Chapter 1
[Lightning Chaser's POV]
I ran to the portal of blue. "Come on, Data!" I shouted to my husband, "We have to get out of here!" He looked my way and his eyes widened.
"LIGHTNING! LOOK OUT!" he yelled. Then he ran toward me. I turned around and saw one of the assassins throw a dagger my way. I screamed in fear. Why is this happening?! What was so horrible that we deserved this?! Then Data jumped in front of me in the way of the dagger.
And the dagger pierced his heart.
"NO!" I sobbed as he fell. "DATA!" I can't believe it. These people-- these monsters-- killed my loving husband. "Appoline, Zepplin, get to the portal!" I shouted to my children.
"But what about Daddy?" Appoline cried. She loved her family and didn't want her father to die. Zepplin shrieked, "We can't leave without Father!"
I looked down at Data. A tear made its way down my cheek. I felt the fire in my eyes. "We'll carry him," I said defiantly. I wasn't going to leave him here. So I grabbed him and jumped through the portal, my children not too far behind.
[Nya's POV]
I rode my scooter down town. I was on my way to the grocery store when I heard someone screaming. I turned around, drove toward the sound, and just followed my ears.
As fate would have it, the sound was coming from a woman in the alleyway about Lloyd's age. She had brown hair, but that was the only normal thing about her. She had purple skin and fluffy-looking wings. It looks like she was weeping over a man that looked like Zane, only with flatter hair with a little ragged point in the front that made the top of his head look like a pentagon.
And the smaller figures on either side of her had wings too, so I suspected they were her children. One of the children looked like a little girl. She had pink skin and her hair was the same color as her mother's. The one on the other side looked like a boy, with blue skin and red hair, redder than a tomato.
Then the little girl looked at me and spoke to her mother in a strange tongue. It sounded like the pronunciation "KEPPAY THOOKA MORE-ATH?" The tone made it a question. Then her mother looked up at me and said in a pleading tone, "TIKAM BESTH."
"Uh...," I didn't understand what they were saying. "In English, please?"
The woman gasped. "H-how do you speak English? No one in Lunaria can speak English except for my family and I." She frowned, then looked at the man she was crying over. "Help me. Data's dying."
Is that the man's name? I thought. Odd name for a human.
Then the woman's daughter said in English, "Don't let Daddy die!" She started sobbing. Her mother took her in her arms to comfort her. "Sssshhhhh... hush now, Appoline," she whispered. "It'll turn out all right."
The little boy looked like he was fuming. He stomped over to his sister and-- to the shock of everyone-- slapped his sister! She started wailing again. Then he glared at her. "You were always a stupid crybaby!" he yelled at her. That made her cry louder.
We all gasped. "Zepplin Joseph Ravencroth-Julien! What a horrible thing to say to your sister! For saying that, you just landed yourself in a month's grounding!" his mother scolded.
I froze. Did she just say what I think she said? "I'm sorry, but I must have heard you wrong. Did you just say that his last name is Ravencroth-Julien? My friend Zane has the same last name." I said.
The woman's eyes narrowed. "Impossible. He died twelve years ago. You can't know him." Her expression became thoughtful. "Unless his father rebuilt him as a robot..." She shook her head.
Then I put two and two together. Zane wasn't just a robot... he was a cyborg! "Wait! He is alive! I can take you to him!" I said suddenly.
Everyone looked up. "HE'S ALIVE?!" they all shouted. The woman became sad again. "But what about Data?" she asked. I told her we would try to help him.
But then I realized I didn't know the woman's name. "WAIT! I forgot to ask you your name," I said.
She stood up and said, "I am Lightning Chaser. Princess of Lunaria."
[Zane's POV]
I paced the deck of the Destiny's Bounty. Nya should have been back from shopping by now. Where in Ninjago is she? The Birchwood forest? I chuckled. I am getting better at sarcasm. CRUNCH!
Oh, bother, I made a hole in the floor again. That's the tenth time in three years.
I heard my friends yell from the lower deck, "ZANE!" That has to be the ninth time they yelled at me for making another hole. Every time I make a hole and they're right below me, dust falls on them. The dust may have given them dandruff from all of the holes. Well, it's not my fault I'm made of metal. And besides, the Bounty is more than two centuries old.
"Sorry!"
Sheesh!
Thump-thump-thump-thump! That sounded like someone coming up the gangplank. I turned around and saw Nya, a woman with wings, and two children-- also with wings-- walk up carrying a bloodied body of a man who looked like... me.
My eyes widened. Was he a family member of mine? A cousin? Maybe my father had another son before I was built. I was worried about this man and wondered who the woman-- paladin? -- was.
I rushed over. "What happened?!" I asked worriedly. I stand for peace, and whoever this was encountered some not-too-peaceful people. But the strangest thing about the strangers was that their coloring was... well... colorful.
The woman had light purple skin and brown eyes. Most people in Ninjago had jet-black eyes. And one child was pink with one brown eye and one green eye. The other was blue with red hair, redder than Kai's clothes. He had the same eyes as his sister, but in reverse. His left eye was brown and his right eye was green, while his sister's were vice-versa.
The purple woman looked at me and gasped. "Z-Zane? Is... is it really you?" She set the bloody man down and walked over to me. She grabbed my chin and looked me straight in the eye. Her eyes widened. "It is you! But... wait..." She paused. Her eyes glowed red and two beams shot at me. I yelped and closed my eyes. I thought she was going to disintegrate me, but when I opened my eyes, I was still alive. The woman's eyes reverted to their original brown. She looked confused. "Titanium alloy? Why are you...? Oh... holy cow, your dad must've lost his mind..." She looked at me strangely.
"What? What do you mean? Is there something I don't know about?" I demanded. I was getting tired of all the secrets. The woman looked at me sadly and said, "You don't remember? Twelve years ago? You fell down the stairs when you were fifteen. You broke your neck, and that killed you. Your father brought you back as a robot, but I never realized..." She trailed off, but she didn't need to continue. I held my hands up in a 'time out' gesture. "Hold on... did you say fifteen years old? That's impossible. A robot can't die... right? A robot can only be shut down or demolished. But... the way you said that... is there even more to my past than my father let on?" That's when Kai came up on deck, his sword out, ready to fight.
Chapter Two
[Kai's POV]
Zane, no matter how much we missed him when he was gone, was starting to get downright irritating. And besides, since his father was gone forever, Lloyd left the team to live with his mom at his dad's monastery. I really miss him, but now when I try to call his cell, he doesn't answer. That concerns everyone.
Then I heard a THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP on the upper deck. "What happened?!" I heard Zane say. Another voice, female, claimed, "Z-Zane? Is that you?" like she knew him. I heard a few more thumps and heard a gasp. "It is you!" the woman said. "But... wait..." The woman sounded confused. I heard Zane yelp and heard a buzzing. Then the buzzing stopped and the mystery woman said, "Titanium alloy? Why are you...?" The woman paused. Then she started again. "Oh... holy cow, your dad must've lost his mind." What does that mean? I thought.
Then I heard Zane say, "What? What do you mean? Is there something I don't know about?" He sounded both confused and annoyed. There was a pause. Then the woman said, "You don't remember? Twelve years ago? You fell down the stairs when you were fifteen. You broke your neck, and that killed you. Your father brought you back as a robot, but I never realized..." She sounded sad. I wonder what that meant. Did that mean Zane really was human before he was a ninja?
But... that means...
Was Zane a cyborg?
I didn't hear them say anything else. I walked slowly up the steps with my sword drawn. I heard Zane say, "...than my father let on?" That's when I reach the top of the steps.
[Lightning Chaser's POV]
We all looked at the boy in red. "Oh, hello. Are you friends with Zane?" I tried to sound cheerful. But how could I be cheerful when my husband was dying? The boy looked like he knew what I was thinking.
"Hey, I'm Kai," he said, "Where did you come from?" He looked at Data's body and paled. "We need to get him to sickbay. Now." The girl, Nya, nodded, and she and Kai lifted him up and took him below deck.
[1 hour later, still Lightning Chaser's POV]
I paced the deck, waiting to see Data's smiling face, telling me he was going to be all right. Zane was lying on the floor, tossing a ball in the air, catching it as it came down. I sighed. I might as well tell him the truth.
"Zane," I said, "there's something--"
Then Kai came on deck, tears in his eyes. "I-I-I'm sorry Lightning"-- I had told him my name-- "but we were too late," he sobbed. But I stood still.
His sorrowful expression was the last thing I saw before I blacked out.
[Jay's POV]
I heard a thump from above deck. Concerned, I ran to the stairs that lead to the upper deck. On the way, I passed sickbay, and when I glanced inside, I saw a bloody body that looked like Zane, only with flat dark hair, and much paler skin. And, if there was no blood, he could have been a robot.
I wonder...
Nah, I'll just leave him be. He looks like he needs the rest.
Anyway, Leaving the doorway of sickbay, I made it to the stairs, but I heard sobbing, another thump, a gasp, and a lot of yelling. I wonder what's going on. I walked up the stairs.
What I saw was Kai, Zane and Nya trying to revive a strange woman that apparently fainted. Behind them were two small children, probably the woman's kids, judging by the coloring. I'm serious. One had blue skin and hair redder than mine, while the other was pink with dark brown hair.
Wait...
Could that man in sickbay be these kids' dad?!
Poor kids.
"Hey guys, need some help?" I walked up to them when I said that. Kai sighed in relief. "Yes, Jay, can you wake her up? Please?" He knew if he wanted something, he had to ask nicely.
I kneeled down next to the woman. I held out my hand and willed it to spark. a few veins of lightning appeared, buzzing with energy. I put my hand on her head and then...
ZAP!
Her eyes snapped open and she sat bolt upright. Her eyes were brown. Weird. "Hey," I whispered, "what's your name, miss?"
She looked at me like a deer caught in the headlights. She looked so scared. "L-L-Lightning. Lightning Chaser. Second Princess of Lunaria, first planet in the Lunar system."
Dang, she's got a royal title, and she isn't even from this solar system, much less this universe. And did she say lunar system? That really sounds backwards to me. And that's saying something, because I'm supposed to be the weird, blabbermouth ninja. Well, before we knew he was a robot, Zane was the weird one. But that's a story just about everyone knows.
