Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Everything had gone wrong so fast. 

The merge happened, a cataclysmic event that ruptured the realms and tore apart reality. 

Time seemed to shatter in the vantage point, so many points in time flashing through the splintering universe.

The ninja tried desperately to stop it and save whoever they could, but chaos ripped through the realms. Thick, orange magma crackled and gleamed amongst the crimson light, and no matter what the ninja did, no matter what they threw at it…

Reality seemed to shatter, the Destiny’s Bounty ripped apart mid-air. The ninja and anyone they managed to save were sent flying through the cracks in reality. Light enveloped the world before…

It was over.

The realms had merged together. But something felt off. 

Like, severely off. 

Of course, Arin wasn’t quite sure what he was getting into, but as the world map began to get laid out in front of him.

Despite being so young… The huge divide between kingdoms and rulers made him tense up.

He needed to find where his parents went, and fast.

He caught the green hood from the green ninja, tucking it away in his hoodie and heading off through the desert.

Lloyd was the first to awaken, at least from what he knew. Everything in his body ached, a dull throbbing pain coming from his head and back especially. He winced, sitting up, only to notice a ton of people in what felt like the same outfit staring at him. He quickly got to his feet, backing up.

“Ooh! Looks like Rapton got a brand new catch! Get that… Freak!” a voice commanded.

Lloyd didn’t even bother looking, bolting from everyone as fast as his body could carry him. His feet felt like they were filled with lead, his head beginning to ache as he tried to hide wherever he could.

He leapt behind a building, trying to figure out just what was wrong with him. He felt something hit the back of the wall, causing him to leap back in shock. He looked around, still nothing.

He felt it again, brushing up against his back. He immediately grabbed it, only to feel scales. He yelped, stumbling back as he became aware of the dragon wings now on his back.

What the hell…?

He felt his head, feeling more than just his usual pointed ears… Small, protruding horns from his forehead.

No… Oh no no no no no this can’t be happening. 

Why did his dragon and oni side decide to come out now?!

An electrical rope suddenly yanked on his neck, sending him crashing onto the concrete. He winced, charging up his energy to break out, only for three more horned guardsmen to tackle him, forcing his head to the ground.

“Ooh, the Empress is going to love this.”

Kai fell into a lake, his hair soaked from the water. He gasped, trudging to the surface as he coughed. He winced, straining his hair out as he looked around at the desolate landscape, monsters roaming around as life itself seemed dead.

This… This wasn’t right…

He got to his feet, looking around, the ashen sky making it difficult for him to see amongst the darkness.

It felt like it was getting colder…

He huffed, trying to start his fire. It flickered out of his grasp, almost like a dead battery. He frowned, shaking his hand and trying again.

Nothing.

He noticed a cave in the distance, running over to it for shelter. He pushed past the vines, feeling how damp and cold it was.

It… Wasn’t ideal, but until he figured out how to get out of here, it’ll have to do.

This world felt too dangerous for anyone to exist in.

Nya collapsed into a pile of snow. Well, too much snow for anyone to be around. She scrambled out, shivering as she immediately felt frostbite on her cheeks.

It was a blizzard out here! 

She dug herself out of the snow, struggling to move through the blizzard as the snow reached her knees. She fell face first into it, forcing herself back out of the snow. Using her powers would've made this worse and she absolutely knew it.

She stopped, heaving as she grew even colder, snow coating her black hair. Oh, so help the first spinjitzu master she knew how to escape this place, she’d never see the end of this stupid snow-

A spear dug itself into her shoulder. She gasped, gritting her teeth as she pulled back, gripping her arm, the blood already becoming crystalized in the freezing cold.

Ice Samurai glared her down, weapons drawn. She stumbled back, only to knock into more samurai. They yanked her to the ground, ice freezing over her body.

Her senses slowly dulled before she felt herself slip.

Further and further…

Into the darkness…

Usually Cole was good with mountains! But not when the planet felt like it was screaming every time he tried to use it!

And the Skull Sorcerer is back?! How did that happen?!

Cole shook his head. He couldn’t think about that now, not after he already began to rush whoever he could out of the mines. Munce, Geckels, even as the skeletons chased them.

He couldn’t rest. He couldn’t stop. He had to move. 

“No one leaves this mountain!” the skull sorcerer bellowed, bones cracking through the ground like a gate just as Cole managed to get outside with another creature in his arms.

He gasped, panting as he pulled them to their feet.

“Are you okay…?” he asked slowly.

The hybrid blinked, looking up at Cole in shock. “I… I’m okay, but we need to go back for the others!”

More skeletons began to emerge from the caverns, approaching them. Cole bit his lip, knowing that he didn’t want to abandon them… But he didn’t have much of a choice.

“We’ll come back and free everyone else, I promise.” Cole took his hand, running as fast as he could with the hybrid and out of the kingdom.

“What’s your name?” 

“I… I’m Geo. And you?”

“Cole.”

“Nice to meet you, Cole.”

“Hang on!” Cole grabbed him by the hip, leaping off the mountain. Geo yelped, clinging onto him before he managed to summon an earth dragon, flying off from Shintaru. The skeletons made it to the ledge, unable to follow them further as they disappeared into the clouds.

“And that’s what I remember happening to the ninja…” Arin trailed off.

“Arin, I don’t mean to crush your dreams of being a ninja but like… If they were still alive after that event, do you think we would’ve seen them already? Like, roaming around?” Sora pointed out, tossing out a small screw as she kept rummaging through the junkyard.

“They’re supposed to be ninja! Why would they want to be seen?”

“... Good point.” 

“And also, we gotta remember that where you came from got overrun by… What was his name?” Sora thought for a moment, digging out what she needed.

“Garmadon. Right… Emperor Garmadon.”

“Yeah, that guy. So we can’t go back to your city to find your parents without risking getting killed. And I certainly don’t wanna go back to imperium where Empress Beatrix is.”

“Oh! And the Ice Emperor! Or the Skull Sorcerer! Or even that snake sorceress! There’s too many factions to count!” Arin gasped, falling on his back in exasperation.

Sora huffed, pulling him down from the junk pile. “The more we stay out of their way, the better chances our survival will be. Come on!”

Arin followed her footsteps, the two heading out of the junkyard. He took the lead, pulling out his grappling hook before pulling them back to their small penthouse. He quickly let go of Sora once they were at the top. She winced, unclasping her prosthetic arm from her shoulder.

“Oh, the gear got stuck again… Arin? Can you help?” 

“Right!” He immediately took the arm, prying open the main panel as she handed him the gear and screws she gathered. She got out her toolbox, pulling out a screwdriver. She pulled out the bolts carefully, setting them off to the side. Arin gently placed the new gear inside, spinning it around to make sure the fingers and shoulder moved accordingly. He placed the bolts back in, letting Sora screw them back in. He took the panel, snapping it back on as she latched it back into place.

“There! Good as new, thanks Arin!” She hugged Arin, taking her arm and strapping it back onto her shoulder.

“You hungry? I think I got enough berries for us to have another pie!” Arin offered, getting up and turning to the fridge. He pulled it open, already getting everything out. Sora laughed a little.

“You’ll never get tired of making pies, will you?” she said.

“Haha! Nope!”

“And I’ll never get tired of eating them, they’re delicious!”

“Aww! Thank you!” Arin gushed, finishing up with setting up the crust.

“I wonder how Frak is doing… It’s been a while since I’ve seen him from the merge.”

“I remember you bringing him up before. What was he like?” Sora asked. Arin placed the pie into the oven, shutting the door.

“Well… Frak was my best friend before the merge. He was the only one who got my excitement over the ninja. And, he taught me how to make those pies you so love!” He sat down across from her, fiddling with his hoodie strings.

“How would you describe him, if I can ask?” Sora slipped off her headphones. Arin paused, his expression appearing almost solemn.

“He was so sweet. He always liked helping others, without wanting anything in return. We both had so much to talk about, especially about the ninja… Even after all of that, we kinda just… Clicked. We had the same humor, similar tastes in music, we both liked adventure and comic books though I was more into mystery while he was into more tech fantasy. Sometimes we acted out the adventures of the ninja! I liked being Lloyd, the green ninja. He usually leaned towards Cole, the earth ninja.”

“I’m still confused about the green power thing. If the rest of the ninja have names in accordance with their elemental powers, then what exactly is Lloyd’s power?”

Arin opened his mouth to speak, only to immediately shut it. “I… I don’t know. The media keeps changing its name. Most people just say the green ninja because saying Energy or Life doesn’t quite sound right…”

“Ah. The Energy Ninja or Life Ninja doesn’t quite hit right, doesn’t it?” Sora tested the names out loud. Arin did have a point. Those names did feel odd for him.

“Yep. Like that. Also the prophecy said Green Ninja, so of course he’d be named like that!”

“I guess you’re right.”

The oven lit up, signaling that the pie was done. Arin pulled down the door, taking out the pie.

“Perfect!” He set it down on the countertop, cutting it into slices. He placed the first for Sora, passing it to her.

“I’m sure tomorrow is going to be… Bearable.” Sora tried to be optimistic, but it didn’t get very far. Arin frowned, staring at his own pie slice.

“We stick together, remember? No matter what happens.”

She exhaled, her shoulder’s sagging. “Right… Thanks, Arin.”

“No problem, Sora.” he bit into his pie slice, savoring the flavor.

Sora frowned, staring at her own piece. Something inside her was trying to warn her… She wasn’t quite sure what it was, but internally…

She feared tomorrow.

He woke up, stretched, and immediately felt the world rumble. Arin stumbled out of bed, throwing back on his hoodie as he looked outside. A vent had broken open in the crossroads as three figures in flying vehicles flew out, chasing after something.

He squinted his eyes, trying to see what it was.

… A baby dragon.

He froze, immediately throwing on his green ninja hood, leaping out the window with his grappling hook. He stumbled down, picking up the dragon in his arms.

“It’s okay, little guy. I got you!” he panted, seeing the hunters turn their attention towards him. The baby dragon growled a little, whining at the chasers.

“It’s okay, I have an idea.” He launched his grappling hook, flying through the crossroads. He skidded to a stop, still holding onto the dragon.

“Come on, you need to go!” Arin urged.

The tiny dragon growled, trying to talk to him.

“What? What is it?”

“Hey! That dragon belongs to the Claws of Imperium!” the leader of the hunters yelled, his voice raspy. Arin winced, making sure the dragon was secured snugly in his arms.

“Ninja… GO!” he spun into what he managed for spinjitzu, throwing himself at the hovercrafts. He crashed into the first, sending it colliding with a second. He stumbled to the ground, panting.

“That… Worked?!” he gasped. Lasers nearly struck him, forcing him to leap out of the way.

He scrambled to his feet as the third guard gave chase after him, catching up to him.

“ARIN!”

Arin’s head snapped up, seeing Sora on the rooftop. She gestured for him to get up there. Arin deployed his grappling hook, launching himself directly at her. She swiftly caught him, propping him up once he was steadily on the ground.

“T-Thanks.”

“The claws of imperium are going to drain that dragon. Don’t let go of him.” she instructed.

“Drain that- What?!” Arin stared at her, horrified. Imperium drained dragons of their energy? Weren’t they supposed to be their friends? That was horrifying!

The tiny dragon in his arms whimpered, nuzzling up to his chest.

“Okay, got it. Where do we go?” he asked.

“Far away from here until they give up.”

“But what about the other kingdoms?” he pointed out. Sora frowned, looking at the area beyond the crossroads.

It was dangerous to go beyond these lands… Because if they did, they might not survive. Each kingdom had its own risk, and she feared it.

But… The dragon’s safety was most important to her.

“Our safest route is through the World Forest. Think we can climb all those trees and get out of their sight?” she offered.

“Sounds good enough to me! Let’s go!”

The two took off as Arin launched his grappling hook, Sora hanging onto him as they flew right out of the Crossroads. He tossed the baby dragon to her, letting her catch him as they picked up speed. The hovercars were still hot on their trail, which wasn’t a good sign.

“Uh… Sora? How can we go faster?” Arin yelled, pained and frantic. Sora looked back, then at the dragon.

“I don’t know! Just follow my lead!” she leapt onto a vine, holding onto it for dear life as the baby dragon held onto her back. Arin followed, using his grappling hook as they kept bouncing between branches and vines.

Sora held her hand out, grabbing onto Arin before throwing him above her head, letting him catch onto a higher branch. He pulled himself up, using his grappling hook to pull her up with him.

They bolted into one of the holes of the trunk, ducking behind the leaves as the hovercars zoomed past them. They couldn’t be found, surely not… Please no…

… They exhaled, seeing as they didn’t circle back to find them. Arin stepped forward, only for Sora to place her arm in front of him. 

“Not yet. They could be here for hours.” she whispered. Arin nodded, ducking back into the darkness with the dragon.

Even as the sunlight began to die down, the soft humming and swooshing in the trees kept the two alert. Arin frowned, back to holding the baby dragon as the hovercars kept searching.

Sora groaned. “I guess we’re sleeping here tonight…”

“Wait, but what about the dragon?” Arin asked as the baby dragon chirped.

“We’ll take turns watching. In case we’re heard, we wake up the other to get out, got it?”

“Okay… Got it. You go to sleep first, I’ll wake you up later.”

She softly smiled. “Thanks, Arin. Goodnight…”

“Goodnight.”

There was a crack. Arin snapped awake, immediately shaking Sora awake. She gasped, sitting up.

“Sora…?” he whispered.

“W-What…?” she rubbed her eyes. Arin pointed to the outside, the leaves rustling unnaturally.

“It’s Rapton, ya kids! Now, give me back that dragon!” Rapton pointed his gun at the two. Arin held onto the baby dragon tightly as the two backed up.

“Never!” he yelled, hating how his voice sounded terrified.

“Like you can stop the Imperium forces. Now, hand it over or we’re going to have a problem.”

Sora tensed up, stepping in front of Arin and the dragon. “I won’t let all of you hurt any more dragons!”

Rapton laughed, coming closer to the two. “Boys, get in here! We got two people interfering with our order!”

Four more guards leapt out, swords drawn alongside ropes. The two exchanged a look as he kept ahold of the dragon. Rapton pried the baby out of his hands, struggling to keep ahold of it as it wrestled against him.

“GAH! Get it in the stupid cage!” he yelled as two more guards came in with a box.

“No!” Sora cried out, lunging toward him. The electric ropes wrapped around her, yanking her back and slamming her into Arin. The two fell down together with a thud, the rest of the guards making sure the two didn’t escape.

“Now, let’s get back before Lord Ras realizes we’ve screwed up.” Rapton ordered. Two of the guards pulled the duo to their feet, escorting them out of the tree and onto their hovercars. They drove off, flying through the forest and back towards Imperium.

“That poor dragon…” Sora whispered, struggling against the bindings.

“What are we gonna do?” Arin asked.

“I… I don’t know anymore, Arin.”

He felt it.

He wasn’t sure why, but somewhere in imperium someone needed his help.

“Come on, just down here.” the iridescent ninja directed. He nodded, leaping down past the sewers and into the train station.

“Wait… They should be coming close.” he directed. His teammate nodded, sticking close behind.

The train roared their way. The black ninja leapt onto the wall, pulling the iridescent ninja on with him. The two climbed up to the roof, looking around for a way to get inside.

“So… This is it, huh?” Arin leaned back on the wall, his wrists shackled alongside Sora.

“Yeah…”

“I’m sure we’re gonna survive this, hopefully.”

“I wouldn’t think so… We failed in protecting that poor dragon, and now it’s going to get drained for it’s energy.”

“Hey, we can go and break it out!”

“How? We’re effectively prisoners now.” Sora groaned, burying her face in her hands. “And I’m going to be stuck back in that hellish place with the Empress…”

“Sora, listen. I know that… Things may be dire.” Arin began, trying to reassure her.

“Very dire.” she said flatly.

“Right, very dire. But I know that I have hope that we can get out of this. Just like the ninja.”

She frowned. “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. 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.” she said.

“It's called the Monastery of Spinjitzu. But you're right… I still wanna try to be optimistic, y’know?” he offered.

There was a loud bang from the roof. The two stopped, staring at the hatch from above. It was broken down from the top, a hooded figure peeking down. 

Arin’s eyes widened.

“The earth ninja… Cole!”

“Are you kids okay?” Cole immediately leapt down, inspecting their cuffs.

“Geo, do you know how to get these off?” he asked, turning to the iridescent ninja. Arin tilted his head, confused.

There was a new ninja already?

… Okay, to be fair it had been seven years since the merge. A lot must’ve changed. But still!

One of the guards leapt down, brandishing their sword. The two ninja leapt into action, quickly deflecting their blade. Geo grabbed it, aiming it towards Arin and Sora.

“Arms out!” he directed.

The two looked at each other, confused, but did what he said. He brought the sword down, cutting off each of their chains.

“Okay, cool.” Cole threw the guard out of the cart. Geo tossed Sora the sword, letting her hold it for now.

“We gotta get out of here. And fast.” he directed.

“Wait! We gotta save the dragon!” Sora pointed out.

“There’s a dragon here?” Cole asked, walking up to her.

“Yes, in one of the other carts on this train.”

The two ninja exchanged a look. “Okay… What’s your name, both of you?”

“I’m Sora, and that’s Arin.” She introduced herself, gesturing to Arin next. Cole hummed.

“I’m Cole, and that’s my husband Geo. Arin, you go with Geo to find that dragon. Sora and I will keep the guards busy. Think you can do that?”

Sora fidgeted with the sword, trying to switch it between a blade and a gun.

“Yeah! Hopefully…”

“Okay, come on.” Cole helped the two on top of the cart. The ninja climbed up behind them, ducking from the lasers.

“This way!” Geo urged. Arin followed behind him, the kid leaping down into a cart. He landed firmly on top of the hatch, seeing the cage where the baby dragon was being kept.

“It’s okay, little guy…” he fidgeted with the lock, frowning.

“Ugh! Sora was always better at tech stuff than me! Do you know how to break this open?” he panicked, turning to Geo. He hummed, inspecting the lock.

“I’m not sure, either.”

Arin frowned. He backed up, shifting into his own spinjitzu and rammed right into the cage. It ricocheted before the door fell open, the baby dragon leaping on top of him. He gasped, laughing as it kept licking his face.

Geo stared in shock. “You know spinjitzu…?”

“I… Yeah? I mean, I taught myself. But that’s a story for another time, we gotta go help the others!” Arin urged, picking up the dragon as the two quickly got back to the top of the ship. 

The little creature scrambled out of his arms, running up to Sora.

“Oh! You’re okay, thank goodness!” she gasped, relieved. The baby dragon chirped, his eyes glowing white. Her eyes lit up as well, the dragon charging up something inside of her. 

“Woah…!” She fell back to the ground in shock, her hands glowing pink. He turned to the claws, grasping all of their weapons at once. Sora held her hands out, dismantling all of them before reforming all of them into a blade launcher. She caught the device in her hands, aiming at them.

“Fall back! FALL BACK!” Rapton panicked, the entire army fleeing from her device.

“You have an elemental power…?” Cole asked, shocked.

“I… What?! I didn’t even know I could do this until just now!” Sora said, flabbergasted.

“We gotta get off this train!” Geo urged.

“I got it!” Arin pulled out his grappling hook, holding the baby dragon. Sora held onto his side as he swung off the train, landing on the tracks with a thud. The two ninja followed afterwards, controlling their fall using spinjitzu.

“Oh, Cole you won’t believe this!” Geo gasped, flipping off his hood.

“You won’t believe me either, Geo!” Cole also said, almost excited.

“Arin taught himself spinjitzu!” “Sora has an elemental power!” both said at once.

The two froze, snapping their attention to the younger duo and their dragon.

“Wait, what?!”

“Is that really such a shock…?” Arin winced, rubbing his head. Sora kept flexing her fingers, dumbstruck by what she somehow pulled off.

“It… It’s supposed to be impossible to teach someone spinjitzu. But… Is it true? Do you know how?” Cole asked, pulling him to his feet. Arin stumbled a little, setting down the baby dragon.

“It’s a bit of a wonky version, but yeah?” he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

“And… Sora. You know how to use elemental powers?” Geo asked.

“I just found out I had them like five minutes ago! And… And I made this!” She presented her blade launcher. Geo inspected it carefully, turning back to her.

“I suppose it’s some sort of tech power…”

“Come on, you two. It’s not safe here…” Cole gestured for everyone to follow him. The group headed back up to the surface, peeking out from the floor panel. Cole helped pull everyone up, summoning his elemental dragon again.

“Get on. We’re going to the Monastery.”

Arin’s eyes lit up. “The Monastery of spinjitzu?!”

He chuckled. “Yes, that monastery.”

Arin excitedly got on the dragon, feeling the texture of the magic. Sora climbed on as well, clinging onto the baby dragon in her arms. Geo got on last, making sure the two younger ones were secure. Cole patted the dragon on the side, giving it the all clear to take off into the air. The team flew off into the skies, heading past the clouds and towards the Monastery of Spinjitzu.

Chapter Text

“Subject 122 stroke 11L.” she ordered. The creature looked up at her, its eyes still hazy. 

“Whats its condition, Doctor LaRow? Do we need to make another replacement?” Beatrix asked. 

LaRow hummed, staring at her reader. “No… It's regenerating its power just fine. Like all the other times. But if we need another dragon, then we should go get one.”

“Uh… Speaking of that…” Rapton trailed off awkwardly, entering the Advanced Systems lab. 

“... Did you lose it.” Beatrix glared at him, her fists tightening. 

“It was those kids! They intercepted and-”

“I'll deal with it myself. The claws of Imperium will follow me into the dragon's den.” a black furred tiger stepped forward. 

Beatrix pursed her lips together. “Very well. Gather the claws. We need more dragon power.”

Arin stared in awe as he noticed a building come into view. He had always heard about the monastery, but never quite seen it in person until… Now.

“Here we are.” Cole let the dragon descend onto the center of the building. He leapt off first, helping Geo off as Arin and Sora climbed off as well.

“Okay, welcome to the Monastery. Since the other ninja are gone, I’ve had to assume myself as the main leader of this Monastery until further notice.”

“I’ll help you two settle in.”

“Wait, we’re living here now?!” Arin asked, shocked.

“I thought you two would, with y’know… The merge happening, you two probably needed a more secure place to stay.”

“And you didn’t think to ask us about this?” Sora asked, deadpan.

Cole and Geo exchanged a look.

“Okay… Maybe we should’ve.” Cole winced, apologetic.

Arin pulled Sora aside, who was still holding onto the baby dragon in her arms. “Sora, this is huge. These are my heroes, and we can stay under them and-”

He turned back to the two ninja. “Are you two gonna train us?”

“Uh…” Cole trailed off. “One moment.”

“If they train us, you can learn how to use your elemental powers, and I can get better at my spinjitzu!” Arin said excitedly.

“Arin, I don’t know…”

“Are you two gonna train us?”

“Uh… One moment.” Cole pulled Geo aside, stepping away from the two teenagers.

“Cole, that Arin kid has a lot of potential. Even if it’s not proper spinjitzu, it’s still spinjitzu!” Geo reasoned.

“I know but! Ah, I don’t know… I’ve never been a teacher before.”

“I’ll help you. Like you helped me. I understood that when I discovered my elemental powers for the first time and… You helped me. I’ll forever be grateful for that.” Geo took his hands, holding them close.

“The two kids need us. I can tutor Sora if it’ll help, while you tutor Arin on his spinjitzu. You’re the best teacher I know about this.”

Cole softly smiled. “Thanks, Geo.”

“We decided we’re staying!” “We decided you two are getting trained!” both said at once.

The two stopped, staring at each other in surprise.

“OH MY GOD THANK YOU!” Arin exclaimed, bouncing up and down in joy. Sora stepped aside, still holding onto the baby dragon.

“And where are we staying, exactly?” she asked Geo. The small dragon chirped, scrambling out of her grasp.

“No, wait! Come back!” she ran after him, the dragon managing to get inside the building. She followed it down the halls, making sure not to lose sight of it before the baby reached a room full of books and scrolls.

He dug around everything, managing to latch onto a scroll just as she had caught him.

“Buddy, what were you-” her voice trailed off as she stared at the scroll in his mouth. She pulled it out, unraveling it.

“Is… Is this your home?” she asked. The dragon chirped, gesturing to it.

“Sora? Sora!” Arin ran up to her, panting. “You… This place is a lot bigger than I expected…”

“Yeah, but look.” she gestured to the map. Arin looked it over, confused.

Cole and Geo caught up to the trio as they stared at the map. Sora picked it up, handing it over to Cole.

“The baby dragon gave it to me, I think it’s his home.” she said. Cole studied the map, trying to figure out where it is.

“And… I have a feeling his herd needs our help.”

“Alright, back to testing.” LaRow muttered, her fingers gliding along the keypad with ease. She was used to this, working for the great empress Beatrix demanded no less of her.

“Subject 122 stroke 11L. Look at me.” she directed. The dragon, well creature more specifically, stared up at her.

“I need you to charge up more energy or else we’re not going anywhere. This city can’t lose power during the empress’ main announcements for today. And the claws certainly can’t lose energy with their weapons and vehicles.”

She had always found this catch much more fascinating than your typical dragon. It appeared to be… A hybrid, of sorts. One with much faster healing and an extremely huge amount of energy in its life force. It was so much more than she had ever witnessed in the many years she’s been a scientist here.

It slumped on the electric field, almost too exhausted. The energy draining cuffs still remained on its wrists and ankles as it waited for her to continue.

She frowned. “What will it take for you to work with me, huh? Do you need more affection?” she questioned, dropping the barrier as she stepped inside.

She knelt down the creature, reaching her hand out. Tentatively, she brushed through its hair, letting it sink into her hold. The monitor beeped, signaling that more energy was being detected. 

“Okay… Now.” she stood up, returning to the board as she let the wall move back up. 

The creature didn't make an attempt to escape. Not anymore. 

It used to be such a fighter, too… All that bite and bark and yet it had lost its drive to keep fighting by the third year mark. 

The merge was full of miracles, wasn't it?

She powered on the machine, letting the creature slump as more energy was siphoned out of its body. 

Cole let his earth dragon guide them, the baby dragon perched on it’s head as it stared ahead.

“He’s a curious little one, isn’t he?” Sora remarked, watching the tiny dragon. 

“Do you… Remember what happened during the merge?” Arin asked, leaning over to Cole.

“... Yeah. But I’d rather not burden you with it.” he mumbled.

“What? I can handle it, I promise!”

Geo gently placed his hand on Cole’s shoulder, squeezing it. Cole exhaled. 

“Okay… From what I remember, the world was torn apart during the merge. We tried to stop it but… Something went wrong.”

“It’s not supposed to be happening now!” Wu gasped, the ship ricocheting amongst the storm.

Lloyd skidded back onto the ship, clutching another person he managed to rescue. “Uncle? What’s wrong?”

“You never explained this to us!” Nya pointed out.

The magenta cracks suddenly ruptured, orange magma spilling out as they grew ferociously larger.

“What is that?!” Jay exclaimed, clinging onto the ship. The gravity was alarmingly strong. Zane tensed up, studying the huge rupture in reality.

“We need to get as far away from that as possible!” he yelled.

“No need to tell me twice!” Nya ran to the wheel, trying to pull it away. It wasn’t budging.

“Gah! I need help!”

“I’m on it!” Cole ran to her side, trying to turn the wheel away from the tear. It still wasn’t moving at all. 

The tear suddenly snapped into the ship, the crackling of wood and metal echoing through the air. The air suddenly felt too thick to breathe as the ninja clung onto fragments of the falling apart ship.

“No! We need to stick together!” Lloyd cried out, charging up his energy. Nya screamed as her half tore off and fell below.

“NYA!” Both Kai and Jay leapt after her, only for a chaos tear to rip right between them, sending the two flying into two different directions. Cole felt himself fall through the orange magma, crashing directly into a place that felt and smelled way too similar.

He coughed, regaining his senses.

“What the… Is this Shintaro?” he asked himself, looking around.

He stopped, noticing the black skeletons charging at him with vengestone chains.

Oh no.

He took off running, leaping onto the walls of the cave before launching spinjitzu at them. They shattered on impact.

He quickly reformed a key that he remembered, tossing one to a geckle, and the other to a munce.

“All of you, free yourselves and get out of here!” he yelled. The mountain rumbled, the skull gateway of the Skull Sourcerer beginning to open. 

He pulled whoever he could with him, trying to make it out of this cave without getting captured again.

“Just up here!” he urged, pulling whoever he could to the top. More skeletons began to appear, throwing some of the geckle and munce down.

“NO!” he cried out, still trying to help the others reach the exit.

A wall of bones began to come down, threatening to close off the exit.

“No one leaves this mountain!” the skull sorcerer bellowed behind them.

No. He couldn’t fail this time.

“Hold onto me!” he yelled, taking the hand of the hybrid, pulling them ahead of him. They managed to get outside the mountain, skidding on the ground. Cole reached for any of the others, only for the skeletons to block their path. He gritted his teeth, skidding under the bone wall right before it shut.

He gasped, panting. This… Wasn’t good… At all…

He reached over, helping the hybrid to his feet.

“Are you okay…?” he asked slowly.

The hybrid blinked, looking up at Cole in shock. “I… I’m okay, but we need to go back for the others!”

More skeletons began to emerge from the caverns, approaching them. Cole bit his lip, knowing that he didn’t want to abandon them… But he didn’t have much of a choice.

“We’ll come back and free everyone else, I promise.” Cole took his hand, running as fast as he could with the hybrid and out of the kingdom.

“What’s your name?” 

“I… I’m Geo. And you?”

“Cole.”

“Nice to meet you, Cole.”

“Hang on!” Cole grabbed him by the hip, leaping off the mountain. Geo yelped, clinging onto him before he managed to summon an earth dragon, flying off from Shintaru. The skeletons made it to the ledge, unable to follow them further as they disappeared into the clouds.

“And… That’s basically what I remember.” Cole said. “Not sure about the other ninja, though…”

“Woah… So that’s how you two met?” Arin asked in surprise, his gaze shifting between Cole and Geo. 

Geo laughed a little. “Yep! Though, we still need to return to Shintaro to save everyone else.”

“Yeah… Okay, we can do that. I can help!”

“Kid, this is a pretty high stakes mission, I don’t want you getting hurt.” Cole said.

“Nope! I’m coming to help, whether you like it or not!”

He winced, looking away from Arin. He was such a sweet kid… And the Skull Sorcerer was one of the more dangerous foes he faced. Not that he didn’t trust the kid, just… It was complicated.

“I think I see it!” Sora called out, breaking his train of thought.

He directed the dragon to lower itself towards everyone, landing safely on the ground. Cole climbed off first, helping everyone else. The baby dragon leapt into Sora’s arms, letting her hold him securely.

A huge dragon suddenly flew down from above, landing right in front of them. She froze, staring up at it in shock as she held onto the baby dragon.

“Is this your family, little guy?” she softly asked. The baby dragon chirped, scrambling out of her grasp.

“What have you done to Riyu? Have you injured one of our own?” the Matriarch asked, narrowing her eyes.

“Riyu? Is that your name, little guy?” Arin asked, kneeling down to its level. Riyu chirped, turning his attention back to the leader.

“We didn’t do anything. We rescued him from the Claws of Imperium.” Sora began.

“You expect me to believe that while you assault our land?” The matriarch roared. Riyu squawked, getting her attention. “Riyu, you are a young dragon. You do not understand how the world works. These beings cannot be trusted.”

“We came here to warn you, about the Claws of Imperium.” Geo spoke up.

“You mean them?” The matriarch gestured to the hovercars, chasing around her people with ropes and guns.

Sora froze. “How did they get here?! Did they follow us?!”

“Let us help you. Please.” Cole stepped forward to the matriarch. 

The claws of imperium continued to chase down the dragons, yanking down whoever they could. 

“We've hit the dragon motherlode! Bring 'em down!” Rapton cheered, the soldiers pulling down whoever they could. Cole and Geo quickly spun into action, snapping the ropes and freeing whoever they could. Arin launched his grappling hook, letting one of the hovercars trip over the wire.

“Ninja… GO!” he yelled, spinning into his pseudo-tornado, slamming into another hovercar. It swerved as he clung on, trying to prevent himself from falling off. He managed to knock the driver off, yanking on the wheel before slamming into a tree.

He yelped, falling right off. Sora quickly ran over, pulling him back to his feet.

“Get one of the hovercars! Maybe we can use it!” he directed. 

“Good idea!” Sora agreed, the two splitting off to halt one of the claws. Sora leapt onto the bottom of a hovercar, forcing her way on top of it. She clung onto the front, crawling into the seat and kicking the driver out of their seat. She climbed into the seat, slamming on the gas and swerving it away.

“Let’s hope this works!” she told herself, launching one of the ropes and throwing another claw off of their ride. Arin leapt onto that hovercar, charging it up and ramming it into two more hovercars.

Rapton slammed into Sora’s hovercar, knocking her back a little.

“You're done ruining my plans, you... Plan ruiner!”

The matriarch came down between them, sending the two falling back. Rapton gasped, staring at it in awe.

“I've never seen a dragon that big! Change of plans! That is our prey!” he commanded.

The other claws began to surround the matriarch, deploying their ropes. She tried to fly away, only to get torn out of the sky, slamming into the ground.

Arin gritted his teeth, firing at the soldiers to get them to let go.

Cole spun into the soldiers, managing to send them all flying before skidding to a stop.

“I have an idea… But it might be crazy.” he began slowly as the soldiers got back up. “Your Majesty. Riyu appears to have the ability to somehow connect and supercharge elemental powers.”

“I know nothing of this.” the matriarch said.

“If you can power me up the way Riyu powers Sora, we might have a chance here.” he turned back to the claws, pointing at Rapton. “This is your last chance, Rapton! Leave, or be destroyed!”

Rapton laughed, directing the rest of the claws to approach the two.

“Your mistake…”

The Matriarch’s eyes lit up white, a beam of light flying directly into Cole. The power felt so overwhelming as he was lifted up into the air. He landed down, the earth rumbling lowly at his feet.

A huge tornado erupted around him, swirling with so much power.

“Get him! What are you waiting for? Attack!” Rapton yelled. The soldiers hesitantly ran towards the tornado, weapons drawn, only for it to sweep them all away. Rapton quickly got back into his hovercar, driving off as fast as he could. He scrambled to pull out his communicator, dialing the first person on his contacts for the job.

“Lord Ras! We need backup! Help!” he cried out, flying away as the tornado nearly hit him.

“Our mission is complete. Return to Imperium.” Ras directed.

The tornado slowly stilled, letting Cole collapse to the ground. Geo ran to his side, helping him to his feet.

“Wow… That was… Something…” he heaved, holding his head.

The Matriarch rose to her feet, staring down at the team. “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.”

“Yeah… The world really is different…”

She hummed, her attention shifting to the unconscious soldiers on the ground. “Hmm. These dragon hunters will not remain unconscious for long. Our herd will have to move locations so they cannot find us.”

“And we should get back to Ninjago, we gotta start training these two newbies!” Cole pulled Arin and Sora into a side hug.

Riyu bounced over to them, turning back to the Matriarch. Arin sighed as he knelt down to him. “I guess this is it, buddy. But at least you're home now.”

“We’ll miss you so much…” Sora said. The two hugged the little dragon before letting go. Cole guided them away from the dragons, only for a rock to hit Arin. He yelped, spinning around to see Riyu scampering over to them with another rock in his mouth.

He cracked a small smile, taking the rock and tossing it. Riyu chased after it, returning it to Arin.

“It appears Riyu is not ready to leave your little group.” the matriarch spoke up as the two played.

“He’d be safe with us… If you’ll allow it.” Cole said.

“I think his decision is foolish. But…” she trailed off. “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.”

The rest of the dragons rose from the ground, flying off from the ninja as they headed to find somewhere more secure to stay.

“Come on, let’s go home. We should probably begin training tomorrow…” Cole said, summoning his earth dragon again.

“Ooh! What time should we wake up? What are we gonna learn? Are we gonna go on an obstacle course?!” Arin asked excitedly. Cole laughed, resting his hand on his shoulder.

“I’ll tell you once we get back.”

Everything was so cold. She pushed through the snow and ice, trudging up to the steps of the castle with a bag in her hands. Two of the ice samurai pointed their spears at her.

“I come from the reign of Emperor Garmadon with a delivery.” she said, presenting her bag to them. The samurai studied it for a moment before stepping aside, letting her inside.

She pushed through the front doors, seeing the Ice Emperor on his throne. He seemed… Out of it, from what she could see.

“Ice Emperor.” she bowed in his presence. His advisor, Vex, tapping his emperor on the shoulder.

“So you must be Harumi, the Quiet One and right hand woman of the Emperor Garmadon.” Vex said, heading down the steps.

“Yes. I am here because your faction requested vengestone from the vendors of Shintaro. They have quite a supply.” She passed the bag over to them. Vex took it, opening it up and beginning to inspect a couple pieces of vengestone.

“This is the amount we requested, nothing more… Nothing less?” he questioned, narrowing his eyes.

“I would never threaten war on such a delicate balance, sir.” She strained a smile. He huffed, closing the bag and passing it to an ice samurai. 

“Bring that to the dungeons. We need to reinforce those cells and chains again, especially around that elemental we got.” he directed. The soldiers quickly took off down the halls, the sound of a door slamming shut echoing through the throne room.

“An elemental…?” Harumi raised an eye, staring at the hallway where the soldiers vanished. Vex pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Yes. We have this girl in our grasp, a water elemental. Her name is-”

“Nya…” she knew that name. She knew who she was. Despite being brought back after the merge, she recalled everything ever since that building came down on her.

“You know of this girl?” Vex asked.

“Yes, she is one from the realm of Ninjago. She is a part of a team of elemental ninja; Fire, Lightning, Earth, Water, Energy, and…” her gaze shifted to the emperor. “Ice.”

Vex frowned. “The emperor was not one of those ninja.”

“Perhaps not. That makes me wonder… What happened to the last ice master during the merge?” Harumi hummed, lost in thought.

“... Would you like to see our prisoners? Perhaps we can continue our trading relations with the Garmadon rulership if you can give me some valuable information.”

Harumi’s eyes lit up softly. She cracked a smile, “Of course. I’d be honored to become a more valuable bridge to the Ice Emperor’s rulership alongside my own.”

Vex beamed. “Then follow me.”

Today felt so exhausting. Arin collapsed on his new bed, his eyes growing droopy.

“This feels… Insane.” Sora exhaled, unstrapping her mechanical arm again.

“I know! We get to train with the ninja!” he cheered. Riyu jumped onto his bed, circling around on his pillow before dozing off.

“Okay, I get what you mean by them being your heroes. But don’t you think this is moving too fast?” she asked.

“What do you mean?” he turned to her.

“I mean… We met them today, we got integrated into this monastery, and we also helped rescue a bunch of dragons.”

“Oh, right… Well, I’m sure they know what they’re doing!”

Sora exhaled. “Right, I just… I don’t exactly trust them, y’know?”

“I get it. Two strangers, in a stranger’s house…” Arin trailed off. He frowned. “Okay, I get your point.”

“If anything goes wrong, I will get us out of there. Got it?”

“Okay, okay! Haha! Got it.”

She smiled a little, curling up on her bed. “We should get to sleep, big day tomorrow.”

“Oh, right! Cole said we’d have to get up at five am tomorrow to start training!”

She froze, snapping her head to look at her best friend. “Seriously?”

“Yeah! Seems reasonable, right?”

She groaned, burying her face in her hands. “I’m setting my phone’s alarm to five am then… Goodnight, Arin.”

“Goodnight, Sora!”

He returned home. To the land of monsters. He kept his head down, moving swiftly through the darkness and ashen sky. He ducked behind a wilting tree, eyeing the distance.

Okay. He could do this.

He fell behind a rock, keeping his guard up as he eyed his prey. The figure in the distance froze in place, noticing him. He paused, watching as they stared at him… Before what appeared to be fire enveloped their hands.

“Get BACK!” she screamed, charging at him. 

“Woah!” he leapt out of the way, getting out of reach. It was a girl, messy red hair falling onto her shoulders and back as she scrambled to blast him with her powers.

“That’s… Not fire, is it?” he murmured.

“Whatever. You. Eat. FLAME!” she blasted at the tree he was on, sending him skidding back. He laughed.

“Oh, you think that’s impressive?” he lit his own hands ablaze. His fire.

She stopped, staring at him in shock. “You… You’re like me?”

He lowered his hands, the fire disappearing in sync with her own. “Yes… It’s not safe here, kid. You need to go.”

“I lost where my family went! I’m trying to get back!” she snapped.

Okay… Lost child, missing family member, probably went through this land to follow them but got lost or sidetracked. Yeah, he could work with this.

“Okay, uh… How about I help you-”

“REALLY?!” she exclaimed, her hands lighting up again. He laughed, reaching out to mess with her hair. She pulled back, growling at him with her fangs bared.

“What’s your name, kid?” he asked.

“Wyldfyre.”

“Fitting. I’m Kai.”

“Well, Kai, we need to go that way! That’s where Heatwave was taken!” Wyldfyre gestured ahead, right above a lake. Kai frowned.

“We need to go around it. That lake isn’t safe.”

“What?! But then we’d lost track of those metal tin can thingies! Besides, who knows how long that lake stretches out-”

“Not long. I’ve been here before. Just stay close to me.” Kai instructed, pulling her closer to him. She yelped, tearing herself out of his grasp.

“... You’ll get used to it. Follow me, we’ll re-center our position and keep moving afterwards.”

“Fine.”

“And that concludes our session, Subject 122 stroke 11L.” LaRow finished, typing up the last of her reports. The hybrid stared up at her, not daring to speak.

It had… Taken a while to get it to stop talking. Perhaps it wore out its vocal cords, perhaps its pain made it realize it would’ve been useful to just stay quiet. Regardless, the first few weeks with this new creature were quite loud, destructive, and disastrous. 

It kept slamming on the cage, kept yelling and demanding, kept escaping onto the streets, only to be restrained once again.

Now… It was docile, submissive. She hummed, summoning her portable control board as she approached the cage. The creature reached out to her, its hand pressed up on the electric forcefield.

“No, you aren’t getting more head scratches. It’s humiliating as is for me to keep going in there and pet you. I’m supposed to stay professional.” she remarked.

It paused, its hand trailing down from the wall. Its power levels began to die down as it slumped onto the wall. She rolled her eyes.

“Get up.”

The creature stared at her, its gaze dulled and exhausted.

“Get up.” she commanded, activating the collar. The creature hissed, scrambling back from the wall as it began to hyperventilate.

Good. That training still worked on it.

“Goodbye, I shall see you tomorrow for another extraction and study.” She stepped out of the laboratory, shutting the door behind her. LaRow moved through the halls, slipping off her lab coat as she reached the exit.

“Doctor LaRow.” Ras cut in. She frowned, turning to him.

“Is the dragon hybrid still stable?”

“Yes, albeit clingy again.” she grumbled. The tiger’s ear twitched, positioning his hammer on his back. 

“Make sure he calms down. Clingy behavior like that should never be fed to its satisfaction.” he ordered.

“Right… Of course.”

He narrowed his eyes, staring at her as he walked past her. She exhaled, leaving the fortress and stepping onto the streets.

Ras grumbled, pushing past the other guards as he headed into the advanced systems lab. He used his card, entering the room. The hybrid remained up on the back wall, curled up on the floor.

“I’m not going to bother calling you by your lab name.” he growled, lowering the shield. The hybrid perked up, sitting up tiredly as his body strained to stay upright.

“Lloyd Garmadon. My offer still stands.”

“No… It’s still no.” Lloyd frowned, turning away from the tiger.

“I’m promising you freedom from this place , and yet you-”

“No.”

Ras gritted his teeth. “So be it.”

He stepped back, snapping back on the shield, reaching for the electrocution button on the control panel.

“General Ras.” Beatrix entered the room. Ras stopped, turning to her.

“Yes, Empress Beatrix.”

“Do not harm that creature any further. We need you to focus on capturing and securing more dragons.”

“Of course.”

“Go. You’re not needed here.”

He scowled, moving past her and leaving the room. Beatrix hummed, shifting her attention back to the hybrid. It tensed up, backing up to the back of the wall.

“I’ll make sure there’s nothing left of you by the time we’re done here.” she hissed, a smile on her face.

“You… You wouldn’t-” the collar electrocuted it. It yelped, writhing on the ground as it clawed at its neck.

“I would. You can’t overthrow me, you’re merely an asset to my rule. And sooner or later, you will be disposed of permanently.” she laughed.

The creature gritted its teeth, but she didn’t care. She had plenty of what she needed from all of her sources.

Chapter Text

“Rise and shine, you two!” Geo called from the bedroom. Arin leapt out of bed in a rush, nearly stumbling over his own feet.

“Sora, wake up!” He quickly shook his friend awake. She groaned, burying her face in a pillow.

“Cole made some pancakes if you want any.” Geo offered. She snapped awake after hearing that, latching back on her prosthetic arm.

“Come on! I can’t wait to start training for today!” Arin cheered, practically running out of the bedroom. Sora chuckled, shaking her head. Oh, how this must’ve been his dream come true… Even if it wasn’t exactly what she might’ve envisioned.

“Uh, sorry if it’s so early. Cole had to teach me that, you’ll get used to it, though.” Geo apologized.

“Good… Good to know.” she yawned, slipping out of bed.

She trudged out of the bedroom, heading over to the kitchen. Riyu was already snarfing down pancakes as Arin was putting on some more toppings.

“Good morning!” Arin greeted.

“Morning, Arin…” Sora stretched, sitting onto the stool. She blinked, trying to refocus her eyes on the pancakes.

They certainly smelled delicious. She took them, taking a bite. Okay, so she wasn’t wrong.

“Wanted to get you kids fed before we start. Don’t know when you two last ate but it’s good to have breakfast before we begin training.” Cole said, finishing up the last pancake, setting it on the pile.

“Thanks, by the way.”

“On the topic of our training… Sora, you’re with Geo. I’ll teach Arin spinjitzu.” 

“Got it, Master Cole!”

“I…” he trailed off. “Okay, you can call me Master Cole.” 

Arin cheered, still finishing up his pancakes.

“Don’t worry, Sora. I’m sure we can figure out your powers, they may just need some time to unlock.” Geo assured her.

“I hope so…”

“Okay, let’s begin. Arin, run through that course as fast as you can at least… A hundred times.” Cole started.

“Got it!” Arin leapt onto the course, Riyu trailing behind him as he began to run through it.

“Sora, focus…” Geo guided her position, making sure she stayed in place.

“Concentrate… Use your power to change that alarm clock into something.”

Her hands flickered pink. She gasped, panting. “It’s… Not-”

“Okay, I see we need to scale back.” he eased, pulling her back up.

“How about we focus on meditation?”

“Meditation?”

“Yeah! That helped me, I’m sure it’ll help you.”

“It’s… Worth a shot.”

Geo sat down, placing his hand down where Sora was meant to sit. She positioned herself beside him, copying his movement.

“Breathe… Inhale… Exhale…”

Frostbite gnawed at her fingertips. She fidgeted with them, trying to find some way to warm them. Even as the frigid air flew through the small cell window, she still couldn’t figure out a way out of this place.

The amount of vengestone being stockpiled wasn’t a good sign, either. Were they planning on containing another elemental master? Hopefully not, it was depressing as is to see anyone who dared to wander into the Never Land get thrown in here. It took a couple weeks before silence greeted her again.

She pulled back, the cold seemingly not bothering her. She had grown uncomfortably numb to it, nothing seeming to phase her.

“It seems that I’m extending my offer yet again. The Ice Emperor would desire a noble warrior like you to join his army…” Vex began from the other side of the door. Oh, how she despised him.

“Once again, I’m not interested.” she spat back. Vex frowned, narrowing his eyes.

“You’ve proven to be able to survive the cold for this long, how? Is it perhaps your resistance to his element?”

“How could I be resistant? I’m water, water and ice are similar.”

“Then perhaps it’s about tolerance. Though in this case, you will still fall like the others… Eventually. Just like your comrades before you.”

She tensed up, watching as the Advisor laughed to himself, walking away from her cell.

She wasn’t a quitter.

She wasn’t.

“How much longer?!” Wyldfyre snapped, still trudging ahead alongside Kai. He checked his compass, watching the sun as it began to lower.

“We should get to shelter.” Kai said, taking her arm.

“NO! We need to go get Heatwave!” she yelled, tearing herself free again. He pinched the bridge of his nose, glaring at her.

“The night here is too dangerous.”

“No, it’s not! I’ll be the danger to this place!”

“Let’s not test that theory.”

“IT’S NOT A THEORY!”

Kai rolled his eyes, grabbing Wyldfyre again. He began to drag her away from the path, pulling past a tree to a cave. She stopped, staring in shock at it.

“I made this on one of my nights. Glad to see it hasn’t caved in yet.”

“What do you mean ‘yet’?”

He brought her inside, pushing the tree back over the opening. He positioned some wood from the corner, using his fire to light a campfire. Kai pulled some scraps of animal hide over, setting it down as two beds.

“There, we’ll sleep on these.”

Wyldfyre’s nose scrunched up. “You live like this?”

“Yeah…? Not like I got anywhere else to go.” he sat down by the fire, slipping off his cape.

“You don’t have a family…?”

“I used to. I’m pretty sure they’re dead now…”

Wyldfyre paused, looking around the cave. “Then why are you helping me?”

“Because that’s what I usually do. I just do that, then come back here.”

“Don’t you ever leave to, I don’t know, get food or something? This place seems pretty desolate.”

Kai chuckled softly. “Yeah, it is pretty desolate… I do get food from whatever is near, alongside other essentials. It’s not worth the risk to build a home here, though.”

“That makes sense from what you’ve told me…”

“Let’s just make it through this night, the sooner the faster we can reach Heatwave.”

“Okay…”

“And that should be it for today! Great job, you two!” Cole said. Arin leapt off the course, giving him a high five.

“I’m gonna go make us some pies! Be right back!” he ran off and back into the monastery, Riyu trailing after him. Sora kept fidgeting with her hands, still trying to change a toaster into something.

“It’s okay, Sora. You can take a break.” Geo eased.

“I thought I had it this time…” she mumbled.

“It took me a long while to figure out how to fuse on command. You’ll get there, eventually.”

“I guess so…”

“Aww! Hold on!” Arin flipped his bag up on his shoulder. “We're out of winterberries.”

“From the Never Land? Arin, you know just how long those take to ship in.” Sora said. 

“I know! But their most recent drop off is in the crossroads. Come on!” He headed to the Monastery doors, pushing them open. 

“Don't you two need a ride?” Cole asked. 

“I… Think we'll be fine. Thank you, though. Come on, Riyu!” Sora scooped up the baby dragon into her arms, following Arin outside and down the stairs. 

“Okay, first off… What do you think of our first day of training?” Arin asked excitedly, seeing as they were far enough down. 

“It's… Interesting. Geo’s really sweet, we've just been practicing more centering techniques instead of your obstacle course. I doubt I'll ever be ready for that.” Sora admitted. 

“What? I'm sure you'd be amazing at that course!”

“You really think so?”

“Of course! Sora, you're the coolest person I know! I'm sure you'd rock that course once you got used to it!”

“I guess I’ll try once we get back.”

Arin paused, noticing a piece of driftwood on the ground near the stairs. He picked it up, placing it facing down on the ground.

“Get on. Hold onto me.”

“What?! Are you crazy?!” Sora exclaimed.

“Come on! It’ll be faster!” Arin pulled her onto the back, making sure she was secure.

“I’m not so sure about thi-AAAAAAAAA!” she screamed as they went flying down the stairs on the driftwood, boarding down before they spun out of control at the last step, crashing into a lake.

“That… Was… Amazing!” he popped out of the water first, shaking himself off. Sora gasped, coughing as she clung onto Riyu.

“Never… Doing that… Again.”

“Come on! Those winterberries await!” Arin pulled her out of the water, dragging her along as the two ran back towards the crossroads.

It perked up at the commotion, staring curiously through the barrier keeping them from escaping. Doctor LaRow, Ras, and what appeared to be a new face were surrounding a strange poly cube… Most likely technology. 

The new figure kept messing with the cube, trying to activate it. 

“Report.” Ras ordered, crossing his arms. The hybrid pushed his face up to the wall, trying to hear what was going on. 

“This guy you found is a definite weirdo. He keeps inviting me to his autobiographical one-man musical… But he does know more than anyone else about extracting and exploiting exotic energy.” LaRow admitted. 

“Will he get the Photac to work?”

“It's… Hard to say.”

“When I ask a question, I expect an answer.” Ras scowled. LaRow just sighed. 

“Point taken. My guess? He'll get this prototype to work, but mass-producing more? No.”

“Why not?”

“Because there is only one person who can do that. And you know who.”

Ras growled at that. His gaze shifted to the small specimen in the extraction machine, who quickly looked away. 

“Use the energy from that creature. Try to break it open with that.”

“Got it.” She pushed up her glasses, approaching the containment box. “Subject 122 stroke 11L. It's time to begin more tests.”

The dragon hybrid sat up, backing away from the electric walls. LaRow slowly rose the intensity of the drainage machine before activating it. The creature simply slumped to the ground, trying not to fall asleep as its energy was siphoned out. The Photac flickered, but didn't open itself up just yet. 

“Raise it up further.” Ras ordered. 

“Do you want to kill it?” she questioned, flabbergasted. 

“It is nearly spent. We don't need it anymore.” 

“It regenerates energy. We need to give it time.”

Ras scowled, glaring at the dragon hybrid. “... Fine. Keep the system on for an hour, then.” he relented. 

“Understood.”

“There it is!” Arin ran over to the small ingredient cart in the crossroads, digging out the currency he managed to gather. He quickly placed down the three coins needed. “One box of winterberries, please!” 

The villager quietly passed him the box before ducking under to store the change. Arin took it, stuffing it into his bag before heading back to Sora. 

“Got what’cha needed?” she asked. 

“Yep! Now let's-” a motorcycle whizzed past them. He froze, grabbing Sora by the hip and using his grappling hook. The two flew up to higher ground as more motorcycles blew through the streets. 

“Oh, great… The Sons of Garmadon. Again.” Sora grumbled, fighting the urge to face palm. They were unfortunately very common in the crossroads, always racing around and trying to snag the best offers out of any of the vendors. 

One of the newest members pulled up behind them as Ultra Violent turned to them. “Try to keep up, Bluebird!”

“I will.”

They sped off, taking off down the roads in a race. Arin's gaze shifted as he slowly sank away from the ledge. 

“Is everything okay, Arin?” Sora asked, sitting up. Riyu squawked, walking up to Arin. 

“Yeah, I just… We're going to be ninja! And I want to defend the crossroads, but wouldn't that paint a target on our backs?”

“Just like imperium with Riyu?” Sora pointed out. Arin blinked, not realizing he forgot about that. 

“Ah, right. Guess we have been targets before, huh?”

“Not like that's gonna change. Either we leave to fight another day, or we stay and potentially die of motorcycle burns.” Sora said. Arin frowned, looking back down over the ledge. 

“... Yeah. It's too risky.”

“We can stay to pick up the pieces, but we aren't prepared enough to face them. Maybe in a few days of training?” she offered. Arin slowly nodded, staring at the berries in his bag. 

“Guess you're right. Let's go, then.” he gestured for Sora and Riyu to follow them, taking the back exit. He slid down the ladder nearby, running off and back towards the Monastery. 

The motorcycles skidded to a stop as the new racer managed to overtake everyone. 

Violet laughed, punching him on the shoulder. “Not bad, Bluebird!”

The other sons of garmadon cheered as their new member pulled down his helmet, his messy brown curls streaked with magenta. “Thank you! Glad I finally got to race this bad boy.”

“Oh, I'm gonna like you!”

The duo managed to return to the Monastery, near collapse as they threw the doors open. 

“So… How was the trip?” Geo asked, quietly stirring his tea. 

“Our… Oh, right! Yeah, it went pretty well.” Arin quickly got up, pulling out the berries he got. Sora softly laughed, wincing as Riyu dragged her inside. 

“Come on, let's get you to bed.” Geo set down his cup, pulling Sora off the ground and guiding her back inside the Monastery. He set her down on the bed, making sure she was comfortable before heading to check on Arin and Riyu. 

Arin was already in the kitchen, running around with too many ingredients and items. 

“Be careful! You don't wanna trip!” Cole said. 

“I got it! I got- AH!” he stumbled, nearly losing the mixer. “I'm fine! Ninja recovery!”

Cole bit back a laugh. “You remind me a lot of Lloyd.”

“Huh? The green ninja?”

“Well, when he was younger. Bright, wanting to help others, even after you get past his old evil streak because he was certainly a menace, he was generally a nice kid.”

“W-wait…” Arin trailed off, nervously laughing a little. “Lloyd, the legendary green ninja, was a menace?”

“Yep! Though he's sorta outgrew it now.”

“Wait, what do you mean ‘sorta’?” Arin turned on the mixer, letting it rumble on low so he could keep talking to Cole. 

“Eh… Long story, I don't know if it's my place to tell.”

“Ah, don't worry. I can keep secrets, and if I do ever meet him I won't bring it up until he does.” he sat down at the table. 

“Promise?”

“Promise!”

Cole exhaled. He had a feeling he was gonna regret this but… Arin seemed like a nice kid. “Okay so when we first met him he had run away from this boarding school meant to make kids… Evil.”

“Huh? Why was he even there at all?” Arin asked, even more confused. 

“His mom most likely put him there because she knew of his destiny to… Defeat his father, Lord Garmadon.”

“The same Garmadon that's ruling over the ninjago district?!”

“... Yes.”

“Wait, so… Is he part oni, then?”

“Yeah. Though he's not really fond of… Talking about that.”

“That makes sense… Oni are beings of destruction and hatred, right?”

Cole huffed. “Who taught you that?”

“Uh… The books?”

“Then you haven't heard of Mystake, or the old Garmadon before that revived version.”

Okay, now Arin was even more confused. There were two Garmadon? And who was Mystake?

“Who's Mystake?”Arin asked carefully. 

“Just a woman at a tea shop who's actually an oni.”

“And she was living in Ninjago this whole time?! Without destroying anything?”

“Yep! She actually fell in love with the world the First Spinjitzu Master had created. So when the rest of the Oni got banished, she remained. But unfortunately she's dead… I heard from Skylor that she had sacrificed herself to let her get away and she's… Gone.” Cole stared down at his cup of tea, staring at his reflection in the liquid. Despite not knowing her as much as Lloyd or Nya or any of the ninjago resistance during that time… He missed her more than he'd like to admit. 

“So… She was a good oni?”

“Oni can be good, yes. And you know how Lloyd is. He's not evil, is he?”

Arin frowned. Why was he thinking that only oni were evil… He remembered reading about it but that was about it. Though at the very least he understood that your genes weren't really a deciding factor in behavior. 

“... Does that apply to Dragons, too?”

“Hm?” Cole sipped his tea. 

“Can dragons be evil?”

“Yeah. Arin, the world isn't all black and white.”

“I know that! I…” Arin sighed, sinking into his chair. “The world just feels so black right now… There's no white.”

Cole exhaled, setting his cup down. “Then we'll make it grey. It's not perfect, but to even it out… We'll make it grey, okay?”

“Okay…” he got up from his seat, returning to the mixer. He finally stopped the machine, pulling out the batter and pouring it into the pan.

“Gotta make the crust, first. I'll start on the filling afterwards.”

“Want me to help?” Cole offered, getting up from the table. 

“Please, I'm exhausted.” 

He chuckled softly. “Okay, kiddo. I gotcha.”

“How's the master and student doing?” Geo pushed open the doors to the kitchen. 

“Geo!” Cole's eyes lit up. Geo hugged him at his side, kissing his cheek. 

“You keep doing your thing. I'm gonna go to bed. It's… Pretty late.”

“Yeah, good idea. But if you need me, I'll be here, okay?” Cole softly smiled. 

“Okay. Goodnight, you two.”

“Goodnight, Master Geo!” Arin waved goodbye as Geo left. 

“So…” he trailed off, glancing at Cole as he was already drinking his cup of tea. “How long have you two been married for?”

Cole nearly choked on his drink. He coughed, patting his chest before finally regaining his bearings. “Uh… Two and a half years, actually. It’s… Sorta recent.”

“Cool! Happy for you two.”

“Thanks, Arin.”

It forgotten when it had passed out. It paused, its ear twitching absently.

“Oh, good. You’re not dead.” that familiar voice spoke up. Some days it wished it was dead, but not right now. Not when hope threatened to seep into its heart.

“Subject 122 stroke 11L has survived the one hour extraction period.” she typed up on her status report as the dragon hybrid watched her, not even bothering to move off the ground.

“Unfortunately, the photac has still been unable to be opened. Dorama and Ras are both figuring out a way alongside LaRow to activate it. We are making progress in decoding it, however. We can expect it to be activated by the eighth hour mark. Signing, Doctor LaRow.” She finished her report, submitting it to the archives before she approached the wall.

She stared at the creature, trying to figure out why it wasn’t sustaining as much energy. Surely, with its current appetite it might become too violent for food… It was too risky to feed at all, after all. She hesitantly pulled down the barrier, stepping inside the chamber.

“Subject…” she paused. “... Lloyd.” she said a lot more quietly, reaching out and brushing through his hair with her fingers. It was painfully tangled, but… The way it leaned into her touch was mesmerizing.

“No wonder Ras keeps trying to turn you into more than just a battery… Though I suppose staying here is your more preferred space, right Lloyd?” she asked. The collar still softly beeped as he nodded.

Obedient. That’s how she liked her dragons. They were better when they were unwilling to fight back. But for a hybrid… Getting him to finally cease the majority of his functionality besides movement was an interesting case study. He stopped trying to eat, never really slept, and stopped talking.

Quiet, submissive, perfect. Just how the Empress always wanted from her subjects. And as long as the little hybrid bore the mark of this empire, it would always belong to it. LaRow knew that you could never get rid of those marks. Sure, you could theoretically change them if you somehow got out of Imperium, but she didn’t know for herself if that was even a thing.

Regardless, she gently pulled her dragon hybrid to her side, trying to make sure it rested. At least, before Ras came back in here and saw whatever she was up to. He couldn’t… She knew this was wrong to bond with a dragon like this, even if it was in the pursuit of science and discovery, but it still felt wrong.

Its wings seemed to curl around her body instinctively. She kept brushing through its tangled hair, trying to get any knots out… Even then, Lloyd still looked out of it. And he wasn’t even drugged for that, he was normally this tired now.

It. Right, it's an it. Not a he. Not a human being. It’s a freak of nature with dragon DNA she could capitalize on. She frowned, pulling away from the hybrid before she could get too attached. It stared up at her, almost startled as she backed up and placed the forcefield up.

“That concludes… My studies for today.” She brushed through her own hair, lost in thought. Great empress, why did this feel so wrong all of a sudden? She pushed her glasses back up, heading to the exit. 

“We do not speak of this.” she stared at the hybrid. It just stared at her back. “... Not like you’re allowed to speak, anyway.” 

LaRow left the room, the door sliding shut behind her. Lloyd exhaled, leaning on the wall before he slipped, quickly catching himself… Only for his arms to buckle as he hit the ground. He winced, pushing himself up again with the last of his strength.

That felt so… Relaxing. A weird kind of relaxing, but still relaxing.

He paused, his wings hugging his sides as he stared at the door. He wanted to get out of here so badly but… How could he?

He was practically useless now.

Just how they wanted it four years ago.

“Okay, trying something new… We’re training in this junkyard!” Cole proclaimed proudly.

“What?!” Sora and Arin both exclaimed, although Arin’s was way more excited meanwhile Sora sounded more horrified than anything.

“Yep! Geo’s busy fusing together parts to make an obstacle course! Arin, you work on wrecking things. Sora, you build something with your powers. And whenever you’re ready, go on the obstacle course, okay?” 

“O-Okay…” she stammered, Riyu nudging her at her ankle. She knelt down, petting him again before her attention drifted to all of the scraps.

“Come on! I almost got it!” Arin spun into a trash hammer, shattering it. He clung onto the remains, only for his spinjitzu to accidentally transfer and send each fragment crashing into more piles.

He winced, seeing each area topple on impact. “Whoops… Gotta work on that.”

“You can transfer spinjitzu?!” Cole looked at him, flabbergasted.

“I just learnt I could do that today so uh… There’s that!”

Sora kept holding her hands out at a clump of scrap metal she got ahold of, trying to get her powers to activate. Her hands flickered a bright pink as she tried to hold her concentration. The metal slowly levitated before her powers fizzled out. She winced, stumbling back.

“Come on! Why won’t you work already?!” she snapped at herself.

“It’s okay, Sora. Elemental powers take time to surface.” Geo assured her, placing his hand on her shoulder.

“Well, how long did yours take to come in?”

“Uh… One and a half weeks?”

She stared at him like he had grown a second head. “One and a ha- Okay, no. This is pointless. I can’t do elemental tech stuff, I barely have anything without Riyu’s help!”

“No, you can. Cole’s powers got enhanced by that Matriarch dragon, so Riyu doing the same for you is him trying to bring your full potential to the surface. I wouldn’t say to rely on him all the time, especially if there’s trouble and he’s missing, but… Just keep training and figuring out what works and what doesn’t.”

“I… I guess you’re right.”

“That’s the spirit! Do you want to hit up that obstacle course already?”

“Sure, I guess I could try.” she approached the course that Geo had built, staring at everything as Arin ran through it again. Just one try… That’s all she was asking for herself.

She climbed onto the starting platform, preparing herself. She leapt onto the main beam, running across it before taking a sharp turn through a hoop. She ducked underneath more beams, kicking a piece of sheet metal away from her face before it hit her. She dove under the set, crawling underneath more debris before-

“Sora! You ran off course!”

“Huh?!” she snapped her head up, getting off of the ground.

“It’s that way, silly!” Geo gestured to the course on her right. She was going left… Sora groaned, burying her face in her hands.

“I’ll never get the hang of this.”

“Hey, never say never. Ninja never quit-”

“I’m not a ninja! I’m barely even an elemental master and I know-” she gasped, seeing something charging at them.

“DUCK!” The entire group dove for cover as a holographic wolf beast plowed through the junkyard, shattering the fence as it chased after a dragon from above. Sora froze, staring at it as it ran off.

Dread pooled in her chest as she shakily got to her feet. “H-How did Imperium figure out how to activate my Photac…?”

Chapter Text

“H-How did Imperium figure out how to activate my Photac…?”

“Your what-” Arin asked, already alarmed. Sora heaved, watching as the creature escaped from the junkyard, chasing after the dragon.

“Change of plans, we gotta rescue that dragon! C’mon!” Cole summoned his elemental dragon, pulling everyone onto it before he took off into the air.

“How do you know what that thing is?!” Arin pulled Sora over to look at her. She frowned, not meeting his eyes.

“Because… When I lived in Imperium, I built it. It’s a digitally generated techno creature comprised of hard light…”

“Okay? And how do we stop that thing?” Cole asked.

“It’s indestructible, the light never deteriorates! We’d need to deactivate the photac itself!”

The wolf tackled the dragon to the ground as the claws of imperium surrounded them. Cole halted the dragon, unsure of what to do.

“... It would be safer to retreat and find a way to break it from the inside.” he reasoned.

“Y-Yeah… But that poor dragon…”

“We’ll rescue all of the dragons, okay? Don’t worry…”

“Okay… Okay, we can… We’ll make a plan.”

Cole redirected his dragon, taking off towards the monastery as everyone held on behind him.

She was young, so bright eyed, so hopeful for the empress. Ana adjusted her device in class, making sure it was perfect. She activated it, letting glowing orbs drift into the air.

“I call it; the Photac! This is just the prototype. When I'm done-” she proclaimed.

“Ana, this is already far more advanced than any of the other science fair projects.” Her teacher, Mr. Koenig, began slowly. “Is this some kind of a ... a hard light? How did you do this?”

“I just kinda threw it together, sensing what would work.” she admitted, adjusting the cube a little. “And I've stayed up ‘til midnight the last eight weeks researching and refining my designs until I got it just right! Wanna see my plans for Version two?” 

“As intriguing as this is, we mustn't deviate from the mandated curriculum, as dictated by the decree of the Empress Beatrix.” He stated. 

“All hail the good empress.” the students repeated, turning to the holographic panel of the Empress. Ana frowned, clicking off her cube. The school bell dinged, letting every student pack up their belongings and head out.

She stepped outside the classroom and onto the streets, the usual advertisements playing overhead. “... Keeping your family secure and productive, nothing compares to the dragon energy of Imperium. Clean, safe, powerful, and infinite! All thanks to the Good Empress.”

She quietly filed in line as every student stepped onto the conveyer belt one by one. Honestly, Ana was practically buzzing with excitement. She really wanted to complete that Photac, it was going to change Imperium with how it was coming together. She just knew it!

“Do you think Mr. Koenig would let me stay behind and keep working on my Photac device?” she asked excitedly to her fellow classmate, fidgeting with her backpack. He paused, stepping back as the next student got on the conveyer belt.

“Um, this is our allocated recreation hour. We have to go ... recreate.” he said. She quickly got onto the conveyer belt, catching up to him.

“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.”

The rest of the ride fell pretty quiet as she jostled the device in her backpack. She stepped off the conveyer belt to her home, pushing open the door.

“Mom! Dad! I’m home!” she called. Just like all the other times, she didn’t get a response. But this time she didn’t mind, heading to her room and setting the photac down on her desk.

She had always admired her true hero, Doctor LaRow. She was the one creating all of the devices using the safe dragon energy provided to them. It was always mesmerizing to her.

“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 told herself, pulling up her seat and taking out her tools.

Just one moment. She had a moment to shine at the science fair this year, and she was not going to waste it. She made sure to spend every waking moment she could on the device, adjusting whatever she needed and implementing more code into the mainframe. She reframed the device from a simple cube to a more advanced and sleek poly, wiring a remote control to activate it from a distance.

“Let’s see if this works…!” she pressed the button, a small creature flickering to life before it began to stabilize. Her eyes widened, seeing a full fish begin to swim around her bedroom.

She laughed, bewildered yet relieved. Oh, the empress was going to love this!

Today was the day of the science fair. Ana fidgeted a little with her neckline as she waited for the judges to reach her table.

“Hello, Miss Ana. What have you made for this year's science fair?” one of the scientists asked.

Ana’s eyes lit up as she presented the photac to them, alongside the blueprints she quickly scribbled out so as to not get disqualified. 

“Like I promised, my Photac version two takes it to the next level! You thought a light show was cool?” she activated it, a hard light fish coming into view as it swam around the laboratory. The other students began to surround her creation in awe as the scientists studied it. “How about a hard light animal? And a fish is only the beginning!” 

Ana adjusted her controls like she had done over the past few days, making sure the setting was correct before activating it again. “Ever wanted your own puppy?” a hard light puppy appeared, walking around like the real thing. The other students cooed and fawned over the being.

“The Photac animal is cuddly, doesn't require food, and is hypoallergenic. 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” her voice trailed off as she stared at it. “... Be lonely. There's no limit to the beauty the Photac can create.” she refocused, finishing up her speech. The scientists wrote down the rest of their notes, checking to make sure that there weren’t any other exhibits they had to judge.

They exchanged a look as Ana packed up her photac, setting it back down on display.

“Congratulations, Ana! Your plans are hard to follow, but the results? Astonishing. Your indestructible hard light technology is more than deserving of this.” He handed her a medal. The other students clapped, as per the usual for the winner of the science fair.

Everyone began to clear out, packing up their projects as their parents returned to pick them up from the event. Ana looked through the crowd, seeing her mom and dad in the distance. They spotted her too, heading over.

“We are quite proud of you, Ana.” her father began.

“I know we don't say that much.” her mother admitted.

“Or ever.” Ana admitted under her breath.

“But we see now that your ...passion for your studies was all in service of Imperium.” her mom continued.

“All hail the good Empress!” her dad declared yet again. Ana blinked, waiting for them to continue.

“... Sure, uh, I really am hoping to help the people of Imperium. The way Dr. LaRow-” she began, only to hear footsteps from behind her.

“Pardon me. My name is Dr. LaRow of the Advanced Systems Lab.” Doctor LaRow alongside two other scientists came up behind her, coming to a stop in front of the family.

“Oh, we, uh... Know who you are, of course.” Ana’s father said awkwardly.

“And you must be Ana.” she looked at the young girl in front of her. Bright pink hair, eyes full of wonder.

“You know my name…!” Ana said, breathless and in awe all over again. Her idol was talking to her! This was insane!

“I have been hearing about some of your designs. They appear to be quite... How shall I say? Unconventional.” LaRow began almost casually. Ana’s parents immediately jumped into damage control, quickly trying to direct the scientists away from the deviation of the norm.

“Unconventional? Perhaps you can forgive her. She's just a child. She didn't know what she was doing.” her mom stammered, trying to block Ana from view.

“Oh, but I think she did. I think you knew quite well…” LaRow let her words hang in the air as the three held their breath. “And I must say, I am very impressed.” 

They collectively exhaled, relieved that at the very least no one was getting punished.

“I want you to come to the Advanced Systems Lab.” LaRow stated. Ana blinked, startled.

“You want me to tour your lab?” she asked.

“No. I want you to work in my lab.”

Ana gasped, her eyes lighting up in pure joy. Her dream was becoming real, today?! This felt like a miracle after everything she’s gone through!

“I need to destroy the Photac. Alone. I made it, so I should be the one to destroy it-” Sora began firmly, crossing her arms. Arin slammed his hands on the table, startling her.

“No! I’ve heard how bad that place is, I’m not letting you risk yourself out there on your own when so many things could go wrong!” he yelled, gesturing to the outside of the monastery.

Cole exhaled, resting his hand on his forehead. “Look, you two have not been trained enough for this sort of mission. It would be too risky for you two to go alone in this, let alone just one of you.”

“Sora and I are a team. If she’s going, I’m going.” Arin said firmly, sitting back down in his seat.

“I know we’re a team. But Cole’s right, it’s too risky of a mission.” Sora pointed out.

“So what? I can handle it! We’ve handled a lot of stuff!”

“What about Riyu? That place was after him before, and I know that I can’t use my powers properly without him!”

“Then we’ll have to sneak him in somehow.”

“I’ll figure something out! But I don’t want Imperium using my photac like that! It’s too dangerous to be left in the wrong hands!”

“Sora.” Arin took her hand, looking her in the eyes. “Ninja sharpens ninja. It would be safer for us to do this together in case something were to ever go wrong.”

“I’m not a ninja. I’m not even an elemental master!”

“I’m a ninja in training. You’re an elemental master in training.” he reiterated.

“Emphasis on training.” Sora said flatly.

“Point is, we got this. We can do this.”

Sora paused, staring at his hand in hers. She hated having to turn him down like this, but he was right in a way…

“Alright, here’s the deal: I’ll let you two go… On the condition I’m coming with you.” Cole stood up from his seat.

“I’ll come with you too.” Geo said.

“Geo, I love you, but we need someone to stay behind and guard the Monastery.” He said gently, taking his hand. Geo exhaled, meeting his eyes.

“Okay, I’ll do that.”

“Yay! Stealth mission! Let’s go!” Arin cheered, running out of the room. Sora sighed, sinking into her chair.

Why did she have a feeling that this was going to be a disaster…?

Ana stepped through the advanced systems lab in awe, following right beside her idol as they entered.

“Hmm. Perhaps try the new mass-printed circuit boards.” LaRow directed to another scientist as they passed by. Ana froze in shock, seeing a huge dragon in it’s containment. She ran up to it excitedly, reaching out to the barrier.

“A dragon! A real dragon! I can't believe you have one here in the lab! This place is... It's magical!” Ana said excitedly. She flinched, the barrier electrocuting her.

“Oops, sorry. Let me deactivate the protective force field. This dragon has long since accepted its role in our lab. It won't be dangerous.” LaRow set down the forcefield, letting Ana reach for the dragon on the other side. She gently brushed up on its head, fascinated.

“Aw. You sweet thing. What's her name?” she asked, turning back to the scientist.

“Subject 152 stroke 9A. But some of the lab techs have taken to calling her ‘Sora’.” LaRow stated, still configuring the board.

“‘Sora’? The ancient Imperium word for ‘orphan’?” Ana repeated, confused. She turned back to the dragon. “Did something happen to your family, Sora?”

“Please step back.” LaRow directed. Ana stepped back, letting the shield come back up. “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.”

“I do?”

“With my guidance, I think we could take your simple Photac and make it much more powerful.”

“Why…” the words died on her thought as Ana’s throat suddenly felt dry. “... Why would you need to make it more powerful?”

“Child, the Photac could be so much more than a mere pet. May I?” LaRow held her hand out. Ana clutched the photac tightly, pulling back a little.

No, she couldn’t let the scientist down. This was her dream… Right? Ana hesitantly passed it over, LaRow taking it from her hands and plugging it into the machine.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Demonstrating the possibilities.” LaRow turned up the power, electrocuting the dragon violently as the gadget charged up. Ana stared on in horror, rushing to the control panel to turn it off and take her photac back.

“No! Stop! You’re hurting her!” she screamed. LaRow blocked her path, picking up the photac.

“Wait.” was all she said before she activated it, a more ferocious wolf appearing from the device. 

“You’re hurting her!” Ana slammed on the controls, forcibly turning them back down as the wolf flickered out of existence. LaRow frowned, holding the photac in her hands.

“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 said calmly.

“Sure, everyone knows that. But our whole lives, we were always told our energy is safe!” Ana pointed out.

“It is safe, for us. Now, imagine what we could do with an army of these. For Imperium to remain the glorious kingdom it is, we need power. The power only dragons can provide.”

Ana backed up, horrified. “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!”

Ana shook her head. No, this was all so wrong! She couldn’t stay here any longer! 

“I don't want any part of this! You're as much of a monster as that... That thing!” she tore the photac from LaRow, deactivating it before dropping it on the ground, breaking it. She took off running out of the lab, tears filling her eyes as she burst out the doors, running home as fast as she could.

“Mom, Dad, I need your help! I can't go back to Dr. LaRow's lab.” Ana quickly said, out of breath.

“Dr. LaRow just called.” her father began, his tone… Firm. It immediately put Ana on edge.

“We are very disappointed in you, Ana. You have a chance to help the Empress Beatrix. To help Imperium!” her mother reasoned.

“They were torturing dragons!” Ana snapped back. This was wrong, this all felt so WRONG!

“Dragon’s are just mindless beasts, Ana. A resource!” her dad shot back.

“If you had seen the dragon suffering, you’d know how wrong it is!”

“Are you really going to put some creature above your own family?” her mom questioned.

“I…” the words died in Ana’s throat.

“We are ashamed to call you our daughter.”

Ana felt tears welling up in her eyes. She forcibly pushed them back, storming off to her room. This was a disaster, everything she had ever known was WRONG. It was always wrong! How was she so blind to it?!

The rest of the days felt like such a blur. Trying to go outside had others shooting her dirty looks or outright avoiding her entirely. Ana kept herself in her room at that point, only leaving to go to school. 

Until one day she returned home… And her workbench was gone. She gasped, running over to the spot where it used to be.

“If you won't use your scientific studies to support Imperium…” her mother began.

“And all that we stand for…” her father continued.

“Then you'll just have to find a new interest.” she said firmly. The two walked away as Ana’s door clicked shut.

She glared at her poster of Doctor LaRow on her wall, all of her frustrations seemingly boiling over. “I believed in you! I thought you were making Imperium a better place! For every living thing!” she tore down the poster, panting heavily.

It was over. Everything she had ever done was for nothing.

Sora quietly knocked on the door to the shared bedroom. Arin looked up from the punching bag, catching it before it hit him.

“Sora, you don’t need to ask to come in you can just come in. What’s up?” he said, leaning on the bag before slipping. Sora rushed to his side, catching him before he hit the ground.

“Whoops! Haha!”

“Look, I… If anything goes wrong, I need to be honest with you.” she began, the words trying to poison her to prevent them from escaping.

“Okay, sure. About what?” Arin asked, confused. Sora exhaled, bracing herself.

“My name isn’t actually Sora.”

She squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for a reaction. For him to blow up, to scream at her for lying, something! She winced, slowly opening her eyes. Arin kept staring at her, only… Bewildered.

“It’s not?”

“I… You’re not mad?”

“Of course I’m not mad! It’s just a name, you’re allowed to change your name if you got bad blood with an old one! That’s totally fine! I’m just confused as to why you changed yours.” he rambled, shooting the question back at her. That was fair, honestly. He had a right to know.

“Back in Imperium, I was… Ana. They’ll know me as Ana there, not Sora. I just don’t want you getting thrown off by me using my ‘real name’ in case we’re spotted or need to make keycards or whatever!”

“Wait, your fake name or real one?”

“If we’re sneaking in, we need cover names and identities. I’m sticking with Sora, and to all of you it’s my real name but to them it’s a fake name. Does that make sense?”

“Well…” Arin trailed off. He paused, meeting her eyes again. “I do like Sora a lot more than Ana.”

Sora bit back a laugh as Riyu squawked, running between their legs. “Thank you, Arin! I appreciate it.”

“Alright, we’re all set. How do we get inside Imperium?” Cole entered their room, the baby dragon skittering over to him instead.

“Well, for one thing we can’t just waltz in there.” Sora pointed out.

“Why not? It’s…” Arin frowned, realizing his argument wasn’t going to work. “Nevermind, you can continue.”

“It’s okay. But based on our recent activity 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.” she explained.

“And from what I can tell it’s heavily fortified on all sides.” Cole said.

“And also their uh… Vengestone supplies are gonna make this infinitely harder.”

“Wait, what?!”

“You don’t know?! How far have you been out of the loop?” Sora exclaimed.

“Uh… Busy dealing with minor crimes, helping Geo with his training, getting married, keeping up on the Monastery, and trying to stay up to date with the news…” Cole explained.

“... So you don’t know about the Vengestone trading pact?”

“No…”

She groaned. “Okay, quick recap for you; Shintaro is supplying all of the vengestone across the merged realms. And it’s being shipped to Ninjago, Imperium, and the Ice Fortress respectively. This leaves us with the Flaming Fortress and Merlopia out of the loop so let’s not worry about those. Point is… Shintaro has a ton of vengestone. Imperium has a ton of funds.”

“I see your point, that definitely throws a wrench into our plans.” Cole said.

“Exactly!”

“So, what are we supposed to do?” Arin asked.

“Does vengestone limit spinjitzu?” Sora said.

“No, unless you’re chained to it.” Cole said.

“Okay, so spinjitzu should be fine. Using elemental powers? Probably not.”

“I’ll help sneak us in some weapons, then.” Cole got up and left. Arin picked up Riyu, holding the baby dragon in his arms.

“We at least got that covered. Anyway, you were saying about the way to get in?” he said.

“If the guards check who’s going in, would they check what’s going out?” Sora pointed out.

“Wait, the sewage system? Are you suggesting we go through there?”

“Yep! I guarantee that place won’t have any security.”

“I’m here! We should head out, be quick about it, deactivate the Photac, and then escape.” Cole returned with the bag they needed for Riyu and a bunch of smaller weapons.

“Also free the dragons.”

“Yep! And freeing those dragons. Now, come on! No time to waste!” he ushered the kids outside.

“Bye, Geo. I’ll be back soon!” Cole pulled over, kissing Geo on the cheek before heading off.

“Take care of yourself, Cole. I’ll be here when you get back.”

Cole summoned his dragon as everyone climbed on. He took off into the skies, soaring over the crossroads and towards Imperium. Sora watched, her eyes narrowing at the sight.

“We stop a few miles away. They won’t notice us there.” she directed.

“Good idea.”

“Taking us to the ground right now…” Cole lowered the dragon into the desert, letting it dissipate. Arin held Riyu close as they began to approach the sewer system. Cole held his arms out, activating his lava arms before prying the bars open. The three slipped inside, making their way through the dimly lit corridors.

“Which way?” Arin whispered. Sora passed by everyone, taking the lead. She directed them left, then straight two pathways, and then took another left, then up ahead a right. She froze, hearing the familiar alarms of intruders from the tunnels.

“I was wrong! RUN!” she yelled. The team took off running, the lasers firing at them from the drones. Sora took a sharp right as everyone else followed her, then forward two paths, and finally a left. She leapt onto the ladder, pulling over the sewer top as she yanked Arin and Cole up to the top. She quickly caught Riyu, scrambling up with him.

She panted, Arin pulling her to her feet. Thankfully, they were inside.

“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!” she whispered, directing them towards the security station. Sora headed up to the computer, typing through the system as fast as she could.

She stopped, hearing footsteps down the hall. “Someone's coming. Hurry. I need your fake names for the IDs.”

“Fake names? Uh…” Arin didn’t think this through. He tried to find something to latch onto before landing on what he thought made sense. “Doctor… Lampshade… Floortile?”

“Your undercover name is Dr. Lampshade Floortile?” Sora questioned, deadpan.

“Yeah.”

“I’ll be Rocky Dangerbuff.” Cole pronounced. Sora pinched the bridge of her nose, entering the names in anyways. She got to her card, entering in ‘Sora’ for herself.

“You’re using your real name?” Cole asked.

“Not exactly. I’ll explain after we leave.” Sora printed the cards, tossing them to everyone as they rushed to the locker rooms. The guards opened the doors, walking into the room without even noticing the new entries.

She panted, out of breath as she leaned on the doors. “Quick, we gotta fit in and look like Imperians.” she directed, rummaging through the lockers. She broke one open, finding spare clothes inside. Hopefully no one needs this…

“On it.” Arin took his clothes, heading off to change. Cole tried to put on his signature fake mustache, only for Sora to knock it out of his hands.

“Wh-Hey!”

“No facial hair except for the exempt. You’re not an exempt.” Sora said.

“Okay okay! No mustache, then…” she passed him his outfit anyways, taking her own pair and slipping into it. 

Oh, she forgot how much she hated these uniforms. She scowled, trying to make it fit better around her body.

“Okay, ready to go!” Arin returned, hands on his hips as he presented his outfit proudly.

“Same here.” Cole returned, adjusting his outfit to make sure it was snug enough. He pulled back out their bag with the weapons, opening up the top. “Riyu, you gotta hide.”

Riyu climbed into the bag, letting him latch it shut. He hoisted it onto his back, making sure it was securely in place.

“That doesn’t look suspicious at all…” Sora blanked, staring between everyone. She stopped, realizing something! She immediately ran off, searching through the trash bins before she pulled out a small palette of used makeup. “Surely this’ll not go wrong…”

“What won’t go wrong?” Arin asked. Sora pulled out a small q-tip, trying to get as much of the gold as possible before carefully painting Imperium markings on him.

“All the adults have these. We won’t fit in if we don’t.” she said, moving onto Cole once she was finished. She felt around at her own cat marks, adding tiny dots at each end point to make them look more imperium.

“Wait, so are yours not makeup?” Cole asked.

“Nope. These are genetic, like all the other Imperians. You get them based on your rank in society. Or, in my case, abandoning that society and making my own identity.” She tossed the makeup back into the trash, looking over everyone.

“... We should be fine. Lampshade, Rocky, come on.” She directed everyone outside. They slipped into the halls, a guard beginning to pass by them. Moment of truth…

“Halt!”

Oh, crud.

“What seems to be the problem, officer?” Cole asked smoothly, the trio turning around to the guard.

“Gonna need to see your ID badges.” he said, holding his hand out. Cole passed him their ID cards, letting him read them over. “Oh, yeah. Yep. You're free to go, Mr. Floortile.”

Arin cleared his throat. “That's Doctor Floortile.”

“Uh, you too, Mr. Dangerbuff. And…” he paused, looking at Sora’s card. “Sora? Weird name. But okay. All hail the Good Empress!” He handed them back to the trio.

“Of course, all hail the good empress!” Arin said. The three quickly turned back, trying to walk as calmly as possible away until the guard was far enough away.

“I didn’t think that would’ve worked…!” Arin gasped, shocked.

“We gotta hurry. This way.” Sora directed, taking them down the halls. 

“Hey, what are you three doing here near the advanced systems lab?” a guard questioned.

“I’m giving them a tour?” Arin winced. The guard seemed to just lock his eyes on them, trying to see if he was telling the truth or not. 

“Are you a new doctor here?”

“Y-Yeah!”

“What do you specialize in?”

“Specialize…?” Arin’s brain hit a blank. He cursed at himself, trying to think of something that would’ve been a reasonable excuse! “The… Technology department?”

Sora promptly face palmed, hiding her face behind Cole as he strained a smile.

“That’s not a department.”

“I-It’s not?”

“You three are coming with me.” the guard stepped forward, reaching for them. Cole immediately ducked out of the way, pushing the guard back. Arin quickly grabbed the communicator before anything could be said.

“Go shut off that photac! We’ll deal with this!” Arin directed. Sora nodded, taking off down the halls.

“I wish I was anywhere but here.” Ana mumbled to herself, laying on her bed. The sky suddenly shifted magenta, then a splinteringly bright orange as the ground rumbled beneath her. A flash overtook the city, causing her to fall off her bed in the chaos.

She gasped, panting as she pulled herself up. “What is that place?” she asked herself.

She looked back at her bedroom door, her empty room. Ana couldn’t stay here, not anymore. She pulled out her backpack, stuffing in whatever clothes she could inside. She pulled up her hoodie, making sure she couldn’t be recognized.

“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 climbed out her window, running out onto the streets. She moved through the exit gates, moving through the sandy hills and towards the other nearest civilization.

Sora unlocked the doors to the lab, letting them slide open. Her gaze traveled to the Photac, only for her to tense up at seeing… A different dragon. Or more likely…

A dragon hybrid. Her breathing hitched as she slowly came to the cage, reaching out to the creature.

A hand met her on the other side, its gaze feeling so exhausted. 

“I’m going to get you out of here… I promise.” she whispered, reaching for the control panel. She scanned over the controls, trying to find what she needed. Another hand latched onto her wrist, pulling her away.

“Ana.” Doctor LaRow smiled. 

“Welcome home. We've been expecting you.”

Chapter Text

Kai yelped, stumbling back as a giant centipede nearly crushed him. He threw his sword back, digging it into the neck of the creature.

“Kai! They’re right over there! I can see them!” Wyldfyre yelled, pointing to the mast in the distance before running off.

“Wyldfyre! No! That’s a mirage!” he screamed back, rolling out of the pin and bolting her way. The centipede came down behind him, the ground shaking even further.

He gritted his teeth, spinning back and launching the sword into the centipede’s eye, sending it crashing to the ground.

“Wyldfyre! WYLDFYRE!!!”

“Kai?” her attention snapped back to him, a shadow already beginning to tower over her.

“GET DOWN!” Kai lit up his backup sword on fire, diving in front of her as he tore into what felt like a colossus. The being shattered, debris falling around them. He heaved, panting.

“Huh…?”

“Colossus… We need to go, they’re near the edge of this place.” he took her hand, pulling her forward.

“Is it like this for you all the time?” she asked, trailing behind him. Kai nodded.

“You learn to get used to it… Good news is, we’re close to the edge. I’m sure we can find those drones that took Heatwave soon enough.”

“Then we gotta hurry! Who knows what they’re doing to Heatwave!” she ran ahead, blasting herself forward with her powers.

“Wyldfyre! Stop running ahead!” Kai yelled, chasing after her.

“But my family needs me!”

“I know that! But you can’t just run into danger! Who knows what’s out there, and you could get seriously hurt more than you already have!”

“But I’ve healed, easy peasy.”

“Wyldfyre you got stabbed on the same arm twice.”

She scoffed. “So?”

Kai pinched the bridge of his nose. “First of all, slow down. Second of all, this place is dangerous for a reason! I’m not letting you go ahead when you know nothing about this place.”

“I know this place got giant evil bugs and titans and hallucinations…” she trailed off, slowing to a stop. “... Yeah, I get it. Land of Monsters, this fits.”

“Exactly! Look, just stay with me and we should be okay.” he assured her. Wyldfyre looked back, seeing the clearing up ahead to civilization. The ground suddenly rumbled, Kai immediately pulling out his sword. Another giant centipede came crashing down on him. Wyldfyre yelped, getting thrown out of the way and to the outskirts of the lands.

“Go! I’ll hold it back!” Kai grunted, forcing the centipede off. Wyldfyre’s gaze darted between the closest civilization, then towards Kai. She nodded, taking off running.

Arin bolted out of the building, trying to carry the bag with Riyu inside. He needed to hide, the sooner those guards from inside notified everyone of the unauthorized intruders, the faster he might lose Riyu and more!

He bolted behind a building, scrambling behind a trash bin as he held his breath.

He was okay, he was gonna be okay… Riyu was gonna be okay, this wasn’t going to be an issue, hopefully not. 

“Time to keep the city clean!” a voice piped up excitedly. Arin poked his head up, looking at a group of teenagers heading over to begin cleaning.

“It's about respecting the community.” A girl with the group chimed in. Arin poked his head up, holding onto the bag containing Riyu close to him. He’ll just… Let them pass, it’ll be okay. He noticed as they headed upwards to begin washing windows, out of his line of sight… Maybe he could sneak past?

“I love studying at school!”

“But protecting the innocents is also cool!”

“Sound off!”

“One, two!” The team sang. Arin frowned, already confused.

“Sound off!”

“Three, fo-” the team screamed. Arin quickly bolted out of the way as one of the cables snapped. He launched his grappling hook out, catching each of them one by one, setting them down. 

He exhaled, retracting his grappling hook. So much for staying hidden…

“That was incredible!” one of the boys exclaimed.

“Those were the coolest moves ever! Who are you?” the other boy asked, in awe.

“Uh… The name’s Floortile. Lampshade Floortile.” Arin said awkwardly. Great FSM, he was already regretting that name.

“I like the cut of your jib, Lampshade. I'm Percival Tartigrade, and I'm the leader of this troop.” Percival introduced himself and his squad. “The Imperium Teenage Protection Force!”

Arin blinked. “Are you like BTS or something?”

“Yeah, actually! Except instead of practicing music, we practice obedience to law and order! We take a solemn vow to do what is right and good. 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!”

“Wait… You think I’m cool?” Arin asked, bewildered.

“The coolest! Please, teach us your skills.”

“Uh… Okay? I guess?”

Cole leapt over a group of guards, skidding back before taking off again. This was really bad! They must’ve been notified already of the outsiders, so what if more guards started coming for himself, Arin, and Sora?

He fell back, dodging another cable launched his way and moving even faster through the halls. It was just to buy time, he knew that, and slowing down felt like a death sentence anyway.

“Eat FLAME!!!” a voice screeched. Cole froze, that was a voice he didn’t recognize. What if it was another elemental master?

He took a sharp corner, seeing a girl with bright red hair blasting a bunch of guards chasing after her. Cole slammed his fists down, summoning a huge wall of rocks through the ground, blocking off the tunnel. The girl scoffed, brushing herself off.

“I had that covered, y’know?”

She immediately gasped, blasting at him instead. Cole yelped, ducking out of the way.

“We’re on the same side!”

“Uh, no we’re not! You got those freaky mark thingies!”

“I’m undercover! This is makeup!” Cole forcibly smudged the fake marks off. The girl paused, lowering her arms as the fire fizzled out.

“What are you doing here, anyway?” he asked.

“Trying to save my family, duh. Like how my other friend was!”

“... And where’s your other friend?”

“I… I don’t know.” she paused, looking at the rocks.

“Well, how about we tackle one thing at a time. Where’s your family?” he asked. She shook her head, quickly running right back down the halls and taking a sharp right.

“I’ve been waiting for you.”

Those words seemed to echo through Sora’s ears. She shivered, tearing her arm free and backing up a little towards the containment holding the dragon hybrid.

“Rapton reported he used your Photac device in the field. I knew you wouldn't be able to resist returning, Ana.” LaRow continued smoothly, keeping that smile plastered on her face.

“My name is Sora, now.” Sora said firmly. The scientist seemed to scowl at that… Good.

“Ugh. You named yourself after that dragon? Disgusting.”

“What happened to that Sora, anyway?”

“That’s not important.”

“Yes it is!”

LaRow pinched the bridge of her nose. “We moved Subject 152 stroke 9A to our emergency power system, which won’t ever happen knowing our sources.”

“And…” Sora’s gaze traveled to the hybrid behind the barrier, his eyes wide in surprise. “What about him?”

“Oh, Subject 122 stroke 11L is a recent addition. It’s been here for seven years.”

“Seven?!” she exclaimed. That was as long as the merge! “Also stop calling him an ‘it’! That’s a living being and you should be respecting that, not… Hurting him!” she snapped.

“Ana, you know the truth; Dragons are merely mindless beasts.” LaRow said.

“They are not!”

“You don’t have room for sentiment. You wanted to be a scientist, remember? We are based on logic, not emotion.”

“That doesn’t mean that what you’re doing isn’t right!”

LaRow hummed. “Besides, 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.”

Sora scowled, staring at the photac nearby. “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.”

“Hmm… You've grown feisty. Where's that sweet, wide-eyed little girl who was excited just to be in a real science lab?”

“That part of me is dead. I am never going back to this place, the only reason I came is because I had to destroy the photac.”

“And not rescue the little hybrid?” LaRow asked. Sora flinched, her gaze shifting at the being behind the wall.

“I know you feel sympathy towards it, something that overrides your intelligence. It doesn’t make you think straight.”

“Does it matter what I think to you? Because let’s get straight to the point here; I’m going to shut down those photacs to stop you from harming more dragons.” Sora said firmly. “Then, I am going to release all of those dragons you captured. Including the hybrid.”

“Then I’m sorry to disappoint you, but that’s not going to happen.” LaRow passed her, watching Sora closely. “After all, I had the help of an unconventional consultant. He got your original prototype working, and even made copies.”

She pressed the controller she had on hand, the wall sliding back to reveal a huge wall of photacs lined up. Sora gasped in horror, taking a step back but keeping herself right beside the hybrid.

“One problem. We haven't been able to initialize these new devices. But I know someone who can. Activate them for me.” LaRow ordered. Sora scowled, hand hovering over the control pad.

“No. I will never let you use my invention to hurt more innocent dragons.” She pressed her hand down on the board, quickly trying to get the barrier down and the restraints removed. A hand suddenly yanked her back, sending her crashing into one of the computers.

She gasped, coughing a little as she staggered to her feet.

“That’s why I’ve arranged a bit of motivation… As you can tell, this little specimen is a hybrid. Much smaller, more… Fragile, then a dragon.” LaRow continued, gesturing at the containment room. Sora’s gaze shifted to a man with slicked black hair and a glittering purple suit, his staff tapping against the electric barrier.

Sora frowned, confused. “Wait… Is this your consultant?” she questioned.

“Indeed! It is I, Dorama!” Dorama introduced himself, bowing as he took off his top hat.

“He was… A unique find, according to Ras.” LaRow muttered. Sora shot her a look.

“Why, of course! My genius can be experienced in many ways. Now, if you don't do as Dr. LaRow says, the consequences will be... Very entertaining.” Dorama tapped his staff onto the cage. The hybrid looked so small in there… Sora couldn’t help but wince at seeing how scared he was becoming.

“Don’t hurt him.” She stepped forward. 

“So you're ready to help me, your Empress, and Imperium itself?” LaRow asked. Sora paused, debating her options. Only she knew how her invention worked and how to shut it down… But also that she knew how to break it and cause a distraction. On top of that second thought, she could quickly free the hybrid and get him outside to safety.

“... I don’t have a choice, do I?” She chose her words carefully, trying to sound resigned. LaRow smirked, gesturing to the photac on the table.

“You were always a smart child.” she said. 

Sora moved past her, cracking open the photac. She adjusted the one gear needed to offset the machine before closing it up. “Done.”

“Already? So the device can manifest a Photac Beast now?” LaRow asked, taking the photac.

“See for yourself.”

She activated it, only for it to explode in their faces and knock them out. Sora immediately bolted to the enclosure, disabling the shield and removing the restraints. 

“Come on… We gotta get you out of here…” she urged, gently pulling him up and into her arms, making her way out the door.

“Can you talk? I mean, I get if you can’t it’s probably been so long but maybe-”

“I can.”

Sora blinked. Did she… Hear that right?

“You can…?” she asked softly. The hybrid nodded, his tail curling up at his side.

“Well, that’s good to know… Do you have a name? Do you still remember your name? What about-” The hybrid slumped in her arms, already asleep. She paused, watching him for a moment. She’d have to ask later.

Right now she had to run.

Arin wasn’t sure what the hell he was doing. He was trying to teach a bunch of people his age spinjitzu, for crying out loud! Not to mention it was his version he made before meeting the rest of the ninja! He tried again, motioning the moves he’s practiced a hundred times before, hoping to make them stick.

“See? Smooth moves! Now you guys try!” he directed. The other four tried to replicate him, only to crash or fall from the movements. Arin winced, quickly shaking his head. “Good progress, guys! Now, check this out.”

He planted his feet into the ground, stepping off into a sharp spinjitzu spin before stumbling. “Ah! Sorry, messed that up. I can do that better.”

“Better than that? You've got the best moves we've ever seen!” Percival exclaimed excitedly.

“I’m… Not that good, actually. I’ve been trying to get better thanks to my Master, but it’s taking a bit.” Arin admitted.

“But the things you do are amazing already! You don't need to train.”

“But I really like training! My master’s really good at this sort of thing, he knows what he’s doing… Besides, that’s plenty on me. What about you? What's the ITPF all about?” 

“We just look for ways to help anywhere we can. No biggie.” Percival said proudly.

“That’s very nice of you all! Ever since my parents went missing, I’ve been trying to find ways to help others too.” Arin admitted.

“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.”

“Woah… I’m so happy to know there’s others like me!”

“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!” Percival and the rest of his group all collectively struck a pose. “The Claws of Imperium!”

Arin froze. “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 said excitedly.

“But… You said you wanted to protect! To help!” Arin tried to protest. This suddenly felt wrong, like he was trying to teach the enemy something he learnt for the sake of good.

“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.” he continued, their team striking yet another pose. “The Claws of Imperium!”

“The claws hurt dragons!” Arin said.

“Don't be silly, Lampshade. You can't hurt a mindless beast!” Percival waved him off.

“Can you imagine what we'd do if we could ever catch a dragon?” one of the girls gushed.

“We'd turn it over to Lord Ras himself. That dragon would get drained to dust!”

Arin winced, backing up. “I… Forgot about my work, I should probably get back to my job since my break is nearly up. Nice talking to you all!”

“Oh, you too Lampshade! All hail to the great Empress!” Percival recited, waving goodbye. Arin quickly took the backpack, clutching it close to his chest as he took off running.

This wasn’t safe anymore. 

Riyu poked his head out of the backpack, squawking at him. Arin hushed him, pushing the top of the bag back down over him. Right now, he had to hide.

“This has gotta be it!” the girl, as Cole found out to be called Wyldfyre, exclaimed, charging ahead in front of a door.

Cole activated his lava arms, prying the door open. Wyldfyre rushed in, quickly clinging onto one of the dragons.

“Okay, now where are they?” Cole asked. Wyldfyre ushered him over, gently letting go of the dragon. 

“Oh, it's good to see you too, Heatwave!” she began. The dragon nuzzled into her as she hugged him back.

“You know this dragon?” Cole asked.

“Mhm! This is my family! He raised me in the Wyldness.” she gently stroked his scales.

“That… Explains a lot, actually.” he remarked, stepping closer. Heatwave slowly pushed Wyldfyre away from him.

“Right, sorry! I’m undercover, I’m here to help you and the rest of the dragons get out of here.” he said, looking around the rest of the prison. He noticed the main control panel, pulling it open.

“Jay or Nya’s always been the better tech guy… Uh… What if I just do this?” He ripped the red cable out, all of the doors flying open.

“Aha! Perfect!”

Sora took another sharp corner, still holding onto the hybrid as tightly as she could. She was trying to memorize what she could, taking another corner as the creature remained fast asleep in her arms. Geez, how badly did they drain him?

“Maybe there’s a weapons room… This way!” she took a left, only to step into the cafeteria. “Shoot. This isn’t the right place… I should’ve had a sharper memory to figure out a way out of here…” Sora took a step back.

“Don't worry! You'll have plenty of time to learn the way out.” Rapton cut in, the guards surrounding him from behind as reinforcement. “At least as much of it as you can see from your prison cell!”

“Rapton… Oh you gotta be kidding me.” she grumbled, holding the hybrid tighter in her arms. She was not dropping him. “Do you seriously want a rematch?”

“Let's see… Hmm... A pack of highly skilled Claws of the Imperium and their Weapon Drones, against a little ninja wannabe and a freak of nature. Yeah. I'll take those odds.”

“Then you’re a fool.” she scowled.

“How dare you? No one calls Rapton a fool!” Rapton snapped.

“Uh, Lord Ras calls you a fool all the time.” One of the soldiers spoke up.

“Okay, one! One person calls me that. But definitely not a scrawny kid like you.”

“I am the elemental master of Technology. Remember what I did on that train, to your weapons? 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?” Sora declared.

“Uh, I... I don't like bees.” One of the claws mumbled.

“But, of course, we can avoid all that if you just get out of our way.”

“I don't know how you did those things. Maybe you do have the powers you say. Or maybe you just got lucky.” Rapton began. “I'll make you a deal. Use your powers to do something to this drone. Anything. Smash it, make it a bee, whatever. You do that, we step aside. You and the dragon will be free to go. Huh?”

“Alright… Fine.” She adjusted her hold, positioning her hand out to the drone. Like how Geo taught her… Patience, and focus… She squeezed her eyes shut, her hand starting to glow pink. The drone sputtered, it’s pieces beginning to dislodge and collapse to the ground. She forced herself to concentrate further, taking the small pieces she managed to remove and reforming them into a tiny bee.

“There! Now… Let me pass.”

“Eh…” Rapton’s eyes darted between her and the tiny bee. “Look, I said that I was gonna let you pass if you did something and then you did something… But the orders said to capture you and-”

“Rapton what if I made something else?” she said flatly.

“Oh yeah?! Like what?”

Sora concentrated, dismantling the bee and taking more fragments off the drone, reforming them into a tiny imperium unicorn. Rapton gasped, picking it up excitedly.

“There, unicorn collectible. Now I’ll just… Go and find the exit. Okay? Cool!” she quickly bolted out of the room. Rapton blinked, snapping out of his excitement.

“Claws! After her and that freak!”

Sora took another sharp corner, smashing the control panel to a door to force it open. She was so close, she could feel it! She made one more turn, finally reaching the gates to the entrance.

“We’re so close! C’mon!” she ran even faster, only for her leg to snag on a rope, sending her crashing to the ground. She winced, gritting her teeth as she held onto the hybrid.

“Dr. LaRow? We got 'em.” Rapton informed, taking the hybrid from Sora’s arms.

“No! Don’t you dare hurt him!” she snapped.

“And what’re you gonna do about it?”

She frowned, her body falling limp against the restraints. This was the end of the road for her and she knew it… 

One of the claws forced her to her feet, pulling her right back to the laboratory where she tried to escape. They removed the ropes, the other guards keeping watch of the door. Sora’s gaze shifted to Rapton as he placed the hybrid right back into containment, a strange tiger man attaching the draining restraints back on him.

“Let’s try this again, Ana.” LaRow began, pulling her over to the photac.

“If…” she swallowed the lump in her throat. “If I do this, you won’t drain him?”

“Wrong.” The tiger pointed to the cage as Dorama hooked up a tube to the control pad. “We will drain the dragon. But when you finish your job, we'll stop draining it.”

“... Okay, I don’t know you. But I got a pretty good feeling you’re this ‘Ras’ everyone seems to bring up.” she crossed her arms. Ras growled, his ears pinned. Yep… Fit the bill a bit too much.

“And now, I present to you, what you've all been waiting for! A real show-” Dorama began dramatically. Ras shot him a look. “... Stopper. On with the show!”

Dorama activated the machine. The hybrid cried out involuntarily, curling up on himself as his form trembled, wings curled around his body.

“No! Stop! You’re hurting him!” Sora pleaded, running towards the cage. Two of the guards yanked her back, forcing her away.

“Want this to end? Do your work!” Ras demanded. Sora bit back her tears, tearing her gaze away as she ran to the photac.

“N-No…” a soft voice seemed to whimper. She looked back, seeing the hybrid try to reach out for her. Ras pulled out a controller, activating it. The boy shrieked, wincing as he clawed at his neck.

“You’re not allowed to speak!”

Sora gritted her teeth, breaking open her photac. She couldn’t let him suffer anymore, she had to! She dug her hand into the wires, pulling apart and reassembling whatever she remembered, the motions almost ingrained into her body. Oh, this was pathetic of her… She needed to fight, not be forced to help the enemy!

She pushed the photac back together, checking it over from the outside.

“You came back to destroy the machine you created. Now, instead, you're further empowering Imperium. How utterly satisfying, Ana. You realize now, you cannot stop us. Once this is done, there will be nothing to prevent Imperium from hunting down every dragon in the merged lands. Including the Source Dragons.” LaRow seemed to taunt. Sora absolutely wanted to pummel her face in, but she knew doing so would’ve risked the hybrid’s life.

“Stop hurting him. I finished." She held the photac up.

“Prove it.” Ras ordered. Sora stared at the device… No, she couldn’t risk it.

She activated it, the photac snapping to life as a hard light beast emerged from it. Dorama shut off the machine in awe as the creature collapsed. Sora bolted over to them, pulling down the shields and stepping inside. She knelt down, gently raising him up to her lap.

“Are you okay…?” she asked softly. The boy nodded numbly, falling asleep on her legs. She exhaled, her hands lightly tracing his hair.

“Perfect. Imperium is now completely unstoppable.” Ras declared. His gaze shifted to Sora, who was still holding onto the hybrid.

“As for you…” he placed the shield back up. Sora froze, tensing up as she looked around their surroundings. “I hope you get used to your new home here. LaRow, get the rest of those photacs up.”

“I’m already on it. Dorama, get over here!” LaRow headed over to the wall, beginning to activate each photac one by one. Sora held onto the hybrid tighter, watching everything unfold.

“Oh… What have I done…?”

Chapter Text

Cole didn’t think it would come to this, but apparently it did. The imperium guards had shown up the second he broke the door to all of the dragons, Wyldfyre already having her flames charged up.

“I said, get back in those cells!” the guard ordered.

“Make them, I dare you!” Wyldfyre shot back.

“Uh, I’m not so sure if that’s a good idea! We should leave, not fight like this!” Cole tried to reason.

“Leave? Barf! Fight!” she yelled out, charging at the guards. The dragons all began to charge at them, flinging the guards around.

“Okay… Good to know she’s more Kai’s speed-” Cole remarked. A guard flew right past him, by instinct he caught them by the leg. “I’m sorry to do this…!” 

He threw them up at the roof, swinging the glass opening open from the force. “There’s our exit!”

“Heatwave, go!” Wyldfyre leapt on Heatwave, taking off into the sky along with the other dragons. Cole quickly clung onto the back of a dragon, following her outside.

“Wait! The barrier out there is still-” the two dragons who flew ahead struck the barrier, collapsing right after. “... Up.”

“We're free of our cages but still trapped in the large house!” Wyldfyre started, keeping Heatwave in the air.

“Large house?” Cole asked, following her from the ground alongside the other dragons.

“The large house of many houses!”

“You mean the city?”

“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!” Cole reasoned.

“Then what are we waiting for?!”

“No, I need to find Arin!” Cole leapt off the dragon as Wyldfyre kept moving. “I’ll be back as soon as I can!”

“Thank you, Jordana.” LaRow thanked as the scientist returned back to keep watch of Sora. “Positive confirmation, Empress.” she said to her communicator.

“It's about time. Now show those dragons what happens when they try to defy me.” Beatrix said.

“As you command.” Ras nodded, the Claws of Imperium showing up on cue.

“You called us, sir.” Rapton bowed briefly before straightening up.

“It’s time. Mount up!”

Dorama began to activate every single photac using what Sora had repaired, more hard light beings appearing. The hunters all climbed on, charging out of the Advanced Systems lab. 

“Come on, we need to make sure nothing goes wrong. Jordana, you stay behind.” Ras ordered.

“But I could help!” she protested.

“No, listen to him.” LaRow shot back, following after Ras. Dorama trailed behind the two, the door shutting behind them. Jordana huffed, staring between the exit and Sora.

“... Yeah, no. I’ll let you stew in your misery, Ana. It’s what you deserve for ignoring me, your nemesis!”

Sora blinked. “I… Still don’t know who you are. Jordana? Were you… Back in school with me when we were younger?”

“Yes?! Ugh! You’re the worst!” she stormed out, leaving Sora alone with the hybrid.

Sora paused, gently adjusting her hold to let him rest, positioning herself in the lotus position as she closed her eyes.

She could do this… She could somehow bypass the system using her tech powers if she just… Concentrated enough! Was that how Geo did it for fusing? It seemed to follow similar principles. Hopefully it worked, anyway… 

Sora’s hands sparked, yet nothing seemed to come out. She groaned, burying her face in her hands.

“It’s okay…” a voice mumbled beside her. She paused, glancing back at the hybrid.

“No, it’s not! I messed up, I gotta fix it. Everyone’s counting on me!” she said firmly, placing her fists at her sides.

“... Then your formation is wrong.” the hybrid pushed himself up, exhaling as he assumed proper lotus position. Sora gasped softly in surprise. How did he know to do that…?

“You know how to meditate?”

“I know how to be a ninja, well… I used to be. Before the merge…” he mumbled, fidgeting with the collar. Sora hastily reached out, trying to take it off.

“What the heck did they do to this thing…?” she muttered.

“... What’s your elemental power?” the hybrid asked.

“Tech power something. Technology? I don’t even know, Geo’s been trying to help me and it kinda helped but it wasn’t enough. Do you have any tips?” 

“Find the core of your body… You’ll feel your power strongest there. Focus on it, and activate it.”

“That… Doesn’t make any sense.” she frowned, pulling her hands away as she straightened herself up. “But I’ll try.”

She closed her eyes, steadying her breathing as she remained in lotus position. How did she find her core power? Riyu lit the spark and-

That’s it! She concentrated, feeling around in an area around her chest, keeping her hands to her sides. A soft pink spark entered the void, creeping closer. She reached out to it, her hand phasing right through it. She paused, pulling back before carefully reaching out again. Her hand trailed around the edges before clasping around the light.

She gasped, her lungs felt like they were on fire as her powers forcibly activated. She turned to the hybrid, using her powers to dismantle his restraints and collar, crushing them together into an energy charged harpoon. She launched it at the barrier with all her strength, shattering the cage as the wall dissipated.

Sora collapsed to her knees, panting. Why… Why did she feel weak all over again…?

“You… H-How…” the hybrid stared at the shattered wall, speechless.

“Come on! We can’t waste anymore time!” Sora scooped him up into her arms. “I think I know my way outta here.”

“Thank you…” he mumbled, leaning onto her shoulder.

“No, thank you. Your advice actually helped me get further than normal, that’s gotta be something!” she said. The hybrid met her eyes, smiling a little.

“Let’s just escape this place.”

“Don’t need to tell me twice!”

“Arin? Arin?! ARIN!” Cole yelled, taking another sharp right down the alleyways and streets. 

“Cole!” Arin called back, carrying the backpack in front of him. Cole immediately pulled him into a hug, spinning him around a little.

“Oh thank the FSM you didn’t get captured. Where were you?!” he breathed a sigh of relief, letting him go.

“Uh… Teaching a bunch of teenagers around my age? Anyway, what’s happening?” Arin quickly redirected the conversation. 

“Short version; There’s this girl Wyldfyre who broke in and helped me free a bunch of dragons. We’re heading to the Main Gates to escape.”

“Got it! Lead the way!”

Cole summoned his elemental dragon. Arin climbed on, Riyu scrambling out of the backpack and right into his lap before they took off into the air. He swooped down, blasting towards the incoming photac warriors. The hard light didn’t dissipate.

“That’s… Not good. Something must’ve happened to Sora!” Arin reasoned. Cole landed the dragon, dissipating it as Arin ran over towards where Wyldfyre was.

“Hey! I’m with Cole, I’m here to help!” he yelled over. 

“Good! We need to break down the main gates!” she yelled back, blasting her fire at the doors. The photac beasts ran in front of the dragons, the dragons falling back from them.

“Let’s try this again.” Rapton sneered.

“Oh, where’s Sora when we need her?” Arin backed up, still holding onto Riyu. Riyu squawked, wrestling himself free before running over to Cole.

“Huh? You want to power me up?!” Cole asked, confused. Riyu nodded, his eyes glowing white. He immediately grabbed the dragon, stopping him. “Only as a last resort, buddy. Stay close to the other dragons, please.”

Riyu looked between him and Arin before running back to the latter, staying by his side.

“Since I’m being such a nice guy-” Rapton began casually.

“Nice? You? Ha!” one of the claws scoffed.

“I'm being sarcastic!” he snapped at them.

“Oh, that makes sense, 'cause you've never once remembered my birthday, which is what a nice guy would do.”

Rapton groaned, the two ninja exchanging a look. “Ugh. As I was saying, 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.”

The photac beast roared, the others following suit. “Or we can test out these completely indestructible fighting beasts right here, right now! Ha! I know what I'm voting for!”

“What are you voting for?” the same claw from before asked.

“Fighting! Come on, you always pick the fighting option when you can! Ugh!”

“We need to stall for Sora… We can’t beat these things without her…” Arin mumbled.

“Then we should fall back, stall…” Cole tried to think. What would’ve been the less risky play for them to do?

“We heard your choices!” Wyldfyre declared.

“Is she going to surrender?!” Arin whispered frantically to Cole.

“Uh… I don’t think you’ve met her yet.”

“And we agree with you! Always pick the fighting option!” she let out a battle cry as the dragons charged into the fight. Arin immediately flipped on his hood, launching himself at the claws with his in-progress-spinjitzu. Riyu squawked, running back to Cole.

“This isn’t good!” Cole threw on his hood, and against his better judgement leapt into the fight.

“Claws! Take down these dirty animals!” Rapton ordered. The photac’s charged at the dragons, slamming into them to knock them down.

Sora wasn’t sure how much she was running, her feet burning against the asphalt on the ground, carrying the hybrid tightly in her arms. If she dared let go, she knew she’d be toast. 

“Ana! Get back here!” a voice yelled. Sora spun back, seeing Jordana chasing after her.

“Who even are you?! I get you’re with the lab but I keep forgetting your name…” she mumbled the last part to herself. The hybrid seemed to cling onto her tighter as she skidded to a stop. Jordana pulled out her gun, pointing it at Sora.

“End of the line, Ana. Either you come back with that beast willingly, or you’re done for.” Jordana threatened. Sora frowned, taking a step back. She knew her spark was dimming from her earlier stunt to get them out of that cage, so trying to dismantle that gun was not an option.

Time for the old fashioned way she dealt with problems. She switched out her emergency pocket knife, launching it directly into the gun. It lodged into the barrel, jamming it. Jordana yelped, trying to tear it off as it began to beep.

“Uh… I think that’s gonna blow! Gotta go, bye!” she took off running again.

“What?! Wait-” the gun exploded, sending Jordana crashing into a lamp post. She winced, rubbing the back of her head as she got back up. She quickly shook her head, regaining her senses.

Ana… Oh she was gonna pay for that.

Sora kept moving, hearing the commotion in the distance. Her breathing hitched, despite how exhausted she was feeling from carrying someone and running for so long. Adrenaline does crazy things, doesn’t it?

“Come on, we’re almost home free…” she panted, picking up the pace one last time.

“I… Am… DANGER!!!” Wyldfyre roared, blasting everything she could at the photacs. The dragons kept striking the beings, only to get knocked down from them. Arin stumbled back, quickly deploying his grappling hook as a claw nearly came down on him.

“Where the heck is Sora?! It’d be really nice if she were here right now!” Arin gasped, panting a little. Cole yanked him out of the way as a dragon nearly collided with him, Riyu clinging onto the ninja’s back.

“Wherever she is, she better be fast!”

“Oh, Sora’s fast when she knows what to do.”

“And if she doesn’t?”

“She’ll figure it out… Hopefully without panicking!” Arin leapt out of the way, dodging another blast from the guns as the dragons kept trying to tear through the army. Wyldfyre was still leading the charge, blasting through the beasts as much as she could.

Rapton laughed. “I don't think you understand the words ‘completely indestructible’.”

“I don’t think you understand the words ‘shut up’!” Wyldfyre shot back, blasting at him again. He yelped, ducking below the photac’s head.

“Please tell me you have a plan B!” Arin pleaded, falling back towards Cole again.

“I barely had a plan A! It was simple, we sneak in and get Sora to the lab to shut down the photacs! Now THIS is happening!” Cole exclaimed, the two falling back from a stray fireball.

“Arin! Cole!” Sora yelled in the distance.

“Sora?!” Cole spun around to see her, Riyu looking at her hopefully. 

Arin took a step, almost about to run… But something made him stop. She was… Carrying someone? A figure almost curled up in her arms, wings folded behind its back, tail at its side, brushing up against her arms. Tiny horns poked out from behind the long hair, pointy ears following suit. It looked to be a dragon hybrid of some sort… But how? Were those even a thing?

Arin’s gaze shifted to Cole, almost out of confusion at what she was doing. Except… Cole looked almost horrified to see Sora carrying someone. He immediately ran over to her, brushing past the hair to see its face.

“Lloyd…?” Cole asked softly. The hybrid finally opened its eyes, looking up at the earth ninja almost weakly.

“Hey, Cole… How are ya?” his voice felt hoarse. Cole gently took him from Sora’s arms, trying to make sure he was in a secure enough position.

“Wait… That Lloyd? Like, green ninja Lloyd?!” Sora asked, flabbergasted.

“Yep, this is Lloyd.” Cole introduced. Sora blinked, her eyes darting between him, the hybrid, and then finally towards Arin. She quickly ran over to him.

“Sora! What happened-”

“Forced to or else Lloyd was going to get hurt even more. Then I got trapped in the same containment as him and now I need to stop those photacs. Again. Where’s Riyu?” she quickly looked around, the baby dragon leaping off of Cole’s back and tackling her to the ground.

“Oh, Riyu how I’ve missed you! Come on, we gotta dismantle those photacs!” she laughed, getting off the ground. Riyu’s eyes lit up, blasting her with energy. She spun around, ripping open the photac’s from the inside and deactivating them instantly. The Claws all toppled to the ground, the photac’s sputtering before breaking.

She heaved, sagging as Arin rushed to catch her.

“Lord Ras! Force the city into lockdown! The photacs failed!” Rapton ordered into his communicator. More fortified gates came down over the main gates, closing off their one ticket to freedom. Sora groaned, running her hand through her hair.

“We need to go… NOW!” Arin yelled. 

“No! We aren’t fleeing!” Wyldfyre yelled back. He grumbled, pulling out his grappling hook and yanking her off of Heatwave.

“You want to run or go back to prison?” he asked her.

“... Fine, we run.”

“Good, let’s go!” The dragons began to run through the city with them. Wyldfyre scrambled back onto Heatwave as Arin pulled Sora onto a lightning dragon. Cole kept ahold of Lloyd, climbing onto an earth dragon. Riyu flew up to Sora, clinging onto her back.

“... Did you know it was him…?” Arin asked softly, still staring at Lloyd.

“No… Did you?” Sora looked back over at the hybrid. She never got his name… Maybe she would’ve connected the dots sooner if she did. But of all the things she’d do in her life… Rescuing a legendary figure from where Arin was from was NOT one of them!

“N-No… He looks so different from how I remember.” he remarked, trying to figure out what exactly happened to him.

“I’ll have to tell you once we get somewhere safer what happened… But right now, I just hope we can find a way out of here.”

Geo remained at the Monastery, trying to meditate in place once again. His ear twitched in the silence, the wind slowly drifting past him. Nothing seemed to be going wrong, nor did any of those Mergequakes Cole had dealt with in the past seem to resurface… He frowned, opening his eyes, only to see a golden spark in front of him.

“Ah! What the-” he yelped, backing up a little. The gold spark flew up to him, almost… Studying him. Geo tilted his head, the orb circling around him before flying off.

“Wait! Where are you going?!” he called, chasing after it and into the monastery. It flew through the TV screen, disappearing out of sight. Geo placed his hands on the screen, trying to feel for the spark.

“... Maybe I was just imagining things…” he mumbled, his hand slipping over a button. The entire TV set up slid out of the way, a dark tunnel right behind it. Geo paused, looking into the distance. He ran into the hallway, taking one of their backup lanterns before returning, heading inside. 

The passage led downwards through the darkened tunnels. He glanced around, trying to see where the spark must’ve taken him. His gaze trailed up to a silver pod, tubes disconnected. He blinked.

Was this what the spark wanted him to see…? But where was he, anyway? Definitely not under the Monastery anymore, so he wasn’t quite sure.

He looked it over, trying to see some way to break it open. His gaze traveled to the two tubes below it. Geo took the two cables, fusing them into the spots of the pod. He knew he wasn’t a tech guy, that was more of Cole’s friend's thing, but he could try to figure out whatever he could.

His eyes shifted towards the control pad. He looked it over, trying to see something that would open it… Kicking it might’ve been a bad idea, but it didn’t seem to open no matter what buttons he pressed. He walked up to it, kicking the capsule. It rattled, whirring as it lit up. Geo stumbled back, the capsule opening as condensed air spilled out from it.

“Primary Interactive X-ternal Assistant Life-Form now online.” The nindroid spoke, her body rigid. Geo stared at her, almost dumbfounded.

“P… I… X… A… L…? Pixal?” He repeated her name. She winced, holding her head.

“Who are you? Where are we?” she asked, climbing down from the pod.

“A friend of Cole’s. I… I also don't know where we are.” Geo admitted.

“That is alright. I can figure out where we are, then.” She looked around, scanning her surroundings. She paused, her sensors picking up something, up above ground.

“Something is… Going on up there.” she murmured.

“Huh? What is it?” Geo asked. She turned to him, her hands drifting to the control pad.

“It’s time for the Imperium Monastery to rise.”

“The what Monastery?!”

She quickly typed through the buttons, activating each command. The ground began to rumble underneath them, slowly pushing them upwards.

“Why are we heading near the main fortress?!” Sora yelped.

“Because those guys need to pay for taking Heatwave and all the other dragons!” Wyldfyre reasoned.

“Remind me to never ask you for advice in the near future…” she muttered to herself.

“I heard that!”

The dragons skidded to a stop as the ground quaked, a huge building rising from below. Wyldfyre already prepared her fire, uneasy at the sight. “What is that strange house?”

“No idea… Be ready for anything.” Arin stood up on the dragon’s back, tightening his fists. The doors flew open as both Geo and Pixal leapt out into the light.

“Geo?!” Cole exclaimed, climbing off his dragon and running over to hug him.

“Cole! You’re okay! I was getting a bit worried!” Geo hugged him back. He paused, glancing at the Hybrid in his arms. “Is that-”

“Yes, this is Lloyd.”

Pixal paused, looking him over. She frowned, tearing her eyes away. “You’ll need to check him over once we’re back at the Monastery.”

“I’ll do that. I can handle Imperium related stuff the most.” Sora interjected.

“You sure?” Arin asked, tugging on her arm.

“Positive. I rescued him, there’s a chance he’d trust me the most at this moment.”

“We should retreat. Our odds of winning this battle are not in our favor.” Pixal informed.

“Retreat where, exactly? We’re in the middle of Imperium!” Cole exclaimed.

“The Monastery, it’s gotta be the safest!” Geo reasoned.

“No! No retreat, no surrender!” Wyldfyre yelled. Arin tore her off Heatwave again using his grappling hook, dragging her into the monastery.

“Every dragon, get inside!” Sora yelled. The dragons quickly ran inside the walls as Pixal shut the doors, the Claws finally catching up to them on foot. Lasers began to pelt the door as she backed up.

“That should hold them for now.” she said.

“Oh, what are we gonna do?! We don’t have a way to get out!” Arin yelped. Sora looked around, her gaze traveling to a giant door in the distance.

“What about that?” she asked.

“That kinda looks like the doors I came from when the spirit took me under the monastery!” Geo said.

“The what did what-”

“Long story. But I think it’s some sort of… Portal gate?”

“Hm.” Pixal hummed, looking it over. “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.”

“Is it possible to increase the power?” Cole asked, quietly passing Lloyd over to Sora for her to carry.

“Yes, but we’d need an extraordinary power source.”

“If we’re right outside the palace, the power source should be around here somewhere…” Sora began, feeling around the ground.

“Like the obstacle course back at the Monastery? There should be a tile here that’ll give way to something like th-AH!” Cole yelped, landing right on the tile as it gave way to stairs, sending him falling down them. Pixal winced, looking down below as he fell.

“... I’m okay! And I found a way out, come on Pix!” He called. She quickly headed downstairs, pulling Cole up to his feet.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Never better! We should hurry, though.” Cole shook himself off, moving ahead. The two’s footsteps seemed to echo through the hallway, the soft orange glow at the end being their only light source. The two stepped out to the clearing, a huge glowing orange orb floating above them.

“What is that…?” Cole asked softly. Pixal headed over to the platform as he trailed after her, the two heading up the steps to the platform.

“This sphere itself is not the energy source. But my scans indicate the immense power is inside of it.” Pixal looked it over. The energy levels of it were enormous, almost overwhelming.

“This place… It feels strange.” Cole mumbled, reaching out to it. He stopped, seeing something move inside the orb. “Is that a dragon…?”

“If it is, it is larger than any dragon previously recorded. These machines are how they are attempting to drain this dragon's power.” she informed.

“Then we gotta free this dragon too! Only question is… How?”

“Do not free me.” the voice from inside the orb said. Cole stopped, slowly turning back around to it.

“The dragon appears to be speaking telepathically.” Pixal remarked.

“Yeah, some of them can do that.” he turned to the dragon. “We’re trying to free you from this place! To 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.” The source dragon explained, meeting their gaze.

“But we can’t just leave you here!”

“Can you not comprehend the damage that would do to your world?”

“I… Yeah, I get it. But we also can’t get the dragons out of imperium either without a power source!”

“As an Elemental Master, you have contained and transferred dragon power before.” the source dragon said. Pixal looked at Cole, confused.

“You… Missed a lot.” he winced, turning back to the dragon. “How do you know that?”

“I am a source dragon.”

“That… I haven’t heard of that before.”

“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.” the dragon continued.

“Like I did with the Matriarch dragon? That might be able to help free the rest of those dragons!” Cole realized. This plan could work! He could free everyone from imperium!

“But taking my power is dangerous. Your life may change forever.” he warned. Cole paused, looking back up above him, then at the dragon.

“If it’ll save those dragons, my friends, my family… It’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

“And that is exactly why you are capable of being a conduit. Approach the sphere.” he commanded.

Cole slowly reached out, his hand gracing the sphere before pressing his hand up to it. The energy flowed through his hand before light enveloped his vision. Colors seem to flow around him before he felt the ground give out underneath him, collapsing into a void. The energy flickered, glitching in and out of his body as he tried to steady himself. The sky was dim, the fields were empty… Except that something was towering over all of the kingdoms, hand reaching down. His breathing hitched as he stumbled back, staring at the huge colossus figure in front of him, the hand crashing through the debris as smoke and soot filled the air. He coughed, trying to brush through the endless debris flying his way… 

It never cleared up.

The doors kept getting pounded on by lasers. Geo backed up, making sure the three younger ones were at a safe enough distance. Wyldfyre’s hands twitched, the fire flowing from her hands.

“Anytime now, Cole and Pixal…” he muttered to himself.

“Have you ever been in a situation like this?” Sora asked, adjusting her hold on Lloyd.

“Honestly? No. I’ve been on smaller missions but nothing this huge… And dire.”

“Gotta relate to that-” the ground exploded from behind them as Cole shot out of the ground, a bright orange glow enveloping him. Geo gasped, pulling Sora away from the area as the earth ninja blasted the portal gate, sending it flying open. The dragons quickly ran through the gateway as Cole’s body began to slump. Geo leapt up, catching him securely in his arms, the power fizzling off of his body.

“What the hell…?”

“Uh, guys? We gotta go!” Arin urged, the door growing with more dents than before.

“We can’t flee! Those guys need to pay!” Wyldfyre protested.

“That is not advised, we should go through the gateway.” Pixal ran back up the stairs, pointing towards the door.

“Yeah, let’s go!” Arin took off running, everyone else following behind. The doors swung shut behind them just as the claws finally knocked down the front door.

“Huh?! Where’d they go? What happened to all of the dragons?!” Rapton exclaimed, looking around. He tensed up, hearing the slow clinking of heels on the tile, footsteps so slow yet full of so much built up anger.

“... The dragons are gone. The ninja have insulted me and my rulership, and I’m surrounded by incompetence!” Beatrix exploded, stomping her foot on the ground.

“We weren’t expecting them to vanish off like that! Honest!”

“Don’t you dare make excuses, Rapton! You’re on thin ice as is with Lord Ras around.” she sneered.

Jordana poked around the corner, looking back to see Doctor LaRow and Lord Ras watching at the palace doors. She hesitantly headed up to them, arms at her sides.

“I… I’m sorry that they managed to get out. I tried to stop them, but Ana, she…”

Ras pinched the bridge of his muzzle. “I don’t want to hear it. I am still missing the one dragon I needed for my plans and the ninja took the dragon hybrid, one of our most powerful energy sources.”

“I’ll track them down and bring them here. I promise.” she bowed, hoping that her request would be granted. Ras growled, gritting his teeth.

“Don’t fail me like the others have, Jordana.”

“Thank you, I won’t.” she quickly ran off towards the main gates. LaRow moved to the side as the Empress walked between the two, Ras trailing behind her before stopping at the duo at the stairs.

“She’s pissed…” Rapton remarked.

“I can tell.” LaRow looked back, thinking to herself. “We should refocus our attention to extracting power from that one dragon below the city. It may be our only chance to overpower those ninja.”

Cole gasped, wincing as he held his head. He was… Back at the monastery? He stepped outside, holding onto the wall as he looked around. Sora and Arin were both running around the training course, Riyu chasing after them from below.

“Cole! You’re awake!” Geo beamed, running out from his meditation to hug him. Cole pulled him closer, exhaling a little.

“Yeah… How long was I out?” he asked, pulling back a little.

“A couple days, actually!” Arin kicked a metal dart from Sora, flinging it into the Monastery walls. “... Oops.”

“Days?!”

“Yeah, Pixal’s probably back downstairs and those dragons are in their stables.” Sora formed another metal dart using her powers, launching it towards Arin. He dodged out of the way, staying on the platforms.

“I’m happy to see you using your powers more and more, Sora.” Geo said.

“Yeah… And uh, look, I don’t know how this is gonna go ever since I found out these came from myself, not Riyu, but I got a responsibility to use them. I’m… Actually kinda excited to see how it goes!” she kicked the dart back to Arin, who managed to catch it with his hands.

“Woo hoo! That was incredible!” she cheered, leaping over and spinning him into a hug.

“And… What about Wyldfyre?” Cole asked.

“Pixal said she left to return to her friend far away, alongside Heatwave. I’m sure she’ll come back eventually.” Geo said.

“And… Lloyd?”

“He’s still sleeping. Probably needs it, after everything he’s been through.” Sora said.

“Master Cole, if you’re up to it can we continue my spinjitzu training? I’m getting pretty good at it!” Arin asked, jumping down from the training course.

“Sure. I don’t see why not.”

“Yes! Ninja Arin is back in business!” he cheered. Sora laughed a little, patting him on the back.

Geo paused, pulling Cole inside, shutting the doors behind them. “Can I ask what… Happened back there? Your eyes were glowing, you were hovering in the air, and just… Opened that portal! Pixal told us what happened, but… What happened?”

“That’s… The weird thing. I don’t even know myself… I saw visions, so many visions… But I don’t think they’re all good.”

“Then we’ll work on deciphering them together, okay?” Geo took his hand, holding it close.

“Okay, Geo. Thank you.”

“Empress Beatrix, I would like to propose something to you.” Ras bowed to her, keeping his head down.

“Another? Lord Ras, you commanding our troops has not been beneficial at all. Besides, I shouldn’t listen to an outlander like you any more.”

“Remember what I gave you.” he snarled, standing up. “I got you to this throne. I could just as easily remove you from it and expose you.”

Beatrix scowled, slowly rising from her throne. “How dare you! I am the great Empress Beatrix, I will not be overthrown by someone like you! You might’ve gotten me to this throne, but I still hold all the power!”

“And I will give you more power if you listen to me.”

She stopped, staring at him in shock. Did… Did she hear him correctly? Beatrix paused, slowly sitting back down in her throne. “Go on…”

“The three dragon cores. They’ll give you the power to control the very fabric of the merged lands, with them you can overrule all the other rulers of this world and properly punish the ninja for their crimes.”

She hummed, thinking to herself. It seemed like a good idea on paper… But where was she supposed to find these dragon cores?

“Do you know where to find them?” she questioned.

“Yes.”

“Good. But first, I need the Claws of Imperium trained to maximum efficiency like you. We cannot fail again and lose any more dragons. Improve the training regimen as much as you can, then you may begin your mission to take those dragon cores. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Empress Beatrix.”

Chapter Text

“Ooh, the Empress is going to love this.” The main leader sneered, dragging the hybrid towards them with the electric ropes. Lloyd winced, wrestling himself free before he managed to send a blast of energy their way. The Claws quickly ducked out of the way, more securing ropes around his limbs.

Oh, this was all going so wrong! Why was this going so wrong?!

Lloyd gritted his teeth, digging his feet into the ground as they tried to pull him away. He stumbled, his claws making him trip on the asphalt. He hit the ground, his ears ringing as they pinned to the sides of his head. Everything around his body ached… The ground was so smooth, yet so rough for his skin. He grunted, trying to force himself out of the bindings, even using his powers to sear them off.

Nothing. They weren’t even budging… Just what kind of power did this city hold?

“Oh, won’t you quit it?!” He snapped. “You’re Rapton’s best catch of the day!”

Oh. So his name was Rapton. Lloyd rolled his eyes, digging into the bindings further in an attempt to wrestle himself free. Against his better judgement, he tried to gnaw at the bindings to somehow cut them off. Still nothing.

“Where are you taking me?!” He demanded, digging his heels into the concrete streets again. The claws once again threw off his balance as he stumbled, trying to catch himself. Rapton barked a laugh, looking back at him.

“A dragon who can talk? That’s new!” he beamed proudly, yanking him forward again.

“I’m not just a dragon! I’m more than a dragon!” Lloyd shot back, trying in some way to keep them from moving him any further.

“Yeah, yeah, let’s see how the Empress feels about that.”

His ear twitched. Empress…? Did she order this? Oh, that couldn’t be good… It was probably another one of those corrupted hierarchies just like Emperor Garmadon…

Lloyd paused. He bit his lip, lost in thought as his body was being dragged forward along the ground. If it was anything like the Sons of Garmadon takeover, then this meant really bad news… Almost like those plans where the sons were ordered to capture him to bring him to his father; Except it was now real.

He couldn’t do anything to prevent this… What kind of a ninja was he? Not a good one, apparently! He should’ve fought more, should’ve done something not- not freak out over his appearance and where he was! He could’ve found his friends by now, his home, anything!

He grunted, scrambling to push himself upwards as he hit the stairs. Lloyd tried to step on the stairs, but he immediately lost his balance. One of the guards caught him from behind, pushing him up.

“Uh… Thank you…” he whispered, trying to move back up to the rest of the steps before he stumbled again. Great FSM, these feet were already becoming an issue for him. 

Rapton groaned, leaping down from his drone and pulling on Lloyd himself. “Come on. Don’t be difficult.”

Lloyd glared at him, trying to dig his feet further into the ground. Rapton rolled his eyes, yanking the hybrid further. He yelped, stumbling a little as he trailed behind him. The cold metal floors met him instantly, making him shiver a little. The dark tiled walls and corridors kept sending alarm bells in his mind, but he couldn’t do anything to stop wherever he was heading.

He tried one last time, yanking his body away, digging his heel into the ground to push himself further. The ropes simply yanked him right back, sending him crashing to the ground. He groaned, pushing himself up. Rapton hoisted him up, securing his grip on the rope even more as he dragged him into the palace’s throne room.

“All hail the good empress.” Rapton bowed before straightening himself up. “Empress Beatrix, I got this catch that landed after the cataclysm.”

A woman with short pale blonde hair and gold markings stood up, her heels clinking along the tile as her outfit was adorned in dull crimson, black, and bright gold markings of geometric patterns. She looked down at him, kneeling down to his level. Beatrix brushed off her hand before tilting up his chin, pinching the jaw as she inspected him.

“This is a hybrid… Interesting.” she remarked. “General Rapton, go bring it to the Advanced Systems Lab. I’m sure Doctor LaRow would have good use for it.”

“Okay, fella. Either you come quietly or we- AUGH!” Rapton yelped, getting kicked in the face. Lloyd gritted his teeth, trying to steady his form before taking off running. He stumbled, his own claws making him trip before he crashed to the ground. The other guards tackled him, pinning him to the ground. 

Beatrix hummed, slowly approaching him before kneeling down to his level. “So it’s a runner?”

“Yeah… It was struggling the whole time I had to get it in here.” Rapton admitted.

“Get Lord Ras and Doctor LaRow here immediately.”

“Lord Ras?! But I thought he wasn’t in charge-”

“Do not question my rule, Rapton.” she hissed. “Go.”

“O-Of course, Empress Beatrix…” Rapton bowed, quickly running off. Lloyd growled, trying to push himself off from the other guards. He powered up his fists, swinging around and blasting all of the guards off of him.

Beatrix stumbled back, staring at him in a mixture of horror and fury. “Don’t just lay there, GRAB HIM!”

Lloyd yelped, turning to run out of the front door as fast as he could. He just had to get outside, somehow navigate a city that he wasn’t used to, and reach home? Easy enough, hopefully-

A huge hammer slammed into his chest, sending him flying back. Lloyd skidded to a stop, his claws digging into the ground below him. There was a tiger man staring him down, a gold and white hammer at his side. He gritted his teeth, stepping forward, only for an orange electric wall to come up in his way.

Lloyd staggered back, startled. His ear twitched as he turned to look at who put him in… Whatever this was. A woman with brown hair tied back in a bun walked past him, adjusting her glasses.

“This is the problematic one?” the tiger seemed to scoff. Lloyd frowned, glaring at him.

“It looks so… Fascinating! I’ve never seen a dragon hybrid before, I wonder if its life source energy is the same as the others.” the woman said, examining him through the cage. Lloyd backed up, trying not to touch the walls. Something about his surroundings didn’t feel quite safe.

“What’s a life source?” Lloyd asked quietly. The scientist paused, adjusting her glasses.

“It can speak? That’s… Different. Dragons can’t usually speak. Though considering your nature I’m sure this won’t be too much of an issue.”

“Lord Ras, Doctor LaRow. Do what you must to this creature, any tests I’m permitting and any drains we need to do I’ll allow. Just get it to the lab and over with.” Beatrix ordered. The tiger, whom Lloyd assumed to be Ras, took the cage and began to push it forward. The woman, Doctor LaRow, moved ahead, taking a left down the halls. Lloyd paused, watching his surroundings in case he got the opportunity to escape. The scientist moved to the right after passing two hallways, slipping on her keycard to the door. It clicked, sliding open with ease. 

Lloyd pushed himself up, seeing a dragon already in containment inside the lab. LaRow walked up to it, quietly pressing some buttons on a control board before the wall came down. A bunch of the guards came running over, latching their ropes onto the dragon before escorting them away and down the halls. His ears fell… The poor thing.

Ras placed the cage into the containment room, discharging the walls. Lloyd immediately got up, running towards the edge of the platform, only to slam face first into the energy wall. He winced, shaking his head.

“Okay… Since we’re currently locking down Subject 152 stroke 9A, we got a new source. Hope this one lasts longer than the old dragon…” LaRow muttered to herself, her hands gliding along the buttons. She moved the dial downwards, pressing another button.

Lloyd stared at them, his eyes darting between the scientist and tiger. He frowned, trying to stand up again, only for his legs to give out underneath him. He grunted, trying to push himself up.

Why… Why was his body feeling weak…?

“Okay… That’s new. It’s like there’s more energy inside of it than a normal dragon of this size.” LaRow remarked, moving the dial up. Electric sparks seemed to flicker around above Lloyd as he gasped, clawing at his chest.

It felt like something was being ripped out of him… He winced, trying to force his powers to stay inside. He couldn’t give in, he couldn’t give up… He squeezed his eyes shut, latching onto his green spark inside of him through the darkness.

Lightning broke through the void, shattering the green in his hands. Lloyd gasped, coughing as the machine began to die down around him. He groaned, wincing as he felt his body. It felt so… Weak. So wrong…

“Hm… High energy does extract the most.” LaRow took out her notepad, typing something up. Ras approached the control pad, watching it cautiously. He frowned, looking back at the scientist as she kept muttering to herself.

“Doctor LaRow. His energy is already regenerating.” Ras said, his paw tapping on the board.

She froze, the notepad nearly slipping from her hands. She rushed over, looking at the board again in shock. “It… It is…”

“Start it up again.”

She nodded, lowering the controls again until she hit the sweet spot of consistency. Lloyd winced, curling up on himself as he tried to keep it together. Try to keep his power inside of him…

He felt like he was dying all over again. All those other times he lost his powers came rushing back to him. Lloyd squeezed his eyes shut, trying to keep himself together.

Lloyd winced, trying to push himself up from wherever he was. The blankets draped over him seemed to fall off with ease. His ear twitched, his eyes drifting around the room. Was he in the Monastery…? How? Last he knew he was in imperium before…

His thoughts trailed off, back into the endless void he had gotten used to. He was probably hallucinating, like last time…

There was a quiet knock on the door. His ears perked up, the door sliding open a little as the same girl with bright pink hair poked her head in.

“Oh! You’re awake, that’s… Good.” she murmured, slipping inside and shutting the door behind her.

Lloyd rubbed his eyes, staring at her in shock. Was he not hallucinating? This felt real… He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to ground himself as he clenched his fists to his knees. Just… Breathe in and out…

A hand overlapped his, knocking him out of his focus state. He stared at her, confused. She seemed… Worried for him? That did make sense, if this was all real…

“I guess we never introduced ourselves in the chaos…” she began slowly, sitting up on the bed.

“No… But you did say your name was ‘Sora’?” he said, trying to remember it correctly.

“Uh, yeah. I’m Sora, not Ana. That’s my… dead name.” she fidgeted with her hands awkwardly.

“Did those people… Know you? The ones who kept saying Ana?” Lloyd tried to straighten his posture, but he felt so exhausted, leaning back on the bedframe.

“Yeah. I… Ran away from Imperium when I was 11.”

He snapped his head to look at her, bewildered. “You’re… 18.”

“Haha, yeah! That’s… Not that big of a shock, is it?” she winced, her fingers twitching at her sides.

“No, just… You carried me for so many miles? Just how lightweight am I-”

“Let’s cross that bridge when we get to it, okay?!” she quickly said in a panic. She breathed, steadying herself again. “How do you feel?”

“I feel… Tired? That’s probably the best way I could describe it.” he shrugged, sinking back into the mattress. Sora stared at him for a moment before snapping her fingers. Lloyd flinched, recoiling a little.

She froze, staring at him, horrified. “Oh my gosh I am so sorry I didn’t mean to startle you!”

“No no, it’s fine! I’m… I’m okay, I’ll live.”

“No, hold on.” she got up from the bed, quickly heading out of the room and shutting the door behind him. Lloyd groaned, burying his face in his hands.

Oh FSM, what was going on with him today…?

Lloyd grumbled, sitting up from the ground as another plate of food was slid in. It was the only thing keeping him energy… Keeping him strong. Even if he couldn’t fight or move much in this place, he could at least stay reasonably alive.

Unfortunately, they didn’t provide utensils. He frowned, trying to eat with his hands… It still felt humiliating.

“Okay… Subject 122 stroke 11L.”

“Not my name.”

LaRow just ignored him. “Subject is being difficult again…” she muttered. Lloyd rolled his eyes, finishing the last of his meal before brushing his hands off.

“How long have I been in here, anyway?”

“Two weeks.” She looked up at him, her eyes narrowed. Lloyd scowled, clenching his fists.

“That’s too long. Let me out.” he demanded, pounding on the wall.

“No, we need you here.” she said, continuing to type along her notepad. Lloyd backed up from the wall, trying to focus. His power… His elemental power felt weak. But something else felt… Strong.

Purple began to flow from his hands. He charged up a blast, slamming it through the barrier, shattering it down. He leapt out of the cage, taking off running from the lab as he broke the door panel, forcing the door to slide open. His feet clicked along the tile as he took a sharp left, then a right. He skidded to a stop, taking a quick left to not walk straight into the throne room. At this point he had no idea how to control dragon power, but he did know oni. As much as he hated the species (except Mystake she’s cool) he needed their strength right about now.

Lloyd reached the front doors, throwing them open, only for a rope to snag around his chest and yank him down. He grunted, leaping up and spinning himself free, slowing to a stop before breaking through the door. His feet hit the hot asphalt, making him wince, but he was outside. The citizens stared at him, shocked, backing away in a panic. At least there was no one blocking the streets, that was good.

He tried to flap his wings, only to collapse back onto the ground. He grunted, pushing himself up and kept running. The streets were clear, there wasn’t after him… Hopefully he was home free.

That wishful thinking ended when the hammer slammed into his hip, a loud crack echoing through his ears as he was flung into a lamp post. Lloyd groaned, wincing as he tried to push himself up. Ras glared down on him, pressing his foot down on his chest. Lloyd grasped it tightly, trying to flicker his energy back to life. The tiger scoffed, grabbing him by the wrist before pushing him to the ground.

The rest of the Claws of Imperium finally flew over, their hovercars slowing to a stop in front of them. The energy ropes seemed to dig into his skin this time as they looped around him, one even latching around his neck. Lloyd gritted his teeth, trying to pull his head away to avoid their gaze.

“Don’t lose this one again. We need it.”

“Of course, sorry Lord Ras.” Rapton apologized, helping to haul Lloyd away and off the streets. He was so close, too…

The stairs seemed to thump the back of his body, his hip flaring up in agony. He whined a little, trying to reach for it to make sure nothing broke… But given his luck, something did break. LaRow ran over alongside two other scientists, helping to pull him right back into containment, setting up the wall again.

“I didn’t think we’d need to use it…” she muttered, snapping her fingers. One of the scientists quickly headed out of the room as she kept her eyes locked on Lloyd. He stared at her, his ear twitching as his eyes narrowed.

The scientist quickly returned, carrying something in their hands. They passed it to LaRow, letting her cusp it in her palms. “Claws, hold him down.” 

The wall dropped, a bunch of guards rushing in and slamming Lloyd to the ground, pushing down on his arms and legs. He grunted, trying to wiggle himself free as LaRow towered over him. She unclasped the band, kneeling down before fastening it around his neck. He grunted, squeezing his eyes shut as it clicked into place. She backed up, directing the guards to let go before stepping outside, placing the wall up.

“From now on, you do not talk. You are a part of imperium now, be obedient.” she ordered.

“I won’t listen to you…” Lloyd muttered. He felt a sharp beep before a searing pain hit his neck. He yelped, grasping at the collar as he laid on the ground, black spots dancing around his vision.

“What is- AH!” he cried out again, squeezing his eyes shut as he tried to pry the collar off of him. The sensation kept burning at his skin underneath the metal.

“A shock collar. Didn’t think we’d have to give it to you so soon, you were doing so well besides the talking issue.” she explained, her hand tracing along the controller.

“Now, Subject 122 stroke 11L. We need to do another session.”

Sora pushed the door back open, carrying a tray of food. She quietly set it down in front of him, handing over the utensils. “Sorry that took a moment, Cole didn’t realize you were awake so I had to ask him to make you some food. Can you… Handle eating?”

“Oh… I forgot the last time I ate! But… Thank you, Sora. I appreciate it.” He took the utensils and began to eat, trying to stomach however much he could.

Sora winced, moving back a little on the bed. “Uh… I’ve been meaning to ask but… After you’re done eating, could I check you over? I don’t know how you are physically and I’m not gonna tell you to do something you’re not comfortable with just- Oh why is this so hard…” she groaned, burying her face in her hands. Lloyd laughed a little, setting down his fork.

“If you’re so insistent… I don’t mind. But I think I’ve been mostly healed from… Everything.” he said, rubbing the back of his neck a little. He winced, the scarring feeling raw and hot to the touch.

“Oh please don’t touch that! Please…” she gently pulled his hands down. “H-How about we take it slow…? Could you roll up your sleeves?”

Lloyd paused, his hand tracing over the imperium fabric. Soft… Sleek…

“Ugh, I can’t keep looking at it like this. Give it a proper outfit!” Beatrix snapped.

“But it’s an asset, we don’t want it to look like a citizen!” LaRow reasoned.

“No. It needs to be an imperium because it belongs to us. Change it.”

LaRow sighed, passing the outfit to Ras. Lloyd frowned, backing up to the wall as the shield’s dropped, then rose back up behind the tiger. 

“Put this on.” he ordered, throwing the clothes at his face. Lloyd flinched, yanking them down.

“Make me.” he snarled, his wings flaring up behind him. Ras huffed, tearing the uniform away from him before pinning him to the ground. 

Lloyd instinctively kicked him off, slamming him into the barrier, breaking it yet again. He quickly got to his feet, running off the platform, only for a guard to tackle him to the ground, forcing their electric ropes around his neck. He grunted, getting yanked right back before shoved into the platform again, the barrier coming back up.

“You have been getting on my last nerve.” Ras knelt down, tearing the gi’s sleeve off first, digging his nail into his arm. Lloyd winced, biting back any sounds as the tiger clawed off his other sleeve, dragging down another cut.

“Consider this a punishment for your refusal to obey the Empress.” he tore off the front of the gi, ripping the fabric away before forcing the imperium top over his head, yanking it down and securing it snugly around his body.

“Now, are we going to continue being difficult or are you going to follow my orders?” He held up the pants. Lloyd’s eyes widened, quickly snatching them out of his hands.

“Okay okay… Fine, I’ll put them on.” he turned around, slipping off the rest of his gi and replacing it with the new pants. Black and gold… Fantastic.

“There, better?” He stood up, presenting the outfit. Ras just turned around, stepping out of the barrier as it dropped, then came back up behind him.

“I did not give you permission to scar it.” Beatrix scowled.

“You gave permission to do what was necessary when we first had him.” Ras shot back.

“Do not kill it, then. We need it.”

“Yes, Empress.”

He pulled up his sleeve, multiple scars littering his skin. Some were clawed, some were cut, some were burnt. He lost track of how many times his failed escape attempts ended in him getting more injured than before. Sora stared at the marks, her hands tracing each mark.

“H-How many…? Are they all over your body?” she asked softly, her voice almost too delicate. Lloyd nodded, watching as her hand felt his arm. She pressed down on his muscles, trying to feel for their density.

“You… Haven’t been able to keep up on your training, huh?”

“No… I haven’t.” Lloyd looked away, his ears drooping at his sides. Sora frowned, slipping off the bed and opening up the closet.

“Wait! Those are my clothes-” a sweater and sweatpants hit him in the face. Lloyd blinked, pulling them down and into his lap.

“I doubt the imperium uniform is all too comfortable. I’ll… Let you get changed if you want.” she said, taking the empty tray and leaving the room.

Lloyd stared at the clothes, feeling the ones still clinging to his skin. Maybe he’d feel more comfortable with these on… He pushed back the blankets, slipping off the pants before putting on the sweatpants. That already felt so much better.

He began to slip off his shirt, wincing as the area between his wings hit the cool air. He heaved, trying to steady himself.

“Lloyd?!” Sora rushed back in, kneeling over to look at him. “Lloyd? Is something wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong, I’m alright…” Lloyd smiled a little, sitting up a bit more. Her gaze trailed to his back, stopping dead in her tracks. Sora slowly reached out, touching the inflamed area on his back, her hands tracing along the scarring.

“... They branded you.” Her voice was deadly quiet, the kind of quiet only found in rage.

“Uh… Yeah? LaRow said they did it for all of their dragons.” Lloyd admitted.

“Yeah, but not on the skin of a human! What the fuck is wrong with them?!”

Three years. He had counted, despite the now limited meals that came once every few days, usually around noon according to the clock. The calendar seemed to tick by slowly, even in captivity and the exhaustion time never seemed to stop.

The remnant marks from his last escape attempt seemed to burn underneath his skin. He instinctively scratched at the scars, only to immediately stop as he felt the air touch the wounds. He had to stop doing that.

“It’s been long enough. Get the branding.” Beatrix stepped inside the laboratory. Lloyd froze, backing up to the wall again. Branding…? That didn’t sound good at all!

“Are you sure? It’s still made of more human skin, not scales!” LaRow reasoned.

“Do not question my orders, Doctor LaRow. Get the scale branding.”

“... Of course, Empress Beatrix.” she bowed, quickly running off and out of the room. Beatrix strolled up to the electric wall, her hand tracing along the barrier.

“You belong to us, permanently. I’ll make sure you never forget that.” she smiled as LaRow returned, carrying a metal rod with a mold on top of it. She placed it over the torch, letting it heat up slowly until the branding was a bright glistening orange. 

Lloyd froze, tensing up as he moved even further from them. The barrier fell as guards forced him to the ground, turning him over. He felt his limbs pressed down onto the cold tile, his arms going numb as his feet barely twitched. He grunted, flaring up his wings in an attempt to get them to back off. Two more guards came in, pinning his wings away from his body as LaRow approached, slipping up the top of his shirt on his back.

“Keep him still.” she directed, her voice wavering a little. One hand rested on his head, pressing it down onto the cold tile. Lloyd tried to lift his head up, only for his head to get shoved back down.

He couldn’t… He can’t… 

The heat traced along his back, making his hairs stand up on end before a searing sensation pressed down. Lloyd, for the first time ever in this place, screamed. The mold dug further into his back, the burning of his own flesh seemingly filling the air around him. He grimaced, struggling to break free even if his own limbs felt numb at his sides. The skin seemed to sag as a whitish tint surrounded the mark, the rod slowly being pulled from his body. 

Lloyd collapsed, heaving as the guards let him go, LaRow pulling back and leaving with the iron rod. His body felt like it was on fire, his back felt like it was burning up, but he couldn’t bring himself to touch it. He couldn’t. He winced, whimpering a little, his wings moving over his back. Beatrix stepped into the cage, kneeling down as her hand delicately traced the mark. Lloyd hissed, recoiling from the sensation.

“There. Now, no matter what you do or who you were before, you wholly belong to Imperium now.” she said, standing up. “Even if you escape, you’ll have nothing but the mark of the ones you belong to. You’re nothing without Imperium. Your only worth is staying here, helping those restoring our city with its power. That’s all you’ll ever be.”

Sora couldn’t help it. She couldn’t help the rage building up in her body, and she knew trying to calm herself down would’ve made things worse. She gritted her teeth, tearing her eyes away as Lloyd slipped on the sweater.

“I’m going to kill everyone in power in that place. You can’t do that shit to a human! Absolutely not!”

“It’s okay, I lost feeling in my back…” Lloyd excused, flapping his wings a little.

Her eye twitched as she snapped her gaze to him. “WELL THAT MAKES IT WORSE.”

“Sorry…”

“No! Don’t…” she groaned. “Don’t apologize, it’s not your fault with what happened to you.”

“But it is! I should’ve fought more, I could’ve escaped, I could’ve been home, out of that place… Why did I have to be so weak-”

“You’re not weak.” Sora cut in. Lloyd blinked, tears bleeding into his eyes. “You’re actually really strong for surviving that long in that place. I know I wouldn’t have, especially in those conditions…”

“I guess I can’t die that easily, huh?” he sheepishly cracked a smile, pushing back the urge to cry.

“Yeah… But still, no wonder Arin looked up to you… You’re an inspiration.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever come back from this…” Lloyd muttered, keeping his hands on his lap.

“Hey.” Sora took his hands, meeting his gaze. “I mean this with my whole heart… You’ll bounce back. It may take a while, you may need to sit out a lot of things, but I swear you’ll come back from this. I know you will. And… Maybe it's because you gave me some hope, too. You helped me break us out of Imperium, you gave me the courage I needed to use my powers without Riyu. I couldn’t have done this without you. I’m glad you’re alive, safe, and here with us. And I’m sure everyone else is too.”

Lloyd stared at her, wide eyed. He blinked, his vision growing watery again as he pulled her into a hug. She yelped, startled. Sora gently wrapped her arms around him as he buried his head into her shoulder.

“Thank you… For so many things. For… Being so kind, for rescuing me… All of it.” he whispered.

“No problem… I just want you to be okay, okay?” Sora pulled back, pushing his hair out of his face. “Are you still hungry? I could get you more food.”

“Uh… Yeah, actually. I think I’d like that.” he nodded a little. Sora’s eyes lit up as she gently pulled him out of bed, helping him stand. Lloyd quickly moved ahead of her, walking ahead normally… Only to collapse at the door as his legs gave out.

“Just hold onto me, you’ll get your strength back.” she said, pulling him back over her shoulder. She slid open the doors and stepped outside, heading to the kitchen.

“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, 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.” Beatrix announced through her holograph, vanishing once after.

“All hail the good Empress!” the crowd cheered. Percival paused, slipping away alongside his squad.

“But, I was there! I saw the dragons go into that weird building that came up from the ground! There's just no way they were recaptured.” he pointed out. Something felt wrong…

“Why would the good Empress lie?” his friend asked.

“I… I don’t know.”

Beatrix exhaled, shutting off the announcement board. LaRow typed along her board, looking over the energy levels of the city.

“An excellent job at assuring the public the dragons didn't escape and there is no energy crisis.” she congratulated.

“Status report.” Beatrix ordered.

“Ever since those dragons escaped, we've been having an energy crisis.”

Beatrix slammed her fist on the screen, cracking it a little. “We control one of the greatest fonts of energy in existence, a Source Dragon. And we still can’t drain it.”

“Lord Ras and I are trying to find a way to extract the energy. 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.”

“We can’t order the citizens to cut down on using their energy. The newly trained claws need to go out there and get more dragons.” Beatrix directed.

“But it would be our safest option-”

“Do not question me. Lord Ras is on thin ice as is I don’t need you turning on me as well. Do you understand?”

“... Yes, Great Empress. My apologies.”

Beatrix huffed, stepping out of the lab. This entire week had been a disaster, and now she had to go track down the hybrid while Ras and Rapton were busy either training, capturing dragons, or searching for those three Dragon Cores.

She checked the tracker on her screen, seeing it pinging in the distance of the city.

“Both of you. Set up those photacs and send them after this tracker.” she ordered the two scientists passing by, tossing over the tracking chip. The two quickly ran off, heading into the laboratory, the door sliding shut behind them.

The roars of the photacs echoed through the building. Oh, it was music to her ears…

She was going to get her possession back. No matter what it took.

That hybrid belonged to Imperium. It was their only regenerating energy source that was consistently providing no matter how damaged it became.

The great Empress Beatrix Vespasian-Orus would not fail.

Chapter Text

Pixal quietly read every single book Arin had given her. Ever since her reactivation, she had been trying to catch up to the details of current times. Luckily, Cole’s own student knew a ton about the world’s current affairs and who to steer clear of.

And… The love of her life, Zane, was reverted back to his time as the Ice Emperor. She paused, trying not to cry from the thought, quickly shutting the book. She exhaled, leaning back on the dragon’s back. She had decided to stay in the dragon stables to get used to this place, after all. 

“How are you holding up?” Arin quietly asked, sitting down beside her as Riyu curled up to his hip.

“As well as I can be.” Pixal said, looking back at him. “So much has changed since the last time I was online.”

He weakly laughed. “Yeah, that’s… That’s just how the world works now. Not much we can do to change it.”

She frowned, staring at the pile of books beside her. “I don’t think so…”

“It would still be the safer option if we didn’t. Setting off one kingdom could cause a chain reaction and before we know it we literally have to go into hiding to avoid being captured!”

Pixal blinked, staring at Arin. The boy sheepishly laughed, fiddling with the hoodie part of his outfit. “True story, aheh… Sora nearly got captured by some of the Skull Sorcerer’s skeletons for the mines. I did break her out and we got chased down for the next five months so we had to keep moving. Fun times.”

“Oh I am so sorry.”

“Don’t be! We’re okay now, it was just hectic during that time.”

“I see.” She pulled open another book, her eyes scanning each page carefully. “Could you at least tell me what else I should know?”

“Well, uh… Sora’s an elemental master if you didn’t know. I didn’t think Technology was a thing until she started using it so that's neat. Oh! And I know Spinjitzu! Well, I taught myself… It’s a bit wonky but Cole’s helping me learn how to get better!” Arin explained. Pixal nodded a little, flipping to the next page of the book.

“And… What’s the situation with Cole and Geo? I noticed Geo had a ring so I’m quite curious.”

“Oh, they’re married.”

She blinked. “Already?”

“... You don’t sound surprised-”

“From these books it’s been seven years. I wasn’t expecting Cole to like someone that much to marry them! That’s nice, though. I’m happy for them. I just don’t know why they wouldn’t have told me…”

“Eh, I’d guess meeting someone you don’t know can make you downplay stuff.” Arin shrugged. Pixal laughed a little.

“I guess so. But still, at least they’re happy…”

“Yeah…” Arin paused, pulling his knees up to his chest. “I still miss my parents, though. I don’t know where they are, or if they’re even alive.”

“Then how about we go find them? I’ll make that a priority for the future.”

“Really?” Arin looked at her. Maybe hope wasn’t lost after all… “Thank you!”

“You’re welcome, Arin.”

Suddenly, the area above the monastery rumbled. Arin immediately sprang up, rushing to the elevator as Pixal climbed back into her Samurai X mech. She flew out through the hatch, heading up to the top.

“What’s going on?!” he exclaimed, bolting from the elevators as he ran outside. The photac’s roared as they tore through the walls of the Monastery. Both Cole and Geo were trying to force them out as Pixal kept firing missiles at the machines. Nothing seemed to work. Sora scrambled outside, Riyu trailing behind her.

“You cannot hide my belongings from me!” one of the photacs declared.

“Oh, absolutely not!” Sora yelled back, Riyu sharpening her a charge before she forcibly ripped the two photacs apart. The beasts collapsed, one fizzling in and out as its machinery sputtered.

“You’re not touching him. That’s final.” she said firmly, standing over the photac. It stared up at her, teeth bared, barking out a laugh.

“Play hero all you want, ninja… I will come back here. I will get that thing back to where it belongs, and soon enough with the power of the three dragon cores I’ll conquer all of the merged realms! You’ll have no choice but to bow down to me! Ahahahahaha!” It cackled. Sora gritted her teeth, slamming her foot into the metal.

“SHUT. UP!!!” she screamed, smashing it to the ground further as the metal crumbled beneath her heel.

“Sora! Sora, calm down-” Arin gently pulled her away from the photacs. Sora tore herself away from him, storming back inside the Monastery.

“Lloyd isn’t safe here if they know our location. We need to relocate, now.” she said, her powers flickering over his neck. He whimpered a little, wincing as a small chip was pulled through his skin and into her hand.

Arin gagged, turning his gaze away. Oh this wasn’t happening today… Oh god…

Sora snapped the tracking chip between her fingers, taking out her emergency bandages and placing one over the bloodied spot.

“Sorry.” she apologized, making sure it stuck in place. Lloyd felt it a little, his gaze shifting to her.

“Thank you…”

“Dragon cores…” Pixal frowned, climbing out of her mech.

“What even are those?” Geo asked.

“Whatever they are, they can’t be anything good if the Empress wants them.” Cole said.

“Then we should get them first! Beat them at the chase!” Arin exclaimed.

“Exactly!”

“I’ll go find where these Dragon cores are located immediately.” She headed back inside, passing by Lloyd and Sora.

“If there’s three we should split up into teams.” Sora reasoned, guiding Lloyd down the stairs.

“Okay… Hm.” Cole paused, thinking for a moment. “There’s how many of us here?”

He looked around the room, counting carefully. One for him, two for Geo, three and four for Arin and Sora, five for Lloyd, six for Pixal… And seven for Riyu, but obviously the dragon needs to stick with Sora for her power’s sake.

“Six, technically seven if we count Riyu.” he said after a moment.

“Okay… How about I stick with Lloyd and Riyu?” Sora offered.

“You sure?” Lloyd asked, still leaning onto her a little.

“I’m sure. I’m here for you for whatever you need.”

“... Thanks.”

“Geo, are you okay if I go with Arin?” Cole asked.

“Of course.” Geo kissed him on the cheek, pulling back. “I guess I’ll be with Pixal for this.”

“Alright! Teams set, we’re doing this!” Arin cheered.

“Everyone! Come downstairs, I have found the location of the dragon cores.” Pixal returned outside, throwing the doors open. Everyone exchanged a look before following her downstairs, taking the elevator down before heading up to the computer. She slid into her chair, typing along the screen.

“The dragon cores have been located in these locations: The abyssal reefs of Merlopia, The endless pit of Shintaro, and the interior top of the Flaming Fortress in the Serpentine Lands.”

Cole stared at each of the locations, his expression slowly drifting to a scowl. “Kalmaar, Aspheera, and the Skull Sorcerer… Of course it’s them…” he grumbled.

“Wait, so… We gotta fight or sneak past the middling powers of the merged lands?!” Sora exclaimed.

“I’m afraid so. It would be wise to think about this carefully on where we’re all heading.” Pixal stated, spinning on her chair to face them.

“Well, Pix, we’re gonna work together wherever we decide to go, so I need your input too! Where should we go to get our dragon core?” Geo asked.

“Hm… I would advise heading to Merlopia, it would be our safest option as a team.” She looked over her documented notes on the location.

“Then I need scuba gear! Cole, I’m gonna borrow your old scuba suit, is that okay?” Geo began to run off, heading to the elevator.

“Yeah! Totally fine, Geo! Good luck!” Cole yelled back.

“I’m thinking… The serpentine lands? Maybe Aspheera is reasonable like the previous serpentine?” Sora offered. Lloyd winced, his ear twitching a little.

“I wouldn’t test our luck on her too much… Maybe she would’ve changed but I kinda doubt it.” he sheepishly admitted.

“Then I guess we’re taking on Shintaro!” Arin said. “Cole, you okay with this?”

“Uh, yeah! Just… Got some bad memories from that place, but it’ll be quick. In and out.”

“Okay!”

“Oh, and before we go… I had a bit of time on my hands.” Pixal got up from her seat, passing by Geo as he returned with a bag holding the scuba gear. She took the controller off the nearby table, pressing down on the button. Lloyd instinctively flinched, backing up a little behind Sora. She frowned, watching him closely.

The ground rose up from below them, three vehicles of purple, silver, and orange laid in place. Sora stared up at them in awe, Riyu squawking softly at her feet.

“I considered the possibility we would have to leave for a mission in the near future, so I designed these multi purpose vehicles to assist us. They can transform between land, sky, and sea mechanics for our use.” Pixal explained.

“That’s… Impressive, wow.” Sora said, her hands tracing along the metal of the silver land vehicle.

“Well, we’re taking orange! It’s both of our colors, come on Cole!” Arin excitedly ran off to the orange jet, climbing inside the back seat. Cole softly chuckled, catching up to him as he slipped into the cockpit.

“Wait, what about the other dragons?” Sora pointed out. “If Imperium tries to attack this place again, then we gotta move them somewhere safer!”

“I… Did not consider that.” Geo muttered.

“Then Geo and I will make a detour to redirect all of these dragons to their homes and instruct the matriarchs to evacuate. The Claws of Imperium, from what I’ve intercepted, are still hunting down their lost dragons.” Pixal said.

“But wouldn’t that make it worse?!” Sora exclaimed. “Look, I’m sorry if I’m such a downer but this plan isn’t going to work. We’re effectively boxed in with Imperium trying to hunt us down for Lloyd, and even if he’s gone they’re going to find the other dragons we left behind so what are we supposed to do?!”

“I suppose we can set up base in the old Samurai X cave for the dragons. It may be a detour, but we should be setting everything up fast with our combined teamwork.” Pixal explained, pulling Geo to her side.

“Yeah! I can fuse, she can make sure it’s stable.”

“Precisely.”

“Well uh… Good. At least we got that covered. Come on, Lloyd, we gotta head out.” Sora opened up the hatch to the silver jet. She stopped, feeling him slip away from her.

“Wh- Lloyd?” she asked, panicked.

“I can’t do this… I can’t.” he pained, his ears pinned to his sides.

“Yes, you can. You may not believe in yourself but I believe in you.”

“Look at me! I’m in no shape to fight!” he snapped, gesturing to his form. Sora frowned, staring at him.

“I get that. I’m not ready to be a fighter, either. I’m still figuring out my powers, much less spinjitzu! But I promise you that we’re going to get through this… Okay? If you need help, if you need a break, tell me.” she placed her hands on his shoulder. He flinched, pulling away out of her grasp.

“... If you’re sure. I’d like to try.”

“That’s the spirit. I’ll go grab you a new gi.” She headed back upstairs as Pixal slipped out the back to the dragon stables.

Geo’s ear twitched, staring at Lloyd as the ninja just kept swaying side to side.

“Hey…” he softly said, walking up to him. The dragoni’s ears perked up a little, looking back at him. His eyes… They still felt so dull.

“You can pack food if you need to. There’s plenty upstairs.”

“... Thank you.” he whispered, slipping away and heading upstairs. Geo breathed, hearing footsteps coming from behind him.

“I informed the dragons of our departure.” Pixal said.

“Good… They should follow us out of the Monastery, then.” he climbed into the backseat of the purple vehicle. Pixal climbed into the pilot’s seat, charging up the engine. Cole shifted his into a jet.

“I’ll see you guys back here if all goes well.” He said.

“Same to you two. We’ll keep in touch through the communicators.” Pixal said.

“Even with Sora and Lloyd?”

“Yep, even them.”

“Good, just making sure.” Cole lifted the jet up, flying down through the opening hatch and into the air. Pixal sped off behind him, taking a sharp turn and heading in the opposite direction. 

They were gonna make this mission work. They had to.

“KAI!”

“Wh- AH!” Kai was tackled to the ground as Wyldfyre hugged him. “Wyldfyre! You’re alive!”

“Uh, duh. Why wouldn’t I be?” she remarked. A huge fire dragon drifted down from the air to her side, landing on the ground. Kai brushed himself off, looking up at the dragon.

“Hello… Who are you?”

“Kai, meet Heatwave! My family! Heatwave, meet Kai, my mentor!” Wyldfyre introduced the two excitedly, nearly bouncing in place. Kai slowly reached out, his hand resting on Heatwave’s muzzle. The dragon leaned into his touch as he carefully stroked its scales.

He paused, feeling the temperature of the air changing around the land of Monsters. That was never a good sign…

“You two need to leave. Now.” he ordered, picking up Wyldfyre and putting her on top of Heatwave.

“What?! No! I’m not leaving you here!” she snapped. “This place is pretty dangerous from what I’ve seen, even my fire didn’t do any damage to it!”

“I know, and I’ve seen beings here take down dragons instantly. You two aren’t safe, just go back home-”

“COME WITH ME!” she screamed, her voice echoing alongside the silence. She heaved, Heatwave bristling at the noise. Kai tensed up, quickly pulling out his sword as he turned around. A loud hissing rang through his ears, a creature rising from the lake in the distance.

“Go! Now!”

“Like hell we will! Heatwave, grab him!” Wyldfyre ordered. Kai spun around to them, only to have his cape snagged as the dragon scruffed him from behind.

“Hey! Put me down! I’m trying to protect you two!” he yelped, trying to rip his cape free.

“No, you’re not. You’re gonna get yourself killed out here and you know it! Come on, let’s get out of this place!” she said, Heatwave flipping Kai onto his back before taking off into the air. Kai stood up on his back, only for her to yank him back down.

“No, you’re not jumping.”

“That place is going to become overrun with monsters if I leave for too long!” he snapped.

“So? You’re safer outside of that place!” she protested.

“But it’s my home! I’m used to it!”

“Nope! You’re sticking with us now, and I’m gonna get you a proper meal instead of whatever the hell kind of crackers you kept on hand.”

“They’re good crackers though…” he whimpered.

“Shut.”

Sora quietly adjusted her jet above the clouds, drifting silently as Riyu remained with Lloyd in the back. She had managed to throw together a much softer light green gi with gold accents, adding a slightly brighter scarf and belt to hopefully even it out, and for an added touch a leather shoulder pad paired with brown tabi boots. She glanced over at him through the side mirrors, quietly placing the jet into autopilot.

“Lloyd… You’re fiddling with the scarf again.” she began slowly, turning over to look at him. He blinked, his ears flattening.

“Sorry…”

“No no! Don’t apologize! I’m just noticing that because you keep trying to press it up to your neck.”

Lloyd stopped, letting the scarf sag down on his chest. His neck felt… Too open. Too exposed ever since he was rescued. He couldn’t quite place it but… He kinda wished he had that collar back on him. Not that he’d ever admit that, obviously. Sora was panicking enough over him as is.

“... I’m just not used to not having anything around my neck…” he mumbled. Sora frowned, turning back to the control panel. She fiddled around in her pockets, slipping out a leather strap she had in case of emergencies, passing it back to him.

“You can use that to… I don’t know, make a choker?” she tried to say, wincing a little at her words. She groaned, why was she so bad at this?

Lloyd’s ear twitched as he stared at the band. He quietly slipped it on, tying it in the back to make it feel as secure as he could. He fiddled with it, adjusting the area around his neck instinctively.

That somehow felt way better than before…

“Thank you again, Sora. I feel a lot better already.” he cracked a smile. 

Sora quickly looked away, staring down at the area below the clouds. She placed her hands on the handles, gently lowering the jet below the clouds. Lloyd looked out the window, Riyu staring down in the same way.

“That’s Aspheera’s temple!” he said.

“Got it. But how do we sneak in? Pixal said the core is at the top of the temple, except it’s in the interior…” Sora asked, studying the temple as she let the jet circle around the location.

“We climb up from the outside and get to the entrance at the top, not the front gates.” he pointed out.

“Got it. I’m lowering us down now…” She tipped the jet downwards, gently placing its weight down on the grassy outskirts of the desert. She climbed out first, catching Riyu before setting the baby dragon down.

“Okay, now how do we sneak in?” she turned to the temple in the distance, reaching to grab Lloyd herself. He leapt out on the other side of the jet, stumbling a little before he quickly caught himself.

“Considering the original was booby trapped, this one should be… At least safer? Maybe?”

“Maybe?” she echoed.

“I-I’m remembering this as I go! But there should be a way in… Up there!” he pointed to the top of the temple.

“And how are we supposed to get up there?!” Sora exclaimed. “Trying to run up there would get us caught, and trying to land would also get their attention! And you know that trying to brute force ourselves in wouldn’t work because not only can I not use my powers consistently, you aren’t healed enough to use your powers at all! Let alone fight!”

“What business do you two have here?” a snake guard hissed, pointing his spear in her face. She yelped, falling back as more guards surrounded them.

“Queen Aspheera would like to have a chat with you intruders.” another guard said.

Sora winced. This was not going to go well.

Jordana knew she had a job to do. She pushed past the foliage of the forest, trying to find her way to wherever the hell Ana escaped to. How dare she ignore their rivalry, ignore her! 

She gritted her teeth, slamming into a palm tree leaf, the fibers fraying instantly. Jordana froze, the wilted leaf fibers flickering with crimson red energy, slowly withering away in place. She stared at her hands, a power flowing through them that she didn’t know she had.

What was this…?

She clenched her fists together, placing them at her sides. The crimson glow began to spark and radiate around her form, the power growing through her rage. Her attention snapped to the nearest tree, lunging at it to punch it. The tree crumbled on impact, toppling over as three more trees came down around it.

Jordana heaved, her fingers twitching.

Oh… She needed to know more about this.

Being forced to bow was not how she was hoping this would go. Sora kept her head down, bracing herself as the golden scaled snake approached the two. She could already feel her glaring daggers into her skull, making her shiver a little.

“If I cannot enact my revenge on the treacherous deceiver, I’ll have to make do with you.” she hissed, leaning down to Lloyd.

“Hey! Don’t you dare touch him!” Sora bolted from the ground, forcing herself in between him and the snake. She slithered up to her, pointing her spear at her throat.

“And who are you?” she questioned.

“I… I am Sora.”

“Well, Sora. Since you’re so insistent on protecting him, you shall experience the same fate.” She lit up her staff, it’s power tearing her, Lloyd, and Riyu from the ground, getting slammed up to the wall on the side of the throne room.

Sora tried to force her body free, only to hear a soft click as the energy ceased. She tensed up, her wrist chained to the wall… And linked to both of her friends.

“Hey! Let us down!” she yelled.

“I, Queen Aspheera, do not need to listen to your blasphemy!” Aspheera shot back, sitting back down on her throne. “Besides, I’m still waiting for that treacherous deceiver to return so I can enact my revenge! He deserves it for all he’s put me through! I may have his nephew now and his two friends, he’ll come running!”

Lloyd sighed, his wings drooping down. He knew Master Wu wasn’t coming… He was most likely dead, anyway.

Sora frowned, turning back to Lloyd. “How do we get out of here? There’s no tech I can use!” she whispered.

“You unhinge the chain from the wall and hope you don’t die from falling.” Lloyd whispered back.

“Ah well that’s very reassuring.” she retorted, sarcastic. He huffed, fiddling with the cuff a little.

“Even then you don’t know spinjitzu but I do. And my powers are still gone. We have no way to fight our way out of this.”

“So we’re just left hanging here? Absolutely not!” Sora kicked her feet onto the wall behind her, trying to yank them down.

“Are you trying to get us killed?!” he hissed.

“No! I need that leather strap, I have an idea.” she said, holding her hand out. Lloyd paused, his hand hovering around his neck. It was so comfortable for him, though… But…

“Are you really sure a collar like that is necessary?” she murmured. Doctor LaRow nodded, typing on her board. “It just seems unnecessary, you’re treating him like a beast not a person.”

“Why do you care? It’s just an asset to us.”

The woman paused, glancing back at him. “... It’s not right. But if that’s what Imperium asks for and how it runs, I won’t complain further.”

“Thank you.” LaRow returned to her board. The woman quietly stepped into the room where Lloyd was, kneeling down to him. She brushed her hand through his hair, letting him rest.

“I won’t forget about you, Lloyd. I can’t.”

Lloyd slowly unraveled the leather, letting it sink into the folds of his scarf. He pulled it out, reaching over and passing it to Sora. She let it trace her fingers before latching into it, snagging it onto one of the locks. She bit down, unlatching her prosthetic arm, removing the chain from her entirely as she pulled herself up above the chain. Sora heaved, clinging to the stone wall as she dug her hand into the bricks, pushing herself upwards.

“Guards! Get that girl down!” Aspheera yelled, firing her spear towards Sora. She yelped, ducking out of the way before the blast connected to her face. She winced, climbing up another stone before dodging another blast. 

Just like she remembered, keeping her weight balanced between one arm and two legs was easy when climbing. She gritted her teeth, keeping her fingers wedged in one of the stones as she used her right leg to touch the wooden beam above them. She swung off of the stones, latching onto the beam with her right arm, using her right leg to swing herself below it and propel her weight to the top.

She gasped, panting as she clung onto the beam. She… She did it! Her training from running away from skeletons really began to pay off!

A blast whizzed past her head, snapping her out of her thoughts. She shook her head, getting to her feet and climbing onto another beam, dodging another energy blast her way.

“Lloyd! Riyu! I need you two!” she yelled, reaching for the final beam, pulling herself onto it. She grunted, pushing herself up, the golden glow from above catching her attention. She reached up, pulling the first dragon core from the ceiling and into her hand.

“Sora! You know what’s going to happen by doing this, right?!” Lloyd exclaimed. He yelped, moving out of the way from a stray energy blast.

“Yeah! Like what Arin usually tells me; Ninja never quit! Either we escape with this or we die trying! Are you with me?!”

“Ninja never quit. I will get out of here, and when I do… I’ll make sure you live to regret it.” he growled, his hands on the electric barrier keeping him contained.

“Oh, what good would being a ninja do? You’re weak enough as is, all of that action would simply kill you. And in the service of Imperium, what good would that do?” Beatrix smiled sweetly in return.

“I don’t belong to you.”

“You do. I’ll make sure that if you’re still alive by the three year mark, you will.”

“It’s been one and a half years. I’ll be out of here faster than you can react.”

“I’d love to see you try.”

Lloyd stared up at her, seeing her dodge each blast coming her way. How… How was she so resilient? Despite everything, being an imperium and out of her element in a world like this, she was such a strong fighter!

His ear twitched before he nodded, yanking on the chain at the wall like he had done the first time. It snagged off the wall with ease. Riyu lit up his spark, blasting Sora as she leapt from the beam. She activated her powers, tearing her mechanical arm from the chains and reattaching it to her arm, morphing it into a cannon. The three skidded to the ground as the snakes came charging at them.

“Okay, hold this.” Sora tossed the dragon core to Lloyd. He caught it, his eyes shimmering their usual bright green.

“Hold onto me!” he took her right arm, letting her charge up her left as Riyu clung onto her back.

“Ninja… GO!” He whirled into his spinjitzu, the motions coming with ease as Sora fired her cannon from all sides, striking every single serpentine coming their way. Aspheera spun into her own tornado, crashing into theirs. Lloyd fell back their tornado, charging up the last of his energy at the ceiling. It exploded on impact, mounds of debris crashing down over the throne room.

“Come on let’s GO!” Sora yelled, the two taking off running down the halls. The debris crashed over the throne room entrance behind them, sealing behind the snakes for now. They scrambled outside, running back to the jet up at the hill.

“We… We did it…” Lloyd gasped, staring at the dragon core in awe.

“I know! Oh, that was CRAZY! You’re amazing! I totally get Arin’s obsession over the ninja now because WOW.” Sora cheered. She stopped, awkwardly laughing a little. “Uh, too much?”

“Nah. I think we’re fine.” He shrugged, climbing back into the jet to place the core inside. His body slumped at the loss of power, falling back. She quickly caught him, readjusting him to the ground.

“Aah… That… That’s new…” he swayed a little, holding the side of his head.

“I don’t think your powers are back yet. But that dragon core must’ve restored your energy temporarily.” Sora pointed out.

“I can’t hold it forever, though. It would risk my safety even further if Beatrix is after it.” Lloyd reasoned.

“True…” 

Riyu squawked at her side, running over to Lloyd and pointing at him. 

“Oh! You want to share your spark with him?” she asked. Riyu nodded, climbing onto the green ninja’s back.

“Sure, I mean I know you’re doing it to help me but you can help more than one of us, y’know.”

“Heh, I appreciate it.” Lloyd chuckled a little, pulling Riyu over his shoulder and into his arms.

“... Now how do we get rid of these chains?” Sora glanced at the chains still tying the trio together.

“Do you have anything?” he asked.

She paused, rummaging through her pouches as her prosthetic reverted back to normal, pulling out a laser cutter. “Can’t help to overpack when you need it.”

She sliced through the metal with ease, the chains clinking off the trio and into the grass below them.

“Now come on, we gotta get somewhere that’s not the Monastery!” She climbed into the jet. Lloyd climbed in behind her, reaching over to the control pad. He typed out the coordinates that he had remembered from so many times before.

“Where’s that to?”

“The Samurai X cave. We’ll bunker down there.”

“Good idea.” She turned on the jet, drifting up into the air before taking off, flying away from the Serpentine lands.

A bunch of Merlopians surrounded the duo in the water as they tried to swim towards the Abyssal reefs, spears drawn. Geo quickly yanked them back as Pixal fired her rocket launcher their way. The mercreatures were sent flying, crashing between the colorful reefs and coral below them.

“We don’t have much time. We need to hurry.” she informed him.

“You won’t be going any further.” A voice seemed to echo behind them. A squid like creature, their king, alongside his two manta rays.

“Not in my ocean.”

Chapter Text

“You won’t be going any further.” A voice seemed to echo behind them. A squid like creature, their king, alongside his two manta rays.

“Not in my ocean.”

“Kalmaar.” Pixal frowned. She remembered him… Vividly. But how he was back in power? Actually, how were so many people back in power that they had defeated in the past? She pushed that thought to the back of her mind, how wasn’t the time to worry about that.

“Uh… We should run, right?”

“You mean swim, but yes. Luckily, I came prepared.” Pixal pulled out her trident, launching it at the octopus before grabbing Geo, her foot turbines blasting them away and down below the waters. Kalmaar yelped, ducking from the trident before snapping his attention to the two escapees.

“GET THEM!” he demanded. The manta rays took chase, diving after the two.

“Okay that won’t last long! Where are we supposed to go?!” Geo asked, clinging onto her arm.

“We need to find that dragon core before Kalmaar catches us.” she instructed him.

“I got an idea.” he swam back, yanking down some kelp and tying it to a rock, fusing them together.

“Kelp doesn’t break easily, use this.” he handed it to her. Pixal took it, examining it closely before throwing it at one of the manta rays. It went down instantly on impact, crashing into a boulder.

“I never expected fusion to be an elemental power. It’s quite new…” she remarked, pulling Geo downwards into the underwater ravine. He caught up to her as she blasted them into the darkness.

“Hold on, we need some sort of light! I can’t see a thing.” he quickly said, loosening her hold on him as he fell back. She nodded, clicking on the light in her eyes.

Oh, thank you.” he swam back to her side. She let herself drift downwards, further into the darkness. A burst of bubbles whizzed past them.

“Come on, we need to find that core! And fast!” Pixal yanked Geo down with her, the two taking a sharp corner towards the right and into the cave systems.

Wyldfyre broke open one of the Wyldmelons, passing half of it to Kai and keeping the other half for herself. Heatwave quietly ate beside her, with his own pile of Wyldmelons.

“Are these… All you have around here?” Kai asked, cracking open the melon even further.

“Uh, yeah! And they’re the best, I love these things!” she beamed proudly, biting into the melon half. He frowned, staring at his own half.

“Eh, I know better.” 

“Oh, really? I highly doubt that.” she snarked, throwing a seed out before taking another bite.

“Then how about we test that theory. I know the best place in Ninjago City that could hook us up with some really good food.”

“Nin… Jago? What the hell is that kind of name? Sounds dumb.”

“It’s not dumb! It’s a perfectly reasonable name because I came from there!”

She stopped eating, snapping her head towards him. “You said you came from the Land of Monsters.”

“I live in the Land of Monsters. My home dimension is Ninjago.” Kai clarified, exasperated. 

“Okay, fine. You’re from Ninjago and started living in the Monster Lands. What’s so spectacularly great than these delicious Wyldmelons?” Wyldfyre questioned.

“Oh, you’ll have to see for yourself! Come on, I’ll take us there.” Kai summoned his elemental dragon, climbing onto it. She blinked, staring at in awe.

“What?! How are you doing that?!” she exclaimed.

“My elemental dragon?” he asked, confused.

“Yes! Aw, no fair I want one of those!”

“Wyldfyre, it's not sentient like Heatwave.”

She paused, glancing at her family before hugging him. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to replace you or anything, Heatwave!”

Kai pinched the bridge of his nose. “I was summoning mine because I had a feeling you’d want to ride on Heatwave.”

“Oh yeah! But I’m taking the lead-”

“No. I know the way to Ninjago and where we’re supposed to be heading. You follow me or we’re not going.”

“Awwww. Okay, fine.” she pouted, climbing onto Heatwave. “But I’m not gonna be happy about it.”

“Yeah yeah. Let’s just go.” he took off into the air, the two dragons breaking through the clouds.

Sora breezed through the clouds in the jet, taking a slow turn towards the right. She had a feeling they were getting close to the Samurai X cave, and maybe then they could make sure all of the dragons were okay and that nothing was going to go wrong. She hummed a little, taking another left as she lowered the jet below the clouds.

“Do you usually hum?” Lloyd asked after a moment.

“Well, I normally sing but I doubt you’d wanna hear me sing.” she laughed a little. A laser suddenly whizzed past the jet. She quickly steered it to the side, the tracker beeping on another incoming laster.

“Rapton is back, baby!” Rapton declared, the claws all in formation behind him.

“Oh you gotta be kidding me…” she grumbled, turning to look at him over her shoulder.

“Just hand over that dragon freak and I promise we won’t have any issues.” he said, riding up alongside the jet.

“Yeah no. That’s a lie and you know it.” she said. The windows of the jet went up before an energy blast knocked his hovercar down. She whipped her head around to see Lloyd, holding onto the dragon core, slowly lowering his hand.

“Are you crazy?! You’re gonna get us killed!” she panicked, pushing the windows back down.

“Well, it seemed reasonable! Besides he kinda deserved it…” he muttered.

“Yeah, good point. AH!” she swerved as a wave of lasers came at the jet, diving above the clouds before taking a sharp right.

“Change of plans, we gotta lose these guys!” she quickly said, pressing on the gas as the jet blasted off. Rapton’s own hovercar came right back, ramming into the jet. Sora ducked below him, spinning around as she forcibly curved it to the side, blasting off again.

“Augh! GET OVER HERE YOU BRATS!”

“Sora…” Lloyd watched from the window, seeing the claws approaching their jet faster than before. “I have an idea. Do you trust me?” 

“With what? I mean, we did just meet but knowing you it would be best to say yes- I’m getting off topic… What’s your plan?” she quickly said, making yet another swerve maneuver from another barrage of lasers.

“Riyu, I need a boost. Sora, keep it steady if you can.” He pushed open the glass casing, climbing onto the wing as Riyu stood on top of the dragon core.

“Wait, what?!” she exclaimed, quickly ducking from another blast of lasers. Lloyd clung onto the wing, digging his claws into it to steady himself.

“Awe, that’s cute.” Rapton jumped on the wing, offsetting the weight of the ride. Sora forcibly tipped it towards the left to keep it steady and them in the air. 

“You ready to give up, you little freak?”

“No.” Lloyd said firmly, glancing back at Riyu in the backseat. Rapton barked out a laugh.

“Okay, let me run you down the playing field; Ten of us versus two of you, in the air. You two don’t even have viable powers while the Claws of Imperium got our sick ass lasers!” Rapton explained proudly. The dragoni hybrid scowled, keeping his feet planted in the wing.

“Or should I bring up the fact that the Empress demanded you to be retrieved, huh? You learnt to listen to her to not get hurt.” he continued, pulling out his electric sword. “So let’s make this easy for us. You come with me, and I’ll make sure you get a lighter punishment than instant death at the hands of the Claws. That sound good enough for you?”

Lloyd froze, his ears perked up as he took a step back. Sora yelped, ducking from another wave of lasers.

“Lloyd, don’t listen to them! You’re stronger than that!” she yelled back.

“But what about-” he tried to protest.

“NO! Lloyd, listen to me. Cities, buildings, people may fall… But we will rise like dragons against that adversity! Do you hear me?!” Sora snapped, ducking and taking a sharp turn from the Claws. 

“At our hearts, we are all dragons.”

Golden energy seemed to spark around his hands. Lloyd stared at it, seeing it begin to swirl around with the familiar purple glow of his oni. Both sides… In one. He tightened his fist around the power, ducking from the electric sword swung his way.

“We may fall… We may become hopeless, or broken, or anything of the same… But we will rise, we will keep fighting, because no matter what anyone does or says…” Sora flipped the jet over, Rapton and Lloyd clinging onto the wing as she hit a harsh curve.

“We will rise. We never quit, we will never QUIT!” she forced the jet higher into the air, risking it failing on her from banking the angle. Lloyd charged up the blast of energy he had before firing it towards Rapton. He quickly forced his sword up, blocking the attack as his backup sword dug into the wing.

“You may have taken my life force, my elemental power… But you can’t rip away what makes me who I am.” Lloyd slid down from the top of the jet, kicking him square in the chest. The swords slipped out of his hands as he was sent toppling through the clouds. 

“RAPTON WILL BE BACK!” he screamed, falling through the clouds.

Sora exhaled, fixing the angle of the jet as the warnings slowly beeped to a stop. “Remind me… To never test you…”

“Do you really believe we’re all dragons at heart?” Lloyd asked, ripping the swords from the jet’s wing.

“Yeah? I mean, if we’re all trapped in a world that we can’t shape for ourselves, then we must be like a dragon to crave that freedom and choice to do what we want and be who we want to be! That’s true power if you ask me.” The jet dinged softly, an alert appearing on it.

Jet battery: 0%

“That’s… Not good- AH!” Lloyd lifted off of the jet as it began to fall. Sora screamed, quickly leaping out as he dove down, taking her arms and pulling her up to her level. Riyu squawked, clinging to her back whilst carrying the dragon core.

“Thanks, buddy.” She thanked softly. Riyu’s eyes lit up, blasting her with her energy charge. She quickly grasped onto the jet, reforming it into a mech suit.

“Come on, we need to get down to that before it crashes!” she called. Lloyd nodded, linking his arm to hers before diving down towards the mech. It was moving way faster towards the ground now, gravity catching up to them.

“We’re not gonna make it!”

“Yes… We will!” He pulled Sora onto his back, stretching his wings before propelling them towards the mech. She leapt off of him, reaching into the control panel and slamming on the first button she saw, activating the emergency boosters on its feet. She climbed inside, catching Lloyd and Riyu before lowering themselves to the ground.

The sand below the mech looked so warm and soft… Lloyd slowly came down and just laid on the sand. Sora heaved, bewildered that that somehow worked. She quickly shook her head, lightly smacking her cheeks.

“You okay?” she asked, poking her head out from the mech’s cockpit.

“Never… Better…!” Lloyd weakly gave her a thumbs up.

“Ah, we’ll get there anyway. Come on, let’s go find that cave.” She scooped him up, setting him down on the mech’s shoulder before heading off through the desert.

Geo was beginning to grow tired. Pixal grabbed him again, pulling him forward. “We cannot slow down now. Those merlopians will find us any minute now.”

“I’m not as experienced as the other ninja, okay?!” he exclaimed, clinging to her.

“I am aware. It’s just that we should get going before-”

“HEY! BOTH OF YOU STOP RIGHT THERE!” a guard yelled.

“Yeah, let’s just SWIM AWAY!” Geo bolted, leaping off the rocky walls as Pixal blasted after him. The electric eels chased after the duo, weaving through the canyons and tunnels. 

Pixal scanned their surroundings, trying to find wherever the dragon core was located. She stopped, yanking Geo to the side in a corner as the eels whizzed past them.

“I have located the Dragon Core.” she informed him, pointing towards the southwest tunnel.

“Then we gotta hurry, more of those eels could be coming!” he dove down, swimming into the southwest tunnel as Pixal followed beside him. She took the lead, taking a left before passing by three tunnels, then the next tunnel to the right, then another left again.

The crackling of eels echoed through Geo’s ears. He frowned, pulling her aside as more of the eels whizzed past them.

“I am afraid they may be onto us.” she said.

“Yeah, that’s kinda obvious in hindsight…” he muttered. She looked around, scanning for the all clear before pulling him out of the crevice. Two tridents were immediately met at their faces, the eels circling back behind them.

“Come with us willingly, or we’ll- GAH!” Geo spinjitzu-ed in the water, yanking the trident out of their hands and throwing it to Pixal, slamming the sea serpent into the wall. Pixal clashed the other trident out of the serpent’s hands before launching the two at the eels, impaling them instantly.

“... Oh dear, I did not mean to kill them.”

“You don’t kill threats?” Geo asked, confused.

“No… I was made to protect all life.” she said, turning to him.

“Well, there’s a bit of a difference between protecting all life and knowing that you need to put some people down if keeping them alive does more harm than good.”

“But these eels… They were just following orders. What if they were good?”

“Do good eels rip apart the kelp from behind us to shreds?”

“They could’ve been hungry.”

“I get that but… Their teeth were bloody.”

“You saw blood on their teeth?” Pixal asked, shocked. She did not even notice that.

“Yeah… It’s there, on the tips of their teeth. And I don’t think they’d attack their own kind.” Geo pulled up the lips of the eels. Pixal scanned them over, the blood feeling way more visible now than she had realized.

“I did not know…” she murmured, examining them closely.

“I get where you’re coming from, really… I do. But this world doesn’t function like that anymore. Anyone and anything could kill us. Cole and I had way too many run-ins and incidents to prove it.” Geo admitted.

Pixal fell silent for a moment, looking at the fallen merlopians ahead, then back at Geo. 

“I will refrain from killing other living beings if possible, but if it comes to it… I will carry it out, no matter how much I hate it.” she said, swimming ahead. Geo quickly caught back up to her, swimming beside her.

“Thank you for telling me. It’s good to know that there’s others, even if we just met a few days ago, that I can trust.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“The Dragon Core is just up ahead. The sooner we obtain it, the better.”

Kai drifted his elemental dragon downwards, quickly dissipating it before they landed in Ninjago City. Wyldfyre leapt down as he scrambled to catch her.

“Hey! I was gonna stick the landing!” she snapped.

“No, you were gonna break your legs.” he set her down on the ground, Heatwave landing behind them.

“We should take the underground entrance because, ah… Heatwave staying on the surface would risk his safety here.” Kai explained, sliding down the ladder. 

“Barf! I say we fight these dangerous people instead!” Wyldfyre slid down after him. 

“No, we won’t. The sons of garmadon are bad people, they’ve been imprisoning whoever stands in their way and I do not want to fight through a prison to break you out.” 

“Ugh, okay fine! No fighting…” she pouted, crossing her arms. Kai hit the button on the side, sliding open the garage doors. 

“Heatwave, come in.” he whispered. Heatwave headed inside, the empty room feeling spacious enough for him. He crept to the main doors, listening in to make sure no one else was inside. He slowly pushed the door open, the familiar scent of noodles and dumplings hitting him. Wyldfyre sniffed the air, flinching a little.

“What is that?” she asked, ducking back behind him.

“This is where my friend Skylor works. It’s her dad’s noodle house but uh… He was dead. And evil. And ran a snake cult.” Kai said. Wyldfyre just stared at him, bewildered.

“A snake what? That sounds weird.” she said.

“It’s like… This group of people who worship snakes?” Kai tried to explain, not sure how to go about this conversation with her.

“Is this Chen guy dead, then?”

“Yep. Super dead.”

“And… So is this snake cult?”

“Yep. That too.” He pushed the door open, Wyldfyre pushing past him as she gawked at the room in awe.

“What is this place?” she asked, looking around.

“Oh, hey! Are you new here?” a girl with her red hair tied up in a ponytail asked, drying one of the dishes.

“Oh, hey Skylor! Just wanted to stop by, grab something to eat! And this is my… Student, Wyldfyre!” Kai quickly slid beside her, pulling her to his hip. Wyldfyre snapped her head towards him, promptly biting his arm to let go. Kai didn’t even flinch, keeping himself completely still.

“She… Looks feral.” Skylor winced, staring at his arm. “Do you need a bandage?”

“Nope, totally fine with bites. I’ve been bitten before by monsters, I think I’ll be fine.” Kai shrugged.

“Kai becoming part bug for a few months wasn’t fine.” she said flatly.

“But I recovered!”

“I had to bring you to the Mother Garden to find a cure. You were starting to lose your mind.”

“No I wasn’t!”

“Kai.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Just… Go sit down with your friend. The conveyer belt is still moving, so take what you want and pay afterwards.” 

Kai quickly nodded, pulling Wyldfyre into the booth. She cautiously sat down across from him, leaning back.

“Don’t worry, I’ll pay.” he said, pulling out his gift card to the place. She looked between the conveyer belt of progressively more mouth watering food, then back at him. 

“Really?”

“Yep. Just don’t destroy anything for the food.”

She snatched one of the closest dishes to her, staring at it in front of her. Kai kept staring as each dish passed by before taking one of the usual pasta plates, unraveling the napkin to take the fork. He dug it into the pasta, spinning it around before taking a bite. Wyldfyre kept staring between him, her food, and the still moving conveyer belt.

“How is there so much food?!” she questioned, flabbergasted. 

“You get used to it.” Kai shrugged, digging into the noodles again with his fork. Wyldfyre picked up the dumpling on her plate, eating it whole. She coughed, wincing a little.

“You okay?”

“It’s… Spicy…! Ha! I love it!” she quickly shook off the spice, shoving another into her mouth.

The doors were suddenly slammed open, some of the Sons of Garmadon stepping inside. Kai pulled his hat down, trying to conceal his face as they walked past them.

“Who are they?” Wyldfyre whispered, leaning over to him.

“The Sons of Garmadon. They’re working with Emperor Garmadon, and they’re the ones I warned you about.” Kai whispered back.

She scoffed. “Pssht, I could take them.”

“Best not to, we wouldn’t be allowed here anymore if you did.”

“Ah, right.” she sunk back in her seat, tossing another dumpling in her mouth.

“Man, I’m tired.” One of the bikers threw off his helmet, setting it down on the booth three spots away from them.

“Quiet one’s so stuck up, though. I don’t get why she wouldn’t let us have breaks.” another grumbled, running her hand through her hair.

“Cain, Lillith, we shouldn’t complain about not getting breaks. At least we aren’t fighting for our lives on the streets.” The still masked biker said.

“Ha! Got that right, Bluebird.”

Kai stopped, adjusting his hat a little as the third biker pulled off his helmet, those darkened ginger locks catching the bright light. He froze, leaning over to try and see his face. He might’ve had bright pink streaks dyed in, but that facial structure was unmistakably…

“You don’t need to keep calling me Bluebird. It’s Jay, for the record.” he snarked.

Jay. Kai’s breathing hitched as he pulled back, almost in horror. If… If he lived, did that mean everyone else could’ve too?

Wyldfyre looked over her shoulder, then back at him. “Uh, who’s got you so worked up? I could kill them for you-”

“No! Absolutely not!” Kai quickly snapped. He hissed, hearing the trio get up. Shit shit SHIT, that was bad!

“Hey.” Cain leaned on the table, eyeing Wyldfyre for a moment. “Were you the one who said they’d kill for… This guy?” he asked, gesturing to Kai.

“Uh, duh. What else?”

“... Okay, I like this kid.” Lillith chuckled, crossing her arms.

“Would you be open to joining the Sons of Garmadon? They could always use more members.” Jay asked.

Wyldfyre blanked, staring at them. “Huh?”

“Uh, hi.” Kai took off his hat, trying to adjust his hair and eyesight from the bright lights. “It’s nice to meet you three. Cain, Lillith, and… Jay, right?”

“It’s Bluebird to you two.” Jay said.

“Right. Sorry… I was just wanting to bring my student out for a nice meal, she’s a bit trigger happy to violence. Totally normal for her, we shouldn’t be any trouble to you!” he said.

“Hm. Good, don’t cause any trouble ‘round here.” Lillith said before the trio walked right back to their table. Kai exhaled, burying his face in his hands.

“You okay?” Skylor came over, already with the checkbook.

“Just… Can we get two to-go boxes? Please?” he said, exasperated.

“On it.”

Pixal and Geo pushed past the kelp, dry land hitting them as the water gave way, leaving them in an empty clearing. The soft golden glow of the dragon core illuminated the room. Geo quickly ran up to it, picking it up. 

“Okay, we should go before the merlopians find us.” he said, returning to her side. Pixal looked around, staring up at the ceiling in silence.

“The fastest way to escape this place is through this roof. It will cave in and potentially wash us out, but it’s our best strategy.”

“Then we need some sort of weight…” Geo thought aloud, fiddling with his hair. He snapped his fingers, tossing her the dragon core as he ran to the side. He spun right into the wall, carving out a hole before shoveling the debris out and into the center.

“How’s that going to help us?” she asked.

“Like this.” Geo began to fuse each rock together, placing them to the side before fusing another. He fused the parts together, then placed more on top of each other on all sides, slowly morphing the debris into a boulder.

“Okay… That should do it.” He took a step back, brushing off his hands. Pixal’s eyes widened as she scanned it over, then looked at the ceiling.

“That should be big enough. Stand back.” She passed him the dragon core, backing up herself. 

Geo stepped back until he was far enough away. Pixal breathed, running up as she swiftly dug her foot underneath the boulder, launching it up before swing kicking it directly into the ceiling. The boulder shattered as the top began to cave in, water flooding the room. She leapt back, using her turbo feet to grab Geo and fly them through the opening. 

“I see light!” Geo gasped. Pixal nodded, blasting even further before the two broke the surface. He gasped, coughing as he flipped off his scuba nozzle. Pixal clicked her fingers together, their scuba charging towards them before slowing to a stop.

He ducked underneath it, coming through the hatch with the dragon core. He set it down inside, pulling Pixal up as well.

“Good. We got our core. We should check in with everyone else, then.” She configured the control board, pulling up the communicator.

“Signaling Lloyd and Sora first… Hello? Are you two okay?” she called.

“Yep! We’re alright, we had a small incident with Aspheera and the Claws but we’re fine.” Sora said, the whirring of mechanical parts echoing in the background.

“That’s good. Where are you two heading?” Pixal asked. There was a momentary pause on the line before it crackled to life again.

“Where the bats never trespass.” Lloyd said. So he remembered their passcode in case the message got intercepted… They were heading to the Samurai X cave.

“Understood.” She flicked the communicator off, switching over to Cole and Arin.

“Cole, Arin. Are you two alright?”

“Yep! Just coming up to Shintaro right now.” Cole said.

“Good. Please report back to where the bats never trespass once you find it.”

“Got it.” The communicator cut off. Pixal shut it down before adjusting the controls on the board.

“What’s the place where the bats never trespass?” Geo asked, confused.

“Did Cole not teach you our code words in case our communicators get intercepted?” she asked.

“No.”

“Ah, well… It means they’re heading to the Samurai X cave. We’ll start heading over there too.” She brought the scuba up to the surface, transforming it back into its jet form before taking off into the sky.

Two down… One to go.

Cole gently brought the jet down at the edge of the mountain, climbing out alongside Arin.

“Why do we have to park so far away?” Arin asked.

“I… Ran away from here. With Geo. I doubt the Skull Sorcerer would be pleased with me returning.” he winced, rubbing the back of his head.

“Ah.”

“Come on, let’s go get that last dragon core.”

Chapter Text

“What do you mean the tracking chip’s gone?!” Beatrix yelled.

“It seems to have gone offline under a code orange.” LaRow said, still looking over their current scannings for source dragon energy. The empress grumbled, leaning back on her throne.

“If no one is going to give me a clear path forward, so help me I will make one.”

LaRow stopped typing, seeing the scanners shoot up drastically with Source Dragon energy, beeping vigorously.

“What is that about?” Beatrix questioned, walking over to the control panel. She stopped, staring at it wide-eyed as LaRow took a step back.

“... Ras did it. He got a source dragon’s power extracted.”

Cole and Arin moved through the woodlands, trying to locate the closest way to get to the mountain without being spotted. They already had to fight giant bats as is, there was no way they were risking approaching without being asked to.

Cole stopped, his footsteps crinkling softly in the grass, staring out in the distance. “What if we went in with disguises?” he asked.

“Master Cole, I hate to say this but… Rocky Dangerbuff was a really bad name. And I don’t wanna go through Doctor Lampshade Floortile if I can help it.” Arin shivered a little.

“Okay, fair… Though the name isn’t actually too bad compared to yours…” Cole muttered the last part to himself, pushing past the leaves to the clearing high above the clouds.

“You think we can find some way to use face paint to blend in? Maybe masks? No?” he turned back to Arin, only for a figure to yank him back, cloak over their face. Cole stumbled back, immediately pulling out his hammer towards the stranger.

“Who are you?” he demanded, Arin pulling out one of his daggers at his side. The figure paused, looking between the two, before reaching for their hood.

“Cole…?” Vania pulled her hood down, staring at the two in shock, her blonde hair falling loosely on her shoulders.

“Queen Vania…?” Cole stared at her back, in just as much shock. She looked… Worn down, but still that fiercely hopeful girl he knew her for.

“I-It’s… Just Vania, now. But it’s so good to see you, and your friend here is…?” her gaze drifted towards Arin. He sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, giving her a wave.

“I’m Arin. Nice to meet you!”

“He’s also my student. I’m Mentor Cole now… Or did we decide on teacher instead…?” Cole frowned, thinking about it.

“I just use both interchangeably.”

“Totally fair!”

Vania smiled a little. “You two seem like you get along. That’s great. But… What are you doing near Shintaro? You know how my father is, remember?”

“Okay, so quick rundown; There’s a dragon core inside Shintaro that we gotta find to stop Beatrix from taking over the merged lands by warping reality to punish all of us!” Arin quickly explained. That felt like plenty of information for her to work with.

“... Imperium? That Beatrix?!” she said, horrified. “Cole, what have you gotten yourself into?!”

“Uh, lot’s of stuff. Bringing in two kids, trying to train them, recently rescuing Lloyd from Imperium- Actually Sora did it. She actually didn’t know it was him, but… It’s definitely him.” he winced at the last part. Vania frowned, taking a step back.

“I’m not even going to ask, just… You two gotta leave. “

“No, we need that dragon core! Or else the world-” Arin yelped, the ground rumbling so violently it threw everyone off balance. 

Cole froze, staring up at the sky as it shifted to an ashen crimson as orange cracks began to bleed into the world. The molten cracks dripping onto the land before, the very strings of reality beginning to fracture as more holes were torn open. But just as quickly, the strings tried to force the cracks together. Cole blasted at the hole, trying to push the tear closed as much as he could. The magma inside seemed to swallow his earth whole, cracking open more instead. He staggered back, out of breath.

“That’s… Not a good sign, right?” Arin remarked.

“No, no it’s not.”

Kai drifted along the back of Heatwave in the silence, soaring through the chilled night sky. It had seemed so silent, no more buzzing of his thoughts… Yet it unnerved him. He wasn’t used to this, used to… Knowing something he felt he shouldn’t have known.

“Uh, earth to Kai?” Wyldfyre waved her hand in his face. He blinked, his hazy vision refocusing on her. “You looked… Odd. You alright?”

“I’ll be honest… Not really.”

“But aren’t you like, the coolest guy I know?! What gives? Did something happen back there?”

Kai bit his lip, looking down at the clouds below him. Honestly, he wasn’t sure if he was ready to talk about… All of that. One of his best friends, his brother in arms, Jay… He was alive, but he was so different. And he didn’t recognize him… Like he had lost his memories or something along those lines.

He glanced back up at Wyldfyre, seeing her just watching him instead of ahead where Heatwave was heading. He breathed, in… And out.

“It’s about Jay.”

“Oh, really?! That biker guy back there?” she exclaimed, gesturing back below them. Kai pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Yes, him. And he’s my friend, well… Used to be.”

“Huh?” Now Wyldfyre was even more confused. “What do you mean ‘used to’?”

“I remember that… During the merge, we all got scattered. And next thing I know, seven years later, I discover that not only is one of my friends ALIVE, that means that potentially my other friends are too! And now I’m stuck grappling with the fact that I could’ve been with them this whole time but nooooo I had to stay in the Land of Monsters because SOMEONE’S gotta take care of it and I sure as hell won’t let anyone else die there on my watch!” Kai ranted before finally burying his face in his hands.

Wyldfyre frowned, staring at him for… What felt like minutes. She fidgeted with her hair a little, looking away and towards the clouds before finally turning back to him.

“Uh, look… I really appreciate you taking time out of your day to get me to freeing Heatwave, and… Showing me to that noodle shop. The food’s actually pretty good, so you win that argument for now.” she began, joking a little at the end. Kai chuckled slightly before she continued, “Besides that… I’m sure that your other friends would be happy to see you no matter what time of the world it is. Whether that be hours or even years! Whenever you’re ready.”

“That’s the thing… I don’t even know where they are. Or even my parents, or my sister…”

“Well, at least ya got me and Heatwave! The flaming trio, huh? Huh?” she nudged his elbow. Kai couldn’t help but laugh, ruffling her hair. 

“Okay, you win that name!”

“Hell yeah!” 

Heatwave suddenly dropped from the sky, quickly regaining his balance. Wyldfyre clung onto his back, looking at him panicked. “Heatwave, what happened?!”

The sky shifted to a dull crimson, mergequakes exploding all around the sky as threads between each crack tried desperately to keep the world together. The dragon ducked out of the way as a crack nearly collided with them. Kai quickly took off his hat, strapping it to his back as he looked up at the sky, the howling wind blowing his hair right in his face. He pushed it out of the way as much as he could, more mergequakes forming around them.

“We need to get out of the air, it’s not safe!” he directed.

“Don’t have to tell me tw-AH!” a huge orange crack shot out in front of them, its magma-like contents spilling out and dripping to the ground. Wyldfyre yelped as Heatwave took a sharp right, diving down towards the ground before landing in the Wyldness. She heaved, shakily climbing off his back.

“You okay, Heatwave?” she asked, holding his muzzle. Heatwave clicked a little, nodding. “Good… That’s good.”

Kai slowly slid off the dragon’s back, letting his feet plant on the ground as he walked away from them, staring up at the sky. Everything felt so much colder now… Like the world was beginning to fall apart.

“What is happening…?”

Sora let her hands brush through his tangled hair, trying to get as much of the knots out as she could. She couldn’t help but feel sad about it… The whole green ninja becoming nothing more of a battery than for the place she swore to never return to or even speak of. She hated imperium, hated what they’ve done to dragons, hated that they’ve done the same to Lloyd, too. Just… Reducing him to nothing more than an asset, one they even branded and marked to signify that he would forever be theirs no matter what he did.

It made her sick to her stomach. She tugged a little on the hair, trying to make sure all of the knots were out before letting it rest.

“There. It’s… I know it’s not as good as washing it, but I hope you feel alright with it.” she said, letting Riyu rest in her lap. Lloyd ran his fingers through his hair, pulling it in front of him.

“Thank you… It actually feels a lot better now.”

“Well, I’m glad.” she picked the baby dragon up, heading over to the other dragons. Lloyd quickly got up, trying to pull his hair straighter as he walked. It felt… Way too long than he was comfortable with, but at the same time… 

Master Wu had long hair. Maybe he could honor his legacy by keeping his? Though technically his was a beard but when he saw him as a young adult back during Emperor Garmadon’s reign, his hair was pretty long. He frowned a little, only for his foot to catch on his hair. He yelped, stumbling before quickly steadying himself, his wings fanned out as his tail tried to regain his lost balance.

“Oh, Lloyd! Are you okay?” Sora quickly ran over, gently helping him strand straighter.

“Uh, y-yeah… Do you think you could braid my hair? Please?” he asked, wincing a little. She blinked, looking over at how long it was before quickly nodding.

“Yep, I’ll take care of that.” she set Riyu down on the ground, letting him scamper over to the other dragons as she reached for his hair. She tugged on it a little, parting it three ways before using her backup hair strands to tie them into the segments. She unraveled the first strand, keeping it stiffly in place as she weaved it over the third part, then moved the third over the second, taking out the hair bands.

Luckily, she knew how to braid hair. She tried braiding her own before when she was a pre-teen but it never really stuck. At least those skills were being put to good use today!

She paused, taking one of the bands and bunching up the top of the brain to segment it away from the rest of his hair, continuing to braid the rest of the segments through her usual one three two loop measure. It was pretty seamless, all things considered. She tied the last part down, looping the band in and fluffing up the end.

“And… Done! What do you think?” she stood up, Riyu coming to her legs again. Lloyd pulled the braid over his shoulder, staring at it.

This was how much hair he had? It was absurd! Maybe he should’ve cut it… No, that would’ve put Sora’s efforts to waste, he couldn’t do that to her! He let it fall back onto his back, letting it rest nicely between his wings.

“It’s amazing… Thank you, Sora.” he thanked, taking her hands.

“Don’t mention it!” she beamed. The loud shuttering of the doors stopped her dead in her tracks as the two immediately fell into a defensive stance. Footsteps clinked along the floor, two pairs of them, running towards their location.

“Sora! Lloyd!” Pixal called, Geo running right beside her. The duo relaxed immediately, lowering their positions as Pixal leapt in to hug the two, pulling them close.

“I am glad you three are okay.” she said, smiling softly.

“Same to you two. Has anyone heard from Cole or Arin?” Sora asked, slipping out of the hug.

“Unfortunately, no. We’re hoping they’d contact us soon, unless something serious happened and-” Geo stumbled, the world’s entire balance being yanked all over the place. The entire group stumbled, the air feeling too thick for comfort.

“That’s… Not normal.” Sora frowned. Pixal raced to the computers, pulling up the outside security cameras. The sky was shifting to a darkened crimson hue, molten orange tears ricocheting through reality, threads trying desperately in futile attempts to keep reality together.

She froze, stumbling back. Her chest felt tight, her ears ringing. Sora tugged on her shirt, heaving slowly as her body trembled. No no no… This can’t be happening. She couldn’t of… How could she- No… No!

“Sora?!” Geo shook her a little, snapping her out of her thoughts. “Sora! What’s wrong? Breathe with me, here! Please!”

“B-Beatrix… She must’ve gotten the third dragon core…”

It felt like a silent impenetrable horror washed over everyone, the lights flickering softly in the cave. Pixal paused, staring back at the computer screen. “No, Cole and Arin’s coordinates are still at Shintaro and are moving deeper underground.”

“Huh?! So they’re still after the core?” she stammered, panicked even more. If it wasn’t the core, then what did Beatrix get her hands into?! “Then what about-”

“We couldn’t free all of the dragons that day…” Pixal began slowly. Sora stopped, staring up at her wide-eyed.

“What…?”

“Cole and I found a Source Dragon in containment underneath the city. He used the power from that dragon to open up the portal gate.” she began slowly. 

“Then… Then we have to go back. To free that dragon.” Sora said firmly.

“Are you nuts?! Look, I get it’s all ninja business to be running into danger but I think we’re forgetting that we’re both fugitives there AND they want Lloyd back! Like, really want him back!” Geo reasoned.

“I know! But it… It feels like our only option. That the only way to stop Beatrix and Imperium is to shut down all of their power sources for good and expose the Empress for who she truly is!”

“Then either we train and wait until Cole and Arin return, or we go in there now, cause a ruckus, and hope Beatrix stops what she’s doing-”

“TRAINING! We’re training, I need to figure out my powers without Riyu and Lloyd needs to learn how to fly.”

“Flying? Now?” Pixal questioned.

“Yes, now! We literally fell out of the sky and if it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t be standing here anymore! I’d probably be dead, Riyu might’ve died since he can’t fly, and Lloyd… Ah, I know you’re part dragoni and all so I don’t know how that works but can you survive huge falls?”

“Kinda? It’s complicated.” he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Ah, right. Well… I feel like we’d be dead or gravely injured if he didn’t save us so… Thank him for that. And also we gotta figure out how to get you in the air, just in case of an emergency.” she continued. Lloyd fluttered his wings a little, extending them. Pixal stared at them, scanning them over.

“I may have an idea.”

“Are you sure this is safe?” Cole asked, following right behind the former princess. “You know what happened the last time we went through tunnels!”

“Yeah, totally sure. I know my father, he’d want to keep something secret underground in the mines so that no one would find it, not in some treasury. And if it were a treasury, then he would’ve kept his skull there!” Vania reasoned.

“Ah, good point.”

“The huh?” Arin piped up from behind the two, even more confused. He was trying to pay attention, but it felt so dark underground without a torch or any sort of light. 

“My father, King Vangelis, or as you two know him to be the Skull Sorcerer, found this really cursed skull to give him so much power that he effectively relegated two species down into the mines for generations to mine vengestone. And that vengestone is going into the entire trading ring going down between Imperium, Ninjago, and the Never Lands.” Vania explained again.

“That’s… Concerning.”

“I know! Right? Anyway, hopefully we don’t run into my father. I’d hate for you two to get enslaved…”

“Yeah! Totally normal thing to say!” Arin said nervously, keeping up with them as best as he could. Vania dug her hands into a boulder, shoving it aside to the ground. There was a clearing as a golden glow laid ahead. 

Arin stopped, his feet digging into the ground as he tugged Cole back. “Cole, what if this is a trap?”

“Vania’s one of my friends. And she doesn’t like her father. Why would she bring us into a trap?” Cole pointed out.

“Isn’t it strange how she found us so fast? We were so far away, how did she spot us if she wasn’t just spying on us-”

“I wasn’t trying to, I swear!” Vania waved her hands around in a panic. “I genuinely had no idea people showed up until I heard rustling! I just thought ‘maybe some hikers got lost? I should go guide them AWAY from Shintaro’ I never wanted to come back here, I know Cole doesn’t wanna come back here and for good reason! I only decided to help because I know how important these kinds of missions are for you two, and I’d hate for anything to go wrong or for you guys to get caught! So my idea was to get us underground and locate the dragon core and then escape with it, easy! Granted… That crazy magic talking skull doesn’t come after us. If it did, we’d be toast.”

“Uh, Sora usually says to never say stuff like that or it’d actually be more likely to come true.” Arin winced.

“Really?! I-I didn’t know-”

“No it’s okay! It’s a bit of a superstition thing, I probably should’ve explained that better-”

“Guys, the core.” Cole cut in between the two. Vania quickly nodded, running back to the rocks blocking the pathway inside.

“Cole… Please be careful.” she said, pushing the boulders aside. Cole drew out his hammer, keeping it at his side as he walked into the clearing. The dragon core sat on top of its pedestal, completely open for anyone to reach. He frowned, staring at it.

… Maybe Arin was onto something. Vania was definitely not the trapper, no. But… Maybe Vangelis set up a trap underneath the core, and it was gonna come crashing down on him the second he tried to move the core.

Cole activated his lava arms, the cracks already covering his skin glowing brightly as he pressed his palms to the ground. More cracks lit up around him before stopping at the ceiling. He squinted his eyes, trying to see what was up there…

He paused, looking between the core and the ceiling. The golden glint amongst the brown caught his attention. Cole’s eyes widened as he took a step back.

Vengestone. 

Oh, he knew someone was going to come for this, didn’t he? Arin crept up beside him, staring up at the ceiling alongside him.

“Vengestone?” he asked.

“Vengestone.” Cole said.

“Dangit. Looks like it’s time for plan B!” Arin headed out of the room, carrying over a bunch of boulders. Cole stared at him, confused, watching as he stacked them up on top of each other. He took some of the mud, tracing a face onto the top rock using his fingers.

“There, Rocky Dangerbuff is in position.” he said proudly, taking a step back.

“Wh- Hey!”

Vania stifled a giggle. “Rocky Dangerbuff? That’s cute!”

Cole’s cheeks burned. “I-It was my cover name for the sons of garmadon, and imperium, and the first realm, and… Okay, just those three.”

“Don’t worry, I like it! Though I’m not sure what Rocky’s purpose is doing here.” she reasoned, gesturing at the stack of rocks.

“I have a feeling the chains are going to snag on the target reaching for the dragon core, so as long as we stay out of that room in a far enough distance, close to the exit, we can grab it and go.” Arin explained.

“And… How are we supposed to grab it from a far enough distance?”

He dug through his belongings, pulling out his grappling hook. “With this!”

“Wait! Are you sure that’s safe? What if you damage the core?” Vania asked worriedly as Arin ran past her to the furthest corner he could reach.

“Hopefully not, but if it makes you feel better Cole could maybe make a mud slide for it!” 

“I… Huh.” Cole’s fingers twitched. He turned back to the stack of rocks, pushing his hand to the ground. A soft rock formed near the pedestal, letting it crumble into wet soil and mud, sliding into a soft ramp.

“Okay, try now!” he backed up alongside Vania. Arin aimed his grappling hook at the core, making sure to miss the rock being as it’s metal latched onto it. He gasped softly, slowly pulling the hook back. It slid off the pedestal and onto the mudslide, and just as instantly the vengestone chains shot down and tore right through the rocky standee.

“So long, Rocky Dangerbuff… So long…” Arin said solemnly, pulling the core right into his hands. 

“I’m not dying, it’s just a rock!” Cole protested. Vania couldn’t help but laugh. 

“Come on, we should go.” He moved past them, carrying the dragon core in his hands. The soft golden glow seemed to illuminate the path around them perfectly. Vania took the lead alongside him, taking a small left, then another left, just from where they came. She pushed up the rocks, crawling out of the side of the mountain alongside the other two on the edge of the shintarian mountains. She gasped, exasperated.

“That felt… Insane. But hey, we got your core! Now, go save the world!”

“Thank you so much for your help, Vania!” Arin thanked, shaking her hand before running off into the trees.

“Vania, the Monastery’s always open if you need a place to live.” Cole offered.

“Really?! I mean, I don’t wanna intrude and I also got chompy to take care of-” Vania started rambling nervously.

“We have our own baby dragon named Riyu, I’m sure him and Chompy would get along well.”

“Are you sure…?”

“Positive. We just need to repair it first… It kinda exploded again.”

She chuckled. “When has it not?”

“Eh, fair point. You wanna come now or-” Cole stopped, seeing the familiar silver and gold dragon poke his head out from underneath her cloak.

“Oh, Chompy! It’s okay, Cole’s here to help!” Vania laughed a little, pulling him out of hiding. Chompy squawked, perching himself on her shoulder. Cole slowly reached over, giving the little dragon neck scratches.

“Come on, you two. The jet isn’t gonna fly itself.”

“Woo hoo!” she cheered, following behind him as they headed into the woods. Cole pushed past the trees, finding the clearing with Arin already inside the jet.

“Arin! Time to get this in the air and go find everyone else?” he asked.

Arin looked up at the three of them, then back at the communicator screen.

“Arin! So glad to see you, did you get the last core?” Sora called.

“Yep! We should be heading over to the place where bats don’t trespass soon.”

“... Actually, change of plans.” she sounded hesitant. Arin stared at the communicator, unsure of what to say in response.

“We need to head to Imperium. The Empress is ripping apart the world using Source Dragon Energy.”

“We need to go to Imperium. Now.” he said, keeping the core close to him.

“Huh? About what?” Cole asked.

“That.” Arin pointed to the sky as it began to fall apart, more cracks and rifts forming. “Empress Beatrix is trying to reforge reality using a Source Dragon’s power. Pixal is saying that the only way to free a source dragon is by using these cores.” he held his own core up to the darkened sunlight.

Vania glanced at Cole, before quickly jumping into the back of the jet herself. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s deal with this before it gets any worse!”

“Are you sure? Vania, this is a threat bigger than we’ve known yet. What if you get hurt?” Cole reasoned.

“Cole, I fought the entire army of Shintaro for them to see reason for my father’s sorcery. I will fight again if I have to, and I will keep Chompy safe from that woman. She’s no empress…” she said firmly.

Cole stared at the three of them, waiting in the jet. This was… Definitely not a good sign, but it was their only opportunity to stop the entire universe from ripping itself apart. The more help, the better. He exhaled, climbing into the jet and starting up it’s engine.

“Alright, let’s go.” he brought it into the air before blasting it off out of the forest, soaring into the skies and clouds.

Chapter Text

“Okay, come on…! One more try!” Sora urged, lifting Lloyd into the air. Lloyd’s balance slipped as he tried to fan out his wings, leaping off one more time. He managed to catch himself mid-air before tumbling right back down to the ground.

She winced, pulling him up. “Sorry! I… I don’t think we can get you up in the air that fast.”

“It’s okay, I’ll keep trying!” He said, trying to stand up straighter. He hadn’t realized just how bad his power drainage symptoms became when he didn’t use any of his power recently. But he knew he couldn’t just use it! What if they needed him?

“The tracker for Cole and Arin is heading towards Imperium.” Pixal said, pointing at the screen.

“Then it’s go time!” Sora ran to her mech, climbing inside as Riyu and Lloyd followed. Geo headed to his jet, Pixal joining her. She powered up the engines, firing themselves out of the cave’s hatch and into the air, the mech following close behind. 

Percival stared at the board he had designed from pieces of scrap metal. Their resistance was growing, but he had a feeling the Empress was onto them. They weren’t being seen out of the bunker as often, cleaning the streets and praising the empress for her work. 

Actually, his entire team wasn’t out there anymore. Him, his friends from the newly transformed resistance; Wayne, Kay, Tristan, and Lucas. And even a couple new faces that arrived when the power supply first began to dip. He took a step back, brushing his hands off as he stared at the data they managed to collect.

And oh great empress, the Empress had a lot of dirt on her and her practices. He brushed through his hair absentmindedly, ruffling it a little. Trying to keep his hair straight since the Empress mandated it was hard, knowing it’d fluff up to how it’d naturally be whenever it became too humid out… Which was unfortunately a lot.

“You okay?” Kay asked, coming up beside him. She glanced at the board, adjusting one of the papers they managed to steal from the Advanced Systems lab before turning back to him.

“Not really, honestly.” he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. “We don’t have enough manpower or the connections to expose the Empress for her crimes. It sucks.”

“We can’t give up hope, just look at all we’ve accomplished so far.” she gestured to the rest of their resistance force. Wayne and Tristan were both sparring in the underground bunker as Lucas took notes in the corner. Two other new members were still talking amongst themselves, keeping watch of the hatch above them in case the guards discovered them. 

“Do you think those ninja are gonna come back?” Percival asked, adjusting the lab photo of Subject 122 stroke 11L he managed to steal. “Especially that Lampshade guy? He was pretty nice.”

“I hope so. Maybe he could teach us more moves!” Kay reasoned.

“That’s a great idea! We’ll have to ask him! Maybe I can do that incredible spinjitzu thing he can!” Percival leapt back, copying the motions he had begun to train from the short time he knew Lampshade. He spun, soft purple sparks flying around him before they sputtered out, tripping over his feet. Kay winced, pulling him up.

“I… Hah, I got further than before.” he chuckled.

“Are you kidding?! That was insane! I could never do that!”

“Well, I figured it out based on how he did it. Definitely can’t pull off that vortex surrounding him, though.”

“You don’t notice the sparks?”

“What sparks?”

Kay frowned. “Uh… Nevermind, they’re probably not prominent enough. Point is, you’ve gotten way better at doing those ninja moves than the rest of us! And you leading the resistance has turned our old operation into something grand! We’re gonna change Imperium for the better.”

A loud crash erupted from the outside as screams echoed from the ceiling. She winced, covering her ears as she pulled Percival to the hatch.

“Ready to go save some people?”

“Always.”

The jets crashed right through the energy field protecting the kingdom from the outside, Sora breaking down the main gates in her mech.

“Ninja! Freeze!” one of the guards yelled, the others drawing out their guns and swords.

“Nope, sorry gotta hurry!” The team moved past them, racing through the streets.

“Okay, what’s the plan?” Vania asked through the communicator.

“Wait, who are you?” Sora piped up, confused.

“Vania?!” Lloyd looked into the control panel from the outside. That was definitely Vania’s voice… Unmistakable.

“Lloyd! Oh, it’s so good to see you again! I’m in the back of Cole and Arin’s jet alongside Chompy. We got the core from Shintaro, what about the rest of you?” she asked.

“We got ours from Merlopia.” Pixal said.

“I’m still holding onto ours from the Flaming Fortress.” Sora said.

“We need to get to the Imperium Monastery before- AH!” Cole’s jet rammed into a photac, sending it flying straight into a building. It collided into the stone, shattering the glass as it crumbled to the ground.

“Cole! Arin! Vania! Are you guys okay?!” Geo exclaimed, leaping out of the moving jet and to the ground. He rolled to secure his landing, getting back to his feet as he broke the top open, throwing the cracked glass top aside.

“I’m okay!” Arin slowly climbed out, helping Vania down as well. Cole winced, pushing himself out of the jet and into Geo’s arms. Vania gasped a little, looking between the two. Her ear flicked as she noticed the rings on the two of them.

“Oh, congratulations!” she clapped a little.

“Thank you. But unfortunately, we’re down a jet… And I know we can’t fit into Pixal’s.” Cole reasoned. 

“Your little ninja team isn't going anywhere.” Rapton said, riding on another photac beast alongside his army.

“Oh, yeah?! Well, take this!” Sora called upon her spark, trying to grasp onto the photacs. She frowned, wincing as she struggled to break into them.

“Aww, what’s the matter? Are your powers failing you?” Rapton teased. Lloyd flickered his energy, blasting at the Claws, only for it to dissipate before it could touch them.

“... Oh no.” Pixal backed up the jet a little.

“What? What’s wrong- grk!” a photac slammed into Cole, sending him crashing into another building.

“Cole!” Geo cried out, running after him. 

“I’m scanning traces of vengestone in their armor.” she analyzed, summoning the laser cannons from her jet.

“Since when could the jet do that?!” Sora exclaimed, tapping the controls on her mech. The laser cannons fired up as well on hers. “Oh, would you look at that!

“That’s not gonna mean much if we can’t get past them! Lloyd, can you- No it’s too risky.” Cole stopped himself. Trying to get Lloyd into the fight could risk his recapture, and he absolutely couldn’t have that.

“No, I can handle it. I just need to keep Riyu with me.” he reasoned, slipping off the jet. Riyu squawked, climbing onto his back, perching himself onto his shoulder.

“GO!” a voice suddenly yelled out, a group of older teens charging at the photacs. Arin's eyes widened, recognizing them instantly. The Imperium Teen Protection Force! But… Why were they helping them?! 

Percival skidded back to the ninja, keeping his feet planted on the ground. “Lampshade! So good to see you again!”

Geo bit back a snicker. “Lampshade?”

“A-Actually it's… Arin. My name's Arin, Lampshade Floortile was my cover name so we could sneak in-” Arin quickly shook his head. “What are you guys doing here?!”

“Well, first off you missed a lot.” The team leapt out of the way as the Photac's came barreling through. “Second off, we're now the Imperium Teen Resistance Force! And we're trying to find a way to expose the Empress, but right now seems like a good enough time as any to do so!” Percival reasoned. 

“Okay, good. But also we need to get Cole to the Imperium Monastery to free the dragon trapped underneath it… Somehow.”

“What if our team helps whoever needs to get to the broadcast tower up there, and the rest split up to deal with the Photac's or free the dragon?” Wayne proposed, ducking from a tail swing. 

“Pixal, take my mech. I'm going to the tower.” Sora climbed out of her mech, landing firmly on the ground. 

“Like hell you won't. Nobody escapes Rapton!” Rapton declared, blocking her way. 

Chompy’s form glowed as he suddenly grew in size. Riyu squawked in shock, causing Lloyd to stumble back. The dragon roared at the Claws as Vania climbed on his back. 

“Pixal and I will keep them busy. Cole and Geo, you two get to the Monastery! Sora, Arin, Lloyd, I have a feeling you three should stick together.” She directed. 

“Thank you… You're helping us way more than you realize.” Lloyd stepped forward, only to get yanked back by Arin. 

“We gotta run. NOW!”

“This way! I know how to get inside!” Percival urged, taking the trio alongside his squad towards the backend of the fortress. He led them down the alleyway, ducking behind the dumpster to their hideout.

“Okay, how do we get into the advanced systems lab without being spotted?” Arin asked. Sora stared at the door, noticing the guards using keycards to get inside. She dug out her fake keycard that they had used to sneak in before, holding it out.

“We’ll use this.”

Cole and Geo ducked behind a building, whirling into tornadoes as more claws came their way. Geo slammed two swords’ hilts together, fusing them before spinning it around, slamming into a Claw’s own sword. Cole ducked from a laser, grabbing the gun and punching the soldier out of its hold.

“Still got the cores?” Geo asked. Cole caught the ones he threw into the air, following after him.

“Yeah, I got them! We need to get into the Monastery before more claws stop us.” he reasoned, taking a sharp left and down the streets. He threw the cores to Geo, letting him catch them as he slammed his lava fist into the Monastery door. It crumbled instantly. He heaved, stepping inside as he took back the cores.

It was… Empty. That felt odd… Geo gently linked his arm with his, guiding him downstairs to the source dragon.

“We’re back.” Cole said, stepping into the room with the cores, staring up at the containment keeping the source dragon trapped. A hammer suddenly slammed into his back, sending him crashing into the barrier of the cage.

He grunted, wincing as he clutched onto the dragon cores. Geo staggered back, pulling out his dual bladed sword, spinning it to his side.

“You two won’t be going any further.” Ras planted his hammer to the ground, his fangs bared. Cole slowly set down the cores at the cage, climbing off of the raised platform and landing beside Geo.

“Then let’s test that.”

Pixal rammed into another photac, ripping through the hard light beast’s chest using the mechanical arm, crushing yet another photac. Vania leapt between the walls and lampposts, extending her spear again as she slashed off more and more claws.

Their efforts were working! They were doing it! 

Pixal froze, immediately grabbing Vania off a photac and leaping out of the way. “GET DOWN!”

The mech skidded to the side as a mergequake tore between the scene, another mech stomping into the fray. Beatrix unveiled her electric sword, brandishing it towards Pixal and Vania.

“You ninja won’t go any further! Not in my kingdom!” she screamed, throwing her sword at the mech. Vania leapt off onto Chompy as Pixal caught the sword, trying to keep it from slicing down on the mech.

“This kingdom is going to fall apart under your reckless RULERSHIP!” Pixal tore the sword from the mech’s hands, moving it down to her side instead. Beatrix gritted her teeth, grabbing onto Pixal’s mech before throwing it into the air, crashing directly into a mergequake. Pixal leapt out of the tear, skidding to the ground before getting kicked to the side.

“PIXAL!” Vania screamed, Chompy roaring as the two quickly ran to her. Beatrix cackled, the photac beasts turning to her.

“Keep everyone inside their homes, I’ll deal with these two.” she sneered.

“Yes, Empress Beatrix. Claws, roll out!” Rapton directed, the photacs dispersing to quell the citizens.

“Imperium teen resistance force… CHARGE!!!” Tristan yelled, Kay, Wayne, and Lucas following behind him with their own weapons.

“What?! All of you are traitors!” Beatrix gasped, her face burning from rage. “None of you are leaving this place until you learn your lesson!”

“Good, because we’re here to win this and take you DOWN!” Wayne pointed his sword at her, slashing it on one of the knee blades of the mech. It stumbled a little before catching itself. Beatrix swung at the group of teenagers as they scrambled out of the way.

“Welcome to the fight!” Vania said, carrying Pixal beside her on Chompy as she rejoined the fight.

“Same to you three! Let’s DO THIS!”

Geo fell back, ducking from another swing of the hammer as it came down his way. Ras scampered towards him, getting knocked down by Cole mid-air. He leapt off the tiger’s back, spinning back to a stop, only to get rammed into the control panel of the source dragon.

“I will not let you two ruin all the Empress has done!” he growled, forcing the earth ninja up to the board. Geo kicked him back, sending him skidding a little ways away.

“Do you even hear yourself?!” Cole exclaimed. “The world is falling apart! What good is there from her?!”

“I never specified good.” Ras tapped his hammer to the ground. “I said that I will not let you two ruin all the Empress has done. And you immediately assume I meant the best? What she is doing is the most self destructive move I’ve orchestrated.”

“Then why are you working for her?!” Geo said. He yelped, ducking from another swing of the hammer as Cole airjitzued into the air, catching him as they drifted upwards.

“She provides the connections, the power, the hunters I need to continue my own plans. It’s mutually beneficial. I set her up on this path of destruction, after all. Strength will attract challengers, which we will dismantle and prove to the rest of these merged lands that Imperium is the true ruler of the lands.”

“Fat chance! The world is not for imperium to take control of! And we’re going to keep it that way!” Cole threw Geo down, the hybrid spinning out his dual electro-blade, slamming it into the top of the hammer. Ras threw him off, Geo skidding back away from him before spinning into his tornado, slamming into the tiger. He ducked out of the way, swinging his hammer back towards his direction. Geo leapt over him, ducking from yet another blow before grabbing a broken piece of glass, throwing it towards the tiger. Ras dodged it, grabbing Geo’s arm and throwing him directly into Cole.

“Face it. Your friends will fall, you will not succeed in your plight.”

“AUGH!” Sora slammed into the metal walls, wincing as she felt blood trickle down behind her back, staining her white clothes she had worked tirelessly to keep clean. Lloyd tore himself out of the Claw’s grasp again before Arin slammed into them, Riyu head-butting them into another room. He quickly slammed down on the door controllers, jamming it shut instantly due to an unregistered person trying to answer.

Percival slowly helped Sora up. Her feet seemed to tremble under her own weight, but she pushed herself upwards.

“We don’t have much time left.” he said. 

She nodded, leaning on him a little. “Where’s the closest elevator to the roof?”

“This way.” he led the group down the halls, pushing past another guard in the rush.

“Hey! You’re not supposed to be back here!” he yelled.

“Sorry, we need to GO!” Arin shoved past them, the rest of the team moving through as they took a sharp right down the halls. Percival spun out Sora’s fake card, sliding it into the detector. The elevator doors opened, the four of them all piling inside.

Sora exhaled, letting go of Percival as the doors slid shut. “I can’t believe it… We’re going to do it…”

“I hope everyone else is surviving out there without us.” Lloyd mumbled.

“Okay, everyone… I need the backing, the footage, and the guards at the door. Can you all trust me?” she stepped off from the door.

“Of course! Sora, you’re my best friend. I’m going to make sure everything is going exactly as planned.”

“Arin and I can keep watch over the doors.” Lloyd offered.

“And I got all of the footage on this hard drive!” Percival pulled out the small black usb he got from the camera rooms inside the building.

Sora blinked, staring at the usb in utter disbelief. How the hell did this guy get a usb drive of top secret recorded information without being noticed, let alone snuffed out or arrested or worse!

“H-How… No, nevermind.” the door to the elevator dinged. Sora slipped her headphones off as they stepped onto the recording platform. Percival moved to the computers, shutting down their elevator temporarily as Lloyd watched.

“Sora, you got this.” Arin pulled her aside, taking her by the shoulders. She softly smiled, slowly taking his hands off of her as she took a step back.

“It’s showtime.”  she murmured, flicking her wrist slightly, approaching the screen. Her footsteps felt heavy yet growing lighter each time, letting the small cloak of the Empress’ lies lift off of her.

“As decreed by the empress, we must hide our true forms! And, in time sweetheart, we will be given much more natural hair than whatever abomination of colors we were born with.” her mother cooed, brushing past her delicate ears. Ana’s tail flicked around subconsciously as she stared up curiously at her parents.

She was young, she was a late bloomer in speaking. But inside, deep down… This felt wrong. What the empress deemed a “glamour”, a cloak to hide their true forms which was continuously enforced year after year, didn’t quite sit right with her. 

Ana frowned, looking down at her pawed hands, inspecting the golden flecks of her skin.

“Ana, we raised you to be perfect, just as the Great Empress Beatrix commands. And you will be special to us.”

Oh, how much of a lie that was.

She exhaled, her pointed ears poking out from between her hair, the golden plating shimmering in the crimson lights. She flexed her hand as she approached the main screen, paw pads etched into her fingers, her long tail swishing behind her with her natural bright pink hair glistening in the light. Her little clawed toes, resembling a tapirs, lightly clicked on the cold tile beneath her. It felt… Different, yet so… Right.

Arin’s eyes seemed to glimmer in awe as she stepped onto the platform, her turning around to see him.

“Are you ready?” Percival asked.

“Always.” Sora nodded. He gave a quick thumbs up, raising the platform high into the air to the main screen.

Beatrix rammed Chompy into the walls, the small dragon shrinking in size as he collapsed into Vania’s arms.

“You’re at the end of your lives, you traitors. I will not let anyone ruin my plans no longer! You all shall pay-”

“-Pay for this, you idiots!” The video version of herself snapped behind her, a loud snap of voltage echoing through the streets. “Just like the scum of monsters like you, I’m going to drain you dry.”

She tensed up, her eyes widening at the screen of the footage being played. “No… Who the hell is up at the broadcast channel?!”

“And I assure you all there has been no dragon escape. Anyone suggesting that is a traitor.” the video of herself said sweetly before shutting off the camera. LaRow quietly kept typing behind her. 

“That was a perfectly executed announcement, Empress Beatrix.” the scientist said smoothly.

“The citizens here will believe anything I tell them. Why would they believe the freaks of nature and mindless beasts roaming around the world? They’re filthy outsiders! Obviously they’d tear apart this perfect little paradise to make sure nothing remains!”

Beatrix yelled out, smashing the screens with her sword. More began to light up around Imperium, continuing the broadcast.

“Drain those ones more! We can’t risk further shortages while our best prize is missing! It was an endless supply too, and it just laid down and took it! How utterly pathetic!”

“My sister and father were only in the way, Lord Ras. I made sure they would never set foot on this throne again… Not after what we’ve done.”

“She… She killed the royal family?” one of the citizens asked, confused, slipping out of their house.

“This is insane! What’s wrong with her?” another piped up.

“She’s been lying to us this whole time!”

Beatrix fell back, the legs on her mech suddenly feeling weak. No… NO! This can’t be happening! Who dared to invade her kingdom and air this material of her?!

The screen flickered to life once more, static slowly clearing. The familiar bright pink hair with golden cat inflections came into view.

Sora.

“People of imperium!” she began, gesturing at the screen. “You've heard the truth from the Empress herself. Imperium is not the perfect place we've been told it is. It tortures dragons. It drains them of their very life. And it’s not limited to just dragons…” she looked out of frame, reaching her mechanical arm out. The storms outside the building seemed to rage as she gently pulled another figure into the frame.

The dragoni hybrid stumbled a little, quickly recovering as he propped his wings on his back. “Remember him? Well, his name is Lloyd, and he’s part dragon. Yet… Imperium treated him the same as all the other dragons. The same treatment of forcibly marking their properties, starvation, draining their very life force. And they’ve been doing this to every single creature they’ve captured in their care. Every comfort you have, every privilege, comes at the expense of other living beings. This can’t continue! The Empress doesn’t just abuse dragons, either, our entire culture is in service to her. She used me for my work, then threw me away when she couldn't control me. Just like the other dragons, I was a mindless beast… And maybe, to all of you I look like that.” She paused, her hair drifting softly in the wind.

“Maybe we don’t look normal because the Empress forced us to hide, to be tamed, to be boiled down to nothing more than humans in a cage! But it doesn’t have to be like that. The Empress thinks we’re all weak… But I know we aren’t. Deep in my heart, we’re all stronger than we realize. We must rise up, we will be free, because today… We are all dragons!” she declared.

The slowly growing crowd began to exchange looks, murmuring amongst themselves before one shoved the other back.

“The empress has always been good! How foolish can you be to even consider believing their lies?!” they snapped.

“But they’re true! Do you not see the proof?!”

“It’s fabricated! The Empress would never lie to us!”

The crowd broke out into a riot against one another, trying to tear down the other side. 

Percival winced, watching through the security cameras down below him.

“So… Did it work…?” Arin asked, coming over to him.

“I… No. Not everyone… But it’s fine, at least some people are reasonable enough to see the truth.” he took a step back from the keyboard. Arin turned back, the platform lowering back to the ground. Sora stepped off of it alongside Lloyd, keeping him at her side.

“Sora!” Arin leapt into her arms, hugging her.

“Ah, uh… H-How’d I do?” she stammered, brushing her hair out of her face.

“You did AMAZING!” he exclaimed excitedly. She winced, ears twitching as she covered them.

“Oops! Aheh, sorry! Forgot you have sensitive ears.” he handed her headphones back to her, letting her slip them on.

“The rifts are becoming more dangerous, you need to hurry!” Pixal urged through the communicators. Lloyd quickly shut it off, activating the elevator again.

“Come on, let’s go rejoin the fight.”

Cole spun around the tiger, leaping over to grab one of the dragon cores. Geo latched onto the hammer, trying to rip it from his hands. Ras threw the hybrid directly into the ninja, the two crashing into the barrier. Cole grunted, pulling himself up.

“I need some sort of boost…” he muttered.

“How?” Geo asked, picking up one of the dragon cores.

“Some way to get him out of this- AH!” he yelped, the two diving out of the way as the hammer crashed down on them. Ras picked up one of the dragon cores, only for Cole to kick him off the platform, catching it.

“Just release the source dragon!”

“You will not defy this kingdom any longer!” Ras slammed his hammer down, knocking the two ninja off the platform. He kicked the third core down, the two picking it up together. Cole paused, feeling the energy of the cores flow through his cracks, his hair levitating softly.

“Geo, throw me.”

“What?! Are you insane?!”

“Trust me on this!”

Geo looked between Cole and Ras, quickly grabbing onto his husband before launching him into the air, the earth ninja holding onto the three cores. They swirled around him before lighting up, activating his spinjitzu burst. He crashed down on Ras, throwing him directly off of the platform and onto the stairs. Geo rushed over, slamming down the emergency wall barricade at the end of the stairs on the computer.

The cores collapsed at his feet, the earth ninja falling to his knees. He gasped, wheezing.

“It’s okay… You’re gonna be okay… Just rest for a moment…” Geo gently eased, pulling Cole onto his lap.

Sora raced through the streets, skidding back to a stop as more mergequakes tore through the world. The Empress was already trying to throw her friends into each tear. She froze, leaping over the mech and slamming into it at the back, causing its knees to buckle.

“Oh, you little BRAT!” Beatrix snarled, spinning back to her feet.

“I’m not letting you rule over this place anymore!” Sora declared.

“You think some little speech would dissuade everyone here?! You’re more naive than I realized.” she slammed her sword down at Sora, she stumbled back, Lloyd pulling her out of the fight as Arin and Percival dashed past them. He leapt over the mech, swinging back down with his grappling hook as Percival swerved past the mech, regrouping with his resistance force that was steadily growing in numbers.

“No! All of you are traitors! I will not let any of you win!”

Sora gasped, catching her breath. She turned to Lloyd, Riyu still clinging to his shoulder.

“Go regroup with the others. I’ll dismantle that mech.”

“On your own?! But you haven’t-”

“You showed me how to reach my spark, Lloyd. I can do it again if I have to.”

Lloyd’s gaze shifted between her and the Empress, seeing her slam the sword back Chompy. The dragon latched onto the sword, trying to pry it out of the mech’s hands.

“Besides, you’ll need Riyu more than me. He can recharge your powers, so go out there and help the others. I know you can…” she said, placing her hand on his shoulder. Lloyd’s ear twitched, his wings fidgeting behind him before he quickly took off running towards the others. He ducked from a swing of the electro-blade, Arin quickly catching him and yanking him over.

Sora closed her eyes, keeping her focus. Where was that spark…?

“Ana? Ana!” a voice called. She froze, feeling her ear twitch as she slowly turned to look at… Her parents. They were so… Similar to how they were in the past. Her mom’s short black hair, her dad’s cleanly cut appearance, their undying loyalty to the Empress… Unless her speech somehow changed their minds. She felt hope rise in her chest, turning towards them.

“Mom? Dad? You see now I was right about Imperium? You have to get to safety! This is too dangerous!” she urged.

“No! You need to come with us!” her dad called back. Sora stopped, staring at them. Did… Did she seriously just say that?

“What?! No, I can’t! I need to go help stop the Empress! She’s going to destroy everything!”

“No, you need to trust the Empress! She wouldn't do any of this without a reason!” her mom reasoned.

Sora took a step back away from them, the wind rushing through her headphones and into her sensitive ears. Were they being serious… How could they not see it? There was a loud scream, Sora quickly tearing her eyes away as she rushed to catch Lloyd before he hit the ground.

“Aheh, thank you…” he awkwardly chuckled.

“Get your hands off that beast! It’s dangerous, Ana!” her father yelled.

“No, he’s NOT dangerous!” Sora snapped, bringing both of them to their feet. 

“The great empress uses creatures like those for the sake of everyone else! They can’t feel feelings-” her mother tried to say.

“NO! Shut up.” she growled, her tail swaying slowly behind her. “If you truly believe that, then you believe that our heritage makes us fucking monsters. That we exist to be controlled and treated just like dragons. You’re all so stuck up in your own heads that you can’t see what the Empress has done to you. You can say you love me all you want, but let’s be real here… You’re not my family. I have a new family now, with people who love me for who I really am.”

“This is goodbye, Ninja…” Beatrix raised her sword up at the team once more. Arin forcibly wrapped his grappling hook around it, trying to yank it out of the mech’s hands.

“You… I WILL FORCE YOU INTO THOSE RIFTS IF I HAVE TO!” she screamed, trying to rip her sword back. She snapped the cable, digging a hole into the ground as she formed a chaos tear at their feet.

“NO!” her attention snapped to her friends. That spark met her vision in reality, swirling around her as her arms lit up pink. She felt a gasp in the distance, wincing at the sound but not removing her eyes from the mech. Her power’s latched onto the sword, spreading to the entire mech.

Beatrix tensed up, trying to move her machine. “Who’s doing this?!”

“Ana? You have elemental powers?” her mom asked.

“I do… But I am not Ana.” she threw the sword back, dismantling it. “My name is SORA!”

She ripped the mech apart with her bare hands, letting Beatrix collapse to the ground. Beatrix screamed, slamming her fists on the ground as she got to her feet. Her head snapped towards her, the rest of the team quickly surrounding her, keeping Sora out of her gaze.

“You little BRAT.”

Cole’s body finally began to die down. He rose to his feet, looking up at the containment for the source dragon. The air suddenly felt so much lighter…

“I’m sorry it took a hot minute. But we’re here to free you.” he began carefully, pulling Geo to his side as he held the three dragon cores.

“Your intention is noble, but freeing me could destabilize the very cosmos.” The source dragon stated.

“That was before we had these. They’re made out of source dragon energy, right? That’s what Pixal told us. They could stabilize elemental powers and end mergequakes, so maybe they could stabilize your release too?” Cole reasoned.

“Wait, since when did you have to use a core to fix a mergequake?” Geo asked.

“We… Had a bit of a rocky travel. That’s how our jet crumbled so easily.”

“Ah.”

“Gifts from my kind to the First Spinjitzu Master. Do you not know what you could do with the power contained in those items?” the dragon asked.

“Ah, not really.” Cole admitted.

“As all elemental powers come from my kind, you hold in your hands their condensed power.”

He stopped, staring up at the dragon in surprise. They held a collective… Of seven source dragon’s power? That felt like… So much. No wonder Lloyd’s power’s recharged instantly while holding these. He found his voice, exhaling slightly. “Elemental powers come from you?”

“Of course. I am one of the seven Source Dragons. Where did you think elemental powers came from? Yet, you wish to sacrifice such power to free me, a being you do not know. Why?”

“Because it’s the right thing to do. Even if… I don’t know you, or understand what kind of power this all entails, I’m willing to help. Always.”

“Hm.” the dragon watched the two closely, Cole gently taking the cores from Geo and into his arms. “I have come to a decision; I accept your sacrifice, conduit.”

The three cores drifted from his arms and up to the containment. The three flashed and crumbled as the dragon finally vanished from its containment. The monastery rumbled, the walls collapsing as the two ninja stumbled before the emergency power fired itself back on.

“We gotta go! NOW!” Cole urged, yanking Geo off the platform. He leapt off with him, lava punching through the metal wall and running up the stairs.

“None of you are leaving this city. GUARDS!” Beatrix yelled. The imperium guards rushed up behind her, backing her up. The team backed away slowly, keeping their distance.

“Lock down every last one of them. AND GIVE ME BACK MY DRAGON!”

“He is not YOURS and will never be YOURS!” Sora screamed back, her powers fired up as she stood in front of Lloyd. Lloyd flickered on his powers, letting the green glow surround his palms. Everyone else prepared themselves, the guards approaching them. In an instant, the walls and protective fortification around Imperium began to crash down.

“GET TO THE MAIN GATES!” Cole yelled, dashing past Beatrix and her army alongside Geo. The entire team took off running down the streets, ducking past the guards. They couldn’t afford to get into a fight, not now! Cole slammed his fists down behind everyone, forcing up a wall of rocks before catching up to them.

“We’re almost there!” Arin gestured ahead, the metal walls nearing the main gates. Cole leapt off ahead of them, forcing the gates open with his arms. Chompy shrunk back into Vania’s arms as she reached the door, falling through first. Everyone else ran past Cole, the guards nearly reaching them before he finally let go, letting the gates slam in their face. The entire kingdom was covered by a dark metal dome, glowing an eerie bright orange as the shield fully returned on top of it.

“That’s… Wow. I didn’t realize that’s what she meant by lockdowns.” Percival gasped, staring at the shield in awe.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t get anyone else out…” Arin apologized, placing his hand on his shoulder. He immediately hugged him, the orange ninja seizing up in shock. 

“Oh! Shoot, I’m so sorry! Do you not like hugs?” he immediately panicked, pushing himself away from Arin.

“No, I love hugs.” Arin softly smiled.

“We should return to the Monastery and rebuild. I have a feeling the Empress would not be bothering us for a long while.” Pixal said.

“It’s gonna be a bit of a long walk… Unless.” Sora glanced at Lloyd. Riyu squawked on his shoulder.

“I know, I’m kidding! But we’ll get to flying eventually, I promise.”

The monastery had been rebuilt. It had taken a couple days a lot of time sleeping back in the crossroads but… They managed to reconstruct what they could, imperfections and all. And even set up more bedrooms for anyone to stay in, whilst keeping the original ninja rooms intact.

“I gotta say, this place is fantastic. I didn’t know you could live in a MONASTERY!” Percival gushed.

“Yeah but… What about your friends? The resistance?” Arin asked.

“They wanted to go explore, find and help more people. Which… I wanna ask you something.”

“Sure, what is it?”

“Could I train with you? I want to master your spinjitzu… I-If that’s okay.”

Arin’s mouth effectively fell open. Percival, ex-imperium like Sora, wanted to train alongside HIM to learn spinjitzu?! The wonky, messed up, totally not perfect spinjitzu?! He coughed, trying to regain himself.

“I mean, sure. But I gotta ask Master Cole, he’s the one training me.”

“Then let’s do it together! I’ve gotten so much better last time we saw each other, watch!” he whirled into a small vortex, purple sparks surrounding his feet. Arin’s eyes widened in awe, staring at the sparks. Percival stumbled, quickly catching himself with the nearby punching bag.

“Hah, sorry. Still figuring out how to keep my balance.”

“Are you KIDDING?! That was awesome! You picked that up faster than me!” Arin exclaimed.

“Well, you make a really great teacher.” 

“You think so?”

“I know so.”

“I genuinely hope I’m not intruding-”

“No it’s totally fine!” Cole said, bringing Vania around the Monastery. “Totally cool with having more company!”

“You sure? But you and Geo-”

“Hey, a friend of Cole’s is a friend of mine. And Chompy could always use a new friend in Riyu.”

Vania sighed, smiling a little as she held onto Chompy. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad… She would have stability, being able to help her friends, maybe save the world… And eventually, return to Shintaro to take down her father.

“Okay… Thank you, both of you. I cannot express this enough.”

“How about we show you to your new room.” Geo took her hands, leading her away.

“So… This is finally it, huh?” Sora said, Riyu resting on her lap. Lloyd struck one of the training dummies, falling back. She quickly caught him, moving him back onto his feet.

“Yeah… This doesn’t feel real, honestly. Am I dreaming?” he asked.

She laughed a little. “Nope! All real.”

“Oh, phew, because I don’t want this to end.”

“I’m sure it won’t. We still got a lot of training to do, and you need to regain your strength before Cole’s gonna let you back onto the field more permanently.” 

“Heh, right…”

“I made celebratory PIES!” Arin declared proudly, bursting open the front doors as Percival helped carry the rest of the pies. “Who wants them?”

“Ooh! Me, please!” Vania headed onto the patio, taking one of the pies.

“Me as well! Can you toss it up here, Percy?” Sora called. Percival threw up three pies, letting them land on the roof. “THANK YOU!”

“There’s plenty to go around, guys!” Arin chirped, handing another to Cole.

“You’ve really outdone yourself, Arin!” he smiled, taking his pie.

“Thank you!”

The soft clinking of ice echoed underneath his footsteps. The air was always so frigid, but as his advisor it did nothing to phase him. He hummed, tapping the corrupted ice in his hands as he approached the throne.

“My Emperor.” Vex bowed before straightening himself up. “I am here to provide news; The kingdom of imperium has lost its power. There is enough room for you to begin your conquest over the Crossroads without anyone standing in your way. Not even those ninja who’ve finally returned to the spotlight.”

The Emperor stood up from his throne, the ice breaking off of his body. “The ninja have… Returned?”

“Yes, they have, my Emperor. And I can assure you that they will begin taking out other kingdoms, including yours. It is best to move now and freeze over the lands however we could. No matter the cost.”

The Ice Emperor hummed, closing his eyes. He raised his staff into the air, tapping it to the ground. The snow began to shake and tremble as ice rose beneath it, crackling out into three core shapes. Their eyes opened, taking off into the air.

“Boreal, Aurora, and Frost… Spread my essence throughout the merged realms. Leave no stone unturned. We will gain more ground over the other lands.”

“And destroy all those who stand in your way.”

“Not destroy, imprison.”

Vex huffed. That was never going to work no matter how much he tried. “And imprison all those who stand in your way.”

“Yes… And imprison all those who stand in my way.”