Endless Sea, en route to Merlopia

"Dudes, I can't believe we get to go back to Merlopia!" Zuma cheered, doing a couple loop-de-loops in the water. He and some of the other pups were using their Mighty Merpup powers to swim through the ocean deeps, while the others were riding along in a new submarine Rocky and Ranger had built to replace the Hydro Bounty. Kelly gazed out the window in awe as fish and other sea creatures passed by. She waved a paw at Zuma, and he waved back at her. Then Kelly sighed and turned towards Nya, who was showing Sora and Kaida how to play checkers. "Nya, do you ever wish that you could breathe underwater, like the Ninja Pups can?"

Nya paused her playing and turned to Kelly. "Why do you ask that?"

"Well, it's just…" Kelly stammered. "All of the original Ninja Pups have those pawsome Merpup powers, and I…I don't. But I really want to—being a Merpup sounds like so much fun." Outside the window, the other pups laughed and played as they swam along. Riyu, sensing Kelly's mood, came over and snuggled against her. Kelly laughed and hugged the tiny dragon. "Thanks, Riyu. You always make me feel better." Turning back to Nya, she continued. "So I was wondering—have you ever felt that way?"

"Well, I did get a chance to be able to breathe underwater. But it wasn't really because I wanted to. It was because I had to."

"Why did you have to?" Kelly asked, curious. Sora and Kaida paused what they were doing and leaned forward to hear Nya's story.

Nya sighed and then looked longingly out the porthole window. After a few minutes, she spoke. "The last time we came to Merlopia, we found ourselves caught in the midst of a horrible conflict. Kalmaar, the prince of Merlopia, usurped his father and set about to reawaken Wojira."

Kelly gulped. She had read legends about Wojira, the powerful sea serpent said to control the wind and water. And none of the legends had been good ones. But she had never known that Wojira was real.

"Despite all our best efforts, Kalmaar succeeded in bringing Wojira out of her deep sleep and controlling her with his trident. He then headed straight for Ninjago City, determined to wash it into the sea. We fought hard, but in the midst of the battle, something…happened." Tears then came into Nya's eyes.

"What happened?" Kelly asked.

With tears in her eyes, Nya explained, "Jay's sub got damaged and sunk to the bottom of the flood—with Jay and Strider trapped inside. There was a huge leak, and the sub began to fill up with seawater. Strider activated his Merpup power okay, but Jay…" Nya started to cry even more. "Jay…swallowed too much seawater, and it caused him to not…be able to breathe properly. I tried to extract the water from his lungs, but…it didn't respond to my powers. I wasn't strong enough to do something like that."

"So what did you do?"

"Earlier in the mission, Benthomaar had told us the story of my namesake, Nyad. He told us how she had merged with the sea in order to become strong enough to defeat Wojira the first time. So…I chose to do the same."

"You became a Nyad?"

"Yes, but in doing so, I…I lost everything that made me unique, that made me human. My personality, my memories, my emotions—all that disappeared when I merged with the sea."

Upon saying that, Nya gazed upward, remembering what had happened that night.

Nya woke up to see everyone still asleep. Even Zuma was zonked out on the top floor of the NGTV building. She looked over at Jay and Strider, both still struggling to breathe. She gazed out the window at the rapidly rising water outside—and finally made her decision. Like it or not, she had to do this—to save Jay—to save everyone. Zuma would be heartbroken, she knew. But this was her choice, and hers alone.

"I wish we had more time," she commented to Jay, even though he probably couldn't hear her. "But we never seem to get a break." She hesitated for a moment, then kissed Jay softly on the cheek. Then she turned to leave, not looking back.

Running out to the roof of the building, she looked back for just a second. A tear glistened on her cheek as she mouthed the words "I love you" before plunging in.

Above her, she could just barely hear Zuma cry out, "Nya! NO!" But there was no going back now. She started to perform Spinjitzu, letting herself merge with the sea. There was a faint splash as Zuma dove in, desperate to keep this from happening. Nya's vision started to fade out as her transformation neared completion. But she was alert long enough to see Zuma get caught in the wake of her whirlpool.

When she opened her eyes again, she felt…different. Her memories had somehow…changed. There were only fragments left now…thoughts…feelings…names. Jay, she thought—then, Zuma. At that thought, she looked over at the young chocolate Lab, who now had special markings up and down his front legs. The mark of Supercharged power, she thought, before reminding herself why she had done this. "Nya?" Zuma asked. His voice seemed to come from far away. But Nya's attention was now focused on Jay, who was gazing sorrowfully out the window at her. She swam over to the window and placed her hand on the glass. Then she swam away to deal with Kalmaar.

Tears fell down Nya's cheeks as she remembered that fateful night. Now she knew how Jay had felt to see her change, to see her transform. He must have felt…lost without her. Just as she now felt lost without him.

Kelly's voice broke through her thoughts. "How did you change back?"

"Well, that's where it gets…complicated. I actually changed back twice before the change became permanent. The first time, Zuma went after me and sacrificed his power to bring me back. But my link to the sea still remained. Long story short, I gave up my humanity once more to save Zuma's life. That second time took an even greater toll on me than the first. I promised I would remember him and remember who I was, but I…"

At this, Nya's voice trailed off, and Kelly realized what Nya was not saying. Sometime afterward, she had lost all memory of what she once was—and of her friends. "What happened the second time?" Sora asked, speaking for the first time since the checkers game had started.

"The second time, I had to have a Serpentine named Aspheera use her staff to drain my powers so I could become human again. But that is another story altogether."

Nya then looked out the porthole once again and said, more to herself than anyone else, "Sometimes…sometimes I can still feel myself being drawn to the sea. I…I sometimes wish that I could be a Nyad again. But then I remember my friends—my…my family—and I remember that they would not want me to go back. And, in all honesty, the thought of going back terrifies me."

Sora flinched, and Kelly realized that she was thinking of what had happened with her own family—how her parents had not loved her, had not treated her as their daughter. And even though Sora had found a family in the Ninja and Ninja Pups, Kelly knew that there were still times when Sora wished she could go back to Imperium and find parents that actually cared about her, and not just about her grades.

Kelly swallowed back tears of her own, as she thought about how her own parents had been taken by the Claws of Imperium—all because they had elemental powers. The only reason she had not been taken as well was because, at the time, she had not appeared to have any sort of powers. The memory of her parents' capture came to her mind before she could stop it, and she blinked back hot tears.

Kelly was playing tag with her mom when the pounding came. The door seemed to nearly burst off its hinges with the force of it. "Stay here." her father commanded. "I'll get it." But when he opened the door, several brutish men stormed into the small Crackerbox that the family called home. "There they are!" one man with a weird device over his eyes yelled. "Get them!"

Kelly was ripped away from her parents by one mean-looking man, while two others grabbed her mother and father and held them in a ruthless grip. The small three-year-old pup burst into tears, confused and frightened by what was taking place. "Mommy, Daddy, what's happening?"

"Stay still, sweetheart!" her mom simply said. But then the worst thing imaginable happened. Kelly's dad cried out, "Wait! Let Kelly go. It's me and my wife you want, not her."

"What are you saying?!" the leader yelled. Kelly started to cry even more and begged, "Dad, no, don't do this, please!" But her dad ignored her pleas and kept going. "I know why you want us. Yes, my wife and I have elemental powers. But Kelly doesn't."

"That's right." Kelly's mom added in desperation. "She is completely ordinary—we're sure of it. She'll be of no use to you."

The leader seemed to consider this for a moment, then said, "Take those two, but leave their little scamp here." The man holding Kelly threw her to the floor, and the other two started to drag Kelly's parents away. "NO! Mommy, Daddy, don't leave me!" Kelly cried out. She tried to run after them—tried to stop those cruel men from taking her parents. But the man who had dumped her onto the floor suddenly grabbed her and threw her into the street. "And stay out!" he yelled before laughing evilly. As Kelly watched, the men threw her parents into a truck, and the truck drove away, leaving Kelly all alone.

Kelly swallowed hard as the memory faded from her mind. After that day, she had lived on the streets of Imperium for three years—before Sora rescued her from a gang of mean guard dogs who'd been picking on her. The young pup sighed to herself. Having the Ninja Pups as her family was nice, but she wished that there was some way that she could find out what happened to her parents.

Suddenly she could see a faint light in the distance. The light grew brighter and brighter until she could see that it was coming from…an underwater city! Kaida noticed it too and ran to the stern of the sub to get a better look. Then she gasped in recognition. "Friends," she called to the others on the sub. "I believe we have arrived."

Everyone in the ship ran to join Kaida. Even Ruffnut and Tuffnut, who had been bickering with each other since they had left the harbor, came over, curious to get a look. As Kelly stared out the stern glass window, she gasped as she got her first glimpse of the wondrous city of Merlopia.