Chapter 3: "Paw"sitive
Through the skylight, Zane could see the first bits of dawn shining through wispy orange clouds. He sat up and shook his head a little bit, not surprised to see a little stardust fly away. The previous night had been spent with his other team members, laughing and having a sort of snowball fight with the stars. Literally.
After all that he had seen in just a few hours, he didn't call that abnormal. He could test its abnormality with the samples he had collected though. They were on his dresser. Colors just swimming there. Practically begging him to analyze them.
After he went out to check the landscape that is. He swung his legs over the side of the bed, which was actually amazingly comfortable. He didn't really need sleep, but it was a nice change of pace. Zane quickly changed into his gi and set his bedclothes aside. Today was a day for exploration, so he thought of anything else he would need.
Zane shook his head, unable to recall any other items. He combed through his hair with his hands. A new day, and possible dangers lay ahead. He wanted Jay and Suzanne to stay behind and check out the new base. They hadn't seen every room yet, and he didn't know what Garmadon had hidden away over the long period of time that he had resided here.
"Zane!" he heard Suzanne call from presumably the kitchen. "Breakfast!" He smiled. Suzanne treated everyone like children in the morning. Especially before missions. Such a kind soul. No wonder Jay had feelings towards her.
He picked up the bag he'd set aside yesterday, and walked out into the hallway.
"So you'll be back by sundown, right?" Suzanne asked. Jay stepped up beside her, giving Zane a nod of assurance. Whatever was out there, they needed to separate the wrong from the right.
"If I'm not, I'll signal you. We have our own elemental flares in the palm of our hands," he replied. "Well, see you this evening." With a final goodbye, he stepped out into the canyon, walking briskly up the switchbacks and up out into the open desert and violet sky, the clouds now receded.
Zane had taken notice of a few mesas around the area, and there was a darker patch in the sky to the North, or what he hoped was North based on the position of the sun. He decided to head in that direction, to see if this was the corruption that Sensei had spoken of. He focused on the soft crunch of sand beneath his feet, and how the sun was surprisingly cold for a desert. He saw a small glint near his course, and stopped. It was moving.
The glint was slowly bobbing between two rocks, and Zane decided to investigate. He put his hand by his hilt, ready to pull out his shurikens when needed. The glint was still there, but softer, and looked more blue than just a reflection of light. His nerves on end, he lowered his stance, silently and slowly moving towards it. He was soon stooping over the stones with a look of curiosity. There wasn't much to see, but the blue glow was now gone. Perhaps he had imagined it. He turned around, and he swore he heard a sigh of relief.
He turned back, and there was a sharp inhale. A lifeform of sorts? Were they invisible? This realm was unknown to him. It didn't surprise him in the least that there were creatures, but something that could use the ability of the Anacondrai was unsettling.
He took his hand away from his weapons, and placed them near the stones.
"I do not know if you can understand me, but is someone there?" he said. Zane began to feel foolish. Hopefully he wasn't going insane already. It was only the second day. Then there was a shuffle, and a flash of what looked like brown and yellow.
"Oh, good. You can show yourself. I mean you no harm unless you mean to harm me or my friends," Zane went on. Then there was an unfurling of color. A small creature that had the body shape of a dog or cat, the ears and tail of a giraffe, and the same hexagon shaped patterns of the savanna animal. A pink base coat with brown marks and yellow tailtip and ears. And, most prominently, big, bulging blue eyes on a cat-like face. It's tail wagged happily, and it's face showed kindness.
"Hoiya! Mah nem is Moikka!" they shouted. Zane was tackled to the ground by the new acquaintance.
"My name is Zane. Good to meet you," he said with barely enough breath. "Can I ask where you come from?" At this the animal recoiled, fading a bit as it sat on his lap as Zane sat up himself.
"Ovuh day-uh," Moikka gestured towards the dark patch. "I wus hun-tin for food wen I saw yoo! Yoo look like yoos is lost, Mistuh Za-ine. Do yoo need hulp?"
"Oh, no, but... I could use a guide. Would you care to accompany me, Moikka?" The creature brightened, and her... his... their eyes glowed blue again.
"Hey, Moikka-"
"Yoo can call mee Moi!"
"Right, Moi. Could you tell me your gender real quick?" he asked, beginning to stand. Zane wondered whether he should pick Moi up or not. But Moi was already padding along by his feet.
"Moi is uh... duh won dat haz duh babees? Is dat uh good ansuh?" she said. So Moi was female. Good. Maybe he could convince her to be a sort of pet around the base. Suzanne would be happy that there was another girl around.
"Great! So, do you have a family?"
"Moi haz no more famuhlee. Moi's famuhlee were killed by dahrk man wif many ahrms. Do yoo have famuhlee Mistuh Za-ine?" Moi's tail curled and flexed as they walked along. Zane felt sorry for Moikka. Garmadon had taken her family, although he wouldn't tell him that when they got back home.
"Well, not blood-related, no. However, some of my close friends that I consider family are here with me."
"Dher ahr more uv yoo?! Can ai see?!" Moi exclaimed as she bounced up and down around Zane. He smiled, and bent down to face the creature in the eyes, even if it was hard to focus, as Moi's pupils looked like she was facing two directions at once.
"Well, I was going to explore that dark region before I went back... Maybe you could stay with me?"
"Duh dark awea?! O no, yoo ahr not reddy fo dat yet! Dehr is a looooot of poisuhn! Dat is why Moi left in duh fuhst playce!" Moi put both front paws on Zane's shins, trying to push him back the way he had come from.
He thought for a moment. He could collect some ground samples and head back, but that would mean that he didn't explore very much. Moi could be used as a test subject as well, and besides, she knew a lot more about this world than he did.
"You're sure?" he asked, bending down to pick her up.
"Mhmm. I can get leevs fo poshun! Make Mistuh Za-ine immyoon!" Moi mewled happily, wagging her little tail. "Lez go now befo duh stohm!"
"Storm?" he said, most likely to himself. Were there weather patterns in this realm? So many question, but again... Moi knew best so far.
"Wuns evuhwee too weeks!" Moi added, folding her arms. "Dey ah duh wohst! Raining stohns!" This seemed completely insane. How could Garmadon even stand a day of this place? Then again, he was the Master of Darkness, and often had a backwards sense of happiness sometimes, even today.
"Okay, I'll take you back as long as you can get me those leaves."
"Yehs! Tank yoo Mistuh Za-ine! Moi doo yoo prowd!"
Zane entered back through the front door with a satisfied huff of air. Moi was hanging on his shoulders like a toddler, holding leaves in her jaws. His hands were caked in dirt after getting the plants by the roots, as Moi had instructed him to do.
"Dhe rootz tayst good!" she had explained earlier. "Tayst like bwead!" He thought nothing of it at the time, but then began to wonder if Moi would react to other, more Earthen treats. Perhaps catnip due to her structure.
"I'm back!" Zane called to wherever the others were. "Here we are, Moi. Do you want down?" The little creature nodded her head, and he took the leaves from her mouth and set them onto a nearby counter, then setting her on the floor. He walked a little farther into the base, Moi at his feet, bouncing along happily.
"We're back here!" he heard Jay call from about four doors down. Suzanne poked her head out from the next doorway, and her face instantly lit up. She put down the box of whatever was in her arms at the moment - they looked to be pulsating with a violet glow - and she sprinted down the hall and collided at his feet, scooping up Moi in an instant.
"Aww! You're just the cutest little thing!" she cooed, nuzzling Moi with her cheek. "My name's Suzanne!"
"Hoiya! Mah nem is Moikka!" she replied, hugging her with her little paws. The Master of Wind froze.
"It can talk?!" she said with a confused look. "That is... amazing! Oh my gosh we're gonna be the best of friends! Can I call you Moi?!" Zane laughed under his breath. He knew Suzanne would love Moi instantly. And she'd already guessed her nickname.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jay peek out as well, cautiously taking a step towards the new creature. His hair was disheveled, and he had a smudge or two of some sort of ash on his face. He was holding a wrench in one hand, and a rag in the other, which were also covered in the same ash.
"That's a cat," he stated blankly. Jay gave Zane a stern look.
"You know I'm allergic!"
"Moi is not a cat. Or, at least I don't think so. Moi, can you go over to Jay real quick?" The little creature stopped doing figure eights around Suzanne's legs. Jay froze, quickly shaking his head and tensing up as Moi padded enthusiastically towards the Master of Lightning.
"Hoiya! Mah nem is Moikka!" she yelled as Moi hurtled into his side, knocking him over in a heap of fur.
"Gah! Wait wait wait! I'm... not... flaring up! Yea-ha! Come 'ere, Moi!" he sat up abruptly, grabbing Moi in his arms. The cat-thing gave no protest.
"Yay! Mistuh Za-ine, are deez all ov your famuhlee?!" she giggled, purring with visible vibration, which Jay laughed at as well. The droid smiled.
"Well, no, we left a lot of people back home in our dimension." Moi stopped purring, and jumped off of Jay, who stood up as well. She paced back and forth, her giraffe ears and tail flicking in concentration.
"Dhere arr other duhmenshuns? Can Moi goe wit tchyoo?" she asked, with a hopeful glint in her eye. She sat back on her haunches and waited as Zane thought. He would have to run a few tests with the tea and Moikka to make sure that its not toxic to her, but he had time.
"Well, are you okay with me making sure you can even go in the first place? I wouldn't run tests on you unless you gave me consent."
"Moi wunna goe! Doo wut yoo must!" Moikka was practically begging, and as she stepped forward, her legs crossed and she fell on her face.
"Alright, then."
"Oh! Zane! That's what we wanted to talk to you about! We found a lab full of cool machines! A few of them were already scrapped for parts, but we found something else underneath all this weird black grime."
Zane arched his brow at Jay, and followed him and Suzanne towards a door that he couldn't believe he hadn't seen before. It was not wooden like the others. It was metallic, and slid open with a sensor instead of the traditional knob. Inside was a dimly lit room, as Garmadon would have kept it, and a laboratory filled with multiple racks of unknown substances, and he saw a whole row of them that looked like the star-stuff that they'd seen previously.
He ran his hand along a machine that was constantly whirring and had a violet light shining through a window. On the opposite wall from the door, a few syringes and disinfectant lay dormant on a mat of dissection tools. Somewhat grim, but they would be useful when studying plant specimen. He wouldn't dissect unless the creature was dead, sick, or of so low a life form that consent wasn't necessary.
"Mistuh Za-ine. Moi is feeling un-eezy aboot this plais. Moi feelz laik... Moi haz ben heer bufor," she mewled, cautiously, and worryingly shakily, stepping into the lab, and curling up around Suzanne's foot, who soon picked her up.
"Aww, come here, Moi. Wanna go to my room for a little bit?" she asked, rocking her like a child, which seemed to calm her down.
"Yeah. Tank yoo Soozan. Bye-bye Mistuh Za-ine and Mistuh Jaee. Moi will see yoo latuh!"