No One's POV
While the other boys attempted to help Ken and Daigo down from their poles, Jin, Night, and PIXAL stood in their own awkward circle; each waiting for the other two to speak first.

"Uhhh...what exactly do you want me to explain, Mama?" Jin finally spoke up, glancing at the bronze haired female nervously.

Night stared at him almost challengingly. "Jin, sweetie, I love you," She said lowly, but her small smile did nothing to ease the Ghost Boy's worries, "But don't play dumb with me. You know exactly what I want you to explain."

Jin winced, but seemed to resign to his fate. "Fine. Where do you want me to start?"

Night tapped a finger against her lip, as if in thought. "You can start with this thing," She said after a few seconds, holding up a small black button. Everyone's eyes collectively widened. It was the teleportation device.

"After you told me everyone here has the flu and that you'd have to stay for a few nights, I went to your room to get a few of your things, figuring I'd find which dojo you were at one way or another. Then I found this on your dresser; it looked like one of those fidget toys you use to help yourself get to sleep, and I myself was very stressed, so I picked it up and pressed it. Next thing I knew, I was at the bottom of a RIDICULOUSLY large mountain and thinking WHAT IS MY SWEET BABY BOY DOING WITH A BUTTON THAT CAN APPARENTLY WARP SPACE and WHERE IS SAID SWEET BABY BOY NOW? So I climbed the mountain and found-" She waved her hands vaguely at the Monastery around them. "This place." She crossed her arms and stared down at her adoptive son. "So I'd appreciate it if you started talking."

Jin closed and opened his mouth, at a loss for words. How exactly do you explain a button that can transport you across the globe?

Apparently just the cold, hard truth, as PIXAL quickly demonstrated.

"It is a teleportation device," She informed Night, showing no emotion as opposed to the young mother's expression of blatant surprise. "This dojo is many miles away from several of the boys' homes, so I created a special device that allows them to travel several miles without having to sacrifice their time or sleep." She shrugged nonchalantly. "Honestly, it's amazing what technology can do these days."

Night blinked, then slowly looked around her once more - at the walls, at the ground, at the sky. "W-where are we, exactly?" She asked.

PIXAL seemed to think for a second. "Somewhere in Patagonia, I believe-" She started saying, but Jin quickly spoke over her: "Not too far from the city! Miss Piper just didn't want us to add to gas consumption simply by coming to class." When Night's back was turned to survey the Monastery further, the two sent scalding glares at each other, as if they were asking each other Why do you say the things you say?

"Funny you say that, Jin," Night said lowly, taking a closer look at the gathered party. She lifted her finger and pointed at Valt. "Because the last time I heard of this little guy, he was in Spain." Valt blanched as her finger moved away from him to find another target. "Dark and serious over there was in France." Daigo shied away from her gaze as she once again preyed on another. "And Big Red here was in..." She trailed off as Xander began to laugh under her gaze. "What?"

"Sorry," He chuckled, running his knuckles under his eyes. "I'm just finding it a little hard to believe that everyone is so scared of you." He continued to laugh quietly, oblivious to the scalding rage on Night's face and the horrified looks on his teammates' faces; he flat out ignored Jin's repeated throat slashing gesture. "Don't take it too personally - it's just, my size makes everything look pretty small around me, so I just blurt out-"

In the blink of an eye, Night had grabbed the front of his gi, yanked his head down to her level, taken out her pocket knife, and had the blade directed towards the tip of his nose. "You want to try calling me 'pipsqueak' again, Clifford?" She breathed against his shocked face.

"I-I didn't say that!" Xander denied, not taking his eyes off of the shiny point of the blade. Normally he preferred blades over any other weapon, but not when they were pointed at him.

"You were THINKING it," Night implied, her grip on the pocket knife never wavering.

"W-well both my mouth and my mind take it back!" Xander stuttered, honestly fearing for his life at this point.

Night stared at him for a few seconds longer, silently daring him to say anything morally damaging. Then, finally, she dropped the knife and released his gi. Smirking, she sheathed her knife in her pocket and stepped away.

Xander immediately sidled up to Jin. "Jin, I don't like your mom," He said plainly, his voice sounding surprisingly tiny for his size. "She scares me."

"Good - we're off to a great start!" Night called over her shoulder as she went to inspect the rest of the Monastery. Xander flinched and ducked behind PIXAL.

The Nindroid teacher sighed and gently coaxed the Laughing Giant out from behind her. "Jin, your mother hasn't even been here for five minutes, and things are already getting out of hand," She reprimanded the sleepy blader, choosing to keep her voice down as to not let Night hear their conversation. "Might as well tell her the truth now and rip the bandage off."

Jin stared at PIXAL incredulously. "If you think that's somehow going to calm her down," He informed her heatedly, though also keeping his voice down. "You've got the whole thing backwards! Telling her the truth now will just get her even more riled up." He dug his fingers into his face anxiously. "There's a good chance the Monastery won't even be standing by the time she's done with that freak out!"

"Well, it probably would explain a few things better to her," PIXAL told him. "And make her think twice about traumatizing your teammates." She nodded over to Xander, who had a vacant expression on his now pale face and was being tended to by the Sword Flames.

"Come on - she's only going to be here for a day! And we're probably going to have to deal with a bunch of traumatizing experiences in the future," Jin shot back. "What's wrong with a little trauma early on? Call it a kind of bulletproof vest that we'll build on!"

"Wha...?" Kit called from the background. "I didn't sign up for trauma!"

"Never mind, Kit!" PIXAL called back to him. She leaned down until her disguised black hair nearly brushed the top of his own. "I just think that continued procrastination will only make matters worse in the future when you finally do decide to tell her. And if you proceed with building on this web of lies, the situation will only get worse!"

Jin barked out a harsh laugh. "She's already here and knows what I've been doing in my spare time - how could this day possibly get any worse?" He asked.

At that moment, a loud beep filled PIXAL's head, loud enough for those around her to hear. The boys looked on as their teacher answered her embedded communication system; soon after, Naoki's worried voice filled her ears. "Uhhh, PIXAL? You may want to come take a look at this."

PIXAL groaned loud enough that she was sure Naoki could hear. "What did you three break down there?" She asked, exasperated.

"N-nothing!" Naoki assured her, but his tone made her certain that something had indeed been broken, though it wasn't the main source of his worry. "Just...come down."

"Alright. I'm on my way." PIXAL ended the transmission, then shot Jin a meaningful look. "To be continued," She told him firmly. Pivoting away from her students, she strode towards the front door to the Monastery. Though her feet had likely been changed in appearance along with the rest of her body, they made an odd clunking noise as she walked.

It was enough to draw Night's attention from where she had been inspecting the ceramic weights by the Balance Exercise station. "Hey, Miss Piper?" She called over. "What exactly do you have on your feet?"

"Tabi shoes," PIXAL replied simply, not stopping in her ascent up the porch steps.

"Well, I can see that," Night said tightly. "But why are they making that noise? It sounds almost like metal."

Jin chose that moment to step in. "They're weighted!" He told his mother, giving her a strained smile. "It's a part of our training - it's a great way to build leg muscle!" He pressed his hands against each other in a mock show of praying. "She says that we're going to start wearing shoes like those next week - pray for us!"

Night seemed to accept that answer, but her attention didn't stop there. "And where, pray tell, are you going, Miss Piper?" She asked the teacher, who paused on the threshold to the Monastery. "I still have questions."

"I'm sure that Jin will be able to answer your questions with vivid descriptions," PIXAL replied. "He can even give you a tour of the Monastery if you'd like one." With that, she slipped into the Monastery, sliding the door closed behind her.

Jin looked panicked while Night was positively beaming. "That's a great idea!" She exclaimed ecstatically, striding up to her son and placing a hand on his thin shoulder. "Come on, Jin - I want to see every inch of this place!"

Jin gave her another tight smile, but flashed his teammates an anxious grimace behind his mother's back. They could only give him encouraging smiles and thumbs up as he lead Night to the opposite end of the courtyard to begin the tour. As the spunky female traveled out of earshot, Valt sighed. "Raise your hand if she scares you," He told the others with his own hand already in the air, sounding defeated.

"Me," Xander said readily, his large hand shooting up into the air.

"Ditto," Orochi added, raising his own.

"Same here," Ken supplied, his pale hand joining the rest.

"Ding," Fubuki joined in, his hand raising tentatively. The others in the group followed soon after.

Daigo merely shrugged.

"I don't know about you guys, but I just wish I could watch this dumpster fire with a bowl of popcorn," Lui chuckled, looking amused at the whole situation.

—————

A few minutes later, PIXAL stepped out of the elevator in her full metal glory, her bright green eyes surveying the scene before her. Honcho was hiding behind one of the motorcycles, looking quite shaken; Free was passed out in the front seat of a water-roaming vehicle; Naoki was standing awkwardly between the two, waiting for her.

PIXAL stared at the varying poses of the three before sighing. "Alright, what's the damage?" She asked dejectedly.

Honcho poked his blonde head out from behind the motorcycle. "First off," He told PIXAL firmly. "I just want you to know that we had nothing to do with this!"

"I'll be the judge of that, Honcho," PIXAL told him just as firmly. "Now, what happened?"

Naoki opened and and closed his mouth. "It's a little hard to explain, since we don't really know what it is," He decided. "So I'll just show you."

He lead PIXAL down one of the branching hallways, towards one of the many laboratories; Honcho followed behind the two. Recognizing their route, PIXAL sighed again. "Did you blow something up, Naoki?" She asked the icy haired scientist.

"Why do people always assume that I blew something up?" Naoki grumbled.

"Because isn't that what scientists are known for?" Honcho piped up. "I've watched a lot of sci-fi movies, and they all involve something blowing up."

"You only believe such nonsense because you haven't witnessed a real scientist in action yet," Naoki said haughtily over his shoulder at the blonde, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"Okay - when am I going to see one?" Honcho asked, one eyebrow raised challengingly.

Naoki whipped around, a blasphemed look on his face. "OH, YOU WANT TO GO RIGHT NOW, YA DUMB BLONDE?!"

Honcho pushed past PIXAL, his brown eyes flashing. "BRING IT, NERD!!"

"BOYS!!" PIXAL broke in from where she had been slammed unceremoniously against the wall. "The situation that you called me away from Jin's mother to see. May I see it now?"

The two boys looked at her, glanced at each other, then reluctantly broke apart. "Fine..." They muttered, then shot each other one last glare before continuing down the hall.

"I swear, it's like I'm herding monkeys," PIXAL muttered irritably, following after them.

The trio continued down the hall until they reached one of the laboratory doors. All of the doors in the Monastery basement had DNA recognizing locks, so Naoki had to place his hand on a plastic screen next to the door in order to gain access. Once the screen turned green, the door slid open.

And revealed something that shocked PIXAL to her core.

Hovering in the center of the room was a glowing blue dot that seemed to pulse like a heartbeat. Small strings of compressed greenish light stretched from its center and groped the air around it, almost like tentacles. The light that the automatic fluorescent lightbulbs in the room cast was weak compared to the light cast by the abnormality - everything was awash with a pale blue light.

"Still don't believe that we didn't do it?" Honcho asked PIXAL expectantly.

Once again, PIXAL had to sigh. "No, I know now that you didn't do it," She admitted, taking a cautious step towards the dot. "It's a portal."

"Like the ones you make with the portal generating device?" Naoki asked, slightly surprised. "I wouldn't have guessed that - this one looks very different from the ones made with the device."

"That's because, while the two may be similar in function, they are produced very differently," PIXAL explained, gazing at the portal with quiet calculation. "You two remember what powers the portal generating device, right?"

"Yeah, it's a shard from the original Realm Crystal," Honcho supplied.

"Well, the First Spinjitzu Master created the Realm Crystal with the function of being the key into all sixteen realms of Ninjago. Without the key, a door still needs to be opened one way or another. When it was broken, the doorways between the realms became unstable to the point that portals opened randomly throughout Ninjago."

The two boys gasped. "Random portal openings?" Naoki asked her disbelievingly. "Isn't that dangerous?"

"Yes, it is very dangerous," PIXAL agreed. "Though the portals were exceptionally rare, and they were reported to fully open at a very slow rate, they always brought with them the danger of people falling through into unknown worlds, or some untold horror coming through from the other side. When it was discovered that the shards of the Realm Crystal could still generate portals, the portal generating devices were created in an attempt to put an end to the randomness. The openings became even more rare, but there were still reports of them happening. The two types of portals were given names. The ones created by the devices are called 'generated portals' while the ones that opened randomly were referred to as 'natural portals'." She pointed a white finger towards the pulsing dot. "I'm sure you two can guess which one this is.

"Natural portals are slightly more common this time of year, at least portals that open into a few select realms. Day of the Departed is in less than a week, where the borders between the mortal realm and the Departed Realm blur. Unfortunately, that makes them even more dangerous."

They nodded grimly. "Is there a way we can stop this one from opening?" Honcho asked, giving the portal a paranoid glance.

"Furthermore, can we determine which realm it opens into?" Naoki added.

PIXAL curled her finger under her chin and pondered the situation. "It's never been done before, since the portals were always discovered when they were past the halfway point of opening," She claimed. "But since we caught this one early, we may be able to study and document it to some extent. If we're lucky, we may be able to find a way to close it before its fully open. We just need a few computers and monitors."

Turning around, her green eyes caught sight of a smattering of glass shards against the linoleum floor. "What happened here?" She asked.

"Oh, that's from when Honcho recoiled and hit the desk after first seeing the portal," Naoki informed her.

"DUDE!!" Honcho cried in hurt.

"Relax, Honcho," PIXAL assured him, a gentle smile on her face. "Take solace in the fact that at least some part of this situation is your fault."

"Why would that be comforting?" Honcho grumbled in confusion while Naoki laughed behind his hand.

—————

Meanwhile in the courtyard, Night's tour was coming to an end.

And she hadn't liked what she saw.

"There are way too many sharp points around here!" She claimed, much to Jin's chagrin. "How can I be sure my baby boy won't be impaled if he so much as breathes wrong?"

"Well, he WON'T be breathing wrong if there's not someone there to judge his EVERY MOVE," Yugo muttered to the other Sword Flames. Ukyo nodded, Quon shrugged, and Xander kept looking over his shoulder.

"What was that, Mohawk?" Night broke in, suddenly at the samurai's elbow with her pocket knife out and pointed at his neck. Everyone did a double take. Hadn't she just been at Jin's side?

"Where does she come from?" Fubuki whispered fearfully, clutching an equally terrified Valt.

"N-nothing, Miss Night!" Yugo exclaimed, scared for his life.

Like with Xander, Night waited for Yugo to say anything else that would further damage his pride. When he said nothing else, she smirked and retreated her blade. "That's what I thought," She drawled.

Yugo almost fell forward and Ukyo caught him. "I just saw my whole life flash before my eyes..." The samurai whispered.

"Just don't go into the light, please!" Ukyo asked of him. "Something tells me that you'd be even more annoying in death than you are in life."

Ignoring Yugo's dying breaths, Jin faced his mother. "Well, Mama that's it for the tour!" He told her, trying not to appear too desperate. "As you can see, I am perfectly safe here and there's really no reason to worry about me any further! So if you have no other questions, you can-"

"Now Jin," Night said softly, shooting her son a heated look. "You aren't be trying to get rid of me, are you?"

Jin gulped. "N-no!" He denied. "Of course not! I just-"

"Good," Night said decisively. "Because while the tour explained a few things for me, I still have a few questions that only Miss Piper can answer. Thing is..." She took a glance around her. "I have no idea where she ran off to. Come to think of it, I didn't see any trace of her on the tour, either."

Everyone took a collective gulp. PIXAL was most likely down in the basement with Naoki, Honcho, and Free. The basement, with all of its vehicles, computers, laboratories, and weapons galore, was somewhere Night absolutely could not go.

Not if Jin was to stay.

"Uh, she's around here somewhere," Jin assured her, practically leaping at the chance to be away from her prying eyes. "I'll go grab her for you!" Without waiting for her reply, he zipped away into the confines of the Monastery.

Night blinked at her son's abrupt leave, but shrugged it off and faced the other boys with her arms crossed. "While we're waiting for those two to show up," She said, a challenging look in her eyes. "Why don't the rest of you show me what you've learned here? I've been curious for the longest time."

The boys had matching feelings of unease, but they complied with the Mama Shark and moved into various defensive positions. As their eyes met, however, they all shared the same thought.

What could they possibly show her that would impress her enough to have Jin stay?

—————

3419 words.

This is actually going to be a three parter because this chapter was getting to be WAY too long. I'm working on the third part, though, and I'll reveal which episode this small trilogy is based off of in that chapter.

See you then!