Kiwi here. Just a small prelude here, my apologies. So, like, we try to do our research as thoroughly as possible and for this particular chapter, since most of it took place in a jungle, I wanted to try and explore different wildlife that is canon within the Ninjago universe. So, yeah, the few things I describe are canon. They don't all necessarily exist near one another or in the proper regions they existed in canon-ly, but this is an AU so, eh. Want a full map of this AU region? Check out TombRaiderNinja's deviantart page. :)
Chapter Four: Banding Together
He was not completely sure how much farther he could go. The extra weight of the angry man's leather satchel had been taking a bit of a toll on him, the strap yanking hard on Kai's left shoulder as he followed Jay aimlessly across the land. It had actually been very smart on their part, running from Ignacia Village in the direction of the Hou Jungle, which engulfed most of the bottom half of the southern kingdom. Unfortunately, his stamina had been deteriorating much quicker than Jay's and the shadow puppeteer continued to trudge onward despite the foliage growing more dense. Glancing back over his shoulder, the exhausted blacksmith noticed that the merchant was no longer following them. Well, guess all this stuff belongs to me now, Kai thought tiredly. "Jay, he's gone," the brunet called out, bringing his focus back to the barely visible path ahead. "H-He's gone..."
Compacted, dry dirt met Kai's face with an unpleasant smack and he coughed as a plume of dust floated upwards before dissipating into the muggy air. Groaning, Kai managed to twist himself around and get back on his feet, discovering the reason for his sudden plummet. One of the buckles that secured his thick boots had managed to come undone and had snagged on a gnarled root that had invaded outwards from the dark green mess of vegetation. Rolling his light brown eyes, the blacksmith took a knee, successfully securing the buckle before brushing himself off completely. When he positioned the satchel across his shoulder once more, Kai started his journey again, but froze only seconds later.
He had lost sight of Jay entirely now.
"Idiot," he muttered under his breath, scanning the unkempt dirt path feverishly while hurrying his own gait. Sure, Jay seemed to be a quick fellow, but he had clearly been tiring too. No one could just continually walk forever, let alone run. They needed to stay together, especially now. The jungle was a perfect place for the serpents to hide and try to create an ambush. Especially in the southern kingdom, full of Venomari. They could blend right in with the variety of green vegetation and strike at a moment's notice. Feeling an involuntary chill travel down along the length of his spine, Kai hurried along, right hand gripping the hilt of his sheathed weapon tightly while the left kept the merchant's satchel close to his side. Why he did not decide to just throw the items into the depths of the trees was beyond him. Kai just could not bring himself to do it. "Come on, Jay, you couldn't have gone far," he said through clenched teeth, slowly becoming aware of how tense he was. This area just did not seem safe at the moment.
A rustle of large leaves off to Kai's left caused him to jump back for a moment, unsheathing his weapon and holding it arms length, the barely filtering sunlight through the dense canopy playing off of the tip of the metal blade. The blacksmith's jumbled nerves were immediately set at ease when he noticed the large, puffy tail of a familiar brown creature poking its head up and out of the small bush. Sometimes squirrels were really stupid creatures, always sounding like they were larger animals waiting to strike from afar. Kai cracked a small smirk as the squirrel turned its beady, black eyes on him. "Ya gave me a scare," he chuckled, placing his sword back into the holster around his waist before turning back towards the path.
Soft laughter floated on the unusually stale wind and Kai's eyes widened. It sounded familiar, like Jay's laughter. He's closer than I imagined, the brunet thought thankfully, pressing on. As the path before him grew even more wild, the flora reclaiming it as part of the jungle, the laughter started to grow a bit louder. Maybe Jay had noticed that they had become separated and had decided to just wait for him to catch up. In the brief time he had spent with the auburn haired puppeteer, Kai was not sure if he would fully think of something like that. Then again, he had been traveling across the entire land presenting his puppet shows. He was not a complete idiot or else he would have been caught already. Following the laughter, Kai eventually managed to find the source and became slightly dismayed.
Grouped together, close off of the lone strip of path that remained, sat unusually colored flowers, contrasted greatly against the dark green patch of wild grass they emerged from. Bright blue and violet hues were a welcomed sight, but Kai recognized the species immediately. Very Wild Flowers, a virtually useless piece of flora if he had ever read about one. The bulb of said plant could produce guttural noises similar to giggles or chuckling. What their point for existing was, the blacksmith could not say, but he was becoming frustrated that he had actually thought Jay would have just been sitting in the forest, waiting for him. "I am never gonna find him," Kai growled, throwing his hands up in defeat.
"Gotcha now."
The rough bark of a nearby tree was all Kai could see as his body was pushed up hard against it. Attempting to fight off the person who was detaining him, the blacksmith managed to drop the leather satchel into the thick grass below him and heard a satisfied sigh. His wrists were being held behind his back and Kai struggled to free himself and try to grab his sword from his waist, but every effort seemed absolutely fruitless. "You thought you could give me the slip," stated a somewhat familiar voice. "That's my livelihood you got away with though, and I was not about to let you just keep it."
"You don't understand," Kai scoffed, hearing the merchant breathing heavily behind him. "I'm not a thief, I swear! I was in a bit of a...situation with some Serpentine and you were wasting my time." Instead of the tree bark, the ground once more met Kai's face and he could feel the merchant pinning him down hard. The cacophony of giggles from the nearby flowers was beginning to make him very angry. What right did they have to mock him? Absolutely none. "You have your stupid bag back now. Can you just let me go?" As much as Kai wanted to just try and pummel this guy, he knew he could not. He still felt completely spent and he was actually curious how this guy had the strength to detain him if he had been following him the whole time. He should have been just as tired, if not more so.
Yanking the spiky haired brunet to his feet in one swift movement, the merchant noticed the sword dangling lifelessly from his hip and grabbed it immediately. "Thieving is thieving so, no, I'm not just gonna let you go," he said calmly, tightening his grip on the man's wrists. "You'll stay with me until we find your accomplice and then you'll both end up going to prison for your crimes." This sparked a newly found fighting spirit within his captive who leaned forward and attempted to charge away. "Nice try, but I've been told I have a grip like iron. Solid as a rock."
"Well thanks for that then, Rocky," Kai spat, deciding now to just save the very little energy he had left. Perhaps if they managed to find Jay, he could help him out of this situation and then they could continue their journey. Some journey though, the blacksmith thought angrily, we don't even have a specific place we're going. We're just wandering around and trying not to get caught. A small smirk crossed his face as he felt the raven-haired merchant push him forwards along the path, still keeping a hard grip on Kai's wrists. "Since I've lost my accomplice and we could very well be spending a lot of time together looking for him, maybe we should get acquainted then?"
Scoffing very loudly, the merchant rolled his amber eyes. "I don't acquaint myself with thieves."
So he still did not know the man's name. It was not such a big deal. "Oh, alright then," Kai continued, giving a slightly dramatic sigh as his eyes feverishly swept the areas ahead for any sign of Jay. "I'm Kai, in case you wanted to know. Not a thief, but a blacksmith actually. Just wanted to give you a name so you could have it on your conscience as you let me and my friend rot in jail eventually." For the briefest of moments, Kai felt the man behind him falter, his gait slightly uneven. So he has a bit of a heart after all, the brunet chuckled internally. Perfect. "Like I was saying, I got caught up in a bit of a situation with the Serpentine earlier. You know, my sister probably doesn't even know what happened. She's probably worried sick about me. I'll just be wasting away in jail soon enough though. Just me, my buddy, and you, of course..." The last bit of the sentence hung in the air, fading into nothingness among the ambient sounds of the jungle surrounding them.
"Why would I end up in the imperial prison?" the merchant asked honestly, a bit of fright in his voice. "I haven't done anything wrong." Maybe this guy was just toying with him. Thinking back over the past couple of days, the merchant racked his brain for any memory of partaking in something noticeably illegal. Nothing immediately came to mind. He had crossed the border from the Constrictai's domain into the southern kingdom and had decided to peddle some of his goods at villages along the way. Ignacia Village had just been another stop on his journey. He had not thought something like this would happen. "So then, Kai, I'm not exactly sure what kind of game you're trying to play with me, but it's not gonna work. You and your friend will be the only ones in prison."
He had to keep trying. There was no way he was going to wind up in the scaly hands of the enemy, especially after he had just decided that they were, in fact, the enemy. "My friend, Jay? That's his name, just so you know. Nice guy, Jay. Travels around performing shadow puppet shows to try and entertain the children. You know, spreading this thing called 'happiness'." Which you seem to know absolutely nothing about, Kai thought bitterly, rolling his light brown eyes in disgust. Despite only knowing Jay for a few hours now, Kai felt like there was not much more to him than that: a man who was honestly trying to improve the lives of others through smiles and laughter. "Of course, we ran into you when the Serpentine were chasing us and I'm almost positive the Venomari guards would have seen you following us here to the jungle. I'll bet they think you're helping us."
His heart skipped a beat for a split second. The Serpentine could not think he was with these thieves. He had been a victim too! "You did that on purpose," the raven-haired man said through clenched teeth. "You must have planned to have me follow you." Now he felt like an absolute idiot! Unfortunately, a heavy sense of dread was beginning to press down on him. What was he going to do? What if this blacksmith was right and the Serpentine had seen him run off after them? If he went to turn the two in, then he would just end up a prisoner along with them. Well done, you sneaky thief, he thought to himself. "Why did you do that? Why wrap up a stranger in your game of cat and mouse?"
"You looked like you could possibly have the muscle to help us in a tough situation," Kai answered truthfully, feeling slightly embarrassed that he had disregarded his own cunning and swordsman skills in favor of pure muscle. "Now I see first hand that I wasn't wrong." The grip around his wrists loosened almost entirely after that statement and Kai ripped his limbs from the merchant, rubbing the circulation back into them before turning on his heel. Frowning slightly and wiping the back of his forehead with a bare hand, the merchant just nodded slowly. "Look, Rocky, I'm really sorry that you got mixed up in all of this. It really is all my fault, but I panicked. I didn't know what to do. Rocky..."
"It's Cole, actually," the merchant sighed, gripping his satchel tightly and unhooking Kai's belt from around his waist. "Here, you can have your sword back. As long as you don't use it to stab me or something." Cole tossed the belt and holster through the air, the weight of the sword bringing it all down in a small arc. Kai gracefully caught it out of the air and secured it around his own waist once more. "Don't think this makes us friends or anything though," he warned, bushy brows furrowed. "I'm realizing that you're probably right about the Serpentine and it's honestly better to be a fugitive in a pack of other fugitives. Once I clear my name from this mess, I'm doing everything in my power to make sure you get punishment for your thievery."
Shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly, Kai just turned back around. He needed to find Jay after all and tell him about the addition of this new ally. Well, an ally more or less anyways. "Yeah, sure, my punishment," the blacksmith called back. "I'm sure that'll happen after you clear your name. I'm absolutely positive the Serpentine will just be lenient on a human for a misunderstanding." Cole's hurried footsteps traveled softly across the compacted dirt and weeds until he was striding beside Kai effortlessly, glancing at him out of the corner of his eyes. "I don't know if you've noticed this, but the Serpentine seem to have eyes everywhere and they aren't very merciful either."
A sudden cawing sound startled the two and they jumped slightly, eyes traveling upwards towards a nearby tree branch. Nestled within the leaves was a dark grey bird, its talons piercing the rough bark of the branch it was standing on. Kai leaned his head to the right slightly, trying to get a better of sense of what the creature was doing. In response to this, the bird leaned its own head accordingly, piercing yellow irises boring a hole through the softly filtered light of the jungle. "Weird," Cole whispered, glancing back and forth between both Kai and the bird. "It's like it's copying you." As the merchant rested his gaze slowly on the bird once more, he watched its eyes suddenly change from yellow to a bright blue. "What in Ninjago? B-Birds don't usually do things like that, right?" Cole watched as Kai just shook his head in response and the two quickly continued on, away from the bird.
"Ah, take it easy!"
That voice. "It's Jay," Kai breathed, surging forward through the jungle, not even waiting to see if his new merchant pal was still following behind him. Just knowing that the puppeteer was close gave Kai a small sense of relief. He had sounded really distraught though and the first thing that came to the blacksmith's mind was an ambush. "Aw man...it sounds like he's in some trouble..."
Rough hands grabbed Kai's shoulders, stopping him immediately in his tracks. Spinning around and lashing out a kick, Kai felt his face fall. His heavy boot had hit Cole square in the abdomen and the almost silent grunt of having the wind knocked out of him filled the air. "I was gonna say it isn't smart to just charge right in there," the raven-haired man said between clenched teeth, almost doubled over. Kai was thoroughly impressed; this guy was taking the kick like a champ, recovering from it very quickly. "If your friend is in trouble, maybe we should see what kind of trouble it is first, that way we don't make any rash decisions." The last few words were stressed, making Kai smile nervously. No doubt a reference to the fact that it was his fault Cole was wrapped up in all of this nonsense.
"Alright, sounds like a plan," Kai replied, hurriedly jumping off of the path into the bustling, green vegetation that flanked it. He watched as Cole, still slowly catching his breath, followed him and the two slowly made their way towards the direction they had heard the shouting. The lush grass underneath them thankfully muffled all sounds of movement and Kai breathed a small sigh of relief. "Thanks for the advice," the blacksmith whispered back to his ally. "Sometimes I just go, you know? I wouldn't want to just walk right into the arms of the Serpentine." There was a loud thudding sound followed by a disoriented groan and Kai attempted to pick up his pace without making any noises. "Hang on, Jay. I'm coming..."
The dense foliage on the ground began to thin as the two found their way towards a clearing. A few sparse trees erupted from out of the grass, but there was not much other plant life to be found. The sunlight was brighter here, breaking through the canopy above and illuminating the scene before them. A man with very pale skin was holding Jay off of the ground, pinning him to a tree. His dress was very formal, almost of noble authority. An ornate headdress adorned with iron studs hid his hair from view, accompanied with a white tunic and pants that were crisply tucked into a pair of black, leather boots. Kai noticed rich, brown leather wrist guards and shoulder pads, protecting the man along with an apron of some sorts that reminded the blacksmith of his own. "I'm not gonna tell you anything," Jay spat, sounding worse for wear. Kai noticed how disheveled the puppeteer's hair was and how swollen and red his right cheek looked.
"That is fine," the two hidden fugitives heard the man say, dropping Jay to the ground in the process. The auburn haired man gave a rough cough and unsteadily got to his feet, leaning on the tree behind him for balance. "The other fugitives will undoubtedly arrive shortly. Your wailing must have reached their ears by now. They cannot be far off and then I will take you all in to Emperor Pythor." Kai watched with narrowed eyes as the man turned his back on Jay. Noticing the opportunity to strike, the puppeteer lunged forward and brought his fist around, aiming for the back of the stranger's head. Without even turning to look, he blocked Jay's attack with his right arm, grabbing the puppeteer's wrist immediately afterwards, and flipping him over his shoulder. Jay lay motionless on the ground afterwards, his labored breathing echoing through now eerie silence. "It is impolite to attack someone while their guard is down," the man stated plainly.
He could feel his blood boiling and his hand immediately wrapped around the hilt of his sword. Who did this guy think he was anyways? Taking the Serpentine's side and just abusively interrogating Jay? Once more, there was a hand on his shoulder and Kai glanced back to see Cole shaking his head in protest. "You really can't just charge in to a fight with that guy," the merchant chastised, his voice barely above a whisper. "You'd end up just like your friend there. Maybe if we try and think about a decent strategy, then we could distract him, grab Jay, and get out of here as quickly as possible. Emperor Pythor wants us all taken in apparently. This isn't good at all..."
I can't just let Jay stay there with him, the blacksmith thought tiredly. I don't know how much longer he can last. The fluttering of wings interrupted Kai's train of thought and he glanced backwards to see the odd bird from earlier perched upon a nearby tree branch. Just as it had previously done, the creature gazed at the two fugitives with bright blue eyes. "It seems you are in luck, sir," Kai heard the man say. "Your allies are already here as we speak." Feeling his blood run through his veins like ice, the brunet trained his gaze on the warrior, noticing his own eyes glowing a similar color to the bird's. "Yes, I can see you looking at me," the man answered, causing a chill to run up along the blacksmith's spine. "My falcon helps me see everything I need to."
"It's a spy," Cole gulped, his amber eyes still glued to the bird. "How does he use it to his advantage though?" Questions were flooding the merchant's mind now, making him utterly confounded. He turned around to see if Kai had any thoughts regarding the creature, but he gasped in horror to see the blacksmith approaching the white clothed stranger, sword unsheathed and ready. "Kai, what are you doing?" This was practically suicide! Within minutes the warrior would probably subdue them all. Then it was a one way ticket to the imperial prison. "Think about this for a second..."
What was there to think about? "He already knew we were here," the blacksmith called back to Cole, his eyebrows knit together in concentration. "There isn't a point in hiding anymore." The end of his blade was poised, ready to strike at a moment's notice. "Besides, I don't feel like playing games with this guy." Kai's light brown eyes traveled to Jay who was slowly getting into a sitting position, his hazel eyes pleading.
"I am not one for playing games either," the warrior answered, his irises changing from the bright, glowing blue that disturbed Kai to a much darker hue. "If you would like to try and stop me from completing my task, please proceed," his monotone voice droned on, igniting a spark of fury within the blacksmith. "A fair warning to you though: you will fail at every attempt you make. It may just be easier to come quietly, unless you wish to end up like your accomplice over there." He noticed the features on the brunet's face fall. This was good. The angrier someone became before a fight, the more mistakes they seemed to make. A sloppy fight usually ended very quickly. "Well, will you make a move?"
Charging forward and giving an enraged cry, Kai brought his sword around in front of him, attempting to slash at the man's left abdominal area. In response to this, the warrior just took a large step backwards, successfully evading the attack and leaving Kai slightly disoriented. Without hesitating too much, Kai charged again, thrusting his blade directly forward and smirking. There was no way he could avoid it now. Without much warning, the blacksmith's adversary produced a single shuriken from a pouch slung around his waist, catching the tip of Kai's weapon with one of the three small blades that protruded outwards from where he gripped the shuriken. "This is child's play," the warrior commented, his voice still lacking any real emotion. "I see you are about as skilled in combat as your accomplice."
Twisting his arm around, Kai managed to dislodge the shuriken from the man's hand, freeing his own weapon in the process. Feeling a surge of adrenaline course through his body, he swung his sword again, only to have the man block the attack with his arm. The metal was stopped by the thick leather adorning the warrior's wrist, barely cutting into it. Trying to use the lack of distance between them as an advantage, Kai kicked forward with his boot, trying to land a blow. As his foot made contact with the man's upper thigh, the blacksmith felt his face fall. He had not even reacted to it! This guy was a fighting machine. Distracted by his own thoughts, Kai did not noticed Cole approaching the adversary from the side. Inhaling deeply, the merchant swung his satchel around by the strap, trying to hit the man. In an instant, the warrior had stepped back from the confrontation and watched as the man in the long-sleeved, black shirt managed to hit his own comrade.
"What are you trying to do?" Kai growled through clenched teeth, jumping back to his feet and throwing the satchel back towards Cole.
The merchant fumbled with his bag for a moment before slinging it back over his shoulder. "I was trying to help you," he replied, crossing his arms roughly over his chest. "You weren't making much progress and I thought I could help you a little bit." Cole watched as the stubborn blacksmith rushed over towards the warrior. There was the sudden clang of two metal weapons colliding and he watched as Kai put all of his strength into forcing his blade towards the enemy. "Strength isn't always the answer," Cole muttered to himself, deciding instead to go see if the man in the blue shirt was fairing any better now.
Every breath he took seemed to catch in his chest and pull a few muscles in his upper back painfully. As a shadow loomed over Jay, he tensed up, irritating the sore muscles further. Anticipating the shadow to belong to the white clothed man, he was surprised to see someone different. His eyes widened in horror. "Please don't beat me up," the puppeteer pleaded, bringing his hands together. "I-I wasn't the one who took your bag, it was Kai! I had nothing to do with it, I swear!" Feeling his frame shake slightly at the sight of the merchant, Jay was genuinely surprised to see the man extend a hand. Fearfully grabbing the merchant's hand, Jay managed to get back on his feet. "Um, thanks..." he groaned, leaning back to try and stretch out the aching muscles once more.
"No problem. I'm Cole, and your friend already told me about everything so don't worry about it," the merchant answered with a small smile. "Are you okay though? That guy, he really did a number on you." With sad eyes, Cole watched as Jay just nodded slowly and gave a small chuckle, rubbing his left shoulder with his right arm. He felt as if this was somehow his fault. If he had not spent so long interrogating Kai earlier, maybe they would have found Jay before any of this had happened. "I know he doesn't want it, and you may not be up for it, but do you think your friend could use our help?"
"Definitely," Jay replied in an exasperated tone.
His arms were shaking violently as he continued to try and force his sword down upon the warrior. "You do not give up easily, which is highly commendable," the man remarked, though Kai could not tell if it was genuine praise or a snarky comment. "I believe it is about time to put an end to it all though." While pushing back against the brunet's attack with one shuriken, the man grabbed yet another one of the weapons from the same pouch and threw it at Kai with absolute precision. The small blades buried themselves into the blacksmith's right shoulder and he dropped to his knees in pain, relinquishing his hold on the sword. "My apologies for the harm, but I have been out here for quite some time and I must return back to the palace as quickly as possible." With a shaking hand, Kai yanked the shuriken from his shoulder and threw it to the ground, glancing at the two blood coated blades that had previously embedded themselves in him.
"Leave him alone," Jay shouted, trudging over towards the white clothed man. The anger was evident in his voice, but the delivery was less than frightening as he managed to trip over his own feet as he was within a couple feet of the warrior. Attempting to avoid embarrassment, the puppeteer dragged himself the remainder of the way to the man and placed a hand on his leg. "Pick on someone...that's not him or me, I guess." Suddenly,and without warning, a tingling sensation manifested within his palm and spread outwards to his finger tips. The warrior gasped suddenly, blue sparks dancing up and down his leg, causing him to stumble backwards towards a patch of messy vegetation.
What was happening? The warrior tried to distribute his weight evenly between both legs, but then his left leg gave out completely, sending him down towards the ground. "What have you done to me?" he called out, sounding the slightest bit distraught. No matter how hard he tried to stand up or even move his leg, he could not. His limb was absolutely immobile. Then there was a sudden pressure wrapping its way around his abdomen and chest, binding his arms to his sides in the process. Glancing downwards, the stranger noticed leafy vines slowly coiling around him unrelentingly. He recognized the species of plant immediately and gave a sigh. Emperor Pythor would be very disappointed in him.
"Whoa, Jay, what happened?" Kai smirked while gripping his shoulder with his left hand and feeling satisfied as he saw the warrior in what appeared to be distress. "You took him out! That was so amazing!" The brunet watched as Cole helped the puppeteer back to his feet and kept him steady. "I'm sorry we didn't get to you sooner, but now we can go regroup and try to get you rested up a bit before we travel some more."
There was an unsettling sensation tugging at Jay's heart and the more he tried to ignore it, the worse he felt. It was almost nauseating, the guilt that was weighing down upon him. "W-We can't just leave him like that," Jay pleaded, glancing back towards their adversary and feeling a bit sad as he watched him squirm in the vines' grip before deciding to give up. "Look at him, he just seems so helpless now, and he's a human, just like us. Whether he's working with the Serpentine or not, we have to help him."
"I'm not sure if you noticed this or not, but that was the guy who just roughed you and your friend up," Cole added, not seeing how they owed this guy any ounce of mercy.
"If we leave him here to suffer then we're no better than the Serpentine!" the puppeteer shouted, finally catching everyone's undivided attention. He watched as Kai's eyes softened for a second and the newcomer, Cole, nodded in understanding. Not waiting for anyone else to decide to immediately help the warrior, Jay shook the merchant's hand off of his shoulder and slowly made his way over to the man. "We're gonna try and help you," Jay announced loudly, despite the fact that the man was perfectly capable of hearing every word without the added volume. "Just lemme try and help you untangle yourself."
He squirmed once more in the vines. "Please do not come any closer," he warned, tone extremely serious. "These vines do not let go of their prey once they have it." With a sense of relief, the warrior watched as the auburn haired man took a few steps backwards. This was good. It was one thing to know that he had failed his master, but it would be another thing entirely to allow his targets to die before his master could properly interrogate them. "They will wait until I perish and eventually decompose as fertilizer for the roots. Of course, I am not made of organic material, so my body will remain here for much longer." Watching as the man dressed in blue shot him a quizzical look, the warrior just blinked slowly. "I am an android after all. You knew that as well, did you not? You were somehow able to shut down all mobility to my left leg. I believe you shorted out the circuits."
An android, Jay thought in complete awe. Something like that existing is impossible. His thoughts were interrupted as Kai strode up, gripping his sword in his less dominant hand and swinging it downwards, cutting at the vines and making them loosen their coils around the warrior. "Be careful, Kai," Jay cautioned, watching the blacksmith work quickly and carefully around the vines. Within minutes, the vines had completely retreated from the area, disappearing back into the safety of the denser vegetation.
"You...you aided me when I was in need," the android said, feeling confused as Kai took most of his body weight and helped him up on to his still working leg. "That was very honorable of you. Most people do not help an enemy."
"Well we aren't most people," Kai chided, gently lowering the warrior back down on the ground, far away from the potential reach of any other vines. "Now, I'm not sure what Jay did to your leg or even how he did something to your leg, but I don't know if we can help it." He watched as the android just stared at them, most likely still confused about why they had helped him out of the sticky situation. Then Jay approached the android and knelt beside him, placing both hands on the white material of his pants and closing his eyes. After a few minutes of what appeared to be intense concentration, blue sparks once more appeared along the length of the warrior's leg and he moved his left foot around, the ghost of a smile playing on his lips. "Jay...how did you do that?"
The puppeteer shrugged before helping the android to his feet and following suit. "I'm not sure, it just kinda happens."
"I give you my deepest gratitude for saving me," the warrior replied, giving the three fugitives a deep bow. "Though we were on opposite sides, I feel as if I cannot repay you for your aid. I cannot be sure if my master or any of the other Serpentine would have helped me out of such a situation." He watched as the merchant held out the two shurikens he had dropped and he grabbed them hurriedly and stowed them away in the pouch around his waist "Please, allow me to accompany you on your travels. I cannot bring myself to come before Emperor Pythor empty handed, but I also cannot hand over kind people who saved me selflessly."
Cole shot Kai a very untrusting glance and the blacksmith nodded in understanding. It seemed like the dumbest idea ever, allowing someone who had just been trying to capture them for the Serpentine to now travel with them. "That sounds cool," Jay exclaimed, his hazel eyes lighting up. "We get our own android buddy! Who else has an android buddy that's as zany as this guy is? What's your name?" Kai rubbed his temples furiously. Leave it to Jay to just instantly forget about the guy beating him up and instead looking at him like a pet.
"I do not have a name," the android replied slowly, dark blue eyes locked with Jay.
"Then we'll call you Zane," the puppeteer smiled, giving the android a hard pat on the back. His headdress tumbled off, revealing fair, light blonde hair underneath. "Ah, you don't need that thing anyways. Makes you look all stiff and unapproachable. You're Zane now and you don't need that Serpentine military stuff." With complete disbelief, the three fugitives watched as their new companion gave a genuine smile, the first real emotion he had shown since they had encountered him. "That's the spirit! Welcome aboard, Zane."