Cole and Zane stood opposite of each other while Garmadon stood not far away. They circled each other slowly, their eyes locked. On the signal, the two ninja began their training session. The earth ninja stared off strong by levitating a boulder up from beneath the ground and pinning Zane to the floor. Zane growled in frustration as he tried to wriggle free, but Cole wouldn't budge. He shifted the boulder from side to side, taunting Zane as he laughed. "Come on Frosty, you can do better than this!" Cole teased. Then, with a look that practically said 'this was just a distraction.' Icicles jetted up underneath Cole, and he dodged out of the way as quickly as possible. The Ice Emperor transformed into his falcon form, and with a powerful flap of his wings, he flew up and out of the boulder's grasp. Cole tensed as he watched the other swoop down towards him, the intent clear. He raised his arms, a surge of power flooding through them like lava as a wall of earth blocked the impending attack. The force of the impact sent ripples of energy through the ground, causing Cole to stumble backwards. From the other side of the wall, Zane morphed back into his human form and shook off the impact. Rocks flew from all directions as Cole maneuvered them to form spikes and reckless shields in order to avoid Zane's retaliating blasts of ice. Each time Zane tried to freeze him, Cole broke them off with the earth walls. However, Zane did not let up, and neither did Cole. They jumped and flipped around the clearing, dodging each other's attacks. Finally, the earth elemental got the upper hand and knocked Zane into a tree. Garmadon declared Cole the winner as Nya helped Zane to his feet.

The elemental masters looked at the master, eager to see who would go next. Then, the Jade leader cleared his throat and spoke up. "The next round will be me, versus..... Kai."

They all stood baffled as Kai jumped down from a tree branch and a smirk spread across his face.

"But you said we were training today!" Complained Jay.

The teacher nodded. "Exactly, I said we were training today. WE includes me. After talking to Ronin for some time, I found out something quite interesting. Apparently, Kai, and everyone else in the Fire Tribe, is forced to learn combat from a very young age. So if you don't mind, I'd like to test out how well his battling skills actually are." The leader got into a combat ready position; nodding for the opponent to strike whenever he was ready. Kai nodded and he channeled his fire powers into his hands, sparks and flames licking his fingertips. Garmadon stepped back and launched a series of wide arcs with his staff and each one demanding an even quicker response from Kai. The boy obliged, redirecting the staff's blows with forceful jabs of flaming punches. As the fight intensified, the training field took on a life of its own as the smoldering heat from Kai's flames hit Garmadon and its energy deflected off the bamboo staff. The master backflipped over Kai and knocked out his legs with the staff; causing him to buckle to the ground. The fire elemental seemed almost furious by the humiliating fall and tried to engulf himself in a blaze. But he couldn't.
"WHY ISN'T THIS WORKING?!" After struggling for a few moments, his fists ignited and he threw a barrage of fire balls at his opponent. Garmadon smirked as he twisted his staff and dispersed every fire ball that was hurled at him. With a swift movement, he knocked Kai into the pool that the waterfall flowed into. The boy grabbed the side of the pool in panic as he scrambled to get out.

"You fought very well, but there's a reason why you lost. After I knocked you down, you let your rage consume you. You were no longer using tactics or even aiming; just blindly throwing your projectiles. We'll have to work on you controlling that."

The soaked boy snarled at him and the ninja that watched behind. "We aren't going to work on anything! I don't need your dumb advice! Besides, I would have won if my powers didn't start acting up."

Jay tilted his head. "Are you sure you didn't just loose focus?"

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH, MAGGOT!!" Kai roared. Then, he rushed off.

Lloyd slowly turned to his father and questioned why he bothered.

"He's lost Lloyd, if we don't bother, no one will."

               _____________________

Clouse stood in the center of the chamber; the walls made of thick, grey and black stone. In front of Clouse was an ancient altar, covered in runes and symbols. The man eyed the chamber before him, his long black hair swaying gently with the soft breeze flowing in from the outside. He was confident in his abilities, but a part of him still feared the Anacondrai would not be adequately contained. He shook his head in an effort to banish away the lingering doubts and began the ritual.
He reached out and ran his fingertips along the symbols on the pedestal. He could feel the power of the spell radiating from the ancient stone. The sorcerer closed his eyes, deep in concentration. He slowly lifted his right hand, fingers spread, and whispered a few ancient words. Focusing his energy, he began to intone the age-old spell. With each syllable, a swirl of purple light began to emanate from the palm of his hand. He moved his arms in a wide arc, the light trailing his movements. As he reached the apex of his figure-eight gesture, he paused and his eyes opened. The light from his hands was now cascading across the walls and of the chamber, connecting the lines and symbols. The scale, along with the blonde and red hairs, began to float and be engulf with the light. Soon, they were nothing more than a squiggle of magic intertwined in the spell. There was a loud crack as energy surged through the chamber and a portal of purple light appeared. The sorcerer dropped to his knees in exhaustion, but stared at the portal with anticipation. Soon, a figure emerged from the doorway, slithering toward Clouse. The sorcerer rose to his feet and made eye contact with the scaly, purple creature.The being smirked as he put a hand on his hip. "Well, I'll be... nice to see you again Clouse."

The man bowed. "Master Chen. You look well."

The half man- half snake slithered around Clouse inspecting him. "Hm, you don't look a day over 35, Clousey- you're still using that life sapping spell? Impressive. Almost as impressive as the fact that you got this portal open."

The man rolled his eyes. "Yes. Well, using your hair made it easier for me to locate you. Now, where are the others?"

They glanced back at the portal that was now closing behind them. Clouse jumped towards it, but it was too late. It closed. The sorcerer's eye twitched as he fell to his knees.

"Oof. Tough luck Clousey. You can open it again though, right?" Questioned Chen.

"I would- but the spell needed an item from the person your trying to locate. The only rouge Anacondrai scale I owned was used to open the last one. I unfortunately cannot reopen it."

The Anacondrai shrugged. "Oh well. At least I'm back. Besides, you wouldn't be able to get them anyway, they're all dead."

"WHAT?!"

"Eh... something about cannibalism. Anywho, you didn't need them. I assume you took good care of my tribe while I was gone? We can just use them!"

The sorcerer was about to question him further, but let out a sigh and decided against it. And with that, the two left for the Fire Tribe temple.
_______________________________________

Meanwhile in the Jade Tribe village- Nya and Akita sat by Kataru. The boy pressed himself against his sister as hard as he could while she rubbed his arm. His eyes were glued to the floor as Nya tried to comfort him with words. Kai watched from another tree house balcony. It was weird to see the boy he had been taught was more or less an object be treated so warmly. Curiously, he made his way over to the hut and watched peeking from around the doorway. The formling looked slightly more healthy now- with him being cleaned, bandaged, clothed, and his stomach had clearly been filled incredibly recently. Overall, he just seemed to give off a different aura. Kai had seen him in his cell a few weeks after he was captured. The young leader snuck down to see the prisoners, even though it was forbidden, and stopped at him. Kataru was sleeping in his bear form but woke up when he sensed Kai staring at him. The little boy didn't look like he had any evil intent, if anything he looked fascinated by the bear turning back into a kid. Kataru looked curiously back at him as he noticed the several scrapes around his body. Kai, as a child, wore only a pair of red pants. It was so if he was hurt during training, he would feel it worse. A shirt could cushion a blow, prevent scrapes, and help stop bleeding- and God forbid any of that happened during training. Kataru took notice of the child's wounds and for a moment wondered if he too was some form of prisoner. Kai reached through the bars of the cell and held out his hand to touch the shapeshifter. Kataru cautiously and curiously reached back, but he could only touch him with the tip of his fingers due to the restricted length of the shackles. Then, Clouse called for him in the distance, and the little boy ran off. A few years after, Kai had been training in the arena when curiosity overtook him and he venture into the dungeons again. He knew he wasn't supposed to, but the boy figured a peek wouldn't hurt. Again, he looked at the others, but stopped at the formling. This time though, his eyes were less full of wonder and he looked at Kataru in more so the way the inventor looks at his battlebot. No longer a cool person, but more of something that provides entertainment. Like a caged circus animal. Next time they met, even though Kataru didn't know this was the same boy he'd seen when he was younger, was in the arena. The two were forced to fight, and of course, Kai won. The formling's body was wracked with burns for weeks after that. So now, seeing Akita kissing him on the cheek and giving him a comforting hug.... reminded him that he was stolen. He was raised to think of him as Fire Tribe property- but he wasn't. He was a living, breathing, person. Then a thought crossed the fire leaders mind. How messed up was he that he never registered him as a living creature? How had he never once stopped to think that when he cried out in pain he was actually hurting? Kai knew agony, his body had the marks to prove it, so why had he never understood Kataru was going through that every time HE got hit? Before his mental state could crumble further, a hand touched his shoulder. The fire leader startled around to see Lloyd looking at him sternly. "What are you doing here?" Kai took a second to process that back in reality, he was staring into the medical hut.
"Oh. Um... just.. looking around this dump."  He shrugged.

The green ninja‘s eyes narrowed. "Yeah, well look around somewhere else. I don’t like you being near here. You've already hurt Kataru enough. And I don’t care what my father says or does, I'm not gonna trust you until you prove you can be."

Kai’s heart dropped. "Garmadon... trusts me? Why...?"

The green ninja sighed. "I don't know. He said that you need to know someone else cares about you. And the ultimate form of care is trust. But unless you can undo this-" Lloyd gestured to his still healing burns and wounds he got in the ring. "I won't be one of those people." Lloyd walked in the building and began talking to Kataru and the girls about something. Later, as nighttime set in, Kai sat by Ronin. He and the soldier discussed how they were going to defeat Clouse and betray the others. Because... yeah. That was the plan. And he....... he's gonna stick to it. Cause why would there be a reason for him not to?