Charlie squinted into the sunrise, her hand shading her eyes from the sun. Her brother had flown out a few hours ago in search of land, and she was waiting for his return along with Cole and Nya.

Then, a familiar shade of green came into view. Lloyd flew to the shore, his dragon disappearing the minute he was above land. He crashed into the sand, groaning in exhaustion.

"You okay?" Cole asked as he and Charlie helped him up. "Did you see any land?"

"Just water," the Green Ninja replied as he stood. "I tried to reach the mainland, but it's too far. We won't be able to get off this island on our own."

Charlie hummed in thought. "You tried your best. At least we now know what we can't do."

Cole laughed suddenly.

"What's so funny about our predicament?" Nya asked with a raised brow.

The Earth Ninja let out a breath. "Oh, I was just thinking about what Jay might say to that," he raised his voice a few octaves. " 'You're telling me we went through all that trouble to get the venom to stop Nadakhan, and now we have no way to get off this island!?' " His smile faded slightly. "Heh, gone one day and I already miss him spazzing out."

"Me too," Nya added solemnly. "After he lied to us, I was so hard on him. And now he's captured and all alone. Some friends we are."

Charlie rested a hand on Nya's shoulder. "Hey, Jay's strong. We'll get him back. It's like what Wu once told me, if you want something bad enough, you find a way to make it happen."

Cole nodded, his grin returning. "She's right. If we can't fly off this island, we'll build our way. I've seen enough movies to know it's possible."

"And if we've built a rocket off an asteroid, what's one raft a little—" Lloyd said vigorously.

"Across an endless sea filled with unknown creatures that wanna eat us?" Nya squeaked. She covered her mouth sheepishly. "Uh, that was my Jay impression."

Charlie shook her head, chuckling. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get building."

~~~~~

The sun shone hot overhead as the Ninja built a raft. Charlie never had an issue with heat, due to her Darkness always carrying the cold with her. But the air was so humid it was hard to ignore the steady trickle of sweat running down her back.

"One more round of palm ties, and I'd say she's secure enough for sea," Lloyd grunted as he tied off the branches on the raft.

"Why is it all sea vessels are shes?" Asked Nya, looking up from her hammer and pegs.

Cole shrugged as he secured the ties. "​​​​​​I don't know. Because it takes a lot of paint to make them look good?" He snickered at his own joke with Lloyd joining him, but they quickly stopped when they saw the women's glares.

Lloyd tried to hide his laugher with a cough, but his sister's narrowed gaze remained intimidating.

The Master of Darkness threw a stick at his head and returned to her work with the ties.

"I kid, I kid," Cole said lightly, his gaze on his partner. "Lighten up, guys–er, girls."

"Nice save," Charlie patronized.

Nya scoffed. " I get it. My personal mission to rid the world of its prejudices is wearing thin."

Lloyd frowned suddenly. "Hey, uh, did anyone take my ties?"

"Not me," Cole answered.

"I didn't touch them," said the Water Ninja.

"I thought they were over there," Charlie told him.

"So did I," he muttered. He shrugged it off and stood. "All this sun must be baking my brain. I'm going back into the jungle to collect some more," he ran down the beach and disappeared into the flora.

After a moment of silence, Cole hummed in thought.

"You know," he started. "I think the real reason sailors name ships after women is because we name them after the most important people in our lives. Mothers, wives, sisters, the people we trust to protect us when life gets choppy." He smiled softly at Charlie, and she returned it.

"But Jay didn't trust me," Nya lamented. "Why didn't he tell me he saw a future with me? Even if I never believed it, if he told me, all of this could've been avoided."

Charlie glanced over at her. "He was too afraid you'd reject him," her gaze drifted to Cole. "Or he was worried that speaking it would mean it would change your fate, and it would never happen."

"Sure, Jay made some bad choices," Cole continued. "but it's like Charlie said, if you want something bad enough, you find a way to make it happen."

Nya chuckled. "After all we been through, I never thought you'd be the one sticking up for him. You're a good friend."

"Wrong. I'm his best friend," Cole corrected with a smile.

Charlie felt herself smile, but then she thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye.

"Huh. Where's my hammer?" Nya asked. "It was right here."

The sand shifted, Charlie noticed, then moved violently. "Whoa! Did you see that?"

"See what?" Asked the Water Ninja.

The sand moved in two mounds, circling them. "There's another," Charlie said. "There's two of them. I think I know why things around here go missing. Get off the ground!"

All three of them jumped into the raft, staying as still as possible while the sand creatures circled them.

"I see them now," Nya admitted.

"I think we need to be quiet," Cole whispered. "I think they're attracted to noise."

"Hey, guys!" Lloyd shouted from the jungle as he held palm ties. "Look at how many palm fronds I found!"

"Lloyd," Charlie hissed. "get off the—"

Suddenly, one of the creatures burst from the sand, revealing it's ugly face to the Green Ninja.

"Are you kidding me?" Lloyd groaned as he dropped the fronds. He spun into Airjitzu to the nearest tree to get away.

But with Lloyd no longer being a target, the worms moved back to the raft. They shook and rattled it until they destroyed it.

"There goes our raft," Nya groaned as they ran from the destruction.

"Just another day at the beach," said Cole.

"This way!" Lloyd shouted from his tree. "To higher ground!"

Cole and Charlie spun into their spirals, landing in the trees next to Lloyd. But Nya was still down there, jumping away from the creatures. At one jump, a teal sphere surrounded her and she spun into a tree.

"Hey, you just did Airjitzu for the first time," Charlie realized.

"You want something bad enough, you find a way to make it happen," said the Water Ninja.

The creatures circled the area, angry that their prey was out of reach.

Lloyd furrowed his brow. "We need to get off this island."

~~~~~

Night had fallen over the island when the Ninja finished their raft. They had taken to building it on the cliff side above the shore to avoid the creatures.

"Now all we gotta do is get it to the water," Cole remarked as he looked out over the edge.

"Leave that to me," Nya smirked. "While you were working on that, I was working on this." She pulled a rope and a crude machine began to fire coconuts on to the shore. The creatures rose up from the sand, responding to the vibrations. "They're distracted! Go!"

They jumped down with the raft and carried it across the shore. The worms paid them no mind.

"It's working!" Charlie cried.

Of course she had to say something and jinx the whole process. Nya's machine jammed, causing coconuts to no longer fire for a distraction.

"It stopped working," Cole groaned.

The worms noticed them and attacked. Charlie grunted as she pushed against the raft, using it as a shield against the worms. "The raft isn't gonna protect us much longer! We can't get to the ocean!"

"Then I'll bring the ocean to us," Nya reached out her hand and pulled the water closer. They all jumped on to the raft as they drifted out to sea.

"You did it!" Cole cheered.

"Yeah, but the raft is too damaged. It's falling apart," logs broke away as Nya spoke.

Cole jumped closer to the undamaged part of the raft. "Oh, no! I can't touch water!"

"We gotta go back," Charlie said.

"Oh, we're never gonna get off this island!" The Master of Earth groaned.

Suddenly, helicopter blades sounded right above them. Charlie looked up to see that very vehicle flying right there.

"Anyone need a lift?" Asked a familiar voice. In the helicopter was a thief with a crooked grin.

"Whoa! It's Ronin!" Lloyd cried. "Oh, I don't think I've ever seen a more beautiful sight."

Quickly, the Ninja jumped into the helicopter using Airjitzu. Inside was Ronin, two pilots, and the commissioner of Ninjago City. Charlie tensed when she saw him.

"Oh, by golly, we found you," he said.

"But how?" Asked Nya.

"We learned you chartered a boat. Following storm patterns, we looked—" one of the pilots was cut off by his colleague.

"Uh, detective work, ma'am. We're detectives. We detect things."

Charlie furrowed her brow. "Wait. Did you come all this way to arrest us?"

"Arrest you?" The commissioner asked. "Oh, gosh no. We came to rescue you. After you saved our city from the Sky Pirates, we finally realized whose side you're fighting on. I was wrong to distrust you, Lloyd. That's on me."

"But saving one more is on us," Ronin added, pulling a bottle from his pocket. "We got a message from Jay."

Charlie gasped and looked closer. A small scrap of paper was stuck inside the bottle.

Ronin smirked. "What say we get him back?"