"Ryan!" I hear from below me. I look down and Nick teleports next to me on a building. His hood is over his head as well. "We need to get out of here. There are guards still patrolling the city."
"Where to? The tree house is gone, thanks to that tower," I remind him. "We also still need Aaron."
"Look at that!" He suddenly says, pointing to behind the warehouse we were just in. There's a jet with similar paint to the guards, The Shadow Ruler, and the tower. It's flying up and to the tower.
"They have Aaron!" I hear Joey shout. He's standing in front of the warehouse.
"First we get rid of all of the androids," Nick says.
"Meet up down there," I point to the ground. Nick teleports us down, and Joey retrieves the rest of the team. I blast down a guard with a spiral of fire. One jumps at me, and I block it with a blast of fire.
"Take this!" I shout as one attempts to punch me in the back. I duck and throw him over me. I guess learning fighting moves from our phones in sixth grade is paying off.
"We're here!" Elliot shouts, washing out a guard. Max freezes one and runs up.
"How can we get rid of these quicker?" Max asks us.
"How about our dragons?" Felix suggests. "We can double our power like that."
"You're right," Adam agrees. "How will we get them? They're all probably waking up right now."
"We can teleport. Everyone hold on," Nick says, and we all hold onto each other. We all disappear and we're at Joey's house. Our dragons are all sleeping under a dead bush that Joey had laid on top of them. We all awake our dragons and we get on, readying them to fly into battle. I take off on Zipper into the morning air, the wind blowing against my face. We haven't been able to do this in a long time, and it feels nice. We can only do this when we visit Dragon Valley, and it feels weird to do it out in the open. All we have to do is focus on stopping the guards from causing any more harm, save Aaron, and stay hidden. Seems easy enough, right?
"Set of guards at three o'clock!" Nick shouts, pointing to our right. There's a group of guards blowing through the street and looking for the X-Team.
"Alright, everyone dive!" I shout, and we all lead our dragons down towards the street.
"Drop me off here," I say in dragon, and Zipper nods. He growls the same thing to the rest of the dragons, and they pull up at the surface of the street, and we all jump off. I start out by throwing multiple fireballs at guards at once and scorching their hard drives. Elliot shoots water at the one I target next, and my fire hits the guard at the same time as his water. The two blasts hit and turn to steam in the air.
"I've got it," Elliot says, and I move on. I grab a metal rod lying on the ground and swipe it at a guard denting its arm, and I swing it in a full circle, hitting various guards on the way. I toss it up and grab it again.
"This is pretty nice. I think I'll keep it," I say, moving right back into battle. I swing it low and knock a guard over and it hits the ground with a thump. I jump up and hit another with the end of the rod in the head, and it breaks something in there, because it falls over, dead.
"Ryan! A little help?" I hear Joey call. I turn to see Joey cornered by guards. I use the rod to hit them in the side, and they crash to the ground.
"Find yourself a weapon," I advise him and continue shooting fire at guards. Joey picks up a clump of dirt and spits in it. He rolls it around in his hand until it's about as consistent as mud. He then sends a burst of electrical energy through it and chucks it at a guard, short-circuiting it. "Not what I had in mind, but it works," I shrug.
"Hmm. Saliva is more conductive than you'd think," Adam states, shooting earth energy at guards.
"Right?" Joey agrees, continuing to do it again. I throw a fireball at a guard, and it crashes to the ground.
"You know how these are everywhere around town?" Nick asks, coming up from behind me.
"Yeah," I say.
"I'm thinking these are the worst of The Shadow Rulers goons, and that's why they're so easy to destroy," Nick tells me, teleporting around two guards and soon slamming their heads into each other.
"Or we're just that awesome!" Felix shouts in the background, sending bursts of energy at guards.
"That's probably right. Maybe he's just preparing us for higher ammunition," I suggest, and a guard attacks me, swinging a sword at me. I quickly block it with my rod and throw it backward. "They're really persistent, I can tell you that," I say.
"I know. Where'd you get that rod, it seems useful," Nick asks, blasting a guard with phantom energy.
"Found it," I tell him. He then grabs my wrist and shoots black fire at a bundle of guards.
"Nice," he gasps. I notice that I'm sweating quite a bit. "How many are left?"
"Not a lot," I tell him, observing the street.
"Why don't you, Elliot, Joey, and Adam go out to find the next group, and Max, Felix and I can finish these off?" Nick asks me, lighting a guard on fire. I nod and run to Zipper, who was blowing huge amounts of fire at guards.
"We're going," I growl to him, and he lowers his wing so I can get on his back. I jump on.
"Where to?" He asks.
"The next herd," I tell him, and he nods, taking off to the sky. I look down and see Elliot on Riptide, Joey on Bolt, and Adam on Rocky. "To the next herd!" I shout, and we all take off.
