The plot of this chapter is going to be very similar to a specific episode of a specific series in this chapter. Please PLEASE guess and comment which episode of which series it is BEFORE you reach the end. I will say which episode it is at the end of the chapter.

Also, an OC very important to Jin will be making an appearance in this chapter. She is owned by NightBear15 .

Warning: slight Jin angst throughout these parts

No One's POV
It was an ordinary day at the Monastery. PIXAL had given the boys a set of stations to alternate between on a quarterly schedule: the Balance Exercise, weights, training dummies to practice kicks and punches on, and bamboo poles were set up to better improve their balance and core strength. PIXAL walked from station to station, giving advice and improving their form when it was needed. Every boy was hard at work adjusting their fighting styles.

Every boy, that is, except one particular spirit-obsessed boy.

Jin Aizawa was sitting on the low porch, phone pressed against his ear, an exasperated look on his usually tired face. He wasn't training because he was busy consoling his mother figure of the past two years.

"Yes, Night," He said for what felt like the hundredth time. "I'm having fun at my ninjitsu lessons. The teacher is really nice, and a lot of my blader friends are here with me."

"Are you sure, sweetie?" Night's worried voice filled his ear. Whenever she spoke, she could either make someone feel happy and at ease or scared for their life. With Jin, though, she always used her gentle voice. She had a soft spot for the sleepy blader - always wanting the best for him. "Maybe I should come over and see how things are going."

Jin froze. "Uh...sure," He stuttered, his eyes widening with each syllable. "You should...come and...visit." Then he decided to take in the events of the courtyard to decide if that was truly a good idea or not.

PIXAL, decked out in her plain training garb, was currently spotting Xander, Lui, Honcho, and Free at the Balance Exercise, keeping an eye on the three boys in case they started to tip. They were among the few boys in their group that could cycle their legs and push their bodies up and down while also alternating hands. They still couldn't handle the clay weights, but it was a start.

"1,557...1,558," PIXAL counted as the boys pushed up, alternated, then came down. When they started to lag, she gently yet firmly tapped their midsections. "PUT SOME MUSCLE IN IT," She goaded them on, accenting each syllable with her taps.

Lui glared at her from where he was currently paused in the "between" position. "If you keep doing that, I'm gonna splat on these stones, and my blood will literally be on your hands," He warned.

"If that were to happen, I could easily stitch you up - it wouldn't be the first time something like that happened, though never with a lot of blood," PIXAL told him, unaware how the last part made the four boys shudder.

"And Lui, you are aware that if you were to land on the cobblestones hard enough for your blood to reach PIXAL's hands, you'd be dead, right?" Xander, ever the medical trainee, inquired; he was still going strong with his lifts and switches. The blue flame haired boy blanched, having not thought of that.

"If you want to get technical about it, your blood would be on her shoes, not her hands," Free added, continuing with his set as well.

"CAN WE NOT TALK ABOUT THIS WHILE WE ARE ATTEMPTING TO NOT FACE-PLANT?" Honcho broke in loudly, shaking on his hands. His skin had gotten white enough to make his blonde hair seem dark.

Jin bit his lip nervously and looked somewhere else.

Orochi, Quon, Valt, Shu, and Kit were going at it on the training dummies, making a steady rhythm with their feints and connections with the polyester covering. The pattern was actually becoming pretty catchy, something Orochi took note of, having spent some time with a maestro father and a Bey Club of musicians. He started to spit out verses: "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes, then back up to the chest; I'll punch and kick 'till you're red and sore, then you can guess the rest!"

Picking up on the rhythm, Quon put out his own rhymes: "Blow to the noggin, blow to the spleen; make you tender till you could pass for 'lean'!"

Valt joined in with his own chorus: "Duck and dodge, punch and kick, then do it all again! If you didn't want a beating, then you SHOULD have made OTHER plans!" Shu smiled at the beautiful sound of his boyfriend's singing. He wasn't one for rhymes, instead choosing to speed up his attacks on his dummy to add to the tempo.

"Our fists are fast as lightning; our legs make your bones need tightening! If you get too close, you get a head butt; you'll do a double take - make you say WHAT! Want to cause some chaos - too bad! All you did was make us steaming mad; hope you've cleared your schedule, 'cause once we're done with you, you've got a room in ja-ILLLLLLLL!"

The quartet stopped in their musical advances, searching for the source of that sudden burst of lyrics. To their surprise, it came from Kit, who was still humming as he continued hitting his dummy. However, he soon took notice of the sudden absence in accompanying sound and stopped to look at his teammates. "What?" He inquired. "Was it something I said? Mom taught me never to use curse words, so..."

Fortunately, that didn't seem to be the issue. "DANG, little dude!" Orochi exclaimed, a look of admiration in his gray eyes. "That was some pretty awesome rhyme work!"

"Yeah!" Valt added, his brown eyes shining as he nodded his approval. "I didn't know you could rap, let alone that fast!"

Kit's face turned a vibrant red and he averted his eyes, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly while a small smile pulled at his lips. "S-sometimes I rap w-when I'm alone," He stuttered shyly. "I-it's nothing much."

Quon's head dipped down in a respective nod. "Maybe in your dull ears, but our fresh ears are bowing to that," He told the younger blader. He held out his fist. "Respect, kid." Kit's smile widened and he bumped Quon's fist with his own.

Shu slung his arm around Valt's shoulders, who glanced at him warmly. "Shall we get back to it?" The albino asked the group. At their collective nod, he proposed, "Let's do it faster, and a bit louder."

Jin winced as the group went back to rhythmically beating the dummies, this time harder and faster. He just hoped Night wouldn't hear the racket and the morbid lyrics through the phone and get the wrong idea. Then he turned as another voice filled the courtyard.

"Go easy on those things, you guys," Yugo demanded. "I want a piece of that polyester, too, and it takes way too long to get another one from storage!" He, Wakiya, Fubuki, Boa, and Ren Wu were at the weight station, which was right before the training dummies. The four older boys all had weights ranging from 45 - 60 while Fubuki was lifting 15 pounds. The poor boy kept shooting envious looks towards the heavier weights, and was noticeably curling his arms more forcibly than the other boys.

Wakiya, ever the narcissist, took notice of this and smirked. He made sure Fubuki saw him, then he made a show of putting his 60 lb weights back on the rack and picking up the 65 lb weights. With Fubuki still staring at him, he slowly and deliberately curled his muscles.

It wasn't in words, but it was a challenge nonetheless. The fiery glint in Fubuki's eyes burned brighter and he nodded in acceptance to the challenge. With Wakiya's eyes on him, he put his weights back on the rack and reached for the 30 lb weights. Boa, who had been watching the exchange and had been through something similar at the Snake Pit, stopped his hands. "Trust me, kid, it ain't worth it."

Fubuki pouted while Wakiya scoffed. "Come on, what's the big deal?" He asked snottily.

"The big deal is you're challenging a nine year old to a weight-off!" Ren Wu told him, brandishing his own 55 lb weights.

"So?" The Murasaki heir asked, shrugging with the weights still in his hands. "Kid's gotta get stronger somehow!"

"I don't think it's wise to just tease him like that," Yugo broke in. "What if he hurts himself?"

"If he's smart, he won't," Wakiya insisted, sounding bored. He glanced at Fubuki. "You wouldn't hurt yourself; would ya, kid?" Boa shielded the younger boy with his body, a defensive scowl on his face.

The four older boys continued to bicker about Wakiya's irresponsibility, Fubuki looking awkward behind Boa. It eventually got to the point that Wakiya got so annoyed, he attempted to drop his weights on their feet. They all saw the danger coming and jumped out of the way, but the weights hit the cobblestones with a resounding CLACK that Jin was sure Night could hear through the receiver.

As PIXAL temporarily left the Balance Exercise station to deal with what was happening at the weight station, Jin looked at the last station to see if there was something, anything, about it that Night would approve of.

The bamboo poles stretched about 10 feet in the air, and were just wide enough for an average sized foot to balance squarely on either end. Temporary wooden ladder steps lined the sides so the boys didn't over exert themselves just by attempting to climb up. Each boy had to carefully alternate between balancing on his left foot and right foot on the top of a bamboo pole for the duration of 15 minutes. At the moment, Daigo, Naoki, Cuza, Ukyo, and Ken were standing precariously on one foot each on the five poles, having a birds eye view of the drama going on down below.

"Ten bucks says Lui stomps off before Honcho splats," Cuza dared Naoki, keeping his golden eyes on the Balance Exercise station.

"I'll take that bet," Naoki agreed, calculating the statistics of the situation. "Kiyama's sweating and muscle spasms are increasing steadily by the second. He'll either lose his vision and misplace his hand or shake to the point that he can no longer hold himself upright." He smirked at the acrobat blader. "Either way, I'll win."

Cuza smirked back at him. "You're on!"

"I'd shake your hand to make it official if it wouldn't lead to my demise," Naoki told him, eyeing the daunting drop below them.

Cuza, having grown up in a circus and was used to heights like this, laughed jauntily. "You'll get used to it, Science Boy!" Both boys returned their attention to the station below, now watching with rapt focus.

Daigo and Ken were listening to the rap song in the works in the training dummy station. Daigo was nodding his head along with the tempo, his spiky black updo swaying. "Not bad," He murmured. "That's going to be a hit, mark my words."

Ken, on the other hand, looked uncomfortable. "I don't know about the lyrics," He admitted. "They're a little too gore-y for my taste."

Daigo looked at him incredulously. "WHERE is the gore?" He asked him. "There is no gore! Look, I'll get a second opinion." He turned to the other members of their group. "Cuza? What do you think?"

"Can't talk now; too busy making sure I win," Cuza said over his shoulder, not taking his eyes off of a smoldering Lui and a shaking Honcho.

"That goes for me, too; so don't ask!" Naoki added.

Daigo rolled his eyes and turned to the last member of their group. "Ukyo, what about you? Gore or no?"

The Shadow Walker was silent. In fact, he didn't seem to be listening to the conversations around him at all. He was staring very intently at the weight station, watching the heated conversation as PIXAL tried to pull apart the older boys while Fubuki looked on worriedly. His hands hung limp at his sides and his mouth made a small o shape, with his cheeks dusted with a slight pink.

"Ukyo?" Daigo asked again. When he still didn't respond, he tried it louder: "UKYO!!"

The cyan haired blader was startled out of his reverie, wobbling dangerously on his pole. Crying out slightly, he swayed widely with his arms going to and fro before finally surrendering to gravity and dropping the 10 feet.

At the resounding WHAM that brought the focus of the entire courtyard, Night spoke to Jin again through the phone, this time with a more concerned tone, "Jin? What's going on over there?"

Remembering that he was on the phone with one of the most dangerous people he knew, Jin quickly tried to play it off. "Uh, yeah, everything's fine!"

"For some reason, I don't believe you," Night said cooly. "When should I come over? Come to think of it, you never told me the address of the dojo you take these so called 'lessons' in..."

Jin started to sweat. "Uh, you can come over..." He swallowed, then blurted out, "JUST NOT TODAY!!"

Night was quiet for a moment, then said in an even icier tone, "Why not?"

Jin started to sweat more as he tried to come up with an excuse. Night had the uncanny ability to sniff out a lie, and Jin had never had to stretch the truth to her before. But for some reason, he felt he had to, this one time.

"Jin."

"Uhhhhhh...SOME OF THE BOYS GOT THE FLU AND THE TEACHER DOESN'T WANT US TO SPREAD IT! ON THAT NOTE, I'M GONNA HAVE TO STAY THE NIGHT. Or two." Jin exploded. For a second, he was content with his answer. Then the reality of what he just said came crashing down and he winced right before Night had her own explosion.

"WHAT??!! JIN-"

"I-I GOTTA GO, NAOKI JUST PUKED!!" Jin broke in, quickly pulling his phone away from his ear and pressing the END CALL icon. He put the metal rectangle in his lap and took a deep, cleansing breath. Then he realized that the entire courtyard was staring at him. "What?"

"Was that your mother you were speaking to just now?" PIXAL asked gently, striding over to him. "Night, was her name?"

Jin sighed. "Adoptive mother, yes," He admitted.

"W-wait, you were talking to NIGHT?" Naoki yelled from atop his pole. He climbed down the bamboo and sprinted over to Jin so fast, it was a wonder how he wasn't the Master of Speed. "Y-you didn't say anything bad about me, did you??" He questioned Jin, looking slightly panicked.

"Dude, why are you so afraid of Jin's mom?" Quon asked, coming up to the small group with his hands on his hips. "She doesn't sound THAT scary."

Naoki rounded on him, his eyes wide. "You don't know Night," He seethed. "Trust me, even the devil is afraid of her!"

Quon looked over the scientist's shoulder at Jin, who only nodded knowingly.

"Jin, you know your mother is always welcome to visit," PIXAL told him. "Part of the learning process of the Masters is the fact that there is a healthy relationship with student, guardian, and the curriculum. If she's curious, it's only right that we have her over."

Naoki eyes widened. "No, we really don't!" He exclaimed at the same time Jin said, "That's not necessary."

PIXAL cocked her head, sending a shiny ripple through the sunlight on the cobblestones. "Jin, is there something you're not telling us?" She asked the sleepy blader.

His pale skin flushed. "Uhhh...no?"

"You sure?" Orochi asked from where he was leaning against a training dummy. "'Cause I'm pretty sure I overheard you tell your mama that you were taking ninjitsu lessons."

PIXAL's eyes widened and she whipped her head around to stare at Jin. "You lied to your mother?" She asked incredulously. "The whole point of being able to come here was being honest with your guardian!"

Jin grit his teeth and glared at Orochi. "Can't you keep those big ears of yours to yourself for once?" He growled.

"Can't - these perfect ears are both a blessing and a curse," Orochi replied with a shrug, though he held a self-satisfied smirk.

"JIN," PIXAL said firmly; it was almost as intimidating as Night's warning.

Jin winced, as if the very deed pained him. "Because I couldn't tell her!" He admitted mournfully. "Look, I love Night to pieces, I really do. She took me in when I couldn't take living with my alcoholic of a dad anymore. She's the closest thing I have to a mom since my own died." A sweet smile graced his lips while a lovely pink tinted his cheeks as he described his mother figure. "But she can be a bit of a...how do I put this..."

"Overprotective mother?" PIXAL supplied.

"Nosy Nancy?" Daigo added from where he was still balancing on his pole.

"Crazy kook with psychopathic issues?" Naoki broke in.

Jin blinked at their answers. "I was gonna say a bit of a Mama Bear," He revealed, exasperated.

"If that's the analogy you're going with, I'd say she's more of a Mama Shark then a Mama Bear," Naoki told him. At Jin's glare, he threw up his hands. "What?! Don't tell me I'm wrong!"

"Wait, wait, why exactly are you wigging out about this?" Boa spoke up, joining the group. "Isn't she Jin's mom?"

Naoki glanced at Jin, who shook his head slightly. "Let's just say me and her have had more than a few encounters," The sciencist relinquished.

Choosing to ignore the fact that the two were obviously keeping an even bigger secret, PIXAL once again faced Jin. "So why haven't you told your mother about your heritage?" She asked him. "Did she even see the letter I sent to inform you of it?"

"No, because she'd say no and pretend that we never got the letter. I was curious, though, so I didn't tell her about it. Instead, I told her I was going to train at the park, then met up with Naoki and teleported to the Monastery for Orientation. Of course she was suspicious when I got home over two hours later, so I made up an excuse that I joined a ninjitsu class, which wasn't a complete lie."

"I still have yet to see why you chose to do so," PIXAL informed him coolly.

Jin sighed. "Because she'd try to stop me from coming here! If she came here, not only would she find out that I was lying, but when she sees the danger we out ourselves in everyday when we train here, she'll use it as an excuse for her to pull me out!" He looked down at his hands, which were shaking. "I love her, but...I don't want to leave. I want to learn more about my family and what I have. And I can only do that here."

"Okay, now I think you're exaggerating," PIXAL told him, holding up a metallic hand. "The training we do here isn't that dangerous."

At that moment, Honcho finally decided to let gravity take effect. He tilted on his left hand, crashing into Lui, then Free, then finally Xander. The fours' sides hit the cobblestones with a painful sounding THUD, letting out simultaneous moans of pain. In the background, Cuza groaned while Naoki cried out in triumph. "Ha! You owe me ten bucks, Circus Boy!"

"Oh, shut it!" Cuza called back, hopping off his pole.

"Wait - you guys were betting on this?" Honcho called from on top of the domino pile.

"You can kill them after I have a go at them," Lui growled.

"You can both have a go at them once you three get off me!" Xander exploded from underneath the pile.

Free said nothing. Soft snores could be heard from inside the tangle of bodies.

Jin watched this exchange, then turned back to PIXAL with raised eyebrows. "Really? Nothing we do is dangerous?" He asked. Then he smiled and laughed. "This place may be a safety hazard, but it's a second home. I don't want to leave that."

"Is that the only reason, or is it also because you really LOVE us?" Valt piped up, smiling widely and making a heart shape with his hands.

"Don't push it," Jin told him blandly.

PIXAL gave a small smile and helped Jin to his feet. "Young Wind Master, I promise you - if and when, and I do believe there will be a when, your private life and your mother ever come to meet, I will greet her with open arms, I will answer all of her questions, I will do everything in my power to-"

All of a sudden, a loud beeping noise filled the courtyard, accompanied by a robotic voice sounding eerily similar to PIXAL's saying, "Unknown entry attempt. Enter password to properly proceed." Having never heard the sound before, the boys started to panic and get into various comical fighting stances. PIXAL waved aside their attempts at playing the hero and stepped towards the doors. "It's probably just a wayward bird, the ones around here tend to race each other..."

But that theory was quickly shut down as soon as the group heard a shrill feminine voice from beyond the doors, "NO, I DON'T KNOW THE GODDAMN PASSWORD - WHAT ALPHABET EVEN IS THIS?!! JUST LET ME SEE MY SON!! JIN!! ARE YOU HERE??"

Jin's eyes widened. "It's her - it's Night!" He whispered urgently, tugging on PIXAL's arm agitatedly.

"Wha - how?" Shu choked out in shock, hugging an equally shocked Valt to his chest. "How did she even get here?"

"Don't know, don't care - I'll be in the lab," Naoki said hurriedly, rushing up the steps, across the porch, and into the Monastery.

"I'm going with ya," Honcho yelled after him, running into the Monastery as well.

"I don't care, but if it means I get a quiet nap, I'll join you," Free said tiredly, briskly walking into the Monastery after them. Soon after, the sound of the elevator lowering spilled out of the open door.

"Cowards!" Yugo called after them.

As Night continued to call for Jin and bang on the door, the Ghost Boy started to get antsy. "She's not going to stop until she gets in," He said knowingly. He looked at PIXAL, with her shiny white and purple exterior, gleaming silver hair, and glowing green eyes. "Can't you do something about that?"

PIXAL blinked down at him. "What?"

"I don't think Night is going to like the fact that her son is being taught by someone with a literal computer for a brain!" Jin told her hotly. "Come on, you have every other freaky robotic ability - is it that big of a stretch to assume that you can also change your appearance?"

"Or you could just be honest with her," PIXAL told him just as hotly. She was quite proud of her Nindroid appearance and didn't appreciate that she was being told to hide it.

"I'll think about that as soon as we get her out of the line of fire from the security system," Jin replied hurriedly, rushing over to the doors. On the first day of training, PIXAL had explained to the boys the statistics of the security system to them in detail. If the doors weren't open, a person had to either enter the four passwords or be invited in by a Master. They had three tries to enter the passwords, and if a Master hadn't let them inside by the third attempt, they risked the wrath of the security system.

Jin reached the doors and reached for the handles. He started to pull them open, but before he got them even a quarter open, a force from the other side blew the door open, sending him sprawling across the cobblestones. From the now open doorway came a feminine voice that said breezily, "Oh good, it's unlocked."

(I don't know your fashion sense, so this is just going to be my version.) Through the door came a woman that looked old enough to be a college student, and had the swagger of one, too. Her hands were defiantly placed on hips clad in black jeans that barely covered jade green Vans on her feet. She wore a black leather jacket over an acid green t-shirt, decorated with a scarlet inked design of a capital N and B edged with wolf ears and a tail. Looking over the courtyard, she tossed her bronze hair, her gray eyes flashing almost as sharply as the piercing in her bottom lip.

"I have a lot of questions," The woman said lowly, eyeing the stunned boys' training gis. "But I'll start with the most important one. Where. Is. Jin?"

Jin coughed near her feet. "Hey, Mama."

Night looked down and immediately lost the fiery look in her eyes, replaced with one you typically see in the eyes of a concerned mother. "Oh, Jin!" She exclaimed, quickly bending down and helping her adopted son to his feet. "I am so sorry, baby - I didn't know you were behind the door when I kicked it!"

"Which begs the question - WHY WOULD YOU KICK THE DOOR?" Lui grumbled from where he was watching the exchange with his arms crossed. "You know we have security systems, right? Just be glad Jin opened the doors before you kicked them, or you could have been cut to ribbons!"

Night looked up and glared at him from where she was wiping imaginary dust off of Jin. "Lui Shirosagi - I should have known you were here from the stench of desperation," She growled, smirking at the flame haired boy's openmouth reaction. "And for your information, it's called being a mother - something you obviously know nothing about." The White Knight was stunned into speechlessness.

After roasting Lui, Night turned her attention back to Jin. Seeing the look on her face, Jin tried to distract her. "Uhhh, Mama! Have you met my teacher-" He turned to introduce her to PIXAL, but he had to do a double take.

His assumption had been correct - PIXAL could change her appearance to seem more normal. Her white and purple exterior had turned a normal pink skin color and had toned down in its shininess; the lines that distinguished where one limb met the other also disappeared. Her eyes no longer glowed and her pupils had enlarged, yet they retained their usual bright green. It was almost as if someone had poured a bottle of ink on her hair, for it had turned a deep black.

Despite the eyes, her appearance had taken a complete 180.

There was a pained groan that sounded like Quon and Orochi in the background and Valt whispering harshly, "Ew, ew, centuries old robot - get it together, you guys!"

"Jin?" Night asked, and Jin remembered that she was there.

"Uh, this is my ninjitsu teacher...er, Piper!"

PIXAL bristled slightly at the fake name, but she played it off with a warm smile as she leaned forward to shake Night's hand. "Pleased to meet you, Miss Night."

"Likewise, Miss Piper," Night said, shaking her hand. She looked down at PIXAL's normal-looking hand in surprise. "Wow, you've got a strong grip. And your hand is pretty hard."

"Uhhh...that's what happens when you teach ninjitsu day and night!" Jin spoke up helpfully. He gave PIXAL a side eye, and she gave him one right back as if to say My cloaking ability as its limits, what do you want from me?

"Speaking of ninjitsu..." Night turned back to Jin with her arms crossed. "Sweetie, we need to talk."

Jin smiled nervously while PIXAL and every other boy in the courtyard face palmed.

There was no way this was going to end well.

To be continued...

"Uh, can someone help us down?" Ken asked from where he and Daigo were still balancing on their poles.

———————-
4725 words.

Surprise! Mama Night made an appearance!

I was going to make one chapter, but this one was getting too long, so I'm going to do a two parter instead, and I'll announce which show of which series this adventure is based off of in the next chapter.

That is, of course, unless someone can guess which one it is based of off just with this chapter.

NightBear15 , I hope you like this!