The trek back to the Samurai X cave became increasingly difficult as time went on, and not only due to the heavy gales and sheets of rain.

The temporary relief Jay had gotten from releasing some of his energy had completely worn off. It occurred to him that he could clear his head and unburden his body with another few seconds of letting the power run rampant, but he quickly shut that idea down. His friends surrounded him at a safe distance, and there was no telling of the consequences if he let his guard down.

He briefly considered asking them to leave him for a moment so he could rid himself of the excess power without harming them, but he didn't quite trust himself to return to them if they left him alone.

What the team told him made sense, that they had a plan to never harm him in the first place, but part of him still considered that it could be a complex cover-up― one that he decided he could play along with for the sake of the city and everyone in it, but still. If that traitorous part of his mind ended up being correct, the betrayal would sting him deep, whether or not he was willing to comply with the team's wishes.

Those were the last thoughts he sat with before his reasoning mind succumbed to the sea of buzzing pulling it under. He quickly made notes of the thoughts he resolved to follow through with; a quick list that was simplified enough for his syrupy mind to attend to even in the absence of complex thought. He turned it over in his mind like a mantra.

The priority is to stop the Serpenteels, no matter what the cost. The team is in charge of this, no matter what. It does not matter if they tell you to do something that will hurt you. The city is at risk. Your only task is to save it.

He repeated it over and over in his mind, lips noiselessly mouthing the words as if he were lip-syncing his favorite song. The motion of it helped him to engrain it into his head even when his brain felt like molasses. He repeated it again and again, drawing the words into the molasses and redrawing them when they threatened to fade away.

Jay was only half-aware when he tripped over his own feet and stumbled, only half-aware of when Cole jolted and took a step forward to catch him but thought better of it.

He caught bits and pieces of words uttered between his teammates, and vaguely understood that he knew the words, but made no effort to make sense of them. Not that he could, at this point.

"...get him back fast… not looking good…"

"...hopefully just tired? When Zane's back… run a scan…"

The world shifted around him and he stumbled to and fro, vaguely wondering when he'd gotten back on Nadakhan's ship. Or maybe he'd never gotten off? That would explain why he felt so seasick, and why the world pitched and turned. After all, who would come and save him?

His surroundings didn't look like a ship, more like a city.

Ah. He was having another dream. Another dream of home. He was on Nadakhan's ship, half-asleep, and his wistful mind had drifted back to Ninjago City. That must be it. Oh well; even if no one would come and save him from Nadakhan, he might as well make the most of the dream and enjoy his mental stay in Ninjago before one of the crewmates came to wake him for his daily chores and torture.

Jay shuddered. He didn't know how much more torture he could take. Maybe Nadakhan would see how feverish Jay was today and save the torture for a day when Jay would be less numb to it. Maybe if he milked it, Jay could get away with just doing all of the grueling chores…

"...sure to protect him in the battle… wish he could heal before but he's the only one who can save…"

Jay sighed and let his eyes drift closed even as he walked, the stormy winds propelling him forward more than his own muscles.

Then the wind and rain cut off, and Jay blinked his eyes open to find himself stumbling through the entrance to the Samurai X cave.

Lloyd and Kai led the way a few paces ahead of him, exchanging lowered tones and sending not-so-subtle glances his way.

Jay could hardly notice them, let alone be bothered to make sense of them.

He blinked again and found himself in front of Zane's unpowered body, his friend staring blankly up at the ceiling.

A sob clawed its way out of Jay's throat as he leaned over the table on which his robotic friend lay.

"Zane," He slurred, vision going blurry. He looked up at his team, who stood together, a few paces away. "Wh'happened to'em? He's'nt movin'."

They replied with a series of frowns, furrowed brows, and exchanged murmurs. He couldn't make any sense of it so he returned his gaze to his friend's dead eyes.

"His eyes usedta be sssoo bright. Where's the-" He gestured vaguely over Zane's unseeing face. "Where'stha light? He lookssad withoutit. Who made himssso sad? I wanna… wanna hava talk."

"Jay," Nya's gentle voice said, like she was talking to a child. "Can you give Zane his power source? He needs it."

Jay pulled the said source from his gi and examined it.

It was pretty. Pretty and bright like Zane's eyes when he was happy. Ooo, and it sparkled with wild energy, shooting tendrils of electricity everywhere. Electricity. Like Jay's element. Maybe he and Zane had more in common than he thought. He'd have to chat about it with Zane once he was happy again.

Jay giggled and waved the power source about, enjoying how it left a path of light trailing in its wake for a few seconds like a glowstick.

It made him quite happy to watch, but Zane looked unimpressed. Jay frowned. Zane was powered by electricity all the time. Did it wear on him like it wore on Jay? Did it make Zane unexplainably tired despite the electricity coursing through him? No wonder he looked sad.

"Jay," Nya's coaxing voice said again. "Give him his power source."

Jay hugged the source to his own heart, frowning at the surplus of energy dancing around it. "I don'wanna make him sad."

"He'll be happy to have his power source back. It'll be okay."

Jay considered the glowing object in his hand, then his lifeless friend before him.

Nya said it would be okay. It would be okay.

Jay opened Zane's chest compartment and placed the power source in its slot.

The power source's energy trailed his hand as he pulled away, stretching out towards him and thinning before breaking contact.

Jay doubled over with a startled yelp. A wave of- something crashed into him, washing over him and sweeping something inside him away. He distantly registered a voice calling out for him, but he couldn't tell whose. He took in some sharp breaths, taking in his surroundings and the sensations he'd been numb to merely a second ago.

The wave had swept away part of the buzzing in his head, enough for him to trudge through his syrupy thoughts without feeling like he'd drown in them. The dreaminess of his surroundings faded into cold reality.

The sensation of bugs crawling over his nerves lessened, more so like the bugs were strolling leisurely about and not hosting a crowded parade. It was enough for him to be able to feel other things. For the first time, he noticed the chill in his damp skin, and realized that his hair was still sopping wet and trailing droplets down his soaked clothes. The blueish aura that surrounded him no longer sparked and spiraled out of control, but clung to him with a low hum, closer to how it had been when he'd visited Kai.

The team must have noticed this, because they neared him now, looking between him and Zane.

All in all, his senses became clear enough for him to make one conclusion— the power source had absorbed a decent amount of his energy, and now that portion of energy no longer coursed through his body.

It felt like Jay had lint-rolled his entire nervous system, brain included. Not enough to clean it, but enough to make it passable.

He returned his attention to his friend on the table, took a deep breath, and closed Zane's chest compartment.

Jay couldn't help the startled cry that escaped him when Zane immediately shot into a seated position, blinking bright blue eyes.

Gasps and cheers and sighs of relief flooded the cave, and Zane rolled off the table and onto his feet, glancing around him with knitted brows.

"Zane!" Pixal rushed forward and nearly bowled him over, leaping into his arms and wrapping herself around him.

"It is good to see you too!" Zane said, voice exaggeratedly bright, returning her tight embrace, "But this display of appreciation appears to be more enthusiastic than normal. May I ask what the occasion is?"

Pixal broke the embrace, still holding him at the shoulders. Her eyes glistened green, her robot smile too warm to be considered robotic at all. "It has been a while since you have been—" she glanced over him. "Are… you all right?"

Jay looked Zane up and down, too, and realized what she referred to.

Zane jittered in place like he was on his twelfth cup of coffee, making a light, rhythmic tapping against the floor like a jackhammer drilling into a cushion.

"I estimate that I am functioning on a power input of at least ninety-three percent higher than normal," Zane reported, grinning ear to ear. Something manic danced through his eyes.

Pixal hummed with a frown, blinking eyes revealing that she was conducting a scan. "Do you believe this will interfere with any of your systems? Do you feel okay?"

Zane grinned even wider, if possible, and replied in a tone almost commercially enthusiastic, "I can smell sounds!"

Nya and Pixal exchanged a wary look.

Before Pixal could ask anything else, Zane turned his attention to Jay, who shifted uneasily under the weight of his gaze.

"Jay!" Zane all but sang. "If my memory bank serves me correctly, I last recall that you had some kind of quarrel with us, the motive of which I am not aware. I am relieved to see that the peace between you and the team appears to have been restored. Has the matter been resolved?"

Jay blinked. Wasn't Zane going to chew him out for taking his power source? Shouldn't he be mad and not… concerned? Jay rubbed his neck, analyzing his robot friend's expression. "Uhh… mostly. We're kinda working on it."

"Very well. I am afraid I am unaware of what has transpired while I was unpowered, but if you wish to fill me in about anything that is upsetting you, I would be more than happy to counsel you." His voice pitched exaggeratedly up in down in an almost musical tone, but held no hidden barbs.

Jay gaped like a fish, chewing over words that failed to come to his tongue. Giving up on stringing his thoughts together, he offered an intelligent, "Um. Thanks."

"We'll have plenty to talk about once this is all settled," Cole agreed, stepping forward and slinging an arm around Zane's shoulder. If Zane noticed how Cole leaned heavily into him, he didn't say anything. "But first, we need to do something about the Storm of Ruins, pronto."

"No kidding," Kai agreed, standing on Zane's other side to give the nindroid a noogie. "At the rate the storm's going, it'll start pulling buildings down within the hour— maybe even less, for the old ones. I think that old condemned house on Second was already rubble when we went past it."

"But the Storm of Ruins is not scheduled to arrive for a few more days," Zane said. His face fell at the responding grimaces, and he turned to Pixal. "How long have I been out?"

"The Storm is here."

Just like that, Zane went from jittering like he was on his twelfth cup of coffee to his eighteenth.

"We have a plan now, though," Lloyd assured him. He nodded towards Jay. "Jay has secured the city's energy supply, and will use it to power the machine. All we have to do is get him past the Serpenteels."

Jay froze again as Cole looked him over. "Are you gonna be okay to get there? You looked ready to pass out on the way here."

"I'm good." Jay nodded. "I just overwhelmed my system with too much energy, I think. I… I think I transferred Zane part of the energy I'd taken from the city grid when I gave him his power source, so I feel better now, but I might need his help to power the machine."

Zane put a hand on his shoulder. "I will be glad to assist you."

"Alright then, let's do this!" Lloyd held his hand out, and Kai and Nya did the same, followed by Cole, Pixal, and Zane.

Jay watched the team circle up with a distant smile, waiting to hear the blessed sound of their collective pre-battle cheer, but the sound never came.

Drawing his gaze away from the circle of hands, he realized that all eyes were on him.

"Well?" Lloyd said. "Are you in?"

Jay fought back the urge to let his lips tremble as he placed his own hand alongside theirs.

"On three," Kai called out, then counted them off. "One, two,"

"Go, ninja, go!" They called in unison, their collective voices filling every nook and cranny of the cave with their presence.

Finally, they were one again.


Jay leaned against the Bounty's railing, enjoying the wind carding through his hair— granted, he knew that the feeling was only enjoyable because he stood tucked safely above the storm clouds, and not below where the elements tore and pelted everything in their path.

The airship hovered above the thick mass of black clouds. Clear starlight hugged the waves of the clouds' shape, settling upon it like a blanket of snow.

Jay hummed in appreciation as he turned his gaze skyward. The unforgiving mass of clouds choked what scarce lights Ninjago citizens had managed to dig up. No longer competing with the artificial light, stars twinkled like fireflies, and the subdued colors of galaxies shyly peeked out, glittering the sky with rich magentas and greens that Jay hadn't ever even known were there.

Lightning peeled through the storm clouds that sifted ever-so-faintly below the Bounty. From Jay's perch above it, the storm felt much less intimidating, more like static rolling over a fluffy wool sweater.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

Jay jumped and looked over his shoulder. It took a moment for him to stomp out the urge to bolt from the two figures that stood behind him, but he coerced his shoulders into dropping and continued to lean over the rail.

Cole and Nya joined him, and Jay noted how they both made their movements slow and audible.

"Yeah," he agreed, finally relaxing. "You don't really get a view like this when the city is so bright." He let himself take up a little more space, his arms brushing against theirs.

In response, Nya leaned on his uninjured shoulder, and Cole settled for slowly and deliberately slipping an arm around his waist.

Nya nodded. "I'm glad I get to share this with you. I wish we could enjoy it more without the fate of Ninjago over our heads."

Cole and Jay replied with vague noises of affirmation.

Letting his eyes wander between the two of them, Jay looked for any sign of… well, anything.

He didn't see any sign of the "anything" he looked for.

He expected all eyes to be on him and waiting for him to mess up again, but Nya's gaze rested solely on the sky, her concentration allowing the lights of the stars to dance in her eyes. She leaned forward and sideways, over the rails and against Jay, completely off-centering her balance. Unguarded.

Cole's focus lay less on the sky and more on the two people next to him, but unless he was very good at hiding it, his gaze was not scrutinizing, either. The ghost of a smile pulled his face into something very soft and familiar and home, and unchecked fondness danced warmly in his irises. The generously-muscled arm that he had wrapped around Jay's back more so hovered around than touched him, allowing Jay the impression that he could make it disappear with a flick, even though Jay knew well that those very same arms held the strength to tear him limb from limb.

Jay wanted to give in and slump into Cole's arms, letting the mountain of strength completely support his and Nya's weights. He speculated that perhaps some of Cole's reservation might stem from discomfort he had around Jay and not his consideration that Jay might not feel comfortable around him yet, though, so Jay held back. He decided on leaning gently on Cole's arm, wordlessly letting him know that Jay wouldn't feel trapped if he held him, and Cole snuggled in a little closer.

"Sometime when this is all over, we should go out to the countryside," Nya said. "Like, camping or something. We could get a view like this away from the city and all the lights."

Cole held his free hand to his heart and dropped his jaw in mock horror. "And leave all our video games behind? Nya, don't you think Jay has been tortured enough?"

Jay muffled a laugh, though he knew it was useless to mute it with the two of them close enough to him to feel his chest shake.

Nya rolled her eyes with a long-suffering sigh that they all pretended wasn't undercut by the fond smile she tried to hide. "We can go in an RV so you don't have to give up your video games."

Jay grinned, the idea of being included making warmth bloom in his chest— or maybe it was the idea of there being an "afterward" for them. "You, me, and Cole in an RV together in the middle of nowhere? We'd drive each other nuts!"

Nya turned to face them. "Exactly my point! We could do the same stuff we've always done, but with better scenery!"

Cole laughed, and Jay leaned into the soothing rumbling his chest made when he did so. It made the buzzing in his brain die down a little bit. He could get used to this.

They parted at the sound of footsteps approaching, and turned to see Lloyd walking over the Bounty's deck.

"Look alive, crew," Lloyd said. "In a few seconds here, Pix is going to bring the Bounty down right over our drop point. The rain will give us cover until we're within a few feet of the building, but be prepared for the Serpenteels to start attacking the second they notice us."

Nya took a step toward Lloyd. "Do we know if any soldiers have come or gone since we were last here?"

To both Jay's relief and dismay, he found the loss of contact left him feeling a little empty.

Kai, Pixal, and Zane emerged from the cabin and joined the circle.

"According to my scans, the number of Serpenteels is approximately the same as we predicted," Zane reported, altogether too brightly for what he'd just said. "We will be outnumbered severely." He jittered in place. "Our best chance is to do as much damage as we can while they are still recovering from our surprise attack."

Kai punched his palm. "So we're going in blades blazing, all stops pulled right from the get-go?"

Lloyd nodded. "That's the plan."

"Sounds good to me!" Kai flashed a maniacal grin, and if Jay could believe his eyes, Zane mirrored it with just as much unbridled intensity.

The Bounty halted in mid-air.

"We are directly over our drop point," Pixal reported, tapping away at a console on her wrist. "When everyone is ready, I will begin the ship's descent, and give the signal to jump once the rooftop is within safe landing distance."

Jay watched the surface of the clouds grow closer, and readied himself to protect the ship from lightning should it roll over the clouds while the Bounty descended through them.

The clouds rolled over the ship's deck like thick fog, instantly soaking them all.

Jay shook some excess water from the sleeves of his gi. That was fine. Not like he'd had much chance to dry off from running through the storm, anyway.

He decidedly did not like how the fog made his friends turn into vague silhouettes hovering and shifting around him like ghosts, or how he could barely see a foot in front of his face. Wet cloth clung to his skin, simultaneously uncomfortably warm and cold, and he couldn't help but imagine his lungs slowly filling with water droplets from inhaling so much of the damp air. A slight feeling of vertigo told him the ship still made its way down, but man, he did not think that clouds were this tall. How long had they been going?

"Are we almost out of this thing?" Kai asked, relieving Jay from having to.

Jay did not want to ask his friends any potentially annoying questions after he'd done… well, everything to tick them off.

"The average cumulonimbus cloud is approximately one and a half kilometers thick," said Zane's voice somewhere on deck. "But this storm is much stronger than average. I suppose it stands around four kilometers— we shall be below it in a few seconds, though."

"Dim the lights," Lloyd commanded.

The outlines of Jay's friends disappeared with the click of a lamp, and soon, raindrops pelted his skin.

He placed a hand on the Bounty's railing and looked over it, wondering how he was supposed to know where the roof was.

A faint glimmering below caught his eye, growing steadily nearer. He traced the outline of one of the many glittering figures, and realized that the light followed a serpentine shape. A victorious smile pulled at the corners of his lips.

So the Serpenteels had some electricity coursing through their bodies. All the better to find them in the dark.

Careful not to slip on the soaked wood, Jay clambered onto the railing and perched like a cat ready to pounce.

"Now!" Pixal called.

He leapt, soaring through the air, weightless.

The blue glow of Zane's eyes beside him reminded him that he was not alone.

It was kind of funny, Jay mused. Last time he'd done this, he was trying to get away from everyone. Now they all jumped from the Bounty together, not to run from their problems, but to face them head-on as one.

A carefully-aimed landing planted Jay right on the shoulders of a Serpentine guard, sending them both crashing onto the rooftop. Jay couldn't bring himself to be too sympathetic about the cracking sound of the guard's shoulder, his own shoulder throbbing once more with the shock of the landing.

He rolled to spread the impact over his whole body, knocking into a second soldier and pushing her off-balance.

Jay realized he must have landed first, because a swarm of glimmering figures swallowed him at once, and his heart caught in his throat.

He should have waited for the others to go first. He could only do so much without his powers. Two seconds into the fight and he was done for, and he was never going to be able to power the machine and Ninjago would fall and-

Humanoid footsteps thundered behind him and skidded by his side, then the world lit up in bright oranges and yellows.

Jay blinked stars from his eyes and stood, squinting past the wall of fire and steam around him to see the Serpenteels drawing back.

"I gotcha!" Kai called from next to him, holding his hands out to sustain the ring of sweltering heat around them.

Jay nodded his thanks.

"Kai!" Nya called from the edge of the roof.

Kai and Jay turned to her with a collective gasp.

In the firelight, they could see Nya leaning backward over the parapet. She held her hands out placatingly at the group of Serpenteels that had her throat at the ends of their swords.

"Nya!" Kai cried.

Jay stared, words caught in his throat.

Nya gave Kai a knowing look. "Let's steam this sushi."

Kai grinned and nodded.

Zane raised a brow and addressed them from where he and Pixal fought back-to-back, Zane flaunting a much more eccentric, fluid fighting style than usual. "Sushi is not traditionally steamed."

Nya knocked the warriors around her back with a powerful stream of water.

Kai punched a jet of fire toward Nya, and the two elements collided, hot steam hissing out and scalding the soldiers who surrounded her.

The soldiers fled from the steam, and Nya stepped safely back onto the roof.

Kai dropped the wall of fire, rushing forward to give her a fist bump. He kicked one of the soldiers' abandoned weapons into his palm before handing Jay the hilt of it.

Jay accepted it, weighing the sword in his hand and giving it an experimental swing. Swords were definitely not his style, but if he couldn't use his powers, it beat hand-to-hand-combat.

Lloyd backflipped to land next to them. "We need to cover each other; there's too many of them to try to fight alone. Form up!"

Jay held his sword in front of him with what he remarked was probably horrible posture. Nya and Kai flanked his either side, and Lloyd guarded their backs as the Serpenteels closed their escape off the edge of the roof.

Across the roof, on the other side of the machine, Cole joined Zane and Pixal.

"Remember," Lloyd called, "All we have to do is bring Zane and Jay to the machine! Fight towards the center!"

Easier said than done, Jay thought. The machine lay but a few feet in front of him, and yet, he couldn't see any of it through the sheer mass of enemies surrounding it.

They fell into a rhythm of kicking and stabbing and dodging. Everyone who could use their elements tried in one way or another to make a clear path for Zane and Jay to follow, but with the massive number of Serpenteels, one of their enemies always came up with a way to thwart their plans before the ninjas could reach the machine.

The team managed to incapacitate a few Serpenteels here and there, but the meager number they felled felt like nothing compared to the army that still stood to fight them.

Jay noticed how the team grew sluggish, laden down with water-logged clothes and a fight that had been in the Serpenteels' favor from the beginning. Punches grew weak, and dodges, sloppy. At the rate they were going, it was only a matter of time before―

A sharp gasp drew Jay out of his thoughts.

He turned to Kai when he saw the fire in the red ninja's hand flicker in his palm, and his gaze flew to a patch where Kai's gi bloomed a much darker red than the rest of his uniform.

The dying fire in Kai's hand glinted over the blade of the sword embedded just below his ribs on the edge of his torso.

"Kai!" Lloyd yelled.

The cry broke Nya's concentration, and she looked over her brother. "No!"

Kai stared straight ahead into the eyes of the Serpenteel who held the sword in his side. His skin looked pale and slick, and his hand trembled as he reached to hold the blade in place.

He was either too late or too weak. The Serpenteel freed the now-bloodied blade from Kai's ribs, leaving him to bleed freely.

Nya tucked him under her arm, reaching around him to put pressure on the wound as she fought off oncoming soldiers with her other hand.

Jay stared, transfixed, at the wine-colored liquid that oozed from between her fingers. He blinked, and when he opened his eyes again, it was as if someone had put a glass barrier between him and the world. The buzzing thrummed his brain again, and he distantly heard Lloyd calling his name and shifting to cover him from the Serpenteels, but he barely noticed. He should care about Lloyd taking on enough soldiers for the both of them. He should care about Kai bleeding out in front of him. Hazily, he knew that he did care about these things, but he couldn't really feel them over being so heavily overloaded.

Overloaded.

Now, there was an idea.

"Lloyd," Jay said on autopilot, hearing himself speak without really being in touch with the way the sound rumbled through his throat. "I have a plan. Get everyone off the roof. Everyone except Zane."

And― oh. That was the end of that plan, wasn't it? Lloyd hadn't even trusted Jay to be with Zane when he'd accidentally shocked him on that rooftop a while ago. There was no way Lloyd would leave him alone with the ice ninja now, after all he'd done, and surrounded by enemies, no less.

"You got it!" Lloyd replied, Slinging one of Kai's arms over his shoulder and joining Nya in battling the soldiers toward the edge of the roof. "Pixal! Cole! Fall back!"

Jay blinked. Huh.

He'd have to overthink that later.

"Zane!" Jay called. "I need you to stand on the parapet, but don't leave the rooftop!"

"Understood!"

Jay used his sword to clumsily swat away those of his enemies. A few punches and kicks slipped by, but did his best to ignore them. He could take a few bruises.

The light of Kai's fire died out, signaling that he, Nya, and Lloyd had left the parapet.

Jay squinted through the darkness, but without Kai's fire, couldn't see anything on the other side, save for the glimmering of Serpenteel bodies.

"Are Cole and Pixal gone?" Jay yelled. "Are you on the Parapet?"

"Affirmative!"

"Then if these guys want power?" Jay summoned electricity to his fingertips, grinning and watching the light dance over the Serpenteels' confused expressions. "We have the whole city's worth right here. I say we give it to 'em!"

Zane's power source glowed, hovering above the parapet. The tendrils of electricity that branched off from it illuminated Zane's form, chest compartment wide open, as he grabbed the hand of a Serpenteel that had gone to punch him, and jammed it right into the power source.

At first the Serpenteel merely stood there, soaking up the electricity that coursed over his body.

Then it began to twitch, the energy becoming too much to bear too fast. Wild energy sparked off his body and swept around him, catching his fellow soldiers in the current and quickly overloading them with energy, as well.

Lightning swept over the entire army, electricity catching from one soldier to the next like dominoes.

Jay watched as the Serpents spazzed and jolted, frozen to the ground, and the energy swirling about Zane's power source dimmed to its normal level.

Just when Zane was about to run out of power, Jay took over, sending a low-voltage blanket over the entire army.

"Go!" He barked at Zane. "Get out of here; I've got it covered!"

Zane nodded and leapt from the roof.

Jay increased his voltage, letting the energy from his hands drain, letting the buzzing in his brain die down, letting the ants marching over his nerves waltz right out of his fingertips with the electricity that vacated his being.

Enough Serpenteels had fallen by this point that he could see the machine in the center of the rooftop― and the tendrils of energy pooling into it via the power dampener that Pixal had created.

The machine whirred to life, gathering a ball of blue-white power just above its surface. The orb grew bigger and bigger, and Jay gave it everything he had, willing his mind and muscles and nerves to rid themselves of the awful excess and just rest.

The orb whirred, blindingly bright. It grew and grew and grew until Jay had to crane his neck up to see the top of it, then it shot a beam of energy into the sky and dispersed.

The white-blue aura bled over the sky, forming a dome like a shield and encasing the city.

The rain stopped pelting Jay's skin, instead pouring over the dome in sheets. Harsh winds blew the currents of water to and fro, but so far away, the pounding rains and wailing winds sounded like a little spring shower on the rooftop of the Walkers' trailer.

"No!" One of the Serpenteels cried, weak. "No! No!"

Jay slipped on some climbing claws and scaled down the side of the building while the few Serpenteels who were still standing wallowed in their defeat.

Despite Jay's aching muscles, he managed to climb down most of the stories without messing up.

He was about a story and a half off the ground when he misplaced a handhold and slipped, promptly plummeting toward the concrete sidewalk.

His brain was much too tired to make him panic, and he succumbed to whatever injury awaited him on the pavement.

To his surprise, when the impact came, the concrete felt very soft, and even had the decency to slide under his knees and back so it was carrying him comfortably— wait.

Jay turned his head to meet Cole's frowning face.

"I got him!" Cole said to someone.

Jay turned his head to the other side.

Pixal and Zane hovered nearby, clutching each other in a one-armed embrace, twin expressions of worry donning their faces. Nya clutched Kai piggy-back, and Lloyd busied himself with tying bandages that were probably white a minute ago around Kai's ribs.

"Get these two… hospital… not good."

Jay scrunched up his face and wondered why Lloyd was trying to imitate a phone call with bad reception.

"Call Mr. and Mrs…. tell them to meet…"

Apparently Cole was in on it, too. Maybe an inside joke Jay had missed?

He was too tired to ask, though, so as Cole started carrying him somewhere, he just relaxed and basked in the feeling of nothingness surrounding him.

The sounds of rain overhead faded in and out, which struck him as a little odd, but he couldn't bring himself to care too much.

Right now, the horrid energy engulfing him was gone, and he savored the feeling of being entirely, thoroughly tired.