Cold eyes stare down the snake in front her, even breaths hitting the material of her gi mask. Alyssa holds her katana tighter, clenching her teeth as her body tenses, the moon setting in the dark sky. "Come on..." She mutters, closing her eyes.

No matter how deep she looked, nothing sparked inside of her. There was no trace of her True Potential, the heat that burned inside her soul. There were no sparks to relight the fire that had been snuffed out so long ago.

When the noise of the others around her got too loud for her liking, Alyssa yelled out in annoyance and kicked the long necked dummy into the railings of the Bounty, the head of the Anacondrai snapping and falling off, rolling until it stopped at her toes.

She grimaced at the sight of it. She thought that if she made her training dummy look like one of her worst enemies, it would ignite her True Potential. All it managed to do was mock her with its cruel fanged smile.

A spotlight flashes on, shining down on Alyssa and the others, who had all knocked over their own dummies during their practice. Nya smiles down at them from the light, "Good training. Your powers are getting stronger. But where's Kai?" She asks, not spotting her brother on the deck with the others.

Jay twirls his nunchucks with a shrug, "I dunno, probably off sulking about not unlocking his True Potential." He chuckles, though slowly comes to a stop when he glances at a frowning Alyssa who had taken off her mask with a huff.

"We should go look for him." Cole sighs, placing his Scythe on the holster on his back. "He's not going to unlock anything if he's not even trying, come on." He urges, leading the group into the Bounty.

It didn't take long to find him, in fact they heard him first. Walking along the hallway, a voice drifts down to them. "Fire! Unlock fire! Uh, fire go! Shoot flames! Oh, come on. Basically everyone else can do it. So can you. Bring heat!"

"Very nice." Cole was the first to interrupt Kai's monologuing, the laughter of the other boys almost drowning him out as Kai snaps around to stare at them in horror, fully dressed in the Green Ninja gi. "Perhaps if you tried the phrase Fire dork, maybe it might work."

Kai quickly takes off the mask of the gi, "How long have you all been watching?" He asks nervously, clenching the mask in his hand.

"Long enough that it's giving me second hand embarrassment." Alyssa crosses her arms tightly over her chest, her mood souring even further at the sight of the Green Ninja gi.

Jay gasps loudly, "The Green Ninja suit. That's awesome!" He gushes, marvelling over the legendary gi.

"Yes." Stepping forward, Alyssa narrows her gaze at Kai, "How exactly did you manage to find it?" She questions, voice low. Even she hadn't stumbled across the gi after so many years, not that she was looking for it in the first place.

Rubbing the nape of his neck, Kai could only stare at the floor bellow him, unwilling to meet their eyes for the moment. "Well, I was looking for some kind of clue from Sesnei and then I found this." He mutters.

"But you know only he who is foretold to face Lord Garmadon is destined to be the Green Ninja, and only he should wear the Green Ninja outfit." Zane seemed too happy to relay this information, a smile spread across his face as he watches Kai trudge towards the window, "So Sensei would most likely be very—"

"Upset." Alyssa finishes with a stern voice, shaking her head. "You need to take it off and put it back where you found it, Kai. You obviously weren't supposed to find it."

"I know, I know. But I thought if I just tried it on, it might help me see my True Potential." Kai places a hand against the windowsill, staring out into the night sky. "It's not fair that you guys have unlocked your cool powers and I still haven't—"

"I haven't either." Kai glances towards Alyssa, who stares at herself in the mirror Kai had just been standing in front of, her face expressionless, "You're not the only one who hasn't unlocked their True Potential, Kai. I know how you feel, trust me," She looks away from herself to frown at him, "But wearing some green pieces of clothing isn't going to bring it out."

"But—"

"Hello? I'm home." A voice calls out, followed by the sound of a door opening.

"Sensei!" Jay, Zane and Cole cheer, the three rushing out of the room to greet their teacher.

Kai instantly panics, staring down at the Green Ninja gi he was still wearing. If Sensei caught him, he'd be in deep trouble, and he knew that. Watching Kai fumble around, looking for his red gi, Alyssa leaves him with a click of her tongue.

Her mood lifts upon seeing her Sensei out on the deck, a smile finally gracing her face as she jogs up to him, the others already huddled around him. "Sensei!" She calls, wrapping her arms around him as soon as she was close enough to.

Sensei Wu chuckles and pats her back with one arm, "It's so good to be home." He smiles down at her when she pulls away from the hug, and she easily returns it.

"Oh, Sensei, have you missed a lot." Jay begins, a hand on his hip as he starts listing off the recent events that have taken place without him, "Zane's a Nindroid, Nya's the mysterious Samurai, Cole's a dancer—"

"Zane is a...what?" Wu scrunches up his face in confusion, the word unknown to him.

"You've been gone a while." Zane chuckles softly, "We'll catch you up later. But you should know, all of us except for Kai and Alyssa have discovered our True Potential."

Wu raises an eyebrow at the news, "Have you now?" He subtly meets the eyes of Alyssa, who lets her previous smile fall into a frown. He hums and turns to glance at Kai, though meets an empty space. "Where is Kai?"

Panting, Kai rushes over to meet them, out of breath as he smiles weakly at Sensei Wu, "Right here. So glad you're back safe."

Suddenly, four black arms stretch out behind Sensei Wu, shocking the whole group. Stepping out from behind Wu was Garmadon, a large fanged grin spread across his cheeks. "Sensei, behind you!" Kai shouts, instantly rushing to attack the Dark Lord while Zane stands protectively in front of Sensei Wu.

"Kai, stop!" Alyssa hastily reaches out and grabs Kai by the arm, yanking him away from Garmadon who hadn't even made a move to attack Sensei Wu, "Calm down!"

"Calm down?!" Kai seethes, trying to yank his arm out of her surprisingly strong grip, "He's Lord Garmadon! He followed Sensei Wu here and you want me to calm down?!"

"He is the reason I left." Wu steps in front of Garmadon, shocking majority of the group. Alyssa lets go of Kai's arm when he tries to get out of her grip again, though less aggressively. "For so long as Pythor has Lloyd, he will be our guest."

Cole scoffs and points at Garmadon, outrage on his face, "We have to live with this guy?!"

"But Sensei, he has four arms!" Zane stares over at Garmadon's new appendages, just as shocked as the others.

Jay pushes past Zane and Cole to glare at Garmadon before sending Wu a look of confusion, "Uh, must I remind you ever since he turned evil, he's been trying to get our Golden Weapons?"

"Enough!" Wu shouts loudly, making them all jump in shock. It was the loudest Alyssa had ever heard her Sensei shout, and defiantly the most angry.

"Yes, Sensei." They all mutter, bowing their heads slightly in apology.

Garmadon finally speaks, dark red eyes sweeping over them, "This isn't about the weapons. It's about my son."

Wu sighs and holds out a hand towards his brother, "From here on out, you will obey me and you will respect my brother."

Once again, the ninja all bow respectively. "Yes, Sensei."

With the hardest conversation over, Wu folds his hands behind his back and slowly turns towards the direction of the Bridge, "Now to the Bridge. We must put our attention to more pressing matters." By the time they make it into the Bridge, the sky had started to brighten with the early morning sun. "So, where are we at with the four Fangblades?"

"Oh, Pythor's managed to take the first two, but there's still two left." Jay informs quickly, Wu nodding at this information.

"And we only need one in order to prevent him from unleashing the Great Devourer." Cole adds from besides Jay, who nods along.

"Any luck finding their whereabouts?"

Zane shakes his head at Wu, "No, but the Falcon is programmed to alert us if he sees any suspicious activity."

"Good. If we find the Fangblade, we find Lloyd." Wu turns his attention towards the back of the group, where two siblings stand side by side. "Kai and Nya, prepare the deck and double check the anchor. We need to be ready when we first get word of activity."

The two nod their heads, hands clasped together as they bow, "Yes, Sensei."

On their way out, Kai glares at Garmadon, who had been standing there innocently the whole time. "I have my eye on you." He gestures from his eyes to Garmadon, and with his attention on the Dark Lord, he wasn't watching where he was walking, and ends up smacking his head against the doorway.

Wu sighs in disappointment, running a hand through his beard. Hoping to get an update about what had occurred while he was away, he turns to Jay with uncertainty. "Jay, did you say the Falcon was...programmed?"

"Oh, where do I start?" Jay chuckles, rubbing his hands together.

"And that's my cue to leave." Mumbling to herself, Alyssa was quick to turn and leave the Bridge. Why would she stay there and listen to everything she had already experienced? Especially if it came from Jay, she'd be there all day.

For now, she had all the time in the world, just until the Falcon spots anything. The question was, what was she going to do to fill that time frame? Sighing, she walks down the hallway towards the storage room.

Opening the squeaky door, she searches the room with her eyes before spotting the broken training dummy she had been a bit too rough on, though she had her reasons. Dragging the wooden snake out of the storage room, she makes sure to grab its head before closing the door and taking everything back to her room.

It didn't take much effort to lug the Anacondrai dummy to her room, despite the extra height it had to her. Placing it on the rug in the middle of her large room, Alyssa grabs a tube of glue from her workbench and drags her wooden chair in front of the dummy.

Despite being quite tall already, she would need the extra height to reach the neck of the dummy. Stepping up onto the chair, she holds the head of the snake close and balances herself for a moment. She worked quietly on the project, shaving off some of the splinters that were in the way and putting a good amount of glue on both the head piece and the neck.

Humming deeply in her throat, she concentrates on meeting the two together, not wanting the head to be tilted at an odd angle, it would just annoy her later on. Satisfied with the positioning, she sticks the two together and holds it in place, waiting patiently for it to dry.

"What are you doing?"

Glancing past the neck of the dummy, Alyssa meets the dark red eyes of Garmadon, who stares right back at her. She didn't know how comfortable she was being alone with him, he wasn't the Garmadon she had heard stories of from Wu, he wasn't the person he used to be.

"What does it look like?" She replies in a monotone voice, disconnecting their gaze to return to the task at hand, her arms not tried yet from their upheld position.

She heard him shuffle around the dummy to fully enter her room, without her permission. She sets her glare on the slitted eyes of the dummy instead of directing it to him. "I don't know, that's why I asked." He replies besides her, his head reaching even higher than the long necked snake in front of her.

She sighs, already tired of the conversation. "I'm fixing this, happy?" She ducks her head slightly, trying to see if the glue had dried enough that she could let go of the head. She would give it a few more minutes, just to be sure.

Through a whole minute, neither of them spoke. Garmadon continued to just stand there besides her, silently staring at her. She could feel his gaze burn the side of her face, and it was starting to get on her nerves. Just when she was about to voice her complaints, he spoke. "You're different than what I remember."

"Pardon?" Alyssa furrows her eyebrows and finally turns her head to look at him, confusion etched in her expression. Of all the things to say, it was that? "I have no idea what you're talking about." She lies through her teeth easily.

Garmadon crosses his upper arms, his lower set now placed on his hips. It was unnerving and odd to see him with four arms, unnatural. Though he himself was unnatural. "I think you heard me. I might look different, but I still have all the memories of my past, and from what I remember, you've changed since I last saw you."

"Okay then," She chuckles bitterly, letting go of the wooden head unconsciously so she could turn her body towards him, thankfully the glue had dried. She didn't bother getting off the chair, the added height made her feel less vulnerable than on the ground. "Enlighten me, how have I changed? I grew up?"

"Not much, and I don't think you want me to get into that, now do you? I have a feeling your own teammates don't even have a clue on your past, do they?" His words have her quiet, giving him the answer he was expecting. Her face shifts into a pointed glare, one he chuckles at. "Don't be alarmed. I won't go spilling secrets that aren't mine to tell."

"Good," Alyssa grunts out, stepping off the chair with a huff. She picks the seat up by the back and moves it back to its previous position at her desk, "I'll tell them in time, it's just..." She sighs and leans her forearms on the back of the chair, staring down at the sketches spread across her desk, sunsets, ocean views, Serpentine, old friends. "I don't want them to look at me differently." She mutters.

"I know the feeling." He speaks up from next to her, his eyes sweeping over the many pictures she had drawn. Some of the faces looked familiar, though it was that long ago that he couldn't put any names to the faces. He knew they meant a lot to her if she could still remember them, even after all the time that had passed.

She stays silent after that, chin now resting in the crook of her forearms that rest on the chair, dark hair falling into her face. He didn't intentionally mean to put her into a somber mood, and a small part of him regrets the conversation. He wasn't lying when he said she had changed. Even she knew she had, but she had no choice over those changes.

"Did you need something?" She finally asks after a long pause, her head lifting to look at him. Surely he wasn't seeking her out, there were more interesting things to do around the Bounty than bug her.

Garmadon frowns and clears his throat, "I was trying to find the kitchen, to be honest."

She snorts at him, chuckling. "You went the wrong way." Biting the inside of her cheek, she decides to waste more of her time doing something useful. "Do you want a tour?"

Alyssa spends the rest of the daylight leading the Dark Lord around the Bounty, showing off everything and anything. She shows him the bedrooms first, being closest to them from the beginning. Cole wasn't too happy when he walked in on her placing down a futon for him to sleep on.

The rest of the tour went smoothly and he was well aquatinted with the entire ship. After their rocky conversation in her room, she started to warm up to him eventually. He was definitely different than she remembered, but there were still small traces of the Garmadon she knew in him. She wondered if he felt that about her, did he still see her as that small child, the one who used to be outgoing and innocent?

"Oh, it's my night to prepare dinner, so I'll leave you be for now." She lets go of the Bounty's wheel to raise an eyebrow at Garmadon, "Is there anything you would like to request?"

"I've brought my own," His answer has her tilting her head, and a large grin stretches across his face at her reaction, "Thank you though."

Now she understood his grin. Sitting down with the others for dinner, dressed in her pyjamas, Alyssa eyes the black goo sitting on Garmadon's plate. She watches as small larvae looking things crawl through his food, and she suddenly doesn't feel hungry anymore, especially when he starts gulping it down.

"What's he eating?" Cole mutters between herself and Kai, face pulled into a grimace that matched many of the others faces.

"Condensed evil." Kai replies back, surprisingly more focused on glaring straight at Garmadon in front of him than the food he was eating. "Supposed to be low in fat."

Through Garmadon's crazed eating, one of the larvae are flung off his plate. It starts to crawl towards the three, and Alyssa was thankful she was on the further end of the table. Kai was the one to flick the thing away with his fork, gagging.

The next day wasn't any better, and Garmadon continued to prove that he was a handful. Flying the Bounty through a harsh storm, Kai kept his glare out the window while Alyssa and Zane helped him whenever the wind would push the ship by grabbing either side of the wheel.

Curious, Zane glances around the Bridge. "Where's Garmadon?"

Sighing, Kai gestures out the window to the deck, "Sunbathing."

"Seriously?" Alyssa raises an eyebrow and peers through the glass, and there he was, Garmadon in all his glory. Four arms rest behind his head, acting as a pillow, a carefree grin on his face. Lightning flashes, and he wasn't fazed.

"You two okay without me for a moment?" She asks Kai and Zane, quickly glancing at them for an answer.

"Why?" Kai furrows his eyebrows and finally takes his glare off of Garmadon to look at her, "Don't tell me you're going out there."

"I'll be right back, I swear!" She takes her hands off the wheel to jog out of the Bridge to the deck, skipping the last step down the stairs. She was jostled around slightly by the rocking of the ship, but was quick to steady herself as she makes her way over to Garmadon. "Is this a thing you enjoy doing?" She asks him loudly over the thunder.

He peeks an eye open to glance at her, his grin growing wider as he chuckles. "You could say that. You're welcome to join me." He pats the spot on the mat he was lying on with one of his arms.

"Funny. No, thank you." She rolls her eyes, her lips twitching up at the corners. It falls slightly when the Bounty jostles again, only to be stabilised by Kai and Zane. "Did you sleep okay last night?"

"Oh, one of the best sleeps I've had in quite a while, though I can't say the same for the others." Garmadon doesn't hold back his teasing smirk, his head tilted just enough that he could probably meet the eyes of Kai.

Sighing, yet interested, Alyssa places a hand on her hip, "What did you do."

"Gave them a little light show." He replies back with a shrug, his eyes closing again as he soaks in the lightning.

That night, he did the exact same thing. Alyssa was awake long enough to hear the crackling of electricity that she knew Jay wasn't controlling and the loud complaints of the guys. She wouldn't admit to them that she was laughing in the peace of her own room.

On her way to the Bridge that next afternoon to see if there were any updates on Lloyds whereabouts, the rapid sound of beeping has Alyssa's ears perking up. Confused and yet hopeful, she rushes towards the sound to see Lloyd being held in a small cage on the large monitor.

"What's going on?" Jay was the next person to hear the noise, the blue eyed boy almost out of breath from running so fast to the Bridge, "What's happened?"

"The Falcon's spotted Lloyd!" She gapes up at the monitor, watching as the view changes from Lloyd to a large volcano. Anger suddenly flared up inside of her. How long had the Falcon been watching the Serpentine, been watching Lloyd? "Where's Kai?" Alyssa turns to face Jay, her anger displayed clearly for him to witness, "He's supposed to be here! Who knows how long the Falcon has been circling the Serpentine!"

"I'll go find him, keep an eye on the monitor!" Jay points a finger at the screen before rushing out of the room again, almost as annoyed as she was. How could he be so careless?

She doesn't take her eyes off the screen, taking in the dark clouds of smoke that wafted out of the mouth of the volcano. Cole was the next to enter the Bridge, Jay having run into him and updated him. He was not impressed, and took to gripping the steering wheel tightly.

The rest of the team came dashing in not long after Cole, and Alyssa quickly fixed her glare on Kai, "Where in Ninjago were you?! You left the Bridge unattended to, and could have possibly cost us not only the Fangblade, but Lloyd's life as well!"

"I'm sorry, okay?! I got caught up!" Kai hastily fires back, throwing his hands in the air.

"You'll be sorry alright if this whole thing goes wrong." She hisses through her teeth, hands closed into tight fists. She gestures to the screen, not wanting to waste anymore time, especially on Kai. "They're at the Temple of Fire, which is where I'm guessing the next Fangblade is."

"And Lloyd." Garmadon speaks from the Bridge's doorway, eyes glued to the screen in hopes of seeing his son.

"That's the same Fire Temple where Kai and Lord Garmadon first faced off." Jay glances over his shoulder to Kai, who glares over at Garmadon.

"If my memory serves me correct, I'd say one of us cheated back when we last fought." He points an accusing finger at the Dark Lord.

Garmadon steps further into the room, heavy footsteps echoing across the wood of the Bounty, "And I remember someone needing their Sensei to save them!"

The tension between everyone was enough to have Cole calling back to them from the wheel, "Guys! For the sake of the Fangblade and Lloyd, can we please just get along?"

Nya takes in the volcano, eyeing the fiery mountain with a frown. "Since the last time we've been there, it looks like the volcano has grown unstable. The place is a powder keg just waiting to blow up. This will be a highly combustible environment."

Jay scoffs and crosses his arms, "Oh, great. Just what I like. Fighting armed and deadly snakes in a highly combustible environment about to blow up!"

"We will do what we must." Wu calmly speaks, Zane nodding besides him.

"Yes, Sensei. But where are our weapons?"

At the White Ninjas words, the other four ninja glance around for their weapons that were nowhere in sight. Kai, already jumping to conclusions, takes notice of the disappearance of Garmadon. "And why is Lord Garmadon not here?"

Kai was fast to move, already out of the Bridge before anyone had time to react. "Kai!" Wu calls out, trying to stop his student from doing anything rash.

"I get closer and closer to throwing him over the railings everyday!" Alyssa was not having it, her short temper getting ready to unleash at any moment if someone were to step out of line.

"We need to stop him," Wu leads the group out of the Bridge, already knowing where his brother was, "If Kai had let me speak, he would have known that I asked Garmadon to retrieve the weapons for me."

"No surprise there, it's Kai we're talking about." Jay sighs, following the others down into the lower part of the Bounty.

"Kai? You in here?" Nya calls out after stepping into the hallway. She hears one of the room doors lock, and rushes over to look through the doors window, where Kai was furiously attacking Garmadon. "What are you doing?!"

Garmadon pins Kai to the door, pressing him up against the window, making him groan out, "Discovering my True Potential!"

Jay grabs the doorknob and twists it, pushing all his weight against the wooden door. "The door won't budge!"

"He's insane!" Alyssa slams a hand against the door, glaring through the window to scowl at Kai's back after he manages to escape Garmadon's arms. "How is this unlocking your True Potential?!"

Nya groans and runs her hands through her hair, the black strands sticking up in odd angles, "Kai thinks he'll unlock his power if he stands up to Lord Garmadon!"

"Why would he think that?!" Zane was just as confused as the others, the sound of flesh hitting flesh echoing in the other room.

Nya throws her hands in the air, eyes wide as she shakes her head, "'Cause he thinks he's the Green Ninja!"

"Cole, will you?!" Getting overstimulated with the shouting, the sound of fighting in the other room and just Kai in general, Alyssa moves aside for Cole, who seemed to have been thinking the same thing.

"Stand back!" Cole's body was surrounded by golden light, eyes glowing bright as he activates his True Potential again. Rearing his leg back, he slams his foot against the door, kicking it in loudly.

With the door out of the way, they were all quick to rush into the room before Kai got seriously hurt. Instead, they were met with Kai standing with one leg pinning Garmadon down, heavy breaths leaving his mask.

"I defeated him. I did it! Are my eyes glowing? Did I unlock my powers? Is this my True Potential?" He looks over his body, expecting himself to be glowing, on fire, anything that was close to what the others had experienced. When he saw nothing, annoyance was quick to replace his victory, "Why isn't it working?!"

"Because you cannot defeat someone who allowed himself to be defeated." Wu stares down Kai with disappointment. He extends an arm to Garmadon, helping the fallen Lord up from the hardwood floor.

"I wasn't going to hurt you, boy. I was only fetching your weapons." Garmadon speaks softly, an innocent smile on his lips.

Kai grunts and points an accusing finger at him, "But you were trying to steal them!"

Wu snaps his head to Kai again, voice stoic. "I asked him to get them. Perhaps it is best you do not reach your True Potential, or else someone could get hurt." Those words stung Kai deeply, despite him not showing it outwardly.

"Way to go, hero." Cole clicks his tongue, shaking his head slowly.

"Oh, poor thing. Let me help you." Nya takes Garmadon's other arm(s), keeping him balanced as he stands on his feet.

The ship shudders around them slightly, coming to a stop. "Sounds like we've finally reached our destination." Cole announces to the group.

"Then let's not waste anymore time." Alyssa shoots Kai a small glare, one he avoids meeting. "Come on."

Running out onto the Deck, heat greets them first. Lava bubbles loudly beneath the Bounty, filling the air with hot smoke and ash. The temple stands proudly in the centre of the lava, the red of the building clashing against the black rock of the volcano.

"The Fire Temple." Cole breathes out in awe, the heat making him uncomfortable under his gi.

"Let's get a move on." Nodding her head towards the ladder, Alyssa was the one to lead them all down to the bridge across the lava, the heat not bothering her much. She prefers it over the cold.

The Falcon flies over them, its internal speaker crackling as Nya speaks through the device as she had stayed behind on the Bounty. "The volcano seems to be on the verge of eruption, guys. All recent indicators tell me that this place is becoming increasingly fragile. Even the smallest rupture can make the whole thing go off."

"Then we must not use our weapons." Wu glances over his shoulder to his students, who all nod and place their respective weapons in their holsters. Almost all.

"Kai." Nya's warning voice drifts over them, Kai sighing loudly at the back of the group.

"Yeah, yeah. No Fire Sword." He puts his sword away on his back, glaring up at the bird, "But only because I wouldn't want anything to prevent us from getting that Fangblade."

"Or my son."

"Or Lloyd."

Garmadon and Alyssa speak over each other, both sneering over at Kai before glancing to each other in some sort of understanding. At least they knew they had the same goal in mind.

"There." Wu gestures his staff towards a caves open mouth, the heat only intensifying the further the tunnel went. "The Serpentine must be inside the inner core. From here on out, we travel by shadows."

"It's the only way I know how." Garmadon mutters, racing just ahead of the group.

The cave comes to an end at a ledge, which oversees the inside of the volcano. The Serpentine had spread themselves out on the pillars that stood above the lava, though one misstep and they would be burnt to a crisp. In the centre digs a Hypnobrai, Pythor standing tall above him and the hole, a map in his hands that he reads over.

"There's Lloyd." Jay whispers, pointing towards the right. The young boy stands sadly in a cage, hands gripping the bars. Snakes surround him as guards, not like he could escape in the first place.

"Son." Garmadon goes to step forward, but Wu holds him back with an outstretch arm.

"We'll rescue him," Alyssa places a hand on Garmadon's shoulder, a look of pure determination set on her face, "I promise."

The sound of metal hitting something echoes off the volcano walls, followed by Pythor's loud gasp. "Out of my way, fool!" As he roughly pushes the snake out of the way, the ninja slowly start climbing their way down towards him. Pulling the red tinted blade out of the dirt, he chuckles and raises it in the air proudly, "The third Fangblade is ours!"

The united tribes cheer loudly in celebration, Pythor grinning at them all. He runs a claw over the blade, gleaming down at it only to stop sharply. In the reflection of the blade, he spots a familiar enemy. "Ninja?" He snaps his neck behind him to see the group inching towards him, "Attack!"

"Light as a leaf. Attack like there is no tomorrow!" Wu shouts as the entire Serpentine tribe charges at them.

Glaring at the group of snakes, Alyssa knew she couldn't pull out her Katana. Much like Kai's sword, it had the potential to activate the volcano and burn the whole place down. So, she was left with nothing but her fists.

Her goal was the Fangblade, but her eyes instantly darted towards Lloyd who had heard that the ninja had came. Her moral compass was twisting wildly inside of her, yet she knew almost straight away which she would go for first.

With the others headed for the Fangblade, Alyssa clenches her teeth and jumps onto another pillar, slowly getting closer to Lloyd. Three Serpentine decide to block her path, hissing and baring their fangs at her. "You're really starting to annoy me, you know that?"

When one goes to bite her, she moves to the side and knees them in the ribs. The last two were quick to jump in, only for her to punch one in the neck and the other in the face. She gasps when one of them falls over the edge of the pillar after her hit and quickly skids across the floor to grab it by the legs, her face scrunching up at the heat that wafts across her masked face.

"I'm going to regret this, aren't I?" She groans bitterly, hauling the Serpentine back onto the stable floor of the pillar. It didn't feel right, letting it burn to death in the lava, and by her own hands? It made her feel sick almost.

Alyssa gently places the snakes head on the ground, watching as it groans in pain. She bites her lip as its eyes slowly open and close, ringed red eyes meeting hers for a few seconds before closing as it passes out. She sighs softly and stands back to her full height. They were okay.

Abruptly, the lava starts to bubble almost furiously, and when she looked over the edge of the pillar she could tell it was starting to rise. Answering her question on why was Nya, who flies the Falcon around the now unstable volcano.

"Kai, the weapon is compromising our safety!" Glancing over to the sound of her voice, Alyssa shakes her head angrily at Kai, who stands around a bunch of groaning Serpentine, Fire Sword in his hands.

"Let's get out of here! But not before we leave them with a parting gift." Pythor's loud voice catches their attention, the Anacondrai leading the rest of the Serpentine out of the Volcano, "Boys?"

He orders some Constrictai, who all instantly burrow into the ground. They emerge from some pillars and quickly dash back to Pythor, leaving the holes they just made to fill with Lava. Some more continue to do the same, digging into anything they could while the volcano shook violently.

"They're making the volcano unstable!" Zane calls out, making them all regroup for safety.

Jay nervously takes in their surroundings, large pieces of the volcano falling from the ceiling to drop and splash the lava up dangerously close to them. "Any minute, this place is gonna blow! We have to get out of here!"

"Not without my son!" Garmadon almost growls out lowly, pushing past Jay to search for Lloyd desperately.

"Dad!" Lloyd cries out, his father turning towards the call. Lloyd was being carried away by the Serpentine in his cage, fearful eyes locked on his father.

Garmadon leapt into action before anyone could stop him, jumping from pillar to pillar to reach the stairs the Serpentine were climbing. There he took his rage out on them, ripping a sword from one of the snakes grip to slash at anyone close by.

Alyssa swallows thickly as she watches it all go down, the sight making her stomach churn. Blood seeps down the steps, sizzling on the heated stone. Garmadon rages on, lodging his sword into the snakes that rush at him without fear, only for them to be ruthlessly killed or thrown into the lava bellow.

It wasn't anything she hadn't seen before. She had seen blood and murder before, she had been the one scrubbing blood off her hands at one point, but it was nothing like she was witnessing.

Pythor, noticing the bloodshed happening behind him, snarls and points his staff at the Serpentine behind him that were holding Lloyd's cage up. "Lose the boy!"

The snakes shakily nod and carelessly throw Lloyds cage over the edge, ignoring his cries for his father. Luckily, the cage lands on a broken pillar, though it was dangerously close to the lava that was continuously rising higher and higher as the seconds passed.

"Lloyd!" Garmadon fights his way through the last of the Serpentine, experiencing a fear that he's never felt before.

Just as the lava started to eat away at the bottom of the cage, he drags the small prison up to the staircase by the long metal rod attached to the top of the cage, breathing a sigh of relief that his son was safe.

"Dad." Tears run down Lloyd's cheeks as he slips out of the bottom of the cage to hug his father, sobs of fear and hope racking his small body.

About to climb up the wall to escape the rising lava, Alyssa smiles at their reunion, though it was quickly wiped off when she spots Kai rushing past her towards the staircase, "Kai, what are you doing?!"

"Getting that Fangblade!" He replies back, voice strained as continues up the steps.

"Come back! It's too dangerous! The whole place is going to explode!" Cole yells out to him, wincing when a falling boulder just misses his shoulder.

"Then I better be quick!" He shouts back, pulling his sword out. Just before Pythor could escape through a hole in the wall, Kai throws his sword straight at him. It nicks the Fangblade, knocking it out of Pythor's grasp and lodging it into the wall

The serpent snarls angrily at Kai, though the Red Ninja was unfazed. Trying to yank the Sword of Fire and the Fangblade out of the wall, Pythor skitters off when a burst of lava spits up at him. The second his tail was through the tunnel, large rocks and boulders collapse to block the hole.

"He's going to kill himself! Kai!" Alyssa shouts from the ledge her and the others had climbed, hands cupped around her mouth.

"Leave it, Kai! It's not worth your life!" Jay yells from besides her, copying her position so his voice would travel over the sounds of the volcano collapsing and erupting.

"Not without that Fangblade!" Kai shouts back, not even turning to look at them as he races for his sword and the blade.

The boiling lava rises faster under them all, the heat making the group step back closer to the wall. They shimmy towards their exit, the tunnel they had entered through earlier. "We need to leave, we won't last much longer at this rate!" Garmadon tugs at Lloyds hand, urging him to follow.

Lloyd frowns and pulls his arm back, stepping away from his father as he points towards Kai's figure. "But what about Kai? Kai!" He turns around to yell out for him, and one footstep on the wrong part of the ground has the floor falling underneath him.

"No! Lloyd!" Garmadon reaches out for his son, only just missing his outstretched hand. The others tried their best to help, Cole reaching his scythe out at the same time while the others reached for him, but they all missed.

The slab of rock sloshes on the lava, Lloyd coughing at the harsh landing. He looks up through the smoke, bottom lip wobbling as he feels the rock descend slightly into the lava. "Dad! Dad! I'm sinking!" He cries out, grasping the rock for dear life.

Wu takes in the situation, knowing that his final decision would haunt him for the rest of his long life. "We have to get out of here, or else none of us will get out of here!"

Alyssa's ears ring loudly, blocking out almost everything around her. Her eyes stay glued to Lloyd, her breath stuck in her throat. She couldn't move, she couldn't fight back verbally against Sensei Wu's words, but she disagreed with him. She wasn't going anywhere.

Wu urges them all back into the tunnel, the others already rushing out to safety, but it was Garmadon who put up a fight the most. "But my son!"

Hearing the ceiling of their tunnel crack, Alyssa had made up her mind. She casts one more glance behind her, meeting Garmadon's eyes as he was dragged away with Wu, "Lloyd will be safe, I promise you."

"Alyssa, wait-!"

Wu didn't have time to reach out for her, she had already slipped out of the tunnel and clung to the wall of the volcano just as the entrance to the tunnel was sealed shut by the crumbling ceiling.

Breathing heavily now, she takes in her surroundings for a plan. Lloyd had floated close enough to the back wall that if she crawled around she would be able to jump down to him, but she wasn't sure what to do from there.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it." She grumbles against the rock, shimmying her body across the wall. Her hands clasp the edge of anything she could grab, and while it burns the palms of her hands through her gloves, she pushes on past the pain.

"Alyssa?" Lloyd looks up to her with wide tearful eyes when a few pebbles of the wall splash the lava, watching her slide across the wall behind him.

Hissing through her teeth when a sharp and boiling rock slices open her palm, she glances over her shoulder down to him. "Just hang on, I'm coming down!" She calls out over the bubbling lava, eyes squinted against the heat that blows past her.

Bracing herself, she sucks in a breath and kicks herself off the wall. A burst of lava brushes by her, missing her by inches. She lands on Lloyds rock with a small groan, the slab rocking with the movement. She brushes her bloodied hands on her gi's pant legs as she stands from her crouched position, knees cracking.

"You okay?" She asks quietly, gentle eyes watching as Lloyd's whole body shudders. She wobbles slightly when he throws himself at her, arms wrapping around her middle with his face buried in her stomach, loud sobs being hidden in her clothing. "Shh, I know, you're going to be okay." She soothes, brushing her hands through his messy blond hair.

"Come on, why won't my power unlock?"

Hearing a familiar voice, Alyssa turns her gaze over the lake of lava to see Kai. He was reaching out for the Fangblade that was slowly slipping down a rock, the tip of the blade just touching the lava.

"Kai!" Lloyd was the first to call out to him, though he never removes himself from Alyssa's arms, his cheeks red from the heat.

Alyssa bends down slightly and picks the boy up when the lava starts to eat away at their rock, the slab sinking further under their weight, chipping off the edges. She would burn first before him, and she wouldn't regret it, though she hopes it wouldn't come to that. "Kai, please!" She calls out, her eyes catching his.

She watches him and her heart starts sinking at his conflicted expression. He glances between the Fangblade and them, and she almost loses hope. It was always the goal for him to get the Fangblade, it was at the top of his list, the item that could help him unlock his True Potential, or so he thought. She wouldn't be surprised if he chose it over them.

Holding Lloyd closer to her body, her eyes widen when Kai starts to back up on his pillar for a running start to the neighbouring pillar just out of reach of them. He uses the momentum to jump onto their rock, once again making it slosh around on the lava. "Come on. Let's get you guys out of here."

"But the Fangblade-!" Lloyd furrows his eyebrows and tries to glance at the blade from his position in Alyssa's arms.

Kai shakes his head and winces when another shot of lava bursts next to them, "Forget it. This place is coming apart!" He shuffles closer to the two as another part of their slab breaks off, sinking to the bottom of the lava.

"What're we going to do?" Alyssa glances around once again, her eyes landing on the tunnel that had been sealed off, "We have no way out!" She hated admitting it, but their chances weren't looking so good.

Kai clenches his fists and stares down at Lloyd, who continues to glance between the two of them with nothing but hope in his eyes. "I think I know now." He mutters, only loud enough for them both to hear that he spoke at all.

"What?" Alyssa turns around to meet him face to face. The simple look of understanding in his eyes has hers widening in bewilderment, "Kai?"

The lava around them starts to rupture around them, higher and closer than ever before. It circles around their slab, encasing them in a heated shield of sorts. With a dry mouth, Alyssa watches Kai's body glow brightly, his True Potential activating right in front of her eyes. She didn't know why or how, but he had unlocked it.

"Here, take him." Acting quickly, Alyssa shoves Lloyd carefully into Kai's arms, the both of them sending her a look of confusion and horror. "Don't look at me like that, either of you! Kai, you can only carry one person, and I want it to be Lloyd."

"No!" Lloyd instantly tries to wriggle out of Kai's grip, though the older boy doesn't let him go, "I'm not leaving unless we all get out of here!" Instantly, more tears start running down his red face, his sniffles loud against the roaring lava.

Shaking her head, Alyssa takes off her mask to send them a wobbly smile. "I don't think so, little man. You have someone waiting for you out there, and I made him a promise that you'd get out of here safely." Her heart breaks as his sobs get louder, and it takes all her willpower not to soothe him.

"That's bullshit." Kai's tone has her snapping her eyes to him, his own glowing pair glaring at her. "You have people waiting for you too, don't try to deny it. I know you, I know you try not to get too close, for whatever reason that may be, but you've failed." He watches her face crumble, a small sob passing her lips. He needed her to know she wasn't alone, and she never would be with them around. "You're getting out of here with us, I don't need the others on my ass about leaving you here. Got it?"

As soon as the words leave his mouth, her body starts to glow. She stood out against the dark of the walls and the lava, bright purple taking over her whole frame. She sniffs and wipes her eyes with her sleeve, lavender eyes meeting orange. "I hate when you're right."

The others had escaped onto the Bounty just in time to witness the volcano erupt, sending lava, ash and black smoke into the air. They all stare in disbelief, hands shakily grabbing at the railings of the ship.

"Kai." Nya was the first to speak, her voice breathy and broken as she blinks away the oncoming tears. Her brother was in there, and she could do nothing to help him. She felt useless, hopeless.

"Son." Garmadon was in the same condition, his hands holding the railings tight enough to crack the wood.

Sensei Wu stands furtherest from the group, eyes glued to the smoke of the volcano. He couldn't utter a word, his staff held loosely in his hand. She was just out of his reach, and he was too late to react. Losing his nephew and Kai was a huge blow, but Alyssa, it was almost as if he lost a child, his child.

Gasping, Jay gains their attention, his teary eyes pointing up to the volcano, "Guys, look!" Something akin to a meteor shoots out of the mouth of the mountain, its bright red glow shooting straight for the Bounty. "It's Kai! He's found his True Potential!"

Kai hovers closely over the Bounty before he drops to the wooden deck, landing easily on his feet and putting Lloyd down, the young boy instantly collapsing to the floor. The group huddle around Kai, their eyes wide and their tears drying.

Kai smiles at them, his True Potential burning brightly. Wu steps forward after glancing to the volcano, a deep frown on his face. "Where...Where is Alyssa?" He feared the answer, and so did the others when none of them saw her with Kai.

As if answering them, Kai's chest starts to glow, not red, but a bright purple. The light gets brighter and brighter, almost blinding them, though they couldn't take their eyes away from the scene. A transparent lavender hand emerges from Kai's chest, the light getting brighter as another hand phases through.

Another round of shocked gasps leaves them all when Alyssa steps out of Kai's body, her frame wavering in and out of transparency, as if she was a ghost. She blinks a few times, her head spinning as she comes out of the high that was her True Potential, her form becoming stable and human like again.

A body hitting the floor has her whipping her head back around to see that Kai had fainted, his body sprawled out on the deck. She honestly felt like doing the same, feeling herself sway slightly. Thankfully, Wu was there to wrap an arm around her to keep her steady, and she grins at him toothily, "I'm not sorry."

"I know you aren't." Sensei Wu chuckles out with a shake of his head, his smile matching her own as she leans her body weight against him, her head laying against his shoulder as her eyes close.

Alyssa and Kai were awake in only a couple of minutes, the two now standing in line with the others in the Bridge as Lloyd and Garmadon have a proper reunion, one that was overdue.

"Dad? Is it really you?" Lloyd peers up at his father, who was running a hand through his tousled hair with a soft smile.

"It is, son." He chuckles, hugging him tightly, as if he'd disappear if he'd let go, even for a few seconds.

Lloyd frowns in confusion at the multiple arms his father had. "Dad?" He starts quietly, voice hoarse from crying, "Why do you have four arms?"

Cole chuckles at the question and grins, hands on his hips. "He's gonna be okay."

Garmadon hesitantly lets Lloyd go to face Kai and Alyssa, "Thank you, Kai, Alyssa."

Zane, now having the chance to ask a question he's been dying to know the answer of, glances at the two, "But how did you two survive? How did you discover the key to unlocking your powers?"

Alyssa glances at Kai and nods her head at him, giving him the chance to go first. Even she was curious to know how he unlocked it. Kai sighs softly, "I knew when I had to make a choice. I wanted the Fangblade so badly, to prove I was good enough to become the Green Ninja. But then I figured it out." He looks to the floor in thought, "All of my training to become the best ninja wasn't in preparation to become the Green Ninja. It was..." He slowly lifts his eyes to meet the green ones of Lloyd, "to protect him."

Alyssa nearly chokes on her own breath at his words, her eyes widening enough that it hurt. She shakily turns to look at Lloyd, the others having almost the same reaction. He was joking, right? Lloyd couldn't be...could he?

"What?" Lloyd frowns in confusion, not liking the looks on their faces, "What is everybody looking at me for?"

"That means..." Nya gasps softly, urging Kai to present his weapon in front of Lloyd with the others.

They were all quick to stand forward, their weapons outstretched, waiting for something to happen. "Alyssa." Wu places a gentle hand on her shoulder, breaking her out of her trance.

She clenches her teeth and steps forward, taking her Golden Katana out of its sheath to hold it out in front of Lloyd with the others. Immediately after her weapon was close enough to the others and Lloyd, they begin to levitate around him, emitting crackling green lightning. She wanted to cry, to scream, but she kept it at bay.

"Lloyd is the Green Ninja." Wu couldn't believe his eyes, "I had thought it would be one of you, but it was him the whole time. It all makes sense. Not only have you five been chosen to protect the Golden Weapons, but also to protect the Chosen One." The weapons all fall to the floor in a loud crash, making them all jump in shock.

"That means..." Garmadon had stepped away from Lloyd at this point, hiding in a corner at the results. He had a conflicted expression, a deep frown on his face.

Wu sighs, "The battle lines have been drawn, brother. Sadly, our family has only become more divided. Brother versus brother, and now, son versus father." He watches Lloyd step closer to his father, only for Garmadon to step back.

Silence surrounds them all, everyone taking the news in a different way until Jay suddenly chuckles half-heartedly, "This is heavy and all, but whatever happened to the Fangblade!?"

With the tension cut, Alyssa quickly passes by them all to leave the Bridge, not even sparing them a glance as she speed walks to her room, her breathing getting choppy when everything starts to set in her mind. She slams her door shut when she enters her room and her hands instantly go to her hair, gripping it tightly as her eyes start tearing up.

"No, no, no. I can't- I don't understand-how?" She couldn't speak properly, couldn't think rationally. Nothing was making sense, what kind of game was Destiny playing and why did she have to be a part of it?

She collapses to the floor by her bed, her back resting against the bed frame. She tucks her knees in close to her chest, needing some sort of stability, to ground herself. Her lips wobble as tears cloud her eyes. She felt lost, confused, conflicted.

She grew up hating the idea of the Green Ninja, hating whoever the mysterious person was. They ruined her life without even knowing it, ruined everything she had, destroyed her childhood, destroyed any chances she had of having an even remotely normal life.

Lloyd. Of all the people, it was Lloyd. The sweet, misguided child was destined for nothing but pain and torture, and he wasn't even prepared for it. She saw parts of herself in him, and now it just made everything so, so much worse. Sobs shake her body as she cries into her knees, tears wetting her ruined and burnt gi.

The creaking of her door doesn't even reach her ears, and she flinches when someone touches her head. She snivels and slowly lifts her head just enough to meet the old blue eyes of Wu, and his face only makes her bawl harder.

"It's not fair, Sensei, it's not fair." She cries harder than ever before, curling her body tighter into itself as she fights for a breath of air through her sobs.

Wu kneels down to her height and pulls her into him, his heart cracking at her loud cries of refusal. He knew that the revelation of the Green Ninja would deeply hurt her, he just didn't know it would be this bad.

"I'm sorry, my child." He whispers gently, leaning his chin against the top of her head as she shakes against his chest, her hands now curled, clenching fistfuls of his shirt desperately. If he could change Destiny, he would do so in a heartbeat.