Tides of Reality| Ninjago | Monkie Kid

Chapter 33 - Digital Ghosts

"Hey, guys. Should we, maybe, do something?" Harumi wasn't really sure. Cole and Zane were in this business longer than her. On the other hand, she should do something right? Help out in some way?

"If you wish, you could find Milton Dyer, the creator of Prime Empire." Zane lifted his head up from the game of chess he's been in the middle of.

"Or try to catch ghost." Cole offered, not peeling his eyes off the console screen for even a second. He was trying to beat some high score. Probably.

What should she do? Milton would be helpful to the ninja regarding the whole Prime Empire situation, but ghost was a bigger problem. They've been on a killing spree for quite a time now, untraceable and dangerous.

Dyer could help with disappearances, but finding ghost would mean no more people would get killed by them.

Well, it was time to find a ghost.

-

"You can't be serious."

"I can, and I am. The key-tana is presented to the winners out in the public, but to get it, the racers have to climb up to a podium. That is our window." Sky would've probably thought that Mei sounded funny, trying to whisper in this form, if not for the awful plan she was just now suggesting.

"But we can't just steal it. It would be unfair to other racers who have won it." Lloyd had a point.

"Oh, come on, this thing is fully virtual. I'm sure the organisers can just whip out another one, like they do every time the race takes place." Mei was right. But that didn't mean they were gonna just up and risk losing their lives (it was a miracle that only Kai and Liv lost one) for something that might not even work.

"It's better than racing, right?" Liv pointed out. And while yes, it was a much safer option in short term, long term consequences would be awful. The whole 'police' system would be after them. Every red visor in the game would be hunting them down.

In no circumstance would Sky ever let the team do it.

-

Welp, she was doing it.

To say she was nervous was an understatement. Rumi was literally going to go drink coffee with someone she suspected was an assassin, and probably ghost.

Good thing Zane agreed to have come with her.

They sat down in the chosen spot, and waited. After all, finding ghost wasn't really hard. They had a whole site in deep dark web setup for requests and transactions. All it took was messaging them and the person quickly agreed to meet.

Zane's gasp alerted her that someone had sat down in front of them. They had white hair tied into a high, but rather short ponytail, and a black turtleneck hugged their whole body tightly. They were rather feminine presenting.

The most eye-catching thing, however, was the giant scar stretching across their face. It went from the right half of their forehead down to their left chin, scarring the bridge of their nose right between the two bright green eyes.

Before Harumi could say even a simple 'good morning', a low, almost inaudible whisper of disbelief escaped Zane's lips.

"Pixal?"

-

They were doing it. They were doing it and she hated every second of it.

The familiar, yet sickening feeling of adrenaline pulsing in her veins intensifying with every second they spend on these damn stands, waiting.

Patiently? Not really. They were nervous and anxious, thanks for asking.