The familiar glow appeared in the middle of the night. Pixal was the only one awake at the time, thus the only one who saw it, and she knew almost instantly that the glow had a connection to something (or someone) from her past. She didn't know why the glow looked so familiar. Heck, she didn't even know what the glow was! Until she decided to investigate it.

She walked outside into the courtyard of the monastery, looked up at the night sky and took a closer look at the mysterious glow.

It was in a sort of circular shape, in four colours that kept fading into each other. First it was red, then yellow, then blue, then green. She concentrated on the glow carefully, and used the scanners she had recently updated herself with to find the exact location in which the glow was hovering above. She located it on a large field to the right of the monastery.

She glanced behind her, pondering if she should wake up one of the others just in case she needed the help. But she decided not to. They'd all been working hard recently and deserved the rest. So she drew her sword and strolled down the steps of the monastery to investigate this strange glow.

She had travelled halfway towards the source, scrambling over rocks and trudging through mud, when she realised something. The glow wasn't just a glow. It was some sort of vortex. That worried her. She had experiences with things like that before, and they were never a good sign.

Still, she trudged forward through the mud and tall grass blocking the plain of grass that made up the field she was travelling to. It was a risk she was willing to take. If she didn't investigate this now, it might not be there tomorrow or any other day, and who knows what kind of trouble it could cause the ninja if they didn't sort it out?

After walking a few metres through the mud, she finally reached the field that was so plain she could instantly spot something directly below the vortex. She tightened the grip on her gold sword, raised it in the air and slowly creeped towards the possible danger.

It took her a while to reach whatever, but she wasn't going to make any risks by running towards it. It was best she stayed quiet, just in case it shot at loud, moving targets. But as she got closer, she realised it wasn't an it that was sitting below the vortex, but a them.

The person was sat up, glancing from side to side as if watching out for enemies. When they spotted Pixal, they shuffled away from her slightly, as if scared she might attack at any moment.

When within five metres of the person, she could finally make out some of their features. They were male with long black hair, a section of it tied back behind his head. He had tannish skin, a small goatee and bushy eyebrows that covered his mismatched blue-green eyes. Blue-green eyes that seemed to be the exact same shades as the colours in the vortex.

She took a few more slow steps towards him, her hand still clenched around her sword and she finally realised why he and the vortex looked so familiar. As if on cue, the vortex disappeared, leaving Pixal face to face with the enemy from her past.

Yes. She remembered. This same man had appeared to Wu four years ago via the same vortex. He had fought Wu using a very special weapon of his and ended up winning, leaving Wu in a terrible state. He and his brother had then proceeded to try and take over Ninjago, only to be defeated by Wu and trapped in time forever. Only, it wasn't forever. Because she was convinced this man sitting before her was...

"Acronix..." She muttered, rather reluctantly. She didn't want to believe he was back. She had always known it was possible, yes. Wu had returned from time, so why not him? But she held a particular grudge against Acronix. He and his brother, Krux, had kidnapped her father and forced him into building a time machine for them. That was something she could never forgive.

She raised her sword, ready to fight if she needed to, but when Acronix looked up at her, she felt as though she would not be needing her sword. His eyes were full of fear and confusion, as if he had no idea where he was or why this random robot girl was threatening him with a sword.

He stood and shakily walked towards her, and with fear still evident in his eyes said, "Is-is that my name?"

Lloyd was distracted. He had a terrible feeling inside his gut, and he wasn't sure why. Ninjago had been peaceful for quite a while now, believe it or not. There were definitely enemies out there somewhere, but he hadn't heard from them in a long time. Ninjago was finally a happy place. So why did he feel so awful?

He prayed that it wasn't an omen for something terrible yet to come, but knowing his luck, it was very likely that's exactly what it was.

He took a deep breath and clenched his hands on the railings on the side of the bounty where he was stood. The key was to stay calm and not let the other ninja know something was wrong.

"You're stressed."

Well. That plan backfired quickly.

He turned to meet the face of Nya, who was staring at him with pity in her eyes. Damn her for knowing him so well!

"Yeah?" He questioned. "How could you tell?"

She gave him a small, pitiful smile. "You're like a little brother to me, Lloyd. I know all your ups and downs." She took a step towards him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong?"

He looked at her, pondering if he should tell her about this strange feeling that had overcome him. He desperately didn't want to worry her, but if it was a sign, he'd need the help and support when the time came.

He shook his head. "Nothing. I'm fine." He said, suddenly avoiding her gaze.

She raised an eyebrow. "No. You're not, Lloyd. I can tell."

"Honestly, Nya, I'm fine!" He raised his voice a little, hopefully giving her a signal that he'd prefer not to talk about it. If she truly knew him well, she'd take the hint.

She nodded. "Alright. I understand." He turned away from her, looking back down at Ninjago city, but heard her faint footsteps as she walked away.

Suddenly, his dreadful feeling returned.

Jay threw the controller across the room in rage, almost hitting Lloyd as he walked through the door.

"I can't believe you beat me AGAIN!" He screeched. He and Cole had been playing Prime Empire all afternoon, and Cole had just won for the fifth time in a row.

Cole laughed.

"It's not rocket science." He said. "You must be getting worse, dude!"

Jay gasped in response. "Am not!"

"Wanna bet? How about a round six?"

"You're on, dirtclod!"

Lloyd chuckled. Leave it to Jay and Cole to cheer him up.

He examined the room around him. Obviously, Jay and Cole were on the couch, nudging each other in the ribcage in a bantering manner like always. Nya was sat in front of the couch with her legs crossed. She was reading a book which appeared to be on strategic fighting. When she saw Lloyd, she gave him a little wave. He waved back.

Kai was sprawled across the armchair, asleep. He had obviously gotten tired of watching Cole beat Jay.

And Zane was the only one not in the lounge. Instead, he was in the kitchen cooking whatever delicious meal awaited them that night.

Lloyd knelt down next to Nya as Jay and Cole's sixth game commenced.

"Hey..." He whispered to her. Her attention quickly snapped from her book to him.

"What's up?" She replied.

"I'm going out for a bit, only for a small stroll, but someone's gonna need to supervise these guys whilst I'm gone."

She laughed; "You have my word!"

He nodded in an appreciative way and then made his way out of the lounge, into the courtyard and down the long flight of stairs leading away from the monastery. He needed a relaxing walk to clear his mind. But he feared, with that horrible feeling still evident in his gut, it would be far from relaxing.