Request: Sequel to Mirror, Mirror

Requested by: cha0ticm0nster

Warnings: N/A

Pairings: N/A

AU: Movieverse Ninja meet Showverse Ninja

A/N: Headcanon: Cole likes small fluffy things and occasionally brings home kittens, puppies, and other floofy creatures. This is important to the plot.

Shards Remain

Lloyd, Zane, and Kai were bored.

Not the normal type of 'oh, I'm bored' bored, but more of the 'crap I broke something and Nya is going to kill me' bored.

Which is why all three of them were walking through the forest in the middle of the night.

They actually hadn't broken something, surprisingly, but due to Cole's habit of bringing home injured animals, the dachshund puppy he had recently brought home had gotten out and now they had to find it before Cole got home from the latest Starfarer movie with Jay.

"Here boy," Zane called, shaking a dog treat box.

Kai sighed so hard his entire body slumped. "This is pointless. Look at these woods, there's no way we'll find a dog in here!"

"We can't give up," Lloyd answered. "Whatever happened to Ninja never quit?"

"That applies to city-destroying monsters," Kai grumbled with an eye roll. "Not lost puppies."

"It would be hypocritical to suggest that we only follow our values in certain situations," Zane reasoned. "Perhaps you should-"

"Stop talking," Kai cut him off.

Lloyd folded his arms grumpily. "Kai, you can't tell Zane to-"

"Shh," Kai shushed him, holding up an arm. "Did you guys hear that?"

Zane and Lloyd fell quiet, straining their ears until a faint whimpering noise leaked through the darkness.

"What was that?" Lloyd whispered to Kai.

"I think it's the puppy," Kai hissed back.

"It came from the east," Zane noted, pointing.

The three of them glanced at one another before stealthily creeping through the underbrush towards the source of the noise.

Spoiler alert: It was the puppy.

Other spoiler alert: The puppy was staring into a glittering pale white pond.

"There is no way that pond is so naturally white," Kai grumbled. "What's it infected with?"

"My sensors detect nothing," Zane answered. "It may be from an excess of calcium, however."

"But these mountains are made of basalt," Lloyd added. "Where would calcium come from?"

"Not to mention the water's glowing," Kai added. "That doesn't look like calcium to me."

Zane sighed heavily. "Why don't we investigate?"

All three of them crept forward. Before the puppy could notice them, Kai darted forward and snatched the tiny dog up, placing it's squirming from inside his jacket until the little dog calmed down.

The only thing was… the dog's reflection didn't move. It instead cocked its head, barking when it didn't know where it's reflection had gone.

"Uhh, guys?" Kai called. "The reflection…" He trailed off when he saw his reflection self wave.

Reflection Kai smiled. "What's up?"

Kai stared, shocked. Lloyd looked over his shoulder and the Reflection Lloyd that appeared widened his eyes. Zane came to sit beside them, looking in at himself.

"Do I really look like that?" Kai asked, wrinkling his nose and squinting. Reflection Kai folded his arms.

"Really? Of course. You're me," He looked so angry.

"No, I'm not," Kai snapped. "I'm me."

"This is ridiculous," Reflection Kai rolled his eyes.

"Who are you?" Lloyd breathed, watching transfixed.

His counterpart smirked. "I'm you, but more angry at my dad."

"Hello," Reflection Zane smirked. "I am Zane, a normal Teenager!"

Zane stared, horror creeping across his face. "Is…" he whispered, his eyes huge. "Is that really me?"

"There's no way you're me," Lloyd said to his reflection. "It's probably just some weird magic or a clever bit of programming."

"But… we're real," Reflection Kai argued. "You're the 'clever bit of programming'."

"What are you guys doing, anyway," Kai asked, folding his arms and giving the reflection a squinty look.

"We were taking Cole's dog for a walk," Zane grinned, lifting the puppy up to reveal it was wearing a harness and had a leash attached.

Zane, Kai, and Lloyd shared a look.

Then, Zane stepped away from the glittering pool and motioned for the others to follow him. Kai and Lloyd watched the pool suspiciously, but followed him anyways, ducking beneath a pine tree. The puppy squirmed against Kai's chest, it's tiny claws digging into his skin.

"What is it, Zane?" Lloyd asked the Nindroid, who was watching the pond suspiciously.

"There is a very low chance that the pond is programmed unless it is some elaborate prank from Jay," Zane answered nervously.

"There's no way," Kai answered. "He likes to be around us when we get pranked so he can see our reactions."

"Exactly my thoughts," Zane agreed. He turned back to Lloyd. "What I believe is that this may have had to do with the inter-dimensional mirror that Wu was speaking about a few weeks ago."

"The mirror?" Lloyd asked. "Didn't Wu smash that?"

Kai thought for a moment before his eyes lit up. "Jay came back with a trash bag full of glass that he said was found in a stream about a week ago."

"Perhaps Jay missed a shard of glass," Zane answered. "And the magic spread to the rest of the pond."

"Is that even how magic works?" Lloyd asked, eyeing the pond. "It can spread like cancer?"

Zane sighed. "No. It's more like… if you popped a balloon full of colored water in a bowl of clear water. It mixes and colors all of the water."

"Well, how do we get it to stop?" Kai asked. "I don't really think we should leave a portal open… especially not that one."

Lloyd sighed this time. "Maybe if we remove the glass?"

Kai smiled. "That could work, right, Zane?" He double-checked with the Nindroid.

"Maybe," Zane glanced at the pond. "But perhaps not. The magic has already filled the entire pond, and removing the shard would be of little help."

"So what can we do?" Lloyd bit his bottom lip. Really, he was just anxious to get home with the dog before Cole found out they lost him.

Zane thought for a moment before coming up with an idea. "Some of the rocks here have small quantities of a vengestone-like substance, as in they have similar molecular structures and are made up of…." He continued his explanation, something about anatomical ingredients and polar covalent compounds, but he'd lost Kai and Lloyd after the bit about molecular structure.

Noticing his friends were looking at him blankly, Zane sighed. "It can block magic, but not as effectively as vengestone."

"So… how much would we need?" Lloyd asked, catching on. "One rock? Two?"

"Fifteen," Zane sighed. "Assuming that they are all about the size of a fist and made of the pure substance."

"I have an idea," Kai butted in. "Instead of dropping the rocks in the pool, what if we just fill the whole thing with dirt?"

"What do you mean, Kai?" Zane asked. "We cannot simply fill an entire pond with earth."

"Wait," Lloyd jumped into the conversation. "What if we just told the other… us's… to just stay away from the pond. That would solve that problem, wouldn't it?"

"Lloyd!" Zane exclaimed. "You are… technically not a genius... but that may actually work!"

"Thanks?" Lloyd asked, walking back towards the pool, Kai right behind him. The two of them stopped at the edge of the pool, and looked down, soon seeing their reflections creeping over the side of the pond.

"Hey, um... Me?" Lloyd started. "We were wondering if you guys could… forget this happened?"

Other Lloyd's eyes widened. "No way… I was going to ask you the same thing!"

Lloyd smiled. "Well, I guess we should… uh… do that?"

Both Kai's sighed.

Zane squinted off into the distance. "Does that look like the car to you?"

All three of them looked at one another.

"Oh no."

"Cole's gonna kill us."

"I'm not the one who let him out!"

"You opened the gate!"

"And then you HELD it open!"

"... all valid points."

Scrambling, all three ninja took off through the woods, sprinting towards the distant monastery, the puppy still safely inside Kai's coat.

Reflection Lloyd smiled, rolling his eyes, then glanced at his two friends. "C'mon guys, let's go home."


End.

A/N: Okay, to be completely honest with you, I like this one better than I liked the original, and I hope you like it too. It was really fun to write Kai, Lloyd, and Zane just… hanging out.

Anyway, next week… Anyone up for a little… Glacier?

Requests are still closed. ;)