Startled growls erupted below the ninja as they flew; several Moon Tribe warriors had caught sight of the flying figures and were gaping up at them in astonishment. Within seconds the ninja landed safely atop the roof of the warehouse—Jay first, jumping lightly to his feet. Lloyd and Nya were close behind with Cole and Liana bringing up the rear. As Cole landed he stumbled, and Liana fell loose from his grip. She fell, and for a couple of horrifying seconds, she began to slide down the slanted roof. A small cry broke from her as she scrabbled desperately at the stone tiles. Cole whirled around and snatched her by the wrists. He grunted as he heaved her back up and helped her to her feet. “You OK?” Liana gasped for breath, looking shaken, but nodded. “Yeah.” Jay was already at the closest skylight. He spent a moment searching for the latch, then yanked the window open. When he did, he paused. “Hey.” He looked up at his friends, eyebrows quirking. “Why didn’t we just go this way in the first place?” There was an uncomfortable silence. Lloyd flushed beneath his mask. “Does it really matter at this point?” Jay shrugged. As one, they all shouted “Ninjaaa-GO!” as they leapt through the skylight and Spinjitzued down into the building, even Liana. They landed together on the floor and looked around them. It was chaos. Workers were scrambling like panicked ants in a crowded ant hill, screaming and shouting. Enormous cats were all running toward one direction, snarling loudly. The dim lighting added by flames of fire from the forges and boilers added to the confusion, making the scene hard to see. The ninja found themselves on a platform that allowed them to see the most of the dark, disorienting scene. For a few moments they stood together in an awkward half-huddle while they let their eyes adjust to the shadows. Then Cole cried out and pointed to the right.
The most of the confusion seemed to be taking place in front of a large hangar built into the structure of the warehouse. A quickly-growing throng of nekomata were screeching, rolling around on the floor, hissing and scratching at two figures fighting desperately against them. One made the room flash every so often in a bright, pale blue and white light as his ice burst out. The other was a nekomata like her own, but she was turning against her tribe-mates and staying close by the side of the human figure. “Zane!” Lloyd bounded toward the fray. Nya and Jay followed, unsheathing their weapons. Cole started to yank his sword out of its sheathe, but Liana snatched at his arm. “How high up are we?” she demanded. “About five feet. They’re around twenty to thirty yards away on your right,” he replied. “Why?” “Are you all wearing your trackers? The one connected to the sight bow?” He nodded. “Yeah!” “Keep your heads up,” Liana said grimly. “I don’t want to accidentally shoot anybody on our side.” Cole felt a small smile beneath his mask. She snatched her bow from the attachment on her back baldric and nocked an arrow from the quiver at her side. He turned away and spread the word among his friends. “Keep an eye out, Liana’s shooting!” Together, the ninja threw themselves into the battle. Nya summoned a gush of water that came out like a firehose and threw several astonished cats off of their paws. Jay’s nunchucks flashed through the air and smashed into his targets. Lloyd’s tekko-kagi flashed against the firelight. Cole shoved, kicked, and slashed his way through the furry crowd of enemies until he found himself face-to-face with a battered Zane. The nindroid’s titanium face has suffered a couple of long scratches down one eye, and the miner’s outfit he wore was torn and shredded. Yet he gave Cole a gently sardonic smile. “What took you so long?” “Haven’t you heard the term ‘fashionably late’, lug-nut?” With a savage grin, Cole whirled around to slash one cat across the nose with his katana. The hairy ginger caterwauled and stumbled away.
The cries of rage and pain from the Moon Tribe warriors increased when arrows began flying down. Liana’s aim was not always accurate, but she hit enough cats to send six to the ground, a few more stumbling, and the rest looking around nervously and trying to avoid her arrows. Her face against the flashing light of the fires was cold, her lips set in a straight, thin line. Never once did she hit one of her friends. Within the thick of the battle, Little Leaf found herself face-to-face with a young warrior she had grown up with in the tribe: Wolf Paw. The older girl recognized her. “Little Leaf!” Her mouth fell open in astonishment. “What are you doing?!” “You’re all on the wrong side!” Leaf cried. “Black Blood has lost her mind! I’m fighting for the right side!” Wolf Paw bared her teeth furiously. Her lithe female figure shifted into a nekomata’s black-pelted, white-patched body. “Traitor!” She leapt for Leaf. Zane whirled around and shot a blast of ice; Wolf Paw was thrown off her paws when a clump of ice the size of a bowling ball hit her in the chest and sent her flying. Her enraged screech rose above the others’ voices before she hit the floor. “Haha, all right, Zane!” Jay whooped. Zane didn’t seem to hear Jay’s praise. He whirled around and shoved his way through the crowd. When several nekomata pounced in him, he summoned a Spinjitzu vortex; they were sent flying through the air like Wolf Paw had. Zane spun his way out of the fray and into the hangar—right up to an astonished-looking Spark Pelt. The nindroid’s white vortex evaporated. He immediately lunged himself at the cat and grabbed him by his white chest fur. Spark Pelt growled and scrabbled backwards hastily. His claws slashed at Zane’s arms, until another burst of ice coated his paws and froze them to the floor. The tuxedo cat found himself frozen in place, staring helplessly into the face of the Son of Ice. Zane gripped his chest fur tightly. “Who designs the weapons you tell the workers to make?” Spark Pelt growled wordlessly in return, ears flat on his head.
“Tell me who!” Zane demanded, eyes blazing. “I can freeze the rest of you right here, right now.” “It’s an old man. We’ve had him locked here for seasons,” Spark Pelt replied stiffly. “He’s the one who designs our weapons.” “Where is he?” The tom’s whiskers twitched in a defiant scowl. “It’ll take more than a snow cone to the face to make me tell, White Ninja.” Zane gritted his teeth. He shoved Spark Pelt away and raced out of the hangar. Using Spinjitzu, he flew above the heads of the other fighters and landed by one of the large forges. Jay caught sight of him running at full speed into the depths of the warehouse. “What the heck’s gotten into Zane?” he wondered out loud while knocking a nekomata upside the head with his nunchucks. The workers were still attempting to flee the scene. Some Moon Tribe guards had decided to close and lock the giant doors, however. Panic rose rapidly as the people realized they were trapped with a battle playing out before them. As Nya, Lloyd, Cole, and Jay began to draw further out to fight in wider areas, the slaves had to struggle to stay out of the way; unsure of what to do, they drew to whatever shelter they could find. All hesitated, however, when Shiro’s voice suddenly called out among them: “The ninja are here to free us! We have to help them fight back!” He grabbed a shovel from a tool rack and raced toward the action. “Come on! What’re you waiting for?” The workers looked at one another, then suddenly began rummaging through weapons racks, chests, forges and wherever else for weapons. Within seconds, a horde of miners were armed with shovels, picks, hammers, tongs, clamps, bricks and even some balls of clearstone ore. Together they ran screaming at their Moon Tribe captors. Their battle cry of defiance rose to the ceiling and around the quarry. They plunged themselves at the warriors and unleashed years’ worth of pent-up anger from their enslavement.
To the increasing concern of the Moon Tribe warriors, they were rapidly becoming overwhelmed. The joined alliance of the miners, the ninja, Liana and Little Leaf were against them, and the nekomata were finding themselves being driven back. Those wounded fled the building, or lay in a heap on the floor and prayed they would not be killed. “We’re doing it!” Lloyd exclaimed in jubilance. “We’re winning!” “Don’t you dare jinx it!” Jay yelped, just as a Moon Tribe female pounced on him from behind and drove him to the ground. Thankfully, one of Liana’s arrows found the cat’s shoulder, and Jay was able to kick away the wounded warrior. “Where’s Zane?” Nya demanded. Cole kicked away a tabby tom. “I don’t know, but he’d better know what he’s doing, whatever it is!”
* * *
Zane ran so fast he felt as if he were flying. He dodged past forges and boilers, weaving his way through the metal maze that made up the interior of the warehouse. He adjusted his visual settings so that he could see through the dark; that precaution saved him when two nekomata leapt from the shadows and pounced on him. Without hesitation he spun into a Spinjitzu vortex and ran into them. They were thrown against the walls, and he kept going without looking back. “Zane,” Pixal spoke up. “What is your objective? Your anxiety levels are high, and you have left the team.” “I think you already know what my objective is,” he replied. Pixal’s face on the screen was grim. She said nothing in reply. Zane darted out of the maze of boilers and met the south wall of the warehouse. He ran alongside it, searching for doorways. Several appeared the farther he went; the first he kicked open was a closet. So was the second. He sighed and kept going. He came upon a set of double doors. A single lightbulb hovering on a string illuminated its dingy doors. Without pausing he shoved against them—they resisted. Locked.
He could feel his energy levels pulsing rapidly in his head. He braced himself. “Ninjaaa-go!” He used Spinjitzu to break the lock and slam both doors down with a loud sound of shattering wood. Zane allowed the vortex to evaporate, and looked into the room. It was a small, dimly-lit room, with only two lightbulbs shedding pale light. A cot, a desk, a small bedside table, a chair, a toilet, a sink, and a wooden chest were the only furniture set neatly within. Seated upon the single rickety chair was an elderly man. He sat up straight and stared in astonishment at the ninja who had just busted down the doors to his room. “What— what’s going on?” the man stammered feebly. “Please don’t hurt me…” Zane’s pulse was beating so heavily, he could almost hear his head throb. He stepped forward tentatively and peered through the dim shadows. He could just barely make out the man’s appearance: small in stature, hands wrinkled and worn with labor. A worn-out work apron covered a grease-stained lab coat. Wire-rimmed glasses sat upon a large crooked nose while a white, gray-streaked beard took up the lower half of the man’s elderly face. The hair at the top of his head was receding while the rest was long enough to reach the tops of his shoulders. The face beneath the layer of grime, hair and sweat was so closely alike to that of one Zane had known and loved years ago that he felt as if he were looking at a ghost. “Dr— Dr. Julien?” he asked tentatively. The man’s eyes widened. He stared at Zane warily, but didn’t reply. “Dr. Tyler Julien?” Zane held out his hands in a gesture of peace. “I am not going to hurt you. This is a rescue.” “What— what are you?” the man murmured faintly. “Some kind of android… so beautifully built! I thought you were a real human for a second—if I only had gears like that…” Zane set his mouth in a grim line. How long had this man been a prisoner of the Moon Tribe, if he hadn’t been around for the rise of technology in Ninjago? “Do you recognize me, Dr. Tyler?”
Hesitatingly, the old man stood up from his chair and ventured a few steps to Zane. Zane met his gaze when he peered at him. The man screwed up his face in thought for several long moments. Zane stood there patiently—he didn’t want to rush him, since he probably had not been around a friendly face for a very long time and pressuring him might become overwhelming. Finally, the man’s gray eyes lit up. “Zane…? Is that you? My brother’s droid?” Zane felt his heart leap. “Yes—it’s me.” A broad grin lit up Dr. Tyler Julien’s face. “Why, you beautiful boy! You look even better than you did when I last saw you!” He hurried up and grabbed Zane by the arms, looking him over happily. “But, what is this? Steel—? No, titanium! Of course, it’s one of the strongest metals in the world, I should have known… I suppose Bryan wanted a sturdier exoskeleton and body, although he seemed so set on making you look as humanlike as possible—ah, well, maybe the design didn’t turn out as well as he hoped, although I certainly thought it was genius, especially with the control box opening at the belly and yet being enough flexible for you to sit and swim and bend—” “Dr. Tyler, I’m afraid there is no time,” Zane interrupted. “The miners are rebelling against the werecats. If you are to escape, we must leave at once.” “Leave?” Dr. Tyler looked at him vaguely for a second, then seemed to come to his senses. “Oh! Yes, yes, by jove! I must say, though, you’ve caught me quite unprepared.” He darted to his desk and started gathering papers and binders and stuffing them into a satchel from his bed. Zane waited anxiously. “Are these things really necessary?” “Of course! They are my life’s work! What’s left of it that those repugnant felines haven’t destroyed, anyway,” he added bitterly. Zane sighed and joined him in stuffing things into the satchel. “I do not know how long my friends can hold off the Moon Tribe warriors. If we take too long—”
“Yes, yes, of course, you’re right!” Dr. Tyler threw the strap of his bag over his shoulder and trotted unsteadily to the shattered doorway. “Silly me, always thinking of my work… I can’t really help it, though, seeing that it’s the only thing that has kept me sane over the years…” Zane snatched his uncle by the arm impatiently and half-dragged him out the doors. They were both stopped short by the sight of half a dozen nekomata gathered at the entryway, glaring at the humans. Zane sputtered, “What— how—?” “It is not illogical to assume that after interrogating Spark Pelt,” Pixal spoke up, “that he might have gone to alert other warriors that you are seeking out their prisoner.” “I realize that now.” One of them, a tuxedo cat, stepped forward. “You are not going to get away with our prisoner that easily, White Ninja,” Spark Pelt said coolly. “It will be easier than your warriors managing to defeat my team, which looks rather unlikely right now,” Zane retorted. One of the other nekomata warriors snarled and pounced at Dr. Tyler. Its claws flashed in the dim light. “No!” Zane threw himself in front of Dr. Tyler and summoned a Spinjitzu vortex. He beat off the cat and sent him flying. Dr. Tyler looked astonished. “What did you—?” “Run!” Zane ordered. “Head for the entrance!” He continued spinning; while Zane fought the Moon Tribe cats, Dr. Tyler finally came to his senses and fled. Zane hoped that the old man would be able to find his friends before he was captured again. The six nekomata came at him at full strength, and Zane’s stomach sank; he was in over his head.
* * *
What in the world are the ninja doing out here? Eagle Talon was exhausted after running nearly all day. He followed the invisible string—as he’d decided to refer to the peculiar mental connection he had with Cole that felt almost physical—to the north, so far that patches of snow had appeared and foliage was vanishing. The sun had set hours ago when he’d finally arrived wearily at the little village.
He recognized it as one he had visited a few seasons ago with his tribe-mates; he was one of the few cats with whom Black Blood had entrusted the secret of Oxstone Village, the place where the Moon Tribe got their indestructible weapons. He wondered how the ninja had found out about it. Even Little Leaf hadn’t known of it. His ears pricked. Shouting drifted from the dark plains. He peered through the darkness from the hill he stood upon. There—the figures of humans were coming out of their little wooden homes and mingling together, chattering excitedly. Some held torches. A string of them began heading down a path that went through the town and into the hills beyond; they were mostly women and children, with only a few men. The brown tabby lashed his tails and bounded down the slope, heading in the same direction as the villagers were. Where there’s trouble, there’s ninja.
* * *
Cole felt his heart leap in jubilation as he and his team drove their werecat opponents into one end of the warehouse. He grinned savagely as the workers beside him hit, slashed, and beat at their long-time oppressors furiously. They had begun to cry out words of defiance: “For freedom!” “For justice!” “For Ninjago!” “For Ninjago!” Cole joined the cry. He used his sword to cut down the ugly-looking cat that had spent the past five minutes trying to get him. The cat stumbled to the ground in a waning cry of pain. Cole hopped over it and found his next opponent: a lithe white nekomata. It was facing a miner and didn’t see Cole until he’d kicked it in the face. It snarled and tried to get on top of him. Cole scuffled with it gladly. Suddenly the cat suddenly caterwauled and reeled away from him. He caught sight of a silver arrow sticking out of its shoulder. He looked back over his shoulder to see Liana still upon the platform in the middle of the open space between the forges. The number of arrows in her quiver had lessened considerably. She now shot at a slower—but more precise—rate. Cole was amazed she could hear anything over the ruckus of the battle.
A large shape crept behind her. Without thinking, Cole shoved his way through the crowd toward the platform. He summoned Spinjitzu to fly him up the steel stairs. His mouth was open to cry a warning to Liana when she whirled around. There was a low twang.The nekomata who had nearly succeeded in ambushing Liana stumbled backwards with an arrow in one paw. He fled back into the shadows screeching in pain. Cole’s orange Spinjitzu vortex evaporated as he raced to Liana’s side. He didn’t realize the intensity of his own fear until he was grabbing her by the shoulders and demanding, “Are you OK?” “I’m fine!” Trembling, she shook him off. She looked exhausted, but she also wore a small grin. It was not improbable that she was feeling the intoxicating effect of the jubilance of victory in battle. Whatever would have been said next between them was interrupted by a humanoid shout. Cole whirled around and scanned his surroundings dimly-lit surroundings—no one. The cry came again. Cole looked up, and felt his heart drop. Three nekomata warriors had driven Zane onto one of the ceiling-hung catwalks, above Cole and Liana’s heads. Cole could just see Zane’s metallic frame grappling, punching, and kicking at the beasts snapping and slashing at him. They were driving him further down the catwalk, right over a pair of the largest melting pots. Heat hissed and a few flames spurted in the air from these pots; their light illuminated Zane’s silver face of desperation. The teeth of one of the cats flashed against the firelight as pounced. Zane used Spinjitzu to knock it away, but the other two cats sprang for his legs and smashed him to the floor of the catwalk. A grunt of pain burst from Zane. “Zane’s in trouble!” Cole gripped Liana’s hand. “C’mon!” The two of them raced to a set of stairs that led up the catwalks; Cole had seen and noted them earlier. Cole’s sword was drawn and Liana had nocked one of her remaining arrows by the time they’d run upstairs and arrived at the scene taking place on the catwalk. He saw all three nekomata on top of Zane’s writhing figure. They were clawing and biting at him mercilessly.
*Covid-induced cough* 
. . . probably here all week. 
