(A/N: Pause for a moment to remember the greatest moments of Cole's voice actor, Kirby Morrow before continuing on. And, I decided to upload two chapters today)
In the kitchen below deck, the Ninja and Harumi had to have instant spaghetti and meatballs since Zane was still offline. As soon as they had finished, except for Jay, who was trying to get the last meatball, that was moving around due to the ship shaking, on his plate with his fork, they all look at the blanket map. "I don't get it." Maggie said. "Why was the baby wrapped in a map?"
"I don't know." Gewuji replied as she turned to the baby, who was now wrapped in a beige blanket and in Cole's arms. "Maybe they didn't have any diapers either."
"This part here looks like it could be the central part of Ninjago." Harumi said, pointing to a certain spot on the map.
"And the X." Geoff replied, pointing out to it. "You think the third Oni Mask could be hidden there?"
Lloyd looks at it before realising the location. "Primeval's Eye." He said, making everyone look at him. "My mother used to tell me about his place. It's an uncharted, vast wilderness of death. Dr. Yost had gone in to map the area, but he never returned."
"I don't want to say it, but it sounds like the perfect place to hide something you don't want anyone to find." Nya said before looking at her husband, who was still trying to playfully get the meatball while chuckling.
"Come here, you little sucker!" He said as the meatball falls off the plate, landing close to Blake's right hand before raising his fork high to try and stab it.
But he makes a slight miscalculation as the fork struck down onto Blake's hand. The moment it did, Blake immediately yelped, causing Cole to cover the baby's eyes while Gewuji giggled from Jay's misfortune before Blake banged the table with his other hand to control the pain, hissing as he did so, moves it to the fork, and quickly pulled it out of his hand. "YOU IDIOT!" He yelled in Jay's face while holding the fork by its blood covered sharp end.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" Jay was soon cut off when Blake held the fork handle at his chin.
"Don't! Just... don't."
"Uh, I'll get the first aid kit." Maggie said, getting up, and leaves the kitchen.
Blake takes the glove off to find three small holes on his right hand, slowly bleeding. Jay tries to come up to him, but Blake moves him back. "Please, I didn't mean-"
"Back off." Blake muttered.
"Probably what you get for badmouthing about Lloyd and Gewuji's breakup." Cole teasingly said as he moved his hand away from the baby's eyes before he started to wail a little. "Oh, you thirsty?" He soon stood up, rocking the baby a little.
Nya then turned to Lloyd, who was looking at the map. "Hey, can we talk?" She asked, motioning her head to a nearby corner.
Lloyd complied and they head for the corner. "What's up?" He asked.
"Gewuji told me she saw you and Rumi kiss."
He was immediately surprised. "What?"
"Happened before she went below deck."
"Nya, that didn't happen. We almost did, but I chickened out."
"Good of you to do that. Lloyd, I know what you're going through. Rumi is nice for you, but you know Gewuji is too. Sooner or later, you have to realise who you truly love."
Lloyd looked away a little, seeing Harumi look at the map and Gewuji grabbing the plates. "Hmm, I don't know."
In the control room, while Zane was still on the gurney, his damaged parts slowly being fixed, the panel at his right side lifts up and down, emitting sparks before opening, revealing a spider leg, until the whole thing jumps out, landing on the floor. It turned out to be a mechanical spider before it quickly heads over to some cables by the wall, climbs up it, and goes in past the cover. The monitors all flicker a bit.
In the kitchen, Nya was unaware of the intercom behind her flickering as she watched Maggie finish patching up Blake's hand up before he puts the glove back on while Gewuji had put the plates in the sink, except for Jay's, who still insisted on eating the meatball, and was given a clean fork since the blood coated one was disposed of. Slurping was heard as Nya turned to see Cole giving the baby a drink, in a regular cup, and turned to Geoff, who was watching, completely not amusemed. "What is Cole feeding him?" Gewuji comes back to the table while Nya and Geoff watch Cole feed the baby.
"It's tea." Geoff replied.
"Tea?" Gewuji asked before grabbing the cup from him, causing the baby to fuss. "You can't feed my son tea!"
"Why not?" Cole asked, grabbing it back from her. "He likes it." He starts feeding him the tea again. "He wouldn't drink anything else."
Stabbing was soon heard followed by Jay's scoff before Nya and Geoff turn to see that he has managed to get the meatball. "Gotcha!" He said as he triumphantly held it while Kai looked with concern. "Who's laughing now, meatball?" The lights soon go out, followed by a shake, causing everyone to move about, and Jay losing his fork and meatball, until he and Kai fall back onto the floor.
"What happened to the lights?" Kai asked.
Lloyd looked up before realising. "Get to the bridge." He said as he gets out of his seat. "Quick!" They immediately ran to the door just as Harumi quickly grabbed the map on her way out.
In the bridge, they come up to the monitor. "P.I.X.A.L., what's happening?" Blake asked, but there was no response.
"P.I.X.A.L., come in!"
"Must be a power failure." Geoff said.
"Or it's a trap." Jay replied.
"Freaking out isn't gonna help us." Cole said.
"Jay might be right." Nya replied, agreeing with her husband. "The backup generators would've kicked in. This is something else."
The lights then came back on before alarms soon went off as the monitor comes back on. "Emergency." P.I.X.A.L. said on the monitor. "Emergency."
"What happened, P.I.X.A.L.?" Lloyd asked.
"I'm detecting a foreign presence has been introduced into my system."
"Foreign?" Maggie asked. "What are you talking about?"
"It appears we are being tracked." The monitor shows the Bounty with a warning icon by where the control room is. "I have lost control of the ship."
"How did something get in?" Jay asked.
Blake taps a few keys to show an image of Zane in the control room. His panel was emitting sparks. "The trap." He replied. "Something was planted on Zane. They wanted us to take him in."
"Proximity alarm." P.I.X.A.L. said in the monitor. "Something is approaching the Bounty fast." Blake taps a few more keys to show a camera's point of view from the stern section. "It is Samurai X."
"Oh, he must be here to help us out." Gewuji replied.
"I'm afraid that is unlikely."
"Why?" Lloyd asked.
"Because my system is overrun." Her voice started to distort a bit.
"You're making no sense, P.I.X.A.L." Kai said, hitting the console. "What are you talking about?"
"This would be a good time for Blake to make a minor confession."
They all turn to Blake, who lowered his head. "P.I.X.A.L. Borg, is Samurai X." He confessed, pressing a button to show Samurai X on the monitor before the helmet switches to P.I.X.A.L.'s face, surprising everyone.
"What?" Kai asked.
"Are you serious?" Geoff asked.
"How is that possible?" Nya asked.
"How can Pix be Samurai X?" Lloyd asked.
"Remember last year, when Acronix struck Zane and we took him to reboot in my Samurai X cave?" Blake asked.
"How could I forget that?" Nya asked, sarcastically.
"Well, her hard drive was downloaded into the system as a result, which is why I was unable to find her inside him. She must've downloaded herself into the body that I've been rebuilding for her." A laser fire soon hits the Bounty, causing it to shake.
Outside, the shot had hit one of the thrusters, causing it to emit smoke.
In the bridge, the baby started crying as Blake tried to find out what the problem was. "We probably needed that, right?" Harumi asked.
"The mech is targeting the second aft thruster."
"Lloyd, if we lose the second-"
"I know, I know." Lloyd cuts Nya off. "We'll drop out of the sky like a brick. Nya, Blake, try to find the foreign agent. Jay, keep that lightning off our back. The rest of us, get ready to fight." They immediately head out of the bridge.
In the quarters, Cole heads over to the box to place the baby in it. "Stay safe, little buddy." He said. "I'll be back to get you before you know it." Cole immediately took off.
Out on the deck, it has started to rain as Cole and Harumi join Kai, Jay, Lloyd, Geoff, Gewuji and Maggie as they look around among the rumbling thunder before Lloyd turned to see the Samurai X mech appearing from behind a cloud. "Everyone, be on alert!" He said as they get out their weapons. They try to look around, but the ship rocks when a lightning bolt emits close to them.
"That lightning is getting way too close for comfort." Geoff said.
"Jay, try to hold them off."
"Got it!" Jay said, putting his nunchucks away, and held out a hand, getting some lighting absorbed into him before turning his arm to the right, sending the lightning away, and sighed out of exhaustion. "You're welcome." He sarcastically spoke.
He turned back to see the mech as it fired, hitting one of the spars. The explosion let off some smoke, causing them to cough before Maggie spots the mech. "There!" She yelled.
"Can't see a thing in this storm." Lloyd replied.
"Time to light this place up." Kai said before he sheathes his swords, spins while forming a fireball, and raises his arms high, firing the fireball into the air. The bright light the flames was emitting helped a little.
"Rumi, stand back and take this." Gewuji said, holding out a sword to her.
"But I don't know how to fight." She replied.
"But you wanna live, right?" Harumi felt a little reluctant. "Rumi, I'm fine with you hanging around Lloyd. Sure I admit, I'm still jealous, but it's time for me to grow up and face it. Please, take it." She takes the sword and looked at it.
"There!" Geoff said, pointing out to the mech. Lloyd and Geoff sheathe their weapons as they all move forward to see the mech about to turn around before Lloyd starts conjuring a ball of energy and fires at it.
Unfortunately, the mech managed to dodge it before Lloyd turned to Maggie. "Maggie, try to slow it down." He said. Maggie nods, moves forward while sheathing her glaive, and held out her hands, using her magnetic powers to try and immobilise the mech by moving its metal back while Lloyd conjured another ball of energy, followed by the Sanders siblings, who were conjuring balls of their respective powers of Sand and Glass, and they all fire at the mech.
In the control room, Nya and Blake look around the place, trying to find where the foreign object is before Nya picked up a noodle box, and looked in it. "It wouldn't be in that." Blake said, who was underneath the gurney, having seen Nya pick it up before she throws it away.
Minor steps were soon heard as Blake came out from underneath the gurney, and stands up before he and Nya look at the cables where the sound came from. They both head over to the wires, and look through them, finding nothing, as the mechanical spider moves along from above before jumping to clamp onto the support bar for the monitors, moves down it, heading behind the monitor on the left, and causes it to shut off, causing the both of them to turn around. "What the hell was that?" Nya asked. They both turn to see the shutdown monitor before slowly moving up to it while Blake got out one of his kama. Nya taps the side to get it back online, but it doesn't work, while the spider started climbing up to Zane's foot, and stopped before they turn to see it, causing Nya to scream before it charges at them.
Out on the deck, P.I.X.A.L's mech was moving side to side, avoiding Lloyd, Geoff and Gewuji's power shots, and charged at the ship, only for a giant shot of Glass from Gewuji hits it, sending it spinning for its back to face them. Quickly recovering, the mech moves down, gliding past them, about to land before Maggie held her hands out, trying to stop her, but it was too late, as the mech soon landed, pulled out a big sword, and faces them. Lloyd turned to the thruster on the port side before turning back to the others. "Don't let her get the thruster!" He warned as Jay immediately charged at the mech, but is easily flung away before Cole soon charged, only to get grabbed, as Kai somersaults over to the mech to strike, but is quickly blocked, and forced back, almost sending him off the deck when he managed to grab hold of a support rope. Geoff immediately charged as the mech tries to strike him, only for Geoff to cartwheel to the right, but as he was getting back on his feet, the mech raises its left foot, kicking Geoff, and sending him crashing into the port side railing. Gewuji and Maggie quickly charge at the mech with their weapons held high, but the mech soon throws Cole into them, knocking them all down before it comes up to Lloyd, and tries to strike him, but he moves to the right as it soon tried to strike him again, but he ducks down, making it hit the mast, and tried to strike again, but he jumps away as it tired to strike again, but he moves to the left, causing the mech to hit the starboard railing before moving back to strike again, but Lloyd jumps in the air for it to hit the deck as he lands with the sword between his legs. Using this opportunity, Lloyd runs up the blade to try and force P.I.X.A.L. out, but the mech grabs hold of him, and throws him down onto the deck, knocking his sword out of his hand, which stabs into the deck close by.
As the mech prepared to make the killing blow, Harumi comes between them and blocks it with her sword, making it slide down, landing next to Lloyd, who looks at it, with shock, and turned to Harumi before smiling at her. But as she smiled at him, the mech immediately grabbed hold of her. "Lloyd!" She yelled as the mech came onto the railing, and jumped off.
Lloyd looked down, in concern. "Harumi!" He grabs his sword and runs over to the port side railing as the others look on before he jumps off, and free fell as they all see him. Lloyd lands on the back of P.I.X.A.L.'s mech, immediately holding on as it moved faster through the clouds.
On the deck, Gewuji joined the others to see her ex-boyfriend disappearing through them. "He did not just-" She was soon cut off.
"He just did." Geoff replied.
Out in the middle of the sky, the mech flies along in the storm as Lloyd comes up to the front of it and faces P.I.X.A.L. "P.I.X.A.L., you have to stop this!" He yelled.
"There is no P.I.X.A.L." Samurai X replied with a masculine voice instead of her regular voice. "Only The Quiet One."
He soon strikes the front of the mech. "Sorry about this, but you're not exactly in the right frame of mind!" He turned the sword around and stabs it into the component by the left arm, jamming it, and causing Harumi to scream as the mech started emitting smoke. P.I.X.A.L. soon presses a button, ejecting from the mech, and heads up to the Bounty as the mech starts to fall down. "I did not think that through."
On the deck, Kai, Jay, Cole, Geoff, Gewuji and Maggie see P.I.X.A.L. fly through the hole in the spar with a somersault before landing behind them, immediately pulling out one of her swords as she turned to face them, and poised, causing Kai to groan. "You're supposed to be our friend!" Jay said before they let out battle cries and charge at her.
In the sky, Harumi screamed as the mech kept on falling as Lloyd climbed up to her. "We're-" She tried to talk, but had a bit of fear. "We're gonna-"
"Look at me!" Lloyd cuts her off. "We're gonna get outta this! You hear me." He grabs hold of the mech's fingers, and tries to push it forward to free Harumi, eventually managing to, immediately grabbing her hand before she could fall.
Harumi soon held out the map. "The map! Maybe we can use it to parachute down!"
"What is this, a cartoon. That's never gonna work!" Thinking of a solution, Lloyd drags Harumi into the mech's seat. "The suit should break your fall." He closes the panel.
"What? No! What about you?"
"Sorry, only room for one."
"No, I need you!"
"And I need that map!" Briefly looking at each other, Lloyd soon jumped off while holding the map and Harumi screamed as the mech fell. Lloyd unfolds the map and looks down. "I didn't think this through either." Grabbing each end of the blanket map, it soon gained some air, acting like a parachute, allowing him to slowly descend while the mech crash lands.
Harumi groaned as the panel opened and she sees Lloyd descend into the trees, crashing into them, bumping into a log each before landing on the ground, close to the mech. He groans as he looked at his right shoulder. Not only did it hurt, but the gunshot wound had opened up, causing some blood to come out.
In the control room aboard the Bounty, Nya is forced back by the mechanical spider as Blake tries to strike it with his kama, but it soon came onto him, making him drop it and fall back, causing his glasses to fall off, as it starts moving around his body. "Get off!" He yelled as he managed to grab it, and threw it, unintentionally coming onto Nya, who screams, and tries to grab it.
"Get off me!" She yelled. "Get off!"
As it came close to biting her, Blake's kama suddenly hits the door, taking out the mechanical spider at the same time. He and Nya turn to see that Zane was now sitting up, and was the one who threw the kama. "What in the name of Ninjago is happening around here?" He asked.
Blake and Nya breathe heavily a little. "P.I.X.A.L." Nya replied, causing Zane to become confused. "You kinda missed a lot."
They all look at the monitor as Blake picks up his glasses. "Foreign agent has been purged from my system." P.I.X.A.L. said through the monitor. "Commencing system reboot in 30 seconds."
Out on the deck, the still possessed P.I.X.A.L. tries to strike Kai, who blocks her sword, and holds his other sword over it and growled as they clash before Gewuji slides underneath Kai's legs to force her to move her sword back while looking to her left as Cole jumps in the air to try and strike her with his hammer, but she moves back just as Geoff comes up behind her, striking her sword into falling out of her hand before Jay and Maggie came at her from the air, kicking her down, and slid as they landed. They immediately start coming over to P.I.X.A.L. as she sees the only working thruster, grabs her sword, and stood up. "Drop your sword!" Jay said.
"I shall comply." P.I.X.A.L. replied with her masculine voice before soon throwing it into the air.
In the control room, the monitor beeps. "Reboot complete." P.I.X.A.L. said in her normal voice. "System online."
Out on the deck, P.I.X.A.L.'s visor soon opened, revealing her face, as she, Kai, Jay, Cole, Geoff, Gewuji and Maggie see her sword head for the thruster as Zane, Nya and Blake came out from below deck to see it enter the thruster, causing it to stop and emit black smoke. The Bounty soon starts shaking as P.I.X.A.L. and the Ninja move about from the shaking before grabbing hold of something, as it starts to descend while doing a 360. "She got the last thruster." Jay points out to it while holding onto the anchor lever.
"Any ideas?" Geoff asked as he held onto the ladder.
"Not a one." Zane replied as he held onto the mast support alongside Nya and Blake.
"Yeah, me neither." Kai said as he held onto the port side railing.
"Pray to Wohira!" Jay called out.
"That is not helpful!" Nya replied to her husband.
"Perhaps if we can create enough drag with the sails, we may be able to achieve a controlled crash." Zane said.
"What sails?" Gewuji, who was holding onto the starboard side railing, asked, pointing up to the damaged sails.
Looking at the rain and hearing the wind, Jay suddenly gets an idea. "The rain and wind!" He called out. "They could slow our fall!"
"It's worth a try." Blake replied as he and Nya run over to the figurehead on the bowel section, go on each side, and held their arms out. They close their eyes to try and concentrate, but fail before looking back at the others, turn back, and immediately try again.
Soon, the air underneath the Bounty becomes an air pocket while the water helps slow the ship down and the air pocket shrunk. Everyone looked on, in amazement. "It's working!" Gewuji said. They look to see Nya and Blake still using their powers to guide the Bounty down into the forest.
"Brace for impact!" Kai yelled as they immediately grab hold of what they were touching very tightly.
In the quarters below deck, the baby starts to cry.
Hearing the crying, Maggie runs to the stairs to get below deck.
Once she came in, she grabs hold of him and holds him tight.
In the forest, the air and water pocket disappear due to them being out of the storm as the Bounty soon crash lands into it, knocking a few trees over.
In the quarters, the shock from the landing causes Maggie to fall to her side while the stuff around her bounced off the floor.
On the deck, most of the Ninja had lost grip of what they held onto as the Bounty slid along the forest as P.I.X.A.L. also lost her grip, but Gewuji manages to catch her, and Nya and Blake held onto the figureheads, until they were forced back onto the deck, bouncing as they did so before the ship came to a complete stop. A few seconds later, everyone slowly starts to get up and look around, and laugh a little. Jay heads over to where Blake and Nya were to help his wife up. "Everyone okay?" He asked as he turned to them.
The others moan as Blake grabbed hold of the railing and rubs his messed up hair back. "Another happy landing." He sarcastically replied.
Maggie soon came up to the deck as she held the baby in her arms. "You okay too, little buddy?" She asked him. The baby babbles in reply as Gewuji came up to them, and Maggie lets her carry her adoptive son.
"Oh, my little boy." She said before she kissed the baby's forehead.
Zane slowly dusted himself off as P.I.X.A.L. came up to him. "Zane." She said.
He turns to her as she was taking off her helmet, and smiled when he sees her face for real for the first time in years. "All this time, it was you." He replied. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I had to keep my identity a secret to protect those I cared about."
"You don't have to lie to me. You didn't like being stuck in my head."
She soon sighed. "There was that too."
"From now on, no more secrets." They soon hug each other as Kai looked around.
"What about Lloyd and Harumi?" He asked.
Further on, by the mech, Harumi picks up the blanket map before turning to Lloyd and wrapped it around his arm to use as an improvised sling. He hissed in pain during the time, but it was finished. "There." She said. They briefly smile at each other before looking around.
"I think we're on our own." Lloyd simply said, unaware that the wreckage of the Bounty was giving off smoke close by.