Ninjago: Dragons Rising, Mindless Beasts

It’s been one year since The Merge when all 16 realms united and the Ninja disappeared. Arin is a self-taught Spinjitzu amateur living in Crossroads, a blended community, with his inventor friend, Sora. They enter their mech in a race that’s interrupted by a young dragon named Riyu being pursued by dragon hunters from The Imperium. Sora bonds with Riyu and discovers latent elemental powers. Arin and Sora are rescued by Lloyd, the Green Ninja.

Lloyd frees Arin and Sora from the prison train, and they escape with the young dragon, Riyu, who gives them a clue to find his home. They return to the Ninja Cave to research Lloyd’s maps. Sora repairs the Bounty, and they travel to the land of Three Peaks to reunite Riyu with his clan. The Claws follow them and capture Riyu’s Matriarch, who grants Lloyd a mysterious new power to fight back. Riyu stays with the Ninja.

Lloyd trains Arin and Sora by impersonating Master Wu, but his lessons won’t stick. Sora and Arin sneak out of the Monastery to go to the Crossroads Carnival where they rescue Lobbo from Kreel, only to uncover a larger kidnapping plot. A villain named Dorama is using Whack Rats to create fireworks. Lloyd follows his students to the carnival, and a memorial to his missing teammates reminds Lloyd that being a Ninja used to be fun, too.

The original Bounty crashes into the Monastery with no pilot. Clues inside lead Lloyd, Arin, Sora, and Riyu to Kai’s last location, the former Realm of Madness, and they find Mud Creatures attacking two dragons. Nya stops Lloyd and the others from siding with the dragons who are eating sacred mud. Kai returns but leads the dragons into the Mud Creatures’ village. Riyu figures out the mud is making the dragons aggressive and stops the fight by overcharging their powers.

A MergeQuake unleashes a monster on the Cloud Kingdom. The Ninja, passing by on the Bounty, defend the floating city. After battle, Nya searches the kingdom’s scrolls about the Merge while Arin and Sora confront a scribe named Euphrasia, a Master of Wind who hides her powers. When the MergeQuake reopens, Euphrasia reveals herself to save the Ninja. Nya stays behind to research after finding information protected by an unknown curse.

Another clash with Rapton leads Sora to believe that the Imperium has completed a dangerous invention from her past. A flashback shows Sora’s youth as a rising star in the tech world until she discovers her invention will be used for evil. In the present, Sora returns home with Lloyd, Arin, and Riyu, but the four get split up. Sora runs into a figure from her past while Arin hides Riyu and Lloyd meets a new Elemental Master.

Lloyd battles a new Elemental Master named Wyldfyre, then agrees to help the young, feral fire-user free her family. Meanwhile, Arin falls in with a young group of Imperium do-gooders, and Sora is faced with an impossible choice when she comes face-to-face with Dr. LaRow. Lloyd discovers Wyldfyre’s family is a dragon named Heatwave. An alert informs the entire city of their prison break, including Sora who has just brought the Photac army to life.

Wyldfyre’s flashback shows her childhood raised by Heatwave until the Merge allows The Imperium to capture the dragon. In the present, Wyldfyre and Lloyd free Heatwave and other dragons and face a standoff against the Dragon Hunters and Sora’s Photacs. Lloyd grabs Arin during the stampede, and Sora escapes the lab in search of Riyu. With a boost from the dragon, she could use her Elemental Powers to shut down the Photacs, but Riyu is kidnapped.

It’s dragons versus Photac beasts in the streets of Imperium! The claws stop Lloyd and Wyldfyre’s efforts to free the escaped dragons. Sora and Arin search for Riyu. The young dragon’s spark would allow Sora to shut down the Photacs for good. Unfortunately, the Teen Protection Force brings him before the Empress. Meanwhile, Nya and Kai reunite under mysterious circumstances and face an apparition from the past.

Kai, Nya, and Zane come to Lloyd’s aid. The Ninja and Wyldfyre hold off the Claws and protect the escaped dragons from inside the new Monastery. Lloyd and Zane investigate a mysterious energy source beneath the city to power their escape and discover a new ally imprisoned by the Empress. Sora and Arin’s rescue of Riyu is interrupted by a rematch with Ras. Sora uses a spark from Riyu to defeat their enemy and shut down the Photacs.

The Ninja settle into a new normal after their victory against the Imperium. Lloyd struggles to keep up with the responsibilities of being a Ninja, mentor, and master of the Monastery. They stop another MergeQuake, but the disturbances are getting more frequent. Nya’s research guides them to a temple and three Dragon Cores that could stop the quakes for good. Meanwhile, Beatrix plots her revenge and plans to steal the Cores for use as a weapon.

The Ninja split into three teams to find the Dragon Cores that will end the MergeQuakes. Nya pairs with Sora, and Kai ends up with Wyldfyre. Lloyd and Arin head out on the Bounty, but a training mishap crashes them into the sea. To repair the ship, the Ninja must reclaim a floating village from an ocean gang and their monstrous pet crab, but the situation is not what it seems.

Wyldfyre and Kai barely escape another obstacle on their journey. Despite their personality clash, they finally reach the Wyldness. The Dragon Core is possessed by Lava-tides, who force the Ninja to clean up the mess Wyldfyre created when she lived here. Meanwhile, Zane needs a part to study the Monastery’s teleportation gate and follows Mr. Frohicky into Crossroads where they are hosting a Zane Day celebration.