A/N: I know a lot of stories still take place before the season finale, but this is sometime after it. Because the last few episodes were hinting that the Serpentine were trying to come back, in this story they have, led once more by Skales. They are the main enemy. Because the Serpentine are still a major threat to Ninjago, the ninja got the team back together and they live on the Bounty. Everyone who was on the Bounty as of Season 3 still lives there, even Dr. Julien and the whole Garmadon family. Dr. Julien is there because he's the only one who can repair Zane if anything happens, and the Garmadons are all there because they couldn't bear to split up so soon after being reunited. I'm not sure how much of this will matter in this story, but that's the setup. This starts in Kai's POV, but it focuses pretty much equally on all four elemental ninja (Sorry, Lloyd fans. Writing Lloyd is hard.) Well, if there's anything else you need to know, I'll put it in another A/N or slip it into the story somehow. Until next time, dear reader, please enjoy the first chapter of United We Stand, Divided We Fall.

(Kai's POV)

This is it. The cave where those stupid snakes are holding Nya is so close I can practically taste it. Why does the enemy always take her?

Jay is freaking out. He learned his lesson after tackling Cole last time, but that doesn't mean he isn't worried. I should say something, I think.

"Don't worry," I say, putting my hand on his shoulder. "Nya - she's gone through this before. She'll be alright." I think I'm trying to convince myself more than Jay.

Cole calls down to us from further up the mountain. "C'mon guys, just a little further. We'll be there any minute." Jay and I pick up the pace to catch up with Cole and Zane. Sure enough, the four of us (Lloyd having stayed behind to watch the Bounty) scrambled over a steep ridge and found ourselves on a wide, flat ledge, no more than 500 feet from the mouth of the cave. We head towards it, bracing ourselves for any attack, but none came. Everything seems to be going pretty well. But a few feet from the entrance, Zane stops suddenly.

"What's wrong?" Cole asks, turning to Zane.

He responds hesitantly. "We . . . we cannot go in there."

"Are you kidding me?!" I respond, practically yelling. "Whadd'ya mean, we can't go in?"

Jay nods, backing me up. "Nya's in there! Why wouldn't we go?"

"I...I don't know, exactly," Zane begins. "I just sense that if we enter, something . . . horrible will happen."

What is he trying to pull? "Something?!" I scream. "You're asking me to abandon my sister in the hands of those filthy snakes, and the best reason you can give me it 'something'?!"

Cole butts in. "I don't know, Kai. He hasn't been wrong yet."

"There's a first time for everything," I mutter.

"Please, you must believe me, I - " Zane hesitates, trying to think. "I just . . . I do not know why, but I sense very clearly that we must not go into that cave."

Jay won't take no for an answer. "I don't care what happens! I just want to save Nya!" With that, he and I dash into the cave.

"Get back here, and that's an order!" Cole shouts somewhere behind us, but we keep going, Cole and Zane following behind us. Probably trying to stop us, but who cares? We got them to come.

Not paying attention to where I'm going, I suddenly hear a loud *crack* and realize I must've stepped on a weak area of stone. Somehow, I manage to trigger a much larger reaction, and I can see my friends vanish one by one as the cave collapses around us. But my vision and feeling of fear only last for a second before they are replaced by a sharp pain in my head and I black out.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"K-kai?" a frantic voice calls. "Cole? Z-zane?"

"Jay?" I respond groggily.

"Kai! Oh thank goodness, are the others with you?"

I look around. IT's dark, but I can still see vague shadows. I'm cut off from Jay and the others by a pile of debris forming a sort of wall to the cave ceiling. All I see are a few rocks and a puddle of who-knows-what, though I have to double check because the cave is still spinning from that blow to the head that knocked me out. "No," I respond eventually.

Jay is quiet for a while. "I hope they're alright." Just then, we hear something stirring to my right, beyond another wall of fallen stone. "Cole? Zane?" Jay asks.

"Ugh, what happened?" Cole's voice queries sleepily. "Oh right . . . cave, Nya, rocks . . . yeah . . . you guys alright?"

"Jay and I are here, but we're cut off from each other and we can't find Zane. Is he with you?"

"Nope, I don't think so." We hear clattering and then a sudden *thud*.

"What was that?" Jay asks frantically. "Are you alright?"

Cole's voice is laced with pain. "Yeah, I'm fine . . . but I think my leg is broken." Another thud. "Okay, scratch that. I definitely broke my leg."

It's quiet for a second before Jy breaks the silence. "I told you we should've listened to Zane."

"You did not!" I yell back.

"Did too!"

"Guys, this is getting us nowhere!" Cole shouts angrily. "You were both idiots who should've listened to their orders. You could've gotten us killed, for all I know you already killed my best friend, and - WOULD WHOEVER'S MAKING THAT INFERNAL SCRATCHING PLEASE KNOCK IT OFF!" he finishes, his voice echoing through the cave. The tapping stops for a second, only to hesitantly start up again.

"Jay, you heard him, knock it off."

"YOU knock it off! I'm not doing anything!"

"Would one of you please just fess up?"

The tapping grew more frantic.

Cole sighed. "Ugh, that is just so annoying and repet-" he stops. "repetetive . . . almost like someone's intentionally tapping the same thing, over and over . . . Zane?" The tapping sped up excitedly. "Kai, Jay, does one of you speak Morse Code?"

Jay pipes up. "Oh yeah! I used to be obsessed with telegraphs, and Morse Code was used to communicate with them. Samuel Morse was some kind of genius, it was only 1844 and still he - "

I sigh, exasperated. "Jay, will you just shut up and translate it?

"Oh, right, sorry . . ."

I only have to wait a few minutes before Jay speaks up again. "Cole, you were right, it's Zane. He says he's alright, bur his vocal circuits were damaged in the collapse, and 'took you long enough to figure out the co-' Hey! We figured it out eventually!" More tapping. "Of course you would've noticed it sooner, it's not like you have a sixth sense and a computer for a brain . . . no, no, I'm kidding . . . It's a joke . . . You're kidding me. Well, if it's broken too, then I guess you physically can't be kidding me . . . yes Zane, that was also a joke . . ."

"It's like listening to someone talking on the phone," I whine.

"Sorry," Jay says quickly. A pause. "Zane also says 'sorry.'"

Cole clears his throat. "Well, now that everyone's here, we need to find a way out of this mess. So, first of all, who's hurt and how? We need to know everyone's weaknesses before we try to plan anything."

"I think I broke my wrist, and maybe cracked a rib or something, but that's about it," says Jay.

"I'm fine, just - just tired," I respond next.

"Zane says his vocal, humor, and vision circuits are damaged, but otherwise he's fine," Jay says in response to the rapid rhythm of tapping to my left. "He also says Kai's lying and in reality he's displaying many of the signs of a relatively severe concussion, excluding amnesia." Crap. Thanks, Zane.

Cole finishes, "Well you all know my leg's broken, and I was hit on the head but not as bad as Kai - who, may I add, is a terrible liar."

I groan. "Fine, fine. Let's just get out of here. Cole, can you use you elemental powers?"

"The cave's too unstable. I could easily bring the whole thing crashing down on top of us."

"So what you're saying is, we're doomed." Jay's response was met with rapidfire tapping. "You can stay calm, Zane, but don't tell me what to do! Nya's still trapped in here somewhere, you know."

"Maybe . . . Lloyd will come looking for us?" I say, trying to lighten the mood, and to get the subject of conversation away from Nya. I can't handle that quite yet.

"Not before we starve to death!" Jay is still freaking out. I can't blame him, I'm pretty freaked out myself. Come to think of it, his claustrophobia and fear of the dark probably isn't helping.

Zane's tapping out a monologue, and Jay doesn't even bother translating. "I know . . . but Nya- . . . maybe so, but even she- . . . I guess you're right. Still, I wish- . . . yeah . . ." It's no use to even try to understand the conversation, but Jay does seem to be calming down, so I guess whatever Zane's saying, it's helping. I turn to my right to talk to Cole.

"So do you actually have a plan to get out of here?"

Cole sighs. "One, but I don't like it . . ."

I know what he's thinking, and I hate it too. It just always seems to result in disaster. "Splitting up . . ."

Cole sighs again. "Listen, let's just . . . let's just get some sleep. We'll talk about all of this tomorrow."

"Alright. Good night."

"Good night, Kai"

I fall asleep to Jay and Zane tapping messages back and forth, trying not to let Jay's anxiety keep us awake. But nothing could've kept me awake for more than the 5 seconds it took for me to fall into a troubled, uncomfortable sleep on the cold stone floor."