Seliel stepped forward. "I take it you're not going to make this easy?"

"There doesn't have to be a fight if you would just walk away now," Cole said.

"Not a chance. Stand aside, or we'll remove you ourselves."

Jay scoffed. "Tough words coming from someone who's already lost."

Nya ignored their banter and stepped forward to plead with her brother. "Why are you doing this, Kai?" Everyone fell silent and they turned to look at Kai. Tension filled the air as he fought to keep a straight face. "Why –" Nya broke off as her voice wavered, whether it was out of anger of if she was fighting back tears, no one could be sure. There was a flicker of something in Kai's expression, something other than the usual coldness, but it vanished as swiftly as smoke in the wind.

"Whatever Garmadon's told you is a lie," Cole answered for him. "He only wants the weapons so he can conquer Ninjago."

"Funny, that's what he said Wu planned to do," Skylor remarked. "What makes your master any different?"

"Master Wu wants to unify Ninjago," Zane answered. "The world is imperfect, but with the Weapons of Spinjitzu, we can vanquish evil and bring peace."

"Peace through control is not peace at all," said Pixal. "You are blinded to the true evil that you've allowed into your hearts."

"And besides, what gives you all the right to judge the world?" Seliel asked.

Cole huffed. "Because we know what it's like," he shot back. "We were all shunned by the world. We know what it's like to be outcast and unwanted. But we were given this power so we could change things. These weapons belong to us, and we we're not going to let you take them."

"Then come with us," Nya said. "Forget Wu and help us. Please, Kai. It doesn't have to be like this. How – how can you not see that what you're doing is wrong?" 

"I've done what I had to," Kai said defensively. "I didn't want it to happen like this, but . . ." He struggled to find the words to defend himself. Maybe he couldn't find the words because they didn't exist.

Nya was shaking her head, and one could see that now she really was on the verge of tears. "You haven't just betrayed me, you abandoned me. You know, I thought for sure that you were dead. You left, and then Mom and Dad died, and I was so sure that you were gone too . . . then I found out you were alive, and I thought, maybe . . . maybe I could get you back . . . but then you went and betrayed me like that!"

Kai couldn't hide his guilt anymore. "Nya –"

"No, I don't want to hear it! There's no excuse for what you did! You only have a choice: me or them. You're either my brother or my enemy."

Kai was taken aback by her ultimatum. The room was silent, full of waiting energy that pulsed through the ninja, ready to pounce on each other at the drop of a hat.

Then Kai got that cold, determined look on his face again as he shook his head. "Nya, I'm not your enemy. But you don't understand what's at stake here."

He looked like he wanted to say more, but Nya wouldn't let him finish. "Fine! Then I'll do whatever I have to do to stop you!" She charged at her brother, trident drawn, and he only just had enough time to block her attack.

Fighting erupted all around them and both sides clashed to defend their teammates. Kai slashed Nya's trident with his sword, driving her backwards so he could get some room to breathe. "I don't want to fight you! Why do you have to be so stubborn?"

"Stubborn!" Nya ducked to one side so she could get away from his flurry of attacks. "You're the one who won't listen to – reason!" Her words were accented with a sharp jab that narrowly missed Kai's arm. "Are you really so desperate to have all four weapons that you would betray your own family?"

"I had no choice! It's not like you would have handed us the shurikens. Don't act like you wouldn't have done the same," he said, as if it was a certain fact. He struck the trident away when she came at him again. "What do you expect me to do? Let Garmadon win?"

"I expect you to fight fair!" She jabbed at him again, this time trying to catch his blade between the prongs. She twisted the spear, trying to break the blade in two, but Kai twisted with it until he could slide his sword out.

"You know," she said, pausing for a breath, "I did all this to save you. When I found out what had happened to you, I wanted to fight in the hope that I could win you back. But I guess now that you've shown your true colors, I'm starting to see that the only thing you care about is power."

Kai looked like he was appalled that she would say such a thing, then swiftly turned to anger. "If that's what you think, then you really don't understand me at all. I don't need your help. So why don't you just go back home and leave me alone!" He swiped again at the trident, which Nya used as a shield to block his attacks. But with her longer weapon she had the advantage, and it was all Kai could do to try and fend her off. 

Nearby, Seliel and Cole clashed with sword and scythe. Seliel was finding it difficult to block the curved blade with her katanas, so instead she lodged her blade in the scythe's wooden shaft.

The black ninja's eyes widened as she put pressure on the sword and the blade sunk deeper. He tried to yank the scythe away, and Seliel stumbled as her arm was yanked as well – her bad arm, which was still sore from the Floating Ruins. But the blade was in too deep and her grip on the sword too stubborn. Seliel smirked in spite of the twinge in her shoulder.

"What's the matter? Can't manage without a weapon?"

Cole scowled. "Fine. If that's the way you want it." He threw the scythe aside, and Seliel let the sword go as well. The two weapons clattered to the ground, essentially useless now. Seliel sheathed her other sword, then they both raised their fists. Finally, she could get back at him for their previous fight.

"Ladies first," she goaded him.

Cole scoffed. Nonetheless, he threw the first punch and she dodged. But to her surprise, he struck again, anticipating her evasive move. She gasped at the impact and staggered backwards.

"Not as easy as you thought, is it?" he said. "You clearly haven't had enough training. But hey, if you like getting your butt kicked, be my guest."

Seliel didn't respond. She focused her energy and teleported right behind him. As soon as she re-materialized, she struck him in the back. Yet he still managed to keep his footing and whirled around. 

"Alright, so maybe you've got some potential," he admitted. He stood up straighter. "Clever move, fighting an unarmed opponent with your elemental power. I didn't think you'd be that crafty. Clearly your potential is wasted; Master Wu would appreciate having an intelligent fighter like you on our side."

Seliel was dismayed, not only by his audacity, but by herself. By using her element, she held the advantage while he was virtually powerless without the golden scythe. She hadn't meant to trick him, but it had seemed to be her only option. How could she have been so disgraceful?

And how dare he compare her to himself?

Enraged, she swung her fist, but he swiftly sidestepped. "I am nothing like you people!" she shouted. Another punch, but she missed again. "I would never join you!"

"You're wasting your time with these guys," he argued. "You can't win anyway, so why not give up and go somewhere your talents can be put to use?"

Seliel could feel her nails digging into the material of her gloves. Was he actually being serious or was he just trying to provoke her? "All I'm going to do is march in there and take down that evil man. And you won't stop me!" She swung again.

"Alright, that's enough." He caught her fist in his hand, holding it there with his iron grip.

Seliel gritted her teeth and mustered all her strength into her other hand. "No it's NOT!" She punched him square in the nose, making him release her as he fell to the ground with an "Oof!"

She shook out her hand, satisfied. "Not as easy as you thought, is it?" she taunted.

Cole held his face in one hand as he pushed himself to a sitting position. "Seriously? That's it, you asked for it." He leapt back to his feet and came at her with a series of blows.

Meanwhile, Skylor was facing off against Jay. He was quick, she'd give him that. But deceiving him wasn't much of a challenge. She would fake a punch and then kick him instead, and he barely had time to recuperate before her next blow.

Pixal was fighting Zane nearby. Briefly, Skylor wondered why Pixal didn't use her element again. When they had won the Shurikens of Ice, she had easily dispatched the white ninja with her power. He probably didn't even know what Pixal's element was to prevent it from happening again, so why didn't Pixal just use it already?

Skylor was snapped out of her thoughts as she narrowly avoided a kick from the blue ninja. She tried to retaliate but missed. As his nunchucks came flying towards her, Skylor flipped away. Her eyes were again caught by the gleam of Pixal's silvery skin and a plan took shape in her mind.

Skylor dashed to her teammate as she tugged on the fingers of her glove, yanking it off to expose her hand. She stuffed the glove in her pocket and reached out to catch Pixal's arm, pulling the sleeve back so she could touch her wrist.

A cold, heavy weight crept into her hand and up her arm as power flowed from one to another. Then she extended her other hand, pushing the power back out as she focused on the shurikens in the white ninja's hand. The weapon flew from his fingers, and he was momentarily too surprised to know what to do.

Skylor took another looked around and concentrated on the rest of their enemies' weapons. "Behind me!" she ordered as she felt for the presence of the metallic objects. Her teammates hesitated for  a moment before scrambling to her side. Skylor yanked the boys' weapons from their hands and threw them against the wall with surprising precision.

Zane still stood before her, clearly not willing to give up even though he was unarmed. She could see in his eyes that he was thinking, trying to figure out how she did it. But with Pixal's ability, she could feel the weight that covered him, as if he himself was encased in metal. Skylor couldn't help but smile to herself.

She reached out and took hold of the alloy. She saw a surprised gasp escape his lips just before she shoved him backwards, right into his own teammates, and sent all four of them crashing through the door to the throne room.

. . .

A/N: Well, now there are only two chapters left, but for me that means only ONE MORE WEEK!!! But before you get too excited, I need to tell you guys . . .

Normally, while I'm posting one book, I'm supposed to be editing the next one. However a LOT of stuff went wrong, and I only just started editing book 3 a few weeks ago. I can't really publish it right now because it still has a lot plot holes and inconsistencies, but my goal is to finish it within the next month, which seems pretty reasonable with my schedule. I have plans to post a preview chapter which you'll be able to follow so you can know as soon as the story is updated, but I'll go into more detail about that next week. (hint: contrary to popular belief, we're skipping ahead a few seasons. Pythor and the Fang Blades are going to have to wait a little while, hehe)

But yeah, I like to give you guys a little head's up so you're not caught totally off guard. I hope you all are willing to stick around for the wait! I can tell you, it's gonna be good!