The chaos was wonderful. The ninja didn't stand a chance. They would be running around like lunatics trying to keep up and this pleased Tolin very much. The material he needed would be his for the taking and no one could stop him.
"If you want to view paradise simply look around and view it." Paradise, his paradise would soon come true. Shiera thought she had a hold on him, but he knew what she was doing...he knew it very well.
"Anything you want to do it...want to change the world? There's nothing to it." The ninja didn't know it..but change was coming. A big change that would determine the future of Ninjago. A future that would be his to mold. "There is no life I know to compare with pure imagination, living there you'll be free if you truly wish to be."
*** Misako ran out the building just escaping the panel that almost came toppling down on her. This certainly was not was she was expecting to see happening when she took a trip down to this village.
She was expecting a nice, relaxing, vacation type stay where she could visit some friends and study some scrolls, but did she get that? Not at all. At least not anymore. There was fire everywhere now and the people were in the middle of an evacuation. She had not even the slightest clue of what was happening and when she asked people they only told her to "Run!" or "save yourself all will burn!".
What was even more disturbing was the amount of people coming up to her asking if they had seen their spouse or child because they had disappeared from the group. It was way too many people to just be labeled an "accident" or someone just "drifting off track."
No. Something weird was going on and she needed to find out what. It was times like this that she wished the ninja were here with her, but she figured if this was going on around other places as well, then they probably had their hands full. She could handle this one herself...right?
Misako peered around the corner of a building, camouflaging herself to blend in with the plant life that surrounded her. She was actually quite surprised she made it this far without the army noticing her, but then again, they seemed way too occupied with their task to notice a little old lady like herself.
Or perhaps... they just wanted her to think that. She took a couple steps forward as she noticed they started to depart from the area. She couldn't make out the whole conversation but she swore she heard one man say something about a ..."rogue member who needed to be found"? Perhaps...but she wasn't fully sure.
She inched further to follow them when ...something caught her attention. Her eyes darted back, slowly watching a small object fall from one of the man's hands to the ground. Surprisingly, he seemed to not notice, as he didn't look back but continued to run after the others to their new task...whatever that exactly was.
She waited patiently until they were out of view to emerge into the open. She approached the small object, gently scooping it up into the palm of her hand. Even though it was covered in dirt its shine could be seen from miles away. It..was beautiful...so..intriguing. Her eyes widened slightly as a thought appeared in her mind. She'd seen this before. She couldn't be sure just yet as to how, but she had seen this object before, she knew she did. One time before.
Placing it into her pocket, she quickly ran back to her place of hiding. She had to find Wu...she had to find him now.
*** Kai pushed open the doors to the bounty, stepping inside quietly. Lloyd, who was near by, turned and acknowledged him but he didn't say a word. The darkness of Lloyd's eyes and clenching fists were enough to clue Kai in that things were not any better here, but in fact... worse.
Cole then entered from the kitchen, he was carrying that same lifeless look in his hazel eyes. "Skylor isn't with you?" he looked around, noticing everyone had returned besides her.
Kai licked his lips. His mouth had gone dry at the question. No, Skylor had not returned and he was trying to not focus on that. Emphasis on trying. "No..she's still...helping." Kai tried to focus on something else to help distract from the guilt pain that was starting to invade. It really didn't help that Cole didn't seem pleased with that answer. His eyes narrowed slightly,almost as if he detected fear.
"You left her?"
Kai shifted. "The village leaders are still there...some at least. She ...insisted we go." He pushed some hair back, cringing at how he was letting himself dig deeper into this silly excuse...this lie, but he couldn't tell the others the truth. Of course, they all grew attached to Skylor and viewed her as "one of the team" ...but still.
Cole's eyes softened and he seemed more accepting to this answer. He figured Kai was probably worried sick about her anyway. No need to make him even more distraught. "Oh ok." he replied simply, not questioning further.
Kai let out the breath of air he had kept locked up inside of him. Thank goodness Cole didn't get too suspicious. Or... at least it seemed like he wasn't...
He began to tap his fingers on the table next to him as he chewed on his bottom lip nervously. Why is Skylor taking so long?
The three ninja redirected their attention to the doorway as Sensei Wu and Jay appeared. "Any news?" Lloyd questioned, approaching them.
"Actually, yes. I just got a call from your mother in fact." Sensei Wu answered.
Lloyd flinched in response. He had completely forgotten about her trip. Her trip....to one of the villages. Wait.
His heart stopped momentarily as he stared at the monitors. Her village was lit up red...it was attacked. Thoughts of horror entered his mind, swaying his focus. "Wait..is..is she ok?" his voice stuttered as the words spilled from his mouth. His body was shaking slightly as he griped Wu's shoulders.
"Yes, she's fine Lloyd." Wu removed Lloyd's hands and eased his nerves with a warm smile. "Oh...good." Lloyd cleared his throat and stepped back. "You were saying?"
"Yes, she has informed me that she has found something. Something important." Cole now stepped forward. "Well what is it Sensei? Tell us?"
Wu shook his head, switching his staff to his left hand. "We can't be certain that it is...what we think it is yet. I feel it's best to wait until she arrives to discuss it further."
"In other news..." Jay looked to Sensei as to gain permission to chime in. "We have reason to believe that these attacks have a connection with the "event" that occurred with me and Nya...and that tattoo."
Kai glanced up, locking his eyes on Jay. "What...kind of reasons?" "Well, first off, I'm hearing the same type of phrase is being used by these army people. It varies slightly with each one but the most familiar is "Burn for me"." Jay shivered at the memory of hearing those words. "This was the exact phrase I heard right before a similar army type man attacked me."
"But...why would they try to harm you first....and then suddenly all this? Why you? Is there some reason for it?" Lloyd questioned, quite puzzled by this realization.
Jay shrugged." Honestly, I don't know...and that worries me. I have a bad feeling that we've been taking that attack too lightly, Nya's condition as well."
Kai blinked. "What are you suggesting? That we are still overlooking something?" "Perhaps...we should probably exam Nya again to-" Jay paused, eyeing the room. "Wait...where is Nya?"
Nya fumbled around her tool drawer trying to find some pliers. She had opened up Pixal's chest compartment to reach the area that had been damaged. To say the least, it was a little overwhelming. Nya had no idea how...complicated her new body's systems were. She had already managed to repair the few wires that had been snapped, but Pixal still didn't respond to her attempts to power her back on.
"Come on...Come on." Nya whispered as she twisted another knob into place. Her mind kept drifting to the horrible thought of what would happen if she couldn't fix her. The guilt of knowing she had done this. The pain she would cause Zane
... Zane.
She didn't even want to say his name. He was devastated when Pixal was shut down during the blackout a couple years ago. He even gave up his own power for her. If Pixal were to be permanently damaged he would be crushed.
Nya swallowed and took in a breath of air. There was no point in thinking like this. She had to focus. She had this. She could fix her. All she had to do was focus.
She exhaled the air and grabbed her pliers, gripping them tightly in her clammy palms. She reached down and tightened another bolt inside Pixal. If she had did this correctly then she should turn on.
Now, all she had to do...was wait. And wait...and wait.
Silence filled the room. No answer came from Pixal. Not even a peep, not even a yelp. One, then five, then ten, minutes passed by. Nothing was happening. Absolutely nothing.
Nya sighed and went back to her cabinet. Guilt filled every bone in her body. This wasn't working. Nothing she tried was working.
She placed her hands on the knobs of the drawer, pausing for a moment to think. Maybe she needed a new tool...or new wires? Maybe she skimmed over a damaged part? Maybe she...wait. Wait just one minute now.
She stopped when she caught something blinking out the corner of her eye. It was a light...a light coming from Pixal.
Another light flashed as Nya turned around. The sound of an artificial female voice rang in the air. "Systems rebooting...ten percent completed."
Nya felt her body freeze momentarily as the thoughts settled in. S-she did it. She fixed her. Pixal would be up and running like none of this had ever happened. She would be home free.The ninja wouldn't have to know what occurred.
...Right? She paused again as this feeling of uneasiness came over her. They wouldn't find out...as long as...
Nya's eyes looked back at Pixal with great concern.
As long as... Pixal didn't tell them what happened...that is. The memory of the "event" was vague, but she knew Pixal was heading towards the door when she attacked her. She was probably trying to find the ninja.
And that would be the same thing she would do when her reboot is finished.
Nya stared down at her hands because they were shaking again. Pixal was going to tell them. She was going to tell them what she had done.
She suddenly felt her throat constrict as small droplets of sweat started to form.
The ninja can't find out about this. Not now... not ever. Besides...it was only one incident and she was able to fight it off. So, she was good right? No more attacks... she was in full control. Total control.
Nya walked closer to Pixal, blocking out her conscience that was telling her what she was about to do was wrong. She swung open Pixal's panel again, searching for something that would help. She just couldn't let her tell them.
"Maintenance, power, artificial systems....memory." She stopped and scanned the small rectangular shaped box. Pixal's core memory storage was here.
Nya's stomach twisted in knots as she flipped open the hatch. She didn't want to do this. This was wrong...but...did she really have a choice?
He conscience kept trying to reach her, it tried to stop her, but she ignored it. Something else was overpowering it. Something else was giving her strength to go on with this...to do this.
Her eyes searched again and found a button that said "remove". To the right of it were times and dates. "A year, a month, a weak, a day...an hour."
She set the hour button to two. Just two hours, that's all she was erasing. Pixal would be fine. She wasn't taking away much.
Nya kept telling herself that. She kept formulating excuses to make this right ...but that's all they were ...excuses. The guilt was eating at her, withering away her strength and desire. Her head ached and her mouth was dry, but these symptoms still did nothing to stop her.
Her fingers hovered over the red button. The word "remove" appearing over and over again in her head. Pixal's processors now flashed that her reboot was seventy five percent complete, so if she was going to do this, she had to do it now.
But she couldn't. She just couldn't.
Her fingers just kept hovering, gliding right above the button. They refused to touch it as if the button were a glass of fatal poison. Nya sighed in frustration as she pulled her hand away. Why couldn't she just do it! Why! It was just two hours! Pixal would miss nothing!
Exhaling, she moved back toward the button again, biting her lip as she closed her eyes. She was going to count to three. Then she would do it.
One. Two. Three.
Her pointer finger pressed down firmly on the button, then immediately moved back like it had set off a bomb. It didn't take long for a new message to appear. "Two hours of memory erased...permanently."
Nya cringed again at the words. She felt like she had violated Pixal's personal space and in some aspects...she did. She really had no right to play "creator" like this. She had no right to invade Pixal's personal memory. Android or not Pixal was a sentient being and what Nya had done was down right wrong.
But...it was too late for second thoughts now. What's done is done. Now all she had to do was hope that is was really worth it. Because it was...wasn't it?
Her mind was saying it wasn't but something else kept trying to convince her it was. That what she did was not wrong but right and was best for everyone. Yet, somehow she just couldn't fully believe that.
"Reboot one hundred percent complete." Nya jumped back, startled by the voice. Her eyes locked onto Pixal's body, waiting for any sign of life. Her heart thumped, increasing its pace as the seconds ticked by.
Pixal's fingers then moved, curling ever so slightly. Then her right eye opened, followed by the left. Soon two bright green orbs were staring back at Nya. Two very confused looking orbs.
"Pixal?" Nya questioned softly, trying to see if she would react. "N-nya?" Pixal leaned up and looked around, alarmed by her surroundings. "What happened? Why am I here?" she blinked and looked up to Nya for insight.
"Uh, well." Nya began, she wiped some of the sweat and oil that coated her hands onto her pant leg, hoping Pixal didn't notice. "What do you remember?"
Pixal titled her head. "I was with Zane...I was was talking to him about the bounty and about seeing you. I remember coming to your room... but after that...I do not recall anything." she explained.
Nya tapped her fingers on her leg as she tried to rummage around her brain for some more ideas. "You...must have fallen asleep then." she said, noticing she had dragged Pixal to her bed to repair her.
"I did?" Pixal's tone was still confused as ever. "I don't remember falling asleep." Nya hit her self mentally for that excuse. What was she thinking? She just...fell asleep!
"Um, well isn't your regenerative sleep cycle still pretty new. It...probably malfunctioned after you came into the room. I remember you walking over to the bed and laying down." Nya tried to sound believable, but it still didn't cover up the fact that this was a lie.
"True, perhaps I did malfunction." Pixal began to run some tests inside her and Nya hoped that she wouldn't notice the gap in her storage.
Pixal's scans showed no real evidence of anything major so she figured Nya's story was legit. But...she still couldn't help but notice how Nya was acting.
"Are you alright? You don't look well." Pixal stopped her scans and instead examined Nya, wondering why she seemed so...nervous and fidgety.
"Oh, I'm fine, just a little tired. T-that's all." Nya twirled a piece of her hair between her fingers.
"Ok." Pixal wasn't fully convinced by this statement, but right now she was too disoriented to question further.
A knock suddenly interrupted them and both girls turned their attention to the door when Jay appeared. He seemed relived when he caught a glimpse of them together.
"Oh, good. There you are." he started. "I was getting worried. We heard some weird commotion down here. What was that?"
Pixal blinked. "I have no idea Jay. Nya?" They both turned to Nya, who responded with nervous laughter. "Oh, that was nothing. I just dropped something earlier." she explained.
Pixal and Jay exchanged glances briefly but neither one said anything about it.
"Oh well, ok. We need you in the control room though. Sensei has some news...or will have some when Misako gets here. He wants you too Pixal."
Skylor had been watching and observing right now. Watching and observing the army. She had gotten close enough to where she could see them, but it still wasn't close enough to see exactly what they were grabbing and this frustrated her.
What was even more concerning was the glimpse she caught of someone. Someone running toward her. Someone running toward her fast.
And ...it was K'lynn?
Skylor gasped as K'lynn approached her and pushed her into a small alley. He repeatedly glanced back as if he were watching to make sure they weren't being followed.
"Hey what in the world?" Skylor yelled, disapproving of K'lynn's sudden behavior. She dusted herself off as she narrowed her eyes at him.
He placed a finger over his mouth. "Shh. Keep your voice down!" he whispered, still glancing back and seeming completely bewildered.
"What are you doing we have to get back out there! I was close to finding the material!" Skylor said, K'lynn's frantic and worried body movement was staring to scare her. He was acting stranger than normal. In fact he seemed terrified.
"We can't yet...t-they know now." K'lynn paused and Skylor watched as he gripped her shoulders...tightly." Wait, they can't find me with you. I'll get us both hurt! I-I should have know he'd find out! I should have known!" K'lynn cried.
Skylor stared at K'lynn with confusion, blinking as she tried to process his words. He was talking so fast and his voice was stuttering she could hardly make any of it out. "What are you talking about? Of course they know you're out here!"
"No. No. No. Not me. Not 'this' me." K'lynn placed his hands on his head and shook it.
"Okay..." Skylor put her hands in the air. " You need to tell me what's going on...right now."
K'lynn's head lowered as he sighed. "Skylor, honey, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I had to do this to you. I didn't want to, but I had too. I had to pretend to be this. It was the only way to stay hidden." "What? Why are you talking to me like that? What are you talking about!" Skylor didn't know if she was more scared or creeped out right now, neither one was good.
"I'll show you." K'lynn said. Skylor watched with great concern as K'lynn pressed a button on his helmet.
The voice disguising button.
"I-I haven't been fully honest with you." K'lynn started but the voice wasn't that of a male's at all like Skylor expected. In fact, it was female and familiar, but the familiarity of it all still wasn't clear.
"You're a girl? Why didn't you tell me?" Skylor questioned, she was even more confused then before. It made little sense for K'lynn to hide her gender.
"Shhh." K'lynn placed her hand over Skylor's mouth and then began to speak again, but this time...Skylor could only hear it in her mind.
"Skylor, look at me. You have to promise me that when I lift up this helmet you won't... freak out."Skylor nodded, not knowing what to expect next, K'lynn had mind powers? What?
K'lynn took a deep breath before she started again. There was really no right way to say this."I-I know Tolin promised to take you to your mother, but the truth is-" K'lynn then began to lift the helmet up off of her head.
As she did, Skylor watched in both horror and surprise as dark brown hair shook from it and fell to her shoulders and gold eyes stared right back at her. "You already found her."
Skylor felt a sharp pain in her stomach as she gazed upon the woman who stood before her. Her words haunted her mind..."You already found her." It...it couldn't be.This wasn't her. It couldn't be her.
Of course, Tolin had told her her mother was alive, but real reality of it all didn't sink in till right now. Yes, right now as she stood here fact-to-face with the woman she never thought she'd she again. The woman who she thought left her all those years ago. She was right here.
Skylor grasped her chest as her heart started to beat faster. At a pace that seemed impossible for any human. It was uncontrollable, even with the massive breaths she was taking. She felt her body start to tremble as the woman reached her hand out to her. Skylor just stood there...staring at her.
She didn't want to touch it, for she feared it would disappear, that this was all a dream. Some sick game to play with her mind.
This was trick. This wasn't real. Lies..all lies. Her mind was playing tricks on her.
"Skylor..." her voice was gentle, calming, causing Skylor to be drawn back into the memories of her childhood. "M-mom?" she cried, heart thudding faster as the words slid past her lips.
