Cole was having a really bad day. Like a really, really, really bad day. Try worst-day-in-his-entire-life bad day.

He'd already lost one member of his team, had just lost his own fight, and now his scythe and his elemental powers had been stolen from him. As it turned out, Master Chen really was a traitor. Cole would have been proud that he was right under different circumstances. But now Clouse was trying to tell him that he was going to be put to work in Chen's factory. No way that was going to happen.

Cole had tried to fight when they came to get him out of his cell, but it only took a couple of guards to drag him off. Without his super strength, he was as helpless as any regular captive. It was humiliating. However, things started to brighten up a bit once he saw the factory itself.

The place was swarming with guards, and he could pick out most of the workers as the fighters who had already been defeated in the tournament. But he could see the large steam-powered machines and conveyor belts, all producing mass amounts of food. Noodles, fortune cookies, dumplings . . . all of Cole's favorite foods, and then some.

Cole gasped at the sight of it. "A noodle factory! Why didn't you say so?" He was finally released and was able to get a closer look at the machinery. "This is my kind of place. Look, that's how they make the noodles! Oh, and that's a dumpling machine! And is that – " He broke off when he saw a familiar face. "Zane!"

His friend glanced up and looked equally happy to see him. "Cole!"

Cole ran over and clapped him on the back. "Where ya been, buddy?"

"Um, here. Looking for a way to escape. Without much luck, sadly."

Cole lowered his voice and whispered, "Well now that I'm here, we can find a way out together. Things are looking up!"

But Zane shook his head. "It's not as easy as you think. This place is nearly impossible to escape from. There are too many guards, and only one way out. Even if we did manage to break out of the factory, there's an entire underground labyrinth that, as I hear, is guarded by a large creature."

"Oh come on, I'm sure we can figure something out. Hey, is that Pixal?" Cole could see the android girl working away on the opposite side of the room. "Maybe we could get her to help us. I'm sure she wants to get out of here as much as we do. That girl's a walking computer, she'd be able to solve any obstacles we come across." Cole nudged Zane. "Whaddya say? Think you can turn on the charm and get her to help us out?" Where Zane's fascination with the girl had proven to be a distraction before, it looked like it might actually help them now.

But Zane wasn't as enthusiastic about the idea as Cole would have thought. "I don't think she would be much help. She's not very honest for an android."

"Oh . . . well, we'll think of something." As Cole said this, the fortune cookies rolling by on the conveyor belt caught his eye. "And I think I already have an idea."

. . .

Due to the midnight skating round, the Elemental Masters were allowed to sleep in the next day before another fight took place in the afternoon wherein the Master of Shadow defeated the Master of Poison. That evening, the remaining fighters were all invited to a feast in the palace arena, compliments of Master Chen.

Kai was too distracted to notice any of it, though. He'd spent every waking moment wondering about Cole and Zane, wondering about Chen, wondering about all the secrets that were being kept from them. To his surprise, they hadn't met with Master Chen or Master Wu since Cole lost his round. Kai had thought that he and Jay were gonna get it for losing another fighter, but so far nothing had happened. Somehow Master Wu's silence was even more concerning.

Right now they needed him more than ever. Kai and Jay knew that their mission hadn't changed, but with only two of them left, they didn't know what their next move should be. And what's more, it appeared that Garmadon had come to advise the girls in the same way that Master Wu had been advising them. The longer this tournament dragged on, the more and more complicated it became.

Kai looked at the exotic food laid out before him, but he didn't have much of an appetite. For the hundredth time he threw a glance at the far side of the table where Skylor was sitting. It was actually pretty hard not to notice her, she was seated almost directly across from him.

"Try the horned wasp eggs," Chen was saying from his throne at the front of the room. "Deeeelicious!"

Next to Skylor, Nya grimaced at the mushy round eggs covered in smelly goo and made a face. "No thanks."

"Oh, lighten up. This isn't a trick. This is a feast to celebrate the ten of you making it to the second round." As if on cue, several Kabuki servants clapped for them. "And I must congratulate the Master of Shadow's defeat over the Master of Poison. She was a bit hard to swallow, am I right?"

Kai watched as, across the table, the female ninja dissolved into whispering amongst themselves, as they often did. Probably plotting on how to get him and Jay kicked out. Maybe he should have been planning for the next round, too, but the only thing he wanted to focus on was getting his brothers back.

Beside him, Jay noticed the hushed conspiracy, as well. "This is just great," he grumbled, a favored phrase of his lately. "Now that they've turned most of the fighters against us, we're even more outnumbered than before."

He was right, and Kai didn't think that Shadow or Camille, the only two masters not yet allied with Garmadon's team, would want to team up with them, either. They may have stuck with Cole in the race, but now that it was over, they were back to fighting for themselves.

"I know," Kai said. "But without Chen's help, there's not much we can do."

Kai looked over to see that Master Chen and Clouse were also having their own private discussion. Kai didn't like all this secrecy. He felt like he was being kept out of the loop, despite the fact that they were supposed to be allies.

Moments later, Chen spoke up and said, "It has come to my attention that there are rumors floating about that I am stealing everyone's power." Kai quirked an eyebrow as Chen paused for dramatic effect. His grin widened, if that were possible, as he admitted, "I am."

The fighters gasped, and Kai's mouth dropped open in shock.

"What's he doing?" Jay whispered.

"Sh!" Kai waited tensely for Chen to continue.

"But it's all for this staff!" Master Chen clapped twice and the kabuki servants whipped out their fans and posed in a brilliant display of his wait staff.

Chen groaned in exasperation. "No, no! Not you, staff, I mean my real staff!"

On the second try, a large, snake-shaped staff was brought out to him. Kai had heard about it, but he hadn't seen it for himself yet. There was a crystal in the snake's mouth that glowed with a myriad of colors. 

"The Staff of Elements. It holds the power of your fallen foes, and soon it will hold all but one. For the last standing in my tournament will win this prize and be the greatest fighter ever in the history of Ninjago!"

Skylor bolted up from her seat. "That's a lie! What about the spell?"

"Spell? What spell?" Clouse asked innocently.

"He's lying," she pleaded to the other fighters. "I know, I . . . I . . ." She hesitated, then turned to the Master of the Mind. "Neuro, tell everyone what I showed you. You read my thoughts, you know all about it. Chen wants the staff for himself, doesn't he?"

Neuro looked from Skylor to Clouse and back again. Kai leaned forward into his field of vision, glowering at him conspicuously. Neuro gulped and stammered, "I – I don't remember. Truthfully I'm a bit more interested in knowing more about that staff."

Kai took the opportunity to speak up. "How do we know you're not lying?" Skylor whipped around and glared at him. "You probably just want the staff for yourself."

"Yeah," Griffon said. "Why should we be so quick to believe everything you say?"

Skylor looked around helplessly. But she could tell that she was beaten, so she sat back down. Kai wanted to feel some measure of pride for the fact that she was finally the one who was at a disadvantage, but part of him didn't like to see her so helpless.

"Oh thank goodness," Jay sighed in relief. "I thought Chen had lost it for a minute there."

Kai would have argued that he already had, but that was besides the point. "We're lucky that Neuro's smart enough to keep his mouth shut. But we can't keep pushing our luck like this. I don't know what Chen has planned, but we better hope that it's good enough to defeat those girls. They're becoming more and more of an issue every day."

When he looked across the room again, his eyes met Skylor's. They held each other's gaze for a moment before she glanced away, crumpling something in her hand.

He wished she would stop looking at him like that . . . with those beautiful eyes . . . and that teasing grin . . . and –

Kai blinked as he realized that she wasn't even looking at him anymore. He glanced sideways at Jay wondering if he'd caught Kai gawking again. But Jay was too busy anxiously pushing his food around on his tray. Kai just wished that he didn't have to constantly be reminded of his own failure whenever he saw Skylor. But he wasn't going to fail again. It wouldn't be much longer, and then Chen's plan would finally come to fruition.

And maybe then Master Wu would finally let his ninja take Chen down.