Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tommy jolted awake, gasping for air as it felt as if his lungs were on fire.

After taking some deep breaths he blinked, the feeling went away as soon as he regained full consciousness. He quickly looked over himself, there were no scars, no anything that would indicate he was ever hurt.

Letting out a relieved sigh, he laid down, a small mist of dust appeared as his body hit the sandy ground.

Tommy's eyes soon widen, he finally realized he had no idea where he is. He quickly sat up and started to look around.

There was nothing but dust and sand and maybe some random cacti in the nearest area. He furrowed his brows, slowly getting up and dusting himself off, even if just a little bit.

Oh well, it's walking time then, he had no intention of staying...wherever he was. Something in the back of his mind was screaming at how dangerous the night is and how he needed to find a hiding spot or something to protect himself, fast.

As the sun set for the first time, he only had a stick and dirt all over him. It wasn't that bad, he didn't mind the dust and dirt and sand, but he was paranoid about something scary jumping at him any second.

He did not get any sleep that night.

He walked all night and all of the following day. As the sun set down for the second time since he gained conscious, he was already extremely tired, the desert's climate getting to him with hot days and cold nights, no water or food at his access.

Despite all odds, he continued walking for a few more days.

A night after he lost count of how many sunsets he had seen till that point in his journey, he passed out.

He found himself in the Void.

Panic quickly took over him, Tommy couldn't understand why the pitch blackness scared him so bad, it's not like he was afraid of the dark. Danger possibly hiding in it? Maybe. But the dark itself? That was just stupid. 

And he knew for a fact there wasn't anything in there.

Not anything dangerous at least.

"TommyInnit" The teen's panic attack was cut short by a booming voice. It was quite funny really, he didn't even realize he had forgotten his own name until this point.

Tommy slowly turned around, and holy fuck his jaw dropped.

Before him were four figures. Well, three and a half.

The figure in the middle was the shortest of them all, being dressed in a green hoodie, black sweatpants and snickers. They had a smiling mask over their face, it was nicely matching their white shoulder-length hair.

The figure to the right was an anthropomorphic pig, dressed in fancy clothing with various golden jewelry and a long red cape on their back, their hair was pink, made in a long braid that was almost touching the nonexistent ground. Tommy also noticed their eyes had a bloody red color, he had a hard time deciding whether they were the most badass feature about this figure or the ominously glowing axe in its hand.

On the left there was a woman, sitting with legs crossed as she was much bigger than any normal human being. She had a black and purple dress that looked just as expensive as the Pig's clothes, she also had an almost witch-like hat with a black see-through veil that covered her face. Her dark hair was longer then the first figure's, but not as long at the second's. If it wasn't for her size, she would look like the only normal one there.

Sure, the first figure only had a mask on, but it gave him all kinds of red flags that he couldn't understand.

The fourth figure beat all of them though. It was a gigantic entity, there was no other way to call this thing. Tommy had to tilt his bead back to even see this Thing's face. Well, whatever was supposed to represent it. It had a lavender robe covering most of its body, it looked like it had no hands and the face was... just a blank plate. At least it wasn't as unnerving as the smiling mask.

"Ugh, you stink" The short figure grunted, placing a hand over their mask where the nose should be and waving their other hand in front of the mask.

Tommy furrowed his brows. "Excuse you!?"

The woman giggled while the Pig huffed. "I agree with Drista, he should take a bath. And a long one at that"

Oh, the audacity!

"It's no time to fool around" The Big Entity said in a stern tone before any words could leave Tommy's mouth, and he was already more than halfway to start an amazing swearing storm that would embarrass any sailor. "Tommy, I am Prime, a God you once worshipped. As a thank you for your loyalty, I've decided to give you my Blessings, you may recognize them from your past" Tommy looked down, eyeing the three figures with curiosity before looking back up. "As long as you show respect for every one of them respectively, they will help you on your new adventure"

To say Tommy was confused would be an understatement, his only reaction was looking down at the three, mouth slightly a gap.

The shortest figure - Drista, as the Pig Man called them - snort, "He's such a dork!"

The anthropomorphic pig rolled his eyes with another huff. "Tommy," The teen's eyes slowly drifted to look directly at him. "As The Blood God I can give you extreme strength, invincibility and unbeatable combat skills. However, I require blood in exchange, so only call for my help once you find yourself with no other option" Slowly processing everything that was said, Tommy nodded. Why did the Blood God ring a bell?

"Ohhhh, so we're doing a whole introduction? Hi then!" Drista waved wildly at him, now starting to levitate in a light green mist. "I'm Drista, the God of Chaos. Or the God of Mischief. Call me whatever ya wanna! Anyway, as my name suggests, I just want you to cause some chaos, as much as you can!"

"Within reason" The big woman added.

Tommy could somehow sense how Drista's eye rolled at that. "Yeah, yeah. So basically, I'm going to lend you part of my powers when you wake up. It can go rouge, especially for a noob like you, but I'm sure you'll get the hang of it! ...Eventually…"

Tommy narrowed his eyes at them. Sure, he was up for some trouble causing, but having a power he couldn't understand wasn't one of his dreams. At least not at the moment.

And why did he already have an idea of what the powers are like when they never told him?

"Come closer, sunshine" The big woman said softly, placing a hand at the ground level. It didn't take a genius to figure out what she wanted him to do, though even if it did, Tommy would get it either way. He walked closer, stopping to look at the woman once he was right in front of her hand, she smiled warmly at him. He took a breath and stepped onto her palm, she slowly raised it up so that they were face to face. "I am Kristen, Goddess of Death, you can also call me the Death Lady or Lady of Death. I don't ask anything of you except to follow your heart. Do what you feel is right, even if it means breaking some laws" Kristen chuckled and spared a quick glance at Drista. "You can call me if you ever need any form of support or guidance. I also have a gift for you" After saying that, she leaned closer and kissed his forehead, Tommy had no idea how to react.

Getting any form of kisses felt weird, and having one from Kristen was making him feel both safe and scared, she was a big woman after all!

But he didn't have time to contemplate that as he felt something grown on his back. In even more panic, he turned his head around, his eyes widen.

There was a pair of black wings coming from his back.

It didn't hurt, but it felt so real. He reached a hand to touch them. Holy shit they were so soft.

"You are now my Angel of Death, I will be watching over you. Well, we all will, but you'll only meet with me at the end" Tommy turned to look at her with a raised brow, his hand still going up and down his black, fluffy feathers. "Don't worry, the end is just the new beginning, especially for my Angels. It may take some time to control them, but I can teach you when we meet in your dreams" The last line was obviously about Tommy's new wings, the same one that go along with the title of an Angel of Death, and the same one he recognized in some way. But he was sure he never had wings before, so why were the so familiar?

"I– T-thank you" He stuttered out, when did his throat got so dry?

"I'm afraid it's time to say goodbye for now, TommyInnit" Prime spoke up again, not only did it look unnatural, it also sounded weird. Its voice was echoey, only more proof it wasn't human nor human alike. Death Lady lowered her hand down so that the teen could get off, he backed away slightly. "Remember to respect my Blessings and continue to be a loyal servant, for I am just towards my subjects, and I can take, just as well as I can give" The last part sounded very, very threatening, making Tommy swallow in fear. What if he accidentally broke the rules? What even were the rules!? He didn't remember any of them! He didn't even know he was religious until he passed out from exhaustion not so long ago! 

Or was it long ago...?

"Fear not, TommyInnit" The teen most definitely got even more scared. "I'm sure Chat will help you with that"

"Chat?"

"Lonely souls that are combined into one being due to interest in one of my followers' progress. They can take different forms and different names, they're guides driven by the need to help their host. It seems like your Chat was lost in the Incident, but I'm sure you can summon them back with the help of my Blessings"

This explanation only had Tommy more confused, too many things happened at once. He never dared to reveal his lack of bigger understanding in fear of what may happen. Though, if the thing he was talking to was really a God, then wouldn't it already know...?

Ugh, it's so confusing!

Prime hummed. "It's time to wake up, TommyInnit"

Tommy slowly opened his eyes.

The sky was light orange, the sun was slowly rising up. Surprisingly, he wasn't as cold as he normal was at this time of the day, it fact he felt something soft around his curled up body, warping him like a blanket. Tommy, in his half asleep state, brushed his hand on the warm, soft thing. He felt something weirdly similar to feathers.

His eyes widen and his whole body stiffened, he slowly looked down. Sure enough, a pair of black-feathered wings was wrapped around his torso, keeping him nice and warm.

It was almost like if the Lady of Death was hugging him.

It took a couple of seconds for him to realize his dream was actually real and not something created by his exhausted and dehydrated brain.

It was a loooot to take in first thing in the morning.

Starting from that day on, Tommy's life became both easier and more chaotic.

Kristen visited him in his dreams every night until he learned how to fly. He may or may not called her Mumza for some reason he didn't understand. The woman wasn't bothered though, quite the opposite actually, she smiled more bright then before, saying he can call her Mumza if he wants to.

In the day, he walked and tried testing Drista's powers. It was bad. Only a few times the things he wanted to happen happened, in nine out of ten instances the power didn't listen to him and either did the thing in its own, twisted way or did the complete opposite.

A few days after his first meeting with the Gods (Blessings?), he finally stumbled across some inhabited area. It was a city, just as chaotic as his new gained powers. He quickly figure it would be the best place to stay. Thankfully the city was full of other weirdos so he didn't need to hide his wings, and nobody questioned him on them.

As he now knew where his new home will be, he decided to finally ask the Blessings how he should look for his Chat, who- or whatever they were. Not really knowing how to communicate with them, he did the only reasonable thing - found a quiet place, kneeled down, closed his eyes, connected his hands together and made up a prayer.

It wasn't the best, he was quite new to this after all. He had no recollection of any actual prayers so he had to improvise.

And improvise he did.

He ended with 'Amen' and waited with closed eyes, not changing his position one bit. Slowly the faint noises around him were replaced with silence, the darkness behind him eyelids turning into the pitch black Void and showing Drista in all their glory. The God giggled, "Already need assistance?"

Tommy furrowed his brows. 'That's your job, isn't it?'

"Touché. Well, hate to break it to ya, but brining back your Chat ain't that easy, Innit. Chet had an actual body, once a Chat gets one they're bound to it. In other words, the only way to bring them back is getting them a new vessel, similar to the one they used to have"

'Chet?' Tommy refrained the urge to facepalm. Prime, did his Chat really took this as their name of all things? 'So what do I do?'

"Honestly, I don't think you can do much. They were an android-like thingy with a TV doing as their head. And you're not the greatest when it comes to tech..."

'No that I could do anything either way since I don't remember anything'

"Also that. I guess the only way to bring them back it to ask someone for help, but nobody would build you a robot for free"

Tommy let out a groan. 'This is it then. I don't even have money for a flat, let along complicated android shit!'

Just as the teen was about to open his eyes or even much an inch, Drista stopped him, "There is a way. You just need to get the money"

'And how would I do that, smartass?'

"There is a market in this city, a lot of people found themselves in a similar situation after the Incident and now they need to make money just like you. They're selling stuff, you can too"

'I don't have anything!!'

"You can sell potions"

Tommy opened his eyes in surprise. Selling potions?

Why did this ring a bell?

Not only this, he almost immediately figured this would work. He was yet to find out how, but he knew it would.

And so, Tommy got up and quickly started to gather materials he needed.

How the fuck did he knew what he needed?

At first his potion business was highly illegal, all of the materials were stolen after all, but as more people started to buy the potions, the more he was able to afford. A month later he was fully clean, the bottles, the ingredients, it was all his.

He didn't have to worry about anyone telling him to shut the business down.

At least he fucking hope so.

It took some time to be able to afford a place, he was quite picky, but all Blessings agreed he deserved what's best.

It took ten times that for him to find and be able to afford for someone to take on the challenge of putting Chet back together. Tommy found only one person willing to listen to his weird request.

One day when he was having a break from selling and making potions, having drank one himself (he may or may not become a little addicted to drinking Invis), he walked down the streets and noticed there was a race happening. Still being invisible, he asked around about it, he smiled widely as the random stranger he scared by accident explained all the racers made their own mechs.

The blond teen, with a weirdly white streak in his hair, waited for the race to end so he could ask for help with his...friend? How should he even consider them?

Most of the racers either didn't want to help at all or had weird ideas of how the pay should look like, some came up with the own, alternative ways to pay which creeped Tommy off.

Then, as all hope seem to be lost, he got to talk to two teenagers a little younger then him - Arin and Sora. The two friends, being in a desperate need of money, quickly agreed to help him out. For the next few months, all three of them were buying part, or stealing them if they turned out to be out of Tommy's budget, and hanging out while Sora was putting everything together.

And that's how he found new friends, even if he wasn't looking for them.

Chapter Text

Three teens sneaked into a junkyard under the cover of the night, Arin distracted the dogs while Tommy and Sora were trying to find the right part. The blond accidentally made some loud noise, making the girl glare at him and send him to the other boy. Tommy flew up to him and sat down with his arms crossed, sulking like a child send for time out.

"Hey, have I ever told you my story?" Arin asked looking at him.

Tommy thought for a second, "No..." It was weird, they spend so much time together and he didn't even know their backgrounds. He guessed the topic became nonexistent after he told them he himself has amnesia.

"Wanna hear it?"

"Sure" Tommy changed his sitting position to something more comfortable. "Amuse me, kiddo"

"Well... Before all of this, I used to spend all my time trying to be like my heroes, the ninja. Practicing their moves, learning their poses... I wanted to be just like them. To protect everyone in Ninjago. To ride dragons into adventure and mythical realms. Mysterious lands that could only exist in legend. But I quickly found out those legendary realms are very real. And I was about to lose everyone that was important to me... My neighborhood must have been the very center of the Merge. But back then, we didn't know what to call it. It was just chaos. That’s when my heroes, the ninja, arrived! We were in so much danger, but I couldn't help but be excited. I meet Jay - the Lightning Ninja, Kai - Fire Ninja, Cole - Earth Ninja, Zane - Ice Ninja, Nya - Water Ninja and Lloyd - the legendary Green Ninja! I asked them to find my parents, they, of course, agreed. And that’s when it happened" The teen made an explosion sound as he imitated it with his hands. "As I saw my small neighborhood disappear and a new city show up on the horizon, I realized I had witnessed the Merge firsthand. The moment all mysterious realms I had only heard about merged with Ninjago, for reasons no one’s been able to figure out. I survived, but I was alone. My parents and everyone I ever knew had vanished. With my parents and home gone, I had to make a new life for myself. Before, everyone I knew looked like me. Now I walk the streets with skeleton people, buy food from snail people, sell pies to frog people, make weird deals with winged people with Gods on their side!" The two boys looked at each other with cheeky grins. "And since the ninja disappeared, I realized it's up to me to carry on their legendary tradition" To Tommy's utter surprise, Arin pulled a very dirty and partly burned green hood out of his (as in Tommy's, though the younger teen was carrying it around at the moment) bag and put in on.

Sora sighed, having heard the story too many times, "Arin, not to insult the dreams of my best friend, but... you are so not a ninja"

The younger boy turned around to face her, "How would you know, Sora? You didn't grow up with them like I did. All I need is a master to train me"

"Sure! Ah, one problem. There are no ninja masters around anymore"

"Uh, Tommy, do you have any questions?" Arin looked at the oldest teen, quickly changing the topic.

"Several" Tommy admitted, one of his hands went to touch his wings while he tried going through everything his friend just said.

"Go ahead!"

"Okay, well... Why is every ninja connected to some kind of element except for the last one? I mean, Green??? What the hell is that? Also, where did you get that thing? Did you ever wash it?" Tommy pointed at the hood while cringing in disgust. Prime, he could almost smell the thing from his place few feet away from the boy.

"W-well, uhhh—"

"Aha!" The two turned to look at the girl as she held up the part they needed. "Ha! And we didn't even set off the—" Before Sora could finish her sentence, the alarm went off. Tommy quickly got up to his feet, wings already stretching as he knew he would need to use them in a second. 

"We should be leaving now!" Arin called out as some security bots came out of nowhere.

"I always like how you think!" The girl pulled on her hood and the two started to run while Tommy flew up into the sky. Sora threw the part up, the blond teen caught it and with a quick salute he flew away.

"Oh, there’s got to be an easier way to get mechanical parts!"

"There is. It’s called 'having money'. Which is not exactly our situation!" They continued to run until their way was blocked by the security bots. Sora quickly grabbed a metal plate as soon as she saw they were aiming at them.

Arin run from behind her. "Alright, then! Ninja—"

"You’re not a ninja!"

"Wannabe ninja, go!" An orange half tornado appeared around Arin as he jumped at one of the robots and kicked it away. The teen himself was thrown backwards and landed on his back with a groan.

Sora quickly walked over to him so he wouldn't get shot. "Rough landing, but you’re getting better at that" They smiled at each other as the boy got up. "Can you make a distraction?"

"I don’t think these bots want to hear my story about the Merge"

"Then do something else!"

He quickly nodded, reached down to the bag to get out his grappling hook before using it to fly over the bots’ heads. "Up here! You garbage can!" The security bots turned to shoot at him as he swing around. The girl used this opportunity to jump at their back and quickly hack their system. She jumped over them with a smile as she observed her job. They bots started dancing. Arin jumped to his friend's side, took the hood off and quickly shoved it back into the bag while he stared at the bots with amazement. "I will never get over how quickly you can hack stuff like that"

"What can I say? I’m just naturally good at tech stuff" Sora exclaimed proudly. Her smile faded for a second, only to be replaced with a lightly forced one. "It's been like that since I was a kid"

"We might not have money, but I'm sure the owners of this place would love one of my delicious homemade pies, right?" The girl laughed as the teen got out a semi-warm pie and placed it one some garbage, the dogs he was distracting before quickly gathered around it. "As payment for the gear we're borrowing"

"Who doesn't love pie?" Sora threw an arm around her friend and the two of them made their way out of the junkyard.

***

The two made their way through the Crossroads, waving and calling out to people they knew. Suddenly they both got hit by foam darts. "Very funny, Tom" Sora rolled her eyes while the oldest of the three landed next to them, giggling almost maniacally to himself.

"Took you long enough, dwarfs. I was starting to get bored"

"Please tell me you didn't shoot our landlord" Arin looked at him in worry.

"Nah" The younger boy let out a relieved sigh. "They run away before I got the chance"

"You really did drop the Invis, huh?" The girl looked at Tommy, he shrugged.

"You said no spoops, so no spoops. I never said I'd quit though"

"And your powers?" Arin whispered walking closer to them, it's not like Tommy's powers were a secret but it felt like the right thing to do.

"Well, I've made this thing" He spin the Nerf Gun on one of his fingers. "So I'd say I'm getting better"

"That so coo—!" Before Arin could end, he noticed a car speeding straight at them, both his and Tommy's eyes widen in realization. He got out his grappling hook and grabbed Sora before using it to avoid getting hit while Tommy quickly bolted up into the air.

"AAH!! Hey! Watch where you’re going!!" The girl screamed after the car. Whoever was behind the wheel apparently did not give a fuck about almost killing a group of teenagers.

Tommy shook his head. "Tch, what a bitch"

Now being a little higher up, the three started to walk towards the penthouse where Arin and Sora lived. Tommy was spending a lot of time there lately, especially in the last month or so, it was like a second home to him. Arin sighed looking into the distance, "I still can’t get over how amazing the Kingdom of Imperium looks. It’s perfect, isn’t it?"

"Hm, it has some qualities... I guess..." From what Tommy have heard, it was basically a sci-fi kingdom, and that's where his knowledge ends, he never really cared. Sure, it looked nice, but it wasn't all that special.

Though he had to admit, he had some weird longing (that sometimes felt more like a pet peeve) towards the walls the whole Kingdom was surrounded by.

Oh well, he was just being weird.

"Don’t believe everything you hear about Imperium. I’m from there, remember? Their idea of 'perfect' isn’t mine" The girl was always quick to take a rather offensive stance when it came to Imperium related topics, Tommy couldn't complain as it was her childhood home, not his. She had to have a reason as to why she was acting this way and he wasn't going to judge without knowing the full story. "The Merge slamming it up against Ninjago gave me the perfect chance to get out" She resumed walking, making the boys follow her.

"And the perfect chance to meet me and Tommy!" The younger boy laughed before growing gloomy, "I’d still like to go there someday. Or go anywhere. I’ve never been out of my old neighborhood. The Crossroads just grew up around the area where my house used to be" The last two seem to be directed to Tommy, though the blond had no idea how well the other two actually knew each other.

The girl put a hand on his shoulder and smiled, "You want to experience other places? Look around! Why go anywhere when the best of all the realms moved here to the Crossroads?"

"Yeah, like me!" Tommy exclaimed proudly, causing the other two to laugh.

"Yeah, like Tommy" Sora rolled her eyes.

"I’m glad you came here, Sora. You’re my BFF, my fam. But some of us are only here because we had nowhere else to go" Arin sulked again, just as the girl was about to pick up the topic again, he realized he kind of excluded Tommy and quickly blurted out, "I-I mean, I am glad you both came here!! You're both my family! I mean friends!! Sorry, uh... I didn't know if–"

"It's fine" The blond smiled at his friend. "You call me whatever ya want, bro. I don't mind. And I s’ppose I am here mostly for the second reason too..." Mostly? Innit, you absolutely liar. He had nowhere else to go. I mean, technically he could go, but holy fuck for now he needed a stable income to live, and having a stable income with just potions wasn't that easy.

Sora laughed before turning to Arin with a reassuring smile, "I understand, but you have to admit, having our own penthouse is pretty cool" Catching her hint, the boys looked up.

Tommy smiled, a mischievous glint made his eyes shine as he raised his Nerf Gun and started shooting at the two as he flew up, "Race you to the top!!"

"Hey! That’s cheating!" The girl shook her first in the air.

"See ya! Wouldn’t wanna be yaaaa!!!"

The two watched as Tommy got to their flat in just under a few seconds. "...Last one there’s a rotten egg!!" Arin smiled at the girl as he used his grappling hook to go up. Sora shook her head in shock and quickly run to the ladder to start climbing up.

The younger boy seem to forget about Tommy's gun, before he could even get to the top a million foam darts already hit his body, mostly his head. Tommy on the other hand failed with his own calculations, standing to close to the edge while the teen zoomed towards him faster and faster with ever second, when both of them realized what was about to happen it was already too late.

The blond yelped just before Arin's body slammed against his, the two of them were thrown inside, ending in an audible crash. "Dang it!!" 

Sora stopped for a second and cringed looking up, knowing it must have been a painful one. When she finally reached the top, the two were already fixing everything up. Well, Arin was. Tommy was handing upside down on some stray beam. "Fucking finally! How slow can you possibly be!?"

Sora immediately narrowed her eyes at him, "Bats didn't talk last time I checked"

"Well this one does! Making up prayers that don't sound like cringy love letters turned out to be harder than I thought! So I need Chat A-S-A-P before I make a terrible mistake and need to apologize for it!"

The girl only rolled her eyes. "Where did you put the thing?"

"Operation table... Fuck!" Tommy yelled out as he fell from his ingenious spot. Laying on the ground in defeat, he noticed something under one of the other tables. He gasped, "Is this the Mark???"

Arin chuckled, "Yeah! SA Mark 01! ...Did I say that right?" He turned to the girl in hesitation.

"Yep" She answered while she got to placing the glowing blue part into the small bot.

"Tomorrow's race is the biggest prize pot of all time. If we win–"

"When you win" Tommy corrected him with a smile.

"Right, right, when we win, we could find ourselves a real place to live. 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!" Arin jumped while his eyes sparkled in excitement.

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

"You could move in with us!" Arin said to the other boy, "We would organize parties every now and then and— and it would be great!"

Tommy snort, "I'm flattered, but I have to decline. I have my job here so when you two move out, I'll move in. This place is way nicer then my flat!"

"But you have wings, you could always fly to work" The younger boy started to bargain, the blond shook his head.

"Those are fun only, no hard work"

"That's not what I hear every time we need to 'borrow' something" Sora looked at him, stopping in her work for just a few seconds.

Tommy furrowed his brows, "Manhunt is fun. It's just tiring. I only do tiring things when they're fun" He shrugged.

Suddenly the room was filled with a specific music, one that Tommy recognized yet had no idea why. He turned around to see the small TV-like bot's face displaying a music note. He smiled and quickly got up to look at mini Chet closer.

It was a small floating TV, looking more like a mutated tablet—, it had hands made out of tubes ended with clamps. The face programmed to display various expressions in white pixels. "It's alive!" Tommy exclaimed before he let out a semi-crazed laughter.

"Oof, that was baaaad..." Chet spoke up in a robotic voice, the blond stared at them in disbelief.

"How dare you!? I am your big brother and you shall respect me! Now, we have some things to talk about..." But before Tommy could get his Chat into a quiet place, the ground shook. The small TV quickly zoomed towards their rightful owner with a shocked expression (O_O'). He stared at them with sadness, getting scared by an earthquake first thing after waking up must have been quite traumatic.

"Another earthquake? It seems like they're happening more often..." Sora said, putting a hand on her chin in thought.

"They never happened at all before the Merge" Arin added, they were all silent for a moment before he spoke up again, "Hey, do you guys ever wonder if there's a greater purpose for all this? Like, a reason for the Merge?"

"The Merge might have taken away everything you had, Arin. But it's given me everything I have. Change can be scary, but it's also a chance for something better"

"Hm, maybe you're right. What do you think, Tommy?"

"Well, I don't believe in coincidences. Everything has a reason... Except for chaos" He added after a second. Another second later all four of them were laughing.

In an underground base, the Claws were preparing to transport a container back to Imperium, all while Rapton talked with his superior. "The capture was successful?" The tiger man asked.

"Of course!" The other laughed, proud of his job. "Transfer will begin first thing in the morning"

"Your overconfidence is a weakness, Rapton. These creatures are dangerous"

"Trust me, this thing isn't going anywhere. Don't worry, Lord Ras!"

Ras narrowed his eyes at him. "Do not disappoint me" After that, the call ended, leaving the man annoyed.

"Lord Ras doesn’t sound like he’s got a lot of faith in us" One of the Claws commented, making Rapton glare at them.

"He’s too uptight. We're the best there is at rounding up these animals. Ugh, 'your overconfidence is a weakness'" He imitated the anthropomorphic tiger and laughed, then turned back to the Claw, "Lemme tell ya, I've never even heard the word weakness"

"Really? It’s a pretty common word"

Rapton, getting completely thrown off tracks, stiffen for a second before trying to clarify his words, "No, I— I-I mean, I just don’t know what that word means"

"Seriously? I can explain. Weakness: noun, the quality of—" Before they could finish the man kicked them away, deciding explaining anything just didn't make sense as they clearly wouldn't get it.

"Go away" He growled at Claw as they were getting up. He walked over to the container and looked inside with a smile. "This guy in here, he ain’t going nowhere, ain’t ya?" The dragon inside thrashed around while he walked away laughing evilly.

As the sun raised for a new day, Sora and Arin quietly left their penthouse, they hated to go without saying goodbye to the oldest teen, but they had no other option if they wanted to participate in the race. Tommy slept in, it was his last night there (until he gets to own this place after the other two move out) before going home. He deserved a good sleep before going back to work, he was slacking off all month so there was a loooot of that waiting for him.

Unfortunately for him, Chet seem to be oblivious to that fact.

It wasn't that long after the other teens left when the small bot jumped on Tommy playing a really annoying sound. He covered his ears with an annoyed groan. "Chat, let me sleep!!"

"We need to go!!"

"Ugh, go where?"

"GO!!! QUICK!!! FAST!!! NOW!!!"

"Okay, I GET IT!! STOP FUCKING SCREAMING AT ME!!!!!" The teen sat up and glared daggers at his robotic friends. Chet's face displayed a [^u^] face and they got off him. Tommy growled as he got up to get his shoes.

Arin and Sora dragged their mech through Crossroads, waving and saying 'hi' to all of their neighbours or other people they knew. It wasn't all that long before they saw multiple other mechs standing in front of a starting line, Mr. Frohicky's stand right next to them. "Last call to register for the Mech Master 5000! The greatest race—"

"In the history of the Crossroads!" The girl ended for the frog-man, he put his hands on his hips and smiled at the two. "And we're here to win it"

"Sora! Arin! Always happy to peep you two wild scamps. Up top!" Sora raised her hand and Mr. Frohicky high fived her using his tongue.

"Good to see you too, Mr. Frohicky"

The frog looked behind her, his eyes narrowing as he saw the condition of the mech, all beat up from the last time they participated in the race. "Wait, that's your mech? Oh ho, no offense, Sora, but, uh, not one of your more impressive builds, is it, hmm?"

"It's easily underestimated. Just like us" She and Arin glanced at each other, smiling with confidence.

"Sure, but I've got top mechs from around the merged realms here. Like an Underworld Mech. There's even a... uh, uh... that thing" The anthropomorphic frog pointed at a quite weird, circular robot with his even weirder mech looking almost like a copy of himself.

"Oh, that's Lobbo! Me and Tommy talked to him, he's a good guy. But, uh," Arin scratched his head in awkwardness, "never ask him about his mom. It's a... it's a very touchy subject…" A subject that was talked through in great details when Tommy tried explaining how his potions don't work on robots.

"Plus, all the regulars. It could get pretty vicious. Maybe you should sit today's race out?" The frog man asked with hope, Sora only crossed her arms and gave him The Look. He sighed. "Fine. Then ante up!" The two teens smiled and Arin quickly took a pie out of the bag and held it out for the frog. Mr. Frohicky sniffed the air, licking his lips before his eyes shot open in realization. "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?" The boy teased with a big grin before sighing dramatically in fake disappointment, "Fine, I guess we'll just have to toss it. Maybe the dogs are hungry. Or maybe the raccoons?"

"Or Tommy. He’s kind of a raccoon..." Sora muttered the last part to herself, remembering how on multiple occasions the teen jumped in to searching through trash for no apparent reason.

"Well, it'd be a shame to just throw it out... Fine!" Mr. Frohicky gave in and practically ripped the pie out of the teen's hands before throwing the whole thing up and swallowing it. A second later he burped out the tray. "Line up!"

The teens smiled in victory and went to place their mech at the starting line. Just as they fixed the mech into place, they heard a scoff, they turned to look at their almost arch-nemesis, Sora looking way more annoyed than Arin. "They'll let anyone into these races, won't they?"

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

Kreel turned a little red, "They aren't servants! They're frieeeeeeend-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 gasped dramatically. "Every single time. You kids don't learn"

"Oh, we learn. But we just don't give up" Arin smiled at her, she scoffed again.

"Aaaand I might've designed a bit of an upgrade since the last race" Sora smirked, she knocked on the mech and it rose to its full height. "C'mon, Arin. Let's get our fuel couplings attached while Kreel contemplates her impending loss" She send one last mocking smile towards their opponent before walking away with her best friend.

Kreel laughed, less confident than before. "I'm not worried!" She watched as the two leave. As soon as they were out of her eyesight she grabbed one of the rats and whispered through gritted teeth, "But just in case, loosen their cooling cable while they're gone. When they hit their turboboost, their engine will overheat and explode"

Just as the Claws were about to place the container on the train, it started thrashing about, the dragon inside fighting harder than before. "Hey! Settle down in there!" Rapton walked over to help keep it in one place. "Nice try, you animal. You can't—" Much to everyone's surprise, the container broke, sending one of the men flying across the room and letting the small dragon free, allowing it to escape while they were still in shock. Rapton quickly realized what had happened and commanded, "After that thing!!"

Chet dragged Tommy out – okay, well, they just lead him – to one of the rooftops, just around the area where the race was taking place. The teen sat there, very annoyed may I add, watching everything. The race haven't started yet so it was rather boring, but the small robot forbidden the blond from going anywhere. So Tommy was stuck there, having no idea why, he could do nothing but brush his wings with his hands as a way to control his growing anger.

He groaned, looked at his hand and tried using his power.

It didn't do jack.

He growled this time, leaning back and hitting the roof with his back.

His annoyance only grew.

The two teens quickly jumped in their mech as Mr. Frohicky announced it was time to begin the race, Arin unfortunately had a seat at the back making him unable to see anything ahead of them, but his role was just as important. "Are we winning? I can't see. Tell me we're winning!" He asked not too long after the race begun.

"Not yet. Get the bumper arms up!" He nodded to himself and pressed the right button to activate the bumpers, it was just in time before some other mechs tried getting them out of the race. They remained on the track while others weren't all that lucky. "We're coming for you, you fancy-hatted egomaniac! Hold on!" Sora, who was controling most of the mech, jumped over one of the defeated mechs.

"Hit the turboboost!"

"No! We can only use it once. Saving it for when we really need it"

Soon enough, all the other competitors got themselves out, leaving only the two and Kreel on track. "We're in the straightaway. This has got to be the time to use the turboboost, right? Right???" Arin practically turned around to look at his friend, despite a piece of metal separating them and making it impossible so see each other.

Sora grinned. "Yep! Get ready to roll around in prize money, tossing it in the air, and going 'Whee hee!'" Her hand was just above the button when suddenly a metal board shot out from the ground and flew straight at Kreel's mech, making it crush. Sora stopped their mech right before the cloud of dust.

Tommy leaned closer to the edge, finally something interesting!

His eyes widen as the dust cleared out, revealing a small dragon. Some people dressed in fancy golden armor on some weird flying thingys came out from the hole, the dragon was quick to run away from them as they started to chase after it.

"Protect it!!" Chet screamed at their host, it was highly uncalled for as Tommy was already on his feet, wings spread out before he jumped off the roof and joined the chase.

Sora stared after the Claws, they had a dragonling? Since when?

"Sora, go! We're so close!"

The girl blinked hearing her friend. "We gotta go after that dragon"

"What?" Arin yet again tried turning to look at her. "We need to win this race!"

"Those dragon hunters are the Claws of Imperium. If they catch that dragon... the things they'll do to him..." She closed her eyes, eyebrows furrowed and fists clenched as she swallowed. "Trust me, we have to stop them. Arin, what would the ninja do?"

His eyes widen, it took only a second for him to get the mask out and put it over his face, "Let's save that dragon!" Sora smiled and they too joined the chase.

The Imperium forces hit the dragonling with a blast. "Well that's just animal abuse!" Chet growled as they held onto Tommy's hood while he was in the air.

The teen leaped down, stole one of the blasters, or whatever it was, and started shooting at the Claws. "What?" Rapton turned around noticing his underlings were being shot at. 

Soon the other two teens arrived at the scene. "Tommy!"

The blond's head snapped towards the Mach as he heard Sora call out his name, "Guys!"

"Hop on, buddy" Arin said to the dragonling, knowing Tommy was more than fine fighting by himself, or hoping he was. The dragonling seem hesitant at first but after almost being hit again it climbed the mech's arm. "Let's go, Sora!"

"All right!"

Tommy jumped on the mech just as it was about to speed off, he never stopped shooting at the Claws. Rapton growled angrily, "Who are these kids now!? Get them!!" The armed men quickly followed the order.

"Uh, looks like we're in another race"

"Ya think so?" Tommy looked down to give Arin The Look.

"Then good thing we've still got that turboboost ready to go" Sora smiled before hitting the button, it didn't seem to work at first but soon the mech got out of her control. "Guys—"

"Tommy, go!"

"Huh? Where?" He looked at the small robot on his left, eyebrows drawn together in confusion.

"Get away! Now!!"

Geez, weren't they just the most confusing thing ever? But Tommy did as he was told, spreading his wings again before jumping off and flying up, all just in time to see the mech imploding and then falling off the bridge, pieces falling alongside his friends and the small dragon. "No—!!" He felt a sharp pain in his wings, causing him to fell to the ground and hiss. Did they just fucking shot him!?

"Uh, did one of us make that thing explode? I mean, heh, I'm sure it was us, right?" Tommy quickly turned around and hissed at the man, Chat hiding behind his back while glaring daggers at the armed men. Raptor only scoffed at him. "Take care of him" Three other men started walking towards Tommy.

In the meantime the other two were falling down, slowly accepting their fate. The dragonling bumped into the girl, they caught each other’s gazes, then the dragon's eyes started to glow. Sora's eyes widen as a white beam of power shoot towards her, her eyes and hands started glowing in pink. Something told her to try using whatever she just got on the destroyed mech. Sure enough she was able to reassemble it, get inside to save herself while Arin, thinking surprisingly fast, used his grappling hook to hold onto the new mech as it flew up, the dragonling barely keeping itself on top of it.

"Dragons are resilient. Our target will survive. Those kids, not so much. Let's get down there and drag the lizard off the pavement" Rapton said to his underlings, totally not bothered by possibility of killing two kids.

Yep, it was time for some Chaos Power.

Tommy sprinted towards the three men approaching him, with Chat still holding onto his hood, it was going to be either very bad for them or very bad for him. He took a swing with the yet-to-be-existing-thing, he felt something appear in his hands and he striked. The three were swooped to the side with what seem to be a gaming chair, it was heavy so as soon as they were flying off Tommy lost his balance. He let go of the chair, it being thrown away and off the bridge, just before he collapsed onto his butt.

I mean, it kind of worked...

It would work better if he drank one of his potions first.

Oh! About that, Arin still had his bag.

"Fuckin' hell..."

"Uh, That's different than it was before, right?" 

Tommy turned around, his mouth dropped open once he saw Sora's mech all intact with the girl inside while the other boy hanged down holding onto said mech that now looked different. It wasn't his doing so how...?

"How did you do all this?" Arin asked, looking up at his friend (as much as he could at least).

"I honestly do not know. But now's not the time for questions. It's the time for—"

"Arin!!" Tommy's yelling cut the girl off. "Drop me the healing potion!"

"Uh, which is that?"

Tommy facepalmed. "The red one!" Another one of the Claws tried getting Tommy, but the teen swiftly kicked him in the crotch. No kids for Mr. Ugly face. "Also the yellow one. And maybe—"

"There's more than one healing potion?" The younger boy asked confused, his free hand in the bag searching for the right potion.

"No!! I just— Ugh, just gimme my bag!!" He screamed, now annoyed while he dodged another attack.

Sora rolled her eyes at them. Arin swung using his hook and leaped towards the Claws near the oldest teen, "Self-trained wannabe ninja without a master, go!" He did his weird version of spinjitzu before he got hit with the blast and collapsed onto Tommy, the two screamed at the collision. "Ehh, close enough..."

"Why is it always me!?" 

Up in the air, Sora was dodging the Claws. Suddenly the small dragon jumped at one of them, the girl quickly turned to follow after it.

Before they could get up from the ground, some tiger guy dropped down, sending a shockwave that send everyone flying off. "Thor?" Chet asked jokingly, peeking from behind Tommy's shoulder. The teen looked up, sure enough the anthropomorphic tiger had a big-ass hammer.

"Lord Ras! We were just about to—" Rapton tried talking fast but it didn't go well, he was quickly shut down by him as he grabbed him by the collar and growled at him.

"You failed me. I do not like that" Rapton swallowed loudly, Ras scoffed and let him go, the man almost fell to the ground from the harsh action.

"Uh, do you know who this guy is?" Tommy looked at his friend as they started to get off the ground.

"No clue. But he doesn't seem very nice" The younger boy answered before he sprinted towards the tiger man.

"Arin, wait—!" The blond reached a hand after him but he was too late.

Arin jumped up and tried kicking the guy in the face, to his surprise Ras caught his leg just as it was about to land. "What? How'd you—" Ras thrown him onto the ground, not letting him finish.

"Arin!!" The other two screamed and attacked at once, Sora turned the mech so that the boosters were facing the meanie while Tommy sprinted towards him, hand up as another thing formed in it.

Ras jumped up and threw his hammer into the mech, the impact was so strong the mech fell apart again, making the part Sora was sitting in detach from the rest and land a few feet away, the safety keeping her locked in it. Tommy suffered just as bad fate, worse even, as he humiliated himself. The thing that appeared in his hand was a plush cow, his plush cow he got from Mumza and which he named Henry. Safe to say it didn't do much damage and instead made him freeze in place from embarrassment. Soon after he and Chat were caught by two of the Claws who made him hit the ground again.

Ras shot the dragonling making it collapse as well. "You are just the first. Now, I'm going to hunt down your entire family, wherever they are" The teens glared at the tiger man. The ground shook, making him look up, seeing a split in the sky. He turned to the Claws, "Put the prisoners on the train. Quickly! I trust you won't have any more problems" Ras glared at Rapton, who quickly saluted to him.

"Yes, Lord Ras. I mean—! No, Lord Ras"

***

The three teens were placed on a train, some weird cuffs placed on their wrists. Tommy tried breaking (and biting) them off but to no avail. He groaned. "You're sure you can't do anything?" Arin asked him.

Tommy groaned again, "No, I would need my potions but they took away my bag! And Chat!!" The small robot was taken away from him not so long after they got captured, the blond's threats didn't seem to work on the Claws.

There was a moment of silence before Arin spoke up again, "What do you think they'll do to us?"

"Whatever it is, they'll do worse to that dragon"

"Really?" He looked at Sora.

The girl sighed, "The Claws of the Imperium come from Imperium, same as me. And Imperium runs entirely on dragon power. With all these merged realms, I'm sure they're hunting dragons everywhere now"

"But they say dragon power is safe"

"Safe for who? You saw the look in that dragon's eyes! It wanted to be free. Just like I did..."

Seeing how the atmosphere was now tense, Tommy decided to change the topic, "So, uh, I've known you for a while now, and you've always been pretty good with tech, but..."

"You turned pieces of the SA Mark 01 into a flying mech, in midair!" Arin quickly joined in.

"Yeah" Sora laughed a little. "That was weird, right?"

"Well, that's one word for it" Tommy also laughed.

"Other words would be amazing, impossible, defying all logic or reason!" The other boy's eyes sparkled with amazement.

"It was that dragon. I could feel it awaken something in me. Some kind of power"

"Like me?" The oldest raised a brow.

"Or like the ninja!"

The girl shook her head. "Not everything is tied to your lost heroes, you know" 

"If I lose hope that the ninja could come back, then I lose hope my parents could come back" He looked down at the mask, the only think the Claws didn't take from them. "Hope is the only thing the Merge didn't take from me..."

"Well, hope won't be enough anymore. We can't build you a new ninja monastery from an Imperium Prison"

Tommy's eyes widen, a blurred glimpse of the past flashed before his eyes, overwhelming fear filled his body at the thought of getting locked up in a prison cell. "I'm not getting locked up!"

The other two looked at him with wide eyes. "Tommy, are you alright?" Sora asked with worry.

The blond blinked a few times, slowly realizing there were tears in his eyes and his breathing quickened. He took a deep breath. "I-I— ...I'm fine..."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes..." He didn't even know why he reacted that way. He cleared his throat, "Actually, I think it was called the Monastery of Spinjitzu. Right, Arin?"

"Uh, yeah..." He answered hesitantly, still worried about the older boy almost having a panic attack. Arin sighed, "But Sora's right. The dream's over, isn't it?"

"Hey! What—" They heard screaming from the roof.

"Wait, aren't you... No way!" The three looked at each other with confusion, sending puzzled looks to one another in search of any answer.

They quickly turn to look at the ceiling again as they heard metal scratching, they saw how the grate was torn away and someone peeked inside. Arin's eyes sparkled while Tommy furrowed his brows in anger, something about this blond dressed in all green made him feel sick.

The stranger smiled seeing the green hood in Arin's hands. "I think that mask belongs to me"

Chapter Text

"Lloyd, the Green Ninja!" Arin whispered, practically jumping from excitement. He then added a little louder, "Yes! I knew you were all still out there!"

The other blond looked around. "Where's the ninja I saw? The one doing Spinjitzu on the bridge"

Sora laughed while the boy's eyes shined even brighter. "Actually, that was Arin here"

"And even though I might pass out right now, 'cause you actually thought I was a real ninja, I'm not even close"

Lloyd blinked in surprise, then furrowed his brows and looked behind himself before jumping into the train, an Imperium Claw Hunter following right after him. The three teens watched as the hero fought - Arin was obviously in awe while the other two seem impressed, though Tommy still had this 'I don't like you' look on his face. "I kinda get your ninja fandom now" The girl admitted to her best friend, the younger boy smiled at her.

"Hold up your cuffs" The other blond instructed, the three followed (Tommy did so reluctantly) and soon after he made the Claw Hunter's laser sword cut them free. Lloyd smiled at his opponent, "Thanks for your help" He kicked the Claw Hunter, they flew into the wall and passed out. He turned to look at the three teens and pointed at the green mask in Arin's hands, "That is my mask, right?"

Arin smiled sheepishly, he quickly handed the mask to its rightful owner. "I-I found it when you disappeared. I was there when the Merge happened. You rescued me, and I kept—" 

As the teen spoke Lloyd looked the mask over, cringing at its terrible state. He made the mistake of sniffing it, then cut Arin off, "When did you last wash this?" Tommy snort while the other boy looked away in embarrassment. Lloyd sighed. "Nevermind. Come on, I'll give you a boost"

"No need" Arin smiled and took out his grappling hook (which he stored who-knows-where) to get out of the train car on his own with an excited scream.

"Show-off!" Sora called after him.

As Lloyd walked closer to Tommy, the teen hissed at him and backed away with an angry expression. The other blond blinked in confusion. "Di— Did you just hiss at me?"

"So what if I did?" Tommy retorted before using his wings to jump onto the roof, he grunted in pain once he was out. "Fuck"

Back in the car the remaining two looked at each other, Lloyd raised a brow in a silent question but all he got was a shrug. They joined the other two. 

"What do we do now, Master Lloyd?"

The older blond looked at Arin in confusion. "I'm no master. I'm just Lloyd. And to answer your question, we jump"

"No!!" Both Sora and Tommy screamed. The girl continued, "We can't leave the dragon!"

"And they took my bag! ...And Chat" Not that Tommy didn't miss them, but it lowkey was their fault they got caught in the first place.

The Green Ninja's eyes widen. "There's a dragon here too?" Before he could get any explanation, if any was coming, they all got shot at by the Claws.

"No one escapes from Rapton!"

Lloyd looked at the screaming man, confused, "Huh? What's a 'Rapton'?"

"Me!! I am Rapton!"

"What???"

"I am Rapton!!"

Lloyd sighed shaking his head, "Why do bad guys always feel the need to talk in third person?" They all dodged more laser bullets.

"I can take these guys!" Arin assured, then jumped at the Claws using his spinjitzu. Lloyd watched, impressed.

"That really was him. Who'd he train under?" The hero turned to the other two, Tommy was still lightly glaring at him.

Sora smiled. "He taught himself"

While they talked Arin managed to kick one of the Claws off and get a hold of their gun, accidentally firing at the trio. "Sorry!" He called out sheepishly.

"Spinjitzu was the single most important ninja technique. It took me years to learn it with an incredible teacher. That shouldn't be possible" The older blond said to himself in thought.

"He's not the only one with skills. I just learned I can do this!" Sora posed with her arms extended as she tried repeating what she did back on the bridge. Nothing happened though.

"…Was something supposed to happen?" Lloyd asked after a moment.

"So-something's wrong! It worked before!"

"Got anything else?"

"Just an ace up my sleeve!" Tommy exclaimed and run at the Claws with a big-ass hammer in his hands, much to other blond's surprise.

"Where did he got that from?" Lloyd looked at the girl, searching for some answers but they got jumped on by Rapton and other Claws. "Buddy, I got zero idea who you are"

"I'm Rapton! I just told you that!!" The man screamed in anger, the hero ignored him.

"But if you're locking up kids and apparently dragons, then you and I have some issues to work out" He pushed the man, getting out his sword to block another laser blast shot his way by one of the Claws, the beam reflected back forcing them to duck.

"Oh, come on, weird powers! Why won't you work now?" Sora complained, waving her hands with desperation. Arin quickly noticed her struggles.

"I think I might know what the problem is, Sora! Be right back!" He threw before leaving with the help of his grappling hook.

Quickly catching on, and seeing a chance to get his stuff (and Chat) back, Tommy called after him, the hammer disappearing into thin air, "Wait for me!"

Lloyd knocked out one of the Claws and turned around, he and Sora exchanged confused looks, "Did they just leave?"

The duo quickly found a car with the dragon, Chat and Tommy's potion bag. Arin went to free the dragonling while Tommy took care of Chat, the small robot glared at him. "What?" The blond asked but they only huffed at him, he quickly matched their energy.

As soon as the small dragon was freed he jumped at the younger teen happily. "Right, right. Happy to see you too, buddy" Tommy threw them a smile, his eyes shining a little when he looked at the dragon. Dragons are cool. "Come on, we got work to do!"

Tommy quickly grabbed his bag, searching through it while they returned to the other two. He quickly found the healing potion and drank it while the dragon went to Sora, who now had one of the Claws' blasters, and powered her up, a light beam quickly caught everyone's attention. The girl smiled to herself, then turned to the Green Ninja, her eyes and hands glowing in pink, "This is what I was trying to show you, Lloyd" She used her power to reassemble all the blasters.

The hero's eyes widen. "Elemental Powers?"

"There's more where that came from!" Tommy exclaimed and a plastic gun appeared in his hand, he was quick to aim at the Claws and shooting, or, in this case, spraying them with water. He furrowed his brows, eyeing the weapon before shrugging nonchalantly. All the while Lloyd stared at him with wide eyes.

"Uh, Lloyd?" Sora called out, concerned with her own creation. "I think I made a bomb. Here, catch!" She threw the now-bomb to its rightful owner and they booked it the other way. The bomb quickly exploded, throwing them all off the train. Tommy stiffened midair, his wings fluttering at the sound, resulting in him hitting the ground when he would normally land gracefully on his feet. Thankfully, only Chet noticed his fail.

The other blond looked after the train as it left. He turned to the trio, "It's supposed to be impossible to learn Spinjitzu by yourself, but... I mean, it was a really weird version, but it was still Spinjitzu" A big grin appeared on Arin's face at the words. Lloyd turned to the girl, "And you definitely have an Elemental Power. It's not Fire or Ice, or some others I've seen, but... maybe Tech Power?"

The younger teen allowed his friend lightly. "Told you, Sora!"

"And it's somehow connected to this little dragon?" The hero looked at the dragonling, which quickly came to his side, nuzzling against his leg, Chat 'awwed' and Tommy silently joined them. "Did one of your parents have powers?" He looked back at the girl.

"Not that I know of"

"This makes no sense..." Lloyd thought for a moment before looking at Tommy as he got up and dusted himself off. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name"

The blond huffed and folded his arms. "Tommy"

The hero looked away for a second, yet again taken aback by the offensive behaviour. "You also seem to have some sort of powers"

Tommy let out another huff, this time proudly pushing out his chest. "Not 'some'! Those are the powers of Gods bestowed upon me for being fucking awesome!"

Lloyd furrowed his brows in confusion. "Right..." The dragon poked his leg, catching his attention. "Where'd he come from?"

"We don't know. We found him when those jerks were hunting him. And we heard some tiger guy who threatened to hunt down his whole family" Hearing Arin's words the older blond looked up at them in shock, again.

"There's a tiger guy now???"

"We need to warn his herd" Sora quickly said. "There's gotta be a way to find his home" Hearing this, the dragon walked away and started pushing around some small rocks.

"Look, I'm all for making rock sculptures, but we don't have a lot of time here, little buddy" The youngest boy commented.

They all watched the dragon 'play' around with the rocks, after a moment Lloyd recognized the shape. "That's not a rock sculpture. He's telling us where he's from!"

***

The Green Ninja took everyone back to the monastery, claiming he had a map stored there somewhere. Arin was obviously ecstatic, the other four were also quite impressed (yes, dragonling included). Tommy even stopped being so defensive once he crossed the monastery's walls, it felt magical and calming for some stupid reason. "I can't believe it! I'm in the Monastery of Spinjitzu! I gotta say though, it's a little weirder than I pictured it" Arin commented, staring at a tree inside of the monastery. Meanwhile, Tommy was checking his bag in case the Claws stole something and Chat played with the small dragon.

"The weird stuff is new. This place got real strange after the Merge" Lloyd explained, searching through a wall full of scrolls. He picked a few and walked to a table to look through them.

"Guys, focus. We have to find the dragon's home" Sora said to the others, seeing how they were the definition of distraction at the moment. Arin did stop looking around and Chat glanced at her, but Tommy ignored the plead. Was it only him or was something really missing from his bag?

"After the Merge, Kai began to explore some of the new lands"

The youngest teen quickly picked up, "You know where Kai, the Fire Ninja, is?"

"Not exactly..." The older blond glanced at the side for a second. "It's a long story. But Kai sent notes about the places he'd seen. I'm pretty sure I saw those mountains in here somewhere"

The dragon made a quiet noise and walked to the scroll wall, Chat right on his tail, quite literally in this case. Soon, it picked a scroll and brought it to Lloyd. The two younger teens followed the dragonling with their eyes. "What did you find?" Sora asked as the hero opened the scroll.

Lloyd smiled. "The Land of the Three Mountains. But it's far away, and the only airship I still have, is the new Destiny's Bounty. Come, I'll show you" Tommy looked up, snorting with a goofy grin, nobody but Chet, who promptly rolled their eyes, noticed. The hero lead them all to the hangar bay, where a massive ship was... uh, parked? Now Tommy's excitement matched the younger boy's. "It isn't finished. And I don't have the skill to complete work on the engine" Lloyd admitted sheepishly.

"I might know someone who does" Sora smiled, then tried using her newfound power again, grunting as it didn't work. "Ugh, really? Back me up, buddy" She turned to the dragonling, who only tilted its head. She looked at Lloyd, "Do elemental powers come and go?"

"No. Well, sometimes..." He sighed. "Elemental powers can be complicated. It can take a lot of work to achieve one's True Potential"

Tommy snort. "Good thing I don't have to deal with that bullshit. Nor make up those fucking prayers!" Chat was so nice to inform him he did not, in fact, had to make prayers when he wanted to ask for stuff, turns out Drista was just being a bitch, and they seem really pleased with themself once he confronted them.

The girl sighed. "Okay, then. I'll get this thing going the old-fashioned way" She grabbed the tools and went to work on the ship. Arin and Lloyd took a seat not too far from her while Tommy materialized Uno cards and started playing with the other two, the other blond spared them a confused glance.

"Does she always hum while she works?" The Green Ninja asked the boy next to him quietly.

Arin chuckled. "No, sometimes she sings. Loudly. Trust me, the humming is better. Especially since Tommy likes joining in"

"You've been friends a long time"

"Kind of. Me and Sora met right after the Merge. When the Crossroads started to build up with folks from all the newly merged lands, Sora came from Imperium"

"I've seen that place. Looks impressive"

"She doesn't think so. She ran away, and won't tell me why. I came to the Crossroads because my parents disappeared in the Merge. Like a lot of people. Like I thought you ninja did. But you didn't" The teen smiled at the last sentence, clinging onto the hope he had been given. Lloyd, on the other hand, frowned somberly.

"Not all of us..."

The teen also frowned, worried something bad had happened to the hero's friends. He decided to change the topic a little, "What've you been doing since then?"

"Keeping the world from destroying itself" He answered, looking at the trio playing cards, Tommy yelped as the dragon started chewing on his hand (of cards) and practically jumped to get it out of its mouth, all while Chet laughed.

Arin also stared at the trio, smiling for a moment before going back to the conversation, "Could you elaborate?"

Lloyd took a breath, turning back to him. "The day of the Merge started pretty normal. Master Wu sent me to find as many scrolls as I could on something he called 'Coalescence'. I couldn't make sense of it. And neither could he. It was probably the most erratic I've ever seen him. He started talking, about how I would soon have to refill his role as Master. Then, the ground shook. We all got out and saw the beginning of the Merge. I guess that's when we first met" He send the boy a smile, Arin was quick to return it. "It was the most chaotic thing I'd ever experienced. And then there was this big explosion. Next thing I knew, I woke up here, at the monastery all alone. I learned whatever that chaos was, it resulted in the Merge. All of the realms coming together, expanding our world greatly. But for those that got caught up in it, the ninja, your parents..." He looked away saddened, catching a glimpse of Chet cheating at the game by stealing a black card and Tommy glaring at them because of it. "I still don't know what happened. I think the Merge was what Master Wu was researching. But his scrolls were destroyed, and I couldn't make any sense of his work. Except that it was somehow tied to something called 'Source Dragons'. But I've never heard of any dragons having that kind of power. I couldn't figure out how I made it back here. Or how the Bounty did. For weeks, I thought I was the only survivor. I was wrong" He let out a short laugh, reminiscing on when he had found Kai on the Bounty. "After the Merge, Kai woke up on an island that didn't exist before. He worked his way through some strange kingdoms to get home. He didn't know where the others were, but we quickly learned we had bigger problems – MergeQuakes. MergeQuakes are like aftershocks. Places where realms are unstable, trying to share the same area, like cracks in reality. And we learned that, for some reason, elemental powers can close them. But the MergeQuakes were getting more frequent and stronger. If they continue like this, it's only a matter of time before they rip the world apart. Kai and I realized we needed help to stop them. Master Wu's scrolls had been destroyed, but there had to be answers out there somewhere. Or someone who could help us. Kai took the Bounty to search the combined realms for answers, and I stayed to keep everyone safe. And the MergeQuakes were getting worse. It would be good if we had more people with elemental powers to stop them" There was a short pause before he smiled at the boy again. "I was pretty surprised when I saw you preforming spinjitzu on that bridge"

"That's why you expected a ninja in the train car with us?" Arin asked.

"Yeah. But I never imagined it'd be someone who taught themselves Spinjitzu. Or someone with an elemental power I didn't know existed that's tied to a dragon. When dragons might be connected to what caused the Merge, it's— it's like it's— it's..."

"Fate" The teen end for him. "You were meant to find us. To train us! To be our new master" His eyes shined with excitement while Lloyd looked away awkwardly.

"I'm not skilled enough to be your master. You need Wu, but he's gone..." The hero became somber again, yet again glancing at the three, as if subconsciously searching for some form of distraction. "You talked about you and Sora, but what about Tommy?" He looked at the teen.

"Oh, we found each other by accident" Arin looked at his blond friend, smiling a little, those were warm memories for some reason. "He doesn't remember his life before the Merge. Sometime after waking up he was contacted by Gods and got his cool wings and chaos powers. Not too long after that, he approached us and asked if we could help him with Chat" He furrowed his brows in confusion. "Uh, Chet? Anyhow, that's how we become friends" 

Lloyd hummed in acknowledgement. "And what's with the bag?"

"Tommy makes potions, he always carries a complete with him. Sometimes when we hang out together he lets me carry it around so I can hide my stuff in there"

"That’s nice"

Just then the Bounty activated. Sora jumped out from under the deck, a proud smile on his face. "So, who's up for a flight?"

***

The teens and TV robot played with the dragon while Lloyd steered the ship, he smiled looking at them. Tommy seem to have calmed down by spending the time with the dragonling, Chat encouraged him to do so and it gave him a nice, warm feeling. It was somehow familiar. "The three peaks!" The Green Ninja called out, noticing the mountain in the distance. "We're almost there! We're—" He stopped, spotting the Claws not too far from them.

Alarmed by the sudden cut, the five looked around, quickly spotting them too. Sora gasped, "It's those dragon hunters. It's the Claws of the Imperium!"

"They must have followed us!" 

Tommy furrowed his brows, glaring at the hunters, his wings spread as he was ready to fly off and give them a piece of his mind (because it went so well last time—). "What do you think you're doing?" Chat stopped him just before he jumped into the air. He glanced at them.

"What does it look like I'm doing, genius?"

"Chat's right" Sora said walking to him and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Even with your potions, there's no way you can deal with them midair. Not when there's so many at least" The blond crossed his arms, sulking, but he listened to his friends.

Soon the Claws started shooting at them. Lloyd tried to avoid the blasts but it was hard considering just how big the Bounty is. One of the blasts hit the ship's booster causing it to get out of his control. "I can't steady it!" As the ship was closing in on the mountain, he and the younger teens started screaming. Tommy quickly flew up, grabbing Chat and praying to Mumza for a fucking miracle. His prayers got answered as a big shadow flew over him towards the crashing ship, his eyes widen at the thing while Chat displayed a [✪▽✪] face.

A big-ass dragon caught the ship just before it hit the mountain. "We're dead, right?" Arin asked, cautiously opening one eye to check his surroundings. The dragon squawked happily, making the trio look up, blinking in shock at what they saw.

Lloyd smiled, getting out of the shock faster than the others. "I think the little dragon's family found us"

The dragon carried the ship away from the mountain, throwing it down on even ground. "Hey, I just fixed that!" Sora complained just as Tommy joined them on board. The big dragon glared at her and huffed in annoyance, smoke coming from its nose. "And I do not mind fixing it again. Ah, it'll be good practice, actually..." She said, smiling sheepishly.

"What have you done to Riyu? Have you injured one of our own?" The dragon spoke, making Tommy's eyes bulge.

"Holy shit, it talks!!" He took a step back in surprise, accidentally letting go of Chat. The quickly caught themselves, lightly glaring at him.

"Riyu? Is your name Riyu, buddy?" Arin looked at the dragon with a smile.

"We haven't hurt him. We rescued him from the Claws of the Imperium" Lloyd said in their defense, taking a step forward so that the teens were now a little bit behind him.

The dragon huffed, narrowing it's eyes at them. "You expect me to believe that while you assault our land?" Riyu squawked defensively, jumping to the front and making the bigger dragon looked at him. "Riyu, you are a young dragon. You do not understand how the world works. These beings cannot be trusted"

"We came to help" Sora picked up, the big dragon eyed her with suspicion. "To warn you about the Claws of the Imperium"

"But somehow, they followed us" Arin admitted, looking away.

"Let us prove we're allies" The Green Ninja pleaded. 

The dragon continued looking at them in suspicion, huffing out smoke, it only looked away once it heard the Claws cheer as they got one of its kind. "Fine. Protect my herd" Tommy frowned in annoyance, this felt more like an order than request and he didn't like it one bit, but he just got a free drop-kicking pass so he wasn't gonna complain.

The whole group quickly sprinted into action, separating in groups of two to deal with Rapton and the Claws. 

"We've hit the dragon motherlode! Bring 'em down!" The man exclaimed, then laughed evilly. Tommy glared at him, he quickly gulped down a yellow potion and flew straight at him, kicking him in the stomach. Not exactly what he was aiming for but it'll do. Soon the Claws shot at him and he had to jump out of the way.

Arin tried attacking some of the Claws using his spinjitzu. Unfortunately, all he managed to do was hit a tree. "Dang it!"

"You definitely need some practice" Lloyd said as he helped the teen up. The boy chuckled sheepishly, then the two of them dodged a laser blast form the guys he was planning on attacking. Arin took out his grappling hook and used it to tie one of the armed man up, yanking it back to knock down the other two guys. "Hey, good job!" The two high fived.

Meanwhile Rapton noticed Sora and Riyu sneaking around to free the dragons the Claws had captured while they were confronted by the big dragon, he quickly run to stop them. "You're free! Get out of— AH!" The girl screamed as the man caught her with his flying vehicle and started dragging towards the cliff. Riyu squawked, then let out the least threatening growl ever and run the other way, looking as if he was on a mission.

"You're done ruining my plans, you... plan ruiner!" Before he could throw the struggling girl off, Tommy swooped in, this time landing a sucker punch straight on the man's face. Rapton struggled not to fell of his vehicle for a second. "Ow! Shit!"

While the man was busy Chet went to free Sora. "Thanks" she smiled at them and the robot returned it with a salute before flying back to its owner.

Just as Rapton was about to follow the three the big dragon flew past him, making him lose his balance and causing him to fell off. He looked up in shock, mouth a gap. "I've never seen a dragon that big! Change of plans! That is our prey!" He quickly commanded and the Claws immediately saw to his order.

"Oh, no, you don't!" Tommy growled, quickly zooming off before anyone could stop him, only in the last second did Chat managed to grab a hold of his hood to join his almost suicidal mission.

"Tommy, wait!" Sora called after him, but he was already jumping at Rapton to stop him from getting back onto his flying vehicle.

"We have to help him! Come on!" Arin said, ready to help his friend with helping the big dragon, but the girl quickly caught his wrist, stopping him.

"We can't rush in without a plan!"

Lloyd looked at her, the glanced down at Riyu who joined them not too long after the big dragon appeared, his eyes shined as he got an idea which made him smile. "You two have given me one. But first, we gotta get Tommy back"

"Tom!! Leave him! We got bigger issues to take care of!" Chet screamed, trying to convince the blond to go back to the others. They sighed as it didn't seem to work. "Toms, they literally have a plan. What do you have?"

"The power of Gods and pogness on my side!" The teen exclaimed proudly, smiling mostly to himself. The man looked at him, even if he had some weird-ass glasses over his eyes, Tommy could see the 'WTF' look his words caused.

"Tommy." The robot said firmly, sending him a stern glare. The blond turned to return the glare, though his was an angry one. Out of the sudden, he felt something wrap around him, he only managed to look down and recognize the grappling hand before he was yanked to the group. Chat quickly followed.

He grunted. "The FUCK did you do that for!?" He screamed at the younger boy, Arin could only scratch his head and give him an apologetic smile.

"I have a plan" The hero announced and Tommy groaned.

"Like I care!"

Sora crossed her arms and gave him a look worth of a disappointed mother. "You know you owe us for leaving when the Bounty almost crashed, right?" Tommy opened his mouth, about to reflect that comment, but he quickly realized he had no good way of explaining himself. He sheepishly closed his mouth, sighing in defeat.

Arin freed the older teen and the whole six sneaked closer to the Claws and the, now tied, dragon.

While the Green Ninja explained the plan to the others, Rapton took out his communicator and called the tiger guy. "Ras, we got the big one" He turned the device to show him the big dragon tied down. 

"Shall I prepare to land?" One of the Claws under Ras's direct command asked.

"No. Just be prepared to watch what happens next" Ras said, making the man behind the other side of the screen confused. That is until a green tornado swept through, kicking most of the Claws away from the dragon before stopping and revealing Lloyd.

"Your Majesty, Riyu appears to have the ability to somehow connect and supercharge elemental powers" He whispered to the dragon, using the fact everyone was shocked with his sudden appearance.

"I know nothing of this"

"If you can power me up the way Riyu powers Sora, we might have a chance here" The dragon gave him a discreet nod ad he turned to Rapton, "This is your last chance, Rapton! Leave, or be destroyed!" The man only laughed. "Your mistake" Lloyd turned towards the dragon again, taking a couple of steps back before she powers him up (apparently she knows how to even though she had no idea she can do something like this till few seconds ago...).

The man stared for a moment with mouth opened wide, but he quickly shook his head and ordered, "Get him!" There was a short pause, nobody moved as the hero started fucking levitating! Are we sure it's not demonic possession–? "What are you waiting for? Attack!!" The Claws run at the blond, though hesitated, and rightfully so as soon he made an enormous fucking tornado and they all got blown away. Rapton quickly run the other way, getting out his communicator while he tried escaping, "Lord Ras! We need backup! Help!!" The tiger guy only cut the call short. Rapton soon got yeeted away with the rest of his underlings.

As soon as it was safe, the five got out of their hiding spot and freed the big dragon. Lloyd joined them, panting in exhaustion, "Wow. That... was something. Guess my theory was right"

Her Majesty gave a nod. "It appears there is a connection between us. I felt it as well. When the Merge occurred, I struggled to keep isolated. Hidden. But there are mysteries between us we clearly do not fully understand"

"I agree. The world has changed. And it's time to build a new future"

"Ugh, you sound old" Tommy complained, smirking once the other blond gave him a look.

"You are a wise master"

Lloyd looked back at the dragon, scratching his head with a sheepish smile. "I'm not a master" At this Arin frowned like a kicked puppy. The hero glanced at him and added, "But maybe I could be a teacher" He send the three (four?) a smile, Arin's eyes immediately sparkled with excitement whilst Tommy crossed his arms. "The ninja have protected Ninjago for years. We've been a symbol of hope for so many. But with the others missing, that hope had been lost. Now I see there is a reason to hope once again, because I can't do this alone. I need your help saving the world"

"Alright! Yes!" The youngest boy cheered immediately.

"Woah, woah! Hold the fuck up! When did I agree to get myself killed?"

Sora send the younger blond a confused look. "Who said you're gonna get killed?"

"Heroes always die. Duh!" He stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the entire world.

"That's not true" Arin quickly disagreed.

"No, no, he has a point" Chat chimed in.

"These dragon hunters will not remain unconscious for long" The big dragon noted, making them postpone this conversation for later. "Our herd will have to move locations so they cannot find us"

"And we'd better get back to Ninjago. We have training to begin" Tommy glared at the other blond, he still never agreed to this.

The younger teen looked down at the dragonling, he crouched down and pet its head. "I guess this is it, buddy. But at least you're home now"

"We'll miss you so much" Sora said, joining the boy. After a short moment they both let go and followed Lloyd as he headed towards the Bounty, Tommy following them with his eyes. He looked down, watching Chet fly to Riyu to also pat his head while he made a sad noise.

"...Can we keep 'im?" The blond looked at her Majesty, hearing his question the other three stopped and turned around in surprise.

The dragon narrowed its eyes at them, Riyu squawked pleadingly. "It appears Riyu is not ready to leave your little group"

Tommy grinned. "Is that a yes?"

As she narrowed her eyes at him, Lloyd quickly jumped in, "He would be safe with us. If you allow it" He smiled sheepishly, hoping the leader dragon would stop with the staring.

"I think his decision is foolish. But, if there is to be a connection between our kinds, it has to begin somewhere. If he ever needs us, he will be able to find us" Everyone cheered, Chat hugged Riyu while Arin and Sora quickly run towards the dragonling and it did the same. Tommy laughed, materializing himself a pair of sunglasses and putting them on.

"The plan worked perfectly, Your Majesty. Not only has the ninja revealed himself, he has connected with a Dragon Matriarch" Ras said, his face displayed on a big screen before a woman in fancy clothes, she smirked evilly.

"Then our hunt for more Source Dragons is well underway" She walked over to a big, kind of glowing sphere and stared at the dragon inside of it, "You hear that? You'll have a companion down here in no time. Soon, Imperium will have enough dragon power to rule over all the Merged Realms!" She started cackling, her laugh echoing throughout the room.

Chapter Text

All three teens, Riyu and Chat were sleeping soundly when suddenly the door slid open and the Green Ninja walked in, "Rise and shine! Time to—" Before he could finish, a pillow hit his face. He looked in the direction it came from and saw Tommy giving him a death glare, with Chat giggling at the side. He finished, a little dejected, "...train..."

"What...?" Arin looked around groggily, eyes widening and shining with happiness as soon as he realized where he was. "Not just a dream! It really is my first day of ninja training! Yes! Awesome! Maximum awesome!!"

"It's the crack of dawn..." Sora groaned, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Oh, I know. I thought I'd let you sleep in for your first week. Meet me in the courtyard in ten minutes!" Lloyd quickly said before leaving the room, partly not wanting to get attacked with another pillow, or something heavier.

The younger boy quickly jumped off his bed and rushed to get ready. The girl looked at the blond with wide eyes in shock, "'Sleep in'???"

Tommy snort, then jumped off his hammock. "You getter get ready" He send her a cocky grin. She fell back onto the bed with a tired sigh.

***

Exactly ten minutes later Sora finally joined the group, yawing. Arin and Riyu were doing push up in the front yard while Tommy and the TV robot watched at the side, with the teen sipping on a can of coke. "Why are we training way up here? We're becoming ninja to help people. Shouldn't we be around... people? Y'know, like in the Crossroads?" The girl complained.

Tommy snort. "You just wanna go to the Crossroads Carnival, don't you?"

"Well, duh. Don't you? We've never, ever missed one"

"True" Arin got up, smiling at his friends and the memories. "And I was determined to win the pie-baking contest this year. Grab-Barg wins every time..." He sighed, frowning for a moment before smiling again, "I've been perfecting my recipe all year!"

"Let's ask Lloyd if we can go"

"Go where?" The ninja asked, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. I mean, I guess that checks out.

Sora quickly turned to him with excitement, "The Crossroads Carnival, where everyone from the combined lands celebrates their traditions. There's a ton of food and games and a huge fireworks show by this fireworks genius named Dorama"

"Plus, a pie-baking competition. It's super fun!" Arin chimed in, matching his friend's energy.

"It does sound fun..."

"But?" Chet urged.

The younger blond huffed. "There's always a but..." 

"But it also sounds like a distraction from something even more fun. Training!" Lloyd smiled at them, earning a slightly disappointed look from the boy and a deadpan stare from the girl.

"What are we supposed to train on?" Sora complained, pointing at the empty yard with her open palm. "There's nothing here!"

"Ah, to become a ninja, you must see potential where others do not" He said mysteriously and poked a tile in the floor with his wooden staff. The middle of the yard started to descend into the ground catching Tommy's interest, but it soon stopped, much to Lloyd surprise. "What? This always worked when Master Wu did it! Oh, it's a whole big impressive reveal!" He rushed over to see what's wrong, jumping down and staring at the gears intensively.

The five peeked down. "Sounds like your mechanisms haven't been maintained. When junk gets into gears, it can ruin everything. When did you last clean 'em?" Sora asked, making the hero look up at her in confusion.

"I was supposed to be doing that? Uh, maybe if I—" He kicked the ground and it fell down.

"Oh shit. He's dead" Tommy muttered under his breath. Just then, the floor raised up with a whole-ass training course, with Lloyd sitting proudly on top of one of the equipment.

"The training course!"

Arin's eyes sparkled and he started lightly shaking the girl next to him. "So cool!"

"One more thing!" The ninja jumped down, landing behind a small table. Wait, how did it get here??? "You must complete the course before I finish my tea" Aaaand he picked up a teacup out of nowhere. Great.

"That's oddly specific..." Chat pointed out, earning a nod from the younger blond.

Lloyd took a sip of his tea, and almost immediately spit it out, cringing at the taste. "Oh, I burnt the tea... I didn’t even know that was possible!" Tommy burst out laughing, literally falling to the ground and having tears in his eyes. "I can’t drink this. How do I time your performance now?"

"Why were you gonna time us with a hot beverage anyway?" Sora questioned this weird method, and his sanity.

"I had the best teacher, my uncle. Master Wu. That’s how he did it" He approached a picture of an old (more like ancient) man in a straw hat, he smiled fondly at it. Tommy, sensing the shift in the mood, tried calming down and forced down his laughter. "As your teacher, I wanna do everything like he did. That’s why I come here and kneel on his favorite old meditation carpet, and ponder how to be just like him. It’s also why I grew this beard!"

The winged blond snickered. "My Gods, you're ancient!" His comment was left alone as the younger boy scratched his head in confusion.

"Beard?"

"You’re too far away to see it"

Arin and Sora took a step closer. "Still not seeing" The girl said, Tommy had to stifle another laugh.

"Even closer" The two glanced at each other and took another step forward. "Closer..." Being definitely close enough now, and not wanting to get into the hero's personal space, they squinted their eyes.

"I guess I see something? Kinda...?" Arin hesitated, on one hand he didn't want to hurt his hero's feeling but on the other he didn't want to lie to him.

"Trust me, it’s there" He quickly said before returning to his table.

"Delulu~" Chet whispered to their owner, causing him to push them lightly with a smile but warning in his eyes. The playful 'stop it' look.

"Now train!" Arin quickly saluted, with Riyu mimicking him with his tail (which was the most adorable thing ever in Tommy and Chat's eyes) before the boy started 'playing' with the course.

Sora watched her friend sprint into action before turning to the ninja, "How is this training to be a ninja? I mean, when are we gonna have to run over some weird obstacle course in real life?"

"Oh it happens way more than you’d think. Get started. We should get in a hundred or so laps today" Arin cheered while the girl groaned as she reluctantly joined her friend. While they trained he glanced at Tommy, who seem to be taking great pleasure in watching everything unfold right before his eyes as if he was watching a good sitcom. He approached him, two pairs of eyes, one of which was displayed on the TV screen, looked up at him.

Tommy furrowed his brows. "What do you want?"

"You don't like me. I'd like to know the reason why"

He thought for a moment, then shrugged. "I dunno. It's just, when I see you, I have this urge to fight back with whatever I have available at the moment. Y'know?"

Lloyd scratched his head awkwardly, looking away and glancing at the other two. "Is there something I could do to help that?"

The winged blond folded his arms. "I don't think so"

"Alright... But what about your powers?"

Tommy blinked, eyeing the other with confusion. "What about them?"

"Don't get me wrong, but it's pretty obvious you don't fully control them. It'd be good to pract—"

"If practice makes perfect and perfect needs practice, I’m perfectly practiced and practically perfect"

"Noice" Chet comment, impressed, while Lloyd blinked.

"Right. Um... Just know you can join them, or ask me for help—"

"Never gonna happen"

"—whenever you want to" He ended, not minding the disruption. 

Tommy only huffed, the older blond eventually walked away. Chat watched him leave, noting the saddened look on his face, they frowned and hit their owner's head. "Ow! What the fuck!?"

"You could at least try to be a little bit nicer" The teen groaned and rolled his eyes, resulting in him getting hit again.

"Ow! Stop that!!" He growled at the TV robot, they gave him a stern glare. "Alright, alright. I'll give him three chances to prove himself. Happy?"

"Make that two"

"Now why the hell would I do that?"

"How about... he saved you and the others from the Claws yesterday?" They gave him a deadpan look.

"...Touché"

"And he never even should to prove himself, so you're lowkey being a bitch"

"HEY!!"

While Tommy was being humbled by his Chat, Lloyd went to watch the other two take on the training course. He noticed Sora almost falling asleep, he poked her with his staff, "Sora, you must focus" The girl jumped, startled by both the wooden stick and the voice. "Ninja must be awake at all times!"

"I'm up! I'm up!" She quickly assured and resumed her way through the course. 

The two went through a couple of times, with Tommy being Tommy and nagging the boy from time to time (he decided Sora was already having a bad time and didn't want to worsen her mood any further). Finally, they stopped, with Arin being quite winded but definitely satisfied with himself whilst Sora collapsed onto the floor. "Hmm..." Lloyd eyed his empty cup, previously filled with burnt tea. "Without tea, I literally have no way of knowing if you did that fast enough. But I think this was a pretty good first day. Get some rest and we'll start again at dawn!" He smiled brightly, then turned around and headed inside.

Tommy crouched down near the girl, the dragonling joined him and poked her side. "You dead?" She only groaned in response. He laughed and poked her until she turned over, giving him a light glare before taking his hand and getting on her feet.

***

The evening passed by fast, with the teens and their two companions spending time together, doing all different things. Playing various games, talking, making pies...

Riyu squawked just as Arin took out another pie from the oven. "Smells good, huh, buddy? Too bad no judge will ever taste it..." He sighed.

The girl groaned, finishing up a piece of pie the teen made before. "Do you think every day of training will be like this? I already need a break..."

A mischievous glint appeared in Tommy's eyes and he smiled. "What if we just... sneak out to the carnival?" 

Sora quickly smiled at the proposition. "Oh my, is this your greatest idea or what?"

"Hey, all my ideas are great!" He exclaimed proudly, making her and Chat laugh. "So? Whatcha say, fam?"

"I'm in!" Sora quickly proclaimed and the trio looked at Arin, he looked away.

"Of course I want to go. But we have a chance to train as ninja. And under the legendary Green Ninja! I don't wanna mess this up"

The blond rolled his eyes, he went over to the younger teen and threw a hand around him. "He'll never find out. We'll be back way before dawn" Chet eyed him suspiciously, just what was he playing?

"Plus, sneaking out will test our stealth skills. Even Lloyd would approve of that" Sora added, looking at her bestie pleadingly.

"Uh, I don't know..."

"Mm. That sure smells like a first place pie to me" The girl said, picking the pie up and bringing it closer to the two's faces.

"It does, doesn't it?" Tommy teased with a huge grin.

Arin bit his lip, looking to the side again. He glanced at the two and his pie and sighed. "Okay. I'm in" The dragonling quickly squawked at them, wanting in. "Sure, Riyu. You can come too"

"But a dragon in the Crossroads will attract a lot of attention, so you need a disguise" Sora pointed, the grin on Tommy's face somehow grew.

"And I know just the thing!"

***

The group walked around the Crossroads, with Riyu starring a dog cosplay consistent of a laundry basket and the meditation carpet. The blond was smiling to himself, proudly. As always, only Chat noticed.

"I'm not sure this shaggy dog costume will fool anyone…" Arin said, looking around worriedly.

Sora shrugged, smiling reassuringly at him. "It's carnival time. Everyone will be too distracted to look at him closely"

The small robot poked their owner’s shoulder, they whispered to him once he looked back at them, "What're you plotting?"

"If I'm to give a chance to someone who my Big Man brain doesn't approve of, I need to test them. Lloyd's a hero, saving our asses isn't that impressive. But I admit, I was kind of a dick—"

"A huge dick" Chat deadpanned, the teen ignored them.

"—so I'm willing to give him that one point. BUT, to make things fair—"

"It's not for at all"

"To make things fair" Tommy pressed, glaring at them. "Now it's double or nothing. The bar's high. And what better way to test someone than sneak out and take something precious from them?" He grinned widely, definitely too proud of himself.

Chat shook their head, which, in this case, was their whole body, "You're pure evil, Innit" 

"Welcome to the Crossroads Carnival, Riyu!" Arin said, smiling at the dragon in disguise. They walked past few attractions, with Tommy sometimes zooming off and winning a couple of prizes, all of which ended in his bag. At one point it should become suspicious just how much this bag can fit— 

"Guess Lobbo's blowing through that prize money he won from the Mech Master 5000 race" Sora pointed at the round robot buying everyone moss ice cream.

"Look! Dorama's tent!" Arin pointed at the hologram of the man, some fireworks blowing up behind him.

While the teens and Riyu watched the preview of the show, Chat noted junkyard security bots DJing on something that looked vaguely familiar. "Aren't those the pieces of your SA Mark 01?" The four quickly looked to the side.

Sora gasped, angered, "Hey, you're right! The junkyard crew must have salvaged the mech's wreckage and used it for their display. That stuff belongs to us!!" She was just about to go over there and get it back by all means necessary but the younger boy stopped her.

"I gotta go enter my pie. The deadline is, like, now!" He quickly grabbed her wrist and dragged her away, with the rest following right behind them.

They approached the frog man, he smiled happily at them. "Arin, Sora, Tommy! Oh, I knew I'd peep you scallywags before the deadline. You weren't gonna miss a shot at that bling, were you, Chef Arin?"

"This is my year, Mr. Frohicky!" The boy exclaimed confidently while Tommy got the still warm pie from his bag. No, seriously, how many things can this thing fit!? Just as the blond was about to hand the pie to its creator, someone pushed the younger boy from behind. "Hey! Watch it!"

A snail man, none other than Grab-Barg, (aka. Arin's greatest pienemy) turned with a mean smirk on his face. "Heh. Ready to come in second again, kid? Because your pie looks as mangy as your weird little dog" Riyu squawked angrily and Chat displayed a very pissed off face. As the snail turned to leave, a pie smashed right on his head.

Arin gasped in horror. "Tommy!?"

"Don't worry, it's not your pie" He assured, showing the actual pie, not a single part of it got 'hurt' in the process of throwing the other one. The younger teen sighed with relief.

"Argh! You little—!"

"Watch your tone, bitch" Tommy quickly cut in, giving the man a death glare.

"I demand disqualification of this animal!"

"I'm not even competing!!"

"Then disqualify him!!" He pointed at Arin, making the blond even angrier.

Tommy took a step forward, so did Sora, putting a hand on his shoulder and glaring at the anthropomorphic snail. "Watch it, Grab-Barg. We're not– Huh?" She stopped, noticing in the corner of her eye a truck pulling up next to Lobbo and a couple of Whack Rats jumping out.

"Alarm! Alarm!! Is this the end of Lobbo? Lobbo lobbo!"

Everyone turned around to look at the commotion, witnessing the round robot getting kidnapped first hand. "I'm on it!" Arin quickly exclaimed, getting out his grappling hook and using it to chase after the truck. "Follow me!"

Chet quickly grabbed a hold of their owner's hoodie before he flew after them, joining the chase and leaving the girl with the dragonling. "Follow? Follow how!?" She yelled after them, but none turned around. Dejected, she looked around, the SA Mark catching her attention. She glanced down the the dragon. "Riyu, it would take hours to reassemble that thing. If we're going to help Lobbo, we have to—" 'Say no more' said the dragon, figuratively, as he powered her up. Sora smiled, quickly reassembling the DJ set back into the mech and followed the others, taking Riyu with her.

At the monastery, Lloyd figured the teens were weirdly quiet (you don't need to know Tommy specially long to catch onto his all-out-loud and all-present demeanor) and decided to check on them. He peeked inside their room, "Guys?" His eyes widen once he saw the room was completely empty. He went inside to investigate, everything seem normal, no signs of fighting or anything like that. A pamphlet of the carnival caught his attention and he immediately realized what happened, "They snuck out? Oh, you've got to be kidding me! We never would have done this to Master Wu!!" The hero glared at nothing but thin air, it took a second for the words to sink in, but he sighed once they did, running a hand down his face. "That's a lie. We totally would have..."

Annoyed, he went out to look for them.

"I'd have won that race if that little dragon hadn't shown up, and you know it. That prize money belongs to me, so I'm going to take what's mine!"

"Oh, no, you're not!" Arin screamed, making Kreel turn to him and the rest.

"Ha! Where have you brats been? No one's see you since you ran off after that dragon"

"Oh, thanks for asking! Some pretty amazing stuff has happened. We met—" The younger boy started, excited to share their story, but the woman stopped him, visibly uninterested.

"Yeah, stop. I don't actually care. But now that you're here, I can get back at everyone who ruined the race for me all at once. Get 'em!!" She ordered and the Whack Rats jumped at the five.

Tommy summoned a yoyo, by accident which made him look before he shrugged and used it to take a hold of some stray tire. He then yanked it back, swinging it around and sending two Rats flying off to the side, making them hit a wall.

At the same time, Arin used his grappling hook to make a full on car collapse onto the Rats approaching them from the front. However, one of them jumped over the obstacles and started sprinting at Sora. The girl quickly turned her motorcycle(?) around and speed off. 

A suicidal rat jumped on her vehicle, blocking her view and making her open the upper piece, "Hey! Get off my ride!!" She screamed angrily, catching the younger boy's attention.

Kreel clenched her fists as she seeth in anger, legitimately turning a bit red. She spun around and screamed at the robot, "Ugh! Give me that money!!" 

"Lobbo defies you! Lobbo lobbo" The orb robot (let the realization sink in...) grabbed the bag filled with coins and pulled back as the crazed woman started approaching him. But before she could get to him she got grounded by Tommy.

"Argh. Get off of me!!"

"Stay down." The blond growled, pushing her head with one hand while the other had one of her hands trapped, which was enough to keep her from having an out with him sitting on her back. Chat hummed, not knowing whether or not they should be approving of this.

Everyone was too busy to notice Lobbo dead ass eating the money, swallowing it's whole like it's candy.

In an attempt of getting the rat off her cool ride, Sora purposeful slammed it into some container, making the whole thing jump a bit and shake. The small dragon squawked as it hit the metal side. Riyu decided to get off just as the girl speed off and started to circle in one spot faster and faster, eventually throwing the now dazed rat off.

"That was awesome, spinning them off like that!" Arin cheered and came to a stop next to the also cheering dragonling.

Sora jumped out of the vehicle with a big grin. "Right? Just like we did on the obstacle course today!" She said without thinking, then realized just what she actually said, making her furrow her brows in confusion. "Wait, did I... learn something from training?"

"Guys? A little help maybe!" Tommy called and they trio rushed to him. By the time they arrived he was no longer pinning Kreel down, only stand in-between her and the orb.

"Ugh, you fools! None of this gets me closer to my precious Targle!" The woman complained, and Tommy could swear he saw her hesitate as if she was about to stomp her leg like a tantrum-having-baby.

"Hold up. What's a 'precious Targle'?" Arin asked, confused by the sudden statement.

The woman crossed her arms and huffed. "Not what. Who! My right-hand minion! He was taken by a mystery kidnapper demanding an enormous ransom! I was trying to get my money from Lobbo so I can save Targy. I have to get him back!"

Tommy also crossed his arms, "Since when do you care so much about your little henchmen?"

"He's not a henchman! He's my—" She cut off, hesitating (this time for real) before sighing. "Only friend..." She finished, looking at the side, cheeks dusted with pink.

"You have a friend?" Sora questioned, making Kreel send her a glare.

Tommy snort with an amused smirk, "Come on"

"Guys, if someone needs saving, we have to help" Arin said to his friends.

"Even if it's one of Kreel's goons?" Tommy raised a brow, as you can imagine, he wasn't a fan of this.

"Minions" Kreel corrected and Tommy threw her a deadpan look.

"Ninja help everyone. And we're ninja now" The younger boy exclaimed proudly but the other three gave him a pointed look. Arin smiled sheepishly at them. "Well, kinda..." He turned to the woman, "How about this? We track down Targle, you let Lobbo go"

"And stop trying to steal his money" The girl added sternly.

"My money" Kreel huffed them sighed, "But fine. I need Targy back. Find him, and this weird little orb guy can is free to go about his weird little orb life"

Chat huffed, "That's kinda rude..."

Arin smiled. "Deal"

"Excuse me. Have you seen three—" Lloyd tried asking around for the teens but the person totally ignored him and walked right past him. "Wait!" They did not wait. He tried with another person, "I'm looking for— Hold on!" Yeah, it didn't work out. "I haven't been around this many people in a while..." He said quietly to himself, not like anybody effing cared. Suddenly, he was pushed into a tent by a group of people. The hero groaned, getting up, "Were people always that pushy?" He looked around, his eyes widening once he saw the tent was filled with pictures with familiar faces. "Photos of us?" Lloyd looked around, he quickly spotted two kids placing flowers below the pictures. He approached them, "Excuse me. What is all this?"

"It's our neighborhood's way of remembering our great heroes, the ninja. They put this tent up every year" The boy answered him, with the girl nodding.

"Once upon a time, the ninja protected the whole city! And they had fun while doing it! Then they risked their lives to save people during the Merge. Now no one knows where they are. Some people think they're gone forever" The girl grew somber at the end.

"Nah, I think they'll be back someday. Ninja never quit, right?" The boy smiled with confidence.

"The world has changed so much. I had no idea that we— Uh, that the ninjas were still remembered like this" Lloyd couldn't help but smile himself, feeling his cheeks getting warm at the kind words. Damn, he really haven't been around people for a long time...

"Of course they are! The ninja stand for hope. Who doesn't need hope?"

"You know, you kinda look like one of them" The girl noted, making the Green Ninja blush even more.

"Y-yeah. I... I've been told I look a little like the Green Ninja" He chuckled, looking away.

"Nah, you look more like their teacher, Master Wu. It's the beard" The girl (apparently as delusional as him) commented with a smile. Lloyd blinked, smiled gratefully at them and excused himself, leaving the tent before he could spill the beans.

Having the most wholesome encounter of the century behind him, he resumed his search for the missing teens and their two companions. After a couple of minutes he sighed, "I'm never gonna find them" He looked around, a piece of fabric caught his attention. Lloyd picked it up. "Huh. Feels familiar..." He squinted his eyes at the fabric. "No. There's no way they'd be running around town with my meditation carpet" He assured himself, but looking around some more he noticed more piece of the same fabric. He frowned angrily. "They're running around town with my meditation carpet!" The hero groaned, how could they do that!?

Well, at least now he knew where to go...

The five walked into one of the darkest possible alleyways in the Crossroads. "You sure this is where Kreel said the ransom drop was supposed to be?" Arin asked, hoping they got the wrong address.

"Yup. Start looking for clues"

Arin sighed at the words, he and the rest quickly got to work, moving boxes out of the way and lifting up papers, Tommy even materialized himself a UV flashlight. Riyu and Chet looked together, pushing a dumpster and revealing a secret lever. "Hey, look!" The TV robot called out, the trio quickly joined them.

"Well, that's a clue if I ever saw one" Tommy crossed his arms, smirking.

"Great job, guys" The girl praised, making the dragonling purr and the robot to display a heart emoji in gratitude. Sora pulled the lever and a hatch in the ground opened. "See? That's how smoothly a mechanism can open when its gears are properly maintained" Tommy snort at the remark.

"Time for those stealth skills" Arin smiled at them. Sora elbowed him lightly.

"Told you sneaking out was good ninja practice" They all went down, then marched through a tunnel on high alert until finally they found themselves in a big room. "Definitely looks like a bad guy lair to me"

Tommy cringed at the foul smell, no, honestly, it smelled like sewage in there! "Ugh. Smells like one too..."

"What's that?" Arin pointed at something quite big covered with a white cloth, they quickly rushed over to check it. The blond noted how weirdly similar their surroundings were to a theatre before they took the cloth off, revealing a cage with Whack Rats in it. The youngest teen gasped at their weakened state.

Sora narrowed her eyes. "They're drained or something. Why would anyone do this?"

Out of nowhere, one of the reflectors turned on and revealed a man on the catwalk, ensuring Tommy in his theory, this was in fact a theater. The man jumped down, flying around on some stage strings before landing in an epic way before the five, smiling evilly and making their eyes bulge in shock. "For entertainment, of course!"

"Dorama???" The three teens asked at once, then Arin continued alone, "The fireworks guy? Everyone loves you! You can't be a villain!"

Tommy groaned. "Ugh. I should've expected that. It's always the most obvious choice!"

"Do not typecast me! I can excel in the role of the heavy" Dorama pushed his chest proudly, smiling with great confidence. This made the blond question whether he acts like this sometimes; the thought made him cringe.

"Look, I'll admit, that was a great entrance. But your whole thing of kidnapping Whack Rats for ransom ends right now!" Sora exclaimed and Arin quickly followed with a 'threat'.

"Set them free, or we'll make you!"

The five took battle stances (with Riyu and Chet doing the best they could), but Dorama only smiled. "Here in my theater, I call the shots!" He placed his theatrical wand into a hole in the stage and used it like a lever, the teens were pushed back onto a conveyor belt while Riyu was shot up and landed on a swinging axe, only Chat stayed in their spot, watching with wide eyes the chaos that followed.

The trio got up, quickly realizing they were forced onto a death obstacle course. While Riyu managed to jump into a safe spot, Tommy quickly pulled the duo up and they tried their best avoiding the axes and getting fucking burned by the flames behind them. "Arin, up!" The blond exclaimed, barely noticing the nod as he jumped up onto one of the axes. The younger boy tried following, using his grappling hook, but only managed to get thrown into the audience seats.

Meanwhile Chat tried attacking Dorama, zooming around him and annoying him as he failed to get them time and time again.

"Okay, I'll admit it. Lloyd was right! There are times to use obstacle course training in real life!!" Sora screamed, narrowly avoiding getting sliced in two. She tripped, but Tommy grabbed her and pulled forward as he jumped onto another axe.

Hearing Chet scream, he looked up and glared at the man. Just as he was about to fly over there and stop him, the seats shot Arin into the air, making the two collide and end on the other side of the theatre. Tommy groaned, now giving the man a death glare. "Why Whack Rats, weirdo?"

"To put on a better show! They have a unique energy, which I can extract and use to create incredibly vibrant, colorful fireworks! That's why my carnival finale is always so spectacular!" Dorama explained then went to the cage and took some of the Rats energy. He used it to blast at the boys, making the both of them scream and Tommy to grab the younger teen and desperately jump out of the way, ending in an even more uncomfortable position for the both of them. Dorama then blasted at Sora, the girl also screamed, quickly jumping out of the way and landing on the other side of theater. Chat tried going after him again, resulting in them also getting blasted, but this time the man didn't miss causing the small robot to fell down, deactivated, with smoke coming from their head/body. Riyu squeaked seeing his friends getting assaulted.

"Chat!!"

"You're draining these poor creatures just to make your fireworks display a little better?" Sora questioned, growing angrier by the minute.

"Of course! I may be the most celebrated entertainer in the Crossroads, but you've seen that carnival now. People from so many realms, bringing so much exotic spectacle. I will not be upstaged!"

"But people love you already!" Arin said, getting up while Tommy stayed low, searching through his bag, he was about to destroy that bitch for hurting Chat.

"And I intend to keep it that way"

"It's over, Dorama!" Arin got onto the seat. Tommy looked up at him in worry.

"Um, Arin—" The teen looked down, he pulled the blond up and they both flew up, Sora coming at them from the other side. "ARIN!!" Tommy screamed angrily at the boy while he used his grappling hook to escape the trap, this time successfully. The girl's body slammed against the blond's, only by pure lucky he managed to catch her and fly over to Arin before hitting the ground. He looked up, glaring at other teen, "Never do that again"

"Oh, puh-lease! Do you honestly believe I wouldn't have an understudy waiting in the wings?" Dorama grinned at them as the curtain fell down, revealing a big marionette on strings. Tommy's wings fluttered, breath caught in his throat.

"Now that's just unnerving..." Sora said, taking a step back.

Dorama, for some godforsaken reason, played the gramophone as the marionette unshielded a sword matching it's size. Tommy was just about to make a snide remark but then the sword came at them so he was more worried about avoiding getting slides in half; the teens promptly jumped out of the way. Tommy's first instinct was to use his wings, ending up hovering a few feet above the stage, while Arin's first instinct was to use his grappling hook to elevate himself higher, leaving the girl and the dragon on the ground.

However, ground level seem to be safest, despite all odd, as the youngest teen got grabbed by the marionette just as he was at its eyes level. He tensed up, in both fear and pain of the hold as it seem to eye him (like literally how? It's 'eyes' were painted!).

Tommy was just about to fly to the rescue when a scream stopped him, "Leave my student alone!" A green tornado swept through, cutting the marionette's strings before the Green Ninja landed next to the teens. "This performance is cancelled"

Much to everyone's surprise, Dorama only smiled. "Correction, time for an encore!" He used his wand to power the marionette back up, with it glaring at the group.

Lloyd took a step back, "This is like that nightmare I had..."

"It's a nightmare everyone's had" Sora commented, and everybody could agree. Before anyone could react in any way, the marionette grabbed her in one of its hands.

"Sora!! No!" The two teens screamed after her, Tommy glaring at the thing holding her.

The marionette squeeze the girl in its hand, forcing all air out of her lungs. "I— can't— breathe!"

Arin's breath caught in his throat as he watched with wide eyes. His brows furrowed in determination as he ripped off part of Dorama's gramophone and threw it at the wooden monster, somehow transferring spinjitzu onto it. As the marionette let Sora go, Lloyd looked at him in surprise while Tommy only spared a quick glance then went to catch the falling girl. "How did you do that?"

"I don't know..." Arin looked at his hands.

"You transferred Spinjitzu to an object"

"Incoming!" Sora warned right after Tommy put her on her feet.

"Not making sense to me either!" The four backed away as the marionette rose up again, with its chest open after the attack.

"It has gears? Then I got this!" Lloyd smiled, he run over to a fan, much to everyone's confusion, and threw scraps of familiar red fabric in. The pieces of the meditation carpet flew up and into the marionette's gears, causing it to break down. Dorama quickly turned to run away, with Riyu chasing after him while the others stayed behind, the two ninja-in-training to talk with their teacher and Tommy to check on Chat.

"How'd you know how to do that?" Arin asked, trying his best not to think about the ninja now knowing they took his carpet, and damaged it.

"This morning, someone told me when junk gets into gears, it can ruin everything" Lloyd and Sora smiled at each other.

The girl then turned around, frowning as she looked at Tommy mourning his Chat. She walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, he looked up and she send him a small smile, "I'll fix them after we get back to the monastery"

He sighed, "I know..." Tommy glanced down at the small robot. They were the only thing he had from his past, a past he didn't even remember and never bothered to ask them about. He knows they know, they seem to understand more than he himself just why he reacts in certain ways to certain events, like back when they all first met the Green Ninja, Chat seem to know something he didn't, something that made him dislike the older blond so much. It's like... they understood him.

Riyu squeaked, catching everyone's attention. Tommy carefully placed Chet in his bag and the trio rushed over to the dragonling, who managed to pin Dorama to the floor just before he could escape. "Stop!! This can't be the final act for the Crossroads' greatest showman!"

Lloyd crossed his arms. "No, it's definitely closing night, once we call the authorities and let them figure out what to do with you"

***

"Well, if you were more emotionally available, maybe she wouldn't have broken up with you" Kreel said to the round robot, who somehow managed to get on her good side despite, y'know, being kidnapped and all that. Is this reversed Stockholm Syndrome—?

Lobbo sighed. "Lobbo knows. Lobbo often hides Lobbo's true feelings. Lobbo lobbo..."

"Kreeeeeel, someone wants to seeeee you!" Arin exclaimed in a sing-tone, catching the two's attention.

The woman gasped seeing her Rat friend. "Targy!! You're safe! Oh!" She hugged him, which he was quick to reciprocate. It was actually pretty heartwarming. She turned to the robot, "Lobbo, you're free to go"

"Lobbo was always free. Up here. Lobbo lobbo" He pointed to his head (yes, we're having the same issue as with Chat 'ere - his head is pretty much his whole body).

Arin turned to the hero, playing with his hands sheepishly. "Master— uh, Lloyd, we're sorry for sneaking away without permission..."

"And for taking your carpet" Tommy added, Chet would surely nag him about it if he didn't confess. 

Lloyd looked at him, somehow he suspected he was the one to come up with this idea. He sighed, "It's fine. I'm sorry too. For pushing you two so much today" He turned to the other two. "I was so serious about my teaching, I forgot this can also be fun"

"We're all new at this. We get it. No problem" Sora send him a reassuring smile.

"Hey, if we hurry, we can still make it to the pie contest!" Arin chimed in with an excited smile. 

The four quickly rushed back to the carnival, arriving just at the last second to hear the winner get announced, "In first place is... Chef Grab-Barg! Congratulations!" Mr. Frohicky handed the cup to the snail man and he laughed. Was this only them or did he look in their general direction?

"Never any doubt"

"And in second place... Arin!" The frog man walked over to the group, handing the teen the ribbon. He frowned seeing Arin's face, "Uh, sorry, kiddo. But it's still a great pie" As he walked away Arin groaned, slapping the ribbon to his face in despair.

Lloyd put a hand on his shoulder and took the ribbon off his face, placing it on Arin's chest instead. He smiled at the boy, "Don't worry. You'll win next year"

The teen blinked. "Next year?"

"Of course! We can't miss the next Crossroads Carnival!"

'Well, if this doesn't count as a point, then I dunno what does' Tommy thought to himself, snorting at the image of Chat pointing it out to him if they were awake.

"And this year's carnival isn't over! There's still lots of food to try. I had my eye on some candy mushrooms from the Realm of Lee" Sora said, eyes shining from excitement.

"A snack tour is exactly what we need before training starts again tomorrow. At the crack of dawn"

Arin pumped his fist while Sora groaned and Tommy glared at the other blond, "Don't make me take away that stupid point"

"Huh???"

In Dorama's theatre the man himself was thrown into the cage after the group rescued the Whack Rats.

A figure entered the stage room, their footsteps catching Dorama's attention. "And so enters, stage left, the authorities the ninja said they'd call. Pitiful. So trite. Predictable"

"That call was intercepted" Dorama perked up and turned around, he saw a tiger man approaching him. "No authorities are coming"

"Who are you, then?"

"Your new boss. I have a job for you" Ras stated formally and opened the cage with some Imperium tech.

"A patron of my arts, eh? I knew the show would go on" He laughed evilly.

Chapter Text

Sora tinkered with Chat while Tommy loomed over her shoulder, playing with his hoodie’s strings in anticipation. Soon, the TV screen flashed and a loading bar appeared, the teens looked at each other. They watched as the bar filled itself, then it got replaced with a 'sleeping' face. Tommy leaned over and poked Chat, they frowned as if annoyed and then opened their eyes, blinking in confusion. They yawned, floating up and stretching while the two friends smiled at each other. "So..." Chet yawned again, smiled at the two and sang,
“What'd I miss?
What'd I miss?"

Tommy's eyes shined, his grin growing by the second. Sora let out an amused snort. "Tom, don't—"

"Virginia, my home sweet home, 
I wanna give you a kiss!"

The girl shook her head while the two continued to sing. She walked outside where Lloyd was training Arin and got to fixing the SA Mark 01, trying to use her powers but failing successfully. She groaned, annoyed, "Oh, come on weird powers! Why won't you work now?"

Meanwhile, Arin took a breath and whispered to himself, "I can do this. This, I can do" After the assurance the Green Ninja hit the floor with his wooden staff, letting the boy know he can start now. Arin started running through the training course, he was doing pretty good but lost his balance halfway through and got thrown around by the moving mechanism. Lloyd quickly did spinjitzu and got him out of there. "Thanks, Mast— Uh, Lloyd. I really thought I could do it, but I forgot something. That I'm the worst student in the history of students!" Arin sighed sorrowfully.

"The worst? Remind me to tell you about the time my friend, Jay, the Lightning Ninja, trained in the south wing"

The teen frowned in confusion. "The monastery doesn't have a south wing..."

"Not after Jay trained there. Poof!" Lloyd imitated an explosion with his free hand, sending his student a goofy grin to cheer him up. Arin's eyebrows raised in amusement. "Look, you learned a version of Spinjitzu by yourself. Totally unheard of. But, you have to unlearn some of what you taught yourself to relearn a more..." He looked at the side for a second, trying to find the right words. He looked back at the teen and smiled sheepishly, "Balanced approach"

"Really?" Arin smiled when Lloyd gave him a nod.

Sora sighed hearing their conversation. "Well, I don't need to relearn anything, 'cause I never learned anything in the first place! This elemental power stuff's impossible!"

"It took me a long time to tap into my Potential. But I did. And you will, too" Lloyd assured her, but she only spared him a quick glance.

"Yeah! Remember all the times Tommy couldn't control his powers?" Arin chimed in making the girl snort.

"I heard you were talking shit about me" The mentioned blond appeared right behind the younger teen out of nowhere, making him yelp and jump as he turned around, almost resulting in Arin falling down but the hero held him up before he could hit the ground. Tommy crossed his arms, giving his friend a light-hearted glare while he let out an awkward chuckled and Sora giggled.

"Sorry..." Arin scratched his head with an apologetic smile.

The girl stayed amused by the two for a short moment before sighing again, "I'm not even sure I have an elemental power. Tech Power?"

"I haven't heard of it either" Lloyd admitted, making her frown more. "But I've studied elemental powers all my life. I'm telling you, the true power is inside of you"

"No, I'm pretty sure they're Riyu's powers, and I just, like, borrow them or something. Like how Tom gets his powers from his Gods"

"Hey!" The blond frowned. "Need I remind you I rarely use them at all? I'm perfectly fine on my own!"

"But you use your wings" Arin pointed out. "Didn't you say they were one of the gifts you got from them?"

"It's— It’s different!!"

"None of you are borrowing your powers" Lloyd said, cutting the 'argument' short. "You saw me with the Matriarch. She sent my powers into overdrive. I don't know why dragon energy enhances elemental powers, but those were my powers, not hers"

"If this power is in me, how come I can't feel it?" Sora complained, not convinced at all.

"Maybe you just gotta Let it go" Chat commented, causing Tommy and Arin to snort.

The girl shook her head. "Stop."

"Every elemental master is different. Cole could feel the power of Earth in his guts. Nya said the power of Water flows through her veins. Zane could sense Ice power in his mind"

"So, basically, what you saying is he had a brain freeze" The younger blond smirked, proud of his joke.

Lloyd blinked, slowly processing the words. "I... guess that's one way of putting it" Tommy snort.

Out of the sudden, Riyu started screeching, making everyone turn to the dragonling on the monastery's wall. "What's got Riyu all worked up?" Sora asked, getting a shrug from Tommy.

Lloyd used spinjitzu (uh, airjitzu???) to get onto the wall while Arin used his grappling hook. The girl scoffed, thinking she's gonna be left alone again. But, to her surprise, Tommy stayed back, "Want a lift?"

She smiled at him. "Yeah. Thanks" The teen saluted, then went behind her and slid his hands under her armpits before flying up, carrying her to the other three.

"No way!" Arin exclaimed with excitement as they all stared at something approaching the monastery. Tommy squinted his eyes, even putting a hand over his eyes to make sure the sun doesn't block his view as he tried making out the thing in the sky.

"Uh, what am I looking at here?" Sora asked, also squinting her eyes.

"That's the old Bounty! Kai took that ship to search for the other ninja. This must mean his mission was a success!" The hero explained, visibly excited and happy to see his friend again. He and Arin watched the old Bounty approach with big smiles while the other two exchanged looks, not as hyped as them.

Tommy looked back up. He hummed in thought. "...It doesn't look like he's stopping anytime soon..."

Lloyds eyes widen in realization. "Incoming!!" The six quickly jumped out of the way, just before the ship hit the wall and flew through the front yard, smashing though another (yet the same) wall and flying off. 

"I'm thinking Kai's mission was not a success..." Sora said, watching the ship descend rather quickly.

"Come on!" Lloyd threw, jumping down and running through the yard to catch the Bounty, Arin right on his tail, with Riyu on his back. They pretty much did the same trick they used to get onto the now broken wall.

"Hop on" Tommy said to the girl, pointing at his back.

Sora turned to him, confused at first, then smiled teasingly. "Piggyback ride?"

The teen gave her a deadpan look. "Well, if I wanted to carry you bridal style I'd just grab you, now wouldn't I?" She laughed, walking behind and jumping onto his back. He spread his wings while Chat grabbed Sora's arm. "Also, this is gonna be a wilder flight. Hold on tight!" He jumped and flew after the ship, quickly joining the other three on board.

"Kai? Kai!!" The Green Ninja called out, looking around. "Battle damage? What did Kai get himself into…?"

"Uh, just a thought, we should probably steer away from those mountains" Sora pointed getting off the younger blond.

Lloyd quickly rushed over to the steering wheel, he tried using it to stop the ship but it didn't work. "Oh, no! The steering is jammed!"

Sora quickly jumped below the deck to check the gears. "The steering column isn't attached to the rudder anymore!"

"That's bad, right?" The older blond asked, glancing down at the others.

"Really bad! Tommy, my tools!" The teen snapped his fingers and a toolbox appeared right next to him, in the air. Before he could catch it, it fell down and hit the unsuspecting girl. "Ow! Thanks..."

"Sorry 'bout that!" Tommy apologized sheepishly.

"Sora, anytime now!"

"Try that"

Lloyd tried moving the steering wheel, nothing happened. "Try what?"

She growled, tinkering some more before exclaiming, "Now!!"

This time when the hero used the steering wheel the ship responded, slowing down and making everyone let a relived breath. "Gently, gently. This is how you do it" The ship shook suddenly, falling down and crashing. The impact made Lloyd, who was still holding onto the steering wheel, fell down to the rest. He blinked while they stared at him with amused smiles.

Tommy laid down on his side next to him with one hand supporting his head, "Should we be taking notes?"

"Let us never speak of this..."

The younger blond snort. "You wish!"

Lloyd got up, finally letting go of the wheel and they started looking around. "There's gotta be some clues about where the Bounty came from. Scorch marks? Did Kai attack his own ship? Doesn't make sense"

"I doubt he made this massive blast hole. Something huge hit this" Arin added, pointing at the big-ass hole in the ships cabin.

Sora accidentally stepped into something, she looked down, cringing once she saw a wet puddle, "Ugh. And why is there a puddle in here? Water and fire?"

"These are definitely Kai's notes" Lloyd noted, looking over some unfinished notes laying around. "Looks like he was filling in this map as he went. And he only got to here"

The youngest teen peeked over his shoulder. "That would be in the direction this ship was coming from"

"Then that's where we need to go. It's up to us to figure out what happened to Kai"

"Good thing we've got a new Bounty" Sora remarked, with Chat snickering.

***

The whole group quickly gathered on the new Bounty, following the Red Ninja's map.

"So, if the old ship came back without Kai, does that mean Kai's...?" Arin asked in worry, not even daring to finish his question.

Tommy shook his head. "And here I thought I was the dramatic one"

"Maybe he got into trouble and sent the Bounty back on autopilot to get help" The only actual ninja theorized, but by the sound of his voice it was obvious he also had doubts about that.

Arin frowned. "It must have been pretty serious trouble for him to abandon ship..."

Lloyd let out a short laugh and looked at the teen, "Serious trouble is something Kai's great at finding" His smile quickly fell and he sighed. "Of course, there's the other explanation that this is all an elaborate trap to capture and destroy us"

The girl snort in disbelief. "Right. What are the odds that someone would do all that?"

"In my experience, everything is a big trap about half the time" Tommy chimed in, making the girl laugh, as well as the ninja.

"Seriously?"

"Nope" Chet deadpan with a serious face.

"More like two-thirds of the time" The older blond added. As much as the girl looked flabbergasted, Tommy and Chet only nodded their heads.

At Imperium, Dorama was supervised by a woman in a lab coat while he 'played' around with some gadget. "Oh, my, my. This will make quite the show!"

Ras walked into the lab, two Claws following right behind him. "Report" He ordered the woman.

"This guy you found is a definite weirdo. He keeps inviting me to his autobiographical one-man musical" She eyed Dorama, but quickly looked back at the tiger man as he growled impatiently. "But he does know more than anyone else about extracting and exploiting exotic energy"

"Will he get the Photac to work?"

"Mm, hard to say"

Ras growled, taking a step forward and grabbing the collar of her coat, "When I ask a question, I expect an answer"

"Point taken" She deadpanned, calmly pushing his hand away. "My guess, he’ll get this prototype to work, but mass-producing more? No."

"Why not?" He demanded, growing more angry by the minute, but the woman remained unbothered.

"Because there’s only one person who can do that, and you know who"

Ras growled again, this time louder, almost roaring in anger before promptly stomping away.

"We should be here. You see anything?" Lloyd asked as the two younger teens went to each side of the ship to check the surroundings.

"Nothing this side, just mud"

"Mmm, mud..." Tommy said dreamily, making the TV robot laugh at him.

Arin chuckled before turning to the girl, "How about you, Sora?"

"Just two big dragons in a massive battle with stone dudes!" Everyone quickly went to her side and looked down. 

The dragonling squawked. "Riyu's right! Those dragons need our help!" Arin said, apparently understanding the small dragon.

"What's attacking them?" Sora asked, turning to the ninja.

"Craglings. Rock monsters from the Realm of Madness"

"Going in!" Arin announced as Riyu jumped on his back, the teen got out his grappling hook.

"Wait!" Lloyd called out but the teen already jumped down. "He just left! You never run into a fight without a plan of—"

"You think too much" Tommy cut him off, sending a cocky smile and giving Chet a second to hold onto him before zooming after the two.

The older blond blinked, Tommy ditching him wasn't that surprising, but he still got flabbergasted. He turned to look at the girl but she was already getting into her mech. "See you down there, teach!" She exclaimed before following her friends and leaving the ninja completely stunned.

"Isn’t the point of being a student to listen to your teachers? Were we this bad with Master Wu? Wait—" Lloyds eyes widen, he groaned at the realization, "Yes. Yes, we were..."

The Craglings loaded a cannon(?) with a big boulder and shot it at the dragons, but the thing got destroyed midair by Tommy's fist (after he powered up with one of his potions of course). Right after him came Arin, jumping directly at the Craglings. "Messing with dragons, huh?" He exclaimed just before kicking one of them to the ground, from there he jumped to kicked another one, then used his grappling hook to get close to and ground yet another one.

"Then we gotta mess with you!" Sora added, making a couple other Crawling stumble back as she landed not too far from him. Tommy quickly joining them with crossed arms, had he wore fancier clothes he could pass for an actual angel (of death).

The four, as Lloyd joined them not too long after, swiftly fought off the whole army, forcing them to retreat as the dragons safely flew off. "Nice! We gave the dragons cover to get away!" Arin cheered.

Out of nowhere, a blast of water flew at them. Arin jumped back, bumping into Tommy, as it flew past him.

Lloyd narrowed his eyes, recognising something familiar in the way the water moved. Soon his eyes widen. "The only person who can control water like that is..." He turned around, from behind the Craglings walked none other than— "Nya!" Lloyd cheered, happy to see one of his friends. 

"Lloyd?"

The two quickly approached each other, the blond excited yet confused while the girl seem annoyed. "Why are you fighting for the enemy? I'm not fighting for the enemy. You are!" They said at the same time then stopped, smiled at each other and hugged sharing a laugh.

Tommy watched the two, actually growing happy by their reunion and, for some stupid reason, feeling an ache in his chest. Sora bend down to her best friends and asked in a hushed tone, "I take it these two know each other?"

"That's Nya. She's one of the original ninja. Didn't you read the scrolls Lloyd gave us?"

She deadpanned at him. "He gave us, like, four million scrolls"

"It's good to see you. Even if you do fight innocent dragons now..." Lloyd said, trailing of rather sadly at the end.

"Innocent? Those dragons have been attacking the Cragling Village!" Nya crossed her arms, giving the older blond a death glare.

Lloyd blinked. "Oh, uh, that, uh ... does shed some new light on the situation..."

"I'll say" The girl deadpanned. "Who taught you to just leap into a fight like that? Definitely not Master Wu" At that the teacher quickly perked up, turning to the trio with a victorious grin.

"Uh huh. You hear that? That's what I was trying to say. Don't just leap into—"

"I literally saw you leap down and just Spinjitzu Craglings" Nya cut him off, making Tommy laugh.

"Soooo... how've you been?" The ninja turned to his friend with a sheepish smile.

She stared him down before turning to the teens with a smile, "Hi, I'm Nya. Lloyd and I go way back, if you can't tell" She glanced at the blond again and he scratched his head.

"I'm Sora"

"I'm Arin. We're Lloyd's students"

"And I'm Tommy. Not a student" The younger blond remarked. The TV robot elbowed him. "And this is Chat..." He mumbled.

"Sounds like I missed a lot. Any chance Jay's with you?" Nya turned to Lloyd but he shook his head somberly, making her frown.

"Don't worry, he's out there somewhere" Lloyd put a hand on her shoulder and smiled reassuringly. "They all are"

She sighed, clearly having some doubts. "Follow me. We need to update the Cragling leader" Nya lead them to a dwelling where a bunch of Craglings were waiting for her return.

"Ninja Nya, our beloved champion" The leader cheered, smiling at the girl. She returned the smile. "Who do you bring to our gates?"

"King Crag-Nor, this is my friend, Lloyd, and his students"

Tommy furrowed his brows. "Not a student…" Chat smacked his head for the comment. He glared at them.

"Ah, they are ninja like you. Then they joined our side in battle?" The King asked, making everyone (but Tommy and Chat) look away awkwardly.

"Well, uh..." Nya looked back at the group, then sighed. "No. They actually fought against us and messed everything up. But I've straightened them out" She assured as she finished, the three quickly nodding their heads in agreement.

"Mm, I see... Everyone makes mistakes. The important thing is to accept others for their flaws and—" The King cut off noticing Riyu, he gasped loudly, anger overtaking his stoney features, "Why is that foul thing here!?"

The dragonling whimpered, quickly ducking behind Arin, the boy immediately jumping to his defence, "He's our friend, and teammate!" Sora, Tommy and Chat gave a strong nod.

"You are fools to trust such a creature. Dragons are treacherous! And none are welcome in this village" The King declared angrily. The two actual ninja shared a look.

"If Riyu doesn't go in, we don't go in" Sora said, the other three nodding (yes, again) with crossed arms.

"Wise king," Nya took a step forward. "If this creature travels with my friends, then I can vouch for him"

The stone King narrowed his eyes. "Hmm. Ninja Nya defends us in our time of need. Since she speaks up for the beast, it may enter" Out of nowhere, he did something nobody would ever expect - he took one of his eyes out. Tommy stumbled back with a scream and Chet displayed a shocked-scared face. "But it should beware, our eyes shall be on it" The King threw his eye up and caught it with his mouth, swallowing and somehow making it return to its original place. Everyone either looked away or gaged. He and the other Craglings walked inside.

Nya turned to the rest and whispered, "Sorry. The Craglings can be pretty dramatic" She chuckled and the whole group followed Crag-Nor.

They were lead to some tables made out of rocks and promoted by the girl to sit down. "Welcome, friends of Ninja Nya, to an authentic Cragling feast" The King announced and soon his subject (at least I'd assume) brought big rock bowls filled with blue mud for each of them.

Tommy's eyes sparkled and, before anyone could stop him, he face firsted into the bowl.

Next to him Arin was pretty much doing the same thing. "Mm. I've always wanted to eat mud!" Sora gaged a little, then glanced at the two as if they were demented while she forced herself to try it out like a sane person.

Chat made a face at their bowl, not because they didn't like mud but because they couldn't eat it. Taking his chances, Riyu tried eating some, but a Cragling took the bowl away from him. "Filthy dragons can't eat here!" Lloyd stopped suddenly, then proceeded to slowly place the mud he had in his hand in his mouth, eyes glued to the King.

"This is the finest feast in the Kingdom of Madness. We used to call our home the Realm of Madness. But then, of course..." The King trailed off.

"The Merge happened" Lloyd guessed, earning a nod. He turned to the girl, "Nya, is this where you woke up when it hit?"

She shook her head. "No. A lot happened to me after the Merge. But now's not the time to get into all those stories. Just know I woke up alone, pretty far from here, and started to work my way back to Ninjago. And then one day, I saw something. After the Merge, the Realm of Madness ended up next to whatever realm Earth Dragons came from. The dragons found a field of Cragling mud that, when they ate it, gave them great powers, making them larger, fiercer"

"The field Ninja Nya speaks of is no regular mud. It is a sacred area, burial ground to our ancestors" Crag-Nor explained.

Tommy immediately sat up, getting his face out of the mud and stared at the King with horror, the other three looked down at their bowls while Chat displayed a terrified face. Everyone but Nya gaged. "That's not where this mud is from" She said causally, eating a handful. Everyone let out a relief sigh and resumed eating, with Tommy wiping his face and eating normally now.

"The mud the dragons are stealing, it's the source of our life energy, our very essence" Crag-Nor continued.

"So they get their power from some external source? Huh..." Sora muttered to herself, her friends sending her a saddened look.

"That's why the Craglings are crumbling and breaking apart" Nya picked up. "The dragons are stealing their life force. Kai, searching the lands, stumbled into this conflict, and of course, got involved" She rolled her eyes with a small smile. "We were sure we could put a stop to this, so we came up with a battle plan. But..." She paused for a moment, looking away with sadness. "It didn't work out. Kai got hit and he flew off somewhere..." Lloyd frowned, he was not liking the sound of that. The Water Ninja took a breath before ending, "I needed help. I sent the Bounty on autopilot toward the monastery, hoping someone was there" She looked up at her friend, tears in her eyes. "I– I searched everywhere for him"

"Kai's... gone?" The older blond asked, sounding heartbroken.

"I don't want to lose hope, but it's hard not to…" She wiped her tears. The others exchanged looks, feeling sorry for the two, and kind of awkward in Tommy's case.

Kai, alive and well, although hungry, walked through the Kingdom of Madness, trying to find his way back. "Oh, I'm starving. Ugh, how far away is that Cragling Village? I could really use a cool mud bath right now. And a mud dinner. Mmm..." He started drooling at the thought, then quickly shook his head to not dwell (heh) on it. He stopped, squinting his eyes as he saw what he thought was a familiar shape. A smile appeared on his face as he realized he wasn't imagining it. "Alright! My lucky day!" Kai cheered but just as he was about to sprint there he noticed two sleeping dragons blocking his way. Unlike any sane person who would decide to go around them, he opted for sneaking past them. As he tip-toed, he suddenly tripped on some rocks, letting out a yelp and waking the dragons. He quickly jumped to his feet, accidentally leveling with one of them face to face. He chuckled sheepishly, "Hey there..."

"Kai's really gone? He was my favorite ninja!" Arin exclaimed making Sora raise a brow at him. He chuckled and scratched this head, "Second favorite..."

"This isn't only about saving the Cragling. It's about taking down the dragons that destroyed my brother" Nya said, her expression changing from sadness to determination.

"Whoa, whoa. Destroy is a big word. Let's not throw that around like it's nothing, 'kay?" Tommy joked, trying to light up the mood. It didn't really work.

Out of nowhere, there was some screaming behind the walls of the Carglings dwelling making him furrow his brows. He and Chat looked at each other while the others didn't seem to notice.

"We can all help. Sora and Arin and training to become ninja. Tommy..." Lloyd glanced at him, the younger blond too busy trying to identify the screaming to pay him any mind. "Well, he and Sora have powers, and Arin taught himself a strange form of Spinjitzu"

Nya furrowed her brows in confusion. "You can't teach yourself Spinjitzu"

"I know. But he did. My students are new, but they're good and ready to fight. Kai was your brother, but he was also one of my best friends" As Lloyd talked, Tommy tapped Arin's shoulder and raised a brow pointing at the walls. The younger teen made a face before his eyes widen in realization, in the meantime Sora also realized something was up. "It's almost as if I can hear Kai's cries for help in my head..." 

Nya furrowed her brows and listened in. She gasped, "You're not imagining that!" Everyone quickly got up and rushed outside. A big smile spread across the two actual ninjas faces as they saw the Red Ninja run in their direction. "Kai!! You're still alive!"

"I made a terrible mistake!!" Kai screamed, the two dragons appearing in sight.

Nya frowned angrily. "You brought the dragons right to us? I'm gonna fucking kill you!!"

"Okay, now remember, don't just rush in. We need a battle pla—" Lloyd tried to de-escalate the situation but the girl cut him off. 

"Forget all that!!" She yelled before charging at the dragons.

The two siblings passed each other. Kai stopped by the group, catching his breath. "Oh, hey, Lloyd! When'd you get here?" He glanced behind him, too fast to notice the youngest boy fanboying. "And who are the kids? You babysitting or something?" Lloyd made a face at the last comment and Tommy frowned.

"Hey! I'm the biggest man alive! I don't need babysitting!!" Yet another argument was cut short as the ninja girl was send flying towards them with a yelp.

The Christmas Duo exchanged looks before sprinting into action. "I'll get this one" Kai threw, as they both charged up, but just as he was about to hit his chosen opponent, a green ball of light beat him to it. He turned around, giving his friend a light glare, "Hey, I said I had that one!"

"I didn't know which one you were talking about. Be more specific!"

Hearing them argue, Nya facepalmed and rushed over to them. "Kai! Take the one on the left!"

"Whose left???" He questioned just before one of the dragons used its tail to throw him at his two teammates, drawing a yelp from all of them.

Tommy couldn't help but snort. Meanwhile Sora scratched her head, she turned to Arin, "Is this what trained ninja warriors are supposed to look like?"

"It's been a long time since they were together... Uh, come on!" He called out to the both of them, pulling his hood on and running towards the action. The other two looked at each other, Tommy shrugged before following the younger boy.

Sora watched the both of them leave then turned to her mech and glanced down at Riyu, "Hey, buddy. I know Lloyd thinks I have the power in myself, but I'm pretty sure I get it from you. So, any chance you could—" He didn't even let her finish, just powered her up. She smiled and cheered seeing her hands glow pink. Without much effort, she quickly managed to reassemble the mech back, it actually turned out even better. "Now that's what I call an upgrade" She looked at her (and Riyu's) job proudly before jumping in and rushing after the others. "Who wants a ride for an air attack?"

Nya looked up with wide eyes. He turned to Lloyd and pointed at the younger girl with a smile, "I like this kid" The og ninjas all shared a smile before she went to join Sora, the pink haired girl using her power to create a place for the master of water on her mech.

Kai glanced at the object in Tommy's hand, then looked up at him in confusion, "Uh, is that a yoyo?"

"It made a good name for itself" Kai's confusion only grew. The blue eyed blond rolled his eyes. "What're waiting for? An invitation?" He quickly sprung to action, the girls following him, and in turn so did everybody else. Everyone attacked with whatever they got, some doing more damage, some less. But with six against two they were quickly dipping the scale towards their win.

That is until Sora felt herself struggle to keep control of the mech, but mostly her power. "I'm losing my power!"

As a fire blast (not one from Kai) caused one of the mech's arms to literally fell off, Kai called out to the two girls, "Get out of here!" But it was a second too late, another blast hit the corpus, causing the whole mech to fall apart and the girls to start falling. Kai quickly rushed to catch his sister while Tommy zoomed up to save Sora.

"And that's bridal style for ya" The winged blond quipped, drawing a chuckle from his friend. Soon they joined the others on the ground.

The girl turned to her teacher with an apologetic expression, "I'm sorry, Lloyd. I lost control"

He placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay. Happens to the best of us"

"Yeah, chill. You've seen firsthand epic power failures" Tommy nonchalantly pointed at himself, making her smile a bit.

"Uh, guys?" Arin called out, earning everyone's attention he pointed at the dragons that started to eat the mug. The Craglings around them started falling apart one by one. "Uhhh, This is all kinds of bad..." Noticing the situation, Riyu run past them and approached the source the dragons where eatong from. He started powering it up.

Confused, Nya turned to her teammate in green. "Is your dragon siding with them?"

"We gotta stop him!" Kai took a step forward, ready to attack but Lloyd stopped him.

"No. This might not be what it looks like"

Soon the dragons started glowing. Sora gasped as she realized what was happening, "He's overloading them! Get down!" Everyone quickly ducked, a shockwave of energy passed through the realm right after and the dragons left. Riyu fell down in exhaustion.

Kai peeked out from his hiding spot. "What's happening?"

Nya looked around, a smile spread across her lips as she noticed the Craglings come back to live. "The energy the Earth Dragons consumed. It burst out of them and is returning to the sacred field!"

"The sacred life force! Ninja Nya and her friends saved us!" One of the Craglings cheered.

The ninja shook her head. "It wasn't us. It was him" She stepped aside, pointing at Riyu.

"A... a dragon? A dragon saved us?"

"He doesn't look so good" Arin noted, kneeling down next to the collapsed dragonling.

***

While the group waited for the dragonling to wake up, the three ninjas caught up with each other, Sora went to try and fix her mech on her own and the remaining three played Uno to pass the time. They trio stopped as they heard Riyu wake up. Chat immediately left their cards and went for a hug while Arin patted the dragon's head, "Good morning, boy"

"The great hero awakes!" Crag-Nor announced, making all the Craglings cheer. 

One of them brought a bowl of mud. "Hero dragons can eat as they want" Riyu immediately perked up and stared eating.

"I'm hoping you'll share that" Tommy said, pointing at the bowl. Arin and Chet laughed at him and he frowned. "I'm being serious. I want some!"

"Good kids you found there, Lloyd. And dragon" Kai said with a grin.

The blond smiled at him before sighing. "I only wish Master Wu was here to properly train them…"

Nya threw a hand around his shoulder. "I think they're learning a lot from you, Lloyd" The trio smiled at each other.

Sora, who accidentally eavesdropped on them, frowned. "Learning? Ha. Maybe Arin is. I almost got Nya destroyed in that battle" She tried tinkering her mech but it fell apart. She sighed, "You're wasting your time on me, Lloyd…"

Chapter Text

Riyu was soundly sleeping on board of the Bounty. Arin glanced at him, "Our little guy's still asleep. Totally exhausted"

"Saving a kingdom of magical mud-eating rock monsters will do that" Lloyd said to ease him.

Tommy snort. "You sound like you did something similar"

Lloyd chuckled. "Yeah" The younger blond furrowed his brows, not expecting this answer.

"So you're telling me this dragon, like, 'sparks' or something, then Sora can use her elemental power?" Kai asked, still confused about the whole thing.

"If I even have a power" Sora sighed. "It might be all Riyu. You saw how he powered up that mud field"

"We've gone over this. You have a power. Riyu just..." The Green Ninja stopped, looking away as he tried finding the right words. "...soups it up" He send her a sheepish smile and she deadpan at him.

"'Souping up' isn't how dragons work, is it? That's weird, right?" Nya asked, pointing out the weirdness.

Lloyd shrugged. "Everything's been weird since the Merge happened. As far as I know, no one's ever taught themselves Spinjitzu before. But then, the Merge hits, and suddenly—"

"Wa— Wait. You learned Spinjitzu by yourself? No Master Wu morning breath???" Kai looked at the three in shock, the youngest teen scratched his head.

"Well, it's kind of a shaky, basic Spinjitzu"

"But still better than any of us could do when we started out" Lloyd mentioned, making Kai's eyes bulge even more.

"I was just trying to figure out all the moves I'd seen you do. I'm... kind of a ninja fan" The teen said whilst looking away, his cheeks growing warm from embarrassment. The other two laughed.

"'Kind of'?" Tommy raised a brow.

"He once asked a barber to give him 'the Zane'. It did not go well" Sora said catching the winged blond's attention.

"Wait, really? Why didn't I know of that!?" Arin turned around as Tommy looked at him, wanting more information.

"Of course it didn't" The Red Ninja rolled his eyes playfully. "He should've gotten 'the Kai'" He flipped his hair, well, as much as he could.

Nya groaned, placing a hand on her face. "Please. You shouldn't even get 'the Kai'" She mimicked her brother, making everyone laugh. She turned to Lloyd, "And you think all this is tied to these Merge Quake things?"

"Maybe. MergeQuakes are like aftershocks of the original Merge, where two realms try to occupy the same space. Elemental powers shut them down, but they're happening more often"

"That's why I went searching for help. If we don't stop the MergeQuakes, they could destroy everything" Kai added. While they talked Arin and Tommy tried sparing, the former accidentally hit himself in the face making the blond laugh.

"Wow. So we've really got our work cut out for us when we get back to Ninjago City" Nya said slowly, clearly processing all the information.

Lloyd chuckled before looking up ahead and noticing something ahead of them. "Speaking of cities"

Everyone looked up at the flying city. The teens and Chat gasped, amazed. "The Cloud Kingdom" Kai explained, as if this explained everything. It kind of did—

"Why wasn't this here on our way out?" Sora asked looking at the others.

"It's a floating kingdom. Maybe it drifted into our path?" Lloyd theorized.

Arin sighed blissfully, leaning against the railing. "Looks relaxing here. I could really get used to this"

Without a warning, a shockwave spread across the area. Everyone looked at each other but Kai was the only one to ask, "Anyone else feel that?" Before the others could answer him in any way, the whole place, including the Bounty, begun to shake.

"Relaxation is cancelled!" Arin screamed, pointing at a part of a tower with people on it as it started to crumble down. It was all it took for Tommy to fly off, with Chat as always managing to hold onto him in the last possible second. Nya and Kai promptly followed with spinjitzu (airjitzu?).

"Don't worry, we got—" Kai was cut off as they all started to fall down. Well, all expect Tommy and his guy. Since the blond is not a fucking tank and his hands were occupied, he had no way of helping them, thankfully Arin swept through on his grappling hook. Though the weight quickly made them hit the ground, but from a way safer height. The Fire Ninja smiled at the teen, "Way impressive, Arin! Very ninja"

"And Kai rarely admits to being impressed" Nya chirped making the boy grin widely, his eyes shining with glee.

"What's happening here?" Lloyd called from aboard ship.

"The beast is smashing everything! How was this unforeseen?" One of the girls complained in distress.

"Beast?" Tommy furrowed his brows.

Nya on the other hand raised a brow. "What beast?" Nobody had to answer, just point at a giant starfish-like monster with tentacles emerging from a rift. "Oh, that one..."

"Holy shit, it's the Eye of Cthulhu!!" Tommy screamed, pointing at the monster whilst clearly being ready to run and/or fly off. Chet chuckled while the rest gave him a WTF look.

"Wanted to know more about MergeQuakes, Nya?" Lloyd asked before it could get uncomfortable. "Today's your lucky day. This monster's realm must be merging here" As if on cue, two Ice Dragons flew heads on to attack the rip-off Eye of Cthulhu.

"There are dragons here?" Sora asked no one in particular.

"They came from one of the lands we crossed over and thought this would be a safe place to live" The other girl explained.

"Everyone, save the people. I'll try to close the MergeQuake" The Green Ninja ordered, everyone gave a nod (Tommy included, surprisingly) and charged towards the monster while Lloyd went to move the Bounty closer to the rift.

Sora quickly run to her mech and jumped in. "Let's see if this thing still works the old-fashioned way, with no elemental powers" She muttered, a little skeptical. Thankfully, the mech activated when she pressed a button making her cheer, "Yes!"

Kai shot a fireball at the Eye but it didn't really seem to notice. "A fireproof monster? I hate fireproof monsters!" He threw his hands up in irritation. 

"Prepare to be impressed again, Kai!" Arin declared, then did his spinjitzu planning on jumping at the Eye, but before he could get to it, one of its tentacles grabbed him. "Never mind!!"

Seeing this, Tommy and Sora went to attack as well. The girl grabbed the tentacle that wanted to grab her, her hands slipping on its texture. She cringed, "Ew. This thing is slimier than it looks. It's like fighting a tongue"

"Let's see what we got for this bitch!" The blond flew up, summoning something with his power. He threw the object, stopping dead in his track once he realized it was a pot cactus. It did just as much damage as one would imagine... "Are you fucking kidding me!?" He yelled angrily after a second of stunned silence, then he too got caught by the monster. He cringed in disgust.

The girl looked in his direction, getting distracted and allowing the monster to hurl her away. "I misjudged that!" She screamed as she flew off. She stopped near a group of people writing in a circle. "What are you doing? Get to safety!" The group barely even glanced at her. She stared at the in bewilderment. "Can you not hear me, I said—" She cut off as one of the tentacles grabbed her mech.

Kai glanced between all three teens being held hostage by the monster. "This just went from bad, to super bad..."

Nya looked at the third ninja using his power to close the rift where the monster came from. A second was enough for her to think of a plan. "Lloyd! Don't close the MergeQuake!"

The blond looked at her as if she was crazy, stopping for a moment. "Have you lost your mind? I need to close it!"

"Not yet! We can't hurt this thing, but we can force it back into the MergeQuake, right?" She looked between the two other actual ninjas and they quickly caught onto her thought process, giving her a nod in approval, and a grin in Kai's case. The two siblings used spinjitzu to push the Eye towards the rift.

"I hope— their plan— works!" Arin said, cutting at every push.

"We won't— be around— if it doesn't!" Sora exclaimed. Tommy only sulked, struggling against the Eye's hold.

"It's working! If the creature's near the Merge when I close it, I think it'll get pulled back into its realm!" Lloyd said, technically to no one specific but he did glance at Nya. After a few more pushes from the two he started to close the rift anew.

The monster started glitching, which would be impressive if not for the fact the three teens got yeeted by it. Tommy quickly caught himself with his wings, swaying back and forth for some stupid reason. He glanced at his wings, feathers in a mess that annoyed him. "I've gotta preen..." He mumbled making Chet giggle. He looked down at the other two.

"I've lost power!" Sora screamed as her mech refused to listen.

"Don't worry, I got this!" Arin quickly got out his grappling hook, shooting for the edge of the flying island and missing spectacularly. Tommy tried helping but as soon as he grabbed the string it took him down with it. He quickly let go, involuntary front-flipping a couple of times as he lost the little balance he had left. "Help!! Anyone!" This chaotic mess was stopped by some invisible force gently securing the two from falling to their deaths and the last one from being stuck in a spinning circle. Arin looked around, confused. "Huh? What's happening? Are you doing this?" He turned to the blond, making the teen deadpan at him.

"Yeah, with the new flying power I don't have?" The invisible force picked them up and set on the ground. Tommy ended up sitting, he shook his head and grumbled as he begun to fix his feathers. 

"That wasn't normal, right?" Arin asked and Sora shrugged. Looking around they noticed one of the girls from earlier peaking from behind her easel. "Do you think she's the Elemental Master of Wind?" The girl narrowed her eyes in thought. Tommy glanced up for a second before going back to preening, Chat helping him out as much as they could.

While this mess was happening, Kai and Nya run towards the Bounty to help the Green Ninja in closing the rift. They jumped onto the ship. "Let's kick this thing back to wherever it came from" The Red Ninja said before using his powers on the rift, his sister following right after. It wasn't long before it closed, taking the monster with it. "Yay-ya! Way to go, us!" Kai cheered, pumping a fist up. Nya rolled her eyes as he raised a hand for a high five, they high fived while Lloyd flew the Bounty to a different part of the Cloud Kingdom.

They jumped down. Lloyd looked behind, staring off into the distance with concern, "This is pretty far out form the original Merge for a MergeQuake..."

"So they're getting worse, and happening in more places. Just like you were afraid they would" Nya recalled, frowning as she also grew concerned.

"Master Wu was studying the Merge before it happened. He called it the 'Coalescence' or something. He had a ton of scrolls about it"

"Great! Then we just use them to figure out how to stop these things"

Lloyd shook his head. "Not great. Most of the scrolls, and his notes, were lost in the Merge"

"Oh..."

Kai rolled his eyes. "Listen, King and Queen of Buzzkill, I'm gonna go talk to these cloud monks. I'm sure they're dying to tell us how awesome we just were" He promptly started walking towards the monk circle, not noticing how the two deadpan at him. Not really having an option, they followed. Seeing this, Arin silently motioned to join them. Tommy groaned, one hand still working on his wings as he walked (and sulked).

One of the monks walked out from the group to greet the team. "Hello, fabled ninja. I am Suetonius, the current Master of Writers of the Cloud Kingdom. And you're welcome"

Everyone made a face, confused. "Uh, is this backwards day? Who's thanking who?" Kai crossed his arms while Tommy snort, amused by the comment.

"Yeah, the ninja saved everyone while you all stood here writing" Sora noted, putting hands on her hips.

"Of course. Because here in the Cloud Kingdom, we are the Writers of Destiny"

Kai blinked, was this guy dense or some– Realization suddenly hit him, some more or less pleasant memories playing before his imagination's eyes. He facepalmed, "Oh, right. I forgot. In the Cloud Kingdom, they believe everything they write in their scrolls is immediately what happens in real life"

"Not belief. Fact" Suetonius 'corrected'. "I instructed my scribes to write that you would be victorious, and you were. Fact"

"Why doesn't that sound quite right?" Tommy questioned, now annoyed not only by his messy feathers.

"Because it isn't" Lloyd said, seemingly just as annoyed. "The Cloud Kingdom claims they're responsible for fate, but when something they write doesn't happen, they ignore it"

"So they're a cult" The younger blond stated, a little bored. Chat chuckled while the older blond processed the comment.

"I guess so..."

What's-his-name-us gasped, offended, then cleared his throat. "I admit that, on occasion, events somehow manage to defy destiny. But that is exceedingly rare"

Tommy hummed, clearly not believing this BS. "Impending doom approaches..." Chat laughed, letting go of the black feathers they were trying to fix into place.

"Can you write that my parents come back?" Arin asked, quickly clinging to the smallest and most doubtful chance of hope. "They were lost in the Merge..."

The man shook his head sorrowfully, "Sadly, no, my son. Because—"

"Lemme guess. The Merge 'defied destiny'" Lloyd cut him off, being just as done as the other blond.

The man glared lightly at the two. "The Merge did catch the Cloud Kingdom by surprise, like it did everyone else. But I've instructed the scribes to write that a MergeQuake like we just experienced will never come again. So, problem solved" He assured.

Tommy raised a brow, still not buying it. "Mhm..."

"Wait. You write down everything that's happened everywhere, right?" Nya asked, being enlighten with a genius idea.

Suetonius nodded in affirmation. "Everything that has happened and everything that will happen"

The ninja girl smiled, "So if there's any info about how to stop MergeQuakes, it could be in your archives?"

"Huh. Smart thinking, Nya" Lloyd smiled at her, which she returned.

The other blond snort. "Women – they're always the smart one"

"Aw, thanks" The Water Ninja thanked, sensing no malice in the comment.

"Why of course, I'm a gentleman after all" The teen grinned widely. Sora and Chat gave him a look while Nya chuckled.

"Did you not just hear me say 'problem solved'?" Suetonius asked, getting the conversation back to ‘important things’. Seeing the looks he was getting he cleared his throat, "Still, we do encourage all truth seekers to study our learned writings. Show the ninja to the library, Marcus"

"This way, please" Another man – Marcus, as we can assume – started walking towards the main building, motioning to follow him.

The Fire and Water Ninja quickly started following. Lloyd stayed for a moment, turning to the others, "We'll check this out. You stay here and keep watch"

"You want us to just wait?" Arin asked, a little saddened by the news.

Tommy huffed, crossing his arms. "You're not the boss of me" Chat promptly smacked his head. He glared at them.

"We're in unfamiliar territory. Anything could go wrong. Call us the second you need us"

"Will do" Sora assured. The Green Ninja smiled at them then followed the others. Tommy watched as the blond joined his friends, disappearing inside the building. "You goin', Tom?"

"Hm?"

"Sora wanted to work on her mech, so we're heading back to the Bounty" The younger boy explained.

"Oh. Yeah, sure. It's not like I have anything better to do" He shrugged and the group headed for the ship. Well, first they went to grab the broken down mech, then took it with them onto the ship (potion time, baby!).

The five hanged around for a bit, as Tommy grew bored of not having anything particular to do, they started playing Uno, all while the girl still worked on her mech. Sora groaned at another failed attempt, "Ugh! It was bad when this thing fell to pieces. Now it's completely crushed. I can't even begin to repair it" She looked at her friends, they paused their game to meet her eyes. She frowned. "They really should have let you two go with them. You deserve to be there..."

Tommy furrowed his brows. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You have magical powers and Arin taught himself some Spinjitzu. You should become ninja more than anyone. Way more than me" She looked to the side, rubbing her arm.

"But you have an elemental power" The younger boy reminded.

"That I keep messing up with! I could've gotten Nya killed in that dragon-Cragling fight we were in before we got here. I do know it would be better for everyone if I never use them again. I can't control them..."

Tommy quickly got up, Arin following right after and they walked closer to her. The blond put a hand on her shoulder, Sora looked up and he smiled, "Well, neither can I. Also, NOT a ninja"

Arin chuckled, then spread his arms wide open. "Wanna hug it out?"

The girl laughed as the oldest accepted the hug and pulled her in. "You're good friends"

"Good!?" Tommy pulled away. "I'm The Best!!" He exclaimed making everyone laugh.

"Guys, look!" Chat called out. Everyone stopped and looked to where they were pointing.

Arin gasped. "It's the girl with the elemental wind powers!"

The blond glanced between the two. "Seems like we got some work cut out for ourselves"

"...and that's how storm clouds can wash ink stains out of white togas. Okay, we're here" Marcus wrapped up his story as the group entered the archives.

Kai looked around, immediately getting overwhelmed by the scale of this thing. "Okay, this might take a while..."

Before anyone else could start complaining about their situation an overgrown worm approached them. "Input search request" The three ninja blinked and looked at each other in confusion.

"The library is vast. But that's why we have these" Marcus explained then turned to the worm, "Worm, bring me information on Lloyd Garmadon" The worm turned green and went away, running into some of its kind and spreading the information. "The worm will pass the request along, and soon, you have a team searching for your information"

"Wow, these things are great" Lloyd said, watching the worms do their work.

Soon enough, the worm came back. "Information obtained. Garmadon, Lloyd. Legendary Green Ninja. Picks his nose and eats it—"

"Stop!!" The blond screamed, face red from embarrassment. A big, amused grin appeared on Kai's face and he tried ruffling his friend's hair but he was pushed away, resulting in a small wrestling match. "These things are terrible!" Nya started at the two and shook her head.

"Apologies. The Cloud Kingdom archives are very detailed" Marcus said, a sheepish smile on his face.

"Alright, let's give this a shot" The girl looked at the worm, it quickly looked back. "Search for info on how to prevent MergeQuakes" The worm quickly got to work.

Lloyd finally managed to push the Red Ninja away, glaring daggers at him. Kai still kept smiling. "Looks like someone has a new nickname, Master of Green Boogers" He burst out laughing while Nya and Marcus snort, the latter covering his mouth. 

Lloyd groaned, defeated. "This better stay between the four of us..." He mumbled. Under no circumstances should this get out, especially to Tommy.

The five waited outside a tower where they saw the girl enter. "...Okay, is it me or is she talking to someone?" Tommy asked, finally getting this off his chest.

"That's what I was thinkin'!" Chet quickly agreed.

Before anyone could explore the topic any further, the girl walked out, she immediately stopped and slammed the door behind her. Tommy raised a brow and exchanged looks with Arin while Sora kept her eyes on the girl, "Nice weather you've got up here, even if it is a little... windy?"

"I-I have no idea what you mean"

"She means how you're the new Elemental Master of Wind" Arin stated bluntly, crossing his arms and trying his best to appear serious.

The girl blinked, a laugh escaping her. She quickly covered it with a cough. "I don't know what you think you saw, but I'm from Cloud Kingdom, so I can't be an elemental master"

"What about your friend?" Tommy questioned, he smirked seeing the girl tense up.

"What... friend?"

"The one you were talking to just a moment ago" He pointed at the door, making her glance at it.

She took a deep breath and took a step forward with a determinated expression. "Elemental masters use actions to impact the world. Cloud monks use words only. Writing destiny is our power. Anything else, especially actions, violates who we are!"

"Is your friend a monk?" Tommy raised a brow.

She glared at him. Like, actually glared. "Having a power or covering for someone who has power would get me exiled from the Cloud Kingdom. I would lose my family, my friends, my whole way of life. So I. Don't. Have. A. Power!" She started stomping away, stopping a few steps from them and turning one last time, "And I'm not covering for anyone who does!!" After this she quickly stomped away.

Arin sighed, frowning. "I'd give anything to have an elemental power. How could she turn her back on it?" Sora looked away, rubbing her arm. Noticing this, Tommy elbowed the younger teen, he looked at them and frowned. "Sora..."

"It's okay" She assured, waving her hands. After a couple of seconds she smiled a genuine smile, "I'd give anything to have Tommy's confidence"

The blond grinned. "Too bad, cause I wouldn't give shit to have your technology skills or Arin's optimism" They all laughed.

The three talked while they waited for the worm to return, Lloyd refused to talk to Kai and he seem to be more interested in showing off just how annoyed he was than anything else. Finally, the worm came back. "Information obtained. MergeQuakes can be permanently prevented via usage of the thr—" It cut off mid-sentence, turning red.

"Curious. I've never seen that before..." Marcus said in wonder, leaning forward to inspect the strange phenomenon. He immediately jumped back as it started shooting out some silk from its mouth.

Kai cringed, ducking the weird silk so it wouldn't get in his hair. "Ugh, gross! What part of the worm is that string coming from!?" He got no answer, but the worms seem offended by the comment as all of them turned red and went after them.

The five were walking back to the ship, Tommy waking in-between the other two, arms wrapped around their shoulders as they all laughed. Their fun time was ended by the ground shaking. "Don't tell me it's another evil presence..." Tommy said, slowly taking his hands away.

The group turned around, eyes widening as the Eye from before came from a rift. Interestingly, the rift seem to be in the same place as before...

"Remember how Lloyd said to call him in case anything could go wrong?" Sora glanced at the two. "I think this counts as 'anything'!"

Arin put on his hood and placed a hand over his left ear, as it was where the communicator was. "Lloyd! Kai! Nya! Come in!... Hello?... Come in!!" He waited for a moment, biting his bottom lip nervously. "The ninja aren't answering. I've gotta go find them!" Before anyone could complain, not that anybody was about to, he sprinted towards the main building.

The other two looked at each other. "Go grab your mech" The girl quickly nodded. Tommy spread his wings, ready to fly off. Chat quickly grabbed onto his hood. "I'll try keeping it busy!" The four split up, the little dragon following Sora as she run back to the ship. Tommy glanced at the TV robot, "I wish you were more useful"

Chet gasped. "Excuse you!! I'm extremely valuable! The MVP of this team!!"

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah... Welp, time for some chaos power" A smile spread across his lips as he flew towards the monster.

In the meantime, Arin passed the monk circle and slipped into the main building. All monks stared at the monster in disbelief. The girl the teens confronted earlier turned to the Main Writer, frowning angrily, "Master Suetonius, you said this couldn't happen again!"

"Destiny is clearly testing our resolve, Euphrasia. Keep writing! Write that this MergeQuake ends!" He advised and all monks but the girl got to writing. Euphrasia only stared at the Eye.

Arin quickly found his way to the archives, bursting through the door. "Lloyd? Kai? Are you—" He stopped, noticing there was nobody there, only some cocoons hanging from the ceiling. "Whoa..." He looked around from his spot at the door and furrowed his brows in confusion before looking back up. He got out his grappling hook and used it to shoot one of them. It fell down, something inside of it making a pained groan, making the boy concerned. He slowly approached it and pealed it open, his eyes widening at the sight. "Lloyd!"

"Behind you!" The ninja warned. Arin immediately turned around, noticing an army of overgrown worms coming at him from the ceiling. They started shooting silk at him and he dodged it with a yelp.

Back outside, Euphrasia kept watching Tommy fight the monster, biting on her bottom lip and squeezing her hands in anxiety. "Keep writing! Only the words of destiny can save us now!" She glanced at Suetonius. She closed her eyes, taking a couple of deep breaths and sprinted for the tower, her quill falling onto the marble ground. Some turned to watch her leave whilst others stayed focused on their job.

"Ugh. Useless hunk of junk!" Sora screamed, irritated as she still couldn't fix her mech. Riyu squawked, rubbing against her leg. She sighed and kneeled down to pet his head, "I know what you're thinking, Riyu. But I can't control the powers. I'll just make this all worse"

"WATCH OUT!!!" Tommy yelled at the top of his lungs as he noticed the Eye heading for the Bounty right after it threw him a few good meters away. Sora looked up and saw a tentacle coming down onto the ship. She braced for impact, Tommy doing all in his might to get there on time despite knowing he couldn't do it. But before the tentacle could crash on the ship, it was pushed by some invisible force. Tommy looked around in search of the girl, he glanced at Chat but they only shrugged. 

The girl was nowhere to be found.

But there was no time to dwell on that, as a second Eye emerged from the rift. This, Chat noticed, their screen displaying a [O_O’] as they poked the blond to make him look behind himself. Tommy raised a brow at the small robot, his eyes slowly traveled up, then widened in shock. "Twins!?"

As the situation became more urgent, Sora quickly asked Riyu if he still wanted to help out. She may regret this decision later but right now Tom needed help, cause there's no way in hell he'd handle two monsters all alone. The dragonling powered her up and she used her power to fix the mech, she sighed as she jumped in, "So much for turning my back on elemental powers..." She quickly went to help Tommy as he desperately avoided getting caught by one of the tentacles. Listen, he's not preening all over again because of some stupid-ass monster! "We've got to shut down that MergeQuake before more of these things come through!" She called out to him.

"I don't have elemental power! I can't do shit to close it!!" He reminded, throwing her an annoyed glare.

"That explains some stuff" An disembodied voice stated, shocking the trio. Tommy felt a breeze caress his face and he turned around, following the wind just in time to see it pushing away a tentacle that wanted to grab him. Without a warning, a figure appeared, one of a teen around Tommy's age, dressed in a ninja gi. He turned around, only to proceed to sit on nothing and stare at the two in amusement. "I was questioning what kind of elemental power would allow someone to make a yo-yo of mass destruction"

Tommy blinked while Chat’s digital eyes sparkled. "Okay, I'm SO keeping this name. But who the fuck are you!?"

"Name's Morro. And I'm Euphrasia's invisible friend. Also, the Elemental Master of Wind" He bowed then disappeared, only to reappear next to Tommy.

"You're a ghost" The blond said in awe, earning a nod. Tommy's eyes now shined just as bright as Riyu's spark. "That’s so pog...!"

Morro laughed. "Thanks. But we have more pressing matters at the moment" Just as he said that, another set of tentacles attacked them from all sides. Fucking twins...

Out of nowhere a green tornado and an orange half tornado joined in, slamming into each monster and pushing them away, making everyone stop and look at the two. Tommy zoomed to catch the younger teen as he seem to lose his balance midair while Morro crossed his arms.

Arin landed in Tommy's arms bridal style, eyes squeezed shut in fear, but as soon as he felt two arms supporting him he hesitantly looked up. A teasing smirk greeting him, "Well hello there"

The boy let out an awkward chuckle. "Hi" He looked around while Sora approached them, checking if he was okay. Arin eyed the mech shining in pink and raised a brow at the girl, "Did you...?"

She offered a sheepish smile. "It was kinda necessary. Where've you been?"

"I released the ninja from the evil worm cocoons in the cloud basement"

Tommy snort looking down at him, "Yeah, that's a nonsense jumble of words and you know it" A tentacle swung at them making him dodge and by accident let go of the younger teen making him yelp. The blond quickly corrected his mistake, grabbing Arin's wrist almost immediately. "Sorry!!"

"It's okay, I got this!" Arin assured, raising his grappling hook and aiming at Sora's mech. All in all, it was the safest place to be.

With all this resolved, everyone went back to attacking the Eyes, their main goal to push them back into the rifts and close them like the last time.

Talk about the monsters, as much as they mainly focused on the rainbow coded gang (take this however you want) it didn't mean they didn't do any damage to the kingdom. In fact, they flared around so much the whole place swung left and right, making it hard for everyone to keep their balance. At one point on of the tentacles damaged a tower and made some larger chunks fall out, and down towards the monk circle. Most of them screamed and covered their head or run away. Before the heavy piece could kill anyone, Nya shot water at it, redirecting it enough to not injure anyone.

The monks that remained by their easels sighed with relief. Suetonius approached one of them with a smile of gratitude, "Thank you for writing that the ninja would save us"

The monk looked at him weirdly. "But, Master Suetonius, none of us were writing anything" The man's eyes widen and he furrowed his brows in confusion before turning to look at the ninja (and the kids).

By the power of teamwork, and Tommy's yo-yo of mass destruction, the seven (as chat and riyu didn't do much) managed to get rid of the twinsies. Hopefully for good.

Everyone went to high five each other in victory, or at least most. Arin suddenly stopped, finally having the time to acknowledge the ghost, "Uh, so you're the Elemental Master of Wind?"

"Yup" Lloyd and Kai crossed their arms, but the Water Ninja pushed them to the side and went for a hug. He smiled a little and pat her back as he addressed all the three ninja, "Good to see you too, cousins"

"Cousins???" Airn’s eyes looked like they were gonna fall out.

Tommy put a hand to his chin. "...I mean, I kinda see the resemblance..."

Euphrasia run to them. "You were awesome!! All of you!" Morro chuckled, raising a hand to ruffle her hair. After a few seconds he placed it on her shoulder and the two of them looked at the monks with worry.

"I'll beat their asses if they'll exile you" Tommy promised, breaking the silence. Euphrasia giggled while Morro smiled at him.

"I like this kid"

The blond immediately frowned angrily. "Not a kid!!"

"You do realize I died a good couple of decades ago?" The ghost raised a brow.

"Eh, both of you have a point" Chat shrugged, hoping to cut this argument short. "Can we go now? They're waiting" They pointed towards the monks. The girl took a deep breath and nodded to the whole team. They slowly made their over there.

Suetonius stepped forward, Euphrasia and Morro did the same. "Master," She started, swallowing down in anxiety. "I know what I did goes against everything we believe in. But after the Merge, I... run into this elemental master" She motioned at the ghost at her side and he bowed a little. "After learning he had… practically nowhere to go, I decided to take him in. In exchange, he promised to protect our kingdom from any danger. I realize this means..." She paused for a moment, fidgeting in her place. Morro place a hand on her shoulder in a reassuring manner. She took a breath, "I will be exiled form the Cloud Kingdom..."

"Perhaps... it's time for us to admit that the Merge has changed a few things" The man said, making Euphrasia look up with wide eyes.

"Y-you mean... I can stay!?"

He gave a nod with a small smile. "I'm not going to exile you for helping others in need"

"You better not" Tommy chirped, crossing his arms and giving the man a stern look.

"I'll require someone's assistance updating how we do things around here. Maybe that could be you" A big smile spread on Euphrasia's face, eyes sparkling (or maybe that were tears—). Suetonius turned to the ghost, "And thank you, for protecting our kingdom from the shadows"

"Hey, I'm paid to do that. No biggie" He shrugged carelessly, his words peaking Tommy's interest.

"They pay you?"

Morro looked at him, snorting with amusement. "In a way"

"...How much are we talking, 'ere?"

Chet sent him a warning look. "Tom..." 

The teen raised his hands in defense, "I'm only asking!" Everyone laughed while he huffed.

"So, uh" Arin started, dragging his bestie to the side. "What happened to the world being better if you never use those powers again?"

Sora scratched her head, letting out a sheepish laugh. Her smile fell before speaking, "I'm still not sure I'm meant to be a ninja, but someone inspired me not to sit on the sidelines when I have the chance to help people" The boy's eyes sparkled and Chat turned in their direction with this mischievous little grin.

"Was it me? Oh, it was me, right? You should've seen me kicking those evil worms! Very inspiring" Arin pushed his chest out proudly making the girl giggle. She looked up as she noticed an overgrown worm climbing on him, before she could say anything he seem to notice on his own, screaming and jumping while shaking his hands violently to get it off. Sora laughed at him.

"Did someone say 'stand on the sidelines'?" The small robot asked, catching Tommy's attention and making his eyes sparkle.

"Don't. I said sit. Sit!"

The ninja siblings motioned for Marcus to follow them as they separated from the others. "So, you have no idea why the Scroll-Worms acted like that?" Nya asked when they were far enough so that nobody could hear.

He shook his head, just as confused as the two. "No. But I suppose it's possible the worms were cursed to become defensive when certain information was requested from them. Forbidden information"

"Cursed by who?" Kai raised a brow.

"I don't know who would do such a thing. Or how they could"

The two ninja looked at each other.

***

"You sure about this, Nya?" Lloyd asked, turning one last time just before getting on board.

"If there are answers in the archives about the MergeQuakes, someone needs to keep searching for them. It won't be easy without the Scroll-Worms, but... ninja never quit"

"And I'll be there to help" The ghost assured, throwing an arm around her. Nya rolled her eyes with a small smile.

"You know where to find us when you have something" Kai hugged his sister and the two ninja joined the others on the Bounty. "Let's get back to the monastery, Boogers" Kai teased, making the older blond blush and the younger one to look in their direction with interest, a mischievous smile appearing on his face.

"KAI!!!"

The red ninja burst out laughing.

Up in the sky, the Claws were carrying the two Ice Dragons that used to live in the Cloud Kingdom. Rapton pulled out his communicator and called the tiger guy, "It worked perfectly, Lord Ras, just like you and the Empress planned. There was so much chaos, no one even noticed us"

Ras smiled. "Imperium continues to gain the upper hand, and the ninja are entirely in the dark"

Chapter Text

In the Crossroads' junkyard, Imperium's forces were chasing a lightning dragon. "Don't let it escape!" Rapton screamed at his underlings. A blast flew really close to him. "You clown! Watch—" Another blast did hit him, making him fell off his vehicle. "Ugh. Get after it! I'll cut it off!" He run after the dragon, he even managed to catch it. "Stubborn breeder. Hold the beast!"

"Incoming!!" 

Out of nowhere, a yo-yo hit the man in the face. "Ow! What the—?"

"Coming through!" Arin called out as he swept in on his grappling hook, kicking one of the Claws in the face. The others started shooting at him. The boy stumbled back, trying to catch his balance while a blast flew straight for him. Before it could hit, the Green Ninja reflected it with his sword.

"We interrupting something?"

Rapton glared at the two, then a yoyo smacked him in the head. He growled angrily, looking up at the winged blond, who was laughing at him. "Deploy the drones!" He commanded, noting how his underlings were now being attacked by the whole gang and how the dragon used this to try and free itself.

A cloud of drones started heading their way.

"Let's free that dragon!" The Green Ninja called out, and everyone quickly charged at the drone cloud. Even if they were in the minority, they still defeated both those things and the Claw Hunters with little problem.

"Not bad, kid! You really—" Kai called out to Arin, but cut off as the teen hit himself in the face while trying to attack another drone. He cringed a little, "...should probably work on that" The drone that dared embarrass the boy then got smashed onto the ground by Tommy jumping on it, landing next to the two. Kai pointed at the blond, "That was cool" Tommy smiled proudly (not that he didn't know that but still—).

As the Claws retreated, Sora carefully approached the dragon. "Shh. It's going to be okay" She reached out a hand, making eye contact. The dragon let out a pained huff and placed its head on the ground, allowing her to pet it. Tommy and Chat awed (the boy internally).

Behind them, Rapton peeked out from his hiding spot, threw an angular orb up and activated it. A bright flash of light caught everyone's attention, causing them to turn around. Tommy glared at the man, not too bothered at the light that turned into a big wolf beast while everyone looked curiously yet cautiously at the thing.

Sora felt her heart drop.

Kai scoffed, crossing his arms, "It's just a hologram"

"No, it's not!" Sora exclaimed, quickly grabbing her two friends’ arms and pulling them back, earning four confused looks, one from each of the boys, one from Chat and one from Lloyd.

The beast wasted no time in charging straight at them. Promoted by the girl, the teens jumped out of the way before everybody else. Seeing them, the Green Ninja jumped away as well, leaving Kai to get hit. Seconds later the Master of Fire was sent flying away, groaning in pain at the contact with both the beast and the ground.

Sparing him one look, the other boys immediately went for an attack, Lloyd with his power, Tommy with his yo-yo and Arin with his off-brand spinjitzu. Sora reach out a hand after them all, but no sound managed to leave her throat. Needless to say nothing worked, it all just bounced off of it.

Kai, apparently suffering some brain damage, or not paying attention, tried his own shot with his power. It went just as well as you'd expect. He huffed and stomped his foot while the others started retreating in his general direction. "Is this thing indestructible? Not fair, buddy. Not fair!" Lloyd grabbed his arm as they were passing him, dragging him along.

"What even is that thing?" Tommy asked, flying over the group.

"It's a Photac. A digitally generated, weaponized techno beast, comprised of hard light" The girl explained, making the other boy look at her.

"How do you know that?"

She glanced at him, then sighed sorrowfully, "Because when I lived in Imperium, I invented it..."

A little girl with pink hair known as Ana – currently our Sora – was working on some device in her classroom, other kids gathered around (all expect a redhead, who only scoffed and looked away). She smiled, putting her tools away and activated the thing she was working on. Balls of light started slowly floating around it, shining in all the different colours. All the kids gasped in awe. "I call it, the Photac!" Ana's teacher walked over, surprised by her invention, his mouth dropped once he realized he's able to touch the light balls. "This is just the prototype. When I'm done—" 

The teacher interrupted her, "Ana, this is already far more advanced than any of the other science fair projects. Is this some kind of a... a hard light? How did you do this?"

The girl smile widely. "I just kinda threw it together, sensing what would work. And I've stayed up till midnight the last eight weeks researching and refining my designs until I got it just right! Wanna see my plans for V2?" She pulled a paper with the whole plan scribbled down, excited to share more of her work.

"As intriguing as this is, we mustn't deviate from the mandated curriculum, as dictated by the decree of the Empress Beatrix" The teacher said, making everyone but Ana say at once, "All hail the Good Empress!" The girl turned off her creation with a semi-bored expression and packed it into her bag.

***

Later, Ana joined all her classmates as they stepped onto a conveyor sidewalk. "Do you think Mr. Koenig would let me stay behind and keep working on my Photac device?" She asked a boy in front of her.

The boy turned around, confused and not really knowing how to respond. "Um, this is our allocated recreation hour. We have to go... recreate"

"Of course, of course. I'm just excited about getting back to my work is all, but love allotted recreation hour"

"Me too. We are so fortunate it's been allotted by the Empress" He said smiling sheepishly, then he walked away, leaving the girl to herself.

Why was everyone so obsessed with the Empress?

***

Ana went to her room, got the Photac out of her bag and place it on her desk. She looked up, eyes sparkling as she stared at the poster of Dr. LaRow. "I know everyone loves the Empress, but without your inventions, Imperium would be nothing, Dr. LaRow. Clean energy? Carbonless transportation? Anti-gravity hover vehicles? Poof! And someday, I swear, I'm gonna come work for you at the Advanced Systems Lab" She promised herself before grabbing her tools and getting to work.

***

A few days later, a science fair was held at school. Two scientists walked around, observing all the projects. A group of kids passed them, they looked at each other before following them.

"Like I promised, my Photac version 2 takes it to the next level. You thought a light show was cool?" Ana activated the device, this time, instead of balls of light, a fish was created and floated around everyone, making the whole gathering gasp. "How about a hard light animal? And a fish is only the beginning. Ever wanted your own puppy?" She pressed a button and the fish turned into a puppy, most of the kids cooed at the sight. "The Photac animal is cuddly, doesn't require food, and is hypoallergenic" The puppy walked over to her and she patted it. "And the best part, the hard light never deteriorates. In fact, the hard light is totally indestructible, so it can't be hurt, or die. It's the perfect companion for anyone that might... be lonely..." Sora— Ana trailed off, growing somber for a moment. Technically she wasn't lonely, especially not with this big crowd, but she couldn't help but feel like nobody really understood her, not even her own parents. She shook her head, forcing a smile, "There's no limit to the beauty the Photac can create"

"Congratulations, Ana! Your plans are hard to follow, but the results? Astonishing. Your indestructible hard light technology is more than deserving of this" One of the scientists said, amazed by her work which made her smile turn genuine. The second scientist gave her a medal and the other kids cheered for her.

In the junkyard the Photac Beast continued to search for them all, forcing Tommy to stay on the ground for better cover.

"We can fight it if we stick together. Come on!" Arin whispered to everyone, earning all nods, though Sora hesitated for a second. With this as their main and only plan, everyone run out of their hiding spot and went for an attack, despite knowing it wouldn't do much damage. They tried passing around it, but it somehow always ended blocking their way to the dragon.

The dragon let out a roar as it was taken away, making Sora look. Panic quickly set in, even more when faced with her own creation. "No!!" The girl cried, then quickly turned to Tommy, "Get me over there!"

Tommy's wings shifted at the request. "Huh??"

"They can't take the dragon. Get me over!" He glanced to the sides, feeling awkward. "Tommy, please..." She gave him the puppy eyes.

But just before he was about to give in, Chet screamed, "DUCK!!" Everyone did so, narrowly avoiding the Photac's attack. It then jumped over the container they were standing close to, throwing some heavy trash on them while it turned back into the weird angular orb so that Rapton could grab it before they left for good.

The gang slowly rose to their feet, dusting themselves off. Kai groaned, his shoulders slumping down. "Great. What do we do now?"

"I don't know about 'we', but I know what I've gotta do" Sora said before turning to the others. There was a second of silence before she continued, "I created that thing. I have to be the one to destroy it"

"But how–" Arin started but she cut him off.

"I have to go back to Imperium"

After the fair ended, Ana got approached by her parents. "We are quite proud of you, Ana" Her father said making her look up with wide eyes.

"I know we don't say that much" Her mother said, noticing her surprised expression.

Ana looked away, furrowing her brows, "Or ever..."

Her mother continued, not hearing the comment, "But we see now that your..." She paused, looking away before smiling sheepishly. "...passion for your studies was all in service of Imperium"

"All hail the Good Empress!" Her father quickly cheered and the girl had to suppress the urge to cringe.

"Sure, so, I really am hoping to help the people of Imperium. The way Dr. LaRow—"

"Pardon me" A voice cut in, Ana's eyes immediately sparkled as she recognized its owner. Her parents turned around, shocked at what, or rather who they saw. "My name is Dr. LaRow of the Advanced Systems Lab"

"Oh, we, uh... know who you are, of course" Ana's father said, scratching his head sheepishly.

The woman smiled at the two adults, then her eyes went down as she looked at the girl whose smile grew with every second. "And you must be Ana"

She gasped in excitement. "You know my name!"

"I have been hearing about some of your designs. They appear to be quite... How shall I say? Unconventional"

"Unconventional?" Ana's mother asked, face falling into morbid terror. She glanced at her husband then looked back at the woman. "Perhaps you can forgive her. She's just a child. She didn't know what she was doing" Ana frowned at the statement, and at how fast her parents were to discard her accomplishments and talent once it became a possible issue.

"Oh, but I think she did. I think you knew quite well. And I must say, I am very impressed" Ana and her parents let out a relief breath. "I want you to come to the Advanced Systems Lab"

The girls eyes sparkled anew, she stepped forward. "You want me to tour your lab?"

"No" Ana's smile fell. "I want you to work in my lab" The woman corrected and the girl smiled again, now even more excited.

Arin approached Sora in their shared room, he watched as she went to grab a bag and place it on her bed before turning around to look for her things, stopping once she saw the boy standing there. "Sora, I can't let you go—" He started, but the girl frowned angrily and cut him off.

"Excuse me?"

"Alone" He quickly finished, sending her a smile in reassurance he was fully on her side. "We're a team! Ever since the Merge, it's been you and me"

"And me!" Tommy added, entering the room with Chat and Riyu. The dragon charged at the girl and tackled her to the ground.

Arin laughed. "And Riyu. We stick together! We're coming to Imperium with you" Tommy and the TV robot nodded, making a sound in affirmation. Sora smiled at them, immediately feeling way better once she knew she had someone to count on.

"I do not feel good about this" The voice of the older blond made Tommy's smile fell in an instant. They turned around to see the Green and Red Ninja standing in the doorway of their room. "You're both still training! And Tommy's not even training!"

"I don't need to!"

Lloyd sighed. "Listen, I'm glad you've got yourself a weapon, as weird as it may be, but we both know you could use some training" Tommy huffed, crossing his arms and glaring daggers at the other blond. "And who knows who you're gonna run into in Imperium"

Arin took a step forward. "We can do this, Lloyd"

"You punched yourself in the face this morning" He deadpanned, making Kai laugh and Chat snicker, if Tommy wasn't busy sulking he'd surely joined them.

The youngest boy shifted in his place, cheeks pink from embarrassment. "Uh, you saw that...?" He quickly shook his head, as if that was supposed to help get rid of the uncomfortable feeling. "But we've come so far in our training! And remember what you told us Master Wu always said?"

"Uh, 'stop playing video games and go clean your room'?" Kai imitated Wu's voice to the best of his ability, now Tommy let out a short laugh while Lloyd gave his friend a small, amused smile.

"Ninja sharpens ninja" Arin quoted, making Kai stare at him with wide eyes, impressed. "We're stronger when we work together"

Feeling called out, Lloyd looked to the side. "Uh—"

"Oh, you just got Master Wu'd! Hard!" Kai quipped, chuckling to himself and forcing another amused snort to leave Tommy.

Lloyd glanced at his friend, giving him a light glare, before turning back to the teens, "Point taken, Arin. You can go, but I'm coming with you"

"Nice! Group trip! Packing my bags" The Red Ninja was just about to leave but his friend grabbed his arm, stopping him.

"No. We need you to protect the Monastery and Ninjago. What if there are more MergeQuakes?"

Kai sighed. "Fine. You go have all the fun" Lloyd rolled his eyes the other ninja's antics.

Arin's eyes sparkled. "So we're going?"

Lloyd sighed again. "Against my better judgment, we're going"

Tommy raised a brow. "You have a better judgement?" Chat promptly smacked his head. He glared at them, rubbing the back of his head, "It doesn't count if I'd say this to anyone!!"

Ana was brought into the Lab for the first time. She was looking around with wide eyes, taking everything in while following Dr. LaRow, who checked on her colleagues' work along the way. Suddenly the girl stopped, gasping at what she saw. "A dragon! A real dragon!" She cheered, quickly running towards it. Dr. LaRow glanced in her direction and smiled, she followed not too long after. The girl stopped right before the dragon, eyes sparkling from excitement, the dragon weakly turned its head towards her. "I can't believe you have one here in the lab! This place is... it's magical!" Ana reached out an arm to touch the dragon but her hand was stopped by a force field, causing her excitement to subside a little.

"Oops, sorry. Let me deactivate the protective force field" The woman quickly passed her, walking to a control panel. "This dragon has long since accepted its role in our lab. It won't be dangerous"

The force field disappeared, allowing the little girl to lean closer to the dragon and pet it. It made a quiet noise as she run her hand up and down its snout, almost like a cat purring. "Aww. You sweet thing" She giggled to herself. "What's her name?"

"Subject 152 stroke 9A" Ana furrowed her brows at that, glancing at the woman. "But some of the lab techs have taken to calling her 'Sora'"

"Sora? The ancient Imperium word for orphan?" The girl frowned, looking back at the dragon. "Did something happen to your family, Sora?"

Dr. LaRow cleared her throat. "Please step back" Reluctantly, the girl did as she was orde— advised, the dragon making a sad noise at the loss of her warm hand on its snout. The woman reactivated the force field and walked over to the girl as she kept staring at the dragon with a sad expression. "Ana, I must say that I see a great deal of potential in your digital pet device. And in you. You remind me a bit of myself at your age"

The girl looked up, shocked. "I do?"

She gave her a small nod. "With my guidance, I think we could take your simple Photac and make it much more powerful"

"Why... why would you need to make it more powerful?" Ana tilted her head in confusion.

"Child, the Photac could be so much more than a mere pet. May I?" She extended a hand. The girl hesitated before getting out her Photac and handing it to the woman. Dr. LaRow walked back to the control panel, Ana followed.

"What are you doing?" She asked, watching as the woman connected her creation to some machine.

"Demonstrating the possibilities" Dr. LaRow send her a smile before turning up the power on the control panel, making Sora (the dragon) roar in pain.

Ana's breath hitched at the sound. "What? No! No, stop!" She tried reaching out towards the panel to turn it off but a hand stopped her. She looked up, struggling not to glare at the woman.

"Wait" Dr. LaRow said simply, turning to activated the Photac, the cute little puppy Ana designed soon turned into a huge beast. The girl backed away in fear.

The pained roaring caught her attention yet again. Ana glanced at the dragon she pet not even five minutes ago, a determinated look appeared on her face. "You're hurting her!" She exclaimed before quickly skipping to the panel and turning the power off.

The woman shook her head in disappointment. "Really now, Ana? Surely a girl as smart as you understands where Imperium's energy comes from. Our dragons power our homes, our schools"

She turned to her, brows furrowed as she gave the best stern look she could muster as a child. "Sure, everyone knows that. But our whole lives, we were always told our energy is safe!"

"It is safe, for us. Now, imagine what we could do with an army of these" Dr. LaRow pointed at the Photac, smiling while the little girl grew angry. "For Imperium to remain the glorious kingdom it is, we need power. The power only dragons can provide"

"What are you saying?"

"An indestructible Photac army could hunt down every dragon in existence. It would provide Imperium with a never-ending source of energy. Our glory would be unparalleled"

"But that's not what I—"

"This is why I've brought you here, Ana. This is exactly what the Good Empress Beatrix created the Advanced Science Lab for!" Dr. LaRow turned and looked up at a banner with the Empress's picture.

"I don't want any part of this! You're as much of a monster as that..." Ana looked at the Photac beast, still not believing what was done with her project. She clenched her fists in anger. "...that thing!" She turned the Photac off, catching the device and throwing it against the ground as hard as she could before running away.

***

Ana run home, tears escaping her eyes and sliding down her cheeks no matter how hard she tried to stop them. She stumbled through the front door, crashing right into her parents, she quickly hugged them. "Mom, Dad, I need your help! I can't go back to Dr. LaRow's lab!" She felt a sting in her heart as the two adults pulled away.

"Dr. LaRow just called" Her father started, giving her a stern look, ignoring the tears on her face.

"We are very disappointed in you, Ana. You have a chance to help the Empress Beatrix. To help Imperium!" Her mother exclaimed.

The girl felt her throat tighten as sadness, anger and the pain of betrayal mixed into one. "They're torturing dragons!!"

"Dragons are just mindless beasts, Ana. A resource!"

She clenched her fists. "If you had seen the dragon suffering, you'd know how wrong this is!!"

"Are you really going to put some creature above your own family?" Her mother crossed her arms.

The girl took a step back, not knowing what to say. "I—"

"We are ashamed to call you our daughter" 

More tears run down her face.

***

Ever since that day, Ana have become an outcast, both in her school and back home. Nobody wanted to talk to her, or even stand anywhere close to her. Her own parents refused interacting with her.

One day, as she got back from school, she stopped at her door, shocked to see something from her room missing. "My workbench!" She cried out.

"If you won't use your scientific studies to support Imperium—" Her mother started, appearing behind Ana, her husband at her side.

"And all that we stand for" Ana's father cut in.

"Then you'll just have to find a new interest" Her mother finished before closing the door, leaving the girl all alone. She shed a few more tears, sobbing quietly.

Ana sniffled, clenching her fists as she looked up at her poster of Dr. LaRow. "I believed in you! I thought you were making Imperium a better place! For every living thing!" Angrily, she grabbed the bottom of the poster and pulled on it, hard, making it rip in two. With tears streaming down her face, she ripped the half in her hands into tiny pieces and threw them in her bin before doing the same with the other half, using a chair to reach it.

"We can't just walk into Imperium" Sora started as everyone took a seat. Tommy was sitting next to Arin, sipping on Coke, Chet right at his side.

"Why not? It's how we go to most places" The younger blond and Chat snort at the comment.

"I'm guessing we're wanted criminals there. I once knew someone who was arrested for singing off-key, so I think actively fighting the Claw Hunters puts us on their 'Do Not Enter' list" Sora explained, which seem to humble Chat as they displayed a face that screamed 'I have seen things'. Tommy didn't react, only shook his can to check if there was anything left. He thought for a second before shaking it in front of Riyu and throwing it across the room. The dragonling went to fetch it.

"It's a highly secure kingdom. There are guards at every checkpoint, making sure only the right people are allowed in" Lloyd guessed, glancing at the girl and she gave an affirmative nod.

Riyu came back with the can in his mouth handing it back to Tommy. Arin's eyes lit up as he got an idea, "But who's checking what comes out of Imperium?"

"Huh?" Lloyd raised a brow.

Arin took the can from Tommy. "Waste. Garbage. There's gotta be a sewage system that they aren't checking"

Sora smiled. "That's brilliant, Arin! I guarantee the sewers won't have any security"

***

"I was wrong!!" Sora screamed as the six run through the narrow tunnel with alarm blaring on full and some drones chasing them. Thankfully they managed to find an escape, only by luck ending up in the right building and in a corridor with no guards in it. Sora placed a finger to her mouth and whispered to them, "Shh. Like I was hoping, this tunnel led right into the Security Station. I'll hack into the system, make us ID cards, gain access to the Advanced Systems Lab, and boom! Destroy the Photac. Come on!" Everyone gave a nod and they started to make their way across the halls. 

Finally, after what felt like eternity, they reached the Security Station and Sora immediately went to hack the system. "Uh, Sora?" The TV robot pointed at one of the screens where a guard was shown slowly approaching the room.

She turned to the others, "Hurry. I need your fake names for the IDs"

"Fake names? Um... Doctor..." Arin started looking around the room, biting on his bottom lip nervously. "Lampshade... Floortile!" Everyone slowly turned to give him a look. He chuckled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "What?"

"Your undercover name is Dr. Lampshade Floortile?" Sora deadpanned.

The teen looked to the side before shooting her a smile and answering with confidence, "Yeah" Tommy snort while the girl sighed, typing it in.

"Call me Doyll Donmagar" Lloyd said proudly, making Chet snort in amusement.

Sora side-eyed him. "That's with two L's?"

"Obviously"

"Snape" Chat quipped quietly, giggling to themselves.

"Tom, you're up"

The blond only managed to take a breath before the TV robot answered for him, "Theseus Craft!" He raised a brow at them, somehow managing to frown at the same time.

"I wanted to go with Kraken..."

They gasped. "O.M.G. Tommy Theseus Danger Careful Kraken Innit Craft moment!" Tommy blinked, then sighed and facepalmed.

"So...?" Sora looked at him.

"What they want, just without Tommy" He mumbled in defeat, Chat hugged his arm and displayed heart emojis. Tommy only mumbled a swear in annoyance.

The girl quickly finished typing in and got the IDs before handing them to the Green Ninja. Lloyd looked at them, furrowing his brows as he read the last ID – Sora. He looked at the girl, "You used your real name?"

"Uh— We gotta go!" She grabbed Arin's arm and started dragging him to another room, the rest, not having a choice, followed. They hid in a locker room. Sora checked the lockers until she found some clothes and handed them to her two friends. "Hurry up and put these on. We need to look like real Imperian citizens" She turned to look for something for herself.

"You are a real Imperian" Arin pointed out.

"We need to fit in. That's all people in Imperium care about" At her words Tommy faked a cough, pointing at his wings with a raised brow. "Right... Gimme a moment"

The four went to change their clothes, Tommy ending up with a cape to cover his wings and Lloyd somehow ending up with a big hat. "...You know, it's the darnest thing ever the only actual ninja here isn't being stealthy" Tommy commented.

Lloyd glanced up at his hat. "It was in the locker, so I imagine the Empress approved it?"

Sora groaned, shaking her head. "Ugh. She never had good taste…"

"Riyu, maybe we should just keep you hidden in here" Arin proposed, getting out a backpack from one of the lockers. The dragon promptly jumped in, but as the boy tried picking it up he quickly figured it was too heavy for him. Tommy reached into his bag, getting out a yellow potion and handing it to the struggling teen. Arin gulped down the suspiciously colored liquid, then picked up the backpack as if it weighed nothing. He smiled fixing the straps, "Perfect"

"Okay, Lampshade. That looks totally normal" Sora said sarcastically.

"Why aren't you using your potions more often? They're really good" Lloyd asked the other blond, who smiled with pride noticing the hero was impressed with his skills.

"I'm running low on ingredients ever since I put my business on hold to help you fools save the world" He shrugged, then looked at the side, becoming awkward. "And I drank a gender changing potion that one time... It wasn't a bad experience per say, but it was pretty weird..."

Chet snort in amusement, "Tammy Innit"

"NO."

"So, what are we gonna do with Chat?" Arin asked.

"I think we'll be okay" Sora started, placing a hand on her chin in thought. "Since they're a robot most will probably think Tom made them, and like he's one of the people from the lab"

"Which is great for sneaking into said lab!" He smiled, it didn't take long for the girl to return it.

Sora took a breath after they all made themselves markings on their faces to fit in. "Guess we're ready. Come on"

The group walked out, using some other door to exit into the corridor. Sora and Lloyd started whistling as they all passed one of the Imperium Guards, pretending there was nothing suspicious about their presence there. "Halt!" The guard called out after a moment. Tommy glared at the two whistlers, silently blaming them for getting stopped.

They took a quick moment to compose themselves before turning to the guard. "What seems to be the problem, officer?" Lloyd asked calmly.

"Gonna need to see your ID badges" The hero got the IDs out and handed them over. The guard quickly scanned over the first on top. "Oh, yeah. Yep. You're free to go, Mr. Floortile" They said handing the ID over to Arin.

The teen cleared his throat before correcting them, "That's Doctor Floortile"

"Uh, you too, Mr. Donmigar" Lloyd didn't complain about the mistake. The guard stayed a little longer on Tommy's ID, they looked up at the younger blond. "You really have 'Danger' as one of your legal names, Mr. Craft?"

Tommy smiled, pushing his chest proudly. "And from birth at that. I'm still convinced my old man showed up drunk" The guard laughed, much to everyone's (but Tommy and Chat's) surprise. "But it's pretty poggers, innit?"

"Yeah, it's really cool. Here you go"

"Thank you" He took his ID with a bright smile, ignoring the look he was getting from the others.

"And... Sora?" They looked up at the girl, who only stared back at them. "Weird name. But okay" They gave her her ID. "All hail the Good Empress!"

"All hail!" Tommy and Chat quickly said, saluting. The teen also hid one hand behind his back, fingers crossed. Drista seem like they could (and would) use these words against him if given the chance so it was better to be safe than sorry.

They all turned to go their separate ways, but the guard stopped once they realized something was wrong with the group after all. "Stop!" The four tensed up, now not knowing what could possibly be the problem. They turned around. "You really thought you could get away with it, didn't you?"

"I didn't—" Sora started but Tommy elbowed her. In situations like this, you should never admit your guilt, else they'll get more dirt on you.

"Not wearing shoulder pads on a Tuesday?" The four made a face at the question, causing them to sigh and get out a holopad. "The Empress has declared shoulder pads are a must-have accessory for all citizens on weekdays! And this is not the weekend" They showed off a calendar on the holopad's holoscreen. Tommy felt an urge to faceplam.

"Um, that's new. And weird" Sora muttered, deadpanning at the screen with the last word.

"Well, I have no choice but to take you to... the Public Shaming Platform" They hid their holopad and reached for Arin's backpack, stumbling as its weight dragged them down. Tommy covered his mouth with a hand to cover the amused smirk. "Ugh. What are you carrying in here, gold bricks? It weighs a ton" They tried a few more times to pick it up before finally giving up and deciding to drag it instead. They reached for Tommy's bag but he dodged.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Hand over your bag, Mr. Craft"

The teen scoffed, offended by the order. "You seriously wanna mess with a guy who has 'Danger' as one of his names?"

"Mr. Craft—"

"I'll walk" He stopped them, now giving them a glare. "But my bag stays with me, bruh" He must have rolled a Nat 20 on Intimidation as the guard didn't press him more, only pointed with an open palm, barely audibly saying 'This way'. The group obediently started walking.

"What's a Public Shaming Platform?" Lloyd asked the girl in a whisper.

"Only the worst form of punishment in Imperium. Anyone who commits any anti-Empress sentiment is publicly shamed in a livestream video feed"

"Huh, doesn't sound so bad. I've put up with Kai's mocking for years" The ninja smiled to cheer her up a little. But all he managed was make Tommy laugh at him.

"I don't doubt that, Boogers" The younger quipped with a mischievous smirk, the older blond groaned at the awful nickname.

"You don't understand. The livestream is broadcast to everyone in Imperium. Our faces are gonna be on gigantic screens throughout the city! The Claw Hunters, that weird tiger guy, my parents? Everyone will see us. We're toast!" Sora explained and everyone fell silent. It wasn't the worst fate, but it sure as hell wouldn't be good for their mission.

They walked in silence, which, despite the distance not being that long, was pretty impressive in Tommy and Chat's case. Finally they arrived in a round room, with a circular platform doing as the middle. The guard forced them to stand there as a drone came to record and broadcast their faces. 

Arin covered his face with one hand, glancing at Sora in slight panic, "What are we gonna do!?"

"I don't know. You're the doctor!" She gave him a light glare, then eyed the drone and turned her head to the side. "We need some kind of distraction..."

"You say?" Tommy raised a brow. He raised his hand, pretending to fix his hair when in actuality he snapped his fingers, hoping— praying for the best.

The backpack Riyu was hiding in opened on its own. 

Everyone's eyes widen and Tommy's wings fluttered while Chat displayed digital sweat drops. "Well shit—"

The dragonling, unprompted, jumped at the guard to save it's friends. The guard face-planted into the floor with a surprised yelp, they quickly picked themself up, looking back as they felt a weight on their back. "A dragon? I need backup!!" Riyu quickly jumped off them and run away, the four quickly leaping forward to follow. 

A hand on Sora's and Tommy's shoulders stopped them in their tracks. They both looked at Arin with raised brows. "We'll keep him safe. You two go get the Photac" Sora smiled as him and motioned the blond to follow her. They split up. Arin rushed after the other two, joining the fight with his half spinjitzu. He then dodged, making one of the guards hit themselves in the face. He looked down at them and smiled a little, "Oh, okay, so it's not just me"

In the meantime, Lloyd basically chased a group of guards to a totally different part of the building, only stopping to think once he saw nobody was there. "Arin? Riyu?" He called out, looking around. A fire blast from across the hall caught his attention.

Soon two guards came running from that direction, he stepped to the side as they showed no intention of attacking him. "Watch out. The new prisoner is dangerous!"

"Prisoner...?" He scratched his head before his eyes widen in realization. "Kai?" Lloyd sprinted in that direction, quickly locating the source. He couldn't help but groan in annoyance, "Kai, you were supposed to stay at the monastery. You never listen!" He used his power to open the cage, looking in with a stern expression that fell as soon as he saw who was inside. "You're not Kai—" A fireball was immediately sent his way with barely any time to react.

Ana stared out her window, tear stains dry on her face. She sniffled. "I wish I was anywhere but here" Suddenly, the ground shook, the sky ripping apart as the Merge happened at that exact moment. The girl stumbled back, tripping over her feet and falling to the floor. It all lasted just a moment. Ana hesitantly got up, cautious in case of another quake. Looking out her window again she noticed a city. "What is that place?" She asked no one in particular. An idea appeared in her head, making her look between the closed door to her room and the city. She bit her lip, sighing as she ultimately made up her mind. "I know you wish I was a dutiful Imperian, Mom and Dad. But I'll never be the daughter you want me to be, that Empress Beatrix wants me to be" She quickly grabbed the little stuff she had, shoved them into a backpack and escaped through the window.

Sora, Tommy and Chat made their way into the Advanced Systems Lab, sneaking past everyone just in case. Before they could get to Sora's Photac, the blond got yoinked back, a hand covering his mouth so he wouldn't scream. Chet, quickly noticing their owner is getting kidnapped, stopped and followed him, leaving Sora alone.

The girl soon got to her creation. "Gotcha. Now to shut you down permanently" She whispered as she grabbed the device.

"Ana" Sora gasped, turning around at the voice and quickly looking around, finally noticing her friend was up and gone. Dr. LaRow smiled at her. "Welcome home. We've been expecting you"

Chapter Text

Arin and Riyu booked for the exit, running out into the streets. People mostly got out of their way, sending them confused looks until they realized the little thing with wings and a tail was a dragon.

"Stop that hideous dragon!!" A guard called out not too far behind them, making Arin look to check just how close they were.

Definitely too close for comfort!

"We've gotta lose these guys, Riyu!" The teen exclaimed, trying his best not to panic too bad as they speed up as much as they could. Internally, Arin started praying to Tommy's gods (as they were they only gods he'd ever heard about) clumsily, desperately trying to recall if the blond ever mentioned their names. There was, uhhh... Mumza...? Or was he just going crazy???

Well, either way, it seem to work as they encountered an unattended hoverboard. Not having time to question whether his poor attempt at prayer were successful or not, he quickly grabbed the board and jumped on, waiting for the dragoling to join him before zooming off. It was... well, it was working. Albeit it was pretty hard to control for a first timer like Arin, so they were swaying left and right, bumping into some things and now making people scream at them as they had to dodge.

Suddenly a blast went past Arin's face, making him stumbled back with a yelp, almost falling off the thing. He looked back and saw a few drones chasing them now, the guards no longer around.

Yeah, okay, he can work with that—

Using his grappling hook (listen, no idea where he stores it) he took a sharp turn, somehow managing to stay on the hoverboard. Well would you look at that, he was getting better at this! Better yet, one of the drones crashed thanks to this trick!

But the other two kept shooting at him... "Hang on, buddy!" Arin called out to the dragon, it making a rather concerned noise. The teen purposefully hit a street lamp, him and the dragon jumping off and quickly getting up to run as the hoverboard bounced back and destroyed another drone, leaving only one to chase them.

Unfortunately, the drone was a bit faster, managing to catch up with them. A hand reached out from its bottom, grabbing Arin’s wrist and beginning to drag him back. The teen screamed in panic, trying to free himself as his feet slowly lost contact with the ground. "Let go of me!" Riyu squawked in determination before jumping up and grabbing his leg with his mouth, biting down hard enough to get dragged along but not enough to draw blood or make it hurt (too much).

As the boy got taken higher and higher, he growled at the thing, opting for more offensive option instead and punching the thing. The effect of Tommy's potion still lingering, resulting in the drone breaking down after a few punches. "Yeah!" He cheered, proud of getting out of this on his own. Then he felt the robotic hand holding him, loose their grip and realization hit, "Oh, shit—"

He screamed as him and Riyu started falling down, only stopping once all air got knocked out from his lungs by the impact. Arin's face twisted in pain as he let out a high pitched, although almost silent, noise before he took a sharp breath and opened his eyes, blinking away the tears. He furrowed his brows in confusion as he noticed they were inside some box fill with trash.

"Where did Dr. Floortile go?!"

"What's he doctor of? Vanishing without a trace?"

"Doubtful. There are very few certified vanishologists in Imperium" What????

"Come on. Let's search for them in the new shoulder pad store"

"Wait... are you just trying to buy yourself some new shoulder pads?"

"I'm serving the security needs of Imperium. If I happen to get dashing shoulderwear while I'm at it, what's wrong with that?" Okay...

Arin sat up, checking if he can push the top of the dumpster they were in and then peeking out, watching the guards leave. He let out a sigh and lowered the opening, "Phew... Let's sit tight. Once the heat dies down, we'll go find the others" The dragonling made a quiet sound in agreement.

"Time to keep the city clean!" A voice suddenly exclaimed, causing the teen to tense up for a second.

"It's about respecting the community" Another voice added. Arin peeked out again, a group of teenagers, a little younger than him, walked into the alley with cleaning equipment. Out of absolutely nowhere, they started singing.

"I love studying at school!"
"But protecting the innocents is also cool!"
"Sound off!"
"One, two!"

Riyu made a confused noise, Arin glanced at him, "Yeah, I don't get it either" Looking back at the group, he noticed the scaffolding they were standing on (and jumping on) starting to bend, the sound of cranking metal reaching his ears.

"Sound off!"
"Three, fo—" The song was cut short as the scaffolding collapsed onto itself, making the group fall down screaming. 

Arin quickly jumped out of the dumpster and used his grappling hook to save a teen that didn't manage to grab anything. "Got you!" He quickly placed them on the ground and went to save the others. Soon enough all four were safely on the ground.

"That was incredible!" One of the boys cheered, eyes sparkling in excitement.

"Those were the coolest moves ever! Who are you?" Another boy asked, his previous words making a smile involuntary spread on Arin's face.

"Uh, the name's Floortile. Lampshade Floortile" A girl giggled as he introduced himself with the fake name and he could feel his cheeks turn red from embarrassment.

"I like the cut of your jib, Lampshade. I'm Percival Tartigrade, and I'm the leader of this troop. The Imperium Teenage Protection Force!" The second boy explained and they struck a pose as if this was a superhero movie.

Arin tilted his head and glanced to both sides, not understanding what was going on with all that. "Are— are you like a music group or something?"

"Yes! Except instead of practicing music, we practice obedience to law and order! We take a solemn vow to do what is right and good" Percival explained further, smiling proudly, which reminded the older teen of Tommy and caused him to admire the group's moxie. "And what would be good right now is to beg you to become our newest member! We need you to teach us those sweet moves so we can be cool like you!" He added making Arin's eyes widen in shock.

"Wait, let me get this straight. You all think I'm cool?"

"The coolest!" Percival corrected him. "Please, teach us your skills"

Arin scratched his neck, looking to the side with a sheepish smile. "Uh, okay. I guess?" The group cheered, a warm feeling bloomed inside the teen's chest at that.

"Eat flame, bad guy!" Lloyd narrowly avoided getting burned as the girl shoot fireballs at him whilst screaming angrily. "Get wrecked by Wyldfyre!" She jumped out of the cells, her fists on fire as she changed between shooting and punching.

"Bad guy? No, wait!" The ninja quickly dodged and jumped away to avoid getting hit. "This is just a disguise!"

"A disguise?" She questioned, brows furrowed as she stopped just for a second before going in for another attack, "I can still see you, loser!"

"If I were your enemy, why would I let you out of your cell?" He tried reasoning with her but this time she didn't even react.

"If you don't know, how should I?"

"Amazing. But you can't be the Elemental Master of Fire. There's only ever one of full strength at a time, and you're not him" Lloyd talked while dodging, all in all, even if he wasn’t paying that much attention avoiding her attacks wasn't that hard.

"What are you even talking about? Answer, I don't care! Just let my family go!"

"They took your family? Look, I have nothing to do with Imperium. You and I are on the same— side!" Ok, nevermind, she was unpredictable!

Wyldfyre jumped at him while he was leaning over some railing, it fucking snapped, sending the both of them to the lower level. "Ouch... Sometimes I'm too incredibly great at fighting" He gave her a look, now admittedly a little angry as she fucking tackled him to the ground from a noticeable height, and it hurt! The girl quickly got up, with the hero mirroring her, and grabbed the railing part their fall broke before throwing it at him. Lloyd used his power to deflect it, making her raise a brow, "Your fire's a weird color. Are you sick?"

He sighed. "It's not fire. I'm the Green Ninja"

She scoffed. "Green Ninja? Sounds fake. I'm not dumb! Don't try tricks on me! I did every learning module in my caregiver bot's memory banks!" She immediately lit her fists up and charged at him. Oh boy...

At this point she was worse than Tommy, at least he didn't actively try to kill him!

So, maybe that's a bad idea, but let's try this again. "Your power level is off the charts, but your attacks are all over the place. I could help you to—"

She growled angrily. "Stop talking and fight!" Welp.

Before anything could progress, whether it be the fight or Lloyd miraculously convincing the girl to stop, a group of guards arrived. Everyone paused "What? Escaped prisoner!" The quickly grabbed their weapons and started shooting at them.

One of the blasts was heading straight for Wyldfyre but Lloyd pushed her away just in time. She looked up at him, confused. "You saved me?"

"I told you. We're on the same side!"

She stayed quiet for a second and he offered a hand. She took it. "Maybe you're not lying, Green Ninja. Maybe" They smiled at each other.

Maybe there is hope for Tommy after all...

"Call me Lloyd" Just then a blast passed between the two. They looked to the side, glaring at the guards then went for an attack.

Tommy struggled as if his life depended on it. He shot Chat a glare as they only hovered there with a surprised Pikachu face. 

"Tom, stop struggling!" The person behind him said through gritted teeth, their voice barely above a whisper. He stopped, confused and surprised as he felt a sense of familiarity in the voice, as if he had already heard it somewhere. The person let go of him, as soon as he was free he immediately turned around. In front of him was a short teen, his brown bangs almost covering his blue eyes, Tommy's breath hitched once he noticed nasty scars covering the left side of his face. The boy smiled at him, eyes shining with tears, before the blond was pulled into a tight hug, which was promptly stopped as the other took notice of his wings. The brunet stared at him with wide eyes. "Are these...?" He looked at Tommy but the blond stayed silent, confused beyond comprehension. After a short moment the teen turned white, his expression turning from confusion to terror. "You have to leave"

Tommy furrowed his brows. "I'm sorry, who are you?" Chet frowned.

The teen looked as if he was just shot at these words. "What do you mean? It's me, Tubbo"

Tommy looked away. "…O-kay..."

"Don't fuck with me!" The boy growled, pointing a finger at Tommy's face as if it was some lethal weapon.

He raised his hands in defense. "I'm not!"

"Tommy!"

"What!?"

Tubbo's glare turned into a sad frown. "You really don't... remember me?"

Tommy slowly shook his head, hating just how much this hurt the other teen. "Sorry, man..." Tubbo hanged his head before pulling the blond back into the hug, Tommy awkwardly returned it. After a couple of seconds the brunet pulled away and got up, grabbing Tommy's arm and dragging him away. "H-hey!" Chat displayed a [O_O] face and quickly zoomed after the two.

"They are from Kristin, right?"

Tommy's eyes widen. "You know about—?"

"Tom." Tubbo glanced back at him to give a stern look.

"...Yes"

"And you decided to just waltz right in here like it's nothing!?"

Tommy furrowed his brows. "How does me having wings from Mumza—" 

"She's the Ender Dragon!" Tubbo stopped abruptly, turning around and grabbing Tommy by the collar of his shirt to match their eye level, forcing the blond to bend forward. "A dragon! Do you know what they do with dragons here?"

"...Okay, first of all, that's pog. Second, yes, I do. But, third, I'm not a dragon, therefore I'm—"

"In just as much trouble with these!" Tubbo pointed at the black feathered wings, making Tommy furrow his brows again, not understanding. The brunet sighed, letting go of Tommy's shirt, he slowly straighten up. "Listen, it's important you leave this place as soon as possible. For your own good"

The blond scoffed, crossing his arms. "No way! I'm here to stop your people from hurting dragons ever again"

Tubbo glared at him. "They're not my people! You are!!"

"Uh, no? Dude, I don't even know you!"

"I'm your bestest friend!"

"Not right now, you're not!" At that Tubbo looked as if he got slapped, looking away with sadness, which made Tommy feel like shit. He scratched his head, looking away awkwardly, "Sorry. I... don't remember anything from before the Merge, so..."

"It's fine..." Tubbo sighed again, then cleared his throat. "So, um, that girl you were with..."

"Oh, that was Sora, one of my friends. There's also Arin and a smoll dragon named Riyu. They are training to become ninja under this weird green guy while I'm crushing with them at his monastery. And since I have chaos powers from one of my Gods I always tag along to help, unless they'd all be dead by now" Tommy rambled while the brunet stared at him with wide eyes.

"Wait, you know Lloyd?"

Tommy couldn't help but deadpan at him. "Don't tell me he's your bestie too..."

Tubbo let out a short laugh. "No. But that changes a few things" The taller of two raised a brow, narrowing his eyes at him. The boy looked sternly at him, changing the whole mood and confusing Tommy for a second. "You need to find someone, a girl with short white hair. Tell her I send you, she'll help you out of here and make sure your secret won't spill. You'll like her" He grinned.

Tommy furrowed his brows in confusion. "What secret? And why can't yo—"

"The secret behind your wings!" Tubbo cut him off quickly. "And I wish I could help you, I really do! You have no fucking idea just how I've missed you! But we need to keep appearances. If they find out I'm not brainwashed enough they'll thrown me into jail, permanently! Do you want me to rot in a prison cell, Tom?"

Tommy's heart skipped a beat, stupidly aching at the thought of the brunet being locked up. "No!!"

He smiled a little. "And I don't want you to get hurt. That why you have to leave" They stared at each other in sorrowful silence, with Chat silently crying digital tears. Tubbo's face twisted as he suppressed a sob, he quickly pulled the blond into another hug. "Prime, I don't want you to leave..." Tommy frowned, this time returning the hug properly. They pulled away after a short moment and Tubbo wiped the tears from his face. "Go"

Tommy hesitated, opening his mouth to protest but found no words. He slowly turned around and after sparing his long-lost-best-friend-he-didn't-even-remember one last look, he started running down the hall.

Sora glared daggers at the smiling woman before her. "I've been waiting for you. Rapton reported he used your Photac device in the field. I knew you wouldn't be able to resist returning, Ana"

"My name is Sora now" She said, clenching her fists.

Dr. LaRow scoffed at her, "Ugh. You named yourself after that dragon? Disgusting"

"She and I were the same. Two pawns you used for your own gain"

"I thought you were a scientist, Ana. Science has no room for sentiment" The woman shook her head in disappointment. She looked up with a small smile, "After the Merge, the Empress wanted to use the Photac more than ever. So many new dragons to hunt. But we hadn't been able to activate your device. Until recently"

The girl crossed her arms. "I'm surprised you figured it out. Exotic photovoltaic positrons were never your thing. You were more of an expert at being an evil jerk" The woman shot her a glare for the remark before clearing her throat.

"Hmm. You've grown feisty. Where's that sweet, wide-eyed little girl who was excited just to be in a real science lab?"

Sora forced down a growl. "She grew up. On the streets of a strange city. When she had to escape a family poisoned against her by her former hero!" If looks could kill, Dr. LaRow would already be in the morgue.

"Sorry, sweetie. You're old enough now to know that all heroes disappoint eventually. Even ninja" She pulled out her holopad with Lloyd's picture on it. Sora's eyes widen. "I know about the company you've been keeping. You think the Claws' mission reports wouldn't reach me?" Dr. LaRow raised a brow, as if challenging. The girl quickly composed herself, going back to glaring daggers at her.

"Then why didn't you come for me?"

"I knew you'd come back on your own. And just in time. We need you" Sora rolled her eyes with a scoff at the statement. "You're right that I couldn't get the Photac operational on my own. I had the help of an unconventional consultant. He got your original prototype working, and even made copies" The woman explained, her smile growing as she uncovered a shelf full of Photacs.

Sora gassed in horror. "No!"

"One problem. We haven't been able to initialize these new devices" LaRow confessed, making Sora let a silent breath in relief. Then she turned to the girl with a smirk, "But I know someone who can. Activate them for me"

Flabbergasted, Sora blinked then had to support a laugh. "I will never let you use my invention to hurt more innocent dragons"

"Hmm. I anticipated you might feel that way. So I arranged a little motivation. An old friend" She simply pointed behind the girl, Sora narrowed her eyes at her and hesitantly turned around. A cloth fell down revealing the same cage with Sora the dragon from all those years ago.

Sora the human gasped, "Sora!" The dragon whimpered sorrowfully. With absolutely no right to, Dorama jumped from behind her, wearing that evil smirk he had back at his theatre. "Dorama? You're supposed to be in prison! Wait... Are you the unconventional consultant that got my original Photac to work?"

"My genius can be experienced in many ways. Now, if you don't do as Dr. LaRow says, the consequences will be... very entertaining" He sneered at her, pointing his staff at the dragon.

"Stop! Don't hurt her!"

"So you're ready to help me, your Empress, and Imperium itself?" LaRow walked to her, going to put a hand on the girl's shoulder but she stepped away, glaring at her.

"I don't have a choice, do I?"

The woman folded her arms behind her back, smiling at her success. "You always were a smart child"

With one last hateful glare, Sora turned around and started to work on the Photac. Literally seconds later, she turned around, expressionless. "Done"

"Already?" Dr. LaRow asked, impressed at how fast the girl worked. "So the device can manifest a Photac Beast now?"

"See for yourself" She handed her the device, taking a couple steps back. As the woman examined it, Sora pressed the activation button behind her back. The device exploded and the girl used this opportunity to get Sora the dragon out so that the both of them could escape while the two adults were distracted. "We got to find a way out of here, girl, or we're toast!"

In the archives of the Cloud Kingdom, Morro walked back to Nya with a few more scrolls. "'If the Coalescence returns... the fifth source, the Temple of the Dragon Cores.'" She read out loud and groaned in flustration. "What is this nonsense? With Master Wu's notes gone, I can't make heads or tails out of any of it!"

"Input search term?" The two cousins looked at the worm, less than pleased with it presence.

"Yeah, right. Last time we trusted you to help find info on stopping MergeQuakes, we got globbed with a ton of sticky worm silk" Nya hissed at it, making it frown and slowly scoot away. "Yeah, scoot away! I don't want to get stuck together again by—" She stopped mid-rant, realization crossing her face. "Stuck together? There's no way..." She promptly grabbed a piece of transparent blue sheet with some things marked on it.

Morro leaned over her shoulder. "Looks like a map”

"But to where?" She glanced at him before putting the sheet on one of the scrolls with an actual map. The places marked on the sheet matched almost perfect with actual, existing places on said map. The two looked at each other and high fived with a smile. After the short celebration they went back to analyzing this mystery. "I've never seen a place like this"

"Neither have I, but it's always some progress"

Arin presented a few different moves to the group. "Like so, smooth movements. See?" The four gave him a nod and tried repeating what he did, they all failed, literally falling onto the ground. Arin scratched his head. "Good, everybody. I— I mean— pretty good. Kinda... Now, check this out" He performed his spinjitzu, but soon lost control and fell face-first. The teens cheered while he was getting up, cheeks pink from embarrassment. "Oh, man! Sorry. I landed all wrong. I can do better" He quickly assured, not even bothering to dust himself off.

Percival's eyes widen in disbelief. "Better than that? You've got the best moves we've ever seen!"

Arin looked away. "I'm not all that good, actually. Uh, I've got a master teaching me all the things I'm doing wrong"

"But the things you do are amazing already! You don't need to train"

He chuckled, his cheeks becoming even more warm now. "You guys are the best. Enough about me. What about you? What's the ITPF all about?"

"We just look for ways to help anywhere we can. No biggie" Percival shrugged, sending him a small smile.

"Love the sound of that. Ever since my parents went missing, I've wanted to help others too"

Seeing the teen's mood fall, Percival elbowed him lightly, offering a smile. "You think just like we do, Lampshade. To rise from any bad things in our past, and make the world a better place in the here and now"

"Wow. I feel so seen right now!" Arin's eyes sparkled.

"In fact, we hope, if we work hard enough, we can join the greatest group to ever fight for good against the forces of evil" He watched in anticipation as they all struck a pose again. "The Claws of Imperium!" They exclaimed, way too happy about it.

Arin's excitement was immediately extinguished. "Wait, what?"

"That's why we do all this! We want to be Claws one day. Heroic warriors that keep Imperium safe by hunting down dragons" Percival explained, as if none of this was absolutely terrible.

"But— but you said you wanted to protect! And help!" The ninja-in-training argued, hoping they would see reason. It worked just as well as you could imagine...

"Exactly! Protect Imperium from dragons and help by draining dragon power to fuel the kingdom! We want to make the world a better place, like the Claws of the Imperium always do"

"The Claws of Imperium!" They all exclaimed again, striking yet another pose.

"The Claws hurt dragons!!" Arin exclaimed, horrified by what he was hearing.

Percival rolled his eyes. "Don't be silly, Lampshade. You can't hurt a mindless beast" 

"Can you imagine what we'd do if we could ever catch a dragon?" One of the girls asked.

"We'd turn it over to Lord Ras himself. That dragon would get drained to dust!" The leader daydreamed? Anyhow, this caused Riyu, who was watching them from the dumpster, to slip in fear and unintentionally make a noise, making the five turn around. All color drained from Arin's face. "What's back there?" Percival titled his head, slowly starting to walk towards the dumpster.

The oldest teen quickly slid in-between him and the dumpster. "Nothing! Definitely nothing! Uh, let me show you some more moves!" He smiled nervously.

"In a second. Better check that out"

Theseus Whatever-the-fuck, as this was who he temporarily was, cursed the short Tubbo guy as he quickly realized he had absolutely no idea how to find the person he was looking for. Sure, he was given the general direction of where the girl last went, but it didn't make his job any easier!

Even if Chat assured him the guards were too busy taking care of some other stuff, he didn't want to risk running into someone who might recognize him. He could handle one guy, two even, maybe three, four if luck was on his side, but his luck was basically a Russian Roulette and if any backup was called he'd be royally fucked.

"You can always ask someone for help" The small robot proposed, earning a mean look.

"Like who?"

They returned the favour, "Your Gods? Techno is basically a holy GPS"

Tommy blinked. "Oh yeah..." Wait, why did that make so much sense? Why did it feel like he knew that already?

Shaking his head to stop overthinking, though the nagging questions still lurked at the back, he took a breath and tried focusing, calling out for guidance from his friend.

Wait, friend?—

He involuntarily gasped, eyes opening as he felt a strong force wash over him. Chat displayed a mouth drop as they saw his eyes, there was now a bloody red circle just around the pupil that mixed with the blue. Tommy blinked, his eyes felt weird, and he dead ass saw a fucking red line that wasn't there before!

And then there was a familiar voice in his head, one of a tired pig man imitating AI speech, "Proceed forward 100 feet" He stood there for a good second, gobsmacked while the TV robot watched him curiously. Shaking his head again, he quickly started following the line, hearing typical GPS instructions in his head from time to time.

Wonky shit.

Trippy shit.

After a few good minutes, he found himself in front of a door and heard, "You have arrived at your destination" and he felt the sudden need to squeeze his eyes shut. Next time he opened them, the line was long gone and his eyes went back to being normal (aka fully blue). He exchanged looks with Chat before turning back to the door, taking a breath and entering the room.

The inside reminded him of the room where they all got their fake IDs – quite big, mostly empty with a shit load of screens. But this time the room wasn't empty, there was a girl with short white hair, frantically typing something and carefully watching one of the screens as it changed from one image to another. CCTV feed perhaps?

"I'm busy" She immediately deadpanned without so much as looking at him, and sounding really annoyed.

"Uh, yeah, I, uhh... can see that" He said, not knowing how he should start.

"We had a break-in, if you didn't know. You should attend to your post and wait for your cue—"

"Tubbo send me" He cut in before she could go on, and it sounded like she was about to go on one angry rant.

She paused, hand hovering over the holopad. Terrifyingly slow, she turned her head to finally look at him, her wide eyes widening further. "Theseus"

Tommy shifted under her piercing gaze. "Oh, you know about that?"

She scoffed, being somewhere between amused and pissed off. "What do you need? I am quite busy" She quickly asked, turning around and resuming whatever she was doing.

"Weeeeell, uh..." He took a deep breath. "Okay, so– my real name's Tommy—" The girl paused again, now turning towards him at a normal speed. "—and, um, like I said, this Tubbo guy send me here – to find you – because you can apparently help me keep my secret safe and probably help my friends...???"

"...You're Tommy?"

He looked left then right, uncertain where this was going. "Yeah???"

"Tommy Innit?"

"Oh shit, that guy really does know me..." He said to himself, eyes drifting to the side as he slowly processed that information.

She sharply inhaled, holding her breath for a second. A confused frown appeared on her face, "What's your secret?"

"Oh" He promptly shifted his cape and outstretched one wing. "They're from Kristin, and she's—"

"A dragon" She ended for him, now looking mortified, as if he had just killed a man right in front of her. The teen slowly nodded, not liking how the atmosphere has shifted. "…Fuck!!" His wings fluttered against his back and his whole body stiffen as she angrily slammed her fist against the holopad, other hand covering her face while she inhaled aggressively. It was really tense for a moment, which made it feel like eternity for the blond, but eventually she uncovered her face to look at him with a serious expression. "Okay... Quick rundown of our current situation: I'm basically main IT person around here, so as soon as you four got those fake IDs of yours, I was notified and immediately recognized my bitch-ass, dumb as fuck brother!"

"Uh-huh..." Tommy slowly nodded, not knowing where this was heading. Chat glared at the girl for the insults, but got surprised at the last word (not that either of the two noticed).

"And he shouldn't be here! Like, I can see why he's here, but that's just fucking dangerous. And stupid. Now I see that the both of you are stupid—"

"Hey!!" He interjected, glaring at her.

She ignored him. "Anyhow, ever since I realized he's here, I've been trying to locate him. And you'd think it's easy to spot him, but apparently not! Well, I guess he is a ninja..." She muttered the last part, even more displeased. Silence fell between them, but just as Tommy opened his mouth she spoke up again, "If they find out that either of you are dragon related, they'll treat you just as bad as they treat all the actual dragons..."

Well that sounded bad.

He might not saw what those dragons went through, but Sora made it pretty fucking obvious they were practically tortured here.

Tommy didn't like the prospect of getting tortured. He subconsciously sink into himself as much as he could.

But then he realized something. "Wait, what do you mean—?"

"He's part Dragon part Oni" Somehow knowing what he was about to ask, she threw in as if it was nothing, common knowledge.

Common knowledge that just changed Tommy's whole world. "WHAT!?"

The two Soras sprinted down the halls, taking turns every now and then. "I definitely totally remember where to go now" Human Sora assured her companion, hoping her words were true, before she pointed, "This way. Come on!" They took a turn and soon found themselves in a dead end. The girl felt embarrassment slowly made its way into her face, the look Dragon Sora gave her wasn't helping it. "So maybe I don't totally remember..." She admitted sheepishly and sighed, "I haven't been here since I was a kid. Let's try the other way" The dragon tried to turn around but quickly found out it was too big, it made an annoyed noise and looked at the girl. Human Sora shifted on her feet awkwardly, "Just scoot back" Dragon Sora did as instructed and they resumed their sprint, down the other corridor. "Okay, now I totally, totally remember my way around. There's a big cafeteria right through here. Maybe we can find some mashed potatoes and it would— Wait" The both of them stopped dead in their tracks as soon as they entered the room. "Why did they park all these hover chariots in the cafeteria?" The girl stared at the technology in utter confusion. She groaned, "Okay, maybe it's not a cafeteria. And I don't totally, totally remember my way around..."

"Don't worry!" The voice of a certain nuisance instantly made her stop sulking, she turned around to glare at the smirking man and his minions. "You'll have plenty of time to learn the way out. At least as much of it as you can see from your prison cell"

Human Sora growled, "Rapton. You really want a rematch?"

"Let's see. Hmm.." He pretended to think for a moment (Hah! I just roasted him and he doesn't even know it). "A pack of highly skilled Claws of the Imperium and their Weapon Drones, against a little ninja wannabe and an overgrown garden snake. Yeah. I'll take those odds" He narrowed his eyes at her, or at least that's what it looked like he was doing, kinda hard to tell something with those... uh, glasses?

"Then you are a fool" 

He gritted his teeth, hands clenching into fists at his aides. "How dare you? No one calls Rapton a fool!"

"Uh, Lord Ras calls you a fool all the time" One of the guards pointed out and Human Sora had to suppress a laugh and/or smile.

Rapton was flabbergasted for a moment, letting out small noises in bewilderment before he composed himself enough to speak again, "Okay, one! One person calls me that! But definitely not a scrawny kid like you!"

"I am the Elemental Master of Technology. Remember the mech I created on the bridge? And on the train? Remember what I did to your weapons? Now look around. You really want to face me in a room full of technology? What should I do with all these? Reassemble their parts into a swarm of stinging techno bees?" She stared him down, praying to Tommy's Gods they'd fall for her bluff.

And for a moment it seem like it was working, the Claws visibly tensed up. "Uh, I... I don't like bees", one even said. Only Rapton seem to be holding up.

"But, of course, we can avoid all that if you just get out of our way" Man, she reminded herself of the winged blond right now, Tommy always had that fondness for theatrics.

Where even was Tommy right now? She haven't seen him since she and Dragon Sora run away from the Lab...

"I don't know how you did those things. Maybe you do have the powers you say. Or maybe you just got lucky" Rapton said calmly, for once cold and calculated. He also accidentally hit a nerve, causing a frown to appear on the girl's face for a brief moment. "I'll make you a deal. Use your powers to do something to this drone" He pointed and one drone flew forward. "Anything. Smash it, make it a bee, whatever. You do that, we step aside. You and the dragon will be free to go. Huh?"

Fuck.

The girl looked between the drone and Rapton, now visibly becoming uneasy; a small smile crept onto the man's face. "You... sure about that? It's a nice drone. Looks expensive"

"I'm sure"

"Fine, but I'm not paying for it" She quickly said, stealing from Tommy's book yet again. As she turned most of her attention to the drone hovering above the ground, she became even more stressed, now biting her bottom lip before taking a deep breath to stabilize herself. 'You can do this, Sora. Even without Riyu's spark. Lloyd told you'

She extended her hand and after a moment it started glowing pink, some of the Claws backed away while the others and Rapton stared in surprise, mouths slightly agape.

But nothing happened.

Human Sora hold on for a moment before growing annoyed and she let her hand fall by her side as she groaned, "Ugh. Fine! You got me. I can't do that right now... But I can do this!" She quickly took a couple steps towards the drone and kicked it at them, everyone dodged just in time. The drone exploded right behind them, tripping one guy. "There's more than one way to be ninja!"

Rapton jumped at her, not wasting any time. They struggle against each other for a while but eventually he managed to force her down, pinning her to the ground. The girl tried getting out but she wasn't strong enough. A distressed roar caught her attention. "Sora!!" She exclaimed, watching with wide eyes as the Claws chained the dragon anew.

"Looks like you need to pay more attention to your training, little ninja" The man above her sneered, and she struggled some more. Without getting up, he took out his communicator and made a call, "Dr. LaRow? We got 'em"

Lloyd and Wyldfyre quickly took care of the guards. Once they were out cold, the blond turned to the girl, "Follow me. Waste tunnels are this way. I'm gonna get you out of here"

"Nope! Gotta save my family!" The girl quickly threw before running off in the opposite direction.

"Wha—? Wait!"

It took a moment, but he managed to catch up with her. They found themselves in a large room with a lot of metal doors that kind of looked like those garage doors. Before he could say anything, Wyldfyre zeroed on one of them, "This is the one!" With extreme confidence she run to the door and started kicking and punching it, letting out a frustrated growl once they didn't budge.

Lloyd slowly walked to her. "Let me give it a shot" He offered with a smile, the girl stopped but didn't really look convinced. Unbothered (they did meet only a few minutes ago, she had every right to doubt him), he used his power to break the control panel on the wall right next to the door, causing them to open. He grinned at her while she now seem slightly impressed, "Works every time" As the door opened completely, a rather bulky dragon jumped forward, roaring at them in warning. "Get back!" Lloyd quickly pushed the girl behind, extending his hands and creating a ball of energy in them.

But she pushed him aside and practically run towards the dragon with a big, happy smile. "Oh, it's good to see you too, Heatwave!" They hugged, the dragon immediately calming down and making little noises of affection.

The hero was confused, he tilted his head. "You know this dragon?" With no immediate answer he continued, "Great. But we still need to save your family"

She gave him a look as if he was dense, "My family is here"

"Behind the dragon?"

"No" She deadpanned and they kind of stared at each other. "Heatwave is my family. He raised me in the Wyldness"

Lloyd blinked, his eyes widening for a moment, "You were raised by a dragon in the Wyldness?" He let out a light-hearted chuckle. "That explains a lot, actually"

The room soon was filled with more roars. A call for help.

The blond looked around, eyes jumping from one door to another. "More dragons... This is where they hold all the dragons they capture?"

"Yep" Wyldfyre answered, making him glance at her. "Before they drain them to power their kingdom"

He tensed up. He did not like this.

"Alright, new mission. We aren't here to just free your family. We're here to free all the dragons, every last one" A green ball was formed in his hand.

The girl grinned. "Yes! Dragons cannot be kept in chains or behind bars!" She lit up her hand and the two started opening the cells one by one. "Freedom for all dragon kind!!"

Tommy glared at his chat. "So he's a demon and you're mad at me for not liking him!?" The TV glared back but didn't say anything.

Just as he was about to continue, there was a faint noise coming from the computer, making everyone turn to look at it. "Got 'im" The girl started typing something again, finishing real fast and disconnecting the computer before she picked up a tablet and started walking away. "We're goin'" Tommy stared as she passed him, too confused to react. After a few steps, she noticed he wasn't following her and she turned around to give him a stern look, "C'mon, we don't have all day!"

He blinked, the threat of getting caught and people here finding out he has some sort of dragon magic which could mean he'd get not only imprisoned but also tortured quickly popping at the very front of his mind, making him launch forward and after the girl.

They exited the room, the girl looking at her tablet as she lead the blond through the hallways. "Okay, Imma level with you here" He said in half whisper, the silence making him more uneasy than it should really. "I barely know what's happening, so it'd be nice if you explained" That was supposed to be the end but then he remembered he never got her name. "You can start with your name, for example"

"It's Harumi, Rumi for short. Or whatever..." She answered, uninterested. There was a quite long pause (or at least it felt long) and she now typed something on the tablet before picking up, "Right now, we're looking for Lloyd, my brother, in a way. It's a bit complicated"

"I'd say..." Chat threw in, giving her a look. Rumi didn't look at them, but Tommy raised a brow.

"So how'd you find him?"

"Well, an alarm was activated in the dragon prison—" Tommy and Chat both made faces in disgust and anger. "—so I checked and, sure enough, it's him. As it would be suspicious if I deactivate the alarm when basically all the dragons are about to wreak havoc in five to ten minutes, we have no choice but to get to them first"

"Look, there's something awesome over there!" Arin pointed, praying to Tommy's Gods this would work. Hey, it seem to work last time, so why not?

One of the boy's squinted his eyes. "What? There's nothing"

AHHHHHHHH—

"Yes, there is! The beautiful city of Imperium, our glorious home!" Arin felt like his legs were about to give out just as the girl said, unknowingly saving his situation.

"Wow, I see what Lampshade is trying to say. Imperium is awesome! All hail the Good Empress!" The other boy smiled brightly as he saluted. Arin was so close to straight up dropping down and fainting on the spot.

Percival only glanced at his friends before throwing the dumpster lid up. He gasped seeing a very scared Riyu trying his best to cover himself with his wings, "No way! A dragon?" The others looked surprised. All eyes slowly landed on Arin, who just wanted to shrivel up and die. "Lampshade, were you trying to distract us from finding that evil thing?" 

The teen flinched as his eyes meet Percival's stone cold ones.

The Soras were dragged back to the Lab, Dragon Sora immediately getting hooked back up into the draining cell while Human Sora was pushed towards LaRow and Ras, struggling against the man with no results. "Let's try this again, Ana" The woman said calmly, staring at the girl.

She only stopped struggling once she saw Dorama getting the cell back online. "If I do this, you won't drain her?" She asked, trying to keep a cold expression as she stared at the two before her while sounding defeated.

"Wrong!" The tiger guy got in her face, Sora's eyes widen at the comment. Gods, no... "We will drain the dragon. But when you finish your job, we'll stop draining it"

No...

Her breathing speed up, reality of the situation slowly sinking in.

"And now, I present to you, what you've all been waiting for! A real show—"

"Get on with it!" Ras cut the theater man-child off.

The man sulked, lowkey deadpanning at him. "...stopper. On with the show" He turned the machine on, full power. Dragon Sora roared in pain making Human Sora wince.

"No!!" She pushed forward, but the man behind her hold her in place.

Ras got close to her again. "Want this to end? Do. your. work."

She gave a quick nod, stifling back any pathetic noise that wanted to leave her throat. The man behind her letting go and she jumped towards the workbench, blinking tears away as she finally gave in and did what they asked of her. The four watched with smiles on their faces. 

LaRow couldn't help but snort, amused by the situation. "You came back to destroy the machine you created. Now, instead, you're further empowering Imperium" Ana gripped the part she had in her hand harder. "How utterly satisfying, Ana. You realize now, you cannot stop us" Ana gritted her teeth and held her breath for a moment, making sure no embarrassing noise leaked out. "Once this is done, there will be nothing to prevent Imperium from hunting down every dragon in the merged lands. Including the Source Dragons"

The girl paused, she looked up, "Source Dragons?"

Before the crazy woman could elaborate, if she even was about to, the tiger guy grabbed her by the collar and pulled closer, growling in her face.

Ana watched, but her eyes quickly drifted to the caged dragon and she went back to work. It didn't take long before she was done, "Stop hurting her. I finished" She turned to the adults, making direct eye contact with the tiger.

"Prove it" 

She did, pressing a button to activate the Photac and summoning the beast that made her and her friends come to this place. Dorama kept their end of the bargain, shutting the draining machine down and letting Dragon Sora go. Except the dragon could do nothing but just lay there, exhausted, taking in all the peace it could.

Ras smiled, "Perfect. Imperium is now completely unstoppable"

Ana covered her mouth with a hand, tears gathering in her eyes, "What have I done...?"

Chapter Text

To say the situation was tense would be an understatement.

So, it turns out making rush decisions without thinking them through can get you stuck in rather awkward situations. Like how freeing all the dragons caused guards to show up almost immediately.

"I said, get back in those cells!" One guard said, pointing his sword at them.

"Make them! I dare you!" Wyldfyre growled, lighting her fists on fire.

Lloyd put a hand on her shoulder, hoping to somewhat hold her back. "Daring them? Look, we don't want to fight in these close quarters" 

She scoffed. "Who said we don't want to fight?"

"I have a fake ID as an Imperium citizen. I might be able to talk our way out of this" He tried reasoning with her but the girl rolled her eyes.

"Talk? Barf. Fight!" She let out a roar and charged at the guards, the hero reaching out for her but realizing this wasn't going to work.

"Okay, so impulse control isn't her thing..." He noted under his breath, quickly scanning the area for something useful. His eyes (and by extension mind) settled on a control panel, one that wasn't broken yet as it wasn't next to any of the cells. He tried using it to... do anything, basically. It wasn't really successful, but in his defense, he didn't even get a lot of time to try as one of the guards was sent flying at it, breaking the poor thing and opening up the roof. Lloyd looked up, then down and smiled at the unconscious guard, "Thank you" He turned to Wyldfyre, who was too hyped about the fight to notice the escape route literally opening for them, "We got a new way out!"

The girl glanced at him, looking up as he pointed out the exit, a smile bloomed on her face. "Heatwave, go!" She commanded rushing over to her family, there was a roar of acknowledgement from the mentioned dragon.

Lloyd rushed after her, seeing all the dragons were preparing to fly off. "Wait for me!" One of the dragons stayed behind, waiting for him to jump on its back before following the others. Needless to say it got appreciation pets for that. He slowly looked up at all the dragons ascending higher and higher, aiming for the sky, for their FREEDOM— "No! The electro-barrier is still—" Boink! (More like Zap! actually) "Uh, active. Ouch..."

The few dragons that hit the barrier fell down, the others following for both their own good and to check on their... friends? Co-ex-prisoners? Whatever is their relationship, they cared about one another at that moment.

Wyldfyre growled annoyed, "We're free of our cages but still trapped in the large house!"

Lloyd turned to her, brows drew together in confusion, "Large house???"

She huffed, "The large house of many houses!"

"...You mean the city?" He deadpanned. What was even happening right now? The last hour or so was just a chaotic mess...

"That's the word. How do we get out of the city?"

"We snuck in through waste tunnels, but they're too small for dragons. So the only way out is through the main gates," He pointed out the direction, making the girl try and see what he was talking about. She failed, it was too far. "which will not be easy" 

Wyldfyre raised a brow, giving him a meaningful look before commanding the dragons to head for the gate.

"Wait, so how does this work exactly?" Tommy questioned while they walked. The girl turned to him, silently urging him to elaborate. "You said you can disable the alarm, so you knew we were coming in before Sora hacked the ID dispenser"

Rumi gave him a disappointed look at the makeshift name. "I knew someone was breaking in, but I wasn't interested enough to check the CC feed for who it was. It's not like I'm with these guys, otherwise you'd be thoroughly fucked" She started explaining as they moved forward. Tommy made a face, but just as he was about to speak she continued, "I only got interested when I saw my brother's name"

The blond furrowed his brows. "Wait, what? But we all used—"

"His 'fake name' is literally his name but backwards, and rather poorly at that..." She deadpan, cutting him off.

Gears turned in Tommy's head as he thought about this for the first time. His eyes widen, "Holy shit..."

"Wait, you didn't know???" Chat looked at him, amused.

He glared at them, "And you did?"

"How could we not!?"

"OH, MY FUCKING—"

Ping! "Shh!" Rumi shushed the two as the tablet in her hands made a soft sound. She intensively stared at the screen before scoffing in annoyance.

"What's up?" Tommy asked, peeking over her shoulder, he saw a red dot moving across a map of, what he assumed, was the kingdom of Imperium.

"The fun begins for real..." He looked at her in confusion. She turned to him, their eyes meeting, and she could immediately see he had no idea what she meant. Rumi sighed, "They broke out, which means most of the guards will be on their asses now. And by extend ours"

"Oh..."

"Let's get a move on" She turned off the tablet and straight up folded it so that it would fit in her pocket. "You have any more burning questions that we don't really have the time to answer but I guess fuck the dragon revolution?" She glanced at the teen as they now moved faster and towards the nearest exit.

Tommy send her a smirk. "You have noooo idea"

"Yeah?"

"So you're the only person who checks cameras?"

"No"

"So how do we know people aren't on our asses from the moment we left? You don't record camera logs here?"

"Oh, we absolutely keep the logs. I don't think a single one was deleted since the Empress took over. That is, unless she wanted something gone"

"Afraid of cancel culture" Chat hummed, making the two humans (or something close enough) to snort in amusement.

"You can say that again"

"So how do we know we aren't fucked already?" Tommy repeated.

"Because I'm actively deleting everything that could incriminate us. The more questions you ask the more work I have"

Oh...

Percival stared the older teen down, basically holding the dragonling at gun point. "I can't believe you've been hiding a filthy dragon this whole time, Floortile! What self-respecting Imperian would be a dragon-lover?"

Arin's expression harden. "I'm not an Imperian"

The ITPF leader cringed and the others looked taken aback, "Ugh! An outlander? And we listened to your teachings. I... I am ashamed. You have tarnished us in front of the very image of the Empress!"

"All hail the Good Empress!" The others exclaimed at the same time, as if saying this was the most important thing at the moment.

"Hail this!" Arin raised his fists, ready to fight. But just then the ground shook, the dragon parade passing by and catching the groups attention.

"Dragons are loose in the city?" Percival grabbed his head, watching the commotion in shock. Soon the shaking caused a nearby banner of Empress Beatrix fall, conveniently covering the ITPF and giving Arin time to escape. He and Riyu quickly took the opportunity.

'Thank you, Tommy's Gods!'

The whole dragon gang charged through the city wrecking absolutely havoc, everyone who saw them quickly run out of the way, screaming at the top of their lungs. Looking back, it was pretty obvious the animals were taking out some of their negative emotions for being locked up for Gods-know-how-long on everything that happened to be in their way, causing a lot of damage.

"We need to get these dragons into some kind of formation!" Lloyd, seeing all the chaos, shouted to Wyldfyre, who was a bit in front of him riding on Heatwave.

She turned around to look at him. "For-ma-tion?"

He was just about to answer when he noticed one of the dragons hit a building, making a piece of it fall off, he destroyed it with his power before it could hurt anybody. He gave her a look, "They're causing too much damage! We need to get control of them!"

The wyld (get it?) girl glared at him, "No control. Dragons are free! Escape is all that matters!"

"But innocent people could get hurt! This is too dangerous!"

"I am danger!" After that she turned around, charging forward even faster.

Ana stared blankly at the floor after activating all the Photacs.

A bit away from her, Ras decided to call Rapton, so that him and his army could pick up the Photacs to take care of the recent dragon problem inside the city. "Lord Ras! Hey. How are things? All good here, don't know what you might've been hearing" The man forced a laugh then cleared his throat.

"Get the Claws of Imperium to the Advanced Systems Lab. Now!"

"But we have orders to stop the whole dragon thing" Something behind him exploded, causing him to turn around for a second before looking back at the screen. "Which is going pretty well so far, to be honest. Heh"

Ras narrowed his eyes at him. "I said, now!!" And with that he cut the connection short.

While this conversation was happening Dr. LaRow talked with some red haired girl in a lab coat. The girl kept on occasionally glancing and glaring at the other girl in the room, growing more and more annoyed as Ana didn't even look up and acknowledged her presence.

Ras walked over to them, seeing him approach, the woman quickly dismissed the girl, "Thank you, Jordana" The girl gave a nod and walked away. LaRow turned around and called the Empress, who quickly picked up. "Positive confirmation, Empress"

"It's about time. Now show those dragons what happens when they try to defy me"

"As you command" The tiger man bowed, the women on the screen smiling down at them before ending the call.

A while later Rapton's forces arrived, everyone huffed and puffed as they straight up run all the way to here. "You called us, sir"

"It's time. Mount up!"

Rapton raised his brows in surprise before smiling evilly. Him and his forces moved on to the technical garage, right under the lab. Ana watched through a window as they activated all the Photacs and left the hangar, throat closing onto itself as fresh tears gathered in the corners of her eyes.

While everything was going down hard in the Kingdom of Imperium, Kai was having a blast back at the monastery, playing Lava Zombies as a reward of sorts after 'working his ass off'.

"I will crush you and everything you ever believed in, foe!" He exclaimed, smashing the buttons on his controller. 'Surprisingly', he started losing. "Oh, come on, computer! You're not supposed to go that hard! This is my chill time for stopping that MergeQuake this morning all by myself. I deserve to relax!" The hero complained out loud, now actually focusing on the game. His character still got killed. He huffed in annoyance, "Hey! Oh, that's it. You're done for, computer!" 

Without a warning, the screen went black as the computer shut off. "What the—?" The realization hitting him like a stack of bricks. "No. No no no no, I didn't mean quit!" He jumped off the couch, throwing the controller to the side as he rushed towards the screen. He started messing around with it, hoping to turn it back on. "Oh, come on, I'm sorry! Look, with everyone gone, you're my only friend here, computer"

The confession didn't mend the broken heart of the computer, it seem to actually made it more sad as all the lights went out as well. Kai slowly turned around, looking around the room and ending on the light that should be on. He scratched his head, "...Are we having a power outage?"

He didn't expect an answer, yet there was a voice, inaudible whispers coming from somewhere around.

Well shit.

"Lloyd?... Sora?... Hello?" He called out into the dark room. The mysterious whispers continue, not answering him. "Hey! Whoever's making those sounds, I'm a ninja. That's code for 'I can kick your ass'!" The ghosts didn't like this, the TV was replaced by the elevator, the bright light making the ninja slowly turn around. "The elevator?..." He stared at it for a moment, then cautiously approached and peaked inside, "Hello? Anyone here?"

Nothing. No one was inside.

He entered. "If you're trying to scare me, it's not working" He waited for an answer, but ultimately gave it up, shrugging. "Maybe those noises were just the wind, or— AHH!!" He was cut off as the elevator fell down, the force making him fly up and hit the celling, only for him to hit the floor as it stopped a couple seconds later, a pained groan being forced from him, "Ow..."

Slowly, like, really fucking slow, he got up, eyebrows drawing together as he realized he wasn't in the hangar bay. Kai scratched his head, questioning whether or not he was in this place before.

Out of nowhere, a yellow light orb appeared and started circling around him, he initially backed away, jumpscared, but quickly calmed down and just observed it with curiosity. "Oh, good. A ghost. Nothing horrifying about being stuck in the monastery alone with a ghost..." After a moment it flew off, he followed. It lead him towards the big door leading fuck-knows-where and phased though the lock. He deadpan stared at it, "And a strange locked door I've never seen before. Cool. Very cool" He kicked the door open.

He stared at the orb with boredom.

"Kai..."

His mouth dropped. "It knows my name... I'm famous among ghosts!" He cheered like a little girl, the orb let a quiet sigh before flying away. "Wait up, ghost! You don't want a selfie?" The hero chased after it.

Arin run through the streets of Imperium, him and the small dragon somehow got separated (literally dunno how), causing him to panic a little bit. "Riyu? Where did you go, buddy? Ugh, I can't believe I lost you..."

The ground shook again. Looking up Arin saw a crowd of people running away while screaming, a group of dragons chasing them. Well that is not good...

"The filthy dragons have escaped! This is mania!" A woman exclaimed as she passed him.

A men quickly followed her lead. "May the Empress save us!"

"Riyu? Riyu???" He called out, hoping the little dragon was somewhere amongst this... parade for freedom.

"Arin! There you are!" The voice of his hero called out, a dragon stopping by him.

"Lloyd!" The teen smiled and the blond pulled him up. Before they could fill each other in on their solo adventures, he saw a fireball hitting something. "Fire? Kai's here too?" He peaked over the hero's should, almost instantly noticing Wyldfyre in front of them. He scratched his head, "Uh, did he dye his hair?"

"That's... not Kai"

"Wow, I really missed a lot. I thought there could only be one master of each element?"

"Not necessarily..." Lloyd trailed off, before realizing someone was missing. He looked around to just be sure before turning to his student, "Where's Riyu?"

Arin looked away sheepishly. "We got separated. I hope he's heading to the sewer exit where we're supposed to meet Sora" There was a short pause before he realized they already passed the sewer. He furrowed his brows. "But wait. The sewer is back there! Why are we going the wrong way?"

"We're going out the main gates"

The teen felt his heart stop for a second. "I've got to find Riyu! He could be in trouble!"

At the Lab, LaRow was watching as the Claws, with Rapton leading, run through the side streets on the Photacs to stop the runaway dragons. The woman let out a sigh in bliss, "Look at the majesty of our Photac creatures. Dreams do come true. Instilling terror in the hearts of wild dragons through unstoppable technology" She wiped a tear. "Pardon my emotions. This is just so beauti—" Before she could finish her sentence Sora smashed her head with one of the remaining deactivated Photacs, knocking her unconscious.

"You are so weird" She glared at the woman, then jumped back, narrowly avoiding a blast of most likely electricity. 

"Haha! No one expects a swift attack from backstage" Dorama came at her with his staff, the girl threw the device at him but he deflected it. "The last time we dueled, you had the advantage in numbers. Three ninja against one thespian. Despite my acting prowess, it was an unbalanced battle" He talked as she slowly forced her into a corner.

Sora walked into a chair, she glanced down before picking it up and using it as a shield. "You had us in a whole room of traps with a monstrous puppet! It was nowhere near unbalanced!"

"You only remember the negatives!" He charged at her, she blocked it. "But our last confrontation was just a dress rehearsal. This, is showtime!" The man went for multiple attacks, with Sora blocking all of them. Eventually she managed to push him away, she placed the chair down and kicked it towards him. Dorama let out a pained groan before falling to the floor.

She jumped over him, skipping to the cell and sparing Dragon Sora one look before trying to deactivate the control panel. The dragon made a soft roar, making Human Sora look up, catching Dorama with the corner of her eye. She jumped out of the way just as he was about to hit her, making him hit the panel instead. He screamed as electricity hit him then collapsed. The cage opened. The girl glanced down at him. "Wow... that worked out better than I imagined" She smiled to herself and went to hug Sora the dragon, her making a noise in appreciated. The girl Sora pulled away and started climbing up onto her back, "Let's go!" They quickly booked it towards the exit.

"And... scene" Dorama weakly said just as Dr. LaRow woke up, causing her to give him a look.

"There they are! The main-gates-which-will-not-be-easy!" Wyldfyre exclaimed, pointing at the gates as they were quickly closing in on them.

Arin smiled happily. "Great! Get these dragons out of here! I'm going back... for..." He trailed off as an army of Photacs came to block their way. Everyone stopped.

"Those are big" The girl commented, but she didn't sound too bothered.

"Now, let's try this again" Rapton started with a mocking smirk.

Arin tilted his head in shock and confusion. "Did... Sora activate more of those Photac monsters?"

Lloyd narrowed his eyes at the army before them. "Who is she working for, us or Imperium?" The teen behind him felt a sting in his heart. It couldn't be, Sora would never betray him— them like that... Right?

Meanwhile, our two favourite troublemakers arrived at the scene, peeking out from behind the shadows. "Uh oh..."

"Hm, that's new" Rumi hummed, staring at the beasts with interest.

"No, that's trouble" She looked at the blond with a raised brow but he didn't elaborate.

"Since I'm such a nice guy—" Rapton picked up but one of his underlings cut him off with an amused snort (Tommy pretty much mirrored that reaction).

"Nice? You? Ha!"

The man growled, turning to his army. "I'm being sarcastic!"

"Oh, that makes sense, 'cause you've never once remembered my birthday, which is what a nice guy would do" Another Claw added, making Tommy and Chat giggle quietly.

"Ugh. As I was saying," He growled through his teeth, giving his colleagues a stern look, basically telling them all to shut the fuck up. "I'm going to give you a choice. You can peacefully return the dragons to their cells, and you ninja can get a fancy new cell of your own" Tommy's wings fluttered as he tensed up for a second, unbeknownst to him the white haired girl looked at him with sympathy, Chat was too busy doing the exact same to notice. Rapton sent the resistance another evil smirk, "Or we can test out these completely indestructible fighting beasts right here, right now! Ha. I know what I'm voting for"

One of the claws leaned towards him. "What are you voting for?"

He facepalmed. "Fighting! Come on, you always pick the fighting option when you can! Ugh..."

The last part practically skipped over Tommy's head as he stared at the beasts. You know, he had that one idea...

"Hey," He started, catching the girl's attention. "Do you think I could hijack one of these?"

Harumi drew her brows together as she stared at him for a good second, she glanced at the army then back at him. Seeing he was already fully committed to doing just that, she shrugged, "Knock yourself out, man"

Tommy grinned, he quickly took off his cape and threw it behind him as he turned around, waiting for a good moment to strike. The fabric unceremoniously landed on Chat, covering the whole robot and they made an unhappy noise before they started to slowly take it off of them, revealing an annoyed frown directed at their host.

"We can't beat them!" Arin whispered to his mentor, panicking a little bit.

Lloyd shook his head. "No. We have to find another way out of this"

It only took a couple of seconds for Wyldfyre to pick. "We heard your choices!"

"Is she going to surrender?" The youngest teen asked with hope but the hero in front of him sighed.

"You obviously haven't met her yet..."

"And we agree with you! Always pick the fighting option!!" She roared and most of the dragons charged forward.

"No, wait!" Lloyd called after her, gently promptly his dragon to follow the others.

"Uh, this is bad, right?"

"This is terrible!" The blond quickly spinjitzued away, leaving the teen all alone on the dragons back.

"Claws! Take down these dir—!" Before Rapton could finish his command, he got soccer punched to the side of his head, the force pushing him off his Photac and he landed on the ground with a pained grunt 

"Get hijacked, bitch!!" Tommy sneered down at him, unbelievable happy with himself as he stood on top of the beast that almost got them all killed earlier in the day. The others charged at the dragons while the one under him started thrashing around, trying to shake him off. Tommy stumbled back, falling on his backside, he quickly grabbed onto the beast. Hey, if this goes well he'll have a cool ass pet!

"I. am. danger!!" Wyldfyre screamed just before Heatwave bonked one of the Photacs, the dragon bounded back and she too fell down.

Rapton laughed at her. "I don't think you understand the words ‘completely indestructible’"

She rolled her eyes. "I don't think you understand the words ‘shut up’!" She lit her fists on fire and started shooting at him. Arin looked down at them, not knowing how to help. And Riyu was still miss—

"AHH!!" He got snapped out of his thoughts by the familiar yelp. He looked up, eyes widening as he saw the winged blond getting hurled towards him at high speed. Before either of them could react, they collided with one another, extreme force taking down yet another person as the two landed on the ground, Tommy laying on Arin's chest while the boy felt as if he'd broke something.

Lloyd quickly run to check on them. "If you have a Plan B, now would be the time..." The youngest muttered as Tommy sat up, looking a little dazed from the crash.

"I barely had a Plan A!"

As they were all distracted, one of the Hunters charged at them with his Photac. But before he could even get to them, a purple crystal wall appeared in his way, he crashed making the wall crack but not break. Everyone turned to the white haired girl as she and Chat, who still had the black fabric that was thrown at them in their hands, approached them.

"Poggers..." Tommy smiled a little looking at the crystal wall.

"Rumi!?" Arin switched between looking at the bewildered hero and the girl, who was actively staring him down. "What are you—? Wait... You activated them!?" The older blond screamed.

Rumi glared at him. "What? No!! Why the fuck would I do that!?"

"I don't know!! Wait, so you've been here all this time?"

She raised a brow, "No, I've been napping this whole time" They glared at each other.

Tommy glanced between the two with amusement. "Oh, this is fun"

"Guys!" The 'fun' was stopped by none other than Human Sora on Dragon Sora's back running towards them. Once they were close enough the girl jumped down, only to be greeted by two suspicious looks and an unfamiliar girl. "Guys…?"

"Why did you do this, Sora? You activated more Photacs? What were you thinking?" Arin immediately questioned her, his words peaking Harumi's interest.

"You did that?"

The girl looked to the side with shame, "Yeah, okay, uh, so I can see how this might look like I did something terrible..."

"Might look? Definitely looks!" The youngest teen threw his hands up.

Tommy raised his hands, looking between the two boys, "Woah, woah, I don't like the atmosphere we're creating in the studio right now" Sora send him a small smile of gratitude.

"Good to know at least one person here trusts their friends" The older girl commented, getting another glare from her brother.

"Shut the fuck up"

Tommy gasped, "You can swear!"

Lloyd gave him an unamused look. "Really?"

The winged blond shrugged, "You just didn't strike me at the type is all"

"They were torturing this dragon" Sora pointed at Dragon Sora as she started to defend herself, "I had to do something! But don't worry, I built in a secret way to shut the Photacs down and it's gonna be easy" She assured with a small smile.

Just then, there was some sort of explosion and the crystal wall shattered. Lloyd glanced at the progressively more and more dangerous chaos before looking back to the girl, "If it's easy, then please do it"

"No problem, I just need a quick spark from Riyu" She beamed and looked around while Arin paled. "Where is he?"

"Yeah, I haven't seen him yet" Tommy jumped in, scratching his head and even looking at Chat but the robot only shrugged.

Arin started playing with his hands. "Uh..."

"What?" Sora asked.

"Riyu is kind of... missing?" He raised his hands in a shrug as he gave her an apologetic smile.

"What!?" Both her and Tommy screamed, scared for their small friend.

"You three, go find Riyu. We'll try to hold off the Photacs until then" The Green Ninja commanded, earning a nod from his two students while Tommy gave him a look. Chat handed him the cape back and the winged teen took it, quickly throwing it over his wings as they all run off.

"Having a hard time with 'im, ey?"

Lloyd turned to his sister and sighed. "You have no idea..."

She hummed, "No, I... I actually do" He raised a brow but didn't managed to get an answer.

Kai made his way through the dark tunnel, trying to find the glowing orb that lead him down here. "Wow. The monastery really got weird, didn't it?" He asked himself, squinting his eyes at the dark. "Hello? Whispery glowy thing? You in here?" Suddenly he heard steps, he walked towards them. "Who's there?" He extended his arm, the light from his flame revealing his sister. "Nya?"

"Kai!" She exclaimed, surprised but somewhat happy to see her brother.

He scratched his head. "How'd you get back to the monastery?"

The girl blinked, confused. "I didn't. How did you get to the Cloud Kingdom archives?" Kai's eyes widen.

What?

Chapter Text

Tommy, Arin and Sora sat atop Dragon Sora's back, who was running through the city while the trio and Chat looked around for their fifth og friend. "Riyu? Hello???"

"RIYU!!" Tommy obviously went all out, screaming at the top of his lungs, making Chat try and shush him.

"Where are you, Riyu?" The girl asked herself quietly, worried for the young dragon. "Hold up, Sora" She said to the dragon, Dragon Sora stopped while the girl got two confused (and amused) looks from her friends. Unbothered, she looked around.

"Wait, this dragon has the same name as you?" The blond asked, trying to contain his laugh.

Arin tilted his head with a small smile. "How is that possible?"

She sighed. "Long story... So, you haven't seen Riyu since you got separated trying to escape the Imperium Student Feelgood Club?" Sora looked at the youngest teen meaningfully. Arin rolled his eyes while Chat snickered.

"The Imperium Teen Protection Force" The boy corrected before sighing with regret, "I hope they didn't find the little guy. They all wanted to be in the Claws of the Imperium. All they cared about was capturing him" Tommy subconsciously curled his hands into fists, his hidden wings flattering ever so slightly under his cape.

Sora looked up, taking a moment to think. "If they did, they'd have to report it in the security logs, which would be bad, but at least we'd know where they took Riyu" She shrugged in the 'worth a try' way.

"Uh, you want to hack Imperium logs? But that means going back to—" Arin started but Sora cut him off. 

"The Security Station" She gave a nod, looking at all three meaningfully.

Tommy huffed, "Splendid"

Sora jumped off Dragon Sora, having a quick look around while the boys joined her on the ground. She turned to her namesake, "Sora, go back and help Lloyd and the other dragons" The dragon gave a small roar before turning around and doing as it was told. When Sora the human turned around she was met with two goofy grins.

"Two Soras" Arin mused.

"This is going to get complicateeeed" Tommy sung as he swayed back and forth on his feet, his grin only growing with each word. She rolled her eyes playfully and motioned for them to follow.

They sneaked closer, carefully observing the guard standing right before the entrance. "Oh, that battle looks pretty intense. They might need my help" The guard said to himself, watching the epic battle by the gates on his holopad. "But those dragon claws are sharp... What if I get really scratched up?" He trailed off before shaking his head, "No! You're an Imperium Guard, Melvin. You should definitely..." He grabbed his weapon and turned around, "stay here and guard, away from even the tiniest discomfort" Tommy had to suppress a snort. Sora signalized they should use this opportunity to sneak inside.

Thanks, Melvin!

They four followed the guard until they run into an opening. They waited for Melvin to walk away before Sora peeked out to check if it was safe to pass. She saw a guy but soon realized he was asleep, she smiled to herself and turned to the others, "He's asleep" The boys smiled and they carefully made their way into the room. Sora immediately went to the computer, searching through recent reports. 

"You know, now that I'm thinking about it," Tommy started, a hand on his chin as he thought, "We could've have Rumes do this" Chat gave him a look.

Arin scratched his head. "Really? Well, uh, Lloyd wanted us to take care of this"

Tommy deadpan at the younger boy, "That's because he's a moron"

"I'm seeing all the recent dragon captures, but nothing fits Riyu's description" The girl announced, cutting their conversation short. She turned to them, worry written all over her face. "Where could he be?"

Percival arrived at the palace with a tied up Riyu on his hoverboard. "Hello? Can anyone help me? I caught a dragon all by myself!" He called out.

Soon a group of guards rushed out. "The dragons are attacking the main gate! Come on!"

"I think the Good Empress would be impressed with my work" The kid pushed his chest out with pride. The guards just went past him. (What did you expect, kid???) He frowned in annoyance, opting for entering the palace either way. "Why won't anyone listen to me? I just want to impress the Empress!" He huffed.

Just then the door before him opened, revealing none other than the Empress, accompanied by four guards. Percival's eyes widened, mouth dropping for a second before he straighten up then bowed. The woman, having heard him complain, eyed him, smiling once she noticed the tied up dragon behind him, "Really? Do tell"

"Uh, all hail the Good Empress!"

She walked around him, stopping right before Riyu, making the small dragon whimper. "Look what you have brought me. Well done, my boy" The teen smiled hearing this.

The two siblings stared at each other in utter confusion. "You were in the Cloud Kingdom, Nya. How'd you get under the monastery?" Kai questioned getting a weirded out look from his sister.

"I'm not under the monastery. I'm under the Cloud Kingdom, which is exactly where you should not be!" She accused, putting her hands on her hips while the brunet scratched his head.

"Uh, no, that can't be right. I was just playing video games and then—"

Nya rolled her eyes while her lips turned into a small smile, "Big shock"

The Fire Ninja crossed his arms. "Hey. Stopping MergeQuakes by myself isn't easy. I needed some self-care. Anyway, I heard some weird whispers, so I started following them"

The girl's eyes widen, "I heard weird whispers too, in the Cloud Kingdom archives. Like they were calling out to me..."

"But they were just gibberish, like—" Kai then proceeded to speak the Whisper's language making Nya gasp.

"Mine too!"

"Then I saw this weird ghost thing? A ghost thing that knew my name"

"Same! It led me down some strange halls and then through that gate" The girl pointed.

Kair raised a hand to his chin in thought, "I walked through the same gate, but it was under the monastery. Is that some kind of portal?"

"If it is, it sent us both to the same place. Here. Wherever ‘here’ is. Kind of looks like a strange monastery, doesn't it?" The two of them looked around. Nya spotted a symbol, prompting her to immediately point it out, "Dragon sun? Dragon energy?" Kai opened his mouth to speak but the disembodied whispers beat him to it. They looked at each other, "That's my whispery ghost thing!"

"Mine too!"

The two quickly followed the voice. Soon they found a room with a capsule in the middle. Confused, they shared a look.

"Eat flame, you bunch of flame-eaters!" Wyldfyre exclaimed before shooting at the Imperium forces, admittedly a little blindly, but who can complain when she landed most hits? Seemingly out of nowhere, a Photac charge straight at her, sending her flying across the battlefield. "Not faaaaaaair!!"

"Wyldfyre!" Lloyd called after her, quickly rushing to help. The white haired girl briefly glanced in their direction. Yeah, this was pure chaos...

The younger girl was just about to rejoin the fight when she got pulled away by the Green Ninja. He looked at him with an angry frown, "Release me! I must fight!!" She pulled back, quickly lighting her hands on fire before rushing back.

The hero run a hand down his face, "Yeah, you're welcome, by the way..."

From the side a Photac charged at him this time. He barely managed to realize it was running at him, only actually noticing when it was too close. But at the very last second a purple wall blocked it, the sound of cracking crystal piercing through the sounds of the entire battle. He turned to his sister and she shook her head, "Now's really not the time for sass"

Lloyd scratched his head and awkwardly offered a smile, then raised a hand to his communicator, "Arin, Sora, come in. We really need some good news out here"

"Oh no. Is it that bad?" Arin asked, audibly growing more worried.

Lloyd glanced at the chaos around. "It's that bad"

"I've hacked the city's surveillance network, and we're scanning through it as fast as we can to find Riyu" Sora said (with Tommy sulking in the background since he didn't get an earpiece).

"If you can't find Riyu, you're going to have to do this yourself, without a spark"

"I've never been able to use elemental power on my own. You know that"

"Sora, it's your—"

"True Potential. Yeah. You told me a million times" She cut him off, a tad annoyed. "But... what if my potential isn't as true as you think it is?"

"Stop! Wait! Go back!" Arin screamed (with Sora following his request(?)). "There! Look!"

"What are you seeing? You found him?"

(The teens and Chat exchanged looks, having the same 'oh shit' expression.) "Here's the good news you wanted. We know where Riyu is. But the bad news? He's in the worst possible place..."

"The Empress is pleased. I see bright things in your future, young Percival. Your efforts in the name of Imperium will not be forgotten" Beatrix said to the boy, putting a hand on his shoulder while his smile continued to grow.

"All hail the Good Empress!" He bowed and turned to leave like the good boy he is. Him and Ras passing each other by the entrance.

The woman and tiger man made eye contact. She nonchalantly turned to the cage. "So, this is the little dragon that is so important to your big plan, Ras? The one that gave you so much trouble?"

"The ninja make everything more... difficult" He looked away.

She turned to face him, an unamused expression on her face. "So you say, and yet a child just brought this beast to me on his toy hoverboard" Ras growled. The Empress didn't care, simply turned to the caged dragon, "When your friends see what I'm going to do to you, it will break. their. spirit. This rebellion will end and none shall ever begin again" Still staring Riyu down, she addressed the tiger man, "Call Dr. LaRow. Have her come here and drain the dragon's energy. Completely" She narrowed her eyes at the dragon with the last word, making him back away and whimper in fear.

"You can't do that yet. My plan for—" Ras started to protest but got pushed.

Beatrix glared at him. "I am Empress Beatrix Vespasian-Orus, absolute ruler of Imperium and protector of the true path! I will not be told what I can and cannot do by underlings, especially outlanders. Your plans are nothing. Your thoughts are nothing. All that matters is my will alone"

He growled, fists clenching by his sides. After a moment of them staring the other down he bowed to her, "All hail the Good Empress..."

She smirked victoriously. "Good. Call Dr. LaRow. Drain the dragon" Ras headed for the door. The woman turned around to stare the dragon down one more time, this time however Riyu growled at her. She scoffed in amusement.

The siblings carefully approached the capsule. "So our weird ghost guy wanted us to see this? What is it? Really, really ugly art?" Kai asked, not hiding his disappointed.

"Beats me" Nya hummed before checking the button panel, but it wasn't working. "Its power functions are inactive. I can hook it up, so it can do whatever it is it does, but..." She paused, slowly turning to her brother, "What if what it does isn't good?"

Yet again, before Kai had time to respond the voice spoke up, "It must rise" The two looked around, alarmed, not only by the sudden sound but also because it sounded just like someone they used to know.

With her mouth slightly agape the Water Ninja looked at her brother, "Was that..."

"Master Wu? It sounded like Master Wu to me"

"That makes no sense! What if this is all just a trick?"

"Well, only one way to find out" He glanced at the capsule, the girl soon did the same.

"I guess you're right..." Nya sighed before starting fixing the thing.

The teen trio was yet again making their way through the streets, trying to stay out of sight as much as possible.

Sora peeked out from their hiding spot then turned to her friends, "Most of the guards must be dealing with the dragon breakout. With our ninja stealth training, getting past those two will be no problem"

Arin made a face, "Lloyd hasn't given us stealth training. You're just talking about that time we snuck out to the carnival"

"Uh, that was informal training" Tommy cut in, placing his arms on his hips and giving him a look, he got one back. 

Sora rolled her eyes at them, the small smile betraying her amusement. She peeked out, watching for a good moment to pass two guards roaming the area. "...Ok, now!" She booked it out of their hiding spot, skipping past just as fast as she could without making a sound, the others right behind her.

They were already halfway there when suddenly Arin tripped over his own feet, faceplanting onto the ground with a thud and a quiet grunt. The other three immediately halted, glancing at him then up when they heard a "Hey! What's that?" from one of the guards.

Tommy straight up facepalmed and Chat grumbled quietly, "Someone learned nothing from informal stealth training..."

"Are you okay, kid? That looked like a nasty fall" One of the guards asked as the both of them helped Arin stand up. Everyone quickly exchanged looks in confusion.

"Oh, uhhhh, y-yeah. Uh, thanks..."

"How did you trip, anyway? It's perfectly smooth ground here"

"Uhhh—"

Seeing the boy was too stressed to come up with something, Sora intervened, "Oh, you see, he was so upset by what those mean people were saying, he must've not look where he was going"

"Meanies? Where? What did they say?" The guards looked at him, as if waiting for confirmation. Arin only laughed awkwardly, raising a hand to scratch his neck.

"Two streets over. They said the palace guards had ugly shoulder pads that looked way different than everyone else's" Tommy quickly jumped in, the other three quickly nodded.

"Oh, did they now? No wonder he was upset. We'll handle this!"

"Don't you worry, kids. We'll make 'em pay for such meanery!" They promised and sprinted in that direction to 'serve some justice'.

"Thank you!!" Tommy happily called after them, making Chat snicker.

"I can't believe that worked..." Arin said, looking at the corner the two guards disappeared in disbelief.

"Sometimes, I forget how weird my hometown is..." Sora deadpan, also observing that spot.

Tommy turned to the boy as well and raised a brow, "What did you trip on, anyway?"

Arin's cheeks immediately became pink. "We don't need to discuss my clumsiness. I punched myself in the face yesterday, remember?" The trio laughed while he turned and started walking up the stairs leading to the palace. After a second they followed him, with Tommy complaining about having to actually use stairs for once under his breath.

After what felt like too long for the blond, they arrived at the door. Arin immediately tried kicking them down, with poor results. "Maybe we should try sneaking into a window?" Sora raised a brow at him.

The boy quickly gave a nod and took out his grappling hook, "Good idea. Going up!" He exclaimed before he and the girl simultaneously reach for each other and elevated up. Tommy let out an annoyed sigh (while Chet laughed), grabbing the cape and getting it off as he followed them. Once they were inside he threw the fabric on the floor, honestly done with hiding his wings only to be forced to use them time and time again.

"There he is" The girl whispered pointing at the cage with a depressed Riyu inside. "Let's get him out of there"

Arin raised his grappling hook with a smile, he attached it to the ceiling (✨magically✨) and started lowering himself. A moment later Sora joined him, slowly lowering herself on the rope. As Tommy huffed and was about to join them, Chat grabbed onto his sleeve. The blond raised a brow at them but they only shook their head and gently pulled him away. Although confused, Tommy took a step back.

Suddenly the door started to open. Arin panicked and quickly elevated himself up a bit, bumping into the girl and making her fall. He caught her before she could get a little too far and blow their cover. Tommy glanced back at them, gripping the railing tightly in anxiety. The blond reach out a hand to help pull them up, but as Sora tried reaching his hand it only made the two sway back and forth, causing more panic.

"What a delightful little specimen" Dr. LaRow, Lord Ras and Empress Beatrix approached Riyu's cage, Tubbo and the red haired girl right behind them, all five somehow missing the commotion 'upstairs'. Tommy's wings fluttered, his eyes zeroing on the scarred teen.

"Time to justify that research budget, Dr. LaRow"

"The Good Empress is always generous to the cause of science"

Tommy took a barely audible breath and closed his eyes, tuning out the conversation as he tried to focus. 'Don't fail me now powers' Soon a yoyo appeared in his hand. He stared at it as if it just insulted his mother then threw his hands up and looked at Chat, now trying not to voice his complaints, 'I already have a yoyo! The fuck am I gonna do with this!?' His wings involuntary fluttered as he let out a quiet scoff, Chat gave him an 'are you fucking serious right now???' look. Quickly realizing he almost fucked up, he covered his mouth.

The other two looked up, Sora with this 'WTF are you doing?' expression on her face while Arin got more anxious. Thankfully, no one seem to notice (and if Tubbo guy did, he just decided to ignore it).

"Only when science is generous to me. Remember that" 

While the three scientists started hooking up some machine to the cage (one reluctantly so) Tommy let his spare yoyo down. The girl gave him a questioning look but he only shrugged. Hesitantly she reach out for it and used it as support while she claimed up. After she joined the winged teen they motioned for Arin to do the same.

"Ahem. Now, little dragon, time to drain every last ounce of life out of you" LaRow leaned over with a nasty smile.

By the gates, the battle was still going on full force, with the good guys barely matching the speed. Lloyd dodged one of the Photac beasts before raising a hand to his earpiece. "Arin! Sora! How long— AHH!!" He got cut off as one of the Claws shoot at him, causing a small explosion that sent him flying.

Harumi glanced in his direction, then glared at the Claw Hunter. She dodged out of the way before charging at him, creating two crystal daggers and throwing them at him, one of which knocked his weapon out of his hands.

The Green Ninja grunted as he picked himself off the ground, grabbing his head as if it could ease the pain. His vision swayed and everything felt so far...

"Lloyd, come in. We're in the palace and we've got eyes on Riyu. But Ras is here, and that Empress lady. We don't know what to do! …Lloyd? Do you hear me?... Lloyd!" Arin's hushed voice came from the earpiece, the only thing to not be muffled by the splitting headache. But the words never fully settled in.

Lloyd just sat there for a while, taking in shallow breaths as he watched the chaos around, dragons being overpowered by the beasts and Wyldfyre... kind of being in her element.

A hand was gently placed on his shoulder. "You okay?" He slowly looked to the side, jumping a little once he saw the white haired girl. She frowned at him. "Okay, dumb question" Without more questions, she moved behind him, hooked her hands under his armpits and pulled him to his feet, stopping for a moment to make sure he wouldn't just fall back down. She moved around to face him, "Breath" The girl simply threw before running off to help in the fight.

"In life, there will be times of chaos, when everything around you is a raging storm. When there is no calm outside of you, you must find the calm inside of you" The blond spun around at the familiar voice, but there was nothing but more chaos.

Okay, so he was going crazy...

Lloyd shook his head. He took a deep breath to calm down, in and out... "Arin. Sora. I'll get Ras and the Empress out of there. Then, make your move"

"You will??? Uh, okay. Got it"

He then turned towards Wyldfyre, "I know what to do. Turn around!"

She looked at him as if he was crazy. "Dragons do not run from battle!" She then proceeded to roar and attack another Claw Hunter.

"We're not running! We're attacking the palace of the Empress! Let's take this battle to the heart of the Imperium!" Now the other girl looked at him as if he was crazy.

The redhead grinned widely. "Now that's a good idea!"

"No, it isn't!" Rumi quickly protested but Wyldfyre already urged all the dragons to charge for the palace. While they left she stomped over to the hero and grabbed him by the collar of his gi. "Are you out of your fucking mind!?" 

Lloyd calmly grabbed her wrist, gently pushing the hand away. "The others need a distraction"

"Okay? I can make us a distraction!!" She threw hand hands up and he shook his head.

"Is your distraction gonna get the Empress herself out of the palace?" Rumi only stared at him. "That's what I thought" The Green Ninja threw before following the wyld girl. The white head let out a frustrated groan before joining them.

The Claws paused for a second, confused by their actions. "Where are they going? What do they want that way?"

Rapton huffed, "What am I, a dragon psychologist? Who cares? Just get after 'em!!" On his order, all Claws immediately started following the fucking army at this point. When they finally caught up with them, the dragons were attacking the palace. "Hey! I have an office in there! What'll happen to my collection of delicate porcelain unicorn figurines?" Everyone, including the dragons, looked at him weirdly and Harumi snort. "What? Unicorns have horns on their faces! It's hardcore! So… shut up!"

"Ninja!" The Empress exclaimed, making everyone turn to her and Ras as they arrived on the scene in flying thingys. "How dare you lay siege to Imperium Palace, the seat of my power?"

Lloyd glared at her. "How dare you treat these dragons like objects just to be drained, so you can keep the lights on!?"

Beatrix scoffed. "An Empress owes no explanations to lesser beings!" She suddenly turned to the white haired girl, narrowing her eyes at her, "Or traitors who side with them!" The girl kind of shrugged, sighing, not actually bothered by the comment. "Attack! Spare no one!"

The Claws attacked at once, Photac Beasts jumping at the dragons as the men shoot at the human assailants. Ras quickly joined the fight, jumping down with his hammer and swiftly making his way through the chaos to get multiple hits.

"Taste our fangs!" Wyldfyre exclaimed as she jumped off Heatwave's back and charged at a random Claw that was thrown off their Photac. They screamed whilst running away.

The trio, plus Chat, made their way down while the palace shook from the battle right outside. LaRow sighed, "Ugh. More drama in the streets? How is a scientist to do her best work under these conditions...?"

The four silently inches closer to the cage Riyu was trapped in when suddenly the other girl in the room pushed them with a surprising amount of strength. The younger two fell to the floor while Tommy managed to keep himself on his feet, but just as he was about to fight back, he noticed he was held at gunpoint, with Tubbo aiming a blaster right at him expressionlessly.

~We need to keep appearances~

The woman quickly turned around at the commotion, narrowing her eyes at them, "Intruders!" The four glared back at her.

"Finally. The day we've both been waiting for. A chance to finish our bitter rivalry once and for all!" The other girl exclaimed, aiming her sword at Sora. LaRow rolled her eyes while everyone else gave the girl a questioning look.

"Rivalry? With me???" The pink haired girl questioned, looking at the sides as if it was supposed to help. "Uhh, do I... know you?" The other girl growled angrily, pushing the tip of her sword closer to Sora's throat.

"Lloyd, come in. Problem—" Arin tried quickly informing the others but Sora's apparent rival pulled his hand away and took the earpiece out.

"A communicator?"

"What problem? We're getting slammed out here! If Sora doesn't shut down the—" Lloyd's voice was cut off as the cherry haired girl threw the earpiece onto the ground and crushed it with her shoe. 

"Not anymore" She quickly got rid of Sora's earpiece as well while Tubbo approached the blond.

'Don't move' Tommy's wings fluttered as his long-lost-friend-he-had-no-memory-of mouthed before reaching over to his ear, stopping for half a second once he realized Tommy had no earpiece. Still, Tubbo pretended there was one and he 'pocketed' it.

Underground, Nya stared at her brother as he, having offered to help her with the capsule, started to kick it repeatedly. "Quit it! Why would you do that? How would that help?" She screamed at him after comprehending his stupidness.

Kai paused, slowly turning to look at her before shrugging with an apologetic smile. "I don't know how to do anything else. I'm not an engineer like you"

"Maybe not, but I can't actually finish this without you. I need spot welds here, here, and here" She pointed out, making the Fire Ninja smile.

He kneeled right next to her and raised his hand before summoning his fire. "Now we're talking. Done, done, aaaaand done"

The girl rolled her eyes with a smile. The both of them got up and walked back to the control panel. "Okay. Now let's see what the Master-Wu-ghost-who-hopefully-was-not-a-trick wanted us to fix" She pulled a lever and they looked up, waiting for whatever.

Nothing happened.

Kai huffed in annoyance. "Seriously!? That ghost jerk made us come all this way for nothing?" He scoffed and jumped at the capsule, delivering another kick. To their utter surprise it started whirring and shaking. Kai backed away.

"Oh no. What have we done!?"

The capsule cracked open before the parts fell to the ground with a heavy thud, smoke filling the area around it. But then, from the smoke came a familiar person. The two ninjas gasped, "Zane?!"

The Ice Ninja looked at the both of them, smiling before his expression turned to confusion, "My friends, where am I? Last I recall, we were flying into that flickering storm"

Nya frowned a bit, "The Merge? Zane, that was years ago"

Zane titled his head, "You mean figuratively or—?" Before he got to finish, the panel started beeping. His eyes widened and he quickly rushed over, the two confused siblings right behind him, "That is a binary distress call. There must be trouble" He got out a cable and connected himself to the panel. "Receiving data from this unit. Our friend urgently needs us. "It is time for the Imperium Monastery to rise"

"The Imperium Monastery?"

"Hold on" Ignoring Nya's question, Zane pressed a button and the whole place started to shake.

"Arin, Sora, come in!" Lloyd tried contacting the teens yet again, getting nothing but silence in answer. Actually, scratch that, his answer was the ground shaking, causing the battle to pause as everyone because confused. He groaned, "Don't tell me things are about to get worse..."

Slowly, a structure started raising up from the ground right in front of the palace (and by extension their current battlefield). The Green Ninja raised a brow at his sister, she raised her hands in defense. "No fucking idea" She simply stated at the silent question.

The other girl approached them. "What is this strange house?"

Lloyd sighed. "No clue. Prepare for anything" He and Rumi took battle stances while Wyldfyre looked back at the building.

The door burst open, three color coded ninjas jumping from inside, making Lloyd's eyes light up in happiness. "Ninja never quit!"

Chapter Text

Tommy and the gang, with their hands in cuffs (yes, Chat, you included), were held at gunpoint by the three scientists. Dr. LaRow scoffed, mainly focused on the girl, "Ugh. Such a waste, Ana" Tommy and Arin furrowed their brows, so confused they instantly turned to look at the girl whereas they'd normally try seeing if the other boy understood. "You were the brightest student I'd ever seen" Jordana's head snapped to the woman with a bewildered look and she scoffed quietly, Chat and Tubbo exchanged amused looks.

"Ana?" The younger boy questioned. "Uh, you've got your wires crossed, scientist lady. That's Sora"

"We named the dragon Sora" The woman stated dully, Arin only titled his head.

The girl sighed. "My birth name was Ana"

"Oh. Now I'm embarrassed..." 

Tommy couldn't help but snort, thankfully neither could Chat.

LaRow hummed in amusement, a small smile creeping onto her face as she turned to the two boys, "Maybe you don't know your friend as well as you thought" They and Chat glared at her, then there was a soft sound behind the teens as Riyu bumped against the cage, the four glanced at him with worried frowns. The woman narrowed her eyes at them. "Oh, you won't get your elemental spark through the impenetrable walls of that cage. I know you get your energy off that dragon. Seems you and I aren't that different, both using these beasts for power" She smiled at Sora, who in turn glared back. But before she could disagree, Tommy beat her to it.

"She's nothing like you! You hurt them! Riyu shares his power willingly. His choice" Chat gave a strong nod to that.

The woman glanced at him, clearly acknowledging his words but never addressing them. She turned back to Sora, "You use that dragon when you need him, just as I use mine. Maybe you learned more in my lab than you realized" She pressed with that smirk that made all non-brainwashed people in the room wanna rip it right off. The smirk soon fell though, replaced by a small scowl as she pulled out her communicator (or whatever the fuck it is). "But not enough to know how to pick the winning side" She threw it up, showing the live CCTV feed from right outside the palace, where the battle was just as chaotic as ever. Sora gasped, as the good guys were still clearly losing. LaRow smiled again, "That's right. I'm going to make you rats watch as your friends—" Suddenly, the whole place shook. The four exchanged looks, Tommy even managed to catch Tubbo's eyes.

"What's happening, Doctor?" The red haired girl turned to her idol.

"I-I... I don't know"

"Another MergeQuake?" Sora wondered aloud, glancing at the two boys by her side.

"Feels different. Maybe it's... hope" Arin said, sending a small smile at his friends.

Tommy raised a brow. "Hope??? An earthquake feels like hope to you?" He questioned, getting back a sheepishly smile and a shrug. 

The holo-screen glitched, right after that a huge cloud of dust covered most of the screen. A particularly strong quake forced everyone onto the floor. After a couple of seconds, it started to clear up, revealing a monastery of sorts rise in the middle of the battlefield. Three color coded figures, two of which the teens had already met before, jumped out, taking battle stances as the exclaimed at once, "Ninja never quit!"

Tommy stared at the screen with wide eyes. "Welcome to the party, Hope..." He mumbled in disbelief, drawing a chuckle out of the other two. The three exchanged looks and quickly rose to their feet, charging at their captors.

The blond jumped at his supposed long-lost-bestie, letting out an 'Oof!' as the impact made him bounce back whilst forcing Tubbo to only take a step back, he grabbed onto Tom's arms instinctively.

Thankfully, Sora and Arin had a better run, the girl managed to trip the other girl while the younger boy kicked the sword out of the crazy woman's hand. She fell backwards, covering her face with her hands, "No! I detest physical brutality. I surrender!"

Arin paused, not sure how to react. "Huh. That was easier than I thought—" Just as he finished his sentence he got tackled by his bestie. He glanced at Sora in confusion, quickly noticing the red head managed to catch the sword and made it transform into one of those laser shooters, aiming it at them. They rolled out of the way as more laser beams were sent their way. Tommy was too busy (play) wrestling with the scarred goat boi.

"You'll never escape the vengeance of your lifelong nemesis, Ana!"

"Who even are you?" Sora and Tommy both asked at the same time, causing them to glance at each other and exchange smiles while the scientist girl fumed with anger.

"I was in your class! And because of you and your inventions I never got the recognition I deserved! You made me invisible!! Since you won that stupid science fair, I've devoted myself to achieving more than you. I even took your spot at the Advanced Systems Lab, and everyone says I'm way better than you'd have been!" She ranted. The wrestling boys (with Tubbo on Tommy's back, pinning the winged boy to the floor) stopped to share a 'WTF she's on?' look.

"Wait, I think I remember you. Was your hair a different color, maybe?" Sora asked, honestly lost.

"NO!! It was always this color!" She shoot more widely at them. In this chaos nobody even noticed LaRow slip away.

"Uh, I think you made her angy" Tommy muttered, not even struggling at this point.

"Kai? Nya? Zane???" The Green Ninja quickly rushed over to his friends, taking his mask off and reveling a huge grin. "How'd any of you get here?"

Nya put a hand on his shoulder, "If I had any idea, I'd tell you"

Still confused, Lloyd raised a brow and looked at Zane. The nindroid raised his hands in defense, "Do not ask me. I was only activated moments ago"

"Hey, is that—? No..." Kai's voice got dark as he started glaring at the white haired girl as she approached them.

"If it's any consolation, I'm not exactly happy to be here either" Harumi crossed her arms, matching the Red Ninja's stare. 

Before more (possibly not so nice) words were exchanged, the Empress shouted, "What are you waiting for? Get them!!" Ras immediately followed the order, jumping at the closest Photac and literally kicking the Claw Hunter off before charging forward, the entire army following his lead.

"Uh, didn't you come here to stop the Photacs? 'Cause now there's a lot more!" Kai complained before yet again glaring at Rumi, "Is this your doing?"

"No!!" The girl screamed, giving him the death glare.

Lloyd stepped between them, trying to resolve the tension, "Yeah, quick update. Fight the beasts, help the dragons. Oh, and the wild kid is on our side"

Kai opened his arms, even more confused. "What wild kid?" As if on cue, Wyldfyre charged forward, passing them as she started throwing fireballs at the beasts. The Red Ninja's face twisted in shock and offence. "Is she doing Fire? Uh, she can't do Fire! Fire's my thing!!" He exclaimed, throwing his hood on and also charging and attacking the army.

The other three also put on their hoods, taking battle stances alongside the other girl. Nya tried using spinjitzu to attack but got thrown back. "Whoa, these beasts are tough"

"Yeah. Haven't have this great of a workout since forever!" Rumi quipped as her and Zane attacked the beasts with their powers, dealing practically no damage. In the corner of her eye, the girl saw Rapton charge at them with his Photac, "Incoming!" She simply warned before jumping out of the way just in time. Zane, a bit of his element since he wasn't active for so long, barely had time to react.

Lloyd quickly used spinjitzu to push the beast back, bouncing back to pull the other ninja out of the way as another Photac charged at him. "Excuse me, I'm a bit slow, aren't I?" Zane noted as they were getting up. He got an understanding smile back.

"You're fine" The Green Ninja assured him. He glanced to the side, seeing the others fight to the best of their abilities and noticing some of the dragons getting pinned down, making him frown a little. He turned to the Ice Ninja, pointing at the building that rose from beneath the city, "What is that thing?"

"When I interfaced with it, it self-identified as the 'Monastery of Imperium'" Zane explained as much as he could while fighting. "It shares similarities with our own Monastery of Spinjitzu"

After another semi failed attack, Nya was throw their way, crashing into him. He held her up as she let out a soft groan in annoyance and caught her own balance again. She turned to Lloyd, "Any tips you're not sharing on how to bust these things up?"

"You can't" Harumi cut in before the Green Boi could answer. "They're indestructible"

"Oh. That's an important detail. You were gonna mention that when???" Despite the girl answering, Nya gave Lloyd a stern look.

He scratched his head sheepishly. "We're buying time. The guys still have a plan. I think..."

"Well, I sure hope you're right!" Kai exclaimed before getting thrown back by one of the beasts. A dragon promptly tackled it, quickly getting pushed back as well. Before the Claws and their Photacs had the chance to attack the heroes (and the two girls), Wyldfyre created a firewall, blocking their way as the human part of the army didn't want to get burned. Seeing an opening for some small retaliation, Kai shoot fireballs at them.

The red haired girl looked at him, slightly smirking to herself, "Not bad fire, but don't worry. I'll give you some pointers later" She pat his shoulder reassuringly, sprinting off just as the Red Ninja let out an offended noise.

"What!?" He glanced to the side, searching for his bestie before approaching him. "There can't be two active Elemental Masters of Fire at the same time. It's impossible. Also, it's rude!" He complained loudly, ignoring the chaos all around them.

Lloyd could only offer a shrug. "I can't make sense of it either. Which is pretty much how everything's been going for me lately..."

Before Kai had time to continue with his rant, Zane past between them, creating an ice wall and cutting some of the Claws off, with Rumi quickly copying him and creating a crystal wall right next to it. "I have calculated our odds of winning this battle"

"Oh, fun. I'm guessing they're pretty solid" Kai crossed his arms as he spoke sarcastically, to which Nya rolled her eyes.

"Retreat is our only option"

"Retreat to where? We're trapped in the middle of Imperium!" The white haired girl cut in. She then turned to the wyld girl, seeing she was still attacking the Photacs, "Wyldfyre" As the other girl looked at her with a raised brow, Harumi pointed at the two walls. The silent hint was completely ignored if not missed. She sighed while Zane picked up.

"The second monastery. Its fortified walls will keep the Photacs out. At least temporarily"

"No retreat! No surrender!" Wyldfyre quickly disagreed.

"The impossible kid's right. We're in this fight, so let's fight!" Kai lit his fists with fire as he and Zane took battle stances, hearing the two walls starting to crack.

"Bad idea" Rumi mentioned, earning a quick glare from the Fire Ninja.

"I still can't raise Arin and Sora on the comms, and our only hope is to give the kids time for their plan. Barricading ourselves in the monastery could buy us that time" Lloyd threw in, drawing a loud sigh (almost a groan, or a growl) from the red haired girl.

"Fine. Let's do your cowardly plan" She let out a roar as she jumped onto of Heatwave. "Dragons, attack!" All dragons immediately followed Wyldfyre's order, using whatever power they had to attack the army all at once. "Dragons, go!" The dragons, yet again, followed the command, quickly rushing into the Monastery, with the others right behind them.

"Oh, no you don't!" Rapton grabbed one of the sword/laser gun thingys, now using it as a controller of sorts as he send a missile after the group. The door closed before it could get anywhere near them though.

Ras growled, charging at the doors with his hammer. "You can't hide from us, ninja! Even in there!"

"Lord Ras! Lord Ras!" Dr. LaRow called, sprinting across the whole battlefield to get to the tiger man. He turned towards her, already looking annoyed. "I— I come bearing bad news. Uh, the prisoners we had? Not exactly imprisoned anymore—"

"Free!?" He gripped the collar of her coat and harshly pulled on it, almost picking the woman up. "All you had to do was babysit them!" He pushed her to the ground, hard, before quickly making his way back to the palace, leaving the ninja-n-dragon problem to the rest of the Imperium's Forces.

As Ras left, the Claws started shooting lasers at the door. It was extremely ineffective.

The Empress groaned loudly. "I gave you those beasts for a reason! Those doors will crumble under their indestructible force"

Rapton grinned at her. "I like the way you think, Empress. If we line up in alternating—"

"Just smash the doors, Rapton!!" She cut him off.

"Charge!!" The whole army did so, causing the monastery to shake.

Inside Lloyd put a hand to his earpiece, trying to contact the teens yet again, "Sora? Arin? Hello? Anyone?" He waited for a moment before sighing and shaking his head as he looked at the others. "Their comms are still down"

"Or worse"

He frowned at her. "No, don't say that"

Wyldfyre crossed her arms. "I didn't like running away anyway"

"Hard agree" Kai said. He noticed the girl smiling at him and he returned it, raising his hand for a high five. She quickly lit her hand up, with him catching up with her thinking and doing the same before they connected their palms with a clap.

"We could fight the Empress all day—"

"Uh, no, we definitely cannot" The white haired girl cut her brother off, looking up from her tablet, all eyes and curious stares drawn to her person. "We gotta get the kids back and leave this place. Pronto"

Nya turned around in thought, quickly spotting the gate. She pointed at it while turning back to the others, "That portal is how Kai and I came here. If we could activate it again, we could go to somewhere safe"

"Would that work?" Lloyd looked at Zane, getting a shrug. The nindroid then started running towards the gate, everyone followed (with Harumi only slowly doing so as her eyes stayed glued to the small screen).

He stopped right before it, eyes scanning the portal both figuratively and literally. "This gate appears to be linked to our monastery. But it is designed for smaller transports. Based on its power readings, it could not handle the transfer of this many dragons" The monastery shook again, making everyone look back again.

"Can we increase the power of that portal gate?" Lloyd quickly asked.

"It would need to be an extraordinarily large increase"

"We're right outside the palace. I bet there's something in there that could power the gate up" Nya pointed out, making the other tech skilled girl look up from her device.

"I do detect a tremendous energy source" The White Ninja admitted, now looking down. "It is not in the palace. It is beneath us. I have never seen such a singular reserve of energy"

"The Source Dragon..." Rumi said, almost breathlessly, getting another wave of confused stares.

Lloyd drew his brows together. "I thought we freed all the dragons"

The monastery shook yet again.

Kai glanced at the entrance. "Well, whatever you're gonna do, do it now. These things are gonna break through any minute"

"If this weird version of a monastery is anything like our home, then under these floor plates..." Lloyd, in big brain time, started jumping across the floor plates, searching for a hidden mechanism. "Should be an old obstacle— AH!!" He screamed as the floor opened, making him fall down a flight of stairs. Everyone beside Wyldfyre winced. "Don't worry, I'm fine...! And I found a way out! Come on, guys!" Zane glanced at Harumi before jumping down and starting to run down the stairs.

The girl sighed, putting the tablet away. "Not a second of peace..." She muttered under her breath as she followed.

Arin turned to the girl beside him, "Remember the obstacle course? The dodges Lloyd taught us?"

"How could I forget? We practiced that for, like, infinity hours" They both nodded at each other and run out of their hiding spot, dodging as the other girl kept on shooting at them. While the duo was slowly closing in on her, Tommy and Tubbo continued their play fight, with Chat occasionally poking (not even lightly punching) the brunet. They toppled over, now the blond sitting on top of the shorter boy, gently pinning both his arms to the floor.

They stared at each other, Tommy conflicted on what he should do now and if this guy really was his friend in some other life. Tubbo in turn looked around, eyebrows furrowing as he noticed the woman was long gone. His eyes then traveled up, spotting a small, albeit noticeable, black ball up where the trio was eavesdropping on them earlier. The corner of his lips pulled upwards a bit, confusing the blond on top of him and making him look up as well. Tommy squinted his eyes, trying to make the thing out.

"You won't be able to forget me now, Ana!" Jordana screamed, extending the sword just as Sora got close to her. She swung at her and the pink haired girl dodged, jumping over her. Jordana took another swing, the other girl raised her hands, making the laser blade clash against the cuffs, breaking them. Before Jordana had time to fully comprehend what just happened, Arin changed at her from behind, soon getting his hands free as well. The two shared a smile. "Oh, come on!" 

Sora kicked her away, making the sword fly out of her hand and she caught it. She glanced at the red haired girl before turning back to her bestie, "Seriously, I still don't remember her"

Whatever the black ball was, it quickly scatted away. Tommy felt the boy under him tense up as a bit of black fur slowly started coming into view. The brunet promptly kicked him off, not hard enough to make it hurt but just enough to free himself (not that Tommy was trying to prevent that). "Tommy!" The other two called out, noticing this in the corner of their eyes. They quickly rushed over while Jordana followed her colleague. Sora used the sword to break the cuffs on Tommy and Chat. "Let's get Riyu" Arin said, getting a nod from the girl while Tommy was still staring at the door the scarred teen run through. 

He slowly looked back up, eyes widening as he saw Ras standing on the railing, ready to jump down. "Guys, wait!!—" He called out to the duo as they rushed over to the cage. In the same second he finished his sentence, the tiger man landed in front of it, blocking Sora and Arin from getting closer as they halted to a stop.

"You'll go no further" Tommy quickly got up, taking a stance along his friends, narrowing his eyes at the man. "Give up, and we will spare your lives. The alternative is, I will crush the life out of all of you! Either way, that dragon will belong to me"

The trio exchanged looks (sorry, Chat), giving each other a nod before taking battle stances, with Sora gripping the sword tighten and Tommy pulling out his yoyo. "Never!!" The girl hurled the sword at him and all three charged forward.

Ras pushed the weapon away with his hammer, a bored expression on his face. He also pushed forward, to meet them halfway, swinging his weapon and making them dodge. Tommy flew up (with Chat), being the only one to stay in the air and attacking from there. The tiger easily blocked him and was just about to block the other two, but as he pulled down he realized something was pulling his weapon up. The winged boy snickered, pulling on the yoyo.

The man growled at him, soon also grunting as the girl landed a kick on him. He tugged harshly on the hammer, making the toy-made-into-weapon release it and he pushed Arin away before he, too, could get to him. As the boy rolled back, Ras started violently attacking the girl, as well as trying to get the blond whenever Tommy got closer to ground level.

Miss. Miss. Aaaaand... miss!

The yoyo bonked his head and Ras let out a loud annoyed roar. Tommy couldn't help but laugh. "Someone's got anger issues!"

"Move!" Chat quickly warned and he got out of the way, swiftly avoiding getting dunked by the pissed tiger, the ground shaking as he descended and hit the floor.

Sora jumped over him, landing on the cage Riyu was still stuck in. "Up here, ugly!" He turned to her, growling under his breath. The two up in the air watched with amusement as Arin slid across the floor, kicking Ras's knee, thus tripping him. The three laughed, "I can't believe you looked!"

Arin cheered while the trio joined him on the floor, Tommy and Sora high fived. He turned to his friends with a big grin, "Did we win? Did that stop him?"

The girl made a face. "As impressive as that was, I don't think all his strength is in his right knee" 

Ras growled as he picked himself off the floor, grabbing the handle of the hammer and dragging it behind him as he menacingly started to make his way over to them. After a couple of steps he started speeding up, raising the weapon as he charged at them. "You are nothing but feeble gnats!!" Everyone jumped out the way as the hammer hit the spot they were standing.

"Feeble gnats? As opposed to those really strong gnats, I guess?" Arin raised a brow with a goofy grin, the others snickered.

"Nice, Arin!" The girl smiled at her bestie while the man growled.

"You cannot comprehend the enormity of my plans!" Ras charged at the boy. Arin pulled out his grappling hook and used it to flee, soon afterwards Tommy's yoyo bonked the tiger man on the head, drawing another angry growl. He glared at the blond. "You are insignificant" Before Tommy could bite back, as the comment seem to be directed at him specifically, Ras hurled his hammer at Arin, hitting the rope and making the boy fall down with a scream.

"Arin!!" The trio exclaimed at once, with Tommy quickly flying to catch him. But just as he was about to reach him, one of his legs got pulled and he got thrown to the ground. Sora covered her mouth as the two boys hit the floor, the blond groaning in pain and the other losing consciousness. She quickly gathered herself, glaring at the tiger as she charged at his back. Ras immediately turned around, punching and sending her flying across the room, she let out a pained noise as her back hit the metal control panel next to Riyu's cage.

"You should have taken the first option" He picked up his hammer as the two still conscious teens tried getting up. Tommy felt nauseous, the whole world was spinning and not in a fun way. Ras snort as he stared at the girl, "You didn't really think you had a chance, did you?"

The girl cracked him a small grin, trying to keep herself from grimacing in pain. "You didn't really pay attention to where you punched me to, did you?" Tommy looked up, a smile spreading across his lips as he saw the cage's force field fall down. Ras started running at the girl as she turned towards the dragon, which wasted no time in powering her up. As her hands and eyes started glowing pink, Riyu quickly jumped out off the disable cage, moving to the side as Sora used her power to pick it up and use the bend metal to trap the tiger guy. Tommy laughed weakly while standing up on his wobbling legs as Ras let out a frustrated roar. Sora walked closer to the man, giving him a displeased look, "Always great to see you, Ras"

Riyu growled at the trapped man before running to Arin. Sora glanced at Tommy, seeing him taking a step and almost falling down she walked over to him and helped him move as they also approached the unconscious boy. The oldest teen sat down, reaching into his bag before pulling out two glass bottles with red substance, he handed one to Sora and she poured the liquid into Arin's mouth while Tommy drank the other one. He sighed with relief as the pain went away within seconds, he turned to Chat, "Remind me to make many, many more when we get back" The robot saluted.

Sora chuckled quietly then looked back at the other boy. Arin's face twisted in discomfort before his eye fluttered open. He barely registered the huge smile on the girl's face as he pulled himself up, eyes immediately falling on a struggling Ras, trapped in the bend cage. "Wow... I have questions"

Sora rolled her eyes playfully, grabbing onto his arm and gently pulling him up. "Come on, we got work to do" They all got up and headed out.

Lloyd, Zane and Harumi were running through the vents (I mean, are we that surprised?), with the White Ninja leading. "There" He pointed at one of the grids where an orange glow could be seen. He removed it and the trio climbed up, finding themselves in an underground lab room with a gigantic glowing sphere in the middle.

"Woah. What is that?"

"The Source Dragon" The girl answered nonchalantly.

The Green Ninja looked at her, then back to the sphere. "...It's huge!"

She snickered, "No shit!"

"I feel strange..."

"These machines," Zane pointed at the technology around them. "Are how they are attempting to drain this dragon's power"

"I had no idea Imperium imprisoned something like this..."

"And I have no idea how" Rumi confessed.

Right there and then a decision was made. "We have to get this dragon free" Lloyd said with determination, making his sister look at him as if he was crazy.

"You wanna WHAT!?"

"If we do," Zane picked up, ignoring the girl. "I am uncertain how we will get it and the other dragons out of Imperium. We do not have the power source we need"

"We don't." Harumi said, finally getting the nindroid’s attention.

Lloyd glanced at her. "We're ninja. We'll find a way. This dragon is coming with us"

She glared at him. "Are you being an idiot on purpose? It's a Source Dragon, the sheer amount of pure energy it has could potentially shatter existence itself. Within seconds of freeing it, reality could fold onto itself and implode!"

"Well, we can't just leave it here!"

"Do not free me" A commanding voice boomed in their heads. "The girl is right" All three sets of eyes slowly moved to the sphere.

"The dragon appears to be speaking telepathically" Zane noted aloud.

"Yeah, some of them do that. You get used to it" Lloyd assured with a small smile before turning to the trapped dragon, "You're imprisoned. We can help you"

"The capture of a Source Dragon is not a simple process. In their act of confining me, the Imperium has threatened the very fabric of existence. The realm world has tentatively stabilized since my capture. To free me now, at this moment, could destabilize it once again and result in total destruction"

"Feel stupid yet?" Rumi asked with a smug look on her face. The White Ninja only glanced at her while the other rolled his eyes.

"But we can't just leave you here!"

"Can you not comprehend the damage that would do to your world?"

She snort, "How about now?" Lloyd groaned.

"He appears determined not to be free" The nindroid said, looking at his friend.

"Yeah, I'm getting that feeling too..." The blond admitted, as if defeated. "And without a power source, we can't get the other dragons out of Imperium either"

"As an Elemental Master, you have contained and transferred dragon power before"

You could practically hear the record scratch as Zane and Harumi's eyes snapped to the other hero. "I beg your pardon...?"

Lloyd scratched the back of his head, smiling sheepishly. "You've missed a lot" He turned to the dragon again, "How do you know that?"

"I am a Source Dragon" It simply said and the two heroes exchanged looks. Awkward...

"Yeah... Sorry, we, uh, haven't heard of you before..."

The dragon, ever patient, started explaining, "I have enough power in a single claw to shatter Imperium into pieces. But, mystically imprisoned, I can do no such thing. However, Elemental Master, I can give you power to act as my conduit"

"Like I did with the Matriarch Dragon?" Cue even more confused looks, or like one confused look and one exhausted one. Lloyd smiled to himself, "Then I could power up the portal and free the others!"

"But taking my power is dangerous. Your life may change forever"

"If it will save those dragons, that's a risk I'm willing to take"

"And that is exactly why you are capable of being a conduit. Approach the sphere"

"Oh, okay, up we go I guess" The girl shrugged carelessly. They all got onto a hovering elevator and Zane got it to go up and closer to the sphere. Lloyd took a step forward, reaching out a hand and touching the sphere. The spot where his gloved hand and the sphere connected gave a bright light, slowly covering his hand as ribbons of light drifted from the sphere and started surrounding him. His eyes glowed bright, he gasped as vague visions of the future presented themselves to his eyes only in quick succession.

Thud! The monastery shook again, everyone (dragons included) stared at the door anxiously.

"Any time now..."

"We've faced worse, Nya" Kai said, grabbing her hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. She raised a brow at him, he looked away biting his lip as he let go, "Uh, maybe not" Suddenly, a loud noise came from behind them. As everyone turned, they saw the Green Ninja hovering in the air, glowing green. "Oh, what the—"

"Could he always do that?" Wyldfyre asked, looking at the siblings as Zane and Rumi emerged from the staircase.

"Not that I'm aware of..." The Red Ninja said, looking up with wide eyes.

Without a word, Lloyd used his (and by extend the dragon's) power on the portal door, powering it up. It opened, to where? Well, we're about to find out. Wyldfyre prompted Heatwave to run through, he roared, the other dragons following them and soon all of them were gone. Seconds later Lloyd stopped glowing and instead started falling down, unconscious. Zane caught him before he could hit the ground, the rest let out a relived sigh.

Then the door burst open. Rapton looked around, quickly growing confused as he saw the mostly empty room. "Where are they? Where are the dragons!?"

Nya took a battle stance while Kai put on hand on his hip and send the man a questioning look. "Dragons?" He started looking around, Nya gave him a WTF look. "I don't see any dragons. Huh, you must have the wrong place" He smirked as he crossed his arms.

"We will crush you! Claws of Imperium, tear this ninja apart— Whoa!" His threats were stopped as all the Photacs started glitching.

Nya furrowed her brows. "What the...?"

"My Photacs! My beautiful Photacs!" The Empress lamented from outside. She then got soccer punched square across the face. Her mouth fell open as she raised a hand to her face, pulling away, feeling something warm and wet trickle from her nose. Blood.

"Normally, I don't punch women," Tommy started, hovering in the air with Chat by his aide as he stared at his hand nonchalantly. He looked at her with disgust, his hand closing into a fist, "But I can make an exception" He flew off just as she started to throw a tantrum.

All the Beasts deactivated, making their riders fell to the ground as the other three run through, quickly rushing inside the monastery. "Oh, not the face!" Rapton exclaimed as he started toppling down the stairs. Just as he thought it was over, Sora jumped onto his back, it was only partly deliberate.

The heroes smiled at the arrival of the teens and their two companions. The four looked around, confused. Arin turned to the ninjas, "Where are all the dragons?"

"They went that way, where we should be going right now!" Nya pointed, the kids gave her a nod and everyone run for the portal.

"No one escapes from Rapton!" The man quickly picked himself off the floor, chasing after the group. Unfortunately for him, the door slammed shut in his face, making him collide with it. He fell onto his butt. "Ugh. At least no one saw that..."

"No one?" The voice of the Empress coming from behind him made him tense up. He looked back, seeing the woman standing there, awfully pissed and with blood dripping from her nose, across her lips and to her chin as she had no intention of fixing this right now. She licked her lips, tasting the metallic liquid, "The dragons are gone. The ninja have insulted me. And I am surrounded by nothing but incompetence!" She slammed her staff on the floor, firing a blast that made a part of the celling fall near him.

Lloyd jumped awake, breathing heavily and taking a fighting stance. He frantically looked around, "What? Where am..." He paused, recognizing his surrounding as his room. "Back in the monastery? Our monastery?" He winced feeling a sharp ping of pain in his head. "...How long was I out?" He slowly made his way out, first off his room, then the monastery as he found nobody around.

Outside, Sora was practicing with her power, Riyu sitting by her side like a puppy. She turned around hearing the door open, a smile quickly appearing on her face as she saw her teacher, "Lloyd! You're awake!"

"And you're training" He noticed with a smile. "...on your own?"

"Uh, yeah! Uh, look, I still don't know if these are my powers or Riyu's, but I realize now I have a responsibility to use them" She waved the pink glow off before scratching her head. "Not sure where this is gonna take me, but... I'm excited to find out" She send him another smile, which was quickly returned.

"Where's everyone else?"

"Probably in the new dragon stables"

He blinked. "New dragon stables?"

"You sleep for days, a lot changes. Some of the freed dragons want to stay here. Even that fire child, who may or may not have burned up Master Wu's old carpet..." Sora sheepishly pointed at the burnt carpet. Lloyd sighed. "Oh, Tommy also started training!" She threw in, making the hero perk up again.

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah, with that girl that joined us in Imperium, your sister?"

Before he could give any reaction, he got pulled into a hug from behind by Nya, with her brother quickly joining in. "Look who decided to rejoin the living! Welcome back"

"We got a lot to catch up on. Uh, you hovered and your eyes were all white and— and you had powers like I've never seen! Zane told us what happened, but really, what happened?" Kai recapped quickly before asking with eagerness.

"I'm still trying to figure it out myself. I saw things. Visions. And they weren't all good..." Lloyd looked away somberly, noticing Arin sitting all sad by the front wall. "But could you hold on a second?" He glanced at them, getting their blessing to leave in form of nodding before he went to check up on the boy. "Hey, Arin" He offered him a small smile before sitting next to him. The boy barely spared him a saddened look before going back to tracing invisible lines on the ground. "You okay?"

"I'm fine. Glad to see you're awake"

"You don't seem fine"

He sighed. "I knew when all this started, it was probably temporary, 'cause the other ninja were gone..."

"What was temporary?" Lloyd asked, genuinely confused.

"Training. Learning. Me becoming a ninja" Lloyd furrowed his brows at that. Arin, noticing him making a face in the corner of his eyes, looked at him, "I get it. If you have all of them, you don't need me anymore" He looked to the side.

The hero placed a hand on his shoulder, "Arin, you could be a better ninja than any of us. You taught yourself Spinjitzu! You have the potential to be the greatest ninja that's ever existed" Arin couldn't help but grin a bit at that, but after a few seconds it fell and he frowned again. "...This really isn't about training, is it?"

"I lost my parents in the Merge. I guess I've been trying to find a new family ever since"

"And you have, Arin! You, Sora, Riyu, Tommy and Wyldfyre. One thing I know about family is that it's just like being a ninja. There's always room to grow" Lloyd smiled at him, and after a moment Arin returned it.

In Imperium, at the Empress's palace, two guards and Rapton brought Lord Ras to a meeting with the woman. "All hail the Good Empress" They all bowed to her, she only stared at them, leaning back in her throne and supporting her head on one hand, her face now clean. "We are preparing more dragon hunting squads" Ras declared.

Beatrix growled, taking the hand from under her head and slamming her fist on the handrest as she stood up. "I don't care about dragons. Those ninja humiliated me. They need to be destroyed!"

"You're losing sight of the big picture. With one Source Dragon—"

She cut him off by slamming her first on the throne again, and again. "I have no time for more of your failures, Ras" She hissed at him. The Empress eyed one of the Claws by his side, that guard stepped forward and promptly put cuffs on the tiger man's hands.

Ras stared at them, his head quickly whipping to look back at the woman, "What? What do you—" This time he got cut off by Rapton electrocuting him from behind. He fell forward to his knees with a pained scream. He growled, glaring at the Empress, "The plan will not work without me!"

"The dragons are gone, so my holding cells are empty. I have plenty of room for you, Lord Ras" Beatrix simply said, with no emotion. She sat down and pressed a button, turning her throne into a mech. "It's time to enter this battle myself"

Chapter Text

Tommy pushed the monastery gate open, stepping outside the walls. Chat made a small, uncertain noise, watching him with something close to worry or concern. He looked at them and gave a small smile, reaching out to pat their head in reassurance.

"You're leaving?" A saddened voice suddenly asked, making the winged teen turn around. Arin approached him with a frown on his face.

Tommy raised a hand to rest at the back of his neck, he offered a sheepish smile, "I need to collect some potion ingredients. Should only take a day or two. Try not to get into troubles without me?" He shot a more confident, goofy grin, snapping his fingers and making them into guns. A fake, pink mustache appeared on the other boy's face, making the trio pause.

"Pffft!" Chat burst out laughing, Arin quickly joining them with a chuckle while Tommy groaned.

"So," Arin started after calming down (and taking the 'stache off), his smile falling. "You'll come back?"

"Duh! I seriously need to work on these..." He glared down at his hands, disappointed by the accidental magic use. "I just... need a break, from all the excitement" He did the jazz hands, chuckling sheepishly. Letting his hands fall down, he looked to the side, briefly glancing at the boy again as he turned around. "See ya" Tommy sent him a smile, then gave Chat a look, making them grab onto his hoodie, and took off.

He hated long goodbyes.

Arin watched him leave with sad eyes. The younger boy sighed, walking over to close the gate. A moment later Sora, Riyu and Lloyd joined him in the front yard. "Arin? What's wrong?" The girl asked, frowning as she saw the boy all gloomy.

He sighed. "Tommy's left for a few days"

"Oh..." She pursed her lips, the dragonling by her side making a saddened noise.

Lloyd glanced between all three before speaking up, "It sounds like it's only temporary"

"I sure hope so. He said it's only for a few days, but I'm already starting to miss him and Chat"

"Well, it's Tommy we're talking about," Sora picked up with a small smile. "I'm more concerned about him getting back in one piece than him not coming back at all" She joked, letting out a short laugh, this didn't seem to help Arin though.

It was kinda awkward.

***

Tommy looked around, scoffing as he realized all the prices have gone up. "Inflation..." Chat mumbled with disgust while the teen pulled out a small sack with money. The two of them started counting, first the money the blond had, then adding up all the prices, quickly establishing he didn't have enough.

Were they surprised? No, absolutely not.

But man, was this annoying!

He thought for a moment, looking back into his bag. They mainly needed healing potions, everything else would just be him treating himself. Then again, it would be nice if he accounted for power exhaustion as well...

Tommy sighed, he was still coming short, even if he was to sell some of his potions, the ones they were unlikely to use anytime soon. He motioned Chat to follow as he went to buy whatever he could, emptying his sack within seconds.

He really weighed his options, glancing at the flying robot. "Poll?" They offered.

Tommy made a face, "Literally how? There's only the two of us"

Chat rolled their eyes. Oh the disrespec! "We are multiple. There's, like, millions of us merged together" Tommy opened his mouth in a small 'o'. Taking it as confirmation, they displayed a loading bar. After it was filled two numbers showed up on the screen: 38% – stealing; 62% – favour exchange.

He huffed, "You guys hate me..."

"Heresy!!" They exclaimed as if offended. Tom couldn't help but roll his eyes, smirking to himself.

This might actually be for the better. After all, this was mainly an excuse to leave for a little while. To... gather his thoughts after... he learned a bit more about his past from Harumi...

Tommy shook his head.

Him and Chat approached one of the other sellers, earning a confused look once they skipped the products laid out before them and instead approached them personally. "Can I help you with anything...?"

"I need some of your stuff" The blond started bluntly.

"O...kay? Well, just pick—"

"But I'm completely dried out" He cut in, only confusing them further. "On money, I mean. I'm penniless" They made their mouth in a small 'o' in realization. Just as they were about to answer he picked up again, "Would you be willing to give me some of them in exchange for some... odd jobs?"

They paused, brows now knitted together. "Like, favours?"

He gave a firm nod. "In a form of payment, yes"

The seller looked away, lips pursed as they thought it over. A few second passed when they finally met his eyes again. "Well, how about I just tell you where to get them? Then you could give me a part and I'd pay you" They offered, now making Tommy confused.

He furrowed his brows. "That's a shitty business strat"

They shrugged. "It's not the first time I see you around. You're friends with that pink haired girl and curly haired boy, right? Not to mention you guys are practically friends with Mr. Frohicky. He's kind of a buddy of mine"

Chat snickered. "You've got connections" Tommy glanced at them, then back at the seller. He pursed his lips. "They seem legit" The TV bot threw in, seeing the blond hesitate.

"Mmmmmmm, alright! Might as well"

They seller grinned at him.

In Imperium, the guards were still handling the mess caused by the recent dragon outbreak. Mainly taking down the monastery that rose in the middle of the street.

Suddenly, one of the Claws spotted something in the corner of his eyes. He turned his head to look at it, then approached and gently picked it up. 

A feather. Black feather. One on the bigger side.

He gasped, then started running towards the castle. "Empress!!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, making all his colleagues look at him then at each other, trying to see if anybody knew what he was on about.

Chapter Text

"Underscore," Tubbo suppressed a bigger reaction, he was currently working on Prowler, under the guise he was, open quote: 'looking for any clues as to what that traitorous outlander has plotted'; end quote. 

Obviously he wasn't actually doing that, instead he tried using the mechanical spider the white haired girl left behind to get in contact with Chat. He chose them since they were something he had already came in contact with before the merge, he thought it'd be the easiest way even with them being only a mere shell of their past self (he might have miscalculated that, or he overestimated his technical skills).

"Dr. LaRow" He acknowledged her without much emotion, not even turning around. 

He knew exactly what went down when his long lost friend 'visited' not too long ago with his... new friends? Team? Whatever the case, Tubbo was one of not too many to know the truth. And he knew Tommy fucked up big time by pissing the Empress off. Hopefully he wasn't coming back, EVER. It's one thing if he and the Claws run into each other, just as long as Tom stays far away from here.

Even if that meant Tubbo would be left all alone for Prime knows how long...

"I need you to analyze this" The woman placed a black feather next to the robotic spider, right in the teen's view.

Tubbo ceased all motion.

No.

No...

"I've already had it checked," No. "And it came with some interesting results," No. No. NO. "So I need someone else to check it again. Just to be sure"

He was going to be sick.

"With all due respect, I'm busy, Doctor"

She hummed, not impressed, but not suspicious of him yet. "So far your work on this thing hasn't been very fruitful. I think you can take a small break to check this. Surely you remember the savages that attacked our beautiful city and disrespected our great Empress? This feather belongs to one of them, and what I found so far... Well, let's just say it's something you love to see in a situation like this" LaRow grinned as Tubbo finally turned to meet her gaze.

She already knew.

There was no faking results. Prime, he didn't know if he even would get a chance to fake anything!

By the way things have worked so far around here, he'd soon be put in charge of creating something that would be used to hurt his bestest friend from the life before the merge.

And he couldn't say no.

He gave a small but strong nod. "I'll get to it right away, Doctor"

A car was driving away from the Crossroads, the seniors inside sharing their opinions on the meal they just had (as you do on trips). "That Merlopian tofu was magnifique!" One of the women praised.

The other one nodded eagerly. "And topped with a Crème de Imperium? Oh, pastry chef Grab-Barg's creations are just... mwa!"

"Since our Crossroads built up, our culinary exploits have truly been second-to-none!" The first woman said, making the other nod again.

"So many exotic options!"

"Agreed! It's almost worth the ninja being gone for this!" Gus mused with too big of a grin. The car fell silent. The man pursed his lips, quickly realizing his mistake. "I was joking! It was a joke!"

"Don't make light of the loss of our beloved heroes, Gus" One of the women glared at him.

"But I have heard rumors the ninja are still alive. Some people have even seen them. They're just waiting until the time is right to show themselves" The other man in the car shared his bit of information. Yup, only Gus got a name. Don't at me!

The Undere coded woman scoffed. "Sounds like a baloney conspiracy to me. The Ninjas are gone"

Suddenly, everything shook. The Gods angered by the ninja atheist. (The worst kind.)

"Is it happening again!?" Gus screamed, panicked as he was the poor unfortunate soul to control the vehicle in these gods forsaken conditions.

The sky ripped in two, opening a level 5 rift as it was spitting out fireballs. Gus tried his best to avoid the flaming rocks falling from above. He took a harsh right, the car toppling over to its side as one of the rocks landed right next to it. Everyone quickly unbuckled and scattered out of the vehicle.

All but Gus who had issues getting out, nearly falling to his untimely demise. "I should not have had a second helping of Grab-Barg's dessert!" He lamented. The bridge did not like that. One of the pillars cracked, falling apart under all the (social) pressure.

Just then, when Gus was sure he was a goner, six dragons arrived with the masked heroes on their backs. Zane swooped in on his ice dragon, freezing the pillar that broke while Sora and Sora dived down to catch the fallen man. Human Sora smiled at him, "Welcome aboard! Sorry if it's a bumpy ride" Dragon Sora, apparently having a sense of humor, zoomed up, causing the man to start falling with a yelp before she caught him with her tail.

The other seniors cheered. The ground continued to shake, making a road sign right over their heads come loose and eventually fall. The three adults screamed, covering their heads. Lloyd and Arin flew by on their dragon, the teen using his grappling hook to catch the sign and hurl it away where it couldn't hurt anybody. (Wait, hold on, how is he so strong?—) One of the women looked up at them and smiled, "Thank you, young man!"

Arin smiled back, "You're welcome, ma'am!"

The Nameless Guy grabbed the woman's shoulder and pulled her with the others and the three started running away. Expect they didn't get far as the bridge cracked in half. Seeing this Zane flagged Wyldfyre to use her power on the crack, pointing at it and summoning his own power, making his hand glow. Surprisingly, she understood the assignment perfectly and did what he wanted, he went right behind to cool off the heated ground, essentially gluing the two parts together.

"Kai the Fire Ninja is back!" The Nameless Guy cheered. Must be a fan—

"Nope!" The red haired girl chirped, grinning down at the group. "You've upgraded to Wyldfyre!"

Kai's earth dragon landed next to the three seniors. "Upgraded!? Really?" Wyldfyre sticked her tongue out at him, the ninja rolled his eyes with a scoff and joined the others in the air. 

They closed the MergeQuake, the two Soras circles back to reunite Gus with his friends and then the heroes turned to leave. Human Sora turned to the group and waved with a smile, "Hope you have a great evening!"

The four stared at the leaving dragons. The Nameless Guy elbowed Gus with a goofy grin, "See? Told you they were back!"

"No one is ever going to believe us..."

The ninja and the someday-to-be-ninja flew over the Monastery, diving down into a cave opening behind it and landing in the new stables. Sora and Arin paused after jumping off their dragons, seeing their winged friend smiling at them with crossed arms next to the white haired girl, the TV robot right by his side. "Tommy!!" They cheered, sprinting towards the teen. Tommy laughed as they locket him in a hug.

"What up, gang?"

"You're back!" Arin pulled back, smiling brightly. He was mainly looking at Tommy but glanced at Chat as well.

Tommy rolled his eyes, "Of course I am"

"How was your trip?" Sora asked, making the youngest boy nod energetically. 

The winged blond sighed deeply, to the point it almost sounded like a groan. The other two exchanged looks. "I'm exhausted"

"Huh?" Arin tilted his head. "Weren't you supposed to buy things? How come you're exhausted?"

Chat placed a hand on their face. "We didn't have enough money, so we had to look for some alternatives..."

Tommy furrowed his brows, looking at the small robot, "I'm sorry, 'we'?" They stuck their digital tongue at him. The blond huffed. 

"It's good to have you back, Tommy" Lloyd said walking over to them, smiling at the teen. 

Tommy let out a small huff, crossing his arms and pushing his chest out proudly, "Of course. I'm a treasure!" Everyone laughed (some more, some less) at the comment.

After calming down, Lloyd turned around and looked around the cave. "I'm still surprised how many dragons decided to stay after we freed them from Imperium"

"Having these stables makes it easier" Sora mused.

"Stables that weren't here before the Merge, right?" Arin started all ominously, as if it was one of the global mysteries. Oh wait— "It's almost like everything's coming together for a reason"

Sora exchanged looks with the others and rolled her eyes with a small smile. She put a hand on the youngest boy shoulder, "I love ya, Arin, but not everything is some big cosmic plan. These dragons love living in this caves, we humans love living in the comfortable monastery up top" She pointed up for emphasise. Suddenly, a fireball went past them. They followed it with their eyes, watching it light up one of the torches placed around before they slowly turned to look at Wyldfyre, just in time to see her cheer. "Well, most of us here"

Lloyd started walking towards her, Arin immediately following. Sora glanced at Tommy and signed to come with as she went to catch up with the two. Tommy rolled his eyes, but Chat slapped him and flew after the girl. The blue eyed blond scoffed, throwing the lil traitor a death glare. Now Harumi rolled her eyes and grabbed his arm, dragging him with as she joined the others. 

"You're getting better at lighting those torches, Wyldfyre" The Green Ninja smiled at the wyld girl, getting a proud af look back. "But are you sure you don't want, I don't know... a bed? A bathroom?"

Wyldfyre scoffed. "I'm not soft like the rest of you. I was raised by a dragon. My bathroom is everywhere!" Everyone made a face, looking down at their feet, Riyu legitimately gaged. Tommy used his wings to fly up the tiniest bit, just in case.

"...I don't think that's sanitary..." Arin muttered under his breath, cringing.

Lloyd scratched his head, he sent her a sheepish smile, "Well, you'll always have a space up at the monastery, if you want it"

"Don't want, don't need"

Chat snickered, Tommy yet again gave them a death glare. "The jokes write themselves, Tom" They shrugged. Tommy growled, summoning a small toy hammer and swinging it at the TV robot, they dodged, screaming at full volume.

Rumi sighed in annoyance while the others exchanged looks. They started walking towards the elevator. Arin leaned closer to his teacher, "Is Wyldfyre ever going to train with us?"

"She's helping stop the MergeQuakes. I'm hoping she'll eventually warm up to the idea of becoming a ninja. Like how Tommy has" The older blond smiled, his sister immediately giving him a look.

"Who gave you that misinformation?"

Lloyd frowned. "Oh... Well, I thought since—"

"I live here and fight on your side, but am I a ninja?" Rumi raised a brows. The hero frowned at the reminder, sighing as he felt slightly defeated. But he was nothing if stubborn, so he still had hope the two menaces would eventually come around.

Actually, which would be considered more of a progress? 

Wyldfyre, because she likes him, or Tommy, because he agreed to train?

***

Some time later, the OG trio and their two companions run into Lloyd as he was fixing a painting into place in the hallway. "There we go. Perfect" He pulled back, putting his hands on his hips. The group stopped, exchanging looks. "The monastery works best when everything is in its proper place"

A picture behind him fell, the glass shattering.

Tommy started laughing.

Lloyd sighed.

"Isn't keeping this place running a lot of work?" Sora asked, the hero turned towards them. "Especially when you're also training new ninja?" She pointed at herself and Arin, who slid closer to her with a small smile.

"Yeah, maybe you could get some help" The youngest boy proposed.

Lloyd shook his head, laughing a little. "Master Wu could handle everything on his own. It's my sworn duty to do just the same. I got this" He assured with confidence.

Tommy raised a brow and pointed at the broken picture, "Like how you got that pic?" Lloyd only deadpan at him.

***

Later in the day, Lloyd was collecting trash from the hangar bay, where Nya was looking through the scrolls she took from the Cloud Kingdom's archives.

Seeing the Green Ninja, Zane quickly approached him. "Lloyd, I must speak with you"

"Sorry, Zane, but I really need to get this place cleaned up" The blond said, not even looking at the nindroid, just collecting trash into the laundry basket. (This isn't the right season, why is bro in desperate need of sleep already??) "Talk soon" The White Ninja watched him leave, surely he meant the 'soon' part...

***

"98, 99... 100! Done!" Riyu cheered, Arin glanced at him and laughed a little before turning to his teacher, "What's next?"

"Hm?" Lloyd looked up at the boy with a few second delay. Arin tilted his head. "Uhhhh, just do that over again" He shrugged, looking back at the scroll in his hand.

Arin groaned, "Ugh, again? Can't you come up with some new drills? I'm bored"

Lloyd sighed.

***

The Green Guy apparently fixed a whole ass wall! But just as he placed the last brick Sora in her mech crashed through it, breaking it apart anew and sending him falling on his back. "Sorry!" The girl called out. "Just practicing my mech fighting skills. You good?"

"Yup..." He answered getting up, a bit strained.

"I can help fix it" Sora quickly offered with a sheepish smile, picking up a bigger piece and placing it loosely on the part of the wall she didn't break.

Lloyd stared at it for a moment before waving a hand. "No, I got it"

***

"Lloyd!" Zane called out, catching his friend in the hangar bay again, this time carrying a ladder. "The information I have is vital!"

"Not now, Zane..." The other ninja said, sounding slightly annoyed. Not caring enough for the stern look from the nindroid, he walked into the elevator. The door slid up, bumping against the back of the ladder. Once. Twice.

Zane raised a brow, confused.

Lloyd attempted to move the ladder out of the way, the door bumping on it a few more times, making Zane frown a little.

***

Our beloved hero adjusted another picture, but as soon as he pulled back it tipped to one of the sides again. Slightly peeved he went to adjust it again.

Tommy's panicked scream sounded from a nearby room, accompanied by something blowing up. The explosion causing all the pictures in the hallway to fall down, thankfully none of them breaking.

Lloyd groaned, leaving the damn pictures for the time being and going to check on Tommy. "—how you survived this long is beyond me..." He heard his adopted sister complain. Oh great...

"It shouldn't do this!! It normally doesn't!" Tommy argued, louder than necessary.

Lloyd stopped at the doorframe, trying his hardest to remain calm after seeing the mess that was once a normal room. In the middle was a blown up brewing stand, metal and glass shards scattered around on the floor, discoloured by both being burnt (which was also the case for a lot of other things that happened to be unfortunate enough to be close to the once working brewing stand; also the ceiling, somehow) and colored liquid that was supposed to be another potion.

Chat deadpan at their owner. "Who would've imagine heating up a lot of infernal spices at once would be a bad idea?"

The winged blond, with sooted clothes and face, threw them a glare. "I was being careful!!"

"Not careful enough!"

"Bitch, if you knew it'll blow up in my face why didn't you fucking stop me!?"

"We tried!!"

"No you didn't!!"

"They actually did" Harumi threw in, somehow not ending up in the same state as Tom was.

He glared at her. "Fuck you!! You traitor! And YOU!!" He turned towards Chat again. "My stand is now fucked!!"

"We tried!!!"

"WE TRIED MY ASS!!—"

Lloyd slowly retracted back, deciding he didn't have the energy to deal with this for now...

***

Lloyd was calmly watering plants in Arin's room (when the shit did he get his own room—?). Suddenly the door slid open, Kai stomping through and towards his friend with an angry face, his clothes on fire.

Lloyd stared at him with concern. "Um... I have questions?"

"You asked me to train Wyldfyre, and this is how she took to the idea"

"Train me?!" The girl appeared in the doorframe, glaring at the both of them. "I should be training you!!"

Lloyd used his spray bottle to put out the small flames on his friend's gi whole he screamed back at the wyld girl, "Oh, says the kid who thinks that control is to blast at everything!?"

Wyldfyre growled, summoning her power in her hand. "Control THIS!!" She exclaimed, shooting at the Red Ninja.

He jumped out of the way, the fireball hitting the plant Lloyd had just sprayed with water, making a torch out of it. "Cease fire!" The blond called out to them, quickly using his power to extinguish the brining plant.

"Tell her to stop!" Kai yelled back, dodging yet another fireball before firing one of his own.

"I'll stop when you stop!!" Wyldfyre dodged, then charged at the ninja. He jumped over her and fired back. Lloyd glared at the both of them while they went back and forth.

"AAH!! My room!" Arin lamented, him and the rest of the gang appearing in the hallway. The two flame throwers jumped at one another, everyone else (although Tommy needed some prompting, too busy laughing) jumping to stop them. All the girls and Chat holding back Wyldfyre while the boys and Riyu held back Kai, Lloyd in between the two, holding their light up hands so that nobody would get hurt.

Zane walked into the room with a hard expression, not once stopping, he just used his powers to put out the fire. "I need you all to come with me!"

"Oooh, authority~" Chat mused, making Tommy snort.

Lloyd gave Zane a look, "Can't you see we have a situation?"

"Yes! A very serious one I need to inform you about. Right. Now." The White Ninja pressed sternly, before turning around and slowly walking off. Everyone exchanged looks, Harumi quickly started following him. Tommy shrugged, also going after the nindroid, with Chat obviously going with him. Soon everyone else did the same.

Zane turned around one time, checking if everyone was following him as intended and smiled seeing his success. He took them down to the hangar bay before speaking, and they tried asking. "I have spent the past few days catching up on everything I missed when I went offline during the Merge, especially the MergeQuakes like we saw yesterday. They threaten to destroy everything, and are increasing in frequency and intensity"

"Zane, we know the MergeQuakes are getting worse. Did you just bring us down here for that? Because I have plants to water" Lloyd complained while aiming his spraying bottle at the other ninja, this made Tommy let out a laugh and his sister hum in amusement.

The White Ninja shook his head. "I do not believe you understand the severity of the data here" He turned to the computer running a simulation, more and more red dots filling up the map as he continued, "The MergeQuakes are not simply getting worse. Their frequency is about to hit a tipping point. Right now they're appearing one at a time, but very soon, they will be everywhere, simultaneously. Until finally, all is destroyed" When he finished the atmosphere became rather tense.

Kai pursed his lips, "Then... what's the solution, Zane?"

Zane shook his head somberly. "I see no solution. This is inevitable"

"Oh, goodie..." Tommy muttered. Beside him, Chat was frowning that specific 'I played these games before' frown. The teen didn't notice them, but he did notice when Rumi sent him a sympathetic look. He furrowed his brows, staring back at her, "What? Why you looking at me like that?" Everyone glanced at the two, curious. The girl sighed shaking her head and turned her attention back on the big screen. Tommy's frown deepened, "What???" This time where he didn't get an answer he turned to Chat, but they turned out to be just as unhelpful.

Nya looked at the simulation while it played backwards. Suddenly something caught her eye and she quickly went to look through her scrolls, picking one. "Zane, can you roll back?" He gave her a nod, turning to adjust the screen. "Zoom in. Stop there. Up a bit, um... over to the left. There! Stop right there!" She pointed out. When the screen stopped moving she raised her scroll to show the same piece of land on it, expect her map also had a building marked on it. "I knew I had seen this before! When me and Morro were researching MergeQuakes in the Cloud Kingdom, we found old texts referring to a 'Coalescence'."

Lloyd raised a hand to his chin in thought. "...That could be our Merge"

"That's what I thought too. A Coalescence was once prophesized to happen, but didn't. It was stopped"

"How?" The youngest girl asked.

"By an ancient power kept here" Nya pointed at the building marked on her map. "The Temple of the Dragon Cores. But neither of us had any context for this image until now. Zane's data revealed where the temple is" She smiled, glancing at Zane, the two shared a smile. "If something here prevented a Merge before, then it's our best bet at stopping the MergeQuakes now, before it's too late"

The Green Ninja gave a nod. "Watering the plants can wait" This time, Tommy didn't laugh, too busy sulking. He had to be dragged with as everyone rushed to the dragon stables.

In Imperium, the Empress appeared on all holoscreens, all the citizens stopping to listen to her speech. "Imperium is the jewel of this new united world. However, a tiny number of disloyal citizens among us have spread false rumors that dragons, our source of safe energy, have escaped. A blatant lie. Yes, some evil dragons rebelled," Footage of the recent dragon outbreak was shown on the screens. "–but they were decisively recaptured. And now that the dragons are back in our hands, there is no energy shortage! In fact, anyone who says that the dragons are gone, or that there are energy shortages, is a traitor, and will be imprisoned. But do not worry, citizens. I, the Empress Beatrix Vespasian-Orus, promise to continue to guide you into the light. Thank you" The transmission ended, all the citizens cheered for their ruler.

Meanwhile, in the royal palace, Beatrix turned to the other woman with an annoyed expression while she praised her, "An excellent job at assuring the public the dragons didn't escape and there is no energy crisis"

"Status report"

LaRow faltered a little bit. "Ever since those dragons escaped, we've been close to having an energy crisis..."

The Empress growled. "We control one of the greatest fonts of energy in existence, a Source Dragon. You told me our energy needs would be met forever" She glared down at the scientist, almost accusatory.

"Yes, Empress, but as I've explained before, the process of draining the Source Dragon is difficult. That's why Lord Ras—"

Beatrix's eye twitched and she snapped, cutting the other woman off mid-sentence, "Never say that name in my presence!!"

"Apologies" Dr. LaRow bowed a little to show her remorse. She then continued after straightening out, "But, since we haven't found a way to fully harness the Source Dragon's power, we still need other dragons to meet our energy needs"

"Ugh" She rolled her eyes and fell onto her throne unceremoniously. "There must be a solution"

"Actually, there is quite a simple one. We could lower power usage. Some easy conservation steps could save so much power that—"

"No!" The Empress slammed her first on her armrest. "Asking people to do without upsets them, and upset people are difficult to rule. I want my people plugged in, content, and passive. This is the fault of the ninja, and they will pay. That fool Rapton's spy mission better bring me results!" She growled, then calmed down a little, "Speaking of which, was that tiny little feather of any use after all?"

LaRow grinned at the mentioning of the feather. "Yes. Actually, after getting a second opinion I can safely say it's of similar origin as our Source Dragon—"

Beatrix's eyes light up, the corners of her lips curling upward in a nasty grin. "What?"

"Not as powerful," The woman quick mentioned. "But it comes really close"

"Interesting... Did you start working on a way of draining on it?"

LaRow nodded with a smile. "We already did. That one small feather has prevented us from having an energy crisis already, but it won't last for long. We need a living organism to drain from"

The Empress hummed. "Have you figured out a way to contain that wild animal?"

"Well..." The scientist woman looked to the side, her expression turning uncertain. "Not yet. Although not as powerful as a Source Dragon, we found it is more unstable, in a way we haven't really considered"

"Well, figure something out! Because it's either the Dragon, or that brat"

In the Lab, Tubbo tried his best not to frown as he watched his friend's feather wither away, the small draining device sucking up all of its magic...

Our heroes traveled through the World Forest, where the trees are BIG (all capital). Most of them on dragons, apart from Tommy, who at some point decided to jump off the earth dragon and zoom around with Chat, leaving the Red Ninja to himself.

"These trees are the size of skyscrapers" Lloyd commented, the boy behind him nodding.

"They are the World Trees" Zane explained; the white haired girl sitting behind him.

Sora laughed watching Tommy do somersaults and other tricks between the BIG Tree branches with cheerful cries.

"According to the map, the temple should be right around... here!" Nya called out, pointing at a hole in one of the trees. Everyone quickly changed their course and flew inside, landing their dragons before jumping off.

"I feel like I'm the size of an ant" The pink haired girl commented, earning a nod from one her friends whole Tommy landed beside them, looking up at the temple before them. The other two looked ahead as well, slightly gasping at the sight, "The Temple of the Dragons Cores"

"Fancy door!" Chat pointed out, making Sora think.

"Looks like the whole door's one big puzzle lock. Maybe if we try—"

"Let us handle this one, trainee" Kai cut her off, looking rather smug. Sora raised a brow at him as he approached the door and pulled one lever at random. Two symbols light up. "I made it do a thing! I deserve a break"

Most of the girls deadpan at him, Nya shaking her head. "I think what my rude brother meant was, we have a lot of experience getting into ancient temples"

Rumi snort, "And then some"

"There's probably a combination of movements that unlocks it" Lloyd said, ignoring his sister's comment.

Tommy rolled his eyes. "Seriously? Gee, thanks, I wouldn't know if you didn't tell me, Captain Obvious" The TV robot promptly smacked his head. "Stop beating me!!"

"Stop being a prick!" The winged blond glared at them. Then jumped at them out of the blue, the tiny robot screaming for their life as they got tackled and couldn't do anything to free themselves. "This is chat abuse!!" Riyu squawked, running to save his friend. 

"Where's the mute button? I'm sure we installed one"

"I can run all possible scenarios" Zane offered, bringing (almost) everyone attention back on track. He got a few nods (basics everyone but Tommy and Chat who were 'wrestling', Riyu who tried saving his friend by gently biting the teen and Harumi who just stared at the door in wonder) and they let him do his thing. The White Ninja turned towards the door, scanning it before looking for solution. The others did their own things in the meantime, chatted, made up games to play, pulled Tom off the poor fucking robot, until eventually they run out of ideas and just decided to chill/take a nap. After like an hour, Zane finally finished; he turned to the others, looking rather defeated, "I have processed all possible combinations, and none of them have resulted in a positive outcome. We must have missed something"

"I was thinking, three Dragon Cores..." Harumi started, making all the kids perk up.

"And three levers!" Arin and Wyldfyre cheered at the same time. They paused, surprised, then smiled at each other.

"So it could be designed so no single person can enter alone?" Sora added hesitantly, getting a shrug from the older girl. The three to-be-ninjas exchanged looks before approaching the door, each pulling a lever simultaneously. All the symbols light up and the door clicked open.

Zane placed a hand on the white haired girl shoulder, smiling, "Great thinking"

Rumi shook her head. "Don't praise me. A silly puzzle is nothing special to me. You should be praising them" She pointed at three trainees. "They were thinking the same thing, I just said it first"

"Are you trying to make me feel jealous?" Tommy asked teasingly. "Coz it really ain't working" She rolled her eyes while Chat gave him a look.

"Stop flirting with every woman you see, Toms"

"Ew, gross!!" He sticked out her tongue. "She's more, like, a big sister!"

The small robot snort, "Of course she is" Harumi and Lloyd exchanged looks, not really knowing what to make of the exchange.

They walked inside, into an empty room with a messy altar under a big statue of some dude (it could be the FSM idk, istg all the statues of old guys look the same in this show) and two wooden, uh, doors? One on each side. 

"No handles, no knobs, no anything. Maybe another puzzle?" Arin asked, hopeful while glancing to the older girl.

She shrugged. "It's possible"

Wyldfyre smirked, turning to the other flame master, "Bet I know a way to open the doors"

"You and I don't agree on a lot, but we agree on this" Kai light up his hand, the girl quickly doing the same with a smile. They raised their hands and fired at the two doors.

"Wait! Stop!—" Lloyd tried stopping them just a second too late.

The doors broke under the force, the parts burning. Kai crossed his arms proudly. "Puzzle solved"

"This is not how you solve puzzles..." Harumi threw him a deadpan look.

Two angry looking spirits flew from the openings and, seemingly agreeing with the girl, threw themselves at the group. Everyone dodged out of the way.

"Not the solution we were looking for either!" Tommy complained, flying up with Chat.

"What are these things!?" Sora asked no one in particular, dodging another attack.

"Evidently, angry spirits have taken up residence inside the temple!" Zane answered, doing the same.

"But why? And why don't they— Ugh!" The pink haired girl got cut off as one of the angry spirits pushed her into the opposite wall.

Nya and Tommy both thought of the same thing, using their individual powers to summon an orb of water (in the ninja's case) and a, hopeful, water gun (in the boy's case). They fired at two different spirits, the water phasing through them without them proofing or even getting mildly hurt. The girl paused in shock, "What...?"

"Hm..." This used to work. Oh well. Tommy shrugged, throwing the gun behind himself carelessly, letting it disappear midair while he pulled out his yo-yo instead.

"Warning! Elemental powers have no impact on these spirits!" Zane called out to everyone else, just in case they were too busy to notice.

"What!?" Kai screamed, turning to him. "But that's not how ghosts—"

Wyldfyre scoffed with pride. "Your powers are just weak! See the force of Wyldfyre!" She light up her hand as one of the spirits charged at her. She fired at it, her fireball phased threw and she got pushed onto her back, flabbergasted. "Everyone! Elemental powers have no impact on these spirits!" Kai stopped for a moment to give her an 'are you effing kidding me?' look, Zane lightly shook his head and Rumi rolled her eyes.

"We're more than just our powers! We're ninja!" Nya pulled out her trident (she legit has a trident you guys) and charged at one of the ghosts, a light blue tornado growing around her for a moment before the ghost passed through it, knocking her off balance.

Tommy spun his yo-yo a few times before hurling the rolling part at the ghost, not really expecting results. To his surprise, he managed to send the ghost flying towards a wall, splatting against it. Chat's digital eyes sparkled. "Angel of Death..." He glanced at them while the white haired girl looked at him curiously, realization slowly washing over them both. He can touch ghosts...

While our favourite blondie had his moment, our second favourite blondie tried copying his teammate, preforming spinjitzu and jumping at the other ghost. It went just like the last time. Lloyd had a more or less graceful landing before the same spirit charged at him, effectively pinning him to the nearest wall.

"Leave him alone!" Arin screamed at the ghost, attaching his gripping hook to the ceiling with ✨magic✨ and swimming at it (XDDD oki this is too funny, this stays in (I ofc meant ‘swinging’)). He phased threw of course. The spirit started chasing after him, but before it could get to him, a yo-yo bonked it away. Arin blinked in surprise, looking up for just a second before slamming into the wall.

Tommy cringed. Oh boy...

Kai and Wyldfyre stood opposite to each other, one of the ghosts between them. They fire up. "Eat fire!!" The wyld girl screamed as they both charged forward to punch the spirit with their flaming fists. But, of course, they phased through, getting a forceful fist bump that send them both flying back instead while the ghost just 'stood' there. 

But not for long as a sai made out of purple (slightly pinkish) crystal stabbed it in the back. The spirit shrieked, quickly going to remove the blade and angrily looking around for the culprit. Harumi pretended to look at the other ghost, smirking slightly as the first spirit didn't seem to realize it was her doing.

Lloyd got up, eyes fixed on the messy altar as he finally realized it was, you wouldn't believe it, an altar. I mean, I told you it was from the beginning, but it could've also been like a dinner table or something, I don't know— Anyway, he started running towards it.

Nya looked at him weirdly as he went past her. "Lloyd! Attacking spirits that way!" She pointed forward, aka the opposite direction to where he was currently going.

"There's something I gotta fix!" He called back. Most turned to glance at him, just as confused.

"Not the time to tidy up, Lloyd!" Rumi pointed out, quickly getting her head back into the fight and dodging a ghost. She landed next to Sora, the both of them facing forward, ready to dodge another ghost attack. However, they didn't have to as a yo-yo tied around the ghost’s 'body' and it got yoinked away. Sora looked up at Tommy with wide eyes while the older girl smirked, he send them a small smile and showed a thumbs up. Chat continuously cheering him on.

"Things work best when they're in their proper place" Lloyd said casually, not noticing the commotion behind his back, instead focused on fixing the altar. Having most of the things set he paused and looked around, spotting the candles running— I mean, rolling away. "Get those candles! Help me set up!"

Although confused, Arin and Sora did as he asked, rushing for the candles. The boy made a run for one of them, jumping over a ghost to get to it. That spirit got bonked on the head with a yo-yo before it could even think of chasing after the boy.

Meanwhile, the other ghost attacked Kai and Zane, they tried attacking back with their weapons, kind of running out of options to fight. Unfortunately, unlike Tommy's yo-yo, their weapons only phased through. "Not fair!" The Red Ninja complained. The ghost picked the two of them up by the backs of their gis and threw them across the room. "Not FAAAAAIR!!"

Soon another crystal sai zoomed across the room, the ghost made another angry noise and after pulling the small weapons out of its body it dashed at the girl that threw it. "Shit" Rumi quickly dodged, using her power to make the weapon disappear before kicking the ghost at a wall.

Kai huffed. "How come you can touch them!?"

She grinned. "Sucks to suck!"

In the meantime, Sora picked up the other candle. She rushed past Nya who, now highly frustrated, tried stabbing the other ghost with her trident. The ninja only got pushed onto her back.

Wyldfyre growled. "This is impossible! Like trying to root out armpit parasites!"

Nya sat up, giving her a grossed out disbelieved look. "Your armpits have what!?"

The two teens arrived by the altar with the candles, placing them on the table as they should be, getting an approving nod from their teacher they took a step to the side.

"Kai! Wyldfyre! We need some heat!" Lloyd called out to the two, also stepping to the side so that he wouldn't get hit by accident.

"On it!!" The two flame masters answered at once, quickly summoning their powers into their hands before shooting at the candles. Kai's fireball went perfectly over the tip, lighting up the candle while the girl's burnt half of the candle, but it did get the same result. Kai made a face under his mask, shaking his head lightly. He turned to the girl, "We're gonna have to work on your precision skills, kid..." Wyldfyre frowned angrily at him.

"Look! It's working!" Lloyd exclaimed, pointing up as the two angry spirits were pulled back together and, after some minor resistance, they connected into one not-so-mean-looking-one.

Tommy joined the others on the ground as they walked over to the Green Ninja and his (as in Tommy’s xd) two besties as the singular spirit started speaking, "Thank you, ninja. I am the spirit of this temple, and I am grateful to you for rebuilding my altar" It bowed slightly.

Arin pulled off his hood, everyone else quickly followed. "But, uh, there were two of you...?"

"My essence was held in that altar. When a quake caused it to split apart, I was also split in two" The spirit frowned with sadness.

"Is that why you were so angry?" Sora asked, frowning in sympathy.

The spirit nodded. "My identity was divided, and that division made me act out in uncontrollable rage. Allow me to offer the only gift I have to give, the story of this temple.

Long before time had a name, the First Spinjitzu Master created Ninjago. Few know that he did not only create Ninjago, but also some of the other realms. One day, as the First Spinjitzu Master meditated, he foresaw an event that all the realms would crash together. He called this event the 'Coalescence', and he knew its time would soon be upon them. So he appeared before the seven Source Dragons and begged of them to freely give energy, so he could forge three Dragon Cores. The Dragon Cores kept the Coalescence at bay. The realms were prevented from smashing into one another. For ages, all was well. When the First Spinjitzu Master knew his time in the realms was at an end, he feared what evil-hearted people might do with the Cores, so he hid them in three different locations"

"The Coalescence is what we call the Merge. It might have been stopped back then, but no one stopped it this time" Nya said, basically explaining their situation. Well, more or less.

"Master Wu must have been trying to rediscover the Dragon Cores before the Merge happened, but it came sooner than he'd expected..." Lloyd frowned, looking down before furrowing his brows. "Why didn't he just let us help him?"

Zane turned to the spirit, "Can you please reveal the locations of the Dragon Cores? It's too late to stop the Merge, but we can use them to stop the MergeQuakes"

"My master created an enchantment, so the locations of the Cores could only be revealed when one of his descendants requested it"

Lloyd's teammates and his sister immediately looked at him. Ignoring the looks he knew he was getting, the Green Ninja stepped forward. "My name is Lloyd, son of Garmadon, who is a child of the First Spinjitzu Master" Chat had to suppress a laugh as Tommy's mouth dropped. "I hereby request the locations of the Dragon Cores"

The teen's exchanged look with one another, the two younger pausing for a second at Tommy's overly shocked expression before Sora asked, "Um, how did you just never mention that you're the grandson of the guy that created Ninjago?"

Lloyd shrugged turning towards them, "It never came up"

Tommy slowly turned to look at Chat, glaring as he saw them laugh silently. "You knew????"

"We told you to stop being a jerk!" The winged blond just scoffed.

The spirit flew down towards the older blond, placing a hand over his heart and closing its eyes before pulling back. "I sense the truth in your words" They smiled at each other, then the ghost motioned for them to look up behind them. There, on the highest part of the wall, were three maps of sorts. "The Mother Garden, the Pinnacle of Crystals, and the Wyldness" Chat made a new noise, one a camera usually has, they smiled widely and showed a thumbs up as everyone looked at them in surprise.

Lloyd turned back to the spirit and bowed. "Thank you, spirit. You've helped us, and our world" Without a word, but with a small smile, the spirit bowed back, then turned into two small mist orbs and flew into the flames of the two candles, changing the flames from their original orange to blue.

Everyone turned to leave.

"So, I'd say this mission goes squarely in the ‘not a disaster’ column" Kai mused, crossing his arms behind his head with a proud af expression. Nya and Harumi rolled their eyes at him, although the former had a small smile on her face.

"Yeah!" Arin cheered behind him. "All we have to do is go pick up those Cores. How hard can it be?"

Tommy threw him a dead serious look. "You just jinxed us, man"

***

Back in the monastery Arin and Sora brought a special someone, the three of them going around looking for the Green Ninja. Pretty quickly the teen duo found their teacher doing the dishes while also holding a scroll in his other hand. They exchanged uncertain looks. "Um, Lloyd?" The girl called out, making the hero turn to them. "What are you doing?" She questioned him, eyeing the dangerously high pile of dishes as her and Arin approached him.

"We don't have very reliable maps of the Merged lands. Most have yet to be explored, so I'm trying to plot out our missions to get the Cores"

Arin scratched his head. "Didn't Chat take a picture?"

"These don't really show how to get to those realms, only a small portion of the land around the place where the Dragon Cores are hidden"

"Uh huh..." The two exchanged looks again as the hero focused more on the scroll/map in his hand. "And you're doing that while doing the dishes?" The boy titled his head.

Lloyd eyed the shaking tower of plates right next to him. He pursed his lips before giving them a (forced) reassuring smile. "Dragon Cores or no Dragon Cores, the Keeper of the Monastery's got a monastery to keep"

"About that" Sora smiled back sheepishly. "If we're going off to get Cores, you'll need help here"

He shook his head. "I told you, Master Wu managed the monastery all on his own, and so will I"

"But you're not your uncle" Harumi chimed in, leaning on the doorframe. She got a half glare half frown from her brother.

"In the temple, you asked us to help fix up the altar. There's no shame in needing help" Arin said, making Lloyd pause and look to the side. Seeing this the two teen smiled at each other.

"That's why we wanted to introduce you to our good friend from the Crossroads, Mr. Alfonzo Frohicky!" Sora said a bit louder, the two taking a step to the side, giving a clean view of the hallway as the frog-man stepped into the opening, all giddy with excitement.

"Oh, wow. Oh, wowzy wow. A real life hero!! Even before my realm merged with Ninjago, when I was a wee little tadpole, we used to hear tales of the ninja!" Frohicky rambled, quickly, although not too quick to be considered threatening, approaching the Green Ninja and extending a hand.

"Oh, uh, hi...?"

"Mr. Frohicky's great at organizing stuff. He runs mech races, carnival pie baking contests, and even the annual soup launching festival" Arin listed off, almost making the frog blush (if frogs can blush, we can never be sure).

Sora nodded with a huge smile. "If he can keep all that together, he can help run a monastery" Now the boy nodded to her words.

"And I'd do anything, if it meant getting to help true heroes like you" The frog himself added, seemingly really pumped for a new job.

Lloyd pursed his lips, brows furrowing in uncertainty. "Well, I don't know..." The shaking pile of dishes fell down, a couple of them breaking. And that was at this moment that he just gave up, throwing the sponge into the sink behind him with DONE written all over his face. "You know what? Yeah" His expression softened as he gave the kids a grateful look. "I could do with some help" The duo smiled happily and fist bumped each other while the hero turned to the anthropomorphic frog and shook his hand, "Mr. Frohicky, you are now the Assistant Keeper of the Monastery of Spinjitzu"

"Oh, thank you, sir. It is an honor to serve!"

"Can you start right now?" Lloyd asked pleadingly, making the kids giggle silently. The white haired girl smiled before walking off.

***

In Imperium, Beatrix was looking at her communicator device, Rapton on the other side showing her the three 'maps'. "So, together, these three Dragon Energy Cores can control the MergeQuakes?"

"That's what the ninja say"

The Empress grinned, pleased with the information. "Then I'll send my forces to beat the ninja to the Cores"

"You want to stop the MergeQuakes?" The man raised a brow in confusion.

She scoffed. "Of course not! I want to use them as a weapon. A weapon that will wipe those elemental-powered, dragon-stealing ninja out of existence"

Chapter Text

Rapton laughed to himself watching Ras angrily pace around his cell until he finally sat down on his bed and threw the most hateful look he could muster at the camera. "Not how you expected this to work out, is it, Lord Ras?" He cackled. Suddenly, the doors next to him opened, jumpscaring the man and almost making him drop his holopad as the Empress and two guards came in. He quickly composed himself and bowed down, "Uh, all praise the good Empress!" Beatrix walked right past him, no words, blank expression. "Everything's ready, just as you ordered"

"Excellent" The woman grinned. "We must beat the ninja to those three Dragon Energy Cores. Then we'll be able to destroy them once and for all"

"Of course. But, uh, is it possible to be too focused on the ninja? The Claws of Imperium... shouldn't we be maybe capturing dragons?" Rapton suggested, the two guards behind him exchanging concerned looks.

The Empress turned towards the man with a scowl on her face. "The ninja defied me, humiliated me. They will pay. And then no one will be able to stop us from getting any dragon we need" She grabbed onto the collar of Rapton's armor and harshly pushed him back, causing him to land on the floor.

"Well, of course. Uh, I'll send everyone immediately! All hail the good Empress!" He bowed quickly one more time before heading off.

Our heroes gathered by the table in the hangar bay. Nya unfolded a map and started pointing out places, "We think the three Dragon Cores can be found somewhere here, here, and here. We have to find all of them if we want to stop the MergeQuakes and stabilize the world"

"So, we have to split up into three teams. Now, how do you wanna—" Arin was already raising his hand when the Water Ninja cut off Lloyd mid-sentence.

"Me and Sora" She declared, throwing an arm around the other girl's shoulder and pulling her closer with a smile.

Sora smiled back at her. "Yeah! Me and Nya. And Riyu" The small dragon squawked cheerfully at being included. "We're a team"

The Green Ninja gave them a nod. "Then me and Arin will be a team" Him and the boy smiled at each other. Harumi placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Me, Tommy and Chat will be coming with you"

The mentioned blond shook his head lightly in whiplash. "Hold on! When did I volunteer?"

She gave him a deadpan look. "I'm volunteering you" He glared at her.

Arin scratched his head. "Uh, okay, sounds good. And that leaves..." All eyes drifted towards the two flame heads. Kai and Wyldfyre quickly noticed they were getting all the attention and realized what it meant. Offended, both pointed at the other before addressing first the team then each other simultaneously.

"With her!? Don't get us into trouble!!"
"With him!? Don't get us into trouble!!"

"I will remain here at the monastery to deal with any MergeQuakes that arise. And to also work on figuring out the portal gates" Zane announce rather happily before going back to being neutral, "There is a high percentage chance the gates are tied to the Merge. Perhaps since I woke on the Imperium side of the gate, they will be the key to finding the other ninja. And Pixal..." The other three official ninja and Harumi sent him a sympathetic look at the last part.

"Thanks, Zane. That could change everything. Sora, let's go" Nya called out, collecting the map and starting to walk away. Before the pink haired girl had the time to follow her, Dragon Sora leaped towards her. Everyone jumped out of the way as the dragon knocked over the table. The Water Ninja pursed her lips for a moment. "Right, I guess Sora should be coming too" The two Soras exchanged confused looks, then looked at the older girl. "I was talking to Sora. Oh, uh, the other Sora, not that Sora!" They exchanged looks again. "Both of you! Ugh..." Nya shook her head and turned to the others, "We're headed out, me and Sora"

"Which one?" Arin questioned making Tommy giggle.

"The person! Us, and Riyu, are gonna travel by dragon, which includes Sora" Nya pointed at the dragon, and yet, despite this—

"Which one?" The winged blond questioned, grinning mischievously.

"The dragon!!" She threw her hands up in anger and groaned, "This name thing is gonna be a problem..."

"If they're traveling by dragon, then so are we! We will ride on my family, Heatwave" Wyldfyre declared proudly.

"Waitwaitwait. Where am I gonna sit?" Kai crossed his arms looking at her.

"The obvious place, behind me" She grinned while the ninja fumed.

"But I'm older!!"

"Exactly! Behind-me's a good place for the afternoon naps someone your age needs"

"I'm not that old!! And for the record, naps are awesome!" He huffed, turning around so that his back faced the wyld girl.

Arin leaned a bit towards Tommy and Chat before whispering, "Glad I'm not in that group" The teen grinned goofily while the small robot started laughing quietly.

"We're gonna take the Destiny's Bounty" Lloyd announced, turning to his group. "Flying by airship should be easy. Smooth sailing ahead"

Harumi gave a nod before turning to the other three, "Any objections?"

Chat raised one of their hands. "We're going to crash. And we can give you exactly two oddly specific reasons as to why"

Tommy sighed and threw them a bored look, "Don't make it harder than it already is"

"We’re just saying!"

He shook his head. "Ignore them..." Chat threw him a death glare.

"Alright, so we're all set" The white haired girl summed up. Everyone gave a nod and they all turned to leave, with Zane waving them goodbye.

The nindroid sighed with relief, turning around towards the computer. "Finally, fewer distractions from my work" Out of the blue, Mr. Frohicky's (who has been cleaning around so far) tongue attached itself to the side of his face. Zane glanced at the frog before sighing, this time with tiredness.

***

Arin, Tommy, Chat, Harumi and Lloyd set off on the Bounty (as per the plan and against Chat's real valid objections). Everyone took care of themselves, the two teens spared for a while before Tommy got annoyed at his robot 'guide' for trying to distract him. And so, the four – as the girl decided to join them out of boredom – settled on playing Uno while Lloyd was steering the ship and tried to estimate whether or not they were going the right way. After he was (more or less) sure, he folded the map and pushed it into one of his pockets before looking for something to do to pass the time himself, which ultimately ended with him joining the rest.

They had a great time for a few minutes, and then it all went to shit...

Chat giggled before putting their last card down and cheering bubbly, "VICTORY!!"

Tommy scoffed, his wings fluttering in anger, "Again!?" The TV stuck out a digital tongue at him, making the blond seethe. Tommy slammed his cards on the wooden flooring with a growl. "You're cheating!!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yuh-uh!! It shouldn't be possible to win ten times in a row!" He threw his hands up, giving the small robot a death glare. Harumi sighed, already knowing this will not end peacefully.

"It's called skill" Digital sunglasses appeared over Chat's eyes.

"It's UNO!! Nothing about this is about skill!! It's all LUCK!! And NOBODY's THIS lucky!!" They sticked their tongue at him again. With something between a growl and a battle cry, Tommy launched himself at the robot, making it screech like a frightened little girl; the other three wincing at the high pitched sound.

It was not a brawling match, once the winged blond got a hold on the TV robot they had no real way of freeing themselves on their own. It got pretty intense for a moment.

So, hoping to ease the tension, Lloyd (kind of sheepishly) suggested meditation. The younger blond blinked owlishly while the other boy made a face, neither convinced with the idea, but Arin of course agreed either way.

Tommy got nudged by the girl, he looked at her with a raised brow, "Wanna do some training instead?"

He thought for a moment, then sent Chat another death glare and shook his head. "Nah, 'm good. Big Man can take care of himself" He flashed a toothy grin while pointing at himself. Harumi wasn't amused; Chat cackled at him, quickly moving from their spot as he whipped around to give them the murder eyes. He groaned rolling his eyes before turning around towards the girl again and fake coughing into his hand, "I mean, I'll be fine, you don't have to babysit me or whatever. If you wanna do what they do, do what they do" He waved his hand, shifting on his feet. "I'll be quiet" He glanced to the side squinting his eyes knowing this was a partial lie. "...well, I'll try"

Rumi snort, then gave a nod and turned to the other two.

The three meditated for a moment, the ninja and his sister really getting into it while Arin struggled to stay still and keep his eyes closed; the attempts causing Tommy to struggled to keep his laughter down, and Chat was of no help either.

After a couple minutes Arin let out an exhausted sigh and stood up, turning to his teacher, "Uh, this is fun and all, but maybe we can do something less close to sleeping?" Tommy let out a strangled noise before erupting into a coughing fit, punching himself in the chest a few times. The only girl around sighed heavily while rolling her eyes at him.

With a patience of an (oh the irony) angel, Lloyd ignored the chaos of the other blond choking as he remained in position, eyes still closed, face fully relaxed. "Mindfulness is about being awake. Paying attention" Arin awkwardly glanced to the side, at Tommy who was now on the floor, wheezing; whether from laughter or lack of oxygen is up for debate. Suddenly the Green Ninja moved, getting back the younger boy's attention. "But that reminds me..." Lloyd stood up in thought, his sister remaining seated, closely watching the wing blond, just in case he was actually dying and not having the time of his life out there. Anyhoo; the hero turned to the teen in orange, "Remember in Dorama's theater, when you somehow gave Spinjitzu power to an inanimate object?" Harumi now looked at them with interest.

Arin scratched the back of his head. "I haven't been able to do it since. I'm starting to think I imagined it..." He looked down at his feet, frowning. A hand was placed on his shoulder.

"No, you did that. And there's no reason you can't do it again" As the boy looked up, he was met with a warm friendly smile from one of his heroes. "Your self-taught Spinjitzu is a bit wonky, but it's incredible you learned it on your own. It makes sense to me you have other skills you haven't tapped into yet. We just have to learn what's holding you back. Tommy, Chat?" Lloyd turned around to them, the younger blond immediately halting making weird laughing-esque noises and looking up at him with an uncertain expression. "Mind bringing something?" Chat almost immediately saluted and hovered off; Tommy had to process.

"Uh," He slowly got up, eyebrows drawn together the slightest bit. "Something what? Be more specific, dude"

Lloyd pursed his lips, his enthusiasm faltering the tiniest bit. He shrugged gently, "I dunno. Anything really"

"Is a plate okay?" Chat asked peeking out and giving a wave with one of the plates in hand.

"Sure"

"Uhhhh—" Arin made a face while the TV robot happily zoomed over and handed the white disc to the Green Ninja, who took it with a quick 'thanks' before offering it to the unconvinced teen.

"Throw it, and try to give it Spinjitzu power" Arin looked down at the plate, hesitantly taking it. He glanced up at his smiling hero, then gave a slight nod and tried. The plate flew for a moment before falling onto the ground, you know, as a plate does. Arin's shoulders slumped down and he glared at the plate as if it just insulted his very existence. "It's okay. Remember your mindfulness. Focus, and try again" Harumi stood up and leaned against the railing as Chat picked up the white disc and handed it over to the youngest boy, the two exchanging small smiles.

Arin closed his eyes and took a breath, pausing for a moment before doing a spin and hurling the plate off the ship, the force of his momentum making him fall forward and hit the floor. Everyone was stunned silent, they watched as the plate frisbeed off, almost hitting some birds on its way. Arin cringed, groaning and covering his face with one hand to hide from the world.

"Don't worry, one less plate for me to wash" Lloyd joked, trying to lighten the mood.

Tommy grinned. "Not if I have a say in this!" He quickly threw before jumping onto the railing and taking off after the white disc; Chat made an 'are you effing serious?' face at him as he was leaving.

Rumi slightly cringed. "...Well at least he's got the spirit..." Lloyd sighed and Arin tilted his head making a face.

A few minutes later Tommy came back with the plate, smiling proudly as he handed it over to his friend, "Here ya go"

"Uh, thanks"

***

For the next half an hour they repeated the whole thing: Arin would throw the plate at Lloyd like a frisbee, sometimes it would fly off, in which case Tommy would go fetch it. In the end it always ended up back in Arin's hands and he'd try again.

The boy sighed, almost defeated after another failed attempt. 'Come on. Focus. You can do this! Think. What did you do when you did this last time?' He closed his eyes, going back to the night in Dorama's theater.

"Sora!! No!" The two teens screamed at once.

The marionette squeeze the girl in its hand. "I— can't— breathe!"

Arin's breath caught in his throat as he watched with wide eyes. His brows furrowed in determination and he ripped off part of Dorama's gramophone before throwing it at the wooden monster, somehow transferring spinjitzu onto it. It hit the marionette, forcing it to let go of the girl.

Arin's brows drew together and he exhaled, the two blond's readying themselves to catch the plate. Arin did his half-spinjitzu and after a few spins he chucked the plate straight ahead – at Lloyd. The white disc surrounded by orange wisps flying at high speed at the surprised hero. Arin only managed to register the familiar orange, making his eyes sparkle, "I did it!"

The others weren't as cheerful. Tommy stared at the plate with deep concern, being real fucking glad he wasn't its target, Chat displayed a horrified face, Rumi jolted up straight in her spot, looking as if she was about to tackle her brother while he himself tensed up... and ducked at the last second. The plate smashed right through the wooden cover and into the ship's engine, causing some sparks to fly out. Lloyd cautiously looked behind himself, quickly noting the damage.

"Move!!" Harumi exclaimed, rushing past Tommy and Chat (and pushing them away) to drag her brother back just before the engine exploded.

"...Remind me to never get on Arin's bad side..." Tommy muttered to the TV robot, and they nodded, the both of them staring at the gaping hole with a shitton of concern.

"What happened!?" Arin asked in a panic running over to everyone.

"I think the plate spun right through the engine..." The only girl around said, sounding slightly peeved.

Arin purses his lips before forcing a smile on, "Well, the good news is I gave it Spinjitzu power...?"

Suddenly the whole ship shook violently.

"WE GAVE YOU TWO REASONS WHY THIS IS A BAD IDEA!!" Chat screamed at top volume; Tommy groaned, cringing and smacking them with the back of his hand. Everybody stumbled back (or forward, depends really) as the ship tilted downwards and started to lose altitude.

"Remember when I said this would be a smooth ride?" Lloyd complained in defeat, still held by his sister.

"Tommy!" Harumi called out, pointing at the steering wheel as soon as she had the other blond's attention. Tommy immediately got the memo and jumped over to the wheel with the help of his wings, Chat holding onto him for dear life. Arin soon used his grappling hook to join his friend and the both of them pulled back.

"Keep it steady!"

"We're trying!!" The winged teen growled, silently praying to his Gods.

After a few excruciatingly long second the sails opened and the ship started to tip backwards a bit, back to its original axis. A moment later it smashed against the water, being a ship and all it stayed afloat allowing everyone to finally chill.

The two teens let out a breath in relief while the older two walked over to the hole from which the damaged engine was peeking out. Tommy took on a smug look and gave Chat a look. They rolled their digital eyes, "Yeah, well, it crashes once a season. Our point still stands"

"Sure, bud"

"Uh, how bad is it?" Arin asked, looking down at his hero and his hero's sister.

"Structurally, the hull's still good, so we're not gonna sink" Harumi started, leaning over to estimate the actual damage.

"As long as there's no iceberg..." Chat muttered causing Tommy to roll his eyes and sigh.

"But the engines are cooked, and there's no way to fix them without proper equipment. And without engines, there's no way to fly, and no way to call anyone for help" The girl finished, either not hearing the small robot, ignoring them or just actually not being bothered by the comment.

"We just have to paddle our way out" Arin said, oddly happy and confident, as he walked down and went to pick something from a pile of things. "With this!" He held up a mop proudly before realizing it wasn't what he was looking for. "No, wait..." He threw the mop away and picked up another thing. "With this!" He held up a rake this time, deflating just as quickly as last time. He threw it to the ground and started searching through the pile yet again before realizing the thing he was looking for was not there. He turned to the Green Ninja, "Don't we have any paddles on this ship?"

Lloyd scratched his head sheepishly. "Airships usually don't need them. But..." He jumped to where Tommy and Chat still were, pushing a button and opening the sails completely. He pointed up at them while smiling at Arin, "We do have these"

"Oh yeah..."

"Also, would you really wanna paddle all across the ocean? Just the four of us?" Rumi raised a brow.

"I mean, Odysseus did it" Chat mumbled, mostly to themselves. Tommy gave them a look, but otherwise didn't comment.

***

"Hey, guys!" Arin called out some time later, watching the ocean change colors at one point. "Check this out" Everyone quickly walked over to him, Tommy leaning on the railing and pushing his upper body over the side to look. Harumi sighed quietly and pulled him back by his hoodie. The winged blond glared at her while she crossed her arms.

"This must be a mix of the blue ocean of Ninjago, with red water from some other realm. And it all came together in the Merge" Lloyd theorized while the troublemakers were busy engaging in a staring contest.

"The Merge just makes everything so weird..."

Suddenly, Chat gasped and pointed up at a flying vehicle in the sky, "Look!"

Everyone quickly started calling out to whoever was flying the vehicle, waving their arms around. Tommy spared everyone a quick smug side-eye before taking off into the air himself, pulling an Uno Reverse and grabbing Chat instead of waiting for them to grab onto him. He flew after the guy (as he now could tell by the balding head), and to his shock, the guy speed up. Tommy stopped, hovering in the air, eyebrows drawing together as he stared after the guy. "What the fuck is his problem?" He glanced down at Chat, but they only shrugged and shook their head.

Weirded out by the active effort to avoid helping them, Tommy slowly flew back to the rest.

Lloyd scoffed, "How could they not see us? What kind of clown is flying that ship!?"

"No, I think he saw us" The younger blond said, eyes narrowing as he blankly stared forward. "He just didn't want to help..."

"Well that's not suspicious at all" The only girl around deadpan.

Arin pursed his lips, glancing to the side. Then fully turning around as he noticed a structure in the distance. "Hey, what's that?" Everyone looked at where the youngest boy was looking yet again.

Lloyd smiled, "That looks like a place we might find some help!"

Rumi slowly turned to look at him, "Unless that's where the flying clown is from" The ninja deadpan at his sister and then silently walked away. She hummed and turned to the other blond, "Care to check it out for us?"

Tommy frowned in annoyance. "Because I'm so sneaky and SO a ninja?"

"Because it's going to be hard to turn the whole ship around without working engines. We don't have a fast way out in case it turns out we aren't welcome. If we get too close, they'll have plenty of time to either hurt us or cause even more damage to the ship" She explained, narrowing her eyes at him.

Tommy's wings fluttered slightly and he tried sinking into himself. Awkwardly and without another word of complain, he jumped up into the air again, slow enough for Chat to join him and the two flew over to where the town on water was standing. Looking down from up above, the place seem to be pretty abandoned. Quietly humming to himself, Tommy circled around the place, eventually jumping down onto one of the roofs. "Hello? Anybody home?" He called out but go no answer. Although, his gut twisted as he grew anxious by the eerie silence. "Uh, we're just travelers. We come in peace" Chat started quietly laughing. Tommy gave them a look before getting bold and jumping down from the roof, officially entering the city; his gut twisting so hard it almost gave him stomach cramps. "We need help, my friend kinda broke the engine of our ship an—"

"DUCK" Chat said out of the blue, the teen immediately doing so, narrowly avoiding getting headshot by an arrow.

"Destroy the interlopers!" Someone, who Tommy was too freaked out to even see, exclaimed, more arrows following the order.

In complete panic, Tommy screeched, quickly got to his feet and taking off, flying as fast as he could back to the others. A cloud of arrows following him.

"I'm guessing they're not interested in helping us!" Arin glanced at the other two. Harumi quickly moved to turn the ship around. Some of the arrows reached them on the ship and Lloyd pulled out his sword to deflect one that was about to hit Arin. The boy flinched, hands going up to cover his head way too late.

"I'm getting the same idea!" The ninja blocked another arrow before pulling the boy to the ground and next to the railing for cover. "We gotta get out of here!"

"Already working on it!" Harumi turned the steering wheel, but before the ship could move an enormous crab rose to the surface and grabbed the ship, immobilizing it. She looked up at the monster with wide eyes, "What the shit!?"

"Uhh, there's a little bit of a hiccup in the 'getting out of here' part..." Arin noticed just as Tommy crash-landed on board, almost toppling over. A hand clinching his side as crimson liquid seeped through his favourite hoodie.

"No shit, brother!" The injured boy growled through gritted teeth, angry and in pain. With tears in his eyes, he barely noticed another wave of arrows flying his way. He moved to dodge them but flinched as the pain worsened with his movement, hitting him like a jolt of electricity. He swallowed, convinced he was in for a lot more of that soon, but then all the arrows got either deflected or straight up chopped down in half by the older blond before they could reach him.

Lloyd smiled as him with reassurance, "I gotchu"

"Sink the ship! Destroy the interlopers!" The leader, if the coral crown was anything to go by, ordered yet again, the chaos not stopping for even a second. 

The crab monster screeches angrily as it got shot by a purple crystal blast. Tommy huffed, cautiously turning around to stare at the gigantic monster while Chat took it upon themselves to get him the healing potion from the bag, "What the shit is that thing!?

"A crab. It's like a crustacean, but—" Lloyd started, but Tommy cut him off.

"Okay, I'm reducing a point for that!" The hero furrowed his brows in confusion at the announcement, the injured blond then threw his hands up, his voice breaking due to the pain as he continued screaming, "I know what a fucking crab is!! But they're not usually as big as a goddamn house!!"

"Bottoms up!" Chat flew up a bit to level with Tommy's eyes level and held up the red potion. The teen barely got to lift his hand to take the bottle before the robot's digital eyes widened and the added, "And look out for the incoming crab-attack!!" Everyone dodged. Well, okay, Lloyd did, Tommy got yanked back by Arin's grapple (I'm calling it a grapple now, can't be bothered by using two words to describe the thing smh—). The monster screamed as another purple blast hit it, although it didn't seem like it did that much damage.

"How'd they get a giant monster crab!?" Arin questioned, holding onto Tommy's arm as if to steady the teen while the blond finally grabbed the healing potion with the other and quickly gulped it down.

The question made Lloyd pause and he looked around with brows drawn together. "Destroy the interlopers!" The Merlopian leader exclaimed for the umpth time, catching his attention. The monster the screeched again, as if responding to the order...

"I don't know, but it looks like that guy is controlling it with that crown" He answered the question as Tommy stretched out, relief evident on his face, but his favourite hoodie was still ruined. "We have to get it off the ship!"

"What do you think I was trying to do this whole time!?" The girl screamed, pissed off.

"Maybe if we try to do it together!"

Tommy gave a nod, pulling out his yo-yo. "We doin' it at the count of three or...?"

"No!!" Rumi growled, voice going low. Lower than most girls are usually able to. "Now!!" Nobody was brave enough to complain, so all four of them charged at the monster’s claws, trying to get it to let go of the ship. Everyone just bounced off or was pushed back.

The monster lined up and opened its mouth, an energy beam shooting out forcing everyone to jump out of the way. It barely stopped when they were attacked with arrows again. Tommy hissed, recoiling back as he felt a stab to one of his wings, followed by a surge of pain. Arin clasped a hand over his mouth, staring at him in horror. The blond felt nauseous even before looking at his injured wing, the blood covered tip of the arrow sticking through by a bit.

This was so not his day...

"Cover for me!" Lloyd threw at his sister, getting a nod in return, one which he never saw as he was already off to get to the damn steering wheel. "Hold on everyone!" He called out, turning the wheel and pressing some button. A canon rose from the floor, turning on its own and firing at the crab monstrosity. The monster finally let go, and they left as fast as they could, with Harumi deflecting arrows with a crystal sword until they couldn't reach them anymore.

"They should really put up a sign if they don't want visitors..." Tommy complained, or joked, on the floor, visibly shaking and breathing heavily. He was trying his best to not look at the arrow still impaled into his wing.

"Okay, on the count of three..." Chat said as calmly as they could.

Tommy snapped towards them, quickly taking a step back almost wailing at the pain. "Don't. Fucking. Touch. Me!!"

"Oh." Harumi cringed, finally noticing the gruesome sight. Her brother quickly following in her footsteps, slowly covering his mouth with a hand as he stared at Tommy with worry. "...Tommy, we need to get it out"

Tommy spun around to face her, his face twisting at the painful feeling every movement caused him as he tried to give her the most hateful glare he could muster up. "NO. You get out!!"

She blinked at him, flabbergasted. "It can't stay there!"

"It can and it will!!"

"Tommy, we need to get the arrow out so that you can heal yourself" Chat tried reasoning, knowing Tommy couldn't fight their logic since they knew just as much as him on how the potions worked exactly.

But Tommy shook his head, taking a step back, and the another one, slowly backing away from everyone, his breathing speeding up more and more until it almost burned. His wings twitched, sending new sparks of pain every few seconds.

"Tommy..." Lloyd started gently, taking a step forward. A hand was placed on his shoulder as Tommy took another step back.

"Stay back!!"

The hero and his sister made eye contact.

"Hey—" Arin tried, also taking a step forward. Only for him to back out as his friend hissed at him, practically wheezing with the little air he was getting with his shallow breathing, now being at the very end of the ship, the furthest he could go.

Lloyd looked at the younger blond again, Tommy would fight if he had to. He exhaled almost soundlessly, "Let's give him some space" Arin's head immediately snapped towards him, looking as if he was going to argue. But the boy never even opened his mouth. Lloyd placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a little squeeze, smiling softly and motioning with his head at the opposite side of the ship.

Arin glanced back at Tommy, the teen still on high guard, still glaring at them all. He frowned as he turned around and walked off.

Lloyd looked at his sister, they made eye contact again. "C'mon, Chat"

"Hm?" The small robot turned to the girl, a little surprised.

"Tommy could use some space right now. And I have something to talk about with you" She causally said, motioning for them to follow as she started walking off. Chat displayed something between suspicious and weirded out expression. They glanced back at their host, now frowning with full out concern, but eventually the curiosity got the better of them and they followed the girl. With everyone leaving, the Green Ninja walked off as well.

Tommy relaxed just a bit, eyebrows still drawn together, jaw still clenched but he wasn't glaring anymore. Just scared and in pain, trying to calm down his rapid breathing.

"...I don't like this, Lloyd" Arin said to his teacher in a hushed voice, glancing at his friend with a worried frown. "We can't just leave him like this!"

"I know, and we're not" The hero assured, yet again placing a hand on his student's shoulder. "But I need him to calm down first. A panic attack would just make everything worse. Why don't we check the damage of the ship for now? Can you help me with that?" He send the boy a small smile.

Arin pursed his lips, glancing at Tommy yet again, the blond stiffly sitting down on the wooden flooring of the ship, all limbs as close to his body as they possibly could. Like a scared animal, wary of every movement, whether its own or anybody else's. He sighed, shoulders slumping down in defeat, "Okay... But I still don't like this..." Arin declared walking away to check the damage.

Chat stared at the girl suspiciously. "What did you want to talk about? Coz, y'know, we don't need to be by Toms' side at all times but it's honestly preferable"

"Fair enough" She shrugged. "I don't fully understand how...you and, uh, beings like you work, but from what Tubbo told me I gather you and your... host?" She paused there, giving them a questioning look. Chat nodded and she continued, "Have some sort of special connection, so I get that you'd rather be around him. Can I ask for a favor though?"

Chat narrowed their digital eyes at her. "A favor? From us???"

Rumi gave a nod. "You're made of mechanical parts. Not only that, you have some sort of omni-cognition. I believe you can communicate with your kind?"

Chat crossed their arms. "Well, it's a little more complicated than that. We'd have to know for sure other Chats are out there, and there probably are but... well, we can't reach them if we don't know 100%"

"But you have worldwide reach"

"Uhh… elaborate?"

"If you knew about another Chat and it were on the opposite side of the world, would you be able to reach them?"

"Uh, yeah. What are you getting at?" They raised a brow.

"I assume you already know about Prowler?"

The robot displayed a deadpan face. "Yeah, another spider bomb?"

She cringed a little, "Oh good, you also know about that... Uh, anyway, so I was thinking, if you do have worldwide reach and can communicate with other Chats, could you somehow connect to Prowler so that we can talk?"

"Lady, your spider is not a Chat. It doesn't meet any of the requirements!!" They huffed, as if offended.

Rumi rubbed the back of her neck. "But you're a robot—"

"We're way more than that, bitch!!"

The girl deadpan at them, the two having a bit of a glare battle. "Your body is that of a robot" She corrected herself as she picked up, "Surely you can connect to devices of similar kind. And if you can't, we can always try and change that"

Chat stared at her for a second before their digital eyes grew big. "You just want to mess with our parts!"

"No! I want to talk to a friend and make sure he's safe" The girl narrowed her eyes at them. "If you can do that, I won't touch you. If you can't," She raised her hands in defense, seeing the TV robot giving her a death glare, "It's your choice whether or not you want to help me out or not. I am simply asking"

Silence fell between them as they just stared at one another, with Chat thinking it over. 

Lloyd tried pressing all the buttons but none of them were working. He sighed. "It's no use. After the damage from that fight, our ship's barely treading water"

"We gotta fix our ride, or we'll never get anywhere, let alone find the Dragon Core" Arin crossed his arms, raising one hand to his chin. It was only a matter of seconds before his eyes involuntary traveled to look at the other blond again, a frown quickly appearing on his face. "Lloyd..." He looked up at his teacher with pleading eyes.

The hero looked at the injured boy still curled up into himself at the very front of the ship. His breathing was more steady now, heartbeat calmed down at bit. Apart from still being tense as fuck and being as white as a sheet, Tommy seem to be doing slightly better.

Lloyd smiled at Arin and gave him a nod, the boy's face immediately light up. The ninja silently instructed him to stay where he was as he himself made way over to where Tommy was sitting, stopping a good bit away and offering the injured blond a warm, friendly smile. He got a warning glare back. Lloyd crouched down, leveling his and Tommy's eye level. "I know you're scared" Tommy's glare only deepened, a growl vibrating from his throat. "It's okay, there's no shame in that. It is scary. But you'll feel better if we take it out" Tommy's heartbeat speed up. Lloyd frowned. "Hey, trust me, I've been there" He let out a dry laugh, not fond of the memories. "It's never fun getting hurt. But having others to help out always makes things a little bit easier, you know?" Tommy stayed silent, but his glare softened. He was consider this. "I can help you. I promise you won't feel a thing" 

Tommy snort, was this guy making fun of him? It hurt like hell with the tiniest of movements! Like hell it would hurt when someone fucking pulls on it!!

But if it stayed in any longer he might throw up, or worse, straight up pass out. His stomach was turning every time the image of what his poor wing looked like appeared in his head, because of course it did when he was so desperately trying NOT to think about it.

If someone has to pull it out, he'd rather it be Arin, they knew each other the longest and so Tommy trusted him the most (no offense Chat). But he knew the boy was freaking out as much as he himself was. There was no way in hell he'd pull the arrow out himself either. But he needed it out. Nevermind the pain, it was uncomfortable, unbearable. He was going to throw up soon.

He was running out of options...

"Can I come closer?" Lloyd asked after a longer pause, summoning Tommy back from his racking thoughts. The injured blond nodded hesitantly. The hero smiled at him, getting up and slowly walking over to where he was sitting. Tommy leaned back a bit but didn't stop the older blond as he reached out a hand to where the bloody arrow was impaled into his wing. The teen's wing twitched at the lightest touch and he bit his lip, eyes glued to the wooden boards of the floor. Slowly, he felt the little space between his wound and the Green Ninja's hand growing cooler, gradually, the pain started to subside. "How about we play a game?"

"...Are you shitting me right now?" He deadpan at the floor, not daring to look at the bloody mess ever again.

"Can you call out five things you can see right now? Anything really, even if it sounds stupidly obvious"

This 'game' sounds stupid, period.

Yet somehow, Tommy's curiosity was peaked. And playing this stupid game or whatever was perhaps a good way to not think about what was coming his way. "The floor?"

Lloyd let out a short chuckle. "For example"

"Um," He looked up. "The sky and the clouds" He turned his head a bit, cautious to not turn so much he'd see his injury. "Arin" The boy waved at him hearing his name being called out, Tommy couldn't help but answer with a small smile. "...the damage from the fucking crab" The cool air numbing his stab wound almost made him shiver.

"Good. Could you tell me now four things you can touch? Again, anything counts, no matter how stupid it may seem"

"The floor" His not-blood covered hand was resting on the floorboards while the other was kept semi-close to his chest, but not pressing into it as he was still hoping his hoodie was salvageable. He really fucking liked this hoodie. "Clothes. Uhhhh, wing" One. He was too scared to think about the other, and he still mainly wouldn't actually do it right now because there was blood on one of his hands. "...I dunno, hair, maybe??"

Lloyd hummed in acknowledgement. "What are three things you can hear?"

"Myself, you..." His heartbeat, still. "The ship"

"Two things you can smell?"

Tommy furrowed his brows. "Blood" Was there anything else? He had a longer pause, rocking his brain for any other smell. He had no idea...

"It's okay if you can't think of more. How about one thing you can taste?"

He cringed. "Stomach acid"

Lloyd pulled back at that, looking at the teen with worry. "Do you have water in your bag?" Tommy nodded meekly, his clean hand reaching into the bag and pulling out a canteen and he showed it off. The older blond smiled a little. "Drink up"

He shook his head. "I'm gonna piss myself from the pain"

The hero suppressed a laugh. "No you're not"

"I will. It happened before"

"What is there to feel pain about?" Lloyd asked, raising a hand with the bloody arrow.

Tommy's eyes went wide, he quickly looked at his wing. Nausea hit him like a brick wall and he immediately had to turn his head away, gagging. Although the arrow was gone and the wound had been numbed for the time being, his wing was still a fucking mess. Quickly gathering himself, he took a big gulp of the water and then promptly reached for the healing potion again.

"...Thanks..."

The Green Ninja smiled brightly at him. "You're welcome"

Suddenly, a sound caught everyone's attention, a quiet thud, as if something bumped against the ship.

Lloyd furrowed his brows in confusion. "Sounded like something hit us?" Arin immediately looked over the railing. The hero stood up, offering a hand to Tommy. The teen hesitated before hesitantly taking it. The older blond smiled at him yet again before joining the youngest boy. Tommy stayed still.

"What the hell did you guys do now?" Harumi asked coming back out onto the board with Chat by her side. The TV robot instantly zoomed over to their host and wrapped their arms around his neck in a hug, the teen let out an annoyed whine.

"There!" Arin pointed out at a small structure in the distance, similar to the one they just escaped from.

"...Aw, hell nah" The girl moved to the steering wheel.

"Wait! I think they're friendly" Arin stopped her, squinting his eyes at the people.

"How so?" Lloyd questioned.

The boy shrugged. "They're not shooting arrows at us, or attacking us with a giant crab monster" He started waving at them, and they seem to wave back at him.

"Mmm, sounds legit..." Tommy mumbled, not convinced one bit. But maybe that's because he just went through the most traumatic thing he can remember going through.

Nonetheless, they decided to give this place a try. The people smiling friendly and waving at them as they docked the ship. "Hey there. We, uh, have a problem with our ship. Is there anyone here that could help fix our engines?" Lloyd asked with hope.

"Or if you have some tools we could borrow that would be fine as well" His sister threw in.

Silently, they were pointed to a guy that was sitting a big further away. You wanna know what was not silent though? The stares Tommy was getting. Yes, people were LOUDLY staring at him, worried as shit. Yes, he could HEAR them STARING.

Ugh, he needed a bath...

"Reckon we got a good news, bad news situation" The guy – Dale, as the transcript is telling me – said, turning around to them. "I could work on your engine, but I need to get back to my shop, which is impossible"

"Why? Where's your shop?" Arin asked, a bit confused.

"You happen to pass by a big floating structure overrun by nasty jerks with arrows and a giant crab guarding it?"

Tommy couldn't help but scoff, "I don't know, man, you tell me!" His wings fluttered in annoyance. He felt relief when it didn't hurt.

Not taking any offence (maybe even relating with the feeling), Dale simply gave a nod, "That's where. That used to be our home, at least till that Merlopian gang showed up. The leader of the gang controls a giant crab, if you can believe it. They took over our home, and we've been stuck floating on this thing ever since"

"We ran into the same gang and their obnoxious crab" Lloyd rubbed at the back of his neck.

"We're just peaceful algae farmers. But ever since the Merge, strange characters have been coming through, like that ocean gang" One of the... people said. (Dunno if I can call them villagers or not tbh)

"They stole all our village and they eat all our algae" A man complained, crossing his arms.

"If we don't find land soon, we'll all starve" Another person added.

Arin tilted his head. "Why don't you just fight and take your home back?"

"What, and take on that gang and their crab?" Dale scoffed. "We're farmers. We ain't fighters"

"We can help you get your village back" Lloyd quickly offered, getting confused looks from the people around. "You need a place to live, and we can't go anywhere until our engines get fixed"

"So we can solve both problems by going back and kicking ocean gang butt!" Arin cheered, somewhat pumped.

"Okay, yeah, sure, let's kick some a—" Tommy paused, looking around. He spotted a child. "Butt. Let's kick some butt" He slammed a hand onto Arin's shoulder, Chat LOLing at him.

Rumi raised a brow at him, concern slightly marking her expression. "You're sure you up for round two so soon?" Tommy deadpan at the space before him.

Lloyd turned to the people, "As long as you are willing to stand up and fight we have a chance" Everyone looked at him confused as hell. "We'll train you with the materials you have on hand" The people exchanged uncertain looks, but eventually they all agreed.

Chat squealed, now making Tommy laugh at them. "This calls for a song!!" Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, looked at them with basically question marks in their eyes. A few seconds later 'I'll Make a Man Out of You' started playing from the robots speaker. 

Tommy burst out laughing, holding his abdomen as he bend in half. "Oh my Gods—!"

***

While the other three (way to go Arin!) were teaching the farmers how to fight, and Chat was doing as a boombox (proudly, mind you), Tommy decided to take care of himself. He walked off to the side of the wooden platform, away from everyone, which thankfully wasn't that hard to accomplish since all the people were busy with their Kung Fu lessons.

He took off his hoodie, then removed his shirt, watching the two cloths all over to decide whether or not they were worth saving. Ultimately, he wrote off the white T-shirt, throwing it to the side before grabbing the hoodie and trying to get the blood stain off. It worked...somewhat, when he decided he was done there was still an off-colored patch visible on it, but it's not like he could do much more right now. Sighing, he placed the hoodie next to him to dry out while he used his ruined shirt as a towel and cleaned the blood from his body, then wing. Having finished, he twisted the dirty cloth in his hands, letting whatever water wanted to return to the main source, he then pushed the still wet cloth into his bag.

Tommy eyed the damp hoodie, frowning with annoyance at the ripped fabric.

"Hi," Lloyd's voice suddenly called out from behind him, when Tommy turned around he was met with another friendly smile. "It's me again. Need some help?"

Tommy sighed. "Nah. Can't do much more without proper shit. And my powers aren't that reliable"

"What about the rip?" The hero tilted his head.

He shrugged. "Guess I'll have to live with it until I have the time to learn how to sew"

"Actually..." Lloyd raised a hand to his neck. "I can sew. Most of us can, getting our clothes ripped kind of comes with the job" He let out a short laugh. "I can fix it. Or I could teach you how to, if that's what you prefer"

Tommy pursed his lips.

Well it's not like he can keep on hating the guy forever. Especially since it's not his fault Tommy was like this, and he didn't actually hate Lloyd.

"...Fix it?" He asked, looking up at the older blond with a small blush on his face. Asking for help with such trivial things was always so fucking embarrassing. "We still have a fish gang to defeat, so I don't think we have time for a sewing lesson of all things right now"

Lloyds smile grew as he laughed again. "Sure!" He kneeled down to pick up the ripped hoodie. "I'm always open if you do want a sewing lesson later" Tommy hummed, nodding. Quickly, the hero waved him goodbye and walked off with the hoodie. The winged blond watched as he approached one of the women, pointing at the hoodie and getting a nod before they two walked out of his line of sight with bright smiles.

...Chat is going to fucking flip.

***

After getting his (now fixed) hoodie back, Tommy joined the others in the training and plotting.

Finally, the sun disappeared behind the horizon as the night took the wheel at its rightful hour and they could execute their plan. (Yes, somehow the people learned how to amateur-fight in less than a day.)

The Merlopians were having their dinner served, one of them walked off with their plate of algae, pausing once they saw a small raft soundly flowing their way. Much to their surprise, the only thing inside the raft was a sign somehow standing up straight on its own. (Minecraft logic!?) They squinted their eyes at the letters as they tried deciphering what was written, "It's too dark to read"

There was a sigh behind them. "It says 'look behind you'" Arin helped out a bit annoyed, Tommy and Chat's hushed laughter accompanying his voice. 

"That's what it says???" The Merlopian asked, super surprised. "Huh. Maybe it's time for me to finally get reading glasses—" They turned around, only for them to get kicked in the face by the younger boy, the force sending them flying back and landing in the water with a loud splash!

"Now!" Lloyd exclaimed, him and some other people jumping from under the wooden platform and charging forward at the remaining Merlopians around.

"Any sign of the leader?" Harumi asked, getting onto the platform as well.

Arin shook his head. "No, but he has to be around here somewhere"

"We need to find him and get his crown, before he can call the giant crab" She reminded, and just then, the ground shook, said monster rising from the water.

"Too late!!" Tommy exclaimed, quickly grabbing Chat and taking off into the air, really fucking praying the others would be able to keep their promise of not allowing any arrows come anywhere near him ever again.

"SCATTER!!!" The small robot called out to everyone on the ground, the loudness making the teen holding them cringe.

Tommy zoomed up while everyone else started running away, charging at the other Merlopians while also dodging a blast from the crab monster (why is it always crabs when I write about Tommy? xd). He landed on a roof, glancing down at the others to see how they were faring. Everyone regrouped before a bridge, taking a step back as the enemy shoot arrows in their direction, the few without bows charging at them through the bridge. Lloyd deflected the first wave of arrows with his sword, his sister powering up and shooting at the archers, making them stumble back and dodge, buying them time. Tommy attacked them with his yo-yo (with less or more precision) as well to make sure the others had a clearer path, and so that he didn't have to go through the trauma again. Dale used his...tool (listen, I have no idea what that thing is called in my own language, gimme a break) to unscrew(?) a screw (...don't look at me like that—) holding the bridge in place, causing the weight on it to make it collapse.

More Merlopians came at them from where they just came from. But this time they weren't running away. I mean, fair enough, there’s only like three of them and five of us canonically, in here like maybe twice that so, "We can take 'em! Focus! Just like we practiced!" Arin commanded (the boy is getting bolder—).

"This isn't gonna work! There's too many of them!" A farmer lady panicked, despite them literally having the bigger number in that particular moment... Unless she's looking at the grander scheme of things? But they're literally winning so far—

"They're not that tough! This is your home! Fight for it! I promise this is gonna be good!" Arin finished his motivational speech and everyone (apart from Tommy and Chat who were still on the roof above them; and also Rumi who felt this was a massive overreaction (she's lowkey correct—)) charged at the three Merlopians, attacking with everything they got. A guy with a really long... what even is it? Can I call it a rod? I'm gonna call it a rod. A guy with a really long metal rod swing his weapon around and pushed the enemies into the water below them. Unfortunately, he also managed to hit Arin, sending him flying off as well with a scream. Fortunately for the boy, Tommy quickly dived down to catch him, hands underneath the younger boy's armpits, before he could fall into the water. Arin let out a relieved sigh, "Thanks"

Tommy smiled down at him, but it quickly fell as he looked to the side as the monster screeched. "Don't thank me yet"

Arin let out a small huff, "This is gonna be bad..."

"Up we go!" Chat exclaimed, or advised, as the two rejoined the other, the giga crab throwing a tantrum and hitting the buildings close to it with its ginormous claws. 

"Destroy the interlopers!" The gang leader screamed, firing an arrow their way.

Everyone turned to look at him, Lloyd flinching back as a purple blade blocked the arrow that was about to hit him in the face. "There's our guy" The girl simply noted, glaring said guy down.

The Green Ninja gave a nod and turned to the rest, "I'll go get him, and that control crown"

Arin gave a nod back. "And we'll stay here and keep that monster busy!" He turned towards the monster, taking on a battle stance while the ninja run off (much to his sister's annoyance). The crab monster did the King Kong and climbed a fkn building before ripping out the top, or, well, the chimney. Arin deflated, "Um, I will, uh, try to keep that monster busy?" It smashed the chimney with its claw. "...Somehow? Maybe...?"

"Womp womp..." Yes, it's you, Chat.

Harumi sighed. "Tommy, would you please?" He turned around, seeing her point at her brother.

Tommy grumbled. "Ehh, why do I have to babysit everyone?" He complained, making her cross her arms and give him a look, but he was already getting to fulfilling her request, climbing onto the railing and zooming up.

"Hey!" The only actual ninja around called out to the gang leader, climbing up a ladder to reach him. Because that's such a great idea... "Call off your crab! Now!" He demanded. Of course, the leader didn't listen, only walked over to the top of the ladder and kicked it away before causally walking away. He glared up at where he last saw the Merlopian. "So, I'm doing this the hard way"

"More like we" Tommy corrected, hands on his hips as he stared at the other blond. The ladder slowly tipping further and further away as the two stared at each other. Before it could be tipped so far it would straight up fall down Tommy pushed it against the side of the building again, it was not light work. "Ugh, I really do have to babysit, huh?" He mumbled under his breath.

Lloyd stared at him some more before smiling, "Thanks"

"No thanks, bad guy to catch" And with that, Tommy zoomed up. Lloyd followed soon after, catching up barely a second later, just in time to witness the younger blond basically throwing himself at the Merlopian leader as he tried to get away. "Tommy!!" He quickly rushed after them. 

The leader somehow managed to grab onto the rope he was trying to use for his escape, now trying to use his sword-wielding hand to slash at the teen and get him to let go. Tommy was at a clear advantage here, especially with Chat by his side, all he had to do was hold the guy in place while the TV robot took the crown, reaching out to do so without even being promoted! "Destroy the interloper!!" The Merlopian called out, the crab monster immediately directing it's attention towards them and swing on of its claws in their general direction.

Tommy's eyes widened as he noticed the incoming claw. "Uh oh..." Chat screamed, quickly retracting back. The teen immediately let go, flying back and pushing the hero from the railing onto the top platform as the claw (with more precision than expected) cut the rope at where it was connected closer to them, allowing the gang leader to swing back, away from them. "Okay, that's just bullshit!" Tommy complained loudly. The monster charged up. The whole trio yelled as they dodged in two opposite directions, Tommy and Chat up as always, Lloyd down back onto the ladder as he started sliding down and looking for a way to catch up with the gang's leader.

The Green Ninja quickly spotted another rope, grabbed onto it and cut off the end closer to him to use it and chase after the troublesome Merlopian, jumping down in front of him at another hanging bridge. The leader took a step back, raising his sword while Lloyd stared him down, "Where are you going? Call off your crab monster and give the people back their village. Now!"

"Destroy the interloper!" The leader took a step forward.

Lloyd squinted his eyes, confused as hell. "Why do you keep saying that? It sounds so weird" The Merlopian seemingly didn't like that as he charged at the hero with a battle cry.

As this was happening, Arin and his part of the team rushed back to where they came from, as this was where the crab was mainly staying at the moment. Suddenly: more Merlopians blocked their way. The boy sighed, "You guys again?" Everyone charged forward (I dare you to count how many times I used the word 'everyone' and 'charged' in this whole fight scene), attacking with whatever they got. Surprisingly, this might be the first time there's enough Merlopians to go around and everyone got at least one. Neat. Anyhoo— Arin kicked the one attacking him to the side, simultaneously using his grapple to yoink away another one's sword out of their hand. It flew back and landed blade first next to a plate. His eyes lit up. "Just like I practiced!" Arin quickly jumped over to the plate, picking it up and spinning around before hurling it at the Merlopians. It flew right between two and fell into the water.

"Hey, our new plates! We just got those!!" One of the two complained angrily.

Arin recoiled back, sheepishly playing with his hands, "So, not like I practiced..."

Harumi blast at one of the Merlopians with her power, the crab monster making noises causing her to look to the side, seeing it turn its attention back to them again, meaning it had to lose Tommy and Chat from its line of sight. She turned to the villagers, "Is there any other place we could go?"

"Not really, no..."

The gang's leader managed to knock Lloyd's sword out of his hand, not getting a chance to attack again as Tommy kicked him to the side of his face (nyuuuuum!), Chat cheering fiercely. The two blonds glanced at each other and shared a nod before attacking together. As the Merlopian dodged Lloyd's attack and swinged his sword at Tommy, the younger blond jumped over him and threw the yo-yo at the blade, it's string tying itself around, allowing Tommy to yoink the weapon out of his hands as he landed. Lloyd went for another attack, the gang leader blocking him and throwing him to the... well, technically not ground but whatevs. As Tommy was about to step in and help, Chat pulled him back, shaking their head once he gave them a confused look.

The Merlopian leader smiles and did a small charge before jumping at the ninja with a battle cry. Lloyd smiled under his mask. "Gotcha" In one swift motion, the ninja turned onto his back and shot the guy with his power, sending him flying back to where Tommy and Chat were. The teen took a step to the side, watching the gang leader land right next to him with a groan, the crown falling off his head. Chat immediately went to collect it, holding it close to themselves and away from the 'baddie'.

Much to everyone's surprise, the Merlopian let out an extremely relieved sigh as he sat up. "Thank you. I never thought I'd escape the creature"

"Wait—" Lloyd furrowed his brows.

"What????" Tommy's mouth fell open. And so did Chat's.

(Back with Arin's squad, everyone grew super confused as all the Merlopians suddenly dropped their weapons, looking lost as hell and freaking out as soon as they noticed the giant crab.)

Lloyd walked a bit away, looking as the others were attacked by the monster, his eyes widening in realization. "The gang wasn't controlling the monster. The monster was controlling the gang!"

"WHAT!?" Tommy screamed, wings fluttering. None of this should matter anyway, doesn't change the fact he was FUCKING SHOT AT.

The leader nodded solemnly. "Yes. The crab is the mastermind behind this" Chat looked at the crown in their hands, now pushing it away from themselves with a disgusted face. "It made us take over, so it could feed off the processed algae" They all had to dodge as the crab started firing blast after blast at everyone, and now I mean EVERYONE.

Tommy huffed. "A real sob story, but that doesn't change the fact you hurt people!!"

"Tommy—"

"NO!! And I'm not even talking about myself! What about the villagers? You forced them out of their home!" He glared at the Merlopian, who could do nothing but frown at the words. "They could've starved!!"

"I know. And I'm truly sorry. We are are—"

"Sorry doesn't fix it!!!"

"To—" Before anything else could be added, the winged teen flew off. For the first time leaving Chat behind, causing them to scream after him. Lloyd rubbed at the back of his head awkwardly as he turned around to face the leader, "I'm sorry about him. He's had a rough day..." The Merlopian sighed as if defeated.

Looking up at the monster, Arin was finally able to notice the power blasts weren't coming from within the crab and rather from its front tooth. Tommy, visibly annoyed, landed roughly next to him. The boy sent his friend a questioning look, but as the blond made no effort to even acknowledge it he instead pointed out his newest discovery, "That tooth! It's gotta be the source of its power!" Tommy huffed in response, giving a curt nod.

"That tooth doesn't match any of the others..." The girl admitted, squinting her eyes at the monster. "Which means someone must have put that thing in its mouth to give it power"

Arin looked at her, "But who would do something like that?" All he got was a quick shrug before he got pulled back by Tommy, narrowly avoiding getting blasted. As the two went for cover, Lloyd, Chat and the Merlopian leader arrived at the battlefield.

"What's the hold up!?" Harumi glared at her brother as soon as she saw him.

Lloyd shook his head. "Things turned out to be a little more complicated than I anticipated..." The Merlopian leader sprinted right past him, pushing two villagers out of the crabs way just in time to save them from getting seriously hurt.

He turned to his... friends? Subjects? Colleagues? "Merlopians and villagers, team up!" The human part of the team got surprised. "Work together so that monster can't blast us, or control anybody ever again!" The guy added, pointing at the monster, the determination in his voice enough to get everyone pumped up despite the still lingering confusion. Rumi raised a brow at her bother, he shrugged lightly basically giving her 'and this is the whole story' look.

Arin peeked from his and Tom's hiding spot. "Uh, what?" He glanced at the other boy, but he only huffed.

"Let's just go..." Tommy growled, getting up and joining the others. Chat immediately zoomed over to him and hit the back of his head. He hissed and glared at them, the two having a death stare contest. 

Everybody attacked, using literally everything they had at their disposal. All failing. Arin groaned, "Ugh, that monster is so annoying!" He paused. "Annoying. We've tried everything, but we haven't tried that! Hey, Tommy!" He called out to the teen above him. Said teen looked down at him with a raised brow. "Let's give him the Innit Intro!" Lloyd and Harumi paused at look at Arin weirdly.

Tommy furrowed his brows, deeply confused. The 'Innit Intro' was a thing he did to most new people he'd meet, it was basically him annoying them until they snapped. Depending on his luck, this would either get him free shit or thrown out/screamed at/threatened. Despite all odds, this made him more memorable, and in a way charming once they got to know his kinder side. "You want to give the crab monster the Innit Intro????"

"Yes!"

He facepalmed. "Okay, first of all, I think it's way too late for intros at this point—"

"Just follow me!!" The younger boy cut him off, aiming his grapple at the monster, the tip attaching itself around one of the arms with a claw and he used it to jump into the monster. Worried for his friend, Tommy had no option but to follow. "Hey crab~! Hey! Over here! Over here! Look at me~!" The blond shook his head, kind of holding in his laughter as Arin started calling out to the monster while jumping up and down on its head. "Do you see me? Huh? Huh? You're not looking!" The crab monster made an annoyed noise, but ignored the boy for the most part and focused more on attacking the people trying to fight it.

Tommy rolled his eyes, not stopping the amused smirk anymore. "Hello~? Anybody home???" He used his yo-yo to bonk the head a few times. "Big Man Innit 'ere, they said a huge dick-ass-motherfucker was livin' in there. Hi? Hello~~~? Your taxes await ya, y'know?" Arin laughed and the two of them continued to ramble nonsense while kicking the crabs head.

Finally, the monster grew tired of the two's shitshow and used its claws to attack them. They jumped out of the way, with Tommy using his yo-yo to immobilize one of the claws (as much as he could anyway). "Guys! Now!!" Arin called out to the others. 

Rumi looked at her brother, he gave a nod and used spinjitzu/airjitzu to get to the tooth and kick it, making it loose which caused it to fell out and into the water below a few second later. The monster glowed and it started to shrink. Tommy quickly grabbed Arin and flew down to the others. Having been reduced to a weird looking crab barely reaching everyone's knees, it jumped into the sea, never to be seen again (hopefully). 

Everyone cheered at their victory.

***

Harumi and Dale were working on the engine while the rest of the gang (as in our 'ninja' team) were repairing the rest of the ship.

"Whoo! Once we're done here, I reckon your engine will run better than ever" Dale quipped to the girl, making her laugh.

"Sounds about right"

Lloyd peeked down at them. "How much for your work?"

Dale shook his head with a smile. "Nah, this job's on the house" He got up and placed a hand on the hero's shoulder, looking off at his people (both humans and Merlopians), "You didn't just save us from a monster, you brought us together into one big happy family. And you're more than welcome to stay with us" Tommy huffed at the proposal, quiet enough to not draw anyone's attention.

Arin approached the two. "Sounds fun, but we're on a very important mission. The fate of the world is at stake" Dale blinked, surprise washing over his features.

"Just know, if we succeed, we couldn't have done it without your help. Thank you" Lloyd did a small bow, and then the two shook hands before the mechanic went back to helping Rumi with fixing the engine.

A few minutes later, everything was almost as good as new. Lloyd, Harumi and Arin waved at the villagers as they were leaving while Tommy stayed back, narrowing his eyes at the Merlopian crew.

Arin sighed, "I sure hope the other ninja are having an easier time on their mission than we are" Chat started digitally sweating at that.

Chapter Text

Kai and Wyldfyre backed into one another as spiky walls kept closing in on them. "This is totally your fault!!!" They both screamed at the same time, glaring at the other angrily. The ninja eventually let go, sighing and sliding a hand down his face. The girl huffed. "These Walls of Punishment aren't as fun as I hoped"

Kai's hand immediately fell down, eyes snapping wide open as he gave her a look, "You were expecting them to be fun?"

"I always expect fun!"

He sighed again. "At least it can't get any worse" A few arrows flew in between them, then another wave straight at them forcing them to dodge out of the way. Kai groaned, "When am I gonna learn things can always get worse?"

"Worse? It's finally interesting!" The wyld girl cheered, the hero shook his head at her.

"That's what you get!" One of the— I'm so sorry about this (not rlly tho–)— Boners yelled at them from above, another one following soon after with, "Eat wall!"

The leader motioned for his subjects to quiet down as he pulled a lever and stopped the whole contraption. "It's not too late to save yourselves. We'll pull you out if you give us back our sacred gems!" The Bone King called out, looking down at them.

"We don't have them! Promise!" Kai replied, still not sure how this whole misunderstanding happened. "We're ninja on an urgent mission. We just stopped in your forest to rest!"

"Right! Plus, why would we steal 'em anyway?" Wyldfyre added, and for a second Kai there had hope she finally found some sense in her. Aaaand then she threw in the next line..."They're mega-ugly!"

Kai hid his face in his hands, letting out an exhausted whine.

"Not nice!" One of the... Bone guys complained.

"Jealous!" Another one accused.

The Bone King narrowed his... surprisingly eyes at the duo. "Last chance! The gems, or we let the walls finish their work!" One of his hands landed on the lever, showing he was, indeed, willing to follow on the threat.

"You don't have the guts!" The girl exclaimed, pointing up at him. She snort and elbowed Kai in between the ribs as she turned to him with a goofy grin, "Get it? Skeleton joke"

"Stop insulting them!!"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, they love it. I'm hilarious!"

The leader was, in fact, very not amused. "Fine! Face punishment, gem thieves!" He pulled the lever, the spiky walls closing in on the hot headed duo once more.

Kai facepalmed, loudly, before dodging out of the way as the arrows flew in their direction. "Don't make fun of people who have you in a death trap!"

"Not my fault!" Wyldfyre argued, hands clenching at her sides. They dodged again. "How could I know they're so sensitive? They've got pretty thin skin," Another dodge. "For folks with no skin" She shrugged, cracking an almost invisible grin.

He threw her an unamused glare, dodging yet again. As the arrows passed by, he redirected his attention to them, having years of experience in trap mechanisms due to his job, he pretty quickly figured it could help them out. "Three, two, one..." He looked at the girl again, "Did you spot the pattern?"

"Yes, way before you did" She bragged smugly, Kai only deadpan at her. He didn't get much time to do anything else either as she quickly added, "Let's go!", and jumped, using the flying arrows to boost herself up. The two quickly started to jump-climb the spikes; the arrows, although still a minor threat to their general physical wellness, now more of a stepping stool. Wyldfyre scoffed, "You thought I needed ninja training? Waah!—" She practically cut herself off with a yelp once she failed to reach another spike. Thankfully, our friendly neighborhood Fire Ninja was there to not only catch, but also launch her even higher. Despite this, she continued to gloat as if she never missed, "Not when I've got moves like this!" Kai could only roll his eyes, still keeping a close eye in case she ever had another mishap. Fortunately, it wasn't needed as the two made it out a couple seconds later. "And... Ha! Safe!"

"Danger's not over yet" Kai reminded, the two of the immediately taking battle ready stances as the whole Bone Tribe surrounded them, all seething.

"If you won't be polite and get crushed by the Walls of Punishment, then we'll just have to destroy you the old-fashioned way!" The leader announced before him and the rest leaped forward.

"Tea time!" Mr. Frohicky announced cheerfully as he approached the White Ninja, a warm cup of 'tea' in his hands. "Gramma's recipe" He smiled, offering the cup as soon as they were standing next to one another.

Zane glanced down at the contents (coz I doubt this even can be classified as a liquid–) of the cup, the green, gooey, almost slime-like mixture with pretty sure alive flies making him cringe a little. He quickly forced a smile as he raised a hand to politely refuse the offer, "Uh, it sure, um, looks... nutritious. However, Nindroids do not require nutrition"

"Oh, my sincerest apologies! I'll dispose of it immediately" The frog man announced almost dramatically before slurping the whole thing up in one go. He immediately burped, releasing the flies from the dark deadly abyss of his insides– "Oh, heavens..." Zane, ever the undeterred, simply offered a slightly amused grin. Frohicky mirrored it with an awkward toothless grin and glanced at the big gate, "This is what teleported you ninja back from Imperium? How does it work?"

"I do not know. It is mystical, not technological, so it is difficult to scan" The ninja glanced down at the device he was using to try and do just that, the picture he attached to it quickly gaining all his attention. "But if I can reactivate it, it may help explain the secrets of the Merge, including the whereabouts of those still missing"

"Oh, like Arin's parents and the other ninja!"

Zane gave a nod. "Master Wu, Jay and Cole. But they are not the only loved ones I seek" His expression, though already somber, turned even more sad, almost melancholic as the gaping hole inside his chest only seem to grow and ache more. 

"Is there any way as Monastery Assistant that I can be of assistance?"

"I am not sure you can... This device should analyze the gate, but—" He opened the panel on the back, electricity sparks flying as he did so. "Yes... As I feared. It requires a new wyconium coil, which is difficult to acquire in Ninjago"

Mr. Frohicky crossed his arms, bringing one hand to his chin in thought. He had no idea what the ninja was talking about honestly, but helping around was literally his job, so he'd make sure to try his hardest. And fortunately, a brilliant idea struck him. "Before the Merge, maybe. But in the Crossroads, we've got stuff from all the combined realms! Bet you'd find a wycombi-whatever easily now"

Zane tilted his head to the side, one eyebrow raising, "Cross...roads...?"

"Oh, right right right! You just woke up. You don't know about the hottest new neighborhood in the Ninjago City greater metro area!" He pulled the nindroid in for a side hug and gave a big grin. "Well, you are in for a treat" Zane double blinked before cracking a small unsure smile. The frog man then pulled away, eyeing him up and down. "Hmm... However, a legendary and believed-missing ninja just showing up in town would cause quite a stir. Hmm..." The two of them got to thinking, but, the great assistant that he was, the frog gave the first suggestion, "Any chance you own a fake mustache?" At that Zane immediately perked up, closing his eyes and smiling proudly as he used his cloaking to add a holographic mustache onto his face. Frohicky's eyes practically sparkles, "Wow! That's the second fastest I've ever seen someone grow a mustache"

Zane gave him an amused chuckled.

***

After some great guesses, deduction and planning, the two (the nindroid also rocking in the clothes he once used for a detective outfit) wound up at the Crossroads' junkyard. Luck would have it, they entered just as Kreel and her goons were having the time of their lives there, aka. working on the woman's mech. With one of the being very recognizable, and the other looking rather suspicious, it wasn't hard to spot them, "Mr. Frohicky's got a new friend" She called out, almost mocking. Almost. "Who is he? Eh, never mind. Don't care" She threw in the last two lines even before either could get worried and try coming up with a name or an excuse.

"What are you doing here, Kreel?" The frog man asked politely, just the tiniest bit surprised to see her around.

"You haven't heard? It's my junkyard now. Won it in a lice game" She bragged, cocky.

"You mean a dice game?" Zane corrected, only to be given a weird look from the woman.

"Mmm, no" The two were left staring at each other, both weirded out by the other.

After a beat, Zane cleared his throat. "We require a wyconium coil. Wyconium is a rare, almost unheard of element with an indestructible—"

"I know what wyconium is" Kreel cut him off, seeming kind of offended by the implication she could not. She soon smiled though, still as cocky as ever, but the vibes were more in a nice business way. "We got a ton of coils in back. I'll grab one while you cough up the coins"

Zane full on paused, whole body stilling as the realization hit. This was no Walker's junkyard, not even sure the place is still standing. I mean... this could be it, but it obviously was changed, like everything else since the merge. "Um, coins? I... lack coins" He offered an awkward smile, as it was all he could offer.

Kreel, obviously not amused, deadpan at the two, a scowl in her face.

They were promptly kicked out.

"...Well, let's head into town!" Frohicky exclaimed cheerfully, once again throwing an arm around the ninja's shoulder. "I assure you, Master Zane, opportunities are around every corner in the Crossroads"

Kai blocked the Bone leader's sword with one of his katanas. "I swear we don't have your gems!" He reached for his second and used it to push the guy away, pointing the two blades at the other boneheads surrounding him and the wyld girl.

"Yes you do!! Return them at once!"

Wyldfyre groaned, rolling her eyes. "Ugh, fine, if you want them so bad" Much to Kai's bewilderment, she pulled out a bag with gems in it and dropped it to the ground.

The Red Ninja grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and started shaking her, "You had them the whole time!?"

"It was a prank!" She defended, grabbing onto his fist and pushing him off before continuing, "I was gonna hide them all over, like a fun little treasure hunt. Only without a map" Kai slammed both of his hands into his face, screaming into them.

"We should have disarranged you!!" The Bone leader seethed, raising his sword again.

But before any more fighting could happen, Kai jumped in front of the girl, putting off one of the katanas, "Wait wait wait wait! You got the gems back. Can't we just call it square? Hehe, kids, am I right? Heh..." He offered a sheepish smile, only breaking it to send Wyldfyre a glare when she elbowed him.

The main Boner took a couple second before sighing. "Fine. You can go, IF you promise to never come back!"

"Totally! Let's shake on it" The wyld girl quickly agreed, suspiciously quick even, and extended her hand towards the leader. He squinted his eyes at her but approached and connected his hand to hers ...only for the girl to light up that hand and burn the guy, causing him to jump back with a pained yelp. Wyldfyre started laughing while Kai grabbed his head. "Prank!! Fire handshake! Owned!" She light up both of her hands, making the Bone army take a few steps back before she sent a fireball at the chain holding Heatwave. Once free, the dragon proceeded to yeet one of the guys into the air.

Kai's mouth dropped, but he quickly gathered himself and run after the girl as she headed towards her family, still laughing and having the time of her life. They both jumped onto Heatwave, the whole tribe on their tail. "You said we could go! No backsies! Bye!!" Kai gave a small wave as him and the girl flew off.

The girl cackled. "Classic Wyldfyre! I never miss a chance to do the fire handshake prank" She reached a light up hand behind to show off, causing Kai to slightly lean backwards. "You should've seen the look on his skull!"

"I was literally there..." He muttered, deadpanning at her back as she turned to face forward. "Besides, Elemental powers are not practical jokes, kid. You have to take the power you've been given seriously"

Wyldfyre faked a snore, letting her head hang loose before pretending she jolted awake. "Huh? Oh. Sorry, nodded off there. Forgot you're the Elemental Master of BORING!!" She turned around to face him, arms on her hips. Heatwave gave a roar (hard to tell who he was siding with–).

Kai took a deep breath. "Whatever. No more stops. We get to the Wyldness, get the Dragon Core, and get back to meet the others so we can save the world. Okay?"

She sighed. "Sure. Saving the world's important"

"Glad you have some priorities"

"Because if the world is destroyed, who'd be left to prank?" She smiled to herself.

Kai shook his head, but he'll take it, as long as she's on board he was willing to entertain her skewed motivation. "Look, Nya said the Core is probably being protected by people called the Lava-Tides, who are—"

She cut him off, "You don't need to ninjasplain Lava-Tides to us. Heatwave and I are from the Wyldness. The Lava-Tides are my peeps! They love me!" Wyldfyre exclaimed, throwing her hands up.

***

"No Core for you! No Core for you! No Core for you!" The whole gods damn LT tribe repeated over and over as soon as they heard what the two human shaped flamethrowers came to their village for.

Kai groaned, muttering under his breath, "Oh, some BFFs you've got..." The LTs continued to chant at them, gradually getting more and more aggressive, although they never got out-right violent. But Kai did have to use his powers to draw everyone back as they started closing in on them. He spun around to the girl, tone accusatory as he spoke, "What's the deal? You said the Lava-Tides loved you! They even have your picture up!" He pointed at one of the walls, where crudely drawn 'pictures' of the wyld girl were doing as casual decor.

"I know, they're obsessed with me" She threw him a cocky grin.

"EHH, wrong!" The LT leader shouted, a small flame coming out of their stone head. "That image is so all can identify the FACE OF THE ENEMY!!"

"...Like a wanted poster. Okay, yeah, should've guessed that..." Kai muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose. He took a deep breath to calm himself before turning to the girl again, arms crossed, face stern. "What did you do to make them so mad?"

"Oh, pfft. They're not really mad" She waved it off.

"We're SUPER mad!" One of the LTs shouted. Quickly followed by another, "The maddest!!"

Wyldfyre rolled her eyes. "I just did fun stuff. Like hiding rotten melons around town to stink the place up!" She pointed around at some... almost goo-like stains, making the Red Ninja cringe a little. "Ooh, or dressing their village statue to look all fancy!" She then pointed at the probably rotten melons, and their goo, cover statue, which also spotted a mustache glued by the same green goo and some chalk? drawings.

"FANCY!?!?" The LT leader screeched, highly offended. "You made our monument to the great hero, Lava-Todd the Wise, look silly! An object of RIDICULE!!"

Wyldfyre let out a laugh. "Classic! See?" She turned to Kai with a bright smile. "They loved it! They were always leaving presents around for me, like cool metal jaws"

"You're describing traps. They set traps to catch you!" The senior human flamethrower exclaimed, sighing deeply as the girl shrugged. He turned to the LTs, addressing them formally, "Lava-Tides, I'm Kai, the Red Ninja. We've come to get the Dragon Core. To stop the MergeQuakes that threaten all the merged realms"

His words caused a small commotion, illegible whispers exchanged as two LTs picked up their leader to match their eye level with the hero. "We've heard great tales of the ninja, even before the Merge. For generations, our people had been entrusted with protecting the Dragon Core, until such a day that a great hero came to claim it" They spoke, now calmer, before summoning the core from inside a pit that was casually hanging out in the middle of the village. "Is today, that day? Are you, that hero?"

Before Kai could even open his mouth, Wyldfyre was already answering, "Me? Yes. Absolutely. 'Cause I'm the leader" She proclaimed, proudly pushing her chest out.

"What? No! She's not the—"

"NO!! Enemy! Surely you are NOT the foretold hero, with your terrible cry of ‘Haha! Prank!’ as you commit your crimes. No Core EVER for you!" The LT leader exclaim, throwing the Dragon Core back into the pit before turning around to the two, glaring angrily yet again. "Or anyone who has the bad judgment to be associated with you"

"What?" Wyldfyre's shoulder raised up in genuine surprise. "You know we were always just joking around, right?"

"Uhh— That was the old Wyldfyre!" Kai quickly jumped in. "What if she could prove she's gotten better? Maybe fix all the bad stuff she's done? Then would you let us have the Core?" The girl gave him an unhappy look while the LT leader looked at the ground in thought, seemingly not convinced before shaking their head/body. The hero got down on one knee, giving them a pleading look, "Come on. We're talking about saving the world here"

They sighed, still sounding rather annoyed as they finally gave in, "Fine... We already have a list. Bring forth the Scroll of Grievances!" They exclaimed and one of the LTs pulled out a scroll and started unfolding it. Actually, less so unfolding and more so just letting the paper down Rapunzel's hair style.

"That's... a long list. But we could..." Kai cut himself off as the list just kept on going. "More. Okay, fine. We can fix—" And going. "Wow. Okay. We'll just..." And going... "Okay, this is just getting silly" He huffed, crossing his arms as it still kept going. FINALLY, it stopped. He looked at the wyld girl, who only offered a sheepish smile.

Kai groaned in despair.

Mr. Frohicky and Zane walked through the crowded Crossroads, like, extra crowded. But the frog man did his best to lead them through. "Oh, don't worry. We'll find a way to earn enough coins. Oh, you wouldn't happen to have a karaoke mode, would you? If so, we could— Oh" He paused, realizing the person next to him wasn't his employer, but some random person with the ninja's face paper cutout mask. "Excuse me. You're not, uh..." The Munce looked at him weirdly, then smiled awkwardly and turned to leave, leaving the now confused frog behind. He looked around, seeing practically everyone with similar masks, or even full cosplays. "What is going on here?" Frohicky scratched his head before finally noticing a stage in the middle of the street, realization yet again hitting him. "Aha, I forgot that's today!"

"Happy Zane Day!" A woman on the stage exclaimed bubbly. "The annual celebration of a long-lost but mightily-beloved ninja hero known as Zane, the Titanium Ninja!" The crowd cheered, fireworks exploding behind the woman.

"Zane Day?" The ninja, still undercover, questioned, suddenly appearing next to the frog assistant. "I do not understand"

"You do know you're really famous, right? I'm honored to even be near you, even with that mustache"

Zane blinked, not sure what to make of it. He spotted someone with a Zane mask (honestly kind of weird to see his own face everywhere–) and stopped them, "Excuse me. This is a community event devoted to m— to Zane?" He quickly corrected himself, not wanting to blow his cover.

"Affirmative. Today, we engage in Zaney games and consume Zaney foods" The person answered in a robot voice, pulling out a bowl of screws outta... somewhere. "Mm. Yum yum. And today shall culminate with a Zane-alike contest with a big cash prize. Beep boop beep boop" As the guy finished, he exited 'robot style'.

Zane furrowed his brows, feeling... weird, very weird, even offended perhaps? But with the new information he was quick to come up with an idea, "A cash prize could be used to purchase the needed wyconium coil. And I do believe I'm optimized to win a Zane-alike competition" He smiled at his companion.

Mr. Frohicky double clapped his hands. "Difficult to argue with that, sir! Mm, I'll go register you"

***

Some time later, Zane and the other two contestants remained on the stage, have been asked by Emcee – the woman from before – to preform a 'Zane dance' as sort of a victory of ending up in the last three (and for the undercover ninja joining, which how the hell he can join at the finals is a mystery—). Although silly, the White Ninja was willing to oblige, having the bigger picture in mind. Also, it reminded him of some fun times with his friends.

He could not, however, not judge the other two in their attempts of imitating him. "I do not dance like that" He quietly deadpan to no one but himself.

Finally, Emcee poked the microphone, promoting the three to stop while also catching the crowd's attention. "Let's hear a round of applause for our finalists — Lobbo, Tope-Epot, and a newcomer named..." She squinted her eyes at the piece of paper she got. "Blane!" Creativity never ceases. "And for the finals, we have a celebrity head judge all the way from Shintaro — Chancellor Gulch!" The Geckle Chancellor walked up the stage, giving a little wave to the crowd before reaching Emcee, "Now, Chancellor, you were friends with the real Zane, correct?" She aimed the mic at him.

"Yes. Zane and the other ninja helped my people, the Geckles, and we became the best of friends. I knew him well" Zane smiled fondly, watching as Gulch headed off the stage, waving yet again.

"Wonderful. Then let the Zames begin!" Emcee exclaimed, having the typical expression one has after making a joke and waiting for a reaction. She got none. Inhaling deeply, and cringing in awkwardness, she continued, "Okay! The sound-alike round! Let's hear what you got. Lobbo!" She aimed the mic at the orb.

"I'm Zane. Feel my ice!" The crowd cheered, the judges split.

Emcee then approached Tope-Epot, who proceeded to make dial-up noises. How? I have no idea.

Zane made a face, again muttering to himself, "That is actually quite offensive" But the crowd cheered, and the judges all gave him a high score. Despite being offended, he quickly gathered himself as the woman approached. He cleared his throat, "I... am Zane" (omghesaidthething—)

The crowd went silent, speechless maybe. Everything was still for a moment, before Gulch spoke up, "Zane was my dear friend. My hero" He slowly approached the nindroid, Zane giving him a friendly smile. "I would know his voice anywhere, and that... was NOT IT! Fail!" The Geckle exclaimed, giving him the lowest score, the rest of the judges following, much to Zane's utter bewildered. 

"So this round goes to... Tope-Epot!!"

Kai stared blankly at all the rotten melons scattered around (the transcript tells me they're called wyldmelons but my autocorrect doesn't like that, so I'll stay with calling them melons). He picked one up, giving it a sniff, quickly regretting that. "Whoa! Okay, these smell like rotten eggs"

"Oh, but they are sooo good" Wyldfyre said, throwing another rotten melon into the big pile before spotting a fresh one. "I mean, yeah, sometimes you get one infested with Death Wasps, but the non-infested ones are so good" She split it in two with her hands and started munching on one side while Kai burned the rotten ones, the smell thankfully not getting any worse. When they finished that up, they moved onto tidying up the statue. The girl snickered to herself. "Aww, man. Dressing up their statues to look dumb? Good times"

The Red Ninja send her a stern glare. "You heard the Lava-Tides. You were having fun, but they weren't. If everyone's not having fun, it isn't pranking. It's bullying"

She scoffed, rolling her eyes as she slowly started cleaning up her mess. "Ugh. Whatever. They just don't get comedy!"

"Or, they don't see you as funny!" Kai sighed, exhausted. "Look, here's the bottom line. Do another prank, and they'll never give us the Core" He narrowed his eyes at the girl, giving her a stern look, although he wasn't sure she was even actually listening to him. "No more, okay? People are counting on us"

Wyldfyre groaned. "Ugh, fine. No more pranks, for now. I promise" Kai smiled at her the tiniest bit.

***

The two fireheads high fives, having had finished cleaning everything, the LTs even cheered for them. The LT leader (who I'm only now learning was a gurlypop all along–) approached them, the Dragon Core resting atop her rock head/body. "Surprisingly, you've made amends and proven your worthiness"

"Yeah. Under my leadership, Kai did an okay job. Not great, but okay" The girl claimed, the hero placing a hand on his face and taking another deep breath.

The leader 'gave' one of the other LTs the Core as she stepped forward and reached out a hand, "I was wrong about you. Let us shake hands as friends"

'Handshake? Oh no!' Kai perked up, staring with eyes blew wide in horror as the girl reached out her own hand. He could see small flickers of her power dance around the extended hand for a second. 'Not the fire handshake prank. Not the fire handshake prank!' He scream in his mind. And as if she could hear him, the flickers quickly disappeared, Wyldfyre and the LT leader having a normal handshake without the latter getting burned. The ninja let out a deep breath of relief. Thinking all is well, Kai reached for the Dragon Core but the LT that was 'holding' it threw it up into the air. He took a step back confused as hell, then terrified once the Core fell down the pit once more. "What!?"

"Hahaha! PRANK!!" The leader screamed, laughing maniacally with their entire tribe. "Now the Core is in the Pit of No Return!" They pointed at the wyld girl, glaring. "You're a BULLY, and you'll never change. But at least you cleaned up our village! Thanks!"

"Without that Core, the whole world could be destroyed!" Kai reminded, both desperate and angry.

"Yeah, but you should see the look on your face!" The leader quipped, her and her tribe continuing laughing as they all scattered away.

Wyldfyre frowned, crossing her eyes and looking away, "Good one..."

"Round two!" Emcee announced. "The power-alike round! It's time to ice blast these targets. Show us what you got!" She pointed her mic at Lobbo.

"Ice blast! Lobbo Lobbo!" The orb robot picked up a few ice cubes from his ice bucket, taking a swing and attempting to throw them at the target, failing to do so as the ice cubes got stuck to his hand. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get them unstuck, or at least not in time and the judges ended up giving him a low score.

"Ooh. Uh, better luck next time, Lobbo" The woman moved on to the next contestant. "Tope-Epot! Care to give it a whirl?" The master of silent arts that he is, he said nothing before picking up the ice cubes and throwing them, hitting all three targets and gaining a high score. "That was cooooool!" She pretended to shiver while doing the ghost 'oOoOo' thing then smiled at the crowd and the judges, "Get it?" Literal crickets.mp3. "...Okay, moving on. Blane, you're up!"

Zane gave a firm nod, smiling, confident in his abilities as his hands light up with his power. But in a strange set of circumstances, Lobbo managed to send one of his ice cube flying straight at the ninja, hitting him in the face, which then made him accidentally shot at the woman and send her flying off the stage with a pained scream. Mr. Frohicky in the crowd covered his mouth with both hands as the hero quickly run over to help Emcee up with a panicked expression. "My deepest apologies, Miss!" She kind of just looked at him, and in the corner of his eye he could see practically everybody and their mother giving him the stink eye. Also, the judges giving him full zeros.

He slowly retracted back, the faintest bit of blue blush on his cheeks.

Kai and Wyldfyre stared down the deep deep pit. He sighed, "Why is it always pits when I hang out with you?"

"Oh well, we gave it a shot" She shrugged and started walking off.

Kai quickly grabbed her wrist and pulled her back, giving her yet another stern look. "Where are you headed off to? We need that Core!"

She deadpan at him, tugging her arm free. "Look, Kai. It's called the Pit of No Return for a reason. And I like returning. It's a thing I always do after going" She said smugly before turning around once more and attempting to walk again once more, only to be pulled back again.

"This is too important. We can't just walk away!"

"I can. Watch" She broke free once more, slowly walking further and further away. He let her this time, seeing as it wasn't working. "See? Don't worry. I'll let everyone know what happened to you. Maybe someone will be sad"

Kai sighed, defeated. "You're right. I'll never get out of this alive…" Suddenly, he got an idea. A smirk appeared on his face and his eyes drifted to the girl. "Unless, maybe... if you were to lead me?" His smirk grew when Wyldfyre paused.

"Well... yeah!" She turned around, smiling as she stared heading back towards him. "Now that you mention it, my leadership is your only hope" The Red Ninja placed both his hands on his hips, waiting for her to get close enough, the two looking down the deep deep pit once again.

Zane stared down at the toaster before him, unsure. "One last round, sir. I'm confident a legend like you can win this" The frog man reassured, earning a small smile of gratitude. A moment later the frog got off the stage as Emcee announced another round.

"Okay, contestants! Get ready for the tech-alike round! Zane was a tech genius. To prove you're like him, you must reprogram these ordinary toasters to do something cool in under thirty seconds! And go!" She pointed at Lobbo, who immediately started messing around with the toaster.

"Party toaster online! Lobbo Lobbo" He set the toaster up straight, a rainbow light coming from the inside soon followed up by fireworks (and I'm pretty sure music). All this earning him a high score.

Next up was our favourite silent snail master. He pulled the lever, somehow causing irreparable damage to the toaster cashing black smoke to come out of it before it fell over. "Eh... I made a... a sideways toaster" All the judges gave him a low score, making various stages of weirded out expressions.

Emcee approached Zane, slightly cautious as she extended the mic towards him. "Simply by rewriting this humble toaster's operating system, I shall create a device that walks your dog, cleans your room, and files your taxes automatically" He pulled out a wire from the back of his head and connected it to the toaster. And all this to basically blue screen as his system turned out to be incompatible with the god damn toaster.

"Is there a problem, Blane?" The woman asked, seeing his expression drop.

"I've been offline for some time. It seems there are updates I must install"

"You understand there's a time limit, right? …Three, two, one, and time's up!" She exclaimed and quickly all the judges gave him zeros again. "And the winner is... Lobbo! The most Zane person alive!" The crowd cheered, fireworks were released as celebration.

Dejected, Zane slowly got off the stage, quickly getting approached by Mr. Frohicky. "How could I have lost the me-alike competition? Did the Merge change me? Am I not the Zane I once was?"

The frog placed a hand on his shoulder, giving it a small squeeze. "The way others see us isn't always the way we truly are" He moved to stand before him, placing his second hand on the empty shoulder as he smiled at the nindroid, "But I see you, and you are the same hero you've always been, my good sir."

"My condolences, friend. Yours was an admirable attempt" Gulch said approaching the two.

Zane sighed. "And yet, I failed..."

"Zane had such impressive shoes to fill. No one could live up to him. Maybe not even Zane himself!" He laughed. Oh the irony— "But here's your third place prize. A gift card for Kreel's Junkyard! Use it to build something incredible, as Zane would have done"

The two exchanged looks, smiles immediately brightening up their faces. Zane took the gift card and gave Gulch a small bow before they celebrated their victory.

Wyldfyre charged forward, sliding down the wall of the pit, Kai hot on her tail. They slid down, avoided some rocks; eventually the girl threw herself in the middle, thankfully the hero had great reflexes and not only managed to spot a vine to grab onto, but also caught her before she could get out of reach. He grunted, "What was that!? I said we should go carefully!"

"As leader, I decided careful was boring. You're welcome!" She looked down, spotting a pile of melons and tried reaching for them.

"What are you doing? Eat Wyldmelons later! First, we need to live!"

"No— I can almost reach—!"

Kai looked down at her, practically glaring at her back. But then, another one of the melons fell down, pushing the ones Wyldfyre was reaching for to the side and revealing a shiny golden ball. The ninja gasped, "The Core!"

Wyldfyre groaned. "Just a little closer..."

Kai thought for a second, glancing up before he started to swing back and forth, slowly getting the girl closer and closer. But he could also feel the vine ripping under their weight. "Hurry up!"

Finally, she managed to grab the Core, just as the vine broke. However, with the swing power the both of them managed to jump onto another vine. Wyldfyre scoffed, smiling to herself, "Why'd they even call this a Pit of No Return? We're gonna return so hard right now!" They both paused, frowning in confusion as they heard a buzzing sound below them. When looking down, they could see one of the melons shaking. Wyldfyre's eyes widened in realization. "Uh oh. Remember how I said some Wyldmelons are infested?"

"Yeah, with a—" The melons practically exploded, a huge swarm of wasps flying off into the air. The realization hit the Red Ninja like a brick wall, "Death Wasps!!" He SO did not want to find out why exactly they're called the way they do, so the two flameheads started making their way up. Somewhere mid-way, Kai used his power to break of a few rocks, closing them out– and closing the deadly insects in–side. A few moments later they finally made it out, falling onto the ground in exhaustion. "We're alive. I can't believe it!"

"And we have the Core!" Wyldfyre added, holding up the Core proudly.

Only for it to be immediately yoinked by... Dorama in a wig, accompanied by fancy-dressed Claw Hunters. Wait, no, the transcript says they're his stagehands???? Can this guy get any fucking weirder? "Think again! Your prize has been stolen by a handsome and mysterious stranger. But you'll never guess his true identity!"

Kai deadpan at him. "Aren't you that Dorama guy?"

He quickly threw the ridiculous wig away. "Surprise! It is I, Dorama, with my trusty stagehands. And this will be your curtain call!"

Kai groaned. "Ugh. I hope my sister's having an easier time than we are..."

Chapter Text

Sora and Nya arrived at the location given by the spirit, they jumped off their dragons and started making their way up the few stairs before reaching a chest. Together, they pushed the heavy cover and peeked inside, gasping once they found it empty. "This can't be good..." Sora cringed, before the two exchanged worried looks.

Another day another slay as they say, except it's another day another attempt with the big ol' gate in this case. "Hmm... Perhaps a higher frequency can elicit a response corridor. What is your assessment?" The nindroid turned to the broom leaned against the wall, a picture of Pixal taped to it. He frowned momentarily before sighing, "You are right. The odds of activating the portal gate through frequency spanning is low–" Mr. Frohicky, who was carrying a bucket with a big ice cube (for some reason), bumped into him, yelping as he started falling backwards. Before he could actually fell though, Zane caught his arm and pulled him back to his feet. "Apologies, Mr. Frohicky. I did not hear you arrive"

"I was being super quiet– Ah!" The frog yelps once more as the ice cube slipped from the bucket and toppled down the stairs, he quickly rushed after it. "I did not want to disturb—" He tripped and fell making Zane cringe. "...whoever you were speaking to" He picked up himself and the ice cube, only for it to slip his grabs.

Zane turned to look at the picture with a small frown. "Pixal. She went missing when the Merge happened"

Frohicky eventually caught up the ice cube, using his tongue, and walked back up to the ninja, also glancing at the photo. "Ah, talbin tu a pichur? Dat's tobably nomar" He pulled his tongue back, exclaiming in pain before adding, "Please tell me the picture doesn't talk back"

Zane cracked an amused smile. "It does not. I find talking as if she were still here helps me solve problems. Like the problem of activating this portal gate again"

The frog man started looking around for his bucket, and then proceeded to scoot the ice cube back inside. "You've been so busy with that gate I figured you would need some extra ice" He offered the ice bucket with a smile.

The ninja eyed the bucket. "Why would I possibly need ice?"

"You're the Ice Ninja, right? I'm sure you need a lot of it to keep your powers ready at all times"

He suppressed a laugh. "I am the Elemental Master of Ice. I form it as needed. I do not need extra ice to replenish my powers" As if proof, he created a second ice block on top of the one already sitting in the bucket, his a slightly lighter color.

"...Oh. This is kind of embarrassing, then. Let's pretend this never happened, shall we?" Frohicky asked, before turning around and walking off, muttering to himself, "What were you thinking? Worst Assistant Monastery Keeper ever. Oh, Mother was right!"

Zane pursed his lips and looked at Photo Pixal for help.

Nya, Sora and Riyu made their way through an underground tunnel. And even though the transcript says it's a tunnel that was under that chest I call BS since I rewatched the episode and saw no tunnel in there, unlike in the Hollow Knight vid I just watched— "Are these tunnels getting smaller? I swear they're getting smaller" The younger girl said, briefly turning to her companions.

Nya rubbed the back of her neck. "Sure, this ancient tomb is not exactly the safest place we've been..."

They all paused, seeing a skeleton impaled one some spikes sticking out from a wall. "Understatement" Nya smiled sheepishly at her. "I'm thinking we're not wanted here. The boobytrap spears that shot at us when we entered was my first clue"

"The Dragon Core we need is missing. This tomb is the only way I know of to find out where it went. It's why I brought these" The Water Ninja pulled out a sack of gemstones (honestly? whether she was always carrying them around or if they stopped by to get them if up for interpretation).

Sora cocked her head, raising one brow. "A bag of rocks?"

"Seeker Stones" Nya corrected. "The Cloud Kingdom archives let me borrow them. There's supposedly a burial vault in here. If I arrange the stones correctly, it'll show us anything we seek" While she talked, Riyu found a copy of Clutch's book and decided to take it with, because as we all know dragons are hoarders. "...Well, anything that isn't alive. Weird rules, I know" She pocketed the stones. Where? Why, where all travelers hide their gear, in the pocket dimension—

Sore scoffed. "Given my luck recently, I bet those stones fall into acid before we get a chance to use them"

"What are you talking about?"

"If you haven't noticed, things don't always go right for me. I create a hard light technology, it gets used as a weapon. Almost win a mech race, cause a war between two kingdoms. We try to find a Dragon Energy Core to save the world, it's missing. I'm a black cloud..." She looked down, gloomy.

Nya placed a hand on her shoulder, smiling warmly once the younger girl looked up at her, "Don't be silly. Never lose hope, Sora" She pulled back, turning around and continuing forward. "We'll be fine—" ...only for her to step on a hidden button, causing the floor beneath them to open and making all three fall down a pit that ended with an acid bath. On their way down, Nya spotted an opening and used her power to push herself into it, quickly grabbing onto Sora's shirt, saving her and Riyu, who was held by said girl. The only casualty being the Clutch guidebook before the ninja pulled the other two into the save spot. Damn, this episode is really video game coded—

"Was that acid!?" Sora exclaimed in shock before turning to the other girl, "Did I not call this?"

Nya took a second, catching her breath. "No. You said the Seeker Stones would fall into acid. But look!" She once more pulled out the gemstone sack, smiling widely. "Ninja never quit. Or lose hope"

"Fair" Sora sighed. "It's just... hard to be hopeful when so many things go wrong"

"It's tough for anything to go right when you don't have any hope" Nya offer her a hand.

Sora cracked a smile. "Heh. Is that a Master Wu saying?" She took the help.

"No. It's a Nya saying" She beamed, hands at her hips. "But Master Wu always said, 'Not all Spinjitzu lessons are about fighting'. Consider this a lesson" Sora let out a short laugh. Soon after Riyu made a small roaring sound, making the two look at him, and then down the new tunnel, the symbol of the Seeker Stones engraved into the wall. The girls exchanged look, giving each other a nod before pressing forward.

Zane walked down the hallway, thinking out loud as he did so, "Perhaps if I initiate a polarity field, the gate will activate the—" He stopped abruptly, seeing the frog man on his knees on the floor, toothbrush in hand. "Um... Why are you doing that?"

"So the Monastery will be spotless when the others return with the Dragon Energy Cores!"

"But why are you using that miniscule brush? It will take you approximately 61,696 hours"

The frog paused. "That... is a lot of hours..." Frohicky's shoulders slumped in defeat.

Zane scratched the back of his head before continuing down the hallway, still brainstorming new ways to deal with that stupid gate.

"Woah..." Sora awed as they entered the vault. "Whoever built this tomb hired a good interior designer"

"The djinn knew a thing or two about showmanship, that's for sure"

She send her companion a questioning look. "Who's... the djinn?"

Nya shook her head. "The djinn isn't a person. They were powerful and magical beings from the realm of Djinjago. They used to wield wish magic" (Oh gods, no, not the wish craft!—)

"Used to?"

She glanced away. "Long before the Merge, Djinjago was destroyed, including everyone who lived there" She approached the altar. "Here we are. According to the scrolls in the Cloud Kingdom, if we place the stones in the right order on this altar, it'll show us the location of whatever we're searching for" She explained, pulling out the sack yet again, this time emptying out the contains.

"Great, so what's the right order?"

Nya shrugged, looking between all the colorful gemstones. "No clue. But we'll figure it out" She started trying to fit the games into their places, whatever they may be. After a few tries, she ended up settling on a rainbow pattern. "I think I got it!" She turned to the younger girl with a smile, offering the last gemstone. "Want to finish it up?"

Sora chuckled, taking the stone and placing it in the middle. The room suddenly grew darker, all the gemstones glowing brightly before an eye symbol appeared over the middle and a burst of some ancient djinn magic pushed them away. Then, everything went back to normal. "...You saw that eye, right?" She looked at the older girl. "That was weird. Rocks don't have eyes"

Nya made a face, approaching the altar once more. She looked between the stones before sighing and grabbing the sack to store them away. "And it gave us no clue where to find the Dragon Core"

Sora looked to the side. "My bad luck just curses everything"

"Stop it. You're not cursed. I must've used these stones wrong. Guess we're back to trying other ways to find our core" Nya approached her, placing a hand on her shoulder and giving it a lil squeeze. "Let's get out of here"

The girl groaned quietly before following.

"I just do not understand, Pixal" Zane said to the broom. Y'know, like a sane person. "This gate was not here before the Merge, but appeared right after, along with a matching gate at the second Monastery under Imperium" He walked into the elevator, staring almost blankly at the picture as if he was waiting for a response. "Oh, yes! And Nya found another portal gate under the Cloud Kingdom. Are these the only three...?" He brought a hand to his chin, looking away while squinting his eyes in thought. 

He was soon stopped however, as when the elevator door opened he was greeted by an absolute mess and one frog man clinging onto a mop machine that was out of control. Zane scratched his head. "I cannot comprehend how this situation came about"

"I picked up this automatic mop machine from Kreel! I thought it was going to make my cleaning easier! I was wrong!!" Zane sighed and, setting his broom girlfriend aside, cracked his knuckles before shooting the machine down with his power, stopping it. Frohicky collapsed on top of the machine, taking a moment to collect himself before standing up. "You really can produce your own ice. Oh! Thank you. I—" He covered his mouth with his hands, going pale. "–think I'm going to be sick" He quickly rushed out of the room, gagging. Soon the sound of throwing up could be heard from the hallway. "Ugh, I could use that mop machine over here..."

Zane simply faceplamed.

Nya, Sora and Riyu made it back onto the surface, and back to their dragons. "Hey, gang. We're back!" Sora called out, catching the dragons' attention. "Bad news first, our mission was a failure. Also, we have no good news"

Sora the Dragon gave a soft roar at them.

"What's wrong, Sora?" Nya asked.

The girl next to her huffed. "What's wrong? The world's gonna end and we have no idea where the Dragon Energy Core—"

"Not you, Sora" The girl deadpan at her while Nya pointed at the dragon, "Other Sora. Dragon Sora. Sora One"

Sora the Human furrowed her brows. "Uh, why am I not Sora One?" Nya send her a sheepish smile. The younger girl was then poked by her dragon namesake, it giving her a sniff. "What, do we smell like tomb?" She raised a hand to pet the dragon, but paused, seeing the Seeker Stones symbol on the back of her hand as it started to glow. "Wait, what is this?"

Nya looked down at her hand, feeling a slight warm on the back of it. "I have one too"

Sora the Dragon turned towards the entrance to the vault and growled. Soon two ghost-like creatures flew out, heading straight at the two girls and letting out shockwaves with their screams. Nya pulled the younger girl as she jumped out of the way.

"What are those? Ghosts?" Sora asked looking at the other girl for potentially advice. But before Nya could even think of responding, the Banshees (as I'm going to call them for now as the name is extremely fitting) attacked them again, this time managing to send them flying into some boulders. 

Groaning, they quickly picked themselves up, Nya pulling Sora to her feet as the Banshees circled back to attack them again. The two dodged, watching as the two attackers flew off, readying themselves for another attack. "Split up and take them on separately!" Nya exclaimed, getting a quick nod. They both simultaneously pulled up their hoods and run in opposite directions. Nya tried shooting down the one attacking her with her powers, but it avoided all of her attacks. Meanwhile, Sora tried punching and kicking the one on her, she managed to land a hit before it picked her up into the air and spun her around before throwing her at the other girl, the two of them slamming against a boulder once again.

As the Banshees approached for a possibly finishing blow, Sora the Dragon jumped in front of the two humans and roared angrily before blowing fire at the enemy. The ghosties scattered off, giving the dragon time to pick up her namesake and place her on her back, waiting for Riyu to join and for the other dragon to pick up the other girl before they both took off.

Zane passed through the monastery's library, encountering the frog man once again. "Looks good, right? The scrolls were out of order, so I rearranged them alphabetically by author!" Frohicky exclaimed proudly while the nindroid pursed his lips.

"They were in order. The tradition is to order them chronologically" He informed as politely as he could. Then proceeded to take a deep breath and leave as the frog slowly slid down the ladder, looking as if he wanted to be buried deep under the ground.

The two dragons eventually landed, the girls getting down and looking around. Sora winced as she felt a sharp ping of pain in her head. "Where... are we?" Without a word, or in this case sound, Dragon Sora run into a nearby cave, the other dragon and Riyu quickly running after her.

"Guess we're supposed to follow?" Nya offered with a small shrug. Sora responded back with a shrug of her own and the two joined the three dragons.

The inside of the cave looked very lived in, something almost akin to a house even, just... run down. Sora rubbed the back of her head. "What are we doing here?"

"Yes, what are you doing here!?" The two jumped into fighting stances as a shadow started to rise from behind a big rock, it slowly being joined by the figure if a djinn. "You dare invade the sanctum of the mighty Arrakore the Djinn? Trespassers will feel the full might of my unstoppable magic as it presses down upon— ow!" He exclaimed as he accidentally accented too far and hit his head on a stalactite. Dragon Sora shook her head at him, giving a soft roar. The djinn paused, looking at the dragon in surprise, "Zanth?" The dragon strutted towards him and then started to lick at him once it was close enough. He started to laugh, gently pushing at her snot, "Stop! Stop! You know I'm ticklish!"

"Why did you call her Zanth?" Sora questioned, dropping her guard.

The djinn rolled his eyes. "Well, that's her name! Duh. You travel with a dragon and you don't know her name? Rude" He crossed his arms, giving the two girls a judgmental look. As they exchanged confused looks he turned to the dragon, "I thought I sensed someone from my realm nearby. I assumed it was my imagination. You sensed me too, I presume" They shared a hug. Riyu approached them with curiosity, making a soft noise. Arrakore pulled away, raising an eyebrow at the small dragon. "And who's this? Well, you certainly have a special energy about you, little one" He leaned down to give him headpats, which Riyu happily accepted. The djinn then looked up, deadpanning at the girls, "Are these... name-not-knowing two-legged people also with you?" Zanth gave a roar. Arrakore glanced at her before noticing Nya was staring. I mean, both girls were, but she had this specific expression on her face. He rolled his eyes. "You can stop staring. I am real. The last djinn. I'd have cleaned up if I knew I was gonna have company, but, uh..." He looked around. "…nah, wouldn't have cleaned anything, actually"

"I thought Djinjago was destroyed..." Nya said, cautiously.

"It was. However, I was on a long quest in another realm when it happened. Upon my return, there was nothing left of my homeland, except this grain of sand" The djinn pointed at a glass container hanged around his neck like a necklace. "It is all that remains of the once great and noble Djinjago. Well, except me. And now you, Zanth" He smiled at the dragon. "You must have been in another realm like me"

"So, you've been alone this whole time?" Sora asked, making him roll his eyes again.

"Does this look like a place that gets a lot of visitors? I started that puzzle," He pointed at the table. "But figured – what's the point? No one's ever going to see it. That stack of laundry's been there for... years now" Riyu, who was standing close to said laundry, gave it a sniff and immediately backed off with a disgusted whimper. 

Sora looked around, spotting a nice picture on the ground, she picked it up. "You should at least hang up some of these pictures. Make this place feel like home"

"For what? So I can impress the rocks in this cave?" Zanth gave a roar towards the entrance, quickly changing his mood. "Wait, what? Howlers? Are you sure?" He groaned. "Of course this would happen to me. Just my luck"

"What's just your luck?"

"Let me see your hands" The girls exchanged looks and then showed off their hands with the Seeker Stones symbols on them. Arrakore groaned louder. "Oh, don't tell me you attempted to use Seeker Stones without proper guidance!"

Nya rubbed her neck, smiling awkwardly. "Um... possibly?"

"But nothing happened. The stones didn't work" Sora quickly defended.

The djinn crossed his arms, both pairs. "Oh, they worked alright! Worked at cursing you"

"Is that what those weird things that attacked us were all about? A curse?"

He gave a nod, expression serious. "They're called Howlers. They're a curse from the misuse of djinn items. It can only be defeated with djinn wish magic"

Sora cracked a small smile. "Then good thing Sora— er, Zanth brought us here. Wish magic is your whole thing, right?"

Arrakore shook his head. "Used to be my thing. But our realm was the source of our magic. Without Djinjago, all of my wish magic is gone"

Now Nya deadpan at him, "You threatened to use magic on us, like, literally a minute ago"

He groaned. "Oh, bluff. I'm powerless. I was once a great hero, saving lives. Now I can't even motivate myself to take a bath" Riyu, once again, made the mistake of testing that, turning away with his tongue out in disgust.

"Ew" Sora cringed.

Nya also cringed, looking to the side awkwardly. "Well... look. We're miles away from the Howlers now. What are the chances we're ever run into them again?"

"One hundred percent"

"Huh?"

Arrakore pinched the bridge of his nose. "Do I need to explain what a curse means?! The Howlers will hunt you to the ends of the known realms and beyond. They never stop until they drain the energy of those who've been cursed, and all the living things they're with" He glanced down at the small dragon as it whimpered. "Even you, special one. And now you've cursed me by coming here"

"Okay, so it's a little worse than I thought..." Nya admitted, a bit defeated.

Sora sighed. "Didn't I tell you I was a black cloud, Nya?" The older girl deadpan at her, but then the marks on their hands started to glow again. "This can't be good, right?" Nya pulled out the centerpiece, feeling the warmth of it. An eye appeared on it again, staring at the two girl menacingly. Sora groaned, frustrated, "What is the weird eye for? Do you know what that means?" She looked at the djinn.

"It means they've found us" They all turned towards the entrance as screeching came from the outside, a powerful gust of wind coming in. Arrakore quickly dove behind a rock. "If they ask, I'm not here!"

Soon the Howlers arrived, the girls throwing their hoods up. Nya cracked her knuckles, "It's time to shut these Howlers up for good!" She spinjitzued at one of them, but it pushed her hard enough to send her flying across the cave.

Sora ran to the second Howler, it screamed at her, creating a shockwave that also send her flying, the other way. She groaned, landing next to the rock Arrakore used as his hiding spot. She turned to him as all three dragons started fighting the meanies, "Why aren't you fighting? You're the only one who knows how to beat these things!"

"You're only postponing your loss. Just quit. It's so easy" He waved his hands off at her.

"You've clearly never met a ninja. They won't shut up about not quitting" A screech caught her attention, her eyes widening before anger showed on her face once she saw one of the things attacking the small dragon. She quickly picked herself up, sprinting towards them. "Don't you dare!" She jumped at the Howler, kicking it in the shoulder. Or at least managing to touch it before it spun around, grabbed her and threw her onto a couch. The other girl soon landing next to her.

Nya grabbed her head, cringing in pain. "Ngh... These things are unstoppable!"

"And that djinn guy refuses to help! What a downer. Oh, 'you can never win!' 'Why even try?'" Sora complained, rolling her eyes. Nya gave her a look. She blinked. "Wait. I don't sound like that, do I?"

"No comment"

The younger girl frowned. 

Zanth turned towards her djinn friend and roared at him, her eyes narrowing. "How? Haven't I made it more than clear that I am powerless?"

"No one is ever powerless!" Nya called out to him before spinjitzuing at one if the Howlers.

He looked down at his necklace, noticing a small glow. "What... What is happening?"

Sora run up to him. "I think I know. Hope"

"What are you talking about?"

"Your magic is based on wishes, right? Well, hope is like a wish. A wish that if you try hard enough, things will work out. We're not giving up, and our hope to stop these things is bringing back your land!"

"That's preposterous"

"Is it?" She gave him a look, then dodged an attack and rejoining the fight.

Arrakore watched them a few more seconds, the grain of sand growing in its container. He grabbed his necklace, eyes regaining some light. "You may be right. When I lost my land, I lost all hope. But hope is what I needed most!"

Sora got thrown into the wall beside him, grunting in pain. "Cool, so now will you help us?"

"Wish it"

"Huh?"

"My magic works on wishes. I need you to wish for me to help!"

"Uh, okay" She rubbed her head. "I wish for you to help us kick these Howlers in their butts!"

The grain of sand grew more, shattering the glass as it became the centerpiece of the necklace itself. "Your wish is yours to keep" The sand rock glowed brighter as he concentrated his energy, or perhaps drew the energy from it, to summon four blades before jumping at the Howlers, "For the glory of the djinn!!" Nya paused momentarily before smiling and going back to the fight, Sora joining them seconds later. With now everyone helping, they managed to overpower the Howlers. Arrakore turned to the two girls, "Now, Masters of Hope, wish for them to be gone!"

"I wish for the Howlers to be gone!"

"Your wish is yours to keep" The sand rock started glowing again, two golden blasts heading straight at the Howlers, destroying them on impact.

"Woohoo!! Way to go, Arrakore!" Sora cheered, jumping and pumping her fist.

The djinn smiled at them, and with a curt nod he collapsed onto the ground.

***

The two girls were finishing up the puzzle when Arrakore finally woke up. "We won, right? I remember us winning" He said groggily, sitting up.

Nya looked up, giving him a smile. "We did, thanks to you"

He smiled back, leaning against the backrest and exhaling in content. "I haven't been able to use wish magic in a long time. This was the first time I've felt like a true djinn since my land was destroyed"

"It's a little less destroyed now" Sora pointed out, motioning at the necklace.

The djinn looked down at it, his smile growing. "It's gotten so big already"

"With enough time, and enough wish magic, you can probably bring your entire land back" Nya walked over and took a seat next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. 

"I never dreamed any of this could happen. I can never repay you for what you brought me. But there may be a little something I can do" He smiled at the two girl, getting up from the couch. "You were using the Seeker Stones because you wish to find something, correct? Maybe I can help you with that"

"That'd be awesome!" Sora cheered, Riyu joining her with his little squeaks.

As Zane was walking through the Monastery he caught a glimpse of Mr. Frohicky heading for the exit, a suitcase being dragged behind him. He quickly followed the frog outside. "You're leaving?"

He paused, looking back at him, then sighed. "I'm not worthy of this job. I should leave before the other ninja find out what a mess I am..."

Zane send him a sympathetic look, closing the gap between them. "When installing the alignment coil in a positronic matrix, one must first allow the coil to depressurize before it will perform optimally"

"...I understood none of that"

The ninja gave a small smile. "All things have an adjustment period. You are new to the monastery. Allow yourself time to depressurize. Once you do, I'm sure you'll be an excellent Assistant Keeper of the Monastery" He placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You really think so?" The frog sniffled. "I won't be the worst Assistant Keeper of all time?"

"Since there has never been an Assistant Keeper before, technically, you are already the worst" Frohicky expression fell before his whole face light up as the nindroid continued, "And the best of all time. But either way, you are certainly worthy of being part of the team" They shared a smile and started walking back into the monastery.

Chapter Text

Still on the ground, and still unhappy, the two human flamethrowers stared up at Dorama as he started monologuing, "So you see, ninja, there is nothing you can acquire that I cannot confiscate. And yet, to think of all that I, your humble narrator, had to overcome" Suddenly: stage lights. "Why, the dangers, the hardship, the drama I have personally endured—"

"Egotistical villain monologues are always boring," Kai cut in, him and the girl getting up as the man turned to glare at them (mostly Kai though). "But this one's super boring" The two crossed their arms.

"Triple agree! So, so, SO boring" Wyldfyre turned to the Red Ninja, a smirk playing on her lips. "Know what's not boring?" Kai smiled back and they both summoned their flames as they finished together, "Fireballs!" No questions asked, they both fired at Dorama. Mainly Dorama. Only Dorama. The stagehands promptly run off as soon as they saw the flames. Not that it matters since he had his staff and just absorbed their powers. The duo quickly stopped, the girl growling in annoyance, "Hey! No fair!"

"Of course it's fair!" The man argued. Like a child. "Absorbing exotic energy is my true dramatic gift, you two-bit player. It's why my patron of the arts, the Good Empress Beatrix, recruited me in the first place. And so, I dedicate this Core to her!" As if this was a previously established cue, the stagehands started applauding him. Kai and Wyldfyre exchanged bored looks, shaking their head at him/the shitshow. "Also, I want to thank my many fans. Now, because of me, we will have the Dragon Energy Core forever!" He held the golden orb proudly, just like the girl did a few minutes ago.

"Yoink!" In a truly unforeseeable turn of events, the Lava-Tide leader quickly yoinked the Core from Dorama's hands and promptly started to run away, the other LTs jumping at the man to prevent him from running after their leader. Oh well— 

"No Core for you! No Core for you!!"

Dorama, now on the ground, stared with his mouth wide opened as the LTs followed their superior a few seconds later. "Was I just robbed by a troupe of waddling fire philistines!?" Some of the stagehands nodded. "After them!!" Not sure if he saw that or not, but as soon as he gave the order and charged forward the crew started chasing after the tiny lil Lava gremlins.

"We have to get that Core first!" Kai exclaimed, the wyld girl nodding with a bright smile, pumped for an actual challenge. They two quickly joined the chase.

The man pushed one of his stagehands at the TL leader, with her jumping out of the way and throwing the core to one of her people while the poor guy landed face first on the hard ground. With the now Core-holding LT being close enough, Wyldfyre jumped at them, only for the lil menace to dodge her. "Cores are for winners! No Core—" It threw the core to another LT. "—For—" Which proceeded to do the same, the core landing back in the leader's possession (Not that anybody would know since they all look the god damn same). "—You!!" She giggle mischievous, quickly scattering away.

Dorama growled, stomping his foot. "How are these things so fast!?" Kai soon passed him, blowing a raspberry. The man seethed.

The Red Ninja laughed, soon catching up to the Core carrying LT and cornering it. "Gotcha!"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Or do you? Welaunchtheflamingbouldersifyousaywhat"

"......What?"

"Ha! You said it!" They teased, then looked up and called out to another LT, "You! Launch the flaming boulders! Our final defense system!"

"Huh!?" Looking up, Kai quickly saw multiple fireballs flying across the air and into the middle of the village, just where they all so happened to engage in the chase.

"Flaming boulders? Awesome!!" He heard Wyldfyre exclaim somewhere behind him. Not having time to faceplam, Kai turned on his heels and sprinted towards her, just as Dorama and his stagehands also fled for cover.

The two girls and their dragons, all accompanied by the djinn, walked outside, getting ready to leave. Sora turned to their new friend, "We had an amazing time, Arrakore. You're a great chef, and an even better singer"

He chuckled. "Feasting and heroic song is the only way to celebrate victory over Howlers. Plus, it gave me time to recover enough to wield some wish magic again. I doubt I could grant any major wishes, but a small one like yours should be within my fragile power" One of his hands went to touch the sand rock, and he gave Nya a nod.

She gave one back. "I wish we could locate the missing Dragon Energy Core"

The sand started to glow, and an energy orb appeared in Arrakore's hand, he handed it to the Water Ninja. The orb buzzed with energy before transforming itself into and arrow that immediately spun around, pointing out the direction of her desired location. The djinn let out a groan, grabbing onto his head. "I'm alright" He reassured with a small smile seeing as the two exchanged worried looks. "My strength will grow back with time and practice"

Nya smiled, then glanced down at the arrow with curiosity. "This thing, what, acts like a kind of compass?"

"Yes. It will point you toward the item you seek"

She looked up at him and bowed. "Thank you, Arrakore. You may have just helped save the world"

"It is but a mere token, compared to the great debt I owe you" After that they all proceeded to say their goodbye, and then the djinn watched as the whole group left.

"…Buttercream, butterflake, crispflake, and finally, crumble wall" Arin ended up proudly, ignoring how the two other boys appeared to be exhausted by the lecture.

"Wow, my mistake. Guess there can be 52 different kinds of pie crust" Lloyd admitted, defeated.

Tommy raised a finger. "Technically, there could be more. But you gotta be brave enough" The other blond slowly turned his head towards him, feeling this was about to become either extremely concerning, cursed or a fierce debate.

Before anything like this could start though, Arin called out to them, "Uh, guys? That Mother Garden place the temple spirit said to look for? I think we found it"

Tommy immediately looked out, leaning on the railing. "Yup! That's sure looks right to me. I'll go grab the dumbasses!" He quickly announced, already on his way. Yes, this was very much an excuse to go check what the hell were Chat and Rumi up to. The two kind of avoided the others ever since the ship got fixed, which was extremely weird since Chat's whole thing is literally being right next to Tommy. 

They were hiding something, and it pissed him off.

What's the point of having a guide if they're gonna keep secrets from you?

"Tommy," The girl called out, exiting the room he was trying to sneak into, the TV robot following closely behind her. Of course. If Chat can warn him about stuff, they sure as hell can warn others about him. Fucking traitors. "Thanks for calling us up" She smiled at him as if nothing happened.

He crossed his arms, glaring lightly at the two. "I didn't say anything yet..."

"Let's not keep the others waiting, okay?" Harumi threw innocently at him, then walked right past.

Chat, however, stayed behind, cringing a bit. "Ohh, I hate when she does this" Tommy glanced at them, then scoffed and quickly followed after the girl.

Once everyone was present, they all got off the ship and started walking through the garden filled with all sorts of weird flora. Despite being mildly annoyed, Tommy joined the other teen and Chat at marveling at the beauty of the place, gently poking the bubble bushes and then popping their bubbles as they twirled up in the air. And due to the strangeness of it all, he felt right at home. Chaos was his main thing after all.

Arin giggled, discovering a bell tree that gave a soft jingle upon being touched. As soon as Chat spotted the tree, their eyes took shapes of stars and they zoomed over to ring the bells over and over again. "This land is wild!" The boy exclaimed with awe. A few seconds later he turned to the rest with a hand rubbing at his neck. "But I guess you've seen weird stuff like this a lot on your adventures"

"I've seen weird stuff" Lloyd admitted, his attention momentarily drew by a stray bubble that escaped Tommy's attack. "But maybe not like this"

Rumi shrugged. "Pretty much same here. I'd say most of the weird stuff we see isn't as pretty or nice"

They slowly continued onward, and after a couple more minutes of walking, they finally spotted a podium displaying the Dragon Core, the place surrounded by a big shell circle. As in, the shells were big, not the circle itself— Go watch the damn show if you have no idea what I'm talking about. "The Core!" Arin pointed, quickly speeding up until he was running. The Green Ninja followed him while the other three continued their slow walk. "Easier to find than I thought it'd be" The boy mused to himself, shrugging. He started to reach out for the core but his hand got pulled back by the older blond.

"Wait! The spirit told us the Cores were entrusted to people"

"But that was centuries ago"

"There could still be someone protecting it. We should ask permission before we just take it"

Arin scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "Yeah, good point. But, ask who?"

On cue, all the shells started to move, revealing snail people with... uh, spears? The two quickly took battle stances, Tommy and Harumi pausing in an 'oh no!' moment before sprinting/flying towards them. "Tommy, no" Chat warned, as always clinging to the teen's hoodie, preventing him from outright attacking the potential threat.

One of the snail people stepped forward, smiling at the two in the middle of the circle, "Congratulations, wanderers, for you have passed our little test"

"What test?" Arin asked hesitantly.

"Why, to see if you would steal our Core or not. I am Zant-Tanz, acting general of the Mucoid warriors here in the Mother Garden" He bowed as he introduced himself. The two dropped their hands down, relaxing their postures; at the same time Tommy landed next to Arin, the two having a similar look of confusion on their faces.

"We have no intention of stealing anything" Lloyd reassured, raising his hands up. "But the spirit in the Dragon Core Temple sent us here. We need to ask for this Core so we can try to stop the MergeQuakes" As he finished explaining, all the snails started chanting and... well, the transcript says they're dancing so I'll go with that.

"What are they all doing?" Arin asked, leaning a bit more towards his teacher, as he doubted Tommy would have the answer. Although he did say it loud enough for everyone in the circle to hear.

"They hail our forefathers. We have been taught from one generation to the next that one day, our vigil over this Core would end when heroes came from the temple, asking permission to save the world. Now, our work and the work of those who came before us, is fulfilled"

Tommy gave a whistle. "Damn"

"So, we can have the Core?" Lloyd asked.

"Of course! Use it wisely" Zant-Tanz smiled warmly at them.

Tommy lightly elbowed Arin and pointed with his head for the boy to go ahead, a small smile on his face. The younger boy returned it and reach for the Core. "Alright! Mission accomplished" He cheered, Chat imitating fireworks as best as they could.

Rumi placed a hand on her brother's shoulder. "Glad you didn't start a boss fight while I wasn't looking" He deadpan at her, not amused by the quip.

"It's a good thing you asked" The snail general said causally. "Because if you had just tried to take the Core, you'd have been captured like the last guy"

The whole group gave him confused looks. "Last guy?" Tommy bit the bullet first.

"Oh, come, I'll show you" Why is this snail so absolutely chillaxed he couldn't care less about murder if it happened right in front of him? ...ANYHOO, him and his people started leading the group away, to their supposed prison or whatever. As they arrived, it turned out there's way more of snail people around, as a whole fucking army was protecting the would-be criminal. "Behold, the would-be Core thief" Zant-Tanz motioned for the other snails to move out of the way, revealing a trapped, one and only—

"Rapton???"

"You four!!" The man called out as soon as he saw them, Tommy and Chat now glaring at him. "Get me out of here!"

The girl scoffed. "In your dreams!" She then felt a tap, as the Green Ninja tapped both her and Arin before signing for them to go to the side to talk. The whole group took a couple steps back and turned around, Tommy and Chat taking a couple seconds to join them.

"Why's Rapton after the Core?" Arin asked in a whisper.

Lloyd looked at his sister but she shook her head, "Beats me. But if he is, the Empress must know what we're up to, which is all kinds of bad"

"So, what do we do now? Are we, like, keeping it lowkey or...?" The youngest boy continued, looking between the two.

"Lowkey on what? They clearly already know about the Cores" The girl quickly shot that idea down.

Tommy connected his fist to and open hand. "I say we get him talking. I mean, what's he gonna do? He's already trapped in that..." He glanced to the side, making a face, "…goo-thingy"

"I–" Lloyd cringed, not sure what the other blond exactly meant by 'get him talking'. "We can try"

Arin gave a nod, taking in that was the plan. He turned around, his expression as stern as he could muster, which was pretty good since he disliked the guy. "What are you doing here?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll tell you all that stuff. Really spill my guts. But first, you gotta save me!"

Lloyd took a spot next to the boy. "From what? These perfectly pleasant and agreeable snail people?"

Rapton did a double take. "Pleasant?! They're gonna destroy me!"

The ninja let out a chuckle. He turned to the snail leader with a 'get a load of this guy' smile, "He thinks you wanna hurt him"

Zant-Tanz laughed as well. "He does" There was a short pause before his tone turned darker, "And he's totally right. He's a thief, so we're going to throw him into the doom mucus! He's, uh, really doomed if he goes in there. That's why we call it that" The five stared at him, some more, some less concerned, some even content with the idea—

"See? You gotta help me!!"

Kai dodged one of the flaming boulders, eyes quickly scanning the area and zeroing on the LT leader. "I know you think this is a game, but we need that thing to save the world!"

She laughed at him, like a fucking high school bully— "You expect me to believe that annoying girl you're with is gonna save the world? Ha! Give me a break!"

Said girl heard that clearly, clenching her fists with flames surrounding them. But in a short moment of clarity, she decided against violence and she charged at the LT. She unclenched her fists, the flames disappearing, and aimed for the core atop their head. "One break coming up!"

"HEY!!!"

The Red Ninja stood still, surprised by the turn of events. But he quickly gathered himself as the girl run from the flaming boulders. "Wyldfyre, pass!" He called out to her, waving his hands in the air.

She rolled her eyes and glanced back at him still running away, "Yeah, right! You're just gonna lose it again!" I said a short moment of clarity.

As the girl was still looking behind her back, she suddenly slammed into a body that quickly proceeded to push her off and take the core before running in the other direction. Dorama laughed, holding the core up like a grand prize, "The second act plot twist! Gets them every time— ACK!!" He got tripped by an LT.

It laughed at him, picking up the core. "Yes! Classic prank!"

Wyldfyre snorted. "It is. It really is!" She jumped to her feet, dashing past the man on the ground as one of the stagehands were helping him up (yes, of course she pushed them).

Kai ran up to her, giving the look. "Next time, pass the Core!"

"Passing is for teams, and teams are for people too weak to work alone!" She growled him, elbowing him hard enough for it to not be considered friendly, then picked up her pace, soon leaving him behind as he stopped.

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "First, she has the same elemental power as me — how is that even a thing!? — now, she's a Core hog. This kid is the worst!" Kai took a deep breath, choosing to ignore her for now and instead fully focus on getting the core back.

Looking to the side, and ignoring Wyldfyre fighting all stagehands as they looked more scared than her, he spotted Dorama cornering the LT leader. "Prepare for my standing ovation!" He said, pointing his staff at her, but she only passed the core and blew a raspberry at him. Seeing the opportunity, Kai spinjitzued in the way, catching the core. Only for another LT to take it away. (This whole fucking scene reminds me of something I wrote when I was like twelve or so—)

Wyldfyre growled. "I'm tired of these games. Eat fire!!" She charged up, both fists on fire as she sprinted towards the tiny creature.

"Wyldfyre, no!!" Kai called out, but he was a bit too late as the girl has already fired a fireball.

Before it could hit, the LT leader jumped in to save her subject or something, with her mouth open she swallowed the fireball, growing in size. Everyone paused, the bigger LT looking down at herself. "...HA! Totally planned!!" She exclaimed, making Wyldfyre growl again and send more fireballs her way. She ate all of them, bettering even bigger.

"Stop!!" Kai pulled the girls hand back, dragging her back a bit.

She gritted her teeth, glaring at the big LT. "My flames always stop enemies!"

"I wouldn't say always"

"Yes always!!!" She snapped at the Red Ninja, the flames engulfing her hands growing bigger and brighter. He could feel the heat pinching the hand he was holding her back with.

The LT leader started walking towards them, laughing almost maniacally. "Crushing you will be my greatest practical joke!"

On, like, the other part of the fucking globe, Nya and Sora arrived at their destination, seeing as the magical arrow started to spin round and round. They landed in between big trash piles and jumped off their dragons. "Okay, so this is where the magic compass led us, but now the arrow's just spinning. We must be close. But what is this place?" Nya rubbed her head, looking around for any clues. "I mean, apart from being a total wasteland of trash"

Sora cringed, noticing a sock hanged on a small naked bush. "Seriously? A single sock?"

Nya sighed. "You'd think a glowing Dragon Core would be easy to find in all this"

Riyu made a noise, making the two look at a big gaping hole in the ground. Speaking of ground though, it suddenly begin to shake. "Woah! Do you know what's happening? I don't know what's happening!" Sora called out to the other girl. She soon got her answer as all sorts of random things flew up from inside the hole, throwing Riyu up with the same force as all the objects, which quickly became projectiles Nya proceeded to kick and punch away before they could hurt either of them. And she mostly succeeded, all apart from a random ahh bucket that then knocked Sora over while the girl was trying to catch the small dragon, who then also landed on her, dealing extra damage.

"Somehow, this place just got even more strange. Trash geysers?" Nya questioned, walking over to help the younger girl up.

Sora, slightly cringing in pain, looked around the stuff that were just spat out. "Some of this stuff is brand new. And some of it looks like it's from Imperium. And I'm still not seeing a Dragon Core"

Then, there was a soft rustling noise, the three quickly turned their heads towards the sound, two small figures ducking behind the trash as soon as they have been spotted. "Hey! You!" The older girl called out. There soon were more noise coming from that direction, and the next time they saw the small figures they were running away.

The two girls and the dragonling quickly gave chase after them. "Wait up! We need to talk to you!"

Lloyd glanced back at the struggling man, pursing his lips before turning back to the snail people. "So, you're telling me Rapton here is slated to be destroyed?"

"Oh, yes. And they said Mucoids don't punish those that break our rules. Well... Actually, no one has ever said that, I— I just have a very active fantasy life" Zant-Tanz said, very content with the situation.

Tommy gave a laugh. "You sure do, man. Now, how can I pay you for your great service?"

"Tommy—" Lloyd threw him a look.

"Come on, man. I know our relationship got off to a rocky start—" Rapton started to plead his case, getting nothing but deadpan looks.

"You tried to stomp us into oblivion" Lloyd pointed out.

"And claw us into pieces with indestructible monsters" Arin added.

"Not to mention that time where you almost blew up Arin and Sora! Or how you treat Chat as they're lesser!" Tommy also added, wings fluttering on his back. Chat nodding at the last part, displaying an offended face.

"I don't have personal beef with him" Rumi admitted in a quiet mutter, shrugging.

"Quit living in the past! Right here, right now, these slugs plan to end me. Can't you do something? Please???"

"No." Both Tommy and Harumi said, glaring at him.

Lloyd sighed. He turned to the snail general once more, "Look. While I'm not a huge fan of this guy—"

"Pfft. I can hear you"

Rumi threw him a harsh glare. "Shut the fuck up."

Lloyd also glared at the man before relaxing his face and continuing, "I really don't want to see him meet his doom"

Tommy scoffed. "I do"

The older blond sighed. "Is there any way he can... I don't know, be pardoned for his crimes against the Mucoids?"

"Dude, you can't possibly be serious" Tommy gave him a look.

"I'm afraid he is" The girl muttered.

Zant-Tanz thought about what he was asked while the two expressed their disapproval. "Oh, well... technically, there is one way to prevent this abhorrent criminal from meeting his much deserved fate. But I wouldn't recommend it"

"Recommend it. Recommend it!" Rapton begged frantically.

Tommy scrunched his nose, giving the man a vile look. "I hope they gouge out your eyes and feed them to larvae"

Lloyd just opened his mouth to speak with the snail general again, but hearing what was just said he did a double take, turning to the boy with wide eyes. "W-what?"

"Tommy!" Chat yelled at him.

"What!? He deserves it!"

"Alright, hold your horses a bit" The girl placed a hand on his shoulder. Arin looked between all of them, deeply disturbed. The snail tribe didn't even flinch, perhaps considering their new options—

Lloyd shook his head. "What can be done?"

"According to ancient Mucoid tradition, the prisoner may be freed if, and only if, someone will walk the Impossible Path on their behalf"

"Well, okay. Cool. What's the problem with that?"

Zant-Tanz gave a small laugh. "Well, we do not refer to it as the Impossible Path because walking it is possible. Anyone who dared traverse the path will, with near complete and utter certainty, be destroyed. Obliterated. Pass away. Cease to be among the living—"

"I-I think we get it" Arin cut in as politely as he could, smiling awkwardly at the snail.

He gave a nod. "So, obviously, you won't be taking that option. So enjoy your Core and say goodbye to your friend here, and—"

"I'll do it"

"You will?" Zant-Tanz asked, confused.

"You will???" The rest of the group followed, even more disturbed.

"You will!?" Rapton also joined in, a silver of hope in his voice.

"No one ever takes the Impossible Path!"

"And neither should we" Rumi said through gritted teeth, giving her bro a pointed look.

The Green Ninja turned to Arin and placed a hand on his shoulder. "As your teacher, it's vital I instill in you the knowledge that all life is important"

Both Arin and Tommy deadpan at him. "But that's Rapton"

"Hey!"

"Sure. Rapton wouldn't lift a finger to help us, but it's the right thing, the ninja thing, to do whatever we can to save him" The younger boy stared at him blankly, unconvinced while the other blond scoffed. Undeterred, he turned to the snail general, "Lead me to the impossible path"

Zant-Tanz took a step forward, placing a hand on his shoulder. "It has been a pleasure knowing you" He then started walking, the group followed.

The LT leader laughed as she chased after the two human flamethrowers. "How the Lava-Tides have turned! Haha!"

"Do you ever think before you act!?" Kai screamed at the girl.

"Why would I do that!?" She screamed back, almost just as annoyed as he was.

The two of them continued running even as Dorama and two of his stagehands slipped between them and the enlarged rock creature. "Cease your advance!!" He ordered, the LT actually stopping. "I, Dorama, two-time winner of the Ninjago City Stage Actor Union's, Certificate of Honorable Mention, do hereby—" The LT deadpan at him before sending a fire blast at the three, it exploding on contact with the ground and sending them all flying away. "Alas, I have been disrespected..."

The LT continued chasing after the other two, meanwhile, they found themselves running into a dead end. "Why did you lead us here?" Wyldfyre accused the ninja.

"What!? You were in the front!!—"

"Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide! Prepare to—" The LT cut off as she got tackled to the ground by a familiar dragon.

"Oh yeah! That's my family!" The girl cheered, then started cheering her dragon as he taught with the LT. 

Kai shook his head, sighing before quickly glancing around. He soon spotted the dragon core laying unattended on the ground, seemingly forgotten in all the chaos. He quickly dashed for it, letting out a breath as it finally landed in his hands. "Wyldfyre!" He called out, already sprinting towards her and the dragon. "Let's get out of here! Now!!"

The girl quickly spotted the dragon core and subconsciously gave him a nod before turning around for the family, "Heatwave!" The dragon paused, turning its head towards her. As it did, the LT blasted it in the chest, the dragon shrieking in pain. "Heatwave!!" Wyldfyre cried out this, worry washing all over her face. The dragon jumped at the rock monster once more, pushing her onto her back before jumping back and waiting for the two humans to get on his back, which they quickly did. Before anyone could even try and stop them, the dragon already took off.

Everyone stared at them as they went further and further away. "No Core for... us..." All the LT looked down in defeat as the leader noted the obvious.

"Uh, what are we gonna tell the Empress?" One of the stagehands asked, turning to his superior.

"This is only the intermission. The play still has many more acts"

They all exchanged look. "Are we sure this is a good idea?—" One of them asked another in a whisper. They got a shrug back.

Arin glanced around as they were lead through the garden, it was still as beautiful but with the prospect of perhaps having his teacher die for the sake of a guy nobody likes was making it hard to enjoy the walk. "Is this Impossible Path nearby?"

"Quiet!" The snail man quickly spun around, raising a bloby hand to his... almost non existent mouth. The sudden motion making all five jump a bit. "One must treat this journey with solemnity" He slowly turned around and resumed his walk, the group exchanged looks before following. A few minutes later they arrived at the beginning of a path that was covered with a veil practically identical to the bell trees they encountered before. "The Impossible Path lies before us. I know it is difficult to face, but do not avert your eyes" A gentle gust of wind moved the veil, making a soft jiggle sound fill the air.

The gang exchanged looks. "This is the Impossible Path?" Lloyd asked, just to be sure they were looking at the right thing as it didn't look much... scary, or dangerous for that matter.

"The single most dangerous place in the Mother Garden" The snail said all ominous.

"And no one has ever survived the path? For real?" Arin asked, definitely the most concerned out if everyone.

The snail got to thinking. "Hmm. Um, let's see. Uh, that one time... no. What about... uh, nope. Oh, he also did not survive. Maybe the one... no. No, no one has ever lived through it"

"Peachy" Tommy mused, getting lightly elbowed by Chat, which made him give them a look.

"Good luck" Zant-Tanz quickly threw at the ninja before turning to the other four, "Follow me, everyone. We'll traverse to the end of the path. Eh. Going there is useless, since no one ever survives, but it's part of the ritual, so we must do it" He walked off a bit, allowing everybody to say their goodbyes.

"Are you okay, Lloyd?" Arin asked, openly worrying about his mentor.

The ninja send him a smile. "Oh, sure. How impossible could this path really be?" He shrugged.

Harumi gave a small nod. "Yea, this place doesn't look extremely dangerous. However..."

He gave her a stern look. "You're not taking my place"

"Not that! I was thinking perhaps you should take Chat with you"

"Excuse me?" Tommy asked in offence.

She raised a brow at him, "They warn you about threats, right?"

He scoffed. "Maybe it's a host exclusive thing!"

"Well, we won't find out if we don't try it"

"Okay!" The TV robot agreed, flying towards the other blond, much to Tommy's bewilderment. 

"Hey, you're supposed to be my guide! Remember that?" He growled at them.

They rolled their digital eyes at him. "Stop being such a pissy baby about this" Tommy clenched his hands into fists at his side's as his wings fluttered in anger. Sure, perhaps he was being dramatic, but they were the only person/people (complicated shit) he had left from his past life. And yet, despite all this, they were starting to pull away. Or at least it felt like it.

"Zant-Tanz?" The girl called out, turning away from the fuming blond.

"Yes? Did you change your mind? Shall we get back and celebrate before you leave to continue with your mission?"

"No," The snail man visibly slump at the word. "We were just curious if I could pick someone to come with me" Lloyd explained, smiling sheepishly.

"Goodness gracious! Why would you ever want that!?"

"Not important, can he though?" Rumi raised a brow.

The snail deflated. "I... suppose so..."

"Great!" Rumi smiled, turning around towards the group again, or more so the two chosen ones, "Well then, good luck"

***

The four waited by the end of the path, minutes passed by slowly. As Arin stressed and Harumi waited patiently, Tommy started doing tricks with his yoyo, partially to not think about Chat's constant betrayals.

"I'm really worried about Lloyd" The younger boy admitted, the snail general placing a hand on his shoulder.

"There's no reason to be nervous"

"There isn't?" He asked, confused. Harumi rising an eyebrow at the snail.

"Nerves are only for situations in which you don't know the outcome. You already know your teacher will meet his demise, so relax"

"That... might be the worst advice anyone has ever given me"

"Worrying makes you suffer twice" Tommy threw in casually, making the other two look at him. "Or so they say. But that's just implying the thing you worry about will happen, so I'd say that's the worse advice I've ever been given"

"The two aren't that far from each other then" Rumi noticed. "They both imply the outcome will be the worst case scenario. Only, one also suggests you shouldn't feel bad at all"

"Well, we've given this enough time. Let's head back so you can make funeral arrangements" Zant-Tanz said causally, turning around, more than ready to leave. But before he could take even a single step, the sound of footsteps and whistling could be heard from the path. "Footsteps? It can't be!" He turned around, just as the two exited from behind the bell veil.

"Hey guys!"

"You have achieved the impossible. How is that possible?"

"There wasn't a single dangerous thing in there" Lloyd shrugged. "I mean, I kept waiting for something to jump out, or a trapdoor, or quicksand, but it was just a pleasant trail through the garden"

"We have pictures!" Chat exclaimed happily before displaying a slideshow of said pictures.

"Maybe you overhyped it slightly?"

Zant-Tanz stared at the Green Ninja in utter bewildered, then rushed towards the path, setting one foot inside. He immediately jumped back yelping in pain. "But the path is completely covered in salt! Salt is the ultimate doom! It is impossible to survive! How?"

The whole group 'oooh'ed, Tommy snickering. Lloyd rubbed at his neck, smiling awkwardly, "Now it makes sense. Salt can be deadly to snails, but isn't dangerous for us. Like, at all"

"We even eat salt" Arin added, making the snail general faint. "Um...? Was it too much?" He glanced at the others.

Tommy continued snickering, now joined by Chat, "I'm sure he'll be fine"

***

When Zant-Tanz came back to, and settled enough after the shock, they went back to the rest of the tribe. He approached the prisoner, the guards making way as he cleared his throat and with a sigh started talking, "Per ancient law of the Mucoids, your freedom has been granted. Even though this has never once happened before" Two of the snail warriors took off the slime off of Rapton, freeing him. "I would imagine that an expression of gratitude would be in order?"

"I would definitely like to express my thanks" The man said, slowly reaching behind his back. Chat pulled at Tommy's arm, the boy's wings twitching. "...For letting me do this, suckers!" Rapton quickly whipped out his laser gun and started shooting at everyone, aiming straight at Arin after the first few shots. Tommy, having been made more than aware of the upcoming betrayal, moved first, quickly grabbing the boy and jumping away, using his wings to gain extra distance. The laser bullet however managed to hit the core the boy was holding, making him let go of it.

Rumi summoned a crystal blade, throwing it at the core to change its trajectory so that it wouldn't end up in Raptons hands. The man was quite quick though, and with the chaos caused by the laser beams one of the snail people ended up accidentally kicking the dragon core towards him while also blocking everyone else. Rapton laughed, quickly picking up the core and running away with it. Zant-Tanz scratched his head, "Oh, that did not seem gracious. But, uh, maybe customs among their people are different"

"I can't believe he just did that!" Arin lamented.

"I can!" Tommy called out, annoyed.

"Don't worry. He can't outrun all of us!" Lloyd pointed out, the five giving chase after the thief.

Tommy flew high up, locating the man before making a hard dive down, quickly ending up not only catching with the guy but also outracing him. He quickly opted for a superhero entrance, making a pose when hitting the ground, small dust clouds forming in impact. "You're not getting away, stinky"

The man paused, hugging the core closer to him. Just then, before either could do literally anything, a portal opened a bit to the side, two people dressed like Men in Black coming out of it, looking between the two before quickly zeroing in on Rapton and treating him with a teaser. The man fell down to the ground, releasing the core from his grasp. "Oh great. This was supposed to be a routine examination of the legality of this foliage, but now we uncover an unlicensed cosmic power source?" The woman complained.

Her partner groaned. "Ugh, so much paperwork. Let's take it back to the Administration and get started on our 1083B forms" The woman gave a nod, the two turning around and slowly walking back into the portal.

"Hey, wait—" Tommy started but they already disappeared within the portal.

"After them!!" He almost jumped, hearing the older blond exclaiming. He quickly glanced around, seeing the whole group sprinting at the slowly closing portal as Chat started pulling him forth. Tommy quickly jumped right in, the others right on his tail.

"...Ugh, this has been the weirdest day..." Rapton muttered as the portal closed and he was left alone in the garden.

"Hey! We just wanna talk!" Nya called out to the two small figures. 

"Please! Stop!"

The figures dove behind a big container, a rock golem soon jumping of the same place making the two girls and the small dragon halt momentarily. "No one touches these children!" The golem threw a fist at them, all three dodging quickly. Nya threw on her hood and spinjitzued at the thing, making it pause. Before she could land a hit, a rock wall rose from the ground, falling down as soon as she jumped back. "Nya?"

The girl now also paused, finally recognizing the voice coming from inside the golem. "Cole? Is that you?"

"I can't believe it. We finally have the Core!" Kai cheered, holding onto the golden orb.

Heatwave gave an off sounding roar and harshly landed on the nearest cliff, collapsing as soon as he did. Wyldfyre immediately jumped off his back, almost pushing Kai off in the process. "Heatwave's hurt! We have to help him!" She looked around at the wound, trying to assess the damage while the Red Ninja jumped down to join her. The dragon gave a, now obviously pained, whimper, the girl hurried around to hug his snout. "Hold on, Heatwave. You've done a great job out there, but you should rest now" It made another sad whimper. "I know. I know..."