Disclaimer: If I've said it once, then I've said it 51 times- I don't own Ninjago, only OC's and elements not recognizable from the show. Thank you.

Sup, guys! I know it's been a bit, but I'm back! So that holiday special wasn't going to work because of timing and scheduling and life being a hard yet rewarding thing, but I've fixed it. I'm trying harder for you guys but mainly myself to stick to telling the stories I have yet to tell and not fall back onto a 2,000-year hiatus. Also, I saw season 11, it was awesome as always, but I had to change the title, but that's what I get for the hiatus. But now it's time to kick it into high gear and get going! Also, it's better if I stick to a Wednesday/Friday schedule where I alternate the posting days. It's just better for my mental health.

Chapter 5: Survivor

The mop water spilled over as the janitor accidentally bumped into the security guards while he rounded the corner of the hall. The strong smell of disinfectant now dripped off their shoes as they hissed at what had happened. "Thanks a lot, pal!"

"My apologies, fellas," the janitor humbly said. "Mr. Borg wants the place spic and span as usual before my shift's over. Just gotta finish the bathrooms on this level and I'll be outta your hair." The plastic wheels on his bucket and bin squeaked as he maneuvered around the guards before heading further down the hall.

"Careful with the men's room, I had an extra helping of horned wasp eggs from Chen's for lunch," one of the guards called from down the hall, sending them both into a fit of laughter. "Extra spicy! Try not to die in there!"

The janitor paid no attention to their cackling but was grateful he had a new bottle of toilet cleanser on hand. It was a short walk before he reached the restrooms, the men's room giving off a more potent foul smell. He sighed as he gently pushed his bucket and bin into the men's room, one wheel unfortunately getting stuck and unstuck just like that, water splashing over the rim and onto the floor. Calmly taking the mop from the bucket, he dipped it into the water, wringed it twice, and began wiping the floor from the far end of the room. The mid-afternoon light peeked through the window as he made his way across the room.

He allowed himself to whistle a cheery tune despite the fatigue he felt coming after a hard day's work. It became a little dance to him, despite his aching muscles, as he walked over to grab the cleanser and air freshener. To his own little beat, he dramatically opened the last stall and applied the cleanser under the rim of the bowl, with a puffy cloud of ocean breeze filling the tiny stall. The janitor left the stall door open to air out the first of four stalls before moving to the next one.

PLOP!

The janitor stopped from entering the second stall as he glanced over his shoulder at the sound. A bag of garbage he collected earlier had ripped and fallen to the ground on his cleaned floor. With a groan and shake of his head, he pulled out his broom and dustpan to collect whatever he could from the ground. He swept as much garbage as he could and placed it, along with the ripped bag, into the bin. Before grabbing the mop, he stretched upward, his back giving off a satisfying loud crack. "I gotta find a new job," he muttered while preparing to dip and wring the drying mop. "At least give me a promotion after all the hard work I put into this one."

"…find," a trembling voice whispered.

"Yeah, I should just find another…" The janitor trailed off and stood up straight upon realizing there was someone else. "Someone here?" he slowly asked. "I'm cleaning this place up now, so I'd appreciate it if you could leave and wait until I'm done. Unless you can't for obvious reasons."

Soft sniffling broke the silence and quickly grew to uncontrollable sobbing. The voice behind it sound very young and like a girl, but it could still possibly be a young boy. Either way, it was concerning to the janitor as he softened his demeanor. "It's ok, it's ok," he assured while quickly checking the stall closest to the entrance. "Empty," he clicked his tongue as he moved to the neighboring stall, turning up empty again.

"…find me," the voice softly whispered through its fit of sobs.

"I'm coming, ok?"

The janitor was becoming worried at the situation as he moved to check the third stall. It was locked when he tried pushing the door, the sobbing easing back to a sniffling. Had someone left their kid here on accident? Maybe one of the employees brought in their kid or sibling's kid in to show around the place as a special tour. It wasn't that uncommon for employees to show off their place of work in the famed Borg Tower. But to leave them unattended like this? That was scary.

He knocked three times on the stall door, the crying coming to a complete stop. "Are you sick? Did your mommy or daddy leave without you?" he questioned. The janitor peeked under the gap of the stall door, two little feet in red ballet slippers swinging back and forth into view. "Are you embarrassed you came into the men's room by accident? It's not that bad, missy," he sympathized while reaching in his back pocket for his screwdriver.

"Stuff like this happens all the time to everyone, happened to me when I was younger." He grabbed ahold of his tool and placed the head into the stall's outer lock, turning it until it clicked. "Tell you what, missy, I'll keep this a secret if it makes you feel better. Plus, someone had brought in some doughnuts to share in the staff kitchen. I can take you there and you can have one while we look for your folks. How's that sound?"

Without pushing the door, it opened slowly from inside revealing a little head peeking out. A dainty hand reached out and gently tugged the janitor's uniform. He let out a chuckle as he rested his hand over hers. "I'll get you out of here, missy. Hey, you can even check out the storage closet with me. I have a bunch of bright, pretty paints in there I was gonna use to repaint some-"

The hand quickly reached up to his neck, cutting off his air as his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. He felt light all over his body as a cold fluid suddenly came rushing down his throat, now gurgling liquids instead of breathing air. His arms and legs flailed wildly until he was flung backwards into his supplies. His eyelids flutter shut as he heard small footsteps approach him as he went completely limp. The mop bucket fell over on its side from his weight and water spilled onto the floor.

"This is crazy. The world is ending if this is happening," Jay gasped as he nearly dropped the plate on the table. "We've really reached the point of no return."

"Will you stop being a drama queen?" Cole groaned. "I just said I don't want to eat cake anymore."

"Could you both relax a bit?" Nya shushed them. "You two are so loud."

After the incident at the construction site, everyone agreed a little lunch could help their minds and growling stomachs in deciding their next move. The only place that was close and cheap enough was Mr. Chen's Noodle House. Plus, Skylor personally greeted them at the door and, despite the "No Dogs Allowed" policy, didn't mind Blue coming in seeing how he wasn't exactly a dog. Along with that, the earlier ruckus in the city drew attention from the people, so naturally they were curious and wanted to see what had happened, leaving the restaurant practically empty for the seven of them.

They had resumed their plans of trying to figure out what the next step would be, but in all honesty, it was a little difficult with all the loose ends they had now. Which led them to their current conversation that they could hold some focus on- Cole's refusal to eat cake.

"I don't get it, Cole. It's your thing to like cake so much," Kai said while slurping up a helping of noodles. "You're strong but sensitive and enjoy cake. It's a fact."

Cole shrugged his shoulders and pushed the plate away. "Well, Lloyd may be the leader but I'm the strong backbone. I can't be distracted by stuff like this if I want to accomplish the goals we set for this team. I'm sorry, but it's not a big deal."

Before he could possibly change his mind, Blue leapt from Jay's lap and held the plate above his head with his paws, the pastry sliding off and into his mouth. He chomped and licked his lips noisily while the others shared a look. "I give him a week," Jay bet.

"Hmm, maybe after we defeat Onryō and celebrate," Maria guessed.

"My money's on after we escape a life or death situation," Lloyd claimed. "And seeing how 'another day in Ninjago' can turn into something more, that's bound to happen any moment now."

"Can we please get back to why monsters are popping up around the city and far from where they'd normally be found?"

"It was only one demon," Zane corrected. "But I've ran through possibilities on how the ushi oni appeared there. The most logical one is that the skeletal remains were left there many years back in a more primitive Ninjago. Unless I'm mistaken," he glanced towards the Pink Ninja for confirmation.

"No, you're on the right track. It's not uncommon to hear stories of warriors or brave common folk fighting off demons and taking any remains as trophies of their actions. This actually leads me to a theory of my own." Maria laid her book out on the table with the section on Urban Legend Spirits. "When Onryō was released, I felt this powerful presence rush all around me and through me. What exactly do you think was the result of that presence?"

The Ninja thought for a moment before Nya cut in. "Well, Onryō came back into the world and you got a bit stronger because of the curse that connects you two. We already knew that, but I don't see what it has to do with this chapter in the book."

Maria lowered her head as she reluctantly flipped through the pages. "It's kinda scary to say this, but when I was trying to suppress my powers, I remember Jorōgumo saying something the sky turning dark and oceans parting for Onryō. I should've realized what she was referring to," she scolded herself as she ended on two pages with the first one titled Ōmagatoki. "I think this is what happens after Onryō is released."

The picture provided on the pages was of a simple village no different than what could be seen in the countryside. Cast over it was a fog, spreading its reach over as the dark, empty sky offered no light. "So," Cole popped a puffy pot sticker in his mouth, "this ōmagatoki is a fog demon. That's not so bad."

"It's not a demon, it's a phenomenon that happens almost worldwide. It means 'the hour of meeting evil spirits.' In old legends, it was believed the world of humans and the world of spirits and demons were separate until this hour. When this happens something in the air stinks of blood, cold winds blow, but mainly- "

"It turns dark," Lloyd finished. He slid the book towards him and glanced over it. "Obviously, this hasn't happened before until today, but that was in the daytime." He groaned and slumped back in his seat. "I know where this is headed."

"Maria, the demons return to where they came from once ōmagatoki is over. Is that not correct?" Zane asked. She replied with a small nod and averted her eyes. "Then any spirits or demons with evil intentions could rise from their slumber. They would be rejuvenated by Onryō's dark aura and prowl about this world, confused and unwilling to sleep again."

"BRRAWWRRR!" Blue loudly burped making them all jump in their seats. He let out a yawn and smacked his furry lips before settling down.

Kai shot Jay a look as he shook his head. "You need to train that thing better. Just because he's staying with us doesn't mean he can do whatever."

Jay gasped as he held the furī close to him, his head resting over his shoulder. "Hey, Blue went through some things, he's probably even traumatized by it. That's why we gotta be patient with him. Right, Blue?" The Blue Ninja patted his companion on the back as a deep guttural burp escaped the creature's mouth, disgust spreading on Jay's face.

Nya cleared her throat. "Did he just- "

"Don't say it."

A chuckle cut through as Skylor approached the table with a bill in her hand. "As long as that little guy doesn't ruin the upholstery, your discount won't be revoked." As she set the slip of paper on the table her eyes were drawn to the opened book. "So, how's the next adventure coming along? Something big?"

Nya turned in her chair to better face their ally. "Skylor, this place is open late sometimes, right? Maybe you noticed something weird happening a few nights ago, something in the air or outside."

The Elemental Master of Amber thought carefully as she gathered their empty plates. "Now that you mention it, about four nights ago, the sky went dark even though it was supposed to be a full moon. I thought because it was a bit cloudy, I just couldn't see it, but I couldn't for the longest time," she explained. "Is this connected to the attack that happened earlier today?"

"No, that was something completely different," Lloyd said. The seven of them knew it was a complete lie. The evidence was little but clear that Onryō's reemergence had done more damage to their world than they thought. The ushi oni came back not long after the Second Strike which meant more creatures that were in a deeper slumber than anything they've encountered before would appear soon. Maybe even closer to their homes and other places full of innocent people. But they couldn't tell Skylor that.

It wasn't that they didn't trust her with the finer details, it was more of a safety procedure for Maria. The less who knew about her background would be safer for her and everyone in case Onryō's remaining captains had caught wind of the truth. If that had happened, they wouldn't hesitate in trying to kill her or even release Goryō to help them if they were that serious. Despite wanting to tell their allies that could greatly help them, they'd have to lie through their teeth until it was all over.

Skylor shrugged her shoulders and turned to put the dishes away, but her eyes flickered up in confusion. She rushed to set the dishes on the counter and quickly pulled out a remote for the overhead tv, raising the volume up from mute. Her actions didn't go unnoticed by the Ninja as they looked up to the screen displaying the Borg Tower from above as cops surrounded the building. A reporter's voice came in mid-sentence as the front of the building came into camera view.

"…all happening just 10 minutes ago. We're getting more details on the several people trapped above on the upper levels from the internal flooding, one of which includes inventor Cyrus Borg himself!"

The Ninja quickly stood up and rushed out from their seats, knowing what had to be done. Zane, however, stayed back as he stared at the bill. "Are you forgetting something?" he asked the others as they stopped halfway out the door.

"You pay it," Cole said. "Just hurry up."

"I will," the nindroid assured as he pulled out his wallet and dumped out a pile of coins. "Let me count out the exact amount and then- "

"Leave it all!" Kai shouted. Zane did as he was asked and joined them as they headed out. "Keep the change, Skylor!" the Red Ninja yelled before they were completely out of her earshot as she shook her head.

"They could've just put it on their tab."

Though a crowd had amassed around the building, the bystanders quickly cleared a path for the Ninja as they understood the seriousness of the situation. They joined the officers at the entrance where they stood over a cheap plastic table and a map of the building's interior. "Ninja, thank goodness you made it!" an officer exclaimed, drawing attention from the others.

"What do we know about the people trapped inside?" Zane asked.

"There's four of them, including Mr. Borg, all trapped somewhere past the 100th floor," the officer explained. "The other three are security guards and a janitor that were supposed to be done with their shifts for the day. The remaining employees and visitors said water came flooding from the bathrooms, so we escorted as many as we could before shutting the doors tightly as we could. This is just…well, madness! This morning it was the construction site and now this happens."

Nya quickly stopped him from going any further. "This isn't connected to the earlier attack. Obviously, this is a freak accident from the water pipes bursting simultaneously and causing flooding."

Maria cleared her throat and gestured to the Ninja to talk privately. They shuffled away and huddled close together. "I know it sounds weird, but this is definitely the work of a demon." The others chuckled but stopped when they saw her face and how serious she was. "Why do you think I take my neko-te with me to the bathroom?"

"I personally thought it worked better for you than a plunger," Cole admitted.

Heat rose to Maria's cheeks as she hissed, "Moving on! There are actually a few demons that target their victims through bathrooms. Plus, the officer said a janitor was trapped up there, he's the most likely candidate to encounter the demon."

"Ok, so how do we defeat a toilet demon?" Lloyd asked then took a moment to recollect himself. "I never thought I'd have to say that."

"I don't know because I don't know which one it is; the description of the flooding attack is too vague to know which it is. What I do know is we can't encounter it alone, it takes two to outsmart it, whichever it may be."

"Fetch! Fetch!" Blue chirped as he jumped up and down in the middle of the circle. He tackled down Jay and licked his face, coating him in saliva. "Fetch!"

"Blue, bad boy!" Jay scolded the furī as he scrambled to get up. "We were having a meeting on how to go in the building to save the people." The furī cocked his head in a confused manner as Jay rolled his eyes. "Ok, don't give me that. I know you can understand me so listen careful- "

"FETCH!" Blue sprinted past the circle the Ninja formed, under the table and through the legs of the police as he skidded to a stop at the tower's door. He sat on his back paws as he waddled up to the glass doors and reached forward to pull them open.

"Blue, stop it!"

The Ninja rushed over, shouting out commands to the furī to cease his actions. Blue only glanced over and offered a sad look as he continued to grasp the door handle. "Blue…good boy," he murmured softly.

"Yes, you are a good boy!" Jay exclaimed. He quickly glanced over his shoulder and gave the other Ninja a look to back him up. They quickly caught on and joined in shouting out "good boy" and "good Blue" to coax him over from the door. Even a few of the officers began calling to him, despite being very confused at the situation. Eventually Jay slowly began moving towards Blue making the furī perk up and wag its bushy tail.

"Blue, good!" Blue happily barked before backing up from the doors and run headfirst into them. The glass cracked from the impact enough to create a small hole for the furī to force himself through. The Ninja screamed and quickly sprinted after him as he made onto the other side of the doors. As they reached the doors, Blue had already begun swimming around in the water that flooded the building's interior and sniffed around before swimming upwards to a staircase.

"What is that mutant fox doing?!" an officer shouted. "He could've killed us all!"

"Technically he's not fox," Maria corrected him. "He's not really a mutant either…kind of."

"I think we're missing the big picture here," Nya cut in. "The water pressure should've broken the glass if the doors were damaged and we'd all be drowning in a flood by now. But apparently, we're still standing here perfectly safe and the water is staying inside the building. Why?"

Everyone paused and took a closer look at the door's newly made hole where Blue made his impact. True to Nya's realization, the water on the other side oddly stayed perfectly still and calm. Lloyd carefully knelt and poked the water through the hole sending only a few ripples through the stilled liquid. Taking it one step further, he got up and grasped the door handles and slowly opened the doors. "It's not flooding out," he exclaimed, the wall of water before them remaining intact before them. "I guess it's safe to say we could swim our way up."

"No way," Cole disagreed. "One, that's all toilet water. Two, the people are all the way up past the hundredth floor. Why don't we just use our dragons?"

"I agree with Cole," Zane said. "Just because it is calm now does not mean it could spill out once we have entered the building. I think we should- "

SPLOOSH!

From the water came tentacle that grabbed ahold of Nya around her head, nearly drowning her on contact. It quickly pulled her in and sent her upwards in sudden current that she couldn't escape from. By the time they had processed what happened, Jay and Kai screamed her name before diving in themselves. They managed to swim into the current and get pulled into its powerful force before being flung into a pillar blocking their path. They lost contact with the current and were left stranded on an upper level, but far from Nya.

"What just happened?!" Maria panicked. "Do we join them or what?"

"No, I was wrong about going in there," Lloyd said. "It was a stupid idea; we'd never be able to make in one breath." He thought for a moment before an idea came into his head and turned to the officers. "Keep everyone back in case the water shows signs of collapsing. We're heading up."

They quickly summoned their dragons, with Maria joining Lloyd, and quickly flew upwards. The compressed water glistened behind the buildings windows with miscellaneous objects floating aimlessly around. The Ninja kept their eyes glued for any signs of movement until they settled on hovering close after passing what felt like the 50th floor. "Does anyone see them?" Cole said over the flapping of the dragons' wings.

"I'm doing a scan right now," Zane replied as he focused closely. He kept an intense gaze until he moved forward and dismissed his dragon as he landed on a ledge nearby. He was quickly joined by the others as he began cutting a clean hole in the glass pane with his shurikens. "I'm detecting movement in this area. I think they made it up to here before losing Nya."

"Think it'll stay still?" Lloyd asked.

"I honestly don't know, but it there's a chance it won't, then we have to make that choice in order to save- "

"Brawwrrr!" Water splashed onto the Ninja as Blue popped out from the new hole, panting happily to see them. "Fetched!"

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Cole groaned. "How are you still alive?"

Zane shrugged, "Well, he is part otter."

"Fetched!" Blue swam back in and down out of sight for a moment until he came back up, pulling the sleeves of Jay and Kai upwards with him. The Ninja quickly pulled them through as they coughed up water and gasped for air.

"We lost Nya," Kai sputtered out. "We were on her and then we lost her."

"We'll find her," Lloyd calmed them. He glanced upwards at the remaining floors they had yet to examine in search of the trapped people and Nya. "What kind of demon is this anyways?" he thought aloud.

"To be honest," Maria mumbled, "I'm not sure anymore."

Nya nearly puked as she quickly coughed up whatever water she had swallowed and shivered with disgust once she remembered where it came from exactly. Her throat felt rough and scratched up as she steadied her breathing, calmly glancing around at the empty floor that she was stranded one. It seemed untouched and darkened as though everyone had left work at the end of a normal day; there wasn't a sign of any attack or flooding in sight. Any inventions were powered down and, other than the puddle around her, it was spotless and futuristic looking as always.

It was completely normal.

"Pssstt! This way," a voice hissed from around the corner. Nya cautiously pulled out her sword as she slowly made her way to the source. Before she made the turn herself, Cyrus Borg slowly rolled out in his wheelchair and waved her over.

"Mr. Borg, you're ok!" she happily exclaimed as she rushed over. "The others and I came as soon we heard the news. It's such a relief to see you safe and- "

"Shhhh! She might hear you!" As Nya reached the inventor, she could see the fear and panic on his face at being found by the demon that caused this. Along with him hiding were the two security guards and a janitor that seemed to have gotten the short end of the stick as he laid tiredly on the floor, his eyes bloodshot with exhaustion. "When the place began flooding, the water trapped us on this level. We couldn't go down or up without the water suddenly coming in our path."

"It's been a nightmare," one of the guards said in a hushed tone, "a complete nightmare that I just want to wake up from. We couldn't escape and we've barely managed to hide from the monster causing this mess. Its here with us on this level, hiding away until she explodes. The little devil would scream her lungs out if we got close to her."

"Wait, it's a female?" Nya asked. "How do you know that if you've been hiding far from her?"

The janitor weakly raised his hand as his eyes widened. "I saw the little girl when I was cleaning the bathroom stalls on this floor. I thought it was a lost kid and tried to help." He closed his eyes and began softly breaking down. "I can't get that face out of my mind. That wretched face is there whenever I blink. She's there!"

The men quickly shushed him as another voice echoed down a nearby hallway. It began as soft sobs before erupting into shrill screams that sent goosebumps across their skin. "Find me! Find me!" it pleaded sadly.

"Be careful," the janitor warned. "She's in the third stall in the men's room. Please, stop her."

Nya quickly readjusted her hood and sprinted down the hall with the cries ringing in her ears. As she stopped in front of the men's restroom so did the crying. She pushed the door opened slowly, sticking her sword in front first until she entered in herself. Under the third stall's door where the demon was said to be shone a blue light as she made her way in front of it. With her own orb of water in her free hand Nya tightened the grip on her sword as she prepared to kick the door open and take the demon by force.

'It's now or never,' she thought to herself. 'On the count of three, I'll kick it in.'

"No, don't," a voice stopped her. It didn't scare her, but it did startle her a bit. It was male and reminded her of Jay with the comfort she found in the tone. When Nya turned her head, the figure was far from Jay or even being alive. He was see-through like a ghost and most of his body was blue blur that couldn't be made out, but she could see his face.

He had long reddish-brown hair that nearly covered his left eye as his right eye had a scar above, specifically in the eyebrow. His face had a similar goofy grin that made Nya instantly think of Jay when he flashed it at her. "Knock three times," he instructed her, "and ask 'Hanako, are you in there?' Poor thing came a long way so just be gentle and you can save her, Iyasu."

When Nya blinked for a second, he was gone in the next. Shaking herself out of the trance, she took his advice by retracting her sword and dispersing the water. Nya clenched her fist and gently knocked three times exactly on the door before asking, "Hanako, are you in there?"

"…yes," the voice, Hanako, timidly replied.

"I came to find you and I'm here now. Can you open the door?"

CREEAAKKK!

The door slowly opened and revealed the one behind all of this. Hanako appeared nothing more than a little girl at least six years old. She had a white button up shirt with a red skirt and matching ballet flats. Her face was like a doll's with big sad eyes and a faint blush in her soft cheeks. Messy raven black hair framed her delicate face as she glanced up at Nya. "Mommy?"

Nya knelt to meet her eyes and shook her head. "I'm not your mom," she replied as something clicked in her mind. "Did you bring me here because you thought I was your mommy?"

Hanako gently nodded yes as she wiped her runny nose. "I saw you through the water, but it was blurry. But I really wanted to see her because she told me hide a while ago until it was ok. But it wasn't ok because that man came in and found me, not mommy," she whimpered, fresh tears threatening to spill out.

Nya quickly shushed her before she broke out into another crying fit until she noticed the same blue light under Hanako's shirt. "What's that, sweetie?"

Hanako stopped her crying and reached under her top, shyly pulling out a broken light blue gem. It glowed faintly and faded to grey from where the other end had broken off. "I found it when I woke up. It's my good luck charm because it made me feel a little bit stronger."

Even with its worn-down appearance, Nya knew for certain that it was one of the gems. It made sense with the guy she saw and the effect it had on Hanako. Taking it from her might upset her further while she was still confused about the situation and cause another disaster. Still, it had given her more power even with only half of it in Hanako's possession, unless this little girl already possessed that much power naturally.

She was on her own with no back up close by and given strict instructions to be gentle with the girl not to stop her, but to save her. Whatever this girl had gone through must've been extremely damaging on her. Not once did Hanako seemed phased at what she had done to the building. If the idea of having powers didn't surprise her, then she must not have realized she had, obviously at some point in her life, died.

"Hanako, my name is Nya and I'm a lot like you." Nya sat down, Hanako mimicking her actions. "I can control water but not as good as you."

Hanako's eyes widened with wonder. "Really? You can do stuff with water like me? Really, really?"

"I can and I want to help you. First, you have to get rid of the water and put it back where it came from carefully. Then we can go see my friends and help you more. Can you do that?"

For the first time since Hanako revealed herself she smiled and nodded happily. "Ok, Ms. Nya!" The little girl barely moved a muscle as the sound of rushing water came from all around, with streams moving rapidly from any little crevice in the ceiling or on the ground. It rushed past them and into the toilets, not single drop spilling as it made its way back down the pipes and back up the toilet bowls until each was filled with the right amount. "I'm done now," Hanako yawned, her eyes drooping as she wobbled forward.

Nya quickly caught her and held her tightly in her arms as she left the restroom. Hanako snuggled herself closer for warmth as Nya heard a familiar bark approach her. Blue came skidding down the hall and nearly ran into her legs as he tried to stop. He stood up on his back legs and placed a paw on Hanako's back, barking over his shoulder, "Fetched!"

"Found her!" Kai's voice shouted over the frantic footsteps of the group as they hurried down the hall. They crowded her and rambled off all at once what had happened. "We thought we lost you when we got stranded! The water was just rushing-"

"- this huge force just pulled all the water away- "

"Mr. Borg is ok!"

"I tried kicking in the window when we reached the floor, but Zane said- "

"Fetched! Fetched!"

"I'm just happy you're safe," Jay sighed. His face twisted once he noticed Hanako still miraculously sleeping in Nya's arms after all the commotion. He pointed at her having everyone notice now. "Where'd you get the kid?"

Nya smoothed the girl's hair back as she stirred in her sleep. "Her name is Hanako, she's the one that caused the building to flood. But she didn't mean to."

Maria stepped forward to get a closer look at the girl. "Her name is Hanako? Any chance you found her in the bathroom?" When Nya gave a quick nod, Maria sucked her breath through her teeth. "Oooh, this is bad."

"How? She's just a kid, we can't really blame her for this."

"Not what I meant," the Pink Ninja explained. She turned back to the group with a solemn look on her face. "Hanako is the name of girl that died in the bathroom after being caught in a war."

"Strange," Zane mused. "I didn't think the Serpentine War had that much of an effect that it reached here all those years ago."

"What? No, that's not what I'm referring to." Maria rested a hand on Hanako's back. "There was another after Dominance that we hardly heard about. The second war that happened once the Knights of Life were established. This girl has been dead for thousands of years, but she doesn't know that. She's too young to really know."

Jay offered a sad smile before resting a hand the girl's little head. "She's strong to have made it all this way." He bent down slightly and whispered, "Hello, Hanako."

"They say that abandonment is a wound that never heals. I say only that an abandoned child never forgets." Mario Balotelli

Next time on Ninjago: Legend Undone…

To The North