A/N: Yawn.

"Say what now?"

Emma's dad took a deep breath and left the room, soon after coming back with a large roll of paper in his hand. He spread out the paper on the table so Emma could try to process a number of lines, weird symbols, and just utter chaos.

"This is a map of our city," her dad explained, "If the Dark Master exited from your gymnasium at the school, the only direction he could have traveled is west."

"Meaning he entered the forest," Emma concluded.

Her father nodded, "You both have to track him down and, um, eradicate him."

Emma's face twisted into an expression of surprise and confusion. After a moment she replied, "First of all, who's 'both of us'? Second of all, I think we should try and save him." Noticing her father's expression, she quickly added, "I mean, save Peter. The Dark Master said that he is only a vessel now. If there is some way we can separate the Dark Master's spirit from Peter's 'vessel,' we might be able to bring him back."

Emma's father's expression changed immediately and a proud smile came on his face. "You and Jake are going to track down Peter-"

Emma laughed. "Are you saying that you're okay with sending your sixteen-year-old daughter with her seventeen-year-old boyfriend into the woods, alone, to track down an evil spirit who could potentially destroy the world?"

Her father chuckled. "Yes. That's exactly what I'm saying."

*~*~*~*~*

"Jake! Will you bring up the books already?"

After Emma's father had explained the plan to her, she had called over Jake so they could begin researching on how they could remove the Dark Master's spirit from Peter's body without killing Peter. According to their history teacher, this had only happened once before in the history of the Ninja Clan- when Ninjas and Warriors had split over a century ago.

After a moment, Jake reappeared in her doorway carrying a stack of books almost taller than him. He immediately dumped them on the table and sat down beside her.

"The library has way too many books on the Dark Master." He complained, "My arms are so sore!"

Emma laughed, "Would it hurt to tell you that half the books you picked up were fantasy and all we need is nonfiction right now?"

"WHAT?"

Jake stood up. "There is no way in the whole entire world of ninjas I am going to the library and putting back those books. Absolutely not."

Emma was clutching her stomach from laughing as she tried to respond between breaths, "We can... just leave... it here."

Jake playfully glared at her and began shifting through the books to see which ones were fiction or fantasy and nonfiction. As he began sorting them, Emma reached into her bag and pulled out the Dark Master's letter. She scanned over the crumpled paper and minuscule handwriting trying to discover a clue or two. Suddenly, a thought hit her. She shook Jake's arm, an excited look in her eyes as she contemplated her new revelation.

Jake looked up at her, "What is it? I know you look very cute when you're excited by that, but I'm assuming you found something."

Emma smiled, "I most certainly did. The Dark Master said he had completely taken over Peter's mind at the dance, but he didn't seem to have fully gained control over Peter when writing the letter. What if there's still a bit of Peter left inside that we can save? What if he isn't totally lost?"

Jake grinned. "Then we have to find a way to save him, don't we?"