After taking in the few seconds to review their remaining lives, the Ninja move along the path, with Okino lagging behind, scraping his sword along the ground as he walked, and Lloyd briefly looking before turning to Geoff. "I'm worried about Okino." He said. "He took the news pretty hard."
"Wouldn't you?" Geoff asked. "If you found out your whole world was nothing but a simulation? And you were part of it?"
"We gotta cheer him up." Nya said.
"Yeah, okay." Lloyd replied before they stop. "Nobody say anything about Unagami, or Prime Empire, or the Key-Tana."
"What do we talk about?" Kai asked.
"Anything. Just keep it cheerful." They turn to Okino, who had caught up to them, but simply passed by, ignoring them before Jay came up to him.
"Uh, so, um, Okino." He said, trying to think of what to talk about. "What do you do around here for fun anyway?" He chuckles awkwardly, but Okino simply frowned.
"Fun is an illusion." He simply replied.
Cole soon came up next to him, hoping to cheer him up. "Hey, how about that sky?" He asked, pointing up to it. "Look at those clouds."
"The clouds..." Okino looks up at the digital clouds. "Lies!"
Gewuji soon pushed Cole aside. "Then, how about family?" She asked. "Geoff is my older brother, my father has passed on, and my mother used to be a ninja herself. Do you have one?"
Okino sighs a little. "I do not know. But if I have one, they are illusions too."
Kai then pushed Gewuji aside, earning a glare from her for his rudeness. "Say, Okino... how do you get a ninja to cross the road?" He asked, hoping to make a joke, but Okino doesn't reply. "You say, 'Ninja-go!'" He snickers a little. "Get it?"
Okino just stared at him. "There is no road." He replied as the sky goes dark a little. "Only the nothingness is real."
Geoff comes up behind Kai to place his hands on his shoulders. "That was a terrible joke." He said.
Kai shrugs his hands off. "You got a better one?" He asked as they stop and Geoff moves next to him.
"Holy shit." Jay said as he, Lloyd, Cole, Nya and Gewuji came up next to them.
What laid ahead them were the cliffs they saw further back. "Whoa!" They all said at different points.
"Tell me those aren't the Cliffs of Hysteria." Kai said.
"That's no cliff." Gewuji replied, looking around. "That's a wall that never ends."
"Definitely not double jumping up that thing." Nya said.
"Yeah." Jay replied before turning to the still moping Okino. "Okino, I'm not sure I can climb that. And if I can do it..." He scoffs. "...these guys don't stand a chance."
Nya soon glared at him. "Oh, thanks, Jay." Kai sarcastically said.
"Honest, but insulting." Cole replied.
"If only we still had Airjitzu on our side." Gewuji said.
"It won't work, anyway." Geoff replied.
"We don't even have a rope." Lloyd said.
"You can buy some from Shifty." Okino replied, not looking at him.
"From who?" Gewuji asked, confused.
Okino simply points to the left, and they see a small market with many items on display, including ropes and some hats, and a merchant, who waves his hand out to them the moment a beam of light shined on him. "Greetings, travellers!" The merchant said as they all came up to him and Okino sheathes his sword. "Welcome to Shifty's Table! Step right up and take a look. This is the finest merchandise in all of Terra Karana!" He spins a little before jumping towards some hats. "That's real leather armour there." He kneels down to a bucket to get out an arrow. "And those arrows are genuine poison tipped, and-" He notices Nya. "Hello!" He throws the arrow aside, came towards her and touches her hand. "Who might you be?"
"Um, Nya." She replied.
"Nya. Oh, sounds like a flower. How may I help you, Flower Nya?"
"Just Nya is fine."
Jay soon grabbed Shifty's wrist to make him move away from his wife. "Actually, we are looking for a grappling hook and rope." He said, letting him go.
"Ah ha, climbing the Cliffs, eh?" Shifty asked. "Well, 'tis a good thing you came to Shifty. I've got the best rope in town. Let's step over to the rope department." He swifts towards his stand, surprising Kai, Cole and Geoff.
"How much for the grappling hooks?" Cole asked.
"20 credits each. Normally. But for a friend of Flower Nya's... uh, 15."
"We'll take eight." Lloyd said before they open their displays to show their credit count, which were sadly lower than 15.
"It seems, even with the discount, I'm afraid you're a tad low on credits to buy 8 grapple guns. You only have enough for 6."
"Damn." Lloyd muttered. "Anybody have items to sell to Shifty?"
"Nah uh." Cole said, shaking his head.
"Don't look at me." Jay said.
"How about me?" A familiar voice was heard as everyone, except Okino, turn to see it was Cloaked Character, whose arms were folded.
"It's you!" Gewuji said.
"Cloaked Character!" Jay said.
"Who are you?" Lloyd asked.
Cloaked Character simply opened his display menu, swipes along it before coming across an item and taps on it. The menu soon disappeared before a ring with a kyawthuite gem on it appears in his hand. "Here, I don't need it." He throws it towards them before Gewuji catches it and looks at it, along with the others.
"Uh, thanks." Gewuji said as they look up, only to see he is no longer there.
"Seriously, who was that guy?" Kai asked.
"Whoever he is, he may have helped us." Geoff replied before they all turn back to Shifty.
Gewuji holds out the ring to him. "How much would this sell for?" She asked.
Shifty looks at the ring before nodding. "How about 1,250 credits?" He asked.
"Deal." The ring disappears from her hand and her credit count appears before it increases from 7 to 1,257 before it decreases to 1,137 and she closes it, and 8 grapple guns soon appear, hovering and spinning.
"Thank you for the exchange. Now, for the rope. We have two kinds." He points to the maroon rope. "Rope of Supreme Durability, and Rope of Questionable Integrity." The brown rope had flies hovering around it.
"Uh, that's what you call a 'no brainer.'" Kai said. "We'll take the Rope of Supreme Durability."
"Another wise choice! Now, that'll be 600 credits, please.
"What?"
"600?" Geoff asked.
"That's 40 times more than the grappling hooks!" Cole said.
"Quality rope isn't cheap, my friend." Shifty replied.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Jay said. "What about the 'Friends of Flower Nya' discount?" He wraps an arm around her own, causing her to become unamused.
"I'll throw in a free arrow."
Nya forces Jay off of her before they crowd around. "We don't have that much!" Kai said. "Gewuji selling the ring is only enough for two."
"So, what do we do?" Cole asked.
They both soon turn to the Rope of Questionable Integrity, and Jay gets the idea. "No, I refuse!" He replied. "I am not buying Rope of Questionable Integrity from some guy named Shifty!"
"What choice do we have?" Nya asked.
"Well, uh, lots of choices! Um... We, we can turn around and go back, uh do some grinding, earn some more credits."
"Maybe we can share just one Rope of Supreme Durability." Geoff said.
"Why not asking Cloaked Character?" Gewuji asked.
"For his help, or capture?"
"No, for his help."
"Or we can all tackle Shifty at once and then-"
"We can't do that!" Lloyd cuts Jay off. "And we don't have time to go back." He turns to Shifty. "We'll take the Rope of Questionable Integrity." Shifty nods.
Jay starts to head for him. "No, no, no, we won't-"
"Jay, will you relax?" Nya asked, stopping her husband, and he lowers his head.
Buzzing was soon heard as a drone was looking down on them, and Shifty notices it. "Huh, that's strange." He said. "Those don't usually turn up unless there's Energy Cubes to collect."
"'Energy Cubes'?" Geoff asked as they all look up at it.
"When someone gets cubed, the drones take them away."
"Where?" Jay asked.
"To Unagami."
They turn back to Shifty. "What for?" Lloyd asked.
"Yeah, I was curious about that meself. As luck would have it, I have friends in high places. I sold the Mad Sushi Chef his knives."
They were all soon confused while Okino was still depressed. "Who?" Nya asked.
"Oh, you haven't met him yet? Oh, he's a great bloke. Anyway, he told me, Unagami's building something. Something big. A machine."
"What kind of machine?" Lloyd asked.
"Yeah, he didn't tell me that part." The drone soon spots the Ninja before Lloyd and Jay turn to it. "Ooh, huh. I've never seen one do that before."
"Do what?" Gewuji asked as Lloyd and Jay turn back to him.
"Um, maybe we should get going." Jay replied.
"Yeah, good idea!" Lloyd replied. "Gewuji." The drone turns to the right and Red Visors start to appear in its direction.
"8 Ropes of Questionable Integrity, please." She said to Shifty while opening her credits display to touch it. It decreases from 1,137 to 337.
Nya turns around to see the Red Visors marching toward them. "Lloyd!" She said, warning him.
They all turn to see them. "Run!" He yelled. "Grab the rope!" 8 Ropes of Questionable Integrity appear in front of them before they each grab one and take off.
"Wait!" He called out, grabbing some arrows. "You forgot your complimentary arrows!"
"WE DON'T NEED THEM!" Geoff replied as he and the others ran with the Red Visors passing by Shifty.
(A/N: Cloaked Character appearing at the Cliffs of Hysteria to give the Ninja the ring was last minute, as I originally had Gewuji being in possession of the ring, but her picking it up wasn't seen. Still taking guess on who he is)
