LavaShipping

Lavashipping is the SLASH ship between Kai and Cole from the Ninjago fandom.

Canon
Lavashipping is very interesting since Cole and Kai have almost the same characteristics; they’re confident, strong, and are alternate leaders in the earlier seasons. The ship began during season 1, then gradually grew, and in Season 10 it increased largely when Kai was distraught from Cole when he fell into the black clouds. Some Lavashippers shipped it from forever, and some just entered the Lavashipping fanbase recently. There are plenty of reasons people ship.

They are very loyal to one another so they have many moments. In season 1, the seem to be friends. In episode 9 Kai even hugs Cole after he wins the blade cup. He also very much supports Cole in him unlocking his true self. They also touch each other a lot. They are also very friendly with each other. They also seem to call each other brothers but this can be seen metaphorically and not in a literal sense as Nya and Jay also have had brotherhood moments.

They also have a bunch of 'shipping tease' moments. Such in season 10, Kai was the most sad other than Nya when Cole 'died'. But Nya was also partially to blame for the incident. It also marked the second time Kai cried in the whole series. (The first time is when his sister 'died'). Also in season 11, When Kai started the fire for the villagers, Cole held him the entire time. They had a ton of ship tease moments in season 12, Such as when they 'danced' together in episode 9. Kai also risked his last life left to save Cole from falling. In episode 11, when Cole didn't have a vehicle he decides to get on Kai's. They also sacrifice themselves together at the end of the episode.

Fanon
Lavashipping is fairly popular in the Ninjago fandom. Though it is overshadowed by the more canon ship of Kailor. But it is also fairly popular in its own right with around 600 fanfics on AO3 (see below).

Fandom
Cole/Kai on AO3

Trivia

 * Their name stems from that Earth and Fire create Lava.