We Are Survivors

Desperate Alliances

    Cole yelped as a tendril of black smoke suddenly lashed out and grabbed hold of his foot. It was cold, colder than Zane's ice and as chilling as death.

    Kai came to the rescue, sending a blast of fire at the thing.

    The Earth Ninja breathed easier as the smoke released him and recoiled.

    More smoke began circling them, hemming them in.

    Cole hurriedly shoved Wu up on Ultra's back. Taking the lead, he told his brothers, "On the count of three, we summon our Elemental Dragons and hit that portal with everything we've got."

    The Ninja and Ultra nodded. 

    "One... two... three!"

    Before the dark smoke could completely swallow them up, the Ninja exploded upwards on the backs of their Dragons. 

    Opollyon took a surprised step backwards. He had forgotten the Elementals had such power. Seeing what they were about to do, he began sprinting towards the gateway and shoving his way through his ranks, not caring who he bowled over or trampled. "Move, move!"

    "Ninjagoooo!"

    The Ninja and Ultra let out a spray of Elements at the portal just as Opollyon managed to leap through. 

    There was a violent reaction as the powers clashed. It sent a shockwave through the air, knocking the Oni to the ground and sending the Ninja tumbling head over heels through the sky.

    Ultra managed to quickly right himself with a couple solid flaps of his wings. With a pained grunt, he sharply maneuvered himself and quickly dive bombed to catch the Ninja who were knocked from the sky by the shockwave. As gently as possible, each of the four heads snatched the Ninja as they fell, being mindful of their sharp teeth. Ultra didn't stick around and wait for the Oni left in the First Realm to recover as he hurriedly winged away.

    As they fled, the humans all had one question buzzing in their heads, 'What in the name of the First Spinjitzu Master was happening!'

~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Jet Jack's keen eyes scanned the skies. The first rays of dawn were beginning to peek out over the horizon. She let out a gasp and quickly alerted the others as a dark shape appeared, flying erratically.

    The Hunters snapped to high alert, immediately clutching at whatever weapons were in reach. 

    They withheld their attacks as Heavy Metal quickly held her hand up and sharply commanded, "Wait!"

    She recognized that silhouette. It was the Neen-ja's four-headed dragon, but from its unsteady flight patterns, something was amiss. The Dragon shakily landed in front of the Dragon Hunters, letting out rumbles and whines of distress. On his back, he held Wu and a bedraggled group of Elementals. These were not the looks of victorious heroes.

    What had happened? Just hours ago they were flying on the Dragon Queen of the Realm. 

    Faith's eyebrows were knit together in confusion. The other Dragon Hunters hung back in trepidation and watched in amazement as she approached the Elementals and Terror with familiarity. 

    "What happened? Did you manage to lose the Mother of all Dragons?"

    "Not exactly..." replied Jay slowly with a nervous smile etched on his face.

    "Sort of," admitted Kai at the same time.

    Faith stared with an unreadable expression as her exhausted brain tried to remind her that knocking their teeth in would not be helpful in any way. So much for these hapless fools being heroes of the Realm. They did bring drastic change, but judging by everyone's current condition, none of that change had been particularly beneficial.