(A/N: Back to Prime Empire after an entire month)
What laid beyond the door was a path with two escalator ramps, side by side, one going forward and one going back, with large yellow four pointed shurikens spinning around them. The ramps lead to a set of doors which look like another temple entrance. "Every single path leads straight into a spinning blade." Nya said as she, Jay, Gewuji and Hayden look at them.
Jay then notices something and points to it. "Look up there." He said, getting their attention. "See it? There's a thing, for a second." Two of the shurikens on the left ramp suddenly freeze up before continuing, followed by two more on the other ramp. "There's another!"
"It's like the game has a glitch." Hayden said.
"Back on Dyer Island, we learned this was Dyer's very first adventure game, but it was never released because of problems." Nya replied, explaining to him and Jay.
"Video game obstacles are usually on a timed loop." Jay said.
"So, if we get the timing down, we can make it to the other side."
"But the glitches are unpredictable, and we can't get past them safely."
"I'll go first." Hayden said, surprising them. "I may not be a Ninja, but I'll try my best. If I don't make it, promise you will stop Unagami."
"Mantis, you're crazy." Gewuji replied.
"We need to improvise." Nya said.
"Which is why I'm gonna be a test dummy." Hayden replied. "Please."
They all look at each other, and then the ramps and the spinning shurikens. "Be careful."
Hayden faces the ramps before taking in a deep breath and exhales. He rushes up the ramp on the right as a shuriken comes at him, but he somersaults over it, lands on his hands and cartwheels to the other ramp. As he moved backwards, he notices a shuriken freezing up before he quickly rushes, drops down and slides through the hole in the shuriken, managing to move past it as it started to move again. He gets up to resume moving before a shuriken stops in front of him due to freezing up, but he somersaults over to the other ramp, placing a hand on the ramp before bouncing off of it and spun before he lands on the other side, causing the others to sigh out of relief. "Okay, who's next?"
Gewuji rushes up the ramp on the left, briefly halting to walk ahead as a shuriken passes by in front of her before she somersaults over another one, and then ran up the ramp before a shuriken comes in front of her, freezing up in the process, causing her to jump to the other ramp, only for a shuriken to come up underneath her and struck her, causing her to scream and turned into an Energy Cube. "Gewuji!" Jay, Nya and Hayden yell, terrified that she was cubed before Hayden dropped to his knees.
"No." He muttered as a drone arrives to absorb the Energy Cube and flies away.
"Well, guess it's my turn." Jay said, but Nya stops him.
"No, we need to think outside the box." She replied.
Jay then gasped in surprise. "Dancing!" She then nods before he held out his hand, and she takes it. They both go onto the ramp on the right and stop as it moved them towards a couple of shurikens. "One, two, three, step!" They both move to the right, avoiding them. "One, two, three, jump!" They somersault over another one. One, two, three, roll!" They both roll through a hole in the shuriken. Suddenly, shuriken in front of them freezes up. "Other track, now!" They jump onto the other ramp, but Jay missteps and falls back.
Fortunately, Nya manages to grab him, making Hayden scared, as the ramp was moving them back to a shuriken, which briefly freezes, and Nya tries her best to pull her husband before noticing the shuriken moving again and another one appears in its place. "It's the other glitch!"
"Nya!"
She quickly pulls him up and start to run as the shuriken started to move again. "Time to pick up the pace!" They kept running until a shuriken comes up in front of them, and they somersault onto the other ramp, immediately dove through the hole of another shuriken and reach the end, causing Hayden to sigh out of relief.
"Piece of cake."
They then notice Hayden simply looking at the ramps before they come up to him. "Hey, she would want you to continue."
"I don't know if I can, or not." He said.
Jay comes up in front of him. "Hayden Finlay Salvos, you may not be a Ninja, but you're an honorary Ninja." He replied. "And Ninja never quit. Let's move on, for Gewuji and the others."
Hayden soon nods. "Definitely." He turns around to face the doors as Jay and Nya do so as well.
"Okay, get ready. Video games usually increase in difficulty as you progress."
"So, whatever's on the other side of this door is going to be even worse." Nya said. The door soon open, and a bright light appears, making them raise an arm to cover their eyes as it engulfs them.
They somehow end up in a place and enter through some opening doors before poising. They were soon surprised to see that it was actually a restaurant with tables, a counter and a conveyor belt. In the middle of it was a kabuki in a red kimono, who turns to them. "Welcome." She said before bowing to them.
"The Temple of Madness has a sushi restaurant?" Jay asked as the doors behind them closed.
"Where are all the guests?" Nya asked as the kabuki walks toward them.
"We've been expecting you." She said, stopping in front of them.
"You have?" Hayden asked.
"Of course. Jay Gordon-Walker, party of three." She holds her right hand out. "Right this way." She turns around to lead them to a table.
"Oh, perfect, 'cause I'm starving." Jay said.
"Jay!" Nya yelled at her husband.
"Hey, I'm hungry too." Hayden replied.
Before they could go on, Nya grabs their arms. "It's a trap!"
"No, it isn't." Jay said as sushi appears on a plate at the counter next to them. Lots of games have areas like this, where you can rejuvenate or power up before you have to take on the boss." He turns to the plate, grabs a sushi and eats it.
"Are you sure?"
"If this was a trap, they'd have come up with something more dangerous than a sushi restaurant." He rushes to the table the kabuki was near as Hayden moves to grab a sushi, but the entire plate disappears. "Trust me."
He soon sat down as Nya and Hayden look at each other before heading to the table and sat down opposite Jay. "May I tell you today's specials?" The kabuki asked.
"Yes, you may, ma'am." Hayden replied. "Boy, am I hungry?"
"To start, we have some albacore tuna with garlic, crispy onions, and marinated destruction!" Her eyes soon glow red, and a cleaver appears in her hand. She raises the clear high to strike Hayden, who quickly rolls back as she struck the table, breaking it apart.
"Guys!" Nya yelled as they see her near the conveyor belt controls, and the kabuki charges at her.
She tries to strike Nya, but she swiftly moved to the right. "Unagami..." She turned to strike again, but Nya somersaults over her and lands before jumping back when the kabuki tried to strike again, but hits the floor instead and charges at Nya, swinging her cleaver, but she moves back to avoid each strike. "...welcomes you!"
Hayden rolls forward before spinning his legs to kick the kabuki behind her and send her in the air before Jay soon charges at the kabuki, jumps and kicks her back. All three look on to see the kabuki spinning to get up before throwing the cleaver at them. Jay yelped as they see the cleaver coming at them before he ducked down, Nya moved to the left and Hayden moved to the right as the cleaver hits the door behind them. They all soon face the kabuki before Hayden scoffed. "Not too smart, throwing away your only weapon." He said.
Suddenly, the kabuki gets out two cleavers. "Hey, no fair!" Jay said as the kabuki spun around to practise a little. "There's no logic to this level at all!"
"It's not a game, Jay!" Nya replied. "Take her out!" They all charge at the kabuki, who throws the cleaver in her left hand at them. Nya quickly dropped to slide and kicks a nearby stool up for the cleaver to hit it before Jay ran to kicks her, but she tiled back and spun to try and slash him, but Hayden quickly caught her wrist and forces her back before Jay kicks her, making her move right, and Nya to quickly grab her other cleaver before throwing it aside.
Hayden then jumped to spin and tries to kick her, but the kabuki backflips to the conveyor belt controls. "Also on special today..." She said, raising the lever. The conveyor belt starts to move as they look to see plates of sushi coming out. "...monster sushi!" She laughs evilly before getting out another cleaver and charged at them. Nya grabs a nearby stool and throws it at her, knocking him back to the wall, and she disappears.
Nya sighs out of relief as Hayden turned to the conveyor belt to see the sushi suddenly transform, and turned into sushi-like creatures with arms and jaws before they came at him, knocking him down into his back. "Mantis!" Jay and Nya yell, coming up to him and start to pull the monster sushi off of him.
"Ow!" Hayden yelled as they were biting him before jumping up, sending them flying all over the place. Jay and Nya soon help him up, and they turn to see some doors behind the counter open up, revealing some red skinned men with coloured sashes tied around their foreheads diving out and stand up. Two of them held plates while the owner between them held up some knives. The red skinned men soon there their improvised weapons at the three, who backflip to some tables, turn them over, and push them toward them, until they reach the counter and summon their weapons. They all jump out of their cover, activating their weapons and strike the men, making them all disappear. Suddenly, another red skinned man, holding a spiked mace, appears in front of them, and throws the mace, but they quickly jump to avoid it before they land on the ground, until they hear hissing and turn to see some of the monster sushi stacking onto each other or charging at them, some with red straw hats on them, or ponytails.
"Oh, if only it were a pizza joint." Jay said before they all charge to strike the monster sushi. "Pizza would never betray me like this!"
Some monster sushi converges on Nya, who soon swung her kama, taking them apart, but they reform into smaller versions. "You can't kill a sushi roll by slicing it." She replied as they come at him again. "You just make it a smaller portion!" One comes onto her foot before she kicks it away as Jay and Hayden move back toward her.
"Then keep doing it till they're bite size!" They split up and start to strike them all, making them come apart and reforming into smaller ones, until they were suddenly like regular sushi, and Hayden held out a plate to catch them.
"Anyone for seconds?" He asked before throwing it aside.
They suddenly hear boiling and turn to see the red skinned man, who was manning a stove with a frying pan emitting some digital steam before he pours some water in it, and more digital steam emits, spreading out toward the room. Jay, Nya and Hayden cover their eyes as the steam gets to them. "Aw, great." Jay sarcastically spoke. "Now what? I can't see a thing."
"Just get ready for anything." Nya said to her husband.
"To be a master sushi chef, you must apprentice for years..." Someone said as they turn to the counter as the steam fades, revealing a red overweight man with a moustache, and a yellow sash tied around his forehead, wearing a stained white tank top, white chinos and shoulder pads. "...become an expert at every aspect of the sushi dinner, from ingredients to preparation..." He soon somersaulted onto one of the knocked over tables in front of the counter. "...to table settings." Jay, Nya and Hayden soon poise. "And that includes..." He gets out some chopsticks, raised the hand with the chopsticks high and lets them go to land in the other hand. "...chopsticks." He raises the hand high and lets them go to land in the other hand. "It also includes..." He places them by his head by them as he held them high in both hands before holding them high. "...defeat!" He throws them like darts at the three, who immediately swung their weapons to deflect them, moving about as they do so.
"You may be a master sushi chef, but I'm a master ninja." Jay replied. He deactivates his kusarigama and disperses it. "And I had to train for years and years at every aspect of kicking your ass!" He kneels down to pick up two chopsticks, holds them in the serving positions and clamps them before charging at him. He tries to strike him, but the chef somersaults off the table as Jay strikes it, breaking it apart. The chef tries to strike Hayden, who drops and rolls while dispersing his whip, grabs a table leg as he gets up, turns around and tries to strike him with it, but the chef moved back and kicks him over the counter. Nya tries to strike him, but the chef kicks her back as Jay charges at him to strike him, but the chef blocks his chopsticks with his own and tries to counter strike, but Jay blocks them before punching him in the back of his right shoulder to force him down so that he could vault over him just as the chef gets up and strikes him with his chopsticks. Jay quickly turned back to block his next strike, and continuous kept blocking each strike the chef made as Hayden stood up from behind the counter. "This guy's fast! A little help?"
Nya gets up as Jay ducked down to avoid another strike before noticing Hayden grabbing small dipping bowls of wasabi and he nods to her. "How about a touch of wasabi?" He asked, handing Nya one before they throw them at the chef.
The wasabi hits his eyes, causing him to scream in pain, and Jay laughs. "That was the perfect amount!" He kicks the chef in his backside, sending him flying onto the counter. "Hey, Nya, this order's to go!" Nya raises the conveyor belt controls high, making it go faster, and the chef tries to run along it to get off, but the plates on it hit him, making him fall and was flung towards the open doorway before it closes. "And that's how we roll!" Jay throws the chopsticks aside as Nya and Hayden came up to him. Suddenly, the door emits Unagami's symbol and disappears, revealing a stairwell. They all look toward each other before they start to head up the stairs. Hayden notices a small monster sushi coming towards them, but he simply stopped to stomp on it before moving to catch up with the others.
Jay, Nya and Hayden ran up the stairs until they reach a red firewall with three locks on the ground in front of it. "Firewall." Nya said as they stop in front of it.
"The last obstacle between us and Unagami." Hayden said.
Suddenly, the three Key-Tanas appear in front of Jay, who soon grabs the purple one and inserts it into the lock on the right. He then grabs the orange Key-Tana and puts it in the centre lock, and the yellow Key-Tana into the lock on the left. "We made it." He said before sighing. "I couldn't have done it without you."
"We're good team." Nya replied before hugging him.
They then break away and turn to Hayden before smiling. "Mantis, you did really well, too. Saving our lives many times, facing up against your mother and made it this far." He places a hand on his shoulder. "You are officially our honorary Umber Ninja."
"Umber?" He asked, confused.
"The colour of your gi is a shade of brown. Burnt umber. Hence, the Umber Ninja."
Hayden was surprised by the reason. "Thank you." He suddenly notices the chef coming up from behind Jay and Nya, completely weak and glitching, and holding a mace. He soon raised it high and throws it at them. "Look out!"
They both turn to see the mace before Nya pushes Jay aside and gets struck by the mace, immediately turning into an Energy Cube. "No!" Jay runs for the Energy Cube while Hayden grabs the mace and throws it at the chef, striking him and he disappears. Hayden then turned to see Jay hugging the Energy Cube of his wife. "Nya! No! I... I..." He kneels down. "Don't leave me. I love you."
"Jay, we can do this. The others wouldn't want us to give up."
"Yes, but they're not here." Jay faces Hayden in anger. "Face it, Hayden! Kai, Cole, Geoff, Lloyd, Gewuji and Nya are gone. We failed."
"Jay, like you told me before, I may not be a Ninja, but I'm an honorary Ninja, and Ninja never quit." He looks at the Energy Cube. "I'm sure you wouldn't want us to stop too. Right, Nya?"
"Save the weepy sentiments for players who can hear you." Unagami's voice was heard, surprising them, and they turn to the firewall. "Give up now, or you'll simply become Energy Cubes like all your friends. Nothing more than fuel for my Manifestation Gate." Jay gets up and faces the firewall, in anger.
"Only if we don't beat the game first!" Jay replied, moving over to the Key-Tanas before turning the purple one, then the yellow one, and then the orange one. They all soon glow and disappear before the firewall fades away, revealing a path. "We'll fix this, Nya." Jay turns to Hayden, who nods before they rush down the path.
(A/N: Yes, Mantis is given an official colour. Umber comes in two shades: Raw and Burnt, so both shades'll be his primary and secondary colours in future stories)