(Artwork by ninjagofanmam)
"Come back! Come back here, you cowards!" Rip Claw roared.
Anger burned Black Blood's fur, but she forced herself not to bristle. She stood by and watched as the stream of wolves fled the battlefield, bounding past the Moon Tribe warriors and heading back east.
"Let them go. We do not want an ally whose heart is not in the fight." She turned her head back to the west. "Besides, they've already done quite a lot of damage. Although I am disappointed in their integrity I cannot say the same for the amount of havoc they can wreak." Her position on the hill gave her an excellent view of the Sea of Sand, the grassy valley in which the great battle was being fought, and the skyline of Ninjago City beyond. In the grass, littered here and there, lay the bodies of policemen and fighting volunteers. Some were ravaged gruesomely. The sight of the gore staining the grass made her smile.
"The Sons and Daughters are putting too much of a fight," Rip Claw pointed out. The large gray cat whisked his forked tails. "Should we start the spells?"
"No." Whiskers twitching, Black Blood looked over her shoulder. "Send in the war vehicles."
* * *
Jump forward, thrust the sword, jump back, dance to the side, attack again... Zane strategized almost effortlessly as he fought, taking down wolves and Moon Tribe warriors left and right. Some of the werecats had attacked him in their human forms but soon realized the Son of Ice outclassed them in skill. They reverted to their feline bodies and attempted to take him down like that, but Spinjitzu and his ice powers proved to be too much for them. They were too big and he was too quick.
That was when some of them began shifting into their bakeneko forms. Rarely did they fight like this, since it made them the size of a normal feral cat, but this time their size came to their advantage. While Zane was busy with the massive nekomata, small bakeneko began appearing from the pulsing crowd.
Tiny claws pierced Zane's gi. He staggered, startled, as small furry bodies suddenly leapt on top of him and dug their claws into his metallic flesh. They did little damage to his titanium body but succeeded in thoroughly annoying him. Claws and teeth scraped and bit at his face in a storm of fur and angry yowling.
"Ugh— get off!" He stumbled and swatted at them. Tails, legs, and fur swirled around his vision. One cat's claws nearly took out his eye. He felt spiny teeth biting into one ear.
Attempting to stay on his feet, he started, "Ninjaaaaa—!"
"Oh, no you don't!" A giant paw slammed into the side of his face. Stunned, Zane tumbled to the grass. He tried to get up, but they pinned him down. He tried to use his ice powers, but they kept biting and scratching into his hands so hard that he could not summon his powers through the stabs of pain. Spinjitzu was out of the question.
The mass of cats only increased, biting and scratching nearly every inch of his body. Their high-pitched yowling grew louder as more joined the fray.
"We got him!"
"Kill him! Kill him now!"
"He's made of metal, beetle-brain! How're we supposed to kill him?"
"Not so tough now, are you, Son of Ice?"
"Let's feed him to the wolves!"
A weight pushing onto his stomach knocked the breath out of Zane. He looked up to see a yellow-eyed calico grinning down at him. "I don't care how much of you is made of metal. We can still tear you apart, piece by piece."
"You tell him, Wind Trotter!"
"How do you like us now, filthy human?"
He tried to get up again. Wind Trotter's face flashed by his face.
Zane's world teetered with a loud crunch. Enormous teeth sank into his neck—where the metal was not as stiff, consisting of rubber exteriors and structures. Wires snapped and hissed. The thin pieces groaned. Pixal screamed.
He tried to breathe. Warning signals and alarms blared in his head, turning his vision red. The nekomata gripped his neck tightly and shook him back and forth, growling between his teeth. Zane was slung around like a rag doll, his limbs dragged down by the horde of little cats.
"So you do have a soft spot..." Wind Trotter bit deeper into his neck. Sparks flew from the broken machinery. Zane tried to cry out, but all that came out was a strangled gurgle.
"I'm trying to redirect your power to your chest," Pixal cried. He could just barely see her reaching out to direct virtual buttons and controls. She moved smoothly but her voice shook. "Just— just hang on, please—!"
Wind Trotter bit down on a strip of rubber and ripped it out of Zane's structure. "Say farewell, Son of Ice—"
"How 'bout you say goodnight, Snookums?"
A bolt of lightning shot out of nowhere and struck Wind Trotter. Fur puffing up comedically, the big cat caterwauled in shock and pain. He dropped Zane and staggered away, trying to escape. The bakeneko scattered when another bolt shot into the ground by their heads.
"That's right, take that!" Jay cackled, running into view.
Jay? Zane's gaze, flickering black, still managed to look past Jay to see Nya running behind him, followed by Spark Pelt and Earth Flame. They must have driven off Raven Frost's patrol.
"Get them!" Some of the bakeneko charged and leapt onto Jay and Nya. Before they could do what they did to Zane, however, Spark Pelt and Earth Flame swatted them off.
"Traitors!" one cat cried, limping. The cats to whom the insult was directed made no response. They only swatted away more Moon Tribe warriors while the ninja raced to Zane's side.
"Zane! Are you all right?" Nya knelt and tenderly helped him sit up. Her face twisted. "Your neck—!"
"Looks like the cat got his neck, not his tongue! Right? Heh, heh..." Jay's awkward laugh died off stupidly.
Now that Wind Trotter was not ripping into him anymore, Zane's system seemed to be recovering itself, probably with help from Pixal. His vision cleared, and a notification popping up on the side of his screen informed him that the exterior of his neck function was damaged, but little of the vital internal wiring and machinery had been seriously harmed. He could still fight.
"My neck will need repair," he responded calmly, "but I am otherwise safe from danger. I can still contribute to this battle."
"Don't you think you need a break...?" Nya pressed, raising her voice above the clamor.
"No." Zane stood up slowly. Resolve stopped his legs from quivering. "I will not stop fighting."
She looked as if she were about to argue when a rumbling noise interrupted them. At first Zane assumed it was more thunder before realizing it sounded different. There was something metallic to the sound—almost like...
"There!" Jay pointed behind them to the east, where the Moon Tribe army was coming from.
The horde of shape-shifters scrambled out of the way as new shapes roared over the hilltop and came racing down toward Ninjago City. Their engines buzzed like the voices of giant bees, green and brown plates flashing in the fading sun. Human figures in animal skins rode these vehicles, pale bodies bent awkwardly over the seats. Attached to each vehicle were arrays of mismatched rockets and sharpened spears, making the motorcycles appear as hodgepodges on wheels. The sight would have looked comedic if it weren't for the looks of malice in every driver.
"As if wolves weren't enough!" Jay groaned.
"They can't drive very well," Nya observed grimly. "But what're the odds Spark Pelt showed them how to release those rockets?"
"Sorry," Spark Pelt said, gaping at the army in dismay. "I wanted these to be used for good..."
"So did my uncle," Zane murmured. He stared darkly at the approaching war-cycles. That was Dr. Tyler Julien's genius behind those vehicles. They could have been used for protecting the people of Ninjago. Instead these were made to destroy them, twisted and corrupted by the very people—animals—who'd abducted and enslaved the helpless old man.
A picture of Dr. Tyler, face ashen as he lay in bed, flashed in Zane's head. Dr. Tyler had mentioned the virus he confessed he'd received, and the awkward silence that followed after Zane had asked if he would recover...
"Zane...?" Pixal was staring at him with concern. "Your heart pulse levels are high. Please, do not do anything hasty."
"I will not do anything hasty. Only what must be done." Zane took a deep breath, steadying himself. He could feel the others watching him, worried.
"You gonna be all right there, buddy?" Earth Flame ventured.
Zane set his gaze upon the approaching surge of enemies. "Jay, Nya—take the ones coming on the left. They seem to be attempting to circle to the side in order to reach the city." He gestured to them, speaking steadily. "Do not use your weapons. Both their weapons and the armor on the war-cycles are made of clearstone. It will break your swords."
Earth Flame raised his head with authority. "Spark Pelt and I can take the ones coming in on the right, as well as anyone else who gets in our way."
"We can?" Spark Pelt retorted dryly.
Zane nodded to the nekomata. "Get them off the vehicles if possible. We cannot let them shoot those rockets at the city. There are civilians there."
Jay and Nya looked at each other and nodded. "Ninjaaaaa-go!" they chorused, spinning away in vortexes of blue. The nekomata flattened their ears and raced away.
Now the war-cycles were close enough that Zane could see the individual faces of each driver. Alone, he raised his head and made sure he was breathing properly. Strands of rubber and metal dangled from his throat. He ripped some of the longer scraps away in case they got caught.
Jeers rose from the approaching vehicles. The ground vibrated with their obnoxiously loud hum.
"Watch out, Son of Ice!" a warrior yowled laughingly. He pressed a button around the clunky handles of his motorcycle, and a small rocket from the side shrieked to life. Red sparks flaring, it spat and zoomed toward the ninja with a high-pitched whistle.
Zane stood still. Without flinching he yanked out two shurikens and tossed them. A flash of metal gleamed in midair before striking the rocket head-first. The explosion shook the air a yard away from him.
"This is for my uncle," he growled quietly. Thrusting his hands forward, a boulder of ice shot up from the ground. It increased and flew toward the motorcycles like a giant's arm. The arm hit the vehicles. The drivers went flying while their rides were encased in a gleaming glacier.
"This is for my uncle!" Zane repeated aloud this time while more giant arms of ice appeared from the ground. His eyes blazed with cold justice.
* * *
"Nya! Let's use that technique Sensei Wu just taught us!" Jay called.
"Which one?"
"Where we separate our opponents from their group!"
"Got it!"
It felt as if it'd been years since that afternoon where Sensei Wu had given them a normal lesson. It'd been just a day or two before the Moon Tribe sorcerers came to burn down their tea shop...
A dozen of the war-cycles were circling around the left side of the battlefield, aiming toward Ninjago City. Already some were speeding past Jay and Nya.
"Ohh, no you don't!" Jay shifted so that his vortex whizzed after them in an attempt to block them off. He was aware of Nya taking the stragglers at the foot of the hill.
They were right in front of him now. He shut his eyes, shoved forward and rammed right into three of the vehicles clumped together.
The impact jolted Jay from his mini-tornado. Hitting the grass, he was aware of tires squealing, metal crunching against metal and fireworks exploding over his head. A wave of heat washed over him. Two men and a woman tumbled on the ground beside him, screaming.
Unhurt, Jay looked up. Several war-cycles lay on their sides around them, scraps of metal and broken rockets littering the grass. He grinned and cried, "All right, first try!"
He stopped laughing when two war-cycles racing ahead of him caught his attention. He leapt to his feet. "Not today!" Flexing one hand—the other being hastily bandaged and presently useless—he shot two bolts of lightning.
One of the war-cycle's tires was split to rubbery pieces. The other merely swerved wildly before landing on its side. The driver scrambled from his seat.
The second driver stumbled from her toppled vehicle and glared at Jay. Unsheathing two short clearstone swords, she ran at him, hissing like a feline. He could see her fangs flashing even from the distance.
Remembering not to use his weapons, he summoned a Spinjitzu vortex and chucked her away. While he watched the remains of the patrol flee from the wreckage, he chuckled, "This is almost too easy!"
A high-pitched whistle sounded behind him. He whirled around to see one of the shape-shifters bending over a fallen war-cycle and pressing a button. A large rocket shot from the backseat area and flew toward Ninjago City.
"No, no!" Jay raced to the werecat and threw him down, but it was already too late. The rocket whistled across the sky and hit one of the skyscrapers.
"OK," Jay muttered grimly atop his opponent. "Guess I've gotta destroy the rockets first."
* * *
Hundreds of people—men, women, children—were cramped together as they streamed into one of the public bunkers. This one was close by the park, between some of the main streets. Rosie was one of the volunteers helping the policemen direct the refugees into the low building. There was nothing else to be done for the barricades, so the best she could do now was help everyone else reach safety.
She jumped when a loud boom sounded and reverberated through the city. Citizens paused and voices rose in alarm. A cry from one woman drew everyone's attention to one of the skyscrapers sitting in the distance; flames and smoke were rising from one corner while clumps of rubble plummeted to the city streets.
Terrified cries increased. The policemen shouted and cajoled the people into entering the bunker in an orderly fashion. Rosie could only stare at the burning building, heart thumping heavily in her ribcage.
"Liana, stay safe," she whispered.
* * *
A strong stream of water shooting from her hand—a move she liked to call the "Firehose"—blasted two drivers from their seats. They went sprawling while their war-cycles crashed together and lay abandoned in the grass. Unsheathing her katana, Nya took a running start toward the three approaching war-cycles. Like green and brown growling monsters they rushed at her.
A rocket shot from the back and flashed by her face. Gritting her teeth, she waited until she could see the whites of the closest driver's eyes. Then she leapt into the air and landed atop the war-cycle, between the handlebars.
The vehicle was far faster and bumpier than she'd expected. Flailing, she grabbed the handlebars and slashed her sword at the female werecat's head. Her steel met clearstone with a harsh clang; the werecat warded off the blow and attempted to shove her off.
Did that snapping sound come from her katana? Nya drew back and tried to strike again, still clinging to the front of the war-cycle. The engines roared in her ears and the wind in her hair as she clumsily slashed the sword at the werecat.
The werecat warded off the blow. This time Nya's sword snapped in two. The steel piece fell and was soon left behind.
"End of the line, Daughter of Water!" The werecat reared up and lunged at Nya. Her jaws clamped over Nya's shoulder, but armored plates stopped her.
"I don't think so!" Nya grabbed the other girl by the waist, hefted her off the seat and chucked her from the war-cycle. The werecat went tumbling heads over heels and was left behind in dust.
Now Nya had control of the vehicle. Gripping the seat with her legs and grabbing the handlebars, she looked around to see three other war-cycles driving alongside her; one on the left, two on the right.
Movement to her left caught her eye. The driver there had adjusted some of the rockets so that they were aimed at her. A high-pitched whistling sound split the air.
She swerved and hit the brakes. A rocket flashed by her face and exploded where she'd been a second before. Angrily, she revved up the engine and went after the first war-cycle.
Several rockets flew screaming by her head, the stench of sulfur growing stronger. Dust and dirt exploded behind her as she swerved this way and that, avoiding her enemy's shots. The two vehicles grew closer and closer as she caught up.
A look of panic changed the werecat's countenance when he looked over his shoulder and saw her. "Stay back—!"
Nya rammed her war-cycle into his. Metal crunched together as tires squealed shrilly. She felt herself flying while the two vehicles toppled and rolled several times, groaning and screeching in protest. Several rockets went off, adding the sound of high-pitched whistling and explosions to the wreck. Smoke soon filled the air, temporarily obscuring her vision. She hit the ground and rolled.
Catching her breath, Nya staggered to her feet and inspected the wreckage. One tire had come loose and was rolling away by itself. Smoke and a few tongues of fire rose from the crumpled-up pile of green and brown metal. The driver lay by the fiery heap unconscious, with a gash over one eye.
The humming noise continued. The two other war-cycles had driven past the wreckage and were heading right for the city. Curling her lip, Nya prepared to summon a Spinjitzu vortex to go after them.
"Ninjaaaa—!"
"Nya! Help me!"
She froze. She knew that voice. She hadn't heard that voice in a month, not since...
"Nya! Over here!"
She whirled around and stared. There, several yards south, lay Kai. She'd recognize that spiky hair and bright red gi anywhere. He was lying on his side—had he been wounded?
"Kai!" Moon Tribe warriors forgotten, she raced for her brother. "How— how did you—?"
Her heart lurched as she got closer. A long arrow stuck out from Kai's side. His face was white. His voice rasped, "I— I can't breathe. Please, Nya— Nya, help me... I'm think I'm—!"
"Don't worry!" she cried, feeling her heart pound like a hammer. She finally reached him and knelt by his side. "It— it's gonna be OK, all right? Oh my gosh, I thought I'd never see you again—!"
She stopped. Some grainy texture appeared in Kai's skin. He stared at her pleadingly as his entire body began to disintegrate. He opened his mouth, but only a choked cry could be heard. To her horror her brother disappeared, leaving nothing but a small pile of sand.
She stood and staggered back, mind whirling. What...?
"Foolish kit," a brash chuckle made her jump. She looked up to see a bearded man with long, tangled hair stride down the hillside in front of her. Dark ragged robes streamed out behind him like liquid cloth. "You'll never see your littermate again. He's gone." Feline eye glinted as he grinned toothily.
The bone-chilling horror evaporated like a puff of mist. Rage burned Nya's cheeks like fire. "How 'bout we finish this here and now, Rip Claw? Or are you too scared to fight without your magic powers?" Two sai knives were taken from their sheathes.
Rip Claw eyed her. "Why would I waste my time tussling with a hapless kitten when I could simply kill her with one blow from my magic?"
"Because you like toying with your prey before eating it," she hissed.
He grinned. "Precisely."
* * *
Four more rockets hit the skyscrapers of Ninjago City before Jay managed to defeat the last of the offenders. Now half a dozen smoking heaps that were remains of the war-cycles lay scattered across the plain. Most of the drivers had fled, leaving the rest lying on the ground either wounded or dead. He shot several violent bolts of lightning into the control panels of each vehicle, just in case any warriors came back and tried to finish the job.
"That's that. How's Nya doing?" Stiffening, Jay spied a grim scene taking place on the hillside a hundred yards away. Nya stumbled this way and that as she attempted to get close to a large, dark figure. He could see that she held a couple of knives, but the man was unarmed. In fact, he didn't seem to be fighting at all. So why couldn't Nya get close to him?
Jay got a bad feeling. Hesitatingly at first, he picked up a running start and headed for the hillside.
A horrible feeling twisted his gut when he got a better look at her. She was crying—Nya never cried. She would start toward the werecat, then stumble and shake her head, as if something had gotten in her eye. She kept screaming, "Stop it! That's not fair!"
"Aww, what's the matter?" the werecat sneered. "Miss your mummy? Oh, that's right—she and your father abandoned you before you could even remember!" Cackling, he held up two fingers and made a short gesture in the air. A half circle of pale pink light, flickering malignantly, appeared and shot into Nya's body. She screamed and fell on her hands and knees.
"Your mate has every right to hate you, you know," he purred. "You've been terrible to him. You cheated on him with your best friend, rejected his unconditional love after, and only continued to remind him what an insignificant, inferior worm he is. How heartless is that? Even my own sister is not that cold." He chuckled. "Well, actually, maybe she is—but you don't really want to be brought down to Broken Fang's level."
A strained groan broke from Nya as she writhed. He knelt down beside her. "You've lost your parents and your brother. And now, after your selfishness and cruelty, you will lose Jay, too. You are an arrogant and self-righteous kitten. You do not deserve love."
Anger came out of Jay in the form of lightning. It trickled from his fingers like thin, gnarled tree branches. "Hey!"
The werecat jerked himself up, startled. Then he sneered. "Oh. You."
Lightning exploded across the ground, over Nya's head, and at the werecat. "Stay away from my girlfriend, you fat, two-tailed rat-eater!"
"Jay, look out..." Nya groaned. "Rip Claw—he's dangerous, he'll get into your head—!"
Rip Claw waved a hand over himself; a bright forcefield swept over him just as the lightning bolt reached him. It reflected off of the forcefield with a loud bang, then trickled away. "What's this? You've come to teach me a lesson, too, Son of Lightning?"
"You stop talking!" Jay snapped. "Everything that's come out of your mouth so far has been nothing but trash! Why don't you tuck both your tails between your legs and run while you can, you coward?"
The sorcerer's lip curled. "I was about to ask you the same thing. But then, your mother did not know when to flee from a fight, either. I suppose it must run in the family."
Jay's blood ran cold. "You— Raven Frost said you were the one who killed the previous Master of Lightning."
"The one and only!" Rip Claw drawled, spreading his arms like he was some performer accepting applause. "Would you like to see how your mother died?"
"No, no—!" Jay's words were cut off.
White filled his vision, blinding him.
Then it was dark. Cold. Snow swirled around him. He blinked against the blizzard and wrapped his arms around himself. Where the heck am I? Very little could be made out in the darkness. As far as he could tell, he stood in a great snowy plain, in the middle of a snowstorm. White flakes landed on him and melted on his face.
A familiar guttural voice broke the sound of the wind howling. "Where is the moonstone, Daughter of Lightning?"
Shapes appeared from the night. Through the snow Jay could eventually make out three nekomata standing around a human—a woman. They were nearing her, eyes gleaming dangerously. The voice of Rip Claw came from the scraggly dark gray cat.
"Where is it?" he repeated.
The woman replied haltingly, "I have no idea what you're talking about, Rip Claw." Her outfit was blue—that much he could make out in the darkness—and blond hair fell in long waves around her face.
Rip Claw leaned forward and sniffed. "Where's your kit? You smell of milk."
"I don't have any kids, idiot. I'm not even married. And why would you care?"
"We wouldn't want another Daughter or Son of Lightning running around after we get rid of you." All the cats purred menacingly at that. They crept closer.
For the first time Jay noticed a sword strapped to the woman's back. She reached and unsheathed it with a movement of familiarity—she was a warrior. "Why? Would that be a catastrophe?"
The cats groaned. "Would you stop it with the dumb puns!"
"Hey, if I'm going down, I might as well go down laughing!" The woman rose her head—and Jay felt his heart stop.
It was her. It was the woman in the small painting, the one he'd found in Cliff Gordon's mansion. The previous Master of Lightning.
His mother.
Rip Claw and the other two Moon Tribe warriors lunged for the Master of Lightning. She slashed her sword and sent one nekomata stumbling away with a screech. Dark spots appeared in the snow.
The two others knocked her down into a snowdrift. A bolt of pale lightning exploded and sent snow flying. While the nekomata were reeling, she staggered back up to her feet.
Growling, Rip Claw reared up on his hind legs and gestured with his forepaws. Pale shapes appeared in a bright green hue, materializing into a pair of knives.
His mother had her back to them. She was still trying to get out of the snowdrift.
"Look out—!" Jay cried, even though he knew she couldn't hear him.
The green knives shot over the snow and plunged into her back. With a sputtering gasp, his mother fell face-first. She didn't get up.
Just as suddenly as the silence had been broken, now the snowy plain fell silent once more.
Somehow, the feeling of horror in Jay was stifled by something—acceptance? Expectance? Of course he'd known the vision would be horrible. Yes, this really happened, this was why he'd never known his biological mother... so somehow, despite the horror of seeing how it happened, he'd known it had to be something like this. Perhaps the horror of this vision would haunt him later...
But not today.
He knew this trick. Rip Claw was trying to horrify him to the point of driving him to madness. It'd worked before—almost.
Jay swallowed back his grief. "Not today, buster!" Whipping out his nunchucks, he threw himself at the vision of Rip Claw standing over his mother's body.
Yellow eyes stared back at him in shock, and the night and snow vanished.
Rip Claw and Jay hit the ground wrestling. Jay was aware of being back in the grassy plain. Claws scratched his face and arms, but he ignored the stings. Adrenaline coursed through his body, and with the speed of lightning he beat Rip Claw over the head with his nunchucks—bam, whack, bam.
A gash appeared on the old man's head. Caterwauling, the shape-shifter transformed into a bakeneko and wriggled from Jay's grasp. The dark gray cat darted up the hillside.
"Fight me, you coward!" Jay ran after him. He didn't see the armies a hundred yards away, still fighting. He didn't see Nya sprawled out in the grass behind him. He only saw the cat—that hideous animal that'd caused him so much torment all month.
Rip Claw stopped—the hilltop on this side was broken by a deep canyon. Sand from the desert encroached on the grass and choked it out here. The gap was too far to jump across.
He turned to the left, attempting to bypass the canyon to get to the army.
A lightning bolt struck the ground in front of him, exploding. Rip Claw, shifting back into his human form, staggered back, coughing. Jay lunged at him and brought him down again by the edge of the canyon. His nunchucks swung furiously. He could barely think through the adrenaline—it was intoxicating.
Suddenly his face was smashed into the grass and sand. He sputtered and tried to get up, but something was pinning him down. Claws sank into his arms and back. A guttural voice hissed by his ear, "Did you really think you could defeat me? Me? The greatest sorcerer in all Ninjago? I'm better than Black Blood, the sniveling kitten. She should fear me! I will prove to her that—!"
"You talk too much! Maybe it's your turn for a nap!"
The weight on Jay's back disappeared. Gasping, he twisted around to see Nya shoving herself into Rip Claw. Unbalanced, he teetered at the lip of the canyon.
Rip Claw tried to shift into his nekomata form and ended up looking half-man, half-cat. Gray ears poking out from his head and a feline muzzle protruding from his face, he snarled and attempted to bite Nya. She kept shoving him away. He was doing something with his hands—trying to conjure a spell?
"You little—!" His muzzle shot toward her arm.
Nya screamed. His teeth were in deep, tearing her arm. Writhing, she tried to break free from him.
Leaping to his feet, Jay yanked a sai out from his belt and ran toward Rip Claw. The sound of Nya's scream made his vision go red. He could think of nothing else but protecting her.
His knife sank into flesh.
Rip Claw gasped, releasing Nya.
She stumbled away. Jay didn't stop. Savagely he sank the weapon deeper into the sorcerer, between his ribcage. The older man's body went stiff beneath Jay's grip.
Rip Claw stared at him. He opened his mouth and tried to say something, but only a weak wheeze came out. He looked at the knife in his chest.
Jay leaned forward until he could smell the half-cat man's breath. "This is for Nya," he said through gritted teeth. "And for my mom."
He yanked the knife out. Rip Claw stood there for a moment, teetering. He almost didn't seem to notice the dark spot spreading throughout his tunic.
His yellow eyes glazed over. Then, with a quiet groan, his body toppled over the edge of the canyon and disappeared. After a moment, a thud echoed briefly from the shadows. There was no other sound.
Jay stood there for a moment, shocked at what he'd done. The blood dripping off his sai looked like some grim red flag.
"Jay...?"
"Are you OK?!" he gasped, whirling around.
Nya was standing now, holding her wounded arm to her side. She flashed him a weak smile that looked more like a grimace. "Could be worse. Might need some disinfectant, though."
Jay pulled her into a tight hug. Shakily she murmured into his neck, "You were awesome, Jay."
"That's one less sorcerer we have to worry about." He chuckled uneasily. "I guess Matilda's mind-bending training was kinda useful, after all."
* * *
Claws dug into Cole's back. A heavy weight slammed him onto his belly, knocking the breath out of him.
Grunting, he focused upon a pile of boulders sitting nearby at the foot of the small sandy cliff. They rose up in the air and flew toward the werecat pinning him down. He heard a shocked "oof!" and the weight vanished.
Scrambling to his feet, he saw that his attacker had been knocked out cold. The boulders fell and lay still around the big cat.
Swinging his scythe, he braced himself for his next opponent. A quick survey told him, however, that at last the thick of the Moon Tribe army was drawing away from the grassy plain. The hordes of werecats were edging up the hill, back the way they came.
"We're doing it," he realized. "We're beating them!"
"Don't get cocky yet!" Eagle Talon's voice made him turn. His brother was in his nekomata body, fighting a ginger tom. "There's still plenty of them to—!" His words were cut off when the ginger reared onto his hind legs and bit one of Talon's ears. A feline screech shattered the air.
"Hang on, I've—!" Cole's words trailed off when a silver arrow streaked by his head and sank into the ginger cat's back. The enemy gasped, releasing Talon, and staggered a few steps away. He finally collapsed on the ground and stopped moving.
"Hey!" Cole cast a good-natured frown up at the rock Liana stood upon several yards away. "Stop showing off!"
She laughed. "Keep up, then!"
Eagle Talon transformed into his human body. His bleeding ear stood out against flesh, and he touched it tentatively. "Mouse dung. That was the one Liana had already hurt."
A new voice interrupted them. "The battle's not over yet!"
"We're just taking a breather!" Cole retorted, exasperated. Lloyd ran into view, along with Little Leaf. They both looked scratched and bruised but otherwise all right.
"We can't get lazy now," Lloyd said. "We have to get these guys as far away from the city as possible!"
"All right, all right, we get it!" Cole turned to Liana. There were so few enemy warriors left on the plain, he knew she could take care of herself now. "Can you take the stragglers? We're gonna drive the rest back into the desert."
She grinned. "No problem."
"I'll come back for you." He nodded to the others. "Let's move."
They left Liana at the foot of the hill and ran to the northwest. Jay, Nya, Zane, the werecat allies and policemen were driving the Moon Tribe army back toward the desert. As they ran, Little Leaf said to her brother, "I can do Spinjitzu! Did you know that?"
"I do now," he responded dryly.
"Do you wanna learn it, too?"
"Not right now. How 'bout after the battle?" He said to Lloyd, "You two can take this side. I'll get into the middle and make them sorry they ever came."
"I'll join you," Cole volunteered.
They separated; Lloyd and Little Leaf took one side, Cole and Eagle Talon the other. The brothers threw themselves into the fray. The faces of his adversaries flashed like blurry pictures by Cole's vision. As he chucked werecats this way and that, he couldn't stop grinning. They were winning.
* * *
Hot blood pounded into Black Blood's ears. She glared furiously at the retreating army—her army. She could see the wounded werecats fleeing frantically from the ninja advancing on their tails.
"How is this happening?! We had the advantage! The element of surprise!" She turned to her fellow sorcerers, as if they were to blame for the unfavorable turn of events. "This should be our battle!"
"It was the traitors, I'm sure." Broken Fang, standing in pale beige rags, glared at the plain. "They gave us away and prepared them."
Black Blood seethed at the thought of them—Lightning Streak, Mist Rise, Spark Pelt, and all the rest. "Remind me to kill them." She swept her gaze over the sandy hilltop. "Why don't you get down there and slow them down? And where in the ancestors is that mouse-brain Rip Claw?!"
"How should I know where my idiot littermate is?" Broken Fang hissed.
"I can't fight," Raven Frost whined. He was crouching nearby in his cat body, licking his wounds. "That confounded Son of Lightning—"
"Yes, we know, the Son of Lightning burned you. Deal with it," Broken Fang sneered. "It's your own fault for getting so arrogant and letting your guard down."
"As if you've done anything to help!" The black and white-pelted tom snarled.
"That's enough!" Black Blood's voice stopped both of them. "Broken Fang, slow them down. Make them regret ever standing up against us."
The old woman looked uncertainly down the hill. "Are you—? I mean... our warriors look very beaten, and from this position it will be hard for them to defend themselves. Perhaps it would be best if we retreat only until—"
Anger set Black Blood's face on fire. "Retreat? Never! Not until I say so! Now get down there before I throw you down!"
Broken Fang nodded hastily and bounded down the hill. Raven Frost stared at her uncertainly. "Maybe it's better to retreat for now... we're losing warriors, and—"
"How remarkable, I can't seem to remember the part where I asked for your uninformed opinion." Black Blood slapped his face; his white muzzle was now streaked red. "Why don't you go find something useful to do?"
Suppressing a baleful growl, Raven Frost got up and loped off.
Turning and striding to a sandy precipice, Black Blood closed her eyes and murmured a foreign incantation. Violet light shimmered between her clawed fingers. A dark shape materialized into a black longbow. A long arrow with a cruel, jagged arrowhead appeared as well, and she nocked it into the drawstring. New weapon in hand, she stepped up and surveyed the battlefield.
Indeed, the warrior cats were fleeing. Anger burned through her as she recognized Violet Swift and Loud Bird working together to claw and bite Black Ear. Quick Fin was being helped to her paws by Earth Flame while Mist Rise, Spark Pelt and Lightning Streak assisted the Son of Ice on the far side, chasing the stragglers. Little Leaf—to her sister's disgust—was fighting side by side with the Son of the First using that despicable martial art, Spinjitzu. To her left two figures struggled in the thick of the crowd... two young men with dark hair—
Black Blood gritted her teeth. Cole and Eagle Talon. It was because of Talon's betrayal that everything had begun falling apart. They'd had the upper hand! Then he had defied her in front of everyone, and that gave Lightning Streak and the others the gall to defy her as well...
Her eyes settled upon Cole. Bitterness soured her tongue when she thought of Eagle Talon, but the sight of her disgusting human half-brother made her feel so sick with hatred she almost felt like vomiting. He represented everything she despised: the human race. The Sons and Daughters of the Elements. Her own heritage.
If you were dead, little brother, she thought. I'd never have to see your face again. It would be the perfect revenge against our father.
Drawing her arm back, she aimed down the hillside. The arrowhead hovered, pointed directly at Cole's head.
I already killed the Son of Fire. I can kill the Son of Earth, too. Her fingers tightened around the longbow's soot-black body. No more Sons or Daughters of Earth would be born. Your lineage will end while I will live forever and reign supreme.
Her heart beat so hard she felt it would jump out of her throat at any moment. Goodbye, Cole, little brother of mine.
* * *
"That's right! Scurry back to your caves, kitty-cats!" Cole chortled, bruising another nekomata with his scythe. The cat yowled and limped away. Instinctively Cole tripped an oncoming warrior and summoned a Spinjitzu vortex to chuck him into the air. He was on a roll. At this point, nothing could stop him and his deadly scythe.
Eagle Talon fought nearby, taking down attackers with his claws protruding from human hands. As he clawed the face of a gray tabby female and sent her retreating with a shamed caterwaul, movement atop the hill caught his eye. In the midst of the roaring crowd, he risked a glance. What he saw made his blood run cold.
Black Blood stood upon a sandy precipice, a dark longbow in hand. A long arrow peered over the edge and was aimed down into the crowd. With a jolt Talon realized it was aimed straight for Cole.
"Cole! Look out!" he cried.
His brother didn't appear to hear him. The screams and cries of the battle were too loud, like the constant growl of the sea. A nekomata and a werecat in its human form came at him at the same time. Cole fought them fiercely, scythe swinging.
Eagle Talon's pulse pounded in his head. The faces and screams of friends and enemies around him faded away. All he could see was Black Blood and the arrow. "Cole!"
Cole didn't hear him.
Talon had never run so hard in all his life. All sound drifted away from his head. He could hardly feel his feet flying over the grass.
"Cole!"
Black Blood's white hand released the dark string.
Eagle Talon didn't think. He was only aware of throwing himself in front of Cole and using one arm to shove him away. Something heavy and cold sank into his chest.
Cole did not see the arrow fly into Talon.
He did not hear the quiet gasp that whitened Talon's lips.
He did not see his brother's knees quiver before he staggered to the grass.
He only saw, after driving away the three warriors and turning around, a familiar shape lying on the ground. Cole hesitated, unsure of what he was looking at. Then he saw Black Blood standing on the hill.
And he saw Talon's face. And the black arrow protruding like a hateful flag from his chest. And the small blot of blood that was only just beginning to stain his shirt.
"Talon!"