Switched Opportunities

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Chapter 3

Kai's lip quivered, "Who are you people?"

Cole's jaw dropped and Zane shook his head at the question. 'This doesn't compute.' Zane thought to himself. When Zane scanned Kai when he woke up and he didn't show any signs of brain trauma.

Zane leaned forward to have his hands on the bed and properly scan Kai. After the lights from his eyes passed over Kai, Zane sat up straight.

"W-what was that?! Are you an alien robot.. thing?! Please don't kill me!" Kai yelled in fear for his life. He was huddled as far as he could away from them while holding a blanket to his chest.

Zane looked over Kai's stats and moved to sit on the bed facing Kai. "It seems you are having memory impairments. My scans show that there is no significant trauma to your brain or head at all. Do you know where you are or who we are?"

Kai looked more confused now instead of scared but he continued to breathe heavily. "I don't know where I am and I don't know who you people are. I mean you look familiar but I don't know what from."

Zane pointed his finger at Kai's face and the finger lit up like a flashlight. Kai flinched at the sudden light and moved his hands to cover his face. Zane carefully reached forward with his unlit hand to move Kai's hands slowly. "Us looking familiar is a good sign but do you remember who you are? What's your name?"

Kai looked annoyed with the light and pulled away from Zane's hand. "I have all my memories... Stop with the light! My name is Vinny."

Zane's finger light turned off and Kai could see Zane's shocked face. Zane moved backwards and his friends around the bed were just as shocked.

Across the room on the other bed, Jay almost fell from his bed. He let out a yelp and his upper half hung over the side of the bed and he squeamishly pulled himself back up on the bed.

Zane closed his eyes to recollect his thoughts. "No.. I'm afraid you are incorrect. That is not your name." He opened his eyes and saw that Kai sat up more confident and dropped the blanket from his hands.

"And how would you know that, Mr. Tin Man? You don't know me. We have never met!" He pointed his finger to Zane then crossed his arms.

Zane decided to play along with Kai and see where this was going. He sat back onto the bed but noticeably farther away from Kai than before.

"So tell me.. uh Vinny... what was the last thing you remember?" Zane asked and he could feel the room getting tense.

Kai relaxed a bit and put a hand to his temple. "Well.. I remember the mechanic was attacking the city and I had to follow the obnoxious ninja around." He sighed. "I know that the ninja are protecting the city and whatever but you'd think they would do a better job of doing it with their magic powers or something."

Kai looked back up at the group around the bed. He sighed again and he cringed. "Anndd I just recognized you guys. You're the ninja... great. Just who I want to be stuck with. So... why did you kidnap me? Was it because I was doing my job? Because you kidnapped the wrong person. Gayle pretty much forces me to do what she wants because she knows I need her to make a living. I'm just a guy struggling to make some decent money."

The world froze for the ninja. Jay was confused and didn't know whether or not to cover his ears so he could remember things by himself. What Kai was saying didn't make sense but at the same time it also did. No one spoke knowing that Zane was going to speak for them.

"So you are saying you were on the scene and you were being bossed around by the news reporter? That doesn't make sense, she doesn't have the authority to boss you around." Zane tried to piece things together but Kai just raised an eyebrow.

Kai crossed his legs and tapped his fingers on his knee. "Well Gayle is my boss and she does have authority over me. That's how jobs work. She talks and I hold the camera."

Looks of confusion spread across the room. Jay was incredibly confused and looked to Cole and Lloyd who stood at the foot of Kai's bed. Nya now sat on Jay's bed because her legs were weak.

Zane shook his head and squinted his eyes. "What was that last part?"

Kai looked confused like everyone else. "Gayle is my boss?"

Zane didn't meet his eyes and shook his head again. "After that.."

"She does the talking and I hold the camera."

Zane turned his upper body to Cole and Lloyd. "Do you remember what Kai was doing when we were helping Jay?" At the sound of his name, Jay covered his ears with his hands and laid down on his back.

Lloyd and Cole shared a look. "Wasn't he talking to Gayle Gossip and ... the cameraman." Lloyd answered and Zane turned back to Kai.

Cole put a hand on Zane shoulder before he continued to talk. "Wait wait wait.. are you thinking that-"

"Yes Cole.. I know what the machine did. Vinny..." Zane turned back to Kai. "Try not to freak out but... take a look at yourself."

Kai's face wrinkled in confusion. "What is that supposed to mean?" Confused by what that meant, he look down at his hands and flipped them from palms to the back of the hand repeatedly. "What does this achieve?"

His eyes followed up his arms, he noticed his muscles and different clothes. He started to feel uneasy as he saw different features. "Can someone get me a mirror?" Kai asked and Lloyd went to the bathroom that was attached to the room.

Lloyd came out with a hand mirror and passed it to him. "Here you go Kai."

His eyes locked with Lloyd's. "It's Vinny." Vinny looked down at the mirror and his hands jerked and he dropped it onto the bed. "Oh my goodness... I look like the red ninja."

Zane avoided Vinny's eyes, "I'm afraid that is why you are here. You are stuck in the body of our friend."

Cole gripped the edge of the bed and his head looked downwards. His hair drooped over his eyes. "If the cameraman is in Kai's body... then where is Kai?"

/

Happy New Year's Eve! 

(Current day- August 20, 2019- I updated the cameraman's name to Vinny now that there is a cannon (confirmed) name to the character. I gave him the name David so if you see a "David" that I forgot to switch out, sorry! I'm sorry for the confusion!)