Chibijago! Lightning Strikes Are No Joke

Theme Five: Lightning Strikes Are No Joke

"Jay, may I ask why you haven't repaired the Cypher Drones? We need them for our next reconnaissance mission," Zane asked with a hard frown upon entering his blue-clad brother's laboratory.

Jay pushed his protective goggles back on his head and glanced over his shoulder. His brow bore the wrinkles of agitation and his deep blue eyes narrowed in annoyance at the disruption of his work.

"Not now Zane," Jay snapped back before grabbing his electric drill and returning to his current project. "With Nya in the later stages of her pregnancy, I'm on my own in keeping up with the maintenance of the Bounty, so back off! I'm a little busy right now!"

"I understand the added responsibility on your shoulders Jay, but this is important. The Drones must be operational by tomorrow evening or the mission will fail," Zane inputted with cold reasoning as he stepped further into the room.

Jay's shoulders tensed, these last few months have been stressful enough for him and all he wanted right now was to be left alone to his own devices. Was that too much to ask?!

"I know that," Jay growled through gritted teeth, even the shrill sound of his drill was grating on his nerves. "Cole was cryin' about it all through the debriefing two days ago. I understand! I got it! I'll get to them, okay!?"

Zane stopped behind the younger ninja and continued to watch him in exasperation, his own patience, for once, wearing thin.

"You said that yesterday and did not keep your word, so I'll have to ask when?"

Gloved hands increasingly tightened around the handle of the drill.

"When?! When I get to them! That's when!"

"That is not an appropriate answer, Jay. Furthermore, if you haven't had damaged them in the first place then they wouldn't need to be repaired now."

And that was the straw that broke the camel's back for sapphire veins of lightning suddenly converged around Jay's body. Lashing out with a scream of frustration, his gathered element was released and collided forcefully with the unsuspecting nindroid behind him, throwing him back and unto the hard floor.

Stunned and mortified at what he had done, Jay threw away his drill and ran to his fallen brother. He dared not to touch him though since his arms and hands were still coursing with damaging raw power.

"Zane!" He called anxiously. "I'm so sorry! Are you alright!?"

The white ninja winced as he sat up. "Shiva's glacier…that actually hurt," he grimaced and lifted a hand to his throbbing head. "Though I don't know why I'm surprised since high voltages of electricity can severely damage and cripple the inner-machine…workings—of a…"

Jay's eyes grew to saucers. "Oh man, Zane! Wha?"

A few wayward sparks flew around the curves of Zane's ears and he shakily raised a hand. "Give me—moment…my motor skills are-zzzt! Malfunctioning…"

With the gears turning in his head rapidly, Jay hurriedly backtracked to his workstation and knocked everything off the table, spewing apology after apology to the one he had injured. Concentrating and willing his powers to return to the safe chambers of his core, he formed quick seals with his hands that Sensei Wu taught him and Kai for whenever their powers decided to run amok. And before long, the lightning receded from his body.

Hurrying back over to his elder, Jay gingerly picked Zane up and carried him to his workstation. Zane's body had begun to twitch and spasm uncontrollably due to the rupture of certain circuits, but Jay was determined to right his wrong and heal his brother no matter what.

With diligent but efficient hands, Jay peeled away Zane's top until his upper body was completely exposed. Wasting no time, he pressed firmly on the hidden keys along his brother's right side and opened the door to his inner mother board. He grimaced when a random spark licked his face and replaced his goggles back over his eyes.

He muttered another earnest apology once he found the fried circuits connecting to Zane's CPU and set to work repairing his friend. Zane's body had finally settled down once the next to last wire was fixed and reinforced. The ninja on the table blinked up at the concentrated but distressed face of Jay and gave him a small smile of forgiveness.

Welding the last broken wire, Jay returned his brother's smile with one of his own, although it was tired and melancholic.

"I'm so sorry, Zane…" he whispered regrettably. "With everything that's been going on…I've been more high-strung than usual. H-How do you feel?"

"Fine now," he assured, but he looked at the bags under Jay's eyes worriedly, even from beyond the tinted lenses of his goggles they were perceptible. "Brother, you have been rather brusque and snappish at us as of late. Is something troubling you?"

The technological wizard released a shaky breath before replying. "It's just…well…I was overjoyed at first, yanno? At the aspect of being a father, but now that it's so close to Nya's due date…I've started to doubt myself. Questioning if I'm actually ready to handle such a big responsibility and my skills to handle it. A kid is nothing like a machine. You can't just mend a few wires and bing-bam-boom! Fixed! You need patience and a whole lot of other qualities that I lack a large quantity of. How many times will I mess up with this child? I don't want to at all, but…I know I'm going to. I don't want…my baby to hate me."

Zane watched silently as numerous tears seeped-out from under the goggles and ran in streams down his brother's face, the gathering drops at his chin falling into his innards.

Jay had kept his stress hidden away from his wife, but he and the others witnessed it behind closed doors.

Zane gathered his thoughts calmly and tried to soothe his long-time friend.

"Jay, no one here can offer sound advice because you are the first among us to be an expecting father. Although I must ask the question, is any man or woman, for that matter, really truly ready for parenthood when the time comes? One may study and read books about the subject or even succeed in getting advice from the more experienced. However, isn't every experience different? Your child will be a product of both you and Nya when he or she is born…and if that's the case…" he smiled, "…all you can really prepare for is a whirlwind of adventure."

Jay looked down at his brother.

"All you can do is your best, Jay. Nya believes in you, as do we. Now, you must simply believe in yourself."

Zane sat up when Jay closed the door on his torso. He blinked in surprise when the man suddenly threw his arms around him in a hug. Zane chuckled softly however and hugged his younger brother back.

"Thanks Zane, and I'm sorry again…for how I've been lately and for shocking you."

"Apology officially accepted though you'll have to apologize to Kai and Cole as well for your behavior."

"Yeah…I know," Jay grumbled and pulled back. He then removed his goggles completely and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "And I'll get cracking on those drones after dinner tonight. I promise."

Zane shook his head. "Do it tomorrow instead. Tonight you should focus on relaxing and getting a good night sleep."

Jay grinned and winked. "Will do! Oh, and you're cooking tonight so that's an added plus!"

"Yes I am, but Jay…May I ask a favor?" Zane placed a wary hand to his head, still somewhat feeling a throb at his left temple, and the blue-eyed man waited expectantly for him to continue. "While we are here…is it possible for you make an alteration? A little bit more resistance to lightning perhaps? I'd hate for this to happen again…not by your hand, but by Mother Nature's."

"Heh, sure! Yeah, I guess that would suck, huh?" His grin then turned mischievous and the lights in his eyes sparkled playfully. "I guess lightning strikes are no joke, right?"

Zane cocked an eyebrow.

"Because yanno I tell jokes and my element is lightning in all…Hey, is your funny switch on or not?!"

Zane simply sighed and lied back down. "No, but even if it was, I do not believe I would have found that particular joke humorous, Jay."