A/N: Hey! I hope this finds you well, and if not I hope it makes you feel even a little better. Anyway, have fun with this chapter, and I should have the next one out... probably before Halloween, hopefully before the end of the month though.

Review Replies:

GermanShepheardDogGSD: Well, here's what happens next! Oh, and don't worry too much about the child, he is learning (ironically, via being kidnapped) how to be an annoying, snarky little brat just like a little kid should be! (Or, at least, closer to it.)

ScarlettParker15: I'm glad you're enjoying them, and it's okay if you have a hard time reviewing, honestly I'm the same! I'm trying to get chapters out more and more frequently so who knows? Maybe you'll have a lot more to read! /pos

Lloyd stared at the glint of silver.

Pythor was digging just to the side, not having noticed it yet.

If Pythor got this last fangblade, he'd be able to release the Devourer. And the Devourer would hurt everyone.

He couldn't let all those people get hurt, they were people. And the serpentine… little Skales Jr. and all the others would die.

Lloyd had to do something!

A tremor shook the earth, causing lava to splash at his toes and a rattling of his brain.

Once he recovered, Lloyd glanced at the ropes binding his wrists to the crooked stone, keeping him too far away to interfere with Pythor's plans. The nearby pool of lava was too far to reach the rope to, rocks scattered upon what ground there was.

Carefully, he kicked a pebble into the lava, watching the small, residual splash barely lick at the burning stone beneath his bare feet. With a smirk, he glanced back to the rope - to the weak spot created by Pythor's stomach acids.

All he needed was a big enough rock, at least, to be believable if Pythor glanced over. Scanning over his vast arrangement, he found many pebbles too small, some rocks that would normally be too big for a kid to move, and some normal ones that might work. His eyes finally landed on the biggest of them all.

Perfect.

Cautiously, he turned his back to Pythor for a second so as to hide his hands. With great effort, he levitated the rock just enough to easily nudge it into the lava. The residual splash sprinkled across his face and his left arm. As soon as the fire broke through the rope he ripped his burning sleeve off, throwing it into the lava and attempting to ignore the fresh burns on his skin.

Twirling around to get the blade, his eyes fixated upon it.

The glimmering, silver blade.

In Pythor's hands.

… Who was looking at him.

*Bleep.*

The snake easily lifted him into the air, tutting his disappointment. "I musst admit, I am going to be ssso glad when I can finally get rid of you. Perhapsss you'll be the firssst sssnack for the Devourer, hm? Yess, that sshhould work nicely."

His breath caught in his throat as he silently reminded himself of how pathetic Pythor was. "Wel- uh, well, if you're so keen on getting rid of me, why not just throw me into the lava? Or-or, do you still need your precious 'leverage'?"

"Sshhut up, boy! I think it'sss time you finally learned your lesssson!"

"Oh, so you didn't mean it the last five times you said that?" Lloyd taunted, raising his voice slightly to cover the soft sound of approaching footsteps.

"You little-"

"Lloyd!" A deep, gravelly voice exclaimed as the man, if you could even call him that, lept over to where the two were. Lloyd managed to get a brief glimpse of four, black-as-night arms before Pythor started dangling him over the lava.

"Lord Garmadon!" Pythor purred, "I mussst admit, I wasssn't expecting to sssee you today. Oh! And I sssee you brought your brother'sss little 'ninja' with you!"

'Lord Garmadon?' As in-

"Give. Me. My. Son."

Nervous thoughts whizzed through his head at the confirmation. What if his dad hated him? Or-

Another tremor caused a few large boulders to fall into the lava below, startling Pythor to the point of dropping both the boy and the fangblade, the latter landing on a rock near the poorly-made hole the anacondrai had dug.

Strong arms wrapped around Lloyd before he could react, holding him close, possessively, but… not constrictive, instead gentle. Additionally, there were clearly four hands holding him. How strange.

Glancing up, his eyes met soft, fiery red ones, a worried frown drawing the inky face into a relieved sigh…

Which immediately became overwhelming concern. "Lloyd! Ohmigosh, are you alright? That snake didn't hurt you, did he? You're so thin! And…"

Lloyd, having no idea how to handle this, decided to tune his father out and glanced back.

Pythor, startled out of reaching for the fangblade by a burst of lava, slipped back through his tunnel while Kai raced forward, glowing golden sword shimmering as it shook the bubbling lava.

How strange, he could… feel the sword. Its power burned through the volcano, angry as the lava below it, yet the feeling didn't hurt. Due to the fact that the enveloping sensation was clearly too much for such volatile surroundings, the fire ninja was going to get himself killed attempting to reach the fangblade. A valued person, who would die if he didn't do something.

He launched himself out of Garmadon's arms, racing toward the ledge "KAI!"

Rocks attempted to stop him, falling just behind him and effectively cutting off the only remaining exit (assuming one cannot fly, of course.) But, just maybe, there was a chance to save the foolish teen.

"Kai! Stop! You have to get out of here!" His voice refused to waver, even when the stone platform he was on nearly dunked him in the lava.

"I'm so close!"

The gloved fingers kept reaching, even as the blade's tip dipped down into the volcanic liquid.

With a sigh, Lloyd stepped away from attempted reasoning and turned his eye to the fangblade. After all, once Kai got it he would surely leave, and he could surely hide his powers through the lava since that already shone so brightly.

Merely flicking his eyes to the spot, he easily summoned a small burst of energy underneath the blade, easily pushing it into the ninja's hands. "There, you have the blade so will you please get out of here?!"

As the teen stood there, the thrilled grin at getting his prize slowly faded into a thoughtful frown, fiery brown eyes meeting Lloyd's green as they widened.

Within seconds the ninja was in front of him, scooping him into a hug as he slipped the small blade into his belt.

"C'mon, let's get out of here."

The arms enveloping him began to glow, bright red light filling the volcano. The golden sword's power hung ten times greater in the air, emanating from the ninja. Everything around them was encased in translucent flames as they rose into the air, swiftly landing on the flying ship before all the strange power dissipated and Kai fell to the ground.

What had just happened?

Black arms once again enveloped him, this time much tighter, and warm drops of water landed on Lloyd's face as he, once again, looked up.

The same man that had grabbed him earlier - his father - had his eyes tightly shut, tears flowing freely down his face. "Don't- don't ever - ever - do that again! Never!"

With a tilt of his head, Lloyd tried to find how he was supposed to obey that order. It had been such a unique situation, it wasn't likely to ever happen again, so how could he even do it again? And what exactly was 'that'? Was-

"How did you do it?" One of the ninja's voices slashed through his thoughts, easily commanding his attention despite the question not being directed at him.

"I realized my destiny wasn't to be the green ninja," Kai's voice was all too clear, shoving the realization onto Lloyd of how badly he'd messed up back there.

"It was… to protect him."

I humbly request validation to use as ammo against the demons that hate my writing. :)