Kai groaned, releasing the chains on another imprisoned munk. He watched the munk run off after his friends. Kai looked up as Sensei Garmadon walked over to him.
"I should be with the others," Kai argued. "They could be in trouble, or have gotten hurt, or-"
"Or you could be in whatever situation they're in, and they wouldn't have backup," Garmadon countered. "You are staying here unless told otherwise."
Kai groaned, dragging an empty chain into a small inlet and out of sight.
"Kai, stay right there," Garmadon ordered.
Kai turned, offended. His offence quickly shifted to confusion, then concern, when he saw Garmadon's defensive stance. The Sensei was looking up near the top of the ramp.
Then Kai heard a voice.
"So those pesky kids were right; you two are the ones causing me such a headache."
Kai sunk back into the shadows, staying on guard as he listened to Lilly's voice echoing around the cavern.
"Lilly, enough of this!" Wu cried. "You don't need to hurt more people."
"Like you two and all the other elemental masters hurt and betrayed me," Lilly snapped.
"We didn't betray you," Garmadon argued. "You betrayed yourself. Letting your thirst for power control you!"
Garmadon jumped back as a dagger embedded into the ground where he had stood seconds before.
"I only wanted the power we were destined to have," Lilly countered. "Power you claim was never meant for us! Power you refused and took away from me!"
"Enough of this, Lilly!" Wu snapped. "You can't continue down this path."
"At least we can agree on something," Lilly snarled. "I've had enough of this too."
Kai watched as Wu jumped back, landing in his view on the other side of the mine. He broke into his spinjitzu tornado, charging in the direction he'd jumped from as a female fighter chased after him.
Lilly was here. She'd mentioned the others too. Had she already found them? Were they hurt somewhere? Trapped? Did they even find Cole? Or did they walk straight into a trap.
"Kai," Garmadon hissed. "Wu and I are going to draw her attention. You need to get up there and find the others."
Kai nodded, sneaking to the edge of the inlet he hid in. He peeked out as Garmadon pulled the dagger from the ground, running after Lilly.
Garmadon threw the dagger, watching it fly through the air and narrowly miss Lilly's torso before digging into a wall behind her. Lilly turned to Garmadon with a smirk, pulling out two more daggers before running at the sensei.
Garmadon dove out of her path before Wu's spinjitzu tornado cut in front of her. Lilly jumped, flipping backwards to avoid Wu before throwing a dagger at the golden whirlwind. Wu lost his focus, his spinjitzu vanishing as he landed on the ground, staring at her. He ran at her, making Lilly jump out of the way.
With her back to him, Kai darted for the ramp. He ran as fast as he could, his eyes trained on the path in front of him and the door above him.
"There's the little pest!"
"Duck!"
Kai dove for the ground as a dagger flew past his head. A thunk echoed next to him as the dagger drove into the wall. He looked down as Garmadon tackled Lilly, wrestling her to the ground before she could throw another one.
"Go, Kai!" Wu called. "Hurry!"
Kai rushed to his feet before racing the rest of the way up to the tunnel.
"I'll deal with him once I'm finished with you two; there's no getting out of there anyways," Lilly called.
Kai ran down the tunnel, listening for any signs of his teammates. He didn't know what he was walking into if his friends were hurt or trapped. He just hoped they'd be ok when he found them.
He slowed, looking around as he ran into the office. After a quick glance, he ran over to the stairs. The secret door was left open for some reason. Not that he cared.
So long as it wasn't another trap.
He rushed down the stairs, relief washing over him as he heard familiar voices at the bottom. He looked around as the room opened.
"Are you guys down here?" he called out.
"Kai?" his sister's voice replied.
"Is that you?" Lloyd's voice echoed.
Kai ran in the direction of the voices. He smiled when he saw Lloyd and Nya peeking back at him through the bars on the door.
"Are you guys alright in there?" Kai asked, worried.
"We're alright," Nya nodded.
"Did you find Cole?" Kai asked, trying to look into the cell.
"He's over here," Jay called from the other side of the cell. "But his leg's in pretty bad shape."
"All the more reason to get you guys out," Kai replied. "Did you see where she put the keys?"
"No idea," Lloyd shook his head.
"Maybe she put them back over by the stairs?" Nya suggested.
Kai nodded, running over to the base of the stairs. He looked all over the walls, but found nothing.
"They aren't here," he called. "I'm going to go upstairs and see if she left them in that office room."
"Be careful, Kai," Lloyd cautioned.
Kai raced back up the stairs, frantically looking around. He rushed over to the desk, shuffling through the books and papers to no avail. He looked around, scanning each bookshelf for the keys.
Then he spotted them, discarded on the ground near the tunnel back to the mine. He grabbed them before racing back down the stairs.
"I found them!" he announced, running over to the cell.
"It's the silver key that looks like a triangle," Nya said, trying to look at the keys.
"How do you remember that?" Lloyd asked.
"It was the only one like that," Nya replied. "Kinda sticks out."
Kai found the key on the ring and quickly shoved it into the lock. He watched the critical turn, but nothing was heard. He tried to turn the handle anyway, but nothing.
"It fits, but the handle won't budge," Kai grumbled.
"Maybe it's the wrong key, then?" Lloyd suggested.
"None of the others look like they'll fit," Kai replied. "They're all either too big or too small."
"So what now?" Nya asked.
Kai huffed, kicking the door to blow off some steam. "If only I could use my powers. I'd melt this stupid door to nothing."
"If the key fits, but the handle won't turn, something's got to be broken," Nya theorized.
"Odds are if the mechanism in the handle is damaged, you can break it off and rig it to open," Jay called. "Break it off, and I can walk you through it."
"Break it off with what, exactly?" Kai snapped. "It's not like I can just hit the thing, and it'll fall off. I'll break my hand before I break the metal."
"Then find something," Jay replied. "Surely there's something you can use."
"Like what?" Kai raged. "Do you think she'd be stupid enough to leave a hammer, or crowbar or something down here- wait, she is! Hold on!"
Kai ran across the room, where a battle hammer sat against the wall. He huffed, struggling to pick the hammer up.
"You got this, Kai!" Lloyd cheered.
"Not helpful!" Kai grunted as he struggled.
Kai pulled, finally lifting the hammer off the ground. He stumbled, struggling to balance the weight of the weapon while keeping it upright. He shuffled back over to the cell, focused on the hammer.
"Back up, I got this," Kai grunted.
Lloyd and Nya backed away from the door, just in case Kai underestimated his control and did more damage than help. Kai huffed, bracing himself before swinging the hammer at the door.
Bang!
Everyone in the cell watched the door bend, a large dent forming around the middle of the door. Kai yelped as the hammer slipped from his hands, landing with a thud next to him before toppling over and laying on the ground.
"Please tell me you at least hit the handle off," Lloyd groaned.
"It's off," Kai hesitated. "Kinda crushed the rest of it too, though."
"How badly?" Jay called.
"Um," Kai hummed, "pretty badly."
"There goes that idea," Nya sighed.
"So, back up plan?" Lloyd asked, looking around the room.
"I got nothing," Jay shrugged.
"Kai?" Nya called.
"How about I just smash this thing open Cole style?" Kai asked, trying to pick the hammer up again with less difficulty.
"And risk trapping us in here?" Lloyd cried. "How about not!"
"Too late!" Kai grunted. "Trying it anyways. Watch out!"
Lloyd and Nya jumped back as Kai swung at the door again, creating a loud crash as the door rocked on its hinges. He wound up and swung again, smashing into the door and watching it rebound, swinging open. Kai yelped, falling over as the hammer pulled him to the ground from the momentum.
Lloyd and Nya ran out when they saw Kai on the ground.
"Are you alright?" Nya asked.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," Kai brushed them off, getting to his feet. "Things just heavy and I lost my balance. Where's Cole?"
Kai turned to the door as Jay appeared with Cole. Jay's arm was around Cole, supporting the earth ninja as he limped out. Nya raced over, supporting Cole from the other side.
"What happened to you?" Kai asked.
"Lilly stabbed my leg when I tried to escape," Cole muttered. "Still hurts, too."
"I bet it does," Nya replied. "Something like that won't heal overnight."
"One way or another, we've got to get out of here," Lloyd affirmed.
Kai grunted, picking up the hammer again. "I'm taking this. Just in case."
"Are you sure that's a good idea, Kai?" Nya asked.
"Why not?" Kai frowned, balancing the hammer on his shoulder.
"Oh, I don't know," Jay rolled his eyes, "maybe the fact that you can barely hold the thing up."
"Yeah, I think Cole might even struggle with that," Lloyd agreed.
"Fine," Kai groaned, letting the hammer fall with a thud. "Probably wouldn't help anyway."
The others all rolled their eyes.
"Where are the Senseis?" Lloyd asked.
"Fighting Lilly," Kai replied. "We'll need to get past them to get out."
"And how are we supposed to do that?" Jay asked. "Cole can barely stand on his own."
"Hope the senseis can keep her attention off of us until we can get out," Lloyd suggested. "Either way, we've got to move."
The others nodded. Kai and Lloyd walked ahead while Jay and Nya worked to help Cole up the stairs. It was a slow and painful process, but they reached the top after a few minutes. Kai disappeared down the tunnel with Lloyd hot on his heels to check on the senseis. They knelt down before laying on their stomachs near the edge of the platform overlooking the mines.
Both senseis were locked in and intense battle with Lilly. They all seemed evenly matched.
Aside from the senseis quickly losing steam against her relentless attacks.
"How are they holding up?" Jay whispered.
Kai and Lloyd glanced back, seeing Jay and Nya holding Cole just inside the tunnel.
"She's wearing them down," Lloyd warned. "We need to get Cole out of here and fast."
A loud thud echoed around them. Kai and Lloyd spun around, looking down at the battle below them. Garmadon held his head as he sat up, looking disoriented from being thrown against a wall. They watched Lilly knock Wu to the ground, pinning him down.
"No!"
"Kai, wait!"
Lloyd's cries hit deaf ears as Kai jumped off the platform. He broke into spinjitzu mid-air, colliding with Lilly and knocking her away from the Senseis. Lilly shook her head, shaken from the sudden attack from above.
"Look who came back after all," Lilly smirked, getting to her feet. "Came to join your precious senseis?"
"Only to take you down," Kai growled, taking a defensive stance.
"You can try, child," Lilly taunted, "but you will fail."
"We'll see about that!"
Kai spun into his spinjitzu again, dodging a dagger she threw at him. Lilly growled, annoyed as she continued trying to land a hit on the red ninja.
Back up top, Lloyd turned back to Jay and Nya, panicked. "We've got to move. Now."
Jay and Nya nodded. The group started down the ramp, all eyes watching the battle below them. Kai was dodging the relentless attacks, infuriating Lilly with each passing second. Kai broke out into his spinjitzu, spinning circles around Lilly as she angrily tried to interrupt him. After a minute, Wu was on his feet, breaking into his spinjitzu and following Kai's idea.
Garmadon glanced over, watching the group carry their injured friend into the tunnel they arrived from. Seeing Cole supported by Jay and Nya worried him. How severe was the injury? Would they even make it out without Cole needing attention? He glanced over, seeing Lilly distracted by Kai and Wu. He then ran over to the group, following them down the tunnel to check on them.
Hopefully, Kai and Wu will hold out until he comes back.
It'd only take a minute or two. Then he'd be right back.