Sorry for the long absence, I needed to take a break after New Year's (and I have a lot of alerts to catch up on now!).

Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago.

This story is set between seasons 4 and 5.

In his Head

P.I.X.A.L.

Today is Thursday, it is 1:37:42 am. It has been 19 days, 15 hours, 26 minutes and 11.4 seconds since Zane installed my module in his system.

One could say that we are still getting used to each other at the moment. Just as Zane is adapting to his new – upgraded – titanium body.

We share many functions, for example I have access to his main power source and the external sensors on his – our – body, but we each have our own disk space as well. Zane has provided me with me my own partition on his hard drive and I do not have access to some of his private data, like his memories from the time before we met. And although I could easily decode his disk encryption algorithm, my own program does not allow me to do so. Maybe he will share some of these with me in the future.

My application runs from my own separate processing unit with a rechargeable battery. I therefore can remain active when Zane shuts down his system or performs maintenance operations, just as he does right now.

I never 'sleep' as my program was developed to operate 24/7.

But every night, when his brothers (although they are not related to him at all) are asleep, Zane reboots his system to clear his RAM. Afterwards he runs a defragmentation of his hard drive as well as a full virus scan. His new upgraded hardware would allow him to perform all these tasks during normal operation without a restart, but he still insists on doing it during the night while shutting down all non-essential functions. He told me that he is used to doing it that way as that it makes him feel more normal – more like what he calls before.

Afterwards he usually remains in energy saving mode, meaning that all his motoric functions are on stand-by, and we talk. Due to our connected processors, we could exchange data a lot faster, but we both enjoy this form of communication, although we have to set the output volume to minimum level in order not to wake up his – our – teammates.

Over the past weeks, we have already learned a lot about each other. But I know there is something else, something Zane does not tell me – or anyone. I have kept record of the time he needs to run his maintenance operations after the restart. And it always takes a lot longer than it should, based on the amount of new data he has acquired and calculations he has performed during the day. And Zane has never mentioned any problems with his hard- or software that could have caused this discrepancy between the calculated and actual duration.

I am starting to consider the possibility of my AIE-ES (Artifical Intelligence Enhancer – Emotion Suppressor) chip being defective, for not only can I find no rational explanation for my observation, but also… I miss Zane when he is offline.

Incoming call for P.I.X.A.L. from TheRealSkyWalker.

My 'thoughts' are suddenly interrupted and my Personal Assistant mode immediately takes over, before I even get to start wondering who could be the one contacting me – and at this unusual time. "Good morning. My name is P.I.X.A.L., the Primary Interactive X-ternal Assistant Life Form. How can I help you?"

And… who are you and how were you able to contact me? I want to add, but these questions are not part of my standard greeting.

"Hi P.I.X.A.L. This is Jay."

The analysis of his voice confirms the blue ninja's identity and I can detect that he is both tired and nervous. Jay still acts rather uncomfortably around me. While Zane may be one of his closest and most trusted friends, he still has not forgiven me for revealing - and repeatedly confirming - Cole's identity as Nya's Perfect Match. But numbers never lie.

"Hello Jay." I reply. "I am very sorry but Zane is currently unavailable."
"I know. I actually wanted..." He hesitates briefly. "… to talk to you."

This statement takes me by surprise, but I do not respond. Judging from his outgoing personality, I expect Jay to answer all my open questions without me asking them.

And he does.

"I know that Zane always shuts down his system around this time, we've been monitoring his pattern. And in case you are wondering how I am talking to you without accessing any of Zane's functions, I am calling from a phone that we hacked with Zane's Techno Blade.

We knew that you had a hidden communication function. From… when you were controlled by the Digital Overlord. And when Zane used the Techno Blade to free you, it only altered the code but didn't erase it. So, all we had to do was to adjust the frequency and… well, here we go."

Jay sounds very proud of himself and I have to admit that I am quite impressed by his achievement. He must be a lot smarter than his usual immature behaviour suggests. But I still do not know why they – during his explanation Jay has always referred to us – went through such an effort.

"The reason we wanted to talk to you – oh, by the way that's Cole, Kai, Lloyd and Nya here with me, we're in the Game room." Zane's eyes are closed and I cannot access his optical sensors, so I have to believe him that Zane and I are currently on our own in the bunk room. "Anyway." Jay continues rambling. "We are wondering how Zane's been doing since… well, you know… *cough*… ahem… it's just that we all feel that he might be… hiding something from us. Whenever we even just mention his new body, he'll always switch topics straight away. We are all worried about our brother. And…" I can hear him take a deep breath. "We need your help. Please."

Worried: anxious or troubled about actual or potential problems.

I may not be very familiar with human emotions and do not have this so-called gut feeling (or even a sixth sense like Zane), but my analysis of his recent behaviour agrees with their conclusion that something is troubling Zane. And I want to find out what it is and support him. After all, we are compatible.

"What do you need me to do?" I say without hesitation.

The next morning, Zane and I are up early. He prepares scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast and we have a light conversation about some new movie releases we would like to watch.

"Good morning." We hear an overly cheerful voice coming from the kitchen door. It is Jay, trying to hide the fact that he is slightly sleep-deprived. "What a lovely day today."

"Good morning Jay." Zane replies politely. "And I agree, it is dry and the mild temperatures are ideal to have today's training lessons outside."

I will never understand why humans enjoy talking about the weather. During my previous occupation, 84% of all visitors waiting for their appointment with Mr Borg wanted to have a conversation about the conditions outside, so I have been programmed to regularly receive the latest weather reports for the whole continent of Ninjago.

And the famous ninja are no exception, for the discussion about the pleasant conditions and their effect on the ninja's training schedule continues during our meal. When everyone has finished eating, Zane gets up to take the used dishes to the kitchen.

This is my cue. I briefly interrupt the motor functions in his right hand, causing him to drop the whole pile of plates with a loud crash.

"What happened to me?" Zane asks me and everyone else in the room, looking at his now empty hands in surprise. And for the first time ever since my activation, I am going to tell a lie:

"I do not know."

My answer comes .65 seconds too soon to be the result of even just a basic system check, but luckily Zane is still too perplexed to notice. And, as agreed, his teammates immediately take advantage of his confused state.

"If P.I.X.A.L. couldn't find anything, it's probably not a major problem with the processor or the software." Cole 'comforts' him.

"Maybe it's just a loose wire." Jay suggests. "Let me check the connections in your arm."

Before he can protest, Kai and Lloyd each grab one of Zane's arms and lead him to the small and very untidy workshop below. I notice, however, that Jay appears to know the exact location of every single item required. While his teammates are watching in the background,

Jay carefully checks all electronic connections in Zane's right arm and hand, well knowing that there is nothing actually wrong with them. But all they wanted was an opportunity to talk to Zane about his titanium form, without the chance for him to evade the topic.

"Wow, I didn't know that you're using glass fibre cables now. No wonder your reflexes are even faster now than they used to be." The blue ninja remarks. "This is soooo cool." I remember him acting like a child at Christmas when he first met Mr Borg, so Jay's excitement about the advanced technology inside Zane's new body must be true.

"You really think that's cool?" Zane is astonished. "Does it not bother you that I am now based on exactly the same hardware as Cryptor and all the other nindroids?"

"Hey, you're still the Master of Ice, so you'll always be the coolest of us." Jay chuckles. "And just having the same technology as them doesn't make you evil… Remember, you were created to protect not to destroy?"

"But… I am... not… unique anymore..."

At this moment, the other ninja and Nya join in the conversation.

"Of course you are." The female samurai firmly states. And Lloyd confirms: "You are still Zane, our friend and brother."

"And if you think about it, the rest of us all share kind of the same physiology, but that does not make us identical either." Cole adds

"Yeah, I am way more attractive than dirtclod here…" Kai comments.

"We can maybe discuss this later, during training." Cole threats the Master of Fire. "But the point is that we don't care whether you are the white ninja or the titanium ninja…"

Cole begins but gets interrupted by Jay. "…or even the pink ninja who saved our butts from the Serpentine…" Mmh, maybe Zane will share this memory with me if I ask nicely…

"Thank you Jay. Anyway, what I am trying to say is that even if you look different on the outside, you are still the same old Zane inside…"

"You obviously did not pay attention earlier. As Jay has just mentioned, my inner hardware is new as well." Zane retorts.

When the ninja and Nya do not know how to respond to this argument, Zane bursts out laughing. "Which, by the way, now lets me activate my humour switch remotely."

"Yeah, but your sense of humour could use an upgrade." Jay mumbles but gives us a wide grin. "Does that mean you're feeling better now?"

"I do, thank you." Zane replies. "But what about my earlier blunder?"

Jay blushes. "Uh, I-I can't find anything wrong with your connections, maybe it was just a little surge... I am sure… this… uhm… won't happen again."

He must have a lot more experience than me in telling lies, but Jay is still even less skilled at it. But he quickly covers it by pulling us in a firm embrace which is soon joined by our other friends.

"Promise you will always tell us when something bothers you." Kai tells Zane.

"Well, there is something else." Zane admits. "I do not only feel… different, but I also feel … incomplete."

A moment of silence follows. I am wondering what he could be missing. And why he has not mentioned it before...

"I have not been able to re-establish connection to my Falcon." He finally continues. "Every night, I have been trying to locate him. Every night, I have been looking through CCTV footage from all over Ninjago, but… there has not been a trace of him since… my previous body got destroyed."

I finally understand what he has been doing after his system check.

"Why didn't you tell us this before?" Cole enquires.

"Because I am not the only one who has lost someone close to his heart." Zane answers, carefully looking at Lloyd.

"But I would still be happy for you if we were able to find the Falcon." The green ninja smiles at Zane. "Besides, he has helped us so many times and is kind of part of our team. And a ninja never leaves another ninja behind, right?"

We are in the control room.

The large screen is split into 16 small screens showing footage from 16 CCTV cameras in parallel in fast-reverse mode. I have modified my automatic face recognition algorithm with the specifications of Zane's falcon and have uploaded it to main computer of the Destiny's Bounty. But so far, we have not been successful.

"What if he doesn't want to be found?" My software identifies the voice coming from behind us as Cole's.

Zane turns around. "What do you mean? Why would he hide from me?"

"Because the Falcon didn't know what happened to you. When he lost the connection, he must have assumed the worst – that you wouldn't come back." He looks down. "Just like we did…"

"Are you suggesting that he could actually have been programmed to hide somewhere, in case something would ever happen to me?"

"Maybe to make sure that he wouldn't fall into the wrong hands…"

"Yeah, just like some fish who return to their birthplace when they feel like their time has come to die…" Jay joins into the conversation.

"This is not entirely true." Zane corrects him. "They return to their birthplace with the aim to reproduce, and then they pass away."

"Whatever." Jay grins. "Still has the same outcome: They are dead."

Cole sighs. "Yes, but this is not about being right, this is about finding the falcon…"

"You just don't want to admit that I was right."

"You. Were. Not. Right."

While the black and blue ninja continue bickering, Zane and I are already on our way upstairs. Jay may be a fast talker, but the human brain is still slow at processing relevant information.

"There is a 94.2% probability of him being there." I tell Zane. I do no need to add who and which location I am referring to.

On deck, Zane conjures his titanium dragon and I direct him to follow the fastest, most direct route to Birchwood Forest.

We soon arrive at the birch tree with the entrance to Dr Julien's underground workshop. In front of the door we find the broken body of a black mechanical bird.

I scan the marks on his torso. "It looks like someone or something heavy must have stepped on him." I conclude. "But these particular footprints are not in my database."

"Treehorns." Zane simply states. "He must have been weakened when he arrived here. It is a long flight from New Ninjago City for a small bird."

He gently picks up the destroyed Falcon and we take it down to the laboratory. Zane carefully places him on his late father's desk.

We are just looking at the mechanical creature, when the rest of the team finally join us.

"You know you could have said something instead of just disappearing." Jay complains. But then he sees the small figure on the desk. "Di-did you find him?" He gasps.

"We did indeed." Zane confirms. "But he is badly damaged."

Nya steps forward. "Can I have a look? Maybe we can still fix him." When Zane nods silently, she puts on a pair of safety goggles and takes some precision tools from Dr Julien's toolbox.

She then opens a cover on the Falcon's torso to reveal the mechanical core. It looks surprisingly intact. As she carefully disassembles the movement, I notice that Jay silently watches every action of her hands and hands her the correct tools exactly at the right time when needed, unconsciously ensuring that their hands never touch each other directly.

When the motherboard has been uncovered, they switch roles. Jay puts on a pair of thin and surprisingly clean cotton gloves while Nya takes off the glasses and places them on his nose. Using a pair of coated tweezers, Jay slowly disconnects the processor as well as the small data chip, still without saying a single word.

"Here we go." He hands them to Zane before taking off the goggles and rubbing his forehead. "P.I.X.A.L., can you check them for me, please?"

"My scan indicates a 98% chance that both are still intact and functional. It appears that the electronic core was well protected from damage. We should be able to transfer his software and data to a new, upgraded processor."

Everyone sighs in relief.

"That's great news!" Kai exclaims.

"Yes, but that was kind of the only good news." Nya immediately dampens her brother's good mood. "I didn't want to say it earlier while we were still working on it, but the other parts of the Falcon are pretty much beyond repair. We might be able to save a few mechanical parts, but there is no way we can fix his body."

She slumps down on the ground, looking equally exhausted and disappointed. "I am very sorry, Zane."

"But… why can't we make him a new body?" Lloyd asks shyly.

"The runt is right, his old blueprints should still be somewhere around here." Jay says excitedly. He extends a hand to help Nya get up. "Maybe you could even make him a bit more robust…"

Kai smirks. "Yeah, what about titanium?"

Nya smiles weakly. "I could try..."

"And as long as we have his old program and his memories, he'll still be the same." Cole adds.

Zane agrees. "Yes, you are right. He will be the same old bird in a shiny new body."

He must have given me access to some additional functions of his, for I sense that the Falcon might not be the only one he is referring to.

Writing this POV was very… interesting :). And I am not an expert in computer systems so I've probably made some mistakes and used incorrect terms!

When working on my Christmas specials, I really had a lot of fun writing the canon-based one-shots (and I am definitely planning to continue them next Christmas ). But at the same time I was struggling a lot with my AU stories (and still am), so I have decided to put those on hold for a while and do some more canon-based one-shots and smaller projects instead.

I already have a few more ideas/plot outlines, but I am also happy to take requests/suggestions for one-shots (characters, settings, and/or themes)!

Rules are: K-T rating, has to fit in the canon universe and use canon characters (though not restricted to main characters) and canon pairings (if romantic!) only.

Thanks!