In the Shadow Clan headquarters, the Kraang alien was squealing angrily as Lady Shade used her black magic to imprison the alien creature inside a transparent black bubble and began squeezing it painfully.
"One more time. Why are you hunting the K-5?" Lady Shade demanded.
The Kraang alien squeaked with a growl as a response as Lady Shade kept squeezing the creature with her magic. Kuro was sitting on a cloud of dark energy and watched the whole thing with an amusing smile.
"They actually don't talk much outside their little houses." Kuro said with a smirk.
Kuro snapped his fingers and two giant hands made of dark energy carried the broken Kraang droid. The alien robot has no arms and no legs thanks to Donna, who was using the alien technology to her inventions. Two giant hands placed the Kraang droid on the table in the center of the throne room. Lady Shade levitated the alien creature into the droid body from the bubble, allowing the Kraang alien to activate the robot. Kuro and Lady Shade watched the rising Kraang droid's head locking onto Lady Shade with its glowing neon pink eyes.
"Kraang is lacking the knowledge to answer the questions that the one known as Lady Shade is asking of Kraang." The Kraang droid spoke.
"Do all of these creatures speak like this?" Lady Shade asked Kuro with a raised eyebrow.
"You have no idea." Kuro replied.
"Even if Kraang is possessing the knowledge, the one known as Lady Shade will never be getting that knowledge from Kraang." The Kraang droid continued.
"You didn't have any other plans for me today, did you?" Kuro asked Lady Shade.
Lady Shade shot Kuro a deadpan look on her face and lifted up the Kraang droid to trap the alien robot in a sphere of black energy.
"Let's try again. Why are you hunting the K-5?" Lady Shade asked threateningly.
"The ones known as the K-5 are possessing the ultimate essence needed by Kraang. The ones known as Dastren's son and the Four Dragonesses." The Kraang responded in a fearful tone. "But they are allied with the human lifeform known as Casey Jones."
"Wait a minute. Dastren's son? The Four Dragonesses?" Lady Shade gasped with wide eyes. "I didn't know the great Dastren had a child. And I thought all of them were vanished from their final battle years ago. And who is this Casey Jones?"
"He is the one known as the distraction." The Kraang droid explained. "He is preventing us from processing the link which is missing in the plan which is the plan of Kraang."
"Sounds like this Casey Jones is one brave human if you ask me." Kuro said with a smirk.
"Then perhaps we can use him to draw the K-5 out of hiding." Lady Shade said.
"Or I can persuade him to lure the K-5 to us." Kuro suggested.
"Kuro, find this boy and bring him to me." Lady Shade ordered.
Kuro nodded his head and turned around to exit the throne room, but he only have his own plans for Casey in his mind.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the Crete Fortress, Talia, Ezra, Norbit and Casey sat on the floor in the dojo as they watched Sage preparing an important training lesson with the smirking Camilla.
"In a case of battle, when you decide to give up easily, I'll show you how to unbalance your opponent." Sage said to Talia, Ezra, Norbit, and Casey. She turned back to Camilla. "Observe. Camilla, carry me."
Camilla's smirk quickly disappeared. As Sage levitated herself up with criss crossed legs, she landed on her daughter's back that made Camilla struggling to lift her mother on her back.
"Unbalance your opponent will give you the perfect opportunity to strike sneakily." Sage advised wisely.
"Like how, mom?" Talia asked cautiously.
"Anyway you can." Sage said. "Like this, for example."
Sage empowered her finger with white energy on the tip and shoved it into Camilla's right ear, causing the red mage's hair flying everywhere with a disgusted face. As Camilla dropped herself on the floor to clean her right ear, Sage then wrapped Camilla tightly with her white energy rope and knocked her daughter hard to the wall.
"Whoa!" Ezra said with a smile.
Casey laughed loudly on the floor while pointing his finger to Camilla.
"You see? That's how you do it." Sage said as she walked into her room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Then, four mages and a robot sat on the couch in the living room. Kirana was watching Battlestar Matrix while eating gummy bears, Talia was reading her comic book, Camilla was feeding her pet cat Samson with fried fish bits in her hand, and Ezra was playing a game on his K-phone with Norbit watching the game.
"Hey guys!" Ariana called as she came out of her lab. "I was analyzing some sewage water and you guys won't believe what I've discovered."
Kirana, Camilla, Talia, Ezra, and Norbit walked into Ariana's lab, where Casey was sitting on a rolling chair next to Ariana's desk. They saw their sister bringing over a large beaker filled with strange purple liquid on her textbooks in her hands.
"So, what did you discover?" Kirana asked.
"I was going through some files on the Kraang storage device and found out the Kraang are using a special process to change Earth's water into Kraang water." Donna explained. "They already started the process. I was manage to find a low concentration of Kraang chemicals in the sewage."
"Chemicals can be hazardous for water if they do not have a good reaction." Norbit advised.
"And I take it that's a bad thing." Ezra guessed.
"But what's the difference between Kraang water and sewage water?" Kirana asked.
"Simple. Watch this." Ariana said.
Ariana held up a slice of pizza and slowly dipped the slice into the beaker of Kraang water, causing the pizza slice to disintegrate in fast seconds.
"But this is only a tiny bit in the water supply." Ariana continued. "But the increasing concentration can..."
"Destroyed everyone in New York who uses water?" Talia gasped frantically with a horror face.
"That's straight-up cruel, yo." Casey said with a serious face.
Kirana, Camilla, Talia, Ezra, Casey, and Norbit gathered around Ariana, who was staring at her beeping laptop.
"Thanks to my access to the satellite, the scanner had located the Kraang facility right here." Ariana reported as she pointed to a pink dot on the digital map. "We can't let them transform the whole water supply into the city!"
"Looks like we got a mission." Kirana stated. "Ready to go, Casey?"
"As much as I love to, I can't." Casey said. "Unfortunately, I have a late essay to do. Thanks to Ariana who convince the teacher for giving me another chance."
"No problem." Ariana smiled.
"Plus, I need some food to fuel my energy." Casey said. "Have a good mission."
Casey exited out of Ariana's lab.
"I would like to accompany with you all on this mission." Norbit said.
"Alright, buddy. So, Ariana, how are we gonna get down there?" Ezra asked.
"Oh, I've been working on something that is pretty awesome!" Ariana grinned proudly.
Ariana walked into a metallic silver door behind her and opened it with her magic. As the door opened wide, the lights turned on to reveal an armored submarine right in front of the mages and the robot. The armored submarine resembled itself as a real-life manta ray. It has a two-seated llipsoid-shaped cockpit in the center covered by a resilient and aquadynamic glass. On both sides, it has a white oval-shaped ballast tank. Surrounding both the cockpit and the ballast tanks is a flat, manta ray-shaped frame. It also has a rear tail plane on each side with three powerful lights and three engines on the rear.
Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Ezra smiled excitedly in amazement.
"I call it the Magnolia Torpedo." Ariana said with a proud smile.
"Nice name." Talia grinned.
"Let's take it for a spin." Kirana said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Few minutes later, the Magnolia Torpedo began propelling down into the deep bottom of the ocean. Ariana was locating the Kraang facility through the tracking device while Kirana, Camilla, Talia, Ezra, and Norbit were staring at the undersea sight.
"This is so wicked." Camilla said.
"Yeah, this submarine is amazing, Ariana." Kirana smiled.
"Heads up, guys!" Ariana said firmly. "We're almost there."
Ariana activated the engines and the Magnolia Torpedo soared through the ocean with fast speed. Norbit looked through the window and saw something that caught his attention.
"Ariana? I have a question. Is it possible that the Kraang facility has a shape like a giant Loch Ness Monster?" Norbit asked Ariana.
"No. Not really." Ariana replied.
"Then, what is that?" Norbit asked as he pointed his finger to the window.
Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra collectively gazed to the window to see a large sea monster swimming around the Kraang facility protectively.
"Look, the Kraang brought it here from Dimension X judging by the physiology of the creature." Ariana said.
"Well, how do we get to the facility without getting caught by that?" Ezra asked.
"Simple. We'll go stealth." Kirana said.
Ariana powered down the entire Magnolia Torpedo into stealth mode and approached silently towards the facility.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the city, Casey was walking on the sidewalk with a sad frown. He couldn't help but feel that he's missing all the action that the K-5 and Norbit are having during their mission. He took a turn around the corner to see the familiar noodle shop ahead and briskly walked towards it. He then noticed a vending machine right outside and walked forward to check it out. There were labels on the buttons that has all of Murakami's meals written in English and Japanese.
"Yo, what's this?" Casey muttered.
"Oh, you can order your food with this machine."
Casey looked up at a teenage boy who stood next to him. He wore a short sleeved black shirt, blue jeans, dark grey fingerless gloves with spiked cuffs, and black sneakers. Casey watched as the boy put one coin in the machine and pressed a button, causing the machine to let out a wooden token come out of the bottom.
"They have these machines in Tokyo." The boy explained as he showed the token to Casey. "You give this to the chef to order your meal."
"Oh, thanks, dude." Casey smiled.
Casey looked back at the machine to put his one coin in the machine and pressed his favorite meal button before taking a wooden token out of the machine.
"May I join you?" The boy asked casually.
"Sure, dude." Casey said with a shrug.
Casey and his new friend walked into the restaurant to find Murakami mixing ingredients in his giant pot.
"Yo, Murakami!" Casey greeted.
"Hello, Casey-san!" Mr. Murakami greeted. "What can I do for you today?"
Casey and the boy placed their tokens to the table, making Murakami find the two tokens and felt the sign with his thumb.
"Ah, pizza gyoza!" Mr. Murakami smiled. "Excellent choice!"
"Hai." The boy said with a nod. "Kyōmibukaidesu ne."
"Whoa, you speak Japanese?" Casey asked surprisingly.
"I am from Tokyo." The boy replied. "But I've never heard of pizza gyoza before. Is that something new in America?"
"Yeah, Murakami invented it." Casey responded. "You should try one."
"That sounds great." The boy smiled.
Casey and the boy sat on the chair as Murakami turned around to prepare meals for them.
"So, what's your name?" The boy asked.
"I'm Casey." Casey introduced. "And your name?"
"The name's Chase." The boy replied.
"So, what brings you to New York from Japan?" Casey asked.
"I live alone with my mom." Chase responded. "She's here working on financial matters. She's a businesswoman with executive instincts."
Murakami came to the table and brought the food to the boys.
"Itadakimasu." Chase said as he folded her hands.
"Idatakimasu." Casey repeated as he folded his hands.
Chase took one pizza gyoza and ate it in his mouth.
"Whoa, these are the best dumpling ever!" Chase smiled.
"I know, right?" Casey smiled. He then spotted two black crescent moon-shaped birthmarks on the back of Chase's hands. "What's that on your hands?"
"These are my birthmarks." Chase replied simply. "Like your five friends."
Suddenly, Casey widened his eyes wide in shock.
"Kuro?" Casey gasped.
"In the flesh." Kuro smirked.
Casey stepped backwards towards the door as Kuro stood up from his seat.
"Look, Casey, my mother would love to meet you, but I won't let that happen." Kuro said firmly with a serious face. "I really don't want to hurt you."
"Wait a minute. Why?" Casey asked. "You work for the Shadow clan."
"But you can ask Kirana." Kuro said. "I'm an ally to her and her siblings. I only want to see you in action. See how much you can fight with the big guns."
"Oh really?" Casey smirked.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, the K-5 and Norbit snuck silently inside of the Kraang facility. They quietly walked through the hallways and hid on the ledge inside the main control room, where the entire place was filled with Kraang droids.
"Okay, we have to take them down in stealth mode." Kirana whispered.
"Kirana, we're ninjas, for pete's sake." Ariana argued. "I'm pretty sure we all know how to stay quiet."
Suddenly, Ariana's K-Phone rang in a loud volume. Kirana, Camilla, and Ezra looked at Ariana with shocked expressions while Talia chuckled under her breath.
"Um, you saying, Ariana?" Talia remarked with a grin.
Unfortunately, the loud sound of Ariana's K-Phone caught the Kraang droids' attention. They took out their laser guns and started firing neon pink energy blasts at the K-5, causing the five mages to jump off the ledge and scattered around the room. Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra dodged the energy blasts with their amazing agility and reflexes. Norbit took cover behind a wall and watched his mage friends fight the Kraang.
"Sorry, Casey, I really can't talk right now." Ariana said as she took her K-phone and placed it on her right ear.
"Ariana, Kuro is with me." Casey said calmly. "He wants to challenge me into a fight."
"Say what?" Ariana shouted. She turned her head to Kirana, who moved next to her. "Kuro is challenging Casey to a fight!"
"Really?" Kirana asked with a raised eyebrow. "Well, let him have one. We trust Kuro, remember?"
"Alright, Casey. Accept the challenge because the guys and I are kinda busy at the moment." Ariana said. "Just remember what my mother told you."
Ariana hung up her K-Phone and returned to the battle with Kirana.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Casey and Kuro faced each other in an alleyway. Casey charged forward and swung his hockey stick at Kuro, who easily moved out of the way to avoid the attack.
"I have to admit, Jones. You got some guts in you." Kuro mused. He slowly constructed a katana sword made of dark energy. "Come on. Gimme all you got."
Casey took several hockey pucks to the ground and hit them one by one with his hockey stick. Kuro easily sliced each hockey puck with his katana sword, but the last hockey puck caught him off-guard and stepped back when the hockey puck hit him in the right cheek of his face.
"Good hit." Kuro grinned.
"I got a few tricks." Casey grinned back.
"Now, it's time to get really serious." Kuro said.
Kuro got into his strong stance with his katana sword just when Casey started charging towards him with his hockey stick.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back in the underwater Kraang facility, the K-5 have managed to defeat the large number of Kraang droids with their magic.
"Well, that work out nicely." Camilla said.
"Okay, Ariana, how can we take this place down?" Kirana asked.
"Well, the chemical is highly explosive." Ariana replied.
"How do you know that?" Norbit questioned.
"Because not only it has a hydro-crabon on it's outer ring, but because of that sign over there." Ariana explained as she pointed her index finger to a Kraang sign. She then grabbed the Kraang gun from the ground. "Camilla, melt the opening for me."
"With pleasure." Camilla grinned.
Camilla's finger gently touched the small opening of the Kraang gun, causing it to melt into a small liquid puddle.
"Now, I'll rig the Kraang gun in 90 seconds to overheat the tanks for this place to explode." Ariana explained.
Ariana sprang up high in the air and struck the Kraang gun to the tank as the K-5 and Norbit exited the room and headed back to the Magnolia Torpedo just before the chemical tank exploded the Kraang facility.
"Heh, that wasn't so bad." Camilla said as she was stretching her arms.
"I'll say." Ariana said as she made her way to the control keyboard.
Ezra then saw something coming straight towards the Magnolia Torpedo at full speed.
"Ariana?!" Ezra gulped.
Ariana looked out the window and widened her eyes.
"You have got to be kidding me!" Ariana shouted.
Kirana, Camilla, Talia, and Norbit looked at the view screen to notice the sea monster swimming its way towards them.
"Uh, Ariana, do you have a quick plan on this?" Kirana shouted.
"Yup!" Ariana shouted back.
Ariana pressed an aquamarine button and the turbo engines revved up, causing the Magnolia Torpedo to sped faster from the sea creature. Kirana, Camilla, Talia, Ezra, and Norbit fell to the floor due to the speed impact. The Magnolia Torpedo shot off away out of sight, leaving the sea creature roar in anger.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After slashing their weapons continuously while moving out of the entrance to the alley, Casey and Kuro became exhausted from all the fighting as they both struggled to stand up off the ground.
"That was a great fight, Kuro. You got some wicked moves." Casey said.
Casey slowly got up from the ground and moved forward towards Kuro with his hand extending out.
"You got some cool moves yourself, Casey." Kuro smiled as he took Casey's hand to be lifted up back on his feet. "You have proven to be very impressive."
"Thanks, but there's one thing I don't get." Casey said. "You're the son of the leader of the Shadow Clan, trained by your mother herself, and yet you become a secret ally to my friends. Why?"
"I don't know." Kuro replied with a shrug. "She may have raised me ever since I lost my father, but I'm still confused about my life in the past."
"Whoa, really? You lost your father?" Casey asked with wide eyes.
"My mother told me that her old rival killed him when I was just a little kid." Kuro explained. "But I started having strange memories about me and my dad when Kirana, her siblings, and her mother were around."
"So, you think you're somehow related to Kirana and her family?" Casey asked.
"Maybe. I don't know." Kuro responded with a shrug. "It's complicated, but I'm gonna find out myself."
"But what about Lady Shade?" Casey asked again. "Will she harm you when she finds out about your memories and you didn't capture me for her plans?"
"I can always make false excuses to her. She might never know about my memories. It's a secret that I intend to keep for myself." Kuro replied. He then let out a smirk. "I'll see you around, but next time we'll fight more."
"Definitely looking forward to it." Casey smiled.
With a friendly smile, Kuro vanished into the dark energy portal below him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back in the Crete Fortress, the K-5 made their way out of the Magnolia Torpedo as they felt dizzy from the engine speed back at the ocean. They heard the loud sound of the K-Phone that made Kirana, Camilla, Talia, Ezra, and Norbit turn their heads to Ariana, who took her K-phone and placed it on her right ear.
"Casey?" Ariana answered.
"What up, Ariana?" Casey said through the phone.
"Casey! Thank goodness!" Ariana smiled. Her voice quickly went serious. "You got some explaining to do, you know that?"
"Yeah, I know." Casey chuckled.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The K-5 sat on the couch and Sage stood behind the couch as they all listened to Casey's involvement with Kuro.
"After slashing our weapons at each other, we call it a truce and parted ways." Casey finished with a cocky smile.
"Way to go, Casey!" Ezra applaud.
"Awesome!" Ariana smiled.
"You totally rocked!" Talia cheered.
"Seriously kick butt, dude." Camilla praised.
"Wicked moves, Jones." Kirana grinned.
"That is excellent combat." Norbit said.
"I'm very impress, Casey." Sage said with a smile.
"Thanks, guys." Casey grinned.
"Even though, I'm surprised that Kuro didn't turn you in to Lady Shade." Sage said with a serious tone in her voice. "But if Lady Shade wants you to lure us out, she will stop at nothing to find you."
"What?" Casey exclaimed. "So, what am I suppose to do if I can't fight her?"
"Not to worry. I have been working on it for such an occasion." Ariana assured. "I've invented a holographic ring to alter Casey's appearance, so only the Shadow clan recognize him."
"Also, we got your back all the way, Casey." Kirana said firmly.
"We're not going down without a fight." Ezra said.
"Let's do this." Casey said with a determined smile.