Holy shoot everyone, that's a lot of reviews! Thank you so much! :D Still taking suggestions for the 100 follower celebration~

FullMetalPon-3: Thanks! The next two chapters are the finales of part 1, so things will be getting even crazier :D

Watcher321: Haha, you might be surprised!

NaninaDaPanda: Garmadon has been my favorite person to write so far- aside from the Kai and Zane parts in chapter 31 (pfft I just realized I wrote Kai as Mustang there).

Perona: Ay! Thanks!

CrazyRedmanelion: YOURE BACK :D (I totally did not read that in Mushu's voice what?) And I miss the spirit dragons too. Maybe they'll be back...

Diana-The-Parakeet-29: Wu is coming at this problem with the mindset of dragons as intelligent, sure, but not as critical-thinking creatures who fully comprehend emotions or relationships (less Toothless, more the dragons from the first couple seasons of Ninjago). There's no reason for him to think the dragons would take sides, much less be on theirs.

Kai's headaches/synesthesia come when he's either overexposed to emotions or over-extends his empathy powers like he did when he first got his powers and then last chapter, when he cauterized Jay's wounds (see the link in my profile).

RandomDragon: Garmy is the best :D

Sunny Lighter: Hey, thanks for reminding me to update there! And thanks for your kind review!

Previously on Skyward:

Nya whirled around. "Jay! You're awake!"

Lloyd bolted into the room. He pulled the curtain closed and fell back against the nearby stand. "My Dad's here. We have to get out of here right now!"

Garmadon's eyes widened. "Lloyd? What are you doing here? I've been looking for you!"

Sensei Wu gave him a disappointed look. "Hmm? Perhaps you have allowed yourselves to slack off in my absence. A dragon was seen several days ago, attacking a village in Eastern Ninjago. I was wrong, in my youth, to trust them as the guardians of my father's Golden Weapons. For the good of the people, they must be contained."

Cole's mood twisted. "Fine. I'll go get the Fangblade in the morning."

Autumn was in full swing.

Cole pulled his hoodie tighter around himself as he stepped down from the bus. Leaves crunched under his feet. The sun, not yet risen over the buildings, did little to dispel the chill in the air and when he exhaled, his breath turned to mist.

Cole looked up and down the road. First Spinjitzu Master, but I'm back here again. There, on his left- the Town Hall where the Blade Cup was stored before the talent show each year. He checked the road again and started walking. I literally cannot escape this place.

Cole crossed the road. Dust blew up in his face as the wind picked up and he leaned against a post, eyes watering. Heck. What I wouldn't do for a pair of sunglasses right now.

His fingers brushed against paper. Huh? Cole pulled back. What's this? He blinked. Stapled to the post was a flier for the talent show- not unusual in and of itself- but tacked to the bottom of that was a notice. Cole leaned in for a closer look.

"TALENT SHOW POSTPONED," proclaimed the little slip of yellow paper, "DUE TO MISSING TROPHY."

Dang it! Cole glared at the poster. Missing trophy, my butt. The serpentine must have nabbed it first. So that gives them… three now? He tapped his fingers against his forehead. Cole, you absolute idiot. I should have grabbed it while I had the chance.

Cole took a deep breath. You can't do anything about it now, Cole. Just do better next time. He checked his watch. Eight-thirty. Zane wasn't due for another half-hour.

Cole wandered. He had a vague plan to kill time in the marketplace, but when he looked up, he was standing feet away from his front door. What? Unease settled in the pit of Cole's stomach. Why am I back here again? Stupid autopilot brain. He turned to go back down the street.

Still-

Cole hesitated, not entirely believing what he was about to do. He stepped up to the house and took the key from its hiding place. And he creaked the door open.

Cole stuck his head in, listening. The house was silent. Good. He must be out then. He eased the door all the way open and kicked his boots off beside the mat.

"Cole?"

Cole froze. I knew it was too easy! He turned slowly around.

His dad stood in the hallway, a dark silhouette against the window light. "Cole. You're back?"

"Not for long, so don't get your pants all up a twist." Cole crossed his arms over his chest, then uncrossed them with a sigh. "Look, I'm just here for my stuff." He pushed past him towards the stairs. "I didn't think you were home, but just give me a minute and I'll be out of your hair."

"Cole-" There was a sigh from behind him. "Where did I go wrong with you?"

Cole bristled. "Go wrong with me?" He whirled around, one hand on the banister. "You're giving yourself way to much credit, Dad. I'm the one who's always messing things up. My choices are my own. That's not your problem."

"Still." There was some unidentifiable emotion in his dad's eyes. Cole wished, not for the first time, that he had Kai's empath powers. "I know I wasn't the best father to you."

And what the heck was Cole supposed to do with that? Comfort him? Agree? "You did what you could," he finally settled on, seething at the fact that he was once again the one apologizing.

"What I did wasn't enough. I know this, Cole, and I know I've hurt you by keeping secrets."

"You know?" Cole said incredulously, his restrain fraying like a taut rope. "It's more than that, Dad." He breathed out and stepped down off the stairs. This was shaping up to be one of those long talks. "I can't trust you with my own issues because you're always so judgmental of everything!" The floor beneath him trembled and he fought to put a lid on his temper.

"I'm not judgmental!"

"Yes, you are! You're always criticizing what I do. I mean, I can't even bring up something for discussion without you shooting me down!"

"Give me an example."

Cole huffed. "Well, I don't have one right now! I haven't seen you in months!"

His dad leaned on his cane, frowning. Cole groaned, throwing his hands in the air as he turned away. "Forget about it, okay? I'll be gone in a minute anyway and you can go right back to hating me."

"I don't hate you, Cole," said his dad, sounding shocked. Cole looked down at him automatically. "You're my son."

Cole snorted. "Yeah, sure. Keep telling yourself that, but I remember what I said at the bar and I'm not expecting forgiveness."

"That doesn't matter. Cole, look at me. You're my son. I love you so much. And nothing you say or do can ever change that."

"You'd be surprised at the things I can do," Cole said, and he hated how his voice cracked in the middle. "Don't say ever until you know what you're getting into."

"It doesn't matter," his dad repeated. "We're family. We can get through whatever is weighing your conscience down- together."

And Cole- Cole was so tired of pretending. "Okay?" he said. "Okay. Together." He sucked in a breath. Nothing I say or do can make him stop lo- make him stop loving me. "Okay. You want to know the truth? Last fall, when you thought I went off to MOSPA, I actually ran away."

He felt his dad's eyes on him, but Lou didn't say anything. Cole paused. "Well, aren't you gonna yell at me?"

"I told you I would listen and I plan to keep that promise." His dad frowned. "But maybe we can move this discussion to the couch? My knee isn't happy when I put weight on it too long."

"Oh, yeah, sure!" Cole hurried to the sitting room, mentally berating himself. C'mon, Cole, get yourself together! "Sorry." And stop apologizing, dang it!

His dad either didn't hear or ignored his last word. "So you ran away."

"Yeah. I hitchhiked for a while and picked up rock climbing. I was actually trying to beat my height record when I met this old man..."

And so the story spilled out. Now that he had started talking, Cole couldn't stop. "We were on the way to get the weapons back from the skeletons when-" He closed his eyes. Breathe in, breathe out. "When me and Zane found a dragon in the woods."

Cole knew the second the words registered with his dad. His eyebrows shot up and he sat straighter, a split second away from speaking. But he must have caught sight of Cole's face because he stopped, forehead creasing as if in pain, and made a sharp hand movement to keep going.

"Uh..." Cole said, stunned. "Uh, so we found this dragon, except it wasn't a real dragon. It was our other teammate, Jay."

"What?" His dad had reached the breaking point. Cole was honestly impressed he'd lasted this long. "Your teammate was the dragon?"

"Yeah. I know it sounds insane, but our sensei taught us this martial arts move that turns us into dragons when we use it. Jay had used it against the skeletons right before we found him."

"You said us."

Cole felt his eyes widen. Shoot. I didn't mean to say that. "Us?" he asked, playing dumb.

"Don't mock my intelligence, Cole. You said 'us'. Are you telling me that you're- you're-"

"Yeah." Really, there was no way to avoid it now. Cole sighed. "I'm a dragon."

He braced himself for the shouting. But his dad didn't respond, only stared at him like he was some sort of alien. "Well? Aren't you gonna yell at me now?" Cole crossed his arms, bringing his knees closer to his chest. His dad's eyes tracked the movement. "Dad?"

"You're a dragon. But- but how?"

"It's like I said," said Cole, wary. "We all know this thing called spinjitzu that also turns us into them."

"So you're not really one," his dad said, something shining in his eyes. "You just can take their form."

"Well..." Cole winced. "I mean, kind of? But we all trained under real dragons and have their powers and instincts too."

His dad slouched back in his chair, looking like Cole had just socked him in the chest. "What?" he breathed, looking at some point beside Cole's head. His eyes refocused on him. "What?"

Cole steeled himself. "The training came after Garmadon left. Uh, let me finish that one first."

He told how he'd been captured by snake people and how Kai had tracked him down, in the process discovering he had dangerous instincts. He told how he traveled east and found spirit dragons who trained them.

He told how the serpentine were trying to bring back a big evil snake and how they needed to find the Fangblades before they did to stop them. He told how he and his team had taken in a boy under their collective wing and were training him to be a ninja too.

Cole sat back in his seat. There. Almost everything was out, bared open.

His dad was still silent across from him. Cole fidgeted. He honestly didn't know how to feel. It felt like a weight had been lifted from his chest with the story, but the continued silence was starting to crush him again.

"Look, I know I'm a disappointment." Cole stared at a spot on the carpet. "I know that I'm not what you wanted me to be. But- but I'm happy, Dad. I love what I'm doing now and you can't make me stop."

"I wasn't planning to." Cole's eyes shot up. His dad took a breath. "Cole, after I left the bar, I wandered around town for a long time. And it gave me time to think. I can't say that I approve of you spending your time running around the country on flying ships, but I won't try and stop you this time either. I love you, Cole. You don't have to pretend to get that."

Something was building in Cole's chest, something that made him feel lightheaded and hopeful. He knows. He knows everything now, and yet- He's not gonna make me go back to school.

He looked at his dad, really looked at him. Maybe- just maybe- maybe this can work. Maybe we can work, even if we don't agree all the time.

"Cole?" His dad sat up straight in his chair. Cole turned his eyes to him. "Cole, are you okay? You're glowing!"

Cole closed his eyes. He smiled.

"Fangblade one: buried at Mega Monster Amusement Park." Nya pushed a pin into the board. "Fangblade two: the Serpentine Tomb. And Fangblade three: found by the Serpentine out East."

Jay made a noise in the back of his throat and tried to sit up. Kai took his arm and guided him. "Really, Jay? You sure you feel up to it?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeesh! Kai, you of all people should know that feel fine."

That was a bold-faced lie if Nya had ever heard one. Kai raised an eyebrow at her when Jay looked away, clearly agreeing.

"Look, guys. I'm fine now, alright? You helped me out back there, but I can take care of myself too. And hey- now you just have more blackmail material on me…"

"Jay!" Kai said, sounding horrified. "We would never use this to blackmail you!"

"Yeesh, Kai, it was a joke! Okay?" Jay snapped. His face pulled tight as he tried to hide his full-body wince.

"Jay," said Kai, voice quieter but no less intense. "You're part of our team. We want you here- I want you here!"

"You're not getting rid of us that easily," Nya agreed. She set aside her board. They were sitting in an actual hospital room, Jay having been moved late last night. Cole and Zane had elected to stay with him overnight, while Nya, Kai, and the others had headed back to the Bounty.

Nya had come back early that morning, Kai trailing after her. Cole had given her a salute on his way out, promising to check in after he got the Fangblade. The others would be coming up later to talk about their plans, but she'd wanted to check up on Jay alone as well as brief him beforehand.

Well, some things were more important than a briefing.

"Are you okay, Jay?" she asked.

"Yes. No. It's just-" Jay growled. He didn't meet either of their eyes, biting his lip. "I'm not weak. I promise. I don't want you guys thinking that I'm helpless, or useless, or-or-"

Nya sensed imminent breakdown. "Hey, we don't think that," she hurried to say. "Right, Kai?"

"Of course not. I mean, you'll never be as cool as me, but-"

Nya gave him a sharp look. Kai deflated.

"Sorry, not the time for jokes. Right." He moved around the bed to take Jay's other hand. "But seriously, Jay. I don't think you're weak at all." He shuddered and looked down at the bedsheet pattern. "I don't think I could have got through what you did."

"Thanks, Kai," said Jay, sounding a little choked up. He scrubbed hard at his face.

Kai shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck. "I wouldn't say it if it weren't true."

Nya snorted. "Yeah, because we know you're terrible at lying."

Jay laughed. Little sparks of electricity crackled around his hands. Nya watched them fizzle away, traveling up his arms and shoulders.

"Figure out what powers you have yet?" she asked, redirecting the conversation.

"Haven't really got the chance."

"Cole thought he might have some sort of healing power," Kai said. "Wait- you were there, Nya."

"He said that your power boost was reversing the transformation," Nya said slowly. "A healing power? I guess that would be useful."

Kai shrugged. "We don't know for sure. Maybe all the boosts would do that, but we haven't really checked them."

Nya immediately thought of the boys doing something stupid like jumping off a cliff to test it out. "Let's not do that," she said. "If Cole gets this Fangblade, we'll have enough on our plate just getting rid of it."

"Do you think he will?" Jay asked.

Kai sighed. "I dunno. He's distracted. The last time we were at his hometown, he kinda caused a big scene in the town center."

"In any case, it doesn't hurt to cover all our bases." Nya retrieved her board. She checked her watch. "The others should be here any moment."

"They're about to come up now," Kai relayed. "Oh! And Lloyd said they brought lunch."

Not two minutes later, a familiar blond head peeked into the room.

"Hey, Lloyd," Kai called, waving him over.

"Hey, guys." Lloyd stepped all the way in. He held up a paper bag in one hand and offered a weak smile. "Uh, food?"

"Kid, you're a lifesaver." Jay dropped Kai's hand to summon him with his pointer finger. "I swear if I had to eat any more hospital food I'd just straight up die."

"Well we can't be having that now, can we?" Nya said dryly.

Lloyd moved over. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

Jay grinned a bit tiredly. "I'm okay."

Lloyd gave him a thorough look-over. "Okay." He passed the bag over to Kai, who immediately started divvying it out. "Don't ever do that again? Please? It was awful not knowing if you were okay."

Nya wasn't sure how much of Jay's condition had been shared with Lloyd, and she wasn't about to scare him with it. "Here here," she said.

"You said it," Kai mumbled around a mouthful of fries. He passed a burger over to Nya and dumped some fries onto her notebook. Nya groaned.

"Kai, now there's gonna be grease stains on my paper!"

Kai gave her an innocent face. "Oops. Just be glad they're not soaked in vinegar too."

Nya gasped. "Excuse you, vinegar fries are the best thing ever."

"What? No, they're not. They're evil."

"Children," said a chilling voice- Garmadon's voice- as the dark lord swept into the room. "Bickering, I see."

Nya swore the temperature in the room dropped twenty degrees.

"Ugh, it's you," Jay said. Nya tried not to openly gape at him. What is he thinking? "I was hoping I'd dreamed you up."

If anything, Garmadon's grin only grew wider. "Cheeky little ninja. I like this one." He turned to Kai. "I remember that you used to have spirit. But I suppose that it's been swallowed up by your caution and fear. A true pity."

"No, you useless heap of slag," Kai bit out, "I'm trying to respect your son's wishes."

Garmadon looked taken aback, but only for a moment. Then his grin resettled across his features, only slightly less bright than it had been before. "How considerate of you."

"Have we started yet?" asked Sensei Wu, coming through the door. "I heard voices raised in discussion."

"Not yet, Uncle Wu," Lloyd said. The boy was still casting glances between Kai and his dad, eyes wide. "We can if you're ready."

"That would be good," said Nya, before Garmadon or her brother could start a fistfight in the hospital room. She set her board up against a chair. "So the serpentine have these two Fangblades-" she pointed to each pin- "and Cole's after this one."

She sat back. "According to all our research, the last Fangblade has to be in the Fire Temple." She took a second to gauge their reactions, then continued. "Here's our problem. Assuming the worst, and that Cole can't get his Fangblade, our focus falls to this one. Do we try and beat the serpentine to it, or do we wait and let them do the finding? And even after that, how do we destroy one?"

"Do they know where it is?" asked Sensei Wu.

Nya nodded. "They have a map they were using at Mega Monster. I don't know how specific it is, though."

Garmadon narrowed his eyes. "Do we know how close they are?"

"Close to the Fire Temple?" Nya looked back at the map. "I have no idea. The last place I know for sure they were at is Brooksville, but that was nearly a week ago. They could be anywhere now."

"They're close," came a new voice from the door. Everyone's heads, including Nya's, twisted to see the speaker. Cole leaned up against the doorframe. "They were just in my hometown, right outside of Ninjago City." He paused. "And they took the Fangblade."

"Cole!" shouted Kai. His eyes scanned the earth ninja's face, a look of surprise on his own. "Wait. Did you-"

Cole grinned, a tired one but no less real. "Yeah. Yeah, I think I did."

"Think?" Kai snorted. "C'mon, man. You either did or you didn't!"

"Fine. I did."

"Did what?" asked Lloyd. "Kai, Cole, what's going on?"

"I got my boost, Lloyd."

For a moment, there was silence. Then Lloyd whooped and Jay broke out in a huge grin. "Seriously?" he said. "You couldn't have waited a day after I got my own, let me enjoy some of the novelty and congratulations myself- but noooo."

"What can I say?" Cole stepped into the room. There was a new sash hanging from his waist, kept in place by a brass-colored clasp. "I'm not one to be left behind."

"Congratulations, Cole," Nya said. "That's really cool."

"Thanks, Nya."

Garmadon cleared his throat. "Yes, this is all very touching. Now may we please get back to plotting?"

"Not plotting, my dude," said Jay. "That sounds evil."

Garmadon rolled his eyes back so hard Nya wondered how he didn't immediately get a headache. "It may have escaped your attention, but I am in fact evil."

Lloyd squirmed. Nya took pity on him and tapped her board several times. "We should continue. Cole, how long ago did they take the blade?"

Cole frowned. "Within the last day or so. No earlier than the day before yesterday."

"Crap. Then they're well on their way to the Fire Temple already. Where's Zane?"

"He went to prep the Bounty. We figured you'd want to leave as soon as possible."

"I say we let them do the work," said Jay. "They'll be expecting us to be trying to stop them, right? So they'll probably let their guard down after they get it."

"No way," Kai said immediately. "That's way too risky- that Fangblade can't get anywhere near those snakes. It's the last one- if they get it, it's game over."

"Kai is right," Sensei Wu said. "The Fangblade must be kept from the Serpentine at all costs."

"We might already be too late for that, Sensei," Cole said. "The Fire Temple's not that far from here. What if they already have it?"

"If they already had it, we would know," said Nya. "It's kinda hard to hide a giant snake."

Jay narrowed his eyes. "So that's it, then? We set a course for the Fire Temple and just hope for the best?"

"We are not doing anything." Nya poked him in the chest. "You're staying here while you recover."

"What? No! I'm coming with you!"

"You're not healed yet, Jay," Kai said. "You can barely lift your arms above your head without wincing!"

"So?" Jay retorted. "If this all goes to heck anyway, isn't it better that I'm with you guys and not stuck alone without backup?"

"For Father's sake, just stuff him in one of your ship's cabins!" Garmadon strode across the room. He paused at the door. "Every second we waste increases Pythor's odds of finding the Fangblade. Do you or do you not want to stop him?"

"We're coming!" Cole said. He looked back at the blue ninja, frown lines creasing his forehead. "Fine, Jay. You're coming with us. But you are going to stay on the Bounty. You're not entering the volcano, do you hear?"

"Hear, hear," Jay said. "Now someone help me out of these hospital clothes."