Chapter 5

A LITTLE TECHNOLOGY WILL DO

Friday, March 19th

10:15 A.M.

Status: Cole and Zane with Wu upon the bounty, Pixal is traveling in the Samurai X suit, Lloyd is located in Buddy's Pizza with seven children under seventeen, Kai, Jay and Nya are located in the Serpentine kingdom with schoolchildren and teachers.

Injuries: Lloyd was bitten by the infected, but appears to be normal. Reason unknown.

Inside the sewers in the Serpentine kingdom's territory, while the snakes are continuing with their everyday activities, Kai, Nya and Jay were inside the Serpentine's control room, trying every method they knew of to get in touch with the others, but no matter what they tried, everything they did failed miserably. They had a group of kids and teachers who were waiting impatiently to leave, but surprisingly none of them complained and continued waiting until the ninja finally found a way to help them get to a safer environment.

Selma came inside a few minutes later to check up on the ninja. "Is everything alright in here? Have you gotten anything?"

Kai sighed. "I'd love to say yes, but I have to be honest. Nothing's working for us." He wanted to punch the controls in frustration, but knew it wouldn't solve anything. Plus anything solved out of anger never ended well with him.

"We haven't yet, but we're still trying," Nya said, "Were you able to get in touch with Skales?"

Selma shook her head. "I've been trying over and over again to call his cell phone, but I keep getting the same message saying that the number has been disabled. I don't know what else to do."

"Just keep trying," Nya said, "I'm sure some sort of miracle will come along. Why don't you take a break for now?"

Selma nodded. "It won't be too long before lunch time rolls around. I'll go ahead and make up some sandwiches." She walked out of the control room.

Jay groaned. "What in the name of Ninjago is going on up there? How is it that all the technology from above is no longer working for some reason?"

"You know exactly what's going on, you idiot," Kai reminded him, "Zombified people control the surface now. And I'm pretty sure none of them know how to control technology." Then he looked at his sister. "Nya, are you okay?"

Nya left out of her zoned state. "Huh? Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just concerned about the others. I hope they're okay."

"I'm sure wherever they are, they're safe," Kai reassured his sister, "But do either one of you know where they all went? My mind is filled with so much confusion and fear, I don't even remember."

"I remember Cole and Zane went with Sensei Wu on the Destiny's Bounty when they left to take Skylor and some others with her," Nya explained her memories.

"Oh, I've been meaning to ask. You and Skylor were talking about something before she left on the bounty. What was that about?"

Nya gave wide eyes and quickly said, "Nothing! We weren't talking about anything important. I just wanted to tell her to be careful." He can't figure it out. Not yet. That talk is between him and Skylor. Nobody else.

Kai shrugged, giving his sister a weird look. "Alright, just wondering."

"At least we know Cole and Zane are safe," Jay said, returning back to the original topic, "I recall from memory that Pixal was still traveling in the Samurai X suit trying to get civilians to safety. She's probably still doing that right now."

"Does anyone remember what happened to Lloyd?" Nya asked.

Kai shook his head. "Not since we were fighting off zombies. We all ended up getting separated."

"Oh, I knew splitting up from the others was a bad idea," Jay groaned, "There's no way to get in contact with them. Every single source of technology in this world is gone. Anything I was able to do with my inventions is nothing more of a waste. If only we had something more useful for communication in situations like this."

"I agree," Kai said, "I wish we were more prepared for this."

Nya took the time to think over what her brother and boyfriend just said. Snapping her fingers, she searched through her bag and removed the one device that to her is still considered useful.

"There is one thing we still have," Nya said, holding up the object, "Walkie talkies!"

"What?!" Jay shouted, shocked they still had those old pieces of crap, "But it's been forever since we used those. We've been so used to communication devices and cell phones that those things were known to be worthless and a thing of the past."

"I know, but even after they were replaced, I kept them all in storage at the Samurai X cave," Nya told her boyfriend, "Even though you guys don't carry them around, I always made sure to remember mine to keep in touch with Sensei Wu if worse came down to worse."

"Oh, please tell me you made sure there's a walkie talkie on the bounty," Kai said, placing a hand in his hair, "If not, then we're screwed."

Nya chuckled. "No need to worry. I took the liberty in installing a system on the bounty that will connect to all the other walkie talkies even if the batteries died in them to keep them in working order. And if the power ever went out on the bounty, the device would be placed on its own everlasting battery mode. Yes, I thought of everything."

Kai wrapped his arms around his sister to embrace her. "I know I've said it before, but Nya, you are a genius."

Nya smiled. "I know I am. Now let's see if I can't get this thing to work."

Taking a few minutes to make the old thing work, Nya spoke into it. "Testing one, two, three. Is there anyone on the bounty?"

After a brief moment of silence, a voice was heard through the device. "Some of us, but not all of us. It's good to hear your voice." The voice talking through the walkie talkie was Sensei Wu.

"Yes!"

"Whoo hoo!"

Jay and Kai cheered like nobody's business.

Nya laughed. "Sorry about that, Sensei. These two are acting like a couple of goofballs. We're just so glad to be hearing from you."

"I am glad to hear that you are all okay," Wu said through the device, "We've been searching everywhere for all of you. Where are you four?"

"Four?" Nya was confused. Why would he be thinking there were four of us?

"Who all is with you?"

"Kai and Jay."

"He must be talking about Lloyd," Kai said.

"Oh, how are we supposed to tell him that Lloyd got separated from us?" Jay asked, nervously tapping his fingers together.

"I heard that, Jay," Wu said, hearing the concern in the old man's voice, "Where are you three?"

"We're inside the Serpentine kingdom," Nya said, "We have civilians with us and might need some reinforcements to get everyone out safely."

"No need to worry. We'll send Pixal out to get you all. Just hang in there. As you would say, over and out." The walkie talkie clicked off with a static sound.

"So I guess we just wait," Jay said, plopping down in the chair next to Nya.

"Don't worry, guys," Nya said, "If I know Pixal, she'll be here faster than the speed of sound."

NEXT SCENE:

Location: In the air above Ninjago National Forest

Time: 12:30 P.M.

Pixal continued traveling through the air in the Samurai X suit, searching to find and rescue anymore uninfected citizens. So far she wasn't detecting anyone or anything, but she had to pause her ever watchful eye in order to answer a call coming from the bounty.

This better be good news. She answered the call. "Pixal speaking."

"Pixal," Wu's voice echoed in her head, "Kai, Jay and Nya were able to make contact with us. They are located inside the sewers with other civilians in the Serpentine kingdom and need assistance."

"I will make my way there, but I will need to stop at the Samurai X cave first. My fuel tank is running low."

"Understood. I trust you will bring them back safely." Wu clicked off their call.

Just as she was about to turn around, something smacked into her. Getting a closer look, they seemed to be some sort of robotic flying spiders. They looked familiar, like she's seen them somewhere before. Getting a quick scan, it was detected they were Spykor, a native arachnid species of the Underworld, but instead of being actual real creatures, they were androids. And they were definitely not allies.

But there's a saying that goes around: If they hit someone, that someone hits you back.

Pressing a button, Pixal fired up the suit's missile blasters above each shoulder, shooting both at the Spykor. She shot precisely and accurately, but the mechanical eight legged creatures placed protective shields over themselves, ceasing the missiles from blowing them up. Forming a fist in anger, Pixal pulled a lever that shot out a net from the suit's abdominal area, but one of the Spykor grabbed the net and disintegrated it with intense heat vision.

"Oh, holy crap," Pixal groaned. There was only so much her suit could do, especially when she was low on fuel.

And these guys proved themselves by fighting back using their heat vision, lasers shooting out from every leg, and so many other kinds of technology and advances even she was unfamiliar with. And she's also made from technology.

After seeing her suit take too much of a beating, she had no choice but to surrender and admit defeat. She exited out of the suit and flew off in her jetpack, watching the only weapon she had fall out of the sky along with the Spykor flying off into the distance.

The mechanical suit landed in the mountains not far from Hiroshi's Labyrinth. Landing right beside it, she took out her communication device and began trying to reach the others upon the bounty.

"Ninja, come in. Come in, ninja." Nothing. All she could hear was static. It was no use to try speaking to Zane in her mind considering there was no signal. Everything else was either damaged or destroyed.

The only place she knew that had a headquarters for anything technology was the Borg base in Hiroshi's Labyrinth. It may be her only chance to receive help. So she decided to enter the jungle, hoping somebody would be there.

All Pixal could do was hope.

NEXT SCENE:

Location: Destiny's Bounty

Time: 1:00 P.M.

What Pixal didn't know was the bounty's tracking system on the main computer showed everything happening before the remaining three passengers' eyes. Cole began doing everything he could to get in touch with Pixal while Wu busied himself with trying to calm Zane, who was in the middle of a panic attack. Nobody could blame the guy, though. That is his girlfriend, after all.

Cole pretty much gave up after having no luck. "This is hopeless. What do we do, Sensei?"

Wu sighed. "We must rescue the others ourselves."

"But what about Pixal?" Zane asked.

"We will rescue Pixal afterwards. For now we are going after the others. Pixal is tough. She can protect herself."

Zane nodded, but walked out of the control room to blow off some steam. Cole changed courses to head for the nearest manhole that would lead to the Serpentine kingdom.

All they could do was hope and pray the others were okay.

OH, CRAP. LOOKS LIKE KAI, NYA AND JAY HAVE TO WAIT JUST A LITTLE LONGER. PIXAL IS STRANDED IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE UPON MT. HIROSHI AND ZANE IS HAVING A PANIC ATTACK WORRYING FOR HIS GIRLFRIEND.

SO WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN NEXT?

FIND OUT IN THE NEXT CHAPTER.

PLEASE REVIEW.