As we lurched to the side, the Bounty began to descend as alarms went off through out several of the rooms. I slid to one side of the room and had to dodge a few items that fell my way. Marquel stopped himself from falling before flying out of the Bounty. Moments later yellow energy began to surround the Bounty and our descent slowed as everything that wasn't pinned down began to float. Guessing this was another of his gravity fields. I swam over to my sister who had been knocked unconscious and held her close to me to keep her safe as we began to land. Soon we touched the ground and everyone left the Bounty. I set my sister down beside a rock and away from the burning Bounty, being sure she was safe before going over to where the others were. I looked around and noticed we were in an unmarked area of Ninjago, which would explain why we were in the middle of nowhere. I blinked as everyone appeared to be looking at something and followed their gaze to see a figure clothed in black clothing and a red hood. Was that Takalyn? I got my answer when she uncovered her face and brushed her hair aside to reveal her red eyes. She waved at us before nocking an arrow and firing at us. The arrow embedded itself in the ground in front of Martel and he picked it up, taking off a note that was attached to it. He looked at the note, and then back at her, and then back to the note before looking to me.

"She knows you Echo," he told me as purple flames lit up the paper. The paper soon turned to ash and Martel took out his bo staff. "Think she wants to talk to you and your team."

"We'll cover your back," Kai stated as he unsheathed his sword. "If she wants you then go ahead, we'll make sure nothing happens to you."

I shrugged before calling my teammates after me. Hopefully Takalyn came in peace, but given that she was probably the one who had blown us out the sky, that was most likely false. After checking to make sure my sister was still okay, we made our way over to the dark haired archer. Once we stood about three feet away from her she gave us a welcoming smile. Considering a few moments ago she had just blown us out of the sky I doubted that smile was a good sign. I kept a hand on the hilt of my sword before pointing a finger at her, trying to look as intimidating as possible. "What do you want?"

She laughed at me and then pointed the arrow she was twirling between her fingers at me. " Chill, will yah?" Takalyn questioned and went back to twirling the arrow. "I didn't show you all I could do last time we fought and now I feel kinda bad. My dad sent me back out to make sure you don't interfere with what we're doing. Well what M.A.D.'s doing, but it doesn't really matter who's making the plans, you won't be stopping them. I know you have the power of sound so you don't have to move to do this. Tell your friends that you're the only ones who get to fight me. If they try to help I'll kill all of you before they can get to me."

I blinked as I heard that and my hand gripped the hilt of my blade. The sound of metal sharpening could be heard as I released my weapon from its sheath. She planned to use herself as a distraction to keep us away from our main goal? Well then she had better revise her plans if she hoped to keep us from moving forward. I spun my sword and aimed the tip of the blade at her chest, the light from the sun bouncing off of the musical notes that were engraved on the flat of the blade. I relayed the instructions we were given to the rest of the ninja and heard the sounds of several weapons returning back to their holsters. Takalyn smiled at me and went to touch my head but I backed away from her, slashing my sword at her. The boom of music could be heard as I sent a sonic blast toward our enemy. She dodged the strike of my sword and was knocked off of her feet by the blast. The girl was blown away from us and a small cloud of dust was kicked up as she skidded across the ground about 6 yards away. The sound of static was heard next to me as the hair on my head was slightly pulled to the left. I looked to my left and watched as a flash of lightning manifested next to me. Two seconds later Jay was revealed, electricity bouncing off of his body. He turned to face me and placed a hand on my shoulder. Immediately energy began to buzz through me and we became enveloped in a flash of blue light. As the light cleared after a few seconds we stood in front of Takalyn's fallen body. Wow teleporting was.....exhilarating. I took a moment to compose myself. After catching my breath I stood up straight and began to move over to our black haired assailant, careful to keep on my guard.

"Kyle told me to tell you to keep her distracted, we're gonna use her plan against her," Jay informed me. He reached into the belt of his ninja gi and took out his nunchucks before jumping into the air. Once again lightning appeared around him and he disappeared.

I looked back over my shoulder and watched as the ninja each summoned their dragons and took to the skies. Cole lifted my sister from off of the ground and motioned for Kyle to join him, shouting his name as he did. The two of them secured my sister safely and glanced at us. Before they took off Kyle pointed to me before pointing to his head. I titled my own head to the side and was about to question what he meant before sensing the presence of another within my mind. I guess I was getting used to Minerva entering my head now. We're off Echo, be safe, the sound of her voice in my head was surprisingly pleasant this time. Shira tells us you have a way to get back to us so we're gonna assume you'll all be safe. If she gets too tough don't hesitate to retreat, the others do it all the time whenever they need to. Oh yeah and Kyle told me to remind you that there will always be sacrifices in battle. Whatever you do don't....s....Justin.....d...Tak..." Whatever it was she was trying to say got cut off as our links were severed. She had flown too far away to keep up the message, but she had said two things that were important and that was Justin's name and, hopefully my assumption was right, part of Takalyn's name. She mentioned sacrifices, had Kyle been trying to warn me of something that was going to happen to those two? That didn't make much sense given that Takalyn was our opponent and definitely not our friend.

I ignored these thoughts and focused on the task at hand, which was at the moment getting off of the ground. I raised my sword in the air and felt the hum of music vibrate through me as the blade whistled through the air. Another blast was thrown at the red eyed girl and she was once again flung away. Metal gliding against more metal was heard as Bernardo and his sister went into their shining, metal forms. They ran to me along with Dash, Toxin, and Shine. Justin landed beside me using a giant leaf to glide over to us. Wordlessly we each took a position around Takalyn, keeping a bit of distance between ourselves and her. We were fooled once before, we weren't going to be fooled again. The cloaked girl coughed into the ground and stood up again. Blood dripped from her ears and a few scratches that were on her face. She grimaced in pain and glanced at a long gash across her arm. She put a hand over it as she panted and slowly, tentatively she began to back away from us. "Well I told you I didn't get to show you everything I could do, you just helped me find a way to show you."

What did she mean by that? I motioned for Shine to watch her as I looked around the girl's body, making sure she didn't make any sudden movements. Before I could blink something flew past my cheek and clipped it, knocking me off of my feet. I held a hand over my cheek as I planted the blade of my sword into the ground, using it to get back to my feet. What exactly had that been? I heard a whoosh as something else was slung through the air, coming straight for me. I couldn't react quick enough and was thankful when Dash ran past me, using his daggers to slice whatever had been launched at me. The object split as it connected with his weapons and slowed down. A splatter of red began to slowly move forward and I squinted a bit to see that it had been....was that blood? Once the droplets fell to the ground I was able to inspect them further and confirmed that it was indeed blood. I returned my gaze back on Takalyn and watched as she slid her hand against the gash on her arm. A red glow came from her eyes as the red highlights in her hair lit up. Proceeding that more blood flew from her arm as she drew her hand away from it. She rotated her arm in a circular motion and the blood sharpened before it zipped towards us. I went to guard against this attack only for the ground below me to rumble. The head of a giant flower broke through the ground and protected me from the sharpened blood. The flower sank back into the ground and I rushed to where Takalyn was preparing another attack. Blood left her wound again but she was cut off as an arrow whizzed past her ear. I paused to look at Shine as she prepared to unleash another arrow, burning with intensely hot light. She drew the drawstring back before an arrow cut through the air, on a path to strike Takalyn through her arm. Following this Toxin jumped past our light haired friend and blew a dart toward Takalyn. Both projectiles were stopped before they could reach their target, plunging into a wall of semi-hardened blood.

A rush of wind went past me as Dash went to hit Takalyn. I followed his lead as I struck my sword into the ground, sending myself forward with a giant blast of sound. I overtook Dash and used my powers once again to launch myself higher into the air. I spun in a wheel like motion, swinging my sword as I did. My attack was deflected, sparks flying into the air as I struck a bloody barrier, creating a distraction for Dash to rush down our enemy with a horizontal slash across her torso. Takalyn grunted and reached for Dash before he could run away while I slid across the ground, digging my sword into the ground to slowdown. Dirt, rocks, and dust rose up as I created a trail in the ground with my sword. I finally was able to stop before Dash's body crashed into mine. Both of us tumbled across the ground, skidding to a stop before Shine's feet. I coughed a few times as I slowly began to get back to my feet. I helped Dash to stand and heard Shine reach for another arrow. Bernardo leaped over our heads with his sister right behind him. Both metal elementals shortened the distance between themselves and Takalyn in a matter of seconds. As they winded up a punch they were caught off guard by a thin line of blood zipping towards them. Instinctively they stopped in their tracks and Takalyn closed her hand into a fist, the blood now maneuvering around their bodies. Soon enough they were ensnared in a rope of blood.

"So she can trap people too," I suddenly commented which earned me a strange look from both Dash and Shine.

"What're you talking about man?" Dash questioned me. The brunette threw his dagger in front of my face, a splatter of blood covering me once he had. Her attacks were getting faster too.

I wiped the splash of blood from my face before answering his question. "I was paying attention to her attacks and noticed she was only blocking and doing long rang attacks. Turns out she can also trap with her powers, also her attacks are getting a little faster. We should be close to winning though, she only has so much blood after all."

After I had finished my statement I was met with the surprised faces of both of my teammates. "I thought Aaralyn said you were stupid," Dash chuckled. The speedy boy then twirled his other blade between his fingers and left us to ourselves.

I went to make my move before being stopped as I felt the grip of something around my waist. I looked down to see a tendril of blood firmly wrapped around me. A moment later I was violently pulled off of my feet and launched toward Takalyn. I struggled to stop myself and let out a cry of pain as she delivered a spinning kick to my back, the tendril disappearing as she did. I coughed up blood as I crashed into a nearby rock, coughing up a chunk of blood. How hard had she hit me? My vision blurred as I grew dizzy from the blow. Getting up after that hit was hard and by the time I did I could see that my entire team was either ensnared in a web of blood or lying on the ground in pain. She must have gotten all of us when she had taken a hold of me. My breathing grew shallower but I was still determined to win this battle. I held my arm in one hand and started to sprint over to Takalyn. Just as I got within three feet of her she turned to me with a wicked smile on her face.....holding Justin as tightly as she could with a blade hovering over his throat. Justin tried to speak but was silenced as the blade got a little closer to his neck.

"Stop!" I cried pathetically as I outstretched an arm, trying to free Justin. "Let him go right now!"

"I don't think you're really able to make demands considering I can cut out leaf boy's throat with a flick of my wrist," Takalyn replied in a strained voice. Upon closer inspection I was able to notice the many, many wounds she had sustained as well as the cut across her stomach that Dash had given her. "I was sent here for two reason, the first was to distract you which you already know. The second was to gather you from the ninja. So what's it gonna be Echo, you've only got two options. Either come with me peacefully, I promise we'll do something 'bout the damage I gave you. Or you can reject my offer and let leafy here die."

There will always be sacrifices in battle. This is what Kyle had been trying to warn me about. Minerva had mentioned Justin and Takalyn's name and now I had pieced it together, the archer was going to kill Justin and it was my job to save him. I glared at her which only made her smirk more. I then reached for my sword only to find I didn't have it near me, it had been knocked out of my hands when I was pulled in earlier. I then pointed an outstretched hand toward Takalyn and released....a small melody. A glanced back at my hands and tried again but continued to produce the same annoying sound. Of course I run out of energy now.

"I see you made your choice, alright then he dies."

"Wait!" I managed just as Takalyn raised her blade. "I...I'll go with you. Just let him go."

My team members all gasped yet Takalyn kept her promise and let go of Justin. The nature child took a few deep breaths to regain the air he had been losing before glancing at me, his face a mixture of sadness and confusion. "Echo, no you can't go with her! I'd rather let myself perish before you go with her to M.A.D."

I ignored him and slowly began to walk toward Takalyn. The blood user placed a hand on the top of my head and patted it before spinning me around to face my shocked team members. "Good boy, now say goodbye to your friends."

Before I could utter a word mercenaries dropped from the sky as a helicopter materialized in the air. Faster than I could count to five I was hauled into the helicopter along with Takalyn. I turned to her with a look of pure rage as water began to gather in my eyes. "I don't care what you're planning to do with me, but don't touch them if you don't want to die."

"I'll keep that in mind, but I just want to let you know I won't have to fight them ever again if I don't want to. Now you'll be doing the fighting for us," she replied and gave me another pat to the head. "Doesn't that sound fun?"

Aaralyn's POV
I woke up with a start and instantly winced as pain shot through my head. I held my skull in my hands and noticed that something appeared to be wrapped around it. Where was I? What had happened to me? As my vision began to clear I came face to face with a pair of purple eyes. I jumped up and pulled out my daggers, well at least I wanted to anyway, I only ended up drawing up air. I heard someone giggle at me before finally noticing that it had only been Shadow who was in front of me. My face began to heat up as I realized Martel, Marquel, Dusty, and Violet were all staring down at me. Not the best way to wake up.

"You good?" Marquel asked me with a grin, "cause I don't think Shadow's that scary. I mean I ain't gon' judge if you are afraid of her bu-"

"I was startled that's it," I interrupted, clearing my throat and looking away as the heat in my cheeks grew hotter. "A-Anyway where are we and what happened to me? Where's Echo?"

At the mention of my brother's name all of the dragon ninja frowned and glanced down at the ground. I looked to each one of them but was given no indication of what had suddenly changed their demeanors, only that none of them could look me in the eye. A small peg of annoyance entered me and I narrowed my eyebrows at them, turning to Shadow who had stopped laughing and had now turned her attention to the wall. I walked up to her and poked her shoulder, putting my hands on my hips as I stared down at the shorter girl. She looked up at me but couldn't keep eye contact, instead vouching to look around the room.

"Shadow...where's Echo?" I asked with a bit more seriousness evident in my voice.

Shadow gulped before answering with a quivering voice. "E-Echo isn't here with us anymore. He's gone."