The Bounty slowly landed by Steep Wisdom, giving me time to view the shop. I looked around for the surprise Lilly mentioned, but I didn't see it anywhere in sight. Must be a hidden surprise of sorts.

"Why aren't we heading to Stiix? Isn't that where Morro is heading?" Kai questioned as we all walked off the Bounty. It was a good question, though, I'm sure Sensei had a good answer for this one. We wouldn't just be stopping at the tea shop for no reason. This surprise guest must be top priority.

"We need to stock up on a few things before we go to Stiix," Sensei Wu informed him. He didn't specify on what exactly we needed to stock up on.

"On what!?" Jay asked, "Magic tea that gives us special powers? Or maybe it gives us four arms?"

A few of us chuckled at what Jay said, but Sensei just shook his head. "No magic tea today, although it sounds nice. I had to sell all the merchandise, along with everything else."

What did Sensei mean!? He sold off the thing he loved the most, tea!? Sensei must have cried when he sold it off. There's no way he could have sold off all his tea without shedding at least one tear.

Sensei walked us over to the tea shop, talking about all he did with it. Suddenly, in the middle of Sensei Wu's explanation, the doors to the tea shop swung open, revealing an oddly familiar man in a wheelchair. He looked to be in his fifties, and wore glasses that looked older than my mother. His jet black hair was combed to the side in a professional way, and his clothing was professional as well, complimented by a high-tech watch. He must be someone high class.

"Hello again, Ninja!" the man greeted us all. Immediately, I recognized the man, just by the sound of his voice. It's a voice I've heard on TV many times before. The man my sister looked up to, Cyrus Borg. Luo would be so jealous of me right now.

"While we were away, I had Borg build some expensive new toys for you all. I used the funds we gained from the Tea Farm to pay for it all," Sensei Wu informed us. I had to admit, I was excited to see what exactly these "expensive new toys" are. I bet they look cool as heck!

"It's been so long, I hardly recognize any of you!" Cyrus exclaimed, looking around at the team, "Lloyd looks older. Oh, I see a Water Ninja! Lilly's hair has gotten much longer. A titanium nindroid. Cole's a...a ghost. Jay looks shorter, and then there's Kai." Cyrus then turned and laid eyes on me. "Why, we have a new ninja too!" He leaned forward, holding out a hand. "What's your name, young lady?"

"My name's Karma Lee, Master of Darkness" I introduced myself, shaking his hand, "I have to admit, sir, my sister would be really jealous right now. I'm getting to meet you instead of her. You're her role model, er biggest inspiration."

"Well, why don't you stop by the Borg Tower with her sometime and I'll meet her," Cyrus said in an enthusiastic voice, smiling.

The smile I was wearing started to falter. "That'd be great sir, but..." My voice trailed off at the grim reminder. It may have been over a year since her death, but it still hurt. It was like a long-lasting sore. Cyrus gave a confused look, but then looked at my friends besides me.

"Um, Mr. Borg...her sister..." I heard Jay start, but heard nothing after that. He must have made a gesture hinting at her death, because Cyrus' tan brown eyes widened in surprise. He then turned back to me, giving a look of sympathy.

"I'm so sorry...I'm sure she was a really great person," he said. I smiled.

"She was. She wanted to be your apprentice, too, but I shouldn't go on about this. You have things to show the others that are vital to saving our dimension. I can talk about this later," I said. Cyrus nodded, and then looked over to the Ninja.

"Yeah. I don't want to come off as insensitive, but we don't have much time," Kai added. I didn't mind. I was a little uncomfortable with talking about Luo again anyway. It hurts even more when I talk about her.

"Kai, always the impatient one," Cyrus chuckled, as if we weren't just talking about a depressing subject, or it was to me at least. "Come, let me show you."

He wheeled over to the door of the shop, pressing a button. Immediately, platforms raised out of the ground, revealing three high-tech vehicles. I marveled at the new "toys". These looked like something out of a sci-fi movie! The sci-fi vehicles now belonged to Cole, Jay, and Zane, to which made me jealous. I hope I get something cool like that one day! Though, I was surprised Kai, Nya, or Lloyd didn't get anything. Cyrus wheeled over to the five of us, handing Kai a carefully sewn headband. The fire ninja looked pretty disappointed with his new present. I would be too, to be honest.

"I'm sorry I didn't make anything for you, Lloyd. To be honest, I didn't think you'd make it out," Cyrus said to the Green Ninja. Lloyd kept a steady poker face as Mr. Borg talked to him, but when Borg turned away, his eyes became downcast and his expression turned into a sadder one. Okay, first off, that's not the thing you say to someone who just went through hell! It could make the person believe you lost hope in them! Believe me, I've had something said like that to me before. When I was running track in middle school, I just narrowly won a gold medal. It was nearly a tie, but I won the gold in the end. When I met up with my friends about of it, one of then said, "You know Karma, I didn't think you would have won. She was so close up on you!" Then, I felt like my friend lost hope in me. She thought I was going to lose. But now, in this case, Lloyd may believe Cyrus thought he was going to die. It's not a good thought.

"And I'm sorry I didn't get you two anything either. I didn't even know Karma was here, and well, after I heard Lilly left the team I didn't think she would be coming back," Cyrus apologized. He completely ignored Nya, as if she weren't there. Okay Luo, your role model here sure has a flawed behavior I really hope you didn't follow. I huffed as the inventor wheeled away to talk to Sensei Wu and Misako.

"So, he's just gonna ignore Nya and not give her anything!?" I asked. Nya shrugged.

"Don't freak out about it, Karma. I get it a lot. The guys get cool new vehicles and stuff, while I just h- used to have my Samurai X mech," Nya told me, showing no signs of disappointment over this.

"But still!" I argued, "Mr. Borg should have given you something! He knew you were part of this team and he knew you fought alongside the guys! So why leave you out!?"

Nya sighed. "I don't know. I already had my Samurai mech, so I guess I was good to go."

I stomped my foot. "He could have given you an upgrade!"

Nya didn't reply after that. She remained silent, then walked over with the others to listen in on what they were talking about. "Least Cyrus could have done was give us water guns," Lilly mumbled as we followed Nya.

"But they'll be expecting us and Morro still has the Sword of Sanctuary. Even with these new fancy vehicles, how are we supposed get close?" we heard Nya say as we approached the conversation.

"Yeah, and how are we supposed to take on an army of ghosts?" Jay added.

"All we can do is try our hardest," Lilly said, "As for getting close, we need a plan."

"But even with our powers back, he's seen all our moves," Cole said. I had to disagree with Cole. There's so much more we can do other than just throw elemental powers. We can fuse them too. You know, like how if Zane throws ice and Kai throws fire we get water. We could drop a surprise waterfall on the ghosts!

"Then we'll show him something he hasn't!" Kai exclaimed, nudging his sister forward. Nya looked a little embarrassed to have all eyes on her. "A Water Ninja."

"B-But I just started my training! I haven't even found my true potential!" Nya argued. Really, why would she freak out over that!? I was fighting alongside these guys in before I even found my true potential!

"Nya, when our parents passed, you were there for me. Now I'm here for you," Kai said to his sister reassuringly.

"He's right," Cole nodded, "She's our greatest weapon."

"What about Lilly, too? Doesn't the crystal in her hand still work?" Cyrus questioned. So he does know about it. Lilly shook her head in response.

"Nope. As long as my hand is broken, I can only manage to throw a droplet of water at the bad guys," she answered, "Besides, I want Nya to learn how to use her powers." Lilly turned and smiled at Nya, who did the same.

"Our greatest power isn't what we can throw at him, it's what we have right here, a united team," Lloyd reminded us, smiling. I nodded in agreement.

"If they know we're coming, how about we show them that not every path is a straight line?" a smirk appeared on Nya's face as she talked, as though she were a villain with a huge evil plan. As she explained her plans on how to get into Stiix and kick Morro's butt, I felt much more confident that we were going to emerge victorious in the end. There's no way Morro's gonna see us coming! Though, I still preferred bringing along water guns sometime just to shoot the ghosts.

As we were on our way to Stiix, I decided to ask Lilly about what she saw in the ice back at the Tomb. I didn't want to come off as nosy, but I wanted to know why it looked like she was about to cry.

"Um, so," I started as I pulled my hair back into it's bun, tying it with a new ribbon, "if you don't mind me asking, what exactly did you see in the ice? You looked like you were about to cry."

The blonde remained silent for a few moments, then said "I'll only tell you if you tell me what you saw."

I nodded in agreement. There really wasn't anything confidential in what I saw that will keep me from telling her. Though, the silhouette I saw still stood out.

"Well, I saw an older me, my father, and some strange silhouette. It looked too masculine to be my mother," I spilled the beans to her. She rubbed her chin.

"That's strange. Do you think it's a family member, or maybe your future husband?" Lilly asked. I shrugged. I didn't know. Though, if it is my future husband, he's gonna be shorter than older me.

"Maybe," I said.

Lilly sighed, most likely realizing it's her turn to tell now.

"Well, of course there was older me, and...if you weren't able to tell by my blush, I saw..." she paused as her cheeks turned a bright red, "...Kai, too. And, I saw both of my parents. The sight of my father sort of shocked me."

"So, they were going to be tears of joy?" I asked. She nodded.

"It's just surprising. I guess I'm going to see my parents again soon..." she said, looking out into the distance. I leaned on the railing of the Bounty, the battle ahead keeping me anxious.

"Hey," Lilly started, "There's a band with the same name as the city of Stiix. You think they play there?"

I shrugged. "They might."

"You think they wave sticks in the air too?" Lilly asked. I giggled.

"Okay, now you're just getting ridiculous."

If only moments like that could last forever...