Shu's POV (a few minutes before)
My grip was starting to get tired, so I was grateful when the temple-looking building came into view. Not temple - monastery, something in me corrected. More specifically, the Spinjitzu Monastery.

That sudden burst of information almost made me lose my grip entirely. Where did that come from? And what the hell is Spinjitzu?

We didn't land inside the open air courtyard, or even outside the front gates. Instead, we dropped lower, until we were miles below the Monastery. At first I didn't understand - it just looked like an ordinary area on the mountain face. Then I heard a beep from above, from where I guessed was inside the metal being, and a hidden door started to slide open in the rock. For some reason, this didn't faze me as much as it would someone who didn't know it was there. Because I realized that I did know it was there. How could I have known it was there when I've never been here?

At least... I don't think I've ever been here.

The sense of familiarity only got stronger as we flew through the door and fluorescent lights illuminated the space. Everywhere around me, I saw vehicles of every size and design lined in groups in neat long rows. Helicopters, jets, water-travel vehicles, automobiles of every kind. And weapons. Weapons everywhere and of every size and shape; weapons attached to wheels, wings, dashboards, headboards, seats, windows, and even the lightbulbs looked highly combustible. Some weapons were long range, others were detachable hand weapons for short range combat. There were also plenty of weapons that weren't attached to the vehicles. Those were hung up on the walls in trophy cases - daggers, broadswords, katanas, shields, spears, tridents, throwing stars, nunchucks, among others I couldn't name.

For any outsider, it would look like the secret bunker of a psychopathic terrorist, and would feel a sense of unease upon entering such an armored space.

But for me, the feeling felt more like... nostalgia.

Like coming home.

We were quickly approaching the floor, and it was becoming clear that I would be squashed if I did not let go of the foot in time. So when we were about two yards above the floor, I dropped and rolled off to the side, hiding behind the wheel of a massive vehicle. The roar from the jet packs masked any noise I might've made.

After the metal being had landed and the jet packs had died down completely, Valt swung down from the confines of the claws so effortlessly, I felt myself blush watching him. His loud sniffles filled the now still air, and my heart lurched with each intake. I wanted to run to him and hold him in my arms until he calmed down, but another person jumped down before I moved a muscle. I didn't see their front, but they wore a helmet that was topped with the horns that the metal being had been wearing. So it was just a suit, I realized. Why does that also seem familiar?

Then the helmet was tossed aside with a loud CLANK, revealing shiny gray hair that was done up in a ponytail. Not gray - silver. Silver hair that was almost too shiny, almost like metal. For some reason, that also seemed familiar. WHY DOES EVERYTHING HERE SEEM SO FAMILIAR?!

The person with the metal hair lead Valt down a hallway, which curiously light up a bright blue as they went down it. I meant to follow them - correction, to follow Valt - but something kept me where I was until they were out of sight. I stayed there until I was certain that neither were coming back, then I slowly unwound myself from my crouching position. For a minute, I just stood there, staring at the hallway they had disappeared down.

A voice inside me told me to go after them, but an even louder voice reminded me that I had questions, and a lot of them could be solved here.

So I hung back and took a closer look at all the stuff in the cavernous space. The vehicle I had hidden behind did have large wheels, but it they didn't draw more attention than the massive, golden drill sticking out of the front. The body and wheels themselves were black with highlights of amber and orange, with a sort of cockpit that had a covering of orange veined glass.

Earth Driller - First Driver: Cole Brookstone, generation 124. Hasn't been used in nearly six decades. A picture of a young man with a daring grin in the cockpit, messy black hair crowning his head and defiant brown eyes. He reminded me of Rantaro.

There was no plaque that said that. There was no physical picture of the young man. Somehow, I just knew who had driven it first. How do I know that?

Confused, I looked around to see if there was any other vehicle I recognized. Sitting with a solid iron anchor against the far wall was a massive wooden ship with the red head of a dragon adorning the prow. That may sound mundane, but this ship wasn't your standard pirate ship - near the stern, two wing-shaped metallic plates extended to reveal three rocket boosters each; all six were the size of plus sized cannons. They were capable of lifting a several hundred ton ship several hundred feet in the air. The bridge was outfitted with state-of-the-art computer system with round-the-clock surveillance on the criminal activity in Ninjago and other areas.

Destiny's Bounty - First used in the 124th generation; in use present day. Several pictures of several different people manning the bridge.

No plaque.

No pictures.

All in my head.

I shook my head so hard, I felt my brains rattle. How do I know that? I hadn't even seen the bridge yet, so how would I know what was up there - and what the hell is Ninjago? I may be from Japan, but I'm not even that interested in ninjas...

I felt a headache coming on, but my curiosity hadn't been peaked yet. I hadn't seen everything yet, and I hadn't seen anything that hadn't stirred some sense of familiarity.

Call me crazy, but I wanted to test the boundaries of my memory.

So I kept looking along the rows of vehicles. I had wanted to beat my mind by showing it something that it couldn't possibly remember, but I was quickly losing. Everywhere I looked, I saw people. People I had never seen before driving vehicles I could never imagine. I even found a separate hangar where several other mech suits were kept, similar to the one I had stowed away on. Nearly all of the mechs had the same pilot - the person that had led Valt away, with the metallic hair. The memories only showed me people wearing various helmets depending on the model of the mech, but somehow I knew it was the same person. PIXAL was the name that came with those memories. Only the two oldest models had a different person as the pilot; possibly the very first pilot of the mechs.

Samurai X suits 1 and 2 - First Pilot: Nya Smith, generation 124.

Why did thinking about her make me sad?

Then there were the weapons. Every free edge and angle was equipped with a sharp point. To be honest, it didn't surprise me to find that every single weapon also came with a description and a picture courtesy of my own overloaded mind. A curious group made up of different scythes and hammers was entirely used by the same man who had driven the Earth Driller. Multiple spears and tridents seemed heavily favored by people who looked like they spent a lot of time near water. Throwing stars brought forth pictures of them falling like snowflakes from the branches of snow covered trees.

From my search, whoever lived here looked like a family that liked to sling weapons around. It didn't concern me as much as it would a normal person.

Which still begged the question - how did I know all this?

But I had put off Valt long enough. Now it was time that I face him.

It took me a moment to find the hallway they had gone down (I hadn't noticed before that there were so many hallways), but once I did, it took all of my self restraint not to sprint the length. I still wasn't completely certain if this PIXAL person was friend or foe, so I didn't want to alert them to my presence, lest they moved Valt before I got there.

There were several doors, but I bypassed all of them. Somehow I knew which door he was going to be behind. The door at the very end of the hall soon appeared, beckoning to me, saying Valt is here! But just because it called to me didn't mean that its appearance was welcoming. The light was dim this far back, but I could make out the amber veins in the door, starkly  contrasted against the rest of the dark purple material.

Vengestone. An Element's worst enemy.

I slowed down to shake my head once more. Okay, WHERE is all of this coming from? What the hell is an "Element"?

I came to the door. Maybe he can tell me.

The door had no handle, only a keypad on the left side of the door frame. Though as I looked closer, I realized that there were no letters or numbers - only a bunch of symbols that I didn't recognize. But something in me certainly did, because the next thing I knew, my fingers were lifting to the pad and I was typing out three separate series of symbols, with a small green light flashing after each:

(11/26/14;    11/18/20;     5/23/21)
(Whoever knows what happened in the Ninjago universe on these dates... fitting passwords for a room where you're supposed to cry, huh? And I know that Evolution didn't happen in these time frames, but again, fitting numbers for a password no one else is supposed to know, right?)

The patterns meant nothing to me, but something inside me lurched after I finished each password. My eyes even became wet.

Nevertheless, the door opened after I punched in the last number. I was met with the image of a magnificent oak tree sculpture, which looked like it was made out of the same material as the door. Glass orbs with what looked like flames lit in them were hung from the lower branches, but the light they cast was weak compared to the blue light coming from behind the tree. It looked almost electric, and I heard quiet sniffling on the other side.

Valt.

Something in me told me not to disturb the tranquility of the space, so I took my time about getting over there and took only the tiniest of steps upon the gray grass. When I got close enough to peer around the trunk of the tree, I should have been shocked at what I saw - Valt cuddled in the arms of the metallic haired person, sniffling softly with glowing blue tears streaming from his closed eyes. The tears formed a perfect river down his face, across his chest, over his legs, and onto the grass. Once there, they didn't soak into the ground, instead forming a glowing puddle that was growing by the second. Tiny spurts of electricity snapped ferociously above the surface, almost as if it was angry about something.

All in all, not the weirdest thing I had seen all day.

The person with metallic hair - PIXAL - had their face turned towards Valt, so I didn't see them fully at first. But I guess I made some sort of sound, because they looked up and fixed me with bright green eyes.

Suddenly, I found that I knew practically everything about her.

Her name was PRIMITIVE INTERACTIVE EXTERNAL ASSISTANT LIFEFORM, or PIXAL for short. She had been created by Cyrus Borg to be an android assistant - not the first of her kind, but her fifteen predecessors had burned out too quickly due to a faulty thermo-coil and a malfunctioning emotion suppresser chip. (source: Ninjago Fandom) During the Nindroid Invasion, she had temporarily been under the influence of the Overlord and created an army of Nindroids, but the Elemental Masters of that time had snapped her out of it. The Master of Ice at the time, Zane Julien, who was also an android, instantly took a liking to her and even shared half of his heart with her when her own power supply was cut. She helped the Elemental Masters win that battle and several others afterwards. As the years progressed, she kept learning about the Masters, their allies, their fighting styles. She learned so much that on the late Master Wu's deathbed, he appointed her as the next teacher for the future generations. She'd taught nearly two hundred generations of Masters since.

I nearly fell backwards with the onslaught of information and memories. This was crazy. I myself had never seen this woman before, yet somehow I knew her entire life story. HOW?

Her green eyes widened when she saw my reaction. "Do you recognize me?" She asked, whispering for Valt's sake.

I nodded, shaking in my boots. "How, though...?" I asked in a low voice, wanting answers.

PIXAL stared at me for a few moments, blinking slowly. Then her metallic lips stretched into a warm smile and she shifted Valt in her arms until he was a couple of inches off of her body. "I have to work on something. Do you mind taking him, and try not to move him? It would probably mean a lot to him if he woke up in the arms of his friend rather than the arms of his teacher." She laughed quietly. "It definitely would be more comfortable!"

"J-just like that?" I asked, startled. I may have feelings for Valt, but the position they were in seemed a little too personal. Plus, Valt had seemed pretty upset with me when he left; how would he feel if he woke up with me holding him?

"Of course," PIXAL said, misreading my discomfort. "Moving him into a different position will wake him up, and it's important that he sleeps, in order to calm down. I'm not sure what you remember regarding his tears, but they are no laughing matter."

Something in me confirmed that she was right, but I didn't fully understand. So I carefully skirted the outside of the glowing puddle and approached the bench on which they sat. PIXAL waited until I sat beside her, then carefully transitioned Valt's sleeping body over to me until he was propped up the exact same way he had been with her. Then she stood up and faced me again. "I'll give you two some privacy to talk about... things. Don't worry," She added when I started to protest. "I'll just be right outside. If you need anything, just call for me." She gave me a thumbs up, then rounded the tree.

I blinked at her abruptness. That was weird. But looking down at Valt's troubled face, I realized I didn't give a damn. Allowing a smile to turn my mouth, I closed my eyes and rested my head on his.

I had my Valt back. No way in hell I was letting him go again.

———————-
2587 words.

Anyone who gets any of these references, you are my bestie!