~One Month Later~

Misty shot up in her bed clutching her sheet and blankets close. Her heart was pounding in her chest widely as sweat dripped down her forehead. Her throat was sore as if she had been screaming, and she was breathing in gasps. In the very front of her mind, she could still see the flashes of scarlet and crimson that still seemed to stain the very corners of her vision.

Once she had calmed herself she began to lay back down slowly. Only for the door of her room to burst open and nearly come flying off its hinges. Causing her to shoot back up in a sitting position and let out a scream of surprise. As Lloyd rushed into her room, he shouted "Where is the attacker?!"

"There's no attacker Lloyd! I just woke with a nightmare!" Misty said quickly and she hurriedly got out of bed.

Lloyd let out a sigh and relaxed and said "I was in my room and I heard you screaming, I thought you were being attacked... or that you found a spider..."

Misty was messaging her forehead and she said, "Seriously a spider ? Really Lloyd?" and she looked up at him incredulously.

Lloyd shrugged and said, "It was a guess... Anyway, are you sure that you are okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine it was just another nightmare." Misty sighed tiredly.

"Misty you've been having those for weeks now. I'm starting to get concerned," Lloyd said

"I'm fine Lloyd it's just nightmares, but thank you for your concern," Misty said kindly

"Anytime, Misty" Lloyd replied and he gave Misty a reassuring smile he then smirked and said, "You should probably get changed,"

Misty's face turned scarlet and looked down at herself and said, "Oh, yeah... well that's embarrassing, a ninja in her PJs."

Lloyd chuckled and gave Misty a kiss on the forehead and said, "See you in a bit," and he left the room.

After Lloyd left Misty started changing her clothes she was still bothered by the dream she had. It had felt so real to her. She tried to push her anxious thoughts to the side as she got dressed, and got ready for the day. After she was done she walked to the dining room where the other ninja sitting and having breakfast. She sat down beside Lloyd and poured herself a bowl of cereal as she stifled a yawn. The group sat and enjoyed their breakfast together as Wu enjoyed a cup of tea as usual.

Unfortunately, their peaceful breakfast was soon interrupted when they heard frantic knocking at the door. Wu left the room to answer. Only to come back seconds later with a scroll, and a concerned look on his face. And he called out to the Ninja. "This is for you," and he handed Lloyd the scroll.

The other Ninja got up and gathered around Lloyd, and he opened the scroll.

"I-Is that blood?" Misty asked tentatively and she peered color at the scroll. It was splattered with brown-colored splotches.

"Oh, great that's an amazing start!" Jay sighed

Lloyd then read aloud what was written on the paper.

Dear, Ninja

We urgently request your aid, we fear a terrible fate has fallen on a neighboring village near ours called, "Ketsueki Village" Strange things had been happening of late. And we have sent members of our own village to go check and they have yet to come back we fear the worst."

"The the messenger tell you anything when he gave you this?" Kai asked Wu

"The messenger said he was bringing this on the behalf of a traveler who arrived in their village injured. He had requested this be brought to the Ninja as soon as possible. He died from his wounds shortly after. " Wu explained grimly.

"Ketsueki Village isn't that really far from the city?" Cole asked

Zane nodded and said, "It's one of the farthest villages from the city, a very rural area."

Misty's brow furrowed and said, "If that's the case this letter probably took a long time to get here! We have to leave right away since there's no way to tell how long ago that letter was written! We might already be too late!"

Wu nodded in agreement and said, "Misty's right Ninja you must prepare to leave immediately!"

The ninja hurried from the dining room and rushed to board the Destiny's Bounty their trusty airship. As usual, Nya took the wheel of the bounty, and Zane and Pixal entered the coordinates. Soon the Bounty was lifting off and they took off in the direction of Ketsueki Village.

"Even with the Bounty, going full speed, it's still going to take a long time to get to the village!" Nya warned

"Thirteen hours, thirty minutes, twenty-five seconds and counting, to be exact," Zane replied

Lloyd looked concerned but said, "The only thing we can do then is prepare, for the moment when we arrived." Lloyd walked over to join Kai who was trying to reason with Jay who was holding the scroll in one hand and was waving it around as he shouted, "Guys, it literally has dried blood splatters! And your first response is Yes that is absolutely the place we need to run blindly to!"

"Ketsueki..." Misty said thoughtfully to herself.

"Blood," Cole said

"What?" Misty said and she turned toward Cole with a look of confusion on her face.

"Ketsueki means blood," Cole explained

"Well isn't that just perfect, what are warning signs to you people!" Jay shouted indignantly

"We can't just ignore it, Jay if people are in danger we have a job to do!" Kai argued

"The Blood Village, that's an ominous-sounding name," Misty muttered and involuntarily shuddered as images from her nightmare flashed through her mind. The edges of her vision momentarily seemed to be tinted with a slightly scarlet color. She closed her eyes tight and shook her head. She felt a warm hand on her shoulder and she opened her eyes, luckily the scarlet hue had disappeared, and she saw Cole was now standing beside her, his hand on her shoulder. He was staring at her with a look of concern on his face.

"Agreed, and it doesn't help that the letter was already unsettling by itself," Cole mumbled and he shifted the Scythe of Quakes in his other hand.

Misty smiled and nodded her head, she reached up and gently patted the back of Cole's hand, to reassure him she was fine. Cole nodded and quickly dropped his hand from her shoulder.

Zane walked over to join them and said, "Reasonably you shouldn't need to be worried about, Ketsueki Village's strange name, it's named the Blood Village, because the water that runs through their rice fields has the hue of bright scarlet and crimson. The strange coloring is due to the red clay that it's the river beds, and it dyes the water in the river the same color. The water is said to be still safe to drink, they use it for cooking, cleaning, and watering their livestock as well."

"Sure that's what they always say!" Jay muttered under his breath.

Lloyd shook his head and sighed but then added, "Still considering the letter it's best that we stay on guard once we arrive. Since we don't really have any idea what to expect."