Disclaimer: What's original is mine. What's noticeably Ninjago is Ninjago and Hageman property.

I'm back, people! Now if things go smoothly, the special might happen. Sort of like a final New Years special. I don't wanna get your hopes up so keep that in mind. Without further ado, I present chapter 4!

Also, how are you all feeling about the bookend quotes? Like? Hate? Let me know in the reviews

"So, this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and that I'm still trying to figure out how that could be." Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Chapter 4: Soul-searching

"Maria…" he breathed. The Demon King released a powerful yawn as he sat up, opening his heavy eyelids for the first time in a long time. Everywhere he glanced was the same sight he woke up to from previous years, a dark, dripping cave unfit for a king. Yet this is what he and his subjects were confined to, so long as that Spirit Queen returned to face him in battle.

But the name he uttered not more than a second ago with his waking breath wasn't one he was certainly familiar with. How he learned to say such a common and plain sounding name confused him, but it was a waste of time to ponder the thought. Onryō looked forward towards the entrance of his cavern kingdom, his subjects trembling at the sight of him before correctly kneeling in respect, heads lowered. "Our King," they welcomed.

"Rise," he ordered, "and bring me a mirror."

The demons did just that as Kitsune walked up to him, changing his form to that of a tall mirror. Onryō stood as he observed his imperfect form once more. His body was a black mass of shadow that cloaked his arms and legs like a cape. His face was concealed by the mask he wore, allowing only his wild, white hair to spring out from the sides. His yellow eyes were narrowed by the red bones that adorned the upper lids, meeting in the center with a matching jewel. His crown, donning a "third eye" and smaller rock, retained their shape he carved himself from oni horns.

As he reached a red clawed hand out from his cloak to touch his face, he called over to Jorōgumo, "How long has it been since my arrival?"

"Three days," she replied, "but a fourth day passed before you truly woke up. In that time, you retained your sealed form and slept. Harionago had drained a portion of your power earlier to keep you dormant while Goryō was still on the loose. We gave that power back to you just now in hopes of your awakening finally happening."

"Goryō," he growled before slamming a fist onto the stone table. "That traitor has caused enough trouble for the last time. Where is that foolish beast?"

Gashadokuro lowered his head down to meet with his King. "Jorōgumo subdued him with her venom and confiscated his ship. He's back down…well, there. We bring him up every hour to refill him with venom so he won't escape again."

"Escape? Goryō has escaped from that place?"

"My King, we don't know how,but it just happened," Harionago explained, bearing the strange machine in her arms. "We've considered the possibility of draining him of energy to keep him dormant, but with your arrival, we knew a decision as big as this must be approved. Whatever you command, we will carry out. Just know he is very serious and has proven to be a strong threat against you and the Spirit Queen's reincarnate."

"Then I'll kill him," he declared. "He has no use left in this guard."

"But then you'll gain his power!" Jorōgumo exclaimed. "The reincarnate will be overcome with power and she might hurt her allies and-!"

"Silence!" Onryō commanded her. "Jorōgumo, do you have feelings about that joke of a reincarnate and her allies? Our enemies reborn to fight us again?"

She quickly shook her head, her face slightly nervous. "Of course not, but you and the reincarnate are connected in power and strength. She doesn't remember the full extent of her powers, leaving her at a disadvantage, but it gives us a disadvantage if she were to kill herself or her allies while they possess the gems. We can't risk her overloading on power and threaten her existence, as well as yours."

"This reincarnate…" he murmured, "her name is Maria, is it not? And she has no clear recollection of the past we share?"

"That's…correct, King Onryō. We were watching them with the Seers Stone table, but the connection is blocked. We don't know what they are up to now. Last we checked, the reincarnate awoke yesterday in a state of panic. We don't know what happened after that."

Kitsune cleared his throat as he walked up to Onryō's side. "Excuse me, my King, but while you're pondering the thought of killing of Goryō, I had a question. How'd you know the reincarnate's name?"

Onryō didn't answer, let alone acknowledge the fox demon. The only thing that kept coming across his mind was the image of Seraphina's new form. He remembered when he first caught a glance of her; how she looked so fragile and dainty in that simple illusion his captains conjured up. What sort of half crafted idea Seraphina had planned in her last moments was a foolish attempt. A human body such as that could never withstand the power a Great Elder and Spirit Queen once previously had. Both physically and emotionally.

"We won't kill Goryō," he answered. "Perhaps he could still serve as a puppet, but he is to be kept in the lowest area of the Dying Kingdom. He will be sent to-"

"Don't say it!" Kitsune and Harionago simultaneously screamed, kneeling before him with their hands folded. "Please, don't even mention that horrid place's name!" they cried.

"Enough of this display!" he barked. "I will not mention its name, but you know where he is to be sent. As for the reincarnate," he paused for a moment, reflecting on his choice. "I want to see her."

Jorōgumo gasped. "You can't be serious. Chaos could be started prematurely if it became confrontational, and we still have to rebuild our bases and armies due to Goryō's leadership. It's too risky, King Onryō. She has a strong guard with four gems on her side, not to mention an alliance with the Great Elders and those filthy hybrids and beasts she cared for."

"I'm not going to meet her," he clarified. "I want to see what she is capable of. She may not recognize her weaknesses and strengths like I can. Besides, if you all recall, when I rose up in my primitive form, raw energy surged through my body and scattered across the south. It's only a matter of time before it awakens demons and mischievous spirits that have been dormant. Now, as I said, I want to see her and her army of warriors."

"Look at this, guys!" Jay exclaimed as he ran into the living room, his new furī snugly held in his arms. "The collar I ordered for Blue finally came in. Look at it!" The Blue Ninja held up his pet for all to see the new blue leather collar around its neck, a gold tag that had Blue engraved dangling from it.

"Blue…got style!" the furī purred as he wagged his tail.

"How adorable!" Maria awed.

"You know what would be adorable?" Cole asked. "If you had our new suits with you because that's the real reason we sent you to pick up the mail."

"I got them," Jay said as he set Blue down, before sitting himself."I left them downstairs near the exit. It'll make for a dramatic change in case anything happens in the city or near the temple."

The Ninja gathered on the ground as soon as they woke up, wasting no time getting to work. Zane was wise in suggesting to put up some protective charms, that they may have cheaply crafted themselves, to block off their connection with any of the demons. From then on to the early afternoon, they observed each scroll, each detail of the clock, each page of the book carefully, hoping to find something to give them any sort of answer. It was hard without Wu's wisdom and Misako's translation skills, but they were able to manage, little by little.

"Well, we still haven't seen activity from any of the demons or Onryō in a while," Nya reminded them. "Are we sure Onryō is awake and active? Maria woke up and she is connected to him, but is that really a sign that he's awake?"

Maria thought for a moment before an idea popped into her head. "There is one way we could find out," she replied while standing up. She cleared her throat as much as she could before breathing in deeply and shouting, "I'm the hybrid daughter of Seraphina and the Spirit Princess! I never died! Also, Onryō's wife is a pile of ash!"

The seven braced quickly braced themselves for any sudden attack or appearance of an enraged Onryō or Goryō. After a moment, hearing no suspicious sounds or seeing any puffs of smoke appear out of nowhere, they sat back up cautiously. "I guess the charms work," Kai suggested, "or maybe Onryō isn't awake."

"Either way, we still have to be careful," Lloyd said. "And as much I hate to say it, Maria needs to be heavily protected."

"What?" she asked in disbelief. "We're still doing the whole "protect the princess" thing? I've got power and have been training the hardest I can. I can take care of myself."

"But I don't want it to come to that," the young leader protested. "I want you to be as safe as possible with Onryō coming back into existence. You still have a long way to go in controlling your power, especially since you've gained more now that Onryō is freed. Plus we only have one working gem on our side."

Jay cleared his throat, bringing attention back to him. "Technically, we could have four working gems. Maria would just need to touch them like she did with mine and charge it up."

"That seems illogical, Jay," Zane disagreed. "While she was close to unlocking her power, I doubt she did little in unlocking it."

"I could try it," Maria shrugged, forming a small spirit orb in her hand. "I mean, we're still trying things out, so who wants to be the test subject?"

"Heck, I'll do it," Kai eagerly replied as he grabbed her hand. He placed it on his armlet and was immediately pushed back from the contact, skidding down the hallway until he made a stop with a distant thud. The remaining Ninja stared at each other in concern for their friend and in shock at what had happened. From his distant position, Kai called back to the group, "I'm good. It didn't work though."

As he stumbled dizzily back into the room and attempt to sit down, Cole offered a disappointed sigh. "We're never gonna learn anything new with just the seven of us. We know about the Knights, the Great Elders, the capability of Maria's powers. We're not going to make any progress without a translator like Misako or Cliona."

"Not happening," the Pink Ninja declared. "I don't feel comfortable just going up to any of the Great Elders and announcing I'm not dead. Goryō said they were really upset when they heard Seraphina and the Knights died, especially when they heard about me dying. It's just not the time. Especially not with Cliona."

"I'm with Maria," Nya spoke up. "Besides, Blue's a survivor from the attack that killed Seraphina and her army. Maybe we should be asking him."

"Brawwr?" The furī raised his head and trotted over to the group, happily wagging his tail. He panted excitedly as he sniffed the laid out scrolls before rolling on top of them.

Jay gently picked up his furry pet and held him up above the ground. "Ok, buddy, tell us more about the Knights of Life and what they were like. Tell us what it was like back then."

The furī didn't respond in fragment sentences like it normally did. Instead,his ears were flattened down in confusion, as he examined the scrolls once more. He settled on taking the most commonly seen scroll in his mouth; Seraphina and her chosen Knights in shadow, all behind the glass clock. Blue walked up to Maria and gently set the yellowed paper on her lap."Family," he said.

"I know, Blue," she said, giving him a light pet on his soft head. "But I don't know what else you're trying to say. I know my Seraphina is my mom, but we need to know more about the day you got separated from others."

Suddenly, Blue had backed up to Jay's side, whimpering in fear. He shook his head furiously before burying himself into the Blue Ninja's chest. "Secret," he whispered. "Safety…secret."

Before the Pink Ninja could continue, Cole held her back. "Don't overwhelm him. It's probably painful for him to look back on that day because of…well, whatever went down."

A look of guilt spread across her face as she lowered. "I'm sorry if I'm rushing into this. It's just that when I look at these scrolls, knowing what I didn't before, I see my family history. It's a little hard to look at them any other way."

"But that's kinda good," Lloyd said. "Maybe deep down, you have memories that'll help in learning more about Seraphina and our own past lives. Maybe we could even figure out a way to find the remaining gems."

"That's easier said than done," Maria replied with a half smile. "A lot of my memories probably wouldn't stick with me if this all happened when I was a baby. All I can remember is being cared for fairly well and Goryō," she tilted her chin up to reveal the tiny scar, "gave me this."

"So he wants to kill you. We know that," Jay deadpanned. "What did Jorōgumo even do with that maniac?"

"She took care of him the best way she could," Lloyd declared. "Whatever happens to him isn't our problem any more, it's the demon's problem now. I don't want to hear anymore about him, alright?"

BBBZZZ! BBBZZZ!

Lloyd's phone vibrated from his pocket, prompting him to quickly glance at the number and answer. "Hello? Oh, Commissioner, how are-" A look of confusion spread across his face as he covered his left ear with his free hand. "I can't hear you. What's with all the background noise?"

While the others listened to the conversation second handed, a look of concern mixed with fear spread across the young leader's face. His mouth went agape as he slightly became pale before quickly maintaining his composure again. He refused to show any more emotion as he quickly ended the call. "Ok, sir. I'll let my team know and inform them, just try your best to keep it controlled as possible. We'll be there shortly."

"Is everything alright?" Zane spoke up.

"Are the demons finally attacking?" Nya asked.

Lloyd shook his head. "Not exactly, but we do have to fight. The Commissioner received some calls about some strange noises from a building scheduled for demolition today from the crew. When he went to investigate, things got a little hectic. I'll explain more down there, right now we need to help."

In agreement, the Ninja quickly headed down the stairs towards the unopened package, waiting to be torn open. The tape was quickly stripped off, the cardboard flaps folded open to allow their eager hands to grab their new respective suits. With a shared look, they held their suits close to them before spinning rapidly and shouting, "Ninja-go!"

When they stopped, their former clothes were folded at their feet, leaving them to freely admire their outfits now on their bodies. "I gotta hand it to the people who make these suits for us, they're on point!" Kai exclaimed.

"I'll say," Cole agreed. "It's like every time we're off starting a new adventure, we get new suits with completely new designs. I really appreciate the people who put their backs into stuff like this."

"We'll send them a thank you letter later," Lloyd chuckled. "Now let's head out!"

One by one, they charged out the door of the temple, quickly summoning their dragons. Blue eagerly joined Jay, hopping on top of the Lightning Ninja's dragon with him. Maria did the same with Lloyd, as she still had trouble with her own dragon being summoned. Before the young Ninja lead the group, he whispered over to his sister, "Hey, I know you know the most about demons and all, but when I tell you to stay back, listen."

"What?" she whispered back.

"I just want you safe. Trust me on this, ok, bud?"

As she pulled down her hood, Maria nodded her head. "I'll do my best."

"Where are they?" the Commissioner grumbled to himself. Every minute those rainbow colored ninja weren't here was a minute more the city was at risk. His precious city that he swore to protect unlike his predecessors who were instantly fired for failing the task. He had every reason to keep it safe, which is why he stood outside of the apartment complex in the scorching sun, his men creating a barricade to keep curious citizens away from the sight.

He didn't know what, but something was definitely in there, just as the demolition crew had complained. Something not human from the way it moaned inside, it's voice echoing off the old walls and out to the open air. To be honest, it was starting to creep him out a little.

Ok, a lot.

But he wasn't ready to admit it to the rest of the force. He was the Commissioner after all; the face of the police force and one of the faces of peace for New Ninjago City, besides the pajama kids. Unlike them who were born with magical powers, he earned his position through hard work and determination, and it rewarded him in the end. He was just as good as them, even that Psyche-

CRASH!

The Commissioner jumped back a little with a short yelp, but quickly brushed it off. With that noise sounding off, he made the decision of heading in and dealing with it himself. He took his taser in his hands, ready to fire as he slowly entered the building. His feet shuffled against the rough gravel and loosened cement that had fallen from the ceiling.

It had gotten darker as he had gotten deeper into the complex, fear growing in him. Even though his heart felt like it would explode out of his chest, he kept taking another step after another. The faint sparks of his taser guided him through the shadows, allowing him to see a foot or so in front of him. It wasn't much, but he could get by.

"Who goes there?" a faint voice asked with a bit of roughness. Definitely sounded like a guy, a foolish one to be here in a place like this.

"I could be asking you the same thing, pal," the Commissioner huffed, reaching to replace his taser with his flashlight. "The Police Department received calls about a strange beast terrorizing this place as soon as they started to tear this place down. I even called the Ninja to help take care of the situation, but it turns out it was just a waste. Seems to me it was just a prank by some idiot."

He flickered his flashlight on, shining back and forth until it landed on a small figure leaning against a crumbling pillar. "Alright, fun is over. Get out of here before I arrest you." The figure didn't move an inch at the threat the Commissioner sent. "Didn't you hear me?" he asked, getting infuriated at the lack of respect. "You're trespassing and interfering with a demolition ordered by the mayor. You're looking at few years of jail time!"

"I am not the one behind the strange noises you're people have feared; that is the work of a beast that has woken up due to my aura," the figure replied while oddly standing up straight. He stood as three heads taller than a regular person…definitely not a regular human. "So what is it exactly that you're going to do to me, Officer?" The figure snapped its face towards him, flashing bright yellow eyes in his direction.

"N-n-nothing," the Commissioner quivered, realizing the threat before him. He began to slowly back up "Just forget I said anything and we can just forget the whole thing."

Without warning, a huge red clawed hand grasped his entire body, pulling him towards the strange figure's masked face. "I think not," the figure hissed. "As cliche as it seems, you know too much. This was intended to be a silent observation. However," the figure leaned forward, gently lifting up its mask enough for it to reveal its grotesque mouth, "I sense a strong pain in you, one you've ignored for too long out of pride and regret."

"I don't know what're talking about!" The Commissioner thrashed around in the tight grasp of the figure, no…beast that had him. "You don't know me!"

"And you don't know me," the beast replied, "but perhaps I could show you a fragment of my power, my messenger."

The Ninja quickly landed near the demolition sight and had their dragons disappear from sight. As they walked up to the building guarded by police, they quickly reviewed the mission. "Ok, so what exactly are we dealing with?" Kai asked. "It's not an oni, is it?"

Lloyd shook his head. "No, the Commissioner said it hasn't been seen clearly, but the beast resembles a sort of ox. But I wonder how many demons fall under that category."

"Surprisingly, only one," Maria commented, "which means it's probably an ushi oni, uh, ox demon, I mean. It's strange since these creatures are normally found near bodies of water and will roam nearby coastal towns for humans if none come near their lairs. For it to be here in an urban area is very unusual for its behavior."

"Maybe it got really hungry," Cole shrugged. "But how could a demon as big as an ox just stroll into the city with out causing a panic until now?"

"It's not typically as big as an ox, per se."

"Ninja!" an officer called over to them, gaining their attention as they rushed over to them. "The Commissioner went inside the building while he was waiting for you guys. He's been in there for almost ten minutes."

"What's his deal?" Nya asked. "We told him we were coming."

CRACK! CRASH!

Debris fell from the building's upper levels, nearly crashing onto the people below. The police fell back as the Ninja gathered closer to the building's entrance, ready for battle. Lloyd quickly lead the group by blasting an energy beam at descending debris headed their way, reducing the risk of them getting smashed. "We need to stick together once that thing comes out, no matter what."

Deep within the complex came a terrible scraping noise that suddenly reached the lower level. Devious eyes flashed in the shadows directly at them as the scraping got louder. The loud smacking of a tongue against lips mixed with a deep enraged breath. A moan-like roar erupted from the building as the beast got closer.

The fur on Blue's back stood straight up as he barked at the approaching threat, his teeth snarling and sharp. Jay quickly aligned himself with his companion, ready to aid him in battle. "So, Pinky," he called over to the Spirit Ninja, "anything else we should know about this thing before it tries to kill us?"

"Just two," she replied, drawing her neko-te out. "One is that it has toxic breath, but with a small range of three feet all around. The second thing-"

The ushi oni leapt from the shadows and flew over them briefly, its shadow hovering over them. Seconds before it landed on top of the Ninja, they rolled back and braced themselves for the aftershock of it landing. The beast locked onto as many of the Ninja as it possibly could with its wild eyes before letting out a vicious roar, standing tall on all eight of its clawed legs.

"…its entire lower body past the head is like a spider's."

The ushi oni quickly released a thick smog of poisonous breath around its wide body, allowing it to be completely protected from the Ninja. It didn't move, but rather waited inside as it stared down its enemies. "Ok, so how do we kill this thing?" Cole asked.

"We can't lure it out easily of the city if it smells people, it knows better than that," Zane warned. "We have to fight it here without causing major damage to the city and people."

Maria nearly hopped up and down as an idea came into her mind. "Wait! Furī eat spiders as part of their diet, plus they can withstand toxic fumes!"

"And you're telling us this just now?!" Nya demanded.

"I'm sorry, it just came to mind after reading over a few things this morning."

Seeing an opportunity, Jay whistled at Blue to get his attention. "Ok, buddy," he pointed towards the smog cloud, "fetch the monster in there. Fetch him and bite hard!"

The furī replied with a short bark before charging into the cloud. No more than a few seconds passed before the ox demon emerged out of its cloud of protection, howling in pain. Blue rode atop its back, biting and tearing at its thick hide with a slight grin on his face. The beast fell to the ground, turning its head back to try and bite back at Blue.

"We got him!" Kai exclaimed as he and Cole quickly charged at the beast. They pinned down six of its legs with their strength, leaving the front two to claw at the ground in an attempt to break free. Zane quickly froze the front two legs, rendering them useless. As the beast quickly tried to create another cloud of poison, Nya shot a stream of water down its throat, making it choke on its watered down attack.

Lloyd walked up to the beast and clamped its snout shut by placing a foot on top. "This was easier than I thought," he scoffed. "I thought you would actually be dangerous, but you just went down easy after causing an uproar for no good reason." He turned back towards Maria and gestured for her to come closer. "It's safe, but I want you to check over it for anything we might've missed, considering you're more of an expert on things like these than the rest of us."

Maria obliged and quickly kneeled to its side, examining it for anything suspicious looking. Its stomach was flabby and didn't look like it expanded, so it hadn't eaten anyone, especially the Commissioner by the looks of things. The fur on its scruff was torn a little because of the spread of Blue's attack, revealing a little multiple wounds drying up. Other than that, the beast looked surprisingly new, like it had just been newly formed in existence. Even its eyes were a bit bloodshot from anger and rage, but they didn't look clouded or faded with age.

"This one just came to be," she concluded.

"Uh, what?"

"It was just born today," she clarified. "It didn't wandered in Ninjago City by chance, it was born right in the building complex."

"How the heck is that possible?" Cole asked. From under him and Kai, the ushi oni began struggling and nearly broke. "Actually, I can wait for an answer. We gotta destroy this thing!"

"I'm on it!" Maria quickly charged up a spirit orb, ready to strike the demon just as she stopped. The ushi oni kept staring dead on into her eyes, making her feel a sort of chill. It wasn't mad or angry like it was before, but actually…it was scared.

It was born today for probably a short time and was disturbed by the loud noise of the construction crew getting to work. The first things it felt was pain by their own doing, so it attacked out of fear for the life it began to know. It defended itself with what little power it had control over and what it had known it could do. This was all an attempt to survive.

Maria lowered her arm and called off the orb. "I can't do this," she whimpered. "I can't kill it."

"What?!" the team exclaimed.

"It's not right!" she cried out. "I'm sorry, but I'm not a killer!"

"What're you talking about?" Kai shouted. "What about the nue? You destroyed it and saved us. And you ripped off Goryō's horn because you wanted to defeat him, right?"

"But something is different now! I-"

Suddenly the ushi oni broke free of the Ninja's grasp, even Blue's fierce bite. With full force it charged for Maria, mouth opened and ready to clamp down. She quickly rolled to the side out of its way and without thinking, fired a charged shot into its mouth. It swallowed the attack down instead of her, freezing in place to comprehend what was happening. A rumble came from its now filled gut, making its entire body shake fiercely and slowly turn to black.

As the black mass spread throughout its being, it took a final look at Maria, that same fear creeping into its eyes. In a flash of light, pink cracks spread across the demon's body as it let out a pained scream. As its cries died out, its body fell down in a cloud of dust as it hit the ground. The ushi oni's body became apart of the dust cloud, particles slowly drifting away as it faded from existence until it was no more.

Everyone stood still and quiet at what had just happened, until an officer cheered, "They did it!" His cheer led others to break the silence and cheer as well.

"The monster's gone!"

"We're safe again thanks to the Ninja!"

"The new Pink Ninja did it!"

The cheers grew louder as Maria just sat there completely still and emotionless. While the rest of her teammates muttered something as they entered the complex, Lloyd kneeled by her side and helped her up. "You doing ok there, bud? You got rid of the demon."

"I killed him," she whispered, her eyes wide.

"He would've harmed someone."

"He's like me. The ushi oni is similar to me; we're both creatures."

Lloyd shook his head as he looked ready to cry himself. "No. You're good. You want to be good, don't you?"

Before she could cry, she held onto her brother and hugged him tightly. "Am I identifying myself too much with these creatures? I was fine before, but I never saw my powers do that to anything we've fought before. How am I gonna deal with this for the rest of our mission? How am I gonna fight Onryō? How am I gonna move on?"

"Hey, you're fine," he assured her, rubbing circles on her back. "Just take it one step at a time, bud." Lloyd took a deep breath in before he pulled apart from the hug. "Look, there's something you should know about yourself, something I just want you to keep in mind. It's about your true potential and the steps you'll need to take to unlock it."

"True potential?"

"Basically, it's the highest point for an Elemental Master to reach in their powers," he tried to explain. "They try to push past emotional barriers that hold them back from reaching this point. Before he left, Sensei Wu told me what your problem is."

"Problem?" Maria gasped.

"N-no! I didn't mean that there's anything wrong with you!" Lloyd stammered. "I mean…well, each of us had things that held us back. Kai didn't realize his true destiny, Jay was scared to be himself, Zane didn't know who he was, Cole was under pressure from his father, Nya gave up easily, and then there's me and you. I was a little like you; I didn't eagerly accept my destiny to fight my father and possibly kill him. You're having so much put on you and you're finding out all these things, but Wu knew what really held you back.

"Maria," the Green Ninja put his hands on her shoulders, "you put false hope in yourself, and I understand what Sensei was trying to tell me back then when he said this was dangerous for you. You know fully well what you can and can't do, but you ignore the risks, you kid yourself because you want to make others happy. You'll figure out how to overcome it, but it's dangerous, especially since you're kinda the Embodiment of Hope, I guess."

The Spirit Ninja said nothing as she pulled back from his grasp and looked fearful from what she heard. "I fool myself?" she mumbled to herself. "Will this really be the end of me? Why would you tell me something like this now?"

"Because you're obviously rethinking somethings, and I want to be sure," Lloyd stopped for a moment. "I just wanna be sure…do you want to be here, fighting like this?"

"Of course!" she exclaimed. "I made that point over again and again, Lloyd! It's hard to fight, but I still want this. I want to protect Ninjago now that Onryō is on the loose. This is the path I choose, not as a Spirit Princess, but as a Pink Ninja."

"Hey, you two!" Nya's voice pulled them back to reality as they saw the others walking towards them. Each of them carefully supported a part of the Commissioner's body as he laid limp in their grasp. "We've got a situation with the Commissioner, he's out cold," she said as they laid his body gently on the ground before them.

His face was pale and his eyes were sunken in, dark circles surrounding him. Tear stains were on his tousled shirt, mixed in with smudged dirt and dust. The Commissioner gently shook as he muttered repeatedly, "I'm sorry."

"Ok, but why aren't we taking him to an actual doctor?" Lloyd asked. "He needs help."

Zane cleared his throat. "I can answer that. I did a quick scan on him when he proved to be unresponsive and found a large chemical imbalance in his brain. Specifically, in his levels of norepinephrine and serotonin."

"Just to translate," Kai cut in, "he's overly depressed."

"Depressed?" Maria asked. "I'm confused, he's like this because he's severely depressed?"

"I'm so sorry!" the Commissioner suddenly wailed. His arms flung up as though he tried to grab ahold of something. "Please, no more! Just stop, Psyche!"

Cole gently shushed him, "It's ok, big guy, you're good."

"Did you at least call an ambulance?" asked Maria. "And how does he know my last name?"

"Yes, and it's probably because you're a Ninja," Kai quickly answered. "The Commissioner never really liked us that much, so he keeps tabs on us from time to time. But there's something else you need to see, something kinda big." The Red Ninja pulled back the shirt collar from the Commissioner's neck, revealing a small black mark.

"He's wounded," Lloyd said.

Jay shook his head. "Look closer, you'll recognize it."

The two young Ninja leaned in and gasped. The mark was deeply made with a sort of black paint, but almost stronger. The shape was a three spiral symbol they had seen numerous times on scrolls, the Great Elder Cliona, and Maria's own suit. The only major difference was the center of the symbol. At the very center was a triangle.

"The demon symbol was painted on," Cole confirmed. "We know the attack with the ox demon wasn't connected to this, but there was definitely someone else here. And it's not Goryō."

"Onryō," Maria shuddered. "Oh, he might've heard me. He probably knows the truth while I was talking to Lloyd. Oh, geez, if he's here now…"

"He's not," Jay waved off, "relax, Pinky. Blue took a good sniff around, he can't smell Onryō anywhere. We're all safe."

"How curious," Onryō mused. "This reincarnation is just as bad as Seraphina was, and all too obvious in weakness." He watched atop from a nearby building, the humans below him nothing more than insects compared to where he stood. If they were completely unaware of his presence from a small distance, than this would be too easy. How delicious.

"You're never going to learn, not like this, Seraphina." His gaze shifted on the pink and green blots that were Seraphina and Oliver's reincarnations, seemingly comforting each other. "You're setting yourself up for defeat, allowing yourself to be close to humans, and this boy. Emotions will tear you apart like they did in the past, and that boy will be your downfall.

"A spirit such as you are can never truly hold emotion in your heart, but as a human, you fall closer to the impure desires each is born with. You draw closer to temptation and me." Onryō snapped his fingers, allowing a dark portal to form under his feet. As he slipped away, he took a final glance at the reincarnate, a smile forming on his face.

"The more you grow to love, the more pain you'll cause, Maria."

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is the fear of the unknown." H. P. Lovecraft.

Next time on Ninjago: Legend Undone...

Survivor