This update was requested by Sunnyninja13 .

Realisation (Part 1)

"I should make some upgrades to my hardware." Zane stated. "The smoke grenade severely affected my optical sensors, and I do not wish this to happen again the next time we encounter the Samurai."

"Lucky you." Jay huffed, taking a sip from his coffee. He would have to remember to not throw the paper cup away at the tea shop, for Sensei Wu liked neither coffee nor disposable cups. "I wish I could upgrade my eyes, that stuff really stung. And my lungs were even worse."

In the small office at Steep Wisdom, the two Ninja were analysing data from their battle against the Serpentine – and the team of Samurai.

"I am afraid there is not much we can do about your eyes. But we could look into changing the material of our masks in order to add an air filter function." Zane suggested.

"Style and function." Jay smirked. "I like the idea."

"Now, let us watch the CCTV footage from your fight. This might give us a clue as to what Pythor was looking for."

"Okay." Suppressing a yawn, Jay nodded sleepily. Although it was still early in the morning, they had already spent almost two hours watching security tapes from yesterday's 'incident' at the Mega Monster Amusement Park.

Hopefully, this was going to be the last one.

Jay deeply regretted his offer to help the White Ninja this morning. And this was not only because he was very tired, but also because he had had to leave his warm bed – with his still fast asleep girlfriend – way too early today.

Jay had been (pleasantly) surprised when Nya had unexpectedly turned up at his place last night, but he would never have turned the upset girl away.

The blue Ninja hadn't felt too great himself either, so the couple had spent a very quiet evening together just cuddling while watching a romantic comedy and having pizza in bed, which had definitely helped both of them get better.

But unfortunately, this had also meant that Jay had had to come up with yet another lie to explain why he would have to leave for work early.

The Nindroid typed a few commands into the keyboard, pulling up a technical plan of the Ghost Ride on the computer.

"Do you remember in which tunnel it happened?" He asked his teammate. "You've mentioned that there was a camera, is that correct?"

"Somewhere here." Jay replied. "And yes, there was."

"There are three cameras in this area. Let us have a look."

Zane downloaded the footage recorded by these three cameras on the previous afternoon and opened all of them up in split screen mode.

"This one." Jay pointed at the video showing in the top right corner.

Zane closed the other two files and fast-forwarded the right video, until Pythor and his four henchmen arrived in the cave and started digging. Not long after, the red Samurai turned up as well.

"He has to work on his stealth." Zane remarked. "Not only was he very loud, but the way he walks also created a lot of vibrations in the ground that the Serpentine must have detected."

"She." Jay corrected him. "She was very loud."
"She?" Zane raised an eyebrow. "You mean...?"

"Yes, the red Samurai is female, and probably the others four are girls as well."

"This is very interesting." Zane replied. "Good work."

"Thank you." Jay said. "Although it wasn't that difficult to find out. And she is actually quite nice."

"When did you find the opportunity to have a conversation with the Samurai?" The Master of Ice wondered.

The blue Ninja shrugged. "Well, when we were fighting together."

"Jay, is there actually a time when you do not talk?" It was a rhetorical question. "Also, I thought you already have a girlfriend."

"Yes, and I love Nya, but that doesn't mean I can't have a friendly conversation with other girls." Jay stated. "Also, the Samurai has a boyfriend, too."

"I am impressed how much you have found out about our rivals in such a short time."

Zane and Jay watched how the Samurai was overtaken by the black Constrictai and afterwards saved by the blue Ninja.

"Well done, my friend." Zane remarked. "Your skills with your elemental weapon have improved a lot."

"Thanks." Jay blushed.

"The Samurai was lucky you arrived in time, but she must still be hurt." Zane observed. "Skalidor had a very strong grip on her, I predict she has a rather badly bruised arm."

"Just like Nya..." Jay mumbled, still furious about the angry customer who had threatened and hurt his girlfriend.

"And there should also be a little sound on her neck from the blade. Not enough to require medical attention though."

"Now, that's really strange..." Jay mumbled, remembering Nya's appearance the night before. "Nya got exactly the same injuries..."

He gasped as realisation dawned on him. "No, this can't be..."

Jay jumped up from his chair. He sprinted to the changing room, opened his locker, and started digging through his backpack.

He pulled out a plastic bag containing the blue top he had worn during their fight. When Nya had turned up at his door, he had just managed to hide it from her by stuffing it into a bin bag and then his backpack.

"Wu has all our personal and medical details on file here, doesn't he?" He asked, reappearing in the office and handing the bag to Zane.

"He does." The Nindroid confirmed.

Jay took the gi from the bag and pointed at the dried blood stain. "Can you compare the genetic profile from this here with Kai's?"

"Of course I can. But why should I?"

"Just. Do. It." Jay insisted.

"I will start the DNA extraction once we have finished here." Zane nodded. "The results will be ready in the afternoon."

"Okay, great. Please don't tell the others about this." Jay insisted. "I might be wrong about this idea." I sure hope I am. He added in his thoughts.
"And why not?" Zane repeated.

"Because... I think the red Samurai might be Nya."

"Nya?" Zane recognised the name. "The same Nya who is Kai's younger sister and your..."

"Girlfriend, yes." Jay nodded. And he told his teammate what had happened the evening before. How Nya had unexpectedly shown up at his apartment, how shaken she had been, what reason she had given for her injuries - and how they exactly matched those given to the female warrior on the CCTV footage.

"I agree." Zane said. "The probability of Nya receiving the same kind of injuries on the same day in an unrelated event is only 8%. But still possible."

"And what if it not a coincidence?" Jay asked.

"Then, we have identified one of our rivals. And this could also lead us to the rest of her team. Do you know Nya's friend?"

"Her colleagues from the autobody shop."Jay pulled up the garage's website. "Here's a photo of the team." He pointed at the other girls on the picture. "Seliel. Skylor. Harumi. PIXAL."

A team of five girls, each of them dressed in the same colour as one of the Samurai mechs... how come he had never noticed this before?

"PIXAL is a droid as well?" Zane looked in amazement at the very pretty female robot.

Jay nodded. "I'm sure I've told you about her."

"My apologies, but even my hard drive does not have enough space to store all the information you share with us."

"I guess I do talk a lot, huh?" Jay sheepishly rubbed his neck.

"Yes, and your girlfriend is one of your favourite topics."

"Okay, I'll try to keep my mouth shut." Jay said. "If you promise not to tell the others yet. Kai would freak out and shout at her. And then, she's gonna know about Kai being a Ninja, and then she'll find out about me and ..." He broke out into a nervous rant.

"Your definition of 'keeping your mouth shut' appears to be slightly different from mine, but I will keep your secret for now." Zane agreed. "Under two conditions."

"Which are?" Jay raised an eyebrow.

"One, you have to find out more about her occupation."

"You want me to spy on my girlfriend?"

"No. I want you to spy on the Samurai." Zane stated. "This is a big difference."

"Alright." Jay sighed. He wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea but it was still better than the alternative. He should find a way to get little pieces of information, just to satisfy his teammate, without intruding his girlfriend's privacy, right? "And the second one?"

Zane had his ice blue eyes still fixed at the computer screen, or rather at the girl with silver hair and bright green eyes.

"Can you introduce me to her?"