The Mechanic was at it again. The others parked outside the construction building and I landed on the ground as my wings closed. All of us quickly ran inside quietly and I noticed the Mechanic.
Nya turned the lights on and the Mechanic and his grunts turned to us. "Sorry to crash your party boys!" She smirked as she stood next to me.
"Guess our invitation got lost in the mail huh?" Jay inquired and went to grab his weapon. Lloyd exclaimed "No weapons guys! These are just low-level thugs."
"My fist are my weapons!" Cole exclaimed.
Zane raised an eyebrow "I would not classify the Mechanic as low-level. He is suspected in thirty-six unsolved criminal cases."
"Thirty-seven" the Mechanic smirked and his metal arm stretched as it hit Zane back. I winced at the sight of Zane crashing into heavy boxes.
Jay glared at the Mechanic "You're not getting away that easy!"
He smirked "Who's trying to get away? There are more of us than you!" He exclaimed but didn't know his thugs were escaping. He looked around and turned around as he glared at them.
They paused but sighed as they grabbed their bats and walked back over. "And we're not afraid to use our weapons!" The Mechanic exclaimed and shot fire off his metal arm but we dodged it.
I noticed some file formats and grabbed them with my brother "And we're not afraid to use these!" He exclaimed and we threw them at the Mechanic.
"Take that obsolete file formats!" Jay shouted as the Mechanic dodged the file formats but the last one hit the motherboard out of his hand.
It went to land on the ground but Kai slid across the ground and caught it while falling in the process. Thugs tackled on top of him trying to get the file format but he threw it as one thug caught it and climbed up a ladder.
"I got him!" Lloyd exclaimed and climbed after the thug. I shot lightning out my mouth as it fried the thugs near Kai and they fell down. I looked up at the top shelf where Lloyd was fighting the thug with the file format.
I called to him "Lloyd! Use the vcrs!"
He glanced down at me "What's a...Vcr?"
Cole shouted "It's that old machine Wu watches his ninja movies on!"
I watched as Lloyd ejected the vcrs and they hit the thug and it let go of the file format. Nya grabbed it "Got it!"
I slammed my body into a large shelf and it tumbled over trapping the thugs.
"I'll take that!" The Mechanic exclaimed and snatched the file format from Nya "Hey!" She exclaimed and we ran out the building only for the Mechanic to drive off.
The others got in the Land Bounty, Cole on his bike and I flew in the air towards the Mechanic with everyone.
Nya drove the Land Bounty next to the Mechanic's truck but he swerved it into the Land Bounty. "Hey! Watch the paint job!" Kai shouted and the Land Bounty swerved back. My eyes widened and I growled.
I flew above the Mechanic's truck and breathed out lighting on it as it slowly stopped working and came to a stop. I landed next to the truck and pulled the Mechanic out.
"And I'll take that" I hissed and took the motherboard from him.
I glanced at it and raised an eyebrow, Jay approached me and had the same confused look.
~~~
The police had arrived and drove away with the Mechanic. The Commissioner turned to us "Great work Ninja! You saved the day."
Kai spoke up "Yeah but what exactly did we save the day from?" The Commissioner thought for a moment "Hm, I don't know yet. The Mechanic's not saying anything but we'll take him downtown and maybe get some answers."
He called for his officers and they left us. I took out the file format and stared at it. "Hm. If we only knew what this was for" I sighed.
"It's a motherboard to a computer" Cole exclaimed and Zane chimed in "But which computer? There are 3, 412, 870 computers in Ninjago City. Approximately."
"And only one secret lair" Nya gestured to an abandoned arcade "That's where he was running when we caught him. Maybe that's his hideout."
I raised an eyebrow "An abandoned arcade?" I inquired and we approached the arcade stepping inside.
Nya spoke "Look at all these robo-arms. This guy has an obsession..."
We started to walk around and I noticed a robo-arm fall off a shelf and onto Lloyd's shoulder. He shrieked and threw it. He sighed "Okay let's make it quick. This place is creepy."
"No way!" Jay exclaimed and blowed the dust off an arcade game "Do you know what this is?" He asked excitedly and the others stared.
I walked over and my eyes widened slightly "Oh no way! Prime Empire!"
"What? No way!" Cole exclaimed. "Look at it! It says Prime Empire right on the side!" Jay's expression brightened.
"Excuse me" I heard Nya say and we glanced at her. "Can you three pretend we're not all videogame nerds and tell the rest of us what Prime Empire is?"
Jay started to explain "It's this legendary game created by the most famous game designer ever, Milton Dyer."
I added "But for some reason it was never finished. They abandoned it" I walked over to the outlet and plugged it in. I walked back over to the game and pressed the on button but there was nothing. I frowned.
"Well that was exciting" Cole said sarcastically. "It can't have been that good if they never released it" Kai raised an eyebrow.
"I find old games to be unchallenging." Zane said with sass in his voice.
Lloyd nods "Yeah I like new ones. When they really make you feel like you're there."
Nya sighed "Can we get back on track? There's a lot of nooks and crannies here and we're not even sure what we're looking for. So let's spread out."
"Sounds good. I think me and Jay will stay here to search around the area" I explained.
Nya raised an eyebrow and shot a glare at me "You two are just gonna putz around with the broken game aren't you?"
"What? No, course not. Just don't wanna miss anything you know?" I smiled at her and she raised an eyebrow at me. She and everyone else left except Jay stayed with me.
I turned to him and we high-fived "Alright let's get this baby started!" Jay exclaimed and tried to turn it on with his electricity but nothing worked.
I groaned "Seriously? Nothing? Stupid machine." I grumbled and kicked it.
I heard Jay gasp and I glanced over at him as he was behind the machine. "Look! It needs a motherboard!"
My eyes widened and I grabbed the motherboard that was in my pocket. I ran over and put it in the machine, both me and Jay got in front of the machine as it turned on.
Energy crackled and my eyes widened "Jay get!-" I started but energy emitted from the game and sent both of us back and we hit the ground.
I groaned and sat up feeling my head as an automated voice came from the game "Would you like to enter Prime Empire?"
I stood up as I helped Jay up, he exclaimed "Heck yeah we do!"
~~~
"Aah, stupid ogre! Don't let it fire catapult you!" Jay exclaimed. "I know what I'm doing!" I told Jay and pressed the button for action and destroyed the last ogre.
"Haha! Yes!" We both exclaimed and high-fived each other.
The automated voice came from the game again "Congratulations. You have reached level thirteen. Would you like to enter Prime Empire?"
"Is that even a question?" Jay snickered and hit the start button.
"Now entering level thirteen" the voice said and part of the arcade game started to open like a door.
"Woah-" Jay said and stepped back, I raised an eyebrow as I opened the door and a bright light was there.
I glanced at Jay. "Well what're you waiting for? Let's go!" I grabbed his hand and ran through the bright light.
"Wah?!" He exclaimed as he was taken with.
We entered the game and I glanced around curiously. "No way! This feels like a dream..Asteria pinch me." Jay said and held his arm out.
I looked at his arm and then at his face, I mischievously smirked and punched him in the face.
"Ow!" He exclaimed and fell to the ground. I laughed slightly and helped him stand "Come on, let's figure out what to do to improve our level and get points!"
Jay smiled "Alright then!" He exclaimed and ran off. I dashed off after him.
~~~
We had gotten to a much higher level and now had changed our "avatars." If you could even call it avatars, since we changed how we looked. Jay had a neon blue look and looked almost like a rockstar.
I changed myself to a more fun look like Jay. My dragon features were like crystals. My top shirt had wrapped over my left shoulder and I wore slightly ripped jeans with their same colors but had a neon crystal look to them.
Jay and I were talking on the stage and I saw the others. I tapped Jay's shoulder with my wing and he looked. He gasped "Guys! You actually came!"
He ran down to the others and I flew over as I landed in front of them. "We're glad you guys actually came!" Is this place awesome or what?!" I smiled and embraced everyone.
~~~
Author's Edit: Oct 22, 2023
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