Catgirl Hamato: Come on! Where's the next chapter?! You said you were not going to leave this story unfinished!

Heheh…

I won't, I've just been spending the whole day on my phone for the last week, (it's not healthy,) and when I saw this review I scrambled off my bed and went to my computer.

So, here I am!

Chapter 11: Delay

POV: Kai

If Jay is pretending, I am going to tackle him for giving us a heart attack like this. What are we going to do?! He's lost his memories and is working for some weird agency and it's not like we can jump-start his brain or something!

Correction; I am going to tackle and murder whoever erased his memories and whoever allowed it to happen.

Why does this keep happening to us?

First Zane, then Wu, and then Zane again two more times! (According to Pixal, Zane had lost his memories after a crash during the battle with the Crystal King.)

And now Jay?! How are we supposed to fix his brain? I don't like stuff I can't just punch through. I don't know anything about the brain and technology whatsoever, so I can't even help!

Well, I guess I could help capture Jay– I always wanted to push him in a sack.

"Okay, here's what we do;"

I am not surprised in the slightest that Nya is taking charge here.

"This place probably has more information about Jay and these agents than we'll ever find back at our place, so, we should stay here to research more until we know where Jay is and how we can get to him."

Now, Nya may look calm, but anyone who's lived with her for most of her life would know that she is boiling inside; a ready-to-erupt volcano that's waiting for just the right moment to explode on the right person.

So, I say she's taking this pretty well.

"Agreed," Lloyd said as we all moved to different computers and got situated for what would certainly be a long search.

Agh… I. Hate. Technologyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy…

An hour in, and my eyeballs are starting to melt.

Yes, we're still researching.

All of this little text is starting to mush together, and it's taking all my concentration just to stay conscious at this point. Maybe if I just close my eyes for a second–

NO. I am not doing that.

Remember: you're not just doing this to steer clear of Nya's wrath, you're doing this to help Jay.

Yes.

That seemed to be enough motivation to keep my eyes focused on a piece of text–

"Hey, guys, I found something!"

Wow, should I have focused a second later, I would've completely missed that text.

Everyone rolled their chairs towards me, making a circle around my computer as I pointed to said text,

"There!" I then continued to read the piece of information; "The Administration Realm has merged in the northeast corner of The Realm of Madness. Though their intentions are unknown, their minions, The Agents of The Administration, are scattered throughout The Merged World."

"Yeah, the agents in the footage looked human and nothing like Imperiums, so I think that's our best lead," Lloyd said as he pointed to a side image of an agent.

"Great! Then let's go back to the monastery to prepare and then straight to The Administration!" Nya said as she stood up.

Everyone silently agreed as Lloyd, Zane, and I also stood up to follow Nya out the doors. When we opened them, we were greeted by two Imperium guards on either side of the door, already moving to escort us out.

As we got closer to the main exit, more guards showed up, urgently running around from one place to another.

"Is there something going on out there?" I asked, looking around to see what was the issue.

The two guards simultaneously stopped, leading to Lloyd smacking face-front to the guard's back in front of him, which said guard didn't react to at all as he told us to stay where we were and speed-walked to a more superior-looking guard who was standing off to the side, watching the ongoing shuffle.

After they briefly talked, the guard maneuvered out of the way of some ongoing guards and made his way back to us,

"Apparently, some rebellious people are blocking the exit and demanding for you," he addressed us, "to pay for your 'crimes against Imperium.'"

"You need to stay here until we can clean this mess up," the other guard concluded.

Before they left, I called after them, "Hey! We're ninjas; we can handle some low-life crooks."

Lloyd gave me a dirty look for that comment as we were escorted to a waiting room by some other guards, to which I replied with a "What?"

"You realize you just called the citizens of Imperium 'low-life crooks', right?" Lloyd whispered.

Oh. Oops.

An hour ago…

POV: Agent Walker

"Okay, so, we need the ninjas to stay in Imperium, while we raid the monastery for The Dragon Cores," I started as an agent and I walked through a busy corridor towards the main Combat Department area.

"I need the agents in Imperium to start a rebellion surrounding all exits of The Imperium Council Hall regarding the ninjas' multiple break-ins and unauthorized release of the entrapped dragons in Imperium."

I briefly turned to the agent beside me to give him a classic 'my word is the law' look, "And I need it done by the next 30 minutes."

The agent– Liam, I think?– gave a nod of affirmation and scurried away to give out my orders as I calmly speed-walked to the main Combat Department area.

When I arrived, everyone got into position and ceased talking. I explained the plan and assigned everyone specific positions and orders.

I can't fail. Not when we can gain unlimited power forever to protect not only ourselves but maintain order in The Merged World.

I will get The Dragon Cores.

Present Time

POV: Kai

The waiting room was one of the rooms they hadn't re-furnished yet; there were Empress Beatrix posters on the wall, the magazines on the trestle between two black and orange couches, (which were way too comfortable,) were all about serving The Empress, keeping the streets clean, using energy in a respectable manner, and joining The Claws of Imperium.

This was all too frustrating. I get that we're their guests and it's their job as hosts to 'protect us' but we certainly don't need it– we're ninjas, for FSM's sake! We have handled much worse situations before and this is child's play!

Plus, we have much more pressing concerns, and sitting around doing nothing while they 'clean up the mess' is a waste of time, no less! We could be back at the monastery preparing to fight to get Jay back but we're just sitting like time doesn't have meaning! Every second Jay keeps being this sunglassed agent, he drifts further and further away from remembering!

We don't have time for this delay!