Chapter 38
Robots and Gadgets

.:Violet:.

Violet and Zane walked down the spiral of stairs that led down to an underground house or lab. It was a single room but there was an old stovetop, two beds, a dining table and a lab bench with blueprints scattered everywhere. She trailed behind Zane as they descended deeper into the secret lab. Zane immediately went to the bench but Violet looked around.

"So this is your home my mysterious friend… And here are your blueprints." She heard Zane muttered to himself or to the bird.

She knew this would be the time when Zane would find out about him being a robot. She looked at the scattered blueprints below her. Some of them looked like clever ideas such as: a robot that would pour tea for you (Sensei Wu would love that!), a robotic dog, an all in one alarm clock and… Zane's blue prints. She bended down and picked it up and gasped.

The person who has felt like a brother to her is a robot. This has just hit her like a bullet train. She stumbled backwards and she tripped over the first step of the spiral stairs. Her hand clutched the blue print tightly and she could feel herself tremble. Normally she could hide her emotions well but now she can't. This is also what she hated about her true potential. She was snapped out of her thoughts when the falcon perched on her propped up knee.

"Violet, what's wrong?" Zane asked her but she was too stunned for words. "Violet?"

Zane knelt in front of her and she tried to hide the blue print behind her back but it already caught his attention.

"What is it?"

"Nothing you need to know."

"But I must if it's leaving you in a state like this." He pleaded but she shook her head but she felt the blue print tug out of her hand and she watched Zane with wide eyes as he looked at it. His reaction was worse than her's. He gasped and dropped the blueprint and he tripped over his feet and into the stovetop. A loud chatter of pots and pans rang in her ears as Zane accidentally pushed them off.

"No… No!"

"Zane, please calm down." Violet was already on her feet and trying to calm her robotic friend. "I know this is hard but-"

"That's an understatement…" He spluttered and he shook his head. She softened her gaze on him and brought him into a hug.

"But you're still Zane right? Just because finding out something about yourself you have never known doesn't mean that you're that different."

"But Violet! I'm a robot! How does this not change anything?!" He shouted and she jumped back. "I'm sorry… I just-"

"Need some time to take it all in?" She suggested and he nodded. "I'll wait outside for the others then."

She casted one last sad look at Zane before walking up the stairs. She waited outside in the snow until finally she saw a dot of blue, red and black. She waved her arms to capture their attention.

"Where's Zane?" She heard Cole asked and she waited until the others where close enough.

"He's umm… He's not fine but just give him some time alright?" She blurt out and she only got questioning glances from them.

"What?!"

"What's wrong with Zane?! Why aren't you helping him then?"

"Is this some kind of a joke because it's not funny!"

Violet suddenly felt small with the three yelling at her and towering over her for answers. She gulped and figured out how she was going to explain this to the boys.

"We found out where the place that the falcon led us to must have been Zane's old house… He never had any memories when he was young." She informed them slowly.

"Like amnesia?"

"Yeah and well… He just found out that he's a… um..."

"A what?" Kai pressed on.

"I'm not sure if it's my role to say."

"Just tell us Violet! We don't have time to play games!" Cole snapped at her and that blew it.

"Listen, I know when it would be time to be playing games and time to not. Zane just needs some time to himself alright? If this was serious like he's bleeding out then I would be screaming at you to hurry up! But he's not and he's not in danger." She shouted and crossed her arms over her chest.

"So when can we go and see what's wrong with him then?" She blinked at this new found softness in Cole's voice.

"Let's just give him another minute then."

.:Kai:.

So they did waited a minute before they went into the lab and Kai saw Zane kneeling on the ground, not in pain but almost in disbelief, over a blueprint. He ran down the stairs and went next to his brother.

"Zane, what's wrong?"

"Violet's not telling us anything. She says it should be you who should tell us." Cole spoke up from behind him.

"I-I-I…" Zane only managed to say through his trembling state. Kai started to become deeply concern and he placed a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Zane, we're here for you and whatever is the problem, we all will carry the burden with you." He told him and his eyes met with Zane's icy ones.

"Really?"

"Of course Zane!" Jay exclaimed but Kai saw Violet hitting Jay hard in the ribs with her elbow from the corner of his eyes but his attention went back onto Zane when he let out a loud and heavy sigh. The white ninja slowly stood up and looked at the paper in his hand. He and the others raised their eyebrows when Zane took off his shirt to reveal his bare chest, free of hair. But something was wrong; Kai knew it. Six packs were presented back it seemed… artificial. Zane's hand went to side of his stomach and the next sight had Kai choking on his own saliva.

"Ah!" Him, Jay and Cole cried out and stepped back but when Kai looked to Violet, she looked down at the floor with a sad expression written on her face.

"Zane… You're a robot?" Kai choked out. His stomach was on a hinge and inside, there were switches, buttons, wire and clogs.

"All this time… And I never knew." He heard the sadness in Zane's voice and it made Kai realized how hard this must be for Zane. To know you're something that you never knew you were, especially when you had your memories taken away.

"This must explained why you're acting weird all the time." Jay said sheepishly. Kai glared at him and he nearly smirked when Violet grabbed a pan that was lying on the ground and hit Jay at the back of the head. "Hey! That hurts!"

"Is that what you can say to this? This must be why you're acting weird all the time? Come with me." Her voice was dipped with venom and even Kai himself felt scared at this new tone to Violet's voice. Her hand grabbed the back of Jay's neck and she dragged him up the stairs.

.:Violet:.

"Is this really necessary?" She heard Jay whined as she threw him onto the snow.

"Are you for real?! Can't you see Zane already feel like the odd one out since we're all human but him?! Saying that just makes him feel more left out!" She shouted. "Can't you see how badly affected he is from this new information?"

"Of course I can I just… I didn't know something like that would make him feel more left out! I was just trying to lighten the atmosphere."

"Well that's a poor lighting up job you did."

"Yeah, I already realized." He huffed out. "Look, I understand Zane is like a brother to you-"

"Wow, you realized?" She grumbled with a tint of sarcasm lace in. She didn't know why she was moody like this but she turned around and headed back into the house.

"The reason I've never had a sense of humor is because my 'funny switch' is turned off." She heard Zane said and the three boys inside turned their heads to her. She looked behind her to see Jay walking with a pouty look on his face.

"Sorry about that." She bowed her head and quickly walked down and she made her way next to Kai. She watched as Zane flicked a switch and he suddenly sprang to life. He began dancing and a smile graced his lips.

"Hello my baby
Hello my honey
Hello my ragtime girl
Send me a kiss by wire."

Zane then switched off the switch and a frown entered his face. From her left, Jay started to laugh and she mentally face palm. That boy never learns.

"Don't worry Zane, it just makes you more… special and but you'll still be the same Zane except with more… gears." Cole told Zane and Violet could tell this wasn't helping.

"But remember Zane, doesn't matter what you're made of, you're still our brother."

"If you ask me, this would make you a better ninja." Violet showed him a bright smile and the creases on Zane's forehead disappeared.

"And what can I say? It's awesome that my brother is a Nindroid!"

"A Nindroid?" Violet only shook her at Jay's foolishness.

"Come on, Pythor is still out there looking for the first Fang Blade and we need you Zane."

"Can you guys go on without me? Something doesn't feel right." And Zane turned his back on them. Violet knew this was their queue to leaving so she grabbed Kai's hand and softly pulled him up the stairs. Once both of them got outside, she looked behind her to see Cole and Jay exiting.

"Like I said, we just need to give him time to sort out his thoughts." Violet said softly and she let go of Kai's hand.

"Yeah, if I was told that I was a robot I'll probably act like how Zane is right now." She heard Kai admitted but her mind drifted away from their conversation when she heard a groan from a tree. She heard the boys muttering behind her but she scanned the forest. Then she saw it, a tree move.

"We have a bit of trouble coming up." She warned the others and her hand grabbed her bow while the other grabbed an arrow from her back. The boys immediately stopped talking and grabbed out their weapons. Then more trees started to move like legs of a giraffe.

"What is it?"

"Treehorns." She looked up to see eight heads. These Treehorns were as tall as the trees surrounding them. Their thin figure made their legs camouflaged well with the surrounding trees. "Always keep an eye out for their legs, got it?"

"Got it!"

.:Kai:.

These creatures' hide were tough. His sword can't cut their legs and he can't even burn them down. Sure they look like wood but they're not. He quickly looked how the others are faring; perhaps this way he would get a slight idea how to defeat these creatures. Jay was hitting the legs of the Treehorns which would make them fall over. Cole was doing something familiar.

Kai's amber eyes found Violet's purple figure skillfully and gracefully dodging each leg of the Treehorn as four tried to trap her in. Obviously it wasn't working and she kept arching her back to avoid the upper half of her body being attacked and then she would quickly recover and shot an arrow near the eyes but at the moment, she's missing. But once she did have it in the eye, the creature let out a horrible screech that made him wince. It crashed down with a thud and piles of snow were shot out from underneath.

Kai managed to turn around in time to see a leg coming towards him, he went to dodge but he was too late, the leg crashed against his own and pain explode along his leg. He tucked his knees towards his chest to brace his fall. He shivered when he made contact with the freezing snow. He lifted his head to see the Treehorn coming towards him. He didn't have enough time to get up so he simply rolled over but he hissed when his leg flared up with pain again and when the snow contacted his face.

When his face was no longer in the snow, he saw the Treehorn's foot directly above his face. He swung his sword above his face and when the two made impact, he moved his other arm to help push the foot off him.

"Kai!"

Suddenly, the Treehorn screeched and it fell right on lower half of his body. A groan exited his lips and he closed his eyes as his leg continued to throb painfully. He then felt hands digging underneath his body and he opened his eyes and saw Violet with her mask drawn over her face.

"Violet?"

But she didn't reply, her lavender eyes focused on digging him out. Then he felt her hands grabbed underneath his arms and pull him out. A pained groaned slipped through his closed teeth and he tilted his head back.

"Where does it hurt? Quick."

"My leg." He hissed through clenched teeth and he could feel her nimble fingers inspecting his leg. He looked around and saw two more Treehorns coming their way. "There's two more coming."

"Give me a minute." She told him and he watched as Violet fired her arrows. By now, her mask had fallen off somewhere and her beautiful caramel hair flowed in the breeze. She shot both in eye and she quickly returned to his aid.

"I think you have an avulsion or greenstick fracture."

"Simplify!"

"Urg, The whole bone isn't broken, there's a crack or a small part is broken."

"What?"

"Look, this isn't the right time to talk, just stay put and stay out of trouble." Just before he could say something back, she had gone. He was about to crawl off the battlefield but something hit the back of his head and darkness was the next thing he saw.

Sorry for cliffhanger guys but thanks for all of your support! Since there wasn't as many team expected to play, our game tournament ended early but other age groups are still playing. Sorry if this chapter isn't as great as the other ones but I'm a tinsy bit underneath the cloud. Our team came 4th, we just missed out on a medal. The funny thing is that this team we had to play for the Bronze Medal we beat them earlier on but we couldn't beat them for the medal. Oh well, this was my team's first national tournament but I love all of your support!

13 reviews! I love you guys even more! Thanks to: xXSpinjitzuPurpleElementsXx, LightningDanino23, Mystery Girl, Ayumira, Zane'sfangirl25, Carlyshi208, NinjaForever5, Adurnaninjaofdarkwater, Legolover 101, FlameNinjaofDarkFire, SmileRin, Kinkypiggy122 and the guest!