Ninjago: Tales of the Merge

The Mech Master 5000

Marina POV

While Sora and I start to make the mech, Arin was baking another of his pies.

Like I had expected, It took us days to make it since there's only two of us, but we were finally done with it by the end of next Thursday.

"Yes! The is SA Mark 01 gonna crush in the Mech Master 5000!" Sora said.

"Surely it would!" I said. "Hopefully."

"Tomorrow's race is the biggest prize pot of all time. If we win ..." Arin said but was interrupted by Sora. 

"When we win." Sora corrected him.

"Right, right, when we win, we could find ourselves a real place to live." Arin said. "I could build my own monastery and invite everyone else who lost their parents to live with us. To carry on the tradition of the ninja!"

"And I could design a real garage and lab," Sora said. "And we wouldn't have to pay for parts with your pies anymore,"

"So looks like we will afford more than just furniture for our home," I said. "Wow, Arin. You do adore the Ninja a lot. And instead of money, you use pies. When did you learn to make them?"

"Soon after the Merge, And yes, I do adore them," Arin said. Suddenly, the ground quakes violently.

"What was that?" I asked.

Sora sighed. "Another earthquake?" Sora asked. "It seems like they're happening more often."

"They never happened at all before the Merge." Arin said. "Hey, do you ever wonder if there's a greater purpose for all this? Like, a reason for the Merge?" "I've always wondered that," I admitted. 

"The Merge might have taken away everything you had, Arin." Sora said. "But it's given me everything I have. Change can be scary, but it's also a chance for something better." I watch as Sora gazes at the Kingdom of Imperium in the distance. I gazed at it too. What was it up too? 

____________________________________________________________

On the next day, we wheel our new mech through Crossroads towards the register counter. When we got there, we saw a frog man there. He was saying, "Last call to register for the Mech Master 5000! The greatest race —" 

"In the history of the Crossroads! And we're here to win it." Sora finished the sentence as we walked towards him.

"Sora! Arin!" The frog man said happily. "Always happy to peep you two wild scamps. And looks like you have a new friend,"

"Good to see you too, Mr. Frohicky." Sora said. "This is Marina. Us three are here to enter the Mech Master 5000,"

"Wait, that's your mech?" Mr Frohicky asked. "Oh ho, no offense, Sora, but, uh, not one of your more impressive builds, is it, hmm?" He pointed to our mech.

"It's easily underestimated. Just like us." Sora said.

"Sure, but I've got top mechs from around the merged realms here." Mr. Frohicky said, looking around. "Like an Underworld Mech." We look around to see the other mechs that we will be racing against. Like Mr Frohicky said, there was an Underworld Mech.

"There's even a ... uh, uh ... that thing." Mr Frohicky said, looking at a purple round mech. We watch as a round robot enter it, saying, "Lobbo Lobbo."

"Oh, that's Lobbo!" Arin said. "He's a good guy. But, uh, never ask him about his mom. " "Why not?" I asked. 

"It's a ... it's a very touchy subject." Arin replied.

"Oh," I said frowning

"Plus, all the regulars." Mr Frohicky continued. "It could get pretty vicious. Maybe you should sit today's race out?" We look at him. We need to enter the race and win it. Or else we won't have money for a good life. Mr Frohicky saw our looks and sighed. "Fine." He said. "Then ante up!" "This cost money to enter?" I asked.

"Yeah," Arin replied, taking out one of his pies. "But he should not resist having this pie as payment," He holds his pie out and Mr Frohicky sniffs the air. He sees the pie and said, "I know you're not trying to pay your registration fees with baked goods again."

"So you don't want a fresh pie, filled with roasted snowberries from the Never Realm?" Arin asked. "Fine, I guess we'll just have to toss it. Maybe the dogs are hungry. Or maybe the raccoons?" I could see that he was trying to convince Mr Frohicky to accept the pie as his payment, because he sniffs the air again.

"Well, it'd be a shame to just throw it out." Mr Frohicky said. "Fine! Line up!" He takes the pie and swallows the pie in one gulp, including the pan. He then burps the pan out. We smile. Now that we have entered the race, let's push our mech into place.

While we were doing it, we heard a girl said, "Ha! They'll let anyone into these races, won't they?"

We turned around and saw her. She was snickering at us and I could see that she was also entering the race,

"At least we build our own gear, Kreel." Sora said. "We don't need a team of servants doing the work for us."

"You know her?" I whispered to Arin. 

"Yeah we know her," Arin whispered back. "I believe that she is also entering the race. But it won't be easy to beat her."

"They aren't servants!" Kreel said."They're friend-ish people who work for me. They're here to cheer when I crush you! Like last time. And the time before, and, checks notes..." She pauses to gasp dramatically. Then she smiled. "Every single time." She said. "You kids don't learn."

"Oh, we learn." Arin said. "But we just don't give up."

"We just aim to beat you," I added.

"And we might've designed a bit of an upgrade for the race." Sora said. She pushes a button to operates the mech, which rises to full height. 

"C'mon, Arin and Marina." Sora said after that. "Let's get our fuel couplings attached while Kreel contemplates her impending loss." 

We walk towards the starting line on the race track and get in our mech. I sat on my seat as buckle up as the Mech Master 5000 starts. As soon as it did, all the mechs race through a track as fast as we can. I don't know if we are winning, but It looks like that we are not in last place

"Are we winning?" Arin asked. "I can't see. Tell me we're winning!" The reason is because he was sitting on the back facing the opposite side of the mech while Sora and I are sitting on the front.

"Not yet." Sora replied. "Get the bumper arms up." As we race, we could see all the competing mechs slam into each other, knocking out competition. Mr Frohicky was right. It was vicious.

"We're coming for you, you fancy-hatted egomaniac!" Sora shouted as she started to catch Kreel's mech. Soon, we are approaching a fallen mech. "Hold on!" Sora shouted as she made our mech leap over the mech. "Phew!" Arin said.

"We better be more careful," I said. We are now in second place, directly behind Kreel. 

"Hit the turboboost!" Arin said,

"No! We can only use it once." Sora said.

"Only once?" I asked. "We better not use it now then,"

"We're saving it for when we really need it," Sora said. Our mechs soon approach the finish line. I could see that Kreel saw us approaching her mech.

"Those punks?" I heard Kreel asked. "Oh no they don't!" Her mech begins to speed faster. Now would be the time to use the turboboost, right?

"We're in the straightaway." I said. "This has got to be the time to use the turboboost, right? Right?"

"Yep!" Sora said. "Get ready to roll around in prize money, tossing it in the air, and going 'Whee hee!'"