The story begins during the second episode of season three.
"You know, Cole," Nya said as she sat down in front of him, "you don't get the credit you deserve."
Cole looked up from his Starfarer comic (that he "borrowed" from Jay), and said, "What do you mean?" I mean, there were a few ways Cole could tell, but he felt like she wasn't going in any of those directions.
"I mean, you always put others ahead of yourself. I know the other ninja get all the attention, but I just want you to know, you're a good guy," Nya told him as she stretched her hand out to him.
She was not subtle about this at all, but Cole hardly even noticed that. He just placed his hand in hers, and said, "Don't tell Jay." For some reason, his gaze got lost in hers. He thought she was so pretty he could almost-
"Tell me what?" Jay asked as he walked into the room.
That knocked Cole back hard on the ground.
"What am I doing?" he asked himself.
He immediately took his hand back and looked away from his friend. He couldn't believe he just did that. He felt horrible. Somebody finally likes him, and he was willing to ruin the best relationship he's ever seen for his own selfish desires. "Way to go, Cole," he thought.
That night, ninja had managed to shut down all power in Ninjago. Sadly, that meant that Pixal was shut down as well. Of course hacking into the Overlord's system was going to be harder than expected. Especially when they realized that they were way too far away from the city, so Jay suggested that they hang out at his parent's place to find some junk they could use to get to New Ninjago City quicker while Edna, Zane, and Nya were trying to turn Pixal on again.
"Okay, so what do we need to find again?" Cole asked as he and Kai climbed to the top of a huge pile of junk that Jay and Ed were standing on.
"An upside down router derouter-ma-bob and a whiz-bang automated amplifier," Ed repeated.
"Uh..." Cole and Kai said as they looked at each other.
"Whatever, guys. I'm gonna go check on Nya and Zane," Jay said as he began climbing down the pile.
The two ninja watched as Jay and Ed went back inside the trailer before Kai asked, "So we need to find a what now?"
"Yeah, I don't know what he's talking about. Let's just go back inside," Cole replied before he started climbing down the junk.
For once since Cole knew Jay and his parents it was completely soundless when they walked up to the trailer.
"Heh, it's so quiet in here," Cole said as he and Kai walked through the door. What'd I miss, another signature Jay Walker gut-buster?"
Jay turned to look at Cole. He seemed furious.
"You back stabbing no good..." Jay stopped himself from saying anymore by tackling Cole to the ground.
"What's wrong with you?" Coe asked as he tried to get Jay off of him.
"I hope Lloyd is faring better than us," Kai said.
Cole didn't fight back for a little while. He was actually too scared to for fear that he might hurt his friend, but after a while, he was starting to hurt emotionally and physically. Jay really knew how to punch, and he knew that Jay probably wouldn't stop either way, so Cole threw a punch back. This one was right in the stomach. As Jay fell to the floor in pain, Cole said, "Now, do you mind telling me what all of this is about?"
"Perfect match probability states that the perfect match for Nya is not Jay but you, Cole," Pixal answered.
"Wait what?" Cole was so shocked by this news that he didn't even notice Jay run right at him and tackle him again.
"Okay, you're upset, but what did I do?" Cole asked.
"You don't remember anything from last night?" Jay asked him.
Cole did remember, he held Nya's hands and got lost in her eyes. He still felt bad about it, though, and he would never want this. He would never want to ruin his friendship with Jay for a girl. Or ruin his relationship with both of them. He didn't think that this could ever happen, but he already did it. He already destroyed everything.
"I never wanted to hurt you, Jay," Cole told him.
"Save it!" Jay said. "I don't even know why I'm upset. How could anyone ever love you after betraying someone like that?"
The words hit Cole like a bullet. All his feelings of guilt disappeared. Jay was being a complete jerk, and he was beginning to get angry. Jay tried to tackle him again, but this time, Cole was ready, and he punched him right in the face! He didn't hit him too hard, though, letting Jay easily shake it off.
"Oh, you know why you're the black ninja? Because it's the color of your heart!" Jay told him.
"Oh, yeah?" Cole asked as he tried to think of something else to say to him. "Well, what's the point in being a blue ninja? Unless you're trying to hide out in some goofy clown college!"
"Ooh! You take that back," Jay said as he pulled him in for a noogie. "There are reputable performers that attend clown college! Now, we could settle this with an arm wrestle!" Jay said as he tackled Cole.
"I don't know why you want to settle this arm wrestling," Cole said as he pinned Jay to the ground. "You know I have super strength."
"Oh yeah? Well I'm super hooped, and I haven't brushed my teeth in a week!" Jay replied as he breathed in Cole's face.
The fighting kept going for days which turned into weeks which turned into one of the worst fights Cole had ever had with anybody. It was right after Zane sacrificed himself. He and the friends he had left came out of the sewer while Nya, Pixal, and Borg exited from Borg Tower and came outside. Cole walked up to where he last saw Zane and the Overlord. He looked around at the city that was now completely covered in ice due to his best friend's element. He looked down at the street that was now covered in ice to see half of Zane's faceplate. The only thing that survived the explosion. He remained expressionless as he picked it up to see the last thing he would ever see of his brother, but he refused to show emotion. He had to be strong for his remaining friends. For the girl crying in his arms, for the one whose fire was cooled by his level headed friend, for the youngest ninja who had Zane help train him as a young child. for his master who took a wacko nindroid in because he saw potential in him, for Pixal who he didn't even know that well but still knew that she loved Zane more than anyone, even for his former friend behind him who if he had thought more about him than himself, they might still be friends. Cole wanted to cry. He wanted to scream, but he had to remain strong for all of them.
Months went by, and still, no one felt the same. It was still weird not having Zane with them. They weren't sure if they'd ever recover.
One day, Cole woke up to a knock on his door. He looked at his clock to see that it was 10:00 A.M.
"Who is it?" Cole asked.
"Just Nya," Nya replied from the other side.
Cole groaned a little as he sat up.
"Give me a minute," he called to her.
Cole got out of bed and went over to his closet, careful not to wake Zane up, until he remembered that Zane was gone. His room was just his now. He sighed as he grabbed his grey sweatshirt and black jeans. Once they were on, he called for Nya to come in.
"Hey, Cole. Are you okay?" Nya asked him.
"I've been better," Cole answered as he looked over at Zane's bed. It was so neat. None of his stuff had been removed yet because everyone knew that if they did packed it up, they would have to say goodbye forever.
"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to go out again with me and Jay. You know, try to figure stuff out," Nya told him.
Cole's eyes immediately diverted back to her.
"Nya, I-," he started.
"I mean, maybe it'd be nice to try to forget everything," Nya continued.
"Nya, I can't go out with you and Jay, or just you," Cole told her quickly, hoping to say it before he chickened out.
"If this is about Zane-"
"No, no. It's not about him. It's just...everything. Don't get me wrong, I really do like you, but I've already mucked everything up as it is. I just-I don't want to keep hurting Jay. Even if he does hate me.
"Oh," Nya said. She sounded disappointed.
"I-I'm sorry," Cole told her.
Later that day, Cole was training in the dojo of Garmadon's monastery when Jay came into the room.
"Great," Jay said as he went over to his own weapons, which happened to be right next to Cole's.
"What are you doing here?" Cole asked him.
"What do you think I'm doing here? I'm trying to train," Jay told him.
"Since when do you train without Wu forcing you to?" Cole asked.
Jay didn't respond. He just picked up his nunchucks and started training with his training dummy.
"Jay?" Cole tried to get his attention.
Jay didn't respond. Cole watched as the blue ninja trained next to him until Jay finally said, "Stop staring at me!"
"Are you okay?" Cole asked him.
"No, I'm not okay," Jay said. He was starting to cry now. "It's been three months, and nothing is getting better! We just lost someone. Someone important to us, and I don't know how to cope with that. I've never lost anyone important to me before, and I don't know how to deal with this, and on top of all that, you completely ruined my life before any of this even happened!"
"Well, I thought I should let you know that I turned Nya down," Cole told him.
"So you ruined my life for nothing? I thought you were my friend, Cole, but no, you had to destroy everything with your stone cold heart. Do you actually want people to hate you? 'Cause it's working," Jay said as he gripped his nunchucks even tighter.
"I am trying to be your friend, Jay. Did I make a mistake, yes. Do I feel downright horrible about it, you can bet your life on that, am I trying to make this better, I want to, I really do, but you won't let me!" Cole told him.
"Well maybe I'm having a little trouble trusting you!" Jay told him.
"Just let me explain!"
"No, Cole, I'm leaving the monastery. I can't stand being around someone who I can't trust," Jay replied before he walked out of the dojo.
Cole thought Jay was bluffing. He couldn't just quit. He was a ninja. But he wasn't bluffing. The next thing Cole knew, Jay was gone. He packed his stuff and left a note saying farewell. No one knew exactly where he went, but everyone was upset about his departure.
The next day, Cole packed up all his stuff and left too. The others begged for him to stay, but Cole couldn't bear living with them when he had just lost two of his friends. He needed a new home, a new life, or maybe just some kind of secluded cabin in the woods. That sounded nice.
Wandering in the woods wasn't something Cole was completely unfamiliar with. He made a life for himself there. He slept in the trees and discovered a group of lumberjacks. They weren't aware of the ninja's existence and didn't even recognize him. It was perfect. He started working for them and getting all the wood he needed. Until about a month later when Cole was chopping some wood close to the top of a tree. He heard a familiar voice saying, "The team needs you now more than ever."
Cole looked at the next branch up to see Lloyd standing on it.
"I thought I was good with a scythe," Cole told him. "Turns out, I'm even better with an ax." Cole sighed before continuing. "I'm tired of fighting, Lloyd," he told him. "Tired of serpentine, tired of nindroids, tired of...Jay. Out here, no one knows who you are. No one expects anything of you."
"But what would Zane expect?" Lloyd asked. "You're the master of earth, Cole. You don't belong in trees. Your feet should be on the ground. You can't hide who you are," Lloyd said as he got down to Cole's level.
"Sorry, Green Machine, this is my life now," Cole replied.
Suddenly, Cole heard someone yelling down below. He looked down to see that the trees were falling off of the trucks and rolling after the men. Cole knew what he had to do. He immediately jumped out of the tree and punched the ground, creating a huge wall of earth to stop the trees. All the lumberjacks started cheering for him, but Cole didn't enjoy it. He wanted no one to know who he was, and now, they knew. Cole grabbed his stuff and started to leave for a new place when he heard Lloyd say, "If you change your mind, Cole, you know where I'll be."
Cole sighed as he looked at the ground. The place where his powers came from. The earth beneath him. He had to admit, it did feel good to use his powers again, but Jay still hates him. Maybe if he went back, he could fix everything with his friend. Who knows, maybe he could even get him and Nya back together. If Jay didn't care about him, he was at least gonna show that he cared enough to come home. If he was even back home.
Cole went to his favorite place in the city, Chen's Noodle House to meet with the others. It was where the ninja always went to hang out right after Zane sacrificed himself.
He went inside to see Lloyd and Jay sitting at the table.
"Glad you could make it, Cole," Lloyd said cheerfully while Jay looked away.
"Yeah," Cole said before he tried to grab some food from the conveyer belt filled with food, but Lloyd grabbed his hand to stop him.
"We wait till everyone's here," Lloyd told him.
"Seriously?" Cole asked as he sat down.
The three waited for a long time before Kai came, then the trouble started. Cole still hadn't eaten anything when a gang of men with the same snake tattoos all over their bodies. They tried to steal from the restaurant, getting the ninja back in action. They fought, Cole ate, and they ran after them into an alley behind the restaurant. There the four ninja saw some fortune cookies on a plate. One for each of them. Above the cookies was a poster of Zane kept on the wall by a knife stating that Zane was alive. They read the fortune cookies, which turned out to be an invitation to Chen's island. They were going to compete in the Tournament of Elements to get their friend back. There they met other elemental masters and fought them. One day, Jay and Cole found out that they had to fight each other.
Lloyd backed away from the cage Cole was put in as the bars went down. The fight was about to begin.
"Let the tournament continue!" Chen announced from his snake throne. "Jay, master of lightning verses Cole, master of-" Chen stopped talking when the two ran at each other way too soon. Jay immediately threw a lightning bolt at Cole which he flipped over and retaliated with his own element.
"Is that all you've got?" Jay asked once he dodged the oncoming rocks. "Least valuable ninja!"
"Eat dirt, Blue-belle!" Cole yelled back. He tried throwing some rocks at him, but Jay dodged and took over his earth with his lightning. The two kept throwing their elements at each other, both were fighting to hit the other.
"Stronger than you thought, eh?" Jay asked. "That's your betrayal flowing through my veins."
"I'm looking forward to the peace and quiet when you're out of the tournament," Cole said, trying to mask his emotions.
Jay yelled a little as he was about to charge his energy up more, but Cole managed to knock him over with his earth. He felt bad seeing Jay laying there, and he was the cause of it. He was supposed to be there for his friends not hurting them.
"What are we doing?" Cole asked. "I don't want you out. You're not my enemy. Chen is."
"Oh, sure, lower my guard by pretending to be my friend, then swoop in and steal the prize" Jay said as he got up and started his lightning again. "Typical Cole maneuver."
It hadn't worked before, but Cole had to try again. He had to talk to him.
"I never meant to hurt you, Jay," he said as he started his element up in case he needed the defense. "If I knew it would destroy our friendship, I'd take it all back."
Cole expected Jay to kill him then, but he didn't. Instead, he said, "Well, if we're being honest, I was upset about losing Nya, but I take blame for that. I was more upset about losing you."
Cole was a little shocked by that. He actually cared. He didn't hate him?!
"We used to be good friends," Jay said.
"The best, right? We should've been honest with each other instead of bottling this up," Cole realized.
"Agreed. But how are we supposed to stop fighting? We can't both win," Jay told him.
"Well, maybe we can draw it out till they call it a tie," Cole suggested. "Quick, attack me, but not hard."
The two started fighting again like they were sparring in the monastery. It felt good to be friends again.
Suddenly, Chen yelled, "Release the condrai crushers!" Four doors surrounding the pit opened up letting a bunch of Chen's cultists through in vehicles assumed to be the condrai crushers.
"I got your back," Cole told Jay.
"And I've got yours," Jay replied.
The two started doing spinjitzu, causing one guy who tried to run over them to instead crash into a wall. Cole then jumped in front of another condrai crusher and used his earth power to make a ramp for him. He then grabbed the vehicle by its mechanical tail, swung it around a few times, and crashed it into another. The last one came right at Jay, but before it could hit him he jumped up behind the driver and electrocuted him until the condrai crusher completely stopped. The ninja could hear the sound of the audience cheering until Chen yelled, "Enough! I know what you are trying to do. If neither of you will win, then both of you will lose!" Chen started pressing button after button on his throne to make the entire floor give away. The two ninja jumped from tile to tile, hoping to make it to safety.
"We can't both lose. Chen's right. There can only be one," Cole told his friend.
"Then it should be you. You and I know I'm lucky to have even made it this far," Jay replied. "You take the jade blade."
Cole didn't need to hear that twice. He immediately ran up to the pole in the middle of the pit and grabbed the jade blade, but Chen didn't call winner right away. He looked up to see that Chen wasn't looking. He quickly looked back at Jay and threw the jade blade to him.
"Winner!" Chen exclaimed once he saw Jay holding the jade blade. "Loser," he said as he looked at Cole. "Master of lightning moves on."
"She's yours, Jay," Cole told him as he jumped down onto the tile he knew would give out any second. "I should've bowed out long ago. Win this thing."
Cole watched as his best friend took his ninja mask down. He looked so sad. Suddenly, Cole wasn't standing on anything anymore. He screamed as he fell down into the dark. Down, down, down, until he finally landed on the cold hard ground of a dungeon with vengestone bars. At least he was able to do the right thing. One thing Cole knew for sure was that he was never going to act so immature and selfish towards any of his friends ever again. He knew that he had gained Jay's trust and his friend's love back, and he never wanted to lose it again.