Disclaimer: I don't own Ninjago, just the story and my OC's.

"I used to love elemental masters, now I don't know if they can be trusted."

"Their powers are dangerous!  They could easily kill anyone!"

"I never thought one of the ninja would attack anyone until one of them just did.  Now, I'm questioning if they really are the protectors of Ninjago."

"I know that the team said that she was under the influence of a villain, but if it happened once, it could happen again."

"I never really considered them dangerous because they were always defending us, but now I think that they could become a real threat."

"Some citizens of Ninjago are questioning if the ninja are our protectors or if they could become a major threat.  There have been protests at the Ninjago Police Department to try to get the police to control them more, but the Commissioner won't budge.  This has been Gayle Gossip in Ninjago City signing off."

Cole picked up the remote and turned off the TV.  He was sitting in the living room of the monastery with the rest of the parents.  "Wow," he said.

"It's crazy how fast public opinion can turn," Kai said.

"And they turned against our kids!" Seliel exclaimed.

"I don't want the kids to see this," Nya said.

"Who ever thought that we wouldn't want the kids to watch the news?" Jay said.

"It's better for them to not know that there anti-elemental master protests going on," Lloyd said.

"Now, the public is starting to have the same ideals my stupid parents have," Britney said.  "Even after 11 years, I still doubt they've changed."

"I'm sure this will blow over," Skylor said.

"I hope it does," PIXAL said.

"For now, we need to make sure the kids do not find out about this," Zane said.

The training yard

Justin was watching Juliet, Mason, Rosie, Zeke, Harper, and Felix train.  He got benched because of his injured shoulder and because he still had a bit of a headache from fighting off Emma's influence, but that didn't mean that he couldn't give pointers to the others while they were training.

"Good job, guys," Justin said as they finished training for the day.

"Thanks for the tips, Justin," Juliet said.  "Sometimes we forget that you've had more training than us."

"I started training with Alex and Max when we were all 12.  If you ever need pointers, you can always ask me.  Plus, it makes me feel useful right now."

"Your parents said that you are only sidelined for a few days," Rosie pointed out.

"Then, you'll be back to training with the rest of us," Mason added.

Harper got a text on her phone and pulled it out.

"Who sent you a message, Harper?" Felix asked.

"It's probably Joseph," Zeke scoffed.

Harper glared at Zeke.  "Yes.  It is," she said.

"Why don't you just ask him out already?"

"Need I remind you that you haven't asked out Kyara."

"I haven't found the right time to."

Harper rolled her eyes.  "Face it.  You're scared to ask out Kyara just like I'm scared to ask out Joseph."

Zeke started getting defensive.  "Am not!"

"Are too!"

"I'll prove it to you."  Zeke got out his phone and called Kyara.  The others could only hear Zeke's side to the conversation.  "Hey Kyara.  I was thinking.  Me.  You.  Friday night...No.  I was actually hoping for it to just be the two of us...Cool.  You wanna go see a movie...Yeah.  See you then."  Zeke got off the phone.  "I'm going on a date!"  Zeke threw his hands in the air in triumph.

"Are you serious?!" Harper exclaimed upset.

Kai heard some commotion outside and went to see what was going on.  "What's going on out here?"

"Zeke is going on a date with Kyara Friday night," Juliet told her father.

"Are you now?" Kai asked his son.

"Yes.  I am."

"That's my boy!"

That comment made Juliet upset.  "Wait a minute!  You are proud of Zeke when he gets a date, but you will threaten my boyfriend!"

Kai didn't quite know how to respond to that.  "Well...I...um...your my daughter and I feel like no one will ever be good enough for you."

"Master Kai, you realize I'm right here, right?" Mason said.

"Awkward," Justin whispered to Rosie and Felix.

"I believe that we would benefit by going inside," Rosie whispered and the three of them snuck inside, leaving Kai, Juliet, Mason, and Zeke still talking out in the training yard.

Outer parts of Ninjago

Alex and Max went to where Max was living for a bit while the whole Emma thing was going on.  Max needed to grab his things from the apartment he lived in there, but they also brought some food for the people of the small city.

People there were surprised to find out that Max was the new green ninja when he showed up there in his green ninja gi since no one there watched the news.  They were all grateful for the food that the two ninja brought since it was hard for most people there to put food on the table.

Alex was more than willing to go with Max when he said that he was going back to grab his things.  It was actually her idea to bring the food.  She felt like doing as many good deeds as possible because of what she had done.  The guilt had been eating her up.

"You ok?" Max asked Alex as they walked into the apartment Max had been previously staying in.

"I'm fine," she lied.

Max knew her too well.  "It's ok to not be ok.  I'm not."

Alex looked up at Max, shocked at his admission.  "You're not?"

"No.  Everything that happened with Emma messed me up.  Because of her, I did things that I would never do."

"So did I," Alex admitted.  "I've been trying to seem ok so no one will ask questions, but I'm really not."

"I am glad we're getting our relationship back on track now."  Max pulled out the necklace he got Alex for their anniversary.

"You kept it?" Alex asked.

"Of course I did.  May I?"

Alex pulled her hair up and Max put the necklace on her.  She smiled at him.  "I still love it."  She paused.  "It's going to be hard to carry out our ninja duties for a while."

"Yeah."  Max thought for a minute.  "You know, Justin has been doing a pretty good job leading the team in our absence."

Alex raised an eyebrow.  "What are you thinking?"

A/N: I hope you enjoyed!  There will be one more chapter and then another sequel!  I decided to do one story for each of the three main couples in this storyline.  This was Malex and next will be Josie!