The snow was falling, the sun was getting low, and Pixal trudged on along the snowy mountain top with a marked determination in her eyes. She had been travelling for several hours now, following a GPS route that had taken her far away from the familiarity of New Ninjago city. This was a most important journey, nothing was going to stop her – not even the voice inside which warned her of the dangers she could be facing.

"We are almost there." She said out loud.

There had been a very interesting start to this day, she still struggled to believe the amazing events which had led to her being on this icy precipice…

Earlier that day, in the morning…

She leaned against the window, her heart full of unbridled sadness, watching from above as the funeral service came to a close; the ninja stood together by Zane's new memorial statue while a gentle snow began to fall. She sighed. It's not like she didn't want to go – Cyrus Borg had specifically offered her the day off and an escorted ride – but it was just too painful.

Suddenly the screens of the nearby console flashed to life and Zane's face appeared. CCTV footage from the past few weeks played back, his voice rang out of the speakers and electrical signals visibly jolted from screen to screen. Pixal gasped and ran down to the manufacturing floor as fast as she could, the possibilities running through her mind as she burst through the doors and leaping onto the conveyor belt.

That's when it happened.

"Are we… compatible now?" Zane asked.

As she stood on the assembly line, surrounded by the machining arms, she could have burst with joy at hearing Zane's voice once again. He was back!

Well, sort of.

"Zane!" She squeaked happily. "But, how?"

"The Overlord destroyed my body, but I managed to upload my digital subconscious to Cyrus Borg's system in the final moments," Zane replied, his voice echoing out of the speakers above her. "I would have found you sooner, only breaking through the inner layer of firewalls was more complicated than I thought."

"I cannot tell you how good it is to hear your voice," She smiled. "oh! We must tell your friends, they will be thrilled!"

"No!" He yelled, feeling slightly guilty as Pixal jumped from his sudden shouting. "No, we cannot tell them, not yet anyway."

"But… they are your friends, they will want to know that you are safe."

"Please, Pixal, I am no use to the team without my body." Zane sighed.

"Could we perhaps rebuild it?" She wondered. "We have plenty of resources here, I am certain Mr Borg would not mind."

"We could, but it is not that simple, we would need to go back to my father's underground lab and find my blueprints," He explained. "to do so would put you at great inconvenience, not to mention great danger if the Treehorns have returned – I could not ask such a huge favour."

"I'll do it!" She insisted, the resolve in her voice ringing out.

Zane chuckled.

For her to show such determination was admirable. More than that, he was flattered that she thought so much of him that she was willing to do this. But he was still concerned about what he was asking of her. Aside from the adventure she had taken with them defeating the Overlord, she had spent her whole life in New Ninjago, and most of that time was arguably spent in this tower assisting Cyrus Borg. Her lack of experience in the wider world frightened him.

"I appreciate your enthusiasm, but I am still hesitant for you to make the journey alone." Zane remarked.

Pixal looked thoughtful for a moment, before eagerly grinning.

"There is a spare hard drive in the system upstairs, can you reroute your subconscious into it?" She asked.

"I can, what did you have in mind?" He wondered.

"I will explain, but for now, find the empty '/L:' drive," Pixal smiled again. "I will meet you there."

Suddenly the green lights that surrounded her all went dark.

She leapt from the assembly line and bolted back up the stairs. The power source inside her began to swell with excitement as she gleefully launched herself back toward the main console room – such was the exhilaration and relief that came with knowing that Zane was still here. Losing him was an excruciating experience, she had never known such agony before. Time seemed to stop. His friends busied themselves making funeral arrangements, though Nya had stopped by every day to console her. Even Mr Borg seemed to have understood her pain, offering her 'compassionate leave' and checking up on her much more frequently than usual.

"Zane, are you here?" She called out as she approached the console.

His face appeared on one of the monitors and he smiled at her warmly; she almost fell to her knees again at the mere sight of him.

"I found the drive, I am fully transferred onto it." Zane said.

"Good." Pixal retrieved the drive, and his face disappeared from the screen as she removed it.

She opened her chest cavity. For a moment, she held the precious hard drive to her face, still warm from the transfer. She reached in and attempted to locate a spare SATA cable – she knew she had one somewhere… ah, there it was, behind the power source Zane had given to her. Pixal paused for a moment, moved by the generous gesture he had made when the power had been switched off; he risked his life to save her, and they had only known each other a few days at the time.

With a beaming smile, she plugged the SATA cable into the hard drive. A rush of electricity swept across her body, and a familiar face appeared on her interior vision.

["Pixal…"] Zane murmured. ["You're a genius!"]

"You are right, I cannot do this alone," Pixal mused. "only you know the exact whereabouts of your father's lab."

["Will you be okay doing this?"] Zane asked, concerned about the long distance ahead of them.

"With the gift you gave me, our mission is guaranteed to be a success!" She said, tucking the hard drive below her glowing heart and closing her chest cavity. "There is one thing I need to do first."


Pixal stopped for a moment.

"Zane, could you locate the entrance and relay the coordinates back to me?"

["Of course,"] He replied, updating the coordinates on Pixal's internal map. ["I am very thankful to you for doing this."]

"It's my pleasure," She softly spoke as she walked a little further, following the new route. "I cannot tell you how pleased I am to have you back."

["Well, thank you…"] He said, looking mildly flustered.

She rather enjoyed seeing his sheepish smile on her interior vision, she was especially glad to have him with her physically; it might have been easier and safer to leave the hard drive in the console and rely on high strength signals to have his assistance, but there was a certain amount of comfort in having the drive with her.

["There,"] He suddenly said. ["do you see the tree with the symbol carved into it?"]

Pixal walked over to the tree Zane spoke of. It was larger than the other trees, having a wide trunk and the vague outline of a door around the symbol he'd mentioned. She reached out and opened the door. Slightly wary, she paused and looked in, seeing a spiral staircase winding around the outside of the large, cylindrical room. A flashlight popped out of her left shoulder and shone into the darkened area.

As she slowly descended the long set of stairs, she couldn't help but notice Zane's expression turn quite soft and nostalgic. He had said that this is the place where he was built and raised by his father, Dr Julien. Though she did not have such an emotional attachment to her place of manufacture, she did understand the feeling of having a paternal role model; Mr Borg was very much like a father to her, even if it hadn't started that way. So much was her daughterly respect for Mr Borg that she felt the need to get his permission before she went on this little trek.

Earlier that day, still in the morning…

Cyrus Borg was busy in his office, making sure all was well with the system. He had just been to Zane's funeral service, and as he went from screen to screen checking power levels, his thoughts drifted to Pixal. His dear assistant had not been herself since that day, her heart ostensibly broken by the loss she had suffered. She was so devastated she couldn't even bring herself to go to the service with him – she didn't want to say goodbye, no doubt. Cyrus had tried to keep an eye on her as much as he could, but having experienced his own losses, he knew that no amount of coddling would help her.

The more he thought about it, the more he had come to see Pixal as a daughter, rather than just an assistant. She was supposed to be one of many, the prototype AI for a brand-new line of personal assistant robots. But somewhere along the line, her personality evolved – perhaps the AI was smarter than he realised – and she became so much more than her intended purpose.

"Mr. Borg, may I have a moment of your time?"

Cyrus turned to see Pixal standing in the doorway.

"Hello my dear," he smiled. "what can I do for you?"

"I wondered if it would possible for me to take some time off," She asked, bowing politely. "I wish to pay respects to Zane at the place of his origin."

Secretly, Cyrus was thrilled to see her getting out and about from the console room; she had been spending perhaps too much time there, looking at footage from the previous weeks and trying to hear Zane's voice once again.

"Yes, of course, take all the time you need!" He smiled widely. "Would you like me to arrange a chaperoned car?"

"Thank you, sir, but it is not the sort of journey that can be taken by car – I assure you I am adequately equipped to handle it," She bowed again. "I have obtained the coordinates, with my advanced GPS system it is simply a matter of tracking a route to the exact geographic location."

"Well, if you are certain," Cyrus nodded. "I do have one request however…"

"Anything." She responded cheerfully.

"You must allow me to track your location as you go, and you must use your internal S.O.S button if there is an emergency," He mentioned. "Zane sacrificed himself to save this city, I can't have anything bad happening to you too."

Pixal saw Zane nodding in agreement on her internal vision.

"I agree to your terms, Mr. Borg." She replied.

Cyrus approached her, his face overflowing with pride at the droid before him.

"You truly are my greatest achievement." He softly spoke.

The depth of the situation seemed to affect him in a way he didn't expect. He looked away for a moment, as he felt tears in his eyes that threatened to fall.

"Now run along," He insisted, wiping away the errant fluid building up on his cheeks. "I don't know how far you have to go, but you should gear up all the same."

Pixal gave a deep, sincere bow, before giving her employer a gentle hug. She then ran out the door and made her way back to the console room. As she spun around with the buzz of adventure running through her circuits, Zane was laughing joyously. Suddenly she stopped.

["Is everything alright?"] Zane asked.

"I am just wondering what will be required for this," Pixal thought out loud. "Mr Borg is correct, we should prepare for such a journey."

["The last time we were there, we had gone through a desert and a snowy mountain range, and my falcon was leading the way; we didn't know where we were going so we had to run just to keep up with it,"] He explained. ["this time I have the exact coordinates."]

"How long do you think it will take us to get there?"

["From New Ninjago? Depending on walking speed, we could be there by nightfall if we left now,"] He guessed, breathing out a heavy sigh. ["I can share with you my knowledge of Spinjitzu and other fighting techniques, but without my body I cannot protect you physically; that is what I meant when I said this could put you in danger."]

"I would do anything for you Zane," She said confidently. "and now that you are back, nothing can stop us."