Chapter Six

Well, whattaya know, quick update. :P I guess I'm just in a writing mood.

Again, a swear word or two. Sorry 'bout it.

I'm excited for this chapter! *dances*

Let's get to it!

Chapter Six: Programmed

(No POV)

With a sigh, Ed attaches a wire into it's socket. Humming, he tinkers with a bit of the gears inside of the female robot's stomach. As he searches around her switches and mechanics, he spots a tiny chip inside of a small slot. Engraved on the slot is the word 'Virus'. He frowns, and removes the chip.

For some reason, it doesn't look a Virus chip. Ed had been expecting something black with a red stripe, but instead, it was bright white with a light blue light. There was a strange pattern on it, like broken glass.

"Edna!" he calls. Edna pokes her head in through the door, her face pale.

"What, Ed? Is it really that important right now?"

"Yes, c'mere." Edna walks up to him.

"What?" He shows her the chip.

"What . . . is this? It sure doesn't look like a virus."

"I don't think it is," comes a hoarse voice from the doorway. The two adults turn to face the speaker. Jay stands in the entrance of the trailer, bloody, pale, and bruised. His mother gasps.

"Oh you poor baby!" she cries, rushing towards him. He turns his head away and sticks out his left hand.

"Mom, it's okay," Jay gasps. "Really. It'll be better if you don't touch me." Edna steps back from her injured son, her eyes heavy and sad.

"Oh sweetheart, you're obviously hurt . . ." she whispers. "Please, dear, let me help you."

"Mom, it's okay!" Jays says angrily. "Worry about that chip, not me!" Edna backs up and walks over to Ed.

"Son, what is this?" Ed says to Jay. Jay walks up to him.

"First things first," he began. "we don't know what exactly what it is, but we do know it's not a Virus chip anymore. I believe-" Jay walks up to his father to examine the chip. "-it changed from a Virus chip to whatever it is now when she was hacked."

"Hacked?" says Edna, confused.

"Yeah, she used to be evil," Jay replies. He takes the chip from his father and holds it up to the light. "It looks like . . . some sort of programming chip . . ."

"Maybe once we turn her on," suggests Ed, "we can put the chip in and see what it does." Jay nods.

"Is she almost fixed?"

"Yup!" Ed grins. "Just gotta re-assemble a few things-" he clicks some pieces into place quickly, "-and presto!" A quiet whirring sound comes from Pixal. She suddenly sits up straight, gasping as her eyes glow green once more. She then blinks, looks at her surroundings, and sits up.

"Hello, I am the Primary Interactive X-ternal Assistant Life-form, or Pixal. How may I be of assistance?" Jay walks up to her with the chip.

"Hi Pixal," he says. "Hey, do you remember what happened?" She blinks.

"Zane was captured." She speaks as if she's reciting from a script; monotone and emotionless.

"Yeah . . ." Jay says slowly. "Uh . . . can you open your panel?" The feminine robot does so. Jay slowly slides the chip into the slot. Pixal suddenly gasps, bending over. Suddenly, a wave of emotions floods onto her face.

"Zane . . ." she whispers, but this time, it's overflowing with emotion and pain.

"An emotions clip," whispers Ed. "Fascinating!"

"He sacrificed himself . . . for me . . ." Pixal whispers sadly, her voice shaking.

"Jay?" someone shouts from right outside the trailer. "Jay! JAY!" Jay hobbled over to the doorway and sticks his head.

"What is it, Kai?"

"Come quickly," the Fire Ninja says worriedly. "Nya's found something." Jay exits the trailer as quickly as possible, his eyes wide with worry. Suddenly, Kai notices his friend's wounds.

"Shit, Jay! What happened?"

"Don't worry about it," Jay replies softly. Everyone gathers around Nya.

"What didja find?" Cole asks, approaching Nya. Nya holds up a tiny little round disc.

"This."

"What is 'this'?" questions Kai.

"It's a tracker," replies Nya.

"Great!" exclaims Jay. "We could use to track the enemy!"

"That's a great idea, but it won't work," says Nya slowly. Kai frowns.

"Why not? Is it broken?" Nya looks at her brother and takes a deep breath.

"Because I found it on the bottom of my shoe." She then fell silent, letting her statement sink in. The three boys' eyes widen.

"Oh . . . my . . . Spinjitzu . . ." says Jay.

"And there's three of us," says Kai in disbelief. Nya clears her throat.

"There's five of us," she snaps.

"Five?" says Cole. "What do you mean, five?"

"You three, Pixal, and I," replies Nya cooly.

"Pixal can't fight!" explodes Cole. "She's not programmed too!"

"I think you'll find she can fight way better than you think," Nya says, folding her arms across her chest.

"Yeah!" yelps Jay. "I really bet she can fight great!"

"I'm glad you think so," sighs Nya. Cole glares at Jay. Jay sticks out his tongue at Cole, and the Earth Ninja glares at him.

"You little-"

"Cole, whatever is up, this is not the time," interjects Kai. "The Nindroids could be here any minute."

"It would be the most probable to hide." Pixal exists the trailer, Jay's parents right behind her.

"Why?" Kai asks, frowning.

"Just listen to her!" shouts Nya.

"Besides," says Jay, "there's plenty of hiding spots!" He then quickly runs towards a pile of tires. The Lightning Ninja sees Kai and Cole dive into a pile of rusty metal before he vanishes into the the pile, under all of the small tires, is one giant tire. It's at least three times bigger than the Walker's trailer, which makes it a perfect hiding spot. Jays curls up among the giant tire, holding his breath. He suddenly hears shifting sounds. Jay squeezes his eyes shut. He doesn't have his techno blade with him. He's doomed.

However, when the figure finally makes their way in, it's not a Nindroid. Or any robot for that matter.

"Nya!" Jay whisper-shouts.

"Jay . . . I didn't know you were in here," Nya replies.

"Well, I am."

"I can see that." And awkward silence falls between them. Finally Nya speaks. "Jay . . ."

"Yeah?"

"I . . . I need to tell you something. I think . . ." She takes a deep breath. "I think I've made up my mind about . . . you know . . . you and Cole." Jay swallows.

"So . . . ?" Jay says, nervous. Nya looks at Jay straight on. Her heart breaks right then and there. His face . . . so full of hope. And she's going to have to break his heart.

"Jay, I'm sorry, but I'm breaking up with you." Jay makes a sound like a strangled animal, his eyes widening. But Nya isn't done. "But! Hear me out!" Jay looks at her. "I'm not dating Cole either. I'm going to stay single for a while. You both are acting violent, ridiculous, and this is splitting up the team. We've already lost Zane . . ." Her voice cracks. "We've already lost Zane, and Lloyd's not here. And Sensei's gone too . .. We need to work together. And so . . . I'm not dating anyone. It's too much trouble." Jay blinks back tears.

"N-Nya . . ."

BOOM!

Jay jolts. "Oh gosh . . . Nya, get over here!" Nya looks at Jay, her heart pounding, but not from attraction or love, but of fear of the outside world.

"Jay, it's okay, I'll be alright."

"I'm not worried about you!" squeaks Jay. That's when it hits Nya. Jay wants her close, wants to hold her hand. He knows she can take care of himself. He's worried he can't take care of himself.

He's scared.

"Jay, look, it's okay to be scared-" Suddenly, a loud, feminine scream echoes across the battlefield. "PIXAL!" shouts Nya. She bursts out of the tire pile.

"NYA!" screams Jay, not caring about staying hidden anymore. He follows his ex out of the tire pile. Kai and Cole stand in front of Pixal, Kai holding his techno blade, and Cole holding a pipe. Three Nindroids stand in front of the trio, the one in front holding Jay and Cole's techno blades.

"Cole, there's more over there!" shouts Kai, pointing over towards the other side of the junkyard.

"I can see that!" Cole retorts. "Kai? Kai! KAI!" But Kai has already taken off across the battlefield to fight the others.

From where he was now, Kai could see around 18 Nindroids.

"Come get me, scrap metal!" he taunts, waving his sword. To Kai's surprise, instead of attacking, they abruptly vanished.

"What the-" Kai whirls around, looking behind him. "Hey! Come back here, you cowards! Your stupid invisibility can't hide you forever!" He waves his red-orange techno blade in front of him. Nervously, he takes a few steps backward. The robots haven't even made a sound. Kai sucks in a shaky breath. There must be a reason why they haven't attacked him yet.

Kai doesn't let down his guard, even though the robots seemed gone. His blade was pointed at the ground now instead of at the ready, but he was still in his fighting stance. He attempts to loosen his now tense muscles, breathing in and out slowly in an effort to calm himself down.

Suddenly, a black-gloved hand slaps across his mouth. Kai drops his blade in shock.

CLANG!

Kai hoped the noise would alert his friends. With him gone, they'd be down to four members. Yikes. It'd be even worse because, for a reason unknown to Kai, Cole and Jay were not getting along at all.

"Stay where you are," the Nindroid says in a slow voice, dripping with evil. He pulls Kai's arms behind his back. Kai shuts his eyes tight, and thinks about burning this robot until it was a puddle of molten metal. He concentrates as hard as he can, trying to visualize the robot's metal exterior melting very slowly . . .

"Kai!" Nya's voice cuts through her brother's thoughts, causing him to lose all concentration. Jay stands beside her, a broken glass bottle in his hand.

"Whoever you are, show yourself!" Jay shouts. The figure was hidden behind Kai, so only his black-gloved hand that covered Kai's mouth was visible. The robot makes no effort to obey the Blue Ninja's command. "And let go of my friend!"

"Who even are you!?" snaps Nya. She holds a sharp piece of metal in front of her threateningly. The robot laughs.

"Oh, so you don't recognize me?" Kai begins to struggle.

'Cryptor's the only Nindroid who can talk!' he thinks. 'C'mon Nya, notice!'

"Wait . . . " says Jay. "Hold on just one second. Why aren't you invisible right now? It'd be so much easier to escape!" As Jay speaks, Pixal rounds the corner and comes rushing up to Jay and Nya.

"What if I don't want to escape?" laughs the robot.

"Why would you not want to escape?" Nya asks furiously.

"At least, not without being seen," the Nindroid adds. "I want to escape. With this Ninja gone, it'll be the two who can't get along, and two prissy girls."

"How dare you!" shouts Nya, looking as if she'd charge.

"Don't even come near, or he gets it," says the robot, indicating Kai. He pulls out a long katana and place it against Kai's throat, his hand leaving Kai's mouth.

"My analysis says you are not Cryptor," Pixal suddenly says.

"Why's that important?" Jay asks, furrowing his brow.

"He's the only one who can talk!" Kai suddenly shouts. Nya's eyes widen.

"Who are you?" she demands.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" the robot taunts.

"You said you wanted to be seen, so BE SEEN!" Jay screams loudly.

"As you wish." The robot steps out from behind the Fire Ninja. At first glance, he looks like just any other Nindroid. He wore a red hood with a silver contraption over one eye. His pants were black with a red sash, and he wore black boots.

His top, however, was different. It was literally open in the middle. His red and purple wires were exposed, and so was a large, empty circular cavity in his chest . . . like where a power source should be. His mouth curled into an evil smile.

"Hello . . . brothers."

:O Holy shit. I was not planning on this to happen . . . at all. That came out of nowhere.

A few IMPORTANT announcements:

One, to all you Doctor Who fans (who've seen all the Matt Smith ones at least up to season 7), on my profile there's a story my friend wrote. She'd really appreciate some reviews.

Two, for some inside information on my OCs and such, check out my deviantart profile (same username). I'd really appreciate some feedback . . .

Three, check out my profile if you're ever wondering anything about my stories. I also put new polls on there constantly.

Four, I might start a new Ninjago fanfic depending on the results of my current poll. Please vote!

Five, please check out my story: "The Truth About Jay Walker." It's not only my 20th story, but it's got a good message.

Six, coming soon, I'm not going to be able to have access to the internet. I'm going on a huge field trip on May 14th to 16th. And then I've got a parade on the morning of the 17th for Marching Band. Just so you all know.

Chapter countdown: 4 chapters! OoO

Please review!

P.S. That was a lot of line breaks XD

~ForeverDreamer12