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Chapter Text

"I already told you Ember, you can't become a Jaeger pilot! It's too dangerous! If you really wanna become one, go sleep on the roof!" my dad shouted at me once again when I suggested that I went to Ninjago city to train to be a Jaeger pilot. I rolled my eyes and groaned.

"Cmon dad, when will you let me start fending for myself? This is dangerous, that is dangerous, everything in this goddamn world is dangerous!" I protest, hoping to get a positive response this time.

"Enough! Go to bed!" and my dad slammed the door behind him. I silently cursed at him from the other side and turned on the television.

"We are at the scene of Ninjago City, where Titan Grave takes its tenth Kaiju kill! The Kaiju broke through the coastal wall in less than an hour, and people are starting to question about the decomissioning of the Jaeger program."

"Wait what?! They're gonna shut down the Jaeger program?" I exclaimed in shock.

The pilots of Titan Grave, which by now I knew as Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano, appeared on the screen.

"Ninjago City's lucky we were still here to protect it. Titan Grave was supposed to be shut down today," Anakin said, folding his arms.

"I still don't think they should shut down the Jaeger program, Master. Its been quite effective for a while now," Ahsoka said.

"Titan Grave is the last Jaeger standing, apart from another Jaeger being rebuilt near Jamanakai village, called Striker Phoenix, which was half-destroyed in a battle 5 years ago. They say that someone's looking for a co-pilot for Striker, trials are at the Jaeger site. You could head there now and try your luck for a chance to save the world!"

I switched off the tv. I knew my parents would never let me go, but I already knew what to do.

"Mom, Dad, I'm gonna go get some groceries!" I shouted as I left the house. The reporter said that trials were near the Jaeger site, and the Jaeger site was near Jamanakai village. Luckily for me, I lived in Jamanakai village.

As I headed towards the Jaeger site, my heart pounded rapidly, I couldn't believe that I would see another Jaeger in person again.

When I reached, I was in awe of the size of Striker Phoenix. Haven't seen a Jaeger of that size before.

"Are you looking to join the Jaeger program?" I suddenly heard a voice behind me. I whipped around, only to see an old looking dude standing behind me.

"Uhh...yes..."I replied, uncertain.

The old dude motioned for me to follow him, so I did so. He led me up some stairs, and into the head of Striker.

"Our last candidate," the old man said to the other dude in the comm-pod. He looked about my age, 15 years old.

"What if she ain't drift compatible with me, like all the others?" the guy in the comm-pod on my right said.

The old man sighed.

"We're about to find out."

"Hey, what's your name?" I asked.

"It's Kai. And don't get too comfortable. I don''t think someone like you will be drift compatible with me," Kai replied.

The old man helped me suit up into some really cool armour stuff, I saw that Kai was wearing it too.

"Aight, let's do this," Kai said.

We both put out helmets on and I heard something like a "Initiate drift sequence".

And then I stepped into my memories, mixed with another person's one, I assumed it was Kai's. Images of my life flashed through my mind, occasionally switching to Kai's. It stopped, and I felt good.

"We're gonna take you through some simple motions, to see whether your connection is strong," I heard the old man say from a speaker. He must have been downstairs.

"Raise your left arm."

Kai and I did, I felt Striker's arm move in sync with me and Kai.

"Raise your right arm."

Same thing happened.

"Okay, you can put them down. Now try walking a few steps."

It felt weird, moving in sync with a person I didn't even know, and making some big-ass robot move with me. The few steps felt like I was walking on a table, steady but uncertain whether I would fall.

"Okay, stop. We are done."

Kai and I took off our helmets, and I saw Kai's expression of surprise.

The old man came back up to the comm pod.

"So she's drift compatible with me?" Kai asked immediately.

The old man nodded, smiling, then he turned to me.

"What's your name?"

"Ember," I replied.

"Alright, Ember. We're heading to Ninjago City tomorrow to train. Since you're drift compatible with Kai, you will come with us."

"WAIT WHAT?!" I exclaimed. I didn't think it was possible.

"Go back home and pack your things, meet back here at 7 am sharp."

I nodded and ran down the stairs back to my house, trying to conceal my excitement. Along the way, I bought some groceries to support the lie I had told my parents, and as I stepped into the house, they immediately interrogated me on where I was.

"Relax, relax, I was just trying to choose the best food," I said.

I had 3 siblings, all younger than me. The oldest out of them was a 14 year old boy, never adventurous, always wanted to stay at home. Then there was a 10 year old girl and a 8 year old boy who always enjoyed playing their video games, and were always oblivious to the world around them.

It was my turn to make dinner tonight, but I was too distracted by the fact that my boring life was gonna change that I may had accidentally cracked some egg shells into the eggs. After dinner and a scolding from my parents of my bad cooking, I went to my room and packed my bag. I didn't have much things in there anyways. A flashlight, a watch, my phone, some money, and some snacks.

That night, I told my parents that I was going to Ninjago City to study, and that I wouldn't be back until a few years later. They were apprehensive at first, but after some aggresive negotiations, I managed to convince them.

So at 6.30 in the morning, I woke up and went to the Jaeger site. I found Kai standing by the entrance, crossing his arms.

"What are you looking at me like that for?" I snapped.

"Listen kid, you may be drift compatible with me, but that doesn't mean the training will go easy on ya. We're fighting monsters in the real world, not in your pretty little village where everything is perfect. So whatever you do, just follow my lead and listen to orders," Kai warned. I rolled my eyes.

"Don't call me kid. It's Ember to you."

At 7 am, some helicopters came to bring Striker Phoenix out. The old man, Kai and I went into a truck where Kai drove us to Ninjago City.

During the journey, I had a huge grin plastered on my face.

My life was gonna change.

Chapter Text

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of someone's alarm. I put my pillow over my head, trying to block out the noise.

"OI! GET UP!" I heard someone shout as they pulled the pillow off my head.

"What!?" I shouted.

"Training! You think you'll be able to beat the shit outta a Kaiju without an fighting skills?"

I opened my eyes, seeing Kai on my bed.

"Get off, I'm going," I sighed as I made my way to clean myself up. After breakfast, Kai brought me to a training area where Sensei Wu was waiting.

"Your late," he said, to both me and Kai.

"No thanks to her," Kai mumbled, shooting a sideways glare at me. I cross my arms.

"Kai, go spar with Anakin, Ahsoka and your sister. Ember, you're staying with me," Sensei Wu said. Kai nodded and went over to the side.

"If you're gonna fight in a Jaeger with Kai, you need to know how to fight like Kai," Sensei Wu said. "He's usually aggressive, goes all out on the things he fighting."

"Sounds like something I would do," I smirked.

"And that is why you two are drift compatible."

Sensei Wu brought me to a punching bag, and instructed me to hit it.

"So uh, I just hit it?" I asked. Sensei Wu nodded.

"Ok then." I use all my strength and hit the punching bag, turning to Sensei Wu and smirking as the punching bag flew up.

And the suddenly, I got hit back in the face by it, knocking me over.

"OI!" I shouted. I saw Sensei Wu sighing in the corner.

"You have to expect a counterattack. Never assume your enemy is down."

"Okay."

I punched the punching bag again, this time when it came back, I was ready and hit it again. Just to say, it didn't go very high.

"You have to time your breathing with your strokes. Breathe in when you're getting ready, and then breathe out when you strike. Here's a demonstration."

Sensei Wu hit the punching bag and it went flying. I was shocked. I didn't know an old man was capable of such strength.

"Lemme try again."

We did this drill for a few hours, until it was time for lunch. Before that though, Sensei Wu told me to meet back at the sparring area. During lunch, everyone sat together, so I joined them. The two people sitting in front of me, well actually one person and one weird-looking girl, around my age, seemed familiar.

As we ate, the weird-looking girl introduced herself to me. "I'm Ahsoka," she said. "Ahsoka Tano."

"Wait, are you the Ahsoka on television yesterday?" I asked. "The one piloting Titan Grave?"

"Yep, that's me," she smirked proudly.

"Then you must be..." I turned to the guy sitting beside Ahsoka. "Anakin Skywalker! Oh my god, I am such a big fan of you both!"

Anakin and Ahsoka laughed.

"Well, you're gonna be one of us soon enough."

I was sitting next to another Jaeger pilot-in-training. Her name was Nya, and she was Kai's sister. She seemed really friendly, and we got along quite well. It was pretty fun, during lunch. Everyone was talking about their old lives before the Jaeger program, and even I joined in. Kai was the only one that didn't, and after he finished eating, he silently walked away.

Anakin and Ahsoka told me that they were from a different world: A world where there were aliens and cool space stuff. I didn't really understand the concept of "The Force" though, so Ahsoka decided to give me a little demonstration.

She, uh, well, stretched out her hand and did some sort of motion and a piece of food on her plate floated in the air, moving with her hand. I was amazed that Anakin and Ahsoka could both do that cool trick.

Soon, 3 other dudes joined us. They told me that they were good friends with Kai. Some guy called Jay also told me that he was a pilot-in-training, and that he wans gonna pilot Nya's Jaeger with her. The 2 other guys, Cole and Zane, seemed pretty chill. They were piloting the fourth Jaeger.

"We're the only Jaeger pilots left," Zane said.

"So, you're piloting with Kai," Cole said. "Hes been known to use...different tactics. I kinda like it."

"Seems like you should be the one piloting with him then."

"I can't. I ain't drift compatible."

After lunch, I headed to the place Sensei Wu told me to meet him. I saw Kai standing beside him, looking kinda pissed off.

"Do I really have to train with her, Sensei?" Kai asked.

"Yea, do I really have to train with him?"

"You're drift compatible with each other. And I enjoy a good show," Sensei Wu smirked.

"Wait, WHAT?!?!"

Just to say, it didn't go very well. I ended up getting a black eye and everywhere hurt like hell. This was my daily life for a few weeks, train, lunch, training and getting beaten by Kai. But I never felt like quitting. It was a change from my life before this.

I also got almost daily calls from my parents, who interrogated me about how my "school" life was going along. Obviously, I couldn't tell them that I was in the Jaeger program, otherwise they'd kill me, so I had to come up with a complete lie.

The days rolled by, same routine every day. I felt myself getting stronger, fitter by the day. I managed to hold my own against Kai for a few minutes, still eventually losing to his aggressive tactics. I also kind of knew Kai's way of fighting now, having fought with him so many times.

And after a month of joining the Jaeger program, I managed to defeat my co-pilot in training.

It was a usual training day, lunch was shit because Jay and Cole were chilling out of town, and they were the life of the party. After lunch, as usual, I went to meet Kai for sparring session.

"I won't go easy on ya today, Em," Kai said.

I smirked. "Don't need it."

Yes, Kai also called me "Em" because he thought "Ember" was too long of a name.

The sparring match started, and as usual, Kai attacked first. He threw a punch at me but I was quick to dodge it, moving behind him as he whipped around. He moved to throw a kick, but I knew his tactics too well. He wanted to distract me so that he could use his arm to get a shot on. I ducked under the kick and hit him in the stomach. He doubled over, clutching the place where I hit, groaning. He quickly recovered as I threw a punch at him. He grabbed my hand and flipped me over his head, almost slamming me on the floor. Almost.

Mid-air, I twisted his arm and he released the grip on my arm. After that it was easy, I just kicked him in his nuts (You know where it is right)and he fell to the ground.

And with that, the sparring match ended, and I was about to leave for the gym.

"Ain't gonna help me up?" I heard Kai say. I rolled my eyes, turning around and extending a hand to help him up. He took it and by the glint in his eye, I already knew what was gonna happen. Before Kai could even throw a punch, I kicked him in his stomach again and he winced.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR???" he shouted.

"Sensei Wu taught me well. Never let your guard down." I looked to the side and saw the others snickering. I smirked.

"Meet me and the simulation area tomorrow." I turned around and Kai looked up from the floor, and saw Sensei Wu standing behind me, smiling. Kai scrambled to his feet as he and I faced him.

"Yes, Sensei."

Chapter Text

That night, I was wayyyy too excited to sleep. I was finally gonna try a simulation after so long (I thought it was a long time). Kai told me that I had to get my sleep, but as usual, of course, I didn't listen. Sometimes Kai tried to act like my father or something, trying to control me, for some weird reason.

The next day, I realised I overslept because Kai had to go and wake me up again.

"Sorry, sorry," I mumbled as I got out of bed. Breakfast was cool because Kai was bragging about how he and I were gonna try out the simulation today and probably get at least 10 Kaiju kills (I actually agreed with him on this one).

When the others heard me and Kai, they laughed, and Kai and I joined in after a few moments.

After breakfast, Kai and I headed to the simulation room, my heart pounding with excitement as I stepped in.

"Okay so later just follow my lead, and don't do anything too crazy," Kai said. Rolling my eyes, I reply,"I'll be able to see inside your head, bro. And besides, I think you'll be the one doing crazy shit." Kai smirks.

"Maybe."

So after the briefing that Sensei Wu gave me and Kai about the controls, headset and everything, Sensei Wu gives me and Kai the headsets for the simulation and heads out of the room. Following Sensei's instructions, Kai and I stood on the platform in the middle of the room, and put our headsets on.

The world instantly changed, pixel by pixel, the real world fading into the simulation. I looked down at myself, I was in a jaeger pilot suit, and so was Kai.

"Drift sequence initiated."

The robotic voice annouced my second time going into the drift with Kai and our minds connected once again. This time I saw more of Kai's memories than mine, probably because I had almost forgotten about my old life. I saw Kai and Nya as kids, when a Kaiju attacked. It looked like they were running away, but I could not see it very clearly. I saw one of my memories though.

The one where I ran away from home.

And just as fast as it started, the drift sequence stabilized and I found myself in the head of Striker Phoenix (I recognized it). I was slightly in a daze from the neural load, but quickly recovered.

I heard rain pounding outside of the room. Was it from the simulation?

"Just to remind you Em, we don't need to worry about causing damage, most people would be hiding in an underground bunker by now," Kai said.

Outside the Jaeger was Ninjago City, and a Kaiju waiting to pounce. It charged straight ahead at us, and we had to raise our arms to block the incoming monster. I felt the impact and stumbled backwards slightly, receiving a glare from Kai. I silently cursed at him as the Kaiju continued pushing against the Jaeger, bringing it to the outskirts of the city. There was only a few steps towards the ocean now.

Before the Kaiju could skirt to the side to get ready for another attack, Kai and I landed a hit on the Kaiju's head. It fought back, claws tearing into the Jaeger's arm, pushing it into the water.

I didn't know that when piloting a Jaeger, any damage caused to it would be transmitted to me. I felt the Kaiju digging into my arm, Kai felt it too, grimacing as he looked at me.

"Ya good?"

I didn't reply, my attention focused on the Kaiju pinning the Jaeger down in the water. Water started rushing into the helmet when the Kaiju broke through the glass, and I felt Kai's panic in the drift, he didn't know what to do. We were holding our breath, Kai panicking, me activating the plasma gun and shot that son of a bitch.

"Stand up!" I thought, hoping that Kai could get my message. Kai looked at me and nodded, and with the last of our energy, we let the Jaeger stand up. The water started flowing out of the helmet and Kai and I were gasping for air.

"Is it dead?" Kai gasped, still trying to catch his breath. Even though this was a simulation, it felt so real, my heart racing at the thought of drowning in the Jaeger's head.

I felt movement in the water. Waves rushing against the Jaeger's leg.

It was alive.

The Kaiju rose from out of the water, ready to fight once again. I saw Kai's thoughts, there was a fishing boat nearby, full of people. I nodded at him, and Kai activated the plasma gun on his side of the Jaeger while I moved the fishing boat out of the way, setting it down gently further away from the fight.

And then suddenly, the Kaiju crushed the Jaeger head, me and Kai along with it.

I was breathing heavily, sweating, thinking I was dead, until the image faded back into the simulation room. I stared at Kai; he stared at me back in silence.

The silence was maintained when Sensei Wu came into the simulation room, a disappointed look painted on his face.

"You saw it?"I asked. Sensei Wu nodded.

"Your mission as Jaeger pilots is to kill Kaiju and save people. In the simulation, there was a boat full of people. You will not risk the lives of millions in Ninjago City, for only a few men. Understand?"

"But Sensei-" I protested, but I was cut off by Kai.

"With all due respect Sensei, it was not Ember's idea to move the fishing boat, it was mine."

I gave Kai a small nudge with my elbow, glaring at him and sending the message of "Bro, it was our fault, not just yours".

"It seems like you both aren't ready to face a Kaiju," Sensei Wu said as he moved to walk out of the room. Before he left though, he turned around.

"Yet."

Kai and I grinned at each other and we went to meet up with the others for lunch.

During lunch, Kai and I told the others whatever happened in the simulation, besides the "getting crushed inside the head of a Jaeger" part.

"Em's a pretty good pilot now, better than I expected," Kai said. I folded my arms and smirked.

"I'm quite sure you expected me to be the 'best pilot in the world', seeing I did so well." Kai chuckled and playfully hit me on the shoulder.

"What did you guys see in the drift?" Cole asked. I avoided Kai's gaze, hoping he didn't see the memory of me running away from home.

"I saw a lot of my own memories, and some of Em's," Kai said simply, and said nothing more about it.

After lunch, as I was heading towards the training area to spar with the others, Kai pulled me into a corridor, hidden from sight from the others.

"OI! What do you want?" I snatched my arm away from him.

"During the drift, I saw into your memories," Kai said.

"And?"

"I saw you...running away from your home, your parents, your family."

"So?"

Kai sighed. "You saw my memories, didn't you?" I nodded. "My parents were killed in a Kaiju attack when I was 5. Nya and I were left to fend for ourselves, until Sensei Wu found us."

"The first Kaiju attack," I whispered. "I was burned by the Kaiju's blood when it was taken down," I raised my voice to its normal volume.

"I lost my parents in that attack, I thought they were invincible, that they would always be there, but I was wrong." I saw the hurt on Kai's face, deep beneath the layers that he built over it. "Don't take your family for granted Em. You never know when you might lose them."

I rolled my eyes, heading out of the corridor and into the training area.

I felt a little bit of pity for Kai, the dude's gone through so much. I shook it off quickly. He didn't have to act like my parents, trying to control me all the time.

And yet, somewhere in my heart, I felt the longing to go back to my family.

Chapter Text

After yesterday's failed simulation, Kai was acting weird around me, he remained silent during meals, he never wanted to make eye contact with me. Maybe it was because of the conversation in the corridor yesterday, but during training he seemed off, unfocused. I didn't talk to him either, I didn't want to provoke him more.

The only time I saw Kai talking that day was with Nya, but I didn't know what they were talking about. I hoped that Kai would get out this phase soon, or we would never be able to kill a Kaiju within the month.

Kai's POV

After I saw into Ember's memories, I didn't know what to think of her. She reminded me of myself when I was 5, right before the first Kaiju attack, right before I lost everything.

Flashback

Dad and I were watching a football match on the television, when Mom came in and told us to eat dinner. I didn't want to miss any part of the football match, the team Dad and I were rooting for was going to win.

"Come on dear, the food's gonna get cold," Mom said.

"Just a little longer," I pleaded with those big puppy eyes.

"No, we're eating now."

The anger rose up in me like the fire Dad possessed, and it all burst out. "WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS LIKE THIS MOM?! I JUST WANNA FINISH THE MATCH! I HATE YOU!"

I stormed out of the house, angry tears forming in my eyes. I wiped them away quickly. I looked back at my house, and saw my sister running out, calling my name, telling me to come back.

"I'm not going back there Nya. They're too controlling!" I said.

Suddenly, I heard a deafening roar in the distance, unlike anything I had heard before. And then I saw fighter jets soaring over me and Nya, bombing something massive in the distance. Nya, three years old at the time, got scared and started crying. I held her in my arms, telling her not to cry, and that everything would be alright.

I didn't feel that way though.

The roaring got louder and louder, the footsteps shaking the ground. Sweat started to bead on my forehead and I saw Mom and Dad run out of the house, looking for me and Nya. I ran, trying not to bring Nya along with me, but she refused to let go of my hand. I reached the outskirts of my village, panting heavily, from the running or from my rage, I didn't know. I saw the silhouette of a gigantic monster, only a few of its steps away from me. Nya buried her head in my shoulder; I just stood there in shock as the monster got closer, and closer. I saw it swatting fighter jets and stepping on tanks like they were ants and flies. I covered my ears, using my body to cover Nya's, ready for the worst. I felt Nya hyperventillating, crying, and I wanted to do the same.

I didn't notice my parents running past me, past the monster.

The Kaiju was so close, and then suddenly, it turned around. I looked up, wondering why I wasn't dead. I saw Mom and Dad fending off the monster, their elements of fire and water combined, they aimed for the eyes, blinding it.

"Run!" Dad shouted.

"Cmon Nya, we gotta go! Be strong!" I tugged at Nya's hand, and we ran as fast as we could. I looked back at Mom and Dad, seeing them diving away from a big step from the monster. I stopped in my tracks, watching them buy me and Nya time to escape. Nya pulled my hand, signalling me to run. I didn't, just standing there, watching the people that raised me fight the monster. It was waving its arms around wildly, trying to swat them like how it did the planes.

And then suddenly, I saw the light of the fire disappear under a claw and the glow of water fade under the monster's foot.

"Mom? Dad?" I whispered. I already knew what was happening, tears once again forming in my eyes, my voice cracking. Nya saw it already, her reaction was better than mine.

"Lets go!" I heard her shout. I wiped away my tears. I had to stay strong, for Nya. We ran, and ran, all the way to Jamanakai Village, where we collapsed to the ground out of exhaustion.

When I woke up, I saw an old man above me, checking to see whether I was alright.

That man was Sensei Wu, the man who took me and my sister in.

Flashback ends

Ember had run away from her home, her family. I did as well, except I never saw my parents again. Maybe one day, when the same thing happened to her, she would understand. But I didn't want it to happen to her. No one should have to go through what I did.

Suddenly I heard a familiar voice.

"Kai?"

I whipped around, expecting too see someone or something, but all that was behind me was empty air. I remembered hearing that voice somewhere, I just couldn't remember who's it was.

"Kai?"

I heard it again. I recognized it now. It was my father's, I hadn't heard it in so long, I had almost forgotten what it sounded like.

"Dad?" I asked, looking around for any sign of the fire elemental.

"Hey Kai, can I talk to you for a sec?"

I saw Nya walking towards me, looking kinda confused about something.

"Have you been hearing Mom and Dad's voices today?"

I nodded. "You too?"

Nya nodded as well. "It's so strange, this never happened before, why is it happening now?"

"Wanna go find out?" I smirked.

"I thought you'd never ask."

Immediately, we ran to the place where our motorcycles were, (I just like motorcycles ok)and sped off to our old home, the place I hadn't gone to for 10 years. I reached the outskirts of my village, and stopped the vehicle, Nya following behind me.

"This is where Mom and Dad..."

"Yea. Let's just get this over with," Nya said, getting off her motorcycle. I did the same, and went to the place where I saw the glow of fire and water die out, hoping that this would give us some answers.

Suddenly, I felt my foot sink into a puddle of water. I pulled it out, confused, because it hadn't rained in a week. Looking down, the water was glowing.

"...Kai?"

I turned to look at Nya, and she was standing right beside a fire, burning with no fuel whatsoever. I stared at the fire. It was calling to me, and now I heard Dad's voice, louder this time. Nya seemed to hear Mom's voice from the water. I headed towards the fire, Nya went for the water. The fire grew brighter as I got closer, I felt Dad's presence in it.

Suddenly, the fire turned into a glowing dragon, it charged towards me, but I heard Dad's voice telling me to stand still, not to run. I looked a Nya, same thing was happening to her with a water dragon.

The dragons passed through me and Nya, disappearing as they combined with our bodies. It felt like my body was on fire. I looked at Nya, her eyes were glowing blue.

"Kai, your eyes...they're glowing orange," Nya said.

"Same for you, they're blue," I replied.

The burning sensation faded and the glow in me and Nya's eyes disappeared. I felt different, a sense of power in me.

"Fire."

Dad's voice again. He instructed me to channel that new sense of power into my hand. Following his instructions, my hand caught on fire. I turned to look at Nya, she was controlling water, just like Mom could.

I was starting to panic from my flaming hand, I quickly drew my energy away from there and the fire died down.

Even though Mom and Dad weren't there, I felt their presence in me, as if they were the dragons that had given me the power. I looked to the ground, where the fire and water used to be, and for a split second, I saw Mom and Dad there. I smiled.

"Cmon Nya, let's go home."

On the way home, the resolve to prevent people from losing their family like me burned bright like the element that I now controlled.

Reaching the Jaeger site in Ninjago city, Nya and I were bombarded with questions from the team.

"It's a long story, we'll tell you during dinner," I replied, looking at Nya and smirking.

I may have lost my parents, but here, I have a new family.

Chapter Text

Ember's POV

Kai returned back from wherever he went, loudly announcing him and Nya getting some cool powers or some stuff like that as he returned on his motorcycle. I was half-relieved that he didn't get kidnapped or some shit like that, half-annoyed that he got to skip training for half a day.

For the next few days, Kai experimented with his new fire power, he wasn't very successful most of the time. The nights got a lot warmer and I started sweating in bed from the heat Kai produced when he was sleeping. One of the nights, he accidentally caught the blanket in his bed on fire one of the nights. If I hadn't been so quick and pro to get some water to put it out, things would've been much worse.

"Sorry," Kai mumbled, scratching the back of his head when I glared at him after putting the fire out.

"I swear, you're either learning to control your power tomorrow or I'm gonna lose it."

The next day, Kai actually tried to control his power, trying to spar with me without setting his hands aflame or almost burning me.

"OI! Watch it!" I shouted I dodged a flaming punch from Kai.

I don't think Nya made much progress with her powers either. Despite Sensei Wu trying to teach her and Kai to control their elements, it probably wasn't that easy for them. The nights started to get cooler as Kai started to learn how to control the heat he produced, lucky for me. During training, Cole had been acting weird, constantly staring at Kai and Nya.

Cole's POV (Idea from @PIXALisAWESOME) Thanks for the idea!

When Kai and Nya came back with their new powers, I was shocked. I thought I was the only one who had an elemental power. I controlled Earth, I got it from my mother. I showed signs of it as a kid, I was stronger than everyone else, something that came from the elemental power apparently.

My Dad didn't approve of it, especially after Mom died. He always wanted me to become a singer or dancer, like him, he hoped that I wouldn't have the power passed down from Mom. I liked to climb mountains when I was around 16, two years ago. I tried to keep it secret from my father, but eventually he found out. He was really angry at me, he kicked me out of his house. I was forced to live in the streets for a few days. I stayed outside my house, hoping that Dad would let me in after a while. He didn't.

I remembered curling up into a ball on those cold nights, trying to retain some of my body heat, only to be unsuccessful and sleep shivering, crying, on the cold, hard floor. I started to climb mountains every day to vent out my rage. It felt good, I liked it. I didn't know what Mom would think about me if she was still alive. I started to get used to sleeping on the streets, I moved away from my house and into a narrow unoccupied corridor, it seemed like a good place for the new place I stayed in. I had to resort to stealing food occasionally, I didn't earn enough money from the part time job I took to get by.

I mastered my power as a result. I had to use it against the cops sometimes, even though I didn't really want to. I was a criminal then, I didn't know what to do with my life. Every day it was just climbing mountains, working the part time job, getting food with or without money, practising my power in the narrow corridor I stayed in.

After a few months of this, one day, when I went to climb a mountain, the tallest one in Ninjago, I saw an old man sitting down, drinking tea when I reached the top. I was confused. How could an old man like this dude reach the top of such a high mountain?

"Hello Cole," the old dude said.

"How...how do you know my name?" I took a small step back, being careful not to fall down the mountain.

"I knew your mother. I am sorry for your loss."

"It's been months since she died," I said. It was no longer hard for me to accept the fact that she was dead. "I don't care anymore."

That was probably a lie, but I didn't feel the deep wound in my heart that I did when Mom died.

"What are you doing up here?" I asked.

"Looking for you."

"For what?"

"I am recruiting people to join the Jaeger program. Pilots are dying, faster than I can replace them. You would be a good pilot, seeing that you got up here on your own."

I immediately accepted the offer. Somehow he knew that I had an elemental power, and I mastered it on my own. I begged for him to not tell anyone else, I didn't want them to reject me like how Dad did. Sensei agreed, and he kept his word.

When I reached the Jaeger site, there were a number of pilots. I made friends with all of them, but I was particularly close to Nya and Kai. They had lost their parents when they were young, they understood the pain that I felt. I never told anyone about my power. Slowly, the Jaeger pilots started losing their fights to the Kaiju. After each fight, less and less pilots filled the training area, the corridors got quieter and quieter, I was never put into a Jaeger.

Today, I tried to keep my powers in check, I normally could. My power just felt hyper-energetic, waiting excitedly to be used, trying to burst out of me. When I sparred with Nya, at one point, she shot a blast of water at me, I couldn't dodge in time, and on instinct, I raised some rocks from the ground to block the water.

I knew I had fucked up.

The others just stared at me awkwardly, they were confused and shocked as I was when I found out about my power.

"Uh-I-I can explain guys," I stuttered. The others just stared blankly at me, as if I was some sort of Kaiju specimen. I felt the blood rushing up to my face and I ran out of the training area and into my room, burying my head into my pillow, shouting curses at myself, muffled by the pillow against my face.

Why was I so dumb?! Why do I always mess up with my power?!

I stayed in my room for the rest of the day, locking the door. For most of the time I just stared blankly at the wall. I saw Mom's face on it, it was probably my imagination. I didn't realise it until I felt my face, but I was crying. I quickly wiped the tears off, no matter whether anyone was around or not, I didn't want to cry.

That definitely made it worse.

All that pent-up emotion all built up inside me, it all came out. I started sobbing harder, once again burying my face inside my pillow. I felt the pillow slowly getting wet, tear soaked. I wanted to stop crying, this was embarrassing, but I couldn't stop. Every time I tried, I felt Dad's rejection cutting through me.

Eventually, I stopped, I had no more tears to cry. I wiped my face with my sleeve, and managed to calm down, my breathing was still slightly uneven.

It's okay, just go outside.

What if they reject you?

What if they abandon you, like your father did?

Shut up, I told my thoughts.

"Cole? Bro, you good? It's dinner right now, you gonna come?" I heard Kai's voice from the other side of the door, a comforting presence.

"Sure, I guess," I replied, heading out of my room.

I think Kai saw my red puffy eyes cause he put his hand on my shoulder.

"It's okay bro, no one's gonna judge you for your powers," he said. I didn't feel any less nervous though.

As I headed into the dining hall, I saw the others sitting together, whispering about some stuff. When I got close, they looked up, smiling.

"I think bro had some serious social anxiety back there," I heard Ember say. I chuckled a bit, remembering the memes back in the day. Ember's amber-coloured eyes lit up when she heard me laugh.

"Hey Cole, my bro, you know we don't mind you having powers right?" Jay said. The huge knot in my stomach suddenly untwisted itself, I felt a lot better. The others nodded in agreement.

"Yeah bro, Kai and Nya have powers also, I kinda envy you man."

"You're so lucky you mastered your power on your own, it's so hard!" Nya said. "It really is, I don't know how you did it on your own," Kai added.

"I sense that you are gonna be a great pilot," Zane said.

I looked at Ember, she hadn't really said anything else. She just gave me a downwards nod, a sign of respect that people used back in the day.

They really aren't like Dad.

My eyes became blurry again, from tears not of grief nor sorrow, but relief and joy.

"Thanks guys, you're the best."

Chapter Text

Jay's POV (Once again thanks @PIXALisAWESOME for the idea)(This is also probably gonna be difficult for me to write because I have never written something like this before)

So now everyone has powers except me, Zane and Ember. Well Cole actually had powers from the beginning but none of us knew, but still. Nya looks like she's doing quite well controlling her powers, it only took her a few weeks to learn how to not splash someone in the face with a stream of water every 5 seconds.

I always admired Nya since I joined the Jaeger program. She wasn't like the other girls I had met before, well actually she was like Ember, but Ember joined like a few months ago, so that doesn't count. She was always seeking adventure, and I knew for a fact that she liked to play Rec Room. I saw her go into the gaming center nearby at nights to play it. I was always quite awkward around her, I probably secretly had a crush on her. When I found out she was gonna be my Jaeger pilot, I was excited as hell. I just never had the guts to ask her whether she wanted to hang out at the game center with me, didn't think she would wanna hang out with someone who didn't have powers.

I told Kai about it, it probably wasn't the best idea because he went "Bro you wanna go out with my sis?" so I had to defend myself by saying "Nah man I just wanna hang out with her."

Luckily for me, Kai gave me some advice for asking Nya out. He said to have confidence, and he even did a cool demonstration, on me.

"Hey, Nya, you and me, we make a pretty good team," Kai said, actually he was quite convincing. "So how about this, we go hangout at the game center today?"

And then I actually went, "Yes!"

"So you see, you gotta have confidence!" Kai said. I nodded.

"Aight, let's do this."

So I went up to Nya, who was training with her powers, and I may have accidentally gotten hit in the face by a jet of water.

"Oops, sorry," Nya said as she helped me up.

"Eh, it's fine," I said as I looked up at her, and then my body suddenly tensed up, the way it always did when I was nervous. Rubbing the back of my head, I gave her an awkward smile and asked,"Uhh...hey Nya, wanna go hangout at the game center after lunch?"

"Sure! Why not!" she replied. To be honest, I was kinda worried that she would say no. After all, that's the worst thing that she could say, right?

After lunch, we went out to the gaming center, Nya and I got excused from training by Sensei Wu, because why not. We played some Rec Room quest games, to Nya, I was "Severely skill issued", and I thought that was bad, but actually the entire time, Nya was laughing her head off at how I died to Pumpkin Spicers in Crescendo (reference to chapter 10), which were actually super easy to kill, or at least dodge their hits.

It was raining outside, I heard the thunder and the rain on the roof. In the middle of the Crescendo boss fight, the television that we were playing on suddenly switched off.

"OH COME ON!" Nya shouted.

"BRUH!" I groaned, I didn't want to hear (the boss) Dracula's entire speech again. I swear when I die he's still gonna be saying his speech.

"Don't worry, this happens all the time, I just need to go to the roof and get the cables working again," Nya said.

"I'm coming with you," I said.

"Nah bro, I got this," Nya assured me, but I still followed her anyways. We climbed to the roof through a ladder on the outside of the building. It was raining so heavily, the raindrops actually stung my skin when they came into contact. I saw lightning flash through the sky, I didn't really care because what are the chances of being struck by lightning?

As Nya fiddled with the cables, I watched her, wondering how she managed to do this the first time.

"Almost done..." she said. I heard another clap of thunder, it was really loud.

And then suddenly, I felt a jolting, excruciating pain shoot through me, my whole body just stopped. I couldn't move anymore. The only thought I had was "What the hell is happening to me?"

And then I blacked out.

I woke up in a white room, my first thought was that I was in the hospital or something. I was right, I saw the team looking down on me.

"I thought he was actually dead," I saw Ember talking to Nya, and then she received a hard slap on the shoulder by Nya. I smirked weakly, it took most of my energy to make that small movement.

"What?!" Ember protested. Nya didn't reply, she looked at me and asked,"You alright bro? Took that lightning straight to the face."

Oh, so that's what happened.

I still felt some of that burning in my body, I wanted to get it out, I just couldn't. I also felt different, not just because of the burning, but also because I felt currents of electricity in my body, those that didn't burn, it's as if they were trying to tell me to do something.

I felt Nya's hand on mine, and I felt myself blushing (oh fuck I hate writing this). And then some of that electricity in my body shoot out, Nya pulled her hand away.

"Sorry," I mumbled.

"You good bro?" Nya asked.

I nodded, I felt the energy coming back to me. I sat up in my bed, I tried to stand up, and Nya had to catch me before I fell to the ground. We headed out of the hospital back to the Jaeger site, and I got another day off.

I was out for a day according to the team.

During my day off, I took some time to find out how that electrical current came out of me when Nya was holding my hand. I found out that now I was like the others, I had the power of lightning, so I ran to tell everyone.

Ember's POV

So Jay ran to the training area, loudly shouting,"Guys! I got this cool power where I can control lightning!"

"OH NOW SOMEONE HAS POWERS! IMAGINE IF ZANE GETS SOME OTHER RANDOM POWER NOW, THEN I'LL BE THE ONLY ONE!" I laughed.

I really hope I won't be the only one without powers.

Chapter Text

Ember's POV

Great, so now Jay has cool lightning powers. That didn't come with a cost though. During training whenever he used it the scars on his arm would light up, I guessed it was the scars from the lightning strike. He's been less awkward around Nya, I can tell he has a crush on her.

Kai's been doing well controlling his powers. At least the room isn't a sauna when I try to sleep. Simulations have been rough though. Kai tries to use his powers every once in a while in the simulation, which kind of breaks the system and someone has to go fix it.

Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention that Nya's been teaching me mechanics. I've been getting quite good at it, Nya says I'm learning fast.

One day Sensei Wu was probably so fed up with Kai accidentally breaking the simulation that he actually allowed us to test out Striker Phoenix. Nothing too crazy, just move the arms around a bit and try to channel Kai's power through the robot.

Kai and I got suited up and climbed into Striker. I had looked into the other Jaegers before, none of them were like this metal giant. The mechanics were different, controls all over the place.

We connected ourselves to the drift machine thing, and then I heard a "Drift sequence initiated" voice before I got sucked in, like usual, flashing through memories.

Except that when the memories stopped, I found myself in darkness.

"Kai?" I called out hesitantly. I didn't like being in dark places, I needed light. "Kai bro ya there?"

Nothing but dead silence. All I heard was my heart pounding in my chest. I took a few steps forward, expecting something to happen, nothing did. I didn't know why I was sweating, it didn't feel warm in here.

A few moments passed, and I saw an orange glow in the dark. Instinctively I walked towards it, picking up the pace with each step. I broke into a run, I couldn't stand the darkness any longer. I ended up half-crashing into Kai, the fire in his hand spread to mine. We both started to panic as I tried to put it out, and then suddenly the darkness melted away, and I was back in Striker.

"What was that?" I asked breathlessly. I still felt the fire in my hand, it was burning.

"Kai?"I called out, he didn't move, probably still stunned from what just happened in the last minute. "Kai!" I shouted, my arm felt like it was on fire.

I tore off my suit, (Don't worry there are normal clothes underneath NO SUSSY STUFF GUYS) I was right. My arm and the clothes covering it was on fire.

I did the stop-drop-roll thing that I had lots of experience in thanks to someone, the fire extinguished but it quickly returned. Kai came to his senses, he kept telling me to calm down, I was trying to calm down. We both already broke off from the drift, Sensei must have found that something was wrong.

"Okay, gimme your arm, I'll try to get the fire away," Kai grabbed my arm, not waiting for a response. The fire moved from my arm to his, as if it were alive, leaving behind a trail of dead burnt skin. I winced when he let go, my arm didn't feel any better, at least the fire was gone.

Kai and I stood there, breathing heavily.

"What the fuck was that?" I asked, when I finally caught my breath.

"I...I don't know," Kai was in shock as well.

"I should get this checked out," I said, looking at my arm. It wasn't too bad, the fire didn't cause as much damage as the Kaiju blood did.

As I went out of Striker's head, I felt Kai's gaze on me.

Sensei Wu came running, and started interrogating me on what the hell happened just now. I quickly explained to him, and went to run my burns under cold water. Sensei said I reacted quite well, considering that my arm was on literal fire.

It was during the drift, I felt Kai's power click into me when I half-crashed into him. It never happened before, maybe because it was a real test this time. I couldn't control that fragment of his power, because I never really had to.

I winced again when the cold water hit my flaking skin, the pain quickly subsided. I left it there for 10 minutes, before going to bandage up my arm. After that I wanted to go back to training, maybe do a simulation with Kai or something, but Sensei insisted on letting me get some rest.

I was pacing up and down the corridor. I contemplated going to the gaming center, but who was I gonna play with? I can't just carry randoms in Crescendo or Golden Trophy, I'm way too skill issued.

Every now and then, my arm stung a little, it was just a slight pain that went away after a few minutes.

Suddenly I heard a "I'm sorry" from behind me. I turned around, I saw Kai rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. I folded my arms, smirking.

"I never thought I would see the day the fire elemental apologised to someone."

"I'm being serious, what happened back there...it was my fault."

I walked up beside him, using my good arm to smack him on the back. "Nah man, we good. Plus I got a day off." He smirked a little.

"If we're gonna pilot Striker, I gotta teach you how to control my powers," he said.

"Aight, sure," I replied.

So Kai started giving me lessons on how to not set myself on fire during the drift. It was quite hard, considering I didn't have the power itself and the only way to do it was a drift. Everyone morning before training I would get woken up by Kai to train.

I had to admit, he wasn't very patient. We went into Striker's head to practice, I got so used to the darkness of the drift that it was the only darkness I didn't anymore. I found out that the only way to share Kai's power was coming into contact with him into the drift.

The first few lessons were rough, I got burned quite a few times. Then Kai would always help me clean the burns up before Sensei noticed. The trick was to keep the emotion level constant, so that the fire wouldn't get out of control. Channeling strong feelings like anger would make the fire stronger, calming down would die the fire down. It took me weeks to figure that out.

Slowly, and very painfully, I got control of Kai's powers. Simulations continued as normal, Sensei hadn't let Kai and I step into Striker since the burning incident.

Until finally, after a lot of persuasion by me and Kai, he let us try again.

So we suited up, got into Striker, and went into the drift. The darkness was familiar, I found Kai in a few minutes, the glow of his fire guiding me to him.

"Took you longer than last time," Kai smirked.

"Yesterday I was high on coffee," I said, playfully punching his shoulder. The fire spread up my arm again, I was calm, it was normal. The fire glowed, it didn't burn me anymore.

The darkness melted away, and I was back in the real world. Sensei brought Kai and I through a bunch of moves, before Kai and I showed off our fire skills. We kept the fire in control, no destruction or burning down of buildings whatsoever.

When Sensei disconnected the drift, the fire flowed back to Kai, as normal, I saw him welcoming it back like an old friend.

"Good job," he said. "No "thank you" to me?"

I laughed. "Nah man, I think my respect is enough."

I saw Sensei walking into Striker's head, he didn't even try to hide his pride.

"You both have done well," he said. "Tomorrow will be your final test."

"HELL YEAH!" Kai and I shouted at the same time.

"Time to go flex on the others?" I asked.

"I thought you'd never ask."

Chapter Text

That night the room felt warmer, Kai's fire was burning stronger. I was excited too, but I managed to get my sleep somehow. In the middle of the night my phone rang, my parents were calling me for some reason. I picked up my phone and answered, annoyed that I wouldn't be able to get a full night of rest today.

"Who is it?" I asked as I picked up the phone, I spoke silently so as to not wake Kai. I was greeted by Mom's screaming, thank god I didn't put speaker on.

"WHERE ARE YOU?!" I had to put the volume to its lowest to not kill my ears. "I'm fine Mom," I whispered. "I just forgot to call you tonight. I got a lotta work to do."

"Why are you whispering?" Mom asked, I could finally turn the volume back up a little.

"Don't wanna wake up the others in the building," I said.

"Remember to call every night, you really had me worried there."

The call ended and I fell back onto my bed, sighing. And now I couldn't sleep. I looked at Kai, he was literally staring right at me.

"Please don't tell me I woke you up," I groaned.

"Your mom's quite loud, even at minimal volume," Kai said.

"What time is it?"

Kai checked his watch.

"6 in the morning."

"About time we got up I guess," I sighed before heading to wash up.

So after breakfast, Kai and I headed to the simulation room.

"Okay, just follow my lead, and don't do anything overly stupid," Kai said. He was sounding like the first time we did the simulation, he was probably on the nervous side.

"Chill bro, when have I ever done something like that?"

Flashbacks to all the times I did overly stupid stuff in the simulation

"Okay, maybe sometimes, but I'll try not to do it this time."

Kai remained tense, by now I just needed one look at him to know. We saw Sensei in the simulation room, he told us all that we needed to do was kill that one Kaiju in the simulation without sustaining heavy damage.

Seemed easy enough, Kai and I have done it countless times.

So we put the training VR helmet thingy on and the real world melted away. We were in the sea right next to Ninjago City. We never spawned here, this was weird.

Suddenly, a Kaiju burst out of the water, attacking Striker from behind. Me and Kai's connection was really strong today, we ripped the Kaiju off Striker's back and flung it into the water.

"That was weird," I heard Kai say.

"Sword or gun?" I asked.

"Eh, we'll see how good it'll look when we finish this bitch off."

The Kaiju came out of the water again, it looked really pissed off. It literally rammed into us with full speed, we put our arms in front of our face, blocking some of the damage. We were being pushed towards Ninjago City, we fought to keep our balance and not fall into the water.

I activated the chain sword on Striker's arm, slicing at the eye of the Kaiju. It screamed, moving backwards a little.

"I think you just pissed it off even more," Kai said.

"Well then do something," I replied.

The Kaiju lunged for us again, claws outstretched, literally tearing off Striker's arm, the one I was controlling. I screamed, the simulation somehow made me feel pain when Striker's arm came off. Hopefully it wasn't like this in a real fight. The Kaiju then aimed for the head, and Kai blocked it with Striker's working arm. We were being pushed back again, closer and closer towards the shore.

"The gun's stuck!" Kai reported.

"Shit," I cursed. Kai channeled his fire into his arm, and threw a fireball into the Kaiju's face. It groaned, and we took the chance to find another weapon. We ran for the shore, the Kaiju was stunned enough that it didn't go after us.

"Permission to do something overly stupid?" Kai asked.

"Permission granted, now HURRY," I replied. Kai grabbed a nearby ship that was empty, hopefully at least, heated it up with his fire, and started beating the shit out of the Kaiju's head, it got stunned every blow. The ship was breaking, and this time it was my turn.

I kicked the Kaiju in between its legs (Don't ask how I got it there), pushing it into the water when it fell, pinning it down with my leg. I felt it struggling underneath, we had to act fast.

"Gun's still jammed," Kai said. The Kaiju was struggling too much for Kai to get a clear shot at it.

I didn't have to say anything for Kai to know what I was thinking. I had a lot of experience looking at Striker, I knew how to exploit it's features. I turned on the "divert power" function and pressed the "lower right leg" (that was the side pinning the Kaiju down). Then I opened one of the water locks in the leg, and a burst of fire spurted out, killing the Kaiju.

I diverted power back to the core, and the simulation melted away, right after the words "test passed".

"LETS GOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!" I shouted.

Sensei came out, grinning.

"I really like your overly stupid tactics," Kai gave me a pat on the shoulder.

"Ship sword? That's your best invention yet," I replied.

"You both have passed the test, and given me an amazing show," Sensei said.

"Good to hear that it was entertaining," I laughed.

Suddenly, the Kaiju alarm rang.

"Is this the one for Anakin and Ahsoka?" Kai asked.

"No, it's for you. It's time to get your first Kaiju kill."

Chapter Text

After getting suited up, which only took a few minutes, Kai and I ran to Striker, the Kaiju alarm on our wrists were flashing red, symbolizing a category 4 Kaiju. As we climbed in, I heard Sensei's voice on the radio.

"Code name's Leatherback, be ready for anything."

"Don't worry Sensei, we got this," Kai replied.

We put the helmets which initiated the drift on, I heard a "drift sequence initiated" coming from Striker, and it happened like normal.

The darkness, I was so used to it, it's almost comforting really. I quickly found Kai, it's easy to find him with his fire. I touched his shoulder and the fire spread down my arm, the darkness melted away and I was back in Striker's head.

The bay doors in front of us opened, and I saw the ocean. It was raining heavily, I heard the raindrops hammering against Striker as we headed out into the water. I caught sight of Leatherback in the distance, parts of it were glowing from where I was. Kai and I decided to go on the offensive, we went straight for Leatherback.

Just to say, I thought we were walking menacingly towards it, just because of the rain and everything.

When we finally reached, I saw how fat this dude was. Its eyes were glowing blue, just like the inside of its mouth when it roared at us before charging straight in. I saw Kai's thoughts, and so we fired up Striker's hands, kind of creating fire swords on Striker's arms. (It's a cool idea ok)

When Leatherback came, I tried to stab it in the head with the fire sword, it definitely didn't work because the fire was repelled by Leatherback's skin, and Kai and I were knocked backwards.

"Okay, new idea, sword," I replaced my fire sword with the steel one that was installed into Striker. Kai punched Leatherback's head, stunning it for a second and I took the shot. I didn't know that it would react so fast, because it literally smashed the sword on Striker's hand in half.

"Fuck," I cursed.

Suddenly, Leatherback disappeared into the water. The scanners on Striker couldn't detect it, it was too fast.

Then I felt a large jerk from the back of Striker, Leatherback had gone right onto it, its weight pushing Striker down as Kai and I struggled to keep standing. Striker's screen showed Leatherback's claws aiming for our head, all Kai and I could do was hold it away in a really awkward position. The other claw was digging into Striker's side, stupid Jaeger transmitted the pain to me, and I screamed, "FUCK YOU COCK SUCKER" to cope with it. Leatherback was struggling, we couldn't hold it off for much longer.

"VENT THE COOLANT!" I shouted to Kai, who said yes through the drift. I felt Leatherback's claw stop moving, but his other one kept digging deeper into the side.

"BREAK IT OFF!" I commanded Kai, he did that while I hit the other claw off the side. Finally that bitch let go, and it fell backwards into the ocean as Kai and I used the last of our strength to push it off. We were tired as hell, but the fight wasn't over yet. Leatherback was staying still in the water, which gave Kai time to activate the gun. He shot the water a few times and Leatherback started moving again, emerging from the water, really pissed off, its side bleeding glowing blue Kaiju acid.

"Gun's reloading," Kai said, he was breathing heavily, so was I, we couldn't continue the fight for much longer. Leatherback charged again, and this time we didn't have the strength to push him back. We were knocked into the water, and couldn't stand up, Leatherback was pinning us down.

We were doing all that we could to hold its jaws from Striker's head. My arms were burning, the gun was still reloading.

When we got back, I really had to fix that thing.

"NOW'S THE TIME TO DO SOMETHING OVERLY STUPID EM," Kai said. Leatherback was literally on top of us, I knew what he was referring to.

"Okay, divert all power to nuclear reactor," I muttered as I fumbled with the buttons beside me, I kept messing up, probably because of panic and social anxiety.

"Hurry," Kai strained. I heard Striker's arm groan.

"Done," I reported as I waited. Suddenly Leatherback was pushed off Striker, giving Kai and I enough time to stand up.

"Oh god that hurts," Kai groaned as he moved his arm a little.

"The gun reloaded yet?"

"Yessir."

Leatherback stood up, still slightly unfocused. We took the chance to grab its head, and I started punching it non-stop. Kai positioned the gun under it's neck, and shot.

With a loud scream, Leatherback fell back, into the water, unmoving, its glowing blue blood floating to the surface of the water.

My breathing was uneven, I was still tensed up.

"Should we check for a pulse?" Kai asked.

"Sure."

Kai shot the gun a few times at the dead Kaiju.

"No pulse," he reported. I laughed. "Not after that."

"Sensei Wu, Kaiju's dead and we're ready for our victory party," I said into the radio. The rain was dying down, as if it too was celebrating me and Kai's first Kaiju kill.

Kai and I walked Striker back home, and as we got out of it, we were suddenly dogpiled under the other Jaeger pilots. Then they let us up, and we received some really hard slaps on the back.

"Aight, WHO WANTS TO GO TO THE GAME CENTER FOR A GAME OF CRESCENDO?" Nya asked.

"HELL YEA!" everyone shouted in response.

"I'LL GRAB THE DRINKS!" Cole offered.

"I'LL GRAB THE SNACKS!" Jay said.

"And I'll teach yall how not to die to pumpkin spicers like Jay," Nya said as she led us to the game center.

This is gonna be one hell of a night.

Chapter Text

(This is where the fun begins my dudes)

Jay and Cole returned shortly with some chips and cans of Red Bull. Nya, Kai and I already started up Rec Room, it was taking a while. Zane was gonna watch from the side, Nya would carry me and Kai. We had the keyboards and mouses ready on the table, Nya gave us the basic controls. W to move forwards, S to move backwards, A to move right, D to move left, Ctrl to crouch, and shift to sprint.

When Rec Room finally started, the screen was split into 3 because we connected 3 players to it. The accounts were already friends with each other, mine was TBNR_Potato (I don't know who gave me that name), Kai's one was Recthead and Nya's was vexingvexvexes. Nya invited me and Kai to her dorm room, and then we partied up and went to Crescendo.

I opened a bag of chips and a can of red bull as Crescendo started. Meanwhile, Nya was explaining about unbreakable whips and blunderbusses that took 10 years to reload before she grabbed 2 shovels on the side of the house that we spawned in, charging straight into the garden. I took the pitchfork stuck in a pile of hay and a shovel from the wheelbarrow cart thing at the side and started left clicking and right clicking my mouse like it was the thing keeping me alive. Recthead managed to get 2 shovels as well and joined in.

Vex took out the first 4 pumpkin spicers with some assist from me and Recthead, and then 2 spicers spawned at the side, which I easily took out by knocking them with my shovels a few times. Recthead and vex took out the rest, which wasn't a lot.

Then we stood on the platform which unlocked a gate that brought us to the next part. I was expecting more pumpkin spicers, but 2 green bats came around the corner and shot fireballs at us. Kai and I didn't react in time and got hit, but my bro vex killed the bats before reviving us.

"Try not to let that happen," she said. Then a few pumpkin spicers came down the ramp and I went straight in. Halfway through genociding the pumpkins, my weapons broke and I had to fall back, taking the 2 shovels at the side before continuing my mass murder. A bone maid spawned at the side and I crouch-sprinted, taking her out with some shovel headshots. Recthead went for the other maid, and unfortunately got hit by the bones the maid threw. I went to revive him, and took out the maid.

Then vex told Kai and I not to rush ahead, but to go back down the ramp to help her take out some pumpkin spicers. We spawn killed them, thank god the weapons didn't break before they were all dead.

We went back up the ramp and down to the other side. Vex took out the maid while Recthead and I went to kill bats, this time we didn't die.

"I really thought Recthead would be more skill issued," Nya said.

We stood on the pad that unlocked the gate to the next part, and we got our whips. Vex and I stole the blunderbusses so that Recthead was left with a whip and a shovel.

"Oi! I want one!" Kai said in real life.

"L, get more in the next part," Nya replied.

I put a shovel on my back. Recthead went to open the chests nearby which gave him a blunderbuss and a flintlock. Vex took the flintlock while Recthead took the blunderbuss. Then we went out into the field where we saw a maid throwing bones at us. Vex took care of that quickly and then the swooping bats came.

They were really annoying, they kept trying to get me but I strafed and whipped them in the back. It was hard to get them because of their small hitboxes, so I blunderbussed them and friendly fired Recthead.

"Sorry," I said before reviving him.

Then the pumpkin spicers came. Vex told me and Kai to stay back while whipping the spicers, they were taken out quite easily. Then there was a maid and a few more pumpkin spicers. Vex took out the maid while Recthead and I dealed with the spicers. One of the bones that the maid threw hit me, causing me to get out, and Kai revived me before finishing off the spicers.

"I thought you said you were gonna take out the maid before she threw the bones!?" I shouted at vex.

"Well there's another one over there Potato, so you can have the honors of taking that out," vex replied.

I stood on the high ground where the spicers couldn't get me, and whipped the maid a few times before she threw bones while vex and Recthead dealt with the spicers. Then the green bats came and I strafed again, running around them before they could hit me with their fireballs, and combined with Recthead and vex, they were no problem.

Carriage Ride

Then the carriage ride. Oh god, this one was messy.

I chugged down a bunch of red bull before this part, cause vex said this part was gonna be messy. We found ourselves in a carriage with 2 blunderbusses, some whips, and some shovels and pitchforks. Recthead's blunderbuss was still full, vex and I took the new blunderbusses and slinged them on our back, ditching the shovels. Vex instructed me and Kai to take the right side while she took the left. The first wave started and combat music started playing. I was guessing it was vex's side because nothing came on ours.

After that was taken care of, 2 swoopers spawned on me and Recthead's side, Recthead took them out before accidentally pushing me out. Thank god I didn't get out, because more enemies spawned. Green bats, barrel dogs and spicers on our side, I guessed it was the same on vex's side. Suddenly the 2 green bats fired at me and Recthead, we couldn't get out of the way in time and we both got out.

"Woah woah woah," vex said before reviving us. "Looks like a severe skill issue to me."

"Shuddap sis," Recthead said.

The carriage was being overwhelmed by enemies, so vex and I used our blunderbusses, which stunned most of the stuff, and we took them out with the whips.

"Phew, it's over," vex sighed before the screen went black and screaming sounds came out of the tv.

"That's normal, this really wastes time on a speedrun," vex assured.

Castle Grounds

"I'll take out the men, you take out the spicers. When I go up top, yall take out the dogs and spicers in the back," vex commanded. Recthead and I nodded with a "Yessir" and stayed back.

Vex went on tryhard mode, taking out the men (Marksmen) before they even had chance to shoot. Recthead and I stayed down, whipping the spicers and dogs that spawned. Soon enough, the end of the wave music played and we moved on.

"After this is the checkpoint," vex said. Recthead and I sighed in relief, I didn't know how much longer we could remain chill.

"Go right, I'll go left," vex instructed as usual.

I learned from vex and took out the marksmen first. Recthead took out the spicers, before accidentally whipping the board that held the door from falling. The door fell, and more hell broke loose. 2 bone maids and a bunch of spicers while I was whipping a marksman and some pumpkin spicers.

"WHY'D YOU DO THAT YOU DUMB SHIT?!" vex shouted. A dog spawned right next to me, I blunderbussed it before getting hit out by a bone maid in the back. Recthead tried to revive, but got out right next to me.

Vex fell back and ran towards our side, managing to revive us before killing the maid. Then we killed the swooping bats that came over with the high ground, before killing the pumpkin spicers and maids.

"Well that was chaotic," I said after the end of wave victory music played. We stepped on the pad and went into the checkpoint area.

Grand Hall

Some amazing music played when we entered. At my two sides was a blunderbuss, a pitchfork, a shovel, and 3 whips. Vex took the blunderbuss while I took a shovel because my old blunderbuss broke. We looted some chests on the chandeliers by whipping up, and broke some candles before going to the next door.

Gallery

We were greeted with 3 spicers walking out from a corridors. I whipped them swiftly, they were knocked out before I whipped them again, killing them. Recthead and vex went to take out the rest of the enemies that spawned nearby: 2 green bats and a pumpkin spicer.

Then we went to another room where there was a man waiting, along with a swooping bat and a maid. I jumped straight down, trusting Recthead and vex to take out the man. I whipped the swooping bat and the maid, and got shot by a hidden man behind the maid and swooper.

"BRUH!" I groaned, exasperated. Vex went to revive me while Recthead killed the man.

Then we moved to another room where there was a maid and some pumpkin spicers. I sprint-crouched, dodging the maid's bones and taking her out with a shot of my blunderbuss. Then Recthead and vex took out the spicers, I joined in the fun as well.

Then at the exit corridor of the room, a pumpkin spicer, a swooper and a green bat spawned. I shot my blunderbuss again, except stupid thing didn't hit the swooper and I got swooped and out.

"OH FUCK STUPID SWOOPING BATS MAN!"

Recthead went to revive me and we took out the spicer and finished off the green bat. Behind us spawned some bone maids, I heard the sound before they threw their bones, and I whipped them, followed by vex and Recthead.

"Boss fight time," vex said before heading off into the corridor. Recthead and I followed, and vex told us to watch out for the bats. We stepped onto the pad that unlocked the gate to the boss fight. The screen started shaking and the maid boss spawned, it had purple eyes unlike its smaller friends, which had red eyes. It immediately started targeting me, I ran from the bones it threw at me; they exploded.

I hid behind a pillar at the high ground where the maid boss spawned at. Some bats spawned behind her and I took them out with a blunderbuss. Sadly my blunderbuss broke and now I had to resort to whipping. So I whipped the nearby bats, and heared the sound of Recthead getting hit out. I couldn't reach him, he was right behind the boss.

I continued to whip the maid boss from behind the pillar, her explosive bones couldn't reach me here. Until finally, the maid boss fell with a loud sound and a pile of silver dropped on the ground. Vex revived Recthead before picking the silver up.

"No checkpoint here, so if we all die, we gotta redo this again," vex warned.

"Oh cmon!" I could hear the frustration in Recthead's voice.

Chamber of Knowledge

We found ourselves at the entrance to a big library area. The moment we entered the library, a bookshelf on the right opened. Instinctively we all ran towards it, a green bat shot fireballs at us, and a swooper and a spicer spanwed. One big whip managed to stun all of them and the next one killed them.

Then the bookshelf behind us slid open, some swooping bats and a spicer spawned there. Vex went to take out the man that spawned on the higher bookshelves, while Recthead and I dealt with the others.

I shot a blunderbuss at the swooping bats, somehow they didn't hit and I had to crouch-sprint to get out of the way before whipping them. Recthead took out the spicer, and then some more of them spawned, along with a swooping bat and 2 green bats. Recthead and I remained on the ground while vex whipped from above. Then she took out the next 2 men that spawned up top and soon everything was dead.

Recthead and i had some trouble climbing the bookshelf to get to where vex was.

"Go to the side part," vex instructed. "Then just move forwards against it." It actually worked and we made our way into a small corridor thing that led into another room. Vex pressed a book to unlock a secret, and a wall moved up on our right, revealing 3 chests. We opened them, we got some average loot, a blunderbuss, a flintlock and some silver.

After that we whipped at the boards blocking us from reaching the next room, the boards fell easily, and I ran straight in. I whipped at the 2 spicers walking out, another spicer, a green bat and a swooping bat spawned. It was easy because they were all in one room, and after a shot of my blunderbuss and a whip, they were dead.

Vex pressed another secret book which opened another secret hallway that led into a room with more loot. Some more blunderbusses, a hunters crossbow, some shovels and pitchforks, but really didn't need them by now, we just took the blunderbusses and Recthead took the hunters crossbow before heading off into the next room.

"I'll stay up top to get rid of the men and maids," vex said before whipping up to the top of the bookshelves. Recthead and I stayed down, a maid, spicer, and swooping bat spawned at the small space across the board that connected the ramp to the high ground. Recthead stayed at the low ground, ready to take out enemies on the low ground. I took out the stuff on the high ground, almost getting hit by some bones.

Suddenly I heard the sound of Recthead getting out, I ran down the ramp to revive him. He was dealing with a maid and a swooper, I crouch-sprinted to get out of the way and managed to revive him. Some spicers spawned all over, I whipped them and did some blunderbussing. I looked up at vex, she was taking out all the men and maids up top, damn there was a lot of them. She actually got hit out, I had to whip up, dodging the mens' aimbot before reviving her.

The wolves spawned at the entrance, I went down to blunderbuss and whip them, Recthead didn't even have to go help me. I let the others have the fun and the combat music stopped, everything was dead now. Vex pressed another secret book, opening the gate to the next level.

"Bossfight, take cover when the man tries to shoot," vex said. "Do not go up top."

Recthead and I ran straight in, the screen started shaking as the man boss spawned. Recthead ignored vex's advice and just ran up to whip the man boss. I hid behind the pillars and whipped the boss, taking cover when he was about to shoot. Vex followed behind me, groaning when Recthead ran up top. A dog and some spicers spawned in front of Recthead, while he was dealing with them and the man boss, another dog and a few spicers spawned behind him, taking him out.

Then they went for me and vex. She took them out, while telling me to take out the boss. I followed her instructions, and we took the boss and everything else with no problem.

When reviving Recthead, vex said,"Told ya so."

"Shut," Recthead replied.

We clicked the door that brought us back to the grand hall, and we banked our silver, and got a checkpoint.

Grand hall (again)

We looted the chests again, and got another reminder from vex for the end of the first part to fall back and not charge into the cloud of enemies that would spawn. Especially Recthead. Nya nudged Kai in the arm in real life.

"The Garden of Lag time. I hate this part, the whips malfunction like hell here," vex said as she opened the door to the Garden Of Sorrow/Lag.

Garden of Lag

Visibility was poor, it was kinda foggy. We went in, vex went ahead to take out the men, 3 spicers spawned one at a time, making them easy to take out. The combat music ended quickly, signalling that Recthead and vex managed to take out the men. I ran in, killing the rest of the spicers that spawned in the middle section.

Then the three of us charged into the next section, vex took out the maid at the side, I took out the man in the middle (I think)(Correct me if I'm wrong). Recthead whipped the green bats in the side with a whip. It took him a few tries because the whip really was malfuctioning like vex said. Then a bunch of enemies spawned on the other side, following vex's advice, we stayed back. Vex went onto the high ground, taking out a maid while Recthead and I took out the spicers, swoopers and a few green bats going over the bridge to reach us.

Suddenly, some spicers and green bats spawned on top of me and Recthead. We couldn't react fast enough because the screen started lagging like hell, but vex managed to jump down and revive us, before we killed them. Then a man spawned where the maid was before, and a maid spawned in the middle with some spicers and swoopers.

Recthead took the maid out with his hunter's crossbow and I whipped the man. The rest were easy to take care with, just a bit of whipping and the combat music stopped.

The next part was quite easy, we just had to prioritize the men and maids. We quickly took out the first 2 men, then the pumpkin spicers spawned. After we took them out, 2 maids and some pumpkin spicers spawned behind us. I was kinda jumpscared, shouting,"OH WHAT!?" before crouch-sprinting to dodge the bones. I blunderbussed the maid, whipped the spicers, and jumped down from the high ground to avoid any more jumpscares from behind. I was greeted by some spicers, a dog, and a man. I ran to take out the man with my whip first, and Recthead and vex helped me take out the rest.

"Pumpkin boi time. Just move backwards the entire time by whipping the boss, I will take care of everything else," vex instructed. Recthead and I trusted her, so we went into the next and final part of the garden of lag.

Recthead and I ran to the place vex said the pumpkin boi would spawn, and after a few pumpkin spicers were taken out by Nya, the screen shaking started and the boss came into view. It was like all the other bosses, it was a pumpkin spicer but had purple eyes. I moved backwards while whipping it, Recthead whipped it from behind. I didn't even question what vex was doing, all I knew was that no other enemies were coming towards me. To be honest, this was the easiest boss so far, and it was more tedious to defeat it than hard. When it finally fell, Recthead and I went to help vex out.

She was taking out the pumpkin spicers that were spawning one by one, it was so satisfying when we all whipped a pumpkin spicer at the same time and it died one-shot. Finally, the victory music played and we stepped on the pad to unlock the door to the Inverted Ballroom.

Inverted Ballroom

Vex gave no advice this time, except a "kill everything and anything you see". I ran straight in, Recthead and vex following closely. A maid a green bat spawned in a small area. With a swift whip, I stunned them and took them out. Recthead took out the man that spawned on the high ground with his hunter's crossbow, vex went to the area we spawned to kill the bats. Then another green bat and a spicer spawned in the small area, once again I took them out with no problem. A man and a maid spawned up top, but the others already moved on to the next section. I had to dodge their shots and whip them from the low ground, that actually went quite well.

Who knew that it was possible to beat the high ground with a whip?

Suddenly two dogs spawned at the entrance to the next section where the others were, and I whipped them, the others joined in as well. The combat music stopped, the next part was gonna be rough, according to vex.

The gate opened to the next part, and we ran in.

A maid, some bats and spicers spawned at the far area. Vex told Recthead to stay with her, while I took out the things on the ground. I shot a blunderbuss at everything at the far area, whipping them to kill them. A swooper managed to reach me through the bludnerbuss though, and I was out.

"Skill issue," Recthead said as he went over to revive me.

Men and maids spawned on the upside-down tables, the whips could reach them from the bottom area. We killed them before they even had a chance to shoot. A spicer, a green bat, and a swooper spawned at the entrance, vex warned me and Recthead that the boss was gonna come soon after those stuff were killed. I hid behind the boxes, getting ready for the boss while taking the last enemies out.

Screen shaking again, a big grey bat spawned, immediately shooting purple fireballs, 5 at a time, at everyone.

(The bat boss)

I hid behind the boxes so not to get out, Recthead wasn't so lucky
I hid behind the boxes so not to get out, Recthead wasn't so lucky. I whipped the boss, blunderbussing it before my blunderbuss broke, while vex went to revive Recthead. Vex went down to help me while shouting at Recthead to kill the other men and maids that were spawning behind. We hid behind the bosses, whipping and whipping at the bat boss. It moved to a place where it could hit us, and vex and I got out.

Now Recthead was under pressure. He jumped down, crouch sprinting. He almost got hit by a fireball, I was shouting directions at him. He revived me and vex somehow, and we killed the bat boss, with Recthead dealing with the men and maids.

We took the silver from the bat boss, some bats spawned at both sides of the room, both green and swooping. Vex took out the ones at the entrance area, I took the ones at the far end.

And then the victory music played and we entered the grand hall again.

Grand Hall

"Hard part done," vex sighed in relief. "Hope yall haven't gotten too emotionally damaged by the bat boss yet, cause we are gonna go into a dark area after this."

I took the blunderbuss at the side, putting my whip in my hip holster, following the advice of vex.

So we stepped on the pad to unlock the door to the lower sanctum and went into the dark.

Lower sanctum

We were greeted by the sound of air rushing in and out of a basement. That was creepy. The only source of light was a torch on the side, which vex took. We went to loot some chests, getting some shovels, rakes, even a neww blunderbuss, and of course some silver. Then we walked down a spiral staircase, going into a small room at the side.

"Fred! My boiii!" vex exclaimed when we entered. We saw a goblin cannoner from another game called Crimson Cauldron.

"Yoooo, fred," I whipped at the cage.

"Aight, let's go," Recthead said.

"Cya fred!" vex said as she exited the small room, me and Recthead following closely behind.

So then we entered a hallway with some arrows shooting at different directions. We timed it just right so that we didn't get hit out. The last part of the arrows was chaotic, vex just ran straight through the arrows, Recthead and I tried to do the same, but we got hit out. We got revived by vex before heading to the next part.

The laser part was really a pain in the ass. The first part my blunderbuss got disarmed from me, I see why vex wanted us to put our whip in our hip holster. The first laser was easy, the second wasn't too easy. Vex knew how to get past, she managed to do it easily. Meanwhile Recthead and I were stuck at the first laser part, unsure of when to jump, sometimes getting out by the laser. We followed vex's lead, and after a few minutes, we got to the next part: the axes. Vex made it past the first one, jumping down from the high ground and across the axe without getting out.

Recthead and I struggled to do it once again, vex guided us to get down from the high ground onto a box on the side, before going across the axe. We managed to do it, and vex showed us a skip where we could skip the rest of the parkour part. We jumped onto the 3 boxes stacked on top of each other and jumped to the board leading up to the next gate.

The next gate opened, we took our whips out of our hip holsters. It was still dark, some spicers spawned in the small area in front of us. We whipped them, it took a few hits before they got killed. Then the swooping bats spawned in a cluster, I blunderbussed them and then whipped them, killing them while Recthead and vex dealt with the other spicers and swoopers on the other side. Then we went to the next room, where we jumped down past the axes and took out the 2 maids with our whips.

"Could've let them kill themselves," vex said.

We passed another axe before going to the gate to the next act. It opened, and we all jumped down together without hesitation. We saw the dog boss, it aimed for vex first, charging at her. She quickly dodged, it was quite easy to do that. We whipped at the dog, it went for Recthead once, he didn't manage to dodge in time and he got out.

Vex and I killed the dog before reviving him, just to flex.

"Skill issue," I said before reviving him.

"L," vex smirked, and we went through the door back to the grand hall.

Grand Hall

Boss fight time. We looted the chests again.

"Go look up at the moon," vex suggested with a smirk. I did, it was red, it kinda burned my eyes. Great, now I needed eye bleach.

"Okay, so here's what we say to Dracula. The council of questers does not approve of your terrifying levels of cringe. Thus we shall proceed to burn you with light. Okay?" vex said.

"Aight."

We went to the big door at the top of the staircase and opened it.

Concert Hall

And then we found ourselves in a concert hall that looked a lot like the hall of the school I went to. The curtains of the stage opened. Some bad organ music played.

"Welcome," the Dracula boss said. "It looks like we're the last ones here."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?! WE'RE THE FIRST ONES HERE-" vex shouted.

"I was beginning to think you wouldn't make it with all those...DEEEEEEEETOURS!!!!" Dracula emphasized on the word detour.

I think everyone at that point died of cringe.

Then some bad organ sounds played before Dracula said,"Enough! Have at you!" before disappearing in a puff of smoke, about to reappear somewhere.

Vex took the light cannon, and aimed it at the place Dracula reappeared, which was right beside me, or well, right onto me, blasting a bunch of fireballs at me while saying,"This will be your requiem!" I dodged the fireballs while vex aimed the theater light.

"GET YOUR STINKING ASS OUTTA MY FACE!" I shouted before moving, because Dracula turned into a cloud of bats.

"Find the imposter!" vex shouted before whipping up onto one of the balconies and taking out a maid. Recthead and I remained at the bottom, whipping all the swooping bats as more and more spicers spawned. We took most of the bats out, and then we found one that just refused to die and had a squeaky dracula voice. We killed that one and dracula reappeared.

Vex went to the light cannon again, aiming as I stayed on the stage. Recthead ran to the other theater light. Dracula went for vex this time, a fire dog head came out of Dracula's coat and he shot fireballs at vex. She dodged, crouching, releasing the theater light. Then she went back as Dracula went for Recthead. She managed to burn Dracula with light again before he got Recthead.

Then we all ran to the stage under the command of vex. A man spawned on each side of the stage, we took them out. It became very chaotic, spicers, maids, swooping bats, dogs, all came towards us.

We took them out, Recthead and I killed a lot of the swooping bats with blunderbusses and whips.

"STOP USING INEFFICIENT BAT IMPOSTER FINDING SKILLS YOU NOOBS!" vex shouted before one swooping bat went at her with a "this will be your requiem!" she blunderbussed that one and all the swooping bats fell to the ground. She ran to the theater light again, Recthead and I took out the other enemies.

Dracula spawned right on me again, this time I couldn't dodge in time, and I got hit out. Recthead ran over to revive me, and vex struggled to get a good shot on Dracula. It took a few tries, but Dracula disappeared with a big groan, and turned into a bat plushie.

"LETS GOOOOOOO!" all of us shouted, we were waving the bat plushie around in the light beams. "TAKE THAT YOU LITTLE DUMB SHIT!" Recthead yelled.

"IMAGINE BEING KILLED BY LIGHT!" I laughed.

"B RANK LETS GOOOO!" vex shouted. 3 chests appeared on the stage, one for each of us. Recthead and I got gloves, while vex got a necklace.

2 victories in one day. Pretty impressive, wasn't it?

Chapter Text

That night we beat Crescendo, and boy was it a celebration. Kai and I did some other cool quest games with the other pro gamers like Cole, and Jay who wasn't that good. We did Golden Trophy, it was much easier than Crescendo, we did Isle Of The Lost Skulls, which was really glitchy, and we failed at Crimson Cauldron with Jay's skill issue. But we managed to beat it with Zane's help, I don't know how he got so good, because ever since I came, Zane never took a day off from training to game.

The next day everything was back to normal, at least there were now 2 Jaegers on the front lines: Striker and Titan. Dark Interceptor, which was Cole and Zane's Jaeger, was a Mark 5, it was one of the newest Jaegers, but it still ran on a nuclear core. It looked really cool though.

Nya and Jay's Jaeger was called Challenger Rex.

They were good pilots, I think they would be ready to get their first Kaiju kill as well.

Zane was acting weird lately. He'd been less focused during training, he stared into space a lot of the time. He barely noticed anyone, really.

Zane's POV

It felt like something was distancing me from the others. I couldn't tell what it was, but it made me unfocused during training. One time I actually forgot that I was sparring with Nya and may have taken a blast of water to the face.

When Sensei found me, I was living alone. I was in my mid-teenage years, at least I think I was, I had a house, a job, but I didn't have many people to socialize with. No family, not many friends.

My first memories were clear, I could still remember them to this day. I was in a place with a spiral staircase leading to a door at the top, next to a bed with some dead guy I didn't even know. So I went up the stairs and out of the place, found a village not so nearby, and settled down for a few years.

I didn't know who I was, or how I got there, but I never really thought about it.

Tonight, something was off. I felt weird, like there was something out there that was calling me, but I couldn't figure out what. For dinner, I mostly stared off into blank space, hoping that something, anything, would happen.

Nothing did, so I went to the game center to go play Minecraft myself. I couldn't focus on that either, and I died on my month-old hardcore world. I didn't really care though, I just needed to find out what was tripping me up today.

I decided to take a walk outside in the streets of Ninjago City. Some fresh air would do me good. The streets were lit by bright lamps, it almost felt like daytime. It was the festive season, red banners were everywhere, dragon and lion dances took place every night. Lanterns were strung in between the street lights, making it even brighter.

Normally I would enjoy the atmosphere, tonight I was just looking for some peace and quiet, and some darkness. I made my way into a small dark alley, and just sat on the floor for a while, closing my eyes.

The screech of a bird, which I recognised as a falcon, broke the silence of the alley. It was right in front of me, just staring into my soul. I stared back at it annoyed, and when it didn't avert its gaze, I tilted my head, looking at it in confusion. It tilted its head like how I did.

I stood up, the falcon did the same and flew to my eye level. I danced around a bit, it imitated me. I also heard a small voice in my head, the same one I had been hearing all day. It was stronger.

"You want me to follow you?" I asked, the falcon nodded in response and flew off. I ran after it, it was a good thing that I was in good physical condition, because, boy, did that falcon make me run across half the world.

It made me run out of Ninjago City, across some parts of the desert, to a birch forest where it was winter. I was breathing heavily when the falcon finally stopped.

"Where...did you...bring me my...falcon friend?" I asked. The falcon didn't respond, it just fell to the ground, unmoving. Instinctively, I ran over to it and held it in my arms. Sparks came out of its body and before the glow in its eyes faded away, it said, "battery depleted".

"You're...a robot?"

Suddenly, I heard an "intruder alert" from not too far away. I saw another robot, its eyes glowing red, readying its weapons. It charged towards me, I slid under it and caught it by the arm. It struggled to wrench free from my grip, I saw an "Off" button on its back, encased by glass.

I punched the glass box as hard as I could, it shattered and I hit the off button. I picked out the shards of glass in my skin, it hurt, but there was no bleeding. Better than getting sliced in half by those swords.

I saw a door on a particularly thick birch tree. I opened it and was greeted by a spiral staircase that led downwards. Hoping that there was someone who could answer my questions, I walked down and saw a room that looked like a workshop. There were some blueprints on the table nearby, I picked them up out of curiosity. I saw the blueprint of the falcon, it was a robot just like I thought. And then below it, I saw another blueprint.

It was me.

The blueprint showed all the switches in me, all my mechanisms and everything. It took a few seconds for it to sink in.

I was a robot. A nindroid, to be exact.

Is this why I never fit in with the others? But how was I drift compatible with Cole if I was a nindroid?

I didn't even want to answer these questions yet. All I cared about right now was that I was a nindroid.

I kept repeating these words over and over again in my head, I couldn't quite understand. How did I never know?

I fell to my knees on the ground, it didn't feel possible. I opened the hatch that the blueprint showed me, I looked down at the switches. There was a funny switch for some reason, and among other switches, a memory switch.

I flicked it out of curiosity, and suddenly my mind was flashing with images that I had never seen before.

Flashback

An old man was doing the finishing touches on me. I looked down at my body, surprised.

"You are Zane," the old man said. "You were built to protect those who cannot protect themselves."

My creator, my father, Doctor Julien, taught me how to walk. I played with my toys, I learned how to cook, I even had a photograph of me, the falcon and him, all one happy family.

And then Doctor Julien, lying on his bed, he looked weak.

"You are the best creation I ever made, my son," he said, his voice raspy. "And the only reason I'm about to do this, is for you."

He flicked my memory switch, and I saw my face go blank. His hand fell to the bed, his glasses onto the floor.

Flashback ends

I felt a tear run down my face as the memories stopped. My father tried to erase my memories in an attempt to ensure that I wouldn't be experiencing grief, sadness. It was a good thing he was unsuccessful, because now that I've seen my memories again, I never want to forget him.

I walked around the room a little, recognising my old possesions. I found some new batteries for the falcon, so I looked at the blueprint, and opened it up. There was a chunk of ice inside it. I carefully took it out to insert the batteries back into the falcon, and I suddenly felt a rush of power. The chunk of ice melted in my hand, the melted substance seeped into my body.

"What's happening to me?!" I panicked. My entire body was freezing, it felt like I was radiating cold air. Then everything stopped. But the sense of power remained. I inserted the new batteries into the falcon and it came back to life.

The power was trying to burst out of me, I felt it. I tried to contain it, I was almost successful, but a blast of ice shot out from my hand, freezing a part of the room.

Well, I guess I have ice powers now.

Chapter Text

Zane's POV (Still)

After I got my ice powers, which were really cool but hard to control, I was about to head back to the Jaeger site to tell the others. It was gonna be a really long trip though, considering I ran all the way here.

The falcon looked like it wanted to show me something else that I hadn't seen yet. It was squawking at me as it flew to a corner of the place, right below the spiral stairs that led to surface level.

"What are you trying to show me, my falcon friend?" I asked as it landed on the ground. It just flapped its wings at me. I moved my hand across the wall, trying not to make ice come out of it successfully, and I felt a tile click backwards like a button when I moved my hand over it. The wall swung open, revealing a tunnel into pitch-black darkness.

Obviously I couldn't just find this and walk away, so I headed in like any normal human being- nevermind.

The tunnel smelled of sewage water and a Kaiju if it was killed on land. It was also long as hell, I was starting to wonder whether there was even an end to it before I saw a light in the distance.

When I reached, I found myself in an old room dimly-lit by a single bulb on the ceiling, giving the room an eerie yellowish glow, like the ones people would see in horror games. The dead Kaiju smell was even stronger here, it was coming from a tank with a Kaiju brain. I never saw something like this before, I only read about it in books.

I flinched every time one of its tentacles moved.

"Disgusting," I mumbled to myself, stepping away from that thing. There were a bunch of pictures on another wall of the room, labelled "Kaiju flesh from first attack", "Kaiju flesh 5 years later", and "Kaiju flesh 8 years after first attack". They all looked the same.

And then there were pictures of the Kaiju from almost every attack. They all looked different, yet similar. The first few Kaiju were smaller, chunkier, almost like they were built to destroy a smaller civilisation than humankind. From the 5th Kaiju attack onwards, they grew bigger, and bigger.

There were also some notes below the pictures.

"Getting bigger, learned how to handle the mark 1s."

"Even bigger, learned that the pilots are in the head of the Jaeger."

"Growing more and more, learned how to fight in water."

And then at the last picture of the Kaiju attack that killed the last Jaeger pilots that were out in the field, there was a simple note that said: "They're evolving faster than we can keep up."

The message left me uneasy and I turned away from the wall.

Sensei found me 3 years ago, almost all of the Jaeger pilots were still alive. They started dying one by one, when they failed to kill a Kaiju, and another Jaeger had to back them up. The Kaiju came every few months, the last Jaeger pilots died around 6 months ago, when Ember came. I never wondered why the Jaeger pilots died, I just thought that the Kaiju were growing stronger against our defences.

I never thought they specifically went to evolve to penetrate our defences. Kai and Ember told me and the others about how Leatherback was fireproof. Leatherback must have evolved to be like that when it knew that Kai was a fire elemental.

I gotta warn the others.

I ran out of the room, out of the tunnel, up the stairs and back to Ninjago City, the falcon leading the way. When I reached back to the Jaeger site, it was dawn. The falcon stayed on my shoulder as I entered the place, breathing heavily.

"Where'd ya go? Don't tell me you've been gaming the whole night," I felt a sudden slap on my shoulder. I whipped around instinctively, it was Ember and Kai.

"Where's Sensei? I need to talk to him," I asked urgently.

"Whoa whoa whoa calm down, he's watching Nya and Jay in the simulation, you can go talk to him later," Kai said.

"I need him now," I replied, before running off to the simulation room.

"Sensei, there's something you should know!" I slammed the door open.

"What is it Zane?" Sensei asked.

"The Kaiju, they're learning how to penetrate our defences, we gotta upgrade the Jaegers fast!:

"How do you know this?"

"It's a long story, so I'll tell you and the others at lunch, but we gotta upgrade the Jaegers."

Sensei scratched his long white beard. "Some of us are good mechanics, but we're working on building Challenger Rex right now."

"Make upgrades to Rex, Interceptor, Striker, and Titan while you're at it, the Kaiju are evolving fast, and they won't stop."

Sensei nodded his head, and told me to get to training.

During lunch, I told the others about me being a nindroid, and about the Kaiju learning to defeat the Jaegers. I was greeted with a "WHAT?!" when I told them, and a bunch of questions.

"Don't worry Zane, it doesn't make you any different, being a nindroid," Cole said. I lowered my head when he said that, I didn't feel like myself.

"Yea, and how cool is it that I can say that my best friend's a nindroid?" Jay said.

"Oh, WHY AM I THE ONLY ONE WITHOUT POWERS NOW?!" Ember groaned, followed by laughs from all the others.

"Point is, we gotta train harder now. The world's counting on us to kill the Kaiju, and we gotta be ready for whatever comes next."

Chapter Text

2 years later

Ember's POV

It was 4 am in the morning when the Kaiju alarm on my wrist rang. I got up, rubbing my eyes, groaning,"Do Kaiju really have to come so early?"

"Code name: Knifehead, biggest category 4 yet, be careful," the speaker in our room informed me and Kai.

We got suited up as usual, and we were confident that this motherfucker wouldn't stand a chance against us. After all, this was our 6th Kaiju fight, we already killed 5 of them.

"Knifehead? What kinda name is that?" Kai asked as we stepped into Striker's head.

"I dunno, let's just get this over with," I replied.

"Drift sequence initiated."

I waited to see Kai's fire in the darkness, it didn't take long. I pat him on the back and the familiar warmth of fire spread down my arm. We're back in Striker's head.

The bay doors opened, and we went out into the sea. I heard Knifehead roaring from here. It was approaching a fishing boat carrying about 20 men, they weren't too far away, but we had to get there fast.

We managed to get there in time. I put my hand into the water, picking up the fishing boat.

"Lock the torque!" I shouted as Knifehead made a go for my arm. Its claws clanged against the locked arm as I set down the fishing boat.

"Now let's get this son of a bitch," Kai smirked.

Knifehead's head really looked like a knife, it was long and pointed at the end, making it a big target for us. Kai and I fired up Striker's fists and landed a few punches on Knifehead's head. It stunned the Kaiju, burning the top of its head slightly.

"Gun or sword?" I asked. "I wanna kill this one in style."

"You sworded last time, this time it's the gun," Kai replied, activating the plasma gun, shooting Knifehead in the chest as I landed another blow on it. Blue glowing blood came out from the Kaiju, and it fell into the water with a roar.

"Next time I'm swording it," I said.

"Sensei, Kaiju's dead, we're heading back to Crescendo The Blood Moon," Kai said into the speaker.

"The Kaiju signature's rising, Striker, get outta there now!" I heard Sensei's panicked voice. Kai and I, alarmed, looked around for the Kaiju.

Suddenly, Knifehead ripped out of the water, really pissed off, and before we could react, it used its head to smash Striker's left arm off. Kai screamed, the Jaeger transmitted the pain to him cause he was controlling the left side. The plasma gun fell into the water.

"Shit," I cursed. The inside of Striker's head looked unstable, sparks were coming out from the wires. Kai clutched his left arm, while I had to hold Knifehead's jaws from Strikers head. My arm was burning, and the sword was jammed.

"EM, YOU GOTTA-"

Knifehead's claw, bleeding blue Kaiju acid, ripped into Striker's head, and Kai was taken with it, he was struggling in the air, and shot a few fireballs at Knifehead, buying me some time to save his ass. Knifehead's claws dug into my chest, I was shouting,"FUCK IT" to keep my focus.

He was still connected to me in the drift, my vision was blurry from Kai's pain. "Cmon sword," I mumbled. Electricity was spreading through my body, it at least numbed the pain from the drift.

I activated my chain sword, which finally decided to work, and with a hell lotta effort, I sliced off Knifehead's head. Kai fell out from its claws, somehow intact, but unconcious. I caught him with Striker's intact arm, breathing heavily, I wanted to fall to the ground and collapse on the spot.

To save both our lives, I couldn't do that, and I wasn't gonna die without a fight. Striker's legs were still intact, and they felt like lead with only me piloting it. The nearest coast was Ninjago City, which was a few kilometers away. Every step was a struggle to not collapse, and even though Kai was unconscious, I still felt the fire in me, pushing me to make it to the shore.

The world was spinning, I put Striker's hand face up to not crush Kai. My suit was stained of blood, I still felt the electricity in my body.

As I collapsed onto the floor of Striker's head, and Striker along with me, Kai's fire faded, and I was left in a void of darkness.

Chapter Text

"EM, YOU GOTTA-"

My copilot was ripped out of Striker's head, right in front of me. I was still connected to him through the drift, I felt his pain, his fear. Knifehead's claws dug into my chest, electricity flowed through my body.

I activated my chain sword, which finally decided to work, and sliced Knifehead's head off, acid blue blood was everywhere, burning me. Kai was somehow intact, I caught him in Striker's intact hand.

The journey back was hazy, all I remember was Kai's fire pushing me to make it to shore.

I was in a dark void, no sign of light, or my copilot, or a way out. I wandered aimlessly through the void, it was driving me crazy, no end in sight.

Suddenly, the darkness melted away like how it did in the drift.

I woke up with a gasp, sitting up. A sharp pain shot through my side, I winced as I looked down. My right side was in stitches. Scars like Jay's ran down my arms. I heard whispering and murmuring around me. I looked around, I saw the Jaeger team, except Kai, around me.

"Relax Em, you're beaten up pretty bad," Cole said, gently pushing me back down into a lying down position. I was in a hospital place, I was connected to a bunch of cables.

"What happened," I groaned, it hurt to speak. "Where's Kai?"

"We found you and Kai along the coast of Ninjago City, Kai was in Striker's hand, you were in Striker's head," Nya said. "It's a good thing we found you both in time, Kai was almost gone." I heard Nya's voice crack. "Kai's in the bed beside you."

"How is he?" I asked.

"He's unconscious, he's got some broken ribs, and his burns aren't helping either," Zane said. I tried to sit up again, assessing my own condition.

"How long has it been?"

"About 2 weeks," Sensei said.

A wave of exhaustion suddenly came over me, like the adrenaline rush from solo piloting wore off.

"I'm gonna go get some rest," I managed to say, before closing my eyes and giving into exhaustion.

The void again. What was it with me and darkness all the time? I saw Kai, a flame in his hand, walking towards me, were we in the drift?

Suddenly a familiar Kaiju tore into the void from above, taking Kai out of the darkness. I was left alone, standing there, like I did before.

Cold sweat ran down my face as I opened my eyes again. It was dark, but not empty. It was night, I was alone in the room. I looked over to where Kai's bed should be, it was blocked by a curtain. Extending my hand, I managed to get ahold of it, pulling it to the side, revealing my bro. And he did not look good. He was connected to some sort of machine that was providing him with oxygen, meaning that he wasn't breathing on his own. His charred skin was mostly covered up by the hospital clothing, if he had stayed in the Kaiju mouth any longer it would've been much worse.

I didn't want to look at him anymore, I couldn't bear the thought of my co-pilot dying anytime soon, so I closed the curtain and stared up at the ceiling for the rest of the night. I heard Kaiju roars from outside the room, was it my imagination?

I think I was going crazy, because the next morning, a smaller version of Knifehead burst into the room, looking around, as if on the hunt. The only thing I heard was my own breathing. Suddenly Knifehead turned its gaze towards me, and charged straight towards me.

"Get away from me!" I shouted, shielding my head from the attack, closing my eyes.

"OI EM! SNAP OUTTA IT!"

Someone was shaking me. I slowly opened my eyes, only to see a concerned Cole beside me.

"Ouch," I winced at the pain in my side.

"Sorry," Cole mumbled.

"Are you okay?" Sensei asked. I nodded hastily.

What's happening to me?

The next few weeks passed slowly. I was more jumpy, every small noise made me anxious. Every day the team would come to check up on me and Kai, they said I was recovering fast. Kai remained unconscious. The scars stayed, at least the ones on my legs faded, and I didn't have any on my face. The nightmares continued, they showed no signs of stopping.

Soon, I was discharged, and could go back to the Jaeger site. Me and Kai's room was in a mess, the same state it was in when we went out for the fight around 2 months ago. Yes, 2 months had passed, and my bro wasn't waking up.

Sensei wouldn't allow me to train for a few days, so I went to the hospital to check on Kai. One day, the doctor came in, his face was grim.

"It's been 2 months, if he doesn't wake up soon, we may have to do it," he said. I must've looked confused, because he went to explain further. "As in we may have to stop providing him oxygen and let him die."

"What?!" I stood up from my seat, fists clenched, a habit I picked up after the Kaiju fight. The doctor took a step back. "I'm sorry, but if he's not awake by tomorrow, we'll have to do it."

"Oh no we're not!" I went to grab the doctor by the collar, lifting him off his feet, aiming for a good hit straight in the face. He was struggling with his legs, I didn't care how many times they hit me.

Thank god at that moment Cole came in and stopped me before I did any shit.

"Calm down Em," he said. "Release him." I tried, I really did, my fist wouldn't unclench. The collar felt like the controller in Striker, I couldn't let go. I was shaking. The doctor tried to pry my fingers from his collar, they held together tightly.

"Em," Cole put a hand on my shoulder, I shuddered. His hand was warm. How cold was I? I took some deep breaths, and forced myself to let go. The doctor was shaking, but he stood his ground when I shot the death glare at him.

"If he isn't awake by tomorrow, we're gonna do it," he said before walking out of the room.

"What was that all about?" Cole asked. "Sensei said there was some commotion in Kai's room, that's why I came."

"They're gonna kill Kai," I said breathlessy, sinking into the chair beside Kai's bed. "If he doesn't wake up by tomorrow, they're gonna cut off his oxygen supply."

"WHAT?!"

"They can't kill him, they can't..." Cole sunk into the chair beside me.

"How are we gonna get him to wake up? It's not like I can death threaten him right now," I asked. We stared at Kai in silence. The doctors did the surgeries to fix his ribs and the lower part of his spine, why wouldn't he wake up?

For the rest of the day we tried all sorts of ways to wake my co-pilot up, Cole even gave him a good hit in the balls. At midnight, we started to give up.

"I needa go, Sensei's gonna kill me if I'm late for training tomorrow," Cole said before leaving. Tomorrow I was gonna restart training again, but what was the point, without a co-pilot to train with?

I switched on the television, and Titan Grave appeared on the screen, fighting a Kaiju that was slightly bigger than Knifehead.

"...and ever since Striker's been destroyed, we haven't heard anything from its pilots," the tv said. I looked down at the scars running down my arms.

"We should be out there," I said to Kai, he probably couldn't hear me. "We should be the ones kicking Kaiju ass."

I waited for a response, anything. As usual, nothing. I sighed.

"I swear, if you don't wake up, tomorrow they're gonna kill you, but I'm gonna be the one who's gonna kick your balls before they do it," I said. The tv was still playing, the victory of Titan showing on the screen.

Suddenly, I saw Kai's hand move. Then his eyes fluttered open.

"Em?"

Warmth, something that I hadn't felt in a long time, spread throughout my body. I smiled, folding my arms.

"About time you woke up."

"Em, please don't kick my balls."

Chapter Text

Kai's POV

I wandered around the darkness for I don't know how long. My powers weren't working, I could barely see my hand in front of me.

"Em?" I called out, no response. "Nya?" "Cole?"

It was so cold, it was burning me. I needed fire. My breath came out in white clouds in front of me.

I sat down on the floor, curling up into a ball, the darkness was curling up my body. I couldn't move.

Then I heard the roaring of a Kaiju, and the sound of a Jaeger beating it up. Wish I could see that.

"I swear, if you don't wake up, I'm gonna kick your balls."

Em's voice. The darkness uncoiled from around me, and I saw the light. I raced towards it, and I found myself in a hospital room, Em sitting beside me.

"Em?" my voice wasn't voicing, it came out softer than expected. Em folded her arms, smirking. "It's about time you woke up."

"Em, please don't kick my balls."

Em laughed, "Don't worry, now that you've woken up, I probably won't. Probably."

"Are we dead? How long was I out?" I asked, trying to sit up, failing miserably.

"No, we're very much alive, and about 2 months. The others will be happy to see ya awake. And by the way, tomorrow those balls of yours are gonna hurt. Your bro Cole tried to wake you up by giving them a good beating."

"Oh, I'm gonna get him for that," I replied.

"Not in the state you're in right now."

I tried to get off the bed and stand up, but my legs wouldn't listen to me. They stayed unmoving. Em saw what I was trying to do, and as usual, she was brutally honest with me.

"Doc says you won't be able to walk for a while."

I looked down at myself, my skin was burned, it didn't hurt though. Then I looked at Ember, scars like the ones Jay had ran down her arms.

"Aight, Imma go report in to the team, get a good rest," Em said before leaving the room.

I didn't react fast enough to Knifehead still being alive, that's why this happened. How am I alive? Did Em solo pilot Striker?

The next morning, the entire team burst into my room.

"Kai!" Nya shouted. "You're awake!"

"Hey sis, miss me?" I chuckled, receiving a smile from her.

"They were gonna cut off your oxygen supply if you didn't wake up, I don't know how Em did it, but she did," Cole said.

After a few days, I was discharged from the hospital, and went back to the Jaeger site in a wheelchair. My powers were also gone, it was like a part of me disappeared into the darkness when I woke up.

I also started to have nightmares about the Kaiju fight with Knifehead. Em looked like she had the same problem, cause she had dark rings under her eyes every day.

I've been seeing Sensei Wu to learn how to walk again, it wasn't going well. Every time I tried to take a step on my own, the image of me being ripped out of Striker flashed before my eyes, and I fell to the ground. Ember came along sometimes.

Life was a mess. I couldn't do anything by myself anymore. Kaiju attacks now came every 2 weeks, Nya, Jay, Cole, Zane, Anakin and Ahsoka were put on the frontlines to defend the city. I wanted to fight so bad, I needed action.

Ember's POV

Kai was awake, but he couldn't walk. Every day Sensei tried to help him walk again, I came along sometimes. Every few steps Kai tried to take, and then he fell to the ground. I wanted to help so badly, I couldn't.

After the others had their Kaiju fights, we all went to the game center to celebrate, Kai included, but he didn't join in like he did before. He just sat quietly at the side, watching.

I always just stared at the screen, thinking about other stuff. One time, I was staring into space when Zane and Cole duoed Crescendo, and then Jay slapped me on the back.

To me, it felt like the jerk when Knifehead tore through Striker's head. On instinct, I grabbed Jay by the arm and flipped him onto the floor.

I was breathing hard, my eyes darting around the room. Jay got up and got into fighting position in case I decided to try and flip him again.

Suddenly I felt a cold hand on my shoulder, it was Kai. I looked at him, he just stared back with a "chill bro" message in his eyes.

I leaned against the nearby wall, sliding to the ground, repeating, "Oh shit, oh shit..." again and again.

It's been 6 months. The nightmares didn't stop. I was starting to get used to them, the moment I woke up, I buried my face in my pillow, silently crying.

One night, after I woke up, I heard the sound of someone getting out of bed. I turned my head out from my pillow, and saw Kai sitting on his bed, head in his hands. His shoulders rose and fell quickly, the same way mine did when I had flashbacks about the fight with Knifehead.

I got out of my own bed, and sat down beside him, resting a palm on his back. Kai looked up, his tear-streaked face already said everything.

"It's been 6 months, and I still can't do anything for myself," his voice cracked. I pulled him into an embrace, and he rested his head against my shoulder.

"Why is this happening to me?" my shoulder sleeve was getting wet, I didn't really mind.

"You're not the only one," I whispered as I tightened my grip around him. He was ice cold, nothing like the fire elemental he was before.

I followed Kai to Sensei's physiotherapy or whatever it was called. Just like the last few times, Sensei helped Kai up and brought him to the parrellel bars for physiotherapy or something like that.

Kai held himself up with his arms, sweat ran down his head.

"What's the point of this?" he asked. "It's been half a year."

"You need to learn how to walk again, or you won't be able to pilot Striker anymore," Sensei replied. "Now try to take a few steps."

I stood beside him as he struggled to move his legs forwards, and after a small step, he fell to the ground.

"This is impossible!" Kai shouted.

"It is not. The path we seek is never a straight line, and this is the obstacle that you have to overcome to reach your final destination," Sensei replied. "I should know."

I helped Kai up and brought him to the end of the bars to try again, he sighed before holding himself up with his arms again.

"You can do it," I gave him a small nudge in the side, and went to the other end, folding my arms, waiting for him.

Kai's POV

Ember was waiting for me. The path to the end of the bars seemed so long. My grip tightened around the bars. I didn't know whether to open my eyes or close them. I could see an expectant Ember if I opened them, I could only see Knifehead if I closed them.

I steadied my breathing. I felt the cool air against my skin. A Kaiju roar broke the silence. My head snapped to the left, the right, and then I looked backwards, and saw nothing.

It was just in my head.

Heck, even the scars left from the burns that healed long ago burned now, I fucking hated it. I looked up at Ember, her amber eyes were the colour of my fire. And I felt that fire in me.

I took a small step, and then another. Darkness started to coil around my legs, pulling me downwards. I stumbled for a moment, and then fire started to spread from my arm down to the darkness, repelling it, and pushing me to walk again.

My eyes focused in front of me, and I made it to the end of the bars, in front of a smiling Ember.

"Now that's my co-pilot."

Chapter Text

Ember's POV

Ever since Kai learned how to walk, he's been able to start training. In a few weeks, he was almost the way he was before, except that he still didn't have his powers.

One day, Sensei let us get into a rebuilt Striker Phoenix again, to do a drift test. I was kind of nervous, so was Kai, he was biting his fingernails like he always would when he was anxious.

When we headed into Striker's head, all the controls were in their original position, thank god for that, but I saw the marks where Knifehead tore through, giving not so nice flashbacks of the fight.

We connected ourselves to the drift thing, "Drift sequence initiated" as usual played out, and the drift started.

Memories of the past few months rapidly flashed in the drift, and I expected the darkness of the drift, ready to look for Kai.

I didn't have to do that. Instead, after the memories, I found myself back in Striker's head. I heard the sound of rain hammering against Striker. But weren't we indoors?

Suddenly, I heard Kai scream. He clutched his left arm, and in front of me the screen flashed red, showing that the plasma gun was gone.

I remembered this, it was the day Knifehead attacked. Yet I was stuck in the memory, unable to control anything, the unsettling feeling in my gut grew.

Sparks flew out from the wires around me as I held Knifehead's jaws from Striker's head. My arm was burning, the sword was jammed.

"EM, YOU GOTTA-"

This scene had already replayed in my head for the past 6 months way too many times, I already knew it was coming. It didn't make it any worse though. Kai was ripped out from Striker's head by Knifehead's claw, and I was left standing alone in Striker, gasping for air, it was like I was being choked by my own memory.

Kai shot some fireballs at Knifehead, buying me some time. I activated my chain sword as electricity started to flow through me from Striker, and I activated my chain sword, trying to slice off Knifehead's claw and free Kai.

Suddenly, everything went dark.

Kai's POV

I found myself in Striker's head, beside Ember from the past. The same scene that I saw in all my nightmares played out.

"Em?" I called out for Ember in the present, I received no response. And then I saw the glint of fear in old Ember's eyes, it was a look of "I've been here way too many times". Ember was stuck in her memory, and I was dragged with her.

"Em, it's just a memory, snap outta it!" I put my hand on her back, no response. The scene played out as it always did, I was taken out of Striker, and Em tried to save my ass. For once, I saw her straining to move the sword to cut off Knifehead's claw, and the electricity just pulsing through her.

Suddenly, it all melted away and I was back in the present. I took a glance at Em, her legs became jelly and fell to the ground, sweat ran down her forehead.

I ripped off my helmet, and caught her just before she hit the floor. Her eyes were wide open, I saw the fear in her eyes, and I helped her get to her feet.

"Are you okay?" I asked. She didn't respond, she just stood there in shock, unmoving. "Oi, are you okay?" I asked again, shaking her by the shoulders. She looked up at me, nodding, I could see she was holding back tears.

"It's just a memory, it's okay," I reassured her again. Then she let out a shout of frustration, flinging her helmet onto the floor, and left the room.

I remembered hearing a faint "I can't do this anymore" as she left.

Sensei came into the head, demanding an explanation. "You literally almost destroyed the place with that chain sword! If I hadn't pulled the power cord..."

"It won't happen again Sensei."

Sensei then walked out of Striker and I went back to my room.

Ember's POV

I flung my helmet onto the ground, shouting in exasperation before walking out of Striker's head.

"I can't do this anymore," I muttered as I went to my room and packed my things, taking off the Kaiju alarm that was the sign of Jaeger pilots. It was around 6 in the evening, the sun was starting to set when I looked outside. I should head out before Kai comes back. I quickly scribbled a note that said "Cya bro" and left.

"Sensei?" I went into Sensei's office and saw him inside, scratching his beard. He looked up from the hologram of Striker, smiling. "What is it?"

I placed the Kaiju alarm on his desk. "Thank you Sensei," I said, before leaving. Sensei ran after me. "What are you doing? You can't be leaving, not at a time like this."

"I can't do this anymore Sensei. Knifehead, it's haunting me."

"Who's gonna be Kai's copilot then?"

I looked down at my feet. I knew I was being selfish, but I couldn't stay any longer.

"At least tell Kai," Sensei said. I shook my head, smiling sadly. "Thanks for everything Sensei." And then I walked off, not looking back.

My motorcycle was in the parking lot, I mounted it and sped off to the outskirts of Ninjago City. As I reached, I stopped for a bit to take in the view of the sunset, sighing. I felt a calling to go back, but I ignored it.

I mounted my motorcycle again, ready to speed back home, when I heard a faint "EMBER! WAIT!"

I looked back, and saw Kai stopping his motorcycle right behind mine, my Kaiju alarm in his hand. He got off his bike, I took it as a signal to get off mine.

"What are you doing? You can't just leave like this," he said breathlessly.

"I can't stay any longer Kai, that fight with Knifehead, I can't forget it."

"That doesn't mean you can quit, Jaeger pilots never quit until the end!"

Kai extended the palm with my Kaiju alarm. "Cmon, we could get a round of duo crescendo tonight, dangerous mode." I felt a strong urge to take it. I extended my hand, and stopped, hovering it just above the Kaiju alarm that used to be mine.

And then I extended my other hand, closing Kai's hand, looking up at him, shaking my head.

"I'm sorry Kai, but I'm not coming back."

And then I mounted my motorcycle and sped off into the sunset. The sky got darker the further I went, and I wiped off the tears on my face.

I didn't look back.

Chapter Text

(Short chapter btw)

Jay's POV

The Kaiju alarm rang after Kai went out to look for Ember.

"Codename: Otachi, Category 4, not as big as some we've seen before."

I got suited up and met Nya at Interceptor's head.

"5th Kaiju kill today?" I asked. Nya smirked. "Shouldnt be too hard."

"Drift sequence initiated."

The memory flashing took place, before we found ourselves back in Interceptor's head. The bay doors opened in front of us, and we went out into the ocean.

Otachi was nearby, damn it was fast. Almost instantly, it pounced on Interceptor, and aimed for the head, Nya and I struggled to hold its jaws from us.

I channeled my lightning through Interceptor's hand, shooting a blast at Otachi. It groaned and fell back for a moment, giving us a bit of time to get ready.

"Activate the gun!" I shouted at Nya, who nodded in response. Suddenly, Otachi disappeared under the water. I really hated the trackers on Interceptor, they didn't show things that were underwater.

Suddenly, Interceptor jerked and it felt like something was digging into my back. Trackers showed that Otachi was clinging onto the back of Interceptor, digging into it.

"Holy shit!" Nya shouted.

Otachi wasn't letting go, and the screen in front of me was flashing red, showing the nuclear core of Interceptor was becoming unstable.

"Get it off of us Nya!" I commanded, Nya controlled the water behind interceptor, a massive wave knocked Otachi off, I struggled to keep Interceptor on its feet.

We turned Interceptor around to face Otachi, and suddenly it opened WINGS?!?!?!? It flew out of the water, flew into the air, swooped down on us like those glitchy swooping bats in Crescendo, grabbed Interceptor by the body with its claws, and lifted us up into the sky?????

"THEY FLY NOW?!?!?!?!?" I shouted.

"I guess???" Nya looked just as confused as I was, as we ascended higher and higher. I felt Interceptor starting to get colder, it was freezing up. I tried to release lightning from Interceptor's hand, it didn't conduct through the ice.

"What do we do?!" I half-shouted, half-asked, panicking. "The chain sword's frozen!" Nya thought for a moment, before saying,"The helmet's full of oxygen, I can get up there and unfreeze the sword."

"With what?!"

She disconnected from the drift, controlling the sweat from her body. "With this." She climbed out of Interceptor, I knew better than to go after her, and waited for her to unfreeze the sword.

Nya's POV

I climbed out of Interceptor, and was greeted with Otachi's claw in front of me. Interceptor was unstead, I clung on to whatever I could, inching my way to the sword. It was frozen over, and when I looked down at myself, I could see the frost inching its way up my legs. My sweat was freezing up, I had to hurry.

Soon enough, I saw the ice covering the place where Interceptor's sword came out. Using my half-frozen sweat, I began using it to slice the ice open, some chunks flew off down to earth. Thank god Otachi didn't notice.

Instantly, the sword activated, and stabbed Otachi in the head. Blue acid blood splattered everywhere, some onto my suit, and I climbed back into Interceptor as it started to fall.

"Thank god you made it in in time," Jay sighed in relief when I came back in. I connected back into the drift, and now we had another problem.

"HOW DO WE LAND?!?!??!?"

The radio on Interceptor started to work again, and we heard Sensei's voice saying "divert power to bottom of feet".

Jay followed his instructions, muttering, "This sounds like something Ember would do."

The alarms in Interceptor started beeping rapidly, we were reaching closer and closer to the ground.

"SHUT UP!" I shouted. Interceptor started to warm up, not in a good way.

"Cmon almost there..." Jay said.

"Power diverted to feet."

Interceptor started slowing its descent and Jay and I got into position to brace for impact.

We crashed into the water, somehow still on our feet, and Interceptor still in one piece.

"Now let's get home and report to the others," I said.

We piloted back to the Jaeger site where we reported in to Sensei and Zane.

"5th Kaiju kill," Jay and I smirked triumphantly.

As I walked past the rooms of the pilots, I saw the door to Kai and Ember's room close, and I heard the sound of the mirror smashing into pieces, and Kai shouting, "FUCK!"

I decided it wasn't a good idea to step in at the moment, and went to the gaming center to celebrate with Jay.

Chapter Text

(Another short chapter)

Kai's POV

I watched as Ember rode off, until she became a black spot against the sun. My fist was still closed around her Kaiju alarm.

"I'm sorry Kai, but I'm not coming back."

On the way home, I kept hearing them, remembering that my copilot left. I wiped my tears off my face with my sleeve, more just kept replacing them.

I went to the game center to try and solo Golden Trophy, just to keep my mind out of the real world. I actually managed to solo, using a dangerous strategy on the boss, and beating the game.

The victory music reminded me of the time Ember and I duoed Golden Trophy with just melee weapons except for during the boss fight, and I wanted to tell my brain to shut up so badly.

How could Em just leave the team like this? Doesn't she know that the team needs her? Doesn't she know that I need a copilot?

I ran to me and Ember's room, and saw the photograph of us and the team celebrating our Crescendo victory after our first Kaiju fight. Angry tears formed at the corner of my eyes, and I threw the photo frame at the mirror, breathing heavily.

The next thing I knew, I was screaming "FUCK!" and burying my face in my pillow.

First I lose my power, now my copilot.

I felt alone. Normally during these times Em would be here to give me a meme about emotional damage, and I chuckled a bit at the memory.

I wasn't going to give up on her. Even though she gave up on me.

It was dark outside, I looked out the window, at the stars in the clear night sky.

I wonder where's Ember now.

Ember's POV

It was dark when I reached the front of my house. I took a deep breath as I dismounted my motorcycle, calming myself down, and tried not to think about the best years of my life that I just left behind.

I stepped into the front door, where I saw my family having dinner. God, I haven't seen them in three years.

Suddenly, Mom and Dad stood up, and literally crashed into me with a tight hug. I stumbled backwards a bit, awkwardly patting them on the back, saying,"Hey mom, dad, it's been a while."

"We were so worried about you!" Mom cried.

"You didn't call us for months, we thought something happened," Dad said.

"I'm totally fine, yall don't have to be so worried. I'm literally 18, I can handle myself," I pushed them away. I saw my siblings at the table, and I waved, smiling at them before I went up to my old room.

It was dusty, cobwebs all over, but I didn't care. I plopped down onto my old bed, unpacking my bag in the process.

My extra Kaiju alarm was in there, now I had to make sure Mom and Dad didn't find it. There was also a photograph of me and the team after our first Crescendo win, after Kai and I got our first Kaiju kill.

I sighed, and I didn't realise that I was crying. I quickly wiped my tears away, and gazed out of the window.

The stars seemed to be scolding me for my choice, they looked like the lights of Ninjago City.

I could almost feel Kai's confusion and anger from here, it was breaking me. I bit my lip, telling myself that it was my choice to leave.

"I'm sorry Kai," I whispered. "I'm so sorry."

I buried my face in my hands and cried silently.

This was my choice. I'm not turning back.

Chapter Text

Anakin's POV

Right after Nya and Jay went out to fight Otachi, I received a transmission from the council. Ahsoka and I went to our room to answer it, and we were greeted with the Jedi Council. Looked like Obi-Wan was part of them too.

"Hello there," Obi-Wan said.

"General Kenobi," Ahsoka replied.

"Hey Master," I said.

"A while, it has been, since you reported in last," Master Yoda said. So Ahsoka and I went to give a full explanation of the past 6 months, how the Kaiju fights were going on.

"They're evolving, and the Jaegers can barely keep up with them," Ahsoka said.

"Concerning, this is," Master Yoda said.

"It may be dangerous for you both if you stay. We have decided to call you back to our realm, to help out in the war effort," Master Windu said.

"But we can't just leave them!" Ahsoka protested.

"Snips is right, if the other Jaegers fall there won't be anyone to defend Ninjago anymore, and everyone's gonna die," I agreed.

"You will return to our realm now, that is all," Master Windu ordered, before the transmission ended.

"What do we do Master?" Ahsoka asked.

"You think they'll notice if we stay?" I smirked, I wasn't going to leave this place without reluctance.

"I think so," Ahsoka replied.

Another transmission came in, this time it was from Obi-Wan. "Anakin, the people of this world can defend themselves, we need you to help out with the war."

"Master, with all due respect, I think the jedi can handle the war themselves, but these people cannot. They need us," I replied.

"I know, but the council's decision is final." He sighed. "Part of the jedi way is to not let emotion cloud your judgement, and you cannot let your attachment to this place or the people here affect your decision."

I pressed my hand to my forehead, it was always Jedi way this, Jedi way that.

"Fine Master, we'll head back to the temple in a few hours."

The transmission ended and Ahsoka went,"You can't be serious Master!"

"The council wants us back to help out with the war Snips, don't you at least miss Rex a bit?"

Ahsoka folded her arms.

"Pack your things Ahsoka, I'll go tell Sensei Wu."

Ahsoka's POV

I didn't understand why the council wanted Anakin and I to leave. I mean, we were doing a great job defending Ninjago, that's the whole reason why the council sent us here, and the Kaiju war wasn't even over.

The Clone Wars started 3 years ago, and that was when I was first assigned to Anakin as his Padawan. A few months later we were sent here to help to fight the Kaiju.

The Kaiju war wasn't over, and they were sending us back. But it's not like I had a choice, even Skyguy had to go back no matter how much he didn't want to.

So in a few hours, the portal to our world opened, courtesy of Master Yoda and Windu, and we said goodbye to the team and left.

The team definitely wasn't happy about that, I didn't even see Ember there.

We returned to the jedi temple, and things went back to normal, every day a new mission and stuff.

Summary of what happened after that

A few weeks later, the Jedi temple was bombed. Anakin and I led the investigation, and we found out that the explosion was caused by nanodroids in one of the jedi temple workers, Jackar Bowmani. His wife, Letta Turmond, had fed him the food with the nanodroids inside, he was the bomb.

Letta was taken in, and she called for me. She was about to tell me who gave her the nanodroids to bomb the temple, and then suddenly she was raised in the air by the neck, being force choked to death. It wasn't me, but the security recordings made it look like it was.

I was put in prison. Someone gave me the keycard to unlock the cell from outside, and I used the force to slide it to unlock the laser wall.

As I ran, every door I went through, I saw dead clones, someone was definitely trying to frame me.

I went on the run, and escaped into the lower levels of Coruscant. I met Asajj Ventress, an old enemy from the war, and she helped me contact Barriss, my good friend who was a jedi in the temple. Barriss said to find a warehouse place and go there, so I did, and Ventress left.

Suddenly Ventress came back, and she dueled me. I fell of a part of the warehouse and into a place where there were so many barrels of nanodroids. That was when the troopers, Anakin and Master Plo Koon found me, and I was stunned by the blaster bolts that the clones fired at me.

I was brought back to the temple, and I was kicked out of the order. My padawan braid was torn off, and I was going to be put on military trial.

I was about to be sentenced to death by the chancellor, when Anakin brought Barriss in.

"I did it," Barriss said. "Because I've come to realise, what many people have come to realise, that the jedi are the ones responsible for this war. That we've so lost our way that we have become villains in this conflict, that we are the ones who should be put on trial. All of us! And my attack on the temple was an attack on what the Jedi have become. An army fighting for the dark side, fallen from the light we once held so dear. This republic is failing! It's only a matter of time."

"Take her away," the chancellor said. I smiled at my master, he smiled back at me.

At the jedi temple

"Ahsoka, I am so sorry, about everything," Anakin apologised, and I nodded my head.

"You have our most humble apologies, Little 'soka," Master Plo Koon said.

"The council was wrong to accuse you."

"You have shown such great strength and resilience in your struggle to prove your innocence. This is the true sign of a jedi knight," Ki Adi Mundi said.

"This was actually your great trial. Now we see that. We understand that the force works in mysterious ways, and because of this trial, you have become a greater jedi than you would have otherwise," Master Windu said. I folded my arms, bro was getting excuses.

"Back into the order, you may come," Master Yoda said.

"They're asking you back Ahsoka," Anakin held out my Padawan braid. "I'm asking you back."

I reached out my hand to take it, but stopped myself. I extended my other hand to close his palm, and looked up at him. "I'm sorry Master, but I'm not coming back. I'm going back to the Kaiju war to help."

"I'm coming with you then, you need a co-pilot," Anakin said.

The council looked shocked, but regained their composure quickly.

"Are you sure about this master?" I asked.

"Wherever you go, I go," Anakin replied.

"And you're both sure about this?" Master Windu asked.

Anakin and I nodded at the same time.

Yoda and Windu opened the portal, and we went through.

The thing is, when we went to the Jaeger site, we were greeted with really damaged Jaegers, and the building in flames.

"What happened?" I asked the team, they were gathered outside. Someone was missing. Zane.

"Where's Zane?" Anakin asked.

"He's-" Cole lowered his head. "He's gone."

a/n: Not that good of a chapter today, sorry guys but I have no inspiration so far, and I'm tired today so yea

Chapter Text

Kai's POV

Great. First Ember left, now it's Anakin and Ahsoka. Now we only had 2 Jaegers with full pilots to protect Ninjago.

Kaiju have started coming once a week, sometimes twice. They were stronger, faster, more resistant to our elemental powers and attacks. Zane was right, they were evolving, and fast.

I haven't given up on getting Ember back to the team yet. She told me she lived in Jamanakai village long ago, which was not that far from Ninjago city.

Every day, I woke up slightly earlier to drive to Jamanakai village to see if Ember was there. On the road, I always saw another motorcycle with a person half-masked up driving in the opposite direction, to Ninjago city.

I also took some trips to Jamanakai village after training, right before dinner, when the sun was setting. Sometimes I saw that half-masked person again.

It was already a few weeks since Anakin and Ahsoka left, Dark Interceptor and Challenger Rex needed some serious repairs. The other pilots couldn't pilot Striker, all the controls in Striker were different.

Cole's POV

Zane and I had already killed a bunch of Kaiju in these few months, the next one was gonna be our seventh one.

Just a few days after the last Kaiju which Jay and Nya killed attacked, another one came, in the middle of the night.

"Can't these Kaiju come at a time where we're not sleeping?!" I complained.

"That would be illogical for the Kaiju," Zane said.

"Where's the announcement? It should be here by now," I asked.

We got suited up and made our way to Challenger's head, where Sensei Wu was waiting for us.

"It's a Category 5, codename Slattern," Sensei said.

"Hol up, say what now," I said.

"He said a Category 5 Cole, which means a hard fight today," Zane said.

"I know Zane," I rolled me eyes and we put our helmets on and went into the drift. After the memory flash we found ourselves back in Challenger's head, the bay doors opened and we headed out into the ocean.

The trackers didn't show anything, we couldn't see where Slattern was until it rammed into us from under the water, causing us to fall in. Then a claw slammed against our visor, causing it to start cracking.

Water started rushing in, and Zane froze the visor to stop some of it. Then I activated the gun, shooting it at Slattern, it dodged the plasma bullets easily, it was much faster than the Category 4s.

We managed to stand up in the water, and Slattern really wasn't helping. It kept trying to knock us back in, and the ice that stopped water from rushing in melted, we didn't need it anymore anyways.

Or so I thought.

Because the next second, Slattern came with full force at us, Zane and I held our arms out to stop him.

I hated fighting in water, I could barely use my powers.

Man he was one big bitch, he knocked us down into the water again just by his sheer weight, shattering the visor and letting more water rush in just as Zane managed to get a chance to sword him.

Challenger's head was full of water, I held my breath, trying to tell Zane to stand up.

"I'm trying!" Zane sent a message through the drift. "Slattern's weighing us down!"

Zane was swinging his sword around, trying to get a good shot on Slattern. He did manage to slice one of its arms off, but that didn't stop it from pushing us down.

My lungs were bursting, and black spots started to dance around my eyes. Soon I blacked out, and the next thing I knew, I was lying on the floor with the team around me, in front of a burning building.

Zane's POV

So Cole passed out, and I was left to solo pilot. Slattern was tryna get at our head, I shot a blast of ice at his claw, and another at his head, letting us shake free from his grip. I was a nindroid, I didn't need oxygen, Cole did, and if we didn't get out right now, his survival chances were low.

I stood up from the water and let it drain out from Challenger's head, shooting another blast at Slattern. Cole remained lifeless, propped up by the tech we used to control Challenger.

"Guess I'm doing this alone," I muttered.

Now I knew what it felt like when Ember had to solo pilot to save Kai's ass, it took a hell lotta effort to even move an arm, I had no idea how Em did it.

I managed to load up the gun, and fired it at Slattern's frozen body under the water. I heard some groans, and saw some acid blood rise to the surface.

Suddenly, I heard some roaring sounds, and the tech in Challenger started to go crazy. My circuits were starting to go haywire as well.

Gotta get outta here. Do I bring Cole?

If I bring Cole, my survival chances will reduce by 50%.

It's not about numbers, it's about family.

I carried Cole in my arms and jumped out of Challenger's head through the visor as Slattern crushed it's body.

Man, if I was still connected to that that would hurt like hell.

I landed in the water, using my ice to push myself to shore. Slattern was still occupied with Challenger, thinking we were still inside. The Jaeger site was nearby, i ran to there with cole as fast as I could, shouting,"THE KAIJU'S COMING!"

"What happened to Cole?" Kai ran out, it looked like he had gone for another search for Ember while Cole and I fought Slattern.

"Slattern's coming, get the water out of his lungs, I'll try to hold him," I said, before running off to the coast again, seeing Slattern get closer. Bitch must've finally stopped being dumb and come here.

I blasted a wall of ice at him, in a futile attempt to block it. I narrowly escaped getting crushed by its feet, I was directly under it. It didn't really seem to notice me, and ran off to the Jaeger site.

"OI! OVER HERE!" I shouted, trying to get its attention, it didn't turn away from the Jaeger site. ran after it, using my ice to give me a bit of a boost.

By the time I got there, the building was in flames, Slattern literally demolishing it like it was nothing. I saw the remains of Interceptor, Striker was still intact but damaged, but the rest was all to the ground.

Nya went to put out the flames, while I ran to Striker and got in.

Solo piloting time.

I activated the drift connection to Striker, the controls were different and it took around a minute or so of scanning Striker.

My power source felt like it was going to explode, the neural overload was being transferred to my power source.

Slattern let out another cry, which caused my circuits to really bug out. It felt like I was burning, my pain sensors (why did I even have those) were tripping.

I activated my sword and ran towards Slattern, managing to get a slice at its face. I groaned, the neural overload was getting worse.

"Zane, you gotta get outta there now, or you'll never survive!" I heard Sensei's voice from Striker's radio.

"This isn't about numbers, it's about family," I said.

"Zane-" I heard Jay's voice.

Slattern was full focused on me, I stared right into its eyes, and I felt a strange sense of calm, protecting those who couldn't protect themselves.

"I'm a nindroid," I said through the radio, hoping that the others could hear me. "And I'm not quitting."

"Zane!" Kai shouted. "Get outta there!"

I turned off the radio. I knew that Slattern could dodge the gun bullets, so I would have to go melee on him.

Just like how Cole always did.

Slattern ran towards me, I did the same, and we collided with such force that Slattern was thrown backwards, a gaping wound in its neck, and I almost flew into a building.

I slowly inched my way towards Slattern, my circuits refusing to follow my command.

"Come on," I groaned, it was barely a whisper. The words "Power source reaching critical mass" flashed across my eyes, I dismissed it, I didn't care.

With a few shots of my gun, I made sure that that bitch was dead, no traces of it being left alive.

I was still connected to Striker when I saw the "Self destruct" in front of my eyes.

And then I exploded.

Kai's POV

Zane killed Slattern, at the cost of his own life. He exploded in Striker right after killing the Category 5, the mist left behind from the explosion was glowing blue. Everything was still on fire, if I still had my powers I would be able to put it out.

Another pilot lost. How many more of my friends would I have to lose? The feeling of loss felt familiar, like Knifehead coming back to haunt me in the past few months.

Sensei did CPR on Cole while Zane fought Slattern, and Cole woke up, coughing water.

"What...what happened?" Cole whispered, pressing a hand to his head. "Where's Zane?" he asked as he looked around.

"He's-" my voice broke.

"He's gone?" Cole asked. I nodded.

Just then, I saw Anakin and Ahsoka walking towards us. "What happened?" Ahsoka asked.

"Zane's gone," Nya said through tears.

"He saved us all," Jay said.

"I told you we shouldn't have left them Master," Ahsoka nudged Anakin in the side.

We all looked at the burning Jaeger site, or what was left of it. And then suddenly, I saw a white snowflake fall down on my hand. I looked up, it was snowing. The others did the same, and we didn't have to be connected to the drift to know what we were thinking.

Zane.

The next day, before we started the rebuilding of the Jaeger site and the Jaegers, we held a funeral for Zane. It wasn't big, just a small one with the team.

"And now, Kai would like to say a few words about Zane," Sensei said, after giving his speech.

"Everyone wondered what powered Zane," I wiped off tears with my sleeve, but I kept my voice steady. "I don't think we'll ever know, but I'd like to think it was brotherhood. Because he powered me. And he'll continue to power me as his memory lives on. Wherever you are Zane, you'll always be one of us."

We didn't have any fancy statue or anything in his honour, he wouldn't have wanted that anyways. And for some reason, it started snowing again at that moment. It rarely snowed in Ninjago city.

We put up posters around the area for anyone who wanted to help in the rebuilding of the Jaeger site. Around a hundred people came, and we had a latecomer.

It was the same person that I always rode past when I went to look for Ember. He was masked up, wearing a pixelated orange and black half mask. His hair looked almost identical to Ember's, it was just slightly shorter.

I could see him in greater detail, now that he wasn't passing by me in a flash.

One thing that caught my attention was that,

He had amber eyes.

Chapter Text

Ember's POV

After I left, I decided to start out as a mechanic. I kept my extra Kaiju alarm on my wrist, always covered up by my hoodie sleeve, just in case.

I found a job at Ninjago city helping to repair people's cars and stuff, I made the trip there at dawn with my motorcycle, and came back at night. On my way to Ninjago city every day, I always saw Kai ride past me in the direction of my village.

I had appeared on television a few times before after a Kaiju fight, just to make sure people in Ninjago city didn't recognise me, I wore a pixelated black and orange mask.

A few weeks after I left, when I was at the parking lot going to drive my motorcycle home, I saw a sign showing the words "Rebuilding Jaeger site, looking for volunteers"

I looked down at my hidden Kaiju alarm. I said I wasn't going back.

Ah, screw it, I gotta go help my friends.

I called my parents to tell them that I wasn't coming back tonight, and I told my boss I wouldn't be coming for the next few days. He definitely wasn't happy about that, so I decided to go to help rebuild the Jaeger place after I finished work for the next few days.

I made my way over to the Jaeger site with my motorcycle, making sure that I parked it in a place where no one could see it.

When I walked into the place, I saw around a hundred people there, some of my fellow mechanics had also come over to help. My hand flew to my wrist where my Kaiju alarm was, making sure it was hidden.

The place was a wreck, there was almost nothing left. At least the game center was intact, Interceptor, Challenger and Titan were gone, and Striker was in pieces.

Kai was busy telling the others what to do, and Cole came over to bring me to them. Kai froze in the middle of his explanation when he saw me, my hand flew to my mask to make sure it was still on.

Can he recognise me?

He was scanning me with those eyes I knew too well, he thought I looked familiar. His eyes locked with mine, he saw my amber eyes, something only I had.

"Latecomer eh? I ain't gonna explain everything over to you again, let the others tell you when I'm done," he said, I let out a sigh of relief before saying,"Sure."

Kai assigned each of us to an area to fix, his eyes fell on me a few times.

"And you," he pointed to me. "You're coming with me to fix up Striker Phoenix." All the others stared at me.

"I don't know why he wants me there," I said.

"Let's go people, we gotta get some finished tonight," Kai said, and he and I went to what was left of Striker and got to work.

I decided to work on the right arm first. The sword was full of dried Kaiju blood, I made sure to be careful when scraping it off. Kai worked on the other arm.

I managed to repair my- the sword quickly, just had to fix some of the wiring that looked like it was blown up.

Suddenly, Kai came over.

"What's your name?" he asked.

I panicked, I didn't know what to say.

"I'd rather not say."

That was the only thing I could think of.

"You actually look like my copilot, she would normally wear this outfit to game in the game center over there," Kai pointed to the game center.

I slapped myself in the forehead in my mind, of course Kai would recognise this.

"Do you know why I brought you here?" he asked. I shook my head, it was awkward talking to my copilot again.

"You fixed the wiring in the arm, its different from any other wiring, only someone who piloted this Jaeger before would know how to fix it," he said.

Ah shit. I forgot.

"Fine, you got me." I pulled down my mask, crossing my arms. "I'm Ember, I guess you would remember me."

Kai smirked, before wrapping his arms around me in a hug.

"Ah man, I missed you," he sighed.

I hugged him back, he was warm. "Yknow, you're really bad at hiding your identity," he said.

"Where's Zane?" I asked, pulling away from him. He lowered his head, looking at the floor.

"He's..." his voice cracked, I put my hand on his shoulder.

"He's gone," he said, wiping eyes on his sleeve. "He died to save us all, that's why Striker's broken. He piloted it to kill a Kaiju."

"What about Cole?"

"Cole was out, Zane solo piloted Striker."

I looked down at my feet, it somehow felt like my fault.

"Why'd you leave?" Kai asked. I knew he was gonna ask this sooner or later.

I sighed. "I couldn't stay, I needed some time alone."

"And now this happened. If you were here, we could've piloted Striker together and none of this would've happened, Zane wouldn't be dead."

"I know I shouldn't have left but-"

"Get back to work."

We spent the rest of the night in silence, I managed to repair most of Striker's arm somehow, normally it took days to fix that thing.

I left in the morning for work, my colleagues went to interrogate me about what Kai wanted me there for.

"Eh, just to repair Striker, he thought I was a good mechanic, wanted me to help," I said, earning some "Man why is she such a good mechanic" from my colleagues.

That night I called my parents, telling them I needed to stay in Ninjago city for a while.

Kai and I went to fix Striker for the next few days, looked like Kai hadn't gotten back his powers yet. A week passed, I was sleep deprived and almost fell asleep at work, at least Striker was fixed.

That night, I snuck inside Striker's head to take a quick shut-eye.

"I'm sorry Em, but I'm not coming back."

Kai mounted his motorcycle and rode off into the sunset, I just stood there, holding his Kaiju alarm.

"KAI! COME BACK!" I shouted, getting on my motorcycle to chase after him. My ride wouldn't start, and I was just stuck staring at Kai's silhouette getting smaller and smaller.

I woke up with a gasp, what time was it? My Kaiju alarm showed 6 am, at least I wasn't gonna be late for work if I left now.

I stretched my legs against the control panel, and I heard a loud sound as something fell to the floor.

"Shit," I cursed as I picked it up. It was glowing blue, it looked like a bigger version of one of those USB drives. I ran my hand over it, it was cold, freezing, almost.

Suddenly, an image of Zane appeared in front of me, projected by the big USB drive thing.

"Zane?"

The projection was glitchy, it looked like the big USB drive thing, which I now knew was Zane's neural drive, looked damaged.

I took Zane's neural drive and went to work, trying to repair it in my free time.

Thank god I didn't mess anything up, guess I really was a pro mechanic.

In a few weeks, the Jaeger site was rebuilt, and still only Kai knew I was Ember. I barely talked to him anyways. The other construction people and I weren't needed anymore, we could get back to our normal lives.

When I was about to leave, Kai grabbed my arm. Everyone had already left, so it was just the 2 of us.

"Are you coming back?" he asked. I saw the hope in his eyes, it felt wrong to crush it. I smiled at him, and said, "Nah man, I'm good." I saw that look of disappointment in his eyes, like when I tried something overly stupid in the simulation and it didn't work.

"Oh yea I almost forgot." I pulled out Zane's neural drive that I repaired fully . "Zane's neural drive. Build him a good body, will ya?"

Kai grinned. "I'll try not to make any weird features in his body."

I rolled my eyes jokingly, and did my signature "cya" hand sign. Kai returned the gesture.

I headed to the parking lot where my motorcycle was, and I was ready to go home.

And now I was starting to wonder, what was home?

Chapter Text

Ember's POV

Life went back to normal. I started telling my siblings stories about my experiences as a Jaeger pilot. My siblings were now 17, 13, and 11, time really did fly by fast as a Jaeger pilot.

I also told them not to snitch on me, not to tell my mom and dad that I was a Jaeger pilot before. Good thing that my siblings were respectable enough not to snitch, I guess school taught them well.

I occasionally had nightmares about Knifehead, maybe once a month, I was starting to get used to them, yet every time I had them, I woke up with tears on my face.

A few months later

I never saw Kai on my trips to Ninjago city anymore, but a new guy showed up at my workplace today, Boss said that he was a new mechanic, told me to teach him the basics and stuff.

He looked around 13 years old, and he had short blonde hair. Throughout the day, I taught him some shortcuts to take when repairing stuff, how to hot-wire things, just the essentials.

The new guy told me his name was Lloyd Garmadon, and I was kinda confused as to why he was already working at his age.

"My mom's a researcher, she doesn't earn that much, I needa work to get enough money to survive," he explained.

It was starting to turn dark, I left the workplace at the same time as Lloyd, I went to the parking lot where my motorcycle was while he walked in the other direction, to his place probably.

Suddenly, I heard a shout of "HOLY SH-"

Sounded like Lloyd needed someone to save his ass, so I ran in the direction of the sound, which eventually led me into an alley. 2 guys, much bigger than Lloyd, were beating him up, demanding him to give them money.

"OI!" I shouted. "Get your hands off the kid, or else." The 2 guys turned towards me, and laughed.

"It's a 2v1, I don't think this will be a fair fight," one of them said. I smirked. "Yea, it's gonna be too easy for me."

The 2 guys charged towards me, fists raised to attack. I gutted one in the stomach, dodging the other while he tried to land multiple blows on me.

"Slow," I commented as I dodged another hit, getting behind him and kicking him at the back, knocking him down onto his partner on the floor.

I dusted my hands off, and put a foot on the high ground, if you know what I mean. The 2 guys groaned, and I pulled down my mask, and rolled up my sleeve so that my kaiju alarm on my scarred arm was visible. Their eyes widened.

"As I said, it was an unfair fight. Yall's asses got kicked. Next time think twice before messing with a Jaeger pilot," I laughed, before knocking them out with another blow.

"You're...a Jaeger pilot?" Lloyd came out from the shadows, he didn't look too good, one of his eyes was swollen from the beating, his nose was bleeding as well.

I sighed, covering my Kaiju alarm with my sleeve.

"I was a Jaeger pilot," I said.

"You look familiar...you're Ember, aren't you? I saw you on television once, fighting off Leatherback, that was sick man! They said you disappeared a few months after the fight with Knifehead, what happened?" Lloyd asked, and I really hated explaining stuff.

"I left the team voluntarily, now get home kid, it's getting dark," I said, before turning around to leave.

"Didn't you hear? They gotta dispatch Jaegers 2 at a time now to fight Kaiju. The team needs you, Kai can't pilot Striker on his own, he said it himself, he needs you," Lloyd said.

"You don't know what you're talking about kid, get home now," I said, before leaving.

It was dark when I reached the parking lot and rode home. My family was waiting for me at home. After we had dinner, I said, "Mom, Dad, I wanna speak to you, privately."

And then I mouthed to my siblings, "You can listen in if you want." They left the room and I closed the door, before taking a deep breath and turning to my parents.

"All these years I was in Ninjago city, I wasn't studying, I was a Jaeger pilot," I said. My parents' expressions hardened, and I gulped before continuing. "And I was really good at it, I managed to get 7 Kaiju kills. I left the team after my copilot and I got injured during a battle, and I came back to you. I'm not the little helpless girl you think I am, that was when I was 5. I know you don't want me to get hurt like that again, but I already have." I pulled up my hoodie sleeve, revealing the scars on my arm. My mom gasped, my dad remained expressionless. "And now, my team needs me more than ever, I have to go back. I hope this doesn't change what you think of me."

"Of course it doesn't change what we think of you, Em," my mom said.

"Yes," my dad agreed, "We have given you too much freedom. From now on you are not to leave your room, and you will not go back to your Jaeger team or whatever that is."

I groaned, and stormed up to my room.

That night, I felt my Kaiju alarm vibrate as I lay awake in bed in my hoodie, just like it did every week. But this time, it was stronger, and it didn't stop after a while. Something didn't feel right.

I through my locked window which was facing the ocean, and in the distance, I saw a very faint blue glow. It was small, but I already recognised it.

A Kaiju was coming, and this time, straight for my village. The Kaiju was getting closer and closer, and I didn't see any Jaegers coming.

My door was locked, my parents were definitely not letting me outside. So was my window, so I took a hammer from the toolbelt in my room and smashed the window, jumping out. My room was on the second floor of my house, and I landed on the ground on my feet. Man that kinda hurt but whatever. I had to get to the Jaeger site before it was too late. I ran out to my motorcycle, and sped off to Ninjago city.

The trip felt longer than all the other times, I felt the Kaiju getting closer to my village with every second. When I finally reached the Jaeger site, I didn't even bother to park my motorcycle, I jumped off it and let it fall to the ground, running into the Jaeger site.

I saw Ahsoka and Anakin all geared up and ready to get into Titan, and Kai was arguing with Sensei Wu. Interceptor and Challenger were nowhere to be seen, they were probably out fighting another Kaiju or something.

"KAI, GET INTO STRIKER NOW, I'LL SPEEDRUN GETTING SUITED UP," I shouted, before strapping myself into my old Jaeger suit and running into Striker's head.

"Good to have you back Em," Kai smiled as the drift sequence started.

"No time for that, we gotta get to Jamanakai village now."

There was no darkness of the drift after the memory flash, Kai still didn't have his powers I guessed. We were brought by helicopter along with Titan to my village, where the Kaiju was already waiting.

Kai's POV

On the way to Jamanakai village, I swear I saw literal fire in Em's eyes, she was focused today.

Ember's POV

Only one thought ran through my mind: Save my village.

The trip back to my village was slow, and it passed in silence. The Kaiju was already waiting when we got there, and boy was it angry. The moment we landed, it already attacked, Anakin and Ahsoka used the force to slow it down before it rammed into Striker, Kai stumbled back a bit, I pushed back.

Down below us, I felt Striker's feet crushing the houses beneath us as we moved back. Anakin and Ahsoka came up from behind, reading to stab the Kaiju with their sword, but the Kaiju flung itself backwards, knocking them to the floor. Kai and I recovered quickly, getting out our sword again.

The Kaiju now had its attention on Titan, trying to claw it. Anakin and Ahsoka held its claws from Titan's head, and the Kaiju let our a roar that could probably be heard by all of Ninjago.

Titan became limp, and the stuff in Striker started to go haywire.

"Not this again," I heard Ahsoka groan through the radio.

The Kaiju was about to crush Titan's head, when Kai and I attacked it from behind, grabbing its neck and stabbing it in the side. Blue acid gushed out, and the thicc Kaiju boi flung us off of it.

We flew into yet another part of houses, the Kaiju roared again before charging towards us once more, destroying houses left and right.

The Kaiju turned into Knifehead, and I felt myself starting to breathe heavily as that familiar feeling of fear built up in my gut. And then I saw some people running out of the houses that Knifehead was destroying, and that fear turned into the fire that helped me solo pilot back to shore.

I stared at Knifehead in the face, and drew my sword, stabbing it straight in the chest. It's claws scratched Striker's back, Kai winced, I had no reaction.

I hit it in the head, and then pulling my blue acid-stained sword, stabbing it in the head, again and again.

"Em, EM!" Kai tried to restrain me from cutting the Kaiju into pieces. "Calm down!"

I was panting, wiping the sweat off my face.

And then suddenly the Kaiju's body disappeared in front of us, almost as if the air absorbed it, leaving Kai and I confused, but at least it was dead.

The helicopters came to pick us up soon, and we went back to the Jaeger site.

The moment we reached back, I ran to my motorcycle and sped back to my village. From where I was in Striker, Jamanakai village was in bad shape.

The sun was rising when I reached. Normally it was blocked by the tallest houses, but now there were no houses left, and the sun cast a golden glow over the landscape. Almost cool, besides the bodies of people on the ground.

I ran to where my house was originally, it had collapsed just like all the buildings, the concrete in pieces on the floor. I didn't see my family anywhere, until I saw the head of my 18-year-old brother peeking out from under a collapsed wall.

I ran over, and struggled to lift the collapsed wall up, until Kai came and helped me.

Under the wall were the lifeless bodies of my parents and siblings, apart from my 11-year-old brother who was struggling to move.

I kneeled down beside him, his voice came out in a whisper, "You were...amazing...Em..." and then he became the same as the rest of my family: Lifeless, dead.

I walked through the bodies of my family, calling out their names desperately to try and get them to wake up, at least tell me that they were there. I got no response.

I fell to my knees as a tear rolled down my cheek, and I felt Kai's warm hand on my shoulder. It was the only source of warmth I would get right now, and neither of us said a word. I stared at the bodies in silence, before standing up to find any survivors from the attack.

No one was left alive, everyone was either crushed by the falling buildings or the Kaiju, or...

Striker.

I felt responsible for this. If I had stayed in the team, I could've gotten here faster, I could've saved my family.

"Sensei's calling us back Em, we should go," Kai came up from behind me, motioning to our motorcycles. I nodded, and said, "Gimme a sec."

I walked towards my family's resting area, and took a final look at them.

Suddenly, I saw an envelope in my sister's hand. I carefully took it out, and saw it was addressed to me.

With shaking hands, I opened it, and I tried my best to not break down into tears again.

"Yoooo, my bro Em, we know dad and mom don't accept you as a Jaeger pilot, so we decided to check and see if you had emotional damage, hence the letter. We've seen you on television fighting Kaiju before, you were a great pilot, and don't give up on the team, aight bro?
- your bros"

My fist closed around the letter, and I felt a new fire in the pit of my stomach.

I am going to get my revenge.

Chapter Text

Ember's POV

The sun was up, shining brightly down on Kai and I as we headed back to the Jaeger site. When we reached, we were greeted by the team, including a new and shiny Zane.

To celebrate my return, everyone went to the game center for a round of Jumbotron, the hardest quest in Rec Room yet. I stayed behind for a bit to put down my things, now every pilot had their own room instead of 2 pilots sharing a room, and for some reason during the rebuilding of the Jaeger site they even rebuilt my room.

It was brand new, and I saw a Kaiju alarm on the table. It had the same markings as my old one, when I turned it over it showed the name "Ember". I guess Kai kept my old Kaiju alarm. On one side of the table, I saw a photograph of me and the team, all chilling in the game center celebrating our first Crescendo victory in our hoodies. I smiled, I missed the good old days.

I carefully set the crumpled piece of paper in my fist which was the letter my siblings wrote to me on the table, taking off my extra kaiju alarm and using it as a paperweight, and putting my original one back on. Something was always different about the original one, it didn't feel the same as when I wore my extra one.

I headed to the game center where the keyboards were already set up, and the screen was split into 4: Recthead, which was Kai's account, vexingvexvexes, which was Nya's account, TBNR_Potato, which was my account, and Quseynn, which was Cole's account. We quickly partied up and made our way to The Rise of Jumbotron, ready to kick some robot ass.

I barely talked throughout the game, occasionally shouting at Kai not to waste the explosive barrels. My mind still lingered on the images of my family lying dead under that concrete wall, and I wondered what knocked that wall down. The Kaiju, or Striker.

Soon enough, we reached the boss fight, and we heard the sound of rain outside the game center. Quseynn and vex went up to the right side of the boss arena, while Recthead and I went to the left side. Kai and I used our shotguns to shoot at one of jumbotron's screens, when the robots spawned we quickly moved to the other side to take cover and take out the other screen, trusting vex and Quseynn to take out the last two.

Kai and I used our shotguns to shoot at one of jumbotron's screens, when the robots spawned we quickly moved to the other side to take cover and take out the other screen, trusting vex and Quseynn to take out the last two.

Soon, all 4 of jumbotron's screens were destroyed and he came crashing to the ground, and the victory music started to play.

"A rank lets gooo," vex said as she checked our rank. We went to get our reward chests, we didn't play jumbotron that often so we didn't get the full set of reward outfits yet.

Third person POV

The sky started to turn grey as clouds closed in. It looked like it was about to rain, yet there was a difference in the clouds today. Sometimes flashes of blue could be seen in them, but the people of Ninjago city paid no attention and started to get indoors before it started raining.

What they didn't know was, the blue flashes in the clouds were signals of a Kaiju's cells in the clouds.

Soon, it started raining. The people that couldn't get indoors in time got wet with the unusually blue rain.

A mother and her son were walking outside, the son was having an ice cream while the mother looked up at the clouds.

"Looks like its gonna rain honey, lets get back home," she said, and they started walking to wherever their house was.

A raindrop fell onto the mother. It was a weird glowing blue colour, and it instantly seeped into her skin. She paid no attention, she was focused on getting back to her house.

Blue lines started to creep up her neck. The rain got heavier, and the son ran to shelter while the mother paid no attention.

"Mommy! Get inside!" the son shouted. His mother turned her head, and he saw her eyes glowing blue.

"Mommy...?"

The mother ran to her son, not in the playful type of way, but the way pumpkin spicers moved towards players in Crescendo. Then she bit her son on the arm, he closed his eyes, screaming as the blue lines moved from his mother to him, and then stopped abruptly.

When he opened his eyes again, they were glowing blue.

Ember's POV

Suddenly, Sensei came into the game center. He seemed off, he just stood there, unmoving. I was confused, at least until I saw the glowing blue lines creeping up his neck.

And then he literally pounced on me, trying to get ahold of my neck. I quickly kicked him off, the blue lines on his neck spread to his arms, they were trying to get me. The only weapon I had right now was probably my keyboard, so I blocked his punches with it, using it as a shield. He was fast, but he trained me well.

"Anyone gonna help me out here?!" I strained as Sensei pushed me up against a wall, the blue lines inching towards me, the only thing separating them and me was the keyboard.

"We can't hurt him," Cole said, but Kai already sprung into action, shooting a blast of fire at Sensei and knocking him off me. I dusted off that small bit of blue dust on my shoulder and shouted, "WE GOTTA GET OUTTA HERE AND INTO THE OPEN!"

So we all ran out of the game center before Sensei could regain his senses, and the sight that greeted us wasn't pretty.

Hundreds of people with blue lines running up their faces were surrounding us, their eyes unfocused but glowing like the blue acid blood of the Kaiju.

Chapter Text

Third Person POV

The rain stopped. The puddles of blue absorbed into the ground, leaving no trace of the fact that it had been raining a few minutes ago.

Ember's POV

We were surrounded. There was no way out, and with our keyboards as our only weapons, we probably didn't stand much of a chance.

"I count 40 heads to one," Cole said.

"And if those things touch us we're probably dead," Kai warned.

"I'd rather not turn into a living Kaiju zombie," I said. "Is there a way out?"

Nya and Jay motioned towards the nearby ladder that we sometimes would need to climb up to fix the connection. The Kaiju zombies got closer, and it looked like we didn't have much of a choice.

Anakin and Ahsoka Force-jumped their way up there, while Zane froze a wall of ice to block the zombies for now as we all hurried up.

When the last person, Zane, came up, Ahsoka sighed, "At least now we have the high ground."

"What do we do now?" Anakin asked. The zombies broke through the wall of ice and started climbing the ladder, when one of them was about to reach the top I smashed their head with my keyboard and they fell back to the ground, in a daze but uninjured.

"Let's try not to hurt them, shall we?" Cole said, scanning our surroundings. We were definitely surrounded, it was going to be hard to escape.

"It'll be harder for them to catch us if we split," Anakin suggested.

"But wouldn't that make it easier for them to overwhelm us?" Ahsoka asked.

"I'll take my chances. Ahsoka, take Ember, Kai, and Zane with you, I'll take Nya, Jay and Cole."

We jumped off the game center into the incoming horde of zombies, Anakin and Ahsoka force-pushing them out of the way so that we wouldn't get infected. We were already in our groups, splitting off into different directions.

The path to the Jaeger site was blocked by hundreds of Kaiju zombies, it would be risky to try and make a run for it, and I don't think any of us were willing to kill anyone.

The zombies were coming, so we just took off into the streets. The entire Ninjago city was after us and the other group, they were as fast as they would normally be, not like those types of zombies in video games or movies.

More and more zombies kept pouring out of the streets and buildings, and soon they were catching up.

"We gotta get to the Jaegers!" Kai shouted. He was right, we were gonna get overwhelmed without them.

We weren't that far from the Jaeger site, we could make it. So we ran, Ahsoka leading the front, Kai at the back. My legs were burning, but I pushed on.

As we ran into a narrow corridor place, really near the Jaeger site, I suddenly heard a "Oh shit!" from Kai, and I instinctively looked back. Zombie Sensei got ahold of Kai's arm, the blue lines were spreading from Sensei to him.

"Kai!" I shouted, about to run back, but stopped by Zane. "We can't go back for him!" he said. I struggled against his hold on my arm, still looking at Kai.

His eyes turned blue.

Fire blazing in his hands, he chased after us just like the rest of the zombies. Zane froze the path behind us, the back door to the Jaeger site was at the end of the ally. Kai blasted through the wall of ice, and we just ran.

Ahsoka and Zane reached the door first, holding the door open for me. But I didn't run in.

"Come on!" Zane shouted.

I turned around, focusing on Kai, he was coming.

"I'm not leaving him."

The others were behind Kai, in an almost single file.

"I'll handle this one," Kai said, his voice was distorted. He blasted 2 fireballs at me, it almost felt like the imps in Golden Trophy. I quickly dodged them, and they hit the door behind me. Zane and Ahsoka were about to come and help me, but I said, "It's just Kai, I can handle him."

I ducked as he aimed a punch at me, not letting him come in contact with me. The blue lines on his arms were reaching out for me. The more I dodged his attacks, the brighter the blue in his eyes glowed.

And then suddenly, he froze mid-attack, as if the real Kai was trying to control his body again.

"Em...?" he whispered, falling to his knees. I didn't let my guard down, but I slowly inched closer. He looked like he was struggling to keep in control of his body. "Run," he said, before he lost control again.

"I'm not leaving you," I stood my ground. "Not this time."

"Then you will die."

He shot out another blast of fire at me, it literally occupied the entire ally, so I couldn't dodge it, and I was slammed against the door.

I coughed as the smoke cleared, and before I could get to my feet, Kai slashed at my right eye with a fire knife thingy. My right eye went dark, it felt like it was burning. I screamed, "FUCK!" while clutching my right eye, and Kai stood over me, ready to pass the blue lines to me.

Well there was only one thing I could do. Hopefully his pants covered the lines. I threw a hard punch to the place under his legs, and he fell back, and I got to my feet.

Suddenly, Zane froze Kai in a block of ice, and I pushed him in as the other zombies that were waiting for Kai chased after us. We slammed the door closed, and barricaded the door with some chairs and stuff.

We were safe, at least for now.

Anakin and the others were already inside, everyone made it.

"Can't pilot Striker without Kai, we gotta get whatever's in his head outta there," I was breathing heavily. There were scorch marks on my shirt, and I put a hand to my right eye, I still couldn't see out of it.

I winced as the burning feeling came back.

"We could use the drift to see what's inside his head," Ahsoka suggested.

"I'll do it, I'm the one who's drift compatible with him," I volunteered.

"We can't afford to lose another pilot if something goes wrong, there's gotta be another way," Anakin said.

"I don't think there's another way," Nya said.

"Logically Ember would be the best choice, because if something goes wrong we won't lose another Jaeger," Zane said, and received glares from the entire team, except me.

The ice around Kai melted, and he was unconscious, but alive. The blue lines on his skin pulsed almost like heartbeats, and I knew that if I was to save my copilot, this was the way.

"Hook me and Kai up to Striker," I said. "If anything goes wrong take us down."

The rest of the team nodded, and we brought Kai up to Striker's head and hooked him in.

I put on my helmet as the rest of the team left, and looked at Kai.

"We're gonna get you back bro."

"Drift sequence initiated."

And I found myself in the familiar void of the drift.

Chapter Text

Ember's POV

Darkness, as usual. Not the nicest thing to be in at the moment, at least it would keep my attention away from the fact that probably the entire city was banging on our doors, and it was only a matter of time before they got in, and we would all-

Shut up.

It was quiet in here, almost too quiet. In the drift, I would normally hear the sounds of Kaiju alarms, the sound of Kai's fire. I would hear some voices from the memories that were flashing before.

Now, there was nothing, all silence, besides my own heartbeat. It was cold.

So I did what any other person would do in my situation: walk straight ahead with no sense of direction whatsoever.

After I don't know how long of walking, blue lines started creeping along the floor. That was a good sign, well anything was a good sign at this point.

The air was different, it felt more sulfuric, it burned my lungs when I breathed it in. I covered my nose and mouth with my arm, hoping it would at least block out the smell.

My legs felt like they were getting heavier, I didn't know why. Looking down, and I saw my legs sinking into the darkness with each step I took, up to my ankle height. The darkness curled around my legs, trying to drag me down.

"Go get a life," I said, before wrenching my leg out from the pool of darkness.

As I struggled my way through, the environment around me started to change even more. Black trees with lines that looked like fire running up of them rose up from the ground. They gave off a bit of warmth, which was all I needed.

I could barely feel my hands, I pressed them against one of the trees for warmth.

And then suddenly, I was standing in front of a dead Kaiju. My arm was burning. Glowing blue Kaiju blood was smoking on my skin.

I was 5 years old again, it was the first Kaiju attack. The thing that awakened my hunger to join the Jaeger program.

I had gone through many burns by now, this one felt like nothing. I looked around, taking in the view of my old village. Peaceful, oblivious to the many dangers that were to come.

And then I saw a boy with spiky hair and a girl huddled together in a corner. I recognised them now. Kai and Nya. I saw the fire in Kai's eyes.

Then my parents rushing over to me, checking to see if I was alright. Then I came back into the darkness again, amongst the fire trees.

These are my memories.

Some trees were taller than others. When I touched the taller ones, they showed more vivid memories of my childhood. The ones I actually remembered. It was still dark, but strangely, I felt at home here, at peace with the darkness. The sulfuric smell in the air was gone.

As I walked through the forest of fire trees, I reached a crossroad. In the middle of the 2 paths was a tall palm tree, its leaves were literal fire, more lines ran across its trunk than most of the others I saw before.

I put my hand to it, and took a deep breath, sucked into the memory where it all started.

"I already told you Ember, you can't become a Jaeger pilot! It's too dangerous! If you really wanna become one, go sleep on the roof!" my dad shouted at me. I rolled my eyes and groaned, followed by a bunch of stuff that I said. In my mind only ran one thought.

Dad?

They were going to decommission the Jaeger program, because there were too little pilots. Then I told a lie to my parents about going to buy some groceries, when I was actually going to go to the tryouts right outside my village to try and become a Jaeger pilot. I thought I had no chance. That felt so long ago.

I climbed into Striker's head. All the controls that I was so unfamiliar with before, they now felt like the keys on a keyboard, all within my reach, under my control.

I saw Kai. There were no scars on his arms yet, he was wearing a t-shirt and jeans. And no powers either. No warning of what would happen in a few years.

Then the drift sequence initiated. Funny how I could see stuff like this in the drift itself. Turned out I was drift compatible with Kai. Now I knew why, I was so confused back then. I laughed at myself.

7am, and Sensei, Kai and I drove off to Ninjago City.

Don't go. Bad things are gonna happen if you go. DON'T GO!

I tried to tell myself, I didn't want Kai to get injured during the fight with Knifehead. I didn't want to almost see him die. I didn't want to have to leave. I didn't want my family to die. I didn't want any of this to happen.

Yet, my old self seemed oblivious to my thoughts, and I faded back into the drift, in front of the flaming tree.

I looked at the path full of flaming trees. Those were my memories when I joined the Jaeger program. And then I looked at the other path, it was full of dark grass.

Of course, I picked the one with the flaming trees. Fire was safety, at least mostly to me.

The path went uphill and downhill. I saw the memories of my training, the first time I kicked Kai's ass in a fight, our first simulation. Kai coming back with his elemental powers. Cole having emotional damage. Jay getting struck somehow by lightning, how I got burned when I used Kai's power for the first time. The final test before Kai and I went out into the field, our first fight with Leatherback boi. My first Crescendo win, and many more fun times after that.

Suddenly, the road was blocked by a big tree, the whole thing was fire. I put my hand to its trunk, and this time there was no memories.

I did the only thing I could do: climb the tree. Not go around it, because (plot ehehehehhe) the other paths all led to darkness.

I wasn't sweating, but I didn't feel cold either. When I finally reached the top of the tree, I looked at the path that continued below me. It was all uphill.

And then I saw waves crashing against Striker Phoenix. I was in Striker's head, watching Kai and my old self ready to kick ass. I've seen this scene too many times. Knifehead's attack.

"GET OUTTA THERE, NOW!" I shouted, but my old self wouldn't listen, no one could hear me. I was just a spectator, watching as my whole life was going to be turned upside-down in a matter of seconds.

At least this time I could appreciate the way I kicked Knifehead's ass , I had to admit, Kai and I did make a good team. Then it came.

"EM, YOU GOTTA-"

I didn't bother to try and close my eyes this time. Knifehead's bloody claw dug into Striker's head, ripping Kai from it. He shot a few fireballs into Knifehead's eyes, buying my old self time.

I saw the blood dripping from my older self's nose. The machinery dug into her, that left the scars on my chest that would never go away.

"FUCK IT," I kept shouting to keep my focus. I saw a bunch of electricity just flowing through me as Striker's machines sparked. My old self was sweating, I didn't realise it at the time. But I saw a spark in her eyes as she activated Striker's chain sword, slicing through Knifehead's head, and Kai fell out from its claws.

Then my old self piloted Striker to the shore, before collapsing.

I shouldn't have become a Jaeger pilot.

I found myself at the top of the tree again. I wiped my face, it was wet. I should have gotten used to it by now, but the memory still haunted me to this day.

I slid down the tree back to the path, putting my hand to the ground. I didn't know why, this was just my instinct.

I was in the hospital, looking over at Kai from my bed, he was connected to a bunch of life-support systems. I almost suffocated myself with my pillow to block out those Kaiju roars that I heard. I saw myself screaming into my pillow, wetting it with tears after another nightmare.

I saw myself on my road to recovery, it didn't get any easier even after Kai woke up. The memory continued as I stood up in the drift, making my way uphill.

One of the nights, he had another nightmare. And then I sat on his bed, hugging him, telling him that it would be okay.

I didn't tell him that I wasn't okay. My dreams were getting worse. They now showed what would've happened if I didn't save his ass in time.

As I reached the top of the uphill part, the image of a motorcycle riding into the sunset flashed before my eyes. The drift was showing me when I left the Jaeger program.

"I'm sorry Kai, but I'm not coming back."

No. NO. COME BACK EMBER YOU LITTLE BITCH, DO YOU WANT YOUR FAMILY TO DIE!?!??!?!

I screamed at myself through the memory, knowing that it wouldn't make any difference.

It was all downhill from here. But now there were some flaming trees that weren't mine. Some of them were Kai's.

I saw his memories of after I left. Bro soloed Golden Trophy while being depressed, I was kinda proud of him.

He ran to his room, looked at a photograph of us and the team celebrating our Crescendo victory after our first Kaiju fight. Angry tears formed at the corner of his eyes, and he threw the photo frame at the mirror, breathing heavily, screaming, "FUCK!" and burying his face in his pillow. I wanted to put my hand on his shoulder, to tell him that I was sorry, but it was too late for that now.

When I left, I thought I was doing myself a favour. But I wasn't. I was leaving the people that I fought beside for years, they felt like family to me.

I didn't even know if it was too late to get Kai back right now. I quickened my pace. I saw Zane's death and the Jaeger site getting destroyed, how I came back to help rebuild it. Giving Kai Zane's neural drive to rebuild him.

I broke into a run when I saw the memory of me going back to the Jaeger site to fight the Kaiju that would start this mess. I blocked out all sound, all emotion, until I arrived at the place where the flaming trees stopped.

A glowing blue portal was shining in front of me, it was the connection to Kai's mind. I felt my heart pounding in my chest, my gut told me this was a bad idea.

But then, when have I not done something overly stupid?

So I stepped into the portal, and let the darkness consume me.

Chapter Text

Kai's POV

As I ran, behind all the others, I suddenly felt a sharp tug on my arm. I looked back, it was Sensei. Well actually, Zombie Sensei. I tried to wrench my arm out from his grip, but his hand stayed firm on my arm, his nails digging into my skin, the blue lines on his arm moving onto mine.

"Oh shit," I said.

Ember looked back, and shouted my name. She was gonna run back to me, but was stopped by Zane.

The blue lines absorbed into my skin, my breathing was shaky. Em needed me to pilot Striker.

Then suddenly, I found myself in darkness. It was quiet. All I could hear was my own breathing. I tried to light up a flame in my hands, it worked and a bit of the darkness was pushed back. I looked forwards, the darkness was showing me what was happening from my eyes.

"I'm not leaving him," Ember said, standing in front of the metal door that led into the Jaeger site. I smirked. "You're just gonna kill yourself Em. I'm way too pro for you."

Almost as if the thing that had taken over my body heard my thoughts, it said, "I'll handle this one," to the other zombies. It blasted 2 fireballs at Ember, which she dodged with ease. Zane and Ahsoka looked out of the door, they were ready to help.

"It's just Kai, I can handle this," Em said before ducking a punch that my body aimed at her. I had to regain control of myself. I blasted at the image from the darkness with my fire, and jumped through the small opening of light that opened up.

I was back in my body, frozen in mid-attack. The darkness was trying to pull me back, it had its grip on me, I tried to resist it, my breathing was heavy.

"Em...?" I whispered, the darkness was draining my energy. "Run." And then the darkness pulled me back in, I landed face-first on the ground, the darkness was a wave of black, crashing onto me, knocking me down.

It took me almost all of my strength to ignite another flame in my palm. I heard a scream from the darkness, and once again, I saw how the fight was going. It felt like I was watching through a window.

My body sliced at Em's right eye with a blade of fire.

"NO STOP-" I shouted, but I couldn't do anything. Ember screamed, clutching her right eye. I looked away.

Then it felt like I was kicked in the balls, and then frozen into a block of ice. My fire didn't make it warmer. I was shivering, it was cold. So cold. I craved warmth. Fire was safety. Fire was life. My fire provided light, but not warmth.

My fire got dimmer. My strength slowly going away. The darkness got closer. I curled up into a ball. So cold.

And my fire grew dimmer, and dimmer, until it extinguished. The darkness was no longer driven away. My light was gone.

And I let the darkness consume me.

I found myself right next to a Kaiju body. It looked like a Category 1. No. It was the first Kaiju attack. The one that killed my parents. I was next to Nya.

I scanned my surroundings. I saw a girl holding her arm, it was smoking. Kaiju blood was burning her. I recognised her amber eyes.

"Ember?" I asked, I didn't know if she could hear me. I saw 2 adults, probably her parents, running towards her, asking if she was alright, and I saw her roll her eyes as usual. I let out a small chuckle. Even as a kid, Ember never changed.

Suddenly, I was in Striker's head, piloting with Ember. Rain slammed against Striker's body. I remembered this too well. This was the day everything changed.

"EM, YOU GOTTA-"

And then I was ripped out of Striker's head by Knifehead's claw, shooting fireballs at its eyes. I experienced this so many times in my dreams, yet it never got easier to see.

I felt Knifehead's claw crush my spine, a sharp pain shot up my whole body. Acid blood burned my skin. I wanted to scream, but Knifehead's claw covered my nose and mouth, suffocating me.

My heart was pounding in my chest, I felt tears forming at the corners of my eyes, and the world slowly faded back to darkness.

This wasn't the darkness that was in my head. It was a void, silent. My whole body burned. I couldn't move my legs. I could barely breathe.

I heard the muffled sounds of Ember screaming, crying into her pillow. I couldn't see, but I could hear it all.

I wanted to tell her "It's gonna be okay, I'm here" so badly, but I couldn't move anything. I didn't know how long it had been, but I heard the doctor saying something about pulling the plug on me, and Ember protesting.

I knew I had to fight. I pushed my way through the void, and somehow, I found the light. I also heard a "I swear if you don't wake up right now I'm gonna kick your balls again."

Everything was blurry when I first opened my eyes. Ember was leaning back into her chair, eyes almost closed.

"Em?" I tried to talk, but my voice came out in a whisper. I saw Ember's eyes snap open. She folded her arms, smiling.

"About time you woke up," she said.

"Em, please don't kick my balls," I laughed softly. I thought I saw liquid at the corners of her eyes, but she wiped them away quickly.

The memory faded into the nights where I had my nightmares. I always woke up, seeing a sleeping Ember on the opposite bed, she looked so peaceful.

And then it turned into me watching Ember ride into the sunset, and I couldn't do anything to stop her. It felt like I was stabbed with a knife in the gut with the realisation that Ember would give up on me like this.

Then Zane's death. And then it showed me my parents' death. And then it replayed again, it was a cycle of my worst memories, my lowest points.

I curled up into a ball even tighter.

Ember's POV

I was drowning in a sea of darkness. I swam for the surface, the darkness was weighing me down. When I broke the surface, the air was cool against my skin. Too cold.

"Kai?" I called out. I didn't receive a response. I had to get out of this sea of black. I swam in whatever direction, and after what felt like forever, I got onto solid ground.

"KAI?" I called out, as loud as I could.

I heard a weak "Em?" coming from not too far away. I ran towards it, and found Kai curled up in a ball, he was shivering. Ice cold. I wrapped my arms around him, giving him some of my own warmth.

"What took you so long?" he whispered. I held him tighter. I felt his fire flow into me.

"Navigating the drift isn't as easy as it seems," I said, my voice shaking from the cold. "Really? Because I thought all you had to do was think of me, and you would randomly show up beside me," he laughed. I followed suit, and for a moment all the darkness melted away.

"Now we gotta get outta here," I said, pulling away from him and helping him up. His legs were unsteady, I let him sling him arm around my shoulder as we walked. In which direction, I didn't really know. But walking gave us comfort, and that's all we needed for now.

Suddenly, the darkness around us slowly started grouping together, flying towards each other, blocking our path. The wind they produced almost knocked me and Kai over. I held Kai close, didn't want him to fly away.

And then when the wind stopped, we looked forwards to see what the darkness had formed, and our eyes widened. It was a shape we knew too well.

Knifehead.

Chapter Text

Ember's POV

The darkness rose in front of us, in the shape of Knifehead. My eyes widened, it was even bigger when I wasn't in a Jaeger. I took a step back as the shape of Knifehead roared, its eyes were glowing blue. I felt Kai's arm stiffen around me.

"How the heck are we supposed to deal with that thing?!" Kai was ready to run. But I knew running was no use against a Kaiju that size. Knifehead would probably catch up to us in a single step, and then it would be over for us.

Knifehead's foot hit the ground, the ground shook below us. We ran under Knifehead, hoping it wouldn't notice us. I held my breath as Knifehead looked around for us, I could hear my heart pounding in my chest.

We wouldn't be able to run from Knifehead. The drift was endless, Knifehead would catch up to us, and we'd be stuck here for more time than we had. Our only option was to fight, which Kai and I were half-willing to do.

But how were we supposed to fight a Kaiju without a Jaeger?

Answer was, create your own Jaeger. Sounds stupid right? But Kai knew me for my overly stupid tactics.

And he read my mind.

So we ran out from under Knifehead, its attention wasn't on us yet, and we made a fire Jaeger with Kai's elemental power. Now the fight was even.

Knifehead turned around, only to be met with a flaming punch from me and Kai. It stumbled backwards, blue lines pulsing through its skin, and suddenly the darkness around us and Knifehead turned into a sea of darkness, waves crashing against the Jaeger's legs, Kai and I struggled to keep the Jaeger straight.

Knifehead charged towards us, the darkness almost seemed to try and move away from the light of the fire Jaeger. Kai and I blocked the attack, I created a fire sword on my side, and sliced at Knifehead's arm. Knifehead roared as the blue blood mixed with black spilled out, but the darkness went to form the arm again.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW BRO?!" I shouted as Knifehead went for another attack. Its claw was still bleeding blue. I saw Kai freeze as the claw went for the head. I quickly grabbed the claw, holding it from the head as I shouted at Kai to regain his senses. He stood there unmoving, I was slowly losing my grip on Knifehead.

Kai's POV

Knifehead's claw, bleeding blue, went for the head, in my direction. I froze.

"EM, YOU GOTTA-"

And then I was ripped out of Striker's head by Knifehead's claw, shooting fireballs at its eyes.I felt Knifehead's claw crush my spine, a sharp pain shot up my whole body. Acid blood burned my skin. I wanted to scream, but Knifehead's claw covered my nose and mouth, suffocating me.

I couldn't breathe. It happened so long ago, it still felt as real as ever.

Then I heard Ember shouting at me to get to my senses, but it felt like she was shouting through a wall. I could barely hear her.

Ember's POV

The fire in the Jaeger grew stronger. Kai was losing control. I had no choice but to solo pilot for now. I kicked Knifehead in the chest, sending it flying backwards. And then I shot a fireball at it, which it blocked with its arm.

This half-reminded me of our fight before. Me solo-piloting to save Kai's ass. Knifehead causing me so much pain, suffering. It was the one that made me leave my true home. I felt the anger bubbling inside me, like all those times before, but this time I didn't push it away.

I welcomed it.

"Parry this you filthy wizard." I shot out a burst of fire at Knifehead.

Kai's POV

Anger was what fueled my power. And I could feel it in Ember, anger at Knifehead. The sound of fire roaring was clearer than ever, and I already knew what to do.

I visioned all my struggles after the fight with Knifehead. How I couldn't walk, and couldn't do anything for myself. The nightmares at night.

And then I felt the rage. It was warm, pushing away all the cold of the darkness. I snapped out of my memories, finding myself back in the fire Jaeger. My fire was stronger than ever.

Along with Ember, I shot out a blast of fire at Knifehead. It blocked the fire for a moment, but with our combined power, we quickly overpowered it. The flames engulfed the darkness that made Knifehead, and it burned.

I felt so much lighter, venting on Knifehead made it so much better.

The waves around us formed into solid ground again. The darkness was no longer suffocating, but just empty, like the drift.

As Ember and I got onto the ground and the fire Jaeger disappeared, we burst out laughing, for some weird reason.

"Did you see Knifehead's face when we kicked its ass?" Ember laughed.

"And did you see it screaming when we burned it?"

A blue portal suddenly opened up in front of us.

"I guess I gotta get back to my own head," Ember said, before making her way into the portal. "Cya on the other side."

I almost forgot that we were in my head.

"Cya on the other side."

And then I found myself back in Striker's head, next to Ember.

Ember's POV

I found myself back in Striker's head, next to Kai. My right eye was still dark. I took off my helmet, walking over to Kai, making sure that the infection wasn't there anymore.

For a moment, I saw Kai's body ignite into flames, burning up all the blue lines, before returning back to normal, and his eyes opened.

"Are we back?" he asked.

"What do you think dumbass," I smirked.

"Em, your eye..."

"I'm fine. Are you?"

"Yea. But your eye is grey."

I put a hand up to my burned eye, and winced when the burning sensation came back. My other eye saw Kai lowering his head, I could see the guilt in his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he said softly.

I put a hand on his shoulder. "It's not your fault. Now we gotta report in to the others, and get the hell outta here."

We ran outside, only to see Anakin and Ahsoka holding off a bunch of zombies trying to make their way up to Striker.

Cole and Zane were pressed against a corner, Nya and Jay were trying to force their way up to Interceptor.

"Give me a weapon," I told Ahsoka as Kai jumped down from Striker's head using his fire to hover above the zombies and making his way to Cole and Zane.

Ahsoka gave me one of her lightsabers, and I charged into the zombies in front of me, slicing them down, not caring at all about whether they were innocent before. Right now, we just had to survive.

"GET TO THE JAEGERS, WE'RE GONNA MAKE A RUN FOR IT," I shouted, hoping that the others could hear me.

I saw Cole and Zane running to Challenger Rex, Nya and Jay were already running up to Interceptor. I nodded at Anakin and Ahsoka, signaling to them that I could handle the zombies.

Kai made his way up to Striker as I sliced more and more of the zombies down, but there were too many. They were almost coming in contact with me, blue acid spilling from their mouths.

Suddenly, a burst of fire killed the zombies that were too close for comfort. I looked up, and saw Kai grinning at me. "Need some help?"

"Oh shut up," I said as we ran into Striker, sealing up the door and connecting to the drift. There was no vivid memory of Knifehead in the memory flash, and we quickly came back into focus. Jay, Nya, Anakin, Ahsoka, Cole and Zane were all in.

"Let's roll out boys," Cole said over the speaker, and we smashed our way through the bay doors and out into the sea, shaking off whatever dumbass zombies that decided to stick onto the Jaegers.

"Sensei once told me about an old Jaeger site across the ocean, we should be safe there for now," Zane said, emphasizing on the "for now".

"Lead the way Zane," Anakin said.

It was night time already. The sea was dark, waves crashing against the legs of the Jaegers.

It took longer than expected, considering that we were in giant robots that covered a huge distance with each step.

Eventually, we reached land, and we saw the old Jaeger site. It looked nothing like our Jaeger site, more like a small building with a lot of outdoor areas where Jaegers could be parked. There were stairs that let the Jaeger pilots get down from the head, but they looked really unsteady.

We parked our Jaegers, and dashed down the stairs in case the stairs decided that they were gonna give us up.

Luckily they didn't, and we headed into the building. There weren't any beds, and I was tired as hell, so I just laid down on the floor and closed my eyes.

For once, I wasn't afraid that the nightmares would come.

Sensei Wu's POV

Everything was darkness, except a screen where I could watch what the infection was making my body do. But I rarely paid attention. I was mostly forced to rewatch my past memories.

My brother, Garmadon and I were piloting a Jaeger in the early days. Garmadon's wife, Misako, had just given birth to a boy called Lloyd. We were fighting a Category 2, and got a bit too confident, and my brother paid the price.

He was ripped out of the Jaeger's head, just like how Kai was. But I couldn't do anything to save him. By the time I managed to solo-pilot and killed the Category 2, my brother was already crushed in the Kaiju's claw.

I shuddered every time the memory played out. I thought I had already gotten over the memory, but it replaying again in my mind... it was too much. That was why I stopped being a pilot.

And as the cycle continued, I remembered when I thought I saw my brother in my room a month after I lost him, telling me that I needed to let him go.

I tried to force my way out of the darkness, but every time I pushed a bit away, more just came to take its place. It was suffocating. I couldn't get out. The team needed me.

The fate of the world was in their hands now.

Chapter Text

Ember's POV

When I woke up, I was on the cold stone floor, and Anakin, Ahsoka, Jay, Nya, Cole and Zane were asleep. Kai was on watch.

I had a good dream. I was in a grass field having a wrestling match with my siblings. My parents joined in at some point, and we became a mess of twigs and hair and bodies. But it was also a reminder that they were gone.

Kai had dark circles around his eyes, yet he seemed as alert as ever.

"I'll take second watch bro, go get some sleep," I walked over to him and pat him on the back.

"I'm not tired," he insisted.

"You don't wanna be tired when we kick Kaiju ass, do you?"

"Fine, I'll go get some sleep," Kai groaned, before sitting down, back against the wall, and closing his eyes. I smirked a bit, sighing as I stared at the door.

Everything happened so fast. It felt only minutes ago when I came back to the Jaeger site to fight the Kaiju that killed my family. That was hours ago, probably a day.

Kaiju zombies. I chuckled at the thought. Stupid name. Then the drift, an endless void of darkness, at least that was what I thought before I saw the fire memory tree things.

A few hours later

"Okay so there's absolutely no food, no water whatsoever in this shithole, so we gotta go back to Ninjago City to get some! Any volunteers?" Nya said sarcastically, after we did a search on the supplies in the old Jaeger site. We just found a bunch of tools good for repairing Jaegers and scrap metal.

"Our powers would give us away instantly," Zane said.

"No shit Sherlock, they recognize us just by how we look," Kai snapped.

"I could go in and run out with a horde of zombies chasing me," I said.

"They could get you and spread the infection," Kai instantly declined the idea.

"More importantly, they'll find out where we're hiding," Cole added.

"They'll find out at some point anyways, and then we're doomed!" Jay let out a sarcastic laugh.

"Fuck it, I'm going, any ideas how to get there without attracting attention?" I asked.

"You're not going," Kai insisted.

"I am, now fuck off and let's see what else this shithole has. Imma boat my way there and hopefully zombies are dumb as the movies say."

We actually found a half-decent boat along the coast near the Jaeger site. I had a knife tucked in my belt in case I needed to slice any zombies up. So I got into the boat and got ready to set off.

"Be careful Em," Kai put a hand on my shoulder before I went.

"When am I not careful?" I replied, smirking, before heading off.

I learned one thing from the journey: Rowing sucks. Hell, why did this even exist besides to torture people? The water resistance against the oars and everything made it worse. Thank goodness my training as a Jaeger pilot at least gave me some strength to pull this off.

It was the middle of the night and the sea was dark. To not attract any unwanted attention, I left with no lights. At least the lights of Ninjago City were visible, giving me a sense of direction.

When I finally reached the shore, I wasn't met with any Kaiju zombies or anything. I left my boat close to the ocean because I knew I was gonna need to make a quick escape.

I ran up to the city quietly, making sure my presence wasn't noticed. I made my way into the small alleys as zombies were patrolling the streets. When the nearest patrol walked away, I stuck my head out of the alley to see the condition of Ninjago City. Definitely not good.

Cars were overturned and flaming. Parts of buildings were cracked. Lines of blue littered the streets.

The alley I was in had a rotting smell. Dead bodies were on the floor, blue lines bursting out of their heads, dried blood on their faces.

Suddenly, I heard a growl behind me. One of the zombies was standing behind me, ready to infect. I pulled my knife out of my belt as the zombie charged.

He was slow. Blue lines covered his face, digging into his skin. Blue crystals around his hands didn't look like a good sign to me. A locket hung around his neck. His face had a pained expression, mixed with the rage of the Kaiju.

I quickly dodged one of his attacks, before stabbing him in the gut with my knife. I could almost hear the Kaiju infection screaming, and he fell to the ground, red blood mixed with blue pouring out.

The locket fell open as he hit the ground. Just out of curiosity, making sure not to touch the blue lines, I took a look at it, and only had one thought running through my mind.

Ah shit.

On the locket was a picture of Cole, but younger, and a woman who I assumed to be his mother. I would have to explain that to Cole later.

I quickly ran out of the alley as another patrol passed, and there was a nearby store where I could get supplies, assuming it wasn't already looted.

There were a few bottles of water and some loaves of bread. Enough for a few days of survival I guessed. But I had a feeling that we would only need rations for a few days.

I slung the stuff on my back and was ready to make a run for the boat. I heard the growl of another zombie behind me, I grabbed my knife and stabbed it before it could even touch me.

And then suddenly, a hell lotta zombies appeared out of nowhere, cornering me into the store. As the person in Rec Room who charges into goblins in Golden Trophy with no care in the world whatsoever besides mass murder, you already know what I did.

I ran straight into the zombies, trying only to come into contact with their clothes so as to not get the infection on me, stabbing zombies left and right.

"Sorry guys," I shouted as I ran out of the horde, they were chasing me now. The stuff on my back weighed me down, but I managed to at least run faster than the zombies.

I reached the boat in time, pushing it into the water and jumped in as the zombies reached the shore.

"L BOZOS," I shouted as I slung the stuff off my shoulder and started to row.

And then they started swimming after me. That's right, you heard it. Swimming.

"Ah shit."

I started to row faster, my muscles burning with effort. The zombies kept going, but soon I lost sight of the shore and I couldn't see any more zombies coming after me.

Soon enough, I reached back to the old Jaeger site, slinging the stuff onto my back again and making my way to the Jaeger site.

Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain shoot through my shoulder and saw a zombie biting into it. I froze in shock, before regaining my senses and stabbing the zombie in the chest. But it was already too late. The blue lines were on my skin.

I ran as fast as I could to the Jaeger site, banging on the door for the others to let me in. When they did, I threw the stuff off my shoulder, and turned to Kai.

"Burn it off!" I shouted. Fire was safety, fire was life, and hopefully fire could get rid of the infection before it got to my head.

Kai stood there frozen.

"What are you waiting for CMON DO YOU WANT ME TO BECOME A ZOMBIE?!" I hurried him.

"Where is it?" he asked, coming over to check. I pointed to it, signaling to him to hurry.

"This is gonna hurt," he said, before I felt my shoulder burning. I kept my scream in, wiping away the tears on my face. It felt like the fire was going deep into my flesh, reaching my bones. And then it stopped.

I didn't dare to touch my shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Kai asked softly, and I nodded, sweat dripping down my forehead.

"Is it gone?" my voice was shaking.

"Yea."

"Okay so now I got the stuff for yall," I said, trying to use my bad arm to point to the stuff, instantly regretting it.

"Fuck," I whispered as I held the burned area around my shoulder.

"Good job Em," Cole said, and I felt guilty for killing his father.

I really hope he doesn't find out about that.

Chapter Text

Ember's POV

My shoulder hurt. I tried to not move it as much as possible. I was tired. So tired. Most of the team were asleep, Cole was on watch. But as tired as I was, I couldn't get any sleep at all. I couldn't stop fidgeting, making sure that the infection was really gone.

I couldn't shake off the burning feeling. Both in my burned eye and my shoulder. I put my good hand to my burned eye, I felt the flaking skin and the depression where the fire sliced at.

I looked over at Cole, his eyes were closed. He seemed so peaceful, maybe he thought that when this was all over he could see his father again.

I sighed, standing up quietly and pacing around the room, trying not to wake up the others.

Suddenly, a floorboard cracked from under me and I almost fell, regaining my balance and stepping back.

"Shit," I cursed, hoping that I didn't wake anyone. I examined the damage. Under the floorboard was a tunnel. It was all dark.

So I did whatever a normal person would. I went in.

The air smelled musty. I ran my hand along the cold stone walls, feeling my way through the tunnel. It was so quiet that I could hear my own breathing. It felt like the tunnel was sloping downwards.

It felt like it would go on forever, I was starting to wonder if it even led anywhere. Until the smell started to clear up and I found myself in a big clearing.

The ground was rock. In front of me were the helmets of Jaeger pilots, mostly grey, their colours faded. And then in the middle of all of it were 8 vibrant helmets, I recognized them as the team's ones.

The sky was dome-shaped above me, it was full of stars. I walked over to the helmets, and I saw me and Kai's helmets next to another grey helmet with the faded words "striker" on it in orange. I looked at the helmets behind me and Kai's. All had the words "striker" on it. Those were the previous pilots of Striker.

I placed my hand on the helmet that looked like mine. Almost felt exactly the same as the original one.

"Em?"

I whipped around, and saw Cole standing behind me.

"What is this place? What are you doing here?" he asked, looking around.

"I-"

It felt so hard to talk to him after I killed his father.

"There's something I wanna tell you," I started, taking a deep breath. "I may or may not have murdered your father when I went out to get supplies."

"What. The. Fuck."

"Hey it's not like I could recognize him in time, I didn't really wanna get infected," I tried defending myself.

"Fuck you."

And then he left.

I slapped my hand to my forehead. Goddammit, I'm so stupid.

His dad was the only family member he had left. I just lost my family a few days ago, I knew how it felt.

I took one last look at the helmets before heading back up.

For the next few days, Cole didn't talk to me at all. Neither did he talk much to anyone else. There was another Kaiju attack which Zane, Nya, Jay and him handled well, but they came back with their Jaegers really damaged.

The Kaiju were getting stronger.

"The next estimated Kaiju attack is tomorrow, we will have to find some way to stop them before they start coming every 2 minutes," Zane said.

"Why not we blow up the breach? Wouldn't that make it close?" Kai suggested.

"Have you thought about WHERE THE HECK ARE WE GONNA GET A BOMB TO BLOW IT UP?!?!" Jay was acting like usual.

The room fell silent.

"Let's just start on repairs, we can figure that out tomorrow," Anakin said.

The repairs took the entire day, and we weren't nearly finished. By the time it was night, we were exhausted.

I was on watch that night. I was so ready to sleep, and I struggled to keep awake. I dozed off for a moment, and when I woke up, Cole was gone.

I had a feeling that I knew where he was. So I made my way down to the place with a bunch of helmets, and saw Cole sitting in front of them, curled up into a ball, head buried in his knees. He looked like he was crying from where I was.

"Hey bro, you okay?" I walked over, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"What do you think?" he snapped back.

"I know what it feels like man. You're not alone in this."

"You're the one that killed my father." I heard the break in his voice as he wiped his face.

"The infection had already gone too far Cole. I saw what it did to other people. He was already almost dead."

He didn't respond, he just hugged his knees tighter, and the rise and fall of his shoulders sped up.

I sat down beside him, putting my good arm around him, and to my surprise, he turned around and buried his head in my shoulder, sobbing hard. I wrapped my arms around him, and we stayed like that for a while in silence.

(Before I stabbed him with my knife jkjk lmao)

When he pulled away, I stood up and made ready to leave.

"You coming?" I asked.

"I think I'll stay here for a bit longer," he smiled at me, and suddenly I felt lighter. When I came back up, everyone was still asleep, thank goodness.

Suddenly, my Kaiju alarm rang. So did Kai's, Anakin's, and Ahsoka's, waking up the rest of the team.

It was time to get back into action once again.

Cole's POV

After Ember left, I found myself walking along the rows of helmets, constantly catching a glimpse of what looked like my own. Greyish-yellow with a bright yellow visor. I smirked. Almost an exact replica of it. Almost.

At the far end of the rows of helmets, there was another tunnel which didn't lead back up to the Jaeger site. I walked in.

It led to a dimly lit room. At one side was something that looked like a nuclear bomb. On the other side I saw a note saying something about "bringing the nuclear bomb into the Breach and destroying it from the inside".

I took a closer look.

"The Breach can only be accessed by Kaiju, it's like some sort of access thing in their DNA or something. But if we can get one of their bodies, the Breach will let us through. Destroy the Breach from the inside, because it's indestructible from the outside."

Suddenly, I heard the sound of the Kaiju alarms from upstairs, and I sprinted up the tunnel.

Kai, Anakin, Ahsoka and Ember were all suited up as Zane reported in the stats for the Kaiju.

"It's a double event. 2 cat 5s. Good luck." I could hear the doubt in Zane's robot voice.

"Well, let's hope luck is on our side today," Kai said.

"Master Kenobi said there's no such thing as luck," Ahsoka said to Anakin.

"Good thing I taught you otherwise," he replied, smirking.

And they went up into their Jaegers, and set off in the direction of the ocean.

I could hear the Kaiju roars from here.

Chapter Text

Ember's POV

Kai and I got into Striker and we headed out into the sea. Ahsoka and Anakin followed close behind in Titan Grave.

It's a double event. 2 Kaiju at one time, that wasn't gonna be easy.

We saw the Kaiju heading to Ninjago City, they were going to go wipe out the people.

Kai and I shot a burst of fire at one of them, catching both of their attention, and they came. One was thicker than Leatherback, the other was more slim but I could recognize the wings hidden under its scales.

"We'll handle the thick one, yall take the other one," I said into the speaker.

And then Kai and I shot out a burst of fire at the Kaiju, disorientating it for a moment, before it let out a loud roar and charged. I activated my sword, heating it up with my fire until it was glowing red.

This is where the fun begins.

Ahsoka's POV

The one with wings circled Titan cautiously. If it could, it would've done the roar to disable Titan already.

"Ready Ahsoka?" Anakin asked.

"Never been more in my life," I replied, and we both force pushed the Kaiju away with all out strength. It flew back a bit, falling into the water.

I activated my sword, and Anakin activated his.

The Kaiju opened its wings as it rose up from the water, the underside of its wings were glowing blue, and it ascended just to the height of Titan's head, ready to smash it with its claws.

Anakin and I moved Titan to duck, before turning around and slicing at the Kaiju, managing to slash a part of its claws away, blue blood spurting out.

It roared before turning around and landing in the water, charging at us. We couldn't dodge in time, so we just held our arms out to block it and hoped for the best.

The inside of Titan's head was beeping as we were pushed back further and further.

And then suddenly, we slammed into Striker behind us. Striker lurched forwards from its point of view, and we were trying to keep the Kaiju from pushing us back any further. If it did, both Jaegers would definitely be dead.

Anakin's sword retracted, and he told me through the drift to hold off the Kaiju for a moment, so I did and he punched the Kaiju in the face. The Kaiju moved backwards, baring its teeth, growling.

"Didn't like that, did you huh?" Anakin laughed.

Suddenly, I felt Striker slam into us, and we fell forwards into the water, Striker pinning us down. Luckily water wasn't entering Titan yet.

"Sorry about that," Ember said through the speaker, followed by a cracking sound that I could hear from her side.

"Shit," Ember cursed, and I heard the sound of flowing water. "Not this again," she groaned.

"I think it's about time you get off of us!" Anakin said, and I could hear the panic in his voice as I heard our Kaiju step on Titan's head.

"You don't think we're trying?!" Kai shouted, and then I heard a burst of fire, and Striker got off of us. Now it was our turn.

I could hear the metal of Titan's head groaning under the force of the Kaiju. I extended Titan's arm, my sword still in hand, and I sliced the claw holding us down off.

We quickly rose to the surface, and used the force to pull the Kaiju to my extended sword, and I stabbed it in the chest, before ripping my sword out and slicing its head off just to make sure it was dead.

"I think we got it," I said.

"I think you got it," Anakin replied.

Ember's POV

Thicker Leatherback boi didn't wait, it came straight at us. Titan was standing behind us as the other Kaiju circled it.

I extended my sword as Kai punched Thicker Leatherback boi, and I sliced it across the face. It stumbled backwards, ready to let out another roar. I recognized the way its throat bulged, it was gonna call out the thing that messed up the digital stuff, which would disable Titan. With Titan disabled, things would get quite messy.

So we ran towards Thicker Leatherback boi, and as it grabbed Striker by the torso, I stuffed my hand into its mouth and ripped out a blue thingy which I supposed was the thing that could enable the Kaiju to disable the digital stuff.

Blue blood dripped out from its mouth as it growled, crushing Striker's body. I threw the blue thingy to the side, trying to extend my sword from Striker's disfigured hand. It wouldn't budge.

I felt the claws digging into Striker's side, I think Kai felt it too because he grimaced as he tried to pry ourselves from Thicker Leatherback boi's grip.

"DIVERT THE POWER TO THE CORE!" I shouted, remembering one of my old tricks. I felt one of the claws loosen from my side and saw it coming straight for Striker's head. I caught it midair, straining against the strength of Thicker Leatherback boi.

I saw Kai fiddle with the controls, and I commanded him like he was in the military, to press what button.

"Hurry up!" I shouted, I couldn't hold the Kaiju much longer.

I saw the entire head of Striker lose power, which meant the energy was being diverted to the core.

Then I felt the grip of the claws loosen around Striker, and saw Thicker Leatherback boi move backwards with a hole in its stomach, and then it sunk into the water.

If I knew anything, it wasn't dead yet.

I diverted power back to Striker quickly, and just as Striker's head regained power, Thicker Leatherback boi suddenly jumped out of the water right at us, pushing us down into the water. I felt the back of Striker hit metal, which I think was Titan, and we were pinned against the ground.

"Sorry about that," I said through the speaker, and then suddenly a claw smashed against Striker's visor, cracking it.

"Shit, not this again," I groaned as water started to flow in.

"I think it's about time you get OFF OF US!" Anakin shouted with some panic in his voice.

"YOU DON'T THINK WE'RE TRYING?!" Kai shouted back.

We gripped Thicker Leatherback boi by the sides, and we shot out a burst of fire from each of Striker's hands, slicing Thicker Leatherback boi clean in half, glowing blue blood was entering the water.

We stood up, the water in Striker's head drained out, and I heard the sound of sword slicing through Kaiju flesh behind us.

"We got them?" Kai asked through the speaker.

"Yea, we did," Ahsoka replied. "Now let's head back to base."

Striker and Titan were about as damaged as Interceptor and Challenger, they were gonna need some serious repairs. And since Zane estimated that the next Kaiju attack was in 16 hours, we were gonna need a plan to blow up the Breach. And soon.

When we reached back and went inside, we already saw Cole, Zane, Nya and Jay standing in front of a projection of a bomb and a map of the Breach and the area around it, extending to Ninjago City.

"Cole found a bomb down below in the tunnels, we could use that to blow up the Breach," Nya explained to us as the four of us took a seat.

"We would need Kaiju bodies to blow up the Breach from the inside, it won't work from the outside. So we have to wait until the next Kaiju attack, which is now about 14 hours away. We have decided that Titan Grave will carry the bomb, with the rest of us protecting it. If everything goes smoothly, Anakin and Ahsoka should be able to escape from the escape pods in their Jaeger, and the rest of us will live to see the end of the war," Zane said.

"And if everything doesn't go smoothly?" Kai asked.

"Then all of Ninjago is doomed."

Chapter Text

Lloyd's POV

It's been a few days since everyone has become infected. I managed to stay hidden and keep out of the zombies' sights by hiding in my house. The zombies around my house can't sense me in there somehow. It's almost as if they were programmed not to sense me.

These few days, I hid with the uninfected people, but one by one, they got picked off by the zombies. Now I was the only one left.

I thought I saw Ember once, I heard a bunch of zombie groans from outside my house and when I looked out of the window I saw Ember slicing her way through zombies left and right, blue blood mixed with red spilling out.

I followed her from behind the buildings so that the zombies wouldn't notice me. Clipped to my belt was a knife in case I needed to kill any zombies. Slung over my back was a rifle which was one of the others' before they got infected.

I saw her getting onto a boat and rowing off into the distance. I had to get back before the zombies found me.

As I ran back to my place, I was suddenly stopped by a zombified version of Sensei Wu, who was also my uncle. I held my knife out, ready to defend myself if needed.

"Lloyd," he groaned, as if he was fighting the infection. "Get out of here."

"Uncle?"

"Hurry!"

And so I ran, stealing a motorcycle from nearby and drove out of the city. I could hear Kaiju roars in the distance, and when I looked back, I saw Sensei coming after me.

And somehow, I found myself driving to the doorstep of an old Jaeger site where I found Ember.

Sensei's POV

The feeling of the Kaiju in my body felt so familiar, it's as if I knew it for my whole life. But this presence was much darker.

"Hello, brother."

The darkness in front of me formed the shape of my brother.

"Garmadon."

"It's Lord Garmadon now. Lord of the Kaiju," he said, his voice distorted.

"How are you alive?" my voice was shaking. "Unless this is all a trick."

"When you left me to be taken by the Kaiju, it took me to another realm. It sensed the darkness in me, and thought it would be a good opportunity for me to work with them," Shadow Garmadon said.

"I saw you die," I said simply.

"DIDN'T YOU JUST HEAR WHAT I SAID?!" The world seemed to shake around him. I was trying my best not to laugh, I pissed him off like how I always did.

When he calmed down, he said,"In case you didn't hear before, I'm alive you dumbass and I'm here to deliver this message."

"Go on," I smirked, sitting down. It was only a matter of time before I regained the strength to use my powers again.

"I have specifically ordered the infection to stay away from my son, Lloyd. Tell him to run away, far away from Ninjago City, and tell him to hide."

"How about giving me some help?"

"I'm sorry, but I cannot tell the infection to stay away from you. It has a mind of its own, and now seeks revenge on you for killing all those Kaiju."

"Are you done?" I asked.

"Yes."

So I channeled my power of creation, and my dragon appeared in front of me, repelling the darkness away. Shadow Garmadon disappeared into the darkness that was rapidly moving away.

I smirked again. Time to get outta here. I mounted my dragon, willing it to fly up, and soon enough, I found myself out of the darkness and back into my real body.

I was in front of Lloyd, in his hand was a knife, ready to defend himself.

I felt a thread of darkness pulling at my dragon. It was small, but it had a strong pull, and it was slowly pulling me back.

I struggled to keep my dragon in the air and myself in my body.

"Lloyd, get outta here."

My voice was weaker than it should have been.

"Uncle?"

When I heard that word, I managed a small smile before telling him to hurry.

Then I succumbed to darkness again.

Ember's POV

After our recent victory, most of our time was spent repairing our Jaegers. Kai and I spent like the last 10 hours fixing Striker. Not fun.

Suddenly, I saw a motorcycle in the distance, headed towards us. I recognized the green clothes that the rider was wearing.

Lloyd.

I stopped my repairs and ran out to meet him, and the others followed me, confused.

"Ayyy, Ember, I have no idea how I found yall but Ninjago City isn't doing too well." He looked up at the Jaegers that we were repairing. "Yall need some help?"

"Well, the next Kaiju attack is in 6 hours and Zane said its gonna be 4 Kaiju coming out at the same time, so FUCK YEA WE NEED HELP," I emphasized on the last part.

"I'll handle this, yall did most of the work. If what you're saying is correct, then you're gonna need all the rest you can get," Lloyd said.

"HELL YEA," Jay shouted, before heading inside.

"It's about time," Cole follow suit.

"Don't mess with Striker's controls," I warned Lloyd.

"Don't worry, I got this."

When we all went inside, I decided to take watch.

"You sure you don't wanna rest?" Kai asked. "You look tired."

"I'm not tired."

"What's wrong Em," Kai sat down beside me.

"Nothing. I'm fine."

"I know you better than that."

"4 Kaiju, you seriously think we stand a chance?"

Kai stared at the wall.

"What's the point of even fighting when we know that we aren't gonna win?" I lowered my head. "What's the point of fighting when there's no one left to fight for," I whispered.

"You have me," Kai put a hand on my good shoulder. I tried to brush off the burning feeling that came with his warm touch.

The part of my hoodie covering my bad shoulder was wet with blood. Probably from the Kaiju fight. It started aching again after the adrenaline from the fight wore off.

"Is your shoulder ok? I can help fix it up," Kai offered when he saw me looking at my bloody sleeve, and stood up to get the first aid box in the corner.

I rolled the sleeve of my hoodie up to allow Kai to bandage it up. The large scab that was there before had fallen off, and now it was a mess of half-dried blood and burnt skin.

As Kai bandaged up my wound, I saw the concern in his eyes. He was surprisingly gentle.

"How's it feeling?" Kai asked when he was done.

I moved my arm around a bit.

"It feels better."

"So what was that about 4 Kaiju to 4 Jaegers?"

"4 thick ass bitches to 4 amazing mechs that look more epic than the s+ rank set in Crendo? I like those odds."

Chapter Text

Ember's POV

Okay, so an hour later we all woke up and decided to go and play some Rec Room on the old screen in the Jaeger site. (yes, they have that everywhere it's amazing)

We were a little bored of the normal quests after doing Crendo (Crescendo) and Crimson Cauldron, so we went to look at some player-made folklore quests, which was when we found this game called Polemistis.

It was a 3-player game, so naturally, Kai, Nya and I (the pros), went for it.

We were first greeted with a really funny cutscene where we were being dragged by some goofy looking guards.

"You are all accused of starting a rebellion against Olympus," one of the guards said, none of us could control ourselves in the game

"More like juice," I smirked.

"Your punishment will be remaining as eternal souls in the underworld where the god of the underworld Hades and his guardian Cerberus may feast and devour your soul. Do you have any remark to say at this time?"

"Uh yea just throw us off the cliff already I don't need speeches longer than Dracula's," Recthead said, and vex and I burst out laughing.

"Very well. May your eternal stupidity haunt you."

And then the guards threw us off the cliff, and our screens were shaking like hell. Then we were riding down a river and stopped at a place on the shore, where there were 3 swords and 3 shields.

"Well that's gotta be a nightmare for VR players," vex said as she arrived next to me.

I took 2 swords and vex took a sword and shield, and then Recthead finally arrived.

"OI, GIMME BACK MY SWORD," he said as he picked up a shield.

I dropped one of my swords and took the last shield on the ground. "Questionable choice of weapons," I complained.

"Who even uses shields bro," vex continued.

"Uh, me," Recthead said.

"That's cause you have a skill issue, normal players don't use those," vex replied.

Bro was roasted lmaoo

As we ran ahead, we were greeted with 3 pumpkin spicers which were almost 1 shotted by our swords. Then 2 more pumpkin spicers (yes the crescendo ones) and 2 swashers/steels (from isle of lost skulls) took 2 swings of our swords to take down.

"Never thought there would be a day where I wouldn't use double sword," I said as I killed the last steel.

Then we went ahead and saw a small patch of lava with a bridge and a button with an arrow pointing down to it.

Recthead pressed the button and the bridge went down, allowing us to walk across.

Then some more pumpkin spicers and steels spawned and we sliced through them easily. Then some parkour, which Recthead and I failed at, and it took us like 5 minutes to get pass those few jumps across the lava.

4 more pumpkin spicers and then we found a tunnel/cave like thing with dripstone hanging down from it.

When we reached the front of it, a barrel from golden trophy and 2 more pumpkin spicers spawned. I took care of the barrel while Recthead and vex took care of the pumpkin spicers.

"OI POTATO THERES A PUMPKIN SPICER BEHIND YOU-" vex shouted just as I killed the barrel and I got pumpkin spiced. Normally the screen would show "you're out" or something like that but now it was just grey. Player made quests were just like that, I guess.

Vex went to revive me and Recthead finished off the pumpkin spicers.

When we went into the dripstone cave/tunnel thing, 2 green bats (from Crescendo) spawned, and shot fireballs at us and a swooping bat (also from Crescendo) tried to swoop us.

Great. Now we gotta fight these things with swords.

Recthead and I took out the bats as vex got swooped by the bat she tried to kill and we went to revive her. I spammed left click so many times and all of my shots missed the bat.

"Bro what the fuck is this," I groaned as I dodged the bat.

"I'm going in!" Recthead shouted and vex and I stood aside as we saw him swing his sword around wildly and managing to hit the bat before finishing it off.

"Well that was a nightmare to deal with," Recthead said.

Then we went into a corridor with a glowing white portal at the end, fought off some pumpkin spicers and dogs (from Crescendo) and went through.

We found ourselves in a really dark place with a torch behind us. Vex took the torch and we went ahead but blocked by a gate. There was a brick on the floor and Recthead picked it up, trying to smash the lock.

It didn't work.

After around 3 minutes of trying shit with the brick we found a key on the ceiling and unlocked the lock and went through.

There was a creepy sound as the door opened.

In front of us there was a lever which opened a gate and blood was coming out of it on the floor. Beside it was a part of a lever that looked like it would open the wall.

We went through the gate and saw a bunch of jail cells. In one of them was a bloody helmet with the other part of a lever. It was locked, and we needed a key to open it.

Walking further ahead, and we saw this guy.

"It's fine, he's just sleeping," vex said.

"Yea, it's fine he's totally not dead or anything like that," I replied.

Behind him was a door and some sounds of people groaning came out of it. Creepy. To its right was a hallway that led to a lava parkour section. The key to the jail cell was probably at the end.

"You handle this vex," Recthead said.

We watched as vex jumped from platform to platform, dying a few times before making it back with the key.

Then we went to unlock the jail cell with the dead body and the lever. Recthead hesitated for a moment before taking the lever and walking out.

"He's just napping," vex said.

We put the lever into its other half and the wall opened in front of us to reveal a glowing white portal.

So we went through.

We found ourselves in this place, equipped our swords and shields and walked ahead. A giant dog with 3 heads came out, roaring and creepy music started playing.

"Is that Cerberus or something did I pronounce it correctly," Recthead said.

"Cmon lemme fight already," I was itching to kick some ass.

Cerberus just stood there and didn't do anything, until we walked out of our safe area and it roared and a steel, and pumpkin spicer and a dog spawned. We took care of those with 1 casualty (Recthead) and took an ammo and went to the catapult at the top.

We took out one of Cerberus's heads before some more pumpkin spicers spawned up top. Vex took care of the other stuff below while Recthead and I killed the rest.

We shot another ammo at one of Cerberus's remaining heads and it fell limp just like the one before.

Pumpkin spicers spawned up top while a barrel made its way up to us. I took care of the barrel and vex killed the pumpkin spicers.

One more head to go. Vex took another ammo and made her way back up, shooting it at Cerberus's last head.

We heard a bunch of stuff spawn below, and vex jumped down. Almost immediately Recthead and I heard the sound of her dying, so we went down as well.

There were some swooping bats and dogs, and we basically mass murdered everything with a bunch of casualties when trying to kill the swooping bats.

A beyblade (red barrel) also spawned so we took care of that before running into the cave where Cerberus came out of.

We found ourselves in a dimly lit hallway lit by torches.

"This looks menacing," Recthead said.

A wall fell down in front of us, revealing a white portal.

"Let's go," I said as I jumped in.

We spawned into this place which would be absolutely terrible for VR players. It was giving us headaches so we quickly ran through and found ourselves in something that looked like a castle courtyard.

There were some swords and shields there so we took those and walked along the path, with me leading.

Suddenly, a shield goblin (from crimson cauldron) spawned in front of me, and I got out.

"Holy shi-"

Vex and Recthead quickly took care of that before reviving me and spawning another shield goblin ahead.

"That was the scariest shit I've seen in my life," I said as I caught up with Recthead and vex, who were busy taking out the red goblins and the shield goblins.

3 more shield goblins spawned up ahead, which we took out easily.

There was a cave with a gate blocking its entrance, and a lever in front of the gate, so we pulled the lever, the gate went up and we went in.

2 flyers from Golden Trophy spawned on the ground, and a fireball just missed me as I sliced it with my sword.

In front of us was a bridge where some more goblins, barrels and flyers spawned. I took out most of the goblins, Recthead handled the flyers and vex took care of the barrel.

We went onto the bridge which looked kind of cracked.

"Bridge fight?" I asked.

"Stop," vex warned, in case any enemies spawned. None did. "Never mind."

As I walked ahead, suddenly the bridge broke under us and we fell.

"Oh no no no no no no," vex said.

Our Rec Room avatars were now in a gladiator costume which was kinda tripping out on us. There was a key behind us, so Recthead took it, and the wall fell down in front of us, revealing a big ass bull-like thingy.

There was a key behind us, so Recthead took it, and the wall fell down in front of us, revealing a big ass bull-like thingy
"Run guys," Recthead sounded a bit panicked.

We ran over hills, occasionally looking back.

"I swear this feels like the Seek chase from doors," vex said.

Then we were launched off one of the hills and into a building where the pillars collapsed, killing the big ass bull guy.

Then we spawned into a place where it was night time. (Picture below)

"Yo that guard be snoozing," vex said as she took the key from the guard, unlocking the gate. We walked for a while and onto another bridge.

"I swear if this gives up on us..." Recthead said.

Thank goodness it didn't, because I think Kai would have probably burned the screen.

We spawned into something that looked like another bridge, and it was morning.

There were bows and swords and shields, Recthead took a sword and shield while I got first dibs on double sword, leaving vex to use a bow.

Some red and white swashers spawned, along with a bunch of shield goblins. Vex took them out from far away while I did some genocide.

At one point I got friendly fired by vex which always happened, but it was still annoying.

Shield goblins were a pain in the ass to fight with a sword, so I let vex shoot them from behind.

In front of the white portal there were 2 guys fighting.

"Yo chill man," I put my sword in between them just for fun, and one of them almost stabbed me in the face.

"It doesn't have to be this way," I could hear vex trying to hold in her laughter.

"It does have to be this way," I said, pointing my sword at Recthead.

So we had an all-out duel with our swords, they didn't do any damage but it was kinda fun. Then we went through the white portal and found ourselves in like the second level of the bridge where some more swashers and shield goblins spawned.

One of the swasher's swords glitched through Recthead's shield, and he got out. As I went to revive him, I literally pressed the revive button and it didn't work, and I got out as well. Vex, as always, saved our asses by attacking from a distance and reviving us after she killed everything.

"Show off," Recthead said.

Then we went through another white portal and fought some more shield goblins and swashers before heading through the last one.

We spawned into an arena with 3 swords and 3 shields, so we took a sword and a shield each and tried to walk ahead, but there was an invisible barrier blocking us.

"We should take a picture with juice-Zeus," I suggested.

So juice came out into the arena and we were prepared to kick some ass, but then we were greeted with a speech that was even longer than Dracula's.

"Look at this dudeee bro," I laughed.

"Hello there juice," vex waved her sword.

"I see you have returned from the underworld. I am impressed. You are more powerful than I thought. Yet you still challenge me. This is a great insult and painful to see you stand here before me. I will make your last moments in this arena a living nightmare and pure agony!"

Then he goes HELICOPTER HELICOPTER into the sky before landing down a lot thicker than he was before.

Then he shot some lightning at us.

We ran to the crossbow area where it looked like we could shoot juice.

"Chill bro," I said as a lightning bolt just missed me.

He flew to the other side of the arena and then to the middle, still shooting lightning bolts at us.

"You do it vex," I shouted as she came to the crossbow. Recthead was still standing below juice.

Some steels also spawned at the end of the arena, which would give us some time before they reached.

"How do I fire this thing-oh that's how you do it," vex said as the arrow his juice, his clothes were a bit bloody.

"I hit him!" vex said. "Now get your ass over here Recthead!"

The steels came and vex and I took them out while Recthead was trying to get a picture.

Suddenly, juice shocked the ground, killing Recthead. Vex went to shoot juice again as I went to revive him. He ran to the crossbow along with me as juice shocked the ground again.

"One more shot!" vex shouted as she loaded up the crossbow.

Suddenly, juice directed his lightning towards the crossbow, destroying it.

"As the elemental master of lightning, I do not approve of that!" Jay said from behind.

There was a jump pad in front of juice that said "Jump at Zeus with the arrow and end this once and for all!"

So naturally, I took the arrow and stood on the jump pad.

"Get that picture!" I shouted as I got launched up to juice, stabbing him with the arrow.

"Get that picture!" I shouted as I got launched up to juice, stabbing him with the arrow
The wall fell down onto his head as he let out a groan that sounded a lot like Dracula.

"Les gooooo," I cheered as Recthead printed the picture that he took.

"Next time I'm jumping at juice with the arrow," Recthead said.

"Nah, I'm gonna do it," vex said.

Then we went through the white portal and found ourselves at the end credits with juice's head. I took a picture of it with my Rec Room camera and we went to collect our prize: the gladiator helmet. We saved it as an invention with our maker pen, and passed our controllers to Cole, Jay and Zane.

"Now do Golden Terror or something like that," I challenged.

Suddenly, our Kaiju alarms rang.

"Already?!?!" Jay groaned.

"No time for games anymore, we gotta go," Kai sighed as we got suited up and ran to our Jaegers. Lloyd was already done with the repairs.

"Listen kid, you'll be on our comms, so if anything goes wrong, hide, and stay there. Stay inside for now ok?" I told him.

Lloyd sighed. "Fine."

It was night again, and it was raining. Perfect for the final battle that would end this Kaiju war. We loaded the nuclear bomb onto Titan's back and went into our respective Jaegers.

"One last ride boys?" I heard Cole say through the radio.

"Hell yea," I replied, and I heard the rest as well.

The Kaiju are coming, I could hear their roars from the Jaeger site. Today may be our last battle. Today we might die, and Ninjago would be doomed.

Oh shut up brain.

One thing I knew was, today, we would be cancelling the apocalypse.

Chapter Text

Ember's POV

The world around me felt so quiet. Even though the rain was slamming against Striker's head and I could hear the metal joints of Striker grinding together, it all felt so empty.

The others were silent as well. I could only hear faint Kaiju roars, but they made the water vibrate.

I could see the lights of Ninjago City from here, but soon Zane told us to turn towards open sea, where the Breach was.

The water level rose as we went out further into the ocean. It was originally at the Jaegers' knees, now it was at our chest height. Soon the water went over the Jaegers' heads.

"The Breach is around 800 metres away," Zane reported.

"There's 4 Kaiju signatures on the tracker," Kai said.

"Anyone thinking that this could be our last fight together?" Jay asked.

"Now's not the time Jay," Anakin said.

"Jay does have a point though," Cole said.

"I'm trying not to think about it," Ahsoka said.

"Cmon let's just focus on finishing the mission," I said, and heard the others agree with me.

"Remember to protect Titan at all costs, he's the one carrying the bomb," Zane reminded.

"We got this Zane, don't worry," Kai assured him.

"700 metres to the Breach," Zane said.

The Kaiju on the trackers seemed to be getting closer, but it was so dark outside in the water, even with the lights from all 4 of the Jaegers, we could just see what was in front of us.

Under my helmet, I felt sweat on my forehead. I had a bad feeling about this.

Suddenly, I felt something crash into Striker. I could just make out the head of a Kaiju in the darkness before Striker fell backwards.

"Striker you good?" I heard Anakin over the comms.

"Yea, we're fine-" I got cut off as I held a Kaiju claw from my face.

I heard the others fighting off other Kaiju.

Kai and I kicked upwards, throwing the Kaiju off of us and directly into Challenger Rex, who was fighting off a Kaiju of their own.

"OI WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" I heard Cole shouting.

"Sorry," I apologized before Kai and I moved Striker over to Challenger to help out.

One of the Kaiju spat out acid at us, which became a cloud of glowing blue stuff in the water. Kai and I were trying to avoid it, but it was hard to because Challenger was moving backwards behind us, which pushed us closer towards the cloud.

Kai and I ducked under the cloud and activated our gun just as the Kaiju made another move towards us.

The activation was slower because of the water. Too slow. The Kaiju was speeding into us, it was so much faster underwater than on land.

We tried to get out of the way, but the water resistance slowed us down. We managed to get the head out of the way, but the arm with the gun wasn't so lucky.

I heard Kai scream as his side of Striker's arm was ripped off.

"FUCK NOT THIS SHIT AGAIN!" he shouted. Probably referring to the Knifehead fight where his side of Striker's arm got ripped off.

We moved backwards a bit and I used my sword to steady Striker. The Kaiju was lurking in the shadows, it was probably waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

"Come out and fight us like a man!" I shouted.

I heard the low growl of the Kaiju.

But it didn't come. I only saw another shadow form in Challenger's light, who was quite far away from us.

Cole's POV

While Zane and I were holding off a Kaiju, suddenly another one slammed into us from behind, knocking us down. The Kaiju that we were fighting stepped on Challenger's head.

"OI WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" I shouted.

"Sorry," I heard Ember apologize. I activated my sword and tried to push the Kaiju off of Challenger. The other Kaiju seemed to be busy with something else, which was probably Striker. I recognized the sound of its joints rubbing against each other.

"HOW DO WE GET THIS BITCH OFF OF US?!?!" I shouted to Zane, who also seemed a bit panicked.

Challenger's head slammed against the sea floor again as the Kaiju pressed it down further. It was starting to crack. Water was flowing in very slowly.

I felt Challenger's hand against the earth, and I already knew what to do. I channeled my energy into the ground, causing it to shake, catching the Kaiju's attention for a moment. And that was all we needed.

I activated my sword and sliced its claw off, releasing Challenger from its grip. The Kaiju roared before swimming off.

The Kaiju was now in the shadows. I couldn't see it. I looked at the trackers, it was circling us, and fast.

Suddenly I saw it come out in front of us, speeding towards us faster than any Kaiju we ever fought before. We didn't have time to move out of the way, so Zane shot out a blast of ice to hopefully protect us a bit from the incoming attack.

The ice shattered in contact with the force of the Kaiju and it pushed Challenger backwards.

The water in Challenger's head was knee-deep now, and it was flowing in even faster.

"Zane! Freeze it!" I shouted. Zane froze the cracks in Challenger's head, but we knew it wouldn't last very long.

Now Zane froze up Challenger's hand and made the ice spread to the head of the Kaiju, who broke out of it easily.

"Shit," Zane cursed. It was the first time I heard him swear.

We were being pushed further and further away from the group now. The lights from the group were getting smaller. The Kaiju showed no sign of stopping its push.

The ice that was blocking the water from entering Challenger's head was now melted. Water rushed in even faster than before. I felt jolts of electricity in my body now.

I activated my sword and pulled my hand away from the Kaiju's head while Zane tried to hold it back. But then I felt a claw smash against Challenger's head and then the cracks became bigger and water flowed in faster, it was now chest height and it was harder to move.

Zane kept freezing the Kaiju's head which was annoying it and keeping its attention off of me, giving me the opportunity to slice the Kaiju's head off.

Zane froze up the cracks again but the water was making the ice crack faster. The water was now at my neck.

We were making our way back to the group slowly, but then suddenly, something slammed into Challenger from behind and I felt Challenger's back get destroyed from a Kaiju ramming into it.

I was breathing heavily as Challenger began to lose power. The nuclear core was in the chest. It was half-destroyed now. I held up my sword to block another incoming attack from the Kaiju.

I could see Zane's thoughts in the drift. They were the same as mine.

We weren't gonna survive this.

"Guys?" I tried to reach the others through the comms.

"We hear you loud and clear Challenger, we're coming over to help," Nya responded, followed by a sound of metal getting ripped apart.

"They can't help us, we're too far out," Zane said, his voice was calm. I was straining to keep my head above the water.

I felt the Kaiju's claw hit the back of Challenger's head.

"Guys, we aren't gonna make it," I said, hoping they could still hear me.

"WHAT?!" Ember shouted.

I felt the Kaiju's claw tighten around Challenger's head, and the water was making it so hard to move.

"Kill Dracula for us, aight?" I asked.

"Cole, don't think about going anywhere," I heard the break in Jay's voice.

I felt the claw tighten even more.

I used the last of my strength and forced Challenger's head to turn and let us face the Kaiju.

"At least this one gave us a challenge."

I activated my sword.

Then I heard metal crush and everything went black.

Ember's POV

I heard the crush of metal coming in from Challenger's comms.

"COLE!" I heard Jay shout.

"Guys? What's going on?" I forgot Lloyd was connected to our comms.

"Challenger's gone." Kai's voice was shaking.

"But they managed to kill a Kaiju." Nya's voice was shaking as well.

"But we've also lost a Jaeger," I said. I felt tears forming at the corners of my eyes and I blinked them away. No time for mourning in the heat of battle.

"We're not gonna lose anyone else," Kai said.

Kai and I looked straight at the Kaiju that killed Cole and Zane, which was now coming towards us.

"Come and get it."

Chapter Text

Jay's POV

I couldn't use my powers in this fight, otherwise I would have probably killed everyone by accident. Which kinda made this fight a whole lot harder.

Good thing was: Nya was surrounded by her element, and that at least gave us a slight advantage.

When the Kaiju first started attacking us, 2 of them went for Titan. Nya shot a stream of water at it, catching its attention, while the other went for Titan, which I hoped they could handle.

And then I saw Challenger get pushed away from the group and manage to kill one of the Kaiju. Cole and Zane got attacked by another almost directly after.

I remembered Cole saying that they weren't gonna make it, and then the sound of metal crushing through their comms.

"COLE!" I shouted, hoping that somehow, he was still alive. But I knew he wasn't. I felt anger bubble up in me and then I tried to get Interceptor to run to Challenger's grave but Nya wasn't allowing me to.

"Jay, they're gone," Nya's voice cracked. I wasn't gonna accept it. Hopefully Zane survived it just like he did the last time in battle and he could have rescued Cole and-

"Jay! They're gone. We can't do anything."

I forgot that Nya could see my thoughts through the drift.

"We can't just leave them there!" I protested.

"We've got our own battles to fight."

Then she shot out a stream of water at the incoming Kaiju which I forgot about after Challenger's fall, which slowed it down and gave us enough time to dodge it attack.

It came back for another round so instead of dodging its claw that was aiming for Interceptor's head I grabbed it, which caused considerable damage to Interceptor's arm as the Kaiju pushed against it.

Nya managed to get a few punches in at the Kaiju's head before the Kaiju wrenched itself out of my grip, taking a strike at Interceptor's torso.

"Fuck," Nya winced as the Jaeger transmitted the pain to us. The screen in front of us showed the damage and the Kaiju was coming in for another strike, this time at our head.

Nya held it back using a wall of water which she was straining to hold up. I was amazed by the size of the wall she was able to hold up. Sensei would probably have been proud of her.

"Do some shit bro," she said.

"Oh right, sorry," I replied, before activating my sword and slicing at the Kaiju. It fell to the seabed in a cloud of blue acid.

We went over to help Striker who seemed to be struggling a bit.

Ember's POV

When I heard the sound of metal crushing, it felt like Striker's head was getting destroyed along with Challenger's.

I remembered Cole saying his mother died a few years ago. And when I killed his father his entire family was gone. At least he was with his family now. For Zane...

I guess Zane was gonna have a good time hanging out with Cole in the departed realm.

The Kaiju that killed Challenger was coming now, and I wasn't gonna dodge it. I wanted to make it pay for killing Cole and Zane. Assuming Zane didn't somehow survive like he did last time. Kai seemed to have the same mindset, he didn't try to move Striker out of the way either.

The Kaiju circled around us a few times, it was like it was trying to come up with a plan to kill us. It came from behind.

It smashed into Striker's chest, luckily it didn't damage the nuclear core too much. But the pain transmitted to me and Kai was enough to make me scream. Not that I did, of course.

Kai was shaking. I didn't realise I was as well.

The Kaiju was now aiming for our head, we tried to dodge its strikes.

I grabbed it by the arm, and it was struggling to get it free. It's tail was crashing against Striker's body.

"Shit," I cursed as it hit my side of Striker's arms, damaging it.

I heated up Striker's arm with Kai's fire, and it was burning through the Kaiju's arm. The struggling was even more powerful now and I couldn't keep my grip on it. The Kaiju's tail smashed into Striker and we fell backwards.

The Kaiju advanced. Kai and I tried to stand up, but when we did, the Kaiju charged, hitting one of Striker's legs and ripping it off.

"Shit," I cursed. The leg that was ripped off was on my side. Striker couldn't balance with only one leg, and Striker fell to its knees as the Kaiju went back for another round.

We couldn't move away fast enough. I balanced Striker on its knees and my damaged arm as the Kaiju came around for another round.

"WHY CAN'T THEY FUCKING BE EASIER TO KILL?!" Kai shouted.

Our fire wouldn't work underwater, it would only be strong enough to heat up Striker's hands.

"We need a bit of help over here!" I shouted through the comms.

"We're coming," Nya said.

I saw Interceptor running over and beating the absolute shit out of that Kaiju as Kai and I tried to get Striker to its feet. It was too unsteady and we fell back onto the seabed.

"Don't worry, we got this," Jay said as Interceptor wrestled with the Kaiju's head.

I looked at Titan who was doing fine against their Kaiju, didn't look like they were struggling much. That means they would be able to send the bomb into the Breach.

I rested for a moment and activated my sword, sticking it into the ground and helping Striker keep its balance.

Nya's POV

We were doing great kicking that Kaiju's ass. Striker looked heavily damaged, but it looked like there was no damage to its head, which meant Ember and Kai were alright.

But then something rammed into us from behind and into the Kaiju that we were fighting. The Kaiju that we were fighting smashed through Interceptor's head and at the side with Jay.

"HOLY-"

Then Jay was taken by the Kaiju's claw and water rushed into Interceptor's head. I pushed the water away from me with my powers and the Kaiju knocked Interceptor down.

I looked back and saw the Kaiju that we thought we had killed earlier.

I couldn't keep the water away from me and fight the Kaiju at the same time. I knew Jay was gone, I felt him fade away from the drift.

I saw a Kaiju claw coming towards Interceptor's head.

"Ah shi-"

Ember's POV

All I heard from Interceptor's comms was static. I looked back at Interceptor which was fighting the Kaiju earlier, and it was gone. Now there were 2 Kaiju headed towards Titan, they didn't seem interested in us.

Anakin's POV

"Titan! 2 Kaiju headed towards you!" I heard Kai through the comms. We were still fighting another Kaiju of our own, we couldn't handle 3 at once.

"I see them," Ahsoka replied.

I looked at my padawan and she looked back with a knowing look. We knew that the only way to finish this mission was for Striker to do it alone.

"Striker, get ready for an explosion," I said.

"No, just hold them off until we can get to you," Ember said.

They were too far away.

"Listen to me. Striker's core is nuclear. Blow the Breach up. Finish the mission," I sounded surprisingly calm. "See you on the other side, Snips."

"Cya Skyguy," Ahsoka replied.

"We can get to you in time! Just hold them off! Spare your own fucking lives!" I heard Kai protesting.

Ahsoka and I put a hand on the switches that would detonate the nuclear bomb.

"Just like bowling, I don't spare," I said.

"I strike."

We flipped the switches and everything erupted in a flash of light.

Chapter Text

Kai's POV

I saw Interceptor get crushed by the Kaiju. Nya was in there. Em was tryna focus on getting Striker over to help Titan, but I didn't care.

It was likely that she was dead but she could still be alive. Hopefully. If we could get Striker to her in time...

I didn't even notice Titan activating their nuclear bomb.

Ember's POV

I plunged Striker's sword into the ground and braced for the explosion to reach us. It felt like a Kaiju slamming into Striker, except this time I could feel the heat from inside Striker's head. It was so bright, it almost looked like the water was on fire.

The water around us was pushed back and I saw a bunch of fish flopping around on the ground below, before the water all came rushing back, almost pushing Striker off its feet.

The inside of Striker was glowing red. It was leaking a bit of water, there were some sparks in the machinery.

Now the water around us was calm.

I looked over at Kai, he was shaking. I saw his thoughts through the drift.

Nya...

Suddenly, a Kaiju signature appeared on the tracker.

"How is that shit still alive?!" I shouted as I turned Striker in the direction where the tracker said the Kaiju was coming towards.

Kai remained silent.

I felt the force of the Kaiju slamming into Striker as we flipped backwards towards the Breach. I stuck my sword in the ground, slowing Striker down as the Kaiju came for another round. We were knocked back again and this time into the Breach.

I stuck my sword halfway into the Kaiju's neck as it struggled to get itself free. It was clinging onto Striker

Time to do something overly stupid.

"Hold on Kai, Imma burn this son of a bitch," I shouted and diverted power to the nuclear reactor.

Fire started to shoot out of it and I forced the Kaiju closer to Striker's reactor. The fire burned through the Kaiju's chest and blue acid was almost reaching the reactor.

"Cmon..."

The Kaiju was almost screaming as its body became limp and blue blood escaped from its mouth.

"Tell me again why we didn't decide to use my fire instead of Striker's," Kai said.

"Because it's a lot more epic this way," I smirked.

Electricity was buzzing at the entrance to the Breach. Zane said that it would only allow Kaiju inside, so using a dead Kaiju body to act as a Kaiju seemed like a good idea. Now I wasn't so sure that it would work. But what other choice did we have?

I could sense Kai's fear through the drift. It felt exactly like when he was taken from Striker's head all those years ago.

I took a breath.

"Let's do this."

And we fell in.

Inside the Breach it was almost all blue. Electricity was connecting to Striker, but I didn't feel any of it. My body felt weak...numb.

Finish the mission.

Kai and I disconnected from the Drift and pressed the reactor meltdown button.

"Manual activation required," the computer said in response, the warning sign was blinking.

"Oh are you fucking serious right now?!" Kai shouted.

I allowed Lloyd back through to the comms.

"What's going on?" he asked. "Did something go wrong?"

"Just hang in there for like a minute," I told him, before Kai and I ran off to set off the reactor.

I remembered looking at Striker's reactor many times, but not when it was half-damaged and working. The metal parts inside were spinning, sparks were coming out of almost everything. It was also quite wet in there.

We inched along the narrow area leading to the manual reactor meltdown activation. Suddenly, Kai slipped and almost fell, grabbing the edge of the platform just in time.

"Clumsy ass," I smirked before extending a hand to help him up onto the platform.

"I didn't...really...ask...for your opinion," Kai said as he strained to get up on the platform.

"It wasn't an opinion," I replied, opening the hatch and revealing the reactor meltdown button. "It was facts."

"You really had to roast me before death."

"And I'll roast you more afterwards."

We pressed the button and now the countdown started. 60 seconds.

There were no escape pods in Striker. The pilots always went down with their Jaegers.

Kai collapsed onto the platform, and I sat down next to him.

"Lloyd? Come in," I spoke over the comms. "We're finishing the mission."

"That's great! I'll wait for you outside," I could hear the excitement in Lloyd's voice.

"No Lloyd. None of us are coming back." I felt a strange sense of calm.

"What?!"

"Listen to me. Go to Rec Room and login to the accounts Recthead and vexingvexvexes. Play the game Polemistis. Make sure to jump at Zeus with the arrow, and do it once for Recthead and vexingvexvexes each."

"You're really gonna let them jump at juice with the arrow," Kai laughed a bit.

"I keep my promises," I replied.

"Yes sir," I could hear the crack in Lloyd's voice.

"Enjoy the view."

I switched off the comms. 31 seconds left. (And btw I actually timed the dialogue)

"I wonder what it's like in the departed realm," I said.

"Well hopefully there's gonna be Rec room or Minecraft or Roblox or Call of Duty there or something or I'm gonna be hella bored. Hell, I may be so bored that I'm gonna die again," Kai laughed.

10 seconds left.

"So this thing gonna go kaboom?" Kai asked.

"Yes Rico," I referenced a meme and did a bro handshake with Kai. (U know that bro handshake?)"Kaboom."

"3...2...1...reactor meltdown."

Chapter Text

(Well humans, we have come so far. It's been almost 6 months since I started writing this story, and almost a year since Technoblade's death. Enjoy this last chapter :)

Lloyd's POV

"Enjoy the view," Ember said, before I heard static through the comms.

I stopped playing Rec Room, I was in the middle of a solo run of Golden Trophy, but this was more important. I ran outside and waited.

I felt a rush of wind as a blue beam of light shot out from the ocean in the distance. Looked like Anakin's lightsaber actually.

The light then spread through the sky and looked like lightning as it covered the sky above me and the sky above Ninjago City.

"Woah," I marveled at the view. Em was right.

Then it started raining. The droplets were clear, unlike the ones that started the infection. The air smelled like the aftermath of a Kaiju fight. I could smell victory in the air.

"None of us are coming back."

They're all gone. All dead. But Em left me with one final mission, and that was to jump at Zeus with an arrow in the game Polemistis in Rec Room using the accounts Rec Room and vexingvexvexes. Kai and Nya really wanted to jump at Zeus with their accounts, I guess I would be helping them, if there wasn't Rec Room in the departed realm.

There was only one way to find out if the infection from Ninjago City was gone.

I jumped on my motorcycle and sped off to Ninjago City.

Third Person POV

In Ninjago City

The infected people looked up to the sky as the rain started to fall, a mixture of shock and fear on their faces.

The blue lines on their skin were panicking, they were moving around frantically, like they were trying to find cover or escape.

No one was indoors, all the infected were patrolling the streets when the Breach was destroyed.

When a droplet touched a single person, the blue lines on them were paralyzed, before disintegrating. The infection on the dead also disappeared, but the damage was done. Hundreds lay dead in alleyways, dragged by the infected.

Sensei Wu's POV

I saw the rain come. The darkness around me melted away, and I was brought back to the light. I was standing right outside the Jaeger site.

It looked like lightning was pulsing through the sky, it covered all the way to the horizon.

They did it.

Suddenly, I heard "Uncle!" from behind me. I turned around and saw my nephew, Lloyd.

"Lloyd!" I ran over and hugged him. "Where is the team? Are they celebrating at the game center?"

Lloyd's smile faded. "They're all gone."

"What?! What do you mean?" I asked, panicked.

"They gave their lives for the mission. None of them are coming back."

"No...they can't be dead. They're better than that," I was still in denial.

"I think they did pretty well, seeing that they faced off against 4 Category 5 Kaiju," Lloyd said.

I remained silent, and the reality sunk in.

They're really gone. I'm the last of the team. Surviving while everyone else died, just like when I was fighting alongside my brother.

I quickly wiped away the tears and knew where I needed to go.

"Lloyd, come with me," I said, before getting onto his motorcycle and driving to the old Jaeger site with him sitting behind me.

"We're going back to the old Jaeger site? Why? I just came from there, that's where the team hid when the infection started," Lloyd asked.

"I'll show you, if you haven't figured it out yourself," I said.

Soon, we reached. I jumped off and ran inside, and saw some of the gaming controllers were still out.

I smiled sadly. The team always had their gaming controllers there.

The plank that boarded up the place that we were going to was broken, it looked like someone had already found out about it.

The air smelled musty as I held Lloyd's arm and guided him in. It was pitch black.

We walked for a while before the smell started to clear up and we found ourselves in a clearing. The rain had stopped by now, and it was night. The sky was clear, stars littered the sky.

Lloyd stared at the rows of helmets that were held up by sticks in front of us.

"What is this place?" Lloyd asked.

"The grave for Jaeger pilots."

8 vibrant-coloured helmets stood out amongst the other grey ones. They belonged to the pilots that just saved the world.

I let the wind blow at my cape as I stared at the helmets. Lloyd stood by my side.

I saluted. It was a sign of respect to all the pilots that died. Lloyd saluted too.

Now the team was in the departed realm. I always knew saving the world would come at a cost, but I could already imagine the team coming home victorious in their Jaegers and going to the game center with cans of red bull and buckets full of chips for an 8 hour long gaming session.

Maybe that's what they were doing right now.

Ember's POV

When I opened my eyes, I saw my younger self. 5 years old, when the first Kaiju lay dead in front of me.

5-year-old me was clutching her arm, looking at the burn from the Kaiju blood. I saw little Kai and Nya in the corner, running into the shadows when they caught sight of 5-year-old me. My parents ran up to me, asking if I was okay, checking my arm, but 5-year-old me was looking at the Kaiju carcass.

Now I stood in Striker's head. I was 15, and it was the first time I ever drifted with Kai. I smiled.

"Alright, Ember. We're heading to Ninjago City tomorrow to train. Since you're drift compatible with Kai, you will come with us," Sensei said.

"WAIT WHAT?!" 15-year-old me exclaimed.

I chuckled. "Your life is gonna change a lot," I said. I knew she couldn't hear me though.

I saw myself training in the Jaeger site, beating Kai's ass in a sparring match with him for the first time.

"KICK HIS ASS!" I shouted.

Simulation time.

"Okay so later just follow my lead, and don't do anything too crazy," Kai said. Rolling my eyes, Ember replied, "I'll be able to see inside your head, bro. And besides, I think you'll be the one doing crazy shit." Kai smirked.

I was chilling in the corner. "She's right you know," I called out.

Now there was Kai and Nya's life changing field trip where they got their elemental powers, Cole's emotional damage, Jay's fucked up experience with lightning, and Zane getting his powers.

Then there was when I almost lit myself on fire because of sharing Kai's elemental power in the drift, and he taught me how to control it.

I watched myself and Kai beat the shit out of the simulation Kaiju and then beat the shit out of a real Kaiju, Leatherback boi.

Then as a celebration I watched me, very skill issued Kai, and Nya play Crescendo of the Blood Moon for the first time.

I cringed at myself dying to swooping bats 20 times and the inefficiency of killing Dracula.

Now was the part where real shit went down.

I watched as Kai got torn out of Striker's head and I had to solo pilot. I still winced at this memory, I never really managed to get over it.

The recovery process was painful. I couldn't get Knifehead out of my head. I watched as my old self screamed into the pillow at night, punching the wall occasionally.

Then there was Kai's recovery process, which wasn't easier than mine, but at least he had me to keep him sane.

Oh yea, and then I watched as I left the team and rode into the sunset. I looked pretty cool there, to be honest.

I rolled my eyes at the life I had after I left the team. It was so boring, no action whatsoever. It was only when I found out that the Jaeger site was destroyed that I went back to help them rebuild it. I didn't rejoin the team though.

"CMON, JUST FUCKING REJOIN AND SAVE UR FUCKING VILLAGE-" I shouted at myself as I left the Jaeger site.

It wasn't too pleasant watching my village get destroyed and my family getting killed, so I didn't watch most of that.

And then there was that blue Kaiju rain that started infecting everyone and me and the team had to run for the Jaegers and Kai got infected.

I enjoyed watching the whole "drift" part somehow.

Then I was running in the streets tryna get supplies for the team and killed Cole's dad (Gotta apologize to him for that later), and Kai managed to burn the infection out of me when I returned with an infected wound on my shoulder.

Then Cole had a mental breakdown (I may or may not have laughed at that part). The double event was fun to watch. Thicker Leatherback boi was actually a challenge for me and Kai.

Now the celebration of Polemistis. The start was so goofy bro, we were being dragged by goofy-ahh looking guards and thrown off a cliff, and at the end I jumped at juice with an arrow, and Kai got his picture.

Then when our Kaiju alarms rang we got into our Jaegers with just a sliver of hope that we could save the world.

Today we are cancelling the apocalypse.

That was what I thought.

We did cancel the apocalypse.

I watched as one by one, Challenger, Interceptor, and Titan went down.

"At least this one was a challenge."

"Ah shi-"

"Just like bowling, I don't spare, I strike."

Epic last words by our team, some were the most random and the most epic.

Now was the part where Kai and I went into the Breach and died. That was how I got here in the first place.

"Well hopefully there's gonna be Rec room or Minecraft or Roblox or Call of Duty there or something or I'm gonna be hella bored. Hell, I may be so bored that I'm gonna die again," Kai laughed.

"Yea I hope so too," I muttered.

"So this thing gonna go kaboom?" Kai asked.

"Yes Rico, kaboom," old Ember and I said at the same time.

"3...2...1...reactor meltdown."

I woke up with a gasp. Kai and the others were standing over me.

"About time you woke up, I was just about to kick you in the balls," Kai smirked.

"But I don't have balls," I protested.

Kai chuckled softly. "Then I guess I would have to kick you in the same place."

I sat up. "Are we in the departed realm or was the final battle and all the epic death lines a dream?"

"This is the departed realm," Anakin said. "And you woke up just in time to enjoy the view."

In front of us was something that looked like a window to Ninjago. The sky was pulsing with electricity and it was raining. A blue light shooting up from the Breach looked like the source of the electricity in the sky.

"Wow," I breathed as the others stood by my side.

Suddenly, our view shifted to Sensei Wu, who just got uninfected, like the rest of the people in Ninjago City.

"Sensei!" I shouted, hoping that he could hear me.

"He can't hear you Em," Kai said.

We watched as he and Lloyd went to the grave of the Jaeger pilots, the place that only Cole and I knew.

We watched him salute our helmets, and we saluted back.

"Thanks Sensei," Kai whispered.

We turned our attention away from the window and I scanned our surroundings. There was a screen with Rec Room already plugged in, and there were some controllers already on the table.

"You guys took so long, so we went to set up the Rec Room first," Ahsoka said.

"There's Rec Room in the departed realm?!" Kai asked.

"Of course there is, what are the dead people gonna do all day, walk around mindlessly?" Cole laughed.

"At least they would get some exercise," Zane said.

We all laughed.

Cole got the cans of red bull. Jay got literal buckets of doritoes, pringles, any type of chips that you could imagine. We logged into our accounts.

"Everyone ready?" Nya asked.

"Let's kick some Dracula ass," Cole said from the back.

We got a game invite from Nya to the lobby of Crescendo of the Blood Moon, and we pressed the start button in the lobby.

"Game on!"