Woohoo, extra fighting for you guys! That was fun to write.

Angel Star Ninja: Uhh, do what? ^_^''

Eris: On the upside, at least it's painless. He was asleep anyway, so he didn't feel a thing. Still, poor sap. It wasn't even his fault, he was sleeptalking . . .

Sept 13

Time unknown

Patrol circuit: Temporarily suspended

Status conditions: Kai weak in one leg, Jay lightly wounded

Lloyd slammed a hand down on the battery lantern, plunging the tunnel into pitch darkness. They all sprang softly to their feet, backing into a tight formation, judging each others' position by breath, warmth, and sheer intuition. Weapons whispered out of holsters. Through the darkness Jay heard a brisk shlp-shlp. Kai was licking the edge of his blade, testing its sharpness. Jay allowed himself a silent sigh of envy; Kai knew all the cool tricks.

"Do you think they heard us?" Zane's voice was barely above a breath.

"Probably not," Cole whispered back. "They're making too much noise. We'll have the advantage of surprise."

They waited silently, listening as the distant sounds echoed creepily down the tunnel. There were voices, footsteps, what sounded like wheels rolling over the tunnel floor. They seemed to be taking forever. Jay shifted his weight slightly from foot to foot, feeling sweat collecting on his forehead. Would they hurry up already? It felt like the darkness was crushing him.

Then he felt Mopp squirm behind him, and his heart plummeted to his feet. He'd forgotten to hide the aliens. It was too late now; all he could do was hope they knew enough to stay out of the way, and that the Technicians wouldn't notice them.

Not notice two squealing, semi-transparent, animated tentacled blobs.

Sure!

A faint glow shone down the fork of the tunnel they hadn't yet traveled, reflected from around a nearby bend. The ninja fixated on it, breathing slowly and evenly in preparation as the voices and noise drew nearer. It sounded like only a few people and Serpentine. They could do this.

Then the light swung around the bend, and the Technicians with it. There were four humans and a snake, pulling two carts amongst them. They caught sight of the ninja and froze.

"Ninjaaaaa-GO!" All five ninja hurled themselves down the tunnel, blazing in five bright Spinjitzu colors. In the cramped space, it was almost impossible not to brush against each other, and Jay soon felt the thwack of an opposing spin on his right as his Spinjitzu funnel crossed with Kai's. The force hurled them both apart, reeling and stumbling. The others were having similar difficulties; luckily the tenpin-tumbling effect did just as much to knock over the Technicians. Within seconds everyone was sprawled on the floor, and a full-scale brawl broke out.

"Does this seem strange to you?" said Zane measuredly, twirling a shuriken in either hand. "I do not see any bladed weapons."

One of the larger guys aimed a punch at the Nindroid's gut. He dodged smoothly, receiving only a light graze on the shoulder. Sparks flew as metal screamed against metal.

"They do have brass knuckles, however," Zane called. "We seem to be facing blunt weapons only."

"Sounds good to me!" gritted Cole, circling and weaving with another one of the Techs. Not wanting to distract him, Zane gave a terse nod and returned his full attention to his own opponent. Bringing the spinning shurikens to a halt and fixing them firmly in his grip, he bore down on the Technician, driving him back with short, threatening jabs. The man danced back anxiously. Unlike Jay's small backup shurikens, barely more than beestings, Zane's weapons were two rotors of powerful, impeccably weighted blades, gleaming at each razor-sharp edge. You didn't mess with them.

Cole's opponent looked nervous too. He circled cautiously around the earth ninja, seeming hesitant to get close. Cole smirked a little, sizing him up, then dove for a weak point on his chest. The man fell back with a gasp, and Cole followed, prepared to pin him and put him under with a neat tap to the jaw, as Sensei had taught them.

The Technician proved to have some tricks up his sleeve, however. Bringing his head up sharply, he fetched Cole a fairly significant blow to the forehead with his own.

"Ow!" Cole faltered, momentarily blinded by the impact. "Dude, that's your own brain you're—"

The second's hesitation cost him, as the Technician flung himself sideways and rolled them both over, forcing Cole to the bottom. Simultaneously his hands closed around Cole's throat.

Technically Sensei had taught them how to deal with this kind of attack too, but none of them had ever gotten very good at it. Cole choked for a second, grasping at the Technician's arms and struggling to lever him away. He would probably have succeeded, but his efforts were interrupted by Lloyd sailing in from stage right and tackling the Technician halfway across the tunnel. He didn't stop to check if he'd knocked the guy out; he levered himself to his feet and returned to Cole.

"You okay?" he panted.

Cole was sitting up, gingerly twisting the pressing feeling away from his windpipe. He tried to look unruffled.

"I had it under control," he said. " . . . But thanks."

Lloyd hauled him to his feet, and they quickly backed against each other, ready for another assault. However, the guy Lloyd had tackled, and another guy he had been fighting earlier, both seemed to be skittering farther away from the main fight, looking a little overwhelmed. Cole and Lloyd glanced to each other, then exchanged a nod of understanding and plunged off after the two escapees.

"Gerroffame!" growled Jay meanwhile, rolling over and over grappling with one of the humans. When they came up against a wall, Jay used their momentum to slam the Technician to the floor, rolling to his feet. Suddenly the lone snake—a Fangpyre—came roaring in from behind. Jay let him come up against his shoulder, then swung him around and sent him stumbling backwards over the handcart Kai pushed into his way.

"Eat that!" Jay shook his fist after the snake, then whirled to kick back the first guy, who had by now clambered back to his feet. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a third Technician aiming a strange, bulky device at Kai.

"Look out!" he shouted. Kai turned, startled. The Technician's device made a strange shhhhak! noise, and suddenly the top swung back and sprang forward blindingly fast, like a stamp in a factory. Kai ducked, but it probably wouldn't have been enough. He was saved by a block of ice hurtling in and knocking the Technician and his device aside. The machine's stamp slammed into the tunnel wall just by Kai's shoulder, and fell away leaving a metal bar lodged halfway through the wall. It had punched as neatly through the plate metal as a staple through paper.

Kai sat frozen for a second, his eyes fixed on the two-inch-wide projectile that had barely missed him.

"Son of a Skulkin." He looked up to Jay and Zane with a shaky smile. "So that's a pile driver."

Jay shook off a shudder and turned back to the battle. Some kind of chaos was playing out between the others a little farther down the tunnel. By the time Jay, Kai, and Zane reached them, the last of the Technicians were sprawled on the floor, unconscious. Jay barely noticed; his attention jumped immediately to Lloyd. The youngest ninja was flung back on his hands with blood coating his chin. Cole crouched next to him, one hand on his shoulder, asking something in an urgent, low tone.

No matter how many times you saw something like this happen, the cold shock never wore off.

"What happened?" barked Kai.

"I'm fine—" Lloyd broke off to wipe his chin resentfully as more blood slopped over his lip. His eyes were watering, and he looked furious about it.

"What is it wif these people and hitting me in the mou'gh?" he mumbled, one hand cupped over his lips. "Shum wise guy stuck a knife in there."

"Knife?!" yelped Jay. "What if the blade was—"

"Ish fine, ish fine," slurred Lloyd, pulling up the front of his gi and sopping at his chin doggedly. Finally he pulled the bunched fabric from his mouth and gave the others a reassuring smile. He spoke carefully, trying not to aggravate the bleeding. "It's okay, you guys, really. They stuck it hilt-first. I think they wanted to knock out my teeth or something; the blade just nicked my gum. I don't think cutting me was the point."

"Knock out your teeth?" Cole knit his brows.

"Yeah, pretty sure they cracked one, actually." Lloyd felt gingerly at his cheek, grimacing. "Ow. Man, I suck. The only knife in the entire posse and I have to get in its way."

"Can I see?" said Cole.

"Nahhh, it's a bloody mess in there." Lloyd pushed his hand away gently. "'sides, there's not much you could do. It'll stop in a minute."

"Are you sure you're okay?" said Kai.

"I'm finnnnnnnne, guys," said Lloyd. Jay could see from his eyes that he was starting to find the fuss a little funny, though he didn't say anything. Something you learned quickly in this trade was that making fun of others for caring was the best way to encourage them not to.

"Okayyy," sighed Cole, ruffling Lloyd's hair and standing up. "Everyone else all right?"

Affirmations all around.

"Well, not a bad job," said Cole, looking around at the downed Technicians and scattered electronics. "I guess we should head in the direction they were coming from—from the sound of it, there was a door just a little farther down this tunnel."

"Shouldn't we go back to get our—"

Zane was interrupted by a sudden brisk shuffle from farther down the corridor. The ninja quickly focused their attention in that direction; seconds later there was another metallic shhhak! A metal rod burst from the darkness and drove itself into the floor inches away from Zane's foot.

"Someone's there!" Lloyd scrambled to his feet, summoning a fistful of whirling energy. The green light flooded down the tunnel and revealed two human forms, cast in sharp shadows. As soon as the light struck them they bolted like cockroaches.

"Get 'em!" called Cole, and without another thought the ninja dashed down the tunnel after the fleeing Technicians.

The tunnel curved a few times. They couldn't keep their targets in sight, but they could hear their rushing footsteps up ahead. Besides, there was nowhere else for them to go.

Then the confusion of clattering feet seemed to lessen slightly, and eventually they realized it was only their own footsteps they were hearing. They slowed, panting slightly. Finally they stopped. Dead silence fell.

"Where'd they go?" whispered Lloyd urgently, holding his light high. "They can't have just disappeared."

"Maybe they're holding still as well?" Kai murmured.

"This does not make sense," said Zane suddenly.

"What doesn't?"

"We didn't pass a door. We have run far enough that we should have passed the door that we heard the first group of Technicians coming in through."

Silence as the others digested this notion.

"You're right," said Kai. "Weird."

"We should go back," said Lloyd. "Maybe the doors are well-camouflaged and we just missed it. That would explain how the other two disappeared, too."

As the little group turned around to backtrack, Jay realized with surprise that Mopp was still clinging staunchly to his shoulder, half-in half-out of the hoodie. Meep had also kept the pace all throughout the mayhem, although the little alien looked a bit tired. Jay let him perch on his other shoulder to rest, petting him reassuringly. Maybe he'd give the aliens some water soon—

"Cole?" Lloyd, near the front of the group, looked over his shoulder. "What's up?"

The earth ninja was lagging behind, suddenly looking tense. He was shifting his gaze around the tunnel slowly, his expression intent, as if he heard something the others didn't.

"Something's wrong," he said softly.

"What?" The others turned back. "What do you hear?"

"No, I feel it," said Cole, his eyes growing wide. "Like something's about to—"

Suddenly everything around them seemed to sing out with a dull thunder. In a blurry half-second of confusion, the ground rolled, the tunnel walls buckled inwards, earth and stone showered in from every direction. Jay realized vaguely that this must be an explosion—just before the floor slid away from beneath him and plunged everything into darkness.