The Surge

> “You have to get the Techno Blades out of the city. Because once he knows you have them, he'll never let you leave.”
>
> — Cyrus Borg to Kai

### Director

Peter Hausner

The Surge is the first episode of the third season of Ninjago-Masters of Spinjitzu and the 27th episode overall.

## Synopsis

*After a time of peace, the Ninja are called back into action. The spirit of the Overlord seeks to exact his revenge on Lloyd. The Ninja are also introduced to the powerful Techno Blades.*

## Plot

Following the battle with the Overlord, the ninja are now teachers at Wu's Academy—which has replaced Darkley's School for Bad Boys—training a new generation of ninja.

As Kai shows his students the events and the aftermath, a video of Jay filming Kai singing in the shower comes on, infuriating Kai. After Kai stops the film, Tommy comes in, saying Zane is on the fritz. In Zane's class, Brad uses a remote he got from New Ninjago City to control the Ninja of Ice, who is freed by to Cole.

During recess, the ninja and Sensei Wu take a break and lament about Lloyd not being there, since he's flying around receiving awards. They are interrupted by Nya sharing the news about them getting clearance for a field trip to Borg Industries' Borg Tower. At this, all the students and teachers of the academy take a bus to New Ninjago City, which has been rebuilt and upgraded in the wake of the battle with the Overlord through the efforts of Borg Industries, headed by inventor Cyrus Borg.

Distracted by the incredible new technology, Nya accidentally crashes the bus straight into the Postman's hover truck. Cole exits the bus to extricate it from the crash, but a Borg Industries Security Mech arrives and asks him to move aside as it deals with the problem. Master Wu decides that since they were a short distance away, the pupils and teachers should take the walk to the building on foot.

Entering the tower, the visitors (except for Kai, who gets stuck in the door) are welcomed by P.I.X.A.L., a female android created to act as Borg's assistant. P.I.X.A.L. is especially fascinated by Zane and scans his inner-workings under the Nindroid's permission. She then notifies the ninja that Cyrus Borg is waiting for them on the 100th floor in his office and then leads the students, Master, and Nya for a tour of the tower and its technology. Sally then encourages Nya to try out the Perfect Match console, which reveals her perfect match to be Cole.

As the ninja arrive in the office of Cyrus Borg, the ninja were all very happy to meet him. Cyrus, after letting them look around, shows them to a gift he wanted to give them: an automated statue of himself. It looked like a regular statue, but Cyrus tells Kai that they should protect "them" with their lives and to not let anyone know they had them. He then tells them that they must leave since he has things to do.

Walking into the elevator with their gift, they begin to get suspicious about Borg. Being distracted, they accidentally drop the statue, yet they discover it is hollow and is filled with new suits as well as the Techno Blades. Suddenly, a robotic security voice in the elevator says that they should drop the blades. The ninja refuse and the elevator drops toward the ground at high speed. The ninja luckily escape into an elevator going up right next to it and manage to get their new outfits on for battle in their escape from Borg Tower.

In the meantime, P.I.X.A.L. leads Wu, Nya, and their students to the factory area, in the moment system being hacked so she also gets under its control, saying that this will be the end of their tour.

When ninja escape the elevator, they get attacked by Security Mechs. They try to fight them with the Techno Blades but don't know how to activate them and realize that's not how they work. A mech fires their rocket to the glass, breaking the window and pushing the ninja out. However, they survive after grabbing onto a hanging hose and hitting a window cleaning platform.

Meanwhile, in Borg's office, the inventor attempts to explain himself to the Digital Overlord. His efforts prove fruitless however as the Overlord assimilates him into a drone. At the same time, on the platform, four ninja warriors get attacked by enemy copter but before it manages to fire at them, Zane jumps on it and hacks it with his Techno Blade, finding out that's the way how the "weapons" work.

In the factory area, machines invade students and P.I.X.A.L. starts chasing them, but they find the exit to the outside. There they get picked up by Zane's new vehicle—the NinjaCopter—leaving P.I.X.A.L. because Nya realizes she's one of "them."

When they get down of the tower, Sensei Wu takes the Techno Blades and says that he wants Kai and Zane in the air, and Jay and Cole on the ground. Cole manages to defeat the Security Mech and hacks it with his Techno Blade, making it the Earth Mech. Jay invades a tank and hacks it, making it the Thunder Raider. Kai jumps on Zane's copter and hacks an enemy airplane, making it the Kai Fighter and reaching the atmosphere. While he was flying, Cyrus Borg gives him a virtual message saying that a few weeks ago they discovered that a virus, the Digital Overlord, had infiltrated their system. He also says that they have to get the Techno Blades out of the city because if he finds out that they have them, he will never let them leave. After that, Kai lands to pick up Wu, but they get surrounded by Security Mechs.

At the last moment, Lloyd arrives on the Golden Dragon, defeating the robots. At the same time, the Overlord appears on the screens around them. Lloyd tells him that he will defeat him again, after which Overlord says that he just wants his power.

As the ninja get back into their vehicles and race to leave the city, Overlord spots that Wu is getting away with the Techno Blades so he sends two copters that capture him on a building rooftop.

However, Wu doesn't have the blades. Upon rewinding the footage, the Overlord sees that Wu quickly dropped Techno Blades into Kai's Fighter below him. The ninja safely got out of the city with the blades, while Wu is captured by Overlord's forces.

As the sun rises over New Ninjago City, the Digital Overlord takes control of Cyrus Borg while P.I.X.A.L. begins a massive production of Nindroids.

## Appearances

### Characters

#### Cast

* Brad Tudabone - Kathleen Barr
* Calm Robotic Voice - Paul Dobson
* Cole - Kirby Morrow
* Cyrus Borg - Lee Tockar
* Dareth - Alan Marriott
* Jay - Michael Adamthwaite
* Kai - Vincent Tong
* Lloyd Garmadon - Jillian Michaels
* Marla - Kathleen Barr
* Nya - Kelly Metzger
* Perfect Match - Kathleen Barr
* P.I.X.A.L. - Jennifer Hayward
* Postman - Michael Adamthwaite
* Robotic Voice - Brent Miller
* Sally - Jillian Michaels
* Security Cam Voice - Lee Tockar
* Security Man #1 - Lee Tockar
* Security Man #2 - Kirby Morrow
* Tommy - Vincent Tong
* The Overlord - Scott McNeil
* Wu - Paul Dobson
* Zane - Brent Miller

## Trivia

* Though P.I.X.A.L. did not appear to be evil before the Overlord took over the systems in full force, according to LEGO.com, she was under the influence of the Overlord the whole time, which is what prompted her to scan Zane's blueprints in the first place.
* The Wilhelm scream can be heard when Nya kicks one of the mechanical arms as she, Wu, and the students escape Borg Tower.
* Kai's shower cap in Jay's video is from the Surgeon from Minifigures Series 6.