Seliel and Cole were told to stand side-by-side at the starting line while Skylor and the other fighters waited at a point further back. Next to the track, Skylor's father sat on his throne, buttons at the ready. It was set atop a couple of spinning gears so that it could turn and he could see the racers at any point along the track.

Garmadon had heard about the fight and come to support his pupils. He stood on one side of Chen, and Clouse on the other, and even some of the staff were there to watch the round. Skylor knew that Garmadon had just been to see Misako and Lloyd off. They had been hoping that they would have more time to make an escape plan, but since Chen took away their rooms, they wouldn't be able to hide there for much longer and would have to leave immediately. Skylor just hoped that they made it off the island alright.

Skylor turned her attention back to the race as her father made the starting announcements.

"Seliel, Master of Teleportation versus Cole, Master of Earth! Most complete laps with their Jadeblade when the time runs out wins, loser is out. That means no teleporting straight to the finish line!"

The two masters exchanged deadly glares. Each was determined to win – but only one could remain.

"Thunderbladers on your mark! Get set!"

They crouched behind the line, their expressions set in tense concentration.

"Good luck to everyone!" Chen spun in his seat. "But-mostly-Cole-because-we-all-want-those-pesky-girls-out. Now go!"

At his command, an air horn sounded and the two main racers got their start. A spotlight followed them as they began to pick up speed and moved swiftly down the track. From the speakers, they heard cheering from a nonexistent audience. Skylor had to roll her eyes at her father's theatrics.

The horn sounded again and the rest of the fighters set out.

"This is it," Nya said as they pushed forward amongst the group of elemental adversaries. "It's up to us to make sure that Seliel stays in the tournament. We can't lose another teammate."

Skylor threw a sideways glance at Kai, who was already starting to fall behind. Maybe they were outnumbered now, but who was to say that couldn't change? Some small part of Skylor had been hoping that Kai would finally see things their way and switch sides. Maybe now was that chance. She slowed down to match his unsteady pace.

"Come on, Kai. Do you really want to let Cole win and take all the glory for himself? You don't have to help him. Why not help us out instead?"

"I would never," Kai shot back. "I'm not like you. I do have a conscience, you know."

Skylor couldn't understand what had gotten into him. She had been so certain that he liked her, especially after their meeting in the square. Why was he suddenly acting so cold towards her? First he tried to talk her father into kicking her out, now this. Whatever his problem was, she didn't have time for it.

"Fine then. Forget I said anything." Skylor picked up her pace to catch up with the rest of the group.

Cole and Seliel had already made their first lap and were drawing near to the cluster of friends and foes. Seliel weaved between them and Skylor had to get in the way of Neuro and Paleman before they could stop her. Nya followed close behind to defend her back.

Cole was stuck behind everyone else, and a bunch of the fighters were trying to pull back to give him room. But Skylor turned to face him, skating directly in his path. Using her stolen ice power, she froze the ground between them, making Cole pitch and nearly lose his footing. Then Skylor was hit with a blast of electricity and she was knocked aside, clearing the way for Cole to break through. She held a hand to her head, dazed, but got back up in time to see Kai latch onto Cole for support.

The extra weight threw Cole off balance and both skaters tumbled to the track. The rest of the racers continued chasing Seliel, not bothering to see if the two boys were alright. Skylor looked back once, but sped on.

Serves them right, she thought.

Seliel was ahead, but it didn't last long. Soon, she was overtaken by the other racers. Skylor was too far behind to be of any help, and Nya was even farther back. Seliel was boxed in by Neuro and two or three other skaters. She struggled for a moment to get around them, then popped out of sight. But when she reappeared, she was practically skating right next to Skylor.

"Seliel!" she gasped in surprised.

"What –" Seliel glanced around as she got her bearings. "No! I didn't mean to go backwards! Ugh!"

"Cole's getting a lead," Skylor said, not wanting to waste energy on what they couldn't change. "We have to do something, or you'll never catch up."

Skylor glanced at Garmadon on one of their passes, and she desperately wanted to ask for his guidance. But there wasn't much that he could do here, especially when they didn't have time to stop and chat. More likely, he was keeping an eye on Clouse and her father, making sure that they didn't break any rules themselves.

It was harder than Skylor had thought it would be to catch up, and by the time they reached the halfway point with less than seven minutes left, Cole had earned four points and Seliel had only three. Naturally, Skylor's father was beginning to lose interest in the status quo and decided to start making things more interesting.

Panels in the track began to spring upward beneath the skaters. As one opened beneath Seliel and she was flung into the air, she managed a flip, then landed, and rolled back onto her feet. Skylor winced as Kai was tossed and landed flat on his back. He was really no good at this.

Up ahead, Jay was holding his hand out to Cole and called, "Grab my hand, I'll whip you!"

Skylor saw Seliel vanish and then reappear just ahead of Cole, taking Jay's hand. The blue ninja gasped, but she wouldn't let him pull away and she threw him backwards into Cole. The bell sounded as she crossed over the line, smirking to herself.

But as she cast another glance backward, distracted, Skylor was surprised to see that the Jadeblade was suddenly snatched out of Seliel's hand. She gasped as Seliel was tripped, and then Paleman seemed to materialize out of nowhere, waving the blade over his head.

Skylor sped closer, and then body slammed him. The Jadeblade flew out of his hand and she caught it, racing ahead. Seliel teleported next to her again, and Skylor handed it off to her.

"Thanks, sis. Don't know what I would do without you!" The bell dinged as Seliel crossed the line again, but she was still a point behind.

Nya had slowed to match pace with both of them again. But they were met with opposition as Griffon rammed his shoulder into Skylor's side, trying to knock her down. Her teammates were getting the same treatment as Cole continued to advance forward.

Further on, Kai was still struggling to gain any ground. As the Master of Poison shot past him, he lost his balance again and fell. Skylor darted away from Griffon just as Kai tumbled into him, creating an obstacle for all the other racers to dodge.

Cole was pulling farther and farther away. The Master of Poison turned and cast a toxic cloud in their pathway. Seliel teleported ahead while Skylor and Nya narrowly made their way around it.

Then Skylor heard another command from her father: "Release the buggy!"

A vehicle erupted from beneath the track on the other side of the arena. It zoomed around the track, coming up on them fast.

"Incoming!" Skylor tackled Seliel, only just dodging the roaring truck. They glanced up to see Cole smugly waving at them as he held fast to the back of the buggy.

Seliel pounded her fist on the ground. "That's not fair!"

"It is according to my dad's rules."

"It wouldn't be for a normal race! I swear, if Chen makes one more ridiculous addition to this round –" She got to her feet and swiped her hair out of her face.

That buggy was making its rounds like nobody's business, and Skylor couldn't see how they would be able to catch up. Nya skated up to her from behind. Cole made another pass across the starting line with a Neuro, Shade, and Paleman tagging along. They disembarked when they drew nearer to Skylor and her friends. Before she could stop them, they seized Seliel, shoving Nya and Skylor aside.

Neuro broke off when Griffon came near and together they caught hold of Nya. 

Neuro literally read his mind and he released Nya at once. Before Skylor could reach her, Griffon fell in behind and used his super speed to push her around the track. Skylor finally fought her way free, but at the same moment, Griffon returned and threw Nya into her, and they both stumbled, running into Seliel. As they fell into a heap on the track yet again, Skylor could hear the other fighters' triumphant laughter.

"Okay, maybe Sensei Garmadon was right," Seliel groaned as she picked herself back up. "Maybe making enemies out of everyone else is more trouble than it's worth."

Skylor heard the bell go off again. "Come on, we're wasting time!" She set off again. None of this was helping, it only got worse as the race dragged on. They were two points behind now, and only four minutes left on the clock.

She caught up with Kai again, who hadn't even made it around a handful of times yet. "Look, whatever I did to make you so upset, I'm sorry, okay?"

"Not much of an apology if you don't even know what you did wrong."

Skylor opened her mouth to retort back, but then she remembered that she had said the same thing to Clouse about her father not too long ago. She shook her head, logging that away for later. "What will it take for you to help us?"

"Whatever you think about me, I'm not the kind of guy who's going to betray his teammates." Suddenly he grabbed onto her, and she was pulled to the ground for the umpteenth time. She was so surprised that she accidentally iced the track, and the buggy skidded to a stop right behind them. Cole barely had enough time to let go and dart around the slick obstacle. The other racers flew past and Skylor shoved Kai away.

"What's your problem?"

"I'm trying to win, that's what!"

Skylor was bewildered by the anger in his eyes. But she realized then that she must have been getting her hopes up a little too high. "Right. Do what you need to win. I understand that well enough. Guess I should have known better." She sped off and tried to put him out of her mind, to focus on her friends and the fight they still had yet to win.

. . .

A/N: Hello all! Not sure how this chapter turned out, so I'd love some feedback from you guys. I'm wondering if any parts are confusing (or maybe even kinda boring? bc its so close to the episode?) at all. Not trying to be hard on myself, but I legit can't tell at this point how it comes off. 

But y'all are so nice, I'm sure you enjoyed it either way :) Thanks so much for reading, I'll see you next week, and we'll find out who the winner is!