AN: Beta'd by Sunny Lighter

Kai and Nya had managed to find the restricted section of the volcano without being noticed. So far, so good. As they walked around, they saw that all the different areas had labels on them.

"Well, I guess this was easier than I thought," Nya pointed out, as they stood outside the door that was marked 'restricted.'

"Hmm..maybe too easy. There has to be some kind of alarm, or other device that could get set off if we just tried to bust in," Kai observed. He then noticed a panel on the wall next to the door. "We have another problem."

"What's that?"

"I think we need a higher ranking General to open this door," Kai answered.

"Oh well that's just great," Nya scowled.

"Based on the ranking numbering system of Garmadon's Generals, we'll need number 1 or 2," the fire ninja concluded.

"Well, we can't just ask them to open the door for us," Nya replied.

"Or can we?" Kai mused. "Look at this," he pointed to a sign on a nearby wall.

Nya read it. "'In case of Lava overflow, pull this down.'"

"It's like a fire alarm, but it's a lava alarm. If we pull that, a higher ranking General should come and unlock the door to check it out. We can sneak in and get Lloyd out, or pretend we're escorting him to a safer area."

"That could work," Nya agreed.

Kai gave his sister a sly grin. "Of course it will. Let's cause some mischief."

Together, they pulled the handle down. Immediately, a siren sounded and a voice came over a loudspeaker that said, "Warning! Lava alarm in the Restricted section. Evacuate immediately."

Kai and Nya hid themselves from sight, as soon enough a General with star ribbon pinned to the front of her outfit, put her hand on the door and opened it. Kai and Nya followed her inside.

General #1 looked around the room, but didn't see any lava overflow. "What's going on in here?"

Kai and Nya came up from behind and karate chopped her in the neck, which sent her to the ground out like a light. Then they high-fived each other.

"Yes! Let's go get Lloyd." They made their way to the only other door in the room.

"It's locked!" Nya said.

"I can pick a lock," Kai told her. "Do you have a hair pin handy?"

"Um... yeah actually," she answered, pulling off her crab head and finding a pin. "But we better hurry. Someone else is bound to come along."

Kai nodded and took off his own shark hat so he could see better, and got to work. He soon got the door open and the siblings made their way inside. They were surprised to find Lloyd in a fairly comfortable room. Why were there toys on the floor? And was Lloyd asleep in bed, cuddling a plushie shark? What was going on?

"Lloyd, Lloyd! Wake up!" Kai shouted, shaking his friend.

Lloyd woke up slowly, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. He was still groggy from whatever Garmadon had drugged him with.

"K-kai? Nya?" the blonde asked, looking at them in disbelief. "Am I dreaming?"

"No, Lloyd, we came to rescue you," Nya told him. "We gotta get outta here."

Lloyd sat up and got out of bed, swaying slightly.

"Are you okay?" Kai asked worriedly, as he helped to steady his friend.

"Garmadon drugged me with something to make me sleep," Lloyd explained.

"Typical villain tactics," Nya said.

"I'm so glad you guys are alive! I was so worried after…" Lloyd couldn't bring himself to say it.

"We can worry about that later," Kai told him. "The others are okay too. Let's go."

"I'm so relieved you guys came," Lloyd told them as they helped him make their way to the door. "You have no idea what it's been like with Garmadon. He…" Lloyd never got to finish his sentence because they were met by the last person they wanted to see; Lord Garmadon.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"

Meanwhile, Master Wu was teaching Zane, Cole and Jay about how to unlock their elements. "Students. Your elemental powers come from this lush, green world. "You must feel the energy flowing through you."

Zane, Cole and Jay followed Wu's movements and spun around slowly.

"Good. The power is inside you. Now say, "I've got the power!" He started playing that song on his flute as the ninja chorused, "I've got the power."

"You must look deep within you to what you already have. Harness the power that's inside and let it out!"

The three ninja closed their eyes, as they continued to spin around slowly. "That's it. Calm your mind and concentrate. Bring forth the power," Wu instructed. "Think about earth, ice and lighting."

Jay was the first to produce lighting. "I did it!" He cried happily.

"Very good, Jay," Master Wu praised.

Next, Cole was able to use earth to produce a tremendous quake that knocked everyone but Wu off their feet.

"Watch it, Cole!" Jay complained.

"Sorry. Come on, Zane, you can do it," Cole encouraged the Nindroid.

Zane concentrated hard and said, "I too have the power." And he produced a long steam of ice.

"Congratulations, students! You have unlocked your elemental powers. I'm very proud of you," Wu praised. "Now, let's see if we can save the city from the giant kitty."

"I was coming to check on Luh-loyd after hearing the lava alarm," Garmadon started, walking up to the trio and studying Kai and Nya's faces carefully. They swallowed hard. Lloyd was still trying to fight off the sleepiness, but he was aware enough to be afraid if his father found out who Kai and Nya were.

"I don't recognize you two. What's your titles?" Garmadon demanded.

"Uh," Kai tried to remember what he had told the General when they first came into the volcano. "I'm General #8 sir."

"I"m General #9, sir," Nya answered quickly. "We were escorting the prisoner to a safer location."

"Were you now?" Garmadon gave them a smirk, showing fangs. "That's very interesting, because I fired those Generals two days ago."

Kai and Nya gave each other a worried look.

"Now, we can do this the easy or the hard way," Garmadon continued, circling around them. "You can tell me who you really are and what you're doing with my son, or I can just fire you out of the volcano."

Lloyd's eyes went wide. He would NOT allow that to happen! "They're my friends!" he blurted out. Oops.

Kai shook his head and Nya sighed.

"Your friends?" The warlord asked. "As in the other Ninja? So they are the ones who influenced you to become the Green Ninja, my sworn enemy?"

"NO!" Lloyd answered loudly. "That was my own choice. Just let them go."

"Ha ha, so you're trying to run away, Luh-loyd? Ah, a chip off the old block. I did that once...a long time ago. Wu was being a butt as usual, and I decided that I'd had enough of him. So I ran away to join the circus and…"

"I don't want to hear your story, dad!" Lloyd interrupted furiously.

Garmadon paused and looked at his son. "That's very rude, Luh-loyd. That's a time out for you." Lloyd's face turned beet red and he wanted the floor to swallow him up.

Kai and Nya exchanged curious looks. Garmadon addressed them next. "You kids aren't off the hook either. Hanging around with my son, playing ninja," he scolded. He went over to Lloyd and pulled him tightly up against his chest. "He's much too young for you."

Kai and Nya now looked confused. What was Garmadon talking about?

"Dad, they're only a couple months older than me!" Lloyd protested, trying to get out of his father's grip, but with four arms around him, he couldn't budge.

Garmadon grinned. "I know just what to do with you kids. You two are just as naughty as Luh-loyd is. I'm putting you all in time out in my volcano office."

"What?" Kai and Nya asked at the same time. They hadn't had a time out since they were three!

Shifting Lloyd to take him by the hand, Garmadon grabbed Kai and Nya's hands and marched them all to his office, where he made them all sit in chairs with Generals to watch them, telling them they were naughty children being punished, and giving them strict instructions to be silent.

The Generals decided not to question Garmadon's orders. They happily stood guard. It was like Ninja payback for all the times they had tried to stop them.

Kai whispered to Lloyd, "What is up with your dad, Lloyd?"

"He thinks I'm still a little kid," Lloyd told him quietly.

"No talking!" A General scolded. "Lord Garmadon's orders!"

Kai waited until the General moved away. "That explains a lot," he whispered. Nya nodded.

"We have to find a way out of here," she whispered.

"Not with Garmadad on the prowl," Lloyd sighed. This was worse than he could imagine. It was bad enough that Garmadon was subjecting him to this kind of treatment, but now his friends? It was so embarrassing. "If we could somehow get a message out to the others…" he started.

"That's it! I'm getting Lord Garmadon. He'll deal with you," the General said. "Watch them," he told the other General, who nodded.

"Great, we're in trouble now," Lloyd told his friends.

AN: Huge thanks again to my beta, Sunny Lighter. She came up with the line that Garmadon used to tell Lloyd he's just like him and his story of running away and I just had to use it. She also thought it would be funny for Kai and Nya to also receive the little kid treatment from Garmadon-no one is immune! She also thought it would be funny if the Generals were watching their time out as a kind of payback and tell them to stop talking. Also, I know that the rest of the Ninja learned their powers pretty fast, but I'm accelerating some of those events a bit and not taking them on the journey through the jungle. Thanks for reading!