Nicki's Story

21

The dragon touched down in the middle of nowhere. But considering that everything looked like the middle of nowhere in this crazy realm, the ninja figured it was as good a place as any to land. They dismounted, Wu holding out his arms for Cole to catch him. Cole, however, had his arms full with a certain Oni.

"Ok, now you wanna tell us why you brought her along?" Jay asked, helping a disgruntled Wu off the dragon.

Cole looked around for somewhere to put Keyda, who had started to stir.

"I don't know, ok? It's just that…"

Keyda woke up and screamed, using arms and legs in full attack mode. It took Cole by surprise and he dumped her on the ground.

"YOU! What have you done?! Where am I?!" she looked around wildly. The other ninja all took a step backwards. Cole put his hands up, like he was calming a crazed animal.

"EASY… you're fine…we just…um…"

"Woah, not we boulder-brain!" Jay said, catching Keyda scowling at him menacingly. "This was your idea!"

Keyda turned to glare daggers at Cole and stood.

"I should have never saved your life! All you've done since then is get in my way!"

"Yeah, really looked like you had a handle on that dragon back there!" Cole snapped back. He was definitely regretting bringing her along.

"What do you want from me, huh? Why kidnap me into the middle of nowhere?!"

Cole rolled his eyes. "Look, I didn't kidnap you…"

Zane cut in. "Well…considering the definition of kidnapping is…"

"Shut up!" Cole and Keyda both cut off the titanium ninja, who raised an eyebrow. He, Kai and Jay were standing near the dragon, watching the fight. Jay leaned over to his friends.

"Wow…is this what it's like when Cole and I fight?"

"Well I'm sorry if I've inconvenienced you after you tried to kill me!" Cole continued in the distance.

"Yep... this is exactly what's it's like." Kai responded.

"I wasn't going to kill you, idiot…"

"Yeah, our escape made sure of that!"

She scoffed. "You call this an escape? The Iron Baron will find you! And by taking me you've made me an accessory to your plans. Was that what you wanted? Are you going to force me to give you information?!" She crossed her arms like she would like to see him try.

He groaned in annoyance. "When will you get it through your head that we're the good guys?!"

"Oh is that what you are? So good guys kidnap people now?"

"I was trying to SAVE you!"

"Are you insane?"

"Because you said that if you didn't finish the trial, the Iron Baron would do something terrible!"

Keyda narrowed her eyes, but didn't reply. Cole sighed and his voice got softer.

"And I knew that after we left…you would fail…so I just figured…"

"That you would carry me off with your doomed posse to go starve in the wilderness so I wouldn't have to face the Baron's wrath." she said, finishing his sentence. " Such a gentleman."

Cole threw his hands in the air and turned to leave.

"FINE. Whatever. Head back to the fortress then…no one's keeping you here."

"How exactly will I do that, Idiot? I have no idea where we even are!"

Cole had already stormed off though, leaving a fuming Keyda behind with four wary ninja. For a moment it looked like she would turn her rage on them, but instead she turned and marched off in the opposite direction.

"Well…that could have gone better." Zane commented. Jay chuckled nervously.

"Yeah, you can say that again. Maybe one of these days Cole is gonna learn that you can't save everyone! Especially people who were trying to kill you moments before."

"That entire trip was a waste of time." Kai commented darkly. "We went for information on the Dragon Master, and we didn't get anything." He felt a swish and looked down to see his pants falling off.

"What the?!..." he said, looking to find his belt in the dirt next to him.

"We don't know for certain what information we don't have." Wu said, a few meters away.

"Did he just…" Kai started, but no one was really listening.

"What do you mean, master?" Zane asked.

"We do not know what information Cole received from the Baron." Wu explained. Jay rolled his eyes.

"Knowing Cole…not much. I mean, my guess is the Baron tried to feed him to the Dragon after the first ten minutes." He felt something brush his neck and slapped it, but there was nothing there.

"We will have to wait for Cole to return and ask him." Wu continued. Jay's belly growled.

Zane laughed. "Perhaps I should get some dinner started…"

Lloyd

Lloyd stared at the ceiling, lost in thought. He figured that he should get to sleep, but it was hard to feel motivated to sleep when he knew there wouldn't be anything pressing to do the next day. He had to admit the pallets Skylor had placed in the dojo were better than the cave floor they had slept on a few days back, but they still weren't all that comfortable and he found himself missing his bed on the Destiny's Bounty. Just another thing that was lost a week ago…his home. Not that it was the first time they had lost it, but still.

Everyone was looking to him to think up their next step…but the truth was he really wasn't sure what they should do. He felt pretty good about their fighting force…even if it was missing many of its members. He felt a jolt of melancholy thinking about that. He had worked around many of these women long enough to know they were skilled; he knew that together, they could do amazing things…

But what amazing things? How should they actually go about attacking Harumi and his father? Remembering the monster his father had become still made him feel sick… how could he even call that thing his father? It was nothing like his father…perhaps he should just refer to him as Garmadon like everyone else.

He found himself thinking about his Dad. He had left him when Lloyd was little…left to go grow two new arms so he would be powerful enough to hold all four golden weapons and conquer Ninjago. But he had come back because of Lloyd; to save him from the mistakes he made. Growing up, Lloyd had revered his father's evil side and wanted to be just like him. But after joining with the Ninja and Wu he had felt for the first time in his life what it felt like to be good… to help people. It was like he had unlocked some part of himself he hadn't even known about.

It was at that point that he really didn't want his father to be evil anymore. And becoming the Green Ninja meant that he would have to face his father someday…and he really didn't want to do that either. Yet through it all he was comforted by the fact that his father didn't want to fight him either; in fact for a while he had done everything in his power to make it so that Lloyd wouldn't be the Green Ninja. Lloyd remembered that day that Garmadon had joined with the Overlord to get everything he wanted. Yet when it came to hurting his son he had fought back within the overlord's clutches to save him. Even at Garmadon's wickedest, Lloyd never once doubted that his father loved him.

His eyes smarted as he remembered the time after his dad had had the evil stripped from him…when he had become the man that he could have always been. Sometimes Lloyd let himself wonder what it would have been like if his father had never been bit by a snake. He would have been raised by the man Garmadon had become post Overlord battle. Sensei Garmadon was a stern and sometimes strict father as he tried to get Lloyd to truly become one with his power and with his role as Green Ninja. But once again, he was always there for Lloyd as his fiercest protector.

When he had chosen to sacrifice himself for Ninjago, Lloyd had been so angry. He had had his father walk out on his life several times, and he couldn't bear the thought of him leaving all over again. But he came to terms with it eventually and deep down he understood that it had to be that way. And then…seeing him in the Cursed Realm…and losing him all over again. It was like fate couldn't give him a break. He was just going to continue to lose things he cared about…again and again.

It had taken Lloyd awhile to truly come to terms with his father's loss. But of course, the second he had some crazy villain had to go out of their way to bring him back. But this Garmadon was nothing like his father…not even at his father's evilest. He seemed like a puppet…a shell of his former self running on nothing more than hate and vengeance.

Maybe that's why he and Harumi get along so well.

Lloyd sat up and got out of bed. He needed to stop getting trapped in these thoughts…they just left him feeling empty and helpless. He was walking around the dark dojo trying to clear his head when he noticed light coming out of the room where they had started building their new computer system.

"Couldn't sleep?" He asked Nya, as she screwed another panel into place. She jumped at his voice and almost took a fighter's stance, but caught herself as her brain processed who it was.

"No. Not when there's finally something I could be doing." She went back to screwing. He nodded, understanding how she felt.

"So…how's it coming?"

She sighed. "I'm grateful for Skylor's work in getting all this together…but we are definitely missing some pieces. And there's at least one of them that I don't think she's going to be able to track down."

"Why's that?"

"If we really want this to help us make plans for the outside, then we need something that's going to connect us to Borg tower. Its kind of hard to explain, but if we could get ahold of this certain piece—called a mega processor- than all the technology involved in that building would be on our side. Considering that it's the tallest thing in Ninjago that could come in really handy."

"Did the Bounty have a piece like that?"

"Yeah…but there's barely any wreckage even left from the bounty. Harumi's been destroying it all."

"Ok, so we can't find it in the bounty. But if you were able to get ahold of a mega processor for the bounty you at least know where to get a new one, right?"

Nya sighed. "Yeah, but that's the tricky part. The only person who would have a mega processor that could connect to Borg tower is Cyrus Borg himself. He's the one who gave me the piece for the bounty…but at the moment he's…"

"…Kinda hard to get to." Lloyd finished. None of them had had any contact with Borg for a while, and certainly not since Garmadon had taken control. Skylor said that no one really knew what was up with the inventor though the general thought was that he was holed up in Borg tower somewhere.

"Exactly. If we send Skylor there it's gonna raise all sorts of suspicion and possibly even blow her cover."

"Well…then I guess it's a good thing that the one person who knows Borg better than anybody else is on our side." he said, putting a hand on Nya's shoulder.

She looked up at him and smiled, realizing who he was talking about.

"Yes…actually, that is a really good thing."

22

The ninja gathered around their hastily made campfire to enjoy more of Zane's mystery skewers. The dragon was curled up and asleep on one side, and Kai and Jay were using it to lounge against as they joked. Cole was still off, claiming to be gathering more firewood. Zane looked down at the skewer in his hand and then over at the figure sitting many yards away, her back to the group.

Keyda had her arms around her knees with her head resting on them. An inner fury still crackled underneath. She had been so close! She had done everything that was required of her, but still without the prize. She couldn't help wonder what the Iron Baron would do when she got back. Despite his perfect calm, everyone knew he was ruthless. She wouldn't be surprised if she lost her head for this forced insubordination. But even if the Baron did nothing but return her to her former station…it would still be awful. She was in a lose-lose situation, and it was all his fault.

She was surprised when one of the outsiders took a seat next to her. It was the shiny one…the metal man. She still wasn't sure what kind of magic they had used to put him together; he seemed far too gentle to be made with any destructive Oni force. He smiled at her kindly and held out a skewer with what looked to be mop-plant fibers tangled in little lumps. How delightful.

"I figured that you might be hungry." Zane said, offering one of his skewers to Keyda. She made no move to take it, staring up at him with distrust. The nindroid was unfazed.

"My name is Zane, by the way. In all the excitement, it seems we never did introduce ourselves." Keyda snorted in response.

"Kai is the one in red, and Jay is the one who has a penchant for talking," he gestured to the two ninja laughing by the fire. "Wu is our…um…the child." he finished. Keyda didn't respond, and the two sat in silence for a while.

"What do you want?" she finally muttered. The metal man wouldn't go away and she figured that he was after something. There was no such thing as nice without motive.

"We want to get home." he answered, staring up at the moon. She looked over at him. "You see, we're from another realm…a beautiful one. And we have friends there." He looked sad, as if he was thinking of somebody in particular.

"Sounds fantastic." she said dryly. "If you liked it so much, why did you leave?"

He shook his head.

"We did not mean to. But we hope to find someone here to help us."

She snorted again. "I think you're looking in the wrong place. 'Helping' is not really an Oni sentiment."

Behind them, Jay began yelling at something or another and the two turned to watch. Kai was doubled over laughing as Jay frantically patted out a fire on his leg. "I swear, I had nothing to do with that!" the red ninja was saying.

"You all seem pretty close." Keyda said dully. She had never really seen such sincere laughter…who were these people?

"Yes." Zane was smiling over his friends' antics. "We consider each other brothers. We have been together a long time."

Something twisted inside Keyda. "Brotherhood. Another sentiment you aren't going to find here." she muttered.

"Zane!" the one called Jay was yelling at the metal man now. "Cole's back and is gonna tell us what the Baron said! Hurry up!"

Zane turned and waved at his friend, and then stood to go.

"Are you sure you aren't hungry?" he asked, offering the stick once more. Keyda sighed and snatched it from him. She supposed it wasn't going to do her any good to starve to death before she could be reunited with her fellow Oni.

Zane walked over and joined the group at the campfire. Cole was seated with his own skewer.

"Lemme just say…that guy is creepy. He seems all nice and cheery on the outside, but there's something in him that seems really…dark." Cole shuddered as he remembered the harrowed look in the Baron's eye.

"So apparently there are a lot of Oni that consider themselves Dragon Masters." Cole said, continuing. His friends looked confused.

"Oh, of course. Because otherwise it would be too easy to track down the real one." Jay griped.

"I did ask if there was like…you know…a main Dragon Master, but he kinda avoided my question. He just mentioned that there was some legend about a Golden Samurai…"

"That's who you're looking for?" The group looked up to see Keyda standing over them. "You're chasing fairy-tales?! THAT'S what this has all been about?!"

Everyone seemed to hold their breath as they waited to see if she was going to explode at them again, but she simmered down into her usual deadly glare. Wu spoke up.

"I don't suppose you'd mind telling us more about these…fairy tales, would you?"

Keyda looked like she was going to turn to go.

"C'mon, if they aren't real, what would it hurt?" Kai pressed. She rolled her eyes but seemed to consider the idea.

"Fine. Whatever." She took a seat next to Zane. "Nobody really talks about it much, you know. The Iron Baron doesn't really like everyone talking about legends and prophecies and what-have-yous."

"Legends, prophecies, and what-have-yous…sounds like a quick recap on our lives." Jay interjected. Kai motioned for him to shut up.

"But despite that, word still gets around about them. THE Dragon Master…the Golden Samurai you mentioned," she made a point not to look at Cole, "he's supposed to be filled with the Power of the Dragons. He's the ultimate weapon against Oni magic."

Kai whistled slowly. "No wonder the Iron Baron isn't keen on this guy." Keyda glared at him.

"He isn't real, stupid. He's just something that ancient Oni made up to scare people into behaving. But Iron Baron doesn't need fairy-tales to keep people in line." She said darkly, staring into the fire. The ninja looked at each other; the mood definitely got a lot heavier.

"So the tale isn't real," Zane said, comfortingly. "Out of curiosity, does it mention how one would go about finding the Golden Samurai?"

Keyda looked up at him with a sardonic expression.

"How subtle. I'm telling you, the guy doesn't exist…"

"Then why would it matter if you told us how to find him?" Cole challenged. She glared across the fire at him.

"Legend says that you would need to track down the pieces of his dragon harness."

"Sounds simple enough…any idea where to find them?" Jay exclaimed. She rolled her eyes.

"You'd have to track down the four guardian dragons. One for every core element. It's said that they guard the pieces of the harness, and once they are combined the Dragon Master is summoned."

"One for every element? You don't say." Kai said, looking at his companions. What better people to track down elemental dragons than elemental masters?

"Yeah, so you all have fun on your fool's quest. Maybe you'll even succeed before the Baron catches up and does away with you all." She had stood again and walked away from the group. They all watched her go in silence.

"So…" As usual, it was Jay who broke it. "Any ideas on how to track down the elemental dragons?"

"There is a reason you four have come here." Wu said, once again cryptic to a fault.

"We see the connection between us as elemental masters and the elemental dragons…but Sensei, how do we actually…" Zane stood and promptly fell over, noticing that his legs had been mysteriously tied together at some point. Wu's face was dead pan as the ninja laughed.

"It will take some soul searching, Ninja. But I am confident in your abilities to do this." He walked away from the group, hands behind his back in a very sensei-like way. "Everyone get a good night's sleep…because we start that search at dawn."

Cole looked over to where Keyda was walking away. He doubted that it would do much good to go talk to her, but deep down he had been feeling pretty bad about the whole situation. He ran to catch up with her.

"I do not want to talk to you." she said warningly, not turning around. He sighed. This was off to a great start.

"I figured. I just…wanted to say that I'm sorry."

She turned to glare at him.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better? Your empty words?"

He shrugged. "Look, I know it probably doesn't mean much, but you were right before. I did get in the way once or twice…even though it was on accident…and yeah, it was wrong to take you from your home. It's not the most ideal of circumstances, but I just wanted to say that if there's anything I can do to make up for…"

"You can die a slow and painful death."

He blinked. "Well…maybe something else."

She turned and started walking away again, but he continued to follow her. "I can't help but notice that you don't seem to have a lot of love for that Iron Baron guy. Why are you so eager to get back?"

She looked at him like he was crazy. "Eager? This doesn't have anything to do with what I want, Idiot. The Baron will find you and I will return with them and there will be consequences. I don't know what dream world you and your friends sprang out of, but here you fall into your place in the hierarchy of power. And those of us on the bottom don't get a lot of say with those on the top."

"Is that why you're trying to become a Dragon Master?"

She pushed him away. "Get away from me. Stop trying to get in my head."

He shook his head, amazed at her cynicism. "I'm not trying to get in your head…I'm just trying to understand…"

"Well understand this: I want to be left alone." She turned away but had stopped walking. She had nowhere to actually go and she knew it. She waited for him to say something else, try some other form of manipulation. But she just heard a quiet "Okay" and then footsteps as he walked away.

She turned her head and watched him go. She couldn't figure any of these outsiders out…were they really stupid enough to be chasing after legends? Didn't they know what the Iron Baron was capable of? An unheeded memory of fire and screaming entered her mind and she quickly shook her head to clear it.

She knew that these outsiders were powerful…she had seen some of their hidden powers in action. Yet they pretended to be kind and gentle and trustworthy. It reminded her of the Baron…and it disgusted her.

She walked over to a nearby boulder, figuring it was just as good of a place as any to sleep for the night. She had a long walk tomorrow and she planned on getting an early start.

23

Initially, P.I.X.A.L had been against the idea.

"I may have been a crucial part of Borg industries in the past…but it's been years since I've even been to Borg Tower. So much has changed!" she argued.

"Maybe so…but you're still our best option of getting to Cyrus Borg," Lloyd pointed out. Nya nodded in agreement.

"I know it feels like a long shot, but the truth is that without that piece we aren't going to have the head-up on Harumi. And with everything against us…it would be really nice to have something going for us."

P.I.X.A.L understood their concern. She had avoided crunching any numbers that had to do with the likelihood of actually beating Garmadon and Harumi…she had long since learned that it was better to take these fragile situations one day at a time rather than relying on success rates. But she was also unsure of her abilities of getting into Borg tower, let alone tracking down Cyrus Borg.

Despite all, she now found herself scaling the iconic building in the dead of night, looking for an air-duct entrance about a third of the way up as she avoided the S.O.G sentries. She wasn't even sure she would find an air-duct, but logical architecture engineering would have placed one around here somewhere… Ah, there it was. As she carefully pulled the grate out and shimmied in the tunnel, she found herself thinking about her creator. She had last seen him over a year ago while helping the ninja save him from the Hands of Time. Except at the time she had been Samurai X and Borg hadn't recognized her. The last time she could recall seeing Borg in person was…well, shortly before Zane's first funeral. She often caught herself wondering if Borg even knew what had ever happened to her. Did he know she had been taken to Chen's Island? Did he realize she spent a long time stuck in Zane's neural processor? She cared a lot about Borg; he was her creator, after all. In fact, his kidnapping by the Hands of time was one of her main motivators for once again taking on a physical form and becoming Samurai X.

Zane referred to his creator as his father. She had never called Borg that, and he mainly referred to her as his assistant. Yet she knew that he cared for her as her maker…it was definitely as close to a parental relationship as she would ever have.

What if she couldn't find him? Or what if she did? What would she even say? How would he react? It annoyed P.I.X.A.L to be faced with questions that she had no way of computing answers for.

She had reached the end of the tunnel and hesitantly scanned the hallway before exiting. She wasn't sure what to expect in the Borg tower. Was it still under Cyrus's control, or had Harumi made changes here? She decided her best option would be to not be seen by anyone or anything until she had spoken to Borg.

Now that she was inside, she set her processors for a complete scan of the building. It took her a few minutes to hack into the tower's security system and a few more minutes to load the scan. She frowned in concentration as she studied it. She had been right…Borg tower had changed a great deal. She could pick out a few familiar rooms, such as the production floor and the prototype-testing facilities. However, there were many rooms that didn't seem to make any sense. There seemed to be some large room under construction in a central area of the tower. It appeared to have with no apparent purpose in a technology plant; what could that be?

She snapped out of her musing, reminding herself why she had come here in the first place. She needed to find Borg…where would Borg be? There seemed to be an office-type room near the top of the tower. That is where his work office had been in the old tower, so perhaps it was safe to assume that this room was his new office. She committed the proper route to memory and began to carefully make her way down the hall. She stopped suddenly, realizing that there was a security camera up ahead. She sighed…that would make all of this a bit more difficult. Having hacked into the system, she could technically shut it off…but she wasn't sure who was actually in control of the tower and she figured the shutdown of all the different cameras would trigger red flags to anyone monitoring the cameras. Luckily the hallway was narrow and she was able to shimmy up the walls until she was basically at the ceiling with her arms on one wall and her legs on the other. Then she began scoot her way down the hallway, above the security camera. She figured it wasn't the only one she would encounter…this was going to take longer than she thought.

Lou

Like many great artists, Lou's epiphany came to him in the night. He spent the early hours of the morning thinking it through, waiting for dawn's rays to wake his companions. Eventually the other occupants of Nya's Samurai cave woke up and began wandering the cave like a bunch of half-dead zombies. Lou, in contrast, was downright perky.

"I have it!" he cried, and Ronin scoffed nearby, where he was sipping a hot drink.

"Whatever it is…don't share. It's too early for me to be dealing with idiocy."

"We have been holed up in here for far too long and it's high time we actually go out into Ninjago and make a difference." He was standing on a box now, talking in his excited-and slightly overbearing-way.

"But Lou…we can't go out there…" Edna said, sitting next to her husband on the hood of a car.

"The little lady's right…Harumi's got goons all over this city. They'd spot us in a moment, even with my incredible stealth skills." Dareth added.

Lou didn't look impressed by these arguments. He put his hands behind his back, the way he did before giving a rousing speech to his disheartened quartet after a particular bad show.

"So what, we just give up? We sit in here all day dinking around with machinery? The ninja would expect more from us. We need to be out there…," he flourished his cane towards the cave entrance, "…among the people, among the very citizens of Ninjago, so we can be aware of everything going on and thus best position ourselves to strike."

"Wow, really moving stuff there Lou," Ronin grumbled, feeling like he had just filled up his daily dose of idiocy after all. "But Dareth's right. There's no way out of here without being recognized."

Lou smiled in reply. "Perhaps, if we were traveling as ourselves… or taking your easily-recognizable flying contraption." here he gestured to REX. "But Harumi would never be on the lookout for a performance group!" He put both hands in the air, as if spelling something out in lights. "Ninjago's Finest Traveling Theater!"

He was met by silence and blank stares. Ed looked around at the others.

"Eh…does anyone else know what he's talking about?"

Lou leapt off his box. "We disguise ourselves as a traveling theater, and doll up one of these vehicles as our tour bus. We go from village to village, town to town, performing in the day and collecting information by night. This will work…I've travelled many times with the Royal Blacksmiths and there is little people won't tell a bunch of harmless performers. We'll have all the information we could need…and we could plant some seeds of rebellion along the way."

"You can stop talking already…this idea is border-line lunacy." Ronin cut in. He looked around for support, but to his disgust he noticed Dareth seemed to actually be considering the idea.

"You know, I am a master of disguise…" he whipped out a makeup kit that he had been hiding who-knows where. "I could make us unrecognizable…"

"Where'd you get that?!" Ronin asked, gesturing to the kit. Dareth looked smug.

"A true ninja always comes prepared."

"Yes…disguises, perfect." Lou said, Dareth's involvement kicking his zest up a notch.

"Is everyone forgetting one main problem?" Ronin was incredulous. "We know nothing about performing…and how the heck are we supposed to put on a play with only five of us?"

Lou waved away his concern. "Mr. Ronin, I have been part of the performing guild for many years. The truth is all you need for a good show is a hero," here he gestured at Dareth, "a villain," He pointed at Ronin, "and a damsel in distress." He finished with a flourish towards Edna, who seemed a little flattered.

"I know a certain water ninja who would take offense at that statement…" the thief grumbled.

"Ooo, what could I do, Lou?" Ed asked eagerly. Lou turned and put a hand on the inventor's shoulder.

"You, Ed, are a wizard of pyrotechnics. You shall be our backstage champion and take care of all the lights and sound."

"You'll be the star, won't you Lou?" Dareth added, but Lou shook his head.

"Alas, my singing and performance style are too recognizable. The cost of being famous, I'm afraid." Ronin rolled his eyes nearby. "No, I cannot perform. But I can direct! With our talents combined, we will make performing history!"

"Alright, that's enough." Ronin was standing now, glaring at everyone. "I'm having no part in this insane endeavor, so you'll have to do go get yourselves killed without me."

"But Ronin, the show must have a villain!" Edna gasped, and Ronin shook his head in disgust.

"Gee…how kind, but I'm serious. Besides, I lack the skills for this sort of," he paused, looking for the right word. "Embarrassment."

"C'mon, Ronin." Dareth pressed. "How many times have you sweet-talked your way out of a jail sentence? If that isn't quality acting, than I don't know what is."

"Indeed Mr. Ronin. Without you, I'm afraid the plan will never work." Lou said, but that didn't seem to bother the thief much. "Besides being an excellent cover, this plan will make you famous!" Lou tried again, but Ronin was already walking away.

"And…rich."

Ronin stopped. Lou smiled in victory.

"Do you have any idea how much money there is to be gained in theater? The more famous you are, the more people come to see you, the more they pay. As simple as that."

Ronin didn't say anything, but he appeared to be listening. Lou continued, feeling confident.

"And with all the secret underground info we collect, we can find a way to connect with the remaining ninja. I'm sure Nya and the rest would appreciate our help…"

"FINE…I'll do it." Ronin turned. "But I expect a large cut of the paycheck."

Lou looked at his four companions, smiling despite the overwhelming challenge he had just brought upon himself to whip them into a performing masterpiece. "Then let's get started."

24

Jay was having a really strange dream. He was back in his parent's junkyard, but Oni kept popping up out of the junk piles and throwing mystery-meat skewers at him. He ran to the trailer and banged on the door, but when his parents answered they were wearing stage make-up and talking in weird accents.

He woke with a start. "I have got to stop eating mystery food before bed." he mumbled, turning over to go back to sleep.

What would you be willing to give?

His eyes popped open. Who was that?

Master of Lightening…are you willing to pay the price?

He had sat up now, feeling fully disturbed.

"Oooookaaaay…whoever's doing that, you can stop now. Wu? Is that you?" But he could see all of his companions, and none of them were stirring.

Could it be the Oni? But how would they know he was the Master of Lightening?

Are you willing to pay the price?

Suddenly in the distance, he saw some kind of blue glow. He shook the person next to him.

"Kai…Kai…wake up so you can tell me you're seeing this too." His friend didn't stir. Jay's heart started pounding…what was going on?

You seek the harness…are you willing to pay the price?

The blue glow got brighter, and Jay gave up trying to wake any of his friends. They were out cold. He muttered to himself, angrily.

"Great…might as well check out the weird phenomenon on my own. Just another day in the life of Jay Walker…"

It didn't take long to reach the blue glow; it emanated from a dome-shaped rock formation. As Jay approached a doorway seemed to appear in the stony wall.

"Oh yeah, that looks super inviting," he said, continuing his sarcastic narration to help keep his nerves down. He entered the doorway slowly, unsure of what he'd find.

In the middle of the dome crackled a huge dragon, lightening coursing through his body. Jay recognized it immediately.

"My energy dragon?! You're real? And you can TALK…How long have you been able to talk?"

You seek the harness of the Dragon Master.

"Uh, Yeah, you know about that then. We kinda need it…and fast. I don't suppose you know where to find it…?"

Are you willing to pay the price?

"See, not gonna lie, when you say stuff like that it freaks me out. Could you maybe tell me what the price is and then we can talk more about it…"

Everything has a price. If you seek the harness of the Dragon Master, you must be willing to pay the price.

Jay just stared at his former energy dragon, here in the flesh. Why couldn't anything ever be simple and uncomplicated and not require some UNEXPLAINED CHARGE?

If you are not willing to pay the price….than you must leave.

The doorway had opened up behind Jay again, and began to suck him out.

"WOAH…Mr. Lightening Elemental Dragon….we can talk about this, can't we? I mean, we're buds, right?" he had fallen on his hands and knees, trying to keep himself from getting sucked out of the cave.

If you want the harness of the Dragon Master, you must be willing to pay the price.

"Yeah…I GOT THAT…but you have yet to say WHAT THE PRICE IS."

It is time for you to go.

"WAIT!"

The sucking suddenly stopped, and Jay found himself lying face-down in the dirt. He looked up at the dragon with disgust.

"OK…FINE. I'm…willing to pay the price." He immediately flinched, waiting for something awful to happen. After 30 seconds of nothing, he looked around. His energy dragon was glowing though…something golden… that's when he noticed that harness on its back. It was all a deep blue color except for one half of the saddle. That part was Gold.

P.I.X.A.L

P.I.X.A.L stared at the door in front of her, trying to predict what she would find on the other side. Should she knock? Find a way to sneak in? Once inside, would she finally be reunited with Cyrus Borg?

She was about to push the door open when she picked up a voice coming from the other side.

Harumi.

She froze in place, unsure of where to go. She needed to know if Borg was in that room, but if Harumi came out and caught her…

She made her way down the hall, trying to see if there was another way into the office room. She spotted a duct near the ceiling and within seconds she was inside. She paused in the tunnel, confident that she was hidden now and encouraged by the fact that she could make out the conversation below.

"How hard is it to track down a handful of people, Borg? You're technology is supposed to be the most advanced in the world." P.I.X.A.L narrowed her eyes at the self-proclaimed Empress's threatening and cruel tone.

"Tracking powerful objects is one thing…but tracking down specific people is another." P.I.X.A.L's processor hummed as she recognized her creator's voice. "Technology isn't magic…it can only do so much."

"Well, for your own well-being, I suggest you get it to do more." With that, Harumi stormed from the room and slammed the door behind her. P.I.X.A.L waited a few minutes to make sure that Harumi was truly gone and then popped the vent out.

"Who's there?" Cyrus called, spinning at the sound. His stony demeanor seemed to melt when he saw who it was.

"P.I.X.A.L? Is that really you?" he asked. P.I.X.A.L noticed that his voice seemed to break a little. His awe quickly turned to urgency. "You must leave here, at once! Who knows what they'll do if they find you!"

"I am not leaving without you," she said with a smile. He shook his head.

"No…I'm afraid this time there is no saving me, dear P.I.X.A.L."

This time? Is he referring to when he was held captive by the Overlord, or…

"I never would have guessed when I programmed you all those years ago that you would turn out to be such a hero…world's best assistant and world's best Samurai. I must say…I'm very proud." He caught her shocked expression and laughed a little.

"What, you didn't think I would recognize you? I suppose I didn't, at first. But the more I looked into this Samurai X the more sure I was that it was you. I truly am sorry for not reaching out more…but it seemed like you were dedicating to 'flying solo' as it were." His face fell and he looked both sad and guilty. She touched his arm.

"There is no apology needed…"

Borg looked up at her with a determined expression.

"I'm sorry if you've come all this way just to rescue me. I am deeply grateful, P.I.X.A.L, truly I am. But there's really no way of springing me out of here…not when I'm so…." he trailed off, looking down at his legs. He cleared his throat and continued. "They'll definitely notice I'm missing as well. Ever since they moved in I haven't had a moment of peace…"

"Moved in?" P.I.X.A.L asked, surprised. Was this where the SoG were based?

"Ah yes. Not all of the SoG live here, mind you." he said, seeming to read her mind. "Just the top shelf…That large fellow, the deranged violet one, the mysterious nindroid…and of course, Harumi and Garmadon. Well…I assume Garmadon lives here…I actually haven't seen him as of yet. But he seems to stick pretty closely to Harumi so I assume he can't be far off." Here he sighed, almost disgustedly. "She's even building a throne room. Of all the wasteful…"

P.I.X.A.L wasn't listening. Harumi and the rest were stationed here? It was good information to have…but also made her situation all the more precarious. As much as she hated leaving Borg here she knew that she wouldn't be able to get him out from right under their noses. Not yet, anyways. Best to get what she came for.

"I do want to free you…even if it can't be today. But the reason I'm here is actually because we are in need of a mega processor that connects to Borg tower."

Cyrus Borg looked intrigued.

"Ah…I see what you're onto. Just like the bounty had, eh? Yes…the size of the tower has always given it incredible range for scanning and such…I could see that having that would be indispensable. However," here he looked P.I.X.A.L. in the eye, " should something go wrong, the processor could betray your current position to Harumi and the others. You would have to be incredibly careful in the way that you set it up."

P.I.X.A.L nodded once, acknowledging the danger. "Do you have one, then?"

Borg smiled and began rummaging around through his desk.

"I must have one somewhere around here…I had one on stand-by because Misako was going to upgrade Lloyd's Destiny Shadow with a fully operational scanner… aha!" He pulled out a piece. "Here it is."

P.I.X.A.L took the piece with a nod of gratitude and stowed it in a pocket. She made her way over to the vent she had entered from.

"…P.I.X.A.L?" the inventor called out. She turned to see him smiling sadly at her. "I… I really am very proud of you."

P.I.X.A.L felt something catch in her heart.

"And I really am going to be back for you." she replied. And then she was gone.

25

The Iron Baron looked out over his forces. He had every Dragon Master in the fortress prepped for this assignment, each with their land dragon armed and ready.

"Are the outsiders really powerful enough to warrant the full Dragon Army?" Heavy Metal was at his side.

A smile played at the Baron's lips.

"One of them is." He said, and then raised his voice to address the crowd.

"Dragon Masters! We ride for the sake of the Oni. We must not fail in our quest. Bring me the boy—the outsider child. If you come across Keyda, bring her back as well. I do not care what happens to the rest. Now GO." he waved his hand and the army took off across the desert. The Baron jumped from where the balcony he was standing on and landed on his own land dragon, which roared in protest until Heavy Metal landed next to him and pulled harshly on the reins.

"How do you know they went this way?" Heavy Metal asked as they set out after the rest of the army. The Baron chuckled softly.

"Because I know who they're looking for."

Ninja

Jay's yelling woke the ninja up the next morning. Within seconds they were all on their feet, ready for anything. But…where was Jay…

"UP HERE!"

Kai looked up to see his friend on what appeared to be…

"Is that your elemental dragon?! How did you do that?!"

The dragon landed with thud, kicking dirt in the air. Everyone gathered around.

"So uh…I found one of the guardian dragons…" Jay said, trying to pull off nonchalant but being a bit too smug to do it well.

"Ok…and how did that happen?" Cole asked. Jay jumped off the dragon and recounted his evening's escapade.

"So…what was the price?" Zane said, asking the question everyone was wondering.

"Um…I don't actually know. I still feel the same, you know?" He shot off some lightning to demonstrate.

"Perhaps it was more of a mind riddle…you were not granted the piece of the harness unless you proved it was needed above all costs by being willing to pay any price." Zane mused.

"You know, let's go with that. That sounds less threatening to my future." Jay said, and Cole smacked him on the back.

"You really did it, motormouth." He and his friends took a moment to look at the partially-gold harness.

"How come Jay's always the first to do things? First to learn spinjitzu, now this." Kai said, only slightly complaining. Jay shrugged.

"Guess I'm just more gifted than the rest of you."

"Oh my gosh…IT'S REAL."

The ninja turned to see Keyda staring at the dragon, mouth hanging open. She had heard all the ruckus and seen the dragon in the sky…but she hadn't believed what she was seeing and had come for a closer look.

The guardian dragon of light…there was no way! All of that…it was just a story. But here was the proof…and the harness on the back of it…

The dragon sprang into attack mode without warning, launching a blast of lightening at the Oni. She screamed and leapt to the side.

"Woah, JAY! Control your dragon!" Cole yelled, running towards Keyda as the others tried to hold the Dragon Guardian back. It launched another blast and Cole slammed his arms into the ground, the impact springing a rock wall up from the earth. The blast hit the wall, exploding it to rubble as Cole grabbed Keyda's arm and yanked her away. She seemed really dazed.

"JAY"

"Iiiiii'm Trying! But he just keeps saying 'The Oni must Die' over and over again!" Jay said, trying in vain to pull himself into the harness of the jolting dragon.

"It seems that there is still some bad blood between the Oni and the Dragon…" Zane said, trying to freeze the dragon into place to allow Jay to ascend.

"You think?!" Kai was mainly trying not to get trampled as the Dragon bucked and smashed through the ice. It fired more lightening towards its mortal enemy.

Cole pulled Keyda out of the way once again, but she lost her footing and dropped to the ground. He noticed she was shaking really bad—seeing this fairy-tale come to life bent on destroying her was probably more than a little threatening. Cole positioned himself in front of her, activating his earth punch and glaring the dragon down.

The dragon was about to fire again, but Jay had finally gotten into the harness and yanked back.

"NO, bad dragon, BAD DRAGON….Cole is our friend!" The dragon turned and seemed to look at Jay as if it wanted to say something. Jay sighed and shook his head.

"I'm afraid we're stuck with her for the time being, so you're just going to have to keep your Oni-slaying instincts at bay." The Dragon growled in reply.

With the dragon seemingly under control, the other ninja relaxed. Cole's arms powered down and looked at Keyda on the ground. He offered her a hand.

"You ok?" She still seemed pretty shaken. She looked at his hand and batted it away in disgust.

"I'm fine." she said, standing on her own. Cole rolled his eyes. Apparently she wasn't too shaken to remember she hated him.

She folded her arms defiantly, but Cole noticed that she stayed behind him and out of the direct path of the beast. Eventually she looked over at the smashed earth that he had punched moments earlier.

"How did you do that…?"

He shrugged awkwardly. "Um…just a talent that I have…."

She raised an eyebrow. "Why did you do that?"

He just stared at her, not even sure what to tell her. He had a feeling that she wouldn't accept anything he had to say anyways.

"I don't need your help." She said, glaring at him. He bit back a sarcastic reply about how it hadn't appeared that way moments before. He sighed.

"I told you before…we're the good guys. Is it really that horrible to have friends?"

"Oni don't need friends!" She snapped. Cole turned and looked at the dragon, which was still glaring at them.

"I don't know…the way I see it, anyone who can have an enemy could use a friend."

She scoffed. "Oh, is that right? And remind me again which one you're supposed to be?"

He met her eyes, which were still full of anger, and just shook his head in defeat.

"I guess that's up to you to decide." He said finally, and then turned to go get a closer look at the dragon.

Keyda stayed where she was, feeling her anger get jumbled up with so many other confused feelings, and getting more angry because she had confused feelings. She tried to clear her mind and focus on the biggest problem in front of her.

There was an elemental dragon. It had part of the dragon master's harness on its back…the legends were true. Fear gripped her stomach as she thought about what that meant. Suddenly, an unexpected thought came to mind.

The Iron Baron could be destroyed.

P.I.X.A.L

P.I.X.A.L stuck to the dark areas of the street. She had considered getting more a of a scope of the rooms in Borg tower while she was there, especially now that she knew that Harumi and the rest were living there, but in the end she had discarded the idea. Best to get the piece to the dojo, and perhaps they could use it to get a better scope from a safer distance.

Her scanners picked up on a flit of motion a few yards behind her. It could be anything; a cat, a person closing shop for the night…but a sense of foreboding warned her she was being followed.

She turned down a few random streets, and sure enough, the flitting shadow followed. In one swift movement she had spun, nocked an arrow, and sent it flying. The figure dodged out of the way just in time. They landed in the shadows, so P.I.X.A.L couldn't make out who it was. She realized with annoyance that she was standing in the yellow pool of a streetlight, an easy target for whoever had been trailing her. She kept her bow pointed at the place the figure had landed and slowly stepped out of the pool of light.

"Who are you? What do you want?" She challenged. The figure pulled out a sword, and P.I.X.A.L unleashed another arrow. They knocked it to the ground, seemingly effortlessly. The figure looked up at her, and for the first time she noticed two glowing red eyes. She stiffened as she realized who had almost followed her right into their safe haven.

"You're on the wrong side."

P.I.X.A.L blinked in surprise at the raspy, metallic voice.

"You can talk?!"

"You're on the wrong side."

He unnerved her. She remembered their battle on the beach not that long ago…he had grabbed her arm, as if he wanted to say something. Now she learns that he could speak…so why didn't he before?

"I'm on the side that stands for the right." P.I.X.A.L repeated, subconsciously paraphrasing something Zane had said to her long ago. She made a point of drawing her bow back. She was met with chilly and unsettling laughter as he began walking towards her.

"I recognize that bow…"

She released the arrow. He batted it away.

"It belonged to him…didn't it? The Ice Master." He knocked another arrow off course. P.I.X.A.L continued to fire, taking steps back as Mr. E continued to come forward.

"You must have been close to him." Three more arrows, but they hardly caused him to pause.

"Stop it." her voice was hard. He was toying with her…and she wasn't one to be toyed with.

"You have much potential…on the right side, you could be great."

She would run out of arrows eventually…but she wasn't sure she could outrun him either. Her processors were working in overtime to find a way out.

"You have miscalculated…I would never join your side." she stalled, still trying to process her escape.

"My data is reliable…because you already have before…"

The virus. He had planted that virus in Zane, and it had infected her. She had attacked her friends and been powerless to stop herself. She felt both fury and fear as she realized that all of that had been his fault…and that he was correct.

"It didn't take much to turn you then. It won't take much to turn you now…"

P.I.X.A.L launched herself into the air as he attacked. Grabbing the pole of the street-light, she swung around and kicked him to the ground. Then, continuing her momentum, she flipped herself onto the top of the streetlight and used it as a springboard onto the roof of a neighboring building. She turned briefly to see if he was pursuing her, but he was still on the ground, just watching her. She shuddered as she darted into the night, unnerved by both his unblinking stare and the threat in his words.

24