Announcer voice: Today, on Way of the Dragon: Jinlong and Nya must do what they can to aid the ninja in battle. But first, they must save the Changing Dragons.
Jinlong voice: Chapter 26: Dragon Fist of Legend
With a jolt and a deep gasp, life returned to Jinlong's body. Even just lying on her side, her head resting on mud that smelled of blood, she knew that her experience had not been a dream. She was whole again, both of her bodies were with her, in Ninjago.
And she had a job to do.
Standing, she realized first of all that she was still in her dragon skin, near the Celestial Clock, but predictably, the Stone Army and Nya were long gone.
Narrowing her dark green eyes, Jinlong took off, the wind flowing through her mane. From her bird's eye view, it took very little time to locate Garmadon's camp. She dove down towards it, landing in a swirl of dust and hissing. There were notably few Stone Warriors, and even they seemed like they were trying to pack things up and leave, paying little heed to the seemingly-undead dragon.
Growling, she shot like a bullet through the camp, crashing over tents and wrecking buildings, looking for her captured friend. She did find her, near the camp's entrance, but she was not in a good way.
The teenage girl turned around to look at her with a dead expression and lifeless eyes. She had the look of a corpse, with sickly grey skin, milky white eyes rimmed by black, and a stance that brought to mind a limp puppet, held up solely by strings.
For a few moments, Jin was afraid they'd killed her. But then Nya's eyes flickered red, and a deep sound of hatred tore its way from her throat, sending shivers down the dragon's spine.
Dark Matter, she remembered. Nya's not immune to it...how can I fix her, then?
The corrupted girl lunged forward with an animalistic snarl, and Jinlong leapt 6 feet into the air, anchoring herself there, thinking hard. She was immune because she was the Gold Dragon, and had some Golden Power in her, or something. Not enough to use, to try and cure her. So then what could she do?
I will grant you an item, to aid in your quest. Do not despair, Jinlong, for you are Gold.
With a deep breath, she landed behind Nya, and shifted into a human. Her friend whirled around and brandished a long chain with a spiked metal ball on the end. Yikes.
"Hey, Nya, look! I'm alive!" The dragon-girl cried, leaping over the weapon as it was swung. "I hope I didn't worry you too bad!"
Nya growled, yanking the chain back, then throwing it forward again. Jin ducked under it, then spun out of the way as the ball swung back. They danced like this, one never hitting the other, weaving and ducking and spinning. It was fun, almost; sort of like when they would train together. Sort of like when Jin was little, and would spar with her siblings.
Of course, though, Nya was evil and the ninja were unaccounted for and her people were stranded and Ninjago was about to die. That kind of ruined her fun.
Then, Jinlong managed to get behind Nya, buying her just enough time to slip her grimy fingers into the pockets of her now-torn cargo pants.
So the Dragon Spirit made good on that, she thought giddily as a thrill of adrenaline shot through her when her hand made contact with the item. She whipped it out, wrapped it around Nya's neck, and grinned.
A second later, the grey bled from the girl's skin, leaving only the natural semi-light brown left. She coughed, clutching at the thing still wrapped around her throat, and Jin released her, gliding around to face her friend.
"Hiya," She greeted, smiling broadly.
A look of pure joy spread across Nya's now-lively face, and she leapt to embrace the dragon-girl.
"You're alive," She cried. "Thank the First Spinjitzu Master! I was so scared!"
"Yep," Jinlong said proudly as the girls stepped apart. "And I need your help."
"Wait- but how'd you free me? Garmadon used Dark Matter."
The golden-haired teenager held up a small, golden necklace. "Gold."
"Whoa. So where are the ninja? Or Garmadon?"
"I don't know," Jin admitted, putting on the necklace. "But we can help them and we have to help my people to do it. I need your help."
"Your people?" Nya repeated. "The dragons? How will we get there?"
"I'm gonna make a portal."
"Wait, but-"
"I've got gold," Jin interrupted. "Gold makes me stronger. I can do it."
Shifting to a dragon, Jinlong stared hard at a patch of ground in front of her. She imagined not Huan, because that was not where she needed to go, but her family, her friends, her people. All the Changing Dragons. Soon she could feel them, all gathered on one shore, on mainland Kigana. There! There was where she needed to go!
A bright blue, swirling portal appeared, and Jin shot a look at her friend. Nya nodded, somehow understanding, and hopped on her back. Then, the dragon and the girl dove forward, disappearing with the portal.
oOo
A rush of warm air and familiar scents washed over Jinlong as she erupted from a portal on a sandy beach. There were gasps and snarls, and she turned slowly to look over the entirety of her race.
"Jinlong?" A beautiful, woeful woman with dark hair and wet, sparkling eyes asked in disbelief.
Nya leapt off and Jin shifted into her human skin, standing proudly in front of her people.
"Hey, Mother," She greeted. "How're you?"
"Jinlong!" The dragon-woman rushed forward and embraced her daughter, lifting her from the ground.
"Wait, Tianlong!" An old man, Yinglong the Eagle Dragon, one of the leaders, yelled. "Jinlong is dead! That is an oni!"
"How dare you?!" Tianlong screeched, dropping Jin and turning around. "You think a mother does not know her own child?!"
"Hey, stop!" Jinlong yelled, rushing in between them. "I'm not an oni, and I'm not dead! I'm here to save you all."
"You died last night," Her mother whispered. "We threw your body into the sea. We'd just landed her, on the mainland."
"I'm alive and kicking, I promise," The dragon-girl said. "And I spent the past 2 months in Ninjago, with a team of ninja entrusted with its protection. While I was there, I saw the rise of the Green Ninja, the savior of that realm. As we speak, he is fighting the Final Battle, but he needs our help!"
"You lie," Nailong the Cow Dragon accused. "You were in the grasp of a fever, that's all."
A smug grin grew over Jin's lips. "I thought you'd say that. Nya!"
The black-haired girl looked at her.
"This is one of my best friends from Ninjago, Nya," The Gold Dragon said. "The sister of one of the ninja, a skilled fighter, and clever inventor. She is living proof."
"Hi," Nya greeted, waving at the crowd. "I'm Nya Smith. I don't really know what Jin's planning, but I'd recommend trusting her. She's up to something."
"What are you planning?" Yinglong asked. "How, and why, would we help this 'Green Ninja'?"
"Well, he is the grandson of the First Spinjitzu Master, or the Half Child, as you call him," Jin said. "And the FSM created our kind, as well as Ninjago. And if we don't, then we will die out. Kigana had no future for us."
"How would you know?!" Yulong the Fish Dragon challenged.
"Because the Dragon Spirit told me," Jinlong stated boldly. "Believe me or don't, but it's true. If we stay here, the oni will kill us and our race will die. But if we move to Ninjago and fight to save it, then we will live on."
Yinglong frowned, clearly in thought, and Jin nearly burst.
"We have to go!" She cried. "The Dark Lord has an army, and the ninja can't beat the whole thing! They need an army on their side, like us!"
"We will go," Liteng the Maroon Flying Dragon, the younger, female leader announced suddenly. "Jinlong is correct. The oni shall kill us if we remain. We have known it since we were attacked."
"Yeah!" Jin cheered, leaping into the air in joy. "Great! Come on, then! Leave the boats, we don't need 'em! Let's go!"
"But our kind has always lived here!" Yulong protested.
"Not anymore!" The dragon-girl cried. "Come on! To Ninjago! To the Green Ninja!"
The dragons began to shift, and Nya got back onto Jinlong's back. A portal was soon made, and the last of the Changing Dragons left Kigana, never to return.
oOo
They arrived in the sky, which was black as night with bolts of purple lightning. Jinlong, flying high, led them. She could smell Garmadon, but it was different. The blob thing from before, she realized with a jolt, had possessed him and turned him into a massive, misshapen dragon. Not the snake-like kind, like Changing Dragons, but with four clawed legs and outstretched wings.
Diving down and cracking the street when she landed, Jin shifted into a human, accidentally tossing Nya onto the ground. She helped her up.
"The Stone Warriors will try to kill the ninja," She yelled, over the roaring wind and crashing thunder. "The Dark Lord used Dark Matter and will try to corrupt you. Gold can reverse the effects. The teens in bright colors are the ninja. Alright?"
"Where are they?" Someone asked.
"Me and Nya will find the ninja," She called. "You all just focus on the Stone Army. They're not hard to miss; either side! Let's go, now! Vanquish evil!"
With her cheesy last line, Jinlong and Nya took off towards the massive dark tower, as the dragons flew overhead. It was probably the coolest thing Jin had ever done and the coolest she'd ever looked.
They soon met the wall of Stone Warriors, grunting and growling. Further ahead, likely surrounded, Jin could hear the ninja.
Summoning her strength and courage, she leapt up, onto the head of a warrior, then onto the next one. Nya followed suit, and they were soon running on top of the army as the Changing Dragons attacked from behind.
In a clearing of warriors stood the ninja, surrounding Lloyd, some pretty 'sick' elemental swords drawn.
With a cry, Jinlong shifted into a dragon, tossing the Stone Warriors aside, freeing a path for the ninja. She shifted back, dodging a sword swipe, but still earning herself a gash right under her left eye.
"Jin! Nya!" The cried, relief evident in their voices.
"Where-how-"
"No time!" Nya cut her brother off. "We've gotta get Lloyd to the top. Jin's family are the dragons and they're on our side. Let's go, come on!"
She charged up the stairs on the side of the building, and the ninja, plus Jin, followed. Lloyd was limping, though, and there were bandages around his right knee.
They had gone almost of the way unopposed, when the general of the Stone Army met them from a corner.
"Go, Lloyd!" Jay shouted. "We can take him!"
"But-"
"Go!"
The Green Ninja limped, alone, up the tower as the ninja, Nya, and Jin dueled with the four-armed stone man. While the ninja had him distracted, Nya and Jin, in tandem, rushed at the wall, leapt against it, and barrelled, feet first, into the general's head. The force was enough to send him off balance, toppling over the edge, taking the girls with him.
"Nya!" Kai cried, but his sister had caught the ledge and Jin, her hand.
They were hoisted up just as an explosion of golden light shook the tower, sending all of the ninja, and the girls, falling.
Only to land on a familiar leather saddle. The Ultra Dragon, along with Wu and Misako, had caught them.
Jinlong laughed, a wild sound, as they watched Lloyd- now entirely golden- duel to foul beast that was once his father.
The dark dragon enveloped the boy in darkness, and everyone gasped. He hadn't...lost, had he?
No. There was just a pin-prick at first, but then a burst of light followed, so bright that it drowned out everything else. A feeling of pure euphoria, pure gold rippled through Jin, and she knew that Lloyd had won.
oOo
When Jin awoke, she was staring at a marvellously blue sky, free of clouds. She sat up, looking around, and saw Nya, then Jay, then Zane and Cole and Kai, Wu and Misako, and her dear, dear friend, Lloyd. Her friends. Her family, almost.
"Guys?" Lloyd spoke up, almost confused. "Guys, we- we won!"
No. Not almost. They were her family.
Laughing, Jin sprang up and tackle-hugged the blond boy, tears of joy slipping from her eyes. Suddenly, the air was knocked from her lungs as the rest of the team, and Nya(who was actually part of the team, she supposed) followed suit, and they were all just laughing and crying, hugging each other.
"We did it!" Jay cheered. "You did it, Lloyd!"
"L-Lloyd?"
Craning her neck, Jin searched for the owner of the unfamiliar voice. She saw an old man, with grey hair and grey eyes, but there was something very familiar about him.
"D...dad?" Lloyd whispered, and then, louder, "Dad!"
In an impressive feat of strength, he threw everyone off on him, and ran to the old man, embracing him tightly.
There was a large hand on her shoulder, and she turned around to see her father, smiling proudly. Behind him was her mother, Maolong, Yinlian, Senshe, and all of her people.
Behind her, her human family laughed in joy, while in front of her, her dragon family smiled through sorrow and tears.
And that, Jin realized, was true joy.
Announcer voice: Next time, on Way of the Dragon: With the Final Battle won, and the Changing Dragons saved, Jinlong must now face her greatest challenge: saying goodbye to her friends.