Chapter 21: Desert Discoveries

PIXAL and Zane were the first pair to arrive at their rendezvous point outside of Orobourus.

During their flight together, neither of them had spoken a single word, but as soon as the night blue mech had expertly – and certainly more gently than her earlier crash inside the arena – landed on the ground and carefully set down the white Ninja onto the warm desert sand, the Samurai hopped out of her cockpit.

"Zane." She exclaimed, wrapping her arms around the Ice Master.

"PIXAL." He replied, no surprise in his voice, as he happily reciprocated the hug. "I am so glad you are alright. I was so worried when you did not show up for the fight earlier."

"The EMP had caused an unsafe shutdown of my system, and it was not able to restart by itself." She explained. "I was very lucky that Jay was there – and prepared to help me."

"A Ninja never leaves another Ninja behind. Or a Samurai." He answered. "And we were just as lucky that the five of you turned up at Orobourus. This significantly improved our chances of success, especially when all nice of us started working together."

"Our appearance was neither luck nor coincidence." PIXAL stated. There would be lots of opportunity to explain the details later. And she should probably not mention Jay's message without the blue Ninja's approval. "You are absolutely right about the other bit though; according to my simulations, neither team would have successfully completed this mission on their own."

Reluctantly letting go of his robot girlfriend, Zane turned around to see the four other mechs, each of them carrying a passenger, approach them. The grey and orange mechs were flanking the green one, while the red Samurai, who had been the last to depart from Orobourus, was lagging further behind.

"I am establishing a secure connection to the Falcon, to send an encrypted message to Sensei Wu and let him know him that, with the help of some new friends, we were able to rescue his nephew." Zane said.

"And could you please ask your Master to contact the autobody shop and inform Misako that we have found her son?" PIXAL requested.

"Her son?" Zane questioned. "You mean Misako is Lloyd's mother?"

"M-my m-mother?" A small voice asked. Having just arrived at the rendezvous point, Lloyd and the others must have heard the last part of their conversation. "Y-you know my m-mum?"

Taking off her helmet, PIXAL stepped towards the younger boy. "Yes, Lloyd." She smiled at the pale boy. "We-" She gestured at her teammates. "-are actually working for your mother, she has been looking for you for a long time."

"I don't get it." Skylor shook her head in disbelief. "If Misako's son is the same person as their Sensei's nephew, then why doesn't she trust the Ninja?"

"This is a long story, and not mine to tell." PIXAL said to her redhaired teammate. "But in light of recent developments, she is most likely to change her opinion – and she already has to some extent."

"And what I don't get-" Kai glared at the silver-haired girl. "-is how you have managed to trick Zane into letting you visit our secret headquarters and-"

"I knew it was her all along." The white Ninja interjected, removing his mask.

Seliel, Skylor and Harumi gasped. "Your blind date was one of the Ninja?" The grey Samurai exclaimed incredulously. "Wait, didn't you say that he's a colleague of Ny-"

Seliel was abruptly interrupted when the final Samurai suit suddenly – and very loudly – hit the ground next to the group, who immediately rushed to the crash site to help their friends.

But much to everyone's relief, the severely damaged mech was found to be empty. And while Zane was extinguishing the burning jet pack using his Ice Powers, he spotted the red Samurai and blue Ninja being catapulted through the air.

"At least her eject button has worked this time..." Seliel deadpanned.

"Yeah, but it almost looks as if that was the only thing that worked..." Skylor retorted, inspecting the wrecked exo-suit, as the eight former rivals were waiting to hear the impact.

But it didn't come.

"They have landed behind that rock formation. Except for some minor scrapes and bruises, both are uninjured." PIXAL finally informed the others. "I suggest we give them a moment to themselves, before we-"

"That's it." The hot headed red Ninja stomped off. "I'm not leaving him alone with that..."

"Kai, wait." Zane called after his teammate. "Before you interrupt them, there is something you should know."

"Kai?" The orange Samurai wondered. "Like Kai Smith?"

"The one and only." He smirked as he removed his hood. "And you are...?"

"Wouldn't you like to know." She sassed, but took her helmet off nonetheless to reveal her face, as did Seliel and Harumi.

"Nice to meet ya, wouldn'tyouliketoknow." Kai winked at her.

"Wait!" Skylor exclaimed. "If you're Nya's brother... and he's PIXAL's blind date... then ..."

Kai's eyes widened in realisation. "Oh, he's so dead." He ran off towards his sister and teammate, with the others in pursuit.

As they turned around the rock, they found the blue Ninja and Samurai sitting on the ground, deeply kissing each other.

"Hands off my sis." He yelled at his teammate before he addressed his sister. "Nya? You're a Samurai?"

With a yelp, the couple broke apart as they jumped up and turned to look at their friends.

"Kai, I..." Nya started, but she stopped when Kai pulled her into a hug.

"I'm so glad you're okay." He spoke into her hair.

"You-you're not mad?" She wondered, tears pooling in her brown eyes.

"Mad? Of course not. Well, not at you at least." He added, shooting another glare at the nervous looking blue Ninja behind her. "You're amazing. I'm so proud of you, little sis."

"I'm proud of you too." She sniffed. "But promise you won't be angry with Jay. We both didn't know about each other until about a week ago, and then, we had no clue how to deal with the situation and..."

"Shh, it's okay." He hugged her closely. "To be honest, I was more angry with your boyfriend because he had gotten so close to the red Samurai, but as it turned out he was just cheating on you with yourself."

"And that's the only one I'd ever cheat on Nya with." Jay smiled. "But I'm really glad the secret's out now."

"Me too." Nya smiled at him. "Not so sure about our bosses though..."

"We can worry about that later." Harumi said assuringly. "I suggest we now head back to the city before the Serpentine come after us."

"Sounds good to me." Seliel yawned. "I can't wait to get home, take a shower and crawl into my bed..."

"Me too." Kai agreed. "I mean, I love my Blade Cycle, but it's not the most practical thing when you have to travel all through the night... and back again now." He sighed.

"Would you like a lift?" Zane offered. "There is enough space in my Snow Mobil for a passenger."

"Thanks, bro." Kai tiredly smiled at the white Ninja. "You're the best."

"And Lloyd can come with me in the TA." Cole suggested.

"Uhm... if you don't mind, I'd rather go with Rumi." The boy requested, blushing. "After all, she was the one who saved me."

"We've all saved you together." The green Samurai retorted. "But sure, I can take you straight to your mum."

Jay turned to his best friend. "If you don't mind, maybe you could take Nya's mech instead." He suggested.

"Yeah, that's not going anywhere by itself soon..." The black haired girl commented.

"Hey, don't worry." Her boyfriend tried to cheer her up. "If you want, I can help you fix it. And I'm more than happy to give it a try flying with a passenger now. We'll be back home in a flash."

"I'd like that." She gave him a tired smile. "A lot."

"And I can take the suit, no problem." Cole told the couple. "Although the extra weight means that I definitely won't be there in a flash..." He mumbled.

"Thanks, I appreciate it." Nya said to the black Ninja. "And I'm really sorry to slow you down."

"Not to worry." Cole reassured her. "I'm always happy to help my best friend. And I don't think there is any other way to get your mech back home."

"Well, there actually might be." Jay realised. "I happen to know some people, who live in the Sea of Sands – only about an hour's drive from here – and who might be able to help us." He smiled at his girlfriend, squeezing her hand. "And my parents would absolutely love to finally meet you."