Happy Women's Day, y'all! Here's to all my beautiful, powerful queens out there. Even if you're not feeling very powerful today, you're still loved just for being you! ;)

Jay wiped his forehead on his sleeve. The jungle was uncomfortably humid, and he was sweating right through his ninja gi. He leaned against the side of the Roto Jet, his hands sore from prying apart bits of rusted machinery all day.

Now that the Elemental Masters were free, they had a lot more resources to work on the jet. He and Karlof had been tasked with fixing it up, replacing some of the less reliable parts from the factory, adding fresh missiles, and making sure that nothing had been damaged in the fight.

A short distance away, Kai's sister was checking the diagnostics on a few of Chen's vehicles that they had helped themselves to. Jay folded his arms and leaned over the jet's wing, fascinated by the ease with which she worked. He didn't think he had ever met a girl besides his own mother who had such knowledge of mechanics. He would have liked to ask her about where she had learned so much, but she had already made it pretty clear that she wasn't in the mood to talk.

Nya had hardly spoken a word to Jay all morning, preferring to speak to Karlof over him. In fact, Nya had all but ignored him since their last, brief conversation right before Chen captured everybody. Even her hard-headed fuchsia friend had been friendlier than she was. Sure, Nya was probably anxious for her missing teammate, but Jay still couldn't shake the feeling that her coldness was directed specifically at him.

"Bluuueee ninjaaaa!" Karlof sing-songed. "Karlof could really use your help down here!"

Jay snapped out of his thoughts as he realized he had been staring at Nya – like a total creep – when he was supposed to be helping Karlof. He knelt down beneath the jet's underbelly and handed Karlof the replacement part they had found, trading it for an old burnt-out chip.

"That should do it," Karlof said as he carefully put the piece in place. Jay hadn't expected the Metal Master to be able to handle such delicate work, but he had insisted on doing it himself, seeing as he had prior experience. "Roto Jet is now as good as new." He scooted out from under the jet and sat up, clapping his hand together to wipe the gunk off.

Jay brightened. "We're done? Hmm, well in that case, I guess we should find something else to do now, so we can make ourselves useful. Hey, Nya! Need any help?"

"I'm good," she said without looking up.

Jay wilted, trying not to feel too disappointed.

The sound of rustling foliage made him turn. Garmadon was just emerging from the jungle. Jay tensed, conscious of the nunchucks hanging from his belt. But Garmadon's eyes barely brushed over Jay as he surveyed the clearing.

"Have you made any progress?"

"Roto Jet is complete," Karlof reported.

The old man nodded. "Good. The others have removed all options for Chen to escape, though we haven't found a lead on him yet. I believe Pixal was brainstorming a plan when I left, so I should hope it won't be too much longer. You two had better get started helping Nya so we can go after him as soon as we're ready."

"I can do it on my own," Nya said brusquely.

"I'm well aware of your ability," Garmadon answered calmly. "But we don't just need it done, we need it done fast. We have to be able to move as soon as we have a plan. I don't think I need to remind you what's at stake."

Nya frowned, but didn't argue any more.

"I have to report back to the others, but let us know if you need anything else." Jay watched him head back into the jungle. Sometimes he still doubted the decision to team up with Garmadon and his ninja. He didn't trust Garmadon in the slightest, and he half expected that any day he would order his ninja to snatch the golden weapons when they weren't looking. But defeating Chen seemed like the more pressing issue, and Jay trusted Cole's judgment. Still, he wondered what Wu would say if he was there. He wondered if Wu was okay.

"You heard him," Karlof said. "Cars will not fix themselves."

Jay followed his lead and took to a small rover. He hopped into the seat and began running through all the basic controls, looking for any faults. It was all pretty routine, and his mind began to wander again. He couldn't help but glance at Nya a few times. She worked silently and efficiently, as used to the process as he was. He wondered what she was thinking about.

". . . Penny for your thoughts?" he ventured.

She was partially obscured by the raised hood of a buggy. She remained silent for a while and he thought that this time she really was going to flat-out ignore him. But finally she said, "A lot of these trucks are outdated, but this one looks as if it's really taken a beating. I'm not sure how functional it will be."

"Mind if I take a look?"

She nodded him over. Jay inspected the engine and came to the same conclusion. "I see what you mean, it's in pretty bad shape. Question is, will it work? You want me to start her up?"

"Be my guest."

As soon as Jay got it going the engine rattled noisily, and he hastily turned it back off. He had to wonder if and where they could find a new one. They really needed to salvage as many of the vehicles as they could.

Nya seemed to read his mind. "Well, we know what the problem is, but we don't know where they would have kept their spare parts. We could go back down to the factory and we might be able to scrounge something up, but it's doubtful they would have a whole engine just lying around."

Jay shrugged. "I guess we'll just have to write this one off, then. It might come in handy if any of the other buggies are damaged, though."

Nya crossed her arms. "I still hate to give up on it. We need all we can get." She ran her fingers through the fine strands of her hair. "Maybe when we're finished here I'll ask Seliel if there's time to look."

"You seem like you know your stuff," Jay observed. "You don't happen to dabble in the engineering arts, do you?"

Nya reached up and closed the hood of the buggy. "I might."

"Really? You ever made any cool gizmos?" Jay had never met someone with similar interests before. And such a nice girl, no less. Zane was usually the only one who showed any interest in Jay's inventions, but he wasn't as passionate about the infinite possibilities of creation as Jay was. He still didn't always understand or appreciate the things Jay made.

"Don't forget, we're on a time crunch," Nya reminded him. "Even after we're finished here, there's probably still lots more that needs to be done."

"I can work while I talk! Besides, we're supposed to be pooling our resources. We might be able to come up with something worthwhile together!"

Nya opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again. She seemed to reconsider before she finally said, "Okay, I've got a question for you: that glider used back at the Lightning ruins . . ." Jay remembered that day well, when he had first got his nunchucks. That seemed like a lifetime ago. He was again made conscious of the nunchucks on his belt, humming with a low buzz from the electric charge that held them together. Their truce was the only thing keeping Nya from trying to take them right now.

"I hate to admit this," she continued, "but my friend and I have been trying to replicate something similar. Problem is, we haven't been able to come up with a design strong enough to keep a person in the air for long. So how'd you do it?"

Jay grinned and tried not to get ahead of himself as he remembered all the trials it had taken to perfect his glider. "Okay, so . . . you probably accounted for wind speed, right?"

Nya scowled.

Jay inwardly cringed. "Yeah, of course. I guess you'd have to be stupid not to. I mean – I don't think you're stupid or anything –"

Nya shook her head. "Forget it. We don't need to be trading secrets, anyway."

Jay scrambled for something to say. She was about to turn away when he blurted out, "Titanium or steel?"

Nya hesitated, but he could guess at how badly she wanted a solution. "We used titanium at first, since it's more lightweight. But steel was stronger and, frankly easier to come by. We . . . had a lot of failed models," she admitted.

Jay nodded. "You're on the right track. But what you need is a balance between strength and weight. Did you hollow out the rods?"

Nya nodded. Now that he had her attention, Jay could see the spark of intrigue in her eye that supercharged every inventor, scientist, and explorer. "We did a little research and found out that birds have hollow bones. We figured that might help with the weight."

"Okay, but bird bones aren't really hollow, right? They've got, like, these criss-crossing things for extra support." He crossed his hands as an example. "Like how a building needs columns to hold up the ceiling."

"So . . . you put support beams in the rods?"

"I really just added gaps every few millimeters. But it worked."

Nya raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't that be really time-consuming?"

Jay shrugged. "Maybe it's not ideal for mass production, but it was good enough for the time-being. Convenience has never really been my strong suit, anyway." He chuckled. "But that never stopped me before."

Nya gave him a half smile and he grinned. But the smile only lasted a moment, and then she was somber again. "I guess I owe you now."

He waved a hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it. It's not about getting even. Just think of it as a tip from one friend to another."

There was that frown again, and in a flash Nya was completely closed off from him. Jay knew they hadn't been on great terms the last time they saw each other, but they had been on opposite sides, so of course they were going to butt heads. He didn't blame her for blasting him with water, so why was she still so upset with him?

"We should get back to work," she said. "Karlof won't appreciate it if he realizes we've gotten off-topic." With that, she went to find another truck to work on.

Jay watched her go, wondering if this was worth all the digging and rejecting.

These things just take time, he told himself.

Then, What things?

Jay shook his head. Was he taking this too far? There couldn't be anything wrong with extending the hand of friendship to a rival, but Nya clearly had some very different ideas about the world, or she wouldn't be with Garmadon in the first place.

Friendship was good, friendship was fine. Jay could always use more friends, especially inventing friends. And if he could win her over to their side, then that was all the better. He just had to keep trying, keep being nice to her, and show her that she was wrong about Sensei Wu and all of them. Then they would be friends in no time.