Darkness Shall Rise

*“No one will touch my son. But by getting rid of Sensei Wu and those pesky ninja, Lloyd will never reach his full potential. The prophecy will never be fulfilled, and Ninjago will be mine... forever!”*

— Lord Garmadon

**Darkness Shall Rise** is the first episode in the second season of *Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu* and the 14th episode overall. It aired on Cartoon Network on July 18, 2012 in the United States.

## Synopsis

*Just as the rebuilding effort in Ninjago begins, the four ninjas come to realize that evil has started to resurface with Lord Garmadon forging the ninjas' lost Golden Weapons into a Mega-Weapon with unspeakable powers.*

## Plot

The Falcon flies through the air, watching the ninja help rebuild Ninjago City when Sensei Wu and Nya ride up telling them they found a new home. Meanwhile, Skales is attempting to convince the Serpentine to let him be their leader, when Lord Garmadon appears and tells them they should follow him. After reconstructing the destroyed *Destiny's Bounty*, creating the *Black Bounty*, and threatening the Serpentine should they not follow him, they agree. However, instead of flying the *Bounty* to Ninjago City, Garmadon flies in the opposite direction to the Golden Peaks, to unlock the full potential of the Four Golden Weapons. He tells the Serpentine that he doesn't plan to destroy Lloyd, but rather, the ninja and Wu so that Lloyd won't reach his True Potential.

Meanwhile, the ninja are house-hunting. The only place they can afford turns out to be a one-bedroom, one half bath apartment without lighting. Jay and Kai argue that they need a better place to train Lloyd, and the ninja agree to buy an expensive hero suite that's out of their price range. To make enough money for rent, they each search for jobs. Jay takes up a job delivering pizza, Cole becomes a security guard at the bank, Zane becomes a chef at a restaurant, and Kai works as a party entertainer. However, the jobs end up being so difficult that when they return home, they're too tired to train Lloyd and they are nowhere close to making rent.

The Serpentine generals are not about to let Garmadon lead the Serpentine, and they brainstorm on a diabolical plan to convince the Serpentine to follow them. While delivering a pizza to them, Jay overhears their plan but is captured by Acidicus before he can alert the other ninja.

The first step of the plan is for the generals, excluding Skales, to rob the bank. Since Cole was too busy napping, he is unable to stop the generals before they get away, but he overhears them saying they're heading for the Ninjago Metro. Kai and Zane are instantly alerted but are fired when they leave or are distracted from their jobs. After Cole is fired for sleeping on the job, the three ninja head off to stop the Serpentine. They head to the subway and manage to infiltrate the Serpentine's train and fight the Serpentine, but they have difficulties without their weapons. The Serpentine reveal their plan wasn't to steal the money, it was to distract the ninja so Skales could kidnap Lloyd and use him as leverage against Garmadon so that he can be the new Serpentine leader.

In the apartment, Lloyd is alone playing a video game when Skales breaks in. Although Lloyd attempts to get out, the door is locked and he can't unlock it. Just before Skales could get Lloyd, they both hear Sensei Wu and Nya on the opposite side of the door. Lloyd screams for their help from the other side of the door.

Back on the subway, Cole reminds everyone that they have to save Lloyd and Zane shows the others the makeshift weapons they can use to fight the generals off. The ninja manage to corner them, but before they can defeat them, Cole notices the train is heading straight for Jay. They find that the train is automatically controlled and pull the break before it can hit Jay, which gives the Serpentine time to get away.

The ninja head back to the apartment to find it empty. They instantly regret taking the jobs and agree that losing Lloyd was their greatest loss. However, Sensei Wu and Nya appear in the doorway with Lloyd. The ninja realize they didn't need all of the fancy stuff and only need each other. Upon realizing this, they move to the crowded apartment they were first shown so they won't be distracted and can train Lloyd. When Kai asks what happened to Skales, Sensei Wu reveals that he's been thrown in jail. In prison, Skales swears to return.

On the Golden Peaks, Garmadon successfully manages to merge the Four Golden Weapons into the Mega Weapon. Although it appears to be painful, he tells the Serpentine he's never felt more powerful, stating he will destroy the ninja once and for all. Garmadon releases an evil laugh that is show to ring throughout Ninjago. Meditating, Sensei Wu says that he fears "there is a great disturbance in the force."

## Appearances

### Characters

* Acidicus
* Bank Boss
* Child
* Cole
* Chokun
* Cook
* Customer
* Fangtom
* Garmadon
* Jay
* Kai
* Lasha
* Lloyd Garmadon
* Masked Thug
* Nya
* Passerby
* Patty Keys
* Postman
* Security System
* Skales
* Skalidor
* Subway Controller #1
* Subway Controller #2
* Unrelenting Mother
* Woman
* Wu
* Zane

### Items

* Golden Weapons/Mega Weapon
	+ Nunchucks of Lightning
	+ Scythe of Quakes
	+ Shurikens of Ice
	+ Sword of Fire
* Serpentine Staffs
	+ Constrictai Staff
	+ Fangpyre Staff
	+ Hypnobrai Staff
	+ Venomari Staff
* Tea
* Underworld helmet

### Vehicles

* *Black Bounty*
* Samurai Mech

### Events

* Attack of the Great Devourer (mentioned)
* The Devourer's bite (indirectly mentioned)

### Locations

* Ninjago
	+ Sea of Sand
		- Golden Peaks
		- Ouroboros (mentioned)
	+ Ninjago City
		- Worn-down apartment
		- Hero's Suite
	+ Ninjago Metro
		- 21st and Union
		- Ninjago City Bank
		- Restaurant
		- Ninjago Park

### Species

* Bees (mentioned)
* Humans
* Nindroids
* Oni/Dragon/Human hybrids
* Serpentine
	+ Constrictai
	+ Fangpyre
	+ Hypnobrai
	+ Venomari
* Skulkin (mentioned)

## Trivia

* A segment of the song "Ninja-Go!" was played while the ninja were doing their jobs.
	+ The track "Day Jobs" was originally composed for this montage but was mostly cut from the episode.
* Kai wears his ZX mask without the armor crown. This version would later physically appear in 70739 Airjitzu Kai Flyer and 891501 Kai.
* This episode, "Firstbourne," and "The Darkness Comes" are the only season premieres with "Previously on Ninjago."

## Cultural references

* The pizza scene where Jay has five minutes to get across town is similar to a scene in *Spider-Man 2* where Peter has to deliver a pizza across town in seven minutes.
* Sensei Wu's line "I fear there is a great disturbance in the force" at the end of the episode is a reference to the *Star Wars* movies.
	+ Tommy Andreasen wished they never included this line, as "It's too obvious."

## Continuity

* This is the first episode to use young Lloyd in the intro.
* Jay was the only one of the four ninja to not wear shoulder pads or his hood in this episode.
* Jay's boss looks like Bolobo.
* Interestingly, Skalidor did not use the Constrictai grip to hold Kai inside the train, but only held him with his hands.

## Errors

* The wrecked bounty's windshield is shown to be intact even though in the previous episode, Jay flew out of it when trying to escape the Devourer.
* When Cole gives the Bank Boss the money bag, the boss' eyebrows are missing.
* When Jay screams "UH NO!!!" his mouth doesn't move, then when he slides under the tanker truck, his helmet disappears.
* Zane says, "Venom can't hurt me", despite it affecting him in "All of Nothing."
	+ According to Tommy Andreasen, Zane meant that the venom wouldn't affect him because he would still be able to see through his Falcon Vision. However, the Falcon was not present in this scene.
* After Skales tells Lloyd what he's going to do to him, his eyes look slightly different, and his pupils are missing.
* Cole's position from the side of the train should have made it impossible for him to realize that Jay was in front of them.
* When Jay started screaming right before he was almost hit by the train, his mouth wasn't open.
* When trying to stop the subway, Kai is missing his shoulder pads, and his right arm is slightly clipping through his body.
* When they arrive back at the Hero's Suite, Kai calls for Lloyd but his mouth doesn't move.
* Garmadon has both Shurikens of Ice despite only being given one of them.
	+ This may not be an error when it's considered how the shurikens are often portrayed as a single shuriken in various shots.
		- The YouTube version of this episode uses the cast list from "The Rise of the Great Devourer."