Lloyd was worried.

Just four hours ago, he had sent Cole to investigate a robbery right in the middle of Ninjago City.

The earth ninja hasn't been heard from since. Being the leader, Lloyd felt that anything bad that happened was his fault, and so this made him worry.

"Hey, Lloyd! You might wanna see this!" Kai shouted from the bridge.

As soon as the green ninja arrived, Kai hit him with the news.

"There's a mob in Ninjago City, a big one, with weapons as well. Cole might need help."

Lloyd decided him and Kai would go and help Cole control the mob, and told the others about this.

"Alright Kai, you ready?"

"As I'll ever be." (A/N Varian, my son, is that you?)

*****
When Lloyd and Kai arrived the mob of citizens seemed to revolve around a certain thing.

What it was, the two ninja could not see.

There were shouts of, "Kill him!" and "Die, traitor!" and "You betrayed our trust!"

Kai pushed throught the crowd making a road for him and Lloyd to walk through.

"Alright, what's going on h--" Kai was cut off as he saw what the mob had done.

On the floor was a whimpering and barely concious earth ninja, covered in cuts and bruises of all sizes. Cole panicked when Kai and Lloyd came over, but he was too weak to do anything other than murmur, "Please, no more."

Kai cradled Cole's head in his lap, "It's okay, buddy, we won't hurt you."

Lloyd gazed upon the crowd who had grown silent.

"What's going on? Why did this happen?" The green ninja was not requesting this, he was demanding.

The Ninjago mailman came out from the crowd with a BorgPad.

"He attacked us! He stole our stuff! And now apparently he came to investigate a robbery that he was a part of!"

Cole whimpered from where he was on the ground, "I... didn't do... anything..." Cole wheezed out. Each breath was like his lungs were on fire. It was when that guy shot him.

"Do you have video evidence?" Lloyd questioned.

The mailman just turned on his BorgPad and showed him a video. Lloyd watched with interest until he spotted something.

"Wait a minute, pause it there for a second."

On the screen was Cole in the middle of all the chaos with purple eyes.

Silently, Lloyd walked to where the earth and fire ninja were, and gently pried one of Cole's eyes open.

They were the normal colour.

He let the earth ninja's eye close again.

Lloyd realized that the Cole in the video was an oni, but he knew the citizens wouldn't listen. So he lied to them.

"Okay, we'll sort this out."

Lloyd helped Kai lift Cole up. They made it seem rough, but in reality they were being as gentle as possible.

Cole moaned in pain.

"Don't worry, Cole, we'll get you out of here." Lloyd whispered to him.

But both the green ninja and Kai froze as they heard a loud bang and a small scream of pain from Cole.

There was a man with a gun and a bullet wound in Cole's leg.

Kai turned angrily to him, "I THOUGHT WE SAID WE HAD IT COVERED!"

Lloyd grabbed him by the shoulder, "Lets just help Cole first."

Reluctantly, Kai nodded and grabbed Cole again.

The lifted him into the backseat of Lloyd's night crawler and Kai sat with him.

Lloyd hopped in the driver's seat.

Cole let out a moan mixed with a whimper.

Kai laid the injured ninja's head in his lap again. He stroked Cole's head to comfort him.

"We have to get him help, now!"

****

Kai refused to leave Cole's side.

The earth ninja had blacked out while they were rushing to the monastery.

Kai had freaked out, but Lloyd told him that panicking wasn't going to help.

Zane had analyzed and treated most of Cole's injuries. He had started on the bullet wound first, only to find another one dangerously close to his chest.

Even though they were small, all the injuries were serious ones.

Cole still hadn't woken up.

Right now he was in his room, and Kai was sitting in a chair right next to the earth ninja's bed.

The fire ninja re-moistened the cloth he had and wiped Cole's forehead with it.

A knock sounded and Zane entered.

"Greetings, Kai." Zane looked over to the motionless body on the bed and sighed.

"Still unconcious?"

Kai nodded. "Hasn't moved a muscle."

Zane checked Cole's vitals again.

"He has trouble breathing, but his heart rate is fine."

Zane looked at Kai. The fire ninja hadn't moved from Cole's side ever since.

"Nya made dinner, perhaps you will join us for a little while? If anything happens to Cole we will know."

Kai sighed and agreed.

But just as they were about to leave, a moan came frome Cole.

They ran back to his side imediatly.

"Cole? Can you hear us?" Kai asked.

Slowly and groggily, Cole opened his eyes.

"Kai? Zane?"

"Yeah, buddy."

Cole tried to sit up but Kai and Zane gently pushed him back down.

"What happened?" Cole wheezed.

Zane answered, "The citizens attacked you then Kai and Lloyd saved you."

"I remember being attacked, and I think I saw flashes of Kai and Lloyd."

Cole let out a moan and clutched his head.

"What is wrong, Cole?"

"My head's killing me."

"Zane go get some painkillers." Kai ordered. Zane nodded and left the room.

Cole tried to sit up again. No one stopped him this time but he was feeling dizzy and fell back onto his bed.

Kai helped Cole sit up. The fire ninja kept one  hand on the earth ninja's back, and one on his chest to ensure he didn't fall.

"You really scared us, you know."

Cole just nodded and leaned against Kai's chest.

"Sorry." Kai looked at Cole in shock and said,

"But you have nothing to apologize for. Why are you saying sorry?"

Kai could hear Cole take deep wheezes of breath, before he replied,

"Because I made you worry."

Kai sighed sympathetically.

At that moment, Zane walked in holding a glass of water and two tablets. Lloyd followed in as well, having heard that Cole was awake.

"Com'on buddy, lets get this in you." Lloyd told him.

Cole tried to lift his arms so he could pick up the glass and the tablets, but found himself unable to.

And so Kai had to tip Cole's head back, Zane had to give him the tablets and Lloyd gave him the water.

"Thanks." He murmered.

From his position on Kai's chest, Cole's eyelids began to droop. But he was stubborn and forced himself to keep them open.

"Hey, Cole, we're going to the bounty to try and track who framed you, do you want to come?" Lloyd asked.

In all honestly, all Cole wanted to do was lie back down and go to sleep, but he had already been unconcious for who knows how long (HarumiGarmadon does) and wasn't planning on going back to bed anytime soon.

So, groggily, he nodded.

Lloyd helped him to his  feet and they all walked to the bounty.

****
Jay and Nya were already waiting for there when the others arrived.

"Cole!" Jay ran up to his best friend and hugged him. The earth ninja gave him a weak smile in return.

Kai had gotten Cole a chair to sit on, and Lloyd helped him sit down.

"Okay, so we know that whoever framed Cole was an oni. But we don't know how or why they are still in Ninjago. Any ideas?"

Zane spoke up, "My best guess is that some oni were not close enough to be affected by our tornado of creation. And if that is so, there must be more that one."

"I don't know, Zane, that tornado of creation was pretty epic." Jay said.

Nya face palmed and elbowed her Yin. Jay looked at her annoyed.

"What?"

"It's not about how 'epic' or 'awesome' something looks, it's about how powerful it is. Zane could be right."

Kai was next, "But how do we pinpoint where the fraud is?"

"I'm not sure," Lloyd responded, "Cole, do you have any ideas?"

No response.

"Cole?"

They all turned to see Cole asleep on the chair.

"Lets get him back to bed, he's had a long day."

A/N Aaaand its done! This is the longest chapter I've wrote in one of my stories! 1400 words exactly! See ya at chapter two, where the real action begins!