A/N: I try to use as much of the actual dialogue and character actions from the episodes as I can. I'm sorry if I get anything wrong, it is purely unintentional. Also, I do not own Ninjago and credit for all show dialogue and characters goes to their owners.
Dragons Rising Season 2 Episode 10, Rising Ninja:
The sky is a dark, bloody red. The Blood Moon hangs in the sky, dipping closer and closer to the horizon with each passing second.
Lloyd watches from on top of a rock as Nya gets thrown through the air, landing with an audible thud on the ground. Cinder grins evilly and uses his smoke powers to move into a position above her. As he prepares to strike though a bright red blur flashes through the air, grabbing him and carrying him away from Nya.
"What is that?!" She exclaims, tracking the blur through the air.
Wyldfyre points at it and shouts in excitement, "It's Kai!"
Above them, Kai throws Cinder to the ground before landing in front of Nya and Wyldfyre. His Rising Dragon flashes by Cinder before disappearing as the gray haired man turns to look at him in shock.
In front of the Shadow Dojo, Ras looks up from the scroll he's been reading from, "Rising Dragon Technique? Impossible!" He says as he puts away the scroll.
Before he can do anything else, Lloyd shoots an Energy ball at him, knocking him back a step. As he looks towards Lloyd, the Green Ninja launches off the rock he's standing on, twisting into Spinjitzu as he attacks Ras.
Kai and Cinder face off in front of the portal. With a smirk, Kai says to Cinder, "Nice trick, right?" He drops into a fighting stance as he continues, saying, "Wanna see more?"
He twists into Spinjitzu before morphing it into Rising Dragon Technique as he rushes towards Cinder who then attempts to use Shatterspin but is countered by Kai's Rising Dragon. They exchange blows as behind them Lloyd and Ras fight.
Lloyd sends blast after blast of his energy towards Ras, but the tiger-man dodges and jumps away from each of them, landing on all fours every time. Finally he turns and catches two blasts on his hammer. Then he runs towards Lloyd and attempts to hit him with the hammer, but Lloyd dodges it and flips up and over his head, rapidly firing off more energy blasts towards him as he lands. He then twists into Spinjitzu once again to exchange blows with Ras. Eventually Ras knocks him back and forces him out of his Spinjitzu.
Sliding backwards Lloyd puts one hand on the ground to stabilize himself. He looks back up at Ras as the tiger-man grins and says, "You are too late! The ritual is nearly complete!"
Panting, Lloyd glances over to where Kai is beating the shit out of Cinder. With a surge of pride, Lloyd turns to Ras and says, "Your Shatterspin warrior's met his match, and the Blood Moon's almost passed!" Ras growls and flattens his ears as Lloyd continues, "Even your sacrifices are gone!" Straightening up, Lloyd looks at Ras and says in a confident voice, "Yeah, I'd say the ritual's almost over, and you failed!"
Ras grunts and says, "All I need for a sacrifice is an unshattered soul!" An evil grin spreads across his face as he continues, "And I know just who to use."
Lloyd drops into a fighting stance, expecting Ras to try and use him. But instead the tiger-man grabs his hammer, turns, and throws it straight at Kai who barely has time to raise his arms up in front of his face before it hits him and sends him flying towards the portal behind him.
Lloyd is frozen in shock and terror as he watches Kai fly at the portal. But then Riyu leaps after him. He squeaks in fright as the portal pulls both of them towards it, and he whips around, sending his tail in Kai's direction as the Fire ninja barely manages to grab onto it with one hand. Riyu flaps his wings with all his strength, trying to pull them both to safety. But carrying a fully grown adult is a lot harder than a young teen, and he can't manage to pull away.
Kai yells in fear as he looks back at the portal that swirls inches away from his feet. He turns and tries to grab onto Riyu's tail with his other hand but can't quite manage to grab it.
"Kai!" Nya yells. And Lloyd finally moves, running with her and Wyldfyre towards Kai and Riyu.
But before they can get there, Kai loses his grip on Riyu's tail and with a terrified cry of "No!", falls into the portal.
Without the extra weight, Riyu is able to get far enough away from the portal so that he is no longer being pulled towards it. He lands on the ground right in front of Lloyd as the Green Ninja slides to a stop, looking up at the portal with teary eyes as Nya heartbreakingly wails, "No!".
He barely notices as a cloaked figure jumps out of the portal and lands in front of Ras. He also doesn't pay any attention to the Wolf Mask Warriors as they all bow down to them. And whatever the two of them say? Forget it. Nothing matters right now. All he can think about is Kai's terrified scream and the fear in his eyes as he fell into the portal.
He's brought back to the moment when a blast of Shatterspin sends him flying backwards alongside Wyldfyre, Sora, Riyu, and Arin. Only Nya is still on her feet as she had jumped over the blast.
Nya gives a yell of fury as she charges towards the figure. "This is for Kai!" She yells, she leaps into the air, twisting into Spinjitzu before it morphs into a light blue dragon. She blasts the figure with water and then swoops around and grabs them off the ground.
Now back on their feet, Lloyd and the others watch in shock and surprise as Nya battles the figure with Rising Dragon Technique. Lloyd glances over at Cinder, and upon seeing him distracted he growls and charges towards him, lighting up his hands with his green energy as he goes.
But he's brought to a halt as searing pain suddenly rips through his head. Falling to his knees Lloyd grabs his head and frantically gasps, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" His eyes slam shut as he pleads, "Not now, please!" But it's no use, visions fill his mind, Kai laying on the ground of a desolate area filled with stairways and arches, Cole struggling in his mech to push a beam into place, and Rontu with the Blood Moon behind her.
Gasping and panting for air, Lloyd shakes his head and says, "Rontu told me I can't force the universe to bend to my will. I have to find my place in its current, allow the visions to come, to flow." This time as he feels a vision coming, instead of fighting against it, Lloyd opens his mind to it, allowing it to come.
An image of Beatrix attacking him, one of the Source Dragon's symbols, the figure breaking his dao, and the same Source Dragon's symbol again flash through his mind.
Once the vision passes, Lloyd gives a furious yell and charges towards Cinder. He twists into Spinjitzu and knocks down several of the Wolf Mask Warriors that stand in his way before leaping into the air in his Spinjitzu. As he jumps, his Spinjitzu transforms into a light green dragon and he twirls once before heading towards Cinder.
Seeing Lloyd's Rising Dragon coming towards him, Cinder cries out, "Oh, come on!" and then proceeds to perform Shatterspin, but Lloyd counters him with Rising Dragon Technique before he can use it.
Now both Lloyd and Nya are fighting Cinder and the figure with their Rising Dragon Technique as Arin and Riyu fight off some Wolf Mask Warriors nearby.
As Nya goes in for an attack on the figure, they shoot Shatterspin at her, knocking her out of the sky.
Ras starts walking towards her, grumbling, "I'll knock the sacrifices in there myself!"
Arin, seeing this, exclaims in fear, "No, not Nya too!"
He runs over and grabs one of the hands of Kai's mech before charging towards Ras and saying, "Come on Object Spinjitzu! You gotta work this time!"
As he runs, he catches the attention of Sora, who once she knows what he plans to do, uses her powers to secretly activate the booster on the mech part when he throws it to make it look like it has Spinjitzu.
Nya looks up and then quickly ducks down as she sees the mech part flying towards her. It slams into Ras, knocking him down and away from her.
Arin gasps in surprise and then jumps up, exclaiming loudly, "I did it! I did it!"
On the side, Wyldfyre whispers something to Sora who quickly hushes her.
Then the portal - which had been flickering blue and red this whole time - suddenly closes, and a strange red energy hits Jordana, knocking her out.
"No!" Nya yells, running towards where the portal was, "Kai is still in there!"
And Lloyd, seeing this as well, snarls and punches Cinder harder with his Rising Dragon, tears stinging his eyes as he furiously tries to hide them.
Ras gets to his feet and looks around, grunting angrily as he sees his forces being defeated. He looks up at the sky and shouts out, "Master! I call for your aid!"
The ground rumbles and shakes as Ras, Cinder, the Wolf Mask Warriors, the figure, Jordana, and the Shadow Dojo all disappear in a flash of yellow light.
Everyone looks around in shock at the now empty clearing. And as Lloyd turns to look at where the Shadow Dojo was, he hears Arin say behind him, "So, did we win?"
Gritting his teeth in anger, Lloyd resists the urge to yell at his student, No we didn't win! We lost Kai!
Instead he swiftly turns around, heading past his students and towards the distant shape of the Cloud Kingdom, blinking rapidly to hold back the tears that threaten to fall.
Now's not the time to fall apart. I need to be strong for them.
But even as he tells himself this, Lloyd can feel the grief of losing his husband start to sink in, and all he wants to do is curl up into a ball and cry.
In the Cloud Kingdom:
Up in the Cloud Kingdom, Lloyd and the others walk towards Zane, Cole, and Gandalaria. Upon seeing Cole, a small smile flickers across Lloyd's face and he gives the Earth ninja a tight hug.
Behind them, Suetonius examines a book as he says, "Nothing in the Archive explains what you saw happen at the Shadow Dojo, or where it might have gone." He closes the book and continues with a smile, "But this much I do know, we cannot thank you enough, ninja. You have much to celebrate."
Wyldfyre gently pets Riyu before looking away and sadly saying, "Why don't I feel like celebrating?"
Lloyd dips his head down as he hears Nya say to Wyldfyre, "I would have never admitted it when I was a kid, but my big brother was always my hero. Now he's the world's hero. Again."
Lloyd takes in a shaky breath before lifting his head. He sees Nya and Wyldfyre hugging as Zane, Cole, and Gandalaria quietly talk nearby. Spotting Arin, a thought passes through Lloyd's head.
Oh, I should probably say something about his Object Spinjitzu, shouldn't I.
Plastering a smile on his face, Lloyd leads Arin a short distance away from the others, unaware that Sora is following them.
"Great job, Arin." He starts, giving his student a small fistbump as he continues, "Knocking out Ras with your Object Spinjitzu was what brought the ritual to an end. We couldn't have done it without you."
Arin smiles at him before saying, "I gotta admit, after my mess-up training. I started to wonder if I even belonged on the team anymore. But pulling out a win today really meant a lot to me."
Lloyd's smile falters as Arin labels the aftermath of that day a 'win'. In his eyes it was anything but a win. They had let Ras escape, one of the Forbidden Five got out, and worst of all, they lost Kai.
But he knew the kid had been struggling with his self confidence for a while, doubting his role in the team. So he lets it slide, hoping that at least one thing would get better.
Later that day at the Monastery:
After flying back to the Monastery, Lloyd was the first one to disappear from the ship. His student's were confused and concerned as they had never seen their teacher do anything like that before. But the older ninja knew exactly what Lloyd was doing, so they gently nudged the younger ones away from him, instead opting to distract them by unloading the new Bounty and fixing their mechs.
Sniffling, Lloyd walks through the halls of the Monastery, heading towards his bedroom. Sliding open the door he enters the room but immediately regrets it as he's swarmed with memories of Kai. From his red hoodies to his firewood scent, Kai's presence is everywhere in their room.
Tears drip down Lloyd's face as he grabs one of Kai's hoodies, holding it up to his nose to breathe in the familiar scent of his husband. A sob escapes his lips as he falls to his knees, clutching the hoodie in his hands.
"K-Kai!" He wails, tears streaming down his face. He'd been holding everything in, trying to be calm and collected for his students. But the second he didn't need to be there anymore, he fell apart.
Now as he lays on the ground, curled around his husband's hoodie, all he can think about is why Kai. Why his best friend, his husband. What had they done to deserve this.
After a while of laying there, Lloyd slowly moves. He stands on shaky legs and half walks half stumbles over to the bed, crawling on it and sliping Kai's hoodie on over his ninja gi.
Closing his eyes he takes a deep breath, inhaling Kai's scent that lingers on the hoodie, imagining that his husband is lying there with him. Lloyd's lip wobbles as another sob threatens to escape his throat.
But he holds it back, instead curling up once again on the bed, quietly crying as he mourns the loss of his husband.
He's almost asleep when he hears his door open.
"Lloyd?" A soft voice whispers.
"Are you asleep?"
It's Nya.
Lloyd sniffles once before answering, "N-No."
"Can I come in?" She asks. Lloyd nods and hears the door close before gentle footsteps make their way towards him.
The bed dips down slightly as Nya sits next to him. She softly sighs and Lloyd hears a quiet sniffle follow. He lifts up his head to look at her and finds tears rolling down her face. Immediately Lloyd gets up and scoots over to Nya, pulling her into a hug as she hugs him back.
They both hold onto each other so tightly it's a miracle they don't break any bones. Tears stain both of their faces as they cry together, neither caring about the wet spots that rapidly grow on their clothes.
"I-I miss him." Lloyd sobs into Nya's shoulder. She nods her head and hiccups back, "I do t-to."
"W-Why did it have to be him!?" He cries, "I want my husband back!"
Nya's only response is to hug him tighter, more tears staining Kai's hoodie.
After a while they quiet down, their sobs turn into sniffles, and their tears dry on their cheeks.
"Lloyd," Nya quietly whispers, "can I stay here for a while?"
"Yeah," Lloyd whispers back, "that's ok."
The two of them lay down on the bed, still slightly hugging as they seek comfort and companionship within each other. Exhaustion starts to take over and they both fall asleep, the battle and grief finally taking its toll on their bodies.
Nothing will be the same after this. The loss of Kai will affect everyone, and who knows if they will ever fully recover. But hopefully they'll find some way to bring him back, there has to be a way.
After all, Ninja Never Quit.
A/N: If you have any ideas for alterations to a scene from an episode that I haven't altered yet, and you think it would make for a good short I would be happy to hear about it.