Disclaimer: I don't own Ninjago, just the story.

"Mommy?  Where are you going?"  a young girl asked.

"I just have to go take care of a few things," the mother said.

"B-but it's dark outside."

"And that's why you should be in bed."

"But I want to go wherever you go."  The girl didn't understand exactly what was happening, but she felt like she couldn't let her mother leave.  She remembered hearing her parents fighting earlier and she didn't like it.

The mother smiled kindly at her daughter and knelt down to her level.  "You'll understand when you're older sweetie."

"You'll come back, right."

The mother forced another smile.  "Of course."  She hugged her daughter and sent her to bed before heading out the door, but the girl had a feeling that would be the last time she saw her mother."

It has been two days since Seliel made out with Cole in the closet of the monastery and neither of them had talked about it since.  The others knew about it, but they had all been preoccupied trying to figure out what to do about the whole Garmadon situation.  It's not like she's been worrying herself these past couple of days wondering if it meant the same for Cole that it did for her.

It honestly felt weird to her just returning to school knowing that at any moment Garmadon could show up and attempt to cause the end of the world and 9 teenagers, including herself, would be in charge of stopping it.  She knows that she got herself involved in all of this, but if she can do something good to help people, she will.  Between fighting crime, training, and school, it's a wonder she can keep her priorities straight.  Thank goodness PIXAL is doing most of the work for their engineering project.

She was just finishing grabbing the books she needed for homework from her locker and putting the books she didn't need away when somebody tapped her shoulder.  She reflexively turned around and punched the person in the face.

"After what happened a couple days ago, that's the hello I get," the person said as they rubbed their nose.

"Oh my FSM!  Cole, I'm so sorry!" Seliel said frantically.

"It's fine.  I might have a bruise later, but I've had worse."

Seliel rolled her eyes and playfully punched Cole in the shoulder.  "You know, you don't always have to act like a tough guy.  Also, if you ever sneak up on me again, I could do a lot worse."

"Noted."

Seliel closed her locker and the two started walking in the direction of the monastery.

"Are we ever going to talk about what happened between us a couple days ago?" Cole asked suddenly after they were walking in silence for a few minutes.

"I didn't know if you wanted to talk about it," Seliel said honestly.

"Of course I want to talk about it.  Think what you want, but I don't kiss a girl only to turn around and pretend that it didn't happen."

"I've heard of your jock group doing it all the time."

Cole scoffed.  "They did, but I didn't.  I never thought that was right.  Any girl I've kissed, I felt a connection with like I do with you.  Plus, I don't hang around them anymore.  They're jerks anyway."

"Well, I felt that connection too which I didn't expect," Seliel said honestly.  She wasn't used to letting her guard down.  She built up strong walls to guard her emotions since her mother left and nobody has been able to really knock them down, but there's something about Cole that has seemed to weaken those walls.  She never thought she would ever go for someone like Cole. Since their first interaction after she switched schools (it was brief but not important), she hasn't thought very highly of him.  He just seemed like a dumb jock who ruled the school and bullied the less popular students, but since this whole ninja thing, she's gotten to see a different side of him that she loves.  He's actually very sweet.  He has no mom, just a dad at home like her.  They're actually very similar and somewhere along the line, she started falling for him.

Cole loosely gripped her arm to stop her from walking.  She turned to look at him with a confused expression.  "If I felt something and you felt something, maybe we should or I mean we could possibly go on a date."  Seliel could hear how shaky Cole's voice was when he said that.  She hasn't known Cole to be nervous about anything.

She grabbed Cole's hand that was still on her arm, brought it down, and grabbed his other hand.  "I'd love to," she said.  "I can't be the only single lady on the team."

"Oh, is that how this is going to go?"

Seliel smirked.  "Maybe."

The two continued on their way to the monastery and were the last two to arrive.

When they entered, they were immediately greeted by their leader.  "There you two are," Lloyd said.  "We've been waiting for you."  He ushered them over to where the rest of the team was.  It was what they decided to call their mission room.  It was a room that Jay, Zane, Nya, and PIXAL put monitors, maps, and alarms in to help them be able to monitor the city easier.  The rest of the team, Master Wu, Misako, Libber, Ray, and Maya were all gathered in there.

"What's going on?" Seliel asked.

"There was a weird energy signature while we were in school today," Lloyd informed them.  "We think that Garmadon is trying to get out."

"We know that he managed to get enough of Jay's power to be able to break out," Nya added.  "It looks like he's trying it a little sooner than we thought he would.  It won't be long before-" Nya was cut off by what felt like a sudden earthquake, but there was an energy spike and the alarms in the mission room started going off.

"He's coming out now," Lloyd said and they all turned to the monitors.  Other screens also came up showing their family that wasn't currently there in danger.

"Ma!  Dad!" Jay said as he saw his adopted parents surrounded by Skulkin.  In the back, Libber was trying to hide the pain it caused her to hear Jay call Ed and Edna his parents.  "I have to go help them!" Jay continued.

Nya grabbed his arm before he had a chance to leave.  "Are you sure you're up for this?" she asked him.

"I have at least most of my strength back and I have to help them."

"I'll come with you."  Jay and Nya ran out to go to the junkyard.

"My dad is in trouble," Skylor said as she saw her father's noodle shop being attacked.

"I'll go help you save him," Kai offered.

"Yeah.  Let's go."  Kai and Skylor ran out to get to the noodle shop.

"My father had a meeting at Borg Tower today," Zane announced.

"My father is there," PIXAL said.  The two of them just looked at each other and immediately knew what the other was thinking.  They started heading there.

"My dad was going to a Royal Blacksmiths show today in Ninjago," Seliel said.

"Well, you know my dad is there too," Cole added and then held out his hand.  "Shall we."

Seliel grabbed it.  "We shall."  They both ran out to save their fathers.

"And I'll go face my father," Lloyd said.  "I wanted a chance to do this alone anyways."  He ran out to the location where the energy spike originated.

Wu sighed after they all left.

"What is it, Wu?" Ray asked.

"I knew I couldn't stop them, but I fear them being split up is exactly what my brother wanted."

A/N: I'm back again and I hope you enjoyed this update!  Obviously, things are going to start to go down now and I hope that everyone still reading this story will stay tuned for the next part!