Lloyd really, really hoped that this was all part of Skylor's plan.

He wanted to struggle as he was led along to the ceremony, but he knew it was pointless. Chen had already proven how weak the Green Ninja was. Lloyd was still sore after their fight, and probably would be for weeks to come.

He was still kicking himself for how poorly his 'rescue' attempt had gone. He had really believed that he could defeat Master Chen. He had thought that he would be able to utilize the elements as the Green Ninja when the time came, but it seemed that he was nothing more than a kid who had no real control over his own powers. 

As he was led into the cavern where the ceremony was to be held, Lloyd was overcome with a sense of dread. His wide eyes darted around the room, drinking in the ominous atmosphere. There was an intense drum beat, and Chen's followers were murmuring some creepy chant. The room was lit in a dim orange-red firelight, and combined with all the snake images everywhere, Lloyd feared that, even if Skylor did have a plan, it would still fail in the face of Chen's power.

Lloyd swallowed a bout of panic as he was led down the staircase. He could see Master Chen up ahead. His staff glowed and flashed with the light of a dozen elements, in addition to the faint glow of the golden weapons, as if Lloyd need a reminder of just how powerless he was. Chen was flanked by a couple of his minions, and Lloyd recognized Clouse, Chen's right hand. Skylor was on Chen's other side, and Lloyd had a fleeting fear that maybe she had tricked him, and there really was no plan.

No! Lloyd scolded himself. Skylor is a good friend, she would never do that! She had told him to trust her no matter what, and this was part of 'no matter what.' He couldn't lose faith in her.

Lloyd was forced to his knees before Chen, and his hands cuffed to the ground.

Skylor approached him and said, "Don't try to struggle. Those chains are made from a metal that prevents you from using your powers." Then she offered him a secretive smile, and Lloyd realized with some relief that her words weren't so much a warning as a suggestion for him to play along. He had to stop himself before he smiled back and maintain his somber demeanor.

"Now, for the final element!" Chen announced. Skylor backed away to let her father approach as he raised his staff up high. "Only one can remain!"

Lloyd gasped. He could feel his body trying to resist, struggling to hang on to the elements that rightfully belonged to him. But it started slowly seeping out of him bit by bit, until soon the power was being ripped from inside. In spite of his effort to remain strong, Lloyd cried out in pain.

Skylor looked on in horror and awe. So much power being stolen from such a young boy. She knew what if felt like to have her element drained, but this was actually hurting Lloyd. She had to turn away, sickened by what she had let happen. Her father, on the other hand, showed no remorse.

Finally, Lloyd was bled dry as the last of his power was devoured by the staff. Lloyd collapsed on the floor, and it was over.

Master Chen brandished the staff and the golden weapons clinked against each other. "Behold! Every elemental power, all in my control! Do you feel the power? I do!"

Clouse opened his spellbook and began reciting the ancient words. His hand started glowing with the violet mists of magic. Skylor's heart pounded, eyes open for just the right moment. She needed to get closer.

Her father was reveling in his triumph, none the wiser. "All you who bear the mark of the Anacondrai, it is time! We will shed our skins for new ones, and be the most powerful force in all of Ninjago!"

Skylor stepped forward. "Father, let me stand beside you."

Her father put a hand on her shoulder. "Yes, yes! Join me! After today, not only will Master Chen be Ninjago's number one noodle house, but NInjago's number one ruler!"

Now was as good a time as any. Skylor turned back to Lloyd. "Oh no, what's he doing now?"

Clouse and Chen both fell for it and turned. She thought she saw a flash of fear in their eyes, afraid that there was still something that could ruin their moment.

Without hesitation, Skylor kicked the staff out of her father's hands. It clamored to the ground a few feet away, between her and Lloyd.

Chen was more angry than appalled. "You betray me again?"

"Runs in the family," she retorted. This time, she kicked her father aside and dover for the staff.

"Get her!"

Eyezore was already moving to grab the staff, but she snatched it up first, aimed, and bolts of lightning shot out. Amazingly, the golden weapons had held tight and were still attached. She turned and hit two more approaching guards. Then she concentrated on the familiar pull of polarity and used it to unlock the shackles on Lloyd, who was starting to recover from his ordeal.

He was still on his knees, but he smiled weakly and pumped his fist. "Alright, Skylor!"

Out of the corner of her eye, Skylor saw Clouse pull a lever. She already knew what he meant to do as acid dripped from the stone fangs over Lloyd's head. She instantly teleported Lloyd out of the way and straight to her side.

Furious, Clouse cast a spell that came racing toward her. Skylor intercepted it with a shot from the staff, and seconds later, the sorcerer had been frozen in a block of ice.

Her father's minions kept coming, but they were no match for her. She couldn't completely control what element came out of the staff, but she was already getting the hang of it, just like using her own power. She shot blasts of earth, poison, sound – any element she could at anyone who tried to come near her.

Lloyd tugged on the hem of her gi. "Come on, Skylor, let's get out of here!"

But she barely heard Lloyd. She was preoccupied with trying to tame the power of the staff. It was overwhelming. She had never imagined that so much power would feel so good. She could even sense the barely-contained potential of the four golden weapons, normally too much to bear, but tempered now by the influence of the crystal.

"My dad was right," she marveled. "All this power, it's incredible!" More of her father's goons came at them, and Skylor shoved Lloyd aside to shoot them down. No one else was going to hurt him on her watch, her father had already done enough damage.

Her father . . .

Skylor glanced around but realized that he had disappeared in all the commotion. She spun on Lloyd. "Where's Chen?" she demanded.

"Uh . . ." Lloyd's eyes widened. "Skylor? Are you okay? Your eyes –?"

Lloyd was no help. Another quick glance around and she spotted her father, slinking away toward the staircase.

"You!"

Skylor willed him closer, and just like that, gravity picked him up, protesting, and dropped him in front of her.

The fear in his eyes might have made her smile if she wasn't so furious. "This is all your fault! You'll pay for everything you've done. Taking my friends, stealing our powers – isn't it enough that you've controlled me my whole life, and now you have to drag me back here just you can use me again!"

Chen tried to scramble away, but he couldn't even get to his feet. Finally, he would know what it was like to be on the other side of things.

"Just when I was finally happy, you had to take it all away!" Skylor's gripped the staff in both her hands, blinded by the red haze of her fury. "You ruin everything!"

"Skylor, stop!"

Lloyd was suddenly in front of her, hands outstretched. "Don't do this! The staff's power, I think it's corrupting you. You have to destroy it –"

"No one is taking this staff from me," Skylor snapped. "Now move!"

She pushed Lloyd out of the way, turning her attention back to Chen. "For so long you held power over me, but now it's my turn. Now you'll know how it feels!" Skylor raised the staff, but just as she was about to strike, she came to her sense and realized what she was about to do. Her father, cowering at her feet, was already helpless to her power.

She stepped back, suddenly afraid of herself. "What am I saying?"

The truth, whispered a voice in her head, her own voice, but tainted with something dark and malicious. It came back as quickly as it had left, that feeling she couldn't explain, the feeling of anger and power and fear all at once. "The staff, it's to powerful, but . . . it's even better than I could have imagined."

Now her father lowered his hands, smiling for some odd reason. "Yes. Yes. Embrace the power! You understand now, don't you? Now you know what it feels like, you understand why I had to do it."

"No – NO!" Skylor stared at the staff in her hands, willing herself to let it go, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. "I can't control it!"

She grit her teeth and tightened her hold on the staff. "No, I don't want to control it. I have to use it. I have to make sure that no one else ever abuses power like that again. Never again!"

Chen's eyes widened as he realized that he had lost all control over his daughter.

"No, Skylor, don't!" Lloyd yelled.

BOOM!

Skylor looked up just in time to see the top half of the stone snake head falling towards her. She leapt out of the way just in time as the stone shattered into rubble on the ground and the air was filled with dust.

. . .

"Did anyone order some kung-POW?" Cole maneuvered the finally-flight-capable jet through the giant hold he had just made. Behind him, the Elemental Masters leapt down from the ledge to take on Chen's army of followers. Chaos erupted and the entire cavern was filled with fighting as, winners and loser alike, ninja from any side, every fighter that Chen had made enemies with, stood side-by-side against a common foe. It didn't matter if they had their powers or not, they just had a bone to pick.

Lloyd had narrowly avoided the debris from the explosion as well, and as he clambered over the wreckage, he spotted his parents coming out of the gap the jet had made.

"Mom! Dad!" He ran into his parents' arms and they pulled him close and held him tight.

"Are you hurt?" Misako asked worriedly, looking him over for the slightest scratch or bruise.

"I'm okay," he insisted, squirming away. It wasn't totally true, but he didn't want his mom fussing over him in front of everyone.

"Hey Lloyd!" Nya called to him. "You remember that move I was showing you the other day?"

"Do I?" Lloyd bolted away from his parents and followed Nya into the battle, and they quickly followed after him. The cultists wouldn't know what hit them when the Garmadon family came for them.

Nearby, Cole landed the Roto Jet and his teammates gathered around as he clambered out. "Alright, boys, time to teach Master Chen a lesson about stealing from us."

"Yeah!" The four ninja charged into battle, fueled by betrayal.

Finally, near the center of the action, Skylor sat up and shook her head. Her mind still felt clouded by the effects of the staff.

The staff!

She tried to see through the action around her and spotted it lying a few feet away. Her father saw it at the same time and they both scrambled to their feet and ran for it. Chen was slower, but he was closer. Skylor was closing in, but not fast enough. In a desperate move, she leapt for it.

Her hands wrapped around the staff first as she rolled forward. When she landed on her feet, she stood and, before she could think anything of it, smashed the staff on the ground.

The stone inside shattered, the golden weapons falling off in a clamoring heap. Light shot out and enveloped each Elemental Master, imbuing them with their respective powers. Skylor felt her own element return, disappointing in comparison to the staff, but familiar and all the more welcome.

"Skylor!" She saw Kai waving at her from a distance. She hesitated for a moment – she had all four of the weapons. She couldn't just give them back, could she?

She sighed and tossed him his sword. They were going to need all the help they could get. She flung the rest of the weapons to his friends as well, and they immediately began picking off more of Chen's army with blasts of fire, lighting, earth, and ice. Skylor was just about to join the fight as well, when someone stopped her in her tracks . . .

. . .

"Finally!" Seliel breathed a sigh of relief as the airy warmth of her element flowed through her once again.

All around the masters were getting their elemental powers back, restoring their strength as well as their freedom. Nya sprayed one cultist with a jet of water and Pixal flung another into a handful of his allies.

"Ninja-GO!"

No one knew who started it, but suddenly there were eight colorful cyclones of varying elements and hues kicking Chen's minions left and right. It wasn't much longer before those left standing promptly surrendered, and just like that, the battle was won.

Seliel slowed to a stop and Lloyd did the same beside her. "Ha! We did it!" She and Lloyd high-fived. "Great job, team!"

"It appears that our time of arrival was most fortunate," said Pixal. "Well done, Skylor."

Nya glanced around, but didn't see their teammate. "Where is she?"

"I saw her right there a minute ago," Lloyd said, pointing.

But Skylor wasn't their now, and as everyone eyed the open room, they realized that she was no where to be found.

Garmadon glanced at the ruined dais and realized that she wasn't the only one missing. He approached the rubble, where there lie the shattered chunks of an ice block that Clouse had been trapped in only moments before.

His stomach dropped as he realized that they had all had gotten too wrapped up to see that the real threat was yet to be beaten.

"Skylor . . . they took her!"

. . .

"Agh, they have all the power!" Master Chen fumed as he stormed through the tunnels.

"For now, Maser," Clouse reassured him. "But not for long."

As he said this Skylor was half dragged, half shoved close behind them. Only a handful of guards had escaped with them into the tunnels. But she was surrounded as they hurried in secret away from the Elemental Masters. Her arms were bound and her mouth covered, yet still she struggled. She had almost been free of her father, and yet somehow he had still managed to steal away and bring her with him.

She struggled, but it was all in vain. Just as it had always been.