"You idiot, this isn't the Ninja of Ice!"

"Well excuse me for not knowing which direction they were going to take."

"What does that have to do with anything? How can you not tell the difference between a girl and a robot?!"

"If you must know (and in my defense) he is a ridiculously human robot and if I didn't know that I would not have known that."

"But you do know that you moron!"

Mina looked at the two Skulkin as they bickered back and forth between each other. One Skulkin was adorned in black while the other was adorned with blue. At first she thought that their banter was rather funny, but now it was just getting annoying.

"You do realize I'm standing right here." Mina said, to remind them of her presence. The two Skulkin looked at her as if they were just aware of her being there.

"Look, kid," the Skulkin in black said to her, "We didn't mean to get you mixed up in this. We'll set you free after I tell someone that he has made the greatest mistake in his afterlife!"

"So you're not going to put me in a death trap?" Mina asked. The Skulkin looked at her like she was insane.

"Why would we do that?" the Skulkin in black asked her. "We're retired kid, we don't want anything to do with you crazy humans again unless we absolutely need to."

"Then what do you want with Zane?"

"We heard frozen gears has a funny switch!" The Skulkin in blue spoke up.

"Zane... with a 'funny switch'...?" Mina asked with a look of confusion. "Zane isn't funny at all..."

"You IDIOT!" the Skulkin in black said in rage to the Skulkin in blue, about to lunge after him to rip him limb from limb. "Now our party won't have any entertainment!"

"A party? Is that what you guys are doing in the Temple of Light?" Mina asked.

The Skulkin in black gave his comrade a back slap to the head then turned to Mina.

"Yeah, it's the best place in Ninjago really. You get an awesome musical guest under that bell thing with some wicked bass- you have one kicking audio for a fraction of the cost!"

"Really?" Mina asked, finding herself to be more than a little surprised.

"Hey!" the Skulkin in blue suddenly said. "Can you sing kid? Since you're here and all..."

Mina looked at them and blinked.

"I can... lip sync." she slowly said.

"Perfect!" both of the Skulkin said at the same time.

. . .

Zane had snuck past that guard as he was changing shifts and was now scaling the mountain side with nearly the same dexterity he had thirty years ago. It was nice to know that he could still do it, but it was ultimately unpractical in this new life he and the other ninja have constructed for themselves.

As Zane got closer to the Temple of Light, he could hear the pulsating beat of an upbeat song that could only make you want to dance. When he got to the entrance, he could not believe what he was seeing. In the main foyer were all the Skulkin who all danced in their own ways to the music. Mina was in the center of it all pretending to belt out the lyrics of the upbeat song that could only make you dance.

Cautiously, Zane worked his way through the mass of Skulkin as the beat started to kick up again. Mina was giving it all she had and was obviously having fun as she pretended to sing the words;

So I put my faith in something unknown,
I'm living on such sweet nothing!
But I'm tired of hope with nothing to hold,
I'm living on such sweet nothing!
And it's hard to learn,
And it's hard to love,
When you're giving me such sweet nothing!
Sweet nothing,

Sweet nothing,
You're giving me such sweet nothing!

As the bass gave prominence in the song, Zane was as close to Mina as he could with the rest of the crowd and looked up at the eleven year old having the time of her life. If anything, Mina looked like she was dancing and singing along with the radio in her room rather than a professional singer at a concert.

When the song ended, the Skulkin were almost immediately asking for an encore. Mina, however, looked ready to pass out. Carefully, Zane got up on the stage and gave a formal bow toward Mina.

"Perhaps a duet is in order?" he suggested. The Skulkin hooted and hollered at this idea with great enthusiasm. Mina looked as if Zane had saved her life.

"Kai will never find out... will he?" Mina asked.

"In a 95.12 percent likelihood; no, I do not think Kai will find out."

Mina smiled wide as a new song started. This was going to be an awesome night.


Sweet Nothing by Calvin Harris, featuring Florence Welch copyrighted Fly Eye Studios 2012