Please, can someone finally explain the logic of the 4 elements to me (s1 - s3)

So, I’ve finished Ninjago like 4–5 times, but I still don’t understand something, In the pilots and season 1, the ninja use their golden weapons to help to channel their powers and after Garmadon stole their golden weapons, their powers were mostly gone. But at the beginning of season 2, we see Kai create a spark a very small spark. So their powers are still there and they just need to train to unlock them. What I don’t understand is that Lloyd has the four Elements of Creation, and he could...