Lloyd is sitting in Garmadon's apartment with a tea towel wrapped around his head as a blindfold. It has a leaf print decorating it. Garmadon sits across the room from him. "Can you sense my presence?" Asks Garmadon.
"How?" Asks Lloyd.
"Tap into your Oni powers, feel the essence of life around you, and stop masking." Says Garmadon.
"How can I stop masking, when I don't even know how I am doing it?" Asks Lloyd.
"Hmm." Garmadon pauses. "It's almost like you weren't even listening to me when we tried this last time. You reject your Oni side, even when it would aid you in battle. Why?"
Lloyd remembers when they had been fighting the crystal king together. Garmadon pretended to be more hurt than he was, the rage at losing him had allowed Lloyd to transform into his Oni form, but only for a moment. When he saw his reflection he freaked out and changed back.
"I didn't want to be like you." Admits Lloyd with a sigh, while removing the blindfold.
"See, I don't get this. You are literally asking me to train you, to be more like me." Garmadon sounds more confused than upset. "Is being like me really so bad?"
Lloyd sighs. "No, well, not exactly. You have done lots of bad things, hurt lots of people. I was worried that if I used my Oni powers it would change me, I would lose control and hurt those I care about. I wanted to prove that I didn't need those powers, I wanted to prove that I didn't need you." He clutches the tea towel tightly.
Garmadon sips his tea. "You needed me then, and you need me now." He says. "Don't you?"
"I guess so." Says Lloyd. "You do help people too, sometimes."
"Your Oni side is already a part of you. Use it, don't use it, you will still be you."
"I know." Says Lloyd, "which is why I was trying to learn Oni form with you before, but it's hard facing your greatest fear. When I looked into the mirror of dread, I saw myself as an Oni."
"When did you look into the mirror of dread?" Asks Garmadon.
"At the explorers club, but that's not important right now." Lloyd takes a deep sigh, "please tell me again, how do I tap into my Oni powers?"
"You are not like me." Says Garmadon matter of factly.
"Ok, but how does that help?" Asks Lloyd.
"What I mean is last time we tried this I was teaching you how I channel my Oni powers, but what allows me to use my powers might not work the same way for you." Says Garmadon. "You did transform once before. Do you remember what it felt like?"
Lloyd thinks back to that time, "I thought you were dead, I was angry, desperate. I let go of my normal control, and just let all my anger out."
Garmadon starts gesturing at Lloyd. "That there, that 'normal control', that's masking." Says Garmadon. "I want you to stop doing that, and tell me what makes you angry." He stood up with a big toothy grin on his face.
"Um, ok, what makes me angry?" Lloyd stands up too scratching his head. "I guess I can get frustrated if I'm doing bad in a video game?"
"Ptf." Garmadon scoffs. "Too small! There has to be someone who really gets you mad?"
"I'm generally a pretty calm person." Says Lloyd stubbornly.
"Someone who when you look at them you just want to punch them in the face!" Continues Garmadon.
"You feel this way about people?" Asks Lloyd with concern.
"Oh yes, quite a few." Says Garmadon confidently.
Lloyd shakes his head. "Fine, the overlord. I could be mad at him."
"No good. He's gone. Your anger would be weak."
"Kalmar?"
"What did I just say? Pick someone who is alive!"
"Fine. You! Ok? I pick you."
Garmadon raises an eyebrow. "Hmm. Ok. Build up your Oni anger and come and punch me in the face." Garmadon turns to face Lloyd and stands with his hands clasped behind his back.
Lloyd takes a deep breath and tries to build up anger towards his father. You abandoned me, you sought out evil, you hurt so many people, and you care about these plants more than you care about your own son! He manages to build up a small amount of purple power in his fist and swings it towards Garmadon, but stops just before making contact. Garmadon doesn't move or flinch.
"Just like I thought, this won't work either. For some strange reason you care about me." Says Garmadon.
Lloyd crumples up the tea towel in a ball and throws it in at the wall. "So what? I'm just too much of a caring person to use these powers?"
Garmadon stares at him for a moment, scratching his chin. "Hmm, maybe we can use that. I might have had this backwards." Lloyd looks at him with confusion. "When you transformed last time, it wasn't because you were angry at the overlord, you were angry that I was hurt. All you need to do is imagine the worst possible thing that could have happened to Ella."
Lloyd blinks. "That could work." He says with mild surprise before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He imagines her small body laying beaten and bloodied on the floor of a basement, he feels anger for whoever did this bubbling up into his guts and lets the feeling flow through the rest of his body. Both of his fists start to glow with purple energy.
"Good." Says Garmadon with pride, "now can you sense me?"
Lloyd takes a deep breath and focuses on sensing his surroundings while keeping his eyes pressed shut. He can hear the tick of a clock, the hum of traffic, the rustling of a nearby breeze, but there is something else. Almost like the hum of a refrigerator, or the roar of a fire, a buzzing on the inside of his brain that was coming from his father, a connection, a tiny flash of pride. "I can!" He says with excitement, but this breaks his concentration and the feeling vanishes along with his purple power.
"Good." Says Garmadon. "Now we begin the search."
Zane is talking to the warden at kryptarian prison. "I'm here to see Harumi."
"Oh your turn is it?" says the warden cheerfully.
"Turn?" says Zane.
"Yeah, she doesn't get many visitors, but Lloyd came to see her last month."
Zane frowns, "He didn't mention it." he says calmly as they arrive at the visitor section. Harumi is sitting behind the glass waiting.
"Oh, is it just you?" she asks.
"Yes, I have some questions for you." says Zane as he sits down.
Harumi sighs, "Of course, what information do you need this time?"
"What information did Lloyd ask of you last time?" Asks Zane.
Harumi smiles, "What? Are you keeping secrets from each other now or something?"
"Lloyd has not been to visit you." says Zane.
Harumi's smile increases slightly, "You're saying he snuck out of that monastery to see little old me?"
Zane had a hunch, but there was a possibility that Lloyd had gone to see her on his own. He decided to call her bluff. "If that were the case, why did he come only once, and if I am right I doubt his questions were of a social nature. So I ask again, what did you discuss?" If she didn't cooperate he could of course ask for the tapes, but he was enjoying playing detective again.
Harumi sighs, "if you must know, he asked me questions about Mystake, and how she died." says Harumi glumly.
Zane sighs. "That wasn't Lloyd, it was an Oni named Ella, daughter of Mystake."
"Oni? I thought they were all gone?"
"There is no sign of more coming to Ninjago, but one has been left behind. You are some sort of an expert on Oni, you tracked down the three Oni masks, discovered the location of the lost Oni temple, and even completed an Oni resurrection ritual. Do you know how to find an Oni hiding in the city?"
Harumi puts a hand to her chin, thinking. "I never needed to find a living Oni… I did read something about them being able to sense one another over significant distances." She shrugs. "Surely Wu and Garmadon would know more about this than me?"
"You are probably right." Says Zane. The information was not as useful as he had been hoping, but that did explain why Ella had attempted to murder Garmadon in their courtyard.
"Why would someone want to capture a live Oni?" Asks Zane, "what would they have to gain?"
Harumi shrugs, "Like I said, I never needed to capture a live one. Unless you count Lloyd, his Oni DNA allowed us to retrieve the mask of vengeance. There could be other Oni relics out there with similar safeguards, but I am not aware of any from my research."
"If they were after Oni relics, she could easily have been moved from the city by now." Zane says, thinking out loud.
"Of course, I would say it is much more likely that someone just doesn't like Oni, and wants to do their part in the eradication." Harumi searches Zane's face for a reaction. "If you ask the warden, I might be able to give some help?" She asks hopefully.
"Not this time." Says Zane. "But we do appreciate your cooperation."
Nya and Skylor go to a laboratory run by Normatech. It is in an industrial area of the city, adjacent some warehouses. The lab itself is a clean looking building, a little dated with signs that are fading, and posters that could have been from the 80s.
The reception is unattended, but there is a bell which Skylor rings.
A woman in a lab coat runs out to greet them. "Welcome to Normatech, I'm Jaki, how can I help?"
"We were told you could help us to analyse this?" Says Skylor while holding up the bag of gummies.
"Eating these made our friend very ill." Adds Nya. "We suspect venemari spit might be mixed in."
"Oh, like the samples from the police." Says Jaki.
"You process samples from the police?" Asks Skylor with surprise. "I thought Borg industries did them?"
"We are a subcontractor of Borg industries, we do all the labs for the Ninjago police department."
"Come on Nya, this is a waste of time. The samples we sent all came back inconclusive."
"The initial tests were inconclusive, there are other tests that take more time which we are still running. If you leave a sample, I could at least tell you if it matches the others?"
"Fine." Says Skylor, and they leave one of the gummies before leaving.
Back in the street Skylor is frustrated and kicks a small rock which bounces harmlessly off a barricade tracing the edge of the parking lot.
"We could go back to Borg?" Suggests Nya, "surely his equipment could tell us something."
"He already said he couldn't help." Says Skylor.
"What about the serpentine? If it has venemari spit, surely they will know something?"
"I already tried that, they didn't want to talk to me, didn't want anything to do with the police."
"hmmm." Says Nya, "maybe I could help, I know Skales, if I introduce you, they might be more willing to help."
Nya and Skylor walk a few blocks before finding a manhole and entering the sewers.
"Do you know where you're going?" Asks Skylor as they reach a crossroads.
"Yeah, just give me a minute." Says Nya, "it is easy to get turned around down here."
Skylor is bored so she decides to flicker the Oni power to try and use it up, there is very little left at this point. As she ignites it she feels a strong pain shoot through her body, like it did back at the police station. She cries out as she falls to her knees.
"Skylor!" Nya says while drawing her weapon and looking for the source of the attack. She sees a black shadow moving in one of the tunnels heading their way. She raises her arms summoning sewer water to knock the intruder off balance then pins them to the ground with her trident. Garmadon looks up at her "what was that for?" He asks.
"Garmadon? What are you doing here?" Says Nya, taking a step back.
"I could ask you the same thing water girl." He says while picking himself up off the ground. "Eyuk." He says while grimacing and shaking some of the sewer water from his arm.
"Sorry." Nya says as she uses her power to extract as much of the sewer water as she can from Garmadon and place it back in the sewer.
Skylor takes deep breaths as the pain has now passed, and goes to join the others. "Nya, it's ok, I wasn't attacked, I felt Oni powers."
"How could you sense Oni powers?" Asks Garmadon while frowning.
"I borrowed some of Ella's power, back when I thought she was Chamille." Skylor flexes her hand. "I think I finally used it all up."
"I thought I had finally caught a whiff of her presence, but I guess I must have just been trailing you." Garmadon says with frustration while gesturing at Skylor.
"When I used the last of it, it reacted with something, the last time it did that Ella was nearby." Says Skylor.
"Maybe it was reacting to Garmadon?" Says Nya.
Garmadon huffs, "it's possible. Are there any more Oni wielding Ninja I should know about who are likely to get me off track?"
"No, just me." Says Skylor.
Garmadon clutches at his earpiece. "Robot girl, did you get that? This was a false lead. Tell me where to search next." He walks off as he talks into the earpiece.
"Sorry." Says Skylor to Nya, "guess I messed it up."
"He'll get over it." Says Nya.
"So should we get going?" Asks Skylor.
"Hmm," Nya hesitates, "maybe we should head back. It is getting kind of late."
"Nya, I'm fine." Says Skylor.
"I know." Says Nya with a smile, "but if we want to make a good impression on the serpentine we probably shouldn't be dropping in on them after dinner. I didn't realise how late it was."
Back in the monastery Kai wakes up from his nap and heads to the game room. He opens the door to find Jay sitting on the couch with Cole's sleeping head resting in his lap. Jay turns to him making a 'shhh' gesture with his finger. Kai nods, closing the door as quietly as he can and walking over to sit next to Jay.
"How is he?" Whispers Kai.
"Better now." Whispers Jay, "He was pretty rough before."
They sit in silence for a moment watching the gentle rise and fall of Cole's chest.
"How are you feeling?" Asks Jay, still whispering.
"Better." Says Kai, "but I took the recommended dose."
Jay nods, glad to see Kai has improved.
"I could watch him for a bit if you want a break?" Offers Kai.
"Thanks, but I don't want to wake him." Says Jay.
"Guess I'll cook some dinner then, the others should be coming back soon." Kai was used to looking after people, if he couldn't be out there helping, he could at least do that.