"I am Okino, samurai of Terra Karana. My entire existence, I have sought to fulfil my duty, guiding my master's across the dangers of Terra Karana. I have failed many times. But now, I have masters truly worthy of my honourable efforts. I will not fail them!"


The Ninja and Okino enter a maze where they make a left, move for a few steps before making a right, take more steps, and then make a left, taking several more steps, until Okino stops. "We must stay together." He said to the Ninja, who stop as well. Lloyd puts his hands behind his back, Cole puts his hands at the back of his head, Geoff does some squats and Gewuji folds her arms. "The Maze of the Red Dragon has many twists and turns."

Jay simply scoffs. "No problem." He replied. "I'm great at mazes."

"This might be harder than the ones you're used to, on the backs of cereal boxes." Cole said, moving his hands away.

"Or certain puzzle books." Gewuji said, unfolding her arms, causing Jay to glare at the two of them.


Further on just a few minutes later, they come across a wide area in the maze with four Milton Dyer statues in it. Two in a line and facing the opposite statue. "Huh." Geoff said, looking at one of them. "Those statues look familiar."

"Yeah, he's right." Nya replied. "Those are just like the statues we saw on Dyer Island."

"Oh, yeah, the ones that shot lasers at us-" Cole was cut off when two laser shots pass by in front of him, scaring him.

"Whoa!" Jay and Cole said.

Okino gets out his sword as the Ninja summon their weapons. "Go!" Okino yelled as they start to run with Cole spinning a little. "Quickly!" One statue fires a laser, but Okino deflects it to make it hit a statue opposite it, and it disappears. Lloyd jumps and spins backwards to avoid a laser shot while Gewuji spun her cinquedea to deflect a few laser shots, one hitting a nearby statue that disappears.

Kai spins to swing his sword, sending an energy wave towards the statue that shot at Gewuji, making it disappear before the last statue aims at them and fires before Jay somersaults and swung his kusarigama sending an energy wave at it, causing it to disappear. "Gotcha!" Jay said before they disperse their weapons.

"There are many traps here. You must always be aware of your surroundings."

"Good safety tip." Lloyd said before turning to the others. "Right, guys?" The others nod in reply.

Geoff prepared to move forward before Okino held his arm out to stop him. He turned to look at him, Okino simply stared at him while raising his sword and hits a tile that Geoff almost stepped on. A spike soon appeared in front of him, frightening him, as more spikes appear on ahead before Okino raised his sword and the spikes sink back into the ground. "Thanks, Okino." He said.

"That...was close." Gewuji said.

They start to move along the path very cautiously and not step on any tiles sticking out before Jay jumps towards a wall and bounces off, placed his hands on top of Lloyd, and bounces off of him before somersaulting and lands close to a wall. "Jay." Nya said to her husband, annoyed at his antic.

He simply chuckled before looking at his right, then his left as the others join him. "Which way now?" He asked.

"Geoff, can you use your Sand Sight?"

"I can't." He said. "Our powers don't work in this game, remember?"

"Oh."

"Uh, Okino, any ideas?" Cole asked him. "Left or right?"


Suddenly, everyone completely freezes as red fluorescent lighting appeared at the same time. Okino gasped at the sight of them being frozen, in thinking poses. "Master Lloyd?" He asked, looking at him, but gets no response. He turns to Nya. "Nya?" He gets no response from her before he turns to Gewuji. "Gewuji?" There was no response from her as well before he turned to Jay. "Jay?" There was still no response. "What is wrong? What has happened?"

As he continued wondering what was going on, a bright light suddenly appears in the sky, making Okino raise an arm to cover his eyes before it fades. "Okino, my son." A deep voice was heard as Okino looks up to see a being in black with yellow eyes, blue eyebrows with a notch on the right eyebrow, white hair done up in a similar style as Okino himself, and a white beard.

"Unagami!" He kneels down, afraid.

"You may rise."

Okino stands up. "It is an honour to be in your presence."

"Yet, I sense something troubles you." Okino was shocked to hear it.

"The Ninja..." He looks at the frozen Ninja. "They have told me things. About Terra Karana. Things that are difficult to believe."

"They have told you that this world is not real." Okino nods. "That you are not real." Okino doesn't answer. "This is true." He was shocked to hear it. "You were born in this realm." Waves of glitches slowly pass by, shocking him. "A place of illusion. A shadow of the real world. But you are not bound to this place. I am building a machine, a wondrous device, that will allow you to enter the real world. Would you like to go there?"

"Aye!"

"Then I shall bring you with me. But you must help me."

"How...?"

Unagami suddenly disappears in many pixels before it comes to form between Kai and Nya, showing Unagami in a black kimono with red and blue markings, and holding a spear. "The Ninja seek to stop me and destroy the machine. Instead, they must be destroyed."

"But, they are my friends. They trust me."

Unagami becomes angry and his eyebrows turn red before disappearing and reappears in front of Okino, taller than him. "If you help the Ninja, you will never see the real world. You will remain trapped here in this illusion forever."

Okino backs away in fear. "But, I... I am a guide. It would be dishonourable to betray my masters."

Unagami soon disappears before reappearing in the form of a dragon, and roars in anger before moving forward and Okino backs away, whimpering before kneeling before him. "You choose strangers over me? Your creator? Do your duty, samurai. You will hear from me again when the time is near." He soon disappears.


Suddenly, the lighting disappears, returning everything to normal, and the Ninja started to move again. "...right?" Cole asked, not knowing what had just happened before Gewuji notices Okino slouching his head.

"Okino, you okay?" She asked as they came up to him and Lloyd puts a hand on his shoulder.

"I, I..." He tries to think of a reason, and everyone looks at each other, concerned. "I am okay." He lies.

"Are you sure?" Geoff asked.

"Certainly." He lies again.

"So, which way?" Cole asked, repeating his question. "Left or right?"

Okino looks down both paths before pointing to his right, which is the path on the left, and the Ninja immediately run down the path while Okino lagged behind a little before moving to catch up, managing to overtake them. "As we near the heart of the maze, the danger will grow." He said, warning them.

"We trust you, Okino." Lloyd replied.

They keep running before Okino turned back to them. "Down, all of you!" They stop and duck down, or in Jay and Geoff's case tilted backwards, as spikes pass over them before they stand up and resume running.

"Thanks again, Okino." Nya said.

"It is my duty." He then tilted forward a little. "Run!" They start to run a little faster as parts of the walls start to close in on them, but they manage to avoid them as they close, and they make a right. "Leap!" A giant gap opens up on the ground in front of them, but they manage to jump and land on the other side before they resume running, and Okino became shocked at something. "Roll!" They immediately started to roll, but it was too late for Gewuji, as a boulder soon lands on top of her, making her scream as she was crushed and soon disappeared.

Everyone turned back to see Gewuji was no longer there. "Gewuji!" Jay said.

"No!" Geoff yelled, saddened by his sister's demise before she soon respawned next to them before her health board appears to show she now has two lives left.

"Great." She sarcastically muttered while looking at it as it disappeared. "Another life wasted." (A/N: The boulder trap in the show was the reason I decided to leave Gewuji with three lives when I wrote this story, so that she ends up crushed by it)

"Hey, at least you still have two left. Same as me, Lloyd and Nya." Jay said.

"But, what if that were Cole? Or, or Kai? Or even my brother? They could've ended up as those cube things."

"Energy Cubes."

"Whatever."

"Look, guys, maybe we should take a boobytrap break." Cole said to them.

"Fine."

"We can rest for a moment." Okino said to them. "It is safe here." Lloyd, Kai, Jay, Cole, Nya, Geoff and Gewuji immediately sat down before Gewuji opened her health board display again to see her last two lives and frowned before closing it.

Nya sighs out of relief. "Are we getting close to the Key-Tana, yet?" She asked Okino.

"Aye. The heart of the maze is near." He turns to Lloyd. "May I ask something?"

"Of course, Okino." Lloyd replied before he sat down next to him.

"Why do you seek the Key-Tana?"

"We need it to stop Unagami. To free everyone who's been trapped inside the game."

"They are your friends?"

"Well, not really. But, they're innocent people and they're in danger. We have a duty to help them, right?" Okino turns away, frowning.