"Lloyd the Green Ninja? Yes! I knew you were all still out there!" Arin cried out in an excited manner.

Sure, her head was hurting, as was her elbow and her side, but Kiba couldn't help but smile down at the dark skinned male for a few seconds. Her little brother was meeting one of his high prized idols for the second time, while in a situation he probably couldn't escape from. A sudden feeling of slight deja-vu settled itself over her, but Kiba didn't have much time to to think on it before Lloyd began talking.

"Where's the Ninja I saw? The one doing Spinjitzu on the bridge?" the blonde haired male asked as he moved his pointer finger in a circular motion while looking around the transport.

Probably to see if the three kids inside were actually the only ones there. His attention was brought back to them as Sora began talking in answer to his question.

"Actually, that was Arin here" she said, motioning with her cuffed hands towards the dark skinned male.

"And even though I might pass out right now cause you actually thought I was a real Ninja, I'm not even close" Arin added, his voice surprisingly steady.

Kiba was about to say something out of amusement, but that quickly turned to concern when she spotted a flash of movement behind the Green Ninja.

"Look out behind-!" she started to say in warning, but the Imperium soldier was quick to land a hit on Lloyd's back, causing him to fall into the transport.

However, the Ninja used his momentum to perform a little roll and twist so that he slid back on his feet before taking up a defensive position.

"...you" Kiba finished her previous before looking back up at the large hole in the ceiling.

The Imperium soldier, who decided to hop down to the floor of the transport themselves, activated some kind of orange holographic blade that let out a low humming noise, before running full speed and swinging their blade at Lloyd. The blonde haired male merely leaned backwards with ease, letting the blade skim through the air over his body before quickly moving off to the side. The soldier tried to bring their blade down on him, and the Ninja simply took a step backwards with a smug look on his face, causing the blade to slam into the ground instead of flesh.

The soldier tried to take another swing, but Lloyd jumped into the air in a way that allowed his body to spin. Twisting green light surrounded his form, and the mini green colored tornado rose up into the air. When it disappeared, Lloyd, who was halfway up between the floor and the ceiling, twisted his body into a flip, and delivered a harsh kick to the Imperium soldier's face, which held enough force to send the guy flying to the other side of the transport.

They landed on their back with a groan.

"...Well damn" Kiba quietly breathed out, sitting down on the floor as she watched the Imperium soldier struggle a bit to get back on their feet before looking back at Lloyd, who gave a couple spins of his sword before holding it at his hip, the tip of the blade pointed away from his body.

"I kinda get your Ninja fandom now" Sora quietly muttered, causing Kiba to look at her through the corner of her eye as the tech junkie bumped her shoulder against Arin's with a smile on her face.

The trio's attention moved back to Lloyd as he spoke.

"Hold up your cuffs" he ordered, momentarily turning his head towards them but not taking his eyes off his opponent.

Kiba, Arin, and Sora all shared glances with each other and gave a shrug before they each held up the glowing orange bonds that kept their wrists close together. The Imperium soldier got back up on their feet and held the holographic sword straight out before rushing at the Green Ninja, who responded by running at the soldier. The person swung their blade once again, but Lloyd was to fall to his knees and lean back, sliding right under the blade and stopping himself once he deemed himself clear.

He spun around as he got back up and brought his sword down to prevent his opponent from slashing at him. For a second, the two were locked in a stalemate, both pressing their weapon against the other. Then Lloyd's look of seriousness and determination turned to one of smug victory, and with a shove, he forced the Imperium soldier's blade down, making it cut through the device that kept the bonds around Arin's wrists.

Kiba gave a small smile of relief as the pieces of the device fell to the floor, but she quickly focused back the fight as the soldier delivered a not very well aimed kick and tried to slash their sword at Lloyd again. The Green Ninja retaliated by quickly slipping behind the guy and grabbing the back of their shoulder before full on swinging the guy around, the holographic blade being stuck out as they went. Kiba leaned back a bit while adjusting her wrist positions, and the blade went right through the device.

The cyan eyed female relished the feeling of being able to freely move her wrists as she rubbed at them, and she did her best to stifle her giggle when the Imperium soldier tripped over their own two feet and went down. Noticing too late that their blade had sliced through the device on Sora's cuffs. Lloyd came up from behind and put his hand on the guy's shoulder with a victorious smile.

"Thanks for your help" he stated before he quite literally threw the Imperium soldier's body against a wall.

The guy crumbled to the floor of the transport, now quite limp.

Just how hard had their head hit the wall?

Kiba decided it would be better to not dwell on that as she rose to her feet, now fiddling with her hands a bit as her brother and her best friend also got to their feet. Lloyd sheathed his sword on his back with a smug expression on his face, and then he turned towards the teens, curiosity taking over the smugness on his facial features.

"That is my mask, right?" he asked, motioning towards the green colored article of fabric that was in Arin's hands.

"I found it when you guys disappeared. Me and my sister were there when The Merge happened" the dark skinned boy explained as he handed over the mask.

"I think we were among some of the first people that you guys rescued" Kiba added, looking towards her brother with narrowed eyes as she thought back to those moments in time.

She sideyed Lloyd as he brought the fabric of mask close to himself and sniffed it, and a strange look overtook his features.

"Lemon and lavender? Not that bad actually" she heard him mutter.

"Lemon and lavender? I only put lavender scented beads in the laundry last night" Kiba stated with an air of confusion.

Then her expression hardened.

"Sora!" she hissed, furrowing her eyebrows and snapping her head towards the tech junkie, who was quick to raise her hands in defense.

"Whoa! I didn't do anything to the laundry! Not this time anyway" Sora quickly stated on a defensive tone before moving her gaze to the side and narrowing her eyes.

Probably wondering if she actually didn't do anything to last night's laundry.

"You are literally the biggest part of the reason why I spend so much on those scent beads! At this point, every time the laundry smells different from the stuff that I put in, I'm eighty to ninety percent sure that it was you who tampered with it!" Kiba argued, pointing an accusatory finger in her best friend's direction while setting her other hand against her hip.

"And the other ten to twenty percent of the time?" the tech junkie shot back.

Nobody really paid attention to the way Arin and Lloyd followed the conversation like they were watching a tennis match. The Green Ninja gave a confused look towards the younger male, who merely gave a shrug.

"The rest of the time is usually either a mistake on my sleep deprived part, or its..." Kiba started out before trailing off.

Arin suddenly found the floor to be rather interesting as his sister slowly turned her head to face him.

"...What did you do?"

Before Kiba could get an answer, she just about jumped out of her skin when Lloyd cleared his throat. She had almost forgotten he was here.

"Before this continues any further, how about we get out of here? I'll give you guys a boost" the older male stated as he moved back so that he was under the large hole.

He crouched down a bit and beckoned the trio over before pressing one hand on top of the other. Arin gave a little laugh, causing Kiba to look at him in confusion, which turned to amazement when he pulled out his grappling hook.

"No need!" the boy stated before pulling the trigger.

He went flying towards the hole in the roof as Kiba ran a hand along the back pocket of her jeans, surprise settling in when the appendage brushed over a familiar piece of metal. She had her pocket knife this entire time? Just how idiotic were these soldiers?

Did they just assume that she, her brother, and her best friend wouldn't have anything on them that was cause for concern? Come on! This was kidnapping and imprisonment 101!

The simple basics, for the First's sake!

Fucking idiots.

Kiba was pulled out of her thoughts when Sora started forward. Since neither of the females had a grappling hook launcher, (the cyan eyed female could feel the smug look her brother had), they both had to rely on Lloyd in order to get to the roof. Sora was more or less tossed up to the roof by how much force the Green Ninja had put into his boost, and Arin grabbed her arm to help pull her up the rest of the way, as well as steady her a bit.

Lloyd had also watched the tech junkie's progress, probably to make sure she wouldn't fall or something, and after Sora turned to look down at those who remained, his attention turned to Kiba.

"Alright, you're turn" he said, motioning for her to come over to him.

The cyan eyed female did so, and placed a foot in his hands while stabilizing herself with a hand on his shoulder. A moment later, and she was catapulted upwards. Her hands found the edge of the hole, and she pressed down on it.

Pain shot through her elbow, causing her to let out a pained hiss and it felt like it was about to give on her. Luckily, her momentum had aided in her getting her upper body clear, and she was able to get her knee up on the edge, which took off the weight to her arms.

"You should probably get that checked out or something. Your arm's not looking all that good" Arin noted, raising his voice so that he could be heard over the sound of the wind as Sora looked rather concerned.

"I'm fine. It's probably just a sprain or something" Kiba replied at the same volume, brushing off her front and turning around to assist Lloyd in getting to the roof.

"Kiba, sprains don't cause you to bruise like that" Sora objected.

Kiba momentarily ignored her as the Green Ninja jumped off a wall, and she clutched her jaw when his hand closed around her elbow. The pain got worse for a couple seconds as she pulled him up, and then eased up just a bit when he let go.

"Look, I'll get it checked out when we're out of this situation, alright?" the cyan eyed female told her best friend as she took a glance at her elbow.

The back of it was colored by splotches of purple and black that trailed a bit. Kiba narrowed her eyes at the bruises before slipping her flannel jacket from her waist and pulling it on.

"What do we do now Master Lloyd?" Arin asked as she began to button up her jacket.

The female noticed how the older male's eyes widened a bit, and he froze for a second or two before quickly mustering up an answer while an odd and nervous sounding chuckle while adjusting his glove.

"I-I'm no master. I'm just Lloyd. And to answer your question, we jump" he said.

His response made Kiba pause while in the middle of fastening the last button.

"We fucking what?!" she cried, turning her head so quick that she was surprised she didn't hear something crack.

"No! At least not yet! We can't leave the dragon!" Sora pipped up with urgency in her voice.

Lloyd looked rather surprised at this information.

"There's a dragon here too?" he asked.

Before he could get an answer, a new voice cut across the group, causing them to look towards the back of the transport train.

"Oh, it's the old looking guy from earlier" Kiba noted, remembering the grey and white haired male from the bridge as she reached for her back pocket.

And he wasn't alone this time either. Some more of the Imperium soldiers were on both sides of him, and they each had an holographic blade activated.

"No one escapes from Rapton!" the old man cried out.

However, the whistling of the wind as it whipped by made it a little on the difficult side to hear him. And it didn't help that the old man was standing a good few meters away.

"Huh?! What's a, raptin?!" Lloyd called out, furrowing his eyebrows a bit in confusion.

"Me! I, am Rapton!" the old male hollered.

"What?!"

"I am Rapton!"

Lloyd gave an annoyed sounding sigh, causing the trio of teens to look at him.

"Why do bad guys always feel the need to talk in third person?" he stated while looking a little exasperated.

Some movement from behind him caused Kiba to look over his shoulder.

"I'm not sure, but you may want to watch out for the people behind you" she said, motioning her hand towards the newcoming Imperium soldiers while giving her pocket knife a quick flick, causing it's blade to make an appearance.

"Pfft, I can take these guys!" Arin stated rather confidently as he pulled up his hood.

Kiba gave a knowing smile as she backed up a few paces.

"Just don't knock yourself off this thing. None of us are coming after you" she warned.

Arin gave a chuckle as he spun in place, and his frame was partially surrounded by twisting orange light. Lloyd seemed shocked as Arin propelled himself into the soldiers that were up by the front of the transport, knocking them down like they were bowling pins.

"It really was him" the Green Ninja stated, looking like his mind had been blown.

"Who did he train under?!" he cried looking between Sora and Kiba.

"He taught himself" the tech junkie revealed as one of the soldiers got up.

Arin attempted to get a blade handle to reactivate, but instead, a blaster shot was fired off, and Kiba and the others had to duck to avoid being hit. The same couldn't be said for one of the soldiers that backed up Rapton, who took the blaster fire to the face and promptly landed on their back with a loud groan.

"Sorry!" Arin quickly called out an apology before becoming aware of one of the guards, who was getting back on their feet.

"As long as you hit the soldiers and not us? Then you're good man!" Kiba replied with a bit of a proud smile.

Something that faded a bit as Lloyd began talking again.

"Spinjitzu is the single most important Ninja technique! It took me years to learn it with an incredible teacher. That shouldn't be possible!" he cried.

"Then you probably don't want to know that he's been working on that since the beginning of this year. And he's been getting pretty good at it too these past couple months" Kiba admitted to him, turning to look at the soldiers behind her

"He's not the only one with skills. I just learned that I can do... this!" Sora stated as she took off her headphones and pulled on her hood before jumping towards the soldiers and sticking out her hands.

However, nothing happened. Her hands and eyes didn't glow with that pink purple color that Kiba had seen when they were all falling down.

"Oh, come on!" the tech junkie whined and she clapped her hands together, trying to get her ability to activate.

"Was something, supposed to happen?" Lloyd asked in a skeptical tone as he pulled on a hood and mask with one hand while reaching for his sword with the other.

"S-Something's wrong! It worked before!" Sora cried while looking at her hands in confusion.

"It's true. She created a Mech while in mid air while we were falling off the bridge" Kiba told Lloyd as she pulled up the black scarf that hung around her neck over her nose and mouth.

"Then again, that dragon earlier definitely had something to do with it" she added to Sora.

"Well, you guys got anything else?" Lloyd asked as he pulled his blade free with a soft and short 'shing' while looking at the soldiers, who were approaching the trio with the old man, Rapton, in the lead.

"Don't look at me. My little thing happened when I was on the bridge, which, mind you, was a large open space. In case you hadn't noticed, we are on a train that's going seventy, maybe eighty miles an hour through a small tunnel. I don't feel like face-planting myself against the walls here" Kiba stated as she readied her knife.

She compared it to the size of the weapons her opponents held, and twisted her head to look over her shoulder.

"Yo, Arin! Toss me one of those blade things!" she called out.

A deactivated blade handle was promptly kicked in her direction, and the cyan eyed female was quick to toss her knife over to Sora, who managed to catch it after fumbling with it a bit, and momentarily turned her attention the the empty handle she now held in her hand. After fidling with it, an orange holographic blade made it's appearance, and Kiba let out a small sinister giggle as she narrowed her eyes at the approaching soldiers as she spun her newfound weapon with one hand.

"Get them!" Rapton suddenly cried out, pointing a metal covered hand at the trio.

He, along with the rest of the soldiers, rushed forward with his weapon raised, and Lloyd was quick to meet him head on by clashing his sword against the holographic blade. The two quickly found themselves locked in a stalemate, each trying to overpower the other by sheer strength alone. One of the soldiers rushed at Kiba, who dropped to a knee to let the blade cut through the air, before twisting around to jab her blade into the back of the soldier's knee, causing it to buckle and the soldier to fall.

Turning back around, the cyan eyed female barely had the time to raise her weapon before another soldier was on her, trying to force the holographic blade she held to her throat. Holding on to the hologram, and the actual handle, the female let herself drop to her back, and due to the force the soldier was exerting, they went down too. Planting her foot against their stomach, Kiba combined their's and her own momentum to essentially roll backwards while kicking as hard as she could, effectively flinging the soldier towards the front of the transport while landing in a no-handed spider-man pose.

The Imperium person didn't find their footing fast enough, and Kiba watched, wide eyed, as they disappeared over the edge of the transport, letting out a yell that was quick to fade away as they went.

"...Oops" she muttered after some hesitation.

"Look buddy, I have zero idea who you are-" she heard Lloyd say, causing her to turn her head to look at him.

The Green Ninja had managed to shove the old man back a couple paces, and the grey and white haired male looked more ticked off than ever as he cut across Lloyd.

"I'm Rapton! Ugh! I just told you that!" he snapped before slashing his blade at the Green Ninja, who caught the blow with his sword and continued on as if nothing had happened.

"-but if you're locking up kids and apparently dragons? Then you and I have some issues to work out"

Kiba couldn't help but feel a little offended. Her seventeenth birthday was coming up, meaning she was a little over a year away from turning eighteen. She was very certain that didn't mean she was a kid, thank you very much.

The soldier she had jabbed in the back of knee gained her attention by getting back up again, their body language signifying that that they were rather ticked off as they turned and raised their blade.

"Look my guy, it took a jab to knee for you to go down, and you got to witness me tossing your friend of this thing like they were a sack of potatoes. You really want to try this again?" Kiba asked them as she spun and raised her own blade, furrowing her eyebrows and lightly glaring at the soldier before her as she tilted her head in warning.

To be honest, she was looking a lot more confident than she was feeling.

They gave a bit of a raspy roar-like noise as they rushed at her while raising their weapon over their head. In a fluid motion, the cyan eyed female slipped to the side and then behind the soldier as they sailed past her, doing their best to check their speed enough so that they could turn and try their attack again. While they were attempting to land a hit, Kiba tuned in to whatever was going towards the front of the transport.

"Oh come on weird powers, why won't you work now?!" she heard Sora hiss in frustration.

Knocking her opponent back hard enough to send them sliding, the cyan eyed female turned her head to see her best friend waving her hands around, distress and frustration evident upon her facial features. The pocket knife Kiba had given her had been folded up and attached to one of the belts around the tech junkie's waist. Arin stunned two soldiers that had tried to gang up on him, and his face suddenly lit up, like he had come to a realization.

"I think I might know what the problem is Sora! Be right back!" the dark skinned male called out.

He didn't notice the vents behind him lifting up, and he definitely didn't notice the Imperium soldier rising up out of it, holding a holographic blade like they were about to throw it.

"Arin, look out!" Kiba cried, a twinge of fear shooting through her very being as the Imperium soldier threw their blade.

But, she didn't have to worry. Sora, who had noticed the danger at the same time she did, was quick to rush forward, blocking the hit with the metal plating that covered her arm and causing the blade to merely bounce away. Relief flooded through Kiba as she started to turn again, however, she had been distracted, which had allowed her opponent to get back on their feet.

And it was rather unfortunate that she didn't have a metal plated arm to take the hit for her. It stung quite a bit when that holographic blade made contact with her upper arm, leaving behind a diagonally angled gash that was quick to well up with red and causing the female to let out a sharp cry of pain that she was quick to suppress as she whirled around and took a couple steps back. Her free hand was quick in finding and pressing against the wound as her opponent advanced, clearly thinking that they've won.

Well, joke was on them.

Sucking up the pain, Kiba removed her hand, which was now coated in red, and transferred her blade to it. The Imperium soldier paused, then found themselves having to block as the cyan eyed female slashed her blade towards them. At that moment, Arin appeared overhead, landing at the very end of the transport as he disengaged his grappling hook.

When the heck had he fired that?

Moving on beyond that, the female watched as her brother put away the device, then disappeared down a ladder that had been attached the the side of the transport.

"Uh, did he just, leave?" the female heard Lloyd call out.

She turned her head towards him in time to catch the confused look in his eyes before turning her attention back to her opponent, taking a step or two back to avoid getting slashed at.

"When it comes to my brother, he always has something in mind. Chances are he's not actually leaving" she said in reply, raising her blade to block a hit.

She kicked the soldier as hard as she could in their stomach, and used that to push herself back while leaving the soldier on their knees and gasping for air. After making sure that they weren't going to get back up anytime soon, I mean, they probably weren't, their body language alone made it look like they were about to start heaving, Kiba risked taking a glance around. Lloyd was holding his own pretty good against Rapton.

As he should considering he's a full fledged Ninja.

Sora, however, was having some trouble with trying to not get shot by the Imperium soldier that was attacking her. She wasn't even trying to use the pocket knife Kiba had given her. It was still latched to one of the belts around the tech junkie's waist.

And the soldier behind her had their weapon aimed at her head. The fear Kiba had felt a minute ago returned with a vengeance, and that's when she felt it.

That tug in her chest.

She, of course, was already moving by the time it had registered, and by the time it had, she was by Sora's side, her blade stuck out, which had deflected the blaster fire and left the soldier staring at her in shock. She barely paid any attention to the spluttering noises that came from somewhere in front of her. She was a little too busy trying to silence the turmoil of emotions that were starting to rise in her chest again.

"Kiba, you... You did it. Again!" she heard Sora cry out.

Kiba didn't have much time to process her best friend's words before the soldier was aiming their weapon again, this time at Kiba. However, before either side could do something, a shrill chirp rang through the air. A familiar chirp at that.

Turning her head, Kiba was surprised to see the little grey dragon from before now galloping towards them, with Arin close behind.

"Ha! Good going little brother!" she praised as the creature came to a halt.

It's eyes were enveloped with a white glow before that familiar beam of light shot from its body into Sora's chest. That whole thing had been enough to catch the attention of Rapton and Lloyd, who both paused mid battle to watch in astonishment at what was going on.

"This is what I was trying to show you Lloyd" the tech junkie stated as her eyes and hands began to glow that pink purple color.

The soldier in front of Kiba decided to abandon her and go for Sora instead. All the female did in retaliation was put a hand against their weapon, and the result had the soldier propelled off the transport.

"Elemental powers?" Kiba just barely heard Lloyd say, and she turned her head to look at him.

"I told you so" she said while pointing her holographic blade in her best friend's direction.

The thing started glowing with the same color as Sora's eyes and hands, and it began to go haywire, activating and deactivating different weapons and mechanisms. A simple look around revealed that all of the blades were going through the same thing. Sora suddenly looked a little panicked.

"Shit, uh, guys? I think I made a bomb!" she called out.

Kiba suddenly felt ready to dip out of this fight as she tossed her malfunctioning weapon towards one of the remaining soldiers, who stupidly caught.

"Alright, time to book it people!" she hollered.

"Uh, here, catch!" Sora cried out, tossing the weapon in her hands towards Rapton, who caught it, and then promptly dropped it in a panic.

Moving fast, Kiba didn't really have the time, or the option, to think twice as she dove off the transport. The only thing she could do was raise her arms and brace herself for the impact. The feeling of the air being shoved out of her lungs as she slid and rolled to a stop was something she never wanted to feel again.

Fucking hell, she couldn't even breathe for a couple seconds before her lungs finally decided to quit being stubborn and actually accept a shaky intake of some much needed oxygen. Everything hurt, so bad. Especially her arm, which now really felt like it was burning.

Pressing her forehead against the ground, Kiba took a couple seconds to get her bearings before lifting her head up and taking a look around. Lloyd was already in the process of sitting up, though he did look a little dazed as he fumbled a bit in sheathing his sword. Arin and Sora both looked a little worse for wear, and a small stream of blood was starting to run down the side of Sora's face, originating from a small tear in the skin that was close to her hairline.

The little dragon seemed a little unsteady as it got to it's feet, but after it shook it's head, it seemed to be fine. Everybody was panting a bit, some harder than others, and Arin even let out a groan as he managed to lift part of his body up.

"Oh man, I'm so gonna feel this in the morning" he whined.

Kiba let out a short chuckle at his words, even though it hurt her ribs to do so.

"In the morning? I'm feeling it now" she breathed, managed to get her legs under her body.

She shifted herself so that she was sitting back on her aching ankles, stabilizing herself by pressing her hands against the ground and letting her head hang for a few moments.

"Sorry guys, but jumping was the only way to get off that train. Unless you wanted to wait until it got to it's destination" she heard Lloyd say.

It sounded like he was trying to get to his feet, and a quick look upwards which resulted in her head pounding a little harder against her skull confirmed that. Deciding that she wasn't quite ready to be standing up just yet, Kiba settled for shifting herself so that she was sitting with criss crossed legs on the ground. Arin looked like he had been about to stand, but ultimately decided against it and sat against his ankles.

Sora was the only one besides Lloyd to have managed to get to her feet, though her hands were on her knees, and she looked like she was trying hard not to heave on the spot.

"Today was supposed to be a simple Mech race, how in the world did things come to us jumping off a damn train?" Kiba groaned as she leaned back against her hands and tilted her head back.

Her words got a smile or two of amusement before silence fell upon the group. Lloyd was the first to break it.

"You know, it's supposed to be impossible to learn Spinjitzu by yourself, but... I mean, it was a really weird version but it was still Spinjitzu" he said, looking towards Arin as he spoke.

The dark skinned male got a look of excitement on his face as he pushed his hood back, prompting Sora to do the same as Lloyd shifted his gaze over to Kiba.

"As for you, your abilities have something to do with speed, but last I checked, the Master of Speed is still alive, soo...." he said before trailing off and tapping a curled finger against his upper lip.

Now this confused Kiba.

There was a master of speed?

Was speed actually considered an element?

"And you definitely have an elemental power. It's not fire or ice, or some others I've seen, but, maybe, tech power?" Lloyd stated, cutting across her thoughts and looking a little confused at his own words towards the end of his sentence as he looked towards Sora.

Arin gave a shit eating grin towards his best friend.

"Told ya Sora" he said in a bit of a sing song voice, causing the tech junkie to roll her eyes, but everyone could see the smile that took place.

Lloyd gave a smile himself at their kid's antics as he put a hand against his hip before his attention was caught by the little grey dragon, who had nudged it's head against his other hand.

"And it's somehow connected to this little dragon?" he said as he gently scratched the top of the creature's head, earning some soft rumbling purrs and chirps.

The Green Ninja then looked up at the trio before him.

"Did any of your parents have powers?" he asked.

"Not that I know of" Sora responded as she scratched the back of her head, looking rather confused herself.

Arin looked towards Kiba with a questioning gaze. Any time it came to question about their family that he didn't know the answer to, he usually sought out his sister for help.

"Nope" the cyan eyed female stated as she slowly shook her head from side to side a couple times.

"...This makes no sense. Where'd he come from?" Lloyd commented, giving the dragon some more scratches around the neck after it pressed itself against his hand before looking back up at the trio.

"We don't know. We found him when those jerks were hunting him. We heard some tiger guy threaten to hunt down his whole family" Arin admitted as the dragon came over to him, successfully getting some pets out of the young dark skinned male.

Lloyd seemed surprised at this.

"There's a tiger guy now too?" he asked.

"A black one with pink or purple stripes. I think his name was Ras, or something like that. I don't know" Kiba supplied, remembering Rapton blurting out the name.

He had seemed nervous, even a little fearful when that tiger arrived on the bridge.

"We need to warn his herd. There's gotta be a way to find his home" Sora stated.

Before anyone could say something in response to that, all attention went to the dragon as he gave a chirp and started towards some rocks. And then, strangely enough, the dragon began stacking the rocks on top of each other, creating a couple of different sized piles.

"Look, I'm all for making rock sculptures, but we don't have a lot of time here little buddy" Arin said, looking at the dragon with an amused expression.

Kiba tilted her head a bit as the dragon placed one last rock on a pile before taking a step or two back and looking rather expectantly at the group.

"Actually Arin, I don't think he's making rock sculptures" she commented, tilting her head in the opposite direction.

Lloyd then caught on to what she had been silently suggesting.

"She's right. That dragon is telling us where he's from! Smart little thing" he said as a smile of realization spread across his lips.

"Atta boy" Kiba praised, which somehow prompted the dragon to come to her this time.

"Well then. So how do we find the place that he lives at?" Sora asked as the little creature let out some more chirps and purrs, curtesy of Kiba gently scratching it under the chin.

"I've seen that mountain range somewhere in one of the scrolls back at the Monastery. I just don't know where. Could use some help searching for it" Lloyd replied.

Kiba and Sora shared a knowing smile.

"Well, I think I know someone who might be rather excited by that" the cyan eyed female commented as she turned her head to look at her brother.

Sure enough, he seemed to be trying very hard to contain himself, even though there was a bright smile plastered on his lips as he rocked back and forth on his heels. The Green Ninja gave a chuckle as he crossed his arms.

"Come on, let's get going"

...

"I can't believe it. I'm in the Monastery of Spinjitzu!"

Kiba let out a sigh of slight amusement as she folded up a scroll and tied it back together before placing it on the on the ground in the small pile of scrolls beside her, ignoring the ache in her arm, which now sported a clean bandage wrap, as it protested her movements. Lloyd had been kind enough to treat the wound on her arm, which after some cleaning, was revealed to be not as deep as anybody originally thought thought. She had managed to get away with some butterfly strips and a bandage that had been wrapped around her elbow in a way that allowed for minimal movement.

Based off the bruising alone, the Green Ninja had been a little worried over a possible torn muscle or even a slight fracture, so he made sure to include that in when he wrapped the elastic fabric around her arm. Her flannel jacket, which was now tied back around her waist, hadn't been so lucky in avoiding damage. Kiba had to twist the sleeve when she was tying to it in order to hide the blood stained tear that was now present in the sleeve.

Hydrogen peroxide and baking soda were really going to be her friends when it came to removing the red colored stains.

Moving on back to now, the cyan eyed female stood and went searching through the shelves for another scroll to look through.

"Gotta say though, it's a little weirder than I pictured it" Arin stated.

He hadn't stop fawning over every little thing in the Monastery since they got here. Lloyd had thankfully been on the understanding side, and willingly answered any question the younger male had.

"The weird stuff is new. This place got real strange after The Merge" he said as he pulled a scroll free from one of the higher shelves.

With her back turned, Kiba didn't get to see what happened, but she heard something bumped into another thing, and suddenly Sora was lightly scolding her brother.

"Arin, focus! I know you're excited but we have to find the dragon's home" she said.

Kiba turned her head to look over her shoulder, and before she could say anything, her attention was grabbed again when Lloyd started talking. He now held quite a few scrolls under one arm while holding on to the shelves with the other.

"After The Merge, Kai began to explore some of the new lands" he informed the group as he began to carefully make his way down to the floor.

"You know where Kai the Fire Ninja is?" Arin breathed out.

No one noticed how the little dragon sniffed the air before running over to a footstool, which had a couple of abandoned scrolls on it that Kiba had put down. Lloyd got to the ground and turned to walk towards a desk as he answered Arin's question.

"Not exactly. It's a long story. But Kai sent notes about the places he's seen. I'm pretty sure I saw those mountain in here somewhere" he said, setting the scrolls down and opening one to view it's contents.

Kiba turned back to the shelves before her, and her eyes landed on a scroll that seemed to be of interest. However, before she could pull it, the sound of the dragon letting out some excited chirps and chitters caused her to look over, only to see the four legged creature bouncing towards them, a scroll clasped in his jaws. Sora, who had been looking through a scroll, paused and look up with Arin as the dragon came closer.

"What did you find?" the tech junkie, gaining Lloyd's attention, who looked over before taking a couple steps towards the group.

The little dragon dropped the scroll onto the ground and gave it a nudge, causing the paper to unravel and reveal a mountain range that bore a somewhat crude resemblance to the rock sculptures he had built up earlier. A look of realization came across Lloyd's facial features as he came closer.

"The Land of the Three Mountains" he said as he picked up the paper to examine it more closely.

"Buuut, it's far away. And the only airship I have, is the new Destiny's Bounty" he told the group.

"You have another Destiny's Bounty? Cool! Where is it?" Arin asked.

Lloyd gave the group a knowing smile.

...

Turns out, the inside of the mountain the Monastery sat upon had been hollowed out a bit, allowing more than enough room for a control room of sorts that branched out to other areas, each with their own platforms. The thing that really caught everybody's attention though, was the large ship that was docked at one of these platforms. Arin gave an impressed laugh, and Kiba had to share his amazement as the group came to a stop on the platform.

The vessel was absolutely massive. Kiba had to fully tilt her head back just to see the top of the mast, where two large structures that were covered in red sail clothe and gold paint resembled dragon wings. The sides, the underbelly, and the thrusters were all painted red as well.

The back half of the airship was as big as a flippin house, it even had a roof, and the cyan eyed female assumed that area to be the living quarters. That left the rest of the deck, which had different boxes and random things strewn across it.

"Holy hell, this thing is massive" Kiba breathed as she set her hands on her hips.

Lloyd gave a nod of agreement, looking rather proud for a second before his face fell.

"Yeah, but it isn't finished. And I don't have the skill to complete work on the engine" he said, looking towards the group as he spoke.

Kiba took a second to allow his words to register before a somewhat smug smirk started to form on her lips.

"Work on the engine, you say?" she asked as she slowly turned her head towards Sora, who facial features mirrored her own.

"I can think of one or two people who might be able to help out with that" the tech junkie stated.

She stuck out her hands towards the ship, a look of concentration on her face, before she let her hands fall with a huff of frustration.

"Really? Back me up here buddy" she said as she looked towards the dragon, who gave a couple rumbling chitters as his head was pet.

The tech junkie tried again, but got the same result as Kiba's gaze landed on a tool box that was at the other end of the platform.

"Do elemental powers come and go?" she heard Sora ask as she started towards the box.

"No. Well, sometimes. Elemental powers can be... complicated. It can take a lot of work to achieve one's true potential" Lloyd replied, and Kiba gave a hushed giggle at Sora's sigh of light frustration and resignment as she picked up the tool box.

"Well, in the meantime, I'm sure we can get that engine completed with these" the cyan female called out, gaining the other's attentions as she held up the tools.

A couple minutes later, and the hatch that covered the engine compartment was open, curtesy of Kiba who was making sure it stayed open while watching Sora move around in the compartment. Arin was chilling out on some steps while giving some gentle pets to the dragon, who was curled up and looking about ready for a nice nap. The tech junkie started to hum a little tune to herself while as she tossed out things that didn't need to be in the compartment with her.

The cyan eyed female gave an incredulous look and followed it's path as a freakin spatula of all things sailed out of the compartment and landed on the ground a couple meters away.

"The fuck?" she quietly muttered, furrowing her eyebrows for a couple seconds before lightly shaking her head and looking down at the compartment.

Sora seemed to have finally cleared out the clutter and started work on the engine. Looks like she had this one handled just fine on her own. The sound of approaching footsteps had her looking towards the source, and she noticed Lloyd approaching the group with a large wooden box that had the image of a broken glass, signifying that the box's contents were fragile.

The green eyed blonde haired male set the box down on the steps before taking a seat beside Arin, who had stopped petting the dragon.

"Does she always hum while she works?" Lloyd asked as he leaned a bit towards the younger male.

"No. Sometimes she sings. Loudly. Trust me, the humming is better" Arin replied.

Kiba had to quickly side step to avoid a fork that was tossed towards the steps. She gave it an odd look before shifting her gaze to Lloyd. Yeah, he was the Green Ninja and all, but Kiba decided to ignore that fact for a few seconds as she aimed a hand towards the spatula.

"Okay, first it was the freakin spatula that's laying on the ground over there, now its this fork. What are you doing, having dinner in there? Jeez" she said as a smile made its way across her lips.

Her brother gave a small laugh while Lloyd assumed a look of amusement.

"You guys been friends a long time"

It was more of a statement than a question.

"Well, me and Kiba are siblings, which, I assume you knew already. But we met Sora right after The Merge, when the Crossroads started to build up with folks from all the newly merged lands. Sora came from Imperium" Arin explained.

"I've seen that place. Looks impressive" Lloyd commented as he leaned his arms against his legs.

"Yeah, well, Sora would beg to differ" Kiba told him over her shoulder, turning the atmosphere from playful to solemn as she sat cross legged on the ground.

"She ran away from there, and won't tell either of us why. Me and Kiba came to the Crossroads because our parents disappeared during The Merge. Like a lot of people. Like I thought you Ninja did. And yet, you didn't" her brother said, playing with his hands as he spoke before turning to Lloyd, who got up off the stairs and started walking towards another box with the fragile label on it.

The Green Ninja seemed to hesitate before he spoke.

"...Not, all of us" he said.

Kiba, who had been following his movements, shared a look of concern with Arin before turning her gaze back to the Green Ninja.

"If you don't mind my asking, what happened with you guys? What have you been doing?" the cyan female asked as she stood up and walked over to the siding of the ship, using her hands to push herself up so that she could sit down on it.

Lloyd gave a small grunt as he heaved the box into his arms before head towards the steps again.

"Keeping the world from destroying itself" he answered before beginning his story, which prompted Arin and Kiba to stay quiet as he told it.

"The day started pretty normal. Master Wu sent me to find as many scrolls as I could on something he called, Coalescence. I couldn't make sense of it. And then I saw the beginning of The Merge.

I guess that's when we first met. It was the most chaotic thing I've ever experienced. And then, I learned that whatever that chaos was resulted in The Merge.

All sixteen realms coming together, expanding our world greatly. But for those that got caught up in it, the Ninja, your parents, I still don't know what happened. I think The Merge is what Master Wu was researching, but his scrolls were destroyed, and I couldn't make any sense of his work.

Except that it was somehow tied to something called, Source Dragons. But I've never heard of any dragons having that kind of power. I couldn't figure out how I made it back here, or how the Bounty did.

For weeks, I thought I was the only survivor. I was wrong. After The Merge, Kai woke up on an island that didn't exist before.

He worked his way through some strange kingdoms to get home. He didn't know where the others were, but we quickly learned we had, bigger, problems.

Mergequakes.

Mergequakes are like, aftershocks. Places where realms are unstable, trying to share the same area, like cracks in reality. And we learned that, for some reason, elemental powers can close them. But the Mergequakes are getting more frequent.

And stronger.

If they continue like this, it's only a matter of time before they rip the world apart. Kai and I realized that we needed help to stop them. Master Wu's scrolls had been destroyed, but there had to be answers out there somewhere.

Or at least someone who could help us. Kai took the Bounty to search the combined realms for answers. And I stayed, to keep everyone safe.

And the Mergequakes? They were getting worse. I had been going through the Crossroads, looking for, well, anything, when I noticed someone doing Spinjitzu on that bridge"

Arin, who had been doing pretty good at staying quiet, now finally let his voice loose.

"So that's why you were expecting a Ninja in the train car with us?" he asked.

"Yeah" Lloyd breathed out.

While he had been talking, he had taken to standing by the siding of the ship beside Kiba, and Arin had chose to join him. Now, Lloyd looked towards the younger male with a smile on his face.

"But I never imagined it would be someone who taught themselves Spinjitzu" he said.

The blonde haired male moved his gaze over to the hole in the floor that led to the engine compartment, which had gone quiet while he had been talking.

"Or someone with an elemental power I didn't even know existed that's tied to a dragon"

The dragon in question had woken up from his nap, and was now playing with a wrench that had been tossed out of the engine compartment. Kiba let out a breathy chuckle as she looked towards the Green Ninja.

"We certainly gave you quite the turn-around, didn't we?" she said, giving a small smile with half lidded eyes as the male turned towards her.

"Heh. That you did" he agreed with a soft huff of laughter, slight amusement on his face before his expression fell into one of thoughtfulness.

"Not only that, but dragons might be connected to what cause The Merge" he stated as he turned to look back towards the little grey dragon.

"It's... It's like it's...it's..." he said, momentarily struggling to find the words to voice his thoughts.

Arin suddenly gave a smile, and Kiba, for some odd reason, suddenly felt nervous as to what was about to come out of her brother's mouth, though she did her best not to let it show as she looked towards him.

"Fate! You were meant to find us. To train us! To be our new master" the dark skinned male stated, looking rather excited and somewhat determined as he spoke.

Lloyd did not seem all that keen with the idea. As a matter of fact, he actually looked a little, upset? By it?

"I'm... not skilled enough to be your master. You need Wu. But... he's gone" the blonde haired male said, his voice a little lower than usual.

The look on Arin's face shifted from optimistic to crestfallen. Kiba was silent, and her facial expression fell into one of sympathy as she stared at the Green Ninja's back. She wanted to say something, anything really, but before she could, she found herself holding on to the edge of the sidings, trying not to fall off as the airship gave a few tremors while a loud humming filled the air.

The vessel had begun to start up, which was signified as the dragon wing shaped sails began to maneuver themselves and spread out, and there was only one reason why. A fact that had Kiba smiling as she looked towards the large hole in the floorboards. Sora had a look of pride etched on her face as she pulled the upper half of her body out of the engine compartment and faced the group.

"So! Whose up for a flight?" she asked in a casual manner.

The downtrodden atmosphere turned to excitement and anticipation as everybody shared a couple smiles.

...

The feeling of the wind moving past Kiba's body now as she laid on her back on the siding of the ship with a leg bent and crossed over the other, her frame following the curve upwards, was a sharp contrast from when she had been at the top of that transport train. There, it had been quite harsh. Pulling at her hair and tugging on her clothes like it had been trying to dislodge her or at least make her lose her footing.

Here? On the ship? It was soft and dare she say gentle even, simply moving past her frame like a fast breeze.

It was almost peaceful, in a way.

Well, it would have been completely peaceful if it weren't for the giggles and the soft rhythmic thumps that came from somewhere at her side. Arin and Sora, to pass the time, had taken to playing a game of Monkey in the Middle with the little dragon by spinning and tossing a pair of nun-chucks back and forth for the creature to try and catch. The dragon came close to succeeding a couple times, his jaws closing on air just mere inches away from his target before gravity decided to pull him back against the floorboards.

Deciding that she actually wanted to see how this game would end, Kiba moved herself off of the sidings, opting to simply lean against it at a spot where she could see all three beings that were participating in this game.

"Come on buddy, catch it" Arin encouraged the creature before he tossed the nun-chucks towards Sora, who caught them and began spinning the weapon over her head, which beckoned the dragon into coming over to her.

The game lasted for about another minute before the dragon finally decided to use his wings, which gave him the leverage he needed to finally catch those nun-chucks.

"Good job little buddy" Kiba praised as she pushed herself off of the sidings.

The dragon was rewarded with pets and scratches from Arin and Sora, with the former wanting to have a go at another round. Before that could happen though, the group's attention was caught by Lloyd's soft gasp of surprise, and after looking towards the front, it wasn't hard to see as to why. Three giant mountains, similar to the rock sculptures and the drawing, each with ledges adorned with blue, purple, and green colored trees of varying sizes, loomed above the cloud cover. The group had arrived to their destination.

"The Three Peaks!" Lloyd called out.

His statement had Arin and Sora, along with the dragon, rushing towards the sidings with an air of excitement to have a look for themselves. The dragon let out a happy sounding chirp, probably due to him seeing his home again. Kiba gave a smile towards the creature before facing the mountains again.

Lloyd turned his head to look at the group.

"We're almost there! We're-" he started to say before he cut himself off, his green eyes flicking away from the teens and squinting towards something that was off to the side of the ship.

Slight confusion made itself present, and Kiba found herself following the direction of his gaze to see what had made him stop himself so quickly. Her keen eyesight picked up on what appeared to be a somewhat small glider vehicle that was propelling itself through the air, with only a single rider aboard it. The confusion the female had felt before grew a bit, and for some reason, a feeling of nervousness began to weave its way in with it.

What the heck was someone doing way out here? And that wasn't the only thing that was odd. The shape of the vehicle that the person was flying was almost like that of a bug.

Something that Kiba found to be strangely familiar. And not in a good way. She had seen that type of vehicle before, but where?

"Oh no" she heard Lloyd murmur, which prompted her to look over her shoulder.

A pang of fear shot through her as more of those glider vessels came up on the other side of the airship, each holding the same shape as the one Kiba had been staring at, but all of them much closer to make out even the littlest detail. And now she remembered where she had seen those vessels. They had been the same ones The Claws of Imperium had been flying around on the bridge.

"Aw shit" the cyan eyed female stated as she looked towards her brother and best friend before moving her gaze back to the Imperium soldiers.

"It's those dragon hunters. It's The Claws of the Imperium!" Sora cried out, leaning of the siding a bit so that she could look behind the airship.

"They must've followed us!" Arin yelped, realization and dread making their way across his facial features.

Moving over to the other side of the ship, Kiba leaned a bit over the siding, and the sight of the blasters on the smaller vessels beginning to glow orange had the blood draining from her face.

"Crap. They're opening fire! Brace yourselves!" she warned, dropping down to the floorboards, but still holding on the the siding.

The moment the first shots were fired, the airship was quick to take a sharp turn to the right in an attempt to evade them along with trying to avoid the mountain side that was starting to get a little too close for comfort. The Claws of Imperium were quick to hang on to the airship's tail, and Kiba found her body shifting backwards towards her brother and best friend as the vessel tipped itself into a sharp left turn. After that, Lloyd kept the ship steady as he followed the natural curvature of the mountain they were currently beside while maintaining a controlled drop, which he pulled out of when they were on the other side of the mountain.

A couple seconds later, and Kiba let out a slight cry of surprise that was paired with pain as her body, jostling her injured arm in the process, was pressed against the siding, which was now the only thing keeping her on the ship as it was almost fully turned onto it's side. A fearful chirp had the female looking up, and her fear increased at the sight of not only Arin holding on to Sora's foot for dear life, but of the dragon sliding at a fast pace towards the siding. Moving fast, Kiba shifted herself and planted one foot against the siding, while bracing a hand and her knee against the floorboards.

Pushing herself up, the cyan eyed female reached out a hand, and the dragon slid right under it for a second before she quickly brought her hand down, internally smiling when she felt the appendage connect with the spot where the creature's front leg made contact with the rest of his body. Using her hand to slow his pace as she brought her limb down, Kiba simultaneously lowered her body towards the siding, slowing her own pace as she went and effectively bringing herself and the dragon to a halt.

"Don't worry buddy. I gotchu" she said in a soft reassuring tone, getting a low resonating rumble in response.

A couple moments later, and the female found herself laying on her side as the large airship was righted. She didn't get the chance to push herself to her feet, because at that moment, a jarring shudder rocked through the vessel, knocking anyone who wasn't holding on to something to the ground. From her vantage point, Kiba got to see Lloyd struggle for a moment to keep his footing, especially when the ship's bow began to dip down as it started to lose it's speed.

This gave Kiba an insight to what had been struck by those blaster shots.

"Crap, we've lost a thruster!" she hollered over the wind as she pushed herself onto her hand and knees.

"Agh! I can't steady it!" Lloyd cried out, straining with all his might in an effort to turn the wheel and adjust their trajectory. Which was all in vain.

The ship tilted towards the side again as it began to circle around another mountain, all while keeping a descent that seemed to be tilting more and more downwards as they went. Kiba got to her feet, and managed to keep her footing despite the floorboards jostling around underneath her as she made her way towards the helm, which was surrounded by a half-moon barrier, with the dragon by her side. By the time she got to it, Arin and Sora were both either holding on to the barrier or the other side of the mast, which was placed directly behind the helm.

As she steadied herself by setting her hands against the edge of the barrier, the cyan eyed female's heart leapt into her throat as the airship cleared the mountain they had been circling, because directly in front of the vessel was a sheer cliffside that belonged to the third mountain out of the Three Peaks. And they were all barreling straight towards it, with no way to avoid it. Kiba tightened her hold on the barrier, silently bracing herself for the imminent collision that was sure to happen.

Was this really how she was going to die?

By having her body impaled with splintered wood?

Being splattered across the rock that made up the cliffside?

Would the others make it out?

Or would they also...?

Fucking hell, she could already see the headlines that would appear in the newspapers in years to come.

Skeletons found in ship wreckage on side of mountain.

What a way to go out.

The female dropped down to a knee, bowing her head and closing her eyes as Lloyd let out a panicked yell, quietly resigning herself to her fate. The dread and trepidation that burned through the female like a wildfire in the dry season were quick to turn to surprise and confusion as the floorboards beneath her gave a jarring jolt, and she felt the Bounty swing upwards for a moment before moving backwards. A gust of wind that came from above hammered in even more confusion, and Kiba gave a start at the feeling of the vessel bouncing in a rhythmic manner as she sensed herself getting higher into the air.

Peeking her eyes open, the female took a look around, seeing the confusion she felt present on everybody else's faces. Well, almost everyone. The little dragon had his head turned upwards, and he had a look of... excitement?

And he was starting to wag his tail too.

Following his gaze towards the sky, Kiba felt like her ability to breathe had decided to say goodbye, her jaw dropped a little bit, and her eyes widened at what she saw.

"Uh, we're, dead. Right?" she heard Arin hesitantly ask in confusion.

Words seemed to fail the cyan eyed female, so she slowly pointed upwards with a slightly shaking finger as the dragon let out a few excited sounding screeches, all while jumping in place and looking up towards what she was seeing. This prompted everyone else to look up as well, and they were nearly rendered speechless themselves as the female let her hand drop onto her knee.

The size of the dragon as it rose through the air easily rivalled the length of the Destiny's Bounty by a long shot.

Two large and powerful wings, each a dark orange color from the sun shining through them, swept out to the sides and released a harsh downward draft with every flap that was made, each holding enough strength for the creature to lift itself and the Bounty into the air. It's front claws, each tinted with an orange color, were wrapped around the top of the mast as well as one of the sails. The structure on the end of the dragon's tail was yellow in color, and very strongly reminded the female of those seven piece candlestick holders that one would often see for the Hanukkah holiday.

It's underbelly was an ashen grey color, and from what she could see based off the sun's reflection off the creature's scales, Kiba guessed that the rest of the creature's armored body was a dark green.

"Wow" she breathed as she rose to her feet, keeping one hand on the barrier to help stabilize herself.

"I think the little dragon's family found us" Lloyd stated, glancing down at said dragon as he gave a small chirp that was paired with a look of happiness in his eyes.

The vessel shuddering as the dragon shifted its grip a little had Kiba holding on to the barrier with both hands as she was shaken out of her moment of shock, and she looked towards the bow of the ship, watching as a large area of flat rock and land that dropped off to a sheer side cliff got closer. Now, the landing that played itself out in her head went a little something like this. The dragon would either set the vessel down on the ground as gently as it could, or as roughly, and the group would parkour their way off the ship and to the ground somehow.

Now, one can more than likely imagine the surprise and indignation that took hold when the dragon fully dropped the vessel to the ground.

On it's flippin side.

Sora was more than disgruntled as she and the little grey dragon, quickly followed by Arin, dropped down and manage to land on their feet, with the dark skinned male stumbling a bit before he found his footing.

"Hey! I just fixed that!" Sora cried out in annoyance, setting her hands against her hips. As she did that, the cyan eyed female that was still on the vessel calmed her racing heart beat enough to let go of the barrier she was currently hanging from, and drop down onto the sidings that were now underneath her. From there, she gave a small jump that still held enough force to carry her over the edge of the siding, and she hit the ground in time to see the large dragon who had carried the vessel land harshly on the ground and glare at Sora with narrowed glowing green eyes that held bright green colored circles in them.

That look was quick in checking whatever attitude the tech junkie had been about to dish out. And Kiba was wondering if the crown like structure on the large dragon's head somehow help with that. The creature was probably the leader of it's group.

"And I do not mind fixing it again. It'll be good practice actually" the tech junkie said in a rather nice tone as she put her hands behind her back and took a couple steps backwards.

A soft groan from somewhere behind her had Kiba looking over her shoulder, and light concern pricked at her mind when she watched as Lloyd slowly got to his feet, rubbing at a spot on his head as he went. However, before she could question his well-being, surprise and confusion sprang through her as a female's voice, full of power and authority, echoed around her. The strange thing was, she didn't hear it with her ears.

The voice originated from somewhere withing her own mind.

'What have you done to Riyu?!'

Whirling around, Kiba noticed that the dragon was no longer glaring at just Sora. Now, the creature's eyes seemed to be flicking towards everyone, and the female did her best to suppress a shudder when that fiery gaze landed on her.

'Have you injured one of our own?'

That voice spoke again in her head, and it took an embarrassingly long couple of seconds for Kiba to make the connection that it belonged to the dragon matriarch that was currently towering of the group. Lloyd decided to walk over and join them as Arin turned his gaze towards the little grey dragon that was practically bouncing on his feet.

"Riyu? Is your name Riyu buddy?" the dark skinned male asked with a little smile.

He got his confirmation in the form of some excited squeaks, chirps, and jumps.

"Well, at least we actually have a name to call him besides buddy" Kiba commented as she loosely folded her arms, circling over to her brother's side as she kept a gentle gaze on the creature.

Until her attention was caught by Lloyd approaching the much bigger dragon leader.

"We haven't hurt him. We rescued him from The Claws of Imperium" the Green Ninja explained.

Kiba gave a nod of agreement, doing her best to add truth to the older male's words as she straighten out her posture. A sudden screech from somewhere off to the side had everybody looking over, and the female felt her anger and horror starting to rise at what she saw. A small group of dragons, each with the same grey washed coloration as Riyu, were flying around in circles as those familiar bug shaped gliders chased after them, each vehicle letting off their barrages of attacks.

One of the dragons let out a screech of pain as some blaster fire from the soldier that was chasing after it found their marks along the creature's back and side.

It was so much more than just wrong. It was flat out cruel. It was a blatant act of disrespect and an uncaring attitude towards innocent life.

And it was more than enough to get Kiba's blood boiling as she clenched a fist, crinkling the fabric of her flannel jacket that was still around her waist.

Unfortunately, she didn't have much time to dwell on her own rage as the large dragon matriarch in front of the group let out a low guttural growl that seemed to echo as she turned her head back towards the group.

'You expect me to believe that... while you assault our land?!' she cried as she raised herself onto her back legs.

Her throat began to glow with a dark green color as black smoke started to rise out of her flaring nostrils. Her started opening as the glow in her throat reached her jaw, and dark green colored flames began to spew out, the glowing tendrils that whipped around practically begging to be unleashed upon the group. Kiba turned a bit and screwed her eyes shut as she shielded Arin and Sora's bodies with her own, one of her arms wrapped around the dark skinned male's back and the other holding on the the tech junkie's upper arm, all of them bracing themselves to feel the pain that would surely come as they were roasted alive.

However, it never came. In it's place, a scampering of feet and a shrill screech of defiance had the cyan eyed female peeking one eye open, and she was thoroughly surprised to see Riyu standing in front of an equally surprised Lloyd with his little wings stretched out in an effort to protect the group. Kiba opened both eyes and looked up at the matriarch, slowly and cautiously standing straight as the large dragon dropped down on her front legs, the flames and the glow dying down after a moment. She seemed almost surprised at the display of protection and defiance that was currently being demonstrated by the much smaller creature.

'Riyu. You are a young dragon. You do not understand how the world works. These beings can not be trusted!' the matriarch stated, adding emphasis to her words by shaking her head a couple times as she spoke.

Riyu didn't budge or even make a sound. He simply stood there, his wings flaring a bit as he stared right into the eyes of the matriarch dragon. Kiba heard Sora take a quiet deep breath like she was preparing herself for something, and turned to face her as the tech junkie stepped away from her and started walking towards the much larger being.

"Be careful" the cyan eyed female quietly muttered as her best friend went past her.

"We came to help. To warn you about the Claws of Imperium" Sora informed the creature as she came to a stop.

Arin also took a couple, albeit hesitant steps forward himself.

"Somehow they followed us. And we don't know how" he revealed.

Another pain filled screech caught the matriarch's attention, as she looked back towards the dragons, who were still being pursued by the Imperium soldiers. Lloyd took the chance to say his piece.

"Let us prove we're allies" he stated, his voice almost holding the hint of a plea in it as the matriarch faced the group again.

Riyu let out a small chirp, and the larger dragon narrowed her eyes a bit. After a moment of silence, she finally gave a nod, and Kiba felt somewhat relieved at the knowledge the matriarch was about to burn them all to a crisp. Of course, emotions like that were always fleeting for the cyan eyed female.

Especially when the group joined in on the battle to fight against the soldiers and their injustice. Concern and worry for her brother and best friend were always eating away at her when she knew they might be in danger. But she had to trust that they could handle themselves.

After all, she wouldn't be able to come to their aid right now since she was crouched behind a rock, pulling up her scarf to cover her nose and mouth while watching one of those flying vehicles unknowingly getting closer to her. The perfect moment to execute her plan appeared when the glider she was watching came to a halt, with the back end of it facing her. The soldier aboard it did not hear the female quickly hopping up on the rocks.

However, they were quick to notice when the back end of their vehicle dipped down as a slight thump was heard from her foot connecting with the metal. But, they didn't get much time to react before her uninjured elbow harshly collided with the back of their neck, effectively knocking the person out. Kiba let the soldier's body drop out of the cockpit and flop against the ground before hopping down into the cockpit herself.

The construction that laid itself out in front of her seemed simple enough. Handles for steering and pedals for slowing and adding speed. The only thing that confused the cyan eyed female a bit were the multiple buttons that were set across the console in front of her.

She was almost certain that most of them were for weapons and containment measures, but, eh, she would figure out what was what as she went.

Taking a seat, Kiba pressed her foot against the gas pedal and was a little surprised at the sudden lurch forward, but she was quick in recovering herself and pressed her foot more against the gas pedal.

"Okay, okay, we got this. We definitely got this" the female muttered to herself as she picked up the pace.

Fucking hell, this was nerve racking, but it was also a little exhilarating, and Kiba couldn't help the small smile that etched itself on her face. Her feelings gave way to momentary surprise when an Imperium soldier cut her off by flying full speed in front of her, making her quickly slam on the break pedal. They didn't seem to notice the fact that one of their own gliders was being operated by someone who wasn't one of their own.

Probably due to the fact the soldier was a little too focused on chasing after a dragon that was higher up in the sky. A grin began to take over Kiba's face as she managed to wheel her vehicle around.

Time to see just what this thing could do.

Pressing her foot against the gas, the cyan eyed female floored the thing, and let out a small laugh as she suddenly shot forward. Due to the sudden speed up, her body was forced backwards for a moment, which in turn led to her pulling in the handles. And that was how she found out that these things operated like that of an airplane.

Pull on the handles and you went up. Push against them and you went down. Simple enough really.

Using this new information, Kiba soon found herself flying upwards, not really stopping until she was level with a soldier who was chasing down a dragon. The poor thing seemed exhausted. Heck, the teenage female would be exhausted too if she had to put in the energy to try and evade someone who was trying to capture her.

Jerking the handles to the side while simultaneously pressing down on them, and the cyan eyed female managed to successfully wheel her vehicle around to face the soldier. After that, she gave chase, keeping pace with the soldier as they twisted and turned in an attempt to get closer to the dragon. Looking down at the buttons on the console, Kiba contemplated which one to press, and decided on one that was closer to the top of the console.

By some divine stroke of beginner's luck, that button turned to be one that operated the blasters, and each one managed to fire off three shots by the time she took her finger off of it out of surprise. Each shot completely missed the soldier, but it was more than enough to get their attention. And the soldier wheeled their glider around, probably to shout something in anger before they got a second look at the driver.

With them being stationary out of surprise that someone had managed to hijack one of their side's gliders, it gave Kiba the chance to press the button again, and this time, quite a few of the blaster shots landed, which caused the soldier to spin out of control and drop towards the ground. Following their progress, Kiba's attention was caught by a flash of bright green, and she watched as a green colored Spinjitzu tornado took out another one of the soldiers. When that ended, an orange colored half tornado sprang up, and the female winced a bit when Arin, thanks to someone flying right by him, was sent flying against a tree with enough force to make one of the limbs hang down, which caught another one of the flying vehicles and sent the soldier operating it flying head first into some rocks.

They didn't get up, which was more than understandable.

And honestly relatable.

Lloyd made his way over to Arin, and it looked like they were sharing a couple of words before they noticed that another Imperium soldier was speeding towards them. From her vantage point, Kiba watched as her brother pulled out his grappling hook and fired it towards the tree, creating a wire that sent both the glider and its driver flipping through the air and crashing to the ground. Arin retracted his grappling hook, and earned himself a high five from Lloyd.

Unfortunately, neither male noticed the soldier that was coming up behind them, and with her being too far away for them to hear her, Kiba decided to take matters into her own hands. Pressing down on the handles, her glider shot towards the ground, and the cyan eyed female waited for a couple seconds before pulling on the handles. With how she had been angled, she came out of the dive facing the approaching soldier's side, and so, she fired off the blasters while making her vehicle move in a semi circle motion.

An engine was hit, and it malfunctioned, going into overdrive and sending the soldier into another glider as it passed by. Both of the soldiers ended up crashing into the ground, making Kiba let out a whooping laugh of victory.

"Haha! Take that suckers!" she hollered out, jabbing a finger at the smoking ruins of the gliders.

"What the-Kiba?!" she heard Lloyd cry out, causing her to whip her head around.

Crap, she had momentarily forgotten that he and Arin were there. The dark skinned male seemed to be in awe and shock as his hands were clasped in his hair, his eyes wide and his dropped jaw was picking itself up off the ground to form into a wide smile. Lloyd seemed to be frozen out of shock and confusion.

"What-how-when... huh?!" Arin managed to get out before he motioned his hands towards the vehicle she was riding.

"How did you get that?!" he cried out.

"Oh! I, uh, I may or may not have hijacked it" Kiba admitted with a nervous giggle as she tapped the pads of her fingers together.

"What happened to the driver?" Lloyd asked, looking like he was scared of what the answer might be.

"There's a chance that they are laying on the ground somewhere... Currently knocked out... You know what? The details aren't that important"

"Oh boy" the Green Ninja sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose, looking very much like he was torn between being proud and concerned.

Arin let out a small giggle at the older male's reaction, and looked like he was about to say something, but before he could, another glider zoomed past the trio, going after a dragon that already had three other Imperium soldiers on it's tail.

"Well, I'll let you two take care of that. I kinda need to check up on Sora anyway. See ya!" Kiba commented.

She had set her hands in her lap when she began chatting with the two males, and now she placed the appendages back on the handles as she pressed her foot against the gas pedal.

"Kiba, please be careful on that thing!" she heard Lloyd call out after her before there was a familiar hum of a Spinjitzu tornado.

To be honest, she wasn't sure if taking down three other gliders while almost getting shot down herself a couple times counted as 'being careful', but it wasn't like the cyan eyed female was actually gonna tell the Green Ninja what she had been up to while in the air.

Or maybe she would just to see that mixture of a worried/proud/amazed look on his face again.

Kiba was just about to take down another glider when a surprised and fearful shout reached her ears, and she glanced downwards. Fear sprang through her body when she caught sight of of the old man holding on to Sora's wrist and dangling her over the edge of a cliff, looking about ready to let go at any second.

Yeah, safe to say that ticked Kiba off to no end as she wheeled her vehicle around and started diving down while flooring the accelerator.

However, she didn't take into account the fact that the soldier she had been chasing noticed her change of direction, and decided to go after her instead of helping out with a dragon that had been taken down. Kiba didn't realize this as she kept her eyes on her best friend, but she was quick to notice the blaster fire that rained down on her. She didn't have much choice but to take evasive maneuvers that ultimately failed when the engine of her glider took a couple hits, which sent her spiralling out of control towards the ground at breakneck speed.

Deciding that she wasn't quite ready to die just yet, Kiba swallowed her terror and panic and waited, shifting herself in her seat so that she had one foot under her and mentally bracing herself for the impact that was sure to come. When she felt that she was close enough to the ground, she let go of the handlebars and pushed herself out of the seat, which made her go airborne for a second before she felt gravity taking over.

The impact did come, but not in the way she was expecting.

Seconds before her body could pancake itself against the ground, something big and somewhat heavy slammed into the female's side, knocking her off her crash course and sending her bouncing and rolling across the ground until they both came to a stop. Kiba let out a small groan of pain as she laid on her stomach with her forehead pressed into her bent and injured elbow. Her whole body was aching, and she was certain that there was going to be some pretty rough bruising.

The thing that had slammed into her, which she realized now felt very much like someone's body, was draped over her back and keeping her somewhat pinned to the ground. Lifting up and twisting her head a bit, it took Kiba only a simple glance at the white colored fabric of a familiar racing suit for her to know who had collided with her.

"Sora?! Girl, are you alright?!" she cried, bracing her upped body on her elbows once she managed to get them under her.

"Uugghh, yeah. I'll be fine" came a somewhat raspy response as the tech junkie lifted herself up and held her head with one hand.

Kiba was about to say something else, but a roar that had everything withing her chest vibrating and her eardrums shattering had her looking over, and her jaw dropped a bit at the sight of the Matriarch dragon using her tail to knock Rapton out of his glider.

"Okay, Sora. Get off me. Action's about to happen and we're about to miss it!" she stated as she tried to get her body out from under Sora's.

The tech junkier gave a small grumble, but even she was quick to shoot upwards when Rapton gave the orders to abandon the other dragons and go after the Matriarch.

"Wait, what?! / No!" Both females cried out as as the Imperium soldiers began to do just that.

The Matriarch dragon let out a loud hiss as a thin string of solid light wrapped around one of her forearms and pulled on the limb as the glider began to slow down. More gliders did the same, with one beam of light even wrapping around the dragon's muzzle, and after multiple floating devices, each connected by the beam of orange colored light closed down around the wings, the Matriarch dragon was subsequently brought down to the ground.

"No!" Kiba cried out as she put her hands over her nose and mouth, ultimately shaken by what she was witnessing.

The sound of running footsteps, along with a Spinjitzu tornado, prompted the cyan eyed female to look behind her, and she spotted her brother, who looked just as devastated as her, and Lloyd, who continued the tornado until he got to them.

"We have to help her! Come on!" Arin cried out.

He would have continued running if Sora hadn't jumped in front of him to stop him.

"No! We can't rush in without a plan!" she argued.

Kiba gave her best friend an incredulous look, and was about to say something, but the words died on her tongue when she noticed the thoughtful look that had suddenly appeared in Lloyd's eyes as he looked between Sora and Riyu.

"You guys have given me one" he said suddenly in a cryptic tone, which caused both human and dragon to look at him.

"What do you mean?" Arin asked in slight confusion as he tilted his head a bit.

Lloyd gave a small downwards wave of his hand as he looked out towards the soldiers, who were starting to jump out of their gliders to hit the ground.

"Just stay here, alright?" he said before he started to walk over to the soldiers.

"Stay here? Stay here, he says. And what good is that gonna do, huh?" Kiba muttered when she was sure the adult male was out of earshot as she and the others took shelter behind some rock cover.

Her brother and best friend didn't say anything as they all peeked over the rock, watching as Lloyd gained the attention of some of the soldiers. He took up a fighting stance, and beckoned with his hand for the soldiers to come at him. The Imperium soldiers deactivated the strings of light coming from their weapons, and they each made a holographic sword appear before they all rushed at the Green Ninja.

The first two met their end when they tried to swipe their weapons at him, only to be met with a strong kick to the face that probably broke their noses through the weird masks that they wore. He used his momentum from the second kick to propel himself into the air, and delivered another kick to a soldier's neck. Then he jumped back when another soldier tried to bring their blade down on him, and gave a hard roundhouse kick to their side that left the person gasping for air as they collapsed.

Yet another person tried to attack him, only to end up faceplanting against the ground after he jumped up and landed harshly on their shoulders with a Spinjitzu tornado. A soldier finally managed to get the Green Ninja's wrist entangled with the glowing orange string that they fired off from the handle of their weapon, and Kiba, along with the others, held her breath.

Lloyd simply gave the offending soldier a 'really?' look before his twisted his body, which was quickly surrounded by glowing and rotating green colored energy.

The soldier let out a yelp as they were reeled in like a fish for a moment before they were catapulted into another fellow soldier. A couple more of the enemy combatants were sucked into the tornado as it travelled along, before they were all finally left in a heap of battered bodies. The tornado paused in front of the Matriarch, and Lloyd spun to a stop, facing what remained of the Imperium soldiers, plus Rapton.

He turned his head a bit towards the dragon, and the mask covering his nose and mouth began to move, like he was speaking, but he was too far away for Kiba to make out what he was saying. His mask stopped moving for a second, and then his head snapped towards the approaching soldiers as the Matriarch's eyes began to glow a bit brighter.

"This is your last chance Rapton! Leave, or be destroyed!" Lloyd called out, setting down the ultimatum as he took on another fighting stance.

Rapton simply gave a cackle that sounded both evil and amused. Kiba wondered if he had actually witnessed Lloyd single handedly taking down a whole portion of the old man's team.

An entire side team.

By.

Him.

Self.

"You're mistake" the Green Ninja said simply with a light shrug.

With that, the Matriarch gave a harsh huff through her nose that sent everyone flying back, though Lloyd was quick to recover himself. A red colored spot on the golden formation of horns on the Matriarch's head began to glow, and a familiar beam of light shot forward, twisting and bending until it made contact with Lloyd's chest, who let out a yell as his body floated upwards a couple feet into the air, much to everyone's amazement. When the beam of light stopped, the Green Ninja fell to the ground with one knee bent, and for a second he didn't do anything, which caused a hint of concern to worm its way into Kiba's chest.

Arin and Sora both stood a bit, but they were quick to come back down as a shockwave of gold and green expanded from Lloyd's body, which was then engulfed in a swirling tornado that rose up higher into the air than the Matriarch when she was standing.

"Holy-!/ Whoa-ho-ho!" Arin and Kiba chorused as the former clasped his hands over his mouth out of shock.

Even Sora had an impressed, wide eyed dropped jaw expression on her face as the tornado began to move forwards, wreaking havoc across the battlefield as it took down soldiers and sucked up gliders to toss back at them.

The blaster shots that were fired from remaining soldiers did not nothing to cease the torrent of pure energy that came barreling at them. Even Rapton, who seemed to be quite stubborn, decided to be smart for once and attempt to retreat. The swirling green tornado didn't seem to keen on letting him go so easily, since it chased him down and tossed him away like it had done with the rest of the soldiers and vehicles.

After that, a second shockwave, originating from inside the tornado, was released, and the tech that kept the Matriarch, and a couple of other dragons down and bound, malfunctioned and disengaged, clattering to the ground, no longer useful. Kiba was careful to keep her distance as she hopped out from behind the rock cover, not really wanting to get sucked up in the tornado as she began making her ways towards the Matriarch, who was slowly rising to her clawed feet and flexing her jaw. The tech that had kept her muzzled had to have been quite uncomfortable.

Arin, Sora, and Riyu followed the cyan eyed female out as the tornado approached, dying down the closer it got, until the last remnants of it faded away from Lloyd's rotating body as he spun a stop and collapsed to the ground, catching himself with his arms as he fell. He was understandably somewhat dazed and more than a little breathless as he slowly got to his feet.

"Wow... That... was something" he managed to get out between pants.

"Are you okay? I mean, that was incredible, but that had to take something out of you" Kiba asked then commented with concern and awe as she set her hands against her hips.

"Yeah, I'll be alright" was the response she got as the Green Ninja waved her off a bit.

"Guess my theory was right" he then said as he looked towards the Matriarch, who bowed her head to be on a better eye level.

'It appears there is a connection between us. I felt it as well' she said, her voice echoing through the groups minds as she spoke.

'When The Merge occurred, I struggled to keep isolated. Hidden. But there are mysteries between us we clearly do not fully understand' she added, tilting her head upwards a bit when the rest of the dragons began to circle around overhead.

"I agree" Lloyd stated with a light smile as he took a couple steps forward.

"The world has changed, and it's time to build a new future" he said.

"Wiser words have never been spoken" Kiba quietly muttered under her breath as she looked off to the side.

She got a smile out of Arin and Sora as they both glanced towards her, and a slight side eye from Lloyd, but everyone looked back up at the Matriarch when she spoke again.

'You are a wise master' she said as she reared her head back and stood tall.

"I'm... not a master" the Green Ninja stated as he set the back of a hand against his hip.

Arin seemed to look rather disappointed at that, and Kiba gave him a gentle pat on the back as Sora assumed a sympathetic look.

"But... maybe I, could be a teacher"

Kiba gave a small start, and her eyes widened a bit as she turned her head. The smile that Lloyd had on his face, a mixture between anticipation and nervousness, confirmed that yes, she had heard him right. Arin looked quite excited, whereas Sora looked surprised as it registered in their heads that they were all about to be students to the Green Ninja himself.

"The Ninja have protected Ninjago for years. We've been a symbol of hope to so many. With the other's missing, that hope had been lost. Now I see that there is a reason to hope once again. Because I can't do this alone" the blonde haired male stated before turning towards the three teens that were at his side.

"I need your help saving the world" he said.

Arin, finally unable to contain his excitement, let out a whoop of laughter as he busted out some celebratory fighting moves that Kiba couldn't help but laugh at.

"You sure you're up for this level of hyperactiveness after not really socializing with other people for three years?" she quipped as she turned towards Lloyd and motioned a hand towards her brother.

"Eh, I think I'll be able to manage" he replied, his voice holding a hint of amusement as he crossed his arms.

Kiba gave a chuckle, and then looked up at the Matriarch as she began to move again, looking off towards the Imperium soldier bodies that laid scattered across the ground.

'These dragon hunters will not remain unconscious for long. Our herd will have to move locations so they will not find us' she said as she looked back towards the group.

"And we better get back to Ninjago. We have training to begin" Lloyd agreed.

Everybody bowed towards the Matriarch, who responded by dipping her head a bit before they all rose up again. Kiba let out a soft breath as she got down on knee and stretched out a hand towards Riyu, who gave a chirp and nudged his head against the appendage, prompting the cyan eyed female to reach out her other hand and give up a few pets and gentle scratches.

"Well, I guess this is it buddy. But, at least your home now" Arin said, sounding a little depressed as he spoke.

"We'll miss you so much" Sora admitted with a light smile.

Kiba took a step back, allowing enough room for the two younger teens to embrace the small dragon, an action that lasted for a couple seconds before the two humans pulled away. Arin looked very much like he was trying not to cry as he and Sora stepped away, and Kiba gave him a gentle pat on the back as the two began to walk away. Her own sadness, as well as her sympathy, suddenly turned to shock and sheer amusement when Riyu grabbed a pair of nun-chucks that had been laying around and sent them flying into Arin's back with a hard shake of his little dragon head.

Kiba couldn't help help herself, and she broke down laughing, having to brace her hands against her knees for support before sinking down to sit on the ground.

"He really said 'nah, you don't get to leave yet'!" she cried out as she managed to momentarily get a hold of herself before dissolving into another giggling mess.

Arin relented to what he thought would be a finally game of fetch as he picked up the nun-chucks, gave a shrug, and tossed them as far as he could for the little dragon to chase down.

'It appears Riyu is not ready to leave your little group' The Matriarch noted, causing Kiba to look over as she finally managed to stop her giggles.

"He would be safe with us. If you allow it" Lloyd said to the dragon.

'I think his decision is foolish. But if there is to be a connection between our kind, it has to begin somewhere. If he ever needs us, he will be able to find us' the Matriarch said, tilting her head up as the dragons overhead began to fly away towards the horizon.

"We'll take good care of him your highness. You have our word on that" Kiba called as she got to her feet and dusted herself off.

Her words earned her a nod from the large dragon.

'See that you do' she said before she began to turn around, her wings spreading out and reaching towards the sky.

With a jump and a mighty sweep of her wings, the Matriarch took off after the rest of her herd. Riyu gave a few chirps as he ran forward a couple paces before coming to a stop, watching on as his herd got farther and farther away.

"Hey, why isn't he going with them?" Arin questioned, his expression full of confusion.

It took Kiba a couple seconds to realize that they had not heard the conversation that had transpired. Luckily, Lloyd was quick to give an answer.

"Well, the Matriarch gave her permission on the matter. Riyu's staying with us" he summarized as he came a little closer to the group.

His words sent another wave of excitement through the two younger teens, which Kiba gave a giggle before she noted that the sun was getting lower. "Well, I'd say it's high time that we actually started on getting back" she said.

Her words received voices of agreement from all around, and with that, the journey back to the Monastery of Spinjitzu began.

Rrright after they gave the Destiny's Bounty a couple of touch ups.