On the city rooftops, Kuro was on patrol with the Shadow soldiers as they were scanning the areas on their search for the K-5.
"Alright, the K-5 have been spotted in this neighborhood, so stay alert at any cost no matter what surprise they throw at us." Kuro ordered.
Kuro suddenly heard shouting coming from the alley not too far from where he's standing. He moved to the next rooftop and looked down from the building to see the K-5 fighting against the alien robots. The Shadow Ninjas were about to make a move, but Kuro held up his hand to halt them from their position.
"Why in the world they are fighting robots?" Kuro questioned.
Kuro then watched Kirana releasing scythe-like blades of water at the Kraang droid, slicing the alien robot cleanly enough for the pink alien creature to crawl out of the battered robot body.
"Whoa, this city just got a lot more interesting." Kuro said.
Kirana looked up and saw Kuro from above. She gave him a friendly smile and took off to take out the rest of the alien robots with water blades. Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra were completely confused on their oldest sister as they have no clue why she was taking on the Kraang droids on her own. Kirana finished the last Kraang droid with one more water blade and glanced up at Kuro with a cocky grin. Camilla and Ezra quickly noticed Kirana's smile and looked up to watch Kuro and the Shadow Ninjas disappear from sight.
"Uh, Kirana, what the heck was that?" Ariana asked.
"We didn't get our chance to finish them off too!" Talia said.
"Is there an actual reason why you were showing off, Kirana?" Ezra asked Kirana.
"No." Kirana said. "I was just trying to finish up the Kraang, that's all."
"You sure?" Camilla asked.
"Yes, I'm sure." Kirana agreed.
Camilla and Kirana stared at each other with serious faces, leaving Ariana and Talia wonder what were they really talking about while Ezra wondered how Kuro will be a bad idea.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the Shadow Clan HQ, Donna was performing her techno magic to create a black metallic belt for Sapphire that will allow her to maintain her ghostly mutant form. Inque was watching the techno mystic doing her work in boredom. Lady Shade was witnessing the metallic belt with pleasing eyes, knowing that Donna's expertise in robotics can lead the Shadow Clan to ultimate success.
Just then, Kuro walked through the doors into the throne room and marched closer to Lady Shade.
"Mother, you won't believe what I've saw." Kuro called with a slightly shock face. "The K-5 have been spotted in the alley. But they were fighting some robotic droids with slimy, brain-squids inside."
"Do not let everything else in this city distracts you." Lady Shade said. "Your primary mission is to destroy them in sight and track down Sage."
"Are you kidding me?" Kuro exclaimed. "Mother, something's weird is going on in this city. First, your own henchwomen got turned into Halloween freaks and now there's alien robots out there that only the K-5 know about! But if you don't find some way to let go that stupid grudge of yours, I might have to find out about those robots on my own. And that's not a threat, that's a promise. I'd rather fight those robots than listening to your annoying vendetta!"
"Enough, Kuro! You will do no such thing and say no more words!" Lady Shade answered sternly. She stepped forward close to Kuro, who was looking down to the floor with a frown. "You haven't forgotten what Shiroibara Sage did to all of us in this clan, did you?"
Kuro continued to look down from Lady Shade's face.
"Sage's continued existence is like a snake ready to strike us clean. Our honor must live decease because of her. Stay focused on your mission, Kuro." Lady Shade ordered as she placed her right hand on Kuro left shoulder.
"Yes, mother." Kuro responded respectfully.
Kuro bowed down to Lady Shade and walked out the throne room to head back outside.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back in the Crete Fortress, Ariana was working on her new inventions. Talia and Casey were playing video games in the living room. Kirana and Camilla were locked up in a training battle in the dojo. Unaware to them, Ezra was peeking in the Dojo to watch the spar.
"I can't believe you knew the Shadow Clan were watching us and you didn't say anything." Camilla said.
"It was Kuro that was watching us, not the Shadow." Kirana clarified angrily.
"Kuro is part of the Shadow Clan." Camilla snapped. "And you were showing off to get his attention."
"I was just showing him how formidable we are." Kirana said with a calm look. "That's why I knew he wasn't going to attack us when he has the chance."
"Yeah, so he was just studying our moves for next time." Camilla scolded. "You don't flirt with the enemy, Kirana. You take 'em down like it or not!"
"No! You're wrong about him. He has a good side." Kirana snapped. "We shared the same aura ability. I can feel what he's thinking."
"Oh, well if that's what you feel, why not tell the others?" Camilla asked.
"Because, just like you, they wouldn't understand." Kirana replied.
Camilla swiftly pinned Kirana to the wall with her right leg and moved closer to her older sister's face.
"You really think Ezra, Talia, and Ariana wouldn't understand?" Camilla asked. "We're siblings, Kirana. We struck together no matter what."
Kirana grabbed Camilla's right leg and slammed her younger sister to the wall near her.
"Look, I know what I'm doing." Kirana snapped. "You gotta trust me on this, Camilla."
"And why should I?" Camilla questioned.
"What's going on here?" Sage demanded as she walked towards her daughters with a stern face.
Kirana and Camilla immediately broke up the fight as they glanced each other and exited the dojo without answering their mother's question, leaving Sage wonder why were they fighting about. Ezra hid in the kitchen as Kirana and Camilla walked by.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Outside, Kirana sat on the edge of the building rooftop for some fresh air. She was trying to try to clear her head about the conservation earlier in the dojo, but she suddenly felt a black aura hiding in the shadows and stood up from the edge as she turned around and looked up to see Kuro from behind.
"Next time, be a good boy and keep remembering that I have aura sense." Kirana said with a slightly cold voice.
"Ha, there's nothing like a good sneak attack." Kuro said with a playful smile.
"Like you did before last night." Kirana smiled back with a playful tone.
"Oh, really? Haven't even notice that." Kuro said sarcastically. "But those robots did caught my interest. Can you tell me more?"
"Those robots are highly classified dangerous." Kirana replied sternly. "So, do me a favor and stay away from them."
"Well, looks like I could have some fun with them." Kuro grinned. His face slowly became serious. "I was expecting more info from you. How do you know so much about those robots? Tell me why."
"Can't tell you." Kirana said. "I've never thought you would be the curious type. Besides, Camilla doesn't want me to trust you."
"I would like to fight a wild girl like her as well." Kuro said with a shrug. He jumped down to the roof and drew out his dark energy power. "Fighting mages like you will be such a trip."
Kuro fired out a huge beam of dark energy at Kirana, who blocked the attack by creating a large shield of water around herself.
"I'm not really sure that you want to." Kirana said.
"Oh really?" Kuro said with a laugh. "Then, what's this?"
Kuro fired several spheres of dark energy continuously at Kirana from his hands, but Kirana transformed her arms into whips composed of water to slash the dark energy spheres one by one in fast speed.
"A way out of the Shadow Clan." Kirana replied. "Trust me, I can help you find a way."
"Sorry, Kirana, but that's not my reason." Kuro laughed again. "You're appealing. Naive but appealing."
Hearing the word "appealing" made Kirana stop for a minute.
"Were you planning on flirting me at some point?" Kirana said with a small smile.
Kuro smirked and unleashed a large wave of dark energy rushing at Kirana, who jumped high in the air and formed a circular torrent of water in front of her hands to attack the dark mage ninja with a water cyclone.
"It doesn't matter how mant times you want to play games, which I can strongly handle from you. Just leave my siblings out of your attacking list." Kirana demanded.
"What a touching promise, but you should know that I can't do that." Kuro said as he moved closer to Kirana with a smirk on his face.
"Then, hear this. If you ever come after them, I'll come after you one way or another." Kirana replied firmly. "Understand?"
Kuro took a few steps back and removed his mask to glance Kirana with a smile.
"Whatever you say, but I am looking foward to find you again." Kuro said.
Kuro placed his mask back on his face and vanished into the dark energy portal below his feet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning, Casey and the K-5 made their way into their high school for their class project. They walked up the steps and entered inside the building to see a young woman looking at the trophy collection as if she was staring off to space. The woman has fair complexion, long blonde wavy hair with a large zigzag forelock, and violet eyes. She wore a red midriff exposed blazer with high shoulder pads, a matching pencil skirt, lavender silk gloves that left her fingers exposed, and black leather heeled boots.
"Hello." The young woman spoke with a kind smile as she turned around to face the students. "I'm Ms. McGuire from the Worldwide Genome Project. Are you Casey Jones, Shiroibara Kirana, Shiroibara Camilla, Shiroibara Ariana, Shiroibara Talia, and Shiroibara Ezra?"
"Yes, ma'am." Casey, Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra replied together.
"I'm here to present your test results for the WorldWide Genome Project." Ms. McGuire continued. "Please come with me."
Before anyone could walk toward Ms. McGuire, Kirana pulled them back and gave them a firm look on her face.
"Wait a minute." Kirana whispered to her siblings and her friend. "Something's wrong with this woman. I'm not picking up any aura on her."
Ariana turned back to face Ms. McGuire and stomped her left foot on the ground to pick up something off on Ms. McGuire through the vibrations.
"She's a robot from the Kraang!" Ariana shouted.
With quick speed, Ms. McGuire grabbed Casey's arm and pulled him back in the air.
"Casey Jones was supposed to be bait for the K-5, but it looks like there has been a change of plans." Ms. McGuire said in a robotic voice with a sly grin.
Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra quickly used their magic to change into their kunoichi and ninja outfits.
"Take her down, guys." Kirana said with a confident grin.
Ms. McGuire's arm transformed into a laser cannon and began firing several neon pink laser blasts at the K-5, who immediately jumped in the air and avoided the attack with ninja speed. Casey released from Ms. McGuire's grasp and used his skates to hit her face that showed neon pink wires and lights behind her robotic outlook before moving out of the way. Ariana created a number of earth spikes that erupted out of the ground and immobilized Ms. McGuire in her position. Camilla fired a number of fiery, curved red beams towards the immobilized Ms. McGuire with a swipe of her arm. Ezra fired a number of lightning strikes to zap Ms. McGuire. Talia created several blades of wind that attacked the immobilized Ms. McGuire. Kirana formed a circular torrent of water in front of her hands and used the water cyclone to attack Ms. McGuire that shocked her to malfunction and short circuit in defeat.
Then, the K-5 and Casey surrounded the downed Kraang robot.
"Yep." Ezra said. "This android obviously came from the Kraang."
"So why would the Kraang want to send our DNA spit to the WorldWide Genome Project?" Talia asked as she picked up the robotic mask and examined it.
"That I'm not sure, but I bet the Kraang has developed an interest in our mystical style." Camilla replied with a shrug.
"Also, she did say that she gonna use me as bait to lure you guys in." Casey added. "I doubt those scum bags wouldn't be interest in human DNA anyway."
"It could be that the Kraang are hacking to steal information from the Worldwide Genome Project's network." Ariana said.
"Whatever they're doing there, we've got to stop them." Ezra said.
"Casey, head to the fortress where it's safe. We'll go pay a visit to the Worldwide Genome Project." Kirana said to Casey.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That night, the K-5 have located the Worldwide Genome Project building as they were unaware that Kuro was following after them. They arrived inside the building and entered inside the central control room, where the entire place was filled with many different animal DNA pods. The mages looked around to examine the DNA pods, wanting to know why would the Kraang been collecting animal DNA for their purpose.
Then suddenly, Ezra noticed that Camilla was gone.
"Yo, where's Camilla?" Ezra asked Kirana, Ariana, and Talia.
"Found you!"
Kirana, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra looked up as they saw Camilla stood on the top of the mutagen core. They watched their red mage sister holding down Kuro in an arm lock.
"Kuro!" Kirana and Ezra said with a surprise and shock.
"Who?" Ariana and Talia asked confusedly.
"Only Kirana's boyfriend." Ezra answered.
"No, he's not!" Kirana protested.
"Heh, didn't expect you to come after us yourself." Camilla commented with a grin.
Kuro attacked Camilla's chest with his left foot and threw her down before quickly getting to his feet.
"I'll be here live enough to have a little fun with you." Kuro smirked.
Camilla growled as she got back up and summoned fire magic from her hands. She charged forward and released powerful fire in a form of a large fireball at Kuro's direction. But Kuro blocked the fireball with his dark energy shield and charged a large sphere of dark energy between his hands to fire it at Camilla in a form of a strong beam, forcing Camilla to block the attack with a flaming force field.
Kirana didn't have time to explain Ariana and Talia what's going on as she immediately jumped high in the air to the mutagen core and landed between them to stop the fight with a water force field.
"Camilla! Kuro!" Kirana shouted. "That's enough!"
But the force of Camilla and Kuro's powers made Kirana release her water force field, causing her to stumble backwards and land her back on the console. The alarm echoed in the air through the facility. Kirana, Camilla, and Kuro jumped down off the mutagen core to join Ariana, Talia, and Ezra as several Kraang droids surrounded the ninjas with armed laser guns.
"The ones who are not authorized by the authority of Kraang to exist in this place will now be destroyed by Kraang in this place." One of the Kraand droids spoke.
The K-5 and Kuro summoned their magic in an offensive stances.
"Now, beating down robots is definitely my idea of fun." Kuro smirked.
As the Kraang droids opened laser fire from their weapons, the six mages charged forward and took down the Kraang droids one by one.
"I knew you were on our side." Kirana smiled to Kuro.
"Don't let that go to your head." Camilla scoffed.
"I really enjoyed taking on your sister, Kirana." Kuro said to Kirana. "She actually puts up a fight."
"Unfortunately for you, I like to break someone slowly and deadly." Camilla said threateningly.
Then, more Kraang droids showed up with a giant plasma cannons that took aim at the six ninjas.
"We're trapped!" Ezra exclaimed.
"Not really." Kuro said with a mischievous smile. He leaned on the console casually and held his index finger above one of the buttons. "I wonder what happens if I do this."
"No, don't do it!" Camilla, Ezra, Kirana, Ariana, and Talia shouted.
"Highly undesirable outcome." One Kraang droids warned.
"Well, where's the fun in that?" Kuro grinned.
As Kuro pressed the button on the console, everyone watched all the DNA from every animal species were being sucked into the mutagen core. The mutagen radiated several different colors as it processed all the animal DNA. After the process was finished, thin smoke poured out from the mutagen core. The K-5, Kuro, and the Kraang droids heard the sound of large stomps and watched a new mutant creation emerged from the core. The mutant was the mixture of a tortoise and a ram. It has a reddish-orange body dotted with dark gray spots. It has metal bangles locked on its legs and four claws are in a cross formation on each of its feet. It also has a gray underside and its face is covered by an iron mask with red-brown eyes uncovered.
"Whoa! I always wanted to fight a beast like that!" Kuro said.
Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, Ezra, and Kuro dove out of the way as the genetic mutant rammed towards the armed Kraang droids and destroyed all of the charging alien robots at its sight.
"How the heck are we gonna defeat this creature?" Talia asked the others.
"Maybe we can use our magic to its weak spot." Ezra suggested.
"Excellent answer." Kuro replied sarcastically in a casual tone. "Well, gotta split."
Just before Kuro headed for the exit, he stopped running and collapsed his knees to the floor as his mind was racing very rapidly. That caught the K-5's attention. Kuro cracked his eyes open again as his vision was becoming more blurrier. All he could hear was the babble of childlike voices. Strange images were racing through his mind. He saw himself swimming through clear blue water next to a little girl who looked exactly like...
Kirana. Kuro thought as he was forcing the images from his head. They confused him and he had to concentrate on what was taking place around him. Those voices. We were outside...together as kids.
Kuro got up from the floor and delivered several dark energy spheres continuously at the mutant from his hands, leaving the five mages confused and surprised at the same time. Kirana couldn't believe this. She's a bit confused, but she still liked him.
As the six mage ninjas charged forward at the mutant, four out of six mages were caught by the mutant. Camilla was being pulled towards the mutant's large claw into the air as she was struggling to free herself out of the mutant's electric grasp, Talia was getting smacked hard against the wall several times by the mutant's right leg claw, Ezra was trying to break free from the mutant's tentacle, and Ariana screamed in pain as a stream of brownish-white electricity hit her. Kirana and Kuro looked around at the four downed mages.
"I'm sorry, Kirana." Kuro apologized with a frown. "None of this would have happened if I haven't press that button and made this mess."
Kirana glanced at Kuro with a surprised face, but she remained focused on the battle.
"We all make mistakes, Kuro." Kirana said, placing her hand on Kuro's shoulder. "Now, help me finish this."
Kuro became speechless for a minute and nodded his head with a grin.
"Alright." Kuro said.
Kirana and Kuro charged forward towards the mutant while dodging the brownish-white electric blasts from its mouth. Kirana swiped her arm in the air to unleash scythe-like blades of water at the mutant on the left side and Kuro created a glowing sphere of dark energy to shoot it in a form of tentacles at the mutant on the right side. The mutant took the hit from both attacks and crashed through the wall unconsciously. Kuro twisted his index finger around in a zigzag motion and pointed his magic at the downed mutant, surrounding the entire room with ten ticking bombs. Kirana picked up her conscious siblings with her water tentacles as she and Kuro ran out the exit once the bombs were set to zero.
After the six mage ninjas escaped the building, they watched the Worldwide Genome Project building burning from the building rooftop.
"I don't get it." Kirana said to Kuro. "What was the real reason why you help me back there?"
"That question is personal. I need to figure that out myself." Kuro replied firmly. He let out a tiny smirk on his face. "But you guys sure know how to show me a good time against your enemies. See you around."
Kuro took a gentleman bow and vanished into the dark energy portal below his feet.
"Well, he's gone." Talia said with a shrug.
"At least he didn't ditch us." Ezra said.
"Now, someone has some explaining to do." Ariana said, looking at Kirana with a stern face.
Kirana looked away with a heavy sigh.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back in the Crete Fortress, Kirana finally decided to tell her family everything about Kage.
"I should've told you about Kuro from the moment I saw him." Kirana said. "But I knew that he has a good heart. Also, I did...liked him too. There. I'm done."
"Whoa, I still can't believe you trusted him from the start." Ezra said.
"But I do not understand why you did not tell us about him." Norbit added.
"I know and I'm really sorry." Kirana said, looking at her family with guilt.
"Well, I did tried to warn her." Casey said with a sigh.
"Heh. You too?" Camilla muttered, looking at Casey with a sidelong glance.
"Kirana." Sage said as she stepped forward to her oldest daughter and puts her hand on Kirana's shoulder. "You're not the first mage to experience mixed feelings over a boy, but you must remain cautious on your trust with Kuro or you will learn from that mistake."
"Thank you for understanding, mother." Kirana said with a small smile.
Later, Kirana walked towards her bedroom door and Camilla chased after her.
"Hey, Kirana." Camilla called. "I'm glad you came to your senses."
"Don't let that go to your head." Kirana grinned. "I was still right about Kuro being on our side by helping me saving you and the other three."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Camilla grinned as she crossed her arms over her chest. "But I have to admit he's handsome...in a wicked kinda way."
"Well, you don't have to worry." Kirana said with a smile. "I'm so over my feelings for him."
Camilla smiled back and walked past Kirana to her bedroom. Kirana was looking at the ground with a small grin, knowing that Kuro does have a good side after all.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, Kuro was walking into the throne room and saw Donna still working on a black metallic belt to get Sapphire's ghostly body into physical.
"The robots called themselves the Kraang." Kuro said as he stood next to Donna. "I saw them up close in action."
"I've told you before, Kuro." Lady Shade said with a glare. "This clan will have no value or interest in this robot nonscene."
"Donna, this kind of technology can actually help you." Kuro said to Donna as he took a small metallic device from his pocket. "I may not found the body, but this device functions their robot bodies. Maybe you can find some use of it."
Kuro handed the small metallic device to Donna, who installed it inside the black metallic belt and her invention functioned the belt perfectly.
"This is the exact piece of tecnhology that I've been trying to develop." Donna grinned. "Good eye, Kuro."
"Very well. See if you can find out more about this Kraang." Lady Shade praised as she walked over to Kuro and placed her hands on her son's shoulders. "Their useful technology could help us in our war against the remaining Magnolia Clan. Well done, Kuro."
Kuro smiled to himself as he knows that his mother have no idea about his real motives.
"My goal is only to find out about my sketchy piece of my memory." Kuro thought. "Even if it involve Kirana in my life."