Charlotte

I closed my eyes tightly as the huge mech soared through the air. Shadow-walking was not as terrifying as this untethered flight- faster, and of course much darker, but not as terrifying. But deep inside, something was rising up the farther we flew from the castle.

I dared to think that it might be hope.

As we landed on the ninja's flying ship - the Denstiny's Bounty- someone's voice crackled through the speakers. "Nya? Nya?" "Yeah, I'm here, Jay." The samurai-girl answered mildly, taking off her armor.

"Can you drop the anchor for the other guys? I'm coming up right now. Well, not up... haha! I'm already at the level of the Destiny's Bounty!" Nya walked over and dropped the anchor as I watched a bright blue jet, crackling with energy, come soaring in. Suddenly, it dissipated in a sizzle of blue light and all I saw was Jay, holding an unconscious dark-skinned girl with bright purple hair, a pink T-shirt, tattered jeans and combat boots. At the same time, the other ninja climbed onto the deck.

"Who's that?" Nya asked. The blind girl flickered her golden fans, weaving an invisible pattern as Cole stepped forward and answered.

"Some crazy girl we found in the swamp. Tried to set a pack of killer fox-things on us. We called Sensei and he told us to bring her along, so Jay zapped her with the tazer sticks."

Jay hissed, "Tazer sticks? I'll give you Tazer Sticks you absolute dirtclod!" Cole chuckled under his breath.

"Please, don't fight, we have VISITORS!" The ice ninja yelled the last word, which finally caused Jay and Cole to stop glaring at each other and turn to him in shock.


Tamara

Everyone fell silent as Zane yelled.

"Whoa, dude." Jay said. I couldn't tell if he was amused or angry, or both, and my airsight didn't have enough clarity to accurately gauge his facial expression. Charlotte's footsteps made the planks quiver slightly, and I felt them go over to where Jay and the unconscious girl were. With my airsight, I could watch Charlotte pass her hand over the girl's head, then snap her fingers. The girl jerked and woke up, clambering to her feet. I hopped into the air, relaxing as soon as I entered my element, and swooped around the girl, watching her closely. "Who are you?' I asked. The strange girl turned and glared at me.

"Before I answer that, who are all of you?"

Introductions took a little while, but Sensei convinced the girl to call off the crazed ravens and agree to train on the Bounty. Jay and Nya went downstairs to go try and expand Nya's room to fit Charlotte and the new girl, who said her name was Aurora.

Sensei climbed down the ladder and reappeared a few seconds later. I could sense that he was tense, and my wind-vision picked up something long and thin in his hand.

"I found this scroll from Misa- from the storage area in the Destiny's Bounty." he said. Aurora moved a little closer, her footsteps sounded different from the others, lighter and looser, more like an animal's.

Sensei read:

Cloud serpents descend on the land,

Are they good or evil?

Shadow for the finding,

Water for the trap,

Wind for revealing,

Nature will tame.

Do not judge your enemy rashly.

Just then, Nya docked the Bounty in the Mountains of Impossible Hight. "Surely this is near where our old dojo was?" Zane asked sadly.

"All my high scores on Fist-to-Face-2..." Kai grumbled. I heard a whack as someone smacked the Fire ninja.