Jay could barely focus. He kept getting hit in the head with the training equipment. Cole kept passing through everything. Only Kai seemed to be in a state other than shock. His fists kept lighting up, and, if he didn't control himself, he'd burn the whole place to the ground.

    But no one was in the right mind to cool the Red Ninja's fiery temper. As Jay had thought, everyone heard Zane last night. The only person who hadn't was Lloyd, and he'd been quickly filled in.

    Jay had a feeling the Green Ninja had the most guilt. If he never went away on random trips, Zane wouldn't feel the need to bear his responsibility as leader. Kai had stormed off after breakfast, only for Jay and Cole to find him burning everything in sight. The only emotion that guy seemed to have was rage.

    Lloyd had locked himself in his room. He'd offered to go with Misako and help get him out, but she'd gently declined, saying that this was a conversation for mother and son.

    Wu was watching the three Ninja, in as much a state of shock as all of them. Nya had gone to the nearby river, and, every once in a while, it would rain for a couple minutes, stop, then start up again. The rain was salty, as well. The sky was crying.

    Out of nowhere, as another bout of salty rain ended, Zane's voice pierced the tranquil air around them. Jay didn't bother to understand what the metal man was saying, just that he was in trouble, and he had to get there, fast.

    The Blue Ninja took off at the speed of lightning, zipping past the others. When he reached Zane's door, the screaming had long since stopped. Jay's heart crawled into his throat when he heard a dull thump of metal hitting wood.

    "Zane? You in there buddy?" He knocked on the door.

    No response.

    "Zane?" He tried the handle. It wouldn't budge. The door was locked.

    Jay started to panic. Zane never locked his door. It was a strange thing with him. He didn't mind throwing his privacy into the wind to allow his brothers-in-arms access to him at all times. The fact that it was locked was a really bad sign.

    "Zane? Zane, come on, open the door!" Jay banged on the door again. Tears were pricking at the corner of his eyes when Cole, Kai, Nya, and Wu turned the corner.

    "What's wrong," Wu asked.

    "The doors locked." Jay's voice was quiet, almost a whisper.

    "Well, then stand back!" Cole stepped forward. He stuck his hand through the door, right next to the handle. After a few moments, the Earth Ninja's look of concentration was replaced with an ecstatic one as the lock clicked. "Got it!"

    The ghost stepped back, and Jay grabbed the handle, afraid of what he'd find behind that door. He took a deep breath. Whatever it was, Zane needed them, now. The Lightning Ninja couldn't afford to hesitate.

    The door swung inward, and Jay nearly passed out.

    Zane was lying face-down on the floor. He was hooked up to a portable battery. Everyone stood still.

    When Jay came to his senses, he raced over to his Nindroid brother, flipped him over, opened his chest panel, and breathed a sigh of relief. His systems weren't fried. It looked like Zane had manually shut himself down.

    Something caught the mechanic's eye, though. What the...? A...a fried wire? But...oh.

    It clicked in his head. He remembered Zane asking to borrow this equipment months ago, just after Morro had been destroyed. If he'd had this all this time why was he just now using it? Unless he wasn't...

    Jay continued poking around through Zane's systems. It always baffled him how much more advance the robot was now that he'd rebuilt himself. Here and there, another fried wire popped up. It wasn't enough to permanently damage him, Jay could easily fix it, it was just the fact that he needed to fix it in the first place that bothered him.

    "Well, Jay? Don't leave us hanging, what's wrong?" Kai's voice shocked Jay out of his slight trance. "Uh, um, it looks like Zane manually shut himself down. He didn't fry himself like it looks like he wanted to. But..."

    "What?" Nya was beside him now. She was the only other person here who relatively understood machines. The Blue Ninja pointed out the random damaged wires.

    "Some of his systems are still destroyed, over stimulated. Like he had electrocuted himself. I can only think of one reason why that would be."

    Jay closed his friend's chest, and stood to face the others. He felt more guilt than before. He spotted Lloyd in the back, clinging his mother's arm. The mechanic cringed. The poor kid already felt enough guilt of unintentionally causing Zane's initial stress. How was he going to take this?

    "I think..." He trailed off. How was he going to explain this? It was going to hurt, but it would hurt even more if Jay didn't tell them. This way they'd all be able to help Zane.

    "I think Zane's been electrocuting himself for months now, in short bursts, as his own version of cutting, since he doesn't have skin." He couldn't look at his comrades directly, instead choosing to look at the floor. "Not enough to cause permanent damage, I can easily repair what is, but I remember Zane asking me to keep this set up months ago, just after the whole Morro incident. I also think...I think..."

    He swallowed hard, tears threatening to fall. It was times like these he really wished he couldn't read the Nindroid so well, but yet was very grateful for the ability. "I think Zane tried to...tried to commit suicide just now. That's what all this is. But I believe P.IX.A.L. stopped him. So he did the next best thing. He shut down."

    The Lightning Ninja found him unable to support to support himself as a wave of emotions took over. He leaned heavily on Nya, still looking down. The tears started to fall freely as the immense realization of what almost happened hit him like train. If P.I.X.A.L. hadn't stopped him...I don't think I could've handled Zane's second death. His first was hard enough. And to know he did it because of us, not to save us like last time...

    He finally looked up, which only made the tears fall harder and faster. The looks of pure horror on their faces...and then there was Lloyd. Lloyd's reaction scared Jay the most, for there was none. His eyes were dull, and face was slack and expressionless. He was shoving his feelings down. Locking them up to play the façade of the fearless leader, the all-powerful Green Ninja, when, in reality, he was as frightened as the little boy they met so long ago.

    Jay was aware Lloyd suffered from a slight depression. He played it off really well, but it started when he magically grew. He went from seven to nineteen in the blink of an eye, missing most of his childhood. Lloyd was suddenly hit with major responsibilities that he wasn't mentally prepared for. Then he had to fight and destroy the Overlord, who possessed his father. Jay noticed things got significantly better with Garmadon, purged of the evil Devourer venom, around, but then watched as Lloyd fell right back in when the old Sensei sacrificed himself. Now there's Zane, and Lloyd just doesn't know how to feel anymore, so he's locking the emotions away.

    The Green Ninja turned around and left, Misako calling after him. No one else seemed to notice. Jay felt like his legs could support him again and stood straight. "I...I can start work...working on his repair now if...if someone'll help me carrying him back to my room."

    Kai stepped forward, and, together, the Blue and Red Ninja cared the metal man back to Jay's room, and set him down on one of the many tables lying around. The mechanic's room was filled with scrap metal, wires, knobs, even some small tires. It was like a mini version of his parents' junk yard.

    Kai left the room, and Jay went digging through his room, every once and a while glancing at Zane's damaged parts, to find what he needed. There was a lot more fried than he originally thought, still not enough to cause permanent harm, but enough to make him worry. What if he didn't have the right parts? What if he messed up and did end up causing irreversible damage?

    Despite all his worries, Jay kept a level head through his work. His fingers moved on their own, weaving and connecting the new wires into the complex network that is Zane. After many hours of checking, double checking, and triple checking he got everything in the right place, the mechanic called everyone into his room, shoving aside random piles of junk, and, once everyone was settled, he flipped Zane's power switch back on.

    At first, nothing happened, and Jay's heart started beating a mile a minute. Did I get something wrong? Did something happen?

    After a moment of silence, Zane made a weird grinding noise as his gears started up again from being shut down for so long. Jay heard everyone sigh in relief, but he was still worried. Zane had yet to open his eyes.

    Suddenly, the Nindroid started to convulse on the table. The Blue Ninja darted forward and pinned his arms down. "Someone, find something I can hold him down with!"

    Out of the corner of his eye, Jay saw Cole grab one of his many rolls of duct tape off a shelf. Together, two of them effectively strapped Zane to the table. The robot was still shaking violently.

    "Why do you have so much duct tape," Cole asked, eyeing Zane.

    "Hey hey hey hey hey, don't judge me. It's useful. I stock up."

    The mechanic was panicking on the inside. What is causing Zane to do this? He should've been perfectly fine once he was turned back on. I have to take another look.

    He was startled by a gentle hand on his shoulder. He turned to find Sensei Wu, a worried look on his face. "Is there anything you need from us?"

    Jay pressed a hand to his temple. He was getting a major headache. "No, I just need to look around a bit more. I don't know what's wrong, but I'm afraid to turn him off again."

    "Jay! Jay, what's happening?"

    Kai's voice jolted Jay back to his friend on the table. Zane had stopped moving. Everything had stopped moving. His gears had stopped turning.

    "No!" Jay raced over to the table. No no no no no no no no!

    "Zane!"