Woah. I don't know about you guys, but FFN is being really glitchy for me lately. I have a feeling that'll cut holes in this chapter's view number . . . ahhh well, updating anyway!

If you're one of those people who so assiduously take down any YouTube video containing Prince songs—uhh—um—nothing to see here! Nope. ^_^''

Angel Star Ninja: Yay! You're very welcome! Heh, if I wasn't dead now, I'd hug you back. XD

Darkrainbow: Haha, the GetYourFixOfSolidCole is ABCSonicKirbyWarriors' invention. Call it my apology for torturing her with Lloydille. X3 Woohoo, so you're digging the pairing, huh?

The next morning, Lloyd went down to the auditorium where the Magic Imbroglio Carnival was to be held. There were already tons of trippy-looking concert-goers camping outside the gates, waiting for them to open. Lloyd skirted the campground and headed for the chain-link fence surrounding the concert area. Inside, the stage was being prepared, water stands and Porta-potties were being set up, sound and light tests were being run . . . It all looked pretty epic.

Lloyd joined several other people in hanging off the fence, watching. He was probably the only person there also trying to scope out hiding places, vantage points, and danger zones. Sweeping his eyes over the vast green space in front of the stage, he tried to imagine it packed from end to end with glowsticks, phone cameras, jumping, flailing bodies, and probably a few hundred concealed vials of Venomari spit.

"Hey Lloyd."

Startled, he turned to the person next to him, a grizzled old man with a wild gray beard, a ragged gray overcoat, and hair that looked like the birds had gotten enthusiastic with nesting season.

"H—hey," stammered Lloyd, his eyes inadvertantly widening. He tried to process where he'd seen this guy before. The fellow regarded him with glittering dark eyes and a grin missing a few teeth.

"How've you been lately, sonny?"

"Great, thanks," Lloyd managed, thoroughly thrown by now. This guy was talking to him as if they knew each other, but he just couldn't remember ever meeting him . . . And he felt like he would've remembered that kind of meeting.

"Awwww, now why're you lookin' at me like that?" asked the friendly apparition, looking wounded. "Doncha remember yer old pal Eohns?"

"Mm—mmm." Lloyd made a sound halfway-but-not-quite affirmation, smiling awkwardly. Maybe he could fudge his way through a bit of conversation and excuse himself soon.

"How could you forget?" Eohns, evidently not fooled, looked betrayed. "Did it mean that little to ya? All those glory days, the sweat and blood, the price of our lives writ large on the walls in dusky fragments of bone?"

"Uhh—" Lloyd leaned away slightly, edging into the realm of "mildly terrified."

"Ah geez, that sounded better in my head," said his strange companion in an entirely different voice—and Lloyd was delivered from his mortification by a familiar giggle and glint of purple light.

A while later Lloyd returned to the Bounty, feeling he'd gotten as good a look at the concert stage as he was going to get. He found Zane stationed in front of the ship's computer, a pair of headphones jammed precariously over his titanium hair as he gazed studiously at the screen. Lloyd reached over to tap him on the shoulder, wondering if he could make him jump, but Zane merely turned around without so much as batting an eyelid. Nindroids were hard to sneak up on.

"Whatcha doing?" asked Lloyd.

"I am researching electronic music in preparation for the Magic Imbroglio Carnival," said Zane, and Lloyd had to bite back a grin at how strange the name sounded in that grave, slightly-echoey voice.

"How're you liking it?"

"It is . . . oddly mesmerizing," said Zane. "I have found a multitude of genres and sub-genres, including dubstep, coolstep, chillstep, drum-and-bass, indie dance, electro dance, trap, glitch hop—"

"I get it, I get it." Lloyd laughed, holding up his hands. "Wow. Do they have all those at the Magic Imbroglio Carnival? No wonder it lasts three days."

"Indeed. Do you like electronic music?" asked Zane.

"Not really," admitted Lloyd. He'd always been into rock himself. "But hey, we aren't going to the concert for the music anyway. At least one of us is going to be having fun, though!"

"At least two of us; PIXAL is partial to glitch hop," said Zane, turning back to the screen. "She seems to be looking forward to this."

Lloyd chuckled and left Zane and his significant other-half-of-the-brain to their research.

He found the others in the bunkroom. Cole had a Prince song on the radio and was seemingly making up choreography to go with it—partially for the others' amusement, but only partially.

"Don't hafta be rich, to be my girl! Y'don't hafta be cool, to rule my world! Ain't no particular sign, I'm more compatible with; I just want your extra time and your—" Cole pulled an imaginary hat down over his eyes and spun around to the guitar lick. "—kiss!"

Lloyd stifled his laughter as Cole moonwalked into the nightstand.

"Cole's got a date?"

"Cole's got a heck of a date!" announced Cole himself, propping the now-somewhat-drunken-looking nightstand up against the wall. "I know we're technically going to be working, but this electric magic thingamabob is going to be totally worth it."

"If it doesn't get blown sky-high first," said a sour voice. Lloyd looked over to where Kai was sprawled on his bunk, frowning at the ceiling. The green ninja looked over to Jay, who nodded glumly.

"Skylor's not coming?" ventured Lloyd. Kai made no move to reply, but the slight narrowing of his eyes said enough.

"Wow." Lloyd tilted his head in sympathy. "You guys didn't have a fight already, did you?"

"Nah. Nothing personal, she's just not into electronic music," said Kai dismissively.

"Must be reallllllllllly not into electronic music. Like, actively disliking it," remarked Jay. "That, or—stalling."

Kai gave a frustrated groan and rolled onto his stomach, tucking his pillow under his chin.

"So are you going with Nya?" asked Lloyd. He stood on his toes on the edge of Zane's bunk and hooked his elbows over the edge of Kai's.

"She's with Jay."

"Zane?"

"He's sticking with Sensei Wu."

"Uncle Wu is coming to the Magic Imbroglio Carnival?" Lloyd spaced out for a second, trying to imagine his long-bearded uncle raving amidst a crowd of EDM-intoxicated young adults in bad hair and fluorescent facepaint. Then he shook the thought away as fast as possible.

"Well you've got to find someone," he said, turning back to Kai. "Pair work only."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll think of something. Or stay here." Kai burrowed his chin deeper into the pillow, scowling listlessly through the headboard. Despite his efforts to act like he didn't care, he was clearly down about all this. Lloyd considered for only a moment.

"Hey," he began, nudging Kai's arm. "Look. I wouldn't offer this to just anyone, but it being you and all . . . "

Kai eyed him cautiously.

"Well . . . Just this once, you could go with my mom if you wanted."

Kai pulled his pillow out from under his head just long enough to club Lloyd to the floor with it.

"Geez squirt, don't mock the afflicted," said Cole reproachfully as Jay tried not to laugh.

"I was serious!" protested Lloyd, rubbing his head and casting a glare back from whence he'd come. "It's not a date, it's bring-anyone. And my mom happens to be good company."

"Hey, he may have a point," said Cole in Kai's general direction, helping Lloyd to his feet.

"No. Just no."

"Well hey, if you can't talk Skylor into it—"

"I did not try to 'talk her into it'," growled Kai, rolling over and sitting up. "I asked her if she was planning to go, and when she said no, I wasn't about to ask her to change her mind."

"Really?" Jay rolled his eyes. "And people tell me I'm clueless! Just because she doesn't care about going to an EDM concert in and of itself doesn't mean she wouldn't want to go to an EDM concert with you."

"I'm not playing that card." Kai folded his arms.

"So you'd rather sit here and sulk than, oh, I don't know, possibly go out on a limb a little by asking for her company?"

"I have my pride," muttered Kai.

"Yeah, well." Cole hauled Kai unceremoniously down from the bunk and gave him a push towards the door. "Spread it on a cracker and swallow it."

Kai growled, but went. Cole glanced back at Lloyd.

"You know, you could have offered to partner up with him yourself, wise guy."

"Already taken," muttered Lloyd, and disappeared before any questions could be asked.

Kai was in a significantly better mood at dinnertime.

"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" grinned Cole.

"Whatever," said Kai good-naturedly. "I've got a partner."

"Well that's great, but now who's my mom going to go with?"

"Your mom was planning to go anyway?"

"She likes to try new stuff." Lloyd shook extra hot pepper onto his pizza, shrugging.

"Well, at least she'll be able to enjoy it then, instead of having to worry about the mission. Speaking of!" Cole swallowed a mouthful of cheese and pepperoni. "Let's start planning for that."

"I found maps of the stage and audience area online," volunteered Jay, slapping some printouts onto the table. "We need to station at least two of the teams in the audience, and the others hopefully backstage."

"If they're going to plant a bomb," said Kai, indicating with a piece of pizza crust, "it would probably be somewhere within this area. Any farther out and it's not going to have as much effect as they'd want."

It was only after many years as a ninja that you could have conversations like this and maintain an appetite at the same time.

"So around here, here, and maybe here," said Cole, tapping at various spots. "But we need to pick spots where we won't be seen; two teenagers just hanging around backstage is going to tip those guys off pretty fast."

"Okay, so how about this," said Lloyd. "Zane and Uncle Wu will be in the audience, since Zane would be pretty much a dead giveaway anywhere backstage—no offense, buddy. Jay and Nya, you're both cleared to go backstage already, so you can hide out here by the sound control both. Cole or Kai, one of you is gonna have to get your date cleared so you can go backstage with her too. I'll try to get Chamille cleared as well—" Jay's mouthful of orange juice wound up all over the table, and partially over an indignant Kai "—but if worst comes to worst, she can probably disguise herself as a stagehand or something and sneak back." He looked around and regarded a still-spluttering Jay oddly. "Did I say something?"

"I think it's more of what you didn't say," said Cole, whacking Jay on the back. "You never mentioned you were taking Chamille! Where did that come from?"

"She was hanging around outside the concert field, seeing if she could track down a ticket—and since she wanted to go anyway, I offered to bring her along," said Lloyd, wearing his best "why-is-this-even-a-surprise" face. "I had to find someone."

"But why her? I thought you couldn't stand each other."

"We can't," said Lloyd.

The others exchanged dubious glances, then decided that trying to drag an answer out of Lloyd wouldn't be worth the effort.