Ninjago: Tales of the Merge

A Familiar Face

Marina POV

I immediately started to search for supplies to start transform my home after dropping my stuff in a room that I thought would be my bedroom. Hopefully, most people here sell stuff for free since I didn't have any money.  

I walked and walked. Luckily I was right. Many people offered me food and drinks, and when I told them about me transforming my home, they even offered me things like paint!

I brought a medium-sized bag to carry all my stuff. Now that I had everything I needed (for now), it was time to go back to my home. But before I could, I spotted someone in the corner of my eye.

It was a teenage girl with a hood and pink hair, but somehow, she looked so familiar. I ran up to her and said, "Uh, hello,"

"Hello?" The girl asked. "Who are you?" She stopped walking and turned to face me.

"I was about to ask you the same thing," I said. "I thought you looked familiar. My name is Marina Liu," The girl's eyes widen with shock. I wonder why.

"Marina Liu?" She asked. "Wait... if you're Marina Liu, then.." I suddenly realised what she was talking about.

"Hold on," I said. "Aren't you that Ana girl from Imperium? The one in my class? The one that is so good at technology and has beaten me for ten years?" She nodded.

"My name's Sora now," She said. "I changed it," "Why?" I asked. 

"Because I ran away from Imperium," Sora replied. 

"I did too," I said. "Because I wanted to find a new interest. Why don't you explain to me at my place?" "Your place?" Sora asked.

A few minutes later we were sitting in a random room in my abandoned apartment. "So this is my new home," I said. "Yes, it looks old and gross, but I'll start transforming it to a nice home while I explain why I ran away from Imperium and why you ran way," I put the bag down and grab a duster.

"Sure," Sora said. "Do you mind if I help instead of sitting here just talking?" I wanted to say no, but the apartment was big.

"Sure," I said. "You can do the floor while I do the walls of this room," "Sure," Sora said, picking up some tiles and cement to replace the floor's old tiles. "So why did you ran away?"

"Well," I replied, dusting some cobwebs off. "Ever since I started education at your school, I was good at technology. Unfortunately, not as good as you. I was dying to win the school science fair for so long, but every year you beat me. I never got a chance to win. Not even once. After you introduced your hard light technology, I knew that it was so advanced that I knew that I would not win. It's more impressive than the invention you made last year. After the science fair, I wanted to invent a machine that would destroy the Photacs. But after you said the word 'Indestructible', I knew that I couldn't destroy it. It was then I realised that I can't continue this forever. I decided to leave. I many not be good at technology as you are, but there should be something that I am good at. I decided to leave Imperium so that I could find a new interest."

"What was it?" Sora asked.

"Well, I travelled for days until I saw the sky broke apart." I explained. "I don't really know how to explain it, but the crack exploded and when I woke up I could see that everything around me was gone. It's like that all the realms in Ninjago have merged. That's the reason why I called it The Merge. I have not seen it before, so I decided that my new interest will be a researcher and an explorer. I want to find what caused it and more information about it. But first I need a new home before I start my search. That's why I came to Crossroads and thats the end of my story." 

"Interesting. I'm sorry that you didn't win. I know that everyone deserves a chance to win," Sora said, placing more tiles in. I could see that she was half done with the floor. "But did you know that I also saw the Merge?" I couldn't believe it.

"You saw it too?" I asked. "When?"

"I'll tell you in my story of why I ran away from Imperium even though I won the school science fair." Sora said. "So after I won, Dr LaRow, the head scientist of the ASL scientists introduced herself in my classroom and told me that because my Photacs were so advanced, she wanted me to work in her lab. I always dreamed of doing it, so of course I accepted."

"Dr LaRow wanted you to work in her ASL Lab?" I asked, shocked. "That's amazing! But I still don't get the point. When did you see the Merge? And if you worked in Dr LaRow's lab, why did you ran away from Imperium?"

"I'm not up to that part yet," Sora replied. "So when Dr LaRow showed me her lab, she introduced me to a dragon name Sora. Yes, when I ran away, I named myself after that dragon. Anyway, Dr LaRow said that Sora was the the source of Imperium's power, and started doing upgrades to my Photacs to make ferocious animals, even though that the Photacs were supposed to be harmless. I realized that Imperium was going to use my invention to hunt dragons and harm them in their quest to remain powerful, so I refused to work for her.  After that, everyone I know was despised, shunned, and disowned at me including my parents, who eventually confiscated my work bench and inventions, demanding that I'd find a new interest if I won't use her talents to help Imperium. One day, while I was in my room, I saw I discovered a cracks in the sky in the distance before a shockwave came soon after. That was when I saw the Merge. I decided to run away from home. So that was the story of why I ran away."

"Wow," I said. "Imperium is using your Photacs to hunt down innocent dragons for power? That's really bad." "I know," Sora said. "Even though they wanted me to work in the lab, I didn't want them to hurt innocent dragons," She had finished the floor and was now painting a wall. 

"I guess thats why you ran away," I said. "Imperium was bad." We were silent while we continued to transform my home until Sora said, "Hey, you know that when I ran away from Imperium, I was just about to start looking for a home. Do you mind if I live with you?" "Well," I replied. "Even though you have beaten me 10 times, you have discovered what Imperium wanted to do with your Photacs. What they were doing was very bad. You can live with me anytime you like since this place is big."

"Thanks," Sora said as I finished dusting the walls. I was just about to grab cement to fix the cracks in the wall when I heard a scream.