As the ninja arrive at the Museum, Kai immediately feels a dark presence loom, one that felt as old as time itself. Lloyd noticed it as well, if his stutter step was any intention. As the curator guides them down the halls, explaining the remaining venom of the Devourer, and as he opens the door to the souvenir shop, hundreds of small stone samurai warriors were running around, tearing apart the room and its contents. As the curator leaves, asking for the fighting to be kept away from everywhere else, does Kai speak up, as dark energy covers his hands.
"These should not exist." He states with a growl. "Whatever they are made of, is pure evil. The venom has simply re-awoken them." As the tiny army uses the items available, the ninja are hard pressed to destroy them. Having had enough, Jay, Cole and Zane use spinjitzu, trashing the remaining items that were not destroyed, with the little soldiers as well. Lloyd, Wu and Kai simply shake their heads in exasperation.
A surviving soldier makes a run, hopping like mad, with Wu immediately chasing after it. By the time everyone catches up, taking their obvious time, Wu had company.
"Uh, you gonna introduce us?" Jay asks.
"Uh, yes. This, is Misako, Lloyd's mother." Wu explains, earning shocked expressions from all but Kai, who was simply fuming.
"Mum?" Lloyd questions.
"Lloyd? My little boy." Misako gasps. "You've grown so much." She moves to embrace him, only for Lloyd to back away.
"Yeah, well it's been a long time." The resentment in Lloyd's voice is palpable.
"I didn't want us to meet like this. I have a reason for why I've been away." Misako tries to say, but Lloyd stops her.
"I don't want to hear it." Lloyd denies, walking away and slamming the door behind him, the echo carrying through the hallway.
"Lloyd, wait! Please." Misako begs without effect. Kai puts a hand on her shoulder.
"If he wasn't angry at what you did, I would have chewed you out." He admits sharply. "But I know what it's like to lose your parents. Lloyd shouldn't have had to go through such an event."
"What I did, may have been cruel. But he will understand if I can just explain why." Misako assures, moving to go and find her son.
They find Lloyd on the edge of a seemingly endless pit, shrouded in darkness, an evil energy oozing from beneath.
"I'd watch your step, son. That pit has no bottom. It's where I uncovered the ancient Stone Warrior." Misako explains. Her words send a shiver through Kai, as a faint whisper of warning calls him.
"Son? You've been gone my whole life. There's nothing you can say to make me forgive you." Lloyd declares.
"Forgive me? No, I know that I am beyond forgiveness for what I put you through. But help you understand why? That, I can do." Misako answers, taking a seat beside Lloyd. "When you were born, I just knew, call it mothers intuition, that you would become the Green Ninja, long before anyone else knew. So I dropped you off at the boarding school, so I could search for anything related to the prophecy, in hope of one day preventing the final battle. I love you and your father so much, that I wasn't to save you both. And I've been trying to find a way to do so for all these years.
"Long before time had a name, Ninjago was created by the First Spinjitzu Master-"
"Yeah, yeah, we've heard all this before." Lloyd interrupts.
"But you've only heard half of it." Misako reveals. "In Ninjago, there has always been balance, between good and evil. So you know how the First Spinjitzu Master created Ninjago, but for there to be light-"
"There must also be darkness. A shadow that is cast by the light of the sun will hid this darkness until it reveals itself." Kai interrupts, earning a nod from Misako.
"Exactly. A Primordial that had existed from the very beginning. Created by the forces of nature in response to Ninjago's creation. An evil spirit called the Overlord."
"Hang on." Jay interrupts. "Why are Primordials so damn common around here. First, it was the Great Devourer, now this?" Kai simply whacks him on the back of the head.
"Did you know about this, Sensei?" Zane questions.
"I had hoped, that had I kept it from you, it's name would never be spoken of." Wu admits.
"Rather than keep the Balance, the Overlord desired power, control. It wanted the realm for itself. It found something, and twisted it, used it to make his Stone Army. With the tides turned, The First Spinjitzu Master divided the land in two, thus Banishing the Overlord to his half, while the rest would prosper and grow, to become what it is today. There had been no trace of the Overlord, nor his Stone Army, until I uncovered one in this very pit." Misako finishes.
"We've all felt the power of the First Spinjitzu Master's power, through the Golden Weapons. But now, those powers have been inherited by Lloyd. That is why only he can stop the ultimate evil." Wu adds.
"It broke me apart, having to leave you, Lloyd, but the lives of the many outweigh the lives of the few." Misako explains. Kai's mind was in pain. Ancient whispers saying to run, or to fight, or to right whatever had been done, tearing him in different directions. He eventually collapses, to the other's alarm.
"Something is wrong." He groans, pulling himself back up, shaking violently, as screams of help and pain echo through the museum, before the doorway is destroyed, revealing the Stone Warrior that Misako had uncovered, once again alive. It speaks in an ancient language long dead, that no one can understand, but feels somewhat familiar to Kai.
"Kai, take care of him!" Cole orders, to which Kai shakes his head.
"I won't be able to even scratch it. Remember, it's indestructible." Kai warns.
"Lloyd, use your powers!" Wu calls. Lloyd immediately summons a ball of his energy, firing it at the Stone Warrior, only to reveal a fruitless attempt.
"How are we supposed to destroy this thing?!" Cole asks.
"We can't." Kai and Misako answer in unison. The Warrior proceeds to launch everyone out of the hallway, sending everyone into a wall, revealing the corpses of tourists and staff of the museum. Ones that were unable to escape. With no other choice, the group begin to run through the Museum, the Warrior following close behind. They manage to reach another area, closing the doors and barring them, which would hold the Warrior off for a few moments.
"I think I know how to stop him." Lloyd states.
"Yeah? What's the plan?" Kai asks.
"I'll set up a trap for the pit. If you can give me some time before leading him back, we can return him to where he was found!" Lloyd explains.
"Uh, how are we gonna keep him busy?" Jay wonders aloud.
"Well, we seem to be doing a good enough job as it is." Cole notes, brandishing his scythe.
"I've got something to test on him." Kai admits, red and black electricity arcing across his form. As the Stone Warrior bursts through the door, Kai unleashes a beam of Null Energy, the dark power seemingly sapping the light out of everything, before fading away, returning things to how they were, but with an even larger Stone Warrior than before remaining to hunt them down.
"What the heck was that?" Jay cries out.
"That… That means that Lloyd's plan is our only hope in hell." Kai stammers, backing up a few steps.
"We'll have to lead him around the museum before doubling back. We won't hold out in here." Zane explains.
"Alright, let's see what else is on display." Jay retorts, before taking off towards the next area, the others following, with the Stone Warrior once again on their heels.
By the time Lloyd finishes the trap and meets up with the others, everyone was exhausted. Running on it's own, they can do just fine for a couple hours. Running, jumping, rolling, diving, and everything in between? That takes a lot more endurance than anyone is happy with.
As Lloyd leads the others, and the Warrior, into the familiar hallway, they line up, taunting the massive creature. As it charges, physics take effect, and the Warrior over-shoots as the others evade, the trap working as it falls down the supposedly bottomless pit.
"Thank fuck that thing is dealt with." Kai complains. "I've got some research of my own to do after that. Nothing should be able to absorb the Null Element like that thing did."
"Are you certain of that?" Misako questions.
"I wield the bloody element. I'm not the only one either. My predecessors have never encountered something like this, and it is concerning." Kai answers sharply, before sighing. "Head back to the Bounty. I'll catch up later." As everyone leaves, Kai sits down, forcing himself into a meditation of communion, bringing Vex's spirit, or maybe his new incarnation, to the limbo world.
"By the fact you were the one to call me, and actually force me here, something really bad must have happened." Vex notes.
"What can absorb Null Energy?" Kai immediately asks.
"I've told you before. Nothing. There are rare materials that can contain it's power, but nothing that can absorb it." Vex assures.
"Then why did a Stone Warrior not only absorb, but grow stronger, from Null Energy?" Kai asks. Vex goes still.
"Can you describe the texture and colour of the Warrior?" Vex asks, his features serious.
"Mostly black with red markings here and there. It was almost glassy in texture, but was still somewhat rough by the looks of it." Kai explains.
"Fuck. That's really bad." Vex pales. "You just fought something that was made by Null Energy, and Dark Matter, along with any kind of rock to give it a foundation. The keys we make to store information of each realm is constructed out of it. It's indestructible."
"Yeah, we got to see that first hand." Kai affirms.
"You'll find something in your pocket dimension by tomorrow. Something that will hopefully at least damage those things. If not, then I hope that whatever origin story and magical powers exist there, have some way to actually kill them." Vex states. "I have to go. Get in contact with me again if any progress is made." Vex's figure shimmers, before disappearing, as Kai returns to his body. Things just got a lot harder.