Zane dropped onto the couch.

They hadn't gotten much done after their break, but then, Zane had not anticipated the drinks to be alcoholic. Yes, he was old enough to drink it, but they had a job to do, and not much time to do it in. Fortunately, Mr Borg offered to keep working after Zane left, seeing as taking a break was his idea. When Zane got back to the temple, Sensei Wu was not home. It didn't look like anyone else was home either. Perhaps they had gone out to get suitable attire for Mr Borg's New Year's Eve party. He once again retrieved Pixal's neural drive from his gi and returned it to its rightful place in his head. Her image appeared in his interior vision, just as it had yesterday, and the day before, and every day that he had been working on her new body. She smiled at him and soon noticed that he wasn't quite himself.

["Zane, are you alright?"] She asked worriedly. ["Your gyroscopic stabilisers appear to be out of alignment."]

"Perhaps I am getting an illness." He suggested.

["You are a droid, you do not get sick, unless…"]

"Unless…?"

["Unless you have contracted a virus,"] She explained. ["but I don't know how you could have picked up anything, the processor we installed had a built-in firewall."]

"Maybe you were right about me sleeping in the afternoon." Zane mused.

["Excessive sleeping is not likely to produce this kind of imbalance,"] Pixal explained. ["either you have accessed something that has left malware in your system, or you have consumed something that did not agree with you."]

"I haven't had anything out of the ordinary." Zane lied, trying not to alarm her.

["An in-depth scan did not reveal any malware or trojan viruses, I can only assume that this is the result of oversleeping."] She confirmed.

"It is nice to finally be alone with you." He grinned.

["Technically, we are always alone together,"] She giggled. ["but I see your point."]

"Are you looking forward to Mr Borg's party?" He wondered.

["Very much so, it will be good to see Mr Borg again."] She smiled.

"Did you get to go to this party?" He queried. "When you still worked there, I mean."

["I did, and I did not,"] She answered. ["it was my job to organise things like the catering, decorations, invitations, entertainment, transport for honoured guests, even the clean-up afterward – but generally I did not partake of the party itself."]

"Generally?" He probed curiously.

["While I did not attend the party in a social capacity, it was part of my job to lead the other female performers in the fuyu no odori."]

"I did not know you could dance."

["I cannot, the moves are part of my programming,"] Pixal corrected. ["though I do enjoy performing it."]

Suddenly there came the sound of the front door opening, and a rabble of conversation rang out as his teammates returned from wherever it was they had been. Zane could hear them talking – the excitement about Christmas and the upcoming party was clear in their voices.

"Hey Zane!" Jay shouted as he walked in the living room. "Dude, where ya been?"

"Asleep." Zane replied, making subtle hand gestures to indicate that it wasn't safe to talk.

"You've been doing that a lot lately, sleeping in the afternoon," Jay said with a wink, indicating that the message was received. "maybe we should've woken you up and dragged you out with us."

"Where did you go anyway?"

"Nowhere special, just doing extra training outside for a change," Jay shrugged. "remember that mountain range we crossed when we were following the falcon?"

"Mmm…" Zane squinted his eyes as he searched his memory bank. "Yes, I think so."

"You okay, dude?" Jay looked at him with one eyebrow raised. "You seem a bit…off."

"It is my habit of sleeping in the afternoon," Zane mentioned. "Pixal says it has begun to affect my gyroscopes."

"Hmm," Jay wasn't convinced. "I better get Nya to look you over just in case."

He left the room and Zane's face fell.

["Zane, are you alright?"] Pixal worriedly asked.

"Pixal, do you ever get lonely?"

["No, I have you with me,"] She answered. ["I am never lonely."]

"I mean, being stuck in my head all the time," He explained. "don't you wish you could get out of there?"

Pixal paused, and her smiling face turned down into sadness. What was he saying? Was he tired of having her around? Did he want to be rid of her? No, he'd never do that. But she had noticed that these afternoon naps of his were very different to him sleeping at night – during the night she was still conscious to him; his power source, his bio-rhythm – but these stints of sleep were regular as clockwork, and she seemed to go offline with him. She would be lying if she said that this didn't worry her.

["I do sometimes feel less useful, but I'm just happy that we are together,"] She elaborated. ["on Chen's island, my main concern was making sure you escaped; if you had not rescued me from the computer, I would have asked you to shut it down before you left."]

"But… you would've been shut down with it."

["Exactly,"] She agreed. ["I would rather not exist, than exist without you."]

"Wow, you're right," Nya spoke as she entered the room, cutting off the conversation. "he doesn't look too good."

"He looks worse than he did before," Jay confirmed as he gave Zane a concerned glance. "dude, what happened?"

As Nya and Jay approached and looked him over, Zane noticed Pixal vigorously shaking her head; for whatever reason, she didn't want their conversation to be public knowledge.

"I think I'm getting a virus," Zane lied. "Pixal is currently doing a malware search on my system."

Nya put her hand on Zane's forehead, only to recoil as his metal face was searing hot to the touch. She held up a pen and moved it from side to side for his eyes to follow, but his eyes remained unmoving – unbeknownst to her, he was too busy watching Pixal on his interior vision as she sat down and turned away from him slightly. She looked deeply ashamed of her previous confession; that she saw her life as meaningless without him. It sounded so pathetic, no matter how true it was.

"Zane, maybe you should go lay down for a while." Nya suggested.

"That's a good idea." Zane dazedly replied.

He stood up and walked away, leaving Nya and Jay glancing at each other with worried expressions. As Zane made his way up the stairs and into his room, he sat on the bed and sighed. Pixal still looked profoundly regretful for what she'd admitted to him.

["I'm sorry,"] She sighed. ["I should not have said what I did."]

"I would rather you be honest," He mentioned. "that is why I asked you in the first place."

["I'd rather be here with you, than anywhere else."] She smiled. ["as long as you do not mind sharing your headspace with me."]

"Of course not," He smiled back, slightly relieved. "I just want you to be happy,"

["I am happy."] She assured as she shuffled around to face him.

It was day six of the rebuild.

At this point, Cole wished he could've gone with Zane. It's not like they were far from where Zane was; Nya, in all her wisdom, had dragged the remaining ninja out to a shopping mall in New Ninjago – Borg Industries was a mere 10 minute walk away. But his attempts at bargaining, pleading and even begging got him nowhere. No one else seemed half as annoyed about it as he was. Suddenly he saw something he was interested in and wandered off in that direction.

"Hey Kai!" Jay yelled across the formalwear section of the men's department. "What do you think of this?"

"Jay! Inside voice!" Nya scolded, as a couple of guys nearby chuckled.

"Sorry," He apologised, lowering his volume. "but I've found this really cool suit."

"Hmm, it is nice, but I'm not sure it's formal enough." Lloyd added.

"Does formality really matter?" Kai asked as he came over to have a look at what Jay was yelling about. "It's black tie optional, remember?"

"Lloyd's right," Jay stated. "this is the biggest party of the year we're going to-"

"And not just any party, the most glamorous event in the Ninjago calendar." Nya added.

"Exactly; we can't go looking like gate crashers; we gotta turn up lookin' sharp." Jay grinned.

"Sorry sis, I'm just not digging the black," Kai shook his head. "don't they do these things in other colours?"

"Tuxedos only come in black or midnight blue, but I'm sure the bow ties and waistcoats come in different colours." Nya mentioned.

"It's better than nothing, I guess, but we should find someone who can help us," Kai said as he looked around. "I need to see what colours they have."

"Looks like Cole already found some help." Lloyd laughed.

The earth ninja, who at this point had been absent for most of their shopping trip, was currently leaning on the accessories counter and casually attempting to pick-up the young lady by the cash register. It seemed to be working – she was giggling and glancing at him coyly while she arranged the items on display. She gently tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled warmly at him.

"Should we go over?" Kai grinned wickedly.

"Let's." Lloyd nodded.

The two of them strolled over to the counter and stood either side of Cole. He wasn't very amused about being interrupted when he was finally enjoying himself.

"Excuse me miss, we're looking for something colourful to go with our tuxedos." Kai politely asked.

"Of course," She smiled. "we have a wide selection of colours in our accessories, what did you have in mind?"

"Definitely red, don't you think Cole?" Kai said, nudging him in the side.

"That name sounds so familiar…" She paused for a moment, then suddenly turned to Cole and gasped. "Oh my gosh! You're one of the ninja!"

"Yep," He smiled confidently. "we need some formal wear for a party we're going to."

"Then I have the perfect colour for you," She giggled, reaching under the counter for a dark stone grey-coloured cummerbund and matching bow tie. "these will go so well with your captivating eyes, and we also have a waistcoat in this shade, if you prefer."

"Why thank you." He winked and brushed his hand against hers, causing her to blush.

Lloyd and Kai somehow managed to suppress their urge to torment him over it.

"And for you sir," She produced a fire red cummerbund and bow tie for Kai. "hopefully this will meet your expectations."

"Looks great." Kai beamed.

"I hope these guys aren't bothering you too much." Nya said as she approached the counter.

"Not at all," She smiled. "I was just assisting them with the accessories for their tuxedos."

"Well, they haven't even picked their tuxedos yet," Nya laughed and shooed the ninja away. "go on, go choose a nice tux while I handle with this."

"Yeah, c'mon Cole, Jay looks lonely over there." Kai grinned.

Cole winked at the young lady once more as he walked away with Kai and Lloyd. She waved at him and giggled again.

"Forgive him, he hates clothes shopping," Nya mentioned. "but I think you've made his day."

"He's made my day; he's very charming," She answered, still watching him. "now, how may I help you?"

"They seem to want their accessories to match their elemental powers, so in addition to these," Nya began, pointing to the items on the counter. "we'll also need lightning blue, forest green and ice white."

"Where is the ice ninja anyway?" She wondered curiously, eyeing the other ninja and noticing one was missing.

"He's a little busy today, so if he tries on his tux and it doesn't fit, can we bring it back?"

"Of course," She nodded. "just keep your receipt and leave the tags on the clothing."

"Thank you…" Nya paused to read the young lady's name tag. "…Jasper, what a lovely name."

"Thanks," Jasper smiled happily. "and have you chosen your outfit yet? We have a wonderful selection of ladies formal wear on the first floor."

"Not yet, I'm waiting for a friend to arrive, so we can choose our dresses together," Nya remarked. "she should be here in a couple of days."

Meanwhile, the other ninja were still thumbing through the racks of formal attire, deeply unenthused by the whole clothes shopping thing. They were, however, very interested in Cole's pursuit of the girl at the counter. Kai took great satisfaction in repeating to Jay how Cole was flirting with her and how much she seemed to enjoy it.

"Oh, please, she was probably just being polite." Jay dismissed.

"I didn't know it was polite to blush when a customer winks at you." Kai smirked.

"Maybe she was just overheated," Jay said. "it is warm in here."

"That's because it's so cold outside," Lloyd retorted. "if it wasn't for the in-store heating we'd have never gotten Cole here in the first place."

"Yeah, I'm glad I came now." Cole smiled.

"So it's got nothing to do with the pretty girl on the register?" Lloyd nudged him.

"Her name's Jasper," Cole corrected them. "and I'd have her number if it wasn't for you two butting in."

"Aw, don't be so sour," Jay patted him on the shoulder. "there'll be plenty of girls at the party no doubt."

"Does anyone know Zane's measurements?" Kai asked. "How are we supposed to pick a tux that'll fit without them here?"

"It's too bad we can't ask Pixal, she'd know," Jay sighed. "we should've asked before they left."

"How weird is it that we sometimes refer to Zane as 'they' because Pixal is in his head?" Lloyd said. "We'll have to get out of that habit before her new body is finished."

"I think it'll be good for them to be separate again," Cole insisted, crossing his arms. "it's not healthy for her to be so closed off from the real world."

"I'm pretty sure that's why he's finally getting a new body for her," Jay noted. "I know he's happy to have her there all the time, but he told me that he was worried about her being so isolated."

"Is that the only reason though?" Kai smirked. "This is Zane we're talking about, I mean, he's no Casanova but I think it's obvious why he's doing this."

"Yeah, because he misses her," Lloyd replied confidently. "just what are you insinuating?"

"You know what I'm talking about…" Kai winked.

By the time they got back to the temple, Zane was once again resting on the couch, and it looked like he was actually asleep. Cole, with Kai's words still rattling around in his head, approached and grabbed the nindroid's foot before jostling it back and forth. Rather uncharacteristically, Zane did not kick out and leap to his feet defensively. Instead, he sat up and flashed a besotted smile.

"I was wondering when you would all come back," He said.

"Your reflexes are just awful today, what's up?" Cole asked.

"Pixal is showing me some interesting new protocols she found buried in my neural link; she knows more about my body than I do!" Zane grinned. "So where did you guys go? Did you have fun?"

"No… Nya took us to get stuff for the party," Cole grimaced. "I hate clothes shopping…"

"We have never been to a 'black tie optional' party before, new clothes were a given for such an event." Zane stated.

"I guess," He sat next to Zane on the couch. "but we got some decent gear anyway, and the girl at the register was cute."

"Oh yes?" Zane smirked.

"Yeah, too bad we can't bring a plus one," Cole laughed. "I'd have invited her in a second."

"She must have been very pretty; you are not the type to fall so easily." Zane chuckled.

"Anyway, we got you a tux as well," Cole diverted, his face going slightly pink. "you gotta try it on, just in case it doesn't fit."

["It's too bad that you lost your other suit,"] Pixal said. ["or you could have worn that, it was formal enough for the occasion."]

"I think one of Clouse's lackeys stole it while I was knocked out." Zane remarked.

Cole looked at him quizzically. It was difficult to tell when Zane was talking to Pixal or to them. In fact, many things he said out loud were completely out of context as a result. But, since she was in his head, no one else could hear what she was saying – was it any wonder that she was feeling isolated?