The dragons flew to the forest of tranquility, where Cole suspected the bandits to be hiding. Above the trees the air was thick with dust due to the nearby volcano. This aggravated Kai's already very sore throat, making him cough. Luckily, Jay seemed too focused on getting Nya's bracelet back to notice.

You know, Kai thought, all things considered I really couldn't have asked for a better guy for her to date.

Kai, Jay, and Zane landed looking for signs of the bandit camp. "A forest camp is sure to have at least a little litter. Search the ground," said Jay.

The ninjas nodded and did just that.

Sure enough, before long, Kai noticed signs of human inhabitants: bits of paper, ashes from touches, and even waste matter. It was disgusting, but Kai followed them after beckoning the other ninjas to follow him.

At last, they found a group of tents with a couple campfires. About 10 or so bandits were talking about previous successes, playing games, and generally relaxing.

Kai scanned the camp. There was no where he could see where they would have stashed the bracelet. Were they too late?

Then a conversation hit Kai's ears.

"And it was in a blacksmith shop! Of all the places for a woman to work!" one bandit laughed.

"Girl should have left the job to the man of the house. Maybe then she'd still have her bracelet," his friend sneered.

Then they both began to laugh.

Kai clutched his fist in anger. He knew they were talking about Nya and he wanted to punch them right into their campfire this second. But he held back. If he did that, he'd just raise the alarm.

"So did you sell it yet?" the second bandit asked.

"Nah. Not yet. Do it when I feel like it, no rush. It's nice and safe in my pocket," the first said.

"He has Nya's bracelet." Jay whispered.

"Could there be a way to get it from him without raising the alarm?" Zane whispered back.

Whether there was or not, the ninjas would never know.

At that moment Kai's cold crept up on him. He quickly turned his head away from the others and sneezed, "a-choo!"

It wasn't very loud, but it was enough to attract the attention of the bandits closest to them.

"Ninjas!" one of them cried, and soon the whole camp was ready to fight.

"Kai, we'll distract the others. Get the bracelet back from that one," said Jay.

Kai nodded and drew his sword.

"NINJAAAGO!" Zane and Jay tornadoed into the other bandits knocking them back and away from the bandit who had Nya's Bracelet.

Kai rushed forward and swung his sword. The bandit jumped back grabbing his own sword. He swung, but Kai held up his blade in defense. The clang of clashing metal agonized his headache. Kai shook his head in a futile attempt to dull it, giving the bandit a clear shot. Kai only in time saw the blade heading towards his neck and ducked.

He groaned. Why did physical work have to be so hard when you were sick?

He lifted his own sword. He wouldn't let his condition get the best of him, not with Nya counting on him to get back their mother's bracelet.

The thought of his little sister gave him new found strength. He produced a stabbing movement with his blade that, while missing the bandit's skin, did tear his pocket and sent the bracelet tumbling to the ground.

Then he ducked under another wild swing from the bandit and slid beside him grabbing the bracelet from the ground.

It was safe. Now to make sure it would never land in this man's filthy hands again.

"NINJAAAGO!" Kai grabbed a rope and began tornadoing in a circle around the bandit tying him up as he went.

He turned to the others, who had dealt with the rest of the bandits while he had gotten back the bracelet.

"We'll send the authorities when we get back to the village," said Kai, holding out the bracelet to show he'd managed to get it back.

"Agreed," said Zane, nodding.

Kai followed the others back to their dragons and lifted off. Kai was pleased. He'd gotten Nya's bracelet back. He let out a breath of relief. With that breath seemed to go his strength, as he suddenly felt very tired.

Kai's eyelids grew heavy. His vision blurred slightly, and he couldn't focus on what was in front of him. Despite desperately trying not to fall asleep, he found himself tilting to his side.

Suddenly, he got a wake-up call. Kai lost his balance and slipped right off his dragon. If he hadn't still been holding on firmly to the harness, he would have crashed into the trees below. Instead, he was dangling in the sky below the great red creature.

"KAI!" Jay cried when he saw what had happened.

"LAND QUICKLY!" Zane called.

The dragons began to descend. Before long, Kai was on the ground safely.

Once the adrenaline died down, Kai turned to face a surprised looking Jay and a very concerned looking Zane.