It was the darkest of night, when every working citizen of Ninjago was fast asleep. Most stores were long past closed, and very few cars were driving on the streets. The time when the world seems as if in standstill, and nothing could disturb it.
Even the Borg factory line was offline, as no employees were there to monitor it. Left in complete darkness, it was more frozen than the city it was in.
As if out of nowhere, the entire room came to life. The lights turned on and the conveyor belt began moving forwards. Large pieces of metal were moving along it and the factory machines attached to the ceiling began cutting, shaping and welding it into skeletal shapes that one would expect see in a humanoid android. As the machines continued towards the end of the assembly line, it was clear exactly what these were supposed to be.
"Mr. Borg! Mr. Borg!"
The head supervisor of Borg Industries ran through the halls of Cyrus Borg's penthouse apartment towards his CEO's bedroom. He burst in and quickly went to the side of Borg's bed.
"Mr.Borg, wake up!"
Cyrus Borg woke up and leaned back on his headboard.
"What is it? A glitch in the latest BorgPhone update?" asked Borg, still half-awake.
"Sir, the assembly line turned on all of the sudden, and began producing nindroids."
Borg's eyes widened as he reached for his glasses.
"Did you say nindroids?"
"Yes, sir."
"But how?!"
"We don't know, sir."
"Send someone to investigate this at once!"
"Yes sir."
Cyrus Borg's top technician and computer engineer began assessing the sudden production of nindroids. He was at work for hours, checking every possible glitch that could occur or loophole that could be exploited, but there was no way that any of them could have began the production of some of Ninjago's greatest foes.
While he was doing this, several ghostly apparitions passed through the walls of the building and possessed every last nindroid exoskeleton the assembly line had produced. The consciousness of these ghosts matched their robotic bodies exactly and they became one. The ghosts had entered back into the physical realm.
"Ninjago, prepare to face General Cryptor and his nindroid army once again!" yelled General Cryptor, who had a vicious grin under his mask.
"Our first objective will be taking out those pesky ninja. We will storm their base and overwhelm them. Of course, you dimwits couldn't do that last time, so we will be making some upgrades to your inferior systems. But first, we will take control of this building!"
General Cryptor sent his troops out to storm offices and hold employees hostage. In the meantime, he forced the engineer to design upgrades to make the nindroids more formidable enemies in combat. Soon the nindroids had control of the entire Borg Industries building, and even Cyrus Borg was being held hostage. They began upgrading themselves one by one, until every last one of them, including General Cryptor, had received these new functions and abilites. They were also outfitted with stronger armor to protect their fragile exoskeletons. After this Cryptor produced many new and upgraded nindroids to make his army even larger.
All of this went down in a matter of hours, completely unknown to the Ninja, who thought it would be another uneventful day. While they rested, Cryptor and his army were plotting how to get rid of them and take over the island of Ninjago. The nindroid general would stop at nothing to get his revenge on the ninja.
And most of all, Cryptor wanted to make Zane and PIXAL pay for his downfall. He wanted to leave them in pieces, just as they had left him. He and his army had narrowly escaped from the Departed Realm on the Day of the Departed, and they wanted to make the struggle they endured worth it.
The nindroids left a few soldiers behind at the building and flew towards the Destiny's Bounty, eager to attack the ninja again after their defeat. They gradually ascended and made their way towards the large airship.
The ninja were completely unaware of the threat approaching them. They were going about the day as though nothing eventful would be happening. Kai and Jay were playing chess on the deck while the rest of the ninja were perfecting their skills using the training robots. However, they ceased their activities when the radar picked up on something approaching the ship. They all hurried to the bridge, where the loud beeping emitted by the radar was coming from.
Nya observed the shapes on the radar as they began to come into view.
"They're pretty small..." she observed "Torpedoes possibly?"
"Maybe" Cole replied "But why would anyone want to shoot torpedoes at us?"
As the shapes on the radar became more distinct, the ninja watched in horror as they saw the shapes on the radar begin to resemble some of the fiercest enemies they'd ever faced.
"No, it can't be!" denied Nya
"The nindroids? But I thought Borg reprogrammed them. Why would they be this close to the bounty?" wondered Kai
"I don't know, but we're about to find out!" replied Nya
All six ninja ran onto the deck and formed a circle. They pulled their masks over their faces and prepared for the worst. The ninja watched as dozens of nindroids flew up above the Destiny's Bounty and landed on the deck, one by one. They approached the ninja and quickly outnumbered them. With this many nindroids, they were stacked up against impossible odds.
"There's too many of them! ABANDON SHIP!" yelled Jay
Lloyd hurried and got Misako while Kai got Wu. Everyone ran to the side of the deck and jumped off. The ninja were able to use airjitzu to land at the peak a nearby mountain.
"Honestly, I've seen a lot as a ninja. BUT I'VE NEVER SEEN AN ENTIRE ARMY COME BACK FROM THE DEAD!" screamed Jay.
"Jay, calm down." said Nya
"Sorry Nya, but I just can't believe our home was taken without a fight" apologized Jay
"But how exactly did the nindroids make their way back to Ninjago? I thought that they were in the Departed Realm!" Zane queried.
"It's possible" interjected Wu "That they escaped on the Day of the Departed"
"Maybe" said Kai "But that still leaves the question of why the came back."
"Perhaps after his defeat, Cryptor-"
"Zane, you are receiving a message from Mr. Borg" interrupted PIXAL
Zane's glowing light blue eyes projected a hologram of Cyrus Borg in front of the ninja, Wu, and Misako.
"By the time you receive this message, I fear it will be too late to save the Destiny's Bounty from the nindroids. However, I need to inform you that I am being held hostage in my office. Don't let them know I sent you this message, or else- They're coming this direction."
The message ended there. The ninja sat in silence for a few seconds. They were all shocked that they could lose so much so quick. Soon after they walked to the Temple Of Airjitzu and began planning how they would battle the nindroids.
