It seems strange now, but remember when Ninjago was the only thing on the map? When it was our entire world?

A young, somewhat dark skinned female who looked like she had just hit her teen years bustled about in the kitchen of her family home, grabbing a lemon and slicing it up so that she could stick a couple of pieces on the rims of the two tall glasses, each filled with a pink liquid, on the counter before her. Her somewhat wavy ash blonde hair was pulled back into a pony tail to avoid letting any loose strands from falling into her liquid creations, and the multi-colored flannel jacket that was tied around her waist flared up with each quick movement. After adding a couple of mint leaves for decoration, the female picked up both glasses and proceeded to make her way towards the front door and onto the porch, where her parents, an interracial couple, were sitting on a swinging bench, who both gave the young female a smile of thanks as she handed them the drinks.

Both adults had a look of love and pride as they watched a young dark skinned, curly black haired boy hop, kick, and spin around on top of a gate while holding a broom while wearing a pair of somewhat baggy jeans and a hoodie that seemed to be a bit too big for him. He looked like he was entering his pre-teen age, which made the fact that he was balancing himself on the top of a gate of all things pretty impressive. Sure, the kid was a little wobbly, but he was staying up there all the same.

I used to spend all my time trying to be like my heroes, the Ninja. Practising their moves, learning their poses. I wanted to be just like them! To protect everyone in Ninjago. To ride dragons into adventure and mythical realms! Mysterious lands that could only exist in legend!

"Looking good over there Arin! Keep it up!" the teenage looking female called out as she stood at the edge of the steps that led away from the porch and set her hands on her hips, squinting her eyes a bit due to the bright sunlight.

"Thanks Kiba!" Arin replied as he did a little spin kick.

Well, attempted to anyway. He got really wobbly for a couple seconds, but he managed to steady himself, and spun on one foot so that he was facing his family. A determined look situated itself across his facial features, and he narrowed his brown eyes for a moment before jumping forwards into a front flip.

He managed to land on his feet, even if he did stumble backwards a couple paces. Kiba gave a nod of approval while the two adults in the swinging chair held a round of applause.

"Not bad, Arin. Not bad at all" Kiba stated as she walked over and offered up a high five.

Arin slapped his hand against hers as he let go of the broom.

But I quickly found out that those legendary realms, were very real. And I was about to lose almost everyone that was important to me. My neighborhood must've been the very center of, The Merge. But back then, we didn't know what to call it. It was just chaos.

A sudden loud thundering boom that shook the very ground and startled almost everyone that heard it echoed through the air as everything became coated in a red light, and the once blue sky was shrouded by different shades of reds and purples. A harsh wind began to blow, knocking over parked bicycles and trashcans, and the two kids in their front yard weren't the only ones that looked around in confusion at the sudden weather change. A thick crackling white and pink line stretched across part of the sky like a crack through glass, and there was another loud boom as the line quite literally opened up, showing inside it a glitching out view of the top of an unfamiliar city.

Arin backed up a bit into Kiba, his look of terror and confusion mirrored in her cyan colored eyes as she set one hand on his shoulder, using the other in an attempt to shield her face from the harsh wind. Another crackling boom rolled through the air, and a second opening tore through the sky. The images in this one kept glitching between a roaring dragon, a blue colored planet, and strange mountain tops shrouded in a mist that was provided by some clouds.

Kiba tried her best to not react too badly for Arin's sake as a truck with a loaded bed was pulled, rolling and screeching into the air towards the strange and, quite frankly, terrifying openings in the sky. Both kids turned towards the house as their mother called out for them from the shelter of the doorway with their father beside her.

"Arin! Kiba! Get inside, It's too dangerous out there!" the adult woman hollered.

"You try moving around out here, see how easy it for you!" Kiba shot back as she attempted to start making her way towards the house.

Poor Arin was being pulled and spun this way at that, and there were a couple times his feet actually left the ground due to the intensity of the wind that seemed to be getting harsher by every passing second. Holding on to her brother's wrist in hopes that he wouldn't fly away, the teenage female pressed on, struggling to stay upright as the tremors that racked through the ground got a bit more violent. She had been keeping her head down in an attempt to shield herself from the wind, but a harsh cracking and splintering noise caused her to look up, and horror flooded through her at the sight of her home being quite literally lifted out of the ground as her parents held on to the doorway for dear life.

"No!" Both kids chorused as their family home rose up farther into the air. With the house no longer in place, it allowed some of the much stronger gusts of wind to swipe through the place, and Kiba let out a short cry of fear as she and and Arin, who began to yell his head off, were tossed up into the air, barely hearing their own names being shouted by their father as each side of the family drifted farther away from the other. And during that whole thing, terror went through both siblings as they lost their hold on each other, and Kiba was sent head over heels by another rough gust of wind.

That's when my heroes, the Ninja, arrived. We were in so much danger, but I couldn't help but be excited. Not to mention relieved when I was reunited with my sister.

With her entire world flipping and spinning on it itself, Kiba wasn't too keen on paying much attention to the flash of green and gold that made itself present in her peripheral vision. That is, until it crashed into her, eliciting a sharp cry of surprise from the female. She was vaguely aware of the arm that wrapped itself tightly around her midsection, or of the fact that her body was now moving in a singular direction.

"Hang on kiddo. I gotcha" a male's voice called out over the noise.

"Heh. Just get me off this wild ride and I'll be fine" Kiba replied in a breathless tone.

Hey, she used humor as a coping mechanism in stressful situations, alright? Don't judge her. Besides, the person holding on to her let out a chuckle at her words.

"Don't worry. This'll be over right about... now"

At the end of his sentence, Kiba was promptly dropped onto a thankfully solid surface, though her momentum caused her to roll a bit. It took her a couple moments to realize she was now onboard the Destiny's Bounty itself.

"Wait, Kiba?!" a familiar voice cried out as the female managed to get herself on her feet.

She barely had the time to steady herself before Arin slammed into her like a cannon ball, effectively taking away her ability to breathe as he wrapped his arms around the lower end of her rib cage. Not that Kiba minded it as she hugged him back just as tightly. It just meant that her brother was here, alive, and seemingly okay for the most part.

After a couple seconds of staying like that, Kiba pulled back, and harshly flicked Arin right between the eyes, causing him to back up a bit with a slightly pained yelp as he rubbed a couple fingers against the spot.

"That was for scaring me half to death!" the female lightly snapped at him, pointing an accusatory finger at him as she spoke.

"Apologies on breaking up this little reunion, but are you guys lost?" the same male voice from before spoke up, and Kiba turned to see someone shrouded in green that everybody in the land of Ninjago knew very well.

It was Lloyd, the legendary Green Ninja, and one of the saviors of Ninjago. However, now was, unfortunately, not the time to get awestruck. So, Kiba pushed those feelings of awe, shock, and amazement out of the way to answer his question as best she could.

However, before she could say something, she was quickly distracted by what seemed to be a large cargo container coming straight at them.

"Uh, might wanna look out for that" she stated worriedly, bringing the green ninja's attention to the approaching danger.

Before anybody could do anything about it, a large blue colored Mech came out from under the ship that group was on, flew over it, and practically smashed the cargo container to smithereens. When the Mech began to dive down, it gave Arin and Kiba the chance to see who was operating it. Turns out, it was Jay, the lightning ninja.

He piloted the Mech around the Bounty, smashing away anything that had the chance to become a threat before flying off to help out in other ways. He wasn't the only one taking out obstacles. The sound of something being blasted away caused Kiba to turn her head.

At the helm of the ship a person clad in red, shooting literal balls of flame from his hands at anything that could be considered a danger. He needed no introduction. Everybody knew him as Kai, the Master of Fire.

The feeling of her brother eagerly pulling on her sleeve caused the female to divert her attention to him, and then to something that he was excitedly pointing at. A house, one that was different to their family home, was floating up into the sky. On the roof, a couple was sandwiched between two cargo containers, but someone who was clad in black and orange was quick to join them.

He slammed his fists together, causing some markings on his arms and forehead to glow a bright yellow color, before lifting up and tossing away the top container. Then he picked up the two victims, and after some contemplation, he tossed them both towards the ship while taking a leap himself. As they all approached the Destiny's Bounty, where yet another Ninja who wore white and silver, hopped up on the raised sidings and stuck out his hands.

Under his guidance a thick block of ice stretched from the Bounty towards Cole and the victims, guiding them all to the deck of the Bounty. At the other side of the deck, a large ball of water began to collect together, and it burst when the victims collided with it, effectively slowing down their speed and preventing them from going over the edge.

"Oh, my gosh. All of the Ninja. And their all here! Can you believe this?!" Arin whisper shouted as he pulled on Kiba's arm and lightly jumped from the excitement.

"I know, I know! But keep it together man" Kiba replied with a smile of her own as she lightly tapped her brother's arm in an effort to get him to calm down a bit.

Bit by bit, more people were placed onto the deck of the Bounty, until it was time to get them all to somewhere that was safe. All of the Ninja shared a look with each other, a silent conversation being carried out between them, before Zane hopped up to the steering wheel. Under his guidance, the Destiny's Bounty descended towards a building, where it took a quick U-turn while casting off its anchor, which latched onto a corner of the building, causing the chain to go taut as the ship was brought to a sharp halt.

One by one, each Ninja guided a victim down the chain, unless the Ninja was Cole, since he was bringing down two or three people at a time thanks to his strength. After a little bit of watching people sliding down the chain, Kiba was approached by Nya, the Master of Water.

"Alright you, hop on up" she said, turning around and crouching a bit.

Kiba understood what the Ninja wanted, and after putting her hands on the older female's shoulders, Kiba lightly jumped up onto the Ninja's back. Nya put one hand on her forearm and the other under her knee to help keep her in place.

"Wait, what about my brother?" Kiba asked, twisting her head around a bit while Nya began to walk.

"I'm sure one of my colleagues is getting him" the Water Ninja told her in a reassuring tone as she stepped up onto the edge of the Bounty.

The young teen's worry was abated when she turned her head and spotted her brother getting a piggy back ride from Lloyd. After that, her thoughts then decided to take a much needed momentary smoke break when Nya hopped off the Bounty and onto the chain, sliding down and jumping off the thing with practised grace and agility. Kiba was deposited on the rooftop, and Lloyd soon came down the chain himself while holding Arin against his back, reuniting her with her brother for what would hopefully be the final time.

As he stood beside Kiba, Arin seemed to remember something.

"Green Ninja, you gotta save our parents!" he cried.

"They, along with their house, were caught up in the storm" the teenage female explained.

"That's what we're here for" Lloyd reassured the two.

Arin gave a nod as Kiba pulled him closer to her, and the Green Ninja gave them a two fingered salute while holding on the the anchor of the Bounty as it began flying off. By this point, multiple rifts had opened up along side one another, giving the sky the effect of shattered glass shards.

And that's when it happened.

The light that was given off by the center joining point of all the rifts engulfed Jay's Mech and the Destiny's Bounty. The light seemed to grow brighter, causing everyone who was looking at it to try and shield their eyes. It was a very odd thing to witness.

One second, there were rifts to different realms covering the sky, the next, there was nothing. It caused Kiba's guard to rise. And she was right to be cautious, because a couple seconds later, an explosion that wasn't unlike a supernova took place at the point where all the rifts came together.

And everybody's vision was filled with white as an echoing bang ripped through the air.

As I saw my small neighborhood disappear, and a new city show up on the horizon, I realized that I had witnessed The Merge first hand. The moment all the mysterious realms I had only heard about merged with Ninjago for reasons no one's been able to figure out. I survived, and so did my sister. But we were alone. Our parents, and everyone we had ever knew, vanished.

...

"With our parents and our home gone, we had to make a new life for ourselves. Before, everyone I knew looked like me. Now I walk the streets with skeleton people, buy food from snail people, sell pies to frog people. And since the ninja disappeared, I realized it's up to me to carry on their legendary traditions"

Kiba closed her eyes and let out a soft sigh before pushing herself to the top of the pile of metal she was sifting through, and leaning her head against her crossed arms.

"Aw, what a lovely story little brother. Except for the fact that you forgot about the ghosts from the Departed Realm" she called out, startling Arin from his attempted Ninja pose.

She dutifully ignored the fact that he had put on the Green Ninja's mask.

"Arin, not to insult the dreams of one of my best new friends-" a light skinned, pink haired female piped up from behind him.

Her hair had been tied up in a high set pony tail. Her eyes were the same color as the under shirt she wore under her white racing suit, which was a beautiful deep indigo. Small curving dark tan colored whisker-like lines followed the curves of her cheeks and eyes.

Markings she had been born with. The black headphones she wore had purple and pink cat ears on them. And one arm of her suit was plated with gold colored armor.

"Sora, don't worry about insulting his dreams. I do it all the time. All in fun of course" Kiba called out as she raised her head off her arms and instead propped her chin against a closed fist.

"...But, you are so not a ninja" Sora continued as she shook a can before tossing it away upon discovering it was empty as she got a nod of agreement from Kiba.

Arin let out a sigh as he turned to face the two females.

"And how would you know Sora? You didn't grow up with them like I did. All I need is a master to train me" he said.

"Sure! Uh, just one problem. There are no Ninja Masters around anymore" came the tech junkie's response.

Kiba fully climbed to the top of the pile of metal she was on, making sure to avoid cutting up her hands on the sharp edges she was presented with.

"Arin, maybe it's time you faced the possibility. No one has seen or even heard anything from or about the Ninja since The Merge. And we're about to come up on the third anniversary of the day it happened. I'm not saying you should give up on your dream of becoming a ninja, but, perhaps its time you started looking around for, well, something else. Expand your options, y'know?" she said as she searched through a few crushed up milk cartons before tossing them beside her.

Kiba did her best to ignore just how defeated the sigh that came out of her brother sounded, then she looked up when the dogs that Arin had been trying to distract began to bark a couple times.

"Hey, uh, have either of you found what we need yet? I can only distract these dogs from making noise for so long" he said before letting out a nervous sounding laugh.

"I, uh, I don't actually have that many stories to tell" he added.

"Give us a second" Sora told him as she started moving a little faster.

Kiba had just removed a piece of crumbled and bent sheet metal when she heard an "Aha!" from behind her. Turning around, the cyan eyed female noticed Sora raising her fist, which was clutched tightly around something, in victory.

"Boom! And we didn't even set of the-" the tech junkie started to say before an orange light began flashing and an alarm began blaring, which really set off the dogs, who all began to run around while barking their heads off.

"Congrats Sora. Ya jinxed us!" Kiba called out with a good-natured smile and a joking tone.

"Uh guys? We should probably leave right about now" Arin stated as he motioned towards a group of approach yellow colored security bots with glowing narrowed red eyes who were all chanting out "Halt!".

"Yeah, pretty sure that's our cue right there" Kiba commented as she pulled up the scarf that was around her neck to cover her nose and mouth as she started her descent from the pile of metal.

"I always like how you guys think" Sora said as she took off her headphones and flipped on her hood before pulling up her mask.

Landing on her feet after performing a somersault, Kiba waited for her and Arin to join her before she took off running. Of course, she had to keep her pace down a bit so that her brother and best friend could actually keep up with her.

"Ugh! There's gotta be an easier way to get mechanical parts!" Arin cried out as he ducked to avoid a blast that was fired at him.

"There is. It's called having money. Which isn't exactly our situation" his best friend told him as the group weaved their way through compressed blocks and piles of metal.

"After tomorrow, it might be!" came the boy's response.

"We can think about that later. First, let's get away from the killer robots" Kiba stated as she vaulted over the hood of an old car.

"I love how you just said that so casually"

"Oh I know, right?"

Making another turn, a small hint of relief went through the group as a pair of large rolling doors came into view. But of course, as luck would have it, the familiar chanting of "Halt!" reached their ears, and the yellow guard bots from before made thier way in front of the door, turned towards the trio, and began shooting at them.

"Shit. Hit the deck!" Kiba yelled out before diving and somersaulting behind an broken down washing machine.

Arin did a backwards flip and landed rather wobbly on one foot while Sora leapt behind a small pile of metal for shelter.

"Alright then! Ninjaaaaaa-!" the male called out as Kiba reached for the back of her jeans.

"You're not a Ninja" Sora interjected as she deflected a blast with a ridge piece of sheet metal.

"...Wannabe Ninjaaaa go!"

With that, Arin began rushing forward, moving from side to side to avoid the blasts that were fired at him. He suddenly performed a side flip, and an orange colored light began to surround his lower body, propelling him into the air, then straight towards the closest robot. Arin delivered a harsh kick to its visor that sent it flying backwards into the rest of its companions.

However, the kick also backfired a bit, and Arin landed face down on the ground beside Sora, who looked momentarily concerned for the well being of her best friend.

"Yeesh, Arin, my man, you good?" Kiba asked as she unclipped what she was looking for and gave it a quick flick.

A blade that was just a bit bigger than her hand came out of its handle, and the cyan eyed female used it to deflect some of the blaster fire that was aimed at her.

"Rough landing, but you're getting better at that" Sora commented as she quickly moved over to Arin with her makeshift shield and pulled him to his feet.

"Alright you guys, I think it's time we found a way out of this situation" Kiba called out as she jumped out from behind the washing machine.

"That depends. Think you can make a distraction?" Sora asked as she turned to look at Arin.

"I don't think these bots want to hear my story about The Merge" the boy replied as another shot was blocked and deflected.

"Bruh, then just do something else!" Kiba stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

After a moment, her brother gave a determined nod and hopped out from behind Sora's shield, taking out a grappling hook as he did so. Upon firing it, the grappling hook itself made contact with a scrap magnet, and after giving it a little tug, Arin pulled on the trigger again and went flying as the line was reeled in.

"Up here! You! Garbage can!" he taunted as he kicked a bot in visor before going up higher while swinging around for another encounter.

All of the bots followed his progress and fired their blasters at him, completely unaware of the two people sneaking up behind them. Readying her knife, Kiba took a running leap and landed on the back of a bot, slamming her knife into the surprisingly thin metal of the head of the robot she had attacked. She had managed to hook her fingers around some wires before the robot began to try and get her off it's back.

Though its movement were on the jerky side and not fully coordinated. Kiba's knife must have managed to damage the thing's central processing unit. Moving beyond that fact, the blue eyed female planted her feet against the robot's air vents and pulled her knife out of it's head, leaving behind a hole that sparked with electricity.

Using the knife to single out the wires she wanted, Kiba created a small loop with them and inserted her knife. With a sharp slicing tug, the wires were cut, and the bot gave a few twitched before falling forwards, completely limp. Kiba front flipped and twisted around in mid air, landing on her feet while facing the rest of the bots.

She was quickly joined by Sora, how had merely fiddled with some connections in the wires rather than full on disabling them, and Arin made his grappling hook release so that he could the two females on the ground. The bots began to approach the trio, weapons ready to fire, before they all suddenly stopped and stood straight. Some lights flicked on, shining down on the bots, who all began to dance perfectly in sync with each other while chanting the word "Dance".

Kiba gave a small chuckle as she and Sora fistbumped each other.

"Ha! Nice" the blue eyed female stated as she pulled down her scarf and rested the back of her hand with the knife against her hip.

"I will never get over how quickly you can hack stuff like that" Arin commented as he pulled back the Green Ninja's hood and mask.

The slight scuff and dirt marks on it caused Kiba to make a mental note on washing it later.

"What can I say? I'm just naturally good at tech stuff. It's been like that since I was a kid" Sora said reply to Arin's comment as she pushed back her hood and replaced it with the cat ear headphones.

Arin began digging through the bag that was bumping against his hip, and took out a clear film wrapped pie with blue colored filling. It didn't look too smashed up, which was surprising considering the ordeal the group just went through.

"You know, we might not have money, but I'm sure the owners of this place would love one of my delicious homemade pies, right? As payment for the gear we're... borrowing?" the boy said in a cheerful tone as he approached a ledge made out of compacted metal and set the pie on it, making sure that the dogs that swarmed him couldn't reach it before returning to his sister and best friend.

"Oh, absolutely" Kiba stated with a smile and a carefree hand waving movement.

"Who doesn't love pie?" Sora added as she pulled Arin into a one armed hug before heading for a hole in the fence.

Kiba, who got there first, lifted up the opening to make sure no one got caught by some of the bits that were sticking out before going through it herself. After a little bit of walking, the trio found themselves right smack in the middle of down town. During the day, it was alright.

There were usually a few people that were crossing the streets while on their way to work. But during the night, that's when the place really came to life. Lanterns and brightly colored neon signs casted their light on the bustling roads and sidewalks that were filled with different races, cultures, and walks of life.

Both the living, and the undead.

Ghosts, humans, skeletons, Merlopians, Munce, Geckles, robots, and Serpentine took over the roads and streets, each species and race sharing conversations of friendly and casual natures. The air was filled with different scents and smells of different spices and street side cuisine, the sound of engines humming from Mechs and vehicles and the chatter from passerbys that rose and fell in common and unfamiliar native tongues. Multi-story buildings, stores, and dining areas lined the streets, the noises from inside them being added to the din of smells and noises.

Sure, its was all rather chaotic, and noisy, quite frankly a little overwhelming, but it was familiar. Of course, when controlled and uncontrolled chaos is all you've experienced for almost three years, you tend to get used to it pretty quickly. After living in what became the Crossroads after The Merge, Kiba could say with absolute certainty that almost nothing could faze her anymore.

"Hello Grabak! Good to see you as always!" she called out with a friendly wave to a passing Hypnobrai, who returned the greeting with equal enthusiasm.

"Kiba! Likewisse. How'ss the Mech coming along?" the bi-pedal snake hissed out with a friendly expression in his red ringed eyes.

"It's going great actually. We've got our hopes set on securing first place this year"

"Give them hell out there kiddo! I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines!" Avisia, a Merlopian, jumped in.

Kiba gave a light chuckle as she began to side step away like a crab.

"Thank you! And will do! See you guys around!" she called before jogging to catch up with her brother and best friend, who were both moving aside to avoid being stepped on by a Mech that was half walking half skating through the road.

"Oof. Watch your step Newt!" Sora yelled after the retreating Mech before facing forward again.

"Feels like tonight's a bit more busy than usual" Arin commented as he took a look at all the hustle and bustle that was going on.

"Well yeah. Tomorrow's race day. Everybody knows that a lot of the big preparations for such events take place the day before" Kiba explained in a matter-of-fact tone as she moved to the side to avoid someone who was carrying a large box that partially blocked their vision.

"Be careful with that!" she suggested towards the retreating person.

They gave no indication that they heard her, but that was alright. A couple of twists and turns later, and the trio arrived at the outskirts of the city square. The placed was lined with stands that were selling fruits, confections, drinks, food, and was that an alcohol stand that Kiba spotted out of the corner of her eye?

There were a few new stands out here tonight, and the cyan eyed female was so caught up in trying to figure out what they were that she almost didn't notice the lights coming up behind the group. However, Arin was quick to let out a yelp of warning as he aimed his grappling hook and fired it, grabbing on to Sora as he did so. That left Kiba to launch herself out of the way to avoid getting hit by a loaded produce truck.

"Hey! Watch where you're going you bastard!" she heard Sora's voice yell out as it got fainter the farther she went up.

"Fucking idiots" Kiba quietly hissed under her breath as she lightly shook her head, her narrowed eyes on her possibly would-be killer as she picked herself up and dusted off her clothes.

Taking her eyes off the vehicle as it drove away, Kiba instead looked up in the direction her brother and best friend had gone. It took her sharp eyesight only a moment to pick up on the orange colored hoodie and the cat eared headphones. Luckily, the place the two had ascended to had a ladder that led up to it, though it left her arms and legs feeling like they were burning a bit by the time she got to the top.

"Kiba! You okay?" Arin asked as the cyan eyed female's foot crossed over the last ladder rung.

"Oh yeah. I'm just great. Love having to throw myself out of the way of some inattentive driver" came the sarcastic reply.

"And now my hip hurts, but that's alright" she added as she began walking.

Arin looked like he was about to follow, but then he paused.

"You know, I still can't get over how amazing the kingdom of Imperium looks. It's perfect, isn't it?" he said, causing Kiba to turn and then look out in the direction he was.

Sure enough, out in the distance, a city sat at the top of a hill, it's light illuminating the single most tallest building in it. Sure, the city looked pretty enough, but nobody except Sora herself knew of what went on beyond those walls.

"Don't believe everything you hear about Imperium" she said as she stepped forward a bit, her voice taking on a warning tone as both siblings looked toward her.

"I'm from there, remember? Their idea of perfect isn't mine. The Merge slamming it up against Ninjago gave me the perfect chance to get out" she stated, pushing a finger roughly into Arin's chest before turning and walking away.

"And the perfect chance to meet me and Kiba" Arin told her as he motioned a hand towards himself and his sister before he began jogging to catch up with his best friend.

Kiba followed along at a more leisurely with her hands stuffed into the pockets of her jacket. With her longer leg span, she would catch with the two no matter what.

"Admittedly, I'd still like to go there someday. Or go anywhere. I've never really been out of my own neighborhood. The Crossroads just grew up around the area where my house used to be" Arin lightly rambled.

"You want to experience other places? Look around!" Sora told him as she put one hand on his shoulder and waved the other out to the view before them.

"Why go anywhere when the best of all the realms moved here to the Crossroads? For example, me" the tech junkie stated rather cheerfully before darting off the ledge the trio was beside.

Her hands found a window sill to hang on to as Arin did a full on jump to the next platform that was below the group. Kiba front flipped down and landed on her hands, which she purposely let give out so that she could roll and land on her feet. Sora let go of the window sill she was holding on to, and let herself drop down to join the two siblings.

After dropping down a couple more platforms and pulling off some pretty cool parkour moves while they were at it, the trio finally landed on the ground, and after checking to make sure no inattentive drivers, or drivers in general were coming, they began to cross the street.

"You know, I'm glad you came here Sora. You're my bff, part of my fam, but, some of us are only here because we had nowhere else to go" Arin stated as Kiba began pulling ahead a bit.

"I understand that, but you have to admit, having our own penthouse is pretty cool" Sora replied as she pointed to the top of a multi-level building that the trio was approaching.

"And I'm almost done paying it off. One more paycheck, and it'll finally be over" Kiba said with an air of theatrics to her words and her actions, causing her younger companions to giggle or chuckle at her dramatics.

"Just one?" Sora asked as she raised an eyebrow.

"Actually, yes. Now moving on, what are we feeling for dinner tonight? I'm thinking potstickers and steamed dumplings" Kiba said as she put her hands on her hips.

"Ooo. Now that sounds good" Sora stated, her mouth already starting to water.

Arin's stomach chose that moment to growl a bit, causing everybody to laugh a bit.

"Well, just for the sake of working up an appetite... race you guys to the top!" Kiba cried out, darting forward and jumping a bit to grab on the the edge of a balcony.

From there, she began to parkour her way up the side of the building. She heard the tell-tale noise of Arin's grappling hook being fired, and a quick head turn confirmed her suspicions as Arin soared on past her, giving a grin as he went up.

"Last one there is a rotten egg!" the boy called out.

"You cheeky bastard! / Hey! That's cheating!" Kiba and Sora chorused as both females picked up the pace with their movements.

"See ya! Wouldn't want to be ya!" Arin hollered, his voice fading a bit the higher he went.

With his head turned down to face them, he was unaware of the fact that he was getting a little too close to the roof for comfort.

"Wait, Arin! Be careful my guy!" Kiba yelled out as she paused on the guard rails of a balcony.

"You're going too-!" Sora hollered in warning, but she was a little too late.

Arin went flying into the penthouse, where an audible crashing sound accompanied by a quick, "Dang it!", followed.

"...-fast" Sora finished her sentence before sharing a look with Kiba, who gave a sigh and a shrug before continuing to make her way up the building.

...

Shaking the pan a bit, Kiba gave a smile as most of the potstickers came loose, and she used a pair of chopsticks to unstick the rest before grabbing a large plate, three small plates, and a couple small dishes filled with soy sauce. Setting all of the potstickers on the large plate, Kiba took a couple trips to arrange everything, including a covered basket that was full of steamed dumplings, on a low-set coffee table that was in the middle of what made up the living room. A few unopened chopsticks were placed on the small plates, and with that, dinner was ready.

"Hey guys! Food's ready!" she called out.

After she spoke, the oven let out a loud ding, and Arin came rushing in, pulling on a pair of oven mitts as he went.

"And so is dessert!" he said as he opened the oven and pulled out a steaming pie with blue colored filling.

Sora, who was tinkering with an engine component that was on her workbench, gave a shout of delight as the thing let out a low humming noise, and powered up with a bright blue light.

"Yes! SA Mark-1 is gonna crush in the Mech Master Five Thousand!" she cried as she thrusted up a fist into the air in victory.

Arin looked towards a poster that was pinned up to the wall as he spoke.

"Tomorrow's race is the biggest prize pot of all time. If we win-" he said, before being cut off by Sora.

"When we win" she corrected him as the two began to walk towards the balcony.

"Right, right. When we win, we could find ourselves a real place to live. I could build my own monastery and invite everyone else who lost their parents to come live with us. To carry on the tradition of the Ninja!" the dark skinned male stated rather enthusiastically as he went out and stood in the night air.

Kiba followed the two and leaned her shoulder against the door frame while crossing her arms a bit as Sora started talking about what she would do with the prize money.

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

"Hey Kiba? What will you do with the prize money?" Arin asked as he turned to his sister.

Kiba assumed a thoughtful look as she stared up at the stars.

"You know, maybe I'd use it as a kickstart for a career in astronomy. You guys know how much I love studying the stars" she said with a soft smile after a few moments of silence.

Arin and Sora shared a look with each other, but before either of them could open their mouths to say something, the ground without any warning began to violently shake, sending some of the potted plants along with Arin to the ground while Sora backed up to where Kiba was, who had crouched down and was now holding on to the door frame to prevent herself from spilling to the ground. The quake lasted for a few seconds, and during that time, nothing sounded like it had crashed or broke, but that didn't stop Kiba from checking when she was able to stand again.

After she made sure that Arin and Sora were alright.

"Ugh. Another earthquake? It seems like those are happening more often" the tech junkie said as she crossed one arm over the other and tapped a bent finger against her upper lip.

"They never happened at all before The Merge" Arin stated as he assisted Kiba in getting a plant back in its pot.

He suddenly looked rather thoughtful as he gave a small hum.

"What's on your mind? I know your thinking face when I see it" Kiba told him.

"Do you guys ever wonder if there's a greater purpose for all this? Like, a reason for The Merge?" the dark skinned male asked after a few moments of silence.

Sora and Kiba shared a look with each other before the first answered.

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

"Ain't that the truth" Kiba stated with a neutral expression upon her features.

Then she broke out into a smile as she looked at her brother and best friend.

"Now, let's go and eat before the food cools off too much. I, for one, am famished" she said as she turned to head back inside.

"Kiba? Have I ever told you just how great a cook you are?" Sora asked as she and Arin followed the older teen inside.

"Uh, yes? A hundred times over in fact"

"Well, then allow me to say something different. That smells absolutely amazing"

...

The morning sun of the next day shined down on Kiba, Arin, and Sora as they pushed a small black and white Mech with pink accents and glowing blue stripes through the town towards the starting line of the race. Despite it only being the morning, the heat was already rather high, which had caused Kiba to exchange her usual t-shirt for a black colored tank top and to tie her flannel jacket around her waist.

"I've got a good feeling about today. I know for a fact that we are going to win this race" she stated, her voice a bit strained as she pushed against the back of the Mech.

She heard Sora give a bit of a breathless chuckle.

"Trying to get vibes flowing? Is that what you're doing here?" the tech junkie asked.

"Yeah. You know how when people say things like 'It can't get any worse', and stuff like that, and they jinx themselves and something even more negative happens? I'm doing that, but as the opposite. I'm trying to jinx some positive things into happening. Phew. Why does this thing have to be so heavy? And why does this morning have to be so hot?"

"Hang on back there a bit longer Kiba. We're almost there. I can see the starting line from here" Arin called out.

"Last call for the Mech Master Five Thousand!" a loud and gruff male voice echoed through the air.

"Guess we should pick up the pace huh?" Kiba huffed a bit as the trio got closer.

"Yeah. Just a little bit"

"The greatest race-!" the gruff started to say before he was cut off.

"In the history of the Crossroads! And we're here to win it" Sora called out.

Seeing her step away from the Mech caused Kiba to thankfully stop pushing, and the thing quickly rolled to a stop.

"Sora! Arin! Kiba! Always happy to peep you three wild skamps! Up top!" the gruff voice belonged to a anthropomorphic green colored frog with beady yellow orange eyes and black slit-like pupils.

The clothes he wore were brown in color and run down. Kiba wondered if there were more sewn in patches then she remembered. Underneath the torn up shirt was a black suit with different colored fluid filled phials and jars that were hanging from loops and rings.

Despite his tired and worn out appearance, the frog male was quite friendly, and energentic. Probably as excited about this race as anybody else. Sora raised her hand as he said "Up top", and the frog flicked out his tongue, slapping it against her hand before quickly retracting the muscle while the tech junkie wiped her hand off on her suit.

Kiba forced the rising feeling of disgust down as far as she could as she approached the desk the frog stood behind.

"Good to see you as well Mr. Frohicky" she greeted.

Frohicky gave a smile that faded away when his eyes landed on the trio's Mech. Despite it's weight, it was actually quite small, only half the size when compared to all of the other Mechs that were already lined up.

"Wait. That's your Mech?" Frohicky asked in an apprehensive tone as he pointed at it.

"Mm-hmm" Kiba hummed out as both Arin and Sora nodded a bit.

"Oh-ho, well, no offense Sora, Kiba, but uh, bot one of your more impressive builds, is it? Hmm?" the frog told the two females, his eyes flicking between them as he spoke.

"It's easily underestimated. Just like us" Sora replied as she motioned her hand towards herself and her best friends.

"Sure, but I've got top Mechs from the merged realms here! Like an Underworld Mech" Frohicky stated as he pointed out a black colored Mech that had bones for decoration.

Kiba really didn't want to know if those bones were real or not.

"There's even, uhm, uh, uuhhhmmm, that... thing" the frog added rather hesitantly as he stumbled over his words while pointing to a pink and purple Mech.

The best way to describe it was that someone took a very large wrecking ball, strapped some robotic arms and legs to it, and spray painted a giant glowing eye on it. A small drone bot that repeated the word "Labo" appeared from behind it, flew into the cockpit, and closed the hatch.

"Oh! That's Labo. He's a good guy, but uh, never ask him him about his mom. It's uh, it's a very touchy subject" Arin explained.

"Ah. Poor guy" Kiba commented with a light head shake.

"Plus all the regulars" Frohicky stated as he motioned hand towards all of the other Mechs that were in the starting line.

"It could get pretty vicious. Mmmaybe you should sit today's race out?" he said.

Kiba, Arin, and Sora were all silent for a moment as they looked at each other for a couple seconds before turning back to look at the frog with a light smirking smile and a 'really?' look. Frohicky took note of their facial expressions and sighed in defeat.

"Oh fine. Then empty up" he stated, closing his eyes and turning his head away as he held out his hand.

Kiba watched with a smile as Arin took out a thankfully unsquished pie and held it under the frog's nose. Frohicky took a couple of sniffs as Kiba used her hands to waft the scent of it in his direction. The frog licked his lips a couple of times before opening his eyes and looking down.

His gaze automatically snapped up towards the trio, and he narrowed his eyes while crossing his arms.

"I know you're not trying to pay your registration fee with baked goods again" he said as he turned his head away.

"Aw, come on" Kiba told him as she set her hands against her hips.

"Sssooooo, you don't want the fresh pie filled with roasted snow berries from the Never Realm? Fine. I guess we'll just have to toss it" Arin said in a down trodden tone.

Behind him, Sora was putting on the theatrics with some very expressionable facial expressions as he spoke, and the charade continued as Kiba spoke, adding on with her own dramatic flair to her words.

"Oh dear. After all that hard work, and it's gone to waste. And to think that I was going to do today's diagnostic check for free" she stated, looking upset as she lowered her shaking head.

"Maybe the dogs are hungry. Or maybe the racoons?" Arin said as he gave his pie a sad expression.

Kiba did her best not to smile as she spotted Frohicky peak an eye open and stare down at the pie in her brother's hands. He gave a few rather eager sniffs as Arin began to turn away, and was quick to speak.

"Wellll" the frog drawled, causing everyone to smile a bit as they turned towards him.

"It'd be a shame to just throw it out" Frohicky started as he stared at the pie.

"I mean, and if Kiba here does that check for free.... Fine. Line up" he said, finally relenting as Arin pushed the pie over to him and ran off with Sora towards the Mech in a state of excitement.

"Thanks Frohicky" Kiba told the frog as she grabbed a clipboard and pen, which she tucked under her arm before following her brother and best friend to help them out in putting the Mech into position near the front of the starting line.

"Alright, now that that part's done, I just need to-" Kiba started to say as she stepped back and pulled out the clip board.

Before she could continue, an unfortunately familiar and annoyingly high pitched laughter rang through the air.

"Ha! They'll let anyone into the races, won't they?"

Letting out an slightly annoyed sigh to calm her already rising temper, Kiba, along with Arin and Sora, turned their heads to see who the speaker was. Kreel, who was the trio's biggest rival, had a smug look on her face as she jutted out her hip while resting her fists against them. She had quite a large ego that was paired with a rather strange fashion sense based off her pink and black leopard print jacket with an undershirt that was in the same style, just in green.

Perched on her short dark purple hair was a dark pink top hat, and her pants her black with rips around the thighs.

"At least we build our own gear Kreel. We don't need a team of servants doing the work for us" Sora told her while lightly patting the Mech that was beside her.

The two Womprats that were beside Kreel leaned the heads back a little while looking at the half emo looking female.

"They aren't servants!" she spat while shaking a held up fist at the group.

"Oh, if that's what they're not, then please do enlighten me. What are they then?" Kiba asked as she shifted her gaze from the group's rival to her clipboard.

"They're frieend... ish, people who work for me" Kreel stated.

Kiba tilted her head up and stared and nothing for a moment before looking at Kreel with a deadpan expression.

"That sounds a hell of a lot like their servants Kreel" she stated as she pressed the back of her hand that was holding the clipboard against her hip.

"Oh hush! They're here to cheer me on when I crush you three. Like last time. And the time before, and Checks Notes" the somewhat snappy female said before letting out a fake gasp while pressing a hand against her chest.

"Every single time" Kreel hissed out in twisted glee as she looked at one of the Womprats, who nodded in agreement.

"You kids don't learn" she stated in a rather threatening tone. Kiba's deadpan expression of exasperation and annoyance settled down into a soft smile as her brother began talking.

"Oh, we learn. We just don't give up" Arin told the emo looking woman as he set his hands against his hips, an action that seemed to run through the family.

"And Kiba might've helped me design a bit of an upgrade since the last race" Sora added as she stepped forward while putting her hands behind her back in a rather innocent way.

With the press of a button, the Mech began to quite literally transform. It's once compacted form started to expand, allowing legs to stretch out and arms to make their appearance. The cockpit itself was a two seater that was positioned back to back, with protective glass covering both sides.

Unbeknowst to anyone except the trio themselves, underneath the cockpit, in the abdomen of the Mech, was another chair. That was Kiba's place.

That's right.

Her mode of operation, was on the inside. She monitored the overall state of the Mech, diverting power where it needed to go, or activating certain things that improved the performance of the Mech itself. But who in their right mind would reveal that kind of information?

"Come on Arin. Let's get our fuel couplings attached while Kreel here contemplates her impending loss. Kiba, you coming?" Sora stated then asked, shifting her gaze from the dark skinned boy to his siblings, who was jotting down a few side notes on her clip board.

The cyan eyed female looked up at the sound of her name being called.

"Huh? Oh, nah. I'mma do one last look over on ours before I move on to checking out the other Mechs. Not to mention debriefing some of the newcomers on what to expect out there. But don't worry. I'll meet you guys back here before the start of the race, alright?" Kiba explained.

"And while I'm at this, I better not catch you doing anything odd with this Mech, or else it's an instant disqualification, got that?" she added while pointing the end of her pen at Kreel in a rather threatening manner.

Her rival gave an offended sounding huff, but she did take a step or two back.

"Alright then, see ya in a little bit!" Sora told her, giving a departing wave as she and Arin walked off. Kiba responded with her own wave before looking out at the Mechs before her.

With any luck, this shouldn't take too long.

...

"And remember to get that coolant situation figured out!" the cyan eyed female call out as she walked away from the last Mech, marking off a final check on her clipboard as she went to turn it in.

"Well Mr. Frohicky, it looks like nobody decided to be stupid about today's race. For once" she said as she reached the check-in desk.

"Oh, good, good. Wouldn't want anybody cheating their way through this one, eh?" the frog commented, eliciting a small chuckle and a light head shake from Kiba, as he took the clipboard and looked over it.

"Everything seems to be in order here. Well then, I think you've more than earned this race's pay" Frohicky stated as he put away the clipboard under his desk, only for his hand to return with a small bag of money.

"Frohicky, I did say that today's diagnostic service was for free" Kiba told him as she glanced between him and the money.

The anthropomorphic frog gave a careless hand flipping motion.

"Pish posh, just take it. You've more than earned it" he replied.

The human female before him gave a grateful smile as she took and pocketed the money.

"Thank you Frohicky" she said.

"Ah. You can thank me by winning this race. Good luck out there kiddo" Frohicky replied before hitting a button that caused a siren to sound out.

It was time to get to the Mechs and get ready. Walking away from the desk, Kiba dodged quite a few runners who were rushing about in attempts to perform last minute preparations before getting to the front lines, where her group's Mech was.

"Kiba! How was the check?" Arin asked as Sora handed over a small headset with a mic attached to it.

"Thankfully, no one decided to pull any shit, so, I didn't have to disqualify anyone. Quite unfortunate really" the cyan eyed female replied with a playful smile as she she hooked the headset around her ears and adjusted the mic.

Her words caused a smile and a giggle among her companions.

"Alright, I'm heading in. And can we at least try to keep her steady this time?" she said then asked as she began to quickly climb up the leg of the Mech towards the abdomen.

"Hey, no promises" Sora replied as she put on her own headset.

Kiba rolled her eyes with a light-hearted smile as she reached the abdomen of the Mech. Holding on the outside plating with one hand, she pulled on a handle that let out a loud click noise as it released, and a hatchway opened up, revealing a space with a seat and a couple large and thin movable frame works. Pushing the frames out of the way, Kiba hauled herself into the space and took a seat, pulling the hatch close with another loud click as she went.

Another mic adjustment as she pinched on a lower corner of each metal frame, and a swipe of the long, but somewhat thin rectangle of thick glass to clear off some of the dust, and she was good to go.

"Alright, this is a mic check for Kiba. Do you guys read me?" she asked.

Static went through her earpieces for a second before she received some glitching voices that were quick to clear up.

"We read you Kiba" Sora's voice came through.

Her response was echoed by her brother, who voice also came through clear.

"Alright, initiating the start-up sequence, then you guys can take your places in the cockpit" Kiba stated.

The thin frames on either side of her let out a soft, high pitched ringing noise before the frames were filled with blue colored holographic screens. Bringing one of the frames closer, Kiba tapped in a pattern, and the Mech gave a jolt as a loud whirring and humming sound filled the space, causing her to smile. The engines sounded pretty good.

"Okay, you two. Get on up here" she spoke into the mic.

A couple seconds later, the sound of echoing clanks and bangs reached her ears as her brother and best friend began climbing the outside of the Mech to get to the cockpit. She kept her eye on the thick glass window as the two made their way. It wouldn't be the first time either of them had tried to scare her by banging on the window.

Don't ask.

A minute or two later, and everybody was situated, ready for what was about to come.

"Hey Kiba? Sora?" Arin asked.

"Yeah? / What?" both females chorused.

"Is there any way I could persuade either of you to install air conditioning units? It's hot in here"

Kiba gave a chuckle as an air horn went off somewhere outside.

"We'll see what we can do after we win this thing" she said as the Mech began to move a bit, probably Sora getting it into position so that they could have a strong push off.

Her brother did have a good suggestion though. It was sweltering hot inside the Mech, and the cockpit couldn't have felt any better due to the obvious fact that there was glass up there. How nobody had suffered from heat stroke yet, she didn't know.

The air horn was soon followed by three loud buzzes, and after the third one, Kiba braced herself, pressing herself against the back of her seat as her body got used to the sudden acceleration it was presented with. The race was officially underway. Anybody that was new to the environment Kiba was in would have found it very difficult to control their body's reaction to the sudden thrashing, speeding and slowing on top of reading and typing on the holographic screens.

Kiba however, had almost three years of experience under her belt, and knew perfectly well what to do and how to move.

"Kiba, how are we looking down there?" Sora asked.

"Pretty good. Move us along a little faster if you can" the cyan eyed female replied.

"Are we winning? I can't see. Tell me we're winning!" Arin called out.

There was a particularly rough jolt that almost sent Kiba over of the edge of her seat, and she heard Sora let out a particularly nasty string of curses and insults, which led Kiba to believe that they had just been hit by another Mech, before the tech junkie gave an answer to Arin's question.

"Not yet. But get those bumper arms up!" she hissed.

"Kiba, any way you can divert some power to the hydraulics? We need to go faster, and I don't want to use that speed booster just yet" she added.

"On it" Kiba replied as she settled back into her chair and began typing on one of the screens.

A loud humming sound filled the space, and her body moved backwards a bit as the Mech began to travel a little faster. There were another few jarring jolts as some Mechs were either knocked out of the way or off the course entirely.

"We're coming for you, you fancy hatted ego-maniac!" she heard Sora snap out.

Taking a second to glance out the window, Kiba realized they were catching up to the front of the line. Three Mechs that were side by side blocked the way forward. Turning her attention away from that, Kiba focused on the screen before her.

Hull integrity was still pretty good despite the hits they had taken. She would only start becoming concerned over it if it dropped below eighty percent.

"Hit the turbo boost!" Arin called out after the Mech came down from being airborne for a few seconds.

"I don't recommend that just yet" Kiba commented.

"She's right. We can only use that once. So save that for when we really need it" Sora agreed before another harsh jolt rocked through the Mech.

Kiba's body rocked a bit from side to side as the Mech powered its way through turns that were in the course. Turns that she had been mentally taking note of. There were thirteens turns in total before you hit an area that was nicknamed 'the straightaway', which was basically just a long straight stretch of road that was located just before the finish line.

Her body shifted to the side for the thirteenth time, and after that, things were relatively smooth. Arin realized what that meant a second after her.

"We're in the straightaway! This has gotta be the time to use the turbo boost, right? Right?!" he cried.

"This is exactly the time little brother" Kiba stated with an amused smile as she diverted some power to the thrusters.

"Get ready to roll around in prize money, tossing it into the air, and going 'Woo-hee!' " Sora said, an air of excitment present in her voice.

However, right after she said that, there was a loud bang coming from somewhere up ahead, and Kiba found herself holding on to her seat as her body began to slip forward thanks to Sora putting on the breaks by making the Mech slide to a stop.

"What the-? Why are we stopping? What's going on out there?" the cyan eyed female asked as she peered out of her rectangle window.

From what she could see, the roadway in front of the Mech had a large hole with smoke coming out of it. After the smoke cleared, she was barely aware of Sora's gasp as her eyes focused on what had been beyond the smoke. It was a dragon, a young looking one at that.

Chances were, it was just a baby.

The creature was just a bit bigger than a medium sized dog, and it's scales, along with the ridges that went over it's spine, were a silvery grey in color. It's eyes were a bright green, and the webbing of it's wings were light grey.

"Is, that...?" Kiba managed to get out as the creature turned it's head a bit.

It let out a rather loud sounding chirp that absolutely melted her heart. However, red blaster shots coming from somewhere inside the hole hit the edge of it, causing the dragon to let out a screech of fear and turn tail to start running. Kiba was thoroughly surprised to see a vehicle rise out of the hole, piloted by an old looking male with grey hair, a visor with a red line over his eyes, and sharp gold plated teeth on his bottom jaw.

Shock and anger replaced the surprise in Kiba when the male began to shoot at the little dragon, who was quick to make it to the surrounding roof-tops in an attempt to escape.

"Sora, go! We're so close!" Arin cried out, bringing Kiba out of her shocked stupor.

Sora was quick to shoot down what Arin had said.

"We gotta go after that dragon" she said.

"What?! We need to win this race!"

"Those dragon hunters are the Claws of Imperium. If they catch that dragon, ugh. The things they'll do to it. Trust me, we have to stop them" Sora explained.

"I'm with you on this one Sora" Kiba stated rather determinedly.

She wasn't about to allow this blatant abuse and carelessness for life go unchecked.

Arin was silent, and the cyan eyed female had a feeling she knew what was going on in his head. On hand, they really needed that prize money. But on the other hand, there was a dragon in danger of being captured.

"Arin! What would the Ninja do?" Sora asked the dark skinned boy.

After a couple seconds of silence, Arin's reply came through loud and clear.

"Let's save that dragon!"

At his words, Kiba diverted some power to the legs of the Mech, which turned out to be a good idea, since Sora made the entire Mech leap up into the air, making the group go airborne.

"Hooohoh shit. I don't really like this" Kiba muttered as she felt her stomach dropping during the descent.

One harsh landing later, and the group found themselves in the middle of a bridge. Kiba's blood felt like it was boiling when she spotted the little dragon laying on his side with his eyes closed. Though he seemed to come around as one of the Mech's hands was stretched out to it.

"Hop on buddy" Sora told him.

The dragon hopped onto the hand just as reinforcements arrived, and concern began to settle within Kiba as the Mech's hull integrity began to dip below eighty percent.

"Guys, just a thought. We might want to get out of here!" she called out.

At her words, Sora was quick to get the Mech moving again, skating towards the other side of the bridge.

"Uh, guys? Looks like we're in a race again!" Arin called out, sounding a little worried.

"Then its a good thing we still got that turbo booster ready to go!" Sora replied.

"Oh jeez. Here we go" Kiba lightly whined as she prepared for a sudden acceleration.

However, it never came.

"Uh, Kiba? What's going on? The turbo's not working!" Sora cried out.

Kiba was quick to pull up a scan of the Mech in one of the holographic screens, but she never got the chance to review it as the engines suddenly blew out, causing the Mech to move in an uncontrolled direction. The Mech collided hard with something, and a harsh jolt ran through the machine. Kiba's heart felt like it had stopped as the Mech came apart, and the next thing she knew, she along with her brother and best friend, plus the dragon, were in free fall, surrounded by pieces of their broken up Mech.

She couldn't even muster up the ability to yell or scream, something Arin and Sora had no problem doing for a couple of seconds before they quieted down. This was definitely not how she wanted to spend her day. However, it seemed that the multiple shocks and surprises weren't over just yet.

The little dragon, which had gone over the edge of the bridge with the trio, bumped into Sora, causing her to turn in mid air and face it. What happened next was simply unreal. Amazement flooded through Kiba like a wild fire as the dragon's eyes began to glow with a white color, and a bright beam of light shot from it's mouth and went into Sora's chest.

Her eyes, along with her hands, began to glow a bright pinkish purple, and a couple seconds later, every piece of the destroyed Mech began to glow with the same color. Kiba glanced over at her brother, her expression of shock mirrored in his eyes, since that was the only part of his face that she could see now that the Green Ninja's hood had been pulled on. Sora began to wave her hands around, and each piece of the Mech began to collect back together, but, in a different way.

Before Kiba's mind could fully register just what the hell was happening, the Mech had been fixed up, now looking better than ever. Sora, along with the dragon, began making their way towards the thing while Arin fired off his grappling hook with one hand and reached for his sister with the other. The grappling hook made contact with the plating of the newly formed Mech just as Kiba grabbed on to her brother's hand and used his arm to pull herself closer to him.

She knew his device could take their combined weight, but she really didn't feel like accidentally losing her grip and falling to her imminent death. Newly formed boosters were activated, while slowed the Mech's fall, and caused it to start rising up, much to everybody's shock, including the Imperium soldiers that were up on the bridge.

"Sora, my girl! This is amazing!" Kiba hollered out.

"How did you do all this?!" Arin cried, waving his free hand around in the direction of the Mech.

"I honestly do not know, b-but now's not the time for questions! It's the time for..." the tech junkie started before trailing off and turning the Mech around.

A harsh blast from the boosters sent Imperium soldiers flying backwards, and the group to shoot up into the sky.

"Woo-hoo!" Arin cried out, sounding rather excited.

"You are such an adrenaline junkie" Kiba deadpanned at him.

"Does it take one to know one?" her brother shot back, and the female couldn't help but smile as Sora took a sharp turn to avoid some of the blaster fire.

"Now it's my turn!" Arin stated as he made his grappling hook retract.

Deeming herself to be close enough to the ground, and not wanting to get herself caught up in whatever her brother was about to do, Kiba let go of him and twisted herself around, pushing out her hands as she went. Thankfully, she landed on them, and pushed herself into a roll to try and help minimize the damage to her body. She did her best to ignore the pain that went shooting into her wrists and up her forearms.

Coming out of the roll on her feet, Kiba took a second to make sure the world had stopped spinning before focusing on her surroundings. There were two Imperium soldiers who aimed their weapons at her.

"Jeez, you guys are willing to shoot a teenager? What's the matter with you?!" she snapped at them, causing the soldiers to look at each other in confusion as they lowered their weapons.

A sudden shout from above caused her to look up, and Kiba spotted her brother slam into a blaster, which collided with another, which hit one of the flying devices that a couple soldiers used, and sent it crashing into the ground behind the Imperium soldiers that Kiba was facing off with.

"Eh, close enough" her brother, who had landed somewhere behind her, commented.

The sound of more blaster fire caused both siblings to look up at where Sora was. In a moment of brilliance, or sheer stupidity, the little dragon who was riding on top of the Mech flung himself off, rolled up into a ball, and slammed into the face of the soldier who was piloting another flying vehicle. That person was also sent crashing to the ground, and the dragon landed beside the siblings, looking unharmed for the most part.

"Nice job little buddy" Kiba praised the creature as Arin gave it a few scratches behind it's head.

Sora piloted the Mech down to the ground behind Arin and Kiba, and the whole group stared at what remained of the Imperium soldiers. Before anybody could do anything, however, something crashed down onto the bridge with enough force to send out a shockwave that knocked everybody back a good few meters. Kiba was quick to get back on her feet, hand reached for her large pocket knife that was clipped to the back of her jeans.

Hey, she never went anywhere without it, alright?

The thing that had slammed down onto the bridge turned out to be a black tiger with dull pink colored stripes, beady red eyes, and a long haired beard that had been tied together at the bottom. The newcomer a little closer to Kiba and her group, which prompted her to close her hand around her weapon, not daring to draw it out just yet. The old looking guy she had seen before approached the tiger, looking rather apprehensive as he began to speak.

"Lord Ras! We were just about to-" the guy started to say before a clawed hand shot towards his throat.

Kiba watched at the older male was lifted into the air by the tiger, who spoke with a deep male sounding baritone voice.

"You failed me. I do not like that!" the tiger, Lord Ras, growled out before tossing the older male backwards and turning back towards the group of teens.

"Uh, you know who this guy is?" Arin asked Sora as he got to his feet, cowering slightly behind his sister, who had taken up a defensive position.

"No clue" Sora answered with a head shake.

"He doesn't seem very nice" Arin said, stating the obvious before stupidly rushing forward in an attempt to perform his weird spinning thing again.

However, the anthropomorphic tiger caught his foot caught his foot before the dark skinned boy could do anything, causing fear to run through Kiba.

"What?! How'd you-?!" Arin started to say before he was slammed into the ground.

"No! / Arin!" Kiba and Sora chorused.

The tech junkie turned the Mech around, and it only took a second from the cyan eyed female to realize what Sora was about to do. Kiba ducked down as Sora sent a blast from the boosters toward the tiger, who performed a side roll and threw his hammer at the Mech. It hit it's target, and Sora was sent flying down the bridge, parts of the Mech flying off from how hard the hit was.

The tiger took a giant leap, recovering his hammer in the process, and landed on the part of the Mech Sora was in, stopping her from sliding any farther. And then he raised his hammer, getting ready to bring it down on her. An unfamiliar feeling settled over Kiba, like something was pulling at her chest as her protective instincts flared up.

"Get away from her!" she yelled as a single thought entered her mind.

Run

The cyan eyed female had no idea what happened. One moment, she was yelling at some to get away from her best friend, and the next, she had slammed her body into the guy's side, effectively causing him to be tossed off of the Mech.

"What the... Kiba, what did you just do?" Sora breathed out in amazement.

"I... I don't know" the cyan eyed female replied as she looked at herself and then the spot she had been just a couple seconds ago.

Not even an Olympic athlete would have been able to cross the distance that she did in that amount of time. A harsh growl of frustration startled Kiba from her thoughts, and she didn't have the time to defend herself as a blow from the tiger's hammer was landed against her side and midsection, forcing the air out of her lungs and leaving her feeling like she was about to vomit. The harsh collision with the ground did nothing to help, and after a particularly harsh bounce of her head against the pavement, darkness rushed to cover Kiba's field of vision.

...

Slowly coming to, Kiba did not appreciated the way pain was pounding on the inside of her head, which felt like it was spinning. Her side and abdomen hurt like there was no tomorrow, and every breath she took in sent a spike of pain shooting through her midsection. At least the nausea she had felt when that hammer landed had abated.

The steady but somewhat jerky movement of the cold metal floor below her body didn't really do anything to ease her ailments, and the low pitched but harsh rattling that filled her ears was just beyond annoying...

Wait a second.

Cold metal floor and rattling?

Peaking her eyes open, It took Kiba a moment to realize she was in what appeared to be a large train car that was lit up with orange light. The walls and ceiling, like the floor, were smooth and made entire of metal. Confusion settled itself beside her annoyance as she opened her eyes a bit more.

Just where the hell was she?

"Kiba? Are you up?" a familiar voice asked.

Shifting herself a bit, Kiba looked over in the direction the voice had come, and relief flooded through her at the sight of her brother and best friend leaned up against a wall. Both of them looked a little worse for wear, but otherwise they seemed to be alright. Her older sibling instincts yelled at her to confirm that belief for the sake of some peace of mind.

"Arin? Sora? Are you guys okay?" Kiba asked.

"Are we...? Are we okay, she asks as she's laying on the ground. You know, you scared us half to death when those Imperium soldiers tossed you in here like a sack of potatoes and you wouldn't move" Sora snapped at her.

"Well, excuse me for getting knocked out by taking a giant hammer to my abdomen, which, by the way, did not feel that great" Kiba retorted as she attempted to move.

She was a little surprised when her hands wouldn't respond, and upon looking at them, she discovered why. Orange colored string-like structures that were produced by a thin, small, box shaped contraption were wrapped around her wrists, keeping them close together to limit movement and mobility.

"Oh, yeah. We're prisoners now. We got those too" she heard Sora say.

Kiba let out a sigh as she gently let her head rest against the ground for a moment, before shifting herself so that she could get her legs under her body. She was a little unsteady when it came to standing up, but she managed, and came over to sit down cross legged beside Arin. For a good few minutes, nobody spoke, until finally, the dark skinned male broke the silence.

"What do you guys think they'll do to us?" he asked.

It didn't take a genius to know who he was referring to.

"I'd rather not think about that" Kiba admitted.

Her head hurt enough without contemplating the possible things she and her companions might be subjected to.

"Whatever it is, they'll do worse to that dragon" Sora stated, looking rather ticked off.

"Really?" Arin asked.

"But it's so little. A baby even!" Kiba quietly cried out.

"The Claws of Imperium come from Imperium. Same as me. And Imperium runs entirely on dragon power. With all these merged realms, I'm sure their hunting dragons everywhere now" Sora explained.

"But they say dragon power is safe" Arin objected.

"Safe for who? You saw the look in that dragon's eyes. It wanted to be free... Just like I did" the tech junkie snapped, her voice softening as she spoke.

A few moments of silence stretched out between the group before Arin spoke again.

"Ssooo uh, I've known you for a while now, and you've always been good with tech, but..." he said before trailing off, bringing attention to Sora's actions when they had all been falling from the bridge.

"I have no idea" the tech junkie replied.

"You turned pieced of the SA Mark One into a flying Mech. In mid air!" Arin cried.

"Yeah. That was weird, right?" Sora asked.

"Well, that's one word for it. Other words would be amazing, impossible, defying all logic or reason!" the dark skinned male stated with an air of excitment.

"It was that dragon. I could feel it awaken something in me. Some kind of power" the tech junkie breathed out.

Arin then turned to Kiba.

"This reminds me of what Sora told me about with what happened with you when that Ras guy was about to hit her with his hammer. You practically turned into a blur that was moving at inhuman speeds! What the heck?!" he said.

Kiba wondered if she looked as confused as she felt as that moment began to replay itself in her had.

"Yeah, I don't know what happened. All I know is that I saw someone I cared about who was about to get hurt, and I really didn't want that to happen. But I wasn't any near anybody when my strange thing happened" she said, looking towards Sora as she spoke.

"Do either of you know what this sounds like?" Arin asked, sounding rather excited.

Kiba and Sora shared a look with each other before looking back and the boy and shrugging.

"This sounds like the elemental powers that the Ninjas had! Powers I've dreamed of having. Water, fire, ice!" the male said, looking like he was thinking about the past.

"Not everything is tied to your lost heroes you know" Sora stated rather pointedly as she side eyed Arin, who let out a sigh.

"...If I loose hope that the Ninja could come back, then I lose hope that my parents could come back. Hope is that only thing The Merge didn't take from me" he said.

Kiba loudly cleared her throat, causing Arin to smile as he looked at her.

"Along with my sister" he corrected himself.

"Damn right" Kiba stated with a somewhat proud smile.

"Well, hope won't be enough anymore. We can't build you a new Ninja monastery from an Imperium prison" Sora commented.

"It's called The Monastery of Spinjitzu. But, you're right. Dream's over, isn't it?" Arin sighed out as he pulled the Green Ninja's hood.

Kiba had managed to get around to washing it after dinner last night to get out the dirt and scuff marks. Something Arin never seemed to noticed. He probably thought the fabric stayed clean all by itself.

"Well, with any luck, we might find a way to break out of there, but I'm assuming that's not gonna be easy. Or even possible, right?" Kiba suggested before shooting down her own idea.

Sora gave a downtrodden nod, confirming the cyan eyed female's suspicions. Letting out a soft sigh, she set her gaze to the floor, her eyes followed the patterns left behind by polish or wax marks as she resigned herself to the fact that she may never tasted freedom again. That is, until there was a surprised yell that was followed by a couple dull thumps.

Kiba glanced at her brother and best friend in confusion, her expression mirrored in their faces before she got to her feet, keeping her eyes trained on the large air vents that were in the ceiling of the transport.

"Wait, are you..? No way!" someone cried out before letting out a yell that was quick to fade away.

There were a couple footsteps as someone walked along the top of the transport before they stopped. Kiba was able to make out a swish of a blade before the vents were suddenly dislodged, and the whole thing crashed down onto the ground before the trio.

"What in the...?" Kiba breathed out as she moved her gaze from the vents to the now large gaping hole in the ceiling.

She caught sight of some movement at the very edge of the hole along with the glint of a sharp looking sword, and someone moved forward to peer down into the transport, allowing the light inside to hit their face.

"Oh no way" Kiba breathed as shock and awe ran through her very being at the realization of who the person was.

"The Green Ninja" Arin managed to get out, sounding very much like he was trying not to go into fanboy mode.

Lloyd gave a smirking smile as he looked at the trio while getting down on one knee and raising an eyebrow.

"I think that mask belongs to me" he said, motioning to the fabric that Arin held in his hands.