Mamoritai 4 - A Llorumi story

1. The mechanic

Notes: The first chapter is here! Enjoy, everyone :) (Also, it's been about two months, since they got back from the Never-Realm)

Words: 1589

I saw a noodle truck park in front of the warehouse. I looked down to check my clock. 11.30 pm. Well these guys are punctual. I carefully watched as they excited the truck and entered the warehouse. As soon as they were all in, I ran to their truck and quietly punctured the tires of it. "Sorry to crash the party, boys!" Nya's voice teased as I had just finished the job. "Guess our invitations got lost in the mail!" Jay continued as they jumped onto the ground. That was my mark. I ran to the storage door and slammed it closed. I could see the look on the thug's faces, it was priceless. It was a mix of confusion and defeat. I took my walkie talkie out and switched it on. "They're in." I said into it. "Copy that." The police commissioner's voice answered. My waiting was interrupted by a huge explosion. I quickly turned around and saw the Mechanic running out of the flames. Oh no you don't! He ran to his truck, but I quickly tackled him. I punched him and quickly noticed he had a flamethrower on his hand. He smirked at me and tried to shoot me with it. I quickly jumped off of him and ran to the other side of the truck. I heard him get up and get into the truck. The truck's engine started, but turned off just as quickly. "Ahh, what the fuck!" He yelled in the truck. I heard the sirens of at least 10 police cars. I also heard the ninja exit the warehouse. "Give it up Mechanic!" Lloyd's voice yelled. The police cars stopped and pointed their guns at the truck.

"Great work, ninja! You saved the day!" The commissioner celebrated, as we watched Mechanic getting handcuffed and taken away. "Yeah, but what exactly did we save the day from?" Kai asked. "Uhhh, I'm not sure yet. The Mechanic's not saying anything. But we'll take him downtown and maybe get some answers then. Let's go, boys! Pack it in!" The commissioner yelled and left. "Hmm, if only we knew what this was for?" Jay said as he held a weird motherboard in his hands. "It's a motherboard to a computer." Cole answered. "But which computer?" Zane asked. "There are 3,412,870 computers in Ninjago City. Approximately" He continued. "But only one secret lair, this is where he was running!" Nya said as she jumped out of the truck. "He had this in the truck." Nya said, showing us a map which had a red circle drawn on it with a huge "LAIR" written next to it. "And you said Mechanic isn't a low-class thug?" Lloyd said, looking at Zane. "Let's go find out what this mommy's hiding." Jay joked. I'll admit, it did get a little chuckle out of me. We arrived at the destination which the map led us to. I was riding with Lloyd, because I haven't gotten my own vehicle yet. I didn't mind though. I liked riding with Lloyd. I like being close to his body. Ugh, that's so sappy... We parked in front of an old arcade. Lloyd helped me get off his bike. I placed a sweet kiss on his cheek and he smiled beautifully. "An old arcade?" Jay wondered out loud.

We walked in. It was a dark and messy room. It was full of robotic arms and cobwebs. "Look at all these robo-arms. This guy has an obsession." Nya said. We walked in deeper, trying to look for any clues. "Okay let's make this quick. This place is really creepy..." Lloyd said, getting closer to me. He took my hand into his. I chuckled a little. "No way!" Jay yelled suddenly. "Do you know what this is!" He said, aiming his hand at an old arcade machine. I glanced at Lloyd, who just shrugged. "It's Prime Empire!" Jay said excitedly. "What? No way!" Cole joined in. "Look at it! It says Prime Empire right on the side! It's real!" Jay continued. "Excuse me; can you two pretend we're not all video game nerds, and tell the rest of us what 'Prime Empire' is?" I asked. "It's this legendary game created by the most famous game designer ever, Milton Dyer! But for some reason, it was never finished and they abandoned it." Jay explained. After that he plugged the machine in and tried to press some buttons, but the machine did nothing. "Well, that was exciting." Cole shrugged. "It can't have been that good, if they never released it." Kai argued. "I find old games to be unchallenging." Zane answered. "Yeah, I like the new ones. Where they really make you feel like you're there!" Lloyd added. "Can we get back on track?" Nya asked. "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." I said. "Yeah, okay, good idea. Um, except I think I should stay here and keep checking this area" Jay said, waving his hands around the arcade machine. "Why do I feel like you're just going to putz around with that broken game?" Nya asked. "Pfft! What, no! I'm just going to start here first. You know, we don't want to miss any clues, right?" Jay explained. I opened a door and found that the arcade extended over there. The rest of us walked in there.

The room was also very dark and covered in cobwebs. It was clearly a storage space. It had boxes of papers and contracts. I skimmed through them. Bill, bill, newspaper, newspaper, old accountant books. "Wow, he's got a lot of hats." Cole said. "Yeah, who would've thought a guy super into stealing things would have too much stuff." Kai answered, walking around. I peeked around a corner and saw at least five identical hats. There were lots of old computers, consoles and radios. They had been sitting on those shelves for at least a decade. Suddenly, I felt a strong wave of energy! "What was that?" I asked. "We better keep looking. Hey there's a door back there!" Nya answered as she pointed at the back of the wall. It was covered with a shelf. Cole used his lava arms and just lifted it off. "Show off..." Kai scoffed. We opened the door and got deeper and deeper into this evil layer. We stepped into a room full of papers and broken planks. It was probably an old office. "What a mess! Maybe he should steal a broom next..." Nya said. We scattered around the room. I soon noticed that a weird symbol was drawn on everything. It was a triangle with a single line drawn upon it. "That's the same weird symbol that's on the back of that motherboard." Kai said. "It's everywhere..." Lloyd said, picking up files. "But what does it mean?" I wondered out loud. Suddenly an old computer behind Zane sprung to life! Zane gasped and turned around.

The computer was at least 15 years old. It had a red voiceline on its screen. "Did you locate the motherboard?" A deep, clearly edited voice spoke. We all looked around each other, trying to figure out what to answer. "Did you locate the motherboard!" The voice repeated, more agitated. "Yes, we did." Zane answered. "Unagami is pleased. Activate the game." The voice responded before shutting the computer down. Unagami? Who the hell is Unagami?? "Unagami? Who the frick is Unagami?" Lloyd asked out loud. I chuckled a little. We're too similar. "Let's get Jay!" Nya exclaimed.

We ran all the way back and opened the door to the hallway. "Jay, we found a clue!" Nya said, entering the room. "The mechanic's working for someone who calls himself Una- huh?" Cole stopped his sentence as we realized that the room was empty. Where's Jay? "Jay?" Lloyd called out. We spread out and tried to search for him. "Jay? Where the hell did he disappear to?" Nya wondered. "Well, he has to be here somewhere." Cole reasoned. "What if he just left early?" I asked. "By himself? Without telling us?" Nya questioned. "There is always a reasonable explanation." Zane answered. Cole turned around and touched the "Prime Empire" arcade machine. It turned on! "Would you like to enter Prime Empire?" An automated voice asked. "Wait? Jay got the game working?" Cole asked. Cole felt the sides of the machine and it clicked open. It revealed the system inside. "What's the 'reasonable explanation' for an arcade cabinet having a secret chamber?" Kai wondered. I shrugged, but then realized. "The security camera! That'll have the answers!" I said as I pointed to a security camera. I looked around for something it could be attached to. "Zane, can you pull up the video on this computer?" I asked as I pointed to a computer. Zane walked over to it and pressed a few buttons. It worked! It showed us entering the arcade. It showed Lloyd getting scared of a spiderweb. I chuckled a little. "You can fast forward this part..." He whispered, embarrassed. Zane fast forwarded a little and it showed Jay pressing the cabinet's buttons. Then a huge energy shook the camera and Jay fell down. "Whoa! Did you see that? Rewind that!" Cole said. Zane rewinded and slowed it down. "It appears to be some sort of energy wave..." Zane answered. "Well, what does that mean?" Nya asked.