The swirling dark images floating around in her mind wanted her to believe that all of it was just a bad dream- no matter how hard she tried though, she never seemed to be able to wake up on her own accord.

Did you feel the power he had as it coursed through your veins? Imagine having it all...

"I don't want it!" Mina called out in the darkness, her voice not even making it past her lungs.

But you do- I know you do. Either way, I'm sure you'd like to keep your life... or the lack thereof.

"L-leave me alone!"

Ah, come now, stop pretending to be so fearless. You know that your power is only temporary- it only needs to be channeled back in a rather... interesting way. And he's here, is he not? He can take the Golden Power from you if you hate it so much. But, oh yes, that's right, you value your pitiful upbringings- or was it the uncaring caregiver? Remind me, which one was it again?

"Go away! Just... just go away!"

If you wish... but remember, if you don't kill him, he'll certainly kill you first...

. . .

Kass swung as hard as he could with the training sword in his hand and successfully chopped its head off in a single swoop.

"Don't focus all your energy into the swing." Cole told him. "You'll end up tiring yourself out quickly- and once you tire yourself out the enemy will have a chance to strike back."

"But..." Kass panted, already tired out from his swing, "Power is everything when taking down an enemy."

"Who on earth told you that?" Cole asked, giving the teen a rather confused glare.

"You did." came the answer with little shame or thought. From the sidelines, Jay and Kai snickered. Choosing his battles, Cole ignored them and kept his attention to Kass.

"Power won't mean a thing if you do not understand how to transfer it properly." Cole told the teen firmly, "What you are doing is only going to tire yourself out."

"You said that already." Kass noted as he started to swing the training sword up and down like it was a hand weight.

"I know that." Cole claimed. "And it's true."

"Then show me." Kass challenged as he tossed the training sword Cole's way. The Ninja of Earth caught it by the hilt with ease and without a flinch. Kass was impressed and tried hard to keep his enthusiasm contained- but it was hard, and a tiny crack on his lips etched into a smile.

"How about..." Cole started to say as he tested the training sword's weight by playing with it, "We spar instead?"

The sound that emitted from Kass's lips was equivalent to a devoted, yet slightly crazy, fangirl who saw her favorite character on a commercial announcing the next season of her favorite TV show.

"Y-you mean it?" Kass asked, almost unable to keep his voice low.

"This outta be good." Kai said from the sideline.

"Hey, do we have any popcorn?" Jay asked, ready for such a competition to take place. "I'm gonna root for the kid."

"You kidding? Cole's gonna show him up in two minutes tops!" Kai mused to Jay.

"No way!" Jay argued in a playful tone, "That kid's got potential, and it's going to show through the moment Cole breaks his concentration!"

"Pssht, sure." Kai jokingly scoffed. "Bet'cha twenty bucks Cole wins with a hand tied behind his back."

"Sounds like a challenge." Jay remarked. "I'm in!"

Cole smirked at Kass.

"Sounds like they're ready." Cole told the starstruck teen. "Are you?"

Kass looked at Cole for a moment with a rather dorky smile of admiration before changing it into a smirk.

"Bring it." Kass challenged.

With their blades connected, and after a formal count to five, Cole and Kass started to battle with Jay and Kai cheering them on.

. . .

Meanwhile, Montgomery, Nya, Cyrus, and Zane took a look at the Time Window in an effort to adjust what they needed to send the ninja of the past back to their respective time line.

"We need to find the cause of why they were sent to our time line before we can figure how to send them back." Montgomery said. "Do you know if it was an influx of power Cyrus, or simply a random occurrence in the space time continuum that we could artificially manipulate?"

"I'm not too sure." Cyrus replied. "I wasn't able to observe the moment when the ninja were brought to our time line, all I know was that Mina and Alice had the machine on and Mina accidentally bumped into it. From there, I was told that the machine made an odd sound -like the sound of a plane motor by Alice's description- then in a bright flash originating from the machine, the girls found the ninja outside five minutes later."

"Sounds like a power influx." Montgomery said, mostly to himself as he adjusted his glasses. "However, simply bumping into the machine would not have caused a chain reaction to thrust the five ninja to this time line. Perhaps Minerva pressed a button that would have caused such an effect, but after observing the machine in every angle possible, a reaction like that wouldn't have been caused just by simply pressing a silly (and possibly unnecessary) red button."

Zane observed Montgomery as if the young man was making and drawing thoughts out as if he were composing the next greatest symphony. It was actually quite interesting to see, and Montgomery certainly knew what he was talking about as well. Nya looked over to Zane and bemused herself with the looks the Nindroid was giving her son.

"130." Nya whispered to Zane.

"What?" Zane asked, feeling as if he had missed a part of a conversation.

"130." Nya repeated. "That's Montgomery's IQ."

Zane looked at Nya before the connection clicked.

"Oh?" Zane asked, realizing and taking note that his cognitive thought processes were operating slower than usual. Nya noticed this as well but ignored it for the time being.

"I had him tested when he was thirteen, turns out the kid is a natural. I'm very pleased, considering how little his father was around until Montgomery was six."

"What did his father do?"

"He was a ninja, Zane. You know that." Nya told him with playful smile.

"So his father is one of us?" Zane inquired, interested now.

"Not you, if that's where this is going to start, I've got the stretch marks to prove it."

"I can understand that. Is it Lloyd then?"

"Just because I pay homage to our green friend in my child's name, it does not mean that he fathered him."

"You're really bringing this down to either Jay or Cole, aren't you?"

"Of course." Nya confirmed without shame. "The more they argued, the more I found it amusing so I just rolled with it. Once you know how to push those buttons, what stops you from actually doing it?"

"Do you become more bitter with age, or is it just the effects of this time line playing a toll on you too?" Zane asked rather seriously. To his surprise, Nya laughed.

. . .

Lloyd had segregated himself from everyone else to look in Cyrus's library and computers to find more information on the test that Mina was said to have taken. There wasn't much- it must have been rather recent news if Cyrus's records weren't as up to date as they could have been.

Unknown to him, someone else was in the record base with him observing his every action quietly and with curiosity.

"What are you looking for?" a bubbly voice asked from behind Lloyd, making him jump several feet in the air away from the console. Lloyd turned around to see that it had been Alice. Stunned, and afraid she was still angry, Lloyd did not say anything. Alice seemed to ignore this and looked at the computer console herself.

"Ah, the Trial of the Golden Master? Is that all?" Alice mused. "Gee, I could tell you about that no problem!"

"Y-you could...?" Lloyd asked, looking the artificial girl up and down with skepticism and a good ounce of fear. She was pretty dangerous earlier when she had lost her cool...

"Of course!" Alice agreed with a little hop. "The Trial of the Golden Master was not heard of until recently, you see, finding the temple where it all takes place is part of the trial itself!"

"Did you help Mina find the temple?" Lloyd asked curiously.

"No." Alice then said, her tone changing to a dark one in half a heartbeat. "That bird was with her."

"Oh..." Lloyd said, watching Alice for the imminent flames that surely would have sprouted from her like an angry cartoon character. "Are there other parts to the Trial of the Golden Master?"

"Why yes actually." Alice agreed, her mood in turn taking a complete 180, an act that almost made Lloyd want to bolt away before she did it again. "As I mentioned earlier, finding the temple is part of the trial itself. The next part of the trial involves having the golden power forcefully sucked into you."

"Really?" Lloyd asked, flinching a bit. It didn't hurt when he received the golden power...

"Yep." Alice confirmed, her smile unbroken. "This is where it gets tricky; you see, although one now has the golden power, they have to go through some kind of mind thing to overpower it. Unfortunately, there's no way to tell if someone passed this part of the trial or not."

"What happens in the mean time?" Lloyd asked.

"I do not know much about that," Alice admitted, "But I do know that if the two holders of the golden power come in contact, the stronger will absorb the other's power like fetus resportion."

"Like... like what?!"

"I advise you not to look it up- it's rather depressing."

"Alright." Lloyd agreed without question. "So... if I have this right- Mina has the golden power in her, but if she touches me one of us will end up dying, and we have no idea if she's passed the trial or not so that doesn't happen. Next thing I know someone's going to tell me that she's my daughter or something..."

"Actually," Alice chirped, her eyes even lighting up, "She is!"

Lloyd looked at Alice with a blank stare that had no idea which emotion to show. Alice smiled back at him with little shame or surprise at his reaction.

"She makes a fine Mary-Sue." Alice playfully told him. "Don't you think?"