulled the thing off the shelf.

It was a nice hardback, bound with cloth. The kind of book that felt important. It wasn’t important to their search though. It had been placed at the edge of the shelf, so its spine lined up with all the other books on the shelf, library style.

“Oh.” Jay said sheepishly as Lloyd put the book back on the shelf.

Back to the floor. After a minute, Lloyd had already finished checking the floor and was crawling along the wall.

He traced a picture frame with his fingers while checking its connection to the wall. Not installed, so not connected to any mechanisms. Lloyd was pushing it aside to check the wall behind it when he heard a click and something heavy scrapping on the floor.

“Found it!” Cole announced, looking triumphant next to a lamp.

“Way to go Cole!” Lloyd said, giving his friend a high five as he walked over.

Jay and Cole started to walk in.

“This is so cool!” Jay said in excitement, his voice echoing slightly.

“Wait!” Lloyd said, turning back to the room and grabbing something.

“What?” Cole asked, turning back to watch him.

Lloyd didn’t answer him, he just came back and used his marker to mark the wall.

“A place as big as this is going to have a maze of secret passages. We’ll get lost if we don’t mark our trail.”

“Smart!” Jay said.

Lloyd lit up his hand with green energy and the three started to venture deeper into the labyrinth, Lloyd marking the wall every so often. They found that there were plenty of peepholes along the way, which Jay was excited over, but they weren’t too helpful. Mostly all they saw were the other competitors training or relaxing.

They did find one empty room had magic symbols drawn all over the opposite side of the walls. Knowing what they did about Clouse, none of them liked the look of them. They investigated for a moment, but the red room didn’t have anyone or anything in it so they moved on.

It lingered in their minds like it was important somehow, but none of them really knew how, so they ignored it.

After a while they found themselves in a set of stone caverns. Lloyd reached out and aggressively pulled Cole and Jay back.

“Everyone stop!” He yelled.

Before Jay and Cole could start asking, Lloyd pointed out the trip wire he’d spotted. Another gift from Darkley’s.

“Booby traps.” He explained grimly.

“Booby traps! Even cooler!” Jay laughed in excitement.

Cole reached out and hit him on the back of the head.

“HEY!” Jay yelled.

“Don’t get excited over things that could kill us!” Cole said.

“You know next time you can use your words!” Jay snapped.

Lloyd took a calming breath before interrupting the budding fight.

“From here on out, we have to watch our step.”

It had the desired effect, they shut up. Lloyd stepped over the wire carefully and the others followed.

“Do you hear that?” he said as a distant sound started to approach.

All three hid behind a rock while the sound approached. Around the corner came a group of Chen’s goons, all chanting menacingly. Definitely evil.

Lloyd looked down the hall and saw another group approaching. He considered taking their clothes and sneaking into wherever it was that they were going, but there were four of them, and Lloyd, Jay, and Cole only made three. It was possible no one would notice, but it was also possible the number in each group were important. So, he let them pass and instead decided to silently follow.

They came to a wide-open cavern with a stage like platform on the opposite side of them. Lloyd quietly marked the one they came from before the three made for the shadows under a large snake statue. Thankfully all the attention was to the front of the room, so it was easy to sneak behind the group without being noticed.

They got out of sight just in time for Chen to come out onto the stage. Ever the showboat, he silently made his way down the stairs, taking in his follower’s chanting. Once he reached the edge of the stage, he slammed his staff down, and his followers all fell into obedient bows, each one perfectly trained.

Creepy wasn’t even a starting place for describing it.

“Bring out the loser!” Chen yelled, projecting his voice well.

Since Lloyd had already started thinking about his school days, it reminded him of some of his lessons. His vocal teacher had preached voice projection.

No one will ever take a villain seriously if they are mush-mouthed or mumbling! Make sure every little worm hiding in the dirt can still hear you.”

To be perfectly honest, Lloyd still used what he learned in that class. Mostly for inspirational speeches instead of ominous threats, but they were still skills he learned there. He was a decent monologue, but he never did get a passing grade on his evil laugh.

The sounds of a struggle brought Lloyd back to his surroundings.

Two tattooed men were dragging a very irritated Karloff towards the stage.

“Get hands off Karloff!” he ranted “Karloff wishes he never signed up for this!”

Jay winced next to him in sympathy when Karloff was thrown to the ground in front of Chen.

“What is chanting for?” he asked nervously.

“They’re saying… ‘Only one can remain’!” Chen answered, chipper as ever.

That didn’t sound good.

There was a dreadful silence for a moment. Clouse appearing at some point, the sneaky little rat he was.

“Like I said” Chen said, somehow not touching the tension, despite breaking the silence “Use it or lose it!”

The two goons on either side of Karloff grabbed his arms. Chen secured him with an icy blast from his staff. Once he was firmly in place, the staff switched from pushing out ice, to pulling the metal off Karloff’s skin. Once Karloff seemed completely drained, the goons let go and he fainted in exhaustion.

They were so far passed creepy a this point.

“Did he just?” Jay asked.

“He stole Karloff’s power.” Lloyd confirmed.

“And he used ice!” Cole added “That means he must have already stolen Zane’s power too!”

“What happened to my metal?” Karloff pleaded as he weakly got up from the floor.

“Your metal? Oh, it’s mine now!” Chen said before dissolving into a fit of laughter.

It wasn’t a proper evil laugh, but it was devious enough Lloyd would give it a pass.

“But now I will let you go.” He said.

His tone was hard to read. It was light and happy, but that hadn’t meant mercy before.

“Really?” Karloff asked, falling right for it.

“TO THE FACTORY!” Chen dramatically yelled.

No surprises there. The man was a real fan of sentences that dramatically changed meaning halfway through.

Karloff raged and struggled while they pulled him away, but Lloyd was too busy thinking to care. What and where was “the factory”? Was that where Zane was? Could they follow Karloff and his escorts to it?

Before that plan had any more thought put into it, Cole sneezed.

The thing about Cole is, he is a particularly loud sneezer. Always had been. It was practically a shout when he sneezed. Lloyd had yet to hear it’s equal. Cole had somehow managed to pick the worst possible time to display the talent and gotten the attention of Chen and all his followers.

Right next to Lloyd’s ear too.

“Really!?” Lloyd snapped.

“It’s dusty in here!” Cole yelled back.

Jay made a move to hit Cole, but before he could land it Chen started to yell.

“INTRUDERS! STOP THEM!”

The bickering was put on pause while the three of them bolted for the doorway Lloyd had marked. Shadowed closely by Chen’s followers, they could hear his “THEY MUST NOT ESCAPE!” echoing behind them.

Luckily, Lloyd had marked their way back, though they’d need to either lose their tails before they got back to the room or find another route.

Lloyd was trying to figure out how to best do that while he jumped over the trip wire. Jay followed his lead without issue. Cole wasn’t as graceful.

The wire pulled around his ankle and he fell forward.

There was a split second where they all braced for whatever trap would snap on them. It was disbelieving relief to see the trap work in their favor. The door slammed close and shut off the hall they had just come from, leaving their pursuers trapped on the other side.

There wasn’t enough time to cheer before the axes started to come down though.

They ran, ignoring Lloyd’s markings in favor of getting away from the trap. They barely made their way to a path ending in a drop off that had no axes in it.

“You want to stop sabotaging us, dirt brains!?” Jay yelled.

Lloyd shoved himself between the two. A deep hissing interrupted the fight before it began.

“That sound…” Jay said, calling it out.

They looked down to see what was, improbably, only the second biggest snake they’d ever seen.

“RUN!” Lloyd yelled.

With the hall of sharp axes behind them, and the snake below them, the only direction to flee was up. They started to climb as the snake’s gargantuan jaws closed below them with deep, loud, thumps, rivaled only by their heartbeats.

They found a small opening and piled in. It was tiny and they were not at all packed in efficiently. Jay was laying on top of the pile and the most exposed as the snake shoved its massive head into the space. It snapped its teeth in a frenzy, trying to reach in and get to them.

Lloyd and Cole tried to make enough room for Jay to hide further in while he screamed. The snake’s fangs were close enough to snag a piece of cloth from Jay’s pants. Even an inch more and Jay would be snake food.

Pushing against the back wall, Cole felt something give. The ground opened up. Cole’s heart had enough time to reach his throat and drop back down to his stomach before the three landed on something soft and padded.

The roof closed back behind them, the snake making its anger vocally clear before it did.

There was a quiet moment while they all caught their frantic breaths.

At first Lloyd wasn’t sure if he was seeing red from the stress or if he was somehow injured. After a moment he discovered that it was just the color of the room. They were in the red room from before, the one that had all the symbols on the backs of all the walls.

The color made Lloyd’s heart hurt to see. It was even the same shade.

Lloyd tried to think back to the last time he had heard Kai speak and realized it was the fight.

Lloyd had been so angry. Zane had just died, Jay and Cole were fighting, and everything was so broken. Then Kai said he was leaving and Lloyd lost it.

He said some awful things. He called Kai a coward and a failure. Kai turned those words right back on him.

If Lloyd had just beaten the Overlord properly the first time.

If he’d told Kai that he needed him and begged him to stay instead of getting angry.

If. If. If.

So many places Lloyd should’ve done something else, but the one he regretted the most was not going to see Kai off before he left. Nya had invited him, but he didn’t go.

If he had only been brave enough to face Kai sooner and make-up before he left. Maybe he could’ve convinced Kai not to go, and he’d still be with them. Maybe he’d be on Chen’s island with them, helping to find Zane. Nya wouldn’t be mad at them, and things would be some amount of ok.

But Lloyd had let his big brother disappear without even the slightest attempt to stop it. He hadn’t realized how bad a brother he’d been until it was too late. Maybe Nya was right and he didn’t deserve Kai as a brother.

He was grateful for Jay speaking up and pulling him out of his rueful thoughts.

“No more sneaking around!” Jay moaned as he pulled himself upright and off the pile “From now on, let’s just follow the rules.”

“So, the tournament is just a cover up so Chen can steal our elemental powers.” Cole said.

“But why?” Lloyd asked, coming fully back to the present. “What is he planning?”

“Who knows, but Jay’s right. If we’re going to find out and find Zane, we have to play by his rules.” Cole said.

Right. Zane.

It was a different brother they were here for. Even if the room they landed in did have a very melancholy color for them. Lloyd had already made his choice. Zane first.

“That was way too close.” Jay remarked, looking at the hole left in his pants.

“Let’s just get back to our rooms.” Lloyd said.

He wanted to go to sleep and not think about anything anymore.

Lloyd snuck out the balcony while Cole decided to slip out through the door. Jay lingered.

Lloyd wasn’t the only one who had noticed the color of the room. Something was bothering Jay, and he had never been one to ignore his curiosity.

There was a thin layer of dust. Nothing to suggest that the room had been abandoned, but enough to suggest it was being left alone. Jay found it odd that this room was right in the middle of the others but wasn’t being used to house anyone. Why not use it? Maybe this room was for someone that wasn’t there? And why was this the only room with symbols on the outside?

Jay continued to look for clues. Most the personal flourishes looked like they were taken down or out. The strange part was that it felt temporary. Like the owner of the room would be back soon.

The only clues would be in the more permanent fixtures and quirks. Things that made a room belong to someone. Like how Cole abused his bed, or how you can find traces of sticky sugar residue in whatever space Lloyd called his own.

Of course, only someone that knew the person could recognize such things. In all likelihood, Jay had never met the random follower of Chen that the room usually belonged to, but he just had a feeling.

Maybe it was just the red of the room?

A loose hot water facet in the sink and shower. A path of flattened carpet that someone had paced over too many times. The wooden furniture had quite a few nicks and cuts. Nothing that painted a clear picture.

But the red bothered him.

The lay out just pulled at his brain. The bed that can see all the doors and windows seemed like something he knew.

And the red was bothering him.

Red with gold accents. So familiar. All warm colors and soft light. Something was screaming at him. Jay poked around the room until his eyes went cross. It felt like the harder he tried to nail down what the thought was, the blurrier it got.

Finally, he left to go to his own room and get some sleep.

He dreamed of red.


Lloyd woke up angry. He was angry at Chen for the lies and kidnapping his friend. He was mad at his other friends for their constant bickering. He was made at Kai for disappearing. He was mad at Nya for making him choose. He was made at himself for not being able to fix any of it.

Small victory was that it looked like none of his friends were in the same bracket. Lloyd made sure to check before breakfast. Jay was going to face the Master of Shadow, which was just an ominous sounding title by itself. Cole was set to fight the Master of Poison; a fight Lloyd didn’t envy. Lloyd himself was up against the Master of Form.

Even the good news wasn’t enough to brighten Lloyd’s spirits though. There was too much weighting on him. Honestly if it weren’t for his father’s patient presence, Lloyd might’ve just given in to the dark mood fully. He hadn’t felt so bitter since he was small. What was that Jay had said about feeling like the place was corrupting him? Maybe Lloyd should’ve given that thought more credit.

When they refused his father dessert, Lloyd almost blew a gasket, but Garmadon took it in good humor.

“There’s a valuable lesson here, Son. If you turn your back on your first evil sensei in an effort to go straight, you may not be served creamy biscuits.”

If Lloyd hadn’t been so tired, he might’ve laughed out loud at the way his father strutted off.

It was short lived however, Jay and Cole were already back at it.

“And here I thought ninja never quit.”

“And I used to think a ninja wouldn’t steal your girlfriend.”

Lloyd was about to throw something at them. There was no telling what had set them off this time, not that they needed a reason, but they were setting him off now.

Before he could though, his father stepped in.

“Whatever you have to say to each other, say it now.” Garmadon said firmly after planting himself in their path. “Because harboring grudges hurts no one but yourselves.”

“He’s right.” Lloyd said, already feeling a little more leveled out “We should be preparing to fight our next opponents, not each other. Infighting isn’t helping.”

“What grudge? I already dropped it!” Cole declared.

Liar.

“I dropped it first!” Jay snapped.

Even worse lie.

“Did not!” Cole yelled, pushing his tray against Jay’s

“Did too!” Jay yelled, shoving his own tray back.

Now they were just being childish. The tray jousting ended with their breakfasts on the floor and Lloyd groaning.

“Are we going to have a productive conversation or are you two just going to squawk like feuding chickens?” Garmadon asked.

He quickly silenced the “he started it” debate before it could gain any momentum. Their poor behavior was done being tolerated. Garmadon would be the sensei they needed and fix what Wu had left broken. He would be getting them to end their fight and make up.

But first he needed them to grasp the concept of putting it aside long enough to function.

“Sit. Eat. Then we’ll try again later.” He ordered. “This rivalry needs to be put to rest one way or another, least it follow you two forever.”

Finally, the two pulled apart and settled on silent glares. Lloyd thanked his grandfather for the silent part.

As they sat down to eat Chen announced the fights that were lined up for the day. Luckily, it didn’t include any of them, so they had time to sit and talk.

“We know that Chen is stealing elemental powers, but why?” Lloyd asked.

“Maybe destroy New Ninjago City? That seems like a pretty common target.” Jay suggested.

Cole shook his head.

“No. Something tells me that it’s bigger.”

“Knowing Chen, you may be right there.” Garmadon agreed.

“We still don’t know where Zane is either.” Jay added.

“Well Chen mentioned something about a factory last night. Maybe we should check there?” Lloyd asked.

“Man, I’m still having trouble believing that Mr. Chen from Mr. Chen’s Noodle House turned out to be an evil warlord. I mean, who sees that sort of thing coming? How were we never told about this?” Cole said

“I know! How many times did we eat there!?” Jay asked, “I don’t even want to think about how bad things could’ve turned out.”

“There are quite a few things that we should’ve told you long before now. I am sorry.” Garmadon admitted

Lloyd and Garmadon continued to discuss, but Jay was too busy picturing the bullet they had unknowingly dodged.

At any point Chen could’ve used his underworld connections and public name to get to them, and none of them would’ve had a clue. To them he was the silly man on the sign of a noodle house, not somebody to distrust. It begged the question, what would’ve happened if ‘Mr. Chen’ had approached them as the business owner they thought he was, and not the master he truly was?

Wait….

Mr. Chen.

Mr. C.

Jay dropped his fork and all the food in his mouth.

“You good spark-plug?” Cole asked in a mostly friendly tone.

It seemed that Garmadon’s lectures were getting through. It was the least hostile he’d sounded to Jay since the funeral.

It was lost on Jay though. He was still reeling from his discovery.

The red room. The empty red room.

“Guys….” Jay said in a shaking voice.

“What is it?” Lloyd asked, getting nervous himself.

Jay gulped, not at all happy about what he was about to point out.

“Chen….Chen’s name starts with a C.”

Cole and Lloyd raised an eyebrow each.

“And yours starts with a J.” Cole remarked sarcastically again.

Baby steps.

Jay shook his head, face still white as a sheet.

“What is it, Jay?” Garmadon asked gently.

“Chen has a private island and a big house and a whole noodle business.” Jay explained, breathing hard.

“Your point?” Cole asked, losing what little patience he had.

“You don’t think Chen is the Mr. C Kai went to work for?”

The rest of the table dropped their silverware.

Garmadon barely forced his breakfast back down his throat.

The rest of the speculation turned to static in the man’s ears. He could only think one word.

No.

Garmadon’s blood was running cold. It made too much sense. Chen’s entire MO fit.

Kai had no reason to doubt him. Chen took in a damaged child with an absent father and low self-esteem and manipulated him. Same as he’d done to Garmadon.

Chen had wrapped him up in honeyed words until he couldn’t see the venom behind them. Carefully wove his stings around every insecurity and hang up before pulling them taught. Twisting and pulling at his mind and emotions until he was easy to shape.

No. No. It couldn’t be. Besides, if it were, then they would’ve seen Kai by now.

It had to be just a coincidence. It had to be.

Garmadon would never forgive himself if it wasn’t. If he let Chen sink his claws into one of his students. If Garmadon had failed to protect them from something so obvious. If the same horrible fate befell another child because he didn’t see it coming…

Garmadon was going to tear himself, and Wu, apart.


Dareth had been a blessing. Nya hadn’t wanted to involve him at first, but he was good with people and had a large social network. Once Nya gave him a description, he’d found someone that knew the lawyer she was looking for within a day and a half. Nya had an address by that evening.

She got there a little after hours. Most employees had gone home, leaving only the top dogs that owned the firm. Even they were packing up to go home as the sun was setting.

She didn’t waste any time crashing through the window. Stealth was her brother’s specialty, and he wasn’t here. Until he was returned, she would be doing things her own ruthlessly direct way.

Kobayashi barely had time to stammer out half a question before she had his throat in her hands.

“I hear you work for someone I’m trying to find.”

He tried to sputter out words, but Nya wasn’t ready to let him speak yet, so her hand stayed clamped down on his windpipe.

“A Mr. C was the last person to see my brother before he went missing. So, you’re going to tell me exactly who he is and where to find him.”

Finally, Nya loosened her hold enough to let air pass.

“Please, he’ll kill me!”

Wrong answer.

Nya clamped back down on his throat and slammed his head against the wall behind his desk. She didn’t have time for excuses.

“NOW!” she shouted.

Perhaps she was being too violent, but she honestly couldn’t bring herself to care about the man’s well being. Not while her brother was in danger. Not while she was alone.


Jay didn’t want to keep thinking about how Kai could’ve been tricked by Chen, but his mind rarely listened to him about what to fixate on. The fight between the Masters of Gravity and Speed wasn’t nearly dynamic enough to pull him from his spiraling thoughts.

Jay reviewed what he knew with the new context.

Kai was working in various Slither Pits.

Kai left the team and started fighting for money in shady bars for the entertainment of thugs and their ilk. It stung Jay a little bit. That Kai would’ve rather be and do that then stay with them. Then again, Cole and he had been pretty hard to live with. Maybe, as sketchy as it was, Kai still found it better than listening to the fighting.

If they weren’t fighting so much would Kai still be with them?

Jay shook the guilt of that question off. Focus.

Kai was fighting in Slither Pits, and someone approached him with a job offer. One of Chen’s lackeys? Who could tell!

Kai had assumed he was only working for a noodle house entrepreneur. Body guarding his sheltered daughter. Wait daughter? Did that mean Chen had a daughter? Or was that a lie? Did that even matter?

Kai started dating Chen's daughter, or at least the girl he was claiming as his daughter. Gross, but unhelpful.

At some point Kai must’ve realized the truth and Chen had to deal with him.

Jay gulped. He had hopped Kai had just disappeared down one of those trap doors and come out on the other side. The alternative was too hard to think about. He’d never be able to face Nya again if so.

Jay looked up at the announcement of a winner. It looked like the Master of Speed won.


Lloyd was bantering with his father over the fight. Cole wondered if Chen pitted the masters of Mind and Nature against each other just for thematic reasons. He seemed like the type.

Had Kai been with this man the whole time? Nya said he sounded fine in his letters, but what if he wasn’t? What if Chen had made him write those to throw them off? What if Kai had been tortured the whole time?

Cole needed to stop driving himself crazy with those thoughts.

Did Kai know that Zane might’ve been alive? Where they together? Cole hoped so.

Maybe they’d rescue them both at the same time and be able to come home to Nya with her brother safe and sound.

And maybe the moon is made a cheese!” as his father used to say. Nothing is that rosy, especially in their line of work. Most likely this was only going to make things harder, not simpler.

The master of Mind pulled out a last-minute victory.


Lloyd could barely keep track of the fight.

It was in a volcano, and if that didn’t give Lloyd a swirling mess of feelings! He had a complicated relationship with volcanoes. It was the backdrop for one of the most important moments of his life.

Lloyd tried to watch the fight, but it was no use. All he could see was the bright red lava.

Red. Red. Red.

Red like his father’s eyes when they reunited. Red like the hot hot hot magma creeping onto his raft. Red like Kai. Red like danger and fury. Red like warmth and love.

He was so scared and lost when Kai found him in every sense. His innocence died in there, burned away by his destiny, but so did his loneliness. That was burned away by his big brother.

Kai had saved Lloyd from that volcano.

He wanted Kai to come save him again.

Lloyd wanted Kai to show up out of the red again so he could hug him and cry like he had back then. He wanted to apologize for everything he’d said. He wanted to hear Kai apologize for what he’d said. He just wanted Kai to come back and fix everything.

It took too long for his father to notice how on edge he was. He reached over and comforted him, but it wasn’t the same as Kai.

Kai who may’ve been dealing with a monster alone because Lloyd was too stubborn to reach out.

The Master of Smoke lost, and the Master of Light won.

Lloyd had to be pulled away. His legs refused to carry him away from the red. Some part of him was waiting for Kai.


“Master, it was the ninja that snuck into our ceremony. I beg you let me put an end to this. I could do so much more!” Clouse said, magic dancing on his hand to make his point.

“Oh, but where is the fun in that Clouse? Skipping all the buildup and just killing them is so unsatisfying. Using you magic to aggravate them and letting them take their anger out on one another? Priceless!” Chen laughed, bouncing his legs as he did.

“Still, with Garmadon here to guide them, we may need to be taking a more active role in their destruction.” Clouse argued.

“Patience Clouse. Not everything can be done with violence. Besides, I want them all to be alive to see when we wake up our sleeping beauty!” Chen sung.

He was practically vibrating with excitement over just the thought. He could hardly wait to see the looks on their faces when they realize one of their own has turned against them. It was a look Chen had seen many times, but it never got old. It seemed to only get better with every new face he brought it to.

Not to mention how deep it would stab Garmadon. Sad Chen couldn’t get his true son, but Kai made for an acceptable standin. Not to mention that he was much more suited for what Chen needed anyways. Chen had even grown fond of the boy. The same way he’d grown fond of Garmadon all those years ago.

Clouse never did have that neediness. Chen preferred his followers to have an emotional dependence on him. Aside from it being a convenient method of control, Chen loved to be surrounded by people desperate for his attention and praise. It was his drug of choice. Garmadon gave him a plump supply of it, but he left. Skylor was a decent source for a long time, but it was fading as she grew older and more independent. Kai was a goldmine of it. If Chen played his cards right, he could keep that supply for the rest of his days.

“But what shall we do for the time being?” Clouse asked, bringing Chen back to the conversation.

“You do have a point Clouse. We can’t be too hands-off. We must do more to whittle them down.” Chen said in thought “Perhaps it’s time to switch things up?”


Garmadon was suspicious to say the least. He had been expecting Chen to either have all three of his students fight on day one, spread them out to stretch the entertainment, or pit them against each other. Granted there was nothing stopping him from doing the third later down the line, but Chen wasn’t known for his patience.

So why hadn’t he done any of those things from the start?

It didn’t make sense. Chen loved his drama, but the tournament had been lacking in that department. At least by his standards.

Garmadon knew better than to assume the best out of the man. Chen being calm and reasonable was usually your only warning before he revealed his most awful tricks. Garmadon knew from far too much experience.

He was on edge. Waiting for the axe to drop like a skittish cat.

The boys were too preoccupied with the news that Kai may’ve been in Chen’s clutches with Zane for him to bother them with his concerns, but he was keeping a sharp eye out. He wouldn’t be caught off guard. He wasn’t Wu. He wouldn’t ignore threats.

Every nerve pricked when he saw the crowd gathered around the bracket board. Chen had done something.

The ninja pushed their way up front to find that Chen had gone option three. The delay was probably just to give them a false security. It was very in character for Chen to enjoy ripping that away.

“He can’t do this!” Cole yelled in disbelief.

“He already did.” Lloyd said solemnly.

Garmadon seethed. He knew it was coming. He didn’t expect any better from Chen. Still, he felt enraged.

His stress was not lessened when Cole and Jay started bickering. A headache was quickly overtaking him. Those two needed a more stern talking to than Garmadon had been willing to give them at the moment.

“Is there a problem, Ninja?” Clouse said in a smugly smooth tone.

Garmadon had to take deep breaths to stop himself from strangling the man.

“You cheated! You changed the brackets!” Cole snapped.

“Oopsie” Clouse said with a shrug, not even denying it.

With a laugh from Chen’s other lackey standing nearby, they left.

Were it not for his boys needing his guidance, Garmadon might’ve followed him and done something undignified.

“What do we do? They can’t fight each other!” Lloyd asked in despair “We need to find our brothers, not fall further apart”

“You can’t undo what’s been done” Garmadon said angrily.

As awful as Chen was, as unfair as it may be, there was nothing they could do to make it untrue. All they could do is not let Chen win the battle of wills and keep moving forward.

“My only advice is to be at peace with it.” He added.

It was all they could do. Short of Garmadon starting an unproductive fistfight. Which wouldn’t help a thing, but how satisfying it would be!

“Peace!? One of us has to lose!” Jay shouted, beginning to panic and ramble. “Oh my gosh! It’s totally gonna be me. He’s got super strength and what do I have? Quick! Tell me! WHAT DO I HAVE!?!?”

Garmadon winced and tried not to cover his ears.

“It’s ok, Jay! We only came here to find Zane. If we can do that before your fight tonight, then none of us have to battle! We still have time to figure out what Chen is up to and stop this.” Lloyd said.

“And what about Kai?” Cole asked.

A heartbroken look crossed Lloyd’s face before he smoothed over it with determination.

“If Kai is here, then Chen’s bound to be keeping him either with Zane or near him. If we find Zane, we should find Kai.”


Misako was pacing with worry. Nya’s phone rolled to voice mail yet again. No one was answering. Not even her husband.

Her worried hands worked their way into her braided hair. She yanked them back out again, not wanting to think about the snarled mess her braid had become. It was what she got from sleeping in her braids for days at a time. It was a lazy habit, but taking it out to brush it took time she didn’t want to give it. She often got too busy to be bothered with the thing.

The nasty quirk was only made worse with worry.

Her son was missing. All his friends were missing. Her husband was missing. Even Dareth couldn’t be reached! Misako could only hope they were all together.

“You should brush that.” Wu said gently. “I always did like your hair better down.”

Wu was the only one that she got a hold of. He came right over to comfort her. Like he always did. First, did she love him for that. Her life often drifted into rough uncertainty, but Wu was a safety net she could count on.

“I can’t waste time on that!” Misako said firmly, throwing her phone onto the couch.

Wu frowned, but kept his mouth shut. Like he always did. He never told her no. Even when he really should. Misako was fine with that.

She charged to the computer, ready to ignore more than her hair as she plunged into a new research binge. It was her primary coping mechanism when things got hard.

Focus on the goal, not your feelings. Do the research. Find the solution. Fix the problem. Ignore the rest.

Misako couldn’t claim it was a healthy practice, but it was all she knew. Garmadon had tried many times to stop her, but it really couldn’t be helped. Somethings were stronger than even him, and Misako’s tunnel vision was one of them. It never stopped Garmadon from trying, but he wasn’t around to even try to stop her this time.

And she could always rely on Wu to keep his mouth shut and enable her.


While the boys went to ask Neuro for help finding out what Chen was up to, Garmadon had some time to himself.

The idea that Kai had been taken in by Chen was still spiraling in his head. The fear and panic were almost too loud to think through. It reminded him of when the venom used to act up when he was a younger man.

Garmadon punched a nearby tree to try and clear his head, but it only brought him back to a time long passed when he’d done the very same thing on the very same dirt he stood on once again. Heck, it might've even been the same tree!

He’d been disgusted with himself when he won his lordship. He’d cheated and was ashamed of what he had done, but he still felt strangely proud. Which made him feel confused. It all turned into a wrathful mush of feelings in his gut. He’d taken it all out on the trees and his poor knuckles.

Here he was, an old man, in the very same place. For all his wisdom and growth, he’d ended up exactly where he had started. Like a perfect, awful, cycle he couldn’t escape.

Speaking of cycles, Garmadon’s thoughts came back to Kai.

Oh, how easy it would’ve been for Chen. Kai reacted so strongly to the words of mentors. He’d nearly gotten himself killed trying to prove himself to Wu after a particularly hurtful comment. Instead, the boy had rescued Garmadon’s son, and he’d forever be grateful for it.

That incident was another thing he should’ve talked to Wu about. Something else he let slide, assuming his brother had better reasons for it. The way he dismissed his vulnerable student the same as he had Morro. Did Wu not remember how that fiasco ended!? And Garmadon witnessed him do it all over again to another sensitive student with so little self worth of his own that he was looking to a grand destiny to take it’s place.

Kai was a damaged kid looking for approval.

Chen would only have had to imply disappointment and Kai would’ve bent himself in half to fix it. Sprinkle in that addictive praise Chen was so good at and Kai stood no chance.

Garmadon shivered as he remembered his own bouts with Chen’s sugary words. It felt like sunshine on your skin. Chen spoke with such authority and pride that you believed he truly loved you. That love felt like a drug, dipping your mind in bliss. Sweet enough to mask the most bitter and vile commands.

Chen was very good at pushing people into things. The praise and bliss short circuited any arguments and before you knew it, you’d done what he asked. Afterwards, Chen was very good at convincing you that it meant you had wanted it too.

The only thing that could cut through the euphoria Chen created, was his harsh punishments. His sharp words hit you in every weak spot. The way he wielded his praise was a double-edged sword. The understanding he had of people made him able to destroy them with just a few words just as easily as he could intoxicate them.

Every insecurity was a weapon used to sooth and hurt you alike. Chen knew how to trick people into not thinking. And worse, he knew how to convince them that they didn’t want to.

Highs and lows, the man was a drug.

Like any drug, Chen had a withdrawal.

Garmadon remembered the weeks he’d spent feeling lost and off-kilter. The hollow feeling. How it felt like he’d lost the only person who truly loved and understood him, even when surrounded by true friends and family. Their love felt empty when compared to how potent and choking Chen’s was.

It took so long for Garmadon to remember how to be himself and not what Chen trained him to be. Some days he still struggled.

If Kai had truly been lured into Chen’s clutches, there was no telling how extensive the damage done would be.

Perhaps he had fought Chen’s manipulation. Maybe he was simply being kept prisoner and everything would be alright. After all, Kai hadn’t been seen anywhere.

Heck, maybe Kai wasn’t even here! Chen was not the only name that started with a C. It was possible Kai was nowhere so dangerous.

But Garmadon couldn’t help but fear. Fear the worst-case scenario. Fear that Kai had been truly taken in by Chen. Fear that Kai would fight their help when they tried to free him.

Garmadon sighed. There was nothing to be done until they knew. When they found Kai and learned exactly what Chen had managed to do (if Chen indeed had him), they’d have to figure out how best to help.

Until then, punching trees did nothing to help anyone.

Garmadon took one more deep breath and made his peace with it before returning to his remaining children, grateful they knew too much of Chen’s true nature for him to fully take them in.

Though, Chen was a man of many talents and his ability to spark infighting was another danger to watch out for. One he hoped Jay and Cole were strong enough to overcome.


Lloyd was about to explode.

He got Neuro to help, but at what cost? Jay and Cole were at each other’s throats worse than before! The fight was about to start and all he’d gotten was a spell on page 149 on Clouse’s spell book. Nothing concrete enough to stop the fight.

Aside from the stress of having to lose someone else and the threat of being alone that hung over him, Lloyd was ready to throw himself into the ring just to satisfy his growing urge to maim Jay and Cole, who were yelling again.

“SAY THAT AGAIN!”

“LEAST! VALUABLE! NINJA!”

“OOOOH I am so looking forward to the PEACE AND QUIET we’ll all get when you’re out!”

“Oh yeah!?”

“YEAH!”

The fighting was too loud, and it was overwhelming him. Tears started to prick at Lloyd’s eyes, and he knew he was about to crack open like an egg and something ugly was going to leak out of him.

“STOP IT!” he screamed, tears streaming down his face “STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT!”

Jay and Cole finally quieted in shock

“I hate you! Both of you! I hate you!” Lloyd snapped.

Both of their hearts stopped at the use of the word “hate”. Lloyd hadn’t even said that when him and Kai had been having their fallout. They weren’t sure if Lloyd had ever used that word.

“Lloyd...” Cole said gently, reaching for him.

Lloyd was too angry for it. He slapped Cole’s hand away as hard as he could.

“You’re fighting has torn this team apart. YOU WANT TO FINISH THE JOB!?” he screamed “GO AHEAD! RIP WHAT’S LEFT TO SHREDS! KILL EACH OTHER FOR ALL I CARE!!”

“Lloyd, you need to breathe.” Jay begged.

“NO! I CAN’T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!” Lloyd yelled, panting hard. “I keep losing people and you two can’t stop fighting long enough to do anything!”

Cole and Jay stopped trying to comfort Lloyd. Instead, they stared at the ground in shame.

“I’ve lost too much already.” Lloyd said, finally quieting down. “I can’t keep doing this, ok? You two have to stop. Please.”

Lloyd continued to sob loudly.

“Zane, then Kai, then Nya and now you guys. I need some stability here!”

“I’m sorry.” Cole whispered.

“You are supposed to be my guardians! You four were supposed to protect and teach me! I don’t feel very protected right now!”

They cringed at the mention of the Green Ninja prophecy. And the unspoken accusation none of them could quite word.

Kai was the one Lloyd leaned on the most, because Kai was the only one that seemed willing to take up the job. Kai was the only one of them that had ever raised a kid, the only practiced older sibling in the group. The other were awkward and clumsy with Lloyd and his fears. So, they let Kai do it. They relied on him to do the most of the “protecting” and “teaching” that was supposed to be all their jobs.

But Kai wasn’t around anymore. They couldn’t pass the buck to him anymore. Instead of picking it up themselves, they let it drop. Lloyd may’ve technically still had two guardians around him, but he felt like he had none.

“I’m so sorry, Lloyd.” Jay said.

“I can’t do this anymore. I’m done. Kai and Nya had the right idea. If this doesn’t end here… Then I DON’T WANT TO SEE EITHER OF YOU EVER AGAIN!” Lloyd screeched before turning to run away.

Jay and Cole’s stomachs dropped. They believed him. Lloyd meant those words.

Before turning the corner, Lloyd looked over his shoulder and added one more thing with tears glistening in his eyes.

“Whatever happens in that ring, remember; Chen is the enemy.”

With that Lloyd disappeared.

Jay and Cole were both too ashamed to look at each other.

They’d hurt Lloyd so much. They were supposed to be his support, but instead they only added more stress and chaos to his life.

Their stupid fight. They let it have too much power. Lloyd’s entire life had been destroyed in the crossfire and both of them were too absorbed in it to notice.

“Sensei Garmadon was wrong. Grudges don’t just hurt us.” Jay muttered. “They hurt our loved ones too.”

“Jay, I-”

Before Cole could say the apology on the tip of his tongue, they were interrupted.

“Master of Earth and Master of Lightning please report to the Colosseum!” Chen’s voice rang over the loudspeaker.

They both gulped.


Chen had noticed the shift. He had been so careful in picking the right time and was sure he was about to watch the two rip each other to shreds. The stress and panic were at a boiling point in all of them, which only served to exacerbate the existing cracks in their friendship.

It was all set to be a glorious fight between two best friends. The kind that would end the friendship for good, and may end with a dead body if all went well. Chen had been so excited to see it. He’d even picked the most spectacular arena he had for it. He rarely used the Colosseum. It was reserved for the biggest more entertaining fights.

With Garmadon being hassled and kept away until the fight, Chen had thought he had eliminated the possibility of someone talking some sense into the two. He had underestimated Lloyd Garmadon.

Somehow, Lloyd had gotten through to them and reminded them that they were dealing with anger and not hate. A line Chen had to blur again if he was going to get anything of value out of this fight.

“May I use my sorcery?” Clouse asked hopefully.

Chen thought for a moment. Garmadon had been keeping such a careful eye on Clouse’s dark magic. If he saw anything he’d point it out. Chen didn’t want to give them any reason to think their feelings weren’t their own.

“Continue to sour their moods, but nothing more.” Chen decided. “I think this needs to be done the old-fashioned way.”

“Very well.” Clouse said, clearly disappointed.

Chen stood and stretched. He had some work to do before he could enjoy the fight.


Wu had once said the best way to defeat your enemy, is to make him your friend, but how was Cole supposed to defeat a friend?

He didn’t really want Jay out of the tournament. Just like how he didn’t really want to hurt Jay over Nya. He really should’ve left well enough alone in the first place, but Jay had just…

Cole had felt so angry and attacked. The way Jay jumped to blaming him made Cole want to go after Nya just to spite Jay for trying to tell him what to do.

Then it was in for a penny, in for a pound.

Then they lost Zane and there was just too much hurt to focus on making amends. It felt better to scream and yell at Jay then to cry about Zane. And Jay certainly wasn’t shying away from the fight.

Now they had just gotten so stuck in it that stopping felt like admitting defeat.

Why was he fighting a battle he didn’t care about winning though?

“Hello!” Chen’s bright and loud voice grated against Cole’s thoughts.

What in Ninjago was he doing here?

“Just wanted to check in on you before the fight. It’s set to be a good one. I bet this is such a relief.” Chen said in his usual overly cheerful tone.

Cole narrowed his gaze, but Chen didn’t seem to react to the hostile expression.

“I do so admire your patience.” Chen said “Many find your friend grating when he’s in a good mood. I can only imagine how hard it must be to deal with him while he’s angry.”

Cole had to admit it was at least a little true. Jay had a tendency to take things too far, especially when it came to his emotions.

“Was it tremendously hard to keep your temper in check while he goaded you into fight after fight? I can’t decide if it was amusing or torture to watch. I must admit, I would’ve reached the end of my patience with him a long time ago. I don’t know how you’ve managed as long as you have!” Chen chattered.

Cole bite down on his tongue.

“I can only imagine what that was like to live through! The constant anger. You would think he’d give it a rest every once and awhile, but I guess not. It must’ve been so grating!” Chen said.

It had been very frustrating. Jay never seemed to drop it. Even when Cole tried to be quiet and civil Jay took the opportunity to make snide comments and start it up again.

Which was what was bothering Lloyd wasn’t it?

Cole had to take a deep breath to cool his own blood.

Jay was the reason Lloyd hated both of them! If that glorified bug zapper had learned to keep his mouth shut for five minutes and not make his feelings the biggest problem in the room, Lloyd could’ve had the break he needed. But Jay always was always over dramatic, wasn’t he? Even to the detriment of his own relationship. With him acting like that, is it any wonder why Nya wanted out?

“Well, I suppose it will be nice to get it all out of your systems, won’t it? I can tell the Master of Lightning has been itching for this fight since you two got here.”

“Whatever.” Cole snapped.

He didn’t want to show Chen how angry he was. Garmadon had warned them how manipulative Chen could be.

Chen smiled. Cole got the feeling that he hadn’t hidden his anger that well.

“Well good luck! Remember: Only one can remain!” Chen added as he left.

Cole decided he was going to beat Jay into a pulp.

He was the one who started the whole feud anyways. It was about time he finally got some due comeuppance for it.


Jay was devastated to see Lloyd break down like that. He let his fight with Cole take over everything. No wonder Kai left, what other choice was there?

Not to mention, was Cole even who Jay was really mad at?

Things fell apart with Nya. Jay was mad at himself for that.

It was easier to blame Cole for it then to admit he ruined his own relationship by being too clingy. How many times had Nya begged for space?

Instead of heeding her, he just kept at it. He had gone overboard, again. Jay knew he had a bad habit of letting his emotions get the better of him.

Cole had been a very convenient outlet for all of it. The pain and guilt of messing things up with Nya, the sadness and regret of losing Zane, the rejection and uncertainty of Kai leaving, and now the stress and fear of Chen’s tournament.

Jay should’ve known better than to use someone he considered a friend as an emotional punching bag.

“Hi! Hello!” Chen said loudly entering the room.

“What do you want?” Jay asked harshly.

Chen didn’t react, much to his disappointment.

“I just wanted to wish you luck in the fight!” Chen said with a bright smile that sold noodles to the masses. “I do hope it’s a good one. And I hope your friend takes it seriously.”

Jay felt an uncomfortable shiver run down his back.

“It would be just dreadful if the fight ended too quickly because he underestimated you.” Chen prattled on, not even looking at Jay “Of course I suppose he would know you better than I would, so perhaps going easy is the right call? Oh well! Whatever makes for a better fight to watch!”

Jay clenched his fist. He didn’t need anyone to go easy on him!

“Oh! I’m so sorry, that was so rude of me!” Chen said in clear mock shame “I’m sure you’re more capable than I’ve been told!”

“Who told you I was incapable?” Jay said, somewhat squeaking in anger.

“Oh, it doesn’t matter! Who cares if someone called you an overrated joy-buzzer? What matters is that you do your best!” Chen said, still smiling “Good luck in there!”

Chen left and Jay had a moment to think.

Had Cole said that? It sounded on par with everything else he’d said.

Cole never took him seriously. Never saw him as a competent ally and now not even a worthy opponent. Swooping in while him and Nya were on the rocks like he knew Jay couldn’t do anything about it.

Won’t last long in a fight his foot. Jay wasn’t going to give Cole anymore easy wins.


The coffee was a godsend. In Misako’s professional life she had learned to love the stuff and all it’s benefits. The community it offered when you shared, the warmth it could bring to frigid dig sites, and most importantly how it could keep her feeble mortal body going well past her limits.

Ha. Funny. Mortal body. That was the problem wasn’t it?

Her husband and son were marching off into a dangerous unknown and she was sitting at a computer, drinking coffee and failing to find a way to help them. Yet again, the demigods she had made her family were waging battles too grand for her. She was just a helpless mortal woman; aging and cowardly.

With any other man; with any other son, she’d be considered a wild and brave woman. She would be the one charging ahead at a pace too fast for most to keep.

But she had settled with a man that had destiny's eyes trained on him from childhood, and then gave birth to fate’s literal golden child. They made history just by breathing, while she struggled to find any way to be a fraction of useful.

Chugging the last, too bitter, sip of her drink, Misako was thrown back into another time. Sleep deprived and desperate to help, running on stale coffee and tenacity alone, just like now. She had poured over ancient scrolls, unearthed lost secrets with her bare bleeding hands, and become an expert in fields so obscure she practically invented them.

And she still failed.

All she ever had was dead end research binges that amounted to nothing. No cure for the poison in her husbands blood. No escape for her son from his fate. No warning on the next threat that took something from them. What good was she?

She could never provide for the people she loved. They were all too far above her.

She had no leads for Kai. Nya still wouldn’t accept her calls. Her husband and son were out who knows where. She was a failure as a wife and mother with barely any meaningful acclaim as an archaeologist thanks to the rampant sexism her colleges practically flaunted. It was suffocating, being so helpless! She couldn’t even be a hint of useful.

“Are you ok?” Wu asked, breaking her from her musings.

He was holding a tray of tea, clearly wanting to make her feel better. He was always sweet like that.

Sweet and slow.

Wu hesitated in all he did. He held his breath when things got personal. It was a vice Misako had always found comfort in. With Wu, she was the ambitious one again. She felt like she had some scrap of power he didn’t, being the one pushing and pulling him forward. He put her in charge and she felt needed, if not just for motivation.

There were times she still indulged the feelings, and Wu never refused her when she did. A small bit of emotional infidelity. Not the worst vice she could chose when coping with being a helpless mortal woman in a family of world changing demigods.

But it was a crutch. Nothing more than a comforting dream she ran to when the life she chose got too hard to face.

Not that she’d really chose any different given the chance. Misako, as painful as it was, wanted to reach forward, not back. Despite making a career of digging up the past, Misako didn’t revel in it. Misako hated sitting still and that was all Wu ever wanted in life. A life with him would be a constant fight to drag him along. More a ball and chain than a partner.

“I’ll feel better when we find my husband and son.” Misako settled on saying, grabbing her empty mug and walking over to her coffee machine.

He wilted at the rebuke of his tea, but she wasn’t sleeping enough to care about anyone’s feelings.

The machine chugged away, filling her mug back up with fresh warm darkness as Wu carefully sipped his tea.

That was why they’d never really work. He was tea, and she was coffee. He was patiently steeped and delicate in all he did, she was made of something more strong and pushy. Even when she failed, it wasn’t for lack of trying.

And First Master, had she done a lot of failing.


It was weird to put faces to the names Kai had told her about. Skylor thought about it as she found her seat to watch the coming cage match.

Cole looked exactly how Kai described him. All muscles and tough-guy glares that broke randomly into teddy bear grins you weren’t expecting. Skylor recognized him at first sight. The contrast was distinctive.

Jay was better looking than Kai had described him as, though his hair could stand a lot more attention. He was still a twiggy thing though. Kai had been right about that. Also about how loud Jay was, but Skylor still hadn’t been prepared for it. No words could do it justice. ‘Master of Mouth’ was right.

Lloyd had her looking twice. The way Kai talked about Lloyd she had been expecting a lost little kid. True Lloyd was on the smaller side with a round and young looking face, but he carried himself with authority and power. He didn’t look anything like what Kai described. Skylor saw The Green Ninja she heard stories about, not the Lloyd Garmadon Kai had described. The closest she saw, was his embarrassment when his dad had shown, but even then, he sounded more like a sullen teen than a wayward child.

Maybe Kai just couldn’t stop seeing the little brat in a cape he had first met? It was probably a difficult adjustment to see him as an angry teen, let alone a fearless hero.

But Kai didn’t describe his sister like that, and he had raised her! Nya was described as a bold young woman, not a child Kai couldn’t unsee.

Lloyd was a puzzle piece. Was Kai just be nostalgic, or was there was something she wasn’t seeing? Who could say!

Besides It didn’t matter. None of them where sticking around. They didn’t need to make sense. One of them would be gone by the time this next fight ended and they all would follow soon after. It wouldn’t be too long before it would go back to just being her and Kai.

Just how she liked it. She was an only child. She never did like the idea of sharing her toys.


Jay and Cole were running at each other before Chen could finish announcing the fight.

Jay got the first move in, flinging a bolt of lightning. But Cole, the dancer he was, double flipped over the thing, landing in a crouch and, wasting no time, activated his own element.

Jay was no slob himself and did a back handspring away.

“Ha ha! That’s all you got?” He taunted. “Least valuable Ninja!”

The truth was he was still panicking over the fight. Jay wasn’t actually sure he could match Cole’s strength. But he couldn’t back down. If he did, he’d never prove himself. He barely trusted his abilities in a fight himself, he couldn’t have everyone else doubting him too.

“Eat dirt, Blue bell!” Cole snapped

It seemed to him that Jay truly didn’t have any off switch. He couldn’t even let the fight be a normal one, he had to bring the feud into it. Had to antagonize Cole. Had to push his buttons and make him angry.

Cole was frustrated to see Jay flip over his attack and respond with his own, Cole made himself a shield, but Jay kept on the aggressive. Cole started to lose ground.

“Stronger than you thought, eh?” Jay asked.

Cole grunted. It was never that he thought Jay wasn’t capable, he just never thought he’d be so intense. As badly as the “won’t last long in a fight” idea had been interpreted, it was never about Jay’s ability. Cole just didn’t think Jay would have the stomach to really hurt anyone.

Jay seemed to be proving him wrong though. Turns out his stupid grudge was enough to overcome any sort of gentle nature Cole thought he had.

It was all so frustrating! Cole pushed hard and Jay hit the ground from the force. Why couldn’t Jay just let it go? Why couldn’t he just drop it and let them be friends again?

Friends again…

Oh.

“What am I even doing!?” Cole yelled “I don’t want to hurt you! You’re not my enemy! You’re my friend! How could I forget that!?”

Cole wasn’t mad at Jay, he was mad that they were still fighting. The solution to that wasn’t mindlessly attacking him! Cole didn’t want to win this, he wanted to fix this. How was attacking Jay supposed to fix anything?

“Don’t try to lower my guard by pretending to be my friend!” Jay snapped, lighting up his hands.

Cole called on his own power, but it was more a defensive move. He may’ve been trying to apologize but getting electrocuted was still off the table if he could help it.

“I’m not pretending. I…I’m sorry. I never meant for things to go this way! I didn’t want to hurt you! If I’d known it would go this far, if I’d known it would destroy our friendship, I would’ve taken it all back.” Cole pleaded “I miss you!”

Jay seemed to pause for a moment.

“Well….If we’re being honest. I never should’ve blamed you for what happened with Nya. That was my own fault. I miss you too. We used to be good friends!” Jay said in a painfully raw voice.

“The best!” Cole agreed “We should’ve talked this out a long time ago instead of...”

“Squawking like feuding chickens?” Jay finished.

Cole laughed. Sensei Garmadon had been right.

Jay pouted though.

“You don’t think I’m incompetent, right?”

“What!? No! Of course not! The only reason I thought you ‘wouldn’t last long’ was because I know you’re too nice to really hurt me.” Cole explained.

Jay had tears in his eyes.

Cole could somewhat trace that line of thought back, but…something was missing. Jay hadn’t seemed this bothered at the time. He didn’t even seem bothered before the fight. So, something had to have happened after they split up and before the fight began. The only thing that could’ve happened would be…

Chen.

Cole almost smacked himself. He’d been ready to apologize before the fight! How could he forget that!? He had already figured out that he didn’t want to hurt Jay! Then Chen had come in and made him so mad again. Wound him up like tinker toy and pointed him at Jay. It wasn’t a stretch to assume he’d done the same to Jay.

He’d been warned! Garmadon had warned them! He warned him and Cole still let Chen play him for a fool!

“We really let Chen get into our heads, didn’t we?” Cole said darkly.

Jay seemed to put the pieces together himself at the same time, and he look livid.

“How do we stop this fight and get back at Chen?” Jay asked in a venomous whisper.

“We can’t both win.” Cole said “But maybe we can draw it out until they call a tie?”

“Worth a shot.” Jay agreed.

“Alright, attack me, but not hard.” Cole said.

They switched from blasting each other with elements to a comfortable spare.

Chen didn’t take long to see through them and add some “interest” to the fight. Three large snake themed vehicles started circling them.

Well, that scheme didn’t last long.

“I’ve got your back.” Cole said.

There was no point in faking their fight anymore. Chen had clearly figured them out. Plus, Cole had just learned a very hard lesson about how important words could be.

“And I’ve got yours!” Jay yelled back.

It filled Cole with warmth to hear Jay’s kindness again.

It didn’t take them long to take the goons down, now that they were working as a team again.

“ENOUGH!” Chen yelled, clearly unhappy. “I know what you’re trying to do.”

“Yeah, well we know what you did too. And despite your best efforts, Jay and I still made up!” Cole snapped back. “You aren’t going to tear us apart that easily!”

“Perhaps you’re right.” Chen said in a dramatic voice.

Jay and Cole both tensed. They may’ve only known Chen a short time, but they knew that tone meant something drastic was about to happen.

“If I can’t separate you, then I suppose you will both have to lose!” He yelled.

The ground began to fall away as Chen punched every button he could reach. No regard was given to his own lackeys, still in their cars.

Jay and Cole started to flip and jump, but the ground was falling away too fast for them to keep it up. The Jade blade gleamed, still waiting to be claimed.

“We can’t both lose!” Cole yelled. “As much as I hate it, Chen’s right, there can only be one!”

“It should be you.” Jay said.

Cole didn’t want to play the self-sacrifice game with Jay. There simply wasn’t time. Cole was ready to just accept Jay’s forfeit and take the blade for himself, but Jay kept talking.

“You and I both know I’m lucky to have even made it this far.”

What!?

That wasn’t something Cole could leave as is.

“What are you talking about!?” He yelled.

“Come on Cole! You may not think it, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true! I’m the weakest on the team. I’ll only slow you guys down. Now go! Take the Jade Blade!” Jay said with a very melancholy tone.

Chen really had gotten into his head bad, hadn’t he?

The ground kept falling away from them. They were running out of places to stand. Cole didn’t have time to convince Jay of his own worth and there wouldn’t be another chance until they beat Chen.

Cole bitterly went for the Jade Blade. He didn’t have time to convince Jay to go for it, and if he didn’t, then they’d both be out, and Lloyd would be alone. And they had let Lloyd down too much already.

Still, he hated leaving Jay like this! Cole’s stomach twisted at the thought alone as he climbed the pole to the Jade Blade. He didn’t want to do this, but there wasn’t time! There was no way he could convince Jay that he trusted him with his life.

At least not with words.

Cole plucked the Jade Blade off its holder as an idea came to him.

He threw it to Jay with all his might.

Jay caught it with a confused look while Chen announced his victory. Before Jay could find his words, Cole was declared the loser.

Jay looked terrified. Cole only had seconds before a trap door opened and he’d probably have his element taken from him.

“Don’t sell yourself short. Ever. You’re a good ninja Jay.” Cole said, forcing as much sincerity into his words as he could “Win this thing!”

Cole then disappeared into the dark underground.


Kobayashi had to take a week off work to recover from the beating Nya gave him. She didn’t care. He had helped take her brother away, he was lucky she stopped where she did.

Good news was Nya got her answer about where to start looking. Bad news, it was exactly where the others were.

She still stood by her choices. It was just luck they ended up in the right place. They still chose Zane over Kai. Nya still couldn’t forgive them for them, at least not until Kai was safe.

But her rage at her so-called friends wasn’t what she needed to tap into. She had stalked one of Chen’s delivery goons and was waiting for the right moment to ambush him. She already decided on a longer hospital stay for this one.

Dareth was waiting for her in the car. He had been a large help, but Nya didn’t need him for this part, and he’d only get in her way.

In all honesty, she probably didn’t have to take out one of the drivers, she doubted anyone counted the trucks. Even if they did, who would have the time and energy to question an extra truck. A missing truck, that’s a problem, but an extra truck usually means somebody just didn’t fill something out right. Still, why risk it? And she was enjoying taking her anger out on people related to her brother’s disappearance.

Her target finally walked into a lonely alleyway.


Jay felt so small.

Despite how awful Jay had been to him lately, Cole still sacrificed himself for him. Jay hadn’t had any time to rebuttal before Cole was gone. The glares he was getting form the other competitors weren’t helping him feel any more confident.

He briefly considered that presenting such a united front only made them bigger targets.

Then he looked at Lloyd’s big watery eyes.

The poor kid had lost almost everybody and wasn’t coping too well. He ate dinner one handed because he refused to let go of Jay’s shirt. If Lloyd gluing himself to Jay’s side wasn’t going to convince him that splitting apart was a bad idea, then the panic attack he’d nearly had when Jay asked to go to the bathroom was enough.

It reminded Jay of the early days in Lloyd’s training. After his dad had disappeared with the golden weapons, Lloyd had attached himself to Kai and thrown a tearful fit when they tried to force him to let go. Kai had made them stop trying and let Lloyd sleep with him for two nights before Lloyd decided he was ok with sleeping alone. While it wasn’t always so obvious, every time Lloyd had a bad or anxious day, he stuck close to Kai.

Kai had explained to them that Lloyd had had enough people betray and leave him, and that sometimes he just wanted a sense of security. It was natural for a kid in his situation. Nya had done the same thing for two weeks after their parents disappeared, terrified Kai was going to leave as soon as she wasn’t holding onto him.

Kai had always been better with Lloyd when he was little. Even when Lloyd got older, he’d seek Kai out when he felt more like the little kid he technically still was. Kai was good with him when he got scared or anxious.

But Kai was gone.

So was Cole and Zane and Nya. Jay was the one left, so Lloyd hung off his arm like an accessory.

At least they had Sensei Garmadon.

“Cole may be gone, but he did not lose. He fought like a true ninja.” Garmadon said sagely. “But more importantly, Jay, remember that he believed in you above all else. Even if you don’t agree, he thinks you’re more than capable of winning Chen’s game. Don’t let his faith in you be wasted.”

“But what if he was wrong?” Jay asked, choking back his own sobs.

“He’s only wrong if you let him be. He did what he did to force you to believe in yourself as much as he believes in you.”

Lloyd had barely held himself back from throwing another tearful fit when he was told he and Jay had to sleep alone in their own rooms.

Luckily, the kid had grown up some.


“You’re letting me go?” Cole asked after Clouse just barged into his cell.

“Of course not.” He said, voice as dreary as ever “Your presence is required in the factory.”

Cole had a sharp rely on his tongue, but he held it back.

The factory was where they thought Zane might’ve been held. And possibly Kai if their theory about Mr. C was right.

Cole let himself get dragged away. Maybe it was a good thing he got eliminated. Now he could look for Zane where Chen kept his prisoners.

He shouldn’t have been too surprised to find out it was a noodle factory. Chen did have to run his business somehow.

Before leaving, Clouse made sure to tell him he wasn’t allowed to eat anything, the jerk! Cole was going to figure out how to sneak some of the food before he busted out, just out of spite.

First thing was first, Cole had to look for his friends. He found some of the other eliminated competitors. It seemed that the Master of Sound must’ve lost his fight that morning.

“Don’t worry. After while, not so bad.” Karloff said warmly. “Since you new, I show you how to chop noodles.”

Cole fumbled a bit before figuring it out. Karloff’s broken speech wasn’t helping with the instructions.

“See? Chop.” He said when Cole finally got it “Now don’t make trouble.”

“Well, I for one don’t like following rules.” Said the Master of Sound. “The minute you tell me the coast is clear, I’m busting out of here.”

It sounded so much like something Kai would say. Cole couldn’t decide if it was painful or welcome. He supposed it was both.

“Even if you get past the guards, Mr. Blind Guy, there’s still the labyrinth guarded by big snake.” Karloff explained.

Had he already tried?

“My name’s not Mr. Blind Guy. It’s Jacob. And you may’ve lost hope, but not me and not my buddy Cole here. Am I right?” Jacob said, facing the wrong way.

“Actually, I’m on your left.” Cole timidly corrected.

“Oh, heh. You moved on me. Heh. Sneaky ninja.”

Cole didn’t have the most faith that this guy was going to get too far.


Nya drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. Dareth watched her huff more than breathe as they waited for their turn to board the boat.

She had been on edge since she came to Dareth for help finding Kobayashi and probably before. Dareth was happy to help, but she’d nearly took his head off when he asked about the other ninja. Afterwards he got the bare bones explanation of where they were. He got the full story when Nya found out Mr. C was the same man the ninja had gone to. She wasn’t happy about that.

Since that news, she’d been even more strung out. She was a ball of rage barely held back by the thinnest threads of self-control.

“You good?” Dareth said hesitantly.

On the one hand, poking the beast that was Nya’s anger could end painfully for him. But he hated seeing her so upset. She was still a young teen, and he felt a little….well not parental exactly, he wasn’t quite old enough for that. Dareth wouldn’t dare call himself an older brother, she already had an amazing one of those. Maybe more like an older cousin or a young uncle or something.

Or he could just call it what it was. He was an adult, and she was a child. No amount of life experience, power, or responsibility on her part changed that. With how few normal adults the ninja had in their life, it was even more important Dareth be a good influence. Or at the very least an example of maturity. Kids needed to see as many examples of adulthood as they could since one size didn’t fit all. Dareth wasn’t the most distinguished adult, but he was an adult. A happy and healthy adult.

“I’ll be fine when I find my brother.” Nya said through grinding teeth.

Dareth hummed and looked ahead. Wondering how he should proceed. He started to stare at the cartoonish depiction of the man they were probably on their way to fight drawn on the back of the van in front of them.

“I just….I can’t believe they just abandoned Kai like that.” Nya said, unprompted.

Since the silence had seemed to work well already, so Dareth continued the technique.

“I mean, I get that Zane was involved, and it’s not like I don’t want him back too, but…” Nya sighed deeply, slumping into her seat.

Dareth debated reaching over and putting a hand on her shoulder. He decided against it, Nya was rarely the type to appreciate blatant comfort unless it came from her brother. She actively rejected it usually.

“Kai is all I have. I don’t think they realize that.” She said, tears pricking the corners of her eyes. “If I don’t get him back, I’m alone. And after how hard he’s worked to stay with me, to keep us together, I can’t accept that. He fought so hard for me so many times, and he deserves the same.”

Dareth kept his silence for a few moments before he started to debate if he needed to change his approach.

“I can see why it bothers you so much.” He settled on saying.

Nya nodded, forcing her tears to disperse unshed as she drove the car up a few more inches. She seemed to be done talking for the moment. Dareth had to keep going. A dangerous game since one wrong move could set her off.

“I bet it was pretty hard for them to choose. Two friends missing. One of them they’d already had a funeral for. That’s gotta be a tough choice, no matter what you end up doing. Probably feels like your turning you back on someone no matter what you do.”

Nya sighed, looking angry again, but not volatile.

“I guess I’m more upset that Kai got taken right from under me and I didn’t do anything. Chen took my brother, and we didn’t even know anything was wrong until it was too late. I feel like I failed him, and I want to make it right.” Nya explained.

“That makes sense. It’s only natural to favor your brother. He’s family. The choice was practically made for you. The others have their own reasons for doing things the way they did.” Dareth explained as they crawled forward again.

Nya huffed and blew a strand of hair out of her face.

“Doesn’t mean I have to like it.” She griped.

“No, it doesn’t.” Dareth said.

“And I’m still mad. As far as I’m concerned, they still made the wrong choice.” She added angrily.

“But you can forgive people for making a wrong choice.” Dareth pointed out.

“I guess…” Nya relented.

It was finally their turn to board the boat.


The rain canceled most the fights for the day after they lost Cole, leaving only the indoor fight between Skylor and Jacob. Skylor won and Chen pulled a jerk move to cast more hate onto the ninja, now dwindled down to just Jay and Lloyd, forcing everyone to sleep in the chow house together.

At least Lloyd didn’t have to sleep alone again.

Jay briefly thought to complain about any number of discomforts that came from Lloyd in his cot. The crowding, the lack of blanket, the breathing on his neck, but Jay couldn’t bring himself to mention any of it. Especially with Lloyd’s fight being in the morning.

“Alright, I don’t think either of us are going to sleep, are we?” Jay whispered.

“Probably a good time to snoop. Do you think they others will notice if we sneak out?” Lloyd asked quietly.

Before Jay could answer, the lights came on and gongs started to sound.

“Good morning fighters!” Clouse yelled “Oh, that’s right, it’s the middle of the night.”

Before Lloyd could gets his feet under himself, one of Chen’s lackeys was doing something to them. When he could finally get himself free, there were roller skates tied tightly on his feet. He saw the same on Jay’s feet as well.

Looking around the room, it seemed everyone had gotten a pair. Lloyd shouldn’t have been surprised by anything Chen threw at them at that point.

Jay was jumping with excitement though.

“I love roller skates!” he yelled “Did I even mention I once placed first in the Mother-Son Skate-Off?” Jay said, laughing and twirling around.

Lloyd shook his head. At least Jay could find something to be happy about.

“I should have never admitted that.” Jay realized, still too excited to be too concerned though.

“Weirdo.” The Master of Light spat.

He clearly hadn’t forgotten Jay’s rude first impression.

“Master Chen wants everyone in the Royal Arena. I wouldn’t be late if I were you.” Clouse said menacingly.

One of the other masters, the Master of Amber, spoke.

“If most of us have already fought, why are we all in skates?” she asked.

A good question.

“Only two of you will be fighting, but the rest of you will have a chance to affect the outcome.” Clouse answered.

That didn’t sound good. Lloyd was pretty sure this was his fight, and that Chen was stacking the deck however he could.

“Who’s fighting!? Tell us now!” The Master of Speed begged.

“The Green Ninja versus the Master of Form.” Clouse said, almost proudly.

Yup. Lloyd called it.

Everyone started to chatter amongst themselves. Lloyd looked nervously for Jay.

With how much he had been skating around, it would’ve been easy to lose him in the crowd. But Lloyd had been nearly glued to him since Cole was eliminated. Since he was petrified of losing him too, Lloyd had made sure to keep his attention on where Jay was.

Which is the only reason he noticed that there were two of him.

Master of Form. Probably meant shape shifting. Which meant one of the Jays was his opponent.

One Jay was zipping around, the other approached Lloyd.

Lloyd had no way of knowing for certain which Jay was which, but he knew the fake would be fishing for something, and he was going to give them something alright.

“Hey.” Lloyd said. “You know anything about this Master of Form?”

“Oh, I hear she can look like anyone! She’d be right under your nose, and by the time you figure it out, she’s already discovered all your weaknesses!” ‘Jay’ explained.

Yeah, that wasn’t subtle. Lloyd had a few critiques on her performance.

“But you’re the Green Ninja! What weaknesses could you have?”

Well, she wasn’t the only one capable of performing.

“Just as long as no one mentions the ‘G’ word, I think I’ll be fine. Now if she found out about that, that could mess me up.” Lloyd said, working very hard to keep himself from smiling.

“Right, the ‘G’ word.” ‘Jay’ said, clearly trying to get Lloyd to say it.

“I don’t even want to say it. You know how I get!” Lloyd added.

“Thanks.” ‘Jay’ said, before skating away.

The real Jay then skated up next to him from the other direction.

“Sorry for ditching you, I got a little excited over…huh?” Jay said, seeing himself looking back wickedly.

She then shifted back into her original, or at least preferred, form.

“Better be careful. Wouldn’t want anyone to upset you, Green Ninja.” She sneered.

Lloyd shook his head.

“What was that about?” Jay asked.

“She tried to get something she could use against me by pretending to be you, and I gave her something.” Lloyd explained.

He whispered the rest of the explanation to Jay, who reached over and hit Lloyd on his arm.


“I don’t suppose you’ve seen either of my friends, have you? The White and Red Ninja.” Cole asked while he chopped noodles.

“I haven’t heard anything.” Jacob corrected.

“I’m not asking you! You’ve been here for less time than me!” Cole snapped back.

“I thought White Ninja was dead.” Karloff asked, grunting from the work.

“No. He’s the whole reason we’re on this stupid island. He’s alive and Chen has him. We only entered the tournament to find and rescue him.” Cole explained, giving up on the noodles for the moment.

“Karloff hasn’t seen any ninja in factory. Just Cole.” Karloff said, pointedly focusing on his own work.

Cole sagged in disappointment.

“If you came here to rescue the White Ninja, why are you looking for the Red one too?” Jacob asked.

“He disappeared a little while ago and we think Chen might’ve been behind that too.” Cole explained.

One of Chen’s guards noticed them not working and swung a staff at them. Cole turned back to the conveyor belt and started to chop noodles again.

“Karloff hasn’t seen any Red Ninja Either.” Karloff added in a huff. “Karloff make noodle, not trouble.”

“Then I guess Chen is keeping Zane somewhere else. And maybe Kai is with him.” Cole reasoned out loud.

He’d have to figure out how to continue to look for them somehow.

Not a moment later, Cole heard a guard belch and abandon his post. Jacob heard as well and was on the move immediately. Cole moved to join him, wanting to go look around for Zane and Kai, but Karloff’s large hand stopped him.

“Make noodles, not trouble.” He repeated.

Cole was sick of that phrase.

They both watched Jacob make it to the door. Cole was hopeful he would make it all the way, but unfortunately as he swung the door open, Clouse appeared on the other side.

Cole tried to yell out a warning, but Karloff stopped that too. His rough hand stayed over Cole’s mouth even as Jacob hurled an angry “Not one of you could’ve warned me?” at them.

“Make an example of him. Take him to feed my serpent.” Clouse ordered.

Karloff finally let go of Cole while Jacob was dragged out of sight.

“’Feed his serpent’? He doesn’t mean…?” Cole asked in horror.

“Karloff not make trouble. Karloff make noodle.” Karloff repeated yet again.

He finished his point by dumping flour on Cole’s head.

Great! He was no closer to finding Zane, he just might’ve seen a man taken to his death by giant snake, and now he was covered in flour.

Still, it could’ve been worse. If Cole had been caught up in Jacob’s escape attempt, he may’ve been on his way to face that snake as well. Karloff had, despite the fact it wasn’t welcome, saved him.

Cole had no idea why he would do that. They barely knew one another. Maybe it was because their elements were so similar? Whatever it was, Karloff had clearly taken a shine to Cole, and Cole was not in a position to turn away new friends.

Plus, he still stung from the way things went with him and Jay. Missing Zane, worried about Kai, and having no way to check on Jay and Lloyd, Cole probably needed the friend anyways.

“Did I ever introduce myself?” Cole asked.

Karloff looked at him skeptically.

“I guess I forgot to do that. I’m Cole.” Cole said, proudly sticking his hand out for Karloff to shake.

Karloff hesitantly took it.

“At the very least, it’s good to have a friend down here.” Cole said with a smile.

“Yeah. Karloff glad to have a friend.” Karloff agreed, smiling back.


Lloyd was clinging tightly to Jay while they skated to the arena. He didn’t like it, but he was nervous. Chen was making sure he had every disadvantage. It was going to be an uphill battle and Lloyd was on skates.

Meanwhile Jay was keeping a strong grip on Lloyd himself. He knew Chen was fighting dirty and wasn’t going to have it. Jay may not have been the strongest ninja, but he was the ninja Lloyd had. If it was him and Lloyd against the world, then so be it.

Chen didn’t take long explaining the rules. It seemed simple.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! What about us?” asked the Master of Speed. “Are we supposed to just stand here?”

Jay groaned. Wasn’t it obvious? They were all wearing skates. They were all in the arena. Clouse had already said they could “affect the outcome”. Chen was giving them ample opportunity to sabotage Lloyd.

“You get to help anyone you wish.” Chen explained.

Yeah, right. Helping was what they were going to do.

“Or hurt for that matter.”

That was more like it.

“You’re free to choose sides. I’m not a dictator.” Chen said cheerfully.

“But you are a manipulative jerk that will trick people into doing what you want them to do anyways.” Jay thought bitterly.

Lloyd’s grip on his arm tightened as everyone went for orange helmets. It really was the two of them against the world.

As much as Jay’s pessimism was dying to be voiced, he knew Lloyd didn’t need to be reminded of harsh realities.

“Don’t worry. I’ve got your back. You’re not alone.” he said instead.

Lloyd whimpered slightly. Jay sounded so much like Kai for a second there. It stung.

Steeling his nerves, Lloyd moved to the starting line. He’d fought the overlord with no weapons on a broken ankle. He wasn’t a stranger to unfair fights. He could do this.

Chen started the match with another passive aggressive comment to remind Lloyd about how overwhelmingly against him everything was.

“Good luck to everyone! But mostly Camille because we all want the Green Ninja out. Now go!”

Lloyd blocked it out. Chen wasn’t going to get in his head. All he had to focus on was surviving. He had Jay with him and his father was standing next to Chen, ready to prevent any sabotage from Clouse, but he wouldn’t be any help against all the other masters and Jay was only one person.

Lloyd was, for the most part, on his own.

He tried to draw strength from the memory of the final battle without letting it hurt too much. He missed Kai so much. What he wouldn’t give to lean on him again.

Jay shoved his way through. He had no time for mercy. Lloyd needed him. If Kai were there he wouldn’t hesitate, so Jay wouldn’t either. The goal was to protect Lloyd at all costs.

Jay tried not to dwell on how badly he’d lost sight of that goal while fighting with his best friend over something stupid.

One of the other masters, the Master of Amber, came up next to him. Jay briefly remembered her name was Skylor.

“Lloyd’s your greatest competition.” She hissed “If he loses today, what’s left to stand in your way from winning it all?”

“Assuming I even want that!” Jay snapped, shoving her aside.

She did not just try to turn him against Lloyd. Not now. Not after everything that had happened.

She yelped as she hit the ground. Jay didn’t even look back at her as he used his powers to zap Lloyd an opening.

“Thunderblade never fails to deliver.” Chen smiled wistfully.

He knew he made the right choice putting Lloyd in the event.

“Did you know I hold the record with a hundred points?” Chen bragged to nobody. “Clouse can attest, tell them Clouse!”

“You were born with skates on, Master.” Clouse sighed.

“True story!” Chen added for good measure.

Garmadon huffed. There wasn’t even anyone listening, and Chen was still so eager to brag. How had he ever looked up to such a pathetic man?

“’True story’” Garmadon mocked “Just like all his far-fetched endeavors.”

Garmadon was more chastising himself for ever listening to Chen.

“There was once a time when you were quite comfortable with lying.” Clouse teased “It worked on Misako, didn’t it?”

Garmadon had to restrain himself from punching the man. How dare he remind him of the lie he started his marriage on. How dare he try to get a rise out of him while his children were fighting with all they had.

“Yes well, I also was once quite comfortable with eating glue, but we all must grow up sometime, right Clouse?” Garmadon sneered back.

He would not let Clouse dig up such an old regret and use it to call him a hypocrite.

Clouse huffed and turned away.

Garmadon smiled smugly. It had been so long since their little bouts, but he still remembered what a defeated Clouse looked like.

Chen decided to start playing with the arena while Garmadon just sighed. The man had such a short attention span.

Lloyd meanwhile was taking things as they came, working hard to tune out all the hate that was drilling into his back. Chen, of course, started to mess with things, but Lloyd had learned how to adapt by now. With the speed he learned from Jay, the agility he learned from Kai, the self-centering he learned from Zane, and the endurance he learned from Cole, Lloyd was holding his own against all the odds.

It pissed Camille off. She decided it was time to start fighting dirty.

Tricking Jay into whipping her forward was child’s play but it wasn’t going to work more than once or twice. It was time to break out her secret weapon.

Lloyd may not have told her what the word was, but she had some guesses.

“Are you keeping up, Garmadon?” she taunted.

Surely it was his family name.

Lloyd looked a little surprised. Not at all devastated like she hoped. Then he actually smiled, almost laughing at her.

“Wrong word, try again!” he teased, pushing past her.

Green!” she yelled after.

Ok that was a dumb guess. How many times had Chen called him “Green Ninja” since the tournament began? Obviously, that wasn’t it.

Lloyd couldn’t continue the grin on his face. He reached Jay’s side.

“She’d trying to guess the ‘G’ word.” Lloyd said in delight.

Honestly, it was such a morale boaster.

“I told you that was mean.” Jay pouted.

They had taught Lloyd better than that.

“Yeah well, I think I earned a little bit of mean today.” Lloyd said, not letting Jay ruin his mood “And you have to admit, it is pretty funny.”

Jay let himself have one little snicker.

“Ok, it kind of is.”

The Master of Shadow snuck up on them and knocked Lloyd’s blade out of his hands. Before Lloyd could grab it, the Master of Light had snatched it up.

Jay was furious though. He electrocuted the poor guy and shoved him off the arena. There was a good chance Jay was making a life long enemy out of the guy this way, but what could you do?

“What were you saying about me being mean?” Lloyd sassed while Jay handed him the blade back.

Jay reluctantly had to admit he was being a hypocrite. But Lloyd was younger, and Jay wanted him to be better. Was that a crime?

“Just keep skating!” Jay said, pushing Lloyd forward.

Camille reached them.

“Its ‘gold’ isn’t it?” she taunted. “The Golden Master?”

Lloyd would’ve loved to laugh more, but he was too busy.

The obstacles kept coming, and Jay kept up to keep Lloyd safe. Tripping the Master of Speed. Pushing Lloyd out of the way of the poison cloud. Pulling him out of the way of the stupid buggy Chen released.

Camille waved at them from her spot behind it.

“She gets a lift!? I know Chen wants me out, but this is getting ridiculous!” Lloyd yelled.

Despite how hard it was getting, they pushed on. Ninja never quit.

Finally, the other masters caught wise to the fact that Jay was the thing keeping them from Lloyd. Suddenly, instead of aiming for Lloyd, they refocused on taking out his protector.

Jay would be waking up with a painting of bruises for it. And worse, they managed to separate him from Lloyd. Jay yelled in frustration.

Skylor finally got a moment next to him again.

“What do you mean you don’t want to win?” she asked, referring to their earlier conversation.

“I mean that this has nothing to do with winning. This has to do with rescuing our friends and stopping Chen.” Jay explained.

“Stopping Chen from what?” The Master of Light asked, having made it back onto the track.

“From stealing all our elemental powers and using them for some kind of spell.” Jay snapped.

“And why are you telling us this now?” the Master of Speed asked.

“Because she just now asked.” Jay answered surprisingly honest.

“And how do we know you’re not lying?” the Master of Speed, Did Jay ever learn that guy’s name? He must’ve heard Chen announce it when he fought the Master of Gravity.

“He’s not.” Neuro said.

Jay really didn’t care about the rest of the conversation; he had a job to do.

The next time Camille came around Jay pounced. He might’ve caused some minor nerve damage, but he got her jade blade from her.

Jay started to let himself have a little bit of fun while he started a possibly deadly game of keep away if her face was anything to go by.

Lloyd was glad to have a little bit of reprieve from Camille. He still braced himself when the Master of Speed came up next to him.

“What’s this I hear about a spell?” he asked, surprising Lloyd.

“We don’t know much, Neuro just found out what page it was on in Clouse spell book, but we did see Chen steal Karloff’s powers after he lost.” Lloyd said.

He guessed Jay had decided to let everyone else in on what they knew.

“How did you see that?” Tox asked.

“We were sneaking around to look for our friend.” Lloyd said.

Camille raced passed with her blade, having gotten it from Jay.

“Won’t be long until you’re gone too!” she tried.

Lloyd shook his head in amusement.

“But Cole wasn’t out until well after Karloff.” Griffin, Lloyd remembered, said.

“No, Cole was with us. We were looking for Zane. Chen only got us here because he said we had to win his tournament to see him again.” Lloyd said.

“Wait, Chen has your dead friend?” Tox asked.

Before Lloyd could respond, the buggy pulled up next to him. With how things had been going he expected to see Camille in the driver’s seat, but instead he saw Jay and Skylor.

“You took the buggy!” Lloyd yelled.

“We both did, now come on!” Jay said, pulling Lloyd up into the thing and trading places with him.

Lloyd took off. Now it was time to use the skills Nya taught him. How to drive.

No matter what Chen threw at him, Lloyd maneuvered around or through. Nya hadn’t just taught him traffic laws after all, she taught him how to drive in combat. If he had to, he knew how to flip the car around by pulling the hand brake.

Camille looked frustrated and Lloyd felt a tinge of guilt. He hadn’t exactly been nice to her.

“You know we don’t have to fight like this.” He said. “We can all win.”

“All of us?” she asked.

“United!” Lloyd said, reaching a hand out to her.

She took it and ripped him to the ground.

“Only one can remain, Goober.”

The sting of the betrayal was softened by the satisfaction Lloyd was getting from Camille’s silly attempt to figure out what the “G” word was.

The race was on again, but this time Lloyd didn’t have the entire world working against him.

Chen was livid and Clouse started to cast a spell in response. Before Clouse could do anything, Garmadon tackled him. The two locked in a familiar position. It was just like old times for them.

Chen shook his head. This was why he told Clouse to keep the dark magic to a minimum.

Lloyd pushed against Camille while they struggled.

Guy. Guts. Gun!?” she yelled.

She was had exactly one last trick play and she was determined to figure out how to use it.

Lloyd couldn’t help but smile at her frantic guesses. She was never going to get the right answer at this rate.

Giraffe!” she yelled.

Lloyd burst out into a full fit of laughter at that attempt.

She was on the verge of hysteria.

Grudge! Government! Grief! Grow! Ghost! Grave! Garbage! Gift! Genetic! Guest!” she screamed rapid fire.

The other masters were staring at her. Lloyd was focusing on not letting his laughter slow him down.

“Clouse, what is she doing?” Chen asked.

Even Garmadon and Clouse had paused their wrestling to watch the Master of Form seemingly lose her mind.

“I…” Clouse had no answers.

Garmadon had a feeling that Lloyd had done something to cause this, judging by how ecstatic he looked about the affair. He might need to have a talk with Lloyd about not letting his past at Darkley’s control his actions.

Lloyd, despite his giggles, pulled out ahead and passed the finish line right as the bell rang. He had won.

And now that he didn’t have a match to win, he was free to laugh himself silly over Camille trying to guess what the “G” word was.

He was doubled over when Jay caught up to him.

Guardian! Glue!? GUMDROP!?!?!?” she screeched.

Lloyd was wailing with tears in his eyes. He didn’t expect it to go so far or work so well.

“Lloyd cheated!” Chen yelled.

Lloyd was too busy laughing to notice the accusation.

“No way, Lloyd won fair and square! You were the one that cheated!” Griffin accused.

“My tournament, my rules.” Chen said petulantly.

“And what rules are those? If Lloyd’s out, so am I!” the Master of Light yelled.

“Me too!” Jay yelled.

Lloyd managed to wipe the tears out of his eyes by the time Skylor started speaking.

“If you kick us all out, what kind of tournament will you have then?”

Chen was pouting.

“Besides, I’m pretty sure the Master of Form has ‘fallen off her rocker’ so to speak.” Garmadon added snidely.

Even Clouse had to laugh at that, though he covered it well with a cough. Only Garmadon knew him well enough to see through it.

“I am not crazy!” Camille snapped.

She turned to Lloyd.

“I have to know! I have to!” she begged “What is the ‘G’ word!?”

Lloyd’s face split into one of the biggest grins. Jay recognized it, though it had been ages since he’d seen it. That was the brat’s “I just pulled of the best prank!” face!

Chen was waiting for Lloyd’s answer before he hit the trap door. At the very least he could salvage some entertainment from the debacle.

After a few attempts to get his laughter under enough control to speak, Lloyd finally gave the devastating answer.

He leaned in and said in an agonizingly clear voice.

“Gullible.”

Even Chen had to admit how funny that was. Camille’s murderous scream of fury was cut off by him dropping her down a trap door. He was a little glad Lloyd won, just for the chance to witness the punchline to the joke.

The other masters were in various stages of shock and amusement. Garmadon was struggling to keep a straight face, he did not want to encourage this. Clouse seemed to be having a coughing fit. Lloyd had broken back into giggles.

“Green Ninja wins.” Chen said, barely keeping a level voice.

He had to hand it to Garmadon, he had a kid he could respect. A part of him wished he could’ve stolen Lloyd too, but Chen would have to settle for the ninja he did get.

Chen smiled remembering his own prank. He was going to save it for the grand finale and it would be the delicious cherry on top of his victory, or at the very least be his last devastating jab before he went down.

He was looking forward to seeing their faces. It might make up for the lack of falling out between the Blue and Black ninja.


Cole dragged his tired feet along. He was at the end of this chain of misery and covered in flour. Not a great look. Plus, he hadn’t gotten any clues about where Zane was. Karloff had tried to improve his mood, but it was no good.

Cole was so upset he could almost hear Zane speaking.

“I don’t know Pixal, but I sense these chains are unbreakable.”

Wait. That wasn’t his imagination! It was coming from the cell they were passing!

Cole glanced ahead. He needed to look into the cell and see, but he’d only have a few seconds before they noticed he stopped moving. He chanced it and quickly shuffled over to the door.

If he was right, he’d finally get to see Zane again! After everything, it was a sight Cole was willing to risk just about anything for.

Karloff noticed and immediately tried to mother hen him.

“What are you doing? Don’t make trouble!” he whispered

Cole ignored him. He was so close!

“Zane. Is that you?” Cole asked into the cell.

Cole’s seconds just about ran out. He had brought the whole chain to a stop and the guard was not pleased.

“What the hold up?” he snapped.

Cole anxiously waiting for Zane to answer.

“Come on! Just prove you’re alive! That’s all I need! I don’t have long!” he thought.

Karloff sighed and knelled down. Making an excuse and buy Cole a few more seconds. It was touching.

He nodded back to Cole who started into the cell.

“Please be here. Please be here” he chanted in his head.

Finally, after far too long, a silver face came up to the window. Though it was metallic now, and he hadn’t seen it in so long, Cole knew the features of that face.

“You’re alive!” he cheered.

The nagging fear that Chen had lied about Zane was finally squashed and Cole felt drunk on relief.

“And you’re silver?” Cole added.

Chen didn’t do that, did he?

“Titanium.” Zane answered in an electronic voice.

A bit of an adjustment sure, but Cole was just happy to have Zane back. He could’ve come back with antlers and Cole still would’ve accepted it.

“Cole, you look…white.” Zane added.

Cole laughed.

“It’s flour. Boy is it great to see you!” he said with a wide smile. “Look at you, you look brand new!”

The guard started to see through Karloff’s distraction and was approaching. Cole had seconds. There was no time for any more pleasantries.

“Zane, listen. Have you seen Kai? Is he with you?” Cole asked.

Something vague tickled Zane’s memory. Something very fuzzy from when he had first gotten captured.

He had mostly remembered everything at this point. His friends, his death, etc, but there were still holes. Pixal helped with what she could. She filled him in about Chen and how he’d stolen his elemental powers. Which was helpful since Zane particularly couldn’t remember his capture or the aftermath. The last thing he had remembered was being excited to show his friends his new body and then he woke up with no memories (Again!) in Chen’s cell.

Zane sensed that this was one of those things. Something happened when Chen took his element, something Pixal didn’t see, something important. Try as he might, Zane couldn’t grasp it. He wasn’t even sure if it was related to Cole’s question, so he decided to figure it out another time.

“No. I have not. Why?”

Cole pouted. Maybe Kai wasn’t being held by Chen after all.

“He’s missing too. We thought Chen might’ve had him but…shoot.” The guard was steps away! “I’ll be back, hold tight lugnut!”

“Where is Cole?” The guard asked gruffly.

Cole stepped back into place just in time.

“Right here!” he said loudly. “Keep it real, big guy. Looks like you’ve seen a ghost!”

He didn’t even let Cole finish his joke before walking away in disinterest. Crisis averted. Zane located. Breakout being planned.

Cole figured he should at least warn his new friend before things got complicated.

“From here on out, Karloff, I’m making more than noodles. I’m making trouble.” Cole said in a giddy voice.

He couldn’t help but be in a good mood. He’d found Zane!

Karloff shook his head as the chain of prisoners started moving again.

“Chen can try his best to split up our team, but he’s about to find out what happens when we put ourselves back together.” Cole added.

Things were finally looking up


Lloyd couldn’t be sure, but he was inclined to believe his prank had earned some favor from Chen. They all got their rooms back and Chen was throwing some banquet for them after the fight between the Master of Shadow and the Master of Poison.

That all may’ve been unrelated though, since it was all for the group. Chen wasn’t going to cause any more infighting by blaming Lloyd and Jay for punishments he inflicted, so his best bet was to work on endearing himself to everyone instead.

It was the fact that they let Lloyd sleep in Jay’s room that made Lloyd think Chen was impressed. A small favor in exchange for the small show Lloyd had given. Lloyd almost felt gross about it, if Camille hadn’t reminded him so much of the kids at Darkley’s that taught him tricks like that in the first place.

That didn’t stop his dad from giving him a lecture over dinner and another over breakfast. Between him and Jay, Lloyd had enough “Don’t be a jerk” lecture to hold him over for a few lifetimes by the time Shade and Tox had to fight.

He still didn’t regret it.


Nya wanted to go in weapons blazing. The method had gotten her as far as she was. Dareth stopped her though.

“How bout we try a more subtle approach?” He said.

Nya growled at him.

“Come on, I have an idea.” He said as he confidently led her back to the mobile base.

“Look, I get that you want to help, but I got this!” Nya snapped, ripping her hand out of his grip.

“Nya, we don’t know what’s happening in there. If you go barging in, you could put the others at risk. Not to mention we don’t know why Chen only baited the guys with Zane if he had Kai too. We need more information!”

Nya almost started to yell at him. Dareth even cowered from her.

But he was right.

There were too many variables. This wasn’t an office building; this was enemy territory. An enemy she knew next to nothing about. Chen was holding nearly all the cards and Nya would need to know where they were on the table before she made any plays.

She took a deep breath to calm herself.

“What did you have in mind?” she asked.


Cole couldn’t help but whistle happily. The harsh work or the rude guards couldn’t dampen his spirits. Karloff staring at him in confusion couldn’t bring him down. Even Camille, who had apparently lost to Lloyd (thank goodness!) and was angrily picking cookies off the belt and throwing them to the side, couldn’t sour Cole’s mood.

Karloff looked at the cookies in thought for a moment before working himself up to ask his question.

“Why you whistle?” He asked “Yesterday Cole was sad. Not today. What changed?”

Cole smirked back. In those brief seconds he’d made contact with Zane, everything had changed.

“Things are looking up, Karloff. I told you we came here to find our friend, right?”

Karloff nodded.

“Well, I found him!” Cole said proudly. “All I gotta do now, is get Zane and bust him out!”

Karloff scoffed.

“Not so easy.” He said in subtle despair “Chen’s made it nearly impossible to escape this place.”

As tired as Cole was with Karloff’s pessimism, he tried to ignore it.

“I’m still working out the details.” He admitted “But Zane is a nindroid! A walking computer! If I can get to him, he’ll solve anything Chen throws at us in no time!”

Karloff just frowned.

“Karloff wish he had friend like that.” He sighed.

Cole pouted for a moment. He wasn’t about to leave Karloff feeling like he was alone. Cole was done doing things like that. He’d hurt too many friends already.

“You do, Karloff. Right here.” Cole offered.

“Really?” Karloff asked in disbelief.

“You bet. A ninja doesn’t just save himself. He protects others and remembers his friends.” Cole felt a little like a hypocrite, but he was working on fixing that.

“But Cole can’t take all of us with him. And Karloff not very sneaky. Karloff have heavy footsteps. You be better off leaving Karloff behind.”

Cole hated that idea, but Karloff did have a valid point. Cole was trained in stealth long before he even knew about his true potential. Karloff had probably always relied on his powers.

“I meant it when I said Zane could figure something out. If I can just get to him, we can make a plan and hopefully get everyone out of here.” Cole decided.

“There still is big ‘if’ you can get to your friend.” Karloff pointed out.

“I’ll figure something out, but first, I gotta let the others know I’m busting Zane out!” Cole said, picking up a cookie.

A fortune he’d made some alterations to was slipped out of his pocket, and into the cookie. He dropped it on top of the pile they were setting aside for the big banquet.

“You put message in cookie!?” Karloff asked in astonishment.

“I know right!?” Cole said in excitement. “That’s why it’s called a fortune cookie!”

Who would’ve thought that would be useful info for him to learn right before leaving for Chen’s island?

Cole handed the tray over to the guard while Karloff leaned over his shoulder in suspense.

“I hope you have the good fortune for it to end up in the right hands.” He pointed out, again with his endless pessimism.

“You and me both, Karloff.” Cole agreed.

He’d be lying if he said his fingers weren’t crossed.


Chen was having a blast. Sure, there were a few hiccups here and there, but the tournament was turning out to be a fantastic show. A show with a killer encore planned, if Chen did say so.

Chen was in a great mood while everyone ate. He especially enjoyed Lloyd’s face of disgust when he was offered a plate of Horned Wasps’ Eggs.

The fortune cookies arrived, and Chen called the servant over.

“But they are for your captured- I mean, honored guest.” Clouse reminded him.

Chen rolled his eyes.

“I’m not going to eat them, Clousey Clouse!” Chen said, shoving his cookie into Clouse’s face “Just read the fortunes. They’re my favorite part!”

“Might I warn you” Clouse said, snatching the cookie from Chen’s hand “Our guests are fond of whispering, and I don’t think it’s about your food.”

Chen frowned.

“I heard word they have allied themselves. The ninja have told them about our secret ceremony.” Clouse explained, keeping the cookie out of reach until he was done.

“Do they know about the spell? What about you know who?” Chen asked, snatching the cookie back.

He was going to be irate if his finale was spoiled.

“They know we plan to use a spell, but nothing of its contents. As for our special guest, they undoubtedly have their suspicions, but they don’t seem to know anything yet. Regardless we must get ahead of this.” Clouse explained.

Chen set the cookie back down on the platter. He sat in thought for a moment. He had the time to think through his options, only a fool wouldn’t use it.

The ninja knew he was up to something grander than stealing elemental powers. No big loss there. They didn’t trust him to begin with and with Garmadon keeping them informed and grounded, Chen didn’t have any room to start playing with them. He was able to push it when two of them were already fighting, but Lloyd wasn’t going to let go of his human security blanket, and Jay’s resolve had only been hardened by the adversity.

Cole was alone in the factory though. Chen gave that a brief thought. The isolation would make him easier to manipulate. Chen could actually make some traction with him.

Chen tabled the idea. While it did sound fun, it didn’t solve his problem.

He still had his fiery little ace up his sleeve. He could bring that into play, but ruining that finale would have to be a last resort. Chen was too excited for it. It would be a waste to use such a good reveal on something so trivial. Not to mention, Firebrand would be extremely fragile when he woke up and require a lot of attention.

The only big loss was the other masters learning that he had evil plans. The ninja only had so many details to tell, so Chen shouldn’t have too hard a time twisting them into a different narrative. He just had to present an alternative answer, then allow doubt and competitive natures do the rest of his work.

All Chen had to do was sell it, and he was nothing if not showy.


The other Kabuki servants gossiped like trashy tabloids when they weren’t performing. It was useful to say the least. Nya was doing her best to stay invisible and listen in, silently thanking Dareth for his genius idea of posing as one.

“I don’t know about you, but I am having a blast!” said on of the Kabuki servants “This tournament is better than cable!”

Nya was only partially sure she was named ‘Blossom’. She had been referred to by that name, but there was something about the way she wore it that made Nya think is was wrong somehow. She responded to it without a problem, but it wasn’t instinctual. She seemed to like it, but it wasn’t normal and a little forced. Like she was wearing formal wear.

Not that Nya really cared to figure it out. She was just gathering info in case it was important later.

“I just wish the fight between the Blue and Black Ninjas didn’t turn out so lame.” another girl, Petal, complained.

Nya was sure about that name. Petal carried her name with the confidence that only came from carrying such a name for your whole life. Petal wore her name like a favorite hoodie, a signature she was confident in.

“I don’t know, I found the whole thing very emotionally moving.” one of the few male servants said, wiping a tear away as he did. “Both of them tried to sacrifice themselves to let the other move on.”

Nya also sure about that name too. Arnit was one of very few males in this group, he was distinctive and impossible to get confused.

Those three seemed to be the top clique among the Kabuki servants. Nya never went to a big school, but it reminded her of the movies she’d seen on countless movie nights. Jay loved those trashy dramas set in highschools.

“Yeah, but it was supposed to be a blood bath! I wanted to see them rip each other to shreds, not make up!” ‘Blossom’ said.

Nya noted that Cole and Jay had at least gotten over their stupid feud, finally!

“You’re just saying that because you had money on the blue one!” Petal laughed.

“I also wanted to see drama!” ‘Blossom’ whined.

“Honey, you just wait! The real drama is still coming!” Arnit said with a sassy swish of his hips.

“I can’t wait for that surprise. The ninja still don’t know about him, right?” Petal asked.

“According to our spy, no. They still don’t know about Firebrand.” ‘Blossom’ said.

So there was a spy? That was useful info. Dareth deserved some major credit for this idea. Listening to Kabuki gossip had gotten Nya a near perfect picture of what she was dealing with.

Nya did have questions about this “Firebrand” guy. He kept coming up. It sounded like he was going to be some kind of secret weapon, but whatever his deal was, it was too juicy and old. Everyone had already heard it, so no one explained it. Nya wished she could ask, but that would just peg her as new and bring unwanted suspicion onto herself.

She’d just have to let that one be a mystery for now and hope it wasn’t too bad.

“I’m excited! Master Chen is always so theatrical! I just know he’s going to reveal it in a big show!” Arnit said, almost bouncing on his feet.

Another Kabuki servant came in to interrupt. Nya didn’t know her name.

“Master Chen needs the staff of elements.” she explained “Since the ninja have told the other masters about the ceremony they saw, Chen’s going to tell them that the staff is intended to be a prize in order to counter the story.”

“Oh! See that’s why I love Master Chen! He’s so creative and smart! First Master, the first time I saw him I told myself ‘that man can dance his way out of anything’ and I was right!” ‘Blossom’ said cheerfully “Mom always said charisma is the most powerful weapon in this world. That’s why I went into performing arts!”

The others all seemed to agree. Nya tagged along as they all entered the room and she felt just a little sick while she watched Chen turn the whole room against Lloyd and Jay.


“So much for the alliance” Garmadon said, listening to the sounds of quiet bickering and doubt.

Chen had gotten ahead of the accusations and temped them all back into fighting with the promise of power. Nevermind that not mentioning any of this upfront is a huge red flag that everyone should be paying attention to. Chen always was good at making you forget to ask those kinds of questions.

Garmadon really should’ve seen that coming. Chen was a skilled manipulator. He could turn a group of lifelong friends so against each other they never spoke again. What made him think he couldn’t do the same to a group of loosely acquainted strangers?

“They believe him over us!?” Lloyd asked in angry disbelief.

Garmadon just put his arm around his son. Chen’s influence was a force to be reckoned with.

Jay had just started to talk about needing proof when one of the other masters walked over. Skylor, the one that had tried to convince Jay to turn on Lloyd. She hadn’t known what was really at stake at the time, so maybe Jay could forgive her.

“Here.” She said, slipping a fortune into Lloyd’s hand “My fortune tells me Cole and your friend Zane will be breaking out. You’re lucky this didn’t end up in the wrong hands.”

Yeah. He could forgive her.

Lloyd read over the scrap of paper. Sure enough, it was from Cole.

“He found Zane.” Lloyd said happily, passing the fortune to Jay for him to read.

Skylor walked back to her seat with a polite smile.

“Thank you.” Lloyd whispered.

It was nice to know that there was at least someone smart enough to see through Chen.

“This is great!” Jay said.

“It doesn’t say anything about Kai though.” Lloyd pointed out sadly.

Garmadon pulled Lloyd against him in a side hug.

As disappointed as Lloyd and Jay were to not find their friend, Garmadon felt nothing but relief. They could rescue Kai from whatever villain had taken him and it would be fine as long as it was anyone but Chen. The sooner they stopped him, the sooner Garmadon could put the awful chapter of his past to bed and leave it there.

He could hardly wait to get some rest without having to worry about his former master hurting his kids in awful ways that lingered. The way he’d hurt Garmadon. The way he’d hurt so many of his friends.

But for the moment, they were still in Chen’s territory. All the odds were against them. They needed to be vigilant, least they fall into one of his many traps. Chen had many weapons and even more eyes. Each and every one of them were trained right on their backs. The mental exhaustion Garmadon was feeling from trying to stay ahead of it was starting to get to him, but he would be cursed before he let that stop him from protecting his kids.

Garmadon tripped on that thought. He knew when he had decided to claim them as his students, but he couldn’t pinpoint exactly when they changed from “his students” to “his kids”. Of course he wasn’t planning on taking the place of any existing parents in Jay and Cole’s cases, but he had to admit, at some point Garmadon had started to think of them as his own.

It only made sense. Lloyd called them his brothers so that would naturally make them his, right? He had a claim.

Even if he didn’t, Garmadon was well past caring for such things. He loved the boys and Nya enough to call them his own and they certainly needed the care. Kai and Nya especially.

For goodness’s sake, half the mess they were in could’ve been avoided if Garmadon had stepped in and told Kai “no” like a parent. If he had pressed a little harder when he sensed danger in that job offer. If he had watched out for Kai instead of standing by and letting the tragedy unfold because he was afraid of overstepping.

And that’s what it was really, Garmadon was simply afraid of making himself look worse than the venom had already done. So afraid of causing damage, he let worse happen.

Garmadon should’ve started arranging adoption paperwork as soon as he learned Kai and Nya were on their own. He owed Ray and Maya that much! Whatever happened to them, they deserved better for their children.

But instead Garmadon had been overly cautious, terrified of encroaching. He had tried to kill them when he was still infected with that infernal venom and the guilt halted any action. His hand stalled and he did nothing.

And evil triumphs when good men do nothing.

No more of it. Garmadon would watch over all his children, biological or not. He’d keep Chen’s noxious claws off of them and shield them from every danger he could see. Nevermind how appropriate it was or if it was within his rights to.

Jay fidgeted with the scrap of paper, unsure of what to do with it now that it had been read. Garmadon knew it was a dangerous thread to leave untied. Chen had so many eyes.

“You should get rid of that before one of Chen’s men finds it.” Garmadon warned.

“I think I know what to do.” Jay laughed “This one’s for you Cole.”

Jay then ate the thing. Lloyd laughed quietly, getting the joke. Garmadon just blinked twice in confusion before letting it go and returning to his food.

Jay was about to go back to his own when one of the kabuki servants started to flutter her fan in his face, the paper scrapping his nose.

He pushed her away, but she persisted.

He grabbed the thing right from her and was just about to break it in frustration. He had been dealing with too much stress to add a handsy member of Chen’s staff to it. Since getting his show and entering the world of a minor celebrity, Jay had come to understand that being gentle with these things only invited more of it. If you wanted them to go away, you had to be a little harsh.

Before he could snap it, she spoke.

“Jay. It’s me.” Nya whispered.

“Nya!?” Jay asked.

Nya cringed. At least he didn’t yell...barely.

“What are you wearing?” he asked.

He looked her over and saw a dress that matched all the other Kabuki. It really wasn’t Nya’s style, and the make-up was less so. Still, it wasn’t like he knew her as well as he thought he did, their damaged relationship being prime evidence of that.

“A disguise. I’m undercover.” Nya answered shortly, snatching her fan back from Jay. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t blow that cover”

“I thought you were looking for Kai.” Lloyd asked tentatively.

He was happy to see her, and almost as happy to ignore their fight. But he was too worried about Kai for that. He’d risk setting her off for the chance to hear that his brother was safe and sound. He had chosen to go after Zane first as a strictly tactical decision, but he was still beside himself over Kai and their unresolved fight was weighting on him still.

Nya huffed and threw the edge of her skirt.

“I am. Turns out Chen is Mr. C. Ironically, Zane and Kai need rescued from the same place.” Nya was clearly angry with that fact.

Jay and Lloyd exchanged a worried look.

“We were starting to think that, but we weren’t sure.” Jay admitted.

It would be awfully convenient to be able to rescue them both at the same time, but there were too many uncomfortable questions to be happy with the news.

“But Cole didn’t find Kai. He only found Zane.” Lloyd said, fighting with his tears.

He didn’t want to cry. He wanted to be strong and proud like the Green Ninja, not crying and desperate like a little kid, but the stress and fear was starting to pull him apart. He wanted his brothers back.

“Chen must be keeping him somewhere else.” Jay reasoned.

“But why?” Lloyd asked.

Garmadon’s veins had flooded with terror.

Not only did Chen have Kai, but he wasn’t keeping Kai with his other prisoners. He’d coaxed Kai into his domain under friendly pretenses. He wasn’t flaunting Kai or using him as a bargaining chip. There was only one conclusion that could be reached. The thought turned everything in Garmadon’s stomach sour as spoiled milk.

They hadn’t seen Kai in his ranks, but Chen was known for loving his dramatic reveals.

“Chen isn’t keeping Kai with Zane because he has other plans for him.” Garmadon said in a dread drenched voice.

All three kids stared at him. Garmadon wasn’t usually a fearful man, or even one to let his voice shake. The gravity of the situation was becoming clear.

“What other plans could he have?” Lloyd asked in a small voice.

First Master he was so small. Too small to hear about these things. Garmadon didn’t want to explain this to his son. He didn’t want to think about it. He most of all didn’t want it to be true, but the facts were as clear as a knife to the heart.

“Son….Chen is….A very charismatic man.” He said painfully “He is very fond of finding the young, vulnerable, and preferably powerful, and….”

“And what? Hurting them?” Lloyd asked, frustrated with the lack of a clear point.

It just broke Garmadon’s heart all the more to be reminded of how young his son was.

“No, son. Well…technically, but no.” Garmadon wished he had simple answers “Sometimes, when people are lost, people like Chen will take advantage of them. Like he…did with me.”

“Dad, what are you saying?” Lloyd asked.

The worst news of his life. That’s what. Was this how Wu must’ve felt telling Misako that her husband and father to her son had been trapped in the underworld?

“Kai may not realize how much trouble he’s in.” Garmadon tried.

He wanted to be a gentle as he could. He didn’t want to hurt Lloyd anymore than the situation already would.

“What does that mean? Like he doesn’t know Chen’s evil?” Lloyd asked, so innocently.

First Master Garmadon wanted to persevere that. But the world had a way of devouring innocence.

“In a way.” Garmadon sighed “Lloyd, I want you kids to be prepared for the worst.”

“What’s ‘the worst’?” Jay asked in a small voice of his own.

It didn’t sound right in his normally boisterous mouth. It did sound right coming from his young scared face though. Nya’s face matched him with a similar look. Garmadon’s heart broke further realizing he was shattering something for all three of these kids.

Garmadon sighed and ran a hand over his face. He was starting to feel his age.

“Chen is a master manipulator. After being here alone with him for so long, there’s no telling what he’s managed to do to Kai’s mind. Especially with how vulnerable he was when he first came here…”

Garmadon was picturing the worst.

“Are you saying he might’ve turned Kai against us?” Jay asked nervously.

Garmadon didn’t want to answer that question. He wanted to tell Jay that it was an irrational fear and nothing more. But avoidance was his brother’s vice. Garmadon had sworn that he would arm his kids with all the information he had to give. The alternative had only served to make them easy targets for Chen in the first place.

“Yes, Jay. Chen has done it before. There is a very real chance we may find Kai unwilling to leave Chen’s side.” Garmadon said with his shoulders sagging in defeat.

Jay and Nya looked disgusted.

Lloyd sat quietly for a moment before speaking.

“No.” he whispered.

“Lloyd.” Garmadon said, trying to hug him again.

Lloyd threw him off.

“No!” he was nearly shouting. “No! He wouldn’t do that!”

“Lloyd, Chen has ways to get into people’s heads.” Garmadon tried to explain.

He needed Lloyd to understand.

“I don’t care. You’re wrong! Kai would never do that!” Lloyd snapped.

He stood up from the table, launching everyone’s eyes onto himself.

“I’m done. I’m going back to my room.” He announced, glaring daggers at Chen.

He then stormed off. Garmadon sighed. It seemed that his son had picked up a few bad habits from his uncle.

Garmadon hoped with his entire being that he was wrong, and that Lloyd wouldn’t have to face the heartbreak of seeing a loved one being ensnared by a man like Chen.

Everyone soon turned back to their own food.

“You really think…?” Jay whispered.

“I don’t know. It’s possible, and if it comes to that, you’ll need to be prepared.” Garmadon said sadly “But first thing is first. We must find him.”

“On it.” Nya said, starting to walk away.

“Wait!” Jay yelled, reaching after her.

He yelled loud enough to get everyone to look at him. Chen’s sharp eyes were digging into his skin and his men were eyeing Jay up and down with suspicion.

Nya froze, hoping Jay didn’t just blow her cover. So many eyes on him and no script. Jay didn’t have time to panic. He had to say something. He had to maintain Nya’s cover.

He just had to improv. Just like had plenty of times when some piece of equipment went down, or the contestant had an issue, or someone in the live audience was trying to be funny. He knew how to do this. He had just never done it with such high stakes.

Oh small breath to steel his nerves, and he went for the first thing he thought of.

“I um…wanted some more of those!” Jay said meekly, pointing to the egg roll platter next to Nya.

Nya quickly grabbed it and brought it over. Her cover was a servant after all, it didn’t look weird for Jay to make a request. No one blinked at him, they all just went back to what they were doing. Even Chen shrugged and lost interest within a second.

Crisis averted.

Nya was looking at him expectantly as he grabbed two egg rolls off the platter to maintain his excuse for calling her back.

“Clouse has a spell on page 149 of his spell book. We don’t know much about it, just that it’s important to Chen’s plan.” Jay explained in a low voice.

“Got it. Meanwhile, you need to find the spy in your alliance.” Nya explained.

“Spy?” Jay asked.

“I heard some of the other Kabuki gossiping about it. Someone you trust is giving information to Chen.” Nya said, acting like she was adjusting her grip on the heavy platter to buy her a few more suspicion free seconds.

“Good to know.” Jay said, holding his hand over the plate like he was debating grabbing one more.

“You find your spy while I go spell hunting, and hopefully figure out where Kai is.” she said.

“Got it” Jay said

He gave her a dismissive gesture to continue to charade of her just doing her job. Nya danced away to hide in with the group of legitimate kabuki servants.


Cole waited until he was sure that the banquet was over and done with. He wanted to give his message the best chance to get to Jay and Lloyd.

The guard that came back with “left overs” confirmed when it was.

Cole had his eye on the guard stuffing his face with egg rolls. He was the one with the keys. Cole just had to get close enough to him to grab them. His best bet was to cause a scene. It would likely get him thrown back in his cell and left alone, which would give him time to escape.

Plus Cole made a promise to himself.

“It’s time.” he said, a quick warning to Karloff.

“If you get out, don’t forget about Karloff.” he said wistfully.

“Promise.” Cole said “Now, I’ve been waiting to do this for a long time!”

Cole leaped over the conveyor belt and ran for the noodles. He told himself he was going to eat the food before he escaped to spite Clouse, and he meant it.

Cole laughed as he ducked, dodged and rolled around the factory, eating and taunting the guards as he did. He would let himself get grabbed when his target got close enough to do it, but until that moment, Cole was enjoying being a nuisance.

First Master, how long had it been since he did anything fun?

For his finale, Cole decided to swing from a rope of noodles across the room right into his target’s arms...And burp in his face. And ask for cake. Just because it was funny.

Of course he was very roughly dragged back to his cell and tossed in, but Cole had no regrets. He’d gotten what he needed and had blast doing it. Now all he had to do was get back to Zane.

He barely even waited for the guards to leave before pulling out the ring of keys. They were heavy, making a deep clanking noise as he picked through them to unlock his cell door.

Once he got out into the open hall, Cole switched to holding the keys themselves instead of the ring to stop the sound from possibly giving him away. Walking towards Zane’s cell silently, he resisting the urge to start whistling again.

He was almost home free. He was almost with Zane again. Then they just had to get out and they could go find Kai.

Speaking of the hothead, Cole was still keeping an eye out for him, just in case. If Chen was keeping Zane in his own cell away from the others, Kai could be somewhere in the maze of corridors too.

Boy, would Kai be happy to find out that they found Zane. Plus he and Jay had finally buried the hatchet. No more of the fighting that had driven Kai away in the first place. There was nothing left keeping him from coming back. They could all go back to being a team.

Cole finally reached Zane’s cell and let the keys jingle again while he fought with the old hinges.

Zane was asleep? Powered off? Cole wasn’t exactly sure how that worked, but he did know he was so happy to see the guy again.

“Zane!” he yelled in delight as he crossed the cell.

Zane was cuffed to the wall. Luckily, it seemed that Cole’s keys worked on those locks too. He didn’t wait for Zane to say anything before he got to work on them.

“Cole?” Zane asked in near disbelief “You’ve returned.”

Oh no. Cole wasn't letting anymore friends doubt their value. No more of that, ever.

“Of course I did!” Cole said “I made a promise, and I missed you so much! Come here you you shiny new tin can!”

Cole wished he still had his super strength, but a standard bear hug would have to do. Cole put all his feelings into it and was so happy to see Zane smile.

“Can you feel the love?” he asked.

“No.” Zane said bluntly.

Ok, ouch.

“But the longer we stand here, the shorter time we have to escape.” Zane explained, already on the move.

Oh right, Cole supposed it was only a matter of time before the guard noticed that his keys were missing and put the pieces together.

“You know you were always the smart one!” Cole said.

He was going to make sure all of his friends knew how much they meant to him. Cole would shout all their praises from mountain tops if he had to. He wasn’t going to let someone like Chen prey on his friends insecurities ever again.

“Let’s go!” he said cheerfully, barely looking both ways before running ahead.

Zane looked at Cole carefully for a moment, trying to decide if the chipper attitude was out of character enough to be worth mentioning.

He decided not and followed along without a word. Even if Cole was different, it could easily be explained as a result of Zane’s death. He had exploded right in front of all his friends and that was a pretty traumatic thing for them to experience. It was bound to make some changes.

Zane wondered how else his friends would be different and found himself very sad. He actually hated the idea that someone he loves could’ve been changed in his absence. That he would be meeting someone new and not the friend he parted with. It was even more distressing to think that his departure could’ve played a part in doing it to them.

Zane loved his brothers exactly how they were. He loved the family he had given his life to protect and the thought of them being different made him surprisingly upset.

But wasn’t that hypocritical? After all, he was different; his titanium body shiny like a new car. Why was he allowed to change, but they weren’t?

Maybe he feared not changing enough to keep up. His brothers would age and grow and change in irreversible ways while he stayed relatively preserved. He would remain recognizably the same and they would distort until they didn’t even resemble the people he had first meet them as.

The thought of watching it happen was dreadful enough, but the idea of any of it happening without him? There was something about it that churned a stomach Zane didn’t have.

But before he could dissect his fear any more, an alarm sounded. Their head start had officially ended.


It took a bit of work to ask were Clouse’s study was without sounding suspicious, but once Nya figured that out it wasn’t hard to get the answer from someone, along with some extra gossip and a warning to stay out of it.

One more reason she didn’t want to get caught.

She waited until the hallway was good and abandoned before she tried the door. Luck on her side, it was unlocked.

She carefully tip toed in. Clouse’s spell book was in the middle of the room and not hidden away, so another point of luck for Nya.

She turned through the pages until she got to page 149, finding a spell to turn a group of people into Anacondrai like beings.

Nya gasped. So that was Chen’s plan. The Serpentine war all over again.

Before she could finish processing the information, Nya heard footsteps confidently approaching. She would be so busted if she was found in Clouse’s study. She had learned that it was a strict rule that no one was to go in without Clouse’s explicit permission. According to the gossip, the last time someone went in without permission, he had been starved and tortured with sensory deprivation for three days.

Speaking of thirds, luck found her a third time. Another set of fast footsteps came from the other direction and bought her a few seconds to hide.

“There’s been a breach in the factory!” someone said “Master Cole has gone missing!”

So Cole had made his move. Lloyd had mentioned that he’d found Zane. Nya wished them the same luck she’d been having and ripped the page out of the book. Jay and Lloyd would need hard proof if they wanted to out maneuver Chen. Chen may’ve been a master with his words, but no tongue, no matter how silver, could dispute physical evidence.

Next, Nya had to hide. She had been blessed with a few more seconds, but it wasn’t going to last.

Closing the book, she ducked behind a bookcase and hoped that Clouse didn’t need anything from the one she chose.

“Release my pet!” Clouse ordered “She’ll make sure he doesn’t escape.”

That didn’t sound good. Nya wished Cole and Zane luck another time before the doors opened.

“Now where were we?” Clouse asked.

“We were just checking on our Firebrand.” Chen said, following behind.

Nya’s ears perked up a the name.

“Right.” Clouse moaned as he crossed the room “As I was saying, your prize is safe. I assure you, even if the ninja discovered we have him in the first place, and even if they somehow also learned that we were keeping him in my study and not the dungeons like the other Elemental Masters, they still would have no way to break my sleeping spell.”

Clouse pressed a hidden button on the wall. A hidden compartment opened next to it, it was just big enough for the bed they had in there, and the sleeping person on it.

Nya bit down to stop herself from saying anything. Kai was laying there helplessly. She hadn’t seen her brother in so long and he was just a few feet from her, but she couldn’t do anything. All she could do was look him over for any signs of injury and note that he was, in fact, breathing.

Overall he looked no worse than he usually did. A few bruises and healing scraps dotting him, it wasn’t alarming to see. It looked like Chen hadn’t hurt him much, if at all. Which was already making Nya want to cry form relief. At least one nightmare; of finding Kai being tortured in a dark cell, was put to bed.

Still, when Chen reached a hand towards Kai’s face, Nya stifled a noise of anger and alarm.

All he did was gently stroke the side of Kai’s face. That was almost worse.

“Clousey, you don’t get to be where I am by underestimating your enemies!” Chen explained in a sing song. “I just wanted to make sure that he was where he was supposed to be.”

“I assure you, Master, he is secure. Even if the ninja find him, they won’t get far. Your daughter is the only one that has the ability to wake him.” Clouse said.

So Chen hadn’t lied to Kai about his daughter.

Nya almost gagged as she remembered that Kai had started a romantic relationship with her. That meant he was dating Chen’s daughter. That wasn’t going to be fun to deal with. Emotions were going to get sticky when everything was said and done.

Nya did note that Chen’s daughter, whoever she was, would be the only one that could wake Kai up. They’d have to figure out who and where she was before they could get Kai back.

“I know. I trust your magic, Clouse. I just want to be sure that everything is in place for act three. Things won’t be nearly as fun without our Firebrand here.” Chen laughed, still petting Kai’s face.

The sight was making Nya sick. She was certain that if Kai were awake, he’d be demanding Chen not touch him.

But Kai wasn’t awake. He was completely vulnerable and Chen could do as he pleased.

There was a deep pit in her guts that was violently rejecting the idea. A part of Nya that had always seen Kai as untouchable. He was a pillar of strength for her since she was tiny. She’d seen him take every responsibility with squared shoulders and never falter. When things got hard, Kai fought.

When their parents disappeared, Kai had fought to take care of her. When money got tight, Kai fought to keep them afloat. When she was taken by super natural forces, Kai had fought those too.

And the important thing was, that he always won.

Even when he was fighting uphill and everything was against him, he still pushed on. Nya had never seen Kai so vulnerable. Hurt? Yes. Weakened? Sure. Losing? Even that. But never helpless.

Seeing Chen do something so invasive, even something benign, was going in the face of everything she’d ever known her brother to be. It rocked her world view in a way she wasn’t ready to contend with.

“Well I’m satisfied!” Chen announced, finally letting go of Kai’s face. “I don’t want to leave anything to chance here. Let’s go back now.”

Clouse pressed the button on the wall and Kai was hidden behind the wall again.

“Of course, Master.” Clouse said, following Chen out the door.

He paused at his spell book though, looking over it and frowning. He picked the thing up and left.

Nya breathed a sigh in relief and carefully stepped out of her hiding spot. She could just barely hear Chen’s words as he walked down the hallway. She didn’t catch all of it, but she did catch the important back.

“Firebrand.”

Kai. Kai was Firebrand. Kai was Chen’s nasty surprise. Kai was the juicy piece of gossip the kubuki were all snickering about. Nya shook from rage, but she shoved it away. She had something more important.

She crept over to the button on the wall and pressed it. He brother was revealed once again.

Finally alone, Nya allowed herself to choke out a small sob. Kai was so motionless. It didn’t suit him. Kai normally fussed in his sleep, turning and twitching. Nya could always tell when he was pretending to be asleep because he was too still.

She reached down and very gently touched his face. It was more tender than Chen had done, not even hard enough to leave any of her body paint behind. Where Chen had done it out of possessiveness, Nya was doing it out of love and longing.

She had missed Kai so much. When he left she had told herself not to be selfish, but she wasn’t used to being away from him. They’d never been so far away for so long. His absence had stung every time she had wanted to tell him some dumb joke or rant about her day.

Where as Zane’s death had been all the pain at once, Kai’s absence was death by a thousand cuts. Nya could deal with Zane’s death and move on. It was the mounting sorrow and yearning that hurt more each day that got her. Instead of getting easier, it got harder.

Nya had finally reunited with Kai, but he wasn’t really there to meet her. He was still trapped. Nya felt useless, standing there with nothing to do but stroke his face.

The warmth of his skin comforted her. He wasn’t gone forever, just out of reach. She just had to do a little more work before she could rescue him, but she was close. She knew where he was and what she needed.

“I’ll come back for you.” Nya whispered. “I promise. I’m not going to abandon you.”

A part of her always blamed her parents for everything. Kai swears that they were good people that loved them, but Nya sometimes couldn’t find it in herself to forgive them. They left, and while it hadn’t hurt too much for her, the scars it left on Kai were something that Nya hated them for. She would never abandon him like they had. She had sworn it to herself the first time she saw the look of pain on his face when she mentioned moving out someday.

As much as she hated, hated, tethering herself like that, giving up her freedom, it was a sacrifice she was willing to make over and over again for her brother, and only her brother. Kai had given up so much for her. What sort of sister would she be if she couldn’t do the same in return?

Nya gave him a quick kiss on the forehead and reluctantly hid him again.

Opening communications with Dareth, she updated him on what she had found while she headed out of the room, carefully making sure she wasn’t seen. Her next move was getting Clouse’s spell to the others so they could put an end to Chen’s tournament.

Then she was rescuing her brother.


 

Notes:

Ok so I lied. Technically speaking, Kai was there. But unconscious Kai doesn't count!

I am very tired. I've been writing Part Two for over a year. Technically speaking Act 2 is "done", but it's too fresh to do any proper editing. I want to get at least half of Part Three written before I touch it. If this experience has taught me anything, it's that I am completely capable of writing a novel, which I have started to do.

My point here being, this was a LOT of work. I have been overcome with the urge to set it all on fire multiple times. No one warns you about that btw. When you put thousands of hours into something and it's still not done, you get the urge to destroy it. You love it and you're proud of it, but you also want to throw it out a window and never look at it again.

My ACTUAL point being: comment. Please. It helps shut the brain gremlins up. I do this half for the free therapy, half to play with my blorpos, and half for the validation.

Now, for the love of all that is right in the world USE THE BATHROOM! STRECH YOUR LEGS! GET A DRINK!! BREATHE!! LIVE!!!

-Ivy