"Or what?" Pythor scoffed as Lloyd's struggling began anew. "That didn't work out all that well for you last time, if I recall. How's that arm, by the way?" Kai grimaced, and Lloyd could see him tuck his bandaged wrist against his side.

"Feeling great." He snipped back. "How's that ego?"

"You do realize I don't even have to keep him alive this time?" Pythor dropped Lloyd to the ground, immediately wrapping his tail around him before he could scramble away. "Whether or not I have a hostage, I have the might of the serpentine on my side." As if to back up his words, the two other serpentine generals came up beside him. Kai grimaced, and Lloyd winced where he was trapped in Pythor's tail. What was Kai doing here?? He appreciated the effort, but Kai was injured!! Why was he even out here??

"So? We've already run circles around the 'might of the serpentine' what, twice?" Kai mocked them. "What are you gonna do to me that you haven't already tried?"

"Considering how outnumbered you are?" Pythor arched a brow. "Whatever we want." Kai scowled, and then his katana clattered to the ground as he lunged for the Sword of Fire.

Pythor was too slow to stop him, tail tangled around Lloyd to keep him still, and Kai lifted the sword above his head as the air burst into flames around it. The sudden display of power had the serpentine warriors cowering back, and Pythor hissed with disdain at the loss of his prize. His tail curled tighter around Lloyd, forcing the air out of his lungs with a squeak.

Kai spun around, brandishing the flaming weapon at Pythor. "Now." He snapped. "Let him go."

"And if I don't?"

"You'll lose much more than a hostage." Kai hissed. Pythor scowled, then turned to his underlings.

"Don't just stand there!" The anacondrai roared. "Get him!" After a moment of hesitation, the warriors obeyed, and Lloyd watched with horror as the serpentine converged on Kai.

The fire ninja spun, lashing out at the approaching snakes and forcing them to fall back. A fangpyre leaped at him from behind, but Kai whipped around in time to deflect the attack. Fire sprang up from the ground around him, giving him momentary relief from the serpentine as he tucked his injured arm against his front. He was still using his left hand.

Pythor scoffed, then released Lloyd, shoving him at Skales. "Don't let him escape." He snapped. Lloyd pushed himself up, ready to make a break for it, but the Hypnobrai general grabbed him by the forearm and dragged him against his front. No amount of struggling could get him away from a Serpentine General, he realized miserably. At this point he was lucky he wasn't being hypnotized.

Pythor slithered towards Kai, pushing through the fire as if he didn't even feel it. Kai brandished his sword, but Pythor ignored him, one hand shooting out and grabbing Kai by the good arm. Kai gritted his teeth, but, after only a moment, let go of his sword and let it clatter to the ground. Lloyd squeezed his eyes shut. He didn't want to see Pythor break his other arm.

"A valiant effort." Pythor mocked, and Lloyd opened his eyes a slit. "But, ultimately pointless." Releasing Kai's hand, Pythor bent down to take the Sword of Fire, only to jerk back with a shriek as the handle scorched his palm. Kai sneered at him.

"If you can't stand the heat, stay out-"

"Shut up!" Pythor backhanded him across the face, and Kai staggered back. Snatching up Kai's abandoned katana instead, Pythor turned, slithering towards Lloyd. "Hold him still!" Lloyd blinked, then adrenaline shot through him.

"What??" He struggled, but Skales' tight grip kept him firmly in place. "Wait!!"

"You're of no use to us, boy." Pythor drew back the sword. "Toodeloo!" Lloyd jerked back and ducked his head as Kai shouted something from a few feet away, too far away to stop it.

What felt like pure electricity flared through his body, and a pulse of green energy exploded from Lloyd's form, passing harmlessly through Kai but sending the serpentine flying nearly 20 feet.

Lloyd hit the sand with a thud, body feeling as though it were made of lead. Every instinct he had was screaming for him to run, but the burst of power had taken every bit of energy he had left. His hands shook where he pushed them against the ground, trying to sit up.

"Lloyd!!" A strong arm slid underneath him, scooping him up, and he heard Kai hiss with pain as he straightened. Lloyd slumped bonelessly against his shoulder. His eyes flickered open as he tried to wrap an arm around Kai's neck, gaze alighting on the Sword of Fire strapped to his back. Kai was already heading for the edge of the graveyard, past the stunned serpentine who could do nothing but watch them go.

"Kai." Lloyd croaked out. "So-rry-"

"Hey, don't apologize." Kai told him, breathless. "You got my sword back, didn't you?" Lloyd blinked, and immediately felt his eyes well with tears.

He had his big brother back.

—

Boy was he gonna feel this in the morning.

Kai plodded along through the sand, holding Lloyd against his shoulder as the kid dozed in his arms. He was holding him mainly with his good arm, broken arm wrapped around his back to keep him from falling. Kai wasn't sure he could actually hold his weight if Lloyd did fall, but it made him feel better.

So it was true. Lloyd was the green ninja. Kai realized that he hadn't really doubted it for a while, but now he knew for sure. There was nothing else he could attribute that power to, even if it did put the kid down for the count. Lloyd was dead weight against his shoulder now, skinny arms wrapped around his neck.

Kai regretted the way he had treated him, now. Not just because he was the legendary savior of Ninjago, who had just taken out 30 serpentine without lifting a finger, but because Kai was convinced now that Lloyd really was trying his best to help, and he had treated him like a nuisance. Lloyd deserved respect - or, at least, basic human decency. And protection. He clearly wasn't as adept with his power yet as he needed to be.

Lloyd shifted, and Kai took the opportunity to whisper, "Hey, don't do that again."

Lloyd didn't answer for a moment before whispering back, "What?"

"Run off by yourself." Kai squinted at the desert, hoping he was going the right direction. "That probably would've gone better if we'd had the boys with us." Lloyd was quiet for a few moments.

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Kai lifted his broken hand to awkwardly ruffle Lloyd's hair. "Hey, we succeeded, right? Sword recovered. We didn't get the map, but we'll figure it out." Lloyd gave a tiny nod, and Kai quieted, intending to let him sleep.

A little hiccup from his shoulder had Kai immediately regretting every life decision.

"Hey, it's okay." He said hastily. First spinjitzu master, the kid had almost died. "We made it out, everything's gonna be fine."

"I know." Lloyd hiccuped. "it's just- sorry." Kai went silent again, reminded of how Nya used to act when she was younger. Sometimes kids cried for no reason, at least, not a reason that made sense to adults.

"Aren't you supposed to be like 21?" Kai mumbled. Lloyd scoffed quietly, giggling.

"Sorry, getting aged down is... weird." He shifted again. "...does things to my head."

"Right..." Kai patted his back, straightening a bit when the Bounty came into view in the distance. "We're almost there, alright?"

"Right..."

"Go to sleep if you can." Kai encouraged him. "You, uh... feels like you're gonna need it." Lloyd tucked his head against Kai's neck, and the fire ninja shivered, wondering if this wasn't the first time he'd carried the kid like this.

After a few minutes, Lloyd was asleep for real, soft breaths tickling Kai's neck. Kai was exhausted, and wondered briefly if he had time to stop and rest before they reached the Bounty. Ultimately, he decided against it, afraid the Serpentine would find them slacking, and pushed onwards as the lights on the Bounty flickered on in the darkness.

—

"There!" Jay shouted, pointing off the edge of the ship. "I see them!" The other ninja abandoned their preparations, rushing over to join them and spying Kai and Lloyd about 200 feet from the ship.

"Guys, come on." Cole ordered, already climbing over the edge to meet him. Kai raised a bandaged arm in greeting as they approached, grinning widely.

"What took you so long?" He called out. There was a prominent bruise on his cheek, and Lloyd was slumped against his shoulder.

"Where did you two go??" Cole demanded, hurrying to his side and taking a sleeping Lloyd into his own arms. "What happened?? I thought you and Lloyd didn't get along?"

"We didn't." Kai confirmed. "I'll explain. Later. Right now I need a cup of tea and an ice pack."

"Did you go to the junkyard?" Zane guessed, pulling Kai's good arm over his shoulders.

"What clued you in?" Kai winced, leaning heavily.

"The Sword of Fire." Zane pointed out the golden weapon, and Cole blinked, looking back at Kai to find that yes, the weapon was strapped to his back.

"You two ran off in the middle of the night to get your sword back?" Cole asked incredulously. "By yourselves??"

"I said I'd explain!" Kai insisted. "Now can we please get on the ship? And in the air, preferably. There's a lot of snakes who aren't very happy with us." Cole frowned, but nodded, hurrying with Lloyd back towards the ship.

The next few minutes were a flurry of activity. Ed and Edna had been roused by the ninja's frantic search for Kai, and Edna was very displeased with him for fighting with a broken wrist. Kai remained tight-lipped about his and Lloyd's outing until the ship was in the air, his wrist was re-splinted and in a sling, and Lloyd was sleeping in the ninja's room.

"Okay, so," Kai began once the rest of the ship's crew were gathered on the bridge. "Lloyd ran off by himself. And yes, he'll tell you this himself." He added when a couple of incredulous looks were sent his way. "Ask him tomorrow morning."

"And you followed?" Cole promoted him to continue. Kai took a sip of his tea, leaning his bruised cheek into the bag of frozen peas in his other hand.

"Yeah. I thought..." he shrugged a bit. "Thought he was going off to report to the Serpentine, or something. Wanted to catch him in the act."

"Lloyd wouldn't do that." Jay protested.

"Yeah, I know that now." Kai hushed him before continuing. "Anyway yeah, he didn't. He tried to steal the Sword of Fire back, and he almost got it, but Pythor got him. Apparently he talked the rest of the serpentine into working for him now." Wu frowned.

"That is very concerning."

"Yeah." Kai agreed. "I tried to defend Lloyd, but Pythor beat me. Again." He shifted. "And then he tried to kill Lloyd." Edna exclaimed quietly.

"You stopped him, right?" Nya cut in, concerned.

"No, Lloyd stopped him." Kai shook his head. "He used some kind of- like, green power." He gestured with his mug. "So, yeah, he's definitely the Green Ninja." A small smile appeared on Wu's face.

"Is he okay?" Jay asked. "I didn't see any injuries on him, but..."

"Yeah, I think he's fine. Just got pushed around, and using his power really tired him out." Kai assured him. "He needs more training. But, at least he has a way to defend himself." The room fell quiet as the ninja processed this. They had all known that Lloyd was the green ninja, but, until now they had just taken his word for it. Kai's abrupt change in demeanor was proof enough in itself.

"Alright." Cole broke the silence at last. "Kai, get some sleep. I know you're tired too." The red ninja gave him a thumbs-up. "Everyone else-"

"I'm not going back to sleep." Jay cut him off. "No way, I've already had coffee. I'm gonna work on optimizing the training equipment."

"Oh, we'll join you." Ed announced, but Edna cut him off.

"Not until dawn breaks, Ed, you know you get cranky if you don't get your sleep."

"I'll stay up with you." Nya patted Jay's arm. "I'm too worked up to sleep." Jay's cheeks flushed red.

"Oh, uh, okay."

"I've rested for long enough." Zane agreed. "I'll get started on breakfast."

"It's two in the morning," Cole pointed out.

"I'll make overnight oats."

"Alright." Cole shrugged. "Everyone else, just, do whatever you want, I guess. Kai, I'm putting you to bed." Kai drained his teacup, then pushed back his chair.

"Okay."

Neither of them spoke as Cole led him from the bridge, heading for the bedroom. The swelling in Kai's cheek was already going down, to Cole's relief. He was thankful that the bruise seemed to be Kai's only new injury.

Before they reached the door, Cole stopped him.

"I'm proud of you." He told his brother. Kai hiked up a brow.

"For sneaking off in the middle of the night?"

"No." Cole rolled his eyes. "Once you recover I'm gonna wallop you for that. No, for making things right with Lloyd." Kai blinked, and his eyes softened.

"Yeah, I was..." He scuffed his shoe. "Kinda being a jerk."

"Yeah." Cole said bluntly. "You were." Kai shrugged sheepishly, and Cole wrapped an arm around his shoulders, giving him a squeeze. "I'm glad you're safe."

"Me too." Kai winced as his broken arm was disturbed, and Cole released him. "I'm glad I went after Lloyd, too. Who knows what would've happened to him if I hadn't showed up?" Cole considered this.

"I guess." He agreed. "Alright, get some rest." He reached forward to open the bedroom door, the small shaft of light revealing Lloyd asleep on his mat.

"Night, Cole." Kai slipped into the room and shut the door behind him, leaving the black ninja alone in the hall.