On a String

Chapter 13

"Zane, this isn't the time to be gloomy!" Jay exclaimed, shocked at his teammate's suggestion. "If we don't have hope, we don't have anything!"

"Both of you a correct," Sensei Wu stepped into the conversation, the lines of his face creasing in thought as he sought to calm his students. "We need to keep our hope. But we also need to prepare ourselves for the worst case scenario-" he was cut off by a loud 'thud'.

"What was that?" Jay asked as a second 'thump' and a shout followed the first.

Lloyd tore his gaze away from the floor. "It sounds like someone is fighting!" he exclaimed worriedly.

"Who, though?" Jay asked, wildly looking around the room, scanning for any 'unfriendlies'. "There's no one on this ship but us! No alarms have gone off, so we can't be under attack,"

"It must be Kai and Cole," Nya murmured as she straightened up. Her face fell. "But that must mean... it looks like... Cole couldn't help him after all. Kai must have finally broken,"

There was another thump, followed by a second shout.

"Kai wouldn't attack Cole!" Lloyd protested.

Zane looked at the Green Ninja. "It is not something I want to consider, Lloyd. But it is a possibility. I can't think of another reason for these sounds,"

"We'd better go check it out!" Jay said worriedly, leaping off the couch and heading for the door. "C'mon, guys!"

"Wait, Jay. We cannot all go. If Kai feels cornered, he'll lash out," Zane stated logically. "You know what Kai is capable of. We need to slow down and approach this calmly if we are to save both our brothers,"

"He's already lashing out Zane! He's fighting Cole!" Jay pointed out, voice rising in volume as panic began to set in. "We don't have time!"

"I'll go check on them," Lloyd said, impulsively standing up and running past Jay out the door. "My age will work for me! I'm the least threatening out of all of us!"

"Lloyd, you can't!"

"No, Lloyd! Don't-"

But Lloyd was already gone.

Cole raised his head from Kai's shoulder, blinking back the last traces of tears from his eyes.

(No matter how much it hurts, isn't it wonderful to breathe? Just as a Phoenix must die to rise again, sometimes you had to cry to smile once more...)

He wasn't used to breaking down like that, but everyone has their breaking point, and he knew he'd just found his. The realization that he couldn't just 'wave a wand' or suchlike and magically fix Kai was one of the most difficult things he'd ever had to come to terms with.

Sometimes, sheer willpower just wasn't enough.

As Master of Earth, the concept of willpower having limitations wasn't something he was familiar with- nor was it an idea he liked to give much thought to. He was used to simply standing up for whatever he believed in; being open minded and down to earth. If there was a wall, he just pushed through it. Simple, easy, open. If he was determined to do something, he did it. It was his approach to life and was even reflected in the way he fought.

But Kai's teaching had shown him that while that was a very noble way to fight, there were other, more successful ways to manipulate and win during combat. Ways that Cole preferred not to use, but would if the situation so called for it.

It was ironic that the way he fought was once very similar to Kai's. Kai had also been open minded, albeit his movements had been more reckless and passionate. Cole had the tendency to be slightly reserved during a fight, as he preferred to take care of problems at arm's length with a scythe, unlike Kai, who had thrown himself into battle with everything he had.