Helllooo!

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This is kind of drifting into the realm of AU, but I kind of like it. So let me know what you think:)

Enjoy the chapter!


Rebooting… rebooting…

System online.

A groan escaped Zane as the onslaught of warnings and compromised pop-ups clouded his vision when he cracked an eye open. He was just maybe regretting not having Pixel upgrade him to pain-free nindroid status. His head hurt. He could feel the wires and circuits inside his chest cavity spark and shutter from heat overload. He immediately released a small bit of his element, feeling a wave of relief as his circuits cooled down.

His analyzers flitted around in his vision, taking inventory of the dimly lit cell. Much to his dismay, they revealed next to nothing about where he was. He checked his internal compass and deduced he was several hours northwest of the mainland, far from any help. And who would come anyway? Everyone thought he was still dead.

The chains keeping his arms suspended in a strained position jangled in frustration. How stupid was he? He should have been better than this, smarter than this. How could he let himself be captured by some low-life thief?

He should have just gone straight to the Bounty, not loitered at the top floor of Borg Tower with-

Zane's eyes flew open as he gasped. "Pixal!"

Panic slammed into him as he strained against the chains. He ripped through his memory bank, anxiety growing as he watched his last memory of consciousness focus on Pixal's terrified face before cutting out.

Where was she? FSM, he hoped she wasn't here somewhere. If that thief laid one hand on her...

... What? What will you do, white ninja?

Zane went rigid at the voice. First Master, he recognized that voice, the one voice he never wanted to hear again. The rasping hiss echoed inside his head like a swarm of bats. The last voice he heard before he died. The last person who was with him before he was destroyed.

The Overlord.

"Leave me alone," Zane whispered, hands clenched so hard his joints creaked in protest. The chains rattled on his wrists.

Oh, but you are alone, Zane. You are completely and unequivocally alone. You always were, you always will be. The unwelcome words purred, slithering around his head like a snake, digging deeper. The Overlord's words knew exactly where Zane was most raw, burrowing into it like maggots into rotting meat. See your brothers? See your so-called family? Where were they when you needed them most?

Zane squeezed his eyes shut as if he could physically block out his own thoughts, making the shackles rattle more as he shook against his will. The voice sensed his weakness and prodded him further. That's right. The moment they had a real challenge they ran and hid like children. Not even your green ninja, not even your beloved teacher cared enough to stop you.

"That's, that's not true," Zane fought back, albeit weakly, shaking his head. "I, I made my choice. I don't regret defeating you."

I have no doubt, ice ninja, It mocked, hissing and spitting vitriol like venomari poison. With each syllable it grew more aggressive, clawing at the walls of Zane's mind. Oh, he knows who he is! He thinks if he pretends to be a mortal they'll treat him like one. Well, we know better, don't we? You never belonged with them, and you never will. And that is just what you deserve."

Zane banged his head against the stone wall, desperately trying to escape his own mind. His breathing picked up and his power source spiked.

You abandoned your dying father. Twice. You failed Pixal when she needed you most. You thought if you sacrificed yourself you would make amends for what you've done. Where has that led you, Zane? You are alone!

Zane shook his head more and more violently, the vision of the Overlord now visible before him in all his shadowy glory, just like the day he died. "No! Just shut up!" His scream resounded off the cell walls and ricocheted down the unseen hall in an eerie echo.

For a minute the only sound in the cell was his labored breathing. He leaned his head against the stone wall, eyes still clamped shut, shuttering in relief at the silence and reprieve from the voice in his head. He opened his eyes and could have cried to find the cell once more empty, the Overlord vanished from his line of sight.

A familiar little mew made him pause and look again at the shadow just beneath the cell door, doing a double-take as he spotted two reflective eyes staring back at him. When Zane's eyes fell on the trembling cat stumbling toward him his eyes widened. No. Not Yuki. Please not innocent little Yuki.

His little cat looked awful, he staggered toward the ice master with what looked like the last reserves of his strength. Zane felt like his heart was being squeezed at the sight of the shards of glass jutting out of his shoulder blades, the ugly burn streaking up his left arm, the pathetic limp as he finally collapsed on his knee, whimpering quietly.

"Oh, Yuki," Zane had never felt so helpless chained up in that wall. He wanted nothing more than to scoop his cat up and hold him close and never let go. Yuki wasn't just a cat, he was...he was sunshine, and innocence and the physical manifestation of everything good that was left in this world. He didn't belong in a place like this. And he was dying. Starving, scared, and dying.

"Yuki," He croaked, "look at me." Yuki's blue eyes cracked open and looked up into Zane's glowing ones. "I made a promise to protect you, and I meant it. I will get us out of here." He wasn't sure where the sudden conviction came from, but in his heart, he knew he would. New model or no, he still had a directive. He was going to protect.

This little cat gave him a strength that not even the Overlord himself could snuff out.

And Yuki needed his help.

He dug through his mind, sifting through the glitching inventory of upgrades scrolling through his software. He turned to his dangling forearm and compelled a small hatch to pop open. A blade folded out and whirred to life, sawing into the iron.

Zane continued to talk in a low voice to Yuki as the blade cut through the cuff of his left wrist. The cat's eyes fluttered weakly, but Zane could swear he was listening. He could even hear him purr against his leg.

He heard the metal snap in half. Zane twisted out of the restraint and immediately lifted him up onto his lap. Yuki felt too light in his hand as he melted into his arms.

Zane winced when he saw the wounds on his back, matting his fur with oozing dark liquid. He knew he had to pull the glass out before they got infected. He ghosted his fingers over his back, tentatively brushing over a shard. Yuki flinched violently and looked up at the ice ninja.

The look in his eyes showed absolute trust as he resigned himself, burying his face into his silver gi. The ice master took a shaky breath and got to work.

The process was agonizingly slow, and Zane was as gentle as he could, but Yuki couldn't help but whimper as the glass was pulled out. Zane's heart clenched at each one but kept working, murmuring softly. It probably calmed him as much as the cat.

eventually, the last piece was pulled out, and Yuki gasped in relief as the pressure off his shoulder blade was released, stretching experimentally.

"Sh, sh, you're ok. You were so brave, Yuki. You did so well." He ran a cold finger down the bridge of his nose as the cat shuttered and sighed, passing out in his arm. Zane sighed too, sagging against the wall, his other arm still suspended. He opened a hatch on his right arm and began working on it, finding the buzz of the saw calming him slightly.

The door lock rattling made him jump, scrambling to slip Yuki out of sight behind him and snake his hands back into the cuffs before the door swung open.

"Oh good, you're awake." A way too cheerful voice exclaimed. Its owner waltzed in with a signature finesse, two others followed close in tow. If he hadn't been chained to a wall in a dungeon who knows where, Zane would have scoffed at the man's eccentric bright robes, jewelry, twisted gold staff, and snake headdress. If he were with his family, this would be another easily apprehended villain to gift-wrap to Kryptarium prison.

But he wasn't with his family anymore, he reminded himself tightly.

As it was, he could only glare evenly at the man, trying to assess the threat through his damaged processors. His eye flickered involuntarily.

One of the two people behind the man, another guy with a greasy ponytail and deep sunk-in eyes handed a sputtering torch to the headdress man as he bent down to get a better look at the chained nindroid, blood-red robes dragging across the stone floor. The deep shadows on his face flickered menacingly in the light as he leaned heavily on his staff, which upon closer inspection, was a polished bronze cobra.

"My first elemental master." The man marveled, face barely containing his excitement. Zane unconsciously shied away from his gleeful expression, more warnings popping up in his vision. Still, he forced himself to maintain eye contact. "You're the first player in my tournament-and the first loser. Tell me, how do you enjoying your stay?"

Zane just glared back with that iciness that only Zane could pull off, fists balled tightly.

The man smiled and straightened, turning to his other companion, a redhead in an ochre gi. "Skylor, my pet, care to do the honors?"

Skylor stepped closer into the firelight, kneeling down by the crazy man and looking at Zane with an unreadable expression. It wasn't gleeful like the headdress man, nor slightly demented like the man behind her. If anything, Zane thought her face showed a flicker of fear. For a minute, the two shared a sort of brief, unspoken conversation.

What's happening?

... You don't want to know.

… Please don't do this-.

"-Skylor, my dear, I really don't have all day," the snake man interrupted, examining his nails absently behind her.

Skylor let out a small breath and placed a hand over where Zane's heart should have been, closing her eyes in concentration. He struggled in protest and tried to move away from her hand. With an uncomfortable tugging sensation in his gut, Zane felt a part of his ice rush out of him and flow into the girl. He gasped in shock and stared at Skylor, who pulled away and straightened. "What did you do?" He managed.

The headdress man ignored him, rubbing his hands together eagerly as Skylor focused her gaze pointedly on her hand. "Do you have it?" He demanded.

After a second, a flake of ice crystallized in her palm out of thin air, growing larger by the minute. Zane watched in alarm as his element obeyed someone else.

Skylor's face contorted with fierce concentration as she struggled to rein in the element of ice, the flake expanding and shifting like a living thing. Its normally peaceful demeanor bucked in her grasp like a wild stallion, still not ready to consent to its non-chosen occupant.

Skylor yelped as her ice flared and sliced along her fingers in an ugly cold burn till she had no choice but to drop it and listen to it shatter into a hundred tiny pieces.

She stared blankly at the mess she made while the headdress man just clucked his tongue disapprovingly. "Needs work, daughter. Be sure you can control it by the time the others arrive. You will need it later, I'm sure."

Skylor shook herself out of her thoughts at his words and nodded. "Of course, father... I won't disappoint you," she reassured him, who turned his attention back to Zane.

"Now," he clapped his hands again, somehow more excited than before, "for the main event!"

Zane tore his gaze from Skylor to her father at his flourish, dread growing by the minute, begging him to do something already.

The man held his snake staff up high, red robes blocking out any light from the torch, casting a long shadow over the nindroid. The cobra's head on the staff he clutched seemed to bore holes into Zane as its fangs bit down on the strange diamond embedded in its mouth. Chen's eyes rolled back as he began muttering under his breath.

The disturbing sensation Zane had felt with Skylor was nothing compared to this. His element was being wrenched from his very being, and it was agony. He gasped as he felt the familiar presence that had resided for so long in his gut was viciously ripped away from his very being. It left him doubled over, strained arms keeping him suspended as he heaved.

He felt a very different kind of cold. He had always loved the snow and ice since his first memories of Birchwood Forrest, loved the way the quiet snowflakes fluttered down from the heavens to rest on his eyelashes, loved the muted peace of his own little world in the tree blanketed in silence, loved the glassy smoothness of the frozen rivers nearby his home, as if it was possible to actually freeze time in place.

But... this cold was different. It was hollow, empty like a cave. It felt like death. He had never shivered before but now he was shaking like a leaf.

"What-what did you do?" He let out weakly, lifting his head to look at the headdress man.

He fingered the jewel, mesmerized by the flickering white light swirling inside it. "Send the word out to the rest of the elemental masters, Clouse," he threw at the man holding the torch, "We're ready to begin the tournament." He grabbed the hem of his robe and sauntered out of the tiny cell.

Clouse's pale face flickered in the torchlight, contorting his features in an unnatural smile before grabbing Skylar by the arm and dragging her behind him. She stole one last look at the terrified-looking nindroid before the door slammed shut with a clanging finality.


Can this poor toaster catch a break?

Just a minor note that I'll be bumping up the rating to T. The story is still way more like K, I just want to be safe for everyone, you know?

As always, please leave a comment if you enjoyed, they keep me writin:) I'll try to publish the next chapter ASAP. Now go have a lovely day!