Author's Note: I RISE! AFTER ALMOST TWO AND A HALF YEARS, I RISE!
Zane followed his friends around inside the tall tower, looking around in awe. Everything was so shiny and big! It was amazing! …And a little frightening too. Zane took a couple of quick steps to get as close as he could to Cole as they walked, just in case.
"Ah, there they are!" Someone exclaimed.
Zane looked up to see a man in a wheelchair making his way between a couple of desks towards Zane and his friends.
"Cyrus Borg," Pixal said from inside Zane's head, her neural drive back in Zane's processor "for now" as Jay had commented.
"Cyrus Borg," Zane repeated quietly. "Who is he?"
"He is a skilled scientist, and he is my inventor," Pixal said, sounding proud.
Zane gasped a little. That was Pixal's father, then!
Cyrus Borg wheeled to a stop in front of the group. "It is so good to see you all again and to have heard about your recent adventures. I'm ready and happy to be of assistance."
"And we're happy to have your assistance," Cole said, patting Zane on the head.
"He's going to assist us?" Zane asked, looking up at Cole.
Inside Zane's head, Pixal was smiling and nodding.
Cole nodded too. "Mr. Borg says he knows where the rest of your memories went."
"Based on what you and Pixal told the other ninja, who told me, and based on Borg Tower's security footage, you were disconnected before all of your memories could download into your new body, Zane. That means they should still be in my computer system here, and we should be able to format them into being compatible with your current memories," Mr. Borg explained.
Zane thought about that for a moment. "Okay. What about making me big again?"
"We should be able to accomplish that as well," Mr. Borg said.
Grinning, Zane bounced on his toes a little. "Thank you!"
"In the meantime, where is Pixal?" Mr. Borg asked.
Zane tapped the back of his neck. "In my processor?"
"Ah, of course," Mr. Borg said. He looked at Zane, but his face softened, like he was looking at somebody else, somebody he knew well. Then he spoke, and it made sense. "Pixal, I have located one of your old prototype bodies. It is a bit out-dated, but if you're willing, we can get you situated in it while I build a fresh body for you."
"That would be excellent," Pixal said inside Zane's head.
Zane repeated it. "She says that would be excellent."
"Excellent indeed," Mr. Borg said approvingly, and he held out a hand.
Zane hesitated, one hand tracing along the back of his neck.
Mr. Borg raised his eyebrows slightly. They almost disappeared behind the rims of his glasses, which gave him kind of a funny look. "You seem concerned, Zane. Is there something I should know?"
Zane shrunk back towards Cole. Looking down at his feet, Zane said quietly, "I just… Miss Pixal is the first person I can remember ever meeting after I woke up like this. I know I have a lot of friends, but she feels like my first friend. I had to take her out of my head for the mission, and I just got her back. I don't want her to go."
Mr. Borg nodded sympathetically.
"I will not be going anywhere, Zane," Pixal said. "I will be with you still, I promise."
"And you'll still be my friend?" Zane asked.
"Of course," Pixal said. "We are compatible."
That phrase took something tight within Zane's chest and loosened it up. Zane nodded. He pulled out Pixal's neural drive and held it out to Mr. Borg, who took it with a nod and wheeled away through a nearby set of double doors.
Zane watched him go.
"It'll take him a couple of minutes to get Pixal all set up, I bet," Nya said. "Why don't we start looking through the computer systems for Zane's memories, Jay?"
Jay agreed, and he and Nya sat down at a desk and got to work.
Sighing, Kai leaned against a wall, and Lloyd joined him, the two conversing in low tones.
That meant, within a few moments, it was just Zane and Cole in the middle of the room.
"Good job, buddy," Cole said. "That sounded like it was hard."
Zane nodded, still watching the double doors Mr. Borg had disappeared through.
Cole made a quiet humming sound. "Is all of this hard?"
Zane looked up at Cole. "What?"
"All of this. Being here in another new place, getting told that you're going to get your memories and normal body back, having to wait for things to happen," Cole said. "Is that hard?"
Zane thought about it. "Yes, it is hard, but it is not too hard. I am with my friends, and that means it will be all right."
Cole smiled and tugged Zane closer to him in a hug.
By the time the double doors opened again, Cole and Zane had joined Kai and Lloyd by the wall, the four of them talking together. Well, Cole, Kai, and Lloyd were talking. Zane was mostly just listening, still glancing at the double doors now and then.
And then the double doors opened again, and out came-
"Miss Pixal!" Zane said excitedly.
It was certainly Pixal. The way she walked was a bit awkward, and the cables of her hair were much shorter, and the forehead of her face plate was completely missing, among other small differences, but it was Pixal smiling at Zane.
Zane ran to her, flinging his arms around her, and for the first time, he was able to give her a hug.
"I told you I would not be going anywhere," Pixal said, giving him a hug back.
Zane leaned back and looked up at her. "Thank you."
Pixal smiled again. "Cyrus Borg is hard at work setting up the process to rebuild fully-functioning bodies for the two of us, Zane, although that will take time. He said that Jay and Nya should be able to locate your memories in the system in the meantime."
"And we did," Jay said.
Zane turned in Pixal's arms to face Jay.
"That's the good news," Nya said.
"Uh-oh," Kai said. "That means there's going to be bad news."
"Yeah," Jay said. "They need to be majorly reformatted, and it'll take a lot of time to do that. And we'll need some specific parts that aren't in stock here at the moment, and it'll take time to get those. Basically, we need time."
"So it'll be a little bit," Cole said, walking over to Zane and Pixal. Cole placed a hand on Zane's shoulder. "You okay with that?"
Zane smiled. "I have waited this long. With the help and the company of my friends, I can wait a little longer."