Chapter Two: Fright
The Bounty flew through the air at a pace faster than normal. The Ninja were worried about the people of Ninjago. There would be no way they could check every village and every house; though, thankfully, the Bounty scanners that the purple mist that clouded the Oni didn't really go far past Ninjago City. Unbeknownst to the Ninja, the talking dragon followed them, though not very close. It still had yet to regain its strength from being inside The Golden Seal. Panting, it eyed the silhouettes of the Ninja and the nearly invisible Bounty they stood on. Glancing ahead, the dragon noticed more silhouettes of other people, though they weren't as solid due to being farther away. It cocked its head in confusion at the many floating Electricity; unable to see the concrete and metal that made up the buildings.
The Ninja steered the Bounty to the innermost parts of the City since that is where most of the populace is and where the Oni entered from. The dragon tried to follow but began losing them in the cluster of floating Electricity and human silhouettes. The Ninja's silhouettes, while distinctively different due to having Elemental Powers, started to get further and further away. The dragon tried to follow but clipped its left wing on a building and caused the dragon to let out a yelp and spin a few times. When it stopped spinning, the dragon looked around, now totally lost. Whimpering with worry, the dragon tried to fly off but rammed its head into an office building. The dragon looked into the building and saw the silhouettes of the people inside. They were shocked and scared. Ninjago had just been through yet another "world-ending " event and now a dragon was suddenly in Ninjago City. The dragon felt the people's fear and flew back a bit. It looked towards the ground at the other people, who looked up at it, wondering if the beast was friend or foe. "Terra," the dragon smiled. A patch of energy given off by the earth was near the dragon; it was the edge of a park.
The dragon flew down and landed, happy to find some form of footing. Its tail landed on the top of a red Sedan. "My car!" the owner yelled in shock as the dragon moved the tail away, revealing some damage. Mds ahr sag?" the dragon did not understand the man's sadness.
"Go on now!" the man shooed the dragon," Get! I said get!"
The dragon backed up, unsure of why the man was suddenly angry. It looked around, trying to refind the Ninja. Then a scent caught the dragon's attention. The dragon tilted its head, feeling as if it had smelt that before but couldn't place it. The dragon followed the scent, forcing the people to move out of the way. The dragon followed the scent to a back alleyway. There were two people there.
"Ugh, what was that mist stuff?" one of the men asked.
"Who knows," the other replied, "Probably got something to do with those Ninja."
"Hopefully," the dragon could sense the joy coming from the first guy, "That means they'll be too busy to deal with what we're doing!"
"Hey! Don't jinx it!" the other man warned.
"Aye, don't worry!" the man turned to his bag that laid on the floor, "Besides, if they do come after us….we got these Vengestone to deal with them!"
"Vengestone?!" the dragon jumped back, fear rising. The yellow coloring of the dragon's body shifted and changed to red as flames erupted all across its body. " Adtseg nene Vengestone!" the dragon cried out fearfully. The people nearby ran as the dragon continued to back up, swinging its head left and right; hoping for a way to escape. Slowly, its yellow eyes began turning purple and purple cracks crept across its body. "No!" the dragon banged its head against a tree, "Ma te le Negative!". The dragon let out a loud, aggressive roar as its herbivorous teeth shifted to that of a Carnivore. The dragon banged its head against the ground and let out another roar. The roar echoed throughout the City.
"What was that?" Jay asked as the roar reached the Ninja.
"I dunno, but something is happening," Kai quickly climbed the ladder to get back on the Bounty.
"It may be the Oni!" Cole thought out loud, "Maybe some survived?"
Racing back onto the Bounty, the Ninja followed the roars. They spotted the fleeing people and spreading fire. "Is that the dragon?!" Kai watched as the dragon ran in a circle then rammed into a tree.
"Whether it is or it isn't we've gotta do something!" Lloyd ordered. Throwing down some rope, the Ninja slid down. "Nya, the fire! Everybody else protect the people!"
"What about you?" Zane asked.
Looking to the dragon, Lloyd hesitated. "I'll….I'll keep its attention on me!"
"Alone? No way!" Kai ran up to his friend. Both recoiled when the dragon roared again.
"Just do what I say!" Lloyd ran up to the dragon as the others separated, as close as he was willing to get. "Hey!" he yelled, "Calm down!"
The dragon stopped roaring and eyed Lloyd, growling. "Uhh…" Lloyd backed up a bt, slightly regretting his decision. "It's me, remember? Uh….L-Lord?" Lloyd smiled.
The dragon glared and bared its fangs. The back of its throat started glowing orange-ish red. "Aw crap," Lloyd muttered to himself. The dragon spat out fire; causing Lloyd to dodge.
"Lloyd?!" Cole called out worryingly to his friend.
"It's okay," Lloyd shouted back between dodges. Retreating to the Bounty, Lloyd tried to catch his breath. "Hey! Uh….we don't have a name for you yet….uh…."
"Zippy!" Jay suggested.
"Why do you always go to that?!" Lloyd shouted back. With a loud roar, Lloyd's attention returned to the dragon. The beast's head twitched. The dragon charged and slammed into the Bounty. "Whoa!" The Bounty flew back as the ground shook; causing Lloyd to lose balance and fall backward off the Bounty.
"What was that?" Cole turned back to the dragon, "Felt like we got hit by the Scythe of Quakes!"
The dragon stood there, shaking its head and blinking multiple times. Groaning, the dragon backed up a few feet. "Eyes on me big guy!" Lloyd called out to the dragon; which growled. The dragon stepped towards Lloyd, its throat slightly lit up, near ready to fire again. "Uhhh…" Lloyd backed up into the Bounty. He looked around, hoping that he'd see something that would help me. Lloyd looked at the dragon," Uhh….M...Me to sha….de?"
The dragon stopped, tilting its head. "Y-Yeah! Me to sha de!" Lloyd had no idea on if he was actually saying something or was speaking totally gibberish. He knew, at least, that the dragon was responding. Lloyd repeated what he said a couple of times. The back of the dragon's throat faded as the dragon groaned. It shook its head then roared loudly. The dragon then rammed its head into the bottom of the Bounty- again and again. Destroying the wooden foundation with its mighty strength. "Whoa! Whoa!" Lloyd rushed up to the dragon but quickly recoiled when the dragon snapped open its wings and reared up. Its body returned to yellow. The fire snuffed out. The purple cracks faded as the dragon fell to the ground, unconscious. Lloyd rushed over, thankful to hear breathing when he checked.
With the danger gone, the other Ninja ran over. "What was that?" Kai asked.
"I dunno," Lloyd looked over the dragon's body. It was as if those purple cracks never happened. "But, something about that felt familiar."
"Familiar how?" Nya asked.
"Is that your dragon?" an angry citizen yelled.
"Uh, sorry people!" Kai smiled nervously, "We thought we left it back at HQ but it seems it followed us! Uh….it doesn't seem to have caused too much damage."
"Get it out of the City!" another angry citizen demanded.
"How?" Jay quietly asked, "It trashed the Bounty."
"We'll think of something," Lloyd sighed then looked at the dragon as it laid knocked out.
oOo
Back at the Monastery, the Ninja joined Master Wu in the underground section. The dragon laid unconscious in a cell. They talked amongst each other, wondering what to do with it. When the dragon began to moan, they turned their attention to it. Waking up, the dragon slowly blinked its eyes then raised its head. "Wesg trf sag?" the dragon asked. It stood up and tried to walk forward; only to bump into the bars it couldn't see. "Af tsja da?" the dragon cocked its head in confusion.
"We can't just keep it locked up in there," Nya protested.
"But we can't just let it walk around," Kai pointed out, "We don't even know what happened!"
"I think with this we soon will be able to know," Wu held up a scroll. The paper appeared torn and the gold trims faded and worn. The dragon sat back down.
"What's that?" P.I.X.A.L asked.
"Probably my father's oldest scroll," Wu walked up to the cage, unrolled the scroll, and studied the contents. "N...Ne to….smewa….ta."
The dragon perked up. "Me to le da!"
"Whoa! You just spoke its language!" Jay, along with the others, walked up to see the scroll.
"When I first saw this dragon I felt as if I had seen it before," Wu looked at the dragon, "But now I know." He showed the back of the scroll, which had a picture of a golden dragon. "This dragon, she's a friend of my father."
"A friend of The First Spinjitzu Master?!" the Ninja gasped.
"Yes, and her name is Eva," Wu looked back at the scroll.
"Ag, se lt sa Eva," the dragon shook its head yes.
"Iy asd fe me aw Ninjago City?" Wu asked. 'What startled you in Ninago City?'
The dragon stood up, "At tla te emn af ooh Vengestone."
"Vengestone?" Cole looked at the others," The stone that negates our powers?"
"No, it's the other glowing rock that does nothing," Nya said sarcastically.
"Unneeded Nya," Cole glared.
"What exactly did she say?" Lloyd asked.
"She said," Wu double-checked the scroll, "She overheard two men talking about using Venstone on us if we try to interfereg with what they're doing."
"Oh come on!" Kai sighed loudly, "We just went through the whole thing with the Oni! Can't people just take a vacation and not do something bad?!"
"It's best if we do check it out," Zane suggested, "We know they have Venstone so we can prepare."
"Uh...Uncle…" Lloyd turned back to Wu, "What I said to, you know, snap her out whatever happened….did I actually say anything? Me to sha de?" The dragon perked up again.
"E ta do na," she smiled.
"Hmm," Wu looked over the scroll, "Oh...well now."
"What? What did I say?" Lloyd asked.
Rolling up the scroll and placing his hands behind him, Wu turned away. "You'd probably wouldn't want to know." Wu smiled, failing to hold back a giggle.
"I would like to know," Lloyd walked to face Wu," What if I said something offensive?"
"Oh," Wu giggled, "You don't have to worry about that."
"Come on Master Wu," Cole chimed in," Just tell us."
Feeling that he couldn't keep it to himself Wu turned to his friends," …...Will you be my mate?"
The room erupted into laughter. Lloyd's face turned bright red. "I…..I didn't know I was saying that?!" He looked at Eva, then immediately looked away, embarrassed. "Guys! Enough, come on!"
"Lord? Ne td da?" Eva looked to Lloyd, confused by his odd action.
"Uh…" Lloyd hesitated, hoping that he didn't say anything else embarrassing. He and Eva looked at each other while the others continued laughing. Eva purred as she smiled at him, she tilted her head slightly to the right. And it was then that it clicked: from the angle he was seeing her at, Eva looked like the dragon form of The Overlord, but not exactly. If it was one to one then they would have seen it immediately. Lloyd gasped at this realization. He went to speak but was cut off by Master Wu.
"My Father has never really spoken about Eva here," Wu mentioned, "Very odd indeed. Anything about her is here in this scroll."
"E...Everything?" Lloyd eyed the scroll.
"Well, I don't know if it's everything," Wu glanced over the scroll, "He may have left some stuff out, but we'll never know." He looked at Eva. "I wonder why my Father has never said anything about her?"
'Because she's got something to do with The Overlord!' Lloyd thought. He opened his mouth to speak it but nothing came out. He went to try again but was cut off- this time by Kai.
"Well, as long as no Venstone comes around I think it'll be fine to let her roam around during the day," Kai suggested, "But at night maybe she should stay in the cage." Wu spoke what Kai said to Eva.
"Na de wr," Eva responded. I understand.
Walking over to the lever beside the cage, Zane pulled it down and the bars moved to under the floor, releasing Eva. A bit unsure about the sound, Eva hesitantly took a few steps forward. Once she realized that the bars were gone, she took more confident steps. Lowering her head, Eva placed her snout against Lloyd and purred.
"I think she's still on that mate thing," Kai joked.
"Oh would you forge that?!" Lloyd glared at his friends who started to giggle.
"No way," Kai giggled, "I'm never forgetting this."
Lloyd groaned and looked away from his friends. Eva was looking at him with curious eyes. Lloyd looked back questioningly; from this angle she didn't look like the dragon form of The Overlord. She looked kinda like the Golden Dragon. ' Did I just imagine that?' Lloyd thought to himself.
"Now that we got that out of the way, it's best if we investigate any shady business that Eva….so kindly found out for us," Wu suggested.