I looked over to see Jay tapping the pencil I managed to smuggle out to him against his cheek, staring at a piece of paper with a few pencil strokes over it.
Looking around, I wandered near, not past the fence that was keeping the three ninja in.
"How's the blueprints coming along?" I asked, looking around in case if any hunter happened to walk by.
"Almost done I think, I've designed the blueprints to Cole's measurements so I think this will work with the amount of metal we'll be able to smuggle out of here." Jay replied, scribbling some more before picking the piece of paper up. "Done!"
"Great, put it with the trailer where Wu is." I whispered.
He nodded and swiftly folded the paper before slipping it on top of some of the dung before Kai covered it with some more.
'I ain't grabbing that out from there.' I thought as I watched Wu walk away with the full trailer to outside of the camp where I knew Cole would be waiting for the instructions.
I stood there for a little while longer before seeing a hunter walk over.
"Dangerbuff! You can have a break, I'll take the next shift!" They said.
I nodded and let them take my place, sending the three a glance before walking off.
———
The next few days was mainly smuggling scraps of metal and tools with the help of the three who put them into the cart of dragon dung.
Eventually we had enough metal to start making the dragon according to the blueprints and that took a couple of days to get done.
And now it was finally finished, it didn't look too charming, but it looks like it possibly could do the job.
"We did it." Cole said, putting his hands on his hips.
"But will it fly?" Wu asked, looking between the two of us.
"Only one way to find out." Cole replied, climbing into the seat. "Could you give it a push?"
Both Wu and I put our hands on the back of the machine before giving it a big push down the hill we were testing it at.
Cole started peddling and travelling down the hill, both Wu and I running alongside it to keep pace. He was going fast, but it seemed there was no way of it getting into the air.
"Faster! Faster!" Wu cried.
"I am!" Cole replied back, continuing to pedal.
"Pedal harder!" I suggested.
"What do you think I'm doing?!" Cole replied, looking at the two of us with a 'really?' face.
Until he crashed into a rock that was in the way.
"Cole!" Both Wu and I cried, rushing over to the machine.
———
"It won't fly." Wu said as we walked over to where the other three were, walking around in a circle pushing a weird contraption.
"It has to!" Jay replied in a slight panic.
"I'm too heavy, maybe your calculations were a bit off." Cole suggested.
"I designed it to your measurements. Have you gained weight?"
Cole gasped dramatically. "I have given up cake and my body is a temple." He stated, pulling a pose, making me roll my eyes.
"Cole...." Jay said in a warning tone.
"I can fly it." Wu piped up, stopping whatever was going to happen between the two.
"Your legs won't even reach the pedals." Cole said, dismissing the idea.
"Nah, I think he's onto something." I replied, nodding slightly.
"And it's easier to grow a little than lose a lot." Wu replied, patting Cole's stomach.
"Hey!"
———
Now it was nightfall and Iron Baron was preparing for the air dragon feast. I was hanging around the area, keeping an eye out for the ninja and any keys in case we needed them to get them while Wu and Cole went to fly the mech.
I hope he was going to be alright.
"More wood! I like my meat well done!" Iron Baron yelled. "I've never eaten Wind Dragon. I hope it doesn't blow."
He chuckled at his pun before walking off, spewing more air related puns, until it was time before the Wind dragon was going to be cooked.
I did feel a little bad for it, but we're mortal enemies so I wasn't that sad for it.
I watched as the ninja were chained near a rock a little ways from where the feast was being held, then watched as the hunter hung the keys nearby.
"Iron Baron provides for you, and all I ask in return is your undying loyalty." Iron Baron explained, holding a flaming torch. "Obey my commands, and your belly will be full. Defy me-"
Something flew up in front of the moon, it looked like a dragon but smaller.
'That's Wu then.' I said, starting to walk near to where the keys had been hung up, discreetly slipping them up my sleeve as everyone stared at the silhouette.
"Dragon." Iron Baron breathed as he saw the silhouette, everyone repeating the word like a chain reaction until the 'dragon' breathed fire.
"Fire dragon!"
It went into a frenzy as everyone rushed to grab weapons, ready to hunt, before electricity sparked from the 'dragon'.
"It's the mother of all dragons!" Kai said loudly.
"Oh no! Why would Firstbourne come here?" Jay agreed, following suit.
"Um, yes! She's come here to protect her wind dragon!" Zane added.
"It is Firstbourne!" Someone cried, before all of the hunters got ready to hunt it down.
"Positions! Get back!" Iron Baron yelled.
'I hope Wu will be alright.' I thought as I was about to head to the ninja's before feeling a hand on my shoulder.
I stiffened before noticing it was Cole and breathed a sigh of relief. "Don't scare me like that."
"Sorry. Did you find the keys?" He asked.
I nodded, slipping the keys out of my sleeve before we walked over to the ninja, unlocking the chains.
"About time." Kai said.
"Now let's get out of this nut house." Jay said as they stood up before we went to find an exit.
Running out we paused and looked up to the sky, seeing a large dragon silhouette in front of the moon.
'Huh...it looks bigger.'
"Wow, little Wu's really selling it." Jay said.
"You two built that?" Kai asked.
"Huh, it looks bigger in the air." Cole said in confusion, looking at me.
I nodded. "It does." I agreed before we heard a crash from behind us.
We all froze and turned around to see Wu climb out of a wrecked mech, looking dizzy.
"Wait! If that's that, then who's-" Cole started before Zane cut him off.
"It's the real Firstbourne!"
I felt my heart stop and blood run cold as he said that before there was a bright light in my vision.
I felt myself being roughly pulled to the ground as a ball of fire soared over our heads and into a tent before being pulled back up and running away as more fireballs were attacking the camp.
As I ran I felt something weird in my mind, like something was trying to get through.
'You shouldn't be on this land, Oni. Did you forget the promise?' A familiar voice said in my head.
I froze, stumbling, bumping into whoever was in front of me, as I tried to focus on the voice and getting out of the camp.
'I know! I'm sorry! It was an accident!' I thought as we ran.
'You broke the promise set centuries ago, just to say it was an accident?' Firstbourne asked with a growl in her voice.
'Look, I didn't mean to come here, I know I'm not supposed to be back home, just ended up here!' I thought.
'That's not good enough.' She replied before I felt a warmth near my back, barley missing a fireball.
"There's an exit!" Kai pointed out as we got closer.
"Wait! Firstbourne's here because of the dragons, we should help!" Wu said in concern.
"It's going to kill us if we don't get out of here!" Jay cried.
"But you helped us lure it in!" Wu stated.
"Yeah because we were forced to!"
"Little Master's right! We have to go back." Cole replied.
"But what about the exit?!" Kai asked.
"You guys get the dragons out of here, I'll stay at the exit with Wu." I said, not wanting to go back in there. "We'll be alright."
They looked between each other before nodding, running off to help the dragons.
Wu and I sat down near the exit, but at a place where we could hide ourselves in case a hunter came by.
"You alright (Y/n)?" Wu asked. "You look pale..."
I looked at him, who had a confused look in his eye, and nodded. "Yeah...I'm fine."
As soon as the words slipped out of my mouth, another fireball was sent our way.
We screamed, Wu jumping into my arms as I activated a force field to protect us from the fireball.
We were quiet as the shock wore off, both of us panting heavily and looking at each other with wide eyes as I deactivated the force field.
"How did you do that? What kind of power was that?" Wu asked and I hesitated.
Thankfully the ninja came around the corner.
"Come on! Let's get out of here!" Jay said before pausing. "Wo, you guys alright?"
"Yeah, we're fine. Let's get out of here." Wu said, standing up.
I stood up and stretched. "Great, now I can get out of this."
I changed out of my disguise as a hunter, back to my usual persona.
"I forgot that you can do that." Kai commented.
I shrugged. "Let's just go before they notice."
And then we left, not noticing a pair of eyes watching us as we ran as far as we could from that place.
Word count: 1645 words