"We should throw all their favorite things in the trash," Kai complained, kicking at the floor for emphasis. "All of them. Jay's inventor stuff, Nya's inventor stuff… Does Lloyd have any inventor stuff that we could throw out? No, but he's probably got something we could get rid of. That'd teach them to leave us behind."
"No, that'd just teach them that we can't even handle being left behind, much less handle going on a rescue mission," Cole sighed, resting his chin in his hands.
Kai growled, but he could kind of get what Cole meant. That didn't mean he had to like it, though. "I just- I just don't believe it. They left us behind! While they went to go save Zane! They left us behind when Zane's our brother too!"
"And we have to just sit here and wait, not knowing how it's going, not knowing anything at all," Cole added.
"Not having a clue," Kai agreed. He flopped back on the couch where Cole was sitting and was quiet for a moment.
The whole house was quiet too. Normally all of them would be together, talking, laughing, messing around, playing games, doing all sorts of things. Normally Jay would be making jokes, Nya would be tinkering with something, Lloyd would be figuring out the schedule for the next couple of days, and Zane would be humming a little to himself as he read a book. Now, though, it was just Kai and Cole, waiting in the quiet.
Kai listened to the silence, the lack of Jay and Nya and Lloyd and most of all Zane, and found himself growing more and more angry. He and Cole had been left out.
"This sucks!" Kai finally burst out.
Cole laughed hollowly. "Wow, you just realized that? Hours after they're gone, you finally realize that they shouldn't have gone without us? Congratulations, you have some basic thinking abilities."
"No, really," Kai said angrily. "Listen. This sucks a whole lot. Lloyd made us stay because he doesn't think we're good enough fliers or fighters."
"Even though I'm way stronger than he is," Cole mumbled.
"And even though I can- no, that's not that point," Kai cut himself off. "The point is, he didn't think we're good enough to face the whitecoats and all the Serpentine at the School. But maybe not all the Serpentine are there."
Cole frowned for a moment before nodding slowly. "Maybe some are still around here."
"Exactly. They saw all of us, they fought all of us, but they only got Zane," Kai stated, ignoring the way his own voice quivered over their little brother's name. "They might come back. They might have even left some of their buddies here to look for us."
"They might have," Cole agreed. "They found us out in the open before, of course, so they might have a harder time finding us at home, but they've got a helicopter, they can search from the skies almost as easily as we can."
"Almost as easily as we can," Kai repeated thoughtfully.
"Yeah, that's what I just said," Cole stated.
"No, I mean, they're searching for us. Why don't we search for them? We don't have to just wait around for news from the others or for the Serpentine to attack us. We can be, uh, what's the word?" Kai asked.
"Uh, planners? Thinkers and doers? Helpful? Proactive?" Cole tried.
"All of the above," Kai decided. "We don't have to be useless, even if Lloyd thinks we are."
"Okay, yeah," Cole agreed. "Lloyd didn't even think of the fact that the Serpentine might still be around."
Kai grinned, rubbing his hand together. "But we did. We can keep our home safe for when everybody gets back. We can make traps, create bombs, cause fires even! Whatever it takes!"
"Bombs are a good idea," Cole stated. "Remember the one Jay and Nya drew up the plans for last fall, the one you and I put together? It almost caused an earthquake. It was great."
"Yeah, yeah. That was so we could make a better trail to get around those rocks. Okay, so there was a purpose for it, which made Lloyd approve of it. Now, we've got a purpose too," Kai said.
"Defend ourselves and our home from the Serpentine," Cole continued. "It's a pretty good reason, if I do say so myself."
"I say so too," Kai agreed. "Okay. So we've got a plan."
"Step one, make firebombs," Cole stated.
"Step two, absolutely destroy the Serpentine if they come back for us," Kai added.
"Step three, live happily ever after," Cole joked.
Kai shook his head. "No. Step three, rub it in Lloyd and Nya and Jay's faces when they come back with Zane, because we were awesome when they didn't think we could be, and then we'll all celebrate because Zane got rescued and you and me got to kick Serpentine butt."
"We got this," Cole stated confidently.
Kai grinned. "We got this."