AN: Beta'd by Sunny Lighter.

The ninja had to carefully make their way through the city, avoiding Meowthra, and Garmadon's Generals, who were busy getting the citizens under their control. None of the Ninja had spotted Lloyd anywhere, and so they reconvened downtown.

"Let's go back to Master Wu," Kai told the others. "Tell him we can't find him." Despite being initially upset with Lloyd about all of this, he was getting more worried by the minute about the blonde.

"Uh, hey guys? I just checked my phone and found this." Jay showed the group Garmadon's Chirp post.

"Oh, well that's just great," Cole replied. "Leave it to Garmadon to do something like that. He just made Lloyd's life even worse. But at least we know what's happened to him."

"Well, we need to tell Master Wu and figure out a way to rescue Lloyd," Kai told the others. "No matter how bad he messed up, we can't leave him with Garmdon."

They all agreed to this, and carefully made their way back to the docks. Upon arriving, they were surprised to find that the Bounty had been rebuilt already and Master Wu was on the deck, waiting.

"Master Wu! How did you rebuild the ship so fast?" Jay asked.

"Ninja Master, and Master builder," Wu reminded him.

"That makes sense," Cole said.

"More importantly," Kai interjected, feeling impatient, "we found out what happened to Lloyd." He's been captured by Garmadon." He showed Wu the post.

"Hmm," Master Wu rubbed his beard in thought. "Sounds like my brother. I had a bad feeling about it, and now we could have a serious problem, for more reasons than one," he continued, cryptic as ever.

"And we still have to deal with Meowthra destroying the city!" Jay pointed out. "Lloyd really messed up and let Ninjago down." Zane and Cole nodded in agreement.

"Yes, there is still that to deal with too," Wu agreed.

"Well, I know we're all upset with Lloyd, but we can't just leave him," Kai pointed. "Nya and I could scope out Garmadon's lair and see if we can find him and get him out."

"Be careful," Wu warned. "It will not be easy, and I don't know if you are ready for such a mission."

"We can do it, Master," Nya answered. "We won't let you down."

"Very well. I feel the rest of us need to try to evacuate the citizens and try to get them to safety," Wu said. The others agreed, and they parted ways.

"Any thoughts about how to get in undetected, bro?" Nya asked, after the others had left.

"In fact, I do, sis," Kai told her with a smirk.

Kai and Nya had managed to take out a couple of Garmadon's Generals by surprise. The Fuchsia Ninja had suddenly appeared to help them and then just as quickly, disappeared. Who was he anyway? He really was the master of surprise.

Kai was now wearing a hammerhead shark themed outfit and Nya a crusty crab outfit.

"Are you sure this will work, Kai?" Nya asked as they made their way to the Tower where Garmadon's volcano was.

"Of course it will! It's foolproof! We'll just make our way inside the volcano, find Lloyd and bust him out. What could go wrong?" Kai replied.

"You should never ask that question, Kai," Nya replied dryly.

"Just trust me and follow my lead." They made it past the first set of guards at the bottom of the Tower by just waving at them. When they were in the elevator that would take them to the top where the volcano was, they spoke again.

"How are we going to find Lloyd? We have no idea where Garmadon's keeping him," Nya asked.

"Don't worry, sis. We'll just casually make conversation with some of the Generals and find out where he is," Kai answered. "As long as we look like this and play it cool, we'll be fine."

Nya wasn't so sure, but it was worth a shot. They got off the elevator and made their way over to where the entrance to the Volcano was, noting that there were Generals milling about doing various things. At the entrance, there was a General standing by with a clipboard.

"What are your numbers and where are you heading?" the General asked.

"Um," Kai thought quickly, "we're General's 8 and 9, sir," he answered. Then to change the subject slightly, he added, "Pretty cool how Garm-uh, Lord Garmadon conquered Ninjago, am I right?"

"Yeah, it was just a matter of time that he would. Where did you say you were going again?" the General tried to get the conversation back on track.

"We heard that the Green Ninja is really Lord Garmadon's son," Kai continued, ignoring the question, "and that he captured him. Is that really true? We have a bet about it," Kai pointed to Nya.

"It's true," the General answered.

"Any idea where he's being kept?" Kai asked.

Too direct, Kai! Nya thought, getting worried.

"In a restricted section with restricted access," the General answered frostily. "You don't have access. Now where are you heading?"

"We're going to check...the ...uh...lava flow on level 2."

Oh boy, he'll never buy that, Nya thought.

"Hmm...I haven't heard anything about that," the General answered, checking his clipboard.

"That's because we were just told a few minutes ago. And if we don't check it and it overflows, Lord Garmadon will hold you responsible," Kai told him.

This made the General nervous. "Okay, go ahead," he waved them on.

Once out of earshot, Nya said, "You're lucky that actually worked, Kai. You were too obvious!"

Kai smirked at her. "It doesn't matter. We got in. We just have to find this restricted area."

"Yeah, that'll be totally easy," Nya sighed, rolling her eyes.

Back near the docks of Ninjago, Master Wu, Jay, Cole and Zane were helping the citizens to evacuate. They were getting as many people as they could to reach small boats by the docks, while avoiding the Cat and the Generals.

"Can't you just get rid of the cat?" One person asked as Cole helped him on board.

"It's on our 'to do' list," Cole replied. "Get on, quick!"

"I think that's everyone," Jay called out. "Zane?"

"Affirmative."

"Good work, students," Master Wu told them. "At least the people are safe."

"But how do we deal with Meowthra?" Cole asked. "She's wrecked more than half the city."

"At first, I thought we needed the Ultimate, Ultimate Weapon," Wu answered, rubbing his beard. "And I was going to take all of you on this long, arduous journey through the jungle, to teach you something. But we don't have time for that."

"Well, thank goodness for that!" Jay said, feeling relief.

"It wouldn't have worked anyway, and Garmadon would probably try to steal them. The truth is, the power that I told you about, is inside you. You need to find your inner piece."

"How do we do that?" Cole asked.

"I will show you," Wu answered.

"Hey, Luh-loyd," Garmadon called with a sing-song voice, "I got a surprise for you."

Lloyd looked up as his father entered the room again. "I can't imagine…" he said low enough for his father not to hear.

"I figured you're probably bored to tears in here, so I brought you some stuff," the warlord continued happily as he dropped a large bag in front of his son. "Check these out." He pulled out a plushie shark toy. "It's super soft and it will help you sleep. And oh, here's something really cool...a tricycle. There's enough room in there for you to try it out...and let's see...what else is in here...oh yes...here's some finger paints, cuz who doesn't love those? And oh, some picture books! Isn't it great?" he asked.

Lloyd just stared in disbelief. What was it going to take to get his father to understand he is a teenager and not some little kid? "Dad, these are toys for little kids."

"Of course they are. I got the idea from a book I found called, 'The happiest toddler on the block.' And since you're my son, it's my responsibility to make you the happiest kid."

The blonde facepalmed. "Dad, do you realize that you're thirteen years too late?" Garmadon gave him a blank look. He sighed. "What would make me happy is for you to Let. Me. Go." He emphasized the last three words.

"Why would I do that? I can't have you running around out there, hurting yourself, with some crazy notion of being a ninja. You clearly need a responsible adult looking after you 24/7."

Lloyd wanted to pull his hair out. Garmadon actually thought he was a responsible adult? "What is it going to take to get through to you? I don't want to be here!" he shouted.

Garmadon shook his head. "Oh, Luh-loyd. You just need a nice, long nap to help improve your attitude. This book I'm reading has a ton of helpful tips in it. For example, when your toddler is tired, they can become irritable, hyperactive, or downright mean." He reached down and pulled out something. "Open up, here comes the plane!" The warlord proceeded to make airplane noises.

Lloyd raised an eyebrow in disbelief at his father. "How many times do I have to tell you-"

Garmadon took full advantage to pop a sippy cup into his son's open mouth.

The blonde coughed and sputtered, as some of the liquid got down his throat, before he pushed the cup away in disgust.

He suddenly felt very sleepy and it was getting hard to stay alert. "W-what did you give me?"

"Nothing that you don't need. Hush now, go to sleep, like a good boy," Garmadon told him in a low tone, helping him to lay down on the bed, and then tucking him in.

Against his will, Lloyd's eyes closed and he soon drifted off to sleep.

AN: Sorry for the shorter chapter, but I had to break it up somewhere. Huge thanks to Sunny for helping with these ideas. She had the idea of Kai and Nya going off to save Lloyd and having Garmadon give Lloyd toys and then a sippy cup to get him to take a nap. The book titled 'The Happiest Toddler on the Block' is a real book that I looked up and had some of those tips in it. Thanks for reading!