Chap 4

Jay sat with Lloyd and Garmadon to his right as he watched Skylor and Jacob begin their fight. Kai was nowhere to be found as the Master of Amber and Master of Sound moved around. Jay wasn't all that interested in the fight as he fidgeted with a coin in his pocket. The fight was over in a matter of minutes and Chen announced Skylor as the winner.

"I will now bestow upon you all untold riches and shiny things," Chen spoke up, gaining the attention of everyone in the room as he held up a tray of glittering gemstones and gold rings and necklaces, "But, with Jay and Cole having teamed up yesterday to try and undermine this fight, you will get nothing, and your private quarters are taken away, you all will sleep in the cafeteria until i state otherwise."

"Aw c'mon, i didn't do anything but help a friend out," Jay whined softly as he pocketed his hands.

"It's fine Jay, we're still a team, and we can get through this," Lloyd replied as he rested a hand on Jay's shoulder, but Jay's inner fears struck back.

"How can you be so sure? Now we don't even know where Cole is, and and Zane is still a big mystery!" Jay bit back, sighing as he stood up and began following the other masters out if the arena.

Kai waited for them near the exit, bit before he could speak Jay held up his hand, "Kai, I do not want to hear about whatever you were doing to make you late."

"What if I said Cole's going to be okay," Kai responded back, shrugging.

"Wait what? How do you know?" Jay lowered his voice and continued walking.

"I'll fill you all in when we find somewhere private, so what's wrong with everyone else?" Kai asked as he walked to Jay's left.

"Ah, Chen says that me and Cole were trying to overthrow him so everyone is upset because we no longer have our rooms and we all have to sleep in the cafeteria now," Jay explained as he rubbed arms, "you're not going to be upset are you?"

"Why would I? I mean the only good thing about my room was the medicine cabinet and secret passageway," Kai shrugged back, "you feelin' alright?"

Jay looked away as thought for a moment. He'd been feeling pretty stressed out, but knowing that Cole would be okay eased his mind a tad bit, but the way Kai spoke just make Jay's shoulders tense up more. Jay wasn't the best at figuring people out, he left that to Cole's gut instinct and Zane's almost always accurate mood predictions. "Yeah I'm fine."

"You know you can talk to me, right?" Kai spoke back, slumping his shoulders in an odd sign of lowering his guard. Jay paused for a moment and wondered when Kai last lowered his guard towards Jay, but he found it to be the time Nya had initially turned Jay's flirting attempts down, and Kai turned around and hung out with him to try and lift his spirits.

"You said that when you were hopped up on caffeine that one time, and whenever i would go to you afterward, you were always too busy with something else!" Jay snapped back, "Now could you please just tell us about Cole!"

Kai's body shivered for a split second before his shoulders bunched back up and he looked on ahead, "He's alive, but his power has been taken from him." Kai avoided eye contact as he stared into space, "Chen has a staff made to look like a snake, but in the skeletal jaws there's a gemstone that can remove someone's element from them, any bonus power the element gave them included."

"What?" Jay gasped as he gripped his left hand onto Kai's shoulder, earning a hiss from Kai as he reeled back. Jay was startled to how quickly Kai was to vanish into thin air without another word. Unease began to build up in Jay's stomach again, leading him to cross his arms and tap his fingers on his biceps, "Fine, didn't want to hear about Cole anyway."

"This whole team thing is falling apart right beneath us," Lloyd grumbled as he pocketed his hands and frowned at the floor, his head hung low. Jay gazed over towards his brother, and could swear he saw Kai watching Lloyd from off in the corner the cafeteria room.

"And i really wish someone would stay a lot more trustworthy since we're down another team member," Jay found himself pointedly aiming his words into Kai's sore shoulder, but Jay didn't even bother looking in Kai's direction as he kept moving forward.

"Good morning contestants," Clouse spoke up through the room, waking up the light sleepers with just his voice, but a lesser man banged on a gong to wake up the others who slept a little deeper. Clouse gestured his hand and a few grunts made their way into the room as Clouse continued on, "Oh i'm sorry, it's the middle of the night."

"Hey!" Lloyd gasped as he sat up in bed.

Jay gasped as a grunt strapped something onto his feet, but upon looking down Jay's spirit was lifted, "Oh cool! Roller skates, I love roller skating!" Jay was quick to jump to the floor, testing out his new wheeled kicks. He spun around with glee as he rolled around the cafeteria, he made his way back to Lloyd who looked to be talking with Kai, which was weird because Jay would have sworn he just passed kai after the master of fire slipped onto the floor.

"I guess this is one of Chen's weird battles," Lloyd rolled his eyes as he glanced over at Jay.

"Master Chen wants everyone to be in the royal arena, and i wouldn't be late getting there," Clouse replied.

"But what if we already had our battle?" Skylor asked, skating up to Chen with Kai gently holding onto her shirt for support.

Jay quickly looked back to Lloyd only to find that 'Kai' vanished from view, it gave him the shivers as he looked back towards Clouse and the gathering crowd.

"Only two of you will be fighting, the rest get to affect the outcome," Clouse stated ominously.

"Who's fighting?!" Griffin spoke up excitedly as he rolled towards Clouse.

Clouse merely beckoned them all to follow, "The Green Ninja versus the Master of Form."

Everyone began following, one by one they rolled down the hallway with Clouse's henchmen. Jay got bad vibes from the whole thing, especially since Kai carefully rolled to Skylor's side, but Jay would be damned if Lloyd didn't win this round.

"C'mon, we've got this," he nodded to Lloyd, skating ahead as Lloyd followed to his side.

"Is it just me or has Kai taken, a special liking to Skylor?" Lloyd asked, seemingly trying for a joke to lighten the mood.

"Ha, yeah, i think he finally found his type, i just hope his hotheadedness gets in the way of that. We should really be sticking together now more than anything," Jay sighed as the group as a whole moved down a dark corridor that opened up into a massive arena built just for roller skating events.

"So who's this master of Form anyway?" Lloyd spoke over the loud 70's music that played.

Jay was about to answer, but Chen spoke up first, "Welcome to THUNDERBLADE!" Che's voice echoed across the area, only being deafened by the music, "My favorite of all the events! A jadeblade for you Lloyd," Chen threw a jade dagger to the green ninja, who quickly captured it in his hand, "And another for - ah, Camille, where are you?"

Camille revealed herself and Chen smiled, tossing the knife to her.

"The rules are simple!" Chen continued on, "Each lap with a jadeblade in your hands earns you one point, and most points before time expires, you win!"

"Whoa, wait, what about the rest of us?" Griffin asked the most obvious elephant on the course.

"You get to help or hurt whomever you wish, You're free to choose sides though, i'm not a dictator," Chen smiled, a smile that dripped venom from the teeth. Jay didn't like that grin one bit, in fact it reminded him of Kai's old smiles when they all first met one another back in Sensei Wu's old monastery.

Jay watched solemnly as many of the other contestants chose Camille's side, wearing orange helmets to match hers. Lloyd and Jay picked up green helmets while Kai and Skylor adorned their crowns in green as well. It came as a bit of a shock that Kai would still team up with him and Lloyd, but it was heartwarming to know that even when the ninja of fire build a wall of ice, he still offered a bit of heat.

"Ready to wipe the other team's asses?" Kai smirked as he rolled past Jay. He seemed to be getting better at the whole rollerskating thing.

"I was born ready!" Jay amended as he grabbed onto Kai's left hand, quickly shaking his comrade's sweating palm before disengaging and joining the others on the starting line.

"Thanks for joining us, Skylor," Lloyd smiled as he held a hand out to Kai's new friend.

"Of course, Kai told me what was happening and i think it would be best if the others knew, We'll be helping you as well as turning them to our side," Skylor smiled warmly as he shook hands with Lloyd and joined Kai and Jay at the starting line.

Everyone was all lined up now, Chen was announcing the start of the battle. Lloyd felt a bit uneasy as he gazed ahead, waiting for the first blaring noise to signal him and Camille to start the race. The others would stay behind until the second horn would blow, and then the real chaos would begin. Chen rambled on and on as he spun his chair, then the horn bellowed and Lloyd was quick to get skating.

Stock sound of a crowd cheering emanated from the PA systems, making Lloyd roll his eyes as he listened for the second horn. What felt like ages came and the horn announced the coming of everyone else, but Lloyd kept himself focused, dodging attacks when he could and staying close to the left most side of the rink.

Lloyd lost track of his score, fighting his way to butt through a wall the opponents had made, but not that many seemed to be opposing him anymore, in fact it seemed like some began turning against Camille. The green ninja was thrown out of his mind when the floor suddenly rose from under him, turning into a ramp and throwing him a lot further than he would have liked, but he was quick to balance himself and keep on his feet.

The master of shadow vanished from ahead on him, Jay rushed forward and tried to be of aid, but something rough smacked into Lloyd's back, sending him onto his face. He lost his jadeblade which was picked up by Paleman, but a surprising sight was Kai ramming Paleman off the rink while laying claim over the jadeblade. Kai threw the blade back towards Jay who swiftly handed it to Lloyd.

"Keep a good grip on it next time?" Jay asked, his voice sharp. It stung a bit to hear that, but Lloyd shook it off as battle pressure.

"I will, i will," Lloyd responded as he skated ahead of Jay.

Suddenly Lloyd heard the sound of a roaring engine behind him, but before he could look Jay shoved him aside as a condrai crusher drove past, with Camille holding onto the tail of it.

"OH COME ON! She gets a lift!?" Lloyd roared as he and Jay try to catch up to the buggy.

A loud snarl suddenly found itself between their heads, "I've got an idea, You two hold hands, and get ready to be launched," Kai spoke, his presence radiating heat while his breath smoked of wood smoke.

Jay and Lloyd instead locked their elbows together, to which kai made an approving grunt before spinning himself around. All Lloyd could feel for a moment was blistering heat, then he was almost separated from Jay's arm as the force of Kai's fire propelled them forward. The three of them hurtled through a few of the still opposing elemental masters, before catching up with the buggy, and Lloyd grabbed onto the tail of the snake themed car after shoving Camille off.

Kai fell back once his fire ran out, doing what he could to continue skating behind Jay and Lloyd. Lloyd nodded to Jay and the master of lightning left the green ninja's side, aiding the others in keeping Camille from advancing. The green ninja watched as Kai played dirty while Skylor and Jay were whispering seeds of revolution into the other elemental masters.

Lloyd had lost track of time and realized he had won the impromptu battle, Chen had a hissy fit which was something Kai giggled about to Lloyd's left. Camille was declared the loser and was dropped through a trapdoor, one that others were quick to avoid.