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Update to my Ninjago Story

A while back I came up for an idea for a prequel to my story while working on a sort of epilogue/sequel story but wasn't sure if I was going to write it. Recently though I decided to write it more details of it coming to my mind. I have started posting it on the AOE page of my story. Due to recent changes to Tumblrs posting style I can't really post the story here, the only certain numbers of words per paragraph is difficult to work with, but I can post updates here. Here's some arts to go with what I have posted and samples from it.

First off as an introduction imagine this sort of trailer (that's the best I could describe it as) being read by Lloyd:

Something’s coming… we thought they’d be no different from others we’ve faced before but we were wrong. They sailed ashore out of nothing boasting powers and abilities unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. Conquerors seemingly lost to time and space. They’re spreading across the realm cold, dark and monsters following in their wake and nothing we do can stop or slow them down. If only that was the only problem with them. They’re attacking us from within our own ranks distracting some, awakening crippling memories from their past in some, turning others to become traitors and me… to become a monster. I can feel it when they are near the Oni within me surfacing and I am powerless against it. They are awakening it on purpose I just know it but why? What do these things want with Ninjago? Are they here to just claim the realm for themselves or do they have darker intentions? Why are they turning us against each other and why are they awakening the Oni in my blood?

First off for art the two main antagonists of the story Kamal and Rosic; the mysterious brother and sister who lead the Lost Clan the group invading Ninjago.

Kamal is a warrior while Rosic is a master of arcane arts. The Lost Clan that they lead are like a mix between Vikings and the Huns.

A snippet of the ninjas first encounter with the two:

As they went through the town they started to notice one of these strange beings what appeared to be one of the hyena folk following them. They only guessed what it was from their ears and snout which stood out from the red hood of its hooded and sleeved robe like cloak and the claws on the hands and feet that wore wraps and gloves that exposed the digits. Under the robe it wore fairly plain commoners attire in a dusted pale blue color. It was carrying a staff with a strange gem in it and hung back to watch them green eyes glaring from the shadow of the hood. The individual didn’t seem to care if they noticed it. It seemed curious to them but they couldn’t tell why.

“Is it just me or is that one following us?” Jay inquired at one point when noticing the individual. Zane noted eerily calm for the situation Jay felt, “she has been following us since we left the docks.”

“She? How do you know that things a she? It’s really hard to tell with these things,” Kai wondered and Pixal explained, “while these beast folk do seem to share the highly masculinised females of the beasts they resemble making it hard for humans to tell the difference you forget us nindroids have more advanced senses than humans much more akin to animals. Like them we can detect the chemical signatures organisms give off as a means of communication and identification and she bares the scent markers of a female.”

“Really we give off a smell?” Jay wondered starting to smell himself and Zane noted, “you do but you can’t smell it. Humans have fairly poor scent receptors and lack the proper scent organs to detect pheromones that most animals possess so you cannot properly analyze your own kinds chemical traces. We however do have receptors able to pick such things up and analyze them.”

“So you two are kind of like cats then in that regard; at least you don’t do that weird lip thing cats do when they smell things cause that would be weird,” Kai commented stumping Zane and Pixal. Zane wondered, “why do you compare components of our being to those of a cat?”

“He’s just playing around and not actually comparing you to a cat,” Cole explained to ease Zane and Pixals confusions. Nya who was still focussed on the figure wondered, “why is she following us?” Zane noted, “she may just be curious but surely the rest are curious as well so why just she is following us is odd and likely has deeper intentions.”

“Excuse me but can you tell us what is going on here?” Lloyd asked a townsperson sweeping a pathway getting more annoyed by the lack of co-operation from people to them. The individual replied, “you won’t stand a chance against them please leave while you can. You’re the only ones possibly able to stop these things.” Lloyd had been getting more irritated as they went along and not getting any real answers. Out of irritation Lloyd stated, “why can’t anyone just tell us what’s going on?”

“They all seem scared but why?” Nya noted and Jay added being quite trying to not let the strange beings hear, “wouldn’t you be even just a bit scared of these things? They’ve got features of dangerous meat eating animals. Who knows they could be people eaters and here to farm people.”

“Maybe,” Cole commented as they approached a building they believed to be the town hall. They reasoned surely someone there would tell them something. They were expecting to find the mayor and some town councillors but were instead startled to stumble upon a group of armoured beast folk going over a map on a table in the main foyer. Their armour was a mix of leather, fur, metal and cloth with open horned helmets. When they opened the doors to the town center all inside turned to look at them startling them. The ninja were a bit embarrassed to have everyone’s attention on them.

“Uhm sorry for the intrusion but you don’t think you can tell us who you are and what you are doing here?” Jay asked putting on a brave face to the beings. They all stared at them quiet so Jay asked, “maybe I should have asked first if any of you can speak the common tongue?”

“Who are you?” a voice demanded drawing their attention to an individual at the table who was leaned over it inspecting it. He was pale blonde with green eyes and a large distinct scar on his face that looked to be a scar made of a strange icy opaline substance. He had blond hair that was confined to the center of his head like a Mohawk and done up in a short braid at the back and a soul patch of blonde hair on his chin. His fur and skin was pale and a bit greyed in colour with a darker muzzle a typical trait to hyenids. He wore dark metal and leather armour that had fur trimming some parts and bore a green diamond in the centre of the chest and he had a metal decorative plate with the same kind of green gem that seemed to be melded into his forehead. Some pieces of leather were a greenish color and he had green cloth pants. Some parts of the metal to his armour had a scale pattern to it. He wore pauldrons that resembled the skull of a predatory bird and had some teeth from something decorating his braided leather belt. His metal fronted leather boots exposed his clawed toes. Since he was addressing them they were guessing he was the leader.

“Uh we are the ninja. We are warriors that fight back evil…” Lloyd began as this individual straightened up and strolled over to them coming to stand rate in front of them. He sniffed at Lloyd who was nervous of the being especially after it commented, “I smell darkness here.”

“They came in on a flying ship. They have a strange smell to them. I don’t think they are what they seem,” the one that had been following them stated pushing them all into the building into a row in front of everyone by the doors and moving to stand with the other individual. Now that she was close and in front of them they could see while overall pale and greyed like the leader she had dark extremities to her limbs and muzzle like the pattern on some breeds of cat, green eyes and a strange dark greenish arcane mark that appeared to be burned onto her forehead under her hood. She had a few scars like the other on her face and greenish metal implants in her face above and below her eyes looking like she had large metal beads stuck in her skin.

“We told you who we are seems only fitting you tell us who you are,” Jay stated. The leader paused a moment before stating, “you can call us the Lost Clan ozone smelling one.”

“Ozone smelling?,” Jay wondered unhappy and confused over the figures comment giving himself a few sniffs to try and see what the figure was talking about. He couldn’t smell anything. The figure continued speaking to them, “I am the Jarl Kamal and this is my sister and court wizard Rosic the Augur of the Veil. Does that satisfy your curiosity?”

“Jarl? Augur?” Kai wondered confused before Cole inquired, “okay but what are you here for?” The two didn’t seem too interested in chatting and appeared fixated on Lloyd.

“I smell an Oni. Why does this one smell of such a creature?” Kamal stated sniffing at Lloyd. His comment got some of the others agitated causing them to narrow their eyes and bare their teeth. A glow came to Rosics eyes and the marking on her forehead for a couple seconds before she responded, “he smells of it cause he has Oni blood; he has Oni heritage.”

“Where does its darkness sit in the prospect of things?” Kamal wondered he and Rosic getting closer to Lloyd making him nervous and confusing the rest of them. Rosic noted, “I cannot tell but he does not have proper control of it nor is fully aware of it. Our presence is pulling at it and he does not realize it meaning he could lose control to it.”

“Is it just him with this blood? I can see two metal kin; I smell is that merlopian here too?” Kamal wondered and Rosic went over each of them closely investigating them. She was rather forward and touched them with what they were surprised to be unsettlingly cold clawed hands. As she inspected them Rosic commented, “yes. Two Scymkin not of Scymer make however, two have some Merlopian in them and are they related? Smells like it. Strange then for the one to smell of burning; a water folk with connections to fire very interesting. This one isn’t one but he doesn’t appear to have the best control of his bladder. This one isn’t either; is that refined tree blood on your face? From some form of meal I presume likely coating some matter like dough or meat; I doubt you would just drink it straight up. Didn’t clean yourself too well after breakfast huh?” Making things even more uncomfortable Rosic licked Cole on the face disgusting him before continuing, “yes that would seem to be the case.”

“Why’d you do that?! You’re tongues rough like a cats and I think you go it in my mouth!” Cole complained wiping his face and tongue while spitting a bit. Rosic was unbothered the rest of the ninja were grossed and uncomfortable.

“I think then we do not need to tell him what we are doing. I believe it best the Oni descendent and his companions do not get involved in this. We will let you go for now to head back to your lair and sit this out but in the future if you try to interfere or get involved we will not be so lenient,” Kamal stated turning his back on them and heading back to the table.

“That’s not a good enough answer. We’re not going anywhere till you tell us your intentions here. By the looks your conquerors and have enslaved this town leading everyone to be fearful,” Lloyd stated. Kamal stopped in his footsteps to pause looking over his shoulder at him to state, “is that what you think? Typical Oni jumping to conclusions and always assuming others think and act like you.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Lloyd wondered feeling oddly agitated and triggered by these beings. He could sense some form of energy around them that he didn’t like and it had him on edge. That was worsened by the fact these things could somehow tell about his heritage just by smelling him and the weapons and armour these things wore; it matched some of what his mother had shown him in the museum. The stuff used by entities that appeared to be hunters to both Oni and dragons.

“You should know. The answers in your dark blood and you can feel it even if you don’t realise it. For the safety of all it is best the likes of you are left in the darkness in this,” Kamal stated turning to look at him.

“I think we should just go and rethink this,” Cole commented noting tensions growing. Lloyd however wasn’t listening and proclaimed, “no we’re not leaving till they tell us what they are doing.”

“If you’re not going to listen to your stable friend and leave willingly then we’ll have to make sure you leave through force,” Kamal stated and Rosic expressed, “his oni blood is starting to show.”

“I think it wise we listen to him. Getting in an altercation at this moment would not be a wise idea and could lead to unnecessary harm and danger,” Zane noted he and Pixal getting strange and unsettling readings from these individuals. Kamal stated, “listen to your companions half breed or do you think you could take me. Go ahead as they say hit me with your best shot.” Kamal presented himself for an attack facing Lloyd and holding his arms out in a come get it bro manner.

“Uhm I don’t think that would be a good idea,” Jay noted and Kai stated, “yha something about that seems a bad idea. There’s something off about these things.” Lloyd was hesitating knowing they were right and the right thing to do was to just let things go and head back to do further investigations but he could feel a strong urge building to attack this thing. These things looked dangerous, he could feel something radiating off them much like how he felt around the Oni and if his suspicions were true that these things were somehow related to what his mother had found at that site they were hunters of Oni and dragons so could be enemies to all beings. After a moment’s hesitation feeling his emotions and anger building from the presence of these things Lloyd declared, “alright. Let’s see how tough you are.” Lloyd charged up his powers before shooting it at Kamal. To everyone’s shock Kamal was unaffected instead looking to absorb the energy blast which he built up in his one hand then shot back at Lloyd sending him flying back and out the doors breaking them. Lloyd came to lay stunned and winded on the ground outside the hall. The ninja quickly headed out to check on him Kamal and Rosic following to stand on the doorstep of the hall. A crowd made of these beings from the Lost Clan had gathered around the building along with strange hyena looking creatures with bird like heads and feet and bipedal reptilian creatures that looked a bit like small Grundles. There even seemed to be a gathering of ravens in the area. As she came out of the building Rosic lifted her staff up giving off a cackling noise before slamming it down into the ground causing a dark fog to emit from it and the skies to turn stormy with cold winds and strange green hued lightening.

“We warned you half breed but you insisted on this. If you won’t retreat willingly then we’ll make you leave by force,” Kamal expressed before charging in to attack them equipping his sword. With his lead the others rushed in to join his attack even Rosic who left her staff standing there as it emitted the dark fog which poured out from it and crept over the ground. The ninja wasted no time in defending themselves Lloyd taking a bit of time to recover from the initial attack. It wasn’t long till they understood why the people were scared of these things. There was a strong un-naturality to them. They seemed immune to attack and showed little to no fear. Weapons didn’t leave as bad damages as they thought they would on them, when cut along with an icy blue substance they were guessing were these things blood a black mist would drip out as well and they could heal surprisingly fast even without magic. Even stranger and rather worrisome they had either some form of immunity or a really strong resistance to elemental energy. When hit they’d react like it hurt but quickly just brush it off seeming to absorb the energy and even sometimes wielded it back at them. They couldn’t gain on these beings and worse the mist was getting more prominent spreading out and to their shock strange monstrous entities like strange elemental made serpentine creatures popped out of the mist to attack them...

The Lost Clan has several strange allies helping them including beasts they use as mounts and monstrous allies:

An encounter with some of their monster allies:

An icy one went through Kai shocking and freezing him preventing him from using his powers while leaving frost on his skin. He was crippled by the cold for several minutes unable to defend himself and barely able to move. A fiery one burst out of the mist when Jay got close to it and went through his one arm. He felt searing nearly unbearable pain go through his arm collapsing him to his knees. Nya who was helping Kai as he struggled to quickly get warm in order to defend himself quickly came over once Jay was attacked fending off the entities attacking them while Zane came over to inspect Jays arm Jay in a panic from the pain which he felt was unbearable. She defeated the fiery serpentine creature first blasting it into a steaming mist with water.

“What happened?” she demanded as Zane scanned Jays arm being defended by Kai who had followed her starting to warm up again. After the scan Zane pulled up Jays sleeve exposing what looked to be a fire burn on his arm where the entity had gone through him. After his observations Zane explained, “whatever that was that went through his arm has caused burns akin to those as if he had been on fire in those areas. The damage appears close and worst at surface level but there is minor damage deeper and it appears to be slowly working deeper causing more damage. He needs to be treated for burns to prevent the damage from worsening and going into serious shock and Kai appears to be suffering early stages to hypothermia.” To ease some of his pain and soothe the burn and counter the magic continuing the burning Zane coated Jays arm in ice.

“I th…think we need… need to fall…all back,” Kai stated through shivers. While they were occupied Cole was being faced by a fairly large and bulky individual who was besting him with a strength greater than even what his lava arms could muster. He was pretty sure this was because she was absorbing the energy of his powers when he touched her letting her wield his own powers against him. In the struggle he got knocked back into the dark mist which quickly began to climb onto him. As it climbed onto him he felt a dark dreaded feeling creep up his spine. It began to paralyse him which was made worse when it brought a dreaded feeling to him. He could feel it as a crippling pain in his heart which brought tears to his eyes as memories he’d longed to try and forget flashed in his mind. Memories of his mothers final days where she was suffering badly from her illness, how he had wished there had been something he could have done for her, her funeral and the after effects with him and his father as they had grown distant and cold to each other because of the pain her death had caused them. The overwhelming of emotions collapsed him to his knees unable to hold back tears. With the others focussed with Jay Pixal was the first to react to him and come to his aid. She quickly pulled him from the fog noting its effects on him. She defended him till she could get through to him. Whatever had happened had left him distraught and she couldn’t make sense of his words. He was muttering something about missing someone and wishing they were there for him and how he felt terrible they couldn’t spend time together and that she couldn’t see what he’d become or get to meet his friends and family.

“Cole you have to shake out of this we need you,” she told him shaking him to snap him out of this odd state. He started coming to his senses. He wasn’t fully back and was clearly still troubled by what happened but got focussed enough to continue the fight. While they were all facing defeat Lloyd struggled against Kamal. He was not only strong and resilient but agile and crafty. Lloyd went for a swing at him and Kamal caught his sword in his bare hand with a counter swing snapping it in half leaving to Lloyds shock not even a scrape to his hand. While he was shocked Kamal swung at him cutting his upper left arm. Lloyd jumped back in pain and surprise to grab his arm. Kamal looked at his sword which bore some of Lloyds blood and with an eerily calm tone muttered, “just as suspected, the darkness is rising in you.” Lloyd pulled his hand off his arm curious to what he was talking about and Lloyd was startled to find his blood was tainted by a purplish color in it. It scared him. What did that mean?! Upon seeing this he quickly declared to the others to fall back. They needed no convincing. They headed for the Bounty in the harbour. They had to fight their way free of the group they were facing some of them out of commission.

Nya had to help Jay move as he was in serious pain, Kai was stable enough to move on his own but still struggled from the cold while Cole had recovered enough to flee with little problem helping the others get to safety. As they fled through the streets Zane and Pixal made obstacles for these beings to keep them from getting too close as they followed or sprung up from around town to attack. They knocked over things, broke down awnings, tipped over cars and carts and Zane made barriers of ice. Once on the ship Pixal wasted no time in getting into the cabin and getting the Bounty running and up while the rest followed into the cabin for shelter. As they got up and on their way the strange flying reptiles again swarmed their ship this time attacking more fiercely at it and even leaving some damages to the rigging and sails. Nya and Zane were going to head out to deal with them but without warning as they moved away these creatures attack stopped as they left the area. Pixal took them some distance to the north before landing the ship further up along the shore so they could settle and deal with the aftermath of all that. They were all fairly shaken and some were worse than others.

“What were those things!?” Jay screamed before yelling at Lloyd, “why did you think to attack that thing!? He was letting us go but you had to rile them up and start a fight. If you hadn’t done that we’d be fine!” They all stopped looking at Lloyd. What he said was true and they all knew it but none of them had been wanting to so quickly blurt that out and as drastically as Jay had.

“I’m sorry just something about being around those things… I couldn’t help myself,” Lloyd stated. Nya wondered, “what do you mean?” After a moment’s hesitation Lloyd stated, “I could feel this dark energy around them. It was making me feel angry to them; I couldn’t help myself.”

“Wh…what were were those things?” Kai wondered still shivering.

“I don’t know but there was something strange and familiar to their signatures,” Pixal noted and curious Nya wondered, “when you say familiar what do you mean?” Zane responded, “like how they could smell Oni to Lloyd we could detect hints of dragon and Oni to them.”

“What could that mean?” Nya wondered and Zane expressed, “we will have to look into it. First though we have some we should get to a hospital as soon as possible first.”

“Agreed. Pixal can you get us there ASAP,” Nya agreed and Pixal agreed, “I can do that.” She headed over to the controls and got the Bounty up again. Nya then took Jay, Kai following, to their room to give the two some temporary first aid. Lloyd kept to himself for a few minutes putting his hand over the cut on his arm. He could feel it still bleeding. Curious he pulled his hand back down to look. His blood was back to normal; no purple color. Why had that happen he wondered getting a feeling it wasn’t a good sign.

“Did you get hurt?” Zane inquired noting the blood on Lloyds hand. Lloyd responded, “oh yha. It’s not too bad. I’ll go clean it.”...

A dream Zane has:

It was dark and cold, a cold not even he could handle. He was in an unfamiliar land a dark conifer forest filled with strange sounds with a dark nights sky above dominated by two moons one a bit bigger and reddish than the other the bigger one looking to sit further back in space as the smaller whiter one just barely looked to beginning to cross its path. He wasn’t sure why but Zane had the feeling he was being hunted. Every now and then he would see shadowy humanoid figures moving in his peripherals or the shadows of the understory. They had him on edge. He was trying to find his way out of the woods to somewhere he felt he’d be safe but he couldn’t find that. As he went he started getting more anxious moving quicker and being more on edge. He came to pause for a rest in a small clearing. He backed himself into a group of large trees to feel safe. He was pretty sure he was in serious danger. While he rested shaking from nerves he was startled when an arrow nearly struck him in the head hitting into the tree trunk next to him. He jumped back before pulling the arrow from the tree to inspect it. This wasn’t just any arrow. The tip was large with two serrated prongs and the shaft wasn’t just simple wood. It was made of technology. He recognised this kind of arrow. It was a specialised design with an inbuilt USB that carried a virus that acted like a poison to droids. It was a design that while illegal was still used by many undesirable types as a tool for hunting and fighting droids. When it pierced their skin the prongs on the tip acted as conduits allowing the virus to be transferred into the makes of a droid by just contacting any wires and even some synthetic tissues of their make.

Shortly after he pulled it from the tree it dissolved into a strange burning ash and fell from his hand. That arrow confirmed it, he was being hunted. But by who and where were they? He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his right shoulder, Seconds later he was aware of a virus infiltrating his systems trying to mess with his senses and hinder his mobility. He pulled the arrow from his arm. It was the same kind and again fell to ash. Looking for where it came from he saw standing on a large boulder nearby a humanoid figure bathed entirely in black with only its burning red eyes being the only discernable feature to them. The figure looked to be wielding a bow and prepped to shoot at him again. He started hurrying off to get away from the being as it shot at him again this time missing. He started off fairly well able to still move quite well but soon he was having problems as the virus he was infected with started to mess with his systems. His energy was not being distributed right making his limbs tired and harder to move and he started having trouble with his lungs causing him to have serious coughings. While he didn’t need oxygen so his lungs not working wouldn’t hinder him the pain and severe coughing he was having from them was hindering him as he’d have to slow down or stop to cough. This entity was still following him and he could pick up others nearby following likely to also hurt him. He continued to struggle away till not fully aware of his surroundings because of his struggles he slipped off a rocky ledge. He landed hard on the ground below entering a coughing fit from the landing. He was sore and stiff as he propped himself up on his elbows.

He was instantly shocked and nervous to see in front of him gathered in a large clearing an army of solid shadow figures. They were humanoid with green eyes and while largely humanoid he could vaguely make out that they resembled the figures they had just faced; this Lost Clan. Even more startling to them was what shadowed the sky behind them. A massive shadow figure of a man with the head of a stag loomed. He felt terror grip him to see this figure especially as it looked down at him with green eyes that seemed to burn into him. A noise above him drew his attention to the ledge he’d fallen off of. Standing there looking down at him were these other shadow beings the ones with red eyes. He was caught between two factions both looking to be hunting him. Zane wanted to get up and flee but the virus was making it hard for him to control his own body. He managed to crawl a bit away from the ledge before the elk headed figure began to speak its deep masculine commanding and eerily calm voice declaring, “darkness is coming; they were born in it and it is all they know. They are coming for you and all you know. Choices will have to be made; dark and dire choices.” The larger of the moons in the sky which the figure half eclipsed turned into a blood moon as it continued to speak declaring, “will you choose the right side and actions or doom the world to its end? Let the battle begin.”

While they all get their parts in the story Jay is the focus with his heritage being delved into and the Lost Clan knows a little something about Jays mother:

While they worked on the issues with the Lost Clan Jay continued to secretly look into his birth parents. He had quickly come to a dead end however until their first time getting into an altercation with Rosic and Kamal. During the fight he was startled by Rosic who jumped him after he shocked out two Voidfears. His shock burst them into the strange whitish green mist and dissipated making him uneasy; as if the Lost Clans lack of fear wasn’t unnerving enough already. They believed because they couldn’t truly be destroyed their physical forms only being displaced for a time then they could reform like nothing had happened these beings didn’t care if they got hurt or worse in a fight making them very bold and fearless. Rosic startled him more by jumping him. Instead of continuing to fight however she spoke to him.

“Interesting a cub of Donar, a QoSos,” she stated after he defended himself trying to shock her. She blocked his attack with a ward. Confused he asked, “a what?” She replied with, “one of lightening blood. You bare the powers of lightening just as we suspected. Interesting we’ve met one of you before I wonder if you bare relations to her.” He was greatly confused. What did she mean by that? He tried to get her to explain but she refused to answer instead attacking him. Shortly after they were forced to flee the battle; as they left Jay could swear he saw this Rosic watching him with a strange questioning look to her face. After that he wondered if these beings knew of or had something to do with his mother. He hadn’t found anything relating to it then again everything he’d uncovered really told him very little and he’d never suspected these things could be related in some way to his mother. His wonders switched to confusion the next time they ran into Kamal and Rosics group as they invaded a town. Jay had been keeping an eye out for Rosic wanting to confront her again and try to get some answers. She found him. He chased after a pair of Voidfears which were also called Feardrakes which led him into a dead end alleyway between two four story tall apartments. The creatures amazed him with their ability to scale the vertical walls of the building to climb out away from him. Turning around he was stunned to find Rosic cornering him in the alley.

“The lightening one just who I wanted see,” she stated and he asked cautious, “why?” She tossed at him a small stained wooden box with a carved and gold painted symbol matching his, the symbol of an elemental master of lightening, on the top. He caught it and she told him to open it. He was nervous but slowly opened it. Inside was a necklace with an amulet made of a strange whitish gem like material and underneath that folded in half was a picture, a picture of his birth parents together looking to be on a honeymoon. He was shocked and baffled. Where’d she get this?! How’d she get it and how’d she know of his mother?! He was feeling so surprised, confused, shocked and to his surprise scared that he was shaking a bit and starting to feel sick.

“Where’d you get this?” he asked his voice cracking a bit with emotions and she replied, “she told me she wants you to have it. She’s been watching over you and is proud of you.” He wasn’t pleased with her answer so demanded, “how did you get this? How do you know of my mother?”

“Where we come from she also resides unlike us however she cannot leave let’s leave it at that for now. If I were you I’d catch up with my clan mates. They’re retreating already,” Rosic told him. Frustrated he went to punch her but she dodged him turning into a flock of ravens to port to the roof of the one building of the alleyway. Jay wanted to go after her but Nya calling him to tell him to hurry back to the Bounty so they could leave making him reluctantly abandoned going after her. He brought the box with the necklace and photo with him. He kept it secret from the others only letting Nya know when she came in to check on him later when they were back at the Monastery. He’d told her about the strange things Rosic had said to him before so she was wondering if he’d managed to find her and get anything from her this time. He showed her the box and its items. She was just as shocked and surprised as him asking, “where’d she get these?”

“I don’t know but she said my mother would want me to have this and she claimed to know where my mother is,” he explained. Nya suggested it might be time for him to talk to Wu about this. Clearly these things potentially had some form of connection with his mother and there might be things Wu was unwilling to tell them that could be critical to what was going on...

Some of Lloyds Oni side coming out:

While they worked Lloyd hung back finding a steady rise in his agitation and anger though he didn’t know why. He hung back focussed on keeping control of his Oni side while letting Zane and Pixal work with the computers; they were much more skilled with technology than him. They were at a large table with several monitors that were hooked up to the surveillance systems which sat against the one wall, strangely all but the room they needed to see were working fine. Against the wall across from this was a water cooler and couch. To the one side of the room were two cells for holding troublesome individuals. A futon sat in each cell. In front of the cells against the wall with the couch was an empty desk and chair. The room was dark as they found strangely the lights in the room were not working though they couldn’t tell why. It wasn’t really bothering Zane or Pixal though; the light from the monitors was all they needed to do their work. Strangely Lloyd was finding something about the dark oddly invigorating. He had a feeling that was from the Oni in him making him unsettled over it. Strangely the guards weren’t there either but they guessed they were just hiding with the other workers.

While the others worked Lloyd decided to get a drink from the cooler. When he went to use it however nothing came out, there was nothing in the jug that should hold water. Inspecting it he noted claw marks and punctures that likely came from claws and teeth on the sides and back and a decent sized chunk had been bitten out of the back of it. Its water was spilled on the floor around the cooler. He could also see some wet footprints on the couch. They were bird like with three toes and from something of a pretty decent size, at least human sized. They disappeared however leaving no clue where the creator of the footprints went. He inspected the area around the couch. There was no way whatever made the footprints was hiding behind or under it, the footprints indicated a creature too big to fit in those locations. He looked in the cells. They were locked and he doubted the creature could have slipped between the bars unless it had the flexibility of a cat. He couldn’t see anything in the cells. He then went to the desk to check under it. As he approached the desk he started to hear a growling noise which got louder as he leaned down to look under the desk.

“What is that?” Zane wondered as he and Pixal noted the noise as well. As Lloyd looked into the dark under the desk to see what the noise was he could swear he saw a set of eyes in the dark before he was bowled over by a blur of feathers and scales that burst out from under the desk. It was a Feardrake. It had knocked Lloyd over and pinned him down one of its feet on his chest. The creature seemed agitated. It hissed in Lloyds face showing off its teeth and claws to him before quickly rushing out of the room.

“That’s not good,” Pixal noted while Lloyd quickly got up yelling, “we can’t let that thing reach the others. It will spoil everything.” He quickly got up chasing the creature as it fled. Zane and Pixal followed feeling Lloyd wasn’t entirely right and it would be more damming for their efforts for these beings to find him. They tried to tell Lloyd and get him to stop but he refused to listen and chased the Voidfear as it rushed to the clan members. It went straight past Kai, Nya and Jay who were hiding behind some shelves not seeming to care or note them.

“Was that a close call?” Kai wondered as the creature rushed to one of the Huntsmen hissing at it. The Huntsmen apparently could understand it as it commented while Lloyd rushed in, “it’s here?” The moment the members saw Lloyd they became aggressive. One of the Skurocs lunged at Lloyd who wasted no time in blasting it to a mist with his powers.

“So you are here half-blood. Trying to interfere again are we,” one of the Huntsmen commented and Lloyd declared, “you’re not getting out of here.” He instantly got into a fight with the members not holding back on them while Zane and Pixal arrived at the room. The others were confused.

“Uh should we get involved?” Kai worried as they started to note Lloyd was being rather aggressive; there was a strange color to his eyes and a purplish color was starting to infiltrate his powers.

“Is it just me or does something seem wrong with Lloyd?” Jay wondered and Nya noted, “it does kind of look it. He’s blown our cover. Our best bet now would be to capture one of these things and try to interrogate it.” The rest of them joined in the fight but it quickly became apparent that stopping Lloyd was more important than capturing one of the clan members. He appeared to have lost control getting caught up in his anger causing danger to the rest of them. Whatever had gotten over him was bad enough that some of the clan members strangely forwent their animosity to them to keep them from getting hurt such as a Skuroc that shoved Nya out of the way of a falling statue Lloyds powers unbalanced in the room taking the full blow of its impact instead of her getting it, a Huntsmen tackling Jay to keep him from getting hit by one of Lloyds energy blasts which when it hit a wall not only blew a hole in it but hit the wiring in the building blowing the circuits of the building and blowing up the light fixtures from the energy of his blast and a Huntsmen put itself between Kai and Lloyd pulling up a magical shield, a ward, in defence against one of Lloyds attacks which would have hurt Kai as well. The Huntsmen told him they needed to get Lloyd out of there. As the fight went on it was clear something had come over Lloyd. His skin was developing blackened spots, his eyes and powers were now purplish in color and his powers were turning destructive in nature. Even worse he was starting to turn on the others. Zane was putting out fires Lloyds powers sparked up trying to stop damages and Lloyd snapped at him telling him to ignore it and focus on the monsters. The others sided with Zane that they shouldn’t be damaging things but Lloyd wasn’t listening to them. When Lloyd noticed Zane wasn’t listening to him he attacked Zane even going so far as to attack him with a Spinjitsu spin tossing Zane against a shelf having left some damages to Zanes left shoulder and upper arm and right forearm from his sword. Jay quickly came over to help Zane who was startled and in pain.

“Hey what was that for?!” Jay exclaimed and Lloyd stated, “I told him to stop it and he didn’t listen to me.” Jay expressed, “but that didn’t mean you had to do this!”

“Are you disobeying me too? I’ll teach you to disobey me,” Lloyd proclaimed hitting Jay with a blast of his powers. He was tossed hard back into the bookshelf. Jay was tossed with so much force it unbalanced the shelf which bounced off the wall behind it before falling forward onto Jay and Zane pinning both under the shelf and its contents.

“What did you do to him?!” Kai demanded from a Huntsman who responded, “what do you mean? We’ve done nothing, this is his doing.” The Huntsman then ordered the Feardrake to lead Lloyd out of there while Pixal and Nya lifted the shelf off Jay and Zane. It hit the creature with a spell that made its eyes glow, strange glowing markings to appear on the extremities of its limbs and ethereal dragon like horns to appear on its head. The reptilian creature then quickly rushed out of there Lloyd becoming focused on it and chasing after it yelling as he did, “come back here you demon!”

With Lloyd gone the one Huntsmen opened a portal and all the members of the clan fled through it. Even though he wanted to follow them Kai let them go going over to help his sister and Pixal dig Jay and Zane out of the mess.

“What’s gotten into him?” Kai wondered as they moved some books Jay complaining that he felt like he’d broken something in his leg. Pixal explained, “I don’t know. For a while since we’ve been here he’s been giving off indications of agitation and when encountering the clan members it was like something took over him. He is now emitting smells and energies similar to an Oni.”

“Why is that?” Kai wondered as they got Jay and Zane free. Zane was in bad shape from the damages Lloyd had left which had broken his skin open and exposed wires and some of his inner makes and he was struggling with using his left arm holding it with his right. Jay didn’t have a broken leg like he thought but defiantly had pulled muscles and had bruising not only on his leg but also on both his back and chest where Lloyds powers had hit him. Lloyds powers had also left a mild burn on his chest that resembled a mix of the burns from fire and electricity.

“Don’t know but we need to subdue him before he causes too much harm,” Pixal explained. As they helped Jay and Zane Lloyd chased the creature out of the section down a few halls to the front foyer where Cole was waiting. The moment the creature saw Cole who readied to face the creature the moment he saw it froze up for a second clearly not interested in fighting him. It turned round to head the other direction but found itself confronted by Lloyd who didn’t hesitate when he got there to blast the creature with his powers. He hit it turning it to a mist that quickly vanished. Upon seeing Lloyd Cole became a little nervous; there was visibly something wrong with him. He wasn’t privy to what had happened in the one section with the others so he had no clue what was going on with Lloyd. He could just see there was something wrong with him and he was getting bad feelings from him. There were dark patches on Lloyds skin, his eyes were a purplish color and his powers had been purplish as well.

“Geeze are you okay…” Cole began to say before Pixal came through his communicator to warn him, “avoid fighting Lloyd.”            

“Why?” Cole wondered confused and Pixal quickly explained, “something happened with him and these clan members and it has awoken something dark in him.”

“Those monsters got away and the others are being disobedient,” Lloyd growled at him. Being cautious Cole asked, “how are they being disobedient?”

“I told them to focus on the demons not play with fire but they refused to listen. Kept wasting their time and powers on the environment to play with fire,” Lloyd growled Cole noting his voice was a bit off.

“Okay… I could have a word with them about it,” Cole commented as the rest of the ninja arrived at the foyer Jay limping and held up by Nya while Zane moved slow having problems with his left leg and holding his left arm to his body.

“Lloyd what’s gotten into you?” Kai wondered as they approached. Lloyd turned around to chastise them, “you five. I can feel it those monsters escaped! How dare you let those demons get away!”

“Lloyd I think you’ve gotten a little carried away and need to calm down,” Nya began de-escalating. Lloyd was too far gone in his strange headspace however to listen and stated, “no we’re here to stop those monsters and instead of stopping them you were playing with fire and shelves while they got away.”

“The texts and artefacts in this library and the knowledge they carry are incredibly valuable. Knowledge is the most valuable asset one can have and as protectors to our realm we are also protectors to its most valuable resources of which knowledge is by far it’s most important so we must not damage it like you were. I was not doing anything wrong,” Zane regaled unable to help himself to point out a fact forgetting for a moment that Lloyd was in a state where he would listen to logic. Lloyd didn’t even take a second to think before growling at him, “I don’t care Zane. I don’t care the costs I need to see those monsters destroyed.” He then blasted Zane into the one wall of the foyer. He was dazed but still cautious as Pixal and Kai went over to him. Cole had snuck up behind Lloyd while Zane talked and after he finished his attack to Zane Cole jumped him from behind trying to restrain him pinning his arms to his body.

“Let me go traitor!” Lloyd growled his voice starting to sound off to the others. He couldn’t shake Cole who had activated his lava arms so Lloyd couldn’t out strength him so Lloyd built up his powers in his arms then let it burst out startling and flinging Cole into a wall of the foyer knocking him out.

“Hey cut it out we’re just trying to help you,” Jay stated causing Lloyd to turn to him Lloyd declaring, “no you’re traitors. You’re in league with those monsters aren’t you? That’s why you’re disobeying me isn’t it!” He shot at Jay with an energy beam Jay knocking Nya out of the way so he alone took the full blast getting knocked into the wall. He was dazed but still conscious as he landed. Lloyd then continued to rant more of his Oni side seeming to surface further darkening his skin and altering his voice, “they’re here to hunt me aren’t they and you’re helping them; what did they offer you? Some of my power? A piece of this realm for yourselves?”

“Okay I have a feeling we’re no longer talking to human Lloyd here,” Kai noted and Pixal stated, “it would appear the Oni part of his nature has not only surfaced but is taking control.” She then whispered to Kai pulling two small round objects from a pocket on her attire, “when I say so we’ll jump him and try to subdue him.” Kai recognised the items she had as smoke bombs. Kai nodded an agreement. Pixal then tossed the items at Lloyd where they hit him and exploded surrounding him in a dense smoke. While he tried to clear the smoke complaining about not being able to see and claiming even blinded he could still sense them there Kai and Pixal who called for Nya to help them jumped him and attempted to restrain Lloyd who was turning out to be much stronger in this state than normal. They were managing to hold him down but Lloyd built up his powers and released them like he did with Cole tossing them off him. Lloyd was now much angrier...

You can find what I have written so far with this story here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/34894561/chapters/139688419

[robobirdie]

Hello! I really love your stories! I have a question, will you make any more stories for "Anatomy of a Droid"

I don't think so; I'm currently focused and busy with work on my Shadow of the Void series and don't see the adding of any stories to Anatomy of a Droid in the foreseeable future.

If you're interested you can find the work for the Shadow of the Void which originally inspired me to do Anatomy of a Droid here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/34894561/chapters/86888878

[robobirdie]

Arts for my Ninjago short

I made some illustrations for my story Anatomy of a Droid.

This illustration goes with this part of the story:

As Pixal had stated most of his systems had been shut down so were not making noise but it wasn’t quiet in his body. To indicate its healthy alive state Zanes power source not only gave off a quite low hum but a slightly electric toned sound that mimicked a normal hearts beats. Outside his body the sound along with the many other sounds his body made when active and functioning normally generally couldn’t be heard unless you pressed your ear against his body near the sounds source. His synthetic muscles and skin helped dampen the sounds to keep his functioning quiet both for his hearing and others. The sound from his heart had Jay and Kai unsettled. The others found it a bit unnerving but were pleased to hear it. The sound meant he was still alive and that his heart was okay. Zane’s power source was unique; none of them had a clue what exactly it was though in their investigations of it Jay and Nya found several very rare materials it could be but they weren’t sure which it best matched with. All they knew was outside Zane, Pixal who shared half the material from Zanes heart and a few other droids they had come across through their travels were the only ones to have and use this substance and Zanes father had never told them what it was or how he came to get it. They were guessing he wanted to keep the source secret and they felt that was probably a good thing. Whatever it was this material was very powerful able to not only give life to those of artificial make functioning like a battery for the energy that gave them life but had the potential to give great power under the right circumstances. When used as the power source for a droid it could give a long lifespan as long of course if it was taken care of properly such as not letting energy outputs get too low which was why Zane and others who shared his style of power source had a specially designed digestive system which could convert matter into an energy format their hearts could use and store. While this power source didn’t have the dangers of highly corrosive acid like a typical battery it had the great risk of exploding if overworked or overloaded by something like Jays powers. Because of this and not wanting to get electrocuted as well as Zanes body was very conductive they all agreed that Jay should refrain from using his powers while they were inside Zane. They didn’t want to do anything that could hurt his power source; while not entirely sure both Nya and Jay who understood Zanes anatomy best as they frequently worked on him and Pixal in order to keep them healthy were pretty sure if his power source stopped working for whatever reason it would not start again and without it they would lose Zane. They defiantly didn’t want that. 

When they got to the area of his left shoulder they could see some of the damages Pixal talked about but none of them could see one of these worms. The synthetic muscle that attached from the replica collarbone to a prong on the replica of an upper arm bone to help pull his arm up had been de-attached from the upper arm. They inspected the site.

“This doesn’t look too badly damaged. Some minor cuts to the synthetic fibres but some synthetic re-grow should fix it,” Nya noted and Kai wondered, “is that what that weird sickly yellow green liquid stuff I’ve seen you and Jay use while working on him is?”

“Yha, you should always use gloves when working with it cause if you get it on your skin it really burns; it makes synthetics re-grow while it de-grows organics,” Jay noted and Cole commented, “yha I can attest to that. I mistook it for peroxide once and boy was that a mistake. Made the cut worse and gave me blood poisoning. That was an unpleasant week. To be fare it was in the same bottle as the peroxide… I guess I should have read the label though before using it.”

“And that’s why we now keep the first aid equipment for Zane and Pixal in separate different looking containers and we don’t keep them in the bathroom with our first aid supplies,” Nya commented before Lloyd wondered, “what does that stuff do exactly?”

“Basically it makes synthetics re-grow and repair themselves. Unlike our fleshy makes the materials that make up Zane and Pixals make generally cannot repair themselves without an external aid. Only components of their digestive tracts can do that but that’s because those parts are made from tougher more complex self repairing synthetics unlike everything else which lack that ability. That’s where that stuff comes in. It’s a bit dangerous to work with and takes a few hours to complete its work but is much cheaper, just as efficient and I’m pretty sure Pixal and Zane prefer that method over other methods especially just removing and replacing parts. Unless something gets too badly damaged we use that method to fix things for them,” Nya explained and Cole commented while they continued to inspect the site, “yha I’m probably with them. I don’t know about you but it probably isn’t a nice feeling to just have a part of your body removed and thrown away if some things wrong with it. Like that was a part of you, part of your being and it just gets thrown away like some piece of trash. Sure it was damaged but it was still part of you part of what made you well you. Having that done probably would make you feel disposable; like your being means nothing like your life is almost meaningless and fake if someone does that. I know that’s how I would feel having something like that done.” They all looked at Cole a little taken back by his rather morbid comment.

“Yha I could see how that would really bother them; that’s not something pleasant to think about,” Kai agreed and Jay stated, “by the looks the only damage done here is to the fibres. Everything else is fine.”...

This one is for this part:

“You should recognise these structures brother, you had to help replace parts from them remember that?” Nya regaled and Kai stated, “yha don’t remind me; it was uncomfortable seeing and working on his insides. I never meant to hurt him, it was an accident. I didn’t realise he was there when I made that fire storm. I was just cutting off the bad guys so they couldn’t escape I didn’t mean for him to end up breathing in incredibly hot burning embers. To be fair Zanes disguise was really good, a little too good I didn’t know he was there.”

“How hot did you make that fire? It melted many of the sensors in his lungs and damaged most of the rest plus some of its tissues. We had to replace the whole things! Zane just wanted to repair what was there but it was all too badly damaged,” Jay explained and Kai noted, “I helped out with the cost and work in the repairs to show I was sorry. I prefer not knowing what his insides are like but I felt so bad especially since he spent a week in pain, with off sounding and weird breathing and frequently coughing from what I did. It was so sad, like seeing a sick kitten or puppy. He can shut off systems so why did he keep his breathing going if it was causing him such problems? It was to make me feel bad wasn’t it?”

“No more like the opposite. He didn’t want to unnerve anyone. He knows when he doesn’t breathe it unsettles some of us especially you and Jay…” Nya began and Kai commented, “there is just something unsettling seeing someone who’s living and so human like not breathing…” Nya continued, “yha that plus when he had his breathing off so he could get some sleep Lloyd had a bit of a panic thinking he was dead when he went to check on him so Zane kept them active to not scare or worry anyone despite the problems they were giving him.”

“Hey he was unnervingly still, he’s normally a restless sleeper so that wasn’t normal plus he wasn’t responding to me when I tried to wake him, that’s usually not a good sign. I was worried,” Lloyd commented as they inspected the area for the worm or signs of where it had gone. The only thing they could see was a rip in the side of his synthetic lung just large enough for one of these worms to pass through.

“He wasn’t responding because he was in a deep sleep being very tired from the days events and from having trouble getting to sleep because of the damages to his lungs. He didn’t want to be disturbed so set his body to basically a sort of do not disturb mode so he could get some sleep,” Nya regaled and Cole commented, “Yha cause Jay has a rude habit of disturbing others while they’re trying to sleep.” Jay added while they inspected the tear in Zanes lung, “I’d say sorry but there is no need for anyone to be sleeping till noon; sure I sleep in late but I’ve rarely gone that late besides it’s not fun having to wake any of the rest of you up. You can all be rather rude. You’ve punched me, thrown me across the room, thrown stuff at me, hit me with blasts of fire ice dirt water or energy not to mention set my clothes on fire, freeze me from the waist down to the floor, sent the chicken after me do I need to go on?” 

“I think I’m with everyone when I say when you’re sleeping it’s not pleasant to be awoken especially by your loud babbling and frantic shaking when you do it. Maybe we should wake you up in the same way,” Cole expressed and Jay commented, “hey what I do is not as annoying as some of you. Flipping my bed on its side, dragging me out of bed, making an earthquake, freezing my room, playing pranks on me like lighting off those little loud firecrackers in a metal bucket oh and how could I forget the time you dragged my bed outside and left me in the courtyard… during a rain storm! Again do I need to go on?”

“Hey sometimes you deserve it besides your reaction to some of those methods is hilarious anyway change of subject why is his lungs different colored from his synthetic muscles?” Cole wondered and Jay noted, “really you can tell it’s a different color.”

“What do you mean by that?” Cole wondered and Lloyd noted, “you have a tendency to mis-describe colors or not recognise them properly.” Jay added, “yha did you ever take that test we suggested you to?”

“I did,” Cole commented uneasy about talking about this and Jay wondered, “and what answer did you get?” Cole took a moment to respond.

“I have something called due-ter something. I forget the name it just means I can’t really tell the difference between red and green very well,” Cole noted and Jay commented while Lloyd cautiously approached the tear to look into it, “that explains some things like often mixing up Lloyd and Kais clothes or not following our instructions in video games like hit the red button and not the green.”

“Can we not make fun of my problems,” Cole commented annoyed by Jay who replied while Lloyd looked into the tear, “I’m not making fun just surprised you could tell his lung is a different color. As for why it is like that it’s to help differentiate the various components of his anatomy that way when you’re working on him you know which parts are for what system. You don’t want to accidently hook the wrong things up to each other. That really won’t help him and could cause problems.” Lloyd couldn’t see anything; it was too dark. He wasn’t wanting to venture deeper to get a better look unnerved by the dark and the fact the tear led to inside one of Zanes organs but as he tried to back up so someone else could take a more thorough look into the structure he was knocked off balance by Kai who unnerved by where he was wasn’t watching where he was going bumped into him. Lloyd tried to catch his balance but fell through the tear. The next thing he knew he fell a few steps down landing face down on a slightly elastic surface. The others quickly rushed over to the tear to get a look at what happened.

“I’m fine just watch your step,” Lloyd commented as he got on his knees and looked around. The others cautiously made their way to him Kai commenting nervous and trying to hide his feelings, “great we’re in his lung aren’t we? I was really hoping we wouldn’t end up in any of his organs.”

“Trust me this is probably the nicest and safest place you could end up in his body. Not much can hurt us in here. Trust me there is way worse places in Zanes body to end up in,” Jay commented and Kai quickly noted, “please don’t tell me I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know about them.” Compared to what they had been dealing with so far with relatively cramped conditions Zanes lungs were quite spacious and they were able to fully stand up. The place looked to be no more than an elastic synthetic made sack that in its resting state as it currently was it was only about a half its potential volume but it was still more spacious than what they had been dealing with...

Finally for this part:

“No no this is real bad! We’re in Zanes stomach! We’re going to get digested! There’s no way out we’re doomed! This can’t be happening it can’t be!” Kai was panicking causing Lloyd to give him a smack to knock some sense into him. It snapped some sense into him silencing him but he was still on edge and freaked out.

“Of all the places we could end up in this is the worst! There are only two directions we can get out of here and I’m not wanting to get out through the other direction especially if it involves having to go through the rest of his system!” Jay began to panic and Nya stated, “Jay chill Pixal will help us out of here. We’re not going to have to go through the rest of his system… I hope.”

“There are ways of getting out of here without having to go through his entire system right?” Lloyd worried and Nya explained, “yha. To make it easier to work on his digestive system is split into four main parts which can each be separated separately for work; his throat, stomach, small intestines and large intestines. Unfortunately though the worm could lock them preventing Pixal from operating them or if the worm went further in his system we might have to go down there to get it.”

“Let’s hope we don’t have to do that,” Cole commented. They took a moment to look at their surroundings as they all cleaned themselves off a bit having the slimy substance which was Zanes equivalent to mucus, some of his digestive fluids and some matter that was in it on them. It was grossing all of them out. The synthetic material that made up Zanes stomach was the same color as his throat a green tinted dark purple color. It was dark and would have been pitch black in there if it wasn’t for the lights on their attire. Since he was laying on his back everything in Zanes stomach was orientated so everything in it was lying on the back of the organ. They were situated by the top of his stomach by the entrance and their lights didn’t reach very far preventing them from seeing much in there. They took that as something relatively good as they were pretty sure they didn’t want to see what else was in there or the other end. What they were already seeing was gross and unnerving enough for them. Further hindering their lights and visibility was a slight haze in the air which they were guessing came from some of the gasses being produced by his digestive process. They were also guessing these gasses were partially responsible for the strong, unpleasant and chemically tainted smell that burned their noses a bit. Unfortunately their masks were only partially blocking the smell. While not too bad none of them found the smell very pleasant. Along with making their noses burn they felt a bit sick from it.

“This is the worst place we could have found ourselves in! So gross and dangerous! Very dangerous! At least it doesn’t smell too bad rate now,” Jay complained trying to calm down and not lose it making Lloyd who was unsettled wonder, “What do you mean not too bad, it can smell worse in here?”

“Yha, Cole and Kais cooking can make it way worse like that time Cole made that stuff before Wu got lost after battling the time twins that made us all super sick…” Jay began and Kai commented looking around terrified at where he found himself, “how could any of us forget that. It was nasty. All of us except for Zane and Wu spent the night in the bathroom so we didn’t have to rush to the toilets every time we had to throw up. You spent most of the night thinking we were dying. Wu was smart not to have some of that stuff.”

“Hey it felt like we were dying didn’t it! Anyway Zane didn’t escape from that stuff either. Pixal warned him it was dangerous but he didn’t listen not wanting to be rude. What it did to him was nasty! Zanes system made the stuff into this very sticky dough looking stuff that got stuck and clogged up his stomach and like the first 20 centimetres of his intestines. It was not only disrupting and obstructing his system but causing him quite a bit of pain. It smelt horrid, one of the worst things I’ve ever smelt. To make it worse we had to use our hands to clean a good deal of it out of his guts…” Jay regaled and Cole expressed, “please don’t remind me of that. If the smell hadn’t been bad enough you making me clean the stuff out with my bare hands just made it worse… just remembering it makes me want to throw up.”

“I considered that your punishment for making us all sick and having caused Zane such a problem. That stuff was nasty to clean up and it took over four hours to clean it all out. Luckily we put Zane offline so he wouldn’t feel anything. The whole thing would probably have been more unpleasant not to mention painful for him than us especially since we had to use some non conventional tools to clean it out like one of the bottle cleaners from the kitchen. That probably would not have felt good having that used to scrub your insides. Luckily the sensors in his digestive system have a thin coating of the systems synthetic tissues coating them so the stuff didn’t get into the structures to cause damages or clog them but the stuff was defiantly interfering with their proper functioning and irritating them. That whole ordeal is why you started taking cooking lessons isn’t it?” Nya expressed and Cole stated, “yha that and some other things. You guys always making fun of or complaining of my cooking is another.”

“You know sure it normally is not nice smelling in here it’s not supposed to but I think the smell is stronger and fouler than it should be. I also don’t recall a haze in here. I think because his systems have been off for a few hours but there is still stuff being broken down in here the gasses made by the process have built up a bit instead of being emptied or moving on in his system to then be emptied like they normally would making the smell worse than it should be,” Nya noted. Despite Zane not having anything for breakfast there was still some stuff in his stomach. Most of what was in his stomach was the leftover scraps from the previous night’s dinner that hadn’t moved on yet in his system with tougher materials like bones that were still getting broken down being the only things still relatively intact. Most of the bones which looked to have been from two or three bones had been broken bitten into various sized chunks with one that looked like it had just been swallowed partially whole probably by accident. All were scattered about the place floating or sitting in the acid and all showed heavy signs of acid damage and had bits and chunks dissolved from them. Most of the softer matter was largely to fully dissolved making it hard to really identify what they had been and was just stuck in there because his system wasn’t active preventing it from being able to move into the rest of his system. The peach pit was from a peach Zane had been given for lunch two days earlier and was half broken down. Whereas the others not even Cole would eat a peach pit Zane wasn’t bothered by eating it sometimes swallowing a peach whole. It wasn’t healthy for him to eat the pit and even though he could break it down he was unable to convert most of the matter from it into energy so they were not entirely sure why he had a bad habit of eating them.

“Why are there bones in here? Feels like I’m in a gator with them here. I made enough for everyone to have their fill last night he didn’t have to eat the bones as well,” Cole commented looking around at their surroundings and Lloyd agreed unsettled, “why are there bones in here?”

“I’m not sure; I can’t see how Zane would enjoy them so I think he does it by accident or maybe he doesn’t understand he’s not supposed to eat them or that he doesn’t need to eat them. He also tends to eat other things that you’re not supposed to like peach pits, the skin to melons and pumpkins and the whole of a corn cob though he can’t turn most of the matter from those to energy even though he can break them down. I know he can not only break down bones but is capable of converting some of the materials from them like the marrow into energy unlike the other things he eats that he’s not supposed to so it’s not bad for him to eat them. He’s just not supposed to purposely eat them. His ability to digest bones is meant to be a safety precaution to prevent damages if he was to accidently swallow some after all with his jaw strength and metal made teeth and bones it’s very easy for him to accidently eat bits of bone every now and then and when broken bones often develop sharp edges which could cut up and damage his system so his system dissolves them so they can’t hurt him. Eating them on purpose isn’t going to hurt him but it’s not the healthiest nor is necessary. Pixal doesn’t do it very often nor does she ever do it on purpose but then again she better understands what it means to be a nindroid and understands human ways much better than Zane does. If he is doing it on purpose then all I can think of as a reason behind it is maybe he doesn’t want to waste any of his food or maybe he doesn’t realise he isn’t supposed to eat them on purpose,” Nya noted and Lloyd noted, “I could see him not wanting to let them go to waste. He doesn’t eat everything like Cole but unless he doesn’t like it or it makes him sick or from what he says it has no use for him or is dangerous or causes him problems he’ll eat most things including things people can’t eat or drink like motor oil and unlike some of us he always tries to eat all of his meal especially if it’s something someone else made and gave him; he thinks its rude to refuse it. He might not eat it all at once like Cole will but will save it and finish it later. He also has a habit that when someone gives him something to eat or drink as a gift he'll have it even if he doesn’t like it, it hurts him or makes him sick; he thinks it’s really rude to not have it even if he doesn’t like it or it hurts him. Remember that fermented fish stuff someone gave us once?”

“Dude how could we, that smell was horrid!” Cole commented and Kai regaled, “that was one of the worst things I’ve ever smelt! Just the smell made us all nearly barf! Pix and Zane were lucky they could turn off their sense of smell around that stuff.”

“How could we not forget that stuff!” Jay agreed and Lloyd regaled, “yha, none of us were going to have the stuff but not wanting to let it go to waste Zane had it… well him and Cole after we dared him to have some.”

“Yha the taste was slimy and gross even after rinsing them and it did not make me feel very good after that. I am never having that stuff again. We should have just taken the stuff to a zoo or park and fed some gators the stuff,” Cole regaled and Nya added, “yha Zane didn’t feel too good from it either. The chemicals and bacteria from the fermenting of those things upset his system. A droids system doesn’t handle fermented matter very well; the chemicals and bacteria from it upsets and irritates their systems and they can’t process the stuff very well.”...

To read the full story you can go here: archiveofourown.org/works/4469…

You can also view the images here: https://www.deviantart.com/robo-birdie/gallery/90881021/anatomy-of-a-droid-works Story synopsis: Something is attacking Zane from the inside. To save him the ninja are shrunk and sent inside him to find the culprits who are scattered throughout his insides and stop them before they can destroy him for good. Will they be able to save him in time and who is responsible for this attack? Along the way the others learn about the anatomy of droids like Zane and a bit of how he sees the world. You also get some tales of daily shenanigans from everyone.

[robobirdie]

Crafty little birbs.

Much like monkeys swinging from branch to branch, some parrots can swing through the trees with the greatest of ease, scientists have learned. But these colorful birds grip the branches with an unusual appendage: their beaks. Rosy-faced lovebirds can use their adaptable beaks as a third limb that supports them even as they swing like gibbons and spider monkeys. In research published Tuesday in Royal Society Open Science, scientists describe how the parrots hung underneath a 3D-printed “branch” and moved along by using their beaks and hind legs in tandem to alternately grasp, swing like a pendulum, let go and reattach themselves a few inches farther along.

Continue Reading.

[robobirdie]

Ninja (late) Valentines

A while back I made a little graphic of how the Ninja could spend their valentines. I totally forgot about posting it till this morning so here yha go: (to be fair my beloved companion parrot R2 was hatched the day before valentines day so since his passing that time of years always rather unpleasant causing me to forget things quite a bit.)

Extra:

R2 who I mentioned earlier: Feb 13, 2012 to July 12, 2018; yha in his right eye the pupil was misshapen making it tear shaped instead of round. He was born that way.

As a happier side note since we got him and his ginger and white sister in 2019 this big boy likes to be my valentines; whatever I do he likes to hang with me when I do anything. He especially loves anything to do with food. Luckily he only eats his food and not people food.

Just for some cool fun him and his sister as babies and when fully grown (yha they got big!)

[robobirdie]

Some Ninjago arts

Just some arts I made for my Ninjago stories. First up the Treehorn features in my story so I decided to give its design a more detailed overhaul. Some of the inspiration for its design came from ants.

Just a little sketch I made to go with my story Anatomy of a Droid. Got a new tablet for the holidays and decided to try something small while learning to work with it so I made this. It's just a little sketch of Zane playing a video game with his best friend Pixal who as a fellow droid can connect to the special Cyber-teddy he has next to him.

The teddy sitting next to him is this:

A snippet from the story featuring this:

“Yha but electricity isn’t all the same. The difference is the volts in its current that’s why you have to use an adapter when charging your phone or laptop. If you just plugged them into an outlet without an adapter you would damage your battery and it wouldn’t really charge it properly. Pure raw electricity is dangerous for Zanes power source that’s why when we do hook him up to a computer or anything that could transfer electricity to him the connectors we use have adapters built into them that way they don’t cause any stress to his heart. That is also why Lloyds powers are safer to help Zane than Jays. As pure energy his can deliver a much lower and gentler form of electricity that doesn’t easily hurt or overwhelm Zanes heart. Since he only has half the material from his original heart it’s more sensitive to being overworked and overloaded. Luckily his new bodies’ digestive system is more efficient at producing energy than his old body so it really helps keep his heart stable and healthy,” Nya explained and Kai wondered, “given the effects it has on him do you think Zane ever regrets giving up half his heart?”

“Are you kidding, you just see him and Pixal hanging together and you know he doesn’t regret it. Not only that he would do it again no matter how much it affects him. You remember how many times when Pixal was in the computer we found him having fallen asleep next to it or with a tablet after just trying to spend time with her,” Cole replied and Jay added as they continued on the trail, "yha that was pretty sad. I can't recall how many times we had to put him in his bed after finding him sleeping there. That's why I made that special teddy for him. I got one of an Ice Jaguar and modified it putting a special device me and Nya whipped up in it that not only had recordings of her voice but she could connect to it when they hung out together so they could spend time together. He still has it; it's in his nightstand; he sometimes brings it out when Pixals gone for long periods." Kai stated, “that period was kind of weird but also very sad. He carried that thing around a lot and often sat it next to him when we were relaxing or even at dinner. It did really make him happy though even if the thing gave off this unsettling being watched feeling. You know you're right there’s no denying he doesn't regret his actions there. Those two were meant for each other... 

Also for my stories I made my own version of the Bounty:

The stories mentioned:

[robobirdie]

Shadows of the Void potential prequel

Bonus: I have also come up with a concept for a potential prequel to these stories but currently not working on it nor know if I will work on it considering there are quite a few things I don't have worked out for it. Here though is an outline I have for the work:

A group of entities show up on ninjago’s shores. They are a strange beast race; hyena folks seeming tainted by some strange magic. They refer to themselves as Hunyeenmers (hun-yeen-mer) and seem to radiate strange energies from their presence. They quickly start conquering regions and ruling them as part of their own empire. No one not even elemental masters can stand up to them. They best the ninja with little problem every time using strange magic’s they’ve never seen. They can create dark fogs that unsettle and dampen powers (they often use this to baffle groups attacking them), summon strange monsters (void monsters like Noctern Crows, Serpent-flies, Xiversus, Vrimps, Elemental Wyrms, Nyctrea, Zkurocks) create portals to teleport themselves between locations, sap the energy from others, summon dark tentacles to whip from the shadows at entities or to restrain them, wield elemental like attacks, can manipulate and influence beasts and flora, weapons don’t damage them even when stabbed (Kai runs one through but gets shocked when the thing is unharmed pulling his weapon out and pointing it back at him instantly healing itself), they seem to see and know things others cannot not even nindroids, some can shapeshift becoming monsters or half man half beast creatures and they don’t seem to understand fear.

Once they conquer an area they leave a small amount of troops to rule the area with strange dark beings (Zivkin) and monsters of an unknown origin to guard their territory. As they conquer they note these entities actions are odd for conquerors and they seem to be looking for something. The ninja try to figure out who or what they are hoping it will help them defeat these things. Almost nothing is known; they check a few places including the library of Domu and the Explorers Club for clues into what they are looking for before frustrated by their losses and lack of knowledge they stumble across ancient texts hidden deep and largely forgotten in the monasteries library that references entities like these had been spotted long ago on the Dark Isle. Nothing else is mentioned. They decide to head to the dark isle to find this place they were spotted at which they find deep in some dark woods. It looks to be a strange dark tainted Necropolis of an unrecognisable origin. The place is empty with only strange passive monster like creatures (minor beasts of the void like Dreadrats, Deamon-Cockrel, Serpent-flies, Gremlickens) found in and near the location. Some of them sense something wrong to the location (what they feel is like the very fabric of the realm is frail and damaged letting something breach into the realm) but they can’t find the source. All they find is texts they can’t decipher as the language is unknown to anyone in their realm and cryptic looking reliefs and hieroglyphs depicting these entities with some dark massive monster. They feel these entities are searching for this monster though they can’t tell why. They head back deciding to interrogate one of these beings to find out more as they clearly know the common tongue; they’ve heard them speak it during fights and from media reports and social media.

They manage to catch one but Zane and Pixal disappear. They feel the two might be looking into something so let them be taking the one they’ve caught to interrogate. Meanwhile Zane and Pixal were kidnapped by these entities getting knocked out and dragged off in secret during the fight. The two wake up in some underground fortress and are brought to see the leader of the group. (‘Come share a drink metal-skins and we shall chat. We have dealt with automatons such as yourselves before and know what you like; am I right to assume you enjoy motor oil with your tea. Do not fear us you will not be harmed here. We wish to do some dealings with you two. With your logical minds we believe you will understand what we have to tell you. We can offer you the knowledge you seek but I warn you it will come at a serious cost.’ The leader tells them as he sits in his thrown as they approach). After a brief secret chat the two are let go. They return to the monastery but refuse to say anything about what happened. They claim to have been following a lead that proved useless not revealing their capture or chat. The others all accept their explanation. They have had no luck with the interrogation the one they caught saying nothing of value. Largely just rants about the lack of good food they have wondering why they don’t have bugs in their food, complaining about them personally, talking about working with certain monsters, etc. That night when they are all asleep someone sets the prisoner free. They find it missing in the morning and can’t figure out how it escaped feeling someone broke in to free it. They go about trying to fight back these enemies and catch another. After a few encounters and some strange occurrences amongst themselves they start to notice Zane and Pixal acting strange. They brush it off at first but after some major plans go wrong combined with strange actions, words and/or behaviours from Zane and Pixal they start to suspect something’s wrong with the two even though they deny anything’s wrong. They decide they’re going to have to do some analysis to them but are going to have to put them offline as they are pretty sure the two are not going to co-operate with them. Zane and Pixal overhear them talking about this. When the others go to find the two they can’t find them instead finding a note that they are sorry but have to do this but they don’t reveal what ‘this’ is.

They soon find from encounters from others and media that Zane and Pixal have joined these enemies and are helping them even dressing like them. They try to capture the two to figure out what is going on feeling these monsters have messed with them but the two evade them every time. Eventually they decide the only way to get the two is to go after the group’s leader. It takes them a serious effort having to enlist others to help them but they manage to capture and lock up Zane and Pixal, the leader however escapes. The two refuse to tell them what is going on just saying they have it wrong and are on the wrong side. They don’t believe the two feeling something’s seriously wrong with them thinking these monsters have done something to them. They don’t wish to do it but have to treat the two as criminals and decide they are going to have to do some work to fix them from whatever corruption these entities have put on them. They decide to do it the next day.

Wanting to know why his friend would betray them like this Jay secretly goes and talks to the two. They refuse to tell him what is going on proclaiming they made a promise and can only tell them for everyone’s safety they have to let these beings do their thing. They don’t actually want to cause harm despite the looks of things. Jay doesn’t want to believe them thinking something’s wrong with them. The two plead that Jay lets them go; they need to help these beings to save their world. Jay at first refuses but they eventually manage to wear him down and get him to co-operate (‘Please we have to do this. Sometimes even if we don’t want to we have to make hard and sometimes harsh and cruel decisions which seem wrong in order to do the right thing’, Zane pleads to convince Jay). The next day the others find the two missing and searching security they find Jay who forgot they had cameras on was the one to let them go. The others are mad at him feeling he let his feelings get a hold of him and he’s put everyone in danger. They continue to try and fight these entities. Eventually they note the enemy seems to be focusing on a specific area setting up a battlement there.

They manage to sneak in and capture the leader plus Zane and Pixal who try to stop them in the process. They take them back to the monastery and lock them up to interrogate them all. Both the leader who is eerily calm and Zane and Pixal keep telling them they have made a mistake. They don’t believe any of them. That night a strange dark event occurs and a strange large inky black monster (it’s like a serpentine creature with three sets of insect like legs and prey mantis like fore limbs that it sprays and oozes in defence and attack an ink like liquid that decays whatever the liquid touches even metal which degrades to dust) appears from the area these beings had their fortress. The thing spreads out causing the world where it wanders and where the strange inky ooze it sprays touches to start decaying.

Nothing can fight it; the ninja are powerless against it. (After a failed attempt to stop it they return to the hanger bay and find the leader having broke out of imprisonment looking at media coverage on the main screen. ‘So she is free. We could have stopped this but alas the small unintelligent minds of humans interfered and as usual hastens their doom’, he states to them. He gives no fight as they take him to interrogate him. He could escape because nothing they have can hold those like him. His powers let him unlock the door.) When they talk to him the leader opens up revealing who they are and what they were doing. They are from a place they deem beyond the realms a place they refuse to speak of as to know its name could lead to the end of the world; knowledge of it could spark the wrong kinds to seek its powers and lead to the end of the world. His people once lived in the realms in a place meant to be lost to all others because the realm was broken the place their kind come from oozing into and having a strong hold on the realm but dark beings in this realm cursed his tribe and the other remaining ones of his people to the cursed realm long ago.

While there they sought an escape and called upon an ancient spirit they refer to as Storabek. He gave them salvation but at a great cost. They were no longer beings of the realms becoming something else entities no longer of the living but no longer of the dead either but a state they would not understand. As payment for their release they had to keep tabs and prevent an ancient demon, Tiamnira (tia-mnir-a) the decayer of worlds from being found or escaping her ancient prison. Long ago it took many powerful warriors and ancient spirits to lock it up. From where they dwelled they saw the troubles in the realms and feared this demon may end up getting loose so came to the realm to find an entrance to her prison which has been lost for ages and destroy her before she can be let loose; she can truly not be destroyed but they can banish her from the realms and trap her back to where she came from so she can no longer hurt the realms. They conquered the people to keep them from interfering in their work and hopefully keeping anyone from seeking this monster. Unfortunately someone figured out what they were doing and has been trying to rush ahead of their work to release this thing thinking they will be able to control it not understanding entities like this cannot be controlled by anyone save two beings who come from where they are from but neither are present or in the power to do such leaving them as the only ones able to do anything to stop this monster. Because they share powers and origin with this thing these entities are the only ones able to stop it. They are hesitant to agree with him.

When interrogating Zane and Pixal after the two reveal that these entities told them all about what was going on but swore them to secrecy as they could not fully trust the ninja would co-operate and do the right thing largely due to Lloyds heritage; they worried the darkness of this beast would affect his oni nature corrupting him. The two agreed and helped hinder them so the group could do their work. They understood the reasons and need for secrecy. When they heard the others talking of inspecting them they were scared worried the secret would be revealed and they may be in danger so fled to help these entities search and hurry up their work. After some thought they decide to help these entities who promise when their task is done they will leave and no longer be a threat. They have to help these entities lure this monster into a trap and destroy this monster before it gets too far. It’s a struggle but they manage to aid the entities into trapping her using powerful wards filled with energies of light from the void fused into rune stones the entities construct before the groups leader empowers himself with energy from the void calling upon this Storabek. The act causes him to be struck with energy from the runes they put up turning him into a dragon (the Stags dragon form; calling upon the Stag for help turns him into an avatar for Storabek for the fight) to fight this monster while the rest fight back the dark monsters aiding Tiamnira. After a struggle the leader manages to destroy her before collapsing transforming back to normal. After the battle the entities clean up all traces of themselves to protect the realm from their presence and influence from where they came from. Before they leave the leader gives them a warning that he senses a darkness coming and that they should be on guard for what may come.

The individual who found the vessel and unleashed the demon thinking they could use it for their own purposes found out about this entity after looking up about these new beings wanting to know what they were or who they were thinking they could be allies for them. They had to find very secret and forbidden scrolls with the knowledge hidden somewhere out of reach. They had to make a bargain with monsters from the origin place of both the entities and monsters. Once released the monster he thought he could control destroys him.

Things happening in background:

-Zane keeps having strange dreams and nightmares of a strange place and dark monsters (he’s seeing visions of the Ash Wastes and Ashers foreshadowing what’s to come.) It keeps distracting him and a few times it causes him to slip up/get in trouble/get hurt or get anxious. He keeps his dreams secret confused about everything. 

- Jay is the focus ninja not sure how though; could relate to his mother maybe wondering why she left him and if she had done the right thing in abandoning him.

-Cole sneaks off a few times to spend time with Seliel. Jay investigating his mom is bother him as it keeps bringing up his feelings of his moms death upsetting him making him struggle with his emotions around the subject.

-Kai and Nya are helping Jay. At times they note oddities to the others but are unsure if they should do something about it. They look a bit into it but decide to not bother them and let them work their problems out on their own. They are however going to keep an eye on them to look out for them.

-these entities and the strange energy they bring are messing with Lloyd and his powers. Sometimes they're more powerful or weaker than he intends. He starts worrying he might be loosing control of his Oni side as he feels oddly drawn to the energy of these monsters and gets an odd homely/comforting feeling to it. (its the energies of light these entities who are actually dark, cryptic, primal and beastial looking bring with them that he's feeling comforted by)

-worried about Coles sneaking off Nya and Pixal look into it. When they find out he's seeing someone they keep it secret knowing he'd prefer to let them know on his own terms. They also understand his need to see someone else having noted Jays search into his mom has stressed Cole with feelings of his mothers death and the grief it makes him feel. They make suttle comments hinting they know but Cole doesn't get them.

[robobirdie]

Chapter 44: King of the Void

Due to some recent update's to Tumbler it makes it difficult for me to post the chapter here so here is a snippet from the new and last chapter to the main story arc for Shadows of the Void:

“Poor thing, you sacrificed yourself to the void to save others but it has cost you dearly. You have lost yourself to its emptiness,” a woman’s voice proclaimed. He calmed down to listen wondering where it had come from. Even though he couldn’t remember he somehow felt he had heard the voice before. When he pin pointed where the voice had come from he saw standing in the shadows of a tower whose top had fallen over ahead of him and leaned against its base creating a makeshift archway was the silhouette of a woman. Upon seeing her the others bowed in respect to her; he just growled baring his teeth.

“You have fallen so far that you cannot even speak anymore, you cannot even remember who you once were,” the figure stated slowly walking out of the shadows. She resembled a human but her skin was dark almost black and her long hair black both speckled with spots the color and even the faint glow of moonlight, her eyes were red, pale Oni like markings were on her face and body and two small bumps for horns were on her forehead. She wore a dark sleeveless robe which bore pale spots that glowed with a pale light like that of stars.

“You have forgotten haven’t you? Not just your memories but who your friends and family are, what you once were, who you really are,”...

Due to changes of how tumblr allows posts I find it very hard to publish the chapters of my story here now so you will have to read them here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/34894561/chapters/86888878

I will however still post updates and artworks here but to read the chapters you will have to visit the site posted above.

To read this chapter and find previous chapters look here: https://robobirdie.tumblr.com/archive

You can also find a copy of the story written here https://archiveofourown.org/works/34894561/chapters/86888878 and here https://www.wattpad.com/1087355671-ninjago-the-oni-scrolls-foreword-important-info You can also find images pertaining to the story here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project

This may be the end of the main story but the story is not over yet. There is still some more to come and in the works. The main threat may be over but the ninja and knights will now have to deal with a secretive and dark group of Dagons allies called the Shadow Court.

[robobirdie]

Daily Ninja

While writing the short Dazed Weekend a while back I came up with an idea that this story and possibly one of my other works Anatomy of a Droid could be worked into; a collection of stories under the title Daily Ninja which is based off something I saw once I’m not sure where or by who but I like the idea; basically a season following the ninja as they just go about their daily lives doing random things and not fighting a major antagonist the whole time. Nothing seems to relate but by the end you realize they’ve unknowingly been hindering a bad guys plans, all the criminals, thugs and strange occurrences they interrupt or stop over the time which they think are just random occurrences have ties and are working for this bad guy, and the final conflict is the bad guy having gotten fed up of their interfering decides to fully unleash their plans instead of secretly doing them like they have been thinking the ninja are onto him/her and wanting to beat them before they beat him/her. Some ideas of what could happen in episodes include: (I might write out some of these ideas in the future but don't have plans to at this time).

Other ideas I came up for this idea include:

School Day

They take a day to go to the community center/collage for some fun and relaxation during an open house. Most of them end up trying a few things through the day with some getting into problems. Cole tries to go to the gym section to work out and mind his own business Kai however joins him and keeps trying to show off leading to him getting kicked out of the room. Cole leaves before then though not wanting to be associated with Kai. Kai finds a martial arts class next and gets involved with that taking it over which leads those leading it to kick him out of there then later gets involved with a survival class where he likes to flaunt his ability to make fire without traditional methods annoying those leading the class who are trying to teach useful skills.

Cole decides to try an art class after the gym with Jay. They first make some pottery then do some drawing of plants and fruits. Things are going well till the class moves on to do sketching of a live model. While everyone else isn’t bothered by the nude model focussing on honing their skills Jay is incredibly uncomfortable with it (think MR. Bean when he does the art class for referance you can watch here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KFAciyGHk4). He keeps trying to find ways to avoid it and cover the model up. Wanting to avoid being associated with Jay Cole leaves that. He meets up with Lloyd whose been hanging in the library reading comic books. Lloyd had done some pottery in the art class with him but left after not interested in the drawing part. Zane had been in the library earlier but left to investigate other things. Cole ends up falling asleep while reading then gets kicked out for snoring; decides to take a cooking class afterwards. Meanwhile Nya has been in the mechanics class the whole time building a vehicle from a disused van, Jay left the art class shortly after Cole uncomfortable with the model drawing so went to a woodworking class before joining Nya and helping work with her on the vehicle. The two decide after completing the vehicle to go to the pool where they meet Cole and Zane. The two had met up in a cooking class before coming to the pool.

Zane has been wandering just doing his own thing all day. He’s been largely using his cloaked appearance as he’s noticed his normal titanium appearance is scaring people particularly kids and making some people uncomfortable. He started in the library before taking a gardening class making a small terrarium with some house plants. He then went outside to do some bird watching and just relax by himself before joining Cole in the cooking class where they made brownies and Zane didn’t realise till Cole pointed it out that him drinking the oil they were supposed to be cooking with was unnerving people. (C whispering- why are you drinking the cooking oil? Z- the cooking oil made from kelp oil is not as good as its motor oil variant but it isn’t too bad. C- if you’re going to drink it you might want to put it in a cup so it doesn’t look weird, you’re kind of creeping people out.) They are eventually joined by Lloyd and Kai at the pool. Lloyd and Jay decide to test each other and play chicken on the jumping platforms. When they get to the higher ones both become scared but try to hide it and prove their braver. By the highest platform both are getting vertigo and scared to make the jump but don’t want to chicken out in front of each other. Nya and Kai decide to have some fun with some water park style water slides the pool has Nya using her powers to make it more thrilling and promising to help her brother who is nervous of drowning in the deep pool at the bottom. Eventually lifeguards get a bit annoyed at some of their behaviours so they decide to leave since it is also getting late. Cole and Zane meanwhile have fallen asleep in the hot tub after spending some time chilling in the shallow end of the regular pool. When he’s asleep Zanes cloak shuts off and his appearance is scaring others. They wake the two to get going where they collect the things some of them made during the day then go out for dinner before heading home.

In the school some of those visiting are from the crook there to steal some important items (could be the chemicals used to make the illness poison for a later episode). They get caught by some of the ninja (possibly while he’s moving from one activity to another Cole comes across them and takes them to campus guards for stealing of items and their suspicious activities.

Ninja Fever

They all end up getting really sick and have to still deal with criminals. After a strange battle they all end up getting an illness even Zane letting them know somehow this illness isn’t natural. Their illness is like a cold with attributes that attack features of them to weaken them (Cole has poor strength and no appetite, Kai feels freezing all the time, Jay keeps having hallucinations causing him to get panic attacks over them, Lloyd has no energy and struggles to focus, Nya feels hot dry and sore, Zane has a loss of co-ordination and balance, dizziness and he keeps randomly passing out offline for a couple seconds at a time while having symptoms that mimic a common cold). They also have some other issues. Jay gets pinkeye and everyone is trying to keep their distance from him worried of catching it even Zane and Pixal who can’t catch the condition but are reacting like the others worried of becoming a contagion for others. He also keeps causing outlets, light switches and appliances to short circuit. Along with no appetite Cole frequently feels nauseous and too much talking of food makes him throw up. At random Zane ends up with periods of jumbled speech which annoys him and he has frost develop on his skin; his eyes go off color a white to indicate he’s sick and the worse he feels the duller his eyes glow goes. Kai has a rash and keeps spontaneously lighting on fire; Jay and Lloyd keep carrying around a fire extinguisher to put him out. The illness causes them all to have problems controlling their powers. While finding it intriguing that this illness is letting him understand how the others feel when ill it is really bothering Zane as while he is aware of the programmed virus giving him the problem he nor anyone else can remove it from his programming leaving him stuck suffering the illness with the others.

Wu and Pixal have to find a cure for them all while they are all still sick having to fight some bad guys while ill. Zane keeps trying to function like normal but struggles to do so, Cole tries to function like normal but spends a lot of time napping or resting with his eyes closed trying not to feel nauseous, Kai complains a lot even when he’s not too bad, Jay keeps complaining thinking he’s dying and being dramatic about it, Nyas trying to not let it bother her but is getting moody and irritated over it and Lloyd is a mix of wanting to be left alone to sleep all day and highly irritated while trying to keep going. (This one is inspired by the Nexo Knight episode Saturday Knight Fever) Bonus their illness is caused by the bad person trying to hinder them and was given to them during a battle with some crooks who dumped some of a potion on each of them then one of the crooks using a spell on them to activate the potion and making them sick even Zane.

The illness was given to them to try and hinder even remove them. The illness over time could slowly be weakening and would eventually kill them; this could be a little too dark but could help drive the story and why they need to find a cure and fast as it can't be cured by normal means for any of them.

Camp Days

They go on a vacation camping in a national park that has something for each of their elements for them to get more in tune to their element. Wu wants them to at least once meditate surrounded by something from their element while they are there. Mountains for Cole, a glacier in the mountains for Zane, lakes and rivers for Nya, storms are common for Jay, campfires and an area recently burnt by forest fires for Kai and the energies of nature for Lloyd. They use an RV they made themselves based off the Bounty; it has a bunk bed section with all their beds and a kitchen relax area. Zane likes to just wander off and explore the nature for several hours before returning to just relax at their site sometimes enticing critters particularly birds to the site to watch them. Animals aren’t as scared of him as with people. He also likes to just relax at the site or at the visitor center where he watches the wildlife or meditates; it’s not uncommon for him to fall asleep while relaxing no matter where he is; this tends to scare some people as they are unnerved by his appearance though insects and birds are often attracted to him. He likes the birds and some of the insects. Not pleased with flies, wasps, mosquitoes or other flying insects that frequently try to get at his eyes annoying him. Accidently swallows a cicada at one time which continues to make noise inside him for close to twenty minutes irritating him and freaking Jay out which amuses Kai. The others are just grossed out. Jay doesn’t like Zane attracting the wildlife to the site especially when he or the others let them climb on them or take food from their hands thinking it will make them bold, dangerous and to bite. Cole likes to chill at the site often having a snack or spends time climbing trees, rock faces and even buildings to the dislike of park rangers; likes to go to the nearby town or park facilities like shops and restaurants for dining out or to get goods at a local bakery. Zane generally isn’t interested in the town only going there if they are getting dinner there or for ice creams or milkshakes. Cole doesn’t mind the wildlife but greatly dislikes when they try to get his food. He often carries plenty of snacks and drinks in a pack wherever he goes especially on trails.

Kai is not one for the rugged camping but does like going to beaches to sun himself. Also likes to have fun with a wildlife sighting board in the visitor center putting on mythical creatures or creatures not found in the region just to mess with naturalists and get kids all happy and excited to possibly see something or at least make them happy to be on their family trip by getting them to hope to see something cool. Just for fun even put Zane on the board a couple times making fun descriptions and titles for him; the others find it funny but Zane and Pixal are confused about it. Kai prefers hanging around the town to site see, interact with fans and play arcade games. He’s not a fan of rugged wilderness conditions. Jay also is not too fond of the wilderness and likes to go to town for an arcade on the main strip, doesn’t like to go into the wilderness often because of all the creatures which he finds scary or dangerous.

Lloyd also likes to go to the arcade but also just likes to hang around the site to play board games with whoever wants to usually Pixal, Cole and Nya. Nya likes to go swimming or on canoe trips. Lloyd likes to join on canoe trips often dropping bread pieces or duck feed in the water for ducks to follow them. Pixal likes going to the visitor center where she improves on displays and exhibits holding rescued native wildlife that can’t be returned to the wild but are used for education like turtles, fishes and snakes thinking her work more efficient and informative. Also often fills in for the naturalists who are a bit annoyed at her and embarrassed that she’s doing a better job than them especially since it isn’t her job but she’s still better at it than them. It rains most of the time they are there, they even get a serious storm one night which floods their campsite though they are safe in their trailer (they have to dig and clean up mats and things that got dirty in the storm the next day though; the storm unnerves Jay and Lloyd but everyone is relatively fine as they are in the safety of their RV). Jay is fine with the weather as it lets him get away with staying inside and playing video games. Kai is not pleased by the weather not liking the cool and damp but likes that it gives him an excuse to go to town or stay indoors, Lloyd is also not fond of the cool and damp either but everyone else isn’t too bothered and works around it or doesn’t mind getting wet including Zane and Pixal.

While camping they end up stopping some illegal smuggling one day without realising it. Some crooks are using an old abandoned rail bed to make illegal dealings. This rail has been turned into part of a hiking trail. The part the smugglers are using is a section off the trail used as a road for maintenance crews for the park and as a bail out point for the main trail in case of problems or starting the long several hours travel trail too late in the day and individuals need to get out before being stuck in the woods at night. Because they’re annoying some of the park staff and him with their antics Wu sends them all for a hike on a nice day to give everyone a break. They started the trail thinking they had enough time and could handle the hard trail but find it is taking too long and the muddy, buggy conditions are annoying some and making it difficult. Would also be funny that some trail markers have been chewed down by beavers to build their dams (I’ve been on trails where this has happened. It’s funny yet also annoying). This could cause them to get lost at one point. They manage to make it to the old rail bed section which is a gravel road and they decide to use the bail out as none of them want to be out in the woods at night especially with being all muddy, bad weather coming, no food and little water and the bugs. The bailout hasn’t been tended to recently so there are some fallen trees, potholes and overgrown foliage to some parts. (This is inspired by something I’ve personally had to do. In Algonquin park on a trail known as Mizzy Lake; it was very muddy from recent heavy rains, we started later than we should have, it was hot and we had no drinks or snacks and we were plagued by these little black flies that were able to get under our clothes to leave bites everywhere; had to navigate out of the woods on the overgrown and unkempt bail out path. My family now likes to jokingly call this trail Misery Lake.) While making their way through the area some like Jay being very moody from being tired and hungry (when others answer when he keeps asking how much further they have to go Jay keeps saying ‘you’re lying’ and being dramatic trying to lie down or sit on anything or anywhere whenever someone explains almost there; my one sister did this when we were kids on a trail) they stumble upon the smugglers who think the ninja have been tracking them down and are there to interfere.

After some arguing the ninja having no clue what they are going on about and a fight that reveals to the ninja the groups activities they put an end to their smuggling and restrain the crooks before using their vehicles to get out of the area where they exit by the hiking trails entrance where they deliver the crooks to the rangers who are there to keep people from starting the trail too late in the day. The rangers take the crooks to the cops while the ninja on Coles request (he kept asking if they would make it out before it closed despite Zane and Pixal both confirming it would be open when they are out) they visit the campground store and restaurant to pick up dinner before returning to their site to have dinner before getting cleaned up at the showers in the campground bathrooms some like Jay, Kai and Lloyd getting unnerved by encountering bugs like big moths, spiders or crane flies or frogs, snakes or lizards in the enclosed shower rooms with them. The others aren’t really bothered though Cole and Nya shoo them out before starting their showers, Zane and Pixal aren’t really bothered letting the creatures hang with them the whole time before taking them out when they’re done feeling the creatures are there just for the water and warmth of the water and room or in the case of the bugs the lights. After cleaning up they spend the night relaxing at their site roasting marshmallows and chilling before bed.

Team Works

As a team building exercise Lloyd organises a series of tasks and geo searches for them all to do pairing individuals he knows are not the best fit together for the task and has tasks designed specifically for them tailored to certain attributes he knows are their flaws to teach them how to work through problems when they just have each other and are put in situations where their flaws cause problems for them and can cause them to fail. Pairs Jay and Kai together knowing they tend to clash and get on each other’s nerves quite a bit. Pairs Nya and Zane together focussing on Nyas quick to anger and Zanes poor understandings and workings with emotions often using logic above all which can cause problems for delicate or sensitive issues. Puts Cole and Pixal together; Coles more down to earth while Pixals more high tech; hopes they can learn from each other. Lloyd goes with Wu more of just to bond and relax than actually work. Unknowingly they all end up stopping crimes not part of what they were originally there doing during the task. Bonus they went to a hotel/resort for a vacation when doing this so they are in an unfamiliar environment without typical attire or equipment to rely on in order to do this. Kai and Jay thought they could get out of it and just play some games at an arcade but get caught up in investigating some thefts and missing people. They butt heads and get on each other’s nerves quite a bit while working giving them some problems.

Zane and Nya have to help an old farmer find his beloved large flightless bird like a rhea. Zane doesn’t understand that he should be more gentle with his words and not just blantly express the creature could have falling to some ill fate as it is a part of nature and to be prepared for the possibility of that before they even start looking. When they find the creature it gives them a hassle and is temperamental to them which causes Nya to get short tempered making the animal less co-operative to them and constantly getting away from them as it is scared of her attitude. They also have to keep boping it in the head with a rubbish bin lid to keep it from biting them and to herd it. The creature is loose because it chased criminals from its property and had them trapped in their base at a storage facility outside town where some of the stolen items and missing people Kai and Jay are looking for are being held. The two pairs are unaware their tasks are related and don’t end up directly interacting. Z and N take the bird away which lets the crooks get free and in their haste to escape worried the bird will come back the crooks mess up and make it easier for J and K to find them.

For Cole and Pixal they have to help a business or bank something with a vault that was being stolen from however the crooks mistakenly locked themselves in and the whole place is locked down trapping the places workers and the crooks in the place. Following their task the two have to work together taking roles they normally wouldn’t to get the job done. Pixal has to do the more rugged down to earth work while Cole has to do the high tech work. Their team building exercises disrupt various components of the crooks schemes which they are using to fund and grow their operations.

[robobirdie]

Anatomy of a Droid written in a script format.

Just testing out my writing skills and tried writing my short story Anatomy of a Droid out in a different format; the format used for scripts. Since I already had most of the dialogue which is the primary component to a script format and the story outlined already written I took a try at formatting the story into a script format. It really didn’t take long to rework it a bit. I took creative writing in high school and excelled quite well in it so know a few formats for writing. Script format can be useful in displaying physical happenings in a story but is more monotone and I find not so lively as it’s less in depth and descriptive method prevents proper and good relay of emotions and concepts as it relies heavily on dialogue with only simple descriptive wordings to actions, feelings and concepts. Because of these I’m not a big fan of this style however it can sometimes be useful to portray actions that aren’t easily written into a typical stories format such as how the author envisioned things happening in their story.

Act 1

Jay enters Zane room and looks for him asking if Zane wants challenge him to a few rounds of a game. Doesn't see him so leaves confused. Cuts to him entering the common room where the others are sitting on the couches playing a video game. 

Jay comments as he comes into the room: Zane wasn't in his room, has anyone seen him this morning? 

Nya comments: You know thinking of it I haven’t seen Pixal all day either. (They talk while continuing to game.) 

Kai comments: the two love birds probably went out for some time together on their own, just let them have their time with each other. 

Jay states as he joins the others to game: Yha they haven't had much time alone together recently they deserve some time by themselves. I'll challenge him to a few rounds later.

While they are playing Kai wonders: What do those two do together when they’re on their own?

Lloyd adds: I don’t know droid things I guess.

Kai asks confused: And what would droid things be? 

Also confused Lloyd: I’m not really sure. Going over the latest software updates or potential new upgrades maybe? 

Feeling confident Kai: Yha that kind of sounds right.

Cole pausing playing to address the others: that’s not it they just like to hang out together just chilling sometimes playing video games, watching TV, reading or going for walks in the wilderness or gardening; sometimes visiting a museum, botanical garden or Zoo. They especially like aviaries, apparently birds really like seeing them too. They also like to volunteer at animal shelters and wild life rehabs. Sometimes they also just like resting together. They just like to be with each other and don’t need to be doing anything fancy or special; sometimes being in the same room with each other as they do their own thing is all they need.

Kai confused: Why would you think that? That’s not really something I’d think of for droids; I’d think of them doing more tech things.

Cole a little annoyed at Kais lack of understanding: cause I asked them. If you just asked them it wouldn’t be such a mystery to you two.

Nya and Jay pausing in gaming. 

Nya: Just because they’re droids doesn’t mean they do things much differently from us. Sure something’s are different and their thinking’s are quite different but they aren’t too different from us. They like to do the same things and enjoy some of the same things as us. Nindroids are special and are more like us than some mere robot

Jay: yha just because they’re droids doesn’t mean they have to do droid or tech things. The two are a lot more down to earth than their artificial makes suggest. Maybe if you two learned more about the nature of Nindroids a lot about Zane and Pixal wouldn’t seem so mysterious to you. You should take some time to read that book me and Nya made for the rest of you; it explains a lot. Or you could always help us out once in a while when we’re working on them. Cole has done both.

Jay picks up and shows the book they made which they have sitting on the table in the room for easy access for the others. 

Confident and happy for his praise Cole: yha, I wanted to know why some of my cooking had real bad effects on them now I know… I also know more than I felt like knowing. I guess though it’s worth it to make sure they’re safe and properly cared for.   

Pausing the game and grabbing the book to look at it a little uneasy with the book. 

Lloyd: I guess you’re kind of right even if it sounds rather gross to learn about it… (Kai adds 'really gross' before Lloyd continues) hey does anyone else find it a little creepy how the two can talk with each other without well talking sometimes? 

Nya: it’s part of being a droid. They can communicate directly into each other’s brains whenever they want to kind of like a form of direct messaging with your phone. I will agree it can be a little creepy yha. They try not to do it around us cause they know it can unsettle us but they sometimes can’t help it. It’s just part of their nature to communicate that way. 

As they get back into the game. 

Jay: Yha it’s creepy when they do that especially when you walk in on them and their just looking at each other or it looks like they are meditating with their eyes closed but they’re reacting like they’re talking yet it doesn’t look like they are… how do we know they’re not saying bad things about us to each other behind our backs?

Cole: like the rest of us don’t? 

His statement annoys Jay but amuses Kai and Lloyd. Nya then gets a call on her phone and answers it. 

Nya: Hey Pix we were just wondering about you and Zane… oh okay we’ll be rate there (She hangs up.) 

Cole curious: So what are the two lovebirds up to?  

While looking at her phone confused. 

Nya: Pixal wants to see us in the hanger bay and to bring our weapons; said it was urgent. She sounded nervous. 

The comment makes the others confused so they decide to go see what is going on. They get up and leave the room.

Cuts to in the hanger bay where Pixal and Wu  are waiting for them looking over Zane who is lying on a table with a panel over his heart open, is hooked up to the main computer which is monitoring his vitals and wearing worn dirty pants. 

 Kai teases: Had a bit of an accident did we?

As they enter Kais comment catches Pixal and Wu's attention. 

Pixal confused: no it is something worse.

Flashes back to that morning as Pixal talks. She entered the room wondering why Zane was still asleep when he was usually up already. Zane is lying curled up on his one side looking to be asleep yet in serious pain. She attempts to connect her communication circuits to his but can't and finds him in a strange state not fully awake but also not fully asleep. She's not sure what's going on but is worried. She tries to wake him but he doesn't respond. She picks him up commenting to him 'don't worry Zane I'm going to find out what is wrong and keep you safe. You're going to be okay.' 

Pixal: I noticed Zane was sleeping in later than usual so I went to check on him. I was unable to wake him and I could sense something was wrong.  

 Flashes back to the hanger bay where. 

Pixal continues: After I brought him down here I put him offline so he wouldn't feel anything and after quick analysis I found several major damages and multiple mild ones to various systems that appear to have been done solely to cause pain. It made no sense how he had received them till when I was repairing the damages I found one of these.

She picks off a smaller table next to the one Zane is on which has various tools, bottles and containers the worm and shows it to them. There is a tear in its side with some wires sticking out.

Lloyd confused: What is that?

Pixal: it is some form of robotic worm solely designed to destroy a droid from the inside by slowly and painfully tearing it apart.

Kai: I guess not even droids are immune to parasites.

Pixal: parasites generally do not want to kill their host after all if their host dies they die. These are worse than parasites. Their sole purpose is to destroy the host by any means at any cost. I found that one trying to cut into his spine and destroyed it.

Picking up the robotic worm to get a better look at it.  

Nya: Where’d this thing come from? 

Pixal: I do not know. I have to do more investigations into it but I can deduce this thing is responsible for some of the damages done.

Her comment makes Cole uneasy. 

Cole: some? What do you mean by some?

Pixal shows them on the computer a scan she's done revealing four foreign signals in Zane's body. 

Pixal: The damages were so numerous and severe it seemed odd such a little thing could cause such damage on its own so I did a scan and picked up four other signatures matching this worm meaning there are four more inside him. Since I started making repairs they are hiding in places that are not easy to reach to prevent from being harmed and they are giving off signals to try and prevent being found. I can find the general location they are hiding but not the precise location. If I was to try and get them they likely would move off to another location to avoid capture meaning I would have to remove everything in order to reach all of them.

Cole worried: I’m guessing that’s very bad.

Pixal: Indeed. Not only will it take a long time but could cause damages and has a high chance of potentially proving fatal.

Jay worried: So then what do we do?

Wu holding up a spell book: we have already thought it out and we are not hopeless here. There is one thing we can try that will hopefully work. I found a spell that can shrink you to a size decent enough to enter his body and deal with these worms on their own field.

Cole: On their own field, are you saying what I think your saying? 

All of them nervous of this statement.

Wu: we can shrink you small enough to safely enter his body and fight the worms on their own field. 

Nya and Cole agree that sounds like the best option for their circumstances. 

Cole: Sounds like a plan.

Nya: Indeed and this is probably our best option.

Jay: it sounds kind of scary and uncomfortable but if it means saving Zane I'm willing to try it. 

Kai and Lloyd are very uneasy with this idea.  Lloyds quite but clearly nervous.

Kai worries: Being shrunk and going inside Zane's body... are you sure that's safe?

Pixal: It should be fairly safe. It is not as if he will be active and moving around so you will not get hurt plus I have temporary shut down all systems so if you end up in them you will not get harmed at least not much. I have also quickly whipped up some masks with air tanks so you will be able to breathe as there will not be sufficient oxygen in most parts inside his body for you to get enough to breathe effectively for an alert and active state. They will also protect your face from any of the potentially dangerous substances in his body and provide sufficient light to help you see while in there.

They are still uneasy but decide to do it. 

Lloyd: if that's all we have then lets do this.

Pixal gets them the additions for their outfits which are rebreathers which are connected to oxygen tanks. They put them on Kai and Lloyd visibly a bit nervous. 

Pixal once they are dressed: The workings of Zane's own body will interfere with the signals for communicators but I can work around this by routing their signal through Zane's systems so we can still keep in contact. 

Wu uses the spell on them. They are encompassed by a bright light which when it dissipates they are shrunk to the size of ants. Nya isn't bothered, Cole comments "this feels weird", Jay and Kai are nervous though Kai is trying to pretend it isn’t bothering him and Lloyd is nervous but trying to hide it.

Lloyd: alright let's get this started. 

Pixal picks them up and places them gently in Zanes chest on the holder for his power source.  Lloyd Nya and Cole focused while Jay and Kai are looking around nervous and feeling a bit uncomfortable. 

Lloyd: Okay where is the first place we should check? 

Pixal directs: his left shoulder area; some damages are starting to appear in the area likely indicating one is active in the area. 

They turn on the lights in their masks and start to make their way to the area. They are crawling between Zane's skin and his inner makes .  The underside of Zane's skin bares structures that are hybrids of normal wires in a metallic synthetic material. 

Lloyd: I thought his skin was just metal plates.

Jay explaining: on the outside it looks like that. The metal plates are like the armoured scales of a crocodile providing not only form but protection for the interior of his body. They are fused into a more flexible synthetic skin like material to allow him better movement and flexibility. Those wire structures built into them are like nerves. They not only allowing him to get a sense of feeling and touch but to feel if pressures applied to areas could harm or damage the interior parts of his body. 

Kai uneasy and cautious of where he's putting himself: what are these we're on?

Nya explaining: they are synthetic muscles. They act and look like real muscles. They follow a similar pattern to ours however they are worked around some spots like the area over his heart that way if major components needed to be worked on it is easier to access them. All of the synthetic muscle like structures are connected to his internal skeleton through special rectangular connectors. Like with his skin the muscles bare the same wire like structures fused into them. These wires transfer the communications for movement from his brain into the fibres and provide feeling for them to help prevent stressing them out. These wire structures are connected to wires that run through small hollows in his titanium internal skeleton that way they are kept safe from getting pinched or damaged by other parts in his body. His internal skeleton largely replicates a human skeleton. The most notable differences are the frames around ports for things like storage or hiding of small foreign items and for connectors from devices and computers to be hooked up through in his chest and abdomen and of course the holder for his heart.

Lloyd getting a closer look at the structures: I didn't realize he had muscles.

Cole a little proud of himself for knowing this: if you read that book you would know that. You would also know they help take pressure off his joints so they can move better, receive less stress from movement and provided extra strength for his body both in support and physical strength though he still doesn't have as good a strength as me. They also help protect the more important internal structures and systems from damage particularly from impacts and help dampen sounds from deeper in his body.

A noise from his heart a slightly electric toned sound that mimics' a normal hearts beat can be heard in his body while they are in him. Depending on where they are in his body it's sound is louder or quieter. 

Kai uneasy: speaking of sounds what is that sound?

Jay: It's just his heart. It's actually rather quite in here rate now probably because his all his other systems are offline. If they were on it would be a lot noisier in here. Normally you can't hear sounds from in his body unless you put your ear close to the sources sound. The dampening his skin and muscles give helps keep the sounds from his internal workings quite for us plus him preventing them from interfering with his hearing. 

Kai unnerved: I don't want to know what sounds are normally in here. 

Lloyd: it is kind of unnerving to hear his heartbeat but it's a good thing we can hear it; it means he's still alive. 

Nya: indeed. We still don't know what the material that makes up his heart is but if it was to stop working it would likely not start again and we'd permanently loose Zane.

Jay: yha his heart is very special and very powerful but also very sensitive and fragile. Zane's father refused to tell us what it was. We guess he wanted to keep the source secret and considering how special it is I think it's probably a good thing it's kept secret. It functions like a battery storing and giving electrical energy and can last a long time only if though it is taken care of properly such as not letting energy outputs get too low. That's why Zane and other droids like him and Pixal have a specially designed digestive system which can convert organic matter into an energy format their hearts can use and store. Outside Zane and Pixal we've never found any other droids using the same material for their hearts. All others use special batteries which are nowhere near as efficient or powerful as the material Zane's heart uses.

Nya: It might not have highly dangerous corrosive acids in it like a typical battery but in ways Zane's heart is far more dangerous. If overworked or overloaded like from being electrocuted by Jays powers it can explode. Because of this and the fact Zane's body is largely made of highly conductive metal Jay you can't use your powers in here. 

Jay: yha that's probably a good idea.

They come up to the area of his shoulder. A synthetic muscle has been de-attached from the upper arm which normally went through a frame that connects his arm to his body. They inspect the site. There are some cuts to the synthetic fibres with some wires sticking out. Jay and Nya take a close look while the others look for the worm.

Nya: This doesn’t look too badly damaged. Some minor cuts to the synthetic fibres but some synthetic re-grow should fix it. 

Kai coming to see what they are looking at: is that what that weird sickly yellow green liquid stuff I’ve seen you and Jay use while working on him is?

Jay: Yha, you should always use gloves when working with it cause if you get it on your skin it really burns; it makes synthetics re-grow while it de-grows organics. 

Cole: yha I can attest to that. I mistook it for peroxide once and boy was that a mistake. Made the cut worse and gave me blood poisoning. That was an unpleasant week. To be fare it was in the same bottle as the peroxide… I guess I should have read the label though before using it.

Nya: And that’s why we now keep the first aid equipment for Zane and Pixal in separate different looking containers and we don’t keep them in the bathroom with our first aid supplies.

 Lloyd unsettled: what does that stuff do exactly?

Jay and Nya carefully put some of the wires back in place in the synthetic material as they talk. 

Nya states: Basically it makes synthetics re-grow and repair themselves. Unlike our fleshy makes the materials that make up Zane and Pixals make generally cannot repair themselves without an external aid. Only components of their digestive tracts can do that but that’s because those parts are made from tougher more complex self repairing synthetics unlike everything else which lack that ability. That’s where that stuff comes in. It’s a bit dangerous to work with and takes a few hours to complete its work but is much cheaper, just as efficient and I’m pretty sure Pixal and Zane prefer that method over other methods especially just removing and replacing parts. Unless something gets too badly damaged we use that method to fix things for them. 

Cole: yha I’m probably with them. I don’t know about you but it probably isn’t a nice feeling to just have a part of your body removed and thrown away if some things wrong with it. Like that was a part of you, part of your being and it just gets thrown away like some piece of trash. Sure it was damaged but it was still part of you part of what made you well you. Having that done probably would make you feel disposable; like your being means nothing like your life is almost meaningless and fake if someone does that. I know that’s how I would feel having something like that done.

Everyone slowly looks at him a bit surprised by his dark comment.

There is a pause then Kai states: Yha I could see how that would really bother them; that’s not something pleasant to think about. 

Jay: by the looks the only damage done here is to the fibres. Everything else is fine. 

Lloyd goes over with Nya to inspect the frame Zane's arm attaches into. 

Lloyd: Any sign of one of these worms?

Nya: no. It’s not here now but it couldn’t have gone far. Since these muscle structures pass through the framework his arm attaches too in order to connect his arm to his body and they’ve clearly been pulled out to allow access to his arm I think it might have made its way into his arm.

Cole notes a sound nearby and looks to where it came from. They are sitting on what is the top of his shoulder as he lays on his back but the actual top relative to when he is standing is below them. This is where the sound came from. 

Lloyd: so I’m guessing then we’re going to have to make our way into his arm; looks like we’re just the right size to get through. 

Coming to look with them. 

Kai: You know it always kind of confused and unsettled me that he could remove his limbs; why can he remove his limbs? 

Jay notes Cole looking below and comes to see what is going on. 

Nya: while it can prove useful if his limb gets caught or trapped it’s actually supposed to be in case the limb gets too badly damaged so it can be removed and replaced with little complication for the rest of his body.

Things are focused on Lloyd, Kai and Nya as behind them Cole is surprised before Jay reaches him from below by the worm which shoves him into the underside of Zane's skin with its body. The worm moves letting him fall while it goes after the others. Cole is winded.

Kai scared: Did this thing make a trap? 

They get into a fight with the worm. It uses the plier like structures for its mouth to try and crush them. 

Jay dodging one of the worms attacks: Well this thing is a machine not an actual worm so that is a possibility. 

It is hard for them to fight as they have very little space to move under Zane's skin and the worm is bigger than them. Kai uses a blast of fire at it which comes out as a weak fireball just catching the machines attention and not doing damage. 

Kai complains: That was not what I was trying to do, that was pathetic! Why are my powers so weak!

Nya: It is likely because of our small size.

Lloyd gets knocked on his back. Cole having regained his breath shoves the head of his warhammer between the pinchers  preventing the worm from closing them on Lloyd. It tosses its head around as it tries to throw Cole who is hanging on trying to keep it hindered. Lloyd gets up and goes to stab his sword into the things head but it knocks him aside before breaking free of Cole breaking its pinchers in the process. With the pinchers damaged it shoots out a blade from its head which it proceeds to try and stab at Cole and Lloyd with. While they dodged its attacks the worm leaves some more damage to Zane's synthetic muscle fibres. 

Nya yells at them: Careful we don’t want to cause more damage to Zane.

Lloyd trying to avoid getting stabbed: try to not cause Zane more damage, I’m trying to not get damaged! 

Nya quickly rushes in to shove her trident into the machines blade getting it caught on her weapon and letting her hold its head back a bit pinning it against the underside of Zane's skin Cole comes over and helps pin it using his warhammer. Kai rushes in scared to stab it in the power source. with their small size he is struggling to get through the machines skin and Jay rushes over to help. They pierce the power source destroying the machine which goes dark and still. 

Lloyd as they take a moment to settle: This is going to be tougher than we first thought!   

Jay panicking: that thing was scarier than I thought it would be!

Nya: Well we at least got it destroyed. That leaves only three more to go. 

Nya through their communicators: the one in his shoulder has been dealt with. There is some damages to the muscle and it will need to be reattached but it doesn’t look to bad. What’s the next one we should go after?

Flashes for a moment to outside Zane's body where Wu and Pixal are waiting for the others to contact them having been in the dark over what has been going on for the past couple minutes. Pixal checks the computer. 

Pixal: I am picking up one in his chest on the right side close to his right lung.

Switches back to the others as they are moving through Zane's body and come up to a synthetic muscle that has been disconnected and moved back so something could move deeper into his body slipping between two ribs. 

Kai nervous: Think it has gone deeper or could this be a trap? 

Nya inspecting the space: looks like it has gone deeper. We’re going to have to follow to get it.

Nya, Cole and Jay are unfazed while Lloyd is nervous and Kai is scared but trying to hide it. 

Kai: Are you sure?

Jay: We’re pretty sure, hopefully it hasn’t gone too deep, there are places in him I defiantly don’t want to end up in.

Nya leads down into the hole followed by Jay then Cole. Lloyd and Kai are hesitant glancing nervously at each other before following the others. The worm has pushed aside various structures including tubes, wires, synthetic muscles and structures making a path they follow. They are all being cautious as they move. Kai and Lloyd are nervous and uncomfortable scared to touch some things. 

Kai grossed out and nervous: Uhm what is this stuff? 

Kai is poking at a tube with an icy blue liquid in it nervous. 

Cole inspecting another tube with the same liquid but isn't bothered or scared instead curious: it kind of looks like that stuff you see in ice packs.

Nya: It’s kind of like that stuff. It’s his cooling fluid, it’s what Zane uses to keep his body temperature stable and fairly uniform through his body.  

Jay: that stuff is the closest thing Zane has to blood.

Kai still nervous: If it’s supposed to keep him cool then why is it warm?  

Nya explains as they continue to move: well for one his systems have been shut down for several hours while Pixals been working on him so the fluid has just been sitting warming up absorbing the heat from his body also while we call it cooling fluid it’s actually a thermoregulation fluid. It’s just easier and simpler to call it cooling fluid. It can be both warm and cold. When the fluid comes out of the systems central hub a larger pump like structure which sits in an insulated casing to prevent its workings from affecting the rest of his body near his bodies’ core it usually is fairly cool. There is a small compressor in the structure that cools the temperature of the fluid. The structure then slowly pumps the fluid through the rest of his body where it transfers the cooler temperature out and absorbs the heat from his bodies core where it then transports the heat out to his extremities. This helps cool his body and warm up the less insulated parts of his body that lack major system functions like processors which produce heat. It both helps cool his body and keep his overall temperature stable around the same as our temperatures. Many of the materials in his body both synthetics and mechanical don’t handle extremes in temperature well especially if they rapidly arise. Too much heat and circuits will start to fry, wires will get damaged and synthetics will receive heat damage like burns and even melt damage. He can handle the cold better but still too much cold makes wires brittle, various components become stiff making movement difficult and extreme cold can mess with sensors giving them false readings and numb feelings which can cause him to hurt himself.

Jay adds: Yha after his stint as the Ice Emperor we had to fix quite a few things that got damaged from the cold that had gripped him in that time. 

Things flash to a flashback of Zane as the ice emperor showing various things he did including leading his ice warriors into combat, ordering the warriors around and sitting on his throne. Things then flash to later after they have rescued Zane and Nya and Jay are working on him to fix things up and pulling strange items and ice out of his body while he is laid on a table offline. 

Jay continues to speak over the flashback what he says lining up with what is shown: Also a lot of his systems running super low so were slow so produced little heat to compensate for the cooling. With how slow everything was working he wasn’t using as much energy as usual, he was spending a lot of his time in this strange light sleep state like a cat and with how slow his body was working it was like he had the metabolism of a reptile. At least the cooling part to his cooling system was shut off the whole time but without the heat normally produced by his body not much heat was being transferred around so it made things worse preventing many areas from receiving heat to combat the overpowered state of his powers. Using his synthetic muscles at those temperatures in that state especially for activities like fighting caused tears and damages in them and most of his systems needed some serious maintenance. Some parts kept seizing up because of low use and cold damage. Not all of it was from the cold though quite a bit also came from lack of maintenance. His stint as the Ice Emperor also really messed with a lot of systems. They didn’t fully shut down during that time but were working much slower than they should. The cold that gripped him was pretty intense; his heart was slower and functioning largely only at half its potential, the cold had also caused ice to build up in various fluids through his body even his cooling fluid and stomach acids. Luckily those melted when his body started to warm up so weren’t a problem unlike some of the ice that had built up in some joints and on other components. We had to pull the remaining ice out and dry off parts to avoid shorts and problems. Not to mention we ended up pulling out a lot of weird items out of his digestive tract. That guy Vex who was manipulating him seemed to think he could just be given anything to eat. Luckily because of how the cold was affecting him he was only eating about two to three times a week preventing some of the non editable items he was given from building up and causing problems in his system.

Cuts back to the five of them as they continue to move through Zane's body.

Cole inspecting one of the tubes: So this is how Zane keeps from overheating; I always wondered about that. I know from my laptop when just playing a video game it can get hot even with its fan going full blast and Zanes body obviously does more functioning and is more active than my computer all the time and he’s told me he doesn’t use fans to cool himself so I’ve always been confused by that. I thought it was his powers helping him but then that doesn’t explain how Pixal or other droids do it. 

Nya explains: yha fans are not efficient enough to maintain a safe and stable temperature for a droid and are also too noisy for them; it would interfere with their sense of hearing. This method is the much better option. It isn’t perfect though since certain temperatures can still get too much for him and his cooling system can take a great deal of energy especially when it’s really hot to function which is made worse as the processors and other mechanics operating the cooling system also produces heat kind of taking down how effective the system works. If Zane or Pixal can’t efficiently cool themselves they have to shut down systems, I’ve even caught them eating ice and using cool to cold showers in order to help cool themselves. If these don’t help they’ll pass out offline for a while to prevent from serious overheating to prevent damages which can be real dangerous if they’re not in a safe place.

Kai trying to remain calm: Is that why during heat waves like that one a few weeks ago the two were often hanging out in the walk in cool storage room in the basement for a while for several hours every day largely around noon? It was creepy to find the two just hanging in there when you went to get a drink. I guess it’s not as creepy though as finding Zane resting in the fridge.

Cole: Yha, it helped them keep cool during the hottest part of the day and didn’t task them a lot of energy to help keep cool...  

Flashes to a flashback. Coles coming to get a drink out of the cold storage and is confused about the extension cords leading into the room. Walks in to find Zane and Pixal have made themselves a little space to relax and play video games in the room. They have set up a game system hooked up to a TV and have various cushions lying around. Cole continues narrating over the flashback.

Cole: I asked them about it and yha I’d have to agree it was rather relaxing and it isn’t too cold in there. It’s not full fridge cold but defiantly cool enough to keep drinks and yourself cool despite the heat outside. 

Jay: Yha that’s why and yha it was creepy to find them hanging in there but it was creepier to find you in there too.

Flashback shows Jay coming to get a drink and getting surprised then confused to find Pixal, Zane and Cole hanging out in the cold cellar. 

Cole defending himself: hey it was hot I went to get a drink and found them in there and when they told me what they were doing I decided to give it a go too. They said it was safe and could help; they weren’t lying.

It flashes back to the five as they continue their journey.

Kai: Maybe for you it wasn’t bad but I find it a bit chilly in that room. 

Nya: that’s because as the master of fire you handle the heat better than the rest of us. Heats more dangerous for Zane and Pixal than the cold; they can better handle and counter cold temperatures than hot ones though not too cold of temperatures. Zane better handles the cold than Pixal; I think his powers are the reason for that but even then it is not too much better. If they get too cold they can shut down the cooling function of their temperature control system in order to help warm up along with using attire and blankets like us to help trap in body heat and keep warm. While he has a higher tolerance to the cold than the rest of us and with being the master of ice Zane still has limits with it and he can be hurt by too cold of temperatures just like the rest of us.

Cole pausing to think about it: Imagine being able to shut down parts of your body when you don’t need to use them, I’m betting that would be a bit cool.

Jay: yha it sounds cool but it isn’t as cool as it sounds. Some like his cooling system he can shut down with little problem but others take some work to prevent complications like his digestive system. If he wants to shut that system down for more than a day or two he has to fully empty it to prevent anything from rotting inside him and the system has to neutralize and absorb and store the materials and chemicals it uses in the storage structures for them to prevent damages. That can take a day or two to do. Not to mention he can’t leave systems off for too long. They serve purposes often major and necessary ones so it can hurt him if their off for too long plus he might have trouble getting them started again if they have been off for too long, like a year too long. 

Brief flashback to Nya and Jay working on Zane after rescuing him in the Never Realm trying to get his cooling system working again using a tablet connected to his system and having trouble getting it started.

Jay explains: It took quite a bit of work to get the cooling function to his cooling system started back up after it had been off for so long as the Ice Emperor. To prevent problems it’s best we don’t let him have his systems off for more than a few days. 

It flashes back to the five.

Kai mumbling unnerved: That’s gross and more than I needed to know.  

Kai is unsettled and trying to keep his eyes focused ahead of him not wanting to see more than he had to of where he is. 

Cole regales: yha I’d agree for not letting him go more than a few days with things shut down especially when it revolves around eating. 

Things switch to a flashback of Cole, Jay, Kai and Zane in the First Realm. Flashback follows Cole and Jays talking. Shows them checking over the rations and Zane declaring everything's for them as he can go longer without food and it is more important for them to have it. Cuts to another scene two days later and Zane's getting a little annoyed at small things like the others not picking up after themselves, things they are working with being misplaced, etc. Next is shown he's showing signs he's uncomfortable with the heat and tired but is trying to ignore it. Then shown is the others finding him randomly passing out or already passed out in the area while he was trying to work. They take him and lay him in the shade every time they find him passed out. The last flashback scene is Cole forcibly giving him a bowl of rations with the others telling him he needs to have them as he's scaring the others. Zane accepts without hassle noting the others are uneasy around him.

Cole narrating: When we were trapped in the first realm because we didn’t have many rations he decided to not have any so there would be more for the rest of us. It was okay for a day but by the second day he started getting short tempered and moody. It got worse on the third day and by the fourth he wasn’t just temperamental but started passing out at random during the day often in not ideal or safe locations. We forced him to eat and by the next day he started getting back to his normal self. We made sure he ate with the rest of us the rest of the time to keep him from getting like that again.

Jay adds: Yha that was because he was putting a lot of stress on his power source; he was not only functioning more than usual with the rest of us just to survive but because of how hot it was getting in the day there with hardly anywhere to shelter from the heat he had his cooling system on and functioning a lot higher than usual to try to keep from overheating. It was all taking quite a bit of power and since he wasn’t doing anything to restore the energy being taken from it he was stressing his heart. To prevent being overworked he was passing out when his heart got too stressed. It’s a safety feature I wisely turned on the first day when he decided to go without eating; I knew it was a good idea to do so.  

Flashes back to the five as Jay finishes: Sleeping helps him conserve energy and stabilize the power outputs from his heart along with letting his brain rest so it doesn’t get bogged down or overworked plus he can run things like defrags, system updates, restores and reboots and stuff like that without interfering with normal daily functioning’s when he sleeps sometimes. Sleeping can also help him cool down since he’s not functioning as highly when awake. To stay in peak condition he has to sleep for a couple hours a day like we do. Having low energy and trying to function at such high levels during that time in the first realm was making it like he was hangry and tired angry, tire-gry, at the same time making him incredibly moody. I don’t think many of his systems including his emotional circuits handle low energy conditions well. 

Kai: Yha I thought Cole was bad when hangry or tired, when Zane’s in those equivalent states he can be much worse. Then again when he gets in certain states he can be much worse than the rest of us… personally I think the worst is to make him mad. I’ve learned too many times not to do that.  

Jay agrees: yha especially don’t make him do your chores when he’s tired or you’ve tricked him too many times in a short period of time into doing them… that doesn’t end well.

Nya: Despite what many think Zane's power source is limited. His heart has a decent lifespan of about 200 to 300 years or so but only if he takes proper care of it. It can be depleted including to the point that it would kill him which is real bad. If his heart gets to that state it will burn out and be unable to be recharged or reused. Luckily its energy can also be replenished to counter this keeping it powered, stable and healthy. 

As Jay talks the scene cuts to a clip of Jay hooking some jumper cables to Zane heart. Zane is tired and sitting on the ground. Zane's commenting nervous how he doesn't think this is going to work and might be very dangerous. Jay ignores his comment telling Zane he won't know it is actually dangerous unless he gives it a try. Jay then sends electricity through the cords shocking Zane who is in a lot of pain from the action. The glow from his heart starts to glow brighter and recognizing that's a bad sign Jay stops and Zane falls back unconscious leaving Jay worried. 

Jay adds: the best way for him to do that is through his digestive system. I tried with my powers once to help give him some energy and that nearly led to the opposite risk his heart has. It was nearly overloaded and exploded! Not to mention it didn’t really restore any energy for his heart and just stressed it out. 

Cuts back to the five. 

Kai confused: but doesn’t his heart use electricity as its energy? 

Nya explains: Yha but electricity isn’t all the same. The difference is the volts in its current that’s why you have to use an adapter when charging your phone or laptop. If you just plugged them into an outlet without an adapter you would damage your battery and it wouldn’t really charge it properly. Pure raw electricity is dangerous for Zane's power source that’s why when we do hook him up to a computer or anything that could transfer electricity to him the connectors we use have adapters built into them that way they don’t cause any stress to his heart. That is also why Lloyds powers are safer to help Zane than Jays. As pure energy his can deliver a much lower and gentler form of electricity that doesn’t easily hurt or overwhelm Zane's heart. Since he only has half the material from his original heart it’s more sensitive to being overworked and overloaded. Luckily his new bodies’ digestive system is more efficient at producing energy than his old body so it really helps keep his heart stable and healthy.

Kai: given the effects it has on him do you think Zane ever regrets giving up half his heart? 

Cole: Are you kidding, you just see him and Pixal hanging together and you know he doesn’t regret it. Not only that he would do it again no matter how much it affects him. 

Kai: Yha there’s no denying that. Those two were meant for each other... hey if this cooling stuff is supposed to warm up his extremities like his hands then why are they often cold; like sometimes icy cold? 

Cole: I’d say his powers but then why are his hands sometimes warm?

Nya: yha that is odd. I’m not sure why that is, it could be his powers. Maybe they sometimes override the heating? He is able to use his powers to cool his skin and when combined with his metal skin can block his internal temperature from being recognised by thermal sensors. It could be this ability malfunctioning causing that. I do tend to notice his hands are warmest when he’s been active or using them a lot they’re also warm when he’s calm and relaxed. At the same time along with when he’s using his powers his hands are coldest when he expresses certain emotions particularly if he is mad so maybe his activity levels and emotions play a role in that? He can also make the place a bit chilly when he’s mad and if he’s scared, sad or upset enough he can lose a bit of control to his powers so I think his emotions can sometimes influence his powers causing his hands to be cold.

Jay chuckling a bit to think of it: I’d agree with that and he’s not the only one. I think it’s the same for all of us.

As they talk scenes change to flashbacks showing some comedic examples of what they are saying.

Jay giving a chuckle as he speaks: Our powers sometimes are influenced by our emotions. Just look at Kai when he’s mad. Not only does he make the room hot he can sometimes have fire burst up on him.

 Kai annoyed by Jay: how about when you get all super scared; you become a super static magnet. You shock everything you try to touch. 

Cole: yha that’s very unpleasant. At least he doesn’t make light bulbs explode when he gets real mad like Lloyd sometimes can. 

Lloyd:  I don’t mean to do that besides it’s not too bad; Jay can blow circuits when he touches certain electronics like light switches when he’s mad or super scared. Let’s not forget Nya’s affects on the plumbing when she’s real mad not to mention Kais not the only one to make things hot when he’s mad Cole can too. He can also damage things with his super strength if he’s not careful. When Zane’s mad not only can he make the room cold but he can freeze most liquids nearby which isn’t pleasant when he freezes your drink, the toilets or even worse the shower especially when you’re in it. 

The scene switches back to the five as they come up to a large synthetic structure forming a wall in their path. There is a large tear in it leading to darkness. Nya and Jay look it over. 

Nya: You should recognise these structures brother, you had to help replace parts from them remember that? 

Kai regales: yha don’t remind me; it was uncomfortable seeing and working on his insides. I never meant to hurt him, it was an accident. I didn’t realise he was there when I made that fire storm. 

The scene switching to a flashback as Kai narrates: I was just cutting off the bad guys so they couldn’t escape I didn’t mean for him to end up breathing in incredibly hot burning embers. To be fair Zanes disguise was really good, a little too good I didn’t know he was there.

In the flashback Kai and Zane who are undercover as some thugs and have been found out are fighting to trap them in an alleyway. Some Zane has trapped in ice. A few are trying to escape so Kai blocks off their attempted escape with a strong blast of fire creating a wall of flames causing them to get singed. Zane had been trying to cut them off and got caught in the flames. He quickly escapes and puts himself out his cloak shutting off revealing to Kai whose worried and comes to help him that he had been there. Zane appears relatively unharmed but has soot all over himself, burnt attire and keeps coughing as if he has a cold. Cuts to later Kai who is nervous and embarrassed showing Zane who is hurt still coughing and soot covered to Jay and Nya who knowing somethings wrong quickly come to inspect him. Cuts to them making repairs to Zane and Kai who is uncomfortable with the work is trying to help them. 

Jay: How hot did you make that fire? It melted many of the sensors in his lungs and damaged most of the rest plus some of its tissues. We had to replace the whole things! Zane just wanted to repair what was there but it was all too badly damaged. 

Scene fades back to the five in Zane's body.

Kai uneasy: I helped out with the cost and work in the repairs to show I was sorry. I prefer not knowing what his insides are like but I felt so bad especially since he spent a week in pain, with off sounding and weird breathing and frequently coughing from what I did. It was so sad, like seeing a sick kitten or puppy. He can shut off systems so why did he keep his breathing going if it was causing him such problems? It was to make me feel bad wasn’t it? 

Nya: No more like the opposite. He didn’t want to unnerve anyone. He knows when he doesn’t breathe it unsettles some of us especially you and Jay… 

Nya getting cut off by an unsettled Kai: there is just something unsettling seeing someone who’s living and so human like not breathing… 

Nya then continues: yha that plus when he had his breathing off so he could get some sleep Lloyd had a bit of a panic thinking he was dead when he went to check on him so Zane kept them active to not scare or worry anyone despite the problems they were giving him. 

Scene clips to a flashback of Lloyd coming in to check on Zane and after shaking him a bit and he doesn't react Lloyd rushes off worried to get help. 

Lloyd narrates over flashback: Hey he was unnervingly still, he’s normally a restless sleeper so that wasn’t normal plus he wasn’t responding to me when I tried to wake him, that’s usually not a good sign. I was worried. 

Flashback shows as Nya talks Pixal (who is calm and not worried) comes in with Lloyd (who is scared), Jay and Nya (who are calm knowing there is nothing wrong) and using her ability to connect to him wakes Zane up. Zane's confused while Lloyd becomes relieved.

Nya: He wasn’t responding because he was in a deep sleep being very tired from the days events and from having trouble getting to sleep because of the damages to his lungs. He didn’t want to be disturbed so set his body to basically a sort of do not disturb mode so he could get some sleep.

The scene switches back to the five who are inspecting the tear in the material.

Cole: Yha cause Jay has a rude habit of disturbing others while they’re trying to sleep. 

Flashback of clips showing what Jays talking about as he talks. 

Jay: I’d say sorry but there is no need for anyone to be sleeping till noon; sure I sleep in late but I’ve rarely gone that late besides it’s not fun having to wake any of the rest of you up. You can all be rather rude. You’ve punched me, thrown me across the room, thrown stuff at me, hit me with blasts of fire ice dirt water or energy not to mention set my clothes on fire, freeze me from the waist down to the floor, sent the chicken after me do I need to go on? 

As Cole speaks clips of Jay annoying each of the others while they are trying to sleep are featured. Each of those he's bothered push him off through various methods matching what Jay is complaining about. 

Cole: I think I’m with everyone when I say when you’re sleeping it’s not pleasant to be awoken especially by your loud babbling and frantic shaking when you do it. Maybe we should wake you up in the same way  

Jay then rants clips of what he talks about showing: hey what I do is not as annoying as some of you. Flipping my bed on its side, dragging me out of bed, making an earthquake, freezing my room, playing pranks on me like lighting off those little loud firecrackers in a metal bucket oh and how could I forget the time you dragged my bed outside and left me in the courtyard… during a rain storm! Again do I need to go on? 

Scene cuts back to them. Cole, Jay and Nya are rather chill but Lloyd is nervous and Kai is very uncomfortable and on edge as they talk.

Cole: Hey sometimes you deserve it besides your reaction to some of those methods is hilarious anyway change of subject why is his lungs different colored from his synthetic muscles? 

Jay amused: really you can tell it’s a different color. 

Cole confused: What do you mean by that? 

Lloyd: you have a tendency to mis-describe colors or not recognise them properly

Jay curious: yha did you ever take that test we suggested you to? 

Cole is uneasy and guarded: I did 

Jay eager to know the answer: and what answer did you get? 

There is a pause before Cole responds with: I have something called due-ter something. I forget the name it just means I can’t really tell the difference between red and green very well. 

While they talk Lloyd cautiously approached the tear to look into it feeling nervous.

Jay comments with a bit of a chuckle amused at what he hears:  that explains some things like often mixing up Lloyd and Kais clothes or not following our instructions in video games like hit the red button and not the green. 

Cole annoyed: Can we not make fun of my problems. 

Jay: I’m not making fun just surprised you could tell his lung is a different color. As for why it is like that it’s to help differentiate the various components of his anatomy that way when you’re working on him you know which parts are for what system. You don’t want to accidently hook the wrong things up to each other. That really won’t help him and could cause problems. 

While Jay talks Lloyd looks into the tear but can't see anything but darkness. This scares him so he tries to move back uttering to himself that he should let someone else take a look first but bumps into Kai who unnerved by where he is isn’t watching where he is going knocking Lloyd off balance and into the tear. He lands face down in the structure as the others come over to see what has happened. 

Lloyd getting to his knees: I’m fine just watch your step. 

The others come in to join him Kai getting more scared and on edge once in with the structure.

Kai unnerved and grossed out: great we’re in his lung aren’t we? I was really hoping we wouldn’t end up in any of his organs. 

Jay: Trust me this is probably the nicest and safest place you could end up in his body. Not much can hurt us in here. Trust me there is way worse places in Zanes body to end up in. 

Kai more unnerved by Jays comment: please don’t tell me I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know about them. 

They have much more space in Zanes lung so stretch out from the cramped conditions they have been facing. 

Cole: Finally my legs were starting to cramp up. 

Kai looking around still nervous but calming a little: I guess it isn’t too bad in here… you know I always found it weird and a bit unsettling he could breath. Like he doesn’t need oxygen so why does he need lungs?

Lloyd is also nervous but everyone else is fine.

Nya: Well you probably won’t notice much because anything to do with biology grosses and unnerves you… 

Gets cut off by Jay who teases: yha it does. You should have seen how red his face went when Wu sent us to have some health care classes when we were younger at a community college; you were in the girls class so you didn’t get to see but it went redder than his shirt or how about the that Day of the Departed and Zane read to us some of those horror stories by that guy who wrote that creepy poem on a raven and the really gross ones had you sick and nearly throwing up just to hear them. We also all remember that time we went fishing and Zane showed us how to properly gut and de-scale a fish for dinner. He just started cutting into it and you passed out. 

Kai defending himself: As I told you then it wasn’t from the fish; I was feeling lightheaded from low blood sugar that day and who thought it was funny to put those fish in my arms and make me hug them? That was a very unpleasant smell to wake up to not to mention it took three washes to get the smell off my clothes. 

Jay: that was Coles idea and it wasn’t blood sugars you fainted from it was seeing the fishes guts! 

Kai uneasy: Well Zane didn’t help by explaining a bit about the fishes anatomy and showing us the guts while gutting it. Does he know he doesn’t need to turn things into a teaching lesson just because we don’t know about it? I’m fine not knowing about the guts of things; I don’t have to know about what all the slimy and grossness I’m pulling out of it is… didn’t help he fed the guts to some seagulls who made a mess with them. I don’t know what was grosser the fact he fed them the guts or that they fought over them like they were candies. 

Jay: Zane's got a lot of knowledge and likes to share it even if it’s gross or others don’t care to learn anything also he likes birds and he didn’t want to let the fish guts go to waste so gave them the guts. As for the gulls yha they were gross but I’ve seen them eat grosser things out of the garbage including the maggots and bugs eating the garbage; fish guts are probably the least gross thing they eat. They’re just full out gross on their own… 

Cole cuts in to joke: It was funny how the one pooped on you and you acted like you were being attacked. 

Jay who is not amused: hey it came suddenly was hot and was super gross! Besides I think that bird was aiming for me, it laughed at me! Despite what Zane says that noise it was giving wasn’t just its call. I know a laugh when I hear it and it was laughing. It was amused with what it had done.

The scene then cuts to some flashbacks as Jay continues: That aside it was the biology that got you that day Kai we all know it. I also remember the time we helped out for the harvest dinner; Cole cut his hand opening a can and you threw up when you saw the blood. Or how about the time you got a splinter and Nya had to pull it out because you were too nervous to do it yourself? She hadn’t even started and not only could you not look at it but you passed out as she pulled it out. 

In the flashback first they are all working in the monasteries kitchen. Cole is working with a can and expresses pain catching the others attention. Jay panics a bit while calm Zane and Nya help Cole holding a towel to his hand while Kai is swaying a bit uneasy before rushing over to the sink startling Lloyd who was washing some dishes to throw up in the sink. The others just look at him confused. The next Kai is sitting at a table with Nya and holding his hand out for her to take a splinter out. He is scared to look but is peaking at what's happening. Before she can take the splinter out Kai faints falling off his seat to the floor.

The scene switches back to the five. They are noticing Kai looking sick and swaying a bit.

Lloyd: We get it Jay Kai has a nervous disposition when it comes to biology especially injuries and guts now can you stop before he passes out. If he does you’ll have to carry him around.

Jay still amused a bit: fine, I just think it funny how Mr. Macho can be knocked out just by seeing some fishes guts. 

Nya continues having been annoyed to have been cut off: As I was saying before I was interrupted Zane's0 lungs are pretty simple compared to those of flesh like us. They’re pretty much just a simple elastic sack and lack all the features for acquiring oxygen like us. That doesn’t mean he has no use for them though. Along with helping look like he is alive and like any other person they allow him to be able to administer resuscitation to others if they need it plus the walls in here are lined with various sensors that help identify various chemicals and other potential hazards in the air including things that are dangerous for the rest of us. That’s how he is able to warn us of potential dangers like toxic gasses so we can avoid them. 

Jay adds: yha he’s like a canary in a coal mine. Except he doesn’t keel over from toxic gasses, he will pass out though from gases that will put you to sleep. Also things you drink or eat that will put you asleep too; that can be useful like when he decides to chastise you about trying to push your chores off onto him or when you don’t do your chores. Just slip him a sleeping potion mixed into something so he isn’t suspicious and you’re free; well until the potion wears off that is. 

Cole: Yha how does that ability work exactly? It always confused me. He doesn’t have the anatomy to be affected by them so why does he react like he is affected? 

Nya: that’s to do with part of his programming that helps him fit in with people. As long as no one is in danger and he’s safe when his sensors pick up the presence of the chemicals that would knock us out they activate a programming that makes him react in the same way as we would and force him to sleep. If he does at any point feel in danger however he can override this programming to prevent being affected. For the longest time though he didn’t realise he could do that so had no control over that ability and always fell to the effects of things. Pixal had to show him he could do it and how to do it. He’s gotten better at controlling it but still doesn’t have full control so sometimes still can’t fight the effects. He has similar sensors in his digestive system as are in his lungs that do the same thing. 

Cole begins: That will explain that one night

Fades to a flashback.  

Cole narrates over the flashback: Wu wanted me to lace a drink to give to Jay with a sleeping potion since he had been up all weekend playing video games in order to make him finally go to sleep. I accidently messed up and laced the drink I gave to Zane to not make things suspicious with the potion instead. I couldn’t wake him after he passed out… I thought my drink had done something bad to him. 

In the flashback Cole, Zane, Kai and Jay are hanging out in the common room. Jay is focused on the game. Kai and Zane are in on the plan. Kai keeps Jay occupied while Cole gets some special drinks. He gives one to everyone to not look suspicious. They all drink them also to not look suspicious; Kai and Zane surprised that the drink doesn't taste to bad. Jay drinks it not taking much note too focused on the game but comments it doesn't taste too bad. Some minutes pass and Cole and Kai are confused why Jay is still awake and isn't tired until Cole notices Zane who is sitting next to him is sleeping. Cole tries to rouse him but Zane doesn't respond. Cole becomes worried realising he mixed up the cups causing Zane to drink the sedative and thinks he's hurt Zane. Shakes him a bit trying to wake him but Zane doesn't wake up. Kai is also worried but Jay is unbothered claiming Zane will be fine.

Jay amused: obviously he felt safe and didn’t see the need to fight the effects then that’s why he didn’t wake up. As I told you then he’d be fine and he was wasn’t he? 

It fades back to the five. 

Cole unamused: Yha but you could have explained what was going on instead of joking about my cooking skills. You left me worried that I’d seriously messed up and hurt him again.

Lloyd: Yha I remember another time you Jay and Kai stayed up all weekend playing video games and seeing who could last the longest without falling asleep.

Scene fades to another flashback. 

Lloyd states over the flashback: We’re ninja we need to be ready to go at any time and being tired and cranky because you stayed up with no sleep for a few days isn’t going to be helpful. I set a trap in the walk in cool storage room so it would lock you in and flood with a sleeping gas. When it triggered I thought I had caught one of you. Instead I ended up catching Zane! He’d come to restock the fridge since I had taken all the drinks out to lure you three into the room. I put him in his bed to sleep it off and luckily he wasn’t mad later when he woke up from my trap and was very understanding; I’d hate to have made him mad. He’s quite scary when he’s mad. Unfortunately my trap only worked on Cole after I hid his cake he had hidden in the back of the fridge down there. 

In the flashback Lloyds mad that he can't get the others to listen to him so sets a trap in the cold cellar. He hides behind some crates and waits for his trap to spring. Zane is doing some chores and finding nothings in the fridge goes down to the cellar to restock it. Lloyd doesn't know he came down thinking it is one of the others. While he is grabbing some things the door to the room closes surprising Zane as a gas fills the room. After a few seconds in the gas Zane passes out. Hearing his trap is a success Lloyd comes out to see who he caught and instantly panics when he realises it was Zane he caught. He quickly picks Zane up mumbling to him that he is sorry to carry him to his bed.

Fades back to the five in Zanes lung. 

Cole: Yha that was a dirty trick you played; you made me drop my cake on the floor! Not to mention I lost the bet, I had to do some of Jays chores for a month! Kai only had to do some for two weeks.

Jay: even without Lloyds trap I knew you two couldn’t beat me. I’m like a supped up battery, I’ve got plenty of energy to burn. Just some caffeine and candy and I can go for hours. You know it was gross you still ate that cake after it had touched the floor. 

Cole: Hey it’s cake I’m not letting that stuff go to waste!

Kais panicking: Can we please find this thing and get out of here? This whole situation is really bothering me!

Lloyd unerved: It’s a bit weird and uncomfortable yha besides it’s probably best we deal with these machines before they can cause too much damage. 

They look around but can't see anything. 

Cole gets the idea: some of those worms inner workings give off a glow right? Do you think if we turn off our lights we could better see it?

Nya: Maybe.

Lloyd: we could give it a go. 

They turn off the lights on their attire Kai being the last and nervous about it. Its dark in there and soon they see the glow from the worm. 

Lloyd: I think it’s over there. 

Kai covering his eyes with his hands: where?  

Lloyd tossing a ball of energy at the worm: There. 

They turn their lights back on as they get into the fight. The worm tries to stab Lloyd with its head blade. Nya stabs it in underside of the head at the base of the mouthparts with her trident and disables the apparatus that controls the pinchers and blade preventing it from retracting the blade and from being able to crush them with its pinchers. It knocks Nya aside then goes after Jay. Jay swings his nunchucks which gets wrapped around the blade; the worm rears up and tosses its head around flinging Jay away. He lands a few feet away his nunchucks following shortly after to smack him in the chest and wind him. 

Cole taking a couple hits at the worms body: Damn this thing is much stronger built than I thought it was.

Nya hypothesizing: the synthetic skin covering it might be absorbing the impacts and protecting its vital workings. 

Having recovered Jay: We’ll either have to hit it harder or get through its skin in order to really damage it. 

Kai makes repeated cuts at it but is only leaving knicks.  

Jay: Do you think if I shocked it that would make it easier to defeat this thing?

All the others don't hesitate to yell at him: NO. 

Nya reminds Jay: because his body is made with a great deal of metal Zane's body is highly conductive and has a high chance of attracting your powers which because we’re in him would shock us as well. 

Cole knocking the worm over with a hit to its head: Yha and with how small we are I don’t think we’ll fare too well to that. 

Lloyd manages to make a decent cut to it but it moves away from him. 

Kai: We’re just going to do this the old fashioned way, the way of hacking and slashing. 

They work together to subdue the worm with Lloyd aided by Cole getting onto its back and stabbing it in the head to stop it.

Jay settling down: Two down two to go. 

 Kai highly unsettled: okay now can we get out of here? 

Nya contacts Pixal: we got another down. It’s in his right lung; there are some minor damages and a tear you’ll need to fix but not much else. Where are the remaining two hidden? 

Pixal comes through their communicators: Ones still in his chest by his neck the other I am having trouble locating. 

Cole: don’t worry we’ll find it. 

Cuts to the five climbing out of the hole they went through to get to Zane's lung. 

Cole: Great cramped conditions again.

Lloyd: what do you think that worm is doing by his neck? 

Nya hypothesizes: Chances are probably trying to speed up their task by cutting the main cords that provide power and communication between his brain and body. 

Lloyd: we defiantly don’t want it to do that. 

Jay pointing at something: Hey is that it there? 

Looking to where he is pointing they see the worm looking at them. It then turns and rushes away. They follow and it drops out of sight confusing them. They come up to where it disappeared where another muscle has been pulled back leaving a dark hole.

Kai nervous and confused: Uh where’d it just go?    

Nya: It must have gone down there.

Kai highly nervous: and where does that go? 

No one answers him and Nya, Jay and Cole hop down into the hole. Though nervous Lloyd soon follows and dreading it Kai follows last. They find themselves in a dark damp slightly ringed tunnel like structure.

Kai wonders afraid to move and looking around scared: Okay now where are we? Or do I maybe not want to know? 

Lloyd is grossed out and unsettled by the slimy substance coating the tunnel which he finds coming off on his hand as he rubs it against the tubes walls trying to figure what the stuff is. Nya and Jay are looking around worried clearly knowing where they are and worried about it. 

Jay begins: Uhm I think this is one of those you don’t want to know about… 

They notice faint icy blue circuit looking markings looking like tattoos appearing in the synthetic material that made up the structure they are in. They are all pushed down the tube as it fades to black. 

End of act 1.

Act 2

Cole, Nya, Jay, Kai and Lloyd find themselves in a dark structure the same color and just as slimy as his throat that is half filled with a dark liquid. They quickly move to the sides of the structure and hold onto it to help stay afloat; Cole and Lloyd are helping Kai to keep him from drowning. Kai’s panicking making their work harder. They're all scared but Kai is the most scared. 

Kai panicking and yelling: Please tell me we’re not where I think we are. 

Jay scared but keeping it fairly together: yha you know how I was saying there was worse places to end up in here… this is probably the worst and most dangerous place! We’d be safer if Cole had eaten us! 

Coles not happy about Jays comment. The walls of the structure quickly develops the same style circuit markings that were in his throat and begin moving with a slow steady repeating constricting then relaxing motion causing the liquid to slosh around and knock about various things that were in there with them. They try to climb out of the fluids. 

Kai still panicking: We’re in his stomach aren’t we! We’re actually in his stomach! He ate us! He actually ate us! 

Kais panicking giving Lloyd and Cole trouble. 

Nya: I don’t think he ate us on purpose in fact he shouldn’t have. His systems are offline they shouldn’t be active. 

Cole struggling to hold Kai and the organ: his stomach looks pretty active to me. 

Nya suggests: That worm must have activated his system. 

Jay panics starting to freak out: the worm set a trap! It lured us in to get digested!

Nya annoyed by Jays panicking: Jay you’re panicking isn’t helping. 

They are struggling to hold onto the walls which are slimy and moving and things are moving about. Each slips off a couple times into the fluids scaring them but Nya, Lloyd and Cole are trying to remain calm. 

Cole: Kai’s not helping either. 

Lloyd struggling to not panic: we need to shut down his system before something bad happens to us! 

Cole: How is it active when his other systems aren’t? 

Nya explains: to relieve processing power on his main neural system many of his systems are controlled through separate secondary processors. This also allows him to separately put systems offline without interfering with other systems. This means though he can only manually influence if the system is on or off and if they need to be sped up or slowed down along with on rare occasions if he needs to cough something up temporarily reversing their normal actions. He can’t control their functioning. The systems themselves operate pretty much on their own; he has almost no control over what they do. 

Nya quickly contacts Pixal: Pixal we need you to shut off Zanes digestive system and do it now! 

Cuts to Pixal and Wu who are confused by her demands as Pixal has opened Zanes chest to access his lung area to work on it. She inspects the computer.

Pixal confused: but it is off. I shut down all his systems.

While she inspects the computer Jay comes through to yell in a panic: No it’s not shut down! It’s active and trying to destroy us! 

Inspecting the computer she's surprised and worried. 

Pixal: it is active but everything else is still offline. How did it get turned on?! Hold on I am shutting it down now. 

Pixal quickly works on the computer.

When done Pixal asks: There; is everyone okay? No one was hurt were they? 

Lloyd comes through to state: I don’t think so, just shaken really. 

Cole: not to mention grossed out really grossed out. 

Pixal: What happened, why are you in his stomach? You shouldn’t be in there it’s too dangerous for those of flesh like you to be in his stomach. Your equipment was not designed to withstand his digestive fluids. They will not protect you much in there  

Nya: trust us we didn’t intend to end up in here. 

Jay a bit calmer now but still worked up: “that worm did it! It tricked us into getting eaten!

Pixal working on the computer: It does look like he was hacked to turn on just that system. 

Cole: great these things are smartening up and trying to destroy us now. 

Pixal: Given these are advanced machines and not simple animals that is a very strong possibility. Do you need me to get you out of there? 

Scene cuts back to the five inside Zanes stomach which has stopped moving the markings in it gone and things have settled.

Lloyd: give us a minute to think some things out.

Looking around they note things to stand on to make things easier for them and hop onto them. There is a half digested peach pit and some chunks of bones. Nya and Jay  get on the peach pit, Cole gets on a piece of bone and Kai and Lloyd get on another larger shared piece of bone. While shaken most are calming down except Kai who is rigid, largely unresponsive and panicking. 

Kai muttering terrified: No no this is real bad! We’re in Zane's stomach! We’re going to get digested! There’s no way out we’re doomed! This can’t be happening it can’t be!  

Lloyd gives him a smack silencing him. 

Jay panicking: Of all the places we could end up in this is the worst! There are only two directions we can get out of here and I’m not wanting to get out through the other direction especially if it involves having to go through the rest of his system! 

Nya responds to him looking around on edge: Jay chill Pixal will help us out of here. We’re not going to have to go through the rest of his system… I hope.

Lloyd scared: There are ways of getting out of here without having to go through his entire system right?” 

Lloyd is looking scared into the fluids below them. All are nervous and on edge.

Nya nervous: yha. To make it easier to work on his digestive system is split into four main parts which can each be separated separately for work; his throat, stomach, small intestines and large intestines. Unfortunately though the worm could lock them preventing Pixal from operating them or if the worm went further in his system we might have to go down there to get it. 

Cole as they start cleaning themselves off a bit: Let’s hope we don’t have to do that. 

They clean themselves off a bit as they have slimy substances and various chunks of debris. They are all still a bit dirty after a brief cleaning. 

Jay complains starting to calm down: This is the worst place we could have found ourselves in! So gross and dangerous! Very dangerous! At least it doesn’t smell too bad rate now. 

Lloyd who is unsettled: What do you mean not too bad, it can smell worse in here? 

Jay begins: Yha, Cole and Kais cooking can make it way worse like that time Cole made that stuff before Wu got lost after battling the time twins that made us all super sick…

Fades to a flashback. All of them plus Zane are at the dinner table nervous as Cole dishes out a meal he made to all of them. All are hesitant to start eating but eventually dig in not wanting to be rude. Cuts to them later at night in their PJ's. They are all having trouble sleeping feeling sick and all but Zane keep rushing to the bathroom to get sick. Eventually all but Zane end up camping out in the bathroom all sick. Jay keeps complaining while the rest are mad at Cole who's trying to apologize for what he made. 

Kai narrates over the flashback: how could any of us forget that. It was nasty. All of us except for Zane and Wu spent the night in the bathroom so we didn’t have to rush to the toilets every time we had to throw up. You spent most of the night thinking we were dying. Wu was smart not to have some of that stuff. 

Jay then narrates as flashback shows Zane who is sick and in pain coming to Jay and Nya for help. They take him to work on him and do an analysis to find what's wrong. 

Jay: Hey it felt like we were dying didn’t it! Anyway Zane didn’t escape from that stuff either. Pixal warned him it was dangerous but he didn’t listen not wanting to be rude. What it did to him was nasty! Zanes system made the stuff into this very sticky dough looking stuff that got stuck and clogged up his stomach and like the first 20 centimetres of his intestines. It was not only disrupting and obstructing his system but causing him quite a bit of pain. It smelt horrid, one of the worst things I’ve ever smelt. To make it worse we had to use our hands to clean a good deal of it out of his guts…

Fades out of the flashback back to them.

Cole looking a bit sick thinking of the memory: please don’t remind me of that. If the smell hadn’t been bad enough you making me clean the stuff out with my bare hands just made it worse… just remembering it makes me want to throw up.

Nya grossed out: You know sure it normally is not nice smelling in here it’s not supposed to but I think the smell is stronger and fouler than it should be. I also don’t recall a haze in here. I think because his systems have been off for a few hours but there is still stuff being broken down in here the gasses made by the process have built up a bit instead of being emptied or moving on in his system to then be emptied like they normally would making the smell worse than it should be. 

Cole looking at the partially digested bones in with them including the one he's on: Why are there bones in here? Feels like I’m in a gator with them here. I made enough ribs for everyone to have their fill last night he didn’t have to eat the bones as well. 

Unsettled and grossed out Lloyd asks pushing a chunk of bone away from himself with his sword: why are there bones in here? 

Nya looking around grossed out: I’m not sure; I can’t see how Zane would enjoy them so I think he does it by accident or maybe he doesn’t understand he’s not supposed to eat them or that he doesn’t need to eat them. He also tends to eat other things that you’re not supposed to like peach pits, the skin to melons and pumpkins and the whole of a corn cob though he can’t turn most of the matter from those to energy even though he can break them down. I know he can not only break down bones but is capable of converting some of the materials from them like the marrow into energy unlike the other things he eats that he’s not supposed to so it’s not bad for him to eat them. He’s just not supposed to purposely eat them. His ability to digest bones is meant to be a safety precaution to prevent damages if he was to accidently swallow some after all with his jaw strength and metal made teeth and bones it’s very easy for him to accidently eat bits of bone every now and then and when broken bones often develop sharp edges which could cut up and damage his system so his system dissolves them so they can’t hurt him. Eating them on purpose isn’t going to hurt him but it’s not the healthiest nor is necessary. Pixal doesn’t do it very often nor does she ever do it on purpose but then again she better understands what it means to be a nindroid and understands human ways much better than Zane does. If he is doing it on purpose then all I can think of as a reason behind it is maybe he doesn’t want to waste any of his food or maybe he doesn’t realise he isn’t supposed to eat them on purpose. 

Lloyd: I could see him not wanting to let them go to waste. He doesn’t eat everything like Cole but unless he doesn’t like it or it makes him sick or from what he says it has no use for him or is dangerous or causes him problems he’ll eat most things including things people can’t eat or drink like motor oil and unlike some of us he always tries to eat all of his meal especially if it’s something someone else made and gave him; he thinks its rude to refuse it. He might not eat it all at once like Cole will but will save it and finish it later. He also has a habit that when someone gives him something to eat or drink as a gift he'll have it even if he doesn’t like it, it hurts him or makes him sick; he thinks it’s really rude to not have it even if he doesn’t like it or it hurts him. Remember that fermented fish stuff someone gave us once? 

Cole: Dude how could we, that smell was horrid! 

Fades to a flashback. They had gotten a weird tin in the mail as a gift and all of them gathered in the kitchen of the monastery to investigate it. Jay is the one to open it some water spraying out of it some getting on him causing him to freak out. The smell is awful offending and making them all sick; Zane and Pixal shut off their sense of smell while Kai gets sick throwing up in the sink. Zane and Cole eat it neither liking it grossed out and sick from it. None of the others are going to eat it. They eat it as Zane doesn't want it to go to waste while Coles been dared to eat it and doesn't want to back down from the dare even though its making them sick.

Kai: that was one of the worst things I’ve ever smelt! Just the smell made us all nearly barf! Pix and Zane were lucky they could turn off their sense of smell around that stuff. 

Jay: How could we not forget that stuff! 

Lloyd: yha, none of us were going to have the stuff but not wanting to let it go to waste Zane had it… well him and Cole after we dared him to have some.

Cole grossed and feeling sick to think of it: Yha the taste was slimy and gross even after rinsing them and it did not make me feel very good after that. I am never having that stuff again. We should have just taken the stuff to a zoo or park and fed some gators the stuff.

Nya: yha Zane didn’t feel too good from it either. The chemicals and bacteria from the fermenting of those things upset his system. A droids system doesn’t handle fermented matter very well; the chemicals and bacteria from it upsets and irritates their systems and they can’t process the stuff very well.

Fades out of the flashback to them.

Lloyd: Yha and unlike that stuff it’s obvious bones don’t upset or hurt him and since he can make energy from them maybe he has them so they don’t go to waste.

As Jay talks cuts to a scene of Zane collecting some random scraps from the kitchen and taking them outside to place in some feeders for birds set outside the monastery then to a scene of Jay taking out some rotting food to dump it in a compost bin after Zane's put some things in it and Jay nearly throws up from the smell and molds and fungi growing in it after opening it up. He wastes no time dumping what he has in the bin and running away from it gagging.

Jay: yha I could see that; he does after all collect food scraps and often puts them out for animals to have so they don’t go to waste. He also likes putting any rotting or out of date food he finds when cleaning the kitchen or elsewhere in the house in the green waste bins for disposal or the compost bins out back the monastery a lot instead of just throwing them out like I often do. He’s even dumped curdled milk in that thing sometimes. That bin smells nasty for a few days after he does that. Thank goodness those are held outside the monasteries yard so the smells kept some distance away; how can those bugs that live in that bin handle the smell from that stuff? They must either not care or have no sense of smell! 

Cuts back to the five of them.

Jay: You know at least when Zane eats bones he doesn’t usually do it around us or make it evident when he is doing it, he knows it unsettles the rest of us especially since he has no problem with biting through bones which he knows that fact scares some of us especially Kai and me. I guess biting through bones isn’t hard when your teeth and jaws are made of metal and you have a much stronger bite force than us thanks to his make. I guess we should be thankful he has this strange habit or we’d have nowhere to stay out of his digestive juices and we’d be in real trouble in here.  

Cole unsettled but relieved: I guess you’re right there even if this is really weird, gross and unsettling. You know with how strong his bite is it’s a good thing then he doesn’t usually get nippy when we have to restrain him like some people huh Lloyd? 

Lloyd defending himself: I don’t bite that hard, defiantly nowhere near as bad as when Zane bites.

Cole: That is true. He broke skin and I’m pretty sure cracked a bit of bone that one time and I could feel he wasn’t biting with his full force. I’d hate to know what the full force would have been like… why did he go crazy that time anyway? It was like he just snapped and started going all evil and attacking us.

Cuts to a flashback. They are in the Monastery. The five of them are having to fight Zane and Pixal who are going crazy attacking the rest of them trying to destroy them or force them to bow to them as servants. Because they are all skittish and having problems with their powers from a magical tea they are all struggling against the two. Zane isn't having troubles with his powers and because of his state his powers are having effects on the environment causing ice to build up on things including the floor making things slippery and the environment has become rather cold. Not only are Pixal and Zane not hindered like the rest but crafty and frequently outsmart them. They have to trick the two and mess with their senses to get the upper hand. They have to split them up to take down the two. They take down Pixal first as without powers she's safer and easier then go for Zane. They eventually manage to knock Zane and Pixal out then hook both up to the computers in the hanger bay to work on them everyone else mad at Cole for his cooking having caused the whole mess.

Jay a bit annoyed at Cole: thank your bad cooking. It was that weird duck stew you made where you accidently put in that magical tea thinking it was seasoning. It made us all skittish and jumpy and had our powers all out of whack but it had a much more opposite effect for Zane. It really messed around with Zanes system and caused some programming to get a bit out of whack making him think he was the Ice Emperor again. That was a nasty fight, didn’t help that stuff affected Pixal in the same way and she was on his side. Luckily we were able to finally knock the both of them out and fix things before the whole incident got out of hand. After some restores and reboots and a couple hours rest for the stuff to pass through most of their systems they were back to normal. Whatever you do don’t make that mistake again; we really don’t need them to go all evil again especially Zane. He’s really scary and dangerous when he’s like that!

Scene cuts back to the five inside Zanes stomach. 

Lloyd: Thank goodness we don’t have to give Zane medicine, I’d hate to have to give them to him especially if we’d have to force him to take them and he was bite-y. 

Cole: like you… hey if he doesn’t need medicines then what’s that stuff you sometimes make him have? I’ve heard you refer to it as a medicine.

Nya explains: It’s a formula to help maintain the health of the symbiotic organisms and the systems that create enzymes in and apart of his digestive tract. He has a bad habit of drinking too much motor oils and on occasion eating or drinking things he’s not meant to so that stuff helps combat any negative effects from that. He knows it’s good for him but it’s sometimes hard to make him take it because he doesn’t like the taste that’s why we hide it in things like chocolate milk or milk shakes to hide its taste. The stuff also binds well to the fats and proteins in the stuff helping keep it in his system longer so it works better and longer. 

Jay adds: most of the things he consumes that he’s not supposed to aren’t really his fault. It’s weird to say but Zane doesn’t fully understand what it means to be a nindroid. He lived for a long while thinking he was human which has just left him confused about a lot of things. Add on he doesn’t have a built in instinct so to say to tell him what is and isn’t safe for him plus he’s very curious to things so if he thinks it’s edible for him he’ll try it. If it doesn’t cause him much problems he might think it’s okay for him to have it even if it isn’t healthy or usable for him. Doesn’t help some people don’t seem to get not to joke with certain things as he’ll take their word for it or take their words too literal; right Kai?

Kai defends himself but still highly unsettled and freaking: Hey how was I to know he’d take what I said as literal? I was just having a little joke. I couldn’t believe he’d never seen a glow stick before. When I told him it was a fancy freezie I thought he’d look up the truth and not take my word on it! I didn’t mean to make him sick… or make his guts glow from it; that was disgusting and unsettling. 

Nya disciplining Kai a bit: you know he’s very trusting to us and has a high likely hood to trust our word even if it’s wrong before actually looking into the truth if what you say proves wrong or someone tells him otherwise. Because of this you shouldn’t mess around with things he might take literal especially if it is dangerous and can hurt or prove problematic for him. For most of his life Zane lived pretty sheltered from much of our human world so many things of our world especially non daily use items things like glow sticks are new and foreign to him when he comes upon them so when he first encounters them because he trusts us he often seeks us out to figure out what the foreign thing is.

Jay: Yha I remember the time I first gave him popping candy. He didn’t understand what it was exactly so just swallowed the stuff and thought after I’d given him something dangerous like some sort of explosive material because of all of it popping in his stomach at the same time. I probably shouldn’t have laughed at him for it cause it just had him worried and scared till I explained everything but it was funny. 

Fades to a flashback. When they are younger they are out at some festivities at night. There are fireworks and people playing with sparklers. Zane's confused over the sparklers as the others have fun with them. They give one to Zane and he just stares at it mesmerized even as it looks to burn him. Zane reacts like he is burnt but when the others check him they can't find anything just soot which washes off leaving no mark. Zane burns himself a few times more before they show him how he's supposed to hold the sparkler so he won't get hurt.

Jay: There was also that time around a year after we all first met we showed him sparklers for the first time. The first few times he held them too close to the part that burns and burnt himself as he just watched the sparkling on them a little mesmerized by it. We had to show him how to properly hold them so he wouldn’t get burnt. He kind of reminded me of a bird with a shiny object with how he was staring at it… you know thinking back we should have realised something was different about him then cause he didn’t really get a physical burn from that even though he acted and felt like he had been burned. With how pale his artificial skin was it should have been real easy to see a burn. Instead he just had some soot from the sprinklers on them. You know the fact his skin was so oddly pale as well should have told us something was different about him. He was almost albino like as if he’d rarely experienced the sun; I actually thought he was sick when we first met it was that oddly pale. I guess though when you don’t have blood in your skin to help give it color you are going to be paler than normal.

Nya: as I was saying when coming upon something he doesn’t know what it is at first or understand Zane trusts our word when we tell him what they are. Zane and his father lived largely alone in the middle of the wilderness and didn’t get many visitors and when they visited settlements Zane didn’t explore much or interact much with people; even though he was curious he was often nervous to and confused on how to do so plus we all know he’s not the social type. Because of this there wasn’t a lot of things he got to experience about the human world so there was a lot he never got to come across or experience. We were the first ones outside his father to really take him in as family and show him things he’d never seen or experienced before.

Flashback switches to when Zane was with his father as Nya talks. In one clip they are in a town one day. Zane is sticking close to his father who is doing some work for the townsfolk. Zane's looking around curious of those in the town but he's too nervous to do anything and just helps his father even though his dad tells him he's free to explore if he wants. Zane doesn't admit his nerves. Next clip is Zane and his father doing some shopping in the local town. Zane sees something he doesn't recognise, a music box, so his father shows him how it works captivating him. Last clip fades to in the old monastery one of the others hands Zane something he's never seen before  (for humor could be a bra)  and he looks at them confused.

Nya: Plus until after he met Pixal he didn’t fully know how to be a nindroid she had to teach a lot of things and even now he still gets confused by things. He’d lived for quite a while thinking he was just human so didn’t know or understand things about him were different nor that he was able to do certain things we can’t till he learned the truth. Even after that he didn’t know or understand how to be a nindroid and still struggles at times with this. 

Flashback changes to Pixal working with him on how to combat sedative gasses. She hits him with some and hacks his brain to show him the codes he needs to use to counteract its effects. Zane is surprised not realising he could do that.

Cuts out of flashback back to the five.

Nya: For the longest time he didn’t know how much of his body properly worked, what he could do and what is and isn’t safe for him. It’s kind of sad but me and Jay know more about his anatomy and programming than he does even to this day. Because of his trust and lack of understanding when one of us tells Zane glow sticks are fancy freezies for droids he’s going to trust your word.

Jay: And that is why we created that care book for you three for him and Pix for when we’re not around. Your screw ups when trying to help them or when just goofing around plus some of your cooking’s are not healthy for them and cause problems we often have to solve not to mention they can be dangerous for not just them but everyone else like that time we were gone for a weekend and the two nearly started a robot takeover to the human race because you messed up on a reboot after the chili Cole made gave them problems causing them both to short circuit and get knocked offline from it. 

Cole unhappy and defensive: hey that tech stuff for them is really complex and your explanation over the phone was a little hard to follow. Also why do you always have to complain about my chili?

Kai panicking: Can we please focus so we can get out of here before we’re digested!  

Lloyd nervous looking at their surroundings: yha how long do you think we could last in here?  

Nya nervously looking into the fluids: Not long. Our masks and the oxygen tanks are letting us still breathe in here and protecting us from any gasses that are present that probably would not be good for us but nothing will protect us from his digestive fluids. We’d only last about ten to 20 possibly 25 minutes in it but I don’t think you’d want to hang on that long. It would be very unpleasant. We’d be almost entirely dissolved within an hour if his system was active that is. In its current state it would likely take longer still though only a few hours. Truly I’m not sure how long we’ll last, as long as we don’t end up in the fluids we should be able to last longer than if we end up in them. 

As she talks breaks a piece off the pit she is on and watches it sink getting unnerved by the sight.

Jay trying to calm down but still worked up: first you have the acid which is strong enough to dissolve bones which means all but our teeth and hair, weapons and scraps of our clothes will be left in just a few hours and if that wasn’t scary enough there is the enzymes and bacteria both in here and the rest of his guts which are powerful enough they can break up motor oil! We don’t stand a chance at surviving in here!

Cole: Yha I think whatever this belonged to found that out the hard way. 

As he talks Cole picks up a beetles leg that is floating in the fluids near him. The insides to the creatures exoskeleton pour out as a liquid before the leg drips off in pieces out of his hand. All of them are unsettled by it Kai and Jay most of all. Cole drops the few scraps left in his hand back into the fluid grossed and unnerved by it.

Jay with a few nervous chuckles: You know seeing him choking on that beetle last night when it flew into his mouth when we took out some recycling was funny at the time but seeing what’s become of it now and that we could easily share its fate it isn’t so funny anymore. Kind of have to feel sorry for it though it was the one that decided to make itself lunch by forcing Zane to choke on itself so it kind of deserved what it got. 

As Jay talks cuts to flashback of Zane and Jay taking out recycling. The beetle which was hanging around the bins flies to Zane's eyes and starts pestering him. He tries to shoo it away but in his attempts ends up eating it gagging on it a bit. Jay laughs at his misfortune to Zane's annoyance and dislike.

Lloyd grossed out: why are insects so attracted to pestering him especially in his face?

Flashback fades to a few clips of Zane trying to shoo away various insects attracted to his eyes at various times including while on a mission, while training outside, while relaxing reading a book, while out around campfire at night, when taking out some garbage at night, etc.

Nya: It’s his eyes. Their attracted to the light in them and in their attempts to get this light while avoiding his attempts to shoo them away they end up in his throat and getting swallowed a lot. When it comes to why insects are so attracted to lights they’ll kill themselves to get it I have no clue. 

Cuts out of flashback back to the five. They start looked around for any sign of the worm a few of them poking at random unidentifiable objects in the fluid around them with their weapons.

Cole: you know motor oil is some tough stuff. If we drink it we get sick, I know I tried some. How can he drink it with no problems?

Jay grossed out by Cole's comment: I know you can be a bit like a dog and will eat anything at least once but why would you try motor oil?! It says rate on the container it’s not for drinking.  

Cole: I was wondering why Zane likes the taste of it so decided to give it a try. It didn’t taste good. 

Lloyd: Why is Zane attracted to motor oils?

Nya explains: I’m not entirely sure. I know Motor oils are made from well oil which is made from plankton that have been compressed for centuries under rocks or is made from a special types of kelp which we’ve noticed he is also rather fond of though it isn’t too healthy for him; his system isn’t able to properly process the stuff. He tends to get indigestion from it if he has too much. This kelp is found in shallow seas and bays around Ninjago and commonly harvested to make various forms of oil among some other uses. Both oils technically come from the sea and Zane has commented that they have a fishy taste to them so maybe that has something to do with it. I do know he is also similarly attracted to oils from fish yet he’s not as interested nor enjoys as much oils from plant sources like olive and canola. That just adds more questions than answers though. I do know it’s the enzymes and bacteria in his system that normally break down more consumable oils particularly cooking oils and the oils and fats from animal based sources that are the ones that break down the motor oils and help him make energy from them. They’re very powerful stuff even though they can't get him much energy from the stuff; they're not powerful enough for that. Maybe it has something to do with those organisms; maybe they enjoy the oils and are somehow influencing his tastes to get more. Or maybe he likes them because it’s a droid thing; I know Zane’s not the only one who likes oils most droids do so it’s not unique to him. Pixal also enjoys them but she has way more control than Zane does over the urge and attraction to drink the stuff. Zanes like Cole in that regard; if he likes something he has little control over himself and will have too much just like Cole with cake. Oils meant for cooking or from foods are fine and cause little problem for him but motor oils are not that healthy for him. They’re rough on his system and tough for him to properly break down. Unfortunately he’s more attracted to motor oils than cooking oils. He shouldn’t have more than a few cups a month of motor oils to prevent causing issues like imbalances to the symbiotes in his system, irritating tissues and causing digestive issues with his system especially if it is the typical oil from fossil fuels. He should only have that stuff on occasion about once a month or so. It’s a lot tougher than other oils so much rougher on his system and takes him longer to process than other oils. The one made from kelp is much better for him to have and luckily he likes that one better. It’s much easier for him to process so gentler on his system not to mention he gets more resources out of it than from typical motor oil but still it’s not too healthy or good for him to have too much. It can still cause problems like regular motor oils luckily though it takes more to have serious negative effects on him but at the same time unfortunately he often gets carried away with it. Like with us and things like candies or cookies he should have them in moderation. Pixal does, she’s pretty good at keeping in control around the stuff but Zane lacks that control; she’s sometimes not happy with that because it’s not healthy for him. She has tried to teach him some control before but hasn’t really had much luck so has largely given up on that effort. She’s told me it’s like trying to teach a dog not to eat bacon or Cole to not touch a cake. 

Cole not liking her comment: why does everyone always have to pick on my eating habits? Why not Jay or Lloyds for once?

Lloyd nervous: Anyone see any evidence of the worm? 

None of them can see anything but they are still looking around. 

Jay scared: how do we even know it’s in here? It might have just lured us to our doom while it chills somewhere safe!

 Nya: If it went into his throat to lure us here then chances are it had gotten swallowed too so it would have to be in here somewhere. 

Cole grossed by the thought: or maybe it moved further through his system?

Nya: That is a possibility.  

Kai scared: how would we know? I don’t want to end up deeper in his gut! 

Jay a bit panicked: and you think I want to; I don’t want to either! I know what happens to stuff like us in here and it isn’t pretty!

They are all suddenly spooked causing Lloyd, Jay and Kai to jump as they get a communication through their communicators.

Pixal through communicators: Are you guys okay? You have been oddly quite. Given the highly dangerous location you are in we were hoping to have heard from you already.

Nya with an idea: yha we’re fine just trying to figure where this worm went. Hey Pix can you find its signal? If so where is it?

Pixal after a few seconds of silence: It is in his stomach with you. 

Nya using the communicator: Thanks Pix.

Nya addressing the others: It must be in the fluids somewhere then. 

Kai panicked and impatient: then it will get digested there problem solved now let’s get out of here! 

Nya: Zane's system is tough but that will take a while for his system to do, it could take hours. Not to mention metal, plastics and most synthetics are pretty tough for him or anything really to break down much so the worm will get damaged but not really digested much. That damage might not be enough to stop the worm plus his system would need to be active in order to help deliver sufficient damage to the worm. Just sitting in a soup of acids and enzymes isn’t going to be enough to damage it alone and even when active it could take several hours for the worm to receive the needed damages to destroy it.

Lloyd: and in that time it could escape from here and cause damages. We need to personally see it’s destroyed so it can’t hurt him.

Lloyd: How deep are these fluids? 

He and the others are looking into the fluids feeling unnerved as they look into them trying to see the worm but unable to see anything. The fluids were dark and relatively opaque making it near impossible to see anything that wasn’t floating on or just below the surface. There is mainly just bits of bone and beetle shell floating on the surface.

Jay nervous: well his stomach looks to be at about a third its max size basically at its resting size but I think the fluids are still deep enough to fully submerge us though as they’re clearly still working on stuff in here…we defiantly don’t want to get submerged in this stuff!

Cole nervous: If it’s in here then how do we find it without you know… 

Looking into the dark opaque fluids around them Cole pokes a piece of what looks like bone feeling shivers when he feels it is squishy like wet bread and bits break off of it.

Jay panicked: Getting dissolved into his lunch no I don’t think there is any way!

Lloyd looking at his sword: our weapons are much more resistant to getting dissolved maybe we can poke around with them and see if we can find anything.

Nya: I guess that is a good and probably the only safe option.

They slowly and cautiously begin poking around with their weapons in the fluids. The act grosses all of them out. They are quiet for a while as they search focused on the task. Every now and then they have to push aside chunks of bone and other materials when they floated close getting unnerved by the action. Occasionally as they work they ended up stirring up pockets of gas, random non identifiable items or remaining bits of beetle shell that brake apart when interacted with grossing and unsettling them more. Occasionally fluids or matter in the fluids gets splashed up onto them and they try to clean themselves off when this happens highly grossed out and unsettled by this. 

Lloyd uneasy: I guess we should be thankful Zane didn’t have breakfast or it would probably be much grosser in here huh? 

Nya: Yha plus we might not have had as much space in here and would have more fluids and debris to search through at least though we’d still have some space as Zane rarely stuffs himself like Cole. His system has sensors that make him get a full like feeling to prevent unnecessary strain on his system and potential internal damages to nearby components from over expanding his stomach such an act would do. Clearly Zane's synthetic system and programming function better than Coles instincts and body do.

Cole a bit annoyed: hey that’s kind of mean you know… you know I never thought much about it but does Zane have to eat like us? He always does so I never really thought much into it; is that out of necessity or is he just copying us to fit in?

Nya: Well his body does require a lot of power more than ours to fully function at normal levels after all there is a lot more going on in his body especially his brain than ours and all that needs power and like all things his power source needs a method to restore energy to keep from being depleted and by far his digestive system is the most efficient method to keep it charged plus to keep the symbiotes in his system healthy by feeding them he does need to eat on a regular basis at least once or twice a day like us but he can go a few days without eating if he has to or wants. Also if he has to he can survive longer without food than us but if he is to go without food especially for more than a day he has to take precautions to prevent strain and overworking on his power source. Cautions like shutting down non critical functioning’s, lowering his activity output, and taking more time to rest to conserve energy. Luckily the symbiotes in his system go into a hibernation state when they can’t find food but it’s not healthy for them to remain like that for long.

Lloyd: if he can feel full can he also feel hungry?

Nya: Yha he has programming that can give him a sense of hunger making him feel like and think he's hungry just like us; it’s part of the many programming's and functions he has that help him fit in with people. He is capable of shutting this sense off when he wants. He normally has it on as it can help him remember to keep track of his energy levels and output but he often shuts it off during missions to keep it from interfering in his performance.

Kai looking uneasy and spooked: you know that feature of him always kind of unsettled me about him; a robot that can feel hunger and could eat you, really scary when you think of it.

Lloyd: Yha but I doubt Zane would ever want to eat us. We’re his family and I doubt he’d ever willingly do anything to hurt us.

Jay uneasy but trying to remain calm joking a bit: willingly is the key word. If push came to shove or he had no control I think yha he may just eat us after all he kind of already has and it wasn’t by his own choosing. You know I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t take much for Cole to eat us; just have no food in the house and he’d probably do it. 

Cole is not amused by Jays joke.  

Lloyd: Hey how do we tell when Zane's energy gets low? 

Nya: well getting moody and easily irritated is a sign; low energy can cause more sensitive systems like his emotions to function oddly. Getting anxious for what appears like no or odd reasons is another, that’s because when his energy gets low his heart activates his anxiety as a warning signal. He will also clearly be tired. Unfortunately he doesn’t always recognise that these signs mean his energy is getting low. Probably from his time that he mistook that he was human he sometimes mis-interprets or doesn’t recognise these signs for what they are. He normally keeps tabs on his energy levels so we don’t have to worry about it but he does sometimes forget to take note of it and needs reminding to care for himself. If he’s showing signs of low energy just give him something to eat or just notify him of his odd behaviour and he’ll take care of it himself. Don’t do what Kai tried once by trying to charge his heart with the charger for an electric scooter. Zanes body doesn’t use the same format of electricity as those devices so it won’t work and just stresses his heart out. Only the special connectors and chargers we have on the Bounty and in the hanger bay can be used like that for him and we only use those if his or Pix’s energy levels get extremely low. Luckily we haven’t had to use those yet but we still make sure they are properly working by testing them at least once a month just to be safe. Another method that is a bad idea is Jay trying to shock him to give him energy, not only does it stress out his heart but it causes him pain and what Jay does is dangerous for him. It can overload and explode their hearts.

Jay: Yha that and a few accidents have made Zane nervous when I play with my powers around him. I wouldn’t really blame him though, getting shocked causes him a lot of pain especially to his heart. If I was in his situation I’d probably be feeling the same. Best thing to do when his energy is low is just give him food besides like us I’m pretty sure he likes to eat, I know he loves chicken nuggets especially the ones shaped like dinosaurs; he also loves when he can dip them in oil even though he knows he’s not supposed to do that very often. You know he does often copy things we do even if he doesn’t have to like trying moisturizers or sunscreen on his skin or using our soaps instead of the ones meant for droids to clean himself; I think he copies us with such things to try and better fit in and understand human ways so mimics us with things he normally doesn’t have to or can do to learn. 

Kai commented: so he has been using my body wash, I knew I recognised the smell! That will also explain why I keep going through it so quick.

Nya: Yha he’s not the only one who has been using it.

Cole defending himself: hey I like the smell of it besides Jay has used it too and Lloyd. You and Pix have used it too so you’re not innocent there either. I’ll admit I even used it on the chicken once and I think she liked it even though Zane told me soaps are actually bad to wash birds with unless they get something like oil on their feathers…  

Lloyd stirs up a strange item that is stuck on his sword catching their attentions. The item is a solid plastic bigger than they are. It is crushed up and mangled as if having been crushed and ground against other objects and has some minor pitting with what had once been bright colors having been bleached by acid.

Lloyd unsettled by the item: Uhm what is this?

Jay after a moments thought: it kind of looks like one of those little plastic dragons we put in ice cubes as a fun decoration for your birthday party three months ago.

Kai anxious and scared: That’s been in here for three months?!

Lloyd staring at the item spooked: and why is it in here?

Jay: I think he thought they were the same as those candy dragons that were on the cake. I told Cole what they were cause I knew he would eat them if I didn’t tell him but I didn’t think I would need to tell Zane. I thought he’d know better and knew what they were… this will explain why I couldn’t find three of them when we cleaned up; truly I thought Cole had eaten them. This will also mean there are likely two more in here somewhere. Pixal didn’t eat them so why did he?

Nya: Well they did look a lot like candies and Cole was licking them like they were…

Cuts to a flashback of them having a birthday party in the monastery. It is a small party with just the ninja, Pixal, Wu and Misako. They are all enjoying themselves. Zane is confused about what is in the ice cubes and is silently watching the others to figure out what they are. He notes similar looking items on the cake which they are eating and notes Cole who looks like he is eating the ones from his drink and decides they are safe to eat so just drinks them.

Cole defends himself: hey I was cleaning them. I had been playing around with them on my slice of cake and they got some icing on them so I decided to help clean them plus I didn’t want to waste any of the cake or its icing. It was real good.

Jay jokes: That’s because it was from a bakery and not made by you.  

Nya: given his habit of easily getting confused over human things and the fact Zane often looks to the rest of us for many things like how to behave with certain things and what things are he likely mistook them as candies because of Coles actions and he just drank them with his drink. 

Cuts back to the five in Zane's stomach. Lloyds trying to work the item off his sword uneasy and not wanting to directly touch it.

Cole confused: Didn’t he think to analyse them to find out what they were before eating them? 

Jay guessed: well since we normally don’t put things in ice cubes, they looked like candies and you were sticking them in your food and licking them like they were candies he probably just assumed they were. 

They are now all more grossed out but continue to search. Lloyd gets the item off his blade. It sits back in the fluids half floating around them unsettling them.

Jay: I guess next time we’ll have to tell Zane not to eat them even if Cole tries to. 

Nya: we’re going to have to keep an eye on Zane for a while. If those things are still in here in a month we’re going to have to manually remove them. Given it’s already been in here for three months we’re probably going to have to manually remove them. 

Jay unsettled: I’m not going to look forward to that.

Lloyd: That pit was from two days ago and the bones were from last night, is it normal for something’s that aren’t made of plastic to still be in here this long?

Nya: Yha tougher stuff like bones and this fruit pit can take a few days to fully break down. His system is set to operate at levels comparable to a high metabolism so most of the stuff should have been broken down and moved on within a few hours. This stuff will likely be gone in a day or two.

Cole: I’m pretty sure I don’t want to see what happens to what gets moved on.  

Jay struggling trying to keep his nerves stable slowly getting more worked up as he talks: Yha I wouldn’t want to end up there even though it would be notably safer than being in here. The acid gets diluted after it leaves his stomach so things aren’t as corrosive but you still have all the enzymes and bacteria to deal with that will continue to eat away at you and turn things into a format his system can use. It all wouldn’t be pretty or fun as you get squished and pushed around as you’re moved along his intestines which are a couple inches longer than ours that way he can extract more resources but it means you’d have more of a ways to go to travel to get through and out of them. At least the energy converters wouldn’t hurt you. They line the outside and absorb the materials through the walls of the intestines and don’t intrude with anything dangerous into them; just these small soft rubbery like fibre like structures that make the walls look and feel a bit like those rubber scrubby things you can use in the kitchen for cleaning some things. Anyway they help filter out and absorb the materials the converters need. The converters then use the stuff they get to make energy that he can use which they send straight to his heart which can either store the energy for later or put it into use rate away. There’s lots of these converts lining his intestines, their built into the outer walls of the organ. Their sole job is to convert all sorts of matter into an energy form Zanes heart uses to power everything in his body in order to keep the power outputs from his heart stable and restore used energy to keep his power source from getting drained. As long as you haven’t been dissolved in his stomach they’re not going to do anything to you. You would probably get dehydrated in there though especially in his large intestines. Them and the lowest parts of his small intestines reabsorb and take in any new or pre used parts of the chemicals and enzymes his digestive system uses so they don’t go to waste and can be reused. These are then either stored in special organ like structures for later use or put straight back into use. Those parts of his system also absorbs chemicals that can be used to create his synthetic equivalent to saliva and even his synthetic tears which help prevent the clear stone that coats his eyes from getting scratched up by his eyelids by keeping a layer of liquid on them to prevent friction and scratches along with clearing away dirt and dust from them so they don’t interfere with his vision or hurt his eyes. The whole thing is a very complex and geniusly designed system… when you’re not the one in it and it’s not trying to turn you into lunch! You know he’s kind of lucky it’s so efficient. The design produces a bit less waste than us so he can go a few days usually about three to four without having to use the bathroom unlike us… I defiantly don’t want to end up that far in his system; I’d never be able to get that out of my head!

Along with being grossed out the others are a little startled by Jay quickly getting worked up. 

Lloyd: How come he can eat bones and motor oil with no problem but if he has more than a single orange in less than 24 hours it makes him unwell? 

Nya: it’s the citrus to them. The chemical irritates the materials and sensors in his digestive tract which causes pain and disruptions to his system. A small amount won’t bother him too much just some slight irritations but too much causes quite a bit of problems. It’s kind of unfortunate for him cause he likes Clementine’s but he can only have one every once in a while unless he wants to get sick. Citrus isn’t the only thing that does that. Other things like highly acidic things like pops which disrupt the natural biota of their systems not to mention the acid in pops is citric based, fermented things and certain spices especially hot or strong spices do it too. That’s why Kai’s more than Coles cooking tends to bother him. You use too many strong spices bro.

Jay: Yha see Kai if it makes Zane sick then you know it’s bad and unsafe. 

Kai: you just say that because you don’t like a lot of spice in your food. You think regular barbeque sauce is spicy. 

Nya: he does have a bit of a point but also just because it hurts Zane doesn’t mean it will hurt us and vice versa. He can sense if something will be dangerous for us but it might not have any effect on him while things that don’t hurt us will hurt him.

Lloyd: Is that why he avoids certain things that seem fine yet he’s fine with others that seem dangerous or questionable like wild mushrooms or bad and raw meats that would kill the rest of us?

Nya: Yha, his system handles certain things better than others. Generally when feeding a droid you feed them more like a dog than a deer; much more meat than plant, be cautious what plant matter you feed them and you don’t have to make things bland but be cautious with how much and what kind of spices you use. Their systems don’t handle a lot of plant based matter very well. A lot of plants use chemicals to defend themselves and these chemicals can irritate the sensors or disrupt the symbiotes in their systems which then irritate the system causing problems and making them sick so they have to be careful with a lot of plant matter. Also while the materials will get dissolved and broken down they don’t always get broken down enough for Zane or other droids to make anything from them. The cell walls of many plant based things are too tough for their systems to efficiently break them down enough to properly use them; it also takes more energy and time for them to process the stuff. To efficiently use plant matter they would need a much longer and more complex system which would be very inefficient and not fit their bodies design taking much more space and power and they would also need very unique bacteria and enzymes which aren’t cheap and are quite sensitive making them harder to work with and maintain. That’s why Zane generally sticks to mainly common fruits and certain vegetables along with rice or wheat based items if he is to have something from plants. They’re the easiest and safest ones for him to use. Most others he can’t do or use so to avoid problems he avoids them. He has no problems with animal based products though no matter what they are from. They don’t have the chemicals plants have and their cells are easier to break apart so they’re much easier to process so he has no problems fully breaking them down and he can get far more resources to make energy from them. Only things like horns, claws, teeth and hair are too tough for him to process. Plus he’s exposed to animal sources more frequently thanks to the strange obsession insects have with getting in his face which often causes them to get eaten. Zane doesn’t find that very pleasant. He told me once it’s not a pleasant feeling and can hurt a bit especially from bigger insects or those with decorative features or stingers. 

Cole grossed by the thought: can you blame him I doubt that’s pleasant. Having a live insect buzzing and crawling down your throat or in your stomach can’t be a pleasant feeling especially when they have like horns and spines on them or are equipped with pinchers, stingers and claws.

Jay having calmed down a bit: Yha he’s gotten scratches in his throat from a few of them before so it defiantly can’t be very pleasant. You know it’s kind of funny you say feeding him is like feeding a dog cause he sometimes reminds me of a dog or cat… I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t like to hear me say that considering I once commented to him that he has the eyes of a hawk and he was stuck confused for hours trying to figure out what I meant and why I would compare his eyes to those of a bird.

Kai pretended to search just dragging and poking his sword randomly around in the fluids around them: You know I’m not finding anything are we sure it’s still in here? 

Kai has spent the last couple minutes as they search with his eyes closed only opening them to see what Lloyd had pulled up with his sword before tightly closing his eyes again more unsettled.

Jay angry at Kai: How can you tell when you’re not even looking? You’re eyes are closed.  

Kai opening his eyes: how come you’re not freaked out over where we are?! I’d expect you to be panicking even more than me! We’ve been in here for well over half an hour possibly a whole hour by now surrounded by the highly dangerous digestive fluids that could completely dissolve us of a droid which a dangerous robotic worm which can hack Zane and cause him to digest us is hiding in and could spring up at any time to drag us to our doom! Not to mention there’s a chance we could end up deeper in his gut and I don’t want to go in there! This would normally have you all crazy panicked how are you not panicking?!

Jay getting a bit worked up but trying not to loose it as he talks: You don’t think I’m panicking! I’m on the edge of losing it but I’m holding it together to help my friend, my brother. I don’t want him to be torn apart by evil cyber worms besides it wasn’t his fault we ended up in here. It was that worm using him as its puppet! Also Zane can’t help it if his guts are like something you’d expect to find in a monster it’s just his nature, how he is, and I just have to accept it even if it has me freaked out! Besides I wouldn’t change him no matter what, I like him the way he is so why should I mess with who and what he is just because it scares me. If he wants to eat bones like some sort of scavenger than that’s up to him it’s his body after all and as long as it isn’t hurting him I won’t complain. Besides it’s not as bad as some of Coles bad eating habits.

Cole not pleased that his habits are being questioned again: hey what’s so bad about my habits?

Jay: Well for one no cake or other baked good is safe around you even when it’s not yours, you don’t care if something fell on the floor or even the ground you’ll still eat it even if there’s dirt leaves pine needles or other things on it, you’ll eat things even if they are out of date and going bad. Zane does that too, his system can actually destroy most pathogens and harmful bacteria, plus he’ll eat raw dough like you, I think he likes the taste and texture of them when they’re raw more than cooked sometimes, but his system can safely handle those and it won’t make him sick unlike ours, not to mention how about the time you ate those pebbles cause you thought they were fruits… twice within a week of each other.

Cole: hey it wasn’t entirely my fault! It was a community garden and they said anyone could have what they wanted. Besides who in their right minds shapes and paints rocks to look like berries?!

Lloyd: According to Zane it’s a trick you can use to keep birds and other animals from eating all the berries from your garden. It makes them think the berries are rocks so they won’t take them from your plants.

Nya: it apparently works on Cole too though I doubt the animals actually eat the rocks like he did.

Cole in defense: well I learned my lesson and know that now. Make sure their actually berries before eating them, especially if you’re going to swallow them whole. That was a very unpleasant experience.

Kai terrified but trying to act calm: You know why don’t we just let Jay shock this place to fry that worm and make it quicker to get out of here? 

Lloyd nervous: do you think that could work?

Nya: Again you’d probably just end up getting us all shocked. 

Cole anxious from the idea: yha and I’ve been shocked by you before and it isn’t pleasant. 

Jay defends himself: that was an accident and I’ve said sorry every time I’ve accidently shocked anyone. You know shocking the thing could work and we might be safe where we are. Most of what’s in here isn’t conductive… at least I don’t think they are?

Kai almost pleading: Come on let’s just give it a try? 

Lloyd: it’s three against two.

Kai, Lloyd and Jay are up for the idea while Cole and Nya are nervous of it.

Nya after a brief pause to think: fine we could try but keep the volts low and be careful.

Jay wastes no time in directing a blast of lightening into the fluids. Just as others had cautioned however the rest of them including Zane get shocked. Jay isn’t immune to his own attack shocking himself causing him to stop his attack.

Jay seeing he has ended up hurting everyone: I'm sorry!

With electricity reaching into his body Zanes stomach to temporarily activates causing it to constrict and relax a couple times before stopping again. This causes things to get sloshed around and smack into each other including the items they are sheltering on. They managed to stay on the items they have chosen to float on though some of the fluids splash up on them with Kai getting the worst of it. A large splash ends up washing over Kai coating him entirely in the digestive fluids and dropping a few miniature pieces of nearly fully digested debris on him which slowly slid off him. Kai is left so stunned and shocked he just crouches looking blankly at himself and the debris dripping off him. The others are all nervous and grossed by the stuff that ended up on them but Cole feels some amusement from Kais predicament. Everyone else is just grossed out by it. 

Wu coming through their communicators: What just happened? It looked like Zane got shocked. 

Lloyd grossed out trying to clean himself off: that was just Jay screwing up.

They try to clean themselves off a bit.

Jay nervous: Okay that didn’t work… Nya what about your powers? Maybe you can work this liquid around to help us see what’s in it? 

Nya a bit angry from being shocked: this stuff isn’t water Jay it’s acid and various other liquids.

Cole grossed out as he is still cleaning himself off: Is there any water in him? 

Jay nervous: kind of. Technically water isn’t as essential for him to live as us so he can go without it far longer than we can but to help balance out and restore some chemicals in his body and to help the health of the symbiotes in him plus maintain moisture in certain synthetic organs like his guts and to help remove waste in this system plus he needs them to help create things like his synthetic tears he has to drink water based fluids a couple times a week. Any excess water and if he has too much in his body he can remove kind of like us. Again he can go several days without having to do that though, must be nice to not have to use the bathroom everyday nor to wet yourself when too scared… I mean yha he usually only has to remove excess water every few days. This way also allows him to reuse excess water if he hasn’t had water based liquids in a while and cannot get access to any. He had iced tea last night so I thought there might still be some form of water in here.

Nya annoyed: That wouldn’t be in here anymore and if was in here it would be broken down and not really water anymore besides even if I can affect this stuff I don’t want to risk playing with it. It’s too dangerous. 

Lloyd worried: aside from diving in this stuff which I’m pretty sure we don’t want to do then what are we going to do? 

Before they can do anything the worm they were looking for lunges out of the fluids behind Jay and tackles him off the pit and into the small space between where they are floating in the fluids the two disappearing in it. The action causes the fluids to slosh around a bit rocking the items they were sheltering on before settling back down. 

Nya scared and worried: Jay! 

Cole trying to stay positive but nervous jokes: look at that looks like it found us! 

They looked around in the fluids trying to see any sign of where Jay is but see nothing.

Nya worried: we need to get him out of there fast!

Cole nervous: And how are we going to do that!” 

Jay comes back up in a panic trying to make his way onto the pit clearly having been in a fight. Nya tries help him but the worm comes back up and constricts around him to pull him back down into the fluids. Nya quickly stabbs her trident where the worm went down hoping to hit the worm but hits nothing frustrating her. 

Nya angry: get back here you filthy scrap parasite!

When Jay comes up again he s close to Cole. Cole tries to help him but there wasn’t enough space on the bit of bone he’s chosen for Jay to get up on. He tries to help Jay over to another bit of bone for him to get onto.

Cole: hold on pal we'll get you to safety.

The worm intervenes. The worm comes up trying to grab Jay but using his lava arms Cole punches the worm in the head breaking off the one side of the pinchers which fall into the digestive fluids. The worm shoots out the blade in its head and attempts to stab at Cole. Dodge the worms stab Cole looses balance on the bit of bone and falls into the fluids. With him knocked over the worm then wraps back around Jay and pulls him back under causing things to get sloshed around again.

Lloyd nervous watching everything: That thing really has something against Jay!

Cole climbing back up onto the bit of bone he had been using: well he did shock everything. I bet that felt worse for that thing than for us.

Jay comes back up again by Kai and Lloyd. 

Jay terrified: why aren’t you all helping me! It’s getting very tiring fighting this thing, I’m pretty sure it’s trying to hold me in this stuff till I become lunch!

Kai equally terrified: And you think we want to end up becoming lunch too!

Lloyd tries to help Jay up onto the bone with them. The worm is quick to burst back up and goes to stab at Jay. Quickly Lloyd intervenes and swipes his sword to intervene with the blade. His swipe cuts the worms blade off near its base the blade falling into the fluids. In fear of the worm and falling or getting knocked into the digestive fluids Kai stabbs his sword as deep as he can into the worms body with as much force as he can. Lloyd continues to hit the worm working on cutting through the skin in order to more easily reach its interior while Jay relieved for the break climbs up onto the bone some pieces of bone breaking off as he climbs up. To escape the attacks the worm pulls back and dives into the fluids taking Kai who is too scared and stunned by everything to let go of his sword which is stuck in the machine with it.

Nya shocked and worried: Kai!  

Lloyd equally shocked and worried: why didn’t he let go of the sword? 

They all just stare at the fluids as they settled back down trying to see where the worm and Kai have gone all worried and scared. 

Nya worried: What are we going to do? Kai’s not going to survive long in there.

Lloyd worried: not to mention he can’t swim so I don’t think he’ll be able to get out on his own!

Even though they want to help him none are brave enough to get into the fluids. Seeing no one is daring to jump into the fluids to go after Kai, since he has the fluids and digested matter already on him and is worked up with adrenaline from fighting the worm and being in and coated in the dangerous fluids Jay braves up and dives back into it. 

Jay as he dives in: don’t worry Kai I’ll help you.

The others just float there for a short time looking for any sign of Kai, Jay or the worm all on edge.

Cole nervous: do you think we should do something?

Lloyd scared sounding a bit like Jay: and risk getting digested?

After a couple seconds they can see some light appear in the dark fluids emitting from somewhere deep in it and some minor electric sparks dance across the surface of the fluids with the light. The light and shocking then disappear.

Cole: what just happened?

Nya nervous: I don't know.

After a few second Kai and Jay then resurface by the peach pit. Jay is helping hold up and drag Kai who is rigid in a state of shock and barely doing anything just still tightly clinging to his sword which has been pulled out of the worm. Nya helps the two onto the pit.

Jay as he is being helped up: I managed to give that thing a direct shock.  

Nya: Did you finish it off? 

Once the two are on the pit the worm jumps up onto the pit with them trying to sink it into the fluids and is swinging its head trying to knock them off the pit. 

Jay nervous: apparently not! 

He and Nya waste no time in attacking the worm. Kai is too stunned to say or do anything just staring at the worm. Jay hits it several times with his nunchucks sending small bits of electricity with each attack briefly stunning the worm with each hit. Nya takes several stabs at its head steadily creating and deepening a gouge in its synthetic skin then metal interior. Sensing they are getting close to destroying it the worm starts backing up. Terrified of the thing getting away and dragging him back into the fluids Kai quickly rushes over and stabs strait into its brain shutting it down. Once dead they stop their attacks Nya and Jay having to hold Kai and pry his sword out of the things head to keep him from being pulled into the fluids as the worm slides off the pit and sinks into Zane's digestive fluids the pit returning to floating. They all just remain where they were all worked up but starting to settle down. Kai is still staring at where the worm went and shaking terribly.

Jay: Okay, three down and one to go. 

Kai his voice cracking a bit and still in shock: can we now get out of here?! I’m going to have nightmares about this for weeks!  

Nya still worked up and on edge but slowly calming down from the fight: Yha just give us a minute and we’ll get Pixal to help us out of here. 

Kai still in shock and voice cracking in fear: why am I getting this tingling burning feeling to my skin?

Jay starting to panic: Yha I’m getting the same thing, it’s Zane's digestive fluids they’re starting to eat away at us! They’re turning us into his lunch! 

They are all grossed out and unnerved looking at themselves as they are covered by the fluids and feeling the same thing. 

Lloyd contacting Pixal scared: we got the worm you can get us out now and we’re going to need a bit of a cleaning.

Cuts to the five of them now outside Zane's body on the small worktable next to the table Zane is on. Pixal is closing up Zane after working on him leaving only the port over his heart open. They have cleaned themselves up in a shallow dish filled with water then dried themselves off with a towel. All are missing patches of their clothes particularly on their gloves, footwear and the lower arms and legs and have reddish patches to their skin in these areas. They have taken their masks off. All but one have calmed down now that they are safe. Kai is the only one still in the dish to get cleaned up. He's still in shock and not moving so Nya hits him a couple times with the water to knock him out of his state. Her actions work and he starts to come back to his senses.

Kai still in shock and nervous: I’ll never be able to un-see all that!

As Kai cleanse himself Nya hops down with the others who are watching Pixal.

Lloyd: Have you been able to find the last worm?

Pixal: no, it is somehow hiding itself very well. Every now and then I have picked up its signal and it seems to be hanging in his chest largely on the left side. That does not bode well. His heart is in that area. It luckily has not caused any damages yet but that makes me worry it is up to something.

Nya: And given where it is hanging I don’t think it intends anything good. 

Nya, Lloyd, and Jay are inspecting the worm Pixal removed from Zane's shoulder and lung. 

Nya: Have you figured out anymore about these worms? 

Wu: not much. There is something about them that gives an aura of familiarity. Something with their workings and programming is familiar.

Pixal: Indeed plus these worms are operating on their own and not being controlled; they are however sending signals to somewhere else but the signal is encrypted and will take a few hours to decode where it is being sent. That could help us find who made and sent them.

Jay: Whoever made these things clearly is no friend to us and wants to see us suffer. 

They get a notification on the bays computers that someone is at the monasteries doors. 

Lloyd curious: Who’s at the door?

Cole eager: did you order in some dinner for us when we’re done? I could really go for some. Hopefully you got double desert too I could use it after all this.

Kai getting out of the dish nervous: Seriously! We nearly just ended up becoming food and all you can think about is food!

Jay: Yha foods the last thing I want to think about rate now.

Wu confused: No we have not ordered anything, I will go see who is there and what they want. 

Pixal: we will continue to work here. 

Wu heads off leaving the rest of them there. They continue to work trying to figure out where the last worm is and getting a look at the worms they have pulled out.

Lloyd: Well we could always go back in and do some exploring to find this thing. 

Kai scared: and risk getting into a trap that ends with us in his stomach again! No thank you!

Nya: That could be a possibility but I think the chances we’ll end up there again slim. Given where this thing is hanging I think it is seeking to go after his heart.

Jay: why do you think it hasn’t gone after his heart yet?

Pixal: I am not sure. Considering they could have easily and simply have just destroyed him why did they instead cause random damages that largely caused pain and harm instead? It all seems odd and makes me worried over what this worm has planned. 

Cole curious: you know how did Zane even get these worms?

Pixals looks at some data on the computers.

Pixal: We searched the memory data of the first one we found and it did not reveal much. These things became activated when in the yard already by the looks of which from after being thrown over the wall though we can find no evidence of by who or exactly when they ended up in the yard. We can only identify when they became active. They were activated around two in the morning while we were all asleep where they made their way to Zanes room and hacked him in order for him to let open the hatch over his heart so they could climb into his body and begin their work. 

Jay: wouldn’t Zane have been aware of their actions when they hacked him?

Pixal: It is hard to tell. I have gotten better with showing him how to identify when being hacked and ways to try and counter it but there are still things he has trouble with. As far as I can tell he does not seem to have been aware that he was being hacked. 

Kai surprised and confused: wait he doesn’t realise when he’s being hacked?

Nya: Again this is some of that not knowing how to be a droid thing and confusion from when he thought he was just human issue. It wasn’t till Pixal started helping him with it that he learned he could actually do something about it and not just fall victim to it. 

Flashes back to when they were working at Darkleys. Kai and Cole note some kids playing outside when they are supposed to be in class. They check on Zane finding his class empty and him asleep at a desk. Cuts to the two bringing Jay and Nya in to work on a tablet to wake Zane up.

Jay: yha I remember the one time when we were working at Darkley’s which became Wu’s school teaching and some of the kids found a way to hack him and make him fall asleep so they could get out of class and play instead of learning. What they did wasn’t too complex and should have been so easy for him to counter but he didn’t know how to. That’s when me and Nya set it up so only those with the correct codes could connect anything to him and do anything with him that way no one could mess with him. 

Transitions out of flashback.

Jay: It works quite well though if someone is really determined and has good enough skills they can bypass these codes and still hack him like Ronin did once.

Kai: You don’t think Ronin could have done this could he? 

Nya: I don’t think so. These things don’t seem like something Ronin would make besides why would he want to hurt Zane? He has no interest or reason to do so. 

Jay: yha if anything Ronin should have reason to fear Zane. Zane hasn’t forgotten Ronin hacking him and I don’t think he’s ever paid him back for that.

Cole: Yha but Zanes not super vengeful and Ronin really didn’t do much harm to him so I don’t think Zane feels the need to get back at him for that. 

Kai: then who could have done this?

Jay: Well for starters obviously someone who knows about the anatomy of droids. 

Lloyd: who would know about that? 

Nya: Not many would, it’s not really a common knowledge. A robotics specialist would know but there isn’t many of those and outside Cyrus Borg who wouldn’t do this we know none who would have a reason to do this, of course we all know… 

Kai who is still shaken cuts Nya off: yha a lot more than some of us are comfortable with now. I felt better not knowing what is inside him and how it all works.

Jay: Okay. 

Nya: outside that I don’t know. Zanes very guarded over who knows about his anatomy and we don’t let others know that way the wrong kinds of people can’t find ways to hurt him or Pix like this or do worse things to them. It’s better the public is left in mystery about it.

Jay amused: You should hear some of the strange hypothesizes a lot of people especially kids come up with to explain how Zane works and what powers him; a lot of them think it’s some sort of magic or we feed him some sort of robot feed made from oil like he’s some sort of animal… some people though get a little creepy with it thinking we do some dark ritual sacrificing criminals to give him power, I think those individuals spend too much time playing certain video games. They also think he can do weird things like shoot lazers from his eyes or shoot rockets from his arms. He can’t do any of that. Droids are much more human like than other robots plus I don’t think Zane would want anything like that. He prefers being more like those of flesh and blood than some machine. 

Lloyd: then who could have done this?

Pixal coming back to the others: Again it will likely take time to figure that out. 

Cole worried: was their hacking just to get inside him or did they do anything else to him?

Pixal looking over Zane: Luckily none of his programming has been touched. They just hacked him to operate the hatch and to paralyse him so he couldn’t move or make a sound so he could not get help. They even hindered his ability to connect to me. They left all his sensors and senses active however so he could feel the pain they were giving him while he could do nothing to stop it. 

Cole angered by this fact: that’s incredibly cruel. 

They all are angry that someone would do something so cruel to their brother.

Kai having calmed down by now: Yha it is. Defiantly whoever did this likely isn’t and would never consider us friends. 

Lloyd: indeed you know it’s probably best if we… 

Lloyd is cut off by Wu contacting them through the computer.

Wu rushed: Pixal lock down the hanger bay.

Pixal confused: Why?  

Wu: some thugs are here to… 

Wu’s end cuts off.

Lloyd worried and confused: What’s going on?  

Pixal checks the computers.

Pixal: It would seem whoever implanted these worms in Zane wants to interfere and stop our work. 

The computers give her a warning about Zane worrying Pixal.

Cole: Now what’s going on?  

Pixal quickly explains: it seems this worm was waiting for a distraction to make its move. It is attempting to cut through the back of the casing to get at his heart! 

They are all worried.

Jay panicking: What do we do?! 

Keeping relatively calm Pixal does some work on the computer before coming over to them.

Pixal: I and Wu will deal with the thugs you will deal with the worm. 

Cole: sounds like a plan.

Pixal picks them up and places them down onto the casing for Zanes heart.

Pixal: While I’m gone to keep you all safe I will close you into Zanes chest. Given your size it will be safest if you remain in his body till we return no matter what. When it is safe I will contact you.

Kai nervous: yha cause being this size we could easily get stepped on and squished.

Once they are placed in his chest Pixal closes up the port accessing the area near his heart. They quietly and quickly make their way to get the worm. In order to reach behind the casing they had to detach and move one of Zanes synthetic muscles to access the interior cavity of his chest. Being careful not to disrupt any of the wires or his synthetic lung that are in the cavity in that area they quickly make their way to the back of his heart remaining as quiet as possible hoping to catch the worm by surprise. The worm is occupied using the blade in its head to scratch at the solid metal plating of the back of the casing trying to cut into it. It is leaving a scratch that is slowly getting deeper as it works. They wasted no time in ambushing the worm. Jay and Cole who activates his lava arms grab its body to try and restrain it while the others work on cutting into it to reach its inner workings to damage them. The moment they contacted the worm it switches attention from attacking the casing of Zanes heart to them. It sheaths its blade and attempts to pinch them to free itself. It doesn't take them long to take the worm down Nya and Kai both landing blows in its head while Lloyd stabs it in its power source.

Cole pleased: Last one down. 

Nya and Jay inspect the casing for Zanes heart to access the damage.

Lloyd worried: It didn’t do much damage did it?  

Nya relieved: just some scratches it luckily didn’t get far.

Lloyd: That’s good. 

Kai: I can easily fix these.

Using his powers getting them as hot as he can Kai welds the cuts made by the worm shut. 

Kai once done: okay now that is done and the last of these worms are taken out what do we do?

Nya: Well Pixal said to wait for her contact. 

Cole looking over the worm: maybe we could make it easier for her and try to get this worm thing to somewhere easier to reach it? It’s kinda heavy but we might be able to do it if we work together.

Lloyd: I guess we could… 

Before Lloyd can finish they find themselves being tumbled around as Zane is sat up and moved about. They try to grab things in order to stabilize themselves but everything happens so fast they were unable to grab anything in time and found themselves getting knocked out from their tumbles… scene fades to black.

End of act 2.

Act 3

Wu and Pixal find themselves coming too in different parts of the monastery. Wu is in the one hall while Pixal is in the recreation room. When he comes too Wu meets Pixal in the recreation room and helps her up.

Pixal: What happened? 

Wu: one of those thugs was pretending to be someone from the power company wanting to check the meter. When I tried to shoo him away telling him the meters had just been checked last week he refused and when I tried to close the doors on him I was jumped by his pals. Some of them got past me saying their employer was not going to let us interfere anymore.

Pixal: They were trying to get into the hanger bay; I think they were after Zane. One of them surprised me with a taser. 

They wasted no time in heading into the hanger bay. When they get there their suspicions are confirmed. Zane is no longer there which means the others aren’t either. Pixal immediately heads over to the computer to search for Zanes internal tracker in hopes to pick up where they could have been taken but was unable to find the signal.

Wu: This is not good. 

Pixal: no it is not. We are not helpless though since all damages were repaired in case something was to happen I set up Zanes systems to re-calibrate and reboot so he should wake up when that is done. Hopefully once awake he will be able to find a way to escape or at least help us find him. I will keep searching in the meantime.

Wu worried: What about the others? Where are they? They will not fare too well against those thugs at the size of ants. 

Pixal confident: I placed them back in Zanes chest to deal with the last worm and closed it up after they were in to keep them safe and hidden. As long as they do not do anything to reveal their presence whoever took them might not know they are there keeping them safe. They might even be able to help Zane escape.

Cuts to inside Zane's body. Cole, Nya, Jay, Lloyd and Kai are regaining consciousness. All are confused and a bit roughed up from their tumbles. They are scattered through Zane's chest and upper abdomen caught up in wires and the tubes of his cooling system. Kai is laying on part of Zane's stomach which is active. The markings like before displaying in the material as it slowly moves. Kai is very unsettled with where he has landed. Cole is caught up laying in some wiring by Zane's lung. Jay is hung over a tube of cooling fluid with a hand and foot caught in wires not far from Cole. Nya is also caught up in wires laying face down a bit below Jay and Cole. Lloyd is caught by his legs and waist stuck in wires facing down his half end drooped down near Kai. Zane's systems are all turned back on making things warmer and noisier. Sounds from his breathing, his digestive tract and cooling system now join the sound of his heart. By the orientation Zane has been sat up.

Kai nervous and grossed: Why did I have to end up on this part?! At least I'm not in it this time.

Jay coming to his senses: What happened?

Nya: I’m not sure, I think he was moved. 

Lloyd: How long do you think we've been out.

Cole: Not sure but is it just me or does it feel warmer in here?

They all cautiously get themselves free from where they have found themselves trying to not damage anything and make their way out of the interior cavity of Zane's body before climbing over to congregate on the casing for Zane's heart being careful not to touch or disturb his heart or the various major wires that came out of it to curve back into his internal body cavity and his internal skeleton.  

Lloyd: Sounds like everything is functioning again; does that mean he is awake? 

Nya: I don’t know. If we had some way to contact him we could see if he responds. 

They all look at Kai who is confused and unsettled that they are all looking at him.

Kai nervous: What? Why are you looking at me?

Jay holding a hand out: hand it over.

Kai nervous: Hand what over? 

Cole: we all know you always have your phone on you mister addicted to social media. We could use it rate now so hand it over.

Kai is not happy with it but takes his phone out of a pouch on his attire and hands it over to Jay who gives it to Nya who has no problem getting into it.

Kai surprised: hey wait how do you know my password when I haven’t told you it yet?

Nya unamused: I’m your sister; you told me it already besides it’s really not hard to guess your password when you use the same one for everything. Anyone can log onto your stuff with ease when you just have the one. 

She works on the phone.

Jay with a teasing tone: yha mister Fiyah451 and 3173 in place of fire plus 11 for numbered codes. You know how easy it is to hack your accounts and mess around with things; it’s too easy.

Kai surprised: Wait a minute it was you then who changed the language on my phone to serpentine; do you know how long it took me to get it set back to normal! I can’t read that language and Zane refused to help thinking it a good punishment for having such a simple predictable passwords… are you also the one who bought the 12 1 litre bottles of dog shampoo, 2 gallons of moustache wax, 10 various animal plushies, full head pigeon head mask and a maids outfit in my size that came with the note ‘for when doing your chores fire-boy’ on my ninjazon account! 

Jay defending himself: Hey, it wasn’t just me. Cole was in on it too plus Zane. He thought it might teach you to pick a less obvious and get some diversity in your passwords.

Lloyd to Nya who has connected the phone to Zanes communication circuits: anything?  

Nya: No, I think he’s asleep. 

Cole: if he’s asleep then what moved him and why are his systems active?

Nya: I think as a safety precaution Pixal might have started his body back up so he could defend himself but I don’t think he’s fully booted up yet. I don’t know what moved him but I know how we could hear what’s going on out there.

She does some work on the phone then they can hear what Zane is hearing. 

Nya: there I’ve connected our communicators to Zane's hearing so we can hear what his audio input sensors are picking up. 

They listen in to someone ranting. Sounds like some metal tools are being thrown around during the ranting.

Voice (Mechanic): I don't get it how did they do this? These cuts are so small and fine how did that meddling she-droid leave them on my works while they were hidden inside him? There is no other machine or device in him that could have done this and there is no way she could have easily done this and where were those meddling ninja; did they have a hand in this and if so how did they do this? Do they know how long it took to make these things; months! It took months and within only a few hours they have somehow magically destroyed them! It's going to take me hours to get these things working again if I can! Hopefully those ninja don't clue in and figure out where we are before I can get this done. When I get those ninja they're going to regret messing with me.

Jay: Does that voice sound familiar or is it just me?

Cole: It defiantly sounds familiar. 

They pause to think it over. When they realise who it is they all get mad.

Nya: of course it's familiar, it's the Mechanic.

Kai: The Mechanic, we should have known he would be behind this. 

Jay: yha, he has an annoying fascination with trying to tear Zane apart. Figures he’d want to cause Zane pain while destroying him after all he likes to call Zane the pain all the time.

Mechanic ranting: This should have been easy. They get in tear him apart from the inside making sure it is as painful as possible then pierce that thing he has for a heart and destroy him for good! Somehow those pesky ninja have taken out every single one of my worms…

Cuts to outside Zane's body in the Mechanics little workshop. The Mechanic is trying to fix the one robotic worm mad. Along with the Mechanic he has five henchmen in the room with him. All are dressed similarly with eye masks and plain black hoodies. The henchmen are nervous as the Mechanic rants. Zane is stuck tied onto an office chair with rope asleep.

Henchman 1: but they had only taken three out of him and there is two still inside him.

Mechanic annoyed: They may still be inside him but they aren’t working anymore. They’ve been destroyed. 

Henchman 1: oh I thought you meant taken out as removed from his body not destroyed… my bad.

As the Mechanic rants the one Henchman standing guard by Zane notes he looks to be waking up.

Henchman 2: You know I think this thing is starting to wake up, what do you want us to do with it?

Zane not fully awake or aware yet: where am I? What is going on? Why am I not wearing a shirt?

Cuts back to the five in Zane's body.

Jay: Zane your up, can you hear us buddy.

Nya unamused: Jay he can't hear us in here.

Cole: Is it just me or does his voice sound a bit weird to hear from inside him.

Kai nervous: Yha.

Cuts back to outside Zane's body. He's looking at himself confused and getting worried noticing he is captured and restrained.

Mechanic mad: So Zane the pain you wake up to have miraculously escaped the doom I had planned for you thanks to your rotten friends but I will make sure you do not escape this time. 

Zane confused: what are you talking about?  

Mechanic brings the worm he has been working on over to Zane and shows it to him.

Mechanic: You see this you talking scrap heap. I had five of these worms find their way into you last night while you slept where they were slowly working to painfully tear you apart for all the pain you’ve caused me before they would finish you off. 

Zane surprised and scared: what?!

Mechanic: Yha and they would have succeeded if your meddling friends hadn’t somehow intervened. I don’t know how they did it but they destroyed every single one of my worm bots and saved you but I am going to make sure I have the last laugh. I’m going to fix these up and send them back in to complete the job then once you have been removed without you around to detect my little creations I will move on and get your friends. I’ll probably have to take out your female pal as well then I can move on to your fleshy pals. I have similar worms that will sneak into your monastery and inject them with the most painful venom I could find that will over a few hours slowly and painfully destroy them as well. 

Zane worried and angry: why would you do this? We haven’t done anything to deserve this.

Mechanic: On the contrary Zane the Pain you and your friends have been nothing but pains in my side for a long time; all my troubles, all the times you’ve ruined plans on me, all the times I’ve been locked up it’s all your faults…

Zane cuts the Mechanic off and talks calmly: I think if you look it is not our doing that has led to your troubles. It is your own doing for going along and aiding the wrong kinds of people, your own choices and actions and your lack of foresight and acceptance to the consequences of your own actions that have led to your ill circumstances. All we have ever done is make sure you receive the proper repercussions for your actions which often brought harm to those innocent of any wrong doing.

Mechanic looks at Zane for a second before motioning for one of his henchman to bring him something. Knowing what he wants Henchman 1 picks off the work table a taser and brings it over. The Mechanic then shocks Zane with it. Cuts back into Zane's body where the others are recovering from the shock all a bit dazed.

Jay: I think we need to remind Zane even if he’s right to watch what he says around crazy people… especially when their evil and have captured you.

The others are in agreement. Cuts back to the outside of Zane's body. Zane is a bit dazed from the shock while the Mechanics happy with it.

Mechanic: Think what you want metal man but you won’t change my mind. I’ll take out you then your friends and then I’ll finally be free to do as I want without the likes of you interfering.

Mechanic addressing two of the henchman: take him to a random room and dump him there for the time being while I fix these worms. Make sure he has no access to the outside and I don’t care how big it is. It can be a broom closet for all I care and Zane the pain try all you want to try and contact for help. I’ve shut off any means for your friends to find you or for you to call for help; might as well accept your fate. 

Zane struggles a bit to free himself scared as the two henchman wheel the chair he's on out of the room and down a hall. Seeing he can't break free Zane stops fighting feeling defeated. 

Henchman 1: Sorry metal man we have nothing personal against you it's just business. 

Henchman 2: Yha sorry about this. Just accept your fate and things will be over quickly.

They roll him into a small dark room and leave him there closing and locking the door behind them as they leave. Zane looks around the room nervous looking for something to help in his situation but he sees nothing.

 Zane quietly to himself: this is not good.

Cuts back into Zane's body. They are all nervous and worried. They can hear Zane's heart and breathing are revealing his emotions that he is scared.

Jay panicking: What are we going to do? The Mechanic has a plan to destroy all of us, he’s kidnapped Zane who we are stuck in and currently stuck at the size of ants!

Lloyd nervous: can we contact Wu or Pixal through our communicators or Kais phone?

Nya: No because we are inside him and for our communicators to work while in him they are routed through Zanes workings so whatever they are doing to block Zanes ability for them to contact or locate us is affecting us as well. It’s also affecting Kais phone because it’s inside him plus due to its shrunken size it has a very poor signal. I doubt it can reach anything outside Zanes body no matter how hard we try. 

Lloyd: is there any way we can at least talk to Zane? Maybe we can somehow work this out together.

Nya: Give me a minute and I’ll see what I can do.

She works on the phone a few seconds on Kais phone.

Nya: Okay that should work.

Lloyd through his communicator: Zane can you hear me?

Zane surprised and confused: Lloyd is that you?

Lloyd: yha buddy it’s me.

Zane: Wait the Mechanic said he was blocking any way of you contacting me… is this some cruel trick by him? 

Jay: serious you think we’d trick you?

Cole: Uh you and Kai have a tendency to sometimes mess with him when things are serious. 

Nya: boys you can talk about this later… trust us Zane it’s us.

Zane: How are you able to contact me then? 

Nya: the Mechanic has only blocked your internal gps and your ability to contact others but he isn’t preventing others from contacting you by hacking directly into your brain. Sorry about doing that but it was the only way we could communicate to you.

Zane: That is okay you are just doing it to help me so I am not bothered by that. How did you find me?  

Jay with a laugh amused: you wouldn’t believe us even if we told you.

Zane: Are you the ones who hacked my hearing? That is what woke me up, being hacked especially having my senses hacked without my permission I find uncomfortable and very threatening. 

Nya comforting: don’t worry Zane that was just us. We meant no harm.

Kai: Yha buddy you weren’t responding so we just wanted to see what was going on around you; you know in case you were in danger plus to see who got you. We should have guessed the Mechanic was behind all this. 

Zane: I am fine with that then. 

They can hear from his heart and breathing that hearing them and knowing he isn’t alone is calming Zane.

Lloyd: Zane do you have any clue where we are? Where did they put us? 

Cuts back out of Zanes body. He is looking around confused trying to determine what the room is.

Zane: I have no clue, it is a small room… most likely a broom closet like they said. It seems they took the Mechanics instructions as literal.

Lloyd: Are you able to do anything to get free or can you see anything to help us get out of here? 

Zane fidgeting a bit to try and loosen the ropes but getting nowhere: I have been tied to an office chair using a rope. They have tied me so my arms are pinned against my body so I cannot move them and they have tied up my legs so I cannot move them either. As for the room the only thing I can see that could potentially hold something to help me get free is a locker against the one wall but there is nothing I can do to investigate it… wait you said us. What do you mean by us? Are you trapped somewhere in the building too?

Cuts back to the five in Zane's body.

Cole: You could say that. 

Cole (silencing his communicator from Zane): should we tell him?

Lloyd (silencing his communicator from Zane): Might as well it is kind of important. We’re going to need him to get us all safely out of here. 

Jay: you will probably have a hard time understanding this pal but we’re inside you. We’ve been chilling by your heart the past while.

Cuts back to Zane who is confused and looks at his body trying to understand what Jay means.

Zane confused: What do you mean? The interior of my body is no place for living organic beings such as yourselves to be in. There are many parts that are highly dangerous to your kind. Not to mention at your size there is no way you could fit inside me... is this some idiom or saying I do not understand? 

Jay amused: no pal I’m not joking you we’re literally inside you watch I’ll give you a shock as proof. Sorry about this everyone I’ll try to keep this low. 

To give Zane proof of what he is saying Jay gives Zane a small shock. Zane is startled by the shock and greatly confused as he looks at his chest at his heart.

Zane baffled: What! How and why are you in my body?! 

Lloyd: We’re why the Mechanics worms failed… 

Jay cutting Lloyd off: yha Pixal was having trouble catching them so we shrunk ourselves to the size of a carpenter ant to go after them in order to save you.

Kai uneasy: Trust us pal this has been just as uncomfortable to us as it likely is for you… not to mention very unpleasant. I have seen things! 

Jay amused: yha I’m pretty sure if you had been awake you would not have been comfortable with it either. We had to chase them through your body in order to get them. One was in your shoulder, another went into your right lung and one was in your stomach, it’s still in there but don’t worry we destroyed it so it can’t hurt you plus you’re going to end up doing more damage to it now that your systems are active. There was another going after your heart but we destroyed that to; it fell somewhere in your body when the Mechanics thugs picked you up I’m not sure where it is now but don’t worry we’ll make sure to remove it. Those things were nasty to take on not to mention they tried to destroy us. They kept trying to stab us with this hidden blade in its head and crush us with their pincher mouth like thing and one tried to get you to digest us; that part was really unpleasant.

Zane surprised: What? You were where… what were you doing in my stomach? You know it is too dangerous for organic beings like you to be in there; it is not a place you should seek to put yourselves if you want to remain alive and unharmed.

Zane is very confused and getting uncomfortable. 

Jay a bit uneasy: trust us we didn’t want to end up in there. One of the worms tricked us into there and activated your gut to try and get you to digest us to stop us from destroying it luckily Pixal was able to intervene and shut your system down before we got hurt; the whole thing was gross and scary. Don’t worry you didn’t really do any harm to us while we were in there besides it wasn’t your fault; unfortunately we spent more time in there than any of us wanted to…

Kai unsettled: Can we not talk about this?! No offense Zane I know you can’t help it but the sounds in here are unsettling and I would like to not be reminded of all we went through while in here.

Cole: yha Kais going to need some therapy after today. He experienced more than he wanted to. 

Zane is still confused looking at his body core and feeling uncomfortable.

Zane mumbling to himself: this makes this whole situation even more uncomfortable. 

Kai: Again no offence pal but it isn’t pretty in here especially in your stomach. 

Zane confused: how long have you been inside my body?

Cole: A few hours I think; hey Zane were you aware of what those worms were doing to you? 

Zane after a short pause: kind of. The pain and disruptions to my systems from their actions woke me up in the early morning. I didn’t know what was causing it all at the time I could just feel the harm they were doing to me. I couldn’t sense them I could just feel what they were doing. Along with the damages and pain they had done something so I couldn’t move or make a sound so I could not get help. I could not even open my eyes; it was like I was trapped. I could just hear everything going on around me and feel everything the worms were doing. I remember Pixal helping me and telling me everything would be okay. She put me offline so I wouldn’t feel anything but those worms did some sort of trick so it looked like I was offline but I was only half out. I could still feel everything she was doing… and I guess what you were doing. It all felt weird like this thing you call a dream.

Remembering what he went through makes Zane nervous and upset.

Cole: Don’t worry pal you’re safe now we made sure to teach those worms a lesson for messing with our brother and we’ll make sure to teach the Mechanic a lesson for what he did to you. No one’s going to hurt our droid brother while we’re around.

Cuts back to the five in Zanes body.

Kai (silencing his communicator from Zane) : You know that’s a weird way Zane phrased that; why didn’t he just say it felt like a dream? He dreams why does he not like to acknowledge it? 

Nya (silencing her communicator from Zane): it’s part of that confusion he has over understanding how to be a nindroid. I don’t think he understands dreams very well not to mention I think they scare him; both what he sometimes sees in them and his inability to understand them are what scares him. He might even be confused and think they’re not natural for him even though from what we’ve all seen and me and Jay have analysed is that he does dream. It’s perfectly natural for him; Pixal dreams to and she accepts it and openly admits to being able to dream. She never denies it unlike Zane. Also along with being a restless sleeper Zane’s prone to having nightmares which further scare him about dreaming. We’ve managed to help him a bit by putting on relaxing music and ambient sounds when he sleeps to combat it but it doesn’t work as much as we’d like. I think Zane’s fears and confusions to dreams sometimes makes him afraid to admit he dreams.

Jay (silencing his communicator from Zane): I don’t think he’s the only one who has problems with nightmares. 

They all agree with his statement but don't want to admit it.

Zane: When you were in my synth-gans did you at some point shock me? I think I recall being shocked, why did you do that? 

Kai confused: synth-gans? 

Jay (silencing his communicator from Zane): synthetic organs. He thinks because they’re not made from flesh like us his organs can’t be considered organs so he came up with that term to name them. It’s kind of sad really as while we consider his organs no different from ours despite what they are made of and how they work he doesn’t see it like that and thinks he has to view them differently. We’ve tried to get him to stop thinking of it like that as it just points out to him that he’s really a machine and not of flesh and blood which makes him feel isolated and a bit embarrassed about himself but we haven’t had any luck breaking his thoughts on that. Pix understands their organs are different from those of flesh but she’s willing to accept that despite their differences they are the same as ours. She hasn’t been able to change Zanes mind on this either no matter how hard she tries. I think it’s that confusion thing from thinking he was a flesh and blood person for so long then finding out he was a nindroid that’s caused him to think like this.

Cole: Yha we tried to fry the one worm by shocking it… that just backfired and made the thing mad at Jay. I’m sorry if we hurt you pal. 

Zane: it is okay. It hurt but you didn’t mean to do it. Besides it was a short lived pain unlike what those worms left. I can still feel those.

Kai: Pixal fixed the damages they left though; how do they still hurt? 

Zane: Synth re-grow takes a while, usually a day or two, to fully complete its work and in the meantime it is not a pleasant feeling as they repair. There are electric tingling’s as materials get repaired, there is also pain and the area feels very warm till the process is done.

Kai: That does not sound pleasant. 

Zane letting some pain show in his voice: no it is not.

Lloyd: We can talk about all this later guys now we should focus on getting out of here.

Jay: hey Zane why don’t you chew through the rope to set yourself free.

Cuts back out of Zanes body. Zane inspects the rope. 

Zane: that is a possibility but the time it would take to do so might not be ideal to escape before the Mechanic could complete his work.

Kai getting an idea: You know if I could access those ropes I could probably burn through them in no time.

Kai reaches out from where he stands on the casing for Zanes heart and tries to push open the hatch over the area having to stretch out to push on the inside of Zanes skin trying to push the hatch open.

Nya unamused: What are you doing? 

Kai eager: I can go out there and burn the ropes off him so we can escape.

Nya: First off our small size has made our powers weaker than when we are our normal sizes so your powers won’t be as efficient. 

Kai: I can still try. It might take me a little longer but I can still burn it.

Jay: Secondly you do realise Zane has full control over the hatches in his skin; if he doesn’t want them open you won’t be able to open them. Unless damaged they’re fully latched all the time and will only open if Zane allows them; or if we use the special permission he gave us so we can work on him to open them. That helps prevent foreign items from getting into his body and from anything or anyone posing any danger to his inner workings especially his heart. 

Kai: Zane give me a hand buddy and I’ll get you free.

Zane: I do not think that very wise. If you are as small as you say you are it will be very dangerous for you to be wandering outside my body especially with me being tied up. If you fall it will be very dangerous and could deliver serious and potentially fatal harm to you plus I will be unable to help you and you could easily be hurt by items falling on you or by someone else finding you…

Jay cuts: yha they might think you’re a real ant and squish you.

Zane: Also the way they have tied me up pins the hatch over my heart in a way that prevents it from opening.

Kai unhappy: well there goes that idea. 

Kai goes to relax and settle back on the frame for Zanes heart but he is in a position that has him stuck and unable to get back without falling. He works himself up to try and push himself back but as he preps himself he ends up slipping and falling. He manages to prevent falling too far by grabbing onto one of the protective plates that cover most of the area over Zanes heart; in doing so his hands accidently hit Zanes heart which in defence sends a shock into all of them and causes Zane serious pain.

Zane scared and in pain: Please be careful around my heart! 

Kai: sorry that was an accident.

Nya unamused and angry by Kai: Kai be more careful. Any sudden touch to Zanes heart will cause it to release an electric pulse in defence. It’s painful for him and multiple pulses in a short period of time will stress his heart.

Kai: I’ll be careful. 

The others begin talking over things they could do to help with the situation while Kai slowly and cautiously climbs up the frame for Zanes heart. He moves slowly cautious of where he puts his hands trying to avoid touching the icy blue material that makes up Zanes heart not wanting to cause it to spark. 

Kai mumbling to himself mad: It would have been so easy to just burn the ropes. It would take seconds. I go out there burn it and we'd be free.

At one point while climbing up Kai’s hand slowly touches Zanes heart but he doesn’t realise at first he has touched it. Because he had moved slowly Zanes heart didn’t react to being touched. Kai is unaware he has touched it till he notices a strange tingling in his hand and arm.

Kai confused pausing as he climbs: what is that feeling? Feels like that strange tingling those balls with the lightening in them give... or Jay when you sometimes touch him and he's all worked up from anxiety.

Kai looks to where he has put his hand and is surprised to note it is touching the material of Zanes heart. 

Kai: this is a bit weird. I've never really gotten a close look at Zanes heart before. The others are right this stuff is strange. I always thought it was some sort of metal glass stuff from how the others describe it. Instead it looks like that weird polished colorful stone stuff gift shops like to sell. It doesn't look like it's electrical even though it's glowing and you can feel a strange energy to it. Now that I'm also thinking of it this is also really weird. This is Zane's heart, I'm actually touching his heart! 

Kai then notices something strange. Where his hand is touching there is a faint reddish dis-colour to the material. 

Kai: huh, what's that redness from? 

As he looks at it the color slowly vanishes. Kai pulls his hand back confused. 

Kai: wait where'd it go? Was it from something on my hands?

Looks at his hands. His gloves and lower parts of sleeves are missing considerable patches due to Zane's digestive fluids having eaten them away. 

Kai: Great Zane ate a good deal of my clothes... and a bit of my skin (Kai shivers at the thought). I hope this doesn't make him develop a taste for people. I guess it's not too bad, looks like a real bad sunburn with some scrapes in them. It hurts a bit but I'm pretty sure some skin cream will fix it just fine. These couldn't be the reason for that color could it?

He slowly and cautiously touches the material again but there is no color. 

Kai: hmm no it isn't from the skin damage nor my touch... unless... I was thinking about those ropes and how easy it would be to burn them... 

He sees the redness reappear. He stops thinking of fire and they disappear.

Kai: I wonder I bet fire isn't good for Zane's heart but maybe... I know he doesn't like heat but hopefully he isn't too bothered by this.

Kai heats up his hand and arm it gaining warm glowing markings at it heats up. The redness re-appears and gets bigger.

Zane nervous: What are you guys doing to my heart? There is a burning feeling starting to appear in it! 

Jay (sounding more playful not judging): Kai what are you doing? 

Kai stopping the heating of his limb: hey is electricity the only energy Zane's heart can absorb?

Nya confused: I don’t know. I know it can take in and use pure energy, only for a short time though. Why do you ask? 

Kai heating his arm up: look at this! 

The others watch the redness appear in Zane's heart confused.

Cole: Uh is that supposed to happen? 

Nya confused: as far as I know no it’s not supposed to do that.

Cuts to Zane who is looking at his heart worried; he can only hear the others talking through their communicators and has no clue what's going on. His anxiety causes his heart rate to elevate a bit.

Zane: What is going on? Why am I feeling a strange mild burning to my heart? 

Lloyd confused: yha what is going on?

Kai a bit excited: When I think about my powers or use them a bit and touch his heart it makes the red color appear. 

Jay: maybe it’s some sort of energy transfer like how I can charge my phone or power the game station with my powers! You must be doing some sort of energy transfer. Other than discolouring his heart what else do you think your energy transfer can do?

Zane startled and scared: You’re doing what to my heart?! 

Cuts back to the five in Zane's body.

Cole: how is Zane’s heart able to make an energy transfer? Fire isn’t electricity though electricity can spark fires… learned that from a toaster oven with damaged wires. Thank goodness Zane was there to help put the fire out.

Nya: It might not seem it but technically our bodies run off electricity too… 

Jay cutting her off: yha like your brain can actually power a light bulb if you were to stick a light bulb in it.

Nya: yes but our bodies use far less electricity than Zanes does to work. It is largely our nervous systems that use electricity; apart from the symbiotes in his digestive system everything in Zanes body uses electricity to function and as its energy source. Technically with the right connectors you could theoretically transfer energy from our bodies into something else but I don’t see how just touching Zanes heart could transfer energy.

Lloyd: Maybe it’s absorbing it through his skin? 

Nya: but we’re wearing our gear which covers our skin. 

Jay nervous noting the damages to his attire: it was when we first started now uh not as much in some spots.

They all look at themselves unnerved by that fact.

Kai: Yha no offense Zane but your stomach ate holes into my clothes including on my hands. 

Nya: okay, I guess it’s possible. We don’t know a lot about Zanes heart; what it can do or how it fully works so there is a possibility it could do that. It would only transfer electricity though not fire; it doesn’t absorb or use elemental energy.

Kai: I wonder… hey Zane I want you to do something with me. Do what you would do when coating your arms with ice but instead of ice think of fire; think of having your arms on fire and burning the ropes on you off. 

Cuts to Zane who is confused and worried. He looks over the ropes. 

Zane: I do not see how that will do anything. My powers are ice not fire; that would only make the rope cold and wet and would be of no help. Also can you please stop playing with my heart! It is very uncomfortable and unnerving to have you doing whatever you are doing.

Kai: Zane just humour me here. 

Zane confused: you want me to joke with you? How is that going to help our situation?

Jay: He means for you to go along with his plans. Humour me means to temporarily comply with someone’s thoughts or actions even if you don’t follow generally to keep the peace or get out of a tough situation Zane. 

Jay (temporarily flashes to the five in Zanes body as Jay silences his communicator from Zane): I think we should give Zane some lessons on the meanings of common sayings.

Zane: Fine but I do not see how this will help. 

Zane closes his eyes doing as Kai suggests. Cuts to inside his body. Kai focusses his powers into Zane's heart causing the red coloring to get bigger and branch out across his heart. The others just wait to see if anything happens. Cuts back to Zane who after a few minutes opens his eyes to inspect the ropes.

Zane at first calm then scared: I do not think anything is happening though my arms feel oddly highly warm, too warm for my comfort… they’re on fire!

Cole stumped: What? 

Zane worried: they’re on fire! How is that possible! I am not comfortable with this! 

Kai eager: it worked now what about the rope? Zane what is the state of the rope?

Zane taking a moment to respond worked up by the fire scared and panicking: It is on fire from the fire on my arms.  

Zane breaks his arms free from the ropes which are weakened by the damage from the fire. He tosses them away before quickly creating ice on his arms over the fire to put them out. He brakes the ice off before taking the ropes off his legs and tossing them away. The ropes remained on the ground the one slowly burning though there was not much of a fire on it. The others can hear from his heart and breathing rate that this is really scaring Zane.

Zane anxious: I’m free of the ropes now please stop whatever you are doing with my heart! I really don’t like it! 

Cuts back into Zane's body. Kai stops the transfer of his powers and taking his hand away from Zane's heart. 

Kai thrilled: yes it worked!

He starts to continue climbing up to the top of the casing to Zane's heart.

Cole: Uh how? How did it work? 

Nya confused: I don’t know. I don’t see how his heart could transfer fire. His heart has nothing to do with fire or our powers?

Jay: It can transfer energy though, maybe Kai was sending like some fiery energy or fire is tied to his energy which he then sent through Zane's heart for it to manifest like his powers on Zane. 

Lloyd after a pause: I guess that could be possible. Now that you are free Zane we can get out of here.

Zane: I guess I can. 

Cuts to Zane who gets up and goes over to the rooms door to check it. He is shaking a bit and nervous having trouble shaking the feelings what had just happened left him with. 

Lloyd: you can calm down now Zane. You’re free and we’re getting somewhere in our escape.

Zane not wanting to acknowledge his unnerve: I am calm. 

Briefly cuts to the five in his body.

Jay: You can’t lie to us buddy we’re right by your heart so we can hear your heart and breathing rate. They’re not calm.

Zane: Well that was strange and unnerving with the fire… it is very unsettling. 

Lloyd: don’t worry buddy we’re not going to do that again to you. Just the un-calm rate to your heart and breathing is unsettling some of us, especially Jay. 

Jay is nervous and on edge but he is fairly calm. Lloyd and Kai are the most unsettled by the noises making them feel anxious but neither wishes to admit this and are trying to hide it. 

Cuts back to Zane who is slowly calming down as he looks around. The door is locked so Zane looks around the room looking for something that could help him escape the room. The lights in the room aren’t working with only the light from under the door in the hall providing any light to see anything. He can see there is ventilation in the room but it is too small for him to fit through and he doesn't want to risk letting the others out of his body. With their small size there is too much danger for them. 

Zane uttering quietly to himself as he looks around the room: ventilation is too small for me. With the others as small as they are they could fit into it with ease but it is too dangerous for them at their small size to be wandering around outside my body. No windows, not really much in here; there has to be something here that could help.

Zane notices the locker and heads over to investigate it. 

Zane telling the others what he is doing: The door is locked so I will see what is in the locker. 

The locker isn’t locked but doesn’t have much in it. There is a lunchbox on the top shelf with nothing in it, an old completed crossword book, an old pair of shoes and an item Zane is not entirely sure what it is. As he takes them out Zane sets the items aside trying to not make any noise not wanting to catch any unwanted attention.

Zane explaining as he pulls the items out of the locker: the locker holds an empty lunchbox, an old completed crossword book, a highly worn old pair of shoes and... (startled noise)

Zane notices some movement and reflecting light in the back of the locker startling him. He takes a moment to inspect the movement and light getting confused about the distance between him and the object before realising it is just a mirror showing a reflection letting him relax.

Nya as Zane inspects the mirror:  Zane what is it? Is there something dangerous?

Zane: no there is just a mirror in the locker that I did not notice was there. Sorry I didn't mean to scare anyone.

Cuts into Zanes body.

Jay: that's okay buddy mirrors can be a bit scary. Especially at night when it's dark and you don't expect to see them... especially when you’re still sleepy and on your way to the bathroom and it's one of those magic trick mirrors that make your reflection all creepy looking that someone left there to play a prank on you and make you wet yourself!

Jay looks at Cole, Lloyd and Kai who are all holding in laughs.

Kai (silencing his communicator from Zane): Why did his reflection startle him? Is he scared of his own reflection or something?

Jay (silencing his communicator from Zane): no. He has extreme difficulty reading his reflection when it’s mirrored like when in a mirror. Unless he’s purposefully using one he often gets startled when seeing the reflection from a mirror especially when he’s not expecting to see his reflection. It’s not unique to him; all nindroids seem to have this problem. I think mirrors confuse their senses and their brains have trouble reading mirrored images especially when it’s themselves and their actions they are trying to read.

Lloyd (silencing his communicator from Zane): So that’s why he and Pix act weird to mirrors. I always thought surely they could tell it was them they were seeing and they’d have no problem with spacial awareness or telling directions when looking in a mirror. Guess I was wrong.

Cuts back out to Zane: the last is this thing… it kind of looks like a crowbar but lacks the characteristic ends of a crowbar being more of a small slightly cupped piece of it looks to be wood or maybe some plastic mimicking the appearance of wood.

Zane holds the item, a shoehorn, looking at it confused.

Jay confused: small cupped plastic or wood bar? 

All of them are confused.

Lloyd: is there some way we can see what he sees?

Nya: Zane would you be willing to let us see what you are seeing? We have Kai’s phone that you could use to help us.

Zane: sure. 

Zane closes his eyes while connecting the feed from his vision wirelessly to Kais phone. Cuts to inside Zane's body. The others are looking at Kais phone as it connects and shows what Zane sees when he opens his eyes. 

Cole when seeing the item: Zane that’s a shoe horn.

Zane confused: Shoe horn? This does not look like an instrument nor do I think shoes can have horns. 

Cole: it’s a tool to help get your shoe on and fix the shape of your shoes heel. My dad has one for his formal shoes.

Zane still confused: If that is its use then why is it termed a horn? 

Cole: I have no clue. 

A noise outside the door catches their attentions. 

Henchman 3: do you smell something burning. 

Looking around Zane notices the rope is still burning where he had left it. It makes them all nervous.

Lloyd worried: Zane quick put out the fire. 

Zane hits the rope with ice putting out the fire but it is too late. They can hear someone at the door. They are unlocking it.

Henchman 4: did you hear that. 

They begin to worry. Thinking quickly Zane picks up the shoe horn and hides behind where the door opens. He stands nervous as the door opens. He's hidden behind the door. Two of the Mechanics thugs dressed as common crooks came into the room. They quickly note Zane isn’t there.

Henchman 3: Uh oh this isn’t good. How did the metal man escape?

The one crook investigates the chair Zane had been tied to the other notices the open locker and investigates it. Zane goes over and hits the one looking at the chair with the shoe horn in the back of the head. He catches the person before they hit the floor and slowly lays them down so they don't make a sound before heading over towards the other. Just as they turn around to look at their co-worker Zane wastes no time to punch them in the face and knock them out.

Jay praising Zane: Good work Zane. 

Zane closes the door to avoid catching any attention. 

Zane: I did not really have much of a choice.

Lloyd: That’s okay we should see if they have anything of use before trying to make our way out of here.

Cole: obviously one of them has keys to this place as they must have used them to open the door. 

Zane drags and sits both the henchman over to the locker then inspects their pockets. The one has two separate sets of keys. One is a decorative key chains on it leading Zane to deduce they were likely a personal set the other is just plain keys.

Zane looking at the plain keys: These must be the ones for the building. 

He takes the plain set and puts it in a hatch to a small compartment in his abdomen to store them. Other than the keys he can't find much else of use, just mainly some coins and their wallets. The one has their phone which instantly catches their attentions.

Kai: A phone, we could use that to help contact Wu and Pixal! 

Zane: Indeed. 

Zane takes a moment to hack the phone allowing him access to it. They are all a mix of confusion and grossed out by the screen image on the phone. The image is of the thug happily giving affection to what they could only guess was his. The dog resembles the Chinese Crested breed but a bit on the ugly side (look up worlds ugliest dog Mr Happy Face); largely no hair except long tufts on the top of head, back of neck, ears, shoulders, paws and tail.

Jay: Is that a dog or some mutant rat? 

Cole: I think it’s a dog. 

Kai: whatever it is it is one of the ugliest things I have ever seen. 

Nya: I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. 

While the others wonder over the dogs photo Zane contacts the monastery. It doesn’t take long for someone to pick up. Wu picks up.

Wu (through phone): Hello who is this? 

Zane: Wu it’s me Zane.

Wu (through phone): Zane is that really you? Where are you? 

Zane: yes it’s really me and I have no clue where we are. They placed us in a broom closet.

Wu (through phone): We; the others are still with you? Are you all safe?

Zane: Yes they are here as for safe that depends on what you consider safe. We are not in immediate danger but there is a danger present.

Wu (through phone): What is the danger?

Zane: The Mechanic has plans to eliminate us. The worms were his doing and he is working on more for not just me but to harm the others as well. The Mechanic has hired thugs and the others are no bigger than ants so we will not fare well if we run into trouble and are forced to defend ourselves.

Wu (through phone): That is not good but do not worry we are on our way and can help. Pixal has locked onto the signal of the phone you are using. Just hold on in the meantime and avoid catching attention till we get there.”

Zane: Understood. 

Zane hangs up the phone. The others had listened in to the whole conversation. Cuts to the others in Zane's body.

Lloyd: Okay we just need to wait for Wu and Pixal to show up then we can deal with the Mechanic. I think it’s time he gets locked in higher security than what he’s been locked in so far. Clearly if he keeps breaking out then he’s not locked down enough. Until Wu and Pixal arrive we need to lie low. 

Kai: why just wait around how about doing some scouting instead you know find where the Mechanic is working to cut down on our work? 

Cole: I don’t think that’s a wise idea. Technically even though we are here Zane is on his own and if he gets in trouble we won’t really be able to help him. At this size a mouse is very dangerous for us. 

Jay: yha I don’t want to get stepped on and squished. 

Cuts back to Zane who is putting the phone back in the thugs pocket. While putting the phone back Zane notes the one crooks plain dark zipper up hoodie is the right size to fit him. Zane looks over himself for a moment. He isn’t wearing a shirt and isn’t too comfortable with that.

Nya: Kai under our current circumstances it is best that we lie low to avoid any problems. I do agree though we should not stay here. Ideally we should find a more secluded location to lie low. 

Cole: yha when those two come to they are going to talk and that will have everyone looking for us not to mention it will be best we put ourselves in a place that is easy for Pixal and Wu to find us when they arrive most likely outside this structure.

Cuts back into Zane's body. Jay notices on Kai’s phone the feed from Zane's vision. Zane is taking the one crooks hoodie off and putting it on himself.

Jay confused: Zane what are you doing? 

Zane calmly: I am putting on a sweater. 

Cole confused: you realise that is someone else’s right?

Zane: Yes but I felt it would be best if I cover up to avoid drawing attention or unsettling others. 

Cuts for a moment out to Zane who after getting the hoodie on takes the items out of the pockets, largely a wallet, and puts them on the person. Cuts back to inside his body.

Kai: That’s Zane always the modest one. You’ll never see him leaving his underwear lying around the monastery or walking around in his underwear like some of us. 

Kai looks at Jay who feels targeted by the comment. 

Nya (silencing her communicator from Zane): yha he is modest but he also knows his appearance scares and unnerves others including you bro and he doesn’t want to scare anyone or make them uncomfortable. That’s one of the reasons why he often keeps decently covered.

Kai (silencing his communicator from Zane): I’m not scared by his appearance; sure sometimes his non human skin unnerves me a little; his skin is a bit odd. It kind of reminds me of a reptiles skin with all the metal patches which are like scales plus the glowing spot from his heart is… strange. The glow to his eyes can be a bit unnerving too especially in the dark plus you can clearly tell they’re not human when you really look into them. They have that really techi look and he can shrink and expand the equivalent to the pupil in his eye like a cat. That’s kind of strange too. Plus when he does that thing where he opens part of his skin and you can see his insides that kind of scares me yha; more of a grossed out scare than a scary scared way though. 

Jay (silencing his communicator from Zane): yha his eyes can be kind of creepy; that shrinking thing in his eye is from when he adjusts his vision is kind of like with cats it helps regulate how much light his eyes take in so he isn’t blinded by too bright of light and can see better in the dark than us. Plus it is also because he can zoom in his vision to better focus or see something further away. Yha there is somethings scary about him but they’re not too bad. I think when he’s mad that’s possibly one of the worst. He’s defiantly scary when you make him mad! 

Kai (silencing his communicator from Zane): yha sometimes very scary.

Cole: You should pull the hood up to cover your head so you can more easily sneak past everyone. 

Zane: indeed that is a good idea.

Cuts out to Zane who zips up the hoodie before pulling the hood up. He then goes out to the hall. It goes in two directions.

Zane: The Mechanic is in a room at the end of the hall to the right so it likely will be best to head to the left to avoid him. 

Zane picks up the shoe horn before heading down the left end of the hall keeping alert for any of the Mechanics thugs closing the door to the broom closet as he leaves to avoid suspicion. The first room they come across is a large room the hired thugs the Mechanic had are using as a hang out. Most of them are just chilling playing cards, pool or watching a television. None note Zane as he looks into the room before quietly moving on. Zane checks a few rooms. Outside the hall and the room all the thugs had been in all the rooms were dark and most light fixtures had no or broken lights. Cuts to the others in Zane's body.

Lloyd: I wonder where we are?

Cole: well there looks to be a few offices.

Nya: the place also looks to be in bad shape as if it hasn't been maintained very well.

Kai is noting the feed on his phone and is confused.

Kai: Zane what’s with all the stuff in your vision? 

Zane confused: what? 

Kai: there’s all these strange things that make it look like you have an overlay from a video game in your vision.

Zane: It is in ways like that. The overlays help aid in aiming, sensory processing and directional navigation. Are they unsettling you? I can turn them off if they are. I use them mainly for when on missions or training. 

Kai: not really, I just find it a bit strange. 

Jay cuts in: I find them kind of confusing and they make it a little hard to focus. 

After a second Zane blinks shutting off the overlays in his vision so when his eyes open the overlays are gone making his vision human like.

Zane: Is that better? 

Nya: you didn’t have to do that Zane.

Zane: It is okay, if you are sharing my vision it is best I use a setting we are all comfortable with to help us work together. Besides it does not hinder me much and there is something about this vision that I find relaxing and pleasing. 

Cuts back to Zane as he checks out another room which looks to be a small office space however only some desks and chairs that are moved and knocked over are left. He goes over to check out the windows in the room to see if he can see any hints of where the building is. All he can see is woods. The next room he looks into looks to be an old cafeteria. There are some vending machines against the one wall which instantly catches Coles attention.

Cole eager: Hey Zane can you check those machines and see if there is anything good in them? 

Jay: really?

Cole: Hey I’m hungry. 

Kai: really? After what we’ve been through today and where we were earlier? 

Kai quietly to himself looking over Cole: maybe not all those unsettling sounds are coming from Zanes stomach.

Kai moves a bit away from Cole uneasy. Cole doesn't notice.  Kai is unsettled by the sounds from Zane's systems being active. The noises have Jay a bit anxious but he isn’t as anxious as Kai. Lloyd is also put a bit on edge from some sounds but he and the others aren’t letting it bother them much. 

Cole: yha I’m largely over it now and hungry so Zane humour me and check out the vending machines.

Cuts to Zane who is just listening to the others.

Zane: You are using that saying right? 

Cole: yes. 

On Coles request Zane goes over and inspects the machines. One has soda, one has candies cookies and chips and another has various milks.  

Cole: Do you think any of those are good? Hey Zane can you check the dates on them? 

Jay grossed out: serious, who knows how long these things have been sitting here?

Cole: Yha I’m serious, again humour me Zane. Just break the glass to get them. If they’re still good I could go for some of those little single pack cakes and a Chocolate milk or two. You can put them in your pockets for later for me. 

On Coles request Zane looks at the items. He can't see the state of the items through the glass and can’t see any visible dates on items. He brakes the glass on the machine with milk using the shoe horn and takes out one of the bottles to inspect it looking for the date on it.

Zane: These are not safe for human consumption. The machines have clearly been off for a while and the expiration dates on these are three years old. 

Jay questioning: you better not still be thinking of having those, you’d get food poisoning!

Cole: Yha, those aren’t appetizing anymore. You can forget about it Zane. I’ll wait till we can get something safe and non moldy or curdled later. 

Zane drops the bottle back in the machine while listening to the others talk. 

Lloyd: we can have dinner later now we should focus on getting to safety then when back to normal taking down the Mechanic. You know given the state of this place, the fact what’s in these machines has been here for three years at least I think it is safe to say wherever we are is an abandoned structure. This would explain why no one has reported seeing the Mechanic since he escaped prison a month ago. He’s probably been hiding out here the whole time working on his plans while his hired thugs did all the work for him outside this place. 

Zane is suddenly startled as one of the henchman touches his shoulder from behind. He quickly cloaks his appearance changing his eyes, skin and hair to look human before turning to look who it is. Cuts briefly to inside his body to view the other five. His reaction causes his breathing and heart rate to suddenly and temporarily elevate silencing the others who go quite and on edge worried they have been found. Cuts back to Zane who has turned and is looking at the henchman quiet and nervous.

Henchman 5: Why are you trying to get something out of there? Unless you’re a hyena that stuff will probably kill you if you had it. 

Zane is quite unsure what to do so remains silent.

Cole: Tell him you were looking for a drink. 

Zane: I was looking for a drink.

Henchman 5: Why would you look in here when you could get something from the hangout down the hall? Not too bright are we?

Jay with a chuckle: really he wants to call a nindroid dumb… 

The others quickly shush Jay Nya covering his mouth with her hand. 

Lloyd: tell him you felt uncomfortable and overwhelmed around everyone else. 

Zane parroting: I am uncomfortable and overwhelmed around everyone else. 

Henchman 5: If you are that shy you could just get something and chill somewhere else you don’t have to hang out with the rest of us if you don’t want to. 

Zane: I guess I could do that. 

They begin to leave when one of the thugs Zane had knocked out, the one he has taken the jacket from, comes into the doorway. Zane becomes nervous recognizing them.

Henchman 3: Hey the boss wants all hands on deck; that metal skins escaped. We need to get him before he can escape and get his pals. 

Thug notices Zane making him more anxious. 

Henchman 3: You know I had a jacket like that. I think that thing took it so he could be trying to blend in with us or hide in the shadows. He also took some keys for this place from me so could be anywhere in the building. Best we get going, why don’t you two go help check the warehouse. 

Henchman 5: we’ll get it done. 

Henchman 5 leaves the room, Zane follows. They go down the hall in the direction Zane had been going. They shortly come out of the hall onto a catwalk in a large room that has several large structures against the one wall. Cuts to the five inside Zane as they watch through the phone.

Kai when seeing the structures: What are those? 

Nya: those are some pretty big smelters. I think we might be in either an abandoned steel mill or other metal refinery or a factory that made metal based items.

Cole: Good thing this place is abandoned and the Mechanic didn’t want to use those in his plan to destroy us huh, Zane like us wouldn’t survive being in a smelter would he? 

Nya: no he wouldn’t. 

Cuts back out to Zane. The catwalk goes through the room before entering another room, a large warehouse. There is still quite a few crates and shipping containers along with several of the henchman looking around the area. A staircase heads down to the warehouses floor. They head down to the floor. Once on the floor the thug instructs Zane to head out and search. Zane heads off on his own looking for a way out without being seen. To avoid possible detection he steers clear of everyone else. After a short search he manages to find a door they are pretty sure leads outside. There is one major problem however. To reach it he has to walk past a clear area to reach the door that the Mechanic is hanging in with two thugs. The Mechanic is real mad and ranting holding the burnt rope and threatening the two thugs who are cowering from his tone with it. The door is hidden from the Mechanics view by some crates but Zane has to sneak past them in order to reach it and Zane is scared to move.

Mechanic: How could he escape? He doesn’t control fire he controls ice so how did he burn through these ropes with fire?! He doesn’t even have anything in his anatomy to create fire.

Cuts to the five in Zane's body. Zane's heart and breathing are elevated indicating his fear.

Jay: this isn't good. How are we going to get past them?

Kai: Zane why are you just standing around, make for the door.

Nya (silencing her communicator from Zane): Zane's clearly very scared I think too scared to move near the Mechanic.

Cole (silencing his communicator from Zane): can you blame him? The Mechanic wants to destroy him and do it rather cruelly and painfully too plus Zane is pretty much alone and greatly outnumbered here.

Lloyd nervous from Zane's elevated heart and breathing rate (silencing his communicator from Zane): What do we do?

Nya (silencing her communicator from Zane): we're going to have to help him calm down and keep focused.

Jay (silencing his communicator from Zane): Yha despite how good and convincing it is Zanes cloaking ability has one major flaw we've been unable to solve. When certain emotions became too much like anxiety and fear the cloaking tends to glitch and fail. Also he has a problem that when emotions get too much for him he will have troubles functioning and if it gets real bad he will get knocked offline for a couple minutes as his emotional circuits calm down and reset to lower levels.

Cole (silencing his communicator from Zane): and that will be real bad.

Kai (silencing his communicator from Zane): yha we'll be in a lot of danger then.

Nya: Zane relax we're here to help you. You're not alone.

Cole: yha just take things slow and steady and keep the Mechanic behind you. Don't let him see your face.

Jay: yha just pretend your looking things over. Don't think about the Mechanic or what he could do to you. Trust me that just makes things worse. Think about something happy. Maybe all those birds that like to see you at the local aviary you know the ones that get all fascinated and cuddly with you. Maybe when this is all over you and Pixal can take a nice relaxing date there. Or how about funny cat videos those always make you happy; who isn't made happy from cat videos?

Zane's still nervous but starts to move activating the overlays in his vision. Cuts out to Zane as he starts heading towards the door stopping a few times to check a few crates. He keeps his back to the Mechanic who continues to rant his henchman terrified of him.

Mechanic: I'm sick of that walking scrap heap getting the better of me. When I get my hands on that thing he's going to wish he'd never been made. I told you he is smart so you have to keep a constant eye on him but did you listen no. Playing games is apparently more important than doing your jobs! Nindroids are smart and crafty you have to remain alert and aware to make sure you remain ahead of them. You should have had someone on guard watching him the whole time. Once he's caught and contained there is going to be some serious punishments handed out mark my words.

Jay: geeze does this guy have no chill.

Cole: don't listen to him Zane. You're no walking scrap heap; you're special very special. You're more of a person than he is. If he wants to call someone a scrap heap he should look at himself. All his implants look like they were crudely scrapped together from scrap.

Zane manages to get past the section and to the door without being seen. He begins to relax. When he gets to the door Zane tries to open it. The door is locked. He pulls out the keys he has stored in his body closing the port back up after he has the keys out. He slowly goes through the keys trying to find the one that unlocks the door without making much noise to avoid catching anyone’s attention. Tries two keys they don't work. As he puts the third key in he becomes startled and scared his cloak dropping as the Mechanics robotic hand grabs his wrist that is holding the key. Briefly shows the other five who are scared as well. 

Mechanic: So thought we could escape did we? I don’t know how you got out but you’re not going to get a second chance to escape this time. 

Zane gets shocked by a taser from behind causing him to collapse stunned on the floor letting go of the key and dropping the shoe horn. 

Mechanic: Take him to the control room and use chains to tie him up this time. He can’t break or burn through those. 

Two thugs lift Zane up by the arms and start dragging him back into the building. Zane is too stunned to defend himself or break free. Cuts to inside his body to the other five. They got stunned as well but managed to remain clung to the casing and wires coming out of Zanes heart.

Kai panicking: We need to stop them, I can’t burn through chains to break us free. 

Jay worried: I think Zanes a little too stunned to fight back. 

Lloyd worried: Zane you need to break free of their hold come on... why aren't you responding? 

Jay: I think the shock dazed him.

Cole: Then what do we do?

Nya thinking quickly: hold on everyone. Sorry about this Zane. 

She gives Zane's heart a punch causing it to send out a burst of electricity shocking Zane, them and the two carrying Zane. Cuts outside his body to Zane. Him and the Thugs collapse stunned though having his heart threatened causes Zane to quickly regain his senses in defence.

Mechanic angered by Zane escaping: Don’t let that thing escape! 

Zane is lying on his front recovering from the shock but looking around for a place to escape. He sees a shipping container with its door open a bit. He quickly gets up and rushes over to it getting inside and closing the door behind himself. He looks around at the dark empty interior of the shipping container. Taking a moment to think it over Zane realise he's made a mistake and gets nervous.

Zane thinking aloud: Wait a minute… this was a mistake. 

Mechanic heard through the container: lock the doors so he can't get out. You two retrieve from my workshop some chains to tie him up with and get shock proof gloves so he can't shock anyone again. 

Zane can hear them locking the container doors. Zane's nervous, worried and embarrassed.

Jay in a slight playful tone: Zane did you just trap us? 

Zane after a pause feeling embarrassed: it seemed like a good idea at the time…

Jay yelling and panicking: A good idea? We’re trapped! They’re going to get us, shove more of those worms in you which will probably try to destroy us likely by the easiest way it could by tricking us back into Zane's stomach to get digested! 

Kai: What?! No, no being in there when it wasn't active was bad enough I don't want to end up in there now that its active!

Cole annoyed at the two: Jay, Kai take a chill pill. 

Lloyd nervous but trying to play calm: instead of panicking we can use this time to come up with a way to escape.

Cole: Well we probably don’t have those keys anymore. 

Nya: we’re probably not going to have easy access to any doors either. There were some windows back up in that hall sure they were on what looked like a second or third floor but Zane could easily use his powers to make a safe way to get down from there. 

Zane listens in to their planning calming down.

Jay still worked up: Sounds good but how are we going to get out of this container?! 

Zane looking over the doors: I have no way of cutting through the metal nor do I have the strength to break the doors open which they have locked the doors and the hinges are on the exterior of the structures so I cannot interact with those to open the doors.

Cuts to the five inside Zane's body.

Cole: You know if I was out there and not the size of an ant I could easily smash out those doors using my lava arms…

Cole gives the air some mock punches before coming to an idea. 

Cole: hey if Kai could transfer his powers through Zanes heart do you think I could send mine through it too?

Nya: I guess, I still don’t entirely get how that was possible but if Kais could work then I guess the rest of ours could as well. 

Cole excited: alright! Sorry if this freaks you out Zane but just roll with me and we’ll be out of here in no time.

Cuts out to Zane.

Zane confused: Roll with me? Is this a saying the same as humour me or something else? 

Jay: kind of. It means to go along with his plan. 

Zane: alright I'm willing to give this a try.

Cole: Alright when I say so give the door as hefty a punch as you want then once they’re open run as fast as you can to those windows. 

Cuts briefly to Cole inside Zanes body as he slowly touching the material of Zane's heart so it wouldn’t react. Once touching it he activates his Lava arms causing an orange discolouring to Zanes heart. 

Cole: Alright pal now think of using your powers filling your arms then give those doors as powerful a punch you can. 

Cuts back to Zane who follows his instructions. Markings like Coles lava arms appears on Zanes arms intriguing him. Zane to do as he did when activating this power. He takes a second to prep himself then punches the doors with as much force as he can muster surprised as the doors smash open with the power he had been able to use. 

Zane quietly to himself: I could never muster this kind of strength!

The markings disappear from his arms. The Mechanic and his henchmen are all startled and confused by the actions hesitating on making a move. In their hesitation Zane hits the ground separating him from them with ice building a wall of ice to block easy access to himself forcing them to have to find a less direct route to reach him giving them some extra time to put some distance between himself and the Mechanic and his crew. With the ice made Zane wastes no time in rushing back to the stairs to climb up them and get on the catwalk to head back to the office room in order to get to one of the rooms that has windows to the exterior. The tactics worked to some extent. It hinders the enemies a bit but using an attachment on his arm the Mechanic burns a path through the ice with fire.

Mechanic: After him and don't let him escape. I don't care what you do to stop him I just want him caught and alive. 

By the time Zane gets on the catwalk the Mechanic and his henchmen are already on their way towards him. Zane doesn’t stop pausing only briefly to check where the enemies are as he exits the warehouse room before rushing through the smelter room. As he rushes through the smelter room Zane quickly finds his escape blocked causing him to stop in his tracks. The two who had gone to retrieve the chains and gloves for the Mechanic are coming back and blocking his path to the hall he needs to get into. The others are gaining quickly behind him. Looking around and thinking quickly Zane notices a stairway against the wall leading from the rooms floor to the catwalk coming up rate by the halls doorway behind the thugs. He quickly formulates a plan. Zane creates a slide of ice from the catwalk to the floor. He rides it down to the floor then rushes towards the stairs some of the thugs following him a bit nervous and clumsy with the slide. Most of the thugs follow him but some instead continued on the catwalk and cut off his access to the stairs. With not many options for an escape Zane puts himself backed up into a corner of the room for defence. The Mechanic and his henchmen quickly close in cornering him. Zane quickly gets caught up in a fight with them. He manages to hinder a few by freezing their feet to the ground and uses his Spinjitsu tornado. After he id done with his Spinjitsu tornado scene briefly cuts to the other five who are in Zanes body. They are all dizzy unprepared for the action all of them having to tightly grip the casing for his heart and the wires coming from his heart in order to remain balanced and keep from falling.

Jay: Zane while we’re in here please don’t do that again… we’re all dizzy now. 

Cole: is this what my lunch feels like when I do that? 

Cuts back to Zane. Zane manages to defend himself for a short time before some henchman shock him with a taser in the back causing him to collapse stunned. Zane is a bit stunned letting two of the thugs who put on the gloves pick Zane up holding him by the arms as he slowly regained his senses.

Jay in a panic: Zane get up! Get up! 

Nya: Jay that’s of no use rate now. 

Mechanic: Nice try Zane the pain. I don’t know how you did that but it was an impressive try. I thought only the shaggy haired dirt boy had that kind of strength. 

Cole offended: dirt boy!

Mechanic: Clearly keeping you safely contained is harder than I suspected. Maybe I should use a quicker method to destroy you to avoid the trouble of dealing with you anymore. You’re living up to your name of Zane the pain. 

The Mechanic notes the smelters in the room. While the Mechanic talks Jay begins to panic mutter annoying the others as he is making it hard for them to hear what is going on.

Jay in the background: Great now what are we going to do. We're stuck at the size of ants in Zanes body. Sure we can let Zane borrow our powers when we touch his heart but this nut still somehow knows how to get ahead of us. Can't this guy find a new nicer hobby that doesn't involve trying to destroy us? Clearly this guy has some missing screws and is dead set on seeing us destroyed. For once could he just remain locked up and accept his punishment.

Mechanic: You know they left behind here enough stuff to get those things working again for at least one more go. Why don’t we see how hot we can make them then we shove the pain in them and see how much heat the metal man can handle. If it doesn’t destroy him it could at least cause enough harm to keep him from escaping then we can slowly and painfully finish him off.

Mechanic goes on but Jay is talking loudly over him: We get it started and with the materials we have to work with we could have it hot enough in an hour or two. I think I might also have some oils and flammable gasses in my workshop we could spare to help speed things up. We're going to have to tie this scrap heap up in the meantime to keep him in control and from escaping again. We'll tie him up with chains to one of the support pillars for the catwalk. That should work and this time you will do as I say and one of you will keep an eye on him the whole time. He tries anything and you give him a shock and don't hold back. 

Jay loudly babbling: he’s going to burn us alive! No that’s said to be one of the worst ways to go! Only Kai is immune to that much heat! I don’t want to go by being roasted like some harvest turkey! I’d rather get digested by Zane than go that way! At least in Zanes system the gasses in there might knock us out before we actually start to feel anything either that or we could knock ourselves out. Why can’t he just paralyze us and leave us locked in a room. We can handle those worms again while we wait for the others to rescue us why does he have to go so drastic?! We never did anything to him! Zane's right he caused all his own problems why take it all out on us?!

Zane annoyed: Jay can you tone it down I can’t hear anything through your babbling. 

His words silence Jay but only after he speaks Zane realises his mistake of saying that out loud and gets nervous. The Mechanic and his henchman are confused while the rest of ninja are worried and scared.

Mechanic confused: Jay the babbly whiny sparky boy… how are you hearing and talking to him? One of you get my tablet. 

Briefly leaving to his workshop one of the thugs comes back and brings him a tablet. The Mechanic begins working on it.

Mechanic confused then surprised: My hindrances are still in place so no one from outside is talking to you and you haven’t been able to call for help so … wait what is this? Another signal has been routed through and connected to your senses coming from… inside him… oh I see. This clears some things up. That’s how they destroyed my worms; why my plan has failed. They’ve somehow shrunk themselves and went inside your body to protect you. Well isn’t this intriguing. They’re still in there aren’t they? That’s how Zane the ice pain burnt through the rope and got loose. Your pals helped you didn’t they? They can hear and see what’s going on can’t they? Well then hello there pain-jas you’ve made this so much easier for me. Do any of you have anything to say for your foolishness before I finish you all off?

Cuts to in Zanes body with the five. Nya works on Kais phone hooking its signal up to the Mechanics tablet. Cuts back out of Zanes body.

Lloyd (through the tablet): we’re not going to go down easily. This isn’t the end for us. We’re going to stop you.

Mechanic: Oh really and how are you going to do that? 

Kai boasting (through the tablet): if you haven’t noticed we found a way to let Zane use our powers. How well do you think all your simple henchman will fare against someone who can use all our powers against them?

Mechanic: Very cocky fire brat you think you have the upper hand. I think you over estimate your powers. You know I’m no expert but what do you think would happen if I set one of these to full power and struck your metal built host with it?

Zane is nervous shaking a bit. The Mechanic takes a taser from one of his henchman and switches it on to its highest setting before pressing it into Zanes chest rate over his heart. Zane is scared starting to shake.

Cole (through the tablet): Uh what would that do? 

Jay quickly panicking (through the tablet): Zane might survive but with our tiny size we’ll be fried! Fried to dust!

Mechanic boasting: How would you rather go? Cooked or fried? 

Cuts to in Zanes body. Nya covers the phone so the Mechanic can’t hear them talk while Lloyd quickly covers Jays mouth to keep him quite. 

Lloyd quietly: Wu and Pixal are on their way all we have to do is hold on till then and they can get us out of this. We just need to buy ourselves some time and not let them know we have help coming.

Cole: Then we’ll want the fire way. It will take them some time to get the heat high enough to have an effect on Zane and us giving us time. The zappy way will just finish us off in almost an instance. 

Nya: That would be the best option.

Kai: yha that sounds like the better option.

Jay who Lloyd isn't letting speak nods an agreement. They uncover the phone to address the Mechanic. Cuts out of Zanes body.

Lloyd (through the tablet): Zane is there anything you can do to get us out of this?

Zane nervous: I am afraid not. My make will make the shock worse for the rest of you and prove fatal. If not to me defiantly to the rest of you and I do not want to do anything that would put you all at risk. 

Lloyd putting on a sad defeated act (through the tablet): fine; I guess we don’t really have a choice here do we. I’d rather be burned than shocked then. I hope you’re happy for what you’ve done.

Mechanic pleased: Indeed I am now if you all know what’s good for you; you pains, I would refrain from any shows of powers or attempts at escape. If you do try anything I’ll give you all a hefty shock. 

The Mechanic pushes the taser deeper into Zanes chest as he talks to threaten Zane who is made even more nervous by the act. 

Mechanic: Start one of those things up. There is some left over coal in some storage rooms in here and sheds outside we can use those to fuel it. We can also use the various debris in the warehouse, plenty of dry old wood in there should burn nicely. As for you... do as I say or you'll deeply regret it.

Mechanic points and threatens the taser at Zane. The thugs holding him let him go and the Mechanic herds him over to one of the supports to the catwalk. As he walks over Zane keeps his hands on his chest over his heart to protect the others from possible danger. Once at the support the Mechanic forces his hands down and pins Zane standing up against it. Two thugs chain him to the support making sure to tie the chains over the panels in his body so he can't open them to prevent the others from escaping. 

Mechanic as Zane's being tied up: Make sure to cover all the ports in his body. We don't want any of his pals escaping to cause trouble.

One of the guards is kept standing by Zane holding the taser threateningly at him while the Mechanic goes over to oversee work with the smelters. 

Fades to some time later. The Smelters are getting pretty hot. The ninja are stuck only able to watch as the Mechanic and his henchman prep their doom. Cuts to inside Zane's body where the five are just watching through the phone. Zane is just listened not speaking to prevent any clues to the others conversation. All are worried.

Kai: How long is it going to take for them to get here?

Jay: well since we don't know where we are who knows?

Cole: If they don’t get here in time what are we going to do? 

Lloyd worried: I don’t know. 

Nya: Zane could withstand the heat for a very short time and he could use his powers to counter the heat but he can’t do so for long. The heat will eventually be too much and prove fatal for him.

Cole: Maybe I could let Zane use my super strength again and we can try to smash out of the back of the smelter when they shove us in there.

Jay panicking: Yha but that nut job will probably shock us if we try anything. 

Kai surprised to find himself muttering: I can’t believe I’m agreeing with Jay but yha he’d probably do that. Maybe even stun, knock out or paralyse Zane in some way to keep him and us from doing anything.

Cuts out to Zane as without warning a small canister suddenly drops on the floor by him bouncing away from him a bit while making a beeping sound. A few more follow scattered around the room and after a couple beeps each one explodes spreading a cloud of dust over an area quickly filling the room with smoke.

Jay panicking: What’s going on? 

Lloyd pleased: I think our helps arrived. 

They are all feeling happy. Zane can’t see very well through the smoke with his base vision but he doesn’t switchover to anything that could help him better see in the smoke as he is picking up a familiar presence helping free him. The chains holding him loosen and fall off. The presence he trusts then grabs his hand and leads him through the smoke into a storage room that comes off the smelter room and is free of smoke. When they are in the room they close the door behind them. Wu and Pixal who led him there are in the room.

Wu: Looks like we got here just in time. 

Zane hugs Pixal joyed to see her.

Pixal: Let’s get this over with and get the Mechanic locked back up. 

Zane opens the hatch over his heart holding up his hand for the others to climb onto. Once they are on his hand Zane places them on the ground where Wu uses the counter spell to restore the others back to their normal sizes.

Lloyd: Now let’s get this pain before he can escape and this time let’s make sure he’s put in high security. 

They take off the masks and air tanks they had equipped then waste no time rushing out of the room to prevent the Mechanic from getting a chance to escape. The smoke is steadily dissipating and the Mechanic is mad ranting on how Zane had managed to escape again. 

Mechanic: What happened? Who did this? How did that scrap heap escape again? Hurry he couldn't have gotten far. 

It doesn’t take them long to take down all the Mechanics henchmen who weren’t prepared for a fight or their powers. The Mechanic attempts to quickly flee but they quickly cut off his attempts to escape. He tries to put up a fight but is quickly taken down Zane freezing all but his head to the ground in ice to which Cole adds a layer of protection by making rock spires shoot up from the ground to curl up over and around the ice to hinder any escape. 

Cuts to outside the factory as the cops are taking the Mechanic and his henchman away. They are watching the cops lock up and take everyone away.

Lloyd: Well today was a weird day.  

Once the cops are gone Cole: could we go for dinner now?

Kai: Serious is that all you can think of especially after some of today’s events?! 

Kai is still quite shaken. 

Cole: kind of. I’m also thinking it would probably also be a good idea to have a shower and get some clean non damaged clothes on.

Lloyd looking at himself: I think that’s a good idea. 

Zane: that does sound like a good idea. This place is not very clean nor were many of the henchman; they left my skin a bit dirty plus I should give this sweater back to that folk and put on my own clothes. Not to mention all of you look rather dirty.

Kai his eyes wide and looking stunned: Yha I don’t want to be reminded of how I got dirty!

Jay: Yha a calm night at home to relax sounds like a good idea after today’s events. 

Zane: why does he look so startled?

Jay: we can tell you all about what happened today pal. How about later after we all get cleaned up maybe over dinner. 

Kai: please not when I'm around.

Cole eager: Sounds good now can we get going. Can we also get some extra desserts?

Wu: sure we can pick something up on our way home. 

They then headed off to the Bounty which Wu and Pixal had used to get there in order to head off. Cuts to in the monastery. Wu and Pixal have dropped them off so they could get cleaned. They all get cleaned up having a shower and getting into their PJs to relax for the rest of the night. 

A clip of Zane who has cleaned up and is in PJ's coming up to the others randomly while they are on their own to thank them for saving him while giving them a hug is shown. He gets to Nya first as she is in her room after getting dressed after getting cleaned up.

Nya: well Zane isn't this a surprise. You're normally not the one to initiate a hug.

Zane: I felt it necessary in my attempt to thank you for your work in saving me.

Nya: You don't need to thank us, your part of our family and we'd do anything to help you.

She gives him a hug in back. He gets Cole who is in his room next.

Cole: Oh hey pal you're looking better. What's with the hug?

Zane: I wanted to thank you for your aid in saving me and the hug felt necessary in this process.

Cole: You don't need to thank me, I'd do anything for you brother. Also you want a hug, here's a hug.

Cole gives Zane a bigger hug surprising Zane but he likes it. Jay is next. Jay is in the common room prepping the game station to play it. Jay jumps a bit too focused on what he was doing to note Zane till Zane touches him.

Jay: Oh hey buddy didn't know you were there. Well this is different... outside Pixal or animals you usually aren't the one to give the hugs.

Zane giving Jay a hug: I didn't mean to startle you I just wanted to thank you for helping save me. It clearly has you a bit scared.

Jay hugging Zane back: It's okay. Things were scary and gross... really gross but it's okay. I think knowing about your workings helped keep things from getting too scary. Anyway you had no control over what happened and you never would have meant to harm us besides it was worth it to keep you safe. Also don't feel bad or uncomfortable I wouldn't change anything about you pal, I like my nindroid brother just the way he is.

Kai who is still a bit shaken is in his room and is next. He is on his phone and gets startled by Zane when Zane taps his shoulder to get his attention. Zane is confused over his reaction.

Zane: Why did you jump?

Kai: Sorry you just startled me... was there something you wanted? 

Zane gives him a hug prompting Kai to question: You're not usually not the hugging type is something up?

Zane: I just wanted to thank you for your actions in saving me today you clearly experienced something that scares you.

Kai: Yha there was a lot of scary stuff... but it's not your fault and you don't need to feel bad about it. It's nothing to do with you; you're quirks or what normally happens in you... it's just where we ended up and things that happened there... a lot of it was really gross and scary. Again though that's not your fault. You really had no control over any of it.

Lloyd is last and in the bedroom hall when Zane comes up to him. He is little shaken from the day’s events but is calming down.

Lloyd: Is something up buddy?

Zane giving Lloyd a hug: I just wanted to thank you for your work in saving me.

Lloyd: You know you don’t have to thank us. 

Zane: You put yourselves in great danger to save me and I was one of those dangers probably the most dangerous considering the one place you ended up in. I could have easily harmed you or worse without meaning to; my interior is very dangerous for organic beings like you to be wandering in. I at the least owe you a thanks for any troubles or harm I may have caused you. 

Lloyd: no you don’t have to thank us no matter what buddy. We wanted to help you no matter the risks and you shouldn’t worry about those. How dangerous you are is not your fault it’s just how you are and none of us would change that no matter what. We like you just the way you are. Besides you’re our brother and we’d do anything for you no matter the risks. We all know you’d do the same for us in fact you often have.

Lloyd gives Zane a hug as he speaks. Kai comes up to them as he heads to the the entertainment room. He still looks shaken.

Kai: Yha you are our brother even if your insides are like something from a monster… I thought Cole had some weird tastes and eating habits you’re pretty bad too; not as bad as Coles I don’t think but defiantly strange.

Zane is about to speak confused however before he can say anything they hear Cole loudly and excitedly calling as he rushes to the kitchen from his room.

Cole excited: dinners here!

Kai: You know your insides Zane might be like something from a monster but I think somehow Coles would possibly be just as scary. 

Kai slowly starts heading off still looking rather stunned. Zane is looking at him confused as Lloyd and him follow for dinner.

Lloyd: it’s okay you know how Kai is about guts; he just got to experience more than he wanted to today considering we ended up in yours. Now come on buddy let’s get some dinner before Cole ends up going for seconds and don’t worry we’ll explain everything that went on today to you and don’t take everything Jay or Kai say too personal; thinking back on it the whole thing wasn’t really that bad especially since it meant saving you.

Kai: I guess your right there. You’re very special Zane in more ways than one and despite how uncomfortable or unpleasant all we went through today was I guess it was all worth it in order to make sure we still have you around… even if it’s going to give me nightmares for a while. No matter what you are or what you’re made of… or how gross or scary your insides are buddy you’re still our brother and we wouldn’t change that or anything about you.

Scene fades out.

End of act 3.

Story finished

To read the original story plus others here:

https://archiveofourown.org/users/Robo_birdie/works

You can also find images pertaining to the story here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project

[robobirdie]

Some Fan Story Fun Protagonists interviews: Monsters

While working when stuck with writers block I sometimes would take a break and have a little fun writing down what I felt the characters thoughts would be on certain things in the story. Some give some minor spoilers but nothing too serious about the main story or events in the story. They are fun humorous little tidbits some of which helped me with working out some concepts in my story namely character relations. This one is on the Monsters of the Void and Lost Realm:

Ash Crawler

Jay- Living Nightmare!  Cole- Yha I’m with Jay on this, I don’t want to ever see one of these things.  Zane- If nindroids could have nightmares these things could be found in them and trust me as one they do.  Nya- Just looking at the depictions of this thing makes my skin crawl.  Lloyd- I wouldn’t just consider this thing a monster, I’d class it as a demon.  Kai- I can’t believe I’m agreeing with Jay on this but yha this things a nightmare.  Aaron-Yha just the sound of this thing scares me and I like to live by the thought of not letting fear get to me; I’d hate to encounter one in real life.  Axl- I hope we don’t come across one of these.  Clay-If we run across one of these I don’t think us or the ninja will fare well.  Macy-I feel for those poor knights and warriors from this realm. This thing must give them plenty of nightmares just thinking of them let alone to face them in combat.  Lance-I might need extra underwear if we see one of these.  Jestro- Only the nastiest of evils could come up with one of these things and from my experience imprisoned with those Ashers they defiantly are that kind of evil.

Hunger

Jay- a demon called hunger that eats your energy! No thanks!  Cole- First off this thing sounds scary secondly someone’s going to make a joke about this thing towards me aren’t they?  Zane- These things unnerve me; it really hurts to have your energy drained and it could destroy my heart! I don’t like the thought of that.  Nya- There are ways to kill these things right? I hope so cause things like this shouldn’t be let to live.  Lloyd- I really hope we don’t come across one of these. I’m betting because of my powers it will be drawn to feed off me over everyone else and that would be very bad.  Kai- Sounds like Cole in the morning :) Seriously though this thing sounds scary.  Aaron- Do you think an oversized bug swatter could take this thing out? Just the sound of this thing scares me.  Axl- Everyone better not make a joke about this thing and me! Other than that this thing sounds terrifying.  Clay- Hopefully we don’t have to deal with one of these; normally that would be bad but with an elemental master of energy in tow if one of these things feeds on him it would probably become invincible!  Macy- I hear their feeding makes them stronger and more powerful; that’s real bad. That just makes these nightmares sound worse.  Lance- Sounds like they made a monster inspired by Axl ;) Please don’t tell him I said that.  Jestro- I saw one of these in that Ashers encampment. It drained a cow into nothing then tor it apart with its claws for fun; it was a nightmare!

Noctern Crow

Jay- A nightmare! Please don’t ask about the events in the mine.  Cole- Definitely creepy; can’t look at crows the same way again when you see one of these.  Zane- I would not like to go into how I know but these things aren’t really evil. They can be scary to look at yes but they are more like crows than evil monsters. They don’t desire to truly harm others they just want the same things a crow wants. Food, water to bathe in, flavourful drinks, safe and comfy nests, toys and games to play with, tasty crunchy buggies and juicy rotting meats, pretty shinnies to decorate with… can you excuse me I need to run a quick diagnostics.  Nya- Yha creepy, smelly, tough and with lots of ragged feathers but not really evil; more of annoying especially when they scream at you.  Lloyd- Yha they’re very unpleasant to deal with. I think we got lucky with our first encounter because… let’s just say we got lucky. Next time we might not be lucky.  Kai- Yha I don’t want to talk about these things. Let’s just say when threatened they sometimes like to vomit on threats; just thinking of the smell makes me feel sick… and want a two hour shower.  Aaron- Definitely cool, not as scary as many proclaim but yha rather tough though they literally have a bird brain; they think like birds. Very useful when you deal with them.   Axl- They don’t look it but are very tough; and kind of gross. They’ll eat almost anything no matter how rotting or maggot filled it is.  Clay- For a monster I didn’t see much of a monster to these things. More like creepy big humanoid birds.  Macy-Yha they’re very unsettling and tough but I wouldn’t necessarily say evil. Then again… actually I can’t talk about that.  Lance-Please don’t ask about these things! I don’t want to remember having to deal with one of these. Do you know how long it took to clean myself after that? Trust me you don’t want to know and you don’t want to know what I ended up pulling out of my hair!  Jestro- I ran into some of these; they wanted me to entertain them. They’re not as scary as most of the other monsters I saw but they are loud and very pushy. They also enjoy seeing you in pain or grossed out.

Demons of the Wastes

Jay- Let’s just put every single one of these in a big box of nope! Fire breathing two legged crocodiles more hot headed than Kai, creepy creatures that are like crosses between bugs and other animals that like to suck the energy and life out of you often with appetites bigger than Coles, big four armed snake sorceresses, bony bird things that can barf on you, plenty of un-dead looking and insect things to give you nightmares, many like to drain you’re energy and do other bad things to you just for fun do I need to go on! Not even Zane is immune to any of their attacks; they can harm and destroy him just as easily as the rest of us and worse you can’t truly destroy these things! They’ll just return from this horrid void place and make your life a living nightmare and not to mention many want to turn you into monsters like them! How can people handle having these things around? Even worse many bad people like to work with these monsters and are friends with them! Then even worse than that some of these like to live in our world like it’s their home! Why? As if many normal animals aren’t scary enough there’s these things hanging around to cause trouble and attack us! (He began to rant and babble become more anxious so to prevent accidents our interviewers gave him a sedative to keep him from potentially shocking anyone). Cole- Yha a lot of these things give you the chills just to read about or even look at pictures of. Anything insect like is defiantly quite unsettling especially when there is something spider like to them; un-dead looking things are pretty unsettling too especially ghost like ones. Despite what some of the others think I think we can handle some of these with little problem like Gloam-Harpies, Serpent Flies, Voidfears, Vesparilions as long as they are not in too large a swarm, Skinned Hounds, the Elemental creatures and probably some of those lesser weaker monsters others however I’m pretty sure we can’t handle. Those who think we can are being foolish. Also I am getting rather sick of some of the others the two know who they are making jokes about my appetite with some of these things especially that one called a Hunger. You know I think I’ve seen a few of these before like this bear bird thing before. I thought it was just an animal; it acted like one and didn’t bother me like a real animal would. Thinking back it’s kind of unnerving that I came across one of these demons and didn’t realise what it was or how dangerous it actually was. I guess maybe not all these monsters really are monsters. Even though I doubt it maybe we could get some friendly monsters to help us. Zane- Despite the term demon many are not truly evil just how they view things, their powers and natures do not align with what humans would consider pleasable or good. True some are what could truly be seen as evil but quite a few are just like animals or people. They have their own lives and individual views just because of their origins they have strong desires to cause chaos and destruction to the world around them; I guess that makes them more of a force of change more than evil. Truly what the people consider demons especially around here is subjective based more by their views and not entirely on facts; I know this first hand. Many of them consider me a monster or even a demon just because of what I am… it’s very unpleasant. You know I have seen these Xeracel-striders and Xivurses beings before and possibly a few others in the Birchwood forest when I was younger. I don’t have much memory of that time but strangely I remember those creatures. I remember feeling something strange about them but couldn’t figure out what. I thought they were just animals; they acted like them and never gave me or my father any more trouble than normal animals. They weren’t really monsters. Just more proof the view people have here on what makes a monster isn’t true. Nya- Not going to lie many of these don’t sound too good. Many like to painfully weaken you by sucking energy from you and why do quite a few take forms that are like some mutant insects or un-dead? Is that to further make them more scary? I wonder are insects scared of those that have insect like appearances just as much as people are? That aside despite what my brother might think I don’t think we will fare too well against a lot of these; some of us particularly so. I won’t say who but you can probably take a good guess at who those would be. I’ll just say there is more than one. We haven’t done so well yet against some of these we have faced already mainly those creepy shadow figures and a Noctern Crow which… actually that doesn’t matter. Simply put we haven’t done so good and I don’t think we’ll do well against most of these. These aren’t simple creatures or monsters. They all have rather dangerous powers and those that seem very beastial are actually surprisingly cunning and sly. With his ego I’m pretty sure my brother will get himself into some serious trouble if we left him alone with some of these things. Lloyd- In one word terrifying that’s what I think of these things. Monsters equipped with dark powers that can drain your energy, health and even life equipped often with sharp claws, teeth and other body parts. Then there’s the fact they can’t truly be destroyed. You can destroy them but their remains simply vanish after sometime after which they re-manifest from the energies of the void and can return to hunt you down again! Worse apparently these things can be found in all the realms even ours and can easily go unnoticed as they wreck havoc. They often stick to dark or less populated places and can attack quickly leaving little to no survivors so hardly anyone knows they’re there. Thinking about it I think I recall some monsters from ancient tales and urban legends that match quite a few of these demons; I don’t think in many of those tales these monsters were ever felled meaning they could still be out there! That’s a very unsettling thought. Kai- I’m pretty sure I can handle some of these, well probably not the big ones or if they’re in a swarm or large group but one on one yha I could. Those little bug ones don’t look so tough and I hear they’re just like insects in that they can get obsessed with lights. I’m betting they’d foolishly head straight into my fire just trying to get it and burn themselves up… I wonder if they’d be attracted to Zanes eyes like normal insects? I then wonder what would happen if he accidently ate one? Would it turn him all evil crazy? We should probably make sure that doesn’t happen then. Also these fire breathing lava crocs sound pretty cool. I wonder if I could trick them with my fire to make them friendly to us. If anything my sister or Zane could easily cool them down. Also don’t let him know I told you this but that one called a Hunger sounds a bit like Cole always hungry and will eat anything; maybe like him we could win those creatures over with cake. I doubt that but it would be funny. Aaron- I won’t deny yha a lot of these are defiantly not something I would want to face in battle especially if I was on my own nor would I want to stumble upon them in some dark place or at night but is it wrong to find some of them cool? Like they look and some of their powers sound so wicked, kind of makes you want to be one of them. Yha the Noctern Crow was pretty tough but it looked cool and what it could do was pretty wicked. Also I think I’ve met one of these Xivursus creatures at least it looked a lot like it. We call them in our realm though Hawk-bears. We consider them animals though cause they rarely acted like monsters. Finding out what they really are doesn’t really change my view of them. It just makes them cooler. You know I know as a knight the thought of these creatures being considered cool and wanting to be one kind of goes against my teachings and training, we’re supposed to protect people from monsters like these, but it is still a fun thought. I will have to admit though that while some are cool there are quite a few I will admit scare me. Those four armed snake ladies and those Hungers defiantly, I would not want to get into a fight with those. The strange goat headed ghost things and some of the un-dad looking things too are rather unsettling. Axl- These all sound so tough I don’t think we’re ready to face these. I know I won’t be able to hold against them and if I can’t then I don’t think most of the others can. Clay might be able to and some of those ninja with their powers defiantly not that Jay though might be able to but I think these things have the rest of us beat. I’ve heard looks of these things can be deceiving. Just because they look delicate doesn’t mean they are. After dealing with that crow thing which didn’t look too tough I’d have to agree with that statement and that one crow was being mostly nice to us and it was still pretty bad. Clay- These things defiantly aren’t like any monsters we’ve faced before. All those we’ve faced that were under Monstruxs rule before and the many normally found in our realm seem mild or even harmless compared to these things. Guess we should be thankful they don’t normally wander freely about the realms preferring to stick to certain environments or locations and don’t often wander from those sights or close to where innocent beings tend to hang out. I was curious as Merloks never really told us where the monsters in our realm came from and doing some research on entities of the void and just as I had a feeling the monsters that served Monstrux are indeed monsters originating from the void. Luckily they’re some of the more passive types compared to the dark and truly monstrous beings that can come from this place. Gotta feel sorry for those that have to deal with these truly nasty monsters on a regular basis; it can’t leave them feeling very well especially since some of these can literally make you ill. Macy- I don’t care where these monsters come from I will still face them just like a knight should even if they are pretty scary and I’m pretty sure we won’t fare very well against a lot of these. Not even those ninja or Clay with their powers stand a good chance against them. It is our duties though as knights to protect others from monsters like these  no matter what so we have to put aside our fears to protect those who can’t stand a chance against these monsters. That being said I hope we don’t have to face too many of these or at least any of the nastier ones. Lance- I doubt many in Hollowood could come up with such nasty monsters as these. You don’t want to know what some of them can and will do to others and Aaron finds some of these things cool? How crazy is he? The things that droi- I mean crow thing did were worse than disgusting! All these things want to tear you apart, turn into their chew toys, eat you, put gross and nasty substances on you that take hours to get off and the smell off your clothes and you don’t want to know what end it comes from cause they’ll do both and these are just some of the nicer things they do. You don’t want to know about the worse ones! How could anyone consider such monsters cool?! Why would anyone in this realm want to become some sort of knight or any kind of warrior with these things around? Jestro- I know I’ve had dealings with monsters in the past but I’d never want to side, work with or even just be near monsters like these. I was unfortunate to experience some of these monsters up close and they are far worse than any of the monsters I’ve worked with before. Not even Monstrux was as bad as these things!

(While some of these monsters are directly mentioned or used in the story others are more of background fillers that could be envisioned as background entities during events.)

To read the story this is related to you can find it here:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/34894561/chapters/86888878

You can also find images pertaining to the story here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project

[robobirdie]

Some Fan Story Fun Protagonists interviews: Creatures and Robotics

While working when stuck with writers block I sometimes would take a break and have a little fun writing down what I felt the characters thoughts would be on certain things in the story. Some give some minor spoilers but nothing too serious about the main story or events in the story. They are fun humorous little tidbits some of which helped me with working out some concepts in my story namely character relations. This one is on the creatures and Robotics of the Lost Realm:

Ancestor Wing

Jay- I guess they’re not too bad. They are kind of cute and very friendly plus they eat bugs including the bad ones. They’re nice to have around especially at night when all the big freaky bugs come out.  Cole- They’re cute and real soft just be careful when petting them that you don’t accidently poke them in the eye. They don’t like that and will bite in defence and those little needle teeth of theirs can leave a pretty nasty bite.  Zane- Their looks are what others would consider adorable and their biology is quite interesting. They are capable of keeping both wing structures in synch while flying yet can move their arms independently from the winglets when moving on surfaces.  Nya- They are cute and their fun to feed from your hand. They’re so tame and gentle.  Lloyd- I find the mythology around these creatures interesting; that they can commune with and be messengers from those in the departed realm. I wonder if it’s true.  Kai- Their not too bad. I defiantly don’t mind having these around.  Aaron- They’re totally cool; soft, gentle, friendly and eat all the bad bugs who wouldn’t want these things around.  Axl- Did you know they can eat almost their own body weight in insects in a day! Sure they don’t weigh much but it still equals a lot of biting insects.  Clay- They are cute and very beneficial. They keep both crops and people safe from harmful insects, I get why the people treat them with such high respect.    Macy- They’re so cute you just want to hug them but you have to be careful. They have hollow bones like birds so you have to be careful not to hurt them.       Lance- Finally a creature that’s not creepy or annoying in this place.    Jestro- They are cute and very friendly.

Ash Walker

Jay- Huge and can eat me no thanks.  Cole- They’re not too bad. Yha they’re big and kinda scary but surprisingly gentle.  Zane- Despite what some think they are surprisingly gentle and empathetic to others. They will aid and protect other animals even those who could hurt them. They have great respect for all living things.  Nya- Despite what Jay says they’re not bad. They’re actually kind of sweet. If their babies get too tired or can’t cross a river on their own the parents will let the babies ride on their backs. How can such a caring creature truly be a monster?  Lloyd- Yha they are nice and not too bad but they are a bit scary looking.  Kai- I guess they’re not too bad, I just worry about accidently getting stepped on by them.  Aaron- They’re pretty rad. They don’t mind if you take a ride or even nap on their backs. They apparently let animals do it in the wild all the time.  Axl- Big and powerful yet gentle and caring; I like them. They remind me of me.  Clay- Contrary to what some believe they haven’t had very many attacks or problems from these creatures even wild ones. The real biggest danger you have with being around these is being under the wrong end at the wrong time.  Macy- I like them, sure they’re big and moody but they’re not really that bad; no worse than Axl when he misses a meal.  Lance- Luckily they have people whose jobs are to clean up what these things drop around town. What they drop strangely doesn’t smell too bad but I still don’t want to get that stuff on me.  Jestro- They might not be bad but their size still kind of scares me.

Creatures of Blackreach

Jay- Just more nightmare fuel. Dark glowing beasts that have no qualms with eating you and plant mutated zombie creatures controlled by mushrooms no thanks.  Cole- Some are kind of creepy yha like those Gloam-beasts but the others aren’t bad; kind of cool actually.  Zane- I find these all rather fascinating. The way they have adapted to a world without sunlight and dominated by fungi is rather intriguing. I would love to learn more about them and visit them and their home.  Nya- I guess the thought of creatures controlled by fungi is rather creepy but these things apparently aren’t as bad as you’d think. They don’t seem to have any desire to hurt others. They just want to protect their home I can respect that.  Lloyd- Yha it’s a little unnerving to think of but it actually doesn’t seem too bad. It might actually be interesting to see this place. I wonder if the fungi are annoyed by the caverns inhabitants eating them? Maybe they have some sort of symbiotic relation so don’t mind it.  Kai-I guess they’re not too bad, there could be worse things to come inhabit such a place.  Aaron- This place and its inhabitants seem so far out, I’d love to take a trip their and explore the place.  Axl- They don’t sound too bad so why are the people scared of them.  Clay- I get to come across one of these things in a dark place might be rather scary but I doubt they’re as scary as many proclaim.  Macy- How’s this whole controlled by fungi thing work? Is it some sort of magic or can it communicate with them in some way? Truly I’m more curious than scared of these things.  Lance- They sound cool but I don’t want to encounter these things in person. They probably are not very friendly and likely reek of an earthy rustic smell; I’m no fan of that.  Jestro- Even though many look like creatures above ground something about their dark with glowing markings appearance sounds kind of unsettling.

Insects

Jay-Why! Can’t bugs just stay smaller than sparrows for once? Then again even the little ones are kind of creepy here too. See through spiders, beetles that shock you in defence, mean crabs that make better deterrents than guard dogs, wasps that can burn you with a heat worse than Coles chilli do I need to go on? I guess though not all are bad. The Torchbugs are cute and those Rockipods aren’t too bad just be careful not to sit on them. It’s a bit embarrassing to fall off them when they curl up when you do that.  Cole- Yha quite a few are kind of creepy even if they don’t wish you harm but most aren’t too bad. I do kind of like those Torchbugs though. Rockipods are kind of cool too and very chill not to mention their shells are made of rock isn’t that cool. Don’t try to kick them like they’re a ball when they curl up though. As Kai found out those shells are rock hard, they’re a bit heavy even when they’re the size of a small dog so you can almost break your foot on them.  Zane- They’re not too bad. I don’t fear insects and find many just as fascinating as other animals but I just wish they would stop being attracted to my eyes. I keep accidently swallowing a couple of the small ones each day because they keep getting in my face especially when it’s not very bright out. It doesn’t feel or sometimes taste pleasant and those Shalk beetles really hurt. So do any species with spines, horns, large pincers or mandibles or other decorative or defensive structure. The noises of some like mosquitoes and flies near my ears are really annoying too. I do like the Torchbugs I just wish they wouldn’t be so interested in my eyes when it’s dark.  Nya- The big ones yha kinda creepy but some of the others aren’t bad. The Torchbugs are cute and the Lava moths rather pretty. The spiders I could go without. I wonder if those hornets are as hot headed as my brother; from what I’ve seen they seem like it. I wouldn’t doubt they are; I also wouldn’t doubt he’ll probably do something stupid around them and get stung. Just because they like the heat I don’t think they’re fans of fire. I won’t feel sorry for him if he gets stung, he probably will have done something to deserve it.  Lloyd- A lot of them are kind of unsettling yha especially when you find them hiding under things like your pillow. Sure I believe Zane that ant is harmless despite the spikes and horns and just scouting not wanting to hurt anyone but it still creeped me out. Thankfully he took it out of my bed and put it in the planter outside our room. How can he hold them without getting creeped out? Anyway not all of the insects are that bad or creepy though. Most beetles, crickets, grasshoppers, moths and butterflies aren’t too bad even if they are a bit big. The Roly-poly bugs aren’t bad and I do like the Torchbugs; it took some patients but I managed to get one to actually land on my hand. It was cute.  Kai- Not going to lie I’m not a big fan of bugs especially when their bigger than a songbird but I do like the glowing Torchbug, they’re kind of cool and those burning hornets are kind of cool they can wield fire just like I can. I wonder if that would make them see me as a sort of king or god to them? I should test it out. Also when these things are wearing a rock armour don’t try and give them a kick; I’ve never stubbed my toes so hard before.  Aaron- I don’t get why others are so creeped out by bugs. Sure they’ve got more limbs than we do but they’re not that bad; unless you accidently swallow one while speeding around on your hover shield that is. That’s not pleasant. Having them ping you in the face under the same circumstances isn’t pleasant either especially if they’re quite big. That can sting and not in a good way. Outside that they’re pretty chill and rad.  Axl- I guess they can be creepy especially the spiders but they’re not that bad, just don’t make them angry. Some have some pretty nasty powers and aren’t afraid to use them but aside from that most are pretty harmless. This is good cause then you can have some fun with them. That ninja Jay really gets spooked over a lot of the creepy crawlies. Me and Aaron like taking those little Embers Ants and spooking Jay with them. It’s funny to see his reaction to them especially when he finds them where he least expects them.  Clay- I’m not much for insects and yha some of these are creepy, defiantly the spiders and those big ants and their little cousins, but they’re really not that bad just creepy. Luckily most of them are generally easily to scare off even the spiders. Not all are bad or creepy. The butterflies and Torchbugs are pleasant and so are the Isopods. Even though they’re a bit creepy the little Ember Ants are harmless and a lot more even tempered than their large Spiny Ant relatives. It is a bit creepy though that you can find them hanging around everywhere in the city and people aren’t bothered by them even if you find them somewhere you don’t want to find them like in your bed, on the table while you’re trying to eat, in your helmet when you go to put it on... they do eat them here so I guess they’re not that bothered by them but it’s still unsettling. I guess it could be worse though. Other regions here have some that are much worse like sparrow sized mosquitoes, crocodile sized millipedes and bear sized spiders. Thank goodness we don’t have to go to those places.  Macy- Yha I’m not much of a fan for many insects especially spiders or things with too many legs like centipedes; millipedes and isopods aren’t too bad though. They’re not fast or as creepy looking as centipedes, they even look a little cute in that these are creepy crawlies but their nice and not too bad kind of way. Not all of them are bad or creepy and some here are nice and not too bad. The Torchbugs are cute and so are the moths. The little ants aren’t bad just more of annoying; gotta feel a little sorry for them. Some of us, you can probably guess who, have been using them to freak out that ninja Jay. Can’t be nice being used to scare someone like that.  Lance- Bugs ew no thank you; they’re gross always crawling around in the dirt and many have too many legs. It was funny though that one time Aaron collided with one of these Torchbugs while flying around it pinged him in the face and left a colourful glowing mark on his face for a few hours even though he had cleaned it off. I’m not sure why it was like that, the ninjas metal man said it was something to do with chemicals being absorbed into his skin or something I didn’t hear or understand much of what he said. It was a lot of science-y stuff I couldn’t care much about but how that ninja Jay reacted to it was hilarious. He acted all paranoid to Aaron for a while.  Jestro-I guess they’re not too bad; they’re not monsters just animals; well I’m not sure about spiders but the rest are just mostly harmless bugs even if they have strange powers like those shocky beetles. They really hurt. Sure some of them freak me out yha but they’re not too bad and the glowing torchbugs are pretty.

Ekhindahogs

Jay- Finally one of the few species that isn’t mean, ugly, creepy, wants to eat me or dangerous; these are cute and so funny to watch.  Cole- Cute little burrowers with comical attitudes; plenty to love about them though they can be a nuisance. They have pretty tough claws so the town does have problems with them digging through the walls of the Under-city and peoples basements and getting into trouble.  Zane- They are cute and have a rather interesting biology and social structure. Apparently to combat the harshness of their environment they developed so that both males and females can care and feed the young so if one of the parents dies their offspring won’t risk dying either.  Nya- They are cute and enjoyable but that whole males giving milk like mothers I find kind of weird. Nice to see a species where dad plays such an important role as mom but still I find it a bit weird.  Lloyd- They’re cute and playful and it’s kind of relaxing watching them playing around. It must be nice being so carefree; I bet the fathers also have good relations with their sons… sorry did I say that sentence out loud?  Kai- They’re not too bad just watch where you sit when these are near. They might kick dirt in your hair while digging in planters… well I’m hoping it’s just dirt in those planters and not well you know; I hope they don’t fertilize with manure in those things or I’m going to need another shower.  Aaron - First off the milk thing is kind of weird second they don’t lie about that venom; I didn’t mean to startle that one during training… man that sting was nasty. Felt like having the worst case of pins and needles ever combined with all your muscles being pulled at the same time! My leg was paralysed from the pain!  Axl- I like them. They’re not very soft and those beaks have a surprisingly strong bite but they’re overall enjoyable to have around.  Clay- They are cute but can be troublesome. A pair somehow got into our room and tried to make off with my shield. I can’t have that; a knight should never lose their shield.  Macy-They are cute but don’t let that fool you, they can be real troublesome especially when in groups and they want some of your lunch. I think they know their considered cute and use that to get lots of treats.  Lance- I found a social media page dedicated to these things that has way more followers than I do; how’s that possible? Sure they’re cute but can they act or pose no… though looking at these photos and videos I kinda see the appeal. Maybe I should add some pictures of these with me to my social media pages.  Jestro- They aren’t too bad but those quills hurt when they get stuck in you.

Fabricants

Jay- Combining dangerous animals with dangerous machinery; why would you want to create such monsters!  Cole- The thought of them is kind of strange. Do the creatures know and understand they are now half robotic? How do they feel about their situation?  Zane- I find them intriguing. I can understand them and what they have to say is interesting. Some understand what they have become, others aren’t too sure. They know they’re different but they all love what they’ve become. They feel it improves their life and lets them view the world with a deeper understanding making them deeper in aware to the beauty of the world around them. They also enjoy that they can now play with and take advantage of the machines people make. One of those for the training arena apparently has learned to hack vending machines to get treats from it.  Nya- I find them interesting; I wonder what inspired their creators to merge animals with machines and how did they do it? It can’t be an easy process.  Lloyd- They’re kind of cool but also a bit unnerving, those Venom-fang ones especially are creepy looking especially in the dark.  Kai- Animals merged with technology, something about that I find very unsettling. Maybe it’s because I don’t understand technology very well but they kind of creep me out.  Aaron- I think they’re cool. Did you know their cybernetics give them the ability to play video games? Imagine giving your pet that ability, you know how much fun you could have!  Axl- They kind of sound cool but also very dangerous.  Clay- Animals with the calculating and precise thoughts and movements of machines. That sounds like a dangerous combo to me. Hopefully they have measures in place to keep them from causing harm and chaos.  Macy- Sounds like a cool concept they’d probably make for good training partners but they can also hack into your phone when you’re not aware of it. Imagine your pet being able to tattle on you when you plan to sneak out for a party?  Lance- Why not just make the machines into animals in the first place instead of merging them with animals? You just make them smelly and drooly that way.  Jestro- Is it just me or does anyone else get goose-bumps from the thought of these things?

Fear

Jay- It’s in the name that’s how I feel about this thing!  Cole- Yha I’m not too keen on ever encountering one of these. Good thing they’re technically extinct.  Zane- While I may be a bit more resistant to damage than the others to attacks by this thing I still would not do well against it and likely receive fatal damage from it.  Nya- Yha I can see why they would give it the name they did. It probably wasn’t pleasant dealing with these things when they were around.  Lloyd- I think for things like this it is one of the few times I’m glad to hear something’s extinct.  Kai- big, lots of teeth and sharp clawed dangerous reptile no thanks. Let them stay as fossils.  Aaron- I’d want to say add the term less to its name and that’s how I’d feel about meeting one of these but that would be a lie.  Axl- Just the name of this thing unnerves me.  Clay-Luckily we won’t have to worry about facing one of these, I don’t think we’d do to well against one.  Macy- I wonder who the brave warriors to take these things out were. They must have been pretty tough to face one.  Lance- big nasty and drooly reptile, no thanks. Good thing this monster is extinct.  Jestro- Good thing these are extinct. I saw a stuffed one in the museum and nearly wet myself. It mustn’t have been nice having these around.

Hoofivore

Jay- It’s not a bug or reptile but I still find it a bit scary; it is after all a massive meat eating animal that could eat me. It’s sad what happened to them though.  Cole- These things actually sound so nice. They bond for life and are caring parents. They even look cute like giant horned dogs. Why would those snakes want to hurt them like that?  Zane- These creatures sound rather pleasant, it is sad that they are now so endangered all because of one races hatred to another.  Nya- Poor things, hopefully they can bring them back.  Lloyd- It’s a good thing what they are doing for this species considering what was done to them.  Kai-That’s not right attacking innocent animals just to spite other people.  Aaron- That wasn’t cool of these snake people to hunt down these creatures purely out of hatred.  Axl- Poor things, hopefully things get better for them.   Clay- Does the cruelty of some people know no bounds? At least now these creatures are in good hands.  Macy- I hope they taught these snakes a lesson for their actions.  Lance- Why would these snake people go after these creature? What purpose would wiping them out honestly have?  Jestro- Just because these creatures weren’t on their side didn’t mean they had to be destroyed, that’s a pretty monstrous act and I should know. I’ve worked with monsters.

Hyenoids

Jay- This will probably upset Zane but no thanks, they should just scrap these things.  Cole- I’m not sure what to think of these things. They’re not Zane that’s for sure but are they really the monsters everyone claims they are?  Zane- Why does everyone hate them? Haven’t they ever tried to get to know them? I doubt they’re truly the monsters everyone says they are. They’re not mindless machines; they are thinking feeling living beings just like animals and people.  Nya- I think we’ll need to be guarded with Zane around these things. I don’t think he fully understands they’re not like him. These ones were created for evil and don’t share his views or values. They are likely no more than monsters.  Lloyd- I find these things very worrisome. I’m pretty sure they’ll see a kinship towards Zane and may try to get him to join them. Given who they serve that would be a very bad thing.  Kai- No offense to Zane but I don’t like these things simple as that.  Aaron- They sound cool but at the same time worrisome; they’re very dangerous and might want to turn the ninjas cyber-bro to their side. That could be a very bad thing given what they serve. Even if they aren’t inherently evil they serve a monster who is.  Axl- I think we should try to avoid these things as much as we can; I don’t like the sounds of them.  Clay- We shouldn’t trust these things. From what I’ve been told the ninja are having a bit of trouble with their droid brother becoming over trusting to these things. That could be very bad.  Macy- From what we’ve heard these things are very unsettling; defiantly nothing like our friendly and helpful Squirebots.  Lance- The town should capture a bunch of these things and change their programming to make them servants then maybe the place wouldn’t be so peasenty… then again with this Stag thing around how would you be able to trust these things wouldn’t want them to enslave you or worse. Maybe they should just leave these things in the wild.  Jestro- Monstrous machines so human like you can’t tell the difference between them and people; does that sound a little unsettling to anyone else? How do I tell who’s who? I don’t want to fall to this monstrous leader of theirs; I’m done with the being evil kind of life.

Kaguar

Jay- Scary looking reptilian like beaked tusked cows; I’m not sure what to think about that but it does seem weird.  Cole- I like them, they taste like beef and I hear their meat is healthier than cows meat.  Zane- They are very helpful creatures and materials from them don’t taste too bad and are rather healthy you just have to be careful with those tusks; I hear they have been known to disembowel droids with them. I find that kind of unsettling.  Nya- They’re not bad, they kind of smell odd but you won’t notice a difference between their milk and meat and a cows.  Lloyd- Just pretend they’re a strange breed of cow and they don’t seem so alien even though they don’t sound like cows or look anything like them.  Kai- They may taste like cows but they ain’t docile like them. When they flaunt those tusks at you don’t take that as a sign that their showing off. That means they’re mad, trust me I found out the hard way.  Aaron- A cool looking mix between some reptile and a cow plus you can eat them. Not a bad creature.  Axl- I found some good recipes for their meat if you’re interested.   Clay- They’re not bad and useful but something about how they look at you when you walk by makes me uneasy. They look angry all the time.  Macy- Compared to some of the other things people keep as livestock these are one of the less strange.  Lance- Others can use such rustic methods of travel like these I’ll stick with my mecha-steed thank you.  Jestro- I guess they’re not too bad even though they’re kind of scary to look at.

Parrot Cruncher

Jay- I guess they wouldn’t be too bad and be rather cute if it wasn’t for their venom, those quills and their strong nut cracking parrot beaks. Luckily they usually won’t bite with their full force on you with those but I’m not going to take the risk. They can bite with enough force to break your arm!  Cole- They’re not too bad though very annoying if they try to steal your lunch. I think they know they have a venom that messes with us cause they don’t have much fear to people even wild ones. Trust me if they take your lunch just let them have it. Just touching them will make the parts you touch them with go numb and you lose functioning to them which can mean a full body paralysis if you try to wrestle them to get your lunch back.  Zane- It’s creepy to have venoms affect me. I can feel the stuff mess with my programming when it contacts my nervous system. I’m not sure how it is affecting me, I think it’s some sort of magical effect, but it’s very unsettling and I am unfortunate to not benefit from anti-venom shots so I have to suffer the full effects of the venom for its full time. It’s not pleasant.  Nya- In ways they’re cute but I think their dangers really hinder their cuteness especially if you’ve dealt with their venoms. It’s very unpleasant and removing those quills is pretty hard especially when you have to pull them out of a droid. You have to wear gloves when touching the quills and they can easily get stuck in metal.  Lloyd- Cute but rather annoying. We’ve all had the unpleasant misfortune of getting affected by their venom and quills at least once while here. Most of them were by accident usually from training though Cole kind of asked for his the one time when he tried to wrestle it to get his lunch back from it.  Kai- Yha the venoms not too nice but at least it’s not lethal and wears off quicker than you’d think about four to five hours. Truly that’s not too bad. The creatures aren’t too bad themselves and very passive. Unless they feel threatened they won’t attack.  Aaron- Their pretty cool; they’re like someone mixed a parrot with a capybara then gave it quills like a porcupine. They like to chew like all three animals too. These creatures have a habit of chewing up wooden items to keep their beaks trim. The towns taken to making all important posts and signs within these creatures reach out of metal to keep them from chewing them up.  Axl- While they eat largely plant matter like fruits, vegetables, leaves and stuff like that they do and will eat meat. They’ll eat smaller animals, carrion and bugs. Luckily they are very food orientated so you can use that to herd them away from where they aren’t supposed to be so you don’t have to actually touch them.  Clay- As far as the creatures in this place go these ones aren’t too bad; yha the venoms annoying to work with or around but they aren’t too big and while annoying the venom isn’t lethal. Quite a few people like to keep these as pets. They’re apparently very dog like in temperament. If you want to keep them as pets though you have to get their venom sacks removed or you can’t really touch them and they will leave traces of their venom all around your house.  Macy- They’re kind of cute, probably would be cuter if it wasn’t for the fact that you can’t touch them without getting poisoned. Sure it won’t kill you but the poisonings not fun. Imagine needing to scratch your nose but having both your arms paralysed. It’s not fun.  Lance- Not a fan of the venom but at least it doesn’t mess with your looks. It sure doesn’t feel pleasant though, I prefer to just sleep it off unlike some who try to fight it. You should remember though if you’re going to pass out from the poison do so behind a locked door where others can’t get you; I’m still pretty mad about what Axl and Aaron did leaving me on a bench in the Under-city like that. It took hours to fully clean off all the makeup and markers people drew on me with!  Jestro- They are cute and friendly but someone should have told me of their venom. I hadn’t read the book yet and Lance told me they were safe to pet; he purposely messed with me. It was scary when I lost feeling and use in my hand.

Pryphon

Jay- Cute, Playful and friendly but loud defiantly loud! They wouldn’t be so bad if they weren’t loud and full of attitude and if they couldn’t guilt you into giving them things; they especially love food. They also love to watch TV and when you play video games just don’t let them near the controllers cause they’ll chew off the buttons.  Cole- Cute but watch out for that bite. They can crack coconuts with it so you don’t want them using it on you when they’re mad. They can also chew up a wooden chair in around 20 minutes if you let them. Also unless you want to give some of what you’re eating or hear an earful then don’t eat around them. They’ll beg for food and if they don’t get any they somehow give these really sad eyes or will throw a tantrum and yell… I had to share a sugar cookie with one. They can’t really pull off facial expressions but somehow it gave me such a sad look I just had to give it a piece. I felt guilty for not sharing with it.  Zane- They are what many would consider cute along with entertaining, caring, intelligent and emotional creatures who enjoy being a part of the family. They are defiantly an enjoyable species though loud at times and have surprising mimicry abilities. Thought I kept hearing some of the others phones ringing the other day even when they weren’t around for over an hour turned out it was one of these just messing with me; I know it was messing with me because it laughed when I caught it in action.  Nya- Cute, playful and friendly defiantly one of the more enjoyable creatures here and I’d have to agree with Jay they can be quite loud and are full of attitude. Trust me if they’re being loud or moody don’t yell back at them. They’ll just get louder and start throwing things at you and you don’t want them to bite you.  Lloyd- I like these. They’re cute, friendly, family orientated, caring and playful. It’s enjoyable to watch them play together. Did you know they have a noise just for play that gets everyone in the mood to play? You should be careful though they are quite destructive. They’re playing often involves tearing things apart and causing mayhem and they like to steal things especially if there’s food involved. I’ve even heard of them breaking into people’s homes to steal things and cause mayhem.   Kai- I can defiantly see the appeal to these creatures. They are cute and entertaining but loud and messy. They like to play with your hair for some reason and enjoy stealing things so keep an eye on your belongings… had to distract them with some food to recover my phone the other day.  Aaron- These are fun and rad looking but their loud calls waking you up while you sleep is so unpleasant. I think they do it on purpose too, I’m pretty sure I heard some of them laugh when they did it.  Axl- They’re so friendly you can get the more tame ones in the city to eat rate out of your hand. They love peppers, apples, watermelon, corn rate off the cob, potatoes and chicken. I heard they’ve actually on rare occasions been known to hunt chickens; they must really love chicken.  Clay- These are cute and enjoyable to have around but you can’t let them distract you when you’re working. I will admit it is a bit hard to stay focussed when they’re playing near you especially when they are in groups. Somehow they know how to catch your attention and if you’re not careful get you involved. While I was watching two play fighting another stole my shield and took it into a tree. I went to retrieve it then it dropped down and started running around with it. The other two joined it and they played a game of keep away with me for longer than I would like to admit… around thirty minutes. Even worse it was in public, it was embarrassing.   Macy- Their so cute you just want to hug them. I hear though that’s a bad idea. They are quite nippy and can do a lot of damage with those beaks. They also apparently don’t take kindly to being hugged unless they want to be. They’re very opinionated creatures.  Lance-They are cute but they don’t like to have their pictures taken and can be quite rude; most of the pictures I got of them are them trying to bite the camera or giving me their butts!  Jestro- They’re so funny and adorable I get why they are sometimes called the jesters of the wastes. If only I could be as good at entertaining as them then maybe everyone wouldn’t think I was a failure.

Retch

Jay- Floaty leathery jellyfish things; sure their relatively harmless but they still creep me out. I think it’s because of how they just float there kind of mindlessly and they have no eyes and the noodly tentacles, the glowing bits which make it creepier in the dark like all you see is their glowing markings just floating in the dark… that’s so unsettling! I’m not scared of them just more of creeped out by them. They apparently have smaller relatives you can find in some swampy forests, some caves and places underground. I don’t know if shrinking these things would make them less or more creepy. Cole- What do I say other than they just confuse me; they’re apparently some sort of Jellyfish, I can kind of see the relation a bit but other than that they just confuse me and I think I’m with Jay in that how they just float around is weird and unsettling. Their kind of mindless too like regular jellyfish and just randomly float around eating bugs especially flying ones like flies and the plant debris off the floor. They don’t seem to have much going on in their brains though they don’t have a brain… I guess that explains why they’re so mindless. Zane- These things are very confusing. How are they staying in the air without wings or artificial forms of propulsion? How are they staying a float and how do they keep from floating away? I get their tail helps them move but they have no eyes at least I cannot see any though apparently they do have photoreceptor cells, the structures in organic organisms that are precursors to eyes. They apparently have quite a few of these in their head region. Is that how they navigate? If not then how do they sense the world around them? Can they sense it much? They don’t have a brain so can’t sense the world like we can. They can’t be made or share a similar anatomy to jellyfish despite relations because a jellyfishes anatomy cannot survive outside water so what are they made of and how do they work? They are cool but all that is confusing about them un-nerves me. Even though it is a bit creepy how they just float around is kind of relaxing and calming to watch. Nya- So they’re like air jellyfish; I guess that’s not too bad. They’re not venomous like normal jellyfish so it won’t hurt you to bump into them or have the tentacles touch you; they can however produce electricity to shock anything they consider a threat so you have to be careful around them. Luckily they are rather docile but yha they’re kind of creepy; especially during a dark night. Strangely these things will also go underwater sometimes; I don’t know how they do it. They’d probably have to eat a bunch of rocks to counter the rising effect that lets them float unless they have some sort of magic that lets them do that. Lloyd- Yha something about them is unsettling yet strangely relaxing; seeing them floating in the dark yha very creepy but watching them mindlessly float around during the day can be oddly calming. I know they’re harmless but I just can’t get myself to get close to them. You know they made some of our armour from their skin. It doesn’t seem any different from normal leather. It stretches more than normal leather and apparently has some resistance to elemental magic. Other than that it’s no more different than regular leather. Kai- In one word they’re strange. Jellyfish like creatures that float in the air and can be just as sparky as Jay. Even stranger they farm them here. Not as food since their meat is poisonous to humans and will make droids sick but for their skin to make leather and this jelly that they use to make paralysis poisons. Apparently it’s not easy to farm them. Hard to contain something that can float away and they can wield electricity like Jay making them hard to work with. Truly I don’t see why they would bother with that. Did I also mention they can be creepy to look at especially in the dark? Aaron- I would say they are cool if they didn’t confuse me so much; all that confusing just makes me a bit nervous about them. I can tell you though accidently flying into them is not nice. They’re not as soft and squishy as jellyfish, that’s thanks to the armour plating and some internal hard parts that help their bodies retain their shapes without water to support them. Those though are not what makes hitting into them bad. Luckily they’re not venomous but that shock they can give you is pretty wicked, not as bad as Jays when he panic shoots you with a bolt of lightning but still it hurts pretty bad. Axl- How can something pretty harmless with not much of a brain that looks like a balloon made of leather be so creepy? If the floating isn’t unsettling enough seeing them floating in the dark where all you see is their glowing markings is even worse. Even weirder they are like insects and are attracted to lights which can be very unnerving to see these things suddenly float up out of the dark to come bump into the lights. Luckily the big ones usually won’t show up to your porch but they have a smaller relative that’s no bigger than a large pigeon found near swampy regions here that will and it’s more decorative with more glowing spots than the big ones so they’re even creepier to see in and float out of the dark. Clay- Yha I’m not sure what to think of these. Defiantly seeing them in the dark is creepy and the floating is weird. Their whole anatomy is confusing too. They are pretty passive at least so that’s nice. They could be worse. I hear these things have small pint sized cousins in some mountainous areas known as Sky Lamps that are parasitic feeding off others like mosquitoes and have a set of sharp spear like tentacles to help them grip their victims. I would not want to encounter those. Macy- Yha even after being here a while I still find them creepy particularly at night. A lot of the natives don’t mind them I guess they’re used to them though most from regions where these things and their relatives aren’t found feel the same as us; creeped or unsettled by them. They’re at last passive, if they weren’t they probably wouldn’t be very pleasant to have around. They at least can be humorous at times such as when they float into a clothesline or decorative light strand and get them stuck on them as they float around. Lance- Apparently this creepy floating jelly thing has a jelly they harvest that can be used as a decorative hair gel. It can give your hair a colourful glow in the dark. Sounds interesting but the extreme numbness, strange tingling feelings like someone’s sending electricity through your skin, some get rashes and have their hair fall out and the possibility of paralysis you can end up feeling from or having using it will have me steering clear of it. It sounds cool but I would rather not risk the possible effects. Who knows what damage they could do to my looks. Jestro- Weird and a bit creepy, the fact they can shock you with those tentacles makes them even more unnerving. Did you know the Ashers think these are a delicacy; obviously they must be immune to their poisons. The meat is poisonous. They like to force their prisoners to eat a tiny bit of this or anything else that will make you sick or weak to weaken them so they won’t fight back. Trust me that isn’t pleasant.

Constructs

Jay- Nothing against Zane but conscious calculating machines no thank you! You know most of the types don’t have eyes that can blink; they could secretly be watching you whenever you least expect them too! That young knight Robin found one of the snake ones and fixed it up and I found it the one day on a shelf in the main room. He claims he just left it there earlier and it was inactive but I swear there was light in its eyes and it was watching me slowly moving its head to keep an eye wherever I went! Cole- Yha these things are a bit unsettling but they’re not evil or monsters like what some think. They’re just machines. Whether their as special as Zane or not I’m not sure, most of them probably not; they’re really simple compared to my buddy but that doesn’t make them evil besides I’m pretty sure I’d side with them on some things. If I had a stranger walking into my house uninvited yha I’d attack them too especially if they’re there to take things without my consent.   Zane- I get they are kind of unsettling but they are not evil. They just want to protect their homes so why does everyone hate them? I know they are not as advanced or special as me, some largely the militant ones, are barely more than machines but they still don’t deserve to be hated so much. They are just doing what they were made to do how does that make them evil? Why do humans hate things that aren’t truly human… I’ve never done anything wrong to the people here so why do they see me as an evil machine like these things? Nya- They’re cool but they’re also dangerous and unpredictable. We should be very cautious with these things. Many were designed to protect their homes and masters even if their main purposes were in other tasks so they come with some pretty serious defensive abilities. Despite what Zane thinks these things aren’t like him. Generally they’re way more simple than him and I don’t think they’ll consider him an ally at least not on first sight. He shouldn’t be as trusting to them as he is; that could prove dangerous. These things can hurt him just as much as they can to the rest of us. Also on record I don’t think they’re spying on us like Jay thinks; I think he’s just a little paranoid there. Lloyd- In general these things kind of unnerve me. The fighting ones I defiantly wouldn’t want to get in a fight with them but those little ones the snake, beetle and rat ones are scarier. They’re stealthy and they can be there without you realising they are there… I think I’m with Jay a bit here that some of them like to watch us. That Serpeton Robin has I found under my pillow once and I saw it sneaking behind me trying to remain hidden once. Even creepier I once woke up in the middle of the night and saw it curled onto the bedpost staring down at me... that was very unsettling. Kai- Me and technology don’t get along very well, odd cause me and Zane get along pretty fine then again he’s special, very special and he’s nothing like these things. These things are very simple, some of them are kind of animal like, they are no way as smart, they don’t really have feelings at least I don’t think they do… that snake one Robin has though was acting all dramatic once when I wouldn’t let follow me to the bathroom when I went to have a shower. I had to let it in to keep it from drawing attention… it just wanted to sit on a counter and watch me do my hair and brush my teeth… it was creepy. Anyway they’re dangerous and unnerving so I’m no fan of them. Aaron- Sure they’re dangerous but so is a blender and you don’t see people freaking out and hating those when they get hurt by them. That makes me wonder maybe if these metal dudes gave you a milkshake or smoothie before tossing you out of their home then maybe people wouldn’t be so scared of them. Anyway personally I think their pretty cool and their danger makes them cooler. Axl- They’re kind of cool and can be very helpful when programmed right, that one Robin found can be very helpful. If you need help finding something it can find it for you though it might not have the strength to bring it to you. A can of pop sure it can handle that, your axe when you misplace that yha that’s too heavy for it. Even though they can be helpful something about them still unnerves me. Clay- I get they’re not inherently evil but it’s easy for dark forces to sway what they want and some of these things are easily corrupted by dark forces. We should be careful with them. I’ve asked Robin to keep that Serpeton he found and refurbished shut down when it is not in use and I trust his word that he is doing so but somehow it keeps ending up active and somehow sometimes the best I could describe it as is observing us. Even odder it’s locked up at night yet Lloyd has told me he has seen it in their room at night… maybe he was just seeing things if not I’m scared to think of how and why that thing was out. Macy- I guess they wouldn’t be too bad if it wasn’t for the fact they can easily be controlled by dark forces and are pretty tough combatants. They can defiantly give you a work out and a scare. Came back into our room the one day after having a shower and Robins little snake one he found was sitting on the dresser in our room staring at me. It wasn’t there before and it seemed to watch everything I did. That’s kind of creepy. Lance- A living machine that can burn my hair off by spitting fire from its face no thanks plus these things have brains that can connect to technology like your phone or tablet right. Do you know what kind of damage they could do by hacking your devices… especially to your social media profiles! That would explain why that robo-snake Robin has was playing with my phone the one day and how some of my selfies ended up with those fake moustaches and paintings on them. Did that thing think those were funny? I wonder if Ava could program something to keep that thing from hacking my stuff. Jestro- I don’t know they kind of unsettle me. How can you tell when they’re actually sleeping or if they’re pretending to spy on you? I’m pretty sure the others are using the snake one Robin has to keep an eye on me. I’ve seen it following and watching me wherever I go.

Skeever

Jay- Garbage eating scavengers with bone crushing jaws not to mention they sound scary, are bold for wild animals, just as stubborn as Kai, as possessive of their foot as Cole, just as resilient as Zane and people want to keep them as pets?! Why? Why would you want one of these? They’ll try to rip each other’s ears off when they’re mad at each other, they rarely get infections no matter how many or how bad the scratches and bites they get are and even when young they fight each other just to get fed by their mother. Why would you want such a creature for a pet?  Cole- I don’t think they’re that bad. They’re just animals not monsters. Sure they sound a bit scary especially when you hear them fighting at night and they’re hot headed like Kai but other than that they’re actually pretty nice unless they have food. I don’t blame them though for that, I’m not going to let others near my food either. Well maybe I’ll let Zane near it cause he won’t take everything if I offer him some unlike some others. Offered Jay some cake once and he left me a sliver of it! Yha I get why these creatures will bite your fingers off for taking their food, I’d do it too especially if you take most of it when I said you could only have a small piece!  Zane- These creatures are not that bad. Much of their supposed aggressive behaviours are over exaggerations due to dislike of the creatures. They get a bad rap because their lifestyle and appearance does not match with what humans find cute or desirable but when you look past what people don’t like about them you will find there is plenty to love about these creatures. They are kind, very intelligent, actually quite gentle most of the time and quite caring especially to family members. They’ve even been known to come to the aid of others of their kind when they need it and will aid their injured companions. They’re fighting is used to establish dominance and in truth is no more aggressive than many other social carnivores.  Nya- You’d think for an animal that will eat anything even dead and rotting things would smell bad but they actually don’t smell any worse than a cat or dog. They actually like to keep rather clean and enjoy bathing and relaxing in water. Also Jay thinks their fighting while kids makes them unpleasant, obviously having never grown up with a sibling he doesn’t get that yha sometimes you’ve got to fight with your siblings when you want something. There’s nothing wrong with that it’s normal. Lots of siblings do it both human and animal.  Lloyd- At first they seem intimidating especially when you get them in a group but after a while you’ll see they’re not that bad well except when food is around but even then they’re not too bad; they’re no worse than Cole when he’s hungry and you bring food around. Especially if it is cake; I think Cole beats the creatures there especially if you take too much of it or don’t ask before taking some. Anyway they’re not as bad as many make them out to be.  Kai- Will eat anything and gets cranky around food, are we sure we’re talking about this creature and not Cole :).  Aaron- I don’t care what others think I think these little critters are quiet rad. I wouldn’t mind having one as a pet. I hear they’re actually quite good pets like a weird cross between a cat and a dog. They’re easily trained, love boxes and things to scratch and chew, they’ll play fetch and follow you around and they can also use a litter box. They are though apparently hard to keep out of places you store food when they’re hungry; that’s no different from dealing with Axl.  Axl- Why is getting moody around food a bad thing? I get their mood I wouldn’t want someone touching my dinner when I’m trying to eat either.  Clay- Truly they’re not bad. Defiantly a bit of a nusciance especially when some leave food and garbage lying around because they won’t pick up after themselves, I won’t say names but they know who I’m talking about. They left the parts of our meal one night that they refused to touch because they found it too gross and peasenty in his words to eat anything made with bugs on a table in the common room. It drew in a pair of these which I had to remove. Every time I took one out the other just rushed back in, I had to get Macy to help me remove them because he refused to fix the problem he had made not wanting to touch or get close to the creatures.  Macy- Yha not really dangerous or bad; really not much differently from feral cats. Luckily you can grab them on their scruffs to keep them from biting, scratching and squirming just like cats. Really helpful when you have to move them from places they’re not supposed to be like in the living quarters after someone won’t clean up after himself.  Lance- They may be clean but they still eat dead and rotting things including things that had some pretty nasty diseases. I’d rather not get close to something like that. Sure they’re immune to the diseases but I’m not and I’d rather not catch something especially if it messes with my looks and they have a few of those here.  Jestro- I feel for them. They get hated just for doing their thing and being themselves. I know what that’s like… it’s not nice.

Tree-bill

Jay- I guess they’re not too bad. Friendly and playful, they are cute especially the babies but they are loud though, sometimes very loud, and their nimble fingers can get into a lot of things. Watch your pockets when they’re around, they like to steal candies and cookies. Cole- They’re cute and very friendly; I get why people like them and why they like to feed them even though the city officials don’t want you to. They don’t want to encourage the creatures to be too friendly or become dependent on people for their survival. It’s fun and rather relaxing to interact with them though. Their faces kinda look like a ducks and like ducks people like to feed them bread. That however is not the recommended thing to feed them though. It’s bad for their health and the environment. Zane- They defiantly are highly curious, a little too curious sometimes. One found the control panel in my arm and kept trying to play with it. I was not comfortable with that. Thankfully Cole got it distracted by handing out some bread for them to feed on. Nya- They are cute but you shouldn’t let that fool you. They are very mischievous and seem to enjoy getting into trouble which can be really annoying. The town has a bit of a problem with them chewing through things especially wooden items and measures to discourage them never work. They’re smart enough to find ways around them. I also found spraying them with water doesn’t discourage them from their mischief, in fact they like that. Lloyd- I love how they are very family orientated with everyone helping each other though they also cause mischief together. One stole my phone while I was petting one of them. It distracted me so its family member could steal my phone! Zane managed to get it back for me though it found out about the panel in his arm and kept bothering and messing with him through it. Luckily Cole was able to get it to leave him alone. Kai- They are cute but can also be very annoying especially when they keep trying to steal your food and I found they aren’t affected by hot sauce so dousing your food in that won’t stop them from stealing it. Aaron- These little things are quite rad. You know they can swing through the branches using both their arms and tail to grab branches; pretty cool huh! Axl- These things are crafty. They know they can trick people into giving them food by taking things from you. They also know how to break into things like coolers, rubbish bins, sheds even people’s homes! Clay- They wouldn’t be too bad if it wasn’t for the mischief they like to cause. That one Ghidorah found Robins Mini-trex and began playing with it even with Merlok still on it. He drove it around the hall in the bedrooms and crashed it into one of the planters. He gave Merlok quite the scare. Macy- Don’t let their cuteness fool you. They’re loads of trouble. If they can get into trouble they’ll do it. I’ve heard some of those hear describe them as eternal toddlers with pliers for faces. Seeing what they can do and the mischief they can cause I can see why they say that. Lance- Their not bad and you can take selfies with them. People here like seeing selfies with them. I think the creatures like it too. They seem to enjoy being the center of attention. They also like to try and groom your hair; I wouldn’t mind it if they had clean hands. I’ve seen what they do and handle with those paws of theirs. I don’t want that in my hair! Jestro- They’re fun and funny to play with and they don’t seem to mind my comedy routines in fact they seemed amused by them. They also like to play keep away with anything you drop while juggling and they will bite if you try to get it back without bargaining with food.

Venom-fang

Jay- Fast, agile bird lizards with a lethal venom. How can people feel safe with these things around? At least they have anti-venom shots for these. I carry two on me at all times. One for me and one for Nya; she doesn’t think it’s necessary but I think she misjudges the danger of these things. Their venom can hurt Zane; you know it’s bad when it can hurt him! Cole- Honestly you see a picture of them and they don’t look too bad but to experience them first hand is something else and that venom… you don’t even realise you were bit and are hallucinating. Zane- I don’t like how their venom can mess with my mind and senses and worse I could not even tell it was affecting me. Worse to prevent problems the others had to clean the venom out of damages they left in me and I accidently gave Nya a black eye… I didn’t mean to I thought she was a bear trying to tear me apart. Then again it wasn’t much of my fault she and Jay should have waited for the venoms effects to wear off before helping me. Nya- I get Jays fears but I don’t think we need to be carrying these anti-venom shots all the time. Yha these creatures are a bit scary especially the strange reflective quality to the stripe on their sides in the dark but unless we give them a reason to attack I don’t think they will. Also when some ones affected by their venom wait for it to wear off before helping them; you could get hurt from their hallucination especially when they have metal skin and bones. Lloyd- If it wasn’t for what they can do and how creepy they look in the dark they could be cool. Having to deal with the aftermath of their venoms isn’t a pleasant or easy affair either. After they got poisoned by that session in the arena with the maze Zane gave Nya a black eye and Cole started eating the wooden table coasters to put cups on in the main hall thinking they were cookies. It was not easy keeping both under control. Kai- Yha something using hallucinating venom that also turns out to be lethal no thanks; I’m going to steer clear of these things; very clear. The hallucinations however were funny to see especially Aaron when he got bit that one training session. He gets even more crazy and a bit wild like a cat on catnip with that stuff. I managed to trick him into biting Jay and his panicking afterwards was priceless. He thought he was going to get whatever curse he believes Aaron has and made Merlok and Clay hit him with a bunch of spells to cure him. Lance has gotten footage of all those that have been infected by these venoms, I’m goanna get some copies of those; they’ll be fun to have. Aaron- Yha I’m a fan of extreme beasts but these are something I feel are best admired from a distance. I’ve experienced quite a few of the venoms from the creatures from this place all were unintentional despite what that ninja Jay thinks and man they are not pleasant. The hallucinating effects of some like these guys is not a pleasant feeling, it really messes with your head. Axl- Trust me they may be small but they’re no less nasty than the bigger guys especially when they’re in a group and with that venom, it was not pleasant. Clay- Despite how dangerous they are and the problems their venoms create these creatures don’t often attack people and when they do it is strictly because their hungry not to be evil. That being said they are not creatures to mess with. They are very dangerous and that venom can really mess with people. That stuff had Axl thinking Aaron was a were-wolf for several hours, I think some of Jays paranoia influenced that. He kept trying to muzzle Aaron so he wouldn’t bite anyone and kept trying to get Merlok to cure him. Aaron was not pleased by the activity nor Axl constantly trying to lock him in a dog cage when he kept removing the muzzle. He bit Axl to scare him and that worked too well. He locked himself in a dog cage the rest of the time thinking he would become a were-wolf. Macy- Yha they’re dangerous but they’re just animals not monsters. You make a lot of noise and wave a weapon or even just a stick around and they flee. Sometimes a couple good whacks to their hides helps drive them off. No special weapons or Nexo Powers needed. You do need to be careful not to get bit though. Their venom is pretty dangerous and has some rather unpleasant effects. Not sure whose harder to deal with when under the hallucinating effects of some of the venoms here Axl, Aaron, Zane or Cole. Axl didn’t give us much of a problem well except for Aaron but the rest of us had no problem, Aaron goes a bit crazy and did become a bit nippy. He can bite quite hard but he isn’t made of metal nor do either of them have super strength or powers like those ninja so I guess we’ve had an easier time than the ninja when we have to deal with those affected by these venoms. Lance- I like the golden markings to them but I’m not a fan of these things. Seriously dangerous bird lizards that can figure out how to open doors; I saw one do it. It used it’s jaws to manipulate the handle and open it! That aside that hallucinating effect of their venom and some of the other venoms is hilarious; along with footage of Aaron while he was under a few of these venoms I got footage of Axl and those two ninja Cole and Zane. When we get back to Knightonia I’m posting them on social media despite what they think; everyone will enjoy the laugh and I’ll get such a following…(gets a text message then whispers ‘Clay why’d you have to tell them’) or maybe I’ll hold off posting them until I get their permission. I’d rather not face any of their wraths… Axl and Aaron can be dangerous enough I’d rather not find how dangerous those two ninja can be. Jestro- There are a lot of pretty scary things in this place and these are one of them. Sure in the day when they’re not hunting you I guess they’re not too bad, no worse than you’d expect from something that’s a cross between a reptile and a bird but when you see them at night… as if that glowing effect animals eyes normally have isn’t eerie enough that strange reflective strip they have just makes them creepier. Not to mention that venom, I don’t want to know what it’s like to be hallucinating from it. From what I’ve seen and heard it can be quite scary.

To read the story this is related to you can find it here:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/34894561/chapters/86888878

You can also find images pertaining to the story here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project

[robobirdie]

Some Fan Story Fun Protagonists interviews

While working when stuck with writers block I sometimes would take a break and have a little fun writing down what I felt the characters thoughts would be on certain things in the story. Some give some minor spoilers but nothing too serious about the main story or events in the story. They are fun humorous little tidbits some of which helped me with working out some concepts in my story namely character relations:

Cuisine

Jay- Why would anyone want to eat stuff here? Bugs, plants and shrooms grown in cursed soils, meat from bird lizards many of which are venomous, drinks that do strange things to you, candies that do strange things to you, candies with actual bugs in them do I need to go on? Don’t listen to Zane, he’s fine with it all because he’s used to eating bugs. He ends up swallowing them all the time cause they like to get close to his face to try and get his eyes. He probably finds it nice that their cooked for once and not live and squirmy like he’s used to. Between you and me he might actually like it cause he actually commented to me that they actually taste quite good especially when dipped in oil. I don’t care what you dip them in they’re gross no matter what. That knight Aaron likes some of them too; just more proof he’s not human. I dared him to eat one of these battered and deep fried tarantulas someone was selling and not only did he eat it but he actually enjoyed it and thought it was good! I even dared him to eat a live scarab beetle that was crawling in a planter and he did it! He didn’t even get sick! He’s not afraid to try anything even if it has bugs in it, comes from nasty reptiles, glowing plants or shrooms, could hurt you or does weird effects to you! I get why Zane wouldn’t mind this stuff as a nindroid he’s more resilient with a tougher system than us plus he’s normally got odd tastes, he likes motor oils and he can eat and his system can safely break down things that are poisonous, harmful or inedible for people like rotting meat, the pits from fruits like peaches and bones without getting sick or badly hurt. I also get why Cole will eat them he’s like a trash compactor he’ll eat anything but that Aaron, something has to be wrong with him!

Cole- Yha at first it was quite off putting, after a while though you get used to it and it isn’t too bad. Some of the bugs aren’t actually too bad especially when they’ve been battered and deep fried. You won’t notice much of a difference with other meats with them nor with the meat from the strange reptile creatures here. The fruits, veg and shrooms aren’t bad either even if they are weird looking. According to Zane it’s all safe and I’ll trust his judgement even if some others don’t. Yha some of the glowing things look off putting like these Lunar Grapes or these shrimps from this inland sea nearby but they won’t hurt you or make you glow, at least not much. You’re belly area will glow for a while and apparently your insides will glow for a bit longer but you can’t see it through your clothes; good thing cause if Jay sees the glow he freaks out. Despite that they actually taste rather good. They do make some pretty neat desserts here. They like to give them shapes or put decorative designs on a lot of their pastries. Don’t worry though even if it looks like a bug or has bug designs on them there is no bugs in them. You know I heard there was these shrooms they call Buttercakes and I had to try them. While they don’t taste like cake they do kind of taste a bit like pancakes with a hint of bacon. It’s not too bad. Honestly I don’t mind a lot of what’s here. Just give it a chance and you’ll find something you like.

Zane- I do get that some might not find some of the consumables of this place to their liking but I do not see what is so bad about it. It all provides the essential resources for energy production and the maintaining of one’s health. I have no problems from them and they are just as efficient for me as normal consumables in energy production even if they can sometimes give weird effects. The effects can be weird but they’re not harmful even if they are confusing. Anyway much of it does not taste too bad, I find quite a great deal not too bad or different from what we are used to plus many also tastes quite good with that Scymer oil as a sauce; as a human though you probably wouldn’t find the oil enjoyable. Also if I’m to eat insects I prefer this method over the usual way I end up eating them; it’s less painful and uncomfortable… like that cicada the other day; that was not only uncomfortable but embarrassing especially since the thing lasted for over ten minutes still making noise most of the time while in my system. That had Jay very uncomfortable and acting strange to me. Even more embarrassing is that’s happened more often than I’d like in my life… that was probably more than you wanted to know wasn’t it? Sorry I didn’t mean to regale you with that.

Nya- Yha not a whole fan of the insect stuff but the rest isn’t too bad. Quite a bit is strange but if you don’t think about what it came from or where it is grown then it’s not bad and won’t taste very much different than what you’d get anywhere else. I would recommend though that you be careful whose cooking you have. If not prepared right some things can leave you with weird effects for a while. If Cole, Kai or Jay offers you something be very guarded. They might have screwed up a bit. Don’t worry though none of its dangerous. It will just make you feel weird or at the worst sick for a while. That reminds me I need to remind Zane it won’t hurt any of their feelings or be offensive to decline having something they’ve made; some of the odd effects things cause confuses him and when he’s confused he easily looses focus and can become unsettled. A few have also made him sick which just makes Jay panic as he takes it as proof some things are dangerous instead of proof of how bad Cole, Kais and his cooking can be.

Lloyd- Yha the bugs thing is off putting, luckily just because some of their foods are shaped like bugs they don’t put bugs in their candies or cookies. You should be careful what you get though. They do like to make candies here that give weird often effects. Don’t worry it doesn’t hurt; there just for fun but it can really give you a scare if you weren’t expecting it. Luckily their effects are all temporary but they can be interesting. Candies that make your eyes glow or turn your skin a different color or make strange markings appear on your body, ones that let you walk on water another gives you the jumping skills of a cat, another lets you breathe under water for a short time, there’s even one that paralysis you for a couple minutes and I’ve heard of one that makes you look like a ghost. It’s weird and sometimes unnerving but they’re all at least harmless, well mostly harmless… you could accidently hurt yourself if you panic when you first experience them when someone surprises you with them. Aaron should have told me what those candies he gave me were before I had them… anyway they’re just for fun and playing around. Which reminds me I need to tell Clay to tell Axl and Aaron to stop using those candies to mess with Jay; I think it’s making him paranoid. Other than that a lot of the rest of the stuff here isn’t too bad, defiantly weird and sometimes off putting but it’s safe and doesn’t taste too bad just try not to think too much about what it’s made of or where it came from and it shouldn’t bother you too much.

Kai- Yha quite a bit of the stuff here is weird. It’s perfectly safe though so don’t worry. Still it might not taste too bad but I’m not a fan of eating bugs; I like to sneak any I find in my food into Jays. I like how it freaks him out then his scrambled attempts to sneak the bugs into anything Cole or Zane are eating. Outside the bug stuff I don’t mind most of it and it is fun to use some of the stuff like the strange candies or these glowing grapes to mess with Jay. These grapes they call them Lunar Grapes. When we found out about them some of us were curious about what they say about them that they can make your insides glow for a while. Aaron, Cole and Zane had some to test this out curious. It was true and rather gross especially since Zane was able to show us his inner workings to show how long it actually continues to glow inside you. That was rather gross if you ask me. None of them were bothered by the effects of the glow but it had Jay unsettled. Even funnier when Zane showed Jay his inner workings to show him how it made some of them glow Jay freaked out and began ranting how they were nuts and gross… he went on for close to an hour. Some of the others were creeped or grossed out by it like Lloyd and I think the knights Clay and Macy were too but I really wasn’t. I was more unsettled and grossed about seeing Zanes inner workings than the effects of those grapes had on them but the feelings were worth it to see Jay freak out. The effects reminded me of the time Zane ate a glow stick. I won’t admit who but someone tricked him into thinking they were just a fancy type of freezie treat. It made him sick and his insides glow for a while… I should have realised he would have taken what I said as literal and not joked with that.

Aaron- Some of the stuff here sounds like it was made on a dare and I was willing to take the challenge. Not to mention I’m used to eating some strange things. Axl’s family makes some pretty weird stuff like porcupine stew; it’s not as bad as it sounds. It smells weird but isn’t bad. Besides when you grow up rather poor with a big family you can’t really afford much so often have to eat whatever you can find or catch; bugs, weird critters and fish, strange plants and shrooms or anything the sea washed ashore weren’t that uncommon in family meals. Truthfully it wasn’t that bad and like that most of the stuff here isn’t too bad. Those bird lizards taste like chicken, I guess since they’re supposedly related to chickens in some way that makes sense, and the insects aren’t too bad either. It is a little gross though when you accidently get a live bug in your food and swallow it; I can tell you that’s a very bizarre and un-rad feeling. Though sometimes it can be worth it; that ninja Jay dared me to eat a beetle he found in a planter. I was not wanting to but I did it anyway just to see him freak out. Sure it was a bit gross and weird feeling but it was worth it to see Mr Jumpy pants get all grossed out and panicked. Anyway something’s may smell or look weird but trust me they’re actually quite good and some of them can do some pretty fun and wicked things to and with you. If you get a chance you should try these candies that have magical effects. They’re strange but so fun to play with just wait till the effects of the first are done before trying a different one. Many of them don’t react well together trust me. It’s not dangerous but you won’t feel too good from it. You can also trust me that they’re fun to use to mess with others especially when they’re high sprung and easily startled like a certain ninja. :)

Axl-Some of it reminds me of my ma and pa’s home cooking like their Tarantula Stew and Porcupine Stew. Things here might sound or look weird but truly it’s not bad. Scuttler Dumplings which are like normal dumplings but are filled with fried insects, Runner Pot Pie made from these runner creatures, Rhea-guar fried Rice, Balmora Brew which is a stew made with mixed veg ash yams and Kaguar meat, Deep Fried Tarantula with fried saltrice with peas and carrots in it and Sticky beetle and veg noodles just to name a small few are all surprisingly good. Their desserts aren’t too bad either; lots of interesting pies, cakes, cookies, ice creams and these magic tainted candies. I got a lot more to list off if you’re interested. They’re all better than you would think. As for the weird effects some things give it is a bit strange but some of it like those candies is cool. Especially when you want to prank someone like that skittish ninja Jay; he’s so funny when he gets all panicky.

Clay- Yha it’s strange even if a good deal of it isn’t too bad but it’s their ways and we must respect that. That said though something’s I’m defiantly not up for trying. Some of the things made with bugs yha defiantly those especially if they are made of spiders. Anything made with snakes too; yes they will eat snakes here. I don’t know what it is but something about snakes makes my skin crawl like with spiders. Anyway even though I am not into it I’m not going to refuse any though if someone offers it to me. That would be rude and disrespectful; I need to have a word with Lance about that. If you can get past what things are made from you might actually find a lot of it isn’t too bad. Everything from these Kaguar creatures isn’t much different from that of cattle and Aaron is right the stuff from these Repto-birds is not much different from a chickens and despite what they are grown in the fruits and veg grown in this place aren’t bad or too different from usual. If you truly give it a try you’ll find something you like.

Macy- I get they make do with what they can here and it’s not too bad but as someone not used to it a lot of it is off putting to hear of or see at first. You’ll defiantly be hesitant to try a lot of what’s here but don’t worry it’s all safe even the stuff with weird effects. You will actually be surprised to find it all not too bad as long as you get it from someone who knows how to cook things properly though. Never ask Lance to make anything for you, first off he dislikes doing what he thinks is peasants work and can’t really cook also be careful about taking anything from some of the ninja. Despite what they say Cole isn’t too bad he’s not as good as Axl but he’s not as bad as the ninja like to joke about; at least what he’s made while here hasn’t been too bad. Kai’s cooking is okay if you like things spicy enough to burn your tongue and nearly breathe fire with but Jays not too good especially with the stuff from around here. He freaks out over it too much to properly work with it. Also just a heads up if Axl or Aaron offers you a candy don’t take it unless you know what it is. They’ve been messing with some of us using those strange magic effect candies.

Lance- Would it kill them to have things made with normal ingredients? Who wants to eat furry lizards and bugs? Bugs! Gross! Then the shrooms and plants grown in this foul ashy soil? How poor do you have to be to be desperate enough to eat this stuff? It’s worse than commoners’ food! This ash is unpleasant enough on your skin why would you want to eat things grown in it or that feed off stuff grown in it?!

Jestro-I’ve had meals made by monsters so I’m not too bothered by it all but the bug thing is still gross to me especially anything with spiders. And some of the fruits are strange like anything that glows doesn’t seem right to me and I’m not sure how safe exactly everything is. If not made right some of the stuff can do weird things with you; that doesn’t seem safe to me. Also those magic candies are a bit unsettling.

Environment:

Jay- Where should I begin! Giant bugs, strange feathery reptiles with bad attitudes and lethal venoms, plants that can kill you! That’s not to mention the volcanic activity that’s turned the whole place foul and unimaginably dangerous. How can the people stand living here! If I lived here I’d be packing my bags and leaving as soon as I could. Did I forget to mention this highly unsettling cavern system filled with darkness, glowing creatures and alien fungi that has this mind control over these un-dead plant animal hybrid monsters? Then there’s monsters or better yet just call them demons cause that is what they are which you can encounter anywhere here and some people like to summon or make bargains with these things! Then there are all sorts of ruins scattered through the wilderness some of which are filled with killer robots or these demon monsters and have you heard some of the diseases you can get here? They’re more like curses! Conditions that make you like a reptile scales included, curses that turn you into vampires or were-beasts, curses that turn you into monsters or rot you into zombies! And I haven’t even covered these Asher beings who traded being human for being monsters and want to destroy us! Why is everything here so unsettling? Do I need to go on? (he continued to rant and babble for nearly an hour but the interviewer didn’t wish to continue recording his rant; summarized he’s not happy with the environment and a lot has him scared and there were some things on this Zane and Aaron as well, is he scared of them or something?)

Cole- A bit unpleasant yha. The ash and weather defiantly aren’t pleasant or relaxing but we aren’t here to relax. Something about this place is somewhat unsettling but it’s overall not too bad; defiantly not as bad as Jay thinks. In fact I feel some kind of connection to this place; I think it has to do with the volcanic activity it surrounds me with essences of my element. You know I find the effects the volcano has had on the region kind of interesting. Geological activity is part of my power so it’s interesting to see what this power can do. Despite the destruction it’s caused it’s also created much life and created new ways for beings to adapt and thrive. Apparently despite the ash not being very healthy the symbiosis the various fungi of the region have created with plants makes the plants grow better and healthier than a lot of other regions which benefits the hardier animals of the region. Despite what Jay thinks they’re not all that bad. Yha the bugs are kind of unsettling especially the really big or creepy looking ones but they’re not all that bad. Sure those reptiles are quite dangerous and often have nasty attitudes but they’re not as bad as many claim and I wouldn’t really blame them for their attitudes. I’d probably be as cranky as them too if I had to survive in this landscape and face evil monsters that want to turn my pelt into a rug all the time too. Sure the really big insects can often be creepy but they’re not too bad and most are actually rather chill; you can rest on those large beetles and they don’t mind it just going about their business as usual.

Zane- There is an air of unnerve to the place but I think that is just because we are not used to such an environment. Despite the potential dangers I find much here rather interesting like how the flora and fauna have adapted to the harsh conditions caused by the high volcanic activity here along with the usual seasonal changes brought on by the cool temperate latitude to the region. Yha many fauna and some flora are very dangerous and can be rather aggressive but I think many forget when looking at the flora and fauna is they live in a harsh environment where they must fight everyday to survive so they have good reason to have lethal weapons and foul attitudes. They wish to survive and live their lives like anything else and in the wild especially a place like this that requires cold, calculating and dangerous temperaments; they cannot afford to be passive and friendly. Along with the natural aspects there is the artificial ones. These various ruins and their inhabitants made by a now extinct race. Many like to label their inhabitants many of which are much like me as monsters but I don’t think that’s true. They don’t see that just because these beings aren’t made of flesh and blood doesn’t mean they aren’t living things nor that they are monsters… that I’m not a monster… I mean they aren’t as bad as people think they are. If I wasn’t worried of falling victim to this demon known as the Black Stag I would love to do much exploring to many things here. The natural environments, the ruins, the architecture, I would also love to get a deep look into this Blackreach place. It is such an intriguing biome to delve into; to learn how life has adapted to the sunless stone encased environment.

Nya- Things aren’t too bad despite what Jay thinks. Yha a lot of things here have bad attitudes but I wouldn’t blame them. They’ve got it pretty tough not to mention this ash has made things kind of unpleasant. In fact the ash makes a lot of things here unpleasant. You’ve probably heard my brother or Jay complain about it but yha we’re all having problems with it even Zane. His skin is at the least more resilient to the effects of the ash but his senses and a good deal of his internal synthetic structures don’t tolerate the ash very well. Apart from that if it wasn’t for how harsh and unpleasant the ash makes things this place might not be so bad. The insects yha those are kind of creepy but not all are bad even if they’re rather big. Not all the reptiles are that bad either; Venom-fangs are defiantly rather nasty but they do have some redeeming qualities. They do make great parents and are very loyal and caring to their friends and families. That said this place defiantly is not a place I would want to go to relax.

Lloyd- Something about this place is unsettling. The place is strange with an alien like feel to it and yha there is quite a bit that is unpleasant. The tree sized mushrooms, strange sometimes dangerous plants, these strange mammals with reptile like traits, strange bird reptiles though those are all mild and not really any worse than animals in our realm even if they are strange. These un-dead and monster class monsters on the other hand are pretty nasty. The demon class ones are especially nasty and can make travels here pretty nasty. That aside the volcanic activity is pretty nasty and can make conditions kind of nasty as well but things might not be as bad as it is if it wasn’t for this strange darkness that coats the place. You can’t see it but it’s there you can feel it. There is something of the Oni about this darkness but at the same time it’s something worse. I hate to know what it is.

Kai- First off this ash is very unpleasant. I don’t think it’s very good for your skin let alone your health and the smell; it’s an unpleasant burning smell. Secondly the bugs are a bit unsettling. There is quite a few that are pretty big and some have some pretty nasty powers or abilities; the sting from those Burning Hornets really burns. These ruins of technology based beings are kind of unsettling too. Did I also mention the strange reptiles? Some of them I guess are kind of cute but a lot of them have some bad attitudes but most of them are no worse than Cole when he’s hangry. Overall this place defiantly is not the kind of a place I’d think of to want to vacation in but I guess it could be worse.

Aaron- Yha the ash is unpleasant and there’s this so un-cool darkness feeling to everything but other than that everything’s actually quite rad; well maybe those venoms aren’t rad but apart from that things aren’t too bad. Those shrooms are surprisingly comfortable and strong; they have an internal woody skeleton that helps hold them up. Some of their tops make for some nice places to nap when you don’t want to be disturbed; other than flying creatures no one can reach you up there. Just have to remember to put your phone on do not disturb mode if you don’t want to be found while having a nap. The creatures aren’t that bad; no worse than Axl when he’s hangry. Many of them are pretty cool and besides they’re just animals not monsters though they do have those here and a good amount of them are defiantly not that pleasant. You defiantly want to stay clear of those dudes if you can. Other than that things aren’t too bad.

Axl- I guess it’s okay. Defiantly not the nicest place we’ve been but at least the foods decent and I guess it could be worse. Things are still pretty lively here despite how bad the conditions are. Yha some of the creatures are pretty moody but you can’t really blame them. They’ve got it pretty hard so they can’t really help but be tough and moody. Though their attitudes might not all be because of the environment. There is this really powerful monster here that can turn the animals on you at any time. It is unnerving to not being able to trust the animals of this place; how can you tell if they serve this monster deer and wish ill to others? Outside that it’s not too bad here; weird but not too bad.

Clay- To be frank while I get this place is tough so the flora and fauna has had to become equally tough to handle it often making them not the nicest I don’t have trouble with them. They’re strange defiantly and yes dangerous sometimes very much so and sometimes rather moody but they’re not that bad. Sure the volcanic activity leaves some pretty unpleasant conditions and the large fungi give an air of an alien quality to the environment here but not much else is different from what we’re used to. It all isn’t that bad, defiantly not as bad as some like that one ninja keep claiming it is, and isn’t something to be bothered by or worried over. What I have trouble with is this strange and unpleasant darkness that coats the place. It’s not a natural darkness, defiantly magical in nature and makes the place feel very unsettling. It unsettles me to think of what could be causing it and even more unsettling those who live here don’t seem to recognise that it is here.

Macy- It’s not too bad. There is defiantly things here that are unsettling and unpleasant but we’re knights we can handle it. Yha a lot of creatures are dangerous or at the least moody but as long as you know how to properly deal with them you shouldn’t have too much of a problem. They are just animals after all. Monsters however are a different story. Those are a lot harder and nastier to deal with. Outside that things aren’t too bad. Yha that volcanic activity is not very pleasant and the large fungi are weird not just that they exist but some also look real weird. All that being said I have to agree with Clay that there is something unnaturally dark here that makes everything seem oddly more sinister than they actually are and strangely only us and the ninja seem to be aware of it.

Lance- Everything’s so rustic and peasenty here; it’s so unpleasant. It stinks, this filthy ash is everywhere, the bugs are large and gross and don’t let those fuzzy reptiles fool you with cute looks. They often have rude manners and bad attitudes not to mention many have venoms or powers that further make them nastier. There is these large shrooms and strange plants some of which will actually attack you! And let’s not forget the monsters many of which are giving us more work as if we don’t have enough already to deal with. At least I was able to find a spa here to make up for all the rustic-ness of this place.  

Jestro- In my time of evil I was in some pretty unpleasant locations so this place doesn’t bother me too much. It’s defiantly not the nicest and still pretty rough and wild but not too bad. A lot of the creatures here yha are quite moody but if you don’t do anything to get on their bad side they aren’t that bad. The monsters on the other hand are pretty bad, most are a lot worse than those I have worked with before. That being said I’d prefer the lava lands to this place. It was a lot more pleasant and welcoming than these Ash Wastes. I can’t tell what it is but there is something very unsettling here; it’s nice to know I’m not the only one to sense it.

People/Balmora

Jay- I don’t like it. The place is creepy, the weathers unpleasant, around half the people are beast folks of animals that would want to eat me! They say they’re still people despite their bestial looks but how can we believe that to be true. I’ve heard some of the cat folk hiss when mad and those hyena folk can be pretty nasty when hungry, even worse than Cole; they also laugh a bit like real hyenas when they find something funny. For some reason quite a few of those here seem to find amusement in scaring or pranking me; what’s so funny about scaring me! That’s not to mention how rude they are, not everyone’s rude but a lot of folk here are and quite a few don’t like us. Those not from this region aren’t too bad. The fact their beast folk is still scary but they aren’t much different from people back in Ninjago. The people around this place though tend to be rude or mean I guess they kind of match the town. It’s pretty unpleasant all run down; on the outside at least. Inside places and this Under City are pretty nice and well kept well most of them. Some are kind of unkempt or unpleasant, creepy even. The place this place is in though is far from pleasant… (he began to rant on about the environment like he did in a previous interview so we had to stop him).

Cole-I get despite their bestial looks these are still people but I still get the urge sometimes to pet them like their animals especially the kids. I’m pretty sure too they won’t like me trying to get them to play with a laser pointer. The towns defiantly not the best; very run down, not many are very nice, many hate us just for existing, they especially hate Zane even though he’s never done anything to deserve it. Sure I guess to some he may look scary especially to little kids but unless you make him real mad, like what Jay and Kai can sometimes do, he won’t hurt them. He’s a lot softer than what his skin shows. He’s like a shepherd dog; he defiantly could easily kill you and likely will if you deserve it but it takes quite a bit to get him to that state instead he’s more friendly and caring. Aside from that it’s not too bad here. The ash and weather are miserable, they at least have plenty of nice restaurants just remember they’ve got some weird tastes here and a decent community center with a really nice pool and hot tub. The Under-city is quite impressive and very nice; sometimes if you’re lucky you can see some of the students from the bards collage practising their music or plays to entertain others there. Despite the conditions it’s pretty nicely decorated here too though I think some of the decorations like displays made from the skins of droids and robotics are unsettling to Zane. I can see where he’s coming from there; I’d be pretty unsettled to if someone was using human skins for decoration like that. Sure in a museum it’s fine that’s for learning and generally things are treated fairly well in a museum but in a public space yha no that’s not nice.

Zane- The town has many very interesting aspects such as the architecture and the technologies they utilize to operate various aspects of city workings and defences. Some of these are repurposed or reworked from the old Scymer folks technologies. The place overall is defiantly run down and shows effects from volcanic activity but they still try to keep it looking nice here. They have the Under-city to give everyone a space to get away from the harsh conditions outside. They have plenty of park and nature zones for people to utilize that are kept looking pretty nice. They even have greenhouse like buildings creating large sheltered areas in some of the parks to let people enjoy nature and natural light without the effects from the volcano. They’re very nice places… though some of the decorations they use in them is a bit unsettling to those like me. Statues are fine but they have the skin from a Scymer Hoofivore as decoration in one. I would be fine with it if it was being displayed like in a museum and was being treated with respect but it isn’t. It’s posed in an aggressive manner and has a few ballista bolts stuck in its hide and people like to photograph themselves often in rude or unpleasant ways with it. The plaque claims the creature was caught in the wilderness from one of the Stags attacks then they gutted it and stuck it’s exterior on display. I won’t say who told me but they say that’s not true. They say it was found fatally damaged in a ruin and set it up for display like that to be threatening to those like me; not just the ones who serve the Stag but that are kept by the town. It’s to let us know they’re not afraid to do terrible things to us. Outside that I guess the town wouldn’t be too bad if it wasn’t for the people. Why does everyone hate me? I haven’t done anything wrong?

Nya- It’s okay I guess. The towns defiantly seen better days but you have to be impressed with some of their ingenuity here in how they combat effects from the wastes. They use very interesting technologies here to give people a place to escape the harsh conditions outside, keep structures maintained and to help combat a lot of the monsters of the region. I’d love to get a better look at these innovations but the people of this realm are not comfortable with letting us do that; all because of these ridiculous superstitions about elemental masters and beliefs that we could be evil. I’m getting real annoyed by that. We’ve done nothing wrong yet most of them hate us. We’re not going to do anything wrong; our powers don’t make us monsters. They especially hate Zane and have been very mean to him for no good reason. The rest of us get things pretty easy compared to him. They largely just say rude things to us but it’s mild compared to what they say to Zane and they’re willing to physically threaten him. We took him with us to do some shopping to get food for our stay here the other day and one guy tried to shock him with a wildlife shock rod to get him to leave the area and Zane wasn’t doing anything wrong. Another person refused to talk to him when he went to ask about something while another talked to him like he was stupid or a child and was going to call the guards to ‘help’ him which we know most likely meant to lock him up probably in some cage like an animal. There is no reason for how they treat him here and don’t get me started on how some of them seem to like to scare Jay just for amusement. He’s already getting a bit paranoid about some of the things here we don’t need anything else working him up… (The interviewer broke off the interview as she was getting mad and they were scared of what she might do when mad)

Lloyd- The towns nice. It has a lot of impressive structures and is full of culture. I think I’m with Jay a bit on the people here in that they can be a bit scary. I know they can’t help it that they have traits of animals including dangerous predators but it’s still unsettling especially since when mad they tend to growl a bit like an animal and show off their teeth. You know even the ungulate ones have sharp looking canine teeth like the others and the hyena folk have some rather large teeth. Nowhere near as big as a real hyenas but still pretty big compared to the other beast folks. All of them kind of have teeth that resemble those of a bear; it takes a while to get used to. Also I know they can’t help it but they get fur everywhere. Luckily none of us are allergic to fur plus according to their scholars the beast folks fur isn’t the same as those of the animals they resemble so they lack the allergens we could be allergic to. That being said though careful if you get scratched; they can’t help it either as their claws or hoof nails are sharp and can easily accidently cut you. They have thicker skin than we do so they usually don’t cut themselves and most here don’t seem to realise that so can accidently scratch you. You can get an infection from even the cleanest individuals’ claws; they can’t help it. The people aren’t really that bad and those outside this region and the kids here aren’t bad but most of the grownups and teenagers here really dislike us and are rather rude to and around us. Apparently they don’t like outsiders much especially elemental masters; to them our powers make us more of a type of monster than people. It’s not a pleasant feeling to be disliked like this.

Kai- It’s okay I guess if you like that worn and kind of rustic aesthetic look. It’s strange they claim to not like technology yet use a great deal of it here especially some pretty advanced stuff. Why don’t they just admit they don’t like technology when it borders close to a living thing or is a living thing? They defiantly are superstitious to technology but they’re not afraid to adopt it. Most have cell phones, they have TV’s and fridges and other common daily electronics, they do though have some weird customs around them. They often lock their phones and laptops in special boxes at night to apparently keep the Stag from hacking them. I’m no expert but I don’t think that would work would it? Anyway yha the beastial looks can be a little unsettling especially when you see those teeth; their canines are fangs that’s a little unsettling to see especially on those that look like deer and antelopes. Quite a few here also kind of look worn; lots of scars, some have tattoos and piercings, some even have fake horns or antlers surprisingly though most have some pretty well kept fur and hair. It’s got to take them a lot of work to keep both the hair on their heads clean and the fur that coats their body. Sure their body fur is rather short though some have rather bushy tails but still that’s a lot of work. I did notice they have a lot of different grooming supplies here including ones for on the go even shedding and flea combs. I’ve also commonly seen them just brushing themselves while just sitting idle. You know I’m not really hairy or have a fur coat but I tried some of those brushes they have and they’re not too bad. Is it strange that I kind of see why they like to just idly brush themselves; something about it feels nice and rather relaxing.

Aaron- Do you know how hard it is to resist to not try to pet the people especially the kids? I can’t help it; I know they’re people but their beastial traits sometimes get me confused and I mistake them as actual animals. I accidently used that noise you use to call over a cat the other day at a shopkeeper to get their attention. In my defence they were of the cat folk and surprisingly they responded to it. You know I wonder what is their relation like to the animals they resemble? Clearly they don’t seem to relate to hoofed animals; they eat them just like we would and it’s not just the cat and hyena ones. There’s a really good barbeque place here run by two of the ungulate dudes and they love their meat and really dislike salads. It doesn’t bother them that their eating animals they share traits with. The people aside the towns not too bad; defiantly run down and a bit dirty but I think that gives it character. It’s not as bad as Lance claims it is here. If your just thinking about and looking at the negatives that’s all your gonna see. If you’re open to things you can find something nice here. That Ghost Fence is interesting and you get some pretty wicked views from those towers, some of the local watchtowers and windmills give some nice views too. There’s some pretty nice places you can hide to when you want a nice nap where you won’t be bothered by anyone. Some planters have some pretty dense foliage, atop some of the large fungi in greenhouse gardens and in the storage room of the Scholars centers main room, they have some nice floor cushions in there to nap on, are some examples of this.

Axl- I’m a little confused about the people from this realm. They say they’re people but their animal looks keep confusing me. Are they fully human, are they part animal or are the looks just that looks? According to the scholars here they are human just with cosmetic traits and some minor physical differences from the animals they resemble. I think I understand that even if they are a bit scary especially if they get mad. They sometimes bear their teeth and growl especially if really mad and they aren’t afraid to utilize those claws they have. Outside the confusion over their beast-ness and how they can be a bit scary at times they’re not too bad even though allot of those around here are not the nicest to us. At least the town itself isn’t too bad. It is worn and the weathers not the best and a lot of the plants and animals are strange but they’ve got quite a good deal of good restaurants here. Warning though if you’re going to go to these restaurants careful who comes with you. Not only can it not be fun with them but some of those here know a few spells or have special potions they might mix into your food to teach you a lesson for disrespecting their ways or creating a scene. What they do usually wears off in a few hours or you can get someone in the Scholars center to help fix it. Lance is not a good one to take with you. He’s very picky and was kind of rude. That’s where we found out about that. He angered a server who gave him something that turned him blue for a few hours. He was not happy with that. That ninja Jay also is not a good idea; he’s jumpy, grossed out by a lot of things especially some of what they make here plus he tends to make a scene when he’s disgusted, scared or angry. It’s a bit embarrassing when you’re around him and he’s acting like that in public. Cole’s always a good one to bring along, Kai and Aaron too. Even the metal man Zanes good to bring along, plus I think he likes when he’s included in things and treated like he’s just a normal person, but if you bring him you have to be protective to make sure no one’s going to hurt him. The people of this region have a strange dislike to him and the ninja are very protective of him; I don’t blame them.

Clay- I don’t mean to offend anyone and I know with the conditions here it’s probably hard keeping this place looking good but depending where you go this place can look pretty run down. Not everywhere is like that. Public regions of the Under-city and the insides of many places are in pretty decent shape and looking good. Less public spaces tend to show more wear and aren’t what most would consider beautiful. Makes sense though that’s where all the dirty work that keeps public areas clean and working happens. Despite the conditions here the people of the town take great pride in their town and a good deal try to keep their places looking nice. They like to decorate with colored and decorated fabrics and various styles of lanterns and lights around here. It’s pretty nice. They also use plenty of decorative native flora both indoors and outdoors, they like to use various modern and rustic kinds of design; when I mean rustic I don’t mean it like how Lance means it. Sorry you probably don’t understand that, Lance uses the word to mean run down and dirty. That’s not how I’m meaning to use it. Anyway aside from the town the people aren’t too bad. Many have this strange and uncomfortable dislike to us because we aren’t from here and we’re not mean or suspicious to droids. I guess we got it lucky though as I and my team aren’t as disliked as the ninja but still we’re not much liked either. Maybe if we perform some of our knightly duties and aid the town they’ll warm up to us. Not sure how the ninja are going to improve their image especially to their pal Zane but I’m sure they’ll think of something.

Macy- The towns defiantly seen better days but they still try to keep it looking nice. They try very hard to keep things clean and they keep their gardens, planters and parks well kept. Makes sense since outside farming, mining and some minor lumber work the town’s only other economic sources are tourism and research and most of the researchers are from nicer looking places so keeping the place looking nice really helps draw in the tourists and keep researchers happy. They also have to do a lot of work to keep the place safe. Elsewhere here they have police and some region use knights here they call them guards who fulfill both roles and boy do they have quite a bit of work. Not only do they have to deal with everyday criminals they have cranky animals, monsters, cultists and these Ashers to deal with as well. Maybe that’s why so many are so cranky here; still doesn’t give them the right though to be so mean to us. Sure we’re not being hated as bad as those ninja but still many make it clear we’re not that welcome here either. Maybe if we help them out they’ll see we’re here to help them and they’ll open up. Speaking of the people, this is funny, when they heard I was a princess they wanted to give me special treatment you know gold color to my armour, a room to myself, a servant that kind of stuff. I declined because I don’t need any of that. I’m a knight and they can treat me just like any other knight. Hearing how they were willing to give specially treatment to me and not him Lance was not happy. He went on a bit of a rant in the scholars center about his dislike to being treated as a commoner and angered one of the scholars here enough they decided to punish him. They hit him with a spell that turned his skin green and made his hair into kelp for three hours. He locked himself in his room in the Fortrex the whole time but quite a few saw him and they gave him the nickname kelp hair for a while. He’s not happy about that but the rest of us find it amusing.

Lance- One word to describe this place; rustic. At least they have a hot tub, a spa and some clubs. Unfortunately I have to share them with commoners when I use them. Apparently our coin isn’t compatible here and we’re the opposite of popular here. We’re nobodies to these people, do you know how unpleasant that is! A good deal also don’t like us and no matter what I do I can’t win them over; how can they not like me? Is it because I don’t have looks from a beast? And speaking of beastial looks I know they can’t help it much but could they try to keep their shedding down. I’m not pleased with finding their fur in my bed or my clothes. At least they take care to keep parasites to a minimum here. They have all sorts of combs and cleaning products and even medicines to keep fleas, lice and ticks at bay. That’s a good thing. Surprisingly Clay actually agreed with me that we should take some of these preventative products and shots they have here to keep from catching anything from here; he even got the ninja to agree with it too. Quite a few of the things here do some pretty nasty stuff to your skin and hair. Last thing I want to do is catch anything that could mess with my looks. I’m still trying to find good quality skin products here. We don’t know how long we’re going to be here for and I don’t have enough of my normal products to last for very long. (he continued to babble on about his looks and cosmetic stuff so our interviewer left to his dislike)

Jestro- I’m used to ending up in places you could consider dumps you know dungeons, ruins stuff like that and while defiantly not beautiful it is a lot better and nicer here than most places I’ve ended up in. It’s fairly clean, the weathers not the most pleasant but fair, no monsters well at least no monsters are roaming in the public trying to enslave you, the people aren’t the nicest but I’m used to that… not many back home are nice or friendly to me either. Then again when you turn bad and wreck havoc to them yha I can see why they don’t like me too much. At least the knights are being fairly nice to me now. Anyway the people are kind of scary especially when they have the looks of carnivores. Also when you see them in dim light it can be scary; their eyes reflect like a cats in the dark! Clay says that’s because they have that thing in their eyes like animals do that reflects light. Apparently they can see better than us in the dark but not as good as a cat. They also have better hearing and smell. I also found they don’t like when you touch their tails without asking; I got scratched from that. Their fur often looks so soft though and I sometimes forget they’re actually people and not humanoid animals.

The Black Stag and his Minions

(part 2 is taken from views midway through the section)

Jay- (in part 1) A living nightmare! Why does a demon have to take such a gentle, innocent and majestic innocent creature like a deer and turn them into a monster of nightmares? I’ve heard all the horrid things it can do and I’ve seen what happens to those who encounter him how scared and terrified they are. They get so scared they can end up losing all their hair even their fur, they are constantly checking over their shoulders, every little sound scares them and that’s just some of what you can get if you’re lucky to live! You don’t want to know the nightmares you’re put through if you don’t survive! I’d rather sit next to an Oni than be anywhere near that thing? To make it worse are his minions. Mindless heartless savage machines and beasts that want to devour us or drag us to be tortured by their demon master! Even worse I’m pretty sure Zanes becoming one of them! He’s acting a little off and trusts them even over me! I’m his pal his brother I should be the one he trusts over those monsters! He wants to help those monsters and be friends with them and he keeps telling us they’re not evil monsters! I think they’ve done something to him and it’s turning him into one of them; he’s being too friendly to these monstrous minions of this thing. That’s not right! Who knows what that monsters corruption will do to Zane but I’m pretty sure it won’t be nice for the rest of us!

(in part 2) Words can’t describe how terrifying that thing is. All those rumours we heard are true! It’s a demon worse than the Oni; it’s like something that crawled out of the darkest pit in the darkest woods in the universe. Even though his minions say he isn’t I’m pretty sure that thing is always somehow watching us skulking in the shadows waiting to strike us down and torture us! That reminds me I was right; the others tell me to drop my paranoia but I’m not paranoid! I warned them that thing had done something to Zane! That it warped his mind to turn him into a monster like his other minions. I’m surprised it didn’t turn him into one of those bird monsters again to attack and torture us more. Zane pretends to be on our side and toil away with us but I know better. He’s helping that monster get us. It used Zane to lure us into his trap so we’re now his slaves! Who knows what that monster has planned for us?! It’s already ensnared Zane and I think Coles starting to get his mind warped by that monsters minions. How long till they start messing with the rest of us?! Does he want to turn some of us into his monstrous servants or does he want us to tear each other apart in some cruel game for his enjoyment? I don’t know but I’m going to make sure I don’t fall for it.

Cole- (in part 1) Something about that thing I find very unsettling. We’ve never faced anything like this monster before and I’m pretty sure we’re not ready to face this thing. Then again I don’t think anyone could ever be ready to face something like this. A demon that even Oni fear; how monstrous does something have to be to earn that title. Can I tell you something in confidence? I think I’ve seen that thing in some of my dreams; they were never good dreams. In a few of them… I don’t wish to describe in detail what it did to us but let’s just say it was bad, very bad. As for his minions, I’m pretty sure the others might not like to hear it but I’m not entirely sure they’re as evil as everyone says they are. Zane might be right about them. They’re not evil monsters, just misunderstood. After all if this Stag thing has rule over you I wouldn’t disobey it’s orders or desires; that can’t end very well for yha.

(in part 2) That thing is worse in present than what dreams could come up with. Feeling him control me like a puppet was bad enough but to be in the full presence of that thing, no thanks I’d rather be in the presence of the Oni again than be near that thing! As for his minions my suspicions and Zane were right. They’re not that bad. Many are actually quite nice and friendly. Just careful what you say around them though many take things a little too literal sometimes. Also don’t listen to anything Jay has to say about the Stags minions or Zane. None of it is right and quite a bit of what he has said and done to and around Zane are highly uncalled for; I think he’s lost his mind.

Zane- (in part 1) I really don’t want to talk about it but… I won’t deny that monster is a demon and I am terrified of falling to this thing. I know I’m not strong enough to fight it and I don’t think the others even together are strong enough to save me from it. That incident in the mine proved it… what it did to me was if I could put it in one word terrifying. It wants me I can sense this and it terrifies me. I’ve felt its hold and what it can do… there are no words I can think of to describe how terrible its hold is. I do not think though his minions are what others think they are. They are not the monsters everyone says they are. They are victims to his cruelty and terror but because they have nowhere else safe to turn to they have to suffer under his tyranny and behave how he wants just to have a chance to live. I do not understand why the others can’t see this. They refer to them as monsters but I won’t see them that way; I think that’s made some of the others distrust me. I’ve caught them talking when they thought I wasn’t around, some of what they say it’s not very comforting and a bit scary and threatening to me, plus Jay keeps acting strange to me and has asked some weird things to me.

(in part 2) I knew it wanted me now I’m trapped here with it. You would not understand how terrible that feels. As for his minions I was right about them; they aren’t monsters or evil and are much like me. At least I’m not alone while trapped here. I have the others with me and they, well most of them, are no longer thinking I would side with that monster. It’s nice that they finally see what I see and don’t think something’s wrong with me though Jay… not only does he still think something’s wrong with me but he thinks I have betrayed them. I don’t understand why he thinks that. Some of the things he says or does towards me does not make me feel nice. He calls me a monster and many other undesirable and unpleasant terms and it is very unpleasant being ostracised especially by your own brother.

Nya- (in part 1) I would have to agree with Jay on this one that thing is a living nightmare, his minions I’m not too sure about that. I don’t think they’re entirely the monsters others say they are but they’re not good either. They are following evil and doing evil acts but not because they’re inherently evil. They’ve just been programmed to be that way and I doubt they’re truly that monstrous, defiantly not as bad as what Jay thinks they are. Man eating droids, demons taking the form of machines, droids that want to rip out his heart and eat it or make Zane eat it for some cruel joke; I think he’s being a little paranoid and over dramatic. Not to mention none of us have any clue where he is getting some of these ideas. While I don’t fully believe some of his ideas I would have to agree with him that this Stag and its minions are doing something to Zane; something bad. He’s been a bit off and oddly trusting to the monsters that serve this demon. As far as I can tell he’s not under any form of control and is doing it out of free will but I think that makes it worse. What could this thing or its minions have said or done to make Zane willingly side with some of them?

(in part 2) I’m with Zane on that monster Stag. It’s a demon through and through. What it can do to you and the darkness it exudes are some of the nastiest things I have ever seen or felt. As for his allies they aren’t actually what everyone says they are. Zane was right; after feeling what that thing can do I get why they serve him. It’s not out of a willingness to do his bidding; it’s out of fear. I need to have a talk with Jay so he’ll see the truth and stop being so paranoid by those who have to serve that monster. He’s starting to take out his paranoia on Zane and it’s hurting his feelings. He’s already been through enough and being trapped here with that demon hanging around isn’t doing him any good. Zane doesn’t need more to make him feel worse especially from his own family.

Lloyd- (in part 1) I don’t want the others to know but deep down that thing is the scariest thing I have ever seen or even just heard of. It’s like something that crawled from the darkest reaches of existence, a true demon. What does it want? What can it do? What is it willing to do to us? I don’t want to find out. As for his servants they might not have started off evil but clearly being under that things rule has turned them into monsters at least for the robots. I’m not too sure about the animals; they might just be victims to his hold and not willingly aiding him like the droids. Those droids, unfortunately I think some of them have started to mess with Zane and not for anything good. He’s become oddly trusting and defensive of them even when he knows nothing about them. I’d think he’d be wise enough to see the danger trusting them poses and not let emotions rule his judgment of them but it looks like he isn’t like these things have done something to mess with his thinking. I don’t want to do anything drastic or to hurt Zane but if they have done something… I don’t want to think about what we might have to do to keep him out of harm or worse from him causing problems and harm to others.

(in part 2) Zane was right, his minions really aren’t monsters despite sometimes appearing to then again some like those Samurai only act that way to live up to the reputation the Stag wants from them to appear as living demons. Outside that they’re actually rather nice to meet and when not on duty would actually surprise you with how un-monstrous they are; I found one of those Samurai likes to knit and create rugs and tapestries in its spare time. Sure it makes some creepy looking stuff but it’s not the hobby I would first expect from something said to be a monster. That master of theirs though the Stag after meeting him in person I’m pretty sure he is some form of demon. What kind though I don’t know and I dread finding out.

Kai- (in part 1) Truly I’m not sure what to think. This thing defiantly sounds scary but how much of it is really true. Given the superstitions of the area they could just be over reacting to this thing. They have a superstition to place a large golden scarab beetles shell over your doorway on moonless nights to prevent monsters like those under the Stags rule from entering your home or to eat Lunar grapes during moonless nights to prevent being possessed by dark spirits. Lunar Grapes are these strange grapes which are actually quite good though they have an odd faint light blue glow to them. Jay wanted to follow this superstition but when he saw the grapes and their glow he refused to touch them. He dared Aaron to eat them to prove he was crazy. Aaron did it just to spite him and drive Jay crazy. He even got Cole and Zane to eat some of them just to mess with Jay. He tried to get me but I wasn’t going to. Glowing food doesn’t sound healthy to me. Anyway back to what we were talking about I think the Stag is a monster and a pretty bad one at that but I’m not sure if he’s monstrous enough to class as a demon. As for his minions the animals are just that animals; they’re not actually evil as for the robotic ones. Well I’m not sure. I don’t trust technology much so it’s hard to tell what’s true with them but I don’t trust any of them. (when its commented about Zane technically being a robot and if he trusts him he says) Yha I sometimes forget he isn’t truly human but I do know that and yha I trust him; why wouldn’t I. Zanes special; very special. He’s not like other droids and nothing like those monsters. That being said I think some of those robots this Stag has have been doing things to him. He’s been a little weird lately. I don’t know much about it but I’m pretty sure Nya or Jay could figure it out and help him.

(in part 2) Okay that thing defiantly lives up to the hype. I don’t think anything in your nightmares could match that monster. The people aren’t lying, he’s a demon. As for his servants I was right about the animals as for the technology based beings. They’re actually not that bad. They remind me a bunch of Zane; I can see why he was so willing to trust him. Probably because of what he is they were willing to show their true side to him unlike with the rest of us. They probably didn’t feel safe revealing their true side to the rest of us because they might have thought we were like the other people of Balmora and wouldn’t trust them. Given what they’ve had to go through I wouldn’t blame them. I wouldn’t blame them for serving the Stag either. If I had no other option but to serve that thing to stay alive I’d do it out of fear too.

Aaron- (in part 1) I would like to say I could be fearless about that thing but that would be a lie; a far out lie. There is something not right and disturbingly dark about that thing. Fear is an understatement about how I feel about it. I’ve never seen, felt or even heard of a monster like this cervine monstrosity. I really don’t want to face this Stag monster but we really don’t have a choice. As for his allies I don’t think they’re entirely that bad. They are just animals and sentient machines after all, well some are actually both at the same time really but you get my drift. They’re not inherently or truly evil just under the wrong leadership. I don’t think they’re actually out to get anyone or do evil things. You ask me they’re more like the Stags dogs than monsters.

(in part 2) Do I have to talk about it?! I thought just seeing that thing was bad but to have it overtake you is far worse. It’s cold is worse than cold, there’s this worse than nightmarish emptiness feeling he brings and leaves and I could swear while he had a hold on me my heart wasn’t beating or at least I don’t remember feeling it. I don’t think I was breathing either. It was hard to tell with how numb it made me feel. The feelings he left me with afterwards were so un-rad too and they lasted for a few days. I felt in danger, every sudden noise or quick movement startled me, the cold hollowness, the numbness… it was horrid. I can understand why those that serve him do so; to either willingly do something or have that demon take hold of you to make you do something I would willingly do what it wants without question. Whatever it wants you to do is in no way as nasty or terrible with what it can and will do to you. His so called monsters I was right about. They’re really not monsters and actually quite nice. That potion they gave me really did help with my condition and they have not given us any harm or reason to trouble. They just like to chill and do their thing unfortunately though they have to live in the shadow of that monster. I’d rather hang with them then be anywhere near that master of theirs.

Axl- (in part 1) I’m not going to lie that thing scares me. It’s one monster I don’t wish to ever face. That being said what’s with bad guys taking a gentle animal and turning them into monsters. He can turn things as innocent as butterflies into monsters. Just look what it did with that gentle droid the ninja have Zane. He can be a bit scary at times especially when you make him mad but he’s no monster. That thing turned him into a monster just for its own entertainment; not once but twice and it seemed to enjoy it. How cruel does something have to be to do that? His minions on the other hand; they don’t really seem that monstrous. Why would animals want to be evil and the bots I don’t see why they would want to be evil either. What would they gain from it?  

(in part 2) That thing is worse than I thought. Seeing what it did to the ninja and Aaron, no wonder they call it a demon. They had no choice or control and it did terrible things with and too them. They weren’t themselves for a while afterwards as well. It was so unsettling; I’ve never seen Aaron so skittish and jumpy before; that’s not like him! Those beings that serve that monster were nothing like him. They were nice, friendly and helpful. They’re not monsters like everyone was telling us. Seeing what that monster did with Aaron no wonder those poor beasts and droids serve him the way they do. The poor things must be so scared to live under that things rule.

Clay-(in part 1) I don’t like the looks and sounds of this thing this dark Stag. It’s worse than any form of monster I’ve ever heard of. I dread to know what this thing could ever want and I doubt we would ever want to find out. As for those minions of his I’m unsure what to think. We haven’t really seen much proof that they are actually as evil as many claim they are but then again we have no true understanding of why they serve him so their motives and behaviours are quite unknowable as well. I have noticed though that Zane has shown a strange trusting to these things which the others tell me isn’t normal for him. If it’s not normal and he’s becoming trusting of those who serve this monster it can’t be a sign of anything good. Hopefully nothing comes of his trusting that it’s just a phase or something like that, if that’s possible for those like him. If not then it can’t bode well and we may be in danger from one of our own.

(in part 2) That monsters true being is far worse in person than anything can describe and what it can and is willing to do... no wonder they call it a demon. That thing is an enemy I never wish to face and would rather just turn and leave its presence but we really don’t have a choice plus we’re knights and it would not be a knightly thing to turn and run from a monster so dangerous and threatening to the defenceless. As for his minions not only have we found proof that they aren’t monsters but they are actually great allies. They truly wish to help in their own way even though they must appear to be monsters for their master. Considering who that is I get why they do his bidding. I doubt things go well for them if they disobey and I don’t think there is much they can do to escape it. They don’t get along with Ashers in fact they enjoy being a thorn in their sides to hinder them and the people view them as nothing but demons so they have no choice but to serve this monster and live in fear; no wonder Zane felt for them.

Macy- (in part 1) This Stag being sure does sound terrible, hopefully it never desires for our home lands. I don’t think we’d ever be able to stand against it and win. I don’t think even those ninja could stand a chance against it. That poor nindroid Zane surely hasn’t fared well against that monster, thank goodness we were able to save him both times. He doesn’t deserve to be a puppet for that monster. That demon I don’t want to face but unfortunately we have no choice. It is our duties as knights to protect our kingdom and the defenceless if we have to face this thing to do that then I’ll do it even if it scares me. As for his allies I don’t think the animals get much of a choice about serving him and even if the robots do willingly serve him it is probably because they have been programmed to and not because they’re inherently evil. When it comes to the animals I’m pretty sure they’re not doing the things they do out of free will. They probably have no choice and are forced against their will to be puppets to that thing.

(in part 2) I was right I don’t want to face that thing. That thing is no monster; it’s something worse far worse. Nightmares can’t even depict how nasty that thing is and what it can do. Just its presence feels like all light in the world is sucked out leaving a deep dark emptiness that can paralyse even the toughest warriors. Trust us we’ve seen and experienced it firsthand. As for those minions of his they’re actually not bad. Poor things get the worst of it cause they have no option but to serve a demon and are wrongly judged by the people because they aren’t human and are believed to be inherently evil.

Lance- (in part 1) Do we really have to face this thing? All the hard work we have to do just to get to this thing plus this nasty environment we’re in aside this thing defiantly seems worse than any monster you could imagine. Hasn’t anyone also remembered what was said that this thing has no weaknesses and can’t be harmed by anything! Why even try going near this thing? Why waste the effort if it will be of no use? Maybe we should just throw in the towel this time. We’ve had a taste of what it can do and it is in no way pleasant or relaxing… that reminds me I need to find a good masseuse in this place. No offense to them but these beast folks don’t give the best messages. It’s those claws and hoof nails. They can be a little sharp sometimes. Anyway as for these minions yha when they’re serving this demon they can be quite monstrous like worse than movie monster monstrous. It’s real strange though cause when this Stag thing isn’t controlling them they’re oddly peaceful… it’s kind of creepy. What are they up to? I don’t know but I don’t like it. Animals are just animals but those robotics… yha they’re a lot more complex and unnerving. I’ve seen what those metal skin beings can do. Trust me it’s not pretty or pleasant and he wasn’t even under the Stags control the one time. He was just mad at me for mistaking him as a squirebot for a while. I guess that wasn’t too bad though compared to when that thing has him under its control. That is far worse and gross; I’m not going into that and trust me you wouldn’t want to know about it. Just thinking about it makes me feel sick.

(in part 2) Okay this Stag can be a lot worse! Thank goodness it never tried to use me as its puppet. I don’t think a simple message would take away the damages that thing could leave! Aaron was in no way himself for a few days after that thing treated him like a puppet. It was creepy to see him acting so strange. I guess I was a little harsh in judging those bots to be fare though you have to admit they are a bit creepy especially when they’re skulking around in the shadows. Even that Zane who I admit I shouldn’t have mistaken and treated like a squirebot is a bit creepy. In my defence I’ve never met a bot like him before. Our squirebots enjoy serving us; it’s what they were made for. I guess not all bots are the same. Anyway despite being creepy those bots that serve this Stag monster are not too bad.

Jestro (since he doesn’t appear till part two his view is from part 2) This thing is a monster I would never want to associate with. I’m sick of being turned evil and I’m pretty sure this things corruption would be far worse than what I have dealt with before. I’ve heard what it did with those ninja and I saw what it did with Aaron. It was so disturbing to see normally fearless Aaron acting like a frightened kitten for a few days. As for these bots and creatures that have to serve this monster I understand their view. Sometimes you have no choice but to follow evil; I wasn’t given much of a choice the second time.

To read the story this is related to you can find it here:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/34894561/chapters/86888878

You can also find images pertaining to the story here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project

[robobirdie]

Some Fan Story Fun Protagonists interviews: Allies

While working when stuck with writers block I sometimes would take a break and have a little fun writing down what I felt the characters thoughts would be on certain things in the story. Some give some minor spoilers but nothing too serious about the main story or events in the story. They are fun humorous little tidbits some of which helped me with working out some concepts in my story namely character relations. This one is on what the knights and ninja think and are like with each other: 

Your new Allies:

Jay- I guess the knights aren’t so bad. Clay isn’t too bad but he is quite bossy and strict. He’s got schedules and all these rules like no joking around while training, we should remain professional while on duty, no putting your feet on the table, no making jokes about your superiors orders especially in public, your underwear should be in your drawer not on the table… not that it was my underwear on a table; no matter what he says it was Kais. Anyway doesn’t he know how to relax? Macy’s nice, her and Nya get along well. She’s kinda like Nya strong, smart, independent and don’t make her mad or you’ll regret it; not many have the strength to win in a wrestling match against Cole she’s one of the few I’ve seen do it. Even without his super strength he’s still pretty strong. Macy’s kind of like Clay too; she doesn’t like when you slack off on duties either. She also doesn’t like to be called a princess; Kai found that out. He was just playing around and called her that to be playful and she chastised him for like ten minutes how she wanted to be seen as a knight not a princess. It was funny seeing her make Kai all scared and nervous. Axls fun and good at video games in fact I think he could give Cole a run for his money there plus he’s a great cook; Cole could take some lessons from him. Lance reminds me of Kai; a way worse and more spoiled Kai. I swear the two could tie each other in how much time they spend with their hair or on social media. Also does he always have to brag about how rich he is? We get it we’re poor and he isn’t. You don’t see Macy doing that and she’s a princess he’s just some noble. Also why does he sometimes try to hit on Nya or show off around her? Doesn’t he know she’s not interested! She isn’t going to be fooled by some pretty rich boy besides she’s my betrothed. I’m getting off topic aren’t I; anyway Robin and Ava they are cool. They remind me of well me when I was young, always into inventing and experimenting with inventions. As for Merlok he’s pretty cool and wise though he can be a bit bossy like Clay; he is his uncle so it must be a family thing. Merlok reminds me of master Wu; he doesn’t like when I try to cut corners to make things easier like Wu does either nor likes when we slack off on our duties or learning. As for Jestro he’s fun and a good laugh; I think with some advice he could get better with his comedy. I could offer him some pointers if he wants. I’m good with making others laugh, I can always get the others to laugh even Zane which is a bit hard cause he has troubles understanding quite a few things and doesn’t grasp some aspects of comedy very well. Aaron… he’s unsettling. Something’s not right with him, how can someone be so fearless even in the face of danger! Despite what the others say I don’t think he’s human. I thought Zane was strange but that Aaron is stranger. You know he was once run over by a horse cart and lived and the other day while training I blasted him off his hover shield, by the way how is he not scared to ride that thing it has no safety measures! Anyway when I knocked him off he fell into a pile of scrap metal and got all bruised and scratched up pretty bad and he wasn’t that scared of it brushing his injuries off as nothing too bad saying ‘nothing serious bro their just cuts and bruises I can heal from those no problamo’. To make it stranger just a few hours later he was totally fine all injuries gone. When I asked him about it he just said ‘told yha I’d heal’; he must have done something! The others claim Clay healed him to practise his magic; Lloyd, Cole and Zane even claim to have seen him do it but I think they’re all messing with me. I don’t think he’s human. What is he? A droid or cyborg? An elf? Some humanoid beast race or maybe a were-wolf! Is that why his last name is Fox? Is it a reference to what he really is? I’m not sure what he is but I’m going to find out.

Cole- Straight foreword I like them. Sure Clay can be a bit serious at times but I get it. He’s the leader and has to keep everything under control and running smoothly along with making sure no one gets hurt or left behind. He has to be serious for the safety of his team. He can be fun you just have to catch him when he has spare time. Lance I find is too into himself like a way worse Kai and it’s rather annoying how he likes to brag about not being as he calls it a peasant like the rest of us but he’s not that bad. He at least still takes his duties relatively seriously and does care about his friends in his own way despite how full of himself he is and how much he hates to work and his over obsession with his looks. Personally I prefer Clay over Lance. He’s a lot better to get along with and doesn’t call me rustic like Lance does; I didn’t understand what he meant by that till Macy explained rustic is Lances code word for run down and dirty. Just because I’m the master of earth doesn’t mean I’m dirty I shower on a regular basis… uh anyway back to topic that Aarons pretty cool; he’s chill, likes to play video games and is pretty good at them, he’s got a good taste in music too. Don’t let his laidback personality and approach to things fool you; when times call for it he can be rather serious and responsible when it’s needed. In fact I think his rather chill personality help him keep a cool head when things get heated. I think he’s also got a high tolerance to pain cause minor injuries like cuts and bruises don’t seem to bother him like a normal person. Anyway Macys pretty cool too; I would have loved having a sibling like her growing up; someone willing to stand up to do what is right and not afraid to get roughed up and dirty to do it. She’s also pretty good at arm wrestling and be careful when sparring she’s got a pretty hefty swing with that mace… I’m pretty sure I got some bruising from our last training session when she accidently hit me. You know she’s also a princess. You’d never know it though by how she acts. Axl he’s great too; he might not seem it especially since he came from a small town and is muscular but he is rather smart; smarter than he looks. Just like me; just because we have brawns doesn’t mean we can’t have brains either despite what some (coughs and says under his breath Jay) think. Anyway he’s also very good at video games, music and cooking. I wonder if he could teach me some cooking tips. Maybe then the others won’t joke about my cooking so much. Robin and Ava are pretty cool and Merloks also pretty cool too; he’s wise and a good listener just like Wu. If you have a problem he’s defiantly someone you can turn to for advice and help despite having no body and being tied to the knights technology. You know I wonder if they ever thought of giving him a body like Zanes. I’m pretty sure with the right supplies and knowledge those kids Robin and Ava could make one. Their wizes when it comes to that tech stuff. As for Jestro I get he’s trying to be funny when he does his comedy act but I find it often cringy and I thought Jay had a lot of bad jokes… I don’t think he’s cut out to be a jester. I don’t know why he doesn’t try to be a knight. He gets along pretty well with most of them. From what I hear from some of them he’s apparently not good at it but maybe he just needs some aid to find his true potential.

Zane- I find them rather enjoyable to be with. They don’t mind that I’m not truly human and treat me just like any other person and not just some machine or a monster. I do get highly annoyed though that Lance sometimes mistakes me for one of their Squirebots these rather simple in design and functioning robotics that serve as aids, servants and workers in their realm; I find that rather offensive. Their Squirebots are nowhere near as complex and human like as I am. We may share similarities but we are not the same. I am not just some bot meant to serve him… I didn’t mean to snap at him as seriously as I did but I think he at least learned his lesson. He’s been careful about what he says and does around me now. Luckily the others never see me as just some mere bot. Also I do not understand his rather self centered and highly materialistic view of things. Doesn’t he know there is more to life than that? Clay and Macy are both nice and they treat me no different from any other person. They respect me, are not bothered to help me and don’t mind having me as part of the team even though I am different from them; they even value my opinion and are better listeners to me than some of my own family like Kai and Jay. Aaron is much the same and he is rather fun to be with. He’s good competition at video games; he is very calm and chill even though he enjoys a good thrill and he is surprisingly smart even though he doesn’t often show it. He has also been real helpful in helping me better disguise myself from the people of this place so they think I am truly human so they won’t be so mean to me. It’s working quite well and unlike some he doesn’t mind if I get carried away a bit with my role. Axl he is nice and friendly; he is also very caring and kind. He’s also a good cook; he likes to make for me special treats largely cookies, cakes and brownies to try and make me feel better about how the people here treat me. I appreciate the thought but he does not need to do that; I do not special treatment. What he makes are very good, better now that he isn’t adding whole insects to everything; apparently Kai was goofing around and convinced him that nindroids are powered by some special bug centered diet. I had to explain to him that I do not need to have bugs in everything and can have things just like people. He does not need to make things specially for me... I do not understand why Kai joked with him like that? Anyway Avas pretty nice too and it’s nice that while she is interested in my being she doesn’t get too invasive of my personal space unlike Robin. I get he is just very enthusiastic in his curiosity about me but his enthusiasm and how he sometimes forgets my personal space and privacy unnerve me. He likes to watch what I do even when I am taking care of personal maintenance, he’s very interested in the control panel in my arm and he keeps asking strange and rather uncomfortable questions… why would he think I have some buried urge to conquer and enslave humanity? I don’t think I have that… though there was what happened in the Never Realm and the others sometimes joke that things in the world would probably be better if robots were in charge. I’m not sure if they are joking about that or not; I’m also not sure how I feel about that. Sometimes I do… sorry I’m digressing. Where were we… Merlok I like him. He’s very wise and I kind of feel sorry for him; I can’t imagine what it would be like without a body but I know I wouldn’t like it. I wonder if he misses having a physical form? As for Jestro I find quite a bit of his comedy hard to understand; I don’t get some of his jokes and his acts are in best terms rather cringy.

Nya- I guess I like them. At first I wasn’t sure if I would like Macy but after spending some time with her I like her. She isn’t that stuck up spoiled princess type like I thought she’d be. She truly wishes to be a knight and help others in fact she prefers being a knight over a princess. I can appreciate that. She can also single handled beat the boys one on one just like me. She’s also one of the few people who can come close to beating Cole in an arm wrestle. Clays pretty good too. He’s caring, respectful and really knows how to be a good leader and keep his team together. He can get a little carried away though with his duties and training. You know he only sleeps a few hours a night. He spends most of the night studying, practising his magic and training; how does he keep going especially since he doesn’t drink energy drinks or coffee? He also made a list of who of us is best to pair with who. That aside maybe he should give Lloyd some pointers in leadership to help keep Kai and Jay in check when I’m not around that way he’s not always relying on me to do it. Speaking of my brother Lance kind of reminds me of him a much more spoiled version of him. The two could beat each other with how much time they spend on their looks or social media; they could also beat each other with the amount of hair products they have. I also have no clue why he sometimes tries to impress me. Doesn’t he know I’m not interested? Truly by how he acts I’m pretty sure he’s more into himself than anyone else and he’s just doing it to see Jay get worked up. A lot of people seem to like seeing Jay get worked up. Speaking of which Aarons cool and it’s nice how he’s helping Zane and I don’t have much of a problem with him I just wish Jay would stop it with his paranoia over him. He’s not some other being or under some spell or curse. Some people just enjoy extreme activities and don’t wet their pants at just thinking about dangerous stuff. What bothers me with him is Aaron isn’t helping with Jays paranoia by playing into them and messing with him. He’s also got some of the others largely Kai and Cole though he has gotten Zane into joining him with this too. Axl doesn’t help with that either by sometimes joining Aarons antics. Aside from that Axls pretty good. Strong, caring and he knows how to cook; Cole should take some lessons from him. Sure his cooking has gotten better than it used to be but Cole could still use to learn more; if he ever offers you his chilli don’t take it you’ll regret that decision. Anyway back to topic Robin and Ava are pretty cool as well and despite their young age very good with what they do. As for Merlok he’s wise and caring and it’s very interesting what happened to him and what he became. I wonder if he ever regrets it though; he has no physical body anymore and is tied to the knights technology. He’s very limited now in what he can do and where he can go and he probably often can’t help out the way he wants; that’s probably not very pleasant. Jestro, I get it’s what he trained to be but he’s not really good at being a jester. His acts can be rather cringy and not all of his jokes are funny. Maybe he should consider a new profession.  

Lloyd- The knights aren’t too bad. They’re friendly, nice and helpful. I like how they can work as a team with little hassle; well mostly with little hassle. I wish I could get my team to do that more often; I won’t say their names but there is two I’m always having problems with… they like to butt heads and goof around especially if left together. Maybe I should get some advice from Clay about team leadership. Can I tell you something in confidence? It’s kind of nice having someone else take charge for once; I don’t mind when Clay takes over as leader. It lets me relax a bit. I don’t mind letting him take over when we’re working together either. He’s smart and caring and will do anything to help others; he also knows how to get the others to work together with little hassle even the problematic ones. He’s one of the few who can get Jay to stop leaving his underwear everywhere and the others listen to him… a lot better than they listen to me. It’s kind of funny to see him punish some of the others. Kai, Jay and Lance were goofing around trying to upstage each other during some training and caused an accident that got me, Aaron, Macy, Cole and even Zane hurt… nothing bad just some cuts and bruises but to discourage the three from goofing off he made them clean the centers bathroom including the potties for pets they have in there with nothing but toothbrushes and tweezers. I know it’s rather wrong to have pleasure in the misery of others but I think this was an exception. They were really grossed out especially when they had to clean the hair and fur from drains and the pet potties; one of the cats left something really nasty smelling in there before they started cleaning. I think the three nearly barfed multiple times the whole time; they finally did barf when they pulled the hair out of the drains. Outside that Aarons chill; sometimes I think a little too chill and a bit strange. He also doesn’t seem to know what fear is. Jay dared him to put his hand in a tank with some really big spiders and not only did he do it but he picked one of them up and held it without being bothered. I think I’m with Jay on that being unsettling. He is fun to be around though and so is Axl. If you want to play videos those two are the best ones to play with. Axls also a great cook even though some of his families’ recipes are a bit strange like Porcupine Stew. Macy… it’s nice to meet a princess who isn’t well a princess and truly cares to help others and be in the action and not just pretend to. She’s pretty tough and strong too; I defiantly wouldn’t want to face her in real combat. Lance… he gets on my nerve quite a bit and reminds me of Kai with how much time he spends on social media and his looks, especially his hair; at least Kai’s nowhere near as self centered as Lance is. I don’t really care for his obsession with wealth or referring to the rest of us as peasants at times too. As for Robin and Ava they are cool and I get they are doing what they enjoy but they shouldn’t let their childhood pass them by. They should enjoy it while they can… like I never got too… did I say that out loud? I didn’t mean to say that out loud. Anyway Merloks nice and very wise; without Wu around I’ve found myself going to him when I need advice. He reminds me of my uncle and is just as wise even though he’s much older like way older. Jestro I get they’ve had problems with him in the in the past but I think if they look past that and offer him some aid and boost his confidence he could become a knight; I don’t think he’s really cut out to be a jester. At times he can be funny but overall he’s not very good at it and I thought some of Jays jokes were cringy…

Kai- They’re not too bad. Clay’s a bit bossy and very serious; does he ever relax or is he always ready for duty? Hasn’t he ever heard of down time? You know he doesn’t sleep much and when he does he’s still often in his gear or training gear so he’s always ready for duty. That can’t be comfortable or relaxing. If you want a good sparring partner though he’s the one to go to; he takes things serious and doesn’t play around. Macy’s nice and, don’t let my sister hear this but Macy kind of reminds me of her. Strong, independent, resourceful not to mention can whip your butt if you get in a fight with them… especially if you make them mad… trust me don’t make them mad. Axl’s pretty great. I think Cole should take some pointers from Axl about his cooking he’s real good at it. I’d say he’s better than Zane at it. Speaking of which Axls also a bit gullible; he was curious if he needed to make things special for Zane. I was just having some fun and told him nindroids have a special bug centered diet so they need bugs in everything they eat and he believed me. Zanes been confused about it but not fully bothered unlike Jay; he was so grossed out about it he nearly barfed when Zane first noted some of the chocolate chips in the special cookie Axl gave him were actually chocolate coated beetles. He did barf when Zane didn’t let it bother him and just ate the cookie anyway to not be rude. For several hours after all you had to say was bug cookie and Jay would nearly barf. He didn’t find it amusing but some of the rest of us did. Anyway Axl’s also really good at video games too, just as good as Cole; I’m not sure who’s better at them him or Cole. They like to beat each other’s and everyone else’s scores and they’re the only ones who can top each other’s scores. I tried but I couldn’t get close. Aarons not too bad either; he can be kind of strange at times, sometimes real strange like the other day I found him napping on top of one of these large shrooms in a planter in the Under-city. He wasn’t bothered by the birds and bugs that would crawl on him or hang near him. That had a lot of the people scared off him; they were keeping their distance from him like he was a wild animal. He’s not bad though and he’s cool to hang with plus I like how he puts Jay on edge. Even better he likes to join me in teasing Jay. Lance he wishes his hair was as good looking as mine. Sure he may be all famous and rich but he is no master of fi-ayh. He probably wishes to have such hot powers. Robin and Ava they’re pretty cool kids I think though they should take a bit more time for themselves. Sure they may enjoy their work but there is more to life than work. They shouldn’t waste their childhoods away and enjoy some time to be kids to play and have fun. Merloks good, a bit bossy obviously I can see where Clay gets it Merlok being his uncle and all; he can also be a little absent minded at times but I think that’s just cause he’s old like real old. According to the knights it’s over 500 years old! He reminds me quite a bit of Wu. Jestro, I don’t know whose humour is worse his or Jays. I don’t think he should take Jays advice in comedy, it would probably just make his worse.

Aaron- They’re pretty rad. Coles great to hang with and he’s good at video games just don’t accept all the cooking he makes. I get he tries but some of what he makes defiantly won’t agree with yha. He made his chilli the one night wanting to test out some ingredients and us plus some of the scholars here had some with the ninja and man that was unpleasant. We all got sick even their cyber-bro Zane; that’s got to be pretty bad to make a droid sick. Kai’s okay reminds me a bit of Lance but he’s not as obsessed with his hair, wealth or his image as Lance and doesn’t mind hard work, getting roughed up a bit or dirty. He doesn’t mind having scars and he’s proud of them though he likes to embellish where he gets them. He had a black eye the other day; he said he got it from defending some kids from a creature but the others tell me he got it from Zane while they were training. He was being cocky and goofing around and got in the way when Zane went to punch one of the sparring bots. He’s not as tough as he thinks he is. His sister though she is as tough as she thinks she is. She’s great though like Macy watch out when she’s mad; she scares me a bit when she’s like that. Her bro Jay is well weird. I don’t get why but he has this strange belief that I’m not human. As far as I know I’m just human. His weird belief can get a bit annoying but I do love to mess with him over it; or just mess with him in general. It’s hilarious to see his reactions when he gets all freaked out. Like the one day we we’re doing some training at night and he was being paranoid thinking I was a werewolf and would turn when the moon came out. It was super annoying and he wouldn’t stop so I bit him. He panicked so much we had to stop the training. Merlok even had to use a calming spell on him after that. He tricked him into thinking it was a cure to get him to stop freaking out. It was hilarious. For Zane how cool is their cyber-bro! Sure he can be strange at times and he sees the world a lot differently than we do both physically and metaphysically but I think that makes him so much cooler and if it wasn’t for his metal skin you would never know he wasn’t human. It’s sad the people here can’t look past what he is; they’re missing out how cool my cyber-bro is. He’s smart, kind, daring though also wisely cautious and he’s very good at getting into roles when he needs to. The others think he can get too into them but I don’t think so. I think he’s just expressing his thespian side; heck he’s a better actor than Lance even when he is not trying. My green bro Lloyds cool too though I think he needs to take some time to chill. He takes things a little too seriously and lets a lot get to him even things he has no control over. He does a pretty good job at keeping the ninja together though. He tries to hide it but he does struggle a bit with leadership. I don’t blame him; I’ve been there and get it. It’s hard especially when you’re trying to get two individuals who often butt heads to get to work together. I think Clay could really give him a hand with his leadership role; if he wants I could give him some pointers on how to chill.

Axl- I like them. They’re friendly and kind; not like the monsters everyone in this realm thought they would be even though some of them can be a bit scary at times mainly when they’re mad. Coles great; it’s nice to have someone who’s a real challenge at video games to play with though his cooking, I guess it’s not too bad but with a few pointers I think it could get better. I think his problem is that he gets measurements wrong and sometimes uses the wrong ingredients. Another thing about him is it is nice to have someone else around who can do heavy lifting so it’s not always up to me. The problem when you have muscle everyone wants you to do the heavy lifting. The metal man Zanes real nice; he’s friendly and kind. He could probably easily harm anyone or anything but he doesn’t at least not without a good reason so I don’t see why everyone thinks he’s a monster. I’ve dealt with real monsters and he’s far from a monster. You know he knows how to cook and he’s pretty good at it too. He can also eat unlike our Squirebots in fact he has to on a regular basis to stay healthy. I don’t understand entirely how it works I just largely got that it really helps his power source to give him energy and keep him alive. Robin better understands it. I think Zane’s really liked when I’ve made some things just for him. Considering how others in this town we’ve all found ourselves in treat him he deserves some special treatment; I did learn you have to be careful what you give him though. Something’s his body doesn’t handle very well like certain seasonings especially spicy things and too many citrus fruits. You know he also likes video games too though he’s no better than Aaron at them. Strange cause you’d think for someone with a computer brain he would be better at things run by a computer. He’s still very smart though; it’s sometimes hard to understand everything he talks about. Nyas great and tough; she doesn’t look it but she’s quite strong much like my mom. Her pal Jay is not so much. Overall he’s not too bad and can be fun to hang with. He’s very good with video games but is often very talkative and can sometimes talk a little too fast; sometimes real fast. He is very jumpy too but that’s kind of funny. How he reacts when he gets scared is rather humorous as long as you’re not getting shocked when he freaks out. That hurts quite a bit. Kai’s not too bad. He’s a bit like a really mild version of Lance; that makes him easier to hang out with than Lance. He’s not so obsessed with his looks and popularity. He’s pretty good with video games too. Nowhere near as good as me but still fun to play with. Lloyd he’s not too bad; a bit bossy like Clay when we’re working but when we’re just chilling he can be fun to be around and he’s easier to get to chill and play games than Clay. He also isn’t afraid to indulge in sweets like Clay is.

Clay- They’re good, honest and caring warriors who strive to do what’s right and I’m glad they are on our side. They might not have trained to be knights but I would consider them honorary knights; they live up to the knights code very well despite having never heard of it. That being said they don’t always follow orders very well and you have to be careful who works with who or you just end up with problems for example you can pair Cole and Zane with most of us and it works out rather well but never pair Aaron with Jay. That combination never works well nor do you pair Lance and Kai together, they just try to upstage each other all the time. Overall they are pretty good. Coles nice to hang with and I like how he recognises when to take things seriously and when you can goof off, at least most of the time unlike some of them; he also has the qualities of a good leader and I can guarantee if I give him a task he’ll get it done with little hassle. Nya’s pretty good too though she does sometimes take things a little too seriously even if we’re just relaxing and I would have to agree with Aaron she can be a bit scary when she’s mad. Other than that she’s not too bad. Her brother well he and Lance could hold competitions over who takes longer to get ready. At least he’s not overly obsessed with his image or popularity and is more down to earth and a team player though he tends to be a bit cocky. Also I have found Kai and Jay tend to butt heads quite a bit so they don’t work good as a combination. Speaking of Jay how did he ever become a ninja? I get he tries his best but he’s often rather high sprung and likes to try to cut corners if he can instead of following orders… and he talks, a lot even when we need to be quite. He also likes to joke quite a bit too and some of those Jokes… I thought some of Jestros routines were bad I think Jay could give him a run for his money there. He can do his job rather decently if you can get him to focus and keep control of his anxieties. When it comes to Zane he’s good. Smart, kind, responsible, like Cole he recognises when to take things seriously and when you can take a break and goof off; he does though have problems with emotions both understanding them, how to properly react to most of them and the right time to display certain ones. Best not to let him deal with tasks that require an emotional touch or understanding especially on his own. He also has troubles understanding sarcasm, idioms, some kinds of comedy and he can sometimes be a bit hard to understand likely because he’s not truly human but I don’t mind that. It doesn’t interfere much with his ability to work as a team member or to be a good friend. Honestly if it wasn’t for his skin, eyes and hair I wouldn’t know he wasn’t human. Truly if he was just human I’d see him much like Aaron, a special person. He’s defiantly very chill and down to earth like Aaron. As for Lloyd he’s good too and he does a pretty good job as their leader. He also makes a good friend and I have noticed he’s very protective and caring towards the others. I don’t blame him and understand. I didn’t have much of a family growing up either. I was an orphan for a good deal of my life too till my uncle found me. I have noticed this makes him take everything bad that happens to his friends personally and this can really affect his performance and mood. I think he needs to learn just because his team fails or someone gets hurt doesn’t mean it’s his fault. Sometimes things happen that you have no control over; he shouldn’t take it as his fault. Instead he should just accept he has no control and be there for those who need it when they need it.

Macy- They’re not too bad. Nyas great to hang with and it’s nice to meet a girl who’s not all into that girly stuff and would rather fight the monsters than need saving from them not to mention able to kick their butts. Her brother on the other hand he and Lance go good together though he’s more down to earth and nowhere near as annoying as Lance. He’s still very cocky and into himself though but it’s not too bad. He still at least values being a part of the team and will put his image aside to do what’s right. Lance should take some pointers from him about teamwork. Jay sure he’s sometimes rather funny but I don’t really get what Nya sees in him. He’s very jumpy, quick to panic, a bit moody and often chooses the wrong times to crack a joke; and I thought Jestros jokes were bad some of his can be worse. He at least tries his best to be a ninja and when he puts his mind to it can be rather competent with it so that’s at least something. Lloyds pretty good though he was a bit weird to me at first when he heard I was a princess; you know giving me weird looks, keeping his distance, didn’t talk much to me. He’s since warmed up to me and is no longer so stand offish. He’s apparently had some bad experiences with princesses in the past. I can forgive that and I can promise him I’m probably nothing like the princesses he’s used to. If anything Lance is like the typical princess on our team. That aside he’s very good at what he does though I think most of us have noticed he tends to be a little hard on himself especially if things go wrong or one of his friends gets hurt. Coles pretty cool too and a pretty good challenge at arm wrestling and video games. He may seem tough with a rough personality but deep down he’s really quite a softy and cares deeply even if he doesn’t show it much. Zane he’s so nice and kind how can the people of this town we’re staying in think he’s a monster? Sure he might look scary to some, some kids and even some adults are scared of his appearance, but he’s no monster. Also he could be dangerous in fact he is, I’d say probably the most dangerous of them all, but he’d never hurt anyone unless you truly deserve it like Lance. Anyway he’s very chill and respectful so if you make him mad then you’ve really done something wrong. Heck chickens are more of monsters than he is yet you don’t see the people considering them monsters so why single out Zane as a monster. He’d never attack you for looking at him wrong or walking by their feeding area… if anything the people are the monsters thinking someone so innocent is a monster and treating him so cruelly. Anyway you know I can understand why the ninja sometimes forget he truly isn’t human. Me and the other knights sometimes forget he isn’t exactly human either. All in all I’m glad to have him and the other ninja on our side.

Lance- I guess they’re not too bad even though they’re all commoners. None have as good as hair as mine that is for sure even though Kai tries; also can what that nindroid has for hair truly be called hair? It’s all a synthetic replica. Anyway Kai wishes he was as good looking and famous as me. For a commoner he’s not too bad and he’s good at video games. Jay I’m not sure who’s comedy is worse; his or Jestros. He is pretty funny though when you get him all freaked out and boy is it easy to get him startled or worked up. Just bring Aaron near him or pretend to hit on his girl. He gets all anxious and worked up then. You do have to be careful though. If you scare him too much you might get shocked and from what I hear that can hurt quite a lot. Speaking of his girl Nya she’s not too bad. She is a bit bossy though and rather scary, especially if you make her mad. She’s pretty strong too so be careful if you get in a fight… she gave me quite the rough time the one training session. So I called the earth one rustic and mistook the metal one as a squirebot for a while and I might of made a bit of fun of her boyfriend but that didn’t mean she had to be so rough on me. Also she’s not impressed by my looks; how can someone not like my looks? Cole he’s not too bad, I like that he doesn’t mind to get dirty and can do heavy lifting; means less of that kind of work for me. He is also very good at video games but he’s not so good with his cooking. It reminds me of Axl’s family cooking; weird and doesn’t always look or smell too appetizing. Nor does it always taste good and you’re not going to feel to good from some of it. No offense to him but Zane kinda creeps me out. So I mistook him for a squirebot for a couple hours, maybe a day or two, but you would think he’d be chill enough to let that go he seems the chill type even more chill than Aaron but no. I see now why Kai and Jay warned me not to make him mad. Got some nasty bruising and stuck in ice for like an hour; I hope that’s the worst he can be if not well I don’t want to find out about that. You know he may be the bot equivalent of warm blooded, his skins actually quite warm to the touch well except his hands sometimes, but when he gets mad the thermostat drops like crazy and he can freeze almost anything real quick which is bad when you were drinking from a metal soda can at the time he snaps! He’ll also show you that he’s not as gentle as he appears when he’s mad. Yha when he’s like that I can see how people might think he’s a monster. As for Lloyd, he’s kind of like a mini Clay. Rather bossy especially if you don’t follow orders or pull your weight and he doesn’t relax or chill much. He’s not too bad though. If you can get him when he’s not all in super ninja mode he’s pretty cool to hang with. I have also found it’s easy to get him off your back if you give him some candies or cookies. He’s willing to ease up on his bossiness then.

Jestro- They’re okay I guess. I don’t think many of them care for my comedy acts but they at least don’t make fun of me and are rather nice to me. They do kind of scare me though with those powers of theirs. I get they’re not going to hurt me unless I do something to anger them but it still makes me nervous. Out of all of them I find Jay the best to hang with. He doesn’t mind my comedy and honestly enjoys it. He’s also the friendliest to me and always willing to cheer me up. Nya’s not too bad but she can be scary especially if she’s angry but she’s at least friendly and has been nice to me even though she doesn’t get my comedy. Her brother doesn’t get my comedy either but he at least doesn’t make fun of it. He has been fairly nice to me and likes to play video games though he tends to get a little cocky and hot headed when he plays. He can’t spontaneously combust or make others combust when he’s mad can he or was Lance just messing with me? I don’t know what it is but something about the metal man scares me. He’s so human like but his eyes are weird and he kind of looks scary. He can also make it kinda cold if he’s mad and I hear if you make him real mad he can freeze you solid! Other than that he’s not too bad and is very nice but he is sometimes hard to understand; he’s a bit weird and sometimes uses a lot of big strange words. Also it’s real hard to get him to laugh; does he understand comedy or am I that bad at it? Coles nice and friendly even though he looks intimidating and he doesn’t make fun of my acts even though I can tell he really doesn’t get them much. Lloyds very nice and he likes to try and get me involved even if the others don’t want me to be which is real nice. He’s friendly and kind even if he doesn’t get my acts.

Clays notes on team pairings:

Ninja with the knights: 

My workings on how the two groups are with each other:

My assumption is the Knights are slightly older than the ninja with the exception of Robin, Ava and Merlok; only by a few years though not by much (only around one, two or three years no more).

The knights would at first be wary of the ninja due to their powers unsure how they work, what they can do with them and if the ninja are good or bad. After working together for a little while they would grow to trust them but are still made nervous when some of them are made mad worried the ninja might hurt them with their powers. While most of them try to hide it Robin and Ava tend not to hide that the ninja scare them. They are all particularly unnerved when Kai, Nya, Cole and especially Zane are made mad. They are also nervous around Jay when he’s nervous or panicking.

They’d get along fairly well once they come to trust each other however sometimes they can annoy each other at times. Jay tends to easily get on all the knights nerves particularly Clay, Macy and Aaron. Clay is easily annoyed by some of the ninja largely Kai and Jay; he doesn’t like when they disobey orders or joke about duties nor when they don’t follow their orders. Macy also doesn’t like when they don’t follow orders nor when they don’t take things seriously. Aarons fine tolerating much of their ways but doesn’t like if they goof around when they are supposed to be taking things serious like in combat or during a serious mission; he is also not fond of Jays paranoia to him but quickly finds he can have fun with it and others are willing to help him with it. Jay and Kai of course are not happy with how serious they tend to take things and how strict Clay can be. Lloyd, Cole and Nya are rather pleased to have others around that can keep Kai and Jay under control when they’re not around.

All the ninja are annoyed by Lance considering them peasants or commoners. They also don’t like when he tries to brush his tasks off onto them or flaunt his wealth and fame around them. They also don’t like when he refers to them, anything they do or have like the monastery or Bounty as rustic. They at first thought it a compliment and didn’t realise till Macy explained it to them that for Lance the term rustic is a code word for run down and dirty and not a compliment. He made the mistake of calling Cole rustic once and Cole taught him not to do that by scaring him by lifting up a large planter which included some plants including a large one in it above his head to show off his strength. Lance was cautious with what he said around Cole after that.

Nya doesn’t like when Aaron and Axl joke around with Jay especially when they get the others involved. Their joking and pranks combined with the stress of the realm they have found themselves in which is full of things that scare him can sometimes make Jay paranoid for a while which then he annoys everyone else with his panicking or paranoid thinking.

While working together Clay generally takes over as leader, he doesn’t do anything to become it he just sort of falls into the role and the others are overall fine with it just going with it. Clay is not fond that the ninja don’t always take things seriously even when on missions. While when they have to the ninja listen to him when things are not too serious Jay and Kai tend to joke around or slack off like Lance does to his authority which Clay is not fond of and he’ll tolerate it to a mild extent before intervening. Cole, Lloyd and Zane occasionally like seeing Clay reprimand the two for goofing or slacking off. Knowing it bothers them Clay often makes their punishments extra training or hard work particularly gross and unpleasant tasks like garbage duty, dishes and cleaning bathrooms (especially when he makes them use nothing but a tooth brush to do it) or animal pens. Lloyd, Cole and Zane are the only ones to respect his leadership at all times and follow his orders. Nya will listen but will also do her own thing if she feels things call for it. Clay tolerates it because he knows she’s still trying to work and takes things seriously for the task and is not shirking duties or goofing off. He’s also nervous of her when she gets mad, most of the boys are, so doesn’t want to risk angering her.

With Clay taking charge Lloyd is more relaxed and willing to show a less serious and more fun side. Lloyd does though tend to take over as second in command along with Cole particularly to keep the ninja in check. Most of the knights are fine with this but Lance doesn’t like it too much not liking being ordered around by others particularly those he considers peasants, basically anyone not as rich as him or of royalty. He quickly found though how to get Lloyd to lighten up on him, giving him candies or other sweats. Cole is not as easily persuaded or tricked and Lance learns quickly not to mess with him; he also is a bit nervous of Cole due to his super strength.

To get on their good side and get out of hard work with them Lance finds a way to bribe each of the ninja. He combines well chosen words with treats; He uses candies and cookies for Lloyd; cake, cookies, any baked goods really for Cole; oils, milkshakes and ice creams for Zane; candy or coin for Jay and hair gel and candies/junk food for Kai. He tries with Nya using cookies, coins and other items but she isn’t easily fooled or persuaded by it. Cole and Zane aren’t easily fooled by it either but depending on task and feelings will accept the bribe and do the task often to just get him off their backs and get the job done.

Lance made the mistake once of thinking Zane was like a squirebot and ordered him to do something’s. He kept it up for a few days without realising it. Not liking being ordered around like a servant and seen as a simple bot Zane eventually snapped and made sure to remind Lance he was not a Squirebot and not to be ordered around or taken advantage of. Roughed him up a bit with a Spinjitsu tornado and froze him in ice in the main hall for over an hour causing Lance to become a little scared by Zane and disliking being alone with or close to him. Kai left him in the ice for an hour to learn a lesson. Everyone else was fine with that. Kai and Jay warned Lance not to make Zane mad but he didn’t listen. He learned his lesson after that.

While no stranger to robots the knights are still rather surprised by Zane not used to one as complex and human like as him and some of his behaviours and mannerisms sometimes confuse them. Robin is so fascinated by Zane he is often making Zane uncomfortable with tons of questions often of an uncomfortable nature, following him around even when Zane wants personal time and frequently likes to observe him making Zane uncomfortable around Robin. Ava is also highly fascinated by him but respects his space and feelings more than Robin.

I could envision Aaron finding out a laser pointer reflects off some of Zanes metal skin and that he could get distracted by it like a cat. He spent some time messing with Zane who was confused where the light was coming from causing him to as Aaron sees it act like a cat as he looks for the lights source. He wasn’t trying to be mean just wanting to have some fun. He apologised for what he was doing afterwards.

Axl, Cole and Jay like to have eating contests. Cole takes cooking lessons from Axl. Kai, Aaron and Lance have a contest to see who can handle hot peppers the best; neither can beat Kai.

Lance likes to try and impress Nya even though she is not interested. She just ignores it. Jay on the other hand is not pleased by this. If some of the others particularly Lance or Aaron interact with her he gets nervous and sometimes defensive often trying to butt in or interfere in their interactions sometimes leading to embarrassing or awkward moments sometimes to the amusement of others. Ex; once they were in a lab looking at some dangerous insects for a lesson on potential hazards they could face. Aaron just happened to be near her and talks to her. Jay butt in leaning on a terrarium accidently bumping the lid off letting the beetles inside crawl under and up his sleeve; he isn’t aware of it till Aaron points it out (Uh aren’t the beetles in that tank you’ve opened dangerous?) making him freak out. Even worse the beetles defence is to leak an oil from under their shell that burns skin and his reaction to them causes them to release the liquid. He had burns and blisters on his arm for a few days and had to use creams on it to heal and soothe them.

Nya and Macy like to hang out for some girl time and love going over different fighting techniques with each other plus how they could each beat the boys in combat. They can also count on each other to tell the truth when one of the boys, mainly Lance and Kai, are bragging about something. (M- is it true Kai took on a bear once and beat it on his own with just his bare hands?/N- well he did face it with his bare hands but he was losing to it, would have really lost to it if Cole and Zane hadn’t acted quickly and bargained it away with a bigger fish. It was all Kais fault he ended up in a fight with it really. It was a group fishing trip and if he had just thrown the fish he’d caught at the same time as the bear to the bear like Zane told him too when it grabbed it from his lure he wouldn’t have ended up in a fight with it.)

They all like to compete in video games to see who is best at them often trying to beat each other’s high scores. Cole and Axl are tied as the top players.

Aaron likes to mess with Jay and play pranks on him finding amusement in his reactions to things that scare him. Cole, Axl, Lance, Kai and even sometimes Zane like to join him in this. They trick him into having candies with weird effects which cause him to panic as he thinks he’s been poisoned or cursed; they place insects and small critters on his bed or near him when he least expects it to startle him; they play into his paranoia’s around Aaron Zane even able to use his cloaking ability to help with this; etc.

Jay can’t understand how Aaron can be so relaxed, upbeat and fearless so often even in the face of danger. He comes up with some strange ideas to explain it such as he’s under a curse or has worms in his brain that are making him fearless or that he’s not really human. When he learns of some of Jays paranoia Aaron uses his ideas in his pranks on Jay. Sometimes the others especially Kai and Cole join Aaron in messing with Jay over his ideas on Aaron. E.g.; Aaron to Jay after he hears some of Jays paranoia just to play with him- Jay thinks his last name of Fox is a reference to his family having a were-wolf curse and he’s got the curse. Aaron teases him with “Hey bro you know why my last names Fox? Wait for nightfall and I’ll show you, hope you can run bro cause I have the urge to hunt and crave for the taste of human chickens.” He then mimics a wolf howl while Jay backs away from him unnerved.

Kai and Lance like to go over cosmetic routines and hair products. They also like to see who has more followers on social media.

Clay comes off as the older brother figure for everyone even for Zane and Cole. Lloyd especially tends to open up to Clay even when he doesn’t do anything to entice it. Some of them like Nya, Kai and even Lloyd tend to treat Macy like a big sister and she doesn’t have to do much to get them to open up on something.

Lloyd is at first wary and distrusting of Macy since she is a princess but quickly warms up to her as she doesn’t act like a princess nor wants to be treated like a princess and prefers being a knight.

Cole and Axl like to practice their music skills together. They tend to do it in private as Cole is not comfortable practising around the others afraid of being teased.

The ninja are impressed and amazed by the knights training deck. Lloyd and Nya love it the most; while generally enjoying it depending on the environment or threats chosen it can unnerve Jay. Kai is generally uncomfortable with it and takes a while to get used to it due to his distrust of technology. Cole and Zane don’t mind and find it rather impressive.

Robin loves to work with Jay and Nya when their creating things or working. He especially loves to work with them when they are working on Zane even though Zane is not comfortable with that. Ava likes to join them sometimes when they are working on Zane who is not comfortable with the attention.

Lloyd comes off as a big brother to Robin and Ava. Cole and Kai also come off as big brother figures to the two though Robin and Ava are nervous around Kai when he’s angry afraid he might burst into flames or burst one of them into flames.

Wu and Merlok would hang out having tea and talking about their students going over their skills, flaws, successes and fails and how they don’t listen to their advice as much as they should.

Pixal and Ava would get along quite well. Like Zane Pixal would probably be uncomfortable with Robins enthusiasm to their being.

Jay would teach Jestro jokes and how to be better at comedy.

Zane and Pixal are quite confused about the Squirebots who are much simpler, both in build and in mind, than they are.

When it comes to who is best with whom given personality and traits this is likely their relations: Zane would have the highest relations with Clay Aaron and Merlok; the lowest relations for him would be with Lance and Robin due to his enthusiasm to his being. Coles highest relations would be with Axl Aaron and Merlok and would likely not do the greatest with Lance. Lloyds highest relations would be with Clay, Merlok and Macy while his lowest relations would be with Lance; he might also have a good relation with Jestro understanding his desire to be accepted and have family. Nyas highest would be with Clay, Macy, Ava and Robin while she would have the least good relation with Lance. Jay would be best with Axl and Jestro while he’d be the worst with Aaron and Lance. Kai would be the highest with Lance and Clay while would have the lowest relation with Axl. Pixal would have highest relations with Ava, Merlok and Clay and lowest with Lance. Aaron would have the highest relations with Cole, Zane and Lloyd while being the worst with Jay. Axl would be best with Cole and Jay while he would be the lowest with Nya. Clay would have the best relations with Cole, Zane and Lloyd and would be lowest with Jay and Kai. Macy would be highest with Nya, Cole and Lloyd and lowest with Jay. Lances highest relations would be with Kai and lowest with Zane and Lloyd. Jestro would be highest with Jay and Lloyd while lowest with Zane simply because Zane would not understand his comedy very much often thinking too much into it.

To read the story this is related to you can find it here:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/34894561/chapters/86888878 

You can also find images pertaining to the story here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project

[robobirdie]

Samples from Jay and Nyas care book for Nindroids

In my story Anatomy of a droid this book is just shown and talked about but I imagine it to be filled with all sorts of things making a sort of care and problem solving guide and holds examples of problems the others caused and explanations for the others about why these problems arose and how to avoid them in the future. This is some of the stuff I thought could appear in the book. It would including some stuff like this:

The Book contains sections like:

The basics for caring for them, sections for each of their systems, a section on their senses, a section on basic repairs for them, a section on reboots and recalibrations that they can do for them along with other tech works, a section listing dangers for them and things that are safe for them with explanations on why things are safe or not and a section dedicated to each of them covering unique features traits and behaviors for each (one for Zane and one for Pixal).

Basics: for everyday things like what they can and can’t have, things to watch out for, things not to do with or around them, a bit on how they think, daily care like feeding and cleaning, normal behaviors, their equivalents to being sick, etc.

Examples from basics:

Remember for their safety we can't talk much about the specifics of nindroids or care for them in public and you can only tell or get help from others if Pixal and Zane have deemed it okay to do so or trust the individual. If someone asks you about them be vague; we don't want knowledge getting to the wrong people. That can easily prove very bad. This has led to a lot of myths about them but unless the myths are harmful for them it's better the public has them than the truths. If you're going to play around and encourage some myths make sure to be nice about it don't get absurd or scary with them. Many already have fears and beliefs that nindroids inherently are very dangerous and secretly want to destroy or enslave humanity. We've never seen proof they inherently wish to do this and this belief is dangerous for Zane and Pixals safety and the overall image to nindroids. Don't do anything to further encourage or prolong the belief. Also careful what you say. We know Cole didn't mean any harm when comparing Zane to an Alsatian Shepherd but that has led to some kids gifting Zane dog biscuits; luckily the shelters always happy to take them.

If they are low on energy do not feed them batteries. We don’t know which of you did that, Zane refused to tattle, but we know it was one of you. Given past records we’re pretty sure it was you Kai. No matter who it was don’t feed droids batteries. For one that is not how batteries work, two while in them and still fairly intact the battery will shock them and thirdly as it’s digested the acids and chemicals in the batteries will disrupt their systems normal flora and chemical balance making them sick and larger batteries like D batteries can get stuck in their systems.

Remember when working with them to have your shots particularly for tetanus up to date. Tetanus is a very unpleasant condition, has no cure and will end your carrier as a ninja. Zane and Pixal can’t help it if they’re harbouring tetanus, the bacteria just has a strange love for making metal its home and with a great deal of metal to their bodies they have a high chance of harbouring the stuff. They can easily keep it off the outside of their bodies however can’t do much about the inside. Also even though synthetics coat the interior of their mouths and enamel coats their teeth covering the metal the bacteria is still present there. Normally they won’t bite but when being restrained especially if they’re having a bad dream they tend to bite in defence. Along with Tetanus they can unintentionally be harbouring and transfer other dangerous bacteria and even some viruses, fungi and parasites without realising it since they aren't affected by it so won't realise they are carrying them. Remember how Jay accidently got Serpentine-pox making his skin scaly and itchy for a week because Zane was accidently carrying the disease or how we all got ringworm because Zane had helped a cat that had it and didn’t realise at the time that even though he’s immune that he could spread it to the rest of us. They try to keep themselves from being a danger but sometimes they have no control over it or accidents can happen. Best to be safe over sorry.

There are a few viruses known to affect nindroids, before some of you freak out no you can't catch these viruses (unless you have cybernetic implants) they affect droids only. These will cause various systems to malfunction causing them to work improperly and cause pain. They can also cause balance issues and navigation issues or even mess with their senses. They keep their antivirus software up to date so it is very unlikely they should have problems with these however you never know. Despite their precautions things can happen not to mention while they can defend against technical attacks they can't do much against magical attacks which can give them these or comparable conditions. Signs they have a virus can include: random and often unexpected passing out, being tired often sleeping more, poor balance and co-ordination, poor focus, trouble thinking, digestive issues, coughing, internal pains, poor communication (speaking may sound like gibberish, be backwards or they are using some other language and might not realise it), senses might randomly shut down on them leaving them blind, unable to hear anything or even feel anything and they may even become aggressive and attack others (Jay: I consider one of these viruses Robot Rabies. It's kind of like it; they don't foam at the mouth but will drool a bit and loose co-ordination and balance while becoming uncontrollably aggressive. Luckily they can't transmit it to us however they can give it to each other so if they are showing signs like this keep them separate and don't let them connect to each other; the virus downloads to any cybernetic system it encounters on its own. You might have to lock them up till we can purge the virus from their coding; the virus prevents them from easily being put offline so that won't work to keep them in control. You have to override the virus to knock them out and none of you have the skills or knowledge for that.) Magical caused conditions are much less predictable and cause behaviors and symptoms they usually are incapable of having or do things to them that a simple virus can't. If you suspect they may have a virus we'll deal with it. The computers in the Hanger bay can easily diagnose it for you but none of you have the skills to remove it. Do not try to remove a virus yourselves; you could easily mess up and cause serious and potentially dangerous problems. Best thing you can do till we can help them is keep them calm, safe and comfortable till we can help them.

If they are as Kai described it once 'glitching' which is simply functioning problems and/or falling asleep or offline at odd times that's more likely a sign they are low on energy not a virus. Just give them something to eat and let them rest. It will take a while for them to get back to normal functioning levels after this so don't freak out and think somethings wrong because they aren't better in a few minutes. It takes them a while to recover from low energy; it's not an instant process. Just think you're not fully recovered rate after lunch or a nap either.

Magnets and Droids: the metal of Zane and Pixals body is titanium which is not magnetic so magnets won’t stick to them however they can prove dangerous to them as they disrupt their navigation sensors and balance and strong magnets can confuse their sense of direction. Remember if you’re going to play with magnets to have fun with them do it during down time and not when we could be on a mission so you can hide magnets in their PJ’s or street attire for a prank not in our uniforms. Just remember that screw up Jay did by hiding that surprisingly strong fridge magnet in Zane's hood and we lost him that mission only to find he’d wandered to the totally opposite side of town because the magnet messed with his sense of direction and he didn’t realise he was going the wrong way because of it. Also don’t feed them magnets. Even when inside them the magnets will mess up their sense of balance and navigation and make them sick. Cole we know it was an accident that you accidently mixed fridge magnets into the cake you practised baking and got Zane to try. Next time when getting something out of the fridge leave the bowl on the counter and not try to hold it, the door open and get what you need at the same time. We can’t fully blame you however as Zane holds some of the blame since he did sense something off about your cake and should have declined instead of having some; he was not wanting to be rude to you. All we’re trying to say is be more cautious and aware of what you’re doing.

Do not worry it is normal for them to sneeze. Sneezing means they have likely got something up their nose that isn’t supposed to be there. Usually it is just something like dust or smoke that they can get out on their own but on rare occasions they have ended up with a live insect up their nose. Usually they can get it out on their own if not you may have to use tweezers to help get it out. Before you complain about the task remember they’re not pleased or comfortable with it either so you’re both finding it unpleasant. If the tweezers don’t work you will have to use water to flush out the insect. Yes this isn’t pleasant for them either.

On rare occasions we have found unexpected critters sheltering in their bodies usually just under their skin or in hatches or ports in their bodies. Usually they can get them out on their own but sometimes they may need help. Remember to be careful when helping them so you don’t cause damages or pain; remember you two in particular Lloyd and Kai if you think this task and the critters you’re removing like spiders are creepy remember how unpleasant it is for them. How would you feel to have a spider un-wantedly living in you especially by your heart? On the less creepy side not all unexpected critters are unpleasant. Remember the time we kept hearing weird noises from Zane and he was acting a bit weird during a mission and we found he was carrying around a duckling in one of the storage ports in his abdomen to keep it warm while he waited to get a chance to take it to a rescue.

Do not play around with those shocking pranks with them. What feels like a minor shock to us feels like a major shock to them and causes problems for their hearts and temporary disruptions to their nervous systems. It's not just unpleasant but painful for them.

If they are having digestive problems you can give them rice or some form of flavoured milk with their medicine mixed in to help make them better. Do not mix oil in with anything you are trying to make them better not make problems worse. You can give them things with ginger to help. Their medicine is specially formulated for droids and is toxic to humans; it won’t kill you but will make you really sick. Do not drink it; this means you Cole.

If you find them passed out from the heat bring them to a safe location out of the sun preferably indoors. Putting a fan nearby blowing on them can help them cool down. Let them rest till they're cool but keep an eye on them. If they don’t seem to be cooling down or you want to help them out wrap an ice pack in a towel and place it in a compartment in their chests for about twenty minutes. That should help them cool down. You can also give them ice or other cool items like popsicles to consume to help cool their core temperatures. Make sure nothing emitting heat is near them and if you have to you can dress them in lighter less covering clothes to help them loose heat. A cool shower or placing them in a cold storage room can also be very helpful.

Let sleeping droids lie. They need their rest just like us and do not like to be disturbed. If they are sleeping they likely have a good reason for doing so therefore do not disturb them unless it is absolutely necessary. Warning if Zane is having a nightmare be careful about waking him or touching him; you could get hit or punched and Kai knows just how painful that can be and Zane didn't hit him with his full strength that time and he got a bloody nose and black eye. Sometimes placing a teddy in his arms can settle him a bit. Playing the audio we put on that special speaker which is stored in his nightstand also helps. Only try to wake him if it is absolutely necessary or he is in danger of hurting himself like falling out of bed. Pixals not as bad and doesn't suffer bad dreams as badly as Zane but she can still be just as dangerous so be very careful when dealing with her bad dreams to. The same methods for calming him down work on her too.

Droids are intolerant to citrus so be very guarded over giving them any citrus fruits, anything with extracts from citrus and any juices with citrus. If you do give them anything with citrus give them only a small amount. Anymore and they'll get sick and you'll need to give them some of their 'medicine'. Pop is also not good for them; the very high acidity to the stuff is bad for their systems disrupting the natural biota of their systems not to mention the acid used in them is citric based. We also recommend you don’t give them Coles chilli; we’ve had enough problems from that already. Also some of Wu’s special teas are a bad idea; droids react a bit differently (sometimes very differently and potentially dangerously) to the teas. Be careful if you give them any and know it may have unexpected and potentially dangerous effects for the rest of us.

Keep them indoors during thunderstorms, they can easily get struck by lightening and that will seriously stress their hearts. If they are unfortunate to get struck bring them indoors as quickly as possible to keep them from getting struck again. If struck they will get knocked offline. Just let them rest but keep a close eye on them. Hook up one of the portable system monitors for them to keep tabs on their vitals. They most likely will need a reboot after getting struck; for the reboot go to the chapter on reboots and recalibrations.

Remember their senses are stronger and more sensitive than ours meaning they are easily overstimulated. Do not play music loudly close to them, strong smells like from cologne bothers them (do not use much of it), certain fabrics and materials irritate their sense of touch; if they say something is bothering them it is so don’t joke with it. When their senses are overstimulated it causes functioning problems and slows their processors as their brains try to process the excess sensory information along with normal functioning's. Not only will this slow their brains functioning but can also cause problems for their emotional circuits making them at mild moody. Also take note if somethings bothering their senses they could be sensing something dangerous or serious for us such as toxic gasses that we are unaware of; sometimes they don’t realise or understand certain dangers as dangers for us. They just seem odd or irritating to droids.

Remember emotions are difficult for them to understand so try not to play around with them to them. Also don't assume because they are not showing anything that they are not feeling anything. They might not know or understand how to show or deal with an emotion so opt not to show anything to avoid confusions or problems. They also have a tendency to hide emotions especially if somethings wrong so watch for hints of this, they might be very small, but these can lead to bigger problems down the line. It's best if we deal with the problem as soon as we can and not let it prolong and get worse.

Sarcasm is also strange to them so be careful how you say or word things. Also be wary with idioms and common sayings, if they don’t understand them they may take it too literal. Remember Cole’s comment about being hungry enough to eat a horse and Zane made horse for dinner. That was just a weird consequence, we probably don’t want to find out how they will react to something like ‘break a leg’, ‘get something out of your system’, ‘give someone the cold shoulder’, or ‘beat around the bush’. At best they won’t understand them and just get confused at worst someone could get hurt.

If their skin is cut yes they can feel it, don’t poke at exposed wires that hurts too. They sense pain differently from us but they still feel it. If you are with one of them and us and the other isn’t around to deal with a scratch in their skin make sure nothing is exposed. If wires are sticking out carefully and gently put them back in their skin then wrap a cloth around the area like a bandage to keep debris out and from anything falling out or getting in. A small insect getting in their body could cause problems by chewing through wires or into their cooling system. Do not try to fix the damage yourself; we’re talking to you Kai. Repairing this damage requires a delicate touch not just plain welding like on a mech. We will do it or they will help each other fix it do not try to fix it yourselves. If they are cut and leaking cooling fluids, don’t worry they’ll shut that system down to stop the leak till the damage is fixed, don’t worry it is safe to touch the stuff and help them clean it up; it is not safe however to eat so wash it off your hands especially, and this is for you Cole, before eating. If you want to know more about these fluids check the section on their internal systems. They will explain the various substances in their body more thoroughly.

Do not give them bubble gum. They tend to just swallow it not realising it's not editable. This won't lead to too much problems, usually it just passes through their systems without problems, but it's not healthy for them and too much of it could build up and get stuck in their systems especially if other foreign debris it can get stuck to is in there (nindroids have a bad habit of eating things they aren’t supposed to; They get confused over what is and isn’t editable for them) which means it will have to be manually removed and we will make you do that remember this.

Yes they can get intestinal parasites but the chances of that are slim and plain de-wormers are effective at treating this. No despite what Kai thinks they can't transfer lice to you; they don't have blood which is what those bugs feed on so the bugs don't bother with them. They can't transfer fleas or ticks either again cause they have nothing for these insects. If you get them you got them from someone else not Zane or Pix. Maybe Kai be more careful where you put your hood in the future.

If for some reason they need you to help clean themselves cause they are having troubles doing it themselves you can use regular soaps and shampoos on them, they prefer using these. They both like smells reminiscent of woodlands, rain and lakes or seas. There is though a special cleaner for them. The main difference between this cleaner and normal ones is it helps better remove grease like from oils and neutralizes their cooling fluid and synth-regrow making them safer for others to touch. You use this cleaner if they have oil, their cooling fluid or synth-regrow on them. You can also use it to clean these materials off yourselves.

No noises from machines aren't some secret Robot language this is a myth so don't ask them if they can understand the noises. It's just noise to them like it is to us; we're especially addressing you here Kai.

Yes we know it scares you Kai that nindroids are highly carnivorous but this is the safest and by far most efficient diet and anatomy for nindroids and don't worry you have a greater chance of Cole eating you than Zane or Pixal; unless of course someone messes with their minds then we can't tell the chances of this happening but there is a low chance that will happen. We have a few methods in place to try and keep others from messing with their minds. We will admit though that these precautious don't always work and we have not been able to figure out a way to keep magical effects from messing with their minds. Also, Kai and Lloyd this is for you two, as far as we can tell neither of them appears to have programing that tells them to enslave or conquer humanity; at least we're pretty sure they don't. That doesn't mean something can't happen though to make them try to do this so we just have to be careful to make sure this doesn't happen.

Remember Zane and Pixal have extreme trust in us letting them put themselves in highly vulnerable positions like being put offline and for us to work on them including on all parts of their anatomy. Let’s not do anything to hurt this trust. If something happens to them we’re some of the few that can help them so we need their trust in order to keep them safe and well. Once damaged a nindroids trust can be hard to regain. Do not do anything, even as a prank, with them while they are in a vulnerable state especially don’t mess around with anything of their anatomy. Jay setting Zanes speech to pirate speak annoyed Zane and stressed his trust in Jay till Jay could prove he wasn’t going to do that, anything like that or mess with anything else of his body for a while.

Systems: an overall guide to their various internal systems. Each goes into detail about each system including how it works, what parts are involved with it, unique features to them, dangers associated with them, how to tell if the system is malfunctioning and how to fix the malfunction, how to work with these parts and repair them, etc. For their digestive system it includes a list of things that are harmful for them or that they can't have and a list of things that are good for them or safe to have. Examples:

              Nervous System: includes their senses.

Their neural systems runs off a great deal of electricity so if they get injured and wires are exposed and you touch these wires you will get shocked and it’s quite a shock. Wait for them to shut off power to the region damaged then you can work with the wires.

Yes they can feel things so if you hit them don’t wonder if they can feel it. They do feel it; their senses of course just perceive things a bit differently from ours but they still feel it.

Because it runs off electricity their nervous systems are sensitive to electricity.

Their base vision is the same as ours however they have several added spectrums they can see in that they can turn on and off when needed. This includes the ability to see in the UV spectrum and to see temperatures. These added features however have the negative effect of making their vision sensitive to bright light; this is why they are irritated by bright light such as the midday sun and when your phone or computer screen is too bright. These features do let them see better in the dark but while better than our night vision it is not as good as a cats. Don’t joke that they have the eyes of a cat you’ll just confuse them. Commenting they have the vision of a cat or any other animal can also cause them to lecture you on the differences between their vision and an animals and we know that involves a lot of big complex words most of you don’t understand well so unless you want to hear them just keep your comments to yourselves.

Like with animals their sense of smell includes an ability to detect pheromones which means yes they can smell your fear. It also means they can smell if your ill so if they tell you that you smell odd or off don't brush it off. You might want to look into why they are commenting this. Remember how they both once kept commenting Cole smelt strange but was ignoring their observations and we found out later after we all got it that he had pink eye and was trying to hide it? They could detect the changes in pheromones the disease was causing to his body. They didn't understand or know the cause of what they sensed as off they could just sense something different. Even if it really isn't a huge problem don't just brush off what they are sensing as nothing. There could be something serious to it; we're pretty sure none of us want pink eye again right?

              Respiratory System:

When submerged under water like instinct they stop their breathing to prevent getting water in their lungs. Sometimes however this behaviour may malfunction and they might accidently breathe in water. If that happens to prevent problems like mold and bad bacteria developing in their lungs you will have to drain the excess water. This is a simple procedure that shouldn’t be too hard for the likes of you to complete.

Parts for this system are pale pinkish in color and like all his synthetic organs dark strands of wiring are visible in the substance.

              Cooling System:

This system runs all through their bodies and is used to maintain a stable and equal body temperature. The system consists of various tubes that hold a thermal carrying liquid which is constantly pumped through their bodies to maintain and redistribute heat and cold. The systems center is a decent sized structure housed in an insulated casing near their hearts. The structure includes a compressor which cools the fluid.

The fluids in their cooling systems operate through heat transfer. They are not toxic or dangerous but if consumed will make you sick. Always wash your hands after dealing with it. If they lose cooling fluid from an injury it can be replenished. Let us or them do this as you have to seal the damaged tubing first before refilling it.

If they receive an injury that damages their cooling system causing it to bleed don't worry too much they will shut down the system to prevent loosing too much of the liquid however this is dangerous as it means their temperature controls are offline and they can very easily overheat. You need to repair the damage as quickly as possible so they can get the system started or take measures to help keep their body core and head cool. You can repair the damage yourselves just be careful. You will need to use Synth-repair to do it so follow the instructions found in the basic repairs section very carefully. Remember Synth-repair is dangerous for our skin so be careful.

              Digestive System:

The digestive systems of droids are very dangerous so great caution needs to be taken when working with it. We recommend none of you try any work on it and leave this kind of work for a professional. Coles the only one cautious enough to safely do such work but all of you are too grossed out by it to be safe with this kind of work.

Warning if you do something that ends up with them swallowing something they aren’t supposed to eat and it could get stuck in their systems or could hurt them like cutting up their insides we’re going to make you remove the items with your bare hands. Yes this is very dangerous and yes their digestive fluids will eat some of your skin but maybe that injury will teach you to be more careful in the future.

The fluids in their digestive systems consist of hydrochloric acid which is stronger than that of humans as well as very powerful enzymes and bacteria much like what you’d find in a bear or vulture. If you get them on your skin you have to wash them off as quickly as possible as they will easily eat away at your flesh. If they do eat away at your skin you’re going to need to use a special cleaner to stop the enzymes and bacteria from continuing to eat away at you and you will get a pretty nasty infection from it. Don't worry it's easy to treat and generally won't leave scarring. Do not worry if their systems do digest some of you it won’t turn them into man eaters nor will them biting you do that despite what the myths say.

Remember their bite strength is comparable to that of a bears and even though their teeth are like those of ours in shape due to their metal make they are sharper so can do much more damage. Luckily they usually won't bite unless they are defending themselves and they have few other options. Best not to give them a reason to bite. Instead of forcibly restraining them if somethings wrong use the app we made to in a sense sedate them to settle things.

Things that are safe for them include any form of meat including shellfish and insects, rice, apples, peaches, watermelon (make sure they don't eat the rind it isn't healthy for them), potatoes, corn but not the cob (you have to watch Zane with this he tends to eat the whole thing), breads (in moderation, too much is not healthy for them), peas, beans, peppers but not spicy ones, carrots, lettuce, dairy products, chocolates and candies (nothing though that uses citrus like orange flavoured or sour flavours nor emulates a citrus flavor), tomatoes (a little bit is fine but these are high in acidity so they cannot have too much), tea, pineapples and grapes. Things that are not safe or good for them include citrus fruits including juices made from them (you can use lemon for seasoning but do not use too much like Kais seasoning too much also one small citrus fruit won’t seriously hurt them but don’t let them have anymore for at least three to four days; droids are basically citrus intolerant), most juices (for some reason a lot of them are made with citric acid which comes from citrus for some reason when they don't need to be; we think this is done to give them more vitamin C but nindroids don't need that and citrus is harmful for them), avocados, highly acidic things like pop (they can have a small 250 ml cup once in a while not a whole bottle Cole not even when it is just 500 ml), spicy things including spices and peppers, bananas and cucumbers for some reason, nuts, most leafy plant items like spinach broccoli and kale, fermented foods or drinks and caramel (if it somehow gets past the synthetics in their mouth or throat it could clog up joints or connectors in their body leading to problems so best not to play with this stuff). 

Do not feed them cat or dog food. Just because they have a similar meat high diet pet food is not good for them or a good idea. Jay did it once as a joke but we shouldn't play around with this; they actually found the fish cat food not too bad. Along with not being healthy for them, cat food has additives meant for cats that aren’t healthy for a droids system causing imbalances, knowing how they think we don't want them growing a liking to it and end up thinking tuna cat food can be a substitute for actual tuna and use it as such. Do you want to end up eating cat food instead of regular tuna? We know Cole might not be too bothered but we doubt the rest of you will like that. We know we won't plus cat food isn't safe for humans for the same reasons it isn't safe for droids.

Most of the components of this system are a sickly green tinted dark purple color. The color helps keep the interior of the system dark for the symbiotes in it. The materials in their mouths is a normal pinkish to not appear different from a regular persons. The wiring in these parts isn't easily visible when the systems off but when it is active some circuits, largely major ones, give off a faint icy blue glow.   

A section on their skeleton and musculature.

A section on their hearts:

It may look fragile but the material is stronger than it looks. It is not invincible however. It is also capable of sensing touch so don't poke at it. Not only do they find having it touched without their consent uncomfortable but when it is touched without them preparing to have it touched as a self defense the material releases a serious electric shock in defence. This is not only painful for them but drains some energy which isn't good if they're low on energy and it temporarily stresses the material. Depending on the severity of the touch and the shock given this can be for only a few minutes to nearly over half an hour.

A section on the more tech work to them like calibrations and reboots plus various useful codes to work with them like for calming them down, sedating them, etc.

Zane and Pixal each get a section with stuff unique to them for the others to know.

Zane:

He finds chores relaxing and calming. Clutter and mess bother him.

Kids make him a bit nervous as they often ask him very personal questions about his workings which he isn't comfortable talking to others about and they often make what he considers weird comments or remarks about nindroids which he often doesn't understand. Some also try to play with the panel in his arm or want to see his inner workings which he is very uncomfortable with.

Zane doesn't do well with magic. He doesn't understand it well and when it is used on him particularly if it affects his mind it greatly unsettles him.

Pixal:

Pixal better understands what it means to be human and understands sayings and idioms better.

She loves when given a task as she not only enjoys working with her hands but enjoys the challenge of improving on a task. You ask her to repair something and not only will she repair it but find a way to improve on it and make it better/more efficient.

Pixal is more tolerating and comfortable of magic and isn't as bothered by it but like Zane hates when it messes with her mind.

Some side notes:

When you think of it having thought he was human for quite some time before finding out he was a droid likely would really have messed Zane up making it hard for him to tell what is and isn't natural or normal for him leading to quite a bit of confusion and strange habits and behaviors.

Kai strikes me as one of those who acts all tough but in reality can't stand the sight of blood or gore and would pass out from some of the simplest of injuries. I'm pretty sure the bandage he has on his face since season 8 he's afraid to take off nervous of what is underneath so it's now just melded into his skin for being there so long.

I take that Lloyd and Kai are probably the most uncomfortable and least skilled with working on and understanding Zane and Pixals anatomy. Coles probably no expert but is rather mature and responsible with it and will try his best.

Alsatian is an old term for the German Shepherd; I thought it more fitting as it doesn’t relate to an easily recognizable real world location.

If you wish to read the story Anatomy of a Droid and my other Ninjago works you’ll find them here: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Robo_birdie/works

[robobirdie]

Can you please continue that fic short you made titled “short: Belly of the Droid”

That short is actually part of a larger story project I have been working on titled Ninjago Shadows of the Void (I originally called it Oni Scrolls but felt Shadows of the Void was a better fit). This short is continued in the main story via two of the later chapters. The shorts are mini parts of the story that flush out different points of view, side characters or concepts of the story or parts that didn't fit with the main narrative of the story running parallel with the main story. I have the story both main and its shorts plus some other things posted in chronological order here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/34894561/chapters/86888878

Also while not part of this main story I also made this short head canon story Anatomy of a Droid (https://archiveofourown.org/works/44691181) from workings for the other story to flush out concepts and workings used in the first story which were heavily used in the short Belly of the Droid.

[robobirdie]

Short: Belly of the Droid

Jay had been so hyper focussed in trying to shock some sense into Zane that he hadn’t realised till it was too late that what he was doing was not working and making things for himself worse. He was being driven by the shock of seeing dragon Zane actually eat a person and how scary Zanes Dragon form was especially after it had been for the past while trying to eat him! He never thought Zane would do that! Cole possibly, Jay had seen him eating some of the monster bugs and he had become quite bite-y, but Zane; from what he had done in the Never Realm and what the Blight had been doing to him they had all come to realise if in the right head space Zane could get quite dark possibly the darkest of all of them, even though they had not seen any proof yet they were all pretty sure if turned evil Lloyd could be a match for Zanes darkness, but Jay didn’t think Zane would become so monstrous to actually eat those he considered friends and family! By the time Jay realised his mistakes that he shouldn’t have been angering Zane who was already clearly agitated by Lance stabbing him in the arm and that if he was going to shock him to keep a considerable distance between him and Zane it was too late. Before he could try to escape Zane had locked his jaws on Jay and shook him like a dog with its toy dizzying Jay a bit. Then before he knew it or had time to realize and react to what happened Zane had swallowed him whole. It wasn’t till he landed in the fluids of Zanes stomach hitting something hard as he fell into it did Jay realise what had happened and he was terrified.

“What did I land on…” Jay wondered picking up out of the slop he was now floating in what he had hit only to freak out when he saw it was the head of the Gloam Harpy he had forced down Zanes throat to prevent from getting eaten earlier. It looked like the head of a zombie being partially digested exposing some bones from under the skin that was dissolving off it freaking him out. He tossed it away in panic where it hit Lance who was terrified and stunned by what had happened to him using his shield to help him keep afloat in the fluids with him. Lance was surprised by it hitting him in the face and once he realised what hit him he picked it up and tossed it away in a panic where it bounced into the walls of Zanes stomach then dropped into the fluids and disappeared.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to shock you so much! I know it hurts you so I shouldn’t have been doing it but in my defence you’re not yourself you’ve gone all evil crazy! Please just barf me up I’ll make it up to you I promise! I’ll do all my chores without complaints; I’ll even do your chores; for a whole year. I’ll get you some more of that Scimitar oil, I know you like it especially when we mix it into a milkshake. I promise I won’t mess with things when I work on you like I did with your voice that one time I promise!” Jay pleaded grabbing the walls of Zanes stomach and shaking it a bit. His stomach jolted in reaction causing Jay to let go and get knocked back where Jay noted, “wait what am I doing he can’t hear me in here! Besides he probably wouldn’t care Zane’s nothing but a monster now.” Noting Aarons shield floating nearby Jay quickly grabbed it and climbed up onto it quickly trying to balance on it.

“What are you doing?” Lance wondered to which Jay quickly expressed managing to balance on the shield, “trust me I know what happens in here, we’d be safer if Cole had eaten us! The fluids in Zanes digestive system are strong enough to dissolve bones! If we don’t stay out of it then it won’t be long till there is almost nothing left of us! It will be just scraps of our clothes, your armour and our acid scarred teeth and hair left!” Upon hearing his words Lance followed his lead and climbed up onto his shield and balanced himself on it. Thinking quickly Jay tried to contact someone outside through his communicator. He tried to contact Nya but got nothing but interference.

“The workings of Zanes body are probably interfering with the communicators signal. That’s not good. We can’t contact anyone for help! We’re going to have to find our own way out of here before it’s too late!” Jay proclaimed trying to not panic. Jay was in a panic looking around wondering what they could do. They weren’t going to last long in there. He didn’t know how long and he didn’t want to think of it but given the state of the various beings in there with them especially given it had only been a little over half an hour since fighting had started so they most likely hadn’t been in Zanes stomach for very long it didn’t look good. All were partially to half digested already. Jay had a feeling for whatever reason Zane had increased the rate of his metabolism which meant the acids and enzymes in his stomach had probably become more powerful and concentrated than normal to aid with the increased rate making things worse for them.

“Ew Zane why is there Ashers in your stomach?! How many of those monsters have you eaten and is that… uhg Zane why would you eat one of their sorcerers?! No wonder you’re going crazy, the energy from that thing can’t be good for your mind! I know you’ve been turned into a monster dragon and are under that demons corruption but I’d think you’d still be smart enough to not eat those things!” Jay proclaimed as he looked around disturbed by everything. There wasn’t much space in there, Jay and Lance had about an arms reach between each other and less than an arms reach between themselves and the walls of Zanes stomach which looked to be expanded to as large as it could go. Even with how expanded it was they didn’t have much space and could only kneel on their hands and knees on the shields which were floating on the large mix of digestive fluids, Ashers, their monsters like the demon bug creatures and even chunks from a Vulcaroth and a Hunger all of which were in various states of digestion. Jay knew he had eaten a harpy, after all he’d been the one to make him do it, and they had all seen him eat one of the Ashers when it made the mistake of angering him but Jay hadn’t seen Zane eating all that he had eaten.

“How much has he been eating? I thought Cole was the only one going crazy and eating a bunch of those monsters,” Jay commented on edge and trying to keep calm. All the sights and sounds added on to the gravity of the situation he was in were quickly getting to him. He was trying to find some way to remain calm. It was dark in there with only the Nexo powers to the shields and Lances armour plus the bracelet the Stag had given him offering any light. The only thing Jay could think of to keep himself from losing it was noting the oddities of Zanes state. It was pretty hot in there but given he was active meaning all the normal functioning’s in his body would be active producing heat and he was in a rather warm environment Jay didn’t find that too odd. Past the sounds of his stomach Jay could hear the muffled sounds of Zanes heart and breathing rate and they sounded quite active. His breathing sounded normal for his active state however his heart sounded a bit fast, possibly a little too fast. Jay wasn’t sure though if he was just hearing that or if it truly was faster than it should be even for an active state. He was struggling to remain calm. He could hear the nearby hum from Zanes cooling system and it sounded quite active. That made sense what didn’t was if it was so active why was it still so hot inside him? His internal temperature was normally quite warm his base stable temperature was about the same temperature as a person and if his cooling system was as active as it was then it should have been around his normal stable temperature in there but it felt hotter than it should be. It felt like it was as hot as a hot day in the desert at mid day on a sunny day in there. A dangerous temperature for Zane as if it got any warmer he risked frying many of his internal circuits which had a high chance of proving fatal for him. He could see the circuits that controlled Zanes stomach glowing in the walls of the synthetic organ making them look like tattoos on it. They should have been glowing an icy blue color like the color of his heart, they were the voids green! Jay was pretty sure that wasn’t good. It likely meant even his heart was corrupted by the void. Zane was filled with the voids darkness.

“Is it supposed to smell this bad in here?” Lance wondered in shock from his situation and trying to figure out something to calm himself down with and Jay replied, “Well it’s not supposed to smell pretty but no it’s usually not this bad. Some of Cole and Kais cooking can make it smell this bad; a few times mine has as well. I think it’s from the Ashers he’s been eating; I don’t think they’re fully agreeing with him.” It was smelling quite foul in there and the masks they wore for part of their gear were not blocking much of the smell. They at least were letting them breath without too much trouble.

“Is whatever is making the smell what this foggy stuff is?” Lance wondered noting the thin dark greenish black fog that lay in his stomach and Jay responded, “I’m not sure. It could or it might be invisible… this foggy stuff kinda looks like that void fog stuff. Looks like the voids filled his entire body, I’d hate to know how that feels. Just barely touching that fog was pretty nasty I’d hate to know what it feels like to have this stuff fill you to the core!”

“If these things are upsetting his stomach then why is he eating them?” Lance wondered and Jay snapped struggling to not lose it, “I don’t know! I’m not a void corrupted dragon mutated nindroid nor have I ever worked with one. Who knows what is going on in his head! It’s probably not pretty though that’s for sure.”

“Is there like a hatch or something we could use to get out of here?” Lance wondered making Jay snap at him again startling Lance who worried what would happen if Jay got too scared, “No there’s normally only one way in and one way out just like anyone else, there’s no special hatch to get us out. He normally wouldn’t need it. People aren’t supposed to end up in his stomach! Only food is supposed to end up in here; well what people would consider food not what a dragon thinks is food! There’s only one way we can safely get out of here. We need to get him to barf us up.” Thinking quickly Jay came up with an idea. Taking a minute to stand up as best he could while remaining balanced on the shield he then entered a Spinjitsu tornado and rammed into the walls of Zanes stomach which jolted with his action knocking him back to land on his back on the shield. His hands and feet landed in Zanes digestive fluids and he quickly pulled them out terrified of getting dissolved by the fluids. Getting back up he prepped himself and stood up again to try his Spinjitsu attack again. He tried it four more times and each time got the same results with no evidence that Zane was going to co-operate with him. Seeing that wasn’t working Jay pulled out his nunchucks and started taking a few swings at the walls of Zanes stomach. He even sent some electricity through his weapon. He could hear Zane make a few noises indicating his attacks gave him discomfort and the electricity he sent into Zanes body temporarily disrupting the normal functioning of his synthetic organ with each hit but Zane was still not willing to co-operate. After a couple swings Jays weapon slipped from his hand as it and his limb had slowly been getting coated in a layer of a slimy substance Zanes synthetic organ emitted to protect itself from his digestive fluids as he came into contact with it in his attempts to get Zane to cough them up. His weapon landed in the dark opaque slop around them where due to its weight it quickly sunk. Jay was a bit hesitant to reach in to get his weapon but he needed it to continue his attacks so after a second to prep himself reached into the fluids to try and find it. He hoped it hadn’t sunk too far. He was very grossed out and kept his eyes closed as he felt around not wanting to see what he was putting his arm in trying to convince himself that he was putting his arm almost up to his shoulders in a hot tub filled with rubber ducks to try and keep from panicking. After nearly a minute he felt something. Even though he had a feeling it wasn’t his weapon out of curiosity of what he had grabbed he pulled it up out of the slop only to be shocked at what he found. He pulled out what looked like a persons arm which dripped for a few seconds with digestive fluids before melting into the slop out of his hands leaving just a scrap of cloth from the clothes that had once covered it in his hand most of it and the arm within having been heavily digested. There was only a few scraps of bones left still intact from the arm. Jay and Lance were terrified.

“See that’s going to happen to us if we can’t get out of here!” Jay exclaimed tossing the cloth from the arm that remained in his hand into the slop before muttering shaking from the shock of what he had found, “I hope that wasn’t from a person! Hopefully it was an Asher or that harpy being I forced down his throat or at least an evil vampire and not an innocent person... I don’t think I’m going to find my weapon. It’s probably deep in this stuff and after that I’m not going to search anymore in it. Who knows what else is in there!” Jay didn’t realise it but the bracer the Stag had given him was starting to flicker and fade. Jay suddenly felt something land atop him. Whatever it was made what sounded like the buzzing of insect wings and was moving. Looking to see what it was Jay was terrified to see it was a Serpent-fly. The creature didn’t seem too bothered that it had been eaten and instead tried going after Jay who began to panic trying to bat it away. He even tried to hit it with a hefty shock but he missed instead hitting Zane which in turn as they were inside him and had contact through the fluids they floated on to his body also got shocked. The shock temporarily disrupted Zanes system but didn’t seem to bother the Serpent fly which continued at Jay who continued to flail at it. To avoid getting shocked again or to get hit by Jays flailing Lance punched the Serpent fly in the head forcing it down into the slop around them where it hung on the surface floating for a few seconds before sinking into the fluids.

“Okay Zanes clearly lost it eating those monsters! Besides he’s already got enough in here why does he need to eat more?!” Jay complained before Lance expressed to him, “Please don’t shock us again! No wonder he hates that. I’m not even made of metal and it still hurt quite a bit!”

“Maybe if I shock him he’ll want to throw me up?” Jay wondered getting an idea from Lances comment while Lance worried not wanting to get shocked again, “please don’t!”

“Don’t worry I can control it so it will only hurt him. I’ll also keep it low so it doesn’t hurt us if it does get out of control,” Jay commented before sending some sparks into the walls of Zanes stomach. It disrupted the organ and by the sounds he made they could tell it was causing him discomfort but he didn’t cough them up. Jay tried a few more times shocking him till one of his attempts caused Zanes stomach to aggressively jolt splashing his digestive fluids and the chunks of debris in it onto them disgusting and stunning both.

“Thank goodness for my helmet, I’d hate to have this stuff in my hair!” Lance commented and Jay snapped at him, “in your hair?! That should be the least of your worries! This stuffs going to dissolve all of us if it continues to touch us!”

“What’s going on?! He’s not flying again is he! I hate the feeling of when he does that. I prefer keeping my feet on the ground,” Lance worried as they got a strange sinking feeling. Every now and then they got a strange feeling of weightlessness as they guessed Zane took to the wing to fly around. Jay likened it to the feeling of riding on a roller coaster which he felt was ruining his liking of theme park rides. As if feeling the movements from his internal workings and Zane moving around wasn’t bad enough him taking to the wing just further made things unsettling for them.

“I don’t think that’s it, looks like some of this stuff is moving on in his system… that will be happening to us soon! Hopefully he’s not going to use that to try and eat more of these things,” Jay complained noting them receiving some space in his stomach as during one of his stomachs constrictions the fluid levels dropped and his stomach relaxed from its over expanded state. After a couple minutes everything was rapidly turned upside down forcing them in a panic to swim up through the slop to get to the surface holding onto the shields to keep them with them.

“What just happened?” Lance wondered as they recovered floating in the fluids of his stomach which had been flipped onto its top and Jay commented highly unnerved by being in the slop, “I think he was knocked onto his back. What could have done that?!” After a few minutes the two were suddenly rolled around as Zane righted himself. They held tightly onto the shields and quickly worked to remain at the top of the fluids and get balanced back on the shields to get out of the fluids. They had already noticed their attire getting damaged from the digestive fluids that were frequently splashing up onto and over the shields they didn’t want the damages to get any worse. By this time the bracelet on Jays arm was gone and he began to panic when he noticed it.

“No, no this isn’t good, it’s darker in here now and I have nothing to protect me from the darkness that corrupts Zane. We have to get out of here now!” Jay was looking around for something to do. Out of desperation he tried giving the walls of Zanes stomach some kicks and punches but all that got him was being tossed around as Zanes stomach jerked in reaction to his attacks. Seeing that didn’t work and getting desperate he tried to see if he could make his way out on his own. It was a bit of a struggle but Jay managed to squeeze himself back through the entrance to Zanes stomach and back into his throat. With a bit of a struggle he started to climb up his throat feeling like he had finally found a way out. This feeling didn’t last long though as he noted the circuits that controlled Zanes throat became active appearing like tattoos in the synthetic material before he felt himself pushed back down to land on Aarons shield back in Zanes stomach.

“Okay that’s not going to work… what’s left to do? I’ve tried everything I could think of!” Jay began to panic. As a last ditch attempt he started to tickle the walls of Zanes stomach. Zane clearly didn’t like it his stomach lining tightening up from Jays touch but he seemed to be putting up with it.

“I’m betting this doesn’t feel very pleasant does it? Come on now just cough us up and it will be all over; you’ll feel a lot better if you do,” Jay stated as he tickled Zane. Instead of co-operating Zanes stomach jerked knocking them about.

“Fine I give up! Obviously you’re not going to co-operate!” Jay proclaimed getting mad at Zanes lack of co-operation. While Jay had been doing his attempts to get them out Lance had remained rather quite trying to stay calm and not lose hope. He was also trying to avoid catching Jays wrath. He could clearly see Jay was slowly loosing it become more unstable and quick to anger with every failed attempt and Lance worried what would happen if Jay directed his fear onto him. It was making him nervous. Without thinking to calm himself Lance went to do as he always did and stroke his hand through his hair but he ended up hitting his helmet instead. Even though he wanted to run his hand through his hair he didn’t think it wise to take off his helmet. Not only would the fluids and slop around them get in it but he was pretty sure without the special breathing apparatus in his helmet he would not be able to breathe in there. Wondering what to do he started stroking the walls of Zanes stomach. Zane didn’t seem to be bothered by his actions. Even though he was pretty sure he shouldn’t be doing that he couldn’t help but do it. It helped calm him. They suddenly had chunks of dark ice drop on them cooling the area down a bit as they floated in the slop slowly melting.

“What the… why are you eating ice? Are you trying to knock us out with it so you can easily digest us? I’m not going that easy you hear me you metal skinned monster…” Jay proclaimed before taking note of what Lance was doing yelling at him in shock, “What are you doing!?”

“Normally when I’m nervous I run my hand through my hair to calm down. I can’t do that though because of my helmet; it would be bad for my hair to take it off…” Lance began only to get cut off and scared as Jay yelled at him, “You’re hair! We’re surrounded by fluids that will dissolve every bit of us and you’re worried about your hair!” Lance was worried over what Jay was going to do. To his relief a swarm of over 20 Vesparilions fell in on them distracting Jay. Jay began fighting them as they pestered him making sure to toss each one into the slop around them.

“Just because you’ve made room in here doesn’t give you the right to start filling it up again! Stop eating these monsters! You’ve eaten enough already you don’t need any more now cut it out!” Jay yelled at Zane like he could hear them before giving Zane a hefty punch in the stomach out of anger Zanes stomach jerking from the hit. Despite having been eaten by him and scared of the monster he had become Lance felt sorry for Zane. Jay was being quite rough on him and Lance felt he didn’t deserve to be treated so roughly. He didn’t think it was entirely Zanes fault he had eaten them. He was under the influence of dark forces, he wasn’t completely in control of himself not to mention Lance had hurt him so kind of deserved a retaliation for his actions. He didn’t deserve to get eaten but again Zane wasn’t fully in control anymore so had no control over how he punished those who hurt him. From what he had experienced with the ninja over their time in the Lost Realm Zane would never intentionally hurt those he considered friends and family out of free will. Thinking if he offered some suggestions it might help cool Jays mood Lance offered up a possible idea only to regret his words when Jay snapped back at him.

“You know I don’t think we’ll be able to get out the way we came in. Maybe we should try the other…” Lance nervously began and Jay quickly cut him off to yell putting Lance on edge, “NO! I am not going that way! No! Never! Being in his stomach is bad enough I am in no way going to try and get out that way. Besides while the energy converters in the rest of his system shouldn’t hurt us who knows what terrible things that monster has put in him. There could be evil worms to tear us apart or spines lining his intestines to stab anything trying to crawl through it to punish them for not getting dissolved in his stomach! Heck I’m surprised that monster didn’t line the walls of his stomach with spines to stab us when he mutated him!” Jays panicking just put Lance even more on edge. Jay clearly had lost it and was no longer going to be of much help making Lance feel like he was on his own to figure out how to get them out. Lance tried to think of some resolution to their problems. As he focussed on thinking some more things dropped in on them; largely the arm of an Asher, the wing and tail of a Gloam Harpy and pieces from a large void spider. Instead of making him panic like Lance expected Zanes actions of eating more of the monsters filling his stomach back up again just riled Jay up making Jay angrier and he snapped at Zane again punching the walls of his stomach while yelling at him, “just because it’s your stomach doesn’t give you the right to fill it up whenever you want! Have some courtesy for the poor souls you’ve doomed to getting digested in it you scrap heap demon!” Anything that landed on them Jay angrily threw into the slop around them. Jays attitude was scaring Lance and making him nervous and worried anything he might come up with as a solution might cause Jay to turn his aggression onto him. After a couple minutes while he tried to think of something Jay might approve of Lance took note of something that he found was calming him down even though he was pretty sure it was not something he should find comforting. Even though he was pretty sure if he said anything it would drive Jay even crazier than he was already going Lance absent mindedly commented about it.

“Is it a bad thing that with how hot and damp it is in here it feels like a sauna and the squishing thing his stomach is doing to us feels a bit like a massage?” Lance commented before instantly regretting his comment as Jay loudly snapped, “WHAT! We’re in the stomach of a crazed evil corrupted dragon form mutated droid not a spa! We’re going to get digested not a makeover! At least not one you’re going to like. He doesn’t want to relax us he wants to turn us into his lunch! The only relaxing he wants us to do is to let our guard down so he can digest us without a hassle! If that is going to be our fate then I’m not going nicely. I’ll make sure he gets the worst possible case of indigestion he could get for his actions.”

“Is he even capable of coughing us up?” Lance wondered.

“He can but he has to manually choose to do so since he has to take precautions from damaging any of his systems to do it. It’s not an un-conscious behaviour like in people and clearly he doesn’t want to co-operate,” Jay complained as some bubbles came up and popped in the slop by them bringing more unpleasant smells to add to those already present along with an Ashers sword up with them.

“Ew gross as if things weren’t nasty enough in here… great as if his stomach acids weren’t enough to worry about but we also have to watch out for sharp objects in here too… what are you doing?!” Jay complained while Lance picked out the sword and began poking around in the fluids out of boredom his actions disturbing and further agitating Jay.

“Just curious about what else is in here,” Lance noted wary of Jay who ranted, “I can tell you what monsters and us who he no longer sees as friends now that he’s a monster himself! We’re just lunch to him. It’s clear he no longer sees me as his brother I’m just food to him. If he still had any cares for me he’d help me out and barf me up but instead he’s determined to keep me trapped in here to get dissolved by his stomach and turned into energy by the rest of his gut to power his dark evil heart!”

“Maybe it’s not entirely his fault. He’s under that demons mind control. Maybe Dagon is not letting him help us…” Lance countered not entirely convinced Zanes actions were entirely his fault still despite his anxieties able to see some reason however Jay cut him off startling him, “no he knows what he’s doing and is in full control. He’s become a monster it’s as simple as that; a dark savage friend eating monster… just ask poor Butch here. We’re going to end up like this soon if we don’t get out of here!” Jay picked up the pitted and stripped skull of the Gloam Harpy out of the fluids when he saw it come up near them. It was now more heavily digested than when he had seen it before now just being pitted and weakened bone part of which was missing on the top. It likely wasn’t going to remain intact for much longer as it remained in there.

“Sorry Butch about tossing you in here; I hope you have no hard feelings about it. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and I didn’t want to get eaten even though it’s clear this monster I once thought was my friend was determined to eat me cause he finally got me,” Jay began to babble to the heavily digested skull, “is this what all those poor insects he’s accidently swallowing all the time have to go through? What a nightmare! It makes me feel sorry for them; I can’t believe this monster’s making me feel sorry for bugs! Zane probably didn’t have as bad a time in Bernie as this. Bernie wasn’t a hyper efficient nindroid with a high metabolism that’s been sped up even more than usual and a system that can dissolve and break down motor oil let alone over 90% of our bodies!” As he listened to Jay rant Lance was pretty sure now Jay had lost it and was wondering if he should just leave Jay and attempt his idea to get out feeling that might be their only option to survive. They had no proof the others were trying to help them and he was pretty sure they didn’t have a long time left if they stayed in there especially Jay. He could see burns from the acid already starting on the lower part of Jays legs, around his ankles and on his feet. His armour was more resilient to the fluids than Jays attire offering him more protection but that likely wouldn’t be for too long. He could feel the fluids starting to find ways through his armour and to his skin. It was an unnerving burning and tingling sensation that had him on edge. Lance wasn’t sure if Jay was aware of the damages on his legs. Surely he could feel it. Maybe in his current state he couldn’t feel it or was just ignoring it too focussed on his anxieties to notice. Maybe it was somehow helping fuel Jays anxiety driven attitude. Wisely Lance said nothing about the burns knowing it would only cause Jay to snap more if he said something and instead focussed on trying to figure a way out. He sat watching as Jay spiralled deeper into insanity babbling to the skull about all sorts of strange things mad at poor Zane thinking he was nothing but a monster while he tried to think of something. He was hoping something would eventually come to him and hopefully before it was too late.

To find previous and later chapters look here: https://robobirdie.tumblr.com/archive

You can also find a copy of the story written here https://archiveofourown.org/works/34894561/chapters/86888878 and here https://www.wattpad.com/1087355671-ninjago-the-oni-scrolls-foreword-important-info You can also find images pertaining to the story here: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project