Powerless

Outpowerd

As the Land Bounty was on autopilot Nya has her eyes on a tablet displaying all the heat signatures in Ninjago. All of the ninjas were extremely frustrated, for all of the signatures have been dead ends so far. As the travel went on, Nya told the ninja what she overheard with Sensei Wu and P.I.X.A.L.

The most furious out of the group was Zane. He had no idea why P.I.X.A.L. lied to him and couldn't even say anything to him before they left. But now the ninja knew, Wu was hiding something.

"I swear if we end up at another toaster I'm gonna flip!!!" Jay said angrily as he leaned into his chair.

It has been 7 hours and the Ninja still had no idea where Kai was. They were all tired and were losing hope. Cole finally felt that he had to say something.

"Look guys maybe we should call it-"

"No!" Lloyd and Nya yelled in unison.

Nya awkwardly looked back at the tablet in silence, unlike Lloyd who began to speak, "If it were you, scared, alone, and feeling like you lost all hope on your friends. Would you want us to look for you? Do you think Kai would give up on looking for you?"

There was a long moment of silence until a beeping started coming from the tablet Nya was using as a distraction.

"What is it Nya?" Cole asked anxiously.

"There was a large sight of heat out in the desert area of Ninjago! Looking at that specific heat signature in the past 7 hours it has not vanished. It could be Kai."

Jay spoke up and said, "Well what are we waiting for? But if this is just a giant toaster I might scream."

So the ninja traveled to where the signature was, but when they got there it was not what they expected.

"What is that?" Lloyd mumbled as he saw a 40-foot robot laying lifeless in the sand.

Zane replies saying, "My scanners aren't picking up the energy source anymore so it should be lifeless. We can approach it."

They got out of the Land Bounty and circled the robot until they reached what seemed to be its control panel.

"Hi Mr. Giant Evil Toaster Robot, you don't mind if we rip out your wire insides do you?" Jay said nervously.

Nya delicately opened the panel and the first thing she noticed was a singed camera and pulled it out of the robot.

"This was filming! Which means if Kai was here we'll know what he did and what direction he went in!" She yelled. "Wait... that's strange."

"What?" Jay inquired.

"The wires in the robot, they're hollow. Whatever was powering this thing is gone."

"How will we power it?" Cole asked.

"Guys..." Lloyd interjected. "My element is energy. I'll power it."

He slightly pushed Jay to the side as he walked towards the robot.

He lay one hand on the robot and the other on the camera screen and gave it a slight surge of energy so it wouldn't overheat, but it took much more effort than he thought it would require.

Zane scanned the robot, recreating the beast's blueprint in his mind. "It seems this robot was originally programmed with its energy source being fire, so when you use a different source it takes more effort."

"Oh. I definitely feel that." Lloyd replied followed by a small grunt.

Nya opened the robot's chest, with much effort, and hacked the camera. Soon the footage projected itself for everyone to see. And they watched in fear.

Kai looked tired and worn out, the Robot appeared out of nowhere and how it threatened Kai.

The battle was gruesome. They all shivered when they heard the breaking of Kai's arm. But the worst part? Kai's screams when the fire consumed his body, turning his veins red and eyes a boiling mix of red and white.

Then the projection stopped and the robot returned to its dead-like state.

"So Kai truly doesn't want this," Zane whispered. "He is getting it... forcefully."

The ninja sat there, figuring out what to do next. Finally, they decided, it was time to confront their Sensei.
___

Wu was meditating. He was hoping if the ninja could not find Kai physically, then he could find him mentally. He searched through the minds of Ninjago searching for Kai and his thoughts. He wondered if he wanted to find out what was going on in Kai's head.

And then, after searching for what felt like hours, he found Kai.

Somewhere all the way in the outskirts of Ninjago, around where they found the bounty. He remembers that day. They'd just lost their home, the first Monastery of Spinjitsu. All seemed lost, but there it was, a sign of hope. That's all he hoped for Kai now.

Kai seemed lost and in pain. His shoulder was injured, but that was not the only pain he was feeling. His powers were constantly straining him. His body felt like it was going to implode, with no room for more power but his body insisted it did. And Sensei feared for the worst.

"This is just like what almost happened with his father," Wu whispered.

"Brother," Wu spoke to the picture in front of him. "Kai is the passion and encouragement of the team. You knew how to guide him so well during the Tournament of Elements even though you knew him for such a short amount of time. Without him the ninja will crumble, and without the team, so will Kai. Please, guide me."

He stood up and bowed his head to the only photo he had when he and his brother were young.

And with that P.I.X.A.L entered the room
and said, "We've gotten an alert from the ninja, and... it's important."

But she did not know that Wu already had the information about Kai's location.

He responded, "So do I."