Haiiiiii guys! How was everyone's Halloween? Anyone got thoughts on "Day of the Departed"?
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Greenninjaisbae: Thanks for the review! Heh, well, Kai worries about all his teammates when they're injured, because he is Assistant Dad. Cole is Chief Dad, and then Wu is Grand High Master Dad. Between the three of them they do enough worrying for the entire population of New Ninjago City.
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Angel Star Ninja: Ah, they'll be fine! Woah, go easy on those Technicians—the ninja are going to enough trouble trying not to kill them. :P
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TheAmberShadow: I'm full of surprises! You're welcome. :) Heh, Silica's a girl. But yeah, she's having some trouble keeping her supposed underlings under control. I have no idea why LEGO changed it to a special, but it wasn't as bad as it could be! Seen it yet?
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Elveron294: Aww, no worries! It's only one week. I like chatting with you too!
And I'm not wrapping up the story for . . . eh, at least another forty chapters, the way things are going. XD I just meant I was wrapping up the long author's note.
Hmm, interesting! What are the habits of the Authorwolf? I think I'd like to be an Author-Platypus. Weird and venomous and hunts for small crustaceans with electric nose. Can't lose, right? :P
Ooh, the documentary? Cool! Can't wait. :3
*Villainopus begins to bob to a sinister beat, playing boss-battle music*
Lawsy! Well, the fandom is very much indebted to you for making it canon. Gracious though, you are feeding him, right? XD
This is very true. Maybe I should present to a teaching hospital as a case study for authorbunny infection. XD
A truly venerable fish among fishes! Although Jay would probably insist on calling him a SenseiColeWalrus. :P
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EmritTheSpirit: Hi there! I assume you're seeing this, since you said you read FMW—so, thanks very much! Glad you're enjoying. :) Heh, is that a one-shot request, you mean? Those are kiiiinda closed right now, since I said the limit was 5 and I've already gone past that. I'm starting to have time issues back here. ^_^'' But don't worry, there'll probably be more of those moments in this story! Like I said, Kai is Assistant Dad. :3
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Ninja Pony: Beware the Lloydfish? Nahhhh! If you're not a jerk (or a plump rat), you've got nothing to fear from Lloydfish. They're very sweet when they're not on the hunt.
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ShinyShiny Fan: Woah, man! That's, uh, quite the username. ^_^'' Um, well, questions are open, but requests are closed, I'm afraid . . . I set a cap on them, I've got a lot of other stuff going on. Sorry! Interesting idea, though. :)
Sept 16
6:45 AM
Patrol circuit: Still suspended
Status conditions: Kai lame, Jay with infected wound and cold, Cole lightly wounded, Zane with significant external damage and missing eye, various minor injuries, under siege in convenience store.
A gray dawn oozed in through the store's rain-splattered windows. Kai was still stationed atop the boxes, giving himself a headache from binocular squint.
"They're all just standing there," he muttered. "They're waiting on purpose, wearing us down. They're trying to make us sweat." He looked back over his shoulder and smiled in spite of himself. "They're failing."
Cole was curled up under a rain poncho, his breath coming in soft puffs. Jay was sopping at his nose with a tissue and clearly weighing whether it would be worth his life to drip ginger ale down Cole's ear. Zane was showing Junior how to build a card house using a pack of store cards, with fascinated spectatorship from the aliens, and Lloyd was sprawled on his back reading a book from the store's bargain bin.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said Zane mildly, as Jay fiddled with the cap on a ginger ale bottle.
"Awwww." Jay tossed the bottle aside and flopped back. He craned his neck, trying to see Lloyd's book. Then he blinked.
"Waaaait. Is that Twilight?"
"Ya." Lloyd yawned. "It was in the bargain bin. I figured I'd see what all the fuss was about."
"Have you no self-respect?" said Jay indignantly. "Put that down right now."
"No."
"Unacceptable! No brother of mine is gonna read Twilight." Jay crawled over and attempted to pry the book out of Lloyd's hands. Lloyd held it away from him with a sound of protest, then attempted to jab him with the corner of the cover.
"Come off it Jay, let the kid read what he wants." Kai slid down from his box tower.
"It's a matter of principle," grumbled Jay. He sat and scowled deeply at Lloyd as the younger ninja continued to read. "Is it at least good?"
"Eh, it's okay, I guess. I was expecting more fang action."
"You are messed-up, pal."
Junior and Zane's card house was fast becoming a card mansion. They were on their third pack of cards by now, and Junior had to stand atop a stack of soda boxes to continue placing them.
"It's taller than my daddy now!" said Junior, stretching to reach the peak. "Just one . . . more . . . "
He overbalanced, sending the soda-box tower toppling. Zane caught the snakelet safely, but the boxes crashed to the floor with an unnecessary amount of commotion. Cole bolted awake.
"What? What? What? Are we under attack?!" he demanded.
"Not yet, Cole," chuckled Kai. Cole rubbed one eye and looked bewilderedly around at the cards still fluttering everywhere.
Suddenly the room jolted with the sound of exploding glass. The ground-floor window burst into a barrage of sharp crystals as a bullet lodged itself in the opposite wall of the room.
"I stand corrected," said Kai.
Jay swung to his feet along with the others, his heart pounding. Outside he could hear a rising thunder of voices, swelling steadily into the babble of an angry mob. For the first time it dawned on him fully that they were about to face dozens of bloodthirsty criminals with guns and explosives, using a handful of ninja weapons, some elements, and some groceries.
Ho boy.
"Junior, get in the fort, take the aliens, stay there," barked Cole. "Jay, Kai, guard the back door! Lloyd, Zane, you're with me in here!"
Junior was already diving for cover in the shelf fortress, and the aliens seemed all too happy to join him. Kai looked a little miffed at being sent to the back, where the fighting was likely to be less intense, but he knew he'd have to take it easy on his leg during this battle. Cole would have benched him completely if they had any choice in the matter.
"Watch out for the glass!" warned Lloyd, pulling Cole back. "It's all over the place."
"I'll take care of it!" Zane launched into a Spinjitzu funnel and whirled towards the window, drawing up the broken glass littering the floor. His gleaming white tornado grew unusually sparkly, mixing the usual whistle of elemental energy with the clink of glass fragments scraping Zane's titanium shell.
He spun to a halt, the glass jingling to the floor around him, and looked around. Cole and Lloyd were struggling to hold the window as several Serpentine tried to push their way through.
"Back away!" called Zane, and came whirling over. Cole and Lloyd skittered back hastily as Zane's glass-filled Spinjitzu funnel stationed itself before the window. The Serpentine tried to press past it, but quickly found reason to change their minds. Cole cringed as the white tornado briefly acquired a brilliant red stripe, scattering droplets of blood.
"Well, they give us broken glass . . . "
"Come on!" Lloyd was already heaving at a nearby shelf. "Zane can't Spinjitzu forever, we have to keep them out some other way!"
Meanwhile Jay and Kai were already facing difficulties in the back room. The stack of boxes against the door turned out to have little effect—the roaring horde outside was steadily battering it open.
"Look out!" cried Jay as the muzzle of a rifle poked through the narrow opening. He and Kai both drew off to the sides, where they couldn't be hit. The rifle's owner soon poked his head in as well; a Constrictai, squinting around with hard eyes as he tried to pinpoint his targets.
"Heads up!" Jay clambered up the stack of boxes that was supposed to be holding the door shut and waved to Kai. Kai heaved him a box of soup cans; it nearly knocked Jay backwards, but he recovered his balance and dropped the box over the door onto the Constrictai's head. It knocked him cold instantaneously.
"Ha!" Jay muffled a sneeze. "We need a snazzy pun about cans. You think of one, I am not in any condition right now—"
Suddenly a man rammed his way through the half-open door, slipping over the Serpentine's unconscious form and tumbling neatly to a halt. He grinned at Kai, brandishing a large machete-style knife.
"Oh snap!" gasped Jay, and leaped down to help his teammate—but he forgot that the floor by the doorway had been greased. As soon as he landed he went sprawling.
Meanwhile the Technician caught sight of Kai's splinted leg and gave a harsh chuckle. Springing forward, he swung the machete. Kai parried with his katana, then struck out and was parried in turn. Metal clashed for a moment as Kai and the Technician circled each other, probing for openings.
Then without warning the man kicked out at Kai's shin, shattering the splint. Kai gave an involuntary bark of pain, his leg giving out beneath him. With a snarl, the Technician dove at him, driving him back against the wall, machete flashing for Kai's throat. Jay froze halfway to his feet, certain that he was about to see his friend decapitated.
Instead the machete blade stopped. Kai had blocked it with his katana at the last second, his wrist twisted at an awkward angle. The machete's edge grazed Kai's throat, drawing tiny dabs of blood as his hand shook, struggling to counteract the force of the Technician's arm. The man snorted darkly and tossed a meaningful smirk back to Jay. The lightning ninja stayed petrified, helpless. He knew perfectly well that any sudden movement from him would cause the Technician to finish the job.
"What now?" grinned the man, turning back to Kai. Kai scowled back at him, his eyes narrowed. His jaw tightened momentarily, and Jay thought he heard a soft pop—then without warning Kai blew a spray of green liquid into the Technician's face. The man gave a shriek and fell back, dropping his blade. Kai pushed himself away from the wall and spat, gagging slightly.
"Can not even tell you how satisfying that was," he said, giving Jay a dry grin. Almost as an afterthought he bent down to tap his panicking opponent in the jaw, knocking him cold.
"What did you do?" sputtered Jay.
"Those little packets of venom." Kai waved at the boxes stacked around them. "I hid one in my mouth. Instant human Venomari!"
"You're gonna get high off that stuff!"
"Nahhh. The mouth has a lot of good mucus and enzymes and stuff in it, it'll protect me for a few doses. I think."
"'Good mucus'?" Jay raised an eyebrow.
"That's what I said. Don't quote me on it. Also, don't try this yourself, you've never been slobber-high before. You wouldn't know when to quit."
A fresh wave of Technicians came barging through the door, and the two ninja dove to hold them back. Jay yelped as a shot whizzed past their ears. He tried to summon a bolt of electricity to knock out the Technician responsible, but again he couldn't seem to pull any lightning forth. He growled in frustration, shaking his hand furiously.
More Technicians wormed their way in. The door was opening further and further, and the stack of boxes leaning against it was looking ready to topple.
"Don't just stand there, Jay!" called Kai, herding back the press of enemies with fistfuls of fire.
"I'm trying!" Jay protested. Giving up on the lightning, he plowed forward into the fray with his nunchucks. Man, he kinda wished Meep would pull that fancy transformation thing again right about now . . .
"Hey you guys!" Lloyd came swooping in, preceded by an energy globe. "Thought I'd see how you're doing!"
"How does it look?" said Kai.
"Worse than the main room." Lloyd grabbed some crates and began tossing them against the door, trying to force it closed again or at least keep it from opening any more. "We've piled more shelves against the front doors and the window, then we doused them with oil and creamer. Everything is on fire."
"I thought I smelled smoke."
"Yeah. A couple of the Techs are still squeezing through, but we've got 'em under control. Junior and the aliens are throwing things like maniacs back there."
Zane's voice drifted from beyond the door to the main room.
"Speaking of which: Assuming you two did not damage anything back there, we currently owe sixty thousand four hundred and eighty-five ken."
Everyone groaned.
"Can we get some help on this door?" called Kai. "It's not holding!"
Zane came barging into the stockroom and swept a sheet of ice over the door, freezing it in place. It was still half-open, however.
"Change of plans!" Lloyd started to throw boxes and crates into the doorway. The others joined him, piling up boxes as fast as they could with Technicians constantly trying to batter them down. Jay beat back a guy who was climbing through one of the gaps.
"Go on!" he said irately, as the guy put up a fight. "Get!"
Lloyd skidded over and dealt the guy a few clubs with a large book, which upset him enough that the ninja managed to bundle him out the door. Jay glanced at the book's cover.
"Okay, I take it back," he said. "There's some merits to Twilight."
Lloyd chuckled absent-mindedly and cast about for another box to block the gap. His eyes went momentarily distant, as if he was listening to the howling of the Technicians outside.
Just at that moment, a snake came bursting through the boxes in a roaring explosion of scales and teeth and reptilian eyes. His jaws nearly closed over Lloyd's head; they would have done so if the ninja hadn't fallen backwards with a squawk.
"Get out!" Zane hurled a soda bottle, which exploded against the snake's nose. He hissed and recoiled. Kai jammed a box into the gap left behind, then looked back to Lloyd and laughed breathlessly.
"Told you he had six eyes."
"YIKES!" yelped Jay as another gunshot tore through the stack of boxes. "It's not holding! It's NOT HOLDING!"
Zane frantically tried to freeze the mound of boxes in place, but it was already too late. Cole skidded into the back room just as the top of the mound fell away completely and a mass of Technicians came pouring in.
"Get back!" bellowed Cole. "Hold the main room. Hold the main room!"
Jay turned to retreat. From the corner of his eye he saw Lloyd staring at the collapsing boxes, a strange look in his eyes, barely even backing away. His lips were moving silently.
"Lloyd, what are you doing? Move!" shouted Jay, swinging back and dragging at Lloyd's arm. The green ninja seemed to snap out of some kind of daze. Shaking his head furiously, he wheeled around and followed Jay out.
They tore out of the stockroom and dove to snatch more shelves, hoisting them against the "Employees Only" door. Normally it would have been unimaginable to block the doorway fast enough, but to their great good fortune the flood of Technicians was undermining itself. They were all pushing very enthusiastically and with great numbers against a pull door.
"Fizzims preserve us all," panted Cole, in the few seconds of bought time. "Oh man."
"Are they comin' in?" called Junior, peering with wide eyes over the wall of the shelf fortress—which had gotten significantly smaller as the ninja kept stealing shelves to barricade doors and windows.
"We'll stop them June, stay down, stay down," said Lloyd. "Be ready with those soda bottles!"
Junior nodded and ducked out of sight again.
"Hate to be ungrateful, but this splint kinda sucks," said Kai "I'm marked as a lamekin. Everyone goes straight for me."
Cole was going to say something, but at this point the Technicians grew impatient and ripped the door off its hinges. They had to clamber over the shelf barricade one or two at a time, but that was plenty fast enough.
"Go go go!" shouted Kai, and they all hurled themselves at the advancing forces. Chaos blossomed as fighters spilled all over the store, slamming each other against shelves, tripping over spilled merchandise and shattered soda bottles.
"Keep them contained! Keep them by the door!" Cole shouted over the uproar. "Don't let them spread out!"
A Venomari pounced from the top of the shelf barricade, teeth flashing. Cole stumbled and fell back onto one elbow; he knocked the snake out almost instantly, but not before a spray of venom caught him across the cheek.
"Hold still!" Zane quickly finished one of his own opponents and hastened to empty a bottle of soda over Cole's head. The earth ninja spluttered, dripping but venom-free.
"Thanks, I . . . think," he told the Nindroid.
"That brings us to one hundred thousand two hundred twenty-four ken," said Zane, and dashed on to the next opponent.
"Did I really have to know that?" Cole shouted after him.
"There's so many!" wailed Jay meanwhile, throwing a flashlight despairingly into the fray. At the last second he realized a woman was coming at him from the left. Thinking fast, he yanked open a nearby freezer door and let the Technician slam against it. "And did I mention I'm fighting without powers here?!"
He didn't get any answer; there was too much madness going on elsewhere in the room. Jay groaned, shaking his head as he took the chaos in. Who were they kidding? They were so madly outnumbered it was—
The Technician he'd hit with a door was apparently not fully unconscious. She lurched to her feet and tackled Jay from behind, shoving him into another Technician. They all went down in a highly dangerous tangle.
"Not cool! Not fair! All the objections!" growled Jay, flailing his nunchucks wildly. For a second he was aware of a miserable scratching sensation in his nose; then he sneezed. Electricity blazed every which way, throwing back the two Techs Jay had been fighting. Sniffling, he sat up and looked at his hands. To his delight, twin crackles of lightning blazed obediently to life in his palms.
"Aw yeah! Now we're talking!" Scrabbling to his feet, he went forth to engineer some more chaos.
Kai was starting to legitimately falter. His leg sent stars shooting across his vision with every step, sometimes caving beneath him entirely. He could barely focus on the fight raging around him.
He did notice the guy clambering over the shelf fortress, though.
"Get back here!"
Forgetting about his leg, Kai vaulted over the shelf. Junior was pressed back into a corner, his eyes wide with terror as the Technician leveled a handgun at him. With a snarl, Kai tackled the gunman to the floor, wrenching at the gun. The guy had a strong grip, though; he jerked back his elbow, throwing Kai off and rolling to his feet. Kai was already forcing his arms back over his head. The guy twisted away, throwing his weight back to pull Kai forward, then slammed him sideways against a shelf. Before Kai could recover his balance the Technician had kicked his good foot out from underneath him, sending him reeling. One more blow sent him crashing back through a stack of soda boxes, dizzy with pain.
With a quiet snort, the Technician pulled up his handgun and aimed.
"Hold very still."
Kai lay where he'd fallen, one arm twisted underneath him. He watched silently as the gun's barrel wavered only a few feet before him.
"You have two choices," said the Technician. "Call off your friends right now and tell them to surrender. Orrrr . . ."
Kai said nothing. The battle raging around the shelf fortress buzzed indistinctly, outside the scope of this small icy moment.
"Make it quick," said the Technician sharply.
There was a soft scuffling, and Junior suddenly darted from behind a pack of paper towels, skittering to Kai's side.
"You leave him 'lone!" he hissed, his voice shaky.
The gun skipped. The man's finger twitched on the trigger. Heaven only knows what prevented him from reflexively pulling it. He flicked his hard gaze between Kai and the snakelet, then shifted his aim slightly to cover both of them.
"Junior," whispered Kai despairingly. The snakelet crouched low beside him, his small fingers digging into an overturned soda box as he glared up at the Technician.
"Look into my eyes . . . "
Kai tried say something, but never made it to words. He watched in silence as Junior's eyes began to rotate smoothly, his voice dropping into a soothing drone.
"You are mine."
The Technician stood frozen where he was, his gun hand sagging ever so slightly. He couldn't seem to tear his gaze away from Junior's eyes. Kai waited, waited for the spell to break and the Technician to snap awake and shoot them both.
"Be ssssstill," whispered Junior. "Be at peace. I control you . . . "
Slowly the man's eyes glazed over. His arms drew back, cradling the handgun in a relaxed position by his chest.
"You are . . . mine . . . " Junior stopped spinning his eyes and hesitated, waiting for his victim to move. He didn't. Blinking, Junior dropped out of the trance state. He sized the hypnotized man up for a moment, his eyes widening.
"Drop the gun?" he ventured at last.
The weapon clattered harmlessly to the floor. Junior was stunned into silence for another moment; then he looked around.
"Now, uh . . . you, uh, you have to do whatever Kai tells you!" He smiled hopefully at Kai.
Silence. The man looked at them with those creepy glazed eyes. Kai sat up cautiously.
"Okay son, siddown."
The man sat down, crossing his legs neatly. Kai blinked.
"Gosh dangit, Junior!" he finally burst out. The snakelet leaped at him with a joyous squeal.
"Did I do good? Did I?"
"You were great!" laughed Kai, hugging him. "Beyond awesome."
"I didn't even scream!" said Junior proudly.
"Ech, kid, this is one of those times when you probably should scream." Kai smiled tiredly, gingerly hoisting himself to his feet. "But seriously, nice job!"
Just at this moment Jay came plowing into the shelf fortress.
"Dangit Kai, there you are, we thought you were—AGH!" He prepared to clobber the Technician with his nunchucks.
"No!" cried Kai. Jay caught himself at the last moment and gave him a blank look.
"Hypnosis victim," said Kai, grinning. Junior puffed himself up proudly.
"No wayyyyyy." Jay looked at the Tech again. "Woah ho! Well this is awesome! We can send this guy to fight the other Techs!"
"Ahhh, no, I dunno . . . " said Kai. When Jay looked at him, the fire ninja shook his head and tilted it at the battle outside, then made a slashing motion across his throat. Jay cringed as he caught the meaning: if they sent this hypnotized dude against the other Technicians, they wouldn't hesitate to kill him.
"Okay, we've gotta get back to fighting," said Kai to Junior. "Stay here, okay? You're doing a great job providing those soda bottles in time." Then he turned to the Tech. "Okay bud. Your job is to protect this snake kid. Anyone tries to hurt him, you get them, all right?"
The Technician nodded curtly.
"If he wakes up or something, then you scream," said Kai to Junior, and headed back to the battle.
The Technicians kept coming, mostly through the open back door-the front door and window were still blocked by flaming shelves. The ninja were knocking them out almost as fast as they came swarming in.
That "almost" was becoming a key issue.
"We are losing ground," called Zane, ducking a haymaker. "I estimate at the current rate we will be overwhelmed in roughly twenty minutes."
"Ohh, well that's heartening!"
"Hang in there, guys!" called Cole. He was starting to show the strain as much as anyone, but he kept on pushing. He knew his team could pull off some pretty incredible stuff under impossible odds.
Still.
This wasn't looking too hot.
Lloyd was leaning back against the outside of the shelf fortress, breathing shallowly. His eyes were glazing over in a way they really should not when there was a battle raging on every side. He looked hazily around at the enemies piling in. There was a quicker way to end this . . .
For reasons unknown, Mopp saw fit to climb on top of one of the shelves. This was not safety, as far as alien protocols went, and usually Mopp was very good about such things. But now he flopped his way along the top of the shelf and poked at Lloyd's head.
"Arwoo."
Lloyd's breath hitched. His tongue flicked over his lips.
"Komoto," he whispered. "Nictu. Demictara . . . "
"Rawwgh!" Mopp bunched himself up in displeasure and punched Lloyd with one tentacle. "Oi! Oiiiiiii."
"Persona. Demaru."
"EeeeeEEEEE!" Sensing that something wasn't right, Mopp wailed for backup. Jay seemed to have habituated to being called by the last phoneme of his name, because he looked up and fought his way over.
"Ey, what's the big deal?"
Lloyd blinked at him distantly. Jay tried to say something, but sneezed instead. Lightning jolted through Mopp, who didn't bat an eyelid, and Lloyd, who gave a yelp and jumped away.
"Gahhh." Jay dragged a hand down his face, sniffling. He looked worriedly at Lloyd, who was looking dazed and rubbing his head. "Oh gosh. Did I hurt you?"
"N-no, I'm . . . I'm fine . . . " Lloyd shook his head violently.
"Are you sure? We kinda need you, kid." Jay motioned at the battle around them. "We're kinda getting overwhelmed!"
Lloyd gulped, looking around. They were about to be surrounded.
"On it!" he said, setting his jaw. A flash of white-green energy, and Lloyd's dragon sparked into existence. You never realized how huge one of those creatures was until you tried to summon it indoors; the beast's nose relocated ceiling tiles as it tossed its head back, screaming and flailing like a panicked horse, beating at Technicians and shelves with its wings.
"That's more like it!" shouted Jay.
The dragon gained back a little of the edge the ninja had lost, but presently someone shot it through the wing and it vanished. Lloyd dropped to the floor, looking rattled; getting a hole shot through your soul was no fun.
"Easy kid, you're okay." Jay Spinjitzued over and spun Lloyd to his feet. "Nice run!"
Lloyd grinned shakily, pulling out his katana to continue by hand.
"The front!" Junior screamed from the shelf fortress. "Look!"
"Oh snap!" yelped Jay. The Technicians had made an inroad past the smoldering shelves blocking the store's front doors. There was no way the ninja could handle enemies pouring in from both directions.
"Ohhh, that does it," gritted Cole. Kicking aside some of the shattered floor tiles crushed by Lloyd's dragon rampage, he dug his feet solidly into the concrete below, fixed a glare at the front of the store, and stamped. The ground began to ripple in slow waves, sending the store groaning on its foundations. Fighters went sprawling, shelves scraped back and forth, ceiling tiles fell. Finally the front wall of the store rumbled, cracked, and collapsed with a roar of tumbling cinder blocks. Part of the ceiling came with it, reducing the front of the store to an impassible mound of rubble. The kickback from the destruction knocked everyone backwards, ninja and Technicians alike.
"Five million eight hundred fifty ken," announced Zane from the floor.
"Ohhh, shut up," groaned Kai, rubbing his head where a ceiling tile had hit him.
The Technicians were also momentarily dazed by the earthquake. But as soon as they recovered, they began to swarm in from the back room with even more alacrity. The roar of advancing fighters grew ever louder, and the ninja found themselves being forced steadily back towards the shelf fortress. The opponents were definitely coming faster than they were going by now. Soon it would be four to one.
"We are doomed," said Jay thinly. "We are kind of doomed!"
"What else can we throw at them?" called Cole desperately.
The shelf barricade on the stockroom door began to creak and shift. Then it fell.
"Oh . . . snap . . . " whispered Jay as the full flood of Technicians came howling in. The ninja pressed back, forming a tight formation as they braced for the onslaught—
—At which point one of the store's walls blew in, and a massive metal form came sumersaulting through. It tumbled to its feet, revealing the familiar red trim of the Samurai X suit.
"Nya!"
The Samurai didn't waste any time. Hydraulics hissing, the giant mech swept the oncoming Technicians back, scattering the remainder with a small missile. Then it heaved up the largest shelf in the store, upended it with a ponderous groan of metal, and let it slam to rest against the stockroom door, trapping the raging horde of Technicians in the back. For good measure it heaved up a ceiling beam that Cole had felled and slammed that in place to hold the blockade.
Then the mech fell still, its arms clattering limply to its sides. The front panel whooshed open, and Nya hurled herself from the cockpit, her samurai helmet clattering off to one side.
"You guys!" She skidded past a few unconscious Technicians and nearly sent Jay sprawling with a hug, then tackled everyone else in rapid succession. She didn't hesitate for even a second with Kai; apparently all was forgiven in this moment.
"You were amazing!" cheered Jay through the general commotion.
"Not a bad job, sis!"
"And picture-perfect timing, I gotta say—"
"That brings our total to eight million ken, however."
"Zaaaaaaane!"
"How did you know to find us?" said Lloyd, laughing breathlessly.
"Zane's falcon!" Nya waved as a small feathery rocket shot through the hole in the wall, diving to smother Zane with avian affection. "It started freaking out at like two AM this morning—it must have sensed that Zane was aboveground again—so I let it go and followed it to see if you guys needed help. And it looks like you did!"
"Nahhh, we had it under control," deadpanned Kai, then laughed as Nya punched his shoulder indignantly.
"Where have you guys been? It's been more than two days! How did you land yourselves here? Where did—is that Skales Junior?!"
"Miss Nyaaaa!" Junior scrabbled over the top of the shelf fortress and scurried to hug the samurai. "Hooray, now everybody's here!"
"What in the world?" asked Nya, smiling disbelievingly over the snakelet's head at the others.
"Ho boy, do we have some stories for you," said Lloyd. "There was this—"
"Guys, guys," interrupted Cole, raising his voice above everyone else's talking. "Hold on a sec. Why is it suddenly so . . . quiet?"
Everyone fell silent. Zane finally got his falcon to stop jumping around on his head and flailing its wings. Indeed, it was eerily quiet in the trashed store now. Some shelves creaked and settled, some rubble clattered, some semi-conscious Technicians groaned and stirred—but there was definitely no roaring and pounding on the other side of the barricade.
"What gives?" said Jay uneasily.
Zane's eye flashed and dimmed. He turned in a circle, beeping softly.
"I am detecting no less than eight explosive devices placed around the perimeter of this store," he announced.
"Ohhhhhh, snap."
"How long till they go off?" asked Nya.
"It is hard to get a precise signature, but I believe we have about ten to fifteen minutes. They are on forced speed countdown."
"Dangit." Nya looked around at the dazed Technicians lying on every side. "We can't just leave these guys here to die . . . "
"Ten minutes is enough," said Cole briskly. "Let's move."
They shot into action. Cole and Zane transferred Technicians to the outside of the store through the hole in the wall, while the others carried them to a safe distance with their dragons and the Samurai X mech.
"Yikes, what's up with this guy?" asked Cole, trying to drag the hypnotized Technician to his feet. He was still sitting peacefully in the shelf fortress, unwilling to move.
"I 'ipnotized him!" chirped Junior.
"Oii." Cole flinched and patted the oblivious man on the shoulder glumly. "I know how it feels, bud."
"Unca Kai!" called Junior, waving down Kai's dragon.
"Ohh, that guy." Kai landed. "Hey man, fight's over. Think you can head on down to the nearest police station and turn yourself in?"
The man shrugged and trotted off obediently.
"Be good!" Kai shouted after him. The other ninja looked on, fascinated.
"He listens to you now?" said Cole.
"Until he wakes up, I guess," said Kai.
"Man. I'm sure he was a nasty guy, but nobody deserves that."
"Heyyyyyy . . . "
Meanwhile, Meep and Mopp were helping out. They had an uncanny ability to find Technicians hidden in odd places or partially buried under rubble—Jay was reminded of how they somehow knew where to dig for Zane.
"Last few!" called Nya, pulling aside the barricade to check the back room. "How much time?"
"About five minutes. We're fine, but we should hurry," said Zane.
"You guys grab our backpacks, okay?" called Cole, waving to Jay and Lloyd. "Make sure we're not leaving anything behind."
The two ninja hopped into the shelf fortress, picking their way through rubble and unsticking themselves from spilled soda. They began to go around the room quickly gathering up weapons and supplies they had been using in battle.
"Lloyd?" Jay looked up to find the green ninja digging in one of the shattered freezers. "What are you doing?"
"This stuff is gonna get blown up with the store anyway," said Lloyd, holding out a small tub of marshmallow whip. "And we did warn Kai . . . "
"Ohhh." Jay chuckled. "I see where you're going with this."
"It's a step down, but we're running out of options," said Lloyd, piling more containers into his and Jay's backpacks. "We need backup."
"Hey guys, what's taking you so long?" called Cole from outside. "We've got like a minute left!"
"Yikes!" Lloyd and Jay snatched up all the backpacks, made a final check, and hurried outside. The ninja sparked their dragons and took off, accompanied by the Samurai X mech and Zane's falcon. Once they'd gotten to a safe distance, they circled for a moment, looking down at the convenience store. It was only a matter of seconds before the building went up in a massive ball of fire.
"Oooooooooh," said Junior, as their dragons wobbled slightly from the passing shockwave.
"Well," said Cole. "They can't make us pay for anything now."
Rather than going back to the Bounty, they headed for New Ninjago City. They wanted to make sure no stray Technicians followed them home—and besides, they had to drop off Junior.
"Your parents must be worried sick," said Nya, glancing to the snakelet riding on the shoulder of her mech. "You should know better than to wander off!"
"Oh snap." Cole laughed suddenly. "And he was with his dad! King Skales must be in so much trouble."
Lloyd stifled a snicker. Meanwhile, Jay was relishing being on his dragon again, flying close by Nya's side. What a day. Epic battle, they all got out alive and fairly unscathed, and he got a hug from Nya to boot. Of course, they all had, but—
. . . Wait. She'd hugged him first.
She'd hugged him FIRST.
O BOY.
"Arrrre . . . you okay?" asked Cole, pulling his dragon aside a little as Jay's wings suddenly flared twice as bright.
"Absolutely!" began Jay, then sneezed. His dragon vanished, and Zane just barely caught him with his own.
"Maybe you should ride with me," said the Nindroid. He eyed Jay's giddy expression dubiously. "Just hold tightly, and try to tell me when you are about to sneeze. I am not completely shockproof, and I would not want to drop both of us." He paused. " . . . Are you all right?"
"Who, me?" Jay settled himself comfortably behind Zane, still grinning like an idiot. "I'm fantastic."
A/N: In CinemaSins, they'd probably say "Close enough—roll credits!" But we're nowhere near done just yet. :P
Again, no update next week! But I might post a one-shot or two in "Backstage with Jay," so you can poke around there if you want. :)
