(A/N: Once upon a time, I started writing a fanfic I'd been meaning to write for literally months, but told myself I wouldn't post the first chapter until I was totally done. Then later that same day a new episode of Ninjago came out called The Quiet One and it was liTERALLY PERFECT IN EVERY WAY SHAPE AND FORM AND IF I STARTED SCREAMING ABOUT IT I'D NEVER BE DONE SO SHUT UP AND HAVE SOME PLATONIC PIXAL/NYA FLUFF THAT WAS ONE THOUSAND PERCENT CANONIZED BY TODAY'S EPISODE, HOLY FUDGE YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW ECSTATIC I AM, I LITERALLY CANNOT DESCRIBE HOW HECKING PERFECT IT WAS. THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE READ MY SAMURAI PI(X)AL FANFIC ARE THE ONLY ONES WHO COULD POSSIBLY HAVE ANY IDEA HOW PSYCHED I AM OVER THIS.) (Oh btw this takes place sometime after S8 probably lol)
(P.S. In case u couldn't tell from the fic description, there are many allusions to female hormones in this fic b/c I'm suffering and need to self-project onto characters. But nothing is gross or descriptive so y'all should be fine.)
Nya had been trained from a young age in the art of combat. Even before becoming the water ninja— even before Samurai X— she had helped her older brother work in the blacksmith's shop, forging weapons and showing them off to any potential customers with ferocious attacks on weakly built scarecrows. She had also been trained— albeit with much less success— to bandage wounds, clean scraped-up knees, and even pop a dislocated joint back into its socket. But the one aspect of combat that Nya was really good at was recognizing when someone else was in trouble. She could hear a cry for help yards away over the roar of battle, and she swore that if Kai was in trouble, sometimes she could feel it. It was a skill that had come in handy often while disguising herself as Samurai X (the original Samurai X, mind you), and it was still one she used often while fighting alongside the ninja.
So when Nya was getting herself a glass of water from the kitchen (in an unnecessarily fancy fashion), she recognized without a doubt what were distant moans of pain coming from the bedroom hallway. And she was there before she'd even had time to register the voice she'd heard.
"What happened here?" she asked instinctively as she ran into the hall, expecting with some level of certainty to see either a villain or the remains of one somewhere close by. Instead, she was greeted by the sole sight of P.I.X.A.L., lying curled up on the floor with her hands clenching her sides. She quickly looked up in what appeared to be a mix of fear and anger.
"Go away!" she blurted out suddenly, and Nya was frozen in shock for a solid minute. PIXAL wasn't the type to tell anyone to go away, especially without reason. She was much more of a typical android than Zane— cool, calculating, and logical— even though she still had, and displayed, human emotion.
"I-is there an enemy nearby?" Nya finally managed to ask, scanning the area for signs of a skirmish that she may have missed. PIXAL shook her head violently.
"No— no, there are no enemies," she managed to growl through clenched teeth.
"Then what on Ninjago has gotten into you?" the water ninja cried, dropping herself down to PIXAL's level. "Are you angry at me…?"
The android hesitated. "Yes— I mean, no— I am… not sure." She moaned and fell onto the floor in frustration. "Everything hurts."
Nya frowned. Something about PIXAL's behavior felt familiar, but she wasn't sure how. The AI had certainly never acted this unpredictable before. In fact, Nya couldn't think of a time she'd directly expressed anger at all.
"Are one of your systems down?" she asked as gently as she could.
"I do not know," PIXAL sighed, in an odd tone that sounded like her usually robotic demeanor was struggling against a more emotional outburst. "I have never had a breakdown this strong before."
"This strong?" Nya asked. "Have you experienced anything similar to this before?" She reached out a hand to PIXAL's shoulder. "Maybe I can fix—"
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" the android cried, instinctively backing away. She froze in fear as Nya quickly pulled her hand back. "I— I am sorry, I don't know why I am…"
"So angry?" Nya muttered, her heart racing from the sudden startle. Suddenly, PIXAL looked up.
"That's— that must be it," she said. "Angry— of course. I should have figured…" She moaned again.
"What is it?" Nya asked, trying her best to remain calm and reminding herself not to get angry. Whatever was with PIXAL, it wasn't normal and it wasn't her fault.
"My AIE-ES chip," she said in a tired voice. Suddenly, her face became weary and fatigued. "It has malfunctioned in minor degrees in the past, but my replication of it was probably imperfect…"
The human girl raised an eyebrow. "Look, I'm good with machines, but that's technobabble I'm not familiar with. What's an AIE-ES?"
"An artificial intelligence enhancer-emotion suppressor," PIXAL explained. "It is a highly complicated, highly fragile piece of machinery created by the genius mind of Cyrus Borg. It has taken him sixteen tries to even reach this level of productivity with it, but unfortunately, it is still imperfect."
"Well, if Borg created it, that explains why I'm not familiar with it," Nya sighed, shifting into a more comfortable sitting position next to the android. "I don't think Zane has one of those."
PIXAL shook her head. "He does not. That is part of the reason he feels so strongly— as humans do. However," she sighed, "for those of us who are not regularly accustomed to human emotions, strong bouts of feeling are… difficult to manage. And difficult to predict." She sighed again and leaned back against the wall. "And on top of all that, the AIE-ES is responsible for several of the pain centers, so when it malfunctions it causes physical pains in multiple parts of the body. Randomly. Like the emotions."
"Should I go get Zane?" Nya asked worriedly. "I'm sure he'd be able to help—"
"No!" PIXAL cried, then shook her head to get ahold of herself. "I mean— I do not wish for him to see me in this state." She buried her head in her hands, and Nya felt a wave of sympathy.
"Hey, it's okay," she reassured the android gently. "I get it. I won't tell Zane." PIXAL mumbled something into her hands, but Nya couldn't tell what it was. The girls were silent for a moment.
"You know," Nya said, "You aren't the only one to deal with this."
PIXAL looked up and raised an eyebrow, as if to say, "you're kidding me, right?"
"I mean, most girls don't have a faulty piece of machinery stuck in their heads," Nya added quickly, "But we do have to deal with some stuff that is… surprisingly similar to what you just described, actually."
PIXAL paused, then her eyes widened. "…Oh." She hesitated. "I am aware of the functions you speak of, but I did not think it was really so painful."
"Trust me," Nya reassured her. "It is. It sucks. Random pains all over your body and uncontrollable emotional swings?" She laughed with a slight smirk. "Yeah, you aren't the only one."
PIXAL paused, looking around the hallway. "How do you manage it?" she asked in a quiet tone. Nya had to think about that for a moment.
"Well… nothing totally fixes it, you mostly have to wait out the ride."
"That is what has always happened with the AIE-ES chip," PIXAL sighed.
"But," Nya said smiling, "there are a few things that do tend to help."
The android looked up at the black-haired girl. Her green eyes glowed in curiosity. "Such as?"
Nya grinned. "I think we need to have a little girls' night out."
(Fun fact, the AIE-ES is 100% canon and it canolically malfunctions sometimes and I own the book that talks about it briefly. Bless whoever decided to put that info out there for giving me LITERALLY EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED SO I COULD WRITE A FIC. I have the best hecking luck with cartoons I swear— okay I'll shut up now) (It's a good thing I started writing this fic before watching the episode 'cuz I'm clearly not coherent right now asdfhgjkl)