The young woman on the terrace of the coffee shop looked at her watch. Still plenty of time ... Not that she believed in him showing up. Her past had been a series of failures; she had learned not to hope too much for something she wanted. But just in case that he would remember, she had come to the park, and she had come early.
She liked being early to take in the atmosphere of a place before she met people, had to talk, and got distracted. It helped her ground herself. She had been living in this city for a while now, but she still didn't feel at ease. Oh, she blended in perfectly, as far as her appearance was concerned. She looked like any young woman. But days like this proved that she didn't belong here.
It had started right when she left the house and almost bumped into her neighbor, the guy who usually wore a formal suit and tie and drove a large, expensive car. On this Saturday morning, he was walking a pedigree dog with a boutique-style collar and had insisted on accompanying her on her way to the old-timer show at Gary's Garage. He used the opportunity to explain to her the operating mode of a combustion engine. Most of his statements were wrong.
"Excuse me," she tried to interrupt politely, "you probably mean a glow plug when you are talking about the Diesel engine. There's no such thing as a spark plug in this setup."
"That's exactly what I said," the man replied smugly, "you need to listen more closely." Twice more, she tried to point out a glaring error in his monologue, but to no avail. She was relieved when they arrived at the garage and he continued towards the park with his dog.
"What are you doing at the old-timer show, anyway?" he asked casually when they parted. "Is your boyfriend into vintage cars?"
"No," she replied dryly, "I work at Gary's. I'm a mechanic."
On the occasion of the old-timer show, the owner of Gary's Garage had decided to offer free soft drinks and hot dogs to all visitors and expected every member of his staff to take on a shift at the bar. The young woman changed into a yellow shirt with the company logo, slipped on a blue apron and started preparing everything she needed on the counter. The place would soon be crowded.
Sure enough, it didn't take long for the first visitors to find their way to the bar. A young man with a navy blue cap and matching scarf tried to get into a conversation with her. He admitted that he wasn't interested in cars – he was a psychology major, he said with a laugh – but had to write an article about the show for a local newspaper. They must have other interests in common, though? Literature, dancing, calligraphy perhaps? No, the young woman at the bar had to disappoint him. She handed an orange juice to a little boy, and the man proceeded to tell her in detail about an academic essay he was hoping to publish soon, dealing with the unhealthy consequences of competition in general and the deteriorating effects that competitive sports had on the mental well-being of children, young people, and the society as a whole. She stared at him dumbfounded, prompting the question whether she didn't agree with his theses.
"I don't know," she said slowly, almost forgetting to add ketchup to the hot dog in her hand. "I never looked at it like that. You know, if everyone plays fair – and this is generally the case in Ninjago – competition is thrilling. I enjoy it. And I love to win. In fact, my ability to win is the one thing I'm really proud of these days." His face fell as he saw his hopes to find a kindred soul being crushed, and she gave him a faint smile.
"We're unlikely to agree on this topic. I'm a race car driver."
The place was filling up with visitors, and she poured drink after drink. A colleague joined her at the bar and they took turns serving people and getting more supplies from the back.
"You're doing better than me," he remarked after a while, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "This hubbub doesn't seem to wear you out at all."
She was about to reply when suddenly everything went very fast. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a large pile of bottle crates beginning to sway, threatening to crash down amidst the crowd. She darted out from behind the bar, pushed two children out of harm's way, and flung herself against the crates just before they could topple over. Someone screamed, and people started backing off. Panting, she was able to hold the crates just long enough for her colleague to come to her aid.
"Who the heck put these here where people could push against them," he muttered through clenched teeth while he helped her set the pile upright again. "It's ok, guys, nothing happened," he called out to the bystanders. "We've got it under control."
"Thanks," she said when they had taken down some of the crates and secured the remainder of the pile.
"No, we've all got to thank you, girl," he said, "especially those two kids." He gave her a peculiar glance. "But those reflexes of yours are extraordinary. I know you're a racer, but this still doesn't explain how you could react that fast. That was some superhuman presence of mind!" He let out a little laugh. "I don't know what scared me more, the crates tumbling down or you being able to hold them!"
Did she really make him uncomfortable? She couldn't quite tell and decided to pass it off as a joke. "You better get used to it," she replied with a little smile. "I'm full of surprises."
I am, in fact, not exactly human.
Twenty-seven hotdogs and forty-three drinks later, she eventually found a moment to sit down. The girl from the back office joined her. "What a crowd!" she exclaimed. "The whole city seems to have come here for a free meal. Half of my former classmates showed up!" She laughed. "How about you, have you met many friends?"
The young woman shook her head. "You know I'm new in Ninjago City, and I'm not very good at socializing."
I have no friends, she added in her thoughts.
The other gave her a comforting look. "You'll get better at it. The guy with the navy cap who talked to you some time ago looked nice, for example." Realizing that her remark was met with a grimace, she continued: "Or the other one with the orange t-shirt!"
"The one who admired the beauty of my features? Come on. It's overcast, and he couldn't possibly see the deep azure of the Pacific in my eyes!"
The other burst out laughing. "How poetic. Yet you didn't want him to take you out?" she teased. "I mean, that sounded romantic. He'd come up with all sorts of cute pet names for you."
"Nah …" The young woman smiled a little despite herself, understanding that her colleague sincerely wanted to cheer her up. "He really wasn't my type." And I definitely have no use for a pet name, she thought.
I haven't even got a real name.
Her shift ended in the early afternoon, and she returned home in the hope to have a late lunch with her housemate. When she couldn't find her, she looked at her phone and found a message. "Sorry, forgot to tell you: grandma invited the whole family to a massive birthday party. I'll be stuck in one room with aunties and annoying in-laws and bratty cousins all day. Back tomorrow, if they don't bore me to death ;)"
Sure, she thought, that's what ordinary people would think of family celebrations.
I never had a family.
Not bothering to make a proper sandwich, she grabbed some bread and cheese from the fridge and ate it standing before she went to her room and flung herself onto the bed. Her gaze fell on a picture on the wall, a photography of blossoming cherry trees in the park. Somehow it seemed as if all this beauty wasn't really intended for her.
How could she ever be happy in this place?
The picture also reminded her of another appointment, and a glance at the alarm clock told her that she only had an hour left. Why on Earth did she agree to that meeting in the first place?
"I still don't know if I'm going to like this feature or not, Zane." Pixal doubtfully glanced down at herself. Zane had talked her into developing a holographic cloak like the one he had used on undercover missions before, and hers was now at the beta testing stage.
Zane, presenting as a blonde young man in casual attire himself, looked at her. "I think you did a great job," he said. "You blend in perfectly." He gestured at the crowd that had gathered in Ninjago City's largest park, the families, dog walkers, joggers, groups of young girls and boys, and everyone else who enjoyed this sunny Saturday afternoon outside. "And yet, you're unique. You're still unmistakably you." He smiled at her. "The other half of my heart."
Pixal blushed a little. This, too, was possible with her cloak, she realized. "Thank you. But I'm not talking about the looks; I'm rather happy with the design, and besides it wouldn't be hard to make minor changes. I'm just not used to blending in, I guess." She smiled. "That's why I added some highlights to my hair ... No, to be honest, it's nice for a change, but I just like being an android and don't mind presenting as one."
Zane took her hand. "Yes, Pix, me too. It was you who taught me to be at peace with it." He kissed her fingertips. "We will go back to the monastery tonight and be good nindroids. But for now, let's just have fun with your beta test, enjoy the fact that nobody recognizes us, and ..."
"... rob a bank?" she concluded, giving him an innocent look.
"Something like that," Zane grinned. "Listen, if the side-effect of your cloak is you continuing to be funny like that, I'll make you use it more often. I like that."
She rolled her eyes. "We'll see. What did you really want to do instead of robbing a bank?"
He shrugged. "Have ice cream and a drink, maybe? Sit on a bench and watch the ducks? Go to a nice restaurant later? Watch a movie? Whatever you like, my Samurai in disguise." He indicated a bow.
She giggled now despite herself. "Stop it, Zane. I can see where this is going. You just want a day off and enjoy all those simple human things we don't do often enough, and you know what? You're right. I'm in." She put her arm around his waist. "Let's be an ordinary human couple today."
"Sounds good." He smiled and leaned over to quickly kiss her on the lips. It had an unexpected effect.
"Oops," she said confused. "That was ..."
"... odd," he agreed. They looked at each other.
"Well," he said, "I suppose that is what a human kiss feels like. It must be our cloaks."
"Did you miss the sparks, too?" she asked.
"Yes." He gave an apologetic grin. "Let's put this part off, you'll get a proper nindroid kiss once we're back home."
The young woman on the terrace gazed into the distance. The park was beautiful, almost as beautiful as the streets of Ninjago City by night; she always had a strange liking for the multitude of flashing neon lights. Without the people, Ninjago would have been ... ok.
But she felt that almost everyone she had met was confused, or worse, annoyed and put off by her abilities and her way of living. People didn't understand that she struggled with what they called "life choices". Where she came from, there had been no choices for characters like her. She didn't really know how to interact with other players, either. She had never been more than a number to them. They entered the game, competed with her, and were either thrown out of the race or moved up to the next level. Some of them were annoying, some nice, and once, perhaps, there had been one she would have liked to stay … But the truth was that she had never learned how to make friends, let alone entertain long-lasting relationships.
Not like the couple who walked along the nearby path, for example. They couldn't be much older than herself, she thought – or rather, the age she had settled on when she arrived in Ninjago. The tall young man was dressed in a plain t-shirt and jeans, had an angular, yet handsome face, and short, light blonde hair. His girlfriend was only slightly smaller, casually dressed like him, her dark purple top matching the color of the scrunchie that held her brown hair together. When she moved her head, silvery streaks flashed up and sparks seemed to fly from her pony tail; her hairdresser must be very skillful to achieve such an effect.
The couple stopped close to the pond and the young man took the girl's hand, which made her smile. They talked, she hugged him, and they kissed – something they probably didn't do often in public, because they both withdrew quickly and broke into a bashful laugh. They were just so ... normal! Perhaps they had played in this very park when they had been little; they had fought with their brothers and sisters over who got to go on the swing first, and their mothers had read them fairy tales in the evening. Whereas she ...
She had to realize again and again just how different she was. Every time, this undermined her self-esteem and depleted her energy. The realization struck her with full force: the rules here weren't really different from those of any other game.
Ninjago had given her a chance to prove herself in what they called the real life. She had arrived with pleasant anticipation and equipped with some talents, motivation, confidence, and a little luck to start with. These were her resources. If she managed to make the right life choices and be comfortable in Ninjago, good for her. If she failed to find the right way by herself and depleted her resources before she succeeded, she would have to go back to where she came from. Game over. It was as simple as that. She should have known how this worked right from the start.
She wondered how long she would last before she would have to find out how to get back into Prime Empire.
While her thoughts spiraled, the young woman almost forgot why she was here. She absent-mindedly glanced at the crowd in the park when she suddenly noticed a familiar figure and startled. Blonde hair, bottle green shirt, dark pants. It was him! She glanced at her watch; it was the time he had told her. She had talked herself so successfully into not expecting him that she almost froze in her seat now. Her heart beat faster. He had played a big role in her decision to come to Ninjago; he had been the one to excite those high expectations in her, because he had shown her a glimpse of what was possible in real life: self-determination, friendship, trust, and mutual support. He had been, at that time, someone who could have become a friend. But after their arrival in the city, she had quickly lost sight of him, and once she realized who he was and how famous he and his friends were, she abandoned every thought of trying to contact him.
His face had been in the news a couple of times, but she had never met him again – until, about a week ago, he ran into her in the mall. She had hardly recognized him at first, but he remembered her, and since they were both in a hurry, he had quickly suggested a day, a time, for having a drink in the park. And that was why she was sitting here today, despite her firm conviction that he wouldn't remember.
With increasing nervousness, she watched as he walked towards the coffee shop. He hadn't seen her yet, and when he arrived at the pond, he was distracted by the couple she had watched earlier. The three obviously knew each other, they talked, laughed, and he gestured at the coffee shop – and just then, he spotted her on the terrace and waved to her.
She only managed a nod and a slight smile in reply, growing tenser as he continued to walk towards her, now with his friends in tow. They seemed likeable enough, but why did he bring them with him?
They arrived at the terrace and he took the last few steps towards her table alone. "Seven!" He beamed at her. "It's good to see you. I'm glad you could come."
She gave a somewhat forced smile and got up, but seeing the joy in his face and hearing the excitement in his voice made her slowly feel more at ease. He seemed to really mean what he said. "Lloyd, it was nice of you to suggest this meeting. I was afraid you might not find the time, though."
"You thought I'd let you down?" He pulled a funny face and shook his head in fake indignation. "No way."
The ice was broken. They both laughed, and Seven felt herself relax.
"I'd like to introduce you to my friends," Lloyd continued. "I hope you don't mind? They played a rather important role during our Prime Empire adventure, and they know what you did for us in the game. They'd be delighted to meet you."
Seven nodded. "Sure. I look forward to it."
They both turned towards the couple who had politely stayed in the background, but only the young man returned the look and smiled; the young woman in the purple top was kneeling down in front of a little girl and held a small remote-controlled boat in her hands. She bent over the boat, removed the cover and seemed to be working on the circuitry with a soldering iron – where did that soldering iron come from?! –, then looked up at the girl with a smile, exchanged a few words with her and expertly fastened the cover again. While the little girl took her boat and happily ran towards her father, the young woman got up, wiped her fingers and stepped onto the terrace with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, that took a minute."
In the background, they could hear the little girl screaming with delight: "Daddy, the lady's fixed my boat! And she showed me how to do it myself next time," she added proudly.
Lloyd grinned. "You couldn't have found a better way to introduce yourself, Pixal," he said. "You're our mechanic. And this," he introduced the young man, "is Zane."
Wait, Zane? And Pixal? The names sounded familiar, but something didn't quite fit; Seven was rather certain that she had never seen the two before, neither in Prime Empire nor in Ninjago. Well, she would have to think about it later. For now, it was sufficient that she liked them; how could she not like a girl who tinkered with a soldering iron?
"You're the skilled racer who won the Speedway Five-Billion for the ninja team," Zane stated with admiration in his voice. "We cannot thank you enough for what you did for us." Lloyd and Pixal nodded, and Seven was a bit embarrassed.
"It would never have been possible without Lloyd, who convinced me that I can do it."
"Lloyd is great at giving encouraging speeches," Pixal smiled, and when Lloyd gave her a doubtful glance, she reiterated: "It's true, Lloyd; you always bring the best out of people."
Seven curiously looked at her and Zane. "I can't recall having seen you in Prime Empire, so how do you know so much about it?"
"I'm sorry," Pixal apologized. "We should tell you more about us. You're right, Zane and I never entered Prime Empire. We stayed in Ninjago to find Milton Dyer, who developed the game, because we thought that he knew of a way to shut down the game and release the trapped players. Which wasn't quite correct; in the end, it required the joint effort of the whole team to reach a happy conclusion of that adventure."
"Well, you were the one who found Dyer," said Zane with a wry smile at his girlfriend, "I only managed to get captured."
"Yeah – again," she answered with a fond look at him. "But you know, I'm used to having to rescue you and making sure that none of the team screws up the remainder of the mission."
Both Lloyd and Zane laughed; Seven couldn't quite follow, but she liked the dynamic between them, the way they gave each other credit; it was the same team spirit she had observed among Lloyd and the other ninja who had entered Prime Empire. There had been Jay, and Nya, and two other brave guys whose names she couldn't recall right now. Something told her that she should also know who the two people in front of her were, but she couldn't remember, even though she felt that the answer was right under her nose.
"Don't you want to sit down and have a drink with us?" she asked without thinking. "That is, if Lloyd's ok with it?" she added with a glance at him.
"Why, yes!" Lloyd replied. "What are you all having? I'll get the drinks." They tried to protest, but he insisted on taking their orders, and the remaining three sat down at the table.
"So what do you think about life in Ninjago?" Pixal asked after some small talk.
Normally, Seven would have given an evasive answer; one that was no lie, but didn't reveal anything about her feelings. This time however, she felt that the conversation might go differently.
"I've got a job, an apartment, and I don't need to worry about anything," she said hesitantly. "I think I like the city. Yet …" She let out a little sigh. "I don't really feel I belong here. And I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to do to change that," she admitted.
Lloyd came back and placed the drinks in front of them before silently taking a seat.
Pixal glanced at her thoughtfully. "Your original programming was very specific. Coming to terms with your new freedom will take time. There may even be moments when you wish everything would be as straightforward as before."
Seven gave her a curious glance. It sounded as if the other girl knew exactly what she was talking about, but how was that possible if Seven still struggled to understand it herself?
Zane nodded. "You wonder who you are, because you feel you weren't designed for this place. Do you feel you're still the same character that you were in Prime Empire? Or did the transfer into our world change your perception of yourself?"
The question was intriguing. "I think my character wasn't really defined before," said Seven slowly. "There was no real psychology behind it. I was one of the NPCs who didn't need that sort of background. Most players only ever saw me with my helmet on, and they probably thought I was a man. Very few would interact with me before a race. The boys usually wouldn't take me seriously, but if they crashed on the course before me, they'd call me names. My programming didn't allow for a reaction to this sort of interaction, though. Those remarks didn't provoke any feelings. Not many things did, really. So – yeah. I guess I'm what you'd call a shallow, self-centered person." Seven gave a slightly forced laugh.
Lloyd had been listening quietly, but now he vigorously shook his head. "That's not what I saw when you joined our team. You were brave, you were willing to try something you'd never done before. You trusted us enough to become our partner, save Nya when her car threatened to explode, and give us the Key-Tana you won, even though you couldn't expect that these actions would benefit you. You were our friend. You are our friend."
Seven looked at him. "You were different from all other players I'd met before. You trusted me. You told me I had a choice. It was true, I won the race. But my next choice, the choice to leave the game …" Her voice trailed off. "I'm not sure about it anymore," she said eventually. "I was hoping to quit the spiral of failure and frustration of the past three decades, but let's face it, that's what I was designed for. I can win races in Ninjago, but besides that, life here is often pretty frustrating, too."
It was Zane who broke the silence that followed. He looked into her eyes. "We can relate, perhaps more than you realize," he said gently. "But your original code doesn't determine your existence anymore. You may not yet be aware of it, but when you walked out of the game, you chose to be the person Lloyd saw in you. Your friendship with him has given you more than any programming could. It has added layers to your character which you haven't explored yet. You're a real person now."
"Yeaaah ..." It was kind of him to put it this way, Seven thought, but she was not convinced. "No real person comes to the world like this. When I watch the children here, I try to imagine what it might be like to be little and grow up in Ninjago. I've never been a child. I lack the most basic human experiences. I …" She swallowed, and then she put it really bluntly. "I don't think I belong among humans."
Pixal and Zane exchanged a glance, and Seven saw Zane giving a tiny nod to his girlfriend. Pixal turned towards her. "You're not as different as you may think, Seven," she said. "Don't be alarmed, we're going to change a little. Are you ok with that?"
Seven nodded, not quite knowing what to expect from the couple. For a split second, it felt like watching a glitch in a video game; they seemed to go static for a moment, and when Seven was able to focus on them again, she blinked in surprise. The young man's skin had got a peculiar silvery sheen, his hair looked like brushed metal and his eyes were glowing electric blue. The girl's pale complexion had changed to pure white, with faint purple lines and dots showing the position of the underlying circuitry; her hair appeared like quicksilver, her eyes like bright green lights.
"Oh, wow," Seven exclaimed. "You're ... androids. You're the nindroids." She could have slapped herself. Was there any excuse for not recognizing them before? The Titanium Ninja and Samurai X were sitting at her table and she was complaining about her digital existence. In other words, she had totally embarrassed herself in front of the only people in Ninjago she could relate to.
"I'm sorry," she muttered.
"No." Pixal shook her had. "We are the ones who should apologize. We didn't intend to deceive you. I'm beta testing my holographic cloak, and it's always a bit awkward to change appearance in the middle of a crowd, so we preferred not to do it while we were walking through the park. I don't think anyone took notice now, though."
"Fascinating." Seven slowly recovered from her surprise. "You say you're beta testing. You usually stick to your android appearance, then?"
"Yes, I'm very comfortable with it," Pixal replied, and Seven noticed Zane smiling and giving his girlfriend a knowing glance. "Zane occasionally used his cloak on missions, though."
"Which wasn't always a guarantee for success," he said dryly. "Don't remind me."
Lloyd gave him a playful punch. "Stop it, Zane. You've done some of the bravest things I've ever seen both in your human and your nindroid form. Pixal has always been amazing and powerful, even when she had no body at all, and she's proud of her ones and zeroes just as they are. I think," he turned to Seven, "the point I'm trying to make is that it doesn't matter. We're all different, but we're a team. More than that, really." He exchanged a glance with Zane. "We've been through so much together …"
"We're brothers," the nindroid said, and Lloyd nodded.
Seven looked at them. "I think I would like to know more about your adventures."
Lloyd beamed at her. "You're welcome to visit us at the monastery any time. Spend an evening with us, or stay for a weekend. I dare say you'll like that strange little family we are."
"Careful, Lloyd," Zane chuckled, "some of our antics are … let's say, an acquired taste. But if it get's too much for you, Seven, Pixal will gladly take you to the hangar. The base where she builds and maintains all of our vehicles and mechs," he explained.
"I'd like that," the racer smiled back.
"By the way …" Zane's words seemed to have reminded Lloyd of something. "Is it ok for you if we call you Seven? I mean … This is just the number you were given in the game. I'm sorry for never asking if you've got another name … or if you'd prefer to go by another name."
Seven cocked her head in surprise and thought about it for a moment. Then she looked straight into Lloyds green eyes. "Call me Seven," she said firmly. "It is my name." Her gaze wandered to Pixal and Zane. "I like the sound of it when you all say it. It doesn't sound like a number."
"Good." Lloyd smiled, and she smiled back.
"Lloyd may not stick to it, though," Pixal remarked playfully. "He started calling me 'Pix' without ever asking me. By the end of the evening, you'll be going by the name of 'Sev'."
Lloyd dropped his gaze, and Seven shifted uneasily. "I don't think we …" she began.
Zane laughed. "You're assuming too much, Pixal. The fact that the two of us have a date tonight doesn't mean everyone else has. I think they haven't made any plans for the evening yet." Lloyd's expression confirmed that Zane had hit the nail on the head.
Pixal looked at them. "My apologies," she said. "But since Cole does the cooking tonight, Lloyd, I would suggest you start thinking about it. I seem to recall that the two of you met at a sushi bar. How about going to that nice place on the other side of the park?" She put her hand on Zane's. "I think we should make a move, too. We haven't decided yet: dinner or movie?"
They all got up, and while Zane explained the way to the sushi bar to Lloyd, Seven plucked up courage and asked Pixal about the soldering iron. The nindroid girl lightly tapped her wrist to reveal the compartment in her forearm where she always kept a selection of useful tools ready. Seven stared at the open arm in disbelief before she began to chuckle, and Pixal slid the cover back in place with a smile.
When they parted, they all agreed that Seven must definitely come and see them at the monastery some time soon.
Left alone in front of the terrace, the two nindroids looked at each other.
"So this afternoon turned out a little bit different than expected," Pixal remarked. "I have a feeling that I'm going to drop my beta test for today."
"We know now that your cloak works," Zane agreed. "And we also know that sometimes, we should just be ourselves."
They glanced after Seven and Lloyd in silence.
"We've been there, haven't we?" Pixal said with a little sigh.
"Yes. A techno blade, a shared heart, neural drives switching bodies, villains overriding our programming, erased memories … Existential crises again and again. I don't know how we would have got through all of this without our friends."
"If she gains a little more trust in herself … If she trusts Lloyd … She will realize that she has friends, too."
"I think deep inside she knows it already." Zane glanced at his girlfriend. "She hugged you when we said goodbye! What did you say to her?" he asked curiously.
"I asked her if she wanted to test-drive the bike I'm working on when she comes to see us. The Jungle Chopper is a two-seater," Pixal said with a slight smile, "and she looks like a girl who'd be up for this sort of fun."
"Clever!" Zane exclaimed with an appreciating nod. "She'll love it. But may I ask …" he turned to Pixal with a serious expression on his face and gave her a piercing look with his electric blue eyes. "May I ask why I'm never the one who is offered a test drive together with you?"
"Oh, Zane," Pixal said with a gentle smile and threw her ponytail back. "Perhaps you remember that you once crashed your car and landed us in a deep hole together with an imaginary dragon because you didn't want to listen to my advice? I still haven't quite gotten over it. I'd be a terrible co-driver, and I'd rather spare us another experience like that."
Zane's eyes widened, but then he smiled back at her in resignation. He knew when to acknowledge defeat. "Ok, then," he said. "Have fun without me!"
"We will," Pixal declared. "I promised it to her. I promised she'd find plenty of reasons to be happy in Ninjago."
They glanced in the direction where Seven and Lloyd had disappeared in the crowd, and Zane took Pixal's hand.
"You'd make a great sister. She will agree with you."